The scene at issue in the lawsuit depicts Borat conducting a drunken interview with three college frat boys in a motor home. As the four grow increasingly inebriated, they make racist remarks about slavery and how minorities in the United States "have all the power."

College frat boys in "Borat" movie sue filmmakers
Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:13 PM ET
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two of the college fraternity brothers shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks in the "Borat" movie have sued the studio and producers for fraud, saying filmmakers duped them into appearing in the movie by getting them drunk.

It's the only explanation that makes sense.

Classic Carville:

By choosing former Georgia governor Zell Miller as his running mate, Al Gore could add intellectual brainpower, rhetorical firepower, and lots of plain old populist piss-and-vinegar to this staid election.

[...]

Zell Miller is also a world-class campaigner and orator. His keynote address to the 1992 Democratic convention ranks with Barbara Jordan's and Mario Cuomo's as one of the finest examples of powerful rhetoric and partisan passion.

At a time when politics seems moribund, Zell would bring energy. When people are looking for heroes, Zell's the real thing. And when Democrats need someone who's not afraid to open up a can of whupass on the radical right [on behalf, I think you mean--ed.], they need look no further than Zell Miller.

No wonder he wants Dean out. He wants Democrats to suck.

Choosing choice
Referendums nationwide made it clear that Americans favor the status quo on abortion rights.
November 11, 2006

THE BALLOTS CAST across the nation spoke so unambiguously about abortion that even the most intransigent anti-abortionists should be able to construe the message: Voters do not want Big Brother opening the doors of private homes — or the doctor's office — and coercing people's most personal medical decisions.

Anti-abortionists have been craving a test case to put before the U.S. Supreme Court, in hopes of overturning Roe vs. Wade — and thought they had it when the South Dakota Legislature passed a ban on abortion. Instead of challenging the law in court, though, pro-choice forces cleverly put the matter to a popular referendum. Even in that socially conservative, anti-abortion state, a decisive majority Tuesday preserved a woman's right to choose. To some extent, they were bothered by the ban's extraordinary lack of compassion, refusing to exempt even the victims of rape and incest. But a frequently voiced complaint about the ban was that government simply shouldn't interfere with private lives.

It turns out that there's much less to new job creation than meets the eye:

"In his reflections, offered at his post-election press conference, the president singled out the bright job picture, echoing the sentiments he expressed on release of the October employment data a couple of Fridays ago. And, to be fair, he didn't lack for company. Chorusing Mr. Bush's upbeat view of the report were the usual suspect Wall Street cheerleaders, who couldn't wait to pick up their megaphones and hail the big upward revisions of the previous two months' employment data, and the drop in last month's jobless rate.

Except to confuse civilians, journalists and kindred innocents, we were and remain a little mystified as to what all the hoorahing was about. While there was a sprinkling of glad tidings, notably the modestly longer workweek in September and October, and a nice 0.4% rise in hourly wages, the report struck us as pretty lame. Worse than that, actually, because of what it seemed to portend for both jobs and the economy.

The consensus -- which has become a synonym for wrong guessers -- was looking for upwards of 120,000 additions to the nation's nonfarm payrolls. Instead, the gain was a considerably more subdued 92,000. And as those trusty stewards of the excellent Liscio Report, Philippa Dunne and Doug Henwood, noted in their astute dissection of the numbers, the supposedly large revisions to previous months were not especially outsized, but pretty much in line with similar revisions effected over the past 45 years.

Somewhat ominous, too, was the fact that the improvement, far from widespread or even decently pervasive, was quite spotty -- and those spots were either not terribly encouraging as indicators of future employment trends, or a mite suspect.

For example, in this survey, which was more or less critical because it happened to take place immediately in advance of the elections, a full 39,000, or 42% of the total gain, came courtesy of local governments, mostly back-to-school hires. Another 27,000 of the additions were in bars and restaurants and 23,000 were in health care.

20 eunuchs to collect taxes in India
November 10, 2006

PATNA, India --One cash-strapped Indian city has launched a unique collection service to dislodge payment from tax deadbeats: Door-to-door eunuchs.

Eunuchs -- a term used in India to describe transvestites, postoperative transsexuals and hermaphrodites -- traditionally make a living on tips for dancing at weddings or for blessing newborns. They frequently refuse to leave until they are given money.

Patna, the capital of Bihar state in eastern India, hired scores of them Wednesday to compel shop owners to pay their back taxes.

"We are confident that their reputation and persuasive skills will come in handy for the municipal authorities to collect taxes from defaulters," said Bharat Sharma, a revenue officer.

