] Shares of GM fell almost 6 percent and Ford shares
] declined 4.5 percent after Standard & Poor's Ratings
] Services downgraded the debt to below investment grade,
] which is commonly known as junk or high-yield status.

Sayonara US auto companies.

S&P Cuts GM, Ford Credit Ratings to 'Junk'

Sometimes people forget, sometimes they wish they could. This isn't as horrifying as Shoah, but needs to be seen anyway.

frontline: memory of the camps | PBS

] Why, when we flex our military muscles on behalf of
] freedom and peace, does the world beyond our borders
] become all the more cantankerous and disorderly?
] Madeleine Albright irritated Colin Powell by famously
] asking, "What's the point of having this great
] army you're always talking about if we can't
] use it" From our present perspective, a better
] question might be: "What's the point of using
] this great army if the result is Fallujah, Najaf and
] Karbala?"

A particularly damning accounting of Tommy Franks stewardship in the Mid-East disguised as a book review. And it raises some very interesting points like the one above.

ANDREW BACEVICH - A MODERN MAJOR GENERAL

] A new Army report shows that Gen. John P. Abizaid, the
] theater commander in Afghanistan, and other top Army
] officials were aware an investigation had determined the
] death was caused by an act of "gross negligence" four
] days before a nationally televised memorial service.

I'm not going to take anything away from Pat Tillman. He did what he thought he should and I don't have any issue with that. What I find insulting is that his death has been used as some sort of rallying cry, but for what I don't know.

Look at this guy! He turned down a huge football contract to join the Army!
Okay, except he's dead, which doesn't make things look like the kind of job I want, and worse, he got killed by our guys? Now this really doesn't look like a good position. And then there's all this flag waving after they knew all of this? This isn't good.

Report: Army Knew Details of Tillman Death

] Card said congressional Democrats have failed to provide
] their own plan for fixing Social Security. "It's time for
] them to acknowledge the problem and offer to do something
] about it. Because the status quo is not acceptable," he
] said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
]
]
] Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hit
] back. "You know, I'd like to see the president being
] willing to really engage in a bipartisan debate. He has
] said, basically: This is my plan, take it or leave it,"
] Leahy said.

I love how this works. Shrub tosses up the private accounts thing, admits in his press conference that it won't solve the problem, and then also says that he won't accept anything that doesn't include it. I also loved that he said "pay as you go" when he hasn't done anything of the sort.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and dressing up a pile of crap in a prom dress doesn't change that it's a pile of crap underneath.

Bush Aide Urges Dems to Work With GOP

] Kansas School Board chairman Steve Abrams said the
] hearings are less about religion than they are about
] seeking the best possible education for the state's
] children.
]
]
] "If students... do not understand the weaknesses of
] evolutionary theory as well as the strengths, a grave
] injustice is being done to them," Abrams said.

Bullshit! One of the core parts of teaching science is that you teach the spots where there are problems (general relativity and quantum mechanics seem fundamentally incompatible, but they both work in their areas). What you skip is stuff that ISN'T SCIENCE. How did "Lucy" end up where we are now? Gee, we don't know, must have been some intelligent design, of course we can't explain that or say who might have done it, just that it obviously wasn't anything like that evolution stuff those guys are talking about...

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

Evolution on trial as Kansas debates Adam vs Darwin

] A call about a possible weapon at a middle school
] prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close
] nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant
] burrito.
]
] Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy
] carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior
] High.

What will the war on terror get us? Eventually, some poor kid is going to end up like Amadou Diallo, only he won't be a black guy from Guinea, it'll be some white suburban 13 year old kid with the poster part of his science project that they're pulling police bullets out of and trying to blame.

The war on terror is well on its way to being lost.

School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon - Yahoo! News

] Mayor David Dermer wants to prevent sex offenders from
] living within 2,500 feet, or a half-mile, of any school,
] school bus stop, day care center, park or playground on
] the 7.5-mile-long barrier island. Currently, sex
] offenders must stay 1,000 feet from those areas.

At some point one of these guys is going to sue that these people are infringing on due process and then the whole thing is going to come tumbling down.

Miami Mayor Wants Sex Offender Ban - Yahoo! News

] Repeatedly admonished, Bolton persisted in trying to
] arrange meetings with Russian, French and British
] officials, she said.
]
]
] The foreign ministries would then notify the U.S. Embassy
] or the State Department "and ask me what does he want,"
] Jones said.

Assuming this is accurate, this is a rule that is in place for security reasons. Guys who don't even understand security don't belong in this kind of position. How can this guy possibly be the best one for the job?

Official Says Bolton Flouted Travel Rules

] Each dollar jump in the price of a barrel of oil adds
] another half billion in earnings. Based on current
] prices, Exxon is accumulating more than $ 1 billion a
] month--even after allocating for dividends, share
] repurchases, and capital spending. If oil simply stays
] where it is now, Exxon's cash could approach $ 40 billion
] in 12 months

That's CASH. That's over a billion dollars profit per MONTH. Hey, you think these guys would maybe want to spend something to be an energy leader, and move from just being Big Oil by taking the step that would make them the kings of the 21st Century. I would, but then, apparantly I'm a dreamer, and they're cocksuckers.

Exxon's Money Problems