Report Finds Katrina Kids Have Poor Health

Even before the storm, they were some of the country's neediest kids. Now, the children of Katrina who stayed longest in ramshackle government trailer parks in Baton Rouge are "the sickest I have ever seen in the U.S.," says Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund.

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White House chefs look for sensitivity, not a star

Speculating about a new chef at the White House has become — as one culinary insider puts it — fantasy football for foodies. But as tempting as it may be to see the Obama family's choice as the ultimate "Top Chef" competition, former White House chefs say the job is about selfless service, not star power.

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Top 7 Absolute Worst Books to Buy Someone for X-Mas

Nascar holiday? Jesus' love life? From romantic cheese to sheer horror and, yes, Thomas Friedman, we won't be curling up with these at all this holiday season--and neither should you, or anyone you care about in the slightest.

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President-Elect Barack Obama Introduces Economic Team Today - Video

President-Elect Barack Obama introduced his Economic Team today.   I have an earlier post on it, but this one features a two-part video: the presentation and the press conference after it.






Press Conference:


 

Alan Colmes Leaves Hannity & Colmes For Liberal Pastures

Realizing I think that liberalism is back and "in" and "green", Alan Colmes of Hannity & Colmes on Fox News, is leaving at the end of the year .  He's already got a blog up called "Liberland" under the URL http://www.alan.com -- I'm not kidding.

Alan Colmes Leaves Hannity & Colmes For Liberal Pastures

Realizing I think that liberalism is back and "in" and "green", Alan Colmes of Hannity & Colmes on Fox News, is leaving at the end of the year.  He's already got a blog up called "Liberland" under the URL http://www.alan.com -- I'm not kidding.

J.J. Abrams Star Trek: More On The May 9th 2008 Movie

I just happened upon this account of a Star Trek Movie press event attended by Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times.  J.J. Abrams was the host, and four clips from the upcoming blockbuster were shown.  This is the "meat" of what Itzkoff reported (spoilers):  

1. The young James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) is drinking forlornly at a bar in 23rd century Iowa (where they still serve Budweiser). Without much success, he flirts with a young Starfleet recruit named Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and picks a fight with four Starfleet grunts who clobber him. Kirk’s bravado impresses another Starfleet officer, Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who knew Kirk’s late father, and goads Kirk into joining the Starfleet Academy. “Your father was the captain of a starship for 12 minutes,” Pike tells him. “He saved 800 lives, including your mother’s. Including yours. I dare you to do better.”

2. A medical officer named McCoy (Karl Urban) helps smuggle Kirk aboard the starship Enterprise by injecting him with a vaccine that induces the symptoms of a mysterious disease. While his hands and tongue swell up, Kirk races around the ship, trying to convince the crew they’re about to enter a trap set by the nefarious Romulans. We get our first glimpse of the young Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto of television’s “Heroes,” in a mop-top haircut and pointy ears), as well as Spock’s human mother (Winona Ryder) and the Romulan bad guy Nero (Eric Bana, in heavy-duty prosthetic makeup).

3. The Enterprise jettisons Kirk on a remote ice planet, where he meets the aged, future incarnation of Spock (ladies and gentlemen, Mister Leonard Nimoy!) as well as a young Starfleet engineer named Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg). With Old Spock’s help, Scotty completes a mathematical formula that permits living beings to be teleported onto vessels moving at warp speed. (Of course.) As Kirk and Scotty prepare to beam back onto the Enterprise, Kirk wonders if time-traveling and peeking into the future is cheating; Old Spock tells him it’s “a trick I learned from an old friend.”

4. In a lengthy action sequence, Kirk, Sulu (John Cho) and a third, red-shirted Starfleet recruit (don’t get too attached to him) parachute from the upper atmosphere of the planet Vulcan onto a giant drill that is burrowing a hole to the center of the planet. Kirk and Sulu disable the drill, but not before it drops a charge into the planet’s core. Back on the Enterprise, Spock realizes that the charge, when detonated, will create a black hole where his home world used to be – and he now has mere minutes to evacuate the planet’s entire population.

The second trailer was introduced last week.  Here's my review of the movie thus far, based on what I saw: