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| 2005/5/16-17 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:37699 Activity:kinda low |
5/16 Why is bonnie@csua calling me her bitch?
\_ Why do you believe everything you see in the From: line?
\_ If you are/were karen's bitch (and who isn't), you are, by
\_ At least one CSUA alum comes to
mind...
extension, bonnie's bitch. - jvarga
\_ Really, it's explained in the email.
\_ And I, for one, welcome our new CSUA overlords |
| 2005/5/16 [Uncategorized] UID:37700 Activity:low |
5/15 Poll: What is your Michael Bolton prediction?
Nominated: .
Filibuster success:
Fili-busted (unsuccess): .
Vote taken, not-nominated: .
\_ steel bars, wrapped all around meee....
i've been your prisoner since the day you found meee...
i'm bound forever 'til the end of tiiiime...
steel bars, wrapped around this heart of miiiine... |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:37702 Activity:nil |
5/16 Netgear Storage Central, at $129 it seems like a good deal
for a home network file server:
http://www.livedigitally.com/?p=166
\_ Google NSLU2. It runs Linux, I have one and I spool media to
my Roku audio player a-la:
http://www.fibiger.org/musicserver/nslu2-mtdaapd-howto.html
It also acts fine as NAS. The advantage over the NetGear is
that it's a Linux server. The downside is you supply your own
external USB drives. -ax
\_ Google NSLU2. It runs Linux, I have one and I spool media to my
Roku audio player a-la:
http://www.fibiger.org/musicserver/nslu2-mtdaapd-howto.html
It also acts fine as NAS. The advantage over the NetGear is that
it's a Linux server. The downside is you supply your own
external USB drives. -ax
\_ I wanted to avoid externa usb/fw drives, but this sounds
pretty cool. |
| 2005/5/16 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:37703 Activity:high |
5/16 Newsweek lied and people died.
\_ Lied?
\_ Yes, lied. They claimed that the military confirmed something
that they didn't confirm. Now they aren't even retracting their
story.
\_ They claimed that the military confirmed something that they
will no longer confirm...
\_ So where were you when the New York Times was hyping the war
in Iraq with hundreds of lies about Saddam's huge arsenal of
WMD?
\_ You do understand that a mistake by one news organization
does not justfiy another mistake by a different
organization.
\_ I'm not defending Newsweek. I think they fucked up and
they should own up to it. However, I think all the
right wing blustering and rage about it is pretty silly
given that we got into a useless war on track to cost
more than Vietnam in constant dollars based on a huge
tissue of lies that was printed in the NYT amongst
many others. Don't hear much blustering and rage about
THAT. It seems like lies are perfectly all right as
long as they justify your desired ends.
\_ Well, I don't think NYT lied, nor did Newsweek. They
made mistakes, but so does everyone. The best they
can do is to own up to their mistakes and correct
their processes so that future mistakes are less
likely. Also, I find it somewhat sad (if it is
true) that there is only "right wing blustering and
rage". We should all be upset about the Newsweek
error, just as we should all be upset about errors
in NYT and elsewhere.
\_ Okay, what was Newsweek's mistake? They got this
tidbit from a "knowledgable source", one they had
used before. They asked two DD officials for
confirmation. The first declined to comment. The
second said another part of the article was wrong,
but didn't question the part about flushing the
Koran. So newsweek ran it. This sort of thing
used to be called journalism. Two weeks later,
their source backs out and the pentagon gets
pissed. Something's fishy. --scotsman
\_ Good journalism requires at least two sources
for a story.
\_ Sounds to me like they thought they had two:
Their source, and the official who read the
story and didn't object. It wasn't a
positive assertion that "yes, this is in an
upcoming report from an investigation", but
it certainly seems they checked it out.
It just really smells too much of shoot-the-
messenger for me.
\_ I'm not sure "no comment" and "That
sounds like something I heard once"
count as confirmations.
\_ What about "I've reviewed your piece
and you can't print this [other
unrelated part]"?
\_ That would be confusing 'not
denying' with 'positively
affirming'.
