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First of all, Bush isn't defunding NASA. He is, infact, doing the opposite. He increased NASA's budget 5% last year, and plans 2 more 5% increases in the next 2 years. Far more than Clinton can claim.

Bush's budget request for Project Constellation, the product of his "brave speech," is $6.6 billion over the next 5 years.

The CEV, part of Project Constellation, will have the concepts from the major contractors completed and sent to NASA by the end of this summer.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-01-13 -bush-nasa_x.htm http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/14/tech/mai n593063.shtml

I would like you see your source on that these men were engineers and that they're being replaced by businessmen. I would find it hard to beleive that a man with a doctorate, 5 masters, and 1 bachelor degree in sciences and engineering would purposely sabotage NASA.

I recommend you get your news from a source other than democraticunderground.

Look what i just read
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/10/world/ma in700979.shtml

(AP) Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's Gaza Strip evacuation - a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea.

Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown.

The army employed the new device, which it dubbed "The Scream," at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head.

because it wont get posted by the editors untill next week. Does this not scare ths shit out of every person alive?

Anyone still think United will be around for a year? Did the morons who run UA are still forget that in debt? Oh, I remember now. They just cut employee pension because they were still Chapter 11.

May 11th, 2005 United Gets OK To Ditch Pensions

"United's pensions are underfunded by an estimated $9.8 billion."

Way to go United.

The point [ad hominem snipped] is not that parallel's don't exist and it's most certainly not with the content of the political commentary; rather it's the sophomoric presentation.

And my point is that you're assuming it's commentary about the current President because it happens to fit.

I haven't seen Lucas admit to deliberately drawing any such parallel. He seems to indicate otherwise in one article, "Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy."

The CDC disputes that claim. This has links to more recent research which also calls your claims into question. Unless you have evidence, you would be well advised to shut up and let us find the real cause so we can actually help people.

Hey, don't worry, Mr. Big Word, we'll get to Tom. The AG in Travis County, Texas is just working his way up the food chain.

Hey, here's some background information for you. Oh, sorry, it's from CBS News! You'd better kill the messenger, quick!

Oh, and the choice quote is in the very last paragraph:

"The problem here is we believe that the law was broken in the process. That's the point. The law was broken." - Ronnie Earle

neither their computing power nor their cash is anything to be in awe over. Neither are truly top contenders when it comes to the computing industry, unless you take the time to wonder why this is impressive.

Remember, almost all of those servers are needed for what they are currently working on, sot hey don't really have anywhere near that kind of computing power. I would be willing to bet that if they threw every free cycle at this, they have closer to 20%. Further, most of these servers are for moving data around, from what I have read, almost none of them are high end number crunchers(what is needed for MT).

They have no where near the cash of a lot of the big fish in the computer industry, so don't think they can out muscle people like Intel or IBM, much less the true heavy weight, Miscrosoft

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/22/national /main662452.shtml
(just to give you an idea as to how much cash MS can use to crush competitors, its not an issue of can't, it's an issue of not wanting to)

What makes Google's situation unique is they are in the best position to do this stuff in the group of companies that actually care to spend time on this project. This is the impressive part. A company that thrives on free material doing something so complex. things like google map are incredibly simple and only involve indexing available information. that isn't what this is by any means, this is a company attempting to break out of an niche and enter into the more revolutionary side of computing( I have yet to see a service by google that is actually this).

I'm interested to see how much hype it all is. Hopefully, I can give it some tough japanese and see how well it holds up when it goes beta(the enternal state of any google project).

if 60% of americans believe aliens exist -- then it
just 'must be so' -- after all, 7% of americans still
think elvis is alive -- can 21 million people be wrong!?!?

'For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled'
(Richard Feynman)

• UFOs (34%)
• ghosts (also 34%)
• astrology (29%)
• reincarnation (25%)
• witches (24%)
• miracles (82%)
• heaven (85%) and
• god (92%) (Fox News poll, June 2004)

• 44% believe civil liberties should be restricted for Muslims; and
• 27% favor requiring Muslim Americans to register with the federal government.(Cornell Universdity poll, December 2004)

• 55% (and 67% of Bush voters) beleive God created humans as we currently exist, without any need for evolution; and only
• only 13% do not beleive God was somehow involved in human evolution. (CBS News poll, November 2004)

• 88 percent of U.S. adults believe that Saddam Hussein would have made weapons of mass destruction if he could have (down slightly from 90% in November).
• 76 percent believe that the Iraqis are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein (same as November).
• 64 percent believe that history will give the U.S. credit for bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq (up slightly from 63% in November).
• 64 percent believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda (up slightly from 62% in November).
• 61 percent believe that Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, was a serious threat to U.S. security (down slightly from 63% in November).
  

More surprising perhaps are the large numbers (albeit not majorities) who believe the following claims not made by the president and which virtually no experts believe to be true:

• 47 percent believe that Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 (up six percentage points from November).
• 44 percent actually believe that several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11 were Iraqis (up significantly from 37% in November).
• 36 percent believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded (down slightly from 38% in November).

Notice how long Longhorn has been in the paddocks? Microsoft is waiting for a credible threat until they release Longhorn. The threat is not here yet.

I call bullshit. The delays in the release of longhorn have absolutely nothing to do with MS bidding their time. MS has every reason in the world to release longhorn as soon as possible. Sales of XP are leveling off as the market is saturated. They've missed their projected Income as reported by multiple sources for the first time since they've started doing so. MS is running the new marketing campaign specifically aimed at helping to increase growth until they can push longhorn out. And if you still belive that MS is just sitting on their next egg, go grab the latest longhorn release from bittorrent and give it a shot. Then decide if you think it's really ready for retail.

Oh wait, it's CBS - it must be false. Damn that freedom-hating, non-good-news-reporting, liberal media!

Man, I was going to stay out of this discussion, but I have to ask this now...

I've been trying to figure out exactly *why* a 15 minute doctor's vistit costs $74-80 if only a simple diagnosis is made and no treatment given (btw 15 minute visit means 3-4 minutes of actual face to face doctor time). First visit to any doctor costs $130. If they administer a dose of a medication at the office then prepare to pay 20x what the medication costs! (I was given 2 doses of an asthma med (which I verified costs .70 each dose at a pharmacy) yet I was charged $46 for the treatment). So if like you say Dr's don't end up making that much money out of their practices, where then does all of my and my insurance's money go? Everytime I go the Dr's office is full so I can't say it's due to lack of business.

Now I don't want to belittle the medical profession, it's a noble pursuit to dedicate yourself to helping others and I'm sure some folks will chime in with: "You can't put a price on your health". But really there should be a price! I remember reading in Time about patients getting raked in by hospitals because they had no insurance (link to similar story, diff newssource: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/25/health/m ain626132.shtml). In one instance an uninsured patient was charged 210,000 for a simple overnight proceedure and then after many months of fighting and finally paying for an attourney they lowered the price to a mere 60,000. The real kicker is that if he had insurance, both he and his insurance would have paid the hospital $30,000.

So why yes we should be grateful to the medical practitioners of our society, but at what cost? If our health dollars aren't ending up in the pockets of those who work for them, then where do they end up?

Ok, now what was the article about?

I don't think so.

Bzzzt! Sorry, no points. I asked for a judge that the REPUBLICANS had fillibustered. Abe Fortras, Johnson's buddy who helped him rig the 1948 Texas Senate election, was fillibustered by BOTH parties

He was filibustered by Republicans and Dixiecrats for his progressive rulings on race and due process. I'm sorry, is there a modern distinction between Republicans and the now-defunct Dixiecrats? No. And given the social agenda that underlies current Republican judicial aspirations, this is especially poignant.

There are a number of other judicial nominees filibustered by Republicans, it's just that cloture was voted. Here's a very nice column on the matter. But I'll reproduce the heart of it here. Note especially the closing quote.

