Tuesday Morning’s Political Primer: Today We Have Libertarians

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Fox News can lie with impunity according to Florida Court Appeal

This story merely confirms what Fox news has been doing for years: lying to it’s viewers to pursue a political agenda. What do they do when their caught lying?

Fox News wins “right to lie.”

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Lawyers paid by Bill O'Reilly's bosses argued in court that Fox can lie with impunity.

It's their right under the 1st Amendment

FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves.

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Where’s the beef? Taco Bell’s under fire for false advertising

Alabama law firm to Taco Bell: That's not beef

“An Alabama law firm claims in a lawsuit that Taco Bell is using false advertising when it refers to using "seasoned ground beef" or "seasoned beef" in its products.

The meat mixture sold by Taco Bell restaurants contains binders and extenders and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as "beef," according to the legal complaint.

Attorney Dee Miles said attorneys had Taco Bell's "meat mixture" tested and found it contained less that 35 percent beef”

Bishop Castle: one man’s lifelong project continues to amaze

Have you ever gone here? Did you know it exists?

Located outside Colorado City in the San Isabel National Forest, Bishop Castle is the ongoing, lifelong project of a single man: Jim Bishop. The strange castle has been under construction since 1969, and now stands over 70 feet tall. Working alone, Bishop harvests the rocks from the national forest and has been building his own castle for 41 years. The multi-room castle boasts a tower, stained-glass windows, and a fire-breathing dragon, with future plans for a moat, drawbridge, and possible second castle. The exhibit is free and visitors are welcome to enter and explore the castle at their own risk after signing the guestbook (waiver of liability).

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Fitness fanatic Jack LaLanne dies; pushed pumping iron and juicing fruit well into his 90s

“Jack LaLanne was prodding Americans to get off their couches and into the gym decades before it was cool. And he was still pumping iron and pushing fruits and vegetables decades past most Americans' retirement age.

The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised — and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same — right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.” Story here.

As It Stands: Speed Kills -- so why is meth still scourging our society?

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 01/23/2011 01:21:42 AM PST

I was getting ready to go home when a sheriff's deputy walked into my office and asked if I'd like to have exclusive access to a major news story. It was the summer of 1982, and I was the editor of The Desert Trail Newspaper in 29 Palms, Calif. Of course, I jumped at the invitation.

It meant leaving immediately. I had just time to grab my camera and to tell my secretary to call my wife and say I'd be home late. The deputy drove me to the local sheriff's substation where other law enforcement types had gathered for the night's operations. They were putting on their SWAT gear and checking their assault weapons. A sign on the wall read, “Speed Kills.”

One of the men stepped forward and introduced himself as Floyd Tidwell, county sheriff. He was obviously excited and told me I would accompany him on a series of meth raids throughout the Morongo Basin. We boarded a helicopter to our first destination; a meth house in the middle of Wonder Valley.

We went to six other locations, ranging from bars to motel rooms, busting addicts and recovered lots of crystal meth. I got home at 3 a.m. and wrote the story. At the time, desert meth labs were more plentiful than red ants in San Bernardino County.

Flash forward. I'm retired and living in Humboldt County. It's 2004 and Humboldt has the highest rate of methamphetamine use of any county in the state. I wonder if the meth addicts migrated north? A strong effort on the part of the Humboldt County Health Department addressed the problem by organizing a community coalition to combat meth addiction.

A one-hour documentary called “Life After Meth” shown on KEET-TV in May 2006. It was the result of a project called “Community Voices for Meth Awareness.” Claire Reynolds, director of community relations and outreach for KEET-TV, spearheaded the project.

“The Methamphetamine Fact Book: A Community Handbook and Resource Guide” was produced and has been updated numerous times since. Tracking laws designed to catch profiteers who buy over-the-counter pills with pseudoephedrine in them and sell them to meth makers were enacted in 2006. The problem is the number of meth busts is climbing again as people take advantage of the huge markups meth producers pay for the ingredients.

According to an Associated Press analysis of federal data on the 2006 law's consequences, it's not slowing down the meth market. There was a small decline for two years until people figured a way around the new law.

”It's almost like a sub-criminal culture,” said Gary Boggs, an agent at the Drug Enforcement Agency in a recent AP interview. “You see them with a GPS unit set up in a van and a list of every single pharmacy or retail outlet. They'll spend the entire week going store to store and buying the limit.”

Last September, the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported a 60 percent one-year increase in the number of meth users. There's no doubt that meth use is on the rise in this country.

The only thing that can be done is to continue to educate people about the harm meth does to users and everyone around them. If you want to know if you live near a former meth lab go to www.homefacts.com and put in your address, state, or ZIP code in the search area. I came up with three addresses in Eureka.

To get help for meth addiction call the Humboldt County Health and Human Services Department at (707) 441-5400, or the Humboldt County Drug Addiction Treatment and Alcohol & other Drug Programs at (707) 476-4054. They offer guidance and information for addicts and their families.

I know when I first came up to Humboldt in 1979, meth was not a problem. As I left and came back twice over the years, I noticed meth addicts becoming more common. I like to think we've made some progress since the dubious notoriety we had in 2004, but when I see strung-out meth users in stores and on the streets, I have to wonder.

As It Stands, we've known “Speed kills” since the '60s, so it's discouraging to see that meth is still popular nearly a half-century later.

Keeping a sport alive: Sex sells – welcome to the 1st ever camel beauty pageant

Turkey's annual Selcuk camel fighting championship was hoping to draw spectators from an increasingly modern population and keep the struggling sport relevant with the addition of a beauty pageant, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

Chariot, a 1,500-pound, single-humped camel with spittle hanging from his lips and pompons in his tail, recently won the first-ever beauty contest at Turkey's prized camel fighting competition.

GO HERE FOR STORY

Recently, there was a popular trend for naming camels after political leaders. Four years ago at Selcuk, George Bush fought Saddam Hussein. They tied.

Neighborhood Chicken Manages to Escape Kidnappers - Insert fowl play joke here

Residents at one San Pedro apartment building say their beloved neighborhood chicken has miraculously returned after being birdnapped six months ago.The wild chicken, affectionately known as "Kwok Kwok," came to the apartment complex in the 1100 block of 9th Street about a year ago.

No matter how she got back, Anastasiow says, the bird is currently in good spirits and is now laying eggs.

Building owner Jackie Anastasiow says the bird appeared shortly after her husband passed away.

"I think he's in Heaven and sent me this chicken to take care of," Anastasiow said.

This summer though, tragedy struck the neighborhood.

"I heard a commotion downstairs. The chicken's making noise ... I see a pickup truck with three guys in it, and they kidnap the chicken. They put the chicken in the truck and they drove off," said resident Sal Martinez.

Residents were sure "Kwok Kwok" was destined for a finger-licking-good demise.

"It was really strange. I don't know why they took the chicken away. I figured 'Kwok' was done. I thought they were going to make either chicken soup or chicken stew or something. They were going to eat the chicken," said Martinez.

Then, three months ago, the neighborhood got a poultry miracle.

"Kwok Kwok" returned home. Read More Here

Huge parking fines inspired parking watch app

Massive parking fines inspired one Australian man to create an iPhone app that lets users warn each other when parking officers are spotted lurking near their cars.

"The idea was pretty much born out of frustration," said Joseph Darling of "ParkPatrol," the app developed by his Sydney-based firm to help users avoid tickets that cost what he said was at least $82 Australian ($81) a shot -- and often more.

The app lets users "sign in" and report sightings of parking officers with a single push of a button. Cartoon faces wearing a police cap then appear plotted on a map of the area, along with a notice thanking them.

The app will also alert users if a parking officer is spotted in their area and how close. Notification options for 500 meters (1,640 ft), 200 meters and 100 meters are available.”

Author discovers vintage video of 1950s housewife tripping on LSD during medical experiment

A housewife was filmed tripping on LSD as part of a television program on mental health issues in 1956.

Don Lattin, an author of four books including "The Harvard Psychedelic Club," found the video during his research on British writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, who were prominent thinkers and writers about the effects of hallucinogenics in the 1950s and '60s.

Source of story & video

Batman: Artists share their visions of an iconic fictional character

 

by Andy Kuo

GO HERE  TO SEE SOME GREAT INTERPERTATIONS OF BATMAN

No Surprise Here Department: it’s not safe to drive with animals loose in the front seat

Who would have guessed? For years I’ve watched people driving around with animals on their laps, usually small dogs, and wondered what the hell were they were thinking?

Did they think “it was cute” and no harm would come from having a jacked-up Wire Haired terrier between them and the steering wheel? Or, was it a case of “separation anxiety” on the pet owner’s part? I never wave at these drivers (I figure they’re already distracted enough), but I admit that I often make a circular motion with my finger alongside my head.

Bad dog? Pets pose threat to safe driving

Author Stephen King suffered several broken bones and a collapsed lung in 1999 when he was hit by a driver who claimed he was distracted by his dog.

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Plans being drawn up to let states declare bankruptcy

This is not good news for retired state workers. What happens to them when these states declare bankruptcy? What do you suppose that will do to the morale of current state workers?

Pensioners and investors in state bonds could lose out

“Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.”

PHOTO - Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, has asked the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, about the possibility of drawing up a bill allowing states to go bankrupt

Optical illusions: perceptions biased by motivational state

“The organizational mechanisms of vision are best demonstrated by illusions. Illusions illustrate that perception is a creative construction that the brain makes in interpreting visual data ....Learning does not prevent us from being taken in by these illusions.”

- Eric Kandel

We do not see the world as it really is; perception is always biased by the perceiver's motivational state. Individuals with Mood Disorders and Addictive Disorders are continually taken in by this soul illusion and so continue to act counter to their interests.

The images below - while limited to the visual modality - illustrate that perception is an active construction of the mind rather than a valid representation of objective reality.

There are 9 figures embedded in the illustration on the right. 

Absents of the Mermaid Art by Octavio Ocampo  GO HERE to learn more about optical illusions

It’s time for some news that you may not see otherwise…

 Dracula goes dry as Turkey's new drink rules bite

“Guests at the Istanbul premiere of a new vampire film were among the first victims of new curbs on alcohol that have raised secularist fears Islamic strictures may be encroaching on everyday life.”

Monk caught with nun's skeleton at airport

“A Cypriot monk caught at a Greek airport with the skeletal remains of a nun in his baggage on the weekend told authorities he was taking the relics of a saint back to his monastery”"

 

Burglars snort man's ashes, thought it was cocaine

“Burglars snorted the cremated remains of a man and two dogs in the mistaken belief that they had stolen illegal drugs, Florida sheriff's deputies said on Wednesday.”

Iran bans production of Valentine’s Day gifts

TEHRAN (Reuters) – “Iran has banned the production of Valentine's Day gifts and any promotion of the day celebrating romantic love to combat what it sees as a spread of Western culture, Iranian media reported.”

More than 100 alleged mobsters arrested East Coast sweep

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

My question: why can’t they do this kind of thing with the Mexican mafia?

Holder says some are accused of murders ranging from 'classic mob hits to eliminate perceived rivals' to 'truly senseless' killings

More than 100 suspected members and associates of seven Mafia families were arrested Thursday in what was described as the biggest organized crime round-up in FBI history.

Significant leaders of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno and Colombo families and also the DeCavalcante of New Jersey were among those arrested, NBC New York reported.

‘What are you lookin' at?’ A top 10 of America's rudest cities

Los Angeles has the rudest people in America, according to a Travel+Leisure survey.

Go here to see who the other contenders were.

Have a Laugh: 12 Retro Illustrations and 7 Tongue Twisting Limericks

 

                                    Twimericks                SEE MORE: illustrations and text Source

As It Stands–a quick glance at where today’s readers are coming from

One unusual trend thus far today, is the lack of Canadian input. On most days there’s more viewers coming from our neighbor in the north.

New governor: Non-Christians 'not my brother,' 'not my sister'

This grinning idiot (Gov. Robert Bentley – left) is a perfect example of the Christian Right’s intolerance in the name of God. How fair do you think he’ll be to non-Christians during his administration?

Anti-Defamation League says remarks 'raise serious questions as to whether non-Christians can expect to receive equal treatment'

“Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned whether he can be fair to non-Christians.”