Reds

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oath2-2008may02,0,6280956.story?page=1

"When Wendy Gonaver was offered a job teaching American studies at Cal State Fullerton this academic year, she was pleased to be headed back to the classroom to talk about one of her favorite themes: protecting constitutional freedoms.

"But the day before class was scheduled to begin, her appointment as a lecturer abruptly ended over just the kind of issue that might have figured in her course. She lost the job because she did not sign a loyalty oath swearing to "defend" the U.S. and California constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"The loyalty oath was added to the state Constitution by voters in 1952 to root out communists in public jobs. Now, 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main effect is to weed out religious believers, particularly Quakers and Jehovah's Witnesses."

A Great Example of What's Wrong With Apple Designs

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/20/refurbished-iphones-are-an-excellent-source-of-previous-users-d/

"...an Oregon State Police detective was able to use forensic software to pull files, emails, and screenshots off an out-of-the-box refurbished iPhone. This actually shouldn't be surprising to anyone -- we've seen several utilities that access "deleted" portions of storage -- but since Apple doesn't provide users direct access to the iPhone's filesystem, it's basically impossible to clear your personal data off the device short of restoring and filling the disk with junk data."

Spy vs. Spy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/washington/20cnd-detain.html?partner=rssnyt

"F.B.I. agents complained repeatedly, beginning in 2002, about the harsh interrogation tactics that military and C.I.A. interrogators were using in questioning terrorism suspects, like making them do dog tricks and parade in the nude in front of female soldiers, but their complaints appear to have had little effect, according to an exhaustive report released Tuesday by the Justice Department's inspector general.

...

"One bureau memorandum spoke of .torture techniques. used by military interrogators. Agents described seeing things like inmates handcuffed in a fetal position for up to 24 hours, left to defecate on themselves, intimidated by dogs, made to wear women's underwear and subjected to strobe lights and extreme heat and cold."

Sense

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/the-ultimate-pr.html

"As Matt Power notes in this month's issue of Wired, hybrids get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make a Toyota Prius. Because there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt -- one you won't pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so.

"There's an easy way to avoid that debt -- buy a used car. The debt has already been paid. But not just any used car will do."

The Prius is a nice car, and it's a fashion statement. I'd say people should stop kidding themselves, but I know they won't. The entire system of modern economics is premised on stupidity. And that is also why global climate change will not be slowed, much less stopped and much, much less reversed.

* * *

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/51/

"Volkswagon took that extra step and made a bobsled with a diesel engine. It is, in fact, actually a car. It seats two (arguably), gets roughly 235 miles per gallon of diesel fuel and is perched at the very cutting edge aerodynamic technology. Of course, this comcept car has been around since 2002, and we're still no where near seeing it on our roads."

Black Listed

http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2008/05/government_surveillance_homeland_security_main_core_01.php

"According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention."

We Can Only Hope

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/05/death-of-suv.html

"The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting," said George Hoffer, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research focuses on the automotive industry. "It's an irrational vehicle. It'll never come back."

With stocks of unwanted new SUVs and pickups piling up at dealerships across the country, automakers are offering unprecedented promotions. Incentives for large SUVs, including cash rebates, topped $4,000 in March, or more than double those offered in March 2002, according to Edmunds.com, which monitors the motor industry.

Classy

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/may/01/unsatisfying-sex-life-leads-to-womans-meltdown/

"The meltdown, which deputies witnessed along with the couple's 3- and 4-year-old children, started when the husband, 24, had told his wife they had three hours to quit smoking, drinking, swearing and engaging in some sex acts because "they were going to be good Christians now," the woman said.

...

"During an argument with one of the deputies, the woman picked up the family's 20-pound dog and threw it at the deputy, who caught it, the report said."

Calling BS on Bush

"This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement."

-- Joe Biden

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0508/Biden_Bushs_comments_were_bullshit.html

Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that 'some people' believe the United States 'should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Meanwhile...

