- There are a few tricks a person can use to get out of a speeding ticket or traffic violation, but an über-rich motorist in Silver Springs, Md. may have discovered the best (and most bizarre) method of doing so. The man, who was zooming down the expressway in his black Lamborghini, was headed home from visiting sick children at the hospital when an officer pulled him over for a traffic violation. Upon approaching the car, the officer received quite a surprise: Lenny Robinson dressed as the Dark Knight himself, Batman. Robinson was in full Batman regalia and his car sports Batman logo tags, which were actually the source of the problem. It seems his superhero logo license plate isn't an approved plate in the state and even fake superheroes are not exempt from the law. Robinson had to provide proof that he did have a proper license plate for the car and he was allowed to go on his way with a warning. Before leaving, Robinson can be seen on footage taken from the officer’s dashboard camera shaking the officer’s hand and posing for pictures. This may or may not spur a run on Batman costumes among those with poor driving records in the hopes of superhero-ing their way out of their next ticket, but the incident does raise an obvious question: Since when did Batman downgrade to a Lamborghini? Seriously, the Caped Crusader is supposed to roll in the Batmobile, which is both infinitely cooler and significantly more expensive than some clichéd Italian sports car…………
- Femi-Nazi activist Naomi Wolf deserves credit for blasting pop hack Katy Perry, but Wolf’s reasoning is way off-base. Instead of blasting Perry’s artificial, lyrically inane, talent-deprived “songs,” Wolf objects to the music video “Part of Me,” in which Perry furiously chops off her hair, enlists in the Marines and undergoes rigorous training. The track is supposed to be one of empowerment and it is, as long as a person wants to be empowered to record an entire album with no artistry and no real musicianship. However, Wolf is angry because she believes the video is “propaganda for the Marines.” The author of “The Beauty Myth” and well-known femi-Nazi is calling for a boycott of Perry’s music, which is a brilliant move regardless of its motives. “I really want to find out if she was paid by them for making it . . . it is truly shameful. I would suggest a boycott of this singer whom I really liked — if you are as offended at this glorification of violence as I am,” Wolf wrote on her Facebook page. Would you settle for simply offended by bad music, N.? If so, then millions of fans of good music are with you and wholeheartedly support a boycott of Perry’s music. Perry has actually argued the other side of the debate previously, saying she wanted to “go the strongest route I ever could” with the video, which premiered Wednesday. “Literally, I was like, ‘I’m gonna join the service. I’m gonna join the Marines.’ We used only Marines,” Perry said. “For three days, I was a wanna-be Marine, which was so difficult.” Yes, she complained that being a fake Marine was difficult. Then again, when your usual gig is being a fake musician, faking something else could be difficult…………
- In a time of economic and social unrest in America, the country needs a cause to unite behind….or against. Smoking can (and should be) that cause. Moments like this, when the Food and Drug Administration takes a major step toward implementing pieces of a 2009 law giving the agency the authority to regulate tobacco products, are cause for celebration. Under the new laws, tobacco companies will have to begin reporting the amount of unsafe chemicals in their products and prove their so-called lower-risk alternatives to smoking such as snuff are actually safer. It is still early in the process, as the FDA on Thursday released preliminary guidelines for the industry so it can properly educate the public on all of the toxic garbage in cigarettes, such as ammonia and formaldehyde. Once it can compel tobacco companies to fork over the data, the agency will share information on chemical amounts with the public within a year, explained Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. The new guidelines would establish two categories: one with a higher evidence standard that lets companies claim less harm than cigarettes; and another with a lower standard that permits companies to market products as reducing exposure to unsafe ingredients. “We are forging new territory to ensure that tobacco companies provide accurate information and do not mislead American consumers,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. “We are committed to stopping such practices that may cause people to start or continue using tobacco products that could lead to preventable disease and death.” No argument there, Marge. Along with introducing the guidelines, the FDA also published a list of 93 chemicals that tobacco makers would have to report the quantity of in their products. “Most people do understand tobacco use is harmful,” Deyton said. “There are also studies that people don’t really understand why to the extent the various chemicals in tobacco are harmful.” Determining the safety of supposed reduced-risk products -- which include electronic cigarettes, tobacco lozenges, snuff and snus – is another focus for the FDA. Unless they can prove their products are safer than tobacco and quantify how much safer, manufacturers won't be able to tout their benefits. Coupled with news that
more than twice as many people called a toll-free number to help them quit smoking a week after the launch of a $54 million ad campaign that shows graphic images of diseased smokers, this has truly been a bad week for smoking and that makes it a good week for America……….
- Can a politician be a total fraud and still hold office? Hang on, stop laughing. Of course a person can be bogus to the core and still be an elected official. If any nation was forced to get rid of all its corrupt politicians and run its government only with honest, upstanding individuals, then no country would have a government. So nations soldier along with liars, criminals and phonies at the helm and do the best they can to keep them in line. Hungary will try to do exactly that now that the rug of phony academic prowess has been pulled out from under President Pal Schmitt. Schmitt, who was stripped of his doctorate on Thursday after he was found to have copied large parts of his thesis, plans to remain in office. He has refused to resign over the plagiarism scandal because he believes there is no link between the case and his role as head of state. Schmitt boldly conducted an interview with a Hungarian television station in which he claimed Budapest’s Semmelweis University had not contacted him over the past 20 years about the allegations. He even magnanimously offered to write a new draft of his thesis on the Olympic Games. Seizing upon the incident to launch another effort to oust Schmitt from office, a sadly small group of protesters from the centre-left LMP party held a demonstration outside the presidential palace calling on him to go. Unless LMP supporters can convince a two-thirds parliamentary majority to remove Schmitt from office or guilt him into resigning, they are out of luck on this one. Given that the governing Fidesz party — of which Schmitt is a member — already holds nearly two thirds of seats in Hungary’s national assembly, neither outcome seems likely and Hungary will continue to be governed by a fraud…………
- The old dudes will not be denied. Two days after it was announced that 45-year-old Omar Vizquel had made the major league roster for the Toronto Blue Jays, the only player older than Vizquel in a spring camp snagged the title of oldest player in baseball. At 49 years old and after a year away from baseball with a career-threatening arm injury, Jamie Moyer is back in the big leagues. Moyer earned a spot in the Colorado Rockies' rotation and will start the team's second game of the season despite not having cracked 85 mph on the radar gun in ages. Asked how Moyer had earned a roster spot over younger pitchers like 22-year-old Tyler Chatwood and 28-year-old Guillermo Moscoso, Rockies managed Jim Tracy praised Moyer’s work ethic. It is still Jamie Moyer. It's the Jamie Moyer that was pitching prior to the arm injury that cost him the entire 2011 season. It's the same guy," Tracy said Friday. "It's the same worker. It's the same professional. It's the same stuff, same velocity, same pitches. When he's right, same type of effectiveness. You're going to venture into this." It will be the 25th major league season for Moyer, putting him one ahead of Vizquel. To earn his chance, the veteran lefty posted a 2.77 ERA this spring. "I was excited. I'm happy. I'm honored," Moyer said. "But in the end, like Jim said, `You earned it.' That was my goal coming here." His first start will be April 7 against the Houston Astros and he can become the oldest pitcher in major league history to earn a victory. Moyer will also become the first player to compete in the majors at age 49 since seemingly ageless infielder Julio Franco, who finished out the season with the Braves in 2007 after turning 49 in August. Not only did Moyer make the roster, but the Rockies will will open the season with a four-man rotation, so he earned one of four spots, making the feat all the more impressive. He missed the 2011 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, which has terminated the careers of much younger pitchers. Moyer rejoins the ranks of the majors as the active leader in victories (267), innings (4,020) and starts (628). "It's an opportunity, and I think it's a great opportunity to try to take it and run with it," Moyer said. "I've looked as my whole career as an opportunity, especially as I've gotten older." How much older? He made his major league debut on June 16, 1986, with the Chicago Cubs………..
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