\_ Which, in an admin that funnels
all FOIA requests through the
white house, seems a line that
needs to be crossed.
\_ This would be the "it's good
enough because doing more is
hard" standard?
\_ Which is why they
apologized, but haven't
retracted.
\_ Newsweek retracted.
\_ Indeed. Sigh.
\_ We should apply this
standard to more things.
\_ And how did people die from Newsweek's lie?
\_ do you even watch any news?
\_ Oops! I read about the Quran flushing and the riot, but I
missed the news that it was a Newsweek lie. -- PP
\_ Watching the news is a big mistake. Reading the news isn't
much better but at least print media sometimes pretends to take
it's job seriously. --!pp
\_ You missed the riots and deaths?
\_ Those were terrorists, not "people"!
\_ The Afghani government claims that the riots there had
nothing to do with the Koran story. Don't know if there
were deaths elsewhere.
\_ (not a troll, really) Afghani == currency. Afghan ==
citizenship.
\_ American Newsweek writers didn't know how inflammatory "flushing
Koran down a toilet" was compared to getting nekkid CIA officers to
sit on detainees laps - otherwise they would have done more vetting.
\_ Newsweek already killed Admiral Boorda.
\_ I posted a long quote from Gen. Myers stating that the US
definitely placed Koran's on the toilet, but can't confirm yet
whether any actually were flushed, but some asshole stomped it.
You and the whole Powerline/LGF crowd are going to look pretty
stupid when it turns out Newsweek was correct.
\_ Where is the quote?
\_ The post may have just been overwritten. Why don't you
repost or post a link?
\_ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2005/05/mil-050512-dod01.htm
\_ http://csua.org/u/c31
Important stuff is at the very bottom.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding what Myers is saying though.
What do other people take that last paragraph to mean?
\_ For the most part he seems to be denying the Newsweek
report. I have no idea what he was trying to say here
though: "There are several log entries that show that
the Koran may have been moved to -- and the detainees
became irritated about it, but never an incident where
it was thrown in the toilet."
\_ Yeah I take that to mean that the Koran was moved
to the toilet, but not flushed down it, though it
is not entirely clear that he meant that.
\_ "They have looked through the logs, the interrogation logs, and
they cannot confirm yet that there were ever the case of the
toilet incident, except for one case, a log entry, which they
still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard
to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting in the toilet to
stop it up as a protest. But not where the U.S. did it.
... That's still unconfirmed; it's a log entry that has to be
confirmed. There are several log entries that show that the
Koran may have been moved to -- and the detainees became
irritated about it, but never an incident where it was thrown in
the toilet." -Gen. Myers
Okay, so there are logs that say the Koran was moved "to" the
toilet, which means to me on the seat (open or closed) or on top
of the water reservoir.
The point of debate is not about stomping on or putting Koran's
"on" the toilet, the latter point the military concedes there are
logs about. The issue is flushing Koran's down the toilet, for
which the military says there are no logs showing this.
\_ So they were "really disrespectful" but not "ludicrously
disrespectful"? The WH puts out a statement saying that
Newsweek is hurting America's image. I say America is
hurting America's image.
\_ You don't get people killed because of Korans moved "to"
the toilet. Flushing Korans is another thing.
Anyways, like I wrote earlier, American Newsweek writers
just didn't understand how inflammatory this was, or they
would have vetted it more.
\_ As noted above, the afghan gov't said that the report
was incidental to the violence. Not a cause. People
are pissed. at us. enough to blow up themselves and
innocents to get to us and those who are linked to us.
And you say it's because newsweek printed an article...
\_ Let's put it this way: If Newsweek's anonymous
Pentagon source didn't back down and Gen. Myers said
"Yeah, we actually do have logs of our guys flushing
down Korans", then the U.S. military would be blamed.
\_ Y'know what. The US Military is already blamed
because we are OCCUPYING THEIR COUNTRY. Because
we are holding people thousands of miles from home
in a legal limbo. The status of the qu'ran in a
gitmo prison is just another speck on our filthy
image.
\_ The one point I can agree with you on is that
Dubya's administration has committed many more
serious mistakes than Newsweek has.
