CNN.com - AP: Former DeLay aide pleads guilty to fraud charges - Mar 31, 2006

I have to wonder: Is DeLay that naive or is he in on it? Somehow it's hard to believe a man whose nickname is "The Hammer" is naive.

CNN.com - AP: Former DeLay aide pleads guilty to fraud charges - Mar 31, 2006:

"Rudy was referred to in earlier court papers released in connection with Abramoff's plea. The documents referred to Rudy as Staffer A, and said that Abramoff, on behalf of clients who wanted to stop Internet gambling and postal rate legislation, paid $50,000 in 10 equal monthly payments beginning in June 2000 to Rudy's wife while Rudy was a top aide to DeLay.

The Abramoff court papers allege no wrongdoing by DeLay, and his attorney, Richard Cullen, said the former House Majority Leader 'expects his current staffers and expected his former staffers to adhere to the highest ethical standards.'"

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times

Why am I not surprised that there is no denial?

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times:

"The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was 'unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups.' Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein."

Boy, was he wrong about "internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" being unlikely. I'm glad I'm not a U.S. Senator (of either party).

A book I think I'll read.

A Case of Deficit Thinking: "'Impostor' is not a bad book. It's a fairly devastating indictment of the current administration's economic policies from a conservative-to-libertarian perspective, and although there's little in it that will surprise anyone who follows politics relatively closely, Bartlett does add interest by quoting almost exclusively from conservative journalists and pundits to make his case. A syndicated columnist who worked in the White House under Ronald Reagan and in the Treasury Department during George H.W. Bush's term, Bartlett knows this territory well. (Too well, in the eyes of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based conservative think tank that fired him for writing 'Impostor.')"

FSM word is still spreading!

USATODAY.com - 'Spaghetti Monster' is noodling around with faith: "Will its revelations — that pirates control global warming, that there's a beer volcano in heaven, and that superstition trumps science every time — overwhelm religious belief for all mankind?"

A Website for MP

The Grouchy Grammarian: Thomas Parrish: "# Do you commit apostrophe atrocities?
# Are you tormented by the lie/lay conundrum?
# Do you find yourself stuck between floaters and danglers?
# Do your subjects and your verbs refuse to agree?"

More incomepetence and misplaced priorities

Miscue enables 15 illegals to go free - Nation/Politics - insider.washingtontimes.com: "DENVER -- When a Colorado state trooper pulled over a van crammed with 15 illegal aliens headed for Iowa City, it looked like their plans to visit the Hawkeye State had come to a screeching halt.
Instead, Trooper John Lopez released the van and its occupants after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent told the Colorado State Patrol that he didn't have the staff to detain the admitted illegal aliens. "

Another reason not to live in Florida

CNN.com - The alligator who came to call - Mar 24, 2006: "French said it's not unusual to find male alligators in some pretty interesting places this time of year.

'You're starting into what's called the crawl season, the breeding season,' he said. 'We get them out of front porches, out of garages, out of swimming pools.'"

Can these guys do anything right?

They try to control the propaganda, but:

From CNN
Has the Bush administration been effective in handling public relations on efforts in Iraq?

Yes:   9%     9,430 votes
No:    91%   96,851 votes
-------------------------
Total:      106,281 votes

This QuickVote is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole.

Rumsfeld: This is the best person in the U.S. to run the Pentagon?

CNN.com - Rumsfeld's Iraq-Germany analogy disputed - Mar 19, 2006:

"'That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history,' he said. 'There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn't know history or he's simply demagoguing.'"

This is so sad. This is the best person in the U.S. to run the Pentagon?

CNN.com - 'How William Shatner Changed the World' - Mar 16, 2006

CNN.com - 'How William Shatner Changed the World' - Mar 16, 2006

Bush popularity must really be low - Jessica Simpson snubs Bush - Mar 15, 2006

CNN.com - Jessica Simpson snubs Bush - Mar 15, 2006

"LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with President Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed."

Missing White Women Syndrome

I'm amazed it has taken this long for me to see an article on this subject in the mainstream media. What a shame.

CNN.com - Anderson Cooper 360° Blog: "When pretty, young women -- especially white ones -- are killed or disappear, media storms often follow. There is no polite way to say it, and it is a fact of television news. Media and social critics call the wall-to-wall coverage that seems to swirl around these events, 'Missing White Woman Syndrome.'"

Is there any competence? Judge Unexpectedly Halts Moussaoui Trial

WTOP: Judge Unexpectedly Halts Moussaoui Trial: "ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - An angry federal judge unexpectedly recessed the sentencing trial of confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui on Monday to consider whether government violations of her rules against coaching witnesses should remove the death penalty as an option."

So we're supposed to believe this guy now?

CNN.com - Chertoff: Bird flu possible in U.S. within months - Mar 9, 2006

Bird Flu moving into mamals faster than I thought it would

WTOP: Bird Flu Found in Weasel-Like Mammal: "Bird Flu"

Automatic Flush Toilets

I had not thought of this before, but Nick has a point. I still like the automatic flush urinals, though

The Crappiest Invention of All Time - Why the auto-flushing toilet must die. By Nick Schulz

Thanks to Mark Brice for this one.

Iraqi Tribes Strike Back at Insurgents

Good news in Iraq. Stange that only the Washington Post has this story.

Iraqi Tribes Strike Back at Insurgents: "Tribal chiefs in Iraq's western Anbar province and in an area near the northern city of Kirkuk, two regions teeming with insurgents, are vowing to strike back at al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni Arab-led group that is waging war against Sunni tribal leaders who are cooperating with the Iraqi government and the U.S. military. Anbar tribes have formed a militia that has killed 20 insurgents from al-Qaeda in Iraq, leaders said."

Resgistration required to access the full article.

WTOP: Video Shows Bush Warned Before Katrina Hit

This is somehow more disturbing than my early assumption that Bush was ignorant of the situation. Ignorance can be forgiven, but stupidity cannot.

"My gut tells me ... this is a bad one and a big one," then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

The president didn't ask a single question during the briefing but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

WTOP: Video Shows Bush Warned Before Katrina Hit

Americans and Jews villains in blockbuster

Kenan Kolat, the head of Germany's Turkish community insisted that a ban on the film would make matters worse. "If it is withdrawn, it will raise levels of identification with the film," he said. "A democracy must be able to endure films that it doesn't approve of." Alin Sahin, the film's distributor in Germany argued: "When a cartoonist insults two billion Muslims, it is considered freedom of opinion, but when an action film takes on the Americans, it is considered demagoguery. Something is wrong."

Americans and Jews villains in blockbuster�-�World�-�insider.washingtontimes.com