It will indirectly, if the Dubai port deal goes through.

The parent company of a Dubai-based firm at the center of a political storm in the US over the purchase of American ports participates in the Arab boycott against Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The firm, Dubai Ports World, is seeking control over six major US ports…

“Yes, of course the boycott is still in place and is still enforced,” Muhammad Rashid a-Din, a staff member of the Dubai Customs Department’s Office for the Boycott of Israel, told the Post in a telephone interview.

“If a product contained even some components that were made in Israel, and you wanted to import it to Dubai, it would be a problem,” he said.

Read on.

(link via Metafilter)

Ah, geek humor!

Sark today sought to quell the growing controversy over his decision to grant the MCP control of several major ports throughout the region.

“I believe that this arrangement with the Master Control Program should go forward,” Sark told reporters aboard Solar Sailer One. He emphasized that security would continued to be handled by Tank and Recognizer programs, with the MCP only be in charge of port operations.

Read on.

(Link via Wil Wheaton)

An abortion, especially for an early pregnancy, is a relatively easy procedure to perform. And while I know, women of South Dakota, that you never asked for this, now is the time to learn how it is done. There is no reason you should be beholden to doctors — especially in a state where doctors have been refusing to perform them, forcing the state’s only abortion clinic to fly doctors in from elsewhere.

No textbooks or guides existed at that time to help them, and the equipment was hard to find. This is no longer true. For under $2000, any person with the inclination to learn could create a fully functioning abortion setup allowing for both vacuum aspiration and dilation/curettage abortions. If you are careful and diligent, and have a good grasp of a woman’s anatomy you will not put anyone’s health or life in danger, even if you have not seen one of these procedures performed.

Molly Saves the Day provides you with the information.

I find this a little unsettling, but I think I’m more unsettled by the fact that providing data like this to the general public may again be a necessity.

Osama bin Laden’s still running free, but the government’s focusing on the important efforts in the War on Terror, like interrogating Morrissey.

No. Really. Morrissey.

South Dakota’s Senate has moved to criminalize abortion.

Legislation meant to prompt a national legal battle targeting Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, was approved Wednesday by the South Dakota Senate, moving the bill a step closer to final passage.

The measure, which would ban nearly all abortions in the state, now returns to the House, which passed a different version earlier. The House must decide whether to accept changes made by the Senate, which passed its version 23-12.

…The bill, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison, would make it a felony for doctors or others to perform abortions.

Opponents argued that the measure was too restrictive because it would allow abortions only to save the lives of pregnant women. They said abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a woman’s health.

It violates Roe v. Wade, so it’ll go up to the Supreme Court, which I’m sure will strike it down thanks to the number of moderates on the Court. Assuming this is 2004. Is it 2004? Oh, no, wait, I forgot that 51% of the country asked for this.

(link via Metafilter)

Against the war? Sick of those magnetic ribbons? QuestionWar.com has just the thing for you.

(thanks to Sarie for the link)

The always-delightful Jill Sobule has written a little tune for the Huffington Post about this week’s big headline. More details over at Sounding Board.

An avid quail hunter demonstrates how much birdshot would have struck Harry Whittington: it’s grim.

(link via regis)

The American Bar Assocation hates our freedom, wants the terrorists to win, and gives comfort to our enemies. Or maybe they just believe in defending the largest law in the land.

Dick Cheney shot a guy.

In the words of Dave Barry, we are not making this up.

(Ok, we are making up the “killer” part, but not the rest.)

(Although we feel we should mention that this is the closest that Dick has ever come to combat duty.)

We’ve upgraded Bray’s software. (Movable Type: old and busted. WordPress: new hotness.)

If you see anything that seems awry, let us know!

Bush’s proposed budget cranks the funds to the military, of course.

What does it eliminate or cut? Yahoo has the list of all 141 programs.

Watershed protection and flood prevention operations, $75 million. Yeah, it’s not like we’ve had any flooding issues lately.

Environmental quality incentives program, $270 million. Little surprise there.

