News flash! No WMD's in Iraq!

Yeah, not really a surprise huh? I agree it was worth looking into whether or not Saddam had them, but as it turns out, the alleged proof that he either had them or was trying to get them, was basically a load of b.s. I still don't think going in Iraq was all bad, but once again we manage to look bad too the rest of the world because we basically are now admitting the reason we used to justify the war in Iraq was a lie. I suppose many of you don't care what the rest of the world thinks, but it just gives those who want to see us fail that much more ammunition to convince others that we can't be trusted.

Winter driving at its best

Here is a video you have got to see, it shows car after car after car sliding on a slick road in a chain reaction accident. It doesn't look like anyone got hurt, most cars weren't going that fast. It looks like maybe some of them weren't the best winter drivers, for example, most of the cars have their brakes locked up and seem to just give up instead of pumping the brakes or trying to steer into the other lane. The story is about another big chain reaction accident on I96 in Michigan involving approximately 200 vehicles that didn't slow down becasue of the fog.

Here is the link to the story and video:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/13/national/main666586.shtml

Make sure to check out the people that actually jump or roll out of their cars to try and avoid the accident, and one almost gets sandwiched between two vehicles. Not exactly sure what they were thinking there. The video takes place in Denver.

New website of the week

Okay this one is nothing revolutionary either, but that it was worthwhile. Spyware is definitely a buzzword nowadays, you here or read a news story about it proably every day. Microsoft has come out with there own anti spyware program, its free for now, although they are expected to charge for out starting in August of this year (the current program will stop functioning on July 31st, leading to speculation they will charge for it at that time). I downloaded it and have started using it. Its nothing revolutionary, and I still use Spysweeper, Spybot, AdAware and Spyware Blaster, but I have noticed that no one program seems to catch everything so I figured it would be stupid not to use all of the tools available. The software is actually from Giant, a company that Microsoft recently acquired last month, mainly to give them a foothold in the spyware and security markets.

Here is the link if you want to try it, even though its officially still a beta program right now:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

A setback for the music industry

Hey, some common sense finally prevailed in the ever profit hungry music industry's bid to compel ISP's to reveal the identity of their members that download music off the internet. A recent court ruling will make it harder to the RIAA to get that information. If you weren't aware, RIAA stands for Recording Industry Association of America. Maybe we would all stop downloading if artists would quit putting out cd's with only good songs on them. I have to be honest, I used to buy tons of cd's but because of the actions of the RIAA I have cut that way down. If I really like a CD I will still buy it, but I used to buy some if I only heard a song or two. You really have to feel sorry for those guys, instead of being billionaires, they will just be millionaires now. Boo, hoo, so sorry! Gotta go, have to go download some stuff!

You can read the article here:
http://www.bizreport.com/news/8546/

Election is over folks, get over it

So far this year, the world of politics seems to set a new level in sleaze and stupidity, here is another example. In Washington, some are still challening the results in the race for governor, their main grounds apparently being that there candidate didn't win. I thought it was amusing how the Republican Party there is sponsoring an ad campaign against the election and how it was run (especially regarding the military vote, but the Secretary of State in Washington (who is also a republican) says there were no problems with the military vote. You can read about it here:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20050105-0502-washingtongovernor.html

In an even more unbelievable move, apparently some democrats are still challenging the vote count for President in Ohio. If there were some irregularities they should be investigated, but I doubt that it was enough votes for make up for the 118,000 votes that Bush won by in Ohio. Come on guys, time to give that one up, the election is over, time to move on with your lives. You can read something about that one here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=2043&e=15&u=/ap/20041230/ap_on_el_pr/ohio_vote_challenge

Some things never change

Ethics and congress are not two words often used together in the first place, but some Republicans in the House recently tried to loosen ethics rules that govern them, especially with regard to ethics violations and committee chair positions. After taking some serious heat, including from others within the party, the Republicans pushing for it dropped the measure. You have to give them some credit for that, seeing there would be a backlash and then dropping it, something democrats sometimes forget. But the sleazy part is that a major reason Republicans were pushing for this was so Tom DeLay of Texas could keep his post if he is indicted in his home state of Texas (yes that same great state that brought you the model of ethics- Enron). Way to go Tom! DeLay helped push for it, helping to set a new level in sleaze in government.

Here is the story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=716&e=19&u=/washpost/20050104/ts_washpost/a45573_2005jan3

This is scary if its true

I don't know if these allegations are true or not, I would suspect that Dems would believe them, but republicans won't. Anyhow, allegations have been made that the Bush administration is putting pressure on the Canadian gov't to shut off sales of prescription drugs to people in the U.S. and supposedly at the behest of the major pharmaceutical companies (yeah hard to picture drug companies lobbying for that. NOT!) I would think the Bush administration wouldn't be that stupid though. But if the allegations turn out to be true and the drug sales are shut off, will be so much bad press about it that even Rush won't be able to explain a way out of that one. Stay tuned to see what happens I guess. Here is the story:

http://www.connpost.com/Stories/0,1413,96~3750~2642270,00.html

Newt for President?????

Believe it or not, Newt Gingrich is considering a run for president. Hard to imagine him getting elected considering all the baggage this guy has, and in his new book he is apparently openly critical of the war in Iraq. That will probably not win him too many brownie points within the party. I, for one, would like to read the book though, it should be good reading from a guy who was once one of the big dogs in the House. Not sure when the book comes out, but the article below has a link to a handful of excerpts from the book. Check out the article and the book excerpts at the links below:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20050108/ap_on_el_pr/gingrich_white_house

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050108/ap_on_el_pr/gingrich_quotes_1

The story of the mystery jet

This is an especially good story for any of you who are conspiracy theory buffs. Check the link for a story about a jet believed to be involved in transferring prisoners in the war on terror. It does give some good insight on how the CIA and perhaps other agencies set up fronts, assuming the info is all true. An interesting story at any rate, you can check it out for yourself here, from the Chicago Tribune via Yahoo:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=1&u=/chitribts/20050108/ts_chicagotrib/mysteriousjettiedtotortureflights

How's this for an exit interview?

Check out this story from CNN about a sheriff firing a ton of his deputies on his first day on the job. How is that for an exit interview huh? One big problem- apparently the sheriff forgot about due process and civil service rules and a judge promptly ordered him to rehire everybody. I bet their morale is just sky high now!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/04/sheriff.firings.ap/index.html