Hurricane Dennis is a strong Category 4 storm with 150 MPH sustained winds. It's expected to reach Category 5 before it strikes Cuba later today.

The storm has been running parallel to the coast of the island nation, and raking it with hurricane-force winds. The US military base at Guantanamo Bay has received minimaal damange, however, a guard tower at the terrorist detention facility there was knocked down by the force of the storm.

Hurricane Warnings are up for much of Cuba, as well as the western Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. The lower Keys are under a manditory evacuation order, and traffic up US 1 has been very heavy. North of there, along the Florida West Coast, a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning is in effect. This has residents in the Ft. Myers/Naples area very skittish, as they remember the disaster of Hurricane Charley last summer.

Once Dennis crosses Cuba and enters the Gulf of Mexico, it could land anywhere along the Gulf Coast, though forecasters are projecting a landfall in the vicinity of Mobile or Pensacola, where residents are stlll trying to recover from last summer's Hurricane Ivan and last week's Tropical Storm Cindy.

Hurricane City is streaming live coverage of this storm nightly from 8-11P ET. Their coverage includes calls from people in the affected areas, meterological professionals and others interested in the storm, along with live television and radio audio from the affected areas.

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At least nine explosions have been reported from central London within the past couple of hours, with sketchy reports of "major casualties" from wire services and other media sources.

Three explosions have been reported on buses, with at least two of those buses being destroyed; other explosions have been reported on subway trains, shutting down the entire London Underground tube network. Bus service in central London has been suspended as well. Wire service reports indicate at least 90 casualties, with reports still coming in.

Live audio via BBC Five Live (WMP).

UPDATE (8:30A): Total number of explosions are seven, as confirmed by Scotland Yard.

An Al Qaeda affiliated group in Europe has claimed responsibility for the blasts on an Islamic web site, according to the BBC and Sky News.

The number of casualties has been sketchy thus far, with as many as 90 dead at one Underground station being reported.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has left Gleneagles, Scotland, where the G8 Summit is taking place, and is headed to London to check on efforts first-hand. The meetings will continue, and Blair is expected to return later today.

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Rapper Lil Kim has been sentenced to one year plus one day in prison on a perjury charge stemming from a shooting outside New York radio station WQHT in 2001. She was also fined $50,000 along with the sentence.

The rapper told the grand jury she did not notice two of her close friends at the scene of the shootout -- her manager, Damion Butler, and Suif Jackson, known as "Gutta." Both have pleaded guilty to gun charges.

Jurors at Lil' Kim's trial saw radio station security photos that depicted Butler opening a door for the rap star, and two witnesses who once made records with Lil' Kim said they saw her at the station with Butler and Jackson.

The gun battle happened outside WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga.

Lil' Kim's group confronted the others about the Capone-N-Noreaga song "Bang, Bang" that contained an insult to Lil' Kim from rival Foxy Brown. One man was hurt in the shootout that followed.

WQHT radio was also the scene of a gun battle between entourages belonging to 50 Cent and The Game this past January.

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A 43 year-old ex-convict has confessed to attacking and fatally stabbing a woman to death in a shopping mall parking garage, simply because she was white.

In a videotaped statement, convicted rapist Phillip Grant said that he had never met his victim, Concetta Russo Carriero, a 56 year-old mother of two.

"She was not innocent. She was white," (Grant said).

"All I knew was she had blond hair and blue eyes, and she had to die . . . I didn't care, as long as she was white," he said.

"I wanted to kill someone who represented the white lifestyle."

Grant said he became a racist after his July 2003 release from Sing Sing, where he spent 24 years for three Bronx rapes and for attacking another inmate with a pitchfork.

He said he was fighting a race war — and his only regret was that he didn't know anything about biological weapons.

Grant said he was prepared to die for killing Russo Carriero, a legal secretary who worked at a law firm across the street.

"There's a lot of white people that really need to die. I don't give a f - - - what public opinion is about that. They can go f - - - themselves. These people are sick, and they are getting away with it.

"I can't be around white people. I'm scared of white people," he added. "They forced me into a position where I'm racist.

"It was not a criminal motive. I'm really, really fighting a war on being attacked," he said.

Asked if he would kill again, Grant answered yes.

"My only regret is that I didn't have the means to do more," he said.

