- Ever hear someone deny a conspiracy theory and pray that they’re lying? That’s the prevailing emotion when Pakistan's army chief denies claims that the military is working to overthrow the country's civilian government. Faced with the revelation of a secret memo sent to Washington earlier this year about an alleged coup, the Pakistani military is now fighting a battle of a different sort against allegations of a possible coup. Tensions between the army and government are at an all-time high even as the omnipresent threat of the Taliban looms over all. Toss in a faltering economy and worsening relations with its most important ally, the United States, and the holiday season has been a wee bit tense for Pakistan. As if to provide a reminder of just how tenuous the political and social landscape is, Taliban fighters attacked a paramilitary fort in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing one soldier and kidnapping 15 others who they promised to kill soon. But back to the conspiracy theory……Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stoked that fire Thursday when he claimed there was a conspiracy under way to topple the government. He stopped short of accusing the military but chastised the army’s leadership and insisting it must be answerable to the parliament and cannot operate as a "state within a state." Army chief Gen. Pervez Ashfaq Kayani returned fire, denying allegations promising the army’s full support of democracy in Pakistan. "The army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities," Kayani said. Sadly, most experts doubt the likelihood of a coup at this time and don’t put much stock in the memo or its alleged author, former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani. Haqqani allegedly acted with President Asif Ali Zardari's support in asking the U.S. to help avert a coup attempt in light of the unilateral U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden within Pakistan. Kayani went with a predictable misdirection play, saying rumors of a coup were "being used as a bogey to divert the focus from the real issues." Embrace the conspiracy, general…………
- An additional 3,023 theaters to expand on its limited-release debut last weekend still were not enough to light a fuse under Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol as Tom Cruise and Co. lumbered to a box office win with unimpressive numbers. Ghost Protocol netted a mere $26.5 million in domestic earnings, wresting the top spot from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Through two weeks, Ghost Protocol has made $58.9 million domestically, which doesn’t exactly qualify as a record-setting start. Sherlock Holmes ended up in second place for the weekend, adding $17.8 million to its two-week haul despite a 55 percent decline. Through two weeks, the film has grossed $76.6 million domestically. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was the weekend’s third-place film on the strength of a $13.3 million effort, giving the animated flick $50.2 million in cumulative earnings. A trio of new films were next on the list, as Sony’s heavily promoted The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo failed to live up to its own immense hype by finishing fourth with a modest $13 million. That was enough to hold off kid-friendly The Adventures of Tintin for fourth place, but not enough to crack the top three. Tintin secured fifth place with a $9.2 million debut, also falling short of expectations on what is widely considered one of the best weekends of the year for family movies. The critically panned We Bought a Zoo led off the bottom half of the top 10 as the presence of Scarlett Johansson’s hotness and the always solid Matt Damon were not enough to make the film a resounding success. Zoo earned $7.8 million for the weekend despite opening in more than 3,100 theaters. Seventh place went to New Year’s Eve, which dropped from fourth place and made $3.1 million in its third weekend of release. Arthur Christmas ranked eighth with $2.7 million in its fifth weekend in theaters while The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 tumbled three notches to No. 9 with a $2.1 million weekend and Hugo rounded out the top 10 with $2 million. The Muppets (No. 11), Young Adult (No. 13) and The Sitter (No. 14) all fell out of the top 10 this weekend………….
