Steve’s Weblog

Wow, such glowing praise…

Al-Zawahri: Bush a liar in war on terror

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt – Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri called President Bush a failure and a liar in the war on terror in a video statement released Friday, and he compared Pope Benedict XVI to the 11th century pontiff who launched the First Crusade.

“Can’t you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq?” Osama bin Laden’s deputy said, appearing in front of a standing lamp and a small, decorative cannon.

Al-Zawahri also criticized Bush for continuing to imprison al-Qaida leaders in prisons, including al-Qaida No. 3 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind who was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.

“Bush, you deceitful charlatan, 3 1/2 years have passed since your capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, so how have you found us during this time? Losing and surrendering? Or are we launching attacks with God’s help and becoming martyrs?” he said.

Yahoo!

Republican quits US Congress over e-mails to boy aides

51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Republican Representative Mark Foley of Florida has resigned after revelations of e-mails he sent to under-18 male congressional aides and jeopardizing Republicans in November’s election.

“Today I have delivered a letter to the Speaker of the House informing him of my decision to resign from the US House of Representatives, effective today,” Foley said in a statement.

Foley was favored to win re-election against Democrat challenger Tim Mahoney on November 7, in legislative contests that could lose Republicans control either house of Congress.

According to ABC television, a former congressional page, 16, complained about e-mails he received from the six-term lawmaker.

More at Yahoo News

Some of the sordid details about who knew what and when as well as material too risque to be published by mainstream media can be found at Americablog.

IBM and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) announced the start of international regional competitions leading up to the 31st annual International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) yesterday. Check out the press release over at ibm.com for the details.

I’ve been personally involved with the ACM ICPC going back to 2001, representing IBM and Extreme Blue at the Southern California regional competition for the past few years, and attending the world finals in San Antonio last year. We will be at several other regional competitions this year to talk with contestants about internship opportunities at IBM. Check out the regional contest information and schedule over at the ICPC web site.

I was looking at my blog site stats tonight and found a referer link from an ibm.com site. Turns out it’s the IBM Blogroll. A site that was set up as a place to find many of IBM’s external bloggers.

Or skirt, as the case may be…

Q: How can you tell when a Bush administration flunkie is lying?
A: When their lips are moving.

2001 memo to Rice contradicts statements about Clinton, Pakistan

Larry Womack
Published: Tuesday September 26, 2006

A memo received by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shortly after becoming National Security Advisor in 2001 directly contradicts statements she made to reporters yesterday, RAW STORY has learned.

“We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda,” Rice told a reporter for the New York Post on Monday. “Big pieces were missing,” Rice added, “like an approach to Pakistan that might work, because without Pakistan you weren’t going to get Afghanistan.”

Rice made the comments in response to claims made Sunday by former President Bill Clinton, who argued that his administration had done more than the current one to address the al Qaeda problem before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. She stopped short of calling the former president a liar.

However, RAW STORY has found that just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to Rice included the 2000 document, “Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects.” This document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically addressing strategies for securing Pakistan’s cooperation in airstrikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

more at RAW STORY…

NOT George W. Bush, that’s for sure.

Iraq is ’cause celebre’ for extremists

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – A declassified government intelligence report says the war in Iraq has become a “cause celebre” for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that is likely to get worse before it gets better.

In the bleak report, released Tuesday on President Bush’s orders, the nation’s most veteran analysts conclude that despite serious damage to the leadership of al-Qaida, the threat from Islamic extremists has spread both in numbers and in geographic reach.

“If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide,” the document says. “The confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups.”

Bush ordered a declassified version of the classified report released after several days of criticism sparked by portions that were leaked. Asked about those Tuesday, Bush said critics who believe the Iraq war has worsened terrorism are naive and mistaken.

Yahoo News

News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS | Dot’s Place reopens Tuesday

Dot’s Place reopens Tuesday

Updated: 9/26/2006 8:57 AM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

Fans of Dot’s Place have something to be excited about. The restaurant famous for its Southern home cooking is reopening Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. for the lunch crowd.

Dot’s new location is in the Windermere Shopping Center in Pflugerville near FM 1825 and Pecan Street.

Casey widens lead in Pa. Senate poll

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Democrat Bob Casey appears to have opened a double digit lead over Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Casey had a 14-point lead in the Quinnipiac University Poll, with 54 percent of likely voters saying they planned to vote for him compared to 40 percent for Santorum. One percent said they wouldn’t vote and 6 percent said they didn’t know.

Casey had a seven point lead among likely voters in a match up between the two in the same poll on Aug. 15.

On Monday, a state judge said Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli would be removed from the ballot because the party did not have enough valid signatures in its nominating petitions — a move pundits said would help Casey.

Yahoo News

Seems that some in the G.O.P. can’t win an argument fair and square, so they resort to their old habit of dirty tricks. Too bad they don’t understand the technology well enough to hide thier tracks…

GOP aide busted for fake blog posts on liberal sites

RAW STORY
Published: Monday September 25, 2006

Liberal bloggers have uncovered a staff member to Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) using government computers to make fake posts on liberal blogs in New Hampshire, today’s ROLL CALL reports.

Heard on The Hill columnist Mary Ann Akers has authorized RAW STORY to reprint the full registration-restricted item:

Raw Story via C&L

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – The government is partially lifting its ban against carrying liquids and gels onto airliners, instituted after a plot to bomb jets flying into the United States was foiled, an administration official said Monday.

A Homeland Security Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made, said that most liquids and gels that air travelers purchase in secure areas of airports will now be allowed on planes.

That means that after passengers go through airport security checkpoints, they can purchase liquids at airport stores and take them onto their planes, said the official. Announcement of the new rules was being made at an 11 a.m. EDT news conference at Reagan National Airport. The Transportation Security Administration said only that it planned to announce “refinements to security measures.”

Yahoo News

Wow. That was one of the things I was bitching about while travelling last week… why can’t you buy something beyond the security checkpoint, like a soda or coffee, and not have to throw it out before you board?

by David Millikin 53 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AFP) – US spy agencies dropped a political bombshell six weeks before national elections, with the leak of a classified report concluding that the war in Iraq has spawned a new wave of Islamic radicalism and increased the global threat of terrorism.

The intelligence document rocked a central pillar of the Republican Party’s campaign platform ahead of November elections: that the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein made America safer, not weaker.

“The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq,” Bush said in one speech on August 31.

Such assertions were looking decidedly shaky Sunday after The New York Times and The Washington Post released details of the classified National Intelligence Estimate, the most comprehensive assessment yet of the war, based on analyses of all 16 of America’s intelligence agencies.

The report, Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States, says “the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” an official familiar with the document told The Times.

The Washington Post said the report described the Iraq conflict as the primary recruiting vehicle for violent Islamic extremists.

While the US has seriously damaged Al-Qaeda and disrupted its ability to carry out major operations since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, it noted, radical Islamic networks have spread and decentralized.

Yahoo News

Starbucks raises prices of coffee drinks

By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer Fri Sep 22, 7:14 AM ET

SEATTLE – Got three bucks? That and a nickel will buy you a coffee drink at Starbucks. Starbucks Corp. said Thursday that it planned to raise prices of its lattes, cappuccinos, drip coffee and other drinks by 5 cents, or an average of 1.9 percent.

Yahoo News

KXAN.com

Use Your PC To Help Combat Diseases
Sep 19, 2006 02:29 PM

How many computers do you have in your house, and what are they doing right now? If you’re like most people, you have more than one, sitting there, doing nothing most of the time.

Instead of just using up electricity, you could put your PC to work curing diseases.

Using thousands of different home computers together to solve complex problems isn’t a new idea, but Austin’s IBM is taking the concept up to the next level.

The World Community Grid is designed to harvest unused processor time to create the largest and most powerful virtual supercomputer ever imagined.

Right now, the effort is to advance cancer and AIDS research.

According to Talking Points Memo via Crooks and Liars: Google (Don’t be Evil), in an effort to raise their DC profile, hires an outfit known for dirty tricks and slimey opps

JURIST Guest Columnist Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says that minimum due process guarantees under customary international law must not be denied when Congress attempts to articulate forms of procedure for new US military commissions…

When considering legislation for military commissions, members of Congress should be careful not to open themselves to personal war crimes liability by denying the due process requirements incorporated in common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

In other words… Congress May be Prosecutable For War Crimes

Equality Texas Joins in Mourning the Loss of Ann Richards

Austin, Texas (September 14, 2006) – Equality Texas joins in mourning the loss of Ann Richards, 45th governor of Texas.

Former Texas governor Ann Richards died Wednesday at her home in Austin at the age of 73. Richards was an icon of progressive politics in Texas: a champion of civil rights, gay rights and feminism.

Ann Richards was the first governor in Texas history to take pro-equality stands for lesbian and gay Texans. She was the first governor to appoint openly-gay people to offices in her campaign and administration, including her protégé and supporter, former State Representative Glen Maxey.

Among her achievements as governor were institutional changes in the state penal system, including increased prison space and a nationally-respected substance abuse program in prisons. A longtime opponent of discrimination against gays and lesbians, Richards favored eliminating Section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code, the “Homosexual Conduct” law as part of the penal system reforms. The proposed criminal code revision she sent to the legislature in 1993 eliminated the “Homosexual Conduct” law. However, the legislature reinstated it over her objections. The conduct law was later declared unconstitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court in 2003, although it remains in Texas statutes.

Also in 1993, Williamson County cited the sodomy law statute to deny Apple Computer tax incentives for a new facility in the county because of Apple’s policy of extending benefits to employees’ same-gender domestic partners. On December 7, 1993, under heavy pressure from Governor Richards, Williamson County commissioners reversed their decision.

Even after leaving public office, Ann Richards continued to be a progressive voice on the national stage. When asked by CNN’s Larry King in May 2004 what she thought of Massachusetts law allowing same-gender couples to marry, Richards responded, “…we need more loving families in this country, not less.”

Ann Richards was first elected to public office in 1976 as the first female commissioner of Travis County, which includes Austin. In 1982, she ran for state treasurer, received the most votes of any statewide candidate, became the first woman elected to statewide office in Texas in 50 years, and was re-elected in 1986.

In 1990, Richards was elected the 45th governor of Texas, ushering in what she called the “New Texas”. During her tenure as governor, Richards created the most representative and inclusive administration in Texas history, including people of color and openly-gay persons.

She appointed the first African-American University of Texas regent; the first crime victim to join the Texas Criminal Justice Board; the first disabled person to serve on the human services board; the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education; and the first African-American and female Texas Rangers.

Ann Richards is survived by four children, Cecile, Daniel, Clark and Ellen Richards, and eight grandchildren.

Sometimes it’s the little things…

I had wanted to implement a redirect URL for the Extreme Blue blog so that ibm.com/extremeblue/blog would redirect to the actual much longer URL http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/extremeblue. That way, you could use the shorter URL in print collateral, like URL cards or recruiting brochures, and it would be easier to remember, and shorter to type out.

Anyway, it got implemented today.

Austin, Texas (September 13, 2006) – Equality Texas mourns the death of Tyrone Garner, one of the two plaintiffs in 2003’s landmark U. S. Supreme Court case, Lawrence and Garner v. Texas.

Paul E. Scott, Executive Director of Equality Texas, issued the following statement:

“We mourn the death of Tyrone Garner and express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. Many of the greatest advancements in liberty and equality have occurred when unlikely advocates had the courage to fight for justice. We honor his courage for publically challenging Texas’s sodomy statute and advancing LGBT equality.”

Eight years ago, on September 17, 1998, Tyrone Garner and John Lawrence were arrested in Lawrence’s Houston-area home when a Harris County sheriff’s officer found the men engaged in private, consensual sex. The two were charged with violating Texas’s anti-sodomy statute, the Texas “Homosexual Conduct” law.

On June 26, 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Texas’s “Homosexual Conduct” law was unconstitutional. The ruling struck down the sodomy laws in the thirteen states that still had them. Sodomy laws were used almost exclusively to justify discrimination against lesbians and gay men.

“It is important to remember that is has only been three years since the U. S. Supreme Court finally acknowledged the validity of our lives and relationships”, said Equality Texas’s Paul Scott. “We should honor the hard-fought battle of Tyrone Garner by continuing to fight for our liberty and equality.”

Although made unenforceable by the ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court, Section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code, the “Homosexual Conduct” law, still remains in Texas statutes.

###

Paul E. Scott, Executive Director, Equality Texas: 512-474-5475.

Equality Texas works toward the elimination of social, legal, and economic discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression through lobbying, education and research directed toward the Texas Legislature and other state governmental agencies.

Can I Take It?

Due to enhanced hysteria and fear-mongering by the current administration, TSA has implemented additional security measures prohibiting liquids, gels, lotions and other items of similar consistency in carry-on baggage. These types of items must be packed in your checked baggage.

Additionally, liquids, gels and lotions purchased beyond the checkpoint but must be disposed of before boarding the aircraft.

So… soda and coffee and water purchased in the airport has to be finished before you board, or tossed as you board!