Check to have links open new windows.

I'd just like to say, for the record, that I really don't care what George Bush, Hillary Clinton, or anybody else has on their iPod. Unless it's some cool music I haven't heard yet.

Yes, another Sandberg reference. I have no doubt that he'd be classified a dangerous radical if he were alive and writing now, especially after seeing what seems to be passing for "maintstream" opinion, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Did this week mark the first return steps to bipartisan sanity in the war on terror? The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Gen. Michael Hayden to run the CIA by a 12-3 vote. And by helpful coincidence, the Supreme Court decided 9-0 in Brigham City v. Stuart that the police can make a warrantless entry into a home in which people are in imminent danger of physical harm. As we all are now.[emphasis mine]

Got that? Anyone out there who still thinks the right hasn't been completely overtaken by its authoritarian elements, here's the WSJ - not some fringe publication - staking out the position that it's a good thing if the police can make a warrantless entry into, well, any home they want.

Remember, the fascists don't advertise themselves as fascists. That would be too easy. No, they prefer the "super-patriot" role.

George Bush, on Wednesday, came out with the following remarkable statement:

The enemy cannot defeat us on the battlefield, but what they can do is put horrible images on our TV screens.

Now, think for a moment. Does al Qaeda put the images on our TV screens? Does the Taliban? Saddam Hussein? Not the last time I checked. No, it's very clear. The free press is the enemy, according to George W. Bush. And I must say, it's very Bushian (Bush-esqe? Bushy? Bush league?) to put the blame on the people who are reporting on the disaster, not the people who created it.

The only thing I really don't understand is why the press keeps playing along. At this point, they're like the spouse in an abusive relationship who keeps going back despite regular abuse and beatings.

I have never served in the military, but I am not unfamiliar with it. My father and several uncles all served, including one of my uncles who was a career Army NCO and served tours in Korea and Vietnam and two others who were Army in Nam as well. Fortunately, they all came home. Many others didn't. Let us honor their sacrifice not by pursuing policies that will create more graves to decorate, but by pursuing policies that recognize that their sacrifice was incredibly precious to themselves, their families, and our nation.

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.   
Shovel them under and let me work–
            I am the grass; I cover all.   
   
And pile them high at Gettysburg   
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.   
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:   
            What place is this?   
            Where are we now?   
   
            I am the grass.  
            Let me work.

I grew up in the South — North Carolina, to be precise — where we used to talk about "yellow dog Democrats" which, if you've never heard the term, was someone so loyal that he'd vote for a yellow dog if it was on the Democratic line. Well, here are two guys who are beyond even that. One big raspberry for the Alabama Democratic party for letting these guys slip in.

Alabama's Democratic Party is distancing itself from two Democratic candidates for state office who think all illegal immigrants must leave or be killed.

Party officials described the platforms of candidates Larry Darby and Harry Lyon as ridiculous, unconstitutional and offensive. Darby is running for attorney general, and Lyon is a gubernatorial candidate.

Both agree the influx of illegal immigration into Alabama must be stopped, either through public hangings or martial law.

...

Lyon said if elected, he would sponsor a law to get all illegal immigrants out of the state within 90 days, or be hanged in public.

"It would only take five or 10 getting killed and broadcast on CNN for it to send a clear message to not set foot in Alabama," said Lyon, a Pelham lawyer. "Anybody that breaks into my home is a threat to my life. I remember the Alamo."

...

Darby said if elected he would ask the governor to institute martial law to stop the influx of illegal immigrants into Alabama. If illegal immigrants attempt to evade law enforcement, they "should be shot on sight," he said.

He said the number of Jews killed in World War II has been grossly exaggerated, and Jews must leave if the United States is to save itself.

"It would be good for Iran to blow Israel off the map," he said.

All righty, then. The sad thing is that these guys really aren't farther detached from the mainstream (or from reality) than, say, Ann Coulter or Michael Savage. The difference is that the left thinks those guys are nutcases. The right wing invites Coulter to speak at conferences.

No, not Bush.

A study from the University of Leicester indicates that

[P]eople who have suffered life's hard knocks while growing up tend to be more gullible than those who have been more sheltered, startling new findings from the University of Leicester reveal.

A six-month study in the University's School of Psychology found that rather than toughening up individuals, adverse experiences in childhood and adolescence meant that these people were vulnerable to being mislead.

The research analysing results from 60 participants suggest that such people could, for example, be more open to suggestion in police interrogations or to be influenced by the media or advertising campaigns.

The study found that while some people may indeed become more hard-nosed through adversity, the majority become less trusting of their own judgement.

Suppose this could explain how so many right-wingers can simultaneously make a fetish of making it on your own and the school of hard knocks yet seem endlessly gullible about the likes of Rush, Hannity, Bush, et al?

(With apologies to Martin Niemoller)

First they came for the due process rights of people accused of being terorrists, and Congress said nothing.
Then they came for the privacy rights of Americans to not have their telephone calls analyzed, and Congress said nothing.
Then they came for the right of Congress to make the laws (with "signing statements"), and Congress said nothing.
Then they came for the right to not be tortured, and Congress said nothing.
And when they came for the papers of a Congressman – with a warrant – and suddenly, they discover the preciousness of the Constitution.

Most of what's on my laptop right now is from the SxSW 2005 showcase, which was 3.5GB of tunes from the 2005 SxSW festival released as a promotion...

1. Shut It Down, The Stepbrothers (SxSW)
2. Lord Byron's Luggage, Warren Zevon (My Ride's Here)
3. Too Drunk, Paul the Girl (SxSW)
4. Lousy Smarch Weather, Your Black Star (SxSW)
5. You Are Everything, The Stylistics (Best of the Stylistics)
6. Little Bit, University (SxSW)
7. Pile Driver, Stan Ridgeway (The Big Heat)
8. Trouble Waiting to Happen, Warren Zevon (Sentimental Hygiene)
9. When It Happens It Moves All B, Telefon Tel Aviv (SxSW)
10. Hora Lui Marin, 3 Mustaphas 3 (Bam! Big Mustaphas Play Stereolocalmusic)

I admit it. I drink so much Diet Coke I should probably qualify as a lab rat. I tried New Coke. I tried Coke Zero. I tried C2. I even tried Coke Blak. And I'd try Coke Hot Tamale. Heck, it sounds better than Coke Blak. Fresca Pomegranate, though, is just too weird.

Check out this classic 80s tune from one of the more durable 80s bands, Depeche Mode. Not amazing as videos go, but you'll be trying to get the song out of your head for a week.

For those ideas that just can't be expressed any other way, it's Custom printed toilet paper.

I was a bit disappointed that their samples didn't include this one, though.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Michael Novak of National Review, displaying a view of the world completely undamaged by any contact with reality:

...What I do want to argue is that, after Washington and Lincoln, Bush is the bravest of our presidents. He has faced the most intense fire, hatred, contempt, heavily moneyed and bitterly acidic partisan opposition, underhandedness, betrayal, of any president in the last hundred years. He has faced hostility over a longer time, in possibly the most dangerous period of international warfare in our national history. He has remained constant, firm, decided, and generous (to a fault) with his opponents.

He has faced almost unbroken contempt from the academy, from the mainstream press, from Democratic elites, from Moveon and all the other holders of the Democratic-party purse strings, from the Democratic Congress, from his treacherous (if not treasonous) Central Intelligence Agency, and from many levels of the permanent State Department. Almost every day, he has been pummeled and undermined by powerful forces of American power. Still, he has stayed firm, with clear arguments, and an even clearer vision....

One hardly knows where to begin when faced with such a tidal wave of, well, nonsense.
"Bravest"? Yeah, his Vietnam record pretty much speaks for itself, as does his willingness to appear in front of any crowd at any time and take questions.
"Heavily moneyed and bitterly acidic"? Yeah, Richard Mellon Scaife, the Arkansas Project, and Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly can't hold a candle to Moveon.org and Jon Stewart (ok, the last half of that is true).
"Remained constant"? Yeah, in the "if Bush decides something is true on Monday, it's still true on Wednesday (no matter what happens on Tuesday" sense.
"Most dangerous period"? Um, there was this little matter of World War I. And World War II. And the Cold War. And, for that matter, the War of 1812.
"contempt...from the mainstream press"? Gee, I always wondered why they never printed any of the crap the Swift Boat Vets were spreading about John Kerry, and why they never believed any of the administration's claims about Iraq. Now I know.
"clear arguments"? OK, this one is just beyond me.

I've been trying hard to think what could cause someone to write such a...remarkable bit of prose. Theory A involves a parallel earth with a heavily oxygen-depleted atmosphere. Theory B involves soma. Take your pick.

Secretary of state Condi Rice appeared on Meet the Press this morning, and made a truly remarkable statement: that there's no one who would like to close the camp at Guantanamo Bay than the Bush Administration. Which leads to the abundantly obvious question: What's stopping them?

Seriously, do they have to ask someone's permission? Whose? Can't "Decider" Bush just "decide" to do it and order that it be done?

The fine folks at CorrenteWire contribute this:

Here are a few facts about the 500 to 700 prisoners left at Guantanamo, as assembled by a group of law students at Seton Hall, using government records only: 55% of those prisoners are not accused of any hostile act towards this country, only of being members of suspicious groups; only 5% were even captured by US Forces, on or off a battlefield; only 8% are listed as fighters. Some of them were detained because they were wearing Casio watches; I kid you not.

This, of course, didn't stop Condi from putting a cherry on top of her Sunda(y,e) lie by labeling the prisoners at Gitmo as dangerous terrorists. I'm certain at this point that I have never in my life felt that I was so held in contempt by by Government. They don't even bother with the good lies anymore.

Finally. Barry Bonds ties the Babe.

A lot of people are incensed about this, and about Bonds in general, and I have to confess that I don't quite understand why. Yes, he almost certainly used steroids. But he's never tested positive for them. And we know for certain that Jason Giambi used them, and he's hearing nothing but cheers in the Bronx. Bit of a double standard? Sure seems that way to me.

Do I think steroids are bad for baseball? Absolutely. That's why I'm glad they're testing for them now. But look at it this way for a moment: Bonds was certainly not the only player using steroids, and none of the others have done what he's done. You also don't know how many pitchers were using, or how much it may have helped them. From where I sit, there's no even vaguely rational way to look at it and say what Bonds would "probably" have done without steroids, because he's such an outlier in performance. And without contemporary proof, I think baseball -- and the fans -- should just let it drop. I know he's not the most likeable guy in the game, and I'm not suggesting that he somehow deserves Cal Ripken-like treatment, but the facts are the facts. He is nearing the end of an amazing career, and people should deal with that.

There's a debate going on in the Department of Defense. It's about whether suspected terrorists or other insurgents can be treated more severely than captured members of an enemy army.

Got that? If you're picked up as a POW actively fighting against the US military, you get all the benefits of the Geneva Conventions. If, however, you're turned in as an alleged "terrorist" or "insurgent" by somebody looking to pick up a bounty (or who just doesn't like you), you don't get benefit of counsel. You don't get due process. You probably don't even get informed of the exact charges against you. Oh, and you can be tortured.

This isn't un-American. It's inhuman. And yes, a good working definition of evil.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the Federal Marriage Amendment to be voted on by the full Senate today. And there were a couple of odd things about it. First, they moved the hearings on it from the normal committee room to a small private room. Second, Senator Specter illustrated once again that he is in a non-custodial relationship with his testicles by saying that he was "totally against the Amendment" but voting for it anyway. Third, Senator Feingold stormed out of the meeting after a shouting match with Specter, who said "good riddance to bad rubbish" as he left.

This is an amendment to the US Constitution we're talking about here, not some motion to name a post office after some local notable. Why wouldn't they hold the hearings in public? Don't they want people to know what they're doing?

I like Jack Cafferty's take on it for CNN:

This is all being done by the republican majority in an effort to appeal to Right-wing nuts in the Republican Party ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections. Ignore all of the pressing issues facing the country, and instead go grovel at the feet of the lunatic fringe. Senator Frist should be very proud of himself. That's leadership. Here's the question: Is now the time for the Senate to consider a constitutional Amendment on gay marriage?

Indeed. One might quibble it will never be time for the Senate to consider a constitutional amendment on gay marriage, but if there is one, it certainly isn't now.

