Monday, January 23, 2006
Michael Schiavo, husband of late Terri, married his longtime girlfriend in a ceremony on Saturday.
[9:19 AM]
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Both Democrats and Republicans offer measures to curb the influence of lobbyists in Washington. Both plans have some laudable restrictions, though many say they don’t go far enough, and probably wouldn’t put a dent in all but the most egregious lobbying practices. But at least they’re trying.
[8:37 AM]
Anna Ayala and Jaime Placencia were handed lengthy sentences for planting a human finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili. You may have heard of this story. Ayala got 9 years, and Placencia got 12.
[8:34 AM]
The official Vatican newspaper says teaching intelligent design is a bad idea. “It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious,” a professor of evolutionary biology writes in L’Osservatore Romano, which doesn’t express official church policy but is seen as having the backing of the pope.
[8:27 AM]
As a smoking ban goes into effect in Chicago, the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company opens the nation’s first upscale smoking bar in the city, for folks to go to get away from the restrictions. There’s nothing wrong with smokers getting a room of their own; it’s when they bother the rest of us that things get ugly.
[8:23 AM]
In an audiotaped message, Osama bin Laden says Al Qaeda is planning more attacks against the United States, but that everything could be called off in favor of a truce. He offers no terms or conditions for the ceasefire.
[8:19 AM]
Researchers in Britain report there’s no link between mobile phone use and brain tumors. For some reason, though, tumors seem to appear on the same side of the head where folks used their phones.
[8:14 AM]
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
A few prominent conservatives — including Bob Barr and Grover Norquist — are calling for extensive hearings on the Bush administration’s secret warrantless eavesdropping on Americans.
[5:02 PM]
Police in England foil a plot by a father’s rights group to kidnap Tony Blair’s youngest son in an apparent stunt to highlight the plight of fathers. It’s unclear if there was any real threat; the group’s likely composed of deadbeats.
[4:56 PM]
Michael Fortier, one of Tim McVeigh’s conspirators in the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, will be released from prison this week. He’s paid his debt to society, serving 11 years of a 12-year sentence. Even relatives of some of his victims wish him well.
[4:50 PM]
Midhat Mursi — a.k.a. Abu Khabab al-Masri, Al Qaeda’s chief bomb maker and chemical weapons expert — was killed in last week’s controversial and messy American airstrike in Pakistan. Well, good: Eighteen local folks died, Ayman Zawahiri got away, and the Muslim world is enraged, but at least something came out of that attack. After all, as a former FBI man tells ABC news, Musri’s “the man who trained the shoe bomber, Richard Reid and Zacharias Mousssaoui, as well as hundreds of others.” (Guess he wasn’t that great a teacher.)
[3:44 PM]
The exotic animals at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch are doing alright. In case you were wondering. The Department of Agriculture went to go check on them after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals raised concerns.
[3:35 PM]
A have-it-both-ways ruling from the Supreme Court on New Hampshire’s parental-notification law keeps the statute, but orders it fixed. You could call it pusillanimous, but maybe there’s something happy in nine justices agreeing on an abortion ruling.
[3:29 PM]
Friday, January 13, 2006
Washington police catch a man they say murdrered New York Times Reporter David Rosenbaum last weekend. Michael C. Hamlin, a 23-year old maintenance man, walked into the 7th District police station after TV news had broadcast his picture, captured by a surveillance camera when he tried to use Rosenbaum’s ATM card. He asked them why “my face is on TV.” They questioned him. He confessed, but police are searching for his accomplice. The murder started looks like a mugging gone wrong; the pair didn’t know Rosenbaum before.
[11:28 PM]
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Worldwide calamities — war, terrorism, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis — have not really reduced worldwide tourism. Indeed, many of the affected places have seen tourism levels increase over pre-hell times.
[2:53 PM]
Spying on Americans is probably (!?) illegal
The News: The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says that the president might not have the legal authority to eavesdrop on Americans without obtaining warrants. The CRS says that the White House’s legal justifications for allowing the NSA to conduct warrantless wiretapping — Bush’s argument that Congress implicitly approved such a program in the aftermath of 9/11, and that the president has inherent constitutional authority to conduct such taps for the purposes of national security — could be bunk.
The Spin: Sure, nice that this is out, but what’s obviously disconcerting to GoodNewsers is the probably part of the report. The president authorizes an eavesdropping program that apparently obviously contravenes all known wiretapping laws, then he and his underlings offer justifications that sounds as transparent and tentative as The High School Student Who Didn’t Do the Required Reading, and for all this, we get, “Well, perhaps this may not be on the up and up.” Or, as the CRS wimpily puts it, the legal basis for the program “does not seem to be as well grounded” as the White House claims.
The gods of understatement smile at that one.
But so one takes solace in that maybe this is just the start. At least there’s that: The CRS dips a toe into the water, and maybe soon all who are sensible will jump in the pool. (One means this metaphorically — you know, the pool of common sense.)
The final Atlantic tropical storm of the season, named Zeta, has dissipated over the ocean. The storm marks the end of a record 27-storm season; no other season has seen a storm persist so long into January.
[2:11 PM]
A new poll shows strong support for a Democratic-led Congress. Almost half, 49 percent, want the left to lead the legislature; just 36 percent want Republicans. This is good news for anyone who adores Thomas Jefferson, who favored throwing the bums out every now and then.
[2:09 PM]
In Taiwan, a husky dog named Baby saved a newborn baby whose mother gave birth over the toilet, then collapsed. The dog caught the baby by the leg, fished him out, and then licked him clean.
[1:55 PM]
Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay decides not to seek that post again. The departure comes after some fellow Republicans began questioning the propriety of Delay’s return while scandal continues to cling to him like a suit from Men’s Wearhouse. Happy news for anyone looking to restore dignity back to the Capitol (remember that old line?)
[1:45 PM]
