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If you don't want to login to NYT, heres my "Top Ten List of New Cool Crap for 2005":

1. Curious Georges new free Wiretap program
2. Birdflu v.2.0
3. Boxing Day sans Tsunami
4. European CIA Jail System
5. Removal of Marti Gras from your travel ideas
6. A (great) Daily Show spinoff
7. The spread of Scientology
8. Marines shooting at and killing escaping hostages
9. Adoption Press Release Kits
10. Stem Cell Magicians

Good thing too, we don't want Usama going into orbit, now, do we?

Or, apparently, Ted Kennedy.

I'm pretty much there with you.

There is no way that President Bush would ask, say, the NSA to do anything illegal is there?

And, although there may be a few renegades, there isn't much of official Washington that would use secrets for political gain.

But then there is the press which has recently developed some badly misplaced priorities, actively supporting and publicizing leaks of sensitive ongoing intelligence and military operations against the enemy over and over again. You would think it would be easy to understand that this harms our national security, yet much of the mainstream media passes over the issue in silence. On the other hand, they have endless energy and interest in a kerfuffle involving no crime.

Maybe the media will start taking the war more seriously if Al Qaeda makes significant progress in their announced goal of killing four million Americans. Or maybe not. If there are more successful large scale terrorist attacks in the United States, aided by the media's disclosure of on-going military and intelligence operations, I expect that the majority of the media won't engage in self-examination, but will rather most likely start banging the drums from the fever swamp. The fever swamp runs deep, and support for the President among the media is thin.

Well, if the other party gains power, maybe things will change... or maybe not.

Thank goodness we are a country where you can still engage in dissent against the mainstream.

Here's a tip: Don't let it bother you ever

I hear you. I try. But for reasons beyond my control, things do bother me. These things are real, something might bother me at one point in time, then it goes away. But something else bothers me. So, I'm never free or at least it seems.

I don't like the sheep thing. Yeah, they get free haircuts to benefit the owners, and then they are turned into mutton when they no longer are of any use for haircuts.

My parents are completely average Americans. They do not rock the boat in any way shape or form. They are good and scared from the stuff they see on the "news", and they even pound their chest that they "know what is right" from what the government tells them is right and wrong.

Keep in mind that this is the same government that said it was OK to treat citizens of the country like minorities and women as second class or the same as an illegal alien or outsider. Keep in mind that women were allowed to vote in 1920. My great grandmother was alive then. Black people were only given lip service "rights" in 1964, only a few years before I was born. These are the same people that deceive the people on a daily basis via the media, spy on their citizens illegally, "liberate" countries for their economic personal gain, and so on.

For the record, before we "saved" and "liberated" Iraq from their horrible dictator, and "freed" them of their "suffering" by killing approximately 25,000 to 30,000 of their citizens. Well, to put it simply, Iraq's death rate has did not exceed their birth rate this year. The last time that happened was over 100 years ago. Granted they don't have gas (WTF?!?!), electricity, water from this time and the last time we bombed them, etc. Why would the want this shit instead of being free?

Granted, I don't care about Iraqi people. Why should I? I don't know any, they live on the other side of the world. They are a 3rd world country about the size and population of New York state with 1/2 of the population being under 20 years old.

I would be happy to ignore these people, and for our government to spend its time and resources to do things like provide quality affordable health care for its citizens. To use the military to protect our borders from attack. To increase, not decrease our personal liberties that are supposed to be fundamental to our country.

I'm back to my original thesis -- Lets just party for New Years and have a good time.

Happy New Year people!

These chats allow you to talk with the writer and typically an expert to further flesh out the story.

Additionally, these chats can lead to follow up articles. One example is the "housing real-estate bubble" around the DC suburbs; there were follow on articles about the aftermath of adjustable, interest-only mortgages.

These chats really give you a feeling of connection with the paper and even the community. Before going to a concert in DC I asked the Going Out Gurus wether I should drive into the District or take a Metro (the verdict: Drive, but watch out for parking).

This interactive approach to a newspaper is what keeps it current, hip, and helps the end-user feel connected. A local slashdot buddy said "If the chats went to a Pay-to-play scheme, I'd probably pay. They are worth it."

These chats allow you to talk with the writer and typically an expert to further flesh out the story.

Additionally, these chats can lead to follow up articles. One example is the "housing real-estate bubble" around the DC suburbs; there were follow on articles about the aftermath of adjustable, interest-only mortgages.

These chats really give you a feeling of connection with the paper and even the community. Before going to a concert in DC I asked the Going Out Gurus wether I should drive into the District or take a Metro (the verdict: Drive, but watch out for parking).

This interactive approach to a newspaper is what keeps it current, hip, and helps the end-user feel connected. A local slashdot buddy said "If the chats went to a Pay-to-play scheme, I'd probably pay. They are worth it."

"Mutually exclusive"? Physically, yes, but not chronologically. Your attempt to oversimply Bush's evil actions has failed once again.

Still, it's a good topic to discuss. There are significant differences between Bush and Hitler. Anyone can look these up, so I won't go into them here in detail, but these differences are largely a matter of intensity of reaction amongst collective elements. Hitler didn't do "it" all on his own; he had full party support from the National Socialists. So that the Republican majority in the Congress did NOT outlaw the Democrats, is one contrast to what happened in Germany after the Reichstag fire.

But instead of outlawing Democrats, a form of one-party-ism is alive and well in the Congress. After all, even anti-war Congressmen still folded like oragami when an important matter was force-voted on. So, who needs to outlaw the opposition party ... when said party is not actually opposing?

Bush could very well be the first Hitler of the 21st Century. But any rational examination of events can conclude that "Bushitlerisms" could be pre-mature. We may have to see what the next Fascist Republican attempts to do while so-called Commander-in-Chief ... with full compliance from the Imperialists in the Congress known as Democrats.

Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts.

How much historical revisionism is getting pulled out of anal sphincters everywhere just to attack Bush anyway?

And then, of course, our "rush to war" took almost a year. Quite long enough for Saddam to get rid of what he may have had.

How 'bout this one?

"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story,"

Dan Rather, referring to the forged Texas Air National Guard documents.

Horse. Barn. Gone.

That's why Nissan is moving it's North American Headquarters here...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/11/10/AR2005111000988_2.html

Sorry California ;-)

Completely off-topic but there are ways of controling who votes and thus the outcome of the election. For example "scrubbing voter rolls"

Other methods include reducing number of polling stations available in a district, thus inducing long lines and discourging people from voting. Examples available here and here

And then there is the Stalin quote... "I don't care who counts the votes, as long as I decide who is on the ballot"

> The execution of westerners in Iraq started only after the USA invaded Iraq for no good reason. Confirmed counts of Iraqi civilian deaths due the invasion range from 27,000 to over 30,000.

And this is going to get worse, since the latest plan for reducing our politically unacceptable US casualty rate is to replace boots-on-the-ground with airstrikes, even though most of the fighting is still in urban areas.

Though we're still being told that the war is going well, the number of airstrikes per month has risen five-fold over the course of this year, and civilians are dying as a result.

We're also learning that "turning security over to the Iraqis" means having US troops cordon off a town while a Shiite milita - supported by US airstrikes - goes in and shoots all the Sunnis that they think need to be shot.

Is it any surprise that this "small" insurgency continues after all our tactical "victories" and the imprisonment of thousands of Iraqis?

The Bin Laden satellite telephone leak was exposed as an urban myth two days ago in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/12/21/AR2005122101994.html

- Halspal

Actually, all the well-known corporate scandals took place in the late 1990's, on the watch of a certain good-time Charlie whose mind was on other pursuits, and were exposed very early in Bush's first term.

Not only was Clinton too busy having his dick sucked to take any notice of the largest frauds in American history, but his own DNC Chairman was involved in Global Crossing up to his eyeballs. Terry McAuliffe schemed with his good pal, CEO Gary Winnick, to pump and dump a $100,000 investment to the tune of $18 million, stealing a fortune from pension funds and mom-&-pop investors.

Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and those responsible for the biggest frauds are being aggressively pursued by the Bush Justice Department. Many of the major offenders have already been convicted and handed stiff sentences, and more are certain to follow.

I am sorry to have to bring this news to all you dewy-eyed college dimwits who think that these are Republican scandals. It must be hard on your tender unformed psyches when reality socks you with a clue-by-four.

Thanks for cleaning up Clinton's mess, W!

-ccm

this guy might have, but the story sort of got spiked eventually except for the infamous blogosphere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A367 33-2005Feb18.html

See Bird Flu Drug Rendered Useless for how China fucked the rest of the world by misusing a human antiviral drug on chickens.

Yeah, that's his argument, too. Hey I like black people, look at Colin Powell, he's black. Well, maybe you should ask black people whether he's been a good president. A whopping 2% of them agree with you: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/ 2005/10/13/BL2005101300885.html

But that's not the point.

The point is Bush is using patriotic fervor as a tool to deflect criticism and get his agenda passed, an agenda that includes reduction of civil liberties and intimidation of American citizens who are doing nothing wrong. Hitler used the same sort of approach to gain power, then used violence to gain domination over his citizens. Don't we owe it to ourselves, to this country, to speak up when something looks fishy so that doesn't happen here? History repeats itself, you might have heard. If you can't accept that, you're a blind apologist and a fool.

• Assume that Bush is inconsistant, stupid, or both, taking a path in this instance that is both at odds with other executive branch actions and needlessly unconstitutional, or
• Assume that Bush is both consistant and reasonably clever, in which case he had a good reason for not seeking the warrents in these cases, and (looking at the examples from elsewhere in the executive branch) we can make an educated guess what those reasons were.

So what are you claiming? That he's too dumb realize that it's a slam dunk to get the warrents and he risks major fallout within his own party to cut corners, or that he's smart enough not to take that risk unless he's covering up for a worse offense, in which case we're within reason to assume the existence of such an offense?

Dumb and honest or smart and corrupt. You can't have it both ways.

--MarkusQ

P.S. I suppose dumb and corrupt can't be rulled out either, if you don't like the other options.

• Assume that Bush is inconsistant, stupid, or both, taking a path in this instance that is both at odds with other executive branch actions and needlessly unconstitutional, or
• Assume that Bush is both consistant and reasonably clever, in which case he had a good reason for not seeking the warrents in these cases, and (looking at the examples from elsewhere in the executive branch) we can make an educated guess what those reasons were.

So what are you claiming? That he's too dumb realize that it's a slam dunk to get the warrents and he risks major fallout within his own party to cut corners, or that he's smart enough not to take that risk unless he's covering up for a worse offense, in which case we're within reason to assume the existence of such an offense?

Dumb and honest or smart and corrupt. You can't have it both ways.

--MarkusQ

P.S. I suppose dumb and corrupt can't be rulled out either, if you don't like the other options.

--MarkusQ

I can post a link here too.

Where the Washington Post debunked those talking points.

I used to be a republican, but these guys shame the political party. I wish there were more good ones out there that would stand up for the constitution in this. It's quite sad. Anyway, I believe MSNBC has info on their site debunking the RNC talking points as well. I really hope this isn't as bad as it could be and we can all walk away from this only slightly scarred but I have a feeling there is a lot more to come. It's all about the checks and balances.

The Washington Post recently launched a comprehensive votes database that lets you browse every vote in the U.S. Congress since 1991 and is updated several times daily.

Here, for instance, is the House vote mentioned in this Slashdot blurb.

Disclaimer: I'm the Web developer who worked on this database.

The Washington Post recently launched a comprehensive votes database that lets you browse every vote in the U.S. Congress since 1991 and is updated several times daily.

Here, for instance, is the House vote mentioned in this Slashdot blurb.

Disclaimer: I'm the Web developer who worked on this database.

Apparently it left with Clinton and Carter, seeing as how they did the exact same thing.

Except that they didn't. But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions or anything...

It was actually: George Bush doesn't care about black people!

You're right, it would be totally impractical for a government agency to put spying technology on an entire line of computer products. Yeah, no need to worry about THAT ever happening.

-Eric

Revelation of the program last week by the New York Times also spurred considerable debate among federal judges, including some who serve on the secret FISA court. For more than a quarter-century, that court had been seen as the only body that could legally authorize secret surveillance of espionage and terrorism suspects, and only when the Justice Department could show probable cause that its targets were foreign governments or their agents.

Robertson indicated privately to colleagues in recent conversations that he was concerned that information gained from warrantless NSA surveillance could have then been used to obtain FISA warrants. FISA court Presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who had been briefed on the spying program by the administration, raised the same concern in 2004 and insisted that the Justice Department certify in writing that it was not occurring.

"They just don't know if the product of wiretaps were used for FISA warrants -- to kind of cleanse the information," said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the FISA warrants. "What I've heard some of the judges say is they feel they've participated in a Potemkin court."

Re:From TFA...(Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Saturday

fSck off and die,
Why so hostile?
the only reason anyone hacks an xbox is so they can play games they didn't buy

Right, nobody uses:
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Main_Page FreeBSD,Linux and Darwin.
http://www.dynebolic.org/ Multimedia Studio XBOX Linux Live CD
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A464 28-2005Jan29.html XBOX Media Center
http://www.xboxstation.com/modules.php?name=News&f ile=article&sid=22 SoftMod
http://xport.xbox-scene.com/ Emulation of Old Systems that we OWN

Maybe all these people are just wasting their time so losers can pirate games, but then again, if you look closely you will find more than a few Developers like the Idea of a $150.00 PC with TV out and Net Access.

I know I owe them my thanks, I'm purchasing an old black box right after the next price drop around 2006 (PS3 Launch). I probably won't even pick up 1 game. I just need a media extension in another room.
Silly Trolls.

I don't understand the Hillary Clinton fascination, though.

Recent revelations of the President's authorization of illegal wiretapping activity do not put credibility on the side of any Federal agency.
One case of the illegal detention of a bus rider in Colorado which the ACLU is working on, a German citizen who was illegally imprisioned by the CIA and flown out of his country, and Cheney's attempts to thwart McCain's efforts to limit torture all combine to demolish any credibility on the part of the government enforcement agencies.

Given the events of the past few years, I would tend to accept any story coming from a professor over basic skepticism. We know that the Patriot Act authorized library record snooping, and we know that the government has been exercising their new power tens of thousands of times (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti cle/2005/12/17/AR2005121701233.html) At this point, even if the government isn't being run by a bunch of evil-doers, at the very least, there is rampant incompetence wielding dangerous power over your life, and it goes beyond just avoiding a car accident with a sleeping semi-truck driver (an example of common incompetent power abuse,) it goes into the long term of you and your family's ability to make a life for yourself free of criminal record or suspicion.

Wal-Mart saves low-income shoppers $50 billion a year by having an efficient supply chain. I don't care Mal-Mart give to charity or not.

Infact, Bill Gates, who had a lot to do with the success of the modern PC revolution has helped hundreds of millions of people get jobs that made them trillions of dollars. And I don't care if he gives to charity either, but sure, it is nice.

Every market transaction makes both parties better off, or else they would not engage in the transaction.

Professor Finds Fulfillment In Emptying His Pockets (might need to be registered) about a DC area community college mathematics professor who has a goal of donating $1million to charity before he retires, and he's already up to $770,000. Many years he's donated more than half of his annual income to charity.

She sounds like a teenage girl. "... our building, like our north building" and "... our senior top, top, top executives".

She sounds like the goddamn President of the United States of America!

I know it's a minor nit, but you'd think that when you're actually talking with the press you could say something more intelligent than "I was all like totally surprised".

"Put it in my pocket, got the ear things on."

... the DHS to harass a college student working on a paper, especially when we have missing truckfulls of radioactive materials, unchecked illegal immigration linked to terrorism, and gross negligence in disaster preparedness? (cause, you know, let's not forget that FEMA is in the DHS now)

<sarcasm>I'm so comforted that a noticable portion of my paycheck gets usurped for such important security concerns.</sarcasm>

If you are a taxpaying U.S. citizen, I advise you to see how your contributions to the government are apportioned and spent.

Wake up and smell the fascism. Unless you want to face some alone time in a dark hole somewhere

"Many local big-box stores say they haven't gotten any new consoles since the product's Nov. 22 launch, and some have gotten just one or two. The Target in Germantown got four units Monday night and sold them almost immediately. As of yesterday afternoon, Web stores Amazon.com, ToysRUs.com, EBGames.com, CircuitCity.com and WalMart.com were all sold out, with no indication of when the new game console would be available again.

Microsoft won't pin the shortage on any one part or manufacturer, so game fans and Wall Street analysts don't really know if this is planned hype or a major screw-up or what. This is what is known: The company shipped 300,000 to 400,000 units Nov. 22 -- and after that, very few. The company says more are coming, but nobody knows for sure."

From Washington Post (login reqd)

One thing is sure if it continues like this, the XBox 360 won't be among the history's popular games.

If 47 senators are so for it, maybe they should just "opt-in" to giving up their rights, instead of passing another odious law that will apply to them too? Oh yeah, that's because it won't apply to them. They are elite. Their names will never be on a no-fly list.

I'm astounded by the crap I'm reading here in the comments. The benefits for Google are enormous and obvious, and the price is more than fair. Everyone is so burnt on their perception of the AOL client with it's 'me too' members they don't see what it really is.

1) AOL makes $1 billion in *profit* every year. Makes a $20 billion valuation easy to grasp. Yes, 2/3 of that is from dial up users that's eroding. But the advertising portion is growing dramatically every year (per eyeball internet ads are still very cheap compared to print, that's going to change).

2) AOL has millions and millions of users. Not just members per se, but users of it's services via aim.com, aol.com, netscape.com, VOIP, AOLRadio + WinAmp, etc. It wants to provide features to all of these with web services (mail, IM, address books, etc) instead of it's old fashioned heavy client (and make money off of it with ads). Google is building these types of features, also to make money with ads, but has almost no member base. Excellent match there, merging the backends of those memberships to give AOL users (again, not just those paying for dial-up) access to Google's features.

3) AOL provides Google with a large amount of it's cash. Letting Microsoft have a partnership would be a hard blow to Google's bottom line and permanently establish Microsoft as a search titan (just like how a partnership with AOL made MS the browser champion).

4) AOL internally is an Open Source heavy shop (no shit). If they have to choose between Google and Microsoft, they can work with Google much more easily and have the expertise to do so. The only thing Microsoft could do is take the name (not much value there, really) and kill the company to spite Google. Retrofitting would be like rebuilding the whole thing from scratch.

    The issue here is that AOL is owned by a corporate parent that hates them and won't AOL do what they need to move past 1999. They won't give them access to their cable systems, they compete directly against them in VOIP, won't let them trade in media content, and openly dis them in their media outlets. The true crime is that TW didn't just sell AOL to Google directly. Google is going to regret every percentage point that TW still holds. *That's* the true danger of this deal... what TW might make Google do to use AOL.

    Take a look at Steve Case's opinion on all of this in this Washington Post article.

    So, okay, AOL is 'shit'. AOL users are 'stupid'. The company is 'evil'. Whatever. It's still the most powerful single consumer internet access company and it's a valuable asset... especially if it goes to an organization (like Google) that can move it's members to purely ad-supported features.

Had to note that one of them has.. but i am willing to bet they didn't want him using the plane like his car http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A170 73-2004Aug19.html

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the secret order may amount to the president authorizing criminal activity.

The law governing clandestine surveillance in the United States, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, prohibits conducting electronic surveillance not authorized by statute. A government agent can try to avoid prosecution if he can show he was "engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction," according to the law.

"This is as shocking a revelation as we have ever seen from the Bush administration," said Martin, who has been sharply critical of the administration's surveillance and detention policies. "It is, I believe, the first time a president has authorized government agencies to violate a specific criminal prohibition and eavesdrop on Americans."

Oh man, fuck Christmas.

Seriously - are you kidding me with this "There's a war on Christmas" bullshit? FOX News wasn't raking in enough cash already from all the Christmas commercials for Kill 'em All Barbie and Girls Gone Wild Brand Toddler Gear ? They had to start publishing books about some bogus attack on Christianity? And who did they pick to lead this particular charge?

John fucking Gibson. This guy has wiener written all over him.

Bill O'Reilly gets all the credit as the biggest nutcase in FOXville, but Gibson really deserves his own special wing in the happy house. This motherfucker's embedded assignment reads "Up Karl Rove's ass."

What makes him such a dick? I mean, besides making a fortune by screaming hysterically about how oppressed Christians are by the other twenty percent? How about advocating bombing countries that don't vote the way we want in their own elections? Way to encourage democracy, fuckhead. And maybe he was kidding when he wished, on air, that the French had gotten the 2012 Olympics instead of the Brits so the terrorists would "blow up Paris," but it might have been just a touch over the top to call for it again on the day of the London train bombings. Classy move, asshole.

And really? That's just scratching the fucking surface. Anyone remember who was responsible for the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City? John does: Iraq. And speaking of Iraq, Gibson thinks Rove deserves a fucking medal for outing that CIA agent. And, like any good reporter, he wanted to burn the Florida ballots after his buddy Bush got "elected" rather than, I don't know, count them? "Is this a case where knowing the facts actually would be worse than not knowing?" That right there is why sometimes it's useful for journalists to go to, what do you call that fucking place? Oh yeah, journalism school.

And now he's all worked up about Christmas being stolen. What is this, the fucking Fairytale Network? It's a national fucking holiday and we're spending gobs of our hard-earned tax dollars on wreaths and lights for your special Santa day. But these bastards are all "But they call them Holiday trees!" Here's a clue: no, they fucking don't. Ok, maybe in a couple places, like on FOXNews.com and at the White House, but if Christmas is under attack, I'm Kris fucking Kringle.