"After meeting with a former New England Patriots employee who helped the team spy on opponents, Senator Arlen Specter on Wednesday described the team's illicit videotaping tactics as more systematic and deliberate than what the N.F.L. has acknowledged publicly."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/sports/football/15nfl.html

Mission Accomplished

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030501-9.html

"Every day, life in Iraq is improving as coalition troops secure unsafe areas, bring food and medical care to the needy and make sure Iraq's drinking water is clean and dependable. And as Iraqis carry on the hard work of building a prosperous and peaceful democratic nation, they can count on the friendship and on the support of the people of the United States. (Applause.)

"An Iraqi government that is of the people, by the people and for the people will serve as a dramatic and an inspiring example to other nations in the Middle East. As the President has said, the power and appeal of human liberty is felt in every life and every land. And the greatest power of freedom is to overcome hatred and violence, and to turn the creative gifts of men and women to the pursuits of peace."

-- Remarks by the Vice President to the Heritage Foundation, May 2003

No Golf Signals

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10314.html

"For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families: He has given up golf.

"'I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,' he said. 'I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.'"

A Breath of Fresh Air

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/30/009245

The NY Times codes it's HTML and CSS using, get ready...

A text editor!

A low and behold, their site looks great and looks the same in any browser. What do you know... It's amazing what happens when you get people who know what they're doing and will just move forward with common sense, instead of struggling to use "tools" that they think they have to use. It is SOO refreshing to see that someone out there understands web technologies and does it right.

'It's our preference to use a text editor, like HomeSite, TextPad or TextMate, to "hand code" everything, rather than to use a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) HTML and CSS authoring program, like Dreamweaver. We just find it yields better and faster results.'"

This made my day.

Correct

Dave Barry explains the stimulus checks...

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?

A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?

A. Shut up.

...Followed by a very good economic analysis.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north622.html

"Keynes was wrong. What we need is less government spending. But since we're going to get it, no matter what we do or how we vote, let's give Keynesian politicians two cheers for the rebate. The money is better in our bank accounts than the government's bank account.

"The government will spend every dime that comes in. It is buying votes, and it is always in that market spending whatever it can beg, borrow, or steal."

"News"

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8560/

"GOODMAN: If you support the practice of putting ex-military men, generals, on the payroll to share their opinion during a time of war, would you also support putting peace activists on the payroll to give a different opinion in times of war, to be sitting there with the military generals, talking about why they feel that war is not appropriate?

"SESNO: We bring the generals in because of their expertise in a particular area. We call them analysts. We don.t bring them in as advocates.

It's clear: War experts are neutral analysts; peace experts are advocates. Even when the Pentagon helps select and prep the network's military analysts. Shortly after the Iraq invasion, CNN's news chief Eason Jordan acknowledged on-air that he.d run the names of potential analysts by the Pentagon: 'We got a big thumbs-up on all of them. That was important.'"

News?

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/06/gore-it-is-obscene-that-bush-has-dismissed-george-washingtons-200-plus-year-prohibition-on-torture/

"On April 9, ABC News reported that in 2002, President Bush's most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he 'approved' of the tactics. Since the ABC report, the media have largely ignored the story. Morever, it took 14 days for a reporter to raise the issue in a White House press briefing.

...

"AL GORE: Ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people. And these kinds of outrages, a president saying that he has the right turn George Washington's 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants with his assistants gathering in the basement of the White House - according to recent revelations - personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene."

Hey there, anyone awake in American? Anybody? Heeellllooooooo.....
Anyone there?

Anybody?

* * *

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/07/usdom8778.htm

"According to Human Rights Watch, the memorandum may indicate a specific intent by administration officials to engage in torture, which is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, a breach of several international treaties by which the United States is bound, and a serious crime under domestic U.S. law. The Geneva Conventions, the U.N. Convention against Torture, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—treaties to which the United States is a party—forbid torture under any and all circumstances. "

Dict

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/29/sharp-intros-rd-cx310-electronic-dictionary-pmp/

A portable electronic dictionary was probably one the first electronic gadgets anyone ever thought of. They're STILL making these things! Do people buy them over in Japan or something? I don't get it.

