the 941

Frustrated by the edited versions of the American Idol star’s headline-making rant? PoHo’s got the goods the horribly, horribly bads.

Our Hanukkah gift to all of you: Breakfast Links return! Apologies for the extended absence.

+ That guy’s not the only one who knows the Festival of Lights gets going tonight. Think the headline writer found this story a tad boring? [bh]
+ The Brookings Institute has ranked the country’s 30 largest metro areas in terms of walkability. Guess where Tampa Bay landed. [brookings]
+ In slightly less predictable ranking news, Pine View checks in at number six nationwide. [ht]
+ Did the Giants risk losing Sunday in order to cover the spread? [freakonomics]
+ Is there anything more annoying than stories that ask a question in the headline and then don’t answer it? [cnn]
+ If you find yourself bored this afternoon, check out the NPR Democratic debate at 2. [wusf]
+ We’re not exactly a biblical scholar, but isn’t there something in there about not kicking homeless folks off the stoop of a church? [tbo via fark]
+ Finally, pictures of animals with their mouths agape. Happy Tuesday. [gaping maws]

That’s right, friends. The GOP descends on St. Pete tonight for the second CNN/YouTube debate, and while it’s too late to ask questions of the candidates, there’s still time to pester the esteemed PoHo, who will be live-blogging the hell out of tonight’s festivities.

Here’s ours: Does Ron Paul think having two first names is the reason behind his bandwagon surge?

The debate kicks of at 8 p.m.

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+ Crap. [sptimes]
+ Despite a fight, it looks like the roundabouts are gonna happen in Laurel Park. [ht]
+ The best U.N. screw-up of all time: Unaids said 39.5 million people were infected with AIDS — turns out the number is more like 33.2. [nytimes]
+ Crisis alert: Sexual harassment is way WAY up among first graders. Good lord. [newsweek]
+ Obama gaining traction in Iowa. [abc]

+ Well this lede just writes itself: “Al Gore just won a Nobel Prize for teaching the world to think green, but he’s also showing he knows a thing or two about another kind of green: money.” The veep is stinkin’ rich, and he’s not running for squat. [newsweek]
+ Nice feature about a boxing gym in Port Charlotte still trying to recover from Charley. Why are boxing stories always so good? [ht]
+ This just in: People do bad things on the Internets. [chicago tribune via bh]
+ Who would win if the world was electing the next president? Ron Paul, of course. [who would the world elect via metafilter]
+ Another Taser-related death, this one in Jacksonville. [ht]
+ In case you missed it: Be sure to check out Eric Snider’s cover story this week on Richard Paey, a man with chronic pain thrown in jail for getting his meds. A can’t miss. [cl]

We’ve been living in a blissed-out state for weeks now — we haven’t gotten a single voice message. Not a one. Too good to be true? Yup.

We found out today that the message light has been out on the phone for ages — we had 100 waiting for us when we finally figured out admitted what was going on. One of the messages was from H-T columnist Tom Lyons, who took exception with our Election Guide from a few weeks back. Specifically, our writing that he was against the so-called “penny tax.”

In fact, he was against the “so-called” part — we were reacting to this Oct. 23 column, in which Lyons pointed out that “penny” was, and is, misleading. As Lyons just explained to us, he doesn’t take editorial stances on what readers should or shouldn’t vote for.

We regret the error, and not checking our messages since October.

This, from outside CLHQ:

We’ve never been big on vanity plates. They’re sort of like distressed jeans to us — you shouldn’t have to work that hard, or pay that much, to set yourself apart. But this?

The awesomeness is indisputable.

Plus, the guy chose the Protect the Panther plate. Is there anything tougher? Nope, nope and definitely nope. OK, maybe there’s something to the intensity of the organ-donor plate, but it is “Badolac” worthy?

Hell no — Badolac keeps his organs for himself.

Browse the never-ending list of Florida specialty plates here.

Let the phone wars begin! (Or should that be continue?)

+ Google unveils Android, and here’s a shocker: It looks good. Real good. [bits]
+ It’s a beautiful day to be an activist in Sarasota County. Watch as they figure out who to take down next! [ht]
+ A raw/vegetarian restaurant? In Sarasota? ‘Tis true. [veg sarasota]
+ This is from Sunday, but we wanted to make sure you saw it. The St. Pete Times goes after Sarasota for the whole spitting thing, which, admittedly, is ridiculous. But this piece just reeks of superiority — moral, intellectual and otherwise. Damn those northerners! [sptimes]
+ And just because it’s not going to ever get better than this for Boston sports fans: How good are the Celtics? [daily dime]

Former Devil Ray Aubrey Huff, who now plays for the Baltimore Orioles, opened up to Bubba the Love Sponge last week. Apparently he doesn’t much care for Baltimore, and the poor guy’s a little lonely on the road. OK, a lot lonely. We’d quote him here, but that’s too lasting an image for The 941. Check it out for yourself.