"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.

I guess that bit about not mixing natural and synthetic fibers has a point.

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction - Yahoo! News

More women — particularly those in their late teens and 20s — are experimenting with bisexuality or at least feel more comfortable reporting same-sex encounters, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sweet! Can we watch?

Survey Finds More Women Try Bisexuality - Yahoo! News

"The law would prohibit us, also family members, clergy people, health care providers, from giving young women information about their options if they're pregnant," said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood's Kansas and Mid-Missouri chapter.

The actual text reads, "This act provides, as to a minor's consent for an abortion, that the term "next friend" shall not include another minor child or any persons or entities who have a financial interest or potential gain from the proposed abortion."

The way that is written, they are basically making the speech support structure criminally responsible. Jane's boyfriend gets her drunk and they have sex. They're teenagers and in this state they don't really know how people get pregnant, so suddenly, Jane's pregnant. Jane's dad is a nut job that Jane is already afraid of and the last thing she wants is for him to find out she's pregnant, so she goes off to the clinic to try to explain all this.

They listen, but they can't represent Jane, they work for the clinic. They can't get anyone, because that person would be a voluteer. So Jane has to find someone completely on her own. She of course, being a teenager, doesn't really have any adult friends (except the boyfrind who knocked her up and you think he wants to deal with this?).

Welcome to catch-22.

Fortunately, this is likely to be struck down on any of three fronts. First, it places undue limits on speech. It is illegal for someone to speak on the person's behalf because of their job or where they volunteer? That won't fly.
Second, it places undue limits on other professionals. A psychiatrist who works at a hospital where abortions are performed would no longer be able to act in that capacity for a patient.
Third, there is another expressed clause that states

It is not a defense to a claim brought pursuant to this act that the abortion was performed in accordance with the required consent of the state or place where the abortion was performed.

Meaning, let's say sister lives in California and takes Jane in. Sister is guilty under Missouri law. At best, that one is an utter mess, and has all kinds of problems with the interstate commerce clause.
Additionally, it is only restricting action by one side. With any luck, the stays will show up putting the law on hold and this one will be still born.

Missouri Makes Abortion Criminal

Michael Brown told The New York Times that within hours of Katrina's attack on New Orleans he told the White House that Louisiana officials lacked an organized response, leading to an "out of control" situation.
Brown said he called Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and White House chief of staff Andrew Card to let them know the situation was out of control.
His account suggests the White House knew right away that the storm was leaving the coast in shambles.

This is extremely troubling in every direction. Either Brown is rationalizing and trying to avoid taking all of the heat, or he's telling the truth and the White House ignored what was going on. Based on some of Brown's other comments, I would lean towards Brown being an idiot, but the other side of this should not be discounted.

Report: Ex-FEMA Director Blames La. - Yahoo! News

Sept. 14, 2005 --�A 12-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., girl was traumatized when she was shown gruesome photographs of the car crash that killed her father during a health class presentation by police to educate youngsters about the dangers of drunken driving, the girl's mother said.

What the FUCK are these people thinking???

ABC News: Girl Shown Photos of Dead Father in School

"Al Qaeda Organization in Iraq ... has declared war against Shi'ites in all of Iraq," said the voice on the audio tape, sounding like that on previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi. No immediate verification was available.

And now, Iraq officially descends into civil war. Gee, never saw this coming...

Zarqawi declares war on Iraq Shi'ites

It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life. The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100 to 1 in 100,000. The higher figures come from the working engineers, and the very low figures from management. What are the causes and consequences of this lack of agreement? Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one could put a Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one, we could properly ask "What is the cause of management's fantastic faith in the machinery?"

Linked from Dagmar's 6 dumbest ideas in computer security.

[Richard Feynman was one of the smartest guys this country has ever seen, and in some ways one of the luckiest as well. If the guys at NASA didn't read this before he died, then they probably shouldn't be at NASA]

Personal observations on

"It may continue to grow in China," Mr. Pachter added, "but not in Europe or the U.S. We don't need the imaginary outlet to feel a sense of accomplishment here. It just doesn't work in the U.S. It just doesn't make any sense."

And now, today's second HAHAHAHA! Someone really doesn't understand what the average person in this country feels like. Let's see, I can shlep away for $13.00 an hour at my job and be overworked and treated like crap, or I can get out the sword and be SOMEBODY! Mr. Pachter? Think again.

Conqueror in a War of Virtual Worlds

In closed-door meetings, fiscal conservatives have begged their colleagues not to put the cost of disaster relief on the government credit card for future generations to carry.

Hahahahaha! Fiscal conservatives? I don't think I've seen one of those since I last saw a passenger pigeon!

Fiscal Conservatives Riled

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Once again, the experts are wrong. Starting in about 1996, "K Street," the nickname of the Washington lobbing groups, has become almost exclusively Republican. This was a pet projust of people like Grover Norquist, and that sector is virtually devoid of Democrats. This happened deliberately. The Republicans moved to control the main lobbying organizations, who then work with their Republican brethren in office to get their groups the goodies, strengthening their position with both cash and pork.

There is a line in Henry VI which reads "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." This was written because the lawyers would be the ones to stand in the way of a usurper (like my tagline), not as a condemnation of lawyers, but that they would defend the rule of law. The version I like is "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lobbyists." Right now all they are doing is lining pockets at a huge cost to every one of us.

Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals