Well the wiki strikes again...here's an interesting tidbit about our esteemed half-witted "Secretary of State":

Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Angelena Rice and the Reverend John Wesley Rice, Jr. Her father became a minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church and her mother was a music teacher. In an article for the New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, writes "Birmingham had one notably rich black family, the Gastons, who were in the insurance business. Occupying the next rung down was Alma Powell's family;her father and her uncle were the principals of two black high schools in town. Rice's father, John Wesley Rice, Jr., worked for Alma Powell's uncle as a high-school guidance counsellor, and was an ordained minister who preached on weekends; Rice's mother, Angelena, was a teacher." (Alma Powell is married to Colin Powell.) In 1967, the family moved to Denver when her father accepted an administrative position at the University of Denver. Her name is a variation on the Italian musical term "con dolcezza" which is a direction to play "with sweetness". (emphasis added).

So after all these years, who know, maybe "Sweetness" managed to get revenge for some real or imaginary family slight by ensuring Colin Powell looked like an idiot while she just sat back and laughed. Just think, ruining Alma's husband with no one the wiser...as a famous comedian once said (sort of) "How Sweet It Is!".

Revenge? Cold? Just a thought....

I guess that one branch of the government that was set up to provide "checks and balances" is doing their job. A federal judge ruled that the GITMO detainees have been denied their basic rights by the military while being held in custody. Imagine that. An actual Judge, with actual "Judge creds" telling Abu Gonzales "bzzzzt...yer wrong". I'm sure that the wingnuts will now kick-start the manufactured outrage machines: Crashcart, load the "Activist Liberal Judge Script" immediately, and commence blast-faxing every SCLM news organization in North America.

The fact is, no one wants to see actual Al-Qaeda members be given much of a break...not even a weepy, soft-hearted liberal like me. Confinement to a Supermax after a trial might be good for them, until their teeth fall out and the world has moved on to a place where they and their message is as irrelevant as Preznit Lies4Profits "Honorable Discharge".

There is apparently evidence that some of the detainees in GITMO were "given up" by Afghan "snitches" to settle family or blood debts, that others were just caught up in the sweeps following the end of the war. Afghan soldiers who were not Al-Qaeda, but were rather just soldiers should be treated as POW's, if there is evidence that their allegiance was to their government (as bizarre as it was) and not to Osama bin Laden...soldiers serving in a standing army are expected to fight for their country, when attacked, or have I missed the definition of defending your country?

If the departments/people in charge, DOD and DOJ and especially the 1600 Crew follow the ruling without whining and appealing (and that's a big if), it might begin to improve our standing as a country that does what it says and not just mouths meaningless platitudes while ignoring our own courts and laws.

One can only hope. Given the track record of the idiots in charge, that's quite a stretch...

Have the SCLM found yet another trial to distract us from that nasty unpleasentness of the Mess in Mesopotamia?

I'll always be grateful to Jackson for this: When I was a young, single Naval Aviator a particularly wonderful woman I was dating had an almost insatiable appetite for -ahem- fooling around. And it was always greatest when Jackson's "Rock With You" came on -- it was the song that got her the hottest (apologies to Frank Zappa, Live at the Fillmore East).

So, I'll always remember the "king of pop" for that, but could we please not waste time and everything else covering yet another courtroom spectacle in ... California?

That's the extent of the MJ commentary here. Forever.

Hey, if you're here from BartCop Nation (or anywhere else for that matter), Welcome Aboard. Feel free to kick the tires and light the fires! We're 100% anti-Preznit Intellectually Inferior and his band of thugs, and proud of it.

I know it's not nice to be mean to the less capable, but when the person in question is a lying, cowardly, deserting, fascist piece of mammalian excrement (I hate to give shit a bad name), well it's my patriotic duty to point that out. Often.

So again, Welcome Aboard!!!

CIAllawi, fat puppet of the 1600 Crew:

As Iraqis counted ballots Monday, a day after millions turned out to vote in the country's first free elections in a half-century, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared a major victory over terrorism and called on Iraqis to unite in building a stable democracy.
...
In a separate news conference, Iraq's interior minister, Falah Naqib, credited intensive security plans for the successful balloting, which he said went ahead despite more than 90 insurgent attacks.

At least 45 people, including a U.S. Marine shot while on combat patrol in Anbar province, were reported killed in suicide bombings, shootings and mortar and rocket attacks during the polling.

Just another day in the life of Beloved Leader's Freedom Quest. If the balloting goes in favor of Iraqis who want us gone yesterday, will the 1600 Crew re-invade the country, just because, well, Freedom is on the March?

