tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69730452011-06-07T23:29:46.226-07:00A blog on politics by moderates aimed at promoting greater democracy here in the U.S. and overseas. Our coorespondents air their views with frequent field reports from EEA Eaton in sunny Southern California. E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comBlogger1411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1096154099646636602004-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:002004-09-25T16:20:51.226-07:00

If you go to the PBS Now site, you can download the Memorandum of Understanding on the Debates between the two parties. Everything, right to the camera angles and the pens and paper the candidates will be using, has been agreed upon by the two parties. The cameras are not allowed to show the audience members to the debate (mostly hand-picked by the two parties) except at the very beginning and

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1096152857467243662004-09-25T15:37:00.000-07:002004-09-25T15:54:17.466-07:00

Well, the Republicans have already spun the Florida Hurricanes (and Ivan's 2nd coming) to their advantage, as expected. Had one or more Hurricanes suddenly changed course and headed out to sea, you can bet preacher Pat Robertson, founding of the Republican Christian Coalition and key Bush voter getter, would have explained that this was somehow an indication of divine favor for the Bushes. (He

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095909667882949502004-09-22T19:45:00.000-07:002004-09-22T20:21:07.883-07:00

After devasting the panhandle of Florida, Hurricane Ivan has now regenerated itself over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico as a Tropical Depression. The National Weather Service is predicting that, within the next 48 hours, the storm will strengthen to a Tropical Storm and is headed straight for ... Crawford, Texas. (No joke, official map as 5PM EDT on Wednesday, Sept 22. Hurricane prediction

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095464470993194512004-09-17T16:28:00.000-07:002004-09-17T16:41:10.993-07:00

Last night I installed Mozilla Firefox. Finally someone's developed a browser that's better and more feature-rich than Internet Explorer (IE). The Mozilla folks has been around and putting out browsers for a while (it started when Netscape donated their source code to the open source project), and they haven't been plagued with the constant stream of security problems that afflicts Microsoft IE.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095308614441550162004-09-15T21:00:00.000-07:002004-09-15T21:23:34.440-07:00

The New York Times is reporting that CBS is finally conceding the controversial Bush memos are forgeries, and is presenting a plausible explanation. CBS has shown an interview with Kilian's secretary, 86, saying she remembers typing memos very similar to the forged documents in CBS' possession, albeit on a fixed-space typewriter typical of this period. The key to understanding this story, as we

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095278547118119622004-09-15T13:02:00.000-07:002004-09-15T13:47:16.010-07:00

Years ago, Pat Robertson interpreted one hurricane's "sudden" change of course as a message from God that he should run (unsuccessfully, praise be to God!) for President. I suggest instead that that the repeated poundings of Florida by Global Climate Change-created monster hurricanes is a message from God to Global Climate Change-disputing Jeb Bush not to rig the Florida presidential elections

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095233239817808112004-09-14T23:24:00.000-07:002004-09-15T11:37:09.816-07:00

It is not a concidence that the American legal system (uniquely) refers to hurricanes and other natural disasters as "Acts of God." Our ancestors believed such natural disasters were not necessarily mere coincidents, but quite possible the acts of the avenging Diety or the inexplicable judgement of a Divine Providence sacrificing one region for the greater good of another. Hurricane Ivan,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095216138096455482004-09-14T19:22:00.000-07:002004-09-14T19:42:18.096-07:00

[PARODY OF TODAY'S COLIN POWELL/RUSSIA STORY.] Responding to domestic US concerns that the GOP was using terrorism as an excuse to consolidate its hold on power through media concentration and broken voting machines, Colin Powell said today: "We understand the need to fight against terrorism . . . but in an attempt to go after terrorists I think one has to strike a proper balance to make sure

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1095145677833411782004-09-13T23:27:00.000-07:002004-09-14T00:13:21.260-07:00

Microsoft Word produces a dead-on copy of the forged documents with the default settings. It's true there were two model lines of IBM typewriters that could have produced proportional spacing in the 1970s. Extensive output of both has now been posted to the web, and the bottom line is: if you fought with a IBM Selectric Composer for many hours (a very pricey typesetting machine unlikely to be

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1094877394022477972004-09-10T21:17:00.000-07:002004-09-10T21:36:34.023-07:00

Simple experiment: Go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/06/politics/main641481.shtml, today's CBS News article in which Dan Rather vigorously defends controversial documents that incriminate Bush as authentic. Open the PDF versions of the articles using the widely-installed, free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. Now, enter the text of the documents into Microsoft Word using the default MS

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1094189970657617952004-09-02T21:40:00.000-07:002004-09-02T22:39:30.656-07:00

At first I thought this might be a difficult entry to write. You can't win unless your positive, Bush strategists have kept telling the media. After the two horsement of the Apocalypse gave incredibly angry speeches yesterday, tonight was supposed to optimistic. That's why I titled this column "It's Mourning in America Again," a play on Reagan's famous 1984 propaganda video. It was Mourning in

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1094096104346914412004-09-01T19:54:00.000-07:002004-09-01T20:35:04.346-07:00

"He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak" (Rev 13:13-15) or so says the Apocalypse. Tonight Halliburton was given an image and voice in the form of a man named Dick Cheney, the current Veep, in another night of ultra-nationalism at the Republican National Convention. In what must have shocked foreign observers and moderate Americans alike,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1094020998426145752004-08-31T22:44:00.000-07:002004-09-01T11:45:51.326-07:00

