Imagine the pride we could have in good old-fashioned American ingenuity with a headline like that, splashed across the corporate media machine.  If only Americans were smart and creative enough to create a technology that produced 100% accuracy in lie detection.

For several years, I have seen stories pop up now and then regarding "brain fingerprinting."  It's an American-made technology that....um...produced, like, 100% accuracy in lie detection.

But while they touch on the potential for suspect interrogation, Fifth Amendment issues are what have dominated the focus of most of these articles.  My question: if we already have the ability to make torture obsolete, then why hasn't brain fingerprinting even been sniffed at during the torture debates?

To whom it most likely does not concern at AT&T:

I am a current AT&T wireless customer, a future Mac user, and I will not be buying an iPhone.  I'm living a very happy life without one right now, and I will be living a very happy life without one a year from now.  This, from a self-admitted gadget nut who has spent his fair share of time ogling the web site.  I want one of them bastards real bad like.

But I have serious issues with your recent history with my privacy, and the iPhone exposes me to your intrusion into my life through several different media formats.  And now you've gone and changed the rules, just in time for the iPhone rollout:

The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service -- something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited from doing.

It seems as if the American audience is not a big fan of the neo-con script which is sowing the seeds of perpetual war in the Middle East.  I don't think anybody could have anticipated such a reaction.  Clearly, they will need a dramatic plot twist before mid-terms, or audiences might start walking out.

(Oh, who am I kidding?  That would take effort.)

The music is out there, alright.  But fat chance of hearing it on your radio.  I pointed out a few examples to the writer, Rilo Kiley's "It's a Hit" is one of the funniest, most sarcastic songs about W in addition to being hopelessly catchy in its refrain, "It's a holiday/for a hangin'..." Steve Earle and Green Day have been outspoken for years.

But the last few weeks have seen a wave of high-profile releases that are starting to define our generation's protest standards.  Pink's "Dear Mr. President," Neil Young and his raw "Living with War" album, Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions, Pearl Jam, and Elbow's "Leaders of the Free World."  And you've heard all about "Nuestro Himno," but have you...heard it?

Please stop by his homepage and show some support for another Blue in a Red State!

US News and World Report touched on the drug smuggling aspect of the Dubai port back in December.  (Thanks to Molly Ivins for referring to it.)  So for all the bluster about the UAE being intolerant of smuggling and an ally on terrorism, it's not difficult to put the pieces together.

Bush family > CIA > drug smuggling

I've got this really awful habit of starting 50 different projects at once and not being able to finish anything I really need to get done, but I was struck with such a killer brainstorm I had to share it.

An open line of communication between the citizen-journalists of Iraq and the bloggers of the US is an incredible teaching tool.  As a former teacher, I almost wish I was back in the classroom so I could set up an online blog pen-pal program between my students and kids in Iraq.  

For those who aren't as newsgeeky as I am, PA Senator Rick Santorum has equated homosexual sex to beastiality, which is as shocking to the civilized world as it is sensible to the Deliverance Republican base.

But the ugly face of beastiality has reared again, in the form of aptly-named anti-abortion terrorism advocate Neal Horsley.  On the FOX News Radio program "The Alan Colmes Show," Horsley apparently  freely admitted to engaging in beastiality as a youngster.

Continued below the fold.

The way things are going, one of these poor kids is gonna snap one day.  

And we'll all be shocked, and blame Arabs.  The Terror Alert will go Red.  Then it'll turn out to be Joe Trailer Park, and we'll wonder how such a nice young veteran could have done it.  And they'll flash Tim McVeigh's picture on the screen a few times, and still, most people will fail to make the connection.

From the beginning of this non-story, an overwhelming majority of Americans have believed that the Schiavo story is not a national political issue.  The religious elitists rallied under the moral leadership of Tom Delay and Bill Frist in hopes that the United States Congress could step in and save Terri Schiavo from meeting God.  Unfortunately for them, every single legal outlet has been exhausted and their patient, their symbol, their talking point, is dying in the bed she has occupied since a time when Michael Jackson was known for music and dancing.

With all legal options behind you, isn't it time to put your faith to the test?  Tom Delay himself said that Terri was sent to you by God. (Let's forget that he sent her fifteen years ago, and if you had your way she would have died then without the malpractice award and Medicaid that has supported her ever since.)

Call (818) 883-6397, category code 3636.

This poll is from the Los Angeles Daily News (dailynews.com), and the questions are usually leading, badly worded, or just plain moronic.  I've seen as many as 1,000 or so respondents, and as few as 8 on any given day.

But for me, the most eye-opening clip of the film was the footage of Dr. King giving his first speech to the people of Montgomery.  It wasn't what he said, I'd heard that all before.  It was the caption at the bottom that caught my eye: "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  27 Years Old."

It really slugged me.

This leads one to wonder, if there is a Maggie Gallagher for every Armstrong Williams, are there others for "Jeff Gannon" or "Talon News?"

The White House Press has been very quiet regarding the revelations about Gannon/Guckert.  Perhaps it is because they don't want to pile on, or give the appearance of being on a conservative witch hunt.  Perhaps they're too busy losing credibility in print and cable to bother themselves with a story which does nothing but erode their credibility as journalists.  (Continued...)

Catch the repeat later tonight, it's 9pm Pacific.  (Not sure about the east coast time.)

He does a great video compilation of Jeff's press conference questions.  He also framed the story as not only a media scandal, but a security concern.  He covered most of the major angles: the phoniness of Talon, the hot military studs, the Plame leak, the McClellan lifeline, and a nice segue into the official 24-hour Pentagon TV propaganda network.

Contact: Coalition@cc.org

My response:

Your urging of Christians to support Alberto Gonzalez is an affront to any thinking, compassionate person.  You are an embarrassment to humanity and to all that Christ stood for.  I cannot imagine how you can justify the endorsement of torture, rape, and murder as something Jesus Christ would have taught.

Organizations like yours are what holds back the spread of Christianity.  It is embarrassing to be associated with people like you.  God help you, it seems logic and ethics certainly can't.

(Excerpt:) "Ohio Revised Code Title XXXV Elections, Sec. 3503.26 that requires all election records to be made available for public inspection and copying. ORC Sec. 3599.161 makes it a crime for any employee of the Board of Elections to knowingly prevent or prohibit any person from inspecting the public records filed in the office of the Board of Elections. Lastly, ORC Sec. 3599.42 states: "A violation of any provision of Title XXXV (35) of the Revised Code constitutes a prima facie case of election fraud within the purview of such Title."