Stand by your man

At yesterday’s press briefing, Ari Fleischer denied that the US is buying support for the war from other nations. From the official transcript: “But think about the implications of what you're saying. You're saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition. (Laughter.)” That’s not Ari laughing, that’s the entire press corps literally laughing him out of the room.

A German police force decides to torture a kidnapping suspect (although the threat alone proves enough to get him to confess, they were really going to do it).

A judge in, where else, Texas, sentences a man who abused his 11-year old stepson by, among other things, hitting him in the genitals with a car antenna and throwing him out of the house, to sleep in a doghouse for 30 days (and pay a fine). So instead of putting him in jail where he belongs, he gets to go camping for a month.

Speaking of brilliant judges, Bush is still fighting for Miguel Estrada’s honor, which is more than Miguel Estrada ever did. Bush said, “I will stand by that man's side until he is sworn in as a judge.” That could get a little awkward in the shower, I suppose.

The Supreme Court rules that RICO can’t be used against demonstrators, which is exactly right, although I’d still like to see the courts force those Operation Rescue types to pay up the damages awarded against them.

As Bush is promising a miraculous spread of democracy in the Middle East if we have just one more war there, here’s a timely reminder of the results in Kuwait from the last War to Make the World Safe for Feudalism.