What do you call that syrupy, carbonated liquid that comes out of cans and bottles and is sold by companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi?

Do you call it pop? How about soda? Or maybe you just call it Coke, even if it's another brand.

Well, science has answered this question that divides America in regional camps -- it all depends on where you live, as this county-by-county map shows.

I miss out on all the good jobs.

I apparently missed the ads looking for judges to determine which young women would be selected as hostesses to lead athletes to their events during the Olympic games in Beijing.

You can't make this stuff up.

John McCain's favorite song is Dancing Queen by the Swedish pop group ABBA. I kid you not.

Blender magazine asked McCain and Obama to list their top 10 favorite songs. McCain listed two ABBA tunes in his top 3.

This is an amazing story.

Obama was heckled this week at a town hall meeting in Ohio, which is not an unusual occurrence. there are a lot of assholes in the world.

What's amazing is that the person doing the heckling was a credentialed member of the press.

This just in -- John McCain wears expensive Italian shoes.

Yes, that's right. He's an elitist.

This summer John McCain is traveling in style. He has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop — from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA. The Calfskin loafers, with silver-tone "Gancini" buckles, are imported from Italy.

Here's some news to make you put down that sausage biscuit and and go for a jog this morning.

By 2030 nearly nine of every 10 adult Americans will be either overweight or obese. This is the finding of a new survey by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“National survey data show that the prevalence of overweight and obese adults in the U.S. has increased steadily over the past three decades,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030 with approximately 96 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 91 percent of Mexican-American men affected. This would result in 1 of every 6 health care dollars spent in total direct health care costs paying for overweight and obesity-related costs.”

The New York Times reveals today the dire threat posed by the regime in Iran to the United States and Israel -- a threat that the pantywaists and apologists and weak-kneed liberals all want to pretend doesn't exist.

That's right -- I am talking about development of a powerful new weapon by the fanatics in charge of Iran -- the Photoshop missile.

Apparently Iran's scientists have come up with a way to create missiles using Photoshop software instead of having to build them one at a time like everyone else.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has a story about a womanwho was put in charge of media relations atArlington National Cemetery who tried to open up to media coverage of the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.

As most of us know such funerals have been deemed by the Bush Administration to be counter-productive to its war effort. If people started seeing funerals on TV they might demand an end to the war. Can't have that.

Yes, indeed, America under President Obama will be a living hell, a wasteland where the Dirty Fucking Hippies run roughshod over free-thinkin' Americans.

He's going to take away everything that makes life comfortable and enjoyable. He'll make you freeze in the winter and bake in the summer. You SUV will be gone and so will your guns.

And don't even think about hitting the drive-thru at McDonald's because that's gonna be regulated by Big Brother too.

Yes, indeed, it's time for the hip waders because the hysteria is getting deep.

Seems like a small price to pay for the chance to spend the day with Sen. Obama on the campaign trail if you are a local reporter.

The Herald Times newspaper in Bloomington sent a reporter along with Obama's campaign as it visited Indiana during the primary. The campaign provided bus service, meals, phone access, etc. -- as campaigns usually do -- and then billed the paper -- as campaigns usually do.

The paper was not entirely happy with the amount billed for meals -- $115.62.

Well, here we go again. Expect to see this line of BS in the next anti-Obama email campaign.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family has dug up a 2006 speech that Obama gave to suggest that he is distorting the Bible.

I have to admit that this vital issue had flown completely under my radar. While I was paying attention to rising gas prices, floods, suicide bombings and Britney Spears -- a very serious shortage of fashion models has developed right under my nose.

Yes, that's correct -- apparently we cannot find enough women to pose for magazine covers, to drape themselves over the hoods of new automobiles in commercials or to strut down runways wearing stuff that makes you say "who would buy that?"

Urgent action is needed and New York Congressman Anthony Weiner is just the guy to tackle it.

A serious crisis is looming on the horizon for the GOP -- even more serious than having John "Mr. Excitement" McCain as its nominee and the prospect of getting wiped out in congressional elections.

One of the Republican Party's most cherished dead horsesmay no longer be worth whipping:

In what some experts call Raul Castro’s boldest break yet from socialism, Cuban state companies have until August to overhaul their salary structures to one that pays hard-workers more than slackers, the government newspaper reported Wednesday.

No more will all Cuban workers doing the same job receive the same pay. Now people who do more will get more — and those who offer quality service will be rewarded, the vice minister of labor, Carlos Mateu, told Granma, the country’s Communist Party newspaper.

Twenty-five years ago people were confidently predicting that newspapers would be replaced by fax machines. You would wake up in the morning and you'd get your news delivered by fax instead of the rolled-up paper in the driveway.

Never happened.

Today, of course, newspapers are under a much more serious threat to their continued existence -- the internet. Newspapers are cutting staff all over the country as circulation is dropping. Even traditional cash cows like classified advertising are being siphoned off by Craigslist and now even Wal-Mart with the launch of Oodle.com.

And that brings us to the latest prediction of the demise of newsprint, from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer:

Foreclosures of homes in military towns are almost four times as high as the rest of the population, according to a story by Bloomberg.com.

In the midst of the worst surge in mortgage defaults in seven decades, foreclosures in U.S. towns where soldiers live are increasing at a pace almost four times the national average, according to data compiled by research firm RealtyTrac Inc. in Irvine, California. As military families like the VerSteeghs signed up for the initial lower rates and easier terms of subprime mortgages, the number of people taking out Veterans Administration loans fell to the lowest in at least 12 years.

``We've never faced a situation like this, not in the Vietnam War, World War II, or the Korean War, where so many military are in danger of losing their homes,'' said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a Washington-based advocacy group started in 2002 by Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. ``No one asked them for their credit score when we asked them to fight for us.''

Since consistency is a foreign concept to the Bush Administration I'm sure the irony of their recent initiative in Sudan will be completely lost upon them.

Bush -- the guy who recently accused Barack Obama of wanting to appease dictators by daring to suggest we should talk to leaders in Cuba and Iran -- is himself practicing appeasement.

He is sending a special envoy to chat with a dictator who sheltered Osama bin Laden, whose regime is responsible for more deaths than Pol Pot and is still engaged in a campaign of genocide.

It's hard to imagine that this sort of crap goes on, that someone can lose his job because he speaks out about giving an award for excellence in journalism to a loser like Bill O'Reilly.

The issue involves something called the Governor's Award given out by the New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is supposed to be the group's top journalism award.

Why they would give it to a lying sack of shit is beyond belief. And so thought Barry Nolan, anchor at CN8, a news network owned by Comcast. So he protested.

Count me among those who would like nothing better than to see Bush and Cheney in leg irons before a war crimes tribunal.

But let's be realistic -- it ain't gonna happen. In this country, no matter how much our leaders might richly deserve to be sent to maximum security -- it never happens. Nixon and Agnew didn't go to jail and neither will Bush and Cheney.

But there is a way to bring a degree of justice to the horrible disgrace they have heaped upon this country -- a Truth Commission.