<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638</id><updated>2011-04-21T11:38:25.637-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Xenophon</title><subtitle type='html'>The Education of Cyrus</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default?start-index=101&amp;max-results=100'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>843</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057462795698574</id><published>2006-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-09-22T10:30:24.446-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Out of the Primordial Void</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/Mappl%20Orchid.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/Mappl%20Orchid.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;End Trans . . .&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057462795698574?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://cyrusfirstofearth.blogspot.com/' title='Out of the Primordial Void'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057462795698574/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057462795698574&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057462795698574'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057462795698574'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/out-of-primordial-void.html' title='Out of the Primordial Void'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057426973862528</id><published>2006-02-22T06:15:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-23T11:49:40.026-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Choices</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/raphael60.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/raphael60.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Judah&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. Then two concubines came to the king, and stood before him. The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I was delivered, this woman also gave birth; and we were alone; there was no one else with us in the house, only we two were in the house. And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on it. And she arose at &lt;st1:time minute="0" hour="0"&gt;midnight&lt;/st1:time&gt;, and took my son from beside me, while your maidservant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I looked at it closely in the morning, behold, it was not the child that I had borne." But the other woman said, "No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours." The first said, "No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine." Thus they spoke before the king. Then the king said, "The one says, `This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead'; and the other says, `No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.'" And the king said, "Bring me a sword." So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other." &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means slay it." But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it." Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means slay it; she is its mother." And all &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Israel&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to render justice. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land. And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;h3 style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;u&gt;Wisdom of &lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Solomon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;"1": For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"2": For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"3": Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"4": And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"5": For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"6": Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"7": Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"8": Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"9": Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"10": Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"11": Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"12": Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"13": He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"14": He was made to reprove our thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"15": He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"16": We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"17": Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"18": For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"19": Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"20": Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"21": Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"22": As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"23": For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"24": Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057426973862528?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.thestate.com/mld/mercurynews/news/nation/13940653.htm?source=rss&amp;channel=mercurynews_nation' title='Choices'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057426973862528/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057426973862528&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057426973862528'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057426973862528'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/choices.html' title='Choices'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057449176934897</id><published>2006-02-22T06:14:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-01T11:59:33.535-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Arm Leg Leg Arm Head – Forgive me for my damn sins</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/reapersickle.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/reapersickle.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;h3&gt;What up Ya'll (February 22, 2005) &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Welcome to My Experiment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Undoubtedly this may become more self absorbed and weird as time progresses but Fuck It. From time to time I will attempt to make some small contribution to the interpetation of the world in which we live while all the while attempting to escape to a new one. If anyone finds a way out -- Holla. Till then I've got my rock hammer and lovely Raquel -- shhh! don't tell. I can spell most of the time and type some of the time, and punctuate correctly; occasionally. If you don't understand ask, if you still don't get it ask again, if you don't get it then . . . let it go. In short: "Yeah, I know, its spelled wrong, punctuated wrong, and the grammer don't fit." But you get my meanin'.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Last Year we poured for ya'. This year: Life Goes On.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://cyrusfirstofearth.blogspot.com/2006/11/arm-leg-leg-arm-head-gnothi-se-auton.html"&gt;Next iteration&gt;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057449176934897?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://cyrusfirstofearth.blogspot.com/2006/11/arm-leg-leg-arm-head-gnothi-se-auton.html' title='Arm Leg Leg Arm Head – Forgive me for my damn sins'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057449176934897/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057449176934897&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057449176934897'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057449176934897'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/arm-leg-leg-arm-head-forgive-me-for-my.html' title='Arm Leg Leg Arm Head – Forgive me for my damn sins'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057654382153445</id><published>2006-02-21T21:49:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-21T19:17:10.396-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Well Done!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/607536.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/607536.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yahoo Sports:&lt;br /&gt;Davis began making history at age 17 when he became the first U.S. speedskater to earn spots on both the short track and long track Junior World Teams and accomplished that feat three years in a row in 2000, 2001 and 2002 … In 2003-04, Davis was the silver medalist at the World All-Around Championships and was the 1500 meters World Champion at the 2004 World Single Distance Championships … During the 2004-2005 season, Davis won his third straight U.S. Long Track Championship Title, broke the 1500 meter World Record, and went on to win the 2005 World All -Around Championships … For the second season in a row, not only did Davis make history earning spots on World Teams in both disciplines, he also made his first World Sprint Team earning two silver medals. In the 2005 Fall World Cup 3, Davis set a new world record in the 1000 meters and went on to win the 1000 meters a total of four consecutive times in World Cups 3 and 4 … Also during the 2004-05 team, Davis was a member of the U.S. Short Track World Team that won a bronze medal in the relay event at the World Short Track Championships … Davis joins an elite group of speedskaters who have represented their countries in different Olympic Games as a long track speedskater and short track speedskater.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057654382153445?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/usa/Shani+Davis/607536' title='Well Done!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057654382153445/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057654382153445&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057654382153445'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057654382153445'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/well-done.html' title='Well Done!'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057780253073000</id><published>2006-02-21T19:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-26T06:45:52.430-08:00</updated><title type='text'>It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/Untitled%2C%201981%2C%20a.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/Untitled%2C%201981%2C%20a.1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You don't know shit 'cause you've never been fucked in the ass!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057780253073000?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.weeklyscript.com/JFK.txt' title='It&apos;s a mystery! It&apos;s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057780253073000/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057780253073000&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057780253073000'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057780253073000'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/its-mystery-its-mystery-wrapped-in.html' title='It&apos;s a mystery! It&apos;s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114057760121754224</id><published>2006-02-21T19:06:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-21T22:41:08.033-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Para Ti</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/587.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/587.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;still.&lt;br /&gt;gooogh!  &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Snowblood"&gt;オーレン 石井&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;take care&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114057760121754224?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114057760121754224/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114057760121754224&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057760121754224'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114057760121754224'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/para-ti.html' title='Para Ti'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114053155767546100</id><published>2006-02-21T06:19:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-21T06:19:17.776-08:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/malcolm.jpg'&gt;&lt;img border='0' style='border:4px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/malcolm.jpg'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brother Malcolm&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114053155767546100?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114053155767546100/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114053155767546100&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114053155767546100'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114053155767546100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/brother-malcolm.html' title=''/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114047194356221997</id><published>2006-02-20T13:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-20T13:49:22.806-08:00</updated><title type='text'>On Education</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;In our dreams...people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [intellectual and character education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple...we will organize children...and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another class, a very much larger class of necessity, to forego the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;" align="right"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Woodrow Wilson&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Ninety-nine [students] out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;" align="right"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;William Torrey Harris, US Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114047194356221997?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114047194356221997/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114047194356221997&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114047194356221997'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114047194356221997'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/on-education.html' title='On Education'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114037973977130428</id><published>2006-02-19T12:03:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-19T12:08:59.826-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Shani Davis Wins Gold</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sns-ap-oly-spe-mens-1000-tr2,1,1330344.story?page=1"&gt;"I like him as a person, I like him as a speedskater," Wennemars said. "What the United States thinks about him doesn't matter because Shani is the Olympic champion, so he is right."&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/other/international/chi-0602190354feb19,1,696773.story"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;“most of what occurred Saturday came about because of &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Davis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/other/international/chi-0602190354feb19,1,696773.story"&gt;' iron will and his refusal to fall obediently into line. And that beautifully smooth skating motion of his helped too.”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt;"&gt;And they say love isn’t enough. Maybe not but it sure as hell helps. Nothing in the world like Mamma’s Love!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;"There's more than one way to get the wheels rolling," &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;Davis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt; said. "Sometimes it's hard love. Sometimes it's pampering. And my mom, she does a little bit of both. That's just the way she is.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0602190388feb19,1,5459900.story?page=2&amp;cset=true&amp;amp;ctrack=1&amp;coll=chi-news-hed"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 18pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://shanidavis.org/shani_davis_link.php?i=43201&amp;sessionToken="&gt;Shani Davis Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114037973977130428?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0602190388feb19,1,5459900.story?page=2&amp;cset=true&amp;ctrack=1&amp;coll=chi-news-hed' title='Shani Davis Wins Gold'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114037973977130428/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114037973977130428&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114037973977130428'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114037973977130428'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/shani-davis-wins-gold.html' title='Shani Davis Wins Gold'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114037696510304109</id><published>2006-02-19T11:21:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-19T11:22:45.173-08:00</updated><title type='text'>He sells milk for half the price you pay. The feds want to stop him. Why?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;By Andrew Martin&lt;br /&gt;Tribune national correspondent&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2006" day="19" month="2"&gt;February 19, 2006&lt;/st1:date&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;YUMA&lt;/st1:City&gt;, &lt;st1:state&gt;Ariz.&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; -- Hein Hettinga is a dairy farmer but he doesn't spend his days milking cows.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rather, Hettinga keeps a cell phone pressed to his ear to keep tabs on his empire of 15 dairy farms stretching from &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;California&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; to west &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Texas&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, including five massive farms in the desert east of &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Yuma&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what distinguishes Hettinga from other large-scale dairy farmers is that he also bottles the milk from his &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Arizona&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; farms and trucks it to stores in &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Arizona&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; and &lt;st1:place&gt;Southern California&lt;/st1:place&gt;. At one of them, Sam's Club in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Yuma&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;, two gallons of Hettinga's whole milk sell for $3.99.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's the same price as a single gallon of whole milk in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Chicago&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;, which is second only to &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;New Orleans&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; in the cost of milk.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By controlling all stages of production, Hettinga says he can produce milk so efficiently that he and his customers can make a hefty profit at dirt-cheap prices. Such vertical integration, as it is known, is increasingly popular in agriculture as farmers and processors try to find ways to eliminate costs and increase revenues.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the highly politicized world of dairy, efficiency could carry a price. Major dairy cooperatives and milk processors successfully persuaded federal regulators to write new rules that would prohibit the business practices that Hettinga has so successfully put in place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Under the proposed regulations, Hettinga could continue to process his own milk only if he agrees to participate in a federally regulated pool of milk revenues, which would essentially require him to pay his competitors to stay in business. A bill that would have a similar effect is working its way through Congress.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602190391feb19,1,3231896.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&amp;ctrack=1&amp;amp;cset=true"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114037696510304109?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602190391feb19,1,3231896.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&amp;ctrack=1&amp;cset=true' title='He sells milk for half the price you pay. The feds want to stop him. Why?'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114037696510304109/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114037696510304109&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114037696510304109'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114037696510304109'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/he-sells-milk-for-half-price-you-pay.html' title='He sells milk for half the price you pay. The feds want to stop him. Why?'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114032372844425546</id><published>2006-02-18T20:35:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-18T20:38:17.036-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Olympic Speedskating Results</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/shani.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/shani.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;By The Associated Press&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;The Associated Press&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Updated: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:time minute="29" hour="13"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;1:29  p.m. ET&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:time&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2006" day="18" month="2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Feb.  18, 2006&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:date&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;1. Shani Davis, Chicago, 1:08.89.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;2. Joey Cheek, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Greensboro&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;N.C.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.16.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;3. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Erben Wennemars&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Netherlands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.32.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;4. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Lee Kyou-hyuk&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;South Korea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.37.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;5. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Jan Bos&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Netherlands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.42.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;6. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Chad&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt; Hedrick, Spring, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Texas&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.45.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;7. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Yevgeny Lalenkov&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Russia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.46.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;8. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Stefan Groothuis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Netherlands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.57.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;9. Casey FitzRandolph, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Verona&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Wis.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.59.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;10. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Dmitry Dorofeyev&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Russia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.74.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;11. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Jeremy Wotherspoon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Canada&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.76.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;12. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Beorn Nijenhuis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Netherlands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.85.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;13. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Konrad Niedzwiedzki&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Poland&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:09.95.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;14. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Mikael Flygind-Larsen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Norway&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:10.13.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;15. Alexey Proshin, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Russia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;, 1:10.14.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114032372844425546?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11291957/' title='Olympic Speedskating Results'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114032372844425546/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114032372844425546&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114032372844425546'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114032372844425546'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/olympic-speedskating-results.html' title='Olympic Speedskating Results'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114016270595404022</id><published>2006-02-17T11:46:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-16T23:51:46.006-08:00</updated><title type='text'>US to 'push China hard on piracy'</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Did anybody tell them &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;China&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; has an internal Market of 2 Billion people? That is 6 times the size of the &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;US&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;. Another 1 billion in India, not to mention Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Thai Land, Russia, Hell the entire Orient! Whatever he’s chiefing I got next.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; intends to push &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; "aggressively" to clamp down more firmly on piracy and open more of its domestic markets to foreign firms. That was the pledge of US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, as the two countries continue to negotiate the agenda for trade talks in April. Mr Gutierrez said &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; had "to play by the rules" if it wished to become a "respected" global trader. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4722694.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114016270595404022?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4722694.stm' title='US to &apos;push China hard on piracy&apos;'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114016270595404022/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114016270595404022&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114016270595404022'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114016270595404022'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/us-to-push-china-hard-on-piracy.html' title='US to &apos;push China hard on piracy&apos;'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114007694330191709</id><published>2006-02-16T11:59:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-16T00:02:23.303-08:00</updated><title type='text'>New Microchips Shun Transistors</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;By John Hudson, Wired&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;For the first time researchers have created a working prototype of a radical new chip design based on magnetism instead of electrical transistors. As transistor-based microchips hit the limits of &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Moore&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;'s Law, a group of electrical engineers at the University of Notre Dame has fabricated a chip that uses nanoscale magnetic "islands" to juggle the ones and zeroes of &lt;a href="http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/binary.html"&gt;&lt;span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;"&gt;binary&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; code. Wolfgang Perod and his colleagues turned to the process of &lt;a href="http://www.pse.umass.edu/carter/reports/applphyslet2002.pdf"&gt;magnetic patterning&lt;/a&gt; (.pdf) to produce a new chip that uses arrays of separate magnetic domains. Each island maintains its own magnetic field.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70190-0.html?tw=rss.index"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Singularity here we come!!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114007694330191709?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70190-0.html?tw=rss.index' title='New Microchips Shun Transistors'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114007694330191709/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114007694330191709&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007694330191709'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007694330191709'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/new-microchips-shun-transistors.html' title='New Microchips Shun Transistors'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114007651848963669</id><published>2006-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-15T23:55:18.490-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Medicare Plan Benefits Industry, Not Seniors</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;By Erin Cassin, The NewStandard&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Recent research into the new Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit program shows the pharmaceutical industry poised to reap billions in taxpayer funds under the new plan. The data lends new fuel to the fight led by seniors and their advocates to overhaul the program, which took effect January 1.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Under the design of the current scheme, private insurers -- not the Medicare administration -- provide coverage to enrollees, some of who previously received coverage under Medicaid and others who never had government-subsidized prescription drug coverage.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;According to a January report by the progressive think tank Center for Economic Policy Research, the program's cost to state and federal taxpayers -- estimated at $776 billion for the next eight years -- and its notorious complexity are predictable symptoms of the legislation.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/32265/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114007651848963669?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/32265/' title='Medicare Plan Benefits Industry, Not Seniors'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114007651848963669/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114007651848963669&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007651848963669'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007651848963669'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/medicare-plan-benefits-industry-not.html' title='Medicare Plan Benefits Industry, Not Seniors'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114007633517593375</id><published>2006-02-16T11:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-15T23:52:15.213-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Your Future with the RIAA</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;File Sharing Winner and Losers&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="reg9u"&gt;By Thomas Mennecke&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="reg9u"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="reg12"&gt;The year 2005 was an excellent year, depending of course on your point of view. For the tech industry, BitTorrent soared to new heights while Steve Jobs enjoyed record breaking iPod sales. Yet not everyone shared this success. The RIAA continued its fight against P2P networking with little effect, as Sony-BMG disgraced itself and the DRM concept.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1040"&gt;&lt;span class="reg12"&gt;&lt;a&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114007633517593375?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1040' title='Your Future with the RIAA'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114007633517593375/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114007633517593375&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007633517593375'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007633517593375'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/your-future-with-riaa.html' title='Your Future with the RIAA'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-114007779478081438</id><published>2006-02-16T09:16:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-16T00:33:04.433-08:00</updated><title type='text'>I Feel Ya'</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/amchapelle0514.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/amchapelle0514.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060213/lf_afp/afplifestylevalentine"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;“I would go to work on the show and I felt awful every day, that’s not the way it was” he said. “I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. If I feel so bad, why keep on showing up to this place? I’m going to &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Africa&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060213/lf_afp/afplifestylevalentine"&gt;. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I watched the Inside the Actor’s Studio interview with Dave. &lt;i style=""&gt;“I wasn’t crazy but it is incredibly stressful,”&lt;/i&gt; I feel you Dave. It did my heart good to hear someone articulate the shit that goes on every day. WE have lost our minds12-16 hour days for anywhere from $10-$30/ hour. Before taxes. You do the math. Sleep deprivation, stress, humiliation, paranoia, for what?&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;They say romance is dead in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, no kidding, when does anyone have time for relaxation? We spend the lion’s share of our waking hours for someone else, commuting to work, working, commuting from work, cell phones, emails, crack berries, shit has gotten out of hand. The shift from a society of domination through discipline to one of domination through surveillance is whittling years off our lives and leaving no room for simple human comforts. The refrain builds “I want to be good at what I do” as what you do is coded into a mainframe and outsourced to &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, or worse simply automated, when most clerical service professions – lawyers, accountants, programmers, actuaries, etc. – are destined to end up being staffed by button pusher like an H&amp;R Block Tax center. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Fuck &lt;st1:place&gt;Africa&lt;/st1:place&gt;. I’m going to Biminy.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-114007779478081438?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060213/lf_afp/afplifestylevalentine' title='I Feel Ya&apos;'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/114007779478081438/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=114007779478081438&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007779478081438'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/114007779478081438'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/i-feel-ya.html' title='I Feel Ya&apos;'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113995034585494848</id><published>2006-02-14T12:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-14T12:52:25.923-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Love is not Enough</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Most single Americans are playing hard to get and are happy to dodge Cupid's arrow, new research says, despite the annual Valentine's Day splurge on chocolates and flowers.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Forty-three percent of adult Americans, or 87 million people, describe themselves as single -- but only 16 percent are looking for love, the survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Fifty-five percent of US singles say they have no interest in looking for a romantic partner. That feeling is especially pronounced among women, or those who have been divorced or widowed.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Surprisingly, and despite the dominance of dating images in popular culture, younger singles aged between 18-29 seem to be able to take romance or leave it: 51 percent said they were not in the market for a soulmate.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;  The survey also lifts the lid on the barren dating scene even for those Americans singles who are playing the field.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Thirty-six percent of those "active" on the dating scene said they had not had a date in three months, 13 percent had one. Twenty-two percent had been on between two and four dates, while a lucky quarter had been on five or more.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Where is the best place to meet a partner? : according to the survey, which sampled Internet users on the question, 38 percent of those in committed relationships hooked up at work or school.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;  A third met through family and friends, and 13 percent met their match at a nightclub, bar or cafe.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt; Surprisingly, given the proliferation of online dating agencies and matchmakers, only three percent of happy couples who are also online met through the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;  The study, part of larger research on online matchmaking yet to be published, was conducted late last year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113995034585494848?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060213/lf_afp/afplifestylevalentine' title='Love is not Enough'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113995034585494848/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113995034585494848&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113995034585494848'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113995034585494848'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/love-is-not-enough.html' title='Love is not Enough'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113981243112718008</id><published>2006-02-13T10:24:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-12T22:33:51.130-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Trouble in Cubicle Nation</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Provide paid childbirth leave to all working Americans.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Tighten the salary test&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Hold the back pats&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Support a living wage&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Make Lou Dobbs secretary of labor&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Provide guaranteed sick leave&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Legalize vacations&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Give face time the pink slip&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Establish rules for e-tools&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Restore the 40-hour workweek.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/31194/"&gt;“&lt;i style=""&gt;American workers have done their part, doubling productivity since 1969. How about producing a workplace worthy of them in 2006?”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; It sounds great, it really does but the increase in productivity is not due to the worker but to advances in technology. Not only can work be produced faster but with fewer people. There are no jobs. They don’t need you. Jesus! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113981243112718008?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/workplace/31194/' title='Trouble in Cubicle Nation'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113981243112718008/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113981243112718008&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981243112718008'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981243112718008'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/trouble-in-cubicle-nation.html' title='Trouble in Cubicle Nation'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113981184111282611</id><published>2006-02-13T10:22:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-12T22:24:01.153-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The Next  dot.com</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;" I look up, alarmed, then &lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;send an IM about it to my friend Quinn, across the table from me&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;. "Do you hear the marketing droids behind us?" I write. She giggles, staring at her monitor. Folksonomy. It's a taxonomy, or knowledge organization system, created by regular folks who don't have advanced degrees in information science and don't work in libraries. Only in a folksonomy would you ever get results from searching for the tag "sexy geeks." This development alone makes it clear we've learned something since the Pets.com days.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;It turns out they're crafting a PowerPoint presentation for some company whose business model sounds like what we called vaporware in the dot-com era of yore: They plan to "bring the gaming community together" and somehow make money on that. I eavesdrop until I realize with horror that they're the remnants of a dot-com I made fun of in this very column back in 1999: a company called Zupit. I search for zupit.com, but the site is just a directory full of files I can't access -- there's nothing left of the bubble company that "brings it down to you," as it says on the ancient Zupit schwag pen I have. And yet the company still lives! Its stupid business model still lives! How can this be? &lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/32071/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;“Created by regular folks.” Who “don't have advanced degrees in information science and don't work in libraries.” Right. The web is the perfect engine for creating the illusion of choice while enforcing the greatest tyranny. The perfect Skinnerian box. So many choices, right? Not really. In reality the web and the computer are on great big feedback mechanism. Buy, go, say, do what we want you to do and you are rewarded with dazzling colors sounds and pictures, and if you’re a real junky, that little buzz you get when the screen flashes “order received.” If you IM to people you can call or worse yet talk to – web 2.0 is gong to make a lot of money. Excuse me while I call my broker. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113981184111282611?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/32071/' title='The Next  dot.com'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113981184111282611/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113981184111282611&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981184111282611'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981184111282611'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/next-dotcom.html' title='The Next  dot.com'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113981352229505982</id><published>2006-02-12T22:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-12T22:52:02.326-08:00</updated><title type='text'>North Magnetic Pole could be leaving Canada</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;The North Magnetic Pole could soon abandon Canada, migrate north of Alaska and eventually wind up in Russia, according to a Canadian scientist.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/20/north.pole/"&gt;It's about more than oil&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113981352229505982?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/20/north.pole/' title='North Magnetic Pole could be leaving Canada'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113981352229505982/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113981352229505982&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981352229505982'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113981352229505982'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/north-magnetic-pole-could-be-leaving.html' title='North Magnetic Pole could be leaving Canada'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113958643584311735</id><published>2006-02-10T19:46:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-10T07:50:03.353-08:00</updated><title type='text'>LA County Prison Riots</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;How is the “&lt;i style=""&gt;war on terror&lt;/i&gt;” going? You know the shit is about to hit the fan when the block is hot and the jails are rioting. Why? Because wars are funded through the sale of drugs, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;America&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt; needs more money, niggers and spics got to move more drugs. They didn’t teach you that in “good government” did they? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The Supermax waiting area was crowded, and Olmeda, 29, didn’t see Velasquez, also 29, until the last visit of the day. The husband and wife discussed the usual things: the drug case he was fighting, their four kids (the two oldest ones had come with her to see their dad), her battle to pay the bills on a suddenly single mom’s salary, how much he wanted to come home. As they talked, she thought he seemed unusually on edge. “Look, babe,” Velasquez said just before the hour ended. “I probably won’t be able to call you for a few days. There’s a lot of . . .” He searched for a neutral way to say it, “. . . tension here.”&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;"We're seeing and witnessing a racial gang war in the south central &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Los   Angeles&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; community and that gang war has transformed itself into the county jail system," Baca said in a weekend TV interview.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;When Olmeda arrived home around &lt;st1:time minute="30" hour="16"&gt;4:30 p.m.&lt;/st1:time&gt;, she flipped on the television and made dinner for all four kids. “And there it was, all over the news,” she says, “this huge riot at Supermax.”&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&amp;task=view&amp;amp;amp;amp;id=12625&amp;amp;Itemid=2"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113958643584311735?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&amp;task=view&amp;id=12625&amp;Itemid=2' title='LA County Prison Riots'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113958643584311735/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113958643584311735&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113958643584311735'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113958643584311735'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/la-county-prison-riots.html' title='LA County Prison Riots'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113955735097901377</id><published>2006-02-10T11:30:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-09T23:43:54.270-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Singularity Utopia</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Dear Athena,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html"&gt;A singularity utopianism&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;A gentleman Irish, mighty odd;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;He'd a beautiful brogue so rich and sweet&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;And to rise in the world he carried a hod.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Now Tim had a sort o' the tipplin' way&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;With a love of the liquor poor Tim was born&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;And to help him on with his work each day&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;            He'd a drop of the craythur ev'ry morn&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The computer screen is the new campfire; it has the flicker we crave, that transfixing luminescence that we first discovered with Prometheus. There has been so much talk about the singularity. They wonder whether we’ll interface, whether or not we’ll integrate mind and machine. What they are really asking is will we be gods? Will we create intelligence? Will we be able to answer the question – “is there a god?” – by becoming god? And when we do, and we find that we are either alone or that we are one among a multitude, on a path well worn and tread, what will we do then? When we have confronted our insignificance will we still be human? &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The myth of exceptionalism is what sustains our humanity; unjustified though it is. The enlightenment was nothing but Adam clothed in reason. An idiot savant, only a child or a fool could be fascinated so long with one thing, it was only contradiction. If the singularity is to come, contradiction is dead. We will look back at Enlightenment’s humanity as the prison of a dark age in which vanity and hubris stood guard over beauty, subdued truth and allowed ignorance to reign. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The transfer has already begun. From polar nucleotides, hydrophobic/hydrophilic proteins, beta pleated sheets, quaternary structures, organelles, membranes, tissue, organs, intelligence ??? Or does that go at the beginning? I mean we’re still working with positive and negative, we are still operating at the level of the electron. How long before our mathematics has to account for up, down, top, bottom, strange and charmed? &lt;i style=""&gt;Three quarks for Muster Mark&lt;/i&gt;. How long before our control reaches there? &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;How long before we are able to cohere consciousness through mechanical means? How long before we bind Prometheus in a mechanical shell? How long before we can imprison the soul? &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;How’s that for a utopian &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity"&gt;singularity&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113955735097901377?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity' title='Singularity Utopia'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113955735097901377/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113955735097901377&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113955735097901377'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113955735097901377'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/singularity-utopia.html' title='Singularity Utopia'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113952673617549406</id><published>2006-02-09T15:08:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-09T15:12:16.233-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The Sneaky Bastards at FOX</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;I thought something was funny. Media Matters caught the “Old Jedi Mind Trick” at work. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Fox News' &lt;/i&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: normal;"&gt;Special Report with Brit Hume&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; showed an edited video clip of Rev. Joseph Lowery's remarks at Coretta Scott King's funeral, during which he mentioned the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Iraq&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;. Lowery's remarks were greeted with 23 seconds of applause and a standing ovation, but the clip Fox News aired presented nine seconds of applause and little hint of the standing ovation without noting that the clip had been doctored. After seeing the clip, &lt;/i&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: normal;"&gt;Roll Call&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;'s Morton Kondracke concluded that the audience "wasn't exactly uproarious in its response" to Lowery.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200602090006"&gt;VIDEO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113952673617549406?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://mediamatters.org/items/200602090006' title='The Sneaky Bastards at FOX'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113952673617549406/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113952673617549406&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113952673617549406'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113952673617549406'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/sneaky-bastards-at-fox.html' title='The Sneaky Bastards at FOX'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113945149658517247</id><published>2006-02-09T06:14:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-09T05:51:18.723-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Trademark Dilution Revision Act</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="small"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;Written by Edward Greenberg &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;  &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;"HR 683 - the Trademark Dilution Revision Act" will serve to eliminate the current protection for non-commercial speech currently contained in the Lanham Act. It will prevent businesses (artists)and consumers from invoking famous trademarks to explain or illustrate their discussion of public issues. Exceptions for fair use, non-commercial use, reportage, commentary, etc. currently existing could disappear and would be no defense to claims of infringement of a registered or unregistered mark. Trade dress is often unregistered.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/77/98/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113945149658517247?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/77/98/' title='Trademark Dilution Revision Act'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113945149658517247/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113945149658517247&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113945149658517247'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113945149658517247'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/trademark-dilution-revision-act.html' title='Trademark Dilution Revision Act'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113941978323384179</id><published>2006-02-08T09:28:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-08T09:29:43.276-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations.The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1704954,00.html?gusrc=rss"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113941978323384179?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1704954,00.html?gusrc=rss' title='Sweden plans to be world&apos;s first oil-free economy'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113941978323384179/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113941978323384179&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941978323384179'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941978323384179'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/sweden-plans-to-be-worlds-first-oil.html' title='Sweden plans to be world&apos;s first oil-free economy'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113941830346261472</id><published>2006-02-08T09:03:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-08T09:05:03.466-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Church Fires</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Morning Star Baptist and three other rural &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Alabama&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; churches were damaged or destroyed by fires Tuesday, bringing the number of suspicious church fires in the state to nine in less than a week. Authorities said they had no clear suspects but were inspecting tire tracks and footprints and searching for a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"Obviously somebody or somebodies are interested in burning down churches. Whether it's hate against a race or religion in general, we don't know," said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Ingram said the first rash of fires early Friday — at four predominantly white churches and one predominantly black church — are believed to be linked.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The FBI was already looking into whether those fires were civil rights violations under laws covering attacks on religious property, and the state and federal government had offered $10,000 in rewards for information when the new fires were reported.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The four fires Tuesday — all at predominantly black churches — could be a continuation of that crime spree, or they could be copycat attacks, Ingram said Wednesday.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_re_us/church_fires"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113941830346261472?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_re_us/church_fires' title='Church Fires'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113941830346261472/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113941830346261472&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941830346261472'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941830346261472'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/church-fires.html' title='Church Fires'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113941814926321380</id><published>2006-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-08T09:02:29.266-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Exporting Evangelism</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;By Anoosh Jorjorian&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In the packed stadium, people stood in the summer heat, craning their necks for a view of the stage. Evangelist preacher Benny Hinn, dressed head to toe in white, paced and preached, backed by a choir singing gospel hymns. Audience members whose pain had disappeared after Hinn's healing prayer came to the stage to testify. Abandoned crutches and wheelchairs lined the platform.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;This scene could have taken place in &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Louisiana&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; or &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Texas&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Minnesota&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; or &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;California&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, but in fact occurred in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Suva&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;, the capital of the &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;Fiji&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt; &lt;st1:placetype&gt;Islands&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;, a few weeks ago. The Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade lasted three days and drew an estimated 180,000 people on the final day, an impressive feat in a nation where the population hovers just under 1 million. The &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Fiji&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; national television news showed the prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, and the acting president, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, as well as other parliamentarians, in attendance&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/31671/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113941814926321380?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/31671/' title='Exporting Evangelism'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113941814926321380/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113941814926321380&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941814926321380'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941814926321380'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/exporting-evangelism.html' title='Exporting Evangelism'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113941799628463973</id><published>2006-02-08T08:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-08T08:59:56.343-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Losing  Feminist Leaders</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;By Jessica Valenti &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In a time when the so-called "opt-out revolution" reigns supreme in the media and mainstream columnists unconvincingly tell women that the "power is in the kitchen," we need a continuation of Friedan's work more than ever. Thankfully there are women like Linda Hirshman out there who not only debunk the happy housewife myth, but completely obliterate it. Wasserstein fans can rest easy -- people like Sarah Jones and the Guerrilla Girls are making strides for women in the arts, whether on stage or in masks. And of course, the growing opposition to the current administration and invasion of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; is building amazing momentum for the movement for nonviolence and civil rights.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;It's clear that women are doing the work -- but where are the new icons? Is it that a successful women's movement simply doesn't need icons anymore, or are they out there just waiting to be recognized by a mainstream that still doesn't take kindly to feminism?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The idea of a new crop of mainstream feminist leaders is met with some wariness when talking with younger women. For many young women, especially those who work in grassroots organizations or who have taken their activism online, the idea of a feminist icon or leader seems a bit passe.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Amanda Marcotte of the popular blog Pandagon notes, "There's a good reason to be optimistic that iconic feminist leaders are a thing of the past. Without having the same handful of feminist leaders to return to time and time again, maybe the media will be forced to acknowledge the geographic, racial and class diversity in modern feminism."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/31954/"&gt;Full &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113941799628463973?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/31954/' title='Losing  Feminist Leaders'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113941799628463973/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113941799628463973&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941799628463973'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113941799628463973'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/losing-feminist-leaders.html' title='Losing  Feminist Leaders'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113937175168778534</id><published>2006-02-07T20:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-07T20:10:26.503-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Rest</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/510000-017.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/510000-017.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. She&lt;sup&gt; &lt;/sup&gt;opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying:&lt;br /&gt;"Many daughters have done noble, but you excel them all”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113937175168778534?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113937175168778534/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113937175168778534&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113937175168778534'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113937175168778534'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/rest.html' title='Rest'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113928857999534061</id><published>2006-02-07T08:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-07T20:10:59.210-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The End of the Internet</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;And yet for just about 10k you can start your own network.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;You don’t need them.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;By Jeffrey Chester, The Nation&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;  &lt;p&gt;The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href="http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/netneutrality.html"&gt;white papers&lt;/a&gt; now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets -- corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers -- would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Under the plans they are considering, all of us -- from content providers to individual users -- would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/31753/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113928857999534061?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/31753/' title='The End of the Internet'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113928857999534061/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113928857999534061&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928857999534061'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928857999534061'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/end-of-internet.html' title='The End of the Internet'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113928825698416662</id><published>2006-02-07T08:56:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-06T20:57:37.026-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Ex-President Carter: Eavesdropping Illegal</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program Monday and said he believes the president has broken the law. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"Under the Bush administration, there's been a disgraceful and illegal decision _ we're not going to the let the judges or the Congress or anyone else know that we're spying on the American people," Carter told reporters. "And no one knows how many innocent Americans have had their privacy violated under this secret act." &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/06/D8FJUP882.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113928825698416662?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/06/D8FJUP882.html' title='Ex-President Carter: Eavesdropping Illegal'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113928825698416662/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113928825698416662&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928825698416662'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928825698416662'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/ex-president-carter-eavesdropping.html' title='Ex-President Carter: Eavesdropping Illegal'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113928638203621984</id><published>2006-02-07T08:24:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-06T20:26:22.103-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mayor: New Orleans will seek aid from other nations</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Shortcomings in aid from the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;U.S.&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; government are making New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin look to other nations for help in rebuilding his hurricane-damaged city. Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of foreign dignitaries since Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, says he may seek international assistance because &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;U.S.&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; aid has not been sufficient to get the city back on its feet. "I know we had a little disappointment earlier with some signals we're getting from Washington but the international community may be able to fill the gap," Nagin said when a delegation of French government and business officials passed through on Friday to explore potential business partnerships. &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Jordan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s King Abdullah also visited &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;New Orleans&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; on Friday and Nagin said he would encourage foreign interests to help redevelop some of the areas hardest hit by the storm.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060207/ts_nm/hurricanes_aid_dc"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113928638203621984?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060207/ts_nm/hurricanes_aid_dc' title='Mayor: New Orleans will seek aid from other nations'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113928638203621984/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113928638203621984&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928638203621984'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928638203621984'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/mayor-new-orleans-will-seek-aid-from.html' title='Mayor: New Orleans will seek aid from other nations'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113928971839773517</id><published>2006-02-06T21:17:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-06T21:21:58.450-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Profile: Jean-Marie Le Pen</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Marie_Le_Pen"&gt;&lt;span class="body"   style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;"&gt;"Massive immigration has only just begun. It is the biggest problem facing France, Europe and probably the world. We risk being submerged,"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113928971839773517?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Marie_Le_Pen' title='Profile: Jean-Marie Le Pen'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113928971839773517/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113928971839773517&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928971839773517'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113928971839773517'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/profile-jean-marie-le-pen.html' title='Profile: Jean-Marie Le Pen'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113912225813384084</id><published>2006-02-05T22:20:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-04T22:54:57.640-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Curses!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;So, while, realizing that people are sheep for about the 200&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; time, &lt;i style=""&gt;giving up is hard to do&lt;/i&gt;, it really does burn, there was a primordial void, &lt;i style=""&gt;Trippin’&lt;/i&gt; still hits too close to home; imbibing copious amounts of beer; marveling at the wonders of Wi Fi, modern public transit, my own cupidity, a fantastic view of downtown and a gifted cop, I found my friend up to her old tricks. Know magic. Shun magic.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.correntewire.com/a_bloggers_curse_on_the_corporate_weasels_at_blogger#comment-2675"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;On Cursing by &lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Chicago&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.correntewire.com/a_bloggers_curse_on_the_corporate_weasels_at_blogger#comment-2675"&gt; Dyke&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;here’s the trick with cursing.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;you need: beer, dirt, blood, and some instruments which make a loud sound.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;spill the beer on the ground. curse, loudly. invoke your personal god. spill the blood on the ground, softly. invoke your Special God. dance. take your clothes off. dance some more. think about how much you would’ve liked to drink the beer sacrificed. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;pull out your favorite bloody fable. perhaps the one where little red riding hood gets eaten. sing and dance as you recite the best passages. promise the gods your most treasured item. curse your enemies.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;dance some more, and drink some beer. that’s how ancient “iraqis” did it. and surprisingly, it worked more than you’d expect.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.correntewire.com/"&gt;Corrente&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113912225813384084?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.correntewire.com/a_bloggers_curse_on_the_corporate_weasels_at_blogger#comment-2675' title='Curses!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113912225813384084/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113912225813384084&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113912225813384084'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113912225813384084'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/curses.html' title='Curses!'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113911996925156809</id><published>2006-02-05T21:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-04T22:12:49.323-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Sheep for the Fleecing: Megachurches Growing in Number and Size</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, "Make us your slaves, but feed us."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;They will marvel at us and look on us as gods, because we are ready to endure the freedom which they have found so dreadful and to rule over them- so awful it will seem to them to be free. But we shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name. So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship. The most painful secrets of their conscience, all, all they will bring to us, and we shall have an answer for all. And they will be glad to believe our answer, for it will save them from the great anxiety and terrible agony they endure at present in making a free decision for themselves. Too, too well will they know the value of complete submission! And until men know that, they will be unhappy.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;span style=""&gt;                                                &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Fydor &lt;span style=""&gt;Dostoevsky,&lt;b&gt; &lt;/b&gt;“THE GRAND INQUISITOR”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;AP&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;A new survey on U.S. Protestant megachurches shows they are among the nation's fastest-growing faith groups, drawing younger people and families with contemporary programming and conservative values. The number of megachurches, defined as having a weekly attendance of at least 2,000, has doubled in five years to 1,210. The megachurches have an estimated combined income of $7.2 billion and draw nearly 4.4 million people to weekly services, according to "Megachurches Today 2005." The study, released Friday, based its findings on 406 surveys from megachurches. It was written by Leadership Network, a nonprofit church-growth consulting firm in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Dallas&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;, and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, which did a similar survey in 2000.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Leadership Network's clients are large churches in the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;U.S.&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Canada&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; looking to grow or maintain growth with new ideas and methods. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research is part of the nondenominational Hartford Seminary in &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Connecticut&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;. "When you add up all that megachurches are doing from books to video to the networks of connection across the nation, you can't say this phenomena of more than 1,200 megachurches is anything but really one of the most influential factors of American religion at this point in time," said Scott Thumma, researcher for the study and sociology professor at Hartford Seminary. The South has the most share with 49 percent, including &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Texas&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; with 13 percent. &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;California&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; led the nation with 14 percent but is part of a declining western region with 25 percent, seven percentage points lower than five years ago.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060204/ap_on_re_us/mega_churches"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113911996925156809?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060204/ap_on_re_us/mega_churches' title='Sheep for the Fleecing: Megachurches Growing in Number and Size'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113911996925156809/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113911996925156809&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113911996925156809'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113911996925156809'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/sheep-for-fleecing-megachurches.html' title='Sheep for the Fleecing: Megachurches Growing in Number and Size'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113902758624202982</id><published>2006-02-03T20:27:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-04T23:01:04.046-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mammy Oprah</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Tom Madigan&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0602020135feb02,1,3939993.story"&gt; Published &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0602020135feb02,1,3939993.story"&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2006" day="2" month="2"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;February 2, 2006&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:date&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Chicago&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0602020135feb02,1,3939993.story"&gt; Tribune&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Manteno&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;, &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Ill.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:state&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; -- &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;America&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;'s energy problems would be solved if only someone could harness the power of Oprah's ego.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So I decided to go pick up a million little pieces, yeah the book. Yes, I’m going to do the Borders library thing. Hey its paperback fiction how seriously can I take it? But, this Oprah thing. Here in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Chicago&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;, all the Oprah fanatics have turned rabid. Now that the Great Mammy has scolded some wayward child and used her powers to excommunicate him from . . . existence, &lt;b style=""&gt;now&lt;/b&gt; everyone says she has gone too far and may have lost perspective. Nobody said shit when Mammy “O” decided to turn vigilante and do her version of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;’s most wanted. Come on. With Oprah’s history do we really want her being judge, jury and executioner? I think she might lack “perspective.” All that aside. This is the fault of all of Oprah’s fans. The moment you she started a book club people forgot that even though she may be friends with Maya, Toni, Alice, Steven, and Mike. Damn it! She is a talk show host! Asking Oprah to critically engage literature is like asking a professional athlete about philosophy. Oops! Sorry Shaq. We deserve it though. Oprah has made her fortune off of the morbid voyeurism of American culture. Every day &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; tunes in to watch Oprah pull the wings off flies. How many episodes can one person have on dysfunctional lifestyles? Apparently, nearly three decades worth and a super box set. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;You reap what you sow, enjoy. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And James, keep writing. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;By Julia Keller&lt;br /&gt;Tribune cultural critic&lt;br /&gt;Published &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2006" day="30" month="1"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;January 30, 2006&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:date&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;A nice deep breath, please. In and out. That's right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps we can take advantage of this temporary calm, this blessed respite from rancor and scolding, to acknowledge a largely forgotten but not altogether irrelevant truth:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"A Million Little Pieces" is one terrific book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's hypnotically readable and deeply moving. It breaks new ground with its narrative structure and typography. Even the punctuation -- or lack thereof -- is weirdly riveting.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yet amid the quite legitimate furor over author James Frey's fibs and flourishes, amid the high-decibel debates about the murky rules of memoir and the primacy of fact, one fact has been routinely overlooked:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The guy can write.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0601300176jan30,1,277908.story"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113902758624202982?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0601300176jan30,1,277908.story' title='Mammy Oprah'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113902758624202982/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113902758624202982&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113902758624202982'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113902758624202982'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/mammy-oprah.html' title='Mammy Oprah'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113899061671736176</id><published>2006-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-03T10:29:43.123-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Witches in Bennett, Colorado</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/papa.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/papa.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;I can’t believe it. A witch hunt. A for real witch hunt. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Duncan&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt; was right. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Some parents in &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;Bennett&lt;/st1:City&gt;, &lt;st1:state&gt;Colorado&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; are angry with an elementary school music teacher for showing pupils a video about the opera "Faust," whose title character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being young again. Tresa Waggoner showed approximately 250 first-, second- and third-graders at Bennett Elementary portions of a 33-year-old series titled "Who's Afraid of Opera" a few weeks ago.The video features the soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and three puppet friends discussing Gounod's "Faust." Waggoner thought it would be a good introduction to opera.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_en_tv/faust_video"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113899061671736176?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_en_tv/faust_video' title='Witches in Bennett, Colorado'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113899061671736176/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113899061671736176&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113899061671736176'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113899061671736176'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/witches-in-bennett-colorado.html' title='Witches in Bennett, Colorado'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113894508513114616</id><published>2006-02-03T09:36:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-02T21:38:05.166-08:00</updated><title type='text'>In China, to Get Rich is Glorious</title><content type='html'>&lt;small&gt;By Dexter Roberts and Frederik Balfour&lt;br /&gt;BusinessWeek Online&lt;/small&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;More Chinese are becoming millionaires -- and driving a fast-growing market for luxury goods&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wang Zhongjun is loaded and happy to flaunt it. He wears Prada shoes, Versace jackets, and a Piaget watch. He smokes Cohiba cigars from Cuba. He drives a white Mercedes-Benz SL600, a silver BMW Z8, and a red Ferrari 360. His art collection includes hundreds of sculptures and paintings. Value: $30 million or so. Home sweet home is a 22,000 square-foot mansion north of Beijing with antique British and French furniture, a billiard room with bar, and an indoor pool. When he tires of swimming, Wang can head to his stable (annual upkeep: $500,000) of 60 horses from Ireland, France, and Kentucky. "Entrepreneurs in China today feel much safer than before," says Wang, a 45-year-old movie producer who served in the Chinese army, studied in the U.S., and learned painting before backing internationally acclaimed films such as &lt;i&gt;Kung Fu Hustle&lt;/i&gt;. "We are more accepted by the media, government, and society today."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/special/chinarich06_article1.html"&gt;Full &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113894508513114616?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://biz.yahoo.com/special/chinarich06_article1.html' title='In China, to Get Rich is Glorious'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113894508513114616/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113894508513114616&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113894508513114616'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113894508513114616'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/in-china-to-get-rich-is-glorious.html' title='In China, to Get Rich is Glorious'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113897923958786549</id><published>2006-02-03T07:04:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-03T07:07:19.630-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Propaganda, Jack Bauer and 24</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;It marked a blurring of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Hollywood&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt; fantasy with political reality that represented a sharp departure even in the no-holds-barred world of political campaign advertising.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;WASHINGTON -- Jack Bauer, the fictional counterterrorism agent on the Fox Network's popular "24" show, hasn't actually waded into the debate on civil liberties versus terrorism surveillance as Congress considers making changes in the USA Patriot Act.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But during the most recent episode of the white-knuckle TV drama, viewers in the nation's capital saw a message drawing on the show's themes that was intended to influence real-life political debate in a highly unusual way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;During a commercial break while the fictional Bauer was desperately searching for canisters of deadly nerve gas that had fallen into the hands of terrorists, viewers saw an advertisement questioning the wisdom of senators who would "weaken" the Patriot Act. "What if they are wrong?" the commercial asked.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602020207feb02,1,3039869.story?track=rss"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113897923958786549?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602020207feb02,1,3039869.story?track=rss' title='Propaganda, Jack Bauer and 24'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113897923958786549/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113897923958786549&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113897923958786549'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113897923958786549'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/propaganda-jack-bauer-and-24.html' title='Propaganda, Jack Bauer and 24'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113885986897922928</id><published>2006-02-02T09:56:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-01T21:57:48.983-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Prague Seeks City-wide Free Internet Zone</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;PRAGUE&lt;/st1:City&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;Czech   Republic&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; -- The government here wants to allocate $4.1 million to create a free wireless network citywide, which has the country's largest telecom providers crying foul. Companies have sent a letter to the Information and Technology Ministry saying that &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Prague&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; already has a developed Internet infrastructure and that the plan would hurt their businesses. "Operators who are members of our association have a very negative opinion of this plan," said Hana Jelinkova, executive director of the Association of Public Telecommunications Networks Operators (APVTS), which includes the country's top telecom providers. The proposal comes as more major cities, especially in the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, are wrestling with offering municipal wireless services to get their citizens easy access to broadband. &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;New   York&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;San Francisco&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; and &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;New Orleans&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; all plan to go wireless, and &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Philadelphia&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; signed a deal with Earthlink Jan. 30 to get a citywide wireless network running by next year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.govtech.net/digitalcommunities/story.php?id=98180"&gt; Full &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113885986897922928?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.govtech.net/digitalcommunities/story.php?id=98180' title='Prague Seeks City-wide Free Internet Zone'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113885986897922928/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113885986897922928&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885986897922928'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885986897922928'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/prague-seeks-city-wide-free-internet.html' title='Prague Seeks City-wide Free Internet Zone'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113885959873799501</id><published>2006-02-02T09:47:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-01T21:53:18.740-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Senate Panel Rebuffed on Documents on U.S. Spying</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;NY Times&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;WASHINGTON&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, Feb. 1 — The Bush administration is rebuffing requests from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its classified legal opinions on President Bush's domestic spying program, setting up a confrontation in advance of a hearing scheduled for next week, administration and Congressional officials said Wednesday.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The Justice Department is balking at the request so far, administration officials said, arguing that the legal opinions would add little to the public debate because the administration has already laid out its legal defense at length in several public settings.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;But the legality of the program is known to have produced serious concerns within the Justice Department in 2004, at a time when one of the legal opinions was drafted. Democrats say they want to review the internal opinions to assess how legal thinking on the program evolved and whether lawyers in the department saw any concrete limits to the president's powers in fighting terrorism. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/politics/02nsa.html?ex=1296536400&amp;en=71da2eedeb3bfde0&amp;amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;amp;emc=rss"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113885959873799501?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/politics/02nsa.html?ex=1296536400&amp;en=71da2eedeb3bfde0&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss' title='Senate Panel Rebuffed on Documents on U.S. Spying'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113885959873799501/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113885959873799501&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885959873799501'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885959873799501'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/senate-panel-rebuffed-on-documents-on.html' title='Senate Panel Rebuffed on Documents on U.S. Spying'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113885912428098928</id><published>2006-02-02T09:44:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-01T21:45:24.283-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Nanoscale magnets promise more-shrinkable chips</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Nanoscale magnets can be cajoled into performing the same digital arithmetic as the transistor-based logic gates in computer chips, according to a new study.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The research suggests that today’s transistors, which will approach their limits of miniaturisation sometime in the next couple of decades, could eventually be replaced by more shrinkable nanomagnet technology – allowing ever more powerful, faster processors to continue to be constructed. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Better still, the function of the magnetic logic gates can be changed after the hardware has been built, meaning that hardware could be “reprogrammed” – potentially making gadgets that use them far more versatile.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8575&amp;amp;feedId=online-news_rss20"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113885912428098928?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8575&amp;feedId=online-news_rss20' title='Nanoscale magnets promise more-shrinkable chips'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113885912428098928/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113885912428098928&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885912428098928'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885912428098928'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/nanoscale-magnets-promise-more.html' title='Nanoscale magnets promise more-shrinkable chips'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113885869113650250</id><published>2006-02-02T09:36:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-01T21:38:11.270-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Electronic Arts cuts staff by 5 percent</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;GameSpot:&lt;br /&gt;World's biggest publisher confirms major layoffs as more than 300 employees across three studios see pink. Following initial reports in several game forums, game publisher Electronic Arts confirmed that it has laid off a sizeable number of its employees. An EA rep confirmed to GameSpot that the company is reducing its total workforce by 5 percent. Because the massive third-party publisher employs 6,500 to 7,000 people worldwide, that means between 325 and 350 people received their notice of termination today. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The spokesperson said that the reductions were made "due to the fact that we are in a transition [period]," adding that "every division is going through this resource evaluation." The rep said some employees affected by the layoff had been offered the option to relocate, though the rep was not sure of an exact number. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143510.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113885869113650250?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143510.html' title='Electronic Arts cuts staff by 5 percent'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113885869113650250/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113885869113650250&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885869113650250'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113885869113650250'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/electronic-arts-cuts-staff-by-5.html' title='Electronic Arts cuts staff by 5 percent'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113881049555961267</id><published>2006-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-01T08:14:55.616-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Palace Revolt</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;By Daniel Klaidman, Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Newsweek&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="textbodyblack"&gt;&lt;span id="byLine"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2006" day="6" month="2"&gt;Feb. 6, 2006&lt;/st1:date&gt; issue - James Comey, a lanky, 6-foot-8 former prosecutor who looks a little like Jimmy Stewart, resigned as deputy attorney general in the summer of 2005. The press and public hardly noticed. Comey's farewell speech, delivered in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, contained all the predictable, if heartfelt, appreciations. But mixed in among the platitudes was an unusual passage. Comey thanked "people who came to my office, or my home, or called my cell phone late at night, to quietly tell me when I was about to make a mistake; they were the people committed to getting it right—and to doing the right thing—whatever the price. These people," said Comey, "know who they are. Some of them did pay a price for their commitment to right, but they wouldn't have it any other way."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="textbodyblack"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113881049555961267?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek/' title='Palace Revolt'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113881049555961267/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113881049555961267&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113881049555961267'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113881049555961267'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/02/palace-revolt.html' title='Palace Revolt'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113873590758879266</id><published>2006-01-31T11:31:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-31T11:32:32.253-08:00</updated><title type='text'>In Alito, G.O.P. Reaps Harvest Planted in '82</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/knight.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/knight.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;NY Times&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;"We boxed them in," one lawyer present during the strategy meetings said with pride in an interview over the weekend.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In 1982, the year after Mr. Alito first joined the Reagan administration, that movement was little more than the handful of legal scholars who gathered at Yale for the first meeting of the Federalist Society, a newly formed conservative legal group. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Judge Alito's ascent to join Chief Justice Roberts on the court "would have been beyond our best expectations," said &lt;a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/spencer_abraham/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Spencer Abraham."&gt;Spencer Abraham&lt;/a&gt;, one of the society's founders, a former secretary of energy under President Bush and now the chairman of the Committee for Justice, one of many conservative organizations set up to support judicial nominees.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;He added, "I don't think we would have put a lot of money on it in a friendly wager."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Judge Alito's confirmation is also the culmination of a disciplined campaign begun by the Reagan administration to seed the lower federal judiciary with like-minded jurists who could reorient the federal courts toward a view of the Constitution much closer to its 18th-century authors' intent, including a much less expansive view of its application to individual rights and federal power. It was a philosophy promulgated by Edwin Meese III, attorney general in the Reagan administration, that became the gospel of the Federalist Society and the nascent conservative legal movement.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Both Mr. Roberts and Mr. Alito were among the cadre of young conservative lawyers attracted to the Reagan administration's Justice Department. And both advanced to the pool of promising young jurists whom strategists like C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel in the first Bush administration and an adviser to the current White House, sought to place throughout the federal judiciary to groom for the highest court.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"It is a Reagan personnel officer's dream come true," said Douglas W. Kmiec, a law professor at &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;Pepperdine&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt;  &lt;st1:placetype&gt;University&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; who worked with Mr. Alito and Mr. Roberts in the Reagan administration. "It is a graduation. These individuals have been in study and preparation for these roles all their professional lives."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/politics/politicsspecial1/30alito.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113873590758879266?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/politics/politicsspecial1/30alito.html' title='In Alito, G.O.P. Reaps Harvest Planted in &apos;82'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113873590758879266/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113873590758879266&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113873590758879266'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113873590758879266'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/in-alito-gop-reaps-harvest-planted-in.html' title='In Alito, G.O.P. Reaps Harvest Planted in &apos;82'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113868058571537398</id><published>2006-01-31T03:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T21:12:38.220-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mapplethorpe Exhibit Opens in Havana</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/RM_Lydia1985_600.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/RM_Lydia1985_600.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Don’t know how I missed this one, found it on &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href="http://garfieldpark.blogspot.com/"&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Garfield&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt; at &lt;a href="http://sparkle-shortz.livejournal.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;ask again later.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Anyone that likes &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapplethorpe"&gt;Mapplethorpe&lt;/a&gt; is cool by me.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HAVANA&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; - Communist Cuba hasn't exactly been tolerant of homosexuality. In the late 1960s, Cubans were sent to labor camps for being gay, with homosexuality derided as an illness of the capitalist past. Even today, Cuban transvestites are sometimes detained and threatened with prison. But a new tolerance over the past decade has led to what many believed they would never see on the island: an exhibit by Robert Mapplethorpe, the controversial American photographer known for his homoerotic images. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The "Sacred and Profane" exhibit, which opened Wednesday at a recently restored gallery in the heart of Old Havana, features 48 photographs spanning Mapplethorpe's career. The exhibit runs through Feb. 15.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://sparkle-shortz.livejournal.com/229402.html#cutid1"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113868058571537398?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1408458' title='Mapplethorpe Exhibit Opens in Havana'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113868058571537398/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113868058571537398&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868058571537398'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868058571537398'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/mapplethorpe-exhibit-opens-in-havana.html' title='Mapplethorpe Exhibit Opens in Havana'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113868272029986212</id><published>2006-01-31T02:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T21:24:01.446-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The political brain</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/karlrove_narrowweb__200x289.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/karlrove_narrowweb__200x289.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:blue;"&gt;Any time you subordinate the process of rational discrimination to adherence to a radical ideal you get fanaticism. Identity becomes fused with process, the operative can only gain a positive identity through repetition and participation in the ideological structure. A transference of subjectivity occurs between institutional ideals and ego. The person becomes their position. Engaging in a perverse narcissism where their identity is affirmed every time they reinforce the system that grants them their identity. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;The statement “without passion or prejudice” is ludicrous.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;"None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged," says Westen. "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;When it comes to forming opinions and making judgments on hot political issues, partisans of both parties don't let facts get in the way of their decision-making, according to a new &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;Emory&lt;/st1:placename&gt;  &lt;st1:placetype&gt;University&lt;/st1:placetype&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; study. The research sheds light on why staunch Democrats and Republicans can hear the same information, but walk away with opposite conclusions. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The investigators used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to study a sample of committed Democrats and Republicans during the three months prior to the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;U.S.&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; Presidential election of 2004. The Democrats and Republicans were given a reasoning task in which they had to evaluate threatening information about their own candidate. During the task, the subjects underwent fMRI to see what parts of their brain were active. What the researchers found was striking. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," says Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory who led the study. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts." Westen and his colleagues will present their findings at the Annual Conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Jan. 28. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;But Freud was wrong, right?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/euhs-esl012406.php"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113868272029986212?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/euhs-esl012406.php' title='The political brain'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113868272029986212/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113868272029986212&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868272029986212'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868272029986212'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/political-brain.html' title='The political brain'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113868293460321115</id><published>2006-01-31T00:47:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T20:48:54.606-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Corn-fueled stoves causing a real heat wave</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Corn is the new king when it comes to heating stoves.&lt;br /&gt;   It appears that every manufacturer of corn-fueled stoves in the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Canada&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; is facing a backlog of orders because of the huge demand. Both manufacturers and dealers seem to have been caught by surprise by the wave of consumer interest.&lt;br /&gt;   Why all the sudden hullabaloo? Simple – nothing costs less to burn at this point than corn, which sells for about $2 per bushel. According to figures provided by Even Temp, maker of the &lt;st1:place&gt;St. Croix&lt;/st1:place&gt; line of stoves, the cost per therm for 100,000 British thermal units is 42 cents. The same per therm cost for natural gas is $1.40 and $2.60 for propane (LP). Wood is 64 cents per therm.&lt;br /&gt;   And Dennis Buffington, a professor of engineering at Penn State University, provided these figures in a recent Wall Street Journal story about corn stoves: For 1 million BTUs of heat, it takes $16.47 in natural gas, $33.80 in propane and a mere $8.75 for corn.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=19619"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113868293460321115?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=19619' title='Corn-fueled stoves causing a real heat wave'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113868293460321115/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113868293460321115&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868293460321115'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868293460321115'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/corn-fueled-stoves-causing-real-heat.html' title='Corn-fueled stoves causing a real heat wave'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113868246750863402</id><published>2006-01-31T00:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T20:41:07.550-08:00</updated><title type='text'>DRM: Media companies' next flop?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;CNET&lt;br /&gt;Media players are risking a consumer backlash by deploying overzealous systems with such limitations, say experts at Wharton, especially in the wake of Sony BMG's decision last year to sell CDs with copy-protection software using "rootkits"--computer software frequently used by hackers to cloak the presence of viruses and spyware.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Sony says it didn't intend to create an opportunity for hackers to target consumers' PCs. On Jan. 6, a U.S. District judge in New York gave preliminary approval to a settlement under which Sony agreed to take back the 50 CD titles with DRM software and replace them with new, unprotected versions. Indeed, according to a document on the Sony BMG Web site, the DRM software was "intended simply to prevent copying beyond the level appropriate for personal use."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The Sony incident, however, raises a host of questions. First and foremost is whether consumers are being duped when they buy content, only to find there are restrictions on transferring music to multiple devices or, even worse, that the DRM software exposes their computer to security risks. Other questions include: Is DRM worth the effort? How can you balance the rights of consumers with the rights of media companies? And what's the future of DRM?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.com.com/2030-1069_3-6032936.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6032936&amp;amp;subj=news"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113868246750863402?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.com.com/2030-1069_3-6032936.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6032936&amp;subj=news' title='DRM: Media companies&apos; next flop?'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113868246750863402/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113868246750863402&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868246750863402'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113868246750863402'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/drm-media-companies-next-flop.html' title='DRM: Media companies&apos; next flop?'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113863274853528412</id><published>2006-01-30T07:52:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T07:12:49.060-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Happy New Year</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/Wolf%20moon.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/Wolf%20moon.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113863274853528412?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113863274853528412/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113863274853528412&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863274853528412'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863274853528412'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/happy-new-year.html' title='Happy New Year'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113863388926532094</id><published>2006-01-30T07:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T07:11:29.266-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Bursting Hollywood's 'Bubble'</title><content type='html'>&lt;h5 style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;"&gt;By Monica Mehta, AlterNet&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h5&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Q: A movie you want to see is releasing today in simultaneous formats. Would you rather:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;1. See it in your living room, where it will air on pay-per-view cable TV at &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:time minute="0" hour="21"&gt;&lt;i&gt;9 p.m.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:time&gt;&lt;i&gt; and &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:time minute="0" hour="23"&gt;&lt;i&gt;11 p.m.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:time&gt;&lt;i&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;2. Go to a theater and see it on a big screen?&lt;br /&gt;3. Wait four days, when it comes out on DVD, and buy and see it then?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Today, the movie industry will have &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s answer to this question.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;It's the first time a high-profile director will be releasing his film in theaters, on DVD and on cable television simultaneously. And it might mean big changes in the way &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Hollywood&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; does business over the next decade -- much the way downloaded music has changed the way the music industry operates.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The groundbreaking film in question is called "Bubble," and the director is Steven Soderbergh, who helmed such greats as "sex, lies and videotape," "Traffic," "Erin Brockovich" and "Che." Critics have called the movie "too indie" and "the weirdest goddamn movie ever released by a major American filmmaker," but the plotline seems fairly standard: A love triangle develops between workers at a doll factory in a small Midwestern town. A murder occurs. Mayhem ensues. Soderbergh used mostly nonprofessional actors from the &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;West   Virginia&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; and &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Ohio&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; locales where he shot the film and spent a mere $1.7 million making it. He had no script, instead teaching the actors to improvise scenes based on a screenwriter's outline, and the movie is a mere 73 minutes long.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/31379/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113863388926532094?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/31379/' title='Bursting Hollywood&apos;s &apos;Bubble&apos;'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113863388926532094/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113863388926532094&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863388926532094'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863388926532094'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/bursting-hollywoods-bubble.html' title='Bursting Hollywood&apos;s &apos;Bubble&apos;'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113863330322422034</id><published>2006-01-30T07:01:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T07:08:02.713-08:00</updated><title type='text'>El Salvador buries revolutionary</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/el%20salvador.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/el%20salvador.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;BBC&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;An estimated 100,000 people have attended the funeral of one of &lt;st1:place&gt;Latin America&lt;/st1:place&gt;'s best-known revolutionary leaders, Schafik Handal. The former commander of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;El   Salvador&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s left-wing FMLN guerrillas died of a heart attack on Tuesday aged 75. Delegations came from across &lt;st1:place&gt;Latin  America&lt;/st1:place&gt; for the funeral. The crowd, perhaps the largest gathering in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;El Salvador&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; in 25 years, chanted revolutionary slogans as they followed Handal's coffin. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The red shirts of the former guerrillas filled &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;San   Salvador&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;'s central square where the funeral mass was held, as well as the surrounding streets. Schafik Handal was the main leader of the political party formed by &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;El Salvador&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s left-wing guerrillas at the end of the civil war in 1992. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4660952.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113863330322422034?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4660952.stm' title='El Salvador buries revolutionary'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113863330322422034/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113863330322422034&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863330322422034'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863330322422034'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/el-salvador-buries-revolutionary.html' title='El Salvador buries revolutionary'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113863327934088553</id><published>2006-01-30T06:59:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-30T07:01:19.343-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Data Mining for Fun and Profit</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Privacy spot &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Tom Owad at &lt;a href="http://www.applefritter.com/"&gt;applefritter.com&lt;/a&gt; has posted &lt;a href="http://www.applefritter.com/bannedbooks"&gt;a detailed story&lt;/a&gt; on how he was able to use Amazon wishlists to profile thousands of people. By using the search function at Amazon, he accessed and downloaded over 260,000 publicly-available wishlists. He then searched the lists for "suspicious" books and authors, including &lt;em&gt;Fahrenheit 451&lt;/em&gt;, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, the Koran/Quran and, of course, &lt;em&gt;Build Your Own Laser, Phaser, Ion Ray Gun and Other Working Space Age Projects&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/788"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113863327934088553?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/788' title='Data Mining for Fun and Profit'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113863327934088553/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113863327934088553&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863327934088553'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113863327934088553'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/data-mining-for-fun-and-profit.html' title='Data Mining for Fun and Profit'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113840324243576394</id><published>2006-01-27T15:07:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-27T15:10:26.226-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Forum Spotlights Problems of Poor Women</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/capt.car10401271912.venezuela_social_forum_car104.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/capt.car10401271912.venezuela_social_forum_car104.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Activists at the World Social Forum turned their attention Thursday to obstacles faced by poor women in &lt;st1:place&gt;Latin America&lt;/st1:place&gt;, whom they called the primary, and often unheard, victims of globalization.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Several women's rights groups said free trade is further undermining the position of women in a region where machismo is entrenched, domestic violence is a problem and governments often take hard-line stances against abortion.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Some argued that open-market policies have hurt Latin American economic sectors, such as agriculture, that tend to employ more women than men.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"Poor women are not the same as poor men," said activist Francini Mestrun at an event organized by the Brazil-based Latin American Network of Women Transforming the Economy.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Rosana Heringer, a coordinator in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Brazil&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; for ActionAid International, said water privatization — a trend that has caused violent protests in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Bolivia&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Guatemala&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; — especially affects women, who often are responsible for finding water in poor communities not served by for-profit utilities.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Latin American and &lt;st1:place&gt;Caribbean&lt;/st1:place&gt; countries also have increasingly turned to tourism as a source of income, spawning a booming sex trade that has turned the trafficking of women into a profitable crime, some leading activists said.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_social_forum_11"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113840324243576394?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_social_forum_11' title='Forum Spotlights Problems of Poor Women'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113840324243576394/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113840324243576394&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113840324243576394'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113840324243576394'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/forum-spotlights-problems-of-poor.html' title='Forum Spotlights Problems of Poor Women'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113839575351606516</id><published>2006-01-27T13:02:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-27T13:26:32.420-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Here Comes the Bullshit</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/Boondocks.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/Boondocks.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;So now Al “&lt;i style=""&gt;Dooo&lt;/i&gt;” Sharpton has tagged in on the you didn’t check with us bandwagon. Short and sweet . . . Aaron McGruder made fun of Black folk. Guess what? That’s what he gets paid to do. But he better watch out before Oprha gets him on her couch. &lt;i style=""&gt;Anybody notice that &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Mississippi&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; Big Mamma startin’ to creep out in Oprah. I think it’s the hips.&lt;/i&gt; She’ll probably do a show about the “&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060125/ap_en_ot/people_sharpton_3;_ylt=AvTgWuh_rlqT7S1Zb_LqBt_BaMYA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;controversy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;” rather than covering the fact that &lt;b style=""&gt;80%&lt;/b&gt; of Black people in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;New Orleans&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; are &lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_us/katrina_demographics_3;_ylt=AqMCm023YqJ.igfGhZjFWNsbLisB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;GONE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. I know she won’t talk about &lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_leveraging_wives_2;_ylt=AtxbHW19qchqS36Ly4laxGVX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl"&gt;female prisoners we were not holding.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;Al Sharpton v Aaron McGruder “Celebrity Death Match”&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Aaron McGruder is a cartoonist, great cartoonist, funny, clever, innovative even but genius . . . no. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Al Sharpton, and McGruder is right on this point . . . AL SHARPTON HAS A &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;PERM&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;IN &lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;2006!&lt;/span&gt; You can’t take him seriously. Sorry man, there is only one James Brown. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial Black&amp;quot;;"&gt;Finally, if you cared so damn much for Dr. King’s Legacy you would realize we don’t have time for this&lt;b style=""&gt; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial Black&amp;quot;;"&gt;Bullshit&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial Black&amp;quot;;"&gt;!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113839575351606516?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060125/ap_en_ot/people_sharpton_3;_ylt=AvTgWuh_rlqT7S1Zb_LqBt_BaMYA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--' title='Here Comes the Bullshit'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113839575351606516/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113839575351606516&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113839575351606516'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113839575351606516'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/here-comes-bullshit.html' title='Here Comes the Bullshit'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113837726052070631</id><published>2006-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-27T07:54:20.523-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Alone on the Internet? Hardly</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;CNN&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;NEW YORK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; (AP) -- The cyber-world expands people's social networks and even encourages people to talk by phone or meet others in person, a new study finds.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The Pew Internet and American Life Project also finds that U.S. Internet users are more apt to get help on health care, financial and other decisions because they have a larger set of people to which to turn.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Further rebuking early studies suggesting that the Internet promotes isolation, Pew found that it "was actually helping people maintain their communities," said Barry Wellman, a &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placetype&gt;University&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;  of &lt;st1:placename&gt;Toronto&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; sociology professor and co-author of the Pew report.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The study found that e-mail is supplementing, not replacing, other means of contact. For example, people who e-mail most of their closest friends and relatives at least once a week are about 25 percent more likely to have weekly landline phone contact as well. The increase is even greater for cell phones.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"There's a certain seamlessness of how people maintain their social networks," said John Horrigan, Pew's associate director. "They shift between face-to-face, phone and Internet quite easily."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, Internet users tend to have a larger network of close and significant contacts -- a median of 37 compared with 30 for nonusers -- and they are more likely to receive help from someone within that social network.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/26/social.internet.ap/index.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113837726052070631?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/26/social.internet.ap/index.html' title='Alone on the Internet? Hardly'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113837726052070631/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113837726052070631&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113837726052070631'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113837726052070631'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/alone-on-internet-hardly.html' title='Alone on the Internet? Hardly'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113837634136197896</id><published>2006-01-27T07:39:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-27T15:06:12.416-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Give'em hell!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/dragon_160.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/dragon_160.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A shout out to the warriors in the GWOT&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;BBC&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;US plans to 'fight the net' revealed&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;US&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Bloggers beware. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; military is learning to fight an electronic war. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;George&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt;  &lt;st1:placename&gt;Washington&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt; &lt;st1:placetype&gt;University&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; using the Freedom of Information Act. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113837634136197896?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm' title='Give&apos;em hell!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113837634136197896/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113837634136197896&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113837634136197896'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113837634136197896'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/giveem-hell.html' title='Give&apos;em hell!'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113834963943202420</id><published>2006-01-27T00:13:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-27T07:29:31.223-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Chris-lam-herb</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/lotus.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/lotus.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:16;"&gt;In the name of the great and holy sacrament, the book we all love till read. Wait to they see what we have brewing across the sea; Zen-Sufi and Ximmeron-Taoist. How is that for religiously musical?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;At first, it seems a surprising sight: inside a two-story mosque in sub-Saharan &lt;st1:place&gt;Africa&lt;/st1:place&gt;'s largest metropolis hangs a life-size portrait of Jesus Christ.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;Yet worshipers at "The True Message of God Mission" say it's entirely natural for Christianity and Islam to cexist, even overlap. They begin their worship by praying at the Jesus alcove and then "running their deliverance" - sprinting laps around the mosque's mosaic-tiled courtyard, praying to the one God for forgiveness and help. They say it's akin to Israelites circling the walls of &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Jericho&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; - and Muslims swirling around the Ka'ba shrine in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Mecca&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;This group - originally called "Chris-lam-herb" for its mix-and-match approach to Christianity, Islam, and traditional medicine - is a window on an ongoing religious ferment in &lt;st1:place&gt;Africa&lt;/st1:place&gt;. It's still up for debate whether this group, and others like it, could become models for Muslim-Christian unity worldwide or whether they're uniquely African. But either way, they are "part of a trend," says Dana Robert, a &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;Boston&lt;/st1:placename&gt;  &lt;st1:placetype&gt;University&lt;/st1:placetype&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; religion professor.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060126/ts_csm/ochrislam"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113834963943202420?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060126/ts_csm/ochrislam' title='Chris-lam-herb'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113834963943202420/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113834963943202420&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113834963943202420'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113834963943202420'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/chris-lam-herb_27.html' title='Chris-lam-herb'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113828412682426969</id><published>2006-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-26T06:02:06.826-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Alexion Pharmaceuticals Reports Three-Year Cumulative Clinical Data of Eculizumab Therapy in Patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;CHESHIRE, Conn., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) given eculizumab, a novel terminal complement inhibitor, have shown sustained and significant reductions in red blood cell destruction and in the need for blood transfusions, according to preliminary three-year cumulative results of an open-label extension study presented by investigators from Leeds Teaching Hospital, St. George's Hospital and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXN) at the 47th Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Saturday December 10th. The 10 patient open-label extension program of an initial pilot trial is being conducted in the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United Kingdom&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; at two sites. All patients have now completed at least three years of chronic eculizumab therapy. In addition to reductions in hemolysis and the need for transfusions, the results also showed a sustained and stable increase in PNH red blood cell counts. PNH is a rare form of anemia for which there is no currently specific treatment. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Eculizumab is a monoclonal antibody drug that blocks the terminal complement pathway of the immune system. Terminal complement has been linked to the destruction of red blood cells, or hemolysis, characteristic of PNH, as PNH blood cells are deficient in natural inhibitors of the complement cascade. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/PRNEWS/20051212/2005_12_12_06_4411_1499003"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113828412682426969?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/PRNEWS/20051212/2005_12_12_06_4411_1499003' title='Alexion Pharmaceuticals Reports Three-Year Cumulative Clinical Data of Eculizumab Therapy in Patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113828412682426969/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113828412682426969&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113828412682426969'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113828412682426969'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/alexion-pharmaceuticals-reports-three.html' title='Alexion Pharmaceuticals Reports Three-Year Cumulative Clinical Data of Eculizumab Therapy in Patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113828364369465258</id><published>2006-01-26T05:51:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-26T05:54:03.760-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Neanderthal man floated into Europe, say Spanish researchers</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Meanwhile on the Isle of Patmos . . . &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Spanish investigators believe they may have found proof that neanderthal man reached Europe from Africa not just via the Middle East but by sailing, swimming or floating across the Strait of Gibraltar.&lt;br /&gt;Prehistoric remains of hunter-gatherer communities found at a site known as La Cabililla de Benzú, in the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta, are remarkably similar to those found in southern Spain, investigators said. Stone tools at the site correspond to the middle palaeolithic period, when neanderthal man emerged, and resemble those found across Spain.&lt;br /&gt;"This could break the paradigm of most investigators, who have refused to believe in any contact in the palaeolithic era between southern Europe and northern Africa," investigator José Ramos explained in the University of Cadiz's research journal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0%2C9865%2C1687478%2C00.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113828364369465258?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0%2C9865%2C1687478%2C00.html' title='Neanderthal man floated into Europe, say Spanish researchers'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113828364369465258/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113828364369465258&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113828364369465258'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113828364369465258'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/neanderthal-man-floated-into-europe.html' title='Neanderthal man floated into Europe, say Spanish researchers'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113820672057721197</id><published>2006-01-25T08:23:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-25T08:43:54.933-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Pixar, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom and oh yeah . . . Pixar</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;It’s amazing that when these two started they were a couple of geeks, now they are on “opposing” sides of the vast and increasingly homogenized media landscape.&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060125/ap_on_bi_ge/tv_network_19"&gt;UPN and WB &lt;/a&gt;(Time Warner and Viacom) merge.&lt;/span&gt; Bill Gates is now on the side of Viacom, and Steve Jobs now on the side of Disney, huge, huge. With &lt;a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-04WMURGEPR.mspx"&gt;Bill’s new joint venture with MTV&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href="http://www.cdt.org/copyright/broadcastflag/"&gt;FCC getting ready to mandate technology&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/13703034.htm?source=rss&amp;amp;channel=mercurynews_business"&gt;Steve’s new seat on the board at Disney&lt;/a&gt;, technology and content have achieved a monopolistic coup. Bravo. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;“A PC on every desktop and every PC running Microsoft.” &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Steve and Bill – Pals.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/mediaconsol.html"&gt;Say it with me: Monopolistic Consolodation. Thanks Bill Moyers.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pixar" rel="tag"&gt;Pixar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Steve Jobs" rel="tag"&gt;Steve Jobs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Disney" rel="tag"&gt;Disney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113820672057721197?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/mediaconsol.html' title='Pixar, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom and oh yeah . . . Pixar'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113820672057721197/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113820672057721197&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820672057721197'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820672057721197'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/pixar-steve-jobs-bill-gates-disney.html' title='Pixar, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom and oh yeah . . . Pixar'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113820479917657927</id><published>2006-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-25T07:59:59.210-08:00</updated><title type='text'>China's economy continues to soar</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;No Shit.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;China&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;'s economy maintained its stellar growth last year, official figures have confirmed, expanding 9.9% in 2005. &lt;/span&gt;Growth has now been about 10% for three consecutive years and the economy shows no signs of slowing despite government efforts to restrain it. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Total economic output rose to 18.2 trillion yuan ($2.25 trillion) as soaring exports fuelled the country's growing trade surplus. Experts said &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; may now be the world's fourth-largest economy. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4645874.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113820479917657927?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4645874.stm' title='China&apos;s economy continues to soar'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113820479917657927/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113820479917657927&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820479917657927'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820479917657927'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/chinas-economy-continues-to-soar.html' title='China&apos;s economy continues to soar'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113820334272373903</id><published>2006-01-25T07:34:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-25T07:35:42.810-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Po’ Little White Boy: John Walker Lindh</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;But seriously, take a look. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I believe the case of John Lindh is an important story and worthy of this audience's attention. In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man, embarked on a spiritual quest, who became the focus of the grief and anger of an entire nation over an event in which he had no part. I refer to the terrorist attacks of &lt;st1:date year="2001" day="11" month="9"&gt;September 11th, 2001&lt;/st1:date&gt;. The reason I think this story is important is because our system broke down in the case of John Lindh. My goals today are first, just to tell you the story of John Lindh. Second, to ask you to reflect, based on the fact of John's case, on the importance and the fragility of the rights we enjoy under our Constitution. And my third point is to suggest that the so-called war on terrorism lacks a hearts and minds component.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/31211/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113820334272373903?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/31211/' title='Po’ Little White Boy: John Walker Lindh'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113820334272373903/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113820334272373903&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820334272373903'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113820334272373903'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/po-little-white-boy-john-walker-lindh.html' title='Po’ Little White Boy: John Walker Lindh'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113814108666079231</id><published>2006-01-24T14:14:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-24T14:18:06.663-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Why I pay  Too Much for Healthcare</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;FTCR: Insurers Inflated Med-Mal Claims to Justify Rate Hikes&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="byline"&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2005" day="30" month="12"&gt;December 30, 2005&lt;/st1:date&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In documents filed with state regulators and in statements to public officials, medical malpractice insurance companies consistently inflated the amount they estimated they would pay out in claims, according to a study by the nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The report maintains that insurers then used the overstated figures to justify increases in doctors' premiums and pressure legislators to enact lawsuit restrictions.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The group charges that malpractice insurers inflated their losses by an average 46 percent each year between 1986 and 1994. During that period, insurers reported $39 billion in losses to regulators, but actually paid out only $27 billion in claims, according to the report. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;FTCR called for an investigation of industry accounting practices that it said enable insurance companies to misrepresent their financial condition and charge potentially billions of dollars in excessive premiums.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2005/12/30/63610.htm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113814108666079231?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2005/12/30/63610.htm' title='Why I pay  Too Much for Healthcare'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113814108666079231/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113814108666079231&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113814108666079231'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113814108666079231'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-i-pay-too-much-for-healthcare.html' title='Why I pay  Too Much for Healthcare'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113813945902450455</id><published>2006-01-24T13:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-24T15:00:31.996-08:00</updated><title type='text'>A Mess</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 18pt;"&gt;The Federal government will legislatively mandate a specific type of technology?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1704"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Broadcast and Audio Flag &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Full Committee Hearing&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;Time frame (58:00 – &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:time minute="0" hour="13"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;1:00:00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:time&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1704&amp;wit_id=3971"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;“And if we don’t do something were just going to kill off creative copyrighted material. . .”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1704&amp;amp;wit_id=4925"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mr. Andy Setos &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;President of Engineering, Fox Entertainment Group&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;“Well we certainly won’t see creative, high quality material on local broadcast stations, that is where this is really focused, this really isn’t a copyright play its really in the interest of . . . broadcast stations.”&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/archive.broadcastflag012406.ram"&gt;Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;Business week &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;For nearly a decade, the nation's 1,700 TV stations have been promising to broadcast crystal-clear digital signals to viewers across the country. But somehow, rushing toward that end never seemed to be entirely in their best interest.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;Those promises go back to a deal broadcasters made with the federal government under the 1996 Telecommunications Act and a follow-up congressional bill a year later. Broadcasters received free electronic airwaves -- which are technically owned by the public and controlled by the federal government -- for digital transmissions. In return, they had to give back the airwaves they now use for their old analog broadcasts, which had been doled out over several decades. But they didn't have to return it until 85% of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;U.S.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt; households receive digital signals or the year 2006, whichever came later.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2004/tc20041123_3981_tc184.htm"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;Full&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Digital rights management (DRM) technology is rapidly becoming a concrete reality, built into the products that consumers buy and affecting the way people obtain and enjoy movies, music, books, television programs, and other digital content. It is natural that the creators and owners of content are seeking technical locks to protect that content from the piracy that digital networks have made easier than ever. At the same time, those digital locks on content will have a profound effect on how people view, watch, use, and share information - especially through the new and powerful forms of communication offered by computers and the Internet.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;The "broadcast flag" - a method for protecting digital television broadcasts - has emerged as one of the first major debates over government mandates for DRM copy protections. As the result of a Federal Communication Commission decision issued in November 2003,&lt;/i&gt; &lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cdt.org/copyright/broadcastflag/"&gt;starting in July 2005 it will be illegal to manufacture or sell devices that receive over-the-air digital television broadcasts unless those devices include certain copy protection technologies.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113813945902450455?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://commerce.senate.gov/archive.broadcastflag012406.ram' title='A Mess'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113813945902450455/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113813945902450455&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113813945902450455'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113813945902450455'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/mess.html' title='A Mess'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113813694750740497</id><published>2006-01-24T13:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-24T13:16:05.156-08:00</updated><title type='text'>La Verdad</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/dk_malcolmx.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/dk_malcolmx.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Just thought I would kick the “way back” machine to 2001 and read through an old classic. The “&lt;b style=""&gt;U&lt;/b&gt;niting and &lt;b style=""&gt;S&lt;/b&gt;trengthening &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;A&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;merica&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt; by &lt;b style=""&gt;P&lt;/b&gt;roviding &lt;b style=""&gt;A&lt;/b&gt;ppropriate &lt;b style=""&gt;T&lt;/b&gt;ools &lt;b style=""&gt;R&lt;/b&gt;equired to &lt;b style=""&gt;I&lt;/b&gt;ntercept and &lt;b style=""&gt;O&lt;/b&gt;bstruct &lt;b style=""&gt;T&lt;/b&gt;errorism.” Yes, the &lt;b style=""&gt;USA PATRIOT&lt;/b&gt; act of 2001.&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;color:lime;"  &gt;“. . . all I see is blond, brunette, redhead . . .”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color:lime;"&gt;Cipher The Matrix&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style="color:lime;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;h3&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;   &lt;h3&gt;SEC. 203. AUTHORITY TO SHARE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE INFORMATION.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;(a) AUTHORITY TO SHARE GRAND JURY INFORMATION-&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(1) IN GENERAL- Rule 6(e)(3)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is amended to read as follows:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(C)(i) Disclosure otherwise prohibited by this rule of matters occurring before the grand jury may also be made--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(I) when so directed by a court preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(II) when permitted by a court at the request of the defendant, upon a showing that grounds may exist for a motion to dismiss the indictment because of matters occurring before the grand jury;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(III) when the disclosure is made by an attorney for the government to another Federal grand jury;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(IV) when permitted by a court at the request of an attorney for the government, upon a showing that such matters may disclose a violation of State criminal law, to an appropriate official of a State or subdivision of a State for the purpose of enforcing such law; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(V) when the matters involve foreign intelligence or counterintelligence (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a)), or foreign intelligence information (as defined in clause (iv) of this subparagraph), to any Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense, or national security official in order to assist the official receiving that information in the performance of his official duties.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(ii) If the court orders disclosure of matters occurring before the grand jury, the disclosure shall be made in such manner, at such time, and under such conditions as the court may direct.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(iii) Any Federal official to whom information is disclosed pursuant to clause (i)(V) of this subparagraph may use that information only as necessary in the conduct of that person's official duties subject to any limitations on the unauthorized disclosure of such information. Within a reasonable time after such disclosure, an attorney for the government shall file under seal a notice with the court stating the fact that such information was disclosed and the departments, agencies, or entities to which the disclosure was made.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(iv) In clause (i)(V) of this subparagraph, the term `foreign intelligence information' means--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(I) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, that relates to the ability of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to protect against--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"&gt;`(aa) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"&gt;`(bb) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"&gt;`(cc) clandestine intelligence activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(II) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, with respect to a foreign power or foreign territory that relates to--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"&gt;`(aa) the national defense or the security of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"&gt;`(bb) the conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States.'.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Rule 6(e)(3)(D) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is amended by striking `(e)(3)(C)(i)' and inserting `(e)(3)(C)(i)(I)'.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;(b) AUTHORITY TO SHARE ELECTRONIC, WIRE, AND ORAL INTERCEPTION INFORMATION-&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(1) LAW ENFORCEMENT- Section 2517 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting at the end the following:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;`(6) Any investigative or law enforcement officer, or attorney for the Government, who by any means authorized by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents to any other Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense, or national security official to the extent that such contents include foreign intelligence or counterintelligence (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a)), or foreign intelligence information (as defined in subsection (19) of section 2510 of this title), to assist the official who is to receive that information in the performance of his official duties. Any Federal official who receives information pursuant to this provision may use that information only as necessary in the conduct of that person's official duties subject to any limitations on the unauthorized disclosure of such information.'.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(2) DEFINITION- Section 2510 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;(A) in paragraph (17), by striking `and' after the semicolon;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;(B) in paragraph (18), by striking the period and inserting `; and'; and&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;(C) by inserting at the end the following:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;`(19) `foreign intelligence information' means--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(A) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, that relates to the ability of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to protect against--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(i) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(ii) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(iii) clandestine intelligence activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;`(B) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, with respect to a foreign power or foreign territory that relates to--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(i) the national defense or the security of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;`(ii) the conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States.'.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;(c) PROCEDURES- The Attorney General shall establish procedures for the disclosure of information pursuant to section 2517(6) and Rule 6(e)(3)(C)(i)(V) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that identifies a United States person, as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801)).&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;(d) FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION-&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it shall be lawful for foreign intelligence or counterintelligence (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a)) or foreign intelligence information obtained as part of a criminal investigation to be disclosed to any Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense, or national security official in order to assist the official receiving that information in the performance of his official duties. Any Federal official who receives information pursuant to this provision may use that information only as necessary in the conduct of that person's official duties subject to any limitations on the unauthorized disclosure of such information.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;(2) DEFINITION- In this subsection, the term `foreign intelligence information' means--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;(A) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, that relates to the ability of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to protect against--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;(i) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;(ii) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;(iii) clandestine intelligence activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign power; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"&gt;(B) information, whether or not concerning a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; person, with respect to a foreign power or foreign territory that relates to--&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;(i) the national defense or the security of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;; or&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;"&gt;(ii) the conduct of the foreign affairs of the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113813694750740497?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR:' title='La Verdad'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113813694750740497/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113813694750740497&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113813694750740497'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113813694750740497'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/la-verdad.html' title='La Verdad'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802957690465938</id><published>2006-01-23T07:19:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T07:31:36.830-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The Way</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/81884673_0871fef535.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/81884673_0871fef535.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;h1 style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/romsrini/"&gt;Photo by romsrini&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Copperplate Gothic Bold&amp;quot;;"&gt;Know magic. Shun magic.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;All Dreams are aspirations uncommitted. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;Some dare dream dreams of greatness. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;Some dream money, &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;Some dream fame. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;And then, &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;There are those that dare dream:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;Legend.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://lasantashi.blogspot.com/2005/07/desire.html"&gt;Samuel Baron&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802957690465938?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802957690465938/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802957690465938&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802957690465938'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802957690465938'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/way.html' title='The Way'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802872917339021</id><published>2006-01-23T07:05:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T07:09:46.456-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Turning a Blind Eye to Wi-Fi</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/hermes.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/hermes.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;h5 style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;"&gt;By Robert W. McChesney and John Podesta, Washington Monthly&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h5&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Two decades ago, the chattering classes fretted about economic upheaval rising from &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Japan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and the Asian Tigers. They feared an invasion of cars, microchips, and &lt;i&gt;karaoke&lt;/i&gt; that would take away American jobs, take over U.S.-dominated industries, and shift cultural norms. In the 1990s, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; responded with a boom in high technology and &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Hollywood&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; exports. But a revolution is again brewing in places like &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Japan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;South Korea&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. This time it's about "broadband" -- a technology that, in terms of powering economies, could be the 21st century equivalent of electricity. But rather than relive the jingoism of the 1980s, American policy makers would be wise to take a cue from the Asian innovators and implement new policies to close the digital divide at home and with the rest of the world.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/30802/"&gt;full &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802872917339021?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/30802/' title='Turning a Blind Eye to Wi-Fi'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802872917339021/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802872917339021&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802872917339021'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802872917339021'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/turning-blind-eye-to-wi-fi.html' title='Turning a Blind Eye to Wi-Fi'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802828648034060</id><published>2006-01-23T06:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T07:01:43.040-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Slavery Beneath the Golden Arches?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/DSC_0205_1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/DSC_0205_1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 16pt;"&gt;Coming soon to a job near you!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;h5 style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;"&gt;By Jordan Buckley and Katie Shepherd, WireTap&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/h5&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Exactly 50 years ago this weekend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. answered a startling phone call from &lt;i&gt;Minneapolis Tribune&lt;/i&gt; journalist Carl T. Rowan. Rowan had come across a wire report that the &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Montgomery&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; bus boycott -- then entering its sixth week -- had been resolved by city officials and local black ministers.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The announcement would, of course, prove to be a fabrication of local authorities, and the boycott would endure another 11 months, resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Alabama&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;'s bus segregation laws.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Today -- in the face of a &lt;a href="http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051209/NEWS01/512090414/1075"&gt;recent revelation&lt;/a&gt; that McDonald's appears to buy its tomatoes through at least one convicted slaver -- the fast food giant has resorted to a similarly shameful tactic: taking token measures to avoid confronting the severe human rights abuses that may be hidden within its supply chain.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Since 1997, the &lt;a href="http://www.ciw-online.org/"&gt;Coalition of Immokalee Workers&lt;/a&gt; (CIW) -- a community group from &lt;st1:place&gt;Southern Florida&lt;/st1:place&gt; representing thousands of farmworkers -- has uncovered, investigated and helped to prosecute six separate slavery cases. In 2003, three CIW members were awarded the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for their work in liberating over 1,100 individuals involuntarily held in agricultural work camps along the East Coast.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Last November, CIW called upon McDonald's to partner with them in confronting the violence and subpoverty wages of modern-day farm labor. McDonald's complicity in farmworker misery is not only emblematic of the industry as a whole, but its substantial clout as a fast-food monolith qualifies it as an apt candidate for working to end the extreme injustice&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/31098/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802828648034060?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/31098/' title='Slavery Beneath the Golden Arches?'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802828648034060/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802828648034060&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802828648034060'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802828648034060'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/slavery-beneath-golden-arches.html' title='Slavery Beneath the Golden Arches?'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802789275122590</id><published>2006-01-23T06:51:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T06:56:31.666-08:00</updated><title type='text'>A Heretic for Our Times</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/orchid_purple.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/orchid_purple.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;By Jay Walljasper, Ode&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;'Science is the last unreformed institution'&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Sheldrake's bold theories about how the universe works sparked controversy in 1981 with the publication of &lt;i&gt;A New Science of Life&lt;/i&gt;. Actually it wasn't the book itself that brought Sheldrake's ideas to prominence but an incendiary editorial by the editor of the respected British journal Nature, Sir John Maddox, who fumed, "This infuriating tract…is the best candidate for burning there has been for many years." That was quite a lot of attention for a young scientist, especially one who at that time was working as a plant physiologist in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;What so infuriated Maddox was Sheldrake's theory of "morphic resonance" -- a complicated framework of ideas proposing that nature relies upon its own set of memories, which are transmitted through time and space via "morphic fields". The theory holds that these fields, which operate much like electrical or magnetic fields, shape our entire world. A panda bear is a panda bear because it naturally tunes into morphic fields containing storehouses of information that define and govern panda bears. The same with pigeons, platinum atoms, and the oak trees on Hampstead Heath, not to mention human beings. This theory, if widely accepted, would turn our understanding of the universe inside out -- which is why Sheldrake has so often felt the wrath of orthodox scientists.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/31009/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802789275122590?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/31009/' title='A Heretic for Our Times'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802789275122590/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802789275122590&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802789275122590'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802789275122590'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/heretic-for-our-times.html' title='A Heretic for Our Times'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802730083799905</id><published>2006-01-23T06:41:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T06:45:46.133-08:00</updated><title type='text'>US Havana messages outrage Castro</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/_41244780_hava.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/_41244780_hava.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Cuban President Fidel Castro has condemned the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; for broadcasting illuminated messages on the building of its mission in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Havana&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;. The &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; says the messages, including quotes from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are an attempt to break &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Cuba&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s "information blockade". President Castro said it was a gross provocation and a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; attempt to break off all relations with &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Cuba&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. He called for a mass protest on Tuesday outside the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; interests section. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4638240.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802730083799905?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4638240.stm' title='US Havana messages outrage Castro'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802730083799905/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802730083799905&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802730083799905'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802730083799905'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/us-havana-messages-outrage-castro.html' title='US Havana messages outrage Castro'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113802726313788685</id><published>2006-01-23T06:39:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-23T06:41:03.170-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Ford preparing for mass job cuts</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Ford is due to unveil plant closures and 30,000 job cuts aimed at reviving the fortunes of its &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;US&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; business. &lt;/span&gt;The carmaker, the first to use production lines in its factories, is facing increased competition from Asian rivals such as &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Toyota&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; and Nissan. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Ford's auto business reported losses of $1.7bn (£950m) in the first nine months of 2005, and tough times are predicted. Despite the problems, Ford said on Monday that fourth quarter earnings rose by 19%, topping market forecasts. The company said that net income was $124m in the last three months of 2005, compared with $104m in the same period a year earlier. Ford is expected to outline its restructuring plan later today. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4639034.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113802726313788685?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4639034.stm' title='Ford preparing for mass job cuts'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113802726313788685/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113802726313788685&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802726313788685'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113802726313788685'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/ford-preparing-for-mass-job-cuts.html' title='Ford preparing for mass job cuts'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113777972176495582</id><published>2006-01-20T09:53:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-20T09:59:26.683-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Google Resists Total Information Awareness</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office"&gt;&lt;i style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;scientia est potentia&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Google has refused to comply with a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; government subpoena for information about how people use its search engine, opening one of the first legal battles over whether law enforcement agencies should have access to the increasingly far-reaching data held by search engine companies. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The legal tussle could also raise questions in internet users' minds over whether information about their personal searches on websites like Google's could be seized by the government, Google has warned. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The company argues that the government could obtain the information from other public sources and that acceding to the request "would suggest that it is willing to reveal information about those who use its service".&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The DoJ says it needs data from Google to prove that filtering software is not effective in protecting minors from pornographic websites.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Google argues in correspondence filed in a &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;California&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:state&gt; court that the DoJ's request for information, issued in August, 2005, was "overbroad, unduly burdensome" and "vague".&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"Google is not a party to this lawsuit and their demand for information overreaches. We had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve this, but were not able to and we intend to resist their motion vigorously," Nicole Wong, associate general counsel, said.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The DoJ said in a filing this week that the court should compel Google to comply with the subpoena, in part because some of Google's competitors had already co-operated with the request, and because the government was not seeking any information that would reveal the identity of the website's users.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://us.ft.com/ftsuperpage/superpage.php?news_id=fto011920061948374075&amp;page=2&amp;amp;referrer_id=yahoofinance"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113777972176495582?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://us.ft.com/ftsuperpage/superpage.php?news_id=fto011920061948374075&amp;page=2&amp;referrer_id=yahoofinance' title='Google Resists Total Information Awareness'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113777972176495582/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113777972176495582&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777972176495582'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777972176495582'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/google-resists-total-information.html' title='Google Resists Total Information Awareness'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113777950436501167</id><published>2006-01-20T09:49:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-20T09:51:44.403-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Iran moves foreign assets amid sanction threat</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;By Gareth Smyth and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran, Finncial Times&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Iran is moving foreign exchange out of European banks in advance of a possible referral to the United Nations Security Council and imposition of economic sanctions over its nuclear programme.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Ebrahim Sheibani, Central Bank governor, told reporters on Friday that Iran would "transfer the foreign exchange reserves wherever we consider expedient" and confirmed a shift from Europe had begun.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Sheibani refused to give details or to say where the funds were going, although ISNA, the semi-official Iranian news agency, said the destination was southeast Asia.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;On the internationall currency markets, the dollar fell briefly on Friday against the euro and safe-haven Swiss franc on the news .&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;"Clearly the Iran situation is the key focus at the moment, our view is that eventually it will settle down, but it's expected to rumble on for a while and so maybe at the margins slightly supportive of the safe-haven currencies like the Swiss Franc," Kevin Grice, senior economist at American Express Bank, said.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;The Central Bank manages Iran's 'windfall' oil revenue, which could amount to around $25bn in the Iranian year ending in March 2006, and has kept an unknown amount in Europe.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;"The nuclear issue and the chance of sanctions is the main reason for this," said an economy analyst in Tehran. "But there is also alarm from what Italy did."&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;A ruling by an Italian court last month upheld a 1996 US law that holds responsible for "terrorist" acts those nations designated by the US government as "sponsors of international terrorism".&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;A court in Rome ordered Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) to freeze an account held by the Iranian government, over the deaths of three Americans in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories at the hands of Palestinian bombers.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Iran has protested that its official accounts were protected by the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;But families of US citizens killed in the bombing of its Beirut embassy in 1983 by Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, are planning to follow suit - asking European courts to seize Iranian assets after a US ruling that Iran should pay $126m in damages.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Davoud Danesh-Jafari, Iran's economy minister, said on Thursday the seizure of Iranian assets was both contrary to "global regulations" and damaging for Europe's banks.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;"Such acts would make oil-rich countries anxious to transfer their capital out of European banks into safer places," he said.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;While officials do not expect sanctions against Iran within the next few months - while diplomacy runs its course, and a compromise over the nuclear issue, probably brokered by Russia, remains possible - analysts are assessing their possible impact.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;The media in Iran has this week highlighted the upward pressure on oil prices simply through talk of sanctions.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Iran exports around 2.5m barrels of crude a day and is the world's fourth largest producer.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;The country has been subject to comprehensive American sanctions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the US-backed Shah. But many European companies - including the energy majors Shell, Total and Statoil - are active in Iran.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113777950436501167?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ft/20060120/bs_ft/fto012020060720114104;_ylt=AqDAKscSJ9EPmnmbXEGmOdlSw60A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl' title='Iran moves foreign assets amid sanction threat'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113777950436501167/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113777950436501167&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777950436501167'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777950436501167'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/iran-moves-foreign-assets-amid.html' title='Iran moves foreign assets amid sanction threat'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113777276625125442</id><published>2006-01-20T07:57:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-20T07:59:26.253-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Aspartame: Bill would ban food containing sweetener</title><content type='html'>If passed, halt on sale of products with aspartame in state will begin July 1 . . . Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, is sponsoring a bill that would ban the sale of food products containing aspartame. The popular sweetener, sold under the brand names of NutraSweet and Equal, is found in thousands of products, including diet sodas, but the bill calls it a poison.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/37758.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113777276625125442?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/37758.html' title='Aspartame: Bill would ban food containing sweetener'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113777276625125442/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113777276625125442&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777276625125442'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777276625125442'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/aspartame-bill-would-ban-food.html' title='Aspartame: Bill would ban food containing sweetener'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113777227725874046</id><published>2006-01-20T07:49:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-20T07:51:17.306-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Black Jesus</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Billed as the world's first black Jesus movie, "Son of Man" portrays Christ as a modern African revolutionary and aims to shatter the Western image of a placid savior with fair hair and blue eyes.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The South African film, which premieres on Sunday at the U.S. Sundance festival in &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Utah&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;, transports the life and death of Christ from first century &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Palestine&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; to a contemporary African state racked by war and poverty.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Jesus is born in a shanty-town shed, a far cry from a manger in a &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Bethlehem&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; stable. His mother Mary is a virgin, though feisty enough to argue with the angels. Gun-wielding authorities fear his message of equality and he ends up hanging on a cross.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"We wanted to look at the gospels as if they were written by spindoctors and to strip that away and look at the truth," director Mark Dornford-May told Reuters in an interview.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"The truth is that Christ was born in an occupied state and preached equality at a time when that wasn't very acceptable."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;By portraying Jesus as a black African, Dornford-May hopes to sharpen the political context of the gospels, when &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Israel&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; was under Roman occupation, and challenge Western perceptions of Christ as meek, mild and European.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"We have to accept that Christ has been hijacked a bit -- he's gone very blonde haired and blue-eyed," he said. "The important thing about the message of Christ was that it is universal. It doesn't matter what he looked like."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In fact, there was a film called "Black Jesus" made in 1968 and starring Woody Strode, but it is described as a political commentary rather than an interpretation of the life of Christ.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060119/film_nm/arts_jesus_black_dc"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113777227725874046?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060119/film_nm/arts_jesus_black_dc' title='Black Jesus'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113777227725874046/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113777227725874046&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777227725874046'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113777227725874046'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/black-jesus.html' title='Black Jesus'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113770190289329599</id><published>2006-01-19T12:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-19T12:30:11.520-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Revenge of the Mutt People</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Like Jason, I go wandering and this is what I find&lt;/span&gt;,&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i style=""&gt;“Only a white man would wrestle a hog with a butcher knife. An Indian would shoot the motherfucker with a gun.”&lt;/i&gt; &lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Reminds me of &lt;i style=""&gt;someone&lt;/i&gt; I know. With a line like that I had to read on. If it wasn’t so true . . .Take a look&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.joebageant.com/joe/"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;Joe Bageant&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;So I took these pigs home and, using a huge old butcher’s knife, slashed their throats in the woods, right in front of my two kids -- ages two and four at the time -- without flinching even as the pigs screamed almost like humans and thrashed around, splashing thick dark glops of blood everywhere. It bothered me not one bit, just like it never bothered my daddy or granddaddy. Nor did it seem to bother my children as they watched, just like it didn’t bother me as a child when my uncle handed me sacks of barn kittens to drown in the crick. And Walter would shake his head and say, “Only a white man would wrestle a hog with a butcher knife. An Indian would shoot the motherfucker with a gun.”&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;My point here is that we rural and small town mutt people by an early age seem to have a special capacity for cruelty, compared say, to damned near every other imaginable group of Americans. For instance, as a child did you ever put a firecracker up a toad’s ass and light it? George Bush and I have that in common. Anyway, as all non-whites the world round understand, white people can be mean. Especially if they feel threatened -- and they feel threatened about everything these days. But when you provide certain species of white mutt people with the right incentives, such as free pork or approval from god and government, you get things like lynchings, Fallujah, the &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Birmingham&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; bombers and Abu Ghraib.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/01/revenge_of_the_.html"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/01/revenge_of_the_.html"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113770190289329599?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/01/revenge_of_the_.html' title='Revenge of the Mutt People'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113770190289329599/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113770190289329599&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113770190289329599'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113770190289329599'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/revenge-of-mutt-people.html' title='Revenge of the Mutt People'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113764364834161323</id><published>2006-01-19T07:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-18T20:07:28.346-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Cuba and Venezuela: A Bolivarian Partnership</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Like Denzel said . . .learn that shit!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Civilize the body, make savage the mind. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.filosofia.cu/marti/"&gt;José Martí&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.simon-bolivar.org/"&gt;Simón Bolívar&lt;/a&gt;, two of &lt;st1:place&gt;Latin  America&lt;/st1:place&gt;'s most respected independence fighters, recognized nearly a century ago that their homelands would never be free of imperial domination, until &lt;st1:place&gt;Latin America&lt;/st1:place&gt; came together in solidarity as a united force. Martí and Bolívar's insights remain relevant in the age of neo-liberal globalization.  The colonizers of their centuries have been replaced by multinational corporations and imperial states with the ability to blow up the world many times over, terrorizing the global populace.  Their collective power is augmented by seemingly untouchable supranational bodies (i.e. the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization) that allow them to come together to devise the most effective ways to control the world and amass wealth. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Martí and Bolívar would be delighted to see the unique partnership that has developed between &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Cuba&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and the &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;Bolivarian&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt; &lt;st1:placetype&gt;Republic&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Venezuela&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; -- the relationship that defies the logic of neo-liberalism and takes an important step toward Latin American unity.  &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Cuba&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Venezuela&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; demonstrate -- to a world where all are forced into a "race to the bottom" -- that empowering the poorest people through a needs-based partnership is not only possible but also desirable.  Their mutual-aid exchanges in educational materials, medical services, and preferential prices of oil are a living counter-example to the competitive and exploitative nature of "free trade."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_20655.shtml"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113764364834161323?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_20655.shtml' title='Cuba and Venezuela: A Bolivarian Partnership'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113764364834161323/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113764364834161323&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764364834161323'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764364834161323'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/cuba-and-venezuela-bolivarian.html' title='Cuba and Venezuela: A Bolivarian Partnership'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113764292624754099</id><published>2006-01-19T07:51:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-18T19:55:26.250-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Rice: No Point in More Iran Negotiations</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Versailles&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;? &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Don’t worry about it. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;See ya’ll in March.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;France, with the support of the United States, rejected Iran's request for more negotiations on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Wednesday "there's not much to talk about" after Iran resumed atomic activities. As European countries pushed ahead with efforts to have &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; brought before the U.N. Security Council for its nuclear activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused them of trying to deprive &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; of peaceful technology. "We are asking they step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic," Ahmadinejad said. "Who are you to deprive us from fulfilling our goals?&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1518413"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113764292624754099?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1518413' title='Rice: No Point in More Iran Negotiations'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113764292624754099/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113764292624754099&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764292624754099'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764292624754099'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/rice-no-point-in-more-iran.html' title='Rice: No Point in More Iran Negotiations'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113764257360700167</id><published>2006-01-19T07:47:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-18T19:49:33.673-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Educational Apartheid in America's Public Schools</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;More black students than ever are getting the boot from public schools. Things are so bad that the NAACP announced it would hold public hearings in some cities on the racial disparities in school discipline. It's none too soon. In a 1999 report on school discipline, the U.S. Department of Education found that while blacks made up less than 20 percent of the nation's public school students, they comprised nearly one out of three students kicked out of the schools. Five years later, nothing had changed. In a report called "Educational Apartheid in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s Public Schools," the Children's Defense Fund found that black students are still expelled and suspended in disproportionate numbers to whites.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/30995/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113764257360700167?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/30995/' title='Educational Apartheid in America&apos;s Public Schools'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113764257360700167/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113764257360700167&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764257360700167'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764257360700167'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/educational-apartheid-in-americas.html' title='Educational Apartheid in America&apos;s Public Schools'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113764330656041848</id><published>2006-01-19T06:59:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-18T20:01:46.563-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;What the hell ever happened to the &lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Downing Street&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt; memo? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The government is secretly trying to stifle attempts by MPs to find out what it knows about CIA "torture flights" and privately admits that people captured by British forces could have been sent illegally to interrogation centres, the Guardian can reveal. A hidden strategy aimed at suppressing a debate about rendition - the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; practice of transporting detainees to secret centres where they are at risk of being tortured - is revealed in a briefing paper sent by the Foreign Office to No 10.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1689856,00.html?gusrc=rss"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113764330656041848?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1689856,00.html?gusrc=rss' title='Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113764330656041848/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113764330656041848&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764330656041848'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113764330656041848'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/leaked-memo-reveals-strategy-to-deny.html' title='Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113755724244800138</id><published>2006-01-18T08:05:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T20:07:22.450-08:00</updated><title type='text'>US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;These will be the police officers in your city within the next few years&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;A senior British officer has criticised the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; army for its conduct in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, accusing it of institutional racism, moral righteousness, misplaced optimism, and of being ill-suited to engage in counter-insurgency operations. The blistering critique, by Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who was the second most senior officer responsible for training Iraqi security forces, reflects criticism and frustration voiced by British commanders of American military tactics. What is startling is the severity of his comments - and the decision by Military Review, a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; army magazine, to publish them. American soldiers, says Brig Aylwin-Foster, were "almost unfailingly courteous and considerate". But he says "at times their cultural insensitivity, almost certainly inadvertent, arguably amounted to institutional racism". The &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; army, he says, is imbued with an unparalleled sense of patriotism, duty, passion and talent. "Yet it seemed weighed down by bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, a predisposition to offensive operations and a sense that duty required all issues to be confronted head-on."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1684561,00.html?gusrc=rss"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113755724244800138?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1684561,00.html?gusrc=rss' title='US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113755724244800138/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113755724244800138&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755724244800138'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755724244800138'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/us-army-in-iraq-institutionally-racist.html' title='US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113755707957814946</id><published>2006-01-18T08:02:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T20:04:39.580-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Salesforce CEO calls site outages unavoidable</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;cnet&lt;br /&gt;Salesforce.com Chief Executive Marc Benioff said on Tuesday that a recent site outage was an embarrassment for his company, but that new technology will soon make its systems more resilient. The &lt;a href="http://news.com.com/Salesforce+outage+angers+customers/2100-1012_3-6004625.html?tag=nl" title="Salesforce outage angers customers -- Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005"&gt;Dec. 20, 2005, outage&lt;/a&gt; cut many companies off from critical data for hours on a busy, pre-holiday business day. It also called into question how well Salesforce, which stores customer and sales records for thousands of businesses, is holding up under rapid growth. Benioff, who has not commented much about the incident publicly, said in an interview at &lt;a href="http://news.com.com/Salesforce+CEOs+vision+for+business+Web/2100-1012_3-6027871.html?tag=nl" title="Salesforce CEO's vision for 'business Web' -- Tuesday, Jan 17, 2006"&gt;a San Francisco media event&lt;/a&gt; that outages are an inevitable part of computing and that they happen very rarely at Salesforce. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"We don't want outages and we're doing everything we can not to have them, but we'll occasionally have them," he said. "That's part of computing...nothing runs at 100 percent availability." Salesforce, based in &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;San Francisco&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt;, claims an availability or "uptime" rate of between 99 percent and 100 percent. Yet a handful of customers that complained to CNET about the Dec. 20 glitch said smaller, less disruptive outages occur more frequently than they anticipated. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.com.com/Salesforce+CEO+calls+site+outages+unavoidable/2100-1012_3-6027912.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6027912&amp;amp;subj=news"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113755707957814946?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.com.com/Salesforce+CEO+calls+site+outages+unavoidable/2100-1012_3-6027912.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6027912&amp;subj=news' title='Salesforce CEO calls site outages unavoidable'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113755707957814946/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113755707957814946&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755707957814946'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755707957814946'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/salesforce-ceo-calls-site-outages.html' title='Salesforce CEO calls site outages unavoidable'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113755685264066319</id><published>2006-01-18T07:58:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T20:00:52.696-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana;"&gt;By Nathaniel R. Helms&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be  singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sftt.org/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&amp;screenKey=cmpDefense&amp;amp;htmlCategoryID=30&amp;amp;htmlId=4514"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113755685264066319?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.sftt.org/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&amp;screenKey=cmpDefense&amp;htmlCategoryID=30&amp;htmlId=4514' title='Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113755685264066319/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113755685264066319&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755685264066319'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755685264066319'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/army-orders-soldiers-to-shed-dragon.html' title='Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113755737502751359</id><published>2006-01-18T07:08:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T20:09:35.030-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Leonard South, camera operator for Hitchcock films, dies at 92</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Leonard J. South, the camera operator on such classic Alfred Hitchcock films as "The Birds" and "North by Northwest," has died. He was 92. South died Jan. 6 of pneumonia in a Northridge nursing home, said his son, film editor Leonard South II. The elder South also had Alzheimer's disease. South was the camera operator on nearly a dozen Hitchcock films over a 30-year span. He was behind the lens for famous Hitchcock scenes including Cary Grant's flight from a menacing crop-duster in "North by Northwest" and the grisly crow attack on Tippi Hedren in "The Birds." "Hitch was always trying to push the limits on techniques and to be different," South said in 1987. "The crew and actors went along, but I tell you, those (crop-duster and bird) scenes were some of the hardest I've ever been involved in. They called for absolutely perfect timing in situations that were really rather scary."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/13645335.htm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113755737502751359?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/13645335.htm' title='Leonard South, camera operator for Hitchcock films, dies at 92'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113755737502751359/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113755737502751359&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755737502751359'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113755737502751359'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/leonard-south-camera-operator-for.html' title='Leonard South, camera operator for Hitchcock films, dies at 92'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113750461465921975</id><published>2006-01-17T05:22:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T05:30:14.663-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mustafa! They have Beads!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Too often, the tribes' introduction to modernity comes from oil company negotiators. By finessing them into signing away oil access in morally deplorable contracts, these deals channel the legendary purchase of &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placename&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Manhattan&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:placetype&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Island&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; for &lt;a href="http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagepkey=634"&gt;$24 worth of trinkets&lt;/a&gt;. But they are learning fast. Increasingly savvy to the oilman's ways, tribes here are putting on war paint, grabbing spears and shotguns, and saying no, sometimes violently, to the world's most powerful interests.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Scanning bookshelves in his tiny law office in &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:city&gt;Quito&lt;/st1:City&gt;,  &lt;st1:country-region&gt;Ecuador&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;, Bolivar Beltran's disdain for Big Oil is as legible as the contracts that map their nefarious ways.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"These were all negotiated in secret," says the soft-spoken attorney and Ecuadorian congressional aide, explaining how he used a lawsuit last year to obtain pages of once-classified contracts between the Ecuadorian military and 16 multinational oil companies.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;In November, when I visited him, Beltran handed me a grainy photocopy of a contract dated 2001. Then another bearing an official government seal. Soon a small table is covered, his finger running down keywords that spill off the page. Occidental Oil. Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense. Counterintelligence. Kerr-McGee. Armed Patrols. Military detachments. &lt;st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Burlington&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:City&gt; Resources.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/30657/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113750461465921975?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/30657/' title='Mustafa! They have Beads!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113750461465921975/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113750461465921975&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750461465921975'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750461465921975'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/mustafa-they-have-beads.html' title='Mustafa! They have Beads!'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113750412121690146</id><published>2006-01-17T05:18:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T05:22:01.216-08:00</updated><title type='text'>A Constitutional Crisis</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Following is the text of a speech delivered by Al Gore in Washington&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The FBI privately called King the "most dangerous and effective negro leader in the country" and vowed to "take him off his pedestal." The government even attempted to destroy his marriage and blackmail him into committing suicide.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;This campaign continued until Dr. King's murder. The discovery that the FBI conducted a long-running and extensive campaign of secret electronic surveillance designed to infiltrate the inner workings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and to learn the most intimate details of Dr. King's life, helped to convince Congress to enact restrictions on wiretapping.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;The result was the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), which was enacted expressly to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance would be presented to an impartial judge to verify that there is a sufficient cause for the surveillance. I voted for that law during my first term in Congress and for almost thirty years the system has proven a workable and valued means of according a level of protection for private citizens, while permitting foreign surveillance to continue.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/30905/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113750412121690146?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/rights/30905/' title='A Constitutional Crisis'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113750412121690146/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113750412121690146&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750412121690146'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750412121690146'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/constitutional-crisis.html' title='A Constitutional Crisis'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113750389978033667</id><published>2006-01-17T05:15:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-17T05:18:19.826-08:00</updated><title type='text'>If You Don't Know K Street, You Don't Know Jack</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;By , The Progress Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;In his dealings with &lt;st1:street&gt;&lt;st1:address&gt;K Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:Street&gt; lobbyists, DeLay explicitly stated he would operate by "the old adage of punish your enemies and reward your friends." (To gain influence over legislation, trade associations and corporate lobbyists were ordered to do three things: (1) refuse to hire Democrats, (2) hire only deserving Republicans as identified by the congressional leadership and (3) contribute heavily to Republican coffers.) Despite being admonished by the House Ethics Committee numerous times for his conduct, DeLay's pay-to-play machine continued to plow full-speed ahead. With federal benefits up for sale, corporations quickly identified the need to need to hire more lobbyists, giving rise to one of the greatest growth industries in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;America&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, proudly proclaimed in 2002 that [conservatives] "will have 90-10 [percentage advantage in staffing] on &lt;st1:street&gt;&lt;st1:address&gt;K Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:Street&gt; and 90-10 business giving."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Lost in the pay-to-play system is any concern for good governance. In a recent editorial, the &lt;i&gt;Wall Street Journal&lt;/i&gt; said the real problem "isn't about lobbyists so much as it is &lt;a href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007787"&gt;the atrophying of its principles&lt;/a&gt;. As their years in power have stretched on, House Republicans have become more passionate about retaining power than in using that power to change or limit the federal government. Gathering votes for serious policy is difficult and tends to divide a majority. Re-election unites them, however, so the leadership has gradually settled for raising money on &lt;st1:street&gt;&lt;st1:address&gt;K   Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:Street&gt; and satisfying Beltway interest groups to sustain their incumbency. This strategy has maintained a narrow majority, but at the cost of doing anything substantial. ... Ideas are an afterthought, when they aren't an inconvenience."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/30845/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113750389978033667?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/story/30845/' title='If You Don&apos;t Know K Street, You Don&apos;t Know Jack'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113750389978033667/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113750389978033667&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750389978033667'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113750389978033667'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/if-you-dont-know-k-street-you-dont.html' title='If You Don&apos;t Know K Street, You Don&apos;t Know Jack'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113730417060349840</id><published>2006-01-14T21:46:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-14T21:54:46.276-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The Neoconservative Persuasion</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="deck"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;From the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:date year="2003" day="25" month="8"&gt;&lt;span class="deck"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;August 25, 2003&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:date&gt;&lt;span class="deck"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt; issue The Weekly Standard: What it was, and what it is.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;by Irving Kristol&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;WHAT EXACTLY IS NEOCONSERVATISM? Journalists, and now even presidential candidates, speak with an enviable confidence on who or what is "neoconservative," and seem to assume the meaning is fully revealed in the name. Those of us who are designated as "neocons" are amused, flattered, or dismissive, depending on the context. It is reasonable to wonder: Is there any "there" there?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Viewed in this way, one can say that the historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism would seem to be this: to convert the Republican party, and American conservatism in general, against their respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to governing a modern democracy. That this new conservative politics is distinctly American is beyond doubt. There is nothing like neoconservatism in &lt;st1:place&gt;Europe&lt;/st1:place&gt;, and most European conservatives are highly skeptical of its legitimacy. The fact that conservatism in the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; is so much healthier than in &lt;st1:place&gt;Europe&lt;/st1:place&gt;, so much more politically effective, surely has something to do with the existence of neoconservatism. But Europeans, who think it absurd to look to the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; for lessons in political innovation, resolutely refuse to consider this possibility. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Neoconservatism is the first variant of American conservatism in the past century that is in the "American grain." It is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic. Its 20th-century heroes tend to be TR, FDR, and Ronald Reagan. Such Republican and conservative worthies as Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater are politely overlooked. Of course, those worthies are in no way overlooked by a large, probably the largest, segment of the Republican party, with the result that most Republican politicians know nothing and could not care less about neoconservatism. Nevertheless, they cannot be blind to the fact that neoconservative policies, reaching out beyond the traditional political and financial base, have helped make the very idea of political conservatism more acceptable to a majority of American voters. Nor has it passed official notice that it is the neoconservative public policies, not the traditional Republican ones, that result in popular Republican presidencies. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp?pg=1"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113730417060349840?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp?pg=1' title='The Neoconservative Persuasion'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113730417060349840/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113730417060349840&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113730417060349840'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113730417060349840'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/neoconservative-persuasion.html' title='The Neoconservative Persuasion'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113730386290000219</id><published>2006-01-14T21:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-14T22:11:42.716-08:00</updated><title type='text'>For the Perplexed</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;"the fundamental premise of the Bush Doctrine is true: The &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;United States&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; possesses the means—economic, military, diplomatic—to realize its expansive geopolitical purposes. Further, and especially in light of the domestic political reaction to the attacks of September 11, the victory in &lt;/i&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Afghanistan&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt; and the remarkable skill demonstrated by President Bush in focusing national attention, it is equally true that Americans possess the requisite political willpower to pursue an expansive strategy."&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Damn, remember when the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_%28United_States%29#History_and_origins_of_neoconservatism"&gt;neocons&lt;/a&gt; were a joke? &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Remember when you weren’t sure what “&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Doctrine"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;requisite political willpower&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;” was?&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Whatever happened to &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffersonian_democracy"&gt;Jeffersonian Democracy&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Why are the Republicans &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonian_democracy"&gt;Jacksonians&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Why did we fight &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I"&gt;World War I&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113730386290000219?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113730386290000219/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113730386290000219&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113730386290000219'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113730386290000219'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/for-perplexed.html' title='For the Perplexed'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712961946099161</id><published>2006-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T21:25:57.230-08:00</updated><title type='text'>ANY 1 MAN</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/640/any1man-back.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/24/4449/320/any1man-back.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;To the cast and crew of ANY 1 MAN. Break a leg fella’s. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;If you happen to be in Philly at the Society Hill Playhouse on Friday or Saturday (13-14th) check out this phenomenal 1 man show!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.any1man.com/"&gt;INFO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712961946099161?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.any1man.com/' title='ANY 1 MAN'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712961946099161/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712961946099161&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712961946099161'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712961946099161'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/any-1-man.html' title='ANY 1 MAN'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712734292289503</id><published>2006-01-13T08:34:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:42:22.963-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Check Mate</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;This is what happens when you let lawyers run amuck, they are, by design, trained to serve (Esq). They will always defer to some form of executive authority and are possessed of a morality that is based on retribution and victory. They are what they are: mercenary. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Ted Kennedy brought out Alito's record as a federal judge upholding abusive law-enforcement officers' behavior: strip-searching a ten-year-old girl, and pointing loaded guns at an unarmed family, after breaking into a home to enforce an eviction order. But we have still not heard Alito provide a satisfactory answer to a direct question about the most important issue hovering over these hearings: executive power. Alito backpedaled on a phrase in his 1985 job application to the Justice Department when Kennedy quoted it to him: "I believe very strongly in the supremacy of the elected branches of government." Alito said he regretted his choice of words. It was "poorly phrased," and in fact he believed, and always has believed, in the balance of power among equal branches of government. But Kennedy went on, "Your record still shows . . . excessive, almost single-minded deference to executive power."&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/30744/"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712734292289503?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.alternet.org/rights/30744/' title='Check Mate'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712734292289503/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712734292289503&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712734292289503'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712734292289503'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/check-mate.html' title='Check Mate'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712839909114332</id><published>2006-01-13T07:56:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:59:59.096-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Booming nations 'threaten Earth'</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;Greedy and inefficient.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Earth lacks the water, energy and agricultural land to allow &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to attain Western living standards, a &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; think-tank has warned. The Worldwatch Institute said the booming economies of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; are "planetary powers that are shaping the global biosphere". Its State of the World 2006 report said the two countries' high economic growth hid a reality of severe pollution. It said the planet's resources could not keep pace with such growth. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"The world's ecological capacity is simply insufficient to satisfy the ambitions of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Japan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:place&gt;Europe&lt;/st1:place&gt; and the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United   States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; as well as the aspirations of the rest of the world in a sustainable way," the report added. It said that if &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; were to consume as much resources per capita as &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Japan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; in 2030 "together they would require a full planet Earth to meet their needs", it said. The institute's report said that in the next few years the choices &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; made could lead to political and economic instability, or they could usher in an age of better stewardship of resources and more efficient technology. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4604556.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712839909114332?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4604556.stm' title='Booming nations &apos;threaten Earth&apos;'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712839909114332/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712839909114332&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712839909114332'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712839909114332'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/booming-nations-threaten-earth.html' title='Booming nations &apos;threaten Earth&apos;'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712791775598270</id><published>2006-01-13T07:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:51:57.756-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Twin blow cuts Nigerian oil flow</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Nigeria&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;'s oil production has been cut by 10% after an explosion and the kidnapping of four foreign oil workers. &lt;/span&gt;In the southern Delta region, gunmen in three boats boarded a vessel and seized the men, said a spokesman for oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. Diplomats say the hostages come from the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;UK&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Honduras&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Bulgaria&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, although Shell has not confirmed this. Elsewhere in the Delta, a major pipeline that feeds an export terminal has been ruptured by militants. Overall, production is down by some 220,000 barrels a day - almost 10% of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Nigeria&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s average output of 2.6m barrels. Meanwhile, the first audit of &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Nigeria&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s oil and gas industry has been published and, without finding direct evidence of fraud, it reveals "accounting weaknesses". Discrepancies worth hundreds of millions of dollars were found between what oil companies paid in taxes and what the government said it received. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4604966.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712791775598270?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4604966.stm' title='Twin blow cuts Nigerian oil flow'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712791775598270/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712791775598270&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712791775598270'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712791775598270'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/twin-blow-cuts-nigerian-oil-flow.html' title='Twin blow cuts Nigerian oil flow'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712800969012877</id><published>2006-01-12T20:52:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:53:29.693-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Xbox "modders" face 17 years in prison</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Cnet&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Two owners of a Hollywood video game store, as well as a third man, were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for &lt;a href="http://news.com.com/2061-10797_3-6001848.html?tag=nl" title="Xbox modders charged with copyright crime -- Monday, Dec 19, 2005"&gt;modifying Xbox video game consoles&lt;/a&gt; to disable copy protection, and preloading copyrighted games onto the machines for sale.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.com.com/2061-10797_3-6026726.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6026726&amp;amp;subj=news"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712800969012877?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.com.com/2061-10797_3-6026726.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6026726&amp;subj=news' title='Xbox &quot;modders&quot; face 17 years in prison'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712800969012877/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712800969012877&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712800969012877'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712800969012877'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/xbox-modders-face-17-years-in-prison.html' title='Xbox &quot;modders&quot; face 17 years in prison'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712778120235135</id><published>2006-01-12T20:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:49:41.203-08:00</updated><title type='text'>'Doomsday' seed bank to be built</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Norway&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; is planning to build a "doomsday vault" inside a mountain on an Arctic island to hold a seed bank of all known varieties of the world's crops. The Norwegian government will hollow out a cave on the ice-bound &lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;st1:placetype&gt;island&lt;/st1:PlaceType&gt;  of &lt;st1:placename&gt;Spitsbergen&lt;/st1:PlaceName&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; to hold the seed bank. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;It will be designed to withstand global catastrophes like nuclear war or natural disasters that would destroy the planet's sources of food. Seed collection is being organised by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. "What will go into the cave is a copy of all the material that is currently in collections [spread] all around the world," Geoff Hawtin of the Trust told the BBC's Today programme.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4605398.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712778120235135?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4605398.stm' title='&apos;Doomsday&apos; seed bank to be built'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712778120235135/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712778120235135&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712778120235135'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712778120235135'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/doomsday-seed-bank-to-be-built.html' title='&apos;Doomsday&apos; seed bank to be built'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712767660387886</id><published>2006-01-12T20:46:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:47:56.606-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Rice backs EU over action on Iran</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Damn this looks like &lt;/b&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;b&gt;Iraq&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;US&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged the UN to confront &lt;/span&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Iran&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;'s "defiance" over its nuclear programme. &lt;/span&gt;Earlier, foreign ministers from the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;UK&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;France&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Germany&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; said the time had come for &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s nuclear issue to be dealt with by the UN Security Council. However, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; says it is still willing to discuss its programme and has urged the EU to step back from referral. &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Russia&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; did not rule out referring &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to the Security Council but said not all diplomatic steps had been taken. The &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;UK&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;France&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Germany&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; - the so-called EU three - met in &lt;st1:state&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Berlin&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt; on Thursday in response to &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s decision to resume nuclear research this week. Speaking afterwards, they said talks with &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; had reached a "dead end" and called for an emergency session of the UN's nuclear watchdog, which could refer &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to the council and lead to possible sanctions. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4608208.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712767660387886?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4608208.stm' title='Rice backs EU over action on Iran'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712767660387886/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712767660387886&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712767660387886'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712767660387886'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/rice-backs-eu-over-action-on-iran.html' title='Rice backs EU over action on Iran'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113712749870617353</id><published>2006-01-12T20:43:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-12T20:44:58.706-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Apple's iTunes raises privacy concerns</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;A new version of Apple Computer's popular iTunes software, released Tuesday, is drawing barbs from privacy advocates for sending information about computer users' playlists back to Apple. The new music software includes a "MiniStore" window, which provides recommended links to Apple's music download service when a listener actively clicks on a song in their personal playlist, including songs that haven't been purchased from the iTunes store. To provide those recommendations, the software sends information about the selected song, such as artist, title and genre, back to Apple. But the software also transmits a string of data that is linked to a computer user's unique iTunes account ID, computer experts have found. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.com.com/2102-1029_3-6026542.html?tag=st.util.print"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113712749870617353?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.com.com/2102-1029_3-6026542.html?tag=st.util.print' title='Apple&apos;s iTunes raises privacy concerns'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113712749870617353/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113712749870617353&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712749870617353'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113712749870617353'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/apples-itunes-raises-privacy-concerns.html' title='Apple&apos;s iTunes raises privacy concerns'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113704294023503513</id><published>2006-01-12T09:11:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-11T21:15:40.236-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Can you Hear Me NOW?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style=""&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;ABC news&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use. "If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing." According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;. &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet. For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;United States&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; spy on other people's conversations around the world. "I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations." But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the NSA in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists. "The mentality was we need to get these guys, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them," he said. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1491889"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113704294023503513?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1491889' title='Can you Hear Me NOW?'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113704294023503513/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113704294023503513&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113704294023503513'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113704294023503513'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/can-you-hear-me-now.html' title='Can you Hear Me NOW?'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11008638.post-113704229658608525</id><published>2006-01-12T09:01:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-11T21:04:56.586-08:00</updated><title type='text'>More Brazil cars run on alcohol</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Brazil&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s carmakers sold more vehicles adapted to run on alcohol last year than conventional petrol-driven models, motor industry figures show. "Flex-fuel" cars, which run on any combination of ethanol and petrol, took 53.6% of the Brazilian market in 2005. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Brazil&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; has made ethanol-driven cars for 25 years, but they have not outsold conventional ones since the late 1980s. &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Brazil&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; produced a record 2.4 million vehicles last year, 1.7 million of them for the domestic market. In all, 866,267 flex-fuel cars were sold in &lt;st1:country-region&gt;&lt;st1:place&gt;Brazil&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; in 2005 against just 328,379 the year before, the Brazilian motor manufacturers' association Anfavea said. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602972.stm"&gt;Full&lt;/a&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11008638-113704229658608525?l=drexsidereflections.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602972.stm' title='More Brazil cars run on alcohol'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/feeds/113704229658608525/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11008638&amp;postID=113704229658608525&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113704229658608525'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/11008638/posts/default/113704229658608525'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://drexsidereflections.blogspot.com/2006/01/more-brazil-cars-run-on-alcohol.html' title='More Brazil cars run on alcohol'/><author><name>Cyrus</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='27' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/24/4449/640/thundercatslogo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
