blondbraintrust

This guy is a little too preoccupied and knowledgeable about topics he finds so distasteful. I also think this memo, if he circulated it, is slanderous.

via the Washington Post: Roberts's Rules of Decorum

Roberts wrote: "If one wants the youth of America and the world
sashaying around in garish sequined costumes, hair dripping with pomade, body
shot full of female hormones to prevent voice change, mono-gloved, well, then, I
suppose 'Michael,' as he is affectionately known in the trade, is in fact a good
example. Quite apart from the problem of appearing to endorse Jackson's
androgynous life style, a Presidential award would be perceived as a shallow
effort by the President to share in the constant publicity surrounding Jackson.
. . . The whole episode would, in my view, be demeaning to the
President."

The Raw Story Ms. Noe's own scandal: Wife of Ohio GOP fundraiser does some election reform of her own
It's past the point where you can just cut out the rotten part, it's stinking up the whole state.

In yet another surreal twist in Ohio’s “coin-gate” scandal, the wife of
Bush’s chief Ohio fundraiser, Tom Noe—who is currently embroiled in campaign
finance and money laundering probes—surprised poll workers and observers alike
by disrupting the ballot count during the 2004 general election, RAW STORY has discovered.
Bernadette Noe, who served dual roles as chairman for the Lucas County
Republican Party and the Lucas County Board of Elections, sent twelve
“partisans” into a warehouse on Election Day, according a memo authored by
Ohio’s Director of Campaign Finance Richard Weghorst who was present at the
time.
But perhaps the most striking event directly linked to Ms. Noe was what
Weghorst described as “a note-worthy incident relating to security” on the
evening of the election.
Weghorst, who was present at a local warehouse where
ballots were being tabulated, says in his report that “two groups of partisan
volunteers totaling approximately twelve people" arrived, whose "purpose for
being there was not immediately known nor requested."
When the volunteers
refused to leave the premises, Weghorst called the police, who then escorted the
group away from the warehouse. It later emerged they had come at Ms. Noe's
request.
A Diebold employee, Robert Diekmann, was also present at the
warehouse that night.
Ms. Noe was an advocate of Diebold’s optical scan software as chair of the
Lucas County Board of Elections. In April 2004, she and another fellow
Republican board member voted to approve a $350,000 contract with Diebold to
lease machines for the election. The county was forced the lease the equipment
after a deadlock and a rebuke from Blackwell.
The contract was no-bid. After Democrats on the board revealed a cheaper
bid from another company, the Lucas County board was forced to open the contract
for bidding, over Ms. Noe’s objections.
The contract was eventually awarded to Diebold.
Reminiscent of an account reported on by RAW
STORY regarding ballot tampering in Clermont
County, Ohio, Ms. Noe was involved in an incident through which Republican
volunteers were brought in to “assist” processing returned voter confirmation
postcards. On her authority and that of several other board members, partisan
volunteers were allowed to copy the returned cards.
They were subsequently
caught by a Lucas County Democratic official peeling the return stickers off the
voter confirmation cards, and were told to leave. Weghorst’s inquiry found no
evidence they had been supervised.
In April, the Toledo Blade reported
Ms. Noe acted improperly as chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party in
accepting $65,000 in loans for the party from her husband. She is also involved
in a scandal surrounding an aide to Ohio governor Bob Taft (R) staying for a
reduced rate at her
vacation home.
Bernadette Noe is married to the now-infamous
Tom Noe, who invested millions of dollars of state funds into rare coins and who
is currently the target of a wide-ranging inquiry. Noe, a Bush Pioneer, also
allegedly laundered money into President Bush’s reelection campaign by paying
others to donate.
Tom Noe, the owner of several shady business ventures,
including Vintage Coins and Collectibles, funneled an estimated fifty million
dollars into his own personal and business accounts as well as to the state’s
GOP candidates. Noe’s rare coin venture came at the expense of The Ohio Bureau
of Workers' Compensation, for whom he acted as the sole fund manager.

KR Washington Bureau 08/01/2005 Bush endorses teaching `intelligent design' theory in schools
Reading this article, made me realize what an oracle old Mencken was when he predicted, "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

U.S. admits lawyers called terror-trial system rigged'
The Pentagon acknowledged on Monday that two former members of the military team handling prosecu tions of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had alleged last year that the trial system was rigged in favor of the government.

Officials said, however, that the prosecutors' charges were thoroughly reviewed and dismissed as unfounded.

The Wall Street Journal reported that both Carr and Preston requested that they be reassigned rather than participate in the trials. It said they accused fellow prosecutors of ignoring torture allegations, failing to protect evidence that could help defendants establish a defense, and withholding information from superiors.

Ex-nurse's aide jailed for patient abuse

Mejak and another woman gave milk of magnesia to five patients at Willowood Care Center in Brunswick to get back at another nurse.
Mejak said that they discussed the plan about 4 a.m. on May 30, 2004, and that she knew Koah was giving the patients the laxatives, which caused them severe diarrhea and dehydration. The plan was designed to make the next shift, including the nurse Koah had a conflict with, deal with the afteraffects.

Susan Mejak thought her only crime was not stopping a co-worker from giving a laxative to nursing home patients to make them sick.

Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier didn't see it that way.

"You looked at them as if they were not people. This was a violation of their dignity," Collier told Mejak on Monday before he sent her to prison for 10 months.

Via Technology Review
Podcasting Made Painless

It wasn't so long ago that publishing a Web log (blog) required some Web
programming skills. Then along came Blogger, software that made blogging easy
enough for the masses. Substitute "podcast" for "blog" in the preceding sentences, and you'll understand the vision behind the new Web-based podcasting tools developed by Odeo, a San Francisco startup launched by Blogger cocreator Evan Williams and his former neighbor, Noah Glass.
Podcasting, for the uninitiated, is the hot independent-media trend of
2005; amateur broadcasters record their own news shows, commentary, or
interviews on whatever subjects they choose and put the audio files on the Web.
Unfortunately, being a podcaster has, until lately, also meant being an expert in digital recording and mixing.
Just as Blogger did for blogging, Odeo turns the process of making a
podcast (a basic one, anyway) into something any semicompetent PC user can
handle. It also takes all the pain out of finding and downloading podcasts
And it will be at least partly free. The audiences of millions that podcasters have been craving may arrive soon.
The neatest part of the program is Odeo Studio, which runs inside a Web
browser and converts a PC into a rudimentary recording studio. I used it to
produce my own podcast, which you can find at this Technology Review web page and at Odeo.com.
Making a podcast was as simple as clicking "Record," talking into the PC's
built-in microphone (you can also use an external headset), then clicking
"Stop." Clicking "Publish" placed the podcast in my own "channel," to which
others can subscribe. What was a tedious process is now quick and mildly
fun.

How China Will Change Your Business
From Inc.com:

How can the U.S., perhaps with its traditional allies, adjust to a
competitive challenger that has strengths unlike any other that America has
faced? Are the transfers of talent, technology, and capital part of an
inevitable dynamic? Or does the U.S., or any other country, have the power to
shape a future in which everyone prospers?
Americans looking for answers and
action must also find a way to move America's leadership to see China's rise as
every bit as worthy of national attention as the rumblings in more obvious
political hot spots. While all eyes turn to the so-called clash of civilizations
between Islam and the West, China will have the more profound impact on the
world in the long run. And yet, despite occasional misgivings offered in factory
towns and tariffs slapped on imports at the height of campaign season, American
leaders tend to view China's rise as the fulfillment of a free marketer's dream,
where global investors will shepherd the country into wealth, democracy, and
peaceful interdependence with the rest of the free world.
It is a lovely
theory, and it may ultimately be true. There is, however, no evidence upon which
to base such a prediction. Which exactly of the world's large, highly
nationalistic, dictatorial, Communist-capitalist countries offers a historical
analogue? Answer: There is no such country.

New Scientist Breaking News - Planting trees may create deserts
Planting trees can create deserts, lower water tables and drain rivers, rather than filling them, claims a new report supported by the UK government.

The findings - which may come as heresy to tree-lovers and most environmentalists - is an emerging new consensus among forest and water professionals.

“Common but misguided views about water management,” says the report, are resulting in the waste of tens of millions of pounds every year across the world. Forests planted with the intention of trapping moisture are instead depleting reservoirs and drying out soils.

Recount story a surprise to Bush: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE · Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he was surprised by a
report that U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts played an influential role
in Florida's 2000 presidential recount, insisting that "my relationship with him
lasted about 30 minutes."

I don't know if it's true or not; it hasn't been confirmed by anybody other than some guy in Texas."Gov. Bush said

The governor, whose brother, President Bush, won the
White House after the high court stopped the Florida recount by a 5-4 vote, said
he huddled briefly with Roberts during the 36-day legal standoff for a "very
arcane discussion."

The governor made the remarks after Texas Solicitor General
Ted Cruz, a former domestic policy adviser to George Bush's campaign, told
reporters that he brought Roberts, then a Washington lawyer, to Tallahassee to
take part in the frenzied legal battle that followed the Florida contest.

