Bent Corner

It seems Egypt is pursuing a nuclear power program and that’s ok with the Bush Administration. So says White House spokesman Dana Perino. She pointed out that the United States is supportive of countries pursuing civil nuclear energy because it’s clean burning and because it provides electricity in a clean-burning and affordable way.

Except if it’s the Iranians.

President Bush has made references to World War III if and when Iran develops a nuclear power program. The idea is that Iran having nuclear power will be a threat to Israel. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has questioned the historical accuracy of the holocaust and has said that Israel should be wiped off the map. At least that is what he supposedly said. I don’t speak Farsi.

Some may talk about wiping Israel off the map, but Egypt has actually tried. More then once. In fact, the United States pays Egypt over $2 billion a year for the assurance that they won’t try to wipe Israel off the map anymore.

And it’s ok with the Bush Administration if Egypt goes nuclear?

I think I’ve finally given up on NBC’s new fall television show Bionic Woman. It’s just too stupid. Not the concept, but the execution. I was a big fan of The Six Million Dollar Man when I was a kid, but then again, what kid wasn’t? I don’t remember watching that show’s spin off and this show’s predecessor the original Bionic Woman. I don’t need to have ever watched it to know that it was better then this show is.

It bothers me to admit this show stinks because I really had high hopes for it. There is something about the concept of a bionic woman that trumps the concept of a bionic man. It’s interesting to see the supposed weaker sex be able through the power of bionics to kick some major ass. In The Six Million Dollar Man, the main charactor Steve Austin (played by manly man Lee Majors) already looked as though he could more then take care of himself in a physical altercation. The addition of bionics only added to his already perceived physical strengths. You might not guess that Steve Austin could pick up a custom van, but you probably had an idea that he wasn’t a weakling.

With a bionic woman, you wouldn’t guess that she was strong, let alone super bionic strong. She doesn’t look like she could open a jar of pickles, let alone pick someone up off their feet and throw them 30 feet.

The problem with this show is that they have gone too far with making her look the part of the dainty female.

They constantly have the title character Jamie Sommers (played by British actress Michelle Ryan) wearing high heeled boots. They then put her into one physical altercation after another. The only thing more ridiculous looking then a woman running in high heels is a bionic woman running 60 miles an hour in high heels.

The show is called the Bionic Woman, not the Bionic Lady.

It’s been reported that tonight’s 60 Minutes will have an interview with former CIA covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson. She will explain that when Bush administration officials leaked her name to members of the press, she was working on keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran. Something I thought Bush felt strongly about.

This certainly is not good. It doesn’t surprise me though. And to think that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi still cannot stop repeating her promise that impeachment is off the table. I would think this is just the type of thing that would get a president impeached. Granted, it’s not as serious as a sexual act between two consenting adults, but outing a CIA covert agent is a serious offense.

Not only did members of the Bush administration out a CIA covert agent, they stonewalled the subsequent investigation. Bush then commuted the sentence of the only defendant to be prosecuted in connection to this crime.

KATIE COURIC: This Sunday on 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame Wilson gives her first interview since top Bush administration officials exposed her role as an undercover CIA agent four years ago. CBS News has learned she was involved in operations to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In the interview, we talked about what it meant to have her identity revealed.

[BEGIN 60 MINUTES CLIP]

COURIC: What went through your mind when you saw your name in print?

PLAME: Oh, it was horrifying, absolutely horrifying.

COURIC: She served 20 years in the CIA, many undercover in the agency’s counterproliferation division, rising to top positions and confronting one of the most ominous threats of our time.

PLAME: Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys, basically, did not get nuclear weapons.

COURIC: When senior administration officials leaked her name to reporters, they may have exposed other spies and damaged operations targeting Iran. CBS News has learned that she was involved in one highly classified mission to deliver fake nuclear weapons blueprints to Tehran. It was called Operation Merlin, and it was first revealed in a book by investigative reporter James Risen.

COURIC: Are you familiar with that?

PLAME: I don’t think I can tell you.

COURIC: He said the idea was to give the Iranians blueprints for the bomb that were seriously flawed to set them back. Does that sound like something the counter-proliferation division would do?

PLAME: I think I can say it sounds like a good idea.

COURIC: Were you surprised to read about Operation Merlin in the press?

PLAME: Indeed.

COURIC: Is that problematic for the CIA?

PLAME: Leaks are always bad news.

COURIC: She should know, revealing for the first time that the leak of her name had serious repercussions.

PLAME: I can tell you all the intelligence services in the world were running my name through their databases to see did anyone by this name come in the country? When? Do we know anything about it? Where did she stay? Who did she see?

COURIC: And what would be the ramifications of that?

