Last night's schedule got demolished by Mother Nature. Even though she chose not to send tornadoes our way, she did take out some frustrations on the local power grid, which left me without power for nearly two hours - far longer than any of the UPSs could tolerate. After all the equipment had lost power and it was getting dark, I decided to bug out to the farm where I could visit the parentals and stay cool and illuminated at the same time.

I wish I'd taken my camera, because while looking back south to town, we saw a rare double rainbow. I had an older CoolPix 800 camera out there, but it only takes JPEG pictures, and I had no tripod or anything to use to level it, nor a lot of quick-to-find controls. I did manage to get this shot, though (click on it for the full 1600 X 1200 version):

What was really awesome, though, was that the leftmost, brighter rainbow was actually visible in the full 180° arc. I got several segments of it, but doing it all by hand, in light rain and dimming light, made them unsuitable to stitch together for a panorama. It filled the whole sky, though. I wish you could have seen it.

(The power blinked here again at 9:30 AM, enough to reset the digital clocks that can only survive a few seconds without power, but not enough to cause any other problems.)

Some sampling of actual news that broke in the past day or two:

• The New York Times reports Monday that six of the detainees held at Guantanamo were under 18 when they were seized - and that at least one reports being brutalized. (Via TalkLeft)
• A diary from one of the USA's own interrogators at Guantanamo Bay reveals details of prisoner abuse, including denying prayers, straddling him while he's held down on the floor, and treating him like a dog. (Via Time Magazine)

• Another Downing Street Memo confirms that in July 2002, eight months before the USA invaded Iraq, the Pentagon was already heavily involved with the plans, but had virtually no plans for post-war occupation or reconstruction. (Via Demagogue)

• The US Supreme Court strongly rebuked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (where the Senate just placed reactionary Judge Priscilla Owen) for refusing to hear the appeals of a James Miller-El, a black Texas death row inmate whose jury was racially tainted. Dallas County prosecutors removed 10 of 11 black jurors in the jury pool before Miller-El's 1986 trial. In 2001, the 5th Circuit actually refused to let Miller-El appeal racial bias claims from his jury (which were raised before the trial started, actually) at all. That went up to the Supreme Court, which overruled the 5th Circuit in 2002 and demanded that they hear Miller-El's appeal. They did so, and promptly dismissed it "on the facts." The Supreme Court again agreed to hear it, and again reversed, saying that the evidence was clear that the prosecution stacked the jury. The Supreme Court ordered the 5th Circuit to grant a new trial to Miller-El, a harsh step reserved for cases where the appellate courts are stubbornly refusing to follow the law as decided by the Supreme Court. (Via TalkLeft)

• The executive director of the New York Christian Coalition (remember, that's the big one, the one with the voter guides and all that other propaganda that helped the GOP take over Congress in 1994) says that gay people should be required to wear warning labels because they "spread every kind of disease" and because being gay "takes at least 20 years off the average life span." The Nazis, as you may recall, required gay people to wear pink triangles just as they required Jews to wear yellow Stars of David (two triangles - the gay people, to the Nazis, were worse than Jews and didn't deserve both triangles). The research the NYCC director cited was scientifically discredited long ago, and was performed by an organization that the Southern Law Poverty Center lists as a "hate group." (Via 365 Gay and AmericaBlog)

So, at the time I post this, what are the actual top stories at CNN.com, the ones "above the fold" at the top of the page?

• Tribunal releases Saddam [Hussein interrogation] video
• Aruba 'doing utmost' to find missing [young, white, attractive] teen [girl, with video]
• Supreme Court reverses death penalty conviction
• 'Mississippi Burning' trial begins [with video]
• GM may cut prices on Chevys, Saturns, Pontiacs
• South Africa's 'rain queen' dies at 27
• Mexican troops take over border city
• Destiny's Child announces breakup
• Katie Holmes embracing Scientology

The final item, an unlinkable pop-up window to a live webcast of the Senate's floor debate over the judicial nomination of Thomas Griffith, who spent four years practicing law in Utah without a law license, at least the second time he's done so in his career. This would probably make him spectacularly unqualified for anything except disbarment procedures, save that he also happened to be the Senate's lead counsel during President Clinton's impeachment trial.

Until that came up, the final top story was "[Michael] Jackson jury begins second week of deliberations."

We're in trouble.