As a Diamondbacks fan, I have to agree with the selection. The D-Backs went from being seemingly doomed to tied with a chance to win it (a chance cashed in by Luis Gonzalez a few batter later).
Terrific job from PJ Media honcho. Best bit is where Senator Lieberman says that his highest duty is not to his party but to the people of Connecticut and the country. Well worth watching!
Predictably, Jane Hamsher reacts by pleading with us conservatives to get with the program and back the Republican in the race, Alan Schlessinger:
So I’ll ask again — is there a reason that you guys are letting Alan Schlessinger flounder? And what’s going to happen the next time an anti-pork, lower taxes candidate wants to take a stand against a Chafee or a Lieberman? Will they look at this race and realize that if the party doesn’t find their values acceptable at the moment, you’re not going to have their back?
It's really simple, Jane. Schlessinger's going to lose. Lieberman is the best we can hope for out of that race. There is no sense backing a loser, as I suspect you'll realize a few election cycles from now.
John Hawkins polled center-right bloggers on the subject of the greatest Americans of all time. The results are here.
Here's my (unranked) list:
George Washington Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin James Madison Ronald Reagan Dwight D. Eisenhower Bud Day Abraham Lincoln Wilbur & Orville Wright Thomas Edison J. Edgar Hoover Todd Beamer Audie Murphy Jimmy Stewart John Adams Sam Adams George W. Bush
The ones who didn't make the list are probably idiosynchratic choices of mine--Audie Murphy, the most decorated WWII soldier; Jimmy Stewart the actor and war hero; Todd Beamer, one of the heroes of Flight 93; and Bud Day, the most decorated soldier alive. J. Edgar Hoover and Sam Adams deserve to be on the list. Looking at the list, the only one that I blew completely was Martin Luther King, Jr. The only one I would disagree with completely is Bill Gates.
"I don't think that there's anyone who grew up around the South that hasn't had the word pass through their lips at one time in their life," he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday. "If you read 'Fields of Fire,' that word and a lot of other words are in the book." "Fields of Fire" is a novel Webb wrote about the Vietnam War.
Spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said Webb, an author and former Marine, "did not want to make any blanket statements that he has never, ever uttered the word. Jim has not used the word directed at another person. He's never used it himself as a racial slur."
But of course, that is precisely what others have claimed George Allen did. However, they have not claimed anything like this:
"They would hop into their cars, and would go down to Watts with these buddies of his," Cragg said Webb told him. "They would take the rifles down there. They would call then [epithets], point the rifles at them, pull the triggers and then drive off laughing. One night, some guys caught them and beat . . . them. And that was the end of that."
Cragg said Webb told him the Watts story during a 1983 interview for a Vietnam veterans magazine. Cragg, who described himself as a Republican who would vote for Allen, did not include the story in his article. He provided a transcript of the interview, but the transcript does not contain the ROTC story. He said he still remembers the exchange vividly more than 20 years later.
My personal hope is that sooner or later this campaign will get off what the two candidates said 20 and 30 years ago.
George Blake, who spied for the Soviet Union, won a human rights claim against the British Government yesterday, 40 years after he escaped from prison in London and fled to Moscow.
Britain was ordered by judges in Strasbourg to pay 84-year-old Blake £3,350 in damages and £1,340 costs for breaching his right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.
Alright, this is now starting to look like a carefully orchestrated campaign. Get this detail from today's Ryan Lizza piece:
Taylor told his account of Allen's use of the N-word in a private email to a UVA colleague last month. The email was recently obtained by The New Republic. Taylor confirmed the authenticity of the email and reluctantly agreed to speak on the record about the incident.
Note that this is not concerning an email from George Allen to anybody; it's an email that Allen's accuser wrote, that is now being presented as "evidence" that the accuser's claims are true. This sounds a little like the "evidence" that another Allen accuser had--notes that he claimed to have started taking several months ago about his memories of Allen using the "N" word.
Get it? None of this is evidence of anything other than that this whole brouhaha has been in the works for awhile. And get the oddball story that the accuser tells:
I met him twice actaully [sic]. I did two modelling [sic] jobs with his then wife and she told me about some puppies they were trying to give away. I told her I'd like to take one. So one evening I went out to their place in the country near [Charlottesville] somewhere. There was a pond quite close by. I asked if they had any waterfowl landing there. George told me about the ducks and geese that sometimes landed there and about the ducks who tried to raise their young but who would have them all devoured by the big turtles in the pond. Well, why doesn't someone kill the turtles and eat them? I asked. George said 'only the niggers around here eat em.'
That is a very curious conversation, and its curiouser still that this guy would remember it some 25 years later. Not surprisingly, the guy's a Democrat:
Asked recently about his political leanings, Taylor, who initially requested that his story about Allen not be publicized because he feared legal action from the senator, responded, "I'm a Democrat. And I certainly want to see his [Allen's] opponent elected." Asked if he intended his email to become public, Taylor laughed. "No, it was Fred Damon who decided to tell all these other people."
This story seems to have really caught on; Drudge highlighted it yesterday. Now Len Munsil, Republican candidate for Arizona governor has made it an issue in his race against incumbent Democrat Janet Napolitano.
Munsil said that taken as a whole, the messages indict the U.S. government and mock the Bush administration.
Other critics of the sculpture have objected to specific messages, including one that says, "You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles."
"It's an anti-war mentality and an anti-American mentality," said Munsil, who won the Republican bid one day after the memorial was dedicated on Sept. 11. "The people of Arizona need to know that this is what's on state property."
Amazingly, Napolitano continues to support the project:
During last week's dedication ceremony, Napolitano said the memorial was built to preserve the meaning of Sept. 11 for future generations. While flying to Prescott on Monday, Napolitano called the memorial "impressive and meaningful" and continued to support it.
"It's a respectful memorial to the tragedy of 9/11," she said. "For him to politicize the 9/11 memorial like that is just shameful. I just think it's very sad."
That's just not going to cut it. I have long assumed that Napolitano would win this election going away, but here's a real issue that Munsil may be able to turn to his advantage.
Ben Stein notes the disturbing tactics being used against George Allen and Michael Steele:
In the past two weeks, the DNC and Democrat Party have been embarrassed by racist and anti-Semitic attacks against Republican Senate candidates Michael Steele and Sen. George Allen. In the case of Steele, it was racist blogging posts. In Allen's it was planted questions in the media about his Jewish heritage. Within minutes of Allen's addressing the issue of his family's Jewish roots, popular Democrat Party sites, such as the Daily Kos, Daily DD, and MoveOn.org, were inundated with such posts as:
"George Allen's New Jew Revue"
"They seriously want us to believe that Allen never knew why his grandfather was thrown in a concentration camp?"
Meanwhile, Allen is reported to have used the "N" word during his college days.
"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."
A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.
It's of course possible that Allen did indeed use the word frequently, but it certainly seems a bit odd. Remember that because of his father's profession (football coach), Allen was probably more accustomed to being around high-achieving young black men than your average white Southerner of the times.
And Ken Shelton has ties to the Democrats. I looked up Ken Shelton in Open Secrets. He donated money in 2000 to Sam Neill (not the actor), a Democrat running for election in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District against the incumbent, Republican Charles H. Taylor. Given that Shelton's profession is described as radiologist in the Salon article, and the donor Ken Shelton's employer is given as Hendersonville Radiology, I think we've got the right man.
You know what this is all about, right? It's not about this election for Virginia Senator, it's about the 2008 Presidential Election. Proof is even in the Salon article:
The radiologist said he decided earlier this year that he would go public with his concerns about Allen if a reporter ever called. About four months ago, when he heard that Allen was a possible candidate for president in 2008, Shelton began to write down some of the negative memories of his former teammate. He provided Salon excerpts of those notes last week.
Uh-huh. "If a reporter ever called." Yeah, I can see that. He just started to write down memories of George Allen, just in case the reporters called.
Sorry, had relatives in town and forgot to set the VCR. I did catch the end of the show where everybody had to do the shoot the flaming arrow into the brazier bit. Sorry to see the cheerleaders bite the dust. Team Triathlon comes through with a big win.
One of the concerns I have for this election season is that if, as is once again looking likely, the Democrats fail to retake the House and the Senate, is that they will begin to embrace 9-11 Denial (called 9-11 Truth by members of the cult). The appeal of 9-11 Denial to the Left is that it offers the hope that they can get rid of the Bush Administration without actually winning an election.
I have been tracking this since the beginning of the summer. Very few major lefty blogs have been willing to touch "Loose Change" or 9-11 Denial. But that seems to be changing. As I blogged about at Screw Loose Change a week or so ago, the Democratic Party of Palm Beach County actually planned a screening of LC as a fundraiser before the outrage forced them to back down.
Now some of the bloggers are starting to nibble at the apple. Suburban Guerilla, which won a 2004 Koufax Award as Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, links (albeit timidly) to 9-11 Mysteries, a new 9-11 Denial film (with possibly the most annoying voiceover in the entire genre).
The Firedoglackeys have linked to 9-11 Press for Truth, a softcore version of Loose Change that's filled with lies and innuendo.
The media feel obliged to let us know that the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are now equal to the number of people killed on 9-11.
An Associated Press count of the U.S. death toll in Iraq rose to 2,696. Combined with 278 U.S. deaths in and around Afghanistan, the 9/11 toll was reached, then topped, the same day. The Pentagon reported Friday the latest death from Iraq, an as-yet unidentified soldier killed a day earlier after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad.
Not for the first time, war that was started to answer death has resulted in at least as much death for the country that was first attacked, quite apart from the higher numbers of enemy and civilians killed, too.
When did the death toll in World War II equal the number killed in Pearl Harbor?
It is impossible to know whether the machines were rigged to alter the election in Georgia: Diebold's machines provided no paper trail, making a recount impossible. But the tally in Georgia that November surprised even the most seasoned political observers. Six days before the vote, polls showed Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated war veteran and Democratic incumbent, leading his Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss - darling of the Christian Coalition - by five percentage points. In the governor's race, Democrat Roy Barnes was running a decisive eleven points ahead of Republican Sonny Perdue. But on Election Day, Chambliss won with fifty-three percent of the vote, and Perdue won with fifty-one percent.
But of course the Democrats are not concerned about other types of voting fraud; in fact, they're trying to prevent a bill that would do a lot to stop it from passing:
Senate Democrats on Friday said legislation that would require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections was little more than a poll tax and urged Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to stop the bill.
SC Eagle, a military blogger, has a wife named Ellicia. She is facing terminal cancer as discussed here. Sadly they have several young children, who may not see their mother life to their teen years.
She hopes to be able to stay at home, but in a typical Catch-22, home hospice care is not provided for in military insurance.
In 2004, the Swift Boat group, backed by Texas businessman Bob Perry, made unsubstantiated allegations about Kerry's Vietnam War heroism. The presidential nominee's slow and uncertain response is blamed for helping doom his White House bid.
I repeat. Nobody spent more time researching the Swiftees' claims against Kerry than I did, with the possible exception of two of the Swiftees' researchers themselves. I was unable to find anything that they got wrong; at worst the historical record was inconclusive. When there was a conflict between Kerry and the Swiftees, it was Kerry who was found to be lying.
This has always struck me as the weakness of the anti-torture absolutists. They want to take the moral high ground, but they also want to claim it doesn't work. But this interview makes clear that it does work. Note particularly that Ramzi Binalshibh, who was originally supposed to be one of the hijackers on 9-11 sobbed like a baby, and that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, despite being one of the hardest to crack, gave up specifics on names and addresses of Al Qaeda in America when waterboarded.
Sheesh, Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano decided that we should have our own 9-11 Memorial. Sounds fine, but remember that Napolitano is a Democrat. Which means that the memorial is PC to the max. I'm with Ace on this one; it's bulldozer time.
He acknowledged giving his lover, Golan Cipel, a job as head of state homeland security for which he was unqualified. Here is how he described it:
"A spectacular lapse of judgment."
The word "corruption" did not come up.
McGreevey was portrayed as resigning because of a "gay sex scandal." That is only a partial truth. He resigned because of a corruption scandal that involved sex, and involved his coming out of the closet. His political career might have overcome the lies of his personal life once he started telling the truth. He might have been a sympathetic figure, a tortured man who lived a lie because that is what society expected, and what he says his religion demanded. He could have been a great spokesman for the cause of gay rights.
Paul asked for this in the comments, so I'm going to give some comments on the first two weeks of the season. Obviously, it's way to early to tell how the season's going to play out, but then again, what's the fun of waiting?
Biggest positive surprises: Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans and San Diego. All are playing quite well despite major question marks coming into the season.
Biggest Negative Surprises: Miami, Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay. All were expected to be contenders this year, and Carolina was supposed to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
The best QBs so far are Rex Grossman, David Carr, Chad Pennington, Donovan McNabb and Peyton Manning. Carr's completing 75% of his passes, which is getting the job done; the problem for Houston is on the other side of the ball. Pennington is throwing for an average of almost nine yards per attempt, which is definite Pro Bowl material, but it looks positively weak compared to Grossman's ten yards per toss. Both McNabb & Peyton are having the kinds of years that we expect from them.
The Worst QBs? Kerry Collins easily; he's barely completed 40% of his passes so far. Chris Simms, who seemed to be poised to move up into the top ranks has had the second worst season so far, and Jake Plummer has to be looking over his shoulder with his performance. Charlie Frye has not had much success, nor has Jake Delhomme.
Guys who are not doing all that well despite the success of their teams? Steve McNair, whom I've always thought was a fine player is just okay in Baltimore. Tom Brady's been mediocre so far.
So Mario Burgos decided to videotape a non-televised debate and air it on his blog. He's right, this is absolutely what the internet is all about. Great job, Mario!
The Dodgers hit four consecutive home runs last night, the last of which tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. No team had hit four consecutive dingers since 1964. Of course, there's a pretty simple reason why this had not happened in 42 years; because after back to back homers, the next man up usually gets plunked. Of course that did not happen last night because it would have put the tying run at the plate.
The last time a team hit four consecutive homers was on May 2, 1964, when the Minnesota Twins accomplished the feat against Kansas City in the 11th inning.
As it happens, Bill James described that scene in (IIRC) the 1986 Baseball Abstract. To set the stage, Charlie Finley had purchased the Kansas City A's. Some of the baseball people on his payroll had told Finley that one of the secrets to the New York Yankee's success over the years had been the dimensions of its ballpark, with a short rightfield fence and the deep, cavernous leftfield. This gave the Yanks an incentive to acquire many left-handed pitchers and hitters, who would be favored by the ballpark.
Well, if it worked for the Yankees, Finley decided it would work for his team as well. So he decided to redesign his ballpark to exactly mimic Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the Major Leagues had decided years earlier that there were certain minimum dimensions that any ballparks had to meet. Yankee was grandfathered in, but Finley's request to redesign his stadium was denied. Finley complied, but whenever a player hit a ball to the warning track at his stadium, the announcer was required to state, "That ball would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium".
So the 1964 game against the Twins rolls around, and they hit four consecutive homers against the A's. Hilariously, the fifth player comes up and flies out to deep right field. And the announcer dutifully intones, "That ball would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium."
Needless to say, that was the end of that tradition!
Update: Paul pointed out in the comments that the box score for the game is here. It turns out that the three prior times this had happened all took place between 1961 and 1964. My first guess is "expansion". One took place against a third-year expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels. The other two featured some great sluggers; in 1961 the Milwaukee Braves who combined for four straight dingers were Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas (the old Frank Thomas, not the Big Hurt). Matthews and Aaron of course are inner circle Hall of Famers, and Adcock was one heck of a hitter. And the Twins who did it were Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall and Harmon Killebrew. Killebrew's another no questions asked Hall of Famer. Oliva was a terrific player during the 1960s, certainly on the short list for MVP virtually every year from 1964-1970. Hall and Allison were quality ballplayers. Out of those eight, Hall had the fewest career homers with 121; I'd suspect that something like 2% of all players have had more in their careers.
At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.
"It has been reported," said Fox, that "your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?"
Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"
"Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.
Yes, that's it, it's all about the honesty. Note that Milbank admits the question was out of place, but goes on to speculate why Allen got upset:
Fox's question, while a matter of some intrigue, seemed out of place in the debate, which focused on more urgent matters such as Iraq. But Allen turned on the questioner with ferocity. He may have been irked that the question was a follow-up to one noting that "macaca" was a racial slur that his mother may have learned in Tunisia. He may have been concerned that Jewish roots wouldn't play well in parts of Virginia.
He may have also felt that his mother's religion is not a proper subject for debate. This strikes me as very similar to John Kerry and John Edwards both bringing up during debates the fact that Dick Cheney has a lesbian daughter; a not-so-subtle appeal to prejudice.
Milbank turns the situation around so it seems like Fox was the victim:
"I was shocked," she said after the event. Disclosing that her great-grandfather was a Mormon polygamist, she added: "Why would he get so angry at the suggestion there might be something in your background that's Jewish? I don't think that's a bad thing at all."
He got angry because it's irrelevant, just as the fact that she had a great-grandfather who was a polygamist is irrelevant.
A few quick points of personal analysis. As a Jew, I found Fox’s question profoundly offensive. Trust me, the wounded minority card is not one that I play with much frequency. But the attempt to "tar" Allen as a Jew in a southern state was at the very least disturbing, and I actually consider it sickening. Furthermore, I think asking the question was a hanging offense professionally, and I hope whoever employs Peggy Fox has seen enough of her judgment to deeply ponder severing their relationship with her.
A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds George W. Bush's job approval rating is now at 44%, which is an improvement compared with the public's assessment of his performance in recent months. Bush's job approval ratings have been fluid in recent weeks, measuring as high as 42% in mid-August, but dropping back to 39% earlier this month. The current 44% approval rating is his highest rating so far this year. The last time Bush's approval rating was at this level (or higher) was in late September 2005, when 45% of Americans approved of Bush. In recent months, Bush's approval ratings have hovered around 40%, fluctuating between 36% and 42% from June through early September.
