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General in charge of Iraq says "It's the oil", suggests permanent bases.
"Ultimately it comes down to the free flow of goods and resources on which the prosperity of our own nation and everybody else in the world depend."
Considering that Reuters reported on the general's statement, it's surprising to see that the only other major news organization online which has picked up the story so far (besides the Arizona Daily Star) is Al Jazeera. The Daily Star initially ran -- and then removed -- the aforementioned quote. Perhaps it's unfit for internal consumption?
comment posted at 11:15 AM on Mar-15-06
comment posted at 11:20 AM on Mar-15-06

In the last few years, Fair Isaacs, along with the FTC have made considerable effort in educating us in how our credit scores are derived. But is the whole system about to change? In a somewhat quiet AP story, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Transunion, and Experian, announced they had agreed on a new common formula for generating your credit scores: VantageScore. [more inside]
comment posted at 7:14 AM on Mar-15-06

The 18th Commonwealth Games are about to be opened by the HM the Queen of Australia, in Melbourne. Formerly the British Empire Games, from the days when much of the world was coloured pink, the Games may mean little , with few world class performers, and the usual list of questions and run of controversies, but there's nothing like circuses to keep the plebs entertained. At least Australia will thrash Sierra Leone in the althletics.
comment posted at 8:41 AM on Mar-15-06

Niger Venezuela is planning to sell uranium to Iraq Iran.
comment posted at 12:09 PM on Mar-14-06

Sony BMG won't be held accountable for its dangerous DRM if music fans don't have an easy way to learn about the flawed software, the settlement, and how to submit claims. By posting a banner on your website or blog, you can help music fans protect themselves and get what they deserve. _{[via A Copyfighter's Musings]}
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Mar-14-06
comment posted at 10:13 AM on Mar-14-06

Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park' Forgive the link to Fox News, however it is an AP story.
comment posted at 8:24 AM on Mar-14-06

Maureen Stapleton bit the big one, at 80.
comment posted at 7:36 AM on Mar-14-06

In the UK, people are sending 100 million SMS messages with their mobile phone every day, at prices that are far higher than you would expect. Now, some people have started an online campaign to try and influence the mobile phone operators to drop their prices. (more SMS statistics)
comment posted at 6:52 AM on Mar-14-06

Dr. Ross tells the Democrats to stop bending over. Clooney: " ... [I]t drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, 'We were misled.' It makes me want to shout, 'Fuck you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.' Bottom line: it's not merely our right to question our government, it's our duty."
comment posted at 9:10 PM on Mar-13-06

50,000!
comment posted at 1:05 PM on Mar-13-06

Metafilter posts its 50,000th post today. Congrats Metafilter! Here is to 50,000 more!
comment posted at 1:26 PM on Mar-13-06

The bird flu is coming, and Secretary of Health and Human Services wants us to be ready. How? By storing canned tuna and powdered milk under our beds.
comment posted at 12:27 PM on Mar-13-06

Why I am getting out of the Marines As I sit here I am still shaking. I can't take much more of this shit. I am a Marine Pilot. Not that it means anything anymore. Today was another safety stand down put on by the mother fuckers in DOSS. Why? Cause another one of my friends is dead and gone. Why? Cause he flew his shit into the water that's why. Why'd he do that? Cause the mother fuckers that "be" i.e. the boys at the top have lost their fucking minds and can't say no.
comment posted at 12:37 PM on Mar-13-06

Jerry Lewis at 80 (more inside)
comment posted at 11:32 AM on Mar-13-06
comment posted at 11:32 AM on Mar-13-06

"Resolved that the United States Senate does hereby censure George W. Bush, president of the United States, and does condemn his unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans." Invoking "high crimes and misdemeanors," Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduces a motion to censure [PDF link] President Bush for his controversial, legally dubious NSA wiretapping program. Feingold declares: "The President must be held accountable for authorizing a program that clearly violates the law." Republican leader Frist retorts: "It's a crazy political move" that sends a "terrible" signal to Iran. Democratic bloggers say: Call your senator. [More legal fallout from the NSA program recently discussed here.]
comment posted at 11:40 AM on Mar-13-06
comment posted at 11:41 AM on Mar-13-06
comment posted at 1:19 PM on Mar-13-06

300,000 March in Chicago against Immigration Control Act of 2005. General Question, Why did this not make national news? Compare to their front page now. Its like it never happened. 1/4 million people didn't matter enough.
comment posted at 11:43 AM on Mar-13-06

Tim Hortons is once more running it's Roll Up The Rim To Win contest where each cup of coffee is a potential prize winner. This week controversy hit when a 10 year old found a cup in the trash. Unable to roll the rim she asked a 12 year old friend for help and they discovered the cup was a winner. Now comes the dispute over who actually won [quicktime] the SUV. An added twist is the man demanding a DNA test to prove the cup is his. I love the smell of lawsuits in the morning.
comment posted at 5:00 PM on Mar-11-06

Slobodan Milosevic dies in cell Slobo dead.
comment posted at 7:49 AM on Mar-11-06

'This is a difficult and sad day for Catholic Charities," says a representative of the church, who announced their decision to stop helping all foster children find homes rather than allow any of them be adopted by gay parents. After one hundred three years of service, Catholic Charities of Boston is exiting the adoption assistance arena because state anti-discrimination laws force them to allow same-sex couples to adopt children (despite the fact that the church considers this to be a sin).

