Art Tatum
“She’s Funny That Way”

As if anyone’s surprised.

Steve Benen at The CarpetBagger Report has the full story.

If I had a child that died in war and these assholes showed up at the funeral, somebody would get hurt and it wouldn’t be me.

A grieving father won a $2.9 million verdict today against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.”

More at Bostonherald.com

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that he would lobby to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago if he is elected.

And if not elected, he won’t. So, there!

(Jesus Freakin’ Christ!)

Shout! (Tears for Fears)

Or, in this case, “pump-tapping” would be more fitting. The man was wearing a dress, after all.

Hypocritical Republican men having gay sex in public places… it’s almost gotten to be non-news!

From The Columbian:

Police report sheds new light on Curtis encounter

State Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, admitted to having sex with a man he met at an adult video store in Spokane last week, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon.

The police report offers a damning and far different version of events from the brief account Curtis gave to The Columbian Monday, one that seems likely to threaten Curtis- political future.

The report is filled with graphic details of an encounter that began at a porn store on a Spokane Valley strip and concluded miles away in Curtis- room at the city’s poshest hotel.

The police report contains an account of how Curtis allegedly donned women’s clothing, red stockings and a black sequined lingerie top before engaging in a sex act at the store. He continued to wear them throughout the night under his clothing.

JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian Staff Writer

Also, acccording to renato:

Hypocrisy, thy name is REPUBLICAN!

‘Repugnant’, but legal, eh Michael? Not really sure where to stand, Michael? Why not test it out on yourself! Go ahead, give it a whirl… then get back with us, mkay?

Mukasey unsure on waterboarding legality

Attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey “expected to be approved without significant objection.”

Attorney general nominee vows to follow law, calls technique A-repugnant-

WASHINGTON - President Bush’s nominee for attorney general told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he does not know whether it is legal for interrogators to use waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning.

In an effort to satisfy senators from both parties who question his views on terrorism-related matters, Michael Mukasey pledged to study the waterboarding issue. He called the technique “repugnant to me.”

“If, after such a review, I determine that any technique is unlawful, I will not hesitate to so advise the president and will rescind or correct any legal opinion of the Department of Justice that supports the use of the technique,” Mukasey wrote to the committee’s 10 Democrats.

MSNBC.com

How does the U.S. stack up against other countries in high’speed internet? Not very well, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The inventory wouldn’t cover other countries, but a cursory look shows the U.S. lagging behind at least some of them. In South Korea, for instance, the average apartment can get an Internet connection that’s 15 times faster than a typical U.S. connection. In Paris, a “triple play” of TV, phone and broadband service costs less than half of what it does in the U.S.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - a 30-member club of nations - compiles the most often cited international comparison. It puts the U.S. at 15th place for broadband lines per person in 2006, down from No. 4 in 2001.

The article points out that the OECD is often vigorously attacked by anti-regulation think tanks. What the hell is an anti-regulation think tank anyway? How does one become a member of one of these? WHY would anyone want to? Do these people not have anything better to do with their time?

War, disease and poverty abounds. Thank God for the anti-regulation think tank!