\_ How many other surfaces are there in a military latrine
where one can put a copy of the Koran?
\_ Well, the issue is whether they did it on purpose to
piss off the prisoners.
\_ Is it? I thought the issue was the location of the
of the Koran. The Myers quote made no mention of
the state of mind of the military guard(s). Never
been in a military prison latrine before, but I'm
not coming up with many better locations to put a
copy of the Koran than on top of the can.
\_ Why did they bring one there in the first place?
\_ Ah, that's a different question. I don't
think I've seen any reference to *who* brought
Koran into the toilet. Was it a guard or a
prisoner? But once the book is in the toiilet,
where else better should you put it?
\_ Every prisoner gets a Bible, Koran, or whatever
holy book you want.
\_ Would they give free Playboy subscriptions
if you said you worshipped Hugh Hefner?
\_ What is inferred is that the state of mind of the
prison guards was as you stated: They were
innocently placing the Koran on the john because
it seemed like a good place.
But Myers didn't say that explicitly.
\_ These are supposed to be diaries of interrogations
remember. It makes no sense to respectfully place
the Koran "near" the toilet as an aside in an
interrogation interview. My guess is that they
threatened to flush them as a way to antagonize
the "interviewees." But that is just a guess.
the "interviewee." But that is just a guess.
\_ I don't know, the pentagon guys didn't say
the Koran was "moved to the toilet" during
interrogation, just that it was moved there.
You're assuming this was during
interrogation, but it's also possible
that a gaurd may have picked up a Koran to
get it out of the way and just used the
toilet tank as a convinent place to put it
down. Heck, I read my bible on the can, and
rest it on the tank sometimes. I can see a
gaurd doing this with a Koran inadvertantly.
It's a possibility.
\_ I assumed that it was in a cell that had a toilet in
it, like most jails.
\_ Apparently, some prisoners are kept in en suite
cells, and others are kept barrack-style, presumable
with an attached communal latrine.
\_ I don't understand this logic. Regardless
whether it happened, if the military denies
it, then they mustn't be blamed?
\_ This is hardly the first time this claim has been made:
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6058 |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Computer/HW/CPU, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:37704 Activity:moderate |
5/16 I am looking for recommendations for a how-to-assemble-one's-own-
computer-book. I would just buy a Dell but I want something quiet.
The system will run XP and SuSE. -- ulysses
\_ Buy Dell, donate to Republicans. It's as simple as that.
\_ Is that worth it? One standalone copy of XP is so expensive.
\_ Worth it? Probably not. Fun and instructive, yes. Also you
don't have to pay full retail for XP. -!op
\_ My Dell is very quiet.
\_ My Dell is very noisy (the power supply) and the
replacement from Dell is not much better either. I hate
the fact that I cannot put in a standard ultra-quiet
power supply because it won't fit Dell's propretary
case!! I am never getting a Dell computer again.
\_ Who sells cheap standard PCs? Tiger Direct?
\_ Tiger Direct? Only if you take their rebates into account,
and that might not be an entirely wise thing.
\_ I build my own now. I enjoy doing it and once
every few years gives me the opportunity to be
informed about the latest PC building trend. There
are tons of places that sells standard PCs.
\_ Care to recommend one?
\_ My Dell dual Xeon at work is noisy, but my home machine is
silent. I can't hear the fan or hard drive at all. It was a
Dimension 4600.
\_ The Dell OptiPlex GX280 (Small Business only) is reviewed by
http://cnet.com as very quiet, due to its new BTX case design (which
funnels air down a central corridor as my Geek Squad friend
tells me). http://csua.org/u/c2w
Our office is buying them, but I'm too lazy to walk over and check
how loud they are. These are standard Dell Small Business desktops
as of ~ half a year ago. Don't get the Small Form Factor version,
which only has 2 DIMM slots (I would get the Mini Tower).
Don't get any Pentium 4 above 3.2 GHz.
\_ The Precision series is pretty quiet. In spite of the above
advice, the desktop is even quieter than the minitower.
\_ Do you stand the Desktop on its side like in the picture?
How do you insert CD-ROMs? The Precision series is a
"workstation" series right?
\_ You can stand it vertically with a plastic stand you
order or use it horizontally. Yes, Precision is the
workstation series. Like someone else noted, the Xeon
systems are loud. So it would be the 3x0 series which
is quiet.
\_ And the Dimension 4600's. Just watch http://slickdeals.net for
a good deal to come up.
\_ http://endpcnoise.com has great parts and complete custom systems.
\_ Has anyone used "Zalman TNN-500AF Noiseless Case" at $1200? Is
it worth the price? |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Computer/SW/Languages/Java] UID:37705 Activity:nil |
5/16 I have a multithreaded Java application which calls some native
libraries through JNI. I'm looking for a good way to do profiling of
it to see where the various Java and native threads are holding each
other up. What tool(s) would you reccomend? |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:37706 Activity:moderate |
5/16 Make sure you get the firmware updated on your Prius:
http://tinyurl.com/cfd5r (cnn.com)
\_ Wow. Didn't expect this kind of things to happen on a Toyota.
\_ Pretty scary if it happens when you're trying to cut in front of a
semi while entering a freeway.
\_ I personally think the increased use of software in cars is
a bad trend. Most software is nowhere near as reliable as
mechanical controls or electronic controls and the potential
for unintended or undetectable failures is high.
I'm thinking by next car should be a willy's jeep :-)
\_ Maybe you should stop flying then, because new Boeings and
ALL Airbuses are controlled by electronics, without the
possibility of manual over-ride.
\_ I pretty much avoid airbus flights whenever possible.
Computer control on the new Boeings does have me
worried, but the way I look at it a failure of the
computer control on a plane means I'm dead, while
the failure of the computer control in a car means,
I will probably live but will lose a leg an arm or
be bound to a wheelchair. I prefer dead to cripple.
\_ Yeah, I heard the Jeep Willy could run even with a punctured
radiator. My Cherokee has only okay reliability, though.
\_ Yermom likes to download the firmware in my Penis. |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:37707 Activity:moderate |
5/16 I'm looking for software (free or shareware) on windows that can help
me manage information found on the web. Usually I find some useful
info and if I forget to bookmark it or write down the address
somewhere else, it'll take me hours to find it again one month later.
Also bookmarking is not really scalable. I can't write my own notes
etc. There has got to be an easier way to classify and take notes and
store links (or save HTML pages locally) in an indexable and
searchable manner. Thanks.
\_ Well, firstly I would agree that bookmarks could use some
improvement. But I think you can use normal Firefox bookmarks to
sort of do this. You can open the bookmark manager which is
searchable, and lets you attach a longish description to any item.
What it really needs is a one-button "bookmark this" which includes
the description field. Basically a UI issue. Actually, I just
tried this and noticed the search function doesn't look at
description text. What a POS.
\_ just create subfolders in your bookmarks
\_ What we need is kchang's auto classification motd tool for
firefox!! We just bookmark a page and based on content, it
gets classified under a particular category! You should be
able to get different 'views' of your bookmarks based on
category, date, etc!
\_ Hmmmm, interesting, I will have to spend some time doing more
feasibility study on this and afterwards consider this feature...
\_ I use a plain text file for this.
\_ Not sure about Windows, but at least on OS X some of my
friends use a product called Sticky Brain. I use text
file and a bunch of nested directories. |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Reference/BayArea] UID:37708 Activity:low |
5/16 Explanation please: why were people throwing so many tortillas
at Bay to Breakers? I mean, it was cool and all, but wtf?
\_ They're cheaper than frisbees. That's it, really. -gm
\_ Uh... It's the tortilla toss. duh.
\_ Is this some new addition? I was in the Bay to Breaker in 1998 but
I didn't see any totilla throwing.
\_ I've only ran the past 3, but each year they've done it.
\_ Uh... It's the tortilla tossing contest. duh.
\_ I don't know where you were standing, but I know they had it in
98. My first one was either 94 or 95, and they've had it
everytime I've gone. |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Industry/Jobs] UID:37709 Activity:high |
5/16 When an interviewer asks about your weakness, what do you usually
say?
\_ "i'm outta of a job and i have to come to you to get one"
\_ "i'm too weak to answere questions about myself"
\_ I cry when I masturbate.
\_ Well, I could always use more upper body strength to impress
the girls.
\_ "I've been told that I work too hard, but I've never considered
it a weakness."
\_ Do not try this. Any non-moron interviewer would pick up on
this sort of thing. I guess since he asked this question, we
may deduce he IS a moron though. But anyway I divebombed an
interview when some high-end VP asked this and relentlessly
discarded my non-incriminating answers. The "correct" answer
is really to have a pre-memorized set "things you're doing
to improve yourself", under the assumption that anything
where you're not your best is a weakness. Yeah it's stupid.
I guess you could turn the "work too hard" thing into a real
weakness if you say like you sometimes get fixed on a problem
and if you don't get enough sleep you aren't as bright as
you can be blah blah.
\_ I agree that you should NOT give a canned response, especially
the one above. IT'S TOO FUCKING OLD. It's like walking into
a single's bar and asking "What's your sign?". Be thoughtful.
\_ "That's a stupid question. I'll go somewhere else where the
interviewers aren't morons."
\_ Translation: "My weakness is I kneejerk sometimes at the risk
of pissing off other people."
\_ No, I'd just rather not work for a company who wastes my time
like that.
\_ You might want to consider the fact that there's more to
being a true professional than your (very high) opinion of
yourself.
\_ Alternate Translation: "I'm a very, very poor candidate."
\_ I just answered honestly. Just list some real weakness you
have.
\_ Yeah, I tried that once. Apparently, they weren't interested
in people who don't like to be micromanaged.
\_ Sounds like you came out on top of that one.
\_ I get distracted too easily by eye candies.
\- Just say "I wish I could be more organized."
\_ I'm a lazy fuck.
\_ I tell them that sometimes I am too optimistic about how
much work I can get done and that therefore I take on too
many tasks and that sometimes this causes frustration in
other people who are waiting around for me to get things
done. It is a real weakness of mine (and just about every
other engineer and sysadmin I have ever worked with) and
just indicates a normal kind of failing that you can cop to.
I don't tell them that I drink too much and call in work
sick all the time on Monday because of it or anything like
that.
\_ This is a smart man. (or woman)
\_ Yeah, good call. During my interview for my current job,
I was asked this and answered a couple of things off the
top of my head -- one was "I have a hard time saying no
(to client requests, management requests)" -- it's a
genuine problem, and one that I work on. This led into
a brief discussion of dealing with those sorts of
dynamics, and probably did give them a better idea of
how I think & work. Which is the point.
\_ Well I'd still laugh at you both. It's still an obvious
cop-out basically, just a clever variation of "I work
too much/am too eager to work". It shows you're good
at lawyerly bullshitting. Good job.
\_ This is a foolish man. (or woman)
\_ No, I honestly don't think it is 100% bullshit. Super
awesome programmers accurately predict how much they
can get done in a certain amount of time and when they
screw up, they bust their ass to get back on track.
I am not that conscientious. Yes, it is BS, in the sense
I am not that hard working. Yes, it is BS, in the sense
that I believe I have worse failings as a human being,
but none that I think appropriate for a job interview.
If I was really pressed, I could come up with some others
like "sometimes I can be too terse for people" but I
rationalize that as me just not liking to be interrupted
when I am deep in thought.
\_ My last boss has a restraining order on me, but I learned
from that experience.
\_ That rocks.
\_ I have a hard time with the line between sexual harrassment and
harmless flirtatiousness, but I've been taking sensitivity classes
and higher doses of medication, so it's less blurry to me now.
\_ I ask this question. Not looking for an answer but how they
react. That tells me a lot more about a person, esp. for a
high-profile position.
\_ Just out of curiosity, what does it tell you about a person
when they walk out of the interview telling you it's a stupid
question, and that you're a moron for asking it?
\_ So what are you hoping to see from them? What kind of
responses to this cliche question impress you?
\_ Two pp's above should watch "The Assassination of Richard Nixon"
\_ Why?
\_ "I can't stop my bosses' wives crawling onto my bed." |
| 2005/5/16 [Politics/Domestic/Immigration] UID:37710 Activity:high |
5/16 Report: Suspected Cop Killer's Family Flees To Mexico
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/print/4493286/detail.html |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:37711 Activity:high |
5/16 kchang, I realize this is beyond the bounds of a diff tool, but I
think it would be pretty neat if when I use your diff I could get
the things that have been added and then deleted, between my
current and previous diffs.
\_ I did have that feature in an earlier version but the output was
very ugly due to the fact that there's a tendency for certain
individuals to change their own stuff 5-10 times within 2 minutes.
Unless there are compelling reasons and that you can convince my
committee members to agree (they're on the bottom of the
24HourDiff page), I'll just leave it as it is. If you want you can
just go to the 24HourDiff page and seek linearly. -kchang
\_ Your fucking committee members? When did your delusions become
this grand?
\_ Committee Members for 24HourDiff: brain, dbushong, ilyas,
jvarga, chiry, tom. And me.
Committee Members for Kais Motd: they're all listed here:
http://csua.com/?login=1
\_ Nowhere on here do I see who the Heroic Committee
for the Glorious People's Revolution members are.
\_ I think all it takes to be a member of the 'committee' is to
suggest something and explain why it's a good idea. -- ilyas
\_ ilyas is smart. You can thank him for a lot of ideas
that turned into actual features here (like user
tracking). I just implemented, that's all. -kchang
\_ In Communist Russia, user tracks YOU.
\_ your user tracking is beyond suck.
\_ if you know how to make it better, maybe you can
share your knowledge, or just shut the fuck up.
And if you think you can get away with everything,
you're wrong. scp, cron, sendmail, etc are all
logged under /var/log/*.log, accessible by
root/wheel.
\_ I think user tracking is against the spirit of the
motd.
\_ I've got your spirit right here pal. Who died
and declared you great arbiter of the motd and
all matters CSUAish? -dans
\_ I did. -God
\_ shell> /csua/bin/finger god
finger: god: no such user
\_ Wow, so are you really abusing root to track
who edits a world-writeable file? -meyers
\_ Come now, soda has a long history of root
abuse. Why break from tradition now? -dans |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Computer/HW/IO] UID:37712 Activity:kinda low |
5/16 Does anybody else think that optical mouse don't track as
well as a good old (clean) mechanical rolling ball mouse?
\_ yes they skip when I play mouse intensive games.
\_ Any of the Microsoft optical mice that advertise scanning at
6,000 times per second (~ 1-2 years old now) are fine. The ones
before that blew chunks
\_ I used to have this problem with some older logitech
optical mice, but I switched to the Kensington Pilot Mouse
Optical Pro which doesn't have this problem. You might
want to try the logitech laser mouse, which is supposedly
very good.
\_ I've got the logitech laser mouse, and it is so much better
\_ I've got the Logitech laser mouse, and it is so much better
than the old roller mouse I had, night and day. Way more
accurate, especially in games.
\_ Does it depend on any color pattern on the desk surface? |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:37714 Activity:low |
5/16 "But don't pontificate on the floor of the Senate and tell me that
somehow I am violating the Constitution of the United States of
America by blocking a judge or filibustering a judge that I don't
think deserves to be on the circuit court because I am going to
continue to do it at every opportunity I believe a judge should
not be on that court. That is my responsibility. That is my
advise and consent role, and I intend to exercise it. I don't
appreciate being told that somehow I am violating the Constitution
of the United States. I swore to uphold that Constitution, and I
am doing it now by standing up and saying what I am saying."
-Sen Adams (R) NH on his filibuster of Clinton appointee Richard Perez
\_ Where is that in the senate record?
\_ You know, when googling this, it appears to be a quote from Senator
Robert Smith on March 7, 2000, not Senator "Adams". Where did you
get this quote from?
