Priceless. And absolutely absurd.

Gingrich to drop out next week?

I know what you’re thinking and yes, he is still in the race. Don’t know why. And don’t know why he is apparently waiting until next week to disappear… it probably should have happened years months ago.

Here is the Fox News picture & headline:

Ohh you funny, funny Fox News writers…

Good job, Burger King

And this time I’m not being sarcastic.

I’m not a big fast food person – I almost never eat fast food – but I will for sure support BK over McDonalds after this development.

Burger King vows cage-free chicken and pork

Decision by the world’s second-largest fast-food restaurant raises the bar for its rivals

By TRACIE CONE

The movement by U.S. food corporations toward more humane treatment of animals experienced a whopper of a shift Wednesday when Burger King announced that all of its eggs and pork will come from cage-free chickens and pigs by 2017.

The decision by the world’s second-largest fast-food restaurant raises the bar for other companies seeking to appeal to the rising consumer demand for more humanely produced fare.

“So many tens of thousands of animals will now be in better living conditions,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, which has been pushing Burger King and other corporations to consider animal welfare in purchasing policies. “Numerically this is significant because Burger King is such a big purchaser of these products.”

The decision by Burger King, which uses hundreds of millions of eggs and tens of millions of pounds of pork annually, could represent a game-change in the egg and pork supply businessas a huge new market has opened up for humanely raised food animals. Already 9 percent of the company’s eggs and 20 percent of its pork are cage-free.

The Miami-based company steadily has been increasing its use of cage-free eggs and pork as the industry has become better able to meet demand, said Jonathan Fitzpatrick, chief brand and operations officer. He said the decision is part of the company’s social responsibility policy.

“We believe this decision will allow us to leverage our purchasing power to ensure the appropriate and proper treatment of animals by our vendors and suppliers,” he said.

Earlier this year, McDonalds and Wendy’s announced that they have asked their pork suppliers to outline their plans for elimination of gestation crates without setting a timetable.

The issue of the treatment of pigs raised for pork has recently developed. This year, Smithfield Farms and Hormel committed to ending the use of gestation crates by 2017.

“This is an issue that just four to five months ago was not on the food industry’s radar,” said Paul Shapiro, vice president for farm animal protection at HSUS. “Now it’s firmly cemented into the mainstream in a way that I think few people would have imagined.

Last month, the pork industry’s trade magazine editorialized for an end to the practice saying “on the issue of gestation-sow stalls, at least, it’s increasingly apparent that you will lose the battle.”

HSUS has been pushing for more than a decade for large-scale purchasers of animal products to ensure that they are raised humanely. The organization owns stock in 52 companies that use animal products so that it can attend shareholder meetings and submit proposals for improved animal welfare policy.

Undercover operations
It also has used undercover operations to show the conditions some food animals endure.

Conventionally raised eggs come from hens confined in battery cages that give them roughly the same footprint as an 8½ by 11 sheet of paper. Most pork comes from sows that are confined during their four-month pregnancies in narrow crates.

“For every cage-free egg or piece of bacon from a gestation-free pork system that Burger King sells, animals have been spared lifelong confinement in a cage so small they can barely even move,” said Matthew Prescott, the HSUS food policy director.

In 2007 Burger King became the first major fast-food restaurant chain to incorporate animal welfare issues into its purchasing policies when it began sourcing at least some of its pork and eggs from cage-free suppliers. The hens are still housed in a barn, but they have room to roam and perches and nesting boxes.

While some companies have been responding to consumer demand by incorporating some percentages of cage-free eggs into their purchase orders, the landslide passage by voters in 2008 of California’s Proposition 2, which will ban chicken cages and gestation crates by 2015, caused buyers and suppliers nationwide to take notice. Since then studies have shown that shoppers are willing to pay more for products they believe are produced to higher animal protection standards.

Since then Wal-Mart and Costco have transitioned their private-label eggs to 100 percent cage-free. Unilever, which uses 350 million eggs a year in its Hellmann’s mayonnaise brand, is switching to 100 percent cage-free, and others such as Sonic, Subway, Ruby Tuesday, Kraft Food and ConAgra Foods are incorporating some percentage of cage-free eggs in their products.

Egg and pork producers have argued that easing confinement standards for animals raises production costs and makes those who adjust their practices less competitive. That prompted the egg industry’s largest trade association, the United Egg Producers, to team with HSUS in seeking federal legislation this year that would double the size of the cages in which 90 percent of the nation’s 280 million laying hens are confined.

Industry officials who have argued against cage-free eggs say hens are safer and eggs are less likely to be diseased in a cage system of hen housing.

“Our attitude is our producers believe in consumer choice and if that’s what their consumers want to buy, they’ll produce cage-free eggs for the marketplace provided the customer is willing to pay the additional cost,” said Gene Gregory, president of the United Egg Producers.

Some studies have shown that raising hens cage-free adds 1-cent to the cost of each egg. It’s unclear how much more it will cost to raise pork outside of gestation cages.

Good news, weirdos!

Who am I kidding… this article was practically written for me.

Talking to Yourself May Help Your Brain

By Mikaela Conley

Next time you’re chattering away to no one, just tell yourself (out loud) that you’re boosting your brain power. A new study has found that talking to yourself actually improves your memory, at least temporarily.

“We were interested in whether speaking to yourself over and above just thinking can help you find an object,” said Gary Lupyan, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The small study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that people who talked to themselves found items more quickly than those who did not.

Researchers divided up study participants and instructed them either to repeat the name of the food item they were searching for, or keep quiet. Those who said the name of the object sped up the process of finding it.

But this was only true for “objects that people were quite familiar with and knew what they looked like,” said Gary Lupyan, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin and the lead author of the study.

Items with characteristic colors like bananas, grapes and Cheerios had stronger associations with the chitchat than those with less specific colors, like Jell-O and Pop-Tarts, the researchers wrote.

“The idea is that saying words out loud helps to activate properties more actively in the brain and efficiently configures your brain to help temporarily process the information,” said Lupyan. “Language is applicable to all sorts of tasks that are not even consciously incorporated into these kinds of functions, like searching for objects.”

We’ve all seen this movie before…

Detroit judge disrobes, texts photo to bailiff

A Detroit judge from a legendary legal family is probably wishing he kept his black robe on.

Third Circuit Judge Wade McCree, who specializes in sexual misconduct cases, admitted he texted a shirtless photo of himself to his bailiff’s cellphone, where her husband found it.

“Hot dog, yep that’s me,” McCree told Charlie LeDuff, a former New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who now reports for MyFoxDetroit.“I’ve got no shame in my game. I ain’t talked to nobody else’s wife … There’s nothing nude about it. I’m in no more clothes than I’ll be at the Y this afternoon when I swim my mile.”

McCree’s father, Wade H. McCree Jr., was the first African-American judge to be appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and only the second African-American solicitor general, serving during the Carter administration.

Despite the judge’s lack of shame, the husband of the unidentified woman — a court bailiff in Detroit — told MyFoxDetroit.com that his wife received the “highly inappropriate” photo from McCree directly. 

The angry husband has filed a complaint with Michigan’s Judicial Tenure Commission, which declined to comment when contacted by FoxNews.com on Tuesday, citing confidentiality requirements imposed by Michigan courts.  It is not clear what penalty — if any — the married McCree faces for sending the photograph.

“He’s looked upon as being some great figure, but if you look at the picture, you see what he’s really about,” the woman’s husband told LeDuff. “He’s not what he appears to be … What kind of a man would send this to a married woman?”

McCree, of Detroit, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1978 and his juris doctor degree from California’s Stanford Law School in 1984, according to online records. McCree returned to Michigan to serve in the City of Detroit Law Department until joining the firm of Lewis, White & Munday, P.C. in 1987. 

In 2004, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed McCree, then of the 36th District Court in Detroit, to the Wayne County 3rd Circuit Court.

Click for more on this report from MyFoxDetroit.com.

The best part of this story is McCree’s reaction to the story becoming public. “Hot dog, yep that’s me.” ?! Who says that??

The most disturbing part is the fact that this is apparently a highly educated U of M grad who serves as a judge, yet his grammar is atrocious. “I ain’t talked to nobody else’s wife.” Hmm.

And he tops it off with, “I’ve got no shame in my game.” Hot. Dog.

You think The Huffington Post is excited about 4/20?

I mean, just check out all these headlines from their home page:

Ridiculous story of the day

Milledgeville Police Handcuff 6-Year-Old Girl for Misbehaving at School

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Milledgeville police say they handcuffed an elementary school student for safety after she allegedly threw a tantrum.

According to the police report, kindergartner Salecia Johnson is accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing furniture. The report says the girl knocked over a shelf that injured the principal.
She was crying in the principal’s office at Creekside Elementary before police arrived Friday. The report says when the officer tried to calm the child, she resisted and was cuffed.

“Our policy is that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed in the back. There is no age discrimination on that rule,” said Milledgeville Chief of Police Dray Swicord.

They took the child to the police station where she was charged with simple assault and damage to property. Because of her age, she will not have to go to court.

13WMAZ spoke with several other Central Georgia police and sheriff’s departments. None of them could remember handcuffing a child that young. They say the use of handcuffs would be at the officer’s discretion and based on whether the child is a threat to herself or others.

“A 6-year-old in kindergarten. They don’t have no business calling the police and handcuffing my child,” said Earnest Johnson, Salecia’s father.

