News of Sport Alert!
Gillian Harris in the NY Post reveals TOURNEY SKINNY:

She's being called the "Slovakian Skeleton" and officials fear for the health of Daniela Hantuchova as the Wimbledon tennis tournament starts in London tomorrow.

The waif-like 20-year- old is the ninth seed, but she may be one of the most-watched players amid widespread speculation she is suffering from anorexia.

The official tour biography of the 5-foot-11 Slovakian lists her as 123 pounds - but she is thought to be considerably lighter after a recent dramatic weight loss.

Follow the link for a picture. She does look a tad sparse, but what's most striking is that she seems to be playing tennis in her underwear.

Today's hoot!
The Toronto Sun amuses with Wanted: Pantless senator wearing 'cuffs:

OTTAWA -- The Red Chamber is blushing again with the revelation on its Web site that a senator may have recently lost a pair of pants and the key to a set of handcuffs. The Senate Web site has raised eyebrows with its listing of a number of items found around the place earlier this year.

Senator Lowell Murray warned his colleagues last week that this type of revelation is the last thing the chamber needs.

"Do we have to excite the lurid imagination of our enemies by making this raw data so readily available? Mark my words: The media will get ahold of this," Murray was quoted as saying yesterday.

I guess so.

Murray predicted that cartoons will appear in newspapers showing a "handcuffed, trouserless senator of either gender wandering our corridors" looking for their pants, handcuffs, handkerchief and notebook.

Party on, dude!

Time to start checking out the family tree!
George Neumayr brings us up to date on the latest hijinks in Casino Country:

Indian gaming "benefits us all," say the industry's public relations flaks. An Indian gaming television advertisement running in California pictures a group of upstanding citizens in a barbershop enumerating its many civic blessings. Gambling lords are apparently the sturdiest pillars of a community.

Pols from both parties are loathe to challenge this obvious scam, lest they appear "anti-Indian." The result is a racket of staggering proportions.

Last year in California, where Indian tribes pay no state or local taxes on gaming, five new casinos opened, bringing the total to over 50. Indian gaming revenue is now in the ballpark of $4 billion. Much of this money flows to a small network of hucksters who live not on poverty-stricken reservations but in gilded mansions. And millions of these profits go back to the politicians who let these casinos clog and corrupt the state.

Time magazine reported last December the outrageous case of Maryann Martin. She is a Californian who formed a three-person "tribe" with her two brothers, then started up a casino last year by moving a trailer onto an old Indian reservation near Palm Springs. Martin discovered that her mother had been the last surviving member of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians. This not only allowed her to start up a casino but also qualify for federal aid. "In 1999 and 2000 alone, government audit reports show, she pulled in more than $1 million from Washington -- $476,000 for housing, $400,000 for tribal government and $146,000 for environmental programs," reports Time. The tribe soon consisted of one adult -- Maryann Martin -- after her drug-dealer brothers got shot.

Check out the rest of the article for what to do when you don't have a tribe or reservation; or your reservation is inconveniently located. Here's a hint - hire a politician.

One California tribe, the San Miguel Band, managed to spend $519,403 per member on lobbying the state, reports Time.

Dang, I must have some Indian ancestors. Maybe the government will give me some cash while I investigate?

There really are X-ray glasses?
While perusing my favorite mail order sporting goods catalog I was struck by an oddity involving the People's Republic of Kalifornia. Many sporting goods that propel projectiles are subject to widely varying restrictions across the country, which are indicated by footnotes in the catalog. But while examining the night vision gear that was for sale, I noticed that none of it can be shipped to California.

Now, I've mentioned night vision before, but I've always figured it was just another techno gadget that I would fool with for an hour and then put on a shelf. Besides, out here in the sticks, about all I'm likely to see are deer, foxes, and possums. I'm not that interested in their nocturnal hijinks.

Anyhow, I thought I'd do a little Googling to find out what problem the People's Republic of Kalifornia had with night vision. Unless I am missing something obvious, all I can find is this shocker - Video Voyeurs:

Night-vision camera filters are being used by voyeurs to see through people's clothes. Some of these pictures are being sold online, and no one can stop them.

