Doodling

Blair and Gates in doodle mix-up
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/...reut/index.html
thanks Gene

Over-hyped Lack of Legitamacy

New Powerbooks - up to 100GB HD :)
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/

The late great Murray Rothbard, the famed libertarian and polymath, once confided to me at a most politically incorrect dinner, "All stereotypes are true."
http://www.wnd.com/new...p?ARTICLE_ID=42627

I like my community-based bulletin boards to be free of nastiness, thank you very much.
http://cl4rk3.blogspot.com/

Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record) has always spoken up, but the California Democrat seems to have gotten a lot louder lately. Her opposition to Condoleezza Rice secretary of state nomination was so combative that it was parodied on Saturday Night Live.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news...ara_boxer

"I came here to vote for my friend," said Bahjat, 23, a Sunni Arab and civil engineering graduate of Baghdad University. His closest friend, Mohammed Abdul Karrem, a Shiite Arab, was killed in an insurgent mortar attack in August that left Bahjat wounded. Four pieces of shrapnel are still in his body
http://story.news.yahoo...ndayelationandpayback

In the survey of almost 2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine Brandchannel, Apple ousted search engine Google from last year's top spot
http://news.com.com/Apple+ed...5.html?tag=nefd.top

Secondly, it is significant that there is a vote in Iraq. But no one in the United States or in the world -- and I'm confident of what the world response will be -- no one in the United States should try to overhype this election...it's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote...Well, you have to behave as if you really are at war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...-2005Jan31.html

Warm Toilet Seats

Wal-Mart and Apple will team to promote iPod shuffle...Figuring conservatively, with 5000 stores each receiving approximately 50 units, the feature alone would demand a quarter million shuffles. "That of course is in addition to regular sell through, and is a very conservative number," sources added.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=860

I've never been to a Wal-mart that was messy and cluttered, aisles partially blocked with half-assed displays, everything on the shelves looking like someone rummaged through it at 5am thinking their alarm clock was in there, and, if you're lucky, what you're looking for will be on the shelf it should be, rather than over here, or over there, or whereever someone decided to deposit it. Shopping in a Wal-mart is not done for the enjoyment of it, its because you either have to, or just want to try to save money on paper towels or buy some cheap clothes or a DVD player as a gift for someone.

This is like a warm toilet seat - technically a good thing, but makes you feel bad

Hypocritical?!! WTF are you talking about? Apple is a business, not a religion!!They need to expand their business constantly or they will be out of it. Don't think for one second that competition will not be heating up.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/...&threadid=50555

Furthermore, Nielsen/NetRatings discovered that more than half the Mac users had five years or more experience using the Internet, compared to only 41 percent of PC users with similar experience. The research group then combined the two findings to reach its conclusion that Apple users, in general, were smarter than PC users.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/...+customers%3F

Snow Blower Wear

Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/...p_on_re_eu/cheney_parka


Aaron you have a call on the white courtesy phone. :)

Joyful tears and frequent applause marked the start of U.S. voting Friday in Iraq first independent elections in more than 50 years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news...us_iraq_overseas_vote

Israel announced on Friday it was sharply reducing its military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to efforts by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to end attacks on Israelis.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news...050128/ts_nm/mideast_dc

"The elections depict democracy as if it is connected to the idea of submission to the American occupier," said Abdel Halim Qandil, who is campaigning against an extension of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak 23-year-old rule.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/..._nm/iraq_election_arabs_dc

A Polish amendment called for Auschwitz, set up in occupied Poland during World War II, to be referred to as a "German Nazi death camp" instead of a "Hitler Nazi death camp."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/27/news/react.html

CNN founder Ted Turner attacked US TV network Fox News on Tuesday, labelling it "propaganda" for its stance towards the Bush administration. Turner also likened the network's current popularity to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Germany. Mr Turner also attacked "gigantic companies whose agenda goes beyond broadcasting" for not criticising the Bush administration enough.

Fox News issued a statement, saying: "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind - we wish him well."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/...11395.stm
Gigantic companies huh?
Time Warner Inc. is a leading global media and entertainment...
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/our_company.html
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/...dcasting/index.html

2nd Qtr Powerbook G5s?

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

Catch me if U can

Iran has been just as eager as the Bush administration for Iraq's elections not to be postponed, and Iranian commentators are anticipating a victory Sunday for a Shiite-dominated alliance.
http://story.news.yahoo..../iranstheiraqidemocracy

Democratic Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a leading opponent of the war in Iraq, is calling for the U.S. to withdraw its troops and let the United Nations help a new Iraqi government draft a constitution... The Massachusetts senator, who offered no timetable for a withdrawal, made his remarks three days before Iraqis take part in their first elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein
http://www.bloomberg.com/...&sid=avi6_8Cd4wbw&refer=us

Speaking to a conference of family abortion rights supporters in New York, Mrs Clinton said that during her husband's administration, family planning funding was a priority and "we saw the rate of abortion consistently fall."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4204999.stm

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was very satisfied with efforts by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restore calm and pledged in an interview published on Thursday to pursue peace with him.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/...20050127/ts_nm/mideast_dc

Obviously we made it past 1999 without Social Security being transformed -- despite Bill Clinton himself calling for the creation of a new form of private retirement accounts and the investment of a portion of the Social Security trust funds in the stock markets in his 1999 State of the Union -- but what ever happened to that "growing number of heretical Democrats?"
http://www.techcentralstation.com/012705A.html


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4211835.stm

A University of North Texas conservative group's demonstration, in which students who captured people posing as illegal immigrants received a candy bar reward, angered some on campus and amused others Wednesday...The university's chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas held "Capture an Illegal Immigrant Day" on campus to call for tougher enforcement of federal immigration laws...Some members of the group wore orange shirts that said "Illegal Immigrant" on the front and "Catch me if U can" on the back. Anyone could check in, receive a badge, search for "illegal immigrants" and receive literature and a reward – a 100 Grand candy bar.
http://www.dallasnews.com/...dnmetborder.58e70.html

"I love the product. I think it's beautiful," said Tom Anderson, vice president of marketing for the Consumer PC Global Business Unit at Hewlett-Packard. "If it started a trend of small (desktops)...I'd be very happy about that. It would be a reason for someone to consider a desktop."
http://news.com.com/Will+Mac+Mini+spur+petite-PC...nefd.lede

The Palestinian leadership banned civilians on Thursday from carrying weapons, its latest step aimed at reining in militant violence, as the Palestinian leader said he was awaiting Israel's response on a proposal for a mutual ceasefire declaration.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...wpale0127/BNStory/International/

The Bush administration unveiled a new personnel system... The new system will replace the half-century-old General Schedule, with its familiar 15 pay grades and raises based on time in a job, and install a system that more directly bases pay on occupation and annual performance evaluations, officials said...Leaders of federal employee unions, however, immediately denounced the new DHS system and any plans to expand it government-wide.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.../A39934-2005Jan26.html

Nicaraguan police, with U.S. assistance in a sting operation, thwarted black marketeers trying to sell SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles capable of downing commercial aircraft earlier this month, raising fears that some missiles already have been sold to terrorists
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050127...6r.htm
http://www.nclr.org/content/topics/detail/500/

Mini Future?

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050120.html
thanks Marshall

Self-reliance

For years, GOP leaders have talked about the potential for making inroads among black voters, many of whom are culturally conservative. In polls, large numbers of blacks voice support for issues often identified with the GOP. Many black voters are anti-abortion, favor school choice and back efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news.../washpost/20050126/pl_washpost/a35238_2005jan25

In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that the world “didn’t lift a finger” to stop the Holocaust.
“The state of Israel has learned this lesson, and since its founding, it has defended itself and its residents, and provides safety to Jews everywhere. We know that we can only rely on ourselves,” he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6870869/
I guess relying on yourselves includes the billions of dollars the U.S. sends Israel.
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/U.S._Aid_To_Israel.asp

