http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/012406.html
Warriors and wusses - "I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on. ... And I've got no problem with other people — the ones who were for the Iraq war — supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of. But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they're wussy by definition. ... The real purpose of those ribbons is to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war and then making absolutely no sacrifices other than enduring two Wolf Blitzer shows a day. Though there should be a ribbon for that. ... After we've decided that we made a mistake, we don't want to blame the soldiers who were ordered to fight. Or even our representatives, who were deceived by false intelligence. And certainly not ourselves, who failed to object to a war we barely understood. ... But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam. And sometimes, for reasons I don't understand, you get to just hang out in Germany. ... I'm not advocating that we spit on returning veterans like they did after the Vietnam War, but we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea. All I'm asking is that we give our returning soldiers what they need: hospitals, pensions, mental health and a safe, immediate return."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein24jan24,0,4137172.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Bush the Incompetent - "Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president's defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things -- particularly when most of them were the president's own initiatives."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/24/AR2006012401163.html
Google Agrees to Censor Results in China - "Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market." -- As always, it's all about money.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/24/D8FBCF686.html
Let your fingers do the paying - "Buying groceries with the touch of a finger could be closer than you think, if new research touting the benefits of biometric payment for retail giants like Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco is anything to go by."
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/magazines/fortune/pluggedin_fortune_biometrics/index.htm?cnn=yes
Death Penalty Proposed for Repeat Sex Offenders - "The Senator has written legislation to ensure that repeat child molesters face the toughest penalty possible. It's called Senate Bill 1747. It would make repeat child molesters subject to life in prison without parol or even the death penalty."
http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=4400222
Sexual Harassment Routine, College Students in Poll Say - "Sexual harassment is common on campus, according to a national online survey by the American Association of University Women released yesterday, with 62 percent of college students saying they had received a comment or gesture they found inappropriate."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/24/AR2006012401540_pf.html
2005 was warmest year on record: NASA - "In descending order, the years with the highest global average annual temperatures were 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, NASA said in a statement."
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-01-24T230108Z_01_N24226172_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-WARMING.xml&rpc=22
Jobs vs. Gates: Who's the Star? - "Until recently, Bill Gates has been viewed as the villain of the tech world, while his archrival, Steve Jobs, enjoys an almost saintly reputation. ... Given Jobs' social detachment, I'm confused by the adulation he enjoys. Yes, he has great charisma and his presentations are good theater. But his absence from public discourse makes him a cipher. People project their values onto him, and he skates away from the responsibilities that come with great wealth and power. On the evidence, he's nothing more than a greedy capitalist who's amassed an obscene fortune. It's shameful. In almost every way, Gates is much more deserving of Jobs' rock star exaltation. In the same way, I admire Bono over Mick Jagger, and John Lennon over Elvis, because they spoke up about things bigger than their own celebrity. It's time for Jobs to do the same."
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70072-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_3
Use an iPod, go to jail? - "The incriminating evidence they found at the scene? An iPod crammed with stolen identities and contact information of criminal associates."
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-6423090-1.html?tag=nl.e757
Male Student Wins Fight to Wear Skirt - "The ACLU announced the deal Tuesday. It will allow a Hasbrouck Heights School senior to wear a skirt to protest the school's no-shorts policy."
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060125/D8FBKS1O0.html
Quote of the Day
"You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays, everybody's crazy."
~ Charles Manson
1 comment:
I wouldn't be too hard on Google.
The Chinese government is incredibly difficult to do business with, so Google was essentially left with the option to either play ball or go home. In the end, Google is a corporation, and its goal is to generate business... and the Chinese market is one that any business would love to get its hands on. The Google search engine is a great tool, and it is indeed a shame that countries such as China, France and Germany place restrictions on it... but Google is simply complying with the legal/cultural restrictions placed on it by its customers. As societies evolve, these restrictions will get lifted. Google, even in its censored form, may help these countries evolve socially (not meaning to sound condescending to China... tools such as Google may help all countries evolve socially).
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