Russia: Thug or Super-thug?

Russia: Poland risks attack if they accept US missile system

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

This has gotten out of hand.

Movie buff, are you?

Can you guess the movie in just one letter?

[Yeah, yeah, a stretch to go with a Name That Tune reference. But there you go]

Do they even realize they lost?

Long-term, the fringe groups are talking about purging the Democratic Party of Obama supporters or even starting their own third party. Short-term, they are focused on ruining the convention.

Puhleaze.

While Sen Clinton pulled out of the race some time ago, the Clinton sense of entitlement is apparently still running hard.

Nickle and diming the troops

Plenty of examples of how the troops are getting screwed, but this latest is just a little much, IMO.

The Administration as a Circus...

Ron Suskind interview on Jon Stewart

We have a freaking circus running the country right now. Years from now, historians will wonder at the incredible incompetence of it all.

Raining on Obama's parade

During most of this video, I kept expecting the guy to say "that's exactly what some evangelical Christians are doing...praying for very hard rain during Obama's speech."

But apparently is was a bit of a joke, and has been pulled. A joke--like "hope you trip going on stage" or "look at her again and I'll knock your teeth in. Ha ha."

I.O.U.S.A.

How sad is it that it'll have to be the Democrats who show fiscal restraint?

Looks like a scary film:

Russia & Georgia go at it

Could be a very big deal. NATO did something stupid in (all but) promising George a place at the NATO buffet. Thuggish Russia is acting like themselves.

This'll either blow up or blow away--the next couple of days will determine which way it goes.

You are what you search

Here's a 2006 article I just came across (which is like pulling a 1913 book off the shelf in internet terms) doing an analysis of AOL search terms.

Hugo Chavez -- Leftish thug or misunderstood softie?

Lots has been said already about Hugo Chavez, and he keeps grabbing power, whether he's allows to or not. Has Venezuela had enough of his power grabs?

Use your work email for personal stuff?

Careful! According to a survey by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, over half of all employers fire workers for E-mail and Internet abuse.

Medical marijuana

I've been avoiding the whole medical marijuana issue, for no other reason that the arguments tend to be muddy, expansive, and the goals are not altogether clear.

But there appear to be clear divisions between states trying for statutory innovation in this area, and the ham-fisted federal government. Charlie Lynch, who apparently carefully followed all state laws regarding his business in this area, was busted by the feds anyway.

I guess "states rights" for the federales only applies to state efforts to expand gun rights and restrict abortions.

Obama as Reagan

It is almost eerie how the Republican slams against Obama mirror those of the Democrats against Reagan in the 1980 election. Amazing how completely the GOP has flipped-flopped on this. Given that their current criticism is not policy oriented, but is about "fitness" this video hits the bulls-eye:

McCain's race problem

The race to play the race card.

McCain campaign's strategy on race is to (a) play the race card and then (b) accuse Obama of having played the race card.

So much of modern politics involves the art and science of taking umbrage.

Its like my neighbors have their own doll set

Gangsta babies! Complete with "white guy trying to sound black" descriptions!

Semantic games in California

Prop 8 backers angry about description of the proposition on the ballot.

"Changes California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."

Backers of Proposition 8 argued that they are not trying to eliminate anyone's rights but are simply seeking to restore the definition of marriage that existed in California before May 15, when the state Supreme Court struck down the law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Of course, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry in California is exactly what they want to do. And if the prop somehow didn't do that, they would keep at it until their goal is realized. The title seems entirely truthful to me.

WTO Doha round collapses

The WTO's Doha round collapses, mostly (it seems to me) as a result of US protectionism infused in the last farm bill. We should be used to this by now, I suppose.

The Progressive Policy Institute chimes in, including the interesting factoid: No Republican president has concluded a multilateral trade agreement since Dwight Eisenhower oversaw the Geneva II Round of the GATT in 1956.

Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState.org is simple in his post: This is a disaster, and clears the field for new protectionist trade policies.

Yet another reason, IMO, to do away with the yearly porkfest that is the Farm Bill.

McCain on Osama bin Laden

Sounds a lot like Bush. All gung ho, then peters off...

This TPM post says it all

For those of you trying to sell your house

You have my sympathy. Really: Home prices drop by a record 15.8% in May

Ted Stevens going down?

As we know from the Middle East, oil and power politics often combine to despots out of politicians. So the news today shouldn't be a surprise: Ted Stevens indicted Is the the end of corrupt Alaskan politics? Maybe Don Young is next?

TPM's rundown of Stevens' stories

When androids transcribe speeches...

(check out the second and third from last paragraphs)

Cheney to injured vets: Nobody leaves until I do! And two hours before I arrive!

Disabled vets tell Cheney not to come over "draconian" security measures.

Love the accompanying pick of Cheney.

Michael Savage: Idiot, moron, or brat?

Free market at work.

This won't stop Savage from crying "censorship" I'm sure.

Irony? Or just a bad campaining?

Regarding McCain's latest ad full o'lies, I hadn't realized that the background video of the claim that Obama went "to the gym" instead of spending time with the troops which shows him dribbling a basketball is from a video of Obama playing ball with the troops in Kuwait. Happens about 18-19 seconds in.

Oh, the irony!

Video trailers for books

Maybe this has been around awhile and I'm just coming to the party. Have these things been around awhile? Here's one for a book I did some work on:

A Venn Diagram of Administration Crime

Nice job by Slate. Take a look at the names in the center.

Dude!

Linguist breaks down the use of the word "dude."

Reminds me of Ford ad:

Farmer's market: The exclusive domain of the liberal

Who is a Republican? Can't be the guy who is into good food. He's merely "passing"

Top Ten Ghost Towns

A photo journey. Pretty damn cool.

Are you a fantasy book reader? Going on vacation in Germany?

We've got just the place for you.

Just the place to sleep the way your books' heroes slept.

How dispersing Section 8 housing vouchers dispersed crime throughout Memphis

Much of this article seems to be about people being overly sensitive to potential criticism about racism. But sometimes (like the widespread failure of bilingual education in early public school grades), the truth needs to be told so that the problem can be addressed.

Web site comparisons, Obama & McCain

Hilzoy with an excellent comparison of the two candidates' campaign web pages. It is important to note (as she does late in her post), that the web pages (good and bad) don't reflect the actual candidate positions. But the do reflect upon the candidates' professionalism, which reflect upon the candidates themselves, good & bad.

Obama's web site has, from day one I believe, been full of detail, and while McCain shouldn't be held to the standard of being as familiar with a web page as Obama, we can certainly fault those who advise and support him for not holding to that standard.

I suspect that the McCain campaign will start feeling some heat for the differences between the two, and start filling in more on their campaign site. At least, I hope so.

A million! And counting!

On a related note, the terrorist watch list is now at one million names and counting.

Feel safer?

Begun, grown, and developed by a political party who came to power lamenting the size of government, including how bureaucracy can self-perpetuate. Irony, anyone?

Massachusetts moving to allow same sex marriages for out-of-state residences

Looks like a racist law, which Mitt Romney used to temporarily bar the no-doubt deluge of gays rushing into the state with their dirty, perverted money, is about to be overturned.

Amazing how things have turned around in just a relatively short number of years. Next up: Removing the HIV travel ban, in which the chief sponsor of keeping it on the books apparently doesn't even have his facts straight.

Tony Snow

How much time does one wait before calling a spade a spade?

Never? I've never gotten the whole "respect for the dead" thing, so maybe that's my problem. Respect for the survivors, sure. Absolutely. But Snow was a dick, and proud of it.

How to raise food prices

Start putting it into your gas tank. Then require a higher percentage of it...

Yet another lesson in "Your employer is not your friend"

They'll legally withhold information on your insurance benefits, and happily refund the premiums after denying the benefits.

Hostages in Columbia freed after 6 years

Cool story.

But still--700 hostages still in Columbia?

Stephen Baldwin: "I'll leave the country if Obama wins"

Other good reason to support Obama

Start packing, buddy.

Run, don't walk, Olga!

The biggest dick on earth?

Reasons he gives for "Olga" not returning his call:

"Maybe you were abused in your childhood?"
"Maybe you have an anxiety disorder?"

I said it three times so it must be true!

Federal government references itself three times as "evidence" that a man is an enemy combatant.

Mr. Parhat, a former fruit peddler who in recent years sent a message to his wife that she should remarry because his imprisonment at Guantánamo was like already being dead.

We've gone from the "city on the hill" to a "thousand points of light" to a country which claims a fruit peddler is an "enemy combatant."

Bottled water

The environmental costs of using bottled water seems to be coming into focus for many. A good transitional product (from soda); it is time to get back into tap water if possible.

The PC Right

Those homosexuals sure are fast!

HT: Andrew Sullivan

Loony French Leftists

When not burning cars because slackers aren't guarenteed jobs, apparently they take their time up writing political party planks which are so full of buzzwords they don't even make sense.

MILF House?

Single mom in Florida, 42, selling house and herself.

Trabosh, a Barbie-esque blonde who teeters around the nearly 2,000 square-foot house in patent leather heels...

I see I've just lost half my readers...

Creepy illusion

Ghostly face

FedStats

One of those old bookmarked sites I have (recently re-discovered!) that appeals to the political junkie in me.

Gas stations starting to go cash-only

Can't say I blame them, even if it is an inconvenience to carry around a lot of cash to fill the tank. The truth is that gas stations don't make very much money at all, and with bank fees rising higher and higher (without any additional benefits, just the same "convenience" that bank card companies tout) I can certainly see their point.

I'm under the impression that debit cards are cheaper for the merchant, but I don't see any information on them in this article on the gas stations. Maybe even a lowered fee structure for debit cards is too much.

Stuff found in books

A great post here, about the stuff people find in used books.

Can't say I've found more than a couple of pictures, or some newspaper clippings. I was surprised to find author autographs in a couple, though.

Bugs that eat waste and excrete crude oil?

OK, this sounds like some kind of prank to me . But there you go.

How ISPs are handling child pornography

Well, it isn't so much how they are handling the actual pornography, but how many companies are being manipulated into acting with overbroad policies, like banning Usenet.

A good post there by Daniel Radosh.

More gas tax holiday hooey

Factcheck.org takes McCain to task for saying that the poor drive more than the wealthy.

As an excuse for his "gas tax holiday" McCain has been relying on inside-the-beltway anectdotes instead of the facts, it appears.

If you teach a monkey to fish...

Monkey who fishes found in Indonesia.

Dealing with a stick in the mud

A reader at Andrew Sullivan makes interesting points regarding how to engage people who use skepticism to keep things the same instead of a reason for more debate or research:

I think you are wrong when you insist that greens have to engage the dissenters and convince them of their errors. It is one thing to express scepticism as a result of sincere doubt; it is another thing entirely to use scepticism as a way to avoid changing your behaviour. One is capable of being convinced through providing evidence and coherent argument; the other is simply using that doubt as a socially acceptable way to continue on with 'business as usual' without paying the social penalty of blatant selfishness. The result is already locked in stone in the dissenters' minds; the arguments are merely the way to create that result, rather than sifting evidence to come to a conclusion that was not pre-determined.

You say that it is 'not a good sign when greens seem eager to discredit dissent rather than engage it', but what do you do when the 'dissent' is the public domain version of a filibuster - not meant to achieve anything on its own, but instead cause paralysis so that the status quo can continue unchecked? There is nothing there to engage - there is no possibility of changing minds or convincing those people otherwise. All that is left is to show how bankrupt their arguments are so that others will not follow along. That is why discrediting and debunking is the focus, not engagement.

A peek into the underbelly

hilzoy does some digging through the muck.

How bottled water is unsafe for the environment

One of those things that you think you are doing well by drinking water. Just water, right? Think again.

Lots of oil went into the bottle, then more to get it to you. And even if you recycle it, this only saves a little bit of carbon since there is still all that energy that will go into making it usable again.

Use a recycled bottle, then use tap water. Save you big bucks, and it is better for the environment. And since many of those bottled waters use tap water anyway, you're just as well off in the end health-wise.

Get yer educaiton here!

Oops. Typo on diplomas in Westlake, Ohio.

Free wireless broadband?

Finally some good news from the use of those public airwaves the FCC is selling on the cheap?

Hillary Clinton - Iconic path, or infamous one?

The first time I cast a vote in a presidential election as an informed voter was in 1992, when, as a 22 year old college senior in Massachusetts, I voted for Bill Clinton. Yes, four years earlier, in my very first presidential election, I voted for George Bush the Elder. But, I was 18, had grown up in Texas, was going to college in Texas, and, as a result, I did what any Texan does – I went with the home team.

But four years later I had grown, and learned, and really explored my options this time, and what Bill Clinton promised seemed alright for me, and, at least in part because of my vote, the majority of my 20s were spent with Clinton as my president, and damned if the world didn’t seem like a good place.

