Cat Blogging

Tiger posing with a photo of himself as a kitten

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WAS GONZALEZ TALKING ABOUT DATA MINING?

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Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez testified this week there was dispute about Justice Dept. activities, but that it did not involve what he called the "terrorist surveillance program."

He may have been referring to large scale searches of electronic databases of domestic phone call and e-mail records, or data mining, according an article in the New York Times.

That the government can do this is well-known, utilizing the NSA's ability to intercerpt electronic traffic.

In 2004 there was disagreement within the Department of Justice over a program, but Gonzalez refuses to discuss it, and President Bush will not confirm its existence.

It may have involved Justice Dept. disagreements with the White House over the President's power to access large volumes of domestic records of phone calls and internet usage, looking for specific patterns or combinations of words, rather than usage by a person or group.

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NOT HOGWARTS, BUT CLOSE

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La Châtaigneraie is part of the International School of Geneva. We look over Lac Leman with stunning views of the Alps and the Jura.

These Units of Inquiry are planned under six organising themes:

* Who we are
* Where we are in time and place
* How we express ourselves
* How the world works
* How we organise ourselves
* How we share the planet

The children are divided into House Teams – Rhone, Alps and Jura.

There are various house competitions throughout the year i.e. Winter Sports, Cross Country, Tag Rugby, Athletics, Field Hockey, and Kwik Cricket.

Rules, attitudes in competition and team behaviour are stressed. Students also get points for poems, music, stories, and instruments to encourage the children to explore, express and develop creativity.

Athletics includes: Long jump, high jump, ball throw, sprints and long distance running and Gymnastics. Formal gymnastics will include the basic skills involved in handstands, rolls, head- stands, cartwheels, balances. The educational gymnastics programme is based on various themes i.e. travelling, space, direction, pathways, twisting, turning, jumping, stretching, curling and shape.

The Winter Sports Programme involves the basics of downhill and cross-country
skiing.

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FBI MISUSES NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS

Ann Broache:

The FBI's chief on Thursday attempted to defuse lingering concerns about abuse of secret requests for telephone and e-mail logs, as politicians proposed new limits on the practice.

Director Robert Mueller's afternoon appearance before a U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary oversight committee highlighted the lingering fallout over a Justice Department inspector general report issued earlier this year. That inquiry found the FBI underreported its use of a secret surveillance tactic--called a national security letter--and concluded "serious misuse" had occurred.

Mueller told the committee that he "absolutely understands" the concerns raised by the report, although he emphasized there were no findings of "intentional" attempts by FBI agents to sidestep the law.

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IS THERE HOPE?

There's a lot of despair out there. Is there was any cause for hope?

There is.

Bush is, after all, very unpopular. Fred Hiatt loves him, but only the crazies in general public still do.

I would despair to the point of head-banging, or moving to another country if that weren't the case. But it's not as if Bush has enforced all his Creeping Fascism rules and policies and gotten away with it. He is widely hated, despised, ridiculed.

If Bush attempted to run again, he would be crushed, roundly rejected by the people. That is an undeniable fact. News coming out yesterday strongly suggest that this Administration is in free fall. The people, across the board, reject the man and all his works.

A lot of liberals and bloggers are putting their hopes in the most sluggish of solutions, impeachment, trial, removal; arrest, trial and The Hague. Which is fine.
Others want to stage a million man March on D.C. Which would be great.

But we may just have to wait and toss this crew out using old fashioned elections, which in the end is as good, and, I submit, maybe preferable, to a criminal trial. Which is more likely to be respected by the people, and by history? Which is more likely to have enduring effects? Which will bring about long-lasting change?

I'm not advocating one approach over the other. All I'm really saying is that there is some reason for hope. Bush is wrong and his critics are right. And everyone knows it.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY

***OH NOES THEY BE GRABN MY BEEK***
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Chicken Elmos in China: Chang W. Lee / New York Times

BLADE RUNNER IS BACK

(Hollywood Reporter)

Director Ridley Scott is working on a "definitive" new version of his science-fiction classic "Blade Runner."

"Blade Runner: The Final Cut" will get a brief theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York, beginning October 5, before its December 18 DVD release through Warner Home Video.

Scott went back into postproduction to complete the new version of the film, which has been restored and remastered from original elements and contains never-before-seen and extended scenes. The film also includes new and improved special effects, director and filmmaker commentary and an all-new Dolby Digital audio track.

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HALP I IZ THIRSTY

(Reuters)
New York University postgraduate students are developing a system that lets over-watered or dry plants phone for help.

The "Botanicalls" project uses moisture sensors placed in the soil that can send a signal over a wireless network to a gateway that places a call if the plant's too dry or wet.

Recorded voices are assigned to each plant to match its biological characteristics and to help increase the charm of the phone message and give plants their own personality.

Interactive communications student Rebecca Bray, who developed the concept with three colleagues, said the technology wasn't new. It's the way of communicating by voice and adding personality to the plants that's different.

"They will call and tell you they are thirsty and need a lot of water. They are also really polite," Bray told Reuters.

"We wanted to make sure that you weren't just getting phone calls that were really needy. So we have them calling you back when you've watered them to say thank you for watering me."

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NO PAPER TRAIL IN TIME 2008 ELECTIONS

Senators to abandon '08
e-voting paper trail mandate

"Democratic senators on Wednesday made another push for banning electronic voting machines that lack paper trails, but they've backed away from doing so in time for next year's presidential election.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chief sponsor of a contentious bill called the Ballot Integrity Act that proposes such changes, said she fears requiring all states to employ so-called voter-verified paper records in their systems, with some primaries only six months away, "could be an invitation to chaos."

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Bombings Hit Iraqis Celebrating Soccer Win

(AP) Two suicide car bombings struck soccer fans in Baghdad as they were celebrating Iraq's victory in the Asian Cup semifinal on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 100, officials said.

The first attack took place about 6:30 p.m. when a bomber exploded in a crowd of people cheering near a well-known ice cream parlor in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Mansour, according to police and hospital officials. At least 30 people were killed and 75 were wounded, an Interior Ministry official said.

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A REAL MAN WOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT

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"The FBI wants to pay the major telecommunications companies to retain their customers' Internet and phone call information for at least two years for the agency's use in counterterrorism investigations and is asking Congress for $5 million a year to defray the cost, according to FBI officials and budget documents."

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Mass Funerals For U.S. Soldiers

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Twenty soldiers deployed to Iraq from this Army base were killed in May, a monthly high. That same month, the base announced a change in how it would honor its dead: instead of units holding services after each death, they would be held collectively once a month.

The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers’ families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had delayed the plan.

On Base, a Plea to Give Each Death Its Due

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Marc Ambinder Obsessed With Edward's Follicles

Ambinder, Atlantic Monthly blogger:

"Why doesn't John Edwards's hair equal Mitt Romney's face paint?

The primary difference is definitional: The centerpiece of Edwards's campaign is his anti-poverty efforts; he presents himself as a dedicated messenger for the cause, and he likes expensive haircuts, bought a gimungous house, etc. etc. His credibility as a messenger comes into question when he spends money ostentatiously. (The haircut was inadvertently billed to the campaign, a spokesman later said."

From The Atlantic Website:

About Marc Ambinder

Marc is an associate editor at the Atlantic and a contributing editor to both the Hotline and Naitonal Journal. He's a 2001 graduate of Harvard, and he pays his taxes in Washington, D.C.

--------------------------------------------------------

And he misspelled "National" in his own fucking bio.

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GREAT MOMENTS IN PUBLIC SAFETY

GREAT MOMENTS IN PUBLIC SAFETY

"Undercover Congressional investigators set up a bogus company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a so-called dirty bomb.

