NASCAR driver Kurt Busch wed Eva Bryan Thursday evening at a private estate in Eastville, Va., PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

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Busch, who turns 28 on Aug. 4, and Bryan, 29, have been together for exactly three years. They met on July 27, 2003, when Jeremy Brickhouse, a member of Busch's racing team (and high school friend of Bryan), fixed them up.

Congratulations Kurt and Eva.

Technorati Tags: NASCAR, Kurt Busch, Eva Bryan, wedding

Microsoft Corp. has acquired a patient information system that the world's largest software maker plans to sell to health care providers worldwide.

The software, called Azyxxi, gives physicians real-time access to patient data including X-rays, electrocardiograms, prescriptions, patient allergies and other routine clinical information. It was built by doctors at the Washington Hospital Center using Microsoft development tools.

Azyxxi, which rhymes with"Trixie,"is being used at six other MedStar Health hospitals in Washington and Baltimore. Microsoft believes the system can help transform the nation's"stressed"heath care industry, said Peter Neupert, vice president of Microsoft's health solutions group.

"Health care is underinvested in information technology,"Neupert said Wednesday at a news conference at the Washington Hospital Center."Microsoft believes that information technology can positively impact (health care delivery) by removing barriers and empowering physicians with instant access to critical patient data."

Given Microsoft's record with security, is this really a good idea?

It's bad enough when hackers get access to your financial data, what are you going to do when they know every ailment you have ever had, and tell everyone about that boil on your ass?

That won't be good.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, health care, Azyxxi, software

Facing an unexpected election runoff, Representative Cynthia McKinney held a rare news conference today to announce the endorsement of civil rights icon Andrew Young and tout her outspoken work in Congress.

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In the recorded endorsement Young said, "Congress needs controversy. The last thing we need in a democracy is people who don't think for themselves and people who go along with whatever any leadership seems to say."

Controversy yes. Cop-slapping, law-breaking, wild-eyed maniacs, no. Notice she touted her own "outspoken word" in Congress. The fact is, I haven't heard anyone else tout her record. I wonder why that is?

Cynthia McKinney does not care about the people of the 4th district. She never has. She has proven this time and time again. This is their chance to make sure she does not return to Congress.

I am quite shocked that Andrew Young would endorse McKinney. Then again, I don't do too well when I try to think like a liberal, so maybe this is something I should have expected.

Because of his endorsement of McKinney, I can no longer have confidence in other candidates he has chosen to endorse this election cycle. Other candidates he has endorsed include Mark Taylor, candidate for Governor, Jim Martin, candidate for Lt. Governor, and Darryl Hicks, candidate for Secretary Of State.

What a shame.

Technorati Tags: Cynthia McKinney, Andrew Young, endorsement, congress

Rusty Yates lashed out Thursday at prosecutors who spent five years pursuing murder charges against his ex-wife, saying they misrepresented certain details of the day Andrea Yates drowned their five children.

Rusty Yates told The Associated Press that Andrea Yates never told him, "I finally did it" in her telephone call to him after the drownings, as a Houston police officer testified during her second trial.

"It's been printed in papers as fact, and it's absolutely not true," he said. "Much of the state's case was built on lies."

The only thing built on lies was his own sense of reality. If he had not lied to himself, his wife never would have been alone with his children, and they would be alive today.

The jury may have believed that Andrea Yates was insane when she killed her children (I don't agree with the jury verdict), but that doesn't change the fact that Rusty Yates did nothing to help stop his wife and ultimately save his children.

During the interview, Rusty Yates said that on the day his children died, Andrea had called him and asked him to come home. When he and his mother arrived and learned from police what had happened, he reminded his mother that Andrea had filled the bathtub for no apparent reason about a month or so earlier.

"I said, 'I guess she'd been thinking about this for some time and finally did it," Yates said. He said an officer must have overhead the conversation and took it out of context.

It's evident he knew for a very long time that she had mental issues. The fact he didn't do more to protect his children, when he knew her previous history, makes him just as sick as she was. Even sicker.

"In some respects," he said, "I know Andrea better than anybody."

It takes one to know one. Enjoy your happy new life Mr. Yates.

Technorati Tags: Andrea, Rusty, Yates, insanity, Mary, Luke, Paul, John, Noah

The Dixie Chicks arrived at Joe Louis Arena as a group still feeling its way toward a new identity.

By the end of their two-hour, tour-opening concert Friday night, the issue remained unsettled: Just where do the Dixie Chicks stand in the contemporary pop picture? And do even the Dixie Chicks know?

There is no doubt that the Dixie Chicks know exactly where they stand, and it ain't pretty. But if they somehow forgot their current position in contemporary pop, I am sure they were reminded of it when they stood on that stage and stared out at thousands of empty seats on Friday night.

On hand Friday night was an unconventional mosaic of concertgoers, as denim-clad fans with Stetsons gathered amid obscenity-laced anti-Bush shirts and banners. When vocalist Natalie Maines asked first-time Dixie Chicks concertgoers to show themselves, at least half the audience raised its arms and roared.

That's class for you. Obscenity-laced anti-Bush shirts and banners. Who would have thunk it? At a Dixie Chicks concert nonetheless.

There is no doubt where the Dixie Chicks stand. I know where I stand. F.U.D.C.

[Hat Tip: California Conservative]

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