More Odds and Ends

This is a lot of important stuff that I'm too busy to tackle today, so here's a big roundup...

Today is the fifth anniversary of the 'Mission Accomplished' ceremony on that battleship out at sea in the San Diego bay. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," said the President. Have they ever! And the surge is working! This week, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino came up with a new retroactive explanation for the ceremony (they were just trying to salute the sailors!), stating "we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner." You know who else paid a price? All the people killed because of this war! But yea, I imagine this is real rough for George too.

Meanwhile, way unrelated, the U.S. deploys a second carrier to the Gulf region, near Iran.

Fair and balanced trials coming soon to Gitmo: "The former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals testified on Monday that the tribunals were tainted by political influence and evidence obtained through prisoner abuse... He said the pressure ramped up after 'high-value' prisoners with alleged ties to the September 11 plot were moved to Guantanamo from secret CIA custody shortly before the 2006 U.S. congressional elections and amid the ongoing U.S. presidential campaigns."

And the right's favorite Supreme Court Justice-- Mr. Scalia-- loves him some torture.

In semi-related news, Sen. Feingold held a hearing on government secrecy this week that our friends in the liberal media apparently kept secret in turn. Good times.

Headline of the week: ''Free Tibet' flags made in China'

Judiciary Branch to Executive Branch... do something for a change, please: "A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming."

In campaign news, Sen. Clinton joined Obama in doing the Fox News thing this week by sitting down to chat with everyone's favorite buffoon, Bill O'Reilly. Sounds like the two really hit if off.

And in North Carolina, a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing voter turnout was traced back to a group called Women's Voices Women Vote. Does that group have Clinton ties? Who cares, the media won't investigate!

The Daily Show had a series of hilarious segments last night on the Rev. Wright story.

Finally, speaking of religious wackos, Ben Stein truly is an asshole.