05:56 - 09 March 2005
and now, the NEWS!!!!!
Tonight, disgraced anchorman Dan Rather signs off for the last time, 78 years to the day since he first took over Walter Cronkite's chair behind the plywood desk of "The CBS Evening News." It's cute how everyone in the news lets him pretend he's gracefully retiring with dignity after decades of faithful reportage, instead of publicly deriding him for being smacked up by a blog. Now that he's going, expect to read a deluge of diatribes by print journalists either lauding the awesome might of the people or shakily insisting on the ultimate negligibility of the medium.
Meanwhile, politically oriented bloggers round the 'sphere should pop a cold one and blast Track 1 of R.E.M.'s Monster when they watch tonight's sign-off because this is probably as big a victory as
their aggregate forces will ever achieve: the toppling of an ultimately innocuous old newsman who foolishly believed shitty evidence. Meanwhile, the real enemy grows stronger. Congratulations, assholes. You forced Dan fucking Rather off the air, sort of -- he's still going to be a talking head, but nobody will let him hold fraudulent documents. Anyway, tomorrow morning, the proprietors of RatherBiased.com and Rathergate.com should sink into post-victory depression as they ponder what the fuck else they can do with their free time. Here's an idea: get to work on getting Robert Novak sent to prison.
U.S.: IRA must disband now!!
Demand follows group's offer to shoot Catholic man's killers
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man.
"It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday.
For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials.
Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated.
"You can't sign up for the rule of law a la carte."
The IRA's offer -- also condemned by London and Dublin -- handed fresh ammunition to Protestant rivals who say Sinn Fein is not fit for government until the Irish Republican Army disarms and disbands.
The killing of Robert McCartney by a gang including IRA members has plunged the IRA and Sinn Fein into crisis -- coming just weeks after the guerrilla group was blamed for a �26.5 million ($50 million) bank raid in central Belfast.
London and Dublin say there can be no progress on restoring the British-ruled province's regional government -- set up under a 1998 peace deal to share power between divided Protestants and Catholics -- until the issue of IRA criminality is resolved.
Home rule was suspended in 2002 when unionists, who support ties to Britain, said they would no longer sit in government with Sinn Fein until the IRA got rid of the weapons which sustained its three-decade campaign against British rule.
"It is their declared intent to murder," said hardline Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley in response to the IRA move. "The Sinn Fein/IRA commitment to terror and criminality is total."
McCartney, a 33-year-old forklift truck driver, was beaten and stabbed to death in a bar fight at the end of January.
His family, who hail from a working class Catholic district considered an IRA heartland, have mounted a vociferous campaign for the killers to be brought to justice, accusing the IRA of intimidating witnesses and cleaning the bar of evidence.
The United States has already signaled its displeasure with the political stagnation in the province by failing to invite the leaders of Sinn Fein and the other Northern Ireland political parties to the White House for St. Patrick's Day celebrations this month.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the IRA said it had held a five-and-a-half hour meeting with the dead man's sisters and fiancee, during which it "stated in clear terms that the IRA was prepared to shoot the people directly involved."
The family rejected the offer, saying they wanted the killers brought to court.
The IRA did not spell out whether it intended to kill or wound the suspects, but Northern Ireland's police chief Hugh Orde said he had no doubt the offer was to assassinate them.
"We are not in the business of applauding or being impressed by illegal organizations' statements," he told the BBC.
"We have to remember that it was IRA members who killed Mr. McCartney, it was IRA members who destroyed the evidence and it was IRA members who threatened and intimidated the witnesses."
Push begins to strengthen Patriot Act
Legislative debate on renewal of the USA Patriot Act remains weeks away, but the Bush administration already is ramping up a campaign to preserve and even strengthen the controversial package of policing powers, with Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales emerging as its leading salesman.
In four public appearances and interviews in the past week, Gonzales has emphasized the need to renew the law to help safeguard the U.S. against attacks by terrorists.
Gonzales told a national convention of county officials on Monday that the law "has already proven a vital part of our defense of protecting lives and liberty."
Passed in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Patriot Act is regarded warily by some lawmakers on both ends of the political spectrum because it makes it easier for law-enforcement authorities to eavesdrop and to seize business and personal records.
Several key elements of the Patriot Act are due to expire by the end of 2005 unless renewed by Congress.
Much of the early discussion about renewal of the Patriot Act has focused on how it might be trimmed to ensure that the civil rights of Americans are not infringed upon. But Gonzales, talking later to a small gathering of reporters, suggested it might need bolstering.
What do ya think of these stories? do you like dan rather? do you care or know about the IRA? is the patriot act too invasive? are peoples civil rights being violated in the name of safeguarding the american people? discuss, discuss, discuss....
Due to the sudden death of chaosdaily's cat, freddy there will not be a cat of the day picture as usual. as far as im concerned, freddy deserves that more than anyone. if ya havent already, goto chaosdaily's site and read about it. we here at who did it and ran, ink!!! want to know, WHO DID THIS AND RAN??? I AM HIGHLY AND DEEPLY UPSET AND EXTREMELY PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS even though freddy was not my cat, he was chaosdaily's cat, and she is a wonderful pal of mine for many years, and i grieve for freddy just as well.