Cruz said Roberts arrived in Tallahassee a week into the recount, writing and editing legal briefs before eventually helping prepare Bush's argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I am surprised," Gov. Bush said of Roberts' apparently expanding
role. "But since I wasn't part of all the inner workings of the Bush campaign
after the election, it was news to me that he was. I don't know if it's true or
not; it hasn't been confirmed by anybody other than some guy in Texas."

BBC NEWS South Asia Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'
I do think Mushareff is trying. He is walking a very fine line and has the assassination attempts to prove it.

"Any (foreigners) in the madrassas - even dual nationality holders -
will leave Pakistan," Gen Musharraf said.
"We will not allow madrassas to be misused for extremism, hatred being
projected in our society."
No new visas will be issued to foreigners wishing
to study in the schools.

But the BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan says it is not clear
what effect these measures will have on extremism as the more militant students
work at unregulated madrassas that have survived previous crackdowns.

It is estimated that there are around 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan.

According to the Pakistani newspaper, The News, there are around 1.7m
students at the institutions, mainly from poor rural families.
The number of foreigners dropped sharply after the 11 September attacks in the US.
New rules after the attacks obliged foreigners to state in their visa applications
where they planned to study. The visas became invalid if they left the
madrassa.

Broccoli Packs Powerful Punch To Bladder Cancer Cells
BROCCOLI PACKS POWERFUL PUNCH TO BLADDER CANCER CELLS

COLUMBUS , Ohio – Researchers have isolated compounds from the vegetable
broccoli that they believe may help prevent or slow the progress of bladder
cancer.
The current work builds on a major study conducted six years ago by
Harvard and Ohio State universities that found that men who ate two or more
half-cup servings of broccoli per week had a 44 percent lower incidence of
bladder cancer compared to men who ate less than one serving each week.
The
researchers isolated compounds called glucosinolates from broccoli sprouts.
During chopping, chewing and digestion, these phytochemicals morph into
nutritional powerhouses called isothiocyanates
– compounds that the scientists believed play a role in inhibiting
cancer.
Their hunch was right, at least in the laboratory experiments. There,
isothiocyanates hindered the growth of bladder cancer cells. And the most
profound effect was on the most aggressive form of bladder cancer they
studied.
While young sprouts naturally have higher concentrations of these
phytochemicals than full-grown broccoli spears, eating the spears also provides
health benefits, Schwartz said.
Broccoli isn't the only cruciferous veggie
with health benefits, the researchers say. The plant's kin, which include
cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale, may all contain similar
disease-fighting phytochemicals.
“Cruciferous veggies have an effect on other
types of cancer, too,” Schwartz said. “We already know that they contain
compounds that help detoxify carcinogens. We're thinking more along the lines of
progression and proliferation, such as once cancer starts, is there a way to
slow it down?”

Young sprouts naturally have higher concentrations of these phytochemicals than full-grown broccoli spears.

I buy my sprout seeds from http://waltonfeed.com/grain/sprouts.html

E.P.A. Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency - New York Times

With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel economy.

The contents of the report show that loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980's.

Eryn Witcher, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., said the timing of the release of the report had nothing to do with the energy bill deliberations.

"We are committed to sharing our scientific studies with the public in the most comprehensive and understandable format possible," she said. "Issue experts are reviewing the fuel economy data and we look forward to providing a summary of the information next week."

"Something's fishy when the Bush administration delays a report showing no
improvement in fuel economy until after passage of their energy bill, which
fails to improve fuel economy," said Daniel Becker, the Sierra Club's top global
warming strategist.

The study found " judicial orders that mandate severely ill psychotic patients to undergo compulsory community treatment are associated with decreased time spent in the hospital and thus increased personal freedom."
Effects of Compulsory Treatment Orders on Time to Hospital Readmission -- Frank et al. 56 (7): 867 -- Psychiatric Services:

We must find a middle ground between warehousing the mentally ill in dickensian asylums and a laissez-faire policy that protects neither the mentally ill nor the public.

No Strategery Here:

Chinese politicians have shown that they have a longer-term point of view that we do in the US. (They of course do not have to worry about being reelected, do they.) That viewpoint gives them the patience to wait out western governments on strategic objectives. The Hong Kong handover was an example. Taiwan will be another. A third is their multi-objective approach to Chinese energy policy, simultaneously pursuing initiatives in Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Japan (the disputed gas deposits in the Sea of Japan), the US (Unocal), and other countries.

