Sorry, I've been under the weather....

We'll have some Sunday talk show segments up a little later.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Poltics in the Zeros has more on Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter wounded on March 4 by U.S.-led forces. Was she targeted deliberately?

By John Aravosis

Bloggers uncover that someone working as a reporter in the West Wing is also advertising himself as a $200-an-hour gay escort — someone whose name, a year earlier, had appeared in the U.S. attorney's subpoena of White House documents during the investigation of the Valerie Plame-CIA scandal.

The mainstream media, including the Los Angeles Times, remains largely silent. Why? read on

Way to go John.

SpeakSpeak: Viacom's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is the latest target for the Parents Television Council which objects to an episode that dealt with infantilism (please don't ask). "Apparently, CBS has learned ABSOLUTELY nothing [emphasis theirs] from the record-breaking $3.5 million fine levied against parent company, Viacom, in an effort to settle scores of indecency complaints," said PTC. CBS declined to comment on the complaint.

via Altercation: However Speakspeak.org -- a Web site launched one month ago to fight back against the Federal Communications Commission's indecency crackdown -- did respond quickly. It has set up an online form on its opening page for surfers to submit a letter of "noncomplaint" to the Commission to counter the PTC complaint. "Our members feel that, while not every program is appropriate for every age group, neither is it appropriate for a small-but-active segment of the population to control the airwaves," site founder Amanda Toering said. "Because their mobilization has led to fear and self-censorship at the broadcast networks, the PTC has become the nation's de facto censorship board."

Jihad Watch: Rober Spenser will not apologize for his mistaken reporting over the "New Jersey Murders"

"Is that all it was? Hatemongers trying to stir up trouble and portray a robbery as something it wasn't? There is no doubt whatsoever that that is how the media elite will portray the weeks between the discovery of the bodies and the arrests of McDonald and Sanchez. But legitimate questions remain, and I am neither going to apologize or accept Mahmoud's "hatemonger" tag for asking them."

Again it's the media elites fault.

"I hope that facts will come out at the trial that will explain some of the features of this case that make it appear not to have been a simple robbery"

Spencer is hoping that it's a hate crime to prove himself right!

"This was reported in the New York Post and attributed to an eyewitness who saw the threat on the site at the time."

Well here's a major problem with the story. He is relying on The New York (Murdock) Post. They do have a good sports section though.

"If the motive was robbery, why was the family killed?"

Umm...To cover up the robbery? Not to be identified. They are criminals.

"If the motive was robbery and the family presumably surprised McDonald and Sanchez by being at home, leading the pair to murder them, why were the murders done with such precision? Why was so much care taken to slit their throats in a uniform manner?"

I can't even begin to respond to this.

"The Copt gave me the names of all four, along with phone numbers and other details for two of them. I had no idea whether or not the information I had been given was true, and I never claimed that it was...The only time I spoke to an official there, he was unfailingly polite but unmistakably condescending and clearly believed nothing that I had to tell him."

So he is complaining about information that HE can't verify but has enthusiastically given, and is upset because the were condescending. It sounds like they thought you were a crackpot.

"That it was just coincidental that a couple of lowlifes happened to murder this family in the same manner in which Muslims murder blasphemers and other enemies of Islam?"

Yes.

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I don't usually print comments because people can say some pretty wacky thinks, but here's a few anyway.
I still think there is an Islamic jihad angle in there.

Looks like they lifted the script from the old book/movie; "In Cold Blood".

I'm puzzled by the fact that robbers don't usually slit throats. It's quite uncommon.

As sad is it may sound, I truly hope that these murders can be tied to Islamic intolerance.

At the risk of being racist, I will admit that Hispanic criminals like to use knives a lot more than others. They like to get personal with their victim or adversary.

and finally: I'm reminded of Ann Coulter's words in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in which she wrote....(put in your best guess)

Even Michelle Malkin apologized: "Since January, I've blogged several times about the "hate crime in Jersey City Heights" involving the Armanious family. I was wrong."

(Please read the full article, as I have edited sections to make them fit and will probably be accused of misleading you. Thanks to Eschaton for the term"Wanker of the Day"

Novak couldn't even look into the camera when he said:

Novak:...last week, I'm,.. I misspoke when I said that ahh...the new republic, democratic national chairman...

Download | play

He was so flustered that he confused the two parties. You'll notice that he didn't try to put a tag line on it this time either. Maybe because there were a few democrats in the room? With Judy Woodruff he was able to spin it to make it look like Howard Dean wasn't staying within the party line.

By Andrew Zajac Washington Bureau

The Bush administration is aggressively wielding a rarely used executive power known as the state secrets privilege in an attempt to squash hard-hitting court challenges to its anti-terrorism campaign.How the White House is using this privilege, not a law but a series of legal precedents built on national security, disturbs some civil libertarians and open-government advocates because of its sweeping power. Judges almost never challenge the government's assertion of the privilege, and it can be fatal to a plaintiff's case.

The government is invoking the privilege in an attempt to wipe out the heart of a lawsuit that seeks to examine rendition, the secretive and controversial practice of sending terror suspects to foreign countries where they might be tortured. Use of the secrets privilege also could eliminate a suit by a former FBI contract linguist who charges that the bureau bungled translations of terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. read on

secretive, guess again. (hat tip jvh)

(Correction)-Michael will tell you here : excerpt: Some of you might have seen over at my place that I took Powerline to task for reprinting Ann Coulter's patently false allegation that the NYTimes op-ed page was outing the gay children of prominent conservatives. I wrote to Powerline twice and presented them with evidence; I asked them to retract their statement; they didn't, nor did they write back....read on

WASHINGTON - A new Social Security war room inside the Treasury Department is pumping out information to sell President Bush 's plan, much like any political campaign might do. It's part of a coordinated effort by the Bush administration. The internal, taxpayer-funded campaigning is backed up by television advertisements, grass-roots organizing and lobbying from business and other groups that support the Bush plan. The president's opponents are organized too, though they do not enjoy the resources of the White House or Treasury to sell their message.

Aren't we supposed to be fighting a war against terror? Is this even legal?

(Update) !

via Bloomberg: Sgrena told Rome prosecutors Franco Ionta and Pietro Saviotti that the shots didn't come from soldiers standing at a checkpoint.

`It wasn't a checkpoint, but a patrol that started shooting after pointing some lights in our direction,'' the Ansa news agency cited Sgrena as telling the prosecutors. ``We hadn't previously encountered any checkpoint and we didn't understand where the shots came from.'' ...

via Direland: Dramatic breaking news from Europe: the Nouvel Observateur 's daily news bulletin reports in a Saturday afternoon posting that Scregna says the conduct of the car in which she was being transported to liberty couldn't possibly justify the fusillade that riddled it and its occupants with bullets. "Our car was rolling along at normal speed, so it was impossible for there to have been a misunderstanding," Scregna told the Italian magistrates who've been charged with investigating the murderous incident, according to the Italian wire service Ansa-- which also says her account has been confirmed by one of the Italian secret service agents in the car with her, who was likewise wounded.

via Turkish Press: The companion of freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on Saturday leveled serious accusations at US troops who fired at her convoy as it was nearing Baghdad airport, saying the shooting had been deliberate.

(Update): E&P adds this.

This is a terrible story. I don't want to judge this tragedy too early. These articles are all International.