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Craig Flip Flops on Resigning 2007-09-05 00:39:02 From the AP:Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening. "It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho's capital, told The Associated Press. "We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight — and stay in the Senate," Smith said. Craig, a Republican who has represented Idaho in Congress for 27 years, announced Saturday that he intends to resign from the Senate on Sept. 30. But since then, he's hired a prominent lawyer to investigate the possibility of reversing his plea, his spokesman said. Craig was a no-show Tuesday as Congress reconvened after a summer break and it wasn't clear whether he'll return at ...

Obama Vs Hillary - The Musical 2007-09-04 23:52:27 Funny though, I would have thought that Clinton's singing voice would have been shriller somehow.H/T The Daily Dish ...

Chinese military hacked into Pentagon 2007-09-04 00:53:26 From the Financial Times:The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army.One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday.additionallySami Saydjari, chief executive of Cyber Defense Agency and a former Pentagon cyber expert, warns of the potential for terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, to a ...

Spiders Create Texas Sized Web 2007-09-01 22:17:20 From the AP:Spiders create giant webEntomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park. Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it. "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 45 miles east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." Spider experts say the web may have been constructed by social cobweb spiders, which work together, or could be the result of a mass dispersal in which the arachnids spin webs to spread out from one another. moreOr maybe it was created by one Texas sized spider....North American Banana Spider discovered and photographed by T ... Texas

Iowa Judge Rules Gay Marriage Legal 2007-08-31 22:07:53 From The Nation via Yahoo: The Nation -- Iowa will in all likelihood remain the state that opens the process of nominating the Democratic and Republican candidates for president in 2008. As such, it is a "must visit" and "must impress" state for contenders in both parties. Iowa is now something else, however. With the decision of a county judge to strike down Iowa's law banning same-sex marriages, the state becomes a front-line battleground in America's ongoing political wrestling match over gay and lesbian rights. When Polk County Judge Robert Hanson concluded that the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and ordered the county recorder in Des Moines to issue marriage licenses to six gay couples, he did not merely give an unexpected courtroom victory to plaintiffs likes Iowa City's Jen BarbouRoske, who declared Thursday, "This is kind of the American Dream." Hanson also reshaped the presidential races of both parties. Democratic and Republicans candidates w ...

Great White Hope To Finally Announce Candidacy 2007-08-31 01:07:06 From The Politico:Fred Thompson's campaign-in-waiting will hold a 4 p.m. conference call today with supporters to brief them on plans for the former Tennessee senator's presidential announcement next week, according to an e-mail obtained by Politico.com.Randy Enwright, Thompson's political director, said in the message that they will "discuss the next steps as we move forward as an organization." A Thompson aide confirms that they'll share the news about the long-awaited formal launch. "By the end of the day, we'll have more clarity," the aide said, declining to reveal which day the announcement would take place.(snip)UPDATE II: Fred Thompson will formally announce his candidacy for president next Thursday night, September 6th via a webcast, political director, Randy Enwright just told supporters on a conference call. The Tennessean will then head out on a "grass-roots tour" of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.Apparently Thompson had been delaying so that the creators, cast, ...

Credit Crunch 2.0? 2007-08-31 00:51:53 From The Financial TimesDefaults on credit card bills in US risingUS consumers are defaulting on credit card payments at a significantly higher rate than last year, raising the prospect of problems in the stricken US subprime mortgage market spreading to other types of consumer debt.Credit card companies were forced to write off 4.58 per cent of payments as uncollectable in the first half of 2007, almost 30 per cent higher year-on-year. Late payments also rose, and the quarterly payment rate - a measure of cardholders' willingness and ability to repay their debt - fell for the first time in more than four years.Analysts at Moody's, the rating agency, said the trend could be related to the slowdown in the US property market and fewer borrowers rolling mortgage debt into new, cheaper home loans."The combination of higher interest rates and a softer real estate market diminished the attractiveness of mortgage refinancings in which many borrowers reduced their more expensive credit card ...

Texas Governor Commutes Death Sentence 2007-08-31 00:32:56 Well this was unexpected...From the AP:Texas governor spares getaway driverGov. Rick Perry, longtime head of the nation's busiest death penalty state, spared an inmate Thursday hours before he was to have been executed for being a killer's getaway driver. Perry issued the commutation order on a parole board's rare recommendation about seven hours before Kenneth Foster was to have been put to death — the narrowest gap by which he has halted an execution in his more than eight years in office. Thursday's vote marked only the second time since Texas resumed carrying out executions in 1982 that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles endorsed stopping an execution with so little time remaining. And in that 2004 case, Perry rejected the board's recommendation and the prisoner, who had been diagnosed as mentally ill, was executed. This time, Perry agreed with the board's recommendation that Foster be saved from lethal injection. Foster, 30, learned of Thursday's board vote during a m ... Texas

Of Note 2007-08-30 10:52:07 The NY Daily News asked Michael J Totten to wrote a short piece on whether or not he thought the surge was working. His response...While American politicians bicker among themselves from eight time zones away about whether the surge led by Gen. David Petraeus is working or not, I returned to Iraq to see for myself. This trip - from which I returned this month - was my fourth reporting stint in the country since the conflict began. And this time, what I saw was overwhelming, undeniable and, like it or not, complicated: In some places, the surge is working remarkably well. In others, it is not. And the only way we will know for sure whether the tide can be turned is to continue the policy and wait. I know that's not what many Americans and politicians want to hear, but it's the truth.Take some time today to read the column in its entirety. ...

Muqtada al-Sadr's Gift Horse 2007-08-29 16:27:04 Looks like W, Petraus, and the troops may be getting a much needed break.From the AP:Al-Sadr suspends militia activity in IraqShiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops, aides said Wednesday.The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, said on Iraqi state television that the goal was to "rehabilitate" the organization, which has reportedly broken into factions, some of which the U.S. maintains are trained and supplied by Iran."We declare the freezing of the Mahdi Army without exception in order to rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image within a maximum period of six months starting from the day this statement is issued," al-Araji said, reading from a statement by al-Sadr.In Najaf, al-Sadr's spokesman said the order also means the Mahdi Army will no longer launch attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces."It also inc ...

Of Note 2007-08-29 01:03:00 Over at Central Sanity Pete Abel differs with the conclusion I reached in my post The Left Vs DemocratsOver at one of my favorite blogs Maverick Views Alan Stewart Carl has returned from a work induced blogging hiatus.Finally Michael W Totten has another installment from his trip to Iraq that is well worth reading. ...

40 Years Ago Today 2007-08-28 21:52:23 Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the greatest and most important speeches in U.S. history. ...

The Left Vs Democrats 2007-08-28 10:25:19 From the Politico:Liberal blogger targets 'Bush Dog' DemsA leading liberal blogger has declared political war against centrist Democrats – the latest move in an intensifying show of dissatisfaction with the Democratic Congress by the once-friendly blogosphere.Matt Stoller, who blogs at the well-trafficked OpenLeft.com, has compiled a list of 38“Some of these members may need to face a primary challenge, and it's useful for potential primary challengers to know that there is criticism of these members,” wrote Stoller, who refers to the 38 Democrats as “Bush Dogs.” more House “Blue Dog” Democrats who have voted with Republicans on key legislation, and called on the activist community to put pressure on them – and perhaps challenge them in primaries – if they fail to shape up.I'd find this both amusing and disturbing. Amusing because the netroots had failed to oust a single Senator so what makes any of them think that they can boot 38 (or even a single) congressmen?W ...

Poll: GOP Losing Youth Vote 2007-08-27 11:21:15 From SFGate:Poll: Young voters disenchanted with Republican party... A Democracy Corps poll from the Washington firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner suggests voters ages 18 to 29 have undergone a striking political evolution in recent years. Young Americans have become so profoundly alienated from Republican ideals on issues including the war in Iraq, global warming, same-sex marriage and illegal immigration that their defections suggest a political setback that could haunt Republicans "for many generations to come," the poll said. The startling collapse of GOP support among young voters is reflected in the poll's findings that show two-thirds of young voters surveyed believe Democrats do a better job than Republicans of representing their views - even on issues Republicans once owned, such as terrorism and taxes. And among GOP presidential candidates, only former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani registers with more positive views than negative with young voters, the poll shows. The anti-GO ...

Gonzo Gets Going 2007-08-27 10:38:11 From the NY Times:Embattled Attorney General ResignsWACO, Tex., Aug. 27 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. He is expected to announce the decision to reporters at 10:30 Eastern time this morning in Washington. Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation for months, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, a senior administration official said. Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said early this morning, speaking on condition of anonymity because the resignation had not yet been made public. Mr. Bush repeatedly stood by Mr. Gonzales, an old friend and colleague from Texas, even as Mr. Gonzales faced increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the Justice Department, over issues including his role in the dismissals of nine United States attorneys late last year and whether he testified tru ...