A very interesting read from the Village Voice regarding the meetings of the National Security Council’s top Middle East aide with apocalyptic Christians. The problem is not that George W. Bush is discussing policy with people who press right-wing solutions to achieve peace in the Middle East, or with devout Christians. It is that he is discussing policy with Christians who might not care about peace at all – at least until the rapture.

Nice: The Bush White House is going around the country taking credit for government programs it tried to eliminate or cut sharply.

Dozens of soldiers – other than the seven military police reservists who have been charged – were involved in the abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, and there is an effort under way in the Army to hide it, a key witness in the investigation told ABCNEWS.

U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Falluja.

The UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, described what is going on in Darfur, an arid region of western Sudan, as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world“.

“JBX” is a little experiment being performed by Jack in the Box (their corporate headquarters are here in San Diego. I have to say, I think they look gawd awful.

Finally up and running on my RMA stuff.. we shall see if she holds together.

The San Diego Reader does not lie: BEST VIETNAMESE-FRENCH SANDWICH I went here tonight while I was waiting for Anna. Awesome sandwich. They are sort of like good Vietnamese food on really good French bread (a result of the French screwing over their country). Anyway, a great meal, and the sucker was only 2 bucks.

I wandered around Vien Dong (Vietnamese Supermarket) for a little bit. I like to check out all the wierd, sometimes smelly, fish and meats. But mostly what I went for was young coconut juice drinks. Ever since Burning Man, I have been a sucker for young coconut juice. We met a guy named Thomas at Burning Man last year that bought a case of coconuts and a machete. He kept them in a cooler packed with ice and then cut open a few a day. That stuff was ambrosia. I am using the greek definition here, not the crap jello thingy.

PS I like sunflowers

Just ordered my new backpack: Mountainsmith Retro Bugaboo, I almost bought it before, but it just went on sale with REI.

Its not a huge bag, but is very comfortable and is pretty much the exact dimensions of a slim carry on bag (I like to travel light and never check baggage). Would have rather had a black bag, but I think I will just cut off the labels to make it a bit less conspicuous.

While I have travel on the mind.. some good links: Art of Travel, and Travellite.

Worked out my upper body yesterday and I am feeling it today.

The US couldn’t find them, unfortunately someone else has: Sarin artillery shell used in bomb

Cambridge has done the first legal gay marriages today.

The UN brings us Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About.

Conspiracy of the day: Nick Berg’s Killing: 50 Fishy Circumstances, Contradictory Claims, and Videotape Anomalies. Some strange information in there though.

I finally got the blogger comments working. It is set to anon, so behave.

Even if you hate onions, they make you cry when you kill them. I’m making a batch of ‘mexican’ rice. Basically a bunch of rice, beans, and veggies with some heat to it. I’m pretty sure someone living in Guadalajara would laugh at me.

A new report accuses Donald Rumsfeld of approving a secret operation that encouraged “physical coercion and sexual humiliation” of Iraqi prisoners. Nice one, Don.

After 25 years of persistent work, Marin County rancher Albert Straus has figured out a way to run his dairy farm, organic creamery and electric car from the manure generated by his herd of 270 cows.

Your kids will be freaks! Sooty air pollution can cause genetic damage that can be passed along to offspring.

I still haven’t figured the comment system, doesn’t seem to like my template or something.

I finally joined a gym. When I moved out of my old place (which had a tiny gym in the basement) I figured I would just keep active in other ways. Well, it didn’t work out that way. The gym is not huge, there are no crowds, and it has huge sliding windows to get a nice breeze. Perfect.

RIAA – even though actual point-of-purchase sales are up by about 9% in the US – and the industry sold over 13,000,000 more units in 2004 (1st quarter) than in 2003 (1st quarter) – the Industry is still claiming a loss of 7% because RIAA members shipped 7% fewer records than in 2003.

Rummy talks to the troops: “One soldier asked when they would receive improved vests and better armor for the Humvees. It’s those roadside bombs, he said. ‘We lost some soldiers due to them.’ Another asked whether it was true that the military would not pay their full air fare back home. Yet another wanted to know why his military medical coverage wouldn’t handle physical therapy for his handicapped child. When, if ever, would the United Nations send some troops and where would they come from? Would Defense Department employees who are civilians working with the military be permitted to carry guns, asked a civilian working with the military?”

Wolfowitz wants more money. “You come before this committee . . . having seriously undermined your credibility over a number of years now,” she said. “When it comes to making estimates or predictions about what will occur in Iraq, and what will be the costs in lives and money, . . . you have made numerous predictions, time and time again, that have turned out to be untrue and were based on faulty assumptions.” More here.

Brood X is comming. Dun dun daaah.

A team of American researchers announced Wednesday that they have identified an ancient impact crater buried off the northwest coast of Australia — a find that supports the theory that a giant meteor caused a mass extinction on Earth approximately 250 million years ago.

Not really news at this point, but Polygraphs Don’t Give True Story