Same Assholes, Different Religion:

A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes…

“Many women who do not dress modestly… lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader.

Aside from the fact that earthquakes precede humanity by some 4.53 billion years, that makes perfect sense.

Iranian cleric: Promiscuous women cause quakes [AP/Yahoo]

“Romney not only sold his family home in Belmont, Mass., but he bought a house — for $12 million — in the northern San Diego community of La Jolla… They still do not own a property in Massachusetts, forcing them to claim temporary residence at a basement apartment in the Belmont home owned by their eldest son, Tagg. It’s the address Romney used to vote in Republican Scott Brown’s recent victorious Senate special election race, all legal with town officials.” [AP/SFGate, via SFL]

Since we saw fit to post the Creepiest Song Ever awhile back, it behooves us to provide equal time to other gifted practitioners of the Slavic Arts. Meet Aleksandr Hrustevich, shredmaster.

[via pourmecoffee]

It’s not quite in the category of moving pyramids or shading OJ — or even using stock photography to misrepresent your supporters — but using an artfully combined collage of actual crowd shots can still land you in hot water:

Andrew Romanoff, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Colorado, apologized Friday for a photograph on his web site that was altered to show an African-American woman standing next to the candidate. Romanoff also removed the photo…

“I take offense at any suggestion that our campaign attempted to deceive anyone. That’s outrageous and false,” he said.

We can’t help but sympathize. Romanoff wasn’t trying to show that some of his best friends are black. He was trying to show that there’s at least one black person in Colorado.

Colorado Senate Candidate Apologizes For Altered Photo [TPM]

Sheep, come ye and be fleeced:

Although her SarahPAC took in $400,000 in the first quarter and had more than $900,000 in the bank, it gave only $7,500 to candidates between January and the end of March, plus an additional $2,000 to two other PACs. None went to Republicans in the races she targeted.

To be fair, Talibunny only announced her hit list March 23, just a week before the reporting deadline. Then again, her quarterly spending includes $243,000 on consultants, $42,000 on travel, $31,780 on postage, $25,000 on online fundraising, and $11,596 on a photographer.

Note to future donors: It’s SarahPAC. That pretty much names the beneficiary right there.

Sarah Palin’s House Hit List: No Money to Favored Candidates So Far [Politics Daily, via Political Wire]

Maybe it’s a consequence of having grown up in the Alan Alda Seventies, but we’ve never understood Dude Culture. We’re certainly aware of it — any beer commercial will provide quick instruction — but it’s always been a world completely foreign to us. There’s something so fragile about it all, the fear that membership in the Guy Club is so easily revoked.

Especially if you change your action movie’s leading character from a man to a woman:

But the process was a bit trickier than just changing the hero’s name and adding high heels. “In the original script, there was a huge sequence where Edwin Salt saves his wife, who’s in danger,” says [Salt director Phillip] Noyce. “And what we found was when Evelyn Salt saved her husband in the new script, it seemed to castrate his character a little. So we had to change the nature of that relationship.”

Yes, it’s fine and dandy for Angelina Jolie to kick butt, but let’s not get carried away with that Grrrrl Power crap. No Anerican Male is shelling out twelve bucks just to watch some wuss who can’t rescue himself with a snappy one-liner.

Then again, we’re not entirely immune to the world we live in: We honestly, deeply hate asking strangers for directions.

[Entertainment Weekly, April 23/30 issue]

Title: “2010: Take Back America: A Battle Plan”

Authors: Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

Rank: 40

Blurb: “We stand at the crossroads of ideals and policies: freedom versus socialism; sovereignty versus international subservience; economic liberty versus debt slavery; quality medical care versus government-sponsored euthanasia; and private property versus confiscatory taxation.”

Review: “My husband and I have worked very hard for the past 40 years. We have been good stewards of our money. Please tell me why we should be taxed at the highest rate in order to support those unwilling to work or those who entered this country illeagly?”

Customers Also Bought: “The Manchurian President: Barack Obama’s Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists,” by Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott

Footnote: You broke it, we bought it.

Take Back America [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]