What Fires You Up?

4/05/2003

 

Professors Protest While Students Debate

By Kate Zernike, April 5, 2003, New York Times, "A Nation at War

Oregon Law to Be Debated Banning Anti-War Protest

From Lee Douglas, Washington Post.com April 2

Time Has Come Today? (to blogs)

From Anita Hamilton, Best of the War Blogsfor Monday, April 7 Time Magazine

With the Patriot Act and Patriot Act 2, are Americans enthusiastically turning to aggressive jingoism? Here are some quotes encountered recently - see if you hear echoes from our current US fearless leadersand ghosts of the past who should be heard:
``It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.''-Ayn Rand

``Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of Liberty is a history of resistance. The history of Liberty is a history of limitations of Governmental power, not the increase of it.''-Woodrow Wilson

``There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site, and this guy is just a garbage man.'' -George W. Bush, commenting on the website gwbush.com

``If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.''-Anatole France

``The business of skepticism is to be dangerous. Skepticism challenges established institutions. If we teach everybody, including, say, high school students, habits of skeptical thought, they will probably not restrict their skepticism to UFOs, aspirin commercials, and 35,000-year-old channelees. Maybe they'll start asking awkward questions about economic, or social, or political, or religious institutions. Perhaps they'll challenge the opinions of those in power. Then where would we be?''-Carl Sagan, in The Demon-Haunted World

``What luck for the rulers that men do not think.''-Adolf Hitler

``Americans are now certifiably insane. They are crazy. They are suffering a mass psychosis. They have lost their own ability to discern right from wrong.''-Joseph Farah. editor of WorldNetDaily, 1999-Apr-12

``If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.'' -Joseph Stalin, from ``Reply to the discussion on the Political Reports of the Central Committee'', Dec. 7, 1927. Stalin, Works, Vol. 10, p. 378

Peace, Love and Hugs,
* * * * * * *cobalt* * * * * * *

BJ 4/05/2003 11:07:00 AM

4/04/2003

 

New Random Link of the Day generator is Working!

Cobalt received this script through a freeware download called the AAScripter. This was recommended this last week by Meryl in a Lockergnome technewsletter I suscribe to. I have had great appreciation for this tool. While I do not plan to constantly use the many scripts it contains, it does save me from time spent coding where coding exists and is public domain.

Now, the tricky thing is that it took me three tries to install this particular script into the blog template here. Luckily, the folks at CyberiaPC.com run a great techie posting forum and two posters there came to my aid. Both posted the tiniest bits of missing code I needed to place accurately and voila! Thanks to all the unsung cyberspace friends who share!

Now, to preface the particular link of the day - I chose 31 different links that will appeal to a variety of readers. Primarily this first launch is heavy with bloggers and interesing web design links. When one clicks on the active link, the site you are taken to may be an "old" web page for that site that I was interested in saving. You should be able to locate on that page a "Home" or "Main" link that will then take you to today's entries for that blog.

Today, the link is for Sifrey's Alerts - by David Sifry. This is what his blog describes for his bio:

"I'm cofounder and CTO of Sputnik and creator and maintainer of Technorati. I was the cofounder and CTO of Linuxcare, founding board member of Linux International, and board member of AOTC. I've been around the block a few times. Some might call me a serial entrepreneur. A more personal but less-updated site has more information about me - pictures, speeches, software, etc. You can contact me at david-blog@sifry.com.

If you look at the link you have been connected to, you will find a fascinating entry for March 21 -

"Technorati's Current Events

Technorati's got a new feature called Current Events that I just whipped up. It is a list of the top links to "professional" news sites by bloggers in the last two hours, along with comments and analysis.I created it because, like most people, I've been following the progress of the war, watching and reading the mass media, and I wanted to know what people out there were saying about the news. What are the most important stories? What is real, and what is propaganda? What is not being reported, or is being underreported? These were the questions on my mind when I created Technorati's Current Events. Ever since the Google purchase of Blogger, the thing that struck me as the most compelling potential new feature was the combination of Google News with Blogger users' commentary. Perhaps they'll still do it, but I think I just beat them to it.

I'm constantly amazed by the collective wisdom of a huge number of individuals, each publishing their thoughts, and voting their attention by linking to things. I wanted to tap into this collective brainpower, organize it, and present it back to us all."

