[Quote:]

BLITZER: Congressman Barr, do you want to respond to that?

BARR: Here again, this is absolutely a bizarre conversation where you have a member of Congress saying that it’s okay for the president of the United States to ignore U.S. law, to ignore the Constitution, simply because we are in an undeclared war.

The fact of the matter is the law prohibits — specifically prohibits — what apparently was done in this case, and for a member of Congress to say, oh, that doesn’t matter, I’m proud that the president violated the law is absolutely astounding, Wolf.

ROHRABACHER: Not only proud, we can be grateful to this president. You know, I’ll have to tell you, if it was up to Mr. Schumer, Senator Schumer, they probably would have blown up the Brooklyn Bridge. The bottom line is this: in wartime we expect our leaders, yes, to exercise more authority.

Now, I have led the fight to making sure there were sunset provisions in the Patriot Act, for example. So after the war, we go back to recognizing the limits of government. But we want to put the full authority that we have and our technology to use immediately to try to thwart terrorists who are going to — how about have a nuclear weapon in our cities?

It may be interesting to read a little history on Rohrabacher.

[Quote:]

Never underestimate the willingness of a slimy politician to prescribe one thing for society, and then do another thing in his own personal life.

NOW:

“Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott and his wife sued State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. to force the insurer to pay for damage to their house in Pascagoula on the Gulf of Mexico, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.”
– Wall Street Journal, 12/16/05

THEN:

“The Democrats seem to think that the answer is a lawsuit. Sue everybody.”
– Sen. Trent Lott, 7/20/01

“I’m among many Mississippi citizens who believe tort reform is needed.”
– Sen. Trent Lott, 5/8/02

“You know, obviously we should [enact tort reform]…Someday it will happen, and the sooner the better.”
– Sen. Trent Lott, 1/24/01

” Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi today credited the agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and tort reform initiatives passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Bush with the overall upturn in the national economy.”
– Sen. Trent Lott press release, 12/2/05

“If their answer to everything is more lawsuits, then yes, that’s a problem, because I certainly don’t support that.”
– Sen. Trent Lott, 8/2/02

“It’s sue, sue, sue… That’s not the answer.”
– Sen. Trent Lott, 8/4/01

[Quote:]

21) “I am not going to give you a number for it because it’s not my business to do intelligent work.” –Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked to estimate the number of Iraqi insurgents while testifying before Congress, Feb. 16, 2005 (Source)

That was number 21, so you can guess how “great” the others are…

[Quote:]

A jury convicted former national Republican Party official James Tobin yesterday on two counts of telephone harassment for his role in a plot to jam Democratic phone banks on Election Day 2002 in New Hampshire. But the federal jury acquitted Tobin on the most serious count, conspiracy to violate voters’rights.

Tobin, 45, of Bangor, Maine, was the New England political director for the Republican National Committee and the Northeast field representative for the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2002 election. He later served as New England chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign but resigned shortly before the 2004 election, after allegations about his involvement in the phone scheme became public.

Tobin, who will be sentenced in March, faces up to seven years in prison and a $500,000 for the two counts on which he was convicted -conspiring to commit telephone harassment through repeated phone calls, and aiding and abetting telephone harassment committed by others. A guilty verdict on the voters’ rights count could have added 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[Quote:]

De finale in de juridische strijd van de Scientology kerk tegen XS4ALL en Karin Spaink is vandaag door de Hoge Raad wederom beslist in het voordeel van XS4ALL en Spaink. Na 10 jaar komt hiermee een eind aan een slepende procedure waarin Scientology met overtredingen en strafschoppen de strijd probeerde te winnen. De Hoge Raad stelt XS4ALL en Spaink in het gelijk. De uitspraak in het hoger beroep, waarbij XS4ALL en Spaink wonnen van Scientology, blijft gehandhaafd. Scientology verliest dus opnieuw. Hiermee prevaleert de vrijheid van meningsuiting boven het vermeende auteursrecht van de Scientology kerk.

Maxillofacial surgeon Jesus Gomez of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, explains the surgical procedure performed on Marlie Casseus during a news conference Friday, Dec. 16, 2005, in Miami. The photo on the right, shows Marlie after the operation. The 14-year-old Haitian girl underwent the rare operation Wednesday to remove much of a 16-pound tumor-like growth on her face that all but obliterated her features. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

[Quote:]

The holiday season has traditionally been a time for the music industry to relax and watch the money roll in as big-name releases all but sell themselves. The stocking-stuffer effect is generally strong enough that the season generates 40% of the industry’s annual revenue.

This year, though, there’s little Christmas cheer to go around. During the crucial Thanksgiving week, for instance, the top 10 albums sold 40% fewer copies than the top 10 albums the same week in 2004. Album sales so far this year are down 7.8%, according to Nielsen SoundScan, compared with the same point a year ago. Sales of individual digital tracks on services like Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store have increased — but not nearly enough to offset the slide in CD sales. According to an estimate from SoundScan, overall sales of recorded music are down about 4.5%, if one considers 10 individual tracks the equivalent of an album.

In other words, we got terribly excited by the idea of selecting only a few tracks to put on our iPod. When the excitement died down, we noticed that the music was still shit.