And, of course, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, $114 million. Screw Sesame Street.

Jack Abramoff said in correspondence made public on Thursday that
President Bush met him “almost a dozen” times, disputing White House claims Bush did not know the former lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal.

“The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows,” Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine.

Abramoff added that Bush also once invited him to his Texas ranch.

Read on.

Two gems I learned from the Stephanie Miller show this morning:

* Majority Leader Boner Bayner Boehner, who’s gonna clean up the GOP and the House, lives in an apartment in DC that he rents from a lobbyist. A lobbyist who works for the restaurant industry, trying to keep the minimum wage down. Guess who heads the House committee that handles such things?

* The GOP just put Tom DeLay on the Justice committee. You know, the ones investigating, oh, Ambramoff. As Miller put it, that’s like having Keith Richards do a “Just Say No” ad. Incidentally, why was there an open spot on Justice? That would be Duke Cunningham’s old spot. Unbelievable.

Band of Brothers are a group of veterans running for Congress. They’re veterans… and Democrats. Take that, chicken-hawks!

They’ve been reported on in the UK’s Times Online; let’s hope they get more domestic coverage.

(via Metafilter)

Followup to this:

George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters’ access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word “theory” at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.

Mr. Deutsch’s resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.

Heh heh heh. Read on.

Insight, which is no one’s idea of a left-wing source, reports

Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.

“It’s hardball all the way,” a senior GOP congressional aide said.

The sources said the administration has been alarmed over the damage that could result from the Senate hearings, which began on Monday, Feb. 6. They said the defection of even a handful of Republican committee members could result in a determination that the president violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Such a determination could lead to impeachment proceedings.

…So far, only a handful of GOP senators have questioned Mr. Rove’s tactics.

Read on.

(via Huffington Post, via DailyKos)

I don’t know who should get credit for this joke, but I’m not going to let a lack of citation get in the way of a good punchline.

President Bush was scheduled to worship at a small Methodist Church outside Washington, D.C. as part of Karl Rove’s campaign to reverse Bush’s rapidly deteriorating approval ratings. A week before the visit, Rove called on the Methodist Bishop who was scheduled to preach on the chosen Sunday. “As you know, Bishop,” began Rove, “we’ve been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of the president’s position on stem cell research and the like. We’d gladly arrange for Jack Abramoff’s friends to make a contribution of $100,000 to the church if during your sermon you would say that President Bush is a saint.”

The Bishop thought about it for a few minutes, and finally said, “This parish is in rather desperate need of funds … I’ll agree to do it.”

The following Sunday, Bush pompously showed up for the photo op, looking especially smug even while attempting to appear pious.

After making a few announcements, the Bishop began his homily: “George W. Bush is a petty, vindictive, sanctimonious hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel with the world’s largest chip on his shoulder. He used every dirty election trick in the book and still lost, but his toadies in the Supreme Court appointed him. He lied about his military record in which he used special privilege to avoid combat, and then had the gall to dress up and pose on an aircraft carrier before a banner stating “Mission Accomplished.” He invaded a sovereign country for oil and war profiteering, turning Iraq into a training ground for terrorists who would destroy our country. He continues to confuse the American people by insisting on a nonexistent connection between the horrors of 9/11 and the reason he started his war in Iraq. He routinely appoints incompetent and unqualified cronies to high-level federal government positions and as a result, hundreds and hundreds of Americans died tragically in New Orleans. He lets corporate polluters despoil God’s creation and doom our planet. He uses fear-mongering to justify warrantless spying on American citizens, in clear violation of our Constitution. He is so psychotic and megalomaniacal that he believes that he was chosen by God. He is the worst example of a Methodist I have ever personally known. But compared to Dick Cheney and Karl Rove and the rest of the evil fascist bastards in this administration, George W. Bush is a saint.”

I feel I can safely speak for all of us at Bray New World when I say we endorse Patty Weiss for Arizona’s 8th.

MoveOn’s latest ad isn’t subtle. But it hits the target.