News – Bush Doth Protest Too Much

North America

Correspondence from Abramoff, recently made public, has the lobbyist noting he’s met Bush a dozen times. Wouldn’t surprise me if half the people who say they never met him are just saying that to distance themselves from him. Just to detail the web of lies, Bush says he’s never had a picture taken with the man and the White House officially notes just three times when Abramoff three Hanukkah receptions. Meanwhile, Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine says she’s seen five pictures of Abramoff and Bush that weren’t at said receptions. Just goes to show, if you try to hide to edge away from someone, it just makes you all the more conspicuous. Had Bush said: “Yeah, I kinda remember that guy, but then I meet so many people, it’s hard to keep names straight” or something to that effect, it would have been much more believable, rather than asserting he knows absolutely nothing about one of the most prominent Republican lobbyists.

The National Journal cites attorneys familiar with the case against Lewis Libby, saying that court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by “his superiors,” in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson’s charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq’s nuclear weapons to justify the Iraq invasion. Something like that could implicate Cheney.

Democrats knock Bush for stripping cash out of weatherization funds, used to help poor people weatherize their homes. Note, the White House’s own energy task force suggested more money go into this. It’s not a bad idea. A little cash set into weatherproofing a home can save the occupants a tidy sum in heating/cooling it. It’s part of that much vaunted conservation thing that Bush didn’t mention during his State of the Union.

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is a picture of the division that exists within some Conservative circles when it comes to Bush and his policies. Just goes to show, trying to divide American ideology into two set camps is doomed to failure. The sooner we ditch the party system, the sooner we can encourage a wide variety of candidates to stand for what they, not their party, believe in and encourage free thought within this society, rather than having people who vote conservative, merely because they consider themselves conservative. The sooner these two parties tear themselves apart, the better.

Middle East

For those who consider Hamas to be all bad, consider.. the last big strike against them personally was the hit on Hamas’s founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. No big reprisal came after that and Hamas, as far as I’ve heard, has abided by the ceasefire that had been drawn up, while Israel has continued to spar with smaller Palestinian resistance movements. I think that shows a potential, if given a chance, for them to leave behind militancy entirely. In the now, much of what happens rests on Olmert’s shoulders, though international actions will play a part as well. What forms might not be an amicable peace, but it’s a start and better than the constant battle that goes on now.

A poll notes that 60% of Israelis support further withdrawal from the West Bank. At the very least, Olmert seems smarter than Sharon, in that he’s looking to draw back some and set defined borders. The land squabble is the hardest part of peace there. Once we can get that settled, more can come a bit easier.

Yuval Diskin, head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, says that Israelis might come to regret the ousting of Saddam, as a dictatorship would be better than the current chaos in the country. Perhaps, though one wonders if they’ll be all that pleased with the outcome should order eventually reign with an Islamic government in power, rather than a more secular one.

Interestingly, compiled date on insurgent attacks in Iraq note that US/coalition forces are still the #1 target. Not civilians or even Iraqi forces are at the top. It also shows that the number of attacks has held steady since August 2004 at around 2,000-3,000 each month. Years in and little at the core has changed, for what progress has been made.

Results from Iraq’s Dec 15 election(took that long for official results?) confirm a near majority for the Shiite alliance.

A Muslim American opines on the Danish cartoons that sparked fury, explaining why they offend him. No, it’s not for the reasons you’re likely thinking.

General

Bird flu is blamed for another death in Indonesia and spreads to Nigeria, found in birds tested there.

Explainer notes where Muslim protestors might get their Danish flags. It isn’t too hard to make mockups, especially of the Danish flag.

Today’s Papers has Porter Goss weighing in on leaks, an FDA panel voting 8-to-7 for strong “black box” warning labels for Ritalin and other A.D.D.-related drugs, Bush saying that al-Qaida recruited a handful of handful of Southeast Asian jihadi-types who trained to use a “shoe bomb” to get into a plane’s cockpit(where the intelligence community remains divided on if the plot was ever more than talk) and more in the one page news.

Augments

Not news: Burglar breaks into home. News: Burglar cooks food and takes shower. Fark.com: Burglar leaves his Yahoo Mail account open when he leaves

Ass-grabbing, cartwheeling nude teacher at girls school sentenced to five months sharing cell with a big hairy boyfriend

Ken wants to move back into Barbie’s dream house. Unfortunately, GI Joe is there

Howard Dean checks DayTimer, realizes he’s overdue for a provocative and incredibly stupid accusation against the Republican Party

In the name of national security, the U.S. will now be data mining the entire internet. Update next week will most likely involve program being scrapped due to too many foobies

In California, if you are unable to pass the high school exit exam, do you: A) Study more diligently? B) Accept failure and try again? Or C) Claim test is illegal and sue for discrimination?

Today’s “U.S. senator edits his Wikipedia entry to delete reference to Arabs as ‘ragheads'” story brought to you by Montana’s Conrad Burns

British spy caught on tape masturbating on $30-million electronic device disguised as stone

Willie Nelson unveils BioWillie fuel to California. Fuel made from soybeans. Insert a little Willie into your car and see how she takes it

Aussie footy player “dacks” teammate in front of 400 Catholic school girsl. Parents shocked. Catholic school girls unimpressed, “Been there, done that”

When a movie involves Bruce Campbell fighting monsters in Oregon because people think he’s Ash, how can it ever fail? (Oooo..)

After meeting nine nursing students, a Kansas state representative declares “Since they’re here, they can resuscitate me.” Hilarity ensues

Hillarity ensues when Confucius takes a day off and hands the fortune cookie writing duties to Bob Guccione

Neurotically Yours: Cell Phones and Car Ads

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Swords into plowshares — use military weapons for everyday tasks

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop theme: Some of the channels we’d see if High Times launched a cable network

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop the first thing you would do if you became president