Family cleared in JonBenet Ramsey’s death
New DNA test finds no link, DA says in letter to Colorado girl’s father

DENVER - Prosecutors cleared JonBenet Ramsey’s parents and brother Wednesday in the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old beauty queen, saying they were “deeply sorry” for putting the family under a cloud of suspicion for more than a decade.

New DNA tests, which focus on skin cells left behind from a mere touch, point to a mysterious outsider. They came too late to clear the name of JonBenet’s mother, Patsy, who died of cancer in 2006.

“To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry,” Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy wrote in a letter to the child’s father, John Ramsey. “No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion.”

Come on. Don’t act like you’re all above it. EVERYBODY thought these people did it. They weren’t just tried and convicted by the media and the public, they were also sentenced, punished, and in the case of Mrs. Ramsey, put to death. Somehow “I’m sorry” just doesn’t seem to really cut it. If I were Mr. Ramsey, I would make a HUGE list, and start suing people. It’s not bad enough that their child was murdered, but for everyone to think for more than a decade that they were in fact RESPONSIBLE for that death, had to be beyond horrible.

So yeah. Our bad. Lets try not to screw this up next time. As it turns out, we have courts and judges and impartial juries for a reason. Who knew?

The Dark Knight is an intense, thrilling, smart and amazing film that truly vies for the crown of the greatest movie ever made from a comic book.

Yes, it’s that good.

Weaving a plot of complexity and depth that pits well-drawn characters against each other in a battle of anarchy against order, sanity against insanity and life against death, The Dark Knight excels on nearly every level and delivers that most rare of movie gems — a spectacle that succeeds in challenging its genre and its audience, creating an experience that will completely satisfy and thrill filmgoers of all types.

So seldom does a movie actually live up to its hype, especially when the hype has been going on this long. The anticipation for many, myself included, began the minute the last frame of Batman Begins flashed across the screens of America, and if it’s even half as good as I’ve heard, then it will be twice as good as I’ve hoped.

And that’s sounds just fine to me.

“But don’t kid yourself,” adds Rivers, “he would have loved all the attention he’s getting right now. Just don’t say that he ‘passed away.’ ‘Passed to where?’ he would ask.”

He totally would. That’s exactly the kind of thing he would say. He could get five minutes out of that little semantic hiccup.

We’ll be bringing you more on George Carlin this whole week. If anybody deserves a week of posts on a wildly obscure, vaguely humorous weblog, it’s George Carlin.

SO FU MARK TWAIN PRIZE! AMERICA KNOWS WHAT THE REAL HONOR IS! EAT THAT!

Seriously. George Carlin dies, while Gallagher is allowed to live? What kind of world is this anyway? I want my money back.

Just another helpful tip from BRAIN PAN ONLINE. You’re welcome. I’ve got another good one tomorrow, so check back. (Hint: Think Astronomy)

Tons of trailers and stuff at the official site.

It’s weird to think that something I’ve been looking forward to for years, will be over in like two and a half hours. Depressing, really. But I have great hope. The future is worth it.

I really liked Tim Russert. Oh sure. I disagreed with him from time to time, but he was one of these guys that reigned above other journalists in his field. He was a sound, fair commentator, and a enthusiastic and brilliant political mind. He had this great way of grilling people on his show, where he would ask tough, pointing, aggressive questions in the most pleasant way imaginable, so that the guest would have to work extra hard to evade him, if they were able to, because in the end he was just so nice about it. You could tell how much he loved politics just by watching him. His obvious passion for the subject of American Politics was so genuine, so boyishly pure, that it seemed like every development, every hair pin turn in the political scene, delighted and fueled him to no end. And he knew everything. Every detail about every political figure since the founding of our nation was either known, or eagerly sought after by Tim Russert.

One of the saddest things about this whole thing, aside from all the other sad aspects to his death, was that he won’t be able to see how this election turns out. That is heartbreaking to me. He had said, several times, that this was the most exciting Presidential election he had experienced in his lifetime. He was in love with this cycle. He was like a little boy Christmas morning. In my opinion, the rest of this election proceeds in his memory, in some small way an honor to a true fan of the process, and a tireless journalistic titan. He will be very sorely missed, and our public discourse will be all the weaker without him.

At the close of every episode of Meet the Press, Tim Russet had a little line that I always enjoyed. He would smile at the camera, and would say “If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press”. I liked how it called to the longevity of that show, the longest running in the history of television, and how it sort of summed up his role on the political landscape. The political week starts on Sunday, and it starts with his show. This week, sadly, we will have no Sunday.

Tim Russert: Bad Ass

Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC on [Saturday] to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity.

There. Feel better? I do.