While many of us were celebrating the change of designs for the Flight 93 memorial, Alec, over at Error Theory, was busy analyzing the new design, and reveals the following…

The redesigned flight 93 memorial, announced today, still contains all of the features that made it a terrorist memorial. Architect Paul Murdoch's infamous red crescent is still there, still planted with red maple trees, still inscribed in the exact same circle as before, and with the same two crescent tips still intact. Thus the crescent bisector defined by these crescent tips is also the same as before. It still points almost exactly to Mecca, making the crescent a Mihrab (an Islamic prayer station, where the believer faces into a crescent, towards Mecca, to perform his ritual prostrations). The design still incorporates a separate upper terrorist-memorial wall, centered precisely on the red-maple crescent. There are still 44 translucent blocks on the flight path to the crash site, matching the total number of dead, instead of just the forty translucent blocks that are dedicated to the forty murdered Americans. Lastly, the Tower of Voices part of the memorial is still an Islamic prayer-time sundial.

Head on over to Error Theory and check out the images. He's obviously done his homework on this one.

Great job, Alec!

Actress Wendie Jo Sperber, who starred opposite Tom Hanks on TV's "Bosom Buddies" and who in his words became "a walking inspiration" after she contracted cancer, has died. She was 46.

Sperber died at home Tuesday after an eight-year battle with breast cancer, publicist Jo-Ann Geffen said Wednesday.

…

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, the actress became an advocate for cancer care. In 2001, she founded the weSPARK Cancer Support Center, which provides free emotional support, information and social activities for individuals and families affected by cancer.

…

"The memory of Wendie Jo is that of a walking inspiration," Hanks said in a statement. "She met the challenges of her illness with love, cheer, joy and altruism. We are going to miss her as surely as we are all better for knowing her."

Sperber is survived by a son and daughter, her parents, two sisters and a brother.

Rest In Peace, Wendie Jo.

We need better and more tools?

Declaring television coarser than ever, a top federal regulator served notice on cable and [tag]satellite[/tag] programmers Tuesday to shield children from racy shows or risk coming under sharper government scrutiny.

"Parents need better and more tools to help them navigate the entertainment waters, particularly on [tag]cable[/tag] and satellite TV," Federal Communications Commission Chairman [tag]Kevin Martin[/tag] told Congress.

In addition to expanding federal decency standards to include cable and satellite programs, Martin suggested several options, including creating a "family-friendly" tier of channels that would offer shows suitable for kids, such as the programs shown on the Nickelodeon channel.

He also said that cable and satellite providers might want to consider letting consumers pay for a bundle of channels that they could choose themselves, a variation of the so-called "a la carte" pricing system that some in Congress have backed.

"You can always turn the television off and, of course, block the channels you don't want," Martin said, "but why should you have to?"

[Source: FoxNews]

First of all, my dish box has two built in features. One blocks all shows that are "above" a rating of my choosing (ie: anything not rated G is blocked). The other allows me to block any channel I think is inappropriate for my kids.

Second of all, my dish box allows me to override either of those features with my parental code.

What other "better and more" tools do I need? I am quite capable of deciding what my kids should watch, and I am also quite adept at using the tools I already possess.

Why should I have to block the channels I don't want or have to turn off the television?

To keep the government from interfering with MY choices for viewing television, as well as YOURS. That's why.

Take a moment and visit the USO Website and donate to this very worthy cause.

They have sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and friends who are with them in spirit and silently supporting them from the other side of the world. But it would mean so much to our service members to be able to hear their voices. Far from home and lonely, they are defending our flag and our freedom. Joe Scarborough and the USO are working hard to bring home as close to them as possible.

Please join MSNBC's Joe Scarborough in supporting USO Operation Phone Home, a campaign created to make it possible for Americans to extend this touch of home to the men and women of our armed forces. And we will continue this effort until every one comes home.

Let's help our troops spend a little time with their families this holiday season.

[Source: Blue State Conservatives]

The SloboPoll question this week is:

Which of the following people are doing (or have done) the worst job representing their constituents since being elected?

The choices are:

Nancy Pelosi
Tom Delay
Harry Reid
William Frist

This post is open for comments on the SloboPoll, if you so desire.