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underpants's JournalBox Office Shocker: 'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax' Opens to Record-Shattering $70.7 Mil
Lighting up the family marketplace, Universal and Illumination Entertainment's environmentally minded Dr. Seuss' The Lorax debuted to a staggering $70.7 million, marking the best opening ever for a non-sequel animated title if the number holds.
Lorax broke a number of other records, including nabbing the top opening of 2012 in beating the $41.2 million debut of The Vow. It's also the best showing for any animated film since summer 2010 when Toy Story 3 debuted to $110.3 million and Shrek Forever After opened to $70.8 million. And Lorax scored the fourth best opening ever for any Universal title.
"The result is phenomenal. Word of mouth was great, and that's why Saturday was up 80 percent from Friday. It's just spectacular," Universal president of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco said.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-shocker-dr-seuss-296711
Newt Gingrich: Rush Limbaugh was right to apologize to Sandra Fluke (yesterday he blamed the media)
I think he was right to apologize,” Gingrich told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview on “This Week.”
But the Republican presidential candidate dwelled little on the subject, instead taking aim at Obama for apologizing over the burning of a pile of Korans at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
“But let’s talk about apologies for a second,” Gingrich said. “I think the president was totally wrong as commander-in-chief to apologize to religious fanatics while our young men are being killed in Afghanistan, and I think it was a disaster of an apology. . . .You have the U.N. commissioner to Afghanistan in essence saying, since the president has admitted the United States is guilty, these people should be tried.”
“Now, I think that is a disastrous position for us,” he added.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/newt-gingrich-rush-limbaugh-was-right-to-apologize-to-sandra-fluke/2012/03/04/gIQANGrhqR_blog.html?tid=pm_politics_pop
Rush on Facebook - some hilariously bad posts there. These are all real.
This is wonderful Rush, we will have more time to listen to you now that the advertisers are out of the way.
Heh. Can't wait to see who Rush's new sponsors are, because we can use your comments here to show them exactly how Rush's fans treat them when they don't tow the line. And if they still want to sponsor Rush? Well, we can express our feeliings about that, just as you can express yours.
That one loop-de-loops around itself at least twice
No apology needed Rush. I think your choice of words were accurate and I just can't believe that Obama and his drones started this whole thing (via George Stephanopolous) with all the other REAL problems we have.
Can't believe you are all so angry that he took the high road and did what was right!!
Let us all start a reverse boycott. Any sponsor of Rush who quits because of this contraception thing, we will all boycott. We are with you Rush!
I love it all the way up to the apology. I for one will stop using any products that pull out. 
http://www.facebook.com/#!/RushLimbaugh
Okay I am stopping there. The responses are flying in - 8,545 - at one point. Toooo funny.
"Jane, you ignorant....." sarcasm, irony, and the conservative mind - AND the bubble we live in.
6 seconds that became a verbal icon.
Conservatives simply do not get sarcasm and irony. An example. This is why talk radio hosts can say something ironic and it becomes fact in their listeners' minds. This, personally, is a great litmus test when I am in a group of strangers - throw out something ironic or sarcastic (not directed at anyone specifically) and anyone who does not in some way acknowledge it is 85% likely to be a conservative. It does have to be funny. They simply do not register it in their inner wiring.
The clip above was clearly meant to be bombastic and so over the top that it forever took that approach off the table. Yes there are ways to say the same type of thing, to dance around it, but you don't ever actually say it. At least most of us know that you don't.
The second point here is that this famous segment of actual humor was called Point/Counterpoint.
Those of us old enough remember when local news casts would have this type of segment on at the end of the telecast. Usually once or twice a week. It was devastating to the right. Their opinions and beliefs were so bombastic and so over the top when put in any proximity to common sense that they had to put space between the two.
How? Solidation of media, new "technology" (talk radio), and ending The Fairness Doctrine. Since then our news is not news - it is opinion, "beliefs" (re-igniting the centuries old conflict between faith and fact), and creating a bubble in which complete nonsense like the War in Iraq, the ACORN hoax, "Climategate", the impeachment of an unconvicted President, Pvt. Lynch, Pat Tillman, Solyndra, gun walking programs, the McDonals hot coffe lady, etc. can not only be consider in a discussion but become fact after endless repetition of the same nonsense and re-writing of history.
"The Big Lie" as Joe Conason titled his fantastic book. When the Point/Counterpoint model gets anywhere near them the hide behind "beliefs" and "ideals" (try those words in a Fox News drinking game - you will call in sick to work the next day) and then return back to their big lie talking points that they have cemented into their viewers/listeners heads....and sadly into everyone else's.
Tornadoes followed by snow.
