] The all-out assault on Richard Clarke has gone on for
] more than a week now. Mr. Clarke has been accused of
] "profiteering" and possible perjury. It is time for this
] to stop.
]
] The Commission should declassify Mr. Clarke's earlier
] testimony. All of it. Not just the parts the White House
] wants. And Dr. Rice should testify before the 9-11
] Commission, and she should be under oath and in public.
]
] The American people deserve to know the truth -- the full
] truth -- about what happened in the years and months
] leading up to September 11.
]
] Senator McCain, Senator Cleland, Secretary O'Neill,
] Ambassador Wilson, General Shinseki, Richard Foster,
] Richard Clarke, Larry Lindsay ... when will the character
] assassination, retribution, and intimidation end?

Fantastic to see Daschle finally standing up and fighting!

Floor Statement of Sen. Daschle on the Abuse of Government Power

] In fact, only 10 percent of the drives I purchased had
] been properly sanitized.
]
] Much of the data we found was truly shocking. One of the
] drives once lived in an ATM. It contained a year's worth
] of financial transactionsrom - including account numbers and
] withdrawal amounts — from a organization that had a legal
] requirement to not divulge such information. Two other drives
] contained more than 5,000 credit card numbers—it looked as if
] one had been inside a cash register. Another had e-mail and
] personal financial records of a 45-year-old fellow in Georgia.
] The man is divorced, paying child support and dating a woman
] he met in Savannah. And, oh yeah, he's really into pornography.

This is another yet another problem caused by technology becoming more and more of a black box. People don't understand how a technology works, thus people don't understand how it exposes them, and people get screwed.

[rant]
I fairly sure this lack of knowledge is a bad thing, and I don't know how to fix it. It even effects techno-junkies, like me. I like understanding technology. However there are some things I really don't care about, such as my car. I just want it to run. I understand how engines work, catalytic converters, etc, but beyond an oil change, fixing a flat, or rotating my tires, I'm sunk. So basically I'm to cars like Joe Sixpack is to Computers. I just want it to work. Of course the difference is my car doesn't have any personal information in it. Or does it? I can think of at least one care of the top of my head that has a hash of the owners fingerprint and voiceprint. Granted its just a hash, but still.

And I think this is a problem thats only going to get worse: How do you explain to people enough about technology to protect themselves? Especially when they don't want to learn they just want it to work. My dad is a perfect example. The man has virus software over 60 months old. Adaware found 45+ *registry* entries of spyware. Viruses, crashes, everything. And everytime time something happens I try to explain to him what I'm doing so he can learn. (ie Explaining boot order so he knows to remove a floppy disk when getting an "invalid system disk" error, instead of calling me at 5:30am). Only dad couldn't give two shits. He doesn't remember what I've said. He wants his computer working again. Its not that dad is losing his mind, its just not important to him. The computer is an appliance, and I stop being the son and start being the Maytag man.

The irony of this is mature folks should get this. My dad was someone who spend time babying a car, changes fluids, tuning the engine when he was young. He should get that a computer is not an appliance, but a finely tuned and powerful piece of equipment. That if he needs to take the responsibilty to learn about the computer if he wants the utilize the power of the machine.

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Hard-Disk Risk + RANT

] Unemployed, but not for lack of style! Retro letters are
] in cool felt for a fabulous velvety feel. Casual cotton
] is very soft, with short sleeves and rib-knit crew neck.

Nice, should get one of these.

Oldnavy.com -- Men's 'Unemployed' Tees

] More than 27,000 defense contractors owe the federal
] government about $3 billion in unpaid taxes as of
] September 2002, the watchdog agency concluded in a new
] report, "DoD Contractors Abuse the Federal Tax System
] with Little Consequences (GAO-04-95)."

Ryan said some contractors stay in existence just for a short time to get a government contract, and then dissolve and change names to get another contract. He said one contractor used magnetic signs on trucks so it could quickly change names.

In some cases, the tax evasion was flagrant. The owner of one contractor with $10 million in unpaid taxes used corporate funds to buy a home in the Caribbean and a luxury boat. Another owner took $1 million from his company to buy a large home and a luxury car.

Ryan: Corruption at its finest. Sound familiar to anyone?

Government Executive Magazine - 2/12/04 Defense contractors owe billions in unpaid federal taxes

IconoclasT wrote:
] terratogen wrote:
] ] He's actually more eloquent drunk. He still seems dumb
] ] though.
]
] I'm not a GWB fan by any means but would you call Dr. Steven
] Hawking dumb cuz he isn't a moving and charismatic speaker ?
] Some of the most fucking brilliant minds are horrible orators.
] W. earned a masters degree from an Ivy League University so he
] can't really be that dumb in the end.

I think your throwing the word 'earned' around a bit loosely here. Kinda like he 'earned' the right to land on an aircraft carrier wearing a commanders uniform.

Ryan: Couldn't have said it better myself.

RE: Dubya drunk on video.

] Dave Blood, bassist for defunct Philadelphia rock act the
] Dead Milkmen, committed suicide Wednesday, according to a
] post by his sister on the band's official message board
] (http://deadmilkmen.com).

That sucks.

CNN.com - Dead Milkmen bassist commits suicide - Mar 11, 2004

] And let's end the illusion right now that adult voters
] make their decisions based on careful study of the
] candidates and their issues. We all know that's bullshit.
] To pretend that teenagers would vote for the first
] politician who promises to outlaw homework ignores the
] fact that their parents are probably dumb enough to vote
] for a politician who promised to shorten commercial
] breaks and make super-sizing free.
]
]
] People are dumb and lazy. They don't give a shit who wins
] because they don't really understand why voting is
] important. Y'know who does realize how important voting
] is? That's right, kids! While we've mostly forgotten all
] the stuff that we were taught in civics class about "one
] man, one vote" it's still fresh in their minds. Hell,
] this could be one of the only opportunities the kids have
] to actually apply the knowledge they gain in school.
]
]
] So, yeah. I'm strongly in favor of this. In fact, other
] than the last few years, the only other time I was really
] excited about politics was during the 1992 election. I
] actually cared about how the candidates stood on the
] issues and I was pissed that I wasn't considered as
] "mature" as the adults who mostly stayed home on election
] day. If I was old enough at 16 to "rock the vote", are
] 16-year-olds today much different?

A quick retort to opposition against a new bill in California considering a partial vote for 16 and 14 year olds.

The Talent Show: Soccer Moms NASCAR Dads = ?

He's actually more eloquent drunk. He still seems dumb though.

Dubya drunk on video.

ryan is the supernicety wrote:
] ] Bad Weather Closings for News 14 Carolina
] ] Raleigh, NC on Feb 27th, 2004
] ]
] ] This was a collaborate effort from the student run
] ] website (TheWolfWeb).
] ]
] ] It shows what happens when a bunch of bored shutin
] ] college kids find the ONLINE CLOSING SUBMISSION FORM. The
] ]submissions run from leet to current events with a couple
] thrown in ]that only State Fans would recognize
]
] This is freaking hilarious if this actually happened.

It did... Follow this link:

Prank results in Fake closings

] Bad Weather Closings for News 14 Carolina
] Raleigh, NC on Feb 27th, 2004
]
] This was a collaborate effort from the student run
] website (TheWolfWeb).
]
] It shows what happens when a bunch of bored shutin
] college kids find the ONLINE CLOSING SUBMISSION FORM. The ]submissions run from leet to current events with a couple thrown in ]that only State Fans would recognize

This is freaking hilarious if this actually happened.

Snotmonkey.com - News Closings