News Hub: Republicans Retaking Center Stage?
The retirement announcement of Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) is raising the question of whether the Republicans are poised to retake control. WSJ’s Naftali Bendavid joins Simon Constable in the News Hub with more.
Can’t argue with that. But it’s obvious that the half-hearted efforts of a middle-of-the-road, waffling legislator like Bayh are not going to solve the problem, so the Senate will be better off without him.
What we don’t need in a broken Senate is veterans who think it can and should be restored to its putative pristine glory. Those who, like Bayh, hanker for the days of the old gentleman’s club where reason and collegiality prevailed are not much help in today’s environment. That Senate, if it ever did exist, is truly gone with the wind.
See the full article from “MarketWatch”
February 13, 2010
Muslim resistance to full body airport scanners
Matthew May
According to the Detroit Free Press, something called the Fiqh Council of North America (ostensibly a group of Islamic scholars) has declared via fatwa that Muslims are prohibited from passing through body scanners at airports. “Fiqh” is a term meaning “Islamic jurisprudence” and the council is located where one would logically assume a council on Islamic jurisprudence would be housed – Plainfield, Indiana.
In part, the fatwa reads:
“It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women. Islam emphasizes haya (modesty) and it considers it part of faith.”
Would that this emphasis had been drilled into the jihadists frequenting strip clubs before performing the will of Allah.
See the full article from “American Thinker (blog)”
Jockularity for Tuesday, Feb. 9
By Greg FrazierDaily News Sports Editor
Posted: 02/09/2010 07:15:02 AM PST
Updated: 02/09/2010 07:15:03 AM PST
The Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Dave Hyde, after Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie was kicked off the Pro Bowl team: “It was his first Pro Bowl, and he evidently was so taken by the honor that he celebrated it by, well, celebrating. And celebrating. He missed four of the five NFC practices, a team meeting, the team photo, and last anyone heard from his Twitter account, was leaving South Beach, evidently for a North Dade strip club. Man, that was such a fun sentence to write I need a cigarette.”
ESPN The Magazine’s Rick Reilly, daring to dream of a Saints victory: “Can you imagine? A Super Bowl parade in New Orleans? It would make Mardi Gras look like two boys pulling a beagle in a wagon.”
See the full article from “San Jose Mercury News”
Then they turned ahead the hands of time by having Tom Petty, whose first hit was on the radio when Rosalyn Carter was still hanging drapes in the White House. After that? AARP cover boy (really) Bruce Springsteen. And now we get The Who. And it’s not even The Who. It’s Who’s Left. Keith Moon died from an overdose of pills (for a rock ‘n roll drummer, that’s “natural causes”) in ‘78. Monster bass player John Entwistle died from a cocaine overdose while humping a stripper in Las Vegas in 2002 (again, “natural causes”). So that left The Who with a creaky, preening front man suffering from LSD (Lead Singer Disease), and a cranky old guitar player with a shady interest in child porn who shambled onstage looking like the befuddled granddad of Axl Timberlake. It was like watching a couple of 65-year-olds out there, flailing around like they were singing “Those Were The Days” at their daughter’s retirement party. Oh, wait—they ARE a couple of 65-year-olds.
See the full article from “New West”
Back in New Orleans, in Bourbon Street, Jackson Square and the French Quarter, in neighbourhoods that were until recently scenes of dereliction, the city erupted in one giant party that lasted till dawn and set the scene for the ultimate Mardi Gras celebrations over the coming week.
People poured on to the streets in the team’s black and gold colours, dancing, hugging and weeping. “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?” they chanted. Jazz bands let rip. Bars blasted out When the Saints Go Marching in. Fireworks exploded.
Police officers gave up the pretence of staying aloof and joined the pulsating throngs. Strippers stopped dancing. Priests and nuns joined the uproar. The city’s newspaper, The Times-Picayune, printed nearly 200,000 extra copies of an edition that is certain to become a collector’s item. Even dogs were dressed in Saints shirts, and Mitch Landrieu’s election on Saturday as New Orleans’ first white mayor in three decades was overshadowed.
