From daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com Wed Dec 1 00:21:41 2004 From: daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com (Daniel Kruse) Date: Wed Dec 1 00:25:14 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Jerry Doyle show Message-ID: <46d72e000411302121671831ff@mail.gmail.com> Anybody catch tonight's Jerry Doyle show with Steve Garner (I think that was the name)? From sjkleinsr at cox.net Wed Dec 1 19:55:20 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Wed Dec 1 19:58:08 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Santa Cookie Indemnification Agreement] Message-ID: <20041202005523.KGWZ14165.lakermmtao03.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> > Christmas Cookie Liability and Indemnification Agreement > > > Santa Claus, AKA Kris Kringle, AKA Jolly Old St. Nick (hereinafter > referred to as "Santa") acknowledges receipt of Christmas cookies from > ______________________ (hereinafter referred to as "Baker"). > > Santa acknowledges and understands that no warranty, either expressed or > implied, is made by Baker as to the nutritional content of cookies. This > document is offered to duly warn Santa that dangerous conditions, risks, > and hazards may result from over-consumption of cookies. Santa is hereby > informed that cookies may contain any of the following: calories, > carbohydrates, sodium (salt), fat, saturated fat, trans fat, > polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, nuts, sugar, caffeine, and > good cheer. Santa acknowledges that eating way too many cookies may > incur risks including, but not limited to, satiation, indigestion, heart > burn, dizziness, laziness, heart disease, holiday spirit, "food coma," > and "that bloated feeling." > > As consideration for accepting Baker's cookies, Santa indemnifies Baker > from all liability for injury or other harm (including obesity) which > may be caused, in whole or in part, by said "too many" cookies. Santa > agrees that neither he, nor his heirs or personal representatives will > sue Baker for any injury suffered, in whole or in part, as a consequence > of binging on cookies. Santa assumes full responsibility and will > indemnify Baker for any damages in the event that he transfers cookies > to any third party (including, but not limited to, potential claimants > Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, > Mrs. Claus, and various elves). > > This indemnification includes an agreement not to haul Baker into court > on the basis of: > > 1. Failure to provide nutrition information and a list of > ingredients (the "Grandma's secret recipe" clause); > 2. Failure to caution of the potential for overeating because > cookies taste too good and are provided at no cost; > 3. Failure to advise that walking, biking, and jogging will shed > pounds, but riding around on a sleigh will not; > 4. Failure to warn that Christmas lights, lawn ornaments (plastic > reindeer, snowmen, etc.) and other holiday decorations may constitute > manipulative marketing to lure Santa into over-consumption. > 5. Failure to offer "healthier" cookie alternatives (e.g., tofu bars); > 6. Failure to counsel that cookies may be habit-forming and/or > irresistible; and > 7. Failure to notify that eating way too many cookies may lead to > even greater levels of obesity for St. Nick (the "Sanity Clause"). > > SANTA HAS READ THIS DOCUMENT AND UNDERSTANDS IT. SANTA IS SIGNING IT > FREELY AND VOLUNTARILY. > > SANTA: ___________________________ DATE:__________________ > Stan Klein, Sr. On the road somewhere From prather.js at verizon.net Thu Dec 2 14:06:50 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Thu Dec 2 14:08:44 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Interesting quote... Message-ID: <20041202190650.NXWT25255.out012.verizon.net@localhost> >From the December 2004 issue of US Naval Institute Proceedings, a commentary from Richard Coffman, an ex-CIA operations officer: "...[The 9/11] Commission fundamentally misread the intelligence lessons of the attacks. In an irresponsible display of arrogance, it used tax dollars and grieving families to mount a public relations effort to pressure Congress and the White House to ensure its flawed recommendations were enacted entirely. It succumbed to one of the most unfortunate legends of our time: failure to 'connect the dots' --- i.e., adequately collate available intelligence --- blinded the nation to the attacks. In fact, the paramount intelligence shortfall was that we did not collect enough dots." He goes on to declare a new intelligence czar to be an additional layer of bureaucracy and will adversely affect intelligence manpower by drawing from existing assets to create the new bureau. It makes sense. I was wondering why the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff were uniformly against this intel bill. (Any comments from our resident intelligence experts?) Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com Thu Dec 2 18:42:13 2004 From: daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com (Daniel Kruse) Date: Thu Dec 2 18:44:01 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Re: BIG, Thin, COOL SCSI HD - 2nd Q In-Reply-To: <20041201012416.GQAC22017.out005.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041201012416.GQAC22017.out005.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <46d72e0004120215426ec3d95f@mail.gmail.com> On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:24:15 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: > An interesting series of comments that I thought you guys might > enjoy... > > ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== > I knew I was right all these years, just didn"t know why. > > > > >|> There's an outstanding white paper at Seagate.com by some production > >|> engineers on the engineering differences between drives for the > >|> personal and enterprise markets, how they've changed, and what drives > >|> those changes. > >|> > >|> After reading it, I wouldn't put 2-3 IDE drives together in a cage and > >|> expect long reliable life. And with motherboards have ATA RAID and SATA RAID I really wouldn't expect very long life - ouch. > >|> > >|> http://www.seagate.com/content/docs/pdf/whitepaper/D2c_More_than_Interface_ATA_vs_SCSI_042003.pdf > > > > Thanks for the article. Very interesting read. Now I know why I prefer an all SCSI setup. > > > >HPT > > > > > ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== > > Jerry > -- > > Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. > -Me, 2004 > From prather.js at verizon.net Thu Dec 2 19:07:57 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Thu Dec 2 19:11:45 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Re: BIG, Thin, COOL SCSI HD - 2nd Q In-Reply-To: <46d72e0004120215426ec3d95f@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20041203000757.NUXN1390.out001.verizon.net@localhost> On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 17:42:13 -0600, Daniel Kruse wrote: >Thanks for the article. Very interesting read. Now I know why I >prefer an all SCSI setup. Let me not confuse you. I do use one IDE drive in each of my computers. They are large and cheap. They are used to back up the SCSI drive(s) in my computers. I don't trust them for any other function, and I get a little shaky thinking of them as my trusted backups... Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From drepouille at hotmail.com Thu Dec 2 21:12:49 2004 From: drepouille at hotmail.com (Dana Repouille) Date: Thu Dec 2 21:15:40 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Re: BIG, Thin, COOL SCSI HD - 2nd Q In-Reply-To: <20041203000757.NUXN1390.out001.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: And I thought SATA was the wave of the future. Dana From daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com Fri Dec 3 08:46:47 2004 From: daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com (Daniel Kruse) Date: Fri Dec 3 08:49:49 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Re: BIG, Thin, COOL SCSI HD - 2nd Q In-Reply-To: References: <20041203000757.NUXN1390.out001.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <46d72e0004120305462ed95c3f@mail.gmail.com> On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:12:49 -0600, Dana Repouille wrote: > And I thought SATA was the wave of the future. > > Dana > Yes, they are, but that doesn't make them any more reliable. I've noticed nVidia's nForce 4 is taking SATA, and making it more and more SCSI-like without the quality of SCSI with command-queuing. Daniel Lee Kruse From rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us Sat Dec 4 17:51:56 2004 From: rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sat Dec 4 17:54:22 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] New non-member configuration Message-ID: <1102200716.17278.19.