FRIDAY LINK-DUMP

Kevin Drum: Jeb Bush is insane.

Terry Moran bitch-slaps Scottie-doo.

Tom Burka presents "Ask Dr. Frist"

Chris Bowers, in 2000+ words, tackles the issue of why there isn't a Dean-like progressive among the current crop of 2008 Dem Prez hopefuls.

From the looks of it, The Poor Man needs, well, money.

Juan Cole catches Tom Friedman drifting into fantasyland.

Heather watches FauxNews so we don't have to. Also, they're a bunch of fuckin' liars. There, I said my piece.

Nico reports on a strange speech given by GOP Congressman Cliff Stearns on witholding money from the UN, in which he discusses . . . a dream he had. As long as he's giving an "I have a dream" speech, he should talk to those 13 pro-lynching GOP Senators.

POWER TOOLS

Hahaha!

BREAKING NEWS

Verdict reached in Jacko trial.

...2:15...Not guilty across the board. Wow.

UPDATE: Nancy Grace: "not guilty by reason of celebrity". Well, you knew it was coming.

IAEA CHIEF REAPPOINTED

AP's brief story, which gets two classic sentences in there:

Key members of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reappointed Mohammed ElBaradei for a third term as head of the organization Monday after the Bush administration last week publicly dropped its opposition to him.

Washington had accused ElBaradei of being too mild on Iran and of trying to obstruct the invasion of Iraq by questioning U.S intelligence that asserted Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arms program.

Hahahaha!

Still, consensus approval of ElBaradei as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency as delayed for several hours because of arguments over procedure.

Hehehe. Fair and balanced reporting, I suppose: If AP was going to make fun of the Bush administration for attacking ElBaradei for being, you know, right about our false intel, then I guess they have to make a "the UN bickers over nonsense a lot" joke.

...WE CAME IN?

I don't care what anybody says, a Pink Floyd reunion is always a good idea. I hope the performance is a success, and I hope it leads to a tour.

Speaking as a college student (for the last time in a while?), a lot of people in every generation since the mid 1970's have gone through a Floyd phase. Dark Side of the Moon spreads through dorms and adjacent student shelving unit towns like gossip, hashish and herpes simplex. "Wish You Were Here" is an eternal beer-and-pot-enfused campfire singalong. (By the way, I'm in the "Syd sucks" camp of Floyd fans. If I want meaningless jibberish lyrics, I'll listen to Beck, thank you very much)

Anyway, slightly aged or no, it would be a great thing if these later generations had a chance to see the classic lineup in concert.

Isn't this where...

LOOK AT KAH-LEE-FORRNA FROM OUTER SPACE...

Okay, with finals and commencement out of the way, and with my long-term departure from the UCSB area looming in around a month (would be now, but shit, I like it here), I thought I should plug a couple of worthy blogs written by continuing students here at UCSB. They are:

Politik (http://heatherbonthemic.blogspot.com), written by student and fellow Campus Democrats member Heather B. She appears to be as much of a news/political junkie as I am, and is a fellow Bay Area resident transplanted to the oil-drill-lined coast of Santa Barbara. Also, word has it she can shred the cello. Her blog is an insightful and entertaining read.

and

Permanent Daylight (http://www.quietconfidence.blogspot.com/), a part-personal, part-political blog run by Spencer, another Campus Dem. Ask him about his Arnold impression. Also, soon he will be interning at the State Department, let's hope Bolton isn't around to chase him through hallways by then.

As for me, I'll continue blogging, wherever it is I end up. It was fun being UCSB's most popular student-run political blog for a year (as far as I know), facilitated of course by Nico Pitney's graduation last year. He's now on the team at Think Progress, where his most recent post is on the lunacy of Rep James Sensenbrenner, who threw a temper tantrum on Friday and abruptly shut down a committee hearing on the Patriot Act. I got a chance to watch a rerun of that hearing early this morning on C-SPAN, it was a strange scene. Good for the remaining Dems and the witnesses for continuing to discuss the issue after Sensenbrenner and his boys left the room. I had forgotten until I red Nico's post that Sensenbrenner is the same guy who routinely rewrote Democratic amendments to bills in such a manner as to make the Democrats appear in favor of sexual predators. What a charmer!