Good news for HIV/AIDS sufferers:


THE search for an Aids vaccine took an important step forward yesterday when scientists said that they had mapped the structure of an antibody that can neutralise the virus.
Research in the United States has revealed why an immune molecule called 2G12, first isolated from an Aids patient a decade ago, binds to HIV and prevents it from infecting human cells.

Ann Coulter can be really abrasive, but she cracks me up:

Unless we fight for proper treatment of history and counter the nonsense images of McCarthy, no history can be safe from the liberal noise machine. Someday, school children will be taught that all of America cringed with terror at Ken Starr, whose evil designs on the nation were frustrated only through the sacrifice of brave liberals. People will have vivid images of the pounding boots of Starr's subpoena-servers and the Gestapo-like wails of alarms as Ken Starr arrived to kick in the doors of innocent Americans and storm through their bedrooms. It will be the Reign of Terror under Ken Starr.

Bill Clinton will be revered in high school history books as the George Washington of his day who, along with patriots Larry Flynt and James Carville, "saved the Constitution." He will be honored with a memorial larger than the Washington Monument (though probably with the same general design).

Keep an eye on your Toro:

Police in Charlotte are warning residents about several lawn mower thefts.

At least six lawn mowers have been stolen in the Charlotte area within the same day.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Zeru Chickoree says lawn mowers are easy targets because they're easy to steal and easy to pawn.


Authorities say to protect yourself by knowing the serial number on your lawn mower.

Person number one who should burn in hell:

A jury took less than an hour Thursday to convict a former nurse's aide of murder for hitting a homeless man with her car, driving home with his mangled body jammed in the windshield and leaving him to die in her garage.

Chante Jawan Mallard, 27, looked down and cried silently as the judge read the verdict, which could bring a life sentence.

Later Thursday, at her sentencing hearing, Mallard tearfully testified that she was scared when she hit Gregory Biggs after a night of drinking, smoking pot and taking Ecstasy.

"I couldn't think," she said.

Obviously. Person #2:

An Oklahoma County jury recommended late Wednesday that convicted murderer Charles Frederick Warner should die for killing an 11- month-old baby after raping her in 1997.
The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for more than eight hours. Formal sentencing is set for July 17.

On Monday night, jurors convicted Warner of first- degree murder and first-degree rape for the Aug. 22, 1997, killing of Adriana Waller, his live- in girlfriend's daughter.

Jurors recommended a 75- year prison sentence on the rape conviction. They had the option to decide whether he should die by lethal injection or be sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole on the murder conviction.

He was convicted earlier of raping and killing Adriana. Warner, 36, has been on death row since 1999 for Adriana's death. He also was sentenced to prison for 999 years for raping her.

I hope you get the special Satan room with John Wayne Gacy and Mohammed Atta.

The land of Mugabe pulls a Harry Belafonte:

A Zimbabwe government minister has denounced U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as a sell-out for urging southern Africa to increase pressure on President Robert Mugabe to hand over power to a transitional government.

I bet they think he's a "house negro" too.

The Dems in Jersey (at least northwest Jersey) are in melt down mode because a candidate posed in a nude photo contest. The candidate has the line of the campaign:

County Democratic officials want a state Senate candidate to quit the race over a nude photo contest he entered, but Jim Morrison says he's in to stay.

"If people want to know about it, they should know I won the contest," the 32-year-old attorney said.

Hail to the Lizard King

Tim Blair is a tad frustrated:

It’s usually little trouble to locate a counter-stereotype; a black nerd, say, or a spendthrift Scot. A lazy Chinese student. A polite English shop assistant. A charismatic Belgian, a warlike Frenchman, a quiet Italian - they’re all out there.


But can someone please find me a leftist with a fucking working sense of humour and direct this unique being to my comment boards? The current lefty voices here are almost parodies of the modern “don’t run with scissors” socialist.

Go read it all.

Things were looking scary for a while yesterday. Lileks was on the edge of...what?

But the world is a bit brighter today. Throw a few shekels in his pay pal, He's worth every one.

I have no issues with the Supreme Courts decision to strike down sodomy laws. I think every time some Evangelical Christian rails against gays, the party is diminished. That said, I have no problems with same-sex unions. I wouldn't call them marriages though.

To make same sex unions fair, the same laws that apply to married heterosexual couples must apply. If benefits are enjoyed, such as insurance coverage and survivors benefits, the converse must apply. If a same-sex union ends in divorce, just as a hetero one, alimony and child support must be part of the equation.

The Democrats are starting to distance themselves from that loon Howard Dean:

Even Dean's foreign policy views, which do set him apart from Gephardt, Kerry, John Edwards, and Joe Lieberman, aren't that radical. At Sunday's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition forum, Dean said of left-wing candidate Dennis Kucinich, "I don't agree with Dennis about cutting the Pentagon budget when we're in the middle of difficulty with terror attacks." On Meet the Press, Dean gave a perfectly presentable defense of his stated uncertainty that ousting Saddam Hussein was a good thing: "If we can't get our act together in Iraq, and if we can't build Iraq into a democracy, then the alternative is chaos or a fundamentalist regime. That is certainly not a safer situation for the United States." Russert ended up wondering whether Dean had a sufficient "sense of the military." I wonder, too. But mostly, I wonder what the hell that means, and whether it's enough of a basis to label somebody the next George McGovern.

I hope it's Kerry.

I do believe that Gray Davis will quit before letting a Republican have a shot, but you never know:

Prominent California Democrats are pressing to get Gov. Gray Davis to resign rather than face a recall that may replace him with a Republican governor in a special October election.

Oakland Mayor (and former California governor) Jerry Brown, in Washington this past week, speculated that Davis could instantly destroy the recall movement by resigning. That would elevate Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to the governorship. Sen. Barbara Boxer has sketched the same scenario in private conversations with fellow Democrats.

These Democrats express skepticism that Davis would voluntarily surrender the prize that he sought his entire political life. Nevertheless, he could derail the recall at any time prior to the actual balloting by just quitting.

Damn, you know your political aspirations have hit a wall when Jerry Brown has given up on you.

The Michigan Affirmative Action case and the Supreme Courts rulings have people riled up. Here's a poll showing that people mostly agree with W's stance:

The distinction is in line with the one drawn by President Bush, whose administration earlier this month filed legal briefs opposing affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan, saying they rely on unconstitutional racial quotas.
While the majority in this poll share Bush's view, that's not so among one important subgroup — black Americans, a majority of whom support preference-based programs, and whose support for those programs has grown in the last two years.

The whole idea of quota's is plain wrong. By giving people preference solely based on skin color is against the spirit of the 14th amendent:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

As someone who is not a lawyer but a citizen, it seems clear to me, by offering preferences to Hispanics and Blacks, but not Asians, Whites is constitutionallt illegal. By throwing out the point system the Supreme Court split the difference without really moving things too much in any direction.

Eric Olsen has a nice piece on Warren Zevon:

Warren Zevon, among rock’s most distinctive, enduring and disturbing singer-songwriters, has spent his life wrestling with the angels of creativity and compassion and with the demons of self-abuse and cynicism. Now, at 56, Zevon is dying of cancer. He has responded to his “impending doom” — his term — with courage, humor, humility and a stunning new album, “The Wind.” It is at once a summation of Zevon’s career and a life-affirming celebration of the joys of music-making.

I was late in discovering the excellent songwriting abilities of Zevon. Sure I listened to his music throughout the 70's and 80's when it was played on the radio, but I never took it farther than that. I was listening to other things. I think several factors led me to this "discovery" of what a great writer he was. Hearing he was dying and the thoughts of people who have enjoyed him piqued my interest. Hearing Imus play the Adam Duritz version of Carmalita probably got me more interested. But thinking back to hearing Lawyers, Guns, and Money on WMMR has had the most impact on me starting to hear what he is, and was, saying.

Leonard Pitts writes about Conservative Christians and AIDS with little checked venom:

Christ, after all, had compassion for tax collectors, adulterers, prostitutes, lepers. He famously walked with the disregarded, the dispossessed and the despised. But these days, many would-be Christians walk by them instead. "Love the sinner, hate the sin," they chirp.

Even if you buy that dubious formulation, it's hard to see evidence of love in their decision to ignore a deadly pandemic. Some evangelical Christians even employ God to justify their callousness, arguing that AIDS is a divine curse upon gay people. Somehow, they never get around to explaining how the "curse" managed to strike people like 13-year-old Ryan White, whose only sin was to be a hemophiliac in need of a blood transfusion.

Was God's aim that bad?

Bob Geldof who has been involved in Africa and the ills they face there said it better than I ever could:

Bob Geldof astonished the aid community yesterday by using a return visit to Ethiopia to praise the Bush administration as one of Africa's best friends in its fight against hunger and Aids.
The musician-turned activist said Washington was providing major assistance, in contrast to the European Union's "pathetic and appalling" response to the continent's humanitarian crises.

"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical - in a positive sense - in its approach to Africa since Kennedy," Geldof told the Guardian.

The neo-conservatives and religious rightwingers who surrounded President George Bush were proving unexpectedly receptive to appeals for help, he said. "You can get the weirdest politicians on your side."

Former president Bill Clinton had not helped Africa much, despite his high-profile visits and apparent empathy with the downtrodden, the organiser of Live Aid, claimed. "Clinton was a good guy, but he did fuck all."

And just to prove Bob's point, the Euros couldn't even come close to the money that President Bush allocated to fight HIV in Africa;

Tony Blair conceded today that a European Union donation to help fight Aids, TB and malaria would fall short of the $1bn (£600m) pledged by the United States.
The prime minister had made a joint call with French president Jacques Chirac for the EU to match America's commitment to the UN's Global Health Fund, set up to fight the three killer diseases.

But speaking at the EU summit in Greece, he said the smaller of the 15 existing EU members and 10 countries joining next year were not prepared to commit the money for 2004 because of "budget problems".

Rock stars Bono and Sir Bob Geldof, who are behind Data, an organisation that campaigns on issues affecting Africa, have called for the EU to met (sic) the US pledge.

This woman sums it up best:

Lucy Matthew, director of Data Europe, said: "Europe's leaders don't want America to dictate the world's agenda, but they're unwilling to pay the price of leadership themselves on this. They can't accept the sheer gravity of the Aids emergency because collectively they don't want to pay the bill.

So, getting back to Pitt's column, who is puttin' up and who is shuttin' up, Len?

Rudy takes a swipe at the European attitude toward anti-semitism:

Mr Giuliani told delegates to take concrete steps to stamp out violence against Jews, including keeping statistics on hate crimes, identifying problems early on and comparing performances between countries.

In a message read to the conference, US President George W Bush urged countries to "ensure that anti-Semitism is excluded from school text books, official statements, official television programming and official publications".

Last month, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre said attacks on Jews had reached the highest level since World War II.

As well as physical attacks on Jews, many countries have reported vandalism of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries,


It's about friggin' time. The only way to stamp out continental European anti-semitism is to expose it to the world and shame the hell out of the various governments that turn a blind eye.

Drudge has a sneak peek at the new Ann Coulter book. I'd love to see her knock off Hillary:

We should, of course, be duly grateful to other American presidents for their feeble and impotent public statements in opposition to Soviet expansionism -- except Jimmy Carter, who was not remotely opposed to Soviet expansionism.

Still, the Soviet Union could have stumbled along for a few more decades, waiting out the Reagan administration and hoping for a Democrat president to come in and help the Soviets restore their hegemony. But Reagan wasn’t going to let the USSR outlast him.

The Soviets were terrified of Star Wars -- a terror that was palpable on the editorial pages of the New York Times.

If you were setting a half-bright trap to collect a half-bright menagerie, you couldn’t do better than saying “Reagan won the Cold War” and waiting to see who argues with you. It’s the intellectual equivalent of a box, a stick and a piece of cheese.

In the world of conservative commentary, Coulter is the hammer. Start a blog Ann.

Update: She already did top Hillary in one respect.

Juan Gato has a take on one of the more horrific crimes to occur in my neck of the woods in some time:

According to police, Sweeney's girlfriend lured him to a vacant gravel path by the Delaware River (search) where three teenage boys were waiting. They attacked Sweeney with a hammer and hatchet until his heart stopped, authorities said.

The four teens — after a group hug — then robbed the victim, dividing up the $500 that Sweeney had earned at his construction job and went on a drug binge, police said.

"We took Sweeney's wallet and split up the money, and we partied beyond redemption," Dominic Coia, 18, told detectives, according to a transcript of his June 3 confession.

Beyond redemption. No truer words have been spoken. The one parent claims her kid only did it because the brothers made him, the girl to me is just evil. I hope they rot for fifty years each but they'll be out in 10.

Stephen Green is back and whacking the bejesus outta Hillary.

The French want to lead the EU. I hope this is not a vision of things to come:

A Paris court last night halted publication of a book by a former investigating magistrate that claims France is institutionally corrupt.

The book by Eva Joly, who uncovered political and financial corruption at the Elf oil company, is the first by a judge to have been blocked by the French courts.

The court ruled that publication of Is This The World We Want To Live In? might prejudice the trial of former Elf executives, now in its third month, which has already revealed the extent of political and financial corruption in France.

Censorship and corruption. The EU that the French envision as a balance to US power is off to a roaring start.

Via porphyrogenitus

This is so inane that I debated whether I'd even link to it, but here goes:

“If we look at history, we find that in time, humanity's love of peace, justice and freedom always triumphs over cruelty and oppression….”
The 14th Dalai Lama

“The Truth shall set you free.”
Jesus Christ

The Bush assault is foundering on the shoals of Truth.

The Republicans have seized control of the American judicial, legislative and executive branches. Their immensely effective corporate mass media misinforms, misleads and manipulates. They control the world’s most powerful army, and are glad to use it without provocation.

Nice metaphor to start out. I'll start with this; how did the Republicans seize control of the all the branches of government? I believe that two of those branches are put into office by voters, and the other (link in PDF) by the President and only with congressional approval. And the corporate media, which misleads and manipulates. The only thing I've seen remotely like this is the Jayson Blair fiasco. Jayson didn't just mislead, he flat out made things up. In this mans small mind, does he think the NY Times is furthering the Bush agenda?

Having stolen the election of 2000, Bush’s minions are rigging America’s voting machines and erasing countless suspected Democrats from voter rolls nationwide.

Their goal is to shock and awe the opposition into extinction.

If “image is everything,” Bush sits atop a dictatorial fortress, not likely to fall soon.

But history teaches that, ultimately, Truth is more powerful than image: All the people can’t be fooled all the time.

I won't even go into the 2000 election, the Libs will never get over losing that one. I will say that a candidate who loses his home state, sure as hell doesn't have the right to bitch when he loses the election. What else do we have? Ah, the Bush is dictator rhetoric. Stalin was a dictator, Saddam was a dictator, and Pol Pot was a dictator, Bush is no dictator. And of course the Bush is a liar spiel. Truth is more powerful than image, Clinton lied and all the Libs were fooled.

Globally, George W. Bush has become history’s most hated US president. After being gifted near-total support by Osama bin Laden, Bush has sunk to unprecedented scorn. In the global village, American’s unelected chief is under quarantine.

Why? Because outside the United States, the Truth is being told. The world media and the internet seethe with serious reporting and outrage against escalating deceit.

In the US, the corporate media has polluted the information flow. So we are compelled, more than ever, to compile and refute the lies, and to spread their antidote far and wide.

The world hates Bush. Hmm...I can think of two former leaders who probably do. I can also think of some European leaders who may hate him. I don't think Mr. Bush took the job so he could impress the rest of the world. Let me explain a basic rule of leadership, Harvey. Making tough decisions is what makes a true leader. Taking opinion polls and making decisions based on focus groups is not leadership. As to the charge that the American "corporate media" is not giving the whole story, most people in America who give a damn about the world are not just reading the USA Today, they are reading The Guardian, The Australian, and Xinhua. I would have added the BBC, but they about as believable as the NY Times.

Our arsenal of Truth includes:

SADDAM’S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: Obviously, if he had them, he would have used them. It took years for the lies about the Vietnamese non-attack at Tonkin Gulf to unravel; it’s taken mere days to establish that Bush blatantly lied in no less a venue than the State of the Union. Who will believe him next time?

This is the typical Liberal move, accuse but give nothing to back you up. The Times ran a few stories saying Bush lied so it must be true. I seem to remember a few stories concerning a massacre in Jenin that never happened and the looting of a museum in Baghdad where 170,000 thousand...er, 33 items were taken. If the world didn't believe that that Saddam had WMD, why did they pass 1441?

SADDAM’S NUKES: He had none, and Colin Powell lied to the United Nations and the world based on undergraduate forgeries. Who will believe him next time?

I guess the correct thing to do would've been to wait for the mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv and Kuwait City. Again, accusations without a shred of proof.

THE REAL REASONS FOR WAR: Bush used terrorism, WMDs and (incredibly) human rights as pretexts for war in Iraq and Afghanistan; but everything since has confirmed what the world knew all along: it’s about oil and the pipelines to carry it, with some Christian fanaticism thrown in;

Whether or not it was for oil, I do believe that the people who survived the most brutal regime of the last twenty years feel they are in a much better situation now then they were in February. What so far has happened with regards to oil, prove your hypothesis, Harv? And the necessary, Bush and Christians are as bad as Fundamentalist Muslims line. Couldn't let that pass, could you Harvey?

SPINNING PRIVATE LYNCH: This contrived mocku-drama, complete with threats from the Pentagon against reporters (such as Robert Scheer of the Los Angeles Times) who document what really happened, was in fact a tale of Iraqi bravery and compassion.

This has yet to be disproved. I have seen no evidence, including Scheer's article to sway me to the Scheer point of view. How does Scheer know what happened, and why is he to be believed more than any other reporters. I don't know if you've paid attention Harv, but reporters are exactly the most trusted profession anymore.

AN AWOL WAR RECORD: Bush deserted his cushy National Guard unit, then joked that raising twins was harder than being in combat, which he never saw;

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?: Neither Afghanistan nor Iraq has been liberated or conquered; the “dancing in the streets” promised by the wars’ perpetrators has become a desert Vietnam, where locals and Americans continue to die;

While it's true that Bush never saw combat, he did serve in the Guard. Clinton on the other hand wrote a letter detailing how he detested the military and what they stood for. While I think McCain was the better choice when it came to Commander in Chief credentials, Clinton would run a far second behind Bush when it came to the job. By the way, isn't Bush the first "MBA President"? I would hesitate to say that Iraq is another Vietnam. The war has been over for two months. And Harvey, who was it that assassinated Diem and put our troops into Vietnam?

SEPTEMBER 11: The terrorist attacks occurred while George W. Bush was officially responsible for protecting the American people; his bitter fight against a full Congressional investigation belies something very serious to hide.

FLAUNTING TRAGEDY: To the horror of many 9/11 victims’ families, Bush has manipulated the terrorist attacks into what he called a personal political “trifecta,” desecrating the sacrifice of 3,000 innocent civilians;

While it's true that the Sept. 11 attacks did occur during W's watch, the planning for that attack was years in the making. It could've been stopped before it happened if Clinton had taken the Sudanese offers of turning bin-Laden over. By that thinking, no Democrat in office that replaced a Republican can complain about deficits or the like that were handed to them on inauguration day. I have not seen one story or interview in which a 9/11 victims family has demonstrated horror because of what Bush has done, let alone many. Again, accusations with no proof. It's a trend with this clown.

OFFICIAL SECRECY: Bush is the most secretive US president ever; his relentless campaign against open government belies much to hide;

HOME OF THE FREE: While claiming to spread “American freedom,” Bush keeps two million citizens in jail, a quarter of all the world’s prisoners, forty percent of them held on victimless drug charges;

The Clinton administration was nearly brought down by leaks. Bush is leading a country which was attacked by Islamic Radicals whom had the intent of killing as many civilians as possible. Secrecy is paramount when it comes to some situations. I have yet to read the full accounting of the Ruby Ridge murder or the various other Janet Reno disasters.

I agree that the war on drugs is an utter failure. I believed it when Reagan initiated it. But, Clinton chose to keep it in place, and now it's another third rail in politics. As for all drug conviction being victimless, ask the families of teenagers who died using drugs or the parents of kids killed in drug murders if they are victimless. Possession is one thing, trafficking is quite another.

A POPULAR PRESIDENT?: Bush lost the 2000 election by 500,000 votes and his approval ratings regularly sag between crises, but the corporate media grovels over his alleged “popularity” while refusing to pursue anything that would seriously damage him;

AN AFFABLE PRESIDENT: Bush’s good-ol-boy veneer hides the meanness of spirit and coarse ruthlessness essential to a corporate-fundamentalist attack on civil society;

TEFLON PRESIDENT?: Like Ronald Reagan (and unlike Bill Clinton) the media refusal to pursue damaging (and felonious) presidential misdeeds guarantees Bush a free ride. Or does it?

Bush has managed to hold high approval ratings for 18 months, longer than any President in history. That seem to irk the Libs despite all the tactics they've tried. The true measure of his popularity is the ass-kicking handed to the Dems in the mid-term elections. Not many sitting Presidents can claim picking up the Senate and holding the house. Blah, Blah, Blah. It goes on like this for some time, but it ends with this extreme left conspiracy theory:

Bush’s litany of lies grows daily. In the short term, they demoralize the opposition.

The mainstream media does its part by dismissing those abundant, articulate critics who don’t, like Paul Wellstone, conveniently wind up dead.

Two words Dude, Vince Foster. I'm not one to believe everything bad about Clinton but turnabout is fair play. And to end it on a pleasant note, Harvey compares the Bush administration to Nazis:

It took a world war and forty million deaths to rid the world of the Nazi plague. Thus far Bush has killed thousands to conquer Afghanistan and Iraq, and shows no compunction about killing more.

Nice ending. Started like an idiot, ended like an asshole.

William Saletan is on Kerry like Monica on Clinton:

Maybe the credit belongs to the bad weather that made him horribly late, throwing him off script. Or maybe it was the odd layout of the room, with some people seated on the floor and others on a sofa facing away from him. The senator's rumpled shirt sagged over his trousers. He thanked the audience for waiting, praised its "good humor," and launched into an impromptu comic routine. His timing was excellent; his deadpan was worthy of late-night TV. Gesturing to a nearby piano, he joked that for a minute there, he thought he'd been booked for a recital. He recalled Bill Clinton's suggestion that presidents be allowed to serve three terms. "I promise just to serve two terms," said Kerry, adding, "Republicans do it differently. … They just have the son repeat the father's whole first term." His language was salty and boisterous. "What the hell's going on?" he teased. As the audience got into it, he demanded, "Yeah, applaud! Come on!"

The Democrats in 2004, just like 2000, constantly reinventing themselves. Bush just comes off as himself, he doesn,'t have to change .

A view from Homers world via that hot chick blogger.

It looks like Osama is trying to follow in the footsteps of Mohammed:

Saudi police have arrested seven suspected Islamic militants in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where five other militants were earlier killed in a police raid, security sources said on Monday.
The sources said seven men suspected of involvement in Saturday's shoot-out in Mecca, which is off-limits to non-Muslims, were arrested around the city on Sunday.

Saudi officials declined to say if the militants were linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group, which has been blamed for suicide bombings in Riyadh in May against foreigners.

Stung by U.S. charges of not doing enough to prevent the bombings, which killed 35 people, Saudi Arabia has boosted security and cracked down on militancy in the oil-rich kingdom.

al-Qaeda has a deep hate for the House of Saud and it appears as though it's coming to a head.

The UN the Left loves so much won't even help it's own people:

For six days, two terrified U.N. military observers phoned their superiors - as many as four times a day - begging to be evacuated from their remote outpost in northeastern Congo.

They were receiving death threats, they said. They were alone and unarmed in Mongbwalu, a town ruled by the Lendu tribal militias, notorious for cannibalism. A U.N. helicopter from the city of Bunia could have retrieved them in 35 minutes.

But the United Nations, handcuffed by rules and bureaucracy, didn't send a chopper. On May 18, 10 days after the two peacekeepers made their first call, the United Nations finally flew armed peacekeepers to Mongbwalu.

They found the mutilated bodies of Maj. Safwat al Oran, 37, of Jordan, and Capt. Siddon Davis Banda, 29, of Malawi.

Their corpses had been tossed into a canal and covered with dirt, according to those who saw the bodies. They were shot in the eyes. Their stomachs were split open and their hearts and livers were missing. One man's brain was gone.

I believe we also had an issue like this in Somalia.

(Hat tip to a great blog)

The French have serious trade issues because of their stance on the war:

The surplus in the first four months of the year, during which the euro posted sharp gains against the dollar, shrank to EUR 1.685 billion from EUR 2.669 billion in the same period of 2002.

With the United States, a EUR 97 million surplus in March turned into a EUR 202 million deficit in April.

Too bad. (via Andrew Sullivan)

LGF, as always, has his ear to the "Arab Street" and continues to alert us that no matter what they say, they will not stop until Israel is obliterated.

Lileks picks apart a certain Professor Fetzer and barely leaves anything for the buzzards. My favorite part:

Today’s Star-Trib edit page had a piece replying to the conspiracy theorists who believe that the White House had Wellstone killed. That was heartening. Alas, in the interest of equal time, there is a piece from James H. Fetzer, a “McKnight professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Duluth” who has been writing about these theories in a Duluth weekly. “In those columns,” Fetzer writes, “I lay out the evidence, much of which is in the public record, that has led me to the belief that this was an assassination and that the White House may have been involved.”

He continues:

“Before you write me off as a crank . . . ” - ink’s dry, sir. Ink’s dry. “. . let me ask you a simple question. Do you know what caused the crash?” I’m guessing gravity had something to do with it. “If you don’t know, then how can you know that I am wrong?” He’s got me there. I also don’t know why the shuttle crashed, which is why I cannot rule out the possibility that Romulan warbirds fired their disruptors as the ship began its descent. But I suspect you are wrong about this, because you are wrong about nearly everything else. Want proof? Mr. Fetzer’s U of M website links to his other sites, assassinationscience.com and assassinationresearch.com.

More of this, please:

A Republican-led campaign to recall California's Democratic governor, once dismissed as improbable, now appears poised to qualify for the ballot - and to shake up California politics like never before.

The outcome is anyone's guess, and the situation has politicians from both parties scrambling. It promises to be "a wild ride," promises one political consultant.

Gov. Gray Davis was elected in a landslide in 1998 but his approval rating tumbled to 28 percent amid voter wrath over the state's energy and budget crises.

What a breathtaking career slide. This guy was going to be a candidate for president a few years ago.

For the love of God, NO!

One of Norway's most highly profiled and right-wing politicians, Carl I Hagen, is urging the nomination of former US President Bill Clinton as new NATO boss. Norwegian officials have given up hopes that their own defense minister, Kristin Krohn Devold, will get the job.

BJ's had enough "jobs" already, Carl.

The rulers in Iran are situated between a country we liberated last year and a country we liberated this spring. Do you think the Mullahs are feeling the heat?

More than 250 university teachers and writers added their voices to students’ bold demands for democratic reforms in Iran, telling supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei he must answer to the people and abandon the idea that he is God’s unchallenged representative on Earth.

I think the US is throwing some t-bones into that particular dogfight, and we well should. I for one haven't forgotten that we owe them several.

So much for a government by the people for the people.

At least 42 Senators -- including three Democratic presidential hopefuls -- are millionaires, according to 2002 financial disclosure forms released last week, and 10 percent of the chamber is worth upwards of $10 million each, ROLL CALL reported on Monday.

I was going to run for town council, the Republican Party of NJ pumped $175,000 into that election. How the hell do you run against that?

Domestic terrorists strike again:

Members of a radical environmental group that opposes urban sprawl have claimed responsibility for fires at four luxury homes being built in Detroit's outer suburbs.

The claim by the Earth Liberation Front members was posted on the group's Web site. FBI agent Willie Hulon said Wednesday he also believes the group was behind the blazes.

Fires destroyed two homes in Washtenaw County on March 21 and two nearly completed homes in Macomb County on June 4.

PETA, Greenpeace, and these friggin yahoos, terrorists all.

An idiot (8th letter)in Hoboken doesn't get it:

It’s a truism that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. Bad enough, but, damn it; they also expose the rest of us to the dangers their ignorance has brought about. But I have a solution. Let everyone show his colors, so that an Arab hot to avenge the trashing of a loved one in Palestine or Iraq or wherever will know who to strike.

To put it bluntly, why should those who work and contribute and march for justice and peace be blown up along with the oil mongers and their ignorant (or paid) dupes? Let’s wear armbands. Red would be pro-war, blue against. That way, a suicide bomber, surrounded mostly by blues, would delay his martyrdom; but when he finds himself in the midst of a bunch of cakewalking, high-fiving, backslapping reds...well...hey.

Dale Walker, Hoboken

Wake up Dale, the prospective suicide bomber will not care if you were for or against the war. He will simply kill you because you are;

1. American
2. Non-Muslim
3. You happen to resemble a Jew he once met

You will probably resemble many Jews from the past with that arm-band on though.

As someone in the business, I can say without reservation that Workers Compensation is a scam. It's totally skewed toward employees (as is every law) and makes running a small business difficult at best. Why would the various state governments consistently allow this to happen when small business is the majority of business.

Let's say an employee does something completely stupid, like say...jump from a ten-foot height when steps are readily available. The employer has done everything required by OSHA to ensure a safe work environment, but the employee jumps anyway and injures their knee or ankle. Who's at fault? The employer of course. They must pay for the employee to be seen at the emergency room and any follow-up care. If the idiot employee has a permanent disability, guess who pays for that? You must've peeked. Let's sum this up, the knucklehead employee jumps from a height when he could've easily walked down a ladder. He injures himself because of stupidity and the employer is forced to pay with no recourse. That's the system my friends. Pretty fair, huh?

As someone in the business, I can say without reservation that Workers Compensation is a scam. It's totally skewed toward employees (as is every law) and makes running a small business difficult at best. Why would the various state governments consistently allow this to happen when small business is the majority of business.

Let's say an employee does something completely stupid, like say...jump from a ten-foot height when steps are readily available. The employer has done everything required by OSHA to ensure a safe work environment, but the employee jumps anyway and injures their knee or ankle. Who's at fault? The employer of course. They must pay for the employee to be seen at the emergency room and any follow-up care. If the idiot employee has a permanent disability, guess who pays for that? You must've peeked. Let's sum this up, the knucklehead employee jumps from a height when he could've easily walked down a ladder. He injures himself because of stupidity and the employer is forced to pay with no recourse. That's the system my friends. Pretty fair, huh?

If a lie is continually told, will it become truth:

WE’VE been saying all along that the Bush administration would never have attacked Iraq, except for its huge oil reserves.

Now, a senior Bush administration official has confirmed it.

According to recent reports in the Guardian, a British newspaper, and two major German papers, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said as much during an address to an Asian security summit in Singapore.

He was asked why North Korea, with its nuclear weapons, was being treated differently from Iraq, which had no nukes. According to the newspapers, he said:

“Let’s look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil.”

The comments couldn’t come at a worse time for the Bush administration. World leaders and even some members of Congress are asking why we haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

I guess the internet doesn't work very well in West Virginia. The Guardian retracted the story Saturday:

On Wednesday, journalists on the Guardian's website were alerted to a story running in the German press, in which the US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, was said to have admitted, in effect, that oil was the main reason for the war in Iraq. The German sources were found, translated, and at 4.30pm that day a story sourced to them was posted on the website under the heading, "Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil".
Mr Wolfowitz, in fact, had said nothing of the kind, as a deluge of email, most of it from the US, was quick to point out. Some of it registered disappointment more than anything else - disappointment that a valued source of news and liberal comment had in this instance let them down. "The briefest of searches will bring up articles to totally discredit your story," one complained.

You had better put more gas in the generator Cletus, quoting the Guardian will only mean trouble and you're going to have to retract the story.

I'm hoping the Ducks can pull it off tonight. NHL Finals Game 7.

That hit by Stevens the other night was epic (and legal). Kariya should know better than to put his head down with stevens on the ice. Reminiscent of the hit against Lindros.

God, do I hate the Devils.

Darrell Issa is taking on Davis:

Rep. Darrell Issa's bankrolling of the recall drive against Gov. Gray Davis is emerging as one of the first test cases of the sweeping new federal campaign finance law.

A Davis ally has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that the Vista Republican is raising money for the recall campaign in violation of the law known as McCain-Feingold.

Raquelle De La Rocha, a Van Nuys lawyer and Davis appointee to the state Park and Recreation Commission, contends that Issa has broken the provision of the law that bars federal officeholders from raising "soft money" campaign contributions.

Issa called the complaint "absurd" and said he has complied with the law. However, he said there are conflicting opinions over whether the law allows his campaign activities.

Damn, I knew that McCain-Feingold law would hurt somewhere.

Update:

There is an easy way to tell when the heavyweight political season begins in California: Jerry Perenchio writes another check.

After donating $5 million to Democrats and Republicans during the last election year, the president of the Spanish-language Univision network now has given $50,000 to a committee supporting Gov. Gray Davis in his fight against a proposed recall. A handful of other wealthy Californians have joined him as well, raising $344,000 for the Davis anti-recall committee.

I wonder if that's against McCain-Feingold.

Hitch on the crazy hatred of Wolfowitz:

I noticed this first in an issue of the London Review of Books just after Sept. 11, when Edward Said blamed the random attacks on Muslims (or other turbanned individuals) on the speech made by Wolfowitz calling for "ending states" that sponsor terrorism. I have spent some time with those who monitor and investigate such hate crimes, perpetrated by those who think that it's clever to go and shoot a Tibetan gas-station attendant in Montana in protest of al-Qaida, and I believe I can state with some confidence that such heroes would have difficulty identifying the name of their senator or even their former schoolteacher, let alone that of the deputy secretary of defense. Moreover (and to state the same point in a different way) if the number of inflammatory mentions of the Wolfowitz family name did have this inciting effect, we would be up to our thighs in the blood of pogrom victims by now.

