Give Back.

Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary.

Awesome Calendar

The Lovely Mistresses of George W. Bush -- a pinup calendar of various special interests.

The Lovely Mistresses of George W. Bush is a classically styled, 13 month pin-up calendar ending on January 20th, 2009, the final day of George W. Bush's presidency. Packed with jaw dropping all-original images by Burke Heffner, The Lovely Mistresses features some of America's hottest burlesque stars and pin-up girls.

Every stunning girl is a hilarious reveal of the corporations, special interest groups and billionaires who have influenced George the most. Each pin-up includes her vital statistics, important dates and a farewell love letter to the president.

Oh, that's clever.

Deaths in Papua New Guinea due Cyclone Guba

Death toll rises in Papua floods

'At least 150 dead' in PNG floods

McClellan says Bush involved in Outing Covert CIA Operative

You remember that, don't you? Covert CIA gets outed, people die? Yeah.

Olbermann On McClellan Revelations: Bush Was A Passively Involved “Liar In Chief”

Historical Maps of US Cities

Maps maps maps! U.S. Historical City Maps Ooooooooo!

Thanks to J, for the tip.

Nifty Yet Confusing Idea: Donating Laptops to Poor Kids in Africa

Here's the confusing part -- do these kids have electricity? How will they charge the battery after it dies?

One Laptop Per Child Program

ETA: Medley points me to OLPC laptop features - hand cranks! *That* makes sense!

Another Link Salad: Impeachment, Cover-ups, and the Environment

Suddenly, Impeachment Hearings Are Looking Like a Strong Possibility

One indication of the change in the political climate in the House is the announcement by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a six-term congressman and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, that he will call for the Judiciary Committee to take up Kucinich’s impeachment [of VP Cheney] bill. This is significant because Wexler, no left-wing hothead, is not a co-signer of the Kucinich bill.

In an email message to constituents, Wexler said:

"I share your belief that Vice President Cheney must answer for his deceptive actions in office, particularly with regard to the preparations for the Iraq war and the revelation of the identity of covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson as part of political retribution against her husband."

Boxer: Bush Administration Hiding Global Warming Data From Americans

On Wednesday’s Hardball Senator Barbara Boxer talked with Chris Matthews about testimony given to the Senate Environment Committee by CDC Director Julie Gerberding about global warming and related health issues. Boxer says that Gerberding admitted that her original testimony had been heavily redacted by the White House and much of that was information on the public health impact of Global Warming.

When a letter was sent to President Bush asking for clarification on the redacted portions of the testimony, Boxer claims she received a letter back from White House Counsel, Fred Fielding, refusing her request claiming….you guessed it — Executive Privilege.

And,

California sues US over car fumes

California is suing the US federal government over its failure to back the state's tough new anti-pollution laws regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

In lighter news,

Barbie Trabbed in Carbonite. Cool.

Link Salad, size: small

Public Lands, Recreational Opportunities, and Natural Resources Or, yes, Virginia, global warming is real, the EPA knows it, and it's having a dramatic effect on Alaska, my much-loved home, that will never be the same again, gods curse every damn polluting one of us.

Drivers stranded by car signals. See? This is why I want a damn *KEY*.

The Last Word on Waterboarding -- It's Torture, Pure & Simple

Waterboarding is Torture… Period, from Malcolm Nance at the Small Wars Journal.

As a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California I know the waterboard personally and intimately. SERE staff were required undergo the waterboard at its fullest. I was no exception. I have personally led, witnessed and supervised waterboarding of hundreds of people. It has been reported that both the Army and Navy SERE school’s interrogation manuals were used to form the interrogation techniques used by the US army and the CIA for its terror suspects. What was not mentioned in most articles was that SERE was designed to show how an evil totalitarian, enemy would use torture at the slightest whim. If this is the case, then waterboarding is unquestionably being used as torture technique.

