Damian makes it clear: If the attacks in the Washington area were carried out by a white supremacist for political reasons, they were still terrorism. Right on.

CNN.com - CIA: Iraq could have nuclear weapon in a year - Oct. 5, 2002

Ah, after dealing with the FBI, it's great to see the CIA get involved. At least we know they're lying. Does anyone really believe Iraq could develop nukes on its own that quickly? They mean if they got the material from elsewhere, but there are all sorts of countries that could do that. It's really not that difficult from everything I hear.

CNN.com - Bush considers action in port dispute - Oct. 5, 2002

"Action", fine. "Intervene", great. Somehow I get the feeling, however, that this Administration would see "action" as meaning "break the union". It just seems like what he would do. This might be a Taft-Hartley situation eventually, but I don't think it's reached that level of hardship yet.

CNN.com - No hate crime charges in attack on gay man - Oct. 4, 2002

Why not? Hey, I'm not comfortable with the whole concept of "hate crime" anyway; maybe it should be a factor in sentencing but we shouldn't be charging people according to their thoughts. But if you have the statute you should use it, and it sure looks like a hate crime. And if it wasn't, that's for the jury.

From the Ichthypundit

Line Drawn in Water Against a Predatory Fish

Well, you see, the problem is that when you draw a line in water, it doesn't stay there for very long... Sea lampreys have taken over Lake Champlain. They have no natural enemies there, and they're parasites on the native fish. New York and Vermont have tried chemical killoffs before but abandoned them before they were complete. They're testing it again.

First California condor born in the wild in years is found dead

Damn. They don't know what caused it yet; an autopsy will be done at the San Diego Zoo. It's "not a setback", but establishing a wild population is obviously important, and if this keeps happening that won't happen.

ESPN.com - GOLF - Citigroup chair favors women members at Augusta

Sanford Weill is a member of Augusta National. It's not really big news that he does, since Citigroup was one of the sponsors the Masters dumped in order to continue pretending it's the fifties.

Activists say environmental issues missing from campaigns

They can't actually be surprised that there's been nothing about the environment in the Alabama gubernatorial campaign. The state GOP is in the pocket of the business council of Alabama, so you know Bob Riley won't say anything. And Don Siegelman's whole campaign is based on his ability to get automakers to build plants in the state, so he isn't going to come out in favor of strengthening regulation.

I'd like to see someone try it sometime. I don't really believe that Alabamians don't care about the environment. I don't think that people in Birmingham like having trouble breathing. I know I didn't. I don't think people who've had experience with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management like having a state environmental authority made up of people gunning for jobs in private industry. I'm pretty sure if more people knew about that they wouldn't like it either. I think a campaign with some element of environmentalism could make noise. If nothing else it could make the Republicans at least pretend to care.

But nobody ever tries. It's depressing.

Italy Arrests Egyptians for U.S. War Cemetery Plot

It obviously doesn't compare with mass murder, but what sort of cretin plans to blow up a cemetery? That's just foul.

Note From The Ichthypundit

The three men say they were going to use the explosives to go fishing.

Name McKinney victor, crossover voting suit asks

I don't think this will fly. They're playing the race card, trying to say that non-black voters voting in the primary violated black people's civil rights. Uh-huh. At any rate, Georgia doesn't require people to register as members of any party, and all primaries are open. And McKinney lost by a lot; the odds are she would have lost without any "organized attempt" to cross over.

Alabama once had a situation where the Democratic gubernatorial runoff was overturned because of crossover voting. But that was a runoff, where people who had voted in the GOP primary switched. It was a little different situation.

Americans will forgive me: Lindh : HindustanTimes.com

No we won't!

Salon.com News | Feds bust Oregon terror cell

Well, that's what they say. As I've said before, I don't necessarily believe anything the FBI says about this stuff anymore. Neither does the Muslim community, which thinks it's a witch hunt.

If the FBI is telling the truth, this group wanted to go to Afghanistan and fight for the Taliban against the US. This was after Sept. 11. I guess they're not charged with treason because they didn't ever get there.

From the Ichthypundit

Tuning up your bow skills . . . on fish

Yes, in Louisiana, one hunting lodge will train you to fish with a bow and arrow. There's a string attached to the arrow, of course.

Disturbing Search Requests With Apparent Typos

Yahoo! Search Results for arab's gay six

Honoring Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird author receives Alabama Humanities Award

That's terrific. One wonders how she didn't get the first Alabama Humanities Award, though. Or at least one before this, the thirteenth. There were twelve Alabamians more deserving than Harper Lee? I find that unlikely. For instance, last year they gave it to the mythically annoying -- and largely unknown outside the region -- Kathryn Tucker Windham.

Army e-mail author reassigned

This is the guy who wanted to run a PR campaign smearing officials in Calhoun County. The idea was to get them to stop harassing the Army to make sure chemical weapons disposal was done safely. Because the Army shouldn't be answerable to civilian officials!

Different fixes seen for constitution

The Alabama constitution needs to be replaced. A huge amount of routine lawmaking has been forced into the constitution by the way it was designed, so most of it is concerned with minor matters. Typically, Bob Riley wants to amend it.

Ananova - India test-fires missile after Pakistan launch

Let's face it, you don't have to be Freud to figure this one out.

Extremely Disturbing German Search Requests

Google-Suche: asphyxiation snuff naked girl

I'm actually rather disturbed that I've used all those words.

Serious Fun With Google News

Laurence Simon uses GN to demonstrate the latest example of Reuters' and the BBC's anti-Israel bias.

Fun With Referrer Logs

AOL Search: Search Results for "what is the mandatory penalty in alabama for a first time"

A first time what?

Chinese consumers boost illegal ivory trade

You know, China is getting to be a real problem on the endangered species front. The ivory trade was dying in the West, but here comes China to prop it up again!

Ananova - Nepalese king sacks his government

Well, so much for democracy in Nepal. He also postponed elections for a year. Let's also point out that King Gyanendra, when he was only Prince Gyanendra, was rumored to be involved in the murder of the prior King and Queen and their children by the then Crown Prince. Supposedly it was just the Prince who went crazy, but hmmm...

ESPN.com: MLB - Expos discuss playing some 'home' games in Puerto Rico

Well, that could be interesting. I mocked a report, last week I think, of the Expos moving to Puerto Rico. But if they play some of their games there, maybe Major League Baseball is considering it. I still don't think it would work... The Padres have played some games in Mexico in recent years, so MLB is definitely interested in tapping into Latin America.

Washington briefs Israeli team about plans for Iraq war

That's interesting. They're indicating it's a "reward" for backing off on Arafat, but I'm sure that we would have filled Israel in before moving in. We'd almost have to, since pretty much everyone expects Saddam to try something on Israel when (not if, I'm afraid) we attack.

NEWS.com.au | More Windows flaws declared

And the beat goes on!

washingtonpost.com: Internet Problems Tied to WorldCom's UUNet Unit

They just had to bring up the WorldCom thing, didn't they? Though they do report a statement that it was "unrelated to WorldCom's bankruptcy".

Fencing Club slates tournament

At a private Birmingham high school. I guess they don't have those anti-weapons rules there.

CNN.com - Farming, logging, development affect climate, too - Oct. 3, 2002

No, really?

Did it really take NASA to figure this out? Why don't they just take a trip to Iraq sometime -- preferably before we bomb the living bejeezus out of it -- and see how the eastern half of the "Fertile Crescent" has become a desert?

Fun With Google News

Goldman Otorgó Acciones Salidas Bolsa A Ejecutivos 21 Cías

Well, of course.

This is one of the top stories at GN. Still working out the bugs, I guess.

Fun With Referrer Logs

Yahoo! Search Results for Jason Whitlock asshole

I'm very proud to be the first hit.

nbc13.com - News - Police Raid Adult Store, Seize Tapes, Toys, Magazines

Calhoun County, Alabama: chemical weapons yes, porn no!

