] An Arabic TV news network said Friday that American
] hostage Paul Johnson Jr. has been beheaded by his Saudi
] captors.

I don't think anyone was expecting a happy ending to this..

Condolences to the Johnson family.

CNN.com - Report:  U.S. hostage beheaded - Jun 18, 2004

] President Bush has condemned the torture of Iraqi
] prisoners, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld labeled
] it "un-American" and a recent Gallup poll found 79
] percent of Americans "bothered" by the abuses. But Rush
] Limbaugh was gleeful. For weeks, the conservative talk
] show host has been dismissing the scandal as a
] "fraternity prank," mocking Democrats and others for
] expressing outrage and suggesting the prison humiliation
] -- which he dubbed "a brilliant maneuver" -- was "no
] different than what happens at the Skull and Bones
] initiation" [at Yale]. He described the images of torture
] as "pictures of homoeroticism that look like standard
] good old American pornography" and assured his listeners
] "there was no horror, there was no terror, there was no
] death, there was no injuries, nothing."

As is normally the case, for every point out of Rush that I agree with, there must be two that I can't stand, and the point I agreed with must be put forth in a way which makes me cringe.

Those picture were gay. Very gay. And in a very frat house kind of gay way as well. I was sure to point this out and make fun of it at the time, but in a way which was, how shall I put it, not documented. (So much for that..) Most of America did the same.

Rush goes to the next level. This is the reason I don't like Rush, and also the reason I didn't much care for frats in college. Confirmed, again.

Rush came out of the closet about his pill popping recently, maybe he has something else up his sleeve that he is building up to. Maybe Rush will just slowly go insane over the course of the next few years to get more listeners. After all, Stern got his popularity by people who listened to "see what he did next". Or, maybe Rush's tertiary syphilis has finally set in.

What's the opinion of the troops about Rush's presence on American Forces Radio? Do they poll for such things? Or is it don't ask, don't tell..

Salon.com News | Rush's forced conscripts

Jeremy & Decius wrote:
] Presidential assassination is the new pop.

I don't like the tune.

This seems like a very large step backwards for anything that even remotely qualifies as Good Government. There isn't any way you can come at an assassination where I think its a good idea. When we went for a decapitation strike at Saddam, it was because we were initiating all out war on the country, and there is a damn good reason it did not happen until then.

My recollection of history is somewhat foggy and I've not been successful in Googling a reference, so I leave this open for correction. In regard to the construction of our own constitution, I remember a tidbit about when the impeachment process was being discussed. There was some delegate opposed to having any kind of impeachment, based on the idea that a vote should be final. Franklin made a comment along the lines of "if there is no formal impeachment process, assassination will become the formal impeachment process", and views started to suddenly change. This is not exactly the message you want to send to your constituency, regardless of who your constituency is. Not to play the "America gets this right" card, but this does show the edge of some deep logic.

Assassinations should always be treated as attacks in the entire system, not a particular candidate/party/whatever. If the public over there, or anywhere for that matter, sees it as otherwise it should be viewed as a large rip starting to occur in the fabric of all western style democracies around the globe. We have elections and courts (and art, open media, open technology, open markets, etc) so we can effect change without killing people. An attack on the head of a governmental system, is well, an attack on all governed by the system. It does not constitute a revolution, removal of consent, or anything even remotely like that, at least not a non-violent one.

In the past month, we have seen both an assassination and a bombing attack targeted on transportation used to effect elections. I seriously hope someone is paying attention and seeing this for what it may be (is?). If what my gut is telling me about this situation is right, this is very scary.

Some of the number play taking place is also disturbing. As far as the near future goes, 4/11 is Easter. There was a story in FT about simultaneous "hacker attacks". There is the current Pakistan/Afghanistan border activity. There is another story in the AP today about Al'Q claiming to have suitcase nukes. From a conspiracy theory perspective, there is a lot to work with. If you can't come up with a good conspiracy theory, right now, at this point in time, you've never tried.. Its fun stuff. Brain exercise.

Interz0ne is coming up. Last year it was on the heels of the Iraq invasion. With all this looming doom, who knows, it might be on the heels of something this year as well. Here's to hoping its a caught Bin Laden, thwarted attack, or at least something that does not suck too badly. As far as I'm concerned, nothing really seems too remote or hard to imagine these days.

I love a good conspiracy theory. As always, I'm ready for anything, smiling, and enjoying the show for whatever its worth.

PLUS!! On top of everything else, it looks like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is bringing out its ace-in-the-hole reserved for battle term two. Bush - get ready for this - might not be an idiot. At least, that's what I think they are bringing out. Given what kind of response Dean's us-tour yelp got him at the right (or wrong) point in time, this just opens the stage for some people to get brutal.

And furthermore, taking Clinton into account, what's to say that a second term impeachment isn't going to become standard practice these days for all re-elected incumbents?

RE: Shooting raises questions, provokes conspiracy theorists

flynn23 wrote:
] am I an "IP extremist" because I want there to be NO copyright
] law?

Yes. That is just as bad.

The concept of Copyright, and Intellectual Property in general, isn't the problem. The way we use it is the problem. If we do not have IP, we cannot create markets OR commons. There would be no way to enforce standards of operation for either. If we cannot create markets for information, people who produce art will never be able to make a livelihood with any of our Internet toys. If we cannot enforce rules the of a commons, we will not be able to develop any sciences in the open.

Be careful what you ask for.

] and must everything become 'extreme'? EXTREME IP!

Because you can be on far left or the far right, and be pretty much the same thing. Unreasonable and destructive. Extremes are bad. Extremist positions are the enemy of all systems of order which respect diversity and freedom.

We know maximum IP protection is bad for innovation. Don't assume anarchy would be good either. Anarchy does not scale. We must look for balance between these two extremes.

We live in a globalized society based on law and order. Like it or not, IP is a part of that. Concepts of Intellectual Property will evolve to deal with the removal of scarcity and copy cost as primary factors in their usage. Its just going to take awhile and be an up-hill battle.

RE: InfoWorld: Lessig: Be wary of 'IP extremists':

] Let's rewind history and study another rumor, one which
] cost Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) his candidacy in 2000.
] McCain was running a close campaign against George Bush
] in South Carolina, when Karl Rove introduced his
] brilliant strategy: push polling (Rove has been involved
] in push polling since the early 70s). Essentially, calls
] were made to households asking "Would you be more
] likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for
] president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate
] black child" Many took this to say that he had one,
] and seeing McCain and his wife on stage with their
] adopted Bangladeshi daughter, concluded that the rumor
] was true. The sight of the little dark skinned girl made
] the seed planted earlier grow, and McCain ended up losing
] South Carolina and subsequentially dropping out of the
] race.
]
] So what does push polling have to do with a rumor of
] Kerry having an affair? Well some would argue that they
] are merely separate heads of the same beast. Pointing an
] indignant finger at the machinations of Karl Rove, the
] Bush administration's strategist who has a penchant for
] dispersing rumors, many on the Democrat side will claim
] that Rove is up to his old shenanigans and that the
] rumors have no basis. What caused McCain to lose in 2000
] could inspire Democrats to rally behind Kerry, and lead
] to a major rift between the parties and brings the race
] to a closer finish. Theoretical, but plausible.

This was posted on the 6th.

A Kerry Affair & Push Polling

] He says he witnessed chemical experiments being carried
] out on political prisoners in specially constructed gas
] chambers.
]
] "How did you feel when you saw the children die?", I
] asked.
]
] His answer shocked me.
]
] "I had no sympathy at all because I was taught to think
] that they were all enemies of our country and that all
] our country's problems were their fault. So I felt they
] deserved to die."

Just a(nother) little reminder about this place called North Korea, which continues to produce a stream of stories like this..

They sell weapons to people we don't like, likely have a way more extensive WMD program then Iraq ever did, they threaten our allies by launching missiles over them, and their human rights practices make China look like a typical High School.

BBC NEWS | North Korea, Within prison walls

] Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary
] Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a
] year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically
] passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The
] Globe.
]
] From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003,
] members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer
] glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic
] communications without a password. Trolling through
] hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points
] and accounts of private meetings discussing which
] judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what
] tactics.

This should invoke Watergate style outrage, by reflex alone..

] "There appears to have been no hacking, no stealing, and
] no violation of any Senate rule," Miranda said. "Stealing
] assumes a property right and there is no property right to
] a government document. . . . These documents are not
] covered under the Senate disclosure rule because they are
] not official business and, to the extent they were
] disclosed, they were disclosed inadvertently by negligent
] [Democratic] staff."

Unbelievable...

Boston.com / News / Nation / Infiltration of files seen as extensive

Thomas Friedman is on a roll with his "War of Ideas" series of articles. Every one has been short, to the point, and smack full of great insight. This one is no different. Only this time around, I beat Jeremy to Meme'ing it. :)

In this one, Friedman focuses on the Dems and Iraq. Here is a taste:

My hope is that Iowa will embolden the Blair Democrats to shuck off their intimidation, by Mr. Bush and Mr. Dean, and press their case. It is the only way to build a national consensus for what's going to be a long cold-war-like struggle to strengthen the forces of moderation and weaken the forces of violent intolerance within the Arab-Muslim world — which is what the real war on terrorism is about.

War of Ideas, Part 5

Here are some thoughts on the State of The Union Address..

This might surprise some, but I was very happy to see attention drawn to the Patriot Act right off the bat. This is a big issue, and (duh) we know Bush would like it to get "renewed", that's not shocking. However, I would have certainly been _very_ angry if it wasn't mentioned. As far as "The Union" is concerned, this is a pretty big issue, and it lies dead ahead. This may have been a very good time for that reminder to get pounded into most of America.. It is very important that it occured within that first 15 minutes when people are still likely to be paying attention and tuned in.

It came at a great point too. The opening was basically "We kick ass", "We work hard", "We have accomplished much", and "Our service people rock".. Then we had the "We have faced serious challenges", "Our enemies are everywhere", and of course "We must follow through". Then, the Patriot Act comes up.. No time was wasted. That made me happy, and the use of the word "renewed" is so much nicer then something like "confirmed"..

I'm of the opinion that anything done with it should have another sunset clause. Another four years. Because of the gravity of the issue, I see no reason why we shouldn't be forced to revisit it, over and over if necessary. Intelligence and law enforcement are always going to have issues involving search/surveillance powers. They are necessary to confront new asymmetric threats, which we are still learning how to combat.. They are also highly effected by advances and changes in technology, something we can't accurately predict. The rules governing these powers will likely change over time if they are to be both effective and safe guard rights.

No one disagrees with the idea that there should be accountability, oversight, yadda, yadda.. However, ideas about the specifics are lacking and will likely remain absent when the bill expires. Any powers that exist for any extended period of time, are likely to find themselves abused at some point, even if they are not being abused right now. That flaw is one of power and human nature, not of law.. We could also come up with something that is completely ineffective.

Fears need to be addressed. Right or not, some people don't trust government. That should be seen as a built in defense mechanism of freedom and liberty, not a problem or a lack of patriotism. Another expire date is an easy way to keep people from screaming bloody murder. At least nothing would have gotten worse, been "lost", or become hopeless. Clearing up a policy such as this would actually help Bush greatly in his re-election bid, if handled correctly. The dems seem to either be pandering to their far left by tossing around the word "repeal" (not going to happen), or pandering to the moderates by saying nothing hence getting nothing wrong. Neither of these approaches are going to work if Bush decides to lead on the i... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

State of the Union Address (text & video via whitehouse.gov)

... The Bush team destroyed the Iraqi regime in three weeks and has not persuaded Israel to give up one settlement in three years. To think America can practice that sort of hypocrisy and win the war of ideas in the Arab-Muslim world is a truly dangerous fantasy.

War of Ideas, Part 4