The Wacko Moonie Washington Times is reporting on a study ranking Mississippi as the most corrupt state in the union. Oh, joy.

The best part, though, is probably this Baton Rouge headline.

Some rural California firefighters are walking off the job to protest the fact that one of their colleagues has an adult web site.

In their never-ending quest to establish more-or-less unfettered, unregulated industry, the Office of Management & Budget is attempting to get control of governmental peer review. This is blatent power grab, and yet another attempt by this Administration to have ideology trump science.

Predictably, it’s getting very little coverage.

The second Gulf War had many victims, but perhaps the least of those was the career of Jerry Haleva, Saddam Impersonator (as we noted back in March).

Weep for Jerry no more; he’s back, and insurgent-quagmire be damned.

Wired News is reporting on the Administration’s newest power grab, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, which grants the FBI access to financial records without judicial oversight. The law also, of course, prohibits intitutions from disclosing that the Feds are sniffing around, natch.

The bill passed the House in November with no uproar at all — it’s of course part of a larger bill with politically untouchable provisions. The Senate approved it on a “voice vote,” which means there’s no record of how our representatives voted.

From the Wired News piece:

But Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota), who opposed the legislation, told the House, “It is clear the Republican leadership and the administration would rather expand on the USA Patriot Act through deception and secrecy than debate such provisions in an open forum.”

This Must Stop.

The Guardian is running an op-ed by Osama bin Laden calling for jihad.

While initially disturbing, there’s a significant argument to be made that this is a case of “give ’em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.”

Steve Spurrier resigns. His 122-27-1 record at Florida became 12-20 over two years leading the Washington Redskins. He lost his last two home games with a combined 58-7 score.

Buh-bye.

Fish considered harmful.

TV chef/geek Alton Brown weighs in on the origins of BSE. Hint: it’s our own damn fault.

They’re selling an extreme young-earth book at the Grand Canyon explaining how it’s only a few thousand years old, and have prevented park Rangers from publishing a rebuttal of said book.

Fortunately, a rebuttal by an actual geologist is available online. That some religious kooks believe the world is 4,000 years old is one thing; they’re certainly free to do that. However, the Park Service has no business peddling this anti-science pablum from its gift shops, even along side real analysis. It lends respect to a point of view that deserves none.

Three Yemenis are suing NASA for trespassing on Mars, which they contend they inherited 3,000 years ago.

Right.

The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government may not arrest US Citizens and hold them as “enemy combatants” without charge and without access to an attorney. The government will of course appeal; it’ll end up in front of SCOTUS before it’s all over, but this ruling is encouraging.

(Update) It’s like a one-two punch for the Constitution! The 9th Circuit ruled today that the Gitmo prisoners could have access to lawyers and the courts as well.

Speaking for the court, Justice Stephen Reinhardt said:

Even in times of national emergency –indeed, particularly in such times — it is the obligation of the Judicial Branch to ensure the preservation of our constitutional values and to prevent the Executive Branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the majority.

The commission appointed to study how 9/11 happened has come to the conclusion — after much stonewalling by the Bush administration — that the events of that day could and should have been prevented. We’ll know more in January.

Those tired of me ranting about the foibles of my home state will be pleased to see that I’m not above calling out silly shit in my adoptive one.

Joanne Webb, a former fifth-grade teacher and executive board member of the Burleson Chamber of Commerce, now faces criminal charges after selling a vibrator to an undercover cop at a Tupperware-style party focused on sexual products.

Apparently, if she’d marked them “novelties,” it would have been okay, but since these were expressedly for sexual purposes, they’re EVIL and ILLEGAL.

What the Fuck?

US forces took custody of the former Iraqi president only after he’d been captured and drugged by Kurdish militia.

Why do they keep lying to us?

The right-wing-nuts at the American Family Association have a poll running on gay marriage that they insist they’ll present to Congress. Go vote.