glasscastle - May 17, 2005 @ 10:21 am
· Serious News
We knew it was too
good to last. The very nature of one of our most
visited (and quoted from) web sites is about to change, and with it the
content
of
the Dowbrigade
News. Ever
in search of new revenue streams in a climate of shrinking subscriptions
bases, the New York Times Corporation announced yesterday that they would
begin charging fifty bucks for access to Op-ed pieces, columnists and
other "quality" content.
The New York Times Co. yesterday said it will roll out an online subscription
package called TimesSelect in September that will include access to columnists
from its flagship Times newpaper and the affiliated International Herald
Tribune. The subscription fee also will provide access to online archives
and advanced looks on the NYTimes.com website at articles that will appear
in some sections of the Sunday newspaper.
Priced at $49.95 a year, the service will effectively put
behind a subscription wall more than 20 op-ed and news columnists, such
as Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, Gretchen Morgenson, David Brooks, Joe
Nocera, and Roger Cohen, whose writing now can be read for free on NYTimes.com
and IHT.com, the International Herald Tribune’s website.
We assume this means the paid content will no longer go out as part
of the Times RSS feeds. What a shame; the Times was one of the
pioneers in using RSS as a distribution medium. True, it was hard
to see how they were benefitting, and easy to imagine that increased
use of
aggregators would slowly eat into their subscription base as readers
realized it was a far superior way to read, and distribute, news
and opinion content.
We may have to fall back on our academic Lexis-Nexis access. Fifty bucks
a year is way out of our price range….
read the Downing St. Memo“This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.”
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 11 – Four Afghan protesters were killed and
more than 60 were injured today in the eastern city of Jalalabad in the
worst anti-American demonstrations Afghanistan has seen in the three
years since the fall of the Taliban. At least a dozen buildings were
ransacked and burned, including the governor’s office, several government
buildings, the United Nations mission compound, and a number of offices
belonging to aid groups.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 11 – Insurgents struck in northern and central Iraq
today in a series of bloody bombing attacks that killed at least 79 people
in three cities, and wounded at least 120 others, according to figures
provided by police and hospital officials. The attacks appeared to signify
an intensification of attempts by Sunni Arab militants to disrupt Iraq’s
newly formed Shiite majority government.
latest New York Times dispatches from (Afganistan) and (Iraq)
Whooops! Just when things were starting to settle down enough to get
back into business, this nasty holy war against Americans keeps coming
back like a bad dream. Especially in Afghanistan, which the theory of comparative
advantage tells us is the perfect place to produce some of Americas most
indispensable consumables, such as heroin and hashish. Before this latest
rash of bad news, Afghan drug production was skyrocketing, and the country
was well on its way back to the top of the intoxicant export business
worldwide.
In Iraq the situation has been more problematic. In Iraq, of course,
the business is oil. The oil is there, just waiting, reasonably safe
a mile underground. And from
some
points
of view, the longer it stays there, the more it will be worth, as we near
the endgame of the Great Petroleum Extravaganza that defined the 20th century,
and the first half of the 21st.
In the meantime, this holy war business
is attracting a lot of this Jihad riffraff out from under their rocks
to get their asses blown off before they figure out how to hit us where
we’re
unprotected.
Much
better
to be blowing them up in their countries, rather than ours. So we could
afford to sit on the oil, and clean up the vermin, except for the drip,
drip,
drip
of
blood,
and body parts flying through the air, and those damn bloggers who won’t
let people forget.
Ah, it’s a dangerous and twisted
game we are playing over there, and the body count is making it harder
and harder to distract attention from
what
is really
going on. Except that, maybe the body count, and the whole act in Iraq,
is distracting attention from what is really really going on.
Machinations within maneuvers with misdirection.
It was such an attractive concept, killing numerous dirty birds with
one stone, plus the deadliest military force ever directed against anyone,
anywhere. Getting rid of Saddam. Testing out all our new toys. Intimidating
the neighbors. Showing those pansy Eurotrash. Guaranteeing America’s
vital supplies of the two indispensable foreign-produced supplies
we need to survive in the 21st century; oil and drugs. And it was working
so nicely, especially in Afghanistan The Dowbrigade was actually
thinking of visiting on an upcoming vacation.
Ah, well, colonialism is long gone, and economic imperialism isn’t what
it used to be. Military occupation is still a steady standby in a crunch,
but even the Romans realized it was a lost cause in the long run. If you
can’t find a reliable and effective puppet to rule in proxy, the only
alternative is to not leave one stone standing. Watch and learn, boys
and girls.
SAN
FRANCISCO, May 9 – The incident seemed alarming enough: a breach of a
Cisco Systems network in which an intruder seized programming
instructions for many of the computers that control the flow of the
Internet.
Now federal
officials and computer security investigators have acknowledged that
the Cisco break-in last year was only part of a more extensive
operation involving a single intruder or a small band, apparently based
in Europe in which thousands of computer systems were similarly
penetrated.
Investigators
in the United States and Europe say they have spent almost a year
pursuing the case involving attacks on computer systems serving the
American military, NASA and research laboratories.
The
case
remains under investigation. But attention is focused on a 16-year-old
in Uppsala, Sweden, who was charged in March with breaking into
university computers in his hometown. Investigators in the
American break-ins ultimately traced the intrusions back to the Uppsala
university network.
The Swedish authorities are examining computer equipment confiscated
from the teenager, who was released to his
parents’ care. The matter is being treated as a juvenile case.
While our kids can’t even figure out how to send us an email once in a while…
FRANCISCO, May 9 – The incident seemed alarming enough: a breach of a
Cisco Systems network in which an intruder seized programming instructions
for many of the computers that control the flow of the Internet.
Now federal officials and computer security investigators have acknowledged
that the Cisco break-in last year was only part of a more extensive operation
– involving a single intruder or a small band, apparently based in Europe
– in which thousands of computer systems were similarly penetrated.
Investigators in the United States and Europe say they have spent almost
a year pursuing the case involving attacks on computer systems serving
the American military, NASA and research laboratories.
in Uppsala, Sweden, who was charged in March with breaking into university
computers in his hometown. Investigators in the American break-ins ultimately
traced the intrusions back to the Uppsala university network.
The Swedish authorities are examining computer equipment confiscated from
the teenager, who was released to his parents’ care. The matter is being
treated as a juvenile case.
glasscastle - May 10, 2005 @ 10:36 am
· Serious News
The Boston Globe is doing a well-written and revealing series on the
difficulties of installing Western-style democracy among moderate Muslims,
and the contradictions in the US policy of supporting free elections.
Today was the final installment, titled "Western Style Democracy Prove
to be a Tough Sell.".
”At the end of the day, we don’t know what to do" about the
contradiction between Bush’s professed intention to spread democracy
and the US national
interest in having allies that provide air rights and logistical support
for US forces in the region, says a senior US official with extensive
experience in the region. ”If the [Bush] program succeeds, a Hosni
Mubarak can’t be leader of Egypt. He could not win a truly free election.
The
Saudi kingdom can’t be the Saudi kingdom. There might be a king, but
he would be like the king of England, a constitutional monarch."
President Bush’s proposal to combat Islamic extremism by promoting
democracy and development is positive, says Osama El Baz, Mubarak’s
chief adviser
and a leading moderate in the region. ”But it came across sounding
like American designs that would be rammed down the throats of decadent,
backward
Muslims — one size fits all. You cannot win the war against extremism
only, or even mainly, by force. The war should be fought in the minds
of people, through education, sermons, the press, literature."
The always amazing Rebecca
MacKinnon points to an excellent
essay by Xiao Qiang originally
written for the Wall Street Journal, about the role of technology in
China’s recent anti-Japanese protests.
Rebecca opines: "The government certainly allowed these protests to happen,
and even encourages the rise of anti-foreign and especially anti-Japanese
nationalism in Chinese cyberspace as a way of deflecting people’s frustrations
away from their own government.
The scariest part of yesterday’s
demonstration was not the anorexic
anarchists or the facetious fascists, but the smooth and tightly controlled
force displayed by Boston police. It was a coordinated and multi-divisional
operation; horseback officers, uniformed patrolmen, motorcycle officers,
tricked out riot cops, SWAT teams and undercover officers all worked
together to maintain control of all the players at all times.
It was obvious that this was not a one-off response to an unexpected
situation. The precision and absolute discipline of the goosestepping
riot troops in particular, bespoke long hours of drilling and dress rehearsals.
The
interdepartmental coordination was evidence of multiple drills and simulations
in preparation for the real thing.
In a way, yesterday’s entire operation was a preseason practice
for serious situations which might arise in the future. There
were several times more police presence than was necessary, given the
size and seriousness of the troublemakers. The police display
we saw yesterday could have taken on a major riot or civil insurrection.
It definitely felt like a dress rehearsal. But for what?
We are beginning to realize that this is not an isolated situation. Since
9/11, all over America the forces of order have been wood shedding like
crazy, training and drilling in the arcania of crowd control, civil discipline,
checkpoint
maintenance, street clearing technique. hostage situations, crisis management,
panic control.
The following
article describes an entire town in New Mexico dedicated
to anti-terror and urban command and control activities. Coming soon
to a city near you….
PLAYAS, N.M. — With its pristine Spanish-style houses and flowering
gardens, this remote town seems an unlikely place to be the most dangerous
spot in the United States. But for the past six months, it has been under
siege by terrorists.
First, a man took some hostages and holed up inside 1 Mesquite
St., threatening to blow up the place. A SWAT team had to take him out.
Then came the discovery of a pipe-bomb factory in a neighbor’s kitchen,
and an explosion on a bus in which eight were killed or wounded.
