] While market forces and the mechanisms of its employee
] base buffet American, it seems that Mother Nature also
] has had it in for the airline.
]
] A few days after striking the tentative deals, a severe
] storm hit near American's home in the Dallas-Fort Worth
] area. It left the cities' downtowns mostly untouched, but
] hail nearly the size of golf balls damaged 59 American
] aircraft at the DFW International Airport.
]
] "The bad news is, we had hail damage," Carty joked in a
] recent address to employees. "The good news is that
] according to the Book of Exodus, we missed the Red Sea
] and the plague of frogs. The other bad news is that we
] have locusts still to come."

We don't want to know what comes after locusts.

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

Interz0ne talk censored due to DMCA notice (blogging from the sequestered talk (which is instead a discussion about what occured)).

(Rattle here blogging live from my talk.. There is a reason I have been going around all day chanting "Chilling Effects" in ominous tones..)

Interz0ne: Cease and Desist Letter - 20030411

] The days following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
] were dark days of the American spirit. Unable to strike
] back effectively against the Japanese Empire, Americans
] in the Western states lashed out at fellow citizens and
] resident aliens of Japanese ancestry.
]
] Executive Order 9066, signed by President Roosevelt on
] February 19, 1942, was the instrument that allowed
] military commanders to designate areas "from which any or
] all persons may be excluded." Under this order all
] Japanese and Americans of Japanese ancestry were removed
] from Western coastal regions to guarded camps in the
] interior. Former Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark, who
] represented the Department of Justice in the
] "relocation," writes in the Epilogue to this book:
]
] The truth is -- as this deplorable experience proves --
] that constitutions and laws are not sufficient of
] themselves...Despite the uneqivocal language of the
] Constitution of the United States that the writ of habeas
] corpus shall not be suspended, and despite the Fifth
] Amendment's command that no person shall be deprived of
] life, liberty or property without due process of law,
] both of these constitutional safeguards were denied by
] military action under Executive Order 9066...

I plan on ordering this book - as I fear it could happen again here in the 21st century.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066: The Internment of 110,000 Japanese

] A protestor, who refused to give her name, bears the
] wounds after she says was hit by Oakland police weapon
] during a anti-war protest in Oakland, Calif., Monday,
] Aug. 7, 2003 outside the port area. (AP Photo/Paul
] Sakuma)

What you look like if you get blasted with a rubber bullet

] BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi capital sank into anarchy
] on Friday as residents went on a looting spree in full
] view of U.S. forces.
]
] As troops still battled to contain pockets of Iraqi
] fighters scattered around the city, thousands of ordinary
] citizens helped themselves to anything they could lay
] their hands on in shops, factories, schools, hospitals
] and government buildings.
]
] Young and old, men and women rifled through bomb-damaged
] buildings as well as areas unaffected by fighting.
]
] "Is this your liberation?" one frustrated shopkeeper
] screamed at the crew of a U.S. tank as a gang of youths
] helped themselves to everything in his small hardware
] store and carted booty off in the wheelbarrows that had
] also been on sale.
]
] "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them," drawled one young
] marine, lighting a cigarette as he looked on. "Goddamn
] Iraqis will steal anything if you let them. Look at
] them."

Is This Freedom, Ask Iraqis as Chaos Reigns

] CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., April 10 (UPI) -- Wives of Camp
] Pendleton Marines involved in the war in Iraq have been
] receiving crank calls from individuals claiming to work
] for the Red Cross who regretfully, and falsely, inform
] them that their spouses had been killed in action.
]
] In a statement, Camp Pendleton reminded military families
] that genuine casualty notifications are not made by
] telephone or by the Red Cross.
]
] "Individuals falsely identifying themselves as Red Cross
] representatives have made prank calls to Camp Pendleton
] spouses claiming that their loved ones overseas have been
] killed," the Marine Corps said in a brief statement. "The
] Marine Corps does not utilize the Red Cross for casualty
] notification. Marine Corps and Navy representatives
] conduct all casualty notifications in person for Camp
] Pendleton."
]
] Camp Pendleton is the home base of the 1st Marine
] Division, which battled its way into Baghdad and
] continues to engage Iraqi resisters.
]
] "I honestly can't even fathom someone with that
] mentality," a Marine wife named "Julia" told The San
] Diego Union-Tribune Thursday. "I can't even go there in
] my mind."
]
] "I would assume that a young spouse could believe that
] kind of call and her world could be shattered," she
] added.
]
] The Red Cross said last week that families of service
] members in Michigan, Delaware and Alabama had reported
] receiving similar

More G.I. wives get hoax casualty calls

] Nabhal Amin, deputy director at the Iraqi National
] Museum, blamed the destruction on the United States for
] not taking control of the situation on the streets.
]
] On Saturday, Unesco - the UN's cultural agency - has
] urged the US and Britain to deploy troops at Iraq's key
] archaeological sites and museums to stop widespread
] looting and destruction.
]
] Armed men have been roaming the streets of Baghdad since
] the city was taken by US troops on Wednesday.
]
] Shops, government offices, presidential palaces and even
] hospitals have all been looted.

Looters ransack Baghdad museum

We act as though we could wish away what is happening to new products and prices. But the fact is that the on-going commoditization of technology cannot be undone. Products will continue to get better but they will also continue to fall in price. In the face of these dynamics, jobs will melt away. The only growth in the industry will be come from a variety of education, customer support, strategic evaluation and consulting positions. Additional growth can come only from use of the technologies in an open architecture that preserves the freedom to innovate.

This is just one of many worthwhile articles in the latest issue of the Cook Report.

The Paradox of Commoditization

... What all these emerging services have in common is a business model based on subscriptions that are billed monthly or yearly. What the most successful services will share is an appeal that will quickly evolve from intriguing to compelling to essential.

The future will not be advertised.

It Adds Up (and Up, and Up)

Elections are not necessarily synonymous with constitutional liberalism. Democracy is flourishing; liberty is not.

Fareed Zakaria has a new book entitled, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad." I've linked here to the NYT review. This book has received praise from Peter Jennings, Arthur Schlesinger, Richard Holbrooke, Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Nicholas Lemann, and others.

Fareed's book tour will be in SF on April 21, LA on April 22, Boston on May 1, and elsewhere on other dates.

Here's Your Vote; Liberty Can Wait