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comment posted at 4:48 PM on Feb-10-06

Abramoff says Bush is lying. "Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with them or know them very well." - George W. Bush, Jan. 26, 2006.

"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows." - Jack Abramoff

Mr. Abramoff, who raised over $100,000 for the Bush campaign, also indicated that he was sent a personal invitation to stay at the President's Texas ranch.
comment posted at 3:06 AM on Feb-10-06

While my guitar fiercely weeps Next on YouTubeFilter: Prince shares a stage with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison's son Dhani, at Harrison's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No, scratch that: Prince ain't sharin' with nobody -- that stage is all his.
comment posted at 1:56 AM on Feb-10-06

Shut yo' mouth! The US government, will soon spider the entire web analyzing all pages -- including your blog -- for evidence of "terrorism". It greatly extends prior government watching of the web for "terrorists" like the ACLU. But not for political speech, of course. Never that.
So shut your mouth and shut down your blog if you don't want to end up on a list of people to be "neutralized" -- like Mario Savio, hounded for ten years despite never breaking a law.
comment posted at 5:01 PM on Feb-9-06

Remember Dong Resin's book? (discussion here), well another long term Mefite Johnny Novak has just had his first novel published by Random House in the UK, Sea Otters Gambolling in the Wild, Wild Surf. Watch the trailer (flash, sound) or find out more (link to Vintage site). (via Projects)
comment posted at 5:14 PM on Feb-9-06

Hardball's Chris Matthews beats the crap out of former Pentagon spokesperson Torie Clark on the WMD issue. I've never heard a member of the mainstream media so outspoken and heated in slamming the Admin's position on this before. Is the tide turning? (Video-WMP; Video-QT)
comment posted at 10:03 PM on Feb-8-06

Updatefilter: George C. Deutsch has resigned. (for NYT links, see BugMeNot)

(T)he young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said. (previously discussed here on MeFi)

Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted. [...]

Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job as a writer and editor in NASA's public affairs office in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.

comment posted at 10:57 PM on Feb-7-06
comment posted at 11:26 PM on Feb-7-06
comment posted at 11:53 PM on Feb-7-06

Turkey gets tough in Valley of the Wolves Iraq. Previously, Turkey has reenvisioned Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz to the delight of many. Now, Turkish movie-goers are clamoring for this Rambo rip-off in which a Turkish intelligence officer seeks out a rogue unit of U.S. troops led by Billy Zane! The film, which also features Gary Busey, begins with a scene based on the U.S. raid of a Turkish special forces office.
comment posted at 11:31 PM on Feb-7-06
comment posted at 11:33 PM on Feb-7-06

Evidence of a slippery slope continued: Newsweek reports that White House counsel Steve Bradbury believes President Bush can order killings on US soil as part of the Terrorist-Surveillance Program^TM. Meanwhile, while Attorney General Gonzales "lashes out" at the media and insists that the TSP^TM is "not a dragnet that sucks in all conversation and uses computer searches to pick out calls of interest," the Washington Post reports it's precisely that -- "computer-controlled systems collect and sift basic information about hundreds of thousands of faxes, e-mails and telephone calls into and out of the United States before selecting the ones for scrutiny by human eyes and ears" -- and has led to very few leads. (See also discussion of Arlen Specter and the legality of the TSP^TM here.)
comment posted at 8:22 PM on Feb-6-06

Google's UK satellite photos have been drastically improved
comment posted at 10:51 PM on Feb-5-06

Is Google the new Netscape? With GOOG having taken a tumble Wednesday and falling more than $12 so far today, it's not unreasonable to ask... also why is Gmail still in beta when I've been using it for over a year now?
comment posted at 7:36 PM on Feb-3-06

"We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq." A newly released memo of a meeting of George W. Bush and Tony Blair reveals a determination to invade Iraq regardless of a second UN resolution or evidence of a weapons program. UK's Channel 4 News claims to have seen the memo, which is dated 31 January 2003 (two months before the invasion), and aired a report this evening. Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of “flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours”. Mr Bush added: “If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]”. More discussion here, here, here, and here.
comment posted at 11:49 PM on Feb-2-06

$200,000,000,000 scandal? America is ranked 16th in the world in Broadband speed. Wanna know why? Verizon won’t tell you, but Bruce Kushnick will. His latest book, $200 Billion Dollar Broadband Scandal, is a powerful critique that outlines a truly massive case of fraud. The Bell Companies (Verizon, SBC, Qwest, and BellSouth) used trickery and deceit to swindle the U.S. out of a promised 45mbps internet connection. They collected billions of dollars in regulatory fees, and now they are attempting to commoditize the Internet. Kushnick's book uses stunning detail to expose this treachery with accuracy and thoroughness.
comment posted at 1:18 AM on Feb-2-06
comment posted at 3:36 AM on Feb-2-06

Marine's One Finger Salute becomes an iconic image in the Iraqi War. Analysis and politics aside, this guy is one tough mother.
comment posted at 10:11 PM on Feb-1-06

Spodee (among other spellings) is a Pacific Northwest party drink, a mixture of alcohol and fruit, frequently made in a trash can and left to marinate a day or two before the party. The origin of the word is unknown, but it seems likely to come from the classic R&B song "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee, which in 1949, was the first big hit record for Atlantic Records. (More inside, including links to sound files)
comment posted at 5:51 PM on Feb-13-06

Cindy Sheehan arrested for wearing anti-war T-shirt at State of the Union Peace activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday in the House gallery after refusing to cover up a T-shirt bearing an anti-war slogan before President Bush's State of the Union address.

"She was asked to cover it up. She did not," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman, adding that Sheehan was arrested for unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor.

Remind me not to wear my "Impeach Bush" button on my next trip to D.C.
comment posted at 10:20 PM on Jan-31-06

The Museum of Modern Betas lists the newest in web 2.0 kinda stuff. Blog? Check. Feeds? But of course. Tags? You betcha.
comment posted at 6:23 PM on Jan-28-06
comment posted at 6:23 PM on Jan-28-06

Give us your pot smokers, your marriage-seeking gays, your wretched ... file sharers? "A major Canadian record company has taken the unusual step of hiring a defense lawyer for a man accused by the U.S. record industry of downloading hundreds of songs illegally. ... 'Suing music fans is not the solution; it's the problem,' Terry McBride, chief executive of Nettwork, said in a statement this week."
comment posted at 7:40 AM on Jan-28-06

George W. Bush's legacy as 43d president of the US Can anyone get enough of Bush bashing?
comment posted at 8:55 PM on Jan-25-06

BRAAAIIINNNSSSS!
comment posted at 8:57 PM on Jan-25-06

Beautiful China...
comment posted at 8:38 PM on Jan-24-06

Harper wins Tory minority government. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will become Canada's next prime minister, as Canadians have elected a Tory minority government and ended a 12-year reign of Liberal rule.
comment posted at 9:10 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 10:05 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 10:08 PM on Jan-23-06

Online election results will be available after the polls close in British Columbia at 7pm PST. Bloggers have been warned not to post early results from the east before the polls close in British Columbia. CBC explains.

It appears that US-hosted websites ProAlberta and Captain's Quarters will be wilfully violating the Canada Elections Act and posting early results. Andew Coyne has suggested that posters to his website "[pretend] to report the results from some election in a foreign or imaginary land."

Paul Bryan was fined $1000 for posting early results from the 2000 election and is currently appealing to the Supreme Court. Previously discussed here and here.
comment posted at 4:24 PM on Jan-23-06
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comment posted at 4:57 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 5:53 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 6:42 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 7:39 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 7:40 PM on Jan-23-06
comment posted at 7:43 PM on Jan-23-06

Nine rules for trolling - David Pogue has advice on how to troll effectively. (NY Times site requires that you accept its cookies)
comment posted at 1:52 AM on Jan-23-06

Flickeur, infinite random movies from Flickr images
comment posted at 2:42 AM on Jan-22-06

Canada is about to head into its 39’th general election. Current Poles have the Bloc Quebecois at 8-12% of the national vote. Because it is concentrated in Quebec, this translates to 53 seats. The NDP, on the other hand, with 17-21% national support, is projected at only 23 seats as its support is spread across the entire country. With the main race between the Conservative and Liberal Parties, we’ve heard little about proportional representation. Even the NDP, which stands to gain most from throwing out the current plurality First Past the Post system, has been oddly silent about this plank in its platform. The question is, why?
comment posted at 4:30 PM on Jan-21-06

As of today, world oil reserves are five percent lower than previously thought. Well informed early toppers like Jeremy Leggett (previously discussed here) won't be surprised by the news, though they may be disappointed that it didn't make bigger headlines.
comment posted at 9:56 PM on Jan-20-06

Dan Hsu's interview of Microsoft's Home Entertainment VP about the XBox 360 is far from the usual "Tell us how great everything is" found in games journalism. Hsu hammers the startled marketing exec with serious questions about the 360's build quality and heat issues, lack of quality launch games and backwards compatibility, questionable "next generation content," and more. Good to see at least ONE journalist with a little hair on his chest, even if it is just regarding games. Via Penny Arcade (today's comic... and yesterday's cause it was funny)
comment posted at 5:16 PM on Jan-20-06

Defense of Bill Cosby [...]My crimes that afternoon were two. I committed the transgression of wearing a tweed jacket, black sweater, black slacks and glasses, a no-no for the “ thug barbers" there because to be an appropriate African American by their standards was to wear saggy pants, sport jerseys and doo-rag caps. My second transgression was to bring a book, James Baldwin’s Notes of A Native Son.
comment posted at 6:07 PM on Jan-19-06

Feds want Google search records according to Mercury News. John Batelle has some analysis as well. This isn't looking too good. Google promises to fight it, but even if they do, does a loss still hurt them the same amount?
comment posted at 11:52 PM on Jan-18-06
comment posted at 4:51 PM on Jan-19-06