The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.

The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

This is both appalling and not surprising.Meet the candidate and get a bullet in the head...

Truck bomb kills Iraqi schoolchildren | The World | The Australian

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," he said.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared, he didn't give a s***.

Okay Keith, whatever you say man...

Rolling Stone 'snorted father's ashes' | Breaking News | News | Telegraph

He and other merchants used to keep their shops open until dusk, but with the dropoff in customers as a result of the attacks, and a nightly curfew, most shop owners close their businesses in the early afternoon.

“This area here is very dangerous,” continued Mr. Youssef, who lost his shop in the February attack. “They cannot secure it.”

But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday.

Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.

Just a minor disconnect between what the guys in the street are saying versus what the guys on "fact-finding" tours are saying. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say - New York Times

High comedy, in multiple ways.

YouTube - Snoop Dogg Says: ''F*ck Bill O'Reilly!'' TBOHipHop.net

It remains unclear who fabricated the documents. Intelligence officials say most likely it was rogue elements in Sismi who wanted to make money selling them.

Nice try, but absolutely not. First, the documents are on letterhead purportedly stolen from the Niger embassy in Rome which means the creator of the documents needs both forgery and black bag experience. Second, the supposed motive is money, which never changed hands. Who does have the money? The US and the Brits, so this story needs to go there, not to the Italians, and certainly not the Italian press, which gets us to third, taking this to the press kills the money angle. Maybe the press pays you, maybe not, but it doesn't pay as well as the US does.

Bottom line? The case doesn't add up.

How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War - washingtonpost.com

In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him.

He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.

Not even his inner circle supports him anymore.

Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President - New York Times

I personally was ordered to change performance evaluations of several attorneys under my supervision. I was told to include critical comments about those whose recommendations ran counter to the political will of the administration and to improve evaluations of those who were politically favored.

This isn't new, no one was paying attention because Congress didn't care.

Bush's long history of tilting Justice - Los Angeles Times

The head of a California company hired by the U.S. government to help build a fence along the Southwest border to curb the flow of illegal aliens into the United States has been sentenced on charges of hiring illegals for the job.

And now from the irony department...

Fence firm hired illegals - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Jennings's 28-page presentation included 2006 election results and listed the names of Democratic candidates considered beatable and Republican lawmakers thought to need help. At a hearing Wednesday about the GSA, Waxman said the presentation and follow-up remarks allegedly made by agency chief Lurita Alexis Doan may have violated the Hatch Act, a law that restricts federal agencies and employees from using their positions for political purposes.

I expect blatantly corrupt governments (Ferdinand Marcos, Manny Noriega, etc.) to do things like this. It seems those are the standards of the Bushies.

Panel Asks Rove for Information on '08 Election Presentation - washingtonpost.com

John was disappointed that his dad wasn't presented with a light saber, said Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson. "He thought I was becoming a Jedi."

Sorry, no lightsaber kid...

U2's Bono awarded British knighthood - Yahoo! News