In New York State, having weddings performed by someone wearing a Winnie the Pooh outfit and reading AC/DC lyrics is fine. But allowing same sex couples to marry would be a threat to the "sanctity of marriage".

Syracuse New York Post-Standard: To the editor: Pooh can perform weddings, but gays and lesbians would destroy sanctity of marriage?

Former BushCo official admits terror alert system was used for partisan political manipulation.

Surprise, surprise.

Tom Ridge admits Bush administration pushed to raise security alert for political reasons on eve of re-election.

Tom Ridge on National Security After 9/11

Commentary from Driftglass

Driver in Florida pulled over by police for expired tag. Police officer mistakes driver's mints for crack cocaine. By the time driver is able to prove they're just mints, he's spent 3 months in jail, lost his home, car, and job.

Mints Believed To Be Crack Land Man In Jail

Telling the Truth About the War on Drugs, by Walter Cronkite, March 1, 2006As anchorman of the CBS Evening News, I signed off my nightly broadcasts for nearly two decades with a simple statement: "And that's the way it is ( Read more... )

Richard Fuld, the disgraced head of Lehman Brothers, was punched in the face in the office gym amid the bank's collapse.

Journalist Vicki Ward lets a bit of personal opinion slip into her reporting:

He went to the gym after ... Lehman was announced as going under," she told CNBC. "He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the ( Read more... )

Galveston area after Ike:

Authorities vow to force holdouts off Texas coastSeems to be the accepted operating procedure now. When things get tough, government does a forced removal of citizens, including (especially?) those who were well prepared to deal with tough times ( Read more... )

The words "levee break" and news footage of cities under water certainly has a dread familiarity for those of us greater New Orleans. Our hearts go out to our countrymen in the Mid-West.


( Read more... )

My great uncle recalled going downtown and being part of a crowd watching the numbers on a huge chalk-board during the crash of 1929. Thanks to generations of progress, we can be seated comfortably at computers.

And remember BushCo still has almost a year to screw yet more things up.

via Sidney Morning Herald:US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies ( Read more... )