The Rural Blog: A congressional investigation has found that the coal-mine disaster that killed nine people in Utah last summer could have been prevented if the general manager or other officials had been honest with the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Daily Howler: The divine right of pundits

Matthew Yglesias: We can't leave until we've achieved "victory," defined as killing everyone who wants us to leave.

Radamisto: Col. Morris Davis is an American hero.

Cliff Schecter: Looks like we got us another "Pastor Problem." Will the corporate media will notice?....naah

The Impolitic: Bullsh*t

Agitprop: "Ex-White House Jesus Freak-in-Charge caught plagiarizing the Pope." Not making that up.

Inarticulate Fumblings: Heterosexuality questionnaire.

Politits: Make mine a double standard.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss. P.S. to IHOP: Wall Street does not like Green Eggs and Ham.

And speaking of books, some familiar bloggers are having a Spring Reading Challenge.

Mike's off for today only flying home across the Pacific (hopefully in an exit row 'cause the tall guy needs leg room). Send tips to finnsagain AT aol.

Radimisto: Mitt Romney has spent about $1million per delegate. Lance Mannion has more...

King of Zembla: Ser-en-DIP-i-ty

Informed Comment: Turkey hits 70 sites in Iraq; U.S. accidentally kills another 13; Sistani aides kidnapped in Basra.

Ken Silverstein: War in Chad: World Bank-backed oil project hasn't created promised "model" of development.

Danger Room: Spies mine YouTube for intelligence.

bookforum: The power of unreasonable people.

What's with all those ridiculous colors that populate their BIG primary/delegate country wide map? John King says, "I should have done that in a different color." Huh? Using a light blue and a slightly darker blue to determine who is who hurts MINE eyes...

In an op-ed piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled "Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky", David Hazinski, a former NBC correspondent and associate professor of telecommunications at the University of Georgia, says that

...having just anyone produce widely distributed stories without control can have the reverse effect from what advocates intend. It's just a matter of time before something like a faked Rodney King beating video appears on the air somewhere....Journalism organizations should head that off. Citizen reports can be a valuable addition to news and information flow with some protections:

• Major news organizations must create standards to substantiate citizen-contributed information and video, and ensure its accuracy and authenticity.

• They should clarify and reinforce their own standards and work through trade organizations to enforce national standards so they have real meaning.

• Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should create mini-courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedures, much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff's auxiliaries are trained and certified.

Um, Mister Hazinski sir? There are just a few bloggers who would like to have a word with you....

C&Ler Jonathan D emailed and told me that the Thomas Friedman "Suck on This" Iraq clip has been removed from Youtube. UPDATE: billw sent me the video!

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I guest hosted Richard Greene's show on Air America a little while ago and talked about Friedman:

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Friedman: What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?" You don't think, you know we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna to let it grow? Well, Suck. On. This. That Charlie is what this war is about. We could of hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. Could of hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.

UPDATE: I saw this on Atrios when he first posted it way back when and he has a Sam Seder version up now...

Duncan has more: "Now he tells us"

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

But as close as we're going to get for a while.

(Thanks to Nate for the tip to this dKos diary)

The Gothamist interviewed The Daily Show's John Oliver on his feelings about the strike:

Someone from the WGA, I think it was the president, said the strike could go on for nine months. I did not hear that. To be honest I find brinksmanship like that difficult to stomach and it makes both sides sound equally bad. They're playing games with people's lives at the moment, and I'm not even talking about the writers. On The Daily Show we have a staff who are very concerned at the moment about losing their jobs - researchers, P.A.s, etc. - and I find talk like that quite difficult to stomach. I understand they're trying to play some kind of brinksmanship game but that doesn't make it any less difficult to hear when friends of mine who live paycheck to paycheck are being seriously affected by this strike. And they don't even stand to benefit from any of the negotiations!

I have some friends who are familiar with the negotiations--or lack thereof-- and they've been telling me that the companies may not feel compelled to negotiate in good faith until January or February, when their original content will be used up. United Hollywood has more videos as well as ideas on how you can show your support...

Some families testified yesterday in utter despair over their loss of a son and a husband. I've written a lot about the actions of the shady Utah mine owner Bob Murray. This is a heartbreaking look at how these families are dealing with the tragic deaths that happened in part because of the incompetent actions of Bob Murray.

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Sheila Phillips - Mother of miner Brandon Phillips:

"It's just hard to have hope, and have your heart broke every day, and have your grandson grow up without a dad…And I'd like to talk a little bit about Mr. Murray -- I didn't go to very many of the meetings because I couldn't stand to listen to the man. He was talking about one day when they were moving the drill holes, and they had the pad ready for one and then they decided to drill it somewhere else, and I asked him why they didn't have two going... and he said 'we could drill you 1,000 holes and it wouldn't make any difference.' (transcripts and Digby below the fold)

Continue reading »

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Sergeant: "You are sitting here lying to a police officer." Do you pick up stray pieces of toilet paper from the floors of public restrooms? Was your palm down or up? I could tell it was your left hand...

Craig: "I sit down, um, to go to the bathroom and ah, you said our feet bumped. I believe they did, ah, because I reached down and scooted over and um, the next thing I knew, under the bathroom divider comes a card that says Police. Now, um, (sigh) that's about as far as I can take it, I don't know of anything else. Ah, your foot came toward mine, mine came towards yours, was that natural? I don't know. Did we bump? Yes. I think we did. You said so. I don't disagree with that."

Sergeant: "Okay. I don't want to get into a pissing match here."

Seems that Larry doesn't know what hand his gold ring is on...Sadly, No! has more...

Hat tip to Media Matters who first picked up on this. While discussing the Senator Craig scandal last night on MSNBC, macho right-wing tough guy Tucker Carlson tells Joe Scarborough and Dan Abrams about his own high school era run-in with an over-aggressive male in a public bathroom. According to Tucker, upon being "bothered" by this man:

Download | play Download | play (h/t Scarce)

“I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the — you know, and grabbed him, and … hit him against the stall with his head, actually.”

Tucker released this statement to MM earlier:

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.

So the story goes from Tucker fetching his buddy and hitting this guys head against a stall, to him running away screaming, only to later come back and hold him down. Which one is it, Tucker? Either way you're a weenie.

UPDATE: Media Matters wants MSNBC to account for Carlson's statements