NEW ORLEANS: Yesterday’s Super Bowl set a record for TV audiences, and also set a record for the most disgusting advertisement in NFL history. It’s hard to chronicle all of the offensive ads through the years, but certainly Motorola’s ad touting it’s new MOTOBLUR software has to be ranked the most offensive. While the commercial was not particularly graphic, it did have its share of innuendo and double entendre. What the NIP finds most offensive is that the commercial legitimizes the practice of sexting.

Sexting, the practice sending pornographic images of one’s self or other via text messaging or email, has been linked to all kinds of problems among youth in this country, even being linked to the suicide of one teenager. Back in 2007 cheerleader coach Victoria Schattauer in Goshen Ohio made history when she photographed herself with a student topless. The photo was sexted and emailed all over the school, and subsequently all over the country. The photos shocked the country because of their graphic nature involving a teacher and a student together, with the teacher taking the photo. Since then apparently lots of other coaches have followed suit, judging by a quick Google search of “coaches sexting.”

Motorola’s commercial shows actress Megan Fox taking a picture of herself in the tub and sending it out. Besides frying the local telephone lines the explicit photo makes the rounds to a teenage boy locking himself in a bathroom, a voyeuristic husband getting slapped by his wife, a gay couple slapping each other, etc., all in good fun, apparently in the judgement of Motorola executives. The trouble is that teens don’t need any more incentive to engage in sexting. This commercial does not help teens understand just how severe the consequences can be: Read more…

BABE HUGGETT: On the Culture Wars front, the British supermarket chain, Tescos, struck a blow for sartorial dignity in its St. Mellons in Cardiff, Wales branch by posting a “Customer Dress Code Policy” banning shoppers coming in clad in pajamas, barefoot and/or both.

Signs saying, “To avoid causing offence or embarrassment to others we ask that our customers are appropriately dressed when visiting our store (footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted).” have been placed at the entrance to the store in what Americans will recognize as a variation on our “No Shoes, no shirt, no service.” domestic stores policy although here in open-carry Arizona, “No weapons allowed” signs give a regional variation that must make the Nervous Nellie crowd feel better.

Back at the St. Mellons Tescos, outraged customer, Elaine Carmody, was actually turned away when she tried to buy cigarettes because of her sloppy and routine PJ bottoms and slippers wear. Read more…

BALTIMORE: Today Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned, a month after her conviction for embezzling gift cards meant for the poor and needy families of Baltimore. It seems to be a theme with those on the left that while they talk a big game when it comes to helping the disadvantaged, they have little compunction when it comes to ripping those same people off.

After more than four years of investigation, and a month after a guilty verdict in the first corruption trial against her, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors Wednesday in which she pledged to resign from office…

Last month, in a separate trial, a jury convicted the mayor of taking for her own use gift cards donated for the city’s poor.

Under Wednesday’s agreement, prosecutors asked the court to strike last month’s guilty verdict and give Dixon probation before judgment – a legal status that means the mayor does not have a criminal conviction. She will serve no jail time, keep her $83,000 a year pension and after two years will be able to run again for office.  Christian Science Monitor

The NIP wonders if a conservative had been guilty of such egregious conduct whether he would have his record expunged, receive $83,000 per year for the rest of his life, and be able to run again for office in two years. Read more…

ST. BARTS & KAILUA: What’s up with Hollywood that it has such a fascination for dictators? Bill Maher articulated it often when he has shown his impatience with the US political process. He seems to be enamored with the efficiency of a despot’s rule.

Apparently we can add Microsoft founder Paul Allen to the list of starry-eyed admirers as he was seen partying last week with Beyonce and Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal:

Popstar Beyonce Knowles reportedly performed at a party thrown by Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi’s son Hannibal, notorious for violence against women, for almost an hour on New Year’s Eve, New York Post reported.

The 28-year-old singer performed five songs in a sexy black leotard at the Nikki Beach club on St. Barts in front of a crowd that included her husband Jay-Z, Usher, Microsoft founder Paul Allen and Lindsay Lohan…

Just a week earlier, on Christmas Day, Hannibal, 33 — also known as Moutassim — allegedly attacked his wife, Aline Skaf, in his suite at Claridge’s in London. Three of his security staff were arrested for obstructing police. Skaf was reportedly hospitalized with a broken nose while Hannibal was whisked away in a diplomatic car.  New York Post

Hannibal (well-named) gets whisked away with diplomatic immunity while his wife is hospitalized. Then a few days later he jets to St. Barts and parties with Paul Allen, Beyonce, and other celebrities.  Despotic rulers love their glamour and their luxury and celebrities love to party with them.

While we’re at it why not compare George W. Bush’s Christmas holidays at his own home with Obama’s Christmas holidays? For the last two Christmases Obama has vacationed at a $4,000 a night villa in Hawaii while he also rents two adjacent villas for his family and friends. Let’s not forget the transportation costs to and from Hawaii for his entourage, and housing for his security staff. Kailua is known as the most beautiful beach in Hawaii and a traditional vacationing spot for royalty. What a better spot for our own royalty to soak away their stress while we are being subjected to attempted suicide bombers? Surely none of his loyal subjects complained when he didn’t even bother to make a statement about the bombing for three days.

The left’s appetite for luxury is never satiated, along with their demand that the rest of us fund them in their extravagance.

Maurice Clemmons, the alleged shooter in the Sunday murder of four Lakewood, Washington police officers, was killed early this morning by a Seattle police officer.

The blogsite Fire Andrea Mitchell reported that a Nation of Islam offshoot called National Black Foot Soldiers held a protest today outside the Parkland, Washington coffee shop where the murders occurred. The protesters allegedly gathered to celebrate Clemmons as a “Crowned BOW (Black on White) Martyr,” calling his attack a “preemptive strike on terrorists…”

The substance of this story was originally announced by a blog called the Last Crusade, which has also claimed that Clemmons converted to Islam while imprisoned in Arkansas. Gateway Pundit picked up the story as well, noting however, that Last Crusade’s claim of Clemmons’ conversion is unsubstantiated.

A black militant site called “Black Male Felon” seemingly described the protest:

The rally came after a reported emergency meeting held by the [Black Foot Soldiers] movement to to map out plans for a street penitentiary protest and street party that will be held to disrespect tributes, memorials and funerals whites are expected to have for the terrorists.

Whatever the Black Foot Soldiers may be planning, there actually was no “rally.”

More…

MIAMI: Obama headlined a Miami Beach dinner tonight raising money for Democratic congressional candidates. Tickets ranged from $500 to $15,200 for the event.

The chart on the left puts Obama’s campaign fund raising in perspective. Obama has attended 28 fundraisers in his first months of office, compared to Bush’s six and Clinton’s five.

The NIP believes that this adds to the evidence that this administration is all about power, protecting its prospects for reelection. How can a president spend so much time campaigning when he has a country to run? Who is minding the store back home? Biden? Somehow that is not reassuring.

Clinton and Bush spent their first months in office with their noses to the grindstone, working. If Obama is campaigning this hard this early, will he go into full time campaigning when it comes time for the congressional elections? Who will be running the country then? Read more…