July 15, 2002

In a never-ending search for con artists, software pirates and digital thieves, U.S. companies with billions of dollars at stake are spending time and resources to curb infringement and catch perpetrators. SecurityFocus senior threat analyst Ryan Russell told NewsFactor that some of the most strenuous efforts are made "by companies trying to help drive legislation in those areas, such as Microsoft, the Motion Picture Association of America and Adobe." 1:40:27 PM

Poor Dubya gave another speech about confidence in the economy, and yup the stock market responded by going down again, by hundreds of points. Analysts speculate that this is because he said nothing that inspires confidence. It's true, his manner of speaking does anything but inspire confidence. He still has that sing-song way of talking like he's reading off a cue card even when he's ad libbing, and the huge pauses in awkward places don't help in confidence inspiration. Then again what could he say that would get people to not be scared of their friends and neighbors continuing to dump stocks? [Scripting News] Clearly this is Clinton's fault....right? 1:24:54 PM

Death for Pearl Killer A Pakistani judge has convicted four men in connection with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Lead suspect Sheik Omar Saeed is to be executed, and his three accomplices, who were convicted of conspiracy, were sentenced to 25 years in prison. Reuters reports that in response to the verdict, relatives of the terrorists were full of Islamist bluster: Omar's family expressed outrage. His father, Saeed Sheikh, said the case against his son highlighted U.S. hypocrisy: "The jihadis (holy warriors) used to be the apple of their eye," he said, referring to U.S. backing for the fight of Muslim Mujahideen against Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan. "Now they are rotten apples." Perhaps it hasn't occured to the elder Saeed that it was the jihadis who betrayed America when they undertook to murder Americans. Reuters also reports that Omar's decision to become a jihadi was "inspired by atrocities against Muslims in the Balkans" (where are the scare quotes around atrocities?). In the Balkans, of course, America was on the Muslims' side. [ OpinionJounal ] 12:49:08 PM

American Taliban Update - John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty today. Two charges, ten years maximum each. Consecutive sentences.   According to Pete Williams on MSNBC and CNN, Lindh has agreed to a 20 year sentence.  At a defense press conference the chief defense lawyer said the plea cleared him on any involvement in the murder of CIA Agent Spann, and that he pleaded guilty to being foot soldier in the Taliban.  via  [Talk Left] [Ernie the Attorney] 12:17:21 PM