Once at SERE and tasked to rewrite the Navy SERE program for the first time since the Vietnam War, we incorporated interrogation and torture techniques from the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia into the curriculum. In the process, I studied hundreds of classified written reports, dozens of personal memoirs of American captives from the French-Indian Wars and the American Revolution to the Argentinean ‘Dirty War’ and Bosnia. There were endless hours of videotaped debriefings from World War Two, Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War POWs and interrogators. I devoured the hundreds of pages of debriefs and video reports including those of then Commander John McCain, Colonel Nick Rowe, Lt. Dieter Dengler and Admiral James Stockdale, the former Senior Ranking Officer of the Hanoi Hilton. All of them had been tortured by the Vietnamese, Pathet Lao or Cambodians. The minutiae of North Vietnamese torture techniques was discussed with our staff advisor and former Hanoi Hilton POW Doug Hegdahl as well as discussions with Admiral Stockdale himself. The waterboard was clearly one of the tools dictators and totalitarian regimes preferred.

It's torture, and the DOJ and White House know it because an Assistant Attorney General went out to assess it, had it inflicted it on himself to truly understand it, and concluded that yes, it's torture. Legally and ethically, it's torture. And he got fired for it.

Climate Wars

Climate Wars Threaten Billions

Retired JAG Officers on Mukasey, Waterboarding

Retired JAGs Send Letter to Leahy

While Bush says shit like this:

In a time of war, it is vital for the President to have a full national security team in place -- and the Attorney General is a key member of that team. The Attorney General is America's top law enforcement officer, with critical responsibilities for preventing terrorist attacks and protecting our Nation.

but doesn't mean it, since he wants the nation's top law enforcement officer to condone torture.

Busy Couple of Days

Well, Thursday night, as all my rabid reading audience (all what, 3 of you?) know, I got notified I'd passed the bar exam for Massachusetts. I get sworn in after Thanksgiving. I confess I'm tempted to take another bar for a different state, yet I'm glad I didn't try to do two at once -- the folks I saw doing that in July looked *DAMN* tired by day 3.

Friday I went to cheer for Delynn at the Student Award Ceremony as she picked up her CALI Award for Trial Practice. It was great to see so many grads return to pick theirs up.

My parents called during the ceremony, having finally gotten my message (left on m'mom's cellphone Thursday night) about passing the bar, and of course I couldn't talk just then.

Then D&D took me out to dinner to celebrate her CALI and my passing the bar, and we found some little middle eastern restaurant off Boylston, and ate shawarma and other good stuff.

And I just knew I had to tell the Internet all about it. You're so lucky.

In other news:

George Bush saying (caught this on NPR in my sleep Friday morning) that Mukasey doesn't have to answer a question about a torture technique being torture, because he's not briefed on whether the technique is in use, is quite possibly the most ridiculous attempt to sidestep a question I've ever heard. Regardless of whether the technique is used currently in or by the US, IT'S TORTURE.
The SOBs are caving on Mukasey, because he's "far better than anyone could expect from this administration." They still don't get it. The Bush Administration is an aggressive bully in negotiating style - staking a claim for ALL power and then backing off if you refuse. YOU HAVE TO DO THE SAME IN RETURN. STOP COMPROMISING. STOP EXPECTING THEM TO COMPROMISE IF YOU SIMPLY 'SHOW GOOD FAITH'.
Mushareff imposes emergency rule in Pakistan. Oh, dandy.

Make Your Own Jabba the Hutt!

Awesome.

PASSED THE BAR EXAM

Passed the bar exam!

Halloween Celebration

I had one (expected) trick-or-treater last night, one of the boys who lives in my building -- he had a most excellent fireman's costume. I gave him some candy[*] and came outside so we could take some pictures. I think he had a good Halloween, and I also think it was his first. (He's not from the US originally.)

[*] Penny Candy at CVS isn't really a penny, but it's good old-fashioned stuff and there might be a ton of sugar in there, but at least there's no high-fructose corn syrup.

Then I watched Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow in honor of the occasion.