Rick Santorum is back in the news, this time accusing people of prowling around his house in Penn Hills. Of course, the only reason he thinks somebody has been prowling around there is that the local Democratic group is pointing out that there are no curtains in the house, and there doesn't appear to be any furniture. Seems kind of strange for a guy who claims to represent Pennsylvania, now, doesn't it? Makes you wonder what all the "Hillary is a carpetbagger!" crew would be saying about him if he wasn't one of theirs.

I recently ran across a big list of links to music videos from the 80s, mostly on YouTube. You know, the 80s. When MTV actually played music videos.

The Look of Love was ABC's big hit. ABC was Martin Fry, some random people, and Trevor Horn's production. The video is a wonderful sort of "glam-rock-meets-surrealism" style with a lot of odd things going on around the edges. I really went for this when it came out.

He's lost it. Gone round the bend. Cracked up. Bats in his belfry. Yes, I'm talking about the man who's trying to retire the "Worst Person in the World" award, the pugnacious Bill. O. Reilly. (as they say on his radio intro).

Pointing out that O'Reilly said something particularly insane may have the unfortunate side effect of leading people to believe that he periodically says things that are sane, but sometimes you just have to take the chance. On the May 16 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, he had this gem (emphasis mine):

O'REILLY: Now in 1986, President Reagan thought he could solve the [immigration] problem by granting about 3 million illegal aliens amnesty. The New York Times was in heaven, editorializing back then, quote, "The new law won't work miracles but it will induce most employers to pay attention, to turn off the magnets, to slow the tide." Of course, just the opposite happened. But the Times hasn't learned a thing. That's because the newspaper and many far-left thinkers believe the white power structure that controls America is bad, so a drastic change is needed.

According to the lefty zealots, the white Christians who hold power must be swept out by a new multicultural tide, a rainbow coalition, if you will. This can only happen if demographics change in America.

I particularly like the "white Christians" bit. Has a sort of "KKK" ring to it. But I wonder if O'Reilly has considered for a moment that Mexico's population is 89% Roman Catholic and 6% Protestant? Looks like he doesn't even think that "brown Christians" are OK.

In the words of a true great American, "what a maroon."

There was a firefight in the town of Haditha last November. As often happens in war, there were multiple stories of what went on. According to the Marines, one Marine and several civilians were killed by an IED, then several insurgents were killed in the ensuing firefight. According to the Iraqis, "U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children." The Marines have since officially withdrawn their version of events.

Now Rep. John Murtha has come forward saying that an internal investigation has verified the Iraqi version of events in Haditha.

Military officials say Marine Corp photos taken immediately after the incident show many of the victims were shot at close range, in the head and chest, execution-style. One photo shows a mother and young child bent over on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead, said the officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn't been completed.

This is a tragedy and legitimately a war crime. It is a good thing that the internal investigation seems to be avoiding any temptation to whitewash events. We should let it finish, but keep a careful eye on the situation.

I recently ran across this extremely cool site of an Alaskan artist named Ray Troll. It's sort of "eco-surrealism", if I had to call it something.

He's also got some cool Alaska-themed stuff.

And my personal favorite, titled One Small Step for a Fish, One Giant Leap for Fishkind.

He's got lots of cool t-shirts for sale as well, though my favorite images from the gallery are not available on them.

I can't top Josh Marshall's description of this morning's press conference about Bush's new "immigration policy": Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and a clutch of top officials gave a press briefing today on President Bush's new National Guard-infused border security program. Hilarity ensues:

You should go read the whole thing, but this is too good to pass up. Question from a reporter:

Mr. Secretary, if I've understood everything I've heard, you don't yet know what missions the 6,000 National Guardsmen will do, you don't know who is going to pay for them, you don't know what the rules of engagement will be for them, you don't know what size units there will be or how long -- whether they'll be two-week or six-month deployments, and you don't really know exactly which equipment they're going to have. So my question is, how long have you been working on this?

Chertoff's response (in part):

[I]t is true that, sitting here right now, I do not have in my head every single mission set. . .

[At this point, Assistant SecDef for Homeland Defense Paul McHale tosses Chertoff an anvil.]

We don't know how many helicopters we're going to put up, but we know to a near certainty that we'll have helicopters. . . We don't know where we will place censors [sic] to detect illegal movement, but it's almost a certainty that we will have censors [sic]. . . We don't know how many barriers or roads we're going to build, but clearly, we will be putting new barriers in place, and clearly, we will be building new roads . . . So your question, sir, is a fair one.

But then the summary is priceless....

QUESTION: What I'm really trying to understand, is this a well-thought-out plan, or is it something that's just been --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY McHALE: Yes, sir, it is.

SECRETARY CHERTOFF: in quite exquisite detail...

As they say, you can't make this stuff up.

If, you know, it's really a "war on terror", you'd think that this item would have gotten more coverage.

Four of the 'most dangerous terrorists' in Iraq escaped from Susa prison in the northern Kurdish province of Sulaymanyah, a senior US army officer said Wednesday.

Colonel David Kerry said that it was not clear how the suspected terrorists fled the facility Tuesday night. He said a committee was investigating the incident.

Kerry didn't give information on the background of the escapees and which network they belonged to, merely saying that they are 'dangerous and involved in terrorism and criminal acts.'

I can think of any number of ways in which one might find Bush comparable with Nixon, but I have to admit that I had never thought that both of them are liberals. No, it takes Jonah Goldberg to come up with stuff like this. Either that or lots of drugs.

These are cool. My seven year old really wants one for his room. I really like the way the switch sticks through in just the right spot to be his beak.

Under normal circumstances, I'd put this firmly in tinfoil hat territory. The current circumstances, however, are anything but normal.

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

How good a year is Albert Pujols having? Well, if you take his numbers so far and extrapolate them to a full season....

AB	546
R	167	Tied for 4th with Lou Gehrig 1936 and Tip O'Neill 1887
H	181
2B	28
HR	83	Current record: 71, Barry Bonds
RBI	204	Current record: 190, Hack Wilson
BB	148	Tie for 14th
K	46
AVG	.344
OBP	.481	44th all time
SLG	.861	2nd all time, record: .863, Barry Bonds
OPS	1.342	2nd all time, record: 1.422, Barry Bonds

Just....wow. And he's only 26.

...is the sound of wingnut heads exploding after reading the latest CNN poll comparing President Bush with former President Clinton.

• On handling the economy, people preferred Clinton by 63% to 23% for Bush.
• On solving the problems of ordinary Americans, Clinton by 62% to 25%.
• On foreign affairs, Clinton by 55% to 32%.
• On taxes, Clinton by 51% to 35%
• On handling national disasters, Clinton by 51% to 30%.
• On which man is more honest, Clinton by 46% to 41%.
• On handling national security, Clinton by 46% to 42%.

Bush did come out ahead in one category, though: when asked who has done more to divide the country, 59% named Bush to only 27% for Clinton.

And this poll was taken May 5-7, before the NSA surveillance scandal hit or "Dusty" Foggo's home and office were raided.

Personally, I just miss having somebody in the White House who realized that the Constitution applied to him.

I'm so angry about the NSA data mining news that I can't see straight. Even now, even after all the lies we've seen in the past 5 years, I couldn't imagine that Bush could stand up in public and lie through his teeth about it with a straight face. Not that I think for an instant that he understands anything about "data mining", or that he could tell it from copper mining. No, I think it's another round of their own special sort of lying: they don't set out to tell an untruth, they just say whatever they want to be true at the moment with absolutely no regard as to what the truth actually is.

Ever played "six degrees of Kevin Bacon"? Now imagine that instead of Kevin Bacon, it's anyone the government thinks might be a terrorist. And they haven't exactly established a sterling record on accuracy with that, either. How many degrees do you suppose you are from anybody who might be on a "terrorist watch list"? Pretty soon, everybody will be under suspicion. Voila, police state. Brought to you by Diebold, the Patriot Act, and the letters G-O-P.

I'm joining the chorus of people who think there's exactly one critical issue in this fall's elections, one question that anyone running for office ought to answer: What are you going to do to restore Constitutional government in the United States?

...would be a great name for a band.

Until they appear, though, go be terrified (or fascinated, if you prefer) by the 65 different versions of Stairway to Heaven the folks at WFMU dredged up.

Great bit from the comments, originally from Terry Pratchett:

"and then go down to the docks and hire a troll and tell him to stand in the corner and if anyone else comes in and tries to play 'Pathway to Paradise', I think they said it's called......he's to pull their head off."

"What about a warning?"

"That will be the warning."

I think there's only one possible thing to say at this point.

Freeeebird!

Yes, Katherine Harris is backstill in the news.

Former senior members of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' congressional staff say they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course after being instructed by Harris to approve it.

Harris insisted that Mitchell Wade's request for funding be given to a defense appropriations subcommittee, despite the request's being late and difficult to understand, according to two former staff members and Harris' former chief political strategist.

"She said, 'It's important to me, so submit it,' " said an ex-staffer who was involved in the process. "She wanted it in."

This was after Wade had spent nearly $3000 wining and dining Harris at one of Washington's spiffiest and most expensive restaurants. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, right? Right? Hey, why are you laughing?

Jane Siberry is a fascinating, wonderful, Canadian musician. Now she's done something interesting with her online store: pay what you think it's worth. You can even choose to take the music and think of it as a gift from Jane. Interestingly, she seems to be getting more per track than the $.99 iTunes charges.

BTW, I highly recommend Everything Reminds Me of My Dog ("Would you like a cookie? Would you like me to dial the number for you?")

That's the only way I could describe this. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson was speaking to the Real Estate Executive Council, a national minority real estate consortium.

After discussing the huge strides the agency has made in doing business with minority-owned companies, Jackson closed with a cautionary tale, relaying a conversation he had with a prospective advertising contractor. 'He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years,' Jackson said of the prospective contractor. 'He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.' 'I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary. He didn't get the contract,' Jackson continued. 'Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president?'"

Once again, the most staggering thing about this is that he doesn't appear to think there's anything wrong about what he did.

Hat tip to Sirotablog.

I have nothing against fishing. I don't fish as an adult, but I used to go with several of my uncles when I was growing up. Sometimes we fished the rivers or TVA lakes, and sometimes we'd go to a commercial stocked lake. But we never pretended the two were the same. You went to a stocked lake when you wanted a guaranteed score, or for a contest. It wasn't real fishing.

So now we have the story of Bush telling a German newspaper that his favorite moment of his Presidency so far was catching a 7.5 pound bass (originally reported as a perch) in his lake. On his "ranch". (A real ranch has cattle. His doesn't.) The lake he had dug. And stocked with bass. The whole thing is stupid, a rich man playing at being a commoner, like the quail "hunts" Cheney goes on with birds that have a hard time getting off the ground.

You know, when Jim Lehrer asked Bill Clinton if the Kosovo intervention was the best moment of his Presidency, he listed some other things that might qualify, like passing his economic program, passing the Brady Bill, the role he played in the peace process in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East. Bush could have picked something along those lines; the day on the rubble of WTC with the bullhorn, for instance. The day the statue of Saddam came down. "Mission ImpossibleAccomplished". The day they found Saddam. Pushing through his tax cut package. Or he could have picked something about his family, like the day the twins graduated from college. But this President? No, he chose catching a medium-sized fish in a stocked pond on his own ranch. Something completely, totally, obscenely self-centered.

I never liked Bush. I never understood the people who said they'd like to sit down and have a beer with him. But now? I loathe him. There is not a true bone in his body.

Flying Cow Leaves Two Police Cars in Flames.

The cause-and-effect isn't quite that direct, but this sounds like one of the more entertaining police episodes not involving Jackie Gleason that I can recall.

...if it hadn't been for those meddling prosecutors!

Prosecutors have e-mails showing Rep. Tom DeLay's office knew lobbyist Jack Abramoff had arranged the financing for the GOP leader's controversial European golfing trip in 2000 and was concerned "if someone starts asking questions."

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting free trips from lobbyists. DeLay, R-Texas, reported to Congress that a Republican advocacy group had paid for the spring 2000 trip that DeLay, his wife and top aides took to Scotland and England.

The e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show DeLay's staff asked Abramoff — not the advocacy group — to account for the costs that had to be legally disclosed on congressional travel forms. DeLay's office was worried the group being cited as paying the costs might not even know about them, the e-mails state.