Brad Delong has some really interesting math problems (and answers). Very cool, and fun!

This could be blogtopia's (y! sctw!) version of the Sunday Times crossword! More, Brad, More!

Sullivan, who so badly wants to be back in the circle of the beloved (or maybe just a date with the gay-who-must-not-be-named at the RNC) manages to get the party line out last week:

Without Bush and Blair, we would still be facing Saddam's brutal kleptocracy, enabled by a corrupt U.N., and the threat of an end to sanctions and a possible terrorist-WMD alliance.

I don't want to be excitable, but aren't you feeling euphoric? It's almost a classic tale of good defeating evil. We always needed the Iraqi people to seize freedom for themselves. Given the chance, they have. This is their victory, made possible by those amazing Western troops.

On the other hand, if the turnout is as light in the Sunni Arab areas as it now appears, the parliament/ constitutional assembly is going to be extremely lopsided. It would be sort of like having an election in California where the white Protestants all stayed home and the legislature was mostly Latinos, African-Americans and Asians.

There is no greater calling in the service of wingnuttery, than to find some reason to use Ted Kennedy as a punching bag. Apparently, Hack Law Perfesser and noted authority on the technology of inbreeding, Instacracker, has spoken:

When Ted Kennedy can make an absurd and borderline-traitorous speech on the war ...

served in the United States Army 1951-1953

Guest lecturer, U.S. Air Force Academy, April 1990.

It's a shame that someone like Reynolds seems to always want to scream "traitor" when he's wrong. I guess, like his Beloved Leader, it's easier to say "j'accuse" than to ever admit fault. How annoyingly sad.

Buried in the last part of this article in the Mouthpiece Daily errr...Washington Post, is an interesting little tidbit. Fuck all the niceities that the 1600 Crew puts out and the Post dutifully transcribes on their behalf like this, burying the numbers in the second-to-last graf is just wrong. SCLMspeak:

GOP strategists, likewise, hope that the proposed changes to Social Security can transform a program that has long been identified with the Democrats, creating a generation of new investors who see their interests allied with the Republicans.
...
Republicans note that limiting the growth of lawsuits and damage awards, as well as proposed investment accounts in Social Security, are ideas Bush and other conservatives have championed for years. The Bush agenda lies "at the wonderful intersection where good policy is good politics for Republicans and conservatives," said Stephen Moore, president of the Free Enterprise Fund, which is lobbying for the Social Security changes.
...
The finance and investment banking community, which stands to benefit from the creation of private savings accounts financed through Social Security, provided overwhelming support to the Bush-Cheney campaign. The top 10 employers of Bush donors all are part of this sector, including Morgan Stanley, $604,480; Merrill Lynch, $580,004; and UBS Americas, $459,075. (emphasis added)

"The dividend tax cut, expanding IRAs and private Social Security accounts are all examples of President Bush and Karl Rove understanding that the more people we can lure into the 'investor class' with private pools of private capital, the better it is for Republicans and Republican issues," Moore said.

It's going to be the biggest battle of the next four years...one that we can't lose.

I will, however laugh my ass off at any plaintiff who voted republican when they go to court to try and seek redress in court against a company for an injury. Do they think it's only "the other guys" who are injured and seek financial compensation? Apparently the republican fat-cats are convinced that they can sell that idea to their loyal sheeple. I guess that's what makes them sheeple, they believe any crap they're fed...no questions asked, no answers needed. Until they file a lawsuit.

If the results of todays elections aren't to the liking of the 1600 Crew, do they take a mulligan on the "liberation"? Since the candidates are pretty much unknown, the polling places unknown, the country under curfew and martial law and the most liberal advocates of the election seem to be advocating women in burquas and Sharia, how long will any election results be "good" results?

And is it just me, or is it totally ironic that this is the eve of the Tet Offensive?

I wonder if CIAllawi is warming up his six-shooter to take care of the winners he doesn't like to please his master and leash-holder.

via Bartcop. Help a soldier. Today. Here's a website started to help get supplies to our troops. Never mind the budget-busting borrowing that Preznit Corporate Whore is proposing to send more money to the coffers of CheneyBurton, here's a chance to send money where it's going to do some good: AnySoldier.com

From Bartcop:

Are you aware they need food? On anysoldier.com there are requests for some food.
There is a captain currently requesting Listerine as many are sick and they want to avoid
others getting sick and rubber gloves to help stop spreading the sore throat and sickness.

