ISN'T THERE LIKE, A WAR GOING ON?

Prompted by parents' complaints about sex and violence in in-flight movies, two congressmen introduced legislation Tuesday calling for airlines to create kid-friendly zones on planes.

***********************************************

CAN I STILL SEARCH FOR "STUPIDITY"?

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini says he is working on plans that would block Web searches for bomb recipes and oblige Internet service providers to prevent access to sites containing them.

At present, crude bomb-making guides are readily available.

"I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector...on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like 'bomb,' 'kill,' 'genocide' or 'terrorism,'" Frattini told Reuters in an interview earlier this month.

**************************
Because terrorists are always Googling "genocide" for tips

MORE BAD NEWS FOR LARRY CRAIG

John McTiernan, director of films such as "Die Hard," "The Last Action Hero" and "Medicine Man," has been sentenced to four months in prison after a judge refused his request to withdraw a guilty plea.

McTiernan, 56, pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to FBI agents investigating detective to the stars and super-wiretapper Anthony Pellicano.

He tried to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming insufficient legal representation.

His new legal team argued that "he had just returned from a long trip to Asia when he spoke to an FBI agent, was on antibiotics and had come off anti-depressant medication."

But the judge said the arguments were "completely lacking in credibility".

Source: BBC News

Maybe Larry had jet lag too?

Cat Blogging!

Good Morning, Patriots!

Vitamins and Minerals!

Hundreds of thousands of lunchboxes given away by California state health officials were designed to promote healthful habits, bearing slogans such as "Eat Fruits & Vegetables and Be Active."

There is just one small problem: they contain dangerously high levels of lead.


The California Department of Public Health said Thursday that it was recalling 300,000 green and blue canvas lunch coolers made in China and distributed throughout the state at health fairs and other events since 2004.

I DIDN'T KNOW HARRY WHITTINGTON WORKED FOR MATTEL

"U.S.-based toy giant Mattel Inc. issued an extraordinary apology to China today over the recall of Chinese-made toys."

*

Scenes From A March

John Roberts to Citizens: Stop Hitting Yourself

During the dedication ceremony of a new building at the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Journalism, which has the words of the First Amendment etched into its windows, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts addressed the budding young reporters:

"The greatest threat to the rights you see spelled out in front of us is irresponsible use of them. My message to you is very simple: Don't blow it."
...................................................................

Right back at ya, Jack.

ANALOGY OF THE DAY

Today Show, NBC:

"Letting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visit Ground Zero is like
letting Osama bin Laden visit Ground Zero."


***

Pirate Cat Blogging

UNSEEN PHOTOS OF AUSCHWITZ

New York Times:

"In the Shadow of Horror,
SS Guardians Frolic"

Rather than showing the men performing their death camp duties, the photos depict, among other things, a horde of SS men singing cheerily to the accompaniment of an accordionist, Höcker lighting the camp’s Christmas tree, a cadre of young SS women frolicking and officers relaxing, some with tunics shed, for a smoking break.

The album also contains eight photos of Josef Mengele, the camp doctor notorious for participating in the selections of arriving prisoners and bizarre and cruel medical experiments. These are the first authenticated pictures of Mengele at Auschwitz.

The photos provide a stunning counterpoint to what up until now has been the only major source of preliberation Auschwitz photos, the so-called Auschwitz Album. Those photos depict the arrival at the camp of a transport of Hungarian Jews, who at the time made up the last remaining sizable Jewish community in Europe."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/ 1...g+HKlWGHH8h+Kxg

GREAT MOMENTS IN INSCRUTABILITY

"Greenspan says U.S. not headed for recession"
- Reuters, Monday Sept. 17, 2007 1:07pm EDT

"Greenspan: Recession risk up"
- Reuters, Monday Sept. 17, 2007 4:45pm EDT




*************************************

CHIQUITA FACES $25 MILLION FINE FOR PAYMENTS MADE TO PARAMILITARY GROUPS

Judge Royce Lamberth has confirmed a $25 million fine on banana company Chiquita for having given protection money to Colombian paramilitary groups.

In March, Chiquita pleaded guilty to paying $1.7 million to the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

The firm said its only motive was the safety of its Colombian workers.

DOJ prosecutors said Chiquita Brands International paid the money between 1997 and 2004 to the AUC in return for "protection".

The AUC, which is listed by the US and EU as a terrorist organisation, has carried out massacres and assassinations, although it is now engaged in a peace process in Colombia.

Prosecutors said Chiquita also made payments to Colombia's main left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Is Chiquita a victim, virtually forced to pay off armed gangs to protect its workers, or is it a soulless corporation, willing to do business with any violent or extremists group in order to sell its prodcut? I do not know.

CREEPING FASCISM IS OF NO INTEREST, GOVERNMENT SAYS

The White House and U.S. Department of Justice hired Mark McKinnon’s public relations firm to handle the Bush administration’s varying responses to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, but the subject “is not a matter of widespread and exceptional media interest,” so the DOJ [claims that it] does not have to release 171 emails and other documents about it, according to a federal [FOI] lawsuit.

