CodeMorse

Black Box Voting

2006-10-13T08:50:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of listening to my favorite radio show on the way into work this morning and they interviewed Bev Harris from BlackBoxVoting.org. Morse posted a bit on problems with the Diebold voting machine a while back, but according to Bev the problems go much, much deeper.

Did you know that:
22,000 defective Diebold voting machines were sent to Georgia in 2002?
a computer miscount overturned the House District 11 result in Wayne County, North Carolina?
a cell phone was used to transfer a vote database in Marin County, California?

Neither did I.

In her book and on the site she discusses ways in which voting machines (computerized or mechanical) can be hacked. The source code on the Diebold voting machines is open source. While that's not a bad thing in and of itself it does mean that people interested in exploiting the weaknesses therein can do so more easily. The good thing is that since that's a known quantity things can be done to help ensure that vote rigging is at least hard to get away with.

So what can we do? BBV.org covers that in quite some detail. Warning, it does require some work on our part. If you're interested you can download what they call the Citizens Tool Kit. It's an extensive document consisting of twenty modules. Each is self contained and they encourage you to just pick one and run with it. To look at each module separately you can look here. The complete book, BLACK BOX VOTING: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century, is also there so that you can download it and find out why this is so important.

Spat-tastic

2006-10-11T09:10:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From MSNBC:

Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.

"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure," McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.

McCain's criticism elicited a strong response from Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee and a potential 2008 candidate....

"The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don't know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better," Kerry said.

Well, don't ask any American. Ask Americans who can find their own home state on a map - which was, at last count, just about 70% of the country.

The way in which the Republicans have shifted all blame for failure at the feet of a past administration is not only disingenuous, but vaguely pathetic. Imagine this back and forth over foriegn policy as a domestic dispute:

Wife: "You haven't taken the garbage to the curb in six months! The rats have overrun our yard, our garden is totally destroyed because of dogs and raccoons rooting through our trash bags at night, the smell is stinking up the house, and all the neighbors are complaining!"

Husband: "Don't blame ME for the trash! Eight years ago, when you were in charge of the trash, you failed to put together a comprehensive plan for taking it out! Who knew that there would be so much trash each week? Who knew that I'd have to tie the bags, take them outside, place them on the curb in trash cans, and cover them with lids? Clearly, this is your fault!"

Wife: "But that's insane."

Husband: "What's insane is your failure to come up with a far-reaching, totally effective garbage-hauling policy. Maybe, if you'd dealt a little more proactively with the garbage men, they wouldn't refuse to come into our house each week and remove the trash for us!"

Wife: "Even if that's true, wouldn't it make our lives and our relationship a lot easier if you'd stop blaming me for your every failing and just started taking out the trash again?"

Husband: "What trash? I don't see any trash. I intend to pursue diplomatic relations with the garbage men in order to insure that perhaps, someday, they will realize their responsibility to come and take the trash for us."

Wife: "I'm sleeping with your best friend."

Livin' It (And By "It," We Mean "A Ridiculously Polarized Form Of Religion That Ironically Mimics Radical Muslims")

2006-10-09T09:07:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Salon.com:

Baldwin preaches that free will is a lie of Satan -- we must shut off our brains, he says, and be led by what God tells our hearts. Furthermore, he writes, efforts to end global poverty and violence are just the sort of "stupid arrogance" that incur God's wrath, which we'll be feeling any day now in the coming apocalypse....

"I am smart enough to know that Satan is alive and well today," he writes. "Satan has all kinds of power, and he is able to control the minds of anyone whose mind isn't controlled by God."

....All of this might seem like the easily ignorable ravings of a Hollywood has-been if the book wasn't climbing bestseller lists. Baldwin writes that "God has called me to go and make disciples of the youth of America.
That is what I am going to try to do, and if you try to stop me I am going to break your face."

Boo-ya, Baldwin!

Do you hear that, unbelieving sinners? Baldwin is going to BREAK YOUR FACE if you try to stop him from converting the youth of America to Jesus Christ's philosophy of unconditional love!

In! Your! Face! Satan!

There's a popular movement to transform Christ into a figure of righteous anger and vengeance - based almost entirely on the book of Revelation. It's striking, and telling, that a spiritually-questionable and ultimately-unimportant book of the Bible has become the whole of the Bible for so many people. It's as if all that stuff about lovin' thy brother is just too much work.

the actor travels as a headline act with a group of skateboarders who provide entertainment, authenticity and conversion stories at "radical" revivals. The Livin It tour drew an audience of over a million in 2005, selling out stadiums from Atlanta to Kingston, Jamaica. At the Minneapolis Metrodome, the tour packed in 40,000 people in a single evening; the wait for an autograph after the "altar call" lasted three and a half hours. (Last year's X Games drew only 16,000 to a skateboarding competition.)

Ryan Dobson receives a shout-out in Baldwin's book as a messenger for "Homey," as Baldwin calls God. In Dobson's book "Be Intolerant," he rails against relativism, homosexuals, environmentalists and "inclusive, open-minded Christians," charging his readers to "get your armor on and take up your cross."
He knows just how to instill pride in the heart of his father. "I bleed conservatism, Dobson told me when I met him at a Christian publishing convention in Denver last year, crossing his ornately inked arms over a T-shirt that says, "Jesus Loves My Tattoos." "I see conservatives like me everywhere, at hot rod shows in Vegas, surfing top breaks on the coast, crazy motocross freaks like me living for Jesus. We know we're right, we have the power of the truth behind us.
And because of that, I see cities on fire."

Here we have what amounts to a near-perfect illustration of the differences between moderate faith and 'radical' faith. A thinking man will see that there is no fundamental difference between the rhetoric that Baldwin preaches and the rhetoric of radical Muslim fundamentalists. Both philosophies rely upon the assumption that the world is a damned and unholy place - and that only by cleansing it of the unbelievers will we earn God's love/respect/milk-and-cookies.

Were a Muslim to speak out that his faith knows "we're right, we have the power of the truth behind us. And because of that, i see cities on fire," what do you suppose the reaction might be?

Do you think the irony of Baldwin's conversion happening as a result of 9-11 resonates at all with the man himself? Do you think that he understands how an act of ignorant and violent radicalism has made him ignorant, violent and radical?

I'd guess not. To Baldwin, his brand of homo-hatin', God-as-homeboy Christianity is just plain radical, dude. Tubular.

In Fourteen-Hundred And Ninety-Two...

2006-10-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

...Columbus opened up the Americas to trade, colonization, uniquely European barbarism, slavery, and the near-devastation of indigenous peoples.

It's not quite as catchy as "...Columbus sailed the ocean blue," but it is just as accurate.

Students of history that goes beyond that famous schoolyard catechism know that Columbus did not "discover" America. That honor goes to the Vikings - if not older civilizations. Nor did Columbus discover "America" as we know it. He discovered the Indies.

He also implemented a reign of cruelty that left the native population enslaved, crippled by disease, and wondering what the hell they'd done to deserve it.

So, of course, we've dedicated a national holiday to him.

Like most national holidays, we spend this one shopping. And unlike most holidays, that somehow seems deeply appropriate. Columbus brought an already-ancient tradition of exploitation to the Americas, and we're proudly continuing that tradition in modern times.

When you're out today buying packs of tube socks for a $1.99, give a thought to Christopher Columbus. Without his foresight and his ingenuity, would we truly understand the joy inherent in the ravaging of the less "civilized" for our own benefit?

Probably.

Happy Columbus Day.

Jack's Back

2006-10-05T09:17:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

You and everyone you know watched the season premiere of Lost last night.

And you loved it.

I know I did.

Fishbiscuits! The Others - fans of Stephen King! Jack's best flashback yet! Brunch on the beach! "Then you don't get any coffee." The Dharma aquarium! "I'll kill her!" "...Okay."

Discuss the show's opener in the comments section! And check out this link on YouTube - a video pieced together from all the random portions of the "Lost Experience" game they ran this summer. Since we have lives, we weren't able to play along. Instead, we get to jump on the bandwagon at the end and reap the sweet rewards of other people's hard work. I should warn you that the video appears to explain the purpose/existence of Dharma and the Numbers. I've no idea if they'll explain these things in the show itself. If you want to remain unspoiled, don't watch it.

P.S. - My girl is an enormous Grey's Anatomy fan (and so is your girlfriend/wife/sister/mother, probably). It's her favorite show. As a result, I'll be voluntarily skipping the season of "Supernatural," which is in my top three (along with Lost and Battlestar). If anyone knows where I can get the episodes online, I'd appreciate a heads-up.

Our Country Has Gone Insane

2006-10-04T08:46:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

I ain't no doctor, but I've been curing what ails ya' for over a year now and I can confirm the veracity of my diagnosis - our country is drunk-on-the-dark-blood-of-kali INSANE right now.

In the wake of Rep. Foley's and the GOP's youngboyapalooza, people have been justifiably venting their anger and bewilderment - not simply over the behavior of a grown man seducing teenagers, but over the clear and willfull efforts of GOP members to cover up for him and then to play down that cover up.

But that's the good news - people should be good and riled up over this.

Here's the part that tells us how insane America is right now:

I want to see a full investigation into this and do not want to blame anyone (Hastert or whoever) until we know who knew what when. But in any event, I have to say that I am ashamed of my party today (yes, I am a Republican). At worst, they knew about this, and at best, they had enough clues to investigation. That anyone would have an inkling of this and do nothing is just disheartening. I think I am sitting this next election out. I won't vote for democrats, but can't vote for republicans right now. Gross. -Mary P.

Yes, apparently pedophilia has convinced "Mary P." that the republican party is, momentarily, as bad as the Democrats. Not worse, mind you. Were that the case, perhaps Mary could put aside her partisanship to consider individual candidates based on, say, merit.

But no. Apparently this scandal is cause to just...stop voting.

That's insane.

I don't mean that in the hyperbolic, ha-ha funny way. I mean that in the "these people have voluntarily lobotomized themselves" kind of way.

Let's take a deep breath and deal with a little something that I like to call "reality." Some folks may not recognize that word right away, considering that we've learned to live without it over the past few years. Still, "reality" remains important, and something that should - from time to time - be examined. So, let's focus on certain realities by answering some comments from Average Joes and Janes on this whole unfortunate mess:

Why is ABC News, and Brian Ross specifically, drip drip dripping these IMs so slowly? This is why people think this is more about politics than the public's need to know. These are all IMs between Foley and the same 2 pages but, for some reason, it has taken 5 days, so far, for ABC News to leak this out? Why not release it ALL at once? Why is ABC intentionally dragging it out so that they have a BREAKING NEWS headline everyday? JUST RELEASE IT ALL! Or is this all simply for ratings?? -Christine

I'm going to assume that Christine isn't being witheringly rhetorical here and treat her question as sincere. I'm also going to refrain from being witheringly condescending. Is ABC News' "drip drip dripping" of these IMs "simply for the ratings"?

Does a Grizzly defecate in the woodland?

There's an ugly sheen to Christine's question which goes unspoken. It speaks to how these creepy IMs allow us to indulge our fascination for the forbidden (something that Rep. Foley now stands publically accused of) without getting in trouble for it. Who cares how many of these things ABC has? Isn't one creepy/kinky IM exchange enough for Christine?

Apparently not. She displays the sort of impatience that fans of 'Lost' tend to show between episodes. When is the next installment coming? What happens next? How dare they withhold entertainment for political purposes!

...only this isn't entertainment. If ABC's drip-drip approach to IM release offends you then don't pay attention to it. I needed to read only one page of Foley's IM exchanges to know that I'd never, ever, need to read any more.

i am wondering who has also endangered these kids. Ross is saying he had the emails back in AUGUST! Several FL newspapers had the bad on Foley as well back then. Foley is not to be excused one bit, but looks like this was also a nicely conducted Oct political surprise that was surpressed! what about that, aren't these people also endangering kids if they knew earlier as well? My guess dems/liberals are giddy as a school boy page over this now! Politics have been played over this at the expense of getting FOley out and away from male pages by all parties!

While there's a point to be made here about making sure that it isn't simply the GOP who's blindly savaged by this scandal (if there were democrats that knew then they should be removed from office. Immediately.), it's kind of overshadowed by the shock this person displays over the withholding of personal information for political gain.

And here I thought that the "October Surprise" was something Republicans looked forward to - like Christmas or a new war. Evidently, that's the case only when that "Surprise" is something they can control.

Where was the Republican outrage over Rove's recent comment that there was an October Surprise coming to help win the elections?

I'm not sure how you don't politicize something like this. Or, more accurately, how you go about even beginning to try and correct something this distasteful without being accusing of "politicizing" things. The man held a public office and is (in theory) accountable to the people. People therefore have the right to know that he's betrayed their trust.

More importantly, we have the right to know if our representatives are covering up for illegal activities.

Most interesting to me is how several conservatives have implied that they hadn't wanted to let this information go public for fear of "Gay-bashing," which would be hilarious if it weren't so straight-faced.

The same party that wants to remove the rights of gays to marry and openly calls them an abomination in the eyes of God - indeed, a threat to our American way of life - is suddenly concerned about "gay-bashing"?

Dudes...I hate to be the one to tell you this...but you ran the last election on a big ol' plank of gay-bashing rhetoric.

Gadget of the Week - Keyboard Pr0n

2006-10-03T14:54:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

This is probably the sexiest keyboard I've ever seen. Okay so that's not really saying much, but it's pretty dang cool. It's the Logitech DiNovo Edge Bluetooth Keyboard. It's a mix of black plexiglass, brushed aluminum, and hi-tech. The round thing is a "touch disk" and above that is a volume slider and some zoom keys. When you hold down the FN key, orange backlights above the top row of keys give you secondary commands.

Computers that already have built in Bluetooth don't need any connection and if you aren't blest by the BT gods then a little micro-receiver plugs into your USB port. Using Bluetooth gives the keyboard greater range so you can control your media center from across your spacious home theater setup. And that stand it's in is the charger. Don't worry two hours of charge time gives you two months of usage.

All this sexiness will be available next month for just $200.

From Geekzone

Abramoff - Lobbyist, Criminal...Psychic?

2006-10-03T09:15:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From DailyKos:

Newly-disclosed e-mails from the Minority Chair of the House Government Reform Committee Henry Waxman provide new areas of insight into Jack Abramoff's closeness to the Bush administration. Most shocking of all (at least of those I've been able to read so far) is that Abramoff off-handedly mentions "the upcoming war in Iraq." The date--March, 2002:

"I was sitting yesterday with Karl Rove, Bush's top advisor, at the NCAA basketball game, discussing Israel when this email came in. I showed it to him. It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel, but that they needed to mollify the Arabs for the upcoming war on Iraq."

As is pointed out in the linked article, this email was sent just about a year before there was a war in Iraq - seven months before Congress authorized the President to go to war.

This email was written four days before the "Downing Street Memo," while President Bush was still claiming that we wanted to pursue a variety of options to war.

This is significant, because in March of 2002, many citizens already believed that the U.S. was committed to the Iraq invasion, and were opposed to the invasion on a number of substantially-factual, reasonable grounds.

When we expressed our concern over the apparent craving for war, we were called unpatriotic and anti-American. We were accused of aiding the enemy.

And we were, apparently, right.

Which begs the question, considering that our war has increased the global threat of terrorism...Just who was aiding the enemy again?

I'm Leavin' On A Jet Plane - Don't Know If I'll Be Searched Again

2006-10-03T08:13:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Thanks to Scott, I've been pointed toward this gem of an article on CNN. Since 9/11 I haven't traveled much by airplane, and it isn't because I'm scared of dying in a terrorist attack (I'd have more luck accidentally drowning in my bathtub, according to all available statistics). It's because flying has become the equivalent of a Prison-themed carnival attraction.

"Experience what it's like to feel guilty until proven innocent!"

"Have your cavities searched!"

"Be treated as though you must earn the right to call yourself a human being!"

It's "Terrorists of the Carribean," and we're the attendees.

From CNN.com:

A Wisconsin man [Ryan Bird] who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat.

....A TSA screener saw the bag and went to get a supervisor, who grabbed it and asked Bird if it was his.

...."It was obvious that he was already angry," Bird said, adding that the screener told him, "You can't write things like that."

The supervisor told Bird he had the right to express his opinions "out there" -- pointing outside the screening area -- but did not have the right "in here," Bird said.

...."My level of frustration with the TSA and their idiotic policies has grown over 2 ½ years," he said. "I'm frustrated that poorly trained TSA people can pull random passengers out of line and pat them down like common criminals. The average traveler has no recourse."

Damn straight.

On every trip I've taken post-9/11 I've been specially flagged for 'screenings.' I am taken to a holding area and made to remove shoes, belt, and sometimes my pants (luckily, I've not yet been strip-searched - unlike others I know). These 'random' searches have succeeded in singling me out each and every time.

Which tells me one of two things:

Either the very 'randomness' of these things is off, or I'm on some sort of 'flagged passenger' list. I have never committed a felony. I pay my taxes on time. And the full measure of my political extremism is this blog.

Yet on six different trips (both coming and going) I've been treated, as Bird says, like a common criminal.

And that's both humiliating and anger-inducing.

Foley Ickiness, Batman!

2006-10-03T07:36:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

By now, everyone and their mother has heard about Rep. Foley's unsavory communications with an underage D.C. staffer.

I can't contribute anything substantial to the discussion of the 'crime' itself (and is it a crime when no actual contact may have taken place?), so instead I'll make one comment about the way we've recieved and treated this disturbing information about Mr. Foley.

If it is wrong/distasteful/some sort of crime to communicate with an underage boy in the manner that Mr. Foley communicated, why is it not wrong/distasteful/some sort of crime to reproduce those conversations for a general audience to read and gossip over (as we're doing right now)?

Why is it wrong to write what Mr. Foley apparently wrote, but not wrong to consciously choose to read it?

I ask, because on ABC news you can pick up a transcript of one of Mr. Foley's conversations with this mysterious boy-staffer. You can read exactly what was written by Foley, and what was responded to by the boy in question.

How is that, in any substantial way, any less of a questionable activity than writing it is?

What Mr. Foley wrote may, in some sense, be a crime. If Foley had physical contact with underage boys then it's definately a crime.

But what ABC news is peddling is underage pornography - and the last time I checked, that was definately a no-no.

Bad Bug...

2006-09-28T08:43:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

I just did hear about a rather nasty bug that some websites are using to download malware and adware. It exploits something that IE uses to display certain vector graphics. That functionality isn't taken advantage of by very many legit sites yet, but as always the cracker community is eager to do whatever necessary to make some cash. It's particularly bad because it doesn't actually require you to download anything and it all happens pretty invisibly.

Thankfully there's a patch out now:

You should run Windows Update to obtain the patch, reboot your machine as Windows Update will require, then re-register the VGX.DLL file if you had previously unregistered it, since Windows Update does not automatically re-register the previously vulnerable DLL file. (See instructions for re-registering the previously vulnerable DLL here.)

You can then verify that your system is no longer vulnerable by displaying this benign VML vulnerability test page, which will use VML to display two red star filled rectangles:

http://www.isotf.org/zert/testvml.htm

If the DLL is NOT re-registered, you will see a blank space instead of the red-filled rectangles. If the DLL is still vulnerable (the patch didn't "take"), your browser will crash harmlessly.

Courtesy of the Security Now podcast #58

Go do it and don't wait.

NY Post Giggles Over White Powder - Then Goes Back To Snorting It

2006-09-28T07:13:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Sometimes, the "Right Wing" gets me so fucking angry.

Apparently Keith Olbermann, who's a talking-head (and one of the few "liberal" talking heads at that), recieved an envelope containing white powder and a threatening letter this week.

Here's how the 'venerable' NY Post characterized the event:

MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out.

A note inside warned Olbermann, who's a frequent critic of President Bush's policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick. The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post's Philip Messing.

....preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn't enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn't known.

Tee hee!

And here's 'The Radio Equalizer"'s comment on the subject:

What about a teddy bear? Did he ask for one of those? For police, the toughest question may be in attempting to determine who is the bigger nutcase here: the sender, or the recipient?

Are you kidding me? Ten bucks says that if The Equalizer had opened that envelope he'd have soiled his underwear. Twice. Back and front.

Talk about cowardly hypocrisy...The same people who whine about the necessity of ever-increasing security measures and the ever-scarier danger of terrorism want to pretend like Mr. Olbermann is some sort of sissy for being tested for contamination.

Let's call a spade a spade - The letter wasn't from a brown-skinned man. It didn't proclaim "Death to the West," and so it has no significance to these people. If it's not a Muslim threat, then it's not a serious threat, apparently.

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Poseidon

2006-09-27T08:55:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN:

A leading opera house called off a production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" that features the severed head of the Prophet Mohammed, setting off a furious debate Tuesday over Islam, freedom of speech and the role of art.

....Kirsten Harms, director of Berlin's Deutsche Oper, announced "with great regret" that she had decided to cancel the three year old production after state security officials warned it could provoke dangerous reactions in the current politically charged climate.

After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over a scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads not only of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, but also of Mohammed, Jesus and Buddha.

....The leader of Germany's Islamic Council welcomed the move, saying a depiction of Mohammed with a severed head "could certainly offend Muslims."

But in an interview with German radio, Ali Kizilkaya added: "I think it is horrible that one has to be afraid ... That is not the right way to open dialogue."

Right on, Ali. Let's check in with that handy definition of 'terrorism' again, shall we?

1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

In a war against something as amorphous and as sinister as an idea, we've handed our enemies victory when we succumb to fear. I'm Christian, and the notion of the "severed head of Jesus" doesn't offend me at all. Do you know why? Because I'm a rational Christian.

I understand that art's primary function is to comment on life. And religion is a part of life. In life, and in a free society, we will be exposed to art we disagree with; art that makes us profoundly uncomfortable. But in that situation, we have choices. We can confront our feelings and the art in question by reflecting on it rationally and emotionally. We can walk out of the Opera house when we're offended and "vote" our opinion with our feet and our wallets. We can do violence to the people who make art.

Or we can become so afraid of violence that we stop making art that means anything. We can convince ourselves that the threat to security is far moree important than some stupid Opera.

And when we've done that - when we've removed everything 'offensive' from display and replaced it with banal and safe pageantry - then the terrorists will have won.

And we'll have fought their battle for them.

"Dramatization. Do Not Attempt"

2006-09-26T09:12:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

If you've watched a television commercial in the past five years, you probably recognize the title of this post. "Dramatization. Do Not Attempt" is usually printed in small white-colored words at the bottom of the television screen during 'kooky' and usually seemingly-dangerous physical stunts.

It's essentially a way for companies to cover their ass(et)es. If they display those words, then they can't be held responsible when some idiot decides that driving his SUV through the swamp at speeds of 100 mph seems like a cool idea.

But enough is enough.

During the premiere of "Heroes" (good, not great - but eminently watchable), Nissan unveiled the 'Versa' automobile. It's designed, apparently, to give you more space. During the first minute of the ad, those familiar words ran constantly at the bottom of the screen: "Dramatization. Do Not Attempt."

And what was it that we, the audience, were being warned not to attempt? Apparently, we were being warned not to bite our steering wheels comedically. Or to look frustrated while in the driver's seat of our car. Because that's literally all the commercial showed: A bunch of people looking upset/frustrated/cramped in their 'tiny' cars.

Maybe I'm a little...slow, but where's the danger in that?

Ironically, once the commercial began to show a vehicle in actual motion (lazy, easy-sunday-driving slow-motion, actually; the kind of driving your grandparents probably do) the 'warning' on the screen disappeared.

What's my point, you ask?

It's ridiculous what a Nanny-based society we've become. In the name of safety and security, we're allowing companies to treat adults like children. When I enter my car, do I really need a loud and increasingly-fast beeping sound to remind me that I haven't fastened my seat beat - in the passenger seat?

Do I really need to be told that biting my steering wheel is 'dangerous'?

Societies continue to grow and change because people take risks. And risk is a dangerous, but essential, part of life. As a culture, we've become so risk-averse that we've begun to stagnate. Lewis and Clark would never have set out into the West if they'd been as coddled and as nannied as the adults of today. Shackleton never would've braved the Artic.

But Lewis and Clark weren't consumers - the primary function of every present-day American. Their generation's notions of accomplishment didn't revolve entirely around the acquiring of meaningless status symbols. They revolved around acheivements that had nothing to do with buying a new car.

Oh, Condi, Condi

2006-09-26T08:15:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

"Grrrrrr.."

From the New York Post - aka Spin Magazine:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday accused Bill Clinton of making "flatly false" claims that the Bush administration didn't lift a finger to stop terrorism before the 9/11 attacks.

...."The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there...is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," Rice said during a wide-ranging meeting with Post editors and reporters.

9/11 Report cites many warnings about hijackings

January, 2001 Richard Clarke Memo to the Administration on the need for an "immediate meeting of the National Security Council's Principals Committee to discuss broad strategies for combating al-Qaeda"

The Timeline leading up to 9/11, including verifiable stories on financial aid given to the Taliban in 2000 and 2001 by the Bush Administration.

The U.S. Given a failing grade by bi-partisan 9/11 commission.

But Condi's just so well-spoken! And she likes classical music!

And Clinton's such a scoundrel! Tee hee!

"Orlando! Do You Like It? It's October Surprise!"

2006-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the Raw Story:

According to two conservative websites, White House political strategist Karl Rove has been promising GOP insiders that there will be an "October surprise" before the midterm elections.
"In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an 'October surprise' to help win the November congressional elections," reports Ronald Kessler for Newsmax.

Gee, do you think that the "October surprise" might revolve around gays?

Or the callous political manipulation of terrorist fears?

When did I become so cyncical?

Probably right around the time that my government decided that I had the intelligence of a four year old.

Save us, Karl Rove! Save us from the scary Democrats!

(weeps and hides under my desk)

Website of the Week - Google News Archive

2006-09-22T16:38:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

I love Google. Seems like every week they're coming out with a new feature. If you're a history buff you might dig this. It's the ability to search historical archives with the power of Google. Go here and you can do just that. It tells you in the results if you have to pay for the article or not. Once the articles are found you have a timeline on the left that gives you dates that can help narrow your search or you can limit it to listed periodicals. One day these folks will own the net in the way that M$ owns the desktop. Only not evil (I hope).

For Those Who Came In Late

2006-09-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

A warm welcome to our new visitors coming to us from Unclaimed Territory and Gateway Pundit. If you've poked about, you've probably noticed that Codemorse tends to center around politics, entertainment and technology.

While I'm a self-described liberal, you'll find no partisan politicking here - just generalized bile. Although Jabawacefti, our resident conservative, is on hiatus you can find his posts easily in the "Best of Codemorse" section over there in the sidebar to your right. Be sure to check out Scott's daily tech postings - his latest on anti-virus software is a must for anyone with a home computer.

You're encouraged to contribute, comment and critique. Personal attacks, or intentional cruelty are not tolerated but short of that, anything goes.

Drop your partisan leotards at the door and jump right in.

Power Aides

2006-09-21T08:44:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

This is a posting from late July on the conservative site "Powerline", but Oliver Willis linked to it in one of his more recent posts, and I thought it was amusing enough to reproduce in part for you here.

From Powerline:

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

Hyperbolic? Well, maybe.

No maybe there, fellas. That's definately hyperbole. And hilariously, saying that "maybe" it's hyperbole is, in fact, more hyperbole. It's like a hyperbole cake with hyperbole filling with creamy hyperbole on top.

What is this towering megalith of hyperbole in reference to? Why, President Bush's proposed carbon emission reduction program. A program that apparently will have no actual effect on the atmosphere, nor will it reverse global warming.

I doubt that the pact will make any difference to the earth's climate, which will be determined, as always, by variations in the energy emitted by the sun. But when the real cause of a phenomenon is inaccessible, it makes people feel better to tinker with something that they can control.

So....to get this straight....Bush is a genius because he's come up with a pact that won't make any difference to the planet, but will give people the illusion that our President has done something - despite the fact that by Powerline's own stated belief, he's actually doing nothing.

That's a very strange definition of genius.

Software Wednesday - AVG

2006-09-20T14:33:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

I worked on my boss's computer this past weekend. Turns out he had a Trojan. No not the latex variety. A Trojan Horse in computer terms is a malicious program that is disguised as or embedded within legitimate software

What makes it worse is he had a brand new version of Norton AV which did not catch this bad boy. So he was being a responsible PC owner. What did your friendly neighborhood tech do? Well I installed AVG. It's a free antivirus software that absolutely rocks. It found and fixed the virus infested files. Unfortunately I had to end up reinstalling Windows, because the virus had corrupted a few very important files.

Point is, Trojans have to be run from an executable and if he'd had this instead of Norton it probably would have caught the virus before it infected his system. Remember that while generally you get what you pay for there is a HUGE movement of folks who want to put good, cheap/free software in your hands. Unfortunately there is also a large number of people who want you to pay them $65 (or more)for crappy software.

Grisoft also makes an antispyware package that you can get at the same link above.

It was only a matter of time...

2006-09-20T12:32:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Virgin Atlantic Airways is restricting the use of Apple and Dell laptops and their Sony-manufactured batteries on its flights. The restrictions are in response the August recalls of millions of batteries used in the two companies' notebook computers due to a risk of overheating and fire, and it affects owners of Inspirons, Lattitudes, iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBooks or MacBook Pros. Virgin will allow customers to use these laptops, but only with seat-side power supplies (if you're flying coach, too bad). The batteries must be wrapped and confined to the owners carry-on luggage and kept separate from the computer. Korean Air recently imposed similar restrictions on laptops using Sony batteries. Virgin said they'd lift the restrictions "as soon as this safety issue is resolved." - source Wired

So no using laptops on Virgin. It's gotta be hard for the people checking bags to look for this. Every laptop's battery is in a different place. And no way can I see them limiting this to just those laptops. You're gonna have a lot of businessmen upgrade to avoid the hassle and so they can watch pr0...DVD's on those long trips. Good for the airline I guess.

On Vengeance

2006-09-20T09:03:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse at Daily Kos - Reposted here.

From DailyKos:

[The approach is two-fold]....On one hand, hard sell the effectivness of torture techniques, while at the same time, the Bush administration soft peddles the techniques of torture as being as inconsequential as a military boot camp exercise or a harmless fraternity prank.

The GOP supporters of Mr. Bush are advocating that the President and Congress absolve themselves of any criminal responsibility for violating the Geneva Accords. The message the Bush administration is sending other nations is that the United States is free to pick and choose from the ala carte menu of torture violations banned by the Geneva Accords without withdrawing from the accords. Fully withdrawing from the Geneva Accords would place the United States on the blacklist of rogue nations who refuse to honor the accords.

Let's talk about a couple of those torture techniques that Rush Limbaugh refers to as "college pranks" ...Bush's proposed use of induced hypothermia involves subjecting the prisoner to exremely cold air temperatures aimed lowering the prisoner's body temperature.. The goal of induced hypothermia is to lower the body temperature of the prisoner enough to induce the severest of hypothermic symptoms without causing cardiac arrest.

Induced hypothermia is a technique of locking the prisoner into a walk-in freezer or refrigeration device in pitch black darkness and holding him there until the prisoner develops the following symptoms: inability to think or pay attention to events, confusion (some people don't realize they are affected), loss of judgment and reasoning, difficulty moving around or stumbling, feeling fearful, memory loss....

Would someone smarter than I please explain how the use of torture to procure information could be effective when the top symptoms of that torture include confusion, memory loss and the inability to think?

Sadly, I'm no pacifist. I wish I was. I want to believe that we can live in this world without resorting to violence - but I know all too well how effective and how enjoyable violence can be. All arguments about the "effectiveness" of torture aside, there's a darker part of the argument for torture that isn't being discussed, and it's important to acknowledge:

Torture is enjoyable for the torturer.

You can deny all you want, but human nature and thousands of years of civilization will call you a naive fool. Hurting people - especially when they've hurt you, either actually or in your perception - feels good. It gives you a rush, and unlike negotiations or accords, you don't need to engage in anything that might dampen your anger.

...And anger feels good, too.

Perhaps those in government advocating for the use of torture in violation of the Geneva accords are doing so out of a pragmatic desire to gain information. But the techniques being used seem almost designed to give us faulty, partial, or misleading information for our efforts.

When our methods of torture include techniques that would seem to automatically render information suspect and questionable, then the gathering of information is not that torture's primary objective.

The truth is that most people who advocate torture aren't doing so because they think it'll provide any useful information. They're advocating torture because its "deserved." They're advocating it, because it makes that base, primal, reptilian part of the brain (see: "The Lucifer Principle") that responds to vengeance lights up, Christmas Tree style.

And vengeance is an emotion everyone understands - You hurt me, and I'll hurt you. I'm sorry to say that I'm all-too-familiar with that line of reasoning. I've spent the better part of my life wrestling with the desire to toss my adopted morals to the side and just seek revenge. I haven't always succeeded.

So I understand the desire - I truly do. I just cannot condone or approve of it. Because as good as it feels to hurt someone, it fixes nothing. And what this country needs right now is to stop breaking things - either consciously or through lack of action (Iraq, New Orleans, Education, Healthcare, etc, et al) - and start fixing them, instead.

Malkin It Up As She Goes Along

2006-09-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Glenn Greenwald once again uses common sense to battle the hypocrisy of "conservative" pundits. I recommend reading the entire post on his blog. It's that good.

From Unclaimed Territory:

Michelle Malkin is extremely upset because three convicted Christian terrorists in Indonesia are going to be executed despite -- in Michelle's words -- "grave doubts raised over the fairness of the trial." The title of her post is "Muslims will execute Christians" -- by which she means that the Government of a predominantly Muslim country will execute three defendants who happen to be Christian, because they also happen to have been convicted in a trial in an Indonesian court of law "of masterminding a massacre of 200 Muslims in Poso."Michelle favorably links to this article from Asia News which reports -- and I'm not making this up -- that the lawyers for the three convicted Terrorists:

'will take their case before the International Criminal Court in Geneva, as per a human rights convention ratified by Jakarta, to safeguard the three men’s right to life and to denounce irregularities of Indonesian trials.'

Michelle, and an equally outraged Gateway Pundit (to whom she links), both provide contact information to protest on behalf of the Terrorists and to help those organizations trying to secure them a stay of execution and a new trial.

According to the article to which Michelle linked, the complaint is that the Terrorists "were convicted by a trial riddled with illegalities, like witnesses who were not listened to and evidence that was rejected by the court."
Wow -- a trial where the witnesses are not listened to and improper evidence was used. What kind of country would convict someone of terrorism using procedures like that? And what kind of disgusting barbarians would be opposed to having "the International Criminal Court in Geneva," pursuant to an international "human rights convention," demand greater legal protections for terrorists?

This post writes itself. For instance, I thought (from having read Michelle's blog) that people who were concerned about due process for Terrorists are themselves pro-terrorists...

Except that the terrorists here are Christian. Which apparently makes all the difference in the world.

Yet another "wonderfully" illustrative example of how absurd the conservative War on Terror is. Had three Muslims conspired to mastermind the murder of 200 Christians, how do you think Ms. Malkin might have reacted?

Diebold! Die! (It's German, For "The bold! The!")

2006-09-19T08:19:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Daily Kos:

On Wednesday we did a live demo for our Princeton Computer Science colleagues of the vote-stealing software described in our paper and video. Afterward, Chris Tengi, a technical staff member, asked to look at the key that came with the voting machine. He noticed an alphanumeric code printed on the key, and remarked that he had a key at home with the same code on it. The next day he brought in his key and sure enough it opened the voting machine.
This seemed like a freakish coincidence -- until we learned how common these keys are.

Chris's key was left over from a previous job, maybe fifteen years ago. He said the key had opened either a file cabinet or the access panel on an old VAX computer. A little research revealed that the exact same key is used widely in office furniture, electronic equipment, jukeboxes, and hotel minibars.

It's a standard part, and like most standard parts it's easily purchased on the Internet. We bought several keys from an office furniture key shop -- they open the voting machine too. We ordered another key on eBay from a jukebox supply shop...

The future of democracy - any drunk with a minibar key can make a difference!

Good In "60" Seconds

2006-09-19T00:15:00.000-04:00

"Studio 60," the new Aaron Sorkin show for NBC, is really good.

Having a Tivo has given me the ability to actually watch television shows other than "Lost" (I refuse to schedule my life around tv programming), and "Studio 60" is a gem. Any fan of Sorkin's West Wing or his much-loved Sports Night (both great shows, I'm told, but I never watched them) should tune in. Really, it's damn good.

Plus, it's got a guy I knew in college in it. Sure, he's in it for 30 seconds, and he's blurry - but he has lines! It's eerie and bizarre!

For those of you who care, here's my Tivo-enabled television viewing slate:

- The Daily Show
- The Colbert Report
- Lost
- Blade: The Series
- Supernatural
- The Henry Rollins Show
- Various History/Discovery channel shows

The Black Dahlia: A Review

2006-09-18T09:14:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Watching "The Black Dahlia" is the cinematic equivalent of downing half a bottle of Jack Daniels, then chasing it with a quart of old, warm milk.

Rarely have I seen a film that fills itself up with promise, only to consciously deflate and castrate itself by the time the credits roll. If the experience weren't almost-agonizing to sit through, I'd recommend it as an exercise in the fickle nature of film.

"Dahlia" begins strongly, smartly, and engagingly - tracing the noirish friendship between two detectives in 1940's LA. It ends as a mess - a sodden, boring, exposition-laden tour of Hollywood idiocy and half-assedness.

There's no crime (pun entirely unintended) in having the central mystery of a film be a kind of McGuffin. The characters of Dwight and Lee are interesting enough to prop up that kind of film. The heightened "period" feeling of the film is fun to watch, in and of itself. But when your central mystery reveals itself to be an "Oscar-caliber" Scooby Doo episode, you've made a mistake.

That mistake is doubled when the various "twists" required to reach that Scooby Doo ending are packed into the final minutes of the film - in long and largely-incomphrehensible chunks of exposition that routinely and obscenely violate the "Show, don't tell" principle of movie-making.

Josh Hartnett is fine when he's required to be stoic. He's literally laughable when required to be passionate. Scarlett Johanssen continues to show that she's phenomenally attractive and marginally talented. And Aaron Eckhart's character belongs in a better, more interesting film.

In fact, the film's largest mistake is in its casting of its two leads. Hartnett cannot sell Noir despair or anger. He comes across as a petulent teenager who's had his bike taken away. Had the filmmakers simply switched their roles the film might have survived it's stupidly-concieved second half through the sheer force of Eckhart's charisma. As it is, the second that the older (better) actor leaves the screen - which he does, inexplicably and ridiculously, about half-way through the film - the entire enterprise begins to deflate on itself.

"The Black Dahlia" is packed with great actors. There are multiple "Hey! It's that guy!" moments. But all the acting-wattage in the world can't save a script that, faithful to the source or not, violates the First Commandment of studio filmmaking: Thou Shalt Be Entertaining.

Flip Flop Rockin'

2006-09-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the White House:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?

THE PRESIDENT: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. I simply can't accept that...

Well, that's a relief. Because accepting that would mean that you've totally misunderstood the question asked of you. Nevermind that Bush willfully misunderstands the question anyway. The reporter here is not asking about the comparison between the "compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists". He's asking about the specific strategy employed by our government. And he's asking it pretty damn clearly.

Q Mr. President, critics of your proposed bill on interrogation rules say there's another important test -- these critics include John McCain, who you've mentioned several times this morning -- and that test is this: If a CIA officer, paramilitary or special operations soldier from the United States were captured in Iran or North Korea, and they were roughed up, and those governments said, well, they were interrogated in accordance with our interpretation of the Geneva Conventions, and then they were put on trial and they were convicted based on secret evidence that they were not able to see, how would you react to that, as Commander-in-Chief?

THE PRESIDENT: David, my reaction is, is that if the nations such as those you named, adopted the standards within the Detainee Detention Act, the world would be better. That's my reaction. We're trying to clarify law. We're trying to set high standards, not ambiguous standards....Now, perhaps some in Congress don't think the program is important. That's fine. I don't know if they do or don't. I think it's vital, and I have the obligation to make sure that our professionals who I would ask to go conduct interrogations to find out what might be happening or who might be coming to this country, I got to give them the tools they need. And that is clear law.

Q But sir, this is an important point, and I think it depends --

THE PRESIDENT: The point I just made is the most important point.

Q Okay.

You question the President's God-given authority at your own peril, mortal! Kneel before Zod! It is President Zod's duty to provide clear and unambiguous standards! Standards so clearly unambiguous that you must possess Presidential clearance to review those standards! Standards so unambiguously clear that you cannot know anything about those standards, less the clarity and unambiguity be compromised!

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier this week, you told a group of journalists that you thought the idea of sending special forces to Pakistan to hunt down bin Laden was a strategy that would not work…recently you’ve also described bin Laden as a sort of modern day Hitler or Mussolini. And I’m wondering why, if you can explain why you think it’s a bad idea to send more resources to hunt down bin Laden, wherever he is?

THE PRESIDENT: Pakistan is a sovereign nation. In order for us to send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation, we’ve got to be invited by the government of Pakistan.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. Diplomatically, it might seriously piss some people off to simply rush into a middle-eastern country while ignoring the wishes of other nations. Except, we just did that. And except this (courtesy of This Modern World):

BUSH: America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.

CHENEY: The United States will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.

Never! Except when it decides it will.

Kerry was the "flip-flopper"?

Website of the Week - Coolness Roundup

2006-09-15T14:43:00.000-04:00

Okay so that's not the URL, but go here for an excellent podcast and reviews of the latest cool gadgets to come down the pipe. Stephen Schleicher and Charlie White both have a long list of experiences that give them insight into the IT industry in general and gadgets specifically.

Some of the latest things they've covered include:

The Linksys Travel Router

and the Midas Universal Remote/Wristwatch.

Both very cool things indeed.

Come On, Baby - Let's Do The Twist

2006-09-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From The NY Times, courtesy of This Modern World:

...the other striking feature of [Bush's] conversation is that he possesses an unusual perception of time. Washington, and modern life in general, encourages people to think in the short term. But Bush, who stands aloof, thinks in long durations.

“I got into politics initially because I wanted to help change a culture,” he says, referring to his campaign against the instant gratifications of the 1960’s counterculture. And he sees his efforts today as a series of long, gradual cultural transformations. Like many executives, he believes that the higher you go, the further into the future you should see, and so his conversation is filled with speculations about the long-term effects of deep social trends — the current religious awakening or the politics of volunteer armies.

Sitting between busts of Lincoln and Churchill, [Bush] continued, “My hope is to leave behind something — foundations and institutions that will enable future presidents to be able to more likely make the tough decisions that they’re going to have to make.”

“Ideological struggles take time,” he said, explaining the turmoil in Iraq and elsewhere. He said the events of weeks or months were just a nanosecond compared with the long course of this conflict. He was passionate on the need for patience and steadfastness. He talked about “inviolate” principles written upon his heart: “People want you to change. It’s tactics that shift, but the strategic vision has not, and will not, shift.”

Ideological struggles take time? The kind of time this Administration did not allow for when planning the invasion of Iraq?

Patience? The sort of patience he refused to exercise when it became clear that the UN inspectors were, in fact, not finding any WMDs in Iraq, and that the reason for this was almost certainly that there were no weapons to be found?

Believe it or not, I have some sympathy for Mr. Bush. At day's end, I think he's doing what he believes is right. The problem is that we disagree entirely on what is "right," and how to go about doing it.

The craven image-creation this Administration has engaged in, from making Bush simulataneously " stand aloof" and be "a man you'd want to have a (non-alcoholic) beer with", to having him simultaneously insist that he doesn't read the papers, yet reads Camus; to situating him between the busts of two historical emancipators, is enough to throw distrust all over what he "stands" for.

The simple, sad truth is that it just doesn't matter what Bush and Co. say anymore. Our own ideological trenches are dug far too deep to change opinions on "the Great Divider". That's damn ironic, considering that it's an ideological struggle we're involved in. The sort of down-the-rabbit-hole logic that's now employed is the essence of flip-floppery. It's worse than any change in position John Kerry ever made, and it's worse because unlike Kerry, Bush is in charge of the country. Bush is the champion of a swift, decisive victory in Iraq before he was always aware that such a struggle might take years and years and years to "win." Bush wanted to unite the country, not divide it - until it became politically expedient to divide us more than we've ever been in my lifetime. Bush wants to protect freedom - and to do so, he'll remove every last one of America's civil liberties.

For every Republican who claims that the division in this country is the fault of cut n' run liberals who care more about dividing a nation than they do about healing it, I say this:

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

Why is there such "Bush Hatred" right now?

Easy - because despite his seemingly-sincere desire to "do something" about terror, his methods, his philosophies, and his party's approach to politicking is worthy of disgust. Do I love the Dems and their approach? Hell, no. But then the Dems aren't currently fighting in government to consolidate even more power into a single branch of government, are they?

Filmic Frenzy!

2006-09-14T08:25:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Here's some of the latest and greatest film news and info from around the web:

The Fake Life is reporting that Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3, U-571, Breakdown) will be directing the Sub-Mariner film for Marvel studios. I could care less about the Sub-Mariner, but I happen to like Mostow quite a bit. As the author of this article jokes (?), Mostow's largely held responsible for "killing" the Terminator franchise, but I thought his work on T3 was surprisingly forceful and very natural. If there's a director who can get me excited about an Aquaman rip-off with lil' wings on his feet, Mostow's it.

You can read an extensive interview with Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, The Frighteners) about his upcoming fantasy project as well as his long-percolating adaptaion of the Lovely Bones here and here. It's in two parts, and it's interesting stuff.

Over at Chud.com, the new Apocalypto trailer is up. Come to terms with the fact that artists throughout history have been cantankerous, racist, sexist, stupid, and still brilliant - then watch the trailer and admit that, yea, that looks pretty interesting.

The Silver Surfer rears his chrome-dome in the Fantastic Four sequel, and AICN has a report on how they're going to bring the Philosopher of the Spaceways to life. It sounds...weird.

Apple TV Thingy Update

2006-09-13T12:19:00.000-04:00

This is it and while it is purty, it's also disappointing. Its working name is the iTV (naturally) and the hardware cost is actually $299. For that you get something that can stream any iTunes content to your TV. The resolution is 640x480 (not great) on the movies that you would buy for 19.99.

Of course they aren't actually releasing it until 2007, so things could change between now and then. If the price were to drop dramatically then I could see it doing some business. If the price on the movies stays the same though it will die.

Hir(pur)sute

2006-09-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

"Osama's got legs...he knows how to use 'em"

From CNN:

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Gary Weddle followed the news so closely he forgot to shave. After a week he decided not to shave until Osama bin Laden was caught or killed. Nor has Weddle, 46, who expected the al Qaeda leader to be caught within a month or so, trimmed his facial hair in the succeeding five years as he went from substitute teacher to science instructor at Ephrata Middle School.

...He said he would keep the beard, untrimmed, as long as bin Laden remains at large -- "even if I get buried with it."

Gary's going to be waiting for a while, methinks:

The clandestine U.S. commandos whose job is to capture or kill Osama bin Laden have not received a credible lead in more than two years. Nothing from the vast U.S. intelligence world -- no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image -- has led them anywhere near the al-Qaeda leader, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

"The handful of assets we have have given us nothing close to real-time intelligence" that could have led to his capture, said one counterterrorism official, who said the trail, despite the most extensive manhunt in U.S. history, has gone "stone cold."

But Is He A Brown-Skinned Man?

2006-09-13T08:44:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN:

A man wearing military fatigues and throwing punches into the air tried to open the exit door of a jet during a cross-country flight on Tuesday night, airline officials and passengers said...

Ken Wolfenberger, of Whittier, California, who was on the flight, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he helped subdue the unruly passenger. The man wore patches on his fatigues with special forces and jujitsu champion logos, Wolfenberger said.

The man had been acting strangely for about 20 minutes, then sat up, wrapped belts around his hands and threw punches into the air, Wolfenberger said.

Wolfenberger said he heard a flight attendant yell for help and tell the man, "Sir, get your hand off the handle."

