For Les

screaming-penguin.com

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl


--AZ-01: Rick Renzi


--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth


--CA-04: John Doolittle


--CA-11: Richard Pombo


--CA-50: Brian Bilbray



--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave


--CO-05: Doug Lamborn


--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell


--CT-04: Christopher Shays


--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan


--FL-16: Joe Negron



--FL-22: Clay Shaw


--ID-01: Bill Sali


--IL-06: Peter Roskam


--IL-10: Mark Kirk


--IL-14: Dennis Hastert


--IN-02: Chris Chocola



--IN-08: John Hostettler


--IA-01: Mike Whalen


--KS-02: Jim Ryun


--KY-03: Anne Northup


--KY-04: Geoff Davis


--MD-Sen: Michael Steele



--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht


--MN-06: Michele Bachmann


--MO-Sen: Jim Talent


--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns


--NV-03: Jon Porter


--NH-02: Charlie Bass



--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson


--NM-01: Heather Wilson


--NY-03: Peter King


--NY-20: John Sweeney


--NY-26: Tom Reynolds


--NY-29: Randy Kuhl



--NC-08: Robin Hayes


--NC-11: Charles Taylor


--OH-01: Steve Chabot


--OH-02: Jean Schmidt


--OH-15: Deborah Pryce


--OH-18: Joy Padgett



--PA-04: Melissa Hart


--PA-07: Curt Weldon


--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick


--PA-10: Don Sherwood


--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee


--TN-Sen: Bob Corker



--VA-Sen: George Allen


--VA-10: Frank Wolf


--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick


--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Mark Twain - Wikiquote

Against our traditions we are now entering upon an unjust and trivial war, a war against a helpless people, and for a base object — robbery. At first our citizens spoke out against this thing, by an impulse natural to their training. Today they have turned, and their voice is the other way. What caused the change? Merely a politician's trick — a high-sounding phrase, a blood-stirring phrase which turned their uncritical heads: Our Country, right or wrong! An empty phrase, a silly phrase. It was shouted by every newspaper, it was thundered from the pulpit, the Superintendent of Public Instruction placarded it in every schoolhouse in the land, the War Department inscribed it upon the flag. And every man who failed to shout it or who was silent, was proclaimed a traitor — none but those others were patriots. To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, "Our Country, right or wrong," and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived that that phrase is an insult to the nation?
For in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the country?" Is it the newspaper? Is it the pulpit? Is it the school-superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in the thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn’t.

...

In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country — hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of.
Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.
This Republic's life is not in peril. The nation has sold its honor for a phrase. It has swung itself loose from its safe anchorage and is drifting, its helm is in pirate hands.

--Twain

USB/IP Project

USB/IP Project: "The USB/IP Project aims to develop a general USB device sharing system over IP network. To share USB devices between computers with their full functionality, USB/IP encapsulates 'USB protocols' into IP packets and transmits them between computers. Original USB device drivers and applications can be also used for remote USB devices without any modification of them."

Test.

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BBspot - Microsoft Releases Box Set of Rarities and Oldies

BBspot - Microsoft Releases Box Set of Rarities and Oldies: "Redmond, WA - Microsoft has announced the release of a box set of their 'greatest operating systems of all time,' stuffed with their previous releases and tons of extras. The box set - entitled 'Microsoft 1975 - 2000: The Early Years' covers the company's rise from the early garage days to today.

Fans of the company should find everything they need in the box. Not only does it contain classics like DOS 3.30, Windows 3.11 and 95 OSR2.5 – it also contains rare cult material like Microsoft Bob, Windows 1.0 and ME. Die hard fans may complain about the decision to include the updated and patched versions instead of the original releases, but they are likely to have the entire collection, anyway.

"

Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy - New York Times

Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy - New York Times: "On Tuesday, a FEMA official who had just flown over the ravaged city by helicopter seemed to have trouble conveying to his bosses the degree of destruction, according to a New Orleans city councilwoman.

'He got on the phone to Washington, and I heard him say, 'You've got to understand how serious this is, and this is not what they're telling me, this is what I saw myself,' ' the councilwoman, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, recalled.

State and federal officials had spent two years working on a disaster plan to prepare for a massive storm, but it was incomplete and had failed to deal with two issues that proved most critical: transporting evacuees and imposing law and order."

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme: "Brushed Metal: Calculator? I’m out of iTunes and you tell me I’ve still got Calculator? When is the Special Event scheduled for the next version of Calculator? Oh, that’s right, there is none, because no one gives a shit about Calculator."

You ever wonder why it is...

Your friends give you shit when you aren't getting laid for not getting laid, then when you are they give you shit for getting some? Seriously, what is up with that.

"HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS"

screaming-penguin.com: "

You know, this line is haunting me. I don't know if you saw Brian Williams on The Daily Show this week, but he talked about reading this line in the National Weather Service bulletin on his blackberry on Sunday, and the press weren't even sure if it was a legitimate message because they had never seen anything like this from NOAA before. It turns out it was literally from the last guy in the office just trying to make the most loaded statement he could so people would get it. There is a story in there that somebodyh ought to tell.

Somehow it seems to me to be a story that is much to frequent anymore. Whether it is the FDA or the EPA or the ACoE or NOAA, it seems like there are constant stories these days about professional scientists and engineers and logisticians warning everyone who will listen what is coming people just don't seem to actually take them seriously. In a world where all the coverage seems like 'Someone says sky is green, scientists disagree, ' it is not hard to understand why people might just ignore shit. I mean, obviously there is no consensus that the sky isn't green!


It doesn't matter if it is the Greenhouse Effect, a Hurricane, Plan B, or that maybe the dinosaurs did actually live 65,000,000 years ago, it seems that if any fucktard wants to ignore the truth, then it is 'open for debate'.

Now we go back and look at the resume of everyone at FEMA, and unless they have 'Acting' in their title, it is obvious that they are in no way qualified for their position. Maybe I am just a 'big goverment liberal', but you know, the reason we have a beurocracy is to put beurocrats in charge. Not Nordac the IT preventor or other Dilber nightmares, but people who are professionally trained and responsible for doing their job, not for a political agenda. FEMA, the FDA, the USDA, NOAA, the EPA, DOE or NASA, and you know, even the Pentagon, I expect to be staffed with people who understand the real world dynamics of their field, not people who worked on the commitee to elect whichever jackass is in the Whitehouse (even if it is my jackass).

I can't help but think, in a democracy where we now pick our leaders on the "who would you want to have a beer with" standard, it seems that the "who you would want to have a beed with" standard applies to every role of our government, and should we be suprised?"