New Magazine for the Underserved Class

Next year, The Wall Street Journal will introduce Pursuits, a glossy monthly magazine about the lifestyles of the rich, in hopes of drawing more ads for expensive consumer goods.

Just what we need.

BADGE OF HONOR?

"Being attacked by the Democratic character assassination machine MoveOn.org is something Rudy Giuliani will wear as a badge of honor."
- Giuliani campaign spokeswoman Katie Levinson


“I wear their scorn as a badge of honor.”
- Vice President Dan Quayle on the media

It's no purple heart, but you take what you can get.

PEACE, BITCH!

FRIDAT CAT BLOGGING

********************************************

WEAKEST. POWER PLAY. EVER.

Arrested Woman Told Cops:

'I Don't Have To Move, My Uncle Is Tom Tancredo"


:)

LARRY CRAIG FLYING AGAIN

"Northwest's Detroit air terminal
closed by suspicious package"

.

H20 Tiger

Thanks to Plush Life

DOES RUDY GIULIANI ADVOCATE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON NEW YORK CITY NOW?

Apparently Rudy Giuliani has chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks on America, specifically the Pentagon and the Twin Towers, by spending them with someone who has advocated massive, violent attacks on buildings in New York City, with goal of killing as many innocent people as possible.

What word would Rudy use if it were someone else advocating terrorism?

Disgraceful?


Yes, Mr. former Mayor, you are an uttter disgrace to humanity.

**************************************************************

UPDATE: Apparently, he also supports mass murder in Oklahoma City, and smearing widows of heroes killed on September 11, 2001.

Gray Whale Population Greatly Reduced

Reuters

The Pacific gray whale population, thought by some experts to have rebounded fully from the ravages of whaling, actually is back to a mere fraction of historic levels, scientists said on Monday.

***

Extreme Family Planning

BERLIN (Reuters)

A German public television network Sunday sacked a popular talk show host and former news presenter after she had praised the Nazi's family policies at a news conference for her new book on child-rearing.

******************************************

Now we know what will get you fired from a network news job in Germany. In America, we are still conducting a long-form experiment in network-news craziness.

Cat Blogging Returns

THE DAILY SHOW: ANYTIME, ANYWHERE

"A new hub for Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart headlines a slate of two dozen sites that Viacom's MTV Networks will launch by the first quarter.

TheDailyShow.com, which is set to launch in the fourth quarter, will archive the entire video history of the show including headlines, interviews and the "Back in Black" feature.

TheDailyShow.com will present episodes in their entirety an hour or two after broadcast."

Remember when you had tell TiVo what you wanted to watch? Or when you had to program your VCR? Or just watch The Love Boat?

Good times.

FROM THE CHAMPAGNE UNIT TO CAMP CUPCAKE: BUSH AT WAR

Washington Post's Dan Froomkin:

More than four years after declaring " Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, Bush still can't make an announced visit to the war-wracked country.

But his supposed "visit to Anbar Province" was in some ways even more cynical -- and accepted even more gullibly by the media -- than his June 2006 visit to Baghdad. There, at least, he actually set foot on Iraqi soil.

This time, Bush visited Al-Asad Air Base -- an enormous, heavily fortified American outpost for 10,000 troops that while technically in Anbar Province in fact has a 13-mile perimeter keeping Iraq -- and Iraqis -- at bay. Bush never left the confines of the base, known as " Camp Cupcake," for its relatively luxurious facilities, but nevertheless announced: "When you stand on the ground here in Anbar and hear from the people who live here, you can see what the future of Iraq can look like."

TAKING THE FREE RANGE ZOO CONCEPT LITERALLY

A lion escaped from its cage at a Kazakh zoo over the weekend, the second such incident in a month.

The six-year-old lion called Adam sneaked out of his cage through a door that had been accidentally left open, Kazakhstan Today news agency reported.

The lion roamed around freely for half an hour before zoo workers lured it back to safety.

Just a month ago, three bears broke out of their enclosure in the same zoo in southern Kazakhstan.

Steve Fossett Missing in Nevada Desert

Plane carrying Steve Fossett is missing

A small plane carrying aviation adventurer Steve Fossett has been missing since Monday night, federal officials said Tuesday.

Fossett was last seen taking off from the private airfield at the Flying M Ranch near Yerington, Nevada, on Monday evening.

Bush: Dead Certain

Stories from the new book on Bush called Dead Certain include one that John Roberts suggested Harriet Miers for the Court, which two experts have alrady called a lie, and another that Bush was so exhausted from a one hour bike ride that he couldn't pay attention to the hurricane Katrina briefing.

In other news, even Col. Jack Jacobs is calling George Bush a liar for all his rhetoric about insurgents following us home from Iraq.

Labor Day Cat Blogging

*************************************************************************