While adoptions in progress will not be affected, on or about June 30, the group that proffers a "just and compassionate society rooted in the dignity of all people" will make chrystal clear who is included in that definition of "all." (Of the 720 children placed in homes through CCAB, 13 of them were placed with "same-sex families" [sic].)
comment posted at 5:11 AM on Mar-11-06

"The Hayward Fault is locked and loaded. It is ready to fire at any time." The U.S. Geological Survey has a Google Earth-based "virtual helicopter tour" and other annotated views of The Hayward Fault. There's a 70% probability of a major earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area before 2030, and Hayward is the most likely fault [PDF] for an earthquake (or is it?). Bad things will happen. Fortunately we're completely unprepared. [more inside]
comment posted at 6:10 PM on Mar-10-06

At this point in Iraq, you do not have a central government -- so you don't have a legitimate authority running the country. You don't have a government with the power to establish or maintain order. What you have is a nominal government that can only stay in power because the Americans are there. The government is supposed to have derived legitimacy from the constitution and the elections. It is now almost three months after the elections and there is still no government... A government that takes over five months to form is not a government that is going to have very much legitimacy in the end. The country has already collapsed. Now the challenge is figuring out a way to deal with this fact...

"The Country Has Already Collapsed"
Remember Beirut? Welcome to Baghdad
A Government with No Military and No Territory
Studies of the Iraq Disaster: When Democracy Looks Like Civil War
comment posted at 12:07 PM on Mar-10-06
comment posted at 6:24 PM on Mar-10-06

I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.
comment posted at 11:31 AM on Mar-10-06

When Gregg Revell packed his bags for a trip to Pennsylvania last April, he had no idea how far he'd be traveling. Before the week was out, the 57-year-old suburban real estate agent and grandfather would be arrested, thrown into one of the country's most notorious jails, strip searched and inoculated against his will. The soft-spoken Utah native would be on his way to becoming a poster child for the National Rifle Association in a $3 million lawsuit.
comment posted at 8:56 AM on Mar-10-06

Why are some religious rituals acceptable (NSFW), some marginal, and others illegal? Surely, a grown man sucking the blood out of the penis of a just-circumcised little boy should be, shouldn't it? And we're not even considering infecting the baby with herpes [full article from the NY Times].
comment posted at 8:59 AM on Mar-10-06
comment posted at 9:06 AM on Mar-10-06

The Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on Enceladus, one of Saturn's icy moons.
comment posted at 11:44 AM on Mar-9-06

"Faith-Based Homeland Security" ? - the "Stealth Presidency" To scant media coverage, George W. Bush has signed an executiver order establishing a "Faith-Based" office within the DHC. The Washington Post depicted this as relating mainly to the Katrina relief effort. But is this The Stealth Presidency" ?: Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, "confirmed [ to Esther Kaplan, author of "With God on Their side..." ] that no direct federal grants from his program had gone to a non-Christian religious group" . Prior to 2000, many Christian right groups were on the skids, says Kaplan, but many are now riding high on wave of [ largely unaudited and untracked ] faith based federal and state $. How much ? Bill Berkowitz ventures an asessment. TheocracyWatch has a compendium of all things "Faith Based". Prisons, science, sex ed....
comment posted at 11:46 AM on Mar-9-06

Volcanoes are so cool. Click previous sentence for more information.
comment posted at 11:54 PM on Mar-8-06

"God created man exactly how Bible describes it." A Gallup report released today reveals that more than half of all Americans, rejecting evolution theory and scientific evidence, agree with the statement.
comment posted at 10:38 AM on Mar-8-06
comment posted at 11:08 AM on Mar-8-06

Kirby Puckett has died at the age of 44 after suffering a stroke.
comment posted at 10:51 PM on Mar-6-06

Today is Jingzhe (驚蟄). Legend has it that on the day when insects and hibernating animals are awakening and the demon white tiger starts to seek its prey, the petty person would also start to offend others by making rude remarks. Therefore it is advisable to honor the white tiger with sacrifices and beat the petty person on this day.
From CXB: In the days of yore, the petty person you hated so much was beaten up for some good time by the professional beaters (about HK$50 per fix) with Chinese cloth shoes vigorously. But what a sad fact for your nemesis! These beaters these days use high heels, which in my opinion is ten times deadlier than cloth shoes.
comment posted at 10:22 AM on Mar-6-06

