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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.


Friday, August 27, 2004

John O'Neill, author of the much-publicizes Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book asks John Kerry a series of simple questions in today's WSJ:

How many different ways will John Kerry devise to ask President Bush to condemn our ads and squash our book? Why, Mr. Kerry, are our charges as a 527 group unacceptable to you, while the pronouncements from 527 groups favorable to you are considered acceptable, regardless of stridency and veracity? And we do not have a George Soros, willing to drop millions into our modest group. We control our message. To date, we have received $2 million from 30,000 Americans who have donated an average amount of around $64.

Mr. Kerry, we ask you not to repeat the same mistake you made when you returned from war: Please stop maligning your fellow veterans. Dealing with us should be easy. Just answer our charges. Produce your Vietnam journal and notes, and execute Standard Form 180 so the American people can see your complete military record -- not just the few forms you put on your website or show to campaign biographers.


Why, indeed, Senator Kerry.

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.: posted by Dave 9:41 AM



Thursday, August 26, 2004

In case you missed John Kerry's performance on the Daily Show, here's a link to it. (Quicktime is required).

UPDATE: "Would that it were?" Who says that, besides John Kerry, of course?

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.: posted by Dave 7:55 PM


Is this Kerry's Fahrenheit 9/11? We'll see if it gets anywhere near the publicity as Michael Moore's tripe.

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.: posted by Dave 7:54 PM


On "Connecting the Dots":

A Bush campaign lawyer advises some of the SBVTs and the Left has a fit. But, why aren't they going ballistic over Max Cleland's connections to the Bush Administration?



Yes, that's right. Mad Max is an employee of the Bushies. Where's the outrage?

Speaking of outrage, I'm still looking for some consistency, such as this man's resignation.

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.: posted by Dave 1:32 PM



Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Opinari's 1000th Post:

This is the 1000th post since I first posted on Opinari back in 2002. Since I started blogging, I have become somewhat of a news addict. I've discovered sources I never knew existed. I find that I look for three sides to every story much more often than I did before becoming a blogger. I've met people through blogging I would not have known otherwise. I've learned to accept that polarization creates confrontation, which leads normally reasonable people to insult people who speak from a side with which they disagree.

On a personal level, I have become a displaced Southerner in Connecticut, a husband, a father, a homeowner, and a holder of a Masters Degree. Whew. I don't know what the next 1000 posts will hold for me, but if they are as full as the first 1000, I have a lot to look forward to.

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.: posted by Dave 9:34 PM


Now you can view RSS and Atom feeds using your Palm web browser using Newsmob. I've been using HandRSS for months now, but it is not freeware. I think Newsmob might be a better way to go, especially given my positive experience using other web-based aggregators like Bloglines.

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.: posted by Dave 9:28 PM


Still think the Swift Boat Veterans' brouhaha is about who wins the White House? Think again.

This isn't about George Bush or who has a Senate majority for me. It isn't about politics. It's about a bunch of young men who never grew old. It's about the families of some 58,000 men who cannot answer the slander that this War Hee-row has never retracted.

I tried to answer that slander in 1971, I had no one to hear my voice. No way to reach anyone but my family. I have that way now, if only commenting on other people's forums.

It isn't about me. It isn't even about politics. It's about restoring the honor to the 58,000 names carved in black granite.


In my small world, I know several Vietnam veterans. To a man, they all say the same thing as the veteran says above. The least we can do is let them say it.

Hat tip to Dean Esmay

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.: posted by Dave 9:24 PM


James Taranto opines on the Colorado proposal to enact proportional allocation of electoral votes:

What would happen if every state adopted the proposed Colorado system? For one thing, "swing" states would be a thing of the past; the difference between carrying Iowa and losing it by a small plurality would be 1 electoral vote (4-3 vs. 3-4) rather than 7. This would benefit large states at the expense of small ones. It's a lot easier to shift, say, 3.2% of the vote in New York (which has 31 electoral votes) than 25% in New Hampshire (4).

It would also increase the importance of third parties, thereby possibly pushing the major parties to extremes. No third-party candidate has carried a state since George Wallace in 1968, but under a proportional system for choosing electors, several would have won electoral votes.

We ran the numbers for the 2000 election, and it turns out that if all states followed the proposed Colorado system, Ralph Nader would have garnered 6 electoral votes (2 from California and 1 each from Massachusetts, Ohio, New York and Texas). Gore would have outpolled Bush, 268-264, but neither candidate would have had a 270-vote majority. If Gore was unable to persuade two Nader electors to break ranks and vote for him--which presumably would have entailed policy concessions to their far-left agenda--the election would have been thrown to the House. We haven't run the numbers for 1992, but it's unlikely that Bill Clinton's 43% popular-vote plurality would have translated into an electoral majority under a proportional system.

In the long run, this initiative would be bad for Colorado as a whole. Even in the short run, it benefits only the candidate who fails to carry the state, and by definition he does not command a majority of voters. So we'd be very surprised if Coloradans were foolish enough to pass this misguided measure.


Of course, this analysis assumes proportional allocation nationwide. Colorado's initiative seems motivated to split the electoral vote in the traditionally Republican state. If largely Republican states began to split their electoral votes, while highly Democratic states did not, the benefit to the Democratic candidate would be obvious.

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.: posted by Dave 9:08 PM


Google to Pay Bloggers:

In recent weeks, the company removed the advertising from the free Blog*Spot blogs, replacing it with a navigation bar and a search box that redirects to Google.

Now, Google plans to revert to contextual ads powered by its AdSense program, which was launched last June, with a major twist.

"We are going to start paying bloggers. Soon you will be blogging for dollars. That's right people, chocolate is to peanut butter like AdSense is to blogs. Or is it the other way around? Either way, we've got something big here folks," the company said in a note posted online.

"We were making money from those ads, but you weren't getting any of it. Now, we're inviting you to set up your own Bloggerized AdSense account so that you make the money. What's the catch? We're going to take some of the action. Based on what we have learned from AdSense so far, this will work out very nicely for both of us," the company said.

Google did not say how much of the split will be shared with bloggers.


1% is 1% more than we are getting already. I'll be interested to see how this works.

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.: posted by Dave 7:30 PM


Just in case anyone tries to tell you that neither John Kerry, nor his campaign, has ever attacked President Bush's military service record, feel free to point them to Kerry's own website.

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.: posted by Dave 5:48 PM


Neal Boortz has an interesting fantasy campaign speech. My response: Hip hip, hooray!

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.: posted by Dave 1:03 PM


The Swift Ship Veterans for Truth? Han Solo's service to the Alliance being questioned? Say it ain't so!

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.: posted by Dave 12:13 PM




Rumors about the Treo 610 have been circulating for weeks now. Today, PDA247 links to Bargain PDA, which is already listing the 610 on their website. A Treo with a 320 X 320 screen and Bluetooth is exactly what I have been waiting for.

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.: posted by Dave 11:58 AM


How to Make the USPS Even Slower:

The USPS said this week that it is turning to SAP to replace the aging software that was developed internally to manage its more than 700,000 employees -- one-third of the civilian workforce of the federal government.

Oh geez, say it ain't so! They're turning to this monolithic beast of an ERP system to make themselves more efficient? {sigh} Note to self: decrease future expectations of mail arrival times.

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.: posted by Dave 11:49 AM


Lean Left offers the Kerry Challenge to liberal bloggers, who are accused by others (myself included) of being for Kerry mainly because he isn't Bush. I've found the posts to be an interesting exercise in attempting to justify a Kerry presidency.

The most comprehensive list of reasons to endorse John Kerry come from a site called Global Stewards. This compendium of pro-Kerry rationale contains two basic items: vague platitudes, and liberal mantras. The former are not specific enough to be called reasons, and the latter are, in fact, reasons for people in the middle and to the right of center politically to NOT vote for John Kerry. In fact, if Global Stewards' reason # 10 were used as a campaign commercial, I believe more voters would endorse Preseident Bush as a result than they would John Kerry.

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.: posted by Dave 10:58 AM



Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Terrorism in Russia?

A Russian airliner crashed and a second disappeared from radar about the same time Tuesday night after both planes took off from the Moscow airport, raising fears that terrorism was involved.

There was no word on survivors among the 89 people believed to be aboard the planes, which left from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Russian news agencies reported.

President Vladimir Putin ordered an investigation by the nation's top intelligence agency, and security was tightened at airports across the country.

Authorities have expressed concern that separatist rebels in the breakaway republic of Chechnya (search) could carry out attacks linked to this Sunday's presidential election there. Rebels have been blamed for a series of terror strikes that have claimed hundreds of lives.


Stay tuned.

UPDATE: CNN reports that the second plane wreckage has been found.

UPDATE 2: National Business Review reports that a bomb has also exploded on a street in Moscow. Itar-Tass news agency in Moscow also reports on the bus explosion.

UPDATE 3: Michael Silence is reporting that the top Russian security spokesman is saying that wreckage fragments show that there was no terrorist act on board the crashed jets. I'm curious as to how they can definitively determine that from fragments (other than determining that an incendiary device was not the cause of the crash).

UPDATE 4: Backcountry Conservative has a link filled roundup.

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.: posted by Dave 8:36 PM



Monday, August 23, 2004

This is the stupidest thing I have read today:

When it comes to correcting papers and grading tests, purple is emerging as the new red.

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton, Mass. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red."


So an F in red is scarier than an F in purple? Aaugh! If things like this are the priorities of today's breed of educators, I feel sorry for any child that is subject to being educated in a 21st-century government school.

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.: posted by Dave 2:12 PM


Read this account of the situation in Najaf.

An excerpt...

"It appears to me that in April and May we killed the best and brightest [of the Mahdi army]," 1st Lt. Brian Suits of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division in Najaf, said during a radio interview with talk-radio host Kirby Wilbur on Seattle's KVI radio, last Thursday. "What al Sadr is doing now is sending in the guys who are left behind to make a statement. He's running out of guys. The guys he has are frankly running out of motivation. There are ill-prepared and ill-trained. They are beginning to question their authority. I think they're saying 'wait a minute, you told us that God was going to guide our bullets, but we haven't killed one American soldier in our area and we are dying left and right here.'"

Suits added, "This is not a Shia uprising. It's just the people we are fighting happen to be Shia. But 99 percent of this country think this guy needs to get out of the holiest place in Shia Islam and fight his war somewhere else."

According to Suits, the vast majority of the Arabic-language news outlets in Iraq, "except Al Jazeera," are making the point that al Sadr is hiding behind the American respect for Shia Islam. Iraqis, now granted never-before-realized freedoms, are refusing to buy into the propaganda of the past.

"They're seeing one reality with their own eyes, then they turn to Al Jazeera and see something far different," said Suits, adding that Iraqis also know that many of the remaining Mahdi militiamen are "thugs, thieves, and drug addicts."

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.: posted by Dave 2:03 PM


Eric Engen and Kevin Hassett have performed some worthwhile economic analysis of John Kerry's myriad spending proposals:

Our best estimate is that Kerry's proposals will add up to between $2 trillion and $2.1 trillion over the next ten years. Since the revenue from his tax proposals relative to the current baseline is actually negative, this implies that the Kerry proposal would increase the deficit by perhaps as much as $2.5 trillion over the next ten years.

They attained these numbers through "generous accounting" procedures that assumed a sum of zero for a proposed spending program where no spending numbers were available.

President Bush has been no friend of fiscal conservatism, but to exchange his administration for a Kerry administration would seem to be economic suicide. Even so, as long as we have an opposing Republican legislative branch, there is no way these proposals would be enacted.

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.: posted by Dave 12:09 PM


This little snippet from last week's MetroPulse epitomizes the problems we have here in Connecticut with labor unions:

An AFSCME union local filed a grievance against East Haven, Conn., mayor Joe Maturo recently for violating the city’s labor contract by personally doing the civic task of reaching down into a storm drain and repositioning the drain cover, which Maturo noticed had become dislodged. According to the union, if a cover comes loose, the city is required to call out exactly four union employees, three of whom would get time and a half and be guaranteed four hours’ work. Said union president John Longley, “It’s not about the money; it’s about our work.” (Maturo, a licensed electrician, was a longtime union member himself.)

Here is the link from NBC 30 dated August 3rd.

The problem is that this behavior, which seems so absurd, has become institutionalized in the Nutmeg State.

Take for example some of the asisine rules at an anonymous manufacturing facility in central Connecticut. In order to assess the viability of certain repairs to certain components of turbine engines, the parts must be inspected by the engineering group and tested for stress, corrosivity, tensile and compressive strength, etc. Such assessments can only be done by a qualified engineer. However, a qualified engineer is not allowed to expedite components from one place to another... even if the distance to be expedited is only a matter of feet. Thus, components must be moved by a union worker who has no more involvement in the process. Surely a highly trained and educated engineer is also qualified to carry a composite shaft from point A to point B, no? Not in the wonderful world of the union worker.

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.: posted by Dave 11:55 AM



Sunday, August 22, 2004

Astoundingly, Al Franken and Air America have actually agree with blogs like Little Green Footballs about a common cause. The cause? "Raising awareness for small charities around the world" says the site, Strengthen The Good.

I think this is an outstanding idea, as charities of all sorts can benefit from bloggers across the globe from all walks of life and all political leanings. It's nice to see that there is still something on which we can all agree.

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.: posted by Dave 9:43 PM


According to Boing Boing, BugMeNot.com is back online.

Our stinkin' host pulled the plug on us without notice (pretty obvious they were pressured somehow). But everything is sweet again- I've been in talk with our new hosts nearlyfreespeech.net -- they are very sympathetic to the cause and won't be pulling the plug on us again. Thanks for your support and concern but they are going to have to pry this site from my cold, dead hands :)

Great news for news junkies. Bad news for insane registration-required sites.

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.: posted by Dave 9:31 PM


This about sums up for me why the "Christmas in Cambodia" issue for Senator Kerry matters:

Like the issue of President Bush's National Guard service, the Cambodian Christmas story is important only for the light it may shed on a candidate's mind and character. But unlike the Bush story, Kerry's Cambodian story set off no media frenzy.

It is this double standard from the media elites that is so bothersome. Further, Kerry made Vietnam his raison d'etre for being uniquely qualified for being President of the United States. If he can't be trusted to report the details properly, how can he be trusted to be President? This is the question the media seems reluctant to ask.

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.: posted by Dave 9:27 PM



Friday, August 20, 2004

Michelle Malkin reports on her experience on MSNBC's Hardball. Go and read about it. It's strikingly similar to the debacle with John O'Neill a few days ago when Chris Matthews apparently lost his grasp on reality.

Her conclusions:

I am used to playing hardball. I expect it. I am used to ad hominem attacks. I get more in a day than most of these wussies have received in their lifetimes. But what happened last night was pure slimeball and the unfair, unbalanced, and unhinged purveyors of journalism, or whatever it is they call what they do at MSNBC, should be ashamed.

What I take away from all this is that the Democrat Party waterboys in the media are in full desperation mode. I have now witnessed firsthand and up close (Matthews' spittle nearly hit me in the face) how the pressure from alternative media sources--the blogosphere, conservative Internet forums, talk radio, Regnery Publishing, FOX News, etc. --is driving these people absolutely batty.

Keep bringing it on.


Yeah. What she said.

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.: posted by Dave 10:44 AM


What Nuclear Secrets?

An inventory has found another case of missing data involving nuclear weapons, this time at the Energy Department's regional office in Albuquerque, N.M., the department disclosed Thursday.

The Energy Department said that an "accounting discrepancy" involving three copies of a "controlled removable electronic media" — or CREM — was found at the regional office as part of the nationwide inventory of such devices.

The inventory was ordered a month ago after two CREM data devices were reported missing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, also in New Mexico. The Albuquerque facility, part of the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, coordinates activities with the Los Alamos weapons lab.

Bryan Wilkes, an NNSA spokesman, said that the inventory discovered three copies of a single CREM unaccounted for. He declined to elaborate further except to say the device contained information involving nuclear weapons.


What the hell are these people doing over there? Some heads should roll for these lax security procedures.

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.: posted by Dave 10:38 AM


Dean Esmay asks if anyone has played the political PC game Frontrunner. I hadn't even heard of it until Dean mentioned it. I think I will spend a weekend playing it... it looks very interesting. More on this soon.

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.: posted by Dave 10:15 AM


Boing Boing reports on the (hopefully temporary) demise of BugMeNot.com:

A recent post on the MozillaZine forums by someone understood to be the admin for Bugmenot.com says:

"Our host pulled the plug. I reckon they were pressured. If anyone has got some secure, preferably offshore hosting in mind then please let us know so we can get the service back up as soon as possible."


I hope these guys find some server space soon. I've become accustomed to using their service.

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.: posted by Dave 10:10 AM



Thursday, August 19, 2004

Piscopo for Governor of New Jersey? There must be a correlation between bodybuilding and running for state executive.

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.: posted by Dave 9:55 PM


I like Alan Keyes, but I don't like waffling and this certainly seems like waffling to me:

"I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there. So I certainly wouldn't imitate it."

I didn't like Hillary running for Senate in New York either. It just goes to show that in many ways, politicians are all alike.

MORE: Michelle Malkin on Keyes' changing position on slavery reparations. Can we just concede that Barack Obama is going to win this race, and put Keyes out to pasture before he looks more foolish than he already does?

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.: posted by Dave 9:41 PM


Why is Wes Clark bitching about President Bush's proposed movement of U.S. troops from Germany to more strategic locations like Poland? It can only be because President Bush proposed it, so it must be wrong. I am guessing that if Dubya fired Rumsfeld and hired Clark as Secretary of Defense, ol' Wes would find something wrong with the idea.

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.: posted by Dave 9:24 PM


A very interesting proposition is discussed in the Wall Street Journal today:

What would you say if we told you we have a way to add as many as eight new Republican senators to Congress. We could also add eight right-leaning votes to the electoral college? It's simple, it's fun, and it's perfectly constitutional: Texas should divide itself into five states.

Art. IV, Sec. 3 of the U.S. Constitution says that new states may be created out of existing ones, but only with the consent of "the States concerned as well as of the Congress."

These days, partisan Congress would never agree to a Texas carve-up, since any resulting new states would surely be politically conservative. But Congress need not take any action at all today: It granted its consent to Texas's potential subdivision 159 years ago. This made sense, as those had been the terms that Texas, a sovereign nation at the time, had negotiated for entering the Union. One provision of the 1845 Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas, passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Tyler, reads as follows:

New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution.

The "New States of convenient size" provision is the constitutionally required consent of Congress to carving a new state out of an existing one. And it is still in effect: There is absolutely no reason to believe that this provision -- a U.S. statute -- expires on its own without being repealed. So all that remains is for Texas to say "Yes" and act to divide itself into five. This will necessitate some Texas politicking, but probably not much more than the redistricting drama of 2003. Then, Democratic legislators holed up in Oklahoma and New Mexico in a failed attempt to stymie a GOP redistricting plan that eliminated a decade-old pro-Democrat distortion.


Wouldn't it be fun political theater to hear the various Bush-Texas conspiracies behind that one?

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.: posted by Dave 9:00 PM


Porn queen Jenna Jameson has penned her autobiography. The Hartford Courant's Tara Weiss opines:

When she met her second husband, Jay Gardina, an adult-movie producer whom she calls her true love, she stopped having intercourse on camera with anyone but him. She describes sex with Jay as incredible. It raises the question: How is it possible for her, a woman who has sex for a living, to feel a connection with her husband during sex, since she trained herself to disconnect from it for so long?

After all, it seems as if it would be akin to those stories friends told about working at McDonald's. After making those fries and Big Macs for so long, you just get sick of their smell and can't eat them.


I've often wondered the same thing. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 8:57 PM


The top party school in the country is SUNY? Come on. When did SUNY ever win a football game, inciting the student body to tear down the goalposts?

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.: posted by Dave 3:24 PM


I'm usually not one to hop on the bandwagon, but since some of my fellow RTB bloggers are violating the asinine Athens 2004 Olympics linking policy, I thought I would do my part as well.

LINK.

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.: posted by Dave 3:02 PM


Bubba points to an ongoing credit card scam in Knoxville. I'm curious as to why the victim didn't return to the convenience store and try to identify the clerk who allegedly swapped her card. In any case, I hope they apprehend the perpetrator(s)... that is, if the KPD bothers to pay attention.

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.: posted by Dave 2:40 PM


Humorous story of the day:

A German woman thought she had been robbed by sedative-toting thieves when she returned to her car to find $470 (380 euros) missing and her dog vomiting, only to discover the pet had eaten the cash, police said on Thursday.

“She thought the dog had been drugged and that thieves had taken the money,” a police spokesman in the western town of Aschaffenburg said. “The woman had withdrawn the money and hidden it under bank statements on the passenger seat.”

She informed police and took the dog to a vet.

“The vet gave the dog an injection and after 20 minutes six of the 50 euro notes reappeared,” the spokesman said.

“The dog spat out the rest of the money in shreds along with the bank statements.”

“It should be noted that the damaged bank notes can be changed at the state central bank, so that there was no material loss in this case,” the police said in a statement.


I wouldn't want to be the bank teller for that transaction.

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.: posted by Dave 2:28 PM


Senator Kerry finally speaks about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth:

“Here’s what you really need to know about them. They’re funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They’re a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won’t denounce what they’re up to tells you everything you need to know. He wants them to do his dirty work.”

Wrong, Mr. Kerry. President Bush is not the Swift Boat Veterans. He is not affiliated with them. He has nothing to do with them. They have received sizable contributions from Republicans. So what? Michael Moore received sizable funding from Democrats. Does that make him a pawn of John Kerry? No, it doesn't.

(An aside: one can only wonder where John Kerry was when then-Governor Bush was being called a racist in several advertisements during the 2000 campaign. I saw no denouncements then from any Democrat.)

If Kerry wants the White House to publicly condemn the allegations by the Swift Boat Veterans, he should first denounce the tactics used by the Michael Moores of the world. He should first end his own hypocrisy by stating categorically how asinine Mr. Moore's assertions are. But this will never happen, because it is much more to Kerry's benefit to accuse the President of being somehow the instigator of these accusations.

The White House has never accused Kerry of being "unfit for command" on the basis of the Swift Boat Veterans' allegations, nor will they. President Bush has however steadfastly questioned Kerry's voting record, and his policies. President Bush has never partaken in any character assassination related to Kerry's military record. One can only hope the Kerry campaign can learn to make the distinction, because the American public certainly will.

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.: posted by Dave 2:11 PM




I would order this if it weren't French.

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.: posted by Dave 11:19 AM


You know football season is upon us when you get your first 'Bama joke in your email:

The United States Mint has announced a recall of the new Alabama quarters.
"We are recalling all of the new Alabama quarters that were recently issued", Treasury Undersecretary Russell Shackelford said in a press conference Monday. "This comes in the wake of numerous reports to this agency that the quarters will not work in parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, pay phones, or other coin-operated devices.

We believe the problem lies in a design flaw," said Shackelford. The winning design for the Alabama quarter was submitted by Auburn student Bubba Cowpoke.

"Apparently, the duct tape holding together the two dimes and the nickel keeps jamming the coin-operated devices."


Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 10:37 AM


The USA Today reports:

Fans and retailers alike are preparing for the assault of the most anticipated DVD of them all: the Star Wars Trilogy.

Fox plans to ship millions of the four-disc collection ($70) to retailers, many of which have special promotions rewarding those who preorder the DVDs before the release Sept. 21.


Good news for Star Wars fans (like me!)

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.: posted by Dave 9:26 AM


Anyone know what happened to BugMeNot.com? I noticed this morning that their search doesn't work, nor does the FAQ, or any of the other links. Did someone issue an injunction that I don't know about?

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.: posted by Dave 9:24 AM



Monday, August 16, 2004

There is something inherently torturous about sitting through twenty hours of meetings in a four day period. Ugh!

Thank God for Bluetooth and Palm handhelds!

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.: posted by Dave 12:56 PM



Thursday, August 12, 2004

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will monitor the U.S. election Nov. 2 at President Bush's invitation. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.

"OSCE members, including the United States, agreed in 1990 in Copenhagen to allow fellow members to observe elections in one another's countries.

The OSCE, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, has deployed observers to more than 150 elections in Europe and around the world. The observer team will arrive in September to plan how to monitor the election, including how many observers to send and where to deploy them.

OSCE officials deployed an observer team to monitor the most recent U.S. general election on Nov. 5, 2002.


Are these imbeciles going to show the voters in West Palm Beach how to punch a chad properly? I know this is old news, but I still feel the need to vent about it. Who the hell decided that we needed a European agency to monitor our elections? I don't recall the U.S monitoring any elections in Germany or France. Maybe we should have been present in Spain when their citizens were wussing out in the face of terrorism.

On second thought, let's let the haughty morons witness the machinations of our representative democracy. Then let's educate them, and the 30% of the public that still thinks we elect our presidents with direct popular vote, about the interworkings of the Electoral College. Maybe then no one will bitch that their vote wasn't "counted".

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.: posted by Dave 11:50 AM


Ever wondered what terrorists carry on their computer hard drives? Time magazine has the inventory.

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.: posted by Dave 11:47 AM


MSN Messenger users should know that there is a web-based client available now on the MSN website. It works from behind the corporate firewall too.

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.: posted by Dave 11:44 AM


A piece of my childhood goes 21st Century:



Introducing the Etch-a-Sketch, for your TV. Of course, everyone is wondering about effect of shaking it.

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.: posted by Dave 11:29 AM


Will Freescale replace Bluetooth? Maybe, but I hope it is backward-compatible with my umpteen Bluetooth accessories.

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.: posted by Dave 11:26 AM


The guys at SP2Torrent.com have been asked to remove their BitTorrent service for Windows XP SP2. For the uninitiated, BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer filesharing technology widely used to distribute large, popular downloads as an alternative to the more traditional, centralized method of distribution. BitTorrent is a much more pleasant experience than using the stupid Microsoft webpage to get the service pack.

Even though I am a professional Microsoft developer, I am slowly becoming disenchanted with their business practices, and some of their shoddy software (read: Internet Explorer). So, I guess I will go here to get the service pack if I need it.

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.: posted by Dave 11:15 AM


Tommy Franks' Mea Culpa:

Retired Gen. Tommy Franks tried to take the blame Monday for President Bush's much-criticized comments declaring an end to major combat in Iraq more than a year ago.

"That's my fault, that George W. Bush said what he said on the first of May of last year, just because I asked him to," said Franks, former commander of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Less than two months after the invasion of Iraq, Bush flew to a U.S. aircraft carrier and declared an end to major combat with a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" in the background.

The event, Bush's words and the banner have been repeatedly criticized and mocked since that first day of May 2003. The Iraq occupation turned more violent, American deaths continued to mount and U.S. forces failed to find weapons of mass destruction, a main rationale for the war.

"I wanted to get the phase of military operation over as quickly as I could, because a lot of countries on this planet had said as soon as that major stuff is over, we'll come in and help with all of the peacekeeping," Franks said.


Sometimes even good advisors give bad advice.

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.: posted by Dave 10:33 AM


Here's a list of those who will be blogging the RNC.

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.: posted by Dave 10:16 AM


Glenn Reynolds takes registration-required sites to task.

Registration schemes -- especially registration schemes that don't work well, which is most of them -- turn off readers. Those readers go somewhere else. And because web surfing is often a matter of habit, once turned off they're likely not to come back.

This is especially true for media outlets that are below the top tier. I might bother to register for the New York Times -- but probably not the Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times. And nobody's going to register at 150 different sites. Penenberg joins the chorus of web users asking newspapers to get together and establish a unitary registration scheme -- one that will let people sign on once, get the cookie, and seamlessly browse all the papers. Newspapers had better follow this advice, or they'll find people using an informal alternative, like the popular BugMeNot.com password-sharing website.


This is one of the reasons I use Firefox's BugMeNot plug-in, and that's why this is no longer a problem for me.

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.: posted by Dave 9:57 AM


James Joyner fisks spam from the Kerry campaign. Very entertaining. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 9:55 AM


Michael J. Totten issues a fatwa against Moqtada al Sadr. The U.S. military does their best to comply:

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault on militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric Thursday, with explosions and gunfire echoing near Najaf's revered Imam Ali shrine and its vast cemetery. Shooting also was reported near the rebel leader's home as huge plumes of smoke rose from the city.

Coalition forces were trying to crush an uprising led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose fighters have been battling U.S. troops and Iraqi government forces in Najaf and other Shiite strongholds across the country for a week.

''Major operations to destroy the militia have begun,'' said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

Thousands of U.S. troops were participating, he said.


The editorial staff at Opinari.net endorses this military exercise.

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.: posted by Dave 9:47 AM


Marine Denied Seat on Greyhound Bus:

An area Marine says he wasn’t allowed on a Greyhound Bus, despite having his ticket for several weeks.

All PFC Jay Griffin wanted to do was make it to combat training camp on time, he had his ticket in hand and was at the Greyhound Bus Station in Greenville before the bus arrived, but he was not allowed to board the bus. He was dressed in full uniform, and his mother says that may be the reason why he was denied the ride.

It was Griffin ’s first time using Greyhound, so he asked plenty of questions to make sure he was at the right place at the right time. Fifteen minutes before the bus even arrived, he says he was waiting with his bags at the curb. His mother, Carol Holden says when the bus got there, no one attempted to load his camouflage bags. "So I tapped [the baggage loader] and said, 'what about my son's baggage? And he looked at me and said he may not have a seat."

That’s when the bus driver called for all ticket holders.

"So Jay went on around and he went to board the bus and when he did, the driver put his arm across the doorway and said I don't have a seat for you," explains Carol.

Greyhound says, “We do not have reserved seats, seating is on a first come, first serve basis. An advance purchase ticket guarantees a discounted fare, but it does not guarantee a seat.”

But Griffin ’s mother claims the ticket seller said any last minute tickets were clearly marked as “standby,” in red. And other ticket holders would have a seat. "He said the bus driver checked the tickets as they boarded the bus and that he knew the stand-bys were to be held until the regular ticket holders were seated."

According to Carol the clerk gave no explanation other than, "All he said was some of the drivers think they're God."

Carol says, "I don't think the driver intended to let him on from the very beginning."


For its part, Greyhound is doing damage control:

A Greyhound spokesperson says they are not familiar with the “stand-by” tickets used by the Greenville station, but an investigation is underway and Greyhound has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

There could be more to this story than is being reported, and hopefully, the company will determine what circumstances warranted an advance purchasing passenger to be denied a seat. Stay tuned.

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.: posted by Dave 9:37 AM


Summer Mudslinging Redux:

National Guard records. Fahrenheit 9/11. Swift Boat Veterans. Cambodia lies. And today...

One of the radio ads addresses Kerry's failure to vote on a bill to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks: "It needed 60 votes to pass. Ninety-nine out of 100 senators voted -- Kerry did not! It lost by one vote! Maybe Kerry thought the more of us who are unemployed and hurting, the more likely we would vote Democrat."
Another ad attacks Teresa Heinz Kerry, who, at the Democratic convention last month cited her birth and upbringing in Mozambique and who has described herself as African American. In the radio commercial, the announcer says: "His wife says she's an African American. While technically true, I don't believe a white woman, raised in Africa, surrounded by servants, qualifies."

The Kerry campaign denounced the ads, all of which are being aired on radio stations with largely black audiences. "It's disgusting that the president's political allies are now using race as a political weapon," said Bill Lynch, deputy manager of the Kerry campaign. "First a group of right-wing Swift boat veterans began smearing John Kerry's military service, and now another group has resorted to playing racial politics."


First of all, there is no credibility in such a denouncement from the side which decided during the 2000 campaign to use the same tactics against then-Governor Bush. But this fact aside, I think it's only a matter of time until most of the voting public will become weary of the vitriol coming from BOTH sides.

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.: posted by Dave 9:26 AM


The Governator won't be doing much campaigning for Dubya, it seems.

"The governor will do anything he can to help," chief of staff Pat Clarey insisted to USA Today – except that "anything" does not include campaigning for Bush in Nevada, Arizona, Oregon or anywhere else outside California.

Both "macho politicians," as the paper described them, dismiss talk of a rift, but it noted "the relationship between the two camps has been tense."


Major causes of the tension:

  • Like most Californians, Schwarzenegger is a liberal on social issues such as gay rights, stem cell research and abortion.

  • He irked the White House by calling for a massive infusion of federal aid. He's still waiting for his billions.

  • Sacramento and Washington have also clashed on such issues as offshore oil leases, border security and money for costly after-school programs.


  • This doesn't seem entirely implausible, nor should it be too relevant, since Bush isn't likely to carry California anyway.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:11 AM


    Nancy Pelosi, June 5th, Chattanooga Times:

    "Whoever replaces Tenet needs to be independent of political pressure. (Goss) has shown that ability as chairman of the House Intelligence panel."

