Most larger-than-life leaders need to invent stories about their larger-than-life accomplishments. Not Vladimir Putin: When he says he taught birds how to fly south for the winter, believe it.
Quasi-hippie ice cream makers Ben and Jerry's aren't thrilled with two companies that are producing a series of porn movies called "Ben and Cherry's." The Vermont-based company is suing the films' producers, Rodax Distributors and Caballero Video, saying that "the sale of hardcore and exploitive pornographic DVDs and related goods is tarnishing Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.'s name by creating an association with pornography." According to the lawsuit, Ben and Cherry's videos include the following titles:
Probable compulsive liar and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has some thoughts on prayer in public school, and those thoughts are: let the states decide! At a campaign stop in Utah, a campaign volunteer with nine children asked Ryan if "we could give back to the states the right to decide if you want prayer or pledge in the schools.''
If you've not seen George "Jason Alexander" Costanza lately, perhaps you don't know that television's most famous bald man is now trying to convince the world—via a toupee? Hair plugs? Something—that he in fact has a luscious head of brown hair. As a man who has not yet had a problem with hair loss, far be it from me to tell anyone how to deal with a retreating hairline. The line I'm more concerned with is the timeline.
In a 2010 letter [pdf] signed by Paul Ryan and obtained The Nation through a Freedom of Information Act request, the GOP's VP nominee — a major opponent of President Obama's healthcare reform — asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to use Affordable Care Act dollars to fund a new health center in his district.
What is wrong with fitness infomercial "after" model Paul Ryan? Not only did the Republican vice presidential candidate claim to have a run a marathon in less than three hours — a lie for which he got busted, and bodied, by Runner's World — he's also claimed to have "made close to 40 climbs of Colorado's 'Fourteeners' (14,000-foot peaks)." Which he almost certainly hasn't. (Or maybe? See update.)
EXT. BEN FRANKLIN PARKWAY IN PHILADELPHIA, PA., INSIDE THE MADE IN AMERICA MUSIC FESTIVAL CURATED BY SEAN "JAY-Z" CARTER — 9:00 p.m.
Rap lyrics do not equal endorsements, but that doesn't mean Nicki Minaj's apparent affection for Mitt Romney won't raise eyebrows.
Red Bull may give you wings, but it does not give you immunity.
It was bad enough that Paul Ryan compulsively lied about his marathon time, but now comes word that, among recent vice-presidential candidates who ran marathons, Ryan is only the third fastest. John Edwards posted the fastest time at three hours and thirty minutes. Impressive, if not super surprising; you don't get to be as monstrously vain and awful as him without a masochistic workout regimen. The real surprise here, though – and the one sure to sting the most to Ryan – is the report that former Alaska Governor and current reality TV matriarch Sarah Palin ran a marathon in three hours and fifty-nine minutes, a full two minutes faster than Ryan's time.
In today's New York Times, Obama family biographer Jodi Kantor writes about Obama's perfectionism and intense competitive spirit. While it's comforting to have a commander-in-chief so concerned with success, it's possible Obama takes it a little too far at times. Here are some of the more interesting factoids from Kantor's article.
Perhaps inspired by Kiese Laymon's excellent essay, Kanye West took to Twitter yesterday to examine some of his more controversial language, particularly "bitch" and "nigga." This, of course, comes just three weeks after he released a Kim Kardashian-inspired song called "Perfect Bitch," but still, progress is progress. Here are Mr. West's tweets, in convenient paragraph form:
