Right Here

Start packing! Satirical newspaper The Onion is running an article about how deficit-wracked Maryland will be closing permanently on August 31, 2003. So enjoy the sights while the state still exists!

No Catholics need apply: Another right-wing nominee is on his way to appointment to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Bill Pryor's nomination which now goes before the Senate.  The unique character of the Committee debate was the Republican charge that the Democrats were oppose to Pryor because they were anti-Catholic. (Associated Press)

From the war is peace department: Another of Shrub's nominees is Daniel Pipes.  Pipes was nominated for the board of the US Institute of Peace.  He is on record as anti-Muslim, opposed to immigration -- and opposed to diplomacy. (Washington Post)

FCC 1, Congress 1 The attempt of the FCC to loosen controls over media conglomeration and monopoly failed this week as the House voted overwhelmingly to rescind the new FCC rules. (Baltimore Sun)

God works in strange and mysterious ways: The Attorney General of Massachusetts released the results of its investigation of the Catholic clergy and church workers indicating that since the end of the second world war, one child a month had been sexually molested -- a total of 1,000 young people in that state.  (Los Angeles Times)

The best defense is a good offense: With the declining popularity of the President, Vice-President Cheney, as well as other members of the administration, have gone on the offensive reiterating charges of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in Iraq as well as the Iraqi collaboration with international terrorists.  (Washington Post)

The best defense doesn't always work The latest chapter in the who knew what, when, and why didn't they say so has a new star in Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor to President Shrub.  Rice, according to a front page story in the Washington Post, either was uninformed about the Niger/nuclear weapons fraud or lied about it repeatedly.  Now why would she do a thing like that?

Who, me? The report this week of the seven-month long Congressional inquiry into the operation of the various intelligence services in the period leading up to 9/11 has strongly suggested a failure of the CIA, FBI, military intelligence, and the White House.  Parts of the report remain classified, though some Democratic legislators (and Saudi government officials!) are arguing for release of the classified material. (Washington Post)

Ignorance is democratic? Speaking of the issues of government secrecy and lies, ultraconservative news commentator, Tony Blankley, declared on the Diane Rehm show on public radio: "It's not always in the public interest to allow something to be public."  His co-pundit, Jim Fallows, agreed. (July 25)

Justice may have one eye open Lynne Stewart, a prominent attorney for radicals and dissidents, had been charged and personally pursued by John Ashcroft under the PATRIOT ACT for aiding her terrorist client.  Ruling on the appropriate sections of the ACT, a federal judge called the law too vague.

...and sometimes she actually blinks Nicholas James Yarris, who was convicted of a 1983 rape and murder, could be the first Pennsylvania inmateto be cleared by DNA evidence. His attorney say new DNA evidence proves his innocence.

We're here, we're in school... About 100 students are enrolled in the Harvey Milk High School, the nations first public school dedicated to GLBTQ (that would be "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual, and Questioning") students. The school, named after San Francisco's first gay supervisor, is scheduled to open this Fall.

Drive, damn you, drive a car! The House's Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies has just introduced legislation to cut $600 million in funding for bike paths, walkways, and other non-automotive niceties, in favor of funding the construction of more roads.

Who are we supposed to harrass? Apparently, the Secret Service isn't even sure whose side they're on. A conservative cartoonist for the LA times was visited by a Secret Service agent last week after publishing a cartoon in support of President Bush. The cartoon, a take-off of a famous Vietnam War-era photograph, depicts the Shrub being shot in the head by anthropomorphized "Politics". Apparently, the imagery was a bit too high-falutin' for the SS. The agent departed after speaking with a lawyer for the newspaper.

This Week in History

July 25, 1867, Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital, Volume 1. If you haven't read it yet, now's a good time to start; the nation-wide railroad workers strike reaches its high-point with the general strike of workers in St. Louis, Missouri (1877); The United States invades Puerto Rica beginning more than 100 years of colonial occupation (1898); John Scopes (in the so-called "Monkey Trial")  was convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution (1925); President Harry Truman signed legislation creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1947).