31 October 2005

Sold! 1 $680,000 blue Ford Escort

Pope John Paul II's only car was sold to now-proven-completely-insane Houston attorney John O'Quinn... returning a profit of $570,000 for it's previous owner, Jim Rich, a now bankrupt restaurant owner from Illinois.

from the good idea file

There's a brain in the White House... whattya know?

2005 ONA awards

The NYTimes.com (blech) and Slate Magazine are the big winners.

bad news for fatsos

United Airlines' business plan

Scalito hearts big business

"All and all, business wins," if Alito is confirmed, said Ted Frank, resident fellow at the Washington D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute and director of the AEI Liability Project. "Alito is a solid conservative who understands the importance of the law of contracts, of the free market system." read the full article.

way too f'ing funny

these guys are gayer than gay

newsflash: Glenn Reynolds hates America

and would prefer to remain a hack, for the rest of his blogging life

"I don't know what city you're living in"

NYC mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to current mayor Michael Bloomberg, in their first publicly televised debate. Later, Ferrer quipped: "There are two New Yorks. I know that very well because I've lived in both". The next debate is tonight at 7pm.

it was Ari

Josh Marshall unveils suspicious circumstantial evidence, and anonymous liberal wraps it all up.
"They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."

Berlusconi comes to Washington

newsflash: Bush administration has staggeringly-poor judgment

Cheney Names Two to Fill Libby's Positions, John Hannah and David Addington, both mentioned in Libby's indictment, and one (Hannah) dealing with detangling the legal implications of his own personal involvement in the Plame scandal. No criminal is left behind by the criminals who rule America... they take good care of their own. [update from Murray Waas]:
...Addington was deeply immersed in the White House damage-control campaign to deflect criticism that the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to administration and congressional sources. Moreover, as a pivotal member of the vice president's office, Addington also attended strategy sessions in 2003 on how to discredit Wilson when the former ambassador publicly charged that the Bush administration misled the country in pushing its case for war, according to attorneys in the CIA leak probe. Further, Addington played a leading role in 2004 on behalf of the Bush administration when it refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents from Libby's office on the alleged misuse of intelligence information regarding Iraq. Because Addington may be in line to succeed Libby, the Intelligence Committee-White House battle over the documents has sparked new interest on Capitol Hill.
"They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."

airstrikes against Iran

(don't think we're not considering it) Would this be necessary to ensure the long-term safety of Israel? Or will it be perceived, not unlike our invasion of Iraq, as wacking the bee's nest filled with radical fundamental Islamic 'holy warriors'? Seriously... hard to calculate the cost/benefit of this one.

...on Rosa Parks

I realized this morning, as her body lay in rest only a couple of miles away in the Capitol Rotunda, that I had not yet posted anything on the life and death of this beautiful American hero, who chose to remain seated so an entire Country could stand. God will bless you Rosa. RIP.

no shit Sherlock!

Racial Discrimination and African-American Quarterbacks in the National Football League, 1968-1999

Abstract: This article argues that African-American quarterbacks have faced consistent discrimination in the National Football League since Marlin Briscoe broke through the color barrier at the position in 1968. The author identifies the issue of intelligence as central to the discrimination practiced against African-American NFL quarterbacks and identifies two central arguments traditionally used to prove the insufficiency of black intelligence to play the position - the Wonderlic argumentation and the Option argumentation. The author identifies several problems with these arguments. The author concludes by drawing a correlation between the argument used against African-Americans playing quarterback in the NFL and similar discrimination against African-Americans in broader society.

This Day in History: 1517

Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Plame and the indictment process

a good rundown by Al Tomkins
"They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."

did Judith Miller really have a security clearance?

"how much is that?"

Samuel H. Williamson, Economics Professor at Miami University unveils a new website to help calculate the value of the dollar compared to previous years:
"Have you ever wondered what the value of a dollar was in 1895? Or what the GDP was in 1929? Here is a place where you can ask questions of comparative value covering purchasing power, exchange rates, and other variables between the past and today."

Happy Halloween: NOLA style

"Jayme (the bottled water) and Rebecca (the MRE)"

via Eye of the Storm, an excellent source for Katrina news and photos, comes this year's award for Best Costume. Good stuff.

oh, by the way...

Alito sucks.
No link to support that or anything... but I don't need one in this case. This is 'simply my opinion', Alito is 1 more example of the scourge that is holding back our country.

Kornheiser: lamenting the Skins' horrible weekend

some excerpts: Okay, as of right now I'm out of the predicting business. I was one of those morons who thought the Redskins would beat the Giants. Do you know how exactly how many yards the Redskins had when the Giants had 199? Go ahead, take a guess. Did you guess "two"? The Redskins were simply so awful they would have lost to Wellington Mara's 40 grandchildren.

harsh but true commentary on the Undead Hack

"Robert Novak should never be allowed to write another column or appear on any TV show ever-unless he's doing an interview that explains why he is Karl Rove's messenger boy. He is a national disgrace." [The Outing of Valerie Plame, Crooks and Liars]

29 October 2005

Bad News for Bob Woodward

Uh oh... apparently Bob doesn't read his own paper... 2 days after declaring (lying?) that the CIA had conducted a damage assessment resulting from the outing of Valerie Plame, we have this from The Washington Post: CIA Yet to Assess Harm From Plame's Exposure

force feeding America bad information... knowingly

in our clumsy march to war... Knight Ridder reports
Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI, and people close to it, repeatedly tried to shop the bogus Niger uranium story to governments in France, Britain and the United States. That created the illusion that multiple sources were confirming the story. The CIA had begun receiving intelligence reports based on the same forgeries in October 2001, but they could not be confirmed. Copies of the fake documents suddenly surfaced at a critical point in the White House's fall 2002 campaign to take the country to war in Iraq. The CIA eventually determined that the earlier reports were "based on the forged documents" and were "thus ... unreliable," a presidential commission on unconventional weapons proliferation said in March. State Department intelligence analysts and some in the CIA discounted the uranium story. But White House officials, working through a back channel to one CIA unit, seized on the tale, and it was included in Bush's case for war...

28 October 2005

Bush's "official reponse" to today's indictment

if you sneezed, you missed it. Talk about a tiptoed response with an air of 'damn, this sucks'. He's playing nice in Fitzgerald's sandbox because he knows the crimes that his administration has committed. And I'm referring to the ones that they haven't been charged with... yet.

snippets from Fitzgerald's press conference

"Mrs. Wilson was an employee of the CIA... her employment status was classified." and "That talking point won't fly." - Referring to the recent statements by Republicans that the crimes are just 'technicalities' and "National security was at stake."

I wonder...

Now that Libby is unemployed, how long will it take for The Carlyle Group to snatch him up?

Fitzgerald: Valerie Wilson was a covert operative of the CIA

and the Agency took steps to keep her identity secret. There's a humongous void in this case that remains to be filled, which is precisely why the investigation continues.

text of Libby indictment

here, from Think Progress

most key documents about Saddam-Al Qaeda connection were faked

Libby resigned: FINALLY

Good riddance! You won't be missed.

Don't forget

They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them

551,000

lie, cheat, and obstruct

false statements, obstruction of justice and perjury

A 5 count indictment against Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, which puts to rest any doubt whether America is currently being ruled by liars and cheats. John Bolton and Dick Cheney: there are 2 more shoes with your names on them that are perilously close to falling.

T-minus 5 minutes and counting

until Patrick Fitzgerald underwhelmingly releases documents from the Plame investigation. Of course, Libby will be indicted, but not for the right reasons.

26 October 2005

don't read this

laura rozen writes:
You have an ex-Sismi agent (Rocco Martino), a current Sismi vice captain (Antonio Nucera), and a long-time Sismi mole in the Niger embassy Rome involved in assembling the Niger forgeries. You have a former Sismi agent (Rocco Martino) trying to selling them, to the French, to the British, to an Italian journalist. Sismi itself issued reports to the CIA and MI6 with the information on Iraq supposedly contracting to purchase 500 tons of yellowcake from Niger that turned up in the forgeries. You have the head of Sismi Nicolo Pollari admitting to Repubblica in an interview published Monday that Sismi knew what Rocco Martino was up to in 2001 and offering to show them a photo of Martino passing the dossier to British intelligence. I am not sure how the Berlusconi government can plausibly deny that Sismi didn't have a direct role in the Niger yellowcake claims to western intelligence, and a very cozily indirect role to the forgeries themselves. Unless it's the kind of denial that Rove and Libby meant when they told the grand jury that they hadn't told journalists about Wilson's wife or her place of employment.

feeding the monkey

Hey doofball, Cheney has not been asked to appear, nor provide testimony to Fitzgerald's grand jury. He has provided statements to Fitzgerald (now it turns out it was apparently under oath), but he has never appeared in front of the grand jury. Not knowing that pretty much makes your blabitty-blab, meaningless.

"A newspaper is either improving every day or falling behind"

Deborah Howell, new ombudsman for The Washington Post.

David Safavian's attorney

writes a letter... [but don't get your hopes up, its pretty weak]

Joe and Valerie Wilson's attorney

Laura Rozen's latest on Nigergate

here on one hand Pollari wants so badly to be chummy with the architechts of our wonderful war... but on the other hand, they've issued arrest warrants for 13 Agency spooks for the kidnapping of an Egyptian-born cleric. How, incongruent.
In an explosive series of articles appearing this week in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, investigative reporters Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe d'Avanzo report that Nicolo Pollari, chief of Italy's military intelligence service, known as Sismi, brought the Niger yellowcake story directly to the White House after his insistent overtures had been rejected by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2001 and 2002. Sismi had reported to the CIA on October 15, 2001, that Iraq had sought yellowcake in Niger, a report it also plied on British intelligence, creating an echo that the Niger forgeries themselves purported to amplify before they were exposed as a hoax.

Nicolo Pollari: time to sing and dance

'splain away

ROME - The head of Italy's military secret services will be questioned by a parliamentary commission next week over allegations that his organization gave the United States and Britain disputed documents suggesting that Saddam Hussein had been seeking uranium in Africa, officials said Tuesday.

Nicolo Pollari, director of the SISMI intelligence agency, will be questioned on Nov. 3 by members of the commission overseeing secret services, said Micaela Panella, a commission spokeswoman.

poker addicts: get your schedule on

Harrah's announces it's 2006 World Series of Poker Schedule

like pawing at a mouse

an encore post from this doofball
YES! I have been waiting on some good news in the Senate races and finally we have some. Powerline is reporting Michael Steele will run for Senate in Maryland. My prediction is he will win. Great news!
Excellent. Stop the presses! A prediction has been made! I wonder though, what methods did said howler employ to calculate his 'prediction'? And on the basis of what broad evidence does the Mayor of Looneyville rest his judgement? Inquiring minds want to know. Should I be the first party-pooper who breaks the bad news to Mr. Mayor? It takes more than monthly cameos as Bill Maher's whipping post to impress more sophisticated voters, and as bad as the Glendening administration performed during the last 1/2 of the 90's through 2002, the Ehrlich/Steele administration has been immeasurably worse. "Miserable failure" actually comes to mind, and in the same sense that the phrase applies to George W. Bush. For those who require short, easily digestible points, here's the short version: Marylanders tend to avoid repeating mistakes at the ballot box. ... cue Diebold.

lost in Looneyville

Another howler wailing about vast left wing conspiracies and 'media bias'. The world treats so unfairly it's poor, downtrodden warmongers.

24 October 2005

"unintended consequence"

larry johnson's latest...more bad news for Bush

regime change in Syria?

flashback: dick cheney ... 'evil genius'

"I don’t know Joe Wilson. I’ve never met Joe Wilson." - If Dick Cheney were an actual genius, shouldn't he have known who Joe Wilson was, especially considering Wilson was the last American official to meet with the leader of the country he was about to own?

on orders from 'executives in the office of the vice president'

Raw Story reports that David Wurmser (this doofball) an aide to VP Cheney passed Plame's name to Libby, Hadley and Rove on orders from 'executives in the office of the Vice President'. Is it poor form to make fun of a bald dork's combover?

Who forged the Niger uranium documents?

According to UPI, Fitzgerald's inquiry has widened to include just that question. Maybe now we can finally get past the stonewalling and start getting answers. Some think the culprit is the OSP's own Larry Franklin, himself recently indicted for passing classified information to foreign agents not authorized to receive it, namely intelligence regarding Iran to the Israel government and powerful Israeli lobbying firm AIPAC... others think it was Michael Ledeen. Let the house of cards fall. Regardless of who pushed the forged documents, it must be noted that this wasn't the work of just 1 person. The time has come to remove the protections afforded to the radical echo chamber of liars who manipulated our Country into a war that we did not need to fight. The last paragraph....
The marketing is over but the war goes on. The press is baying and the law closes in. The team of Bush loyalists in the White House is demoralized and braced for disaster.

why was Joe Wilson smeared...?

according to Think Progress:
Joe Wilson was smeared for a reason much larger than himself. Wilson was smeared because the administration knew if whistle-blowers were able to speak freely, their justification for war would fall apart.

hurricane overload

NASA now has a downloadable file (.mpeg) to view the tracts of all 21 named storms of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season (through Wilma). Pretty interesting.

chilling

NPR wrapup

Parts one and two of Public Surveillance: Security vs. Privacy Studs Terkel reflects back to his younger days on today's segment of This I Believe: Community in Action Vivid Language from Iraq's Constitution
Final results are still awaited a week after Iraqis voted in a referendum on the constitution. Most observers assume the document was approved. The preamble to the constitution contains language that is often stirring. Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi-born poet and filmmaker living in New York, discusses the preamble with Debbie Elliott.
(note: audio available for all)

Vanden Heuvel strikes again

when will they learn...?

... that lying to cover your ass is often far worse than the crime they're accusing you of committing?

"See, Speak, and Hear No Incompetence"

The title is a bit over-the-top, but hey, the Brits appreciate their think tanks a bit more than we do. If the shoe fits...

look who's coming to Washington

Reuters is reporting that OSP ubersource, liar and corporate fraudster our good friend Chalabi is returning to Washington in November, at the request of corporate crony Treasury Secretary John Snow. Time Magazine ran this article Saturday.

20 October 2005

eh, what the hell... since i'm the only one who hasn't posted this

today's Newsday piece on Lawrence Wilkerson, retired Army Colonel and former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, describing the 'secretive cabal' responsible for America's horrific decision-making. Wilkerson's statements came at an Israeli/Palestinian event hosted by the New America Foundation. Video of Wilkerson's comments is available here (.wmv), check it out. Obviously, Steve Clemons has everything you need to know. [update: here's the transcript]

have your doctors repaid their medical school loans?

Hurricane Wilma forces Phins to play Friday

Delay's mugshot

could this doofball look any happier?

first Angelos, now Schmoke

bad news for Martin O'Malley, current mayor of Baltimore, in his bid to become next Governor of Maryland. [update: Not surprisingly, we can now add ex-Md. Gov. William Donald Schaefer to Duncan's camp]

Iraq's Navy

Bet ya never thought they had one (well, not a REAL one)... thanks to DefenseTech, I now know they do.

Miers's answers were so poor

she has to answer them again that's actually funny... like, seriously... funny.

lol...

If you dislike the NYTimes (as an organization) as much as I do, then you'll probably enjoy Tina Brown's column today as much as I did. Here's the lede:
In its 6,000 word version of the Judith Miller saga, the New York Times enters the realm of reality TV mixed with teenage soap opera -- and ends up inviting bloggers to walk all over the paper's reputation.

Bingo

Jim Hoagland at The Washington Post on the long-term impacts of the Plame scandal, and hints at why Judith Miller deserves none of the praise she's received for being a "great protector of all things journalism". She served her time selfishly... with her own agenda in mind... and those with a stake in informing Americans about what happens "behind-the-scenes" of their government's National Security curtain will pay the price for years.
"Fitzgerald's most lasting legacy in this case will not be as a prosecutor. It will be as a censor. He has built his case around the discussion of possibly classified information -- Plame's name -- by government officials with journalists. He is sending a message -- one that President Bush fully endorses, even as it creates severe complications for him -- about the dangers of talking to journalists about national security matters."

the freako-betrayal of Bill Bennett

Just a quick thought on Freakonomics, which was highly recommended to me long before Bennett's astronomical faux pas. First, it's an excellent read, and blows away "conventional wisdom" on a host of issues that only an economist can love. Bennett's mistake is that he's one of those guys who tries his best to make other people's arguments his own, and in this case he blew it because he was incapable of carrying forward the pertinence of Levitt's point. Instead, he came off sounding like a blathering racist. And his backpedaling to cover his ass was equally embarassing. I quickly realized that Freakonomics was going to end up being my favorite book of 2005... and I've read some good ones. It should be said though, in this book Levitt doesn't carve up crime statistics based on white vs black (not necessarily, though there is some discussion on this). In the chapter "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?" the point that Levitt makes, and the one that betrayed Bennett's verbosity and word-wasting is rather simple, if not somewhat controversial without obscuring it by adding 'blackness' to the equation: an unintended benefit of Roe v. Wade was that otherwise unwanted, destitute and uncared-for children were not born, and therefore (obviously) were not contributing 'their share' to crime rates in the 1990s. As the book explains in much greater detail, Levitt's correlation is not a function of race but rather strictly abortion rates. Bennett screwed the pooch. It was one of those situations where Bennett would have been much better off if he would have just kept his mouth shut.

complete idiots

... anyone who reads the NY Daily News piece from yesterday and implies that Bush's displeasure with Rove regarding the Plame scandal somehow indicates that he's a good leader who won't put up with the misuse of classified information for vindictive political purposes. If the pictures painted by their sources are accurate, then what this indicates is Bush's paranoia (rightly) telling him that Karl made a major league mistake and never should have spoken to the press. Wonder where he got that idea? "Bush-league" is right... sadly, this is par for the course for the idiots who rule you. Those of you who continue to apologize for them are doing irreparable harm to America. Pull your collective heads out of the sand and stop being blindly and selfishly married to the criminals you should never have elected in the first place. This administration is 100 times worse than Clinton in every way, shape and form. Expect better and you'll get better.

19 October 2005

Maryland "for sale": part DXVII

Next up: the Inner Harbor's World Trade Center.

Judith Miller: award winning journalist, dubious martyr, and generally annoying

By the way... Aspens don't really turn in clusters

this question won't stop getting asked

Miers's Responses to Senate Judiciary Committee Questions

why do you think he has separate private counsel?

some 2 weeks

Back from a brief respite from blogging... Had a crazy couple of weeks that left me very little suitable blogging time. And, since blogging is primarily an exercise in reading rather than writing, let me extend a warm "thank you" to the jackasses who who piled over 2050 stories onto my reading list (you know who you are). =) If you think I'm actually planning to read all of these then I'd suggest you're probably out of your mind. For our daily readership of exactly 22.3 people, 5 of whom seem to be regular lurkers from the wasteland of insight and intelligence oka the ESPN boards, watch out for flying debris as I unclog the backlog. Much props to Monkster and the good Doctor [oops, what's up Doc?] for holding down the fort. Peace.

"Abandoned in the desert to die"

Nielsen ratings prove TS Eliot wrong

"Humankind cannot stand very much reality" - T. S. Eliot

10 October 2005

Our Confounding Father

Just wrapping up this magnificent book, which my cheap ass got around to buying after it went paperback, and was always checked out at the local library. The first thing that strikes me as I read this bio on Alexander Hamilton is how ignorant I am about the Revolutionary Period in our history. Who created, architected, had a major role in tweaking among other things: Customs, the Coast Guard, the US banking system and stock exchange, the first "sin" tax - to go along with the principles of federalism that make us wholly unique among all other countries? Can't say I'd even entertained the question before, much less thought that it could come from one man. And the great thing about the book is that as deeply as author Chernow obviously reveres these accomplisments, he remains unsparing and clinical in describing Hamilton's sins of arrogance, adultery, and downright hypocrisy. And because he does this, rarely does a human life get such a thorough treatment. Easily the most compelling passages of the book deal with his long-standing feud with Jefferson. The book does quite a job on the guy. He comes across as our first Hollywood liberal: Decrying the birth of a central bank and all the capitalistic evils that would follow, yet not quite able to part with his 230-odd slaves becuase of his own financial incompetence, cheerleading the savagery of the French Revolution and its eradication of royalty, while still living a spoiled-rotten existence in Paris, et al. Their row over the French Revolution, among other things, makes today's politics look about as consequential as the last episode of The Apprentice. As one who thinks, as Hamilton did, that what happened in Paris was next-to-nothing like our war for independence (but more like what happened in places like Moscow, Saigon, and Tehran), I'm now eager to read a bio on Jefferson to see his side. (anybody recommend a particular read?) There's so much more to discuss and ponder about the book - where Hamilton thought states' rights should end and a central government should take over (perhaps undefineable), what really constitutes taxation without representation, how much power should one man in office really wield - but to those of us that see true capitalism and self-interest as necessary and vital agents of progress (tempered by sensible government), he was and will always be The Man. Haven't gotten quite to the finish yet, like I said. Some cat named Burr keeps popping up. I sense something bad might come of this. If you know the ending, please don't spoil it for me.

04 October 2005

funny how so many avoid this....

Bush Asked About His Personal Involvement In Leak Scandal... don't get your hopes up for a straight answer.

inviting progressive ideas

but only if you're a resident of the 22nd Assembly District. Via Political Wire:
New York Assemblyman Jimmy Meng (D) has started a “Make Your Own Law" contest, “inviting his constituents to write legislation with the promise that the best proposal will be introduced as a bill in Albany,” the New York Daily News reports. About two dozen proposals have already been submitted.
Submissions should be mailed to: 39-07 Prince St, Suite 3C, Flushing, N.Y. 11354, by COB November 1st.

"Cronyism"

Randy Barnett has this op-ed at the Wall Street Journal

"I picked the best person I could find"

President Bush on the Miers nomination I'm sure he looked really really hard.

Eliot Spitzer clobbering the field

Not even close. Today's Quinnipiac poll results

Making the case

Just came across this article in the latest Harper's Magazine, reprinted from the January issue of highbrow Foreign Affairs magazine, via the NY Times... nevermind all that. Makes a great case for the US getting the hell out of the desert, worth reading if you're still paying attention to that whole "war" thing.

that crazy (and unsuccessful) Oklahoma suicide bomber

from last weekend apparently had jihad material... according to the rarely-reliable WorldNetDaily.

WaPo editorial: so very right, and so very wrong

at the same time.
Let FEMA Be FEMA: "The correct response, in the wake of hurricanes Rita and Katrina, is not to bring in the military to do FEMA's job but to fix FEMA. Of course, the agency's civil servants are demoralized: Their role has been downgraded, their agency has been robbed of funding and they have been led by unqualified political appointees. As we have written before, there isn't much point now in moving FEMA back out of the Department of Homeland Security. But within that department, FEMA could play a bigger role. "
FEMA should be moved out of DHS, and their status should be restored to where it belongs. The Bush administration needs to shift Chertoff aside, he is a useless cog in the Federal government's engine, and a competent and unaffiliated FEMA Director should be appointed immediately. FEMA will remain incapable of fulfilling it's most fundamental and important role; coordinating Federal Agencies and their assets in times of emergency, so long as it remains buried under an amorphous blob of cronyism and blowhardedness. The kind of effective coordination that I'm referring to requires strength, and a distinct and universally-understood chain of command. Some things are too important to turn over to hacks and novices... [and I say this, ironically, as Bush appoints a crony to the Supreme Court].... responding to catastrophic disasters is one of those things. We should expect the Bush administration to act like adults... admit that their DHS'ification of America was a monumental mistake... and propose a solution to fix the problems they've created. But we know that's not going to happen, since this model of governing is the only thing they know. And here I thought that The Washington Post had grown a pair.

the story of the Bush presidency

Opportunity Squandered By John Yoo Tuesday, October 4, 2005; Page A23 President Bush stepped to the plate yesterday to nominate a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He leads a party with 55 votes in the Senate and has just appointed to the Supreme Court a conservative chief justice widely hailed as one of the most qualified nominees in recent memory. The president swung and missed.

