So, it's not free?

Way to go, Dunkin Donuts: The doughnut chain quietly recanted its "Free Iced Coffee Day" last month -- usually on the same day as Rita's Free Water Ice Day -- and declared today plain-old "Iced Coffee Day," offering its cold java drink for 50 cents all day today.

In attempt to spin the ire of freebie lovers, DD is donating 5 cents of every purchase to benefit Home for Our Troops, a national nonprofit dedicated to building specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans.

I know I'm a little late on this, but hey, you've still got four hours or more to hit up your local DD and pay for what should have been your free iced coffee. Damn these tough economic times.

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day from The Jerc Store!

Veterans Day was first incorporated by President Woodrow Wilson as Armistice Day in 1919 in honor of the Armistice treaty which ended WWI.

In 1938, Armistice Day was enacted as an official American holiday, but after WWII, citizens felt that the veterans of all wars should be recognized. In 1954, Congress changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

In America, the holiday now celebrates the approximate 2.9 million U.S. veterans with parades and ceremonies among other events.

Grand Old convention

As predicted last week, I am already sick of politics and we're still two months away from the election. But, I did briefly wrote about the Dem National Convention last week, so it's only fair the Republicans get a mention on my very powerful political blog.

The news this week is all about McCain selecting Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor of Alaska, as his running mate. This woman has been the presumptive vice presidential candidate for approximately four days and we've learned all about her children, her grandchildren (just kidding), her abilities with a power rifle and her love of mooseburgers.

A Google search for 'sarah palin' turns up more than 4 million hits and about 48,500 news hits. I bet last week it would have been about 9,000.

The GOP convention was basically postponed due to Hurricane Gustav's devastation this weekend, but it's well underway now in St. Paul, Minn. Click here for a list of speakers and schedules.

And now I'm pretty sure I'm done talking about this election until November, but I'm certainly not opposed to reading people's thoughts on Sarah Palin...and the fact that someone whose only experience with foreign policy is shipping her son off to Iraq could potentially be the president of our country if McCain croaks in office. Frightening thought. But hey, she's hot, right?

Bowling turns a blind eye

The 78-year-old Dale Davis of Alta, Iowa, rolled a perfect bowling game Saturday night--impressive, right? But oh, I forgot...he's blind.

After over sixty years on the lanes, it was Mr. Davis' first 300 and the first-ever bowled at Century Lanes. He has a 180 average and bowls in two leagues. His 300 came in the last game of the league's rolloffs.

Read an in-depth look at Mr. Davis' perfect game here.

I read in USATODAY, though, that Mr. Davis is a World War II veteran who lost his vision to macular degeneration. But wait a tick...if he just turned 78, was he 15 when he fought in the war?? I'm confused. Someone please let me know if you know the deal.

Even if you hate Heidi...

"The Hills" star Heidi Montag lost her stepbrother--an Iraqi and Afghanistan war veteran-- Thursday in a freak accident.

Eric O'Hara, 24, slipped off a roof attempting to remove snow at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel in Steamboat, Col. He survived 15 months of service, but died just one a month after he returned home.

"I just loved him more than anything. He was very much a brother to me.” - Heidi Montag, to PeopleMagazine.com

Even if you're a member of Team Lauren, this is really sad.


And at the risk of sounding insincere... On a lighter note, I caught a quick teaser for the next eight episodes of The Hills--which premieres March 24--and that led me to the video below: the ultra incredible-looking "Season Three Continues" trailer. If you have not yet seen it, please indulge. It's dripping with faux reality drama, but it looks sensational.



One final note, Lauren posted a bulletin on MySpace with pictures of her new puppy, Chloe. How cute!

Let's pray for rabbit season

Today I was searching for something to watch on Saturday morning and realized that children's programming these days is horrendous; however, it's certainly nowhere near as abomidable as "Tomorrow's Players."

The Hamas-authorized children's kids show, which airs on Gaza TV and is shown around the Arab world, features Assud the 6-foot rabbit threatening to kill the Jews to a little girl named Saraa.

Assud, who resembles Bugs Bunny, promises to "finish off the Jews and eat them, Allah willing." It's seriously disturbing.



"This program is telling us that they see children as tools in their propaganda and their war. They have no problem stealing their children's youth."--Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch.

Marcus' point is evinced by the fact that Assud is not the first of his kind: Hamas used a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfur who--according to producers--was beaten to death by Israeli soldiers, and a bee character named Nahul who was also killed off recently - his death blamed on Israelis preventing him from reaching a hospital to get urgent medical treatment.

Thanks, Dave.

Benazir Bhutto killed in Pakistan

I know I tend to steer clear of weighty and worldly political stories, not because they're unimportant, but because there are enough blogs out there hashing and rehashing conservative or liberal ideologies. I'm pulling the blatant truth card here: The chances of someone caring what I have to say about politics are right on par with a snowball's in hell.

That being said, I can't go without mentioning what happened in Pakistan today, because it is undoubtedly one of the biggest news stories of the year.

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, died today of gunshot wounds following a rally. An attacker ran toward her vehicle, fired shots into her neck and shoulder and detonated an explosive device that also killed 22 other people.

Officials have reported that the attack may be attributed to al Qaeda.

A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Bhutto became the first woman to lead a modern Muslim country in 1988. She was an advocate of democracy in Pakistan and earned her fair share of militant enemies [click here for a comprehensive timeline of Bhutto's life].

After gaining power and being removed twice for clashing with military, Bhutto was charged for corruption and banned from politics. She went into self-exile, and after President Pervez Musharraf signed an amnesty quashing any corruption charges against her, the former prime minister returned to Pakistan in October.

Unfortunately, she was immediately met with an attempt on her life at a rally in Karachi in which 50 of her security guards who had formed a human chain around her truck were killed in what was later determined to be a suicide bomb attack.

Bhutto was well aware of the danger to her life but was committed to fighting Islamic militants.

"We can take care of this, I can take care of this, you can take care of this." --Benazir Bhutto.

From CNN/Time.com: Pakistan is the only Islamic state with a nuclear arsenal. And Washington has private concerns about the security of those weapons. Those worries will intensify in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Peter Galbraith, of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation says one thing is certain: It is "not a good idea to have 70 nuclear weapons in the hands of a country that is falling apart."