19. desember 2003

Breeding more terrorists Islamic terrorists in Southeast Asia, like Malaysia, has been sending their sons to al-Qaeda training schools in Pakistan to give the world the next generation of homicidal extremists. 11:21:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

A very bad day for the RIAA A US appeals court has surprisingly reversed a lower court's decision that the recording industry could subpoena an ISP for a customer's personal details. A "strongly worded ruling" overturns the earlier decision and says a copyright holder will have to file a formal lawsuit to get access to personal information. In a related but separate case, Holland's Supreme Court has ruled that the file-sharing software Kazaa is legal. This is the first time a country's supreme court has ruled on the legality of peer-to-peer software, and the decision is expected to have worldwide impact, since copyright law is very similar across the world. The court's decision did not, however, deal with the legality of swapping copyrighted files. First Saddam, now the recording industry. What a prelude to Christmas! 9:48:55 PM    comment []  trackback []

Or his ghost thinks so "Bremer Says He Survived Ambush in Baghdad" (Reuters headline) I still suggest we take his word for it. 7:50:36 PM    comment []  trackback []

Beagle 2 has separated The Beagle 2 Mars lander has successfully separated from the mothership, and is hurling towards Mars. ESA's craft is planned to land on the red planet on Christmas morning. PS: I still think the lander got its name just so all the media can report "The Beagle has landed" on the 25th! 6:47:29 PM    comment []  trackback []

PETA to kids: "Your Mommy Kills Animals'' The nutty animal-rights group PETA plans to target the young children of mothers who wears fur during performances of ``The Nutcracker'' across the US. "Children can't look up to a mom in a battered-raccoon hat or a crushed coyote collar,'' said Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Maybe when they're confronted by their own children's hurt looks, fur-wearers' cold hearts will melt.'' The fliers include a color drawing of a woman plunging a large bloody knife into the belly of a terrified rabbit. The fliers urge kids to "ask your mommy how many dead animals she killed to make her fur clothes." "And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the animals will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer.'' Some old PETA nuttiness here. 6:16:02 PM    comment []  trackback []

Good news is bad news Telegraph columnist Janet Daley makes good points of the leftist media's whining about Saddam Hussein, and predicts how they will spin any conceivable developments in his post-capture life into something anti-American. 3:54:29 AM    comment []  trackback []

Another Saddam joke picture This time combining the themes of information minister al-Sahaf, Saddam and Santa Claus. 2:39:46 AM    comment []  trackback []

Double legal blow for Bush Two different federal appeals court has delivered blows to the Bush administration's legal war on terror today. First, the 2nd circuit appeals court based in New York ruled that Jose Padilla, a US citizen accused of plotting a terrorist strike with a radiological "dirty" bomb, cannot be held indefinately in military prison, but must be transfered to the civil legal system. Second, the San Francisco-based 9th circuit appeals court ruled that the detainees on the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as "illegal combattants" cannot be kept there without access to lawyers and US courts. Both rulings were 2-1, are likely to be appealed to a full appeals court and/or the US Supreme Court and can be described as serious blows to the US administration. The 9th circuit court is known for quite hostile to the Bush administration, and not unlikely to find itself reversed by a higher court. The Padilla decision, on the other hand, is described as a more crucial and serious blow to the Bush administration's legal methods. If it stands, it will show that these methods are not applicable to US citizens caught on US territory. In fact, personally I can't imagine that it should. 1:59:39 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:46:56.