And this is a surpise to…who?

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Remember all those weapons of mass destruction that Bush et al assured us were all over Iraq, just waiting to be found? Funny thing, that — apparently, they don’t exist after all.

The U.S-led team hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found no stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons, six months after the United States launched a war against Baghdad to remove such a threat, CIA adviser David Kay said on Thursday.

Gee, imagine that.

Not that Bush cares.

The Bush administration is seeking more than \$600 million from Congress to continue the hunt for conclusive evidence that Saddam Hussein’s government had an illegal weapons program, officials said Wednesday.

The money, part of the White House’s request for \$87 billion in supplemental spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, comes on top of at least \$300 million that has already been spent on the weapons search, the officials said.

Um, Georgie-boy? They’re not there. Let’s just take our toys and go home before the other kids really get sick of our stomping around in the sandbox and gang up on us. Nobody likes a bully.

Shmuck.

(via Kos)

Graham out?

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It’s a little unclear, but it looks like Bob Graham is abandoning the Democratic nomination race.

Democrat Bob Graham told a Senate colleague Thursday that he would abandon his struggling presidential bid, a Democratic source said, but in a day filled with mixed signals, aides said he will continue to campaign.

One down…nine to go.

(via Atrios)

A marriage made in heaven

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…If Yoko Ono married Sonny Bono, she’d be Yoko Ono Bono.

…If Dolly Parton married Salvador Dali, she’d be Dolly Dali.

…If Bo Derek married Don Ho, she’d be Bo Ho.

…If Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader, she’d be Ella Vader.

…If Oprah Winfrey married Depak Chopra, she’d be Oprah Chopra.

…If Cat Stevens married Snoop Doggy Dogg, he’d be Cat Doggy Dogg.

…If Olivia Newton…John married Wayne Newton, then divorced him to marry Elton John, she’d be Olivia Newton…John Newton John.

…If Sondra Locke married Elliott Ness, then divorced him to marry Herman Munster, she’d become Sondra Locke Ness Munster.

…If Bea Arthur married Sting, she’d be Bea Sting.

…If Liv Ullman married Judge Lance Ito, then divorced him and married Jerry Mathers, she’d be Liv Ito Beaver.

…If Snoop Doggy Dogg married Winnie the Pooh, he’d be Snoop Doggy Dogg Pooh.

…G. Gordon Liddy married Boutros…Boutros Ghali, then divorced him to marry Kenny G., he’d be G. Ghali G.

…If Jack married Andy Capp, then married Jack Paar, then moved on to Stephen King, he’d be Jack Handy Capp Paar King.

…If Woody Allen married Natalie Wood, divorced her and married Gregory Peck, divorced him and married Ben Hur, he’d be Woody Wood Peck Hur.

…If Ivana Trump married, in succession, Orson Bean (actor), King Oscar (of Norway), Louis B. Mayer (of MGM), and Norbert Wiener (mathematician), she would then be Ivana Bean Oscar Mayer Wiener.

(via Prairie)

Genetic Engineering

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NZ billboard protesting genetic engineering

Here’s an eye opener for you — a New Zealand billboard from Mothers Against Genetic Engineering protesting genetic engineering experiments that asks “Why not just genetically engineer women for milk?”

Aside from the obvious (and brilliant) attention-getting shock tactics of the image, there’s some interesting questions being raised here.

New Zealanders are allowing a handful of corporate scientists and ill-informed politicians to make decisions on the ethics of GE. Our largest science company, AgResearch, is currently putting human genes into cows in the hope of creating new designer milks. The ethics of such experiments have not even been discussed by the wider public. How far will we allow them to go?

Unfortunately, it’s time for me to head out the door to get to work. Discuss amongst yourselves.

(via MeFi)

Democrat fundraising outdoing Bush

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Very interesting tidbit in the midst of this MSNBC look at Democratic fundraising:

Taking the party-wide view, [Democratic fund-raiser Simon] Rosenberg pointed to what almost no one else has noticed: Based on the preliminary estimates for the third quarter, the 10-person Democratic field collectively will have outraised the Bush campaign, an indication of how fired up Democratic donors are.

“If Bush is this supposed fund-raising king, then this so-called ‘weak’ Democratic field — to use Karl Rove’s word — is outraising him,” Rosenberg said.

(via Mathew Gross)

Fire up the shredders

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I haven’t said much (anything) about the current scandal over the outed CIA operative, but this blew my mind. From an NPR interview between Robert Seigel and Nina Totenberg, as quoted by Atrios:

The White house asked for and got permission earlier this week to wait a day before issuing a directive to preserve all documents and logs which led one seasoned federal prosecutor to wonder why they wanted to wait a day, and who at the justice department told them they could do that, and why?

Why, indeed? Why in the world — in any potential scandal, especially one of this magnitude — would the guilty parties be given 24-hour notice so that they could clean out their e-mail inboxes, fire up the shredders, or do whatever else might need to be done to cover their tracks?

Wacom Photography Contest

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Wacom is currently having a “Go Platinum / Go Pro” photo/design contest.

Go Platinum: design a cover for a stock photography CD.

Go Pro: submit a photo for inclusion in a future stock photo CD.

The winner of each contest will get a 40Gb iPod and $1000 as payments for the rights to use their submission.

Pretty cool, I think — I’ve submitted my Post Alley photograph. Worth a shot, at least!