Over at Prof. Ann Althouse's blog, the commenters are writing up a storm.
"Karl Rove nosed his Jaguar out of the garage at his home in Northwest Washington in the predawn gloom..."
Is this the beginning of some pulp novel? No, it's just another nonstory about the Plame investigation. The White House is "jittery." Check. There is "a mood of intense uncertainty." Noted. . . .
The commenters take it from there:
Karl Rove nosed his Jaguar out of the garage at his home in Northwest Washington in the predawn gloom, starting another day in which he would be dealing with a troubled Supreme Court nomination, posthurricane reconstruction and all the other issues that come across the desk of President Bush's most influential aide.
But Mr. Rove's first challenge on Wednesday morning came before he cleared his driveway.
There was a beautiful woman in the front seat of the Jag. Trouble was, this one was dead.
. . .
"The President paused during his early morning bike ride to glance at the dark foreboding sky and wondered if the heavens portends the day ahead..."
. . .
"Damn that Judith Miller," he thought. "I knew she'd sing like a canary after spending some time in the Alexandria jail." Hasn't she ever heard of omerta, the code of silence? Cheney knew how to keep his mouth shut. It's too bad G. Gordon Liddy didn't work in the White House. There was a man who could keep his mouth shut. Vince Foster, too.
The rain started pounding on the Jag like the heartbeats of a million voters.
. . .
Hit the link and go join the fun.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/14/2005 17:59 ||
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Wonderful fun!!!! I sat in front of the computer with both trailing daughters for the better part of half an hour -- laughing and fighting over the mouse and the view of the screen.
#1
There getting slammed pretty heavy right now but if it is up to their other stuff it should be a hoot. At least they aren't afraid to take it out on everybody.
Say, my calendars free. I can move things around for this. Small businesses are being choked by red tape and inflexible employment laws, claims the woman behind Ultimo lingerie
Employment tribunals are making running a business in Britain "unviable", according to lingerie entrepreneur Michelle Mone, one of Scotland's best-known businesswomen. Mrs Mone, 34, who found fame by creating the Ultimo gel-filled bra six years ago, said the amount of protection given to British workers has created a compensation culture that is stifling productivity and innovation. "Employees have to be protected - in America they're not protected enough, but in the UK I think they're protected too much," said Mrs Mone, founder and co-owner of Glasgow-based MJM International, which she runs with her husband. "It's just unviable for companies at the moment. All the fun has been taken out of having a company. You're frightened to open your mouth."
The comments come as Mrs Mone faces accusations that she forced a pregnant employee to quit. Claire Woods, 28, a call-centre supervisor, is claiming sex discrimination against MJM, saying she was told to increase her working hours or face demotion with a cut in pay.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/14/2005 00:00 ||
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I can provide better support. Kinda a "hands on" type.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/14/2005 1:05 Comments ||
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I'm all for support, but I also believe that those puppies need freedom. What to do? Mebbe all the wymyns should "live" in swimming pools or something. Yeah, that has the right buoyancy, er, level of support without all that constricting stuff. Mone would be outta business, as I see it, but them's the breaks. Keep a stiff, uh, upper lip and all that. I can free up some time, too, if needed. I think I'm pretty good at handling such issues. Heckaroonies, I think all the myns are, if they actually be myns.
EFL: Awww, too bad. Maybe they can have Homer throw acid in Marge's face or something...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- When an Arab satellite TV network, MBC, decided to introduce "The Simpsons" to the Middle East, they knew the family would have to make some fundamental lifestyle changes."Omar Shamshoon," as he is called on the show, looks like the same Homer Simpson, but he has given up beer and bacon, which are both against Islam, and he no longer hangs out at "seedy bars with bums and lowlifes." In Arabia, Homer's beer is soda, and his hot dogs are barbequed Egyptian beef sausages. And the donut-shaped snacks he gobbles are the traditional Arab cookies called kahk. Mmmmmmmmmmm...kahk.
An Arabized "Simpsons" -- called "Al Shamshoon" -- made its debut in the Arab world earlier this month, in time for Ramadan, a time of high TV viewership. Ah, yes. The famous Ramadan Sweeps.
It uses the original "Simpsons" animation, but the voices are dubbed into Arabic and the scripts have been adapted to make the show more accessible, and acceptable, to Arab audiences. The family remains, as the producers describe them, "dysfunctional." They still live in Springfield, and "Omar" is still lazy and works at the local nuclear power plant. Bart (now called "Badr") is constantly cheeky to his parents and teachers and is always in trouble. Providing the characters' voices are several popular Egyptian actors, including Mohamed Heneidy, considered the Robert De Niro of the Middle East. Wow. I'm impressed. Well, not really...
"Al Shamshoon" is currently broadcast daily during an early-evening prime-time slot, starting with the show's first season. If it is a hit, MBC envisions Arabizing the other 16 seasons. But there's no guarantee of success. Many Arab blogs and Internet chat sessions have become consumed with how unfunny "Al Shamshoon" is. "They've ruined it! Oh yes they have, *sob*. ... Why? Why, why oh why?!!!!" wrote a blogger, "Noors," from Oman. Some longtime "Simpson" fans who are Arabs are incensed over the Arabized version. "This is just beyond the pale," wrote As'ad AbuKhalil, a professor at California State University, Stanislaus, whose blog, angryarab blogspot, often touches on politics and the media. After viewing a promotional segment of "Al Shamshoon," Prof. AbuKhalil wrote, "It was just painful....The guy who played Homer Simpson was one of the most unfunny people I ever watched. Just drop the project, and air reruns of Tony Danza's show instead." Woah! Ouch! Put some ice on that.
Few shows have more obsessed fans than "The Simpsons," and their vast online community is worried about whether classic Simpsons dialogue can even be translated. One blogger wrote, "'Hi-diddly-ho, neighbors!' How the h -- are they going to translate that? Or this great quote: Mr Burns: Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese." Monty Burns should be president.
