oh man does this movie look like its going to be cool. im going to have to start learning japanese now.

[ that looks awesome. -k]

Casshern

If the law says that the legal incidents of marriage cannot be conferred upon unmarried couples, then how can this "leave the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage?" These two statements, presented right next to eachother by the NYT, seem mutually exclusive. Either Scott McClellan is out of line in his statement to the press, or Bush is lieing.

[ Actually, the wording is subtle, i think. It doesn't seem to forbid states from passing laws which confer the "status or legal incidents thereof" on gay couples, simply that they can't *requre* that such rights be conferred. In other words it says "No one can categorically define gay couples as equal to straight couples, even if they happen to recieve the same benefits."

To me, it's an equal rights under the law issue, and possibly a church and state issue (since so many people define marriage based on a religious interpretation).

More than both of those things, it's a political issue. Bush wants to guarantee that the polls are filled with riled up ultra religious conservatives this november -- he wants to force the democratic rival into taking the opposing stand so that swing voters turn to Bush over this one, divisive, critical issue (for them). It's so controversial that the economy, Iraq, Bush's service record, the environment, etc. will be page 2 news as much as possible. The only hope is that it gets the left fired up enough to shake off their collective laziness and bring their young asses to the polls instead of sleeping through class. So much wrong in washington right now... -k]

Congress Is Urged to Begin Process to Amend Constitution

] Bush has since said that his optimism about budget
] deficits was based on the assumption that the economy
] would not hit a "trifecta" of trouble: recession,
] national emergency and war. But in February 2002 -- after
] the recession was declared, the terrorist attacks had
] occurred and war had begun in Afghanistan -- the
] administration continued to have upbeat predictions.
] Although it forecast a $106 billion deficit in 2002, it
] saw the deficit shrinking to $80 billion in 2003, $14
] billion in 2004, and becoming a surplus of $61 billion in
] 2005. Those figures, too, quickly became seen as overly
] optimistic, as tax receipts continued to come in lower
] than expected. A year later, in 2003, the administration
] predicted a deficit of $304 billion for 2003 and $307
] billion for 2004. In reality, the 2003 deficit was $375
] billion, and the White House now expects a deficit of
] $521 billion for 2004.

[ I think we should remember Bush as "the Fiscal Responsibility President". He's leading by example - an example of how not to run an economy. -k]

Daily Kos || Bush Administration forecasts are b.s.

[ interesting... -k]

Seven Revolutions

Jeremy wrote:
] inignoct wrote:
] ] certainly we need to take a long look at the kinds of jobs
] ] we're likely to be able to retain. ... what can we keep?
]
] This is the wrong mindset. It's not about "retaining" or
] "keeping" the jobs we have today. Give them away ... they're
] already dead.
]
] Success will require creating entirely new categories of jobs
] for which today there is no description. This is the future.

[ good point. so, what are the most likely new categories? What's bleeding edge right now? Nanotech? What else? -k]

] In America, we make money the old fashioned way. We earn it.

[ Meh. regular people everywhere make money by earning it. famous people everywhere make money by being famous. the point that we're gonna have to bust our ass and figure out which direction to aim ourselves is well taken though. -k]

RE: Theory vs. Reality

] The suit claims that Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs
] personally called Joel Martin, manager of Eight Mile
] Style, and asked Martin and Eminem to "rethink their
] position" about using the Grammy-winning song.
]
] Eminem responded by ending discussions with Apple,
] according to the suit.

[ Don't steal music. On the other hand, fuck Eight Mile and Eminem's greedy ass too : "even if he were interested in endorsing a product, any endorsement deal would require a significant amount of money, possibly in excess of $10 million." Rock stars and athletes need to knock their egos down a few notches. -k]

Eminem's Publisher Sues Apple Over Song

Is this story true? Its central assumptions have never been seriously tested. There are numerous red flags in the official story, which requires a long series of highly improbable coincidences. Questioning that story is an act of responsible citizenship.

...

The WTC collapses looked suspect to me from day one. This site is a great referrence with movies and pictures to go with the analysis. Lots of eye witness accounts as well.

My thoughts: There's a photo of people walking up to the entry hole in the North Tower and looking out:

http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/photos/wtc1hole1.html

This makes me wonder how hot the temperatures were pre-collapse. Was the temperature hot enough to melt steel? And why didn't the 1975 fire, set on the 11th floor, which spread to 6 other floors and burned for 3 hours, cause a collapse?

Also of note is the antenna. It was 352 feet long, weighing 353 tons. If you notice watching the collapse video here:

http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/videos/docs/n_tower_1st24.mpg

The antenna begins it's collapse before any other part of the building. This indicates the core failed above the impact floor first (the antenna's weight was primarily supported by the core.) A few moments later the collaps starts to manifest in the top floors, then the impact floor.

For these buildings to completely collapse in 10 to 15 seconds means everything fell virtually unimpeded, only encountering air resistance. Seismic records more or less match up with observed free fall times. Also, the symmetry of the debris cloud as the building collapsed and the symmetric distribution of debris on the ground (as indicated in the FEMA report) are hallmarks of controlled demolition.

A progressive, floor by floor collapse would not have been as clean as these falls were. Here's an enlightening passage from the Albequerque Journal:

"Televised images of the attacks on the World Trade Center suggest that explosives devices caused the collapse of both towers, a New Mexico Tech explosion expert said Tuesday. The collapse of the buildings appears "too methodical" to be a chance resul... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

9-11 Research

] At the same time, presumably, that one Canopy Group
] company is negotiating with the DoD to get this account,
] another, SCO, was sending letters to Congress alleging
] that Linux is a national security threat. Do they know
] better, folks?

[ nice. talk about hedging your bets. -k]

GROKLAW | One Hand Doesn't Know What the Other Is Doing

] As part of our continuing series of interviews with
] political journalists and commentators, this week
] Campaign Desk interviews Washington Post White House
] reporter Dana Milbank.
]
] ...
]
] BK: President Bush is famous for giving nicknames to
] members of the press corps. Do you have a nickname?
]
] DM: It's not printable in a family publication.

[ God, Bush is an asshole. Can i print that in a family publication? -k]

CJR Campaign Desk

[ Got this from lessig... an interesting, if simple, analysis of how a 95 year copyright term can be construed as effectively perpetual copyright, based on economics. It's only 1 page... read it. -k]

95yearC.pdf (application/pdf Object)