Blog Heap of Links for the day 7 June 2009

candor and diplomacy are not synonymous, and if Mr. Obama were to apply the same approach to thorny problems like Iran and North Korea, it might not produce the intended desirable results, according to foreign affairs experts. Some say he risks forsaking the advantages of "constructive ambiguity,"

A US "taster" tested the food being dished up to President Barack Obama at a dinner in a French restaurant, a waiter said on Sunday. ... "They have someone who tastes the dishes.... It wasn't very pleasant for the cooks at first, but the person was very nice and was relaxed, so it all went well...."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says recent activity by North Korea is forcing US to consider placing Pyongyang back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism... and is pressing for a U.N. resolution authorizing the boarding of North Korean ships to search for nuclear materials....

The "Cape Man" has been captured. Authorities arrested Daniel James Murray, the gun-loving loon from upstate New York who threatened to kill President Obama, at a Nevada casino Friday, ending a nationwide manhunt. [There's that pejorative adjective 'gun-loving' again! Gotta make sure that gets in there to smear all those wacky gun nuts!]

Eugene Noble was reunited a year ago with the plane, the Snafu Special

An Oregon woman was charged with murdering a 21-year-old expectant mother and her unborn baby after faking her own pregnancy. [Scary: Mugshot]

GLADSTONE, N.D. ...turned out to be four people wanted in an Alabama prison break. The suspects had holed up in a garage and held off authorities for more than 14 hours Saturday before two of them surrendered and two were wounded in a shootout with police....

"And so, next to Obama Beach, we join President Obama in paying particular tribute to the spectacular bravery of American soldiers," Brown said, oblivious to his Freudian slip.

Ten undocumented immigrants "stacked like wood" in the back of a sports utility vehicle crammed with at least 22 people were killed when the driver lost control and rolled over on a remote southern Arizona highway.... "If they had had the right number of people in there and they all had their seat belts on, they would have lived....."

DNA evidence tied to the shooting deaths last year of 2 girls in Weleetka has been discovered by investigators.... "something of significance" but no details were provided.... news conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday....

In all of its tranquility, this is the setting where a year ago, on June 8, two young, innocent, fun-loving girls were slain in a ghastly crime that shocked the world.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has urged U.S. President Barack Obama to impose a solution on the festering Arab-Israeli conflict if necessary, a Saudi newspaper said on Sunday. [Oh, great. Imagine what Abdullah or Obama would impose!]

Employers would be required to offer health care to employees or pay a penalty - and all Americans would be guaranteed health insurance - under a draft bill circulated Friday by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's health committee.

The ancient Mayan calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012, prompting some to believe the End Time is nigh.... an enormous, complicated network of apocalypse theories, encompassing hundreds of books, documentaries, films and websites, that lead to one conclusion: The world will end on Dec. 21, 2012....

US Justice Department lawyers in 2005 thought the CIA's harsh interrogation tactics were a mistake, but legal

an emotional and bittersweet ending... 355 aircraft made it to the grand finale — 114 biplanes and 241 moderns...

"Twelve of the 22 hospitalized children are in grave condition...." victims ranging in age from a few months to 3 years....

Row between fast food giant and one of its major franchise owners erupts over roadside sign

US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was in a froth, and his audience loved it. The California Republican was talking about global warming and could barely contain his disgust.

Birds rapidly learn to identify people who have previously threatened their nests and sounded alarms and even attacked those folks, while ignoring others nearby, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"When they opened the grave where my mother was supposed to go," remembers Clifford Jr., "they found a body bag, and inside the body bag, a skeleton. Nobody knows who it was." He had his mother buried in another plot nearby, and later received permission to move his father's body to rest next to his mother's. But when officials reopened his father's grave, they found a new problem. "There's nothing down there but dirt," Clifford Jr. explains, pointing down at his father's grave marker, surrounded by flowers. "No casket. No bones. Nothing. "What we want to know -- what we've been trying to find out for 12 years now -- is what happened to our father's body?"

Terror Toons (2002) -- Don't watch the movie. Read the comments on iMDB.

it's "inspiring for the gay community to feel the acceptance"

The pharmacist charged with murder said he has no mental problems, but records show both his ex-wives called him unstable.

Dr. Frank Ochberg has watched the story around pharmacist Jerome Ersland unfold with great interest, given Ochberg's expertise on post traumatic stress disorder and Ersland's status as a military veteran.

"Logrolling is multiple subjects in one bill," Fent said. "It violates the Oklahoma Constitution where each bill will have one subject. And the purpose of that constitutional provision is to prevent them from putting subjects that probably would fail with subjects that there is overwhelming approval for. They put them together so they can get the votes."

A new militia is targeting militants in revenge for a mosque bombing Friday. Some say it could be a turning of the tide in public sentiment, driven by recent Army successes.