Murtha apologized for his "outburst" in a handwritten note Rogers received Wednesday morning, the latter's office confirmed. This marks his first acknowledgement of an episode between the two lawmakers on the House floor.

Charlie Hill, an accused murderer and admitted hijacker, has lived 36 years as a fugitive of U.S. justice. With the Cuban government providing him an offshore haven, he has managed to live a life beyond the reach of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But the years are catching up with him. Some of his fellow fugitives have died recently, forcing Hill, a 57-year-old grandfather whose hair, once a black Afro, is now closely cropped and grey, to confront his own mortality.

Inextricably linked with his fate is that of his patron, Fidel Castro, who is 80 and in failing health. For obvious reasons, Hill and other fugitives who have long been protected by Castro are hoping for the longtime leader's recuperation and for a continuation of the Communist government that has long butted heads with Washington.

"I don't think there will be much change if Fidel dies," Hill said. "There might be, but I think it's 60-40 that not much will happen. If it does, well, what can I do?"

...oops! I thought this story was about Alec Baldwin. Wishful thinking I guess.

Bush (cloistered in his secret chamber with the golden dial) turns it up a notch:



NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices climbed to a record high average of $3.073 a gallon on Monday, breaking the previous peak hit after hurricanes knocked out refineries on the Gulf Coast in 2005, travel and auto group AAA said.

Many Greeners on the left have been screaming for years that we should have $5.00 a gallon gas like the enlightened Europeans, now they're the ones screaming the loudest about the high cost of gasoline so as to make political hay out of it...

From Boortz: Do Europeans hate Americans? Perhaps. Until they need our military again:

1. The French hate us.

In a forceful summation of the substantive and political case for his candidacy, delivered to a conservative audience at Houston Baptist College, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, acknowledged that his views on social issues were out of line with many Republican primary voters.

But Mr. Giuliani argued that there were even greater matters at stake in the election, starting with which party would better protect the nation from terrorism. Mr. Giuliani suggested that his record in New York -- leading the city after the attacks of Sept. 11 and overseeing a decline in violent crime during his eight years in office – made him the most electable of the Republican candidates, no matter his stand on social issues like abortion.

I'm just waiting for Jerry Falwell (who by the way, still has mounds of unsightly neck fat in spite of decades of prayer and thinks teletubbies are more of a threat than terrorists) to rear his ugly head and slap him down if he gets too far ahead in the polls.

When taxes are low (thanks to the evil BushCo.Junta tax cuts for the rich) there is a greater expansion of the job base and hence more revenues go to The Treasury:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal revenue collections hit an all-time high in April, contributing to a further improvement in the budget deficit for the year. Releasing its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Thursday that through the first seven months of this budget year, the deficit totals $80.8 billion, significantly below the $184.1 billion imbalance run up during the first seven months of the 2006 budget year.

The administration's budget sent to Congress in February projects that the deficit will be eliminated by 2012 even if the president achieves his goal of getting his tax cuts made permanent. They are now due to expire in 2010.

Even if?? It's because of the president's tax cuts that the deficit will be eliminated in 2010.

Thousands of two nosed riot police:

More evidence of the BushCo.Junta Police State:



MOSCOW (Reuters) - Techno and rock music blared away as the bare-chested Russian policeman lay on his back on a pile of broken glass and nails. A colleague dropped three daggers, point down, on his stomach and trampled on his chest. Russia's special police, the OMON, were showing what they are made of.Kremlin critics and Western governments accused them of using excessive force to break up opposition protests last month.

...enveloping...

Under Siege

Washington Post columnist David Broder, considered the dean of American political journalists, is under harsh attack from the left for a recent column in which he criticized Land Speculator and Bookish Little Snot Merchant Senate Majority Leader Harry "Hank" Rei d. (D) CAESER'S PALACE

Broder, who is generally liberal, cited Reid's statement that the war in Iraq had been lost. Broder wrote — "Not since Bill Clinton famously pondered the meaning of the word 'is' has a Democratic leader confused things as much as Harry Reid did with his inept discussion of the alternatives in Iraq." And — "The Democrats deserve better, and the country needs more, than Harry Reid has offered as Senate Majority Leader."

(Applause!!)

50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus wrote a letter to the post defending their leader, saying, "The fact that Mr. Reid speaks his mind should be applauded, not derided."

Democratic activist Paul Begala called Broder "George W. Bush's housebroken lap-dog," and said his column was "a bed-wetting tantrum." Broder tells Editor & Publisher that he wouldn't change anything in his original column — and said tongue-in-cheek that he is "astonished and delighted" that the 50 Democratic senators "spontaneously" came up with their letter.

"Purely Political"

Democratic Congressman John Murtha Tuesday called the recent Washington visit of Iraq Multinational Forces Commander General David Petraeus a "purely political move."

He added — "Petraeus doesn't talk to any of us. He only talks to the news media and so forth trying to sell this program." Murtha later acknowledged that while Petraeus talked to "a group of members," he said he didn't talk to committees that act on military legislation.

In fact, Petraeus conducted two 90-minute top-secret level briefings to which all members of Congress were invited, and which 336 attended. Petraeus personally briefed Murtha and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a telephone call the previous day.

As far as his visit being political — a senior defense official tells Cybercast News — "Members of the military are inherently non-political. Moreover, General Petraeus was unanimously confirmed by this Senate. He is their man, reporting to them on operations in Iraq. There is nothing political about that."

Nice Work

The World Bank — nice work if you can get it. While some at the bank continue to call for the scalp of President Paul Wolfowitz because he helped his girlfriend get a transfer to a high-paying State Department job — The Wall Street Journal reports almost 1,400 bank employees have salaries higher than the $183,000/year earned by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

17 percent of the bank's 10,000 employees are in a salary bracket that ranges from $170,000 to 232,000. And — for the many non-Americans who work at The World Bank — those salaries are tax-free.

Sorry. It's Friday, I'm feeling lazy..