TGIF/Weekend edition - January 4-6, 2008

The Iowa GOP chose the Baptist preacher over the Mormon millionaire.
 

The only way the current batch of Republican candidates could be any worse is if they had a Bush brother in the mix. - Zing!

The-World-Is-A-Safer-Place-Without-Saddam News

• US military deaths in Iraq at 3,907 AP

• www.iraqbodycount.org

• 3 soldiers die in Iraq, the 1st of '08 Indianapolis Star

• Three Iraqis killed by US fire AFP

• 4 detained after Turkey bombing AP

• Attacks prompt vehicle ban in Iraqi city AP

• Iraqis oppose reopening Baghdad bridge AP

• US closing net on Iraq's Qaeda 'rats': Petraeus AFP

• New video due from American Qaida member AP

• Judge orders Iran pay $466 million AP

What? No Middle East Ménage à Trois? No Photo Op?

President Bush's aides all but ruled out a three-way meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during his upcoming Mideast visit and dampened hopes that the president's high-profile travels would make tangible progress toward peace.

"Just his going there is going to advance the prospects," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said Thursday. "We're not looking for headline announcements."

Rudy, Exploring New ‘Territory,’ Claims Decisive Victory in Guam Caucuses

Disturbing News

• Storms take aim on Calif., could trigger mudslides, floods USA Today

What's Up With This?

More evidence that new Attorney General Michael Mukasey is running a more transparent and inclusive shop than his predecessors John Ashcroft and, especially, Alberto Gonzales:

Mukasey announced today that he's appointing Chicago federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to the Attorney General's advisory committee of U.S. attorneys.

Fitzgerald was on the committee from 2001 until 2005, but his appointment to it preceded his service as special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation.

Fitzgerald's probing in that case led to the perjury conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby and earned the prosecutor the lasting enmity of the White House.

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Volunteer Roberta Allen, from San Jose, Calif., wears American flag contact lenses as she waits for people to sign a list seeing if they are caucusing for Republican Presidential hopeful former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, Thursday, during a campaign stop in West Des Moines, Iowa. Photo/Jeff Chiu

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I thought I'd be happy when Bush left; then I looked at the candidates whom Republicans want to replace him with.- Zing!

Republican Shenanigans

• Bush "strongly" supports CIA tapes probe Reuters

• Bush exploring economic stimulus package AP

• Iowa Republicans dance to Huckabee's tune Euronews.net, France

• GOP Ignores Jan. 5 Wyoming Conventions CBS News, NY 

• Cutting Ron Paul from the debate has many Republicans upset Laconia Citizen, NH

• Lawmaker told CIA not to destroy tapes AP

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences on Thursday issued a spirited defense of evolution as the bedrock principle of modern biology, arguing that it, not creationism, must be taught in public school science classes.

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That's our Pat: Robertson predicts China will become largest Christian nation: "God's going to give us China." (I believe Pat's been sucking on too many leaded toys.) - Grant Gerver, www.seriouskidding.com

www.buckfush.com

Rock-The-Voter News

• Clinton unbowed by third-place finish AP

• Biden and Dodd Leave the Race Washington Post

• Iraq sliding off radar in White House race: report AFP

Barack Obama's election polling in Iowa Thursday showed that the United States is ready for a black president. The way was certainly paved for him. If nothing else, President Bush shattered the myth of white supremacy once and for all. - Argus Hamilton

Biz-Tech News

• Oil trader wins fame with $100-a-barrel trade Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom

• FDA to clear cloned livestock for consumers: report Reuters

• China Clamps Down On Internet Video Forbes

• Suit says IBM dumped chemicals in New York state Reuters

• Group sues FDA for stronger warnings AP

• US Album Sales Fell 9.5% in 2007 New York Times

• Is Jay Leno subverting his union? AP

In wake of brutal CIA probe, Bush feels strongly that torture tapes were his executive-privileged private property; he was only exercising his right to freedom of speech by having them destroyed. - Grant Gerver, www.seriouskidding.com

Katrina Aftermath Update

A federal plan to buy thousands of flood-prone homes on Mississippi's hurricane-battered coast is shaping up to be far more modest than many residents had feared.

Bush-Prison-Torture News

• US Returns Body of Afghan Detainee The Associated Press 

• CIA faces criminal inquiry into loss of 'torture' tapes at Guantanamo Independent 

Go-F***-Yourself News

• Counsel To Vice President Cheney Returns To Steptoe & Johnson Lawfuel (press release)