I hate turning my electronics off during flights

Gizmodo has always been consistently awesome when it comes to debunking the myth that electronics will somehow cause planes to crash. (Here are two examples.) I would not say that I fly as often as some folks do, but, in these circumstances, I absolutely abhor turning off my electronics.

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The arrogance of Barack and Michelle Obama!

…kidding, of course. I just watched a clip of Michelle Obama on The Colbert Report. I'm honestly not quite sure that conservatives honestly believe their own rhetoric that the Obamas are any more "arrogant" or "self-centered"than the normal first family. Take this, for example:

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News Snap – Newt Gingrich to suspend his campaign on Tuesday

Not a big surprise:

Newt Gingrich will end his White House bid May 1 and formally back Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, sources tell CNN and Fox News Politics.

Hasta la vista, loser.

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Ohio DJ tells father to get his lesbian daughter raped

Absolutely deplorable:

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is on the offensive after a Cleveland morning DJ made a horrifying comment that suggested a man allow his gay daughter to be raped. […] The comment was made by Dominic Dieter, a DJ at Cleveland rock station WMMS. Speaking during the Rover's Morning Gloryshow, Dieter was discussing a man who wrote the radio station about his gay daughter.

"You should get one of your friends to screw your daughter straight," Dieter said, according to viewers.

 I would be surprised if this DJ lasts another week on air.

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New viral hit reveals “Hot Problems” in U.S. pop music

CROSS-POSTED AT BLIND MOUSE ENTERTAINMENT.


The internet has not hesitated to dub the newest viral hit “Hot Problems” by duo Double Take as the worst song of the year. An ungodly number of bloggers and commentators have compared it to Rebecca Black’s “Friday“, another YouTube sensation with shallow lyrics and horrendous singing. However fun it may be to mock these songs, they do reveal some alarming trends within our music scene.

Obama, Romney, and college kids

I wasn't as thrilled as some people were with President Obama's "slow jam" the news segment, on Jimmy Fallon's show. I don't dislike the video, but it didn't motivate me the same way that it did for some. It does, however, provide a potential answer to the question I asked last week – could education be at the forefront of election 2012?

A 'f**k you' to those Facebook fuckers

I have had Facebook for over five years. Posting Facebook statuses is one of the key features of the website and, debatably, even set the stage for the creation and popularization powerhouse website Twitter. However, aside from using #hashtags on Facebook, nothing bothers me more than people who censor their profanity on Facebook.

Seriously – I have seen people of all ages posting statuses with the terms "f**k", "a**", "b***h", and similar words censored with asterisks. Why do people do this? Saying "f**k you!" to someone in status is just as bad as saying "fuck you!", right?

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Link Roundup, 04/25/12 – LATE EDITION

Once again, Wednesday death penalty news pushed this segment to a Thursday.

Death penalty officially repealed in Connecticut

Good news:

With Malloy’s signature today, Connecticut becomes the 17th state to end the use of capital punishment and the fifth state in the past five years to abolish the death penalty.

It wasn't a total victory, though:

Unfortunately, we were unable to beat back a last-minute amendment mandating solitary confinement for defendants sentenced under the new law — conditions that have been shown to be inhumane and dangerous not only to prisoners but to society. Even as we celebrate this latest repeal of the death penalty as an indication that people across the nation are recognizing the systemic injustices that plague the entire death penalty system, we will continue to fight the injustice of long-term solitary confinement.

Still – we should be proud of the Nutmeg State.

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French candidate uses "Niggas in Paris" in political ad

Friend of the blog T.Blake posted an interesting find this morning:

Socialist candidate François Hollande is running for the position of French President, and he is balling so very, very hard. In his most recent presidential ad campaign, he used “Ni**as in Paris,” by Jay-Z and Kanye West, from the album Watch the Throne. An unusual choice perhaps, but Hollande’s campaign advisers believe the song choice will help take a stab at incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy by targeting Sarkozy’s racial insensitivity.

Here's the political advertisement in question:

Delaware, New York state, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island primaries - Huge post, with updates!

Fun fact: New York state is technically not a part of New England. A lot of people mix that up, but it's true. New England is solely comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. However, after the CT and RI primaries, New England will be down with GOP primaries. Why am I telling you this? Because this tidbit of information is much more "fun" than anything that will happen tonight.

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Connecticut primary - Huge post, with updates!

As I reported back in January, Mitt Romney easily won the CT straw poll. Since it's now down to just Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul it seems as if he will clinch the Nutmeg State like it was no big deal.

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“A Conversation about becoming an advocate, ally, and activist”

Tonight, I will be featured in a panel discussion:

April 24, 2012 at 7PM (FB Event Page)

Connecticut College, Katharine-Blunt Common Room

“A Conversation about becoming an advocate, ally, and activist”

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Need for Speed, Mario Kart, and video game philosophy

Two of my first video games ever were Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for the Nintendo GameCube. While I had fun with them–and I definitely recommend them–they weren't exactly spectacular games. However, they do make an excellent point about video games as opposed to movies.

On plural marriage and the state

As I was cleaning out my draft posts from 2011, I found an article from Matt Yglesias on decriminalizing polygamy:

Marriage is a special kind of legal category, one that has traditionally only been open to heterosexual couples. The demand for marriage equality is essentially the demand that that exact same legal status be open to gay couples. But it’s just not possible for polygamists to be granted “equality” in that sense. Marriage as a legal status is a relationship between two people. A state could create a legal status for more than two adults to form a household together, but it would certainly half to be a different kind of thing. But just because we might not want to create a legal polygamy category doesn’t mean that we need to ban polygamy. After all, there’s something just profoundly weird about the idea of making polygamy illegal. It’s not illegal to have an affair. It’s not illegal to have an open relationship. It’s not illegal to live in a house with more than one woman. Even in states that don’t recognize same sex marriages, it’s not illegal for a gay couple to have a marriage ceremony and start referring to themselves as married. Almost every possible set of household arrangements is legal, except for a person to refer to himself as “married” to more than one person simultaneously. Why do that? We could just…not do it without creating any recognized legal category for polygamists.

I think he raises what I consider to be a good temporary solution, but he does address the issue from the perspective of someone who does "not want to create a legal polygamy category." But, what about those of us who do?

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NARAL-CT vs. free speech

I really like NARAL. It's a group that does such good work around the United States. However, I could not be more disappointed with their Connecticut branch:

Of course, as discussed on Tuesday, these two students were not "arrested protesting" – they were arrested for not allowing others to protest.

Get yourself tested!

Produced, directed, edited, and designed by yours truly:



I am also the Korean speaker around the 0:13 mark.

The sensationalism of allkpop

As someone who both listens to and blogs about k-pop, the aggregate English-language blog allkpop is obviously in my RSS reader. It receives a lot of criticism (some of which is unfair, some isn't) for its sensationalism, but I think that this might take the cake. In an article about East/West k-pop collaborations, they came up with this pairing:

BP, farming, and the subject of the 2012 election

Rachel Maddow on Friday reminded me that I have been meaning to blog about the political implications of the spill. At the time of the spill, I remember sitting at my friend's farm, discussing the issue with a center-right group of folks. ("Center right" is actually pretty generous; I would have been surprised if any of them had ever voted for a non-Republican in their lives.) One individual in particular was concerned that Barack Obama had not done enough and claimed that this would inevitably doom his reelection chances. 

Two years later, it is evident that he was 100% wrong. However, what will the election be about?

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Did 2pac need a doctor?

CROSS-POSTED AT BLIND MOUSE ENTERTAINMENT.


By now, everyone has heard that rapper Tupac Shakur performed at Coachella 2012, despite being dead for nearly two decades. The man behind this concept was none other than hip-hop pioneer Dr. Dre, who worked with a California-based company to bring 2pac to life. Since this performance, netizens have debated the ethics of whether a dead artist should be reanimated in such a fashion. I wish to ask another question: was Dr. Dre’s involvement ethical?

The relevance of Yahoo!

This happened awhile ago, but it's still relevant:

Zelda, intersectionality, and public policy

Today I spent a little under two hours playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Yes, the classic game from 2000 for the Nintendo 64. It was really a nice throwback session, even if a glitch prevented me from saving, rendering the gameplay ultimately useless. One of my favorite parts of the game has always been to observe the protagonist, Link, and his interactions with the surrounding communities.

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Quick thought on 'club music'

For all of the hundreds of popular songs on the radio about clubbing lifestyles, how many people actually go to clubs on any semi-regular basis?

(No, going a couple of times on vacation does not count.)

(No, dances at your school/college/place of worship do not count.)

(No, weddings and bachelor/ette parties also do not count.)

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Link Roundup, 04/18/12 – LATE EDITION

Yesterday's news of Dick Clark's death justifies this late post.

News Snap - Dick Clark dies at age 82

So sad:

Dick Clark is dead after suffering a heart attack, according to TMZ. ABC confirmed the report. 

