Crime and Smoking Make You Stupid   |    11:59 a.m.

From the Chicago Tribune's John Kass. Courtesy of Tori.

Summary: Judge gets mysterious and poorly spelled letter claiming that an innocent man has been convicted of home invasion. Defendant in question refuses to submit saliva for a DNA test, but does accept a cigarette from one of the prosecutors. Prosecutors compare DNA from cigarette to saliva from envelope that contained said letter. The DNA is a match, which means the defendant is the one who sent the letter in attempt to avoid a "3 strikes" life sentence because he had 2 prior convictions for home invasion rapes.

D minus "a few days"   |    6:32 p.m.

Good things about this year's DragonCon:
• The Masquerade, hosted by Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy of MST3K fame (Torgo! Torgo!)
• The Changelings
• Sarah Douglas (Superman 2 and the V sequel)
• Mucho Farscape activity, thanks to TPTB spinning off the Sci-Fi Friday shows into their own track
• Andreas Katsulas from B5
• Kent McCord
• Virginia Hey and Lani John Tupu (Farscape)
• Mighty Rassilon Art Players, who will be performing their newest work, "Welcome Back Potter"
• Ethan Phillips, Richard Picardo, Nichelle Nichols of various ST shows
• Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder, need I say more?)
• Iron Artist (like Iron Chef, only with artists)
• The first DC parade, beginning at Centennial Olympic Park
• Smallville and Alias panels

Go Figure   |    6:32 p.m.

take the which one of the trading spaces cast are you? quiz!

The Article of the Week   |    7:31 p.m.

What's So Bad About Israel, by Michael Neumann. When people ask me how I can be Jewish and not support Israel, maybe I can use this to explain my reasons.

Arafat Calls for Democratic Elections in the United States   |    7:15 p.m.

Two outstanding articles from CommonDreams from June 26 that I forgot to post earlier:

Arafat Calls for Democratic Elections in the United States -- World Reaction is Mixed / Rahul Mahajan

Bush is Irrelevant and Must Go / Ira Chernus

Playboy has done a better job of exposing the women of Enron than the Bush administration has done at exposing its men.   |    7:06 p.m.

I love Frank Rich. (from the NY Times, archived in CommonDreams).

And a semi-related article from Paul Krugman (in the Times, archived here.

It's the end of the world as we know it...   |    6:58 p.m.

The World Wildlife Fund has checked the date on the carton, and the news is not good. From the Observer.

Future Entrepreneurs of the UK   |    6:52 p.m.

From the Guardian, c/o Tori.

A growing number of British teenagers are posting pictures of themselves on the web in return for gifts from strangers. David Rowan reports on the 'camgirls'...

Spoilers for the "secret" attack   |    2:38 p.m.

The NY Times has published information about the so-called secret attack to topple Saddam Hussein (and replace him with the puppet of the Bush Administration's choosing no doubt). It's also linked here.

"An American military document calling for American, British and Canadian air and sea-based forces to land somewhere on the northern coast of France--presumably Normandy for sometime this spring--in a campaign to regain a foothold on the continent and push the Germans out of Western Europe, according to a person familiar with the document."

   |    5:51 p.m.

I'm an atheist!

Which Enemy of the Christian Church Are You?
A(nother) Robert and Tim Creation

Television Without Pity   |    6:46 p.m.

If you're not reading Television Without Pity (formerly mightybigtv.com), you're missing out on some of the funniest writing on the Web. The kind where you have to be careful when you're reading it at work because it can be that laugh-out-loud funny.

One of the joys of reading TV w/o Pity is that you don't have to like the show to appreciate the episode recaps (and as with shows like X-Files and ER, hating the show can really enhance the recap-reading experience). Hell, you don't even have to watch the show to enjoy the recaps.

From the recap for the season finale of Smallville.

"Strummy alt-rock-crap scene where the music continues to play over my clawing of own eyes. Shot of Clark throwing a big wooden post into the ground. He's pushing several posts down to extend a wooden fence. Would we say he's fencing here? Clark takes each wood stake and drives it into the ground in an obvious homage to Buffy. There's been a lot of talk about Buffy vs. Smallville and I will say only one thing on the matter: nobody from this cast had the bad sense to star in a Scooby-Doo movie. That is all. Clark, in his red t-shirt, leans on one of the wood posts and does his best J. Crew brood. You can almost hear his thoughts: "Will leaning on this post make me look fat?" He throws on a denim jacket and gets into the blue Kentmobile. Turns the ignition. The truck blows up! Holy shit! How did we go from Smallville to The Sopranos so fast? Hilariously, the strummy music is still playing. I make up my own lyrics: Clark. / He got blown up / By a big explooooooosion. / And now he feels bad / He feels oh so sad / Cuz he can't drive to get a latteeeeeeeeee! / Why can't he drive away? / Cuz his truck's flambéd, / Can this song get wooooooooooooorse?"

