spokeswoman

A mother gives the blessing for her 16 year old daughter to marry a 51 year old man and the marriage is performed. Sounds like something you might hear of in the Middle East, but nope, this story happened right here in the United States:

Cue the reality show: Doug Hutchison, a 51-year-old actor who has appeared in Lost, The Green Mile, and The X-Files, married 16-year-old aspiring country star Courtney Alexis Stodden in Las Vegas last month. "We're aware that our vast age difference is extremely controversial," the couple told E! Online through a spokeswoman. “But we're very much in love and want to get the message out there that true love can be ageless." Nevada requires marriage applicants to be 18 years of age. Luckily for Stodden, a former Miss Teen USA contestant, she had her mother’s blessing. "We are totally supportive of this marriage," her mother tells RadarOnline.com, before over-sharing: "Courtney was a virgin when she married Doug. She is a good Christian girl."

And yet we have 18 and 19 year olds in this country going to jail and being labeled sex offenders for having sex with their 16 and 17 year old girlfriends.

Who says money can't buy you love?

I’ve been trying to stay out of the tabloid mania that is John Edwards, but this caught my interest today:

Young also said another copy has been turned over to the FBI, which has been investigating the money that exchanged hands during Edwards' second White House campaign.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.

Unless that video tape shows Edwards paying this lady then why in the hell does the FBI even need it? Edwards has admitted everything, including fathering the child, and having sex isn’t illegal, so what could this possibly add to the investigation? I can’t think of any reason.

Common sense is prevailing in the media war over Electronic Cigarettes. Slate has published a great rundown on the coverage in the mainstream. Talking about the current import ban on electronic cigarettes, Slate asks this (h/t OsborneInk):

Governments seem to be buying this view. The FDA has officially barred importation of e-cigarettes. "These appear to be unapproved drug device products," a spokeswoman tells the Times, "and as unapproved products they can't enter the United States." Australia and Hong Kong have also prohibited the devices.

That's a pretty awkward position. We restricted smoking, tobacco sales, and advertising based on decades of evidence that smoking was harmful to smokers and bystanders. Now we're treating electronic cigarettes the same way based on ... what? That "nobody knows" how bad they might be? The elements of smoking that justified our war on tobacco—carcinogens, combustion, secondhand smoke, even nicotine—have been removed or made optional. Is it really logical to ignore these differences?

The big problem is the lack of common sense in the bureaucracy known as the FDA. People have been kicking the old nasty tobacco habit by switching to the new electronic cigarettes. They have also had their own doctors tell them that they are healthier, but that isn’t good enough for the pencil pushers at the FDA. Instead they only worry about what is being said by people who haven’t even taken the time to look at the device.

Allowing the sale and use of e-cigarettes is not only a healthier alternative for the end user, but also those around them, as second hand smoke becomes a non-issue. Hopefully either the courts or the FDA will come to realize this and allow the continued sale of these products.

So the man coined as the next Ronald Reagan by Rush Limbaugh lied to the American people in his national debut:

Jindal had described being in the office of Sheriff Harry Lee "during Katrina," and hearing him yelling into the phone at a government bureaucrat who was refusing to let him send volunteer boats out to rescue stranded storm victims, because they didn't have the necessary permits. Jindal said he told Lee, "that's ridiculous," prompting Lee to tell the bureaucrat that the rescue effort would go ahead and he or she could arrest both Lee and Jindal.

But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later." The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.

Smooth move Republicans. So your golden boy lied about a story. Not only did he lie, but let’s look at that story again:

This is what happens when you elect a President who understands the world of technology and how most people now get their news and information:

Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video -- a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama's transition site, Change.gov, once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning.

The address will be taped at the transition office in Chicago today.

"This is just one of many ways that he will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told us last night.

We are experiencing a revolution in Washington and it will help put the people back in our government. That's a win-win situation no matter how you cut it.

There has been a lot of talk about rather McCain may have heard the questions Saturday night when they were being asked to Barack Obama. It's pretty much all coming out of a report by CNN that when Rick Warren said McCain was in a "cone of silence", he actually wasn't. As matter of fact McCain wasn't even in the building.

Aravosis has found a statement by the McCain campaign on this, and it's really interesting:

Nicolle Wallace, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, said on Sunday night that Mr. McCain had not heard the broadcast of the event while in his motorcade and heard none of the questions.

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous,” Ms. Wallace said.

Forget the total audacity of the "prisoner of war" portition of the statement - anyone with common sense knows that has nothing to do about it. I want to focus on McCain's camp saying that Obama's campaign is insinuating this cheating. Here's what I found from the Obama campaign on the issue:

For their part, an Obama spokesperson told CNN’s Mike Roselli they are not pursuing whether McCain heard any of the other questions. They say they assuming McCain had the same information they did.

Sounds like the Obama campaign isn't too concerned about it, nor should they be. It's over and trying to say McCain cheated would be an understatement by any standards. He lies and cheats on a daily basis.

Ahh yes - freedom:

Pakistan has become the latest country to block access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube on the grounds that one or more videos on the site offend Islam, authorities said Monday.

The Pakistani government is also asking YouTube to remove "objectionable content," said Nabiha Mehmood, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority.

If YouTube removes the video or videos that concern Pakistan, she said, the government may once again let its people post and view video clips.

It is unclear what the video or videos in question depict.

Hey why don't we block every site on the internet that might offend someone? That would fix so many problems - like the internet becoming overloaded and the fears of running out of IP addresses.

I guess I should point out that at least it's only the internet. It's not as serious as blocking actual news shows, like some other countries like to do.

I posted earlier today on Don Young (R-AK) using this bogus quote, which he attributed to Lincoln,  on the House floor:

Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged

As I said - that quote was not from Lincoln, but instead a right-wing fabrication. Young's office said he would not rescind the comments since the Washington Time has used it. Well the Washington Times has now retracted the statement, but will Young? Nope - instead he still wants to keep it:

Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, said the congressman took the quote directly from The Washington Times column. "Now that he's been informed these are not the actual words of Lincoln, he will discontinue attributing the words to Lincoln. However, he continues to totally agree with the message of the statement," Kenny told The Washington Post.

This actually puts Young in a worse off position. He is now saying members of Congress should be "hanged" for doing their constitutional duty of oversight. This is almost criminal and the media is not picking up on it? Why hasn't the Republican leadership come out in opposition to one of their members calling for the murder of member of Congress?

I believe we need to push more Don Young quotes out there. Since he feels it is alright to use faux quotes, then we should follow by his example. Atrios has posted one here and I got another one:

"Allah is great and death will come to the infidels of the west!" - Congressman Don Young (R-AK)