Odd sentence:
(From a WP article about rioting in China)

"he was also director general of the Dongzhou Buddha Council, which the statement described as 'a superstitious organization in charge of divine activities in Dongzhou.'"

I believe that some game that I run in the future will have to contain a Dongzhou Buddha Council, which will be in charge of divine activities in the area. Although I can't imagine who would sit on it.

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News entries
If you haven't been reading the news in the past few days, here are some important things:

(1) More details on the violence in China

(2) More on domestic spying by the NSA: FISA judge resigns in protest; interesting analysis from Slate; even more interesting analysis from Ars Technica.

(3) The latest version of the Scopes Monkey Trial ended. Analysis article; the judge's decision is very worth reading if you have the time and want a very clear and systematic explanation of the problems with creationism.

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One more news story
In the Padilla case, Judge J. Michael Luttig of the 4th circuit court of appeals blasted the administration's handling of the case and rejected their move to do a jurisdictional shuffle to keep this case from ever reaching the Supreme Court.

For those of you who haven't been following: Padilla was arrested on a charge of a "dirty bomb" plot about 3.5 years ago and was held incommunicado in a military prison until heavy outside pressure forced them to allow him counsel (about a year and a half later). The case now pending before the court is whether the administration has the right to hold a US citizen as an enemy combatant outside of the legal system. The case is approaching the Supreme Court, so a few weeks ago the government tried a jurisdiction move: they formally charged Padilla with some unrelated matters and ordered him moved to a civilian prison, in an attempt to moot the issue, and asked the court of appeals to withdraw an earlier decision it made in their favor so that the Supreme Court wouldn't have a chance to review it. Luttig is a very prominent (and very conservative) jurist, so the forcefulness of his statement today is a big deal.

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