Blog Heap of Links for the day 6 May 2009

Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.

In the 1960s, Specter came to national prominence as the young assistant lawyer with the Warren Commission who created the "single bullet theory" to argue Lee Harvey Oswald was a "lone nut" solely responsible for assassinating President John F. Kennedy with a World War II Italian-made bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight that was not properly mounted. ... Without Specter's theory, the Warren Commission would have been forced to conclude that a conspiracy was behind the murder of JFK....

A convicted Swedish hacker stands accused of cracking the security of NASA and Cisco in 2004. After a federal investigation, the 21-year-old man now faces multiple charges here in the United States.

Due to unforeseeable circumstances Nora Dunn will not be able to perform in the staged benefit reading of Sunset Boulevard on May 15. Replacing Ms. Dunn will be Scott Bradley of the Scooty and Jojo show.

Although Gov. Brad Henry vetoed similar legislation 10 days earlier, House members Monday again approved a resolution claiming Oklahoma's sovereignty.

the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region. New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn't indicated whether he'll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region's sole holdout.

Critics of Craigslist are calling for the site to remove its erotic services section in response to controversy. But threats by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster to pursue a criminal investigation lack substance, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights advocate organization.

We oppose yielding any new authority to global institutions such as the United Nations. We reject all calls for a "New World Order," "Global Regime" or global governance by any other name. We recognize that the United States is the greatest nation in history, but that to remain great, it must stay fiercely independent and true to its divinely blessed Constitution. To do less would be to ignore and dishonor the heroic sacrifices of millions of Americans who fought and died to preserve this free and independent nation.

There are many problems with the official story of the bombing ... no plausible explanation of how he traveled the mile and a quarter from McDonald's to the rental agency, carless and alone as he claims, without getting soaked in the rain. ... took 44 days for the FBI to convince the car rental agency owner that John Doe 1 was Timothy McVeigh ... what was the Army doing with a Ryder Truck just before the Murrah blast? ... [Report:] the second explosive was found and defused. ... men in suits and ties were literally stepping over the wounded in their haste to gather up files and certain other items in the debris. ... taping plastic sheeting over portions of the building wreckage!

Despite Timothy McVeigh's guilty verdict, numerous unanswered questions about the murderous Oklahoma City bombing remain. Indeed, there are so many unanswered questions, it is amazing that the prosecution was able to secure a conviction at all. So pull up a front-row seat for the McVeigh lynching, folks, and contemplate a few of the contradictions in the official account of the OKC bombing before it all gets flushed down the memory hole. If this list doesn't make you paranoid, you must be one of them!

A lot of conspiracy theories have circulated around the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, not all of them consistent with one another, some of them plausible, none of them proven. Although I have no specific theories of my own, I've had the suspicion from the start that someone in the federal government had advanced knowledge that something nasty was going to happen in Oklahoma City that day. As to the details, I am as much in the dark as anyone who wasn't there. Compounding the matter is the fact that — so far, anyway — McVeigh himself isn't talking. He seems to have dismissed all conspiracy theories and reports of "John Doe No. 2's" with the remark in a recent interview that "You can't handle the truth. And the truth is that it is pretty scary that one guy can do this all alone."

A variety of conspiracy theories have been proposed regarding the Oklahoma City bombing. These theories reject all or part of the official government report. Some of these theories focus on the possibility of additional, unindicted co-conspirators or additional explosives planted inside the Murrah Federal building. Other theories allege that government employees and officials, including US President Bill Clinton, knew of the impending bombing and intentionally failed to act on that knowledge. Government investigations have been opened at various times to look into the theories.

This documentary examines eyewitness accounts and news media reports documenting the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Included with this presentation is a video affidavit of bombing survior Jane C. Graham and her sightings of strange individuals in the building prior to the tragic event. [video]

[Video done in Bartlesville. THIS IS GENIUS... in a weird way, of course.]