We've never heard Howard Stern's radio show and don't think we'd enjoy listening to it but we think it's absurd and a giant step down the slippery slope of censorship for Clear Channel to have yanked it. Howard spoke about it on the air today. We urge all his fans to protest.

Rosie O'Donnell married her partner Kelli Carpenter in San Francisco today:

"I want to thank the city of San Francisco for this amazing stance the mayor has taken for all the people here, not just us but all the thousands and thousands of loving, law-abiding couples," the former talk show host, holding a large bouquet, said after she and Kelli Carpenter emerged from their brief ceremony inside Mayor Gavin Newsom's office.

The newlyweds walked hand in hand down the grand marble staircase in the rotunda to thunderous applause from hundreds of spectators who came to witness the city's first celebrity same-sex wedding.

TalkLeft reader Bryan W. of Seattle writes in:

I am appalled and outraged by the latest attempts by one group of people to impose their ideals and extremely delicate sense of values on others. The primary burn is the proposed amendment to the constitution to ban two people’s pursuit of happiness. Not being homosexual, I don’t have any personal stake in this but the fact that people would attempt to modify the Constitution because an act offends their sensitive moralities makes me think, “What’s next?”. Make no mistake; if it were politically palatable, the same persons backing the proposed amendment would just as soon put forward a constitutional amendment to ban homosexuality.

We as liberals need to stand up against this. And I don’t mean stand up and say, “Well I’m not sure if gay marriage should be legal… but I am in favor of civil unions!” This position is simple and transparent pandering. Stand up, say it’s wrong to impede a person’s pursuit of happiness simply because it offends someone else and stick to your position.

More denials by Michael Jackson's young accuser have been captured on videotape:

Videographer Christian Robinson says he spent two years recording Michael Jackson and those who made it into the pop star's inner circle. Now Robinson is finally talking about what he saw during those years and about a tape that could rock the case against Jackson.

Robinson says he taped his own interview with Jackson's accuser and his family soon after Martin Bashir's documentary Living With Michael Jackson aired in February 2003. The 24-year-old videographer says he asked them whether there had ever been any inappropriate sexual behavior between the pop star and the young boy.

"Yeah. I asked. And they answered, and they were very up front and they, of course, said absolutely not," said Robinson on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "All of them, every single one," he said. Robinson claims the alleged victim, his brother, his sister and his mother all said Jackson did nothing wrong.

Will we get him dead or alive? How long will we have had him?

[Source of image unknown, we received it by e-mail.]

We've got court this afternoon--if you feel like talking, you can do it here. We'll be back this evening.

The New York Times has endorsed John Kerry in Tuesday's New York primary. The paper praises John Edwards, but says this is not his time and he needs more experience. As to Kerry,

Mr. Kerry, one of the Senate's experts in foreign affairs, exudes maturity and depth. He can discuss virtually any issue of security or international affairs with authority. What his critics see as an inability to take strong, clear positions seems to us to reflect his appreciation that life is not simple. He understands the nuances and shades of gray in both foreign and domestic policy. While he still has trouble turning out snappy sound bites, we don't detect any difficulty in laying down a clear bottom line. His campaigning skills are perhaps not as strong as his intellectual ones, but they are pretty good and getting better. Early in the race he alienated some audiences with brittle, patronizing lectures. But he has improved tremendously over the last few months. His answers are focused and to the point, and his speeches far more compelling.

....Almost everyone who has been watching the Democratic campaign would love to merge Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards into one composite super-candidate, with Mr. Kerry's depth and Mr. Edwards's personal touch with the voters. In the television era, likability is extremely important. But this is a serious business, and Mr. Kerry, the more experienced and knowledgeable candidate, gets our endorsement.

The U.S. announced it is returning one of the Guantanamo detainees to Denmark. Denmark has stated that he will be freed upon his return:

The Pentagon did not give his name, but Danish media have identified him as Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane, imprisoned in February 2001 after being captured in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said Denmark has provided unspecified assurances that he will not pose a further threat. The United States has released 93 prisoners from Guantanamo but still holds roughly 650 non-U.S. citizens caught in what President Bush calls the global war on terrorism. The Pentagon said it decided he no longer posed a danger.