Intelligent Design

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGYwMzdjOWRmNGRhOWQ4MTQyZDMxNjNhYTU1YTE5Njk=

"The 'intelligent design' hoax is not merely non-science, nor even merely anti-science; it is anti-civilization. It is an appeal to barbarism, to the sensibilities of those Apaches, made by people who lack the imaginative power to know the horrors of true barbarism. (A thing that cannot be said of Darwin. See Chapter X of Voyage of the Beagle.)"

-- John Derbyshire in the National Review

Ballmer

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120966628366460063.html

"In the interview Thursday, Mr. Ballmer said he is confident that his company can build a competitive online-advertising business without buyingYahoo, but that it "could just take more time."

Bfffffffffffffffff.... HA HAHA HA! AHHA Ha! Ha Ha! HAHAHA!
Har...

That Ballmer guy cracks me up!

Shame

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/361447_thomas02.html

"The American people have heard President Bush and his spokespeople say many times that the U.S. government does not engage in torture.

"Whether Bush was believed or not is another story -- especially in light of the photographic evidence of the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. It's understood that many of the photos are too sadistically graphic to be made public.

"Still, the official U.S. denials of torture continued until earlier this month when Bush acknowledged in an interview with ABC-TV that he knew about and approved "enhanced interrogation" of detainees, including "waterboarding" or simulated drowning."

...

"Bush, who has insisted "we do not torture," also recently vetoed legislation that explicitly banned torture. Sen. John McCain, whose whole political persona has been defined by the fact that he had been tortured while a prisoner of war during the Vietnam era, supported Bush's veto."

* * *

http://wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/guan-m05.shtml

"Without prior announcement, the military returned al-Hajj to his home country of Sudan with two other prisoners who had also been held for years at the US-run Guantnamo Bay prison. Al-Hajj was gaunt and too weak to stand or speak as soldiers carried him off the C-17 cargo plane and placed him, still shackled, on a stretcher. He was transported immediately to a hospital in Khartoum. His brother told reporters he did not immediately recognize al-Hajj, who had been seized as a healthy 32-year-old and now resembled a man in his eighties.

...

"While imprisoned, he was denied medical care for his cancer, kidney infections, and injuries. He was also subjected to beatings, extreme temperature exposures, sexual assault, threats with military dogs, and other human rights violations. Al-Hajj also reported that guards defaced on the Koran and flushed the book down the toilet."

The EPA, And the Republicans' War on Science

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2327629320080423

Nearly 900 scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have experienced political interference in their work in the last five years, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported on Wednesday.

...

"Our investigation found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency. "Distorting science to accommodate a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health and our democracy itself."

Today in History

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080430-5.html

Q Me? How does the President intend to commemorate "Mission Accomplished" after five years of death and destruction?

MS. PERINO: What you're referring to is the banner that ran -- that was aboard the ship five years ago. President Bush --

Q I'm talking about the anniversary tomorrow.

MS. PERINO: Yes, I get -- no, I understand. That's the anniversary of when that banner flew on that ship. President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said "mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission." And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.

D'oh! So, that's what that banner was for! They just meant that particular ship and their particular mission! Ooooh I see, it's much clearer now. I can't imagine how that could have been understood any other way...

Ya, I mean since the President of The United States had just landed on the deck in a warplane and was walking around in a flightsuit, in the biggest PR stunt since a caveman invented fire and and scared all the other cavemen half to death... Ya, easy to see the misunderstanding, especially since at the time the President also gave a stirring speech under the banner telling us exactly what it was all about.

There's a main qualification to be a press secretary; can you say something absolutely redicuous and act like it's perfectly reasonable?

Lesson Unlearned, Again

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/04/gossip-girl-is.html

"Rather than figure out how to cash in on this new way of watching television, the CW's president of entertainment, Dawn Ostroff, has made one of the worst decisions of her career: She's shutting down streams. From now until the end of the season, all new episodes can only be seen on Monday nights at 9 p.m. in front of the TV, recorded on DVR or via iTunes."

Young people have stopped watching traditional TV. When a business model is failing, and you refuse to adapt, you can't force people to be your customer.