Fun With Misleading Names of Small Towns in Northern Alabama

Arab teachers given grants for materials

Hey, explosive belts aren't cheap!

Foot Fetishist Search Requests

Google Search: jennifer lopez's toes picture gallery

Yahoo! News - Gwyneth Paltrow's Father Bruce Dies in Rome

That sucks. Not just that he's dead, that the executive producer of "St. Elsewhere" and "The White Shadow" gets mentioned primarily as the father of some actress.

Jason Giambi, Flop - What's wrong with the Yankees' $17 million slugger? By Hugo Lindgren

"Hugo Lindgren is a New York City sports fan."

And congenital moron. If Slate let Lindgren write more, he would beat out even Tom Verducci as the worst baseball writer in the world. How, exactly, is the guy who was the best hitter on the team a problem? How is the guy who hit .314/.435/.598 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) a flop? If the Yankees don't win it will be because their starting pitchers are in various stages of collapse and because Mariano Rivera is hurt.

Ted Barlow has emerged from hiding long enough to point out a little GOP hypocrisy. What are the odds?

Fox Press Release

Yep, they've announced "Celebrity Boxing III". And society dies a little bit more inside...

USATODAY.com - A homeless guy finds a refuge on the Internet

thehomelessguy.blogspot.com, to be precise.

Suspect in Atlanta patrol car pulls gun, orders officer out and makes his getaway

Okay, there's police incompetence, and then there's not finding the suspect's gun and winding up being carjacked.

From the Ichthypundit

washingtonpost.com: At Last, U.S. Hopes, Snakehead Is History

The government has issued a new regulation banning live snakeheads. (Note: The story refers to the fish as the "dreaded predator") I suppose you could still raise them, if there's no law in your state, but importing them is prohibited, as is transfer across state lines.

Representatives of the National Fish Association blasted the regulation, saying it was unfair to all the law-abiding snakehead owners out there to punish them for the actions of a few. Well, no, not really. But there is a rush to import as many snakeheads as possible before the ban is in place. Next, I expect snakeasies to pop up, and for bootfinners to make fortunes bringing in snakeheads from Canada and Mexico.

Australia investigates atrocity claims against its peacekeepers in East Timor

Apparently they forced residents to ingest a concentrated form of salty brewers' yeast. Barbarians.

New Scientist: World's funniest joke revealed

"Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! .. Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!"

France and Germany Agree on Iraq

Frankly, if France and Germany agree on something, my immediate reaction is that the other side must be right.

Few ads likely as Bachus faces Libertarian

For some reason, incumbent Republican congressman Spencer Bachus isn't afraid of Libertarian Holden McAllister, his only opponent in the upcoming election. Well, a poll taken of residents of my household shows that 100 percent plan to vote for McAllister.

Two shot teens found in school parking lot

It turns out that the two students found shot in a car outside West End High School yesterday were in fact shot after stealing a six-pack of beer from a convenience store. Apparently the manager chased them, one of them shot at him from the car, and he returned fire.

news.telegraph.co.uk - Cannabis cafe man faces jail sentence

The operator of Britain's first cannabis cafe is facing imprisonment after being convicted of involvement in the importation and supply of drugs.

I don't suppose he could have said it wasn't his pot, huh? Mostly, I'm disappointed because I was hoping "Cannabis Cafe" was the name of his hometown.

Planet Ark : Toxins put Arctic polar bears and humans at risk

I'm sure that they do. But shouldn't people get top billing?

United Press International: Alleged shoebomber changes plea

To guilty. Huh. That's an odd choice. He's probably going to get life if he does this, and I'd think he'd at least try to get a deal. His lawyers say he doesn't want to negatively impact his family. I'd think becoming a world-renowned bozo terrorist would be enough for that.

Why is it that bozo here might get life, while Johnny Taliban -- who only took up arms against the United States and probably helped murder a CIA agent -- gets twenty years?

