For you Star Wars geeks or body art aficionados, check out the Top 10 Craziest Star Wars Tattoos. Watch out, there's a NSFW tattoo of Princess Leia getting worked on by R2D2.

My favorites are the Rancor on the head and this Holy Fett:
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:36 AM | Comments (17)
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The Canadian Islamic Congress (what?) has petitioned Canada's Human Rights Commission Censors to hear a complaint that Mark Steyn's book, specifically a "flagrantly Islamophobic" passage from it excerpted in Maclean's, has violated their "human rights" somehow.

Several readers and various Canadian media outlets have enquired what my defense to the charges is. HereÂ’s my answer:

I can defend myself if I have to. But I shouldnÂ’t have to.

If the Canadian Islamic Congress wants to disagree with my book, fine. Join the club. But, if they want to criminalize it, nuts. That way lies madness....

These "human rights" censors started with small fry - obscure websites, "homophobes" who made the mistake of writing letters to local newspapers or quoting the more robust chunks of Leviticus - and, because they got away with it, it now seems entirely reasonable for a Canadian pseudo-court to sit in judgment on the content of a mainstream magazine and put a big old "libel chill" over critical areas of public debate. The "progressive" left has grown accustomed to the regulation of speech, thinking it just a useful way of sticking it to Christian fundamentalists, right-wing columnists, and other despised groups. They donÂ’t know theyÂ’re riding a tiger that in the end will devour them, too.

This is shameful. All those dark fantasies conservative "crazies" concocted about the left actually becoming Nazi-like and Stalinist in purging and persecuting those it found troublesome on the right... well, they're not fantasies, and those conservatives weren't crazy. People like me who said "Oh shush with that nonsense, they'd never dare, they too have a commitment to basic liberal values, if perhaps not a very strong one" were actually the crazies.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 08:29 AM | Comments (28)
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More clemencies than granted in the six neighboring states combined. Including clemency granted to 12 murderers.

What?

Are we talking about a possible nominee of the Republican Party? Because this is all sounding very much like we've all become Democrats and are now choosing among the most electable liberal candidate.

It's Old: I see Slublog linked this earlier. Oh well. Seems important enough.

For months we knew that, say, Giuliani had to cook in the fire of his own record to see if he could pass the ordeal. No mercy for the merciful Huckabee, either.

Posted by: Ace at 08:18 AM | Comments (13)
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UPDATE: Full Text Here

Excerpts from RomneyÂ’s long anticipated speech on religion are flying around.

HeÂ’s not going to address Mormonism specificallyÂ…

"There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines," Romney said. "To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president, he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths."

But rather the role of faith and religion in generalÂ…

"We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God," Romney said.

"The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation 'Under God' and in God, we do indeed trust," he added.

Obviously Kennedy is the precedent for something like this but it seems his challenge was rather specific, assure voters he wouldnÂ’t be taking orders from the Pope. Given that, a speech about the relationship between church and state made sense.

It seems RomenyÂ’s "problem" is of a different sort. I donÂ’t get the feeling his challenge is to convince people that he wonÂ’t be taking orders from the President of the Church of LDS but rather that heÂ’s not a member of some kooky sect. Does a general speech alleviate those concerns or is it even possible to reconcile the people who care about this to his faith?

Not being a particularly religious person, it never crosses my mind to worry about these things, so I am not sure how it will play.

The speech starts in about 10 minutes at 10:30 eastern.

I should add that I get what he's trying to do is say without actually saying it, 'religion shouldn't matter' but I don't see how that plays well. Fairly or not, it obviously does matter to enough voters or he wouldn't be giving this speech. I don't think it would play well for a candidate tell voters what they may or may not consider in selecting a President.

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:20 AM | Comments (42)
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That line there, the one with the zero on it. Someone...probably some derelict smack head unemployed math PhD told me a while back that the other lines below that, the ones where the the numbers have the little dashy kinda mark in front of them, so whatever, the smackhead PhD told me that means something when another line crosses down into that territory. Probably just means its time for lunch or something...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:04 AM | Comments (33)
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Here's a crime where I have to try very hard to feel sorry for the victims:

A man was sentenced to more than four years in prison for bilking friends and family out of more than $800,000 by convincing them that his wife was a government agent who could arrange to have their medical problems diagnosed by satellite imaging.

[...]

The Finley's convinced their victims that, if any medical problems were found, secret agents would administer medicine to them as they slept in exchange for payment, according to a bill of information filed when the Finleys were charged in May.

I'm just amazed that these two did this to their friends and family. I'm equally amazed that anyone would believe this lie. Maybe Mike Huckabee should call them up and get some tips.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:52 PM | Comments (19)
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This is one of those "problems" where I don't think I'm going to like the solution:

Beijing Olympic organisers are discriminating by hiring only young, tall, slim and attractive women to present medals at the 2008 Games, a human rights group has charged....