A dozen Republican and Democratic senators want to put nonprescription cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient used to make meth, behind the counter. Consumers would have to talk to a pharmacy worker and show photo ID before purchasing Sudafed, Tylenol flu medicine or other popular remedies.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=443323

Macmini Gear
http://www.macminigear.com/index.php/archives/2005/01/22/what-is-macminigearcom/

Mini finds Target

Who, then, is the real moralist? Is it the police officer who stops an illegal alien but cannot call immigration authorities? The contractor who knowingly accepts falsified identification and pays untaxed cash wages? The La Raza ("The Race") activist who promotes ethnic chauvinism for those to whom it will prove most deleterious? Perhaps the grandstanding Mexican consul who faults the United States for his own country's callousness?
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson012405.html



Last November on Venezuelan National Radio (RNV) I learned that there are moves afoot to propose President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias as a leading candidate for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2017.cfm

"I'm not asking for any help from President Bush because I know of his selfishness and unconcern for those who've been pushed into this hellhole."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/.../ap/20050125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

"The America of our dreams, where every child is welcomed . . . in life and protected in law, may still be some ways away," Bush said. "But even from the far side of the river . . . we can see its glimmerings."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/.../washpost/20050125/ts_washpost/a32959_2005jan24

The Anglosphere Challenge to the Political Left
http://www.techcentralstation.com/012505B.html

It also caused acute embarrassment for Germany at a time when authors like Günter Grass and some conservative politicians had started to write about how there were also German victims during World War II.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/24/news/german.html

The Pentagon was re-interpreting US law and trying to bypass the CIA, it said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4202837.stm

El Salvador's gangs are not home grown - in culture and style they ape the Latino street gangs of downtown Los Angeles in the US.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4201183.stm

Pew Study: Most Users Cannot Distinguish Paid From Natural Searches
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsID=288738

The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4199935.stm

As previously reported, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company has been quietly developing Google Video, an engine that lets people search the text of TV shows.
http://news.com.com/Google+rolls+out+TV+search+prototype/2100-1032_3-5548834.html?tag=nefd.top

New diminutive desktop is set to go on sale at Apple stores Saturday; buyers can also order it at Target's online store.
http://news.com.com/Lining+up+for+the+Mac+Mini/2009-1042_3-5547809.html?tag=nefd.ac

News

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Research/index.php?p=42

But in Basra and other parts of heavily Shiite southern Iraq, people are embracing politics. In Basra, clerics implore their people to vote. Seminars in schools, mosques and college classrooms instruct any voter who wanders in about how the election Jan. 30 will work in selecting a national assembly.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news.../popularinshiiteareas

As this Psychology Today article explains, roughly five to ten percent of Internet users develop problems. Approximately the same percentage of people who drink or gamble develop an addiction.
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20050121.html

He's part of our history

The obvious problem with any such laws is where to draw the line. Do you just ban symbols, or do you also ban such offences as “Holocaust denial”? And although almost everybody may agree that Nazism was a unique evil, a ban on Nazi symbols would undoubtedly lead to a call for other similar bans. Why not a ban on the Soviet hammer-and-sickle? Or one on fascist insignia in Spain or Italy?

The issue is particularly perplexing in Mr Frattini's native Italy. Brussels-based journalists who visited the country during the Italian presidency of the EU in 2003 were startled to find Mussolini's photograph still affixed to the wall of the Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of the Italian prime minister, alongside photos of Italy's innumerable other prime ministers—and with no suggestion that there was anything remarkable about it. An official who was asked why a fascist dictator was still accorded this honour shrugged that “he's part of our history.”

