Boy, when people say FOX News has made enemies they’re not kidding.
In what seems to be a pretty serious hack Monday morning of the news organizations twitter account @foxnewspolitics, hackers tweeted that President Barack Obama had been shot twice and killed.
The original FOX logo was altered and the text "H4CK3D BY TH3 5CR1PT K1DD3S" added.
The photo below shows the progression of the hoax, first saying the President had been assassinated by two gunshot wounds to the pelvic and neck area and bled out, and later congratulating Vice President Joe Biden in his new role as Commander in Chief.
The hackers said that Obama had been shot at Ross Restaurant in Iowa while on a campaign function, and later tweeted condolences to the country for the assassination that occurred on the fourth of July Holiday.
FOX later responded with a news release indicating they were aware of the problem saying,
“Fox News Twitter feed for political news was hacked early Monday morning.
Hackers sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family.
The hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.”
We can only imagine the initial panic people felt after seeing the original comments and there was, indeed, quite a stir when this news broke.
Note to hackers:
Next time, please try to hack into Sarah Palins account – she needs to be knocked down a couple pegs.
Great news for the world of twenty-four hour news punditry - Glenn Beck is Leaving Fox News!
Fox News channel announced Wednesday that they were dropping the Glenn Beck Show later this year when the fear-mongering opinion host’s contract expires.
Fox has been growing increasingly nervous over Becks’ show as ratings have dropped by one-third in just the last six months. Also, an advertising boycott of the show caused revenue shortfalls and was impacting earnings.
For a short period, Beck was popular with Tea Party members and drew almost one hundred thousand spectators to the National Mall in Washington last August for his "Restoring Honor" rally.
But at the end of the day smarter heads prevailed and finally said NO to the communist fearing, socialist accusing, fear mongering lunatic that used old school black boards and other writer’s propaganda to attempt to inject fear into our country.
Fox News and Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, said they will work together to create other projects for that complement each others strengths.
Yea, good luck with that. We’ll never see him on the network again after this fall.
Now we can start to work on getting rid of Bill O’Reilly...
Finally got me an iPhone. Not that I needed one... truly, who actually needs an iPhone? I mean, if you think about it, do we really need portable phones? I got by for 28 years without one, and sure, its nice to be able to call someone and say, "Hey, I'm on the way" or send a text really quickly to say, "Remind me again what time the movie is" or "Can you pick up some milk?" but really, do we need one?
The answer? We do now. Its become an intregal part of life. We'd survive without it, but why do we have to? That's like saying, "Well, yeah, we'd get by if every Baha Burger or Chipotle closed its doors forever" but why would we want to do that?
iPhone 3gs 8gb
So, it stands to reason that naturally, I don't have a phone tonight. Well, technically, I do have a phone. I have two sitting in front of me, but neither have service.
The Lovely Steph Leann's phone has been dying for a few days, dropping calls, not connecting and so on. It was time for an upgrade, so I went with her to AT&T to do just that, for both of us. Initially she tried to lead me left side of the store, to the "buy one get one free" phones for like, $10. But, of course, I'm having none of that, and found myself wandering to the right side of the store where the "smartphones" were on display.
And then, I found myself standing in front of the iPhones. I had resisted the iPhone for a while because when they first came out, they were just so doggone expensive, and the plans were reeeeeediculous. But as time has gone by, the prices have dropped, as with just about everything. The 4G came out earlier this summer, which meant the 3GS was down to about $100 or so. The Lovely Steph Leann put up a slight resistance, but I think she kinda knew it was a lost cause... kinda like me putting up a slight resistance to expensive dining room chairs. Its going to happen. Just go with it.
As we got in the car, The Lovely Steph Leann turns to me and says, "Okay, so we've got you caught up on technology for a while. We're done."
She got another Nokia, her being a Nokia kinda girl, and I got an iPhone ordered. They were out, so it was to be shipped to The Cabana and delivered some time this week. And being off yesterday, today and tomorrow (Thursday), I used Tuesday as my lazy as crap day, Thursday will be my get stuff done day, and today was my for errands. And in my errands, I stopped at the Hoover Public Library, got some audiobooks and subsequently checked my email while there... and discovered that my iPhone had been delivered this afternoon.
Racing home, I found it sitting on the end table, as The Lovely Steph Leann was home for lunch while the FedEx guy stopped by. I tore it open like a kid tearing into a Christmas gift, pulled out the box, opened it with my teeth and picked up my black 3GS iPhone... and plugged it in.
A few hours later, I pulled it off the charger, synced it with iTunes and called the number to get it activated. It cut off service to my old Motorola Razr. That's fine, don't need service on two phones. Turned off my iPhone and waited the 5 to 10 minutes it asks you to wait, then turned it on. No service. Turned it off again, waited a few more minutes, turned it back on. No service.
Went to church, as we came back, turned it on, no service. Figured we'd go by the AT&T store, get it solved. Well, the store closed at 7pm. And its 754pm. Called AT&T, and was told that I had to go back to the store upon which I purchased the phone. So, at 9am, I have to go. Until then, no service. No phone.
Is this something annoying, or should I enjoy my freedom from connection?
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Watched two movies yesterday just on a whim...
"College" stars Drake Bell(from Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh") and Chicken Little from American Idol, Kevin Covais. Anyway, Drake plays Kevin, and he and his buddies Morris (Covais) and Carter (Andrew Caldwell) go spend a high school senior-checking-out-the-school weekend at Friedmont University, fall for some sorority chicks, get in trouble with the bad boy fraternity on campus, and hilarity ensues.
Well, not really hilarity, just a lame attempt at such, with your expected booby jokes, chick jokes, and teen humor. I laughed one single time at about the hour fifteen mark. Terrible film, not Emmy Turnbow approved.
"Lower Learning" stars Jason Biggs, Eva Longoria Parker and Monica Potter. Bottom line, Biggs plays an assistant principal who is trying to stop the mean, corrupt principal (Rob Corddry) from tanking the school and getting it shut down. Eva plays a school inspector, and Monica Potter is a teacher and... you know what, it stunk. Wasn't nearly as crude as "College", but didn't try nearly as hard. At least "College" gets a B for effort.
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I oftne make fun of Alabama Adventure, and mostly because it kinda deserves it, but sometimes the comedy just presents itself...
No evidence that this guy spread the parasite. Its merely a picture.
BESSEMER, ALABAMA-- The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating reports of several people getting sick after visiting the water park at Alabama Adventure in Bessemer.
The state health department, in a statement Friday afternoon to FOX6 News, said it was investigating a, "cluster of ill persons" associated with the Alabama Adventure Water Park in Bessemer. The health department said these individuals tested positive for a parasite that causes an illness called cryptosporidiosis.
"Cryptosporidiosis" is a frightening word. So sez Wikipedia: Cryptosporidiosis, also known as crypto,[1] is a parasitic disease caused by Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite in the phylum Apicomplexa. It affects the intestines of mammals and is typically an acute short-term infection. It is spread through the fecal-oral route, often through contaminated water;[1] the main symptom is self-limiting diarrhea in people with intact immune systems.
Not sure its the worst job in the whole world, but "PR Guy for Alabama Adventures" has to in the Top Ten, at least for now.
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A good way to get a date is be a professional athlete. All the rest of us had to work slightly harder... this guy made it happen, though...
OAKLAND -- Jacki Lynch walked into her first A's game Thursday night with no other itinerary than to take advantage of a free ticket and enjoy the company of some college friends.
Kevin Fennell, however, had a different plan for her, although both didn't know it at the start.
The 21-year-old A's ballboy, stationed near Oakland's bullpen throughout the game, spotted Lynch nearby in the stands and, after putting his glove on a foul ball, passed by a line of fans and handed it to her.
"He looked at me and pointed," Lynch recalled. "I said, 'Me?' and he came over and gave me the ball."
Later in the game, an eventual 4-3 Oakland win over Tampa Bay, Fennell did it again, at which point the A's television crew caught on to the act and shared it with its audience -- including those friendly with Lynch.
"People kept texting and calling me," Lynch told MLB.com by phone on Friday. "I thought it was so funny. I can't believe how much attention this has all been getting."
Although video only shows Fennell handing off two balls, he admitted the count actually grew to four. Lynch, though, says she walked away with five balls, the last of which came via messenger from the bullpen, reading, "How about a phone number for our Ball Man, Kevin?"
Fennell not only received the digits, but he's also already communicated with Lynch via text message to set up a date.
Flipped channels just now to Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1997 epic "Double Team", co-starring Dennis Rodman. I think I liked it when I was 22. Now? The movie is horrendous. First, how is Van Damme's thickly accented character even named Jack Quinn? Shouldn't it be something slightly foriegn? Secondly, its just a terribly acted movie. I was actually surviving it until Dennis Rodman came onscreen, and it went from worse to catastrophic.
I'm not sure which is worse--the acting in this trailer, or the narrator desperately sounding like he's trying not to laugh.
It was so bad that I flipped about four channels north to Steven Seagal's"Fire Down Below", also from 1997. While a bad, bad film, its a good bad, craptastic if you will. Kris Kristofferson as a villian, a strangely hot pre-CSI Marg Helgenberger, current in the 90s country stars Randy Travis and Mark Collie and Steven Seagal working as... an EPA agent? Really?
I told The Lovely Steph Leann earlier, "Over 300 channels right now. And still... nothing on."
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There's a tendancy that television has to copy. When one show does successful, a ton more pop up just like it. Its bad in scripted tv, with Friends being popular and "Coupling" coming the next year (and tanking). Melrose Place was a hit, and "Central Park West" tanked. When LOST blew everyone away, we had a ton of similiar shows like "The Nine", "Invasion" and "Threshold" that came on the next year. And went away pretty quickly.
I love watching Rick (middle) talk about stuff if only because he makes the same hand motions every time, and it cracks me up.
This trend is especially bad in reality TV, with American Idol paving the way for America's Got Talent and The X-Factor. Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes and a few other cake making shows are now on, and while midget shows tend to be a little short on character, the formula works enough to make several shows.
And Pawn Shops is no different. Pawn Stars premiered on the History Channel... what its doing on the History Channel, I have no idea... and its one of the networks highest rated shows. And I love it. Last week, I had an afternoon at home and ended up watching three hours of it... everything from a star-studded autographed quilt to a airplane glider to a Lou Gerig signed jersey to vintage film of FDR, its so random and I think its great. The guys that run the shop are hilarious, and even The Lovely Steph Leann finds herself watching and laughing, and to her caring nature, feeling terrible for those people who sell stuff cheap only for the pawn guys to find out the stuff is worth a ton of money.
And to catch the pawn craze, the channel truTV (formerly CourTV) has their own show called Hardcore Pawn. For all the fun and entertainment that Pawn Stars provides, Hardcore Pawn is the opposite. The guys are a little angry, they are rude to people, there are way to many bleeps in the language and the show is just not good.
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Why yes, I subscribe to this podcast. Why do you ask?
In all the channels we get, Pawn Stars makes that short list of programs that, when I flip through and see them, I will check it out to see if I've seen the episode, and I can flip to it mid-show and its still enjoyable. That's a good list to be on.
Other shows that make that list are any Dateline NBC shows on Investigative Discovery, Mythbusters on Discovery Channel, Clean House on The Style Network, and anything with Samantha Brown in it on The Travel Channel.
Let's be real, though. I don't watch it often, but when I happen to catch "The Harry Reid Show", I laugh out loud every time. Might be a guy thing.
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Reason #5,499,901 of why the terrorists hate us. Holly Madison.
Found myself watching "Holly's World" on E!, sort of like leathernecking on a freeway at a car wreck on the other side. She just bought a house, but was careful to say that she didn't want to go too big, she wanted a house she could afford and not be a slave to her mortgage.
She then showed off her Disney kitchen. I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that Holly Madison and d$ have the same scattered Mickey placemats. I'm totally not kidding.
They are throwing Holly a housewarming party with cotton candy, a bouncey house and a petting zoo. I'm sticking with it, mildly amused and then... Carrot Top showed up. I just lost 17 IQ points. Gotta turn it.
"Whip It" is Drew Barrymore's first shot at directing, and its all about Women's Roller Derby. I remember watching Roller Derby when I was like, 9 or something on ESPN, back when ESPN was showing anything that possibly resembled sports in an effort to fill their airwaves.
There is actually a roller derby team locally... I keep meaning to go, if only for the blogging material
Anyway, the flick tells the story of Bliss Cavendar (I turned to The Lovely Steph Leann and suggested 'Bliss Dollar' as a girl name, but immediately dismissed it with 'nah, that sounds like a terrible stripper') who is played by Ellen Page. She lives in Bodeen, Texas, with a well-intentioned but overbearing mom and a loving but bumbling dad, and looks for a little more out of life... and she stumbles upon the Hurl Scouts, a Roller Derby team in Austin. She makes the team, and ends up having the time of her life.
Trouble's a brewing, though, as you'd expect her parents not to approve (they don't), her best friend to feel betrayed (she does), rivals to pop up (they do) and more.
Overall, however, I thought this was a great film. It was smart, it was funny, it was paced well and both The Lovely Steph Leann and I found ourselves laughing and enjoying it. Its got a little bit of language, and a pool make out scene where nothing is shown and there's a bit of smooching, though what happens next is implied. The Roller Derby chicks are in somewhat small outfits, but there aren't any wardrobe malfunctions to see and there's lots of skating and smashing into each other. I recommend it.
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Don't you hate it when you are driving, and you are cruising along, maybe got your cruise control set, and you are coming upon a car ahead of you that you'll easily be able to pass but there's a car coming up behind you in the left lane, traveling fast, and that's not a problem because by the time you get to the point where you'd have to move to the left lane or step on your brake and breaking your cruise control speed the car coming up behind you will be way past you because of his speed...
...but the car in the left lane slows down just enough where you can't safely get over in front of him, and the car ahead of you is driving at such a speed that you now have to break your cruise control speed so the car in the left lane will in fact pass you so you can get over in the left lane, and when you get over, to top it off, the car in the left lane speeds up again and goes really fast, leaving you to try and reset your cruise control.
Coming to you from the home of Mike & Susie Fitzharris, with Susie being one of the Lovely Steph Leann's high school Besties. We had to come down to Pensacola for The Lovely Steph Leann's job, as they send her down to the Pensacola location of her work once per month to do some work. All I can say is, she's good at her job.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to report this weekend from our coupla'days away--which we just don't get many of, unless we're going to Disney World. Even then, we take people with us, so seldom is it just us.
By the way, I love trade paperbacks. They are a little larger than regular paperbacks, they look good, and they aren't nearly as bulky as hardbacks. Many of the books I buy, especially by Stephen King, are in trade... but some books I want to read now.
And speaking of Stephen King, here's his latest, called "Under the Dome". This book looks fascinating, and apparently, some people are relating it to "The Simpsons Movie", with the whole dome-on-town concept. I mentioned this book to my friend MZ, and thats exactly what she said... "That sounds like 'The Simpsons Movie'!" I had to tell her that King had been writing this book off and on for over 30 years.
The story is, one day a town is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by a huge dome that sets down over a small Maine town. And chaos ensues. Can't wait.
Actually ordered this and above book on Amazon.com for $25.50. "The Big Book of Basketball" was $16.50 and the new King novel was $9 with a pre-order, which I did. Spend $25 and get free shipping. Of course, the downside to free shipping is that you have to wait forever to get the book--mine is due for delivery on November 17th.
Here comes Sarah Palin. I love Sarah Palin. Don't care what you say, I think she's smarter than most of the Republicans that are out there today, and those of you who say, "She's crazy!" just haven't been paying attention--or paying too much attention to CNN and Obama-TV MSNBC. And I'll end up reading her biography, "Going Rogue". And I'll probably enjoy it.
Actually, I'll probably wait until I can get this on audio. Hopefully, it will be read by the author. That, I can dig.
In Palin's "Going Rogue," Palin confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The vice presidential candidate confirms that she had wanted to speak on election night, but was denied the chance and says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.
Palin also writes harshly of CBS anchor Katie Couric, whom she describes as "badgering" and biased. Palin's series of interviews with Couric were widely regarded as disastrous, leaving the impression of an ill-informed candidate who was unsuited for the job.
And, just a note on CNN, here's why they suck. Last night, Carrie Prejean was on Larry King Live, and when Larry asked her a legitimate question about her past, she said, "That's very inappropriate, Larry." They had a rough exchange, and she came off looking like an idiot. Which she might be--listen, I supported her at the beginning through the whole pageant mess, but now she's just annoying--she came off looking stupid and like a moron. And what did CNN do? They flash a graphic on the screen that says, "PREJEAN ON SARAH PALIN: I THINK SHE'D MAKE A GREAT PRESIDENT". Really, CNN? Was there a need for that? That, CNN'ers, is why you are continually in last place in the news network races.
By the way, on a random note, did anyone else completely miss the fact that Hurricane Ida came through already? I asked The Lovely Steph Leann a few days ago about Ida, and if it would impede our journey to the Florida Panhandle, and she said, "No." And then today, she mentioned how it rained for about 28 straight hours the other day--that was Ida. Had no clue. I was still thinking it was in the Gulf somewhere. I blame George W. Bush.
And finally, here's one I just finished. "Native Tongue" by Carl Hiaasen doesn't deviate, plot set-up anyway, from most of his other books. Hiaasen has lots of colorful characters he spreads out through the book, and you know somehow, someway, they are all going to cross paths at one point or another in a crucial plot point. And, like just about all of his other books (might be all of them--I have only read four), the story takes place in Florida.
This one actually takes place close to Key Largo, at a Disney rip-off called The Amazing Kingdom of Thrills, and it involves steroid taking security guards, gun shooting baboons, mafia witnesses, mob hits, a professional golfer, a chick who plays Robby Raccoon, a former governor of Florida living in the woods wearing a panther tracking color, a chick who writes poetry for a phone sex line, and a protagonist who was hired because he writes great press releases. Oh, and it centers around two rat-like creatures who may or may not be extinct, stolen by two burglers who may or may not be complete fools. The book is funny, its fast paced, it does have lots of language, and was a breezy read.
Alright, that's all I got for tonight. Time to get The Lovely Steph to bed--she's snoozing on the couch, otherwise I'm pretty sure that Jimmy Kimmel Live wouldn't be on. Not that I don't like Kimmel, but she has the remote. She's sleeping on it.
From Fox News--I thought it was a great story worth a read...
Abby Johnson, 29, stands outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Tex., alongside Shawn Carney of the Campaign for Life. Johnson quit after watching an ultrasound of an abortion. The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a "change of heart" after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility.
Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus "crumple" as it was vacuumed out of a patient's uterus in September.
'When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice," Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, "I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart ... a spiritual conversion."
Johnson said she became disillusioned with her job after her bosses pressured her for months to increase profits by performing more and more abortions, which cost patients between $505 and $695.
"Every meeting that we had was, 'We don't have enough money, we don't have enough money — we've got to keep these abortions coming,'" Johnson told FoxNews.com. "It's a very lucrative business and that's why they want to increase numbers."
A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood told FoxNews.com that it offers a range of services at it 850 health centers nationwide, providing pregnancy tests, vaccinations and women's health services, "including wellness exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, contraception, and STD testing and treatment."
"Planned Parenthood's focus is on prevention," wrote Diane Quest, the group's National Media Director. "Nationwide, more than 90% of the health care Planned Parenthood affiliates provide is preventive in nature," explaining that a "core component the organization's mission is to help women plan healthy pregnancies and prevent unintended pregnancies."
But Johnson said her bosses told her to change her "priorities" and focus on abortions, which she said made money for the office at a time when the recession has left them hurting.
"For them there's not a lot of money in education," she said. "There's as not as much money in family planning as there is abortion."
Without a doctor in residence, she said, her clinic offered abortions only two days a month, but the doctor could perform 30 to 40 procedures on each day he was there. Johnson estimated that each abortion could net the branch about $350, adding up to more than $10,000 a month.
"The majority of the money was going to the facility," she said.
Johnson said she never got any orders to increase profits in e-mails or letters, and had no way to prove her allegations about practices at the Bryan branch. She told FoxNews.com that pressure came in personal interactions with her regional manager from the larger Houston office.
But she said she got involved with the clinic "to help women and ... [do] the right thing," and the idea of raking in cash seemed to go against what she felt was the mission of the 93-year-old organization.
"Ideally my goal as the facility's director is that your abortion numbers don't increase," because "you're providing so much family planning and so much education that there is not a demand for abortion services.
"But that was not their goal," she said.
A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood refused to answer questions about Johnson's accusations, but released a statement noting that a district court had issued a temporary restraining order against the former branch director and against the Coalition for Life, an anti-abortion group with which Johnson is now affiliated.
"We regret being forced to turn to the courts to protect the safety and confidentiality of our clients and staff, however, in this instance it is absolutely necessary," said spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla.
It is unclear what made Planned Parenthood seek the restraining order. Johnson said she did not intend to release any sensitive information about her former patients at the clinic.
A hearing is set for Nov. 10 to determine whether a judge will order an injunction against Johnson and the Coalition for Life, which has led protests outside the clinic and joined her in a prayer vigil there last month.
Johnson hasn't found a job since she quit on Oct. 6, but she said she's enjoying the time off to be with her 3-year-old daughter.
"It's been great just to spend some time at home and get a break," she said.