"Gender, age and appearance requirements arbitrarily exclude individuals from jobs for which they are professionally qualified and constitutes discrimination," said the letter seen here Thursday.

First, are there really people out there who are "professionally qualified" to present medals at award ceremonies? Is that a good gig, and where can I sign up? I'm tall.

Second, doesn't Human Rights Watch have better priorities in China than protecting ugly, fat professional medal presenters?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:31 PM | Comments (26)
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It looks like everyone's worst job was their first job.

The worst jobs of most of the candidates are discussed, but not Giuliani. Thompson provided the longest list:

"Well, let's see," he said. "I've worked in a factory, I was a bouncer at my uncle's drag strip, I worked at the post office, I sold children's shoes, I sold ladies', I sold men's clothing, I was a night clerk at a motel.

"I can't think of a job that I had that I wasn't thankful for at the time."

Bill Richardson laid sod.
Mitt Romney worked in a still-flowing sewage pipe on his uncle's ranch.
Hillary Clinton gutted fish.
Mike Huckabee worked for a department store.
John Edwards had "just awful" cleaning duties at a textile mill.
Barack Obama scooped icecream.

And the worst "job" ever comes to you from John McCain, who got stuck in a Vietnamese prison. He says, compared to that "I've never really had a bad job."

To be honest, I've never really had a bad one either. My very first job was sometime in highschool. I was as a dishwasher at a Western Sizzlin, but that lasted all of one weekend before I got a job at the university library working for the ag extension office. I learned more about silkworms, drip irrigation, and college freshwomen that summer than ever before or since.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:10 PM | Comments (54)
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First rule of holes, governor. Allahpundit provides an outstanding timeline of this piece by Murray Waas. The Waas story is long, so grab a cup of coffee and start reading.

I think AP is right - if Huckabee had admitted bad judgment and regret, this controversy would end pretty quickly. Instead, he's chosen to dig in his heels, giving the story legs. His reaction has turned this into a 'drip, drip' story - the denials have set his side of the story, and any information that comes out to contradict that narrative damages him.

And those folks are coming forward, including a former aide. In addition, Huckabee's own record on clemency suggests he tended to grant criminals mercy, and his desire to free Dumond comes across pretty clearly in the "Dear Wayne" letter.

Honestly, Huckabee's denials and accusations of lies among his accusers would have more weight if he had showed more forthrightness when speaking on other issues in his record. Frankly, he hasn't given me much reason to trust him. I think Huckabee has made a major mistake in his approach to this controversy, as he's now locked into one narrative.

I think we're about to hear the others, and it's not going to go well for Huckabee.

Just because...here's my new column, on Huckabee. But if you've read the blog entries, you've read the column...

Posted by: Slublog at 08:37 PM | Comments (31)
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Yeah, Curveball baby. Because this guy wasn't any more in on the loop than was the Iraqi source called Curveball.

More: While everyone spins this as a claim that Iran is denuclearized, the report says that there is "high confidence" the program was suspended for a period and merely "moderate confidence" it is still suspended."

In other words: They don't fucking know.

Thanks to CJ.

What's This? This USAToday article may offer the best explanation:

For all of the effort spent trying to determine the scope of Iran's nuclear weapons program, it was a media visit to Iran that helped the intelligence community reconsider its assessment of the program, U.S. intelligence officials said Monday.

Photographs taken during the media visit this year weren't decisive in determining when Iran stopped its nuclear program, said an officer who helped prepare a National Intelligence Estimate released Monday.

But the photos from Iran's Natanz nuclear facility were reviewed by intelligence analysts who concluded Iran continues to face "significant technical problems" in using the facility to enrich uranium, the officer said.

...

In revising their estimate, intelligence officers said they were mindful of "lessons learned" from a 2002 report that overstated the case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"We had to show our homework," one said, by justifying the new judgments to intelligence agency leaders who OK'd the final version.

...

The intelligence officials also cited Libya's decision in 2003 to stop its nuclear program and the arrest of Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan as reasons Iran stopped trying to develop weapons.

The estimate, the collective judgment of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, said Iran had not restarted its weapons program as of mid-2007 but could resume weapons development.

The intelligence community concluded in 2005 that Iran was "determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure."

Technical limitations, both estimates concluded, make it hard for Iran to produce weapons-grade uranium before the early years of the next decade, at a minimum.

Why Was It Leaked? A lot of people are speculating that Bush ordered it leaked, as some sort of diplomatic truffle for Iran.

Posted by: Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (54)
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