The Will Rhodes Portmanteau

She won a car and quite a few dollars for being playmate.

Cool!

Story.

650 million people are now seen, in the eyes of the United Nations, equal to everybody else.

Adopted in 2006, and opened for signature in March last year it took effect on 3 May a month after the 20th nation ratified it - in this case Ecuador.

We have to thank Ecuador for that! And the other 19 nations that put their signatures to the treaty and, as is said in this story - it was fast for this kind of treaty to come into effect.

This is fast, officials say, reflecting the commitment of some nations to the treaty’s goals, as well as pressure from the disability lobby.

It is estimated that about 10% of the world’s population lives with some sort of disability - making disabled people the world’s largest minority.

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Not only was it a disgrace that Stephen Colbert wasn’t allowed to run for president - he would have won, you know. The Huff gets best Political blog!? What about me!?

Agh! Never mind, always next year.

Here are some of the winners:

• Blog-Political: Huffington Post

• Blog-Cultural: PostSecret

• Magazine: National Geographic

• Newspaper: NYTimes.com

• Politics: FactCheck.org

• Community: Flickr

• Do-It Yourself/HowTo-Video: My Damn Channel’s “You Suck at Photoshop”

• Weird: Passive-Aggressive Notes (Academy), I Can Has Cheezburger? (Popular Vote)

• Social Networking: Flock The Social Web Browser (Academy), Facebook (Popular Vote)

• Comedy - Long Form or Series: “Wainy Days”

I think that the USA is becoming a quaint country - well some of it is.

You have to love some of the likeable stories that come out of there - stories of life-changing decisions like this one.

Two people in the latter part of the middle of their lives change their views on everything due to one act of need, a need to change how they live. So American don’t you think?

I’m a sceptic though!

Had it not been for her husband’s dramatic suggestion, Nancy, 53, says she might never have discovered nudism, which is now a source of joy in her life — and career. Shortly after their trip, the couple launched Bare Necessities Tour and Travel, a travel agency devoted to the nudist vacationer. It has since chartered more than 40 cruise ships carrying more than 25,000 nudist travelers.

Good bit of free advertising never does anyone any harm.

If you want to get into nudism - fair-do’s! Up to you sort of thing. But make sure you put the sunblock on the sensitive areas!

If this wasn’t happening in the US - I would giggle a little - but it is, so I won’t.

People do say that the Americans don’t ‘get’ irony!

I think this will prove the world wrong.

“But I think it’s ironic that she charged Gov. Spitzer $2,000 for sex and she wants to charge me 10 million for taking some naked pictures of her,” Francis told CNN. “I feel like I’m getting a raw deal.”

Today is England’s patron saints day - not as famous as the Irish day, but still. I am English and would like to wish you all a very good day!

Read more about it if you wish!

I don’t get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn’t get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.

So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote — and yours — on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?

I haven’t spoken publicly ’til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don’t give a rat’s ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there’s a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word “Democratic” next to the candidate’s name.

Seriously, I know so many people who don’t care if the name under the Big “D” is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.

Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I’ve watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name “Farrakhan” out of nowhere, well that’s when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the “F” word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama’s pastor does — AND the “church bulletin” once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!

This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!

Yes, Senator Clinton, that’s how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can’t win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry “Uncle (Tom)” and give it all to you.

But that can’t happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.

How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come — but it won’t be you. We’ll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).

There are those who say Obama isn’t ready, or he’s voted wrong on this or that. But that’s looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.

That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what’s going on is bigger than him at this point, and that’s a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.

I know some of you will say, ‘Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?’ That’s a damn good question. In November of ‘06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?

I’ll tell you why. Because I can’t stand one more friggin’ minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I’m almost at the point where I don’t care if the Democrats don’t have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain’t “Bush” and the word “Republican” is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that’s good enough for me.

I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years. That’s why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters — that big “D” on the ballot.

Don’t get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago.

It’s foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have a party that’ll represent the people first, and laws that allow that party an equal voice.

Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, “Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for ’spiritual counseling?’ THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!”

But no, Obama won’t throw that at her. It wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be decent. She’s been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.

That’s why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That’s why he’ll take us down a more decent path. That’s why I would vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election.

But the question I keep hearing is… ‘can he win? Can he win in November?’ In the distance we hear the siren of the death train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it’s possible to hear the words “President McCain” on January 20th. We know there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black man. Hillary knows it, too. She’s counting on it.

Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country, has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or woman was only “three fifths” human. On Tuesday, the good people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption.

Michael Moore

I don’t know if this will turn into a real debate or whether it will fall in to complete obscurity on this blog - but like all posts I add, your comments are most welcome.

If this should turn into a debate - all I would ask is that people play fair.

The Beadden asked me why I keep bringing up feminism in posts. I actually checked and it isn’t that many - but that said, she is a regular reader of this blog so it is something she has seen and wants to address this subject. And as she has asked I will post my comments. (more…)

I bet you didn’t know this!

People’s attitudes to relationships could be given away by just the look of their face, it has been claimed - with men and women often after the opposite.

Men and women want different things from relationships? I get ya, so what next?

Researchers said men generally preferred women they perceive are open to short-term sexual relationships, with women after longer-term matches.

Stereotype? Where are the radical feminists - surely they should be saying it’s a woman’s right to have short-term shagfests as much as any man! OPPRESSION!

Dr Ben Jones, of the University of Aberdeen’s Face Research Lab, said: “Lots of previous studies have shown that people can judge a lot about a person from their face, including things like health and even some personality traits like introversion.

Dr Jones - who the feck is paying for this research? I could have told you all this for free!

Immigration in many nations is a big political fireball that need juggling. It literally is that hot and many don’t want to touch it. What governments are doing, or pretending to do - is make it harder for people to become citizens - and that leads to cheating.

What happens when someone cheats? The whole process comes in for some deserved criticism. It means that those who are trying to do things the right way are going to be tarred with the same brush.

This story takes you to a place where not many really thought existed - and that is people paying for the services of others to pass a citizen test for them - and paying a high price for it!

But what happens when they are caught?

What is a problem with this is that it wasn’t a government body that found this out - it was a journalist who works for the BBC, Donal MacIntyre.

What happens when this is brought to the attention of the British government?

In a statement, the Home Office said: “We believe that citizenship should represent a gold standard.

“We work closely with awarding bodies and regulators to investigate any allegations that we receive, and will press for prosecution where evidence comes to light of any attempt to gain or facilitate British citizenship though fraudulent means.”

The answer is precisely nothing.