Crazy man? Homegrown terrorist? We don't know, because while CNN is willing to report exactly what this man was wearing, they seem remarkably loathe to report anything he was saying.

Big Apple News

2006-09-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Today Apple will be giving the public some details about their new dowloadable movie service. I've known for some time that this was in the works and even wrote a bit about it. What's really interesting is the other bit of news it's rumored that they will release.

The bad thing about downloading movies from iTunes is that they won't be burnable to a DVD, but it looks like they'll be releasing a device that will allow you to stream the movie to your TV. One dongle will plug into your Mac and will wirelessly attach to another one plugged into either HD or regular component cables.

According to Gizmodo it will be called the TubePort. The cost for hardware will be $99 and the movies will cost between $9-$19.99 depending on the format you purchase. That seems more than a little steep, but it's a step in the right direction.

Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

2006-09-12T08:48:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the NY Post:

President Bush is invoking the memory of Sept. 11 to defend the war in Iraq, drawing protests from Democrats who say he politicized a national day of mourning...

Bush began with a two-minute tribute to the "nearly 3,000" victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, but most of his 17-minute speech was devoted to justifying his foreign policy since that day. With his party's control of Congress at stake in elections less than two months away, Bush suggested that political opponents who are calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would be giving victory to the terrorists...

"I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks," Bush said. "The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat."

From the Washington Post:

A declassified report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence revealed that U.S. intelligence analysts were strongly disputing the alleged links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda while senior Bush administration officials were publicly asserting those links to justify invading Iraq.

Far from aligning himself with al-Qaeda and Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Hussein repeatedly rebuffed al-Qaeda's overtures and tried to capture Zarqawi, the report said. Tariq Aziz, the detained former deputy prime minister, has told the FBI that Hussein "only expressed negative sentiments about [Osama] bin Laden."

...a CIA assessment in October 2005 concluded that Hussein's government "did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates," according to the report.

...In February 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that "Iraq is unlikely to have provided bin Laden any useful [chemical and biological weapons] knowledge or assistance." A year later, Bush said: "Iraq has also provided al-Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training."

Guess which article was published on a Saturday, the slowest day of the news cycle? I'll give you a hint - it's not the first article.

Free To Be...Iraqi. Not So Free To Be...Americani

2006-09-12T08:31:00.000-04:00

Posted by Codemorse

From the NY Post:

President Bush told the nation last night that America is waging war against terrorists to protect free countries and allow "good and decent" people to sow new democracies in the Middle East.

..."We are fighting for the possibility that good and decent people across the Middle East can raise up societies based on freedom and tolerance and personal dignity."

This, from the Administration that brought you the Defense of Marriage act, warrantless wiretaps, and "if you aren't with us, then you're against us."

Freedom, tolerance, and personal dignity - wonderful words that apparently mean more in Iraq than they do in America.

Explanations, Apologies, and Congratulations

2006-09-11T08:35:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

If you read this site, you've noticed that we haven't posted in about a week - which is pretty unusual.

Apologies for the lack of new content, but this past weekend, Jabawacefti was married in a ceremony of poignance and unadulterated fun. Because I'm more exhausted than Hefner after a night out with the girls, posting will remain non-existent until tomorrow morning, when Codemorse will come roaring back to life.

Thanks for your patience. Well-wishers who want to congratulate our resident conservative can email me your heartfelt good wishes and I'll see that Jabs gets them.

Congratulations to Jabs. He's married a wonderful woman. She didn't make out too badly either.

Alien Nation

2006-09-04T14:54:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the Washington Times:

The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents.

Contact your Senator and inform him of your opinion on this. Speaking as a self-described Liberal/Libertarian, this makes me livid. LIVID.

The issue of illegal alienage is a shell-game. By voting to allow illegals to collect SS, the Senate is rewarding the businesses who are getting rich off cheap, illicit labor, and rewarding those workers who take higher-paying jobs from American citizens.

I am not without compassion for illegals, but I am pragmatic - and SS is in enough trouble without this happening. It's almost as if the Senate is intentionally attempting to "crash" Social Security earlier than predicted, and it's hideous.

Go to Google, look up your Senator, and call them.

Up Is Down.

2006-09-02T00:29:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the Washington Post:

President Bush and his surrogates are launching a new campaign intended to rebuild support for the war in Iraq by accusing the opposition of aiming to appease terrorists and cut off funding for troops on the battlefield...

Are you kidding me?

The Democrats want to cut funding for the troops? The dangerously inadequate funding that's resulted in inferior body armor and vehicle armor? The funding that's been slashed by this administration so as to eliminate Veterans benefits?

Apparently so.

Yes, having supplied our troops with the very least in support, this administration is now attempting to paint Dems in a bad light by accusing them of cutting funding for the troops.

To buy into this Doublethink bullshit is to have the ability to consciously turn off your brain and manually remove it before handing it to your Evil Overlords for further tampering.

Website of the Week - FrinkTank

2006-09-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

I like science. I like God. The twain can meet to a certain degree in my opinion, but I like to hear from opposing viewpoints from time to time. That's especially true when that opposition is written in a funny and or thought provoking way.

To that end, when I want some science news served up with a heaping helping of attitude and unsullied by any religious overtones I go here. Be warned, the language there is not for the faint of heart.

Political Ju-Jitsu

2006-09-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Here's something you don't see a lot of - the Hitler/Churchill comparison used ju-jitsu style:

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.

In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril—with a growing evil—powerful and remorseless.

That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the “secret information.” It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s — questioning their intellect and their morality.

That government was England’s, in the 1930’s.

It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone England.

It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all treaties and accords.

It knew that the hard evidence it received, which contradicted its own policies, its own conclusions — its own omniscience — needed to be dismissed.

The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew the truth.

Most relevant of all — it “knew” that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile, at best morally or intellectually confused.

That critic’s name was Winston Churchill.

Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.

History — and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England —have taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty — and his own confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the man, but that the office can also make the facts.

Thus, did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy.

Excepting the fact, that he has the battery plugged in backwards.

His government, absolute — and exclusive — in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis.

It is the modern version of the government of Neville Chamberlain.

Nice, Olberman.

Very nice.

World's Biggest Tabletop Computer

2006-08-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

This is tech/world news and very, very cool so I figured I'd put it out there.

Table of Free Voices

“In terms of computing power, the Table delivers a peak performance of around 230 GFLOPS, which means that it can calculate 230,000,000,000 floating point operations per second.

“Packed with technology, the table features 112 Mini-DV Cameras, 112 Mac Minis with 224 Intel Core CPU cores running at 1.66 GHz, more than 36 terabytes of storage space spread over 224 individual hard drives and miles of cabling…

“While in recording mode, the table records 112 DV audio-video streams with a total bandwidth of over 3.8 Gigabits per second and performs a real-time h.264 compression on all 112 video streams.

“By the evening of September 9th, the Table will have recorded, compressed and stored almost 700 hours of video footage, as both high-quality material and in compressed, ready for streaming formats.”

What will it record you ask?

On September 9, 2006, 112 of the world's most compelling thinkers, artists, writers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers and humanitarians from around the world will come together in Berlin, Germany, as guests of dropping knowledge. Seated around the worlds largest table in historic Bebelplatz square, these inspiring individuals, renowned for their lasting creative or social contribution, will engage with 100 questions out of the thousands donated to dropping knowledge by the international public.

That is nothing short of WICKED AWESOME!

Software Wednesday - Google Apps

2006-08-30T13:51:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

There's been much talk on the tech blogs this week about Google's launch of a "business solution", Google Apps for Your Domain. At present it consists of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk (Instant Messaging and Voice Over IP), and Google Page Creator. Two of these solutions, Gmail and Calendar, are actually quite good and would probably be a wise decision for a small company with little or no IT budget. You do have to register your own domain and your email address and website will reflect that, so it will look "professional". The Page Creator is a pretty simple web design tool and Talk would seem to be a less than vital aspect to the whole thing.

Right now the service is free and in Beta. When the final version is released there will be some sort of charge for a non-advertising packed version. They will probably also include web based text editing and spreadsheets. No telling when all of the a will come to pass.

The reason I chose to include this in today's post is because the whole idea of hosted software services like this is really interesting to me. You don't have to worry about installing anything. Licensing isn't as big an issue. Massive hard drives or buckets of RAM aren't necessary to run it. Thin clients, mini computers which let servers do all the grunt work, should be cheaper to maintain and easier on the budget than full blown PCs.

It would seem that this is a perfect solution for a small company. Naturally, there are quite a few bugs that will need to be worked out and this idea will live or die based on the amount of uptime and customer service that they provide. I think it's important though that Google, who has shown that they can innovate and have a passal of smart folks working for them, is behind this. Should be interesting to watch Redmond's reaction.

Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot

2006-08-30T11:05:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Rush Limbaugh, via This Modern World :

And so now we find out that there’s obesity and all this amongst the poor, more than amongst those who are not poor. It’s sort of a textbook case of what happens when we let liberals have their way. I mean, for decades all over the world we’ve been beat about the head that there are hungry people out there , that there are starving kids.

UNICEF? How many of you have trick-or-treated for UNICEF? Did you trick-or-treat for UNICEF, Brian? Did you? We all trick-or-treated. It’s one of the biggest scams on the face of the earth. The scam was to get everybody loving the United Nations. The scam was to get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people. Remember all these stories “A dime a day will feed 20 kids” in some outward place around the world, or 25 cents a day? Audrey Hepburn, Sally Strothers, all these people did it.

....Here are these liberals right next to all these starving people doing television shows telling people thousands of miles away that they don’t care. “Can’t you help? Won’t you help?” You know, the underlying thought was: You slothful, lazy, cold-hearted bum!

Won’t you get off the couch and at least make a phone call? Well, it’s what happens when you let the left run things. We’ve been beat on the head. There are hungry people everywhere; UNICEF got it all started....

We’ve been guilted into pouring resources on the problem, and now the latest crisis is that there is obesity among those who are impoverished because we are sympathetic; we are compassionate people; we’ve responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity, at least here in America. We didn’t teach them how to fish. We gave them the fish. We didn’t teach them how to slaughter the cow to get the butter. We gave them the butter. The real bloat here as we know is in government.

Damn our ill-calculated once-a-year efforts at charity! Isn't it clear that such liberalism is to blame for starvation in Africa?

My "favorite" part of this witless diatribe? "We are compassionate people"

....Could've fooled me.

E-ink...

2006-08-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

The E-Ink Corporation has come up with a flexible display that is pretty darn readable under most conditions and is extremely battery friendly. Up until now I've only seen still pictures, but thanks to Gizmodo I've seen a working prototype and now you will too.

The Phillips READUS E-Reader Scroll looks like it has a lot of potential. How well that gets realized depends on price, availability, and durability. According to the video we should see this early next year. Eventually there will be a color version. I could definitely see reading my morning news on something like this.

Beerfest = Greatness, Bottled

2006-08-29T08:36:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Having seen Broken Lizard's new film, "Beerfest," I can confidently make the following recommendation for your upcoming weekend:

1) Call several friends. These friends must be somewhat goofy, and not of the too-cool-for-school variety.

2) Hit a bar and buy yourselves several rounds.

4) See "Beerfest."

5) Repeat Step Two

If you follow these instructions I guarantee that you will laugh your asses off.

"Beerfest" is the sort of R-rated comedy that movies like "Wedding Crashers" would like to be. It's gloriously infantile and stuffed with the sort of sweetly-anarchic humor that the Muppets might traffic in if they went on a year-long drinking binge and developed potty mouths.

The movie doesn't truly get going until the two "leads" begin gathering their Ultimate Drinking Team, but by then you've settled into the comfortable and uniquely mellow style of Broken Lizard. And when the laughs come, they come hard. It's immediately obvious that the movie, like their previous classic Super Troopers, will only get funnier with repeated viewings and as funny as it is initially, that's saying something. I'll be repeating "It's fwustwating! It's fwustwating...fwustwating..." until my girlfriend's ready to destroy me with her mind. Like Super Troopers, the film's endlessly quotable.

"Beerfest" won't change the world, win any Oscars, or solve the problems in the middle-east. It will, however, make you laugh like you're fourteen years old and watching Stripes for the first time on cable.

Told Ya So

2006-08-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From The Corner:

Tim Minear, High Lord of the Whedonverse, writes:
While I'm certainly flattered that your friend credits me with any libertarian/conservative influence on "Firefly", or even the larger Whedonverse, I didn't create "Firefly." Joss did. Mal was always a libertarian leaning character and he was born utterly from Joss's giant brain. It's not like it was Collectivists In Space! before I came along.(emphasis mine)

Gadget of the Week - BFG

2006-08-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

It's not particularly useful but sometimes it's more about the coolness factor. The BFG from DOOM is probably THE thing (outside of the orcish sword from LOTR which I think HR would frown on) that I would most like hangin' on the wall to my office. Maybe it wouldn't keep all of the riff-raff out, but then again maybe it would.

You could get it here, but it's sold out at the mo'. Keep checking back though.

Once You Have Met That Little Coquette, Katrina; You've Lost Your...Home

2006-08-28T08:38:00.000-04:00

It's strange to think that Hurricane Katrina was just a year ago.

With so much happening, all the time, the tragedy and insanity of Louisiana has faded until it seems as though it might have happened two or three years ago, at least.

In this month's edition of The Atlantic, there's an interesting interview with Michael Chertoff that discusses the government's response to the disaster, and it's doubly interesting how we as a country have begun to excuse and legitimize the slow response of FEMA and other government entities.

Which is why it's important to have timelines like this one to remind us all of what actually occured a year ago, and of how important it is to keep political and social pressure on our government to aid us domestically in disaster.

Disaster happens. Whether its terrorism (a threat so old that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson corresponded on it) or Mother Nature, we will be caught by "surprise" again. And how we've learned from events like Katrina can help to reduce the suffering and insanity of future disasters. Let us all hope that Mr. Chertoff is sincere in his claim to have learned from Katrina.

Because it's going to happen again.

Do The Evolution

2006-08-28T08:22:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the Chronicle:

Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring in engineering, mathematics, science, or certain foreign languages.
That absence apparently indicates that students in the evolutionary sciences do not qualify for the grants, and some observers are wondering whether the omission was deliberate.
....The awards in question -- known as Smart Grants, for the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent program -- were created by Congress this year, with strong support from the president. The grants are worth up to $4,000 and are awarded in addition to Pell grants.
Recipients must be college juniors or seniors enrolled in one of the technical fields of study that the Department of Education has deemed eligible for funds. Many different topics, as varied as astronomy and Arabic, qualify.
But evolutionary biology is absent.

Website of the Week - Etsy.com

2006-08-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Apologies that this posted on Monday. Blogger was giving me fits.

If you're among the growing number of Americans that's exercising your craft muscles and want to make some money you could do worse than Etsy.com. They only charge you ten cents an item to list and a 3.5% fee on any sale. That's peanuts compared to eBay. But that's not why I listed this as a site worth noticing.

Look at how things like its search engines are designed. Click on search by color and you get a field of colors that blossom under your cursor. Once you click the one you want it gives you your results as a stack of virtual photos that you can toss around. Look at their time machine feature which shows you items based on when they were posted. Click on their Sampler and you get a random list of a hundred sellers. This is the way sites like this should be designed. This sort of thing is "the future" of the web. Or maybe not but it should be.

Time For Plan B...

2006-08-25T00:58:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Total Centrist:

This morning, the FDA has approved Plan B for over the counter sale to women over 18 after a three year politically charged battle. The Religious Right was unsuccessful in interdicting the product from being legally sold in America, and that is a solid victory for women.

A victory, indeed. Congratulations are in order to every woman and man who fought and lobbied and pushed to make Plan B available to women in the U.S.

It's gratifying to see that the religious right doesn't yet control our government as it would like to.

WOW.

2006-08-25T00:52:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From The Shreveport Times:

Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.

....After Richmond and Williams filed complaints with the School Board, Transportation Supervisor Jerry Carlisle asked Davis to make seat assignments for her passengers, Sessoms said."But she still assigned the black children to the back of the bus," she added.And the nine children had to share only two seats, meaning the older children had to hold the younger ones in their laps.

....A new solution reached Monday by School Board officials has a black bus driver driving across town to pick up the nine black children.

Honestly, what can I say to follow that?

....except to point out that the current "solution" is to have a black bus driver ship only the black children - seperately, but equally - across town.

Good Jesus, what is wrong with us?

Use Us

2006-08-24T12:47:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Maybe you've noticed our daily tech posts, courtesy of Scott?

Maybe you're a secret luddite who can't tell the difference between an i/o port and an a hole?

Maybe you're a lot like me?

Then maybe you should click on Scott's name in the new "Contact Codemorse" section of the sidebar. He'll take your questions and comments on everything from the glitches in your Tivo to the state of software today.

While you're at it, you might want to contact me to let me know that when the revolution comes, the libs will be the first with their backs to the wall. My objections of Libertarianism aside, those comments are always appreciated.

Reading Is FUNdamental

2006-08-24T08:08:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

If you're like me, you wish that politics weren't an empty shell-game, designed to distract and stupify as the people of the government make off with our money in burlap sacks marked "$" on the side.

If you're like me, you've accepted that politics is an empty shell-game, and that George W. Bush is a craven, poll-driven man of decidedly average intelligence who has suddenly discovered that the ploy of acting as the rube-next-door (complete with swaggering attitude, smirk, and refusal to read...well...anything) has backfired on him.

So if you're like me, you aren't at all surprised to see that the White House has released a "Summer reading list" for Bush in order to show that, contrary to what he and his advisors have told us, he really is a thoughtful, intelligent guy:

Maybe it was the influence of his wife, Laura, a former librarian, or his mother, Barbara, a longtime promoter of literacy. Or perhaps he was just eager to dispel his image as an intellectual lightweight. But President Bush now wants it known that he is a man of letters.

In fact, Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush's competitive delight, has racked up only 50).

Yea. Maybe.

Or maybe the President's advisors have realized that the "Big Dumb Cowboy" schtick doesn't work as well when you're unpopular.

What do you think the odds are that the President is winning a book reading competition with Karl Rove? And what do you think the odds are that any of this isn't a bald-faced attempt to rehabilitate the President's Man of No Letters approach to politicking?

Isn't the reading of big, thoughtful books the provence of liberals, who cannot see the real world from their Ivory Towers (copyright/TM, the RNC)? Or does that no longer apply, either?

Here's a partial list of the President's "Summer reading". Do you think he writes book reports?

Conservatives: Protecting America From Itself

2006-08-24T07:54:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Yahoo.com:

Pornographic movies now seem nearly as pervasive in America's hotel rooms as tiny shampoo bottles, and the lodging industry shows little concern as conservative activists rev up a protest campaign aimed at triggering a federal crackdown.

The coalition also is trying to draw attention to CleanHotels.com, a directory of hotels and motels nationwide that pledge to exclude adult offerings from their in-room entertainment service.

This is the way the free market should work: people who do not want to watch pornography - or who are threatened by the sheer fact of its existence within the magical boxes that bring our entertainment - have a DIRECTORY of hotels to frequent. Should the directory prove successful, it will grow.

But of course, that's not enough for today's Modern Conservative. Just like with every other issue they feel that they're "losing" on, they bring the federal government in to police their puritan, intolerant desires.

Speaking personally, I can't remember a time when porn wasn't available in hotel rooms. And speaking personally, I've never rented one (from a hotel room, he added, in the spirit of prurient disclosure).

It's absurd to argue that people cannot control themselves enough to block adult channels from their children, or to argue that because a minority of parents will not take the time to do so, then the choice to watch adult entertainment is therefore to be taken from all.

This is the modern conservative extremist in a nutshell. They aren't interested in democracy, they're interested in DeMYcracy. As in: "It's DeMycracy or the Highway."

Software Wednesday - Picasa

2006-08-23T13:38:00.000-04:00

Looking for a way to upload and share your pictures? I talked about this a bit last week, but today I'll suggest just the right software to do it. It's called Picasa and it's a free download from Google.

It will scan your computer and give you an organized view of all of the pictures it finds. You can organize them into albums, give them descriptive tags, and rate them. It also includes a basic editor that lets you crop, deal with redeye, and do some cool effects. For you real camera buffs it can give you a list of all the information that gets uploaded with your picture including things like what camera was used and graph of the color intensity. Once you've done all that Picasa makes it easy to burn them to CD or DVD to give to friends and family.

While these features are great, there are two that I really like when it comes to sharing your pictures. If you use the Blogger service you can use the "Blog This" button in Picasa to send pictures to your blog and include a post about that picture. It's also very easy to use with Flickr, a free photo sharing service. The right settings in Picasa allow you to email your pictures to an address provided to you by Flickr with any descriptive tags you want to use in the subject, and it resizes the pictures to your specifications and posts them.

Reddy And The Cruise-ers

2006-08-23T10:37:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From MSN:

It's Tom Cruise vs. Sumner Redstone in a case of I quit-you're fired at Hollywood's highest level. On one side is the chairman of Viacom, Inc., which owns Paramount Pictures. On the other is the industry's biggest and most bankable star, whose last seven films have each generated over $100 million.

Redstone said Tuesday that Paramount would sever its long and profitable relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's company with producing partner Paula Wagner. Redstone told the Wall Street Journal that Cruise's "recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

But Wagner told The Associated Press that agents for Cruise/Wagner Productions stopped negotiating with Paramount over a week ago and since secured independent financing, effectively taking any contract-renewal deal off the table.

Interesting stuff.

Tom Cruise may be personally-insane, but I really don't see the problem here. His views are no more extreme than any mainstream Christian's - he just has a less-accepted belief system.

He hasn't threatened anyone. He hasn't hurt anyone. His wife is with him of her own free will.

On top of that, the guy's kind of a superhero. He's pulled people from burning cars/boats/other-things-which-are-burning.

In what world does Cruise get the boot, while Paris Hilton continues to conquer the multi-mediaverse?

On the other hand, it's a free country. If Paramount doesn't want to do business with Cruise, that's their right. It just seems sort of bewildering to punish a man for beliefs that don't do harm to anyone but perhaps his chosen friends.

In Defense Of...Nothing

2006-08-23T02:59:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the August 21st White House press conference, courtesy of the Daily Show:

President Bush (In response to the suggestion that the war in Iraq has weakened the "war on terror"): "The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens...before we started our freedom agenda in the middle-east. They were...(responding to an inaudible question)...What did Iraq have to do with what?

Reporter: "The attack on the World Trade Center."

Bush: "Nothing."

Chickenhawks, Revisited

2006-08-23T02:21:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN.com:

"Bush OKs involuntary Marine recall"

President Bush has authorized the U.S. Marine Corps to recall 2,500 troops to active duty because there are not enough volunteers returning for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, Marine commanders announced Tuesday.

The recall was authorized last month, and will begin in spring 2007 to fill positions for upcoming rotations, Marine officials said. The Marine Corps is currently picking volunteers from the Marine Individual Ready Reserve, the officials said.

....Though the initial recall is for 2,500 troops, there is no cap on how many could be called up in the future.

Remember when Elvis Presley joined the army? Or Jimmy Stewart? Despite enormously successful careers, they dropped them on a dime when they understood a need to serve their country - even if that wasn't as a foot-soldier.

The supporters of this war are not required to fight in it (that would be the "Chickenhawk" argument that Jabs hated so much). But when we're strapped for troops to the tune of 2,500, it is both legitimate and logical to ask why the ardent supporters of the war will not put down their powerbooks and their briefcases to sacrifice for their country.

What does "Support the Troops" mean?

Apparently, it means shipping them away again for involuntary tours of duty while sitting around watching "Serenity" over and over again on cable.

Jonah And The Whale

2006-08-23T01:05:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From The Corner:

....it is striking what a conservative movie Serenity is. In the 1930s, when ideological content was deliberate and ideological deviationism was denounced, Serenity would be villified as "fascist" for its opposition to social planning. The upshot: a capitalistic freebooter opposes the egalitarian — democratic — "Parliament." It's übermenschy representative — a barely updated version of the HG Wellsian fascistic types parodied in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow — is beyond good and evil in his pursuit of a utopian world....

....Indeed, to the extent Mal Reynolds has an ideological agenda it is merely to stand in the way of Utopia and the desire of tyrants to impose happiness on people whether they like it or not. Beyond that, he simply believes in people living their lives as they see fit, so long as their interests don't collide with his.

It is striking how bizarre Goldberg's "interpretation" of Serenity is. I'm actually really glad Goldberg likes the movie. But he'll politicize it over my cold, dead fingers.

It's one whale of a leap to suggest that Reynolds' values are anything other than vaguely Libertarian; because Serenity's politics are Libertarian if they can be classified at all. Joss Whedon, the show's creator, has stated as much.

One imagines Goldberg on his couch, secretly imagining himself as Captain Mal - delivering frontier-style justice to the "establishment" with his anti-big-government attitude.

Except that Goldberg is big government. Any attempt to cast conservatives as the embattled minority fighting against the State is ludicrious, because at this point in time, they are the State.

Who supports warrantless wire-tapping of American citizens?
Conservatives.
Who supports the on-going, lawyer-less detention of suspected terrorists?
Conservatives.
Who urges Americans to shut up if they can't say something positive about the government?
Conservatives.

Whether right or wrong on these issues, it's fairly clear that being "anti-big government" (or, as Jonah puts it, "social planning") is something conservatives are clearly not at this time. Putting it otherwise is a willfull distortion of conservative belief.

Serenity's essential story - about a government that attempts to force peace on other worlds through iron-fisted, murderous, but supposedly altruistic means - is just as easily "interpreted" as a condemnation of Bush's foriegn policy. But what's the point of doing this? It's like trying to make "The Lord of the Rings" into an allegory for World War II. Tolkien despised allegory in his books, and would roll in his grave at the notion.

Oh, and, big surprise - Goldberg invokes the 1930's again. Because, as we've learned, you cannot make a statement that's "conservative" now without in some way implying that your philosophy is the one responsible for stopping Hitler.

*Oh, part II: Would someone please explain the definition of fascism to Jonah?

To wit:

Wikipedia: Fascism is a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism.

Merriam-Webster: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

Cambridge Online: (adj.) Someone who supports fascism - a person of the far right in politics. Someone who does not allow any opposition.

Microsoft Open Source Lab...

2006-08-22T12:53:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

The idea that MS has an open source lab strikes me as more than a little funny. The notion that they would want to help Mozilla Corp. ensure that their products, Firefox (IE alternative) and Thunderbird (email client), will work with Windows Vista makes me a little suspicious. Nevertheless that's what's going on.

Sam Ramji, the director of the lab, said he had set aside office space for open-source developers and would make Microsoft engineers available to Firefox and Thunderbird coders.

"As part of my mission as an advocate for open source applications on Windows, I've gotten spaces set aside at the Windows Vista Readiness ISV Lab," wrote Ramji.

"The lab itself is a 4-day event held in Redmond every week through December 2006; we provide secure office space for 4 people, hardware, VPN access, and 1:1 access to product team developers and support staff," he added.

Ramji also said that although Microsoft had invited only commercial developers to such labs in the past, "I'm committed to evolving our thinking beyond commercial companies to include open source projects - InformationWeek

I guess on the one hand they want to make sure that these products won't crash Windows (not that it needs any help). And I would imagine they would also want to shed their image as a greedy monopoly wannabe. Bravo to Ramji and I hope this sort of change continues.

So what're you waiting for? Go download the Mozilla stuff. You won't be sorry you did.

A Debate In 5/4 Time

2006-08-22T08:57:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Over at Chud.com I've posted this week's Sunday Sermon, "God Is Jazz". The discussion that's resulted is really interesting to me, and if you're interested in things of a religious/spiritual nature, you'd do well to check it out. I warn you, while the discussion is interesting, immediately following my post is profanity. If you're sensitive to that sort of thing (or intentionally-inflammatory remarks like "I hate God! Ha Ha!"), then skip down past that crap.

Those without any interest in God at all can still enjoy a discussion of fundamentalist influence on American politics - ongoing throughout the same discussion.

Like An Incarcerated Rolling Stone

2006-08-22T07:55:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Did you know that last week, a federal panel suggested loosening "regulations that severely limit the testing of pharmaceuticals on prison inmates...."?

If that wasn't enough to make your skin crawl, just a little, head out and purchase the Rolling Stone with Ms. Aguilera on the cover. Matt Taibi's recent report on the privatization of prison will add levels of liberal outrage to your layer-cake of paranoia.

These two things, taken together, will provide a curiously nauseous sensation to the belly.

Fakes On A Plane?

2006-08-21T17:11:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

I recieved a link to the below-story from my brother a few days back, and due to being sick as a dog over the weekend (still recovering now, and I feel like death, warmed over), I just read it this morning. It's inflammatory stuff, and very thought-provoking. I caution our more "conservative" readers to take it with the salt they should. The authors are not saying that there is no terrorism. They are questioning our response to terrorism.

From The Register:

Now we have news of the recent, supposedly real-world, terrorist plot to destroy commercial airplanes by smuggling onboard the benign precursors to a deadly explosive, and mixing up a batch of liquid death in the lavatories. So, The Register has got to ask, were these guys for real, or have they, and the counterterrorist officials supposedly protecting us, been watching too many action movies?

We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.

Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard.

There's much more, and it's backed up by what amounts to step-by-step instructions for creating binary liquid explosives. One hopes the authors of the piece have left out a couple of key steps, else there's a case to be made that they're acting incredibly irresponsibly. As regards the rest of the article, I think they make some excellent points about the severity of the actual threat posed, but most importantly, about the media's reaction to the event.

If what The Register reports is true, then the media has been actively lieing to us through omission. This should not come as any great surprise, but it should provoke a measure of outrage, no?

Gadget of the Week - Optimus Mini Three Keyboard

2006-08-21T16:03:00.000-04:00

I've been waiting to see this as an actual product for quite a while now and I think it's got some potential. It's a USB hotkey device with three programmable buttons. But wait there's more. You get to decide what pictures each of those little displays... displays. And it can do animations (though the frame rate isn't very high at 3 fps).

It's a little pricey ($159.99 at ThinkGeek) and they aren't due in until mid-September so I'm not too worked up. What does interest me is the full sized keyboard mockup that I've seen. Imagine this on a larger scale as a teaching tool. Pretty dang cool.

Keys can be configured for the following functions:

Start an Application
Set as any keyboard combination
System Status with Free Memory and CPU Usage graph
Display webcam or other dynamic images pulled from the web
Display the Time and Weather in any city with animated analog or digital clock face
Control Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Outlook Express and Windows Media Player

Sunday Sermonizing

2006-08-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

Join me over at Sunday Sermonizing this week for "God Is Jazz."

A brief excerpt:
You might say that religious folks can be divided into two camps: jazz fans and pop fans. For many folks, God is a pop song. Straightforward, clear, with a beat you can (reverently) dance to.

For others - a smaller group - God is jazz; complicated, confusing, beguiling, and elusive.

Get This Muthaf@%in' Movie Outta The Muthaf@%in' Way Already

2006-08-20T05:18:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

I speak with complete sincerity and without an ounce of (conscious) snotty hipsterism when I say that the hype around "Snakes On A Plane" is the entertainment-media equivalent of mass-hypnosis by ritualized beating with a 2x4.

What began as a sort of endearingly cheesy excitement around the idea of a movie being titled as simply, efficiently, and idiotically as "Snakes" has transmogrified into a terrifying juggernaut of marketing tie-ins (Snakes On A Plane the album! Snakes On A Plane the t-shirt! Snakes On A Plane the political party!), "hip" advertising, and more internet hyperbole than a "George Lucas raped my childhood" circle-jerk.

If you're genuinely excited to see Sam Jackson do his best Sam Jackson impression alongside the star of "Fat Albert" while battling reptiles at 30,000 feet, then I say more power to you. Enjoy yourself. Have some beers beforehand.

Personally, I think the following excerpt makes "Snakes" sound like the trailer for the end of the world, but then I suffer from professionally-diagnosed Cranky-Old-Man-Syndrome:

You see – this is a ridiculous movie. But one that is there for one single reason – to entertain you at all costs. You will see snakes bite every body part you’ve ever wanted to see a snake bite. You will see bloated fucked up corpses and wounds. You will see wounds cut open and beautiful women suck upon them. (which is totally not the right thing to do, btw)But who cares – these aren’t snakesperts – they’re fucking returning vacationers from Hawaii… and nobody fucking expects SNAKES ON A PLANE!

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, either. But that doesn't mean they're looking forward to the visit.

Speaking only for myself, I've never had a burning desire to see beautiful women sucking on wounds (though, given my love of "Buffy" and "Angel", perhaps that's not entirely true), nor a craving for the sight of bloated fucked up corpses. I know - I'm in the minority. You know what? I'm okay with that.

This isn't to say that the film doesn't look entertaining. It does. But in a flimsy, light-as-a-breeze sort of way, and the juggernaut of press has essentially destroyed my desire to see it.

Enough hype. Either the movie is entertaining, or it isn't (given the lack of press screenings, the Magic Eightball points to "isn't"). Either it's a good time, or it's not. Despite all advertising to the contrary, "Snakes On A Plane" will not cure cancer. It will not unite us all.

Though.....

Wouldn't it be cool/annoying if it did? What if "Snakes On A Plane" is such a powerfully unifying, globally-resonant film that it ends war? What if it convinces Kim Jong Il that he'd be better off focusing his energies on making films, not weapons?

What if, like Wyld Stallions, "Snakes On A Plane" results in a utopian Earth, where suffering is a thing of the ancient past?

San Dimas High School Football rules!

Post Script

2006-08-18T20:33:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Unclaimed Territory:

For the last four years, the Bush administration has deliberately violated multiple laws because it has adopted radical theories which vest law-breaking powers in the President. It also happens to be well on its way to obtaining the power to criminally prosecute journalists for articles they publish about the administration's conduct. And while all of that has been happening, the Washington Post Editorial Board has said virtually nothing about any of it, sitting idly by while the President vests himself with what George Will calls "monarchical" powers that (at least) rival terrorism as a threat to our country, and while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales casually speculates about putting Jim Risen and New York Times editors (and perhaps even the Post's own Dana Priest) into a federal prison, just as his most prominent supporters have been urging.

But at long last, the Post Editorial Board has finally found something to be outraged about -- the fact that the judicial opinion issued by Judge Anna Diggs Taylor yesterday isn't scholarly and "complex" enough for the intellectual tastes of Fred Hiatt. What really matters, says the Post in its unbelievably petty editorial, is not the profound constitutional crisis we face by virtue of a President who believes he has the power to act outside of the law and has been exercising that power aggressively and enthusiastically in numerous ways over five years. No, that is merely a fascinating intellectual puzzle, something for super-smart experts to resolve with great civility and high-minded, complex discussions as they ponder what the Post calls the "complicated, difficult issues" raised by the administration's lawlessness.

To the Post, what really matters here is how impressed law professors are with the complexity and nuance in Judge Taylor's written decision. Condescendingly scoffing at the judicial quality of her opinion is of infinitely greater importance than objecting to the growing extremism and lawlessness to which our country has been subjected.

....One of the many ironies here is that while the Post editors parade their hunger for a complex, scholarly discussion, they actually have no idea what they are talking about with regard to several of the most critical issues before the court. The Post tells us, for instance, that the administration (oh-so-surprisingly) does not agree with the court's conclusions, "nor is its dispute frivolous," and to prove that, points to "a broad congressional authorization to use force against al-Qaeda" which "the administration argues permits the wiretapping notwithstanding existing federal surveillance." But particularly in the aftermath of Hamdan -- which decisively rejected the administration's view of the AUMF -- the AUMF claim is not even a serious argument. The fact that the Post thinks it is (along with the fact that the Post never even once mentions Hamdan) demonstrates that they are hardly in a position to decree which judicial opinions are "neither careful nor scholarly."

....In the scheme of the profound issues our country faces, obsessing about the inartfulness of this judicial opinion is not unlike those who use a laughably grave tone to write articles about fights between Daily Kos diarists or the latest blogger "scandal" while ignoring our national media's grotesque failure to scrutinize meaningfully our government's conduct and claims -- particularly on matters of war and peace or threats to constitutional liberties.

Website of the Week - woot.com

2006-08-18T12:55:00.000-04:00

That's right, every Friday I'll be presenting you with a site that I find helpful, wacky, or somewhere in between.

Today's site is woot.com If you're broke like me or just constantly looking for a good deal then this is where you need to go. Every day they feature one item. That item is for sale for that day only in unknown quantities. For instance today they have a SanDisk 256 meg MP3 player for $12.99 + $5 S/H. These items might be refurbished or overstocked or they might have fallen from the sky.

You might have seen this word woot (or w00t) in your time on the net. What does it mean? Possible derivations from Wikipedia:

Co-opted in the 1990's in dance clubs from 1970's disco chant: (beat) (beat) "Woop(t), Woop," a la a klaxon or siren.
As a vocal expression, perhaps a portmanteau of "woo" and "hoot".
As a type of onomatopoeia, reflecting the rising sound of a siren or klaxon.
From MUD video games, meaning "wow, loot!", "woohoo, loot", or "wonderful loot". Also spelled wewt.
Acronym for "Win Over Other Team", or in the original Quake servers as "We Owned the Other Team" or "We Own Other Teams" [citation needed].
In the hacking/cracking scene, the administrative account on Unix-like systems is usually named "root". One of the aims in cracking a system of this type is gaining "root" access, and hence full control of the system. Under this derivation "w00t" is a leetspeak corruption of the word "root", used as a general exclamation of victory.
Acronym for "Waste of Our Time," that confused sarcasm for excitement.
Woot is the name of a mask/helmet used by the Kuba people of the congo to repesent the first ancestor. Used in initiation ceremonies for boys, funerals, or rituals concerning the sacred king. Made of fiber, cowries, beads and wood.

The games/cracking scene usage of the word w00t seem of later origin than the vocal expression. The oldest references on Usenet to w00t date from 1996, woot can be found as early as 1994 ("Woot! I got 'da Land!").

In this case it is a shout of joy that means you just got a great deal. They also have a pretty cool community and a weekly Photoshop contest that can get hilarious and win you some cash.

Glass Houses, Unnecessary Stones

2006-08-17T16:25:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Tramm Hudson, Republican candidate for congress, made the remark recently that blacks aren't good swimmers. This sent liberal commentator Oliver Willis into a tizzy (note the name of the author in the above link).

And at first blush, sure. I can see how, being black, Willis would take offense at what appears to be a broad over-generalization.

Except that blacks apparently aren't good swimmers. There are studies to show that young black males are five to twelve times more likely to drown than young white males.

This doesn't mean that blacks can't swim. It means that, as a whole, they're currently less adapt at it. Which, to me, suggests that young black children aren't being taught to swim, not that they're physically incapable of doing so.

All of this is to say that just because something potentially-controversial comes out of a white Republican's mouth does not mean that it's racist. If you watch the actual video of Hudson, you'll see that he's speaking in the context of his own experience and his personal viewing of black soldiers attempting to river-cross for the military. He's both calm and seemingly aware of the possible "racist" interpretation of his remarks. So he clarifies them.

Hardly the stuff of a racist diatribe.

Instead of making wrongful assumptions about a man's character, perhaps Willis should concentrate his energies elsewhere? He's passionate, smart, and often thought-provoking. But much of the time he engages in the same half-assed reportage that he faults his opponents for.

Yowza!

2006-08-17T15:55:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN:

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.

The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was "a critical tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent a terrorist attack."

....The defendants "are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," she wrote.

She further declared that the program "violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III."

She went on to say that "the president of the United States ... has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders."

And from Oliver Willis, we have "Free Republic"'s reaction to this news:

Oh, boo. No one gives a damn about a random judge's opinion on which country should win the WoT.

Closest big city to Dearborn, where the ACLU has been working closely with the Muslim population.

Why Detroit? Perhaps, because it's also known as Detroitistan.

Arab capital of the USA?

And my personal favorite:

OMG

ROTFL! LOL!

I understand and appreciate the concern of people at sites like Free Republic. Most of them are like you and me, and are frankly just frightened of being blowed up. But reading through the comments on FR and other supposedly-conservative sites is like a lesson in hate. Not "Bush Hate," which continues to be the stupidest complaint I've heard in just-about-forever, but violent, racist hate of a boiling degree.

Hating Muslims is the new Hating Jews. We're not supposed to hate Jews or blacks or women any more, but thanks to the radical extremists, it's open season on Islam!

Hate an Arab today! Justify the mangling of the Constitution so that the thought of being destroyed by a terrorist (which is less than the chance of being killed in an elevator accident) trumps all concern about the liberties of your neighbors!

Software Wednesday - GimpShop

2006-08-16T13:08:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Wednesdays will be the day for software, freeware, anything but malware that can make your life easier and more fulfilling.

Today I want to introduce you to GimpShop. Do you want a full featured image editor? Do you want to pay zero dollars for it? Well give this a shot. The eight meg download gives you a pretty powerful package.

GimpShop is based on GIMP or The GNU Image Manipulation Program or just GIMP is a free software bitmap image editor. It also has some support for vector graphics. The project was started in 1995 by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and is now maintained by a group of volunteers; it is licensed under the GNU General Public License. - source Wikipedia

Scott Moschella hacked the original GIMP program so it more closely resembled Photoshop. GimpShop is missing some features that Photoshop has, but hey whaddaya want it's free and you don't have to fly the skull-n-bones over your computer.

If you want a version that's portable and doesn't require an install go here. Happy doodling!

I See Your True Colors, Shining Through.

2006-08-16T11:27:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Raw Story:

First Lady Laura Bush yesterday campaigned at a fundraiser for Illinois State Senator Peter Roskam, a controversial conservative running against a double-amputee Iraq war veteran....

While touting Roskam's mixed record on the environment, Mrs. Bush chose to omit the controversial conservative's voting history on gun control, abortion and other social issues....

Mrs. Bush did not mention Mr. Roskam’s stand on a variety of social issues. Roskam supports a ban on abortion and, unlike President George W. Bush, does not support exceptions for rape or incest....

Roskam's record on gun control is also often cited as controversial. He is on record as opposing the 1994 assault weapons ban, and has pushed for fewer restrictions on concealed weapons....

Roskam’s opponent in the race is Major Tammy Duckworth of the Illinois National Guard. An Iraq war veteran, Duckworth was piloting a Black Hawk helicopter when it was attacked and shot down with a rocket propelled grenade. Duckworth lost both of her legs in the accident.
Roskam had attacked Duckworth for her position on the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Duckworth had stated that she would support a repeal of the policy if military leaders indicated that they would support the move.

Support our troops - campaign against a double amputee war hero today!

Alex Trebek Is Spinning In His Premature Coffin

2006-08-16T11:21:00.000-04:00

From ABC:

Three-quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Snow White's seven dwarfs while only a quarter can name two Supreme Court justices, according to a poll on pop culture....

It shows that 57 per cent of Americans can identify JK Rowling's fictional boy wizard as Harry Potter, while only 50 per cent can name the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Just over 60 per cent of respondents are able to name Bart as Homer's son on the television show The Simpsons, while only 20.5 per cent were able to name one of the ancient Greek poet Homer's epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Asked what planet Superman was from, 60 per cent named the fictional planet Krypton, while only 37 per cent knew that Mercury was the planet closest to the sun.

Respondents are far more familiar with the Three Stooges - Larry, Curly and Moe - than the three branches of the US Government - judicial, executive and legislative.

Seventy-four per cent identified the former, while 42 per cent identified the latter.

Twice as many people (23 per cent) were able to identify the most recent winner of the television talent show American Idol, Taylor Hicks, as were able to name the Supreme Court Justice confirmed in January 2006, Samuel Alito (11 per cent).

Hooray.

We may not be winning the war on global extremism just yet, but it's clear that we're winning the war on intelligence, on pop culture factoid at a time.

Why bother educating yourself when you can simply sit back and let television's soothing cathode rays wash over you?

Swiftboaters For Bullshit

2006-08-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Taylor Marsh:

Okay, so we've got the Swiftboaters for Truth going after Murtha in Pennsylvania. Now we've got the Swiftboaters for Freedom -- give me a break -- going after Ned Lamont....

... The paid message was placed by the Virginia-based Vets for Freedom Action Fund, established last month under Section 527 of the federal tax code as a nonpartisan organization "to communicate with the public on veterans' issues and the war in Iraq."

The group has high-level Republican connections. It has used a public relations firm that includes Taylor Gross, a former White House official, and receives volunteer advice from GOP strategist Dan Senor.

But its executive director, Iraq war veteran Wade Zirkle, said its members are both Democrat and Republican and its main issue is whether someone is "simply pro-mission or anti-mission," referring to the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The ad surfaced on a day when White House spokesman Tony Snow would not commit himself on whether Republican President Bush would support Alan Schlesinger, Connecticut's Republican nominee, in the three-way race with Democrat Lamont and independent candidate Lieberman.....

Non-partisan, my ass.

Of all the under-handed tactics from the last presidential election, the Swiftboat veterans "for truth" irked me most.

The idea that Kerry's war record would be as ruthlessly and unpatriotically attacked as it was disgusted me. That the same people who hide behind a "support our troops" mentality could turn around and tar Kerry's service to his country was boggling. That the opposing candidate had sat out the war entirely because of Daddy's connections, while Kerry had volunteered for active duty, was something I thought could not be "massaged" or manipulated.

I was wrong. All you need to do is brazenly slander someone and let the whiney liberals worry about the "truth" in the Swiftboat veterans name.

And now we're doing it all again.

Joy.

Come Fly With Murray

2006-08-16T10:45:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Craig Murray:

I have been reading very carefully through all the Sunday newspapers to try and analyse the truth from all the scores of pages claiming to detail the so-called bomb plot. Unlike the great herd of so-called security experts doing the media analysis, I have the advantage of having had the very highest security clearances myself, having done a huge amount of professional intelligence analysis, and having been inside the spin machine. So this, I believe, is the true story.

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms. What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests.

Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth.

It's obvious that, first and foremost, this guy doesn't like Bush, Blair, or the war. But that's not what's important abot this article, and to write it off for that reason would also allow ignorance of the facts that Murray gives us.

Every story thus far has lead me to believe that we were hours away from devastating attack. I went so far as to openly ask if Bush would have been prepared, had Pakistani and British police not stepped in.

But this article indicates that, while there may indeed have been a serious and deadly plot underway, it was in no way imminent. That flies directly in the face of most of the reports we've gotten, which have entirely eliminated that fact, or even implied the opposite.

Which is to say that theories about this event being used for blatant political purposes were spot on, if this information is correct. Then again, this guy could be a nut. But the facts don't lie, right? So what are the facts of that day? Were they readying to bomb planes in the near future?

Either way, people working to plot a terrorist act do not get a pass because they haven't done it yet. Arrest them if you've got the evidence to do so. But Bush does not get a pass for using this event to scare my father, either.

Disarming The Radicals

2006-08-15T19:29:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From The Huffington Post:

I've been seeing signs, and I thnk we're going to see a strong, nationwide Republican effort to blame Democrats for the partisanship in politics. The Republicans have been saying "Dems are rabid Bush-hater partisans" as a ploy to win votes and I think this is going to become a drumbeat.

....Don't forget the power of Bush's "I'm a uniter not a divider" messaging -- never mind that it was the Republicans who had impeached Clinton. The broad public just doesn't pay enough attention to differentiate WHO is doing it, all they know is politicians call each other names and aren't getting anything done and they don't like it. Leading up to the 2000 election the Republicans screeched until everyone was holding their ears. Bush came along and promised to do something about it, and got votes for promising that.

So here's what I think might be about to happen: the Republicans continue to call everyone names. The public is sick of it. Then this fall they come to the public saying "vote for us because you don't like name-calling and we'll do something about it." That message has a huge appeal to an uninformed (or, more accurately, misinformed) public.

This would not surprise me in the slightest. I don't think that this particular strategy would/will result from such conscious planning, however.

Rather, I think this is a more simply-stated case of those who love to dish it out not being able to take it.

It's all well and good to ride the "Clinton as philanderer and symbol of Democratic politics" thing 'til it runs out of gas. But when the reverse begins to occur, and people (whether Dem or "centrist" or independent) begin to do the same to Bush and Co.?

They can't handle it. And I mean that without any implication of taunting or teasing. I mean it without a desire to provoke fights. It's just the truth. The exact same people responsible for spearheading personal attacks on Democratic politicians for years are now crying foul over people's dislike of Bush. And they seem to really mean it.

So, instead of turning around and yelling at them even louder, why don't we start pointing out that this is simply the result of their evident desire to bring the personal into the political, and then sincerely suggest that we both agree to cut it out?

Or would that be like Israel and Palestine attempting mutual disarmament?

It might very well be. At this point, too many people on both sides have too many cases of wounded-pride syndrome to put their grievances aside for the good of the country. Most people, at the end of the day, would rather have a good, exhilerating fight that lasts 20 minutes and reconfirms their beliefs, then would spend a day hammering out agreements and compromises.

This is understandable. This is also regrettable.

The Golden Casting

2006-08-15T16:44:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

As the film version of "The Golden Compass" becomes concrete reality, some impressive talent is lining up to act in it.

First, we got news that Nicole Kidman was signed for the role of Ms. Coulter, and most recently, that Eva Green had accepted the role of the witch, Serena.

But IMDB (which is known as much for its wild rumors as it's confirmed facts) dangles this unconfirmed, abso-fucking-lutely brilliant piece of casting in our collective faces, and I cannot resist publishing it here:

Ian McShane .... Iorek Byrnison (rumored)

Goddamn, that's good (rumored) casting.

Those cocksuckers who can't appreciate the Shakespearean dialogue and Altman-esque sprawl of HBO's "Deadwood" should be drawn and fuckin' quartered for their folly. McShane is the shaggy, fearsome, oddly-sympathetic beast at the heart of HBO's stellar show, and the prospect of him voicing Iorek, who's like Al Swearengen but furrier (being a Polar Bear and all)?

Delicious.

Digital Photo Sharing...

2006-08-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Charlie White at CoolnessRoundup interviewed Alex Goldfayn about his new book Going Digital. Based on what I heard on the podcast, if you have a relative who has a digital camera, but isn't very technical you need to buy it. It doesn't so much tell you how to take a better picture (though there's some of that), but rather it goes into what you do with them once you have them.

I have untold megabytes, probably gigs of pictures on my hard drive and I think it's time I started using some of the cool things he talked about. Things like the Ceiva digital picture frame. What sets this apart from other digital picture frames is its ability to download pictures from Ceiva's server at night. Every day you could view thirty new digital pictures with no PC necessary. I'm seriously thinking Christmas present for my Mom.

He also talks about websites like Shutterfly. They will take your pictures and turn them into professional quality photobooks for a reasonable price. Flipclips will do something similar with your home video. They make it into an old fashioned flip book.

Most of his suggestions seemed to be of the DIY variety though. New computers typically come with the hardware and software necessary to do a host of interesting things. If you use a Mac, its iLife software suite lets you create DVDs of still pictures and videos set to music. If you aren't playing with all the cool kids and still have a PC Roxio makes a software that will do the same thing. And of course there are always websites like Flickr that will let you upload, store, and share your pictures for free.

Bottom line, if you spent three hundred bucks on a nice camera and all that time taking them, get them out of your computer and into the hands of your friends and loved ones.

Monkey Business

2006-08-14T22:13:00.001-04:00

If I called you "Macaca," would you have any idea what I was talking about?

From the Washington Post:

"This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. We're going to places all over Virginia, and he's having it on film and its great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he's never been there and probably will never come."

Thanks to a few sites, allow me to educate you on the meaning of "Macaca/Macaque."

ma·caque (n.):

Any of several short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macaca of southeast Asia, Japan, Gibraltar, and northern Africa.

ma·ca·co -ca (spanish) (adj.): ugly, misshapen. Puerto Rico: foolish, silly. Mexico: bogeyman.

This phrase is apparently very popular in Tunisia (where Allen's mother is from, according to the linked sites), Belgium, and French. It's the equivlalent of calling a black person a porch monkey.

Several people have commented that the use of "Macaca/Macaque" by Allen is not racist, because the word "could mean anything." I'm not sure that I follow this logic.

Are they saying that Allen could have simply made up a name on the spot, and that this name could be unintentionally similar to a slur? If that's the case, and Allen was simply making up an "ethnic" sounding name, how is that not racist again?

Sunday Sermonizing

2006-08-14T09:01:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Join me over at Sunday Sermonizing for "Yield Up Your Answers," where we'll talk about the joy of engaging God with your mind as well as your spirit.

We'll also discuss the pop song I'd most like to see God dancing to.

No, I have not been doing Peyote again.

Snakes And Snails And Puppy-Dog Tails? Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice?

2006-08-14T08:35:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

What are conservatives made of?

From UC Berkeley News:

....some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

Fear and aggression, Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, Uncertainty avoidance, Need for cognitive closure, Terror management.

"From our perspective, these psychological factors are capable of contributing to the adoption of conservative ideological contents, either independently or in combination," the researchers wrote in an article, "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," recently published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin.

....The psychologists sought patterns among 88 samples, involving 22,818 participants, taken from journal articles, books and conference papers. The material originating from 12 countries included speeches and interviews given by politicians, opinions and verdicts rendered by judges, as well as experimental, field and survey studies.

Ten meta-analytic calculations performed on the material - which included various types of literature and approaches from different countries and groups - yielded consistent, common threads, Glaser said.

The researchers said that conservative ideologies, like virtually all belief systems, develop in part because they satisfy some psychological needs, but that "does not mean that conservatism is pathological or that conservative beliefs are necessarily false, irrational, or unprincipled." They also stressed that their findings are not judgmental.

"In many cases, including mass politics, 'liberal' traits may be liabilities, and being intolerant of ambiguity, high on the need for closure, or low in cognitive complexity might be associated with such generally valued characteristics as personal commitment and unwavering loyalty," the researchers wrote.

....Although they concluded that conservatives are less "integratively complex" than others are, Glaser said, "it doesn't mean that they're simple-minded."

Conservatives don't feel the need to jump through complex, intellectual hoops in order to understand or justify some of their positions, he said. "They are more comfortable seeing and stating things in black and white in ways that would make liberals squirm," Glaser said.

I found this study courtesy of DailyKos, and I'd be fascinated to read any others that deal with "liberalism" in the same manner. Of course, DKos takes this study and uses to discuss the "defeat" of conservatives, but they're missing the point, in my humble opinion. As the study notes, conservative traits are often very useful. They push us dithering liberals into making decisions, they bring needed attention to the unfortunate truth that some people aren't going to be stopped/disarmed with hugs and flowers.

What's useful to me about this study? It helps me understand the conservative mindset a little more. If our country is going to throw aside our current games of Xtreme Partisanship, we need to recognize the strengths, weaknesses, and differences in thinking that our differing sides/views bring to the table.

We need to respect the opinions of others, and learn to deal with them even when we disagree.

As David Foster Wallace writes:

"A Democratic spirit is one that combines rigor and humility, i.e. passionate conviction plus a sedulous respect for the convictions of others. As any American knows, this is a difficult spirit to cultivate and maintain, particularly when it comes to issues you feel strongly about. Equally tough is a DS's criterion of 100 percent intellectual integrity -you have to be willing to look honestly at yourself and at your motives for believing what you believe, and to do it more or less continually."

Whose Side Are You On?

2006-08-12T00:35:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From the Navy Times:

During World War II, the U.S. unleashed more than just its military against the Axis powers. In the pages of comic books, a new and timely generation of superheroes — Captain America, the Submariner and the Human Torch — took on the enemy as well.

Every GI who thumbed through the dog-eared pages of a comic knew exactly where the superheroes stood. With him.

But in “Civil War,” a seven-part comic book series that pits Captain America, Iron Man and other heroes against one another over issues grown out of today’s war on terrorism, Marvel Comics is throwing out a challenge not only to its pantheon of superheroes, but also to its readers: “Whose side are you on?”

The question is not about the hot war in Iraq but the battle being waged at home over warrantless wiretaps, watch lists, data mining and loss of privacy.

In a nutshell, popular and government fear of superheroes comes to a head in “Civil War” after a group of second-rate heroes who star in a reality-TV show bungles the takedown of some supervillains in Connecticut. The battle triggers an explosion that kills as many as 900 people, many children among them.

Faster than you can say “campaign donation,” the superhero registration act is hammered out in Congress and Marvel’s great heroes and antiheroes break into two camps.

Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, billionaire industrialist and arms manufacturer, takes the government side.

“Becoming public employees makes perfect sense if it helps people sleep a little easier,” Iron Man tells a roof full of superheroes gathered at Fantastic Four headquarters to discuss the pending legislation.

Captain America, who has been wearing the Stars and Stripes as a uniform and fighting America’s enemies for more than 60 years, comes down on the other side.

“Superheroes need to stay above [politics] or Washington starts telling us who the supervillains are,” he tells the government’s heavily armed “superhuman response unit” sent to sign him up or take him down.

....the plot — which already is developing beyond the core seven-book series into existing Marvel comics and new spinoff comics — has generated buzz among comic book enthusiasts, including many in uniform.

In Fayetteville, N.C., home to the Army’s Fort Bragg and also to Dragon’s Lair, a 25-year-old comic book shop, owner Bernie Mangiboyat said he quickly sold his 200 copies of the first issue, and people are still asking for it.

He said about 75 percent to 80 percent of his customers are service members, and so far, most are lining up with Captain America.

“The big thing is Captain America,” he said. “He stands up for the ones who don’t want to give up their names [to the government]. ... Ninety percent of the customers coming in say they look at it in the Captain America way.

I remember sitting with a group of Navy guys at a bar during Fleet Week in New York a few years ago. Jabs and I bought them a round of drinks, and a few of the guys and I started talking comics.

Man, I thought I was a geek.

Those guys loved their super heroes, and I had a blast talking to them for a bit before we moved on for the night.

I love that this article was published on the Navy's site. The article clearly mentions that most of the servicemen who have bought the book are, thus far, siding ideologically with Captain America (who is currently defying the government). It goes to show that (treatment of homosexuals excluded) the military and it's people are perfectly intellectually-capable of real maturity and thoughtfulness, despiite the caricatures painted by anti-war extremists.

Even if that "maturity" comes out in something as "immature" as a debate in a comic book, its still a telling example of how we all share the same doubts, insecurities and questions about our democracy. Just because you choose to serve your country doesn't mean you have to agree with it, and it makes the sacrifice our men and women make for us even more powerful for that fact.

This article's worth a read because Civil War is actually a comic I'd recommend to someone who doesn't read comics. It's well-written, beautifully-drawn, and deals with very relevant stuff, while still giving us what we crave - grown men and women in tights beating the four-color snot outta each other.

The writer of the book puts genuine effort into painting both sides of the debate fairly. There are good reasons for being a supporter of registration. There are good reasons for protesting it. There is no "right" side, and it's that element that makes Civil War seem so refreshingly mature and engrossing.

Knowing the way comic books work, there will probably end up being some secret supervillian plot behind the event (see the article's mention of Skrulls for one possible culprit), and that would be a shame. The debate on social issues like security vs. liberty is a fascinating one, and having our country's heroes reflect that debate without easy resolution is a powerful way of examining the debate in a fun, lighter way.

Do yourself a favor and pick up the Civil War books. If you've enjoyed the X Men films, you're almost guaranteed to enjoy these.

Oh, and as for me?

Cybercrime Treaty...

2006-08-11T10:27:00.000-04:00

Recently the Senate ratified The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. For the most part it's a pretty good thing. It's inteded to do a couple of things. First, countries that may not have the legal infrastructure in places to police internet crimes get these guidelines. Second, those countries who participate in it will cooperate on cracking down on cybercrimes globally.

Unfortunately it, like DOPA has some issues. The biggest one in my mind is that an act under criminal investigation by one country (say Russia) doesn't have to be illegal in another country (say the US) in order for the first country to ask for help. And the second country is obligated to do it.

Danny O'Brien, activism coordinator with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, said: "Our primary concern is that there's no dual criminality within the mutual assistance provisions. The United States is now obliged to investigate and monitor French Internet crimes, say, and France is obliged to obey America's requests to spy on its citizens, for instance--even if those citizens are under no suspicion for crimes on the statute books of their own country." - source ZDNetAsia

That sounds less than good to me. Maybe our resident law dogs can assuage my fears?

Talkin' Loud, And Sayin' Nothing (A-Come On, Now!). Sayin' Nothin'.

2006-08-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN.com:

British authorities have arrested at least 21 people suspected of plotting to blow up passenger jets heading from Britain to the United States. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the plans were "suggestive of an al Qaeda plot."

CNN's Tony Harris discussed the plot with senior investigative producer Henry Schuster.

HARRIS: Henry, first of all, talk to us, if you would, about the details of this plot and how those details to conceal liquid explosives into carry-on luggage bags is indicative of kind of the evolving thinking of these terrorist groups.

SCHUSTER: Well, Tony, I spoke just a little while ago with a former Scotland Yard inspector who was involved in many of these counterterrorism cases, and he says that there is a couple of things that you have to pull away from this.

One is that obviously we're talking about, as he said, initiated devices, suicide bombers. Two, how would they over the period of years from 1994, when we first saw from al Qaeda this sort of planning to put bombs on airplanes. In fact in 1994, al Qaeda actually pulled off a test run of one of these bombs that was assembled on an airplane using liquid explosives and a detonator. In that case, it was a Casio watch. Here the thinking is that it might have been one of these electric key fobs....

In 1995 and 1996, there was a plot to bring down up to 11 transoceanic flights from the Pacific into the United States. This plot is very reminiscent of that. So you begin to see where there's an evolution of the al Qaeda playbook here.

First and foremost, heartfelt congratulations and thanks are in order to those agents and members of the government, both Pakistani and British, who worked to stop this plot before it could be implemented. You are heroes. No matter what the far "left" says about you, unfairly, in their furious rage over the administration. No matter what the far "right" says about you, unfairly, when it becomes politically expedient to distance themselves from their initial congratulatory remarks, or when their furious rage over the far left boils over.

You are heroes. Thank you.

Now, let's talk briefly about Chertoff and Bush's statements. Today, as CNN notes, Michael Chertoff told us that this attempt was "suggestive of an al Qaeda plot. President Bush said the arrests are a 'stark reminder' that the U.S. is 'at war with Islamic fascists.' "(Watch Bush say what the arrests mean for the U.S. -- 2:37)

According to the administration, talking about our anti-terrorist plans is a terrible idea. They "help the enemy." We've seen this on numerous occasions, whether it's the NY Times report on warrantless wiretapping, or simply discussion of the war at all.

So then, wouldn't announcing the U.S. government's suspicions of al Qaeda's involvement also fall under that general umbrella? Doesn't this announce to terrorist operatives, who might otherwise operate cautiously, but with the thought that America had not identified their group as the ones responsible - that we're wise to them? Won't that - as talk of wiretaps supposedly did - make it harder to track and find the enemy when they're more aware of our gaze?

This gives ammunition to administration critics who will see this as a baldy-political move designed to associate the efforts of British and Pakistani agents with the American war against a specific terrorist organization that remains unconfirmed. They will see this in the same way they saw the association of Saddam and 9/11.

Conflating the foiling of this plot, which our government apparently had nothing to do with, and the American struggle against al Qaeda would seem to prove Glenn Greenwald's below-posted point (see the post below this one, he added, unnecessarily).

Bush's comments add nothing substantive to the struggle we're in. They simply add fear. Do we need a reminder that we're at war with Islamofacism? No one does. No one is arguing that terrorists are like unicorns. What we're arguing about is how to fight them, and Bush's remarks again frame the debate in such a way as to focus it on our supposed inability to see a threat.

We GET it, Mr. President. We're at war. We've been at war for quite a few years now.

So what are you going to do about it, besides scaring my parents?

Where were our men on this? Were they assisting? It sure doesn't seem like it. Does that mean that once again we were unaware of the plot? Does it mean that without British and Pakistani intervention we'd have again born witness to suffering that no human being should endure?

Because if that's so, maybe it's you who needs reminding on the whole war thing, Mr. President.