And another thing. When Jim Jeffords was getting ready to leave the GOP, the Senate Republicans kept talking about the "will of the voters" and how he shouldn't be allowed to do that -- even though legislators have been doing that through the history of the Republic, and there are at least three Republican members of the Senate who were originally elected as Democrats.

And when one of the evil Carolinians -- Thurmond, I think -- was sick, I distinctly remember GOP legislators in whichever Carolina wanting to change the rules so the Democratic governor couldn't appoint a Democrat to the post. Where was the Republican reverence for The Rules then?

Finally, I also distinctly remember the Bush election team planning to contest the election and try to convince electors to switch if they won the popular vote and lost the electoral. It wound up the other way, of course, and they immediately turned around and said it would be against The Rules to try to get an elector to switch.

United Press International: GOP battles Dems on Torricelli ballot

Okay, I'm not an attorney, a Yankee, or a Republican. But it seems to me that the GOP can't campaign on a demand that Torricelli resign and then when he drops out say that he can't be replaced on the ballot. Well, they can, but it's hypocritical.

As for the claim that Jersey deserves a "competitive" race, or doesn't, I don't know if I agree with that, but they certainly deserve a chance to vote for a Senator who could actually win a race against a live body, and there's no way Douglas Forrester could. Saying that Torricelli can't be replaced is tantamount to saying that New Jersey has to be represented by a Senator who fundamentally disagrees with the majority of the state's residents. What the GOP is doing is admitting it can't win in a competitive election and that New Jerseyites don't want to elect a Republican, but they have to anyway because that's the rules. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense to me. Of course, I tend to think that the reality of democracy is more important than its machinery, which probably makes me some kind of Communist.

Comedian leaves sitcom behind

The guy who played Screech on "Saved By The Bell" is now a stand-up comedian. We have got to get some licensing requirements in that industry.

USS Clueless - Fantasy and Science Fiction

Den Beste is making fun of the poster for Disney's "Treasure Planet", which is just what it sounds like -- a version of Treasure Island set in space, with Long John Silver an alien or an android or pure energy or something like that. Ever since I saw that this was coming out I've been tickled by the idea of an SF character talking like Silver:

"Arr, Jim-lad, our starboard shields are are 42 percent."
"Squire Trelawney, them scurvy Klingons have armed photon torpedoes."

But I'm juvenile that way.

Disturbing Search Requests

Yahoo! Search Results for Ted Turner our missile in arkansas didn't explode

I have no idea what this means.

Two high school students wounded in shooting

Something weird happened at West End High School in Birmingham. Two students have been found in a car in the parking lot, both shot in the arm.

UPS sues to stop unwanted 'pop-up' ads on Web site

Pop-up ads are evil. But pop-ups for FedEx showing up at UPS' website is actually kind of funny.

I'm sick of explaining why "Scientific Creationism" isn't science, and why the Genesis account(s) of creation cannot be reconciled with what actually happened. So I'll let A Skeptical Blog handle it.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | US rejects Ukraine radar inquiry

Typically, the Bushites have rejected Ukraine's offer to investigate its "alleged" sale of a radar tracking system to Iraq. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is in enough trouble: the puppet people are after his head!

CNN.com - High-rise escape chute demonstrated - Oct. 1, 2002

I suppose this could be useful. Maybe. But somehow, what it really does is remind me of the telemarketer the other day who told me that I needed a cell phone because "of emergencies" and insinuated that I'd die in a terrorist assault if I didn't have one.

ScienceDaily Magazine -- Not All Mammals Vomit -- Or How To Study Emesis In Mice

They don't? Well, maybe they just haven't been given enough reason to.

Kincaid's use of curse word fuels more council tensions

Ooh, he said "damn"!

Be serious. That's barely a curse word nowadays. And if I had to deal with the Birmingham City Council every day, I'd curse too. And I'd say more than "damn", that's for sure.

Moore's lawyers want new judge in monument lawsuit

Alabama Supreme Court Chief "Justice" Roy "Thou Shalt Not Make Any Graven Images" Moore had a Ten Commandments monument put up in the state's Supreme Court building. Various nefarious liberals have sued to get it removed. Now Moore's attorneys say that the Federal judge in the case is biased against them or their client. My guess is that he is; Federal judges tend to have read the United States Constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court, while Moore doesn't seem to have read either.

Two dead, including American, in blast in Philippines

Nice to see that the War On is going so well. Also that Filipino terrorists don't care if they kill dozens of their countrymen as long as they get an American or two.

France says will lift ban on British beef

However, the longtime ban on British cooking will remain in place.

hanging-fire.net - one woman's ego gone awry

I see you, Karin!

From the Ichthypundit

MP changes name to Haddock

Austin Mitchell, an British Labour MP from is (probably temporarily) changing his name to Austin Haddock to encourage people to eat more fish. And because he's starved for attention, I'll bet. I'd like to encourage our legislators to follow his example. For instance, Idaho's Mike Crapo, who really needs to change his name anyway, could be Mike Potato. Or Potatoe, since he's a Republican.

Ananova - Val Kilmer and Lisa Kudrow set for film about porn star

Let's face it, the way Kilmer's career is going he's about two years from doing porn anyway.

Mann, Barenaked Ladies To Rock 'West Wing'

Aimee Mann I like. But why are Barenaked Ladies -- a Canadian band -- performing for American voter registration?

Fun with Google News

They have a little "In the News" function. I guess it counts keywords or something. Anyway, it tends to be somewhat eclectic, as seen in the ten terms it currently lists:

Bison Dele (Presumed Dead Basketball Player)
Wal Mart (Profits down)
Typhoon Higos (Not Hurricane Lili?)
Dow Jones (The race to the bottom!)
Mother Teresa (Up for Sainthood)
New Zealand (No idea why)
President Bush (War)
Miles Dabord (Who?)
World Cup (Which one?)
National League East (Baseball playoffs, Valentine fired, Go Braves!)

Saddam Hussein Has Destroyed 90 Percent of Iraq’s Wetlands Heritage

The State Department is apparently trying to get Greens and Multi-Cultis (the Iraqi swampdwellers have an unusual culture) on the side of the war. I'm not sure if this is cynical or if it's some kind of joke.

The Fat Guy has the story of the dolphins off San Diego, who are resistant to a strain of anthrax... meaning that at some point they've been exposed to it. Nobody knows how. And it should be on Ichthypundit (yes, they're mammals, but the Ichthypundit covers all aquatic animals) but I missed it.

Ananova - Ozone hole has shrunk - scientists

The scientists are attributing it to warmer than normal air in the Antarctic. (Make your own global warming reference here.) It's the smallest it's been since 1988. It's good news; there's been some good news on the global environmental front lately.

I'm not a doomsayer. My personal description is that I'm a short-term pessimist and a long-term optimist, that when humanity is at the edge of the cliff, human creativity will find a way to escape. A lot of environmentalists are doomsayers, who think that the earth's ecology is very fragile. It isn't; on the contrary, it can take a lot of abuse. As long as we're careful, it will survive. (Heck, in the long term -- meaning tens of millions of years -- it could probably recover from just about anything we could do with the possible exception of global thermonuclear war.)

I'm certainly not advocating taking a laissez-faire approach to the environment. We aren't going to destroy the Earth or anything like that. But we could make it inhospitable for large animals (including the most common large mammal, a biped of global distribution) for a very long time. Or just generally more unpleasant. I think we should protect endangered species and try to limit mankind's footprint on the Earth whenever possible.

Unusual German Search Requests

Google-Suche: "german heritage" mlb

Huh. Actually, I'm re-reading Robert Creamer's Stengel right now. Casey was German-Irish, if that helps.

He's Very Clean

Just picked up the A Hard Day's Night DVD. Love the movie, love the music. I'm very happy.

I was going to try and take down some of the overheated anti-Democrat rhetoric from the Blogospheric Right ("They're traitors! They hate America! Al Gore should be shot!") but frankly I don't really enjoy doing that sort of thing. Thankfully, Greg Greene does, and he's done a good job of it. He also points to an old Suck article (Is there any other kind now? Sigh.) on Dick Cheney's military thought. Yikes.

Shelby: Foreign centers shouldn't work on state food stamp program

The company handling Alabama's food stamp program routes toll-free help calls overseas to India. Where it's cheaper. If Benedick Shelby doesn't like it, he can increase the funding. Hey, it sucks that people in the US might lose their jobs (and go on food stamps) but you can't say that you're in favor of privatization and then turn around and keep the companies you hire from trying to be more efficient. Also, the company the state hired is in Arizona. Why is Shelby upset about people in Arizona losing their jobs?

Israeli diplomat compares Saddam threat to al-Qaida

Shmuel ben-Shmuel is the Israeli consul in the Southeast, based in Atlanta. (Not Florida? Oh, there's one in Miami too. Florida isn't really the South, anyway.) Speaking in Birmingham yesterday, he engaged in a somewhat weak comparison. I believe Saddam is a threat; I believe he needs to be removed. I don't think he is the same kind of threat as al-Qaeda. Saddam in a sense is far more powerful, in that he has a whole nation -- potentially a very wealthy one -- behind him. But he's constrained to pretty much the reach his military gives him. If he got nuclear weapons, that would be a different matter, but he'd still probably be only a regional threat, and Iraq is on the other side of the world. That's not to say he can't do us damage, only that it would be a completely different type of damage than what al-Qaeda did.

Ethics a key issue in race for governor

Isn't it always? One of these days, I'm going to deconstruct one of Siegelman's campaign ads that strikes me as particularly dishonest, one he's been running a lot lately. Not that Riley is any better. Each has done a spectacular job of making voters hate his opponent. The Libertarians are looking better and better. Maybe they'll even draw two percent this time!

Meryl looks at the UN's Israel obsession . During its existence, about 15 percent of the Security Council's resolutions have dealt with Israel. Yeah, I think they're obsessed.

Newborn tale false: 'Hero' may be baby's dad

A deliveryman who "found" a baby in an Atlanta parking lot is now said to be the baby's father. He's up on charges, as is the mother, for various crimes, including child abandonment. Which is kind of odd, since he brought the child to the hospital...

No hard feelings over siege, U.S. officials say

Nice to know that the administration doesn't have any hard feelings. Now the question is how Israel feels about being stabbed in the back.

I'm used to the glitched-up referrals. I know sometimes I get a record of someone coming from a page that doesn't actually have a link, and I have some idea why. (Please don't explain further.)

However, I think today is the first time I've gotten one from a mail-order-bride clearinghouse.

Presidential Search Requests

Yahoo! Search Results for nucular bomb pictures

When marriage can wait, but intimacy can’t

Apparently, cohabitation (or as my grandparents called it, "living in sin") is booming in Alabama. Once again, we're about twenty years behind the curve. (And that's being generous.) Me, I don't really care what two consenting adults do between themselves. Or three, or four, or however many. This is a pretty conservative state, however.

TLC inducted into Georgia Music Hall of Fame

Just trolling for more Schmisa Schmopes Schmautopsy hits.

News From the Pre-Columbian Era

Idaho father saves son from bear attack with bow and arrow

Distracted the bear when it was on top of his son (not a kid; the father is 50, the son 29) and when it charged him shot it through the neck.

I've added a Google Search appliance to the site. It's at the bottom of the screen.

AP Wire | 09/30/2002 | No execution sought in N.J. shootings

Why not? John W. Mabie is accused of the murder of his granddaughter and three others. It seems to me this is the sort of crime that the death penalty is supposed to be for. Is it because he's old? Because he's a former police officer? Because he's white?

I'm not wild about the death penalty. But if you're going to have one, you should apply it fairly.

The New Yorker's Critic At Large reviews Stephen Jay Gould's life and work, including his last books.

Scientific American: There's No Stopping Them

A little bit about "inventors" who want to patent their perpetual motion machines. I'd thought that the Patent Office had stopped issuing patents for PMM, but I guess not.

allAfrica.com -- Kenya: Villagers Lynch Suspected Witch, Torch Ten Houses

Actually, the "witch" was stabbed, then set on fire. He was 70 years old. What gets into people?