"They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them"

or... as you know Judy, it was all of us, now welcome back to the free world, and keep your big mouth shut
Section 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Forbes: World's Most Expensive Cars for 2005

Saleen S7 Twin Turbo: $555,000 Koenigsegg CCR: $562,659 - global (not available in US) Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren: $450,000
view the full Forbes article (along with slideshow) here.

Last One to Leave, Please Turn On the Lights

Engelhardt's latest at Mother Jones Stay the course. We're fighting for our freedoms.

Bootlicking nobodies...

you too can become a Supreme Court Justice.

schadenfreude

2 new charges for DeLay. What a dumbass

03 October 2005

Good news for Falcon fans

His MRI came back negative... so the Michael Vick Show returns next week.

A toast to Busch

from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

DeLay and Thatcher: you scratch my back....

I'll support your lobbies... Britain's Daily Mirror scoops secret DeLay/Thatcher 'agreements for favors'...

EXCLUSIVE: Secret paper links Thatcher to freebies probe (excerpt)

It said the request was part of a deception investigation "involving high-profile American and UK-based individuals, including a leading Congressman and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher". At the centre of the probe is high-profile lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is already under investigation in the US.

The document says: "US officials are investigating whether Abramoff was involved in obtaining legislative assistance from public officials in exchange for arranging and underwriting trips to the UK."

Investigators are also probing whether the public officials filed false reports relating to the trips.

The holidays involved playing golf at St Andrews in Scotland, dinner with unnamed members of the Scottish Parliament, theatre trips in London and luxury hotel accommodation.

Mr DeLay's staff also scheduled a meeting with Lady Thatcher.

The briefing adds that police investigating the meeting "have been asked to handle these inquiries sensitively given the nature of the individual concerned and the background to the request". Members of the Scottish Parliament will be questioned concerning any contacts they may have had with Abramoff, DeLay or members of their party.

Scottish police will collect hotel record, bills, invoices, and statements.

Lady Thatcher's spokesman said last night: "An approach was made to her office to confirm the bare details of the particular meeting. At this stage we are expecting nothing further.

"Lady Thatcher met Mr DeLay as as one politician meeting another. It was in no way a business meeting."

the Democratic Party's saving grace

NYTimes profiles super-AG Eliot Spitzer today with this article: Spitzerism

02 October 2005

Nov 2: mark your calendars

U.S. Military Operations in Iraq: Planning, Combat and Occupation Sponsors: Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University When: November 02, 2005 Location: Johns Hopkins University 1740 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036, US Registration Fee: $0 Details: This conference will examine the planning for and conduct of operations in Iraq and the subsequent occupation of that country by American and coalition forces. A conference report will be published NLT 1 February 2006. RSVP: Required Admission: Open to the General Public Point of Contact: Wallace.Terrill@carlisle.army.mil Host's Website: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/ Registration Materials: http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/conf/sais.pdf

lowest of lows for Os fans

"This was so bad, it made 1988 seem out-and-out joyful."
so says David Steele at the Baltimore Sun.

odd

this guy reports that Barbara Olson was arrested on the Polish/German border... but he misspelled lira, so... ps: by no means do I believe this... just posting it.

Google & San Francisco: a match made in heaven

wireless access for all by the way: if you often find yourself on the road searching for a wireless hotspot.... check out wififreespot.com for a state-by-state listing.

Cards hit century mark

100-62. Good stuff.

The Washington Post asserts itself

with this editorial today... Whose Fault Is Pork?. Thoroughly bad for the wolves in sheep's clothing spending your tax dollars.

perjury and conspiracy charges....

you elected these people America