Received this email by mistake.  Because I've been on line for such a long time, I own a number of "root" email addresses - that is, my name or first initial-last name without any qualifying numbers or anything else tacked on like most people have to do with their names these days on services such as hotmail, yahoo, etc.. Hence I get alot of email meant for some other ccline.  The net is a wonderful way of staying in touch with people you didn't even know you knew.

From: "Mindy Sanchez" 

Subject: 4th Infantry Finally Sees Combat Action

Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 06:13:20 -0500

Good Morning,

Looks like 4ID saw a small skirmish, but everyone is ok (according to the article below) Hope everyone has a great day.

Mindy

Apr 16, 5:37 AM EDT

4th Infantry Finally Sees Combat Action

By DAVID RISING Associated Press Writer

NORTH OF BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Members of the U.S. Army's vaunted 4th Infantry Division engaged in combat Wednesday for the first time since the Vietnam War, fighting Iraqi paramilitaries and armed men in civilian clothes near an airfield north of the capital.

Additional support - about 20 tanks and 35 Bradley fighting vehicles - was en route to the airstrip after the Iraqis began shooting at Americans learing the field. No American casualties were reported in the skirmishes. "Mostly we're just destroying their equipment as we secure the airfield," said Col. Don Campbell, commander of the 4th Infantry's 1st Brigade.

As of midday, he said, U.S. forces had destroyed a truck, three anti-aircraft guns and two surface-to-air missile systems near the airfield. "We've encountered six to eight paramilitaries, but we think there will be more when we get to the airfield," Campbell said. The fighting came after elements of the 4th pushed through Baghdad overnight and set up near the airfield after 40 straight hours on the road from southern Iraq.

The 4th Infantry is considered the Army's most lethal heavy division, boasting the latest tanks, Bradleys and Apache attack helicopters, along with a sophisticated computer system linking all vehicles. But it has missed out on nearly all the fighting in Iraq.

The division originally was supposed to invade Iraq from the north through Turkey. But the Turkish Parliament refused to let the United States use Turkey as a staging ground. Instead, the division's 14,000 pieces of equipment and 30,000 troops were shipped to Kuwait. They arrived too late to be part of the initial attack.

The 4th Infantry is based in Fort Hood, Texas.

6:55:03 PM    

It is very very strange, but I'm finding myself agreeing with Pat Buchanan more often than not these days. It probably shows just how extreme the Bush administration is that even a conservative like Buchanan finds Bush's policies to be too far right for his taste. Check out his recent columns and see if you don't agree with me.

...or maybe not.  Skimming one of his web pages I came across the following:

Buchanan's latest book is here!
"The Death of the West" is an eye-opening exposé of how immigration invasions are endangering America. Both autographed and unautographed copies are now available at WorldNetDaily's online store!

I think the opposite is true - Immigration has been one of the few bright spots in modern American life, bringing a continuous influx of the highly motivated and the best and the brightest from overseas to continuously recharge the American brain trust, culture, and technical innovation long after native born American's grow content with their 9-5, Fox News, and SUVs.

Still, Buchanan is at least a thinker, which is more than you can say about Bush and his cronies.  My god, Bush believes in creationism! How can you take anyone seriously as a leader who rejects the last 1000 years of scientific advancement and believes the earth is only 4000 years old!

6:01:33 PM    

From this morning's "Good Morning Silicon Valley" e-letter:

If steganography dissertations are outlawed then only outlaws will have steganography dissertations: University of Michigan graduate student Niels Provos has been forced to move his dissertation on steganography offshore in order to avoid prosecution under Michigan's "Super-DMCA" law, which, among other things, makes it a felony to knowingly "assemble, develop, manufacture, possess, deliver, offer to deliver, or advertise" any device or software that conceals origin or destination of telecommunications service, or provide written instructions on creating such a device. "[Super-DMCA] makes basically everything that I do illegal," Provos told Security Focus. "Concealing the existence of communication is my dissertation, and concealing the source of communication takes place in honey nets. So I decided to be proactive about it and move it to another location, and for now just deny anybody from the states to download any of my software."

and from the source article on  The Register

"This statute essentially criminalizes the mere possession of technology," says Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposes the legislation.

The DMCA threatens to make much of what we do in the digital world illegal and the zeal that states are showing in upping the ante is truly disgusting.  The only sane response is to boycott all paid recorded media and instead fire up our Tivos, our CD/DVD burners, and our DAT audio records and rock their world.

11:54:03 AM