“Teeth,” with Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Hale Appleman, Lenny Von Dohlen. Written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. 88 minutes. Rated R for disturbing sequences involving sexuality and violence, language and some drug use. Varsity.

Why they aren’t releasing “Teeth” on Valentine’s Day is a mystery, as it may be the date movie of the year — if you’re a parent. Well, a psychotic parent. OK, if you’re the late radical feminist Andrea Dworkin.

The horror-comedy about a teenage girl with a vagina dentata — translation: teeth in her hoo-hoo — is painfully unwatchable for anyone else.

Growing up in the shadow of a nuclear plant, lovely young Dawn (Jess Weixler) has known from an early age that she has something extra down south. Now in high school, she’s taunted for her “love is worth waiting for” abstinence speeches. Stickers cover female anatomy in her school textbooks. And when she goes on a double-date, the group avoids a PG-13 movie because it might show “heavy making out.”

But hormones are stronger than brainwashing. It isn’t long before Dawn has to deal with the reality of her burgeoning sexuality, with the horror of that mythical killer smile between her legs, and with some overly aggressive males who include her stoner perv stepbrother (John Hensley).

Go to original by Mark Rahner, Seattle Times staff reporter

Glenn Greenwald : “Consider this new daily tracking poll today from Rasumussen Reports . At least according to this poll, it is true that there has been one candidate who has been genuinely surging in the last week or two among Democratic voters nationally — John Edwards:

“Edwards — who, just one week ago, was 10 points behind Obama nationally among Democrats — is now only two points behind him. Less than a month ago, he trailed Clinton by 29 points. Now it’s 13 points. He is, by far, at his high point of support nationwide. Apparently, the more exposure Democratic voters get to Edwards and his campaign positions — and that exposure has been at its high point during his surge — the more they like him. By contrast, Obama is more or less at the same level of support nationally, even having decreased some since his Iowa win (for most of mid-December, he was at 27-28 points).”

While the headline is misleading, this is really sickening. So what if Republicans attack him as being too liberal? The more they scream, the better for him. I’ve been really tolerant about Hillary, but I am reaching my limit. That said, I’d be interested in seeing an analysis of where the top three Democrats stand on the drug war and the prison-industrial complex .

Hillary Hits Obama For Opposing Harsher Prison Sentences

By Thomas B. Edsall

Hillary’s aides point to Obama’s extremely progressive record as a community organizer, state senator and candidate for Congress, his alliances with “left-wing” intellectuals in Chicago’s Hyde Park community, and his liberal voting record on criminal defendants’ rights as subjects for examination.

Along the same lines, ABC reported that Clinton aides gave the network various examples, of Obama’s controversial stands. The aides cited Obama’s past assertion that he would support ending mandatory minimum sentences for federal crimes, pointing to a 2004 statement at an NAACP-sponsored debate: “Mandatory minimums take too much discretion away from judges.”

The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008.

Go to original.

“An Update on the Trial of Bilal Hussein”

Scott Horton at Harpers Magazine has an update for us on the current state of the art in spinning the press.

Aren’t we all glad these things can’t happen here?

That we know of?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. *

*subject to change without notice to citizens

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

Go to original KDKA Pittsburgh

Reuters — In an analysis of 46 studies on telecommuting, researchers found that working away from the office by using computers, cell phones or other electronic equipment can have more pluses than negatives for people and the companies that employ them.

“Our results show that telecommuting has an overall beneficial effect because the arrangement provides employees with more control over how they do their work,” said Dr Ravi Gajendran of Pennsylvania State University.

“Telecommuting seems to have some mildly positive effects on employee morale, on work-family balance and on stress,” he added in an interview.

Gajendran and David Harrison, who reported their findings in the journal of Applied Psychology, studied data on 12,833 telecommuters who spend time working away from the office.

Go to original in PC Magazine

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that Colbert is preferred by 13% of voters as an independent candidate challenging Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani. The survey was conducted shortly after Colbert’s surprise announcement that he is lusting for the Oval Office.

BAGHDAD (AFP) – The Iraqi government announced on Wednesday that it has decided to formally revoke the immunity from prosecution granted to private security companies operating in the war-ravaged country.

Go to original by Ammar Karim, Yahoo! News

AMY GOODMAN: As we continue on this issue of global warming, what does global warming have to do with the fires raging in Southern California? Read more »