News and You, Nov. 2

How would you like to wake up in Russia to this guy's mug in your face?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Judge Alito, the man that Bush would have on the Supreme Court (since Harriet Miers isn't good enough, apparently), isn't the rigid conservative most conservatives think he is. Here's a quote from a "liberal" person named "Kate Pringle" (obviously a fake name):

Kate Pringle, a New York lawyer who worked last year on Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign, describes herself as a left-leaning Democrat and a big fan of Alito's.
She worked for him as a law clerk in 1994, and said she was troubled by the initial reaction to his nomination. "He was not, in my personal experience, an ideologue. He pays attention to the facts of cases and applies the law in a careful way. He is conservative in that sense; his opinions don't demonstrate an ideological slant," she said.

So the religious right loses again, it seems. They want a vast and deadly paper trail detailing an opposition to abortion, just like the irreligious left wants a vast and deadly paper trail detailing his pledge of allegiance to Roe v. Wade. Here's another quote from some other windbag:

"I grew up in New York City, and I'm a political independent. But I liked Judge Alito because he was a judicial conservative, someone who believed in judicial restraint and was committed to textualism," he said. "His approach leads to conservative results in some cases and progressive results in other cases. In my opinion, he is a fantastic jurist and a good guy."

After investigation, it's going to be hard for the democrats to vote this guy down. Ha-ha.

That Sony CD you just bought comes complete with a virus that installs when you play it in your CD Drive, and is extremely difficult to uninstall. Not only that, but all sorts of crap could be theoretically hidden in that code. Is it any wonder why CD sales are down? We just can't trust the CD makers anymore. Why are they continuing to cultivate an adversarial relationship with their customers? I know I'm personally going to stay away from Sony CD's forever now. The virus isn't even in that EULA thing at the beginning that nobody reads! Evil Sony.

Those of us who thought that Jessica and Ashley Simpson were the same person, or at least shared the same body, have been proven wrong. They appear together on the cover of Teen People magazine this week. Yes, Jessica is 25 and Ashleeee is 21, but don't you worry about that now. Ashleeee's new album is named I Am Me, which makes me wonder something. How come all these horrible pop acts have to make a big deal out of the fact that they're their own unique person, when it's painfully clear their music sounds just like everybody else's? And how come these people always act so defiant of their critics, saying things like, "I am beautiful no matter what they say -- words can't bring me down," and, "I don't really care what people say," when their entire existence is defined by the fact that they're a celebrity? Without people talking about her, Ashleeeee would cease to exist. Of course she cares what people are saying! I Am Me might as well read, I Am the Me that's Designed to Sell the Most Records. Who are these people kidding? Teens. That's why they're being interviewed by Teen People and not a real magazine like, I don't know, Forbes or something. A relevant quote from Ashleeee:
However, she adds: “I love to sing. It’s a joy to me. I don’t do it for anyone else — I do it for me.

“I’ve had to learn that my voice is the most important one. Otherwise, I’ll drown in what everyone wants me to be.”

And that's why she sounds like everybody else, right? She has no voice -- figuratively or literally.

In other news, the CIA is holding people at secret facilities around the world. No word on whether or not Jack Bristow is involved, but this totally sounds like something he would come up with. They're even in eastern europe, so if he wanted to he could visit his wife on weekends. That is, if he could find her.

The last "Star Wars" film, entitled Revenge of the Sith, is bringing its CGI battles and unrealistic evil transformations to DVD this week. But don't buy that -- buy the Office Space "special edition" DVD instead! Gosh, how did this come out without me realizing it? Clearly I'm spending too much time working and not enough time trolling entertainment websites. Darn you, economy! Anyway, you know what's going at the top of my Netflix queue. I'll let you know if it's still funny.

Finally, The Milwaukee Bucks started their NBA Season off right by crushing the 76ers in overtime, 117-108. TJ Ford is awesome. I guess I should write something about it on my sports blog, eh? After all, that's what it's there for, right? Get off my lawn.