Quote of the day:

What this comes down to is that if you have problems with identity theft, actual or potential, all the big phone companies will assist you to reasonable lengths, politely and quickly. All but one that is, Cingular. Cingular will do everything in its power not to assist, up to and including lying to you. Avoid Cingular if you are at all worried about your safety, they are far worse than having no use, it is actively antagonistic. Time to call T-Mobile. Can anyone recommend a good plan?
Charlie Demerjian, in the UK's The Inquirer, describing his nightmare experience when he tried to find out whether anyone had tried to access his Cingular cell phone records, only to be told that it was against the law for Cingular to tell him that without a subpoena.

One step closer to shining the light on Cheney

Thanks to Federal Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, the world is one large step closer to learning exacty who the incredibly secretive Dick Cheney has been meeting with.

Quote of the day:

She was not, uh, in, she, I, I don't, uh you know, like I said, uh, she might have been tipsy. Uh, she didn't walk in a straight line. That's for sure. Cause she, you know, bump into ya when you're walking along and, you know, I didn't think anything of that. And just helping this lady, and that was all.
Jim Gibbons, Republican Congressman from Nevada and candidate for Governor of that state, describing to police his version of an encounter with a woman who claims that Gibbons, after flirting with her in a Las Vegas restaurant, "grabbed her, shoved her against a wall and threatened her in a Las Vegas parking garage after she rebuffed his advances ."
[And I didn't even put him on my list of Immoral Republican exemplars]

Another two Republican moral exemplars

Does it ever stop now?  Say hello to yet another two Republican members of the House who appear to have managed to use their official offices for personal gain of on kind or another.

Thoughts on PJ O'Rourke and those "dangerous altruists"

In a forum on C-SPAN, PJ O'Rourke said that altruists are the second most dangerous people in the world, behind only the "true sociopaths...Altruists.  Who knows where they're coming from?"

In Alaska, political bribery is just okay

I couldn't add much to this absurdity, so here's the relevant excerpt from an Alaskan newspaper:

Gee, do you think there might be a connection?

Every time I see a bizarre smear attack on a political candidate, I look for the corresponding news story that probably produce the panic which led to the smear.

They may not be deeply offended citizens, but they can play them for the t.v. cameras

Do you find the word "slavishly" to have ugly connotations?  Do you think it implies that the person whose actions are described is somehow actually acting as a slave?

Washington looking for new Iraq strong man?

There are rumors that the U.S. has told the Iraqi PM that he has a very short time--two months--to get the nightmare at least started in the right direction and, at the same time, was allegedly searching for a new "strong man" to pull the militias into line and assert the power of central government over Iraq's catatonic insecurity.

Quote of the day:

Make no mistake, the Republican Party is polluted. I have found that out locally here in Bradley County. It's obvious to me that both the Republicans and the leaders of the Religious Right are contemptuous of rank and file conservative Christians, not each other. By forming a new party we cast a new direction united and committed to do the work together. I fear the Mark Foley scandal is only a small part of the problem.
Greg Cain, in a letter to yesterday's Chattanoogan newspaper (Tenn).