Some Germans seem to relish the unusual opportunity to take the moral high ground over Nazism. Matthias Matussek, the London correspondent for Der Spiegel (and brother of Germany's ambassador to Britain), informed his readers that, while the British were still unhealthily obsessed by the war, they had been “focusing too much on their own triumph and too little on the history of the victims. It now appears that the British have a greater problem with the past than the Germans.” You can almost taste the wishful thinking.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3576453

AMP

http://www.simpl.com/products.html



Wi-Fi now rules the roost, according to a new research report concluding that wireless technology has gained a slight edge over Ethernet cables in home networks.
http://news.com.com/Wi-Fi+takes+over+in+homes/2100-1010_3-5544025.html?tag=nefd.top

The president's tone was proud, unapologetic, even defiant...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/20/news/assess.html

In one of the most telling phrases, he said: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4193215.stm

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Interesting Pictures

Although most states have some provision for capital punishment, one-third of all executions since 1976 have taken place in Texas.
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3577494




2-4 week wait

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/18/news/fortune500/apple_shuffle.reut/index.htm

"But it's not fair that pulque is dying out - it's very good to drink, even just a little glass."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4114553.stm

Protesting an Anti-Terror Rally? Only in Berkeley
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16689

That languages occasionally disappear is nothing new.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4172085.stm

In fact she was composed and confident almost throughout, meticulously well prepared and showing the quality of her much-heralded brilliant mind - and memory.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4186313.stm

French unions, which are as powerful in the state sector, say that the mood of the public is shifting against the government's policies of economic liberalisation, however cautious these may be.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4186511.stm

A US Iraqi businessman, accused of pocketing millions of dollars through the UN oil-for-food program with Iraq, pleaded guilty yesterday to acting as an illegal agent of Saddam Hussein's government.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11990657%255E2703,00.html

In the process, U.S. ski areas say they're benefiting. Resorts throughout the Rockies are expecting an uptick in visitors with foreign accents — and money to spend.
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=409144&page=1

China's leaders continued Tuesday to hold tightly to a policy of what they call "inward vigilance and outward relaxation" in an effort to make the death of Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist Party chief who opposed the 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters, pass as uneventfully as possible.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/18/news/zhao.html

He also criticised a ballot measure approved by voters in Arizona in November which requires people to show proof of legal immigration status to obtain certain government services.
"It's incompatible with human rights and does a disservice to both countries, the US as much as Mexico," he told reporters following the talks in the US border town of Calexico, 100 miles (160km) east of San Diego.
Earlier this month, Mexico's government provoked criticism from US pressure groups by publishing a booklet giving safety tips to Mexicans thinking of crossing illegally into the US.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4183447.stm

Yet in the gloom over postwar Iraq, ex-CIA agents and moody public intellectuals have recently doubted this "They hate us for who we are" explanation. Instead, they have reintroduced the notion of "They hate us for what we do" — as if there are legitimate grievances that logically earn such violent attacks organized by petro-heirs, doctors and crackpot mullahs. Even a toned-down bin Laden is quoted as witness. He recently joked that al-Qaida is going after America, not liberal Sweden: had we just shrunk to the stature of the politically correct Scandinavians, then our problems would vanish.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson011805.html

Why haven't CBS or ex-Attorney General Richard Thornburgh called in the U.S. attorney's office and turned over all evidence they have of this felony, designed to assassinate the character of the president and timed to effect his defeat in the election of 2004?
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42411

Sloatsburg, N.Y.-based Classic Restorations has laid out plans to install the Mac Mini in car dashboards.
http://news.com.com/Putting+the+Mac+Mini+in+your+dashboard/2100-1042_3-5539831.html?tag=nefd.top

The Trents are part of a demographic phenomenon in the U.S. unmatched in any of its major trading partners: Americans are having more babies. The trend, combined with an annual inflow of immigrants that is more than the rest of the developed world combined
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aziXgxWAuigc&refer=us

Facing strong pressure from Israel, the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has instructed Palestinian security forces to try to prevent attacks against Israel and to investigate a deadly assault last week in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said Monday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/17/news/mideast.html

Brad Pitt rejected an attempt from Jennifer Aniston to save their marriage, according to a report in Closer magazine.
http://entertainment.iafrica.com/news/404583.htm
this one is for Aaron and Natalie...