The attacks are simulations, part of a national training program for emergency
personnel such as police, paramedics, and border patrol officers. For the
roughly 20 families who live in this government-contracted town and the
several dozen others who live on the outskirts, though, the events often
seem too real.
Life has been this way since December, when the first trainees began
arriving from across the country. Nicknamed ”terror town" by locals,
Playas is part of a multibillion-dollar initiative by the federal government
to prepare for what some think is inevitable: another attack on US
soil.
”You’ll never fight the scenario you train against but the fact that
you’ve been exposed to similar conditions in a synthetic environment
— one where
there’s no penalty or harm for making a mistake — is the best opportunity
you’re going to have to learn," said Corey Grube of the Office for
Domestic Preparedness, part of the Department of Homeland of Security
glasscastle - May 5, 2005 @ 11:37 am
· Serious News
These stories just keep on coming. The number of people
in our society with the knowledge to take advantage of these gaffes is
growing exponentially as the young conscienceless whippersnappers who
grew up with this stuff acquire the skills.
In this area, the only defense is a chaotic life. Good luck to anyone
who tries to steal the Dowbrigade’s identify, they have no idea what
they’re getting in for…
Arbella
Mutual Insurance Co. of Quincy was offering unrestricted access to
the Registry
of Motor
Vehicles
database
through
its own website
until a Salem man noticed the security breach and raised concerns
about the potential for identity theft.
Joel P. McNamee, 22, said he received some paperwork from his insurance
agent over the weekend and noticed a website address at the bottom
of one of the pages. The website, www.arbella.com
gave him
access to the Registry of Motor vehicles database.
He said he was able to look up anyone by name and obtain their address,
date of birth, license number, and driving history. In most cases,
he said, he was also able to obtain the driver’s Social Security number
by looking
at their historical records.
”Once you had the license number you could cross-reference it to get
all sorts of different things," he said. He said the personal
information contained on the database would be a treasure trove for
identity thieves.
The red-hot rhetoric over Social Security on liberal
talkradio network AIR AMERICA has caught the attention of the Secret
Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Government officials are reviewing a skit which aired on the network Monday evening
— a skit featuring an apparent gunshot warning to the president!
The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn’t
safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here’s your answer, you
ungrateful whelp: Just try it, you little
bastard. ."
The audio production at the center of the controversy aired during opening minutes
of The Randi Rhodes Show.
"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip
aired.
"Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it
on national radio… we are taking this very seriously," a government source
explained.
Testing the limits of freedom of speech? How does that compare with libertarian wombat Jay Severin laughing and advocating nuking several third world countries? The humorlessness of the current administration is enough to make the editor of a humor blog nervous….
glasscastle - April 23, 2005 @ 10:07 am
· Serious News
John Tierney, in today’s New York Times, writes a delightful column on
the truly paridigm-shifting study showing that the moderately overweight
live longer than those of "normal" weight, who in turn live longer
than the excessively thin.
Should this be proven out by subsequent studies, it
has profound implications on our whole culture and civilization. We
will certainly be hearing a lot more about this one. After a clever and
concise review of the facts of the study….
For those of us lacking six-pack abs, this week’s report that the overweight
live longer is the greatest medical news in history. The authors of this
study deserve a Nobel, not just for medicine, but for peace, too.
Tierney explores some of the more fascinating implications of this
discovery…..
George Armelagos, an anthropologist at Emory University,
calls this shift the King Henry VIII and Oprah Winfrey Effect. In Tudor
England, it took hundreds of gardeners, farmers, hunters and butchers
to keep Henry VIII fat. In America today, anyone can bulk up without
help, but it takes a new set of vassals – personal trainer, nutritionist,
private chef – to keep Oprah from looking like Henry VIII.
The destitution of a duly elected President is just another holiday
in the wild, wacky world of Ecuadorian politics. From the Nwe York Times:
BOGOTA, Colombia, April 20 – President Lucio Guti?rrez of Ecuador fled
his presidential palace on Wednesday after the Congress, meeting in special
session, voted to remove him. The Congress then swore in Vice President
Alfredo Palacio, a 66-year-old cardiologist, to replace Mr. Guti?rrez,
48, a former army colonel who had faced mounting street protests against
what critics called an illegal overhaul of the Supreme Court.
translations of the headlines in El
Universo, from Guayaqil:
Quito Brought Down Lucio
OAS recesses until tomorrow to take up case of Ecuador
President’s Brother Flees Brazilian Embassy
Iberia Airlines flight diverted to Bogota Due to Caos
Brazil awards asylum to Lucio
Palacio, A Cardiologist to the Presidency
Herre is a link to El Commercio, the Ecuadorian Wall Street Journal
and the top paper in the capital, Quito, but their web site is down this
morning, perhaps from too much traffic….
We knew it was 
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 11 – Four Afghan protesters were killed and
SAN
”At the end of the day, we don’t know what to do" about the
The always amazing 
The scariest part of 
These stories just keep on coming. The number of people
The red-hot rhetoric over Social Security on liberal
