Events

A journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau takes an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall. Every day when she looks out, she sees an old Jewish man praying vigorously. So the journalist goes down and introduces herself to the old man. She asks: "You come every day to the wall. How long have you done that and what are you praying for?" The old man replies, "I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and then for the brotherhood of man. I go home have a cup...

Josh Marshall reports that newspapers are reluctant to say that convicted felon George Ryan is a Republican: As we mentioned earlier, the AP really, really didn't seem to want to mention that George Ryan, the former Illinois governor convicted of corruption today, is a Republican. The AP waited until the very end of the article to note that Ryan is from the GOP. Time never got around to mentioning it. ... While failing to mention the party affiliation of the guy who got indicted, they did manage to have...

So the leader of China is visiting Washington this week. Who, you may ask? Yup. That's the guy. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Republican former Illinois governor George Ryan was convicted on all counts of corruption in his Federal felony trial: A federal jury convicted former Gov. George Ryan today on all charges that as secretary of state he steered state business to cronies in return for vacations, gifts and other benefits for himself and his family. Lobbyist Lawrence Warner, a close Ryan friend, was also found guilty on all charges against him in the historic trial. On their eleventh day of deliberations, the six-woman...

Economist Paul Krugman (sub.req.) in today's New York Times lays out exactly how Exxon-Mobil has tried to undermine climate research since the mid-1980s: The people and institutions Exxon Mobil supports aren't actually engaged in climate research. They're the real-world equivalents of the Academy of Tobacco Studies in the movie "Thank You for Smoking," whose purpose is to fail to find evidence of harmful effects. But the fake research works for its sponsors, partly because it gets picked up by...

More fooling around with the Canon 20D Anne got me. I love that I can finally do available-light photos in almost all conditions, since the sensor can go up to ISO 3200.

Anne got a new job (details to follow), and to celebrate, she showed up in New Hampshire yesterday with a Canon 20D, the camera I've wanted since...well, since before I met her. What a great wife. Now I can take photos like this, with actual control over the exposure, aperture, and focus:

With commentary track

TPM Muckraker reported today that the Dept. of Homeland Security has a new warning about radical animal-rights groups: Such radical extremist groups may use several tactics—each devastating in its own way—including: - "organizing protests" - "flyer distribution" - "inundating computers with e-mails" - "tying up phone lines to prevent legitimate calls" - "sending continuous faxes in order to drain the ink supply from company fax machines" I particularly like the fourth item, since several Republicans...