Why aren't western marriages arranged? So the Church could make more money. (via fark)
comment posted at 8:14 AM on Mar-6-06

"If ever a company needed a marketing department, it's New Choice, whose Original Flavor Round Crackers take the cake for stating the obvious. Points should be awarded for attempts to woo health-conscious consumers with facts about added DHA ("prevents heart attack, enhances eye sight"), but there's no two ways to look at Round Crackers: It's a badly executed Ritz rip-off." So sayeth the wits at the Onion A.V. Club, who scour the nation's dollar stores for food products to evaluate in their sporadic feature "Dining for a Dollar." Round crackers too boring? You might prefer Freakin' Nuts (tagline: Is it a chip? Is it a nut? Yes!), Thick Mints, or maybe just a handful of Balls. Their annual Cheap Toy Roundup is just as good; last year's featured products such as Preeminent Car ($1), Stretchy Body Bits ($1.19), and a DVD titled Clothes That Went to a Party ($2). Perhaps the all-time best, though, is the Mini Wooden Furniture: Table: a "plain, unadorned wooden table." ($1)
comment posted at 2:58 AM on Mar-5-06

Trappist Ale. (warning, music on first link.) The six Belgian breweries Achel (little English), Chimay, Orval, Rochefort (unofficial site), Westmalle (no English), and Westvleteren, along with the Dutch brewery De Konigshoeven/La Trappe (first is English link to monastery, second is non-English brewery site.) are the only recognized producers of Trappist beers, although the latter was only recently granted the appellation after several years without it. Ranging from the relatively commercial and large-scale operations of Chimay and La Trappe to the other extreme of Westvleteren, who want to live quietly and don't want their beer distributed, these beers are considered some of the best in the world.
comment posted at 2:41 AM on Mar-5-06

"Why Jon Stewart Isn't Funny" (Boston Globe) In an op-ed in the Boston Globe, Michael Kalin, a "2005 Harvard College graduate" isn't predicting that Stewart will bomb on Sunday night's Oscar show. Instead, "Stewart's ever-increasing popularity among young viewers directly correlates with the declining influence of progressive thought in America. Coincidence? I think not." He blames Jon Stewart for turning tomorrow's leader away from potential careers in politics. His evidence, "Meet Joshua Goldberg, a fictional composite of the typical apostle of 'The Daily Show" who goes to work on Wall Street instead of pursuing a job in inner-city teaching like Kalin did, as he told CBS. "Although Stewart's comedic shticks [sic] may thus earn him some laughs Sunday at the Oscars, his routine will certainly not match the impact of his greatest irony: Jon Stewart undermines any remaining earnestness that liberals in America might still possess." This left me speechless. In my personal experience, Jon Stewart has dramatically increased my own children's interest in politics.
comment posted at 3:13 PM on Mar-3-06

Sticker causes panic. This bike is a pipe bomb sticker causes Ohio University officials to call the bomb squad. Pic here.
comment posted at 2:56 AM on Mar-5-06

"In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage."
comment posted at 11:29 AM on Mar-2-06
comment posted at 11:29 AM on Mar-2-06

Krautrock: From the hypnotic rhythms and melodies of Can, to the revolutionary electronics of Kraftwerk. Krautrock was a genre that spawned many genius acts. The communal bands like Amon Duul II and Siloah that were soon to be emulated by cult-like restaurant owners, Ya Ho Wha . There were the obscure acts like Zweistein whose sound evokes thoughts of current bands like Animal Collective and Wooden Wand. And there were albums the ground-breaking albums like Tangerine Dream's dark, ambient, Phaedra and the Manuel Gottsching record E2-E4 which is considered to be the first techno album ever produced. Needless to say, Krautrock's influence has been lasting and monumental.
comment posted at 3:20 PM on Mar-2-06

Scratch one Enzo Ferrari. Dodgy Swedish game-maker kisses Malibu telephone phone at 162mph.
comment posted at 7:12 PM on Feb-28-06

Say what you want about Tom Monaghan, he thinks big. He built a big company, he's got a big agenda , he wanted to build a big Jesus, and now he's building a whole new town. That would be the town of Ave Maria, Florida, -- home to Ave Maria University, , but that's not all - welcome to America's newest mini-theocracy: "You won't be able to buy a Playboy or Hustler magazine in Ave Maria Town. We're going to control the cable television that comes in the area. There is not going to be any pornographic television in Ave Maria Town. If you go to the drug store and you want to buy the pill or the condoms or contraception, you won't be able to get that in Ave Maria Town." aturally, this has run him afoul of Florida's ACLU.
comment posted at 4:50 PM on Feb-28-06
comment posted at 5:17 PM on Feb-28-06

Anti-Hippie Action League
comment posted at 1:38 PM on Feb-28-06