The unthinkable became the thinkable today: the Supreme Court rejected Guantanamo tribunals. This is a direct repudation of the Bush administration and their strategy against terror ‘combatants’ turned ‘detainees’. Next, the Supreme Court decides on whether the Bush administration has the power to shut down the New York Times.

We now know that the earth is melting (and that means plenty of free polar bear carcasses if you live in the Boston area). But how do we solve it? With crazy proposals from Ivy League institutions, of course:

Dr. Broecker of Columbia proposed doing so by lacing the stratosphere with tons of sulfur dioxide, as erupting volcanoes occasionally do. The injections, he calculated in the 80’s, would require a fleet of hundreds of jumbo jets and, as a byproduct, would increase acid rain.

Those damn hippies are at it again! Time reports on how San Francisco plans to provide universal health care to all of its citizens that are not normally covered. Once again, liberals have proven they hate freedom by not sidestepping responsibility under the guise of the free market.

In international news, Time talks about renewed Japanese nationalism (i.e. they want to start militarizing again) and how it is complicating the love affair between Japan and the US. AEI, a prominent conservative think tank, wonders aloud about the democratization efforts in Egypt that have evaporated while the US sits idly by. While Egypt falls further back into autocracy, Kuwait had elections today, which included women, one of the first for Arab countries. And of course, Israel and Palestine are at it again.

And in the funny moment of the day, Christian tourists were attacked by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. I imagine one hundred clumsy monkey-hat wearers stumbling over one another to throw sissy punch after sissy punch. All this with our endless life cycle, lightbulbs in anus’, and chocolate penis’.

And you and your money grubbing, war mongering conservo-bot friends aren’t invited:

Date: June 27, 2006 5:06:22 PM EDT
Subject: News Release: A Prairie Home Companion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COME SING ALONG WITH GARRISON KEILLOR, MERYL STREEP, LINDSAY LOHAN AND THE REST OF THE CAST OF ROBERT ALTMAN’S A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

NEW YORK, June 27, 2006 — Theater chains across the country are hosting “Sing Along” screenings of Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, where audience members receive a book containing lyrics from the songs in the film and are encouraged to sing along with the cast.

“When the film opened we noticed that people immediately responded to the music and would hum or sing right along with the film,” said Bob Berney, president of Picturehouse. “Since the film has such a communal feel to it, we decided that going into the holiday weekend, we should encourage the audience to interact with the film and one another.”

Currently, “Sing Along” screenings are taking place in more than one hundred theaters across the country.

It’s the first BLOG ROUNDUP, where I try to pull out the best entries from my favorite blogs across the ol’ internet. It will follow no distinct pattern but hopefully will pique your interests on several levels. If you’re interested in being considered or trading links, email me at alec@prosebeforehos.com

In the greatest GOP news of the day, the Supreme Court upheld most of the Texas redistricting plan which “As a result of the new boundaries, Republicans picked up five House seats in Texas, emerging with 21-11 majority” (where they had previously were in the slim majority, 15 to 17). This can also be remarked as ‘the great white hope for maintaining a hegemony over the guise of democracy’. The Washington Post details the biggest winners and losers who were, as always, people with souls or hope for future prosperity.

The BBC blog talks about the reporting on Gaza and how difficult ‘neutrality’ is to come by. What is kidnapping, defense, offense, attacks, aggression from both sides? If you want to take an in-depth course on semantics in the media, try the spin used on the Israeli / Palestinian conflict in especially the United States media.

Atlantic Review — a site specializing on German American relations (and one who I wrote a piece for on German militarization also at PubliusPundit) — does a transatlantic roundup on the effects of Guantanamo on public relations and diplomatic efforts, the changing faces and views of the neocon movement, and a new development — German patriotism!

ESPN’s Bill Simmons has one of the funniest summaries of the NBA draft last night, including these choice tid bits:

I’m getting woozy. And not to nitpick with the Worldwide Leader, but instead of learning tidbits in the info graphics, “Childhood pastimes: Built treehouses, hunted squirrels and rabbits,” couldn’t we find out stuff like “SUV, Hummer or sports car?” and “Number of unemployed buddies who will be moving in with him?”

That’s followed by one more nasty look from Stern, then Utah taking a mortified Ronnie Brewer (who has a “Wait, isn’t that the city with no black people?” look on his face).

Also, Chris Matthews wrestles Stephen Colbert.

Because people from Fox News should never, ever be taken seriously:

Because people listened to Francis Fukuyama (et al.) and now have to pretend to listen now (one case of Neoconservative buyers remorse, please):

And because who doesn’t love Helen Thomas (people who love democracy, that’s who):