Let us know when you particularly like a link or have a comment!

BJ 4/04/2003 01:37:00 PM

 

Ex-CIA director: U.S. faces 'World War IV'
From Charles Feldman and Stan Wilson
CNN, Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/03/sprj.irq.woolsey.world.war

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) --Former CIA Director James Woolsey said Wednesday the United States is engaged in World War IV, and that it could continue for years.

In the address to a group of college students, Woolsey described the Cold War as the third world war and said "This fourth world war, I think, will last considerably longer than either World Wars I or II did for us. Hopefully not the full four-plus decades of the Cold War."

Woolsey has been named in news reports as a possible candidate for a key position in the reconstruction of a postwar Iraq.

He said the new war is actually against three enemies: the religious rulers of Iran, the "fascists" of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic extremists like al Qaeda.

Woolsey told the audience of about 300, most of whom are students at the University of California at Los Angeles, that all three enemies have waged war against the United States for several years but the United States has just "finally noticed."

"As we move toward a new Middle East," Woolsey said, "over the years and, I think, over the decades to come ... we will make a lot of people very nervous."

What an understatement, eh?

* * * * * * *cobalt* * * * * * * Peace, Love and Hugs

BJ 4/04/2003 12:32:00 PM

4/01/2003

 

Fiddling About Today - After All It's April 1!

* * * * * * *cobalt* * * * * * *
Peace, Love and Hugs

BJ 4/01/2003 05:17:00 PM

3/30/2003

 

Massive Medicaid and Medicare Cuts in Budget!

This just in from the Washington Post editorial today by David S. Broder:

"The biggest hit would be in the Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income families and nursing home care for many of the elderly. Other targets would be child care and children's health insurance programs.

Medicaid is a shared responsibility of federal and state governments, and the states have been asking Washington for more help for the past two years. With drug prices rising and the slow economy making private health insurance unaffordable for more and more families, state Medicaid spending has been running out of control.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45064-2003Mar28.html
washingtonpost.com
A Budget of Dire Consequences
By David S. Broder
Sunday, March 30, 2003; Page B07

Another excerpt crucial to the editorial point

"I am about to conduct class warfare -- not because it's my ideological preference but because the facts compel it.

While America and the world focus rightly on the battles in Iraq, House and Senate negotiators this week will try to put the finishing touches on a budget that will set priorities for the federal government.

Neither the House nor the Senate budget truly addresses the needs of the nation. Neither one has the degree of fiscal discipline needed in a country at war and mired in a struggling economy. Either one would add close to $2 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

But there is a big difference between the two versions. The House budget provides twice as big a tax cut, principally for affluent Americans, as does the Senate's. And the House version would deal low-income Americans, particularly children, a much heavier blow. If the House version -- or something close to it -- prevails, expect dire consequences for many Americans.

And what shall Drew do with a loss of funding through the program that provides most of his medical care,agency funding and medications? It's not like he can go out and get a job...

* * * * * * *cobalt* * * * * * *

BJ 3/30/2003 07:25:00 PM

 

"Another Poster for Peace"
And The Blog Driver's Waltz

Found by chance today on Radio's Userland list of updated blogs: http://www.blogdriverswaltz.com/archive/000208.html
The Blog Driver's Waltz: Throw Another Blog on the Wire
I swear that the best blogs are often those of librarians! In fact, there is a high percentage of librarian blogs and technical newsletters that I suscribe to, even beating the number of IT bloggers and journalist bloggers. Librarians have great resources for news and must have an interest in the most bizarre or at least wildly humorous stories they pass along as fast as folks used to pass along the 10 generation Xerox copy cartoons.

The author of the Waltz blog posted this link on Friday: Another Poster for Peace.The site is collecting copyright-free art, fonts, clipart, and posters for free use by the public. The fonts and images are very nice to use in many ways, all with an anti-war theme. I only wish I could share them within this blog - but a free blog doesn't allow it. Go to the site and copy what you wish by using a "right-click" on the image and save it to a file on your hard drive. Have fun!

* * * * * * *cobalt* * * * * * *

BJ 3/30/2003 09:22:00 AM