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Thursday, December 19, 2002
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Will Gray Davis's deficit swallow California? [OpinionJournal]
We're referring to Democratic Governor Gray Davis and his fabulous, ever-growing budget deficit. He now says the state's budget gap for next year is $34.8 billion and counting, up from a mere $21 billion last month, out of a budget of some $80 billion in total. The new deficit is larger than the budget of every state except New York, and more than the value of California's annual farm commodity sales.
"The problem is so big that we don't have a lot of time for hand-wringing," Mr. Davis said this week. "We have to face this problem head-on."
Oh-oh. You know what that means: Instead of wringing his own hands, Mr. Davis is preparing to wring out the pocketbooks of taxpayers. The suspicion in Sacramento is that Mr. Davis, who low-balled the deficit while running for re-election, now wants to make it sound so terrifyingly gigantic that he'll be able to justify a big tax increase.
Sure enough, there's a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times today in which Davis does just that.
10:24:05 PM 
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Concern over air marshals plan. Airlines, pilots and passengers have raised serious doubts about plans to put undercover armed police on UK flights. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]
Captain Mervyn Granshaw, chairman of the UK airline pilots' association Balpa, said: "We have difficulties with the idea of having lethal weapons on board airliners.
There's a joke here in the US that if gun-control advocates really believe in what they say, they should put up signs in front of their houses saying "gun free home." Of course none of them do so--they're not that stupid. But it seems that people in the UK actually are that stupid.
10:07:06 PM
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Most burglars to avoid prison. The average non-professional, non-violent domestic burglar will no longer be jailed, following a ruling by the Lord Chief Justice. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]
Well, that's one way to reduce your prison population. Somehow I doubt they'll stop jailing honest citizens who try to defend themselves from burglars, though.
6:43:56 PM
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Mac EverQuest to have limited 'Net play [The Macintosh News Network]
According to Sony's Mac EverQuest FAQ page, players of the soon-to-be-released game will not be able to play against Windows users, but instead will be restricted to a Mac-only server.
This is disappointing, but not surprising. Getting cross-platform network play to work is difficult, and companies that don't quite have their hearts in it typically just give up. In any case, since the "Mac" version of EverQuest is really for OS X, I just play the PC version.
6:09:17 PM
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I'm looking for some good Windows news sites. I want lots of useful information, clearly presented in a format that doesn't give me a headache--something like MacInTouch or MacSurfer's Headline News for the Mac. So far I haven't found anything, and suggestions are welcome.
2:17:32 PM
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Gas Supplies Drying Up in Venezuela [AP World News]
The Supreme Court said it was considering a motion filed by an executive with the state-owned oil monopoly asking the justices to declare the strike illegal. The court said it will hear arguments on the motion within four days. In the meantime, it ordered striking oil employees and executives to resume work.
So the Supreme Court of Venezuela is in favor of slavery. That goes well with their Communist president.
11:51:58 AM
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Pentagon Mulls Propaganda Campaign. Tasks could include such things as paying journalists in European nations to write favorable stories about American policies... [CBS News]
That's one of the more silly ideas I've read lately. Didn't it occur to anyone that a European journalist writing favorably about American anything is going to stick out like a sore thumb?
10:52:27 AM
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Dixiecrats Triumphant. It was Inauguration Day, and in the judgment of one later historian, "the atmosphere in the nation's capital bore ominous signs for Negroes." Washington rang with happy Rebel Yells, while bands all over town played 'Dixie.' Indeed, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who swore in the newly elected Southern president, was himself a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, "an unidentified associate of the new Chief Executive warned that since the South ran the nation, Negroes should expect to be treated as a servile race." Somebody had even sent the new president a possum, an act supposedly "consonant with Southern tradition."
This is not an alternate world scenario imagining the results of a Strom Thurmond victory in the 1948 election; it is the real March 4, 1913, the day Woodrow Wilson of Virginia moved into the White House. The details, above and below, are drawn from the work of historian Lawrence J. Friedman, especially 1970's The White Savage: Racial Fantasies in the Postbellum South. [Reason Online]
This is all news to me. Wilson is presented quite favorably in US schools for the League of Nations and World War One, but his rascist policies are totally ignored.
10:27:37 AM
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Here's some news from Venezuela. Genaro A. Zaza sent this to a mailing list I subscribe to:
Thanks to all for your help and kind words, we are right now in red alert, the people that oppose this regime are the majority, even the poor are not
supporting this government, in fact they are the most hurt by the stupid policies implemented in the past 4 years. There are proofs that they have established
links to all the major terrorist organizations like FLN, ETA, HAMAS and others, and there are very strong rumors that cuban infiltrates are operating in the
country, we have organized in every residencial area in cities and towns response teams and we are determined not to allow the spread of violence, we are
bidding our time but we will not allow the continuation of this regime breaking the law. The last show of how democratic this regime is the issue of a decree
confiscating private property (Something our constitution allows ONLY when an "Exception State" or War) without any controls, the military is selling whatever
gas is left in the distribution centers Cash only and are not giving any invoice and they are forcing some workers to stay at their post at gunpoint.
Kindest regards to all
Genaro
10:02:33 AM
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The Real deal for Mac OS X?. While Windows customers can pay for a premium service that lets them play back Windows Media Player files and Apple QuickTime files through their RealOne player, Mac users will have to wait for a future release for that cross-platform option.
Mac users of RealOne will also have to wait--perhaps indefinitely--for features that come standard with RealOne for Windows. These include the RealNetworks Jukebox software for organizing music titles, support for portable devices, and a ripping engine. [CNET]
It's nice that the reporter cares about OS X support, but CNET really should have gotten someone who knows something about OS X (or Macs) to look at this article before they published it. If they'd done that, they would know that all the things RealOne doesn't support are standard features of a Mac, and have been for years. Even OS X supports them already.
9:48:18 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/14/2006; 6:57:21 PM.
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