THESE SANDALS MAKE YOU THINK YOU CAN WALK ON WATER
I couldn't have said it any better than this ad that advertises the Reef Men's Dram Sandal. They feature a flask (just one?) in the heel "so you can smuggle your moonshine into any sporting event, concert, or even a boring lecture" and a "polyurethane-encapsulated canteen in the heel opens with the included church key/fin key. How dope is that? But the Drams don't stop there. These flip-flops' synthetic nubuck uppers and compression-molded EVA uppers are mad comfortable and they won't get thrashed by the water, which makes the Dram Sandals great for boating or chilling on the beach".
(REEF)

US Border Vigilantes Declare War on Themselves - CommonDreams.org - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

PARAMILITARY GROUPS ARE INFIGHTING ON OUR BORDER!
In 2005 the Minutemen attracted volunteers from all round the country to protest at the numbers of immigrants crossing the border clandestinely. Amid much publicity, they set up their own border patrol posts. The anti-immigrant vigilante force is now in danger of imploding in a row over finances. The group, which split within months of its formation in a row over funds, has now fragmented again. A breakaway group, the Patriots’ Border Alliance, is being set up and has established a website.
(COMMON DREAMS)

WHO ARE CAROLINE LYDERS AND CYNTHIA RODRIGUEZ?
So who the hell are Caroline Lyders and Cynthia Rodriguez? Well, that's what I was wondering when I looked at their ranking today on Hot Trends. With this nifty site you can see a snapshot of what's on the public's collective mind by viewing the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. You can see a list of the current top 100 fastest rising search queries in the U.S. You can also select a recent day in history to see what the top rising searches were and what the search activity looked like over the course of that day.
(Suggested by INFOPACKETS)

Antiwar Art in a New Medium: Paintball-on-Web - washingtonpost.com

HOLED UP IN CHICAGO
Wafaa Bilalan, an Iraqi has holed himself up in Chicago for a month where people shoot at him 24 hours a day. He pokes his head out from behind a screen and -- splat! -- inches from his face. "They wait for me to let my guard down, like predators," he said. More than 40,000 shots have been fired at him.
(WASHINGTON POST)

BLOOD IN THE WATER
Those of us who practice criminal law can see the shipwreck debris and, yes, what looks like blood in the water floating around Monica Goodling's testimony yesterday. It began with her previously invoking the fifth which - as we have been told by most jurors is just a silly Constitutional conceit and something that indicates a guilty mind. Having gotten immunity for her testimony she set out a Harvey torpedo in the midst of her testimony yesterday about the hiring of Immigration judges. This little unsolicited nugget has resulted in the broadening of the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings, The Los Angeles Times and New York Times report this morning, to cover political hiring of career employees at the department. While pundits from both sides will argue the merit of her testimony, it is easily recognizable as a great criminal defense ploy: get immunity for your testimony and then make sure you testify about anything for which you might have exposure.

Of course, the credit for initially uncovering the whole DOJ fiasco goes to TALKING POINTS MEMO
and they are in the midst of airing this latest little wrinkle, that while their attempts to pack the judiciary have been hobbled by the whole advice and consent procedure the regime of George II has run amok in the appointment of immigration judges. CLICK HERE FOR RELATED STORY
You need to read TPM regularly.
(TPMMUCKRAKER, unearthed by Arthur Madden)

G.O.P. Hopefuls Differ on Response to Terror Attack - New York Times

TORTURE IS OK THEY SAY
If you watched Jon Stewart this week you saw him make fun of Mitt Romney's "Double Guantanamo" comment. However, as the debate by the 10 Republican presidential candidates at the University of South Carolina in Columbia shows, what these guys think is far from funny. It included arguments for "enhanced interrogation techniques", a euphemism for torture.

