Open thread

Disco Saturday night Read More......

Iraq gets new government. 24 dead.

Well, that changed everything. Read More......

Here's an anti-Republican political ad just waiting to happen

AP

"We have an entire generation who imagines their member of Congress in an orange jumpsuit," said Paul Light, a New York University professor of public service, referring to the common prison uniform. "It's like members of Congress don't have any shame."

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Open thread

No comment. Read More......

Fatal shooting at US-Mexico border

It's begun. Read More......

Bush increasingly going after private data about US citizens

Anbody who thinks their gun records are safe is nuts. You are the first people whose records the Bush administration has most assuredly reviewed and held, illegally, because you bought a gun. Think about it.

More from the WSJ. Read More......

O'Reilly threatens Mexicans

You know, when a community can turn out literally millions of people across the country in a flash, you really don't want to be the one throwing the threats. O'Reilly wants to start talking about boycotting Mexico? I think he'd be surprised to see the results of a Latin boycott of America, including all the folksk already in this country who decide to take a week off of work. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

We have a lot to talk about. Lieberman is in trouble...remember back in 2000, Joe would NOT get tough against the GOP...either during the campaign or during the recount. It's clear now that Joe wouldn't attack his fellow Republicans. Let's see how ugly he gets against Lamont...or if he even stays in the Democratic party. Read More......

Bush admin. fails at security by land, sea and air

By land, Bush spent the last couple weeks telling the world that America's borders aren't secure. He blasts the media over the articles about domestic spying while he hasn't done the most basic job of securing our borders. Apparently, terrorists read articles in USA Today and the New York Times about domestic spying, but don't watch Presidential addresses where he announces that we have porous borders.

By sea, the Coast Guard does "surprise" inspections that aren't a surprise, because money rules over security again:

Under intense pressure from shipping companies concerned about costly delays, the Coast Guard is tipping off some large commercial ships about security searches that had been a surprise, according to high-ranking Coast Guard officials.

The searches began after the Sept. 11 attacks as part of a major revamping of the Coast Guard and its new antiterrorism mission. But shipping companies say the surprise boardings at sea cause unnecessary delays, costing up to $40,000 an hour.

By air, the anonymous federal air marshals -- anonymity being key to their success -- aren't so anonymous:

More needs to be done to ensure the anonymity of federal air marshals, says a critical new report Congress will look into next week.

The draft report, "Plane Clothes: Lack of Anonymity at the Federal Air Marshal Service Compromises Aviation and National Security," cites the service's dress code, which is supposed to prevent marshals from drawing attention to themselves.

In practice, the report found, "many federal air marshals indicate that the dress code actually draws more attention to the identity of the federal air marshals because of its rigid requirements that prevent federal air marshals from actually blending in with their surroundings."

National security was nothing more than a political issue for Bush. That's never been more clear. Read More......

A cat's life

Tough day at the office. Read More......

It's official: Columbus buried in Spain

But of course, that's not to say the bones in the Dominican Republic aren't his as well. The debate continues.

A forensic team led by Spanish geneticist Jose Antonio Lorente compared DNA from bones buried in a cathedral in Seville with DNA from remains known to be from Columbus' brother, Diego, who also is buried in the southern Spanish city.

"There is absolute matchup between the mitochondrial DNA we have studied from Columbus' brother and Christopher Columbus," Castro said in a telephone interview.

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Ethnic cleansing taking over Iraq

Dear Leader and his cronies couldn't see any of this coming and now they can't do anything to stop it. What a mess and to think this same group of incompetents are charging towards war with neighboring Iran. Isn't it interesting that we no longer hear about how Iraq is just like post-WWII Germany? Now the talk is more related to Bosnia. Mission Accomplished?

The state of Iraq now resembles Bosnia at the height of the fighting in the 1990s when each community fled to places where its members were a majority and were able to defend themselves. "Be gone by evening prayers or we will kill you," warned one of four men who called at the house of Leila Mohammed, a pregnant mother of three children in the city of Baquba, in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad. He offered chocolate to one of her children to try to find out the names of the men in the family.

Mrs Mohammed is a Kurd and a Shia in Baquba, which has a majority of Sunni Arabs. Her husband, Ahmed, who traded fruit in the local market, said: "They threatened the Kurds and the Shia and told them to get out. Later I went back to try to get our furniture but there was too much shooting and I was trapped in our house. I came away with nothing." He and his wife now live with nine other relatives in a three-room hovel in Khanaqin.

The same pattern of intimidation, flight and death is being repeated in mixed provinces all over Iraq. By now Iraqis do not have to be reminded of the consequences of ignoring threats.

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New court documents in the Scooter Libby case

I'm not sure if these are or aren't of journalistic interest, I'm just rather amazed that source for them is the Patrick Fitzgerald blog, a spoof blog. Seems the spoof isn't so spoofy after all.

These are the two latest briefs, back and forth, dated yesterday with regards to Libby trying to compel evidence from a variety of high profile witnesses. Check 'em out and perhaps someone wiser than me can figure out if there are any gems hidden in here. (These are pdf files.)

Fitzgerald's brief

Libby's brief Read More......

GOP House seats are increasingly in trouble

Washington Post:

Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of a political newsletter, now has 42 Republican districts, including Drake's, on his list of competitive races. Last September, he had 26 competitive GOP districts, and Drake's wasn't on the list. "That's a pretty significant increase," he said. "The national atmospherics are making long shots suddenly less long."

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