When Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. emerged from last summer's disappearance—he had, his family said, been seeking treatment for bipolar disorder at the Mayo Clinic—his chief of staff told reporters that he was "convalescing with his wife and children at home in Washington." But last week, he was seen convalescing in a D.C. bar with two different women on two consecutive nights.
Just a week after Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel wrote a partially plagiarized letter threatening to fire employees if they voted for Obama, now comes news that Koch Industries is taking a similar approach by using its position as a major employer to influence elections. According to an In These Times report, the Koch-owned Georgia Pacific sent a packet to its 45,000 employees earlier his month. The packet included a cover letter from Koch Industries President and Chief Operating Officer Dave Robertson which reads, in part:
A lot of people, it turns out. America's 236-year streak of successful, peaceful transitions of power from one administration to the next is about to be broken, because come Election Day 2012, no matter who wins, this country is going to break out into Riot City.
There's nothing more American than comparing a vice-presidential candidate's physical appearance to a children's cartoon character. And Paul Ryan's just got one of those faces that makes everyone wonder "who does he remind me of?" Sometimes the similarities are obvious and sometimes they require picturing a former child actor copulating with a small, carnivorous rodent, but they're all right, every last one of them.
Yele Haiti, the self-serving charity that Wyclef Jean founded (with other peoples' money) to burnish his reputation, lay the ground for a self-aggrandizing run at the presidency of Haiti, keep his mistress employed, and pay himself generous performance fees, has finally collapsed under the weight of its own inefficiency and corruption. According to the New York Times, it has effectively ceased operations.
Danny Tamberelli, that auburn-headed star of, oh I don't know, everything that was true and good and right from Nickelodeon's Golden Age–The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Figure It Out, All That– is here to answer your questions and indulge your 90's nostalgia.
If you think that Stevie Nicks is a bizarre person to weigh in on the Mariah Carey/Nicki Minaj American Idol feud, she'll see your bizarreness and raise you a murderous impulse. Pop music's most cherished witch figure seems to be the last person in the world who doesn't think Mariah and Nicki's public squabbling is a publicity stunt to court interest for the dying brand that is Idol, and that's a great thing because Nicks is saying ridiculous stuff as a result. Stuff like:
Snapped by AFP/Getty photographer Paul J. Richards during yesterday's McGovern Leadership Award Ceremony, this photo of World Food Programme Ambassador Christina Aguilera getting — ahem — vetted by Hillary Clinton leads The Superficial to wonder: "How long has Bill Clinton been able to assume control of Hillary's body?"
Actor Ron Livingston, best remembered for his roles as Peter Gibbons in Mike Judge's cult comedy Office Space and terrible breaker-upper Jack Berger in Sex in the City, finally weighed in yesterday on the ongoing saga of his local news anchor sister's very public smackdown of a viewer who said her size made her a poor role model for kids.
So amid the barrage of very, very substantive numbers and equations we heard last night was this: Mitt Romney wants to cut marginal tax rates by 20% across the board. Most people agree that this action, taken on its own, would reduce federal receipts by $4.8 trillion over ten years. But! Romney says he will make up for that lost revenue by eliminating loopholes to the tune of $4.8 trillion over the next decade, so there won't really be a tax cut. Which raises the question: Why the fuck are you cutting taxes, then?
A new report from Radar Online alleges that the reason Britney Spears hasn't been responding to your texts or leaving comments when you check in to Saad's Halal on Foursquare is that both her Internet and cell phone usage are "heavily monitored" to protect her from any negative influences like you and your drunk momma and that skateboard crew you roll around with. Also, her former manager says drug-sniffing dogs found crystal meth in her house once.
