The Chicks were giving a concert in London, where popular opinion generally saw the impending invasion as pure madness. Maines committed the crime of speaking her mind. "Just so you know," the golden-haired, golden-voiced Texan told the audience, "we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."

Back home, the Chicks were denounced as traitors on right-wing talk radio. Country music deejays, apparently seeing jingoism as a good career move, not only denounced the Chicks but refused to play their music. Some said they were just responding to listeners who threatened to boycott stations that dared to broadcast the Dixie Chicks' sweet harmonies.

Its so nice to occassionally see people get what they deserve. The Dixie Chicks have a number one record, and all those DJ's who denounced free speech during the war effort look like fools. (With bad taste in music.)

Chicks and Balances

The Justice Department is asking Internet companies to keep records on the Web-surfing activities of their customers to aid law enforcement, and may propose legislation to force them to do so.

I'm not sure why this would be so useful for them. It sounds like an expensive and complicated way to gather information regarding only a small percentage of crimes. Anyone care to explain?

U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times

Gawker Media is looking for a programmer to join our tech team. You’re a CSS, JavaScript, PHP scripting junky that understands blogs, RSS, analytics, and is able to solve technical problems on your own and on the fly. Things move pretty quickly around here, so you ought to be a fast learner, too. The position is full-time and based in New York City.
To apply, please write a paragraph about yourself and a paragraph about your experience. Resumes are OK if pasted in plaintext; any applications with attachments will be deleted and you’ll be dead to us. Please send to techjobs@gawker.com.

Any takers?

Help Wanted: Gawker Media Seeks Geeky Genius - Gawker

SPIEGEL: The German people today can't do anything about it. But there is a sort of collective shame for those deeds done in the German name by our fathers or grandfathers.
Ahmadinejad: How can a person who wasn't even alive at the time be held legally responsible?
SPIEGEL: Not legally but morally.
Ahmadinejad: Why is such a burden heaped on the German people? The German people of today bear no guilt. Why are the German people not permitted the right to defend themselves? Why are the crimes of one group emphasized so greatly, instead of highlighting the great German cultural heritage? Why should the Germans not have the right to express their opinion freely?
SPIEGEL: Mr. President, we are well aware that German history is not made up of only the 12 years of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, we have to accept that horrible crimes have been committed in the German name. We also own up to this, and it is a great achievement of the Germans in post-war history that they have grappled critically with their past.

I find it interesting that he questions the logic of people alive today being 'punished' for the things their forefathers did, and yet, in the same paragraph he says that instead the proud historical accomplishments should be emphasized.

If a group of people ought not feel a moral reponsibility for historical crimes of their ancestors, ought they to feel a pride for historical achivements? Either a person has nothing to do with the actions of his father or not...

Nationalism is a tricky beast.

SPIEGEL Interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

MONKEYS are able to string together a simple “sentence”, according to research that offers the first evidence that animals might be capable of a key feature of language.
British scientists have discovered that the putty-nosed monkey in Nigeria pictured above sometimes communicates by combining sounds into a sequence that has a different meaning from any of its component calls, an ability that was thought to be uniquely human.

Pyow pyow pyow . . . hack hack hack hack! Let's get out of here (in monkey talk) - World - Times Online

To investigate 16 of the most prevalent claims made by conspiracy theorists, POPULAR MECHANICS assembled a team of nine researchers and reporters who, together with PM editors, consulted more than 70 professionals in fields that form the core content of this magazine, including aviation, engineering and the military.

In the end, we were able to debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense. We learned that a few theories are based on something as innocent as a reporting error on that chaotic day. Others are the byproducts of cynical imaginations that aim to inject suspicion and animosity into public debate. Only by confronting such poisonous claims with irrefutable facts can we understand what really happened on a day that is forever seared into world history.

Popular Mechanics - Debunking The 9/11 Myths - Mar. 2005 Cover Story

And he will be lying, again, just as he lied when he said: "Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic – it's just not going to work."

Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society.

If you're really looking for blogistan entertainment you should click through to the guy's blog where he tries to defend this comment by claiming to be a Libertarian and calling everyone else an idiot. Yes, its indeed possible to remove 12 million people from a country. The Germans did it. We've done it before (Trail of tears anyone?). It occured in Isreal although the circumstances are a matter of factual dispute.

These were, of course, all bad moments in history that have left permanent scars on the affected populations. There isn't an example of a happy time when 12 million people were removed from a country. The Holocaust is obviously the worst, and so why choose that as your example? Its obviously not going to look like that here, but there really is no example that is acceptable, which is exactly why this is an insane, and evil idea.

The Republicans have got a real problem here. They've had their pundits out sturring the pots on this for several years now. Their authoritarian base wants to see action and won't be satisfied with any compromises. They aren't interested in anything less then getting to watch a large scale human catasrophy go down here and they'll be smiling about it the whole time. The Republicans cannot actually deliver this nightmare, both because its not really in their economic interest, and because they aren't really that evil.

So we've got 6,000 national guard going down there. Its intended to look tough, but its not, and their base knows it, and it has the additional benefit of taking resources away from the GWOT. They can't make their base happy on this, and unlike most civil liberties issues their base is furious about they can't blame this one on the Supreme Court.

This is going to either split the party in two, ensuring the Democrats control, or its going to futher radicalize it. For moderate Conservatives there is no way to win here unless the subject can be changed. Right now the other topical matter is, ehm, wiretapping.

WorldNetDaily: Against a fence

A panel of Nigerian medical experts has concluded that Pfizer Inc. violated international law during a 1996 epidemic by testing an unapproved drug on children with brain infections at a field hospital.
That finding is detailed in a lengthy Nigerian government report that has remained unreleased for five years, despite inquiries from the children's attorneys and from the media. The Washington Post recently obtained a copy of the confidential report, which is attracting congressional interest. It was provided by a source who asked to remain anonymous because of personal safety concerns.

I cannot believe I missed this. Secret unauthorized testing of an unapproved drug on sick children. What sickening disregard for laws and morals. I know there's a new outrage daily around here, but this is just awful.

Panel Faults Pfizer in '96 Clinical Trial In Nigeria

The 100 B.C. murals at San Bartolo, one 30 feet long, were found in a pyramid chamber below 50 feet of rubble. Dr. Saturno found the first painting when he ducked into a trench for shade and saw the face of a maize god on the north wall. It took two years of careful digging to expose the entire chamber.

Crazy!

On Ancient Walls, a New Maya Epoch - New York Times

When Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected. Indeed, the explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade, has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp?

This endeavor is compared to the great library of Alexandria. Can't help but think of Borges...

Scan This Book! - New York Times