“Given that terrorists have expressed an interest in obtaining nuclear material, the Congress and the American people expect licensing programs for these materials to be secure,” said Gregory D. Kutz, an investigator at the accountability office, in testimony prepared for the hearing.

The bomb the investigators could have built would not have caused widespread damage or even high- level contamination. But it still could have had serious consequences, particularly economic ones, in any city where it was set off."

Link to New York Times story by Eric Lipton

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SARA TAYLOR DENIES BUSH INVOLVEMENT IN FIRINGS; REFUSES TO TESTIFY FURTHER

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TAYLOR REFUSES TO ANSWER; CITES "OATH TO THE PRESIDENT"

Sara M. Taylor testified before a Congressional panel a today, saying that she did not discuss firing U.S. Attorneys with President Bush.

"I did not speak to the president about removing U.S. attorneys," Taylor said. "I did not attend any meetings with the president where that matter was discussed."

When asked whether the president was involved in any way in the firings, Taylor couldn't rule it out, saying only, "I don't have any knowledge that he was."

"Who decided which U.S. attorneys to fire, and why were they fired?" Senator Dianne Feinstein asked.

Taylor cited Executive Privilege, saying she was trying to "determine what is a deliberation and what is a fact-based question," Senator Feinstein cut her off.

Sen. Feinstein: "You decline to answer."

Sara Taylor: "Yeah."

Later Taylor said, "I took an oath and I take that oath to the president very seriously."

Sen. Leahy replied, "Your oath is not to uphold the president."

"I think sometimes you've stepped on one side of the line and then not wanted to step on the other. This broad claim of privilege doesn't stand up," said Sen. Chuck Schumer.

But Republican Arlen Specter told her:

"I think your declining to answer the last series of questions by the chairman was correct under the direction from White House counsel. Whether White House counsel is correct on the assertion of executive privilege is a matter which will be decided by the courts," However, he said "congressional oversight has the better of the argument."

According to the AP:

"Taylor revealed a few other details: She said she did not recall ordering the addition or deletion of names to the list of prosecutors to be fired. And she disputed testimony by Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, that Taylor wanted to avoid submitting a new prosecutor, Tim Griffin, through Senate confirmation. I expected him to go through Senate confirmation," Taylor said under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

She rather pointlessly tried to protect her friends in the White House.

"I don't believe there was any wrongdoing by anybody. I don't believe anybody in the White House did any wrongdoing."

(Sources: Associated Press; New York Times)
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First Rule about Firing Club?

Don't talk about Firing Club

Green Zone Hit By Multiple Rocket Attacks

Joe Klein at Swampland reports:

"AP is reporting that Baghdad's Green Zone was hit by as many as 35 rockets this evening--3 dead, 18 wounded. And while the Green Zone is mortared most nights, this seems an escalation by insurgents who, in this case, are NOT Al Qaeda, but most likely members of Muqtada Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) or, even more likely, members of the Iranian supported JAM Special Groups, who may operate outside Sadr's control.

US military intel sources in Baghdad told me a few weeks ago that these mortar attacks are often in response to specific events--like raids on JAM cells or members--but I wonder, in this case, if the attacks have anything to do with the growing split between Sadr and Prime Minister Maliki?"

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So can anyone doubt that Joe Lieberman will increase his calls for attacking Iran?

Of course, if attacks were down, he would claim vindication. If Al Qaeda attacked, he would say he was right. If it's linked to Iran, then more war. If the days ends in "y" - it must be time for more war.

GREAT MOMENTS IN ENGINEERING

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"A yearlong study by federal investigators into the cause of the Interstate 90 tunnel connector ceiling collapse that killed a Boston woman in July 2006 has led to the conclusion that contractors and builders probably used the wrong kind of epoxy glue to secure ceiling panel anchors."

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Bush Invokes Executive Privilege For Taylor and Miers

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"President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

In his letter regarding subpoenas the Judiciary panels issued, Fielding said, "The president feels compelled to assert executive privilege with respect to the testimony sought from Sara M. Taylor and Harriet E. Miers."

"You may be assured that the president's assertion here comports with prior practices in similar contexts, and that it has been appropriately documented," the letter from the White House said.

In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers' demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege."

Statement of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers:

"Contrary what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally."

Fielding was responding to a 10 a.m. deadline set by the Democratic chairmen, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Conyers, for the White House to explain it's privilege claim, prove that the president personally invoked it and provide logs of which documents were being withheld.

Associated Press: "As expected, Fielding refused to comply."
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Hot Cat Blogging

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Cat Blogging

The Electric Cat
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Great Moments in Journalism

Associated Press Headline:

"WHITE HOUSE CHIDES
CLINTONS OVER LIBBY"




"uhh.............. what??"

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Bush Commutes Scooter Libby's Sentence

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Surprising no one, Bush has (effectively) pardoned Libby. There were two schools of thought on this. One, that Bush doesn't really care about anyone else, aside from how useful they can be to him, and so would not pardon Libby. The other, that Bush cares nothing for the law but prizes loyalty, and would not let Scooter go to jail.

Due to the cover given Bush for this action by the Beltway media, increasingly I was assuming he would pardon, but obviously they were going to wait until it looked like he would actually see the inside of a cell.

Lucky for Bush we are coming up on a holiday week, but I think we can assume that this will get some press coverage, regardless.

I believe Bush campaigned on restoring honor and dignity to the White House, but he has in fact accomplished something far more remarkable.

He has made Paris Hilton look good.
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Is Mitt Romney Too Weird To Be President? Part IV

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Obviously I'm late to this party, but given the ongoing series "Is Mitt Romney Too Weird To Be President?" I had to include a posting about Mitt Romney putting his dog the roof of family station wagon for a 12 hour drive. This is from the AP story:

"Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack. When Romney's eldest son, Tagg, and his four brothers complained about the brown runoff down the back windshield, their father quietly pulled the car over, borrowed a gas station hose and sprayed down both the dog and the kennel before returning to the road."

Terrific. Romney says the dog just loved it up there. I mean who wouldn't? Fresh air and everything.

The latest update in this story is Mitt's statement definitely proving he is not at all a strange person:

"My family pet used to climb up there and lie down on his own. And we love our family pets. Have always loved our family pets."

Well I'm convinced.

For more on Mitt's weirdness, check out Parts I, II, III.
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Kill The Right People

"Under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. special operations became a “giant killing machine,” according to former Army colonel Douglas Macgregor, who anticipates a change when Navy Vice Adm. Eric Olson takes the helm of the operations. “The emphasis will be on, ‘If you have to kill someone, then for God’s sakes, kill the right people,’” Macgregor said. “That’s been lost over the last several years.”

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks,
To hate all but the right folks,
It's an old established rule!

- Tom Lehrer, "National Brotherhood Week
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Bush Blames Al Qaida For Violence in Iraq

"Al Qaida is the main enemy for Shia, Sunni and Kurds alike," Bush asserted. "Al Qaida's responsible for the most sensational killings in Iraq. They're responsible for the sensational killings on U.S. soil."

- George W. Bush

And yet they're apparently invicible.

What do they have, the Ark of the Covenant or something?
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Buzz on Fred Thompson: He's a "Soft, Safe Place" to Be?

Reuters article
By Steve Holland

"Things must be going well for prospective presidential candidate Fred Thompson because even his ex-wife and former girlfriends are endorsing him.

One-by-one they've said the Tennessee Republican is their man -- at least for president, according to London's Sunday Times newspaper.

Thompson, 64, dated for a long time after his 26-year marriage to his first wife, Sarah Knestrick, ended in 1984. In 2002 he married Jeri Kehn, who is 24 years younger than he.

"I think he has a great chance of capturing the women's vote. He's majestic. He's a soft, safe place to be and that could be Fred's ticket. Women love a soft place to lay and a strong pair of hands to hold us," ex-girlfriend country music singer Lorrie Morgan told the Sunday Times.

