I wouldn’t advise people to stand too close to William DonoWho as he should be erupting at any moment.

Thomas Eagleton died on March 4^th and in his written farewell to friends and family he was kind of blunt:

Former Sen. Thomas Eagleton had the last word at his own funeral Saturday, urging his friends and family in a farewell letter to “go forth in love and peace — be kind to dogs — and vote Democratic.”

[snip]

He said he didn’t miss the Senate once he left it, except for the debate on the “horrible, disastrous Iraq War that … will go down in American history as one of our greatest blunders … and as a curse to our Constitution when Attorney General John Ashcroft attempted to put a democratic face on torture.”

A Roman Catholic, he criticized the church’s veer to the right, in which “we seem to have merged God’s power into political power.”

As if that wasn’t enough Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Bobby Kennedy’s eldest daughter:

…In a new book, “Failing America’s Faithful,” Kennedy Townsend joins former senator Jack Danforth and other “old school” politicians in mourning a world in which being Christian meant caring for others and making sacrifices to solve problems.

And so she suggests reforms that she believes will revitalize her beloved Catholic Church and refocus the faithful on service. The hierarchy in Rome, she says, needs to stop obsessing about sex. It needs to rethink its position on the ordination of women and married people, on abortion, on gay clergy and gay unions. “Clearly,” she says, “if we can believe in the virgin birth and that the body and blood of Christ are in the eucharist, then we can certainly believe that a woman can be a priest.” These recommendations will infuriate Catholic traditionalists, but Kennedy Townsend doesn’t care: she loves her church and she’s not leaving. “The church,” she says, “is full of possibilities.”

Just maintain your distance and let him spew, because any man who would ruthlessly hound two young women trying to earn a living will certainly attack. I mean if he doesn’t he would be considered a bit of a bully who only goes up against powerless private citizens and not those with money and a microphone.

An Iraqi government spokesperson, Emily Litella, told the media “Never mind” when asked about the reported arrest of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq.

From local media reports: Woman Reports Stolen Cannabis To Police

A middle-aged New Zealand woman rang police to report a theft of cannabis plants she had been growing at her North Island home, local media reported.

[snip]

Senior Sergeant Mal Lochrie told local media Friday that the officer found it hard to stop smiling as the women gave details of the theft over the phone.

A community constable who visited her to take details of the theft had also warned her that her horticultural pursuits could have legal consequences, Lochrie said.

I actually had the desk officer refer a person who was complaining about not receiving real cocaine in a drug deal to my office, which is a “cop joke.” I listened to his complaint and type up a report and informed him that if he signed it, based on his testimony, I would be arresting him for a felony under the wording of the penal law of the state of New York.

What is wrong with people?

With the leaders having already taken their mandatory 8 and 24-hour stops, the dash to the end is on with Martin Buser still in the lead.

The Anchorage Daily News reports: The pain can wait until Nome

Using a wooden handrail to support his battered and probably broken left leg, Iditarod musher Bryan Mills carefully made his way down a flight of stairs to tend to his laundry, then his dogs.

Afterward came time for a home-cooked meal. He ate with pink cheeks wrinkled in pain behind his fuzzy red beard.

“Man, this hurts like hell,” the 42-year-old Wisconsin musher confessed. “My balance is @#$%.”

Miller is currently 40^th in the race. At this point 19 mushers have scratched, with 25 the most for any race.

Today marks Osama bin Laden’s fiftieth birthday and the 2000^th day since the Shrubbery declared he would get Osama “dead or alive.”

Why isn’t Osama in a supermax?