“Long story short, I got some hot dog mustard on her the first time we met,” says Buerge, 35, the banker and restaurant owner who confirms to PEOPLE that he will marry his bride-to-be, Angye McIntosh, 33, a commercial insurance agent, on Aug. 8 in their hometown of Springfield, Mo.

The Bachelor in 2002, Aaron Buerge presented a final rose – and a ring – to elementary school psychologist Helene Eksterowicz. But as the year came to an end, so did their romance.

Cut to a few years later and Buerg

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Jaime Pressly and entertainment lawyer Simran Singh are engaged, her rep confirms to PEOPLE. No wedding date has been set.

The pair checked into San Diego#39;s Hard Rock Hotel on Thursday for a celebration toasting the actresses 32nd birthday Friday night, a day after her actual birthday.

Earlier this month she hit the Hollywood hotspot Jane#39;s House to help Pussycat Doll singer Nicole Scherzinger toast her birthday – and let friends in on their big news.

“Jaime was showing off a huge diamo

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Handerpants are underpants for your hands.
Real? Yes. Serious? I sure hope not.

Watch the infomercial below to learn more.

You can order yours at Handerpants.com or from Archie McPhee, where you can get a thousand other ridiculous products.

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MSNBC News Live substitute host Donny Deutsch frothed about "right-wing racism" on Thursday and trashed Rush Limbaugh as a both a "moron" and a "putz" and Glenn Beck as a "super moron." The former CNBC anchor talked with liberal journalist Joan Walsh about her Salon.com column and quoted her asserting that "Limbaugh and Beck continue to ratchet up their alarming and increasingly racist hatred for the President."

Deutsch began the segment by solemnly wondering, "Is right-wing racism on the rise?" And yet, he later responded to Walsh’s complaints about Limbaugh by deriding, "Well, as long as he’s throwing slurs, I’m going to throw a Jewish slur and call Mr. Limbaugh a putz." After playing a clip of the conservative radio star labeling Barack Obama "race-obsessed," Deutsch, whose program on CNBC has was cancelled in 2008, angrily denounced, "Joan, you know, obviously we have got morons like Limbaugh calling Obama an angry black man. Super morons like Glenn Beck saying that he’s a racist and he hates white people."

Completely dropping any pretense of objectivity, Deutsch opined on how such comments were a positive thing: "I think they are hurting their party and I think we are in a nation tired of hate….If I’m President Obama, the more they do this, the better for the Democrats, the better for the good guys." He hopefully queried Walsh, "Am I just looking for a silver lining here?" (Of course, as the MRC’s Tim Graham noted, since Deutsch gave $25,000 to John Edwards in 2008, perhaps his definition of "the good guys" is different than others.)

Before giving advice as to how the Republicans could win in the future, Deutsch pontificated, "Joan, you know what? The Republicans are really stupid." He then insisted that the party need to denounce conservatives such as Limbaugh and Beck. Speculating as to what this hypothetical GOP leader would say, he added, "’You know what? This has got to stop. I’m a new kind of Republican.’ And that’s what people are waiting for. If I was running these guys’ campaigns, that’s where I would go right now." 

A transcript of the July 30 segment, which aired at 3:32pm, follows:

DONNY DEUTSCH: Now, the bigger picture. Is right-wing racism on the rise? Here’s what Joan Walsh, Salon.com., wrote, quote, "Limbaugh and Beck continue to ratchet up their alarming and increasingly racist hatred for the President." She goes on to say, "And look for this kind of crazy to escalate with the party base." Rush Limbaugh responded on his radio show just a short time ago.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: President Obama is so race-obsessed he writes a book about the father he never really knew, subtitled "A Story of Race and Inheritance." He marries a woman who is lucky enough to get into Princeton, but writes a book about how she is always an outsider in white culture. Then the two of them said in Reverend Wright hate temple of black liberation theology for 20 years and I am the one with the race problem?