Yesterday will probably go down as one of the worst day of the Republican convention. Republicans, eager to forget the record half million anti-Bush protestors in the streets the day before, say Rudi Giuliani use one of Hitler's favorite quotes (or was it Nietzsche or Bush --- they all liked "Whoever is not with us is against us). "Start spreading the news" that the Republicans forgot that the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1093932429550651082004-08-30T20:54:00.000-07:002004-09-01T12:33:28.403-07:00

Eager to stamp out memories the 500,000-strong anti-Bush protest march yesterday in New York City, Republican today wrapped themselves thoroughly in the flag and hailed the Strong Leadership of Great Leader Bush. The great Leader ("Il Duce" in Italian or "Der Fuehrer" in German) himself was not there; he will tout his Strong Leadership (TM) on Thursday. Instead, we were presented with RNC videos

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1093839493190885212004-08-29T20:59:00.000-07:002004-08-29T21:18:13.233-07:00

It is being widely reported today that a record number of protestors marched in NYC to protest Bush's candidacy for re-election at the Republican convention there. The New York Times reported earlier today (with dateline August 30th due to time differences) that the organizers estimates of a crowd of 500,000 protestors was likely accurate, citing a city official, speaking on condition of

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1092767905485440192004-08-17T11:09:00.000-07:002004-08-17T11:46:25.626-07:00

Breaking News: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned today that recent intelligence intercepts suggest terrorists may be planning to use African elephants in terrorist attacks against American interests in Rome, Italy timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention in NYC later this month. "We've never seen this level of specificity or quality of intelligence!" said Ridge,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1092638056159380242004-08-15T23:10:00.000-07:002004-08-15T23:41:53.743-07:00

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Bush plans to announce formally his troop rotation plan at the Republican National Convention, where he will reportedly present himself (IMHO rather arrogantly given he lost us the World Trade Center) as the only candidate who can keep America safe. In my lost post, responding to the Republic T.V. ad in battleground states in which Bush (incredibly)

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1092518643886661902004-08-14T13:54:00.009-07:002004-08-14T18:00:24.016-07:00

In one of the more bizarre twists of the Presidential campaign, George Bush's most recent T.V. campaign ad (being run in "battleground states") takes credit for the triumph of the Olympic Movement (or Triumph of the Will? -- see below), citing the growth in the number of "free nations" participating from 40 to 120 since 1960, although Bush wasn't in power for most of that period. (The number of

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1092072564550197702004-08-09T10:03:00.000-07:002004-08-09T10:29:24.550-07:00

One of the main GOP talking points, which I hear repeated over and over again by right-leaning journalists (especially on AM talk radio, but in other media as well) is that George Bush is invulnerable in November because he is a "war President" and no "war President" has ever lost re-election during a "war." That may (or may not) be true, but, in general, no "war President" was ever responsible

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091901252957792232004-08-07T10:41:00.000-07:002004-08-07T10:54:12.956-07:00

I can always tell a beheading video has been released when my Internet traffic surges. Reuters is reporting the beheading video broadcast earlier today on Arab television was a hoax. Its San Fransisco-based creator taped the "beheading" of a motionless head with a knife, then spiced up the video with video footage taken from an actual militant website, including a background of a man reading the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091756924931153292004-08-05T18:17:00.000-07:002004-08-05T18:48:44.930-07:00

AP is reporting that Republican Senator McCain is condemning an ad run by Bush supporters that suggests Kerry's Vietnam record is bogus. This is a tactic that backfired when it was used in previous campaigns, as such accusations angered Kerry's crewmates, who would then actively to campaign for him. You can imagine how this might anger people. McCain, like Kerry, was also a war hero, and spent

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091390898817401312004-08-01T13:08:00.000-07:002004-08-01T13:33:20.706-07:00

"Exclusive" Inner Circle nomination for us war-profiteers In an obvious fit of temporary insanity, the Republicans "nominated" me to join an "exclusive" club (price: $2500) that would let me hob-nob with fellow war profiteers from "around the country" in three D.C. dinners and receive personalized excuses for why the Republicans will ignore all of my suggestions. Oh Welcome Defense Contractors

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091341597993092452004-07-31T22:52:00.000-07:002004-07-31T23:26:37.993-07:00

Well, after hearing the AM conservative talk radio "black" propaganda broadcast apparently involving actors pretending to be liberals, veterans, etc., I have decided I will get revenge. I am going to introduce a fake Republican to talk up the "responsible" Republican agenda and present his insights into the recent Democratic convention. Later, Mr. Fake Republican will be covering the Republican

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091255386607957562004-07-30T22:13:00.000-07:002004-07-31T13:52:18.016-07:00

I have so much about media bias in these pages that at some point I'm going to have come back and add all of the links to my earlier articles at the bottom of this page somewhere. But, what I'm going to talk about now is something completely different. Up to now, I've simply been summarize and compiling other people's reports on media bias. Now I'm going to do my own reporting about something

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091159849468880502004-07-29T20:30:00.000-07:002004-07-29T21:01:45.490-07:00