See the full article from “Times Online”
LOUISIANA: Ecstatic fans poured into
the streets of the French Quarter late on Sunday as storm-scarred New Orleans
celebrated its first-ever Super Bowl win by their beloved Saints.
A
city famous for diversions – Mardi Gras, music and colourful politics, to name a
few – set aside distractions to focus on the big game. Even the strippers on
bawdy Bourbon Street stopped dancing. Instead, they joined thousands of
revellers cheering the Saints on live television sets at nearby bars.
“We have no music, no stages. It’s the first time I’ve seen a club
shut down and I’ve been doing this for five years,” said Sam Stonebraker, 34, a
host at Rick’s Cabaret. “The game is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime event in
this city.” White fireworks burst in the distance. Strangers hugged, whooped and
hollered in the streets, waving flags, shaking cowbells and dancing to
spontaneous brass bands. College students embraced restaurant waiters. A
homeless man toasted beers with well-dressed tourists. Cameras flashed.
Motorists honked horns with a cheerful cadence usually heard only at Carnival.
See the full article from “Times of India”
Las Vegas has the gambling dens and bright lights but when America wants to party hard, when the people want to let their hair down and not give two hoots how it looks, they head for the Crescent City.
The Big Easy has long had a reputation as a modern-day Sodom, a place where anything goes, where you can drink all day and all night, and where you are viewed a little strangely if you don’t.
It is a city of strip clubs and street hustlers, home of Mardi Gras and a place where, in the middle of the afternoon, women rip off tops and bras, and let it all hang out on Bourbon Street for no more reward than a baying crowd and a few necklaces of festival beads.
See the full article from “Mirror.co.uk (blog)”
1:00pm Central time, February 7, 2010 – CBS’s pregame for Super Bowl XLIV begins, brought to you by chips, beer, Bourbon Street, and Dwight Freeney’s ankle.
3:45pm – Katie Couric interviews President Barack Obama on the Super Bowl. Next, Keyshawn Johnson and Cris Carter debate health care.
5:00pm – Rihanna and Jay-Z open the kickoff show on CBS, brought to you by Hyundai, who proudly announce they are not Toyota.
5:12pm – Solomon Wilcots reports from the Saints sideline, wearing a pink tablecloth and a pink-yet-still-horribly-mismatching tie. HD TV was made for moments like this.
5:20pm – Carrie Underwood performs the National Anthem, clad in white stripper heels and an outfit that can only be described as “Naughty Ice Cream Truck Driver.”
5:21pm – The camera pans the players. Nice of Jeremy Shockey to wash his hair for the occasion. He looks like Kid Rock’s big brother.
See the full article from “Examiner.com”
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 2/8/2010New Orleans explodes with joy after Saints winEcstatic fans poured into the streets of the French Quarter late Sunday as storm-scarred New Orleans celebrated its first-ever Super Bowl win by their beloved Saints.
A city famous for diversions – Mardi Gras, music and colorful politics, to name a few – set aside distractions to focus on the big game.
Even the strippers on bawdy Bourbon Street stopped dancing. Instead, they joined thousands of revelers cheering the Saints on live television sets at nearby bars.
“We have no music, no stages. It’s the first time I’ve seen a club shut down and I’ve been doing this for five years,” said Sam Stonebraker, 34, a host at Rick’s Cabaret.
“The game is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime event in this city.”
See the full article from “MSN Malaysia News”
… Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints! Who dat? Who Dat!,” a crowd in a French Quarter restaurant chanted, after the team scored their first touchdown.
A city famous for diversions – Mardi Gras, music and colourful politics, to name – set aside distractions to focus on the big game.
Even the strippers on bawdy Bourbon Street stopped dancing. Instead, thousands of revelers cheered the Saints on live television sets at nearby bars.
“We have no music, no stages. It’s the first time I’ve seen a club shut down and I’ve been doing this for five years,” said Sam Stonebraker, 34, a host at Rick’s Cabaret, a gentleman’s club. “The game is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime event in this city.”
On a typical night, the club has 40 “entertainers” dancing on stage – not tonight.
A few doors down, the Temptations strip club was also upstaged by the Saints Super Bowl.
See the full article from “Sydney Morning Herald”