] Memigo recommends news articles you will be interested in
] based on your ratings and those of other users that are
] similar to you.

Memigo is fairly interesting. I was suprised that it hadn't been recommended before. There are a lot of similarities between Memigo and MemeStreams. It does have some neat features.

memigo : cut through the infoglut

] The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning
] political demonstrators across the country, and in rare
] cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to
] forestall what officials say could be violent and
] disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention
] in New York.

All the seditious talk has apparently attracted some attention. Look for them to claim that their free speech rights (to disable buses and disrupt meetings) are being curtailed.

The New York Times - F.B.I. Goes Knocking for Political Troublemakers

The American Library Association (ALA) today welcomed the Department of Justice's decision to rescind its request that the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents instruct depository libraries to destroy all copies of five Department of Justice publications addressing forfeiture. The Justice Department claimed that the documents are "training materials and other materials that the Department of Justice staff did not feel were appropriate for external use." ALA disagreed with this categorization of the public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, and with the instruction to destroy them. ALA trusts that there will be no repetition of such unjustified instructions to destroy government information.

This is a fairly questionable decision.

ALA welcomes Department of Justice decision to rescind destruction request

Hijexx wrote:
] ] "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,"
] ] Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm
] ] our country and our people, and neither do we."
] ]
] ] White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush's misstatement
] ] "just shows even the most straightforward and plain-spoken
] ] people misspeak."
]
] I disagree. When you size up the enemy, you try to understand
] how they would attack you. It is true that an enemy will
] always think of new ways to attack you. If you are not doing
] the same thing, constantly assessing your enemy's tactics and
] predicting what they could do, you are at a disadvantage.
]
] Bush could have stated this more eloquently, but I think
] that's the message he was trying to convey. Can't fault him
] for that really, but I'm sure people will.

One of the problem with MemeStreams is that its really good for medium sized memes, but it breaks down when confronted with really big memes because they come from so many directions at once. Lots of people memed this story, but no one memed the same source. I've considered playing with baysian filtering technology to sort articles that come for different sources but seem to cover the same topic, but there are so many simple problems to solve with the site.

In any event, I'm rememing Hijexx's version. I think he has got it right. I don't think Bush mis-spoke. I think this is exactly what he meant. Would you prefer that he said "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and we never stop thinking about new ways to harm them?" Thats not a very defense oriented or peaceful perspective. How else would you define "what bush meant." He meant that we are thinking of all of these things too. We're red teaming. We're prepared.

RE: Bush misspeaks?

Republican Ketchup. Islamist Soda. Political product marketing is only a hair removed from the current "lifestyle" product differentiation that most industries engage in. Its only a matter of time before stuff like this appears in the supermarket.

] You don't support Democrats.
]
] Why should your ketchup?

Ketchup is nothing more than flavored tomato paste. Something that looks and tastes a lot like Heinz Ketchup can be made in your kitchen sink without so much as bending a copyright rule. It is effectively all freely-redistributable objects: tomatoes, vinegar, salt, and spices. So why don't we, as consumers, make ketchup in our kitchen sink, and how does Heinz have 80% of the ketchup market?

We don't make ketchup because it is cheaper and much more convenient to buy ketchup from Heinz, Hunts, or Del Monte than it is to make it. But convenience is only part of the story. Convenience alone would suggest that Heinz, Hunts, and Del Monte share the market equally because they offer roughly equivalent convenience. In fact, Heinz owns 80% of the market.

Heinz owns 80% of the market not because Heinz tastes better. If you go to the Third World and find 100 people who have never tasted ketchup before, you find out two things: one is that people don't actually like tomato ketchup, the other is that they dislike all ketchups equally.

Heinz has 80% of the ketchup market because they have been able to define the taste of ketchup in the mind of ketchup consumers. Now the Heinz Ketchup brand is so effective that as consumers we think that ketchup that will not come out of the bottle is somehow better than ketchup that pours easily!
(http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/young.html)

W Ketchup

specialK wrote:
] Had this been an Israeli group that killed this Palestinian
] teenager, it would have been all over the news.

Well, you'll be happy to know NYT coverage is on Google News right now.

] Not only that, but is anyone else alarmed that Palestinians
] are setting up weapons in civilian areas? Where's the outrage??

Well, both news reports that I've read about this claimed that the family wanted to prevent the rock launcher from being set up because the IDF has a policy of launching rocket attacks on civilian homes who are thought to have collaborated with militants and they felt that if they couldn't stop the rocket launcher from being setup they might be the target of such an attack.

If you are to be outraged that the militans put civilians at risk you ought to be equally outraged that the IDF directly targets those civilians as a result.

I have a hard time seeing "good guys" here. Neither the 15 year old boy nor his family nor the militants nor the IDF seem to be on particularly sound moral footing.

Of course, thats why these stories don't get better coverage. Someone is getting killed in this conflict every time you turn around, and only the most radical, and those with vested interests, feel particularly sympathetic to one side.

Everyone else just kind of turns away in disgust. What is there to say on this occaison that hasn't been said 1000 times before. One hopes that someday something remotely resembling progress will actually happen, but no one believes it for a second.

There are two paths to peace. One is that a particular side is completly demoralized and defeated, and the other is that moderates within each society begin holding back the radicals on their own side, rather then focusing on all the bad stuff the other side is doing.

Neither seems likely here. One might see reflections of the U.S. WOT here. The later process, of moderate relaxation of tensions, is particularly difficult when one seeks revenge. Would you be willing to let Bin Lauden go if all of the militant Islamists agreed to a truce?

RE: Palestinian teen killed trying to stop Kassam launch

] Following up on this BoingBoing post about allegations by
] journalist Seymour Hersh of rape and sexual abuse of
] minors at Abu Ghraib prison Iraq -- there appears to be
] evidence for those claims in supporting statements that
] accompany the Taguba Report.

This seems to be gaining steam. Its no longer hearsay, but a matter of official witness testimony.

Boing Boing: Evidence for Hersh's claims of child sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib?

In a low-key secret ceremony, the U.S. handed over power in Iraq two days early.

US hands over sovereignty in Iraq

] An Arabic TV news network said Friday that American
] hostage Paul Johnson Jr. has been beheaded by his Saudi
] captors.

Echoing Nick's comments, I was afraid that this would happen. Saudi Arabia is obviously not going to release 1000 militants. The demands were simply used to attract attention.

My condolences to the Johnson family.

CNN.com - Report: U.S. hostage beheaded - Jun 18, 2004

] Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose subordinates
] have written confidential legal memorandums seemingly
] approving of torture, told a Senate committee today that
] President Bush had "made no order that would require or
] direct the violation" of either the international treaties
] or domestic laws prohibiting torture.
]
] The administration has responded to the memorandums by
] saying they were merely legal opinions offered at the
] beginning of formulating policies. Mr. Ashcroft said that
] "first of all, this administration opposes torture."
]
] He said the "kind of atrocities displayed in the
] photographs are being prosecuted by this administration."

The New York Times - Bush Didn't Order Any Breach of Torture Laws, Ashcroft Says