saturday reads

Sam Quinones writes in Foreign Policy about Mexico's State of War.


Threat Level: With Landmark Trial Half Over, Pirate Bay Crew Celebrates Early Victories


“We’ll hire clowns from Wall Street”


Republicons investing heavily to keep Al Franken from being seated as Senator.


Bob Herbert: The Invisible War


Charges will not be filed against 323 people who were arrested on the Marion Street and Cedar Street bridges during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, the St. Paul city attorney’s office announced today.


What Digby said.

friday reads

Scott Horton: Our Voyage to Brobdingnag


Michael Hudson: The Oligarch's Escape Plan


Joseph L. Galloway: Afghanistan has the smell of South Vietnam in 1965


Rastî: Capitalists, Mercenaries, and the Same State Secrets Privilege


Prosecution Baffled by Pirate Bay's Anarchic Structure


The British government has banned Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from entering the United Kingdom.


RNC Chairman Michael Steele, beyond cutting-edge.

friday random ten

All Her Favorite Fruit (Orchestral Version)
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven (2000)



Baby Dragon
Old Time Relijun
Songbook Volume 1 (1997)



Weighing Anchor
I Was a King
I Was a King (2009)



Sinun tässä salissa
Regina
Puutarhatrilogia (2009)



Bad Time
The Boonaraas!!!
Go Get Goo Goo (2003)



Alamo
Jaks
Here Lies the Body of Jaks (2005)



A história da vida de cada um
Autoramas
Vida Real (2001)



You're My Girl
The Cavestompers!
The Cavestompers! (2008)



Manic D
Beefeater
Plays For Lovers / House Burning Down (1992)



You'll Know Why
The Miracle Workers
Inside Out (1985)


Bonus track:



Crow Baby
The March Violets
Natural History (1984)

Lice outbreak in DC

WASHINGTON—Eighteen senators were sent home from Congress Tuesday after a routine screening found an infestation of nits, larvae, and adult parasites living on the scalps of high-ranking Washington lawmakers.

The outbreak of head lice, which many are calling the worst in U.S. Senate history, has brought the Capitol to a standstill, with presiding officer Vice President Joe Biden suspending all daily sessions until further notice.

"I regret to inform the American people that the Senate chamber has been struck by a devastating case of lice," majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. "Although we've already dismissed a number of afflicted senators, and thrown out most of their personal belongings, it is imperative that this issue be resolved as quickly as possible."

[snip]

According to Beltway insiders, this is the worst contagion to hit the federal government since 2004, when a single infected gavel gave the entire Supreme Court crabs.

wednesday reads

Washington's "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.

Anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law, a report by legal experts says.

Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state.

A policy governing the interrogation of terrorism suspects in Pakistan that led to British citizens and residents being tortured was devised by MI5 lawyers and figures in government, according to evidence heard in court.

Jane Mayer: Will Obama institute a new kind of preventive detention for terrorist suspects?

Scott Horton: The Enemy Combatant Canard

Glenn Greenwald: Lawrence Walsh and America's law-free zone



"Shovel-ready" projects which Austin, TX has requested federal stimulus funding.

Track the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at Recovery.gov.

tuesday reads

Many Austin police officers are stating to buy suspension insurance.


John Yoo in deep doo doo?

A key line in George W. Bush’s defense against war crimes charges has weakened with the disclosure that an internal Justice Department watchdog has concluded that the legal advice, which cleared the way for Bush’s policies on torture and other abuse of detainees, was tainted by political influence.

An investigation by H. Marshall Jarrett, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, reached “damning” conclusions about numerous cases of “misconduct” in the advice from John Yoo and other lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, according to legal sources familiar with the report’s contents.

Tomgram: Nobody Knows How Dry We Are


The Rude One on The National Review's *snicker* "The Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years".

monday reads

Scott Horton: Former Gitmo Guard Tells All


House Judiciary Committee calls for investigation of national disgrace Sheriff Joe Arpaio.


Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit


Congress passed a law in 2002 enabling the military to storm into Holland to rescue U.S. soldiers held for war crimes. The Dutch want it revoked.


Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House


Paul Krugman on The crazy 36.

Clammyc on generational thieves.