A dip in the jet stream has ushered in a cooler, drier air mass into areas that were just affected by Friday's tornado outbreak.
In fact, the air may be just cold enough that a weak disturbance moving across the Ohio Valley could bring some light snow Sunday into Monday across portions of southern Indiana, Kentucky and southern Ohio as the clean-up continues. Accumulations in these tornado-ravaged areas will be light, generally a dusting to an inch or two.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/quieter-weather-pattern-ohio-tenn-valleys_2012-03-03
WOW a very tough (tragic) week for some folks.
Rush Limbaugh’s schlock & blah ( a blistering op-ed from the Boston Herald)
Blubbery radio blowhard reveals his inner weirdoHe’s the huckster from Bumpkinville whose balloon of hot air did not drop down in Oz, but settled in a gated Florida compound.
Sequestered inside a glass radio booth, Rush Limbaugh is the loudmouthed wizard behind a golden microphone, the blubbery fraud who has enthralled a Munchkin universe otherwise known as “dittoheads.”
Regardless of which way people may come down on Sandra Fluke’s position, the undisputed truth of what happened last week solidifies the fact that Rush Limbaugh is one very weird guy.
And yet, he remains the bloated Elmer Gantry of the whacked-out right, the fat man behind the curtain.
I doubt it will be enough to bring back those sponsors who bailed after being treated to a full frontal view of Rush’s inner sleaze bag. But the fat man knew he had to do something.
Pity the dittoheads.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?&articleid=1408066&format=&page=1&listingType=col#articleFull
A JOKE??? Limbaugh the day *after* the intital attack on Fluke. Transcript.
"...and in the attempt to be humorous..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101467121
RUSH: Oh, yeah, I'm gonna deal with this. I'm gonna deal with it. I think this is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. The left has been thrown into an outright conniption fit! This is "phony soldiers" times ten. Oh, ten times worse than phony soldiers. The reaction that they are having to what I said yesterday about Susan Fluke -- or Sandra Fluke, whatever her name is -- the Georgetown student who went before a congressional committee and said she's having so much sex, she's going broke buying contraceptives and wants us to buy them. I said, "Well, what would you call someone who wants us to pay for her to have sex? What would you call that woman? You'd call 'em a slut, a prostitute or whatever."
RUSH: Well, what did I say? I said, "If we're paying for this, it makes these women sluts, prostitutes." And what else could it be? If we are buying it.
That's the picture of me that they have posted on their letter! (laughing) Does that not look like Nosferatu? I look like Klaus Kinski in the movie Nosferatu! Okay, that's that. I'm gonna zoom back out now and get the Dittocam back -- if it'll work -- back at its normal frame. There we go. Three ... two ... one. There we go. Let me read the letter to you. "What does it say about the college co-ed Susan (sic) Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.
-next paragraph-
"'What does it say about the college co-ed [Sandra] Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex -- what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right?
--I am not posting the link because it could direct traffic to his website -- I will provide it if needed for authenticity.
Rush Limbaugh apologizes to Sandra Fluke for ‘slut’ jibe - (on a Saturday, on his website)
Source: Politico
“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
“I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level."
“My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73574.html#ixzz1o69mp7r7
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73574.html
Col. Van Barfoot, Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 92
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Van Thomas Barfoot, a retired Army colonel and World War II Medal of Honor recipient who gained national attention in his fight to keep the U.S. flag flying in his front yard, died Friday in a Henrico County hospital.
In 2009, Col. Barfoot made headlines after he erected a 21-foot flagpole at his Sussex Square residence without the permission of his homeowners association. The association, which allowed flags to be flown on angled poles attached to houses, ordered it removed and threatened legal action when he refused.
The ensuing furor drew the support of two senators, a former Virginia governor, other leaders and veterans before the association backed down. (The Richmond Times fails to mention that the Obama White House also supported Mr. Barfoot)
"Col. Barfoot was a remarkable man who demonstrated tremendous bravery in military service to his country during three wars," said Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.
Read more: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/lifestyles/news/2012/mar/03/tdmain01-col-van-barfoot-decorated-wwii-veteran-di-ar-1736579/
During an action that left his squad isolated and communications cut off, he advanced alone on May 23 through the minefield, crawling to a German machine gun nest, which he destroyed with a hand grenade. He took out another machine gun nest with his machine gun and received the surrender of a third German machine gun crew.
Later that day, he borrowed a bazooka and "took up an exposed position directly in front of three advancing Mark VI tanks," his Medal of Honor citation says. "From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other two changed direction toward the flank.
"He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech.
"While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted two of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety."
During his efforts, he had killed eight and captured 17 German soldiers.
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