You mean Bigfoot isn't real?

US Marines in Kuwait went on full alert when something in Arabic was left on a military vehicle. It turned out to read, "I love you forever. Your beauty is incomparable." The poem was not intended for the Marines, sadly. Too bad the military fired all those gay Arabic-language students, they’d have gotten a thrill out of it.

The Bush admin has reinstated bonus pay for political appointees, a policy revoked after abuses in the last days of the last Bush admin. Since the total fund for bonuses won’t be increased, this is a direct transfer of money from career civil servants to Friends of W. Blatant cronyism.

Speaking of Friends of W., aid to the far-right Colombian government is to go up, including $100 million to protect Occidental Petroleum’s pipeline. I’m sure taxpayers will get a substantial discount at the pump in exchange for their largesse. Interestingly, Colin Powell completely failed to get Colombia to give US soldiers, some of whom are deployed there, with more to come, exempted from the International Court.

The Greenlandish (Greenlander? Greenlandonian?) elections suggest that Greenland may soon throw off the shackles of oppression and colonialism, and declare itself independent of Denmark.

Astonishingly for a government that keeps shrilly insisting a terrorist attack can come at any time, the Bushies have decided to withhold for several months money that was supposed to go to local police and emergency services for anti-terrorism programs. Given the lags on other programs to shore up security of ports, power plants, computers etc, I think we need a really good conspiracy theory to explain why the Bushies keep talking about terrorism but are acting as if they know the threat is not real.

By the way, what’s the story with the guy who tried to bring a brick onto a plane?

LA Weekly on Bush’s “war on the condom,” including information on Tom Coburn, the homophobe Bush named as co-chair of his AIDS advisory committee. And the executive director of the Council is one Patricia Ware, who worked for a Christian AIDS advocacy group (i.e., no sex allowed). Other appointees to the council include no one with HIV and no scientists, but a lot of campaign contributors and Christian-right condom opponents. The article also talks about other appointments and policies targeting any sex ed. based on science, while killing AIDS funding and anti-AIDS drugs for the poor at the same time as abstinence-only education spending will go to $135m.

No matter what the Bushies say, Kissinger is required to disclose his clients if he works on the commission more than 60 days a year.

The man behind the hoax that created the legend of Bigfoot in 1958 has died. He has left very big shoes to fill.

100 years of Strom Thurmond. In fact, he will never die, because neither God nor Satan want the man anywhere near them.

Sharon has laid out his idea of a Palestinian state: demilitarized, its borders and air space and foreign policy controlled by Israel, holding just 42% of the West Bank and 70% of Gaza, an Israeli veto on its leadership (which is what rejection of Arafat as leader effectively means).