“Call the police? Is that the first step? Or is there any other kind of intervention that can be taken to help that child?” asked Candace Ruff.

Police say they tried to contact Johnson’s mother but weren’t able to reach her.

Her mother, Constance Ruff. says her daughter was suspended and cannot return to school until August.

“She has mood swings some days, which all of us had mood swings some days. I guess that was just one of her bad days that day,” said Constance Ruff.

“She might have misbehaved, but I don’t think she misbehaved to the point where she should have been handcuffed and taken downtown to the police department,” said her aunt, Candace Ruff.

Update on the Veronica Rose case

SC high court takes up Indian child adoption case

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Supreme Court is taking up arguments in a custody case involving a Charleston couple, an Oklahoma father and a federal law meant to protect Native American children.

Because it’s an adoption case, Tuesday’s arguments are closed.

The case pits the couple who nurtured a 2-year-old girl named Veronica against the child’s biological father, a Cherokee Nation member who took her to Oklahoma late last year after winning custody.

The case also concerns the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The 1978 law was passed because many Indian children were being removed from their homes by public and private agencies.

The act gives the child’s tribe and family the right to a say in decisions affecting the child.

Learn more about this case here.

Michigan Lotto Winner Charged With Welfare Fraud – ABC News

Michigan Lotto Winner Charged With Welfare Fraud – ABC News.

There may actually be justice in the world…

Biggest failures of the week:

1. Hilary Rosen

Attacking Mitt Romney’s wife by saying that she “never worked a day in her life”? Not smart. I’m pretty sure no one is going to support you on this one…

Hilary Rosen, Democratic Strategist, Criticizes Ann Romney For Having ‘Never Worked A Day In Her Life’

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen stirred controversy Wednesday evening when she criticized Ann Romney for having “never worked a day in her life.”

During a discussion on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 of the so-called war on women, Rosen said she agreed with Mitt Romney’s claim that women care more about economic issues than reproductive rights. But Romney’s use of his wife Ann’s perspective shows how poorly the former Massachusetts governor connects with voters, Rosen said.

“Guess what?” Rosen said. “His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing.”

Rosen continued, “There’s something much more fundamental about Mitt Romney. He seems so old-fashioned when it comes to women, and I think that comes across, and I think that that’s going to hurt him over the long term. He just doesn’t really see us as equal.”

Rosen’s comments provoked a quick response from the Romney campaign, as well as from President Barack Obama’s reelection team.

Ann Romney, who previously was not on Twitter, sent her first official tweet in response to Rosen’s comments.

“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys,” she wrote.
“Believe me, it was hard work.”

Top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom also tweeted about the interview, referring to Rosen as an “Obama adviser,” even though Rosen is employed neither by the Obama campaign nor the Democratic National Committee.

Obama’s strategists rapidly disassociated themselves and the campaign from Rosen’s comments.

“I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly,” Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, wrote in a tweet. “Her comments were wrong and family should be off-limits. She should apologize.”

David Axelrod made a similar statement, tweeting that he was “disappointed” in Rosen’s “inappropriate and offensive” comments.

Rosen tweeted several times about her remarks, saying she has “nothing against” Romney’s wife and that her comments were intended to criticize Mitt Romney’s use of Ann as an “expert on women and the economy.”

In a blog on The Huffington Post, Rosen (who, in full disclosure, was once employed at this website), further clarified her comments. Ann Romney “seems like a nice lady who has raised nice boys and struggled with illness and handles their long-term effects with grace and dignity,” Rosen wrote. “What is more important to me and 57 percent of current women voters is her husband saying he supports women’s economic issues because they are the only issues that matter to us and then he fails on even those.”

 2. Howard Davis (aka “Cold-Hearted Idiot from Toledo”)

Just read the short article below… there is no need for an explanation.

Man charged after allegedly dumping suitcase full of puppies in alley

TOLEDO –  An Ohio man was charged after he allegedly dumped a suitcase full of puppies and their mother in an alley, but forgot to take the luggage tags with his contact information off the suitcase, FOX Toledo reports.

Toledo police say a passer-by found the canvas suitcase with six 4-week-old puppies and their mother inside. The suitcase still had a luggage tag on it with the contact information for 53-year-old Howard Davis. The mother dog was also found to be registered to Davis.

“He gave us a story about the dog,” said John Dinon of the Toledo Area Humane Society. “He had given the dog away to some friends in Michigan, and that the suitcase had been stolen.”

Police didn’t believe Davis’ story, and charged him with two counts of animal abandonment.

The mother dog and her puppies, which are mixed-breed English Bulldogs, are now in the care of the Humane Society. 

“It was really a lucky break because they were sealed up pretty tight in that suitcase,” Dinon said. “Imagine if it would have gone on for any length of time, they might have suffocated.”

Click here for more on this story from FOXToledo.com.