Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed

"A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal."

OH! The follow-on book deals!

A Habitable World?

"Still, for the brave few who stuck with all 174 hours of Live Al, there was something oddly touching about seeing rock gazillionaires who'd flown in by private jet tell Joe Schmoe all the stuff he doesn't need. Your own car? A washer and dryer? Ha! Why can't you take the bus and beat your underwear on the rocks down by the river with the native women all morning long?"

Cafe Hayek: Chinese Atrocity

"One of the great mistakes committed by many pro-liberty enthusiasts in America is to forget how free we Americans still are compared to persons elsewhere, especially to persons outside of western Europe and the English-speaking world. Yes, we Americans are not as free as we should be; our government insults and harasses us continually with pernicious regulations and taxes; our 'leaders' typically are venal liars, with no more personal integrity than ordinary pick-pockets -- they would be clowns worthy of belly-laughs if their access to power over us were only pretend."

Court Under Roberts Limits Judicial Power - WSJ.com

But the biggest change under Chief Justice John Roberts might not involve who wins on the merits. Rather, it may be who gets through the courthouse door in the first place. In case after case, the court shifted toward what Chief Justice Roberts has previously referred to as "judicial self-restraint." As it addressed issues large and small, in civil disputes and criminal justice alike, the court's resurgent conservative bloc repeatedly found that the question didn't belong before a judge at all.

Bravo!

Lincoln letter on Gettysburg found at U.S. archives | U.S. | Reuters

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An optimistic two-sentence note that Abraham Lincoln penned to his top general after the Civil War's decisive battle was unveiled on Thursday at the National Archives where it was undetected for nearly 70 years."

Fortunately this was not among the materials pilfered by former Clinton administration officials.

Our Soviet Health System - WSJ.com

The essential problem is this. The pricing of medical care in this country is either directly or indirectly dictated by Medicare; and Medicare uses an administrative formula which calculates "appropriate" prices based upon imperfect estimates and fudge factors. Rather than independently calculate prices, private insurers in this country almost universally use Medicare prices as a framework to negotiate payments, generally setting payments for services as a percentage of the Medicare fee structure.

My Way News - Democrats Hide Pet Projects From Voters

"After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify 'earmarks' - lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states."

A Green Card in Every Pot by Ann Coulter - HUMAN EVENTS

"Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, immigrant and first Jewish member of the Supreme Court, said that Americanization required that the immigrant adopt 'the clothes, the manners and the customs generally prevailing here' and that he adopt 'the English language as the common medium of speech.'

But, Brandeis said, this is only part of it. '(W)e properly demand of the immigrant even more than this -- he must be brought into complete harmony with our ideals and aspirations and cooperate with us for their attainment. Only when this has been done will he possess the national consciousness of an American.'

Or as George Bush would call it, 'empty rhetoric.' And as Linda Chavez would call it, 'racist.'"

C'est Si Bon by Ann Coulter - HUMAN EVENTS

"With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI."

Florida to dump touch-screen e-voting systems

Where it all got started, finally, an end.

What happened to the Obama profile?

Not that I'm likely to vote for Obama, or Hillary, but here is an interesting glimpse into how the fan-base looks for these left-wing candidates. Can you imagine any discussion about conservatives being so devoid of actual content? It's all about personality, who is a "nice" person and who isn't. No "issues".

Will they go public with any actual plans for a presidency this early? Not in Myspace I'm sure. We'll have to look elsewhere.

Isn't it way too early for all of this? Whoever wins will be gray-haired by the time they take office. Too worn out for actual decision making, and too trained by their handlers to just keep their opinions to themselves.

Package Forced NBC to Make Tough Decisions - New York Times

"In an interview last night on MSNBC, Mr. Williams said NBC had been concerned about the sensitivities of broadcasting as much of the material as it did.

“This was a sick business tonight, going on the air with this,” he said."

I wonder: what didn't stop them?

Fact-checking the Gray Lady

"The NYT may also have found the ride a bit rough. There's this vibration, you see, caused by the big spinning three-blade thingies on the front of the engines of GA-ASI's King Air. Memo to NYT. If you really want to get your credibility above the Jayson Blair level, maybe you should assign aerospace stories to someone who knows the difference between a propeller and a jet."

Elizabeth Edwards afraid of neighbor

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

"I have to budget. I have to live within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

The Coming Tax Increase - WSJ.com

"The new House and Senate majorities have now passed budget resolutions -- five-year budget outlines -- that include the repeal of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Republicans are overstating things when they imply this means a tax increase this year. The Bush tax cuts don't expire until the end of 2010, and Democrats aren't about to tip their tax hand before the 2008 election. But under the cover of zero media attention, Democrats are constructing a budget process that will make a tax increase all but inevitable."

Thank you so much "blue state" Americans (What, you weren't happy being called "reds"?) I'm sure the money will be well spent.

About the New Orleans imagery in Google Maps and Earth

Given that the changes that affected New Orleans happened many months ago, we were a bit surprised by some of these recent comments.

Which comments? Ohhhh, you mean these?:

Citing an Associated Press report from Thursday, the House Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on investigations and oversight asked Google Inc. Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company is using the outdated imagery.

"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," subcommittee chairman Brad Miller, D-N.C., wrote Friday in a letter to Schmidt.

Never, I mean NEVER underestimate congressional bungholes ability to be, er, bungholes. They get paid for it too!

Isn't it scary though that people like this have oversight over anything? Is to me. Of course this won't get the traction that the "Tubes" analogy did. Only Republicans get ridiculed for technical incompetence (even though the bad tubes analogy made a valid point while, in this case, they are critical of a company for doing a GOOD job, as long as they can imply that there is some sort of funny-business going on with the evil Bush administration, hey I read it on the Daily Kos!).

ABC's Silent Expert

"Mr. Stephanopoulos doesn't mention his own valuable expertise on the subject of fired federal prosecutors, the kind of expertise that might help place the current mess in context. Mr. Stephanopoulos was the Clinton White House communications director in 1993 when the Justice Department cleaned its slate of all 93 U.S. attorneys, and he was central to the administration's finessing of the episode--just the sort of insider experience, presumably, that prompted ABC News to hire Mr. Stephanopoulos fresh out of the White House in 1996."

FOXNews.com - World Bank Anticorruption Drive Blunted as China Threatens to Halt Loans

"Making loans to developing countries is central to the bank’s very reason for existence — so the threat to quit borrowing is a blow at its mission, and to the job security of some 26,000 World Bank bureaucrats, staffers and consultants around the world."

Pope: Europe Losing Faith in Its Future

"'One must unfortunately note that Europe seems to be going down a road which could lead it to take its leave from history,' the pontiff told bishops in Rome for ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a major step toward the creation of today's European Union."

Pajamas Media: The Gospel of John & Yoko: The Origins of Mad Morality

"If you believe the Gospel of John and Yoko represents a higher morality, you will naturally begin to resent such obstacles in the way of “progress” as reason, the rule of law, common sense, the need to be a master of your own life, and the responsibility for your own well-being. And since the United States of America was built on such values and remains their most dedicated proponent, any honest and consistent “progressive” is bound to develop a seething hatred towards this country.

In the “progressive” book of virtues, American values are the quintessence of evil. So if you are a “progressive” and you aren’t mad at this country, that just means you’re neither honest nor consistent. But then again, because living by this dead-end moral code is logically impossible, one has to resort to hypocrisy and seek compromises, forever balancing on the edge of madness."

indirectly, from the web site linked below. A good one.