Two speeches formed the highlights of the final day of the 2004 Democratic Convention. Gen. Wesley Clark gave an extremely effective speech. John Kerry, after being introduced by excellent, moving speeches from his daughters and patrol boat buddies, probably gave the speech of his life according to Republic pundit David Brooks and liberal pundit Mark Shields on PBS. (Their criticism of the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091142472132511102004-07-29T15:50:00.000-07:002004-07-29T16:40:34.363-07:00

It is being widely reported (by Fox News and others) that, according to the FBI, "terrorists" have struck in Irvine, California, a quick drive from where I write this. Gerber baby food jars were found to be contaminated with the deadly posion ricin, similar to that made by European terrorists. Well, actually, not exactly. The parents apparently found a note at the bottom of the jars, saying the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091086326418513452004-07-28T23:57:00.000-07:002004-07-29T00:32:06.416-07:00

The best speeches of the day were given by Al Sharpton (no accurate transcript yet), and John Edwards (Official transcript). Al Sharpton galvanized the crowd by deviating from his prepared speech: "We never got the 40 acres they [the Republicans] promised. And we never got the mule. So we all decided we would just ride this donkey as far as it would go instead" or words to that effect. By

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1091084046981564902004-07-28T23:29:00.000-07:002004-07-28T23:54:06.983-07:00

Kerry's Daughter Alexandra discusses her recent wardrobe malfunction in an interview in Harper's Bazaar (Reuters Article). The controversial "see-through" dress was actually quite conservative, according to A. Kerry. It "did not withstand the impact of 3,500 flashbulbs," however. "Because of the dark world of the Internet, I'm told there are now entire Web pages dedicated to my breasts," the 30

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090988983038267662004-07-27T20:21:00.000-07:002004-07-29T22:33:26.050-07:00

In my piece on day 1 of the democratic convention yesterday, I commented how impressive it was that the network pundits covering the convention could say so much while saying so little. Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamed that one of the network pundits had said something important, and I had forgotten what it was. Then I woke up and remember that it was a journalist on another program (not

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090908205485170572004-07-26T22:37:00.000-07:002004-07-27T20:20:59.793-07:00

Hmmm, yes there's been quite a bit of buzz about the blogging of the conventions and media at the conventions. I'm covering it from California (where I at least have the advantage that the convention day ends for me around 8PM PDT). So much is being said of this highly scripted event that I don't know whether my few words here can do much to add or subtract from the media's secret rituals.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090824873161497242004-07-25T23:27:00.000-07:002004-07-26T21:22:52.100-07:00

BEGIN HUMOREarlier this week, we learned from truly authoritative sources like the LA Times OpEds and billionaire Ted Turner that bloggers are not real journalists (shocking!) and that Rupert Murdoch rules the universe (and we thought it was big oil that was pulling all of the strings). I happy to report that many days of sucking up hard to Rupert Murdoch in these pages have finally paid off! DFW

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090784566407879862004-07-25T11:50:00.000-07:002004-07-25T18:09:36.826-07:00

The popular U.S PBS T.V. program Charlie Rose interviewed a number of prominent people this week. Most impressive was an interview with billionaire and former media mogul Ted Turner. Turner, who described himself as an independent, and mentioned his friendship with a number of prominent Republicans in the live audience (Rose interviewed Turner at a conference), blasted President Bush for his

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090600964946849422004-07-23T09:32:00.000-07:002004-07-23T09:42:44.946-07:00

Reuters is reporting this morning that the FBI has received an "unconfirmed" indication that a domestic group may be planning terror bombings on media organizations covering the Democratic convention next week. The FBI is "investigating" and has alerted some media organizations; it will provide more details to the public if it obtains better information. There was a controversy (earlier article

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090442616635972822004-07-21T13:40:00.000-07:002004-07-21T16:23:10.186-07:00

Internet traffic again surges as Reuters reports today that Paul Johnson's head has been discovered in a refrigerator during a raid on a militant hideout. Also, it is being widely reported that six foreign workers have been taken hostage, and militants threaten to execute "one every 72 hours" if their demands are not met. (I suppose we can also expect releases of additional horror films from

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090367177474518752004-07-20T16:36:00.000-07:002004-07-20T16:46:44.783-07:00

Speaking on Larry King Live (CNN article), Martha Stewart says she may drop her appeal and go instead to prison to just get things over with. Man, she's though. But, this is about money, pure and simple. (She is also said to be working on a book about her ordeal, expected to be worth at least six figures. It will be fun to review in these pages.) As I noted in an earlier post, the appeal process

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090366395648111502004-07-20T16:01:00.000-07:002004-07-20T21:29:04.743-07:00

The Democratic convention starts next week. For the first time ever, some bloggers have been given journalist credentials by the two major political parties and will be blogging the conventions. It should be interesting. Alex Jones of the LA times writes snootily (and somewhat unrealistically) that bloggers are not real journalists even if they have a huge reader base and press credentials. I'd

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090282485415121092004-07-19T17:04:00.000-07:002004-07-19T17:19:09.236-07:00

(This was originally a comment response to Brett Marston's comment about having to relinquish his minature pocket knife before boarding a U.S. airplane. Brett writes: "...Anyone who is dangerous with that thing is going to be dangerous with a ball point pen...." The original post and comment thread is "When did we Americans Become Such Poor Diplomats? about TSA harassment of key diplomats at our

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090281629210301972004-07-19T16:56:00.000-07:002004-07-19T17:01:55.343-07:00

