From Boing Boing Blog: Shrub's resume. Harper's Index-style list of GW Bush's accomplishments in and out of the Presidency, presented as a résumé.

Accomplishments as president:

* Attacked and took over two countries.
* Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
* Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
* Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
* Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
* First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
* First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
* First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
* After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
* Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
* In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
* Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
* Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
* Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
* Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
* Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
* Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.

Link Discuss (via JOHO the Blog)
10:28:14 PM  #   your two cents [ 1]

6:37:26 PM    

Karlin Lillington considers the possibility that the rescue of Jessica Lynch was staged by US soldiers. [Scripting News]

Check it out, but will anyone care? As  Dave said yesterday in a brief rant , we'd be better off if we just assumed that what we read in the press and hear on TV are just lies, more damned lies, and statistics. Please, folks. stop believing what you read and hear in the press, and start seeking out alternative media and clear thinking bloggers and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Please.

6:33:20 PM    

The War & Peace Letter is very much in keeping with the spirit of this blog.  I read it daily.  I suggest you do so as well.  My wife and I had a discussion about the impact of our increasingly corporatized and homogenized media on the American political landscape after having noticed a number of our Progressive and liberal friends saying "ya know, maybe Bush isn't so bad after all."  I'm afraid people won't get it till the economy is in ruins and we're under attack by the whole world for our imperialist foreign policy.....

Dear Friends:

When you turn on your radio, do you feel like you're in another land,
listening to government-sponsored radio? Do you feel like you're
eavesdropping on a meeting of the Republican Party's? To Ian Masters of
KPFK-FM, this "marriage between a government and its volunteer information
ministry has been consecrated by the blessed victory of "Operation Iraqi
Freedom."
___________________________________

Media Monopolies Have Muzzled Dissent

By Ian Masters, Ian Masters is the host of "Background Briefing" on KPFK-FM
(90.7) in Los Angeles.

If information is the oxygen of democracy, the United States has just been
gassed, not by weapons of mass destruction but by a weapon of mass
distraction.

With George W. Bush basking in glorious ratings and Fox News climbing in
the ratings, we may be moving toward a coronation instead of a reelection
in 2004. It was, after all, Rupert Murdoch's unilateral anointment of Bush
as the winner in the early hours of the morning after the undecided 2000
election that led Al Gore to foolishly concede, because he and the other
networks believed what they saw on Fox Television.

Now the marriage between a government and its volunteer information
ministry has been consecrated by the blessed victory of "Operation Iraqi
Freedom," the geopolitical equivalent of an O.J. meets "Joe Millionaire"
wrapped in the flag.

Totalitarian regimes don't tolerate any distinction between journalism and
propaganda, but in most democracies it is unprecedented for the free press
to abandon Joseph Pulitzer for the methods of Joseph Goebbels.

How did a born-again, family-values administration get in bed with a
purveyor of misogyny and mayhem, trash and titillation? The common thread,
for all the public piety, has to be the late Lee Atwater, who was friend,
mentor and role model to George W., Karl Rove and Roger Ailes, the head
hound in the Fox pound of junkyard attack-dog journalism.

This undemocratic confluence of politics and propaganda has long been in
the making as corporate media have been incrementally empowered while
public influence, input and "interest" have been eliminated.

The transformation of active citizens into passive consumers was enabled by
the Federal Communications Commission under Ronald Reagan's Mark Fowler,
who declared "the perception of broadcasters as community trustees should
be replaced by a view of broadcasters as marketplace participants."

Welcome to America, Mr. Murdoch: You can buy the airwaves and, who knows,
some day the presidency.

TV's Fox could not get away with its shameless shilling for the White House
if the Fairness Doctrine were still in place, and radio's Clear Channel
monopoly would not be able to impose wall-to-wall Limbaugh, Hannity and
Savage, etc., on the public if broadcasters were accountable to public
opinion rather than the dictates of plutocrats.

How could it be that in the land of the free and the home of the brave
Americans are afraid of opinions? Where are the Tom Paines, the Mark
Twains, the Menckens, the Ida Tarbells?

Dissent has not gone away; it has just been marginalized by monopolies and
relegated to the interstices of the Internet.

But the hammer is about to drop on the Internet too. The head of the FCC,
Michael Powell, wants to give away what's left of the store to the
broadband cable and satellite providers and make them gatekeepers or
tollbooths on the information highway.

It used to be that the Internet was accessed via a common carrier, the
phone company, but as technology has moved forward, these new unregulated
media monopolies have increasing control over the information pipeline.
Without regulation, they have the ability to choose what content they
provide.

Two FCC commissioners want to delay this hand-over and encourage public
debate, but the public is largely unaware of what is at stake.

Obviously you can't expect the Limbaughs, O'Reillys and their bosses or
their president in the White House to give them talking points on
preserving diversity of opinion while there is a tax cut to sell.

So speak up, America: It's your country, they're your airwaves. Maybe you
can pursue the American dream while you are asleep, but it will be too late
to reclaim your country's freedom when you wake up.

--Ian Masters, host of "Background Briefing" on KPFK-FM (90.7) in Los
Angeles.
______________________________
 
In peace,

Otoño
________________________________

Read all about it and get the news that matters by receiving the War and
Peace Watch.
Thank you for your support,
The War and Peace publisher.
mail to:  Reikiworks@compuserve.com
contact:  Otoño Johnston

1:02:37 PM    

SCO suspends Linux sales, Torvalds reacts
Litigation-happy SCO drops another bombshell on the open-source community

A report in today's Linuxworld says SCO has suspended sale of its own version of Linux because they are afraid it infringes on their own patent.  This is kinda of bizarre, but probably shows how desperate SCO is to monetize the Linux revolution. I mean, they own the UNIX source, and here a Unix derivative gets all the glory.  The best part is Linus torvald's reponse:

So by distributing Linux they possibly made their own case weaker — anybody who gets _any_ distribution from them (even very indirectly), they cannot limit without themselves being in violation of the GPL.

And I suspect some SCO lawyer just woke up to this fact and realized that they haven't made money any other way, and if their main cash cow is going to be litigation, they'd better avoid doing anything that makes their case any weaker than it already is.

Normally I wouldn't run a company's press release here, but it is sufficiently wierd that I thought I'd post it for those who can't easily get their hands on it:

SCO SUSPENDS DISTRIBUTION OF LINUX PENDING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CLARIFICATION; ANNOUNCES GREATER FOCUS ON UNIX AND SCOx STRATEGY

SCO suspends sales of Linux, alerts customers that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of UNIX and that legal liability may extend to commercial users. SCO reaffirms commitment to SCOx, SCO’s growth strategy through Web services.

LINDON, Utah-May 14, 2003-The SCO® Group (SCO)(Nasdaq: SCOX), the owner of the UNIX operating system, today warned that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of UNIX and that legal liability for the use of Linux may extend to commercial users.

SCO issued this alert based on its findings of illegal inclusions of SCO UNIX intellectual property in Linux. The company also indicated that until the attendant risks with Linux are better understood and properly resolved, the company will suspend all of its future sales of the Linux operating system.

"SCO is taking this important step because there are intellectual property issues with Linux," said Chris Sontag, senior vice president and general manager of SCOsource,The SCO Group. "When SCO’s own UNIX software code is being illegally copied into Linux, we believe we have an obligation to educate commercial users of the potential liability that could rest with them for using such software to run their business. Wefeel so strongly about this issue that we are suspending sales and distribution of SCO Linux until these issues are resolved."

SCO will continue to support existing SCO Linux and Caldera OpenLinux customers and hold them harmless from any SCO intellectual property issues regarding SCO Linux and Caldera OpenLinux products. Going forward, SCO will have a stronger focus on UNIX and the company’s growth strategy around Web services, SCOx. The company introduced SCOx in April as the company’s Web services framework and plans to introduce new Web services applications from third party developers in August at SCO Forum, the company’s annual conference.

"SCO remains committed to servicing our customers and as such, we intend to continue our growth strategy around SCOx-the Web services framework for small-to-medium businesses and branch offices," said Darl McBride, president and CEO, The SCO Group. In a separate announcement released today, SCO gave guidance on expected results for its 2nd fiscal quarter. The company expects to report net income of $4.0 million on revenue of $21 million.

In addition, SCO today also posted an analyst report from Gartner to their Web site at www.sco.com/scosource entitled, "SCO Lawsuit Sends a Warning to Linux IS Shops." The executive summary of the report asks whether Linux is safe from encumbrances.

About The SCO Group

The SCO Group (NASDAQ: SCOX) helps millions of customers in more than 82 countries to grow their businesses everyday. Headquartered in Lindon, Utah, SCO has a worldwide network of more than 11,000 resellers and 8,000 developers. SCO Global Services provides reliable localized support and services to all partners and customers. For more information on SCO products and services visit http://www.sco.com.

SCO and the associated SCO logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Caldera International, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. UNIX, used under an exclusive license,is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other brand or product names are or may betrademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Blake Stowell/Paul Hatch The SCO Group mailto:bstowell@sco.com or phatch@sco.com Tel: (801) 932-5703 or (801) 932-5811 www.sco.com

Dave Close/Avi Dines Schwartz Communications mailto:sco@schwartz-pr.com  Tel: (781) 684-0770

BTW, Eric Raymond has jumped into the fray with his typical exhaustive analysis of the controversy and ends by telling us who he thinks owns UNIX.

10:50:08 AM