Today is the big day for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. Super Bowl XXXIX is here and while the game itself promises to be interesting, I have to wonder how much of XXXIX will end up being simply XXX. I do hope Paul McCartney keeps all his clothes on.

If you have ever spent time in Jacksonville, you know that while it may be the largest city in the country (square mileage, not population) there is not a lot to do, especially for the atypical Super Bowl crowd. To help alleviate the inevitable nightmare of insufficient sleeping space, restaurants and bars, five cruise ships are in town and available to anyone needing a hotel room. It should be a big money maker for them too, selling sleeping rooms, alcohol and food without the expense of actually sailing the ships. The only thing they will not be permitted is gambling. While the Tallyrand Terminal is reasonably near by, half of the six ship fleet will be docked in the north-east industrial part of town. Cost to the city: $11.7 million

Additionally, the City of Jacksonville has put together a themed entertainment festival, with live music, food, drinks and Super Bowl merchandise. Across the river is another temporary area, the NFL Experience. Water taxis will be in place to shuttle people across and back. And I am sure The Landing will have lots of themed events going on as well. If I were more interested in sharing space with the more than 80,000 people who will attend, I would consider driving up to check out the extras.

Any readers particularly interested in the game? I will probably tune in here or there, but my interest is minimal. I placed a random bet on the score at the end of each quarter, so maybe by the end of the day I will have won a few hundred dollars.

The Bud Light advert banned from the Super Bowl
Makes fun of the infamous Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction."

Super Bowl Ads
News, Reviews and History.

3-D Seating Chart of Alltel Stadium
Includes a panoramic rendering of the view from each seat.

The Star-Nosed Mole
One scary looking creature. [ via ]

IFilm Streaming Super Bowl Ads

Review of the Super Bowl Adverts
MSN Slate takes a look at them all

Cannabis grandmother's book hopes
[original article]

A grandmother on a drugs charge who cooks treats using cannabis has written a book about her activities which she aims to get published.

Patricia Tabram, 66, of Hexham, Northumberland, bakes cannabis-laced biscuits, soups and casseroles for herself and friends.

She hopes her book called Grandma Eats Cannabis will be in print soon.

Ms Tabram appeared in court this week after admitting possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Proceedings were adjourned to allow for the preparation of reports and she was remanded on bail until 11 March.

The grandmother-of-two began cooking for friends using food laced with the illegal drug after being introduced to it last year.

Police raids

Mrs Tabram, a former chef, said: "I suffer from depression, whiplash in my neck and back pain. I went to bed and the next morning I felt so much better. I didn't know what I had taken so I asked my friends. They said it was cannabis.

"But I don't like smoking so they said I could cook with it."

But Northumbria Police were tipped off and twice raided her house in May and June last year.

They seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her loft and another one from her hallway table.

She said: "When the police came to my door I invited them in. I told them to look in the loft and I offered them some tea and biscuits."

Mrs Tabram, whose home contains cookery books and books by convicted drug dealer Howard Marks, is hoping Marks' publishers will take on her book.

I find the accusations detailed in the following BBC news story unfathomably ridiculous.

US right attacks SpongeBob video
[original article]

US conservative groups are up in arms over a music video featuring children's TV heroes such as the cheerful cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. Focus on the Family and other groups say the video – a remake of the Sister Sledge hit, We Are Family – is a vehicle for pro-gay propaganda.

The video's makers plan to mail it to US schools in the spring to promote tolerance and diversity. They say the attack is based on a misunderstanding.

The video also features children's favourites like Bob the Builder, along with characters from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

But James Dobson, founder of right-wing Christian group Focus on the Family, singled out SpongeBob at a black-tie dinner in Washington in the run-up to President Bush's inauguration, the New York Times said.

SpongeBob – who appears on the children's cable channel Nickelodeon – is seen as an icon for adult gay men in the US, apparently because he regularly holds hands with his sidekick Patrick. His creators deny that he is gay, but he is not the first such character to cause controversy.

In 1999 conservatives claimed handbag-carrying Teletubby Tinky Winky, an import from the UK, was a bad role-model.

'Easy lesson'

Nile Rodgers, who wrote the song and is founder of the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF) which released the new video, says it is intended to help teach children the values of co-operation and unity.

"We believe that this is the essential first step to loving thy neighbour," he said. "And the fun and exciting format makes it a lesson that's easy for children to learn."

But conservatives say it sees the video as a cunning attempt to promote homosexuality. They point to the fact that the WAFF is linked to a pledge being promoted by some liberal groups which includes a recognition of tolerance of sexual identity.

"We see the video as an insidious means by which the organisation is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," Paul Batura, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, told the New York Times.

Mr Rodgers said the groups may have confused his foundation with an unrelated organisation with a similar name that supports gay youth.

WAFF spokesman Mark Barondeso told the newspaper that anyone who thought the video promoted homosexuality "needs to visit their doctor and get their medication increased."

I must have let my subscription to the "Convert the World" newsletter lapse, because all this agenda talk is new to me. The Focus on the Family group must have nothing better to do then come up with these absurd analyses of cartoon kids programming. So SpongeBob and Patrick hold hands, right? Hello, this is a program for children. Children hold hands with their friends. How can people so instantly jump from a simple friendly hand-hold to homosexual agenda?

