Indeed, Puckett was the second-youngest person to die having already been enshrined at Cooperstown, Hall of Fame spokesman Jeff Idelson said. Only Lou Gehrig, at 37, was younger.

Damn...

Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett Dies at 45 - Yahoo! News

He was cited by a group of
Homeland Security officials for selling a T-shirt on federal property - in this case, near a FEMA center in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Chalmette, La.

Barisich, 49, says he didn't sell the shirt, which said: "Flooded by Katrina! Forgotten by FEMA! What's Next, Mr. Bush?" He says he gave it away.

The government is sticking to its guns. "If we ignored this violation, you could have potentially 20 to 30 people standing out in front of the (FEMA) center, obstructing things," says Dean Boyd, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman. "We've got a duty and a job under the law."

First, it's not federal property, it,s a Wal-Mart parking lot. Second, maybe if these dipshits had done their job, he'd be handing out shirts that say how good FEMA was.

Cleaning us the mess from Katrina will take a long time. Cleaning us the mess from Bush will take decades.

FEMA critic's shirt gets him tangled up in ticket - Yahoo! News

A spokesman for the agency, Dirk Fillpot, defended its record, pointing out that last year the coal industry had 22 fatalities, the lowest number in its history.

"Safety is definitely improving," Mr. Fillpot said.

I think that would be an abberant year there. As the article also goes on to point out, mechanization means fewer miners, so maybe it's actually more dangerous if you're still a miner?

U.S. Is Reducing Safety Penalties for Mine Flaws - New York Times

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state's official "majority" religion.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

You know, before they even say "We're not going to say anything about what religion you pick" they say "we're not picking one." I guess some asshat here in Missouri never read that.

KMOV.com | St. Louis, MO | Top Stories

A nationwide strike called by Islamist parties paralyzed Pakistan on Friday hours before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived for talks in which he is expected to urge greater efforts against Islamist militants.

"Them little Pakistani folks just love me. They all took the day off to see me come in."

Bush arrives in Pakistan - Yahoo! News

Kid Rock blames Scott Stapp for losing a sex video showing them with several strippers, but appreciates Stapp for one thing. "What perfect timing," Rock told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "I got a record coming up ... Maybe I should thank him."

Somehow I was sort of waiting for this one... LOL!

Kid Rock: Stapp 'Idiot' for Losing Tape

Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the video shows discussions that have been in documents previously made public. "I'm not sure what is shocking about this video. There's really nothing new or insightful from it," he said.

How about it exposes President Bush as a liar, that Chertoff was an active hindrance to getting anything done, and that the one guy on the feds side who didn't have his head shoved all the way up his ass was, of all people, Michael Brown?

N.Orleans mayor 'shocked' by pre-Katrina Bush video

officials from the Homeland Security and Treasury departments told him weeks ago that their 30-day review of the deal did not look into the question of links between DP World and al Qaeda.

Well then what the hell were they looking at? How big a tax break they needed to give them to make the deal go through???

Port deal never probed for terror ties - Mar 1, 2006

Organized people have always had to take on organized money. If they had not, blacks would still be three-fifths of a person, women wouldn't have the vote, workers couldn't organize, and children would still be working in the mines. Our democracy today is more real and more inclusive than existed in the days of the Founders because time and again, the people have organized themselves to insist that America become "a more perfect union."

Moyers doing a good job of describing at least one of the things very wrong with this country right now.

Bill Moyers: DeLay, Abramoff, and The Public Trust

Negroponte tried to focus on progress in Iraq, but he acknowledged a civil war would be a "serious setback" to the global war on terror.

"The consequences for the people of Iraq would be catastrophic," he said. "Clearly, it would seriously jeopardize the democratic political process on which they are presently embarked. And one can only begin to imagine what the political outcomes would be."

Saudi Arabia and Jordan could support Iraq's Sunnis, Negroponte said. And
Iran, run by a Shiite Islamic theocracy, "has already got quite close ties with some of the extremist elements" inside Iraq, he added.

While Iraq's neighbors "initially might be reluctant" to get involved in a broader Sunni-Shiite conflict, "that might well be a temptation," Negroponte said.

I was wrong, there actually is a worse scenario than the ones that I normally consider, and Negroponte describes it. I don't think this is a likely result, at least not an overt one, but a proxy fight a la the Spanish Civil War? That seems entirely plausible.

The civil war is happening and going to escalate. We don't have the troops on the ground to pull off an actual occupation and shut it down. The only questions now are, how big, how long and how are we going to get out of the way?

Spy Chief: Iraq May Spark Regional Fight