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We're also not hearing about the CIA Inspector General's report to Congress on how our Intelligence system failed to protect us from the 2001 planebombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Because the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee (now the new Bush head of CIA) is ordering the report suppressed until after the election. Feel safer now?

Tell it to Boss Tweed. "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see pictures!"

Now most people don't even look at the pictures. Pitiful, ain't it?

You mean the alien that Bush wears on his back, right?

Maybe Castro will send elections supervisors to help.

• Marc Andreessen made 100s of millions of dollars shortly after graduating from UIUC. Today's graduates of the same university face moving back in with their parents. "Fuck that, I got mine!"
• Brian Behlendorf decided he'd rather go to India to recruit software engineers than help out the graduating classes of 2001-2004 here in the US.
• Robert Malda stood idly by and said NOTHING while his company offshored its flagship product.

Miguel de Icaza, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, and Linus Torvalds all got rich off the Open Source Movement. What do you have to look forward to? OSDN == Offshore Software Development NOW!!! Read how OSDN is helping to offshore American High-Tech to the Third World!

It would be interesting if contestants could defeat the statistical methods used to uncover fraud mentioned elsewhere on that blog.

It would be interesting if contestants could defeat the statistical methods used to uncover fraud mentioned elsewhere on that blog.

Has anyone else's presidential limousine been egged during their inauguration?

Sorry, I can't remember any others. And I can't remember that many protesters for clinton, though I imagine there should have been, seeing as we bombed so many countries while he was president.

So, feel free to cite examples of mass arrests at other presidential events.

This guy just pasted this from here.

SOURCE: Salon.com

Soon after Sept. 11, Hyman's commentaries, "The Point," became a daily must-carry on Sinclair stations. Critics of the Iraq war are "whack-jobs," the French are "cheese-eating surrender monkeys," progressives "loony left," and Democratic members of Congress who argued against Bush policies are "unpatriotic politicians who hate our military." At first only Sinclair stations that aired its NewsCentral broadcast were required to carry "The Point." But recently all Sinclair stations have been told to feature Hyman's broadsides, often by shortening their sportscasts.

In St. Louis, Sinclair fired the entire 47-person news team at KDNL, making it among the first major-market television stations to broadcast without local news. At Sinclair's Rochester, N.Y., station, it fired the entire news, weather and sports anchor team, and half of the remaining staff. Variety reported that Smith assembled station employees in the company parking lot, climbed onto the hood of a car, read a list of names, and announced that those on the list were fired. (Smith denied the account.) On a smaller but still telling scale, after Sinclair took over WCWB in Pittsburgh, the company ditched the station's three public affairs programs, including "Girl Scouting Today," and replaced them with infomercials.

Typically, when Sinclair guts local news operations, it replaces them with a newscast beamed in from its Maryland studio, which is packaged as a homegrown broadcast. Dubbed "NewsCentral," the maneuver is first and foremost a money-saving enterprise. But an indirect consequence of beaming uniform newscasts across the country is that it has given Sinclair some political clout. "I don't think they anticipated the power they would generate with NewsCentral," says one news industry source. "They created a political animal."

But none of Sinclair's maneuvers, even the "Nightline" stunt, prepared observers for its most recent moves. Sinclair has shown no previous interest in documentaries. "It's never happened before -- ever," says filmmaker Robert Greenwald, who told Salon he offers all his films for Sinclair to broadcast, including "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War." George Butler, director of "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry," as well as Paul Alexander, maker of "Brothers in Arms," a documentary of Kerry's Vietnam experience, have made similar offers, suggesting Sinclair, if it were interested in balance, would show their films to counter the attacks of "Stolen Honor." Sinclair has failed to respond to their offers.

Not WILL- MIGHT

Yes, that's exactly the AC's point. But the whole story of Star Wars is that Annykin's righteous anger turns him into an evil monster (and later, that Luke risks the same fate). That's what Yoda says.

Note that this AC isn't doing anything original. His main points are all from a 5-year old article, which spawned some net-nerd flamewars in its day.

Unless your name is David Brin, give credit where due.

Here is one of his latest starwars articles.

Here is the bush backboard pic on Salon.

Do as you will.

The replies are much more intelligent, and in some cases a lot wittier, than the interviewees.

(Note: i link to the more intelligent letters responding to the interview above; if one wants to read the interview they can find the link on that page as well.)

Salon has an interview with Tray and Matt about this where they talk about their intent and how people react to the movie.

Ok, so I was imagining a lizard viewed from above, crawling on its back, like in this article. But I was curious what it actually looked like. Turns out, the name was actually due in large part to a political cartoon. Pretty stuff, but wouldn't look like a salamander to me without the generous addition of artwork.

Check out this article at Salon.com that suggests Bush was wearing an audio receiver at the first debate (a clear violation of the rules if true). The web site Is Bush Wired also discusses it and includes more evidence from previous Bush speaking events. In a couple of cases, the audio of the voice prompter feeding him the answers has been picked up and accidently transmitted as part of the live news broadcast.

Flame me for being off topic if you wish, but we are talking about the presidency and hacking, so I feel this is relevant. Check out this article at Salon.com that suggests Bush was wearing an audio receiver at the first debate (a clear violation of the rules if true). The web site Is Bush Wired also discusses it and includes more evidence from previous Bush speaking events. In a couple of cases, the audio of the voice prompter feeding him the answers has been picked up and accidently transmitted as part of the live news broadcast.

So what are the chances that the democrats will attempt to intercept the broadcast and use it to their advantage during tonights debate? Hacking the Presidency indeed!

Salon is reporting that Bush may have been wearing a device that would allow him to receive sound from someone offstage.

Here is the article

Here is the image

I'll let the links speak for themselves: Bush's Mystery Bulge IsBushWired Blog including comments on possible earpiece. Google News search on "Bush bulge".

Furthermore, the only way they can dispose of trash and human waste is by loading these items in Russian cargo ships that burn up in the atmosphere.

Let the flaming poo jokes commence.

Maybe RotoRooter could set up a target in the South Pacific...

**rimshot**

...come to think of it, that Taco Bell target was the same thing, wasn't it?

**crowd boos, throws things on stage**

You are so farking out of date, it's sad. Try looking at the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the subject. Joe Wilson didn't even have access to the documents he claimed were forged. Also, his wife had recommended him for the job, and that Joe's little quasi-investigation actually raised suspicions about Iraq and Niger. (Nigerian officials said that Iraq had come looking to do business in the country. Niger's #1 export is Uranium. Their #2 export is cattle.)

I have read the report (at least the parts publicly released) and I am suprised you would try to use them to defend the administration, since it basically reinforces the assertion that there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As long as we are using editorials as hard news, try this this oppinion piece from the editor of The Nation It goes into great depth analysing the report and the spin placed on it. You might also try this article at Salon.com. The part that is most illuminating is that fact that those excerpts of the report that some consider contradicting Wilson were actually addendums to the original report added by several Republican committee members AFTER the uranium contraversy broke. The rest of the report backs up Wilson's version. Can we say partisan politics?

Nevermind that Valerie Plame, it has been discovered, was not undercover, and no law may have been broken by telling Bob Novak that she worked at the CIA.

Plame may not have been deployed at that exact moment, but her role as a CIA agent was not public knowlege, she had been deployed in the past and could have been in the future. Let me remind you that a special procecutor has been assigned to investigate this debacle, and even the President has been deposed over it. This is not something that would have been done if Plame had been just some low level functionary with no undercover role.

Do you have any more shrilled loony left propaganda to spread on /.? Times like these with so many geeks falling for conspiracies and out right lies, makes it so hard to be identified as a geek in public.

Interesting that the evidence you point to is a short oppinion post that simply references an op ed piece. That oppionion editorial is long on accusations and short on proof. I did a quick Google Search and turned up numereous REAL article (with there sources properly referenced) that back up Wilson's story. Furthermore, I even found an article here that describes the attempts by the conservative political machine (using letters to the editor and op ed pieces) to discredit him.

Also, all the attempts to cast doubt on Wilson do not change the fact that the uranium proof documents WERE forged, and the administration DID know that. Those fact are not in dispute. The attempts to discredit Wilson is just an effort to distract from that.

This is insightful? Puh-leeze.

All these quotes are from people whose understanding of the Iraqi WMD situation would have come through the Administration's filter. Executive branch personnel -- the ones who work in and for the White House -- are the ones who see the whole mass of intelligence our systems gather. Members of Congress don't have that privilege -- they see what the Administration chooses to share with them. (Those who sit on national security & intelligence-related committees see more than others -- but even they only get predigested intel.)

In other words, your list of quotes proves nothing except that these people could all have been lied to as well. If the President calls a Senator into the Oval Office, shows him an incomplete picture, and leaves out relevant facts that might contradict his position, is the Senator the liar if he leaves the meeting convinced that the President has identified a real threat?

And never mind that you selectively quote people like Scott Ritter -- who by 2002 had doubled back on his earlier belief in Iraqi WMDs. If you're going to quote Ritter circa 1998, why not Ritter circa 2002? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that showing how Ritter's position evolved would undermine your premise that he was a "liar" like the President and his crew are.

When it comes to intelligence, there are a few people, all in the White House -- the President, the National Security Advisor, and so on -- who are expected to know more than any Senator or Congressman. They're expected to know the whole picture. That's what makes it a different matter entirely when Condoleeza Rice or Dick Cheney shrieked about Iraqi WMDs than when J. Random Congressman did so.

Speaking of Wal-Mart and IT, here is an interesting Salon article on Wal-Mart and RFID.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/29/milit ary_justice/

Online media, but not a weblog and with sources to follow up on.

It's funny that those same blogs don't fact-check the Bush administration as much as they do the Kerry campaign. Here is an administration that has told more lies to the public (in the few press conferences that they've had; they're also very secretive) than any that I can remember (Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II).

"Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, and we know where they are."
"Saddam is in cahoots with al Qaeda, and could give WMD to them."
"We went to war for the freedom of the Iraqi people."
"These tax cuts are going to stimulate the economy and create many new jobs by stimulating investment."
"We've inherited a recession from Clinton."
"You don't need to know who Cheney spoke to in his secret energy policy meetings."
"We're going to whole-heartedly support fighting AIDS in third-world countries."

It's so funny that I could cry.

It's funny that those same blogs don't fact-check the Bush administration as much as they do the Kerry campaign. Here is an administration that has told more lies to the public (in the few press conferences that they've had; they're also very secretive) than any that I can remember (Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II).

"Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, and we know where they are."
"Saddam is in cahoots with al Qaeda, and could give WMD to them."
"We went to war for the freedom of the Iraqi people."
"These tax cuts are going to stimulate the economy and create many new jobs by stimulating investment."
"We've inherited a recession from Clinton."
"You don't need to know who Cheney spoke to in his secret energy policy meetings."
"We're going to whole-heartedly support fighting AIDS in third-world countries."

It's so funny that I could cry.

Some notes on David Bossie.

Since all software is essentially free in China, Linux will have serious trouble in gaining market share in China and other emerging markets. Microsoft Windows is "free", and Linux is free.

That 80% of Linux desktops sold in China is running Windows merely confirms the above analysis.

The problem will not be resolved any time soon. The Chinese have almost no respect for human rights (e.g. brutal occupation of Tibet) or property rights (e.g. theft of software, blueprints for microprocessors, "Star Wars" before its American debut, ...).

As quoted in this Salon.com article Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refers to himself as a lawyer:

In a speech last month in New Orleans, Scalia contrasted his easy ride to confirmation with the tough sledding some of Bush's nominees have faced. "Eighteen years ago, I was confirmed 98-0," Scalia said. "I was considered a good lawyer and an honest man. Those qualities carried the day."

Ob: Han shot FIRST , mofos post!

Salon.com - Voter terrorism: For decades, Republicans have mounted highly organized operations to discourage minorities from voting. Experts say there's no reason to believe this year's presidential campaign will be any different.

Everyone who was on that list was notified via postal mail that they were on it, and were also told how to appeal the entry. It's so simple even a hanging chad could figure it out.

Incorrect. Some counties did. Some didn't. Some details.

Etta Rosado, spokeswoman for the Volusia County Department of Elections, said the county essentially accepted the file at face value, did nothing to confirm the accuracy of it and doesn't inform citizens ahead of time that they have been dropped from the voter rolls.

In those counties that did, a surprising number of entries were found to be incorrect (same article):

Of the 3,258 names on the original list, therefore, the county concluded that more than 15 percent were in error.

15% false positives? In that county alone 245 were assumed guilty until they took active steps to prove their innocence. I find that abhorent. The right to vote is one of our most important rights, people should not be expected to jump through hoops to be allowed to do so.

How about proving any disenfranchisement?

Sure, how about Kelvin King and Sandylynn Williams?

You're just angry your horse lost the race. Boo hoo.

The situation is more complex than Democrats versus Republicans. Gore wasn't my candidate; I voted third party and was fully prepared for either a Bush or Gore victory. I'm not angry Bush won. I'm angry at what was at best a dangerously sloppy felon purge. I think every American should hold our elections process to a high standard. This is why I'm also against receiptless electronic voting machines (which as far as I know is a non-partisian issue).

You don't talk about how the race was called early for Gore while voting was still open in the conservative panhandle, causing thousands of conservative voters to give up and go home.

I see a large difference between a media report on an election and a government body telling someone that they cannot vote. True, those reports can influence the election, but it hardly seems the same level of seriousness.

How about the effort to throw out valid overseas votes by military personnel?

Indeed, that's a terrible thing. But attempts to block votes by one side in no ways justifies attempts to block votes by the other.

Everyone who was on that list was notified via postal mail that they were on it, and were also told how to appeal the entry. It's so simple even a hanging chad could figure it out.

Incorrect. Some counties did. Some didn't. Some details.

Etta Rosado, spokeswoman for the Volusia County Department of Elections, said the county essentially accepted the file at face value, did nothing to confirm the accuracy of it and doesn't inform citizens ahead of time that they have been dropped from the voter rolls.

In those counties that did, a surprising number of entries were found to be incorrect (same article):

Of the 3,258 names on the original list, therefore, the county concluded that more than 15 percent were in error.

15% false positives? In that county alone 245 were assumed guilty until they took active steps to prove their innocence. I find that abhorent. The right to vote is one of our most important rights, people should not be expected to jump through hoops to be allowed to do so.

How about proving any disenfranchisement?

Sure, how about Kelvin King and Sandylynn Williams?

You're just angry your horse lost the race. Boo hoo.

The situation is more complex than Democrats versus Republicans. Gore wasn't my candidate; I voted third party and was fully prepared for either a Bush or Gore victory. I'm not angry Bush won. I'm angry at what was at best a dangerously sloppy felon purge. I think every American should hold our elections process to a high standard. This is why I'm also against receiptless electronic voting machines (which as far as I know is a non-partisian issue).

You don't talk about how the race was called early for Gore while voting was still open in the conservative panhandle, causing thousands of conservative voters to give up and go home.

I see a large difference between a media report on an election and a government body telling someone that they cannot vote. True, those reports can influence the election, but it hardly seems the same level of seriousness.

How about the effort to throw out valid overseas votes by military personnel?

Indeed, that's a terrible thing. But attempts to block votes by one side in no ways justifies attempts to block votes by the other.

• Marc Andreessen made 100s of millions of dollars shortly after graduating from UIUC. Today's graduates of the same university face moving back in with their parents. "Fuck that, I got mine!"
• Brian Behlendorf decided he'd rather go to India to recruit software engineers than help out the graduating classes of 2001-2004 here in the US.
• Robert Malda stood idly by and said NOTHING while his company offshored its flagship product.

Miguel de Icaza, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, and Linus Torvalds all got rich off the Open Source Movement. What do you have to look forward to?

• Marc Andreessen made 100s of millions of dollars shortly after graduating from UIUC. Today's graduates of the same university face moving back in with their parents. "Fuck that, I got mine!"
• Brian Behlendorf decided he'd rather go to India to recruit software engineers than help out the graduating classes of 2001-2004 here in the US.
• Robert Malda stood idly by and said NOTHING while his company offshored its flagship product.

Miguel de Icaza, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, and Linus Torvalds all got rich off the Open Source Movement. What do you have to look forward to?

A few points:

- The ruling does not give the store owner legal authority to put out the bootlegged shows. He can still be sued by the RIAA for illegal distribution of copyrighted material. Plus, I'm sure there are other lesser charges that can be (or perhaps, "could have been" if double-jeopardy applies) brought against him, but the Feds chose to charge this particular guy with the statute that carried the heaviest penalties.

- While I see your logic about $5.00 bootlegs competing with a $20.00 CD, you're really comparing apples to applesauce. The quality of bootlegs is notoriously low, and I'd venture most people would rather buy a "high quality, digitally recorded off the sound board and remastered by an engineer" rather than take a gamble with a bootleg of questionable quality.

- Some people *prefer* to hear a bootleg, quality be damned, rather than a CD. For one thing, bootlegs are usually the whole concert, with all the banter, encores, crowd noises, etc. that you get at a real concert. Plus there's the novelty of hearing a once-in-a-lifetime event. You don't get that with most commercially produced, "fit it on to one or two discs" stuff that comes from the studios, or from the bands themselves.

- Selling bootlegged live albums does not, as you suggest, help no one but the bootlegger. Bands make their money from performing live, and bootlegs promote that experience to a wider audience, which improves interest in the artist, which translates into increased ticket sales and album sales as well. Bands may not directly profit from the sale of that bootleg, but when factoring the above against the cost of producing, manufacturing, distributing and promoting a live album, chances are the band comes out ahead.

If you haven't already read Courtney Love's dissertation on this in salon.com, it's well worth a read.

A recent Salon articlehad some fascinating info on lobsters, in particular

They also have this little interesting feature of their anatomy where they have a big bladder in their head and they piss out the front of their head. So they're constantly pissing in each other's faces.

Then you say

I'm not fond of a president that thinks and urinates with the same body part.

I am confused. Are you saying President Bush is a lobster?

What do you think is the cause of this severe imbalance in law enforcement and the judicial process, and what can be done to correct the problem?

That was the purpose of the laws, and they are working well. See here for more info.

John Dean argues we already have a Head of State (George W. Bush) and a Head of Government (Dick Cheney) and that they serve as co-presidents.

It's certainly enough for me!

Salon did an article on him a few years ago. He's a little nutty, but interesting to say the least:

Ironically enough, you just responded to it with a strawman...since we are breaking out the debate rules. ;)

Do you think that the inclusion of an ad hominem attack rules out all chance that the post and several others in the thread refute alot of what the Salon author has to say?

I don't think the author is doing anything with an objective mindset. He's another partisan hack, IMHO...some of his "opinion" pieces are probably as offensive to me as you said you find LGF.

The thing that bothers me, is that his opinion also permeates the articles that are labeled as "news and politics" rather than "opinion"...it's not as overt, but he drives for the exact same points, just without the insults.

For that matter, there are quite a few ad hominems in them, if that does indeed qualify as a discrediting factor.

For what it's worth, I might write Charles about the article you pointed out myself yet. I do have an account there, though I am a lurker. He is awfully busy with the recent media coverage and other matters by the sound of it, but it's worth a shot. I certainly don't think it's likely going to ban me over it.

nice, a /. comment containing an ad hominen, versus a fully researched 3-page essay. You be the judge.

Why don't you politely email Charles and ask him to say something about it.

Give it a shot. See how quick you get banned for 'not seeing the problem'.

Really, give it a shot. Let me know how it goes. Three people posted it in the thread, yet...

If there is a discrepancy, this is where 'journalism' comes in, and you try and get as close to the truth as possible. That's not the goal for LGF. It's a hate site. Its purpose is to point out how unworthy of life (extremist) Muslims are. And those parenthesis have an inversely proportional relationship with the amount of anger each particular story generates. The more hate, the quicker they fade.

If CBS would like to do the equivalent...

CBS has admitted their error. However, like the man who missed the forest for the trees, the rest of the story is still quite solid.

> a) You assume some political connections were used? What
> were they? Who alleges this? Did Bush himself do anything? Do
> Bush's FATHER do anything? Who is to blame for this.
> Unsubstantiated FUD. Troll.

