Huckleberry

Markos thinks he's "a scary good politician." What he means is scary-good. We think he's scary and good at politics.

Time to go

This war is a hopeless case:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Two Iraqi women were shot dead north of Baghdad after coalition forces fired on a vehicle that failed to stop at an observation post, the U.S. military said Wednesday. Iraqi police and relatives said one of the women was about to give birth.

We once had a colleague who was incapable of admitting a mistake. It was a minor irritant. In the preznit's case, it means that many more people will die needlessly.

Here we go again

Conason:

Of all possible explanations for the mainstream media’s preoccupation with the Clinton marriage, the most innocuous is nostalgia for a better time, when we were able to worry less about war, corruption, catastrophe and incompetence, and more about sex.

Lyons:

Who cares how often the senator from New York gets laid?
Maureen Dowd and David Broder, that’s who.

Episodes like this make us miss the horse.

Maxine died

NWATimes reports. Photo of Maxine's Tap Room; still looks exactly the same.

New Treasury secretary

The Note:

ABC News' Jessica Yellin reports a former Bush Administration official said this about the Paulson pick this morning: "Paulson is a fantastic pick. He has a keen, singular understanding of the financial markets. The markets will love the pick. His fingers are truly on the pulse of the global economy. He is held in the highest regard in the financial services industry and Wall Street. One of the world's most prominent investment bankers as Treasury Secretary is absolutely huge."

The markets show him the love.

Jimmy Hoffa

Still missing.

President Bigtime

Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe continues to lead on this:

WASHINGTON - The office of Vice President Dick Cheney routinely reviews pieces of legislation before they reach the president's desk, searching for provisions that Cheney believes would infringe on presidential power, according to former White House and Justice Department officials.
The officials said Cheney's legal adviser and chief of staff, David Addington, is the Bush administration's leading architect of the "signing statements" the president has appended to more than 750 laws. The statements assert the president's right to ignore the laws because they conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution. The Bush-Cheney administration has used such statements to claim for itself the option of bypassing a ban on torture, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and numerous requirements that they provide certain information to Congress, among other laws.
Previous vice presidents have had neither the authority nor the interest in reviewing legislation. But Cheney has used his power over the administration's legal team to promote an expansive theory of presidential authority. Using signing statements, the administration has challenged more laws than all previous administrations combined.

Still think W's "the decider?"

Carlos Hathcock, 1942-1999

Max posts a list of Arkansas miltary heroes who have been featured on a KUAR biographical series. Missing from that list is Carlos Norman Hathcock II, a Little Rock native and Silver Star-earner. From his Wikipedia entry:

Widely recognized as the Marines' most proficient sniper, Hathcock had killed a confirmed 93 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong personnel. His actual total is believed to be well over 100, which the official count does not reflect. North Vietnam even put a bounty of $50,000 on his life, which was far more than other bounties put on U.S. snipers -- typically only $50-$100. The Viet Cong called him Lông Trắng, "the white feather sniper," because he always wore one in the band of his bush hat and only removed it once while stalking an NVA general.
... Hathcock's career as a sniper came to a sudden end outside Khe Sanh in 1969, when the amphibious tractor he was riding on struck an anti-tank mine. Hathcock pulled seven Marines off the flame-engulfed vehicle before jumping to safety. As was his way, he rejected any commendation for his bravery. He came out of the attack with severe burns over 90 percent of his body, 49 percent of which were third-degree burns. He was evacuated to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, where he underwent 13 skin graft operations. The nature of the injuries left him unable to perform effectively in combat with a rifle.

Memorial Day

Herbert:

Reacting to the allegations about the murder of civilians, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee, went to Iraq last week to warn his troops about the danger of becoming "indifferent to the loss of a human life."
Somehow that message needs to be conveyed to the top leaders of this country, and to the public at large.

Amen.

There are alligators in Florida

This is apparently news to The Associated Press.

About Al Gore

Brrrrrr

Shrinkage.

'Cisco Pike'

Released on DVD, the LATimes tells us, although from the story it's unclear how we ever managed to see it -- on cable, we guess. Anyway, we loved this film, Kristofferson's first, as much as we loved Acapulco Gold. The Times piece is mostly about how Venice has changed. Here's a contemporaneous Ebert review.

Don't miss this

Best Media Matters ever. Everyone should read Jamison every week, even if you don't read all their other stuff, which can get formulaic ("Ignoring ...").

Black turbans

The Taliban are still around.

We saw this live

But we knew it would show up again somewhere. Watch Craig Cannon's dental bridge fall halfway out of his mouth in midsentence as he anchors the news.
via Jim Harris.

This is extreme

BBC:

The coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, said Iraqi Olympic officials.
Coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were killed in the al-Saidiya district of the capital.
Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of shorts.

It was 102 degrees in Baghdad yesterday. Forecast for today, Saturday: 109.

Shrill

'This would be an atrocity'

NYT:

WASHINGTON, May 25 — A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians, Congressional, military and Pentagon officials said Thursday.

My Lai writ smaller. Why?

Which came first?

The egg.

A step in the right direction

Senate panel OKs net neutrality measure.

Note to Ken Lay

God doesn't hang around much where you're going:

"We'll all come through this stronger and more reliant on God," Lay told his supporters. "God will answer prayers."

And He doesn't much like hypocrites -- or thieves, we're told.

Cloaking device

Cool.

A la carte cable

Kudos to John McCain.

Yikes

Bigtime might have to testify at Libby's trial.
Froomkin rounds up the coverage. (AP photo)

Now it makes sense

We wondered what was up with Hastert going to bat for Jefferson, who should have already resigned. Tomasky had a theory that sounded about right, that he wanted to make the culture of corruption look bipartisan. This is even better:

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from senior U.S. law enforcement officials.

Maybe they can share a cell at Leavenworth.

Stranger than fiction

Funnier than The Onion.

Compare and contrast

NYTimes on Clintons' sex life. WaPo tongue bath for Frist. It's two and a half years until Election Day 2008.

Turning points, milestones

WaPo:

In his speech here, Bush tried to balance optimism with concessions of mistakes. "Yet we have now reached a turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror," he said.
... Bush has declared turning points and milestones in the war before. He called it "an important milestone" when a temporary governing council was formed in July 2003 and "a turning point" when sovereignty was turned over to the interim government in June 2004. Elections in January 2005, he said, were both "a turning point in the history of Iraq" and "a milestone in the advance of freedom."
He called it a "milestone" in October when Iraqi voters approved a constitution and "a major milestone" two months later when they elected a parliament -- a moment he also termed "a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East and the history of freedom." The selection of a prime minister last month was "an important milestone toward our victory in Iraq" and, a week later, "a turning point for the Iraqi citizens."

These are what they call "talking points," no?

Shorter Lyons, Conason

Gene: The GOP has a losing agenda if only Democrats can exploit it.
Joe: Al Gore is right -- and his critics wrong -- about climate change.

Pumpkinhead

What a tool.

'24'

That season-ender was a bit of a disappointment. We were looking forward to Jack torturing President Logan. And we were expecting to see Martha Logan in the shower after she had sex with the president. And we predicted that Jack would execute Henderson. And we knew when Logan admitted everything to Martha in that hangar that it was being recorded. Then we thought, surely all this hasn't escaped the attention of the Chinese, just before Jack was told his daughter was calling. Can't wait for next season, though.

Vargas out, Gibson in

You know, it's a good thing Elizabeth Vargas "is pregnant and goes on leave later this summer," otherwise people might infer that ABC had fired her ass.

Not Mullah Dadullah

U.S. military says.

Howler

We quit reading Somerby when he decided to write about education all the time. We're guessing his traffic shrunk or something, because he's apparently returned to press criticism, at least partly. Right on the money.

Waste of money

NYTimes:

WASHINGTON, May 21 — The Bush administration is moving to establish a new antimissile site in Europe that would be designed to stop attacks by Iran against the United States and its European allies.
The administration's proposal, which comes amid rising concerns about Iran's suspected program to develop nuclear weapons, calls for installing 10 antimissile interceptors at a European site by 2011. Poland and the Czech Republic are among the nations under consideration.

Why would the Poles and Czechs listen to such a proposal? They're soliciting a bribe. Why would the Iranians target Europe -- assuming they develop the capability? They wouldn't. The Europeans actually have something called diplomatic relations with Iran. This idea will be hugely unpopular across Europe.

Baghdad Zal

Zalmay Khalilzad:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador said Sunday that the next six months will be critical for Iraq as its new national unity government seeks to win public confidence and improve security so that American and other international troops can begin heading home.

He must be reading Tom Friedman.

Brill

Amen to the second part

AP:

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

We think it's at least two generations, maybe three, and not just "their member."

'Doughnut hole'

It's almost as if the GOP Congress sabotaged its own prospects. KR:

The timing couldn't be worse for the Bush administration and congressional Republicans who've spent most of the year defending the new benefit. In the heart of the summer and fall election season, throngs of seniors stuck in the doughnut hole will have a new ax to grind.
"You're likely to get a lot of folks hitting that doughnut hole after Labor Day and sometime right in front of the election, and that will certainly provide fodder for those who have criticized the benefit for not being generous enough," said Michael Frank, the vice president for government relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research center.

Et tu, Heritage Foundation?

We're stuck with 5,000 trailers

Great:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has no plans to move at least half of the 10,000 emergency housing trailers sitting empty in Hope, Ark., saying they may be needed for the 2006 hurricane season.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency detailed its plan to keep the trailers at the Hope municipal airport in a letter to Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who had asked that some of the trailers be used for American Indian housing.
What they are doing with the other half of the Arkansas trailers is unclear from the letter.

Oh my

E&P:

Former 'Weekly Reader' Editor Convicted of Soliciting Sex with Minor

Mullah Dadullah

If they've really captured the Taliban military commander, that would be a good thing. But there are a lot of one-legged men in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Dadullah has given TV interviews. If it is him, they'll try to rescue him before CIA straps him to a waterboard. Fighting season's just getting under way.

RIP 'Ramrod'

SFChron:

He was a psychedelic cowboy who rode the bus with Ken Kesey and took virtually every step of the long, strange trip with the Grateful Dead. Known to one and all solely as Ramrod, he died yesterday of lung cancer at Petaluma Valley Hospital. He was 61.

Photo oops

Remind you of anthing?

Leon

George's, Friday.

Iran and the bomb

This report from the Beeb sounds about right.

This WaPo writer gets it

A feature:

We Louisianans ... treat alligators with respect, and the occasional addition of sauce piquant. Alligator turns up frequently not only at backyard barbecues but on the menus of all the best restaurants in Louisiana.

At times like this, we're thankful we don't have CNN, which is apparently devoting way to much time and resources to the recent developments. We love gators. They're tasty.

NSA killed system that sifted phone data legally

This Baltimore Sun story should scuttle Hayden's nomination to head CIA, but of course it won't:

The National Security Agency developed a pilot program in the late 1990s that would have enabled it to gather and analyze massive amounts of communications data without running afoul of privacy laws. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, it shelved the project -- not because it failed to work -- but because of bureaucratic infighting and a sudden White House expansion of the agency's surveillance powers, according to several intelligence officials.
The agency opted instead to adopt only one component of the program, which produced a far less capable and rigorous program. It remains the backbone of the NSA's warrantless surveillance efforts, tracking domestic and overseas communications from a vast databank of information, and monitoring selected calls.

Still searching in vain for something these guys have done right.

Six Tom Friedman months

Equal two and a half years in the reality-based world.

Southern strategy revisited

Mike Huckabee calls this anti-immigrant current for what it is: racism. Cue Bill O'Reilly.

Telcos deny giving records to NSA

Of course, it's funny how it took several days for them to issue a denial. Think Progress finds evidence that they may be lying. They certainly have millions of reasons to do so. Greg Sargent parses their statements. And Art Brodsky makes a good case that they're already lying about net neutrality. It's up to the Senate to stop them from monopolizing the Internet.

This, AP makes a 'top story'

Idiots:

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- A woman has shot an alligator that came into her home and attacked her dog.
The alligator was only 3 feet long, but Candy Frey wasn't taking any chances.

How long before they name a full-time, gator-attack correspondent?

Immigration

Lyons. Conason.

All-time low

WaPo:

Public confidence in Republican governance has plunged to the lowest levels of the Bush presidency, with Americans saying they now trust Democrats by wide margins to deal with Iraq, gasoline prices, immigration and more, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll that underscores the fragility of the GOP's grip on power six months before the midterm elections.

So much for that permanent majority.

Awfully quiet today

They did catch one of the killer gators.

W's immigation speech

It's hard to figure out what President 32 percent hoped to accomplish, unless it was pissing off whatever allies he had left in the right-wing blogosphere, opinion journalism and the House.

Makes sense

Sign us up:

WASHINGTON — A lawyer who sued Verizon last week on claims it violated privacy laws by turning over calling records to the National Security Agency said Sunday that customers of AT&T and BellSouth want to join the lawsuit.

In light of this, add Cingular and the other cellular accomplices as well.

Thieves?

Plumbing new depths.
via Altercation.

Zero credibility

You cannot believe a word they say.

Summer of the gator

Here they come:

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal alligator attacks in the previous 58 years. In less than a week, there appears to have been three.

Ugh. There appears to be no editors at AP.
UPDATE: The NYTimes bites.

A river in Egypt

She's in the 29 percent club:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels.

Book review

Bill Carter of The New York Times has written a new book about network TV. Unfortunately for Carter, the Times asked Ron Powers to review it:

If one were to seize The Hollywood Reporter's "Blu-Book Film, TV and Commercial Production Directory," hold it by its spine and shake it until the names fell out onto the table, then similarly harvest the "Facts on File Dictionary of Clichés," one would have a working draft of "Desperate Networks."

That's gonna leave a mark.

As we were saying

Isikoff:

The role of Vice President Dick Cheney in the criminal case stemming from the outing of White House critic Joseph Wilson's CIA wife is likely to get fresh attention as a result of newly disclosed notes showing that Cheney personally asked whether Wilson had been sent by his wife on a "junket" to Africa.

Maybe Bigtime will get indicted or at least named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Of course they did

Who else?

WASHINGTON, May 13 — In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

Ever notice how every evil thing they do, from torture to denying habeas corpus to illegally spying on Americans to blowing the cover of a CIA agent, originates with Bigtime and his lawyer, David Addington?

Some background

Courtesy of Knight Ridder:

WASHINGTON - President Bush has assured Americans that their government isn't spying on them, but history explains why many remain uneasy about this week's news that their phone records have been turned over to federal agents.
The government has a long track record of abusing personal information that's gathered in the name of national security.

You cannot trust these maniacs.

Sweeping it all up

Greg Palast:

I know you're shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that George Bush is listening in on all your phone calls. Without a warrant. That's nothing. And it's not news.
This is: the snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig of a strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration's Homeland Security spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the privatization of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private KGB.
The leader in the field of what is called "data mining," is a company, formed in 1997, called, "ChoicePoint, Inc," which has sucked up over a billion dollars in national security contracts.
Worried about Dick Cheney listening in Sunday on your call to Mom? That ain't nothing. You should be more concerned that they are linking this info to your medical records, your bill purchases and your entire personal profile including, not incidentally, your voting registration. Five years ago, I discovered that ChoicePoint had already gathered 16 billion data files on Americans -- and I know they've expanded their ops at an explosive rate.

Once the telcos sell the feds your phone records, they can buy everything else from ChoicePoint. Feel safer? Read the whole thing. ChoicePoint helped Katherine Harris foist W on us in 2000.

Tip of the iceberg

This ought to be good.

Attn: Fayetteville City Council

Philadelphia Inquirer:

With efforts to ban workplace cigarette smoking still stuck in City Council after more than a year of maneuvering, a longtime foe of antismoking laws yesterday proposed a compromise: tax breaks for bars and restaurants that go smoke-free.

We smoke. The smoking ban here is a mess.

What kind of editor would write this?

Amy Sullivan:

[S]quare cards are all the rage these days and available everywhere from high-end stationary stores to CVS ...

That doesn't inspire much confidence. Oh well, she's leaving anyway. And presumably they have actual copy editors who know how to spell stationery.

Leno won't be able to resist

Link. We'll be counting the jokes:

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 60 percent of Britons use items such as screwdrivers, scissors and earrings to remove food from between their teeth, according to a survey published Friday.

UPDATE TK: Zed. They missed it.

Tables turned

NYPost:

The former prosecutor who negotiated the deal that kept President Bill Clinton from being indicted in the probe of his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky has been charged with stalking an ex-girlfriend, a law enforcement official said.
Robert Ray surrendered to cops last night after Manhattan resident Tracy Loughlin, 40, filed a complaint.

Class-action time

We'd like our $1,000, please.

The beat goes on

Here:

MIAMI (Reuters) - An alligator grabbed and killed a Florida woman who disappeared while jogging near a canal, a medical examiner determined on Thursday.
... Alligator attacks are relatively rare. [Yovy] Suarez Jimenez's death was the 18th fatal attack in Florida since the state began keeping records in the 1940s, [Dani] Moschella[, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission,] said.

Rare or not, the media will inundate us with such reports all summer.
Case in point:

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- An elderly woman, who was bitten by an alligator while working in her backyard, beat back the reptile with a garden hose.

Herbert

Exactly right.

That's a lot of corruption

Excerpt from NYT:

In 2004 and 2005, more than 1,060 government employees were convicted of corrupt activities, including 177 federal officials, 158 state officials, 360 local officials and 365 police officers, according to F.B.I. statistics. The number of convictions rose 27 percent from 2004 to 2005.
... [T]he F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, ... said: "Having prosecuted public corruption cases, you come to realize first of all that public corruption tears the fabric of a democratic society. You lose faith in public officials, it leads to cynicism, it leads to distrust in government."

Ya think? To be fair, they note: "Not all high-profile cases involve Republicans."

Police state update

Don't use the phone:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

Read it all. Good scoop. Creepy news. Regime change is the only remedy.

KNWA appreciation

Last night we were spared wall-to-wall weather coverage during the 9 p.m. hour as KNWA focuses on Northwest Arkansas instead of lumping us in with what some master of euphemism dubbed "The River Valley," where bad weather usually goes when it leaves Oklahoma. But it was funny, given how ABC and 40/29 devoted significant chunks of their putative news programs to hyping that alarmist bird flu flick, that it wound up getting pre-empted by similarly alarmist coverage of some thunderstorms 60 miles away that turned out, as usual, not to be as bad as they might've been.

David Blaine

He has jumped the shark. He was great when he went around freaking people out on the street. Anyway, we watched "Prison Break" and "24" after KPBI ruined the seasons by broadcasting WB crap for a week.

Kiss of death

He doesn't get it:

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- President Bush suggested Wednesday that he'd like to see his family's White House legacy continue, perhaps with his younger brother Jeb as the chief executive.
The president said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is well-suited for another office and would make "a great president."

Of course, W probably believes he'll go down in history as a great preznit. See MoDo. We think Jeb would be a fine GOP nominee.

Gene Lyons

Piling on:

In my experience, there’s no bigger bunch of crybabies in American public life than the fops and courtiers of our Washington press corps.

They've been especially thin-skinned lately. Per Atrios, WATBs.

Sure as the sunrise

New low.
MoDo.

Stop us if you've heard this one before

Reuters headline:

Bush approval rating falls to new low in poll

What a moron

Get this:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied on the witness stand about being involved in the plot and wants to withdraw his guilty plea because he now believes he can get a fair trial.
In a motion filed Friday but released Monday, Moussaoui said he testified March 27 he was supposed to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House "even though I knew that was a complete fabrication."

You can't change your plea after you've been sentenced. But they'll probably add a perjury count.

They're getting panicky

Karl Rove's about to find out on Nov. 7 how big "the base" that the GOP thinks represents a majority of American voters really is. We're about to witness and document a season of campaign nastiness on a scale we cannot yet imagine. Taliban references? How do you say "the base" in Arabic?

Lost in translation?

Salon's War Room reports on W's fish story:

"The best moment was -- you know, I've had a lot of great moments. I don't know, it's hard to characterize the great moments. They've all been busy moments, by the way. I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven-and-a-half pound large-mouth bass on my lake."

That makes more sense. We tried Googling to see if that lake was stocked with Nile perch, and only found reports that it had been stocked with bass and bait fish.
UPDATE: White House transcript says "bass."

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk

Dr. Alterman makes us laugh. The last word of this headline dropped off.

Clowns

We'll double-check next time instead of trusting these people. Walked down to George's. Junior Brown plays at 8.

We keep checking

Still hoping to eventually find Fayetteville on this map.

Texas-size whopper?

Believe this?

President George W. Bush has revealed to a German newspaper his best moment since he took office in 2001.
"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5-pound perch in my lake," he told Bild am Sonntag.

The only explanation is that he had it stocked with Nile perch. And we're inclined to agree that it's probably the best thing he's done as president, if he's telling the truth about something for the first time.

Hayden

This could provide some entertaining confirmation hearings as senators grill him about the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping -- not that they're likely to get any responsive answers. The Post says the White House thinks that's a winning issue. We may find out. Or, W may nominate Harriet Miers or someone else we don't expect just to make the media look foolish for reporting that Hayden's the pick. Where's Bernie Kerik these days?

WSJ has the skinny

The Journal provides (free!) the most comprehensive take on the Goss/Foggo/Wilkes story. This one's not going away for a while.

Goss gets the Brownie treatment

In this Dana Priest analysis. In fact, it might be more accurate to say the CIA got the FEMA treatment. Politics always trumps policy with these guys.

