The possibility exists, based on tomorrow’s matches, that the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup will feature Germany v. Italy in one match and England v. France in the other.

Axis v. Allies time, baby!

Brazil might have something to say about that, of course, but the Axis side is already complete.

Update: OK, Portugal might have something to say about that too. But we’ve still got the Axis!

We achieved a tie in the Commerce Committee. Art Brodsky explains why this is effectively a win.

The news stories following the Senate Commerce Committee vote on Net Neutrality pictured it as a defeat for the forces of good. Don’t believe it. Even though the Net Neutrality amendment failed on a tie vote, we got ourselves into a good position for the rest of the game.

After “searching” over many months, the US military said that it could not find any of the four witnesses that one Guantanimo detainees had requested and who he said could free him. The Guardian newspaper found them in three days.

The US government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.

Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.

But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid’s hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today.

The Guardian searched for Mr Mujahid’s witnesses and found them within three days. One was working for President Hamid Karzai. Another was teaching at a leading American college. The third was living in Kabul. The fourth, it turned out, was dead. Each witness said he had never been approached by the Americans to testify in Mr Mujahid’s hearing.

I wonder if the JAGs looked under the sofa cushions too. You know, just to make sure.

Just from the bus, to the coffee shop, to my office this morning, I saw six, count ‘em, six wedgepadrille -wearing fashion sheeple. One of them even had an honest-to-god flower print on the canvas tops. Lillies, I think.[fn1]

The insanity must stop!

Or not. I mean, if they’re comfortable and cheap, that’s cool. If you don’t mind looking like a reject from the Three’s Company tryouts that is.

You know, I think I’d be OK with these things if they didn’t have that woven mat siding shit.

After that longass Hamdan v. Rumsfeld post… I don’t think I’ll be blogging for the rest of the day. Unless I do, in which case, you’re welcome.

The Supreme Court actually upheld the Constitution! The President is actually subject to the Rule of Law! Democracy! We actually have to treat prisoners humanely and in accord with treaties to which we are signatories! Awesome!

Shorter Supreme Court: 9/11 did not rewrite the Constitution

Really, this ruling should not be surprising, but with the administration’s attempt to pack the court with authoritarian fundamentalists and yesterdays bullshit decision regarding the DeLay gerrymandering, I was not optimistic.

It feels good to be surprised sometimes.

In a sharp rebuke of President George W. Bush’s tactics in the war on terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as illegal the military tribunal system set up to try Guantanamo prisoners.

By a 5-3 vote, the nation’s highest court in a landmark decision declared that the tribunals, which Bush created right after the September 11 attacks, violated the Geneva Conventions and U.S. military rules.

“We conclude that the military commission convened to try (Salim Ahmed) Hamdan lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate” the international agreement that covers treatment of prisoners of war, as well as the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court majority.

Majority opinion: Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg, Breyer
Concurring: Kennedy
Dissent: Scalia, Thomas, scAlito (surprised?)
Abstain: Roberts

Can I get a “hell yeah!” (HELL YEAH!). Thank you, my people. The more I think about the impact of this opinion, the more excited I become. I haven’t felt this good since every poll anywhere said Kerry won in election 2004. Wooo! … oh, nm.

It must burn the Busheviks to realize that they are still 2 votes short of total control.

Read the opinion. The SCT website is slammed, so I stored a copy of the opinion here on grumpasaurus, which may be faster for you to download.

The analysis is long, so I’m putting it after the jump.

In sum: the President has to comply with the law, Congress intended for him to comply with the law… and he didn’t comply with the law. Oh yeah, and torture is illegal, the tribunals are illegal, and we must treat all prisoners humanely with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions as a floor of acceptable behavior.

Huh. Imagine that.

Continue Reading »

Now if Adams made it more apparent that Betty was actually an administrative assistant and the intern was a one of the engineers, then it would be spot on.

