Download Squad blogged Have you ever wanted to be able to control your computer remotely, without the technical hurdles (or firewall issues) that come with more serious solutions like VNC? You might take a look at Gmail Remote Command, a free Windows app that will check your Gmail inbox every 60 seconds and, if it sees you've sent it certain preconfigured keywords, will execute commands on the host computer. GRC can make your computer run programs, open URLs, or shut down. This definitely isn't for people who have a need for high security, as it's basically a backdoor into your system for anyone who knows your e-mail address (though you can make your keywords hard to guess), but for more mundane situations it could come in handy--in particular, you could send yourself an e-mail from your cell phone and control your computer from anywhere in the world, or, at least, anywhere you have reception.
This sounds interesting, but very dangerous, and I am not sure I like the idea of Google taking over my computer.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Interesting but dangerous
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Iran Chief Eclipses Power of Clerics
NYT President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to consolidate power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic, apparently with the tacit approval of Iran's supreme leader, according to government officials and political analysts here.
I have always thought that the way to convert Iran to a democracy would be to divide the mullahs into two groups, and kill one of them, making it look like it was done by someone in the other group. Then a week later kill two from the other group, and sit back and watch them kill each other off. But this makes it easier. Kill one mullah, then two of another group of mullahs, then three of Ahmadinejad's key people.That rare unity of elected and religious leadership at the highest levels offers the United States an opportunity to talk to a government, however combative, that has often spoken with multiple voices. But if Washington, which severed relations with Iran after the 1979 revolution, opened such a dialogue, it could lift the prestige of the Iranian president, who has pushed toward confrontation with the West.
Lost in translation?
Iraq the Model blogs Does the CNN have problems with translation from Arabic to English or is it a case of deliberate twisting of facts?
Yesterday Iraq's and Iran's foreign ministers had a joint press conference in Baghdad after which the CNN ran a headline that reads "Iraqi minister defends Iranian nuclear program" and wrote:Iran has a right to develop nuclear technology and the international community should drop its demands that Tehran prove it's not trying to build a nuclear weapon, Iraq's foreign minister said Friday..... "Iran doesn't claim that they want to obtain a nuclear weapon or a nuclear bomb, so there is no need that we ask them for any guarantee now," Hoshyar Zebari said after meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki.
I wasn't there at the press conference but I was able to find an audio clip of the same part of minister Zibari's statement through Radio Sawa, and what he said here is so much different from what the CNN claimed he did (my translation):We respect Iran's and every other nation's right to pursue nuclear technology for research purposes and peaceful use given they accept [giving] the internationally required guarantees that this will not lead to an armament race in the region…
Audio clip available here (Arabic)
Listening to the 2nd version of the story (in Zibari's own voice) it is clear that Iraq recognizes Iran's right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes exclusively and is moreover asking Iran for guarantees, not the other way around CNN!
This is certainly not the first time that CNN has distorted the news.
Bring It On
JustOneMinute blogged John Kerry wants to re-fight the Swift Boats wars. My goodness, that is the only thing that could get the Times to cover this - during his campaign they stayed about as far from this story as Kerry was from Cambodia at Christmas time..... I am much more curious to see whether we can demonstrate that the MSM was horribly deficient in their coverage of this story. My recollection, which may be colored by hyperbole, is that the entire NY Times coverage amounted to one story saying "The Swift Boat Veterans are lying because Kerry says they are".
He knows he does not stand a chance in hell of getting the nomination again, and he is desperate for another 15 minutes of fame. He could have easily released this material when it was requested during the 2004 election.
Can Bloggers Get Real?
NYT reported Las Vegas, as the ad campaign likes to remind us, is a place people go to untether themselves from reality — to become, if only for a weekend, anonymous and uncensored. It's odd, then, that Vegas is about to play host to a gathering of ordinary Americans whose objective is precisely the reverse. Next week, 1,000 devotees of the liberal blogging universe
Which is characterized by people completely untethered from reality, and where they can say anything, as long as it is Bush Bashing.— people who know one another only as pseudonyms on a screen, connected by only their running commentaries — will descend on the Riviera Hotel in hopes of affixing names and faces to their online personas. The event has been dubbed the YearlyKos convention, and it is the first-ever corporeal assemblage of the bloggers at the Web site Dailykos.com. These are the people who are said to be changing the very nature of American politics,
At least they think they are.transforming the old smoke-filled room of insiders into an expansive chat room for anyone who wants in. And so it's not surprising that Democratic luminaries like the party's chairman, Howard Dean, and its leaders in Congress, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, have arranged their schedules to address the convention,
To pander to their extreme left wing.along with at least a few 2008 presidential contenders. No small contingent of political professionals and journalists will show up as well. (I myself will sit on a panel about political journalism, which is kind of like being the Dunkin' Donuts spokesman at a cardiologists' convention.)
Mr. Jefferson, meet Mr. Jefferson
Akhil Reed Amar wrote in Slate William Jefferson and his congressional colleagues are crying foul about an executive-branch search of his Capitol-complex office. How would Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues—the Founding Fathers—have viewed the matter? Consider first what the framers wrote about congressional privileges in Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution:Senators and Representatives … shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
The opening language here might initially seem promising for (William) Jefferson. The clause seems to broadly immunize Congress members from arrest when Congress is in session. If Jefferson can't even be arrested for various crimes, how can his premises be searched in a criminal investigation?
But on closer inspection, the clause does not insulate sitting Congress members from ordinary criminal arrest and prosecution. No arrest-immunity exists whenever a congressman stands accused of "Treason, Felony, [or] Breach of the Peace"—and the last phrase was, according to the canonical jurist William Blackstone, a catchall term of art that effectively covered all crimes. Following Blackstone, the U.S. Supreme Court has read the catchall expansively in leading cases decided in 1908 and 1972. Thus, sitting congressmen enjoy no special immunity from arrests in ordinary criminal cases.
Precisely. Congress isn't above the law, and bribery isn't "speech or debate." And when they scream Separation of Powers, remember they feel they have the power to suponea material from the other two branches in their "oversight duties", and this was not just the Executive Branch: they had a warrent issued by the Judicial Branch
Saturday, May 27, 2006
There's a right way, and they did it the right way
Speaker of the House Journal Entry
If the information we have read about the behavior of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., seems as obvious to a jury as it does to me, he deserves to be vigorously prosecuted. I do not want to do anything that will interfere with that prosecution. The issue that has concerned me, as Speaker, since Saturday night is not if the FBI should be able to search a member of Congress' office, but rather how to do it within the boundaries of the Constitution.They did it the right way. They tried to suponea the records, but were stiffed for 9 months, so they got a search warrent from a judge, and executed the search warrent.
Happy Memorial Day
The $6 Trillion Giveaway
How much is a US “Green Card” worth? After all, such a card allows one to:
1. Live and work permanently in the United States of America
2. Become a US citizen after a few years.
The Central-American country of Belize allows you to purchase citizenship for $25,000. Surely, a US Green Card is worth at least $100,000.
The Senate’s amnesty plan proposes to effectively give away at least 60 million such Green Cards. In effect, that’s about 60 million * 100,000 = $6 Trillion worth of Green Cards. (Yes, that’s Trillion with a T. It has twelve zeros: 6,000,000,000,000. It’s six thousand billions.)A very good point. They are doing it to buy Democratic votes, because they think that the majority will vote Democratic just like the blacks do, even though the Dems dont do anything for eoter group. But if we sold the Green Cards they would be bought by people that learned how to improve themselves, and they would be likely to become Republican voters.Suppose the Senate decided to instead auction off those Green Cards on the world markets, we could almost completely wipe out our $8 trillion national debt. If we didn’t want to wipe out our debt, we could send every American man, woman, and child a check for $20,000.
Instead, the Senate is giving these Green Cards away to the 12-20 million low-skilled, under-educated, non-English-speaking, immigration-law-breaking, fraudsters, forgers, and perjurers euphemistically described as “undocumented workers.” It’s a $6 trillion giveaway only to criminals. That’s over ten times the size of the much-maligned Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. However, unlike the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, it’s not available to needy American citizens, only to proven foreign criminals. Now that’s what I call Big Government!
Gonzales Said He Would Quit in Raid Dispute
NYT Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office, government officials said Friday.
I dont blame him. Hastert and Peloci were idiots to complain about the legitimacy of the raid. Bush was very wise to do what neither group wanted, and seal the documents for 45 days while they could check with the Supreme Court, but giving them back just because the House complained would have been very wrong.Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress. The potential showdown was averted Thursday when President Bush ordered the evidence to be sealed for 45 days to give Congress and the Justice Department a chance to work out a deal.
CQ blogged Until now, Gonzalez has always appeared to be a moderate, get-along-to-go-along political appointee. However, this shows that the AG has serious backbone and integrity to spare. He and Mueller both understood the stakes involved in this standoff and refused to participate in creating a political class insulated from law enforcement. Without the power to enforce and execute duly authorized subpoenas and search warrants, members of Congress could hide evidence of corruption in their offices with no fear of exposure or prosecution. It would create a taxpayer-funded sanctuary for crooks, and the top officials at Justice sent the message that they would not become accessories to that system.
Bush already knew this but wanted Hastert to come to that conclusion on his own, or at least allow Hastert the opportunity to appear to have done so. Before anyone made the kind of bold public gesture Gonzalez threatened, he simply froze the status quo for six weeks, giving time for everyone to reach their own conclusions rather than get embarrassed by a Supreme Court decision that would undoubtedly have painted Hastert and Pelosi as obstructors of justice.
Given this time out for his obstinacy, Hastert and his colleagues have busied themselves with goalpost-moving and backtracking. Before, they claimed a Constitutional privilege of freedom from search warrants and subpoenas from the executive branch, even though Congress regularly issues subpoenas without judicial approval against members of the executive branch. Now Hastert has acknowledged that Congressmen are subject to the same laws as everyone else, but have modified their complaint; now they say the issue is that Jefferson and his attorney were not allowed to be present at the search. That's a far cry from the phony Constitutional crisis they declared earlier this week, perhaps a more reasonable issue and certainly one that didn't require Hastert's intercession. He could have kept his mouth shut and let Jefferson's attorney raise that question when the evidence got submitted for trial -- just like any other defendant in a criminal case.
The denouement of this kerfuffle demonstrates two very important points. George Bush still holds the power in Washington and in the GOP, and this controversy shows that he and the people at Justice remain the adults in charge of the day care center. Hastert has severely damaged himself politically in two ways. No one in the GOP will ever give Hastert the same level of trust again after this attempt to pervert the Constitution, and Republicans will remain furious with him for taking the focus off of William Jefferson and his cash-cow business in selling his vote
Sister Toldjah blogged Get real. The statement clearly implies that the feds went about this wrong. On the contrary, Speaker Hastert, the feds did what they had to do: they obtained a legal warrant from a judge and searched Jefferson’s Congressional office accordingly. Hastert continues to make statements he can’t back up, and I wish someone in Washington would call on him to explain himself. His official statement missed the mark.
Hey, here’s an idea: if only the President would rescind his intial order for the evidence to be sealed for 45 days, then maybe Reps. Hastert and Pelosi would resign in protest. I, for one, wouldn’t object to that one bit.
OTB blogged I’m glad to see someone had some backbone in this matter. To have thrown away evidence against a corrupt congressman obtained through a legal raid backed by a judicial warrant out of political appeasement would have been outrageous. Separation of powers or no, Congress is not above the law.
Michael Galien blogged I believe Gonzales, Mueller and McNulty did the right thing here (threatening to resign). The search of Jefferson's office was, in my opinion, justified. When you're so deep in an investigation, when you got so much evidence to back it up, you need to stand tall. One might only wonder what would have happened if the Justice Department would have given in to the pressure from Congress. What impression would they have made.
Friday, May 26, 2006
House offices searched after gunfire report
CNN Police were searching the Rayburn building in the Capitol complex Friday after reports of gunfire in a garage in the building.
Someone was obviously confused. It was the Senate that passed S.2611 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. Also regardless of how tempting it might be to want to shoot a few Senators, I believe the proper thing is to just make sure that House blocks the stupid things they passed, and politically go after the Senators, at least those in Class I (i.e. are up for election this year) that voted for S 2611, i.e. Democrats Daniel Akaka, Jeff Bingaman, Maria Cantwell, Thomas Carper, Hillary Clinton, Kent Conrad, Mark Dayton, Dianne Feinstein, Edward Kennedy, Herb Kohl, Joseph Lieberman, Robert Menendez, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, and Paul Sarbanes, Republicans Lincoln Chafee, Mike DeWine, Bill Frist, Richard Lugar, and Olympia Snowe, and Independent James Jeffords. Normally I would urge going after Robery Byrd and Debbie Stabenow, who are up for election this term, but they did vote Nay on S.2611. He is not up for election this time, but we need to pull Specter's chairmanship."At 10:30 this morning, we received a report of shots fired inside the Rayburn garage," Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a public information officer for the Capitol Police, said.
Mexico must approve any fence?????
Michelle Malkin reveals that the dishonest Senators inserted a requirement at the last minute that Mexico must be consulted before any fence is built. This is outrageous. There is a lot that the House needs to remove, but this is definitely one of the big ones.
Republicans who voted for the Mexican consultation requirement: Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Chafee, Coleman, Collins, Craig, Graham, Hagel, Lugar, Collins, McCain, Specter, Stevens, Warner, Martinez, Murkowski, Snowe, and Voinovich.
Bernard blogged This is political correctness run amuck and is consistent with the unadulterated crap going on in the United States Senate. Interesting that S-2611 passed because 62 Senators didn’t consult first with the majority opinion of America’s likely voters!
Slublog blogged I guess 'greater understanding' is more important than secure borders.
Bizzy blogged Put down whatever you’re drinking. Keep sharp objects out of arm’s reach. Someone who has been working here illegally for the past 5 years and who, because of family size, would have been entitled to the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for each of those 5 years could receive a tax handout of over $20,000 — plus interest. You can start drinking again. You are forgiven if you change your choice of beverage to one with some punch to it. I hope the House can retain its sanity; the Senate has lost theirs.
Riehl blogged The American people need to hold the appropriate individuals, including the President, responsible. For now, the battle moves to the House by pressuring them to hold firm in conference. If they don't, I predict an entirely new political movement forming in this country, one that reaches across party lines and results in some significant number of these political hacks being thrown out.
George Galloway opens his mouth
Independent Online The Respect MP George Galloway has said it would be morally justified for a suicide bomber to murder Tony Blair.
While taking out a blowhard like Galloway would just be good sense.In an interview with GQ magazine, the reporter asked him: "Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber - if there were no other casualties - be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?" Mr Galloway replied: "Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it - but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq - as Blair did."
Sister Toldjah blogged Would someone please explain to me again why anyone in Britain would elect this serial idiot to represent them in the first place? Is this not something he can be censured for in front of the Parliament at the very least? I don’t know the way things work in the British gov’t, but there’s got t be a way there for the Parliament to condemn this bonehead.
Blue Crab blogged Galloway is a slime ball with a severe case of moral leprosy. As more and more of his humanity falls away, the true soul of this foul creature emerges. Twisted and decayed, more and more is revealed with each public appearance or interview. He even gazes lovingly into the eyes of Fidel Castro and embraces. One presumes the kiss was French.
Marc blogged With any justice we will one day see Galloway behind bars where he belongs.
Done with mirrors sarcastically and mockingly blogged Well, as long it's logical and explicable, why not?
Thursday, May 25, 2006
IRS to Refund $15 Billion of Telephone Taxes to Consumers
TaxProf Blog reports The Treasury Department and IRS announced this morning that after losing in five circuit courts of appeals,
This shows how much even a Republican government likes tax revenue. It took five loses in circuit courts of appeal to convince them to stop trying to collect this "temporary" 1898 "luxury" tax from the Spanish-American War.the Government is throwing in the towel and will no longer seek to enforce the 3% excise tax on long-distance telephone calls enacted during the Spanish-American War of 1898 as a "luxury" tax on wealthy Americans who owned telephones. The IRS will will issue $15 billion in refunds to consumers for long-distance telephone service taxes paid over the past three years
Glenn Reynolds blogged It's a nice reminder of how long "temporary" taxes can last, and of how taxes targeted at "the rich" often turn out to reach others.
Bush orders FBI-Congress documents sealed
Instapundit blogged Bush orders FBI-Congress documents sealedPresident Bush stepped into the Justice Department's constitutional confrontation with Congress on Thursday and ordered that documents seized in an FBI raid on a congressman's office be sealed for 45 days.
Could Al Qaeda have slipped mind-altering drugs into the DC water supply? What's gotten into these people? Or has some sort of deal been cut? Whatever it is, I don't think I like it.
Actually I think he did a very smart thing. I believe the FBI was acting in a constitutional manner. They tried for a long time to get him to respond to a suponea, and when he did not they got a warrent from a Federal Judge to do what they did. I think the House is stupid for thinking they are above the law. But Bush did not do what the House wanted, and return the documents seized. He had them sealed for 45 days giving both sides an opportunity to go to the Supreme Court to see what they say.
AP Unveils Deal to Tie Stories to Blogs
ABC News reports The Associated Press announced two agreements Tuesday one that will tie its news stories to the rapidly growing world of blogs and another that will help guide readers to newspaper Web sites. Under the first, Technorati Inc., the leading search engine for blog postings, will provide links to blogs that cite AP stories.
This sounds useful. I have used this service some WaPo articles..... Technorati will search blogs for postings that include links to AP stories. Links to those postings will be available along with the original AP stories on 440 member Web sites served by AP Hosted News, a service that uses AP servers to display AP content on member sites. There also will be a box featuring the "Top Five Most Blogged About" AP stories.
Clicking on the links takes the reader to a Technorati page listing the relevant blogs.... Bouryal said the AP hopes members will apply the Technorati service to their own stories, not just AP material. The Washington Post and Newsweek, both owned by Washington Post Co., already have similar arrangements with Technorati.
But WaPo makes the links directly available on its page
Abbas stuns Hamas with talk of referendum
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he will call a national referendum on accepting a Palestinian state alongside
Israel if Hamas does not agree to the idea within 10 days.This is interestingAbbas' surprise announcement was a political gamble that could either help resolve the Palestinians' internal deadlock or lead them into a deeper crisis with the militant Hamas group.I suspect it would just deepen the conflict.Such a vote would effectively ask Palestinians to give implicit recognition to Israel by accepting a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in 1967.I dont think that Israel would accept withdrawing to the 1967 borders, because they were not defensible borders, but this would be a good start to negotiations.
Man is too short for prison
Yahoo! News A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.
Did he just sexually assault tall children?His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.
If you are too short to do the time, then don't do the crime.
What it means to be a true journalist
WaPo reported Steve Capus, president of NBC News, said, "In this age when any fool with a laptop can call themselves a journalist, I believe it is important to demonstrate to Americans what it means to be a true journalist."
It means that the fool's laptop is the property of a media company.