Another old flame, Republican fund-raiser Georgette Mosbacher, said he would defeat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton because of his appeal to "traditional women who will like the Southern gentleman in him," according to The Times."

Well, that's interesting, I guess. Not every man is good terms with his wives and girlfriends. I'm not sure what it means that he is a "soft, safe place to be," nor do I want to. Perhaps Chris Matthews can explore this matter on an upcoming show.
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TIME OUT, DUDE!

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine police chased down an unfit thief on Tuesday after he ran out of breath and asked his pursuers for a "time out."

"He was panting and gasping for air when we caught up with him after a 500 meter sprint," Erwin Buenceso, one of the arresting officers, told local radio station dzBB.

Buenceso said the man and an accomplice broke into a house in the Philippine capital and stole two expensive mobile phones. Screams from the residence alerted a local police patrol, which gave chase.

The robber asked for a "time out" using hand signals.

After he regained his composure, police seized the two stolen phones and brought him to a station for questioning."
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So harsh. The man called "time out"!!

Fred Thompson -- Avid Blogger?

According to an article in Reuters, actor, lobbyist and former Senator Fred Thompson is an avid blogger and commenter on conservative Web sites as he gears up for a 2008 "posting thoughts on topics ranging from the French election to the Middle East and the immigration debate."

The article quotes Roger Simon of Pajamas Media saying: "The guy actually likes blogging. Before he decided he was going to take the plunge on a presidential race, he cruised the blogs. It attracted him."

From the article:

"That's why so much of my effort has been focused on talking to Americans through this medium," he wrote on Pajamas Media. "By empowering individuals and building communities, the Internet provides a way of going around the inside-the-beltway crowd to reach people in numbers unheard of not that long ago."

If true, it demonstrates a certain level of savvy one might expect from a Hollywood actor that you may not get from say, a Tommy Thompson or Duncan Hunter.

Speaking of second tier candidates, I also caught Gov. Gilmore on MSNBC this morning. Not an idiot, but I wouldn't expect much from him either. The peculiar thing about the brief interview was that you pull quotes from it to bolster a claim that Gilmore really wants to invade Iran, and that he thinks its a really bad idea. Also, he seems to want to pull troops out of Iraq as long dirty hippies get no credit. Ideally, he would dig up Ronald Reagan and run him for President, but alas, that is currently possible.
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Is Mitt Romney Too Weird to be President? Part III

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According to this morning's New York Times, Jay Garrity, the director of operations of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, is going on "a paid leave of absence while the authorities investigate accusations that he impersonated a state trooper in Massachusetts and told a reporter in New Hampshire that he had run the reporter’s license plate".

According to reporter Pam Belluck, "Mr. Garrity has worked for Mr. Romney since his successful 2002 campaign for governor of Massachusetts. In 2004, Mr. Garrity was cited by the Boston police and fined after a Crown Victoria that was registered to him and that had been illegally parked was found to have police equipment without the requisite permits. The equipment included flashing lights, a siren, a nightstick and identification with a state police patch on it."

Quite a charmer, this guy.

Someone left a voicemail message at a company called Wayne’s Drains, saying he was "Trooper Garrity," of the "Massachusetts State Police" and complained about one of the company's drivers. As if that weren't creepy enough, then the person said he was coming to the company to issue a citation.

Promising to show up in person to issue a ticket! That's either one very industrious state trooper, or someone with a serious screw loose.

The call was made from a call apparently linked to Jay Garrity. Garrity says is completely innocent, and far be it from this commenter to suggest otherwise. Culture of Truth and all that.

Garrity has had some bad luck lately, because a reporter for the Times, Mark Leibovich, says that Jay Garrity recently got out of Mitt Romney’s car, walked over to his car, and told him that he couldn't follow Romney's car, and further, that he had "run his license plate."

Paul Nagy, the chairman of "Conserve NH," must be backing another candidate, because he has apparently filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office on Thursday.

From the Times: “They broke New Hampshire law,” Mr. Nagy said. “It was very arrogant, and that’s not the way we treat people up here during a presidential primary season.”

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NOW THAT'S A LOT OF WINDEX

(Reuters) - "France will unveil one of its most dazzling architectural showcases, the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, next week after a restoration that has brought fresh life to colors buried for years under grime.

Frederic Didier, chief architect of France's historical monuments, told Le Figaro daily that it now looked "like a dazzling old lady. And all the wrinkles in her face tell a story," he said.

Built in 1684 on the orders of the "Sun King" Louis XIV, the Hall, which takes its name from 357 mirrors that run along its 73 meter (220 feet) length was the centerpiece of a palace designed to emphasize the power and glory of the monarch.

The decor is considered a high point of European art in the 17th century, a period when France's might and influence was at its height.

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Supreme Court Upholds Rights of Passgener in Stop

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The Supreme Court has ruled that passengers, as well as drivers, have the right to challenge the legality of a stop by the police.

The ruling was unanimous.

In the case, the California Supreme Court found that, as a matter Constitutional law, only the driver had been "seized" by the original traffic stop, but the passenger, who was convicted of a crime as a result of the stop, argued that he was seized as well, and therefore had the right to challenge the use of evidence against him under his rights against unreasonable search and siezure.

The Court agreed. Justice Souter wrote:

"When police make a traffic stop, a passenger in the car, like the driver, is seized for Fourth Amendment purposes and so may challenge the stop’s constitutionality."

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Cat Blogging

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Cloisters Blogging

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ROBERT F. BAUER TAKES OBAMA CAMPAIGN OFF MESSAGE

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Just read the "Pardon Scooter" Huffington Post column by Obama campaign General Counsel Robert F. Bauer.

I still like Obama, but this falls into the category of "way too clever by half."

I think I get what Bauer is trying to say, but on it's face it is simply ridiculous to wade into this snake pit. My advice: just campaign, and try not get sucked into irrelevant arguments like this one.

This piece, along with the incident with Edwards adviser Mudflap Saunders (I know, Mudcat) indicate that once a person is attached to a candidate, they should run all public statements through the campaign. As far as I can tell, all this will do is roil the liberal blogosphere completely unnecessarily.

Don't tell me "Pardon Scooter" is Obama's Message for the Day.

There's a class of Democratic advisers who spend too much time trying to show everyone else how smart they are. In fact, this is popular among Democrats in general, and is generally a good thing. There's nothing wrong with being smart, and as well all know, too many Republicans seem to spend all their time showing the world how stupid they are, even if, in fact, they are not. This is supposed to make them seem genuine, or something.

But sometimes cleverness can go too far. Bauer should spend a little less time showing us how he can bend logic like a pretzel and more time helping his candidate win.
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ANCIENT ROME LIVES AGAIN

Ancient Rome has been brought back to life through a unique digital reconstruction project, said to be the world's biggest computer simulation.

An international team of architects, archaeologists and experts spent 10 years working on a real-time 3D model of the city called Rome Reborn. Some 7,000 buildings were scanned and reproduced using a model of the city kept at a Rome museum.

Users enter the city at the time of Constantine and see inside buildings. The simulation takes place in the year AD 320, which is said to be the city's peak, when it had grown to a million inhabitants.

"We can take people under the Colosseum and show them how the elevators worked to bring the animals up from underground chambers for the animal hunts they held," said Bernard Frischer, the project's leader who heads Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities.

For an eyewitness view of an empire's decline and fall, the U.S. evening news is suggested.
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TOO MANY WANGS IN CHINA

Chinese Government: We Have Too Many Wangs

Chinese officials are considering measures to expand the number of surnames in the country in order to prevent confusion, state media says. At the moment around 85% of China's 1.3 billion residents share around 100 surnames, a survey in April by the Ministry of Public Security found. The most popular name, Wang, is shared by some 93 million people.

