] SBC Communications and BellSouth have insisted that they
] have no plans to follow Verizon and Qwest, though outside
] pressure on them to do so is growing. Last October, the
] Georgia Public Service Commission ordered local phone
] provider BellSouth, over the company's objections, to let
] customers buy broadband services alone, what's known as
] "naked DSL." BellSouth also has similar arrangements in
] Florida and Louisiana.

Get with the program BellSouth and do it for all states!

Bells loosen their grip

] But what ever happened to the pistol?
]
] The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
] Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted
] after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was
] then presented to the President privately by some of the
] troops who played a key role in ferreting out the old
] tyrant. Though it was widely reported at the time that
] the pistol was loaded when they grabbed Saddam, Bush has
] told visitors that the gun was empty—and that it is
] still empty and safe to touch. "He really liked showing
] it off," says a recent visitor to the White House who has
] seen the gun. "He was really proud of it."

What a $200 billion dollar war buys you.

TIME.com: A Saddam Souvenir

] LONDON (Reuters) - Some critics say the endless stream of
] hugely popular reality television shows are as dull as
] watching paint dry.
]
] Well, now they can test the theory with a live,
] eight-week round-the-clock Webcast of just that.
]
] Billed as the "ultimate reality TV show," British
] pay-channel UKTV Style promises a wall, some brushes and
] different types of paint in its program "Watching Paint
] Dry."

How Lame...

Watching Paint Dry Is Latest Reality TV Gimmick

] LUSAKA (Reuters) - A 50-year-old Zambian man has hanged
] himself after his wife found him having sex with a hen,
] police said Friday.
] The woman caught him in the act when she rushed into
] their house to investigate a noise.
] "He attempted to kill her but she managed to escape," a
] police spokesman said.
] The hen was slaughtered after the incident.

Um... that is whacked.

Man Commits Suicide After Sex with Hen

] If you gleam one thing from the hopelessly silly "The Day
] After Tomorrow," it's this: If another ice age comes, the
] poor Canadians are doomed.
]
] In one of the most dramatic scenes in the disaster film,
] a scientist draws a line through the middle of the map of
] United States and gravely informs the president that for
] everyone still north of the line "it's too late" to be
] saved.
]
] You can almost hear the collective groan from Canadian
] audiences: "What about us, ay?" during the scene.
]
] Speaking of groans, the movie's screenplay is sure to get
] a few from non-Canadian audiences as well.
]
] Where to start?

'The Day After Tomorrow' waterlogged

] In press conferences, TV ads, and interviews this year,
] President Bush has manifested a series of
] psychopathologies: an abstract notion of reality,
] confidence unhinged from facts and circumstances, and a
] conception of credibility that requires no correspondence
] to the external world. Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
] that”he screwed up.
]
] Here's how Bush, in his speech this evening, described
] Iraq's place in history:

Very good read as to the perception of Bush and his policies.

MSNBC - About last night

] But something smells funny. Why would Blofeld, er, Bill
] Gates fold? He's got all the cards. And then it hits me -
] I've seen this movie before. The camera pulls back to
] reveal a giggling Gates. He ain't playin' macho Texas
] hold 'em; he's carefully playing chess and has just made
] another calculated move to protect Microsoft's position.
]
] The open source dudes freak, insisting McNealy sold them
] out to save Sun. And they're probably right, but they
] have to look at the whole board to recognize that McNealy
] is just a measly pawn in a bigger game.
]
] Gates has a history of investing in companies with inept,
] bumbling management to keep them in business and provide
] flanking protection for Microsoft's monopolistic
] backside.

Good article how Microsoft is supporting the dieing businesses to
keep the Govt off there back.

Microsoft is supporting some of the industry

] KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Before teeing off, mind
] the bombed out barracks to your left. Don't aim for the
] fairway; there isn't one. The greens are actually black;
] a mixture of sand and oil. The clubhouse is collapsing
] and has no walls.
]
] Welcome to Kabul Golf Club.

Golfing in Kabul: No grass, no greens

] To start with, London and Washington should recognise
] that they are now combating a full-blown nationalist
] insurgency - not simply conducting a counter-terrorism
] campaign. Indeed, the coalition's most dangerous
] adversaries are no longer foreign fighters or former
] regime holdouts, but growing numbers of nationalist
] insurgents. Their fervent nationalism gives them
] legitimacy and appeal among the very population that
] US-led troops are trying to secure. One does not defeat
] such a movement simply by killing insurgents, but by
] winning popular support and marginalising the rebels. An
] occupied population looks to its occupiers for one thing
] above all - not democracy nor electricity, but security.
] This is what the US and UK have so far failed to provide.
] If the coalition is to have any chance of regaining Iraqi
] consent for its presence, it must put public security at
] the forefront of counter-insurgency strategy. If public
] security is the primary objective, reducing Iraqi
] casualties is the means. If fewer Iraqis are killed for
] whatever reason month to month, the coalition is winning.
] If the number goes up, the coalition is losing - as it is
] at present. A form of "reverse body count" should be the
] metric for success.

RAND | Changing Course In Iraq Is Not an Option

] The Japanese experience is not unique. Bear markets
] correct in time as well as price and they typically last
] about a third the duration of the bull market they are
] correcting. The nine-year bull market in the U.S. ending
] in 1929 took three years to correct. The 24-year bull
] market from 1942 to 1966 required an eight-year
] correction. If the last bull market started in 1982, then
] history suggests the correction might not be over until
] 2006! If we measure from the 1974 lows instead of 1982,
] then this pattern would suggest 2008-2009 for a final
] bottom.
]
] As bearish as this picture is, we should point out that
] the historical examples used above to posit a much longer
] corrective period to the bull market that ended in 2000
] consist of only three previous bull markets, including
] Japan's -- hardly a statistically significant sample!

Market recovery may take longer yet