It's almost too perfect.
When Justice Department official William Moschella was asked why the Department had fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, he told Congress that “Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of the office. And, quite frankly, U.S. attorneys are hired to run the office.” Internal documents from the time show officials planning to accuse Iglesias of being an "absentee landlord" to justify his firing.
Iglesias did, in fact, leave the office for 45 days each year. But that's because he's a a captain in the Navy Reserve -- something that was no secret to his superiors.
So now the Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Iglesias was wrongfully terminated due to his reserve duty, Newsweek reports. It is against the law for employers to discriminate against members of the U.S. military.
and for the ab-faber in you, some new shows on the beeb.
April 02, 2007 — IDG News Service — A news conference in London later Monday by Apple's Steve Jobs and EMI Group could see the announcement that the first of the four big music labels will ditch digital rights management (DRM).
Ever since invitations went out to the event, scheduled for 1 p.m. local time (noon GMT) at EMI's London headquarters, speculation in the media and online has centered on two possibilities: the Beatles catalog coming to the iTunes Music Store, or EMI ditching DRM. The latter is fast becoming the favorite, especially after The Wall Street Journal said such an announcement would come at the event.
DRM is applied to many downloads to prevent illegal copying or sharing of the content, but it also prevents legal copying and can tie users into a certain product or technology. For example, Apple's iPod won't play DRM-protected songs purchased from anything but the iTunes Music Store, while owners of Creative Technology's devices aren't able to use the iTunes store because those downloads are incompatible.
Jobs called for an end to the use of DRM on music files in a blog-like posting on the Apple homepage in February. In it he argued that consumers would benefit because any player would be able to play music from any online music store and not be restricted as it is currently.
"This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat," he wrote.
Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles
1 pound Chinese egg noodles (1/8,-inch-thick), frozen or (preferably) fresh, available in Asian markets
2 tablespoons sesame oil, plus a splash
3½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste
Half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/8,-by- 1/8,-by-2-inch sticks
¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts,
After a two-year legal battle, the city of New York has dropped its lawsuit against Time’s Up!
The lawsuit, filed March 22, 2005, targeted the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides in Manhattan, in which large groups of cyclists ride together. The city sought to require that Critical Mass obtain a parade permit, and also wanted to stop Time’s Up! from promoting Critical Mass.
“We’re very happy that the case was dropped,” said Bill DiPaola, director of Time’s Up! “We’re hoping that this is a first step in a more positive relationship between bicyclists and New York City.”
The city was forced to drop the lawsuit after the Police Department instituted a new rule, said Sheryl Neufeld, senior counsel in the Administrative Law Division of the New York City Law Department.
The new rule defines a parade as a procession of 50 or more pedestrians, vehicles or bicycles, Neufeld said. The old rule did not specify a number of participants.
The US embassy in Baghdad circulated a memo to all Americans working for the US government in the Green Zone. It ordered them to wear protective gear whenever they were outside in the Green Zone, including just moving from one building to another. Guerrillas have managed to lob a number of rockets into the area in recent days, and killed one US GI on Tuesday.What the fuck are they going to do? Move the green zone to Kurdistan? They cannot move it out of Baghdad (would be admitting defeat,) but they also cannot defend it (no way to clear a large enough security corridor around it to stop rockets because hundreds of thousands of people live in the immediate area.) So I guess they will just sit there until a rocket gets lucky and hits something important. Then we'll pull out like in Beirut after the Marine barracks bombings.
According to UK's Telegraph, a deadly species of jellyfish, translucent and the size of a thumbnail, is spreading along Australia's coastline as a result of global warming.
Irukandji jellyfish are among the world's most toxic creatures – all but impossible to detect in the water but packing a potentially lethal punch belying their tiny size.
Their discovery has halted production of Warner Bros. Pictures' Fool's Gold, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, who were originally due to be filmed swimming in the sea. Dr. Jamie Seymour, from James Cook University, said she had found five of the animals off Queensland's Fraser Island.