The View

I can honestly say that I have never seen 5 seconds of The View. But I find amusing Barbara Walters' hyprocrisy regarding the Star Jones Reynolds' firing.

Ousted cast member Star Jones Reynolds said Thursday she was told she could "make up a story" about why she was leaving "The View" and her colleagues would have gone along with it. . . .

Longtime ABC newswoman Walters has confirmed the intended deception . . . .

ABC said it canned Reynolds immediately after Tuesday's show because her announcement, and an interview with People magazine, took the network by surprise. Walters told The Associated Press that she felt betrayed and ABC said it couldn't trust Reynolds to tell the truth if she remained on the air.

In other words, because she didn't lie when Walters asked her to, Reynolds couldn't be trusted to tell the truth going forward. Now there is some logic.

Run-in with the cops

My 4 year old daughter was picked up by the police today. She then proceeded to lie to the police. If you have any interest in the whole story, it is here.

She is going to be a nightmare as a teenager.

Picture of the day

Lieberman

Dick Morris.

Keeping Joseph Lieberman in the United States Senate is clearly in the national interest. One of the most ethical, sincere, thoughtful and balanced of senators, he stands as a monument to nonpartisan common sense in an increasingly shrill and polarized partisan environment.

But he is in the process of committing suicide. By insisting on running in Connecticut’s Democratic primary against anti-war candidate Ned Lamont, he is in a fight he won’t win and, in the process, destroying his chances in the general election, which he can win. . . .

The right dominates the GOP nominating process just as surely as the left controls that of the Democrats. This is no place for a centrist to thrive. . . .

This column is a plea to the senator: Don’t let hubris, overconfidence, unfounded optimism or even muddled confusion lead you to your death in the Democratic primary. We need you too much in Washington.

The hard core ideologues on both sides think that centrists are the enemy. How sad is that?

(For substantially identical cross-post at Centerfield and comments posted there, click here.)

Clear justice

This is from the redistricting case decided by the Supreme Court today:

KENNEDY, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts II–A and III, in which STEVENS, SOUTER, GINSBURG, AND BREYER, JJ., joined, an opinion with respect to Parts I and IV, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and ALITO, J., joined, an opinion with respect to Parts II–B and II–C, and an opinion with respect to Part II–D, in which SOUTER and GINSBURG, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which BREYER, J., joined as to Parts I and II. SOUTER, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which GINSBURG, J., joined. BREYER, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. ROBERTS, C. J., filed an opinion concurring in part, concurring in the judgment in part, and dissenting in part, in which ALITO, J., joined. SCALIA, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dis-senting in part, in which THOMAS, J., joined, and in which ROBERTS, C. J., and ALITO, J., joined as to Part III.

I'm so glad that they cleared everything up.

(For cross-post at Centerfield and comments posted there, click here.)

Hitler blogging

Believe it or not, there is a "blog dedicated to cats that look like Hitler."

Speaking of which, in today's mail was a copy of a letter from an opposing party/debtor to the judge in which she compares the judge to Hitler and Stalin. The power of persuasion, in action.

Rush

Link.

(CBS) MIAMI Sources have confirmed to WFOR-TV in Miami that conservative talk show host has been detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs.

Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when they found the drugs, among them Viagra.

So many jokes, so little time.

Unexpected

I'm quite surprised that this person is calling for the U.S. to bomb North Korea.

Zarqawi's reward

Link.

DES MOINES, Iowa - An Iowa congressman apologized Wednesday for disparaging comments he made last week at the state Republican convention about a veteran White House correspondent.

Rep. Steve King (news, bio, voting record), R-Iowa, was discussing the June 7 death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Saturday when he mentioned 85-year-old Helen Thomas, who has covered the White House for nearly 50 years and is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.

"There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at," King said about al-Zarqawi, in a recording transcribed by Radio Iowa. "And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

Not very nice but, admit it, quite funny.

Notice

I have been AWOL due heavy work demands, reassembling our house after remodeling, and a general lack of interest in the blogosphere recently. I will be back, but I'm not sure when.

Treasure trove

Link.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's national security adviser said Thursday a “huge treasure” of documents and computer records was seized after the raid on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout, giving the Iraqi government the upper hand in its fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also said he believed the security situation in the country would improve enough to allow a large number of U.S.-led forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority to depart by the end of next year. “And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid-2008,” he said.

Mr. al-Rubaie said a laptop, flashdrive and other documents were found in the debris after the air strike that killed the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader last week outside Baqouba, and more information has been uncovered in raids of other insurgent hideouts since then.

He called it a “huge treasure ... a huge amount of information.”

Although I'm skeptical that capturing a bunch of intelligence on al Qaeda in Iraq will break the back of the insurgency as a whole, getting Zarqawi was obviously a necessary first step towards that goal. Let's hope that this is as good of news as it is being portrayed.