A blogger, who uses the name "Nibaq," wrote, "I am sure the effort [of] the people who made this show to translate it to Arabic could have made a good original show about an Egyptian family living in Egypt, dealing with religion, life and work and trying to keep a family together. That way they can proudly say Made in Egypt, instead of Made in USA Assembled in Egypt." Yeah. You could call it "The Flintstones".
Posted by: Farmin B. Hard ||
10/14/2005 12:40 ||
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Monty Burns should be president.
Have you noticed that Secretary Chertoff (of Homeland Security) bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Burns.
Someone please post a picture of Omar Shamshoon dancing with Princess Kashmir. I'm sure the A-rabs will love that image.
Posted by: Tibor ||
10/14/2005 16:50 Comments ||
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So does the religious fanatic next door (al-Ned) in this version take hostages and decapitate them? Beat Lisa for exposing her ankles? Bugger Bart during "Koran study"?
Boy, that would sure make it much funnier...
Posted by: Dar ||
10/14/2005 17:55 Comments ||
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Let's see ... The Simpsons without Duffman, Barney's drunken belching, Moe Sizlack's pugilistic callousness as he dispenses intoxicating beverages at his bar, no possibility of passages like the following:
Homer: I like my beer cold ... my TV loud ... and my homosexuals flaming.
At least, not in the sense of "flaming" that Homer meant.
This is what happens when you try and broadcast one of the world's funniest prime time programs to a market that is almost devoid of humor.
Blowing hot against journalists Zahiruddin Swapan MP has called for beating them for what he said dishing out false and fabricated reports. "They are terrorists, toll collectors, purchasable at mere two taka," Swapan said while speaking at a puja mandap at Agailjhara on Wednesday. "Give them a mass beating if you find them publishing false and fabricated reports. If you fail, please inform me, I will take action against them," said the viprous tongued lawmaker.
Credited for making quick money, Swapan, a construction contractor, now owns three marine ships. He is also information and research secretary of BNP. Recalling the past he said journalists had created a sensation by false reporting on repression on the minority community in his constituency following the last general elections. "Very few among you voted for me," he said pointing to the minority community, "despite that I came out successful."
"I got lotsa money. I can buy my own ballot boxes. Who the hell needs youse?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Hey, I'd support it if it meant that Dan Rather and Howell Raines could got beaten up for fabricating articles.
#2
Now there's an idea. Round up all those Katrina reporters who fabricated information, or passed on lies without fact checking, during the hurricane's aftermath. Let the lashes begin.
#3
It would be an interesting addition to the Sunday Morning line-up: "Beat the Press!"
Personally,I think they should flog Maureen Dowd on the premiere show.
#4
"Give them a mass beating if you find them publishing false and fabricated reports. If you fail, please inform me, I will take action against them,"
Actually, the real First Amendment right of free press was founded on the colonial Peter Zenger case which determined truth was a defense in what one published. Seems we've gotten lost in the preumbra interpretation of the Constitution to extend protection to lies and fabrications.
At one point, a reactor researcher asked the women what had drawn them to K-State. One of them, Cullens recalled, said her boyfriend lived in Kansas.
âWe asked where, and she sort of pointed off to the southwest and said, âOver there,â â he said. âWe figured there had to be something strange going on.â (via NEI Nuclear Notes)
We're not talking a new generation of Kolchaks. Ted Baxters, yeah, but not Kolchaks.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 7:14 Comments ||
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EFL - HT to Drudge - RTWT
China's Shenzhou VI spacecraft is not orbiting exactly as planned and will have to be restored to its original trajectory, state-run media say. The "orbit maintenance operation" would take place early on Friday morning, said official news agency Xinhua. or not
Gravity has drawn Shenzhou VI too close to earth, the agency said. Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.
Which is true of all spacecraft unless they break free of Earth's gravity. Sheesh.
It spent a second day in orbit on Thursday, making it China's longest manned space flight.
Xinhua quoted experts as saying the procedure to fix craft's orbit would be a "normal technical operation". sorry muchachos!
Nonetheless, the agency said, experts were urging all scientific and technological staff to be "cautious".
Everything was functioning well aboard Shenzhou VI and it had orbited the earth 23 times by Thursday evening, according to Xinhua. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, who is marking his 41st birthday on Thursday, were reportedly in good health.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Since it's not going anywhere but eventually back to Earth, I'd guess that they're just making a minute adjustment in the orbit so the re-entry track will be in the right place when they want to return.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
10/14/2005 0:21 Comments ||
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Various Net reports also refer to the still unexplained "physical condition" of the two Taikonauts.
#3
Gravity has drawn Shenzhou VI too close to earth, the agency said. Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.
damn gravity, it's pulling on my roof over the tool shed. Must be some kind of strange orbital mechanics going on.
/fault>Bush
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/14/2005 1:15 Comments ||
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Various Net reports also refer to the still unexplained "physical condition" of the two Taikonauts.
Those guys should be called Shanghai-nauts. I always associate "Taiko" with the drummers that practiced next door where I grew up.
#11
i personally would like to see it burn up in the atmosphere - yeah not to friendly i know but i do not like the thought of chi-coms buzzing around over my house high in the sky, next thing you know we'll have them flogging thier shitty rockets to pakiland and iran and then space will be full of seething islamofacists. give it 30 years and we'll have suicide spacecraft attacking our countries, oh and Nork space craft cant be far behind either if China feels it'd be fun to piss us all off with.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
10/14/2005 14:09 Comments ||
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Just realise, if this was a NASA craft slipping orbit all the worlds media would be bitching about how awful this is but when the chinks fck up no-one even wants to report it.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
10/14/2005 14:11 Comments ||
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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A Turkish court on Friday convicted two brothers for the "honor killing" of their sister and sentenced one to life in prison and the other to more than 11 years behind bars.
Guldunya Toren was shot dead in her hospital bed last year, where she was recovering from an earlier attack by her brothers. The brothers were accused of killing Toren, who was 22, to punish her for having a child out of wedlock. The court on Friday sentenced Irfan Toren to life in prison. His younger brother, identified only as F.T. because he was a minor at the time of the killing, was given a sentence of 11 years and eight months, the Anatolia news agency and other media reported. A third brother is still on the run.
Toren reportedly fled her hometown of Bitlis, in southeast Turkey, for Istanbul to escape her family's wrath after becoming pregnant. She was living at the home of an imam, where she gave birth to a boy, reports said. One of her brothers, pretending to have come to take her to an aunt's home, lured her outside of the house while the second shot her, reports said. Toren escaped that attack with severe injuries. She was in the hospital's intensive care unit when her brothers, pretending to be visitors, shot her in the head, reports said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2005 08:33 ||
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More of the same turdite riff-raff examples of the ROP.
#3
The "staging" involved determining which person would answer certain topics based on their areas of expertise, advising them to take a breath before they started to speak, and determining the order in which they would go if more than one were to answer a question. The "staging" was nothing more than basic organization; no one was fed an answer.
This is *less* "staging" than the press goes through all the time, and it's a free-wheeling, open-ended discussion compared to the presidential debates the press salivates over every four years.
Compare this to the coordination between the press and Kerry's campaign last year -- Rather's fake memos were pumped THE NIGHT BEFORE Kerry's "fortunate son" theme was launched, and the NYT resurrected the "lost munitions" story a week before election day.
This is why I'm discouraged. The press has the bull horn; they're the ones who determine what's news and what's not. The press didn't like what the soldiers said, so they decided to invent a scandal instead. As AG said, they applaud when one of them feeds a (misleading!) question to a soldier to embarass Rumsfeld, but consider basic TV production performed by the White House to be a crime.
What possible chance do we have against people who have this much influence, and so little scruples against abusing it like this? We can still fact-check their asses, but they've changed the rules of the game by not even acting like they care about facts.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 9:16 Comments ||
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I think the Pentagon also wanted to make sure the soldiers put the best face forward while answering questions. Not so much to "stage" it but to make the soldiers look their best while aswering the questions. If they were trying to be sneaky about it they would not have allowed the media to film the Pentagon spokewoman coaching them.
In the Bush/Iraq segment, Today screened footage indicating that prior to engaging in a video conversation with President Bush, soldiers on the ground in Iraq were given tips by a Department of Defense official.
But the only advice that the official was shown as giving was a suggestion to one solider to âtake a little breathâ before speaking to the president so he would actually be speaking to him. It was also stated that some of the soldiers practiced their comments so as to appear as articulate as possible. But there was no indication, or even allegation, that the soldiers were coached as to the substance of their comments or in any way instructed what to say. (Video available: Real Media or Windows Media Player)
Todayâs timing couldnât have been worse. A preceding segment focused on the incessant rains and ensuing flooding in the northeast. For days now, beautiful, blonde - and one senses highly ambitious - young reporter Michelle Kosinski has been on the scene for Today in New Jersey, working the story. In an apparent effort to draw attention to herself, in yesterdayâs segment she turned up in hip waders, standing thigh-deep in the flood waters.
Taking her act one step further, this morning she appeared on a suburban street . . . paddling a canoe. There was one small problem. Just as the segment came on the air, two men waded in front of Kosinki . . . and the water barely covered their shoe tops! Thatâs right, Kosinskiâs canoe was in no more than four to six inches of water!
#6
CF,
The screencapture is precious. Up the Creek
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2005 12:31 Comments ||
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As I recall, someone got caught doing the same thing in New Orleans.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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Any, and I repeat, any interview on TV with the President of these United states should be scripted. Media is a front in this war, and we can't afford mistakes.
So, was it scripted, yes, big freakin deal. All media events that go out to billions with our president require some forethought and planning.
So yes, it was scripted but again who gives a shit? Moot point, move along.
#9
I'm w/ ya Elvis!!!What kind B&^% SH^T IS THIS. It's always something w/ AP or MSM. What a BUNCH OF F^&KING IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!! Do they not think people see through THIS SH&*!!!!!!!!!!!
One day as my husband and part of his battalion was out in a convoy he saw a CNN newscrew near a group of Somalis. The crew and the Somalis were blocking the road that my husband's convoy was attempting to go down so my husband checked into what was going on.
What he saw upset him so much that he called me that very day the first chance he got. He was livid.
He told me that blonde haired white people who were obviously working for CNN were making and handing out signs to the poor Somali people and having them pose for the camera with the signs which said stuff like, "Go home U.S. military."
The press is the enemy as much as the terrorists.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 14:16 Comments ||
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"Communists brutally murder Signore Fiat & his wife! "
- Witness to a Century: Encounters with the Noted, the Notorious, and the Three SOBs
George Seldes
It's been a while since I read the book, so I apologize if the quote is wrong.
SGT. Ron Long, an Army combat medic, was at the "staged" press conference in Iraq. He has blogged his response to the MSM Bush-bashing. (Hat tip: Reader John S.)
Here's an excerpt:
Yesterday, I (bottom right corner in the picture) was chosen to be among a small group of soldiers assigned to the 42ID's Task Force Liberty that would speak to President Bush, our Commander-in-Chief. The interview went well, but I would like to respond to what most of the mass-media has dubbed as, "A Staged Event."
First of all, we were told that we would be speaking with the President of the United States, our Commander-in-Chief, President Bush, so I believe that it would have been totally irresponsible for us NOT to prepare some ideas, facts or comments that we wanted to share with the President.
We were given an idea as to what topics he may discuss with us, but it's the President of the United States; He will choose which way his conversation with us may go.
We practiced passing the microphone around to one another, so we wouldn't choke someone on live TV. We had an idea as to who we thought should answer what types of questions, unless President Bush called on one of us specifically.
President Bush told us, during his closing, that the American people were behind us. I know that we are fighting here, not only to preserve our own freedoms, but to establish those same freedoms for the people of Iraq. It makes my stomach ache to think that we are helping to preserve free speech in the US, while the media uses that freedom to try to RIP DOWN the President and our morale, as US Soldiers. They seem to be enjoying the fact that they are tearing the country apart. Worthless!
Things like this are the reason I get angry when someone calls trial lawyers "jackals." It's a degrading and insulting metaphor. To jackals.
