For the past couple of days CNN has been intermittently running with the story of Capt. Michael Speicher, a Navy pilot who was the first American casualty of the “first,” 1991 Gulf War.  Speicher’s plane was shot down over Anbar province during a bombing raid, and the pilots remains were apparently discovered and buried by Bedouin tribesmen. Recently an Iraqi civilian informed US forces of the location of the remains, and a positive identification and repatriation soon followed.  One interesting footnote to the story, however remains largely unexplored. The CNN story notes:

He was originally listed as “Killed-in-Action/Body-Not-Recovered” in May 1991. That status changed in 2001 to “Missing in Action,” and then to “Missing/Captured” in 2002, based on sighting reports in Iraq. Those sightings have since been discredited.

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Shoot.  This day has gone from bad to worse.  First, the Blackhawks (ah, Sport) lay an egg against the Red Wings this afternoon.  Now: apparently, North Korea just did a nuclear test.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Rahm Emanuel got the news.  The motherfucker-per-minute gauge must be redlining.

UPDATE: USGS survey says… Magnitude 4.7 temblor in northeastern North Korea — fairly close to Sea of Japan — at about 2055 EDT tonight.  Which, for those of us with experience with West Coast earthquakes, is hardly worth writing home about.  But still — this looks like it is for real.  Per AP/MSNBC: State Department knows nothing yet.

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Molly Ivins would be having a field day with Rick Perry and Tom Delay talking about secession.

The Famous Yule Log [WPIX]