Though America Online has shown some improvement lately--with better browsers and e-mail tools, fewer obnoxious ads, scads of broadband content, and innovative features such as parental controls--it has never overcome the stigma of being the online service for people who don't know any better.

Heh. No punches really getting pulled here.

The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time - Yahoo! News

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Smoking pot protects you from cancer. Who would have thought?

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

In a May 25, 2006 article describing Georgetown University faculty opposition to a teaching appointment for Douglas J. Feith, former Bush Administration undersecretary of defense for policy planning and analysis, the Times noted that Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, top commander of the Iraq invasion, once referred to Mr. Feith as "the stupidest guy on the face of the earth."

However, according to Gen. Franks' autobiography, "American Soldier," what he actually called Mr. Feith was "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth." The Times regrets the error.

-- New York Times

Oh that's hilarious! LOL!

Marty Kaplan: Professor Stupidest | The Huffington Post

On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men.

Murray Waas keeps up the heat. Bob Novak and Karl Rove concocting a cover story? Looks like that's more than likely. Hard to prove, but when you've got very conflicting stories told by the same person, well, oops.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators (05/25/2006)

Federal officials say the information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with other tribes.

Whoops. Is anyone going to be left in Washington when everything is over?

The Blotter

"In the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus, I am writing to request your immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee," wrote Pelosi.

Jefferson was defiant.

"With respect, I decline to do so," he wrote back to Pelosi. "I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain, long-term political strategy."

Time for the Dems to step up and say goodbye to Mr. Jefferson. If they want to tar and feather the other side of the aisle with the corruption brush, they need to get rid of the guy with $90,000 in bribes from the FBI hidden in his freezer.

Further, "speech and debate" provision fully observed, the FBI raiding his office was done with the consent of the Judiciary. At that point, checks and balances are satisfied, and the "gentlemen from Louisiana" can pack up his bags, he's Duke Cunningham's new roomie.

House leaders demand FBI return papers - Yahoo! News

I'm not sure how to describe this... It's safe for work but...

First Draft - Hellbound

2004 was fixed. And the way it was done is that 3.6 million votes were cast and never counted in the United States. That's very important to know. This isn’t Greg Palast conspiracy nut stuff.

ummm.... wow.

Democracy Now! | Greg Palast on His New Book “Armed Madhouse : Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08…”

Hardwick says she wants to wear the emblem to pay tribute to ancestors who fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. She said she has been forced to change clothes or turn her shirt inside-out, and has been suspended twice and threatened with being kicked off the track team.

And now for an opposing viewpoint... Would it be acceptable for a student to wear an SS pin with a Nazi armband? Schools all over have banned everything from Confederate flag wear to sports teams to gang colors to shorts, to you name it. Supression may not work, and in this case probably isn't the way to go.

If the school wanted to make their point properly, they would simply explain the reality of the Civil War, that the South rebelled for one reason and one reason only, to try to maintain and expand slavery. Let's see how far that one gets.

And now my "I forgot" update. This one is already dead in the water. This is a question already decided by the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines School District. Sorry Miss Hardwick, you're pretty much done.

S.C. Girl Protests Confederate Apparel Ban - Yahoo! News

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in 2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.

Well if they're in jail, they're not being counted on the unemployment rolls...

1 in 136 U.S. Residents Behind Bars - Yahoo! News