They said the food in mess is so riddled with bacteria they are trying to avoid it (thank you very much Halliburton).
Women soldiers have no Tampax or similar products for their periods. The water problem is a serious problem.
And this waste of human flesh president dances the night away wasting money that could help our troops.
I am so angry I am shaking.

They are asking that we send them microwavable items as they are trying to avoid mess food since it's contaminated.
Also if they are in the field and miss meals it's too bad.
They also need transformers as the power is 220 and they have 110 voltage items.
If you go to anysoldier.com you will see requests. It is so unbelievable. Someone has to do something.

We are sending top ramen as this was requested and Tampax to the women.
We also sent some Easy Mac. We aren't well off but send what we can when we can.
Dammit this president is so evil. So GD evil!!!!

Join me in dropping in a buck or ten, and shame your SUV-driving, magnetic-ribbon wearing neighbors and co-workers into doing the same. Especially if they have a "W04" sticker on their car.

It's hard to go back and write a reasonable perspective of the collected works of the Duchess; wading through all the dreck just overwhelms one. But sometimes she lobs a softball out there that just begs to be whacked. Remember his odes to the "traitorous" Beeb? Remember, rant, rant, rant, they're anti-'murkian blah blah blah (this is just a smidge)

BAATHIST BROADCASTING CORPORATION: Here's how they headlined yesterday's news about the killing of Saddam's sons: "US celebrates 'good' Iraq news." Yes, that "good" again. The Beebers must be truly sad to see two mass murderers brought to justice. One BBC journalist even pronounced that the deaths might cause an intensification of anti-American violence. Wishful thinking.
....
Abolish it, I say

Dan Drezner parses a recent Financial Times headline. Check his comments section too. I have to say the FT is now such an Anti-American paper, I'm beginning to wonder if its financial reporting isn't part of the bias.

I have been remiss in not updating the Fish Pond, and just wanted to add a few folks whose URL's pop up in my sitemeter referrals, and take a few folks out who have either swum off or who have gone into hiatus exhausticus.

So, without further silliness, I present:

Armchair Generalist
No More Apples
Michael Berube
Malkin-Watch (who really oughta blogroll us, cuz we like to watch too)
President Boxer
Semidi
Why Now?

I know that I'm missing a few...speak now or forever hold yer piece until the next unschedulable update...

at todays "news conference"

"I firmly planted the flag of liberty,"

Fucking Coward.

I remember my Casualty Assistance Calls Officer training, vaguely. I was on a list of local reserve officers (SELRES) who "volunteered" to go and make the official notification to a family whose family member was killed in the line of duty. I remember the part about the Death Gratuity, money that was for the surviving Next-of-Kin to use for "immediatye expenses" following final pay reconciliation, and the arrival of the SGLI check. It always seemed that presentation of the Death Gratuity had such an air of macabre finality to it. I was always thankful I never had to be a CACO.

I see that congress wants to raise the Death Gratuity from $12,000 to $100,000. Good. I hope that's $100.000 tax-free dollars. My guess: without significant support, the 1600 Crew will find a way to let this die off. Then all the republicans who supported it can shrug their shoulder and say "we tried!". I think that if they made this retroactive (and if it passes, they should) the bill would be something like $137,000,000...One hundred thirty seven million dollars paid out to date. Maybe that might make it a number that the Millionaire-Chattering-Class-Pundits could wrap their peanut size brains around, since they always seem more interested in cost of dollar capital as opposed to human capital, in their evaluation of Beloved Leader's Fabulous Adventure.

Sadly, it would have gone up another Three and One-half Million dollars today.

Meanwhile, Wolfie licks his comb in anticipation of grandly marching into Iran.

From Bubba:

Sean Huze enlisted in the Marine Corps right after the Sept. 11 attacks and was, in his own words, "red, white and blue all the way" when he deployed to Iraq 16 months later. Unquestioning in his support of the invasion, he grew irritated when his father, a former National Guardsman, expressed doubts about the war.

Today, all that has changed. Haunted by the civilian casualties he witnessed, Corporal Huze has become one of a small but increasing number of Iraq veterans who have formed or joined groups to oppose the war or to criticize the way it is being fought.
...
A grenade tossed into Robert Acosta's Humvee in Baghdad in July 2003 left him without his right hand and shattered his legs. Mr. Acosta, 21, spent months in hospitals surrounded by other young amputees, watching news about government commissions concluding that Iraq had no unconventional weapons.

He began reading, watching the news and talking to people, especially Vietnam veterans like Mr. Origer in Santa Fe. Last summer, his girlfriend heard Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Operation Truth, speak on the radio. Mr. Acosta contacted him. By the fall, Mr. Acosta had become the organization's public face, appearing in a provocative television advertisement.

Mr. Acosta, who is attending community college in Southern California, said he hoped to bring friends from his old unit in the First Armored Division into Operation Truth as they leave the Army, because they might start to experience some of the problems he faced. For instance, he said, he once used duct tape to hold his prosthesis together because he could not get it repaired quickly at the local Veterans Affairs hospital. And people often asked about his injury.

"People would just come up to me and say, 'How'd you lose your arm?' " Mr. Acosta said. "And I'd say, 'In the war.' And they would be like, 'What war?' "

And the award goes to:

Justin Moidel, 17, who lives in the Pittsburgh area, attended the swearing-in with friends, but after venturing outside the security gates for food, the group ditched plans to return for the parade because of the angry protesters and daunting lines at the weapons check.

"I liked being part of history, and the passage of power," said Moidel, who said he considers himself a conservative Democrat. "But the long lines and being protested against. . . . There was one lady who yelled at me, 'Are you prepared to die?' I guess she thinks Bush is an aggressive leader who will get us into war."

Ah, it must be the on-going tea-parties in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that have him fooled.

Paragraphs like this from major newspapers make me fucking crazy:

But it's not just the tsunami coverage. Bloggers -- those who create the Web logs -- broke the CBS "Memogate" story involving President Bush's National Guard service.

Yeah, it a "mass mailing", but it's interesting that I got one...I guess.

From Mr. Sherri Annis' column today:

So we shouldn't take his words seriously?

The president believes in bold action to advance the cause of freedom.

Would you allow a family member to borrow this profligately?

The Congressional Budget Office is predicting the government will accumulate another $855 billion in deficits over the next decade, excluding the costs of President Bush's Social Security plan and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The report, described by a congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity, was being released today, the same day administration officials were expected to describe Bush's new request for $80 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

Once again, it's being proved that it was never "the adults in charge", rather a bunch of teenagers driving mommy's SUV and using their first credit-card with no thought of ever having to pay it off.

The Army seems to be making noises that we're in Broken Neocon FantasyLand until 2007 or possibly beyond.

The U.S. Army expects to keep its troop strength in Iraq at the current level of about 120,000 for at least two more years, according to the Army's top operations officer.

While allowing for the possibility that the levels could decrease or increase depending on security conditions and other factors, Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace Jr. told reporters yesterday that the assumption of little change through 2006 represents "the most probable case."

Army personnel have admitted to beating or threatening to kill Iraqi detainees and stealing money from Iraqi civilians but have not been charged with criminal conduct, according to newly released Army documents.

Only a handful of the 54 investigations of alleged detainee abuse and other illicit activities detailed in the documents led to recommended penalties as severe as a court-martial or discharge from military service. Most led to administrative fines or simply withered because investigators could not find victims or evidence.

A January 2004 probe, for example, found that nine soldiers in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Fort Carson, Colo., and deployed in Iraq "were possibly involved in a criminal conspiracy to rob Iraqi citizens of currency" at traffic-control points. Two members of the unit affirmed the plan in sworn statements and named its participants. But the investigation was terminated after the commander "indicated an intent to take action amounting to less than a court proceeding," the report said.
...
Another case involved a 73-year-old Iraqi woman who was captured by members of the Delta Force special unit and alleged that she was robbed of money and jewels before being confined for days without food or water -- all in an effort to force her to disclose the location of her husband and son. Delta Force's Task Force 20 was assigned to capture senior Iraqi officials.

She said she was also stripped and humiliated by a man who "straddled her . . . and attempted to ride her like a horse" before hitting her with a stick and placing it in her anus. The case, which attracted the attention of senior Iraqi officials and led to an inquiry by an unnamed member of the White House staff, was closed without a conclusion.

The military eventually released her and reimbursed her "for all property and damage" after her complaints, the report said; details of the Delta Force investigation remain classified.

And if anyone believes that it'll magically get better by next Monday, after the "elections" to appoint Allawi & Co to their prime puppet pulpits, I have some swamp land on the Euphrates to sell you...cheap.

Well, you know, when Preznit Yellow Stripe gets up there and makes enough references to that other Hairy Thunderer (mine hates the competition, y'know, tells me that other one got kicked out of the Hairy Thunderer club for being a stick in the mud at the every-other-eon Big-Bang Life Creation Competition and Rib-Fest) for his inaugural, it's no wonder that his imbecilic adherents feel empowered to begin proselytizing in amidst the ravages of the Tsunami aftermath.

A dozen Americans walked into a relief camp here, showering bereft parents and traumatized children with gifts, attention and affection. They also quietly offered camp residents something else: Jesus.

What are these nitwits thinking? Don't they get that their attempts, however well-meaning and/or self-serving are percieved as just slightly below blasphemy by some of these folks.

Geez, it used to be just the militant Muslims that were not too pleased with us, now courtesy of these Kactus Klowns we get to have militant Buddhist pissed off too. Didn't they ever watch Kung-Fu? Nothing like a pissed off monk...

Krugman:

President Bush is like a financial adviser who tells you that at the rate you're going, you won't be able to afford retirement - but that you shouldn't do anything mundane like trying to save more. Instead, you should take out a huge loan, put the money in a mutual fund run by his friends (with management fees to be determined later) and place your faith in capital gains.

Now for the most amazing thumbnail sketch of Preznit Gooey "Santorum"...

...But then I remember what Upton Sinclair wrote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Thanks, Paul!

The Duchess of Denial: well we just had to go to WAR! (stamping her little feet while massaging her butt...) because WMDs!, Saddam was vewy, vewy Baaad, WMDs!, imminent mushroom clouds over Manhattan, Flypaper!!, The Oil-for-Food Program! by the Hairy Thunderer that's it! Saddam was cheating on the UN Oil-for-Food Program and had to be invaded!!!

Given how much we know now about the deep corruption of the U.N. oil-for-food program, I'm even more relieved they are not the instrument for keeping Saddam contained. They were and would be the instrument for empowering Saddam and further impoverishing the Iraqi people. Bush was right to do what he did. And no amount of criticism of the conduct of the war will take that away.

Ooooh, now I understand. Moron.

In light of the nominations of Abu Gonzales and Ms. Integrity of Ill Repute, this article has it about right. Preznit Snot Licker loves to talk about liberty...the liberty to rape the environment, destroy Social Security, ruin our international standing for generations to come. All while denying that he's responsible for anything....but with all his talk about "liberty", he never, ever mentions Human Rights. Because that would mean that he understands reality and responsibility...two words he never learned.

Like the rights of ordinary Americans to live out the dream of the Founding Fathers, free from the fear of State Oppression and the impending New American Theocracy. Like the rights of Gays to live their lives, as they see fit and with whom they see fit. Like the rights of Muslims and other immigrants in America, who have come here seeking the promise of Lady Liberty, and not too be reviled for who they are, by the right-wing fanatics 99.9% of whose ancestors probably left their native countries one step ahead of the law, crippling poverty or persecution to settle here and now feel entitled to tell these hopeful immigrants that they are less than human for wanting to earn their spot in America.

Yeah, when your Liberty is provided by the toils and hardships of generations gone by, and your perspective is that you are owed everything for contributing nothing, then liberty is just cheap word to be used like a two-dollar hooker or Condi Rice, whichever is more convenient.

Gas prices went up 30¢ today here in Central Ohio. The republican fascist party greedmeisters no longer have to hide their willingness to commit economic rape and pillage. Their chosen one is back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to shepard in a new era of citizen-crushing corporate governance of our country.

But wait: here's an interesting note...the christo-fascist wackjobs who feel, nah fuck that, are absolutely sure that they own Beloved Leader lock, stock and testicles have already started to make not-so-subtle demands on Preznit Defective Lucky Sperm:

Dear Mr. President:

We celebrate with you this week because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. But already there is a challenge to the biblical norms that you stand for, and it comes from within your very own family. This Thursday, your two daughters, Jenna and Barbara, will appear before the earthly world in attire that cannot be described in any sense as modest.

As you know, dress and appearance are an important reflection of our Christian values. "We are what we wear," as the saying goes, and according to this edict, your own daughters, bejeweled and bedecked in garments that plunge of neckline and cling of fabric, cannot be said to reflect the deeply-held believes (sic) of the tens of millions of "values voters" who sent you back to that highest office in the land.
...
You have four years -a brief time only - to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God. Do not risk offending Him in these early days of your second term by presenting forth your own daughters as Oholah and Oholibah, who, like Jezebel, painted their eyes and decked themselves with ornaments to entice men to commit adultery with them (Ezek 23).