    Nancy Pelosi, August 10th, Seattle P.I. (among others):

    "A person should not be the director of central intelligence who has acted in a very political way, when we're dealing with the safety of the American people."

    So who's playing politics, Nancy?

    UPDATE: And of course, Michael Moore throws in his $0.02.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:49 AM


    ABC can't seem to find anyone who voted for Gore in 2000 who now plans on voting for Bush in 2004. They even solicited email by saying "If you are that elusive figure, e-mail us and tell us who you are and why."

    Well, Jeff Harrell is one of those people. He says there are more where he came from. Read his letter to ABC News.

    UPDATE: Charles Johnson calls for comments, and points out that Ed Koch came forward months ago.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:40 AM


    Jeff Jarvis says:

    "I didn't care about the hooha hooey over Bush's military work records just as I don't care about the hooha hooey over Kerry and the swift boat vets. It's all about trying to find a gotcha. It's sniping. It's not about running the country and improving the world. Enough already."

    I don't disagree with the sentiment, but let's remember one thing. Kerry has made his service in Vietnam the centerpiece of his candidacy. Bush never claimed to be qualified to be commander-in-chief based on his prowess in flying military jets for the National Guard. This is a can of worms that Kerry and his camp are responsible for opening. As such, the Bushies shouldn't be expected to sit back and take it on the chin.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:35 AM


    A friend of mine alerted me to this new service:

    PhotoStamps is an exciting new service that allows you to create your own customized postage. Whether you have a wedding to announce, a new baby in the family or a business to promote, PhotoStamps are a fun and easy way to add a personal touch to all of your mailings.

    $16.99 for 20 stamps is probably not too much to pay for the novelty of mailing baby pictures out to friends and relatives.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:30 AM


    WalMart 1, Toys (backwards R) Us 0:

    Toys "R" Us Inc., battered by price wars from discounters, particularly Wal-Mart, is considering getting out of the toy business.

    [...]

    The $11.6 billion company is also pursuing a possible spinoff of its fast-growing Babies "R" Us, whose 200 stores sell furniture, including cribs and bedding, as well as accessories. The company will begin operating the toy and baby business as separate entities in the meantime.


    This should have happened a long time ago. Discount chains like Wal-Mart and Target have more buying power than Toys (backwards R) Us, and usually a better selection (at least in my experience. Anyway, if you're looking for discount toys, buying online through retailers like Amazon (who has their own pissing contest with Toys (backwards R) Us) is the way to go.

    As far as a baby product retailer, no one has surpassed Babies (backwards R) Us... yet.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:22 AM



    Sunday, August 08, 2004

    Wow, has it really been seven days since my last post? The family and I have been, shall we say, distracted by home renovation. We have been adding furniture, assembling pieces, preparing for the in-laws (who arrived this afternoon), and cleaning like mad. The garbage pile outside my office window rivals the landfills in some countries.

    All of this included a trip to IKEA (which I may or may not blog about at a future date), and a double trip to the furniture store for a Simmons sectional sleeper which somehow has been retrofitted to be a sofa only. This leads me to a question. Has anyone ever bought a sleeper sofa that wouldn't open, no matter what you tried? Well, we did, and I am sure we aren't the first. We haven't yet pinpointed the cause, but it seems that there is an extra piece of wood made onto the frame that shouldn't be there. This annoyance is thusly keeping us from sleeping on the sofa as intended. So... my wife and I will instead tonight sleep head to head, cursing Simmons, Puritan Furniture, and anyone else involved with the manufacture of said sofa.

    Maybe I will blog some more later, and maybe I won't. In the meantime, I will lay here, wishing pestilence on the aforementioned companies and their management.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:43 PM



    Sunday, August 01, 2004

    Although I usually blog quite a bit on weekends, I made a conscious decision that this weekend would instead be devoted to time with my wife and infant son. I felt this way even more after I spoke to my friend, Greg, about the recent loss of his wife. After blogging about it, one person already has contacted me about sending money to the Cynthia Lane Scholarship Fund. I am much obliged, and so will Greg be.

    Anyway, today was the annual Italian Festival, and parade. It was very interesting to see the members of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel playing instruments, and carrying her image down the street, playing a song and shooting some sort of cannon each time they came to an Italian household or business (which was quite a few times in my neighborhood).

    The evening was culminated with a visit to the Italian Festival carnival, where we had cannolis, eclairs, various pastries, some fried dough with sauce and parmesan (basically a bare pizza), and Italian sausage and green peppers on a grinder (with the hottest "sweet" peppers I have ever had!) Then, my son was treated to a ride on the carousel... the sight of my nine-month old baby boy, wide-eyed, smiling through his blue pacifier, laughing and giggling while my wife accompanied him was worth more than you can imagine. I wish I had taken the camera with me, but I neglected to consider that I might actually want to capture the moment.

    A day well spent? You know it. Blogging resumes tomorrow.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:18 PM





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