Blog Heap of Links for the day 19 June 2011

President Obama does any number of things that annoy or downright enrage House Republicans, often in the context of constitutionalism. Now a handful of them, many freshmen who ran on platforms of strict constitutional adherence, are unhappy that the president used a so-called autopen to sign legislation extending the U.S.A. Patriot Act, and have written him a letter demanding that he re-sign the bill. [Note how the Times puts this in terms of the "handful" of "freshmen" Republicans, not in terms of the Constitutional crisis Obama potentially creates ... with practically everything he does, come to think of it.]

"Well, I don't have anything specific," White House press secretary said... "He did not know about or authorize this operation," Carney told the press about President Obama's lack of involvement....

Asked on "Fox News Sunday" if the U.S. was engaged in hostilities in Libya, Gates said: "The way I like to put it is, from our standpoint at the Pentagon, we're involved in a limited kinetic operation. If I'm in Gadhafi's palace, I suspect I think I'm at war." [Depends on what the definition of "is" is?]

A Marine Corps Reserve lance corporal who was carrying suspected bomb making materials and pro-al Qaeda literature was arrested in Arlington National Cemetery early this morning, triggering a bomb scare that snarled Washington's morning rush hour. The FBI, however, determined that the material in the man's backpack was harmless. ... a naturalized citizen and lance corporal in the Marine Corps Reserve, 4th engineer batallion out of the Baltimore, Md.... Melaku allegedly told police in Arlington when he was captured that there were other "devices" in the area and also the location of his vehicle. But the FBI said there was no reason to believe other individuals were involved and they believe the suspect acted alone....

The report, which was ordered by Newark's former TSA director in the wake of complaints from BDOs, said passengers found to have lapsed visas or expired passports would be referred for additional screening or turned over to immigration officials. It was an easy way, the report said, for the behavior detection unit to boost its referrals and appear productive.

Led by FBI Special Agent Karen Springmeyer, about a dozen officers used a battering ram to enter Adams' rented Orchard Street home in a search for Sondra Hunter, then 35. But Hunter hadn't lived at that address for almost two years.

A Montana resident says an energy company has identified the cause of a brief power outage as "deer with wings." ... a dead fawn on a power line. ... suspects that an eagle dropped its prey and couldn't retrieve it....

A captive on a hunger strike had been jamming something foul up his nose to contaminate the pathway for medical staff who feed him a nutritional shake twice a day. Political protest or mental illness? The captive was jamming his own excrement up his nose.... The guards see it as a tactic meant to demean those tasked with keeping the captive alive... Guantánamo guards have for years told visitors that their war on terror captives "weaponize" their body waste. They throw cups of urine and feces at troops in what soldiers and sailors call "a cocktail."...

At a congressional hearing on Muslim radicalization in U.S. prisons, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said that investigators needed to analyze Christian militants in America because they too might try to "bring down the country."

...what prosecutors had described as a "pretty simple, straightforward spanking case." They noted she didn't use a belt or leave any bruises, just some red marks.... A judge in Corpus Christi, Texas had some harsh words for a mother charged with spanking her own [2yo] child before sentencing her to probation. "You don't spank children today," said Judge Jose Longoria. "In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don't spank children." [Just when did that memo get distributed?]

AURORA, Colo. — The mother of a 22-month-old girl hit and killed by a van last month... in the parking lot of her apartment complex... was allegedly using Facebook when the accident happened.

A 911 dispatcher handled a call for a water rescue at a state park — only to learn later that the drowning victim was her [17yo] son.

The University of Colorado's Sea Level Research Group decided in May to add 0.3 millimeters -- or about the thickness of a fingernail -- every year to its actual measurements of sea levels... director of the widely relied-upon research center, told FoxNews.com that his group added the 0.3 millimeters per year to the actual sea level measurements because land masses, still rebounding from the ice age, are rising and increasing the amount of water that oceans can hold....

A local woman and her 13-year-old son have been arrested in connection with an incident that allegedly has left a 5-year-old boy in critical condition.... "... alleged that a 13-year-old living in the home had picked the boy up over his head and slammed him to the ground as well as having the child fight other children." ... [Mother] was baby-sitting the victim along with four other children at the residence.... the five were in addition to her own four children... seven children total were taken into protective custody....

Police didn't have to look far to find a man hoping to buy marijuana Thursday. Michael Krebes, 31, of Vernon, put an ad on Craigslist looking to buy pot, police said. Members of the East Central Narcotics Task Force answered the ad, and set up a location to meet Krebes.

A bad case of superiority complex, maybe! There can only be one thing worse than someone talking loudly on the train ... and that's someone talking loudly on the train about how intelligent they are. Captured on a cellphone by a fellow passenger on a New York-Connecticut train is a commuter straight out of the 'do you know who I am?' school.