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what is going to be on
this side of the page in
the future?
Excerpt:
Leaders of the Opposition and a broad spectrum of public opinion leaders on
Saturday expressed disappointment over the outcome of the US President’s visit to
Islamabad and said that expectations of solid assurances on Kashmir, nuclear
energy package or a defence deal remained unfulfilled.
People’s Party Parliamentarians President and ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin
Fahim termed Mr Bush’s visit to Islamabad an informal one and said the US President
was originally scheduled to visit India to sign historic agreements. “Pakistan came on
his itinerary by chance”.
He said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Under Secretary of
State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns had already stated that the US Government
would not offer civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan and that had been confirmed
by Mr Bush in his joint press conference with General Musharraf.
So, basically it is like I have been predicting. "Pakistan, do all this stuff for us and I
promise that I will give you nothing in return. Your enemy, India, will get everything
you wanted. No hard feelings, thanks for being a trooper."
her former self, Oligarchy further entrenched
broken up it was done in the stupidest way possible. They broke the company into
many pieces, good, but those pieces had no direct competition because they were
given a monopoly of specific geographic regions.
Without competition service lagged. Necessary upgrades to the system like fiber
optics and ISDN were slow. Last-mile connections to rural and many suburban
communities still have not taken place. It was the telecommunications companies
that killed the dot.com boom by not getting broadband to the people fast enough so
that all those companies that relied on fast Internet service to find customers were
never able to expand beyond the initial stage.
Breaking up the telecommunications' oligarchy is one of the things on Houston's List
of Economic Ideas. The feds should reject the merger of these two giants to help
protect consumers from a market that lacks competition.
Excerpt:
VIENNA, Austria - A defiant Iran warned the 35 nations on the International Atomic
Energy Agency's board Sunday that it will press ahead with full-scale uranium
enrichment if they push for United Nations action over suspicions that Tehran is
seeking nuclear arms.
The comment came as the board prepared to meet Monday to discuss referring Iran
to the U.N. Security Council, but delegates said whatever step the council might take
would stop far short of sanctions.
The UN is not what should be scaring Iran. The EU and Israel should worry Iran.
Israel seems to have no problem nuking the crap out of Iran and the EU seems willing
to sign on to military action if Iran does not comply.
I wonder what multilateral war in Iran would mean for the Middle East? It would knock
power and money out of the mullah's hands and cut-off support to the Shiite's in the
south which would make the Baathist Sunnis much more powerful... Syria would get
a bigger chunk of the action because everyone would be focusing on Iran...
Hmmm....
observation
Apparently lifting can make you trim and muscular and help convert fat into muscle.
What useless physiologist did this study for their PhD? Dr. Laura?
NOAA during HW Bush's tenure at the White House has DeLay scared out of his wits
and stands a good chance to be the Republican nominee going into next November.
"Campbell has gone straight for DeLay's ethics jugular. In one television ad, he
contends DeLay was distracted by his legal troubles. In another, residents of DeLay's
district repeatedly describe Campbell using the word "integrity.""
Rooting for a Republican feels kind of weird.
satellites, Bush still hates actual science
Excerpt:
Since that report came out, NASA has chosen to cancel or mothball at least three
planned satellites in an effort to save money. Cost overruns have delayed a new
generation of weather satellites until at least 2010 and probably 2012, leading a
Government Accountability Office official to label the enterprise "a program in crisis."
More good news for humanity. Speaking as someone who has experience with
remote sensing satellites and their importance to the US economy I can honestly say
that this is one stupid move.
These satellites whether they are optical, infrared, weather or ocean observing
systems provide the US with a lot of information that we need to maximize crop
growth, manage storm evacuations, evaluate volcano and earthquake threats,
predict ocean currents and weather...
Another example that Bush's "desire" to get more Americans involved in science is
nothing more than lip service.
Hell, half the programs that are being cut are ones where the satellite has already
been built at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars but the Bush administration
isn't willing to pay $60 million to put the thing into orbit and operate it.
NASA should have a budget of, minimum, $100 billion. No more of this nickel and
dime shit. Space is bigger than Earth and offers a lot more financial incentive to go
out there and make some money off of it. We just have to be willing to spend the
money on investing in it.
Are we going to leave all of our space exploration for sci-fi authors or are we actually
going to do something that really inspires people and benefits man-kind?
Excerpt:
The report said some Christian-based gay prevention and treatment groups have
used the First Amendment protection of religion to avoid sanctions by state health
officials seeking to enforce regulations on counselors who offer therapy without a
license.
Why is sex such a concern for so many in the US? Why do we care so much about
what people do with their genitals when they are adults with other adults? Who cares
what the Bible says about it. Let that be an issue between each individual and his or
her God, or lack thereof.
Johnson fastball to the face, glaucoma and becoming blind in one eye cuts a storied
career way too short. No longer playing Kirby gained a lot of weight and put himself
at risk.
The Bush administration has a substantial credibility problem. Things it says turn out
not to be true. Again and again.
Two troubling examples made the news last week, and they illustrate a serious
problem rooted in a combination of political arrogance, incompetence and disdain for
the audience. Often it seems the White House, or the president himself, offers the
American public an incredulous shrug to punctuate the plea, "Who could have
known?"
In Iraq, a virulent insurgency is killing civilians and American soldiers. Before the war,
the Bush administration said the U.S. military would be greeted as liberators by a
grateful public. Almost three years of mayhem and chaos later, the White House
blames the insurgency on the residue of Saddam Hussein's supporters and foreign
terrorists.
Who could have known?
In 2003, the White House was repeatedly warned the insurgency had deep local
roots and could lead to civil war. Local conditions, not foreign terrorists, would fuel
the flames. The information was prepared by a committee of senior intelligence
analysts at the request of the U.S. military command.
As the insurgency gained strength, what did President George W. Bush have to say?
"Bring 'em on."
A voice of the neoconservative political movement who fired the imaginations of so
many Bush political disciples sees the roots of the administration's arrogance in the
collapse of the Soviet Union and communist satellites. Writing in The New York Times
Magazine, Francis Fukuyama observed:
"The over-optimism about postwar transitions to democracy helps explain the Bush
administration's incomprehensible failure to plan adequately for the insurgency that
emerged in Iraq." He said although they claim they knew all along that Iraq's
transition would be long and hard, "they were clearly taken by surprise."
Not for a lack of good, available information and adequate warning.
This past week, as New Orleans celebrated a ragged but determined Mardi Gras, the
same scenario of information and denial was exposed.
Transcripts and a government video revealed the administration and the president
were warned in advance about the perils of Hurricane Katrina, the vulnerability of
levees and the potential for catastrophe.
The president is not directly responsible for making sure ice and cots are available,
but he is accountable for the urgency of the response by his team.
Before the storm hit, he was told firsthand about the dangers. So, it is mystifying how
he could stand before the American public four days later and declare no one could
have anticipated the levees being breached.
Earlier, a room full of people he presumably leads told him exactly that.
President Bush is great at sales, but he cannot deliver a product — time after time
of over-weight, chain-smokers receiving the scholarship money. Last year they cut
All-Americans, players who had been drafted by Major League Baseball, and
transfers who came from better schools and then went 6-34 in the process (2-33 if
you discount the division II teams on their schedule). UH Hilo is the second worst
college baseball team ever, Cal-Tech being the first worst.
3-2 in a wonderful bragging-rights match-up and heads into second
round play undefeated
play on Friday:
"Not only will we win, but also we’ll make Japanese baseball fans feel that
they saw a truly great game. I want to make [Korea and Taiwan] see that they
will not be able to beat Japan in next 30 years."
Well, that pissed off the Koreans, who have actually never lost to the Japanese in
international play, enough to beat Japan (again). Before the game Korean pitcher,
Sohn Min-han (Lotte) said, "Hearing what he said, I want to make him eat his
own words by beating the Japanese team."
Well, Ichiro had some humble pie Saturday. After the game, in which he went 1 for 3
including what was probably an intentional pelt on the ass with a 90 MPH fastball from
pitcher Young Soo Bae, had this to say:
"I feel ashamed of this defeat. If I was satisfied with my performance, I
should quit baseball."
Ichiro is my man (because he plays for Seattle) but I was rooting for Korea in that
one. No one should be able to talk shit like that and get away with it. Way to go
Korea.
The USA plays Mexico and Canada plays South Africa tomorrow. Watch it, I know I
will (I have MLB.tv and can watch it on my phone during class).
Iraq's not headed for a civil war the same way that the Cardinals and Yankees are
not headed for the post season. Give me a break. Iraq was fucked from day one.
Excerpt:
The comments drew criticism that Gen. Peter Pace is glossing over problems in the
three-year-old U.S. campaign.
"Why would I believe him?" asked Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a major critic of the Bush
administration's handling of the war. "This administration, including the president,
(has) mischaracterized this war for the last two years."
Iraq is hopeless. We had a chance two years ago if we had just ignored the oil and
used the very well trained Iraqi work force to construct roads and utilities first.
People will get mad if they have no electricity, water, trash collection and have
sewage running down their streets. Forget the oil, build the necessary infrastructure
first.
The US is about to have its ass handed to them by the Chinese, Indians, Europeans
and Japanese if they don't octuple NASA's budget and quite cutting programs that
have an actual purpose.
We need to plan out missions to the Moon so that they can serve a pragmatic
purpose. Exploit the resources contained in outer-space to provide a service and an
inspiration to the people. Let's make it a race to see who can build the first serious
power plant on the Moon instead.
to the Moon... Again
Oscars; Stewart earns biggest prize: Actual viewers tuning in to
watch the oscars
and Pakistani troops
managed to keep Shaun Alexander for $62 million over 8 years.
I am totally perplexed as to why Alexander didn't try to get more. I bet he could have
gotten $100 million from other teams in the league. Hell, maybe Alexander just likes
living in Seattle or something.
building
Excerpt (this will blow your mind):
The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training,
failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.
For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at
Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in
amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took
it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people
nearby.
What the hell, could Homeland Security be any more of a total failure? This
experiment in centralized bureaucracy has got to go. Put FEMA and all the other
agencies back the way they were and instead have an outside bureaucracy whose
job it is to facilitate the sharing of information between criminal agencies.
Did anyone in the government ever read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations? Break
tasks into small, manageable parts to get the job done efficiently and smoothly.
If you ever want to see the failures of a centralized power similar to Homeland
Security just look at Stalinist USSR and the state of Hawaii's education system.
watch this clip from Saturday Night Live
heritage by celebrating it with an all-white crowd at the state capital
Excerpt:
The Charlotte News & Observer reports hundreds crowded the state House chamber
Saturday, sang "Dixie" and saluted the flag -- along with a Civil War-era state flag
and the current U.S. flag.
The event -- which the newspaper described as all-white -- was sponsored by the
N.C. Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
When is the South going to just give it a rest? Those in Germany that wave NAZI
flags are considered criminals and enemies of the state. Why aren't people that
wave and support an enemy flag int he US considered the same? Why wouldn't it be
considered an act of war?
but would you believe me?
Excerpt:
Some 10 percent of worldwide telecommuters wear nothing at all while working at
home, finds a survey by the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SonicWALL.
About 39 percent of respondents of both sexes said they wear sweats while working
from home, but 12 percent of males and 7 percent of females wear nothing at all,
according to a survey of 941 remote and mobile workers worldwide conducted by
Insight Express and SonicWALL, a provider of integrated network security and
productivity solutions.
What I am wondering is: Did they take into account the sheer number of people that
work at home for their home-based porn site? Just a thought.
famous. Thank You.