Read it all. Anytime Hitch smacks Said is a happy time.

I think the The oil industry loses this one:

The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide if Los Angeles can go beyond the federal Clean Air Act to impose tougher antismog rules for city buses, airport shuttles, taxis and other vehicles.

The court agreed to hear an appeal from oil companies and diesel engine manufacturers who claim that local pollution rules conflict with national standards. The appeal argued that the national Clean Air Act takes precedence over local rules for new car emissions.



The Supreme Court already said that states have to regulate at least to the federal level but may go above that level. The state of Califpornia has the toughest regulations when it comes to environmental protection. If the Court sides with the oil industry, the rest of the environmental rules (which is just about every one) will be in jeopardy. I'm for strong environmental protection laws as opposed to just regulating at to the federal standards. The federal government actually incorporated some of Californias regulations when they developed RCRA.

Lucianne Goldberg on Hillary:

Lucianne, who in another life was one of New York's premier book agents, doubts that Hill's book will recoup the $8 million paid to her.

"The public has reached critical mass with these two hypesters, Bill and Hillary," Lucianne said.

"We don't care about her hair or her marriage. I would like to know about Vincent Foster's office being ransacked after his suicide; the honest version of Whitewater; Hillary's extraordinary and unexplained luck in the volatile futures market; and the missing billing records of the Rose Law Firm, which she shared with Vincent Foster."

I really wish that Hillary would do a real interview one day so these questions can be asked.

I'm very happy they found this little girl:

Police arrested a suspect Monday in the kidnapping of 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo just hours after the girl walked into a convenience store, shaken but safe.


Police took the man into custody at a friend's home. He tried to fight off officers and was taken to the hospital after a police dog bit him.


The home was less than a mile from where an intruder brazenly kidnapped Jennette on Friday after savagely beating her mother and brother.


Police said they believe the man knew of the fourth-grade girl through one of her former schoolmates — though neither Jennette nor her family recognized him.


The man looked like a police sketch of the suspect and had injuries consistent with what police expected from the struggle he had with Jennette's mother, Police Chief William Lansdowne said.


"We're very confident this is the right person," Lansdowne said.

Why did the Elizabeth Smart case get alot more coverage than this story?

I'm very happy they found this little girl:

Police arrested a suspect Monday in the kidnapping of 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo just hours after the girl walked into a convenience store, shaken but safe.


Police took the man into custody at a friend's home. He tried to fight off officers and was taken to the hospital after a police dog bit him.


The home was less than a mile from where an intruder brazenly kidnapped Jennette on Friday after savagely beating her mother and brother.


Police said they believe the man knew of the fourth-grade girl through one of her former schoolmates — though neither Jennette nor her family recognized him.


The man looked like a police sketch of the suspect and had injuries consistent with what police expected from the struggle he had with Jennette's mother, Police Chief William Lansdowne said.


"We're very confident this is the right person," Lansdowne said.

Why did the Elizabeth Smart case get alot more coverage than this story?

This article is not really that special, I just like the headline.

Hillary is all over the place and saying absolutely nothin new. The simple fact is; her husband is a serial adulterer and she doesn't have the guts to leave him. For purely political reasons I suspect.

I like Funny Cide in the rain at Belmont. Too bad they snipped him.

The crew at Sgt. Stryker has the goods on the tax cuts just passed:

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement -- until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six -- the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too . . . It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man, "why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

Posted by: Kevin L. Connors at June 6, 2003 07:56 AM

Yeah, that's correct, it came from his comments. I think I've something to this effect before but can't remember where. They also have a nice tribute for D-Day.

The pure idiocy and naivete of this article makes me want to go out and do something violent:

This past April, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio introduced legislation that would establish a Cabinet-level Department of Peace. I -- along with thousands of others -- have lobbied our congresspeople and advocated the idea however possible to friends and associates.

The goal of the department would be to coordinate conflict-resolution and peace-building efforts both domestically and internationally, providing the president with a much broader array of options for handling violent situations than are normally presented to him. Would we be so quick to apply police and military solutions to our collective problems, if we had peaceful alternatives deemed every bit as effective and sometimes even more so?

"We will not solve the problems of the world," said Albert Einstein, "from the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." More than anything else, this new century demands new thinking: We must change our materially based analyses of the world around us to include broader, more multidimensional perspectives. People cause our social problems, and people are more than merely material beings. To address the causal issues regarding these problems, we must deal with more than material factors.

Blah, blah, blah. Kucinich is Jerry Brown without the IQ or style. We have a cabinet level position to ensure peace, it's called the Dept. of Defense.

Shocking news, a Teachers Union official was pilfering funds from a pension account:

Even now, as federal agents pore over the financial records they seized from his union headquarters in Miami, Pat Tornillo remains a legend among Florida teachers.

He led the nation's first statewide teachers' strike, a bitter walkout that kept 1-million Florida children out of school but gave public employees the right to bargain collectively.

He built the largest labor union in the South, securing higher pay for teachers who paid him millions of dollars in dues - money he used to help elect dozens of Democrats to public office.

But the 77-year-old Tornillo now faces the biggest battle of his life. Federal agents are investigating whether he also used teacher dues to finance a lavish lifestyle for himself and his wife.

Former employees say he charged the Miami-Dade teachers union for $2,000-a-night hotel suites and trips to Europe and the Far East. According to published reports, he used his union credit card to buy tailored suits in Hong Kong, jewelry in California and python-print pajamas from Neiman-Marcus. He is even accused of using union dues to pay his maid.

Python print pajamas? Not just a thief, but a thief who wears amphibian print PJ's, nice.

MORON has announced it's stupidity awards:

The list of winners at the first ever World Stupidity Awards on Friday night:

Stupidest Person in the World - Former Iraqi Information Minster Saeed al-Sahaf.

Stupidest Government in the World - People's Republic of North Korea

Media Outlet which has made greatest Contribution to Furthering Ignorance Worldwide - CNN

Stupidity Award for Reckless Endangerment of the Planet - U.S. President George W. Bush

Stupidest Trend or form of Mass Hysteria - Humans destroying the planet

Stupidest Film of the Year - Kangaroo Jack

Stupidest Person in Canada - Prime Minister Jean Chretien

Stupidest Person in Toronto - The person who drove her car backwards up a telephone pole.

Bush, CNN, Chretien, and Kangaroo Jack. An interesting combo.

