] Then Bush either realized he was missing something, or he
] heard the commotion. The president, who is rarely alone,
] even in his own house, turned and walked back to the
] front door unaccompanied, facing the backs of a sea of
] dark suits. Bush, with his right hand, reached over the
] suits and pointed insistently at Trotta. At first the
] officials, with their backs to him and their heads in the
] rumble, did not realize it was the president intervening.
] Bush then braced himself against someone and lunged to
] retrieve the agent, who was still arguing with the
] Chileans. The shocked Chilean officials then released
] Trotta.
]
] Trotta walked in behind Bush, who looked enormously
] pleased with himself. He was wearing the expression that
] some critics call a smirk, and his eyebrows shot up as if
] to wink at bystanders.

I rarely like Bush, but this is one of those moments. Right on.

Spats Over Security Roil Summit in Chile (washingtonpost.com)

] In September, academy officials issued a memo explaining
] the government's e-mail policy after some staffers put
] biblical verses at the bottom of their e-mails.

So, what part of protecting me from establishment involves controlling people's personal email signatures? When you're overzealous it works in favor of your opponent.

CNN.com - Why secularists loose

] The idea of Secret Santa is very simple - you pull a name
] out of a hat and buy that person a present. Your name is
] in the hat as well, so someone buys you a present too!
] Everyone gets a present! Everyone's happy!
]
] To use Secret Santa, all you need is a wishlist* at
] Amazon. First you tell Santa about yourself. Then on
] December 10th you will be told who you're buying a gift
] for. And by Christmas Day, everyone has a sparkly present
] to open!

Kind of a fun idea. I mean, if you're going to be mailed a gift from your wish list by someone you don't know you might as well just buy it yourself, but at least this way someone has to wrap it for you. :)

Internet Wide Secret Santa

[ Looks very cool... don't know how i missed it... i was positive i'd seen everything on the internet by now... i'd like to fit this into my entertainment budget, but we'll see. -k]

Has anyone seen this?

What would you give? [ Broken Saints ]

Heres a bunch of fun reading if you have a lot of free time! US Military field manuals. They recently published this one:

] FMI 3-07.22. Counterinsurgency Operations 1 October 2004
] (3 MB PDF file)

This book covers new tactics being employed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other interesting books include:

] # FM 24-18. Tactical Single-Channel Radio Communications
] Techniques. 30 September 1987.
] # FM 24-33. Communications Techniques: Electronic
] Counter-Countermeasures. 17 July 1990.
] # (C)FM 32-20 Electronic Warfare (EW) (U)
] # (C)FM 32-30 Electronic Warfare, Tactics of Defense
] # FM 33-1 Psychological Operations August 1979
] # FM 34-1, Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Operations
] 27 September 1994. [superseded by FM 2-0]

Army Intelligence and Security Doctrine

Apple death spiral watch.

] The story sounds eerily familiar.
]
] The iPod cannot play songs from most other stores, and
] Apple's iTunes store won't sell songs for other players.
] Mr. Gates argues that consumers ultimately will want more
] choices.
]
] Mr. Jobs rejects the comparison between the music players
] and computers. The Macintosh had an uphill battle, Apple
] says, because so many corporate customers already had
] applications based on Microsoft's operating system that
] they didn't want to abandon. By contrast, Apple's iTunes
] Music Store sells pretty much the same songs that the
] others do, but they cannot be moved onto non-Apple
] portable devices.
]
] What happens next Christmas and beyond, however, is a
] matter of considerable debate. Microsoft fans say that
] other music players will begin to match Apple's features
] and styling, and with lower prices. They suggest that
] consumers, meanwhile, will want to buy music from stores
] other than iTunes.
]
] "Over time, proprietary standards always lose because
] industry standards always win because you get more for
] less," said Michael A. George, the general manager of
] Dell's consumer business.
]
] BUT Geoff Moore, who articulated the platform strategy in
] his 1999 book "Crossing the Chasm," argues that Apple is
] the rare company that should not follow his advice. Mr.
] Jobs, he said, has built the company around
] idiosyncratic, premium-priced products that gain appeal
] in part from their splendid isolation.

Geoff Moore just lost a lot of credibility for me. Apple is fucked. If you buy a Macintosh computer you will only be able to buy an ipod. If you buy an ipod you will not be able to use subscription music services. The end result will be that you simply cannot listen to the music that you want to listen to. Period. Because you bought a mac. I'm already starting to regret making the switch. Buying a mac will limit your choices for music as it did for video games in the 80s. That will absolutely kill OSX. Apple will be right back where it was in 1998 in 2008.

The New York Times : Music Wars - Apple vs. MS

] I personally know - very closely - at least four persons,
] one elderly, who suffer from debilitating chronic
] diseases, which, without adequate treatment, will prove
] fatal. In each case their income = ZERO. Private-sector
] (commercial) health insurance is unavailable at ANY
] price.
]
] A recent study published by TIAA-CREF's latest View
] listed individual tax burden per $1,000 of income for
] each of the 50 states. TENNESSEE WAS 50th - THE LOWEST IN
] THE NATION! (New York was the highest.) Given this fact
] alone makes it ludicrous to argue that the State of
] Tennessee cannot afford to keep its poorest and its
] uninsurable citizens healthy!
]

11/10/2004 - Torpedoing TennCare Signs Some Death Warrants - Opinion - Chattanoogan.com

This is a post election article from Tennessee. The title was:

] Bredesen sees no significant effect of shift in power
]
] Tennesseans elected the first state senate majority in
] 140 years.
]
] On the issue of TennCare, Bredesen said, "We've always
] known there were two options for controlling TennCare
] costs so it doesn't take all the resources of state
] government."

Five days later, he kills the program.

My mother is on Tenncare. She has a condition which in general does not contribute much to her healthcare costs. However, no insurance company will provide her with general health coverage because of it. Tenncare was really her only option. She pays more for Tenncare then most people do for their health insurance, and she doesn't get much out of it. She is often stuck going to ghetto Tenncare doctors who primary treat people who are too poor to pay. We have insurance so that in the event of something catastropic we're able to pay.

My mother now joins the growing ranks of the uninsured in this country, not because she is a leech on the system, as rock stupid Republican fucking commentators consistantly claim everyone on Tenncare is, but because actuaries have decided that they will not cover her at any price.

YEAH FU@#$ING REPUBLICANS!!@!@!@!#$

] "Bogus "Whois Problem Reports" are increasingly going
] from being an annoyance to being a real security risk.
] Some recent incidents I've experienced due to Whois
] Problem Reports *merely* being filed:
]
] * Dotster, about two weeks ago, threatened to delete a
] domain if I didn't respond.
]
] * BulkRegister, just yesterday, threatened to suspend a
] domain if I didn't respond within 5 calendar days.

Anyone can go to ICANN's webform and submit a complaint about any website. There is no human intervention because ICANN felt that there were few abuses of the system back when no body knew about it. You registrar will automatically generate an email and send it to you. If you don't respond within a very short period of time you loose the domain. The time to switch to registrars who protect anonymnity is now.

ICANN destroys internet anonymnity

] We as a nation are living beyond our means. The federal
] government is in debt. Most state and local governments
] are in debt (their form of deficit spending is to issue
] bonds). Most assuredly the American consumer is
] dangerously in debt. And, finally, the American dollar is
] losing its purchasing power steadily and daily. Remember,
] debt is the promise of future income to pay for today's
] consumption. Nobody is guaranteed a future, much less
] future income.

A Storm Is Coming by Charley Reese