---

Friday, September 10, 2004

Don Rumsfeld: Not As Bad As a Terrorist The Republican Party takes another dive into the pit of moral relativism: Amid allegations he fostered a climate that led to the prison abuse scandal, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday that the military's mistreatment of detainees was not as bad as what terrorists have done. "Does it rank up there with chopping someone's head off on television?" he asked. "It doesn't." And, yes, I am happy to concede that Donald Rumsfeld is morally superior to, say, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. By the same token, George W. Bush is morally superior to both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Interestingly, though, neither Hussain nor bin Laden will be on the ballot in November. [matthew] 11:32:46 PM  Permalink  comment []

Genesis data 'retrieved intact' Some material has been found still intact inside the crashed Genesis space capsule, say Nasa scientists. [BBC News] 3:38:54 PM  Permalink  comment []

Hard Case Crime I'm really looking forward to this series of books. 1:55:16 PM  Permalink  comment []

First Direct Image of An Exoplanet? A team of European and US astronomers think they've taken the first direct image of a planet orbiting another star about 230 light-years away. Until now, planets have been discovered because of the effect they have on their parent star - they haven't been "seen" directly. Using the European Southern Observatory's 8.2-m telescope in Chile, the team found a faint, red object nearby a brown dwarf star called 2M1207. By analyzing the object with various instruments, they believe the object is approximately 5 times the mass of Jupiter. There's still some uncertainty, though, so the team will make regular observations over the next 2 years to see how its position and composition changes. [Universe Today] 1:42:18 PM  Permalink  comment []

Bush goes negative on Jesus Ooh, Atrios and one of his readers caught a funny.... [Daily Kos] 1:09:38 PM  Permalink  comment []

Fiscal Conservatives Challenge Bush (Reuters) Reuters - President Bush, who accuses his Democratic rival of keeping his budget plans secret, has yet to offer plans of his own for funding his campaign promises and cutting the deficit in half, fiscal conservatives said on Friday. [Yahoo! News - Most Emailed] 12:56:27 PM  Permalink  comment []

DirecTV Plans 1,500 HDTV Channels by 2007 DirecTV has announced plans to add four new satellites to their constellation, which once fully launched an integrated by early 2007, will allow them to broadcast up to 1,500 HDTV channels. The first two, Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2 (if you care to get personal) should go up by next year, and will add 500 HD channels. With terrestrial broadcasting seeming to drop the ball on HD broadcasts, cable and satellite television may be the great hope for widespread adoption of the high-quality format. Read - DIRECTV Press Release [Yahoo] [Gizmodo] 12:46:17 PM  Permalink  comment []

Think Health Insurance Can't Get Worse? Think Again. Under the watchful eye of the Bush administration, health insurance premiums have risen by 50% over the past four years, resulting in an additional 5.2 million losses of coverage. Think things can't get any worse? Think again. In his speech... [Blog for America] 12:34:53 PM  Permalink  comment []

Study ranks Bay Area as 2nd-most congested in US Published Thursday, September 9, 2004, in the Tri-Valley Herald Bay Area ranks [BATN at Yahoo! Groups] Come on, everyone! If we all decide to just drive the freeways a little bit more, we could be number 1!!! 12:27:52 PM  Permalink  comment []

Threatened species total 'hugely underestimated' [New Scientist] The true number of species at risk of extinction could be 50% higher than the total shown on the International Conservation Union’s Red List, according to a bleak new assessment. That is because existing estimates fail to take into account many species, such as parasites and beetles, that depend for their survival on animals and plants that are recognised as threatened, says the team, led by Lian Pin Koh at the National University of Singapore and Robert Dunn at Curtin University, US . 12:26:32 PM  Permalink  comment []

From My Cold, Dead Paw This is why the Second Amendment is important: so we can defend our families against violent assaults. [Hit & Run] 11:59:46 AM  Permalink  comment []

© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.