News – A Waste or Not?

North America

Alaska’s senator defends the Transportation bill holding $220 million in funding for a bridge the size of the Golden Gate Bridge in a city of fewer than 8,000. Another $229 million was earmarked for a 2-mile bridge from Anchorage to a sparsely inhabited section of marshes and muskeg across the glacier-fed Knik Arm channel. That’s a hell of a lot of money for two big bridges in low population areas. If they’re so necessary and so worth the money, then I’m sure Alaska would have no problem paying for them with state money.

Bolton gets a recess appointment, as some have predicted. Now he can be judged by his actions, I suppose. Though I doubt he’s the man to prompt real reform.

Bush continues to express his full confidence in Rove.

US law enforcement agencies arrest 582 in a massive crackdown on gang over the past two weeks. Sadly that’s little more than a drop in the bucket in terms of total membership. Among the gangs targeted were MS-13 , Surenos, Latin Kings, Mexican Mafia, Asian Boyz, Jamaican Posse and Brown Pride.

Santorum coddles the private sector, rather than letting it complete against the government fair and square.. with regard to private company AccuWeather(which exists in his state) and the National Weather Service. So much for being pro-free market competition.

The NRA calls for a ban on leading U.S. refiner ConocoPhillips in retaliation for a ban on firearms on company property. They’re challenging an Oklahoma law in federal court that allows workers to keep guns in their locked cars on company property.

Middle East

Muslim leaders gather in Saudi Arabia to pay respects to King Fahd, who died on Monday.

Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam Hussein’s chief attorney, says his legal team is boycotting further proceedings until a man who Saddam Hussein’s chief attorney. This is a serious concern if the court isn’t providing enough security to keep the accused safe until such time as the trial is over, but security forces deny that said event happened.

Iraq’s president insists that the constitution for Iraq will be done on time. I surely hope so.

Saddam is questioned on the Gulf War uprising.

With the pullout drawing nearer, we’ll be seeing how many Israeli soldiers deny orders that put them at odds with settlers. I think it would be in the best interests of all to determine who will and will not follow orders before troops are deployed. Better disobedience now rather than in the field.

Israel authorities are cracking down on settler protests, including keeping several teen girls in prison as they are considered a grave “danger to public peace”. That’s pretty heavy.

Another estimate on Iran’s nearness to bomb making, from a country that can’t fully prove that Iran is bomb making in the first place.

Africa

Rioting breaks out in Khartoum rebel leader John Garang dies mysteriously.

General

The crew of the Discovery shuttle are working on an impromptu repair job on the shuttle’s belly. I wish them good luck on getting it just right.

Strike against file sharing and what happens? They look for means to go deeper underground, where they can’t be found by authorities. And another good tech goes underground because people won’t compromise on making it mainstream and forging new business models.

Explainer details the sealing of a nuclear plant.

An ad campaign with real curves. Smart, if only to draw the eye with that which isn’t the norm(size 0 sticks).

Amusements

Army specialist posts classified information on his blog. Current mood: Demoted

Hackers at this year’s Defcon steal attendees’ passwords, post them on a scrolling display called “The Wall of Sheep”

Australian terrorists leave whoopee cushion on bus, series of small explosions heard

Crowd outraged when naked “true American” gets tasered by cops at Demolition Derby. With pics

Two people debate actual destructive effect of Death Star’s laser. Coming soon: Debate over actual destructive effect of Hayden Christensen’s acting

Female teacher arrested, fired after being caught getting it on in a car with a teenage student

A look at a shop with some hot sauces so extreme that you actually have to sign a waiver just to purchase a bottle

Fat-fingered weather forecaster accidentally sends out nuclear war alert to Florida

Woman who changed her name to “Anakin” hopes people will forget about Star Wars so her name can be unique again

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Inappropriate moments to flip the bird

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Decommission the aging space shuttle fleet. Retrofit them for for more terrestrial tasks

Fark Photoshop Challenge: New endings for old fairy tales