http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/13/nearly-60-charged-lg-resigns/


Florida's lieutenant governor resigned and nearly 60 other people were charged in a scandal involving a purported veterans charity that authorities said Wednesday was a front for a $300 million gambling operation.

The organization, Allied Veterans of the World, runs nearly 50 Internet parlors with computerized slot machine-style games, which are normally legal in Florida if most of the proceeds go to charity.

But investigators said the organization's executives gave precious little to veterans and lavished millions on themselves, spending it on boats, beachfront condos and Maseratis, Ferraris and Porsches.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called the alleged scam "callous" and "despicable" and said it "insults every American who ever wore a military uniform."

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll was not among those charged but resigned a day after she was questioned by investigators.

*snip*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/ted-nugent-kills-pigs-bill-maher-animal-freaks_n_2852302.html

Ted Nugent is bragging about killing over 400 wild pigs, a kill he dedicates to Bill Maher and other "animal rights freaks."

While talking with SiriusXM's Brett Winterble, Nugent claimed he killed 455 wild pigs with his machine gun in a Texas field last weekend, according to RumorFix.

“I took my machine gun in the helicopter -- in the Texas hill country -- me and my buddy ‘Pigman.' His name is ‘Pigman’; I’m the swine czar. I killed 455 hogs with my machine gun. I did it for Bill Maher and all those other animal rights freaks out there," he told Winterble, according to RumorFix. "My haters will hate me more for that."

Nugent, who claims he fired off 750 rounds a minute, says it was all for the common good since wild pigs destroy the region's natural habitat, RumorFix reports. After the kill, the 64-year-old gun-crazed rocker said he gave the meat to the needy. “We distributed tons of the most delicious pork to the soup kitchens and homeless shelters of this state. Everything we did was perfect – win, win, win," he added. “I had to adjust my halo as I was machine-gunning hogs.”

*snip*

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clint-eastwood-joins-republicans-gay-marriage-highlighting-growing/story?id=18620592


A growing split in the Republican Party deepened today when Clint Eastwood, the movie star who rocked the GOP convention by interviewing an invisible President Obama, joined the ranks of Republicans who are in favor of legalizing gay marriage.

The support for gay marriage by Eastwood and about 100 prominent Republicans, along with budding support within the party for immigration reform, is creating an obvious divide in the party. It pits moderate Republicans and party operatives on one side against conservative activists who drive turnout in the primary elections.

One of the four former Republican governors who signed the legal brief in favor of same sex marriage is ex-New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman who she says there are days she "absolutely" doesn't feel like part of the party because she says the GOP is being "defined by the talking heads and they don't for the most part represent me."

*snip*

I apologize that I have little more to add, but I just finished playing a gig with my band and it's late and I have to work tomorrow so I am in stream of consciousness mode right now having just listened to this amazing relic from the somewhat distant past, and this made me realize that there's certain pieces of music from my life's soundtrack that I can't listen to without somehow feeling the disocncerting history, and not because of some sort of association with a personal experience, but just because of how different things were when these songs came out. For example, I can't hear "In the court of the crimson king" the same way anymore after seeing the film "Children of Men."

does this make any sense to anyone else?

Anyway, this seminal album is a masterpiece and it kind of illustrates my point.