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Wednesday, May 19, 2004 |
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Bush Surrender! The french would be proud.
"It appears, then, that the president gave up his judicial recess-appointment power, not for any substantial concessions from Democrats on the issue of filibusters, but in return for what should have been routine Senate approval of consensus nominees. All the nominees who were previously opposed by Democrats will remain in limbo."
7:53:53 PM 
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Wedding Party my ass!
"I know that the original reports didn't mention the 3 AM attack time, which seems to discredit the notion that the target could have been a wedding party in full swing. Instead, the Pentagon insists that they had intelligence pointing to this location being used as a transit point for terrorists going in and out of Iraq, and the material captured at the location indicated they were correct. Wedding parties don't need satcom radios, for instance, and while the Iraqi dinar is worth pennies now, that amount in Syrian pounds (not dinars) comes to $57,000 and some change.
This incident illustrates the necessity of waiting for further information on these attacks to determine their military necessity. Unfortunately, the wedding-strike meme has already been unleashed onto the public, and I suspect that the media won't do a lot to disabuse us of this fallacy." [Captains Quarters]
7:43:21 PM
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Not in my back yard!
America Must Build Refineries If It Wants Cheaper Gasoline
"Demands for more fuel and less pollution can't be met by current refining capacity; prices likely to stay high.
The spike that has taken a gallon of gas above $2 is not unusual for this time of the year, when motorists start traveling more. But this year, worldwide demand for oil, particularly by China, has soared at the same time the oil exporting countries are tightening supplies. In addition, the uncertainty in Iraq has fueled fears of future oil shortages, raising prices.
Those factors are compounded by new federal rules that restrict the use of high-sulfur gasoline that contributes to smog. Those rules, which went into effect earlier this year, place 150,000 barrels a day of regular crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other countries off limits to America. The country now relies more on higher cost “sweet crude,” which has a lower sulfur content.
Cleaning up the regular crude to bring it into compliance with the new sulfur requirements is possible. But the United States doesn’t have the refinery capacity to do so."
[The Detroit News]
2:37:26 PM
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The NYT Criticizes Kerry and Dems for Gasoline Hysteria
Anyone getting hysterical about gas prices should read this editorial in the New York Times.
"As the energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, correctly noted yesterday, "The reserve is not there to simply try to change prices." In fact, the law calls for it to be tapped only in the event of supply disruptions. And even if Washington wanted to alleviate rising fuel costs, the reserve is not a very effective instrument for doing so, as President Bill Clinton learned in the fall of 2000. Experts estimate that at most, turning on the spigot now would knock only a few cents off a gallon." [PoliPundit]
2:28:27 PM
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For once, Cosby ain't so liberal....
Monday night, at Washington's Constitution Hall, Bill Cosby was part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. Some of his comments, though, didn't sit well with members of the Soul... [Ramblings' Journal]
2:14:57 PM
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Gratuitous non P.C. humor.
With a twist
The Afghanistan Ambassador to the U.N. has just finished giving a speech, and walks out into the lobby where... [Curmudgeonly & Skeptical]
11:49:06 AM
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From the "I told you so" department.........
Mac OS X vulnerable to one-two combo attack!
"Apple refused to comment on the vulnerability, except to publish a release saying that such reports are taken "very seriously at Apple and we are actively investigating this potential security issue."
Apple has twice been criticized for its downplaying of security issues and its lack of response to the concerns of the security industry.
Security information service Secunia rated the issue "extremely critical," on Tuesday, because online discussions have pointed out many different ways to exploit the flaws. Secunia recommended that Mac users avoid visiting untrusted Web sites and said Mac administrators and others avoid surfing the Internet while signed on to their networks as privileged users."
If I only had a nickel for every time I have heard a Mac owner say they don't need to worry about a virus or any of those bad things because they don't run Windows. I have given up wasting my breath trying to explain that these criminals don't care what OS you are running. Now that they are growing bored with attacking MS, the attacks on Linux and Mac's will become more frequent.
These people are starved for the attention that they never received as a child and the only place they can get it from is their peer group. Everyone in their group knows how to make malicious code for MS. The only way to gain attention now is to move to greener pastures. Welcome to the club Mac Addicts.
11:19:45 AM
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John O'Sullivan has a great article at NRO about how badly the U.S. Media is failing us in this time of war.
Left Eye's View
"Let us finally examine the tally sheet. Selective agonizing, taking dictation from terror, willing gullibility, galloping inferentialism, and criminalizing anti-terrorism — not a short list of media failings for a single week. And when all the mistakes are on the side of opposing the liberation of Iraq, and none of the mistakes favor the U.S. or Britain or Bush or Blair, it tells you something. Namely, which side they're on. Or "tears are shed only from the left eye."
11:03:54 AM
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"Despicable"
"Let's try to remember that these men sent hundreds of their brothers in uniform into the burning and collapsing towers in a desperate attempt to rescue as many people as possible. Let's remember that this entire country was unprepared for an attack on this scale. Let's remember that these men represent thousands of men and women in New York that stand ready to make that sacrifice again, if necessary, to keep New Yorkers safe.
Now this pissant little Monday morning quarterback sneers at them from across the dais, belittling these men who risk their lives in service of their community instead of making a living showboating for the cameras." [Captain's Quarters]
And now there is another hole in my wall! At this rate I will never be able to sell this house!
3:54:06 AM
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Conspiracy Theories
This time they aren't coming from the Democratic Underground, but from Dems on the Hill. The one-vote defeat of an extension of unemployment benefits last week has sparked fear among Democrats that Republicans have developed a legislative model that will... [The Bitch Girls]
3:47:01 AM
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Thomas Jefferson
"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it." [Quotes of the Day]
3:45:17 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Lopsided Poopdeck.
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