It really is weird. Everywhere this guy goes shit implodes. I’ve been watching him for years and it’s fucking amazing. He’s like that guy in the Stephen King Movie “Needful Things.” I mean Barry really has a gift for projection.  Read more 

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Ok, yes I saw the Wright speech on CNN tonight. I know I saw it because I just saw another thread on corrente where Wright talked about the right-brained creative black child vs the wrong brained who-gives-a-damn white child. I thought that I had fallen asleep on the couch and dreamed that. Now I have to reconcile reality with um reality. Yes, Virginia this is 2008 not 1846.
Letting that sink in.
Wright went on to say in a tone that was as if all whites during desegregation ran and met in a big assembly room and said “we know what to do, they are right-brained creative AFRICAN children, we will desegregate thus keeping them down forever and ever!”  Read more 

Harry Reid asked the Justice Department to look into the FLDS and how it treated children before — in 2006, and with Alberto Gonzales at the helm, DOJ turned a blind eye. Why?

FBI, politicos renew push for ISP data retention laws

WASHINGTON—The FBI and multiple members of Congress said on Wednesday that Internet service providers must be legally required to keep records of their users’ activities for later review by police.

Their suggestions for mandatory data retention revive a push for potentially sweeping federal laws—which civil libertarians oppose—that flagged last year after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the idea’s most prominent proponent.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House of Representatives committee that Internet service providers should be required to keep records of users’ activities for two years.  Read more 

No art critic I, but Aliza Shvarts’ senior project seems incomprehensible to me.
An art major and a senior graduating in May 2008, this young woman chose a graphic, and undeniably controversial, expression of her feelings on the right to choose when to carry a pregnancy to term — predictably, the results of her efforts have attracted attention.
What do you think she’s achieved, if anything, with her art?

I mean, at this point you have to ask.  Read more 

Forty years down the road from The Kerner Report’s Recommendations for Action, we haven’t accomplished squat in the fight to overcome poverty in the inner cities, or in the rural areas of the US where seasonal jobs in industrial agriculture create conditions favorable to a modern slavery as old as time and as new as tomorrow’s nightly newscast.
Greed.
Stupidity.
Cruelty.
Fear.
Imprisonment.

Let’s come together over this, people.  Read more 

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby had his license to practice law stripped away today; in its decision the court cited “moral turpitude” as a reason for disbarring the former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Go to Google

Type in “find Chuck Norris”

hit “I feel lucky”

you’re welcome. :)

Elliott Spitzer was one for the nation. People will excoriate me for suggesting maybe he still is. We don’t know *what* his involvement with the prostitution ring was. (I bet you if he’d been more than one of the wealthy customers, that’d be all over the NYT front page already.) Next question: what kind of BS are they gonna fake up on Patrick Fitzgerald?

Ron Paul says it best, I guess, though FSM knows how a hog that blind found this good an acorn: “Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism.” It’s closer to tribalism, I suppose, this thing that bothers me so deeply — there’s an undercurrent among the Obama______ers, a “threat,” if you will: it’s wrong to deny the first black man the White House.

But to get him there you have to trample over the first woman of any race to have a legitimate shot at winning a major party’s nomination — and that’s okay,  Read more 

Link A recently unclassified report from the Pentagon from 1998 has revealed an investigation into using laser beams for a few intriguing potential methods of non-lethal torture. Some of the applications the report investigated include putting voices in people’s heads, using lasers to trigger uncontrolled neuron firing, and slowly heating the human body to a point of feverish confusion - all from hundreds of meters away.

Wouldn’t just participating in such research constitute a war crime?

Three times since the Federal Flood in the wake of Hurricane Katrina devastated the greater New Orleans metropolitan area, Fat Tuesday has come and gone. Every year, the powers that be claim the parades and celebrations are a step nearer  Read more 

“Phat” is a great word, you can use it in so many fun ways, even little kids can say it (that’s actually really cute when it happens). Many fine things are Phat: blunts, cars, clothes, people’s backsides. But what comes to your mind when I say heavy?

Company spokesman Alex Dudley said the trial was aimed at improving the network performance goddess don’t you just want to barf? when have they ever ’improved’ service? by making it more costly for heavy users of large downloads. Dudley said that a small group of super-heavy users of downloads, around 5 percent of the customer base, can account for up to 50 percent of network capacity.
Dudley said he did not know what the pricing tiers would be nor the download limits. He said the heavy users were likely using the network to download large amounts of video, most likely in high definition.

I was just looking at some photos of two people that we talk about here all the time. And I thought, “no, those are too good.” But perhaps I was wrong, and they really did suggest what I thought they were suggesting. Time will tell. Either way, “hi res” and “heavy” downloading serve more purposes than just getting instant copies of “The Green Door.”

“Heavy” is one of those evil corporate terms and we should squash it now.  Read more 

A medical research program develops a five-item checklist for healthcare personnel saves hundreds of lives and millions of dollars and lowers the rate of hospital-acquired infections, and what does the Bush government do? Shut down the program.

Not a stocks person myself, butMorgan Stanley issued the warning today, and it appears the Bushies revised the dates of a recession that occurred during the first term of George Walker Bush’s Presidency.

From the Morgan Stanley article above:
The bank at first treated the August crunch as a “mid-cycle correction”, much like the financial storm after Russia’s default in 1998. But the collapse of the US commercial paper market has now continued for seventeen weeks, suggesting a “fundamental deleveraging of the banking system.”

Mr Berner - known at Morgan Stanley as the “resident bull”- is one of the most closely watched analysts on Wall Street. While he began to turn bearish last April as the credit markets turned nasty, the latest report is written in tones that may is rattle the fast-diminishing band of optimists.

But the kicker  Read more 

So several times I have argued that at least some of the violence going on in Iraq is the result of actions by “the good guys.” That is, folks being paid with your tax money to “bring security” to Iraq. I think not a few of them are bringing security to their own bank accounts, running little kingdoms of debauchery and evil, and in many ways revisiting the White Man’s favorite narrative in war, Heart of Darkness. It seems I’m not alone.

Asked who could be behind the killing of women, Athari said: “We cannot accuse anybody. But I can say that these gangs are linked to international intelligence agencies.”

“Or they are linked to movements that want to accuse the Sadrist trend of this,” he said.  Read more 

what do ordinary, everyday police officers do?
Herewith a random sampling from blotters, which gives you an idea:

When a Tonawanda motorcyclist struck a parked car, police were called. They found the driver sitting atop the bike, smelling of alcohol. When asked if he had
been drinking, he replied, “Way too much.”

Asked to check on a Town of Tonawanda resident’s welfare, upon entering the subject’s apartment police found several marijuana plants. The woman begged police not to confiscate them because “they were not big enough to smoke yet.”  Read more 

A friend sent me an email this morning:

The Administration is timing results in Iraq to best influence results in 2008 elections. They have paid members of the Iraqi Parliament to delay development of a government and have made closed-door deals with various factions. Look for gradual developments towards resolutions to be parceled out starting in March. Throughout the Spring and Summer, a variety of already scripted announcements will be unveiled and will lead to some kind of reasonably stable arrangement in Iraq. Democrats will be placed in a very difficult situation and Mike Huckabee will be the next president. Also, oil prices will drop back to $50-60 a barrel.

You heard it here first…  Read more 

Via Froomkin:

Why is it taking White House officials so long to restore millions of deleted e-mails from the backup tapes they claim to have?  Read more 

[Welcome, InfoWorld readers. Note to Bob®: I am absolutely Pammy’s biggest fan!]

[UPDATE: Comedy gold! Pravda on the Potomac’s weak-chinned Fred Hiatt buries the story on D01.]

[UPDATE: SJC puts off granting the telcos immunity, because the Republicans demanded more time to consider the 26 amendments. At least they didn’t go with Spector’s bogus Compromise, where the Federal government—that is, you and me as taxpayers—would have assumed the liability the telcos are on the hook for. Modified rapture.]  Read more 

in a diary at DKos that may reveal what the GOP’s hold on Congressional Democrats really is.  Read more 

Stolen from TxKaos, the above image is of Texas Representative (Major) Rick Noriega taking his oath of office for the fourth time — DURING his deployment to Afghanistan.
What’s his position? TexasKAOS’s lightseeker says:
(Noriega) called Texas the “crown jewel” in the Bush dynasty’s political empire. That means they won’t let it go easily at any level. With him, I see a consensus in the state for change, especially of our junior senator. We can do much better. Rick pointed out to the assembled crowd that Harris County is the “deciding point”, the pivot upon which the victory over our Bushbot junior senator can be won. Harris County will cast 15-20% of the votes statewide for the US Senate and Harris is trending Democratic over the last several elections. When someone asked him about facing the Rove slime machine as a veteran, reminding the assembled about Kerry’s “swiftboating” Rick’s reply was right on point. As his wife said in the background, “bring it on…” he said he was ready.

He has received the endorsement and support of General Wesley Clark and his group of pro-change veterans. Unlike Kerry, Rick intends to fire back strong and loud and often. He will not be slimed in silence.

Let me paraphrase his words:
“I am preparing 600 young men and women to return to that sandbox in the next 36 months. That is my job when I wear my other uniform. When I am wearing this [ his civilian uniform ] my job is to speak for them. When incompetent civilian leaders needlessly put their lives at risk, I have an obligation to speak up. “

How long before the Right Wing Slime Machine  Read more 

So, this is how the good Senator responds to a constituent requesting that he treat Limbaugh the same way he treated MoveOn.org recently.

Dear [Other Sarah]:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the recent comments of Mr. Rush Limbaugh.

I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

As you know, Mr. Rush Limbaugh was recently criticized for comments he made on his radio program. Some individuals construed these comments as criticisms of our nation’s servicemen and women who disagree with the United States’ policy toward Iraq. This mischaracterization is unfortunate.
In fact, Mr. Limbaugh’s comments were in reference to an individual who had lied about his military service record. Mr. Limbaugh has been a strong and consistent supporter of our military personnel and I applaud his support of our troops.

We all want our troops home from Iraq as soon as possible, but our military strategy must be based on objective facts and national security considerations. We owe it to all Americans to establish a strategy for victory and to support it with one voice. We must do what is right for America’s national security, the stability of the Middle East, and our partners in the Global War on Terror.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator  Read more