Apple Responsible for Microsoft Monopoly :)
In Philadelphia the following sign was in the window of a business: "We would rather do business with 1000 terrorists than with a single Jew".
Ordinarily this might be cause to get the anti-hate groups involved, but perhaps in these stressful times one might be tempted to let the proprietors, Goldstein's Funeral Home, simply make their proud statement.
SatireWire.com - Case Settled: Justice To Break Up Apple for Turning Microsoft into Monopoly: Alternative OS Maker Used Anti-Competitive Practices Against Itself - Remember. This is satire. Not real. [gsb]
"We had already won the case, so we were thinking in terms of penalties, and when you do that, it is imperative that you punish those most responsible," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Charles James. "Well, we couldn't ignore that since its inception, Apple had numerous opportunities to dominate the operating system market, but instead, management incompetence and arrogance resulted in decisions that gave us the Microsoft we know today."
"We believe it's time for Apple to pay for that market manipulation," he added.
Kevin Tuma - VOID - cartoon commentary on the USA PATRIOT act. Not funny.
I found another incredible looking knife at The Knife Center of the Internet. Pictured below is the Emerson Folding Commander Combo Edge with Black Teflon. At $170, it's a bit pricey for my blood, but I sure like it. It won "Best Overall Knife of the Year" at the International Blade Show in Atlanta, GA. They didn't say which year. This is the civilian version of a battle proven Navy SEAL knife.
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - The Feds at the Airport - Concerning the new Aviation Security Service. It's a really bad idea.
A constituent of mine who happens to be an airline pilot put his opposition to federalized airport security quite succinctly: "I don't want the same people who bring me the IRS and the ATF to be in charge of airport security." In other words, federal agencies are not exactly known for their efficiency and excellence, to put it mildly. So why are we convinced that a federal takeover of airport security is such a good idea? I have spoken to many commercial pilots since the events of September 11th, and hundreds more have called, written, and emailed my office. I can assure you that not one agreed that airport security should be federalized. These men and women spend their working lives in airports and in the air; they are more vulnerable than any of us to terrorist hijackings. We should listen to their ideas about airport security before we let Congress create a massive new federal bureaucracy.
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I'm happy to report one small victory in the aviation bill, however. Legislation I introduced to allow the arming of pilots was included in the final version (despite the efforts of anti-gun forces in both the House and Senate). I plan to closely monitor the Transportation department to insure it moves forward with programs certifying pilots to carry firearms.
Chris Floyd at The Moscow Times - Global Eye -- Weather Report - The political winds are changing in Amerika. It's getting colder. Much colder. But we'll get used to it. Won't we? Not on your life. Sierra Times article reprint and discussion here. [sierra]
It won't come with jackboots and book burnings, mass rallies and fevered harangues. It won't come with "black helicopters" or tanks on the street. It won't come like a storm -- but like a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: Everything is the same, but everything has changed. Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality has taken its place.
As in Rome, all the old forms will still be there: legislatures, elections, campaigns -- plenty of bread and circuses for the folks. But the "consent of the governed" will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small group of nobles who rule largely for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.
Declan McCullagh's Politech - Update: National ID cards; biometrics; secret military tribunals - looks like there are at least a few voices of sanity in Washington concerning the National ID and King George III's star chambers. But Larry Ellison is still pushing his papieren bitte scheme. Looks like it's time to boycott Oracle, eh? [grabbe]
"It's a dead end. It won't happen," Gingrich told a House Government Reform subcommittee.
Talking about national IDs smacks of Nazism and "Big Brother" in people's minds, and Congress will not have the political support to get it through, said former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wy. "You use the words 'national ID,' it's over," he said.
Indeed, former Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., called a new all-encompassing national identification system "offensive" and said it "contradicts some of our most sacrosanct American principles of personal liberty and expectations of privacy and is far in excess of what is needed to provide us with the security and protections we all want."