For the full debate transcript, click here.
(HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST)

EVEN DOJ STALWARTS REPULSED BY SPYING ON CITIZENS
Yesterday's Frontline on governmental internal spying was informative but rather ho-hum, especially considering that it was put together by someone with the stature of Hedrick Smith. That James Yoo was highly placed in the Bush Administration is understandable. That he is a lawyer is downright scary. But even Big Brother Boosters have to concede that the concerns, like those voiced in the program, come from all sectors of this society.
In that vein, at Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey provided new details about an internal Justice Department rebellion against the White House's warrantless surveillance program in 2004. In remarks that drew stunned looks from senators, Comey - no smelly workshirt ACLU liberal he - described an White House effort to circumvent him in seeking reauthorization for the secret eavesdropping program while Comey was serving as acting attorney general.

READ THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY ABOUT THE INCIDENT
READ THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY ABOUT COMEY
(LAW.COM)

Dick-George Tenn-Tom

DICK-GEORGE, TENN-TOM
Richard M. Nixon visited Mobile in 1971. He shook 100 feet of hands, lost a cuff-link, and shared a stage with his biggest political rival, Governor George Wallace. "Dick-George, Tenn-Tom" is a sardonic look at their rivalry, the creation of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the attempt on Wallace's life less than a year later. The film mentions the protest activities of some University of South Alabama students, one of whom was me.
(Suggested by Kyle Craig)

FRANCE'S NEW PRESIDENT'S ETHNIC ROOTS
By the time Hungary became a real democratic republic in 1989, Alattyan was a sleepy village of about 2,000 souls with little memory of its feudal past, and Nicolas Sarkozy was mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a deputy in the French National Assembly and a rising star in French politics with little interest in his feudal roots.

In "FRIEND OR FAUX"Olivier Roy says that Nicolas Sarkozy may not be what the French call a “libéral,” but he’s no neocon, either.
(NYTIMES)

GOOGLE GETS INTO DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE
In case you missed the news, Google just introduced another free life-changing service. Call (800) GOOG-411 and it will look up any business number for you, purely by voice, and connect you, for free.
(Suggested by David Nihart)

UNFLUENCE NOW!
You don't have to be a fan of C. Wright Mills' Power Elite or decry the idea of interlocking corporate directorates to enjoy this site. It lets you track who is giving money to your candidate.
(UNFLUENCE, unearthed by Kyle Craig)

Lois Romano - Survivors of Tulsa Race Riots Seek Help From Congress for a Wrong Never Righted - washingtonpost.com

TULSA REPARATIONS EXPLORED
A Congressional hearing this week heard testimony this week urging members to pass legislation that would clear the way for survivors of the nation's worst race riots to sue for reparations."Olivia J. Hooker, six years old during the 1921 Tulsa race riots, said her mother told her "your country is shooting at you."
(WASHINGTON POST)

CHIP DRAGO COLUMN ON THOMAS' TRAVAILS
If you don't already get Chip Drago's column, you miss out on some really interesting insider stories. Chip is an ex-Register reporter (as am I) and does an excellent job of dispassionately picking up on the inner workings of the Mobile political scene. Most times the stories are mundane crap no one (but the rest of us who are living in the crap) really cares about and, of course, given Chip's passive style, you read into it based upon what you know and what you want to believe. They are shot little pixel shots of the big picture here. For example, this little article on Thomas is interesting, not only because of the topical nature of the piece, but because he puts the whole thing into the context of Thomas' rise to power, Demo/Repub politics, who is hacking at his heels, and (perhaps) why.
(MOBILE BAY TIMES)

Keith Richards: `I Snorted My Father'

THAT'S NO BOOGER, THAT'S MY DAD
Keith Richards, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist, has acknowledged snorting his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
(BREITBART.COM, unearthed by Connie Acevedo)

mediabistro.com: TVNewser

...BECAUSE HE CAN
Bill O'Reilly ordered his producers to cut retired Col. Ann Wright's mic off during an interview on Friday, leaving Wright, an expert on the Geneva Convention who was being asked about the Iranian (British) hostage situation, visibly trying to continue to explain herself but not being heard.
(MEDIABISTRO)