] Don't expect a "Sex and the City" movie, said the TV
] series' executive producer, Michael Patrick King.

Sorry ladies....

[DAMN - Nano]

CNN.com - Producer: No 'Sex and the City' movie - Mar 8, 2004

] LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has declared
] unconstitutional a portion of the USA Patriot Act that
] bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups
] designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Federal Judge Rules Part of Patriot Act Unconstitutional (washingtonpost.com)

] Among the type of hacks the researchers outlined are ones
] that would overwhelm computers with a denial-of-service
] attack.
]
] Others are those that would remotely insert a phony Web
] page between the voter and the authentic server, and ones
] using a virus that could allow someone to alter a voter's
] choices before they're sent over an encrypted connection.
]
] "This is a minority report from one of the peer-review
] groups we invited to look at the SERVE system," said
] department spokesman Glen Flood. "Out of this group of
] about 10 or 11 members, only four of them decided that
] concerns were warranted.

It seems only 4 of them were worth a damn

CNN.com - Federal remote voting system called flawed - Jan. 21, 2004

In Baghdad, huge crowds celebrated in the streets with gunfire.

Saddam Hussein Captured Alive; Iraqis Celebrate

] On 21 September 2002, The Memory Hole posted an extract
] from an essay by George Bush Sr. and Brent Scowcroft, in
] which they explain why they didn't have the military push
] into Iraq and topple Saddam during Gulf War 1. Although
] there are differences between the Iraq situations in 1991
] and 2002-3, Bush's key points apply to both.
]
] But a funny thing happened. Fairly recently, Time pulled
] the essay off of their site.

The Memory Hole: Reasons Not to Invade Iraq, by George Bush Sr.

] Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Wednesday protested the
] U.S. treatment of a Canadian citizen who was detained in
] New York and deported to Syria last year on suspicion of
] having links to terrorists.

Overzealous officials had an (apparently innocent) Canadian man deported to Syria, where he was tortured for 10 months, because another man suspected of being connected to Al'Q co-signed a rental lease with him in 1997. This person is a Canadian citizen. I cannot comprehend why the U.S. Government felt it was more appropriate to turn him over to Syria, a state that is one of the U.S.'s declared enemies, then Canada, a trusted ally. All of the motives that I can imagine are inappropriate. If you prefer to send suspects to countries that don't have civil liberties and due process then you basically don't support civil liberties and due process. If that is the case you shouldn't be working in the United States Government.

(BTW, the British press used the word "condemns" where the Post says "protests." Chretien's exact words were "unacceptable and deplorable.")

Chretien Protests Deportation of Canadian (washingtonpost.com)

] Power engineers, IEEE members, and
] the Spectrum reporters and editors
] who cover power and energy have been sounding the alarm
] about grid problems and potential
] cascading failures for nearly a
] decade. What follows is a compendium of feature articles,
] news reports, and essays that have
] appeared in IEEE Spectrum magazine
] about previous power outages, grid reliability and
] security, and electric power policy.

If you are interested in the grid failure, everything you need to know is here.

Special Report: IEEE says I told you so (re: the grid)

] A major power outage simultaneously struck dozens of
] cities in the United States and Canada late Thursday
] afternoon.
]
] Cities affected include New York; Cleveland, Ohio;
] Detroit, Michigan; Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. The power
] outage occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Officials said the
] outage does not appear to be related to terrorism.

CNN.com - Major power outage hits New York, other large cities - Aug. 14, 2003

] The White House expects that President Bush would have to
] assemble a new foreign policy team, including a secretary
] of state, if he wins a second term, administration
] officials said Monday.

CNN.com - Powell not expected to serve if Bush re-elected - Aug. 4, 2003

] "When Iraq broadcast photos of dead American soldiers,
] the U.S. considered that against human rights," Jordanian
] political analyst Sahar al-Qassem said. "So, why are they
] violating that now by showing such inhumane pictures?"

I strongly agree with this position. Although I am sympathetic to the position that hiding the public from the realities of war has as much to do with desensitizing them as it does with respecting the families of the dead, if we are to take the position that it is morally inappropriate to show pictures like this, and we absolutely have taken this position, then to turn around and do so is an abomination. We are obviously violating our own moral platitudes. I am extremely disappointed.

Don't be fooled by explanations that there are "strategic" reasons for this; that people in Iraq need evidence that the "tyrants have been deposed." The Iraqi military had "strategic" reasons for showing the pictures that they showed: that people in Iraq need evidence that American soldiers can be defeated. The POINT of a moral platitude is that it overshadows strategic interests.

If they wanted to prove that these men were dead they could have found another way. Publish the dental xrays. It would be just as open to scepticism as these pictures have been.

Yesterday, if speaking honestly, I'd have told you I was on the fence about the administration. I don't like the way they've been going about things, but I understand the strategy, and it does appear to be working, and you have to give them credit for that.

However, this kind of blatent moral hyprocracy is beyond the pale. If you don't stand behind your own moral platitudes, then what IS it that separates you from the terrorists? Nothing at all.

I'm going to vote for the most promising opposing candidate in the election.

[ I agree with Decius. I remember the outrage and disgust I felt when I saw the pictures of dead American soldiers on that website, and I don't understand why we have "stooped to that level" so to speak. All strategy aside, this is hypocracy. - Nano]

U.S. violates is own moral platitude