News – Supreme Conflict

North America

Bush says special interest groups need to tone down their rhetoric. That’s one of the few things I can agree with Bush on. Now the big question, who will Bush choose for the Supreme Court? It remains a bigger question, I think, than if Rehnquist had been the one who stepped down. Why? Because that makes it more likely that Bush will have two spots to fill before his term is up, as the retirement of Rehnquist remains an open question. Add to that the seeming antipathy that many conservatives seem to have for Gonzales as a pick for the court and it leads to a question of if Bush will serve the base this time around or go for Gonzalez(who us likely a consensus candidate) and hope he can give his base someone more acceptable if Rehnquist steps down before he’s out of office. What would your strategy be?

Explainer looks at the process of naming a new Supreme Court justice.

NASA scientists smash an unmanned probe into a comet in order to learn how the solar system was formed. Plus it’s fun to smash things.

Kathrine Harris gets kicked to the curb.

With a force cresting a million, why can’t we send more troops to Iraq? Well, for one only 40% of those are combat personnel and of those only another 40% are active duty, with the rest in the national guard and army reserve. Further details in the link.

Middle East

Bahrain’s envoy to Iraq was wounded when gunmen opened fire on his car, the second attack on an Arab diplomat in the city in three days. Make that third, as Pakistan’s envoy gets some of the lovin too. Looks like some insurgents have a new strategy.

Coca-cola returns to Iraq, though the country makes for a hostile market. In part because of it’s business ties with Israel.

Speaking of which, it is unlikely that pulling out from Gaza will solve the current conflict. In fact, it only seems to be fostering more unrest in Israel, where government ministers are being fitted for body armor after death threats from right wing extremists. Ultimately, the withdrawal was poorly handled, along with too many thinking of it as a singular solution, rather than the intermediary step it is, requiring other acts of good faith from both sides to foster a real peace. I fear things are likely to slip back into the status quo unless something significant is done.

Africa

The Bush administration says Kenya’s efforts at fighting terrorism are lacking.

General

Bloggers muse Sandra’s retirement, piece together the past of Iran’s president elect and discuss the updated plans for the ground zero freedom tower.

Today’s Papers has research to suggest that there is no such thing as male bisexuality, circumcision reduces the chance a man will get HIV from an infected woman by 70%(off with their heads), China criticizing the U.S. Congress for taking steps to prevent the Chinese company Cnooc Ltd. from taking over the American oil company Unocal Corp and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Man arrested after making more than 4,400 calls to directory assistance and telling them obscene stories just because he was lonely

Brett Ratner decides the third X-Men movie won’t be complete without a brand new mutant…er…sex mutant

X-E bravely ventures into the seedy world of hotel room pay-per-view movies, porn, video games and guest surveys; runs up a 200 dollar tab

Rock yard fashion of ’70s still remains.”There were actual cases where people concreted their yards and painted them green.” Makes more sense than a lawn

Man decides to check out house under construction in middle of the night, discovers covering up large holes in floors is done at the finishing step of construction

North Carolina man surprised to be attacked by alligators while swimming in pond. Signs around pond warning people not to disturb the alligators would tip most people off

Boy tries to pose as his sister to take university entrance exam. Might have gotten away with it if he hadn’t drawn so much attention to himself with massive fake breasts as part of his costume

Russian astrologist to sue NASA to the tune of $300-mn for screwing up her horoscope

Good news guys, 2.76 inches is now “average”, says study

Fark Photoshop Challenge: July 4th spectacular: Photoshop this guy who built his own Patriot missile

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Complex solutions to simple problems

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: The last photo I took before it was too late.