Like many shoppers, attorney Stephen Diamond buys lots of stuff online. But unlike other consumers, he sues retailers that don't charge him state and local sales taxes -- and is making a profit doing it. Mis-Using a state whistle-blower law, Mr. Diamond since 2002 has filed about 95 suits in Cook County court here against retailers that failed to charge him taxes on Internet sales, alleging that they broke the law. In cases where the state of Illinois joins the suits and prevails, he is entitled to up to 25% of the financial damages, with the rest going to state coffers.
"This is a no-brainer," says Mr. Diamond, a veteran shyster class-action attorney who has a scenic view of Lake Michigan from his downtown office. "I started going on the Internet and discovered to my astonishment that companies like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart were not collecting taxes on their Internet sales. I was like, "Wow!" Totally. Fer sure.
In 2003, in Tennessee's Davidson County Chancery Court, Mr. Diamond filed about 30 suits alleging noncollection of sales taxes on online purchases by Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon.com Inc., PetsMart Inc., and Bass Pro Shops, among other companies. But he didn't reckon on the reaction of Loren Chumley, Tennessee's commissioner of revenue, who wasn't happy that a private citizen was using the whistle-blower law to enrich himself.
Viewing Mr. Diamond as an asshole opportunist exploiting a legal loophole, Ms. Chumley immediately set out to change state law. She succeeded, and the cases were dismissed. Ms. Chumley says that Mr. Diamond was misusing the law. Mr. Diamond counters that Tennessee wasn't being aggressive enough in collecting taxes.
But Ms. Chumley wasn't through. In 2003, she told Virginia's tax commissioner, Kenneth Wayne Thorson, about Mr. Diamond. Mr. Thorson says he notified the staff of Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and said, "We don't want to go there. It is going to be a mess. We need to put a stop to this." May I suggest tar-and-feathering? Or lynching? It was good enough against the Stamp Act enforcers.
In February 2004, Virginia's state legislature voted unanimously to change the year-old law, which now excludes private citizens from getting money by suing online retailers that don't collect sales taxes. Contact your local legislators.
Local health departments plan to have a healthy supply of vaccine available for this year's flu season after facing a severe shortage last year.
But health officials said they have received only partial shipments of their flu-shot orders and most of those shots are being reserved this month for high-risk patients.
"Because of what happened last year, the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] requested we receive our supplies in stages," said Leila Abrar, spokeswoman for the District's health department.
Health clinics nationwide had to ration flu shots last year after flu-vaccine manufacturer Chiron Corp. was barred from the U.S. market.
Federal authorities urged only high-risk patients to get vaccinated, causing a panic that resulted in many patients passing up flu shots. But agencies ended up finding excess vaccines later in the season and offered it to the public.
The winter flu season, which generally runs from mid-November through March, comes as the nation faces a possible pandemic of avian influenza, or bird flu. Several local health officials said they have received inquiries about flu shots for the bird flu, a separate disease that has not mutated into human form and has no vaccine.
So far, the D.C. health department has received 8,450 of the 21,140 shots it ordered. The flu shots initially will be for high-risk patients, Mrs. Abrar said.
The CDC advised clinics to give flu shots to only high-risk patients until Oct. 24 and then allow vaccinations for the general public. High-risk includes the elderly, children age 6 to 23 months, pregnant women, people with chronic conditions and health care workers.
Montgomery County also spaced out its vaccine supply this year, said Cindy Edwards, a nurse administrator who runs the county's flu clinics.
The county Department of Health and Human Services ordered roughly 5,000 doses and received about 1,000 to 2,000 shots so far, Ms. Edwards said.
The shots will be available to the public after Oct. 24 but the county is relying on doctors, grocery stores and pharmacies to handle healthier patients, Ms. Edwards said.
Dr. Darlene Lawrence, a family physician in Northeast, managed to get her entire vaccine order, for about 140 patients, last month by ordering in May.
Dr. Lawrence, who has given 35 shots, said she is focusing on sicker patients until Nov. 1. "I have had to turn away three patients who weren't high risk, but they will be back," she said.
Loudoun County also is prioritizing its estimated 3,000 vaccine doses for high-risk patients this month.
"We're just there for people who can't get the flu shot" in the private sector, said Health Department Director Dr. David Goodfriend.
He would not say how many doses the department has received.
Alexandria's health department had just 20 percent of its order for 1,600 adult vaccine doses this week, but the city has enough shots to serve its elderly patients, said Veronica Aberle, a nurse manager at the agency.
The agency expects another shipment in the next week with 800 extra vaccine doses for children, she said.
Fairfax County's health department ordered 5,100 flu shots and expects to receive all of its vaccine in time for the flu season, said spokeswoman Kimberly Cordero.
She would not say how many shots are in stock.
Prince George's County's flu-shot clinics start at the end of the month, but health officials plan to serve high-risk patients first, said Patricia Sullivan, spokeswoman for the county's health department.
The county ordered 2,900 shots and has been collecting the shots in increments, Ms. Sullivan said. She would not say how many shots the agency has collected.
Arlington County's Human Services Department plans to give out 2,000 flu shots to mainly older and disabled patients the county assists, said spokesman Dr. Reuben Varghese. The agency expects several shipments to arrive this month.
#1
Before you run out to get your own personal bird flu vaccine, check out the CDC website on the ways to catch it. Short of playing with bird feces or kissing an infected bird you would have a hard time catching it.
The EU wants the UN to run the Internet. (also force US to use .us instead of .com .edu .gov stuff) They threaten that it will reach a head next month. If they don't get their way the Internet will be broken...
Really! Doesn't that mean that they are engaging in terrorism? So, we should now add the EU to the list of terrorist orgs. ASAP
This is followup of a story we talked about last week. AoS note: this post was 1) moved to Technology 2) moved to non WoT 3) comments put in highlight, not bold. Help us out, please.
#1
Simple, just change "WWW" to "WWW minus EU".
Let those elitists talk among themselves.
If those bureaucrats ever come up with something worthwhile, then they can set the rules.
Sorry, to our Rantburg buddies in Europe.
#3
Will the network be unbroken?