The 82-year-old longtime TV producer and host had been at St. John's Hospital in L.A. after undergoing an outpatient procedure on Tuesday, according to TMZ. Clark reportedly suffered the heart attack following the procedure and died on Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him.

The number of times I haven't watched Dick Clark on New Year's Rockin' Eve have been few and far between.

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Dog meat, Mitt Romney, and xenophobia

I've tried to stay clear of the "Mitt Romney strapped a living dog on the top of a car for a 12 hour drive" train, mostly because it's a sensationalist story and that's not what Bloody Shrubbery is about. However, Mitt Romney's recent attack on Barack Obama requires me to break this self-imposed silence. In Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from my Father, (a great novel, might I add) he discusses eating dog as a young child in Indonesia, which Romney has latched onto. The Dogs Against Romney website had an interesting response:

"Well," I said, "it seems desperate for the Romney campaign to bring up something that happened to Obama when he was 10-years old, not preparing his own meals, in a country where eating dog meat probably isn't all that unusual - as if it compares in any way to Romney, as a 36-year old adult, in America, making the conscious decision to strap his family pet to the roof of a car for a 12-hour drive, and leaving it up there even after it got sick."  […] If President Obama had made the conscious decision to eat dog meat as a 36-year old adult, in America, claimed the dog liked being eaten, and still claimed he didn't think there was anything wrong with it, the Romney campaign would have a point and my pack would be on the president like a pack of wild, well....dogs.

While I think Rusty does a good job of demonstrating how much of a false equivalency the Romney campaign is trying to show, it sort of misses the point.

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Anti-abortion protesters at UConn have free speech rights

An anti-choice group decides to use their First Amendment right to protest legal abortion, comparing it to genocide. It's morally questionable, but perfectly legal. A pro-choice group decides to protest the anti-choice group, using their First Amendment right to protest the protesters. Both of these involve people publicly expressing themselves and both acts are one hundred percent legal, as they should be.

But, today, two UConn students crossed the line.

Source.

News Snap – Occupy New Haven to be evicted "immediately"

Bad news for Occupy New Haven:

In a victory for City Hall, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the city does have the right to remove the 6-month-old Occupy encampment from the New Haven Green. […] A panel of three federal judges handed that decision down Tuesday morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on Pearl Street in New York City. […] The judges sided with the city and denied the Occupation’s request for a further stay against the city’s removal order. The 11 a.m. decision is effective immediately.

And thus ends the last Occupation in New England.

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Penis sizes and such

My latest:

Dear Fred,
 Without sounding awkward, I have always been a bit sensitive about the size of my cock. I have a girlfriend who does not seem to complain, but I cannot shake the feeling that my dick is inadequate. What is the average size for a penis? I am a heterosexual male who is Asian – is the racial stereotype true? How can I make my penis larger?
 Sincerely,
Small Johnston

First and foremost, the facts: different studies have shown slightly different results, but the generally accepted measurement is somewhere between 12.9 and 15 centimeters (5.1 to 5.9 inches) when fully erect. Also, there is absolutely no proven link between race or ethnicity and penis size.

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"Boyfriend" is half good?

I have defended Justin Beiber in the past, because many attacks against him are ad hominem or simply illogical. He’s not the best musician of all time and it’s unlikely that he will redefine music, but that does not necessarily make him a terrible artist. He does have talent, which is, in part, why I was so disappointed to hear his latest track:

I will be on the radio tonight!

UPDATE: THERE HAS BEEN A LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF PLANS. I WILL NOT GO ON AIR TONIGHT.


MONDAY

10PM - 10:20PM

WCNI New London – 90.9 FM

or ONLINE (here)

Just like last week, I will be on at around 10PM until around 10:20PM, as a test of my disc-jockeying skills. I will be spinning a wide variety of tunes, so please tune in! You have no reason not to! I will be taking requests! See you then.

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Thaksin plans to return to Thailand

While it's not really a surprise, former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, says that he plans to return to Thailand:

Mazel tov, Drake

CROSS-POSTED AT BLIND MOUSE ENTERTAINMENT.


Along with the video for “Take Care” featuring Rihanna, Drake dropped a second video last week for his duet with Lil’ Wayne – “HYFR (Hell Yeah Fuckin’ Right)”. The song, in and of itself, is a fairly bland anthem of self-praise for the YMCMB crew, featuring a fast-spitting verse from Drake and a chorus/verse combo from Lil’ Wayne. The video, however, was quite fascinating for its depiction of Drake’s Jewish faith.

KFC Thailand, local security companies, and bad advertising

I just don't understand why companies do shit like this:

KFC Thailand has apologized for posting a Facebook message that urged people to rush home during Wednesday's tsunami scare and order a bucket of KFC chicken. […] As people were being urged to evacuate from beaches, the company posted this message: "Let's hurry home and follow the earthquake news. And don't forget to order your favorite KFC menu."

Doesn't KFC Thailand have even a semi-competent public relations person?

Recent protests against KFC Thailand's union-busting. (Source)

North Korea will never catch the Road Runner

Remember those old Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons? For some inexplicable reason, Wile E. Coyote felt like being a dick, so, in every episode, he would go through unspeakable lengths to catch the Road Runner. He would always, always, always fail.

However, in each episode he would insist on purchasing technology–that would always, always, always break–from the ACME Corporation.

Link Roundup, 04/11/12 – LATE EDITION

Similar to last week, the great news of Connecticut's death penalty repeal pushed this segment back a day. Goodness can be found below the jump.

Death penalty repeal passes the CT legislature!

86 to 62, death penalty repeal passes the CT House of Representatives. That means that this will head to Gov. Dan Malloy's office, which he has promised to sign into law! We fucking won this one!

CT House to tackle death penalty repeal today

Today, the CT House of Representatives will take up the contentious issue of abolishing the death penalty. Last week, the CT Senate took the courageous step of voting to repeal it. The bill, which is likely to pass, will then go to Gov. Dan Malloy, who has promised to sign it into law.

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On South Korea's elections tomorrow

Tomorrow (well, technically "today" due to the time difference), South Korean voters will vote for national assembly elections. Unlike the United States' bicameral legislature, South Korea has a unicameral one. To put it in perspective, this means that each legislator is both less important than a U.S. senator, but more so than a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Council on Foreign Relations has an excellent piece on the upcoming election.

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News Snap – Rick Santorum suspends his campaign!

It has been confirmed by CBS, Fox, CNN, and ABC that Rick Santorum will suspend his campaign today. While his campaign was recently hindered by his daughter's illness, Santorum has faced an uphill battle with Mitt Romney to gain enough delegates to stay in the race.

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Occupy New Haven to be evicted at noon

After several legal extensions, it has been declared that Occupy New Haven must move out by today, April 10, at noon. I visited Occupy New Haven back in fall 2011. It was an extremely jubiliant crowd and, as far as I can tell, the occupation was not intrusive or messy.

Click to enlarge.

That was fun!

I had a good time spinning some fresh tunes on WCNI New London as DJ Fred. Here are some of the reactions:

• "That was fun"
• "Having jizz attacks here!"
• "You did a good job dude! Even though the only song I liked was 'L.A. Woman' [by The Doors], which wasn't even played by you"
• "Can I have your autograph?"
• "[DJ] Fred played our song on the radio!"
• "…I even caught myself dancing to some Asian music"
• "U made my day"

Apparently, I'll be on around the same time next week; I'll post more information once I know for sure. The tracklist is below the jump. Thank you to all who tuned in!!

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Listen to me on the radio tonight!

MONDAY

10PM - 10:20PM

WCNI New London – 90.9 FM

or ONLINE (here)

The station wishes to test my disc-jockeying skills, so I will be on air for 20 minutes tonight. I will be spinning a wide variety of tunes, so please tune in! You have no reason not to! I will be taking requests! See you then.

Source.

The MPAA is a 'Bully'

Both good and bad news:

The Motion Picture Association of America's recalcitrance on the rating of the documentary film Bully has garnered a great deal of attention, as the R rating given to the movie would effectively prevent its been seen by exactly the kids who need to see it. The filmmakers felt, backed up by distributor the Weinstein Co., that it was important to show that, yes, kids bullying each other say "fuck" sometimes, and especially that the power of the film required showing, unexpurgated, a particularly brutal scene in which "fuck" was said three times—more than is allowed in a PG-13 movie.

On one hand, I am glad to hear that such a powerful movie will be allowed to be shown to people who could really use such a film. I've written about bulling before: it is a real issue. Americans have, for too long, claimed that "boys will be boys" and have brushed it aside. The fact that this can be shown to children – and in schools! – is good news.

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Happy Zombie Day!

Every year, I insist on referring to the Easter Holiday as "Zombie Day", because I think that it's important to keep a perspective on cultural conventions. Since Dictionary.com defines zombie as, "a corpse brought to life [by] a supernatural spirit", there's nothing factually inaccurate about my claim.

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Dev’s “Naked” gets it right

CROSS-POSTED AT BLIND MOUSE ENTERTAINMENT.


