the morning's political roundup

WASHINGTON, March 14 — President Bush said Wednesday that he had confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, but that he was “frankly not happy about” the way Mr. Gonzales had handled the dismissal of federal prosecutors, a move that has led to a Congressional investigation into whether the White House allowed politics to interfere with law enforcement. Oh, say it ain't SO! /fe


Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, long said to be the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to them at a military hearing held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon yesterday. He also acknowledged full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terror attacks or plots. more on the confession, taken during the Sekrit, No Lawyers Allowed, Not Open to Nobody hearings discussed in this journal a few days ago. My hard-earned cynicism is having a field day with the appearances of impropriety all over the damn place


Jurors recommend the death penalty for John Evander Couey, found guilty last week of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. There is no real 'justice' in cases like this, but it's tough to argue against the punishment as being cruel or etc. If I have a hot button, it's cases that touch on Megan's Law and related incidents. As a species, if we fail to protect our children, we have no right to continue. Period. The fact that we have consistently failed to do so, for pretty much the history of the 'civilized' race, just.... well. Hot botton, as I said.

Meanwhile, four people were killed in a gunfight in Greenwich Village last night, including two auxiliary cops. Did y'all know about the auxiliaries? Me, I say if they're wearing the uniform, they need bullet proof vests, ESPECIALLY if they're not carrying guns. But hey, what do I know?

And then there's more Stuff happening in the Middle East. Hamas in! Hamas out! US Forces in! US Forces...more in! We don't need a scorecard, we need a 3-d rotating graphics panel with commentary and play-by-play.

And let's just not even talk about the presidential pre-primaries, 'k? Let them all shoot themselves in the various feet, and we can count who is still standing later...

It Never Fails

My sister, being a mostly lifelong New Englander except for a period of exile in New Jersey she refuses to talk about, has this Thing.

She schedules all of her family's Life Events in March and/or April.

Okay, so the kids being born in those months was bad planning but not really scheduled. She and her husband got married in early April (meaning the bridal shower was in March). Nephew birthdays, ditto. Bar mitzvahs, ditto-ditto.

And almost every single one, guess what happens?

Yep. Snow. In some cases, blizzard-like snow.

Guess what's this weekend? Bar mitzvah.

Guess what's on the agenda to start coming down just in time? Snow.


Sis? I love you dearly, but what the HELL was wrong with June? July? Even September?

(because, really. All winter I waited for a good snowstorm to hit, where I didn't have to go anywhere... and it finally hits the weekend I have to go somewhere. And not only somewhere, but deeper into the storm...)