Bill, his wife Hillary, and their daughter Chelsea, were MY first family. I had put them in the White House, I felt that the Clintons were doing a fantastic job running the country, and I thought the way they were not afraid to defend themselves with extreme vigor against the dolts who would try to bring them down, was balls out super.

And now, it’s 2008. Twenty years since my first presidential ballot, and 16 years since I put Clinton in the White House. A year ago, I was excited at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidential run. The Clintons were great the first time around, and heck, another run of eight good years might be just the swift kick in the pants this country needs after eight years of George Bush the Lesser and his minions of hate and murder.

The Clintons are icons to me. Legends, if you will. Heroes of the people, and, have a real chance to earn mythical status, much like the Kennedys and other important political families of the last 50 years.

But then Barack Obama happened. It happened quickly, and suddenly, and it was as if a series of light bulbs went off over the heads of under 45, left-leaning Americans everywhere.

Suddenly, Hillary Clinton didn’t seem like a great idea. After eight contentious Bush years, another eight years with a president that clearly brings the bile from her enemies, had the potential to divide this country even further than Bush and his supporters had already done.

I switched over to being an Obama supporter early. Most of the people I know that lean left have also come over. My parents – in their 60s – are still ardent Clinton supporters. My step-mother was overjoyed at the prospect of a woman in the White House, something she probably didn’t imagine possible growing up in 1950s and 1960s.

It has pained me a bit to see those dreams of hers deferred, but that’s all it is. Clinton’s campaign opened so many doors that had been previously thought shut, and in another time and another place, she would have been our President. Instead, she has blazed a trail for other women, and I feel confident that in my lifetime, I will see a woman president.

But right now, I fear that Hillary Clinton is destroying her legacy, and the Clinton legacy in general. Instead of gaining mythical status, her hubris, and seeming lack of respect for the Democrat Party, may doom her to a legacy of broken dreams, crushed hearts, and a terrible taste for all things Clinton.

When the odds against her becoming the Democratic nominee for President became long and nearly impossible, she refused to back down. While frustrating to those who want to see the Dems stop tearing each other apart, there is also a bit of respect for her tenacity.

Last night, however, Obama finally clinched the nod, gaining enough delegates. But instead of conceding to him and graciously accepting defeat, Clinton refused to do so, and now appears to be more than willing to divide the Democratic party and risk losing the presidential election to Republicans, in an effort to at least angle for a Vice President position, which is something that would excite her supporters, but leave a sour taste for many Obama supporters, myself included.

The way Clinton is speaking to, and about, her supporters, the risk is great that they will defect and not vote for Obama because of anger, if he does not pick her as VP. That’s VERY dangerous ground, and it makes my sour taste for her even more so.

Her supporters appear to be rabidly angry about her not being the Presidential nominee. I can only imagine how much more anger they’ll have if Obama doesn’t pick her to the be the VP nominee, because it will appear as if he once again, “stole” something that she and her supporters believe are naturally hers.

For the sake of the Democratic party, and the chances of having a Democrat in the White House, Hillary Clinton must not only graciously concede, but also tone down her rhetoric, and must let Obama’s search for a VP take on a natural course, not a forced one that could send her supporters away from voting for a Dem in November.

The choice is hers. Hillary Clinton can earn her spot in history as an icon of mythical proportions, or she can go down in infamy as the person responsible for fracturing the Democratic Party, perhaps irreparably.

SCOTUS declines to take on MLB stats case

Their action leaves stand the rights of the public to use statistics without the need to obtain permission. In particular, fantasy game producers need not pay fees to MBL or the MLBPA to use baseball statistics in their games.

Finally a victory for the public in a copyright case.

Reaction to McClellan and groupthink

John Cole drawing the groupthink parallel. Ring any bells?:

In order to make groupthink testable, Irving Janis devised eight symptoms that are indicative of groupthink (1977).

1. Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
2. Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group’s assumptions.
3. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
4. Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.
5. Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of “disloyalty”.
6. Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
7. Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
8. Mindguards — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.

Political correctness on the Right

Exhibit One: Right wing bloggers force Dunkin Donuts to pull ad because of Rachel Ray's scarf.

Sex on Star Trek

HT: Andrew Sullivan

Poking in the shale...

The big news in PA the last year or two on the energy front is that companies are now able to drill for natural gas profitably from the Marcellus Shale.

Close or running under a large number of cities, this is good news, particularly those of us who use home heating oil as their primary source for winter heat.

On the traction of political narrative

Kevin Drum with a good post on the difficulty (on non difficulty) of each side's political narrative.