Is it any coincidence that gas prices are dropping rapidly?
The New York Times covers the Virginia Senate race between George Allen and James Webb. Allen is being touted by many as the best hope to derail John McCain's straight talk express in 2008, but he may not make it to the starting gate.
In recent days, the Allen campaign, acknowledging a newly competitive race, has gone on the attack. A Mason-Dixon poll conducted this month found Mr. Allen’s lead, once in the double-digits, had shrunk, with 46 percent for Mr. Allen, 42 percent for Mr. Webb, and a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
In fact, this race could also have strong implications for the Democratic ticket as well; if Webb can crack open the Old Dominion, Mark Warner will certainly benefit.
Dick Wadhams, the Allen campaign manager, said the race was competitive, “no doubt about it,” but said Mr. Webb’s political inexperience, fuzziness on the issues and lack of enthusiasm for campaigning — Mr. Webb does not appear to have a high comfort level on the campaign trail — would all work in the Allen campaign’s favor. “We still have a financial advantage,” Mr. Wadhams said. “And we still have an incumbent who’s won two tough elections.”
Team Triathlete. Although this couple would seem to have an advantage, the woman was born with one leg much smaller than the other and as such she wears an artificial leg. Interestingly, the man is a designer of artificial legs. What are the odds of that? ;)
Team Allah. They announce that they will stop in mid-race to pray to Mecca.
Team Mohawk. Couldn't figure out what to name this team; we didn't get much of an introduction to them. The guy has an odd hairstyle.
Team Beauty Queen. Miss New York and Miss California.
Team Coal Miner. The husband is a coal miner from Kentucky. The wife is just a tad on the cranky side.
Team Cho. A pair of Oriental brothers.
Team Disappointed in My Lesbian Daughter. We can tell Dad's going to have to learn some lessons on this show.
Team Karma. Indian husband and wife.
Team Cheerleaders. A pair of cuties; actually more attractive to me than the beauty queens.
Team Recovery. A pair of buddies who are recovering drug addicts and male models.
Team Gump. Two black single moms from Alabama.
Team Gay. A gay couple.
The first task is to fly from the start (Seattle) to Beijing, China. One of the black women comments that's good because the Chinese like people from Alabama, because they think they're Forrest Gump. Peas and carrots, ladies!
There are two planes, so there is a race to get to the airport. The cars they are driving are rental cars, so they have to be returned, but apparently the rental car return is off-airport, so there is some confusion among the teams. Team Cho breaks out some water pistols in the departure area, but a TSA guard confiscates them.
As it works out the difference between the two flights, which was supposed to be about 55 minutes turns out to be more like 38 minutes. When the teams arrive in Beijing, they have to find the Gold House restaurant. Roadblock! One of the players has to eat a bunch of fish eyes; the usual foreign delicacy routine. All seem to make it through without any real problems.
Next, the teams have to make it through the Meridian Gate at the Forbidden City. Phil notes that there will be a surprise waiting there. All the teams are to pull departure times for the next morning. Hilariously, the Kentucky couple exhort their driver to go faster by saying "Quack! Quack!" I think they mean, "Chop! Chop!"
As the times are pulled we discover there are only 11 possible times, and one labeled last team. The unlucky guys getting that are Team Allah. They are escorted to a mat where they are Phil-liminated. So much for the cultural lesson they were no doubt intended to teach us. About all we learned is that they do indeed say "Insh'allah" and "Allah Akhbar" a lot, and that at least one of them is from Cleveland.
I had noticed when Phil outlined the rules for the race there were supposed to be 8 pit stops where one team would be eliminated, which didn't quite add up--there are supposed to be three teams in the final, which indicated one other team would have to be lost in another way; looks like this was it.
The next day they are to take old WWII vintage motorcycles to a pedicab stand. The Detour task is Labor or Leisure. Surprisingly, most of the teams chose Labor, but it appears to pay off.
In Labor, the teams must brick a 45 square foot area in a demonstrated pattern. One key is that they must first lay a course of large flagstones around the outside. Almost everybody gets this wrong at first and have to restart. In Leisure (chosen by Team Cheerleader and Team Gay) teams must do a complicated dance routine while balancing a ball on a paddle. It will undoubtedly be coming to the Olympics in the next few years.
At about this time, it becomes obvious that Team Karma is falling far behind. They miss the pedicab stand and it takes them a long time to get to the Detour. They chose Labor.
It appears that most of the folks choosing Labor do it fairly quickly, and so when Team Gay and Team Cheerleader finish their dance routine succesfully, they are near last, except for Team Karma.
The next destination is the Pit Stop at the Great Wall of China. Teams have to climb up to the top of the wall using what I believe are called jumar ropes that have periodic nooses where you can plant your feet and grab hold. Everybody has trouble, but the gal in Team Triathlete is especially concerned.
But she eventually gets the hang of it and makes it up. Meanwhile, Team Recovery has arrived at the top and wins first prize, $20,000--what, no product placement? Other teams having obvious problems are Team Gump, and Team Coal Miner. But eventually they all make it to the top, and only Team Karma still remains. They finally make it up, and are Phil-liminated. BTW, did you notice the goofy shirt the husband was wearing? It read, "Colege". :)
These and other temperature swings corresponded with changing solar activity. "It's a boom-bust system, and I expect a crash soon," says Nigel Weiss, a solar physicist at the University of Cambridge. Scientists cannot say precisely how big the coming cooling will be, but it could at minimum be enough to offset the current theoretical impact of man-made global warming. Sam Solanki, of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, says declining solar activity could drop global temperatures by 0.2 degrees Celsius. "It might not sound like much," says New Scientist writer Stuart Clark, "but this temperature reversal would be as big as the most optimistic estimate of the results of restricting greenhouse-gas emissions until 2050 in line with the Kyoto protocol."
