Turkish newspapers are printing gruesome pictures of Iraqis killed by U.S. soldiers in response to American political efforts to label the country as having committed genocide. The headline on this page, “Soykırım diyene bak,” is translated directly into English as, “look who is talking about genocide,” and it links to several graphic photos.

The Turkish press closely followed a U.S. Congressional committee meeting last night, during which a resolution describing the 1915 slaughter of Armenians as a genocide was voted through. House leader Nancy Pelosi has long supported the measure, and it’s believed a majority of the House does, too.

It’s a move the White House predicted would severely damage relations with Turkey. “This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings,” George Bush told reporters just hours before the House Foreign Affairs Committee met to consider the measure. The president is desperate to keep Turkey as an ally.

Anti-war protesters, too, are angry that the U.S. government is focusing on foreign killings from decades ago, rather than definitively trying to end the war in Iraq.

More Turkish media presentations of the “shock and awe” after the jump: Read more…

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According to an internal audit, the Department of Justice spent a whopping $7 million to plan, host or send employees to ten conferences over the last two years.

This included paying $4 per meatball at one swank dinner and providing an average of $25 worth of snacks around to each participant at a movie-themed party.

More than $13,000 was spent on cookies and brownies for 1,542 people who attended a four-day “Weed and Seed” conference in August 2005. A Community Oriented Policing Services conference in July 2006 cost more than $60,000, with butterfly shrimp, coconut lobster skewers and Swedish meatballs on the menu. Read more…

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Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the accused “DC Madam,” filed a memo with DC’s U.S. District Court today, detailing her plans to move forward with a “Honey Pot” defense, under the representation of lawyer Montgomery Blair Sibley.

The memo alleges that “the United States Government has been directly or indirectly benefiting from the operation of her service by monitoring her customers and is thus equitably barred from prosecuting her,” according to Sibley.

The pleading identifies not only already-known customers of the escort service — Sen. David Vitter, Randall Tobias, of USAID, and Harlan Ullman, a government advisor — but also confirms for the first time that another individual with very high government security clearance — Ronald Roughead, former Army Colonel Defense Attache — was also a customer. Read more…

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So! Australians can moon President Bush all they want, and their government doesn’t arrest them, send them to jail, and force them to pay ridiculous fines!? In fact, government officials there instead would celebrate such an effort and encourage a “world record mooning attempt“?

Hmm. Joel Gardner , DC’s most famous Karl Rove mooner, had definitely better consider moving to Australia. And, girls, you’ve gotta wonder if his luscious butt would look just as nice down under.

VIDEO: Aussie Protesters Moon President Bush

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The Nation’s Capital has found a surefire way to spark interest in recent downtown development: Hire an aging, washed-up former rap star.

“Come out and dance, sing and enjoy an evening in Washington, DC,” hails a new announcement from the city’s government. “Thursday, September 6 hip-hop superstar MC Hammer brings his distinct style…with his hits Too Legit to Quit, Pray and U Can’t Touch This.”

Hammer (aka Stanley Kirk Burrell) has not had a hit since the early 1990s.

Still, officials are spinning this as an all-star affair: Read more…

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