Heading off a cliff

Juan Cole certainly has infinitely more knowledge about the Middle East than I do, but he seems to take every fact and interpret it in a way that supports his view that absolutely nothing is going right in Iraq or the WOT generally, and that we are doomed to failure. Anyway, via Andrew Sullivan, we are reminded of this gem from Cole:

Personally, I'm not sure Zarqawi exists, so I'd be reluctant to send a thousand Marines after him and to majorly inconvenience (and from the video on Aljazeerah, partially flatten) poor little Sadah.

In the same post, he referred to the elections in Iraq as a "joke."

Cole is a hero of the left side of the blogosphere, a group that wants Joe Lieberman kicked out of the party for being a hawk, yet a group that Democratic presidential candidates are starting to cater to.

WARNING: Listening to these folks is a recipe for disaster in 2008. Instead, listen to the Moose.

Bureaucrats in action

So you think that government workers in the United States are bad? Link.

Civil servants on Tyneside are under investigation amid allegations staff romped around naked in offices and had sex in toilets.

One person at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in Newcastle has been sacked after officials began an investigation.

The antics emerged after some members of staff were caught on CCTV cameras.

The RPA is part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and administers millions of pounds in agricultural payments to farmers.

The agency said it was investigating claims that staff leapt naked from filing cabinets, had sex in office toilets, held break-dancing competitions during working hours and fought in a reception area.

Al-Zarqawi

I'm glad to learn that the SOB suffered before he died. Instant death without even seeing it coming or knowing what hit him would have been too good of a fate for one of the most vile people ever.

Dead on

I certainly wish that this had happened 2 years ago, but it is nevertheless a huge development. I'm in a very good mood this morning.

Third world sweatshops are a good thing

No, really. I read a compelling column yesterday by Nicholas Kristof which made the argument but, because it is behind the Times Select wall, I can't link to it. But a Google search revealed that he has made the argument consistently before. (See, e.g., here and here.)

Notice

Things will be quiet here for the next couple of days. Not that it ever gets too busy and, for whatever reason, fewer stories have caught my fancy recently.

Robert Byrd is a putz

Link.

Capitol Hill insiders love to tell the story about how Senator Robert C. Byrd once killed a multimillion-dollar federal building project for his home-state West Virginia University because the public school had hired a lobbyist to help wrangle the cash. Byrd's message: As senator, it's his job to win federal dollars for West Virginia.

Granted, the event occurred 17 years ago and perhaps there should be some statute of limitations on having to defend putz-like behavior, but this was an act of monumental political pettiness.

Picture of the day

An actual "cake" from a wedding in another part of the country.


Via reader Dave.

Surprise

I was not ready for this aspect of the news story reporting on yesterday's events at the Memorial Tournament.

Pettersson was in the lead, by one shot over Austin and Johnson. The round wasn't finished. And players trudged off the course knowing they had to return at the crack of dawn.

Mickelson returned to the sixth hole to find the cup had moved in the middle of the second round. Turns out someone defecated in the hole, and the only solution was to move it a few feet, along with the ball markers on the green.

Tone deaf

This poll demonstrates how tone deaf the leadership in Congress is.

In the rift between Congress and the Justice Department, Americans side overwhelmingly with law enforcement: Regardless of precedent and the separation of powers, 86 percent say the FBI should be allowed to search a Congress member's office if it has a warrant.

That view is broadly bipartisan, this ABC News poll finds, ranging from 78 percent among Democrats to 94 percent of Republicans.

The issue erupted last week, after the FBI searched the offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., in a corruption investigation. Congress leaders objected, and George W. Bush put a 45-day hold on the seized documents to allow for negotiations.

The anti-incumbent momentum just continues to grow.

Swearing parrot

This is hilarious.

An Orthodox Jew was threatened with divorce after blowing several thousand dollars on a parrot that swore like a trooper, Israel's mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot daily said on Thursday.

After he brought his feathered friend home, the man's religious household in the Tel Aviv area was bombarded by insults such as "son of a bitch" and "homo" from the bird.

When its owner sought rabbinical advice, the rabbi recommended that the parrot be slaughtered -- or have its tongue cut out for being foul-mouthed.

But the horrified pet owner's wife threatened divorce if the bird went for the chop, and the parrot finally found refuge in a zoo.

Good excuse

Link.

Mark Oaten, the former Liberal Democrat leadership contender and Home Affairs spokesman, is also rather touchy about his appearance it seems. Breaking his four-month silence over the affair with a rent boy that cost him his front bench job and shattered his life, Mr Oaten, 40, says he believes it was the sudden onset of baldness that drove him into the arms of a male prostitute.

Alleys

This is a joke, right?

Miles and miles of Minneapolis alleys would be off-limits to strangers under a proposed city ordinance intended to curtail crime.

The proposal would prohibit anyone from walking in an alley who doesn't live on that block or who isn't a guest of someone who does. Police, paramedics and firefighters would be exempt, as would garbage haulers, meter readers, code inspectors and others whose jobs take them there.

This is stupid on so many levels, but mainly because no criminal would be deterred by this proposed law from going into an alley for the purpose of criminal activity. Duh.