Back in December 2011, dance-singer Dev released the single “Naked” featuring Latin heartthrob Enrique Iglesias. Although it did not reach the same level of popularity that “In The Dark” or “Like A G6” did, the song survived and fared decently well. Taking into account that this was the third official single from her debut album and that it had no music video, the tepid record sales are understandable.

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Two Things

First of all, I have accepted a weekly slot over at Blind Mouse Entertainment to blog about pop music. BME is "the place to discover the best films and music that the internet has to offer." I am honored that they would invite me to write for them.

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How subtle

What did I find in my email today?

Lee Whitnum's Outburst – was it really that surprising?

I'm a blogger in Connecticut, so I think there's a law or something that mandates that I must talk about last night's Lee Whitnum meltdown, in which she referred to William Tong as "ignorant" Chris Murphy as a "whore":

I Don't Want to Live on this Planet Anymore

I'd like to give a tip of my hat to Professor Farnsworth and Atrios:

Link Roundup, 04/04/12 – LATE EDITION

Sorry, but yesterday's death penalty news took priority. Your weekly links are below the jump.

CT Senate votes to repeal the death penalty!

The final vote? 20 yay to 16 nay!

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CT Death Penalty Repeal 2012, part 4

As I reported last night, the Connecticut Senate is taking up the death penalty issue tonight. Sorry that I forgot to write the Link Roundup today; it'll be posted tomorrow. The last repeal bill was passed at 4:11AM back in 2009; let's see how this one turns out.

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CT Death Penalty Repeal 2012, part 3

Death penalty repeal reaches the senate tomorrow:

A push to end the death penalty in Connecticut is set to reach the Senate floor Wednesday for what Democratic leaders hope is the decisive vote on the road to repeal. […] 

If it clears the Senate, the measure would go to the House of Representatives, where it has support, and to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has said that he would sign it. […] To win passage in the Senate, the bill needs the support of 18 members. If there is a tie, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, a strong supporter of the repeal effort, will break it. 

Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, will vote in favor of repeal, but two other key senators — Joseph Crisco, D-Woodbridge, and Carlo Leone, D-Stamford — have not publicly stated how they intend to vote. Neither could be reached for comment Tuesday.[…] 

In my view, this is a purely political move on Sen. Prague's part.  Last year, she decided to cause minor setbacks fuck death penalty repeal up, while promoting an unconstitutional, violent fantasy in its place. Well, she seems to have sufficiently capitalized on her previous remarks and has flip-flopped back to her original position.

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District of Columbia, Maryland, and Wisconsin primaries - Huge post, with updates!

Three more primaries tonight! Let's do this.

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She totally needs a gun

I am probably further to the right on guns than a lot of liberals are, but I still am under the mindset that, frankly put, a lot of people simply don't need guns. Yes, the idea of "needing" something is irrelevant to (most) interpretations of the Second Amendment, but that still doesn't mean that it should be let out of the debate.

For evidence of how much people need guns, check out this video making all the rounds on the conservative blogosphere:

Mark your calendars!

Tonight, I got the chance to DJ a bit on New London, CT's local station, WCNI 90.9 FM. If you listened between 10PM to 11PM, you may have heard me playing the following songs:

• "When Love Takes Over" featuring Kelly Rowland – David Guetta
• "BAD BOY" – 빅뱅 (BIGBANG)
• "Dancing on my Own" featuring GD&TOP – Pixie Lott
• "BLUE" – 빅뱅 (BIGBANG)
• "Heartbreaker (Remix)" featuring Flo Rida – G-Dragon
• "Joes House" – Joe Boyd Vigil

Next week from 10PM - 10:20PM, I will be DJing as a bit of a test of my skills. If you live in the area, tune into 90.9 FM. If not, then click here to listen online. I will be going under the totally unoriginal alias of "DJ Fred".

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Fox News (!!!) debunks Bill Ayers/Barack Obama partnership myth

Emphasis mine:

Ayers' past ties to President Obama stirred trouble for the Democratic candidate when he was running in 2008. The two worked together on a charitable board starting in the mid-1990s, and Ayers once hosted a campaign event for Obama when he first ran for the Illinois Senate. 

Obama, though, distanced himself from Ayers. And Ayers himself wrote in late 2008 that the two were not close.

Just in case someone scrubs this as we enter into an election year, here's the screen cap:

Click to enlarge.

How Ron Paul can win the nomination

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Sticking up for the Thai government's censorship of the people

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Defending Newt Gingrich's infidelities

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