--------
Traditionally, the filibuster has not been the only weapon in an opposition party's arsenal. There are other, less visible ways whereby the Senate's rules and traditions empower individual senators to block judicial and other nominations. Between 1996 and 2000, Republicans in control of the Senate developed these techniques to a high art.

Prior to 1996, when the Senate majority and the president were from opposing parties, senators usually deferred to the president with respect to lower-court judicial nominations. With the notable exceptions of the 1968 Fortas nomination and a failed Republican filibuster of H. Lee Sarokin in 1994, neither party filibustered the other's judicial nominations, and virtually all nominees received a hearing unless they were sent up after the presidential nominating conventions.

All this changed in 1996. Rather than openly challenge President Clinton's nominees on the floor, Republicans decided to deny them Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. Between 1996 and 2000, 20 of Bill Clinton's appeals-court nominees were denied hearings, including Elena Kagan, now dean of the Harvard Law School, and many other women and minorities. In 1999, Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch refused to hold hearings for almost six months on any of 16 circuit-court and 31 district-court nominations Clinton had sent up. Three appeals-court nominees who did manage to obtain a hearing in Clinton's second term were denied a committee vote, including Allen R. Snyder, a distinguished Washington lawyer, Clinton White House aide, and former Rehnquist law clerk, who drew lavish praise at his hearing -- but never got a committee vote. Some 45 district-court nominees were also denied hearings, and two more were afforded hearings but not a committee vote.

Even votes that did occur were often delayed for months and even years. In late 1999, New Hampshire Republican Bob Smith blocked a vote on 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Richard Paez for months by putting an anonymous hold on the nomination. When Majority Leader Trent Lott could no longer preserve the hold, Smith and 13 other Republicans tried to mount a filibuster against the vote, but cloture was voted and Paez easily confirmed. It had been over four years since his nomination.

When his tactics on the Paez and Marsha Berzon nominations (Berzon was filibustered along with Paez, more than two years after her nomination) were challenged, Smith responded with an impassioned floor speech in defense of the judicial filibuster: "Don't pontificate on the floor of the Senate and tell me that somehow I am violating the Constitution of the United States of America by blocking a judge or filibustering a judge that I don't think deserves to be on the circuit court ... . That is my responsibility. That is my advice and consent role, and I intend to exercise it."

Amazing how often people like to rewrite history. Google can help overcome that tendancy. Try the 2'nd to last paragraph.

...but because you're gonna get a driver's license with a federal stamp on it, you get your panties up in a bunch?

If that were all this were about, I wouldn't have much of an issue about it. We have already federalized hazardous waste/cargo drivers licenses.

What blows is the bullshit reasoning behind the legislation: protection against terrorists. If this is such a great protection measure against terrorists, perhaps the proponents can tell me how a federalized passenger car license would have stopped this.

Stopping terrorists? Right. Sure.

This is an anti-immigration bill disguised as a anti-terrorism bill. No significant debate was allowed and the Republican-controlled House and Senate tacked it on the military spending to keep it that way. Republicans are just too chicken-shit to take on immigration reform because they fear a California-style backlash.

Now they are going to drive up my state taxes to make themselves feel good about "stopping" terrorism.

Republicans=Democrats without the guilt

Some states like California are considering charging a milage tax on hybrids.. So you save money on gas, just to pay it later in taxes.. nice huh ? .. just one story (google for others) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/eveningn ews/main674120.shtml

And this one got called on it. If they all do it, why are you so touchy about this one getting caught?

Because it isn't a crime to exaggerate? You are agreeing it was an exaggeration and then using the phrase "getting caught" (or "called on it") pejoratively, to imply something illegal or at least unethical was perpetrated on a gullible public. Don't try to turn your error into "you're just too touchy".

It's as if someone said, "All Slashdotters complain", and you replied, "And this one got called on it. Why are you so touchy about this one getting caught?" Utter nonsense, right?

which he freely used against his own people (e.g., the Kurds in northern Iraq),

Tell it to the Marines!

What good is broadband if you can only access government-approved content? It's well known that the Chinese government censors its citizens' Internet Web site usage: try this or this or this or this...and that's just for starters. (Try Googling "Internet censorship in China.")

Imagine if we all had personal Gigabit connections directly to the Internet backbone but...the RIAA controlled what sites you could visit. Alternatively, consider this: imagine having that personal Gigabit connection, but you have to subscribe to AOL (with all its...quirks). You can't use any other content provider.

Basically, what China has is a monopoly on information. What good is broadband if you can't even choose what you want to look at?

Consider this:

'Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. (...) under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.' (Alabama Bill targeting Gay Authors)

Yea, I know, its only gays getting humiliated/beaten/banned. They are not going after you anytime soon, right?

Libraries in the US are getting closer to censorship than ever. Take for example this new Alabama Bill targeting Gay Authors from an elected Republican representative in the state legislature, Gerald "book-burying " Allen. Consider other minor incidents like the New Mexico Book burning party . Can you spot a trend?

Google already succumbed to China censorship pressures. Would they resist censorship pressures from the Christian right, inside the US? Yea, right, just like Microsoft did .

Don't fool yourself, folks. US companies are no longer a reliable for such a task. If Google is allow t create another de facto monopoly in Library Search, we risk gay books, Evolution volumes or the freaking Harry Potter adventures disappearing anytime now.
Let me ask you, who's going to preserve Western Culture heritage if the US completes it's path towards fascism bushflash.com/14.html? India!? The Chinese!!? Well, apparently it's going to be the French. Good for them.

Libraries in the US are getting closer to censorship than ever. Take for example this new Alabama Bill targeting Gay Authors http://gay.com/gay http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/26/eveningn ews/main691106.shtml from an elected Republican representative in the state legislature, Gerald "book-burying " Allen http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11 710,1369643,00.html Consider some 'minor incidents' like New Mexico Book burning party http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,10 761,626418,00.html Google is a US company, who already succumbed to China censorship pressures http://www.rfa.org/english/news/technology/2004/08 /01/142626/. Would they resist censorship pressures from the Christian right? Yea, right, just like Microsoft did http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/ 21/162247. Don't fool yourself, folks. US companies are no longer a reliable for such a task. If Google is allow t create another de facto monopoly in Library Search, we risk gay books, Evolution volumes or the freaking Harry Potter adventures disappearing anytime now. Let me ask you, who's going to preserve Western Culture heritage if the US completes it's path towards fascism bushflash.com/14.html? India!? The Chinese!!? Well, apparently it's going to be the French. Good for them.

"It is about time they are investigated but I fear they may buy out the investigation."

Right, we should spend our time investigating officers getting kickbacks for enforcing the law. That should be a much higher priority than investigating officers who are paid to break the law.

But while the cops are running after the murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who's left to watch out for the children?!

There are still more cops left to deal with the children. Personally, after seeing the tape on TV, I think they should have handcuffed the mother instead, jailed her, tried her for child endangerment, and forced her to take parenting classes.

Here is another phrase for you to look up: over the top, as in, "your post was over the top."

Good grief, the re-election of George Bush traumatized you THAT MUCH? If that is the case you need a bigger circle of friends, some counseling, or both.

Exactly when did the "US" decide it "hated gays"? Was it when states started passing laws to maintain the institution of marriage exactly like it is now, and has been since.... oh, pick a date, 1492 in America in regard to gay people's wishes? Did the pot stirring of a portion of the gay activists effect you that much? There is by no means univeral hunger in the gay community for marriage. But the fun is only starting: gay divorces are on the way, and boy won't that be fun. Ugh.

Fear Muslim extremists? Like the ones who have already killed us by the thousands, and want to repeat that by the millions inside this country, literally? (Their stated goal is to kill 4 million Americans.) I don't know that we "fear" them, but don't you think it would be a good idea to maybe try and stop that from happening? Just look how much economic disruption 3,000 people killed and one building destroyed caused. What do you think would happen if they slipped a nuke into Manhattan?

the government is curiously unconcerned with capturing Osama bin Laden.

Look up "jump the shark". People in this country are able to evade law enforcement for 5, 10, 20 years, or longer despite all of the police and sophisticated law enforcement tools, computers, and all of that what not. Now strip all of that away, move the search area to one you can't generally enter, surround the prep with a sea of friendly tribesmen, don't use the phone, send your messages by donkey, move only at night, and, .. well, ... do you get the picture? Isn't cultural sensitivity a bitch?

I'll leave the rest of it alone for now, but I will say this: I have to wonder if the American you think you loved ever really existed, and I wonder if the American who you seem to feel has spurned you in some way actually exists either. I doubt it in either case. I do think you will be happier if you get a wider circle of friends if the ones you have now spend all of their time talking the same sort of nonsense you expressed here.

If it makes you feel any better, try thinking of things like this: In the last election, a Yale graduate who was a member of Skull and Bones was beaten by the same. 1st place went to the Harvard MBA, 2nd place to the Boston U law grad. I sometimes forget which was a man of the people.

first they cant have childern naturally.

Neither can a lot of straight couples. If a guy is impotent, does that make him unnatural and/or sinful? Should we make it legal to fire people for being infertile, or to evict them from their homes? If a marriage turns out to not produce children, and it turns out the minister knew they were infertile, should he or she be tracked down and arrested for falsely marrying the couple? (After the marriage is declared null and invalid, obviously.)

Heh.

That someone modded you funny for this shows that people are rather ignorant of what goes on in this country.

I say lets bake the fuckers. Lets set up tents in the hot Arizona sun, lets put up tents, lets make the inmates wear pink uniforms, and lets feed them hotdogs made with green dye. Lets stick black gang members with white supremasists in the same tent.

When I see people propose stuff like this, I'm just so glad that we have DNA testing that works every time and we have District Attorneys in charge that are always quick to make sure justice is served.

At least our country still has a few good citizens that still care and want to keep our justice system honest.

When you suggest torturing inmates remember that in a year it could be you standing there in those tents. It may be "good enough for our troops in Iraq", but every single person there made the choice to join the army.

Can you say the same for our justice system?

Stress is overrated.

No, stress kills.

People think they have it so hard these days. How about back when your food easily could kill you (mammoth trample), you had to run and struggle to catch your food, you had to walk miles everyday to get food, or move to a place with food or water, etc.

The difference is, those stresses your body/mind is adapted to.

About to get trampled by a mastodon? Bam! Adrenaline surge, you run, condition resolved and a few hours later your body chemistry is completely normal.

But we've created a world of constant low-level stressors, where our fight, flight, or freeze reactions won't help. Stressors are unresolved, so the alert mechanism is always on at a low level, diverting resources away from the immune system and the restorative mechanism.

(AP) A spam-free world by 2006? That's what Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates is promising.

"Two years from now, spam will be solved," he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants at this Alpine ski resort....

Snowball Fight Sparks Drive-by Shooting

Video Game May Be Used In Snowball Rage Defense

This proves that hamburgers and Snowballs are just as dangerous as videogames.

Similarly:

Video game makers are getting sued because young people occasionally shoot at people (unwilling to believe that young people kill for personal reasons too). Example.

Performers are getting sued because many people are uncomfortably aroused by nipples (because they are sexually repressed). Example.

I shouldn't reply to trolls, but what the hell:

CNN
MSNBC
CBS
ABC

And, in the interests of impartiality:

Fox News.

Sorry, what was your point?

TANSTAAFL. There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Canadians have traded the costs of private insurance for the costs of increased taxation, waiting lists, and overall poorer medical care. In the US I may be one cancer diagnosis away from bankruptcy, but at least I won't have to wait weeks or months to start my chemotherapy. If Canada's health care system is so superior, then why are so many Canadians coming to the US for health care?

Don't listen to me, though. Read a recent Canadian article on the subject: Canadian Health Care In Crisis.

Eaten at Wendy's lately?

Of those reasons, willful ignorance by the parents and stupid morality are the most evil in my opinion. Particularly when virginity pledges by themselves don't cut down STD infections because the people making the pledges have unprotected oral and anal sex to keep their virginity and they never bothered to learn about condems. News article on the topic

--
Want a free iPod?
Or try a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox. (you only need 4 referrals)
Wired article as proof

What happens if mass testing becomes "routine" throughout the US? The fair and proper terms for the disposal of DNA samples of vindicated people is going to become a big, big thing. And please, don't give me "if you're innocent you have nothing to fear". DNA evidence can easily be altered or corrupted within the first few hours of collection. Especially if you have a sample already in hand. A very uncommon thing today but who can say about tomorrow.

We all know the answer to these questions:

Will the DNA sample of a vindicated person be disposed of after the trial, after all appeals or never? Never

Will the refusal to voluntarily give a DNA sample subject you to further scrutiny than a similar person who willingly submits? Yes

Will employers someday within the next ten years require a DNA sample for employment, similar to how most major retail chains require a test for legel and illegal drug use (Like Wal-Mart or Home Depot)? Yes

Will the US Congress do anything to protect the rights of the individual into this intrusion into one's privacy? No

Welcome to the New Amerika. Please leave your quaint notions of personal freedom at the border.

Here and Now : Truro DNA Case - 1/12/2005
Boston.com / News / Local / DNA testing troubles some in Truro
CBS News ACLU Slams Mass DNA Collection
USATODAY.com - ACLU seeks end to Mass. DNA collections
Cape Cod Times article: "New England town abuzz over DNA dragnet"

How is the number of people in the US relevant? What matters is the percentage of criminals who are black. I would expect the percentage of executed persons who are black to be roughly the same

Economist Paul Erdman feels that we will see gas prices hit $4 per gallon sometime in the next five years.

When you consider that OPEC is currently pumping out as much or more oil than it ever has before in it's history, and growth in China is causing their demand for fossil fuels to grow exponentially every year, you can see that there is a crash coming in the future.

As further evidence that this prediction is not as crazy as it first sounds, I submit this photo.

What about "the Abu Ghairab of Brooklyn?"

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/282716p-242172c .html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/21/attack/m ain564189.shtml

What about the mass roundups of immigrants that occured in 2002?

http://www.notinourname.net/detentions/solidarity- day-feb04.htm

These are just to name a few...

Do you trust the DOJ??? Seriously, it aggravates me because people's lives have been apart because of the legislation and accompanying anti-arab paranoia.

First off, The USofA is not torturing people there. What is happening there is similar to what the French are doing with suspected terriorist:They are detained.

yes, it is sad but you are completely wrong

Secondly, these people are not innocent. They were captured fighting for a terrorist cause on a battlefield.

Some of them were, but certainly not all. Some were rounded up by a $20,000bounty offered by the US Government, and there are children as youg as 13 imprisoned there, and they are being let go - as in free- as in "not terrorists". Not to mention a senior American military interrogator at Camp Delta told 60 Minutes II that as many as 20 percent of the Guantanamo prisoners were sent there by mistake - and that they were innocent bystanders, or very small fish.

First off, The USofA is not torturing people there. What is happening there is similar to what the French are doing with suspected terriorist:They are detained.

yes, it is sad but you are completely wrong

Secondly, these people are not innocent. They were captured fighting for a terrorist cause on a battlefield.

Some of them were, but certainly not all. Some were rounded up by a $20,000bounty offered by the US Government, and there are children as youg as 13 imprisoned there, and they are being let go - as in free- as in "not terrorists". Not to mention a senior American military interrogator at Camp Delta told 60 Minutes II that as many as 20 percent of the Guantanamo prisoners were sent there by mistake - and that they were innocent bystanders, or very small fish.

I read the article and the previous post. And it is nonsense. Heck, I know someone in the small (~60k) people city who even before the Patriot Act (in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11th) had one of the infamous Patriot Act style incidents. He is a Sudanese immigrant who runs a local business; he was a lawyer in Sudan working to prevent forcing Sharia on the entire population. Several of his colleagues were murdered, and he fled to the US and was granted assylum. When he immigrated, his birthday was incorrect on one form, and it took him months of work to get it corrected. After getting it dealt with, he hadn't heard anything back for years.

However, after Sept. 11th, they dug up his original records, and started calling him asking about the mistake. He explained it to them, but kept getting more calls. Then, one day, they showed up and arrested him at his business, right in front of his customers. They took him to the Johnson County jail to be held, and made up a story about him being picked up on the street acting suspicious. The Johnson County jail refused to hold him, so they took him up to Linn County. They held him for almost a week before suddenly letting him go unexpectedly. No charges were ever filed, and they initially denied even holding him. However, when he was arrested, they took the money he had on him, and later wrote him a check for it. He kept the check.

He has a lawsuit still pending. One thing that's already been discovered during the investigation is that they had gotten a form to deport him; it just needed to be signed. If he had been sent back to Sudan, he'd likely be killed. A lot of the local Sudanese community has been really concerned ever since this happened.

This was pre-patriot act. Since the patriot act, there have been *many* cases reported. Is this mass delusion? There were 34 cases of abuse in custody by immigrants that were deemed credible by the Justice Department. It's been used against strip clubs. This? Etc. I've probably run across 50 or so cases that were far more than "accusations" in the past year. The fact that they can't find any is just amazing.

Just fyi, your sig:

Speaking to "the haves and the have-mores." George W. smirks: "Some people call you the elite, I call you my base"

It's a quote from a charity dinner in New York in 2000, where Presidential candidates are invited to come and poke fun at themselves. In the same dinner, Al Gore poked fun at the "Al Gore invented the Internet" joke by claiming to have invented that particular dinner tradition. See CBS News and a blog.

Less than 1 in 4 of the lawsuits have been settled. Do you really think the media conglomerates are going to grandstand for the little guy fighting them on television? Also, after reading multiple variations of the story, you'll note that 17 year old Mr. Dhaliwal was responsible for files valued at 16% of ALL INTERNET MUSIC PIRACY. Read that again, blink, and wonder if anyone buys this shit.

And I'm still trying to figure out exactly what civil right the music industry is violating anyway

US Constitution - Amendment 4:

• The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The RIAA obtained information on Nick Mamatas without the signature of a judge. As his article clearly states, the 8th Circuit Court has already ruled that the RIAA needs more than a court clerk's signature to obtain this information. Congress has looked at this before and the idea of lowlifes getting account information on underage children easily with a DMCA informational subpoena doesn't sit well with them. Therefore, I don't expect the entertainment industry's appeal will get them anywhere. The end result is very clear; Mr. Mamatas had his rights violated.

I thought she was dead.

Three other trials using gene therapy to cure the same disease were shut down by the FDA just last week. Apparently, the "harmless virus" used in a French trial ended up causing cancer in two patients. TFA does not seem to mention these other trials.

Perhaps... restricting relative to other countries?

I rembered the story about the boy shot through the heart with a nail gun. His doctors tried injecting bone marrow cells. Maybe it helped; maybe it did not. See old stories from CBS, Heart Center Online and CNN.

This story discusses the controversy surrounding heart stem cells and whether bone marrow cells can differentiate into heart muscle. AFAIK (not far), you are right about identifying a true stem cell for heart muscle.

when they arbitrarily decided to destroy the Hubble telescope

Woah, easy there big fella. It wasn't NASA that wanted to let the Hubble degrade, it was a direct reuslt of the directive and pressing of the Dub.

Given that the man has final approval over NASA's budget, their collective hands are effectively tied.

on a treadmill while working. His paper found that: Humans expend energy through purposeful exercise and through changes in posture and movement that are associated with the routines of daily life [called nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)]. ...If obese individuals adopted the NEAT-enhanced behaviors of their lean counterparts, they might expend an additional 350 calories (kcal) per day.

As reported in the mainstream press (including NPR), he finds he can type etc walking 0.7 mph - a very slow stroll. Here's a lay summary with a picture of the author on his treadmill. This addresses the key problem with recommending excersize - many people (think they) have no time.