A Spork in the Drawer

We've Lost A Great One

(From The Texas Observer.)

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Our Betters

Via digby, we find in the The Hill a letter written by Darren McKinney, "former spokesman of the National Association of Manufacturers and currently represents the American Tort Reform Association." I especially enjoy this bit:

Though poll taxes have rightly been abolished, and every qualified registered voter willing to wait on line should certainly be free to exercise the franchise, there’s a lot to be said...for having most of our big political decisions influenced in greater measure by those who have succeeded in life and thus have a better sense of what it’ll take for our nation to succeed in the future.

Well, there it is. It would be better if the wealthy - by definition superior to those who aren't (funny that McKinney doesn't mention inheritance) - had a greater say in the running of the country than the mere hoi polloi. And notice the noblesse oblige: "every qualified registered voter willing to wait on line should certainly be free to exercise the franchise..." That's mighty generous of him, don't you think?

Imagine being ruled by Paris Hilton. Or, for that matter, Darren McKinney.

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Well OK Then

There was a terrorist bomb hoax in Boston today. Fox "News" was there:

Today on Studio B with Shepard Smith the whole show was spent on several devices throughout Boston that at first they thought might be bombs.

Turns out that one of the devices was a picture of a man flipping someone off and another was a figure that depicted a picture of what is called an Aqua Teen Mooninite. [...]

More from Raw Story.

Are the green and pink figures, lower right, Mooninites or terrorists? Only Fox "News" knows!

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UPDATE: It was a marketing stunt gone awry:

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.

Turner Broadcasting is owned by Time-Warner, which also owns CNN. Fox "News" will likely be having fun with that fact.

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Big Surprise

So George is sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq but the ones that are already there don't have the equipment they need.

Yet another outstanding job by BushCo™.

[Via TPMmuckraker.]

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Biden

Yes, yes, I know everybody else is already on to this but how can I resist?

Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

At least Biden didn't add, "And his teeth are so white!"

My guess is Biden's presidential campaign is going to make like the Hindenburg.

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ADDED: Atrios reminds me of this gem from Biden:

Delaware, he noted, was a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”

The crowd loved it.

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Only In Pennsylvania*

For those unfamiliar with Pennsylvania we have some of the most - maybe the most - idiotic alcohol laws in the nation. If you want to buy beer you have to go to a beer distributor (cases only) or a bar (six packs) and wine and liquor must be purchased directly from the state government. There is now a move on to change these archaic laws but (and this is no surprise) the legislature is still filled with idiots:

Just as Pennsylvania was threatening to crawl into the 20th century -- never mind the 21st century -- by allowing beer drinkers to buy their beverage of choice at supermarket cafes, two state senators want to kill the whole idea before it has a chance to spread statewide.

[...]

"There has to be in-store dining -- seats, chairs," state LCB member P. J. Stapleton said at a wide-ranging hearing yesterday convened by the state Senate's Law and Justice Committee, chaired by state Sen. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery. [...]

That means they'd have separate cash registers, and even, in some cases, separate cashiers, to make sure that the cashiers who ring up the beer are at least 18 years old, as required by state law.

But, of course, even this pathetic attempt at sanity is running into trouble:

Soon, Mr. Rafferty said, he and Monroeville Democratic Sen. Sean Logan plan to introduce a bill that would close what, in his eyes, is a potentially harmful loophole. "I'm very concerned over the age issue, [the] possible sales to minors," he said.

"I'm looking to tighten it up" so that groceries won't be able to sell beer, but delis still would.

Pennsylvania: Gateway to the 19th. Century!

*IIRC, Virginia and Utah (Mormons!) have nutty liquor laws as well.

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Neat!

Stonehenge:

New excavations near the mysterious circle at Stonehenge in southern England have uncovered dozens of homes where hundreds of people lived -- at roughly the same time that the giant stone slabs were being erected 4,600 years ago.

The finding strongly suggests that the monument and the settlement nearby were a center for ceremonial activities, with Stonehenge probably a burial site, while other nearby circular earthen and timber "henges" were devoted to feasts and festivals.

[...]

"This is evidence that clarifies the site's true purpose," said Michael Parker Pearson of Sheffield University, one of the main researchers. "We have found that Stonehenge itself was just half of a larger complex," one used by indigenous Britons whose beliefs centered on ancestor and sun worship.

Artist's conception.

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The Remnants Of War

Germany:

The flatlands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a sparsely populated state that covers northeastern Germany, are still littered with thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance from the Nazi era. There are cluster bombs, mortar shells, hand grenades, rockets. Most were manufactured and abandoned by the Third Reich, but there are also plenty of aging but still potent explosives left here and in neighboring states by Soviet, U.S. and British forces.

For more than 60 years, German bomb squads have been cleaning up. They comb through the woods and dredge the ponds, sift through construction sites and back yards. There's no end in sight.

"In my lifetime, I will never see all the munitions cleaned up in this area of Germany," said Sebastian Dosdall, the boss of this bomb-disposal crew, clad in a pea-green jacket, work pants and metal-shanked boots. "It's hard to clear everything, everywhere."

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Iran War Watch

Latest:

Investigators say they believe that attackers who used American-style uniforms and weapons to infiltrate a secure compound and kill five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. 20 may have been trained and financed by Iranian agents, according to American and Iraqi officials knowledgeable about the inquiry.

The officials said the sophistication of the attack astonished investigators, who doubt that Iraqis could have carried it out on their own — one reason a connection to Iran is being closely examined. Officials cautioned that no firm conclusions had been drawn and did not reveal any direct evidence of a connection.

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The suspects have also told investigators that “a religious group in Najaf” was involved in the operation, the Iraqi said, in a clear reference to the Mahdi Army, the militia controlled by the breakaway Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. If that information holds up, it would dovetail with assertions by several Iraqi officials that Iran is financing and training a small number of splinter groups from the Mahdi Army to carry out special operations and assassinations.

This one looks like a two-fer: Iran and Moktada.

Josh speculates on what the new Gulf of Tonkin will look like.

ADDED: From the LAT:

The efforts could include more forceful patrols by Air Force and Navy fighter planes along the Iran-Iraq border to counter the smuggling of bomb supplies from Iran, a senior Pentagon official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing future military plans.

Such missions also could position the Air Force to strike suspected bomb suppliers inside Iraq to deter Iranian agents that U.S. officials say are assisting Iraqi militias, outside military experts said.

[...]

Thomas G. McInerney, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who advocates military strikes in Iran, said U.S. planes along the border could be better used to keep bomb-making materials out of Iraq.

"We know they are doing this. Why do we accept it?" McInerney said. "For every [improvised explosive device] that goes off in Iraq, a bomb should go off in Iran." [Emphasis added.]

Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, said many military targets in Iran were susceptible to Air Force weapons.

"Iran is precisely the type of enemy they know how to deal with," Thompson said. "Having the ability to attack Iranian military targets and political targets is not just a deterrent. It may actually be used if we feel the Iranians are trying to subvert democracy in Iraq."

Anyone who believes that there are "no plans" to attack Iran is a fool.

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Obama's Plan

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) this afternoon introduced legislation that would withdraw all American troops - with some exceptions - from Iraq by March 2008.

Here's the speech:

Hmmm...

[Via Election Central.]

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