The guy who caused it(he was t-boned after an ill-advised left) never left his car to check on the injured woman who hit him.

I pulled over and called the FD, checked on the woman and went over to his car, he barely acknowledged me as he continued doing some sort of business on his cell phone.

I believe the US justice system is deeply flawed, but considering what it's up against, I also feel it's amazing that it functions as well as it does. We are lucky to have a relatively free media that can bring at least some of these aberrations to light and expedite change. But I have no illusions: For every horror story like this that the media expose, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of similar stories that don't get told, and where the victim is not so lucky. The wheels of the US justice system grind on, protecting us and punishing wrongdoers and making sure rule of law in America works as best it can. But God have mercy on the souls of the little people who get caught up in its cold, heartless machinery. Tragically but not at all surprisingly, the poorer they are, the more likely they are to get sucked into these legal black holes. In the US, and certainly in other countries we talk about here as well.

"We need to focus on whether we would choose to send our own son or daughter, our own wife or our own husband off for a temporary surge in Iraq," said Wu, D-Ore. "If we wouldn't do that, then should we permit this administration to roll out a potential product like that?"

Bill Murray said it best in "Scrooged": "We should treat everyone as if it were christmas every day."

So try to be courteous to your fellow shoppers. It won't waste your time to let a couple more cars pass in front of you. It goes a long way to give up your spot in line to someone with just a couple of items. Arrogance and inconsideration are not infectious diseases. You don't get them from others. Stand your ground and be patient and considerate, despite what seems like two million ass***es out there. Smile in the face of anger. Show more friendsip in this horrible time of war. Buy books as gifts. Let's set people to READING again.

JM,
Thank you just doesn't say it, so here's a ninth gift for you. If you like, you can return it if it's the wrong size!  

And here's a couple things for my fellow hetero guys and gay gals from me.

Hey, you wanted LINKS!

If they don't need anything in that price range, or if it would be presumptuous to buy it for them (i.e., if they're not close friends or family) they're going to get wine.  In the case of the few people I know who don't drink, they get something similar - one guy who smokes cigars got a selection from a local shop where they make them on site.  Friends and friendly neighbors get a plate of cookies  (as I write this, there's a batch of lebkuchen dough rising in the oven).

Everyone and I mean everyone, even the real jerks, gets a smile and good manners.  (Though, for the jerks in traffic, they might get a smile and polite how-do-you-do while I'm flipping them off - somehow, doing it that way seems even more infuriating to the recipient).

For the life of me, I cannot comprehend how people spend literally thousands on stuff that, at best, isn't worth the money spent on it.  A few years back, it seemed everyone I knew had kids in the 6-10 year/old range.  Stock in Duncan Yo-Yos went through the roof as I was buying them in bulk.  Parental feedback was what you'd expect - the kids (and dads) played more with the yo-yo than with the other more sophisticated stuff.

But the woes within the royal family reflect a tug of war over how to handle foreign policy. Eighteen months ago, Prince Bandar bin Sultan ended a legendary 22-year career as the face of Saudi Arabia in the United States. Word at the time was that he was bored, preferring his palatial Aspen, Colo., lodge to Washington. As it turns out, however, Bandar has secretly visited Washington almost monthly over the past year -- and is at least as pivotal today in influencing U.S. policy as he was in his years as ambassador.

Last week, his successor, Turki, abruptly resigned from the post -- partly, sources close to the royal family said, because of Bandar's back-channel trips to meet with top U.S. officials, including Vice President Cheney and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.

WaPo

A US government-funded institute specialising in the analysis of security threats has found that rail tunnels connecting Manhattan to mainland NewJersey could be flooded within hours if they were attacked by even relatively small bombs.

The analysis, based on work by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and leaked to the New York Times, suggested that the network of tunnels was more vulnerable than had been thought. A bomb that could be carried easily on to a train could make a 50 sq ft (about 4.6 sq metre) hole in the side of the tunnels and potentially breach both sides, the analysis found. More than 1m gallons of water would enter the tunnel every minute, putting at risk the lives of up to 900 passengers - the capacity of a crowded train. About 230,000 people travel every day through four train tunnels that lie along the bed of the Hudson river. The concerns over the fragility of these tunnels are thought to apply equally to several rail tunnels that connect Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens under the East River.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran vowed Sunday to push forward with efforts to enrich uranium and to change its relations with the international nuclear watchdog, after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions designed to stop the country's disputed nuclear efforts.
.......

Iran: 'Full speed' on nuclear program

Earlier Sunday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said the resolution made his country more "decisive in realizing our nuclear aims."

"From Sunday morning, we will begin activities at Natanz -- site of 3,000-centrifuge machines -- and we will drive it with full speed. It will be our immediate response to the resolution," Iran's Kayhan newspaper quoted Larijani as saying.

Commanders made their decision before meeting with Defense Secretary Gates.

WASHINGTON -- Top U.S. military commanders in Iraq have decided to recommend a "surge" of fresh American combat forces, eliminating one of the last remaining hurdles to proposals being considered by President Bush for a troop increase, a defense official familiar with the plan said Friday.

BAGHDAD: The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.

The Bush administration made no public announcement of the politically delicate seizure of the Iranians, though in response to specific questions the White House confirmed Sunday that the Iranians were in custody

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids.

Of course, if he hadn't been such a JERK he might not be in this predicament:

WHY SADDAM HAD TO GO

"Control is what it's all about," one oilman told me. "It's not about getting the oil, it's about controlling oil's price."

ATLANTA - James Brown's lawyer said Tuesday that the late singer and his partner were not legally married and that she was locked out of his South Carolina home for estate legal reasons.

"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," lawyer Buddy Dallas told The Associated Press. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."

Brown's partner, backup singer Tomi Rae Hynie, was already married to a Texas man in 2001 when she married Brown, thus making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. He said Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.

US tries to assure allies that extraordinary renditions are over
December 27 2006

The US is telling its overseas allies that it has stopped "extraordinary renditions" and needs their help to empty Guantánamo's prison cells. But human rights groups dispute this assertion and a question mark hangs over 200 "war on terror" detainees who could be held indefinitely without trial.