The basis of the conservative view that homosexuals are promoting an agenda to gain "special" rights and brainwash the balance of the population is intrinsically flawed. The only agenda I see in action is similar to the one Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior embarked on in 1955 when he staged the city-wide boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's public transportation system in response to the Rosa Parks arrest.

Irrelevant of anyone's personal feeling on whether or not homosexuality is moral, unnatural or dirty, it was the intention of the founders of this country that every citizen had the unrestricted ability to conduct their lives as they see fit. As such, rules were established to ensure equal treatment regardless of those beliefs. While it has taken a considerable amount of time to attach these rules to minorities such as African Americans and women, it was eventually done because it was the right and equal thing to do.

I am not seeking any "special" rights. I want to be able to receive Federal tax benefits should I choose to officialize a long-term, loving relationship with another human being. I want that person to automatically receive the legal privileges as a next of kin and to have the final say in matters exclusive to the union. I do not want to have to worry about being terminated from job where I perform above and beyond all expectations because someone has a problem with who I happen to be romantically attracted to in my private, personal, non-work related life.

Someone please explain to me how those requests are "special" in any way.

I do not identify myself by my sexuality. I exist as a human being and therefore should be judged by my actions, not who I date. That is nobody's business but my own and personally not something I feel the need to advertise. I will not hide the fact, however. Why should I bother? I do not hide the fact that I have grey eyes or that my right hand is dominant. In the larger scheme of the universe, those attributes hold the same weight as sexuality: very little to none.

And even if you do not choose to accept that argument and still hold the opinion that homosexuality is something one consciously selects, why still should it matter? Does my choice to purchase a Honda vehicle over a Ford vehicle somehow make me inherently different from someone who would select the Ford over the Honda?

In closing, if you think I am going to go to hell for having committed unequivocally detestable sins against god and nature, so be it. I am not planning on finding out if you are correct in the near future, so in the meantime, I am the same as you and deserve the same rights and privileges. Period.

UPDATE

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Related Article: Best Gay News Blog: Mount Sutro

US airport security loses 'bomb'
[original article]

Security screeners at a US airport lost track of a bag containing fake explosives and allowed to be loaded on a flight to Amsterdam.

The "bomb" was planted in luggage for training exercise at Newark Liberty International Airport.

A scanning machine raised the alarm, but the bag was not searched and airport staff lost track of it.

"At no time did the bag pose a threat and at no time was anyone in danger," said a transport security spokeswoman.

Only two weeks ago, Paris airport staff lost plastic explosives slipped into a random bag for sniffer-dog training.

France was forced to alert dozens of airlines to warn them the explosives might be aboard after the hold-all was loaded on to any one of 90 flights.

Detonator and clock

In Newark, the bag containing the fake device – complete with wires, a detonator and a clock – was not found despite an hour-long search.

It was later recovered by security officials in Amsterdam.

The airport near New York City was one of three used by the 11 September hijackers.

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, the agency responsible for screening baggage and passengers, said the incident showed the importance of training exercises.

Airport screening in the US has been stepped up since the 11 September attacks but undercover inspections have revealed some weaknesses.

The Patriot Act Now Applies To Blogs Too
[original article]

Ominous indeed – are blogs really under Patriot Act FBI powers?

An article in the Village Voice highlights a win for American values and liberty as a particularly heinous part of the Patriot Act has been struck down by a Federal District Judge. But it is also offers a chilling reminder of just how far reaching and anti-American this act really is.

"The provision we challenged [that the judge struck down]," says Jaffer, "allows the FBI to issue NSLs against 'wire or electronic service communication providers.' Telephone companies and Internet service providers [are included.]"

Federal District Judge Victor Marrero, who made possible an historical legal victory against the Bush Governement just recently, when on September 28, 2004, a decision he personally took in New York in John Doe, American Civil Liberties Union v. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Judge Marrero struck down as unconstitutional on Fourth and First Amendment grounds section 505 of the Patriot Act that had greatly increased the government's capacity to secretly get large amounts of personal information by sending out National Security Letters, which do not require a judge's approval.

Source: Village Voice

He also noted that the FBI could also use an NSL "to discern the identity of someone whose anonymous web log, or 'blog,' is critical of the Government."

According to the Village article what is even more disturbing is the fact that each and everyone of these NSLs (National Security Letters) come with a full gag order.

The recipients of the NSLs are in fact prohibited from ever disclosing that the FBI has demanded information from them, and they cannot even inform their lawyers of such requests. According to judge Marrero all such gag orders are issued in perpetuity, and "with no vehicle for the ban to ever be lifted from the recipient."

Please notice also that NSLs are sent out without the requirement of a judge previous approval.

Read that again.

This an issue affecting directly all bloggers, and not just the ones that deal with political issues. If you believe that the right for bloggers to maintain full freedom of speech and to manifest their ideas without fearing censorship is vital don't sit back after reading this.

If you are a blogger make a post about it.

If you are not, place a comment on your favourite blogs and please suggest your favourite writers to raise everyone awareness on such issues.

Or are you going to let this one go to?