Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 22:42 - Category: Unfiled ;
Your daily bombing news
Explosions kill five, injure 144 in violence-wracked southern Philippines
Kuwait Teen With Explosives Arrested
It was a slow day, sorry. We hope for more exciting bombings real soon now. In the meantime, check your TV for “All sniper news, all the time”.
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 17:12 - Category: Unfiled ;
Yahoo getting obnoxious - musical banner ads
Checked a Yahoo news story today, and lo, “409″ by the Beach Boys starts playing. A Ford banner ad on the top had decided my web surfing should be musically enhanced. How deeply thoughtful of them. I shall rush out and buy a Ford.
I bet they gear the music to whatever demographic Yahoo thinks I fit. Well yes, I did listen to “409″ when it was released. But they are assuming I still want to listen to it now. How insulting! They are implying that my tastes haven’t changed in the (omigod has it really been) nearly 40 years since that song was released.
Would the ad determine that a Gen-X’er should hear Nirvana or a rapper Public Enemy? Probably not, those bands are too “controversial” - i.e. they have actual ideas. How about me? What if I want to listen to Nirvana or Public Enemy? How do I tell the ad that their demographic of me is way off.
It might be fun to create several Yahoo accounts, all with widely varying demographics, then see what ads they pump at you. Have some fun with it. Be a 25 year old Pacific Islander living in Alabama making $1,000,000 a year. Stuff like that.
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 15:25 - Category: Unfiled ;
“Bowling for Columbine” Sets a Box Office Record!
“Bowling for Columbine” has set the new all-time opening weekend box office record ($27,000 per screen avg.) for a documentary in the United States! Thank you SO MUCH — all of you who stood in those enormous lines in Los Angeles and New York trying to get in but couldn’t. The unprecedented outpouring of support for this film sent a shock wave through Hollywood. An astounding 18 films opened last Friday in NYC and L.A. — so, for a documentary to do this well in such a crowded field, it was the last thing anyone expected. And? to break the record set nearly 13 years ago by “Roger & Me” — it was the only way it should have happened! <From Michael Moore’s newsletter>
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 14:16 - Category: Unfiled ;
We don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution
First they came for the Canadians…
US deports Canadian citizen to Syria. And all he did was make a connecting flight in the US. Canada is not happy.
Planning on some nonviolent civil disobedience?
Well, under the PATRIOT act, you now can be charged with “terrorism”. This from a workshop about civil disobedience given by a priest who has been arrested many many times.
Dick Armey: Justice ‘out of control,’ violating rights
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, lashed out at the Justice Department Wednesday for what he called its ”lack of regard for personal civil liberties in America” while combating terrorism.
”I told the president I thought his Justice Department was out of control,” the retiring lawmaker told USA TODAY’s editorial board.
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 10:50 - Category: Unfiled ;
Hybrid sports car!
This is way cool - a 400 horsepower hybrid muscle car that gets 42 mpg!
A sleek and powerful hybrid sports car concept that Honda Motor Co. unveiled last year at the Tokyo Auto Show could be the basis of a real production car from Acura.
If given the go-ahead, the car–code-named the DN-X–would turn heads not only because of its looks but also because it would show that hybrids don’t have to be automotive milquetoasts.
The concept car used a 300-horsepower V-6 coupled with a 100-horsepower electric motor to give it the performance of a 400-horsepower muscle car with excellent fuel economy.
when augmented with a high-torque electric motor that will provide lots of boost during acceleration, the system shown on the DN-X could achieve average fuel economy of 42 miles per gallon.
Not bad considering most 400-horsepower cars and trucks are doing well these days if they hit 15 mpg.
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 10:19 - Category: Unfiled ;
Your daily corporate corruption news
Ex-Enron Energy Trader to Plead Guilty
El Paso lawsuit can proceed
Arthur Andersen Is Put on Probation
Dynegy to abandon energy trading
Global Crossing Creditors May Go After Winnick’s Money
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 10:16 - Category: Unfiled ;
US backs down in UN
Facing strong opposition from dozens of nations, the United States has backed down from its demand that a new U.N. resolution must authorize military force if Baghdad fails to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 09:57 - Category: Unfiled ;
Chafee Is Wild Card In Battle For Senate Control.
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) “refused to rule out switching parties if Republicans retake the majority and GOP leaders abandon moderate principles in favor of a staunchly conservative legislative agenda,” Roll Call reports. Robert Novak says Chafee “is the Senate’s political wild card. How far he is from today’s Republican mainstream is emphasized less by his dissent on Iraq than on the Homeland Security bill. That raises the specter of Chafee’s defection, maintaining Democratic control of the Senate even if the GOP defies historical precedent by gaining seats in the mid-term election.” [Taegan Goddard's Political Wire]
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 00:27 - Category: Unfiled ;
Big peace rallies in SF and DC - Sat Oct. 26.
Be there!
These antiwar demonstrations, organized by International ANSWER, are looking to be huge. Bus caravans will be converging on DC and SF from multiple cities. Dozens of buses will be leaving just from LA to SF. Ditto from NYC to DC. And from many other cities too.
DC information
Protest details. Includes a march to the White House.
Buses to DC
SF information
Protest details
Buses to SF
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 00:21 - Category: Unfiled ;
Don’t forget to relax and have a nice day!
Tips for staying safe. Washington Post
Police yesterday offered these tips for protection against sniper-style shootings:
While outside, try to keep moving. A moving target is more difficult to hit than one that is standing still.
If you must remain in one place in an area where you feel vulnerable, select the darkest part of the area to sit or stand in.
When moving outside, walk briskly in a zigzag pattern.
… and so on…
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 00:20 - Category: Unfiled ;
Your daily bombing news summary (for Wed.)
Two Bombs Kill Two in Philippines
8 injured as parcel bombs rattle law enforcers in Karachi
Yemen says explosives-laden boat used in attack on French tanker
Al Qaeda: shift to smaller, ’softer’ targets?
Bali news
Bob Morris @ Oct 17th 2002 00:14 - Category: Unfiled ;
California Prison hunger strike to resume
Hundreds of Security Housing Unit (SHU) Inmates in Prisons Across the State of California to Resume Hunger Strike on October 19, 2002.
Crescent City and Corcoran, Calif.-On October 19, 2002, the date of the annual “Prisoner Unity Day”, hundreds of inmates confined within the Security Housing Units at Pelican Bay and Corcoran State Prisons, and Valley State Prison for Women, will resume a hunger strike, initially begun on July 1, 2001, in protest of the unfair and arbitrary rules governing their SHU placement.
The strike had been put on hold pending the outcome of negotiations arranged by Sen. Richard Polanco, between the California Department of Corrections (CDC) and the SHU inmates and their advocates. Currently, the CDC has since ended the negotiations and have failed to respond to repeated requests for cooperation and meaningful dialogue. The inmates pleas for fair and human treatment have gone unheeded, while even more abusive SHU regulations have been proposed. <via email from Criminal Justice Consortium>
SHU’s are the no-human-contact-allowed SuperMax prisons of California. A convict can be put in a SHU simply by a guard saying they ‘might’ be a gang member. This can and does include being put in a SHU for nothing more than talking to a gang member in the yard. The only way out of a SHU is either when your prison term is completed or you inform. Thus, anyone released fronm a SHU back into the general population is assumed to have informed.
For hundreds of SHU prisoners to resume a hunger strike, and unquestionably face more abuse, shows just how vicious ugly and brutal their treatment is.
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