\_ I got it from a discussion forum I am on. I guess the guy
got the author wrong, but Sen Robert Smith is a
(R) from NH, right?
\_ "Mr. President, this is just one year of the Presidency I am
talking about. I have only dealt with 1992 when circuit court
nominees were blocked in committee. I could have gone back
further into the Bush Presidency. I could have gone back
into other Presidencies. I didn't do that, but these are
filibusters. When you don't allow a nomination to get to
the Senate floor--it may not be under the technical term
``filibuster,'' but when you block it, that is a filibuster.
You are not getting it here and you can't talk about it if
it isn't up here. If it is languishing in committee, then
we are not going to be able to debate it, approve it, or
reject it. No matter how you shake it, they were filibusters
led by committee chairmen rather than the majority leader
on the floor." From the same speech, Mr. Smith goes to
washington and redefines the filibuster to include blocking
in committee. His speech starts on page S1209, and this
quote is on page S1212, March 7 2000. |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:37715 Activity:high |
5/16 I think I'm beginning to understand the rationale behind nominating
Bolton. Many Republicans think that UN is useless (case in point
http://csua.com/?entry=35423 and
freeper sites) hence they either don't care who they nominate
for or they want to show UN how pointless they are. I mean, who
the fuck writes "Darfur pretty much proves the UN as useless and
that the world in general doesn't give a rip about humanitarian aid."
\_ He's not really putting a fine point on it, but Darfur, Rwanda,
Srebrenica, Sarajevo... starting to see a pattern? -John
\_ We had to destroy the UN in order to save it.
\_ The UN is an institution where if one powerful country takes the
lead, the framework is there to support the leader.
E.g., if any powerful country decided to spend the money, people,
time, and political capital to get involved in Darfur, the UN would
provide a framework where other countries could help.
Unfortunately, no powerful country did anything significant about
Darfur.
This is how the UN works. This is how powerful countries "use" the
UN correctly.
\_ Nice nuke. As I said, it's also where Libya gets to chair the
human rights commission. I'm not saying it's not better than
the alternative, but there's a lot broken at the UN. -John
\_ Nuke of what? I'm using motdedit with jove and didn't
force an overwrite. Someone else using scp probably is
responsible.
Granted, there's a lot broken, but there's a lot broken about
the American political system too.
We live with the American political system and try to fix it
because it's the best thing we've got.
There's no one saying we can't try to fix the UN too.
\_ In spite of all what emarkp wrote in the URL above, he ignores two
things: (1) the number one reason the U.S. went into Iraq was
Dubya's "no doubt" that Saddam had stockpiles of WMDs, and (2)
rebuilding of post-war Iraq is being poorly executed.
Now if the U.S. had presented evidence to the UN that there was "no
doubt" that Saddam had WMDs -- and any of France, Russia, and China
signaled a veto -- THEN the UN might be irrelevant. However, Colin
Powell presented his shit case ("trust us" on the "no doubt" part,
okay?), France signaled a veto, we went in anyway, and the CIA's
judgment now is that Saddam did not have stockpiles and did not have
active WMD programs. If we went into Iraq because Saddam was
manipulating oil-for-food, torturing people, giving money to suicide
bombers, and just because we wanted to get him while he was small
before he could leverage Iraq into a global power because of his
before he could leverage Iraq into a global power using his vast
oil reserves and desire to restart WMDs once sanctions were lifted
-- these are worthwhile goals, but none of these were presented to
the UN or to the people of America as the primary reason for
invading.
the UN or to the American people as the PRIMARY reason for invading.
... Now, we are already in Iraq. We need to win. We need to unify
America. We need to come clean. Dubya needs to do these things:
(1) Be loud and clear about CIA's judgment that there were no WMD
stockpiles nor active WMD programs, it being the number one reason
we went in, and how the CIA did believe there was "no doubt".
(2) Say we're there now, we made the above intelligence mistake,
but we need to win for the sake of the people of Iraq who are being
blown up by suicide bombers, for the sake of the world if Iraq
devolves into a safe haven for those who would build and train
people to use WMDs.
(3) Say that we presented a case to the UN for which we had "no
doubt", but actually there was a lot of doubt on.