Of course, it's also interesting that with all the crap thrown at the wall by the warfloggers in re CBS/Rather and the typically-shitty journalism they did on the absolutely true AWOL story, no one has ever been able to tell me why Preznit Constantly Failing Upwards never got promoted past First Lieutenant. Today, the deserting little shit is sending Americans off to face horrors he studiously avoided despite the ultra-sweet deal of guarding south Texas from the VC. Making 0-3 in every branch of the service is a pretty simple affair, and usually automatic for a rated aviator...unless of course you're a complete fuckwit waste of a human being. Gee, who might that describe? Funny how the swiftshits never, ever could come up with an answer for that. It saddens me that many, many honorable men (well, not any more) bought into and backed that steaming pile of swiftshit dogshit for partisan ideological reasons. They proved that they'll support a chickenshit buttwipe for no other reason than pure partisan hackery. How sad. In other times, they would not have given the drunken, coked-up worm the time of day or the sweat off their balls...now they're whores of the worst kind. And they own part of the decline of America, something they fought for...

School boards are pushing that most specious explanation for the origin of the species..."Intelligent Design". More of the agenda of the christo-fascists. Hey, for every religious organization that gets federal dollars, how about they have to let us come and teach Darwin in sunday school? That's some equal time...and it works for me.

So it goes.

1,458 and a wake up. If it wasn't so fucking long, I'd make a short-timers chain...

From the boys at Pandagon doing the iPod shuffle, here's my iList of the first 10 on shuffle from my main playlist.

Pink Houses - John Mellencamp
Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh
Wavelength - Van Morrison
Scar Tissue - Chili Peppers
I am Yours - Derek and the Dominos
She's the One - Springsteen
Green Book - Steely Dan
Fire in the Hole - Steely Dan
Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin

That silly iPod was the best anniversary present I ever got. Yeah, yeah so it's mostly "classic rock", shoot me.

Huygens went to Titan. A stunning achievement. I can hardly wait for the color picture to be released tomorrow (Saturday) morning. The pictures so far are impressive, as is the fact that the little interplanetary voyager crossed so many millions of miles and kept on sending data long after landing, an unexpected bonus.

A European spacecraft plunged through the murky atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan today and successfully came to rest on a bizarre landscape of mystery never before explored.

Astronomers expressed joy at achieving the first landing on another planet's moon, particularly Titan, the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.
...
From the early evidence of radio signals and the first engineering and scientific data, Huygens entered the dense atmosphere on time, about 11:13 a.m., and on target with all science instruments working and gathering observations all the way down. The landing apparently occurred about 1:30 p.m. But the craft's radio signal persisted well after engineers had predicted its batteries would die.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the Huygens mission manager, was surprised by the persistence of the signal for more than five hours, longer than expected and the first clear indication that the craft had landed intact. These signals were more like a simple dial tone than a message of scientific data.

The nature of the landing site was not immediately known, pending analysis of pictures. Some of the best color pictures, processed to enhance detail, are expected to be made public Saturday morning. But a scientist said that the long-lived radio signal could rule out a touchdown in the hypothesized lakes of methane and ethane because the craft might have sunk in liquid. So Huygens, scientists said, may have set down on a solid plane of ice or a stretch of gooey tars.
...
The challenge now is for scientists to take the results of one ride through Titan's atmosphere - "this grand descent into the unknown" in Dr. Southwood's words - and pictures of its surface and see if the moon of Saturn is, as often speculated, a time machine of planetary life. Is its hydrocarbon chemistry indeed similar to conditions that may well have existed on Earth in the early solar system? If so, what does that reveal about the chemistry of the origin of life?

With the advent of yahoos like this taking over the 1600 Crew, it's likely to be the last ambitious piece of exploration taken on in the near future...after all, we wouldn't want them to you know, find anything that might support extra-terrestrial causations for evolution and the origins of life. That might be...blasphemous or something.

Convicted sadist SPC Charles Graner, who almost singlehandedly, was stupid enough to carry out the orders from Abu Gonzales and get photographed doing it is possibly facing 15 years in prison. The jury came back in about five hours and offloaded a carload of military justice whoopass on Graner.

An Army Reservist was convicted by a military jury here today for his role as the ringleader in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. faces up to 15 years in prison as a result of his conviction in the scandal that erupted last year after Army investigators were given pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners in sexually humiliating positions.
...
Earlier today in the closing arguments, the prosecutor in the case told jurors that Specialist Graner abused the prisoners only to hurt or degrade them, and not for interrogation purposes or because they posed any threat.

Capt. Chris Graveline said the detainees had been "handcuffed and defenseless," in some cases wounded.

"There is no justification; it's for sport, it's for laughs," he said.

"Fortunately," he said, "the accused does not have the final word on the abuses at Abu Ghraib." That, he said, would come from the jury's verdict.

"It will speak volumes to the accused, it will speak volumes to our Army, it will speak volumes to our country, it will speak volumes to the world," Capt. Graveline concluded. "The true word to the abuses at Abu Ghraib is 'guilty.' "

If Graner were sharing a cell with Gonzales, think they could talk about interrogation techniques to pass the time? And would Gonzales have to give back all his awards from his exemplary career in public services? It would mean that Mrs. Abu G would not have to get the maid to polish that thingy from the Ford Dealers anymore....

You know, Gomer Graner and soon-to-be-tried Lyndee Englund, his Paramour o' Pain are expecting a child. I wonder what happens there...poor kid.

via Kos, this article in the Telegraph about US Soldiers in Canada:

American Army soldiers are deserting and fleeing to Canada rather than fight in Iraq, rekindling memories of the thousands of draft-dodgers who flooded north to avoid service in Vietnam.

An estimated 5,500 men and women have deserted since the invasion of Iraq, reflecting Washington's growing problems with troop morale.
...
The United States Army treats deserters as common criminals, posting them on "wanted" lists with the FBI, state police forces and the Department of Home Security border patrols.

Hinzman said last week: "This is a criminal war and any act of violence in an unjustified conflict is an atrocity. I signed a contract for four years, and I was totally willing to fulfil it. Just not in combat arms jobs."

Hinzman, who served as a cook in Afghanistan, was due to join a fighting unit in Iraq after being refused status as a conscientious objector.
...
Pte Brandon Hughey, 19, who deserted from the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, said that he had volunteered because the army offered to pay his college fees. He began training soon after the invasion of Iraq but became disillusioned when no weapons of mass destruction were found.

"I had been willing to die to make America safe," he said. "I found out, basically, that they found no weapons of mass destruction and the claim that they made about ties to al-Qaeda was coming up short. It made me angry. I felt our lives as soldiers were being thrown away."

I've said it before and will say it again, going UA is never the right choice. Hey folks, isn't it interesting that this came from a British source? It's that steady diet of Happy Faxes from Unka Karl that keeps the Millionaire Pundits sated.

And the $240,000 checks.

Andrew discovers:

The trouble with this president is - how do I put it? - he's lying.

Nah, there's no oral sex involved...or white trash from the local trailer park.

Hate to say I told you so:

Report Says Iraq Is New Terrorist Training Ground

In a major new study, the CIA's National Intelligence Council says Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, officials at the CIA director's intelligence think-tank said today.

From today's Putzie Kurtz column...almost a public service, a quote from John Kass (scroll down) of the Chicago Tribune:

"There's an argument to be made that Dan Rather should have been fired as the ax fell on other CBS employees for the phony story on President Bush's National Guard service. It ran just before the election, not as honestly biased commentary but as an allegedly neutral report that was actually a political hit piece and based on phony documents."

I guess that Fearless Leader really did show up for all those drills and was never reprimanded or grounded. Silly me, for ever believing Beloved Noble Warrior did not keep his oath or that he acted the part of a drunken, irresponsible, coked-up draft-dodging frat-boy. My, my, how entirely wrong of me. I really got it wrong.

I guess any talk of some anonymous young Texan getting his ass shot off in a distant jungle, so that Most Beloved Son could play water polo with ambitious secretaries is also just more left-wing crazy talk too.

The millionaire pundit chattering-class is all for it. The investment houses and big stockholders are all for it. What? Why the latest rob-the-poor and feed-the-rich scheme being propagated by the 1600 Crew. Just today Dick. Cheney. aka Darth Scandalous proclaimed the net present value of The Destruction of the Social Safety Net: it's wonderful, and it's less filling too and costs you almost nothing. Returns not guaranteed by anyone!!

Vice President Dick Cheney took on critics of the Bush administration's Social Security overhaul plans Thursday, arguing that channeling part of workers' salaries into the stock market would yield bigger retirement nest eggs and help pull many Americans out of poverty.

"Young workers who elect personal accounts can expect to receive a far higher rate of return on their money than the current system could ever afford to pay them," Cheney told an audience of college students and administrators at The Catholic University of America.

Then there's this Gem:

"Many low-income workers who have nothing to spare after taxes would have a chance to begin saving for their later years," the vice president said.

What the 1600 Crew is doing is selling the most ambitious multi-level marketing scheme ever backed by any federal government. Everyone will be in charge of selling it to their heirs, and the profits will all go to those already invested in the system who have nothing to lose.

Well, after having been nominated as the token leftie in the wiz-bang awards late last year, I've been accorded another nomination this year in the Koufax awards, in the "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition" category. The competition is pretty intense; I'm up against the likes of The Talking Dog, Dohiyi Mir, Alicublog and Bartcop (!?!)...just to name a few.

Anyhow, it's an honor to be nominated...and as always, we'd appreciate your vote!