PLAME: Well, it was very serious. It puts in danger, if not shuts down, the operations that I had worked on.

COURIC: Valerie Plame Wilson also has some harsh things to say about President Bush. That and much more in our interview this Sunday on 60 Minutes.

Not only was Valerie Plame Wilson’s career with the CIA ruined, but the lives of the people she dealt with were put into extreme peril.  Maybe may have died over her being outed.  This is why it’s a crime to out the identity of a covert agent.

Not only do the Harry Potter books feature witches and wizards, at least one of the main characters was gay. A gay wizard. What’s the world of literary fantasy based fiction coming to?

This from Newsweek:

In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne, read from her seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. “Dumbledore is gay, actually,” replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort’s predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. “I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy.”

To some people, the only thing worse then a gay wizard would be a gay wizard conducting stem cell research. I’m not sure how the religious right will react to the notion of a character loved by millions of children being gay. I’m guessing it wont be good.

Link

A couple of weeks ago the Democrats decided to have 12-year Graeme Frost present a radio rebuttal to President Bush’s weekly radio address. The topic was a bill that would expand SCHIP. It’s a federal program that helps pay for health insurance for children of the working poor. People that make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid, but don’t have access to health insurance through their employer. Bush was planning on vetoing the bill.

Graeme Frost was chosen because he enrolled in the SCHIP program through the state of Maryland. He and his sister were in a terrible car accident that left both children in comas. Shortly after the radio address, the right-wing blogosphere started looking into the Frost family. Right-wing bloggers started to publicly question whether the Frost family fit their preconceived notion of the term working poor.

They went snooping into the Frost family’s lives. Some right-wing bloggers turned to Google to try to find some dirt on the Frosts. Their address was posted online along with links to satellite photos of their home on Google. Right-wing crackpot blogger Michelle Malkin even drove by their house.

Graeme’s father, Halsey Frost, is a self-employed woodworker. Graeme’s mother, Bonnie Frost, works part-time and doesn’t have health insurance through her employer. They earn less then $50,000 a year. The Frost’s own their own home, a 1936 Baltimore rowhouse they purchased in 1990 for $55,000. It’s since been assessed at $263,140. The Frost’s own a commercial property as well. It’s where Halsey operates his woodworking business. And to think Republicans used to like it when people ran their own business.

Judging from above the photo, they also own a very nice looking pumpkin.

What were the Frost’s supposed to do, sell their home, business, and their pumpkin so they could buy health insurance?

The problem is that health care in our country is still treated as though it’s a luxury instead of a basic fundamental human right. Access to quality health care shouldn’t be a luxury for the rich or the privileged. Maybe that mindset made sense when our machines were powered by steam and our commerce was conducted with the exchange of beaver pelts.

At the end of the day, programs like SCHIP only put a band aid on the problem. Until we as a nation put into place a national health care system like the rest of the industrialized world, we will continue to have these type of problems.

Our health care problems wont be solved with a Michelle Malkin drive by.

George Lucas announced that he has begun working on a live-action television series rooted smack dab in the Star Wars universe. From the LA Times:

“The Skywalkers aren’t in it, and it’s about minor characters,” Lucas said in an interview with Times’ reporter Geoff Boucher. “It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or any of those people. It’s completely different. But it’s a good idea, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to do.”

I’m glad that it wont have any of the main Star Wars characters in it. The thing I like the most about Star Wars aren’t the main characters, but the many minor characters that help make up the Star Wars Universe. I don’t think I’m alone either.

Comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George was ordered by judge Linda Davis to stand trial for the 1990 murder of his wife Barbara George. Davis ruled that although most of the evidence against George was circumstantial, it was sufficient to warrant the case proceeds to trial.

Barbara was murdered in the comic book shop that she and Michael both owned. The prosecution has a witness that puts Michael George at the scene at the time of the murder. Comic book collector Michael Renaud testified that he placed a call to the George’s shop around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George. Renaud testified that Michael George sounded “sounded busy”.

Janet George, Michael’s mother testified that Michael was taking a nap on her sofa at the time of the murder.

A woman that worked at a nail salon near the comic book shop testified that she witnessed Michael and Barbara arguing outside the comic book shop the day of the murder.

Not only is Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul popular with dorky men on the Internet. He’s also popular with at least one live girl who likes to take her clothing off while standing in front of her webcam. She says she’s a Paul supporter because his presidency would mean more personal liberty for individuals.

Unless of course she was raped and needed an abortion.

In that case, Ron Paul wouldn’t want her to make that decision. No, he would want that decision to be made for her by someone else. He believes that the issue of abortion should be made not by the woman, but by the state in which a woman lives.

If every state decided that the issue of abortion is strictly a private matter and should be up to the woman, Ron Paul would most likely then say the issue should be decided at the county level.

