The USS BS

Scuttlebutt May 20, 2006

2006-05-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

Virginal Post From Virginia...Testing 1,2,3

2006-05-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

Cherry Blossoms Along Tidal Basin on a Cold,Wet,Gusty Day, April 2004

Pop! :-X

Welcome to the Days of J.Edgar Hoover

2006-05-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

The more we go forward, the more we go back ! Weclome to 1968.

NBC News and news services

Updated: 1:23 p.m. ET May 11, 2006

WASHINGTON - Following a report that the U.S. agency in charge of a domestic spying program is building a database of every phone call made within the country, President Bush told the nation from the White House that all anti-terrorism efforts are within the law.

Facing new concerns in Congress, President Bush referred to the report but did not confirm or deny it and instead sought to assure Americans that their privacy is being “fiercely protected.”

“We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,” Bush said. “Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaida and their known affiliates."

Full Story

Right here in the old home town

2006-05-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Police: Child run over accidentally by father driving lawn mower
May 11, 2006 8:04 AM The Associated Press

SPRINGFILED, Ore. A toddler is hospitalized this morning after being run over by a riding lawn mower, which severed the girl's leg near the hip.

Lane County Sheriff's deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call from a frantic woman in Springfield last night in the 14-hundred block of Menlo Loop.

Deputies discovered the two-year-old girl had been run over by the riding lawn mower operated by her father. The child had emergency surgery.

Witnesses say the victim and several other children were playing in the back yard, following the lawnmower around as the father cut the grass.

The father stopped the lawnmower as he came close to fence, upon which he backed up. He did not see his daughter was close behind and backed over her.

There were no signs of impairment or criminal negligence on the part of the father and it appears to be a tragic accident.

The amazing thing is, nobody was obviously drunk. Makes me think, they're referring to another Springfield, Oregon.

Speaks for itself

2006-05-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

Amish country mystery: who's taking hitching rail manure?
May 11, 2006 6:38 AM The Associated Press

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio It's a mystery in the Amish country of northeastern Ohio.

It seems that someone is taking manure droppings from hitching rail posts outside stores in Middlefield east of Cleveland. The hitching posts are a common site in the Amish country of Geauga (jee-AW'-guh) County and are used by Amish while they shop.

The woman who is paid 25-thousand dollars a year by Middlefield to clean hitching rail areas every day says someone has been taking the manure. She says what's left behind gets squished, making it harder to do her job.

Police are on the lookout.

Scuttlebutt May 11 2006

2006-05-11T05:03:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

E-mails reveal White House-Abramoff link

2006-05-11T05:02:00.000-05:00

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration’s top procurement official offered his assistance to now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as his lobbying empire began to crumble, according to e-mails released Wednesday by the White House.

“Let me know if there is anything I can do to help with damage control,” David Safavian, who is now under indictment, messaged Abramoff on Feb. 22, 2004.

At the time, Safavian was working at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He later became administrator of federal procurement policy at OMB.

Full story

Scuttlebutt May 10 2006

2006-05-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

Baghdad sees 1,100 executions in one month

2006-05-10T11:09:00.000-05:00

Associaited Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that nearly 1,100 bodies were found in Baghdad last month, the victims of executions, and urged Iraq’s feuding factions to unite against surging crime and terrorism.

Talabani said in a statement that the 1,091 bodies found in the Baghdad area in April were the tip of the iceberg.

“We feel shock, dismay and anger over the daily reports of the discovery of unidentified corpses and those of others killed” around the capital, he said.

Full Story

Hillary Sells Her Soul to the Devil

2006-05-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

From Drudge:
Rupert Murdoch has agreed to host a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton this summer, the FINANCIAL TIMES is reporting!
Murdoch's surprise decision to raise money for Clinton in July, on behalf of NEWS CORP., parent company of FOXNEWS and the NEW YORK POST, underlines a dramatic turn of relations between Murdoch and Clinton, who in 1998 coined the phrase “vast rightwing conspiracy” to denounce critics of her husband.
Some say the move by Murdoch reflects approval of her Senate career, notes FT's Caroline Daniel. Others point to Murdoch's record for picking future national leaders. Last century, he threw over the British conservatism he'd long supported to back longshot Tony Blair.
Clinton surprised Washington and media watchers recently by attending a FOX NEWS anniversary party, where she toasted Murdoch.

As Will Bunch says, "If Rupert Murdoch approves of someone's Senate career, should you?"

Scuttlebutt May 9 2006

2006-05-09T06:58:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

Scuttlebutt May 8 2006

2006-05-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

As a kid, Bush never saw a soccer ball?

2006-05-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

Why do I find this story REALLY hard to believe? I am 6 years younger than Bush. I grew up in south central Wisconsin, we played soccer. I went to college in Milwaukee, we played soccer....I was in the Navy, we played soccer.

Is Bush now trying to tell us his family was poor or that he grew up in the hicks...I just don't get why he would try and say he'd never even seen a soccer ball.

Bush to nominate Air Force general to lead CIA

2006-05-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

NBC News and news services

Updated: 8:12 a.m. ET May 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday will nominate Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to head the CIA, the president’s national security adviser told NBC News.

However, the nominee is already running into criticism from lawmakers unhappy that a military officer would lead the civilian spy agency, replacing outgoing CIA Director Porter Goss.

“I do believe he’s the wrong person, the wrong place, at the wrong time,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time.”

Full Story

The Cap'n Gives the Blog...the Bird

2006-05-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

This is the ivory-billed woodpecker that everyone in the "burd wurld" is so excited about.

Scuttlebutt May 6 & 7

2006-05-07T05:18:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and join the chat

Take A Guess

2006-05-07T05:17:00.001-05:00

Let no one say the Cap'n isn't a day late and a dollar short

2006-05-07T05:17:00.000-05:00

The third of May was Pete Seeger's 87th Birthday. Happy belated, Pete!

Eyaaarr! Sea Chanties fer Saturday Marnin'!

2006-05-07T05:16:00.000-05:00

'N' fer all ye lubbers what be wettin' yer whistle, e'en a'fore th' tide go out! Ahoy!

May 5 2006 Underbelly

2006-05-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

Your place for today's general chit-chat. Chat about the show or any old thing you'd like.

Know what's in your rum before you drink it !

A Day That Shall Live In Infamy

2006-05-05T08:12:00.000-05:00

Today is the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Kent State murders by National Guardsmen. This is the only incident that made my father more happy than the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He (Dad) and I didn't talk much in the years before his death...

Rutan Faults NASA on Apollo-Style Capsule

2006-05-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

By ALICIA CHANG
AP Science Writer

LOS ANGELES -- Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan on Thursday criticized NASA's decision to use an Apollo-style capsule to return to the moon, saying it "doesn't make any sense" to build a new generation of space vehicles using old technology.

The designer of SpaceShipOne said NASA's proposed crew exploration vehicle to replace the aging space shuttle fleet doesn't push the technical envelope needed to accomplish more complex future missions that might include manned flights to other planets and moons.

"I don't know what they're doing," said Rutan, referring to NASA. "It doesn't make any sense."

Rutan said there needs to be a technological breakthrough in spacecraft design that would make it affordable and safe to send humans anywhere in the solar system. But he said he doesn't know what that breakthrough will be.

"Usually the wacky people have the breakthrough. The smart people don't," Rutan told an audience at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles.

Full Story

Conservatives Drive Bush's Approval Down

2006-05-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

By RON FOURNIER
AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON -- Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.

Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track.

The AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans. Elections in the middle of a president's term traditionally favor the party whose core supporters are the most energized.

This week's survey of 1,000 adults, including 865 registered voters, found:

* Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency. That compares with 36 percent approval in early April. Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president. ...

Full Story

May 4 2006 Underbelly

2006-05-04T21:56:00.000-05:00

Your place for today's general chit-chat. Chat about the show or any old thing you'd like.

Fortune Telling Judge Got It Wrong

Now this is just plain weird...and not in a good way

2006-05-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Medford woman receives stolen bone implant
May 4, 2006 6:23 PM The Associated Press

MEDFORD, Ore. A Medford woman who needed neck surgery last summer ended up with donor bone that was probably stolen.

Thirty-seven-year-old Alicia Dawes said that donated bone sounded like a better choice than using bone taken from her hip.

Now she says she almost feels guilty after learning the donor bone may have been stolen from a funeral home.

Biomedical Tissue Services of New Jersey is the target of a national criminal investigation. The company allegedly took bone from as many as a thousand bodies that were in the custody of funeral homes.

Last March, the owner of Biomedical Tissue Services and three others pleaded NOT guilty to charges that include body stealing, unlawful dissection and forgery.

Catch 22?

2006-05-04T13:56:00.000-05:00

Court sides with employers in medical marijuana case
May 4, 2006 10:52 AM The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled today that an employer didn't break state disability laws by firing a worker who used medical marijuana.

The case involves a former worker at the Columbia Forest products plant at Klamath Falls. Robert Washburn was fired after failing drug tests.

Washburn had a state-issued card allowing him to use marijuana to ease leg spasms that disrupted his sleep. He used the drug at home.

But the company has a policy prohibiting workers from coming to the plant with controlled substances in their systems. He was fired in 2001 after failing several urine tests.

Washburn sued. He said the employer had to make reasonable accommodations for him under the Oregonians with Disabilities Law.

But the Supreme Court says Washburn's impairment did not rise to the level of a disability under state law.

Could this be DHS at work?

2006-05-04T13:43:00.000-05:00

Bra Sets Off Metal Detector in Calif.

YUBA CITY, Calif. - A taxpayer advocate has complained to Sutter County supervisors that metal detectors at county buildings are so sensitive they are being set off by underwire bras.

Sutter County Taxpayers Association member Roberta Fletcher said the male security guard seemed to enjoy waving the handheld metal detector over her chest.

"It is, at a minimum, for a woman, embarrassing. And at a maximum, it is sexual harassment to hold your arms outstretched while a male officer waves a wand in front of your breasts," Fletcher told supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.

Sheriff Jim Denney said courthouse guards work for the court system, not the sheriff's department, but defended use of the metal detectors.

"That's the nature of the business _ to maintain security," Denney told Fletcher. "I'm not going to answer any more absurd questions."

Fletcher also had little sympathy from board Chairman Larry Munger and other supervisors.

"I don't think it's harassment; it's protection," Munger said.

"Men just don't get it," Fletcher told the supervisors.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

WWI Sedition Act : Posthumous Pardons

2006-05-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Pardon the delay
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON - IR State Bureau

George Lane IR Staff Photographer - Drew Briner, grandson of Herman Bausch, pictured in background, reads from Bausch’s journals, while he was imprisoned. The crowd gave Briner a standing ovation after his speech.

HELENA — As their families fought back tears, Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Wednesday apologized on behalf of the state and signed posthumous pardons for 78 people convicted of sedition during the anti-German hysteria that gripped Montana during World War I.

About 50 members of the families of eight people convicted of sedition were on hand for the ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, as several hundred spectators watched. One by one, Schweitzer read their ancestors’ names, signed the pardon and handed it to a family member.

“Across this country, it was a time in which we had lost our minds,” said Schweitzer, himself the grandson of German-speaking immigrants who settled in Montana. “So today in Montana, we will attempt to make it right. In Montana, we will say to an entire generation of people, we are sorry. And we challenge the rest of the country to do the same.”

The 75 men and three women, many of them German immigrants, were arrested and convicted of violating the state’s 1918 Sedition Act. Some had criticized the U.S. government’s entry into the war, while others expressed support for Germany and the kaiser and others refused to buy Liberty Bonds or kiss the American flag.

The Montana law became the model for the Federal Sedition Act of 1918. The same state legislative session that passed the Sedition Act created the Montana Council of Defense and granted it the power to enact laws. Among its decrees were a state ban on speaking German, even in the pulpit, and a list of banned books in German or about Germany.

The Montana Sedition Act was “probably the harshest anti-speech law in the history of this country,” said Clemens P. Work, the University of Montana journalism professor whose 2005 book, “Darkest Before Dawn” spawned the effort to seek posthumous pardons for Montanans convicted of sedition.

Full Story

(note This WY website uses the format dd/mm/yy)

Maybe a Hint as to Why Americans are so Hated

2006-05-04T10:35:00.000-05:00

Judge says Moussaoui will "die with a whimper"

May 4, 2006 8:19 AM
The Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema (lee-OH'-nee BRINK'-uh-muh) says Zacarias Moussaoui (zak-uh-REE'-uhs moo-SOW'-ee) may have had a lot to say during his trial and sentencing, but that he will "die with a whimper." She sentenced him to prison for life today.

As she wrapped up the trial, Brinkema refused to be interrupted by the al-Qaida conspirator. She rejected his claim that a life sentence meant he'd won and America lost.

In the courtroom outside Washington, Brinkema told Moussaoui everyone else in the courtroom would "leave to see the sun" after the sentencing. But she said he will live out his years in a super-maximum-security prison. She added, "It's absolutely clear who won."

She says Moussaoui wanted "to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory." Instead, he'll be isolated and never heard from again.

She sentenced him to six life terms without the chance of parole.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but the "tough-guy" image the judge is putting up reflects, IMHO, the "dare-ya-to-cross-this-line" arrogance, and the attitude of Old Testament vengeance that many, if not most, of the world's people associate with Americans. Imagine how the average thoughtful Dahomean, or Malaysian or Bolivian must feel, when he or she realizes that the world is for all intents and purposes run by a bunch of blind, ignorant, greedy cowpokes with one hand on the trigger and the other on the wallet, ready to dole out miniscule numbers of dollars in return for unquestioning obediance, even adoration.

I'm not necessarily saying that picture accurately depicts most Americans; but it certainly describes with some degree of accuracy the character of their countrymen which they put in positions of power. And that's gotta make one wonder.

Spammer cracks 'do-not-spam' list

2006-05-04T09:58:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (AP) - One spammer has managed to identify e-mail addresses on a "do-not-spam" list touted as secure, taking advantage of an obvious flaw with such lists and prompting critics to wonder what took so long.

Those who submitted their addresses to Blue Security Inc.'s Blue Frog registry have been getting messages that threaten, among other things, "nonsensical spams 20-40 times more than you would normally" get, according to a copy provided by the company.

