Carter on the Current Situation - The Troubling New Face of America (washingtonpost.com) is Jimmy Carter's take on the bind we now find ourselves in. America needs all the help it can get around the world to combat terrorism, yet we are increasingly isolating ourselves and alienating our allies.

We have thrown down counterproductive gauntlets to the rest of the world, disavowing U.S. commitments to laboriously negotiated international accords.

Chickenhawk Database - Where can you learn that Rush Limbaugh avoided Vietnam with the excuse that he had anal cysts? Where can you learn that Dick Cheney "had other priorities?" That our president was missing in action? Why, The Chickenhawk Database of course.

The next time you hear one of these hawks talking "preemptive strike," take a stroll down to the database to see where they were when it was their necks that could have been on the line.

Unobtrusive Wedding Photog... through Science! - Last night, Rui, Maggie and I watched Ang Lee's great movie Hsi yen (The Wedding Banquet). This got us talking about obtrusive wedding photographers. Coincidentally, this story was referenced in SlashDot today regarding an unobtrusive robotic wedding photographer.

First Amendment Loses Support - ...especially among stupid people. (CBS News: Support For 1st Amendment Slipping)
Brilliance. Anyone with a screw loose can get a gun, but people are starting to wonder whether we should be able to criticise the government. Am I on crazy pills?