Very funny "alternate" captions for governmental warning signs. :)

US Department of Laughs

] "Steve and his team have done an incredible job in making
] Apple once again the very best in the world," Gore said.
] "I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X
] operating system and the company's commitment to the
] open-source movement. And I am especially looking forward
] to working with and learning from the great board members
] who have guided this legendary company's inspiring
] resurgence."

When I first saw this headline, I thought it was a joke. Then I was like, "Ohmigod, this is real??" The man who was once quoted as saying that he invented the internet (yeah, I know it gets quoted out of context), is working for Apple??

With core competencies like that, I sense the seeds of a *long* branching series of jokes...

Al Gore joins Apple's board

Covers the timeline of the Iraq situation, starting August 2, 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, and going up until President Bush's "Saddam must leave within 48 hours" ultimatum on March 17, 2003.

Timeline: The road to war in Iraq

] On one extreme is the title of an editorial in the Syrian
] government daily "Teshreen," which characterizes the
] tripartite meeting in the Azores on Sunday as "The Summit
] of the Bloodthirsty." On the other extreme is an
] editorial in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan which calls on
] Saddam Hussein to "Leave or You Will be Dragged," a
] reference to a known event in Iraq's modern history when
] its leader's (Nuri Sa'id) corpse was dragged behind a car
] in the streets of Baghdad amongst the enthusiastic cheers
] of the crowds.

Translated excerpts of editorials about the war, pro and con, from daily newspapers in Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt.

MEMRI: '[Saddam] Leave or You Will Be Dragged' - Editorials in the Arab Press

Multi-layered interactive map of Iraq from the BBC, showing locations of UK forces, Iraqi bases, oilfields, weapons sites, Presidential sites, dissident areas, Iraq missile range, a map of Baghdad, and a ton of other info.

BBC: Maps of Attack Strategies

] It is emblematic of an evolution in leftist values that has
] occurred so gradually over a period of decades that the
] profound nature of the shift is often not noticed. Today, the
] political counterculture and the antiwar movement in the
] West often seem to be one and the same.

Interesting way of putting it. And I can indeed name several people I know who seem to be anti-war not because they've thought through the issues, but simply because of a knee-jerk "if our government wants it, then it must be the wrong thing to do" kind of reaction.

To be fair, I have also spoken with anti-war advocates who *have* thought through the issues, and have clear, articulate opinions of why war is a bad idea, along with specific suggestions of alternative courses of action. I may still end up disagreeing with them, but I have far more respect for their opinion, and will spend much more time listening carefully to them, when it's clear that they've given thought to both sides of the issue and made a decision based on the facts of the matter, instead of just an emotional "anti-authority" response.

Salon.com | See no evil

] The bombs were dropped in a southern "no-fly" zone in
] response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, a Navy admiral
] said.
]
] Rear Adm. John Kelly said on the aircraft carrier USS
] Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf that the latest of dozens of
] such recent strikes in no-fly zones of northern and
] southern Iraq were against "command and control" targets
] in response to attempts on Tuesday to shoot down U.S. and
] British aircraft.

This kind of thing has been going on for years in Iraq, but it never seems to get much attention. I wonder though if one of these incidents later today will finally just be labeled differently as "the first shots of the war"?

U.S. planes dropped bombs in response to anti-aircraft fire

This is the official homepage of the DHS - Department of Homeland Security. The current color-coded threat advisory is listed at the top of the page (and hyperlinked to a general definition of what each level means). There's also info there about the current "Liberty Shield" program.

Department of Homeland Security

] Dutch journalist Peter Tetteroo aims his camera out the
] window of his hotel room in Pyongyang to film a
] policewoman directing traffic. She's in constant motion,
] gesturing to vehicles coming from one direction, then
] pivoting crisply and signaling to vehicles coming from
] another direction.
]
] It all looks perfectly normal, except for one thing:
] There's no traffic. North Korea doesn't have very many
] cars, and none of them happens to be driving by. The
] policewoman's choreography is all a surreal charade.

Washington Post.Com: 'Welcome to North Korea': A Surreal, Sad Game of Charades

] But if we leave Iraq with chemical and biological
] weapons, after 12 years of defiance, there is a
] considerable risk that one day these weapons will fall
] into the wrong hands and put many more lives at risk than
] will be lost in overthrowing Saddam.

The Guardian | Bill Clinton: Trust Tony's judgment