It certainly is easier to point out how easy it is for the other side/how hard it is for your side than to confront their narrative directly.

Good news--we no longer have to outsource our torture to Syria

Heck, we're importing prisoners to import now.

Of course, given how poorly we're doing it, it should not be a surprise that we need more practice.

Meanwhile, SecDef Gates, after previously saying we need to close Gitmo, now says we are stuck right now, partly because if we return some of these people to their home countries they might be released outright,

Uh, Mr. Secretary? That's what we do to innocent people. Rather, that's what we used to do, before potential political embarrassment meant more than innocence or guilt.

"Busted is what you see!"

Gotta love the chutzpah of old city mayors.

More Mideast fumbling by McCain?

Who, exactly, should we not be speaking with?

Klein's original post.

The biggest puffer issue?

It is hard to tell whether Saddam's WMD or "rampant voter fraud" is the "biggest" non-issue foisted upon Americans by the Administration. But we see that, on the state level, things are becoming clear that much of the outcry over widespread voter fraud is a lot of nonsense.

Catholics being denied Communion for supporting Democrats?

Just came across this somewhat disturbing piece in Commonweal

The calcifying of the Catholic Church around the abortion side of their pro-life stance is not new. As is their relative silence, in the US, on the death penalty. But denying communion for Catholics who support Democratic candidates seems to be using communion as a political weapon. There is a real tax liability, at minimum, for the Church, if true.

The crime-fighting store clerk

A short tale of courage. For charcoal.

Church moving

Amazing. The song is a little cheesy, but what a great video. And what a beautiful day there. It's like a poster for the Midwest.

Husband tries to hide lottery win from wife

Video

OMG: This is the funniest fake video on the election yet

Hillary Clinton in the bunker.

Mike Gravel

No matter what else happens, you just gotta come away from this election with a big smile for Mike Gravel

Jack Daniels

Myths and truths...

Looking for William Stafford

A cool account of finding William Stafford poems on interpretive nature signs.

Garbage Island

For years we’ve been reading about a patch of garbage the size of Texas floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ingeniously dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Basically, any trash that gets dumped in the water rides the currents to this one spot and joins an ever-increasing flotilla of crap. For all the breathless accounts of the mess and its impact on the area’s sealife, however, no one seemed to have a picture of the buildup.

In order to sate our own curiosity, VBS joined the crew of a research vessel studying the trash and sailed out into one of the most remote spots of open water in the world, the North Pacific Gyre, in search of this mythical garbage island. What we discovered once we got there was an ecological disaster beyond any of our expectations and possibly the single worst thing human beings have done to the planet and ourselves. Hope you’re into cancer and sex-reversal!

Hiroshima photos

Finally revealed.

I started to read a novel recently which used the historical fact of the finding of these images as a starting point. Turned out to be not my cup of tea (the novel, though you could probably include the tragedy in there as well).

How flipping a photo makes one look elitist

In these heightened political times, where the message means less than the way it is delivered, I present to you: An editorial gaffe.

While we were arguing about whether Rev Wright loves America more than Barack Obama...

4000 death, 3000 missing from cyclone disaster on Myanmar (Burma).

This is one of the most isolated countries on earth (isolated for many reasons, but human trafficking and opium production come to mind...). Still, a disaster of epic proportions. A chance to do good here might open up an otherwise repressive country.

As I recall, Myanmar lost thousands in the tsunami a couple of years ago, but wouldn't let aid workers into the country to help. So maybe this is just another lost opportunity in the making.

UPDATE: Now past 22,000 dead.

The Empire Strikes Barak

"Is that God up there?"

Boy, locked in cellar for 5 years, sees the moon for the first time.

Obama kicks his garbage to the curb

"I might not know him as well as I thought."

Rev Wright's victimology has no place in Obama's campaign of shared goals through personal responsibility-taking.

Time away

My mother-in-law passed away recently.

Pretty much everything got put on hold to work through this--planning the funeral, people coming into town, etc. I even had to work up the courage to sing at her funeral mass (Swing Low Sweet Chariot, in case you are interested).

Will try to get back to speed soon.

Rice shortage?

Another story coming out of the blue.

Republicans looking to block expansion of pay discrimination rights

Last year the Supreme Court ruled against Lilly Ledbetter, who filed a pay discrimination suit against Goodyear because they would routinely paying her less than her male colleagues for similar work. SCOTUS rejected the suit since she needed to have filed within 6 months (!) of the first instance of the discrimination (she was underpaid for years, and didn't find out about it until then).