(4) Start using the U.N. correctly.
As long as we do not do the above, the U.S. we will not have come
clean and we will remain a divided nation. Yet, we may still win in
Iraq. I hope at least that happens.
As long as we do not do the above, the U.S. will not have come
clean, and we will remain a divided nation. Yet, we may still win
in Iraq. I hope at least that happens.
\_ What is the definition of "winning"? Did we win in Vietnam?
When Israelis give up land for peace, is that winning?
Sun-Tzu says that if you have to start a war, then you've
already lost. What does that mean to you?
\_ The principal victory condition in Vietnam was no Communist
Vietnam. The victory condition was not satisfied.
The principal victory condition for Iraq is no safe haven for
those who would build and train people to use WMDs.
I hope this victory condition is satisfied.
\_ Oh wow. Cool. So we were done before we started!
'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' means nothing to
these people. If you don't fix it, how can you
siphon money out of it?
\_ What are you babbling about?
\_ For this to be a victory condition, you assume
that, before the war, Iraq was a haven for WMD
producers and terrorist training grounds. You
have a long evidence gap to cross to make this
claim. However, since the war, it's getting
closer to this sort of haven. Congrats.
\_ The victory condition before the war was
to destroy all WMDs and dismantle active programs.
Dubya's assumption, as I state repeatedly above,
was that Saddam had WMDs and active programs.
This was clearly a mistake.
The new victory condition is to prevent Iraq
from becoming a safe haven for training /
production of WMDs. As long as we recognize our
earlier mistake -- and I have said repeatedly
that Dubya needs to acknowledge the mistake loudly
and clearly -- it's honest to make this new
victory condition.
\_ The victory condition before the war, and
indeed the condition thata Bush placed upon
himself, was to disarm Saddam, preferably
through non-military means. Exhaust all
diplomatic efforts, he said. A resolution
of force to use as a diplomatic tool, he said.
It was no mistake. They had decided long
before, as we now know, that they were going
to go in. WMD or not.
\_ Actually, Dubya denied it all (the UK memo)
in a statement yesterday. You can believe
Dubya is a lying asshole prick who rushed to
war and fixed intelligence around policy
(all in the name of Freedom) and this may
very well be true, but I still hope Iraq
turns out all right.
I'm guessing another of your beefs is:
That you just don't want to call it
"winning" or "victory condition", but
"pulling America's ass out of the fire
after Dubya fucked it all up" and
"non-fuckup condition" which is actually
pretty accurate.
\_ No shit?! Dubya denied it? Well then,
the Brits must have lied.
You know, I'd love to be able to call
something about this "winning". I'd
love to think we're not making people's
lives miserable and dangerous when they
didn't do anything to us. I'd love to
think that we will be able to help them
create a nation with strong enough
institutions to prevent it from becoming
a haven for dangerous elements. And yes,
we're in a catch 22 of our own making on
this point. But winning this means
nation building. And if you look at
our history of that, it doesn't go so
well.
\_ Well then, you and I hope the same
thing. I think what happened was
that I sacrified some accuracy in
terms in hopes of converting
moderates and less fanatical Dubya
supporters. I gave Dubya the benefit
of the doubt in terms of whether
he's a liar. Really, Dubya could
just say the UK misinterpreted U.S.
intentions, but I doubt it's going
to get even that far.
\_ will the Mormon troller above clarify if this is true... that you
really think UN is irrelevant (and the comment that you don't
give a shit what the world thinks about US), hence you don't
really care if Bolton gets in or not? |
| 2005/5/16-17 [Academia/OtherSchools] UID:37716 Activity:nil |
5/16 Director of undergraduate writing at MIT thinks the new SAT is lousy:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/05/17/sat/index.html
\- the last two lines are pretty funny. "the SAT is divided into
3 parts ... i came, i saw, i bullshitted" --psb
\_ Better than "I came, I peed, I shitted".
\_ Sounds like it really is measuring ability to succeed in US
universities then.
\_ Not to mention the ability to climb the corporate ladder. |
| 5/17 |