the bottom line for Europe was that fewer European respondents said they would choose self-employment - 45 percent said it was their preference - than their American counterparts, at 61 percent.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/18/business/workcol19.html

"I hear so many good things about Apple's OS X, but I've never actually used it," Hodgson said in an e-mail interview. "With the Mac Mini, I can buy into it cheaply and see if I like it."
http://news.com.com/How+big+will+the+Mini+be/2100-1047_3-5535728.html?tag=nl

Lazy Americans

"We tried to bring in American people," says Johnson, who stands 5-foot-1 in heels, and grew up on a farm nearby, "but the American people, they are just lazy. . . . If they [the Latinos] would get out of here, we would have to close because we couldn't find enough people.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=4&u=/chitribts/jobsthatamericanswontdofilledbydesperatemigrants
Maybe if you paid more than slave's wages they're wouldn't be so many 'lazy' Americans...

Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Broadcasting and Cable that the show is "taking everyday American Muslim families and making them suspects...It's very dangerous and very disturbing."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=794&e=3&u=/eo/15718

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-prince-harry-swastika,0,1701033,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
Nazis = Bad, Leftist Nazis = Good

Since 1789

France 2 Humiliates French Government
http://lastofthefamous.blogspot.com/2005/01/france-2-humiliates-french-government.html

In an effort to prevent attacks, private cars will not be allowed on the roads for three days before the ballot, commission officials said. They also said any citizens in two turbulent areas who felt too intimidated to register to vote could sign up and vote on election day. They promised that preliminary results would be available within a day after the voting.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&e=2&u=/washpost/20050116/ts_washpost/a11803_2005jan15

Prague's mayor has had the chance to see for himself whether the many accounts of city taxi drivers ripping off unsuspecting tourists are true.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4175143.stm

But he said it was "human nature" that torture might be employed in certain exceptional cases when time was very limited.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4175713.stm

Atheist loses Bush prayer fight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4176725.stm

So goes the election campaign unfolding across Iraq, a country simultaneously set to embark on an American-backed political experiment while writhing under a guerrilla insurgency dead set on disrupting the experiment...Each party has a list of candidates and will be given seats in proportion to the number of votes it receives. At this rudimentary stage of democracy, some say, it is remarkable enough that the Iraqis are voting at all.
http://nytimes.com/2005/01/16/international/middleeast/16election.html?hp&ex=1105851600&en=f3173f5d3f0260d9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Christian Iraqis in the United States claim they are being effectively shut out of the planned Jan. 30 election for a new government in Baghdad at a time when their community faces murderous violence and discrimination back home.
http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050114-113748-4084r.htm

Death to Harry!

HUD's city focus may be why the White House is dismantling the HUD programs, Frank charged. "HUD is the place where mayors and urban interests can put up the strongest fight," he said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&e=2&u=/washpost/20050114/ts_washpost/a7862_2005jan13

AS DISTINCTIVE Routemaster double-decker buses disappear from the streets of London, Airbus is set to unveil a double-decker passenger jet that it hopes will repeat the success of a vehicle that is every bit as iconic: Boeing’s 747.
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3555366

After all, there is no government handbook entitled, "Operation 1A: How to remove a Middle East fascist regime in three weeks, reconstruct the countryside, and hold the first elections in the nation's history — all within two years."
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson011405.html

In November, Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, infuriated Chirac by referring dismissively to countries that had not supported the war in Iraq as "spectators."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/13/news/france.html

Needham analyst Charles Wolf said that he now estimates 11 percent of iPod-toting Windows users may buy a Mac now that the Mini is on the market. Before that, he assumed the rate would be closer to 4 percent.
http://news.com.com/How+big+will+the+Mini+be/2100-1047_3-5535728.html?tag=nefd.lede

Prince Charles is refusing to force Harry to visit Auschwitz or make a TV apology for his Nazi fancy dress stunt.
http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=15942991

Prince Harry to Auschwitz!

Women and fliers 50 or older are the most strongly inclined to keep airliner cabins free of cell phone chatter.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=3&u=/usatoday/20050113/ts_usatoday/mosttravelerswanttokeepinflightcellphoneban

"It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize," he added. Jewish groups reacted swiftly to the incident.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=3&u=/ap/20050113/ap_on_re_eu/britain_prince_harry

Why not send Prince Harry to Auschwitz so that he can get an idea for himself what it was like to suffer under Nazis. His infantile behaviour is not only an insult to Jewish people but to the current German nation.
Roy Kift, Germany
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4170635.stm

Things are so bad that one of the officials from the Independent Electoral Commission, Adil al-Lami, compared the workers to a clandestine political movement. "They function like an underground," he said in an interview
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/international/middleeast/13election.html?oref=login&hp

"You wouldn't normally think a black kid would be running a high-school computer lab, but we have one doing just that," Blochner said of her show
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4102&n=1&ref=myy

Mr Le Pen denounced the "political control of thought" in France.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4170761.stm

Buenos Aires, dejected for so long by its economic woes, is once again standing proud, as the gay tourism capital of South America.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4113819.stm

Monsters, like leftists, don't reproduce naturally. Ordinary uncontraceived heterosexual relations do not create little vampires and zombies. Monsters perpetuate themselves through blasphemous acts, like assembling dead body parts into human form, or sharing ancient curses through biting.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/011305B.html

The museum and connecting Hall of Fame would document the early roots of popular music in the South, where Dallas was a crossroads of experimentation. And it would examine the influence of Texas natives on today's common genres, from jazz and blues to country and Western swing.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/011305dnmetmuseum.20746.html

The Street

"We are thrilled to report the highest quarterly revenue and net income in Apple's history," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement.
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stocks/troywolverton/10203129.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

"Between the announcements at Macworld yesterday and the results today, it's really about much more than just the iPod," said Darcy Travlos, an analyst with Caris & Co.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/050112/tech_apple_earns_5.html


It contradicts conventional evolutionary theory...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=1&u=/ap/belly_of_the_beast
surprise, surprise

A Republican member of the House of Representatives vowed on Wednesday to lead a revolt against President Bush's immigration reform proposals and predicted that up to 180 party members would support him.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=4&u=/nm/politics_immigration_dc

He told them to pipe down, and when they did not, the lawyer reported the pair to court personnel, who charged them with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/12/lawyer.jokes.arrest.ap/index.html

Today House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "Now that the search is finished, President Bush needs to explain to the American people why he was so wrong."
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Inauguration/story?id=406639&page=1
Too bad that old hag doesn't remember the story below...

But Kay said the Iraqi regime was clearly in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had not give up his ambition to produce weapons of mass destruction.
"All I can say is if you read the total body of intelligence in the last 12 to 15 years that flowed on Iraq, I quite frankly think it would be hard to come to a conclusion other than Iraq was a gathering, serious threat to the world with regard to WMD," he said.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/68444/1/.html

CNBC Interview

http://www.apple.lu/en/index.php?rub=ArticlesVoir&id_news=36

On a street corner in Sadr City, one of the poorest slums in all of Iraq, men gather to argue politics. The smell of raw sewage is overpowering. Trash is strewn over muddy roads.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=3&u=/usatoday/20050112/ts_usatoday/twoiraqcitiesawaitelections
Who cares about the elections, clean up the streets!

Certainly, another sign of depression would be declining consumer net worth -- the total of consumer assets minus liabilities -- which obviously plummeted during the 1930's. Strangely, during the Bush "depression," this statistic rose to a new all-time high of $45 trillion by the end of 2003
http://www.techcentralstation.com/011205B.html

The latest arrests followed an operation in December which allegedly thwarted an assassination attempt on visiting Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, our correspondent says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4167523.stm

Now, they accept it: Ford recently published a newspaper advert saying simply: "Global Warming. There. We said it."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4163967.stm

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3555353

Take an anonymous Pentagon leak from a “high level military officer,” add an appalling lack of knowledge of history, and compound it with ignorance of special warfare tactics. This process describes the article published by Newsweek...
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16601

A source within the Mexican Foreign Ministry confirmed that, at least in the short term, funds for repatriating corpses would not be available, given disputes between President Vicente Fox and Mexico's Congress.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/011205dnmetcadavers.166ee.html

Backdoor Draft?
http://www.techcentralstation.com/011105C.html

For Airbus, the future will include a huge, quiet, fuel-efficient double-deck aircraft with 555 seats and the potential to cram in a lot more by eliminating or shrinking several lounges and bars. For Boeing, the future will be a smaller aircraft of 210 to 250 seats that can fly nonstop between almost any two airports on Earth. Its fuselage will be made of material that will allow larger windows, greater cabin air pressure for easier breathing and enough humidity to halt dry throats on long flights because the nonmetallic composite material will not rust in higher humidity.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/11/business/AIRBUS.html

WOW!

http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

http://www.apple.com/macmini/ 1:22:35

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

http://www.apple.com/ilife/

Apple Keynote

http://schwarztech.us/keynote.shtml

Mobile Blue Screen of Death

http://zdnet.com.com/1606-2-5517693.html

AAPL

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

http://www.whatisvictoriassecret.com/index.html

...and the prosecution on a wide front of a war against the West, depicted as one of self-defense.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/09/news/scribe.html

Americans rush to aid tsunami victims
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4156699.stm

The U.N., NATO, or the EU: These are now the town criers of the civilized world who preach about "the law" and then seek asylum in their closed shops and barred stores when the nuclear Daltons or terrorist Clantons run roughshod over the town.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson010705.html

She was sexually harassed as well. When she declared that she was a virgin and was proud of it, she found used condoms had been thrown all over her dorm room, the dried semen sticking to her clothing in her closet, all over her dresser and mirror.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16575

Under the Geneva Conventions, however, soldiers who fight out of uniform or commit atrocities – i.e., murder prisoners or target and kill noncombatants – may be sent before firing squads.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42310

A little death and destruction from above, anybody?
http://morton.aros.net/army/

Mr Abbas also called on militant Palestinian groups, who boycotted the election, to end their armed uprising against Israeli occupation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4160171.stm

The producer of the story, Mary Mapes, also was asked to resign.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aUg.jVWXtSBM&refer=us
Thanks Goodness!!

Convictions

Texas
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/01/07/parents.detention.ap/index.html
Natalie loves these school stories that come out of Texas...

California
http://www.nbc4.tv/education/4051566/detail.html

Apple and the First Amendment

Bill Gates discussed Apple in an interview with CNet News published early Thursday...He also, perhaps accidentally, spoke of the Mac as a has-been hit in the same company as the Apple II.
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/01/06.13.shtml

Unfortunately, the demands of our respective careers have made it too difficult for us to continue as a married couple.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=492&e=5&u=/ap/san_francisco_mayor_divorce

"Maybe they want the oil in North Sumatra," he said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/06/news/jakarta.html

"Apple does not seek to discourage communication protected by the free-speech guarantees of the United States and California constitutions," Apple said.
http://www.macminute.com/2005/01/06/think-secret/

In Britain, in the basement day-care center of a church near London's Hyde Park, a Christian group holds a workshop on heckling Muslims at the park's famous Speakers' Corner. Participants then head there for the afternoon debates.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/050110/usnews/10muslims.htm

From my vantage point, the UN seemed to be directly connected to this global deterioration. Had it not taken responsibility for multilateral diplomacy over the future of Afghanistan during the rise of the Taliban, or not claimed to protect international security through the mechanism of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and finally not deployed peacekeepers on the ground in Rwanda and Bosnia prior to the mass killings in those areas, then I couldn't make that charge. But peoples of the world looked to the UN to protect them, and the UN let them down.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16564

Recent research suggests that French priests have become so old that half of them will die in the next eight years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4149645.stm

