politics

Politician moves to make vulgar Photoshopping illegal

Sometimes people don't appreciate flattery.

They are so engrossed in their own grossly skewed view of the world that their sense of humor flies into the night like a married lover late home for dinner.

How else can one explain the quite bizarre intentions of Georgia state Rep. Earnest Smith?

He clearly sees a vast importance in being Earnest.

He clearly believes that his constituents are so drawn to his Earnestness that anything that deviates it from absolute Earnestness deserves the full metal force of the law.

Which is why he wants to make lewd, coarse, filthy Photoshopping illegal … Read more

Julian Assange to run for senate seat in Australia, says report

Julian Assange, the controversial WikiLeaks founder, is planning to run for a senate seat in Australia, reports out of that country say.

Assange's application to enroll in the election for a Victoria Senate seat was filed with the Australian Electoral Commission in Melbourne yesterday, The Age is reporting. His father, John Shipton, was among the people who filed the application on his behalf.

Assange, a native-born Australian, is currently living in political asylum at the Ecuador embassy in London, which has provided him a sanctuary from the Swedish and U.S. governments. Swedish officials have sought Assange to question … Read more

Zuckerberg to hold fund-raiser for New Jersey governor

Though Silicon Valley tends to support Democrats, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is throwing his might behind Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

Zuckerberg is holding a fundraiser at his house for Christie's reelection campaign. The February 13 event will be Christie's first out-of-state trip for this campaign and, reportedly, the first political fund-raiser Zuckerberg is holding at his home. Friends and colleagues of Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are attending the event, and they'll shell out no more than $3,800 -- New Jersey's limit on contributions.

Zuckerberg hasn'… Read more

Google's Eric Schmidt to meet Kim Jong-Un?

Wouldn't you like to be a wall on the flight?

Can you imagine what Google's Eric Schmidt will be muttering to other members of a U.S. delegation that is reportedly going to Pyongyang, North Korea for a little diplomatic pying-pyong?

According to the Associated Press, this trip might even happen in the next few weeks, with former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson also in the party.

Naturally, details of this alleged trip are being kept very close to official chests. But one can surely hope for nothing more than a meeting between Schmidt and North Korean … Read more

Anonymous: 'Expect us 2013'

The hacking collective Anonymous has clarified that it has no plans to fade away in the New Year. It issued a statement over the weekend that warned the world to "Expect us 2013."

Along with the statement, the group created a video that boasts of its campaigns and exploits carried out in 2012. The video details the group's temporary shutdown of the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, Universal Music, and the Motion Picture Association of America's Web sites in protest of the U.S. government's indictment of the operators of popular file-hosting site … Read more

Ex-Senator Simpson fights the debt, 'Gangnam Style'

As the election campaign ground along with the relentlessness of Ann Coulter drinking 18 cups of coca tea a day, you might have heard the phrase "Simpson-Bowles" once or twice.

This is not to be confused with Ashford Simpson, Jessica Simpson, or the BCS Bowles Series.

It was a plan to save money, so that young people can have more cash for bong-fillers and bubble gum.

Now former Sen. Alan Simpson (R.-Wyo.), the first part of Simpson-Bowles, has decided that the young haven't listened to him enough. … Read more

Still live: Bob Dole's 1996 election site

Never lose hope.

That's what I always tell myself on the darkest of days, when I am even more misunderstood than usual.

I have a new symbol of this attitude. Because my colleague, Kent German, has just passed me a link to something I never thought I'd see: the Bob Dole/Jack Kemp campaign site for the 1996 presidential election.

This is like visiting the Smithsonian without leaving one's pillow. It's like reflecting on how times have moved apace, without seeming to move at all.

Here, for example, are promises that seem uncannily familiar. The tagline … Read more

Racist anti-Obama Facebook post gets woman fired

"I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."

These are words so many of us have used, just before someone slapped us across the chops.

So it has proved for Denise Helms, a 22-year-old woman from Turlock, Calif., who used Facebook to express her own miffedness with the re-election of the president.

As Fox 40 in Sacramento records it, she wrote: "Another 4 years of this n*****. Maybe he will get assassinated this term."

Oddly, this post seems to have incurred something of a reaction itself. Not everyone was at one with … Read more

Romney victory site goes live by mistake

It's well known that before any big game, the T-shirts and hats that laud a victory are prepared by both sides.

Yet a curious thing happened after Barack Obama was re-elected on Tuesday night: Mitt Romney's victory Web site went live.

Perhaps it was someone's idea of humor -- or even anger. Yet it was immediately spotted by Political Wire, which cheerily took screenshots for public edification.

Those who enjoy schadenfreude will offer their snorts and smirks. For them, this is a Rom-Com.

Yet we seek deeper significances here.

What was odd about this election was that … Read more