"A book flapping in a breeze. Clark is in the Barnness of Tuxitude, putting on his outfit for the dance. He calls out for MamaKent, asking for help with his bowtie. Instead, it's Lex. Oh Mama, indeed. Lex says Clark seems tense. Massage? Lex offers to tie Clark's tie. He says he's probably tied more of them than MamaKent has. And untied them, I'm sure. Smalltalk. Lex says he didn't want to stay at home. Clark talks about Chloe picking him up. Clark says he lost his truck in a farm accident. Oh my goodness! Lex wins a GAYLE with his bow-tying gaze at Clark's chest! Appropriately, it's a tie (ha, get it?) for the Gayest Look of the Episode. An unprecedented two Gayest Looks in one episode! I guess the season is going out with a bang. A very gay bang. Clark asks about the plant troubles. Lex says it's going to get ugly before it gets better. Lex uses the occasion to reiterate that he and his dad have a complicated relationship and his dad and he have no trust and it's all screwed up and blah blah blah Oedipuscakes. Lex says that any relationship founded on lies is destined to fail. He says it's a good thing he and Clark don't have that problem. Uh. Yeah. "Lucky us," Clark says. Lex tells Clark that whatever happens in the next few days, Lex is still Clark's friend and that's never going to change. At least until Gene Hackman takes over the role. "I hope you feel the same way," Lex says. "I do," Clark says. He said, "I do!" and he's wearing a tux! If there were a priest around, they'd be married right now! Clark asks what Lex thinks is going to happen. Lex says he doesn't know, but he's got a bad feeling. A bad, season-ending cliffhanger feeling. Lex says it's the way you can smell the air change when a storm is coming. Clark says storms are a way of life around here. It's as inevitable as the cheese. Clark says the trick is not to be caught out in the open. Lex tells Clark to take care of himself. Long lingering looks."

At least I'm not Caligula   |    5:27 p.m.

SEJANVS You worked as Tiberius' most trusted advisor, but when that lazy coward fled Rome to shack up in his house near the beach, you basically took over as ruler. You are ambitious and righteous, and not above killing to get what you want. But, as with every other leader in Rome, you must keep an eye out for anyone who might thwart your plans. Don't trust anyone, no matter who they might be. You were portrayed by Patrick Stewart.

Power to the Marks-A-Lot!!   |    5:12 p.m.

I guess the RIAA will go after this instrument of copyright theft next. Avery Dennison attorneys are undoubtedly on high alert.

American Jews and Israel   |    8:38 p.m.

Two excellent articles, from Edward Said and Ira Chernus.

Ask the Magic Eight-Ball   |    8:02 p.m.

Follow the Money: Bush, 9/11 and Deep Threat, by Fran Shor, Bush's Little Secret, by David Corn; and "Cheney said another terrorist attack against United States all but certain", from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Did the Bush Administration have exact knowledge of the events of 9-11 and do nothing?
No. Even though I believe that morally, there are some that wouldn't have had a problem with keeping quiet with this information in order to further their own agenda, I'd like to believe they'd be at least smart enough to appreciate the horrific consequences if that ever came out.

Were there isolated clues that, had efficient and competent government agencies who were above petty turf wars shared their information and put the clues together might have relized that there was a credible threat and implemented concrete safety measures like implementing actual instead of virtual airline security?
Yes.

Has the Bush Administration has taken advantage of 9-11 with the airlines bailout, implementing Draconian safeguards that do nothing about safety and only curtail civil liberties, pushing a unilateral domestic and foreign policy agenda while giving multilaterial lipservice to our allies, and is otherwise doing everything possible to make this work to their advantage for 2002 and 2004 elections and beyond?
Absolutely.

Is there a another chance of another attack? In all likelihood?
Yes.

Do I believe the odds of such an attack have increased since before people started calling for an investigation of what the administation did and didn't know before 9-11?
No.

Are Cheney and Rice and Ashcroft and everyone else trying to jack up our collective fears and anxieties (by practically promising another attack) in order to silence voices calling for an independent investigation over who knew what and when and wasn't done about it?
Absolutely.

Killer Klones from Outer Space   |    6:45 p.m.

Grade: C-/D+

I have come to the conclusion that George Lucas should be banned indefinitely from writing or directing another film.

Stephanie Zacharek's review in Salon perfectly sums up how dreadful this film is, and without the "well at least it's better than The Phantom Menace" crap that so many critics are using in order to write at least one positive thing about the movie.

I can give you six good things about the movie, without resorting to Tosche Station-like whining about how it's better than its predecessor.

• The Matrix Reloaded trailer was a tantalizing hint of a potentially kickass film to arrive next year.
• The Two Towers (AKA Lord of the Rings part 2) opens December 18.
• The movie, when it's not just numbingly boring, provides a surprising number of genuine MST3K moments that will delight and amuse.
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Ewan McGregor, when he isn't spouting "You have much to learn, my young Padawhatever apprentice" for the umpteenth time.
• Yoda and a lightsaber. That is, until you remember he's all CGI and that you saw Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Yiyi do this in Crouching Tiger--and were not CGI.

There are so many things I hated about this movie that I'm not sure where to begin. The countless and unnecessary costume changes. That the love story was nothing but a montage of settings, which included a picnic, his pretending to be injured so he could make a grab for her when she checked on him, and fireplace. The atrocious dialogue that makes the worst soap opera dialogue seem like Shakespeare. That Anakin goes on a beserker rampage after someone dies, killing an entire group of Tusken raiders (he claims to have killed everyone down to the women and children, though all you see on film is take out a few warriors), and Amidala still marries him. That Lucas sledgehammers you in the back of the neck with each ironic point several times just in case there's one idiot out there who still doesn't make the connection.

"The Republic created things that the Emperor would ultimately use against them. I GET IT ALREADY!!"