Once class begins, students at North Dallas High School say, they can't go to the restroom or the nurse's office without an escort by a police officer or a school official.
That, and several other concerns, prompted more than 200 to walk out of class Thursday morning and stage a protest at Dallas school district headquarters.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/010705dnmetprotest.77401.html

3.5 days a year

http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/windows_users_spend_35_days_a_year_dealing_with_problems/

But in the words of the CGD, military aid doesn't count because "one country's security enhancement is another's destabilizing intervention" – you know, the way U.S. soldiers "destabilized" France in 1944. (My guess is, Presbyterian missionaries in the jungle don't get as many points as U.N. seminars on condom use either.)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16553

Tsunami Victims and Their Clothing
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/gen/getty51896117.jpg

Two of this cohort's orthodox dogmas are multiculturalism and materialist determinism, and Diamond's book confirms both. Multiculturalism is a species of cultural relativism: no culture, no matter how successful, is "better" than another, just different...But whatever they say, Westerners denying Western superiority usually do so from the prosperity and freedom of the West, which is why their cultural relativism has an odor of bad faith.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/thornton010505.html

Void

In 2005, IBM plans to allow its PowerPC 970 processor line to run multiple operating systems simultaneously
http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/general/2005/01/03/generalprimemedia_2005_01_03_eng-primemedia_eng-primemedia_153118_4014058325543415015.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=void&x=0&y=0

Quitting

Long considered the choice of losers and slackers, quitting can be one of the most empowering and active decisions that a person can make, says Evan Harris, author of The Art of Quitting .
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=926&e=5&u=/usnews/waystofixyourlifequityourjob

Lomax was the unparalleled archivist of American folk music, criss-crossing the country repeatedly for decades starting in the early 1930s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4098291.stm

One-Quarter Of People Online Read Blogs
62 Percent Don't Know What Blogs Are, Though
http://www.wpbfnews.com/technology/4042499/detail.html

"English is the language of business, higher education, diplomacy, aviation, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment and international travel. All signs point to its continued acceptance across the planet," says Mauro E. Mujica
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041229-121824-7896r.htm

If there is one proposition on which Western European elites and radical Islamists, American social conservatives and snobby latte town aesthetes all seem to agree, it is this: American popular culture is a subversive thing.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041230-114327-7178r.htm

Opera
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=338948&page=1

North America's EU

...key House Republicans are promising to push legislation to complete a controversial fence along the Mexican border near San Diego, to make it tougher for immigrants to attain asylum and to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving driver's licenses.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&e=1&u=/washpost/20050102/pl_washpost/a41340_2005jan1


Visionary Vehicles LLC signed a deal with China's state-owned Chery Automotive Co. to sell Chery's cars in the United States, the Associated Press reported.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?guid=%7BFE76F487-A34E-4045-AE02-C230F32F92C5%7D&siteid=myyahoo&dist=myyahoo

Penn State University immigration law professor, said he doesn't believe state police should be enforcing immigration rules because that's a federal mandate. He calls the practice profiling. "Now we're using citizenship instead of race," he said. "A lot of people think it's OK to use any legitimate or constitutional tool in the law enforcement arsenal to protect us from terrorism."
http://www.house.gov/tancredo/Immigration/welcome.htm (Safari does not do well with this page. Firefox is fine.)

When county officials attempted to halt autopsies of illegal immigrants, the Mexican government threatened to sue. It did not offer to pay for the autopsies, citing poverty. The county backed down.
---
Arturo Gonzalez Cruz was named in April by President Vicente Fox as the Mexican Foreign Ministry's institutional liaison for northern border affairs, said "I would like to see a border similar to the one that Europe has right now...Mr. Fox said his government would "use all our persuasion and all our talent to bring together the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments so that in five or ten years, the border is totally open to the free movement of workers."
http://www.house.gov/tancredo/Immigration/WYB.2004.09.29.html (Safari does not do well with this page. Firefox is fine.)