Fallen Christian puts faith in the law - smh.com.au

Well, this is odd. A woman in Australia is suing her church for not providing anyone to catch her when she fell backwards after being overcome with the usual Pentecostal ecstasy. She hit the floor and suffered brain damage. I have to say that if God, rather than psychological quirks, really causes people to faint in church, I'd think He'd be sure to keep them safe.

Yahoo! News - TNT Goes to Hoop with Charles Barkley Talk Show

On the other hand, this could be really good. Or really awful. Entertaining either way.

Yahoo! News - Hammer, Emmanuel Lewis, Neil Bring 'Surreal' Appeal

It's a celebrity "Real World" or "Big Brother" type reality show. Sigh. They're calling this "The Surreal Life". I like "Has-Beens House" myself.

SEC Football wrapup by me at Condredge's Acolytes. Includes the new Vanderbilt fight song.

Deer pose rising threat to drivers

Uh-huh. Now, what happens when a car hits a deer? The car has severe damage. The owner usually has a minor injury. (Okay, three people died last year in collisions. Bet they weren't wearing seat belts, though.) And the deer winds up dead. So, technically, drivers pose a rising threat to deer, I'd say. Especially since the deer are outnumbered by motor vehicles nearly three to one.

You think that's weird? I had a dream last night -- well, technically this morning -- about bicycling around my high school. Leaving aside that I graduated 13 years ago and the building has been torn down, I can't even ride a bicycle.

albawaba.com: Saudi authorities say blast in Riyadh not terrorist attack

Why is there no terrorism in Saudiland? Because the Saudis say so, that's why.

"There are no terror attacks against foreigners in our country. They (foreigners) are well looked after," Saudi intelligence chief Prince Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz told the local Al-Jazirah newspaper.

"It's not terrorism when the state does it," Nawaf added, then forced the reporter to remove from the story. Then, just to be on the safe side, the reporter's hands and tongue were removed as well

CNN.com - Pakistani man denies having sex with Taliban American - Sep. 30, 2002

I mean, just look at him! Please!

Their relationship, he told CNN, was "the kind of relationship any good Muslim should have with another."

Oh. One of those.

Israeli Media Criticize Siege Pullback

As well they should. All it accomplished was to pump up Arafat's stature among the Palestinians and Euros, plus some random mayhem. It really wasn't worth the trouble, and Israel shouldn't have to have its internal policy dictated by Bush's need to bomb the heck out of Saddam.

CNN.com - Record labels seek OK for P2P sabotage - Sep. 27, 2002

"Hey, can we sabotage the Internet? Gee, thanks! Here's some more campaign contributions!

CNN.com - Israel leaves Arafat compound - Sep. 29, 2002

Yes, it's over. But it accomplished so much. Like... Well, if I think of anything I'll fill you in. I'm obviously sympathetic to the Israelis, but going in, destroying things, then leaving doesn't seem very productive to me. I still think they should have taken Arafat down.

Serbians Vote in Presidential Election Marked by Apathy

Boy, I guess American-style democracy really has come to the Balkans then.

ESPNMAG.com - Justin time

Is it right to be worried about someone whose idol is OJ Simpson?

Siegelman, Riley differ in pursuit of fair taxes

At least they agree that the tax burden falls too heavily on the poor. Which is true. (Riley, the Republican, says it's "immoral". Siegelman, the Democrat, says it's "unfair". Make your own conclusions.) Of course, Siegelman wants to institute a lottery, which amounts to a tax on poor people, and Riley wants to cut taxes and pay for it by "eliminating waste", meaning he has no plan.

Tensions at South Fulton library boiled over into tragedy

A library employee went disgruntled and shot his boss and himself. The warning signs were all there, but nobody thought he'd do that. Of course, most of the time people don't.

Disturbing Search Requests

Google Search: mobile numbers of whores in lebanon