Patriotism and the Press - New York Times

Patriotism and the Press - New York Times

The Times is feeling the heat as well they should. They were wrong to publish the story and the leakers were wrong to have provided them the information on which the story is based.

I agree with President Bush. Publishing classified information in a time of war is 'disgraceful.' The Times deserves all the heat and criticism it's receiving. I will probably let my TimesSelect subscription expire this fall and cease reading the Times in favor of some other source.

Here are more Bush quotes from a Reuters news story today:

``There can be no excuse for anyone entrusted with vital intelligence to leak it, and no excuse for any newspaper to print it,'' Bush said at a fund-raiser in St. Louis.

``It's tough enough to fight the terrorists, we shouldn't have to worry about news organizations revealing important information ... that makes it more difficult to protect our country,'' he said.

The Times has shown itself untrustworthy in the cause of national security. This publisher cannot be cannot be trusted to behave in the interests of our nation.

Group Tries to Block Program Giving Data to U.S. - New York Times

Group Tries to Block Program Giving Data to U.S. - New York Times

One wonders if Privacy International is on the terrorists' payroll. These complaints deserve to be deposited in the global trash bin.

Justices Block Vermont Campaign Finance Law - New York Times

Justices Block Vermont Campaign Finance Law - New York Times

This is the correct decision. I have maintained since this law was passed that people have a right to free speech and any candidate for office should be allowed to spend what they want.

Similarly, I think there should be no limit on donations to specific campaigns. If the money isn't spent on that campaign, it should be returned on a pro-rata basis, or given to a legitimate charity , unless the donor agrees that the candidate can 'keep' it.

Long term officeholders should not be allowed to build war chests for future campaigns. That unfairly favors incumbents.

What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It? - New York Times

What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It? - New York Times:

Ain't it the truth. Muni WiFi is wonderful...if it's free.

"'There is a lot of hype about public access,' said Craig J. Settles, a technology consultant in Oakland, Calif., and author of 'Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless.' 'What's missing from a lot of these discussions is what people are willing to pay for.'"

Letter From Bill Keller on The Times's Banking Records Report - New York Times

Letter From Bill Keller on The Times's Banking Records Report - New York Times

That Keller published this letter at all means that The Times has taken enormous heat for exposing the government's monitoring of SWIFT banking transactions. After reading his rationale, I am unpersuaded that he did the right thing. I fail to see that his decision is in the public interest, as he claimed initially and expands upon here, but more in the interest of embarrassing the Administration.

Revealing classified information is seldom in the national interest.

Buffett to Give Billions to Gates Charity and Others - New York Times

Buffett to Give Billions to Gates Charity and Others - New York Times

Thankfully, both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are using their wealth to benefit humanity. I much prefer this method or wealth redistribution than any government program.

Now, I wonder what the oil-rich Saudi billionaires are doing with their gazillions??

The American Thinker

Indict The New York Times?

My emotions run the same is this author's, but deeper thinking suggests that any terrorist or jihadist worth his/her salt understands that the U.S. has very powerful capabilities to find and track electronic communications and transactions.

While I think it's piss-poor journalism for the Times to publish this classified information while we are waging war on terror, I think their real reasons for doing this are their falling financial fortunes and readership combined with their burning hatred for the Bush administration. The public interest argument that is used rings hollow with most Americans

The Times publishing leadership must have some nasty potion, perhaps form the Daily Kos, permeating their collective thinking that turns the "Grey Lady" into a "Black Witch."

Top U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Sharp Troop Cut - New York Times

Top U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Sharp Troop Cut - New York Times:

Here is the in-a-nutshell version of the problems in Iraq:

"According to accounts by American officials, General Casey's briefing identifies four main threats in Iraq: foreign insurgents, criminal activity, Iranian support for violent Shiite groups and sectarian strife over the distribution of power."

Following the Money, and the Rules - New York Times

Following the Money, and the Rules - New York Times:

The Times is wrong to have published the story and wrong in its thinking about Congress and the courts. Effective intelligence work is done quietly, behind the scenes, without the type of political 'oversight' that provides no benefit for our security but lots of opportunity for political rhetoric. The media and Congress are the first to criticize our intelligence agencies and in the days of Frank Church, to hamstring them for years leading to 9/11.

The Times may think they are right in their continuing effort to undermine the Executive branch in the guise of the 'public interest.' Instead they provide comfort to our enemies while alienating many Americans who believe we need to take all feasible steps to find and defeat the terrorist maniacs.

"Investigators will probably need to monitor the flow of money to and from suspected terrorists and listen in on their phone conversations for decades to come. No one wants that to stop, but if America is going to continue to be America, these efforts need to be done under a clear and coherent set of rules, with the oversight of Congress and the courts."

Cheney Assails Press on Report on Bank Data - New York Times

Cheney Assails Press on Report on Bank Data - New York Times:

The Times has once again shown itself to be an irresponsible news organization by purposely revealing information that will hinder the war on terror. Keller's view that their actions are in the public interest ("Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, has said the newspaper decided to publish the story because "we remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."") and thus justified is wrong. They should be prosecuted for actions against the security interests of the United States. Their actions are inimical to the interests of the United States and embolden our enemies. Shameful. The 'grey lady ' has become an evil witch.

Senator Spector is also way off base and demonstrates little concern for the national interest while the reaction of the ACLU is predictable and wrong headed, as usual.

"'What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people,' Mr. Cheney said, in impromptu remarks at a fund-raising luncheon for a Republican Congressional candidate in Chicago. 'That offends me.'"

Clinton: Democrats 'Struggling' With Iraq - New York Times

Clinton: Democrats 'Struggling' With Iraq - New York Times:

Hillary is trying to put a good face on a Democrat policy shambles. The Dems don't have a unified policy agenda. Of course, neither do the Republicans, but her statement below is a fantasy we don't hear from the other side.

"The senator and potential presidential candidate said the Democrats' debate a day earlier on the Senate floor about war policy in Iraq was actually a sign of party strength, not weakness.
''Although unity is important it is not the most important value. It is, I think, a tribute to the Democratic Party at this moment in time that we are honestly and openly struggling with a lot of the difficult issues facing our country,'' Clinton, D-N.Y., told the New Democrat Network."

Gmail - Circuits: Reconsidering Bill Gates

Circuits: Reconsidering Bill Gates

Gates deserves the credit from Pogue in this piece for the billions he will ultimately give to combat disease and poverty and to improve education in the world. Three cheers for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!

"In fact, when you step back far enough, Mr. Gates's entire life arc suddenly looks like a 35-year game of Robin Hood, a gigantic wealth-redistribution system on a global scale."

Net Phone Service Providers Are Told to Pay Subsidy Fee - New York Times

Net Phone Service Providers Are Told to Pay Subsidy Fee - New York Times

It's the right thing to do for all providers to pay into the Universal Service Fund. The technology shouldn't matter. If a provider connects to the public switched network to provide voice services, they should contribute.

At the same time the growth of the fund should be constrained so as to minimize the subsidies to levels that are essential. In other words, the fund should not grow by the amount of the new contributions. Existing contributors should pay less.

National Guard Is Asked to Patrol New Orleans - New York Times

National Guard Is Asked to Patrol New Orleans - New York Times

I have written before about the tragedy of failed nations, mostly in Africa. New Orleans is a failed city, right here in the good ol' USofA. A history of corrupt and/or inept leadership and policing has brought the city to a very sad state of affairs. Katrina and the misery it has created exposes the long festering sores. Sad.

A Fence With More Beauty, Fewer Barbs - New York Times

A Fence With More Beauty, Fewer Barbs - New York Times:

"James Corner of Field Operations, a New York urban planning and landscape architecture firm, suggested that any monumental fortifications have a second purpose, like a solar energy-collecting strip that would produce what he described as a 'productive, sustainable enterprise zone' that attracted industry from the north and created employment for the south — in the same no-man's median that people now cross in search of work. Mr. Corner called his partnership of 20th-century territorial power and 21st-century green, global interconnectedness 'a kind of Bush meets Gore hybrid.'"

If we are to have a fence on the Mexican border to thwart illegals coming across, this idea rings as sensible.

William Jefferson - SourceWatch

William Jefferson - SourceWatch

Is it coincidence or symtomatic of New Orleans' culture of corruption that WIlliam Jefferson seems to be a crook.

Cross Country Journey Map

Here's a map of our 11,000 mile journey across the U.S. and into B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Photos of the wonderful trip can be seen here on Flickr. 

Pastoral Site of Historic Inventions Faces the End - New York Times

Pastoral Site of Historic Inventions Faces the End - New York Times

The end of an era! The big Bell Labs complex in Holmdel will be demolished.

I remember one visit there many years ago when Arno Penzias, the Nobel Laureate who was behind the 'Big Bang' theory was discussing the future of cell phones, then only an experiment in Chicago. He said they would be great for people traveling on buses and other public transportation. I don't think he foresaw the explosive growth and pervasiveness of the technology in society.

Vermont Italian Cultural Association VICA

Here is a link to the VICA calendar created with Google calendar

Violence Erupts Between Fatah and Hamas - New York Times

Violence Erupts Between Fatah and Hamas - New York Times

Looking at the photo that heads this story, It seems the Palestinians demonstrate and fight continually. Does anyone work? It's no wonder the economy is in a shambles.

If all they wish to do is kill Israelis and each other, they will remain in the violent culture they have created. So sad.

Lest We Regret Our Digital Bread Crumbs - New York Times

Lest We Regret Our Digital Bread Crumbs - New York Times

Important lessons here for all who use the Internet and live the digital lifestyle. Nearly everything done online is archived somewhere. Getting access to it may not be easy, except for law enforcement and security agencies.

I maintain that honest, well-meaning people have little to fear. The problems come from and all too infrequently catch up to the miscreants among us including the identity thieves.

Reasons to Worry - New York Times

Reasons to Worry - New York Times

A rather sober analysis of the state of fiscal affairs in the United States. We have reason for concern when so much of our government's debt is held abroad, particularly by China. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is on a spending binge, both militarily and for social programs.

"As a result, there has been an immense rise in foreign ownership of American securities of all kinds, but especially government bonds. Foreign ownership of the U.S. federal debt passed the halfway mark in June 2004. About a third of corporate bonds are now in foreign hands, as is more than 13 percent of the U.S. stock market. One analyst has half-seriously calculated that at the current rate of foreign accumulation, the last U.S. Treasury held by an American will be purchased by the People's Bank of China on Feb. 9, 2012."

It seems inevitable that we are heading for a train wreck, how serious is unknown. I doubt we can continue to expand our economy ad infinitum to solve these problems. There will be a day of reckoning...soft landing is what the economists call it.

Flickr Slide Show - Usher's Cross Country Odyssey

Click here for a slide show of our cross country trip. I uploaded the best pics that chronicle our journey yesterday. What better way to spend a rainy, dreary, cold Saturday?

House Backs Telecom Bill Favoring Phone Companies - New York Times

House Backs Telecom Bill Favoring Phone Companies - New York Times

The telecom battle continues to rage as technology and business interests converge on policy changes.

Placing government regulatory restrictions on the the Internet seems to me a last resort and premature at this stage of its development.

Those companies that make the investment in the 'pipes' that bring us broadband access to Internet content should not be disincented to provide and maintain the necessary capacity for delivery of services , regardless of who is providing them.

Debate Over Wind Power Creates Environmental Rift - New York Times

Debate Over Wind Power Creates Environmental Rift - New York Times

Boone is right, of course. Wind energy is a poor substitute in the quest for reliable, baseline power sources for our 'always on' culture. Nuclear offers a far long term alternative.

The prairies are the place for wind turbines, as Alberta has shown.

Possible New Plasma Purchase

Yet to make final choice, but have narrowed the field to 42" for starters. Will need swivel wall mount and speakers, of course, along with necessary inputs. With all needed elements, I'm guessing at ~$3,000.