Xentertainment.info

by TChris

Accountability avoidance is habitual in the Bush administration. It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that the Justice Department has grown increasingly reliant on the “state secrets” defense to evade judicial review of alleged governmental misconduct.

The privilege has been asserted by the Justice Department more frequently under President Bush than under any of his predecessors — in 19 cases, the same number as during the entire eight-year presidency of Ronald Reagan, the previous record holder, according to a count by William G. Weaver, a political scientist at the University of Texas at El Paso.

The examples are wide-ranging:

Roland Piquepaille writes “There are many teams of U.S. scientists working on robots able to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq before they can kill American soldiers. Today, let’s look at an effort going on at Florida State University (FSU) to build unmanned ground vehicles that could save soldiers’ lives. The researchers are creating complex algorithms to control these robots who will have to integrate many different factors such as the type of ground surface or obstacles that might block the vehicle’s path. Some of these robots, which also could be used for civilian missions, are currently being tested at FSU. Read more for additional references and pictures of these robots which will have to navigate among dense obstacles.”

AP - Thousands of Hotels.com customers may be at risk for credit card fraud after a laptop computer containing their personal information was stolen from an auditor, a company spokesman said Saturday. [Yahoo! News]

Kelly Kulick finished sixth in the PBA Tour Trials on Sunday, becoming the first woman to earn a full exemption on the tour.

Hey folks, Harry here… the downunder backdoor bandit, Latauro, has go…

Arizona governor on verge of setting another record for vetoes, a year after logging 58 [CBS News]

Albert Pujols, the major league leader in home runs and RBI, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained muscle on his right side.

prostoalex writes “You’ve read about the 25 worst tech products, now it’s time to check out a list of the 100 best tech products of 2006 from the same publication. PC World named Intel Core Duo, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core, Craigslist.org, Apple iPod Nano and Seagate 160GB Portable Hard Drive the best tech products of this year.”

With back-to-back home runs in the top of the eighth inning off Anjelica Selden, Tammy Williams and Garland Cooper provided the final provided the final margin in Northwestern’s 3-1 win.

Tonight is the final episode of the Sopranos until next year.

Kaisha: Tony gets Carmela’s career back on track; Chris picks up where Tony left off; AJ gets a work perk; Phil won’t let well enough alone.

What did you think?

Iran’s top leader threatened that Iran would disrupt energy shipments from the Gulf region should the country come under attack from the U.S. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a U.S. invasion would "seriously jeopardize" the world’s energy supply. [CBS News]

Former major league umpire Eric Gregg, known for his wide strike zone and well-documented weight problems, suffered a massive stroke Sunday, his son Kevin told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. Gregg is currently hospitalized in Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia.