Slashdot Mirror

Yeah, like Democrats don't push through more restrictive gambling laws. Be thankful that the federal law isn't as restrictive as the one for the State of Washington which bans posting on the Internet anything about "gambling information."

-Eric

Own Criminal Acts.

Hamdi v Rumsfeld calls for a need for 'Military Tribunals' so as to ensure that when they 'goof' it's under strictest cover, and no-one will ever know what happened.

Is it any accident the CIA is CIA (Covering Its Ass)?

Gonzales is looking to legitimize the fact that the .gov has already been caught with it's hands in the til...

The abuses of The Constitution are being watched by everyone, everywhere. What was once the beacon of hope and bastion of freedom for the whole world is being trashed by criminals and oligarchs who seek to douse its light once and for all. The abuses against the American public must be arrested at the earliest possible juncture.

The truly frightening thing is that you can't even trust your democratic process anymore. So who's the terrorist? Where does he live?

Even Republicans can't deny the fact that it's getting out of hand.

Just today: On Tuesday, President Bush said, "Freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed -- it must be chosen. From Beirut to Baghdad , people are making the choice for freedom.

Some choice.

I'm an Eastside (East King County) voter, and I followed the whole circus. I'm not as sanguine about the history as you are.

There were enough irregularities that I'm pretty sure it was stolen.

The Wikipedia article doesn't mention the illegal way the King County elections department "enhanced" votes, for example. Voting was done by coloring in an oval on a ballot. What do you do when a ballot doesn't have a solidly filled-in oval, but a faint ink mark in the oval? The correct procedure is to make up a new ballot with the ovals filled in according to the mark; and the original ballot must be filed unchanged so that it can be reviewed later. In King County, they just "enhanced" the original ballot by filling in the oval, and there was absolutely no way for anyone to review that.

Consider the implications of that for a moment. This means that King County elections workers were handling ballots, while in posession of ink pens. And they were expected as part of their work to be writing with pens on ballots. How many people didn't cast a vote for either candidate, and had the oval for Gregoire filled in? Maybe all the elections workers were pure and honest, but that's a Hell of a way to run things.

Also in King County, there were many instances of "provisional" ballots being handled incorrectly. A person shows up at a polling place, and declares that he had signed up to vote by mail, but didn't actually vote by mail and wants to vote in person. The correct procedure is to allow him to vote, using a provisional ballot, and the provisional ballot is set aside for special handling. But the provisional ballot was identical to a normal ballot; it was just in a special jacket. Many of these ballots were simply dumped in with the other ballots, and there was no possible way to separate them out again later. How many people voted in this way? Who knows?

King County "discovered" ballots on several occasions, and the top question I wanted answered was: how do they know where they came from? Can they certify 100% that these ballots were only filled out on election day, and no ballots were stuffed in later? The election was so close, it could have been stolen by a single dishonest election worker in King County stuffing some extra ballots in with the others.

Then there were the large number of voters who gave their address as being, essentially, the King County courthouse. Presumably they were homeless people, but there is no way to check up on how many of these voters actually existed, or whether any of them were multiply registered.

But the abosolute worst thing, in my opinion, was the absentee military ballots. King County didn't mail out the absentee ballots to soldiers outside the state (such as the soldiers in Iraq at the time). Well, they finally did mail them, under threat of a lawsuit from the federal elections committee guys. In many cases the ballots didn't arrive for the soldiers until it was simply too late for the soldier to be able to vote. Well, all of the "discovered" ballots were counted because "we need to count every vote"... but the absentee military ballots, which were past the deadline because of King County elections departments' own failure to mail them on time, were not counted. If you assume that soldiers are more likely to vote Republican, that's a significant problem right there. I don't remember exactly how many absentee soldier ballots were thrown out this way, but it was hundreds.

You have to remember that this is King County, a heavily liberal Democratic county. King County has so many people in it, that by itself it counterbalances the solid conservative Republican majority of most of the state. (Seattle has a lot of people in it, and so does Bellevue and the other Eastside towns. Most of Washington state is rural with low population densi

I'm an Eastside (East King County) voter, and I followed the whole circus. I'm not as sanguine about the history as you are.

There were enough irregularities that I'm pretty sure it was stolen.

The Wikipedia article doesn't mention the illegal way the King County elections department "enhanced" votes, for example. Voting was done by coloring in an oval on a ballot. What do you do when a ballot doesn't have a solidly filled-in oval, but a faint ink mark in the oval? The correct procedure is to make up a new ballot with the ovals filled in according to the mark; and the original ballot must be filed unchanged so that it can be reviewed later. In King County, they just "enhanced" the original ballot by filling in the oval, and there was absolutely no way for anyone to review that.

Consider the implications of that for a moment. This means that King County elections workers were handling ballots, while in posession of ink pens. And they were expected as part of their work to be writing with pens on ballots. How many people didn't cast a vote for either candidate, and had the oval for Gregoire filled in? Maybe all the elections workers were pure and honest, but that's a Hell of a way to run things.

Also in King County, there were many instances of "provisional" ballots being handled incorrectly. A person shows up at a polling place, and declares that he had signed up to vote by mail, but didn't actually vote by mail and wants to vote in person. The correct procedure is to allow him to vote, using a provisional ballot, and the provisional ballot is set aside for special handling. But the provisional ballot was identical to a normal ballot; it was just in a special jacket. Many of these ballots were simply dumped in with the other ballots, and there was no possible way to separate them out again later. How many people voted in this way? Who knows?

King County "discovered" ballots on several occasions, and the top question I wanted answered was: how do they know where they came from? Can they certify 100% that these ballots were only filled out on election day, and no ballots were stuffed in later? The election was so close, it could have been stolen by a single dishonest election worker in King County stuffing some extra ballots in with the others.

Then there were the large number of voters who gave their address as being, essentially, the King County courthouse. Presumably they were homeless people, but there is no way to check up on how many of these voters actually existed, or whether any of them were multiply registered.

But the abosolute worst thing, in my opinion, was the absentee military ballots. King County didn't mail out the absentee ballots to soldiers outside the state (such as the soldiers in Iraq at the time). Well, they finally did mail them, under threat of a lawsuit from the federal elections committee guys. In many cases the ballots didn't arrive for the soldiers until it was simply too late for the soldier to be able to vote. Well, all of the "discovered" ballots were counted because "we need to count every vote"... but the absentee military ballots, which were past the deadline because of King County elections departments' own failure to mail them on time, were not counted. If you assume that soldiers are more likely to vote Republican, that's a significant problem right there. I don't remember exactly how many absentee soldier ballots were thrown out this way, but it was hundreds.

You have to remember that this is King County, a heavily liberal Democratic county. King County has so many people in it, that by itself it counterbalances the solid conservative Republican majority of most of the state. (Seattle has a lot of people in it, and so does Bellevue and the other Eastside towns. Most of Washington state is rural with low population densi

Basically the ions move the air instead of a rotating fan.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/283716_coolchi ps04.html

You can verify that the number of votes matches the number of people who voted in several different ways without taking away anonymity.

But that doesn't prevent fraud. All anyone has to do is replace the same number of votes with the fraudulent ones. The only real verification is if the voter can see how his vote was actually counted. Telling the waiter what you want for dinner doesn't mean that's what you get. It's a request. The waiter writes it down, passes it to someone else that intreprets it, and counts it. If you never get your dish back to your table, how do you know what the chef did with your order? I know I've had an order placed and have the wrong thing show up. So, how can a voter make sure that his vote wasn't tossed into a box that was tossed out and replaced with fraudulent votes? The only way to know is to have the government tell the voter how his vote was counted. There is no other way to verify a vote.

First, can you site some examples? I'm not saying you're wrong, I want to see whether you're basing this off of assumptions or things you've actually read about it. Plus it would be interesting to know, if you are basing this off actual events, what the circumstances were and how many votes were tainted.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206969_dead07. html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65437,00.htm l

I could go on for hours. I just did a quick Google on "vote fraud dead people." I think that if you are asking what elections have had some votes miscast, the answer is probably every mass election. If you are asking which have had vote fraud where it affected the outcome of the race, I think the answer is that in every election cycle there has been some fraud but most isn't really investigated because the elections aren't that close. "Why would they rig elections they won anyway?" I don't know the answer to that sensible quesion. Ask G. Gordon Liddy. The Republicans were soundly trouncing the Democratic Party and still broke in to gain intel on the "enemy." Or Chicago with the Democrats rigging elections for years when they were winning them all anyway. That'd be another good one for you to look at paper votes. Chicago vote fraud has books, web pages, newspaper articles, anything you want written about it.

While the actual linked article is offline, if you go to the PI's Business Section page, you can see it listed in their 'most read' listing on the right. (A summary is also still present on their RSS feed.)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/285027_nint endo14.html

Ohio Creates 'Pre-Crime' Sex Offender Registry


In a scene right out of Spielberg's vision of Philip K. Dick's classic short story the state of Ohio has established a pre-crime registry for sex offenders--even if they've never been charged with a crime!

"The person's name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live."

I can't wait to see how this is going to affect the current trend that has divorcing women making false accusations against their husbands during the custody phase of proceedings! Then there's the way this (being that it is a civil matter) can be expanded to encompass so many other things...

Could this new registry be away for the homophobic to reverse the trends towards civil rights homosexuals have achieved in recent years? What about the affect this can have on children engaged in normal sex play for their ages? I'm reminded of Ryan Zylstra, Leah DuBuc, Laura M. Wilcox, Genarlow Wilson and other teenagers and children who have had their lives ruined by this type of hysteria and the lack of due process that comes with it. And who can forget the vigilantes who murder people they find on these lists? People like William Elliott, who was placed on the registry at age nineteen for having sex with his two weeks shy of sixteen year old girlfriend and thanks to the registry murdered.

Now they want a civil registry they can place people on without the benefit of a conviction or a jury trial? Next thing you know they'll be pushing for a pink triangle on your ID! Oh wait... Well just remember that when you give up your rights one by one, you're doing it for the children....

I'm posting the original submission because I believe anyone who follows the links here will see quite clearly how bad this is even beyond the usual Constitutional violations. This is a law that will harm the very same people it purports to protect!

--I*Love*Green*Olives

Ohio Creates 'Pre-Crime' Sex Offender Registry


In a scene right out of Spielberg's vision of Philip K. Dick's classic short story the state of Ohio has established a pre-crime registry for sex offenders--even if they've never been charged with a crime!

"The person's name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live."

I can't wait to see how this is going to affect the current trend that has divorcing women making false accusations against their husbands during the custody phase of proceedings! Then there's the way this (being that it is a civil matter) can be expanded to encompass so many other things...

Could this new registry be away for the homophobic to reverse the trends towards civil rights homosexuals have achieved in recent years? What about the affect this can have on children engaged in normal sex play for their ages? I'm reminded of Ryan Zylstra, Leah DuBuc, Laura M. Wilcox, Genarlow Wilson and other teenagers and children who have had their lives ruined by this type of hysteria and the lack of due process that comes with it. And who can forget the vigilantes who murder people they find on these lists? People like William Elliott, who was placed on the registry at age nineteen for having sex with his two weeks shy of sixteen year old girlfriend and thanks to the registry murdered.

Now they want a civil registry they can place people on without the benefit of a conviction or a jury trial? Next thing you know they'll be pushing for a pink triangle on your ID! Oh wait... Well just remember that when you give up your rights one by one, you're doing it for the children....

I'm posting the original submission because I believe anyone who follows the links here will see quite clearly how bad this is even beyond the usual Constitutional violations. This is a law that will harm the very same people it purports to protect!

--I*Love*Green*Olives

Is it just me or did this link to a previous story? Here's the link I found:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/20 03226994_botnet26m.html

Microsoft is very successful with hardware. They sell a lot of keyboards, mice, Xboxes and probably also mp3 players.

Um, right. Even though Microsoft has worked hard to obfuscate its unprofitable businesses, it's still rather clear that they are not making any money in the areas you claim here. For example, the Xbox alone has drained $4 billion from the war chest (through the end of 2005).

I think a Brazilian airliner has recently performed this experiment.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/ 2003187069_webairplanedoor09.html

What I see there is a Pakistani woman caught with a water bottle full of "possibly explosive" material. They don't know what the material was yet.

This certainly could be "a terrorist caught with explosives", the conclusion you jump to; given that it was a real possibility, evacuating the airport and investigating further as they have done was of course the appropriate course of action for the time being.

But it also seems possible this is a false alarm, similar to this morning when a bomb sniffing dog detected a suspicious container that turned out to be full of completely ordinary rags, or the day before when an "unruly passenger" was widely reported to have "Vaseline, a screw driver, matches and a note referencing al-Qaeda" and then it turned out she had nothing of the kind and was just having some kind of nervous breakdown and peeing in the plane aisles (?), or a couple days before that when three men of Arabic descent were arrested with a bunch of cell phones on suspicion they were going to blow up a bridge but then turned out only to be buying cell phones to resell in Dallas at a profit.

Again, it could be that this woman arrested in West Virginia was part of a real terrorist plot, and it could be that some unhinged lady was inspired by recent media reports about plane bombs to pour lighter fluid in a couple of water bottles and attempt to board a plane. Perhaps there really was a legitimate threat to passenger safety there. I shall be watching the news on this one with interest to find out exactly what happened.

But until we do find out exactly what happened, it seems awfully odd in this case to say "reality has intervened" when in fact what you mean is "partly speculative media reports have intervened".

vote rigging scandals ... that we get from the Republicans

Vote rigging? I ask because every time somebody hollers disenfranchisement, it's a Democrat. Fortunately, every time I've read about dead people, convicted felons or illegal immigrants voting, voting tours across multiple precincts, underage voting (see part (B)), and pushes for voting without identification, they always seem to be voting for Democrats, so in the end it all balances out, doesn't it? ...if not, I can keep going.

You don't have to belive everything The Party tells you, comrade.

I do see an FCC investigationinto this as being a really good step forward.
This isn't the only time that there has been this sort of slimy "journalism."

Fox news was implicated in the same basic problem. Editorialing is going to
happen even by knowledgeable professional journalists; the trick is that it
needs to be disclosed in a manner that makes it clear to the viewer(reader,
listener etc.,) that this is a segmant of opinion, and this is one of news.

Yes, there isn'at always a clear line, but in most cases a byline or disclaimer
can make it somewhat clear. There will never be a news organization that is
perfect, but advertising as being "The most fair and balanced on TV" and then
spending substantial time on air editorialising is going to be a problem.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/ texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=foxnews03&date=2 0010703&query=fox+news+bias
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/ texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=cameron14&date=2 0041014&query=fox+news+bias

I do see an FCC investigationinto this as being a really good step forward.
This isn't the only time that there has been this sort of slimy "journalism."

Fox news was implicated in the same basic problem. Editorialing is going to
happen even by knowledgeable professional journalists; the trick is that it
needs to be disclosed in a manner that makes it clear to the viewer(reader,
listener etc.,) that this is a segmant of opinion, and this is one of news.

Yes, there isn'at always a clear line, but in most cases a byline or disclaimer
can make it somewhat clear. There will never be a news organization that is
perfect, but advertising as being "The most fair and balanced on TV" and then
spending substantial time on air editorialising is going to be a problem.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/ texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=foxnews03&date=2 0010703&query=fox+news+bias
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/ texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=cameron14&date=2 0041014&query=fox+news+bias

Bush will buy these systems that let one in six lying terrorists through, while sending one in twelve random innocents to Guantanamo. Instead of spending a mere $6M (2/1000ths of 1% of the Iraq War bill to date) on explosives detection systems.

Everything about the memos was contested.

Please site your source for this. Mine is easy; for example at the time, MSNBC reported:

Yet, it was the White House -- not Kerry's campaign -- that distributed four memos from 1972 and 1973 from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, now deceased, who was the commander of the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Houston where Bush served. The White House obtained the memos from CBS News, which said it was convinced of their authenticity, and the White House did not question their accuracy.

Records released this year when Bush's military service re-emerged as a campaign issue contain no evidence that he showed up for duty at all for five months in mid-1972 and document only a few occasions later that year.

The people who would know even stated that the information in the memos was essentially correct.

In this case, the only people that would know were dead.

--MarkusQ

P.S. As for all your Rove blather, I never said he was evil, or a "super genius", or any of the other stuff you're "rebutting." So save your defenses for someone who cares.

...two Middle Eastern men had checked into the hotel, which offered low-cost, long-term accomodations. It was about 200 yards (182 meters) down the street from the residence of the Vatican envoy - where Pope John Paul II was to stay while attending the World Youth Day festivities the following month.

One of the men registered as Naji Haddad and listed his nationality as Moroccan. Police later determined that Haddad was Ramzi Yousef. His companion was Abdul-Hakim Murad, a Pakistani who grew up in Kuwait.

The new tenants immediately attracted suspicion.
Hotel staff noticed a series of Middle Eastern-looking men shuttling in and out of the apartment, often bringing boxes and metal pipes. Manila had been rocked by a series of small explosions in recent weeks, and the local press was full of warnings about extremists within the country's Muslim minority.

The neighborhood watch association reported the suspicious activity to the police, who advised they had no legal grounds to search the room.

On the night of Jan. 6... a security guard reported smoke billowing from Suite 603.

Firemen were summoned and the room filled with acrid fumes. Yousef had disappeared in the confusion but Murad explained they were just fireworks for a delayed New Years' Eve celebration.

Police staked out the apartment and were waiting when Murad returned about 2 a.m.

Under intensive interrogration over time, Murad gave up a plot - to kill the pope and blow up American planes. Corraborating evidence was found on a laptop and diskettes found in Suite 603.

How does any of that change the ideological basis for most of today's current terrorism? IE, Islam, literally, submission.

Such twisted bullshit. The majority of muslims live in states that suffer either directly or indirectly from oppresive policies of the west. They happen to be muslim because in large part western oil addiction funds the evangelical equivalent of muslim missionaries.

The guy who just went on a shooting spree in a Jewish community center was apparently very well employed, and what came of it? Murder.

Holy shit, you only see what you want to see don't you?

The guy was constantly between jobs, had an engineering degree and had trouble keeping even unskilled jobs like retail clerk at home depot. That's not even close to "very well employed."

The guy was also baptized about a year ago. So much for your islam is a terrorist religion bullshit.

He was due to stand trial on charges of lewd conduct the thursday following the shooting. Considering how strict his family was, and his history of mental illness for which he had been prescribed lithium it is a lot more reasonable to conclude that he felt overwhelmed by life and decided to do something crazy instead.

Moreover, many US Muslims, despite having everything you wish to give terrorists, sympathize with or outright finance terrorists.

Convenient conjoing of two very disparate claims "sympathize" and "finance" -- most critical thinkers, muslim or not, "sympathize" because they understand what leads people to make desperate acts. But that's a far cry from finance and your blending of two is just an obvious display of bias.

We are fighting people who think it is the will of Allah to convert you to Islam, make you submit as a Dhimmi, or kill you.

The extremist salafists who believe that (the Qutbi) are a tiny minoritiy of muslims, they are even a minority of salafists. Your attempt to ascribe the motives of less than 0.1% of all muslims world-wide to the majority of muslims is disingenious at best. It's like pointing to the KKK and saying they represent the majority of christains.

Go crawl back in your hole you troll.

This issue has a been a hot topic at conferences for data center professionals, with a lot of debate about timetables. Several facility designers are advocating DC distribution as the solution to the current power/cooling challenges. Corporate data center managers like the cost savings projections, but want to see it work in someone else's facility before they put their neck on the line and pitch a DC conversion to their bosses. That's the real value of the Livermore project discussed in TFA - it provides a working model.

Right now the cost of power is remaking the landscape of the data center industry. Yesterday there was another announcement of a huge data center in central Washington State. Sabey will invest $100 million in a facility right up the street from where Microsoft and Yahoo have data centers under construction. It's all about cheap hydro power. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have contracted for more than 40 megawatts of power from the local utility. That's why DC is one of the solutions that will begin to get serious consideration.