Update: Kitty pointed me to this remarkably relevant Time Magazine cover from 1979:
The proper tone for 9/11 commemorations is to be sad about all the dead -- "the lost" -- but in a very generalized soft-focus way. Not a lot of specifics about the lost, and certainly not too many quotes from those final phone calls from the passengers to their families, like Peter Hanson's last words before Flight 175 hit the World Trade Center: "Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it will be very fast." That might risk getting readers worked up, especially if they see the flight manifest:
"Peter Hanson, Massachusetts
"Susan Hanson, Massachusetts
"Christine Hanson, 2, Massachusetts"
Indeed:
Here's the family's memorial site. They have no doubt what happened to their loved ones; they were not "lost".
As the plane banked and crashed into that tower and exploded in a burst of flame, I screamed, I knew that all the joys we had together, all the love, care and good times we shared all the dreams and hopes we had were gone...ended by those murderous cowards. The thought of the three of you in each other's arms in that final moment will never leave me. I have been told that there could not have been any pain, but you knew what was happening. How could those murderers have looked at those innocent people on the plane, at beautiful Christine and so cruelly kill?
She was struck in the head and wrested the weapon away, but the struggle continued and Haffey bit the nurse, according to police. A large woman, she was eventually able to get the slight Haffey into a chokehold and police later found him dead in a hallway. An autopsy revealed the cause of death as strangulation.
A town selectman is going to Washington to teach the clowns at Cindy Sheehan's circus how to impeach the President.
Dan DeWalt, who made national headlines in March by introducing an impeachment resolution in a town meeting, will unveil hints to those wishing to do the same.
Lorie Byrd and several other conservative bloggers are trying to get 100 donations each for a total of 21 candidates for Congress and the Senate. If you can spare $20 or $40, go over there and donate it to one of the candidates. If I were to pick one candidate who could really use the money, it's Tom Kean, Jr.; he's facing an incumbent who's under fire for some clear ethical violations; we may see the Democrats try another Toricelli switcheroo if the bad news continues. Obviously everybody likes Diana Irey; my only concern is whether she has a realistic chance of winning. Anybody heard any polling data from that race?
Deputy al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged a militant Algerian Islamist group to punish "crusader nation" France, even though it vehemently opposed the US-led war in Iraq, a newspaper said on Thursday.
The Le Figaro daily cited a security expert who had reviewed the entire tape, released on Monday, in which Zawahiri called on the Algerian GSPC group to become "a bone in the throat of the American and French crusaders."
A ban of the traditional Muslim headscarf in secular state schools, close French intelligence links with its former North African colonies combating Islamist extremists, and its role in NATO operations in Afghanistan against the Taliban militia, have secured France's status as a "crusader nation," experts say.
And of course if they were to change all those things, they'd still be a "crusader nation" because they don't allow honor killings of young women.
Mario Burgos looks into a supposedly unbiased New Mexico political blogger and discovers he's on the payroll of a major donor to Patricia Madrid, who's running against Congresswoman Heather Wilson.
Mr. Monahan has long been employed by Stan Fulton. Stan Fulton is Patricia Madrid's largest individual donor - not surprising as Madrid has already proven to be a sound investment for him. It is a widely accepted fact that Mr. Fulton is known to expect performance for his significant investments. So, I guess it's no surprise that the "home of Campaign 06" is only to happy to oblige again and again.
Of course, we all know there won't be a next time for DYKWIA.
Kerry says the only reason he didn’t compete in more states in 2004 was that he ran out of money. He says this was also the reason he did not adequately respond to a series of devastating TV ads by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a group that questioned Kerry’s service in Vietnam and criticized his later opposition to the war.
“They had money behind the lies, and we did not have sufficient money behind the truth,” Kerry laments.
Asked if he dreads the prospect of being “Swift-Boated” all over again, Kerry counters that he would relish such a fight.
“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he declares. “I am so confident of my abilities to address that and to demolish it and to even turn it into a positive.”
This is hilarious. For one thing, remember that Kerry still had $15 million in the bank at the end of the campaign.
Party leaders, including some of Kerry's top campaign aides, said this week they were surprised and angry to learn that he had more than $15 million in accounts from the Democratic primaries. They demanded to know why the money wasn't spent to help Kerry defeat President Bush or to aid congressional candidates.
Of course, the real reason Kerry didn't fight back against the Swiftees is obvious to anybody who looked into their charges: They had him dead to rights.
Okay, I've pretty much ignored this whole Black Box Voting stuff, because a great deal of it seems nonsensical. But this story does indicate that there is some cause for concern.
In a paper posted on the university's Web site, Edward Felten and two graduate students described how they had tested a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine they obtained, found ways to quickly upload malicious programs and even developed a computer virus able to spread such programs between machines.
And:
Felten and graduate students Ariel Feldman and Alex Halderman found that malicious programs could be placed on the Diebold by accessing the memory card slot and power button, both behind a locked door on the side of the machine. One member of the group was able to pick the lock in 10 seconds, and software could be installed in less than a minute, according to the report.
The researchers say they designed software capable of modifying all records, audit logs and counters kept by the voting machine, ensuring that a careful forensic examination would find nothing wrong.
But:
Felten said hacking dangers could be mitigated with better software, more restrictions on access to machines and memory cards, and paper receipts verified by the voter.
Radke said Diebold already has implemented many of those things.
Let me just say that the value of the paper receipt thing has been overblown. If it's given to the voter, it will not be available for elections officials to review later. Personally, I think the optical scan ballots work better; there are no "dimpled chads" to deal with.
As many of you know, I've been covering the 9-11 Denial Movement over at Screw Loose Change for several months now.
One of the interesting things about 9-11 Denial has been the reluctance of the lefty blogosphere to touch it. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, aka Kos, actually issued a fatwa at his site against anybody posting 9-11 conspiracy theories:
Diaries on certain topics are likely to generate angry responses. Most of these topics fall under the general heading of "conspiracy theories", i.e. "JFK was killed by Martians". The rule for posting such diaries is "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". The more extreme the claim, the higher the burden of proof that commenters will demand. If you can't provide evidence to back up your claim, it is best not to post the diary. This guideline also applies to recommending extraordinary-claims diaries. If a diary makes an extreme claim with little or no evidence to back up that claim, it shouldn't be recommended, no matter what that claim is.
Controversial 9/11 Diaries
DailyKos accepts that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by agents of Al-Qaeda. It is forbidden to write diaries that:
1. refer to claims that American, British, Israeli, or any government assisted in the attacks
2. refer to claims that the airplanes that crashed into the WTC and Pentagon were not the cause of the damage to those buildings or their subsequent collapse
Authoring or recommending these diaries may result in banning from Daily Kos.
For the most part, the liberal blogosphere has gone along with that. I check Technorati every day or so to see who's talking about "Loose Change", and almost no major liberal blogs have done so.
But... there appear to be cracks in the wall. Dr Robert Bowman, a former fighter pilot, recently won the Democratic nomination for Congress from Florida's 15th District. And major liberal bloggers are getting aboard, acknowledging Bowman's 9-11 Denial:
But, enough about ABC’s Path to Shame. The other press conferences this morning were even more interesting than the Kean/Hamilton dog-and-pony show. I wonder how many reporters showed up to a press conference, sponsored by the McClendon Group. Info at the National Press Club site reads:
On the Fifth Anniversary of the Attacks and just three hours before the Kean-Hamilton luncheon address, the former top Air Force officer who won Florida’s 15th District Democratic primary with 54% of the vote on an explicit platform to expose the fraud of the Kean Commission Report, and top 9/11 researchers, authors and activists will present hard proof that the official narrative of the Kean-Hamilton Commission and Bush-Cheney Administration is a fraud of world historic proportions. Proposed legislation for a new and genuinely independent expert investigation, the first reality-based 9/11 feature film, and the International Grand Jury on the Crimes of 9/11 will be announced. Speakers will make brief presentations and take questions from the press:
In the barrage of Curtis-Feeney blogging, I neglected to mention another Democratic primary victory which in its own way was equally important and perhaps even more encouraging: Robert Bowman's victory in Florida's 15th district was a powerful shot in the arm for those of us who agree with what Bowman says about 9/11.
A tied Senate race in New Jersey and last-minute Republican surges in Pennsylvania and Ohio may confound Democratic hopes of retaking the upper chamber of Congress, new Zogby Interactive polling suggests.
The online polls of Senate and gubernatorial races in 26 states find Democrats, who began this election cycle hoping to capture the Republican-held House and Senate, losing ground in New Jersey. There, incumbent appointee Bob Menendez suddenly finds himself running dead-even with Republican Tom Kean Jr. Menendez had been leading since a June poll.
I suspect more than anything else, the polls may reflect the lower gas prices we've all been enjoying over the last month or so.
On September 8, Tennessee moved from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-Up.”
On September 6, New Jersey shifted “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-Up.”
On September 5, Rhode Island moved from “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-Up.”
On the first day of September, Rasmussen Reports changed moves the Minnesota Senate race from “Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.” Democrat Amy Klobuchar leads Mark Kennedy 47% to 40% in that race. In our previous poll, she held a 12-point advantage.
On August 25, we shifted Pennsylvania from “Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.” Santorum remains the nation’s most vulnerable incumbent, but he has closed to within single digits.
On August 24, Washington moved from “Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.”
On August 18, in the wake of controversial remarks by Senator George Allen, Virginia changed from “Republican” to “Leans Republican.”
Two states where the Republicans moved down; six where the Democrats declined.
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I will be on The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge of AM 770, CHQR Monday night, September 11, at 10:00 PM Eastern Time to discuss the 9-11 Conspiracy Theories. For those of you not fortunate enough to live in Calgary, you can listen in live here. We will be taking callers. The call-in numbers are 1-800-563-7770, or 403-974-8255. Rob is hoping to fit in a whole hour on the topic of 9-11 Denial, but obviously it depends on the level of listener interest and breaking news that day.
(This post will be promoted to the top several times this weekend and on Monday, so scroll down for new content.)
I got the idea for this from this website. They are looking for 2,996 bloggers to each commemorate one of the victims of 9-11.
Joann Tabeek was a vice president and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald and was working in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She was 41 years old, and had worked there for 20 years already. She had a daughter from her first marriage, Krystal, who was 11 years old. She was engaged to be married on Christmas Day, 2001, to Vincent Milotta. She lived on Staten Island and planned to retire in three more years to Palm Beach, Florida.
Ms. Tabeek, 41, a vice president and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald, on the 103rd floor, was on the phone with Mr. Milotta when the first plane hit Tower 1. "Oh, God, a plane went through the building," she said. "That's it. I'm not going to work in New York City anymore."
She was in WTC 1, and above the impact zone. Nobody from that location made it out alive.
In many ways, the hijackers on Flight 93 were unlucky compared to their counterparts on the other planes. First, there were only four hijackers on that plane, as compared to the others which all had five men. Second, the plane was delayed at the gate, meaning that the passengers found out what had happened to the other planes well before their own plane reached its intended destination.
And third, they were extremely unfortunate in terms of the people they faced on the plane. Several of the passengers were athletes. Probably the most athletic was Jeremy Glick, who had won a national collegiate judo championship in 1993:
Nagayasu Ogasawara's jaw dropped when he saw Jeremy Glick at the 1993 national collegiate judo championships in San Francisco. Ogasawara was coaching Army's team; Glick, a college senior, was at the tournament alone, competing independently.
"He had no team. He had no coach," said Ogasawara, who had taught Glick judo from the age of 7 until he left for college. "So I said, 'OK, I'll coach you.' "
Glick went on to win the title.
His daughter, shown in the photo, is now five years old.
Watched the first half tonight and found it thoroughly compelling. It was pretty obvious why various Democrats, including Richard Clarke, Madelaine Albright and Bill Clinton opposed the film; if this was the toned-down version I can't imagine what the original was like.
Harvey Keitel was superb as John O'Neill. I was pleased that they got so many details right. I highly recommend watching the second half of the movie tomorrow night, and the first half in case you TIVO'ed it.
We've been covering the more overt forms over at Screw Loose Change, but there is a subtler version:
Five years on, half America has retreated to the laziest old tropes, filtering the new struggle through the most drearily cobwebbed prisms: All dramatic national events are JFK-type conspiracies, all wars are Vietnam quagmires. Meanwhile, Ramzi Yousef's successors make their ambitions as plain as he did: They want to acquire nuclear technology in order to kill even more of us. And, given that free societies tend naturally toward a Katrina mentality of doing nothing until it happens, one morning we will wake up to another day like the "day that changed everything." Sept. 11 was less "a failure of imagination" than an ability to see that America's enemies were hiding in plain sight.
They still are.
Update: This cartoon seems particularly appropriate:
Burnett also said she disagrees with the attitudes of people who are against the war.
"I think that anyone who doesn't believe that war on terrorism is necessary, they don't remember. They don't remember how fearful our nation was that day," she said. "It's heart-wrenching."
It's starting to look more and more like they may have gotten the guy who's been terrorizing south Phoenix for over a year.
A suspect arrested in the sexual assault of two sisters last year looks remarkably like the composite sketch of a serial killer who has been prowling the city for more than a year.
Mark Goudeau, a construction worker, is believed to be linked to one double attack in the series of sexual assaults, robberies and murders blamed on the "Baseline Killer." Goudeau, an ex-con, lives just about a block and a half from the last murder, smack in the area where many of the killer's 23 crimes were clustered.
Police say DNA evidence links Goudeau to the Sept. 20 sexual assaults of two sisters in south Phoenix but not to any of the other Baseline Killer cases. Goudeau was arrested Wednesday and accused of aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual abuse.
The Baseline Killer began his rampage on Aug. 6, 2005, and a year later, eight people are dead, 11 women have been sexually assaulted and 22 people have been robbed. In many cases, victims had conversations with the man before the attacks. Usually, the killer struck after dark and wore disguises.
One thing that seems a little odd about the suspect is that he's a little old for a serial killer at 43. However, this seems to be a good explanation:
Records from the Arizona Department of Corrections show Goudeau was paroled from prison in March 2004 after serving 13 years for aggravated assault, armed robbery and kidnapping. The crimes, like those of the Baseline Killer, took place near Goudeau's residence.
He's apparently been a bad 'un for quite awhile:
According to court records, Goudeau was named in a rape case in 1982 but never charged. In 1989, he was arrested after beating a woman so severely with a shotgun that he fractured her skull. Goudeau claimed they had consensual sex, but the woman said he raped her and tried to force cocaine up her nose. The location: 28th Street and Osborn Road, just blocks north of where he was arrested Wednesday.
Goudeau was allowed to plead no contest to three counts of aggravated assault.
Almost exactly a year later, and before he was sentenced for the assaults, Goudeau robbed a supermarket at gunpoint in the same shopping center where the Baseline Killer is thought to have robbed three stores on one occasion and to have abducted a woman that he sexually assaulted on another. In his presentence report, Goudeau reportedly told an officer that he robbed the store to support his crack cocaine habit. Again, he pleaded no contest.
Kudos to the Phoenix police for getting their man!
Brigham Young University placed physics professor Steven Jones on paid leave Thursday while it reviews his involvement in the so-called "9/11 truth movement" that accuses unnamed government agencies of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
BYU will conduct an official review of Jones' actions before determining a course of action, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. Such a review is rare for a professor with "continuing status" at BYU, where Jones has taught since 1985.
Efforts to reach Jones Thursday night were not successful. Jones told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday that his paper had gone through an unusual third round of peer review in what is now an apparently unsuccessful effort to quell concerns on campus.
Among other activities, Jones initially was responsible for the scholars' discussion forum and he and Judy Wood instituted a "peer-reviewed" Journal of 9/11 Studies. Jones appointed the advisory editorial board, later Kevin Ryan as co-editor and chose the "peers" to review manuscripts. Peer-review normally boosts the prestige of academic articles because professors within the same discipline review manuscripts but in this case there is little or no such review, even when offered. That fact convinced Wood to resign.
I am having a lot of fun listening to Andrea Shea-King and Mark Vance on Constitutional Public Radio every afternoon from 3:00-5:00 Eastern time over the internet. Their show is the familiar conservative talk, but they do it very well, and more important, they interact with their internet audience in a chatroom, which makes it feel much more like a community experience. It's a lot of fun chatting with other bloggers and news junkies, and regularly they'll cite an interesting comment or question from the chatroom.
Andrea and Mark also have started a blog called Radio Patriots. Highly recommended as well!
And I would be remiss if I didn't give kudos to Third Wave Dave, who cued me into Andrea and Mark!
It's going to be Pittsburgh again, provided Ben Roethlisberger wears his helmet. If you look at the history of the Super Bowl, very few young quarterbacks win it. Most of the quarterbacks who win it are older, usually close to 30. When a young guy wins it, odds are very high that he will win it again.
A furious Bill Clinton is warning ABC that its mini-series "The Path to 9/11" grossly misrepresents his pursuit of Osama bin Laden - and he is demanding the network "pull the drama" if changes aren't made.
Clinton pointedly refuted several fictionalized scenes that he claims insinuate he was too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal to care about bin Laden and that a top adviser pulled the plug on CIA operatives who were just moments away from bagging the terror master, according to a letter to ABC boss Bob Iger obtained by The Post.
Our buddy Gaius Arbo notes that when Michael Moore's mockumentary Fahrenheit 911 was all the rage, there were no calls for El Fatso to "pull it"; rather the conservatives simply went about debunking it and asked for corrections.
Police investigating eight deadly attacks blamed on the "Baseline Killer" arrested a man in a sexual assault connected to the case, authorities said Thursday.
Police have forensic evidence to connect the 42-year-old man, whose identity was not released, to one case from last year, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a spokesman with the Phoenix Police Department. Hill said the man was being held for investigation of sexual assault and kidnapping.
Here's a little detail:
Barbara Holzapfel said the man, a cement worker who left early in the morning for jobs around the county, was a "wonderful guy." She remembered him talking to her about the Baseline Killer investigation after 37-year-old Carmen Miranda was killed June 29 at a car wash a block away.
"He would say, 'There are idiots all over the world,"' Holzapfel said.
New Video Exposes 9-11 Denial Jerks at Ground Zero
This was done by Abby Scott and Ray Rivera. It's very, very funny, but also contains oodles of profanity, most of which is appropriate given the circumstances.
Bush said the CIA program has involved such high-value terrorists as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.
The list also includes Riduan Isamuddin, known additionally as Hambali, who was suspected of being Jemaah Islamiyah's main link to al-Qaida and the mastermind of a string of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia until his 2003 arrest in Thailand.
Bush was also announcing his proposal for how trials of such key suspected terrorists — those transferred to Guantanamo and already there — should be conducted, which must be approved by Congress. Bush's original plan for the type of military trials used in the aftermath of World War II was struck down in June by the Supreme Court, which said the tribunals would violate U.S. and international law.
A 14-foot pet python crushed its owner to death, authorities said Tuesday after finding the snake loose in a southern Indiana shed with the man's body.
Patrick Von Allmen, 23, was found Monday evening in the shed near Lanesville, about 15 miles west of Louisville, Ky.
But there is good news as well:
Indiana law does not restrict ownership of snakes, and the python was returned to the family.
The outraged squawks from the left over Rumsfeld's and Bush's comments are quite amusing.
With George W. Bush talking so much about Nazis and fascism, Donald Rumsfeld warning ominously against lily-livered appeasement and Dick Cheney quoting Franklin Roosevelt on the "dirty business" of war, one might worry that this direction-challenged administration has wandered into some sort of time warp. Somebody's going to have to break it to them that Churchill and Stalin are gone and the Dodgers don't play in Brooklyn anymore.
You know the real reason they're upset about this analogy? It's because they've already cast the role of Adolph (DOH--make that Adolf as pointed out in the comments by Tyk) Hitler in their own minds, and it's President Bush.
Across the eastern United States, a gruesome ritual is in full swing. The praying mantis and its relative, the Chinese mantis, are in their courtship season. A male mantis approaches a female, flapping his wings and swaying his abdomen. Leaping on her back, he begins to mate. And quite often, she tears off his head.
The female mantis devours the head of the still-mating male and then moves on to the rest of his body. “If you put a pair together and come back later, you’ll just find the wings of the male and no other evidence he was ever there,” said William Brown, an evolutionary biologist at the State University of New York in Fredonia.
Of course, this has been well-known forever, but there is some interesting work going on:
Male mantises responded very differently to hungry females and to full ones. They were more eager to approach full ones than hungry ones. When they did approach hungry females, they jumped onto their mates from farther away, possibly to lessen the chance of the female grabbing him.
Dr. Brown and Mr. Lelito also found that male mantises also took longer to jump off hungry females. Females sometimes grab males as they dismount, and so the males may have waited out of caution.
I've been on the receiving end these last few days of some harsh criticism for saying San Francisco Chronicle photographer Darryl Bush's exquisite photograph of a solider leaving his girlfriend for Iraq was quasi-pornographic.
My critics are correct. I erred by suggesting it's quasi-pornographic. Drop the quasi. Bush's extraordinary snap is a spectacular example of the type of photograph Henri Cartier-Bresson characterized as a "decisive moment." But as used by the Chronicle, an image that in other contexts could be art or simply news reportage, becomes pornographic.
While it's refreshing to hear a liberal come out against pornography, here's the picture he finds so disgusting:
It is understood he was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest and reportedly into his heart .
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary when the tragedy occured.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) was called about 11am (AEST) and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the crew's boat on Batt Reef, off the coast near Cairns, with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.
Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Always liked the guy, always felt he overdid the "beautiful animal" bit.
Update: As suggested by Middle-Aged Male, here's a "Crikey!" for Steve!
A blog and movie called Screw Loose Change both specialize in snarky commentary about Loose Change's flimsy evidence. On a recent Saturday at ground zero, bickering between the 9/11 Truthers and their critics, who have also taken to showing up weekly, grew so heated that they were broken up by a police officer.
Time's coverage comes in a wrapup after the story, but includes a link, which is greatly appreciated.
Screw Loose Change A blog devoted to explaining and refuting the conspiracist documentary Loose Change.
Consider, for example, the bizarre behavior of Reuters, the once globally respected news agency now reduced to putting out laughably inept terrorist propaganda. A few days ago, it made a big hoo-ha about the Israelis intentionally firing a missile at its press vehicle and wounding its cameraman Fadel Shana. Shana was posed in an artful sprawl in a blood-spattered shirt. But it had ridden up and underneath his undershirt was spotlessly white, like a summer-stock Julius Caesar revealing the boxers under his toga. What's stunning is not that almost all Western media organizations reporting from the Middle East are reliant on local staff overwhelmingly sympathetic to one side in the conflict -- that's been known for some time -- but the amateurish level of fakery that head office is willing to go along with.
The men are all followers of Algerian-born Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a radical Melbourne cleric who also had acolytes in Sydney, eight of whom were arrested at the same time.
The 11 are charged with being members of a terrorist organization, and some are charged with funding a terrorist organization. They face prison sentences of up to 25 years.
Seven of the 11 refused to stand when directed to by the magistrate who read out their charges and asked for their pleas.
None of the defendants entered pleas Friday, but their attorneys had said earlier that their clients deny the charges laid against them.
Police alleged that the eight arrested in Sydney were part of a terrorist cell and had stockpiled enough chemicals to make 15 large bombs and could have been just days away from striking targets in Australia's largest city.
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My favorite person in the blogosphere will be on Constitutional Public Radio with Andrea Shea-King and Mark Vance on Friday at 4:00 PM Eastern time. If you're not fortunate enough to live on Florida's Space Coast, you can listen live here.
Update: John Ruberry, the Marathon Pundit, reminds us that Thomas Klocek will also be appearing on that show. Better plan on tuning into it at 3:00 PM Friday if you want to catch it all!
After all that nonsense, it looks like Rove and Libby didn't leak her name. But, considering that the money she was offered for her book was largely based on them doing so, it strikes me that she may still have a case. After all, now she's not going to make nearly as much dough. So maybe she can sue them for not leaking her name?
