YES!  For all of us LOTR fans (Lord Of The Rings), the on again off again movie “The Hobbit” may have a new director.  Peter Jackson is now in talks to take over for the previous director that recently quit.  Now if MGM can only stay in business long enough to get this to Blu-ray!

Almost one month after Guillermo del Toro dropped out of directing The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is in talks to helm the two films in the franchise. While we wait for the studios involved or Jackson’s manager to confirm, there are lots of questions that remain before The Hobbit can actually begin production, let alone reach the big screen

Keep your fingers crossed!

WOW – this is amazing bull.

“It was pretty surreal,” Spelling says. “We were neighbors for years. She basically wanted me to give a message to [Fawcett's son] Redmond and to her family and she was doing these very specific call-outs for things that they would understand.”

Really? She believes this stuff?  I wonder who would be so evil to try and pull off this shit.  Who is a big enough douchebag?

The incident occurred over the phone with TV psychic John Edward.

“He offered to do a reading with me and I was hoping I would talk to my dad. I’d lost a best friend a long time ago and I was hoping he would come through. And then, all of a sudden, [he said] Farrah Fawcett’s coming through,” Spelling says.

John Edward?!  Well that would do it.  He sure is a tool!  Maybe she does not know about John Edward.

“If it had been some psychic that I’d walked in off the street for five bucks it would have been different. But it came through John Edward,” she says. “He’s a medium, so he channels people. I’ve been to regular psychics that turn over cards, tarot cards, and sort of read your future, that type of thing. But, with him, literally people just come to him and say things that they want the person to hear.”

WTF?  “he channels people.”  NO he does not.  You would have been better off with the $5 psychic.  Hey Tori…. Give me $10,000 and I’ll tell you that Michael Jackson wants to talk to you!

News from the BBC.

This is good news.  The magic power of religion is fading!

A spokesman for the Brussels prosecutors’ office confirmed that the palace of the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels had been sealed off.

Police also raided the home of retired Archbishop Godfried Danneels.

Belgium is one of several countries in which a stream of abuse claims have shaken the Church.

Brussels prosecutors were looking for material relating to allegations of sex abuse, a spokesman for the prosecutors’ office said.

Now all we have to do is tax them.

Last fall Will Phillips (age 10) refused to stand for the pledge at school.  He said that when the laws of our nation applied to all people – he would stand.  Here is his video from then….

Now he has been selected to be the Grand Marshal of the NW Arkansas gay pride parade!

From Richard Dawkins.net

tip to One Good Move

Several hundred people joined One Law for All on 20 June at Downing Street to show their opposition to Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and to demand universal rights and secularism.

A new report “Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights” (http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/new-report-sharia-law-in-britain-a-threat-to-one-law-for-all-and-equal-rights/) was published on the day to coincide with the rally. Human rights activist Gita Sahgal said of the report: “I think it is highly significant that in Britain there has been silence where there should have been condemnation. There is active support for ‘Sharia laws’ precisely because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. No hands are being cut off, so there can’t be a problem. Unfortunately for us, senior law officers will find that human rights expert bodies often have a similar attitude. They have done little research on the impact of family laws and the denial of justice caused by parallel systems of justice. That is why the findings of this report are so important. It is such dedicated work that changes the thinking of the experts.”

She went on to say: “This campaign stands at the heart of a debate over the future of Britain. It also stands at the heart of global attempts to destroy the most basic rights, to invade liberty and to crush equality and to do this in the name of upholding and promoting human rights. We stand here today facing down forces of racism and fundamentalism as we struggle for secularism.”

more here….

A classic moment of John Stewart.

story from NPR

tip to Robin

The Labor Department intends to issue regulations this week ordering businesses to give gay employees equal treatment under a law permitting workers unpaid time off to care for newborns or loved ones.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis planned to announce Wednesday that the government would require employers to extend the option that has been available to heterosexual workers for almost two decades, two officials briefed on the plan said Monday. Neither was authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement.

The move, coming less than five months before November’s congressional elections, seemed likely to incite conservatives and Republicans who stood in lockstep against the Obama administration’s earlier efforts to repeal a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. It also appeared likely to be popular with loyal Democrats and organized labor.

The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to take care of loved ones or themselves. The 1993 law, which also allows employees to take time off for adoptions, has previously only been applied to heterosexual couples.

The Labor Department planned to extend those rights based on a new interpretation of the law, the officials said. There was no plan to ask Congress to change the law, which means future presidents could reverse the decision.

President Obama and his administration have slowly rolled out policies to help gays and lesbians, who supported his candidacy but have soured on what they consider his slow pace in making incremental instead of wholesale changes. He planned to meet with gay activists Tuesday at the White House, the second time such a reception has been held at the executive mansion.

Gay activists have been frustrated with Obama’s approach to gay policies. The White House reluctantly backed a compromise on the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on gays in the military that would move ahead on repeal but still allow the Pentagon time to implement new policies.

Earlier this month, Obama issued orders for government agencies to extend child care services and expanded family leave to their workers. Obama’s order for federal employees, though, covers only benefits that can be extended under existing law, without congressional action. Legislative action would be required for a full range of health care and other benefits.

Last year, Obama gave federal workers’ same-sex partners a first round of benefits including visitation and dependent-care rights. He also authorized child-care services and subsidies; more flexibility to use family leave to attend to the needs of domestic partners and their children; relocation benefits; giving domestic partners the same status as family members when federal appointments are made; and access to credit union and other memberships when those are provided to federal workers.

Well, it’s about freakin’ time!