Examples Of Intelligent, Reasonable, "Liberal" Argumentation

2006-08-10T18:46:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Salon.com:

Roughly 12 hours have elapsed since it was disclosed that the British police thwarted an attempt to blow up transcontinental airplanes. Few facts are known about how the plot was uncovered and exactly who was behind it. Nonetheless, supporters of President Bush have wasted no time attempting to exploit this event to make what they evidently perceive are powerful political points in defense of the president and his most controversial policies....

The White House is sure to follow suit any minute now, insinuating -- or explicitly claiming -- that this incident proves that Bush was right about the whole array of our country's foreign policy disputes, from Iraq to the current Israel-Lebanon war. This naked exploitation of terrorist threats for political gain occurs every time a new terrorist plot is revealed, no matter how serious or frivolous, no matter how advanced or preliminary, the plot might be. Each time a new plot is disclosed, administration officials and their followers immediately begin squeezing the emotions and fears generated by such events for every last drop of political gain they can manufacture.

But this effort is as incoherent as it is manipulative. Nobody doubts that there are Muslim extremists who would like to commit acts of violence against the U.S. and the West. No political disputes are premised on a conflict over whether terrorism exists or whether it ought to be taken seriously. As a result, events such as this that reveal what everyone already knows -- that there is such a thing as Islamic extremists who want to commit terrorist acts against the U.S. -- do nothing to inform or resolve political debates over the Bush administration's militaristic foreign policy or its radical lawlessness at home.

Opposition to the war in Iraq, for instance, is not based upon the premise that there is no terrorist threat. It is based on the premise that that invasion undermines, rather than strengthens, our campaign to fight terrorism.

Invading and bombing Muslim countries do not prevent terrorism or diminish the likelihood that British-born Muslims will blow up American airplanes. If anything, warmongering in the Middle East exacerbates that risk by radicalizing more and more Muslims and increasing anti-U.S. resentment. And the more military and intelligence resources we are forced to pour into waging wars against countries that have not attacked us, the less able we are to track and combat al-Qaida and the other terrorist groups that actually seek to harm us.
There are few things that have more enabled terrorism than turning Iraq into a chaotic caldron of anarchy and violence -- exactly the environment in which al-Qaida thrives.

Nor is opposition to the president's lawbreaking somehow undermined when it is "revealed" that there are terrorists in the world who are trying to attack the U.S. Opposition to warrantless eavesdropping, for instance, is predicated on the fact that a constitutional republic that exists under the rule of law cannot tolerate a president who defies the law at will, and is further based on the indisputable fact that the president is fully able to eavesdrop on terrorists in compliance with the law, i.e., by obtaining warrants.
Screeching about terrorist threats as though it justifies such illegal conduct is a complete non sequitur. Nobody opposes surveillance of terrorists.
But Bush followers who exploit terrorist threats for political gain and to gin up support for the president's policies are not pursuing rational arguments. They leap at the chance to manipulate terrorist stories because they want to ratchet up the fear levels, precisely because fear obviates rational analysis and increases the willingness of citizens to cede more power and control to the government, to place more blind faith in political officials in exchange for a feeling of protection.

James Madison, in a 1798 letter to Thomas Jefferson, warned about this manipulative tactic: "Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad." And Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Paper No. 8, observed: "Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates."

Burn Baby Burn...

2006-08-10T14:22:00.000-04:00

I'm like some kind of weird Nostra-dumbass (to steal a word from another famous Scott). I was talking about downloading movies and how it sucks that right now only porno maker Vivid allows you to put their downloaded smut on DVD. Well according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer soon you will be able to walk into a store, up to a kiosk and dl and burn a movie.

The DVD Copy Control Association (hereafter known as DVDCCA) will be relaxing copy protection on DVDs. MovieLink and CinemaNow currently allow burning to DVD, but the result doesn't work on all DVD players. That will require the DVDCCA to work with disc manufacturers and produce compliant discs.

With all this alphabet soup and bureaucracy don't expect it to happen overnight. I'm sure (thanks to lawyers) that it will still take a great amount of time and money. I also expect that NetFlix, BlockBuster and anyone who doesn't want to get Left Behind will need to ramp up their plans along these lines. Personally I think their settop box idea makes more sense, but then having a physical disc isn't a big deal to me as long as I can watch the movie.

UPDATE: Apparently CinemaNow service sucks and not just due to format issues. The software causes most DVD players to be unable to play the DVDs.

Call And Response

2006-08-10T12:17:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Over at RedState.com, some enterprising soul has posted the following so-funny-I-forgot-to-laugh graphic:

The problem with stuff like this is that it easily cuts both ways, as evidenced by this graphic - created specifically in response to RedState:

How is it possible to deal with the War on Global Whateverism (Is it extremism now? I believe it is) when our own citizenry uses these kinds of rage-invoking, simplistic, horribly unfunny tactics to taunt and wedgie the opposition?

The short answer is that it's not possible.

More than the politicians in Washington, I hold our general populace responsible for the rift between "red" and "blue" these days. We've played right into the hands of those who are actively seeking to divide us for political or personal gain.

Those who engage in this sort of thing may consider themselves to be satirists of some stripe, and a case can be made for that, I suppose. But this isn't satire to me - it's sandbox-style "Yo' Momma" talk, and it's sort of pathetic.

Perhaps those RedStaters who will inevitably be offended by the second picture should ask themselves why they feel the need to resort to petty stupidity in order to advance their opinion. Perhaps those Blue Staters who feel the need to respond to juvenile behavior with the same should ask themselves if they are doing themselves or their liberal brethren any favors by agreeing to enter into the sort of exchange that belongs in the Monkey House of the Bronx Zoo, not in politics.

Cracking RFID...

2006-08-09T10:50:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

Back in mid July I opined on a new chip that HP is putting out that does more than RFID chips. After I posted that I found out that the government will be using the RFIDs on our passports. Right now they're used as anti-theft devices, SpeedPass devices to pay tolls, and keyless ignition in cars just to name a few things.

Every year the computer security community gets together for Black Hat Briefings to discuss the latest issues. This year, in addition to revealing

Fox News - Security Problems With Electronic Passports
ZDNet - Security problems should plague RFID's future

I Cannot Help It

2006-08-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

Posted by Jabawacefti

I can't stop laughing at Borat. And the World feels sort of depressing right now, so a good laugh was sorely needed.

Spam A Lot

2006-08-09T09:51:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

Ah, spam. Somewhere in my internet travels, I apparently attracted the interest of "male enhancement drug" advertisers. I've been getting countless emails telling me to "increase your stamina!" and "pump up your love life!"

But the single greatest subject line I've yet to see arrived this morning:

enjoy the confidence of more explosive ejaculations

Explosive ejaculations? Does that sound horribly painful to anyone else? Just me?

Alternate subject lines for future advertisers:

"enjoy the confidence of having your genitals go nuclear"

"Realize the power of owning WMD's...in your pants."

"Create your own rigid dictatorship."

Mid-Terms: Collegiate or Political, They Continue To Suck

2006-08-09T09:15:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From CNN.com:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman conceded to cable executive Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for the Connecticut Senate nomination Tuesday night but vowed to run as an "independent Democrat" this fall.

With 94 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont led Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent, according to The Associated Press.

The three-term senator said he was disappointed by the results but said he was more disappointed in how the primary campaign was conducted.

"The old politics of partisan polarization won today. For the sake of our state, our country and my party, and I cannot, I will not let this result stand."

Mr. Lieberman, with due respect toward the service you've shown your country - you're the proverbial pot, and you're black.

Partisan polarization was as much a factor in the running of your campaign as it was in Lamont's. If anything, the both of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

What Do We Want?! When Do We Want It?!

2006-08-09T09:10:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From DailyKos:

On March 28, 2002, 22 members of the Arab League unanimously approved a Saudi-crafted peace initiative at a summit in Beirut. The "Beirut Declaration" as it came to be known had the appearance of a dramatic gesture, promising to explicitly recognize Israel's right to exist, in exchange for a return of the Occupied Territories.

Had it been pursued, the carnage and chaos now unfolding in Lebanon could have been rendered impossible. What's more, such a peace agreement would have deprived al Qaeda of a major grievance to exploit, and made it much easier to strengthen moderate voices throughout the Arab world and among Muslims generally. Instead, the Bush Administration remained focused on invading Iraq, under the false assumption that this would benefit Israel as well.

"They totally ignored it," Mideast expert Steven Zunes told Random Lengths. "It was a major breakthrough offering pretty much what Israel had been wanting all these years--land for peace."

There's a line of argument I hear a lot. It goes something like this: "X event has already occured. Since it has already occured, there is nothing we can do to change this event, or it's consequences. Therefore, it is useless to continue discussing X event." To put it in relatable terms, it's the argument we've heard regarding criticism of the buildup to the Iraq war. But that argument is poppycock for one reason:

We learn from history, or repeat it.

And we need to learn from history if we're to have any hope of helping create some sort of peace in the middle east. Looking at stories like this one, we're able to see how devotion to one course of action at the expense of alternatives (what Bush might refer to as "staying the course") ends up being a terrible idea, historically-speaking.

Had the US not adhered to an unwavering policy of non-interference with Nazi Germany for so long, we might have prevented WWII. Had we considered peace agreements like the above, we might have prevented much of the violence that's since occured.

What's the point, critics argue? It's already happened, and now we have to deal with things as they are, over-intellectual, ivory-tower liberal! Get down from your ivy-covered collegiate walls and join the real world! Where men are men!

That seems to me to be a little like asking why you'd review a test you did poorly on. Or reflect on poor decision-making on that night out last week. Human beings are not sharks. We have no need to keep moving ceaselessly forward or risk dying. In point of fact, the ability to reflect somewhat-logically on life and one's past is perhaps the largest differentiator between us and the animal kingdom. It's what allows us to realize that touching a hot stove is painful, to learn from that experience, and to think twice about touching it again without proper preparation.

Elephant Talk

2006-08-09T08:47:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

From Bloomberg:

President George W. Bush's hopes of attracting a new generation of voters to the Republican Party may be fading, as younger Americans are far more critical of his job performance than the broader population.

A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of Americans age 18 to 24 found Bush's approval rating was 20 percent, with 53 percent disapproving and 28 percent with no opinion. That compares to a 40 percent approval rating among Americans of all ages in a separate Bloomberg/Times poll.

....Bush's 2004 re-election strategy also may have damaged his party's standing with younger voters by stressing things intended to drive religious voters concerned about social issues to the ballot box, such as opposition to gay marriage.

``The very cultural issues the president wants to use to rally his party's base are exactly the issues that are alienating younger voters,'' said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. ``Across a broad swath of social issues, younger Americans see the administration as being out of line with what they believe.''

The war in Iraq is also a major factor driving down public opinion among young voters, said Hans Riemer, political director at Rock the Vote, a group that works to get young people involved in civic life.

``Young people take it very personally,'' he said. ``They feel like it's their generation that's been asked to sacrifice.''

One poll participant, K.C. Chojnacki, an 18-year-old starting her first year in college, expressed those concerns in a follow-up interview. ``I disapprove mostly because I don't agree with the war,'' said Chojnacki, who is from Andover, Minnesota. ``We're going to have to deal with the repercussions, like having to pay for it.''

....David Kirby, executive director of the Washington-based America's Future Foundation, which says it exists to groom young libertarian and conservative leaders, said the president's low approval rating reflects disillusionment with politics, not Bush or the Republican Party.

``It's overly simplistic to say people hate Bush, people hate the war,'' Kirby said. While ``Republicans could do a better job'' winning over young Americans, Kirby said, ``Democrats aren't offering ideological vision for the future that's exciting to young people.''

Well, I can't disagree with him there. The Dems offer excitement the way puritans offer sex - begrudgingly, if at all.

But there's something aggravating about the tactic of turning every criticism into a case of "everyone's in trouble, therefore there is no problem/we won't address that problem". Let's concentrate on the meat of the poll, and not negate the exercise by shrugging our shoulders and relegating the entire thing to "problems we won't concern ourselves with, given their ubiquity".

I would like to point out, for the sake of our conservative readers, that the stated concern of K.C. Chojnacki over the war centers clearly around an issue that isn't subject to much partisan rigamarole. Namely, the war's cost.

That's an incredibly "conservative" view of things, and it's a view that Republicans could harness, if they were able to steer away from the path they've set before them - one that sees us spending MASSIVELY abroad at the expense of our own domestic concerns.

The article above also notes just how out of step the Republican party, and Bush in particular, has been in courting young voters via "social issues," or, as they're more often known, "family values." Sure, it's fun and easy to appeal to base prejudice, but it's ultimately going to bite you in the ass, as Republicans discovered in the wake of the civil rights movement.

It's going to be very interesting to see party affliiations shift as these issues shovee themselves insistently forward in future elections. Young whippersnappers don't like being told that their gay friends are evil. They don't like the idea of the government abandoning them to "private" social security accounts after having supported their parents, and their parent's parents, with the current, supposed "ponzi scheme" of social security.

And by and large, they really don't like Bush.

This is the great challenge of both parties: how to lure young voters? What polls like this one make fairly clear is that current tactics are not the way to go about doing so.

A Little Hatred for Everyone

2006-08-08T12:49:00.000-04:00

Posted by Jabawacefti

Don't hate the playa, they say, hate the game.

As empowering as hatred and/or anger is, it often produces nasty results. In any case, if anyone thought that Ann Coulter was the sole owner and shareholder of Hatred, Inc., think again. Everyone's getting in on the action:

But the issue is not just emotional outbursts by these usually anonymous bloggers. A friend of mine just returned from Connecticut, where he had spoken on several occasions on behalf of Joe Lieberman. He happens to be a liberal antiwar Democrat, just as I am. He is also a lawyer. He told me that within a day of a Lamont event--where he asked the candidate some critical questions--some of his clients were blitzed with emails attacking him and threatening boycotts of their products if they did not drop him as their attorney. He has actually decided not to return to Connecticut for the primary today; he is fearful for his physical safety.

* * *

Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard--that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do.

It's a bird, it's a plane,

2006-08-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

posted by Scott Roche

no it's a Superman laptop!

Since my brain is turning into tapioca today I thought I'd just share this sweet looking laptop from Alienware. It's limited edition and if you're that "special" sort of geek you can buy one here.

An Ugly Looking Future

2006-08-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

Posted by Jabawacefti

The future ain't looking so bright, according to Stanley Kurtz:

Call me a gloomy hawk. It’s not just that I’m a hawk who’s disappointed with the course of fighting in the Middle East. My concern is that our underlying foreign-policy dilemma calls for both hawkishness and gloom — and will for some time. The two worst-case scenarios are world-war abroad and nuclear terror at home. I fear we’re on a slow-motion track to both.

Tru' Dat

2006-08-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

Posted by codemorse

I hate Doonesbury. There, I've said it! I'm free!

I was always more of a Bloom County fan - I like my politics with funny animals, thank you. But this Doonesbury is pretty insightful.

It's not "funny," per se, but it is spot-on in it's observation. Being a comic strip, it eliminates all the needless words I like to use and gets down to the bare bones of it:

"The 'debate' you're willing to have is always between options of your own choosing."

That's one reason why there's so much "liberal anger" right now. We'd love to join the debate, but our opinions aren't really wanted/valued. What we're expected to do is accept the parameters that Bush sets.

Who Wants Some Freedom?

2006-08-08T09:39:00.000-04:00

Posted by Jabawacefti

According to Rich Lowry, not necessarily everyone (at least not yet):

Bush’s emphasis on the inherent hunger for freedom is powerful. It clothes his foreign policy in an undeniable idealism. It puts his liberal opponents in a tight spot, because it is awkward for them to object to the kind of sweeping universalism they have always embraced. It might be simplistic, but that is often an advantage in political communication.

The problem with Bush’s freedom rhetoric is that it appears to not be true. Hezbollah and Hamas, and the populations that support them, desire the destruction of Israel above all, and are willing to endure warfare and dysfunctional societies to bring it about. The Sunni insurgents in Iraq want power more than anything else, and are willing to kill and maim to gain it. The Shia militias, in turn, desire revenge against the Sunni.

All around the chaotic and violent Middle East, human hearts are yearning for many things, but freedom isn’t high on the list.