It was only a matter of time

Leave it to our litigious neighbours to the south. A class-action suit has been filed “on behalf of all Americans” against Janet “this boob’s for you” Jackson:
Terri Carlin, a 47-year-old Knoxville bank employee, contends that Jackson’s exposure and other “sexually explicit conduct” during halftime festivities caused viewers to “suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury.”
Also named in the suit: Justin Timberlake, CBS, MTV and Viacom. Apparently the Patriots and the Panthers are not being held accountable for the outrage, anger, and embarrassment, although the serious injury charge might stick.
Via Tenorman
I will grant you that this is a case of nonnewsworthiness, and that just thinking about that massive piercing makes certain bits of my anatomy cringe, but I still say I’d rather be exposed (pardon the pun) to Janet’s boob than Michael’s face.
Shudder.

Unelected Officialdom

Canada has bid a farewell, fond or otherwise, to Jean Chretien, after more than a decade at the helm. His successor, Paul Martin, is currently experiencing the pendulum swing of media favour. During the federal election campaign in 2000, rumours were rife that Chretien was planning to retire practically as soon as he was sworn in – and that Martin was the presumed heir to the Liberal throne. In other words, a vote for Chretien was a vote for Martin – and the votes were cast.
Now, however, there seems to be a growing sentiment of “well, we didn’t vote for you, buddy.” Particularly in light of the most recent little oopsie: in February 2003, the government reported that it had paid about $137,000 to a shipping company owned by Paul Martin. The numbers, as it turns out, were a little off.
By a factor of 1,175.
New figures released this month show that in fact, the government gave the shipping company contracts worth $161 million.
Martin’s response? He said he knew immediately upon hearing it that the $137,000 figure was wrong.
“I was appalled when I saw what the original answer had been,” he said.
So, about a year ago, he saw the number, knew it had to be wrong, and didn’t say a word???
Well, I didn’t vote for you, buddy.
Meanwhile, away down south, Senator John McCain is putting the blame for Iraq on – wait for it – Bill Clinton. According to McCain, it was Clinton who was snowed by faulty intelligence, and since Clinton signed the Iraqi Regime Change Act in 1998, the Bush league cannot be held accountable.
That’s right – the Democrats did it.

The Parrot, Part II

According to Winston Churchill’s daughter, Charlie the Parrot is a fraud.
Lady Soames says that the Churchill family did have a parrot, but a different one, for a few years, but the idea that Churchill taught the bird to swear at Nazis is, and I quote, “too tiresome for words”.

Once more with feeling

Okay, here we go again – I did some more futzing with Photoshop, and here is the new new background. I’m using the laptop, so once again I rely on your input to let me know if the colour is hideous. I’m going for a mellow, yellowy-orange, not bright, screaming acid yellow, so I implore you to give some idea of what you’re looking at.
The current colour is “light goldenrod.” It was “Navajo white” for a day or two, but I was uneasy about the hex code: FFDEAD.
I toned down the flowers, as per Francois’ suggestion, so the text should be easier to read.