Frankly, I find the idea that the times can shut down the globe to be pretty horrendous.

Especially considering they turned down offers to buy the paper just a few years ago.

They appear to have reached a deal though.  Thank goodness.

New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate in any form of organized religion -- than their parents and grandparents...

...Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the "nones") has been very small -- hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of "nones" has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans.

Link

No, The Right Doesn't Need to Play as Dirty as the Left

lets make it a twofer

Guillermo del Toro is in talks to produce and mentor commercial director Andres Muschietti's horror film Mama for Universal, according to RiskyBiz.  Andy is writing the English-language screenplay with his sister and producer Barbra. The movie will be based on their acclaimed Spanish-language short film Mama, which traveled the European festival circuit last year. The short film told the story of Victoria and Lily, two girls who are go on the run from a ghostly woman in a Gothic home.

Health care is another example. While Obama was outflanking Clinton on the left on Iraq, she made up for it by criticizing his health care plan as inadequate. Both candidates claimed to support universal health care, but only Clinton's plan included a government mandate that would force all Americans to have health insurance.

Primary voters will recall Clinton and Obama endlessly debating this, with Clinton accusing Obama of leaving about 15 million people without health care and Obama warning voters that Clinton's plan would require "harsh, stiff penalties on those who don't purchase it."

Yes, it was from the DNC and solicited money.  Among the President's "Bold Plans to Secure America's Economic Future":  

Health care---Comprehensively reforming health care so that families, businesses, and government are relieved from crushing costs that impede economic growth and prosperity.

Please take 10-20 minutes to make some calls and email these key senators, especially if you're more likely to travel to Hawaii if the Aloha state lives up to its name and passes the civil unions bill, HB444.

Sen. Kalani English ............ 808-587-7225  senenglish@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Brickwood Galuteria... 808-586-6740  sengaluteria@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Josh Green................  808-586-9385  sengreen@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa...... 808-586-7793  senhanabusa@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Clayton Hee............... 808-586-7330  senhee@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. David Ige.................   808-586-6230  sendige@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Russell Kokubun......... 808-586-6760  senkokubun@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Clarence Nishihara....808-586-6970  sennishihara@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Dwight Takamine......808-586-7335  sentakamine@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Brian Taniguchi........808-586-6460  sentaniguchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Jill Tokuda.................  808-587-7215  sentokuda@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Sen. Shan Tsutsui.............. 808-586-7344  sentsutsui@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Six or seven years ago, when we had to have our well drilled another 150 feet because it was going dry, I swore that I would never complain about the rain, but it's been almost a week of rain and gray and fog and gray.  Lots of gray.

Maybe the sun will be out for Mother's Day - that's four whole days away!

It appears John Yoo cannot be disciplined or disbarred for writing those memos, even if the Office of Professional Responsibility says it has evidence he should be.

That's because OPR's five-year investigation--carefully timed for release only as Bush was leaving the White House and Obama was coming in--dragged on too long. As a result of that timing, OPR blew the deadline for referring possible misconduct allegations against Yoo.

John Yoo is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania. But the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board, which would investigate any complaints against him, imposes a four-year limitation for complaints.

Yoo wrote the memos in 2002 and 2003. This is 2009. You do the math.

Here's the pertinent section, from the state's Disciplinary Board Rules:

"The Office of Disciplinary Counsel or the Board shall not entertain any complaint arising out of acts or omissions occurring more than four years prior to the date of the complaint."

There are a few exceptions--that the lawyer concealed a crime, for example--which don't apply.

SNIP

And what about Bybee? Now a federal appeals court judge, Bybee is admitted in DC and Nevada--those jurisdictions don't have comparable limitations periods. But how strange would it be to only refer Bybee, when his involvement largely amounted making a few edits and signing Yoo's legal work?

Then there's the report itself. The bar for disciplinary action is incredibly high. Legal ethics experts, like Geoffrey Hazard at the University of Pennyslvania, say they expect nothing to happen, even if the state disciplinary boards were to investigate.

Hazard says Yoo and Bybee have a number of strong available defenses, and that it's awfully hard to say the memo was so "outside the range of plausible lawyered judgment that no reasonable lawyer could render it." Without that, he says, there's no ethical violation.

I bet you are feeling better about that non-trade now kdog.