Alito confirmed; a sad day for individual freedom I believe it is a reasonable statement to say that Alito deserved to set upon the federal bench. I also believe it to be true that now is not the time for him to be on the Supreme Court. The court, as it stacks up now, is not in line with our founders' concept of individual rights.

I'm not optimistic about the chances but the only way now for the Democrats is to secure the elective legs of our government.  ¶ 1/31/2006 04:01:00 PM 0 comments

  Straight from the semi-official Ministry of Propaganda All the weenie rationalizations aside, there is little doubt this will be used to suppress dissent.  ¶ 1/30/2006 10:38:00 PM 0 comments

  Consider Alito in another context It seems the twits on the right can never let go of that Clinton thing. So, let's consider what the reaction would have been if Clinton had nominated a judge with Alito's record on governmental powers.

The friggin' brownshirt militias would have gone to something like defcon 3 and immediately began stockpiling ammunition, moonpies and Skoal.  ¶ 1/30/2006 09:37:00 PM 0 comments

  AltWeekly- Gettin' the story I started on an alternative newspaper and the interceding years of hearing everyone carping about the MSM just seemed tiresome. It was all no big news to me.

These award winners talk about the writing of those winning stories (cartoons, photography and illustration are also covered). There is some of that feeling of a scrappy little guy going up against the powers that be; MSM sitting on stories and trying to make the confrontation of the politically powerful into a story itself. I guess that would seem kinda novel to them.  ¶ 1/29/2006 05:31:00 PM 0 comments

  "Miner's Prayer" By Dwight Yoakam... killin' themselves just to make a livin'.  ¶ 1/29/2006 05:31:00 PM 0 comments

  Google doesn't get it Their vision of a world Googlized just isn't reason enough to justify becoming part of the information control in China.

The upcoming Congressional hearings about American IT companies in China will offer these companies the chance to reiterate these same excuses. I think the hearings will do little more than be a public relations event for the companies where they get the implicit blessing of the government and the more conservative members of Congress will get to mouth a few words for the consumption of their constituencies back home.

Yeah, I know, some information is better than none but the inertia seems to be moving this in the direction of legitimizing the totalitarian control. Not a good thing.

Google, the fine folks that host this blog, are running-dogs of the counterrevolutionaries. The information revolution is old news; knowledge is still freedom.  ¶ 1/29/2006 01:53:00 PM 0 comments

  Sen. Feinstein To Vote "No" On Cloture Somebody had to do it.  ¶ 1/29/2006 03:12:00 AM 0 comments

  Done deal on Alito? Peddling the conventional wisdom that it is all over but the crying.

I don't think it has to be looked at that way and shouldn't. I would not underestimate the sentiment of discontent over an executive branch amuck. It requires a firm statement of intent and not allowing the Repug's to frame the debate.  ¶ 1/27/2006 09:30:00 PM 0 comments

  MS defends roll-over This whole thing is cheesey. How will the DOJ use the information? What does the DOJ mean by revive? Will this information be made available for other DOJ "projects"?

The child protection aspect of it sounded just a little too much like a warm and pink convenience.  ¶ 1/25/2006 04:51:00 PM 0 comments

  I think I saw the wizard beatin' it down K Street For surely, the Democratic party most be in search of courage.

If BushCo has done nothing else besides assure Cheney a very comfortable retirement, it will have cemented SCOTUS as a fascist tool with the nomination of Alito.

This is the time to grow a pair, pull out the stops and do what is necessary to prevent the stacking of the court.  ¶ 1/24/2006 09:42:00 PM 2 comments

  Molly Ivins speaks truth on Hillary and the machine weenies I kinda think this is in the same vein as my shout-out to Josh and the WaPo posse.

The progressive cause needs brave leadership that will speak the obvious truths. This really isn't the time for business as usual.  ¶ 1/22/2006 06:36:00 PM 0 comments

  $10 says this is part of the publisher's pr business   ¶ 1/22/2006 11:59:00 AM 0 comments

  "...ensnare..." is the operative word What my buddies on the left do get is that this plays into the Republican knack for easily sliding into moral relativism when it suits their purpose. You know, this is really just part of the whole Washington cesspool that they have to take a shower from before they can get out into the heartland to shake the hand of righteous people. They'll take the money and ask that you take their word that they are the more righteous.

Sometimes when the press is telling the plain ugly truth it's hard to face. You see, the folks at WaPo and AP have just been showing the liberal bias of the press: The liberal values of decency, justice and honesty; not the jaded old pragmatism where you accept a back-handed slip of the cash. When a politician is involved in those seedier operations it tarnishes them whether it rises to the level of a crime or not. They are caught in the same repelling mud and crap as the Repug's which does us all no good.

Josh and the chorus of commenters at WaPo should be leading the pack in chasing the Democrats involved with Abramoff out of Washington. The congressmen showed no loyalty to the progressive cause and do it a great disservice. What were they doing mucking about with pond-scum that had been a Republican operative for more than 25 years?

Josh has a new corruption unit. He should turn it on cleaning and getting our house in order for the good fight. And isn't that what the progressive cause is about?  ¶ 1/22/2006 12:36:00 AM 0 comments

  Blunt bites, even on the right   ¶ 1/22/2006 12:36:00 AM 0 comments

  Google subpeona FAQ   ¶ 1/20/2006 04:08:00 PM 0 comments

  Hear us, Mr. Ledeen   ¶ 1/18/2006 06:54:00 PM 0 comments

  Judas, your free will wasn't worth 30 pieces   ¶ 1/18/2006 06:28:00 PM 0 comments

  Via Al's morning meeting- You gotta fight for your right to party AL- "The paper says cops have begun monitoring posts on the popular college student networking Web site Facebook.com. Students announce parties on Facebook, the cops watch, then show up and bust the party.

The Times says students have begun to wise up and announce fake parties on Facebook and the cops show up, only to find students eating cake and cookies.  ¶ 1/18/2006 05:22:00 PM 0 comments

  Alito moment contrived? Did Samuel Alito's Wife Cry on Cue?
Thu 10:00 PM
George Schlatter, the creator of the '70s television show, Laugh-In, was a guest on Your World w/Neil Cavuto today (January 12, 2006). Schlatter appeared in a segment that concluded an hour-long Democrat bash -- "Will Vicious Dems Pay for Driving Alito's Wife to Tears?" -- about Democrats supposedly "driving Alito's wife," Martha, "to tears" during yesterday's confirmation hearings. During his "discussion" with Cavuto, Schlatter asked Cavuto if he noticed that, "about 15 minutes before she started to cry, an aide came in and moved him [Samuel Alito] slightly to the right because he was covering her, and ten minutes later she started to cry. So, fortunately, he'd moved enough so we could see it."Continue reading »

I wondered also. The video I saw of the incident didn't really seem that heavy a moment. Matter of fact, when I saw it I figured she was crying because she thought the jig might be up.  ¶ 1/15/2006 02:47:00 PM 2 comments

  Web 2.0: One hand clapping collaboratively podcast: the sound of...  ¶ 1/15/2006 12:21:00 AM 0 comments

  Great, now we're exporting conservatism   ¶ 1/14/2006 09:45:00 PM 0 comments

  Six Proposals For US Companies By a French Organization I really like what these folks say they stand for: I really do but...

It would seem that our international friends should work towards international solutions. I imagine a large part of the rationale for the US companies is that if they didn't do it, some EU company would scuttle in for the bucks. Despite the preeminence of American IT companies they certainly don't have a monopoly on a lack of scruples.

I feel that we here in the United States should pressure our government into doing something about these American companies working for tyranny. And the RSF is ideally located and suited to bring this issue to the EU.

Google, the fine folks that host this blog, are also running dogs of the counter-revolutionaries.  ¶ 1/12/2006 09:42:00 PM 0 comments

  This is freedom in Iraq? Being a journalist is tough in Iraq. They're getting it from both sides.  ¶ 1/12/2006 05:56:00 PM 0 comments

  Author put on no fly list Probably just a coincidence. Yeah, that's it.  ¶ 1/11/2006 05:45:00 AM 0 comments

  On the other hand-VAWA Here's one slant that says my knickers are in a knot for nothing.

Seems my fears arrive only after a "broad" interpretation of the law.

Eh, the Patriot Act has found far ranging uses by the DOJ. Come to think of it, that's usually the case with laws. They seem to find ever increasing range. Particularly at the hands of an administration so inclined. Some might want to creatively limit debate and punish dissent. Or protect their corporate cronies.

Nothing to worry with BushCo? Right?  ¶ 1/10/2006 09:42:00 PM 0 comments

  Saddle up, Outlaw Bloggers Tor has been around for a while and certainly isn't the only way to mask behind a proxy. What appeals to me about it is that because it is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation I don't worry about a built-in back door (or the EFF readily rolling over) for the federales.

Use it only for good.  ¶ 1/10/2006 07:02:00 PM 0 comments

  Looks to me like everybody in the picture is leaning to the right   ¶ 1/10/2006 02:59:00 AM 0 comments

  The Outlaw Blogger I'm now a criminal. Yo, I'm an anonymous blogger. Though I hope to say that my incisive commenting rises above the merely "annoying".

I prefer it this way, cuts down on the Freeper flak and that kind of horseshit. The tradition in this country of the anonymous pamphleteer was established at the birth of our nation and I had hoped to rise to that worthy role. I admit that this status has come at some cost. There were stories that I wanted to cover openly but couldn't because of it. The vast majority of my friends and acquaintances have no idea that I blog or if they do know, they couldn't tell you the name of my blog.

Does this mean that the maroons at Powerline will be setting the Federales on me shortly? Well, there is this side of me that hopes they do. I've never made a habit of trolling over there but I might start.

This law is way over the edge. But what else would you expect from Republicans?  ¶ 1/10/2006 12:12:00 AM 0 comments

  Beat me again I consider it an honor to be even close to Rebecca in posting but she beat me to this despite it having been in my mailbox for most of a week. I wanted to devote some time to it, now all my thunder has been stolen. Yeah right; this issue points to why what is happening on the Chinese portion of the net will effect us globally. There's plenty of thunder to go around, we need some lightning.

I agree with Rebecca that governments should stay away from any regulation of the internet. But I would like to see the United States guard the best interests of intellectual freedom. It benefits the citizens of our country when they and others have full access to the intellectual wealth of the internet. It is easy to see where this could have global importance in the areas of health and environmental issues.

I like the idea of citizens organizing to show their concern. I also don't see this as having much weight unless it can be translated into economic pressure: Most likely coercive pressure. So far Yahoo has escaped our valiant effort to bring them around on the issue of intellectual freedom. I would like to see the government of the United States work in the interests of the citizens by bringing that pressure through an effective though noninvasive means. Companies should be as free as possible to conduct their business: I still hold to a notion that there is a strong relationship between economic and political freedom.

Our government can take the moral high ground, that it so often aspires to, on this. If companies want to do business with tyrants and despots, fine. They just won't be doing business with the government of the United States.

Google, the fine folks that host this blog, are also running dogs of the counter-revolutionaries.  ¶ 1/08/2006 07:38:00 PM 0 comments

  DeLay out: This horse race on a sloppy track Blunt (MO) and Boehner (OH) both think they want to be majority leader of the House.

Blunt has already caught the notice of some for following the path of DeLay. This would seem to indicate that Blunt would continue the fine Republican tradition of corruption.  ¶ 1/08/2006 06:47:00 PM 0 comments

  Google Video Cringely also in the guessing game on Google's "inscrutability".  ¶ 1/08/2006 02:27:00 PM 0 comments

  Future History of Web 2.0- Epic 2015 As good a guess as any to what a possible "Google Grid" could mean in the media landscape. This follows on the previous "Epic 2014".

Robin Sloan, formerly with our friends at Poynter, and Matt Thompson have produced a Flash "Web 2.0 Citizen Kane". Just needs a little bit more pathos.  ¶ 1/08/2006 01:45:00 PM 0 comments

  Via Labor Blog: Agenda behind media bashing I know that mistakes are made in the news gathering business. It is one of the hazards that is guarded against by high levels of professionalism. You try to make as few mistakes as possible and correct as soon as it is clear you've made one. But the chorus on the Right sees it as their mission to make sure that every instance is seen as the death tremor of MSM. They are usually trying to divert attention.

This time they are hoping their fusillade will cover for BushCo selling out on its duty to mining safety. This link shows the degradation of services from MSHA that would of prevented the mistake.  ¶ 1/07/2006 09:20:00 PM 0 comments

  newsvine beta Got it, playin'.  ¶ 1/07/2006 01:01:00 AM 0 comments

  Viva la phishe' de la Web deuce-o I ping a French aggregator so now I'm getting phishing attempts in French posing as the above.  ¶ 1/05/2006 10:54:00 PM 0 comments

  Yea, Letterman I've always liked Dave. He's a real mensch; as opposed to that blathering idiot, O'Reilly.

No point in allowing O'Reilly to have another outlet for all his talking points, just tell him he's full of crap and send him on his way.  ¶ 1/05/2006 08:31:00 PM 0 comments

  Retro crush on the indices #18 TOM DELAY: I thought politicians this corrupt only existed in Dick Tracy comic strips.

I never thought of it that way and I couldn't sum it up better.  ¶ 1/05/2006 01:20:00 AM 0 comments

  I don't care what that whiney Jeff Jarvis says, Dell has got HP beat by a country mile Any organization has less than shining moments, try as they might. I've had my fun with HP's folks in India and it also brought a change to the way I buy computers. Unlike this fellow, I can't say that I'll never buy an HP product. I just won't buy one for the support given. I had an issue with HP's drivers (a documented one) only to find after some time on the phone and IM with them that it was easier just to wade through it finding my own solution (dump their sellware and extraneous drivers). I found that when I contacted them on a problem with the firewall I was better off spending that time instead searching the web for a solution.

So I guess that's just HP's way of forcing their customers to broaden their knowledge. HP support is no longer the first call but the very last.  ¶ 1/04/2006 08:23:00 PM 0 comments

  12 Miners Found Bless the working man.

Update: The original headline was "...Alive"; 11 of the 12 are now reported dead. My heart goes out to their families. Now let's talk to the mine owners about the safety record of the mine.  ¶ 1/04/2006 01:30:00 AM 0 comments

  MSN takes down Chinese blogger Good coverage via RConversation.

Google, the fine folks that host this blog, are also running dogs of the counter-revolutionaries.  ¶ 1/03/2006 11:39:00 PM 0 comments

  Abramoff pleads guilty, to roll on others Details will still be somewhat sketchy when the '06 elections happen. This will probably not completely clear the courts until after the next presidential election in '08.  ¶ 1/03/2006 10:47:00 PM 0 comments

  Rinse, repeat Daou has hit the high points of this cycle but getting out of it is going to require a little bit more than whipping the media.  ¶ 1/03/2006 10:08:00 PM 0 comments

  Shrub says.. ...is all it takes now to trump legislative intent. This isn't even a case of Shrub being able to say he thought he was doing the right thing in an absence of contravening authority. He's saying screw you, Congress; right out of the gate.

Good intentions has run its course as being anywhere near an excuse for not slapping Shrub down for his end-run on the Constitution. It seems a natural outcome of that great document that there be a back and forth between the branches of our government. Each moves to assert itself and then finds itself subsequently checked. BushCo is going for a grand sweep of powers that puts their stacking of the courts in a very dangerous Constitutional perspective.

Whether you think Shrub is the spawn of evil or a pious, near-genius; good intentions can't excuse ripping out the foundations of our government.  ¶ 1/03/2006 08:33:00 PM 0 comments

  via digg: This site says terrorists but... ...I say freedom fighters. This animated short by Robert Smigel has corporate MSM's number.  ¶ 1/02/2006 10:45:00 PM 0 comments

  "Anytime..." Shrub moves his lips he's lying The weasel said anytime. I guess that's not what he meant.  ¶ 1/02/2006 08:23:00 PM 0 comments

  We report, you decide I clicked on the link thinking I was following something on the usual mobile phone radiation shield. No, these folks are concerned about your aura.  ¶ 1/01/2006 08:25:00 PM 0 comments

  found @ boingboing   ¶ 1/01/2006 05:45:00 PM 0 comments

  It's not paranoia, it's a well-grounded fear If all it takes is one evasive answer by Gen. Hayden for Kristol to brand Democrats/liberals as paranoid, we should be taking a hard look at what is going on. This is just part of the same ol' dismissive response to a growing list of our worst fears confirmed; questions about their WMD analysis, planning for Iraq and generally just their ability to be honest with the American people. All of which have proved to have been in serious need of examination.

It certainly isn't that Kristol weaves a very tight argument for his position: Hayden's non-responsive answer to questions about the wide spread snooping should have waved off any sane, patriotic American. Here's Hayden telling Congress that the NSA can do its job within the oversight required by Congress (and the Constitution). While this statement was made prior to 9-11, it certainly was within the time frame of our monitoring al-Qaida.

I would counter that Kristol suffers from doublespeak delusions. There appears to be a glaring contradiction contained within the article that slips right past his notice. Let's take a look:

  ¶ 1/01/2006 10:51:00 AM 0 comments