Some days you have to wonder if anyone is paying attention or connecting the dots. Ray Sansom is obviously political toast, even if he isn’t convicted, so the Local Puppy Trainer starts looking for possible replacements: Who’ll run to replace Sansom? Here are some names:

[Kabe] Woods said one of his potential rivals, Matt Gaetz, an attorney and son of state Sen. Don Gaetz, would probably be untouchable on the fund-raising side of a campaign.

“He’ll get more money overnight than I’ll be able to raise in two years. I know that’s what’s going to happen,” Woods said.

“It’s a situation where he’s a young man with an overwhelming amount of resources, a name and a father in a power position. He will bring a lot of backing and a lot of resources and is capable of sweeping just about any candidate off the slate.

“Except me.”

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What total garbage – Israelis growing increasingly anxious about Obama policies.

You know what “policies” the Israelis are anxious about – those policies that expect the Israelis to do what they have agreed to do. The Israelis are anxious about the fact that the “wink and nod” have been removed from the relationship, and words have meanings.

The Israelis don’t want to be required to fulfill their side of the bargain. They can’t just say they are going to do something, they have to actually do it.

If the Israelis don’t want to make an effort to abide by their agreements, cut them loose and move on. There is no real benefit to the US from Israel, there are only costs, in lives as well as money.

Once again demonstrating the absolutely total lack of class and empathy that the Republican Party only rarely achieves, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [other than humans] shows their total lack of concern for those who are grieving : George Tiller shooting prompts PETA ad campaign in Wichita

WICHITA – A national animal rights group plans to erect billboards in Wichita urging people on both sides of the abortion debate to go vegetarian.

One version of the billboard says, “Pro-Life? Go Vegetarian.” The other says, “Pro-Choice? Choose Vegetarian.” Both feature a photo of three baby chicks.

Lindsay Rajt, campaign manager for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the billboards were prompted by the recent shooting death of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday at his church.

“The discussion of the value of life is front and center right now in the public conversation,” Rajt said.

“We think we would be irresponsible if we don’t talk about how we’re all guilty of extreme cruelty to animals every time we sit down to a meal that includes meat.”

Ms Rajt, you don’t have to think you are “irresponsible”, I assure you that your organization has been irresponsible for a very long time. You have all of the cultural awareness, sexism, and social graces of Rush Limbaugh.

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The BBC noted the Chinese Internet curbs in preparation for the twentieth anniversary of the brutal attack that took place in the Square.

China has blocked several websites ahead of the 20th anniversary of the suppression of the Tiananmen protests.

Chinese internet users were unable to connect to the social networking service Twitter, their Hotmail accounts and the photo-sharing service Flickr.

Meanwhile veteran dissident Wu Gaoxing, who was jailed for his part in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, was held at the weekend, a fellow activist said.

China bans discussion of the events in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thursday 4 June is the 20th anniversary of the crackdown, when troops quelled weeks of protest by students and workers.

China has never released a death toll from the suppression on what it says was a counter-revolutionary conspiracy. Hundreds are believed to have died in and around the square.

The Beeb also has a Timeline: The Tiananmen protests and an audio slideshow.

[Note: this occurred on June 4 in China, but it was still June 3 in the West.]