Bloglines seems to be working now, as grumpasaurus feeds just jumped massively. They appear to have simply excised all posts with the YouTube videos. From my site, anyway. Sites like corporate-casual are showing up just fine, they just don’t have the video in the feed. Me? They cut the whole post. Go figure.

Don’t know why Bloglines is having all this trouble since the other aggregators seem to be just fine with the object and embed tags.

Guess we’re getting what we pay for, eh?

Pentagon reverses on listing of homosexuality as mental illness

In response to the discovery that the Department of Defense had classified homosexuality as a mental illness, the Pentagon has released a statement changing the designation

My guess is that someone pointed out to them that if homosexuality is a mental illness, then soldiers discharged for being homosexual would get disability pay. Or people could call in sick for feeling too gay (”Sorry, can’t come in. I’m a bit under the gay this morning.”)… And that situation was simply unacceptable for the Rumsfeldians.

The military’s whole policy regarding homosexuals is still ridiculous and ignorant, but this is a small step in the right direction.

Look, dude, if you think the Dems don’t court evangelicals enough … then court them.

If, on the other hand, you want to buy into the false rightwing spin that Democrats disparage religion and promote said falsehood to somehow “distance” yourself from it at the expense of your fellow Dems, then you need to reassess your goals and statements. You’re not doing yourself any good and you’re certainly not doing the party any good. There is an active and vibrant religious left and this Clintonian ditch-the-progressives gets you where, precisely? Another failed campaign? An even weaker party?

It’s a shame to see what used to be considered such a great potential national politician devolve into this typical beltway empty suit.

Dems are not anti-religion any more than Republicans are anti-big government. Quit carrying water for the GOP, Obama.

As for your presidential ambitions… if you are not going to stand with the progressives - otherwise known as “the whiteys who will vote for you”[fn1] and whom you need in order to have a shot at the big chair with the red phone[fn2] - then why should they stand with you?

[fn1] Known alternatively, as the people who do not use the social construct known as race to determine who they will and will not vote for. Many “progressives” are nonwhite, and this statement should not be construed as any sort of representation that social groups divided by racial classification vote as a singular entity.

[fn2] The progressives are a necessary but insufficient condition for an Obama presidency

‘twould be a shame to lose him. The Smoking Gun has the Complaint.

A Tennessee mayor spewed racial slurs, attempted to set up foes for arrest, and tried to boost his town’s traffic ticket revenue by specifically profiling soldiers and Hispanics, according to a lawsuit seeking the politician’s ouster from office.

In a complaint filed yesterday in Robertson County Chancery Court, the State of Tennessee portrays Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby as a boorish nutcase who has soiled the reputation of the 3176-resident city, which is located about 25 miles north of Nashville.

The state lawsuit, an excerpt of which you’ll find below, includes an array of shocking charges, including the claim that, after swearing in a new police officer on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the mayor congratulated the cop by saying, “Happy James Earl Ray Day.” Crosby, pictured above, also allegedly sought to boost his city’s revenue by setting up speed traps and directing police to “engage in profiling soldiers of the United States Armed Services” since he believed that enlisted persons “would tend to mail in their fines rather to come to Court to contest the Citations.” Crosby also thought Hispanics, who were “mostly illegal anyway,” would also avoid court, the complaint charges. As such, Crosby encouraged giving multiple citations to Hispanics, remarking, “We can give them all the tickets we want.” Crosby was elected mayor in November 2004.

Now that is a mayor! Where are the Boss Hog jackets? Tennessee rocks… doesn’t it, BoonDoggle.

NASA engineer quits over needless mission… but the domestic policy-driven Busheviks say the show must go on!

A 30-year NASA veteran and one of the agency’s top shuttle engineers has reportedly angrily resigned only five days before Saturday’s Discovery launch.

Charlie Camarda had been director of engineering at the Johnson Space Center and played a major role on NASA’s Mission Management Team that is preparing for this weekend’s launch.