DEUTSCH: Joan Walsh joins us from San Francisco. Joan, you know, obviously we have got morons like Limbaugh calling Obama an angry black man. Super morons like Glenn Beck saying that he’s a racist and he hates white people. I’m going to look at the good news in this. Because, to dignify them even further is embarrassing. I think they are hurting their party and I think we are in a nation tired of hate. Yes, there’s always going to be a fringe, but if I’m a Democrat, If I’m President Obama, the more they do this, the better for the Democrats, the better for the good guys. Am I just looking for a silver lining here?

JOAN WALSH: No, I see the same silver lining, Donny. I think you are right. You, and Tamron and I all know that racial progress in the country really is a two-step forward, occasionally one-step back process. And we elected a black president. It was an awesome time for all of us. Many Republicans, even if they didn’t vote for him, were very proud and now, especially as the rubber hits the road and is endorsing policies that some people disagree with, it is not racist to disagree with him, but some forces opposed who have always been opposed to him are using race to vilify him. I believe-

TAMRON HALL: But, Joan, if it’s hurting the party, let me ask you, why then are we not are we hearing from, maybe, those who are more moderate within the Republican Party or those who are elected in office speaking out against this, admonishing Rush Limbaugh and others like Glenn Beck who are saying these things? If they want the mic, it is there.

WALSH: Yeah. And, you know, Tamron, we have talked about that before. I even wrote about that in my blog. And this whole- the whole phenomenon of the birthers, which I believe is somewhat related. There’s a racial tinge there, too. I’m afraid that too many Republican leaders are ambivalent about it and they don’t believe these things themselves, but they don’t want to alienate their base, the fringe of their base, let’s say, by coming out and saying stop it. It took Michael Steele who happens to be African-American until yesterday to say that the birthers are crazy and the President is a citizen. So, they are trying to have it both ways. Look, we all know this is a party lost in the wilderness. They don’t know in the answer is to play to their base, bring out a Sarah Palin, throw the base red meat around race and division, or what the answer might be to move a little bit towards is center and play for the independents. We all know that independents are the a really important constituency. Obama won them overwhelmingly. But the party doesn’t seem to have leaders right now who know- who have any faith in moving towards those independents and away from this really kind of cro-Magnon, divisive, really retro garbage.

DEUTSCH: Joan, know what, the Republicans are really stupid. Because if any one of them was smart, Mitt Romney, name them, this was a moment in time, because a lot of the independents who voted for Obama are swinging in the other direction. The most recent polls show us that somebody could grab the mantle right now in the Republican Party. Because, you don’t need the fringe base to get elected and say, "You know what? This has got to stop. I’m a new kind of Republican." And that’s what people are waiting for. If I was running these guys’ campaigns, that’s where I would go right now.

WALSH: I agree with you. I don’t know who it is. I don’t know if it is Romney or Huckabee, I don’t see it being Sarah palin, but who knows? Stranger things, maybe, have happened. But, it really would be a wonderful time for a kind of race speech, a kind of resetting of what the party stands for. And, and somebody big with big ambitions, to distinguish himself or herself from this rabble and from people like Limbaugh. But, you know, Donny, what we see is people occasionally will even- Michael Steele again- will stand up to Limbaugh and he smacks them down and then they run cowering into the corner, crying like little puppies. And, you know, they are afraid of him. I mean, he called me, he went on to call me the magic honkie today. I’m proud of that. The President is the magic negro. I’m the magic honkie.

DEUTSCH: Well, as long as he’s throwing slurs. I’m going to throw a Jewish slur and call Mr. Limbaugh a putz. I don’t think anyone’s ever called him that.

WALSH: I think he’s a putz. I’m with you.

DEUTSCH: I don’t think I’ve said putz on MSNBC. He’s a putz. He’s a putz.

HALL: I’ll have to look it up because I don’t know what it means. But, I know it’s not good.

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The media is so dramatically conservative in Washington, D.C. that Grover Norquist outranks former Democrat presidents, vice presidents, and presidential candidates in the booking order. So claimed the Daily Kos blogger known as "Dengre" in a post on "The bias we fight." Be amazed: 

And as we fight we need to know that we start every round of every battle at a disadvantage. If you are a liberal or a progressive you are always a dirty f***ing hippie — always a weak-ass panda in this Bourgeois Town. And Conservatives are always the voice of power with access to any media outlet they wish to use. Grover Norquist can get on any show he wants to be booked on and he will always be treated as a serious player. Al Gore, Howard Dean or Jimmy Carter will never be given the respect that the inside-the-beltway crowd gives Norquist and the rest of his merry band of conservative think tank thieves. The gap is big.

Grover Norquist is a serious Washington insider, but let’s not suggest that if he threw a huge anti-Gore concert to laugh at the hype over global warming, NBC would broadcast it for 75 hours. He also hasn’t guest-hosted the Olbermann show like Howard Dean just did.

Don’t miss the whole blog, as "Dengre" (an employee of the liberal group Green America) expresses his love for The Washington Post, but laments that the donkey and elephant sculptures they have outside the Post’s downtown headquarters are painted in a conservatively biased fashion. The donkey has the "weak-ass pandas" painted on it, while the elephant has D.C. monuments. Even the sculptors are conservatives?

(Hat tip: Cash for Buick Regals)

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The mainstream media dropped the ball in the past when it came to Gardasil, and they haven’t improved with time. The “Today” Show featured Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC’s chief medical editor and a longtime advocate for the vaccine, and Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, somewhat of a skeptic. But the report was by no means balanced.
 
Dr. Snyderman began promoting the vaccine right out of the gate, saying:

“Well It’s important because there are 65,000 new cases of cervical cancer every year. We know that Human Papilloma Virus causes cancer of the cervix. We know you that get HPV through sex. So this idea is to give a vaccine to girls before they become sexually active. And it’s an anti-cancer vaccine. It’s not a pro-sex vaccine. So my view, as a physician is, if you can prevent an illness with a vaccine, why wouldn’t you do it if it’s safe and effective? And this is safe and effective.”

This misleading statement left out many things. First, Gardasil is not a cancer vaccine, despite how the media has portrayed it. It is a vaccine to prevent HPV, which can cause cervical cancer, but as Dr. Gilberg-Lenz pointed out, most people who have HPV do not get cancer.
 
Snyderman claimed it is not a “pro-sex vaccine.” But the only reason to administer the vaccine is the assumption that girls will be sexually active. It is an assumption that they are incapable of abstinence. In fact, nobody in the segment mentioned that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid HPV.
 
And finally, Snyderman declared Gardasil “safe and effective.” Since, as Gilberg-Lenz pointed out, the vaccine only protects against two of the around 10-15 strains of the virus that could cause cancer, Snyderman’s calling it “effective” is a considerable overstatement. And her perception of “safe” is rather skewed.
 
When Ann Curry asked Dr. Snyderman to explain the “worst side-effects, how common are they?” Snyderman side-stepped the question and instead answered, “Well I think we have to look at the most common side-effects.” She listed things like fainting and redness as the most common. She didn’t mention other side-effects that have been reported, including "Anaphylactic shock," "foaming at mouth," "grand mal convulsion," "coma," "now paralyzed."
 
Finally she got around to that other side-effect – death. “Now, what concerns people, and what does come up, is there have been 37 or 38 deaths. And the FDA has looked very, very carefully at these. There has been no proof of the vaccine causing a young woman to die. And sometimes deaths are recorded several days later. But it’s important to remember, you can have fish for dinner, and get sick three days later and the question is, did the fish cause you to get sick? And what they’re saying this time is, no. There’s no proof that this vaccine in fact puts women’s lives at risk.”
 
No. But there is no proof that it does not put women’s lives at risk. either. Since when does “safe and effective” include a possible link to death?
 
Dr. Gilberg-Lenz tried but failed to make this point. Dancing around the issue, she commented, “… you have to understand that the common thread with these 39 deaths has been recent either use or completion of the Gardasil vaccination. I am not saying it caused death. But women are going to have questions about this. And right out the gate when this vaccination came out, I was thrilled. I was excited. And I recommended it. It’s not that I don’t recommend it. It’s that we need to support our patients and their mothers in asking questions.”
 
When a question was raised about the newness of the vaccine, Snyderman of course defended it, saying three years was plenty of time to see long-term effects. When Gilberg-Lenz attempted to explain that new side-effects can continue to be found years after a medicine is proclaimed safe, Snyderman attacked her.

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Life in the Workers’ Paradise of Cuba is a bit less than perfect these days. So is the absurd headline that begins an Associated Press story by writer Will Weissert:

Oh come on.

This isn’t about "saving the economy." This is about saving the Cuban government on the backs of its long-suffering people, as will be seen shortly in Weissert’s own text.

Readers will see grim humor in several of Weissert’s other excerpted paragraphs, especially the last one:

…. More likely, the shortages result from a global recession that hit an already struggling economy still reeling from last year’s hurricanes. President Raul Castro scolded Cubans in a national address Sunday to work harder because they have no one to blame but themselves.

"The only thing I know is that this is lousy," said one 27-year-old who only gave the name Raul because he sells cement and housing materials on the black market. "I don’t work. I find a way to survive."

…. Cuba may be trying to save unused oil to bolster strategic reserves while prices are still relatively low, said Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

But he also said the strict measures lend credence to whispers that Cuba is selling Venezuelan oil overseas - something the communist government did with some of the discounted oil it got from the Soviet Union.

"It’s been alleged they’ve been selling Venezuelan oil on the side. They’ve denied that, but if they are open to doing it, now would be the time," Erikson said. "Cuba’s in a real cash crunch."

Beginning June 1, the government ordered energy conservation measures as part of a broader plan to cut the national budget by 6 percent. Central planners also announced Friday they were revising their economic growth projections downward, from 2.5 percent to 1.7 percent. As recently as December, they had projected 6 percent economic growth in Cuba.

These days, most countries would cheer any economic growth. But Cuba counts what it spends on free health care and education, monthly food rations and other social programs as production - making economic growth figures dubious.

Since Cubans have no income or resources to tax, the government in effect is taxing its citizens by cutting the services and products they can consume. Just lovely.

It is also worth asking whether the average Cuban thinks health care and education are "free," when they are "paying" for it by doing without defenses against the summer heat and eating less. P.J. O’Rourke’s smart-aleck remark about statist medicine ("If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free") comes to mind. The other thought is that, using typical establishment media parlance, women, children, and the elderly must be among those who are most affected by the island nation’s austere situation.

We also see from the Cuban example that there might be an ulterior motive in forcing state-run health care into the US. If costs spiral out of control upon enactment, as is expected, the value of services rendered will go up for a while, increasing the country’s gross domestic product in what may perhaps be the only way remaining at that point to demonstrate any kind of meaningful economic growth.

As is said in the Guinness Beer commercials: "Brilliant!"

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

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The space shuttle Endeavor has touched down safely at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its seven astronauts successfully completed a 16 day mission to the International Space Station, which included five spacewalks. In addition, the shuttle delivered a new crew member, flight engineer Tim Kopra, to the Space Station and picked up Japanese astronaut Koichi [...]

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Public Citizen joined a team of other attorneys in submitting a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court today, urging the court to adhere to its precedents and reaffirm the longstanding principle that corporations may not engage in unfettered campaign spending.

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According to Joe Jackson, Omer Bhatti is Michael Jackson’s love child.

There is still no word on Omer Bhatti’s DNA test but it is the most solid proof if he is or not the secret son of Michael Jackson. Here is a video of Omer Bhatti at an audition, do you think he has the same [...]

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