- Thank you, science, for proving that toddlers don’t listen. Directly defying what their parents tell them to do is ample evidence of this, but a new study published in the journal Current Biology hammers that point home even more decisively. Conducted by Ewen MacDonald of the Technical University of Denmark and his team of inquisitive scientific minds, the study featured adults, four-year-olds, and two-year-olds saying the word “bed” repeatedly while hearing a recording of themselves saying “bad” to trick their brain into thinking they were making the wrong sound. Taking the cue, the adults and 4-year-olds began trying to compensate by changing the vowel, saying something that sounded more like the word “bid”. However, the 2-year-olds continued pronouncing “bed” the same way, suggesting they do not respond to their own voice the same way that adults have been found to do. MacDonald drew a parallel to the way musicians listen to notes as they play to determine if their instrument is in tune and adjust accordingly. “When we speak, we do something very similar. We subconsciously listen to vowel and consonant sounds in our speech to ensure we are producing them correctly,” McDonald said in a press release. “If the acoustics of our speech are slightly different from what we intended, then, like the violinists, we will adjust the way we speak to correct for these slight errors.” If they don’t listen to the sound of their own voice, then how do toddlers monitor their speech? Researchers theorized that they may rely on their parents or other people rather than their own words. Anyone who has spent time around a toddler knows full well that idiots who like to talk baby talk usually do repeat words back to children after they speak. Based on their findings, MacDonald’s team will now explore potential applications for understanding or addressing delayed and abnormal early speech development. Sounds like fun………….
- When both major parties are doing a terrible job attempting to drag a country out of its economic and political doldrums, what is a populace to do? Go in search of something new, if an analysis of state voter registration is any indication. The research, conducted by USA TODAY, showed that more than 2.5 million voters have left the Democratic and Republican parties since the 2008 elections. Those free-agent voters aren't necessarily flocking to the Green or Libertarian parties and most are choosing to remain independent. On a national scale, the number of Democrats declined in 25 of the 28 states that register voters by party and Republicans dipped in 21 states. Despite the defections, independents increased in just 18 of those states. With next year’s presidential elections approaching quickly, those independent voters will be more prized than ever. Eight so-called swing states that register voters by party feature Democratic registration down by 800,000 and Republicans down by 350,000. That may not be enough to give libertarian Republican Ron Paul or the newly independent Donald Trump an actual chance to be elected, but there is no question the trend underscores Americans’ growing dissatisfaction with both major parties. Democrats find themselves in the lead in terms of registered voters with 42 million, compared to 30 million Republicans and 24 million independents. However, Democrats have lost the most voters since 2008 - 1.7 million, to be exact. That is nearly 4 percent of their voter base and Democratic registration has suffered more than Republican registration in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — the eight swing states with party registration. Republicans losses’ have been the most severe in Nevada, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, independent voters are skyrocketing in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, meaning those states and their electoral votes will see a heavy dose of President Barack Obama and whomever emerges from the Republican clusterf**k in a few months. Ah, the sheer, unbridled joy of election season………….
- Kobe Bryant is going to need all the help he can get to keep the Los Angeles Lakers competitive this season. David Stern indefensibly squashing a trade that would have brought All-Star point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers, Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom being traded to Dallas for next to nothing and Paul landing with the rival Clippers have all stacked the deck against Bryant and his team. Factor in all the miles on Bryant’s basketball odometer and his own health issues and…..well, it could be a long year for the purple and gold. But if Bryant looks rejuvenated this season, a large part of the credit may well go to Deutschland. That’s right, Germany is in the lead for praise any time Bryant drops a game-winning shot or leads a fourth-quarter rally this season. Bryant underwent an experimental but increasingly popular procedure in Germany in July in an attempt to help heal his oft-injured right knee and as the NBA lockout dragged on into the fall, he reportedly returned to Germany in October to undergo an innovative procedure on his left ankle. The July procedure, a treatment known as platelet-rich plasma therapy, consists of centrifuging the patient's blood to isolate platelets and growth factors and injecting that mixture into an injured area to accelerate healing. Tiger Woods, New York Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee are among the athletes who have undergone the treatment and Bryant hopes he will experience similar success in alleviating the pain from an arthritic joint in his right knee. The procedure on his knee was his fourth since 2003 and it needs to hold up because losing him for any length of time could propel the Lakers right out of the playoff race. Oh, and Bryant is also suffering from a torn ligament in his right wrist sustained in an exhibition game Monday against the Clippers. When asked about the wrist injury and his status for the season opener against Chicago, Bryant seemed very receptive to the line of questioning. "I'm fine," he replied. "I'm not talking about my injury." Well then…………….
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