Blue Security described the spammer's tactics as "bullying" and "extortion" as well as a sign the company's controversial anti-spam tactics are working, annoying spammers enough to prompt such a response.

Full Story

World's oldest person' turns 128

2006-05-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

Reuters

SAN AGUSTIN, El Salvador - Friends and relatives of Cruz Hernandez’s gathered Wednesday to celebrate her 128th birthday, a milestone that might make her the world’s oldest person.

Hernandez, who relatives say spends most of her time dozing and no longer speaks, was surrounded by some 200 people at her party, some bearing a cake and others dressed as Salvadoran mythological heroes.

According to national records, Hernandez was born on May 3, 1878, in one of the country’s central provinces, where she gave birth to 13 children. She now has 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 25 great-great grandchildren.

Full Story
photo Luis Galdamez / Reuters

May 3 2006 Underbelly

2006-05-03T22:59:00.000-05:00

Your place for today's general chit-chat. Chat about the show or any old thing you'd like.

And here's one for the Capn'

Moussaoui Does NOT Get Death Penalty

2006-05-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui escaped the death penalty Wednesday as a jury decided he deserved life in prison instead for his role in the bloodiest terrorist attack in U.S. history. “America, you lost,” Moussaoui taunted.

After seven days of deliberation, the nine men and three women rebuffed the government’s appeal for death for the only person charged in this country in the four suicide jetliner hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

Same old story, same old song and dance

2006-05-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

Study says global warming weakens Pacific wind pattern

May 3, 2006 10:00 AM

The Associated Press

NEW YORK A prediction based on a study of global warming may be coming true.

A new study suggests global warming caused by human activity has begun to dampen an important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean. The change could alter climate and the marine food chain in the ocean.

The study's author thinks the changes might resemble an El Nino (NEEN'-yoh) event, which boosts rainfall in the southern United States and western South America while bringing dry weather to Indonesia and parts of the western Pacific.

The study focuses on an event called the Walker circulation, which is a huge wind pattern that loops around almost half the earth. It says the circulation has weakened by about three and a-half percent since the mid 1800s.

The study appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Nature.

Well, I've said it a number of times before, but the strength of a hypothesis is partly determined by its ability to make predictions. Global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it, it's here, and it's probably manufactured, or a least severely exacerbated, by human bloat. The questions are, how do we, and more importantly future generations, stop it, even reverse it, while learning to live with it in the meantime?

Step One: serious steps to reverse population growth, down to an eventual maximum of two billion (according to Richard Heinberg in The Party's Over : Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies).

General gets off, enlisted personnel go to jail

2006-05-03T10:58:00.000-05:00

Lindey England in the brig, General Ricardo "Dirty" Sanchez writes memoirs. Thus, the Uniform Code of Military Injustice plays out as usual. Some things never change.

Rumsfeld versus Rumsfeld

2006-05-03T10:47:00.000-05:00

Nice OpEd piece by James Mann

SUPPOSE YOU ARE a new White House chief of staff. One of the difficulties you face is an extraordinarily powerful, well-entrenched Cabinet secretary who enjoys the strong support of the president. What do you do? Not to be vague about it: How should Joshua B. Bolten, who is driving to reshape the Bush administration, deal with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who is fast becoming a political liability and may resist any serious change of direction?

There's already a model for this. It was set by none other than the young Rumsfeld himself...

House to vote on anti-price gouging measures

2006-05-03T09:34:00.000-05:00

Energy companies could face fines of up to $150 million

WASHINGTON (AP) --Worried about the political heat from high gasoline prices, the House is preparing to vote as early as Wednesday on a bill that would impose criminal and civil penalties on any energy company caught price gouging.
The legislation, offered by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-New Mexico, calls for penalties of up to $150 million for refiners and other wholesalers and $2 million for retailers.
A separate bill would streamline the permitting process for refinery expansion or construction of a new refinery.
With gasoline topping $3 a gallon across much of the country, lawmakers have been scrambling to put together legislation aimed at soothing public anger, hoping to demonstrate that Congress was doing something about high energy costs.

Full Story

Scuttlebutt - May 6 & 7

2006-05-03T09:04:00.000-05:00

Grab some grog and head on into the galley for some weekend chatter.

Torture ‘widespread’ in U.S. custody

2006-05-03T08:44:00.000-05:00

Reuters
Human rights group says U.S. ‘creating climate’ in which abuse can flourish'

GENEVA - Torture and inhumane treatment are “widespread” in U.S.-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere despite Washington’s denials, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

In a report for the United Nations’ Committee against Torture, the London-based human rights group also alleged abuses within the U.S. domestic law enforcement system, including use of excessive force by police and degrading conditions of isolation for inmates in high security prisons.

