If what it reports is true, then once again it looks like the Bush administration is worse than I had imagined–even though I thought I had taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is always worse than one imagines. Either Seymour Hersh is insane, or we have an administration that needs to be removed from office not later than the close of business today. The scariest part: “[Hersh] said he had seen all the Abu Ghraib pictures. He said, ‘You haven’t begun to see evil…’ then trailed off. He said, ‘horrible things done to children of women prisoners,…

The shrines, which began in a major way with the death six years ago of Diana, Princess of Wales, almost instantly became an expected part of public mourning, flourishing after the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr. and the victims of the 9/11 attacks. This aspect of public grief reveals a paradox in our supersized culture: the outsized, media-driven theatrics of the Reagan funeral are punctuated by small personal gestures and people waiting eight hours in the sun to file past his coffin for a minute. These individual acts are attempts to break through the weeklong wall of official mourning…

Take the October Surprise! poll, and while you’re there review the history of the original October Surprise, which was orchestrated by the minions of a certain recently dead President. I still remember how angry I was that during Reagan’s inaugural, the Iranians held the aircraft holding the American hostages on the runway until after Reagan had been sworn in. I knew there was something fishy about that deal. I just didn’t know how fishy.

Followup on a previous story/post: BBC NEWS | Africa>The only free hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has reopened, five weeks after it shut following threats to a doctor who removed a woman’s womb. An Islamic Sharia court brokered an agreement between the clan and the hospital, and fined the doctor $2000 for not consulting the family first. Would they have given permission to operate? I don’t know. I’ve been reading Nine Parts of Desire, and given what I’ve learned so far, it’s likely the family would have written off the woman as expendable if she was no longer capable…

I’ll listen later to :NPR’scoverage of Reagan’s passing. I’m shedding no tears, mind. At the time of his election, I was toying with the idea of moving to Canada, just on general principle. It’s sad for his immediate family, of course. And, besides… I always thought the onset of his illness was late in his first term, and everyone around him was covering it up. Remember, this is the president that brought us Iran-Contra, the highest number of ethics violations by members of his administration in history, and a lot of very dirty “most favored corporation” deals. Oh, and he’s…

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bulldozer rage man kills himself>A shopkeeper, who went on the rampage in a bulldozer in the US state of Colorado to protest against local town planning policy, has killed himself. Not the first time this has happened. A bizarre trend in the making: Residents of Alma, in Park County southwest of Denver, are still rattled over what caused town native Thomas Leask to go on a deadly bulldozer rampage in February 1998. The first one was over town planning, the second one was operating on instructions from God. Both were crazier than bedbugs. Avoid all…

Creed goes their separate ways, Chicago ex-fans feel sense of validation: The group, known for their Christian-inspired songs, called it a day after eight years. Creative differences? Maybe. Everybody but Scott Stapp is involved in re-forming a new band. Or maybe they’re not all movie fans, since Stapp is contributing a solo track to a Passion of the Christ-inspired tribute album, and they’re not. Whatever it is, they’re not singing out of the same rock-tinged hymnal anymore.

A senior navy official said recently that a deployment to the Gulf would send a message. Some how I think this is not the message, but this. Note some of the companies – isn’t “Hunt O’l” a Texan firm? Big Bush fundraisers? Yep. And oh HO, what’s this? Service companies First Exchange Corporation Halliburton TGS-Nopec Veritas Well, that’s just plain old All-American sabre-rattling. No harm in that. And now I think I’ll stroll off to AAR and post it somewhere. Meanwhile, surely the US Navy could do a little humanitarian medical work pro bono in the area? Asking too much?…