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> Dear Group, The spammers have found os2-rightstuff-l, so, to lighten the administrator load resultant therefrom, I have changed the handling of non-member submissions to 'Discard' -- with no administrator involvement. REMEMBER though that, should anyone on the list need from time to time to post from an address other than that at which they are subscribed, they can be easily accomodated. Just drop me a line letting me know what your needs are for another posting address. Best, -- Bob Bernstein DSA ID 9FC0CB5A http://ruptured-duck.com/BobBernstein.asc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 186 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041204/8a296028/attachment.bin From prather.js at verizon.net Sat Dec 4 19:41:33 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sat Dec 4 19:42:50 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Humor: How to shoot yourself in the foot, using various programming languages and OSes Message-ID: <20041205004134.EMCX1339.out014.verizon.net@localhost> You'll get a chuckle if you have ever dealt with any of these operating systems or languages! Enjoy. ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== NB: 1. Some of these languages I have never heard of. NB: 2. OS/2 does get a mention. -=- Alan C: You shoot yourself in the foot. C++: You accidentally create a dozen instances of yourself and shoot them all in the foot. Providing emergency assistance is impossible since you can't tell which are bitwise copies and which are just pointing at others and saying, "That's me, over here." FORTRAN-IV: You shoot yourself in each toe, iteratively, until you run out of toes; then you shoot the sixth bullet anyway since no exception processing was anticipated. FORTRAN-77: You shoot yourself in each toe, iteratively, until you run out of toes, then you read in the next foot and repeat. If you run out of bullets, you continue anyway because you still can't do exception-processing. Modula-2: You perform a shooting on what might be currently a foot with what might be currently a bullet shot by what might currently be a gun. After realizing that you can't accomplish anything in this language, you shoot yourself in the head. Modula-3: You can't shoot yourself in the foot, because it's BAD PROGRAMMING PRACTICE to have a foot. So you shoot yourself in the head instead (if someone, somewhere, has defined a method for head shooting). COBOL: Allocate $500000 for the project. USEing a COLT 45 HANDGUN, AIM gun at LEG.FOOT, THEN place ARM.HAND.FINGER on HANDGUN.TRIGGER and SQUEEZE, THEN return HANDGUN to HOLDSTER. CHECK whether shoelace needs to be retied. Go for coffee break. Return in time to put foot under bullet. LISP: You shoot yourself in the appendage (which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage (which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage (which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage (which holds... )))). Scheme: You shoot yourself in the appendage which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage which holds the gun with which you shoot yourself in the appendage which holds . . . but none of the other appendages are aware of this happening. BASIC: You shoot yourself in foot with water pistol. On big systems, continue until entire lower body is waterlogged. BASIC (compiled): You shoot yourself in the foot with a BB using a SCUD missile launcher. FORTH: Foot in yourself shoot. This takes about five bytes of memory, executes in two to ten clock cycles on any processor and can be used to replace any existing function of the language as well as in any future words. (Welcome to bottom up programming - where you, too, can perform compiler pre-processing instead of writing code). First you decide to leave the number of toes lost on the stack and then implement the word foot-toes@ which takes three numbers from the stack: foot number, range, and projectile mass (in slugs) and changes the current vocabulary to 'blue'. While testing this word you are arrested by the police for mooning (remember, this is a bottom-up language) who demonstrate the far better top-down approach to damaging yourself. APL: You try to shoot yourself in the foot, then spend all day figuring out how to do it in fewer characters. You finally hear a gunshot, and there's a hole in your foot, but you don't remember enough linear algebra to understand what happened. Pascal: The compiler won't let you shoot yourself in the foot, otherwise similar to Modula-2 except that the bullet is not the right type for the gun and your hand is blown off. SNOBOL: If you succeed, shoot yourself in the left foot. If you fail, shoot yourself in the right foot. Concurrent Euclid: You shoot yourself in somebody else's foot. HyperTalk: Put the first bullet of the gun into the left of leg of you. Answer the result. Motif: You spend days writing a UIL description of your foot, the trajectory, the bullet, and the intricate scrollwork on the ivory handles of the gun. When you finally get around to pulling the trigger, the gun jams. Unix: % Is foot.c foot.h foot.o toe.c toe.o % rm *.o rm: .o: No such file or directory % is % % make ShootFoot; make INSTALL DOS: You can't get to either foot from here: even when you finally find the gun, you can't locate the file with the foot for the life of you. If you can finally work out how to shoot yourself in the foot, you'll find you can unshoot yourself with add-on software. OS/2: Point to Body and click, point to leg and click, point to lower leg and click, point to foot and gun goes click. Xbase: Shooting yourself is no problem. If you want to shoot yourself in the foot, you'll have to use Clipper. Paradox: Not only can you shoot yourself in the foot, your users can too. Revelation: You'll be able to shoot yourself in the foot, just as soon as you figure out what all these bullets are for. Visual Basic: You'll shoot yourself in the foot, but you'll have so much pretty fun doing it that you don't care. Prolog: You tell your program you want to be shot in the foot. The program figures out how to do it, but the syntax doesn't allow it to explain. You attempt to shoot yourself in the foot, but the bullet, failing to find its mark, backtracks to the gun, which then explodes in your face. 370 JCL: You send your foot down to MIS with a 4000-page document explaining how you want it to be shot. Three years later, your foot comes back deep-fried. Assembler: You try to shoot yourself in the foot only to discover you must first reinvent the gun, the bullet, and your foot. Using only 7 bytes of code. The bullet travels to your foot instantly, but it took you three weeks to load the round and aim the gun. By the time you've written the gun, you are dead, and don't have to worry about shooting your feet. You finally decide to shoot yourself in the foot with a laser, but only after bouncing it off a nearby satellite, and accidentally blow off your entire leg. Insodoing, you crash the OS and overwrite the root disk. The system administrator arrives and shoots you in the foot. After a moment of contemplation, the administrator shoots himself in the foot and then hops around the room rabidly shooting at everyone in sight. Apple System 7: Double click the gun icon and a window giving a selection for guns, target areas, plus balloon help with medical remedies, and assorted sound effects. Click "shoot" button and a small bomb appears with note "Error of Type 1 has occurred." Windows 3.0: You'd shoot yourself in the foot, but you die of old age between pulling the trigger and the gun going off. Then the gun self-destructs. Windows 3.1: Double click the gun icon and wait. Eventually a window opens giving a selection for guns, target areas, plus balloon help with medical remedies, and assorted sound effects. Click "shoot" button and a small box appears with note "Unable to open Shoot.dll, check that path is correct." Windows 95: Your gun is not compatible with this OS and you must buy an upgrade and install it before you can continue. Then you will be informed that you don't have enough memory. Windows NT: You shoot yourself in the foot, but only after a pretty animation of blood spurting all over the place. ML: You aim the gun, then supply it with a foot to shoot. If this is impossible, supply it with a phone directory, and let it hunt you down. Note that even if you are a centipede, it will *still only need one bullet*. ADA: Sorry, this gun is the wrong type for your foot. Please put your foot in front of this cannon instead. Thank you. Ada. If you are dumb enough to actually use this language, the United States Department of Defense will kidnap you, stand you up in front of a firing squad and tell the soldiers, "Shoot at the feet." After correctly packing your foot, they attempt to concurrently load the gun, pull the trigger, scream, and confidently aim at your foot knowing it is safe. However the cordite in the round does an Unchecked Conversion, fires and shoots you in the foot anyway. Your executioners scour all 154e56 pages of the manuals, looking for references to "foot", "leg", or "toes"; then get hopelessly confused and give up. You escape and sneak in when the boss isn't around and actually write the stinkin' thing in C, and turn 7689 pages of source code in to the review committee, knowing that they'll never look at it. When the program needs maintenance, you resign. Eiffel: You create a GUN object, two FOOT objects and a BULLET object. The GUN passes both the FOOT objects a reference to the BULLET. The FOOT objects increment their hole counts and forget about the BULLET. A little demon then drives a garbage truck over your feet and grabs the bullet (both of it) on the way. English: You put your foot in your mouth, then bite it off. TeX: You shoot yourself in the foot, and the remains get *really neatly* arranged over the floor (even if you don't want them to be). LaTeX: Your foot still gets neatly arranged, and it takes you less time to aim, but somehow that bit of bone isn't quite right. Smalltalk: Please come back when you've told the bullets how to fly. Ah, thank you. *BANG* You send the message shoot to gun, with selectors bullet and myFoot. A window pops up saying Gunpowder doesNotUnderstand: spark. After several fruitless hours spent browsing the methods for Trigger, FiringPin and IdealGas, you take the easy way out and create ShotFoot, a subclass of Foot with an additional instance variable bulletHole. You spend so much time playing with the graphics and windowing system that your boss shoots you in the foot, takes away your workstation, and makes you develop in COBOL on a character terminal. PVM: Okay, how many toes do we have? Okay you all ready? Sure? Okay, okay, wait for it... *BANG* (The toes are shot off in parallel, but they only hurt one at a time). HTML: Look at this really pretty gun. Now, if you'll just click here...You shoot yourself in the foot, only to find out that no matter how gory the result looks, your foot keeps working. Your foot finally stops working when you stub your toe kicking the box the gun came in. Java: You can't shoot yourself in the foot. There must be a virtual foot around here somewhere, though...You decide can do it with a standalone interpreter, but a Java applet will not let you access your foot. You finally write an applet to shoot yourself in the foot and put it on the Internet. People all over the world shoot themselves in the foot, but their foot can't figure out what the bullets are and ignores them. PostScript: Hang on, there was a gun I defined a while ago, and it looked *really* nice... PL/I: You consume all available system resources, including all the offline bullets. The Data Processing & Payroll Department doubles its size, triples its budget, acquires four new mainframes, and drops the original one on your foot. Algol: You shoot yourself in the foot with a musket. The musket is aesthetically fascinating, and the wound baffles the adolescent medic in the emergency room. Algol 60: You spend hours trying to figure out how to fire the gun since it doesn't have any provision for input or output. Algol 68: You mildly deprocedure the gun, the bullet gets firmly dereferenced, and your foot is strongly coerced to void. csh: You can't remember the syntax for anything, so you spend five hours reading man pages before giving up. You then shoot the computer and switch to C. dBase: You buy a gun. Bullets are only available from another company and are promised to work so you buy them. Then you find out that the next version of the gun is the one that is scheduled to actually shoot bullets. When you get them, you squeeze the trigger, but the bullet moves so slowly that by the time your foot feels the pain, you've forgotten why you shot yourself anyway. dBase IV, V1.0: You pull the trigger, but it turns out that the gun was a poorly designed hand grenade and the whole building blows up. SQL: You cut your foot off, send it out to a service bureau and when it returns, it has a hole in it but will no longer fit the attachment at the end of your leg. Insert into Foot; Select Bullet From Gun.Hand;Where Chamber = 'LOADED' And Trigger = 'PULLED'. Clipper: You grab a bullet, get ready to insert it in the gun so that you can shoot yourself in the foot and discover that the gun that the bullets fits has not yet been built, but should be arriving in the mail _REAL_SOON_NOW_. Oracle: The menus for coding foot_shooting have not been implemented yet and you can't do foot shooting in SQL. ORACLE sells you a gun, a box of bullets, a holster, a cardboard mock-up of a wild-west town, and a stetson. You find the trigger, which takes 27 people to pull. ORACLE provides 26 consultants, all with holsters, cardboard mock-ups, and stetsons. The bullet doesn't leave the gun barrel and you hire four more ORACLE consultants to optimise. The bullet bounces off of your sandals. You buy a shoulder holster solution, and relational titanium alloy bullets, and body armour infrastructure, and a laser sight assistant, and a retractable arm stock application, and an enterprise team of ballistics experts and a chiropodist. The bullet still won't go in. You decide to buy INGRES. Richard Donkin shoots you in the foot. Access: You try to point the gun at your foot, but it shoots holes in all your Borland distribution diskettes instead. PHP: If you're lucky and the HTTP connection doesn't time out, you shoot yourself in the foot. BCPL: You shoot yourself somewhere in the leg -- you can't get any finer resolution than that. Powerbuilder: While attempting to load the gun you discover that the LoadGun system function is buggy; as a work around you tape the bullet to the outside of the gun and unsuccessfully attempt to fire it with a nail. In frustration you club your foot with the butt of the gun and explain to your client that this approximates the functionality of shooting yourself in the foot and that the next version of Powerbuilder will fix it. Standard ML: By the time you get your code to typecheck, you're using a shoot to foot yourself in the gun. MUMPS: You shoot 583149 AK-47 teflon-tipped, hollow-point, armour-piercing bullets into even-numbered toes on odd-numbered feet of everyone in the building -- with one line of code. Three weeks later you shoot yourself in the head rather than try to modify that line. DOS JCL: You first find the building you're in in the phone book, then find your office number in the corporate phone book. Then you have to write this down, then describe, in cubits, your exact location, in relation to the door (right hand side thereof). Then you need to write down the location of the gun (loading it is a proprietary utility), then you load it, and the COBOL program, and run them, and, with luck, it may be run tonight. VMS: $ MOUNT/DENSITY=.45/LABEL=BULLET/MESSAGE="BYE" BULLET::BULLET$GUN SYS$BULLET $ SET GUN/LOAD/SAFETY=OFF/SIGHT=NONE/HAND=LEFT/CHAMBER=1/ACTION=AUTOMAT IC/ LOG/ALL/FULL SYS$GUN_3$DUA3:[000000]GUN.GNU $ SHOOT/LOG/AUTO SYS$GUN SYS$SYSTEM:[FOOT]FOOT.FOOT%DCL-W-ACTIMAGE, error activating image GUN -CLI-E-IMGNAME, image file $3$DUA240:[GUN]GUN.EXE;1 -IMGACT-F-NOTNATIVE, image is not an OpenVMS Alpha AXP image CP/M: I remember when shooting yourself in the foot with a BB gun was a big deal. FlagShip: Starting at the top of your head, you aim the gun at yourself repeatedly until, half an hour later, the gun is finally pointing at your foot and you pull the trigger. A new foot with a hole in it appears but you can't work out how to get rid of the old one and your gun doesn't work anymore. FidoNet: You put your foot in your mouth, then echo it internationally. PicoSpan: You can't shoot yourself in the foot because you're not a host. Whenever you shoot yourself in the foot, someone opens a topic in policy about it. Internet: You put your foot in your mouth, shoot it, then spam the bullet so that everybody gets shot in the foot. troff: rmtroff -ms -Hdrwp | lpr -Pwp2 & .*place bullet in footer .B .NR FT +3i .in 4 .bu Shoot! .br .sp .in -4 .br .bp NR HD -2i .* Genetic Algorithms: You create 10,000 strings describing the best way to shoot yourself in the foot. By the time the program produces the optimal solution, humans have evolved wings and the problem is moot. COMAL: You attempt to shoot yourself in the foot with a water pistol, but the bore is clogged, and the pressure build-up blows apart both the pistol and your hand. INFORMIX: The first gun doesn't work. Three months later INFORMIX's support desk sends another gun which doesn't match the version number of the bullets. INFORMIX suggests you upgrade to INFORMIX-ONLINE. You pull the trigger and your shoe gets wet. INGRES: You pull the trigger, and your identical twin in San Francisco gets shot. You then turn off distributed query optimization. SYBASE: You carelessly invoke the procedure sp_insert_bullet() which fires a trigger (neah, eh?) on the table GUN. To maintain referential integrity, the system invokes another trigger which inserts bullets in your other foot, your shins, your thighs, and so on up to the cranium. You are left in third normal form. OCCAM: You send a message to your finger, which sends a message to the trigger, which sends a message to the firing pin, which sends a message to the primer, which sends a message to the firing charge, which sends a message to the bullet, which sends a very unpleasant message to your foot. The pipeline continues to run, a hail of bullets emerging from the output channel and drilling their way via your foot to the center of the earth. The high velocity arrival of such stupendous amounts of lead creates a a density shockwave which eventually collapses beyond its own event horizon. The black hole thus formed goes on to absorb the Earth, most of the minor planets, and the Sun. The problems of your foot become increasingly insignificant during this process. Hyperintelligent beings from the planet Zorg nod their several heads wisely and confide to each other: "I always said Tony was a complete twit." RTL: You start to really shoot yourself in the foot, but 6 slugs is too many for an array and blows the compiler to pieces. Eventually you realize you must rebuild the compiler to allow such huge arrays. This is so stupid and boring that you start to shoot yourself, but just in time you are interrupted by ... POP11: Your boss has never heard of it and wants you to use one of C, C++, Lisp, or Prolog, so you push his foot onto the stack and shoot it. Cray: I knew you were going to shoot yourself in the foot. Apple: We'll let you shoot yourself, but it'll cost you a bundle. Arc Macro Language: You create a gun polygon and a bullet polygon. &Then &you &realize &that &your &foot &is &in &another UTM &zone Hewlett-Packard: You can use this machine-gun to shoot yourself in the foot, but the firing pin is broken. IBM: You insert a clip into the gun, wait half an hour, and it goes off in random directions. If a bullet hits your foot, you're lucky. Microsoft: Object "Foot" will be included in the next release. You can upgrade for $500, and it will be the "best Foot ever." You can shoot yourself in the foot, but the method is buried in the docs somewhere NeXT: We don't sell guns anymore, just ammunition. Objective C: You write a protocol for shooting yourself in the foot so that all people can get shot in their feet. COM: You create an instance of your foot, the gun and a bullet. You realise the bullet is the wrong calibre and wont fit properly in the IChamber, and that your foot is not registered. ActiveX: {AAGUN-06A3-SH00T-8F98-F00TB92EB7} C#: You write about 100 lines of code to print "Hello, world!" in a dialogue box, only to have a UAE pop up when you click on OK. This shuts down the program manager, leaving you nothing but a screensaver. You then fly to Washington and shoot Bill Gates in the foot. LOGO: You tell a turtle to draw a picture of a foot and a gun, then shoot the turtle. You can easily shoot the gun, but first you have to work out the geometry to be sure the bullet goes into your foot. INTERCAL: You ask the compiler to please load the gun and do place your foot in the trajectory of the bullet, but the compiler gives up. MS Visual C++: Instatiate an object of the CShootOwnFoot class. This will shoot your foot just fine as long as you have your own Microsoft Revolver(tm)- check your system directory for msrlvr32.dll. Note that to run msrlvr32.dll you will have to download Internet Explorer 4.0 first, although you may continue to use any browser. The service pack 3-A, which must be installed over service pack 2 unless service pack 1 was installed, is available for download also. Finally, you should exit all applications and back up your registry before attempting to shoot yourself in the foot. After shooting your foot, you will need the Win95 CDROM and have to reboot your system. Note that the FootChute service for Win95 will only shoot little toes. To shoot entire feet, you will need the FootEnterprise package which runs only on NT Server, available separately. Pay-by-call help is available in the case of a stuck or jammed msrlvr32.dll. Note: knowledge base article 345 is available to Premier Subscribers which discusses problems some customers have had distinguishing the "muzzle" from the "handle", symptoms of which include failure to damage your foot and occasional holes to hardware systems in the immediate area, despite apparently correct functioning of the dll. The spurious holes apparently do not recurr once the muzzle/handle swap has been made. 6502: You shoot yourself in the foot. 68000: You can't decide which gun and which bullet to use, so you hang yourself. 8080: You foot yourself in the shoot. 80x86: The gun isn't in the same segment as your feet, so you can't shoot them. ASP: You try to shoot yourself in the foot, however the most advanced thing you can manage is to cut your wrist. Lacking a gun, you hold the bullet in your hand and throw it at your foot....and miss. You pick it back up, squeeze the trigger, but somebody corrupted the index and the bullet shoots in your eye. You try again, but this time the bullet moves so slowly that by the time your foot feels the pain you've forgotten why you shot yourself anyway. DCL: $ MOUNT/DENSITY=.45/LABEL=BULLET/MESSAGE="BYE" BULLET::BULLET$GUN SYS$BULLET $ SET GUN/LOAD/SAFETY=OFF/SIGHT=NONE/HAND=LEFT/CHAMBER=1 /ACTION=AUTOMATIC/LOG/ALL/FULL SYS$GUN_3$DUA3:[000000]GUN.GNU $ SHOOT/LOG/AUTO SYS$GUN SYS$SYSTEM:[FOOT]FOOT.FOOT %DCL-W-ACTIMAGE, error activating image GUN -CLI-E-IMGNAME, iamge file $3$DUA240:[GUN]GUN.EXE;1 -IMGACT-F-NOTNATIVE, image is not an OpenVMS Alpha AXP image MED-PC: You can't shoot yourself in the foot, but you can train a pigeon to pull the trigger. MOO: You ask a wizard for a pair of hands. After lovingly handcrafting the gun and each bullet, you tell everyone that you've shot yourself in the foot. Nedula/2: After realizing that you can't actually accomplish anything in this language, you shoot yourself in the head. Objective-C: You write a protocol for shooting yourself in the foot so that all people can get shot in their feet. ORCA/C: Byteworks keeps promising to supply good ammunition REAL SOON NOW. PL/1: After consuming all system resources including bullets, the data processing department doubles its size, acquires two new mainframes and drops the original on your foot. SAS: You spend three hours trying to cut your way through your foot with a rock flake, only to realize that the language was invented before guns allowed you to shoot yourself in the foot interactively in one easy step with no programming. You have no idea that the gun, the bullet, or your foot exists. The gun is locked in a safe in a bank vault on the other side of the galaxy, the bullet is locked in a safe in a bank vault in another galaxy, and the people who know the combinations for the safes and bank vaults died ten million years ago. Still, the gun goes off and fires the bullet through your foot. WorldBuilder: You can't shoot yourself in the foot, but you can shoot the feet of plenty of monsters. Z: You write out all the specifications of your foot, the bullet, the gun, and the relevant laws of physics, but all you can do is prove that you can shoot yourself in the foot. Tcl/Tk: You write 10,000 lines of C code to shoot yourself in the foot, then write a nice interface so other people can shoot themselves in the foot in exactly the same way with less trouble. Python: You insert the bullet into the gun but because there were actually TAB characters in the barrel instead of spaces, the gun jams with an IndentError. After unblocking the whitespace jam, you try to load the bullet into the gun, but Guido pulls it away from you and gives you version 2.0. You finally fire the gun, but the bullet travels so slowly towards your foot that you get tired and leave. Brainf*ck: You create a Turing complete gun, but it takes more bytes of memory to store the gun than there are protons in the universe. The universe dies of old age before you finish writing the bullet. Perl: You pick up a Swiss army machine gun and begin to load it. The gun and your foot begin to grow to huge proportions and the world around you slows down, until the gun fires. It makes a tiny hole, which you don't feel. Deciding to improve on this, you post a query to comp.lang.perl.misc to determine the optimal approach. After sifting through 500 replies (which you accomplish with a short perl script), not to mention the cross-posts to the perl5-porters mailing list (for which you upgraded your first sifter into a package, which of course you uploaded to CPAN for others who might have a similar problem, which, of course, is the problem of sorting out email and news, not the problem of shooting yourself in the foot), you set to the task of simply and elegantly shooting yourself in the foot, until you discover that, while it works fine in most cases, NT, VMS, and various flavors of Linux, AIX, and Irix all shoot you in the foot sooner than your Perl script could. You finally settle on... s/toes/blood/g for @toes; and shoot yourself in the foot. You then decide it was so much fun that you invent another six completely different ways to do it. In one of these, you separate the bullet from the gun with a hyperoptimized regex, and then you transport it to your foot using an array of hashrefs to arrays. However, the program fails to run and you can't see the gun anymore. Eventually, you realise that what you really needed all along was the Gun::Foot module off of CPAN. DataPerfect: You perform a Lookup and Select the appropriate body, traverse the Panel link from the Body Panel to the Limbs, Down Arrow through Leg Panel Link to the Leg Panel, and perform a Lookup to find the required leg, Down through the Foot Panel Link, and again through the Toes Panel Link. Up arrowing and select a toe. Press Shift-F7, Down arrow 135 times until you find the Shoot Foot Report, Press Enter, F7, F7, Alt-F7 only to be informed:"Report Not Specified You have not specified a report to execute for this record... blah blah " Eventually after reselecting the report another 15 times you realise that this report is not based on the Toe Panel but rather the Foot Panel, and while marvelling at how many panels deep you got yourself, start backtracking to the Foot Panel, where you press Alt-F7 which promptly but seemingly painlessly removes your foot (and toes through the Panel link Cascade Update/Delete Option). You look down and notice that both feet and toes are still attached, and then as you remember that you started DP with the /F5 switch, you observe the person next to you writhing in pain, as you sheepishly remember traversing a Panel link with the F5 key. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From prather.js at verizon.net Sat Dec 4 19:43:36 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sat Dec 4 19:44:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] New non-member configuration In-Reply-To: <1102200716.17278.19.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> Message-ID: <20041205004337.QOAH1463.out003.verizon.net@localhost> On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 22:51:56 +0000, Bob Bernstein wrote: [What he said.] Fair enough. I've done that and it works. Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From prather.js at verizon.net Sat Dec 4 20:09:48 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sat Dec 4 20:12:16 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Army/Navy Game Message-ID: <20041205010949.CZLM1365.out004.verizon.net@localhost> Ahhh! Just another good old Navy victory. :-) On a more serious side, I appreciated George W. making an appearance. I remember when JFK showed up while I was sitting in the stands... BTW, that game is worth watching on TV just to see all the inputs provided by various Army and Navy units in the field. Also the jerseys on the empty pads on the Navy sidelines was quite effective. Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From drepouille at hotmail.com Sun Dec 5 13:34:18 2004 From: drepouille at hotmail.com (Dana Repouille) Date: Sun Dec 5 13:36:29 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Aerosmith Elves Message-ID: Kari may want to rent The Polar Express when it becomes available. If nothing else, she may enjoy the Aerosmith Elf band performing at the end of the movie... Steven Tyler with Elf ears! Dana -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.289 / Virus Database: 265.4.5 - Release Date: 12/3/2004 From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 5 14:36:28 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. Maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 5 14:38:26 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] har drives for sale Message-ID: <001401c4db01$ce1ca310$0202a8c0@bill> Hi, is any one intersted in a pair of 80 gig Maxtor hard drives or a Windows only raid card? From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 5 14:43:31 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. Maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 5 14:47:18 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fw: OpinionJournal Article: 'Finish the Job' Message-ID: <001a01c4db02$b50afbf0$0202a8c0@bill> OpinionJournal Your friend spmaiorca@cox.net thought you might be interested in this article from OpinionJournal and forwarded it to you. AFTER THE WAR 'Finish the Job' A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq. BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF Over a month into sovereignty, and Iraq still continues to generate a flood of bad news, at least as far as the mainstream media are concerned. Foreign workers keep getting kidnapped and occasionally executed; terrorist bombs continue to explode throughout Baghdad and other cities, although the victims are now overwhelmingly Iraqi civilians. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, learned commissions deliver their reports, providing the media with fresh opportunities to talk about intelligence failures and strategic blunders. Yet for every foreigner taken hostage there are stories of hundreds of Iraqis who can now enjoy in many different ways their regained liberty. For every attack, with all its terror and bloodshed, there are countless stories of courage, determination and resourcefulness on the part of the Iraqi people. And for every intelligence failure by the government agencies then, there is an intelligence failure by the media now. Which is why you are likely to have recently missed some of the stories below. . Society. Despite the best (or rather the worst) efforts of al Qaeda-affiliated jihadis and Baath Party nostalgics, Iraq is steadily moving in the direction of representative democracy. The national convention is yet another step towards the next year's elections: Skulking in the dirty corridor of a courthouse, Shaka Khudaya waits to hear if he will be one of 1,000 Iraqis chosen to take part in an unprecedented trial of democracy later this month. Small selection teams across Iraq's 18 provinces are pouring over piles of hand-written applications and nominations from people wanting to participate in a national conference that will pick a sort of interim Iraqi parliament. . . . The conference in Baghdad will bring together 1,000 semi-elected people from Iraq's rich ethnic and religious mix to pick a 100-member interim national council that will serve until January elections. The new body will have the power to approve Iraq's 2005 budget, veto legislation with a two-thirds majority and question ministers over policy. "This is just a step towards democracy because it is not based on direct elections but it is a step in the right direction," said Fuad Maassum, the head of a preparatory committee that is organising the conference. There are problems and delays to be sure, but the people's conference certainly has a momentum on its side (the delay is at least partly due to the United Nations' request). Yet, while we celebrate Iraq's slow journey towards democracy, we should always remember the courage of ordinary people who are making the ultimate sacrifice in order to help rebuild their country: In just the two weeks after the transition of sovereignty, six members of Baghdad's city council were assassinated by the enemies of freedom and democracy. It's a testament to the determination and commitment of Iraqi community leaders that they are not giving in and giving up despite the very real and immediate risks. Some areas of Iraq, like Kurdistan, are much further advanced along the road to normalcy, as one of the best correspondents out of Iraq, Nicholas Rothwell of the Australian, writes: "The construction of an open, democratic, Western-oriented society may be an elusive dream in the rest of Iraq, but it is a solid reality here. The Kurds even control their own territory with their Peshmerga militia, separate from the Iraqi armed forces." Speaking of Kurdistan, the Iraqi interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, recently received a much needed political boost when the leaders of the two main Kurdish political parties publicly put their support behind him: "The Kurds, whose areas enjoy relative peace, see it in their interests to provide the interim government the support it needs to succeed in its battle against insurgents and terrorists. Allawi has openly supported Kurdish autonomy in the country and recognized their current semi-independent status." Other minorities continue to breathe easier. One hundred eighty thousand Assyrian Christians celebrate their holiday in peace and joy: The Sunday morning attacks in a Baghdad neighborhood weren't the kind that people might expect in this violence-plagued nation. Armed with buckets of water balloons, grinning children hurled them for hours at each other, unwary pedestrians and passing cars. . . . Sunday was an Assyrian Christian festival commemorating mass baptisms by Jesus and the apostles. Iraqis are also now free to remember their past. The recent discovery of the remains of former president Abd al-Kareem Qassem, murdered during a Baath Party coup in 1963, is bringing unexpected joy to many: "For many Iraqis--especially the poor--Qassem's short-lived regime was a golden age, the first time they had a president who cared about them. They see his rule as a time free of the neglect that preceded it as well as the wars and repression that came after." Not content just with their own democratic process, Iraqis are becoming increasingly split on the U.S. presidential election: "The Democratic party is just a party of slogans: they only call for freedom," says Muath Karra, an eyeglass salesman. "But George W. Bush, he is brave, and he is a man of action. I hope he wins this election, because he is a genius--and brave." Muhammed Shammari, a taxi driver, is a Kerry man. "We want John Kerry to win, because George W. Bush brought harm to America and all the world under the pretext of launching the war on terror," he says. "And generally, the Democratic Party is better than Republicans." . . . Two months ago, independent Iraqi pollster Sadoun Dulame asked 3,075 Iraqis from all over the country which US candidate they preferred. Most Iraqis scorned the question, but about 15 percent responded passionately--almost all Bush backers. "When we asked this 15 percent why they cared, they said, 'Because the American election will affect conditions in Iraq,' " says Mr. Dulame, director of the Iraqi Center for Research and Strategic Studies. "They prefer that Bush stay. Because if Bush leaves, maybe the Democrats will adopt a new policy, and not pay so much attention to Iraq." In a perfect reversal of US demographics, the Bush lovers tended to be more educated and clustered in cosmopolitan areas. Call them Red Iraqis. "Most of them were intellectuals," says Dulame. "US intellectuals, maybe most of them adopt Democratic values. But in Iraq, that's the reality.' " The early modern Westerners might have had the right idea that on the other side of the world things tend to be upside-down. To get the numbers right in the new Iraq, the government is spending between $60 million and $100 million and employing 150,000 teachers to conduct the new census in a single day. The data from the Saddam era is too outdated and too biased to provide an accurate picture of today's Iraq: The 1997 census did not count the three Kurdish provinces then separated by the no-fly zone, nor an estimated 4 million Iraqi refugees. This also was the height of the "Arabization" program, in which Kurds, Turkmen and other minorities were forced to list their ethnicity as "Arab"or risk losing their homes, jobs or lives." As Nuha Yousif, census manager in Iraq's Ministry of Planning, says: "In the old days, the census was conducted for the interests of the government. . . . People will want to participate in the census because they know that this time it is information to build the new Iraq." In many ways we in the West, too, look at Iraq through the prism of Saddam's census figures; now finally we might all acquire a different, better view of the country. As Iraq re-enters the world stage, its citizens are once again free to travel overseas: Under Saddam Hussein's 24-year regime and in the war's aftermath, [overseas] ventures were difficult and expensive, if not impossible. So since the interim Iraqi government began issuing new passports this month, countless Iraqis have lined up to get one. The new passports look like the old ones, complete with green covers bearing the national emblem. The difference is that Saddam tightly controlled who received a passport and where people could travel, if they could travel at all. So far, Iraq's new government has imposed few restrictions. It already has lifted a ban, based on Islamic law and imposed by Saddam, on women traveling alone. "During the old regime, there were very strict conditions," said police Maj. Khamis Ibrahim, the deputy manager of one of Baghdad's five passport offices. "But these days, there are no such restrictions." It's the seemingly little things, which we in the West take for granted, that make so much difference to those newly liberated. In the media sector, a recent survey by Oxford Research International shows that 61% of Iraqis had watched the new TV channel Alhurra in the previous week. Alhurra, Arabic for "The Free One", is a US-funded Arabic-language broadcaster. "Since it launched on February 14, 2004, Alhurra has quickly established itself as an important resource for Iraqis to get their news--19 percent of those surveyed cited Alhurra as one of their top three sources of information. Of those people who watch Alhurra, 64 percent found the news to be 'very' or 'somewhat' reliable." By extension, this is not meant to be, but undoubtedly is, a good news story: Aljazeera has expressed outrage after the Iraqi foreign minister attacked its coverage of events in Iraq and said he was considering closing down the channel's Baghdad bureau. In other media news, Iraqis are captivated by a new music hit, "Bortuqala" (Orange), with its racy (for Iraq) video. "This song is not only a rare Iraqi hit on the Arab music charts, but also the most erotic thing that many here can remember appearing on their TV screens, bringing delight and scandal to a country that is starved of frivolity and fun." In cultural heritage news, "Global Heritage Fund (GHF) and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities signed a multi-year partnership to jointly develop master conservation plans and training to help conserve Iraq's most endangered and important archaeological and world heritage sites. 'This is a major step toward bringing world-class conservation to Iraq and preventing further loss and destruction,' says Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Heritage Fund." In sports news, the Iraqi soccer comeback continues, after a 3-2 victory over Turkmenistan in the Asian Cup. "Now we are building the new team, the Olympic team," says the new national coach, Adnan Hamad. "Hamad's boys no longer answer to Uday Hussein, the psychotic son of the toppled ruler, known to beat the soles of their feet or lock them up for days over slip-ups on the pitch." Which must make it so much easier to enjoy sport. Here's more on the Iraq's phoenix-like soccer team. Iraqi sport generally is recovering, according to this profile in Time magazine: Last fall, in southern Iraq, a Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) official approached Maurice (Termite) Watkins, 47, at breakfast. Watkins, a professional boxer turned pest-control contractor, had spent the previous six months killing scorpions and camelback spiders around U.S. military bases and reconstruction sites in Iraq. The official, regional coordinator Mike Gfoeller, had heard that Watkins could fight more than mosquitoes. "What are the odds of you getting an Iraqi boxer qualified for the Olympics?" Gfoeller asked. Termite spoke from the heart. "About one in a million." Those chances seemed good enough for Gfoeller. Iraq had a new boxing coach, and six months later the country had its Athens-bound fighter--Najah Ali, 24, a flyweight with a computer-science degree from Alrafdean University in Baghdad. Freed from the torturous reign of Iraq's former Olympic CEO, Uday Hussein, and spurred by a trickle of private investment in sports, several other Iraqis will join Ali as unlikely Olympians this summer. For the first time since 1988, Iraq's soccer team has qualified for the Olympics. And this clincher: "Iraqi women's sports--destroyed under Uday's rule because athletes feared he would rape them--are recovering." You can also read this story of Iraqi boxer Najah Ali, who has been training with the U.S. team in Colorado. And just to remind the world of the good old days, the Iraqi Olympic committee has decided to put on display the torture equipment used by Uday on some of their less fortunate predecessors. Although this should not qualify as a sport, the Baghdadis warm up to the craze of drag racing by the Tigris River. Finally, in animal news, "The last and perhaps the most pampered prisoners of Saddam Hussein's Iraq groggily tasted freedom of sorts yesterday, swapping a gilded-cage existence in one of the former dictator's palaces for Baghdad zoo. Nine lions, the centrepiece of a bizarre menagerie of exotic animals kept by Saddam's son Uday, were tranquillised and moved from the heavily-fortified Green Zone, centre of coalition operations, to a purpose-built enclosure." The enclosure has been funded by the First Cavalry Division. . Economy. As planned, Iraq has opened its bond market, with the issue of the first postwar debt. One hundred fifty billion dinars ($104 million) were raised in three-month treasury bills at 5.5% interest rate. "Demand was healthy," according to the central bank's chief economist, Mudher Kasim. As another report explains, "Iraq's three-week-old government is selling debt to help pay local banks $3 billion of debt that dates from Saddam's rule and to reduce its reliance on international loans and revenue from oil. The government plans to hold twice-monthly auctions to raise as much as $1.2 billion by year-end. 'It shows the sophistication of the Iraqi banking system,' said Richard Segal, research director at Exotix, a London brokerage for emerging market securities, including Iraqi debt." Meanwhile, the Iraqi stock market continues to expand: "The miniature Liberty Bell clanged. Elbows flew. Sweat poured down foreheads. Sales tickets were passed and, with a flick of the wrist, 10,000 shares of the Middle East Bank had more than doubled in value. The frantic pace Sunday of those first 10 minutes of trading typified the enthusiasm behind the Iraq Stock Exchange--a new institution seen as a critical step in building a new Iraqi economy." That's after an already impressive start, when more than 500 million shares were traded on the first day--"more than the Baghdad Stock Exchange ever achieved." At the end of the second session, 560 million shares changed hands and the aggregate share price of companies being traded rose to $2.66 million, up from $2.21 million at the start--a healthy 20% increase. In fact the Iraqi stock market is proving a success for all involved: Emad Shaker Abdul Al-Jabar, 41, had a good day after the cop-cum-broker made three time's his monthly salary by selling off shares bought just one week ago on the revamped Iraq Stock Exchange. "It's simply fantastic. I sold shares worth five million dinars (3,500 dollars) and made a profit of more than two million dinars (1,600 dollars) in just one session. What a great day," exclaimed Abdul Al-Jabar. The bourse, which opened on June 24, enjoyed record trading volumes on its sixth session to date, with more than two billion shares swapping hands. "The volumes seen Sunday are simply historic," Taha Ahmed Abdulsalam, chief executive of the exchange, told AFP. "This is despite the primitive system we have. Imagine what it would be once the electronic trading terminals come," he said referring to a plan to shift from the old-fashioned paper system to a fully automated trading floor. Iraq's stock exchange is a product of more than a year's work by 12 brokerage firms and banks that jointly own it. It has 27 listed companies, with about 100 more due to go public in the next six weeks. Not surprisingly, Talib Al Tabatabie, chairman of the stock exchange, is optimistic about his country's future: "Iraq is a very rich country potentially. . . . It needs only efforts to redevelop it again and you will have one of the richest countries in the Middle East... Iraq is by all means a futuristic country. . . . I have a strong faith that the economy of Iraq will be one of the healthiest, strongest economies in the Middle East and that of course will be reflected in the stock exchange. . . . If I am to be permitted to dream . . . Iraq will develop into the Japan of [The Middle East], and it wouldn't take a long time." As the Middle Eastern saying goes, from your mouth to God's ears. As reported earlier, the Iraqi authorities are planning to lease its state-owned factories for the time being, before the first democratically elected government tackles privatization early next year: "Eight factories will be up for bid by next week, said [Industry Minister Hajim] al-Hassani, who spent the last 25 years in the United States, where he earned a doctorate in agriculture and research economics from the University of Connecticut. He later ran an investment management firm in Los Angeles." Some of the factories up for lease include the Al-Zawra'a complex of electronics, electrical and mechanical plants. To facilitate foreign investment, the Private Sector Development Department was created within the Ministry of Commerce. Also, the newly formed Iraqi Business Council, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is working with the Iraqi government to provide advice, information and support for investors who want to assist in reconstruction. The Iraqi Business Council is planning to organize a conference in Baghdad in January next year to showcase to international investors economic opportunities in Iraq. Meanwhile, the first British-Iraqi chamber of commerce has been formed during a procurement conference in Amman, Jordan. The Iraqi-American businesspeople are also contributing to the revival of economic life in their homeland. To facilitate trade between Jordan and Iraq, the Jordanian government has considerably eased travel restriction placed on the fleet of 5,000 trucks that before the war carried much of the trade between the two countries. The restrictions have been put in place in the aftermath of Saddam's toppling. In oil-sector news, Iraq is planning to extend a pipeline through Jordan, as part of the effort to increase the oil exports to 5.3 million barrels a day by the end of the year. The Jordanian route will complement Iraq's two main existing pipelines: to Turkey and through Basra to the Persian Gulf. A similar plan for a Jordanian pipeline has been floated during Saddam's reign, but no progress was made then. Now, with increasing economic and political cooperation between Iraq and Jordan, it's no longer a pipe dream, so to speak. Iraq and Syria have also signed an agreement whereby "Syria is to supply kerosene, benzine and liquefied gas in exchange for Iraqi crude." Iraq has also raised the possibility of resuming oil exports via Syria to Lebanon, through a pipeline disused since 1980, when Syria and Iraq broke off their relations over Damascus' support of Iran. Along the other border, officials from Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil ministries will form a committee to discuss oil operations and cooperation between the two countries. And Russia is providing training to Iraqi oil specialists to assist in reviving the country's oil industry. This, by the way, is the story of how it all happened for the Iraqi oil industry, against many odds: In recent months, Iraq's oil production has grown to more than two million barrels per day. At this rate, current oil output and oil exports now exceed post-invasion predictions. Experts had argued that funding shortages, lack of security, the problems of stabilizing a legitimate government, and technology shortfalls would severely limit Iraq's output. Despite the odds, Iraq's daily output reached a post-invasion record of 2.5 million barrels in March. A number of factors enabled Iraq to increase its output. Most significantly, Washington gave Iraq US$2.3 billion . . . to restore its oil production. After the invasion, no one expected Iraq to get loans, let alone outright grants. Instead, US$2.3 billion was invested directly into its oil sector. To protect the oil fields and other facilities, the Americans dedicated a massive, overwhelming force of soldiers and private contractors. The level of protection was unprecedented even compared to Saddam Hussein's regime. On the technical side, the Bush administration hired the world's best oil service companies to revamp Iraq's technologically challenged oil fields. They still have a long way to go, but significant improvements are already evident. Moreover, the war didn't change the quality of Iraqi fields, which are still among the richest in the world and can produce oil with relatively little effort and investment. In telecommunication news, the 45,000 cellphone subscribers in southern Iraq will soon be able to talk to other parts of the country, as Atheer Tel, a joint venture between a private Iraqi company and Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co., which provides a cellphone network to 13 cities in southern Iraq, will link up their network with Orascom Telecom Holding of Egypt, which operates in central Iraq, and Asia Cell, which works in northern Iraq. And Iraqi mail service is also improving, after a U.S. postal team spent six months in the country to help revamp the country's postal system: "Domestic mail that once took weeks to reach its destination is getting there in days, and the time for international deliveries is going from months to weeks." . Reconstruction. As this New York Times story notes, the reconstruction of Iraq is progressing "one well after another": Across the hardscrabble Iraqi countryside, dozens of modest construction initiatives, many so tiny and inexpensive that they could be called microprojects, are generating at least a taste of the good will that Congress envisioned when it approved billions of dollars for grandiose rebuilding plans that have mostly been delayed. Typical of the little projects is a hole in the ground that was being dug last week by an ungainly contraption, chugging along with big, spinning wheels and an enormous weight that smacked the muddy earth again and again outside the isolated village of Khazna, south of Mosul. Sometimes it's low-tech, sometimes it's high-tech. The Italian government has announced recently that it will provide Iraq with an Intranet system to link all the government departments. "Iraq was devastated by the former regime. . . . That is why today's agreement on information technology is of vital importance for us to create an infrastructure in the first stage of reconstruction," said Rashad Omar, minister of science and technology in the new Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has earmarked $1 billion in its 2005 budget to help modernize crumbling Baghdad utilities. The problems are, of course, older than the coalition invasion: "Modernization of Baghdad grounded to a halt in 1980 when the country's former dictator Saddam Hussein launched a ruinous war with Iran that continued for 8 years. The city's basic services are in shambles and streets in several low-income quarters are inundated with heavy water." The coalition and Iraqis are repairing the damage not just of the past 12 months but of the past 24 years. Meanwhile, a positive development for the Kurdish north: "Keidel & Co., an international systems and management advisory practice, and Schottenstein Zox & Dunn (SZD), a Columbus, Ohio-based law firm, have developed the Kirkuk Foundation in order to help create long-term peace and stability in Kirkuk, potentially Iraq's most volatile province. The Kirkuk Foundation is a $100 million nonprofit entity created to identify and build socioeconomic reform." An Egyptian-Iraqi joint stock company was recently formed with capitalization of $10 million to undertake reconstruction operations in the areas of infrastructure, irrigation and electricity. While foreign countries and businesses provide the capital and expertise, the Iraqi private sector aims to contribute indispensable local knowledge. One such business is Hire Iraqis, a bilingual job site devoted to linking Iraqi job seekers with companies engaged in the reconstruction of Iraq. Its founder, 