In the News: Mar-19

Meghan McCain, unplugged - 19 Mar 2008 at 12:23pm - Likening herself to her dad, Meghan says: “I’m almost incapable of bullshit. He’s the same way.”

Is it just me, or does that sound like total bullshit?

Bush picks new homeland security adviser - 19 Mar 2008 at 3:12pm - WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday named a veteran prosecutor, Ken Wainstein, as his homeland security adviser.

Iraqi Provincial Elections Law Approved - 19 Mar 2008 at 1:42pm - BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's presidential council withdrew its objection to a provincial elections law on Wednesday, giving a major boost to U.S.-backed efforts to promote national reconciliation on the fifth anniversary of the war.

Fannie, Freddie cleared to pump $200 billion into market - 19 Mar 2008 at 10:41am - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday eased capital requirements for the two biggest housing finance agencies, allowing them to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed U.S. mortgage market.

U.S. Spy Boss: Iraq WMD Intel Failure Just 'A Bad Hair Day' - March 19, 2008 07:54:21 AM - The failure of U.S. intelligence in assessing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was like "a yearbook photo on your worst hair day ever," according to one of the country's top spy bosses, Thomas Fingar, deputy director of National Intelligence. Fingar made the comment in defending the overall quality of U.S. intelligence during an appearance at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, five years to the week after the 2003 start of the Iraq war. At another point, Fingar called the U.S. assessment of whether Iraq had nuclear weapons "the single worst product" he had seen in his 38 years serving in various U.S. intelligence agencies.

Sequoia Threatens Over Voting Machine Evaluation - March 18, 2008 03:31:00 PM - enodo writes "Voting machine manufacturer Sequoia has sent well-known Princeton professor Ed Felten and his colleague Andrew Appel a letter threatening to sue if New Jersey sends them a machine to evaluate. It's not clear from the letter Sequoia sent whether they intend to sue the professors or the state — presumably that ambiguity was deliberate on Sequoia's part. Put another clipping in your scrapbook of cases of companies invoking 'intellectual property rights' for bogus reasons." Sequoia seems to be claiming that no one can make a "report" regarding their "software" without their permission.

Thought for the day:
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)