Erick Erickson at Red State states in pretty clear terms that Rehnquist will step down tomorrow.
No Evidence of Criminal Activity
The Schiavo ‘investigation’ is over:
There is no evidence that Terri Schiavo’s collapse 15 years ago was caused by criminal activity, said a prosecutor asked by Gov. Jeb Bush to look into the case.
Bush, who asked State Attorney Bernie McCabe to further investigate Schiavo’s case after her autopsy last month, responded Thursday by saying he considers the state’s involvement with the matter finished.
“Based on your conclusions, I will follow your recommendation that the inquiry by the state be closed,” Bush said in a two-sentence response to McCabe. The governor is vacationing in Maine and couldn’t be reached for further comment, said officials in his office.
In asking last month that McCabe look again into what put Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state, Bush had cited an alleged gap in time between when Schiavo’s husband Michael found her and when he called 911 as something that remained unsettled.
McCabe said, however, that while such discrepancies may exist in the record, Michael Schiavo’s statements that he called 911 immediately had been consistent.
“This consistency, coupled with the varying recollections of the precise time offered by other interested parties, lead me to the conclusion that such discrepancies are not indicative of criminal activity and thus not material to any potential investigation,” McCabe wrote in a letter to Bush accompanying his report dated June 30 but not released until Thursday.
There is no evidence of criminal activity. That doesn’t mean there might or might not be some evidence that just hasn’t been found. That doesn’t mean that the evidence has or hasn’t been overlooked. It means that there is NO EVIDENCE that Michael Schiavo did anything wrong, and anyone who continues to smear Michael Schiavo claiming he ‘may have caused this’ or who claims that the autopsy ‘doesn’t rule out abuse’ should be repeatedly ridiculed, scorned, and then complety ignored. In that order.
And that includes Mark Fuhrman.
If you have something that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Micahel Schiavo did something to his wife, by all means bring it up. But right now, the autopsy reports, the hospital records, the nursing home records, the Governor’s office, the police, and the State’s Attorney give all the allegations to date no merit. If you have something that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Micahel Schiavo did something to his wife, by all means bring it up. But right now, the autopsy reports, the hospital records, the nursing home records, the Governor’s office, the police, and the State’s Attorney all say the allegations have no merit. The only things fueling speculation that Schiavo did something to his wife are mean-spirited rumor mongering and out-right smears, and this should finally end those. It doesn’t matter how strongly you feel about this issue- you don’t get a license to run around accusing people (or hinting, or suggesting, or intimating) of comitting henious crimes like murder without any evidence.
(Via Gay Orbit)
The Speed of the Internet
Unbelievable. Via Michael Demmons, this Wikipedia entry on the bombings. Already it has a couple hundred links , a chronology, etc. Amazing.
A Churchill Moment
Justin Hart has a compilation of Churchill speeches, Andrew Sullivan has a round-up of bellicose Brits, the Instapundit has this UK blog aggregator (as well as 9 bazillion other links), and who can forget the Queen Mum during WWII?
WMD In Iraq ‘Missing’
I am too tired to research all of the ins and outs of this story, so approach it with the usual skepticism that is due, but this certainly seems troubling:
Equipment and material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons have been removed from 109 Iraqi sites, UN weapons inspectors say.
In a new report to the UN Security Council, satellite imagery experts said biological sites were less affected.The report said the dual-use equipment could be used for legitimate but also “for prohibited purposes”.
However, it warned that experts had been unable to determine the destination of all the items removed.
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) has not returned to Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
But it has continued to monitor the sites in Iraq that had been subject to inspection until then.
Again, read the whole thing, but buyer beware.
The Jews Knew, part Deux
In the aftermath of 9/11, there were few things more annoying and disgusting than the whole ‘Jews knew and didn’t come to work’ myth that was peddled ferociously in some circles:
With the announcement of the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, the international media, particularly the Israeli one, hurried to take advantage of the incident and started mourning 4,000 Israelis who work at the two towers. Then suddenly, no one ever mentioned anything about those Israelis and later it became clear that they remarkably did not show up in their jobs the day the incident took place.
No one talked about any Israeli being killed or wounded in the attacks. Arab diplomatic sources revealed to the Jordanian al-Watan newspaper that those Israelis remained absent that day based on hints from the Israeli General Security apparatus, the Shabak, the fact which evoked unannounced suspicions on American officials who wanted to know how the Israeli government learned about the incident before it occurred, and the reasons why it refrained from informing the U.S authorities of the information it had.
It appears that the anti-Semites and the anti-Israeli forces quickly jumped into the fray after the tragic bombings in London:
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
Bush and Litmus Tests
Last night, I was listening to Tucker Carlson’s show as I drifted off to sleep, and before I actually fell asleep, I heard this exchage:
CARLSON: Luckily, you’ll be back tomorrow, Rachel Maddow. But e-mail it, if you know, because I don’t.
Next situation, the battle for Supreme Court. President Bush says there’s, quote,