One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Saturday, 30 October 2004

.< 8:21:40 PM >
Bush wins boost from terror tape

· Candidates battle over bin Laden· Early poll move to President
[Via Guardian Unlimited]
'Kerry's initial mis-step seems to have allowed the Republicans to put his team on the defensive over a video whose content - most analysts believe - favours Bush's campaign, not least because it also succeeded in knocking two major news stories potentially damaging to the president off the front pages.

Allegations over missing explosives in Iraq and an FBI probe of Halliburton hit the Bush campaign all last week.'

Incredible. 'He can run but he can't hide.' Right. Of course bin Laden would prefer to have the extremist in power in the US as it helps inspire recruits.

< 8:13:15 PM >

He has to play the diplomat. He knows damn well his citizens don't want Bush running amok anymore.

< 8:02:03 PM >

< 7:58:49 PM >

< 2:21:26 PM >

< 2:02:26 PM >

[base "]He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,[per thou] said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. [base "]It was on his mind. He said to me: [OE]One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.[base '] And he said, [OE]My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.[base '] He said, [OE]If I have a chance to invade[sigma].if I had that much capital, I[base ']m not going to waste it. I[base ']m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I[base ']m going to have a successful presidency.[per thou]

.< 1:56:30 PM >
100 Definitive CDs
100 Definitive CDs
Norman Lebrecht's weekly look at the 100 definitive recordings. This week, Bruno Walter's 1939 performance of Mahler's 9th.
[Via LaScena-Features]

.< 1:53:58 PM >
Stipe relishes time in Canada

"It gave me a great sense of perspective, I have to say, being so close to my own country, but in a country that is clearly more liberal-minded," Stipe said on the phone from Chicago in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press.

"There's a feeling in Canada of supporting . . . the creative arts and supporting people speaking out and supporting progress and living in the 21st century."

R.E.M. will embark on a Canadian tour next month, and Stipe said he is more than happy to "suck up" to The Great White North, calling Vancouver a "city of the future" with "brilliant restaurants" and "incredibly creative people."

During his stay he became hooked on the Canadian news media and still seeks it out online.

[snip] The singer said he's been struck by the number of hawkish Republicans who have never served in the military, and the number of Democrats who are former soldiers but now oppose the war in Iraq."

.< 1:33:22 PM >
Eight U.S. Marines Killed, Nine Wounded in Iraq

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Eight U.S. marines were killed and nine wounded west of Baghdad on Saturday in the bloodiest attack on U.S. forces in Iraq for months.
[Via Reuters: World]

.< 12:39:13 PM >
Shout Out to Ian and Tessa
From an article in today's Guardian:

Rukavina said he has friends in the United States who say they would seriously consider moving to Canada if Bush is re-elected.

"I think they just don’t feel they can stay in a country that Bush represents," he said.

[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina]

.< 3:37:49 AM >
RIAA Sales Numbers Up Over 10% in The First Half of 2004 – SACD and DVD-Audio Flounder

While music downloading is still having an effect on the CD market, actual sales of CDs, as reported by the Recording Industry Association of America, increased about 10% in the first half of 2004. That is good news...
[Via About Home Theater]

.< 3:11:27 AM >
In Video Message, Bin Laden Issues Warning to U.S.

Osama bin Laden said that the best way for the U.S. to avoid a repeat of 9/11 was to stop threatening Muslims' security.
[Via New York Times: International]

.< 2:57:34 AM >
Cheney oil firm faces UK inquiry
US vice-president mired in claims of bribery and corruption against his former company in four countries.
[Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest]
'The Guardian has learned that the Serious Fraud Office has joined the international effort at the request of the US Department of Justice in Washington. French and Nigerian officials are already involved in the inquiry.

Halliburton has become a political liability for the Bush administration as the US prepares to vote in presidential elections next week.

The company, one of the chief government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been dogged by controversy, which includes claims of White House favouritism in awarding the firm billions of dollars of contracts without being forced to bid and Pentagon allegations that the firm has massively overcharged for its work.

It emerged late on Thursday that the FBI had launched an inquiry into how Halliburton secured contracts in Iraq, so far worth almost $9bn (£4.9bn).'

.< 2:46:01 AM >
Canada Study Sees Risk in U.S. Anti-Terrorism Law

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A key U.S. anti-terrorism law threatens the privacy of Canadians and rigorous steps are needed to protect private medical and financial information, a government study said on Friday.
[Via Reuters: World]

.< 2:42:15 AM >
America's secret war

"In an article in the Saudi English daily The Saudi Gazette, Md. Maqdoom Mohiuddin and Khamis Mushayt wrote an op-ed and book review which exposes an alleged U.S. plot to invade Pakistan, and then later possibly Sudan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey."

This surprising item alerted me to this book by StratFor's boss, George Friedman. StratFor is a private CIA, being paid by companies to tell them of risks.

The book tells of the 'real' reasons whey the US went into Iraq: to scare the shit out of other wavering countries to back the US and not Al Qaeda. Apparently. It says that WMD and terrorism links were merely a smoke screen, or propaganda.

This clarity (even though Wolfowitz has said this openly) wouldn't have been enough to pull the US street with them.
[Via Steve Hooker: War & politics]

.< 2:35:36 AM >
Study: 100,000 civilian deaths due to Iraq invasion

Today, the Lancet medical journal published a report which concludes that 100,000 civilians died in the US-led invasion of Iraq. This is an incredibly high estimate, and at first may seem too farfetched not to be propaganda. But it cannot easily be dismissed. The report's authors are researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. The Lancet is a highly-respected, peer-reviewed publication. The report appears to be a serious academic attempt to study the public health consequences of the invasion. Also, The New Republic magazine has conducted an interview with Prof. Gilbert Burnham, the report's main author. Excerpts and comments below.
[Via Kuro5hin.org]

.< 2:34:21 AM >
NASA image expert says Bush was wearing a device during debates

Mark Frauenfelder: Dr. Robert M. Nelson is a NASA senior research scientist for NASA and according to Salon, an "international authority on image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or canyons." He used Photoshop filters to outline the bugle on President Bush's back seen during the first debate, and concludes that it is some kind of "device."

However, our President sheepishly admitted it was "a poorly-tailored shirt." Poor guy. We should send him some money for a shirt that doesn't have big rectangular pooch and a rope hanging from it. Link
[Via Boing Boing]

.< 2:26:21 AM >
Halloween events galore

Pop scene column as Halloween weekend events galore.
[Via montreal city weblog]

Montreal is a town that's really big on Halloween.

.< 2:24:47 AM >
Latest Firefox/Mac: No Hidden Window, Right-Click Works

The Firefox/Mac hidden window bug that was fixed in recent nightly builds remains fixed in the latest Firefox Release Candidate. And the Release Candidate version doesn't have the bug that prevented "right-clicking" that recent nightly builds did.

Which is to say: the Release Candidate is approaching browser perfection on a Mac.
[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina]

.< 2:21:56 AM >
100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq War

October 29, 2004
[Via Cryptome]

'The major causes of death before the invasion were myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and other chronic disorders whereas after the invasion violence was the primary cause of death. Violent deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters, and were mainly attributed to coalition forces. Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8·1–419) than in the period before the war.'

The link is to a pdf file of the report. The findings are a stunning exposure of the incompetence and irresponsibility of the people responsible for the invasion of Iraq.

.< 1:48:40 AM >
Google confirms Google Desktop for Mac

According to a Reuters story, Google CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed on Friday that the company intends to build a Mac version of Google Desktop, which enables users to search their e-mail messages, files, Web browser histories, chat logs and more. He admitted, however, that such an undertaking will require the Mac version to be "rebuilt from the ground up" because of the "fundamental differences" between Mac OS X and Windows. No timetable was set for its release. The Windows version was published earlier this month.
[Via MacCentral]

.< 1:40:24 AM >
Two Flickr clients

Two weblog editor authors have released Flickr clients. Fraser Speirs’ FlickrExport is an iPhoto plugin that “provides a direct export interface to Flickr.com.” Adriaan Tijsseling’s 1001 “not only uploads photos to your Flickr account, it notifies you anytime new photos from either your contacts, everyone, or your favorite tags are uploaded.”
[Via Ranchero.com]