Here are some interesting pictures:

Michael Brescia

This is still our favorite though:

John Doe 2 and "Dirty Bomb" Suspect Jose Padilla.

More on the Aryan Republican Army (ARA) is here.

Note: We are not vouching for the accuracy of these internet photos and news reports, just pointing them out.

[comments now closed]

This is news. The Associated Press reports that one unit of the FBI had information that McVeigh sought help from a group of white supremacist bank robbers days before the Oklahoma City Bombing, and failed to share the information with the FBI unit investigating the bombing:

The FBI believed Timothy McVeigh tried to recruit additional help in the days before the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and gathered evidence that white supremacist bank robbers may have become involved, according to government documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial.

The retired FBI chief of the Oklahoma City investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said he was unaware of some evidence obtained by The Associated Press and that the investigation should be reopened to determine whether the robbery gang was linked to McVeigh.

The evidence never shared with Defenbaugh's investigators or defense lawyers includes documents showing the Aryan Republican Army bank robbers possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those McVeigh stole and a driver's license with the name of a central player who was robbed in the Oklahoma City plot.

Does this mean others were involved?

McVeigh's ex-lawyer said the evidence obtained by the AP is the strongest to date to show what he has argued for years -- that the bombing conspiracy may have involved more people than McVeigh and Nichols.

"I think these pieces close the circle, and they clearly show the bombing conspiracy consisted probably of 10 conspirators," attorney Stephen Jones said. "They (government officials) simply turned their backs on a group of people for which there is credible evidence suggesting they were involved in the murder of 160 people."

Some of the original documents cited in the article are available here.

You can read more from older news articles here and here.

From Long Story, Short Pier:

Billmon has uncovered the most glorious hack. It seems georgewbush.com has a really keen tool: enter your ZIP code, and it’ll bring up a list of your local papers. Type in the letter you wish to send to the editor(s), check off the papers in question, press the “send” button, and presto! You’ve siphoned off a tiny chip of his 200-million–dollar war chest and used it for truth, justice, and the American way. (If you’re at a loss, Billmon suggests you take the HRC or Lambda Defense Fund letters as boilerplate.)

What are you waiting for? Go! Go!

We'll be putting some great letters in the comments to this post which you can use for your letters. Feel free to add others in the comments that the rest of us can use. The part we like the best is that the Bush Campaign is paying for the funding of the technology to do this.

From Can They Hear You Now at Slate.com:

The Federal Communications Committee and the Justice Department are at loggerheads over a new problem in the war on terror: how to listen in on Internet phone calls. Thanks to the blistering growth of VoIP—Voice over Internet Protocol—services, which have been adopted by approximately 10 million people worldwide so far, law enforcement officials now worry that wiretapping may one day become technically obsolete. If traditional phone lines go the way of the horse and carriage, will the FBI still be able to listen in on Internet phone calls? How would it go about tapping one? Is it even possible?

After some highly technical descriptions, the article continues:

Last Thursday the FCC held an open hearing on the future of VoIP telecommunications. In a 4-1 decision, FCC commissioners, supported by Chairman Michael Powell, voted that a VoIP provider called Free World Dialup should not be subject to the same regulations as traditional phone companies—including the particulars of CALEA compliance. Instead, the FCC decided to put off the issue, stating that it would initiate a proceeding "to address the technical issues associated with law-enforcement access to Internet-enabled service" and "identify the wiretapping capabilities required." One commissioner, Michael J. Copps strongly dissented, calling the postponement "reckless."

Bottom line: The technology is growing so fast, the Government may not be able to implement monitoring internet calls even if it is allowed to do so--companies, particularly those overseas, are finding ways to free us.

ABC News reports Osama has left Pakistan for Afganistan.

The intelligence reports come as Arabic television stations aired audiotapes purportedly made by bin Laden's top aide, Ayman al-Zawahri. In one of the tapes, a man said to be Zawahri taunts President Bush and threatens new attacks on the United States.

Zawahri and his boss, bin Laden, moved out of Pakistan as that country's army stepped up pressure on tribal leaders in the far western area of Waziristan, U.S. intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS. The homes of suspected al Qaeda sympathizers in that region have been set on fire and there have been numerous arrests. Officials tell ABCNEWS they believe the two al Qaeda leaders have slipped across the mountainous border and re-entered Afghanistan.