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Lindsay Lohan Flash

Lindsay Lohan Flash

Lindsay Lohan scores a 'modeling' gig.



Is Lindsay Lohan considered an actress anymore? Her IMDB page lists her "Ugly Betty" guest stint and box office bust "I Know Who Killed Me" as her latest on-screen gigs. I say no. If you disagree, a quick view of her new commercial for Fornarina will have you convinced otherwise. Then again, as the new face of the Italian brand, she's not much of a model either.

Is Lohan that emaciated, robotic, drone posing as she says, "Click. Flash. Wow?" Yes, yes it is. And it ain't pretty.

Original Source : http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities_blog/2009/03/lindsay_lohan_scores_a_modelin.html



Oscar De La Hoya Retires

Oscar De La Hoya Retires

Oscar De La Hoya announces retirement.



Boxing's 36-year-old 'Golden Boy,' the sport's biggest star for more than a decade, will continue as a promoter.

Oscar De La Hoya, boxing's "Golden Boy" who capitalized on a stirring Olympic gold-medal performance in 1992 and then in his pro career captured the attention of millions with his rags-to-riches rise from East Los Angeles, announced his retirement today.

"I'm announcing my retirement. . . . When I can't compete at my highest level, it's not fair -- to me, [or] my fans," De La Hoya, 36, said a news conference outside downtown's L.A. Live complex. "Knowing that you're never going to compete again is a tough decision, but now I am looking forward to the future of boxing. When I cannot compete at this level, I have come to the conclusion that it is over."

Original Source : http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-boxing-oscar-retires15-2009apr15,0,1447685.story

Lil Kim Wardrobe Malfunction

Lil Kim Wardrobe MalfunctionLil' Kim's wardrobe malfunctions; steps work fine.

Lil' Kim nearly had a big wardrobe malfunction on "Dancing With the Stars."

This week's front-runner on the ABC dance competition had some trouble with her top at the end of a jive with partner Derek Hough on Monday night. Host Tom Bergeron provided cover while the rapper adjusted as she and Hough approached the judges table.

Lil' Kim told KABC-TV after the show: "I don't know why this happens a lot of the time, but ... the girls were tryin' to come out."

The nearly X-rated moment was edited out by the time the show was rebroadcast on the West Coast, but it didn't seem to bother the judges: Lil' Kim and Hough posted a night's best 28 out of a possible 30 for their spirited dance.

Original Source : http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g05PLCmonnwrWo7J0byDdMB_IbfwD97I6IT84

Scott Podsednik

Scott PodsednikScott Podsednik Signs Minor League Contract With White Sox.

Chicago White Sox fans were buzzing with the news that the team had signed a minor league contract with outfielder Scott Podsednik. As the Daily Herald notes, the White Sox are hoping Podsednik, who was a star for the team in the 2005 World Series, has one "surge of brilliance" left:

Pods was one of the heroes for the 2005 World Series champions, batting .290 with 59 stolen bases.But he couldn't stay healthy the next two years and was released by the White Sox after the 2007 season.

Podsednik played in 93 games for Colorado last season and batted .253 with 12 stolen bases...
...Podsednik is headed for Class AAA Charlotte, and he might stay there if Anderson and Owens get the job done.

9News reports that the Rockies went for youth over experience in giving 23-year-old Dexter Fowler the center field spot over the veteran Podsednik.

Original Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/scott-podsednik-signs-min_n_186811.html

Julia Allison

Julia AllisonJullia Allison Goes Wide for Bears QB.

We don't know what happened after Julia Allison reportedly left a Chicago nightclub with Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. But we do know the fameball was "standing between his thighs, touching them" before she left.

That's per Page Six. Per the oversharing queen's Twitter, we know Allison was showing the new QB her headband at 2 am in one tweet, and then not posting again until 7:35 am the next morning (see below left).

"Jay is one of the top 10 quaterbacks in the NFL," she wrote a friend. "I didn't know who he was until last night."

Now she knows him.

It's rough time for the Allison's "lifecasting" startup NonSociety; one of her three co-founders just split and an option to expand a reality show deal with Bravo expired at the end of February. A little tabloid-fueled traffic bump could come in hand right about now, if only for morale-raising purposes: Allison, it goes without saying, thrives on attention.

The question is whether Allison would allow herself to be called "gross" in order to plant an item like this on Page Six. Not normally. But she kind of needs a "Hail Mary" right now, apparently in more ways than one.

Original Source : http://gawker.com/5211160/jullia-allison-goes-wide-for-bears-qb

Pig Book

Pig Book‘Pig Book’: Congressional ‘pork’ hits $19.6 billion in 2009.

Citizens Against Government Waste released its annual report on 'pork barrel' projects Tuesday.

Capitol Hill lawmakers added 10,160 pet projects – aka “pork barrel” projects – to this year’s government spending, fewer than in the previous budget cycle but at a higher total cost.

That’s the bottom line from the Pig Book, a list of member projects inserted in annual spending bills, released Tuesday by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). The watchdog group, which has issued the Pig Book each year since 1991, calls it “the book Washington doesn’t want you to read.”

For the record: The 10,160 projects – valued at $19.6 billion – represent a 14 percent increase in the cost to taxpayers over last year’s spending on “pork.” That’s even though the number of projects went down 12.5 percent during the same period.

“Everyone in Washington has promised a new era of transparency and restraint in earmarks, from President Obama to the leaders of both parties in Congress,” said CAGW president Tom Schatz in a briefing Tuesday. “Sadly, the hard numbers from the 2009 appropriations bills tell a different story. The current Democratic congressional majority is following the same trajectory as their Republican predecessors. They came into power promising to cut earmarks and made a big show of it during their first two years. However, as the 2009 Pig Book amply illustrates, pork-barrel spending is growing fast.”

Ferreting out sponsors of congressional earmarks was once devilishly complex. But as of fiscal year 2008, Congress has required members to identify their own earmarks. Does that mean the Pig Book is obsolete?

Hardly, reformers say, because the issue now is enforcement.

“Until fiscal year 2008, we never saw a name next to an earmark. That was a watershed moment for us and taxpayers, to see a project with a name next to it,” says David Williams, CAGW vice president of policy. “Unfortunately, this year we saw a little backsliding with more anonymous earmarks, especially in defense.”

Of the 10,160 projects is this year’s Pig Book, CAGW identified 221 earmarks worth $7.8 billion that were funded in violation of Congress’s own transparency rules.

As in years past, Alaska leads the nation with $221 million in earmarks, or $322 per capita. Hawaii, at $302 million in earmarks, or $235 per capita, ranks No. 2.

The name of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska – longtime chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, whose conviction on corruption charges was dismissed by a federal judge last week – was scrubbed from the 2009 omnibus spending bill and his earmarks assigned to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) of Alaska, CAGW officials note.

The practice of earmarking has been an early flash point between Mr. Obama, who campaigned to change Washington, and the new Congress. When the White House last month signaled that the president would propose a “different way” of handling earmarks, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate warned him off.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “legislatively initiated proposals” in spending bills are “an appropriate function of the Congress of the United States.”

Senate majority leader Harry Reid noted: “Since we’ve been a country, we have had the obligation, as a Congress, to help direct spending.”

But Obama and congressional Democrats both agree that earmarks should be fewer and more transparent.

That standard, however, has yet to be met, says Taxpayers for Common Sense, another public-interest group that tracks government spending. One issue: Effective this month, members are required to list each of their earmarks on their official websites.

“Unfortunately, many members created a labyrinth that made finding their list of requests difficult or impossible, proving again a lesson learned long ago: simply posting information on the Web is not transparency,” said Taxpayers for Common Sense in an April 10 report.

Moreover, executive-branch transparency isn’t much better. “Many executive branch budget documents are scattered across the federal agencies, buried on websites that require an advanced degree in electronic archeology to dig out,” the report added.

Last week, Obama sent a $83.4 billion supplemental budget request to Congress to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other foreign operations. At the time, he signaled to congressional
leaders that he would not accept earmarks or unrelated items in the bill.

Original Source : http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/04/14/pig-book-congressional-pork-hits-196-billion-in-2009/

10th Amendment

10th AmendmentRick Perry, 10th Amendment Champion.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is furious that Texas is losing its sovereignty, because of the Stimulus Bill, and so he is striking back with strongly worded statements about how much he hates the feds.

"States' rights" is usually just code for "racism," but in Rick Perry's case he is just mad as hell about how he is being forced to spend billions of dollar in federal stimulus money in ways the federal government demands, rather than just blowing it on bribing Rush Limbaugh to move to Austin or whatever.

So he joined some state legislators in supporting a Texas House bill affirming Texas' sovereignty under the 10th Amendment.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed

Yes well we hope they do pass this bill, mostly because of that last bit, about the federal funding "incentives" for passing new laws. That was a favorite tool of Reagan and Bush II, who used it to raise the drinking age and enforce federal marijuana laws with raids on legal medicinal marijuana clinics and other fun things like those (and the Supreme Court has said that it's kosher).

If Texas actually becomes a legal underaged .10 blood-alcohol content spliff-smoking 100-mph libertarian autobahn paradise we will take Perry at his word, that he is concerned about the constitution and not just looking to aid his reelection bid by going hard-line anti-feds making him help poor people. Also if all that happens we might just move there! Who doesn't love getting wasted and speeding with high school seniors?

So don't you dare give Rick Perry some of the money necessary to fund the state's bankrupt unemployment trust fund and expect him to do something about that forthcoming $750 million shortfall! (He would really appreciate more federal help with those wildfires, though!)

Original Source : http://gawker.com/5211635/rick-perry-10th-amendment-champion