The biggest damage terrorists have done in the the US is not what happened on september 11, 2001. It is what they have done to our thinking. Instead of devoting our resources to checking each other's boarding passes we should be focusing on our relationship with China. china, not bin Laden, is going to be the topic that dominates political and economic discussions for the next 50 years. (emphasis mine)

Norton Internet Security 2005 Software available at OfficeMax.com
$30 Upgrade rebate form
Go here to get $30 rebate form
This is good through 7/30, but these deals come around regularly. This is for the download, not the retail box. Same software, just no CD.
This requires you to submit two rebates. Norton is great about rebates. I have never waited more than three weeks to receive my check.
You need to have proof of previous ownership of Norton/Symantec, McAfee, or Zone Labs software.
Norton Internet Security includes:
Norton Internet Security includes:Norton AntiVirus:
NEW! Norton Internet Worm Protection stops certain damaging Internet worms at the point of entry.
Norton Personal Firewall:
NEW! Automatically turns the firewall back on after a set period of time if you need to turn it off temporarily.
Norton Privacy Control
NEW! Confidential information blocking now lets you send personal data to sites you trust while protecting you from sending it to sites you don't.
Norton AntiSpam
NEW! Filters email coming to Yahoo! Mail® accounts.
NEW! Helps detect and filter fraudulent and explicit email.
NEW! Automatically synchronizes its Allowed List with your POP3 email address books.
Norton Parental Control
NEW! Works with Outlook to filter junk email from Hotmail® and MSN® Mail accounts.

Amazon.com: Software: Norton AntiVirus 2005 - Single User

This is free after rebate only if you can provide proof of previous ownership of a stand-alone, retail (boxed or downloaded)version of any Norton,™ Symantec,™ McAfee,® Internet Security Systems,® or Zone Labs® software product (excluding products pre-installed or supplied by a manufacturer) by furnishing either the previous product’s original CD, diskette 1, title page of manual(usually titled “User’s Guide”), or your confirmation email from your previous download
purchase.
I have been told that you can buy two products in the same week and use each as the previous ownership of the other software.
I buy Norton software often for my family, and always get my rebate check within three weeks.
Please make a copy of everything you send in, just in case it gets lost in the mail. I also keep a listo of any rebate outstanding and check it from time to time. Some rebate processing companies are notorious for rejecting rebates. they then make you resubmit all your info, so you need copies.

Landmark eatery in Cincinnati closes abruptly
Cincinnati- The Maisonette, a top-rated restaurant and downtown landmark, abruptly closed its doors Monday.
"This is a sad day," Comisar said after meeting with the staff of some 90 people. He said six workers, including himself, had been at the French fine-dining restaurant for more than 30 years. The restaurant was in its 57th year.
Server Justin McConnal, 31, an eight-year employee, said he was stunned "to wake up this morning and not have a job. . . . But all the signs were written. Downtown is real slow right now."
Republicans have controlled the governor's office since 1981, I don't know how much more of this business friendly government Ohio can take.

"The greatest discovery of my lifetime was that a person can change the circumstances of his life by changing his thoughts." ~ William James, American Psychologist

Russia�s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.

TimT at Will Type For Food asks a good question.

So, apparently at work we're going to have to go to some Walk Against Want
thing later this year. You know, wander down the streets for an hour or so, get
sponsored, and send the sponsorship money to some charity or the other.I'm not
sure I see the point. Sure, it's a good thing to do Good Things, but why does it
have to be so much work? I'd prefer something else:

The Leisurely Sit Down
Against Need!The Ten-Hour Nap Against World Poverty!

But nobody seems to want to sponsor it.

The Girl Gets Away: Serious questions to ponder on a Friday afternoon.

What kind of a sadist plays the bagpipes on a street corner in downtown
Seattle on a day when he knows there’s going to be tons of people out? What kind
of sadist plays the bagpipes and has a friend accompany him on a drum kit? If
there’s anything worse than listening to a guy noodling around on the bagpipes,
with his friend playing drums alongside, I don’t know what it is. It is
literally the worst music I’ve ever heard - and they’re out there every single
day now, on one of the corners adjacent to my office building. They’re trying to
get people to give them money, a respectable ambition, but I am seriously
considering offering them money to stop playing long enough for me to get out of
earshot. $5 for a 20 second running head start seems fair to me, but I don’t
know what the going rate is for getting street performers to not perform. There
is no excuse for playing the bagpipes if you’re not in Scotland.

TimT's comment is hilarious too.

TimT said...
There is no going rate for not playing the bagpipes. Not playing the bagpipes is, properly considered, a charitable activity. If it wasn't, then people would be competing to not play the bagpipes for you. Sure, it might seem like a nice idea, since the price for not playing the bagpipes would go down, but in the long run, it would cost you more, since you'd end up paying EVERYONE to not play the bagpipes. In short, in most things I am quite the capitalist, but not in this matter. I should know; my own brother plays the bagpipes.In this case, I think the best solution would be violence. Shoot the fucker.
5:00 AM