And guess who's stealing Christmas, according to Gibson. Go on -- guess. "A cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wra

It's also in an inconspicuous place. Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 7.

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

Given that privacy is such an explicit right in regards to mail, how come the courts just don't get it when it comes to the modern day equivalent? I guess it's because privacy in America died in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of search warrants for "mere evidence" overturning the 1886 Boyd decision. (A brief history of the Privacy Protection Act)

we are enjoying the secret police in USA too, just make sure you smile , do not go to anti-war demonstrations (even in free speech zones)

we are enjoying the secret police in USA too, just make sure you smile , do not go to anti-war demonstrations (even in free speech zones)

I honestly wasn't sure after reading your comment whether the complaints were from zealots thinking it inappropriate for the president to put anything religious on his Christmas cards, or from zealots peeved that he was trying to "take the Christ out of Christmas" with his Old Testament quoting.

So just to clarify, it's the latter.

Or http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/12/13/AR2005121302007.html

or

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/200 5/12/02/in_china_nuns_reported_beaten_protecting_l and_from_developer/

Absolutely. Suitepotato, you just said the most blessed thing ever:

They are fellow humans, the people of China. They deserve better than that gang of thugs in power. I wish them luck in outlasting their predecessors' mistake in choosing to empower those creeps

Hear hear!

The changes Carriers are going to try to make boil down to QoS. Check out the TISPAN standards or 3GPP IMS on which TISPAN relies heavily. There are other standards as well.

Remember the Whitacre comment about "mah pipes"? He was talking about an SBC GPON network. They'll offer "triple play" services to consumers... sure... but the "video" and "telephone" networks won't run on the web... they'll be running on a private network. That means the "data" network is essentially just one of three QoS networks coming into the house. Which means they can control the bandwidth, priority, etc. of that traffic. Do you think SBC or Comcast is going to allow a fat data pipe into their customers home so Google can "steal" their IPTV/VoIP customers?

What can we do about this? Throw up our hands up in disgust and switch to another ISP? Who? Comcast? Verizon? They'll be doing the same thing. What's left? A Wifi provider? Please. WiMax? Yeah right. No wireless standard is going to compete with Fiber for at least several years. The only way Comcast/Verizon/SBC will give the "data" slice of the GPON network a fat bandwidth/priority is if I pay out the wazoo for it. Either that or make web companies foot the bill:

Look for this same QoS battle to unfold in the mobile world as Carriers roll out IMS. Carriers are nuts for ARPU and they're running around trying to deploy "instant messaging" and "video services" in their own walled gardens. Do you think they want to allow some web company to use "mah pipes" and "steal" the customers from their ARPU generating services? Just as there is a QoS bottleneck in the home so too is there one on your phone (when IMS is deployed, your phone talks SIP, etc.) via the PDP Context.

I wish I could have seen the reaction when Google announced their GLM service. You can be sure the phone companies would much prefer to charge for this type of service... and believe me they'll try everything they can to do so. The similarities between what's happening in your home and will happen on your cellphone are abundant. Wireless carriers own the spectrum to provide you services... just as Carriers own the GPON (other similar) network they're deploying. If they had their way there may be no internet... they'd provide all the major internet services themselves via "walled gardens".

FYI, I'm not the grandparent. But, here's a little info.

Richard J. Daley

You'll notice it's actually a bipartisan effort, dispite the popular myth of it being a strictly Democrat problem. Regardless, the issue the grandparent is posting about is actually a dead horse, as Daley is no longer in power. His son, Richard M. Daley, however, is. There are rumors of corruption in this Daley's administration as well. Although, I haven't heard anything about voter fraud per se. If I remember correctly, Patrick Fitzgerald has been going after elements of the Daley regieme. This is probably why the Republicans picked him to investigate the Whitehouse treason case.

If you want current Democrat vote fraud cases, you can look up the Saint Louis cases and the problems in a few counties in West Virginia. Small potatoes compaired to the apparent national and state wide Republican machines, but they exist, regardless.

There's only one group of tech-savvy folks in a boom right now in the mid-Atlantic. That's gov't agencies. Due to the politically driven tech initiatives, even if it smells tech, they'll want to buy it (with our $$$ of course). And gov't folks love buzzwords, business speak and such so they can purchase vaporware with our tax dollars. They salivate and eat it all up when it comes to tech nomenclature. All talk--and that's why so many gov't tech projects waste so much of our money. Trilogy comes to mind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/12/08/AR2005120801109.html?nav=rss_email/c omponents Enjoy.