You gotta admit, Ron Paul is one tenacious S.O.B.

After failing to get out of the starting gate in the race for the Republican nomination - despite amassing an impressive grassroots following - the old codger has decided to challenge the entire Republican party to a duel at ten paces.

Sort of.

It was announced this week that Paul has decided to move his “Rally for the Republic” to the 18,000 seat Target Center in Minneapolis. The event will take place from August 31st through September 2nd. For those paying attention, that’s right when the GOP Convention is taking place … ten miles across town.

While I don’t agree with his foreign policy (he gets an “F” on Darfur), I sure do like the cut of his jib!

Facebook users may have noticed a slightly different look to their profile page today. (If you haven’t yet, you will in the coming days.) The social networking site has undergone an overhaul in an effort to make the site’s interface more efficient and less cluttered.

Personally, I like the cleaned up look. My favorite part is that it finally relegates most of those pesky applications to their own designated tab. But some users may be annoyed to find some applications such as “ILike” are no longer a part of their profile page.

If you’d like to get a head start on getting used to the new design, you can make the switch by going to www.new.facebook.com. The roll-out to Facebook’s 80 million users should be completed by the end of the week.

“[It's] a fraud, a racket. … I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. … What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. … Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’”

Can anyone tell me how this guy has managed to stay on the air as long as he has? Can anyone tell me how this guy manages to pull in an audience of 8 million listeners a day and is syndicated on over 350 radio stations across the country? And this isn’t even the most hateful, ignorant or ridiculous thing I’ve heard him say. Only the most recent!

Every time I come across his show on the radio I think to myself, “Nobody out there is buying this nonsense … are they? Everyone knows the joke is on them … right?” But alas, his radio show and books rake in the cash at a ridiculous level.

This guy spews this same venom all over liberals, gays, the ACLU, immigrants, feminists and anyone and everyone else on a regular basis. But attacking kids diagnosed with autism? Methinks Mr. Savage has hit an all-time low.

Alright, so we all knew The Dark Knight would clean up this weekend. But did anyone expect that?

Admittedly, I still haven’t seen it. Weekend plans didn’t allow it. But from what I’ve gathered from everyone I’ve talked to, the film would have been better titled Heath Ledger’s: The Joker.

So what did you think?

In preparing for the upcoming (pending) move we’re unloading a whole bunch of used music, DVDs and books. Check the “Buy My Junk” link regularly for updated item listings.

All proceeds benefit the Bertou Children’s Wii Fund (BCWF). Thanks for your support!

I promised I’d keep you all in the loop when there was news on the upcoming Josh Garrels release, and I am a man of my word.

He is now taking preorders for his brand new full length album titled Jacaranda on his website. And for your listening pleasure, I’ve uploaded one of the new tracks, titled “Zion & Babylon” to my Muxtape.

The album is expected to be released in August, with a slew of fall tour dates to follow. So be on the lookout for another update in the not too distant future!

Fishnet stockings? High heel boots? Leather?

What the heck is Barbie into these days? (And who knew Ken was the submissive type!?!)

A new Barbie, scheduled to be released in September, has some folks seeing red. The UK-based watchdog group Christian Voice has called the doll “filth” stating that, “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible.”

But is this a case of Barbie being sexually suggestive? Or is the doll simply an homage to a popular comic book heroine?

“Black Canary Barbie” is a Barbie rendition of a DC Comic superhero of the same name. She’s been around since 1947 - including appearances as part of the popular Justice League series - and has always been wearing the same getup from day one: fishnet stockings, a leather jacket and high heel boots.

There have already been previous action figure renditions of the character, and putting her in any other costume would be like Superman without the tights.

So why all the fuss over a Barbie version of the character? Has Mattel taken things too far by dressing Barbie like a dominatrix? Or has Christian Voice singled out Barbie because she’s an easy target? (No pun intended.)

As part of a promotional effort for their recent youth camp, the Windsor Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City planned to give away an AR-15 assault rifle to one lucky camper.

Yes, you read that right. And it’s not the first time they’ve given guns away as prizes at the camp.

In watching KOCO’s coverage of this story I couldn’t help but think to myself how the typical reaction might be a wee bit different if they were doing a report on a different religious group.

What if that “praise music” playing on the computer was a Qawwali? What if the girls wore head coverings while they drew up the posters? What if the young boys being taught to fire automatic weapons and practicing combat maneuvers were wearing turbans? What if the screaming red-faced teacher was saying the exact same words - but in Arabic? What if the spiritual leader defending his right to arm children and extolling the virtues of the camp was called “Sheikh Ali” instead of “Pastor Bob?”

Wouldn’t middle America be in hysterics? Wouldn’t the feds have raided their compound by now?

I’m just sayin’.