Unidentified sources at NASA told ABC News Camarda has been feuding with Wayne Hale, the manager of NASA’s space shuttle program, and NASA Administrator Mike Griffin about treatment Camarda’s engineers received when they raised concerns about the upcoming Discovery launch. Some engineers believe more substantial changes need to be made.

In a Tuesday email to his colleagues at Johnson, ABC News said Camarda reaffirmed his disappointment with NASA officials.

“I cannot accept the methods I believe are being used by this Center to select future leaders,” he wrote. “I have always based my decisions on facts, data and good solid analysis. I cannot be a party to rumor, innuendo, gossip and-or manipulation to make or break someone’s career and-or good name.”

I know this has been discussed before, but this is infuriating. The shuttle crew, the best and the brightest, are sacrificial lambs on the alter of domestic policy choices made by the Busheviks. As every arm of our government is further politicized and turned into partisan arms of the GOP, people are dying, We, the People, are being harmed, and our country is lessened. And it’s entirely the fault of this administration.

The FCC, the FDA, the SEC, FEMA, and now NASA.

You thought Katrina was a failure of leadership? Just wait until we have 7 dead astronauts because some Bushie decided that we needed a glorious rocket launch, and damn the science or those querrulous technicians! These people are sickening.

That said, it takes integrity to quit your job over something like this. My hat is off to Mr. Carmada.

Someone who has yet to register for this site sent me this, so I’m posting it here. Making me do all the heavy lifting, I see. Because, it’s teh fun-nay.

Also, thoughts on the Kos-Armstrong mirage kerfluffle

Lieberman’s endorsements now include Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Racist Ragegasm Sockpuppet Michelle Malkin. And that should tell you all you need to know about Lieberman.

I won’t post the Bloglines-destroying YouTube content here (follow the link), but the video is both dull and senseless. Apparently, when you’re a self-hating bigot ventriloquist doll, stealing the Mentos theme to put over a Lamont political add == teh fun-nee. Note the selective violation of The Rule of Law by this copyright infringement on the part of the righties. I have no problem with this usage, of course, but the righties should.

It’s interesting to watch the full-on character assassination of Markos too. The wingnuts just don’t get it: Markos isn’t important. You can vilify him all you want, you Swiftboat wannabes, but he is neither in control of nor important to the movement. Using Lieberman’s words while showing a picture of Bush is super effective, because those words, uttered by Lieberman, would fit perfectly in duhbya’s mouth. Billmon has already posted more (and better) on this subject than I.

Also, for those ridiculing Armstrong for his astrology beliefs, especially the righties, I’ve got two words for you: Nancy Reagan.

Using Kos’ words while Lamont is moving his mouth is not. Because no one cares about Kos, except you guys who also still can’t seem to grasp that the most serious threat to our country comes not from heads of state but stateless rogues.

Lieberman’s toast. I’d like to take this moment to thank Hannity, Coulter, and Malkin for helping to actually get a moderate progressive Democrat elected to the Senate. Thanks, dudes. And I mean “dudes” literally.

I encourage you to check out Ned Lamont for yourselves and see if you like him. Donate if you feel like it. Give time if you are able. If anti-Joe isn’t enough, maybe pro-Ned will be.

Seriously, does anyone even care about this character any more? His primary color, all-mega-everything is such a throwback to a bygone era that I can’t see anyone liking this guy. Superman is like Instacracker - he’s got a great name for marketing, but other than that, he’s just a dull guy in an empty suit wearing a codpiece.

What’s to like about Superman? He’s boring. He can do everything and anything. He’s got one weakness, and it’s an easy one to avoid. He’s earnest to the point of stupidity. His “disguise” is wearing a pair of glasses. He’s got no nuances, he’s got no interests other than being “good”, and he is almost completely devoid of personality and humor. He’s like a giant, retarded, well-meaning puppy.

Woo. I’ll try to contain my enthusiasm.

This is why Batman is more popular. Why the X-Men are more popular. Why Spider-Man is more popular. They all have nuances, are more human, and their stories are writ larger because they are smaller characters. Most of all, they’re not dull.

So the Superman movie