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5. september 2004
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URPL8TSUX
The Smoking Gun has collected a number of complaints against offensive number plates (and some defenses) in the state of New York, showing that some New Yorkers are determined to try to sneak in off-colour words in their license plates, and others are equally determined to stamp them out.
Do we really believe that the guy who applied for the lincense number BIGPNS really was just a big fan of Petri-Net System Simulation? Hmm.
10:02:09 PM 
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The perils of journalism in Iraq
This is a totally hilarious video (Media Player, sound req.).
It's entirely work safe, unless you work for the Christian Coalition.
Hat tip to Jon R. Hammerfjeld, who blogs in Norwegian for the daily Dagbladet.
Update: Oops. Link fixed. Sorry.
9:05:25 PM
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Official: Bin Laden will be caught
A top US counterterrorism official actually goes on record saying that the US and its allies are close to capturing Osama Bin Laden.
"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.
Asked if concrete progress had been made during the last two months — when Pakistan has arrested dozens of terror suspects including some key al-Qaida operatives — Black said, "Yes, I would say this."
Black, who briefed a group of Pakistani journalists after talks with officials here Friday, said he could not predict exactly when bin Laden and other top al-Qaida fugitives would be nabbed.
"What I tell people, I would be surprised but not necessarily shocked if we wake up tomorrow and he's been caught along with all his lieutenants. That can happen because of the programs and infrastructure in place," he told Geo.
I hope this is true, but to be honest we've heard something similar in the past.
4:34:01 PM
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Bush bounce confirmed
Strong words and numbers in Newsweek.
Coming out of the Republican National Convention in New York, President George W. Bush now holds a 11-point lead over Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry (52 percent to 41 percent) in a three-way race, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. The poll was taken over two nights, both before and after Bush’s acceptance speech. Respondents who were queried only on Friday, after Bush’s speech, gave the Republican a 16-point lead over Kerry.
There's a lot to be happy about for Republicans right now, but it's important to remember that a country's government are never much better than its opposition. A weak opposition weakens the country and corrupts the ruling party.
It's interesting, btw, how these Newsweek's figures confirm the Time poll almost exactly. Look at this table of recent polls.
Right now, there should be panic in dem headquarters. Previous polls have shown that Bush is (or at least was) very vulnerable. A decent candidate should have capitalised on that, no matter what dirty tricks the GOP used. John Kerry is not, I'm afraid, a good candidate. He's simply not very likeable, and his campaign has done dukakisian strategic errors and shows no signs of learning from them.
The democrats now will and have to set their hopes on the debates that will start at the end of September. The problem is that Bush is not known as a particularly good debater. The voters know this. Quality is experience divided by expectation. With low expectations, it will not take much for Bush to hold his ground. After all that has happened over the last four years, I somehow doubt that Kerry can make Bush self-destruct in a head to head debate.
1:19:31 PM
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Count'em
Mark Steyn does it again:
At any rate, less than 60 minutes after President Bush gave a sober, graceful, droll and moving address, Kerry decided to hit back. In the midnight hour, he climbed out of his political coffin, and before his thousands of aides could grab the garlic from Teresa's kitchen and start waving it at him, he found himself in front of an audience and started giving a speech. As in Vietnam, he was in no mood to take prisoners: ''I have five words for Americans,'' he thundered. ''This is your wake up call!''
Read the whole thing. It may not be entirely fair to call him "Senator Kerrikaze," but it's funny.
4:35:11 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.10.2004; 07:22:03.
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