Like an avenging angel of the Internet, a judge has ruled that a spammer must spend 9 years in the slammer for cramming countless email boxes with millions of junk messages: However, Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jeremy Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions. A jury had … [Read more...] about Spammer Gets 9 Years In Slammer

...we can turn to CNet News, where in an article on weblogs the following is offered: The growth rate of blogs is impressive. Technorati, a search engine that monitors blogs, tracked more than 8 million online diaries as of March 21, up from 100,000 just two years ago. A new blog is created every 7.4 seconds. That adds up to 12,000 new blogs a day, 275,000 posts a day and … [Read more...] about For a bit of navel gazing…

Is the Tim Allen grunting oaf popular again with women? (And am I the lamest 25-year-old for using Tim Allen as a cultural reference?) A new poll - fittingly commissioned by Dodge Trucks - gives mixed and somewhat ambiguous results:•75 percent of women said their ideal man buys his grooming products at a grocery store or drugstore, not a salon. •72 percent of women … [Read more...] about Dudes preferable to pansies

...and the scenes in the courtroom more and more dramatic. And a pattern seems to emerging. More very bad news for Michael Jackson. UPDATE: 5:30 pm PST and the GREAT new tabloid site SPLOID offers this story about testimony touching on (literally) former child actor Macaulay Culkin. (Remember: Michael Jackson contends this is happening because he's black...) … [Read more...] about The Evidence Gets More And More Graphic…..

...abortion, that is. My college newspaper colleague Steve Barnett, now a law student in Oregon, describes his Con Law session on abortion law:We went silent because we knew blood was going to be shed. We knew after that day some of us would no longer would be friends. We knew passions would boil high, and our voices would be the piercing whistles telling others that we had … [Read more...] about A surprisingly respectful discussion on a polarizing issue…

And you think YOU have problems with your sick relatives, bills, flooded basement? And you think Michael Jackson has problems with his trial? All of those are mere trifles compared to what this guy faces. Writes Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson: Imagine you're a 56-year-old man, famously unemployed. Your mother is a domineering executive consumed by her work, your … [Read more...] about A Royal Pain

Tom DeLay is providing just too, too much work for journalists (and bloggers) and may be trying to enter the Guiness World Book of Records under "Scandals" — so Slate helps all of us out with this wrap up...a kind of Sleaze-O-Rama. Enjoy! … [Read more...] about You Can’t Tell The Tom DeLay Scandal Now Without A Scorecard

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star governor put in office with the votes of thousands of independents and Democrats, has just suffered his first major defeat. His plan to overhaul the state's pension plan has bombed and he has taken it off the table — for now, he says — for an overhaul: SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Under pressure from firefighters … [Read more...] about Is It “THE END” For Arnold’s California Pension Reform Plan?

...but I know it when I see it. And this (or some of this) is it: BERLIN - One hundred virtually naked women between the ages of 18 and 65 displayed their bodies in a Berlin art gallery Thursday to prepare for a one-day exhibit Friday. Wearing only transparent tights, the 100 nearly nude models stood, kneeled or sat down on the floor of the New National Gallery before a … [Read more...] about I May Not Know What “Art” Is…..

Newshog's Cernig MUST be psychic because he has just run this item: This week's challenge from the Unpaid Punditry Corps was - "You are producing a political television program. And it's your baby, all the way. You're on CNBC, you have a guaranteed year of programming, and you have to select four bloggers who will serve on a thirty-minute-long daily roundtable discussion of … [Read more...] about He MUST Be Psychic…..

It was a major milestone day for democracy as Ukraine's newly-elected president, Viktor Yushchenko, his face still pockmarked by the attempt to poison him, thanked Congress and the U.S. for its support: Ukraine's newly-elected president, Viktor Yushchenko, has thanked the United States for supporting Ukraine as it begins a series of democratic and economic reforms. VOA's … [Read more...] about Viktor Yushchenko Thanks America

The testimony is getting more graphic in the trial of Michael Jackson on child molestation charges — and as legal experts note, once allegations of past molestations are allowed in it changes the context. What seemed like a trial with a somewhat questionable victim is now a trial where a pattern seems to be emerging. Here's a small part of the latest: Jurors at Michael … [Read more...] about The Jackson Trial: Showing A Pattern

This is now getting ridiculous, if it wasn't at the beginning so let's say it in unmoderate Jewish language: hey you schmucks, throwing a pie at someone with whom you disagree might elicit a guilty chuckle once or twice but now you're showing yourself as truly tiresome idiots. This isn't a matter of left or right or Democrat or Republican now. It's a matter of seeing people … [Read more...] about The Three Stooges Are Rolling Over In Their Custard

...then here is a rather long post pointing out patterns in recent events in the US and how they link together. … [Read more...] about If you have the time to ponder…

A new Wall Street Journal poll might serve as a wake-up call to the GOP's top leadership that some of its stances are not only polarizing America but splintering the party itself — not a good sign for a party whose President is serving out his second term: Almost three months into President Bush's second term, a raft of economic and social issues — Social Security, … [Read more...] about GOP Bigwigs’ Policies Are Polarizing Their Own Party

Is this the year of good political news? As if the spread of freedom in the Middle East isn't enough, now there's this story that suggests the IRA may well renounce the violence for which it is (in)famous: BELFAST, Northern Ireland Apr 7, 2005 — The Irish Republican Army said Thursday it will consider an appeal by Sinn Fein party chief Gerry Adams to renounce violence, a … [Read more...] about Will The IRA Renounce Violence?

Centerfield's Rick Heller has a fascinating post zeroing in on a Pew Center Study on Dean activists. He gives you a PDF file to the study and the link and quotes from a Washington Post story. Read his post and the links in it. Clearly, the Democratic Party is at a crossroads: it needs to harness the energy, expertise and enthuasism of the Dean voters, but if it gives them the … [Read more...] about Dean Supporters: Boon Or Bane For The Democrats?

...that in humor there is truth: Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.     -Pat Paulsen … [Read more...] about It is good to remember…

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay has hammered back at critics in the press (and we presume he also includes blogs) that have dared raise questions about paychecks going to his hard-working wife and daughter: In an interview with CNN, Mr. DeLay criticized an article in The New York Times on Wednesday that said his wife, Christine A. DeLay, and his daughter, Dani Ferro, had received more … [Read more...] about Don’t You Realize That Tom DeLay’s Relatives Work Hard To Be On His Payroll?

...you can find a suggested text here. … [Read more...] about For those working on their “living wills”…