Friday, March 14, 2003

Paying Taxes Electronically. You can file now, but not pay your taxes until 15. Here's how. [The Motley Fool] Crap! Taxes! Damn news aggregator, reminding me I need to do my taxes...
1:39:19 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Whitehouse Censoring the Press?. A disturbing imposition of rigid rules of attribution of quotes from West Wing staff comes from Buzzflash : ... an astounding admission by a Washington Post writer who revealed the truth to Poynter.Org columnist Jim Romenesko: White House reporters have to have quotes that they publish, after "background" interviews, approved by the Stalinist censors in the Rove/Fleischer office of White House Communications. Not only do the so-called reporters have to get approval before including the quotes in an article, the White House can alter the quotations and demand that they be printed as though they were the original quotations. As a strategy, Rove and Fleischer have White House Staff provide many interviews on "background" so that then they can force the reporters to submit to the White House censors any quotations that they want to actually print. From Poynter Online , but, after clicking on the link, read the array of letters on this disturbing trend posted by Jim Romenesko: If the Washington Post, New York Times, television network news and other major media had even an ounce of integrity -- just an ounce -- they would pull their reporters out of the White House at once. They are providing the Bush Administration with a cloak of legitimacy, when the reporting is really only censored pablum. This is something out of the Stalinist Soviet Union, not America. The Washington Post, in particular, has taken an editorial turn into the dark side in the last few years. If the Post truly believed in a free press, it would shutter its White House operations right now, until such time as the Rove/Fleischer Pravda operation accepted the ground rules for a free press. But we won't hold our breath. Just as Rove and Fleischer need the Stepford/collusionist White House Press Corps, the Post and other "news" outlets need to give their readers and viewers the appearance that they are covering the White House. Of course, they aren't really "covering" anything. So-called "journalists" are paid six figure salaries to be stenographers for Ari and Karl. We just wonder who passes out the knee pads as the White House Press Corps files into the briefing room. [Blog Left: Critical Interventions]

1:03:50 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Cyber terrorism 'overhyped'. Terrorists are not about to launch an attack in cyberspace, say security experts at the CeBIT technology fair. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] Well, duh. Not only do I think that the potential impact of "cyberterrorism" is pretty limited, but I highly doubt it'd be a big enough deal to get terrorists to actually do it...I mean, which will get you more press: shutting down some ATMs or hijacking a plane?

12:43:20 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Bush is saying that he'll reveal a "road map" for Mideast peace. Sometime. I think he's claiming he'll show it when there's a flying pig, or some such...oh, no, check that - when there's a Palestinian prime minister with "real authority". Which I guess means "Once Arafat's dead, Sharon's killed 3/4 of the West Bank population, and the survivors agree to just leave." This road map reminds me of Nixon's secret plan to end the war in Vietnam - if he told you about it, it wouldn't be secret any more, now, would it?

12:05:14 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

John Chambers, illustrious CEO and all-around lead mucky-muck here at Cisco (and major Republican donor, and much more...but that's another rant...) just received  the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) "My Boss is a Patriot" award. Now, I know, the award itself isn't a bad thing - it's for supporting employees in the National Guard and the various military Reserves, an important thing, especially now that the Reserves are being thrown into near-constant active duty. But I'm cringin' anyway...it's that word "patriot". Why couldn't they have called it "My Boss Supports Our Men And Women In Uniform"? When did "patriot" become such a loaded word, anyway? It just feels uncomfortable to me - I think mainly because of how it and - even more so - "unpatriotic" are used. They're just used to seperate Us and Them...argh. I lost my train of thought. Ah well. I've been really, really enjoying Doonesbury's running gag this week on the paradoxes and self-contradictions in the argument for war - check it out here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. NPR also had a funny bit on All Things Considered yesterday on the logic of war - give it a listen. Oh, and check out this article at the American Prospect, in the same vein: Tolkein Internationlism: George W. Bush is Gollum...

10:46:40 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Crap! I hate browsers! I just had a long piece written and wiped it out by clicking a damn link in an email. Argh. Time to rewrite...
10:31:52 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []