"I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
Russia calls for an end of Whois in Dot RU � DomainTools Blog
Topic: Internet Civil Liberties
2:17 pm EDT, May 2, 2007
Russia has better Whois privacy laws than the U.S. or ICANN. Russia.RUSSIA!
RE: Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement - New York Times
Topic: Miscellaneous
2:12 pm EDT, May 2, 2007
bucy wrote:
Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.
I don't agree with the headline. They haven't conceeded their legal arguement. They never did. They've never argued it in a court, either. Some of the arguments they've made are incredibly thin. This immunity they are asking for is simply an attempt to avoid having to put their money where their mouth is on this. Its all a bunch of bullshit and hand waving. Whats important is that they aren't doing this now. However, they have substantially damaged the Constitution of the United States by playing this game. A future would be tyrant will pick up this thread where they left off.
More free music, all sourced from the same 5 samples. Includes a new Logickal track.
"And upon the pages were the most infernal of diagrams; my mind reeled as I traced the signal paths - slowly at first, but with developing fervor as comprehension dawned upon me. There was only one thing that these phantasmagoric blueprints could describe, only one possible device with this pentagonal symmetry. I hoped it was not too late..."
Is al Qaeda in Iraq fighting a Sunni backlash? - CNN.com
Topic: War on Terrorism
2:52 am EDT, May 2, 2007
Reports of fighting between al Qaeda in Iraq and Sunni militants surfaced Tuesday, the latest hints of rising tensions between the two allied groups.Other reports have emerged this year of tensions between Sunni fighters and the Sunni-dominated al Qaeda in Iraq, particularly from Anbar province, long a favored turf for indigenous Sunni insurgents and foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria.
This story is interesting in light of PNW's assertion that experts think this is a non event. Of course, giving up Zarqawi was perhaps the start of a trend that may be growing now. Unfortunately, it won't matter without reciprocal sacrifices on the part of the Shia.
While being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show TROOPS, Stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron on patrol run into some very familiar characters.
This is really old, but if you've never seen it you really must. I recall going to great effort to download this in 4 parts back in '97.
Ok, I'll bite. This "illegal is illegal" talk on the part of the anti-illegal immigration movement, far from being "succinct and to the point," represents 3 basic logical fallacies, its a straw man argument, its an over simplification, and it represents circular reasoning.
1. The Straw Man Argument: "My opponent argues that illegal immigration isn't illegal. Clearly that position is wrong, as evidenced by the fact that illegal immigration is, by definition, illegal. Therefore, my opponent is wrong and my views on the issue are correct."
No one is, in fact, arguing that illegal immigration isn't illegal. Demonstrating this rather obvious point does not collapse the debate, but rather, it avoids the debate. There are some who suggest that some kinds of illegal immigration shouldn't be illegal. As laws are a matter of policy, discussing what they should and should not be is, in fact, the purpose of political dialog in a Democracy.
2. The Over Simplification: All crimes are not equal. Both murder and jay walking are illegal, but they are not similarly serious crimes. Saying that "illegal is illegal" is precisely the same thing as saying that "jay walking is just like murder."
Most of the debate regarding illegal immigration concerns the perception on the right that illegal immigration is a crime like murder, and we should devote huge amounts of resources to stopping it and severly punish those who commit it, and the perception on the left that illegal immigration is a crime like jay walking, which while illegal does not warrant severe punishments or huge investments in policing. The statement that "illegal is illegal" contributes nothing to understanding where in the spectrum between these two positions our policy should lie, other than to argue that the United States should treat all crimes exactly the same way and should hand out exactly the same punishments for all crimes, which is ridiculous on it's face.
3. Circular Reasoning: Many people in the anti-illegal immigration movement start their argument by claiming that they are upset by illegal immigration because it is illegal. A good litmus test is to ask whether they would support creating a legal process for short term immigration by manual laborers. The answer is consistently no. Which means the REAL problem isn't that its illegal, as we get to decide whether or not its illegal (see point one). The real problem is something else, and by focusing on the legality rather than on the something else that actually motivates them, they fail, again, to contribute to the discussion in a useful way.
Now I'll be the first to agree with the general statement that "we have a problem with illegal immigration in this country." There simply should not be 12 million people living here illegally. It does not follow directly from that observation that the right answer is a "crackdown." There ar... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]
Missing Bees, Cell Phones and Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy - Christian Newswire
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:52 pm EDT, May 1, 2007
Although the Bible plainly speaks of great famine in the last days, the prophetic words of Revelation 6:6 states that the olive and grape harvest will not be damaged.
In general, breeders have assumed that grapes were either completely self- fertilizing or were cross-pollinated by wind, so that in either case insects were considered of no value. The grape harvest will not be affected by the missing bee population.
America's war on tourists - 28 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: World / International News
Topic: War on Terrorism
10:16 am EDT, May 1, 2007
In a recent poll of international travellers, 70 per cent of respondents said they feared US officials more than terrorists or criminals. Another 66 per cent worried they would be detained for some minor blunder, such as wrongly filling out an official form or being mistaken for a terrorist, while 55 per cent say officials are "rude."
The poll results... rate the US by a 2:1 margin as the world's "most unfriendly" destination for foreign travellers.
Overseas travel to the US has slumped 17 per cent since 2001, even as world travel to other countries reaches historic growth levels. The decline has cost US$94 billion ($127 billion) in visitor spending, US$16 billion in tax receipts, and some 194,000 American jobs.
A 7.6 per cent drop in travel from Britain, a 23.3 per cent fall from Japan, 19.2 from France and 20.7 per cent from Germany - the top US tourist origin markets - between 2000 and 2005.
CalicoPenny let us know about yet another "30 days" effort, this one to name the names of major companies infected with spam-spewing bots. Support Intelligence began the effort on March 28, out of frustration at not being able to attract the attention of anyone who could fix the problems at these companies.