Glasses that give its wearer X-ray vision have been a pop-culture fad in slapstick movies and TV shows since the '50s. But new video-camera technology is making X-ray vision a reality for voyeurs, and it's no longer a laughing matter. This week on "CyberCrime" we investigate the use of specially equipped video cameras that can see through clothes.
...
Back in the late '90s Sony released its Night Shot camcorder, which came equipped with infrared technology for filming at night. But when the night shot feature was used during the day, the camera could see through clothing. Sony pulled the Night Shot off the market. But now voyeurs are getting the same effect using an infrared filter.

What's even more surprising is that the practice is legal in most states. Currently, only one state, California, specifically outlaws the use of X-ray cameras. Senator Dick Ackerman authored a bill, enacted in January 2000, that makes all types of video voyeurism illegal. The law states that it is a crime "to secretly videotape or photograph another person under or through their clothing."

Gawd, it's the technopervs again. I'm a little surprised that they can actually see through clothes, but I'm not surprised there are a bunch of wingnuts trading what must be grainy green photos of naked people. Is this really the reason that you can't buy a night vision device in California?

Yee Doggies!
The United Nations sure knows how to throw a going away party! Iraq oil for food will cost $100M to shut down:

The "best estimate for all known and projected costs" associated with phasing out the program over six months is $106 million, Annan said in a report.

It's Kofi's version of the long and expensive goodbye.

The more things change, the more they stay the same
Bill Buckley discusses the curious case of Aleksandr Zaporozhsky - What's up in the spy world?

The Big Bad Russians have pulled a fast one which bears pondering. The victim is one Aleksandr Zaporozhsky, by U.S. lights a hero, by Russian lights, a traitor. We learn that in November, 2001, he was enticed to revisit his homeland, on stepping foot in which he was whisked off, tried, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Several questions immediately arise. True, Zaporozhsky spied against Moscow, but when he did that, he was spying against a Soviet regime ultimately repudiated by the Russian people. It was ten years between the time the Russians shook off Communism and the time the Russian secret police got around to luring Zaporozhsky back to Russia. Why should they be mad at a citizen who turned against the regime finally rejected by everybody, including the Soviet president?

It is conjectured by James Risen, writing in the New York Times, that what the defector had done was cue the FBI onto the trail of Robert P. Hanssen, the FBI traitor who worked for Soviet money for 20 years, betraying Russians who were giving us important information, resulting in mayhem and death. We gave Hanssen a life sentence, and there are those who at his trial were wistful for the gallows when that sentence was passed.
...
The link between the two cases could tighten up one step further. What if Moscow were to offer to return Zaporozhsky to the United States, in return for the release of Hanssen to Russia?
...
What grabs attention is the trans-ideological nature of the Zaporozhsky ambush. Hanssen did not betray his country because the star of socialism blinded his eye and captured his soul. He wanted more money than the FBI was paying him. Zaporozhsky was, from all accounts, someone who rejected the Communist system and wished to fight against it, as so many sometime Communists did. Was corporate pride at work here? — We Russians may be governed by a different order, serving different gods, but we will not forgive a betrayal even though it was of a predecessor government everywhere rejected. What would we have thought if the government of West Germany, licensed in 1954 by the occupying powers with full authority (excepting defense policy), had lured back to Bonn a German who had defected from Hitler and given secrets to the Allies, sentencing him to imprisonment?

Our old pals may have mellowed a tad, but their interests aren't ours.

Lifestyle alert!
Sarah Baxter in the UK Times - US teens ditch summer camp for health spas:

American teenagers are turning their backs on traditional hiking, canoeing and climbing summer camps. The latest trend is for an inward-bound voyage of discovery in which you learn to love yourself, practise meditation and t’ai chi and pamper yourself with a facial and a pedicure.

Bunk beds in log cabins by the lake are out, private bedrooms in elegant surroundings are in.

Genna Epstein, 14, tried the mosquitoes-in-the-wood experience one summer and hated it. “It was very grungy,” she said. “I went hiking and biking and played soccer and basketball and I was always being told, ‘This is what you have to do’.”

Her mother Ros had already tried out Canyon Ranch’s spa and health resort for adults in Massachusetts. When she heard it was starting up a camp for 12 to 17-year-olds in her home state of Pennsylvania, she thought this would be just the tonic for Genna.

“She glowed when she came home. Her favourite classes were kickboxing and yoga, meditation and funk aerobics. They even had one called footwear analysis — and she came home and told me her fashion sneakers weren’t good for her feet. Yes, she got her nails done, but it’s not like she was going to the beauty salon every day.”

