Prosecutors To Ask Judge To Dismiss Bryant Case "The prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant case will ask that the charges for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball star be dismissed without prejudice..."

Bob Dole, Republican attack dog? Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds." more inside

$o is thi$ what it wa$ all about all the time? The woman who has accused Kobe Bryant of raping her filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against the NBA star, seeking unspecified monetary damages.... ...A criminal case requires a higher standard of proof to convict -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- and punishment can involve prison time. A civil case has a lower standard of proof -- a preponderance of evidence -- and punishment is usually a monetary award...

International team to monitor presidential election A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department... ...It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election...

Monkey Bites Toddler In New York City Supermarket Ok, which one of you NYC MoFi'ers bit the kid?

Curious and Hungry George What is your favorite inexpensive hole in the wall restaurant in your home town? Any great ethnic places, cool breakfast joints or funky hamburger/taco/falafel stands that you'd be willing to share? more inside

Curious George I just ate at a restaurant in Los Angeles (The Pig, a BBQ restaurant on La Brea in Hollywood) that was awful. Not "rat feces in the food" awful, just expensive and damn mediocre. I ordered a slab of ribs that were tiny, that came cold and were dry. To top it all off, the corn bread was stale and the beans tasted like they came from a can. I complained to the staff who were sympathetic, but also seemed to have heard this all before. Does anyone know of a website that I can post to where folks will actually read and care about my review?

Curious George W It seems that many of the folks who post to this place tend to be politically left (including yours truly). MoFi has conservative members and they are listened to and appreciated, if not always agreed with ;-) I was wondering if other members visit more "right oriented" sites that have as open of forum as this place does. Most of the blogs I have visited on the right tend towards the dittohead variety without any dissent. I was hoping to check out blogs that skew right, but entertain progressive viewpoints. Any suggestions?

NAACP says slur was ok because child was white Actually in reviewing the video, it appears that Riordan was just being his typical unconscious self and said something that at best would be considered slightly insensitive. But what is interesting is that the NAACP was going to go on the attack until they found out the child was white. This strikes me as a bit disingenuous. When you call a black child a "stupid dirty girl" it can be considered racism, but if she is white then you can dismiss it "with to err is human and to forgive divine"? What if Al Sharpton said the same thing to a white girl? I don't think anyone would have considered it racism. Insensitive maybe...

Ridge Warns of Election Terror Plot Hmmm, not that I would ever imply that this administration would do such a thing, but could this be a conspiracy to keep folks away from the polls come November? Looks like Florida 2000 might have been just a warm up... more inside

I created my own reality by walking out of the theater I was roped in by my girlfriend into going to this dreck with her mom. We (my g-friend and I) walked out about an hour into it. What a load of pseudo scientific new age jargon. more inside

US lawmakers request UN observers for November 2 presidential election ...Recalling the long, drawn out process in the southern state, nine lawmakers, including four blacks and one Hispanic, sent a letter Thursday to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asking that the international body "ensure free and fair elections in America,"... ...The commission also concluded, the lawmakers added, that "despite promised nationwide reforms (of the voting system) ... adequate steps have not been taken to ensure that a similar situation will not arise in 2004 that arose in 2000."... The UN has been called in to oversee our electoral process in 2004! I love it. Folks, we Americans can never with a straight face joke about another country’s rigged elections ever again.

"passionate, clever, scathing, funny, snarky, brutal, sad, glib and at times superficial."

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 BOFFO B.O.!!! FAHRENHEIT 9/11 tops WHITE GIRLS and DODGE BALL pulling in over 8.2 millon just on Saturday. I always wanted to post something that had "boffo b.o." in the title ;-)

Appeals Board Upholds R Rating for 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Michael Moore and his distributors lost their appeal today to lower the R rating for "Fahrenheit 9/11," his scathing assault on President Bush's actions before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. Huh? I haven't seen the movie yet, but aren't we being just a bit squeemish here? I mean, I have seen the very same material (burnt corpses, dead babies, and beheadings) on CNN and other mainstream news outlets. What gives? sign in name: slashdot password: slashdot

Will Michael Moore's Facts Check Out? From Today's New York Times: "...I was recently allowed to attend a Hollywood screening. Based on that single viewing, and after separating out what is clearly presented as Mr. Moore's opinion from what is stated as fact, it seems safe to say that central assertions of fact in "Fahrenheit 9/11" are supported by the public record (indeed, many of them will be familiar to those who have closely followed Mr. Bush's political career). Mr. Moore is on firm ground in arguing that the Bushes, like many prominent Texas families with oil interests, have profited handsomely from their relationships with prominent Saudis, including members of the royal family and of the large and fabulously wealthy bin Laden clan, which has insisted it long ago disowned Osama."

From the Guardian

Curious George - REVENGE!! This question occured to me when I posted to the cat pee Curious George below. It was kind of a poetic revenge. So Monkey's, tell us of your best revenge stories...

From the front page of the LA Times

Scrap metal or ICBMs? First off, this is from an admittedly far-right website, The World Tribune, but it brings up an interesting discussion point. What I find odd is that in right's effort to prove their reason for war, (i.e. the existence of weapons of mass destruction) they have exposed a huge flaw in their reasoning and execution of war, namely the distribution and spread of WMDs in the anarchy of post invasion. Like many folks who opposed this war I did not even argue with the assertion that Saddam had WMDs, just that the war and its aftermath would allow for any weapons, should they exist, to fall into the hands of other far more fragmented political groups/terrorist organizations than Bathist Iraq. Looks like this might have been the case.