When I saw a re-run of Carl Sagan's Cosmos in 2000, I thought "Rerun. Yawn." Yet when I saw it again in late 2001, following the 911 terrorist, I thought "Wow." It was incredibly prescient. I was sufficient impressed by the series re-run in 2001 so many years after it's initial broadcast that I wrote an email to Cosmos Studios in 2002. This resulted in a rather remarkable email exchange, which I

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090134778797491212004-07-18T00:09:00.000-07:002004-07-21T13:36:35.806-07:00

New visitors: Links to related stories on this site (which in turn link extensively to stories on other blogs) can be found below. Update: July 21, 2004: Internet traffic again surges as Reuters reports Paul Johnson's head has been discovered in a refrigerator. Also, Reuters is reporting six foreign workers have been taken hostage, and militants threaten to execute within the next 72 hours if

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090041173872998062004-07-16T21:31:00.000-07:002004-07-16T22:12:53.873-07:00

It's time to open up a thread for viewers to discuss this site and anything else on their mind (no spam or advertisements, please). If you're in a hurry, you can just rate the site from 1 to 5 (5 being best) based on blogs of a similar topic. It would be great, though, if you could discuss what you liked about the site and what you didn't like about the site! 1) Have you noticed any technical

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1090008096589141832004-07-16T12:42:00.000-07:002004-07-16T18:17:47.210-07:00

As I've long suspected, it turns out Jessica Simpson is probably pretty smart. Jessica Simpson's mother now is claiming Jessical Simpson has an IQ well within the genius range. (Children with an IQ as high as the mother claims will often attend college a few years early.) You have to suspicious of anyone making millions while claiming to think that "Chicken of the Sea" tuna was actually a

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089996254093421872004-07-16T09:16:00.000-07:002004-07-17T17:19:14.293-07:00

It is being widely reported (Forbes) that Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in jail today. Ultimately, it was the cover-up (lying to the authorities during the investigation) rather than the difficult to prove crime (insider trading) for which she will doing time. I believe, however, that this is a clear case of selective prosecution, and I'm surprised Martha Stewart's lawyers didn't

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089960818634308562004-07-15T23:05:00.000-07:002004-07-29T22:49:26.526-07:00

One of the most popular articles of all-time on this blog was that of the Babe Photo Wars, which ultimately was linked from the web site of a widely-syndicated talk radio program. The Babe Photo Wars tracked an international incident involving blogs of various nation in a "war" to post as many photos of hot babes as possible, including: Christina Aguilera, Brittany Spears, Debra Lafave, Katie

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089957217221220462004-07-15T22:47:00.000-07:002004-07-16T08:59:54.993-07:00

Brett Marston has a story quoting a Times of India on a how a senior Indian diplomat no longer likes coming to Washington DC after being repeatedly strip searched here. I have my own stories of de-facto harassment due to pure TSA stupidity at U.S. airports. This why we need an improved system using biometric, pre-clearance, and data-mining. Update 2004/07/16: It is being widely reported that the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089918732592131892004-07-15T11:46:00.000-07:002004-07-15T12:12:12.593-07:00

Reuters is carrying a story on how a Berkeley, CA-based anti-war non-profit group is suing media giant Clear Channel communications for refusing to carry its simple ad promoting democracy over war in Times Square, NYC, during the Republican convention in that city. (You can see the "controversial" ad here.) (For those not in the know, Berkeley, CA, is a good day's drive or jet plane flight from

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089854293185115772004-07-14T18:01:00.000-07:002004-07-14T18:18:13.186-07:00

There were quite a lot of news stories written about various aspects of the U.S. and U.K. intelligence services today. The UK Guardian today compared the U.S. Senate intelligence report to the cryptic Da Vinci Code best-selling novel, saying the clues were hidden in plain sight in the report, but one needed to "know the code" to understand what they meant. The Pentagon today denied International

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089849997645673652004-07-14T17:02:00.000-07:002004-07-14T17:51:57.343-07:00

There is an anti-Bush spoof in the SF Chronical that appears to have been heavily linked in the Blogosphere. "Hello, God? It's Me, Dubya Lord? Bush here. I'm confused. Why won't you crush Kerry and smite the heathens? Hello? "Are you there, God? It's me, George W. Come in, Almighty. Do you read me? "It's about 8:00 pm and it's just after my last bubble bath of the day and here I am again,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089850084147635012004-07-14T16:46:00.000-07:002004-07-14T17:54:26.396-07:00

It has been widely reported that an English tourist purchased a suitcase for A$40 (currently USD$29) at a fleamarket in a small Australian town because he realized it was not empty. When he opened it, it contained rare, never before heard versions of Beatles songs, including 4 hours of Paul and John discussing alternate versions of one song. "Experts" believe the suitcase may be that of Beatles

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089831904575609032004-07-14T11:52:00.000-07:002004-07-14T12:05:04.576-07:00

Normally Republican-leaning billionaire Donald Trump says he'd like to deliver his trademark "You're Fired!" line to President Bush (Reuters article): The star of the hit T.V. show "The Apprentice" would also be "tougher" on terrorism. "Bin Laden would have been caught long ago. Tell me, how is it possible that we can't find a guy who's six-foot-six and supposedly needs a dialysis machine?" said

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089756537035348852004-07-13T15:04:00.000-07:002004-07-21T14:15:04.746-07:00

