As if we needed another reason not to shop at Circuit City

Now you can expect the staff there to be even surlier and less experienced:

Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in stores across the country yesterday, saying they were making too much money and would be replaced by new hires willing to work for less.

Well, imagine that

This is a tiny-headline story today in the Wapo; don't see it at all in the NYT.

The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government's racketeering case.

Sharon Y. Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's office began micromanaging the team's strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government's claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers.

Bonus: contains the phrase "rule of law," which is set to become a major headache for Republicans this year.

Oh brother

NYT on Saturday's march (WP had a similar 'graph):

As they gathered before the march, the protesters met what several veterans of the antiwar movement described as an unusually large contingent of several hundred counterdemonstrators. Many were veterans in biker jackets who said they had come to protect the nearby Vietnam Memorial, citing rumors that had circulated among veterans groups that the demonstrators planned to deface it.

Yeah--those Codepink ladies are notorious.

Sad to see the Vietnam memorial turned into a fetish. As if we needed further proof that war fucks people up.

Gun-totin' ability, yes; administrative skills, not so much

Couldn't have seen this one coming:

The Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal-immigrant organization that has monitored the southern border, is embroiled in a nasty legal fight over accusations of financial improprieties that has splintered the group and probably will sideline it during the busiest time of the year for border crossing.

Former leaders of the Minuteman Project accuse founder Jim Gilchrist, 58, of using $300,000 of the group's money to support his pet causes, including promoting a book he co-wrote and funding an unsuccessful run for Congress in a 2005 special election. Last month, saying they are the group's board of directors, they took over the Minuteman Project Web site and bank accounts, and fired Gilchrist as president.

People, can't we all just get along? Evidently not:

This is not the first time the group has fractured. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has operated separately from the Minuteman Project since December 2005, after a bitter internal dispute over funding.

God bless this Brazilian

From a Post reporter who actually went to a protest in Sao Paulo:

The president rarely sees such scenes except perhaps on television. He arrived in Sao Paulo after dark a few hours later and headed by well-guarded motorcade to the Hilton Hotel, where he is staying. The only sign of protest he saw during the hour-long drive in from the airport was a single Brazilian standing along the road who raised his middle finger in a gesture that translates the world over.

New Link

Everyone say hello to Wendi in the Links sidebar.

Wendi wrote the hilarious "Always" maxipads letter at McSweeney's.

I didn't know they'd started putting inspirational messages on maxipads. I think they should put lottery numbers on there too, like they do with fortune cookies. Or suicide hotline phone numbers.