Alberto Gonzalez weakly defended himself yesterday against allegations he was involved in shaping policies that led to the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib abuse scandals. He danced around the answers like Fred Astaire, giving an “I don’t know” or an “I don’t remember” to anything remotely connected to prisoner abuse. Aside from openly condemning the use of abuse (which reminds me of Bush saying he’s committed to a strong dollar), he avoided the issue like the plague. Some democrats are still skeptical, but of course the GOP feels he completely exonerated himself. Over at Counterpunch.org, Brian Foley would like to remind us that it’s not just his involvement with abuse that we should decry him for, but the mere fact that he worked to give the president the power to detain prisoners indefinitely and without a shred of due process. Yeah, that’s bad too. In fact, I suppose it is worse. He cites a couple of cases where innocent men were imprisoned with no trial or anything, and later freed… and makes the good point that involving a court would likely prevent something like that from happening.

Is India in contact with UFOs? This strange, amateurish news site would like us to think so. Citing completely ambiguous sources and making numerous questionable statements, they say the evidence clearly shows that India’s government regularly confers with extra-terrestrials and is debating whether or not to break the news to the rest of the world. Devoid of editing and chock full of grammar mistakes, this website doesn’t exactly instill any confidence in me that we’ll soon be learning about the mysterious cultures of aliens. Nevertheless, there’s a part of me that would love to see the world’s reaction to undeniable proof of alien existence. I’ve always had a hard time understanding why people are so nationalistic, and racism to me is unfathomable, so I’d hope a dramatic change in humanity would take place. I suppose people are so damn stubborn that they’d still try to, for instance, interpret the bible in such a way that it would now include aliens. But, imagine if those kinds of dividing philosophies came tumbling down!

This week’s Photoshop Phriday is pretty damn hilarious. They’ve taken the illegal immigrant guide that’s been all over the news recently and changed around the instructions a little bit. Have a look.

Val, you sly, sly bastard you. Val Kilmer, one of two men I’d go temporarily gay for, has said he repeatedly botched his lines in order to enjoy a bedroom romp with Angelina Jolie. He said he managed to drag it out for about 4 hours, and that he made millions doing it. Well there jerky, how about passing a couple of those millions on to some tsunami victims? Ya greedy bastard. (I love you Val, pay no attention to my harsh words.)

If you’ve never checked out New York Escort Confessions, a blog I have linked at the left, today is the day to do so. She’s made her second entry about a client of hers who recently offered her $12,000 to get licked and rammed by his dog. After giving it a surprising amount of thought, and many comments left for her, she opted to pass. Ah well, ya can’t blame a bloke for tryin’, right? (Jesus, in this case, YES YOU CAN.)

Attorney General nominee Gonzalez faces the Senate Judiciary Committee today to be questioned about his role in policies shaping the “war on terror”. Many believe he’s the advisor who’s responsible for the widespread use of torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. I must say, it sure seems like it. The guy has bad-mouthed the Geneva Conventions… He argued that the war on terror “renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.” Quaint, eh? Some of us more sane folks out here don’t find the condemnation of torture to be quaint. Nor do we need to be lectured about how “terrorists are not human” and whatnot. Besides, if torturing these prisoners for information was actually working, then what are some of the benefits we’ve enjoyed thus far? All we’ve done is create more terrorists, especially in cases of mistaken identity and after the revelation of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. How is it that so many members of this administration failed to learn the elementary lesson of actions vs. consequences?

More and more allegations of voter fraud in Ohio are cropping up, and some big names are jumping on board to voice their concern. Jesse Jackson is calling for an investigation, saying that minorities and counties supporting Kerry appear to have had a far more difficult time casting their vote than those predominantly supporting Bush. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Ohio’s chief election official, said Kerry would have been terrible for Ohio and the US as a whole, and seems to be “a little too close” to Diebold personnel, if you get my drift. As far as my personal experience, I can’t really offer any evidence to support voter fraud claims. Kerry won Cuyahoga County, and we didn’t use electronic voting machines. However, election day was filled with reports of horrendous waiting queues, and conflicting exit poll results. That I do remember.

It appears that using power lines for internet service may mean faster speeds than DSL or cable currently provide. I remember working in the emerging DSL industry and hearing about tests being run on the power lines to deliver internet access. If I recall, they’ve already done it in England, or somewhere in the UK. Anyway, back then it didn’t seem all that profitable, but if you could deliver higher speeds than other consumer products, and wouldn’t require additional wiring… well shoot, you got yourself a deal.

Buddhist monks are able to raise their body temperature enough to warm wet & cold blankets placed on their backs. Not to mention this is done in a very cold environment. Researchers are studying the way they’re able to control their heartrate, metabolism and body temperature. They’re hoping that more and more people can “self-treat” themselves, especially in illnesses related to stress. Pretty damn awesome. Check out the article, it’s rather interesting.

And some jerk divorced his wife right before claiming his lottery winnings. Actually, that may have been a smart move. (*whispers* I hear she’s got VD.)

Here’s the sushi & miso soup I had for lunch today. I saw Everest there and it’s his birthday! Happy Birthday Ev!

The governor of Baghdad has been assassinated along with 11 other people in a suicide bombing. I’m still baffled by this insatiable urge our administration has to hold the election against all better judgement. Isn’t it apparent to anyone that the cost of holding the election might be many, many lives? I’ll tell you who it is apparent to… the Iraqi people. If you didn’t read the latest Baghdad Burning entry, voting cards are being sold away, the Sunnis are boycotting the election, people aren’t educated on the candidates out of concern that they may be assassinated, and for an unknown reason, all the voting cards list “male” as the gender. Can you imagine voting under such circumstances? The administration is only deluding themselves by trying to progress with their plans. I know what Bush himself would say to that.. he’d call me a cynic, and accuse me of trying to prevent the spread of democracy to the Iraqi people. He’d ask why I find the need to be “pessimistic”, when it’s only reality I’m operating on behalf of. I would absolutely love for the Iraqi people to settle their differences and live in total peace and harmony. However, I believe it was Rumsfeld who so callously said “you go to war with the army you have, not the one you wish you had..”; so then why are we still off in a fantasty land imagining that everything is going great, when the reality of the situation is so far away from that? Is the entire Bush administration tripped out on Zoloft? That would almost explain their actions. As far as maintaining ‘order’ in Iraq is concerned, it’s being reported that there are now more insurgents than US troops. Frankly, I would have believed that statement several months ago as well. If someone invaded the United States, imagine the resistance they’d incur. Just imagine how many “insurgents” we’d have around. In 2000 their population was around 22 million, and estimates now say that there’s about 200,000 insurgents. I think that’s another element that people here in the states are failing to understand. These are not isolated “cells” like our military intelligence leads us to believe, nor are these groups being reduced in size. At some point, we stopped fighting terrorism and began fighting Iraqi citizens resisting an occupation. That point was when we went to Iraq instead of searching for Osama and pals in Afghanistan.

The BBC reports that blogging is taking off here in America. Apparently they’ve found that reading them is far more popular than writing them, and it turns out I’m a pretty stereotypical blogger as far as age, gender and tech interest are concerned.

An air-powered car? Can it be true? Yes, it most certainly can… but it also has an electric backup. Awesome.

Happy 2005 everyone!

So last night, I had to stop at the ATM. My car window’s been getting jammed up a lot lately, and after the deep freeze we had around xmas, it got even worse. So I go to roll it down, it jams, I keep rolling. Next thing you know, I’ve got a lap full of broken glass. Lesson learned: cranking your window extra hard will break it. So in a little bit here I’m headed out to the auto glass place. Fortunately they can fix it pretty cheap, and since it never really worked right, it might finally be fixed!

I’ve been geeking it the hell up with my Rise of Nations game lately. It’s a lot of fun, but very time-consuming. I’m playing as the Russians, and so far I’ve conquered Rome and all of Europe.

The tsunami is still on my mind, and the situation there is still terrible. I found a list of foundations through which you can donate here on AlterNet. But dig this… a British surfer actually rode one of the tsunami waves all the way into a hotel and managed to survive! Although I’m sure he’s deeply upset by the tragedy, those are some serious bragging rights! Must’ve been scary as hell.

Canada has discovered a new case of Mad Cow and claims there is no risk to the public. Yet once again this brings up the case for more widespread testing. I don’t feel like going on a tirade, but god dammit, I also don’t feel like dying for the luxury of eating beef. I don’t even like it that much, but if I’m in the mood for a hamburger some day, I don’t want to experience a deadly brain disease down the road. That’s probably the worst aspect of CJD. You can have it and not know.

John Fishman, the drummer for Phish, is putting his Sonic Rhythm Dress on display in a museum. If you didn’t know, Fishman always wears a mu-mu on stage that’s sort of a blueish-purple with red circles on it. I suppose it’s probably pretty comfortable and easy to move around in, not to mention it’s hilarious. At one point, someone made him a special one with with cassette tape stitched into it, and he played it with tape heads somehow. He also is known for vacuum cleaner solos, where he uses a really old vacuum cleaner with a hose suctioned to his mouth and a microphone to produce some pretty crazy noises.

Anna Nicole Smith is having her late husband’s estate money taken away from her. Hey, that’s pretty cool. It was probably one of the most blatantly evident cases of gold-digging in recorded history. A gorgeous (at the time) stripper weds an 89 year old oil tycoon and we’re supposed to believe it was a marriage of love? I’m astounded that she has the nerve to go to court and defend herself! Come on Anna… we know you’re dumb, but do you really think everyone is thick enough to buy your story? If it was true love, the cards are stacked against you, darlin’.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard of alternatives to sleeping 8 hours all in one shot, such as the Uberman sleep schedule, which proposes you can get by with six 20 minute naps each day. Well, some nerd decided to put it to the test. Thanks, I really was curious about this. So far it appears that he can’t quite pull it off. Personally I think this guy is just not committed enough. Although, maybe he just needs a good night sleep.