“Evidence continues to emerge of widespread torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody,” Amnesty said in its 47-page report.

Full story

photo John Moore / Getty Images file

May 2 2006 Underbelly

2006-05-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

Your place for today's general chit-chat. Chat about the show or any old thing you'd like.

Tourists call the cops on 'tourist police'

:-)

Get the Olbermann Podcast ...his is free :)

Trouble posting?? Get the status report.

Coulter, Franken, Bush on ....umm, not CNN

2006-05-02T19:12:00.000-05:00

Requires the latest version of FLASH. Just click to big > button to play

Meet Russ Feingold and have a Brew !!

2006-05-02T14:50:00.000-05:00

Fair Wisconsin Kick-Off Fundraisers

On November 7, 2006, a constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage will be on the Wisconsin ballot. The rights of thousands of families could be put to a vote.

Join Senator Russ Feingold and Congresswomen Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore in Washington DC, and Mayor Tom Barrett and Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton in Milwaukee to kick off the Fair Wisconsin campaign. Even if you can't attend, your contribution of $5, $10, $50, $75, $100 or more will help us continue the important work of educating voters about the harms of this ban.

Washington DC
Thursday, May 4, 6-8 pm
Capitol City Brewery
2 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, DC

Milwaukee
Monday, May 22, 6-8 pm
Home of Bonnie Joseph
8130 N. Beach Drive, Milwaukee, WI

Donations accepted here

FairWisconsin.com

Polar bears, hippos on extinction path

2006-05-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

MSNBC News Services

GENEVA - Polar bears and hippos have joined the ranks of species threatened with extinction from climate change, unregulated hunting, habitat destruction and other man-made dangers, leading researchers said Tuesday in a listing of the world’s wildlife.

The World Conservation Union, or IUCN, said more than 16,000 species of animals and plants are at risk of disappearing, including one in three amphibians, one in four mammals and one in eight birds.

The IUCN added 530 species to its “Red List” of endangered species since the last version released two years ago

Full story
photo Bush Gardens (not that Bush)

Here's another poll, re Shrub's approval

2006-05-02T10:23:00.000-05:00

If you scroll down near the end, you'll find a list of "What is the US's biggest problem?" Note that "Other" is up around 22%. One wonders whether that is spread over a lot of niche issues (not likely; the rest of the poll lists a pretty good set of "officially-approved talking points"), or is focused on one or two that for some reason were not mentioned elsewhere. I'd like to think the main concern was something environmental, even overpopulation-oriented, or any threat to the planet in general...but given the preceeding Nat'l Geo poll, I'm not sure how many Americans could find the world on a map.

As if we needed additional data...

2006-05-02T10:04:00.000-05:00

6 out of 10 adult Americans can't find Iraq on a map; comparable numbers can't locate Louisiana or New York.

Ignorance of basic geography helps explain ignorance of world issues.

Caption Contest

2006-05-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

Carlos thought: "As long as his hand is in mine, it's not in my wallet." However, he didn't notice Rove sneaking around behind.

Al-Qaida fugitive may be in U.S. custody

2006-05-02T08:29:00.000-05:00

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - A top al-Qaida leader whose links stretch from Afghan terror training camps to extremist networks operating throughout Europe has been detained in neighboring Pakistan and possibly handed over to American authorities, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.

Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian who also holds Spanish citizenship, was captured in a November 2005 sting in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta that left one person dead, said the American official, who declined to be identified further because the matter is sensitive.

The official, who spoke to The Associated Press late last week, said Nasar, who is also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, may now be in U.S. custody but did not specify where. He declined to comment further.

Full Story
photo Rewards for Justice via AP

Scruffy Old Pirate Test

2006-05-02T03:13:00.000-05:00

Just to see if Bloggerooni's back up, or not.

Fox News Slams Colbert

2006-05-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

‘Inappropriate,’ ‘Over the Line,’ ‘Not Very Funny’

BRIAN KILMEADE: We’re also going to talk about what happened at the White House Correspondents Dinner. The inside story about the Steven Colbert speech: was it really over the line or is that just typical when the President goes to these Washington correspondents dinners?

STEVE DOOCY: [Referring to on-screen image] There you’ve got the dueling Dubyas. Stephen Colbert — I have been to twenty of them and he was over the line.

[snip]

KIRAN CHETRY: What I was wondering though, because we did show some clips and at times it looked like the President was not laughing. Do you think he was annoyed by that or he thought it was not funny?

DOOCY: He was playing a good sport as his body double was there. But shortly after that, the paid performer, Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report, took the stage and did about 15 minutes and it was very uncomfortable. Personally I felt like he went over the line. Today in Lloyd Grove’s column, he says that Colbert “bombed badly.” It was not very funny.

Full Story with transcript and video
From ThinkProgress.com

Biden: Split Iraq Into 3 Different Regions

2006-05-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

ABC News
By LIBBY QUAID

WASHINGTON May 1, 2006 (AP)— The senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed Monday that Iraq be divided into three separate regions Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni with a central government in Baghdad.

In an op-ed essay in Monday's edition of The New York Times, Sen. Joseph Biden. D-Del., wrote that the idea "is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group … room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests."

The new Iraqi constitution allows for establishment of self-governing regions. But that was one of the reasons the Sunnis opposed the constitution and why they demanded and won an agreement to review it this year.

Biden and co-writer Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, acknowledged the opposition, and said the Sunnis "have to be given money to make their oil-poor region viable. The Constitution must be amended to guarantee Sunni areas 20 percent (approximately their proportion of the population) of all revenues."

Full Story

So...George...what's next?

2006-05-01T16:24:00.000-05:00

Bolivian president orders troops into gas fields
May 1, 2006 1:14 PM

The Associated Press

LA PAZ, Bolivia President Evo Morales (eh-VOH' mohr-AHL'-ays) has ordered soldiers to occupy Bolivia's gas fields.

Morales says troops and engineers with the state-owned oil company will be sent to installations run by foreign petroleum companies. The move comes after Morales announced Bolivia is nationalizing the oil and gas industry.

In a speech from a petroleum installation in southern Bolivia, Morales said "the time has come" for his country to take control of its natural resources.

Bolivia has South America's second largest natural gas reserves after Venezuela. All foreign companies have been ordered to turn over most production control to the state-owned oil company.

Morales has threatened to evict foreign companies that don't sign new contracts within six months to give Bolivia majority control of the entire production chain.

May 1 2006 Underbelly

2006-05-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

Your place for today's general chit-chat. Chat about the show or any old thing you'd like.

Did you see the playlist for Snow's Band? :-X

For those of you trying to post, blogger is having some troubles today. Hopefully they will get it fixed soon. The problem seems to be more prominent with those that use Firefox. Edit: Problems seemed to be solved.

Day Without Immigrants’ begins across U.S.

2006-05-01T12:42:00.000-05:00

MSNBC News Services

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Illegal immigrants and their allies gathered Monday for marches, prayers and demonstrations on a planned national day of economic protest, boycotting work, school and shopping to show their importance to the country.

In one of the early demonstrations, about 1,200 people marched in the rural city of Homestead, home to one Florida’s largest Mexican immigrant populations and many major growers of fruits, vegetables and nursery plants.

Full Story
(photo Lynne Sladky / AP)

MSNBC Poll - Should illegal immigrants be arrested at today's demonstrations? Vote

Blog update

2006-05-01T12:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not to happy with the way blogspot/blogger archives past articles. Once in archives, all posts for one month are on one very long page.

Blogger is now owned by google and they posted a work around. This isn't a quick fix and I may goof things up when I attempt it. I have a backup so I can restore the blog back to the way it was. Just wanted you to know that if you see a bit of a mess off and on this week, that's me trying to change the archives.

If it works correctly, from archives, you will get a list of clickable headlines which will open each post in it's own page.

For those of you thinking that some posts are gone, the "recent posts" only allows for 10 headlines. If you click one in the middle, you will see another set of ten. Think of whichever one you click on as #1, when the page opens, the 10 displayed will be the ten posted before that #1.

Ex-Head of F.D.A. Faces Criminal Inquiry

2006-05-01T00:17:00.000-05:00

By NY Times, GARDINER HARRIS
Published: April 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 28 — Dr. Lester M. Crawford, the former commissioner of food and drugs, is under criminal investigation by a federal grand jury over accusations of financial improprieties and false statements to Congress, his lawyer said Friday.

The lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, would not discuss the accusations further. In a court hearing held by telephone on Thursday, she told a federal magistrate that she would instruct Dr. Crawford to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination if ordered to answer questions this week about his actions as head of the Food and Drug Administration, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Full Story

Note: Dr. Crawford was confirmed by the Senate to be FDA Commissioner on July 18, 2005. That's less than a year ago and he's already "the former commissioner"

5 Lawmakers Arrested In Darfur Protest

2006-04-30T23:05:00.000-05:00

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-TX., right, and Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., center, line up before being arrested during a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy

WASHINGTON (CBS/AP)

Five Congress members were arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy in plastic handcuffs Friday in protest of the Sudanese government's role in atrocities in the Darfur region.

"The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest.

Four other Democratic Congress members — James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia — were among 11 protesters arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor subject to a fine.

Full CBS/AP Story | Related Post |
(AP Photo)

Powell Forces Rice to Defend Iraq Planning

2006-04-30T23:04:00.000-05:00

ABC News / AP - By LIBBY QUAID

WASHINGTON — Just back from Baghdad and eager to discuss promising developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself knocked off message Sunday, forced to defend prewar planning and troop levels against an unlikely critic Colin Powell, her predecessor at the State Department.

For the Bush administration, it was a rare instance of in-house dissenter going public.

On Rice's mind was the political breakthrough that had brought her and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to Iraq last week and cleared the way for formation of a national unity government.

Yet Powell sideswiped her by revisiting the question of whether the U.S. had a large enough force to oust Saddam Hussein and then secure the peace.

He said he advised Bush before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to send more troops to Iraq, but that the administration did not follow his recommendation.

Rice, Bush's national security adviser during the run-up to the war, neither confirmed nor denied Powell's assertion. But she spent a good part of her appearances on three Sunday talk shows reaching into the past to defend the White House, which is trying to highlight the positive to a public increasingly skeptical in this election year of the president's conduct of the war and concerned about the large U.S. military presence.

Full Story
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Rally for Darfur - National Mall

2006-04-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Not on our watch!” the crowd chanted as a parade of speakers lined up for their turn on a stage on the National Mall, the Capitol serving as a backdrop.

“The personal motivation for a lot of us is the Holocaust,” said Boston-based Rabbi Or Rose of Jewish Seminarians for Justice. “Given our history and experience, we feel an obligation to stand up and speak out..

Story at MSNBC
(photo by Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)

Update (thanks M8)
UN cuts Darfur food aid as donations trickle away

Only 2 1/2 Hours Left to ...

2006-04-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.nametheblimp.com/

Thruthiness to Power, or...

2006-04-30T17:45:00.000-05:00

...Colbert Bites the Big One (ie, Bush).

Frankly, I just love the "expression", or lack thereof, on Peabrain's face. If Dubya hasn't already gone back on the sauce by now, my guess is he will be before 2008.

Random Sunday Silliness

2006-04-30T12:47:00.000-05:00

http://www.health24.com/Man/Great_man_guides/748-3270-2890.asp

http://steelturman.typepad.com/thesteeldeal/2006/03/yeehaw.html

http://www.statemaster.com/graph-T/hea_ora_hea_los_of_nat_tee

http://www.pimpmysnack.com/project.php?projectID=28

New tooth brush

Veni, Vidi, Velcro ... I Came, I Saw, I Stuck Around

Grannies Against War

2006-04-30T12:13:00.000-05:00

Grandmothers across America have been protesting the war. Above is the Raging Grannies of Tucson, below the New York Grandmothers Against the war.

The Bay area's Grandmothers Against War held a rally on April 17th, tax day.

Colbert Does the WH Corr.'s Dinner

2006-04-30T11:23:00.000-05:00

From Crooks and Liars

Stephen Colbert spoke tonight at the dinner and lampooned pretty much everything he could think of and Helen Thomas. I used the second half of his performance because it included the Generals, Scalia, the Faux press briefing and as E&P reported:

"As he walked from the podium the president and First Lady gave Colbert quick nods, unsmiling, and left. E&P's Joe Strupp, in the crowd, observed that quite a few felt the material was, perhaps, uncomfortably biting."

Crooks & Liars Take plus video | MSNBC has video of Bush speaking

Happy Walpurgis Night!

2006-04-30T05:14:00.000-05:00

Eyarrr! She be the sister of samhain, or Halloween to you heathen...although me ancient Gaelic ancestors called it Beltain, the festival of fire!

Where be me grog? It be time for the hoisting of flagons!

Three-day Weekend of Protests

2006-04-30T03:24:00.000-05:00

Rally on behalf of Darfur today in Washington
April 30, 2006 1:17 AM The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Thousands of people are expected on the Washington Mall today for a rally aimed getting the Bush administration to do more to end violence in Sudan's Darfur (dahr-FOOR') region.

Local and national politicians will join such celebrity speakers as George Clooney, Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel (EL'-ee vee-ZEHL') and Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek. They want the Bush administration to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to stop what the administration has labeled genocide.

The rally coincides with a U-N deadline for Darfur's warring parties to reach a peace deal to end the three-year conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The conflict began in 2003, when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government. The government responded with a brutal suppression.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

2006-04-30T00:33:00.000-05:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German policeman was nabbed for a bank robbery after he used his girlfriend's car for the heist, authorities said Thursday.

By using his girlfriend's car, he "might as well have left his business card, it was really stupid," said Horst Roos, spokesman for state prosecutors in the western city of Trier.

Police quickly discovered the boyfriend of the car's owner was on the Trier police force, and recognized their colleague's likeness in video footage of the masked robber.

Full Story :-X

Anti-gay measure mobilizes 'straights'

2006-04-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

The Capital Times
By Dave Zweifel, April 28, 2006

Thousands of heterosexuals in Wisconsin are mobilizing to help defeat the bigoted "gay marriage" amendment that will be on November's general election ballot.

A campaign is making the rounds on the Internet, soliciting "straight folks" to say "no." Each person who gets the e-mail is being asked to sign a form that reads:

"Changing the Wisconsin Constitution to ban civil unions and same-sex marriage is wrong. You don't have to be gay to know that. It will hurt our state's economic climate and some people, straight people, too, will lose important protections like health insurance. Discrimination is wrong and we don't want it put into our constitution."

The recipient is then asked to send it on to 10 other people and allow his or her name to be used in literature opposing the amendment.

Mike DeVries/The Capital Times

About 200 people turned out for a rally at the Capitol in February against the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

The hope is to get tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters to stand up against the measure. The amendment was hatched the past two sessions by the Legislature's majority Republicans, who claim they fear that an "activist" judge could somehow rule that gays can get married in Wisconsin, even though state law specifically limits marriage to a "husband and wife."

Others are convinced that that's not the motivation at all.

Former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson's brother Ed, for example, weighed in against the amendment at the Libertarians' political convention in Madison.

He accused the Republican legislators of attempting to pass "laws of prejudice against people."

"If you can accept that, you're not a Libertarian. You're not even an American. You're a bigot," he said.

Thompson, who received more than 185,000 votes as a third party candidate in the 2002 gubernatorial election, called defeating the gay marriage measure the No. 1 issue in Wisconsin this fall.

The legislative leadership cynically placed the amendment on the November ballot because they hope it will become a "wedge issue" against Democrats, including Gov. Jim Doyle in his quest for re-election. Doyle has been an outspoken opponent of the anti-gay ballot question.

Others, though, are determined to prove that state voters don't favor writing discrimination of any kind into the Wisconsin Constitution. But there's a lot of work to be done between now and November to make sure people understand the referendum and get to the polls to defeat it.

If you haven't received the form on e-mail, copies can be obtained at joe.retoff@actionwisconsin.org or by calling 608-441-0143.

Dave Zweifel is editor of The Capital Times

Thousands March In NYC

2006-04-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

photo by Chip East/Reuters

Body found in hotel believed to be missing GI

2006-04-29T17:00:00.000-05:00

By Associated Press

SAVANNAH, GA - A body believed to be that of a missing Fort Benning soldier was discovered inside a piece of air conditioning equipment Friday at a downtown hotel after guests complained of a foul odor in the lobby.

How do you suppose this guy could just fall into air conditioning equipment?

Full Story

Protest

2006-04-29T15:49:00.000-05:00

Organizers estimates 300,000 at anti-war march in Manhattan
April 29, 2006 12:58 PM The Associated Press

NEW YORK New York police aren't giving a size estimate on the crowd, but organizers claim 300-thousand people turned out for an anti-war protest in Manhattan today.

Protesters are calling for an immediate withdrawal of U-S troops from Iraq.

One of the many signs in the crowd read "End this war, bring the troops home." Another read "Veterans for Peace."

One woman who marched says she "had a lot of anger" and has to do something. Marjori Ramos of Staten Island said, "we've been lied to."

The demonstrators stretched for about ten city blocks. There were no arrests.

The protest comes as April draws to a close as the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq this year.

I haven't heard, but I'm fairly certain there was a march down by the Federal Courthouse in Eugene today, too. In fact, I would be amazed if it were otherwise. Last time I was able to make it to a similar rally, back when the current "police action" began, at least a thousand showed up (this out of a metropolitan population of under a quarter-million).

Voting

2006-04-29T15:11:00.000-05:00

Got my "mail-in" ballot today. Oregon state law dictates that all elections be handled through the USPS, even national races. I like it for two reasons: we get three weeks to study things, make up our minds, and then mark up the ballot at our leasure; and best of all, AUTOMATIC PAPER TRAIL!

I've wanted to post pix for SO long

2006-04-29T14:16:00.000-05:00

This is my dog daisy... the sweetest, laziest, graceless dog on earth.

Thousands of families displaced in Iraq

2006-04-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

By Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said, as six more Iraqis were killed in scattered violence on Saturday.

Adil Abdul-Mahdi, one of the country’s two vice presidents, told reporters in the southern city of Najaf that 90 percent of the displaced were Shiites like himself and the rest were Sunnis, the minority that held sway under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Full Story

Photo of the day

2006-04-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Got just a little dark here. :O

Just in

(CNN) -- Emergency crews in north Texas on Saturday were dealing with the aftermath of the previous night's weather -- high winds, baseball-sized hail and flash flooding that caused widespread damage to businesses and homes.

Full Story

Ex-Head of FDA Under Investigation

2006-04-29T08:53:00.000-05:00

By Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration is under federal investigation amid accusations of financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The New York Times, citing attorney Barbara Van Gelder, said a grand jury has begun a criminal investigation of Lester Crawford. She declined further comment.

Full Story

FBI secretly sought data on 3,501 people

2006-04-29T08:39:00.000-05:00

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.

Full Story