brainrow

In astronomy, when a celestial body passes across the face of a larger, more distant body, it’s called a transit. When the nearer body is large enough or close enough to completely block the more distant body, it’s called an occultation, instead.

The International Space Station (ISS) is probably not classified as a celestial body, but this view of the space shuttle
Atlantis and the ISS crossing the face of the sun from an earth-bound telescope has certainly captured a lot of attention. (I believe the yellow of the sun is artificially added.)

As it happens, ISS transits aren’t exceedingly rare. Ed Morana has a collection of photos and videos of the ISS crossing the sun and the moon. Watch the videos, but don’t blink — the ISS streaks across the picture very quickly.

With thanks to Bob Geiger for his weekly roundup of political cartoons, here’s political cartoonist David Horsey on war profiteering in Iraq and how the Iraq rebuilding team was chosen.

Tom Toles on the torture compromise.

Matt Davies on worries about leaks.

Jack Ohman on the National Intelligence Estimate and torture.

Drew Sheneman also has a comment on the declassified intelligence estimate.

Stuart Carlson on just what Bush is spreading in the middle east.

I’ve been recording and watching MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann for a good while now.

The show is an hour long, and very fluffy — usually I can watch the whole thing in fifteen or twenty minutes, fast-forwarding through the celebrity gossip and animal stunts. What’s left is pretty good, most of the time.

Olbermann is often forcefully critical of the Bush administration, and this has made him a favorite among many anti-Bush blogs, including this one. A month ago, he made a strongly-worded “special comment” in response to a Donald Rumsfeld speech comparing critics of the Iraq War to World War II-era appeasers of fascism. Olbermann seemed genuinely angry, and the blogosphere was buzzing for days.

It must have been good for ratings, because Olbermann has since made a number of “special comments.” Some of these later commentaries have struck me as calculated crowd-pleasing diatribes generating more heat than light — as if Olbermann seeks to be the anti-Bush Bill O’Reilly.

But this week, responding to Republican efforts to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11 and absolve the Bush administration, Olbermann presented this meaty look at what the Bush administration did to protect America before 9/11:

More like that, please, Keith.