Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi Punched in the Face
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was punched in the face at a rally on Sunday. Police say Berlusconi was punched by a man holding a small statue. Berlusconi appeared cut and was bleeding around his mouth. If he was hit with the small statue it probably hurt badly. The AP says the suspect was "immediately taken into custody" by Italian police. Take a look:
WRAL reports that sources are telling them that John Edwards is going to admit that he is the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. Edwards has admitted to having an affair with Rielle Hunter but said his affair ended before the child was conceived.
Edwards, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate, confessed last August to having an affair with Rielle Hunter, who served as a videographer on Edwards' 2008 campaign. He has denied fathering her daughter, saying his relationship with Hunter ended before the child was conceived.
The name of the girl's father isn't disclosed on her birth certificate.
Andrew Young, a long-time Edwards aide, initially claimed to be the father of Hunter's child, but he is reportedly writing a book in which he will claim Edwards is the father.
The National Enquirer ran a story yesterday alleging that a secret DNA test had confirmed that John Edwards is the father of the baby. The baby is now 18-months old.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says Finding Osama Bin Laden Could Take Many Years
Don't expect Osama Bin Laden to be captured any time soon. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates compares the hunt for Bin Laden to the FBI's 17-year long manhunt for the Unambomber.
How long might it really take to find al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden? U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggests the FBI's 17-year hunt for convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski as a reasonable guide.
Or worse still, Gates said on Wednesday, consider the fate of Americans taken hostage decades ago in Lebanon who died before the United States could find and rescue them.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Gates dismissed the notion that something might be amiss because bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, remain free more than seven years after the September 11 attacks.
"To a certain extent, I think too many people go to too many movies. Finding these guys is really hard, and especially if they have some kind of a support network," he said.
Robert Gages is pretty good at downplaying expectations. He also said, "Everybody continues to look for No. 1 and No. 2. And we will continue that effort and I think everyone's hope is that one of these days, we'll be successful."
The Congresswoman Who Hung Up on the President Elect
Politicians are paranoid about phone calls after Governor Sarah Palin was prank called by a radio station disc jockey who claimed to be the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. They recorded the call in which Palin listens to the fake Sarkozy saying all kinds of awful and inappropriate things. The incident horrified politicians. So it's perhaps natural that when Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida received a phone call purportedly from Barack Obama, she hung up on him. Then when Rahm Emanuel called back, she hung up on him too. She thought it was one of the notorious south Florida radio stations pranking her. But it really was President-Elect Obama.
According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up.
Moments later, Obama tried again, this time through his soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
"Ileana, I cannot believe you hung up on the President-Elect," Emanuel said. And then--yes, you know what's coming--she hung up on Emanuel saying she "didn't believe the call was legitimate."
A short time later, Ros-Lehtinen received an urgent call from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who informed her that she indeed hung up on Obama.
So, Obama tried again and this time he was successful. (Phew!)
"It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," Obama said. Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town.
"You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you," Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.
Ros-Lehtinen then congratulated Obama on his victory and pledged to work together on behalf of all Americans. She also asked Obama to call Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Albio Sire (D-NJ) to discuss Cuba policy.
No word yet as to whether Menendez or Sire hung up on the President-Elect.
Another news cycle, another Dick Cheney hunting controversy. This time, he didn't shoot anyone, so that's good. But he did go to a gun club that proudly displays
the Confederate flag. Al Sharpton was not amused.
A Daily News photographer captured the 3-by-5 foot Dixie flag affixed to a door in the garage of the Clove Valley Gun and Rod Club in upstate Union Vale, N.Y.
"It's appalling for the VP to be at a private club displaying the flag of lynching, hate and murder," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's the epitome of an insult."
Sharpton demanded Cheney distance himself from the exclusive club where the Stars and Bars was flown, and said he might hold a prayer vigil there.
Club officials threatened a reporter with arrest when he sought comment.
The flag fiasco is especially upsetting because blacks have recently been subjected to an upsurge of racial threats, including nooses left in Jena, La., and Columbia University, he said.
"This is an outrage - he ought to leave immediately," Sharpton told The News. "He ought to apologize to the American people for being there in the first place."
"That flag brings back painful memories of the old, old South," said Elouise Maxey, 59, president of the Northern Dutchess County branch of the NAACP. "I'm disappointed that he would go."
Cheney spokeswoman Lee Anne McBride said Cheney did not know anything about the controversy.
"The VP did not see the flag and neither did anyone on staff," said McBride.
*****
"As long as he doesn't shoot somebody in the a--," Bill Tryon, 48, said he was fine with Cheney's visit. Tryon lives in the area.
There was no repeat of last year's snafu, when Cheney shot an old pal in the face during a quail hunt in south Texas.
"It should be water under the bridge," said Ralph Mondello, who is running for a spot on the local town council.
It wasn't much of a hunt: it was more like shooting pheasants in a barrel. Farm-bred pheasants were set loose on the grounds 24 hours before the vice president arrived so that he could be sure to bag some game. It's called a "canned hunt."
Apparently it was Crazy Dictator Day at the U.N. today. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called President Bush the Devil and told the U.N. that it was a worthless organization.
"The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. "And it smells of sulfur still today."
Chavez accused Bush of having spoken "as if he owned the world" and said a psychiatrist could be called to analyze the statement.
"As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world. An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: 'The Devil's Recipe.' "
Chavez held up a book by Noam Chomsky on imperialism and said it encapsulated his arguments: "The American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its hegemonistic system of domination, and we cannot allow him to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated."
Chavez also blasted the United Nations, calling the General Assembly "merely a deliberative organ" that meets once a year.
"We have no power, no power to make any impact on the terrible situation in the world," he said.
Chavez called the veto power shared by the five permanent members of the Security Council "anti-democratic," and cited the U.S. veto of a resolution that would have demanded the Israelis halt their bombing of Lebanon this summer.
That move "allowed the Israelis with impunity to destroy Lebanon in front of us all as we stood there watching," Chavez said. He recommended that the world body's headquarters be moved to another country and offered Venezuela as a possible new home.
He noted that he recently returned from a summit of more than 50 heads of state from nonaligned nations in Havana, Cuba, and urged his audience to support their efforts for "a world of peace."
At a news conference after the speech, he further lambasted the United States and U.N., saying of the latter, "There is no way to save it."
The U.N. was founded in an era of two superpowers, he said. "The Soviet Union collapsed. The United States empire is on the way down and it will be finished in the near future, for the good of all mankind."
He also said the U.S. government was the "first enemy" of its people.
"Their freedoms are restricted through the Patriot Act. They are sent to die in Iraq for no reason. The people of the United States are being deceived," he said.
This is classic Hugo Chavez. It's actually one of his milder speeches. Once you've told world leaders that you have the ability to "smell the Devil" when he's in the room (another barnburner of a speech he made), your credibility suffers a bit. And that sulpher he smelled was probably just a plumbing problem.
But it's too easy (and tempting) to dismiss Chavez and his ravings. Unfortunately for us, there are a lot of people around the world that view America and the U.N. the same way he does. And that is a direct result of President Bush's disastrous foreign policies.
It's interesting to note that Hugo Chavez and the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolten hold exactly the same view of the United Nations: they both want it destroyed. And that would not be good for the U.S., regardless of what Bolten (who is just as crazy as Chavez) says.
Some experts say that Pluto's recent demotion to dwarf planet could set a precedent and that Neptune could be next.
The solar system's biggest planets are at risk of being stripped of their status after the world's top astronomers voted to downgrade Pluto into the dwarf planet category.
Experts claim that the definition for planets adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) could also see Neptune downgraded.
They say that both planets fail to meet all the criteria set by the IAU.
But other leading astronomers insist the decision to demote Pluto to the status of a "dwarf planet" has allowed them to deal with the difficult problem that there are several other Pluto-like objects orbiting our Sun.
Earlier this month the IAU proposed increasing the number of planets to 12 by recognising three new planets, the asteroid Ceres, Pluto's moon Charon and the distant world known as 2003 UB313.
*****
In the definition set by the astronomers, all planets must now "orbit the Sun, have sufficient mass for its gravity to form a nearly-round shape and have cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit".
Pluto was downgraded as its orbit crosses with that of Neptune, meaning that it was classed as a dwarf planet as it had not cleared its orbit.
But critics claim that the IAU vote, which was passed by a majority, should be abandoned as only around 400 of the union's 10,000 members took part in the vote in Prague last week.
Martin Hendry, a senior lecturer in astronomy at Glasgow University and member of the IAU, said: "Unless the science underlying this is rigorous, how can we expect to agree on a definition that will be not only understood by ourselves, but other forms of life if and when we encounter them?"
Planetologists have now started a campaign to have Pluto reinstated.
Astronomers leading the Nasa New Horizons mission that will explore the distant regions of the solar system including Pluto, described last week's decision as "muddled".
Harold Weaver, from the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and a New Horizons project scientist, said: "Since many 'Plutinos', including Pluto, cross Neptune's orbit, I'd say Neptune's neighbourhood still needs some clearing."
In more disturbing political news, astrologers are warning that those who fall under the astrological sign Scorpio are in for a rough ride because of Pluto's demotion. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Astrologers believe that the positions of the moon, sun and stars affect human affairs and that people born under the 12 signs of the Zodiac tend to pick up qualities of the planets associated with those signs. Some astrologers, including leaders of the American Federation of Astrologers and the Astrological Association of Great Britain, are standing firmly by Pluto. They say they will continue to regard the icy orb as a full-blown planet with a powerful pull on our psyche, despite the astronomers' decision.
"Whether he's a planet, an asteroid, or a radioactive matzo ball, Pluto has proven himself worthy of a permanent place in all horoscopes," says Shelley Ackerman, columnist for the spirituality Web site Beliefnet.com. Ms. Ackerman criticized the IAU for not including astrologers in its decision.
Others warned that Scorpios -- people born between Oct. 23 and Nov. 21 -- should be especially cautious in the coming days because the sign is closely associated with Pluto.
"Scorpios can be extremely explosive, and very direct, and this could be the trigger that makes them explode," says Milton Black, an Australian astrologer who claims to have more than 580,000 clients. Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, take note. All three are Scorpios.
There you have it. If you were born between October 23rd and November 21st, you've been warned. Try to keep that Plutonian temper under control, ok?
Global Warming and Underwater Methane: Not a Good Thing
The scientific evidence about global warming just keeps getting more and more disturbing. A new report concludes that when warmer temperatures melt the ice at the north and south pole, huge deposits of methane gas will be released, which will itself cause more global warming, as well as devastating tsunamis.
You remember our friend, methane gas? Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It's found under the ocean, trapped in methane hydrate -- an ice-like solid made of methane and water -- usually along a continental shelf. If the ice melts or the ocean floor sediments are disturbed, the methane gas is released into the atmosphere.
"We may have less time than we think to do something (about the prospect of global warming)," Dr. Ira Leifer, a marine scientist at University of California Santa Barbara, said in an interview.
Leifer is the main author of a study that looks at how "peak blowouts" of melting undersea formations called methane hydrates could release the potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The study was published Thursday in Global Biogeochemical Cycles, a climate science publication.
The distribution of methane hydrates throughout the world is so vast that energy companies hope one day to tap the resource. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that such formations could harbor as much as 200,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Hydrate formations exist under hundreds of meters of water in places like the Gulf of Mexico and closer to the surface in permafrost areas of the Arctic.
Methane, the main component of the fossil fuel natural gas, has two faces. When burned it releases less carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that scientists believe are warming the earth, than any other fossil fuel.
But if it escapes to the atmosphere without being burned, it can trap heat rapidly because it is a greenhouse gas at least 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
The study measured the amount of methane that escaped to the atmosphere from a peak blowout from small volcanoes on the ocean floor off of California. It found that virtually all of the methane escaping from the deep water reached the atmosphere, countering some theories that methane seeps out in tiny bubbles that harmlessly dissolve in the ocean.
Leifer said rising temperatures could warm the oceans, creating a feedback loop in which warm temperatures make global warming even worse.
The irony here is that there is enough natural gas (which is primarily composed of methane, in combinaton with ethane, propane, butane, helium and one or two other gases)
trapped in the the ocean floor to power the entire world's power needs for quite awhile. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to extract the methane safely.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 100,000 to 300 million trillion cu. ft. (tcf) of methane exists globally in hydrate form--most of it in the ocean floor. "There's more energy potential locked up in methane hydrate formations across the world than in all other fossil energy resources combined," says Brad Tomer, director of the Department of Energy's Strategic Center for Natural Gas and Oil.
*****
Methane bound in hydrates could provide the world with an astounding amount of natural gas--if it could be safely extracted.
