Subject: U.S. Department of State

• Adapting in Iraq

  The last time I checked, the latest Bush administration slogan for its Iraq adventure is "Adapting to Win". This replaced "Stay the Course", which had fallen out of favor with the White House presumably since it might remind people just what "course" events are taking in Iraq. So, is Adapting to Win any better? Well... Agence France-Presse reports on a unique way that the Bush administration is adapting to the conditions its invasion has created in Iraq: The White House revealed what may be

  September 8, 2006

• Odds and Ends

  Well, it was quite a weekend in Washington D.C. In a previous post, Alex did a fine job of spelling out the facts in the case of ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Predator). The only thing that can be added is that Foley has now headed down a familiar path-- as Josh Marshall puts it: "Ahhh, once again, the last refuge of the disgraced House Republican: rehab." Foley's checked himself into rehab for alcoholism, perhaps in preparation for blaming his personal demons on the Demon Rum. (Is it a Church of S

  October 2, 2006

• Welcome Back Taliban!

  You'd better sit down. Today Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suggested that the best way to deal with the increasing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan ... is to reintegrate the group into the Afghani government. From the AP via the International Herald-Tribune: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government. The Tennessee Republican said he

  October 2, 2006

• The Woman with a Limp

  When her Aunt Virginia died in 1982, Lorna Catling had no idea that forty years earlier the Gestapo had declared her aunt "the most dangerous of all Allied spies" in France, and issued orders to "find and destroy her."  Virginia Hall seldom spoke about what she had done during World War II, and didn't even bother to collect all the honors she was entitled to for her heroic service.  Tomorrow one of those long overdue honors will be presented to Catling as her late aunt's representative

  December 11, 2006

• Numbers, Numbers (and a semi-Nun)

  First for some numbers that aren't as big as you might think, or others might want you to think. If California were a separate country, it would have the world's sixth-largest economy, one hears time and time again. The governor even repeated the We're Number 6 bleat in his State of the State speech last week. Turns out, the Sixers, from Schwarzenegger on down, have been using out of date numbers. The Los Angeles Daily News reports: California's economy no longer ranks No. 6, but rather is t

  January 15, 2007

• Friday's Haul

  An Irvine spy? Irvine businessman and peace activist Ali Shakeri has been imprisoned in Iran and charged with espionage. A State Department official denied that Shakeri was working for the U.S. gov't, though. Gobsmacked: Folks at Capistrano Unified can't fathom how a guy could turn down a $300,000 job. Dating discord: A California lesbian is suing eHarmony, alleging that the dating site discriminates against gays, lesbians and bisexuals. The countdown is on: Five days

  June 1, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: Police Seek Laguna Retard

  The Fourth Reich: Way before there was “Don’t Taser me, dude!” there was Benito Acosta, arrested by Costa Mesa police after he allegedly spoke too long during a January 2006 city council meeting. Acosta opposed training local police as INS agents, a pet project of Mayor Allan Mansoor. A right-wing sheriff’s deputy when he’s not playing a right-wing city official, Mansoor turned off the public microphone, and police used physical violence to drag Acosta, a tiny fellow, from the hearing

  September 26, 2007

• Goodbye, Tancredo, and Take Morey With You

  Not to pick on Irvine Islamic "expert" Robert Morey any further this week, but I was reminded of his idiocies today, as I bide my time in Fort Collins, Colorado, before a book signing hosted by the Rocky Mountain Chronicle. The paper runs a great column called "Tancrazy Train," which monitors Coloradoan Republican presidential candidate (and Orange County darling) Tom Tancredo (R-Know Nothinglandia). Learning that Tancredo has recently announced he's calling its quits, I was reminded that he onc

  November 13, 2007

• Read and Learn, Pardner

  January 23, 2003

• Downtown Ozy

  February 26, 2009

• The Laguna Playhouse’s Red Herring (Mostly) Doesn’t Stink

  February 21, 2008

• Xenophobia, the Musical

  September 25, 2003

• From Hunter to Hunted

  In his quest to free slaves around the world, Aaron Cohen thought hed seen it all. Then he went to Myanmar

  June 28, 2007

• A Terrorist Tool?

