Pot is a gateway drug to the hard stuff, like corpse mutilation. And building golems.

The Kingwood teenager's story of decapitating a corpse and using the head to smoke marijuana was so outlandish that at first Houston Police Department senior police officer Jim Adkins did not believe it.

...

Not until police went to the home of another Kingwood 17-year-old, Matthew Richard Gonzalez, did the officer believe the tale.

"He regurgitated in his plate of food when I asked him about it," Adkins said. "So I knew there was some truth to the story."

...

Houston police believe the teens disturbed the grave of an 11-year-old boy who died in 1921.

The child was buried at an unmarked cemetery believed to be reserved for black veterans and their families, Adkins said.

...

The child's skull has not been found....

The teens first came to police's attention during a vehicle burglary investigation. While being questioned, Jones told of desecrating the gravesite a month or two ago. Adkins said he believes the tale was intended to distract police from the vehicle break-in.

...

Police made three trips to the heavily wooded, snake-infested graveyard near the Eastex Freeway feeder road and FM 1960 before finding the disturbed grave several days ago.

"The grave was uncovered, and the headstone had been thrown off the grave and broken," Adkins said.

Because the grave is flooded with murky water from recent heavy rains, police have been unable to determine if the child's casket is still in the ground.

All three teens gave written and verbal confessions admitting they tried to dig up a body over a two-day period, Adkins said.

But the boys told conflicting stories about whether they actually severed the head — so police aren't sure if that gruesome detail really happened.

Digging up corpses in flooded snake-infested cemetery? Well who wouldn't want to smoke pot out of a skull after all that.

Posted by: Ace at 08:56 AM | Comments (44)
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I don't particularly care if he voted for Bush or not. He's a thin-skinned prickish guy who holds grudges. We already knew that. It wouldn't surprise me, nor bother me all that much, if he didn't vote for Bush.

But a couple of actors from the West Wing (both of whom I hate based on their self-righteous characters) say they too heard John McCain answer the question as to whether he personally voted for Bush by saying "No way." In case you care, the actors are Bradley Whitford (snakey-looking younger WASP liberal) and Richard Schiff (bearded older Jewish liberal).

Both are supporting Democrats, though I don't think that's a huge knock on their credibility on this. I'd be interested to know how close a friendship each might have with Huffington, though.

"He was going on and on about how horribly unqualified and untested Bush was, how the campaign had attacked his family," said Whitford, a registered Democrat. "Someone said, 'If he's so terrible, why did you support him?'"

McCain replied that as a member of the GOP, Whitford added, he always intended to back the party's nominee. Then, the actor said, someone asked McCain whether he had cast a vote in favor of Bush.

"He put his finger up to his lips, shook his head and mouthed, 'No way,'" Whitford said.

I don't know. That seems to be sort of stagey. Possibly joking around. Perhaps he was spoofing the question -- thinking the answer should be pretty obvious -- by answering that way.

Here's McCain's denial:

He is right about campaigning for Bush, of course. And fairly enthusiastically (even if that enthusiasm was feigned).

Perhaps he was joking around when he said "No way" to Huffington and her Hollywood buddies. Or perhaps he was shining them up, playing The Maverick again.

Though it's very possible he's just lying. He campaigned for Bush as was required, but in the privacy of the voting booth, he voted against him.

This is a bigger issue than it ought to be simply because McCain fetishizes his own putative integrity and honesty.

Posted by: Ace at 08:35 AM | Comments (29)
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A clip of Bill Clinton giving it to an Obama supporting heckler over her assertion that Hillary Clinton campaigned (in 1992) for health care and then did nothing at all about it.

"It's a fact," the lunatic says in an interview after the exchange. "I remember it."

Now, I was not a fan of Hillary Clinton's health care initiative. But I seem to remember a year-long process and furious debate over her proposed federal takeover of the health care system. I'm pretty sure this lasted longer than "two weeks" into the Clinton Administration, as this idiot asserts.

I can rap Hillary for a lot of sins, but on the charge of lacking energy and resolve in a quixotic attempt to destroy the American economy and health care system, she stands acquitted.

Clinton calls this the "craziest thing [he's] ever heard." I don't know if it's the craziest, but it's surely crazy. This is like saying Al Gore hasn't done anything to raise awareness of "global warming."

This is Obama's base. These are the people to whom he will answer as president.

Via the WJNO News Radio blog.

Posted by: Ace at 08:12 AM | Comments (25)
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Surprised? The junta wants to distribute relief itself. More than anything it wants to keep outsiders from reaching the population. Baldilocks has the goods:

It's pretty easy to see why Myanmar's government wouldn't want the UN and especially the US coming to the aid of its suffering citizens. The relationship between dictators and their subject population is like that of an abusive marriage. Dictators can't be seen as impotent or powerless under any circumstances and are insanely jealous--they would rather see their people die that allow them to realize that other forms of government are infinitely better equipped to assist them in their time of dire need. And dictators have behaved this way from time immemorial.

More rain is on the way. There is some concern that the disaster will keep rice farmers from planting in time for the growing season. Food shortages later in the year could follow.

Is this the Twenty First Century, or what?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:09 AM | Comments (49)
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At least we still have the Western press to correct their propaganda.

Yeah.

Hezbollah has taken control of the media in Lebanon, and their propaganda campaign has already begun. They are currently presenting themselves as liberators of Lebanon, and allies of the Lebanese Army against a corrupt government supported by pro-government snipers and brigrands.

Hezbollah's militant takeover of Beirut and its systematic destruction of the authority of the state and freedom of the press suggests a sophisticated and planned campaign to take power. There is no hiding the violence Hezbollah used to seize Beirut and cut it off from the rest of the country. But as their media campaign is already showing, Hezbollah is employing subtle and sophisticated mechanisms to take over the rest of Lebanon. All news which could be construed as negative behaviors, such as the blatant destruction and corruption of Lebanese institutions, is hidden beneath a Hezbollah-dominated media blackout.

No one knows if Hezbollah is currently occupying government building, re-routing the telecommunications networks, placing weapons in areas they could not gain access to before, and more. If Hezbollah wins this battle, this information will never be made public.

...

According to NOW Lebanon online newspaper, pro-government websites are being attacked. So, we'll see what happens to this blog. The government's telecommunications company has probably been fully overrun by Hezbollah, and all of our calls and internet traffic could be monitored. A source in the pro-Hezbollah Syrian Social Nationalist Party claims that everything is being monitored right now. Good luck getting reliable news from Lebanon.

Almost all-out civil war:

Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut on Friday after a third day of battles with pro-government foes in the Lebanese capital pushed the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.

The fighting had eased by early afternoon as the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of opposition forces who fired celebratory gunshots wildly into the air after routing militants loyal to the Western-backed government.

"There are no clashes anymore because no one is standing in the way of the opposition forces," a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Much more on Hezballah's takeover at Michael Totten's blog and at Jules Crittenden.

Posted by: Ace at 07:29 AM | Comments (23)
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Mildest of content warnings for the use of 'ass'. They said it on basic cable so it shouldn't be a big deal but since I don't work in an office I have no idea what's okay and what's not these days.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:12 AM | Comments (9)
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It is on.

Obama said McCain’s claim that Hamas wants to see a President Obama (gee, I wonder why anyone would get that idea) was an example of McCain ‘losing his bearings’.

Team Maverick took that as an attack on their guy's age and unloaded on Obama in the form of a memo from Senior Advisor Mark Salter released to the world.

We have all become familiar with Senator ObamaÂ’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.

It is important to focus on what Senator Obama is attempting to do here: He is trying desperately to delegitimize the discussion of issues that raise legitimate questions about his judgment and preparedness to be President of the United States.

Through their actions and words, Senator Obama and his supporters have made clear that ANY criticism on ANY issue — from his desire to raise taxes on millions of small investors to his radical plans to sit down face-to-face with Iranian President Ahmadinejad – constitute negative, personal attacks.

Senator Obama is hopeful that the media will continue to form a protective barrier around him, declaring serious limits to the questions, discussion and debate in this race.

Â…We understand why Senator Obama doesnÂ’t want to engage in a debate over leadership and judgment with John McCain, but the American people demand that debate take place.

These are serious times that call for a serious debate on the profound issues facing our future. John McCain is ready for that debate and we hope Senator Obama will one day get serious and join it.

Maybe this campaign wonÂ’t be so friendly after all.

Poor Hillary must be wishing someone would attack her so she could get a news story that didn’t involve the words, ‘quit the race’.

McCain fans better hope that Hills keeps going.

It looks like Obama is about to start spending some of his huge war chest on ads attacking McCain. Maverick doesnÂ’t have the money (even with RNC money) to respond in kind.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:37 AM | Comments (34)
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Space Lawyers.

A student at the University of Mississippi will leap into the final frontier of the legal system Saturday when he receives the first-ever space law certificate in the United States...

"Students in this program have unparalleled opportunities to participate in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court competition, the Journal of Space Law, center conferences and events....

bla bla, frick'n bla

It's all just noise to numb us to the new reality.

Space Lawyers.

I think I've just lost the will to live.

Next thing you know, they'll start suing us for doing cool and uniquely American things like blowing up space junk:

Never, you say?

Any future space lawyer might have to deal with issues ranging from the fallout over satellite shoot-downs to prosecuting roguish smugglers for shooting disgusting slugs who keep a stable of voluptuous bikini-clad love-slaves.

Tell you what. If McCain adds a ban on Space Lawyers to his platform, I will vote for him.

A little something tasty after the break to cheer you up. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:24 PM | Comments (53)
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The suspect is an illegal immigrant. He's been held since April 29th; not sure what's keeping up that paternity report.

Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, 37, of St. Anthony, was arrested the same day, Police Chief James Smith said.

"We had good information from witnesses," Smith said.

In documents that were filed April 29 in 7th District Court and obtained by The Associated Press, Gutierrez-Juarez is charged with one count of rape. He remained in jail with bail set at $250,000 pending a preliminary hearing May 13.

Authorities said Gutierrez-Juarez did not have legal documentation to live in the United States. His home town and nationality were not immediately clear, but police said they had received no complaints about him before investigating the pregnancy.

The investigation was continuing. Smith would not give details on the condition of the girl but said additional counts of rape could be filed.

"The prosecutor is still considering doing that," he said.

Via Stop the ACLU.

Posted by: Ace at 05:45 PM | Comments (45)
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Pretty cool, if you're into this sort of thing: A lost subway station beneath the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC.

It was built only for polio-stricken FDR, so he could slip in and out of NYC unseen in his own private traincar. And his railcar is armored, baby.

Drawbacks: I'm really not digging Matt Lauer's performance as Indiana Jones. more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:32 PM | Comments (36)
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