The best non-porn article on the Internet

I read the Huffington Post for the articles.

Really.

I've been reading for several years, they have great articles on US and international politics.

Really.

HuffPo, as the kids call it, was a People's Voice winner of the 2008 Webby awards in the political category.

And then I found the best non-porn article on the Internet.

Miss California Carrie Prejean's breast implants made news the past few weeks, but they are not the only enhanced pair out there.

Below is a slideshow of many famous, barely famous, and oft-flaunted chests, some confirmed implants and some just rumored to be implants, so perhaps real.

Click through and see if you know who they belong to.

Guess The Celebrity Breast Implants (PHOTOS)

In case you weren't aware, the article has PHOTOS!

I suppose this is the equivalent of a page three girl, but still.

This article doesn't discuss whether the implants were done for personal satisfaction or professional necessity, or what "professional necessity" might imply about a given profession.

The article does not discuss how these women view themselves before or after their implants.

The article certainly doesn't discuss the possible health implications.

And this isn't an article about nose jobs, it's about (pardon the pun) titillation.

Titillation on a political blog.

Yes, it's a tough economy out there, but does the HuffPo really have to present soft porn as news?

Related Links
Huffington Post
Page 3 Girls [The official page(!), apparently]
Blogcritics Culture - Female Objectification and Sexism in Mainstream Media
Media Objectification of Women - A Definition and Consequences of Sexualized Female Representations
Undergraduate Research Community - The Objectification and Dismemberment of Women in the Media

Malcolm X's birthday - "our shining black prince"

Today would be the Malcolm X's 84th birthday.

X, assassinated in New York in 1965, was, and still is, a polarizing figure in America's civil rights struggle.

When X became a prominent figure in the struggle, he advocated a segregationist solution to America's race relations.

After leaving the Nation of Islam and performing the Hajj, he came to understand people of different races could live together, find common ground and reach solutions.

The Nation of Islam opposed X's new ideology, and are suspected of firebombing his home February 14, 1965.

A week later X was assassinated.

The late Ossie Davis delivered his eulogy below.

Faith Temple Church Of God, February 27, 1965
Here, at this final hour, in this quiet place, Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes, extinguished now and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought. His home of homes where his heart was and where his people are. And it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again in Harlem to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who loved her, have fought for her and have defended her honor even to the death.

It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us, unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to: Afro-American. Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over the minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a 'Negro' years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American and he wanted so desperately that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans, too.

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee even, from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain. And we will smile. Many will say turn away, away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man. And we will smile. They will say that he is of hate, a fanatic, a racist who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him:

Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man but a seed which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is. A prince. Our own black shining prince who didn't hesitate to die because he loved us so.
[malcolm-x.org]

Related Video


Related Links
malcolm-x.org [A site dedicated to presenting Malcolm X within a Muslim context]
The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University
The Official Web Site of Malcolm X

More choices for you

I believe politics can be a noble profession.

When you read that last sentence please try not to imagine it said by Larry the Cable Guy at the end of an episode of Blue Collar TV, it takes away some of the gravitas.

After all, I'm all about the gravitas.

Continuing with the point of this blog post, and since they're so infrequent, you think I'd just get to the point, but I'm over 40 and my mind wanders.

Where were we?

Ah, yes, the nobility of politics.

Roman law, the Magna Carta the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are all the result of political process.

For me, these documents represent the nobility of politics, and the people who helped create them provide an aspirational example of humanity.

The people in the video below are part of that continuum.



Related Links
Annexation Party of BC (under construction, May 2009)
Libertarian Party of BC
Nation Alliance Party
Elections BC

Yeah! It's my birthday!

And it's the last day to file your income taxes in Canada.

And it's the day Adolf Hitler kill himself.

And it's the day Eva Braun killed herself.

And it's the day the Americans left Viet Nam.

And it's Prime Minster Stephen Harper's birthday.

And it's Michael Waltrip's birthday.

And it's the day George Washington took office.

And it's the day Emily Stowe died.

And it's the day Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities was first published.

And it's the day the United States purchased Louisiana.

And it's the day CERN announced the world wide web would be freely available to everyone.

And it's the day the Dodge brothers' widows sold the Dodge Brothers automobile manufacturing to Dillon, Read & Co.

And it's the day Prime Minister Mulroney and the first ministers agree to the Meech Lake Accord draft.

And it's the day Princess Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard of the Netherlands, of Orange-Nassau and of Lippe-Biesterfeld ascended to the Netherlands' throne to become Queen after her mother Queen Julia abdicated.

Related video


Related links
BBC
New York Times
Sympatico
Wikipedia

BC Social Credit Party

Social Credit Party president Carrol Woolsey says her party will not be contesting the current provincial election.

"The BC Social Credit Party will not be fielding candidates in the current election, but will field candidates any upcoming byelections."

Growing up in BC, there were only two viable parties running in provincial elections, the dirty, socialist NDP and the ruthless, capitalist Social Credit.

If you're older than I am, and I'm really old the Social Credit, or the "Socreds", were the only real party to vote for.

And there was only one real leader, W.A.C. Bennett.

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Bennett. (No relation, and I thoroughly digress, kind of like an episode of Family Guy.)

As I mentioned above, the Social Credit Party, were the ruthless, capitalist party holding the dirty socialists hoards at bay and keeping British Columbia safe for democracy.

It wasn't always that way, though.

The party was created in Alberta to give money to working-class people "social credit" so they could afford to purchase the fruits of capitalism.

The BC Socreds weren't so much about giving money to working-class people, but making sure the province was a viable place to do business.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Rather than "social credit" we received hydroelectric dams, which gave us cheap, somewhat environmentally responsible electricity, roads to bring goods to market and BC Rail.

And then the Socreds met the colourful Bill Vander Zalm.

And Vander Zalm met the colourful Faye Leung.

Socred Party leader and provincial premier Vander Zalm had to resign due to conflict of interest from the sale of his Fantasy Gardens property by real estate agent Leung.

A whole book could be written about that.

The Social Credit party lost the subsequent election and has not recovered yet.

Related video


Related Links
British Columbia Social Credit Party

I can has Bible translation?

Every once in a while my very good friend Julie sends me a link to something nauseatingly cute on I Can Has Cheezburger?.

It always surprises me how much she enjoys cuteness on a scale that makes me dizzy.

I Can Has Cheezburger? is a website where people post insufferably cute pictures of cats with funny captions.

The insidious part is the language used for the captions, known as "lolspeak".

Lolspeak is supposed to be what cats would sound like if they could talk.

Apparently cats would talk like three year-olds.

And now, a group of people are writing the Bible in lolspeak.

Sigh.

Psalm 23

1 Ceiling Cat iz mai sheprd (which is funni if u knowz teh joek about herdin catz LOL.)
He givz me evrithin I need.

2 He letz me sleeps in teh sunni spot
an haz liek nice waterz r ovar thar.

3 He makez mai soul happi
an maeks sure I go teh riet wai for him. Liek thru teh cat flap insted of out teh opin windo LOL.

4 I iz in teh valli of dogz, fearin no pooch,
bcz Ceiling Cat iz besied me rubbin' mah ears, an it maek me so kumfy.

5 He letz me sit at teh taebl evn when peepl who duzint liek me iz watchn.
He givz me a flea baff an so much gooshy fud it runz out of mai bowl LOL.

6 Niec things an luck wil chase me evrydai
an I wil liv in teh Ceiling Cats houz forevr.

Related Links
Lolcats Bible [Yes, it's the official site, how many could there be?]
I Can Has Cheesburger? [There is only one of these]

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Poof! You're a Canadian!

I spend a lot of time watching American news.

Probably too much time, but every once in a while they mention Canada.

Recently, watching the April 17 podcast of the Rachel Maddow Show, they showed the video below.

The Canadian Citizenship act automatically restores citizenship to people who lost their citizenship under certain circumstances.

Please see the Citizenship and Immigration website below for details.

Related Video


Yeah, I didn't know anything about this.

It's a good thing I watch American news.

Related Links
Citizenship and Immigration Canada [Official site]
Rachel Maddow Show [Official site]