Ben Barnes, then Lt. Governor of Texas, admitted he got Bush into the National Guard:

> "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas
> National Guard when I was lieutenant governor, and I'm not
> necessarily proud of that. But I did it.

Bush was son of a then senator and former ambassador. He served in what many called the "champagne" unit in the Texas National Guard. Bush admitted he had no experience to get him into the guard, and he scored in the bottom 25% on the pilots' test. Bush's records admit this.

> Guess you haven't been watching the news recently when
> Staudt and others in the guard and of the guard went on TV.

> That's how fast the liberla media jumped on this story once
> they thought they had something they could run with

The questionable documents have done a lot to muddy the waters, but the fact remains that the crux of the question of Bush's service was not dependent on a single document. I agree that CBS News should have fact-checked better. However, it would be nice if the Bush supporters as charged up in determining the authenticity of a now-shown fraudulent document that lead us to war.

But that doesn't absolve Bush from not finishing his duty, which has been corroborated in ways apart from the documents. For example, in Bush's records, Bush flew only 22 months of the 53 he owed. Salon has more details on the documents that Bush should have filed but did not when he decided to stop flying:

--Quote--

> Bush flew for the last time on April 16, 1972. Upon entering
> the Guard, Bush agreed to fly for 60 months. After his training
> was complete, he owed 53 months of flying.

> But he flew for only 22 of those 53 months.

> Upon being accepted for pilot training, Bush promised to
> serve with his parent (Texas) Guard unit for five years once he > completed his pilot training.

> But Bush served as a pilot with his parent unit for just two
> years.

> In May 1972 Bush left the Houston Guard base for Alabama.
> According to Air Force regulations, Bush was supposed to
> obtain prior authorization before leaving Texas to join a new
> Guard unit in Alabama.

> But Bush failed to get the authorization.

> In requesting a permanent transfer to a nonflying unit in
> Alabama in 1972, Bush was supposed to sign an
> acknowledgment that he received relocation counseling.

> But no such document exists.

> He was supposed to receive a certification of satisfactory
> participation from his unit.

> But Bush did not.

> On May 26, 1972, Lt. Col. Reese Bricken, commander of the
> 9921st Air Reserve Squadron at Maxwell Air Force Base in
> Alabama, informed Bush that a transfer to his nonflying unit
> would be unsuitable for a fully trained pilot such as he was,
> and that Bush would not be able to fulfill any of his remaining
> two years of flight obligation.

> But Bush pressed on with his transfer request nonetheless.

> Bush's transfer request to the 9921st was eventually denied by
> the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, which meant he
> was still obligated to attend training sessions one weekend a
> month with his Texas unit in Houston.

> But Bush failed to attend weekend drills in May, June, July,
> August and September. He also failed to request permission
> to make up those days at the time.

> According to Air Force regulations,

• Daily Kos
• Eschaton (Atrios)
• Political Animal
• Pandagon
• Hulaballoo (Digby)
• First Draft
• Joe Conason (kinda a blog, it's hosted by Salon.com)

1. Ugga Bugga has good charts/info compression and researching.
   
2. Wonkette for shear entertainment value. She's great, and she has "scooped" the mainstream press, too.
   
3. Majority Report Radio has a blog that can be a good news source.
   
4. News Hounds, the anti-Fox. "We watch Fox so you don't have to."
   
5. Greg Palast has a very informative and well-researched blog.
   
6. Salon's War Room '04 is awesome, even if you have to watch a 30-second ad to read the whole thing. Not really a "blog" per-se, but sort of blog flavored...
   

leftist bias in the "mainstream" media (CBS, ABS, NBC, NYT, LAT, etc.).

Only NYT in your list even comes close to publishing liberal perspectives (not exclusivly). If you want good liberal perspectives visit: salon.com or The Nation or The Progressive necessary if you want a counterpoint to the right-wing perspectives that dominate.

That's not how they treated Philadelphia and other school systems they sued.

It's funny how the administrative people are afraid of free software because they are afraid someone is going to have to fix it. No vendor ever back software and all will charge you to fix it. Given M$'s terrible record with visuses worm and all that which has cost everone plenty, the case for reliability is firmly on the free software side and the costs of switching will probably be lower than the cost of continued upkeep, let along upgrade.