I IN 136 CITIZENS NOW BEHIND BARS
"Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer."
(AP, unearthed by Common Dreams)

RELIGION'S SLIPPERY SLOPE
"Not unlike families who choose the Jewish Star of David, the Christian cross and the Islamic crescent and star to honor their loved ones on headstones and markers, Sgt. Patrick Stewart's family's symbol of choice for his memorial plaque also was from his religion: the Wiccan pentacle. But of all the symbols and faiths recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Wicca and its emblem -- a circle around a five-pointed star -- are not among them."
(WASHINGTON POST)

FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT?
Next week the Senate is expected to vote on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which would prohibit federal recognition of gay marriages even when approved by a state government. According to a study by the Cato Institute, the FMA is "Unnecessary, Anti-federalist, and Anti-democratic," and an unprecedented intrusion on our nation's historic commitment to federalism. It is unlike any other constitutional amendment in that it limits the ability of the democratic process to expand individual rights.
(CATO)

FAMILY ASKS FOR RETURN OF GERONIMO'S REMAINS
"The great grandson of the Apache leader Geronimo has appealed to the big chief in the White House to help recover the remains of his famous relative - purportedly stolen more than 90 years ago by a group of students - including the President's grandfather."
(COMMON DREAMS)

CHARITY'S BARRIER ISLAND
"The longstanding U.S. embargo against the island, designed to bring down Fidel Castro's government, has created a maze of rules limiting who can enter the country, how long they can stay, and the goods they can bring in."
(CHRONICLE OF PHILANTROPY, unearthed by LAWG)

WE'VE SEEN THIS HORROR MOVIE BEFORE: THE RETURN OF THE NIXON CLONES
"When he was asked about the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program last Monday, U.S. intelligence chief John D. Negroponte objected to the question and said the government was 'absolutely not' monitoring domestic calls without warrants."
(WASHINGTON POST)

WHO WOULD JESUS VOTE FOR?
"We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before - in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews."
(SEATTLE TIMES op/ed piece by Kevin Phillips)

BAD A BING
Continuing a string of off-screen run-ins with the law, two more fringe characters from 'The Sopranos' - the television mob boss's favorite chef and his muscle-bound bodyguard - have been charged in separate criminal cases.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL)

MEXICAN DRUG LAWS LIBERALIZED
"Mexico's Congress on Friday approved a bill decriminalizing possession of small quantities of marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and even heroin for personal use.
(CNN, unearthed by Brent Gourley)

STUCK IN THE MOMENT WITH (A) FLUE
Police arrested a man who spent five hours naked and stuck in the chimney of his stepmother's California home.
(MSN, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

HEY, YOU! GET OFF OF MY CLOUD!
PRESIDENT George Bush can't get no satisfaction after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.
(THE SUN, unearthed by AI Blitz)

COMPUTER GANG SLANG
Cyberbanging' -- gang members openly bragging about affiliations, skipping school, getting high and battling rival gangs."
(WASHINGTON POST)

WHETHER OR NOT BUSH HAD AUTHORITY TO LEAK IS SIDE ISSUE
"The pundits are arguing over whether Bush had the legal right to leak national security information. But, that's a fake debate. Even if its true that releasing the information was no crime, the leakers have committed a bigger crime."
(BUZZFLASH, unearthed by Progreso Weekly)

TRAILERS OF MASS DISTRACTION
"50 days after the fall of Baghdad, Bush proclaimed 'We have found the weapons of mass destruction,'a claim repeated by top administration officials for months afterward and hailed as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true."
(WASHINGTON POST)

WHAT BUSH LEAKED
"Only 14 of the full 93 pages of the National Intelligence Estimate that President Bush authorized Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, to disclose to New York Times reporter Judith Miller has actually been officially declassified, according to a posting today on the Web site of the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

The estimate has apparently been released in four forms:

one, a white paper that purportedly represented the substance of the estimate but actually left out most of the dissents and caveats;

second, an abstract that Mr. Libby apparently used to brief New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003;

third, the July 18, 2003, release by the White House of the 'key judgments' section and parts of the dissents;

and fourth, a Freedom of Information Act release to the National Security Archive on June 1, 2004, that included two additional pages but left the vast majority of the estimate whited out.
(NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVES)