Both Moi at Bloggg and Amy at Blog Amy have pictures of the snow in their areas.

Brrrr, just brrrr. It was below freezing on the Gulf Coast last night, but we don’t have to shovel anything.

Around this time every year we get an influx of robins coming in to gorge on the berries of the camphor trees [cinnamomum camphora – an invasive non-native species]. The result is a bunch of noisy, obnoxious birds, slightly intoxicated, leaving dark purple splashes all over everything as the berries rapidly pass through their digestive tracks.

The first time people of a certain age see this annual ritual they think of the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds.

An umbrella or easily cleaned wide brimmed hat is recommend, as well as a car cover.

Update: Mustang Bobby points out in comments that the American robin’s scientific name is turdus migratorius. And people think scientists don’t have a sense of humor.

Australian Broadcasting has a post on the capture of a reputed al Zarqawi lieutenant.

Sami Mohammed al-Jafi, known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, is accused of being behind around 32 car bombings since the US-led invasion of Iraq, it said.

Kurdi has been in Iraqi custody for over a month, but his capture was announced just a week before Iraq’s landmark elections in which Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is running on a list that promises to bring security to beleaguered Iraqis.

“Kurdi has confessed to some 75 per cent of the car bombs that were used for attacks in Baghdad since March 2003 and to making the explosives used in the attack on the Jordanian embassy in August 2003,” spokesman Thair al-Naqib said.

“Kurdi also confirmed he was responsible for some of the bloody attacks on the police.”

Having been in the custody of Allawi for a month I wouldn’t be surprised if Kurdi also admitted to providing John Wilkes Booth with backstage passes, having been on the grassy knoll in Dallas, and taking part in the recent bank robbery in Northern Ireland.

If this guy was so vital to bomb making, why hasn’t the number of attacks been reduced in the last month, instead of increasing?

Back on January 9, I wondered what Rumsfeld was up to with all of the money Congress was giving him, but he didn’t seem to be spending. Many people guessed death squads and the new information that Steve Bates posts on the Strategic Support Branch tells me that this is the new and improved Pentagon euphemism for death squads.

Steve links to the Barton Gellman article in the Washington Post, explaining what has been leaked to him, probably by the annoyed CIA guys who are trying to stay alive in a very dangerous part of the world.

This mess has “Jerry Crusader for Christ” Boykin written all over it, as the cut-off for “plausible deniability”. General Boykin of “Delta Force” to the rescue, just like Somalia, the Iran hostage rescue, Waco – well I guess we aren’t allowed to hear about the successes. “Bonkers” was brought on board to lead the hunt for Osama “what’s his name”, who can’t be found because “he’s hiding”. I wonder if he’s tried broadcasting “alley, alley, in free” along the Pakistani-Afghani border yet?

There are several major and important differences between the military and the CIA. The military has a Code of Conduct, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, rules and regulations, and other restrictions on what a member of the military may do. The CIA doesn’t, but it’s supposed to let the President know before it does something egregiously stupid that might cause a war. The military is designed and trained to oppose other military forces and to minimize the effects on civilians. The CIA is supposed to let the President know before it does something egregiously stupid that might cause a war. The military is supposed to act in an honorable and ethical fashion, even towards the enemy. The CIA is supposed to let the President know before it does something egregiously stupid that might cause a war.

Feldmarschall Rumsfeld is apparently intent on creating a modern version of the Waffen SS under command of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Boykin. If someone would like to show me another historical parallel, I might relent, but no other comes to mind.

There is no justification for this action. This is designed to avoid Congressional oversight.

The rightfully outraged Tom Burka at Opinions You Should Have points to his Thanksgiving Parade post as an egregious example of Republicans stealing “their moral outrages” from liberal satirists.

There is no comment from SpongeDob Stickypants concerning this outrageous plagiarism of satirical outrage.

If this trend continues people will begin to believe that satirical comedy shows like The Daily Show are really the news…oh, that’s right, they already do.