Footwear analysis?

“Children of today have a more deeply felt interest in personal development and self-empowerment,” said the CosmiKids director Judy Williams. On the curriculum are “pint-sized aromatherapy” and “fishing for intentions at the bridge of the imagination”. The vending machines will serve only healthy snacks.

“Creative learning sessions” such as dance, storytelling, beadwork and songs will help children to develop a “reverence for humanity and the universe”.

It is a far cry from the Gunnery, generally considered to be the first American camp. Two teachers, Frederick and Abigail Gunn, took pupils from their school in Washington, Connecticut, on a two-week hiking trip in 1861. They struck camp and went trapping, boating and fishing. With the spreading of the Boy Scout movement to America and concerns for the health of “weakly” urban children, a tradition was born.

I'd like to see someone demonstrate trapping in one of the "creative learning sessions". That would have 'em running screaming for the exits.

Now 10m American children attend summer camps each year and, with prices of between $600 (£360) and $2,000 (£1,200) a week, new market trends are too lucrative to ignore.
...
Boys have yet to catch up with the kinder, gentler camps. There was only one in Genna Epstein’s group last year, but he got into the spirit. “He loved it just as much as we did,” she said. “He had a manicure and a pedicure and was totally open to anything.”

She is hoping he will return, like her, for the new summer season. “I made tons of friends and still talk to them all. The camp really makes you feel happy with who you are.”

Somehow I overlooked this trend. Out here in flyover country, we have Vacation Bible School.

Today's Africa Story
Pipeline Explosion in Nigeria Kills 105. Accident, some sort of sabotage? Well sort of....

LAGOS, Nigeria - Fuel gushing from a vandalized pipeline exploded in southeastern Nigeria, killing at least 105 villagers as they scavenged gasoline, Red Cross authorities and witnesses said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear what touched off the blast late Thursday on a length of pipe 30 miles north of the city of Umuahia. Nigeria's national ThisDay newspaper cited witnesses as saying it may have been caused by a spark from a motorcycle used by one of the victims.
...
Ndu Ughamadu, spokesman of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, confirmed the pipeline was ruptured by "vandals," adding it was still unclear how many people were killed.

Witnesses speaking on condition of anonymity said villagers had been scooping fuel from the pipeline for about six weeks since it was first ruptured by saboteurs in early May. They said authorities had continued to pump fuel through the line despite being informed of the breakage.
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The pipeline was carrying fuel from a state-owned refinery in the oil city of Port Harcourt to the city of Enugu, 140 miles to the north.

ThisDay cited witnesses as saying police colluded with the vandals by charging villagers 80 cents to scoop up buckets and barrels of fuel for resale. A police officer reached by telephone at the state command in Umuahia declined comment.

Pipeline vandalism, known as "bunkering" or "scooping," is common in Nigeria despite the risk of fire, prosecution or being shot on sight by security forces.

Thousands have been killed in explosions in recent years, including more than 1,000 in a 1998 blast in the Niger River delta town of Jesse.

Since then, the government has tried to educate villagers about the danger of scavenging pipeline fuel. But the practice continues, spurred by poverty and residents' anger at the government and oil industry for allegedly polluting the environment and financially neglecting the oil-rich delta.

I'll ignore the obligatory dubious ecoweenie reference. The operative problem is a torrent of oil money that goes to the Nigerian government and disappears. Funny how that happens!

Road Kill Alert!
(Via LGF) Jason Burke at the Observer reports DNA tests after missiles strike 'Saddam convoy':

American specialists were carrying out DNA tests last night on human remains believed by US military sources to be those of Saddam Hussein and one of his sons, The Observer can reveal.

The remains were retrieved from a convoy of vehicles struck last week by US forces following 'firm' information that the former Iraqi leader and members of his family were travelling in the Western Desert near Syria.

Military sources told The Observer that the strikes, involving an undisclosed number of Hellfire missiles, were launched against the convoy last Wednesday after the interception of a satellite telephone conversation involving either Saddam or his sons.

One ringy dingy!

As always, only time will tell.

Sheesh
Dr. Frank has Andrew Motion Lotion's "rap" for Prince Andrew's 21st birthday. Mr. Motion Lotion is nominally Britain's Poet Laureate. Good thing, since other gainful employment seems out of the question.