New visitors to this site: Extensive links to other blogs discussing the Matt Maupin capture, bogus beheading, and release story are below. Additional links to related articles on this and other blogs can be found both in the article below as well as in the Trackback section (click on the "Trackback" link below), and elsewhere on this site. (Related articles on this site often also have

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089749129323416972004-07-13T12:46:00.000-07:002004-07-13T15:23:19.933-07:00

In an earlier DFW posts I argued that Iraqi and Saudi militants should be dealt with more like U.S. old West cut-throats like Jessie James than as guerillas. Like Jessie James, these Islamic militants are out hiding in the "bad lands" where they are surrounded by a sympathethic population that is helping to shield them. That suggests a "possie" technique, involving sheriffs and leading citizens

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089747921242443292004-07-13T12:30:00.000-07:002004-07-25T23:50:58.150-07:00

It is being widely reported (Guardian article) that Hollywood director Robert Greenwald is making a documentary film entitled Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism that aims to document the right-wing bias in (the U.S. Cable T.V. network) Fox News' reporting (Available on DVD from Amazon.com) As has been discussed here in DFW in the past, respected journalist Bill Moyers of the PBS T.V.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089652294697123992004-07-12T09:54:00.000-07:002004-07-13T19:13:51.210-07:00

Reuters Alertnet is reporting rising fear of anti-Semitism in France after suspected Muslims attacked a 23-year-old Christian women and her baby on a Paris train. Falsely believing she was Jewish because a newspaper she was reading listed an address in a rich Paris neighborhood, the attackers robbed her and daubed swastikas on her stomach. (There have been increasing hate crimes by non-Muslims as

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089650696015384092004-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:002004-07-12T09:44:56.016-07:00

Reuters has an article on why a number of "key conservatives" are uneasy about Bush and may stay be "angry" enough to "say home" come the November elections.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089614958602445162004-07-11T23:43:00.000-07:002004-07-15T09:58:54.826-07:00

M.I.T. economist Lester Thurow, in his book Fortune Favors the Bold presents some interesting theories regarding the increasing economic backwardness of the Arab world, and its potential to fuel future terrorism against the West. Thurow's boot did receive some harsh reviews on Amazon, but he does have some thought-provoking ideas relevant to this blog. I wrote a past post on why the U.S. should

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089441756755092812004-07-09T22:29:00.000-07:002004-07-10T00:22:42.923-07:00

Well, there is a serious side to our Babe Photo War story. It was one of our most popular stories (according to incoming web traffic), and it was even mentioned and linked to on a popular evening radio show's website. The radio show is syndicated across the country by one of the two huge U.S. pop radio networks. This network's site sent us some traffic today. Some thoughts on this: 1. Now I

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089398966562501022004-07-09T10:54:00.000-07:002004-07-09T13:50:17.020-07:00

One of Reuters' top stories for today is the non-binding decision by the U.N. World Court in the The Hague to "order" Israli to stop buidling the wall in the West Bank, and to pay reparations to the Palestinians. The Israeli-Palestianian conflict is important to the the United States, because many experts believe the lingering conflict is fueling the growth of terrorist organizations such as Al

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089265851874391652004-07-07T22:36:00.000-07:002004-07-07T22:50:51.873-07:00

It is being widely reported (Reuters) that former Enron chair, Bush buddy and former big-time Republican campaign contributor Ken Lay has finally been indicted for involvement in the Enron debacle. (Recall, he previously claimed innocence by virtual of the fact that he was not aware of the illegal bookkeeping schanigans of his underlings since he spent most of his time playing golf.) I didn't

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089165835380506312004-07-06T18:55:00.000-07:002004-07-14T11:41:41.836-07:00

As reported by the New York Sun, Judge Guido Calabresi, a prominent federal appellate judge on the important U.S. Second Circuit, made remarks in which he compared Bush to Hitler. He reportedly urged the liberal audience to expel President Bush from office in order to cleanse the democratic system. DFW is sympathetic to Judge Calabresi's views. One of the first things fascists in Europe did was

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089135438692891732004-07-06T10:30:00.000-07:002004-07-06T10:37:18.693-07:00

The New York Times is reporting that the CIA had intelligence suggesting Saddam Hussein had given up weapons of mass destruction, but the CIA failed to deliver that intelligence to President Bush prior to the Iraq War. This intelligence failure was uncovered by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which reportedly is to make the information public soon in a scathing report. The report

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1089134990765799832004-07-06T10:26:00.000-07:002004-07-06T10:29:50.766-07:00

The major news of the day is that Kerry has selected Edwards as his V.P. (Reuters). Edwards was perceived as the energetic choice that would create the most excitement among voters, which had made him the expected front-runner in the Democratic V.P. sweepstakes.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088888437800081242004-07-03T13:35:00.000-07:002004-07-12T23:32:02.390-07:00

In case you needed to take a break from the breaking news earlier today out of Iraq, the death of Marlon Brando, or tomorrow's planned fourth of July fireworks (here in the U.S.), feminists will be outraged and some of my male readers may be pleased to note that three popular blogs may have just declared the start of a heated "babe photo war." The blogosphere babe photo war may have started with

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088879396132290632004-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:002004-07-22T22:41:39.010-07:00

New visitors to this site: Extensive links to other blogs discussing the Matt Maupin capture, bogus beheading, and release story are below. Additional links to related articles on this and other blogs can be found both in the article below as well as in the Trackback section (click on the "Trackback" link below), and elsewhere on this site. (Related articles on this site often also have

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088839714077630282004-07-03T00:13:00.000-07:002004-07-03T15:49:14.456-07:00

Alternet provides the following juicy streaming video link (courtesy the Irish Public Television Website) of an interview that made Bush look rather bad. (Alternet doesn't give one important detail: the interesting 15-minute interview starts 20 minutes into the hour-long streaming video clip, so move the slider about 1/3 way after the clip begins to play.) As Alternet hints, U.S. White House

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088714403216657852004-07-01T13:31:00.000-07:002004-07-17T18:35:22.676-07:00

Begin Beheading Humor (Warning: Funny, but Possibly Tasteless) As expected, on Monday Iraqi militants toasted the formal end of the U.S. occupation of their country with a televised beheading. For those unfamiliar with the inscrutable ways of the Orient, Islam prohibits consumption of alcohol, and the celebratory chopping off of an enemy's head serves much the same purpose in some Islamic

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088663297362022342004-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:002004-06-30T23:28:17.363-07:00

The Washington Post is reporting that the U.S. military is calling up 5,600 veterans from its Ready Reserve. These are veteran soldiers who are contractually obligated to be called back to service at the military's option. (It is not clear whether this contractual option was originally made at the request of the veterans. My understanding is that some U.S. soldiers, such as current soldiers who

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088646567764580832004-06-30T18:45:00.000-07:002004-06-30T18:49:27.763-07:00

The Seattle Times is reporting that billionaire Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is considering his own blog. Reportedly, it won't be 100% about his business. Thanks, Bill. Question for you: Will S. Korea and China try to censor your blog, too, or do you expect they will make an exception for blogs by the famous billionaires? ;-)

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088579048165176792004-06-29T22:32:00.000-07:002004-07-02T20:39:14.903-07:00

I'm coming to believe that the global Internet and media censorship story are, in fact, a potentially much bigger long-term stories than the recent beheading violence. They certainly hit much closer to home. For example, Chris Short of the Our Life blog claims he has received death threats from readers unhappy with his blog's coverage of the beheading story. Like DFW, his blog is being censored

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088290157969741832004-06-26T15:24:00.000-07:002004-06-26T16:00:03.166-07:00

Well, first our humble, moderate blog was banned in China. Now it's clear South Korea has banned us as well. Other blogs are reporting that South Korean has ordered its Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block all South Korean traffic to blogs covering the beheadings. We also noticed a huge drop in traffic from South Korea recently. Despite the tremendous interest in this story in that

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088285178465700632004-06-26T14:22:00.000-07:002004-07-21T13:13:01.196-07:00

New visitors to this site: Extensive links to other blogs discussing the Turk beheading story are below. Additional links to related articles on this and other blogs can be found both in the article below as well as in the Trackback section (click on the "Trackback" link below), and elsewhere on this site. (Related articles on this site often also have extensive links to external blog coverage.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088282485404200432004-06-26T13:18:00.000-07:002004-07-12T22:35:54.376-07:00

It's time once again to take a break from this week's dreary world events with something different. This week it is a review of Katie Melua's new Album, Call Off the Search. We’ve occasionally written about the intersection of pop culture and politics in these pages. We had a hit spoof of Madonna’s recent religious conversion (to Taliban Islam in our spoof). We recently compared the choices

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088198529449085912004-06-25T14:12:00.000-07:002004-06-25T18:38:49.076-07:00

According to CNET (link) Internet engineers recently defanged a new Internet virus that has become widely spread. The virus was discovered yesterday by Microsoft and exploits holes in Microsoft products (including Internet Explorer) to infect PCs using the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser when the user clicks on an infected website (which included some trusted names). Once infected, the virus

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088196770813976912004-06-25T13:07:00.000-07:002004-06-25T14:36:50.556-07:00

Reuters is reporting (link) that the world's largest bank, HSBC, disagrees with the US Federal Reserve ("fed"). The fed recently published a reported that concluded that there was no significant evidence of a housing bubble in the United States. In a 47-page report, HSBC concluded that the US was in the midst of a severe housing bubble. Prices were 10 to 20% too high. "We think the party stops

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088149483432626342004-06-25T00:39:00.000-07:002004-06-25T09:57:52.276-07:00

Michael Moore's critically acclaimed anti-Bush saga Fahrenheit 911 opens nationwide in the United States on Friday. (Click here for your local showtimes.) Alleged attempts by conservative groups to censor the award-winning film (most notably the controversial surrounding Disney's refusal to allow its release under the Miramar label) have been a frequent topic on these pages ("Michael Moore

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1088061058064093692004-06-23T23:34:00.000-07:002004-06-25T18:41:42.353-07:00

In my last post I reported that the US Airforce had apparently bombed a parking lot in Iraqi in relation for the beheadings. The usual red-neck commentators on other websites have unfortunately suggested bombing the Arabian pennisula with nuclear weapons, and some on this board wrote a comment in response to this post suggested more 21-kiloton bombs should be dropped to intimidate "Mohammed."

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087978084731988242004-06-23T00:42:00.000-07:002004-06-23T01:12:33.753-07:00

Reuters reported earlier that the U.S. Air Force bombed a parking lot in Iraq in retaliation for the beheadings. I don't know if they missed their target, or if the parking lot was the target. Presumably, the target was someone supposed to be connected the militants responsible for the beheadings --- did the militants leave their cars parked in the parking lot? Some commenters on this and other

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087887293522571162004-06-21T23:29:00.000-07:002004-07-22T22:36:40.406-07:00

New visitors to this site: Extensive links to other blogs discussing the Kim Sun-il beheading story are below. Additional links to related articles on this and other blogs can be found both in the article below as well as in the Trackback section (click on the "Trackback" link below), and elsewhere on this site. (Related articles on this site often also have extensive links to external blog

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087867744961604852004-06-21T18:26:00.000-07:002004-06-21T18:29:04.960-07:00

An American reporter with the Voice of America (US government media) reports here that the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is a city that appears to be under a security lockdown as Saudi security searches for the terrorists involved in the beheading of Paul Johnson. He reports that there is great fear of Al Queda in the city. Residents and taxi drivers are even afraid to be seen near Americans.

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087777537097360712004-06-20T17:02:00.000-07:002004-06-20T17:31:16.666-07:00

Thanks dponce80 for your post "The devil's advocate" (and contributing to the diversity of viewpoints on here!) Not surprisingly, I don't entirely agree on your analysis that the Internet has hampered the war on terror. Interestingly, my "friends" in the Pentagon probably wouldn't agree with you about the Internet. There is certainly a great deal of concern in the Pentagon about Al Queda's

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087774033220800762004-06-20T16:27:00.000-07:002004-06-20T16:30:04.263-07:00

In the spirit of diversity and perspective, I've been graciously invited by E.E.A Eaton to post on this blog and make my views known to the world. Now that he's hit the big time (with over 500 hits daily!) it seems this forum would give me a louder voice than my own paltry little blog. As a disclaimer, I feel it necessary to point out a few things. First, I am Canadian, and technically

dponce80noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087750879971994812004-06-20T09:41:00.000-07:002004-06-20T10:04:52.363-07:00

The British Guardian is citing ("Bush told he is playing into Bin Laden's hands") an anonymous U.S. senior intelligence official that claims al Queda is planning a strike on the US prior to the November election, not to elect Kerry, but to keep Bush in office. The anonymous U.S. spy is coming out with a book next month, Imperial Hubris: Why We are Losing the War on Terror. Although there has

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087684912963029632004-06-19T15:36:00.000-07:002004-06-19T15:41:52.963-07:00

According to this Reuters article datelined minutes ago, Al Queda in Saudi Arabia has posted a message to its website confirming that Saudi forces killed ("ambushed") its leader in Saudi Arabia and three other militants. Al Queda in Saudi Arabia of course vowed to continue their "jihad" nevertheless. Related Earlier stories on this blog: Record website traffic related to Paul Johnson beheading

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087674120195263572004-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:002004-06-19T12:42:00.196-07:00

US Senator Feinstein recently wrote me an email, quoted below, in response to my concern about Ashcroft's behavior before the Senate. It contains news about the US Senate's intention to subpoena Attorney General Ashcroft, which would normally have made the mainstream US media, but has been lost in the stream of news coming out of the Middle East. Recall my earlier post "Ashcroft de facto in

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087657038779072832004-06-19T07:54:00.000-07:002004-06-19T11:46:34.960-07:00

What do I have to do to get people to comment on this site? (it's one click, thanks to haloscan.) I used to get 2 hits in a day, and some guy or two would write 100 comments each on the site, and we'd have a nice debate. Today I'm getting, we expect, 4K+ hits and 2K+ unique visitors in the next 24 hours (we've been getting approximately 100 visitors an hour for the last 16 hours), and so far

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087609108020546162004-06-18T18:35:00.000-07:002004-06-18T20:04:16.196-07:00

This is an update to the heavily-followed earlier story posted here on the behading in Saudi Arabia. Since that was posted a little over two hours ago, there has been considerable movement in the story. UPDATE: It is being widely reported (including the American ABC Network) and BBC News that Saudi officials are reporting that they have killed the leader and second-in-command of the terrorism

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087598121692658172004-06-18T15:25:00.000-07:002004-07-22T22:39:42.360-07:00

New visitors to this site: Extensive links to other blogs discussing the Paul Johnson beheading story are below. Additional links to related articles on this and other blogs can be found both in the article below as well as in the Trackback section (click on the "Trackback" link below), and elsewhere on this site. (Related articles on this site often also have extensive links to external blog

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087591625001420492004-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:002004-07-26T22:21:35.050-07:00

Begin Humor PHOTO CAPTION: Rock music star Madonna (above; left) and backup singers (above; center and right) perform the entire concert in burkas in this photo shot of Madonna's 'Reinvention Tour's' opening performance. According to this Reuters article, "material girl" Madonna has decided to convert to the strict Taliban form of Islam. "I tried converting to Judaism from Catholicism for my '

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087583376318165062004-06-18T11:13:00.000-07:002004-06-18T11:29:36.316-07:00

Saudi terror group says it has beheaded the US hostage it was holding (Reuters article. In other news, the group said it was backing Bush for US President in November. (No, not really, but war mongers are good for one another. See my earlier spoof and Counterspin-centrals' graphic spoof. If Australia's ABC news service's March 18th article can be believed, an al-Queda group in Spain has