The principle used to be "you can have your own opinion, but you don't get to have your own facts". No longer, at least not if you're a Republican. For instance...

After 34 years of college teaching, I thought I had heard just about every imaginable student complaint. Last week, however, a freshman in my 300-seat US History Since 1865 course came in to discuss her exam with one of the graders and proceeded to work herself into a semi-hissy over the fact that we had spent four class periods(one of them consisting of a visit from Taylor Branch) discussing the civil rights movement.

"I don't know where he's getting all of this," she complained,"we never discussed any of this in high school." One might have let the matter rest here as simply an example of a high school history teacher's sins of omission being visited on the hapless old history prof. had the student not informed the TA in an indignant postcript, "I'm not a Democrat! I don't think I should have to listen to this stuff!"

The course in question was at the University of Georgia. I confess to being completely dumbfounded at the notion that only Democrats "should have to listen" to information about the Civil Rights era.

I guess this goes under "even a blind pig finds an acorn occasionally." President Bush actually strengthened an Executive Order that was in place when he took office, so that it requires all agencies and "any other entity within the executive branch" to provide an annual accounting of their classification of documents. Sounds like a good idea, right?

Well, guess who says it doesn't apply to him, of course? Yep, Deadeye Dick. I mean, it doesn't explicitly exempt the Office of the Vice President, but surely they didn't mean that he would actually have to be responsible to anyone for anything.

Lord, these people disgust me.

Support the troops, eh? While the Administration talks a good game, but the reality is not so good. A program to help military spouses develop employment skills is being cut by the Labor Department. But remember, we can't roll back any of the tax cuts for rich people!

Support the troops, eh? While the Administration talks a good game, but the reality is not so good. A program to help military spouses develop employment skills is being cut by the Labor Department. But remember, we can't roll back any of the tax cuts for rich people!

I really can't make up my mind whether this is serious or a parody. In fact, I can't even make up my mind whether I think the person is more of a nutcase if she's serious or if she's putting that much effort into a parody. I have to say, though, that if it is a parody, it's the best and most detailed one I've seen in an awfully long time.

I used to wear contact lenses, and it didn't take very long to get over the weird feeling of poking things into your eyes, but this is Just Too Much:

Yep, that's jewelry hanging from the model's contact lens. It's apparently a concept developed by designer Eric Klarenbeek.

Hat tip to Gizmodo

If you didn't go read Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog the last time I said to, go now. I'll wait. The latest is Chaucer's top pickup lines. My favorite is "Woldstow haue me shyfte thyne voweles?", followed closely by "Makstow a pilgrymage heere often?" And don't miss the shirts, either.

Hat tip to the wonderful folks at firedoglake for analyzing the latest filings in the Libby case, and spotting this fascinating item:

Mr. Libby can rebut this theory [that Administration officials engaged in a vigorous effort to discredit Wilson by outing his wife] by showing that his conversations with reporters about Mr. Wilson and his trip were necessitated by, and focused upon, the false information being spread by Mr. Wilson, and were not focused upon Mr. Wilson's wife. In that regard, he may seek to elicit testimony from other Administration officials — including, for example, his subordinates in the Office of the Vice President (OVP) — to testify that they too were intent on rebutting Mr. Wilson's criticism on the merits; that they saw his wife's CIA affiliation as a peripheral issue [emphasis mine] (at most); and that they were never instructed by Mr. Libby to disseminate information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA affiliation to the press.

So Libby's "subordinates" knew about Plame's CIA status. Which should have been "need to know" material. What did they do, post this at the White House water coolers?

Yeah, I was one of the "Boo him!" crowd when Johnny Damon returned to Fenway Park in a Yankees uniform. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd gone anywhere else. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't said that he couldn't imagine himself playing for the Yankees. And I would like to have one of the "Looks like Jesus – Acts like Judas – Throws like Mary" t-shirts. But at least I didn't have to go through as much as this lady:

I've spent most of my blogging time for the last couple of days cleaning up the markup for this page. It now validates as proper XHTML! I hope this will make it look better in various browsers; personally, I prefer Opera, but YMMV.