*****
[I]f methane gas escapes directly to the atmosphere--as a byproduct of extraction, an earthquake or warming ocean waters--the consequences could be dire. Methane is a greenhouse gas 21 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Today, 3000 times more methane exists in hydrate deposits than in the atmosphere. Releasing even a fraction of this amount would amplify global warming. The decomposition of hydrates near the surface of the sea floor could even trigger tsunamis by causing landslides on the continental slope.
So, if we could figure out how to extract methane safely, we could solve our energy needs, until we figure out table top fusion or some other revolutionary energy source. But if we don't drastically reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, the methane gas trapped in the Arctic ice could be released, causing more global warming and tsunamis.
This would be an excellent time to make sure that flood insurance on your house is up to date.
General Wesley Clark appears to be testing the waters for a 2008 Presidential run. Clark was a lifetime Republican, until Karl Rove blew him off when he mentioned that he was interested in politics and would like to get more involved with his party. He became a Democrat and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, losing out to John Kerry. Clark had never run a political campaign before and he got in the race too late to really have a chance. His poll numbers were quite favorable.
As the Democrats do their best to look strong on national security issues, Clark is emerging as a major player.
Last week's unveiling of the Democratic Party's "Plan to Protect America" turned out to be a showcase for Clark -- and his diplomatic skills in helping get badly divided Democrats behind a single message.
Clark, who ran against Kerry in '04, stepped to the microphone to condemn President Bush's "incompetent" leadership, while Kerry's 6-foot-4-inch frame was crammed in alongside dozens of other lawmakers standing on risers in the back; even Hillary Rodham Clinton, widely thought to be the 2008 frontrunner, was barely visible in the last row.
That Clark was the one presidential prospect allowed to speak owes much to his role alongside the Senate Democratic leader, Harry M. Reid of Nevada, and the House Democratic leader, Nancy P. Pelosi of California, in crafting the national security plank in which the party pledges to "eliminate" Osama Bin Laden, better equip the US military, and ensure that 2006 "is a year of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty."
Iraq was the most difficult point of agreement for party lawmakers. Over the past months, Clark spent hours on the phone and in meetings with lawmakers ranging from centrist to leftists. Last fall, he urged Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania not to make his famed call for immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. And while Clark calls the Iraq war a "strategic blunder," he continues to disagree with such lawmakers as Kerry who propose specific reductions of troops.
"No Democratic should put numbers" on an exit by American troops, he told the Briefing.
Asked about his '08 plans, Clark was coy, saying that this year's midterm vote is "the moment of decision," an election that deserves all-out focus. But doesn't the retired general's visit to New Hampshire last month suggest some presidential water-testing?
"I went up there to get my batteries recharged. The people in New Hampshire really know the issues," Clark said, before pointedly mentioning that his two favorite sports teams are now the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots
Clark held the Star Wars-worthy title of "Supreme Allied Commander of NATO" during the Clinton administration, which wins the award for Coolest Job Title Ever. He is also a decorated Viet Nam veteran.
If Clark is really going to run in 2008, he needs to get his money machine going now.
Port Security Threatened by Turning our Port Control Over to the United Arab Emirates
This is really the last straw for a supposedly "tough on terror" admininistration. President Bush wants to turn over the control of our major shipping points to a company based in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Yes, that's right -- in the middle of the War on Terror we're handing over our shipping ports to Dubai. Senators on both sides of the aisle have banded together to stop the bill. The bill was originally sponsored by Senator Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Menendez (D-New Jersey) presented the bill; a number of Republicans are getting on board. After all, in an election year, how will lawmakers explain to their constituents that they've handed over control of some of our busiest shipping ports to the UAE?
The purpose of the bill would be to block the $6.8 billion sale of a British shipping company to Dubai Ports World, a port operator controlled by the government of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. The British company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation, operates the cruise ship terminal on the West Side of Manhattan and has a half-interest in the Port Newark Container Terminal, the third-largest cargo terminal in New York harbor.
"I just don't believe that our ports should be handed over to foreign governments," Mr. Menendez said in an interview. Especially not to Dubai, he added, because it has a "serious and dubious history" as a transit point for terrorism.
Echoing other lawmakers in Washington who criticized the federal approval of the deal this week, Mr. Menendez cited reports that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from the United Arab Emirates and that some of the money that financed the attacks flowed through banks there.
That bipartisan group of critics included Senator Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat, and Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island.
But senior administration officials reiterated their support for the transaction and their favorable relations with the United Arab Emirates.
The Dubai purchase passed a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel composed of the leaders of 12 federal agencies and headed by the treasury secretary, John W. Snow.
Mr. Snow and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, said yesterday that the committee had determined that the transfer would not compromise security. Ms. Rice, who is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates next week, described one of them, Abu Dhabi, as "a very good friend" of the United States, according to Bloomberg News.
A "good friend"? Give me a break. The don't even recognize that Israel has the right to exist. Their goverment has ties to known terrorist organizations. The 9/11 Commission Report noted that many of the hijackers transited through the United Arab Emirates. A great deal of Osama bin Laden's and other terrorists group's money is laundered through the UAE. This is just plain wrong, and the furor on Capitol Hill is just starting.
The Associated Press is now reporting that 78 year old attorney Harry Whittington, who was shot by Vice president Dick Cheney during a hunting trip, has had a heart attack because some of the birdshot is lodged too close to his heart.
Peter Banko, the hospital administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, said Harry Whittington had the heart attack early Tuesday while being evaluated.
He said there was an irregularity in the heartbeat caused by a birdshot pellet, and doctors performed a cardiac catheterization. Whittington expressed a desire to leave the hospital, but Banko said he would probably stay for another week.
Whittington, a prominent Republican attorney from Austin, was accidentally sprayed with shotgun pellets when Cheney was aiming for a quail Saturday.
Whittington had initially been placed in intensive care. He had been moved to a "step-down unit" Monday after doctors decided to leave several birdshot pellets lodged in his skin rather than try to remove them.
*****
The wildlife department issued a report Monday that found the main factor contributing to the accident was a "hunter's judgment factor." No other secondary factors were found to have played a role.
CNN is reporting that Mr. Whittington has just had an angiogram procedure to evaluate his condition. Reports indicate that he has never had heart trouble before being shot by Vice president Cheney.
After all the jokes about the incident by comics on late night television last night, the White House had decided to play along with the jokes this morning. Even Jeb Bush cracked a joke at Cheney's expense. But after Whittington had a heart attack, Scott McClellan turned serious this afternoon. This is a PR nightmare for the White House, but it will have to get in line for top spin doctor treatment.
After all, Scooter Libby just testified that his bosses (e.g., Cheney) told him it was ok to lead undercover agent Valerie Plame's name to the press and the CIA has confirmed that Plame was undercover at the time, working on the Iran-nuclear weapons case. That's not good news for Dick Cheney or the White House.
Most people thought it was some kind of joke because it's almost exactly like the quail hunting scene in Wedding Crashers starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, but it turned out to be true: Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot his lawyer in the face while they were hunting quail on Saturday.
Luckily for the nearly 80 year old attorney, Harry Whittington, Cheney is in such poor health that he travels with a full medical team and has instant access to an ambulance. Whittington was helicoptered to a hospital in Corpus Christi on Saturday evening, and was still in the ICU as of Sunday evening. The hospital listed his condition as "stable," which is one step down from "good." The Austin attorney reportedly was sprayed in the face, neck and chest with buckshot.
The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until nearly 24 hours after it happened.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.
Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.
"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."
Kathryn Armstrong, the daughter of the owners of the ranch where Cheney was hunting tried to downplay the incident. She told reporters that "This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," which leads to the inevitable question: is she insane? It "happens from time to time"? Yeah, I've heard of accidents like this happening, but only when everyone in the hunting party has had a few too many cocktails. After all, if you're sober and in broad daylight, a quail breaking cover from the ground and a 6' tall white guy don't look much alike.
Notice that a) the story wasn't reported until 24 hours after the accident occurred and that b) Ms. Armstrong's statement blames the victim. But anyone who's taken a hunting safety course knows that if you have a weapon it is your job to know where your fellow hunters are at all times.
Of course the jokes have already started: "It took 40 years, but Cheney finally saw some action." "Good thing he got those 5 deferments to get out of going to Viet Nam: otherwise his platoon would never have made it back alive." Cartoons showing Cheney as Elmer Fudd the Hunter are also starting to surface. Let's hope that Mr. Whittington makes a full recovery. And that he declines the next hunting invitation he receives from the Vice-President.
