I believe, as we stand on the abyss tonight, that those Americans who are want to turn to God for answers that this is a time to be doing that. To ask for his help, supernaturally, so that we don’t make this fatal step pushing our nation into socialized medicine.
– Congressman Todd Akin (R), CSPAN, House Session

Seattle-based Classmates.com has agreed to pay up to $9.5 million to its users to settle a lawsuit that accused the social network of sending emails that made people believe their old friends from high school were reaching out to connect — only to discover, after paying for a membership, that their long-lost buddies were nowhere to be found.

The proposed settlement, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, would designate $3 in cash for every Classmates.com member (dating back to Jan. 1, 2007) who upgraded to a “gold” membership on the site after receiving an email suggesting that they pay for premium access to see who had signed their online guestbooks. Documents filed in the case estimate that as many as 3.16 million people in the United States would be eligible for the payout.

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Subject: Barack Obama is in Missouri to resurrect his political fortunes. Help us stop him!
From: “Lt. Governor Peter Kinder” <gopfeedback@mogop.org>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:44:28 UT
To: Me

Dear Conservative,

I’m not sure whether I should be more bothered by the obvious bullshit in this email or that it was so obviously incompetently targeted.

Today, President Barack Obama is in Missouri attempting to resurrect his takeover of our health care system, revive his sagging political fortunes, and fill Claire McCaskill and the Democrat Party’s campaign war chests. This is clearly a way to funnel money to Robin Carnahan, who Obama wants in the Senate to rubber stamp his liberal agenda.

Liberal agenda? I Wish! Anywhere else in the world, Obama would be considered a center/right politician.

As president, Obama has a natural soapbox that Republicans simply cannot compete with. But with your help, we will continue taking our case to the people, even as the media attempts to ignore us.

The media is ignoring you? Fox “News”, talk radio, and conservative pundits seem to be giving your case more than enough attention.

That’s why I am personally asking you for an online contribution of $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford to the Missouri Republican Party. Every dollar will help us get out our message without depending on the national media.

Without your help, Barack Obama and the Democrats will continue trying to ram government-run health care down the throats of every American—and this time, they might succeed.

Government-run health care? A lie obvious to anyone familiar with the bill. Kinder is counting on people believing the propaganda put out by Fox “News” and the RNC. The real irony is the current healthcare bill is something one would expect from a moderate Republican President. By the way, what’s this obsession conservatives have with things getting shoved down throats?

Obama knows he cannot pass his bill under normal circumstances, so despite the overwhelming opposition from people across the state and around the nation, he now wants to force it through using reconciliation—also called the “nuclear option.” Using this approach to pass such a massive bill is unprecedented in American political history. In 2005, then-Senator Obama said this tactic would lead to “majoritarian absolute power” and was “not what the Founders intended.”

Using this approach to pass such a massive bill is unprecedented in American political history. – Another lie, check out this graph:

But now that he’s president, he doesn’t care about his own past statements or what Americans think.

We will not stand for it—and you shouldn’t either. That’s why your online contribution is so important.

We will use every dollar we raise to elect Republicans at every level of government—Republicans who will continue standing up for Missourians and against the encroachment of big government into the lives of ordinary Americans.

Why should we trust a lying spammer with our money?

Thank you for your steadfast support of conservative principles.

Sincerely,

Peter Kinder
Lt. Governor

P.S. We are just 8 months away from an election that will be critical to the future of our nation. Please make an online contribution of $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford to the Missouri Republican Party so we can have the resources to compete with Barack Obama’s bully pulpit and spread our conservative message to every corner of our state.

I’m not a big Harry Reid fan, but he makes a good point:

One might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.
— Senator Harry Reid

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India: A History – John Keay

The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days – Jeff Kinney

The Flying Circus of Physics – Jearl Walker

Who’s Up for Some Bonding? A FoxTrot Collection – Bill Amend

• Biography
• Drums and Percussion
• Fiction
• Food
• Graphic Novels
• History
• Humor
• Nonfiction
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Science
• Skeptic
• Saint Louis
• Computing
• Maritime Simulation

• Isaac Asimov
• Margaret Atwood
• Elizabeth Becka / Lisa Black
• Italo Calvino
• Philip K. Dick
• Al Franken
• Neil Gaiman
• Martin Gardner
• Jeff Kinney — Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Patrick O’Brian — Aubrey Maturin Series
• Terry Pratchett — Discworld Novels
• Kim Stanley Robinson
• David Sedaris
• Dan Simmons
• J. R. R. Tolkien

Last year, news broke that Comedy Central had ordered up new episodes of Futurama to air in 2010 (with all of the original voice actors). Well, guys, it is totally 2010, the year we make contact and the year we get to watch new Futurama episodes. And now it’s been announced that the first 12 episodes will begin airing in June with more to follow. That’s like three months from now. Get excited, nerds!

Georgia Improves Reefer Capacity

Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz announced that a new set of electrified refrigerated container racks were completed and came online in Container Berth Five (CB-5) last week. With the ten new racks, Garden City Terminal now has a total of 44 racks, which accommodate 1,056 containers.