Those delusional 33 percenters

Glenn Greenwald reads them. They still think most people agree with them about the Iraq war. Astonishing.

Junior Brown

Sunday at George's, 5 p.m.

We get spam

From Deceitfulness D. McCain.

Best places

Here we are.
via Max.

Separated at birth?

Arianna's new column sig reminds us of someone.

Eddie

No contest to DWI:

Prosecutors recommended a one-year deferred sentence for Sutton and asked he be required to pay a $500 fine plus about $900 in other fees, including court costs. Sutton already has completed an alcohol treatment program that also was part of the deal, a prosecutor said.
He also will be required to attend a victim impact panel and may be asked to pay restitution, depending on the outcome of an Aug. 8 hearing.

Patrick Kennedy to enter rehab

It's too bad that all Americans don't have the caliber of health insurance that would allow them to check into the Mayo Clinic.

Porter Goss

Jennifer Loven of the AP here makes it sound like Goss' abrupt resignation as CIA director is just part of Josh Bolten's "White House shake-up" trying to reinvigorate W's second term. We'll probably find out eventually. We're sure it doesn't have anything to do with his being implicated in the Brent Wilkes business.

Legalize it

Lester Grinspoon, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, writes an op-ed in the LATimes. An old friend used to say that marijuana would eventually be legalized "as soon as enough old people die off." Alas, he didn't live to see it happen.

Things you learn on 'Jeopardy!'

Indy cars get 2 mpg.

Leadership

Note to GOP, the party of ideas: Please nominate Bill Frist for president. The Times tells the sad story of the $100 rebate idea.

AHHH

He's still at it.

Dumbasses

Sadly, No! describes how the GOP plays wingnut "values voters" for the saps they are -- repeatedly. Spot on.

Funny

Go. Laugh.

Moussaoui

Life. Good call. He's insane.

Bigtime

This should be interesting.

They watch ... because we can't

We'll just vicariously read about "American Idol" in the Post, since KPBI is now worthless WB.

Morning glory seeds

They're back. We used these a few times in the 1960s. The Post story doesn't mention it, but they used to have some sort of pesticide treatment on them that you had to rinse off.

Magnitude-8.0

Wow. Head for high ground.

No 'American Idol' for us

KPBI is still broadcasting WB programming. Are we going to be deprived of FOX until fall?

We shoulda seen it coming

We got the Progress Report by e-mail yesterday and again today after months without receiving it. Now this:

Please give now.

'Snotchos'

You may resume laughing.

Housekeeping

Stop laughing. World O' Crap has moved, and since we were updating the links, we added the worthwhile Glenn Greenwald.

Huckleberry whine

Someone sounds a little defensive:

Especially in this situation, it is apparent "sour grapes" do indeed make a very pungent "whine."

Doing his best Kaye Grogan imitation, the governor pens a lengthy, insulting attack on Max Brantley. He must catching some heat.
UPDATE: Wanker of the Day-dom. Congrats, Huck.

Welcome to the table

Good for them -- and for us:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. financial sector, a powerful force in Washington, may be gearing up to jump into a Capitol Hill fight over the future of the Internet and stop an effort it says could add billions in costs just to maintain current offerings.
The issue is "net neutrality" ...

This is laughable:

Claudia Jones, AT&T spokeswoman: "The finance community should be wary of wolves in sheep's clothing who are attempting to codify the status quo to their own benefit and to the detriment of consumers everywhere."

Yeah, AT&T, champion of consumers everywhere.

Pathetic

The FOX robo-channel here is broadcasting WB programming instead of "Prison Break." We pity Tom Shannon, general manager: tshannon@ebcorp.net No doubt we'll miss "24," too.

Police beat

Bentonville:

At 9:40 a.m. Sunday, a man reported suspicious activity when a person dressed in black and carrying a silver briefcase walked into church. The person was also wearing a white sailor’s hat.

Rain delay

Stormy weather prevented us from from ridiculing this idea the other day:

WASHINGTON, April 30 — The Senate Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gasoline prices is eliciting more scorn than gratitude from the very people it was intended to help.
Aides for several Republican senators reported a surge of calls and e-mail messages from constituents ridiculing the rebate as a paltry and transparent effort to pander to voters before the midterm elections in November.

The Millionaires Club is totally out of touch with their constituents' reality. But, hey, it's enough to pay for a wireless router.