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FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Spirit Rover Cured of Computer Glitches
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA on Friday pronounced its Spirit rover (search) cured of the computer ills that crippled the vehicle for two weeks and had threatened its mission to search for geologic evidence that Mars was once a wetter planet.
posted by TAotB at 11:18:00 PM
Check out the difference in these two stories.
First, a Reuters story about the current job situation in the US:
Yahoo! News - U.S. Job Growth in January Disappoints
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy created just 112,000 new jobs in January, far fewer than expected, government data showed on Friday in a disappointing report that will likely weigh on President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election campaign. . . .
"The payrolls number was well below market expectations and confirms the jobs market in the U.S. is weak," said Daniel Tenengauzer, vice president for foreign exchange at Lehman Brothers.
Analysts had been expecting the economy, which has been showing strength in areas outside the jobs market, to add 150,000 new jobs in January after an originally reported gain of only 1,000 the previous month. The department revised the December figure to an increase of 16,000.
Now, the AP version of the same story:
FOXNews.com - Business - Unemployment Rate Falls; 112,000 New Jobs
WASHINGTON — The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent in January to the lowest level in more than two years as companies added just 112,000 new jobs — fewer than expected but enough to keep alive hope for a turnaround in the struggling job market.
The jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point last month to the lowest level since October 2001, when it was 5.4 percent, the Labor Department (search) said Friday. January's rate matched the 5.6 percent posted in January 2002.
Employers added new jobs last month at a pace not seen in three years. The last time payrolls expanded more than 112,000 was in December 2000, when companies added 124,000 positions.
posted by TAotB at 1:14:00 PM
Robert Novak: Kerry's Southern exposure
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Sen. John Kerry's extraordinary feat of winning seven out of the first nine tests in this year's race for the Democratic presidential nomination is mitigated by his one big loss. While the odds were stacked for Sen. John Edwards in Tuesday's South Carolina primary, the defeat still exposed a potentially fatal weakness in Kerry as President George W. Bush's opponent.
A native South Carolinian who lives in North Carolina, Edwards added to that advantage by spending much more time and money here than Kerry. Nevertheless, members of Kerry's high command hoped to clinch the nomination by sweeping all of Tuesday's elections -- including South Carolina's. That they did not come close here questions whether the South would be lost to Kerry in November.
Edwards, the only bona fide Southern politician seeking the nomination, in the flush of victory Tuesday night commented that no Democrat has been elected president without winning at least five states of the old Confederacy. Arkansan Bill Clinton won by carrying that minimum. To meet that standard, Kerry will have to do better with the white Southern voter than he showed here Tuesday.
posted by TAotB at 12:08:00 AM
. . . Voluntarily. If rich Dems, especially Dems running for president, truly think that the problem is that the Bush tax cuts are keeping needed monies away from wholesome and totally altruistic social programs, they should pony up and pay as much in taxes THIS YEAR as they want the rich to pay next year.
FOXNews.com - Your World w/ Neil Cavuto - Common Sense - A Taxing Proposition
Now to be fair, most candidates aren't for rescinding all the tax cuts - just those for upper income folks. That might, or might not happen.
But you know what I say? Don't wait. Put your money where your mouth is 'now.'
Since all these guys are pretty rich, I say, do what you want the rich to do: If you feel guilty keeping that tax cut, give it back.
If you don't think you deserve it, give it to your social programs you obviously think 'do' deserve it.
If you're worried about deficits you insist tax cuts -- and not your own boondoggle spending create -- then surrender your cut, and rev up your spending.
posted by TAotB at 12:13:00 PM
I need to investigate this more but I am curious as to why the judge in this case will not allow Stewart’s defense attorneys to present certain information and theories, why he would “restrict” their questions to the prosecution's star witness, etc.
If there’s an attorney or knowledgeable layman out there who can enlighten me on this, please post a comment to this story.
FOXNews.com - Business - Faneuil Says Martha Stewart Told Him to Sell ImClone Shares
posted by TAotB at 4:06:00 PM
But don't expect this to be the last word on the subject.
No 'right' for media to embed with troops -- The Washington Times
posted by TAotB at 1:30:00 PM
White House seeks to loan U.N. funds for renovations - The Washington Times: World
The loan to fund the U.N. Capital Master Plan still must win approval by Congress and the U.N. General Assembly. The world body must agree to accept the 5.54 percent interest rate. Interest and principal is to be paid off by all member states.
The loan announcement came on a day when Mr. Annan was in Washington for meetings with Mr. Bush and other senior administration leaders on the troubled political transition in Iraq.
Catherine Bertini, the U.N. undersecretary-general for administration and management, who accompanied Mr. Annan on his Washington trip, called the loan provision "great."
"It's exactly what we wanted, but we were hoping it would be interest-free," she said.
If approved, Washington will pay out $400 million a year for three years, and the organization will have 30 years to pay it back, plus interest. The total bill, with interest, will be close to $2.5 billion.
As part of its assessed contribution to the U.N. budget, the United States will supply 22 percent of that repayment figure — $265 million on the principal alone.
Diplomats said yesterday they did not know enough about the loan to comment, but several were dismayed that Washington would charge interest.
posted by TAotB at 12:31:00 PM
Moore Blasts Jennings On "Deserter" Bush, Nets Undermine Charge --2/3/2004-- Media Research Center
On Sunday’s World News Tonight, Geoff Morrell undermined the criminal claims made by Moore and McAuliffe about Bush supposedly not showing up for Guard duty for a few months in 1972/73, four years into a six year hitch: “In the 2000 campaign, Democrats tried to make an issue of George W. Bush's service in the National Guard, but their nominee never went so far as to accuse him of being absent without leave, a serious charge subject to court-martial. Reporters investigating Mr. Bush's military career found that, while he missed some weekends of training, he later made up for them and was eventually honorably discharged.
posted by TAotB at 12:24:00 PM
Preserving the Reagan legacy - The Washington Times: Commentary
As President Reagan's birthday fast approaches, those who worked for him and others who cherish his contributions should redouble their efforts to preserve his legacy.
posted by TAotB at 12:18:00 PM
Looking back on the assault on Mr. Dean before the Iowa caucuses, one is reminded of the old joke that politics really is a blood sport, and by caucus day the blood was everywhere and so were the Clintons' fingerprints. I cannot recall such a concerted assault on a front-runner in any other primary season. Dick Morris was, perhaps, the first to claim that Mr. McAuliffe's agents spread negative research against Mr. Dean. Now we have more evidence. Sources in the Kerry camp and the Edwards camp told my colleague 'The Prowler' at Spectator.org that much of the opposition research that smeared Mr. Dean in Iowa came from the Clark campaign. 'It wasn't just Clark, though,' a Kerry staffer reported, 'We know of at least two different stories that came from people currently on staff with the DNC, who fed the material to reporters.' Says an Edwards staffer, 'These are folks who worked for Clinton back in '92 and '96 and in the administration.'
posted by TAotB at 12:01:00 PM
FOXNews.com - Views - FoxNews Watch - America Enjoys Rich History of Election Hijinks
And then there were the linguistic dirty tricks of the 1950 U.S. Senate race in Florida. George Smathers (search) criticized his opponent, Claude Pepper, because Pepper’s sister, according to Smathers, was a “thespian.” Not only that, Smathers said, Pepper’s brother was “a practicing Homo sapiens.” Further, Smathers charged that Pepper himself had gone to college and openly “matriculated.”
posted by TAotB at 11:54:00 AM
THomas Sowell, award-winning economist and intellectual, is always worth reading. Check it out.
Thomas Sowell: 'Special interests'
This election year we are sure to hear a lot about 'special interests.' Candidates of both major parties, as well as candidates of third or fourth parties, are sure to denounce special interests both hotly and repeatedly.
The secret of these verbal fireworks from all parts of the political spectrum is that only the groups supporting one's opponents are called special interests. Politicians do not call their own supporters special interests.
Therefore every candidate can be against special interests, and they differ only in how often and how loudly they say it -- and in the particular groups to whom they apply that label.
posted by TAotB at 11:46:00 AM
Class warfare isn't classy - The Washington Times: Commentary
They call it class warfare. For the life of me, I don't know why. There's nothing classy about pitting one group of people against another.
There's nothing classy about telling the rich in this country that their gains are somehow ill-gotten.
There's nothing classy about saying the rich get back more money but never saying boo about the simple fact they pay more money — a lot more money.
And there's nothing classy about lying. Because truth be told, this isn't about us and what we're paying. It's about the government and what it's keeping.
posted by TAotB at 11:21:00 AM
I'm detecting a theme today. Anyway . . .
First, the lead paragraph from a story about the ricin found in the office of Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn).
Police Probe Powder in Senate Building
WASHINGTON (AP) - A white powder, which preliminary tests indicated could be the deadly substance ricin, was discovered Monday in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Now a little essay about ricin originally published on this website in which a buddy of mine writes about the dangers of Ricin in response to the ricin found in England way back in March of last year.
Howdy.
AAAGHHH!!!!!!! 'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go! Waa Ork!
>LONDON (AP) -- Anti-terrorist police said Tuesday they arrested six men of North African origin
Specifically ALGERIAN, just like Zacarias "chrome dome" Moussaoui. Hey, wait! Does that mean the cops were "profiling"? Foul! Let 'em go, and supply them with 1,000 pounds of castor beans!
>after finding traces of ricin, a deadly poison that in the past has been linked to al-Qaeda and Iraq, in a London property.
Oh God! Now we link ricin to al-Qaeda and Iraq, do we? Why the hell would Iraq need a wimpy poison like ricin, when they have tabun, sarin, and all sorts of nasty biological weapons?
> Ricin -- one of the world's deadliest toxins, twice as deadly as cobra venom -- is derived from the castor bean plant and is relatively easily made. It may be inhaled, ingested or injected. There is no known antidote.
OK, just a friggin' minute. Yeah, it's "deadly" and there's no known antidote. HOWEVER: according to R.H. Dreisbach, writing in the "Handbook of Poisons" (1955), the fatality rate is roughly 5%. Yes, you read that correctly. Five percent.
Injection is the most lethal method, as ingestion tends to lead to the toxin - an albumen (protein) being largely destroyed in the digestive tract.
Whereas there is no antidote, let me quote Torald Sollman from "A Manual of Pharmacology" (1924) yes, you read the date correctly. 1924. This stuff has been known for a VERY long time.
"Antiricin- Injections of the phytotoxins produce typical antitoxins, so that an immunized animal can survive 5,000 ordinary, fatal doses of ricin. Some of the basic work of Ehrlich was done with ricin and abrin (N.B: the similar toxin found in rosary beans). He showed (1891) that the immunity starts in five to six days, and lasts six or seven months. The resistance of the corpuscles is unchanged, the antiricin being contained in the pseudoglobulin fraction of the serum (Jacoby, 1902). It contains antitoxin, antiagglutinin (probably identical) and precipitin. Madsac and Walburn found that this combination obeys the same laws as diphtheria antitoxin. The toxicity of ricin is modified rather complexly by lecithin. (Lawrow, 1913)."
OK, a person who is "immunized", per se, would have to ingest 175mg of the stuff before it killed him. Injection IS bad news, but inhalation is far less lethal, and ingestion is WAY tougher. Ingestion and injection lead to acute poisoning, but inhalation tends to lead to chronic poisoning, for which Dreisman recommends, by way of treatment, and I quote: "Remove from exposure".
> Police did not say what the material was. “Tests were carried out on the material and it was confirmed this morning that toxic material was present," said the statement.
Ok, so how the hell do they know what it was?
> It said Britain "continues to face a range of terrorist threats from a number of different groups" and advised the public to "remain vigilant."
Pray tell; How does one "remain vigilant" in today's Britain without running afoul of some "hate crime" law?
> In very small doses, ricin causes the human digestive tract to convulse -- hence the laxative effect of castor oil.
Except that only *traces* of ricin are found in castor oil.
> But in larger doses ricin causes diarrhea so severe that victims can die of shock, as a result of massive fluid and electrolyte loss.
Well, that's an oversimplification, too. The main damage is caused by the agglutination of blood-cells, circulatory collapse, nephritis and renal shutdown.
>Castor beans are grown all over the world.
Aggh! We must stamp out all traces of R. Communis, as well as rosary beans (abrin) and croton (crotin)!
> Traces of ricin have been found by U.S. troops in Afghanistan at suspected al-Qaida biological weapons sites.
*Traces*. My guess is they decided that it WAS TOO INEFFICIENT to use as a weapon of mass destruction. They may be a bunch of ass-scratching, camel-riding zealots, but apparently they can READ, and have availed themselves of the medical literature going back to 1886.
Hell, they're probably rather sharp. It doesn't take much to realize that even a minor threat such as this would cause an absolute PANIC in the namby-pamby, soft, sensitive and fear-mongering western media. They've probably observed that a typical western newspaper concerns itself more with "feelings" and social theories than with facts.
I was writing these guys off as dirtbags. They might actually be better, more intelligent and more analytical men than we are.
> U.S. officials said in August that the Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Islam tested ricin along with other chemical and biological agents in northern Iraq, territory controlled by Kurds, not Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The group is allegedly linked to al-Qaida.
Whoa, Nellie! "Tested"? There is ABUNDANT medical literature on ricin, dating back to AT LEAST 1886. This is NOT some newfangled bio/chem weapon. DAMNIT! Leave it to the media to make a mountain out of a molehill. Somebody, please tell me: WHY do I rely on such pitifully uninformed idiots for information?
> And some amateur scientists have produced the poison at home. In Janesville, Wis., Thomas Leahy was accused of manufacturing ricin, and prosecutors said the small amount he possessed was enough to kill more than 100 people. He pleaded guilty to possessing the poison.
That's what I was afraid of. You'd better rip those castor beans out of your yard right now, ditto your rosary beans, if you have 'em. Now about the botulism that lives in your soil - I don't know what to tell you. There's probably enough there to kill a few thousand people, so I guess we'd better confiscate all land, illegalize stringbeans, and force people to live in dirigibles or something. If you're a stock-raiser, there's probably enough potassium and ammonium nitrate in your soil to put you on the "terrorist" list, too.
> In Spokane, Wash., the FBI arrested Kenneth Olsen last summer for allegedly manufacturing the poison, a charge he denies.
Cattle involuntarily manufacture E. coli all the time. Shall we imprison them all? Hey, the stuff is dangerous! Might as well be on the safe side, right? Every time you piss, you're passing the raw components for an explosive out through your urethra. What if you piss at a refinery? Does that make you a terrorist?
Instead of soiling our diapers and squealing about a toxin that's been known for well over 100 years and has a 5% fatality rate, why not worry about these al-Qaeda a-holes getting a hold of the Ebola virus (95% fatality rate), and known to crop up in Sudan (remember the aspirin factory incident?) They once hosted Usama (and might have an axe to grind) or some REAL threat?
I guess the Brits are well and rightly f-ed, but if you're an American, be of good cheer! Our new Senate Majority leader is an M.D.! Simply refer him to the Sollman and Dreisbach articles I cited, and DEMAND that the gub'mint start cooking up large batches of antiricin.
Jeez. Color me terrified. So I'll steer clear of shady-looking Arabs with hypodermics in hand...
Love,
Disgusted D--
posted by TAotB at 11:02:00 PM
It was fun while it lasted but apparently John Kerry has just been elected president.
CNN.com - Kerry leads Bush in new poll - Feb. 2, 2004
When the 562 likely voters were asked for their choice from a Bush v. Kerry race, 53 percent of those picked Kerry, and 46 percent favored Bush.
posted by TAotB at 10:58:00 PM
Sure he did. And Kay has never said that there were WMD in Syria.
DEBKAfile - Dr. Kay Had Maps with Coordinates of WMD Hiding Places in Syria
Armed with this knowledge, Kay was able to say firmly to The Telegraph’s Con Coughlin on January 25: “We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons. But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam’s WMD program. Precisely what went to Syria and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved.
Yet in later interviews, the last being on February 1 with Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s Late Edition - and for reasons known only to himself - Kay turned vague, claiming there was no way of knowing what those convoys contained because of the lack of Syrian cooperation.
What caused his change of tune?
Since he began talking to the media, interested politicians have been rephrasing his assertions on the probable absence of stockpiles, by dropping the “probable” and transmuting “no stockpiles”, to “no WMD.” These adjustments have produced a telling argument against Bush’s justification for war and a slogan that has deeply eroded public confidence in US credibility in America and other countries. Tony Blair and John Howard will no doubt set up outside inquiry commissions like Bush. In Israel too, opposition factions have seized the opportunity of arguing that if Israel’s pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s arsenal was flawed, so too was its evaluation of Yasser Arafat’s role as the engine of Palestinian suicidal terror. The fact that intelligence was not flawed - UN inspectors dismantled missiles and Iraq fired missiles at Kuwait - is easily shouted down in the current climate.
posted by TAotB at 10:45:00 PM
I wonder how many vets who saw the half-time show are royally pissed that Kid Rock came out wearing an American Flag.
Not some shirt made to look like a flag, but an true flag that had been cut to form a makeshift pancho.
Now, I think that things like a flag-birning amendment etc. go too far, but I can see and understand people, especially vets who fought for that flag, really wanting to have a "chat" with Mr. Rock.
posted by TAotB at 12:46:00 AM
Here's one you probably missed: a story about using the internet to form grassroots political movements.
In this story there's lots of talk about supporters of Wesley Clark and Howard Dean. Then, waaaay toward the end, it mentions a conservative, one John O'Brien. Here's what it said about him:
John O'Brien, a business consultant who attended a recent meet-up sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, said he enjoyed mingling with other conservatives. The only reason he would attend a Dean meet-up, he said, would be to heckle.
This was on Sunday, 1/25/04.
Then, today, 02/02/04, this correction shows up at the bottom of the page:
An article last Sunday about the effect of the Internet on the scope of political debate misstated the position of John O'Brien, a politically conservative business consultant. Although he does not agree with Howard Dean's positions, he said he would be unlikely to attend a meeting of Dean supporters unless it was to learn about grass-roots organizing from their example. He added that he would never consider disrupting the meeting or heckling the speakers.
Now, of the thousands of people who read this article in the paper or on the web, how many read the Retractions the following week and put two and two together? About 3, most likely.
Meanwhile, this reporter, Amy Harmon, has managed to portray conservatuves in a bad light and make this O'Brien out to be an ass to the 999, 997 people who read the article but not the correction.
My advice: don't talk to reporters like Amy Harmon of the NYT as they "misstate" your position. Completely screw your position into an unrecognizable piece of bullshit, more likely.
NYT: Amy Harmon - Politics of the Web: Meet, Greet, Segregate, Meet Again (link requires registration)
posted by TAotB at 11:59:00 PM
A leading Muslim cleric Saturday denouced terrorism to 2M muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage.
Muslim CLeric Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik Denouces Terrorism
Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik said in his sermon there were those who claim to be holy warriors, but were shedding Muslim blood and destabilizing the nation.
'Is it holy war to shed Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possession of Muslims,' he said, adding that their actions gave enemies an excuse to criticize Muslim nations.
A large number of the victims of suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq and elsewhere have been Muslims.
Al-Sheik, who is widely respected in the Arab world as the foremost cleric in the country considered the birthplace of Islam, spoke at Namira Mosque in a televised sermon watched by millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
posted by TAotB at 2:22:00 PM
FOXNews.com - Views - Junk Science - Atkins Attack
"Revenge of the High-Carb Diet ? Ha! It Works, Too" was the Reuters headline.
But unlike the sensationalistic media, which tend to limit their reporting of new study claims to regurgitated press releases and sound bites from study authors, I actually read the study in the Jan. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
It didn't take long to discover why study subjects on the high-carbohydrate diet lost weight ? they ate fewer calories!
posted by TAotB at 2:15:00 PM
