Apocalypto (2006) Directed by Mel Gibson.  Stars Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernández, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead, Carlos Emilio Báez, and Espiridion Acosta Cache Five words or less review: Oscar-worthy—if not fortheinterferenceoftheHollywoodJooooooos…!

Unless there are some facts here that are missing from the news coverage, this prosecution strikes me as a clear and serious constitutional violation. And it is evidence that fears that “hate crimes” laws will become “hate speech” bans are not implausible. So argues Eugene Volokh, referencing a case in which two 16-year-old high school students have been arrested on felony hate crime charges in Illinois for posting fliers with

oatmeal:  “The Cream of Wheat man?  An affirmative action hire, no doubt in my mind.  I mean, the guy can’t even boil his own water, for Chrissakes—and he wouldn’t know kasha if it showed up at his door wearing a sign saying, ‘Hello, I’m FUCKING KASHA.” “Of course, you didn’t hear any of this from me…”

From the Sidney Morning Herald: The human rights pressure group [Amnesty International] has accused [Australia’s John] Howard of portraying asylum-seekers as a threat to national security. In a report released overnight, it also criticised Australia’s role in the war on terror and its treatment of female victims of violence. Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan said the fear generated by leaders such as Mr Howard “thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership”. Ms

From The Rocky Mountain News: Sergei Ivanov, the man considered to be a leading contender to succeed President Vladimir Putin, criticized a landmark Soviet-US arms treaty Wednesday as a “relic of the Cold War,” and promised that Russia would have a “sword” capable of piercing a U.S. missile shield. Because evidently poisoning a US missile shield with polonium-210 would require a bit too much leg work. BAM! Thanks.  I’ll be

Courtesy of The Smoking Gun (h/t Robert): In a recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like “blowtorch to the skin” and “eye removal.” Along with the images, which you’ll find on the following pages, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters. […] The images, which were just declassified by the

“Oh.  And everybody gets free cable, too.” “Replace the phallocentric-sounding ‘gouging’ with the more gender-neutral ‘rubbing.’” “Free Mumia!” “$1.49 for a Snicker’s Bar, eh?  Well, how you like us now, Conoco ‘convenience’ store?” “And of course, by forcing lower gas prices, we’ve made it easier for Bushco to BRING THE TROOPS HOW NOW!” “The Man is going to be walking funny for a week after this one, you can bet

From Tom Scocca, writing in the New York Observer: The anti-light-bulb campaign [by Mayor Michael Bloomberg] isn’t creeping socialism—it’s nanny-state capitalism:  a cross-ideological alliance to force-market lousy products to the public.  The left gets to see environmental virtue written into law; the right gets to see the negative consequences of that law fall on individual consumers, rather than, say, the power industry. Because of course, we on “the right” are