] The animal diagnosed with mad cow disease in Washington
] state may have entered the U.S. from the Canada in 2001
] with 73 other cows, an official with the U.S. Department
] of Agriculture said Saturday.

I wasn't aware that it had been renamed "the Canada." huh.

CNN.com

] When they first arrived, I was surprised that there were
] people who celebrated Christmas over there. Since the
] only thing I know about Iran is what I've gathered from
] the media, I guess I kinda figured they were all
] fundamentalist Muslims who want to kill me. For all the
] talk about religion (and lack thereof) that I put on this
] site, I feel slightly hypocritical that I somehow feel
] closer (in a sense) to Iran now that I know there are
] people there who celebrate "our" holiday.
]
] Since the news of Thursday's earthquake, I can't shake
] the thought that the people who wrote these cards might
] be dead. It's even more troubling that the earthquake
] which leveled an Iranian city was virtually identical to
] one that I felt just the other day. Our earthquake only
] killed two people, but Iran is looking at up to 40,000
] casualties.

Food for thought....

The Talent Show: Out of sight, out of mind

] Working together, Obey and Young compiled a list of the
] most immediate security needs neglected in the first
] round of funding. They decided that only those items
] agreed upon by both parties would make the list. "We
] stripped the list down to its bare essentials," Obey
] recalls. "When that was done, I asked my staff to cut the
] remaining list in half to make sure there was absolutely
] no 'soft stuff.'" They came up with a list that was very
] hard to argue with--computer upgrades for the FBI,
] improved security for ports and nuclear facilities, new
] customs agents, and other top homeland security
] priorities totaling about $10 billion. On November 6,
] 2001, Obey and Young, along with their Senate
] counterparts Robert Byrd and Ted Stevens, were ushered
] into the White House Cabinet Room to meet with President
] Bush. "I understand some of you may want to spend more
] money on homeland security than we have requested," Bush
] told them, according to members of both parties who
] attended. "My good friend [Budget Director] Mitch Daniels
] here assures me that our [$20 billion funding] request is
] adequate. ... I want to make it clear that if Congress
] appropriates one dollar more than we have requested, I
] will veto the bill."

Our present, unwilling to do what is necessary.

The Talent Show: Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice...

] It is estimated that Americans now spend somewhere around
] $10 billion a year on adult entertainment, which is as
] much as they spend attending professional sporting
] events, buying music or going out to the movies.

“It employs an excess of 12,000 people in California. And in California alone, we pay over $36 million in taxes every year. So it's a very sizeable industry,” says Bill Lyon, a former lobbyist for the defense industry.

Then there are the big hotel chains: Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, Sheraton and Holiday Inn, which all offer adult films on in-room pay-per-view television systems. And they are purchased by a whopping 50 percent of their guests, accounting for nearly 70 percent of their in-room profits. One hotel owner said, "We have to have it, our guests demand it.”

Very interesting 60 minutes article on the state of the porn industry. Brings up an interesting point concerning obscenity prosecutions: What community standard do you apply when the porn doesn't make it to the community-- ala individual distribution?

And beyond that, considering something like 70-80% of americans partake in porn, what are the current community standards anyway?

CBS News | Porn In The U.S.A. | November 25, 2003 12:55:49

] Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry is getting
] ready to loan his campaign more than $6 million financed
] by a mortgage on his family's Boston home.

*sigh*

CNN.com - Kerry set to loan campaign $6 million - Dec. 24, 2003

] Queen Elizabeth II was said by British media reports to
] be "absolutely devastated" over the death of one of her
] beloved corgi dogs, killed by an English bull terrier
] owned by her daughter Princess Anne.

Someone is not getting a christmas present.

CNN.com - Queen 'devastated' by corgi death - Dec. 24, 2003

] Norway's most famous computer whiz got an early Christmas
] present on Monday. An appeals court in Oslo upheld Jon
] Lech Johansen's earlier acquittal on all counts of
] alleged copyright violations.

Round Two goes to Jon!

DVD-Jon wins new legal victory

] Blockbuster Inc. president and chief operating officer
] Nigel Travis on Thursday called for an end to regional
] coding on DVDs, saying they merely create more
] opportunities for piracy.

weren't the region codes supposed to prevent piracy? Oops! That was back when you needed a compliant, hardware DVD player to watch video...

Blockbuster CEO comes out against region codes...

] Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign spokeswoman is deeply
] unhappy with the New York Times' chief political
] correspondent for quoting her criticism of Howard Dean.
]
]
] The reason? The Massachusetts Democrat's team made the
] attack in an e-mail to reporters that contained a note
] asking that it be treated on "background," attributed
] only to a Democratic campaign. Adam Nagourney refused to
] go along.

Kerry's campaign sinks to ever deeper lows. He's already 6th (last among the credible candidates) in many polls, but he's going down screaming, taking potshots at the front runner as if he still has a chance, but trying to do it anonymously. Please, this is the kind of shit that kills interest in politics. Make your opinions attributable or shut the fuck up. Period.

Cutter claims that her "Truth Squad" is all about exposing the facts in this race for the public record, all the while sending pre-formatted attacks to the journalists she has cowed into printing them anonymously...

Ryan: I hate these kind of back-handed tactics. Put up or shut up. John Kerry was the one who couldn't ever give a definitive statement, now he wants to hold everyone else to a higher standard than he himself can achieve.

Stephanie Cutter -- getting a deserved smackdown

] Democrats who live in the nation's capital - and want to
] vote for Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, John Kerry, Richard
] Gephardt, or Wesley Clark - are out of luck.
]
]
] All five asked to be removed from the ballot for the
] January 13th non-binding D.C. primary, citing concern
] about whether the District should vote before New
] Hampshire and Iowa.

hah! i wonder how many will vote for "Vermin Supreme"?

DC primary ballot lacking candidates