For a routed force, those council of Islamic Courts people have some staying power. Estimates are that the last few weeks of fighting have left more than 1000 civilians dead.

Check it out.

According to now deceased & formerly discredited CIA spook, E Howard Hunt, as told by his drugged out son LBJ had Kennedy Killed. The mystery is solved, end discussion.

The US project to develop the 'Real ID' program is being heralded by some as the mark of the beast. Whatever causes opposition to this plan, I'm for it.

The receding ice caps are leaving behind all sorts of goodies - minerals, shipping lanes. Grab 'em while you can.

'Some' say it's an option. Too bad the speaker of the house said it was distinctly not an option before she took the gavel.

The reason? He wasn't yet charged with a crime. After 3 years.

Sounds like a bad precedent to me.

So, I was a little lazy updating the site - I skipped this whole story. If you have been under a rock, Iran detained some UK soldiers that were on patrol in or near the Iranian territorial waters. Iran said they were in Iranian waters, UK said they were in Iraqi waters. The UN said 'don't so that Iran'. Iran said, 'Fuck You, everybody'. Everybody was like, oh crap - Iran's being really stupid, something bad's going to happen. Then somebody must have whispered something to Iran, and Iran said - 'Here's your soldiers back, it's a gift.'

The US government is evidently 'struggling' to avoid it.

Ethiopian troops were killed and dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Despite the quick and decisive victory that Ethiopia achieved over Somalia's council of islamic courts a few months ago. I think that this highlights the dangers of modern war - the army vs. army strategy that has prevailed since wwII. (rather than nation against nation, people against people from WWII and before) I don't know that the more benign form of war will continue much longer in the face of almost constant failure - Especially if smaller nations without the deep pockets to fight a sustained war are drawn into conflicts.

Sky (Murdoch) has called for a legal inquiry into Virgin Media's competitive practices. Or rather industry shields that keep Virgin from competing on the same level as other media companies.

Jonathon Harris bills himself as a web artist. His work doesn't excite me, but the money and method sound nice.

From a Russian woman who talks about the quick decline of Russia's democracy.

YuMe Networks has developed some software that can stick variable ads into uploaded video files. Should be live soon.

How ironic. Page includes a nice graph of the locations of public and private cameras around Orwell's house.

Orwell is the guy who wrote '1984'...The dystopian novel about a police surveillance state.

Even though most Britons support the loss of their liberty in order to protect themselves against terrorism and crime -- a few good souls are speaking against such measures. This particular article points out that while crime has decreased in Britain, 2/3rds of the people believe that crime has been increasing.

Wonder how that happened? Probably the same way hooded sweatshirts were declared anti-social and subsequently made illegal.

like.com is billing itself as a 'visual search engine' -- they sell clothes. This is probably only interesting if you are me, and were trying to sell a similar idea before like went live last fall.

Plastic Bags are banned in San Francisco. One of the mayors wants the stores to provide bio-degradable plastic bags as an option. I bet those are cheap.

A riot in France over a subway ticket. Some French folks won't take crap, I suppose.

A good, in depth article about how the Iraq war strategy is progressing. In particular Micheal Schwartz looks at Sunni insurgents, al-Sadr's army, and Iran.

Finally! Someone in Congress actually mentioned that the US congress has the authority to declare war. Thank you Barbara Boxer! For those of you who are a little slow, the US passed a resolution allowing the US to attack Iraq - which followed the original resolution allowing the US to attack terrorists (a resolution so vague it can probably be struck down by the Supreme Court since it allows the US to attack any country in the world).

For the record, Barbara Lee is the only person in Congress to have voted against the 'War on Terrorism' legislation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_Against_Terrorists

For completeness, you can see how the voting on the Iraq resolution played out here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Joint_Resolution_to_Authorize_the_Use_of_United_States_Armed_Forces_Against_Iraq

Five years in prison. He is now on trial for one count of 'providing material support to terrorists'.

Rather than mess around. Here's the meaty part of the article...

"The Pentagon had described Mr Hicks as an enemy combatant, but it was compelled two years ago to drop charges against him of aiding the enemy and war crimes conspiracy for lack of evidence."

American's have ceded their place as the tallest people in the world, a title they have held for 200 years. Junk food may be to blame. Of course, the proposed solution in the article may be telling, too. "The treatment consists of an injection every day for many years, but the procedure is expensive, not usually covered by insurance companies and sometimes yields disappointing results - the average increase in height is about two inches."

I don't know why I'm including this list from Yahoo! I suppose it's interesting to see the projects of the people who are really making the internet happen. I'm not going to pretend not to be jealous.

This lucid article is based on what must be a lucid report outlining why bombing the shit out if Iran would be a bad idea.

Richard Thomas, the UK Information Minister is concerned about the British 'surveillance state'. Here's a top level official who must be reading SmokinCat.com. Finally he has become concerned about all the shit I give the British for being wimps and children of a big brother nanny state.

Now if only someone here in the US would listen to me....

More information available here.

The Branson media machine wastes no time responding to the brutal first blow blow Murdoch!

I read this article by a supporter of Rupert Murdoch and Son (who own a tv outlet called Sky in the UK). the article is interesting for two reasons.

1. It's the first derogatory thing I have ever read about Richard Branson.

2. It is obviously the opening salvo in what promises to be an entertaining cat fight between Murdoch (Sky Tv) and Branson (Virgin TV)

Admittedly, I thought New York was doing something stupid again like banning a word from our vocabulary. Turns out that the city has only 'symbolically banned' the N-word (the N-word is nigger for all you non-US residents).

What makes me include this article is that the city seems surprised that children don't think the symbolic ban will accomplish anything. It's a symbolic ban, and therefore useless, worthless, and a waste of time. The city should not be trying to play cultural mover and shaker. Kids understand, why can't elected officials?

NYC has banned dancing in bars that do not have a license for dancing. It reminds me of footloose. It also makes me think that New York is no longer the cultural capital of the free world. They have officially lost their status, due to ineligibility. A city must maintain freedom in order to be eligible.