Well, that really wasn't worth staying up for: the State of the Union address was hardly a barnburner. Bush opened with a reference to 9/11, which was a great start for all those participating in the State of the Union drinking parties (e.g., one drink every time Bush mentions "9/11", "freedom" or a "blue ribbon panel"). After 12 mentions of "freedom on the march" and about 30 mentions of "democracy" and variations thereof, I admit I started to tune out.
There were no new policy initiatives, unless you count his demand that Congress pass a bill outlawing human-animal hybrids. Maybe it's because I recently saw Underworld on DVD, but the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions human-animal hybrids is werewolves. Has that become some kind of problem since the last State of the Union speech?
In other notes, the president defended his right to spy on anyone he wishes, said he has a "plan" to get out of Iraq (although he doesn't seem to be sharing it with anyone) and declared that anyone who disagrees with him is a "defeatist." Yawn. What else? Condi wore a winter white suit, Mrs. Bush wore a pink suit, Dianne Feinstein wore a black suit and Nancy Pelosi wore a red suit. Make of that what you will.
Newly annointed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has a robe that fitted him perfectly: clearly he'd already had it ordered, altered, pressed and ready to go long before he was confirmed. He was so jovial -- laughing, chatting up his neighbors and smiling so much -- that I hardly recognized him. So many civil rights to gut, so little time.
Jeb Bush puzzled supporters when he threatened to "unleash Chang" when things got tough.
During a ceremony in which Republican Representative Marco Rubio, (R-West Miami) was named as the 2007-08 House speaker, Governor Jeb Bush started babbling about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.
"Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society."
"I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down."
Bush then unsheathed a golden sword and gave it to Rubio as a gift.
"I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great conservative warrior," he said, as the crowd roared.
Eastern mysticism? What will Jeb's fundamentalist Christian supporters think about that? And, more importantly, what the heck was he talking about? An editorial in the Gainesville Sun explains:
In a 1989 Washington Post article on the politics of tennis, former President George Bush was quoted as threatening to "unleash Chang" as a means of intimidating other players.
The saying was apparently quite popular with Gov. Bush's father, and referred to a legendary warrior named Chang who was called upon to settle political disputes in Chinese dynasties of yore.
The phrase has evolved, under Gov. Jeb Bush's use, to mean the need to fix conflicts or disagreements over an issue. Faced with a stalemate, the governor apparently "unleashes Chang" as a rhetorical device, signaling it's time to stop arguing and start agreeing.
Well, it makes more sense for the former Ambassador to China to unleash a little Chang on the tennis court. But in front of hundreds of conservative lawyers and lawmakers at the Florida statehouse? It's just....odd. In a related story, Jeb's 21 year-old son (John Ellis Bush) apparently unleased a little too much Chang and got himself arrested for public intoxication.
Update: Further searching of the Chang Mystery led us to Wonkette, whose sources tell her that Chang isn't Chang at all. It's Chiang, as in Chiang Kai-Sheck.
Devoted readers are still puzzling out the meaning of Paul Begala's Sugar Land move, but they've busted "unleash chang" wide open. It's not a porny-sounding family in-joke, it's a Cold War-era family in-joke! And it's not "chang," it's "Chiang," as in Chiang Kai-Shek -- the plea to "unleash Chiang" was a rallying cry for those who thought the U.S. should allow Chiang's Nationalist forces to invade mainland China and drive the Communists from power.
It was also George H.W. Bush's secret horseshoes-winning chant. Correspondents seem to assume H.W. was mocking Chinese hardliners with the slogan, though we note that Jeb seems to take it sort of seriously, proving that the last generation's irony is this generation's earnest mistake. Worked out that way with Iraq, too, maybe.
WRAL 
Politicians are paranoid about phone calls after Governor Sarah Palin was prank called by a radio station disc jockey who claimed to be the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. They recorded the call in which Palin listens to the fake Sarkozy saying all kinds of awful and inappropriate things. The incident horrified politicians. So it's perhaps natural that when Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida received a phone call purportedly from Barack Obama, she hung up on him. Then when Rahm Emanuel called back, she hung up on him too. She thought it was one of the notorious south Florida radio stations pranking her. But it really was President-Elect Obama.
The scientific evidence about global warming just keeps getting more and more 