A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man’s house and set it on fire.

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From Blair Watch

Peter Kilfoyle: As good as his word.

Peter Kilfoyle MP has been as good as his word. He told us, over the frozen Turkeys in Tesco before Christmas that we should be seeing some developments in the story about the al-Jazeera memo (in which Duya told Blair he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera HQ in Qatar.)

Those developments appear to be the fact that he and Tony Clarke leaked it to US sources last year, who apparently failed to follow through.

If Peter, or anybody else wants to get the information out there, us and 350+ bloggers who have signed up are ready and willing to publish, and risk prosecution under the OSA…

It also begs the question, if the government is prepared to prosecute two civil servants over leaking and receiving the document, why not two prominent Labour MPs.

The Official Secrets Act is looking rather impotent in the face of bloggers and the internet. A group of us working with Craig Murray in distributing the documents he released between Christmas and New Year managed to get them published on 4000+ websites in 48 hours. They can’t prosecute all of us… 

So, if they already leaked the memo, why not leak it again! Lots of blogs, including this one, will quickly print it. Dubya threatening to bomb a building in the country of an ally is just another example of his vengeful, mentally unbalanced lunacy.

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Politizine on Emily Miller, Michael Scanlon’s ex-fiancee who ratted him out to the FBI when he dumped her. He’s been indicted in the Abramoff scandals.

Don’t ever - ever - dump your attractive and smart "thirty-something" fiancee for some twinkie manicurist especially when your fiancee knows every sleazy detail about your public life.

However, don’t waste any sympathy on Miller. As a press aide to Colin Powell she was so vengeful and out of control during a press conference Powell told her to shut up. Before that, she worked for Tom DeLay. 

Miller also attracted attention after berating a Washington Post Magazine reporter. In 2001, while Miller was working as press secretary to DeLay she told a reporter who was writing a profile about DeLay. "You lied!… You betrayed him! You twisted his words! … We don’t know you. You don’t exist… You are dead to us."

She sounds like a nasty little child who has watched the Godfather too often and has delusions of being Michael Corleone - who at least destroyed people for business reasons and personal gain, not spite. 

Scanlon was a bottom-dweller too. Apparently even his friends didn’t like him.

(His) former colleagues did not speak warmly of him, saying he was not a very likable person because of the way he treated others, and that he later became flamboyant with his newfound wealth.

All of them, they’re just a pack of back-stabbing weasels, aren’t they?

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The Hawaii Independence movement is steadily growing. Hawaii was an independent multi-cultural kingdom until it was overthrown by force in 1893 by a band of armed thugs in cahoots with industrial interests and the US government. Bill Clinton issued a formal apology (but no reparations) for this in 1993.

Queen Liliuokalani was toppled Jan. 17, 1893 by a rebellion led by the American minister to Hawaii and supported by U.S. military forces.

The formal apology acknowledging the nation’s part in that coup was approved this fall by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Supporters, led by Akaka, a native Hawaiian, had been pushing for an apology during the centennial observance of the kingdom’s overthrow.

The multi-cultural aspect of the Kingdom of Hawaii is important. Hawaii granted citizenship to all, and people from dozens of nationalities became active citizens. That’s what the independence movement wants back, an independent, multi-racial, multi-ethnic country.

Sen. Akaka of Hawaii has been sponsoring a bill that would grant limited rights to Native Hawaiians, similar to Native Americans. The independence movement tends to oppose it, seeing it as inadequate, deceptive, filled with traps, and not going far enough.

Scott Crawford, who blogs about Hawaiian independence at Hawaiian Kingdom eloquently details why he opposes the Akaka Bill in a Kos dairy.

Native Hawaiian Federal Recognition bill - please oppose

He has other Kos diaries that provide background for those, like me, who are new to these issues.

Hawaiian "Sovereignty Restoration Day"

Consent of the Governed

Scott also emailed me info about the peace movement in Hawaii. 

Re peace activities, things are actually focused more on anti-militarization in Hawaii, and have a close overlap with the sovereignty and independence folks. Issues include resisting the UARC at UH, the Stryker brigade, live-fire training at Makua Valley, and related issues, all of which I blog about under the military occupation category.

A couple of the prominent leaders are Kyle Hajishiro and Ikaika Hussey. Here’s a few links:

AFSC Hawaii

DMZ Hawaii. Stop military expanson

Stop UARC Stop expansion of military research at Univ. of Hawaii.  

Noho Newa Ma Hawaii Ne. The wrongful occupation of Hawaii.

Urgent cases: Stryker Brigade in Hawaii

Then there are the groups and activities more directed at the Iraq war and broader policy issues than just Hawaii, which includes Not In Our Name Hawaii, and Maui Peace Action. Ave Diaz and Mele Stokesbury are two main activists here on Maui with MPA. Some of them were also delegates for Kucinich in 2004 (he won Maui by the way, and I think had 8 delegates from Hawaii).

And of course, check Scott’s blog, Hawaiian Kingdom.

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Sue and I re-tiled a bathroom this past weekend. We used snap-together Edge flooring, which is simple enough to install - except for the tile cutting. It was Sue’s idea. She watched the video and said, it looks easy!

I will happily plunge into a PC tweaking all manner of software and hardware in order to fix something or make it work better. But when it comes to tile cutting and the like, well, I’d rather be set on fire.

After we got all the tile laid, Sue banished me from the bathroom while she did the grouting.

But yes, it does look much better with new tile!

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