Many players regard firearm as a necessity
Concealed weapon licenses common
By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff | November 10, 2006

A tower of power, he stands 7 feet 1 inch, weighs 325 pounds, and bears a tattoo of Superman's signature "S" on his massive left arm. Yet NBA great Shaquille O'Neal protects himself off the basketball court with more than his physical might and inky bond with the Man of Steel.

He is licensed to carry a concealed weapon.

So are many other American sports figures, including NBA stars Paul Pierce and Vince Carter, NFL standouts Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, and Daunte Culpepper, and New York Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano, according to players and a Globe review of concealed weapon permits in states where the names of license holders are public record.

Many Bush programs need investigation, incoming Reform chairman says
Posted 11/10/2006 5:02 PM ET

He even looks like a bloodhound

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.

There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, political interference in regulatory decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of war profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything," Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. "The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose."

From the In Memoriam segment of PBS' The Newshour:

ED BRADLEY: If I arrive at the pearly gates and St. Peter says what did you do to deserve entry I'll say, 'Did you see my Lena Horn story?'

MP3 Audio or transcript.

Twelve minutes of Windows audio on the other side of the link.

Roundtable: African-Americans and the Media

News & Notes, November 10, 2006 · Guests discuss Ed Bradley's legacy and the future of African Americans in the media. Friday's panel: Mary Frances Berry, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania; Nat Irvin, professor at the Babcock Graduate School of Management of Wake Forest University; and economist and author Julianne Malveaux.

All four failed to identify their targets before firing, a direct violation of the fire discipline techniques drilled into every soldier

Startling Findings in Tillman Probe
Date: Thursday, November 09, 2006
By: By SCOTT LINDLAW and MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press Writers, APonline

(AP) - In a remote and dangerous corner of Afghanistan, under the protective roar of Apache attack helicopters and B-52 bombers, special agents and investigators did their work. They walked the landscape with surviving witnesses. They found a rock stained with the blood of the victim. They re-enacted the killings - here the U.S. Army Rangers swept through the canyon in their Humvee, blasting away; here the doomed man waved his arms, pleading for recognition as a friend, not an enemy.

...they first make mad.

"President Bush was an albatross around the necks of both Ehrlich and Steele," [F. Michael Higginbotham, professor of law at the University of Baltimore] said. "Steele tried to distance himself but he didn't do so enough. And Ehrlich never distanced himself."

Specifically, Steele's loss could be attributed to the fact that he "did not appeal to the concerns of Blacks," Higginbotham added.

"I think the Republican Party made a mistake in running people perceived as having style but no substance," he said.

Black vote crushes Republicans
O'Malley, Cardin win
By Dorothy Rowley
AFRO Staff Writer

During the state races, a bit of history was made when Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, GOP candidate for the senate race -- and the first Black Marylander elected statewide -- garnered one-third of the votes in Prince George's County, which is 61 percent African American. But it was Democrat Ben Cardin who proved victorious in that race -- which was close --with Steele formally conceding defeat the day after the elections.

With a tip of the hat to cnulan...

A PUTSCH AT THE DNC?:

Some big name Democrats want to oust DNC Chairman Howard Dean, arguing that his stubborn commitment to the 50-state strategy and his stinginess with funds for House races cost the Democrats several pickup opportunities.

The candidate being floated to replace Dean? Harold Ford.

Says James Carville, one of the anti-Deaniacs, "Suppose Harold Ford became chairman of the DNC? How much more money do you think we could raise? Just think of the difference it could make in one day. Now probably Harold Ford wants to stay in Tennessee. I just appointed myself his campaign manager."

Kinda early for that sort of infighting, isn't it James?

Negrophile linked to "Why Black Republicans Keep Losing", which lives behind The New Republic's financial firewall.

And, while so doing, it should take notice of a different trend: In contrast to almost every other demographic group, wealthy blacks are more likely to identify as Democrats than impoverished ones.

Might be an interesting read, if I could read it...I think I got one of those famous research papers that supports that statement.

Evidence indicates that moving from a minority to a majority position has little impact on group identification. The present study investigated how reactions of former minorities and stable minorities to the group as a whole and their own faction were moderated by the quality of support they received for their position (genuine vs. superficial vs. unexplained). Former minorities identified more strongly with the group when others converted to their position for genuine than for superficial (or unexplained) reasons. The group identification of stable minorities did not vary as a function of the quality of support. Both former minorities and stable minorities identified more with their own faction when they received genuine than superficial (or unexplained) support. These findings clarify the important role of quality of support in group and faction identification. Moreover, they show that former minorities do identify with the group when they receive support they can trust.

Chronic Diseases of Rich Countries Begin to Plague Developing Nations

The international community has set its sights on easing the burdens of infectious disease and malnutrition around the world. Yet some projections find that a bigger fraction of deaths in developing countries may soon come from chronic ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory illness. In one example of the underlying trend, researchers report that high blood glucose exacts a global death toll comparable to any pathogen and has fueled an epidemic of diabetes in Asia. Another new study surveys the known economic impacts of such chronic diseases.

In 2000 the United Nations issued its eight Millennium Development Goals for poorer nations, including the eradication of extreme poverty. As soon as children stop dying from pneumonia and malnutrition, however, new problems come into focus. "As the same children survive to slightly older ages they start getting hit by chronic disease," says population health researcher Majid Ezzati of Harvard University. "In many places it already has become the dominant cause" of illness, Ezzati notes, with sub-Saharan Africa being the primary exception. People in India, other countries in south Asia and impoverished parts of Latin America all suffer from significant rates of chronic disease, in part from a withering trinity of cheap high-calorie food, tobacco and alcohol, he says.

Yeah, multiple interpretation of that headline are possible...

U.S. seeks better ties by aiding militaries
Updated 11/10/2006 8:09 AM ET
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Concern about leftist victories in Latin America has prompted President Bush to quietly grant a waiver that allows the United States to resume training militaries from 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The administration hopes the training will forge links with countries in the region and blunt a leftward trend. Daniel Ortega, a nemesis of the United States in the region during the 1980s, was elected president in Nicaragua this week. Bolivians chose another leftist, Evo Morales, last year.

Just before the invasion all of Poppy's boys that hadn't already been assimilated came out against the plan. It actually gave me hope for a minute that there were still grown-ups with influence in the party. The Lord of the Flies ruled the day, unfortunately.

Now nobody will touch his radioactive ass except as a favot to his father. Ah, Oedipus... 

Old Hands From the Family Business
By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 10, 2006; A01

Nine months after invading Iraq, President Bush told an interviewer he did not turn to his father for strength. "There is a higher father that I appeal to," he said. Nearly three years later, Bush may be appealing to his earthly father as well. Or at least his people.

"It took a while for the Americans to realize who they had elected and the damage he had caused in the world," said Philippe Bas, 56, whose newsstand near a Paris subway stop was stacked with newspapers from across Europe carrying analyses of the election.

The neocon agenda was repudiated because it hurt us.

Let me point out a sample of the type of moral reasoning in play here.

Consider the hypothetical case of two men. Both are inclined toward homosexuality. Both from time to time hire the services of male prostitutes. Both have occasionally succumbed to drug abuse.

One of them marries, raises a family, preaches Christian principles, and tries generally to encourage people to lead stable lives.

The other publicly reveals his homosexuality, vilifies traditional moral principles, and urges the legalization of drugs and prostitution.

Which man is leading the more moral life? It seems to me that the answer is the first one. Instead of suggesting that his bad acts overwhelm his good ones, could it not be said that the good influence of his preaching at least mitigates the bad effect of his misconduct? Instead of regarding hypocrisy as the ultimate sin, could it not be regarded as a kind of virtue - or at least as a mitigation of his offense?

Understand this: as long as the net of your actions is good...by whatever scale you happen to use...you're okay. That means we will leave Iraq when the deciders feel more pain than benefit from the invasion.

Anway... 

Relief Suffuses World Views of U.S. Vote
Most Welcome Return of Bipartisan Government; Russia, China Express Caution
By Molly Moore and Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 10, 2006; A06

PARIS, Nov. 9 -- For Europe and much of the rest of the world, U.S. voters' repudiation of the Bush administration in midterm elections Tuesday and the dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday confirmed the widespread view that President Bush and his policies have done more to tarnish America's image abroad and strain its global relations than any other U.S. president in recent history.

RNC asks Steele to replace Mehlman
By Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 10, 2006

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party just lost both chambers of Congress, will leave his position in January, and the post as party chief has been offered to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele....

Other Republican Party officials said some Republican National Committee (RNC) members, including state party chairmen, have mounted a move to have Mr. Steele succeed Mr. Mehlman.

But they said that President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove, who is Mr. Mehlman's mentor, would rather see Mr. Steele serve in the president's Cabinet, perhaps as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. These officials said no one has actually offered Mr. Steele either the RNC post or a Cabinet post.

When a reporter's hand was placed against the robot's taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto. A cameraman was mistaken for bacon.

Everyone knows people taste just like chicken...

Japanese unveil robot wine steward
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press writer

TSU, Japan — The ability to discern good wine from bad, name the specific brand from a tiny sip and recommend a complementary cheese would seem to be about as human a skill as there is.

In Japan, robots are doing it.

Researchers at NEC System Technologies and Mie University have designed a robot that can taste — an electromechanical sommelier able to identify dozens of different wines, cheeses and hors d'oeuvres.

Just sayin'...

[T]he wiretapping bill is simply outrageous, and it has no business being discussed in this lame duck session.

Bipartisanship on Hold

...Without missing a beat, Mr. Bush made it clear that, for now, his idea of how to “put the elections behind us” is to use the Republicans’ last two months in control of Congress to try to push through one of the worst ideas his administration and its Republican allies on Capitol Hill have come up with: a bill that would legalize his illegal wiretapping program and gut the law that limits a president’s ability to abuse his power in this way.

Trenticosta argued in a September hearing that his client's conviction was tainted because prison officials had bribed the star witness into testifying against Wallace...

A former guard said that Hezekiah Brown, a fellow inmate, received favorable treatment after testifying; he began receiving a weekly carton of cigarettes and was transferred from a main prison building to a house with his own room and television set.

Trenticosta said Brown also won a promise from C. Murray Henderson, warden at the time, that he would help the inmate win release from prison. Trenticosta argued that the warden's promise, plus the cigarettes and cushy new housing, amounted to a payoff in exchange for testimony implicating Wallace in the killing.

...Prosecutors argued there was no proof of bribery...

Ex-Black Panther's conviction questioned
By DOUG SIMPSON Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — A state court official has recommended reversing the murder conviction of a former Black Panther who has been held in solitary confinement at Louisiana's state penitentiary since the early 1970s.

Shay at Booker Rising

Enlighten me, in reading [Michael "Cobb" Bowen's] article "Steele In Black, Red, White & Blue" and viewing the chart for the U.S. Senate race in Maryland, why did those N__________S in Prince George's County, Md. and the City of Baltimore give Rep. Ben Cardin over 100,000 votes and 75,000 votes and only give Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a BLACK MALE, approximately 30,000 and 25,000 votes. This is the main reason he lost the election. Is Prince George's County and the City of Baltimore mainly where all the UNCLE TOMS live? Those black voters remind me of a group of crabs in a pail, when one attempts to reach the top, the others pull him back. No wonder we don't have enough black elected officials. Maybe those two areas should be renamed "Prince George's Plantation" of Maryland and "Baltimore City Plantation" of Maryland.

Pitiful. Who is this supposed to convince?

You know Australia waited until after our election was over. If Republicans had kept control of both houses, Congress might have declared war over this. 

Therapeutic cloning involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilised human egg and adding human DNA before growing it in the lab. The bill states that cloned embryos would have to be destroyed within 14 days and could not be implanted into a woman.

Australia approves use of cloned human embryos
11:48 08 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
New Scientist staff and AFP

The Australian senate has voted to permit the use of cloned human embryos for stem cell research, sparking an emotional debate on the ethics of the scientific procedure.

RANGEL 'MEANS' TO IRK VP
By IAN BISHOP Post Correspondent

November 9, 2006 -- Rep. Charles Rangel, the incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, revealed yesterday that he's got his eye on Capitol Hill office space now held by the man he recently called a "son of a bitch" - Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Mr. Cheney enjoys an office on the second floor of the House of Representatives that historically has been designated for the Ways and Means Committee chairman," explained Rangel, who vaulted to the top slot of the tax-writing panel - one of the most powerful in Congress - when Democrats rolled over the GOP to take control of the House.

NewScientist.com has an article about home schooling among evangelicals in the USofA that you can read if Jesus Camp isn't playing locally. And you know, it's not even scary to me anymore.

See, I read this

"Christians increasingly have an advantage in the educational enterprise," he says. "This is evident in the success of Christian home-schooled children, as compared to their government-schooled friends who have spent their time constructing their own truths." 

And I wanted to be at least slightly outraged over 'constructing their own truths.' You see how I anchor things to physical reality. I'm like, there's only one planet, right? How can one have their own individual truths?

Hey, all the lights and cable channels were back when I walked in. Go figure.

I think all the rain did something bad in my neighborhood, or on my house or something. I got no Internet and only random cable channels, and it's been so long since I used dial-up I don't even have the telephone cord anymore. So here I sit in the library, bereft of all my normal resources.

Repair folks are due tomorrow A.M. Until then, maybe I'll write something juicy for tomorrow.

The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.

Democrats Take Control of the Senate
By LIZ SIDOTI and BOB LEWIS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 8, 2006; 8:45 PM

WASHINGTON -- Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.

Jim Webb's squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday's elections.