I imagine most people will want to hold on to it.

Their name, that is.
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TUTU'S NOBEL PRIZE STOLEN; RECOVERED

Police find Archbishop Desmond Tutu's stolen Nobel Peace Prize

Police have found the Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded to South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, after it was stolen from his Soweto home on Sunday. The archbishop - who was overseas when the robbery took place - won the international award in 1984 for his work against apartheid.

I knew that on Nobel Prize on eBay too good to be true!
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DO THE TALIBAN USE HELICOPTERS?

"U.S. Troops Kill 7 Afghan Police"

(By AP/Amir Shah)

"U.S. forces mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded four in an apparent friendly fire incident early Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

Police manning a remote checkpoint in Nangarhar province said an American convoy backed by helicopters approached and opened fire despite their protests and calls for them to stop.

"I thought they were Taliban, and we shouted at them to stop, but they came closer and they opened fire," said Khan Mohammad, one of the policemen at the post. "I'm very angry. We are here to protect the Afghan government and help serve the Afghan government, but the Americans have come to kill us."

I have a question, aside from the specific circumstances of this case, prompted by the policeman's comment. Is it common for the Taliban to attack in large convoys backed by helicopters?
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JOHN EDWARDS' PIRATE TREASURE

AVAST YE MATEYS!

"Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration recently announced finding what could be the richest shipwreck ever – a 350-year old sunken ship containing 500,000 gold and silver Colonial-era coins worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the Atlantic off the English coast.

So what does this have to do with John Edwards? The bulk of Mr. Edward’s $30 million personal fortune is invested in Fortress Investments, a New York hedge fund that is the second largest shareholder of Odyssey Marine, whose stock nearly doubled on news of the find."

- New York Times
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SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: WHY I'M VOTING AGAINST THE IRAQ FUNDING BILL

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Why I'm voting "No" on
the Iraq Supplemental

by Patrick Leahy

Later today, the Senate is expected to vote on the 2007 Emergency Supplemental -- the Iraq War funding bill -- and I wanted to take a moment to explain to you why I will be voting against this flawed bill.

There is much that I support in this bill -- including assistance for Afghanistan and funding we added to help the National Guard address equipment shortages -- but it contains a serious flaw that I simply cannot vote for: It does not begin the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.

The original supplemental bill that passed the Senate and was sent to President Bush's desk last month paralleled the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, recommendations that would have fundamentally changed the course of our military mission in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the President vetoed the original supplemental bill and has refused any meaningful compromise that would give us a clear path toward ending of our military involvement in Iraq.

This brings us to the current version of the supplemental bill. In short, the Iraq War funding provisions in this bill represent little more than a continuation of the failed status quo -- a continuation that I find unacceptable. The current bill will not begin to redeploy our troops from Iraq, it does not put adequate pressure on the Iraqis to stand up both politically and militarily, and it does not put a stop to President Bush's escalation plan.

While the legislation sets benchmarks for the Iraqi government to follow toward reconciling the country's various political factions, these benchmarks can be waived by the President at his discretion. These benchmarks are a move in the right direction but they are far from adequate.

As long as the Iraqi government believes American troops will always be there, they'll have little reason to make the tough choices that need to be made. And this supplemental bill does little to change this dynamic.

Our engagement in Iraq has been a foreign policy failure of epic proportions. Not only have thousands of Americans lost their lives, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have as well. Our standing in the world has been diminished, and our weakened influence in the region has compromised our ability to fight terrorism throughout the world.

Clearly, it is time to bring our troops home, and I am disappointed that President Bush vetoed the first bill that would have done just that. Since this new supplemental does not begin the withdrawal of our troops -- while providing tens of billions more dollars in taxpayer money for the President's failed policy -- I cannot in good conscience vote for it.
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DINOSAURS IN EDEN!!

From Edward Rothstein's New York Times review of the new Creation Museum, in Kentucky:

It could be like any other natural history museum, luring families with the promise of immense fossils and dinosaur adventures. But step a little farther into the entrance hall, and you come upon a pastoral scene undreamt of by any natural history museum. Two prehistoric children play near a burbling waterfall, thoroughly at home in the natural world. Dinosaurs cavort nearby, their animatronic mechanisms turning them into alluring companions, their gaping mouths seeming not threatening, but almost welcoming, as an Apatosaurus munches on leaves a few yards away.

...here at the $27 million Creation Museum, which opens on May 28 (in Kentucky) this pastoral scene is a glimpse of the world just after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, in which dinosaurs are still apparently as herbivorous as humans, and all are enjoying a little calm in the days after the fall.

It also serves as a vivid introduction to the sheer weirdness and daring of this museum created by the Answers in Genesis ministry that combines displays of extraordinary nautilus shell fossils and biblical tableaus, celebrations of natural wonders and allusions to human sin. Evolution gets its continual comeuppance, while biblical revelations are treated as gospel.

It is a measure of the museum’s daring that dinosaurs and fossils — once considered major challenges to belief in the Bible’s creation story — are here so central, appearing not as tests of faith, as one religious authority once surmised, but as creatures no different from the giraffes and cats that still walk the earth. Fossils, the museum teaches, are no older than Noah’s flood; in fact dinosaurs were on the ark.

So dinosaur skeletons and brightly colored mineral crystals and images of the Grand Canyon are here, as are life-size dioramas showing paleontologists digging in mock earth, Moses and Paul teaching their doctrines, Martin Luther chastising the church to return to Scripture, Adam and Eve guiltily standing near skinned animals, covering their nakedness, and a supposedly full-size reproduction of a section of Noah’s ark.

Whether you are willing to grant the premises of this museum almost becomes irrelevant as you are drawn into its mixture of spectacle and narrative. Its 60,000 square feet of exhibits are often stunningly designed by Patrick Marsh, who, like the entire museum staff, declares adherence to the ministry’s views; he evidently also knows the lure of secular sensations, since he designed the “Jaws” and “King Kong” attractions at Universal Studios in Florida.

The heart of the museum is a series of catastrophes. The main one is the fall, with Adam and Eve eating of the tree of knowledge; after that tableau the viewer descends from the brightness of Eden into genuinely creepy cement hallways of urban slums. Photographs show the pain of war, childbirth, death — the wages of primal sin.

Start accepting evolution or an ancient Earth, and the result is like the giant wrecking ball, labeled “Millions of Years,” that is shown smashing the ground at the foundation of a church, the cracks reaching across the gallery to a model of a home in which videos demonstrate the imminence of moral dissolution. A teenager is shown sitting at a computer; he is, we are told, looking at pornography."

**************************************************************************
Or blogging.

Smithsonian Alters Climate Exhibition

Associated Press:

"The Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibition on Arctic climate change, fearing that it would anger Congress and the Bush administration, a former museum administrator said. The official text of the exhibition was rewritten to minimize and add uncertainty about the relationship between global warming and people, said the former official, Robert Sullivan, who was associate director in charge of exhibitions at the National Museum of Natural History."

As usual, truth and the Bush administration are at odds.
***********************************************************************

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"If the Internet crashed permanently tomorrow, I'd be thrilled."

- Robert J. Samuelson, Newsweek

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

HOW EASY IS NETWORK PROGRAMMING? SO EASY EVEN. . .

************************************************************
New York Times:

ABC, part of the Walt Disney Company, is replacing darker, complicated series that viewers and advertisers disdained with more upbeat, accessible fare. Examples include “Private Practice,” a spinoff from the hit series “Grey’s Anatomy”; “Dirty Sexy Money,” a nighttime soap opera about an “absurdly wealthy” family in New York; and even a sitcom based on the misunderstood cavemen characters from television commercials for Geico insurance."

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

NAVY LAWYER FOUND GUILTY OF REVEALING NAMES OF GITMO DETAINEES

***********************************************************
(AP)"A Navy lawyer who gave a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay detainees was convicted in military court Thursday of communicating secret information that could be used to injure the United States.

Prosecutors said Diaz mailed an unsigned Valentine's Day card that included a printout of the detainees' names, nationalities, the interrogators assigned to them and intelligence sources and methods. They contend that his actions endangered the lives of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, and of American troops.

Defense attorneys said that the information was not labeled classified and that Diaz had no reason to think the document could be used to injure the U.S.

Patrick McLain, Diaz's civilian lawyer, acknowledged that his client sent a card to lawyer Barbara Olshansky containing names and other identifying information about detainees.

At the time, Olshansky worked for the Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit group that was suing the federal government to obtain the detainees' names. She turned the document over to federal authorities, and they traced it to Diaz.

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

THE BIBLE AS A WEDGE ISSUE?

****************************************************************
"Hong Kong's media regulator has rejected calls to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication following more than 2,000 complaints about its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest.

"The Bible is a religious text which is part of civilization. It has been passed from generation to generation," Hong Kong's Television and Licensing Authority (TELA) said in a statement issued late Thursday.

The regulator received 2,041 complaints against the Bible this week, following an uproar over a sex column in a student magazine that was classified as "indecent" by authorities for asking if readers had ever fantasized about incest or bestiality."
-Reuters

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BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS CALL FOR RELEASE OF 9/11 REPORT

****************************************************************
(AP) "A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that would force the CIA to release an inspector general's report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The CIA has spent more than 20 months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion of it.

The agency is the only federal office involved in counterterrorism operations that has not made at least a version of its internal 9/11 investigation public.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and two other intelligence committee leaders — chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Kit Bond of Missouri — are pushing legislation that would require the agency to declassify the executive summary of the review within one month and submit a report to Congress explaining why any material was withheld."
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OK, SO IS IT ACTUALLY A WEB?

****************************************************************
Judge Peter Openshaw, in London, England, is presiding over a trial of three men stand charged with inciting terrorism over the Internet. According to a Reuters account of from Wednesday, Judge Openshaw spoke out to get a clarification on the whole intertubes thing:

"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," Openshaw said. After the prosecutor did some explaining, the judge still was at a bit of a loss: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."

###
Well, you see, the Internets is a series of tubes.....
****************************************************************

It's OK, in Farsi Esfandiari Means 'Padilla'

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

"Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the lead attorney for imprisoned American scholar Haleh Esfandiari, charged yesterday that the Iranian government has turned down her request to represent the Potomac resident, refused information on the charges against Esfandiari and denied a legal team access to its client."

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

POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN SECOND LIFE?

(Reuters)"Spain's bitter political wrangling has spread to Second Life, with supporters of socialist and conservative parties trying to burn down each others' party offices in the virtual world.

"They have thrown bombs, entered the building with submachine guns, lit fires, everything you could imagine," an official from Spain's ruling Socialist Party, using the Second Life moniker Zeros Kuhm, told Reuters.

Can't we all just get along?
***************************************************************************************

Hardball - Thursday, May 17

Hardball - Thursday, May 17 (Last Ten Minutes)

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

Tweety: yur from chicago like teh deep dish

Chicago Reporter: thanx

Tweety: immigration bill is teh fake

Chicago Reporter: its teh song and dance

Tweety: all that jazz

Chicago: yeah

Tweety: im cynical but tomorrow there will still be illegals

Chic: well give it a day

Tweety: will Congress really make it illegal to hire someone legally

Chic: maybe

Tweety: teh angloes luv the fence

Tweety: WSJ supports Abu Wall Street Journal is Shakespearean they also can't get blood off their hands

Ron Reagan: this scandal leads to the White House question is now who was beating up on Ashcroft in the hospital

O'Beirne: im in teh beltway i say this is boooring

Tweety: Ashcroft was in a coma like Michael Douglas in that Crichton movie

O'Beirne: but he followed the balloon with his eyes and he said go ahead and wiretap

Tweety: its like Barzzini in teh Godfather he sleeps with teh fishes

O'Beirne: his sex life is irrelevant dood

Reagan: it was totally illegal

O'Beire: no its legal now

Reagan: how about B4

O'Berine: i dunno

Reagan: well maybe we should r u a citizen or sheeperson

Tweety: wow David Mamet couldn't write this

Reagan: coffee is closers dood now take yur meds tweety

Rosie O'Donnell: invading iraq it like teh terrorism

O'Beirne: poor elizabeth she ain't not Hasselbeck girl she has to sleep with teh looser

Reagan: most americans would not accept $2,000 if their child was killed by an arab soldier in their hometown call me crazy

O'Beirne: the troops! the troops!

Tweety: u go gurl

O'Beirne: im bending over backwards to justify killing civilians

Reagan: Rosie isnt a good poster gurl

Tweety: im a nationalist but there r many people who hate america in know because they disagree with me

O'Beirne: rosie is fat

Tweety: there r gud critics like me who luv America and there are dirty hippie bloggers like that dood who duz teh Bobblespeak Translations who hate america and we must always remember the difference

GREAT MOMENTS IN SPAMMING

Just received this in my inbox:

"My late husband was very wealthy and after his death, I inherited all his health. The doctors has advised me that I may not live for more than six months, so I now decided to divide the part of this wealth, to contribute to the development of the church in Africa, America Asia and Europe especially creating solution to problems of less privileged ones...."

Good luck with all that.
******************************************************************************

War Czar: El Lute

I, for one, welcome our new War Czar

He had only seen the dark side of life
The man they called El Lute
And he wanted a home just like you and like me
In a country where all would be free
So he taught himself to read and to write
It didnt help El Lute
He was one who had dared to escape overnight
They had to find El Lute

Soon the fame of his name
Spread like wild fire all over the land
With a price on his head
People still gave him bread
And they gave him a hand
For they knew he was right
And his fight was their fight

The man they called El Lute
And he wanted a home just like you and like me
In a country where all would be free
And then freedom really came to his land
And also to El Lute
Now he walks in the light of a sunny new day
The man they called El Lute
**************************************************************************

Yes, Bush has a Civil Liberties Board. Sort of.

Lanny Davis has quit Bush's Civil Liberties Board because they're politicized and weren't doing anything.

In other news, Vlad Dracul's anti-impaling Board failured to hold a single meeting, Ghengis Khan's Pacifist Board didn't issue a report, and The Hulk's No-Smash Board was dissolved after the conferenced table was destroyed.

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

BLOGGERS TO MEDIA: WHY IS THERE FEAR BEHIND YOUR EYES?

Atrios, Digby and Ezra Klein have all addressed this Grubisich business pretty well.

I would only add that Grubisich and other cushioned, coddled and ensconsed writers panicking at contentious bloggers while proudly announcing their defiance of anonymous writers are beginning to remind me of the Prince played by Chris Sarandon in The Princess Bride.

Prince Humperdinck was constantly going around yammering "I would not say such things if I were you!" and insisting his fiancee's true love, Westley, is bluffing and lacks strength and that nothing is wrong in his kingdom and his wedding will proceed and his uncredentialed upstart archenemy is dead because he killed him himself.

And the Princess responds "Then why is there fear behind your eyes?"



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

Einstein like Ayn Rand?

What I just learned from MSNBC:

Albert Einstein's political
philosophy was just like Ayn Rand.


Good to know.
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Bonus Cat Blogging

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

Friday Feline Blogging

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GOODLING IMMUNITY DEAL APPROVED

JUDGE APPROVES IMMUNITY DEAL FOR
MONICA GOODLING IN PROBE OF JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

(Associated Press) "A federal judge approved an immunity deal Friday allowing former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling to testify before Congress about the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Goodling, who served as the department's White House liaison, has refused to discuss the firings without a guarantee that she will not be prosecuted. Congress agreed to the deal, Justice Department investigators reluctantly agreed not to not oppose it and U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan gave it final approval Friday.

"Monica Goodling may not refuse to testify," Hogan began his brief order, which said that Goodling could not be prosecuted for anything other than perjury in connection with her testimony."

The immunity deal itself removes her Fifth Amendment right, since it can only be invoked to protect against self-incrimination. So let's hear it, Monica.

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

UNPOPULAR BABY NAMES

DEPARTMENT OF
"NO SHIT, REALLY?"

Headline:
"Katrina dips in popularity as baby name"
***************************************************************************

QUEEN DISSES BUSH

Associated Press:

"At one point in the South Lawn ceremony, Bush noted that the Queen has dined with 10 U.S. presidents and had helped the United States "celebrate its bicentennial in 1776.."

"Bush caught himself and corrected the date to 1976. This brought loud laughter from many in the invited audience of thousands."

"A chagrined Bush deadpanned that the queen just "gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."

The queen had the last laugh.

Dispensing with protocol briefly at the formal dinner she hosted for
President Bush, Queen Elizabeth II said, "I wonder whether I should start this toast by saying, 'When I was here in 1776.' "

Bush took it in stride, though, starting his toast by saying, "Your Majesty, I can't top that one."
*******************************************************************************

Someone finally bullied the bully. That must have stung.

"Convenience is a big factor when you're a terrorist."

They can do it around the corner, and convenience is a big factor when you’re a terrorist.”

- Dick Morris, Fox News

Oh definitely. For your busy modern terrorist, constantly on the go, convenience is a top priority. Afghanistan was originally chosen as a safe haven, for example, for it many fine schools, but also for its proximity to major transportation hubs, laundromats, dry cleaners, low taxes, and restaurants serving halal to go.

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

Is Mitt Romney Too Weird To Be President? Part Two

Mitt Romney:

"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

Recently I speculated that while Gov. Romney certainly looks and sounds the part, he might be too weird to be President. And although the consensus is that he performed well in the GOP debates, his recent comments do nothing to disabuse one of the notion that Mitt Romney's capacity for thinking and speaking is like that of a man operating one golden plate short of a holy book.

Via Ana Marie Cox, we learn that Romney's nutty crack is from "The Memory of Earth," a sci-fi version "of the Book of Mormon set in outer space."

They say when fascism comes to the USA it will be draped in the flag and carrying a cross.

And when a crazy man becomes President, he will he have a chiseled chin and perfect hair.
*******************************************************************************

PEER REVIEWED CREATION SCIENCE

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

Hey Regents grads - we know times are tough, what with Congress looking into hiring practices the Department of Justice, and elsewhere in the Bush administration. On the upside, the International Journal for Creation Research is calling for a peer-reviewed papers for their inaugural issue. This is a very special opportunity, especially as it might be the only inauguration you will be involved with for a while. So get cracking!

Did Adam and Eve Ride Dinosaurs to Church? A Study of Human-Lizard Relations in Pre-Flood Eden isn't going to write itself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the home page:

The Institute for Creation Research is pleased to announce the inaugural Call for Papers for the International Journal of Creation Research (IJCR). IJCR is a professional peer-reviewed journal of interdisciplinary scientific research that presents evidence for recent creation within a biblical framework. Addressing the need to disseminate the vast field of research conducted by experts in geology, genetics, astronomy, and other disciplines of science, IJCR provides scientists and students hard data based on cutting-edge research that demonstrates the young earth model, the global Flood, the non-evolutionary origin of the species, and other evidences that correlate to the biblical accounts.

It is our hope that you will be encouraged in your study of creation science issues that remain at the forefront of education and research.

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

BUSH: "I'M THE COMMANDER GUY"

"And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy."

- George W. Bush

That's it. Sorry to disappoint Res Ipsa Loquitur and the rest, but my humor liveblogging days may be done.

How can one top that?

Bush rapidly outpaces even the most exhaustive efforts of tireless satirists.

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LIEBERMAN FOR PRESIDENT?

WASHINGTON (AP)-Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday a third-party candidate could emerge to shake things up in the 2008 presidential race unless the two major parties tackle the growing problem of partisan polarization that alienates many voters.

"I think the public is fed up," he said. "If the two major parties don't hear this going into '08, there is a real chance of an independent third-party candidacy -- and watch out if that happens," he said at a forum on civility and politics on Capitol Hill."

Because this country is clearly clamoring for a nagging flip-flopping scold who favors higher taxes and escalating the Iraq war.

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CHAVEZ TAKES OVER OIL FIELDS

CNN:

"President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last remaining privately run oil fields today, intensifying a decisive struggle with big oil over one of the world's most lucrative deposits. The companies giving up control include BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Chevron."
*********************************************************************************

IS MITT ROMNEY TOO WEIRD TO BE PRESIDENT?

I'm serious. Mitt Romney has a rather slick and chisled look that one might think a President "ought" to look, but one often gets the sense underneath the surface may be a character of surpassing strangeness just waiting to come out. To wit:

"When asked his favorite novel in an interview shown yesterday on the Fox News Channel, Mitt Romney pointed to “Battlefield Earth,” a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. That book was turned into a film by John Travolta, a Scientologist."

Such statements are so given to scrutiny any candidate would be forgiven for giving a calculated response, but this is bizarre by any standard. Expect a "clarification" any minute now.
*********************************************************************************

McCAIN: IRAQI INSURGENTS WILL FOLLOW US HOME

In the first day since his official rollout, John McCain is already sounding tired and regurgitating the lamest right wing talking points:

"If we leave Iraq there will be chaos, there will be genocide, and
they will follow us home," the Arizona senator said, calling the war
against al-Qaida "a struggle between good and evil."


I saw the McCain make the statement, and it was worse even than is sounds reading it.

Looking frankly exhausted, McCain said as if he didn't really believe it, like he was bored and just reciting something if "had to say" to win. He also came across a little bitter and condescending, like he can't believe he has to subject himself to questions like from journalists about whether the Iraq war he had supported wholeheartedly is going well, when it's about larger issues like good vs. evil.

And this is the first day of the campaign.

I think McCain, deep down, is beginning to realize it just isn't in the cards this time.

When the day you begin your campaign you start by offering an explanation as to why you're going to lose, that's not a good sign.

In the interview he said it would be worth losing the Presidency rather than give in on because it's the biggest issue of time, nothing less than good vs. evil, etc..

So if he loses the Presidency, it's because he's so fucking principled, unlike the rest of you ungrateful bastards.
*********************************************************************************

GEORGE LUCAS AND MARK HAMILL TO REUNITE STAR WARS SPOOF

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- George Lucas and Mark Hamill will reunite for "Robot Chicken: Star Wars," a 30-minute stop-motion animation special for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late-night programming block.

The special spoofs key scenes and favorite characters from the "Star Wars" universe. It was done in collaboration with Lucas' production company Lucasfilm. Lucas, the creator of the "Star Wars" franchise, will voice a cartoon version of himself, and Hamill will resurrect Luke Skywalker.

The special, set to premiere at 10 p.m. on June 17, comes from "Robot Chicken" creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Green directed.

The voice cast also includes Conan O'Brien, Seth MacFarlane, Robert Smigel, Malcolm McDowell, Hulk Hogan, James Van Der Beek, Donald Faison, Abraham Benrubi, Breckin Meyer and Joey Fatone.

The special stems from three "Star Wars" skits on "Robot Chicken," including the popular "Emperor's Phone Call," featuring Darth Vader calling Emperor Palpatine to tell him that the Death Star has been blown up.

