What An Action Packed Friday (For A Change)

Former Republican Representative Bob Ney has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in the Republican Party/Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. The Ohio Congressman pled guilty to making false statements (lying) and conspiracy for this bribery-related scandal. Ney, of course, denied he did anything wrong and attacked Democrats all throughout 2006.

House Democrats completed their 100 hour legislative agenda in only 42 hours! Speaker Pelosi is well on her way to making the 100th Congress among the most successful in US History.

Beck will re-issue his 2006 album, The Information, on February 27. The new, expanded edition will feature three new songs, six remixes, and a lyric booklet.

USA Today did a nice piece on Paul Stanley and his wife, Erin. The article is primarily about his home and the decorations inside it. He also talks a little bit about KISS and his paintings.

Is Conor Oberst making his first movie toward leaving the Saddle Creek record label? Bright Eyes' next album will be released throughout Europe on Polydor, and not on Saddle Creek Europe. Is an American label change in the future? Check out an mp3 from his new album here.

The next Wilco album will be called Sky Blue Sky, and will be released May 15 on Nonesuch Records. The band has posted a new song on its MySpace page for streaming.

How could Jessica Simpson's cleavage be anything but an asset for her? According to a recent interview, Simpson said it prevented her from being a Gospel singer. From Egotastic: "The 26-year-old was asked not to sing solos in church, because men found her feminine assets too distracting. However, having found fame and success as both a pop singer and an actress career, Simpson now 'wears' her breasts proudly. She says, 'I always felt they disabled me from what I wanted to do. Now, I own them. They're like wearing a great necklace. You can't pay for that sort of accessory - though I know people do. But they never look as good at the real ones.'" So true. At least Jess now realizes why she has a career at all!

If you can get through all of the medical gobbledy-gook, this article states that Tylenol and marijuana relieve pain though the same mechanism in the brain. However, marijuana actually does less harm to you than does Tylenol.

Lincoln, NE's fantastic, quirky pop band Eagle*Seagull will be performing tonight in Omaha at the Saddle Creek Bar (1410 N Saddle Creek Rd). They are performing along with Landing On the Moon and Kite Pilot. Tickets are $5 at the door. This will be the band's last US show before heading to Europe.

The right-wing smear job on Barack Obama is full force!! Note that almost all right-wing blogs and pundits have taken the cue from headquarters to refer to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" though no other candidates' middle names are ever referred to. Now Fox News is smearing him by incorrectly claiming that, as a child, Obama attended a radical, America-hating, Wahabist madrassah in Indonesia. Fox allowed callers to argue whether there should be a Muslim in the White House (which is a dumb argument made even dumber by the fact that Obama is a Christian!!). Fox host Steve Doocy asked if "maybe he doesn’t consider terrorists the enemy." Does anyone at Fox News have even the slightest shred of decency and integrity? How about journalistic standards? When it comes to personal attacks and smears, NO ONE can touch right-wingers! It must be in their blood. Someone -- anyone -- try and defend this. Call it legitimate journalism, I beg of you. Just try. Think Progress has video posted of this despicable show. Man, Republicans are so desperate!