Republicans want to block the bill, apparently because there are a large number of people who are being discriminated against now. Er, wait--maybe because these people would want the court to redress a wrong committed against them. No, that's not it--must be because the court system is overwhelmed that legitimate claims shouldn't burden them further. Hmmm. Doesn't sound right. Anyone want to take a stab at their reasoning?

A bitter post

CQ Politics with an exhaustive analysis of Pennsylvania and the likely delgate allocation
Their prediction: Clinton 53 Obama 50.
Because of the way PA allocates delagates, it is difficult for a candidate to run away with the numbers, and the wide range of voters here make it unlikely that either candidate will win on macro grounds either.
Meanwhile, Bitter-gate (that is, the Elitists calling Obama an elitist and getting offended by it) appears to have had little effect in Pennsylvania.

Old CFLs being taken in at IKEA stores

Worried about the mercury in CFL's and live near an IKEA? Worry no more. Take 'em over to IKEA to be collected.

Photoshop disasters

Should have known there were a few sites like this, but this one seems to be pretty good.

Philly political machine gets a big "no" from the Obama campaign

Campaign refuses to pay bribes, er, "street money."

Don Young's Coconut Road amendment getting scrutiny--finally.

Years after what appears to be a clear unconstitutional move to add $10 million to a bill after it was voted on, Sen Tom Coburn (R-OK) appears ready to force the issue with an investigation.

Earmarks are bad enough. Earmarks with such clear kickbacks are worse. But earmarks after the bill has passed? Par for the course for the Alaskan "delegation."

Republicans: If we don't continue to spend billions in Iraq, "that would wreak havoc on our national and economic security "

Talk about getting it backwards!

Let's find some analogies, shall we?

"If we don't continue to charge on our credit cards, our finances will be in shambles!"

"We must keep up with doomsday analogies, or else we'd be forced to engage with Americans!"

Any more?

Credit card companies: Scum

Don't get me wrong: Credit cards can be good things. But anytime you get a company in the position of making easy money with the ability to change the rules at any time there is going to be rampant unethical behavior.

The stories are simply incredible. Seriously--take the worst credit card story you can imagine, and it has not only happened recently but happened many times across the country.

Now, some credit card companies, instead of holding you to the credit line, allow you to go over it without warning and increase your interest rate on top of a fee per month for each month you are over the limit.

I watched Maxed Out last week--this should be required viewing (I don't really mean that, but so many people are clueless about credit that you feel like there should be some simple test required).

And while I can do without his Biblical quote drop-ins, Dave Ramsey is pretty damn good if you are looking for a way out.

2008 Senate races

Dems looking good to increase their Senate lead

Even just one more Senator and Lieberman will be booted, I suspect.

Odd news sampler

Cops bust kids' root beer party

Meanwhile, after the root beer party:

Garden gnome left on tracks by teens in France holds up high speed train

Man tries to hide drugs from police--in donut box. :)

Who knew they'd look in there?

Senator Clinton's travels as First Lady

HRC's travels as First Lady.

That's a lot of sniper fire!

HT: TPM

Philly schools efforts cut fat kid rates in half

Common sense things like no candy, replacing sodas with fruit juice and a heavy educational component make some big changes in fat kid rates.

I did have to laugh out loud at the following:

For the study, changes were made to the food in vending machines or the cafeteria in five of the schools. Juice, water and low-fat milk replaced sodas. Snacks had to meet limits for fat, salt and sugar. Students who ate healthy snacks got raffle tickets to win prizes such as bikes and jump ropes.

"We found when you give children healthy choices, they pick them," said Grace McGinley, school nurse at Francis Hopkinson School, one of the test schools.

No, Nurse McGinley. You found that when you took away all bad choices that the kids got healthier. This wasn't a matter of kids choosing healthy foods over junk food.

Jeez. Even when the evidence is right there in front of them they insist upon casting it completely incorrectly.

Don't get me wrong: This is great news, and there should never be soda and junk food sold in elementary schools. But let's not cast this as some kind of "choice" by the kids.

Yoo memo

The Yoo memo, declassified

One thing I gotta hand to the Republicans: They shure are focused on the end result. They don't mind selling off the soul of the country to get there.

Glenn Greenwald with some tasty commentary.