The Midday Quickie

Ancient Peruvian artwork found in London. What's odd is that it was found in a London lawfirm, waiting to be sold (the lawfirm was holding it for a client and didn't know it was stolen or how the person had obtained it).

Karr says he loved JonBenet 'very much'. He insists that it was an "accident," but beating and strangling the shit out of a little 6-year-old girl doesn't seem very accidental. In any case, the D.A. says that more work on the case is still needed since it looks like Karr might have been a little bit forced into his arrest. They're calling for the public to be patient and let the justice system take its course.

Volcano wipes out 3 villages in Ecuador. A volcanic eruption in the Andes mountains wiped out the villages of Chilibu, Choglontuz, and Palitagua, and left one dead and 60 others missing.

Bush Pardons 17 Minor Criminals. How are some of these "minor" offenses? Oh, yeah...silly me. Most of them were just good old small-town boys who sold some firearms illegally, sold some moonshine, or got caught with drugs. I guess those would be minor offenses to someone like him.

September 11 victim cries for help in audiotapes. "I'm going to die, aren't I?" Melissa Doi, a 32-year-old financial manager for IQ Financial Systems, asked an emergency services operator in a call from the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center's south tower just before it collapsed. "No, no, no, no, no," responded the operator. "Ma'am, say your prayers. You've got to think positive because you've got to help people get off the floor."

Ex-CIA contractor guilty of assault. David Passaro was the first American civilian to be charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was accused of beating Abdul Wali while the man was being questioned in 2003 about rocket attacks on a remote base where Passaro was stationed with U.S. and Afghan troops. He was impassive as the jury verdict was read. After jurors left the courtroom, he stood up and quietly extended his wrists so federal marshals could handcuff him. Wow, how remorseful of him. Pfft.

Jury rules against Merck on Vioxx. It's about time. It's too bad that we can't also sue the doctors who continued to push that crap even after it was disclosed that people were having heart attacks and God knows what else from taking it. I had a doctor try to push it on me as a cure-all for my arthritis, and when I brought up the whole "trial" thing, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights and just mumbled something about, "Oh, yeah. I forgot."