Well, this pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley.
...
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials asserted before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, had chemical and biological weapons, and maintained links to al Qaeda affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States.

Bush has expressed disappointment that no weapons or weapons programs were found, but the White House has been reluctant to call off the hunt, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are well hidden somewhere inside the country. But the intelligence official said that possibility is very small.

Now, what was all that bullshit about "honor and dignity" again?

Linked out of comments. I'm getting my wristband today. Pass it on.

What Does Blue Mean to You?

Blue is for freedom;
Blue is for equality;
Blue means everyone should vote and every vote should count;
Blue is for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Americans;
Blue is for our Soldiers, Sailors, Pilots and Marines;
I am blue because I don't want my children burdened with debt;
I am blue because I want clean air to breathe and water to drink;
I am blue and I am not alone;
I am blue because I love my country;
…how BLUE are you?

As the ordination of Abu Gonzales draws seemingly closer, it's interesting that no one is pointing out anywhere the fact that Gonzales, THE candidate for the top law enforcement position in the US, has no LAW ENFORCEMENT experience. He's a corporate attorney, who worked for Enron's law firm. Period. He's won (?) zillions of Golly Gosh-Feel Good-You Donated/Raised Money alumni/civic association awards for being America's Most Visible and Least Qualified Harvard Law Alumnus. He spent two years or less on the Texas Supreme Court, appointed by none other than Preznit Incredibly Irrational so he could have "Judge" attached to his name in perpetuity.

Even Ashcroft was a prosecutor/State Attorney General at some point I believe.

Attorney General of Missouri, 1976-1985
Assistant Attorney General of Missouri, 1975-1976

Gonzales has not a whit of experience as either a member of the prosecutorial or defense bar. It should come as no surprise that the memos he wrote for Preznit Texecution were so flawed; Gonzales lacked and still lacks the critical thinking and aptitude for behaving like a guy who can ask meaningful questions to enforce the law or run an investigation. Look how well he "investigated" Kerik. What a masterful job of getting any facts, much less the correct ones.

Why are some of the senators who have vast experience as prosecutors on both sides of the aisle allowing this sham of an attorney and human being to be presented as the face of law enforcement in this country? Will one Senator please ask Gonzales to explain some piece of the criminal code he's been nominated to enforce? Or even see if he knows what the elements of an actual indictable offense like say, money laundering are? Is that too much to ask? Or maybe something easy, like what does RICO stand for and how does it work?

Ashcroft may have been a dunce, guided too heavily by his personal beliefs and outright party hackery, but Abu Gonzales is literally an unqualifed disaster waiting to happen.

...received the Hispanic Salute Award in 1989 from the Houston Metro Ford Dealers for his work in the field of education.

Filibuster him. Now.

John Bolton, long a leading figure in the NeoCon foreign lack-of-policy apparatus is apparently departing State in a snit over not being selected for a job where he could embarrass America even more than he does now. Bye, John. Don't have a portal-gluteus maximus collision on the way to your next Beltway Bandit gig.

The bad news: Danielle Pletka. Another Chickenhawk with a big mouth and a fundamental misunderstanding of both the constitution and what freedom of speech is all about.

Danielle Pletka, acting on behalf of the Bush/Cheney campaign, had this to say about the bin Laden tape
on CNN, “I'm glad to know that Michael Moore is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

From the Actions Speak Louder Than Words Department:

The AWCB's in charge of the House Criminals have decided to boot Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) from the chairmanship of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Why? Seems that Rep. Smith actually wanted to help Vets.

Smith, his tie loosened and his face grim after Wednesday evening's leadership meeting, was resigned to ceding control of a committee on which he guided many laws that increased GI benefits, improved veterans' health care and fattened their pensions and survivors' payments.

"I poured my soul into this," said Smith, 51, a Mercer County Republican who won a 13th term in November. "I will emerge stronger. I fought on principle and conviction that we never leave any veteran behind."
...
Veterans groups, including the American Legion, lobbied House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other lawmakers to keep Smith, saying he was a valuable ally to the nation's 26 million veterans. But their efforts failed to sway House leaders who have been rankled by his complaints that GOP budgets were too stingy on veterans' programs.
...
Though his anti-abortion views meshed with GOP conservatives who control the House, Smith was not afraid to depart from his party on pivotal issues. He was the first Republican to back the creation of the Sept. 11 commission over the objections of President Bush and other Republican leaders.

Smith voted with fellow Republicans 77 percent of the time last year, compared with Buyer's 96 percent.

Loyalty to Vets? Nah.