I don't necessarily agree with parts of this article, but the security issues concerning chemical manufacturing and storage must be discussed:

"War profiteers" are those who use military conflict to make a quick buck or push an agenda that would fail in peacetime. That describes various extremist environmental groups and their champion, Sen. Jon Corzine, New Jersey Democrat.
For more than a decade, these groups have tried to banish vital industrial chemicals, especially chlorine, with false and malicious claims about potential harm. Their effort failed. So now they have switched tacks and are trying to piggyback their agenda on the terrorist threat with Mr. Corzine's legislation and its alleged purpose of protecting "the public against the threat of chemical attacks."
For example, rather than giving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sole charge of establishing and enforcing new chemical industry rules, Mr. Corzine would force the department to work in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency..
Yet the purpose of establishing the DHS was to pull agencies under a single authority for better coordination. Further, whom would you trust more to keep the bad guys out of a chemical plant, the FBI, CIA and the Coast Guard — or those "special ops" bureaucrats at the EPA? Parts of the Corzine bill look innocent enough unless you understand the parlance of anti-chemical legislation.
Thus, it calls for "high-priority categories" to be designated "based on the severity of the threat." The first term means "spending a bunch more bucks to reduce potential risks," which might not be bad except that "severity of the threat" is entirely theoretical. It's based on documents that environmentalists had earlier convinced Congress to force industry to prepare, called "Worst Case Scenarios."

Many of the presumptions for these scenarios are bizarre, such as the wind blowing in all directions at the same time. Neat trick, huh? Other presumptions include no obstructions such as buildings or hills, the perfect temperature for spread, and so on.
Yet the "reality scenario" is that in the past 80 years a billion tons of chlorine have been made in this country with no deaths outside any facility.
The bill also demands that, when feasible, facilities switch to "inherently safer technology." This is shorthand for drastically cutting the use of chlorine, about which Greenpeace's Joe Thornton told Science magazine in 1993, "There are no known uses... which we regard as safe."

First, the EPA has some excellent agents who know how to prevent incidents from occurring. This statement is a bit diengenuous. Second, The "Worst Case Scenarios" are exactly that; worst case. To prepare for any event you must look at it from every angle and attempt to plan a response.

After the first WTC bombing, the City of New York looked at worst case scenarios regarding another terrorist attack. They never even got close to imagining what "worst case" truly was. The existing laws were enacted to ensure that we never had a Bhopal-type disaster in our country.

The use of chlorine is essential until another less-hazardous chemical can be developed, I agree that in the mean time, chlorine is a must use product. Here is a chlorine industry website. Here is a report on deaths from chlorine use in disinfection.

Tim Blair led me to this:

Punters wishing to down a few quiet ales at one of J D Wetherspoon's 600 pubs in the UK may soon see a caution on the menu, warning them they could be thrown out if they swear, after complaints from two regulars.

The chain's founder, Tim Martin, has a track record of actually doing something about complaints. For example, vinegar sachets were changed after a complaint that they were impossible to open without squirting everywhere.

But bar staff in Sydney's CBD reckon a swearing ban is going too far.

"Swearing is part of the culture," said Wil, a barman at Hotel Sweeney in Clarence Street. "I mean if you're watching the footy and someone drops the ball you naturally want to yell out 'you f--kin' wanker'. It's a way of expressing yourself without having to break the glass!

"I mean guys might come in here and do their arse on the gallops and instead of punching the TAB window they might let a few words fly."

If anyone can translate that for me please e-mail me at sswenviron@comcast.net.

Slamber Frey is denying that she's cashing in on her 15 minutes of fame:

Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt says he has been approached by a man who says he owns the rights to about 27 pictures of Peterson's former girlfriend -- and most of them are nude.

This man, David Hans Schmidt, a broker who procures celebrity contracts for Playboy and Penthouse magazines, told Fox News he got the shots through "connections."

I heard on the radio today that Larry Flynt was a guest on Greta van Susteren last night and called the skank a "two-bagger" and said he didn't want pictures of her. Damn, how does that hurt? Turned down by Larry Flynt.

Hitchens, comic genious:

Christopher Hitchens arrives on stage at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Wales, wearing dark glasses and clutching a glass of wine, cigarettes and an ashtray. It's Late Night Hitch, an event billed as "Lenny Bruce meets P.G. Wodehouse", and a near-packed house is in to catch the combative political journalist in a startling new guise: that of stand-up comedian.

"So, it's a long day at the shrink," he begins. "This guy comes in, hasn't made an appointment, just stands there, panting. The shrink says, 'Can I help you?' More panting. Finally the guy says, 'I'm just a dog.' And the shrink says, 'Well, do you want to get on the couch?' And the guy says: [Pause] 'I'm not allowed on the fucking couch!'"

Chris also verbally slapped an idiotarian:

He's usually described as a leftwinger, but is currently at war with liberal opinion because of his support for US foreign policy since September 11. The roar of battle seems to have hyped him up somewhat. At the debate a few hours earlier, he lost his temper when someone asked about country band the Dixie Chicks and the flak they copped for criticising George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

"Each day they dig up dead bodies in personal death camps run by a Caligula dictator," Hitchens shouted, "and I'm being asked to worry about these fucking fat slags - do me a favour!" The debate broke up soon after.

Awesome

Why do homosexuals take such joy in outing other possible homosexuals who disagree with their views?

Just in case you’ve blocked out those dark days of two and a half years ago, Foley was among George W. Bush’s staunchest defenders in the land of the hanging chads. Foley, who hails from West Palm Beach, took to the airwaves relentlessly during the infamous recount, attacking Al Gore and the Democrats right up until the Supreme Court selected Bush as president. Since that time, Foley has been a loyal soldier, praising W’s every move with the voting record to prove it. Now, Foley’s trying to stop the press from focusing on his own sexual orientation, despite the fact that he lives in a glass closet. And he may just get his way.

Certainly, the accommodationist Washington gay groups, whose mission is supposed to be all about fostering openness among politicians, aren’t demanding that Foley be forthright, and they recently even defended his deception. Three weeks ago, Foley’s sexual orientation–and the claim that he is gay and rather open about it to those around him–was discussed in the New Times Broward-Palm Beach by columnist Bob Norman. Foley went on the attack, responding to the article by holding a bizarre press conference last week in which Florida reporters thought he was going to come out. Instead, Foley called the discussion of his sexual orientation "revolting" and refused to say if he is gay or not. He then claimed he’d been set up by unnamed Democratic Party conspirators.

Hey Mich, I thought that a perfect society didn't care about a persons color, nationality or sexual orientation. Why do you make it an issue. Because he supports Bush. You will never get over Bush winning Florida and the hatred you have for the man is eating you up.
First Drudge and now Foley. One question, who the hell cares.

Mugger still kicks it out:

The mainstream liberal media is attacking Bush with shopworn rhetoric, such as class warfare, the myth that neoconservatives dictate foreign policy, the failure to suck up to Germany and France and, naturally, the environment. Newsweek’s June 2 "Conventional Wisdom" was typical of Beltway presidential coverage. Bush receives a sarcastic "up" arrow, reading "Gets his big tax cut with ‘sunset’ gimmick that hides the true cost. Now we’ll see if it creates any jobs." The "media" gets a "down" mark: "Aim for ‘balance’ on tax cuts but miss the truth: They’re unlikely to create jobs and will burden our grandkids." Yes, summon crocodile tears for future generations, when no one in the world knows what shape the economy will be in 20 years from now.

I agree with that. Jimmy Carter did everything possible to destroy the economy and twenty years later we were riding high. Russ also has a take on Sullivan:

Enter Andrew Sullivan, the omnipresent, self-aggrandizing blogger and contributor to numerous publications, who has his own problems with the president. Sullivan, who contradicts himself almost daily in his online commentary, appears on the verge of flipping from the GOP because of one issue: Rick Santorum. The Pennsylvania senator’s muddled remarks about homosexuality last month, and Bush’s tepid support of him, so incensed Sullivan that he’s concluded reelection might not be in the cards. Granted, it’s a sensitive issue to Sullivan, the British gay conservative former editor of the New Republic, but if Bush loses, it won’t be because of Santorum.

I agree that the Santorum issue is dead. Sullivan felt compelled to drag it out for a little too long.

Mugger being Mugger couldn'y resist this shot at Salon.com:

One of Salon’s more berserk columnists is Anne Lamott, who wrote on May 23, after returning from some r&r in Kauai, that fear not, Bush really is as dumb as the Never-Forget-Florida contingent believes. This passage is a pip: "The important thing to remember is that we survived Ronald Reagan, and we will survive Bush. It gives me hope to remember this, because that was really scary–under Reagan’s happy-go-lucky demeanor was true malevolence." I’m sure the millions of people under communist rule during the 80s will agree with this nutty chick.

Lamott continues: "On the other hand, I don’t think Bush can pull it [reelection] off. He just doesn’t have it. He’s Alfred E. Newman [sic] in ‘Top Gun.’ He’s still just a bad boy trying to redeem himself and his father."

I half-expected Lamott to then recommend that Bush respond to one of those email spam "penile enlargement" scams, but no doubt a yoga class or PETA emergency meeting forced her to cut the column short.

And what Mugger column would be complete without baseball:

One delicate split is how a Sox fan should react to the rash of Yanks injuries. Two of us feel no guilt whatsoever in cheering the woes of walks-machine Nick Johnson and Bernie Williams. The third is uncomfortable in taking pleasure at an athlete’s pain. Bosh. It’s not as if these superstars are fighting snipers in Baghdad or rushing into burning buildings; they’re wealthy ballplayers, and the occasional hamstring pull or shoulder dislocation is just part of the game. It wouldn’t have bothered me one bit last week if Clemens suffered a broken finger upon trying to field a Mueller smash. I doubt many Yankee fans were sympathetic when Garciaparra missed most of the 2001 season or Manny Ramirez stupidly slid headfirst into home last year, causing him to miss six weeks. And when Martinez was scratched from the lineup at Fenway last week, several Yankee players immediately perked up.

But one has to persevere. Maybe Clemens, so pent-up about reaching this milestone, will fall apart by the fifth inning. Maybe Jason Giambi ends the season batting .240. And maybe Richard Goldstein, so enthralled by Bush’s dick, endorses the president for reelection.

Nice smack Russ.

Let's keep an eye on how Saletan describes each candidate. I'll be watching.

Salam Pax is exposed:

The day after I returned to New York, reunited with my cable modem, I checked out a friend's blog that linked to an Austrian interview with Salam Pax. I clicked to it. Salam Pax mentioned an NGO he had worked for, CIVIC, and this caught my attention. I knew the woman who was in charge of CIVIC; she stayed at my Baghdad hotel, the Hamra. Salam Pax mentioned that he had done some work for foreign journalists. We traveled in the same circles, apparently. He also mentioned that he had studied in Vienna. This really caught my attention, because I knew an Iraqi who had worked for CIVIC, hung out with foreign journalists, and studied in Vienna. I clicked over to his blog.

His latest post mentioned an afternoon he spent at the Hamra Hotel pool, reading a borrowed copy of The New Yorker. I laughed out loud. He then mentioned an escapade in which he helped deliver 24 pizzas to American soldiers. I howled. Salam Pax, the most famous and most mysterious blogger in the world, was my interpreter. The New Yorker he had been reading—mine. Poolside at the Hamra—with me. The 24 pizzas—we had taken them to a unit of 82nd Airborne soldiers I was writing about.

Interesting if true.

The Dow keeps rising. There seems to be some optimism for the Dow reaching 11,000. This has got to be scaring the Democrats.

The new Governor-General of Australia. Sure as hell beats her, her, or her. I'd definitely vote for her if she ran for anything in my district.

Eric Rudolph is, pure and simply, a terrorist.

Rudolph is suspected of having planted a bomb in a backpack at the Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. One person was killed and 111 were injured.
Two years later, Rudolph was charged with that attack and implicated in three others: the 1997 bombings of a gay nightclub in Atlanta and a building north of Atlanta that housed an abortion clinic; and the 1998 bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham. An off-duty police officer was killed and a nurse severely injured in the latter attack.
A Florida native who moved to western North Carolina in 1981, Rudolph was believed to adhere to the teachings of Christian Identity, a white supremacist sect that is anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner. Some of the four bombs he is charged with planting included messages from the shadowy “Army of God.”

Is his religion a factor. I don't believe it is. I think he was just bred racist and a homophobe, but the media will play up his conservative Christian views.

Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository for the nations radioactive waste, is going to be a hot topic for years to come. I tend to be on the side that stock piling our waste in one safe area is a better alternative that our current practices.

The waste that will be stored there is not just spent reactor rods from nuclear plants, it's also radioactive waste from hospitals, dentists offices, and myriad other places. I believe storing all this waste in one spot, where it can be protected, is in our best interest. Where would a terrorist have a tougher time infiltrating; a hospital or a protected facility? Dirty bombs will not kill many people with gamma waves, but the terror aspect would be brutal.

The main drawback I see with using one central depository is getting the waste to Nevada. Let's see if the media publishes the time and dates of train movements.

This cartoon looks like something out of the Arab News. The hooked nose, following money. But alas, he works for the Chicago Tribune I don't think even Khalil would've drawn that.

The Bush plan for AIDS assistance in Africa is a huge success. I've yet to hear anyone criticize the plan. $15 billion dollars is an astronomical amount for any nation to offer, but for Bush to get it pushed through both houses is amazing. Even Chirac agrees:

French President Jacques Chirac, Europe's most vocal critic of the war — whom Mr. Bush greeted yesterday with a handshake and a smile — praised the president's leadership on AIDS. Mr. Bush last month pushed through Congress a $15 billion increase to combat AIDS in poor nations and urged other wealthy nations to follow suit.
"Bush took a decision in this area that I would not hesitate to call historic," Mr. Chirac told reporters at an afternoon news conference summing up the first day's discussions.
Mr. Chirac said his government would triple the French cash contribution for anti-AIDS efforts to $180 million, up from about $60 million currently. European Union officials said the 15 member nations would commit about $1.2 billion in new money to fight AIDS.

13 times more than the EU. They should be ashamed. By the way, doesn't Chirac look constipated anytime he has to shake Bush's hand.