Michael Moore Is Fat

He may have been right about Saudis fleeing the country after 9-11, but he's still fat. So, you know, don't listen to him or anything...

The FBI played an active role in arranging chartered flights for dozens of well-connected Saudi nationals -- including relatives of Osama bin Laden -- after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The New York Times reported that the documents show Federal Bureau of Investigation agents gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, citing newly-released US government records.

The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, had requested the FBI escorts out of concern for their personal safety in the wake of the attacks.

The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to the Times.

FBI officials contacted by the daily reacted angrily to the allegation of preferential treatment for the Saudis.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when queried by the Times about the airport escorts said "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were threatened -- we wouldn't characterize that as special treatment."

The Saudis' chartered flights -- arranged in the days after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks when most aircraft were still grounded -- long have been a topic of allegations related to close family ties and associates of US President George W. Bush and the Saudi royal family.

Where No Professor Has Gone Before

This must be read to believed, as presidential bioethics-advisor Diana Schaub explains that her opposition to stem-cell research is based on her strong view of immortality, gleamed at least partially from Star Trek... The old one.

Diana Schaub, a Loyola College professor and adviser to President Bush, is convinced that cloning and embryonic stem cell research are evil. She says this belief was formed, in part, by watching Star Trek.

The show has "left me receptive to the view that mortality is, if not precisely a good thing, then at least the necessary foundation of other very good things," she wrote in an article last year. "There is something misguided about the attempt to overcome mortality."


"My beard is engaging in a misguided
attempt to overcome my face."

Via Amygdala and Matthew Yglesisas.

March Madness

With all the talk about this being the best "madness" in history, I thought I should remind everyone -- three overtime games or not -- to keep things in perspective.



Still the champ, brother.

Aim And Shoot

I think angry-Atrios is filling in while regular-Atrios celebrates Easter.

And, look, I agree with those who say that Democrats have an image problem on foreign policy. And, I agree with those who think that this image problem is to some degree based on an actual lack of foreign policy substance.

But, on foreign policy as with everything else, the "me too!" position gets you nowhere.

The Democrats who made it impossible for Democrats to have an articulate distinct position on foreign policy are the ones who pushed the party into supporting the Iraq war.

I don't actually disagree with the general proposition that the Democrats need a bit of piss and vinegar in their foreign policy, but they have to figure out where to aim that piss. Peter Beinart and Joe Biden and the rest of the gang didn't aim their piss, they let George Bush grab their dicks and point them towards Baghdad. And, now, two years later, they want to lecture the rest of us on how to be perceived as "strong."

The way to be perceived as strong isn't to let George W. Bush tell you where to point your dick.