On The Internets 09.09.2010

• What the hell is wrong with the people of Omaha? After less than a year in office, there are currently recall efforts underway for the Mayor, Jim Suttle, and my councilman, Pete Festersen. You know something, folks, the city's budget woes didn't begin in January 2010. These guys are not responsible. This teabagger-inspired nonsense has now found its way here, and I am not happy about it. If any of those baggers show up at my door asking for a signature on their stupid petition, they better be prepared to meet a liberal that is not opposed to violence.

• You may remember a posting I did last February called, "An Animal Abuser Lives Here," where I wrote about an Omaha woman named Yolanda Glover who left her dog tied up in her back yard for weeks without any shelter or food in the middle of winter. The poor animal eventually died. This caused a great deal of (short-term) outrage. As with most cases of animal cruelty, the story of the abuse is largely forgotten by the time it goes to trial (if it ever does). Not this time. During a suppression hearing, Ms. Glover's attorney tried to keep the discovery of the dog's body out of evidence arguing it was illegally obtained. Fortunately, the judge ruled against Glover, and the case will proceed with felony animal abuse charges. She faces up to five years in prison.

• What could be wrong with this? The state of California hired BP (yes the same BP that dumped 206 million gallons of oil in the Gulf Of Mexico) to write its environmental curriculum for students K-12. How will the Gulf spill be taught to school kids? I think nonsense like this is why national education standards are a good idea.

• How fucking stupid is this guy?! An aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) was busted trying to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building. Marcus Stanley has worked at the Capitol since 2007, so he clearly knows you can't bring your weed to work. What a dumb ass! And with Boxer in a tight re-election battle back home, she certainly doesn't need the bad publicity.
  

• In a report on the fringe Christian fundamentalist church that is planning to burn Korans on the anniversary of 9/11 (despite requests not to from Pres. Obama, Gen. Petraeus, Sec of State Hillary Clinton, and even Sarah Palin), Jon Stewart asked a good question, "Who is funding this radical Christian cleric and his church?" UPDATE: Politics Daily has an article up now that shows that this Koran-burning whackjob "Pastor" and Rush Limbaugh were in the same high school class. Birds of a feather...
  

• For those of you who are not M.O.T. (members of the tribe aka Jewish), you might not be aware that today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. I am Jewish, but not a practicing Jew. Still, I guess it's new year's for me, too. Anyway, Ranker has assembled its list of the 30 Hottest Jewish women under the age of 40 (with pictures). It's a decent list, but the order is a little off. You can be the judge. Natalie Portman came in at #1. Here is a pic of #3, Elizabeth Banks. L'shana tova, ladies!
  

• Well, that didn't last long. Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) is no longer a member of Jane's Addiction. In what seemed, to me anyway, like an odd grouping, Duff joined Jane's five months ago after the departure of original bassist Eric Avery (who had re-joined after being out of the band for 17 years). Perry Ferrell said the following, "Jane’s wishes Duff much luck with his band Loaded. What a fun time we all had working together. Look out for his record and tour this fall." Here's a video of one of the few times they all played together.
  

• With football season finally upon us, it is time again to begin hating Brett Favre. I didn't always hate the guy. I am a Packers fan, after all. But ever since he went to the Vikings, it is been nothing but Brett-bashing for me. The Smoking Jacket has created it's "Haters Guide to Brett Favre," which details some of the many reasons to hate the guy. Watch out, though, as The Smoking Jacket is a new blog created by Playboy. Keep that in mind if you're at work.

• Former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant is about to release a new covers album called Band of Joy. On it, he does a wide variety of songs, including two by the Duluth, Minnesota indie band, Low. NPR is streaming the entire album.