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-108749819605504592004-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:002004-06-17T11:49:56.056-07:00

An article on the emarketer site (here) suggests blogs are a good place to advertise --- "...75% make more than (USD) $45,000 a year.... And nearly 40% have a household income of $90,000 or higher.... 21% are bloggers themselves." 40% have a household income higher than USD $90K!!! (And, of the total population of blog readers, 21% are bloggers themselves!) I thought I was detecting a

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087451731349404942004-06-16T22:35:00.000-07:002004-07-17T18:39:01.136-07:00

WANTED: Gay Muslim Fundamentalist Extremist for blog debate/interview. Must hate America and use frequent stock phrases such as "DEATH TO AMERICA." Tutelage under bin Laden or similar villain very desirable, but not required. Must be gay or have equal sensationalism shock value. Serious inquiries only. (And no, we won't pay you money, just let you debate in dear-free-world.blogspot.com). Well,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087364109701566562004-06-15T21:35:00.000-07:002004-06-16T17:17:34.743-07:00

So, for those (few) that have been following this rather exciting thread, dponce80, a Muslim from Canada (CORRECTION 20040616: dponce80 is NOT Muslim, but he says his girlfriend is (barely) Muslim --- dear-free-world regrets the error), and I have been debating the "new" twin towers to be built by the bin Ladens in Dubai, and a good deal of geo-political politics as well. This is the latest

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087341597564600032004-06-15T16:13:00.000-07:002004-06-15T20:25:19.460-07:00

At 15:29 EDT (GMT -7) a 5.1 magnitude earthquake affected Southern California and Baja California, Mexico. Buildings here are constructed to withstand earthquakes. Nevertheless, people at our location felt a strong shaking combined with a noisy rattling and vibrating of the walls (sort of like when a jet plane lands, but somewhat stronger and louder). I was one of the first hundred to submit a

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087279992499065722004-06-14T23:05:00.000-07:002004-06-14T23:13:12.500-07:00

Pakistani News Service is reporting here that the President of Turkey has called for increased dialogue between the Islamic World and the West at both bilateral as well as institutional levels to "earn a rightful place on the international stage." Separately, the BBC is reporting here that Organization of Islamic Conference Secretary-General Belkeziz denounced "the extensive backwardness of the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087231458719911702004-06-14T09:42:00.000-07:002004-06-14T09:44:18.720-07:00

I've switched to Haloscan comments. I will be moving the text of the old comments on here to Haloscan. In the meantime, the old posts will have "Old-style blogger comments" so that people can still read the old blogger comments. This will disappear once the old comments have been moved to Haloscan. Please use the Haloscan system to post new comments. Haloscan also adds a "trackback" feature,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087167652218959062004-06-13T15:57:00.000-07:002004-06-13T16:00:52.220-07:00

Michael Moore is supposedly receiving death threats (article here). When they vandalize my non-political employer's washroom ("W.C." for Europeans), I'm not surprised (photo/article). The chorus about perceived media censorship in the U.S. is probably a more imprint (and unreported) issue in my view, however (article). previous discussion here on Michael Moore. Comments?

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087154960057681412004-06-13T12:25:00.000-07:002004-06-13T12:29:20.056-07:00

The LA Times is reporting (here) that 26 retired senior diplomatics and military officers, many of them appointed under Republican presidents Reagan and Bush's father, have issued a statement urging Americans not to re-elect Bush. The US has historically always used alliances to amplify its power, the officers noted. The officers say Bush's diplomacy has been a disaster that has alienated the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1087065017722446202004-06-12T11:08:00.000-07:002004-06-12T11:30:17.723-07:00

The 2002 DOD legal memos arguing that the President had legal authority to authorize torture despite international treaties and US law are probably the smoking gun tying President Bush to the Iraqi Prison torture scandal. Understandably, Ashcroft doesn't want to turn the memos over to Congress. (In a separate development, the Washington Post is reporting the top US general in Iraq, General

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1086846787667429072004-06-09T22:44:00.000-07:002004-06-09T22:53:07.666-07:00

Well, the UK Independent newspaper has an article (">here about how Florida is at it again. Recall that right before the President Election in 2000, the Florida Secretary of State in Governor Jeb Bush's Florida (President Bush's brother) ordered a massive purge of the voter rolls. Florida law doesn't allow convicted felons to vote, but the databases used in the purge were massively inaccurate,

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1086721006197580542004-06-08T11:34:00.000-07:002004-06-08T11:56:46.196-07:00

According to a program on the US Cable TV network A&E (see Court TV on-line biography here), the infamous terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" was born to a super-rich Venezulean plastic surgeon. Carlos' father sent Carlos to London to be educated, only to arrive to find Carlos living the life of a playboy under the supervision of Carlos' divorced mother. Carlos' super-rich father was determined the

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973045.post-1086668830677460932004-06-07T21:10:00.000-07:002004-06-07T21:27:10.676-07:00

Reuters is reporting (here) how my fellow Southern Californians are mourning the loss of our former two term governor and successful Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, now lying in state not far from where I write this. I was following a left-wing media source earlier today, that headlined his passing in the following: "We'll have all the news, including the passing of a 93-year-old." Everyone

E.E.A. Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11827872490647245375noreply@blogger.com