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On Tuesday, two men out walking on a beach in Richmond found a human foot washed up on shore. The right foot was encased in a white Nike running shoe, size 8.5, and was discovered at No. 6 Road and Triangle Road alongside the Fraser River.

This is the seventh human foot found on B.C. shores, and the eighth found along the Pacific coast since 2007.

It might be a good time to take a second and make sure your feet are fastened tightly to your body.

Update; Any theories on this are welcome…

A documentary about crazy cat ladies, cheap coffins at Wal-Mart, This Is It is already a hit, personal stories and more…

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Crazy things that happen around Halloween, creepy guy that likes a little muscle kid, health care debate intensifies and more…

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Today, on Chicago’s WGN Radio 720, we talked about a Redskins cheerleader who was handicapped after a severe reaction to the flu vaccine. I mentioned several times that I am far from a vaccine nut and that the only reason I don’t get the shot is because I’m accustomed to putting a week or so aside each year to battling the flu. Well, needless to say, not everyone was happy with my take on the topic. Alright, time to make someone called ‘Sally’ famous…:

I think your handling of the topic was both foolish and irresponsible. Although you maintained that the main reason you planned not to get any flu shots again this year was because you considered getting sick for a couple of day each year just part of the deal, but what you discussed and emphasized was the tragic and rare case of the cheerleader who is disabled, probably because of some sort of reaction to a flu shot.

You are foolish because you are in the age group that often does not just get sick for a few days with H1N1. They too often get very sick and can die. A little over 14 percent of 168 people in a 2009 Canadian study did die. Their average age was 32 years old.

You are irresponsible because your emphasis on the very scary story about the cheerleader could certainly scare young people away from getting the H1N1 vaccination. People could die because of your broadcast.

I’m trying not to hope you get the flu.

Sally

Thanks for the email!

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The truly amazing non-journey of Colorado’s Balloon Boy comes to an end, Meghan McCain’s spectacular rack and so much more…

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Wait, was I wrong? Meghan McCain, daughter of Presidential second-placer John McCain, posted the above photo on her Twitter stream (she currently has 60k followers) last night around 8PM. She followed up about 30 minutes later with a series of ‘tweets’ (jesus, I hate the language of Twitter) suggesting she was getting evil responses to her picture. Here’s a timeline of her responses…

So… Meghan McCain posted a photo unaware that her giant breasts would cause a controversy online amongst her conservative followers and then threatened to delete her account after a slew of mean comments, right? Not so fast. Twitter is a website for self-promotion, I know that just as well as Meghan does. She uses that account to promote her appearances and articles on The Daily Beast and it’s one of her best promotional tools. If you think she didn’t expect a reaction to that picture, you’re kidding yourself. And if you buy the ’slew of mean comments’ line, you’re even more gullible.

I’m not saying she didn’t get any negative responses or that no one called her a slut, I’m saying that she blew the event out of proportion to promote her latest column. You know, the one that she linked right after calming down last night. What an amazingly convenient coincidence!

Don’t take my word for it, search Twitter yourself. With a query like ‘@McCainBlogette look like slut‘ — (I’m assuming these evil people would have sent a message telling her ‘you look like a slut’ or something similar) brings up nothing directed at Meghan’s account before she started complaining of a backlash. A simpler search for ‘@McCainBlogette whore‘ brings up a whopping 3 posts, none of them attacking her for the photo. In fact, search for all replies to ‘@McCainBlogette‘ and you’ll get a massive outpouring of posts in support of her, many attempting to convince her not to leave Twitter.

Meghan has been working for The Daily Beast for a while and you can imagine interest in her pieces has dropped over time. Jumble that with the fact that she didn’t exactly enjoy being ignored by the paparazzi as they drooled over Tila Tequila the other day and we’ve got a recipe for a publicity stunt.

It’s possible that she really did face a backlash after posting the seductive snapshot. And it’s possible that her outrage over that reaction was genuine. But I think it’s a helluva a lot more possible that she thought up this little fiasco last night after taking a few pictures and screening them to see which would be best for posting online. Like I said in the title, when Meghan McCain wants attention, she gets it. She’s positioning herself to be this sexy, political every-girl and it seems to be working quite well. Hell, this is the most buzzed about Twitter image since Ashton Kutcher uploaded a Demi Moore crotch shot. So, in the end, she gets some press and we get to see her massive cleavage.

Win-win, right?

I’ll transcribe a few of the shots at Jessica Simpson:

“Man, I still can’t believe Tony dated Jessica Simpson even after she blew up bigger than Flozell Adams.”

“At least Jessica comes up big when it counts.”

“Hey, Tony, is Jessica around? Because we could use a defensive tackle.

