The item on Schwarzenegger's resume he doesn't mention so much anymore

At a remembrance ceremony for the victims of Auschwitz this week, the Israelis think it’s appropriate to have a flyover of Israeli fighters.

Miguel Estrada withdraws as nominee to the Court of Appeals for DC. No one comments on the coincidence of that happening on the day of a Democratic presidential debate focused on Hispanic issues, giving those R’s who can do so with a straight face the opportunity to accuse D’s of being biased against Hispanics (Tom DeLay, whose face can be described as many things but not straight, called it a “political hate crime.”) Commenting on the Estrada nomination on McNeil-Lehrer today was Sen. Jefferson Beuregard Sessions. As usual, the program did not identify Sessions as the man whose judicial appointment died during the Reagan administration because he said, among other racist things, that he thought the KKK were ok until he found out they smoked marijuana.

A NYT whitewash of the US military focuses on one unit, which has on its wall a sign showing that someone went to middle-management school: “What have you and your element done today to contribute to victory?” I assume by “element” they aren’t referring to depleted uranium.

An LA Weekly article on the downplaying of the sexual past of The Arnold, a self-described guy who can fuck in front of other guys, notes that Fox kicked a contestant off American Idol for once having posed nude for a porn website. That’s what I like about the recall, it’s like reality tv but without the standards.

Molly Ivins calls Ahmad Chalabi the far right’s oddest foreign enthusiasm since Jonas Savimbi. I understand that right-wing columnists have been pushing for the US to hand control of Iraq over to Chalabi and associates. You know whose opinion we never about that? Jordan, from whose justice Chalabi is a fugitive.

Berlusconi says that he keeps being investigated for his many criminal activities because all Italian judges are mentally disturbed.

The US is stationing 1,500 troops in Djibouti as part of the “war on terror.” And to ensure their safety, it ordered the government of Djibouti to expel 60,000 foreigners, which it did.

Post headline: “Bush Says Economy Is 'Looking Up.'” I guess that’s another way of saying the economy is in the gutter (but looking up at the stars, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde).