That headline is perfect.

Ok, it makes fiscal sense, now that we've fucked ourselves, to not send federal dollars into foreign economies, fine. But to explicitly bar them, and then ask them to forgive the debts they're owed by Iraq? That's just incredible.

We're gonna have to bust our asses to win back the rest of the world.

How Not to Win Friends | csmonitor.com

Just a pile of links here for you folks following this issue...

looks like some action may actually come of activism...

Slashdot | Electronic Voting in the News

neat. and pretty pix too.

Warflying...

] A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld key features of
] the nation's new law intended to lessen the influence of
] money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government
] may ban unlimited donations to political parties.

Divided Court Says Government Can Ban

] As mr. don't points out, the agencies receiving an actual
] failing grade are "the U.S. Department of Justice, as
] well as the departments of Energy, Health and Human
] Services, Interior, Agriculture, Housing and Urban
] Development, and State."

i swear, it's not my fault. ;)

Slashdot | U.S. Agencies Earn

] Former House speaker Newt Gingrich said yesterday that
] the Bush administration has gone "off a cliff" in postwar
] Iraq and that "the White House has to get a grip on
] this."

that bush, man, he doesn't even need the support of his own party leaders, he's so right! only, wait, no, no he's fucking himself, that's right.

also
] [Senator Hillary] Clinton dismissed complaints that she
] should not have criticized President Bush while in Iraq
] and blamed a "right-wing apparatus." Clinton said she
] was merely responding to questions from U.S. troops.
] "I'm not going to lie to an American soldier," she said
] on CBS.

good. they may not like to hear it, but they're adults, and should be able to make their own decisions about the efficacy and propriety of what they're doing in iraq. supporting the troops and supporting the war (and it's attendant policies, lapses in judgement and mishandling) are two different things.

U.S. Gone 'Off a Cliff' In Iraq, Gingrich Says (washingtonpost.com)

the economist discusses the rise of biometrics for security...

] Even John Siedlarz, who co-founded the International
] Biometrics Industry Association to promote the sale
] and use of the technology, says that “recent
] congressional requirements are premature in my view.”

another choice quote :
] It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the
] chief motivation for deploying biometrics is not
] so much to provide security, but to provide the
] appearance of security.

indeed.

Economist.com | BIOMETRICS

] "Judge granted both IBM motions to compel, gave SCO
] thirty days to comply 'with specificity' and suspended
] further discovery. Did not rule on the SCO motion until
] next hearing scheduled for Friday, Jan 23 and 10:00 am.

] So it looks like they have 30 days to finally tell us
] what code they are talking about "with specificity".
] Finally.

GROKLAW: First Report from Grokker Inside Hearing: IBM Wins Both Motions to Compel

] The nagging question of steel tariffs hung in the
] Pittsburgh air today like a billowing gray cloud over an
] old-fashioned steel mill. But neither President Bush nor
] his decidedly steel-minded hosts at a fund-raising
] luncheon mentioned it, at least not publicly.

of course no one mentioned it... they just paid 2 grand to sit in the same room as the guy who fucked all their employees. it'd look foolish to question him now though...

In Heart of Steel Country, Bush Talks of Economy, Not Tariffs

] LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) -- A second-grader was scolded and
] forced to write "I will never use the word `gay' in
] school again" after he told a classmate his mother is a
] lesbian, the American Civil Liberties Union alleges.

good job, teach... we want to teach children of gay parents to be ashamed of who they and their parents are. good call.

maybe you should spend some more time on teaching fundamentals of English, rather than fundamentalism

] The child was also made to sign a "Student Behavior Contract,"
] where he wrote, "I sed bad wurds."

anyone want to tell me the point of making a child this age SIGN ANYTHING EVER.

The Associated Press