Nils Olav already has medals for good conduct and long service. He made honorary colonel-in-chief of the elite Norwegian King's Guard in 2005. And on Friday he was knighted.

Not bad for a 3-foot tall penguin — actually, three of them.

King penguin knighted by Norway - Animal weirdness- msnbc.com

As tension mounted and the pilot rapidly descended from 32,000 feet, he was asked how many were on the jet.

"51 souls on board," he responded.

Just as reference, when pilots or ground control refer to the number of passengers as "souls" it means they are probably praying to God they get them down in one piece because they may not think they can do it on their own. (Thanks to reading John Nance for that one)

ABC News: EXCLUSIVE: FAA Tapes Reveal Drama of Obama Jet Incident

For anyone who thought that stark international aggression was a thing of the past, the last week must have come as a startling wake-up call.

To Senator McCain,
No sir, it comes as nothing of the sort. While I do not agree with the way the Russians have responded, they have done so in a far more responsible manner than we did in the invasion of Iraq, with understanding of the consequences of their actions and their goals in mind and achievable. We are NOT "all Georgians," unless you mean we willy nilly blow the crap out of people without concern for the results.

Let's keep some FACTS in mind here. What was a low level conflict between Russia and Georgia exploded when the Georgians blew the crap out of their own people because they wanted to be Russian, not Georgian. This would be similar to... Trenton blowing the hell out of Hoboken because they want to call themselves from New York, not New Jersey. That may be putting too nice a face on it, but less than 20 years ago, they were all part of the USSR.

Georgia started this and bit off more than they could chew. Iraq going after Kuwait? There are any number of parallels to be drawn, but the one written here is a study in blithe ignorance.

We Are All Georgians - WSJ.com

No dumbass, the flag goes the other way.

e9069654e472a74413906702d6aded19-getty-81972190mw013_olympics_day_.jpg (JPEG Image, 660x440 pixels)

The February 23 letter stated, "The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin," and that the Justice Department was "not aware of anyone lobbying, either inside or outside of the administration, for Mr. Griffin's appointment."

Federal investigators have obtained documents showing that Kyle Sampson, then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Chris Oprison, then an associate White House counsel, drafted and approved the letter even though they had first-hand knowledge that the assertions were not true. The Justice Department later had to repudiate the Sampson-Oprison letter and sent a new one informing Congress that it could no longer stand by the earlier assertions.

That would either be perjury or lying to Congress.

And hiring Murray Waas is a coup for Huffpo. He's about as well connected and informed as anyone in DC, he's heading for Sy Hersh/Woodstein levels.

U.S. Attorney Scandal Probe Enters White House Circle

By the time officers arrived, the teen was off the 30-foot overpass, lying on the shoulder below along U.S. 65, with no good explanation as to how he got there.

“According to the doctors, all injuries are consistent with a fall,” said his aunt, Samantha.
...
His aunt says he is undergoing major surgery for a broken back and broken heel. While he was lying on the ground, she wonders why Ozark police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times.

WaitaWHAT??? 16 year old falls off bridge, breaks heel and BACK, and the cops hit him with a taser 19 times??? They don't call an ambulance, they zap the shit out of him. What the hell is wrong with these imbeciles?

Parents question why Ozark police used stun gun on injured son | KY3 | Video

Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide.

Eddie Bauer to close more stores after closing 27 stores in the first quarter.

Cache, a women’s retailer is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide

Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. Talbots will close all 78 of its kids and men's stores plus another 22 underperforming stores. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots women's and J. Jill.

Gap Inc. closing 85 stores

Foot Locker to close 140 stores

Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores. The 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

Levitz - the furniture retailer, announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910.

Zales, Piercing Pagoda plans to close 82 stores by July 31 followed by closing another 23 underperforming stores.

Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores.

Home Depot store closings 15 of them amid a slumping US economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store.

CompUSA (CLOSED).

Macy's - 9 stores closed

Movie Gallery – video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery
and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental
chain closed last fall as part of bankruptcy.

Pacific Sunwear - 153 Demo stores closing

Pep Boys - 33 stores of auto parts supplier closing

Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations to close with 4,000 employees following 5,000 layoffs last year.

J. C. Penney, Lowe's and Office Depot are all scaling back

Ethan Allen Interiors: plans to close 12 of 300 stores to cut costs.

Wilsons the Leather Experts – closing 158 stores

Bombay Company: to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores.

KB Toys closing 356 stores around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.

Dillard's Inc. will close another six stores this year.

This is what you call booming business. It's hitting the ground and going boom.

The Real State of the US Economy

I'm providing the link directly to the source, not coverage of this one.

The White House wants to redefine abortion as anything that could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting and surviving (starts around page 16). Under these rules, the list of things that would become abortion start with birth control pills, IUDs, Plan B, hell, spermicidal jelly since that's not exactly good for the eggs either.

So, a couple of questions. First, why are they doing this, and why now? The only answer I can see is they are trying to shore up McCain with the base, because this going through would be rejected immediately by an incoming Democratic president, while McCain could leave it in place. Were this a "real" priority, they could have done this 7 years ago. They did not.

So what would still be allowed? Plain condoms, no spermicide. I would have added diaphragms and (thank you Seinfeld) the sponge, but most diaphragms use a spermicidal sealant, and the sponge is soaked in the stuff.

This is a response to the rules passed in Illinois last year that required pharmacies to distribute things like Plan B, even over pharmacist objection. Refusal to fill prescriptions on "moral grounds" was considered harmful to the populace, as there was no end to where it could have gone (painkillers are "evil drugs" etc.). Those sorts of issues are mentioned on pages 8 and 9.

This is not just pandering, this is fundamentally offensive. This is the White House telling me how to live my life, under rules that do nothing to address any ill, merely to impose someone else's religious views on me and every other person in this country.

The bottom line effects? Every insurance company in the country can chop all of this from anything they have to cover, passing the cost to us. Pharmacies can refuse service, eliminating pregnancy prevention as an option. Provision of birth control to minors, becomes in many states, prosecutable because it is no longer preventing pregnancy, it becomes performing an abortion.

Madame Speaker? Impeach this President.

New "Abortion" Rules for HHS

Wow. John McCain? Fail.

YouTube - "The One"- McCain hits Obama with new ad

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

It never ceases to amaze me. Vote for us or you'll lose your job.

Let's hear it for blackmail! Wal-Mart joins AT&T on the list of companies that will never get another dime.

and an update... So I mention this to Elonka, and her response is, "Well this is normal. This happens all the time." No, it doesn't. Different groups endorse different people all the time, yes. They do NOT tell their people how to vote. There is a big difference between telling people who you think would be better (and I have a few endorsements now) and telling people vote this way or you'll lose your job.

When Exxon makes over $11 billion in one quarter and companies like Wal-Mart are outsourcing where they get their products from as fast as humanly possible, I don't give a damn about them. I do give a damn about the people who have jobs there because their company is screwing them over. Their boards are lining their pockets, building no loyalty within even their own employees because they treat them like crap. Hey Wal-Mart, want to know the best way to get your employees not to unionize? Treat them and pay them responsibly.

Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win - WSJ.com