Afternoon Memo:

- The United State Congress has been accused of "hectoring" by a very important county's head of state. The accuser is none other than our very own George W. Bush! At first I was not entirely sure I knew one could hector, but alas, one (or a body of people) clearly can. It could be a derogatory term. I mean, imagine if your name was Hector? How would you about feel being turned into a verb and all??? Shucks fellas, I sure would be sore.


Anyhow, the reason for this charge is as follows:

U.S. President George W. Bush defended the pace of political and economic reform
in Iraq on Thursday and accused members of the U.S. Congress of "hectoring"
Baghdad and threatening its leaders.Bush also praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for launching a "tough battle against militia fighters and criminals" in the oil city of Basra, citing it as evidence that Baghdad is increasingly able to handle security without U.S. leadership. (click here for more)

It sounds to me like he thinks the Iraqi Parliament, headed by Mr. Maliki, is doing a better job than the U.S. Congress. Maybe he should just move to Iraq if he loves their government and hates ours....America, love it or leave it, baby!

- Former Black Panthers member Mumia Abu-Jamal (left) is no longer on Death Row. Abu-Jamal's cause has been long championed by judical rights activists and independent coffee shop advocates alike. Virtually every major subway system in the United States has some graffiti or flyer purporting his innocence and demanding his release. I speculate that this will only fuel such behavior.

I must say, based on the facts, it does seem like he got a raw deal in terms of his arrest and trial. Of course when you get your facts from this website, you might become a bit biased. It does not seem improbable to me that in a town as corrupt as Philly someone could get framed for such a thing. It would not be the first time. My only fear is that if he is innocent and is released, he might go out and do something crazy. I know I might after serving 25 plus years for a crime I didn't do. Shit, I wonder if they even let him read the paper in prison? Imagine what might go through his mind when he finds out about such horrible things as the Iraq War or the Mark Penn scorched Earth approach to primary politics?



- Lastly, from the "Better Late than Never" files, Florida's legislature has finally apologized for slavery! The next apology should be for that worm hole Katherine Harris (pictured right with one of her relatives) for screwing up, on purpose, an otherwise perfectly good presidential election in 2000.