hard deadlines

Dawkins on the 'God Hypothesis': "At best superfluous, at worst, unparsimonious."

Colbert: "Do both of those mean you surrender?"

Genius.

Okay, it makes all the legal sense in the world. If you die after an unfavorable verdict at trial and don't have the opportunity to appeal your conviction, the legal system should expunge the whole thing, undo the indictment as if it never happened, and make you innocent until proven guilty again. And by gosh, that's just the kind of absolution the dear departed Kenny Boy got from a Texas judge today. See the whole story in the Washington Post.

Fortunately, now that Bush has signed the Torture Bill into law, once the Democrats take control, we can just declare any future Ken Lays enemies of the state and beat the crap truth out of them.

A-and what does this mean for poor, fucked-over Lee Harvey Oswald? He never even got a chance to go to trial, but Geralds Ford and Posner found him guilty. Will no Texas judge stand up for him?

As usual, the liberal media has it all wrong. The new online world is a very different place, and congresscritters have adapted with startling speed, developing a lexicon of shorthand to make communications more secure. What could be better than a code that looks like instant-message sex?

Those inspired truth-seekers at WhiteHouse.org dug up a compendium of these congressional text-message translations -- you'll see just how hard our representatives were working when you thought they were just jacking off.

Message: "How often do U work out?"
Translation: If there is a last minute vote, please contact me via my pager as I may be out of cell phone range.

From the really, really NSFW memo on common Congressional terminology.

Also, if you are into merch, check out their new Foley gear. (Thanks, Ka!)

Nice reporting on the widening troubles at the Department of Ed, where their "Reading First" program looks more and more like "campaign donors first," in a billion-dollar boondoggle contravening the stated aim of the program to base itself on scientific research.

Via the Washington Post
"In fact, the vast majority of the 4,800 Reading First schools have now adopted one of the five or six top-selling commercial textbooks, even though none of them has been evaluated in a peer-reviewed study against a control group. Most of the schools also use the same assessment program, the same instructional model, and one of three training programs developed by Reading First insiders -- with little research backing."

The (now resigned) program director, Chris Doherty, crows about strong-arming states into using his pet materials. "This program bashing is best done off or under the major radar screens."

Yeah, now that's just the kind of openness and concern for children that the Bush administration brought to Washington.