August 8th. This AP story just in: Family owes $4,080 for music download-- Oregonians say they didn't know practice was illegal

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- Leslie Maxfield has got a case of the downloading blues.834 rock and country songs. With a Saturday deadline approaching, Maxfield has yet to pay the settlement, and he's not sure if he can. "I've got about a week and they'll be wanting their money, and I don't know what to do," said Maxfield, a 51-year-old cabinet maker. "They're trying to get blood out of a turnip. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare."... "They act like I went out intentionally to rob them," Maxfield said. "Now, they're using the court system to rob us." Maxfield agreed to pay a $4,080 settlement as well as $420 court costs and processing fees, a copy of the settlement states. He also agreed to destroy all the files... The suits accuse them of "songlifting," the process of sending or receiving copyrighted music over the Internet through peer-to-peer services not authorized by recording companies. Songlifting violates federal copyright laws, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously last year that those who use the unauthorized services can be liable for copyright infringement...Since starting its campaign in September 2003, the RIAA has filed more than 18,200 copyright infringement cases across the country on behalf of record company giants such as Capitol Records, Warner Bros. and Sony.Engebretsen declined to discuss specific cases. But the association has settled more than 4,900 cases, with the remaining "in various stages of litigation." No case to date has made it to trial.

The government already does that much more frequently and accurately through taxes.

Don't know about other countries, but the last time the U.S. census rolled around, they sent me the "long" form. Had I filled it in, I would have given them much information that could not be deduced from my income taxes - racial heritage, schooling, work location, commute time...

Since it's none of their damn business, I filled in the box for how many people live here, and left the rest blank. The U.S. constitution (again, don't know about other countries) empowers the federal government to conduct an enumeration of citizens for the purpose of allocating representatives, not to pry into their lives. (And possibly make later oppression easier - see for example the round-up of Japanese-Americans during WWII. See also John Gilmore's page on the topic.)

Had they asked nicely, I might have been disposed to give more information. Their assertion that my response is compelled by law, however, generated in me the irrepressible urge that usually arises when confronted with blatantly irrational and unconstitutional laws - to tell them, "Up yours".

Wow, you really were unlucky: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archi ves/105377.asp?source=rss

Actually, presidential approval ratings have varied from 90% (Bush II after 9/11) to 24% (Truman after removing MacArthur from command in Korea).

"Please post the link(s) to any stories proving the family/police theft story. ...huge stretch, made with a flimsy offhand reference." It's not that people make flimsy, offhanded remarks. The problem is you're either too lazy or too stupid to keep up with current events or do your own homework. Stop asking for "proof" when with a little effort you can learn these things yourself. Thank charge of your own education and quit asking to be spoon fed. I'll make a guess who you voted for, LoL. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snit ch/readings/hidden.html http://www.reconsider.org/tidbits/2000-05-31%20Sur e%20sounds%20like%20stealing%20to%20me_.htm For example, a traffic stop in the Texas Panhandle last week resulted in seizure of more than $32,000 in cash, reported the Amarillo Globe News: Troopers pulled over a Pontiac sedan for speeding about 5:30 p.m. Friday, reports show. The driver consented to a search, and a drug dog found more than $32,800 in the trunk of the car. A drug dog alerting to cash suggests that drugs may have been in contact with the money at some time, according to DPS. The cash was for http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/50450_assets13 .shtml

And speaking of conspiracy stuff please check out this newspaper column, then realize that the columnist that wrote this had a name change, was born and grew up in Russia, and has a long association with the Cato Institute (ostensibly a "libertarian think tank" but they normally side with the neocons on almost everything.

If only more Americans had read the US Constitution....

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/236360_appl epatent12.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/08/11/AR2005081102048.html like i said i'm not sure on the dollar amount but i think it was 5

Not to be overly paranoid, but this is Microsoft we're discussing, and this is Slashdot, but what are the "terms" to allow manufacturers to set any search engine as default? Manufacturers in the past, before the DOJ decision were allowed to ship computers with any operating system they chose. It's just that Microsoft provided strong incentives for them not to.

While I like Microsoft's "allowance", considering past behavior, I'd rather they stipulate "with no strings attached", which wasn't stated explicitly. I know this post will bring me Flame/Troll mods, but fool me once...

Fairness UPDATE: From this Seattle Times article are the words that bring the clarity I sought (emphasis mine):

This includes specifics such as the freedom to add "icons, shortcuts and the like to the Windows Start menu and other places used to access software programs"; the ability for manufacturers to set non-Microsoft programs to be used by default; the ability to remove Microsoft programs like Explorer and Media Player and promote non-Microsoft programs exclusively; and business terms that protect manufacturers who go the non-Microsoft route from retaliation.

This is good news!

It's Senator Stevens (R-AK).

The reason the fine is less than what had been threatened in the press is because in late March 2006, Microsoft met with the EU Trustee Neil Barrett, who "clarified the requirements for the documents". Barrett also provided Microsoft with "aggressive series of deadlines" for providing the documentation in accordance with the clarified requirements.

Since that time, Microsoft has been working overtime to provide the documentation, including rehiring retirees that are more familiar with the issues, pulling people off of other projects such as Vista, staying up till 3AM, etc. And Microsoft has met all milestones in the "series of deadlines" laid down by Barrett. The seventh and final deadline is July 18, which Microsoft expects to meet.

So, since March, Micrsosoft has been acting in good faith, the EU knows this, so there's no need for the harsher fines that had been predicted. And don't hold your breath hoping for larger fines down the road. Why? Because even if the new documentation is still lacking in some manner, the EU knows that Microsoft provided the new documentation in good faith, and they'll just work with Microsoft to address any further deficiencies.

See Microsoft Scrambles to Meet EU Demands, for details on the above.

A Lodi, Calif., man convicted of supporting terrorism for attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan three years ago. His father pleaded guilty to charges of lying to customs agents about smuggling money to finance the terrorist training.

The FBI learned of the plot from someone the defendants tried to recruit, authorities said. The FBI then arranged for an informant of Arabic descent to pass himself off as an al-Qaida operative.

Batiste met several times in December with the informant and asked for supplies and $50,000 to help him build an "Islamic Army," the indictment said.

Officials described the group as a distinct threat to national security and, at the same time, as something akin to the gang that couldn't think straight.

For the most part, authorities framed the case as one against a "homegrown cell" of terrorists and said the seven could have inflicted great harm.

According to the indictment, Batiste, 32, called his men "soldiers" in an "Islamic Army" that would wage a "full ground war."

He said he wanted to "kill all the devils that we can," officials said, and that he wanted most of his group to attend al-Qaida training.

News to me, but apparently, you can now get in deep legal poo in the U.S. for speaking "contemptuously of the president"

Are you joking? I consider it spyware. So does this guy. I imagine their EULA, like most, allows them to change the terms, etc. when it suits 'em. On the whole I'd rather not wake up one morning and have my machine unbootable and my data unreachable 'cause Microsoft is of the opinion that I need some more DRM on my box.

This out to be fun to watch!

True capitalists are all for the right to give things away. That's among the biggest of reasons they oppose the death tax.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are not true capitalists? They don't oppose the estate tax. It is not difficult to find capitalists who support the idea of an estate tax.

The main reason it is an issue seems to be 18 very rich families have purchased enough influence to make it an issue.

Libertarians oppose the estate tax because they oppose taxation in general. Taxation and government are not necessarily anti-capitalist, though Libertarians may disagree.

You can't give things away that the government takes away first.

That is not always true. Generally, the government cannot take what you give away first. Mr. Buffett just greatly reduced the potential tax liability on his estate by giving away 85% of it. Every year, you can decrease your tax liability by giving away some money. In fact, you can give away so much money, that the government will give you back money that they have already taken from you. If the government takes your assets based on some criminal or civil action, your statement holds true; but I don't believe it is true in most cases in the context of federal taxation.

The incentive to give things away created by the estate tax is one of the arguments for keeping it. Sales taxes and usage fees generally create no such incentive.

As a matter of fact, because a communist society doesn't recognize the concept of private property, how can you give something away if you don't have the right to own it in the first place?

I'm certainly not an expert, but I believe the theory goes something like this. You give away the value of your labor in return for what you need. There is no need for charity, because you will not be denied something you need because someone else is claiming it as property. Of course, things work differently in practice; but, that is true of most political and economic theories.

Try this one if you like a little more info.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/275421_goog le27.html

And Google if you want more.

The software is available for download if you already have a compatable router.
The $5 router is new but the warranty is null since the firmware is flashed with the FON version.

The firmware can split your bw between two ssid's one for FON and the other for private. Since the routers listed can be used with linux in the first place, (even the low ram ones per a Slashdot story from the past) then it is a good guess as to what the firmware is based on.

The router will indeed FON home (User>pass auth) and the interoperability and potential multipath routing seems inevitable when the density reaches a critical point in a particular area. (yes this is a guess rather than something in the site literature.)

But it seems like a good deal with little risk to the hot spot provider. The basic access is tracked and limited to users by password whether Linuses, Bills or Aliens.

ISP's who like to limit their users deserve to feel the slight pain of savvy users leaving for better ISP's.

I intend to dedicate one of my public IP's to the system and my ISP does not give a rats patoot what I do with is as long as I pay my bill and abuse does not get any valid complaints. I moved from comcast long ago and since my qwest router is bridged from my isp, Qwest has no say in how my bandwidth is used either.

  Of course I live in a city where my wifi detector finds free open signals by the dozens at nearly every traffic light, I suspect some folks here will split off a portion of their BW if there is a potential of making a little money for their service.

I will become a Linus just to help the concept of universal wi-fi along if only a little bit. I am going to upgrade my wifi net anyway once the N becomes semi standard so I will have 3 FON compat routers to share with the neighborhood while keeping my private network kinda tight.

But go to the site and read for your self the details of the program.
http://en.fon.com/info/whats_fon.php

Then make your own pithy comments here. :)

What's next? The seats?

Yeah, maybe.

There are some local areas where tech wages have started a rapid runup again - apparently this is happening in Seattle now.

Ooh, I hope so. It'd be nice to work somewhere for 2 years and pay my house off.

Not in Seattle. We're in a full-on housing bubble. Wages may be going up, but housing prices are going up twice as fast. The American Dream is just that.

They announced they were cutting it from Vista (then known as Longhorn) in August 2004 - http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/188339_msft cuts28.html.

The original announcement then was that WinFS would not ship in the RTM of Microsoft Windows, and instead, it'll be offered at a later date, as either a seperate download or part of a service pack.

The new article says that they won't ship it at all, not even as a seperate download.

So lets recap, it goes from being included to shipping seperately to not shipping at all.

They announced they were cutting it from Vista (then known as Longhorn) in August 2004 - http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/188339_msft cuts28.html.

You're right - I misremembered this.

The merged company isn't doing phones, they're doing telecom network equipment.

That's using the internet to transmit gambling information.

The same Seattle Times printed my letter to the editor on the same subject today.

I would really prefer the government stop spying on all Americans in a mostly futile effort to catch a relatively small number of Muslim extremists.

Yes, ever so much easier to follow the trail of debris and body parts, eh? Yes, they are small in percentage and number, but they do mega-death and damage. I prioritize for proaction, not reaction.

The government has been damn effective securing convictions against muslim men using due process of law, too.

The sad case of Sami al-Hussayen should be a warning to all. After the jury acquited on all terror charges and hung on a few immigration violations, the prosecutiong US attorney admitted that the case was extremely weak, but that justice had been served.

This is why Guantanamo Bay should not be tolerated. If they cannot secure convictions against these humans, in a tribunal which adheres to due process of law in an open courtroom, then it is inhumane, UnAmerican, and Unconstitutional to deprive them of life, liberty and/or property.

Didn't we have a revolution because some other guy named George was doing this crap?

• For depriving humans, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
• For transporting humans beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

If you are talking about United States vs Microsoft, filed on May 18, 1998, then how do you explain the William H. Gates Foundation founded in 1994 (focusing on health issues in developing countries) or the Gates Learning Foundation founded in 1997? These two were later merged into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And he has not just given stock... in 1999 he gave $5bn from his own pocket. In 1998 he gave all his Microsoft Stock dividends to charity as well ~$3bn. This is not POTENTIAL INCOME, it *is* INCOME.

If you did any research you would know that while he gave some stock, the foundation's endowments are immediately converted to cash. He has donated $26bn of his personal fortune, yes some in the form of stock, but a large chunk in the form of cash to charity. As for your point #4, this is approximately 40% of his current net worth. I don't know *any* other americans that give that much. He is only 51 years old, and has at least 10, maybe 20 more years to continue giving away his personal fortune. He is also smart enough to know that just giving random organizations money does not solve problems, and that giving it all away in one chunk would probably be a bad move.

A better place to read about Bill's charity work

Who is more charitable? The Rich man that gives all his money away, or the Rich man that gives a percentage away every year. In the long run, you know the latter will give away more money.