From FOXNews: Recent communications between Usama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicate that bin Laden has “encouraged Zarqawi and his group to focus on attacks inside the United States,” multiple U.S. officials told FOX News on Monday. The sources would not get into detail about how the communication was made or how it was intercepted by the United States. They also said that there is nothing specific in the

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Hinchey:  “I can’t prove it just yet, mind you, but I’m almost certain that Karl Rove was behind the whole McDonald’s “supersize me” campaign—a carefully-orchestrated Republican marketing strategy aimed at killing off Democratic-leaning minority voters by convincing them to ingest high doses of saturated fat and sodium at an insidiously low price. “The evil bastard.”*

I Heart Huckabees (2004) Directed by David O. Russell.  Stars Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, and Isabelle Huppert. Five words or less review:  “Like tequila, only with actors.”

From the BBC: Lebanese opposition supporters have held a rally in Beirut demanding the resignation of the government, in defiance of a ban on demonstrations. About 10,000 protesters – many of whom waved Lebanese flags – also called on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. Many demonstrators blame Syria for the recent killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The rally comes as parliament meets to discuss an opposition-sponsored motion

Dammit, I knew I never should’ve given my cannon to charity.  But my wife was like, “it’s not like you’re using it anyway, Jeff” and I was all, “yeah, but you never know when you’re going to need a cannon, honey—what with Bush marching the country toward theocracy, and what with the Islamofascist menace threatening to cross the borders and behead us for eating pork or watching ‘Will & Grace.’

Final post on the subject, folks:  Once again, thank you for all your help and support.  I’ve tried to email a brief thank you note to everyone who’s contributed so far, but some of you I may have missed in my blundering attempt to use this loaner box efficiently (thanks again, Jeralyn).  Please know that I am very very grateful, and that I probably just stupidly deleted your original email.

For those of you who like your Oscars™ commercial-free and condensed into a witty 2-minute read, I recommend Kate’s coverage (she live-blogged it) from north of the border. For my part, I’m going to go revisit a few of my Sidney Lumet DVDs.  Man, what a career that guy has had.