] At issue was a passage in Woodward's "Plan of Attack," an
] account published this week of Bush's decision making
] about the war, quoting Rumsfeld as telling Prince Bandar
] bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, in
] January 2003 that he could "take that to the bank" that
] the invasion would happen.

] Pentagon officials omitted the discussion of the meeting
] from a transcript of the Woodward interview that they
] posted on the Defense Department's Web site Monday.
] Rumsfeld told reporters at a briefing yesterday that he
] may have used the phrase "take that to the bank" but that
] no final decision had been made to go to war.

This is continues a scary trend the Bush Administration has done since it came into the Whitehouse: Trying to Change history. They have already modified their robots.txt to prevent indexing of Iraq related information on whitehouse.gov, and now they are released transcripts that aren't complete?

Sure we have the Washington Post to nail their ass, but will we always? As Clear Channel grows in power, ask yourself this: What would a politian be willing to do for a company that could literally change recorded history with its hold over all forms of media?

Pentagon Deleted Rumsfeld Comment (washingtonpost.com)

Flash animation. Parody of "Tom Saywer" by the band Rush, lampooning Limbuaghs drug addiction with actual hypocritical quotes from the man himself. Takea a while to load, but its worth it! -LB

Rush Limbaugh parody

] Bush photomosaic of Americans who have died in Iraq since
] the war president entered office. Link

Disturbing.

Bush photomosaic of American dead in Iraq

] Watching television at a very early age could lead to
] concentration problems later in childhood, according to a
] new study led by Seattle researchers published today in
] the journal Pediatrics.
]
] For every hour of television viewed per day before age 3,
] children were 10 percent more likely to have trouble
] paying attention by age 7, researchers said. A child
] younger than 3, for example, who watched two hours of
] television a day was 20 percent more likely to have
] attention problems at age 7 than a child who never
] watched television.

And I'm only seeing the problem escalate with future generations. I know it wasn't the greatest flick, but a Johnny Mnemonic scenario comes to mind.

Television may drive kids to distraction

] ]
] ] "It's not entirely clear to me why they go out of their
] ] way to keep opposition candidates from fully
] ] participating in the electoral process," said Powell, who
] ] added that this does not mean there is yet cause to worry
] ] that democracy in Russia is crumbling.

Not clear? NOT CLEAR? NOT CLEAR!?!

Jesus... and to think, I sometimes entertain that Powell is sincere. Putin is a dictator. Putin's people are FSB (aka domestic KGB). He came to power by promising a hardline solution to the "Chechyna Problem" after terrorist attacks leveled several apartment buildings and killed hundreds of people in Russia. Terrorist attacks that were quite likely carried out by the FSB (I'm not talking wild conspiracy theory here, an FSB agent was arrested shortly before these attacks attempting to plant explosives in the basement of an apartment building) under the order of Putin.

Upon taking office, Putin began a large scale program of nationalizing privatized businesses, and appointing FSB higher ups to their boards. He has ended freedom of the press. He has renationalized every national TV station. He has waged a war in Chechnya in a manner that has killed most Chechyn males, and leveled every single city in the region. He has an official youth party who's doctrines compare to those of the Nazi youth.

He toppled Berezovsky. Xodorkovsky is in jail. Anyone that dares to oppose him and has the means to do so is destroyed.

And its "not clear" why he doesn't allow opponents to access media outlets? He's a strong man. The only way he's leaving office is in a box. Russia has chosen Dictatorship to Oligarchy. This election was rigged, just like the last one. And the one before that. Democracy in Russia has never existed, and probably never will.

Everyone that follows Russian politics knows this. Even Bush, when he "sees into his soul," as he looks into his pretty eyes.

RE: Putin's victory criticized by foes

] In June 2003, I wrote something about instant messaging
] that included the words "question" and "answerer". In
] November of that year, a young girl trying to finish her
] homework searched for "instant message question
] answerer", found the piece I had written, and IM'd me,
] looking for some answers.

Stupid People

] Georgia (AP) -- A Georgia woman who tried to use a fake
] $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at
] Wal-Mart was arrested, and police later found two more of
] the bills in her purse.
]
] The U.S. Treasury does not make $1 million bills, but
] similar-looking currency is sold in some souvenir shops.
] The fake bill featured a picture of the Statue of
] Liberty, police said.
]
] "It looks real, but of course there's nothing real about
] this," said Stacey Cotton, police chief in Covington,
] about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. "People do crazy
] things all the time."
]
] A store clerk immediately noticed the bill was fake when
] 35-year-old Alice Regina Pike handed it to her on Friday,
] Cotton said.
]
] Pike then tried to use two gift cards worth only $2.32 to
] buy the merchandise, but when that did not work she again
] asked to cash the $1 million bill, Cotton said. The store
] then called police.
]
] Pike was jailed on forgery charges. A woman who answered
] the phone at the jail said she did not know if Pike has a
] lawyer.

I'd have said "I'm sorry, I don't have change for any bill over $100,000. You'll need to go pick out some more merchandise..." till the cops arrived. -LB

$1 million bill leads to arrest

] Citing problems in last week's primary election, two
] leading senators Thursday asked the secretary of state to
] decertify the use of touch-screen voting systems for the
] upcoming November election.
]
] "California has a lemon law which protects consumers if
] they buy an automobile that doesn't work. So far,
] electronic voting in California is a lemon. It needs to
] be fixed," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine.
]
] Electronic voting machines have been controversial almost
] since their invention. Some computer scientists say the
] systems leave elections vulnerable to hackers, while
] other critics say that because most electronic voting
] terminals do not produce paper records, there's no way to
] ensure accurate recounts.
]
] There's also a concern that system problems in California
] could lead to voter confusion like that surrounding the
] 2000 presidential election in Florida.
]
] In the March 2 statewide election, where 14 counties used
] touch-screen voting systems, the number of system
] failures was "alarming," said Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland.

Lets hope this starts a domino effect trend into other states. -LB

USATODAY.com - Calif. senators want decertification of e-vote systems

] MADRID, Spain - (KRT) - In a stunning upset triggered by
] last week's terror attacks, Spanish voters on Sunday
] dumped the nation's ruling party, which has been a
] staunch supporter of the United States in the war in
] Iraq.

Something about the timing of this smells funny...

KansasCity.com - The Kansas City Star, breaking local news, sports, entertainment, business

] On Sunday, Putin was helped by overwhelmingly positive
] coverage on Russia's state-controlled nationwide
] television stations, giving his competitors little
] opportunity to reach voters.
]
]
] Such media coverage drew criticism from Putin's
] opponents, international observers and U.S. officials,
] who said it gave the Russian president an unfair
] advantage.
]
]
] "You've got to let candidates have all access to the
] media that the president has," U.S. Secretary of State
] Colin Powell told "Fox News Sunday."
]
]
] "It's not entirely clear to me why they go out of their
] way to keep opposition candidates from fully
] participating in the electoral process," said Powell, who
] added that this does not mean there is yet cause to worry
] that democracy in Russia is crumbling.
]
]
] Putin's campaign manager, Dmitry Kozak, shot back on
] Sunday that democracy in the United States is far from
] perfect.

Touché.

Putin's victory criticized by foes