"In front of about 5,700 peace activists, foreign guests, Japanese officials and representatives of the bereaved families, books with 3,069 additional names were placed into the memorial, bringing the official death toll from the bombing to 143,124."

Image by Hiromichi Matsuda/Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

"To date, SIGIR has completed 95 project assessments, 96 limited on-site inspections, and 342 aerial assessments. In three of the four sustainment reviews completed this quarter, SIGIR found that projects were not being sustained properly." [Image from the Report Pictures page.].

Clearly this particular piece of legislative excrement was blatantly designed to create political cover.  As if the entire foreign and defense intelligence communities are not already investigating and reporting on all activities "Iran".  As if the citations in the Lieber-milk list of Iranian nefariousness was well-researched, as opposed to an ad-hoc collection of specious flacktoid, guesswork-at-best quotes by the administration's Dick-puppets.

And what did they vote for?  A report.  

[The pulse quickens at the mere thought of such a document.  Leaders in foreign capitals will tremble, market forces will surge in anticipation, and reporters will fight for the few seats available on the mall on the day this wonderous work is to be released.  I am . . . humbled by the awesome intellectual depth of the thing.]

Like slackers going to church on Christmas with starry-eyed expectations of redemption, the Suited & Coiffed Ones failed to realize they have already been judged as beyond.  We can only wish them well in their special place in hell.  They've earned it.

::  ::  ::

Most excellent and appropriate Image:  s1dc @ deviantArt

Moira Berbst/BusinessWeek:  Outsourcing: How to Skirt the Law

Want to hire cheaper foreign workers instead of Americans? A lawyer tells you how to game the immigration system--and it's all on YouTube

Bejeebus H. Christ.

The mission of the Progressive States Network is to pass progressive legislation in all fifty states by providing coordinated research and strategic advocacy tools to forward-thinking state legislators.

Hot here in Kaleeforneea.  But it's a dry heat.

This particular story begins with the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1637, a short group of paragraphs which extended the "mandate for the multinational force" from 31 December 2005, until 31 December 2006.  Two events in the past week signal a change within Iraq that finally brings the government into compliance, and therefore in position, to terminate that mandate on or about this Thursday, 15 June 2006.

The first is the selection of the final group of ministers by Prime Minister al-Maliki.  The second is breaking news this morning that President Bush, following a hastily-called meeting yesterday, is now in Baghdad.

[editor's note, by rba]  Links to references/sources below.

[editor's note, by rba]  Links to references/sources below.

On 8 June 2004 a unanimous United Nation Security Council voted to adopt Resolution 1546, which set the timetable for ending the "mandate for the multinational force" in Iraq:

12. Decides further that the mandate for the multinational force shall be reviewed at the request of the Government of Iraq or twelve months from the date of this resolution, and that this mandate shall expire upon the completion of the political process set out in paragraph four above, and declares that it will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the Government of Iraq;

As is normally the case there was also a "savings clause" allowing for extension of the mandate.

[Note:  part cross-posted elsewhere.  Pic credit:  Mark's.   ]

After the last week's debacle, in which the people, Congress, and the Executive all perspired to produce the Best Comedy with A Ludicrous Theme, the above poster hits the mark.  All they needed was a few of these.

(Brings to mind Andy Griffith's "What it was, was football" [Audio here].  'Course back then he was just A Face in the Crowd).

The memo is a chronological account, submitted on July 7, 2004, to Vice Admiral Albert Church, who led a Pentagon investigation into abuses at the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It reveals that Mora's criticisms of Administration policy were unequivocal, wide-ranging, and persistent.

Found via the legal eagles over @ JURIST.

•  MoveOn, MovingIdeas, Media Matters (the "M"s), the 70 liberal blogs on your right,  as well as the Democratic, Progressive, and Labor Parties all compete for your time, effort, and money. [Liability]

•  Each and every one of those orgs likely contain a minimum 50% shared membership (conservative estimate).  Redundancy of effort on a massive scale. [Liability]

We were collected at my aunts house for my cousins birthday party a few days ago. J. just turned 16 and my aunt invited us for a late lunch and some cake. It was a very small gathering- three cousins- including myself- my parents, and J.'s best friend, who also happened to be a neighbor.

The fear begins here:

"Hey- there's no coverage here... is it just my phone?" She asked. J. and I both took out our phones and checked, "Mine isn't working either..." J. answered, shaking her head. They both turned to me and I told them that I couldn't get a signal either. J. suddenly looked alert and made a sort of "Uh-oh" sound as she remembered something. "R.- will you check the telephone next to you?" I picked up the ordinary telephone next to me and held my breath, waiting for a dial tone. Nothing.

"There's no dial tone... but there was one earlier today- I was online..."

||Neighborhoods||

Brought to you by the ever-watchful, slightly bent minds over @ gizmag.  Gives "super bowl" an entirely new meaning.

||Drop In The Bucket||

Verbatim: Search firms surveyed on privacy

By Declan McCullagh and Elinor Mills/Staff Writer, CNET News.com/February 3, 2006, 8:43 AM PST

To find out what kind of information the four major search companies retain about their users, CNET News.com surveyed America Online, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

We asked the same seven questions of each company. Their answers are reproduced below, with the responses sorted by the companies' names in alphabetical order.

||Drop In the Bucket||