RE: March for Women's Lives

[Mike Lee]

Dim Jim, happy in his role as not-so-primary-caretaker of his progeny:

> Not incompetent at all, Mike.  Just don't want to do the job 24/7.  
> Quite happy in my role, thanks.

Why wouldn't you want to raise your kids if you could? Why do you think your
wife is any happier doing what you consider shitwork than you would be if
your positions were reversed?

> Don't let your rampant personality defects make you a hater, Mike.

Don't worry. I won't. When you're around as much smugly self-satisfied
liberal stupidity as I've been around lately reading this list, it is a
danger, I realize. Think of me more as a pitcher, not an underwear stitcher.

Mike Lee
Islamic Moderate

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RE: March for Women's Lives

[Mike Lee]

Julia, singing the It Sucks to Stay Home and Have Someone Else Pay So You
Can Be a Pampered Mommie Blues:

> Being a full-time stay-at-home mom doesn't give you that kind 
> of break on a daily basis until you can send the kids off to 
> school or something.  (Of course, there are various things 
> you can do that will get you a semi-permanent to permanent 
> break, but fortunately for the species, post-partum psychosis 
> is not *too* prevalent)

Any woman who is whining about how busy she is who is a full time mother of
a developmentally normal child (or children) is an incompetent and/or
neurotic attention whore running a racket, hoping nobody will resent her for
how easy her life is.

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RE: March for Women's Lives

[Mike Lee]

Gary Denton is wondering:

> As a new member can I ask if he is always like this?  Is this 
> supposed to be satire?

If I've said anything to offend you, let me apologize in advance, because I
seldom apologize post facto.

Welcome to the group!

I hope this question was satire, and you're not going to immediately join
the Dreary and Humorless Brigade that seems to think they should be in
charge of everything except the Middle East.

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Re: Forbidden Archaeology...

[Damon Agretto]

> It seems to me that I read or heard somewhere that there are problems
> with helicopter rescues at high altitudes on mountain sides? Depending
> on the altitude, that would make extraction problematic.

I think this is because at higher altitudes the air is so thin that the lift
capabilities of the rotors are diminished.

Damon.

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Re: California Bans E-Vote Machines

[Gary Denton]

On Sat, 1 May 2004 16:38:06 +, Alberto Monteiro
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> You [the USA] are so paranoid. Fraud in elections were
> reduced to a minimum after we introduced voting
> machines in Brazil

Four e-voting lawsuits are now in play; two states are looking into
criminal conduct on Diebold and ES&S; one state, and three countries,
have decided to jettison their voting systems.

In Ireland - "The Commission on Electronic Voting's report prompted
the Government to pull the plug on e-voting after it found the
system's reliability could not be established to its satisfaction. In
a severe blow to the minister's endorsement of the system, the
commission also said testing identified a software error that could
lead to incorrect results and that it was easy to bypass security
measures to manipulate the count.

"...The minister was reckless, arrogant, dismissive, abusive, he
misled the Dáil repeatedly, he wouldn't consult and he wouldn't
listen. This is nothing short of gross negligence," he said.

Venezuela - After chaotic elections with ES&S, so problematic that at
one point Venezuela had to delay an election (ES&S flew technicians
there on an emergency mission -- they ended up hiding in the embassy
as angry citizens shouted "Gringos get out!") -- well now, Venezuela
has decided to scrap their Election Systems and Software (ES&S) voting
system.

Philippines - In Manila, the Supreme Court (SC) nullified a  contract
that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) awarded to a private
consortium in April last year to provide automated ballot counting
machines for the May 10 elections.

The High Court rules that the Comelec violated the law and its own
bidding rules in order to award the contract to a non-existent
consortium for the supply of automated counting machines, "which turn
out to be highly defective and vulnerable to election fraud on a
massive scale..."

California -  just decertified ALL touch screen machines, but some can
try to get recertified, only after they prove that they will follow a
lengthy set of security upgrades.

The California secretary of state endorsed the voting panels
recommendation to pursue criminal charges against Diebold for fraud.
(Some of the many causes of why California is going to sue Diebold -
they falsely claimed their software was certified, machines
malfunctioned, would not set up, thousands of voters did not get to
vote,and some machines awarded votes to the wrong candidate.)

Florida - lawsuit filed because you can't recount a touch screen.

Maryland -  because the Diebold touch screens misfired in Maryland in
the March election

Now, in addition to those countries and states with problems here are
some reasons I might be paranoid.

1) All touch screen voting machines in the US are manufactured by
companies that are big supporters of one political party, - with one
official promising the President in addition to delivering over
$100,000 for his campaign he would do everything to ensure a victory.

2) Analysing the leaked Diebold software it was keeping three sets of
totals - one to print out precinct totals, one for all totals, one for
unknown purposes.  This prevented cross checking results - all the
precincts would give vote totals which did not have to agree with the
results for total votes.  An audit system to automatically number
changes made in the vote database was implemented with its default
status of on converted to off.  This would have enabled someone to
determine if anyone made unauthorized changes.  After testing by
changing vote totals the software did not record the audit trial of
the changes (but did change the votes.) It did  keep an audit trial of
normal functions.

3.) The patterns of lies and cover ups by the companies making the software.

4) There is no way to determine if the machines accurately recorded a
vote.  This applies at the individual machine level and the central
machines that totals all the voting machines.

I am an election judge and I know there is no way to tell if the votes
are being counted accurately except to trust machines built by
companies that have proven themselves partisan and untrustworthy.

I am also concerned about the recent suggestion that the secret
service and FBI are investigating the major critics of the machines.

It is not all machines that I am paranoid about - just the ones
without open software and without paper trials.

#1 on google for liberal news.
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Arnold - Not So Dumb?

[William T Goodall]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=7&u=/ap/ 
20040502/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_schwarzenegger

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2B112138

"JERUSALEM -  California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger paid tribute Sunday  
to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust and helped dedicate a  
planned museum of tolerance during a whirlwind visit to Jerusalem.

In an emotional speech at the museum site, Schwarzenegger said that in  
a world of violence and suicide attacks, the museum would stand as a  
"candle to guide us."

 "The world should know we are not building a bunker. We're building  
something that breathes with life, just as God breathed life into us,"  
Schwarzenegger said. "We look past the suicide bombers, the terrorists,  
past the blood. ... We look ahead to the time people can live side by  
side."

 Schwarzenegger's speech came just minutes after Palestinian gunmen  
ambushed and killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four young  
daughters as they were driving from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites)  
into Israel. Two Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for  
the attack, saying it was retaliation for Israel's recent  
assassinations of two top Hamas leaders.

 Schwarzenegger, wearing a yarmulke, later laid a wreath at the Yad  
Vashem Holocaust Memorial, a ceremony in which he also rekindled the  
memorial's symbolic eternal flame.

 The governor bowed his head and stood in silence for several minutes  
in the vault-like chamber, which has the ashes of Holocaust victims  
buried beneath its marble floor.

 Though Schwarzenegger's father was a member of the Nazi party, the  
actor-turned-politician has always sought to distance himself from that  
part of his Austrian background.

 Israelis, many of whom feel isolated after 3 1/2 years of violence  
with the Palestinians, were thrilled with Schwarzenegger's visit.

 He was cheered at every stop in his busy day, whether by office  
workers in government buildings or the crowd at the museum ceremony."

--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without  
bricks tied to its head. 

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RE: City of Heroes

[Bryon Daly]

From: "Horn, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Is anyone playing this new MMORPG?   Up until now, I've successfully
avoided the online gaming experience.  But this game I couldn't
avoid.  For one thing, I've been a comic book nut since I was about
10, I play Champions regularly and loved the PC game "Freedom
Force".  After one of my friends participated in the beta and raved
about the game, I knew I would be hooked.
Freedom Force was great.  I saw a preview for the sequel, due out at 
Christmas, and it looks to be pretty good.

I stay far, far away from MMORPG's, though - I fear their heroin-like 
nature.   Fortunately, I know that I don't have the dozens/hundreds of hours 
to dedicate to advancing in these games and I'm also cheap enough to be 
adverse to paying a monthly fee to play a game, especially on top of paying 
to buy the game itself, so I've been able to resist their otherwise strong 
appeal thus far.

-Bryon

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Re: Media Bias: NPR Smears Kerry

[The Fool]

--
From: The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

<>

...
HAGERTY: Those Catholics who hold to absolute truth follow the
conservative moral teachings of the Vatican, and they overwhelmingly vote
Republican, much as evangelical white Protestants do. But less orthodox
Catholics, sometimes called cafeteria Catholics, gravitate toward the
liberal side of church teachings, just as many mainline Protestants do,
on the death penalty, on social welfare and justice issues, on war and
peace. For these Catholics, White says, John Kerry is a very comfortable
fit.


AtriosCommentary: So, wait, do the "orthodox Catholics," who follow the
"conservative moral teachings of the Vatican," ignore the church's
teachings on the death penalty, social welfare and justice issues, on war
and peace? Why does that make them "orthodox?" Why do these Catholics who
hold to "absolute truth" apparently ignore their Church on all issues
other than sex and abortion? Why are they not "cafeteria Catholics?"
...

   
HAGERTY: But tell that to the worshipers at the 8:00 Mass at St.
Matthew's Cathedral in Washington. All but one interviewed there on a
recent morning said they won't vote for Kerry. They said they knew he
personally thought abortion was wrong but that his stand on abortion
rights had a larger meaning. Here's Philip Monos(ph), Carrie Gress(ph)
and Ted Flynn.


AtriosCommentary: As a helpful reader (sorry, forgot who right now) has
pointed out, St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington has no Sunday 8:00
Mass. They have 8:00 masses every other day of the week. Catholics are
supposed to attend mass on Sundays and specific Holy Days - those who
attend mass on other days are particularly hardcore conservative
Catholics. So, this is in no way a random sample of the
Catholic-on-the-street. Just the opposite.


Mr. PHILIP MONOS (Worshiper): It's really character and personal
integrity, and a man who does not seem committed to his faith, I don't
see why he would be committed to his ideas or necessarily even his
country.

Ms. CARRIE GRESS (Worshiper): It seems that he doesn't take his faith
seriously, and it's something that it seems like he's using as a
political card instead of something that he deeply believes in and is
committed to.

Mr. TED FLYNN (Worshiper): I would work very hard against Senator Kerry
because I think he is actually, from start to finish, a four-star phoney.

HAGERTY: Another early worshiper, Charles Loveless, a union official,
downplayed the abortion issue.


AtriosCommentary: Only one person had their occupation pointed out - a
union official (Read: commie partisan Democrat).



Mr. CHARLES LOVELESS (Worshipper): There is a vast array of other social
issues for children, for poor people, for things that we Catholics stand
for, and in practically every one of these other issues, he is the man.
...


HAGERTY: Catholics have, in fact, become a key swing vote in national
elections, one that Republican strategists think they can win and one
that John Kerry can scarcely afford to lose. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR
News.


AtriosCommentary: Here we get the punchline - those who are moral vote
Republican. Those who are not vote Democrat. Kerry is immoral, simply
because he doesn't believe all of his personal religious beliefs should
be legislated.
...


Followup:
<>


Reader e did a bit of follow-up on some of the people interviewed by
NPR's Hagerty regarding Kerry's Catholicism. As you may remember, she
interviewed 4 people coming out of an 8:00 am mass - a mass which only
could have happened Monday-Saturday according to the Church's public
schedule. Only one of those people had their occupations identified - a
"union official" (commie Democrat).

What about the other 3? Well, this reader discovered nothing on one of
them, but what of the other two? First we had Ted Flynn. Could it be this
Ted Flynn?

<>

 Ted Flynn who has written yet another version of Pat Robertson "New
World Order" book, which itself was itself lifted wholesale (and then
sanitized) from standard anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

And, then, she also interviewed Carrie Gress, who likely is the woman who
is the program studies manager at the Catholic Studies Program at the
Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is yet another Scaife/Bradley
funded right wing lunatic tank. You'd think her occupation, at least,
would have been relevant.


Further Followups:

<>

AtriosCommentary: Body and Soul pointed out that the boss of Carrie Gress
(one of the people interviewed by Hagerty), is George Weigel, who
recently argued that people should ignore the Vatican... when it comes to
war. This brought to mind a similar piece by Hagerty, in which she was
discussing the declining authority of 

Re: War in Space, was Re: Battlestar Galactica

[Bryon Daly]

From: "Damon Agretto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> You might check out Space Empires 4, highly recommended, as well as
> Star Fire, Traveler, GURPS Space and other space games.
Ah Gary. I'm already a big-time gamer, so I'm well aware of all that!
I was big into SE4 for a while.  If you like turn-based strategy, have you 
checked out Dominions 2, from the same publisher as SE4?  It's 
fantasy-based, rather than sci-fi, but it's an excellent turn-based strategy 
game.  It's by a 2-man developer (and published by Shrapnel Games), so the 
graphics and user interface are just so-so, but the gameplay depth is 
amazing.  It's already held my attention about 2-3 times as long as most 
similar-type games do, and I'm still hooked.

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RE: Forbidden Archaeology...

[Gary Nunn]

> At 11:03 AM 5/2/04, Gary Nunn wrote:
> >Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer

Ronn wrote... 
> On another list, someone asked if the location is so 
> inaccessible, why 
> couldn't they just parachute in . . .


Good question, but my guess would be:

 - unknown landing conditions - ice crevasses, avalanche, etc.
 - archaeologists probably don't have the training for high altitude
jumps.
 - equipment delivery
 - training the low paid, and over worked guides to parachute
 - unpredictable wind currents on a mountain/glacier

but most of all. extraction after the dig is complete.

It seems to me that I read or heard somewhere that there are problems
with helicopter rescues at high altitudes on mountain sides? Depending
on the altitude, that would make extraction problematic.  But it seems
to me that some sore of VTOL aircraft could be used for reconnaissance
purposes.



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Re: Forbidden Archaeology...

[Ronn!Blankenship]

At 11:03 AM 5/2/04, Gary Nunn wrote:


...snip...

Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer


On another list, someone asked if the location is so inaccessible, why 
couldn't they just parachute in . . .



-- Ronn!  :)


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RE: Forbidden Archaeology...

[Gary Nunn]

> A note about Forbidden Archaeology Not that anyone on 
> this list would throw virtual bricks or flame someone, but 
> let me say that I think that there is probably some truth to 
> these legends. Not necessarily as the legend is written, but 
> probably something in between the two extremes of legend and 
> fantasy... - Gary

Ok, that's what I get for trying to type with a cranky 3 year old on my
lap. I meant to say: "somewhere between the two extremes of fact and
fantasy".

Gary


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Forbidden Archaeology...

[Gary Nunn]

Some news from the "Forbidden" Archaeology front.


A note about Forbidden Archaeology Not that anyone on this list
would throw virtual bricks or flame someone, but let me say that I think
that there is probably some truth to these legends. Not necessarily as
the legend is written, but probably something in between the two
extremes of legend and fantasy... - Gary


New hunt for Atlantis begins
A quest for the lost island of Atlantis has begun off the southern
shores of Cyprus.
http://tinyurl.com/388dl



Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer
http://tinyurl.com/yvmjs


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Foolish Paranoia Re: Media Bias: NPR Smears Kerry

[JDG]

At 09:06 AM 5/2/2004 -0500 The Fool wrote:
>HAGERTY: Those Catholics who hold to absolute truth 

[snip]

>AtriosCommentary: As a helpful reader (sorry, forgot who right now) has
>pointed out, St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington has no Sunday 8:00
>Mass. They have 8:00 masses every other day of the week. Catholics are
>supposed to attend mass on Sundays and specific Holy Days - those who
>attend mass on other days are particularly hardcore conservative
>Catholics. So, this is in no way a random sample of the
>Catholic-on-the-street. Just the opposite.

No kidding, Sherlock.   He opened the segment by saying that he was
focusing on particularly devout Catholics.   

JDG

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Secret Service Going after Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org

[The Fool]

<>

...
Now, I have been interviewed by the Secret Service on this VoteHere
"hack" story about five times. They never spend much time on the hack.
Most of the time is spent on the Diebold memos, which they claim they are
not investigating. 

Here's the deal: The leaking of memos to journalists is not something the
government can come in and demand to investigate very easily. 

Under the Patriot Act, "hacking" crimes were turned over to a new
division, called the CyberCrimes division, and placed under the auspices
of the Secret Service. And let me tell you what they want from me now:
They want the logs of my web site with all the forum messages, and the IP
addresses. That's right. All of them. A giant fishing expedition for
every communication of everyone interested in the voting issue. This has
nothing to do with a VoteHere "hack" investigation, and I have refused to
turn it over. 

So, yesterday, they call me up and tell me they are going to subpeona me
and put me in front of a grand jury. Well, let 'em. They still aren't
getting the list of members of BlackBoxVoting.org unless they seize my
computer -- which my attorney tells me might be what they have in mind. 
...

-
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly
unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of
change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of
the darkness."
Justice William O. Douglas
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Media Bias: NPR Smears Kerry

[The Fool]

<>

...
HAGERTY: Those Catholics who hold to absolute truth follow the
conservative moral teachings of the Vatican, and they overwhelmingly vote
Republican, much as evangelical white Protestants do. But less orthodox
Catholics, sometimes called cafeteria Catholics, gravitate toward the
liberal side of church teachings, just as many mainline Protestants do,
on the death penalty, on social welfare and justice issues, on war and
peace. For these Catholics, White says, John Kerry is a very comfortable
fit.


AtriosCommentary: So, wait, do the "orthodox Catholics," who follow the
"conservative moral teachings of the Vatican," ignore the church's
teachings on the death penalty, social welfare and justice issues, on war
and peace? Why does that make them "orthodox?" Why do these Catholics who
hold to "absolute truth" apparently ignore their Church on all issues
other than sex and abortion? Why are they not "cafeteria Catholics?"
...

   
HAGERTY: But tell that to the worshipers at the 8:00 Mass at St.
Matthew's Cathedral in Washington. All but one interviewed there on a
recent morning said they won't vote for Kerry. They said they knew he
personally thought abortion was wrong but that his stand on abortion
rights had a larger meaning. Here's Philip Monos(ph), Carrie Gress(ph)
and Ted Flynn.


AtriosCommentary: As a helpful reader (sorry, forgot who right now) has
pointed out, St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington has no Sunday 8:00
Mass. They have 8:00 masses every other day of the week. Catholics are
supposed to attend mass on Sundays and specific Holy Days - those who
attend mass on other days are particularly hardcore conservative
Catholics. So, this is in no way a random sample of the
Catholic-on-the-street. Just the opposite.


Mr. PHILIP MONOS (Worshiper): It's really character and personal
integrity, and a man who does not seem committed to his faith, I don't
see why he would be committed to his ideas or necessarily even his
country.

Ms. CARRIE GRESS (Worshiper): It seems that he doesn't take his faith
seriously, and it's something that it seems like he's using as a
political card instead of something that he deeply believes in and is
committed to.

Mr. TED FLYNN (Worshiper): I would work very hard against Senator Kerry
because I think he is actually, from start to finish, a four-star phoney.

HAGERTY: Another early worshiper, Charles Loveless, a union official,
downplayed the abortion issue.


AtriosCommentary: Only one person had their occupation pointed out - a
union official (Read: commie partisan Democrat).



Mr. CHARLES LOVELESS (Worshipper): There is a vast array of other social
issues for children, for poor people, for things that we Catholics stand
for, and in practically every one of these other issues, he is the man.
...


HAGERTY: Catholics have, in fact, become a key swing vote in national
elections, one that Republican strategists think they can win and one
that John Kerry can scarcely afford to lose. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR
News.


AtriosCommentary: Here we get the punchline - those who are moral vote
Republican. Those who are not vote Democrat. Kerry is immoral, simply
because he doesn't believe all of his personal religious beliefs should
be legislated.
...


Followup:
<>


Reader e did a bit of follow-up on some of the people interviewed by
NPR's Hagerty regarding Kerry's Catholicism. As you may remember, she
interviewed 4 people coming out of an 8:00 am mass - a mass which only
could have happened Monday-Saturday according to the Church's public
schedule. Only one of those people had their occupations identified - a
"union official" (commie Democrat).

What about the other 3? Well, this reader discovered nothing on one of
them, but what of the other two? First we had Ted Flynn. Could it be this
Ted Flynn?

<>

 Ted Flynn who has written yet another version of Pat Robertson "New
World Order" book, which itself was itself lifted wholesale (and then
sanitized) from standard anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

And, then, she also interviewed Carrie Gress, who likely is the woman who
is the program studies manager at the Catholic Studies Program at the
Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is yet another Scaife/Bradley
funded right wing lunatic tank. You'd think her occupation, at least,
would have been relevant.



"Cheney Wows Sept. 11 Commission By Drinking Glass Of Water While Bush
Speaks" -Onion

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RE: City of Heroes

[Jim Sharkey]

John Horn wrote:
>Is anyone playing this new MMORPG?

I'm very tempted for the first time ever.  I love comics, and it looks like a hoot.  A 
bunch of my fellow PvP forumites are playing it and having a great time.  But I'm 
afraid time constraints and a lack of high-speed Internet are going to make it 
unlikely.

Jim
Mild mannered Brineller Maru

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