It’s almost incomprehensible why Fox would air this attack on someone who previously dated a current NFL player. Millions and millions of people were watching this broadcast and you can bet your ass Jessica Simpson was probably among them. Then again, it seems to be a free-for-all when it comes to attacking the fallen pop star these days. Hell, even the President took a shot.

There have been countless articles and debates on the talk show circuit about how comments on-air affect their targets in the real world. Generally, I don’t buy them. After a hard-hitting interview with Nancy Grace, 21-year-old Melinda Duckett committed suicide. Grace says the mother shot herself because she felt guilty about her missing son, Duckett’s family says otherwise. A long time target of the right, abortion doctor George Tiller (labeled ‘Tiller the Baby Killer’ by opponents) was gunned down at a Kansas church by an anti-abortion activist. ConservaTalkers claimed no responsibility for the murder, liberals disagreed. I think reality is a whole lot messier than black-and-white arguments on either side but it’s funny that this same standard isn’t held to issues of less importance.

Don’t these folks think that Jessica Simpson could have an adverse reaction to being called fat in front of millions of football fans? Isn’t it possible that she’s in a weakened mental state?

For God’s sake, the woman has resorted to Internet dating… it’s that bad.

Jessica Simpson isn’t quite as stupid as you might imagine. She knows how she once looked (see: photo above, left) and how she currently looks (photo above, right) and I’m pretty sure she isn’t comfortable with the weight gain. And I’m not alone in my criticism, here’s adage.com’s take:

Fox wrote, produced and aired the bit nationally, in other words. Still, there’s Burger King’s name, big as day, right before the skit starts. Weight jokes associated with a fast-food chain just strike us as dumb no matter how you look at it. Consider the Whopper. The sandwich has 19 Weight Watchers points, or just under the average daily goal. Adding fries and a small shake would take you up to 45 points, or more than the average woman should consume in two days. Laughing yet?

What’s even more bizarre, as adage.com points out, is that Burger King sponsored the bit but didn’t preview the spot they would be attaching their brand name to. Well, why not?

Both Burger King and Fox are apologizing for the entire fiasco but it seems like some red flags should have gone up somewhere along the line. Still no comment from Jessica Simpson.

I’m all for making fun of people and I’m all for taking cheap shots. I’m never for stifling free speech but I think it’s important to call out people who do stupid things. For instance: if a major television network used a cartoon on prime time (sponsored by a multinational fast food chain that doesn’t exactly help when it comes to the obesity dilemma) to attack a pop star who is hardly relevant any more, that might be a bit much. And let’s all remember a painful truth here, at the end of the day, there aren’t many among us who would turn down sex with Jessica Simpson just because she packed on a few pounds in the last few years. In fact, I think we’d be fighting for the first spot in line…

Update: Fox is in full back-pedal mode now. They yanked the clip from Youtube.com via a copyright claim. The video below has some of the original footage. Let’s see how long this version lasts…

Naked x-rays, House Hunters obsession, Seth Green fakery, Rifqa Bary update, flag bans and much more…

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Please direct your hate mail to: ShawnWasson -AT- Gmail.com

World One involves the White House and it’s mouth piece, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. In this world everything is worthy of a yuck-yuck moment and it’s perfectly acceptable to turn a press conference into something just short of a skit on Monday Night Raw. Let’s go to the tape…

MR. GIBBS: I will say this — I will say this, I don’t know if you — maybe I’ll bring this picture out here. It’s — recently, the President was playing with Reggie, I think it was in New York. Reggie is going to hate that I told this story, but I want to make sure I’m speaking directly into the camera. (Laughter.) And I think Reggie came back across the street, and the pool asked him what had happened, and he said he couldn’t say anything because I had told him he couldn’t talk to the press.

Q He said you’d kill him.

MR. GIBBS: Well, I figured out why he apparently has finally started listening to me. The President told me that he blocked several of Reggie’s shots — (laughter) — during this game, including one that was photographed by Pete Souza. There’s now a very large print of that downstairs in the West Wing that the President asked Reggie to sign. (Laughter.) And it is prominently displayed for both Reggie and, I think more importantly, the President’s enjoyment as he walks to and from meetings.

(The picture is brought out.) (Laughter.)

Q Nice picture.

Q Clearly he’s –

Q Robert, Robert, hold it up. Hold it way up.

Q I think it’s a foul. I think it’s a foul. (Laughter.)

Q What does it say?

MR. GIBBS: “Mr. President, nice block. Reggie Love.” I will say this — Reggie certainly is — I don’t think would call a foul in that play –

In World Two, you know, the real one, things are a bit different.

Honestly, we have wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, skyrocketing unemployment and a public fed up with non-answers and spin from the White House and we’re talking about pick-up basketball games?

World One: Orchestrated basketball-related stunts. World Two: A scene of desperation and poverty.

Can these folks possibly be that disconnected from life outside the beltway?

Answer: An emphatic yes…

Solidarity to my big beer can drinking friends in Arlington Heights, Afghanistan four years in, futuristic Burger King and much more…

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Please direct your hate mail to: ShawnWasson -AT- Gmail.com

“There’s a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.”

-Michael Moore, Dude Where’s My Country? pg 258

If you’ve been following my Twitter feed, you may have caught my reaction to Michael Moore’s latest movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, last Friday. Since then, I’ve seen about a dozen interviews with Moore where people try to pin him down on his solution to problems outlined in the flick. Watch this video of his chat with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and you’ll have a better idea of what I’m talking about.

Now, try to erase the ludicrous comparison to the Founding Fathers from your mind.

The moment you should focus on happens around 4:28 into the clip. Wolf Blitzer asks, “What do you want to replace [capitalism] with?” After an audible gasp, Moore responds, “I want to replace it with Democracy.” Fast forward to 5:58, after Michael Moore’s first use of religion as a defense mechanism, Blitzer pounces with “which country has an economic system you like?” Seems like an easy enough question to answer, right? Moore struggles and finally settles on “I don’t think that exists yet.” The interview continues along this same line of questioning for a while.

Michael Moore’s intentions are clear: he wants to avoid being labeled as a ‘Socialist’ in these interviews. So to avoid alienating the millions of possible movie ticket purchasers who are watching this clip, he hides behind the word ‘democracy’ as applied to an economic model and, perhaps most importantly, he hides behind religion as a justification for his overall point. He uses this same tactic ad nauseum in ‘Capitalism.’ If the film wasn’t so boring, it might be effective.

In essence, Michael Moore is using an anti-corporatism argument, bolstered by religious ideology and the word ‘democracy’ to push for embracing a socialist economic system in the United States. How could you argue against it? Moore even uses religious figures, including his own pastor, to prove his point. So let’s take this apart, one piece at a time. I’ll let this college student from George Washington University prove the ‘anti-corporatism’ side of my argument.

Did you catch that? Michael Moore agrees, “we don’t really have a free-market.”

Moore follows this up by struggling to explain the theory of economic democracy. The overall goal of this loose theory is to achieve 100% employment, to get 100% of the population insured and to push it a step further with free houses for everyone. His message is ‘give the power to the workers, then push for pay based on work output.’ Which, to me, sounds a whole heckuva lot like Socialism.

In fact, Moore suggests we enact FDR’s failed ‘Second Bill of Rights’ proposal:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

That just about puts a fork in the ‘democracy’ portion of his argument. But what about religion?

Time after time, Moore argues that to disagree with him is to disagree with god. Take a look at the quote that started this post: “There’s a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.” Moore has told you, along with Bill Maher and others, on countless occasions, how stupid he thinks you are. Now Moore is using this perceived ‘gullibility’ to hammer down on a partisan argument that “nobody should make 500 times what anyone else is making in this country” (Read that last sentence again and consider Moore’s income as compared to one of the freelance videographers that work on his films.) because Jesus Christ wouldn’t approve it. This from the man who mainstreamed the Jesus Land graphic.

But this faulty logic isn’t the biggest issue to complain about after watching Capitalism: A Love Story. Michael Moore seems to be obsessed with making all of his movies almost exactly two hours long. Bowling for Columbine was 120 minutes long, Fahrenheit 9/11 clocked in at 122 minutes, Sicko was 123 minutes long and Capitalism: A Love Story is 120 minutes front-to-back — the guy seems obsessed with hitting the two hour mark. There’s at least 25 minutes of fluff in this flick that could have easily have been filled by a heated debate with a single voice of opposition. That’s right, not a single Adam Smith-touting free marketeer in the entire movie. I could spend a dozen more paragraphs debunking Moore’s claims one-by-one (or pointing out other stupid things he’s said on his press tour) but I think it’s best to reveal the flaws in the deepest foundation of his argument.

At the end of the day, Moore wants the U.S. to look a whole lot more like France. He wants everyone (except him) to believe that they aren’t special, that they can’t make it in this world. He wants you to believe that greed is a bad tool of incentive. Moore wants you to buy into this bullshit thought process that suggests somehow the government can better handle your cash than you can. Once your tax dollars make their way up the chain, something magical happens and all is well and fair. A man who has amassed a Scrooge McDuck-sized pile of cash and benefited from the freest (however flawed it may be) economy on this planet, wants you to spend $10 a ticket to hear how terrible we all are and how if we just march in step with him everything will be perfect. It’s a common flaw of socialist thought — that there’s always some perfection to be had, some pinnacle to reach. In these people’s minds, there’s a perfect temperature for the planet, a perfect health care system, a culture to be reached that is free of poverty and full of happiness, health and shiny things.

But don’t go throwing away your Prozac just yet, it’s all a fairytale. And following people like Moore politically will lead you to a more unfair, more destitute, less impressive society. This has been proven time and time again. The fact that the film ended up in a disappointing 8th place suggests Americans aren’t quite ready to acquiesce and give up this system. In short, Capitalism may not be perfect, but it’s the best damn thing we’ve got going for us. Save your $10 for something better…

Please direct your hate mail to: ShawnWasson -AT- Gmail.com

Your host is almost arrested on a movie set, Letterman won’t shut his mouth, MSNBC raises the idiot bar and much more…

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Chicago loses Olympic rat race, Obama and Afghanistan, SNL smackdown, Ted Williams’ head and much more…

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Sponsor The Daily Fix, Rio and the Olympic bid, Elizabeth Smart speaks out, weekend movie preview and much more…

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The difference between advertising on a product like The Daily Fix and the broadcast version of my show is quite stark. On air, the spots come and go. Once your ad has been played, it disappears. But an advantage of the online product is an advertisement that keeps on giving. Old shows continue to rack up downloads months after they are uploaded and as the file makes it’s way around the Internet, your advertisement stays intact. You get exposure, I get some cash, everybody wins.

I didn’t create The Daily Fix to make a bundle of cash, I do the show specifically for my fans. But I’d like to purchase some major upgrades for the home studio and the best way to do that is by raising a bit of cash through the product. So I’ve come up with a great way for advertisers to reach my audience. The plan below will remain in tact for the rest of the year and rates will be locked in as outlined. At the beginning of 2010 we will revise the rates and continue.

Each ad buy-in will be a 1 week run consisting of at least four new episodes of The Daily Fix. On each show, you will receive a 60 second live read of your advertisement. You have the choice of providing your own copy or having a script drawn up for you. In addition to the live read, each week’s sponsor will be thanked on The News Junkie Twitter feed (currently holding strong at 3,000+ followers) and a blog post done during that week. The total cost for a week’s sponsorship is $500 — payable to my PayPal account. You will receive an invoice for your purchase when the week ends.

So, to recap, you get 4 live reads, a mention on The News Junkie Twitter feed and an original blog post to be created during your sponsorship term — all for $500. This is a great way to get your product, service or website out to a large audience for little cost.

Money generated from advertising will go toward a phone system, which will give me the ability to take phone calls during the show, and other expensive equipment. All questions should be directed to this email address: sales@thenewsjunkie.com.

Why Representative Grayson is a sign of the times, more Polanski apologists, demonizing smokers, a Rifqa Bary update and much more…

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Hollywood elites rush to defend child rapist, everything is now newsworthy, census worker update and much more…

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Last Friday, as I filled in for John Williams on Chicago’s WGN Radio 720, I interviewed Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling. I thought it would be interesting to wedge your questions into an actual poll and, with the help of a few great callers, I was able to pull that feat off. The two best questions are highlighted below and the complete breakdown and background data can be found in this PDF file.

Question 1: Would you support amending the constitution to allow Presidents to serve more than two terms? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If you’re not sure, press 3.

It may be too early to actually gauge the public reaction to a question like this. I’d love to see the same poll at the end of Obama’s second term (if he could manage reelection). Still, the low ‘No’ number is encouraging. Let’s look at the party identification breakdown:

More than 1/4 of self-described ‘Liberals’ would like to see Obama in the White House beyond two terms. Sure, that’s quite predictable. But what the hell is up with the 10% of ‘Conservatives’ who seem to be in agreement? The question itself is too general. I wish the wording included President Obama’s name and was pointed in asking if a third term would be a ‘desirable’ thing.

Question 2: Would you support term limits for members of Congress? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If you’re not sure, press 3.

This should be an eye opener for all of Congress. In fact, it may do us well to print this poll out and send it on over to your local representative. You can search for those addresses on this website.

Again, the party identification breakdown:

Survey participant information:

PPP conducted a national survey of 621 voters from September 18th to 21st. The
survey’s margin of error is +/-3.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and
weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

Everyone on TV is stupid, people live under Las Vegas, pregnant woman pregnant again and much more…

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Mackenzie Phillips’ comes clean, a giant baby is born, U.N. insanity makes for good TV and more…

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I’ve explored obsession. I’ve explored loss and love in terms of being in a grief-stricken place, I’ve explored strange sexual fetish stuff, I’ve explored the mundane aspect of marriage, and monogamy,’ Kidman said.

‘You work on it,’ she went on of marriage. ‘It’s a very extraordinary, adventurous place to be: incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous and you’re very much out at sea. You’re exposed. You could drown.’

‘When you commit to someone like that, you live and die together by that decision.’

“it was impossible to put an attention of those hopeless men off. The game was drawing to a close and the ladies were sweating as much as they could, but the eyes of the tough players were nailed to the screens tight.”