Posting will be light for a while as I make my way through exams and then the Holidays, but I will be back at it, in full-form in 2k5!!

For now. . .

My favorite country has a big visit coming soon and it ain't Santa. But could it be Satan in bush form? Te-He! This is a covert mission as our friendly neighbors to the North have a bit of a grudge for this administration. The caption from under the pic from this report 'bout says it all. . .

Parliament Hill is barricaded with locked fences in preparation for the official visit by U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday.

(...)

Mr. Bush comes Tuesday to a nation where many people are deeply unhappy about his policies. He can expect major protests in Ottawa and reportedly cancelled plans to address Parliament because of the likelihood of being heckled.

BBC has more. . .

Even cooler, but equally unimportant is the pending War Crimes announcement that will come out later this week (from this German paper)

Please excuse sloppy translation:

At the current Tuesday, the "center becomes for Constitutional Rights" complaint because of the Iraq war against the US Minister of Defense, the former CIA-boss and other US-management submit by the general alliance lawyer in Karlsruhe. They are accused by the human right organization of the peoples infringement.

America the Argentina of the 21st century.
--> Update --> There is more from Reuters. . .

--> 2nd Update --> This is going to make for some interesting spin for the next few days:
Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo

The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the United States government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

(. . .)

The team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantánamo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."

Finally, after the election you would think that the act of releasing tuff or damaging news on Friday to "soften the blow" and line up the spinners for Sunday would come to an end but this report (.pdf) was slipped by Wednesday before ThxGvg break. The Christian Science Monitor has a good piece on it. In fact, this post from CSM is actually good and needs to be read (that means there is to much to post and even more links).

Just to back it up, read this from the AP.