By and by Lord, by and by,
There's a better homepage waitin'
On the sly, Lord, on the sly.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/14/2005 1:39 Comments ||
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Okay, I'll bite, since it wasn't the EU who developed the Net in the first place, and are NOT the ones predomin paying for it, etc. how are they gonna break the Net given that its America that dominates SPAWAR!? Americans are willing to share but there's still such a twang as "first come, first serve", aka FIFO!? Even in the flick TROY Achilles tells Agamemnon, "Be careful, King, your army must win the battle first before you can brag about winning a war"!?
The way I udnderstand the DNS and ICANN systems: China Russia et al are perfectly free to start their own internet, seperate from th US root servers. It could even work, for a while. If they do decide to do this it doesn't break the internet, it only fragments it. That means that companies who do business on the internet in Europe and elsewhere will simply be unable to do so. Internet will continue in the US uninterrupted.
As someone who runs a mail server the EU and China should be applauded for their decision to take themselves off the internet. It will easily cut UBE by at least 80 percent.
#7
They want to tax and censor it. There is no other motivation. 99.9% of my interent activity is based in North America. Go ahead and break it. My internet will still work, free of TRANZI EU bullshit and know-it-alls. Might be a breath of fresh air.
#8
I'm going to miss all of the RB citizens who happen to be physically located in the UK, FR, DE, AU, CA, etc. I will no longer be getting email from my numerous buds in SA, TH. and HK.
It will, no doubt, spawn a class of Super-ISP's - companies who can negotiate and interconnect a presence on multiple 'Nets -- bridging them internally just as they do now openly. It will have to happen - too much interdependence... hence there's extortion opportunities. They'll initially use the same routers to do it, i.e. it'll just be relabeling existing shit.
Ideally for the assholes, they would own the High Speed Backbones - but I believe the oceanic backbones are currently owned by US companies. Could be that the only connectivity they'll have, initially, is the slow local stuff that bleeds over the relatively open borders in Europe. The inter-connectivity will become proprietary without the overall control of a single entity - precisely what has made the Internet the phenomenal success it is, today.
Eventually it will be a total cock-up, of course, slow and buggy, as each Super-ISP will probably do some aspects of the bridge with proprietary stuff - trying to make it hard to leave them. It WILL be a death grip on ISP's, something that happens in the heavily filtered countries now, and a wealth transfer - you KNOW the license fees for the privilege of connecting to the UN NAP's (Network Access Points) will be astronomical for US "bones".
Additionally, there's another obvious place they can make money off their own citizens... Recall the bidding boondoggles for cellphone providers, country by country... Someone has the notion of doing the same for IP #'s, I'll bet.
*head shake* *it's shakedown*
One thing is certain: they can't initially change any of the underlying technical aspects of TCP/IP on any other 'Net(s) - none of the software would work. The OSI Model is King. Might as well go back to Dixie cups and string, in that case. Over time, however, you could expect divergence because the US body, ICANN / W3C will be technically driven and the UN version will be politically driven. So someday, there will be a break, a Tower of Babble issue - and more licensing fees for use of their proprietary horseshit in the software. For now, it would just be about fees and content control and there will be companies willing to put up the fees and spread the cost among those who want the bridge.
Greed, extortion, cacophony, gridlock, and clusterfuck are the words that spring to mind, for me. A Giant Leap Backwards, compliments of fools, whores, and Tranzis.
#9
I've been playing with a rather good idea in my head to replace DNS and traditional view of ip addresses...
(It will work really good with wireless but I have been trying to find compelling reasons for wired. This could be it.)
Have to write up a nice RFC, sit down with my patent attorney, then rewrite that nice RFC in a way the EU can't fuck with it having just enough non-software patented hooks to protect it.
hmmm I wonder how long they have been planning this theft? Since their attacks on software patents?
#10
Even a Swede has figured out this is a bad ides. It isn't going to happen. Just the EU trying to get brownie points from their former colonies. Pathetic.
#12
Considering the number of country suffixes that I have already blocked to reduce spam, go ahead and fragment. Make my day. While you're at it, fragment Nigeria from the phone system so that less of my fax paper is wasted.
#13
BTW, I know the current blather and debate is simply about root servers, domain namespaces, etc, but those can be circumvented.
Physical connections forcing access through a limited and controlled set of access points, which can then be firewalled and filtered, are how the totalitarians actually control access now (Saudi, NorK, China, etc.), so that's where I believe the real action will occur. They can easily be made isolated islands without external connectivity - or allow only privileged users external access while blocking the others via IP address or secure site access.
If you're a "state" and wish to merely control your namespace, you can do that any time you want - you could've done that yesterday without anyone's approval or assistance - sample /. comment:
Let them all start their own DNS systems, breaking the Internet into segments. Let their own stupidity be their punishment. First, they will legislate that ISPs operating in their countries will no be allowed to use root DNS servers other than their own...
-- and more from same commenter --
This whole thing is about controlling the flow of information. The currect (US led) system has 0 political control of domains. The US government doesn't tell ICANN to remove a root DNS entry if they have a problem. The find the server and seize it according to the law. If it is overseas, they work with the local government.
Then we have the "other" side of the blather (BTW I'm intentionally leaving out the Chomskyite Moonbat morons who say we don't have free speech in the US):
Seems to me it's more an issue of the rest of the world not trusting the US to act honourably in perpetuity. As a lot of the international economy now depends on the internet in one way or another, other countries don't want the US to be in full control of deciding who goes where/knows what on the internet. Imagine, if you will, that Iran controlled the root servers. Would people in the US trust them? Now recall that there are laws on the books in the US which allow various Federal agencies to access/modify data on the ICANN servers and forbid them from notifying anyone about it. See why the EU is worried?
However, this is all academic. It's easy enough to set up your own root servers and just peer into the ICANN ones, append all .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .etc entries found there with .us, and go from there. Anyone outside the US then just uses slashdot.org.us instead of slashdot.org, and life goes on as normal. Just like with telephone country codes.
Once again, you'll note that if this were merely about namespace and DNS, it could be done anytime, by anybody with legal power in any given legal jurisdiction. It does NOT require some new UN-controlled clusterfuck.
This is about sticking to the US, about censorship and content control, and about having the hooks to tax - create a pot of money to play with. To do that with ruthless efficiency, you either need to be a state with technically competent, rigorous, and draconian law enforcement - that be hard work - or control the physical connectivity - that be far easier and, once done, permanent - no matter who's administering the servers. Too much honor system and too many break-out points if it's software-only, such as DNS control.
This is my favorite comment... from someone called ethnocidal... I'd bet from the UK...
The EU is not trying to destroy the internet, it is trying to do quite the opposite; it has recognised that countries like China, Brazil and Iran are making strong moves to setting up their own independant root servers, irrespective of the US.
They are trying to act as brokers between this position, which is not in the interest of the EU, and the maverick US position, which flatly disclaims any notion of international coordination on these issues. Repeat after me: the EU is not trying to split the internet, they are trying to maintain the current cohesion.
They are a broker between two arguments, and should be applauded as such, rather than vilified and slandered as 'splitters' or malcontents.
Righty-O. Twit. As another commenter said: Just to restate - the internet's not going to "fall apart" on it's own. They're planning on breaking it.
#14
Will the network be unbroken?
By and by Lord, by and by,
There's a better homepage waitin'
On the sly, Lord, on the sly.
This Lan is yur Lan?
This Lan is my Lan!
From the Cisco switches
To the litter blue routers
From the fibre cable
to the burnt out modems
This Lan was built by Us
for me.
#15
Isn't an attack on the communication infrastructure at this scale an act of war?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 7:29 Comments ||
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#16
At the same time they also said they were going to report Iran to the UN Security Council, put a man on Mars and drive the Jews into the sea create peace in the Middle East.
#19
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risc,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to ram your rom.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!
Sure it's old but it seems strangely relevant in this thread. ;)
#20
3dc, gere's the article I'd have liked in response:
3dc, you are either illiterate or a liar. You took an article that had the EU warning about what they saw as a *bad* thing, namely the Internet breaking apart by actions from China/Brazil/Iran/etc, and you Orwell-like changed the title into "EU Threatens to break internet next month".
But what's wrong with a little bit of lying, liar 3dc.
And all the rest of you, buffoons, none of you had the literacy to even click on the article in question. Two seconds sufficed and you'd have noted the LYING at the post's title. Naive bozos or liars yourselves.
But once again, what's wrong with a little bit of lying, liars and fools y'all.
But since I'm such a very polite fellow I won't post all this. Instead I'll just remark 3dc, that you if you're too lazy to read a article, could you *please* be also lazy enough to NOT (wrongly) guess at its content and try to synopsize it for us with an utterly false and lying title?
#21
I have a solution: scramble GPS signals for non-US users. No more free rides.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/14/2005 9:47 Comments ||
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#22
WTF??? America creates the net but Euro bellends say its thiers to run now eh through the 'UN'. fckin perverse that is why the fck should the UN run it??? Guess kofi and co could make alot of money outa this like the OIF program, someone please intervene and tell these 'UN' chumps where to go, i cannot imagine a worse route for the internet to take then UN ownership. If this were to happen i would really like to see America withdraw from the UN - kick the fckers out, stop funding them so it simply collapses - actually do that anyway internet or no internet. What fckin right does the UN have over anything?? Christ this makes me angry. I presume this means any technolagy/ideas/creations automaticly become UN property now for them to run. Absolutly sickining!
Posted by: Shep UK ||
10/14/2005 9:53 Comments ||
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#23
Yes please scramble all GPS if they do this then conduct a covert war against these EU fck nozzles, how bout smacking a few of the Euro satilites outa orbit while your at it. God i hate the UN and EU losers. This really is becoming outa control this UN thing and needs to be stamped on hard and booted outa America and all funding stopped - let the EU and their dictator buddies foot the bill instead. Oh while your at it tell NASA to stop sharing all thier fantastic work with the other non allied countrys too, stop all disaster relief aid also to any non allied country. America gives more to the world then any other country in almost every concievable way and this is the thanks they get,unbelivable!
Posted by: Shep UK ||
10/14/2005 10:05 Comments ||
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#24
Aris, did YOU read the article?
Even Bildt says it's all about control of content and power.
Also...
"What we are talking about is a governance structure that is extremely lightweight, where the government oversight of internet functions is limited just to the list of essential tasks," said one EU negotiator.
While the forum "does not decide anything, it is a place where people can come to a view and generally participate in thinking about the internet and the way it is governed".
What exactly is preventing people from coming to a view and thinking about the internet and the way it is governed? That's right NOTHING.
BUT, what they do want is the power to put these wonderfully thought up ideas into place.
Tell me again, just what are those "essential tasks", hmmmm? And who gets to decide what they are?
The idea of turning the internet over to the organization that gave you Rawanda, Oil for Food, Srebrenica (sp?) etc. is just despicable.
I think you are quite distorting the facts. It is true that 3dc title is to say the least misleading: the EU is not threatening to break the Internet. But you too: the EU is not merely saying that breaking would be a bad thing, it supports the thesis of the would-be breakers ("give the thing to the thing to the United Crooks") and advising the US to surrender
#26
I put in WOT as it is part of the WoT. The part where Ceasar is stabbed in the back by his buddies. The part of Brutus is played by the EU.
Its the part of the act where Burtus discovers that his buds are not only not his buds but actively wanting to kill him. This is WoT active ops. It just that some turn a blind eye.
Some would have Ceaser talk about the knife with Brutus until everybody feels warm and fuzzy, turns around for another drink and Brutus stabs him.
Some would have Ceaser run.
Some would have Ceaser heroicly attempt to beat the shit out of Brutus before he stabs again.
Some would have Ceaser back off, lick his wounds and call his buddies in THE BLACK HAND.
#31
Of course.. I am dreaming of an Internet that's a matrix or a 3..nD wireframe and not a hierarchy that needs TLDs. Sort of like a water system on steriods. (many ways from A to B)
#32
3dc,
The problem comes in keeping routing table consistency. If i register a domain, will it show in all the other name servers. How about if I am someone Beijing opposes, like say a Falung Gong advocate or Taiwanese? If they do get get registered in the US, will the Chinese name servers then sabotage the routing tables, causing all the other name servers to propagate the error during the next update? How about if I am a Jew, Shiite, or Ahmadi? Will the Riyadh servers play fair with me?
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2005 11:39 Comments ||
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#33
So what was the joint satellite the US and France sent up yesterday? They're just jealous and they've been ignored lately so they have to make a stink.
#34
They were two separate satellites sharing the same Ariane rocket: European rocket sends French military satellite aloft
A European rocket blasted off here Thursday, hoisting aloft a new-generation French military satellite and an American commercial communications satellite, an AFP reporter saw.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2005 11:56 Comments ||
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#35
DNS has nothing to do with routing which is based on IP addressing.
#36
greed, control, and power
and few showers
leads a person to stink
Burma shave
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2005 13:55 Comments ||
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#37
I don't care if the EU and the Totalitarians they are supporting with this wacked out stance ever reach my registed Domains as long as the US and Canada can. Content is King. The EU nation's support very little of the real content of the WWW. They don't host any major service like Yahoo or Google. Let them enjoy their websites in French and German.
Losing some EU located pr0n sites isn't going to effect the world much.
but then again, that's probably what will stop the European plan deqd in its tracks.
Posted by: Kelly ||
10/14/2005 16:06 Comments ||
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#40
If the internet becomes fragmented, as some have suggested here, how much you want to bet that a US company figures out how to reconnect everything virtually?
All your root servers are belong to US.
Posted by: Tibor ||
10/14/2005 16:57 Comments ||
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#41
If you don't give it to me I'm gonna hold my breath till I turn blue. I'm not kidding. I'll stuficate and it'll be your fault.
#42
The world keeps moving, even the great US will learn in time that the world always changes. If not the Net then something else will shift the balance of power. How many years... who knows; but it will happen
#43
Shipman and AzCat---Great Internet songs and poems, we needed some humor.
I wouldn't be surprised if the EUniks and Tranzis managed to do their thing, that international companies would do the virtual thing by reconnecting through satellites or their leased lines. The UN and EUniks are like King Midas in reverse, everything they touch turns to sh*t. Nobody is going back, there is too much creativity now in the world that will be unleased on bureaucrats. Bwhahahahahaha!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/14/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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#44
Good night, Norm.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2005 21:22 Comments ||
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#45
The US will likely still have ".TW"
My goodness, I should hope you wouldn't get rid of me so easily! I may have pompous moments, and occasionally get the vapours, but I'm told I make good popcorn. ;-)
#46
I'm reminded of the old addage about building web pages - "If you don't know how to write the code yourself, find something you like and steal it". It appears that the EU plans to steal the work of DARPA and a few software geniuses both in the US and the UK. Maybe it's time to use a huge flash-bomb on Brussels, followed by a sign "hands off". Like my parents used to tell me, if it's not your toy, don't take it home.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/14/2005 23:23 Comments ||
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Non-WOT for now - but if this flu jumps to human-human transmission it will affect a whole lot of things including the WOT
The bird flu virus that infected a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's important to keep a second drug on hand as well, a researcher said Friday.
He said the finding was no reason to panic.
The drug in question, Tamiflu, still attacks "the vast majority of the viruses out there," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The drug, produced by Swiss- based Roche Holding AG, is in short supply as nations around the world try to stock up on it in case of a global flu pandemic.
Kawaoka said the case of resistance in the 14-year-old girl is "only one case, and whether that condition was something unique we don't know."
He also said it's not surprising to see some resistance to Tamiflu, because that had also happened with human flu.
The girl's Tamiflu-resistant virus was susceptible to another drug, Relenza, Kawaoka said.
He and colleagues report the case in the Oct. 20 issue of the journal Nature, which released the study Friday. The researchers conclude that it might be useful to stockpile Relenza as well as Tamiflu.
Both drugs are being stockpiled by the U.S. government.
The girl, who had been caring for an older brother with the disease, had been receiving low doses of Tamiflu as a preventive measure when the virus was isolated in late February. She later fell ill and was given higher doses. She recovered and left the hospital in March.
Kawaoka said it's not clear whether the low preventive dose had encouraged the emergence of drug resistance.
Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University called the report important and said it shows the importance of watching for drug resistance.
"It is not unusual to find the occasional resistant virus," he said. "It could be just a biological oddity, or we could see this more frequently.
"This is a blip on the radar screen, and it surely does mean that we have to keep the radar operative," Schaffner said. "We have to keep testing more viruses
#1
Kawaoka said it's not clear whether the low preventive dose had encouraged the emergence of drug resistance.
Quite likely.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2005 22:00 Comments ||
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#2
www.recombinomics.com has been tracking this for almost a year. It is amazing and somewhat troubling that this has recently been so ostentatiously discovered by Governments and the media.
#3
The girl, who had been caring for an older brother with the disease, had been receiving low doses of Tamiflu as a preventive measure when the virus was isolated in late February. She later fell ill and was given higher doses. She recovered and left the hospital in March.
Kawaoka said it's not clear whether the low preventive dose had encouraged the emergence of drug resistance.
Seems pretty damned clear to me. Administering antibiotics in less-than-treatment-level doses results in antibiotic-resistant bacteria (like a lot of staph strains and antibiotic-resistant TB), so why not viruses?
This is the maddening thing about dispensing drugs to Third World nations - all the time, money, research, and hard work that went into producing a cure for some dangerous malady can be easily pissed away by a lackadaisical attitude toward treatment.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Gasoline prices fell nearly two cents a gallon Wednesday while diesel prices edged lower, according to a daily report issued by travel club AAA....
In last week's report, the EIA said that gasoline demand has fallen over the last four weeks by 2.6 percent below the same time last year, averaging nearly 8.8 million barrels per day. Some of this is undoubtedly due to the decrease in economic activity in the New Orleans area. Some, however, is a reaction to the price.