  September 8, 2005

• Talk About Pop Muzik

  Sandy Zipp, Professor, UC Irvine

  March 1, 2007

• Diary of a Mad County

  October 26, 2006

• Dr. Jihad

  March 2, 2006

• Looking for Laughs in All the Wrong Places

  January 19, 2006

• Too Much Dick Spoils the Gumbo

  September 8, 2005

• Losers Again

  June 30, 2005

• Spread Some Aloha

  World peace starts at your summer barbecue

  May 19, 2005

• No Mo Moiso

  March 31, 2005

• Call Me Irresponsible

  December 30, 2004

• The Good Soldier

  September 9, 2004

• The Church of Bush

  July 22, 2004

• Koopers Kool

  June 3, 2004

• War on Tourism

  May 13, 2004

• Patriots Travel Package

  November 20, 2003

• Our Man In Baghdad

  April 24, 2003

• Straight Talk From the White House

  April 3, 2003

• Letters

  September 26, 2002

• No Escape

  July 11, 2002

• Couched in Ignorance

  April 25, 2002

• World Wars III, IV and V

  March 14, 2002

• Diary of a Mad County

  February 14, 2002

• Terror Town, USA

  December 27, 2001

• Letters

  September 27, 2001

• Freedom! We Think

  June 7, 2001

• Send George Packing!

  April 12, 2001

• The Terrorist Next Door

  July 20, 2000

• Letters

  June 8, 2000

• A Too-Modest Proposal

  October 7, 1999

• The Crack-UP

  November 12, 1998

• The Tatum Chronicles

  April 2, 1998

• Royce, Sanchez Blast North Korea's Harsh Sentencing of Journos

  Two Orange County representatives in the U.S. Congress came out strongly today against North Korea's harsh sentencing of 12 years hard labor for two U.S. journalists charged with "hostile acts." The other four Members of Congress were silent.Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) emailed the Weekly the following statement:"I am deeply concerned by reports that two U.S. citizens and California reporters have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor on charges of illegally crossing into North Korea

  June 8, 2009

• Royce, Sanchez Blast North Korea's Harsh Sentencing of Journos

  Two Orange County representatives in the U.S. Congress came out strongly today against North Korea's harsh sentencing of 12 years hard labor for two U.S. journalists charged with "hostile acts." The other four Members of Congress were silent.Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) emailed the Weekly the following statement:"I am deeply concerned by reports that two U.S. citizens and California reporters have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor on charges of illegally crossing into North Korea

  June 8, 2009

• Rohrabacher Raises Serious Allegations About Mistreatment of Uighurs

  Photo by Jack GouldRohrabacher: Against at least some torture.The White House is relieved a home was finally found for 17 Muslim Uighurs from China who were held without justification at Guantanamo Bay, but their leading champion in Congress, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), is still raising serious allegations about their mistreatment in the U.S. military prison in Cuba.Members of an ethnic group from central Asia and the Xinjiang province in western China, 22 Uighurs were picked up

  June 16, 2009

• Meet Orly Taitz, Queen Bee of People Obsessed With Barack Obama's Birth Certificate

  June 18, 2009

• McKinney Follows UC Irvine Speech With Israeli Detention [UPDATED, THE SEQUEL]

  UPDATE: MCKINNEY IS ON HER WAY HOME, REPORTS ATLANTA-JOURNAL CONSTITUTION ...Former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) is shown speaking at UC Irvine May 13 as part of the Muslim Student Union's controversial, three-week "Israel: The Politics of Genocide" teach-in. Here she makes the case that forces hellbent on continuing U.S. wars in the Middle East devised a coordinated effort to get her defeated in her unsuccessful 2006 reelection bid. That, she says, paved the way for Congress

  July 6, 2009

• Serial Pedophile Who Bought 5-Year-Old Vietnamese Sex Slave is Up For Parole

  England wants freedom but hasn't admitted his sick sex crimes​A convicted California serial pedophile who despises Jews, cops and African Americans and who forced a kindergarten-age girl he purchased in Vietnam to become a sex slave to not only himself but also his German shepherd and basset hound, both males, becomes eligible for parole in December. George Joseph England--a self-proclaimed Christian who remains unrepentant, according to law enforcement sources--is scheduled to make his pitch

  September 18, 2009