
It's me wee sis' birthday today!
Please wish her a happy day.
As some of you know, I am disgusted by celebrity freebies.
Here is an awesome article from Radar that puts things in prospective (in a much more entertaining way than I could) And Heifer International is highlighted, which is an awesome organization.
This Sunday, MTV will lure celebs to Miami with boatloads of swag. How many water buffaloes can fit in those gift bags?
This Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards in Miami there will be a few things we can rely on happening. Diddy will host, Shakira will shake, and scores of celebrities will walk away with a ton of swag. The VMAs join a list of 13,747 (by our rough estimate) award shows that will take place this year, and while not every celebrity will win a statuette, no celebrity will go home empty-handed. Not for nothing is Hollywood called the most giving community on earth; the loot in the Emmy bag alone tips the register at $30,000. A lot of people might not appreciate how generous that is. Especially people so selfish that they don’t even own a television on which to watch award shows, or perhaps even a house in which to put a television. To translate party swag into terms those people can understand, Radar Online sifted through the contents of another MTV goody bag—this one from June’s Movie Awards—and figured out what its contents could buy from two popular charity catalogs, Good Gifts and Heifer International.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
An official of a theological watchdog group on Tuesday criticized Robertson's statement as "chilling."
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club."
"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
On Tuesday, critics objected to Robertson's statements.
"It's absolutely chilling to hear a religious leader call for the murder of any political leader, no matter how much he disagrees with such a leader's policies or practices," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
David Brock, president of Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group, said the remarks should discredit Robertson as a spokesman for the religious right.
Robertson, 75, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, accused the United States of failing to act when Chavez was briefly overthrown in 2002.
A Robertson spokeswoman, Angell Watts, said he would not do interviews Tuesday and had no statement elaborating on his remarks.
A call seeking comment from the U.S. State Department was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Chavez was believed to be in Cuba, but his whereabouts were unknown and no media access was announced.
In Caracas, pro-Chavez legislator Desire Santos Amaral accused Robertson of shedding his Christian values.
"This man cannot be a true Christian. He's a fascist," Santos said. "This is part of the policies of aggression from the right wing in the North against our revolution."
Santos said she thinks U.S.-Venezuelan relations could still improve but comments by "charlatans and fascists" like Robertson only get in the way.
Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier of oil to the United States. The CIA estimates that U.S. markets absorb almost 59 percent of Venezuela's total exports.
Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer

"I was like you got to be freaking kidding me," said Govan, 25. "I was so mad I couldn't even cuss."
Govan said the only thing she did to Comcast employees that might be considered rude came after a few dozen calls when she felt she was treated shabbily. "I did tell them, 'You know what, it has to be a qualification to work for your company that you have to be rude,'" she said.
Govan said she talked to a supervisor and he offered her two months free service, which she turned down.
Finally Wednesday, about two weeks after she got her bill, somebody from the company left a message on her answering machine in which the caller apologized.
Comcast officials said it shouldn't have happened.
"We only use the actual customers names on the bill," said Patricia Andrews-Keenan, a Comcast spokeswoman.
Company officials went through the records and identified two people who were involved with the name change and fired them, Andrews-Keenan said. It's unknown why the employees did it.
In another case, Peoples Energy customer Jefferoy Barnes started getting letters addressed to "Jeffery Scrotum Bag Barnes."
"I had no bad words at all. I guess the earliest letter is dated in May and from then on up until now my name has been listed as Jeffery Scrotum Bag Barnes and I have no idea why."
Barnes said he received an apologetic call from a company official. He also has contacted an attorney to determine if he can take legal action.
A Peoples Energy spokeswoman called the letter inexcusable.
Yahoo News
1. Okay. People like you are ruining blogging for the rest of us. I don't know how you found my blog but please stop posting on it. Stop leaving your crap marketing scheme ads on my blog. This is very un-Christian. Thank you.
2. if you could stop sending me random comments that don't mean anything and are just to advertise for your blogs, that'd be great
A British firm is behind an exhibition of some of the world's weirdest coffins in Germany.

Each of the caskets was made by Nottingham-based coffin-makers Vic Fearn and Co.

They include coffins in the shape of a sports bag, a kite, a canal boat, a guitar - and even a skip.

Each was created in response to requests from people wanting tailor-made coffins.
The Crazy Coffins exhibition is on display at a museum in Kassel, central Germany, until September 4.

A Chilean artist has opened a new exhibition of artworks made of food.

Alejandra Prieto's work includes a chair made of sausages, another made of fish skin and chocolate bars and a sofa made of jam.
She told Las Ultimas Noticias: “I think it is interesting the relationship between the pieces and the materials you can use to build them.
“In this sense I like to use food for the diversity of colours and textures and because it gives off a poetic vibe.”
The exhibition is at Die Ecke Gallery in Santiago.
Courtesy of Ananova

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U.S. President George W. Bush used a legislative loophole on Monday to appoint John Bolton as his country's ambassador to the United Nations.
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| John Bolton (AP file photo) |
In making the announcement in Washington, Bush praised Bolton as someone who "brought people together to achieve meaningful results at the United Nations."
Bolton's critics, including senior Democratic Party senators, had been holding up his confirmation on the grounds that he has long been one of the UN's most vehement critics. He has called the world body both irrelevant and corrupt.
Bush was able to bypass them by using a loophole that allows him to make what's known as a "recess appointment" when Congress is not sitting.
Bolton is currently the top arms-control official in the U.S. State Department.
On Monday, he struck a conciliatory tone in his remarks after the president's announcement, saying he was "profoundly honoured and humbled" by the appointment.
He said he intends to work hard as "an advocate for America's values at the United Nations."
During the confirmation hearings, Bolton was taken to task by such Senate heavyweights as John Kerry and Joe Biden.
"You have said there's no such thing as the United Nations," Kerry said to Bolton at hearings in April. "You've said if the UN building in New York lost 10 storeys it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
"You've said that the peace-enforcement operations and nation-building should, quote, be relegated to history's junk pile," said Biden.
While Bolton didn't deny or disavow his words, he said that many of the statements were made as a private citizen and that others had been quoted out of context.
CBC NEWS