#2
You'll be overjoyed to pay $2.50 after being properly conditioned. I was paying over two bucks in January of this year in the Tri-state area. The bad weather scenario fits nicely in this Free Market Economy.
#3
Summer driving season is over; schools are back in session; it's now heating oil season. Gas prices dropping is about as shocking as the leaves changing color and falling off the trees.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2005 14:11 Comments ||
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#4
I got gas yesterday for 2.93, thought what a wuss I am for thinking 2.93 is a bargain.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe was detained for a half hour after allegedly trespassing in a restricted area near President Robert Mugabe's official residence, the government said Thursday.
Zimbabwe officials said they sent a formal letter of protest to the U.S. Embassy Thursday, complaining about the actions of Ambassador Christopher Dell. State radio said that Dell was "trying to provoke an unwarranted diplomatic incident" by approaching the restricted security area in Harare's National Botanical Gardens. It said the viewing area was guarded by armed troops.
Dell was held for 30 minutes Monday night and then released, according to the government statement. News of the incident didn't emerge until the government statement Thursday. The ambassador and other American envoys couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The State Department in Washington did not immediately return calls for comment.
The viewing area was banned to the general public shortly after 1980 independence when shots were fired at the residence from a passing car, and security in the area greatly intensified. It is not fenced off but scrawled messages on rocks warn visitors "save your life - do not come up here." Mugabe, who has three other palaces residences in and around the capital, reportedly only seldom uses the rambling colonial mansion that was the home of formerly named Rhodesia's white prime ministers between 1923 and 1979.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2005 08:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It is not fenced off but scrawled messages on rocks warn visitors "save your life - do not come up here."
Sounds very professional. Like most shit in Zimbabawe...
An effort by members of a Kansas kooky cult church to protest at the funeral of an Oklahoma soldier Tuesday was drowned out by the roar of motorcycles. About 70 members of the American Legion Riders group from Oklahoma and Kansas revved their engines as five protesters from Westboro Baptist Church held inflammatory signs. The protesters say American soldiers are being killed because of homosexuality in the United States.
The protest took place as family members of Army Staff Sgt. John Doles gathered just down the street at a church for Doles' funeral. Doles, 29, of Chelsea, was killed Sept. 30 in an ambush in Afghanistan. American Legion Riders' member Cregg Hanson said Doles' family asked the group to rev their motorcycle engines when the Kansas church group arrived. The riders also formed a barrier and waved American flags to block the view of the protest.
About 40 police officers were also on hand and Chelsea residents joined the motorcycle riders in waving American flags.
The Gay Left would call Me a "homophobe," but I think that Phelps' group is despicable. I hope they protest out here sometime and get struck by lightning.
#1
One of my old girlfriends is from Topeka and take my word for it, Phelps is a nut. He's also big fan of both Saddam Hussein and Castro, though nobody seems to mention that much when they consider some of his loonier actions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2005 0:42 Comments ||
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#2
Good job, but also where's the HELL'S ANGELS when you need 'em.
Your mission, your you accept it or not is to shut up. As usual if you or one of your croonies> agents is to be captured or killed the State Department will deny any involvement. This tape will self-destroy NOW. Kaboom!!!
#7
It's a pity that the US has forgotten its proud tradition of horsewhipping noisy and disruptive sociopaths. Probably due to a shortage of good horsewhips and skilled users. One good "crack!" was usually all it took to make them skeedaddle.
Of course, we still have tar and chicken feathers available in abundance, and I think that seeing Fred Phelps hoisted up on a 4x4, sporting a healthy coating of both as he is escorted to the city limits would make a memorable photographic essay.
#8
I wanna see Fred Phelps hoisted up by his neck on the nearest lamp-post, but that's just me, y'know?
Posted by: Mike ||
10/14/2005 12:12 Comments ||
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#9
The gay left would call Dubya a "homophobe" as well, despite the fact that he's done more to improve the lives of thousands gay muslims in Afghanistan & Iraq than, perhaps, anyone in history. I say this as someone in a committed gay relationship (13 years next month!) who traveled to Vermont to get a civil union license. Many in the press would use Phelps as an example of how the real threat in the world is "religious extremism" or "fundamentalism". His isolated & marginalized place in the American Christian community demonstrate otherwise. Self-appointed spokesmen for the gay community should keep that in mind when waxing hysterically over Bush being part of the "American Taliban" or any other such nonsense. God bless Rantburg & the USA!
#11
Phelps wanted to erect a monument to the death of Matthew Shepard which would carry an inscription saying "On this day, Matthew Shepard entered hell." I believe he intended to have it unveiled on Shepherd's birthday. Of course, a publicity junkie like him didn't follow the letter of the law and place the "memorial" at the actual place of Shephard's death. He wanted to place it in the nearby town instead.
There was rampant specualtion that the local constabulary would de-emphasize enforcement against those who sought to deface the vile construct.
Phelps is precisely what America has to fear about fundamentalism of any stripe. Fred is merely the Christian side of fanaticism's coin. He is every bit as evil as his Muslim counterparts.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Employment tribunals are making running a business in Britain "unviable", according to lingerie entrepreneur Michelle Mone, one of Scotland's best-known businesswomen. Mrs Mone, 34, who found fame by creating the Ultimo gel-filled bra six years ago, said the amount of protection given to British workers has created a compensation culture that is stifling productivity and innovation. "Employees have to be protected - in America they're not protected enough, but in the UK I think they're protected too much," said Mrs Mone, founder and co-owner of Glasgow-based MJM International, which she runs with her husband. "It's just unviable for companies at the moment. All the fun has been taken out of having a company. You're frightened to open your mouth."
Blowing hot against journalists Zahiruddin Swapan MP has called for beating them for what he said dishing out false and fabricated reports. "They are terrorists, toll collectors, purchasable at mere two taka," Swapan said while speaking at a puja mandap at Agailjhara on Wednesday. "Give them a mass beating if you find them publishing false and fabricated reports. If you fail, please inform me, I will take action against them," said the viprous tongued lawmaker. 