Even though he pretends that the issue of abortion should be decided at the state level, Ron Paul tried to invoke a federal law that stated human life begins at the moment of conception. He authored H.R. 776, the “Sanctity of Life Act of 2005.”

That means the moment a rapist’s sperm fertilizes his victim’s egg, the result is a human being no different then you, me, or any other real person. I have no doubt that if the impossible happened and Paul somehow became President, he would abuse the power of the Oval Office to promote his own personal beliefs about abortion. Much like he has tried to do with his position as a congressman.

Ron Paul believes this microscopic fertilized-egg citizen deserves all of the rights and privileges afforded to all Americans. Is it any wonder why Ron Paul attracts so many kooks?

Link to Ron Paul underwear girl (SFW)

A probable cause hearing began Friday for Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George. George is charged with murdering his first wife Barbara George execution-style 17 years ago in Michigan.

Some of the evidence emerging from the first day of the hearing included the fact that Michael George told police that the killer was really out to get him, not Barbara.

He also admitted to having “emotional” affair with another woman at the time of his wife’s murder.

Even though George told the police that boxes of expensive comic books were missing from the store, police could find no other evidence that a robbery had taken place. Money was found in the cash register along with money and jewelry found on Barbara’s body.

Friends of the George’s testified that Barbara told them her marriage was in trouble and that Michael had a gambling problem.

Witnesses described Michael George’s behavior around the time of his wife’s funeral as strange. One woman told of Michael George showing his grief by “hugging the vacuum cleaner his wife used”.

Two woman testified that Michael George made unwanted romantic advances toward them, both before and after the murder. On one occasion, Michael George told one woman that he considered his wife unattractive and wanted to move to Florida with the children. Barbara and the children where in the store only a few feet away when Michael said this. The same woman testified that about six weeks after his wife’s murder, Michael George put a note in her hand that stated she “looked very pretty today.”

Witnesses also testified of making telephone calls to the store around the time of the murder and speaking to Michael George. Macomb County assistant prosecutor Steve Kaplanin told the court this places Michael George in the store at the time of the murder.

Two years after the murder, Michael George relocated Comics World from Michigan to Windber, Pennsylvania. Some have written that George owned and operated a comic book shop in Pittsburgh. Windber is about 100 miles outside Pittsburgh. I think part of the confusion comes from the fact that George is the organizer of the Pittsburgh Comicon. Michael George later opened another Comics World in the Chambersburg Mall located in Scotland, Pennsylvania. Though he later sold the Chambersburg Mall Comics World store, the store remains today retaining it’s original Comics World name.

It’s where I buy my comics. I live in Hagerstown, Maryland, but I work in Scotland.

I didn’t really know Michael George when he owned the comic book shop in the Chambersburg Mall, but I knew who he was. I knew that he was the owner. I certainly didn’t think he was capable of murdering someone, especially his wife. Then again I didn’t think he was the type of guy that would hug a vacuum cleaner either. It just goes to show you that you never know someone as much as you may think.

After a recent CNBC Republican candidate debate, CNBC threw a poll of on their website asking readers who they thought won the debate. Ron Paul supporters responded by flooding the poll with votes for Ron Paul in an attempt to skew the poll’s results. Ron Paul won by a whopping 75%. CNBC responded by removing the poll from the website. This from the CNBC website:

And the computer logs showed the poll had been hit with traffic from Ron Paul chat sites. I learned other Internet polls that night had been hit in similar fashion. Congratulations. You folks are obviously well-organized and feel strongly about your candidate and I can’t help but admire that.

What’s to admire? I didn’t realize that being “well-organized” and “feeling strongly about something” were necessarily traits to admire. Nazis were well-organized. Nazis felt strongly about something. Should they be admired too? Not that I am comparing Ron Paul fanboys to Nazis. Even though at least some neo-Nazis are Ron Paul supporters and it seems that at least some of the people helping to flood these online polls in Ron Paul’s favor have goose-stepped over from antisemitic white supremest websites.

What about substance? Having fans on the Internet that spam online polls and vote for every Ron Paul story on Digg aren’t things to brag about.

Also from the CNBC website:

But you also ruined the purpose of the poll. It was no longer an honest “show of hands” — it suddenly was a platform for beating the Ron Paul drum. That certainly wasn’t our intention and certainly doesn’t serve our readers … at least those who aren’t already in the Ron Paul camp.

I don’t know what Ron Paul’s über fanboys expect when they do stuff like this. Sure, they may get some momentary personal pleasure by throwing the results of an online poll, but all they are really doing is making their candidate look bad. Manipulating Internet polls just makes their candidate look weird. That’s something Ron Paul doesn’t need any help with.

He already has that down pat.