But those days are gone:
Leaked emails from two former prosecutors claim the military commissions set up to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay are rigged, fraudulent, and thin on evidence against the accused.
Two emails, which have been obtained by the ABC, were sent to supervisors in the Office of Military Commissions in March of last year […]

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So. Are we invading Saudi Arabia now?
LONDON, July 31 — British and Saudi investigators are examining a series of phone calls, text messages and e-mails between leaders of the al Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia and unknown people in Britain between February and May for possible links to the recent bomb attacks in London or […]

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One more study pointing to fructose:
Another study finds that high consumption of soft drinks and other sweetened beverages contributes to obesity. But this study, conducted in mice, suggests that one form of natural sweetener — fructose — may be especially likely to encourage weight gain.
In the study, researchers at the University of Cincinnati allowed mice […]

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I just cleaned off some strange-looking rubber skid marks of unknown origin off my car with a damp rag and some toothpaste.
So not only has the finish been restored, my paint job also smells minty fresh.

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Via WashPo:
Hackett told USA Today that Bush’s taunting line, “Bring ‘em on!” was “the most incredibly stupid comment I’ve ever heard a president of the United States make.” He also told the newspaper that, while he was willing to put his life on the line for the president, “I’ve said that I don’t like the […]

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Looks like a ruling won by Ken Starr during his Clinton investigation is going to bite the White House in the ass:
WASHINGTON — The White House is citing the attorney-client privilege as the basis for refusing to reveal memos written by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. when he was representing the government before […]

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But you have to admit, the Iraqi people are better off than they were with Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi blogger Khalid Jarrar has been released from prison:
They started by asking me: “What’s the connection between you and the London Bombs?� !!!
And I was like: “haaaaa???!!.�. I said: “London Bombs???! Nothing!�
BANG!!
A heavy hand landed on my neck, my […]

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Remember all the outrage about Saddam’s “rape rooms”? It seems we don’t have a problem with rape when it’s one of our allies, like our good friends in Pakistan:
For the vast majority of humans, terror comes in more mundane ways - like the violent hands that woke Dr. Shazia Khalid as she lay sleeping […]

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Via Jon at San Diego Soliloquies:
The Washington Post tells us about a conference call where Deputy Undersecretary Laura Miller sets the marching orders for all Veteran’s Affairs facilities:
“Dr. Perlin” — that’s Jonathan B. Perlin , undersecretary for health, … — “and I cannot stress the importance of this enough,” she said. “We are asking that […]

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Andrew Greeley:
The Big Muddy is deeper and darker. Two Pentagon reports this week show just how muddy. In a survey of the morale of soldiers in Iraq, the Pentagon found that more than half said that morale in their units was either “low” or “very low.” Morale was especially low, as one would have expected, […]

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Jordan explains just how bad the new energy bill is.

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Josh Marshall reports the FBI investigation into the forged Niger memos may have been nothing more than a rationale:
As last year’s Senate intel report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction states in a footnote at bottom of Page 57, it was because of this FBI investigation that the Intelligence Committee walled off everything about the […]

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Editorial from the radical Christian Science Monitor:
One might think that senators heading home for a month-long summer holiday would first want to pass the defense bill, a gesture that would show support for America’s troops risking their lives around the world. Instead, Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R) has decided they should spend these last […]

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He just doesn’t understand the hard choices a president has to make:
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter on Saturday said the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States.
Speaking at the Baptist World Alliance’s centenary conference […]

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You can’t make this shit up.

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Joe Queenan does a very, very funny review of Ed Klein’s Hillary-bashing book. Here’s one good bit but you really should read it all:
As an expert on sordid nonfiction, I would not put ”The Truth About Hillary” anywhere near the top of my list; it pales by comparison with Geraldo Rivera’s sublimely vile autobiography, ”Exposing […]

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Interesting piece linking bone marrow stem cells to fertility.

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Even one. If he can make even ONE appointment I respect, I’ll eat my hat:
On the same day that the White House announced that President Bush is nominating California billionaire Roland E. Arnall to be ambassador to the Netherlands, the company he controls said it would set aside $325 million for a possible settlement of […]

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They were looking for a Philadelphia blogger to appear on Tucker Carlson’s show the other night (about the Latoiya coverage), and a group email went out, asking if any of us could do it. For one reason or another, most said no. (I don’t know why everyone else did, but my reason was that I […]

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A federal judge has ruled that certain select parts of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional.

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It must be those goddamned trees, spewing all that carbon dioxide:
Satellite data for the month of June show Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a record low, raising concerns about climate change, coastal erosion, and changes to wildlife patterns.
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre in the United States uses remote sensing imagery to survey […]

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This is important. Even Uzbekistan aka “Boil Me Some Dissidents in Oil” wants to disassociate itself from us:
Uzbekistan formally evicted the United States yesterday from a military base that has served as a hub for combat and humanitarian missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon and State Department officials […]

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The AP (in addition to CBS News) is reporting that Bush will use a recess appointment to name John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. next week.
So all the dirt about his connection to the Valerie Plame leak is not very important in the eyes of the Bubble Boy. Nor does he have the […]

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The good citizens of Ohio can rest easy, knowing whose side their U.S. Attorney is on:
COLUMBUS — U.S. Attorney Gregory White, a leader in a multiagency task force investigating powerful Republicans in Ohio, asked for help from Gov. Bob Taft’s office to get the federal post he now holds, records released by Mr. Taft’s office […]

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My, we’re getting snippy today, aren’t we?
Q One factual thing here. Well, let me just get an answer to this first part. The fact is that the Republican Party is moving away from this President, and there is a feeling that Senator Frist articulated today that, in effect, the President is stuck in a 2001 […]

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