I don't see the reason for the "contemplation." He admitted to murdering the woman, in cold blood, simply for being white.

I'm sure there will be those who will wring their collective hands and insist that because he's black, Grant can't have committed a hate crime -- after all, in their petty little minds, it's not possible for a black person to be racist, present evidence notwithstanding.

And there's no way that anyone can excuse Grant's crime under some misbegotten notion of some black pseudo-trauma. But there will be those who try to do just that.

I don't feel sorry for him. Not one bit.

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The International Olympic Committee has awarded London the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012.

London edged out Paris in the final voting today in Singapore.

The other three finalist cities, Madrid, Moscow and New York City were eliminated in earlier voting.

Paris had been considered the front runner, and had received excellent recommendations from every corner of the Olympic community. However, London presented a strong case over the past few weeks, and won over the members of the IOC.

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Ted Kennedy (D-MA) went as far as to insist that he and his fellow liberals had an "obligation" to the American people to oppose any conservative nominee.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy Friday praised retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but also threatened to oppose the choice of a replacement "if the president abuses his power and nominates someone who threatens to roll back the rights and freedoms of the American people."

If that situation develops, Kenndy warned, "then the American people will insist that we oppose that nominee, and we intend to do so."

"I proposed a summit where the president calls a wide range of senators and we roll up our sleeves, let down our tie and discuss things all day long."

if Bush were to nominate Brown -- the outspoken California judge recently named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit -- "I could assure you that would be a very, very, very difficult fight, and she probably would be filibustered," Sen. Joseph R. Biden (news, bio, voting record) Jr. (D-Del.), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

It's gonna be a hot summer in Washington this year.

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Scrappleface has the details (albeit tongue-in-cheek details) of Senator Ted Kennedy (Boozer-MA) and his verbal attacks on the as-yet-unnamed person to be named by President Bush to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, today criticized President George Bush's as-yet-unnamed replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as a "brutal, Bible-thumping, right-wing ideologue who hates minorities, women and cocker spaniels."

"He or she is clearly outside the mainstream of American values," said Sen. Kennedy. "President Bush has again ignored the Senate's 'advice and consent' role, forcing Democrats to filibuster this outrageous nominee."

The Massachusetts Senator said his aides have already discovered "reams of memos" showing that the man or woman Mr. Bush will appoint has "a history of abusing subordinates, dodging military service, hiring undocumented workers, spanking his or her children and rolling back the clock on human rights to the days when the Pharaohs ruled Egypt with an iron fist."

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A huge column of steam is rising from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan.

The coast guard sent helicopters to monitor the 1,000m (3,280ft) cloud, 1,120km (700 miles) south-east of Tokyo, and warned ships to stay away.

The team said the area around the site appeared to be red.

Japanese troops stationed on the island of Iwo Jima first noticed the cloud of steam on Saturday.

Television footage showed white smoke billowing into the sky from the brick-red water.

In all actuality, an undersea volcano is believed to be erupting in that spot. An undersea volcano erupted in 1986 in that same area.

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Legendary crooner Luther Vandross died this afternoon. He never fully recovered from a debilitating stroke that hit two years ago.

Vandross' songs and emotionally charged ballads carry a signature sound. During his four-decade career, Vandross sold more than 25 million copies, each one of his 14 albums achieving either platinum or multi-platinum status.

By the end of the 1980s Vandross had nearly two dozen smash singles, including "Give Me the Reason," "Stop to Love" and "There's Nothing Better Than Love," made with Gregory Hines. Arguably his most memorable hit was the 1989 classic, "Here and Now," which has become a wedding staple.

Vandross struggled with health and image problems, claiming that he lost 100 pounds -- 13 times. He suffered from hypertension and diabetes, which killed two siblings and his father, but refused to slow down until his stroke two years ago.

Of his 2003 hit, "Dance With My Father," he once said that title song "was very emotional for me and, yes, it is based on my own experience.

"It's not just about losing one's father, but about missing someone who is gone -- for whatever reason -- and the longing you feel for that moment in the past when you were together," he said.

Music fans everywhere are mourning his loss tonight.

Luther Vandross was 54.

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Quote of the week has to be from Jada Pinckett Smith during the opening monologue to the BET Awards this week.

"Do not thank God if you can't show or perform your work in church. Some of you just need to thank your manager and keep it movin'."

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Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement this morning, setting off more speculation than you can shake a stick at. President Bush did nothing to quench that speculation when he spoke at the White House, saying that he would nominate a justice who would "faithfully interpret" the laws of the land.

The laundry list of names includes recent Circuit court nominee Janice Rogers Brown, Edith Brown Clement, Edith Hollan Jones and current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Washington sources are telling me not to be surprised if President Bush doesn't wait until after the August recess to name a potential successor. But then again, if I had a dollar for every time a "source" gave me information that wasn't quite correct, I'd be a very rich man indeed.

That being said, I don't think that anyone wants to toss the August recess -- August in DC can be very sultry indeed.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Spector (R-PA) said that he thought there wouldn't be a filibuster against whatever nominee the President selects, counting on the "Gang of 14" compromise that he was a part of during last month's judiciary fight. I'm not as confident.

With O'Connor having been one of the major swing votes on the Court, I'm fully expecting a partisan bloodbath -- especially if the President selects a strong conservative, as is expected.

Stay tuned. This ought to make for interesting television if nothing else. After all, the news networks have nothing else to talk about now that Michael Jackson's trial is over.

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Contrary to the nay-sayers on the left, black Republicans are not the lapdogs they would pretend we are. Black Republicans are gaining power and running for more visible state-wide offices across the nation.

In Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, black Republicans - all of whom have been groomed by the national party - are expected to run for governor or the United States Senate next year. Several other up-and-coming black Republicans are expected to run for lower statewide offices in Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Vermont in 2006.

"You've got a Democratic Party which I think has repeatedly demonstrated that it assumes it will win the African-American vote, but doesn't work for that vote," Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said. "It takes African-Americans for granted. And I think folks in the African-American community see that. There is a real opportunity here for the Republican Party."

The difference between many of today's black Republicans is that their message is being embraced by white Republicans. And the ranks of black Republicans are increasing.

There is room for a true two-party system in black America. And that will become a reality. Soon.

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Welcome To The Neighborhood, a 6-part series set to start July 10, was being touted on ABC as the "next big reality show."

That's not going to happen now. ABC abruptly decided not to air the show, and has pulled all references to it from their web site.

The premise, as with most reality shows, was basic. Seven diverse families with equally diverse backgrounds, vie for a 3300 square-foot house in suburban Austin, TX.

The catch? The neighbors get to pick which family will actually get the house. The three families are all white, conservative Christian families.

Since the candidates were all ethnic minorities, gays, or tattoo fanatics, while the residents were conservative and Christian, the show's political agenda was clear: make the right look like bigots.

So, the bottom line, was that ABC was looking to go after conservatives and skewer them with this show.

According to a Washington Post piece yesterday, conservative groups as well as gay rights groups expressed reservations over the airing of the program. This is despite claims by the producers that the show "was intended to promote a healthy and open debate about prejudice and people's fear of differences."

No word today as to what ultimately led to ABC's decision to pull the series.

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Weeks after Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton played patty-cake with Mexican President Vicente Fox over insults directed toward black Americans, the Mexican government strikes again, thumbing their collective noses at Jackson and Sharpton.

A series of five postage stamps was released yesterday in Mexico featuring a stereotypically offensive black cariacture from a 1940s comic. The character, Memin Pinguin, is still published in Mexico today.

Rev. Jesse Jackson said President Bush should pressure Mexico to withdraw the stamps from the market, saying they "insult people around the world."

"The impact of this is worse than what the president said," Jackson noted, referring to Fox's May 13 comment that Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want. Fox later met with Jackson and expressed regret but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.

The character on the stamp, hapless but lovable, is drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book.

Mexican authorities said that more than 750,000 of the stamps, in a 6.50 peso (60 cents) demonination will be issued. The 6.50 peso stamps are mostly used domestically, though some could be sent abroad.

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After being sent hastily back to the drawing board, the building that will rise at Ground Zero to replace the World Trade Center was unveiled today.

The redrawn tower will be set further back from one of Manhattan's main thoroughfares and atop a 200-foot concrete and metal pedestal designed to repel explosions, city and state officials said.

The tower will lose the twisting, asymmetrical design meant to recall the outstretched arm of the Statute of Liberty. Instead, it will resemble a faceted version of one of the twin towers, sitting atop an identical footprint and reaching an identical 1,362 feet into the sky.

Because there will no longer be a frame of latticework above the usable space, the observation deck will now be hundreds of feet higher than the previous design. Instead of 1,100 feet (335 m), the new deck will allow views from 1,362 feet (415 m), the ceiling height of the previous Tower Two. This will be higher than the destroyed Twin Towers observation deck, and also slightly higher than the observation Skydeck of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

The Freedom Tower is expected to be completed in 2007.

The new design certainly looks a far sight better than the original one.

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This 646 pound Mekong giant catfish, the largest fresh water fish every recorded, was snagged in Thailand by researchers looking to protect various species of fish.

Apparently, the Mekong catfish was caught and eaten in a remote village along the Mekong River, home to more "giant" species of fish -- including the giant freshwater stingray, the dog-eating catfish, the dinosaur-like arapaima, and the Chinese paddlefish -- than anywhere in the world.

Anybody got a fifty-pound bag of corn meal?

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New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, while visiting Russia with a delegation of American business leaders, showed Russian President Vladimir Putin a diamond encrusted ring -- his new Super Bowl ring. Putin smiled appreciatively and put it on his finger. He then said "how nice."

Putin then put the ring in his pocket and left.

Following a meeting of American business executives and Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg on Saturday, Kraft showed the ring to Putin — who tried it on, put it in his pocket and left, said Russian news reports.

It isn't clear yet if Kraft, whose business interests also include paper and packaging companies and venture capital investments, intended that Putin keep the ring.

However, a Kremlin official who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of compromising his position said the ring was a present. "Such a present was made," the official said.

He said Putin had given the ring to the Kremlin library where other foreign gifts are kept.

No word from Kraft, who is traveling overseas right now, and not due back until sometime next week according to Patriots' spokesperson Stacey James.

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I'm in mega-geek mode this week.

In addition to writing new stuff for Project 21, writing new stuff of my own, and working on several other more mundane projects, Apple has released iTunes version 4.9. This version includes on-board support for podcasting; which excites me for several reasons - one of which is work on piecing together my own podcast.

In any event, head on over to Apple.com/itunes, and get your updated copy for Mac or Windows. The new iTunes includes a detailed podcast directory, where you can find all sorts of programming. There is, at least for now, a paucity of conservative programming, when you look at the political side - ironically enough since most of Air America's programming, and plenty of other opinionated folk from the left are up and running on this revolution.

Not to matter - there's tons of fantastic programming out there to listen to -- fantastic music from Brian Ibbot's Coverville, plenty of sci-fi geekishness from Mike & Evo's Dragon Page & Slice of SciFi, wonderful food from Anne Bramley's Eat Feed, along with detailed information on podcasting and the podcasting revolution from the "podfather" himself, Adam Curry, on the Daily Source Code.

And that doesn't even scratch the surface.

I'll be putting a "favorite podcast" section on the left rail soon, so that you can get to some of the podcasts that I enjoy tremendously. Eventually, I'll have my own out there, and link it from right here. So you don't have to go anywhere. Mine will include plenty of the same sort of information that you get right here in print, plus a bit more irreverance and stuff to boot.

I don't have a start date just yet, but give me a little while, and I'll be there.

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Moonbats in the US House who are married to the Downing Street memos are strategizing with a singular goal in mind: impeaching George W. Bush on charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

"If you read the record of the writing of the Constitution, ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ had a very particular meaning at the time of the drafting of the Constitution," Rep. Zoe Lofgren said at a forum held by Rep. John Conyers earlier this month.

"It certainly didnÂ’t mean lying about sex," she complained, in quotes picked up by the Hill newspaper. "But it might well mean lying to the Congress about a large public purpose such as Iraq."

"We would like to see a member of Congress look into whether or not the president committed impeachable offenses," said John Bonifaz, a constitutional lawyer who co-founded the group AfterDowningStreet.org. "WeÂ’ve been having that discussion with a number of [congressional] offices," he explained.

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US Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. (Moonbat-TN) is supporting the idiotic Supreme Court eminent domain case from last week.

"I've always believed individual rights are a big thing..... but, I find value in the court's decision. As long as people are compensated fairly, I can appreciate the decision. Certain areas in our state are crying for development, if this decision helps - it's a positive."

Bill Hobbs has audio clips of Ford in all his moonbattery.

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