Obama decimates Women's basketball team in PIG

In a game of PIG at the White House, President Obama single-handedly owned the UConn women's basketball team, talking trash the whole time.  There's a reason he's president and they're not.

In other news, I can't believe I'm tagging a post with "Sports."

Everyone loves getting mail

For help, look to the Shadow?

From CNET:

We can all rest easy knowing that our streets are now protected by a motley crew of pseudo-heroes known as The Allegiance.
. . .
A 21-year-old man (I'll believe it when I see it) from Milford, Ohio, Shadow Hare claims his Allegiance of Heroes reaches all across the country, with masked vigilantes each protecting their respective cities. There's Aclyptico in Pennsylvania, Wall Creeper in Colorado, Master Legend in Florida, and Mr. Extreme in California.

For us, the real hero is local news has the real scoop:

Also, Shadow wants to be your friend on MySpace

Gov race in GA heats up

Words fail me in describing the absolute absurdity of an interview with Georgia Creator's Rights gubernatorial candidate Neal Horsley.  The man had sex with a mule and thinks that so has everyone else who grew up on a Georgia farm... did I mention his name is Horsley?  Forgoing the wide road to pun hell, let's just get to the link: Georgia candidate doesn't think past sex with mule will hurt his chances for Governor

Woah, Jakey, it doe'n't have to be so difficult, now.

Helmet and a Hug courtesy of Denmark's police

Like their southern friends in the Netherlands, Denmark is all about riding bikes.  A program has police handing out helmets for free and every helmet comes with a hug.

Arlen Specter (D) Pennsylvania

Today Arlen Specter is announcing that he will be seeking re-election to the United States Senate, but, amidst the likelihood that that he would lose the Republican Primary to Pat Toomey, he's jumping ship on the Republican party and running as a Democrat instead.

In related news, Senator Specter has announced that he's also going to be introducing aggressive carbon control legislation, voting for the stimulus package, supporting the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and voting pro-choice. . . wait a second.

GOP stripped flu pandemic preparedness from stimulus

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santaya

Perhaps the GOP should have taken a page out of Mr. Santaya's book. In his response to Obama's address to Congress, Bobby Jindal ridiculed funding for volcano monitoring; less than a month later, Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted 6 times. Then Maine's Senator Susan Collins came out against flu pandemic preparedness funding... and now we're all going to die from swine flu. Way to go Sue. GOP FTW!

Rhetoric for kids... a refresher for the rest of us

One father's account of how he encourages his children to reason and argue on behalf of their points, rather than the usual whining. The author gives a brief refresher in the basics of rhetoric too. Apparently the article was nominated for the 2007 National Magazine Award.

PennDOT

TIME Photo Essay: Obama's first 100 days

TIME put together a photo essay to mark President Obama's first 100 days in office.

Cable monopolies oppose community ISP

Tired of paying out the nose for TV, internet, and phone service? So were the residents of Wilson, North Carolina. They put together a city-owned ISP that offers 81 basic cable channels, 10 MBps (upload and download) internet access, and a digital phone plan with unlimited long distance calls to the U.S. and Canada. Such a package would cost $137.95 with Time Warner Cable (and that's an introductory rate). GreenLight, Wilson's ISP, charges only $99.95.

Citing their inability to compete, TWC and Embarq are pushing for legislation that would ban community-owned ISPs.

It's time that people recognize internet service as a public utility - residents should not be held hostage by private corporate monopolies.

An Economic Sigh of Relief? . . . maybe

The veritable patchwork nation blog at the Christian Science Monitor just published a new economic report looking at the changes in economic conditions in the last month across different types of communities. Unsurprisingly, Michigan, California and Florida could really use some good news, and as always, living in Alaska: bad choice. Otherwise, plenty of interesting tidbits remain. I'm sure the last 8 Americans with internet hookups in their cardboard boxes will appreciate the news.

Condi Rice gave verbal OK to torture

The Obama Administration's recent release of the secret torture memos has revealed that then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice approved the CIA's request to waterboard an alleged terrorist. While Ms. Rice did not necessarily lie to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the memo indicates that her role in approving torture was far greater than what she admitted to.

NY Times asks: Is Obama Selling Out?

Professor Eric Alterman takes a look at a recent New York Times piece that asks whether Obama is selling out due to recent political moves, rhetoric, and his softening of stance on some issues.

::SPOILER ALERT::
The answer is not really.

Obama cutting $100m in spending

Obama is expected to order his cabinet members to find a way to cut $100 million in spending at their first meeting today. Some of the cost-cutting measures include video-conferencing instead of holding conferences and DHS expects to save around $52 million simply by ordering office supplies in bulk. While $100 million seems like chump change, he's setting the tone and we can expect more cuts to follow.

Champagne sabering - Flying Dutchman Style

In which a young man fulfills his dream - his dream of sabering a bottle of champagne. [insert Christopher Walken-esque over-pronunciation of champagne]

Obverse of the coin: Same-sex divorce

While the fight for marriage equality rages on, there is another side to the issue: same-sex divorce. Same-sex couples experience divorce at about the same rate as opposite-sex couples, but the process of untying the knot is often much more complicated, and, in some cases, legally impossible.

TPFD: Crapped in the Break Room

Debunking 6 common wine myths

To smell or not to smell - and other corky questions are answered in this quick and easy article about a half dozen common wine myths. Your oenological guide, Kurt Michael Friese leads the way to pretense free wine enjoyment.

Hale Stewart explains why the tax code is so complicated

A century of legislation, often poorly written, cluttered by special interest groups, and mangled by individuals and entities trying to get out of payment is the complicated and confusing state of the United State's current tax code.  Tax lawyer Hale "Bonddad" Stewart explains just why exactly the US Tax Code is so complicated.

Image is a visual depiction of US Tax Code as a network.