Sounds like fun!
**********************************************************************************

White House Correspondents Association Dinner - Why Bother?

The theme of the 2007 White House Correspondents Association Dinner was, essentially "we have to laugh."

Really?

I think it's safe to say while many words might describe tonight's dinner, "funny" was not one of them. At least not intentionally so.

This is not just because they had as host a man who was barely funny three decades ago, or the Virginia Tech tragedy. It's an endemic and growing problem. The Beltway media are too thin-skinned and sensitive (with reason, given their recent failures) to laugh at themselves, they won't laugh at any incumbent politicians for fear of losing access, Bush refuses to "be funny" due to current events (and the heat he's taken for seeming to be lighthearted in the midst of whatever ongoing tragic event was occuring at the time) -- so what is the point, exactly?

I'm not bashing them for being too cozy with the the figures they cover, I'm bashing them for being so paralyzed by concern out of offending anyone that they can't even by funny.

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

SANJAYA TO ATTEND WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER

GREAT MOMENTS IN JOURNALISM

"Sanjaya Malakar, who was just voted off "American Idol," could meet President Bush on Saturday. Malakar is attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington. He will be a guest of People magazine."

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

Don Imus Was Not Lynched

Dear Patrick J. Buchanan,

When you have sole control of a major cable news channel for several hours every day, and a radio show syndicated to dozens of stations with tens of millions of listeners, and you are paid ten million dollars per year to say get people to listen to these stations, and buy the products advertised, and the owners of these businesses decide to go in a different direction with their programming because what you are saying is driving people away from these stations, and away from the advertisers - that is not a lynching.

This is a lynching:




See the difference?
*************************************************************************************

Barnicle To Replace Imus During Suspension

Apparently CBS looked high and low for Least Appropriate Person to replace Don Imus and came up with.... Mike Barnicle.

Washington Post:

CBS Radio said former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle would replace Imus during his suspension. Barnicle, who left the Globe in 1998 after questions were raised about the existence of his sources, has his own troubled broadcast history. In 2004, while hosting a radio program in Boston, he described the interracial marriage of Janet Langhart and former defense secretary William Cohen as "Mandingo," a reference to a 1975 movie in which a black male slave and a white woman have sex. After the NAACP protested, Barnicle apologized on the air.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101767_2.html?hpid=topnews


Great job, guys.

Prepare for a "national conversation" on race, rap, hymietown, Tawana Brawley, and one assumes, the occasional rosary.
***************************************************************************************************************************

Don Imus and Our National Conversation

This morning we learned from Mike Barnicle that the women of the Rutgers basketball team are here to save white men from their own ignorance, sent by God to offer Don Imus and Mike, and presumably the other guests who frequent the show, a chance, in the twilight of their lives, to redeem their wretched lives. Yes, this is "teachable moment" where he talk about race and poverty and just it is the best idea to call teenage girls, someone else's daughters, "nappy haired hos."

But it's going to be a great moment for the ladies too - they're going to come out this mature teachers of us all, kind of like Will Smith's character in . But there's more! We in America have to have a national conversation about race - also poor schools, drugs, poverty in inner city neighborhoods, lack of economic opportunity, and probably hair and prostitution. Don, you see, really did us all a favor, by exposing not just the language of hip-hip and rappers for the destructive force it really is, but is going to allow us to finally get equality of education in this country!

Yes, as Mike Barnicle explained, in a larger sense, we are all guilty of what Imus did, and we've all sinned, and this being Easter and Mike carrying around a set of Rosary beads everywhere he goes, this is not the time to be worried about who called who a "nappy haired ho." Plus a quarter of a century ago Jesse Jackson said the word hymietown and no ever mentions that.

Another wider conversation we could have is about how prominent journalists, not to mention some of this nation's most powerful politicians, think it's a great idea to pay homage to a man who routinely, as he himself says, makes outrageously offensive statements about randomly targeted people. This time he appropriated language from some rappers who say bad things. Next time it will the worst statements made by people who can be in another category, and then all those people can be blamed for making Imus say those no other decent person would ever say.

I suppose his defense for calling Hillary Clinton "Satan" will be to quote Milton.

The issue is Don Imus, hero to the political elites like Tim Russert, Chris Mathews, Norah O'Donnell, Brian Williams, David Gregory, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Rick Santorum, and many, many more, is not a good person. He is a mean, thoughtless, mindless, cruel, bigoted, sexist, immature person. In the end, it doesn't matter if he is fired, or if he keep his sponsors. Both is job and his income are dependent on the fawning attention he gets from people who would like control our discourse and make this country's laws.
Should we not expect a little more from them than craven supplication to a man who finds humor in the most disturbing ethnic and sexual slurs as applied to high achieving college students young enough to be his children?

Imus' Megalomania on Display

Imus' buddy is on now, mentioning more of Imus' charitable work, which usually just involves getting on the radio and asking people to give money for whatever disease catches his attention. Which is commendable. He says "it's a sin" that people don't know Imus better.

This is one the more bizarre aspects of this scandal, which has now moved into the phase where his celebrity friends vouch for his good heart. These people need to get this through their head: It's not our job to get to know Imus. We know him from his radio show. And it's pretty much three hours of hate, cruelty and ignorance. That's the Imus we know, and that's apparently who he is. For three hours of every day. When he has a national platform.

Don Imus, today: "I'm the one who got the death benefit raised for soldiers."

This incident has become an almost textbook study in gradiose self pity raised to megalomanic levels. Just the other day Imus pompously, angrily, announced that he had never had Hillary Clinton on his show, and "he would never have her on." Because Imus has standards.

Of course Hillary should not go on, and she has no "civil right" to go on. Nor does he have a right to have a daily radio show, be on tv every day, get paid millions of dollars, or have the most powerful media and political figures in this country pay him homage every day of the year.

Imus is not a serious person. If he keeps his show, it should be remembered that this a guy who does not take politics seriously, ethics seriously, or apparently, have any proper regard for decent human behavior.

Imus Continuts to Offer Context and Apologies

Don Imus mentioned this morning that he will be going on Al Sharpton's radio show today, although Sharpton is one of the people calling for people to be fired.

Imus also offered some "context" to his remarks about the Rutgers basketball team this morning, that he "makes fun of everybody." Not out of offering an excuse, as he said, or excusing what he said, especially since the girls from the team did not deserve to made fun of, a concept that seems to have previously eluded him.

He mentioned that he has black friends and that many of the children at his ranch for kids with cancer are black, although at 10% that seem proportionate to the population. Also he has Hispanic, Asian, other minority children on the ranch.

Mentioned he had occasionally asked a politician about increasing spending on research for cancer and sickle-cell anemia. Other incidents, like attending black children's funerals, etc.

The upshot is that he is "a good person who said a bad thing". Getting almost tearful, he said he received hate mail from white racists calling him a n***** lover because he supports Harold Ford. (Really?)

Clearly, bloggers and others have pointed out Imus' hateful remarks on a variety of subjects for years, but this, both for what he said and how he said it, and most especially who he said it about. While his remarks about Hillary Clinton and Al Gore are frequently grotesque and insane, political insults of a broad kind have a long history. And most of the people Imus attacks are relatively high profile figures or people in the news for other reasons.

But Imus and his gang frequently engage in the most extreme rhetoric, especially when it comes to racial and ethnic minorities. They clearly seem to think this is funny. As Imus himself said today, anyone who did not know who him, who heard what he said, who have to assume he was a hate-filled white supremacist, and a vulgar one at that.

It has seemed to me for a while that Imus may be a good person - he has occasionally show decent instincts and has his charity, but of course he is known by the rest of us a radio personality, and he makes millions of dollars a year making cruel and hateful statements, and he knows it.

It also seems to me that Imus, on his show, is often making of the "idea of being racist." Making racist jokes, nowadays, is often hidden behind the "idea" of what a stupid racist "would say" (ha ha) but of course the person saying isn't really a racist. Having black friends, liking one black politician, caring about kids with cancer, advocating for a cure for sickle cell anemia, all is assumed to forgive an endless stream of patently racist jokes because they are mocking the "idea" that someone would the Rutgers basketball team "nappy headed hos."

But as I've said before, if you spend three hours a day, every day, cracking hateful jokes about all kinds of people, are you making fun of the idea of being nasty, stupid, and cruel, or does it just make you a jerk?

GREATEST. HOAX. EVER.

New York Times:

From the poles to the tropics, the earth’s climate and ecosystems are already being shaped by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases and face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration, the world’s leading scientific panel on climate change said Friday.

In its most detailed portrait of the effects of climate change driven by human activities, the panel predicted widening droughts in southern Europe and the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the American Southwest and Mexico, and flooding that could imperil low-lying islands and the crowded river deltas of southern Asia. It stressed that many of the regions facing the greatest risks were among the world’s poorest.

The group, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also noted that the climate shifts would benefit some regions — leading to more rainfall and longer growing seasons in high latitudes, open Arctic seaways and fewer deaths from the cold.

The 1,572-page report, finished here on Friday, was prepared by more than 200 scientists, and a 21-page summary was endorsed by officials from more than 120 countries, including the United States.

The conclusions came after four days of revisions by scientists and then an often rancorous all-night debate with government officials. In a sign of shifting geopolitics on global warming, scientists who worked on the report criticized China for weakening some language in the summary, while they credited the United States, which had for years stressed uncertainty in the science, with playing a mostly constructive role.

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Iran to Release British Soldiers

Via NYT:

Iran to Release 15 Britons Held Since March 23

Iran’s President said today he would immediately release 15 British sailors and marines who have been held captive in Iran since March 23.

They made their point: Don't mess with Iran
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McCAIN: I'M WALKING HERE!

How appropriate that John McCain is now a famous streetwalker:

McCain Strolls Through Baghdad Market, Accompanied By 100 Soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, 2 Apache Gunships

Sen. John McCain strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad today in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/mccain-iraq-stroll

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Cat Blogging

IGLESIAS SAYS HE WAS FIRED OVER FAILURE TO TARGET NEW MEXICO DEMOCRAT

Former U.S. Attorney Iglesias just said on Larry King said that two hours ago indictments were handed down in an investigation targeting a prominent Democrat in his state, and that this was the case the Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson was so interested in. Iglesias said that he believe that this is the case he was fired for.

He also said he believes that if he had brought indictments in this case he would still have his job. The clear implication is that this case is an instance of targeting someone solely for their politics, and as part of larger campaign to solidy political power. Which seems like big news.

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CHRIS MATTHEWS AND THE GREEN SEA MONSTER

It's going to require a whole team of psychiatrists to puzzle out what Matthews did on Imus this morning.

It was a truly bizarre rant involving green sea monsters rising out of the ocean, astrotruf in the car, college-educated women all hate Hillary, Birkenstock wearing beachcombers in Santa Monica, Bill having a playmate, John Edwards is a mystery, Elizabeth Edwards is a saint, Hillary's "need" to be President, and how people say "huge" in Philadelphia.
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Stockman Speaks

David Stockman did an interview with Larry Kudlow on CNBC.

Speaking out *after* he was indicted.

CNBC journalists looked suprised and impressed that Kudlow asked him "pointed" questions - then they concede that they worked together in the Reagan administration, that they've been friends for decades, and that Kudlow treated Stockman with "deference".

But they believe Stockman made good points. I'm shocked.

Stockman says it wasn't some like WorldCom or some pump and dump operation, but it's all the fault of the vicious Big Three auto makers.

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Buchanan: US Attorneys 'Bang People Up Against the Wall'

According to Pat Buchanan, veteran of Watergate: US Attorneys are "tough guys," "they bang people up against the wall and put people in prison for life," so it's okay for them to be purely political appointees who use the Department of Justice to help the Republican party and go after the Democratic party.

Funny, but I would have thought rational people would concede that because U.S. Attorneys have so much power, they should be a some remove from the more zealous pursuit of partisan politics. I guess not.

Oh, and Rove's aide should be a US Attorney because he's an Iraq veteran.
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Jeff Greenfield Says Limbaugh's Talking Points Must Be Asked

Jeff Greenfield says "people" were talking about all the things Katie Couric asked John and Elizabeth Edwards about.

Those questions were all over America's dinner table.

Oh, of course, Jeff Greenfield says staying in the race was the only thing they could do, he believes it's their choice, you have no right to judge. He "doesn't even understand the impulse" to suggest they should drop out. He thinks people should back off.

But still, he says, those questions "had to be asked."

Why?
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THOUGHT OF THE DAY

If Barack Obama is the Magic Negro, then George W. Bush is the Snake-Bit White Man.
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KHALID SHEIKH MUHAMMAD: "OKAY BY ME"

President: Captain, United States Navy
Detainee: Khalid Sheikh Muhammad
The Place: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. U.S. Navy Base.
Scene: Military Tribunal

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President: "Before we begin, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, I understand you speak and understand English. Is that correct?"

Detainee: [Detainee nods his head in affirmative]

President: "Alright. Are you comfortable in continuing in English or would you like everything translated in Arabic?"

Detainee: "Everything in English but if I have a problem the linguist will help me."

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President: "Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, do you understand this process?"

Detainee: "Yes. If I have question can I ask you?"

President: "Yes, you may."

Detainee: "About the testimony which I ask about the witnesses."

President: "Yes, I'm going to address the witnesses shortly. So, if you bear with us I will take that up in a few moments."

Detainee: "Okay."

President: "Do you have any questions concerning the Tribunal process?"

Detainee: "Okay by me."

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Most Americans Think Alan Greenspan Is Really Sexy

Via Atrios:

Andrea Mitchell, Hardball just now:

They're going to try to really tamp this down and appeal to the polling which indicates that most people think, in fact, that he should be pardoned. Scooter Libby should be pardoned.

CNN poll says 18% support pardon.
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
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GREAT MOMENTS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

PHOENIX (AP) -- Former NFL running back Richie Anderson, now an assistant coach with the Arizona Cardinals, was arrested during a Phoenix police anti-prostitution operation.

Anderson, 35, was arrested at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday for soliciting prostitution at about 9:30 p.m., Sgt. Andy Hill said. The department's vice unit was conducting an undercover sting operation in south Phoenix when Anderson allegedly solicited an officer posing as a prostitute.

It's the Cardinals! Dude was probably just recruiting for a better offensive line.
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Imus on Walter Reed: It's Donna Shalala's Fault

So Don Imus had a weird show this morning.

Got into an argument with Michael Beschloss over just how evil the Bush administration is. They both agreed it's full of liars and they have contempt for soldiers.

Imus playing dumb, keeps asking -- "why would Libby lie"?

It took Beschloss to point out that, oh, you know, maybe he lied to cover the lies they told sell the war, and to win the 2004 election, which Bush won by 50,000 votes in Ohio. And maybe if they hadn't lied so much, they wouldn't have won in 2004.

Regarding a pardon, Imus called Cheney a coward and said he should be in jail. And
Cheney "ought to at least have the decency to resign over this."

Later, Col. Jack Jacobs got on to say, I think, that because O.J. Simpson was acquitted and because Alfred North Whitehead said in the end there is no such thing as truth, Scooter Libby should be freed.

The high point, though, was Imus flashing photos on his show, like mug shots, of the two people most guilty for the Walter Reed scandal. That would be, of course, Donna Shalala and Bob Dole.