25-year-old Iraqi-American Ahmed Almanaseer, tells me that "to date we have registered 500 job seekers and 40 companies, since our Web site went live in June. What makes HireIraqis.com unique is that we focus exclusively on the Iraqi job market. We have also started an aggressive advertising campaign aimed at registering quality job seekers, and are quickly becoming widely known in Iraq. We presently have an office in Baghdad and have hired three Iraqi employees. We plan to expand to Iraq's other major cities soon." The invisible hand moves once again around Iraq to generate beneficial outcomes for everyone involved. In the reconstructing Iraq, more opportunities for women, too. Says Rep. Jennifer Dunn, co-chairman of the Congressional Iraqi Women's Caucus: One particular incident that is still fresh in my mind took place during a visit by a group of remarkable women who are leaders from Iraq. One of the leaders in the group pulled me aside to discuss the need for professional training opportunities for women. At the end of our conversation, desperate to secure U.S. support for Iraqi women, she gave me her wedding ring as a reminder of how important this funding was for the women of her country. I promised to return her ring when the grant to establish a women's center in Mosul was awarded. I recently learned that several U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grants have enabled a new Center for Iraqi Women to open its doors in Mosul. It is now offering counseling on women's health issues, business advice, employment and political training, and social and family services. Now that the women's center has become a reality, I am happily returning the wedding ring to this remarkable woman who is ready to stand up to the challenges to make her nation a better place. Good news for retired government employees too, who recently received rises in their pensions of between 10% and 90%. . Humanitarian efforts. Sometimes it's on a grand scale. You might remember the reports in previous installments of "Good News" about the efforts to restore the marshlands in southern Iraq, which Saddam had drained as punishment for Marsh Arabs' support of the failed uprising in 1991. Now, the United Nations has announced an $11 million project to further restore these largest wetlands in the Middle East (according to some, the site of the Garden of Eden) and to provide fresh drinking water for their inhabitants. "Satellite images released by the United Nations in 2001 showed that 90 percent of the original wetlands had been lost and experts feared the entire wetlands could disappear by 2008." Not anymore. You can read all about the restoration of marshlands at Eden Again, and here's more about the quickening pace of restoration. It's not just the marshlands, as Iraq will follow American practices in managing the Mississippi River to take better care of the Tigris. As the Iraqi water resources minister Abdel Latif Rashid said after his recent trip to the U.S. and Europe: We have visited the Mississippi in Louisiana to see certain projects along the river, which is the largest in the United States . . . and has a flow 40 times that of the Tigris, even in the summer. . . . Several of these projects could be useful for us, especially in the area of flood prevention, water transportation, dams and the deterioration of riverbanks. Individuals and communities in the West continue with their grass-roots efforts to help the people of Iraq. There is the wheelchair-bound Victor Renard Powell who has teamed up with Jackson, Miss.-based National Guardsmen stationed in Iraq and their families to distribute 8,000 backpacks to Iraqi school children as part of the Open Hearts Mission (more here). There is also this story of a 12-year-old Mousa Mousawy and his surgery at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, which will give Mousa a chance to walk again. " 'I would just like to walk around without somebody holding my hands,' Mousa said shortly before going into surgery. Doctors performed a five-hour operation on the boy, cutting tension on his spinal cord that, in recent weeks, had left Mousa unable to walk. 'If we waited another month,' said Dr. Saadi Ghatan, the neurosurgeon who led the operation, 'he would be wheelchair-bound permanently.' " On a far larger scale, the Bahrain office of the U.S. firm Dyncorp has supplied $6 million worth of medical equipment to Iraq, after being approached by U.S. Army Lt. Col. John Hustleby of the Humanitarian Operations Center in Kuwait. And Church World Service, a cooperative ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations, is continuing its All Our Children campaign to provide vital aid to Iraq's most vulnerable children (you can find out more about the program here). . Coalition forces. Sometimes in the war against local terror, cash is the best weapon. "I have met two guys now who say, 'I don't love you and I don't hate you. But somebody's offered me $200 to set up a mortar or a (roadside bomb), and there's a bonus if we kill you,' " says Lt. Col. Randall Potterf, the civil-affairs officer for the U.S. Army's First Infantry Division. The American money is now neutralizing some of those opportunistic causal terrorists. But the funds are also going to many other purposes: Lt. Col. Jeffrey Sinclair, commander of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in Tikrit, said he had paid $500 so a driver could get his car repaired, paid "benevolent" money to the family of a victim of violence, paid people to clean streets, bought soccer uniforms for a team and repaired a swimming pool, among other expenditures. Other officers have given money to ice-cream vendors, chicken farmers and hardware suppliers to get their businesses going. Sadly, for the Iraq's poorest, the American presence, even without cash handouts, is proving to be an unexpected boon: "The Americans have the best garbage. We're very happy with it," says Fadhel Khalaf, as he and other slum dwellers scour for "food, boots, tarps, construction supplies, wooden pallets, jerry cans and other items that military personnel discard in the mistaken impression that they are no longer useful." Let us hope that the new Iraq will generate better opportunities for its most disadvantaged citizens than Saddam's ever did. Sometimes, the coalition troops find themselves faced with unusual tasks that require a lot more than precise delivery of fire-power. Take for instance North Carolina National Guard's 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, stationed in north-central Iraq, which has to moderate and adjudicate the land disputes between Kurds and the Arabs who had previously displaced them. Other coalition troops continue with equally important tasks: "During eleven months of their work in Iraq, the Slovak military engineer unit has manually cleared of land mines [an] area of 73,000 square meters and almost 51,000 square meters using the mine clearing vehicle Bozena. With a special mine-clearing tank T-55C over 225,000 square meters were cleared." Slovakia has about 100 military engineers currently in Iraq. The Japanese contingent similarly has done a lot of good work, supplying 11,400 tons of water, repairing 12 miles of roads, providing medical advice at four local hospitals, and repairing eight local schools. Five hundred fifty Japanese troops have been stationed around the city of Samawah since January this year. Their work is certainly appreciated by the local Iraqi religious leaders. In addition to their security work and official reconstruction assistance, coalition troops continue with their private humanitarian efforts. These are people like Sgt. Gabe Medina, of Albuquerque, N.M., who heads Operation Pencil Box near Tikrit, distributing school supplies to Iraqi children. More about the troops and their work to help ordinary Iraqis on the website of Spirit of America, and here you can find a profile of Jim Hake Jr., a technology and media industry businessman who founded this great charity, which is helping American soldiers to make a difference in Iraqi lives. Finally, this unlikely celebrity good news story: Denzel Washington has launched a one-man campaign to celebrate American troops returning home from the conflict in Iraq. The movie star fears not enough is being done to welcome soldiers--who have risked their lives--back home, and insists Americans should show young men and women how proud they are of them. . Security. The situation is still dangerous, but improving. Freedom and democracy unfortunately have many enemies, and the new Iraqi authorities don't mince their words, either; as Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari commented recently, "I think what is happening regarding Iraq's relations with its neighbors has other dimensions as some these countries may want to fight America in our country, but we end up paying the price." In an ideal world, Iraq could expect better from its neighbors; to paraphrase the first rule of medicine, at least do no harm. Security is increasingly in the hands of the Iraqis: "The legions of American soldiers who not so long ago erected checkpoints and roared across the capital, guns pointed out of their Humvees, have diminished. In their place, Iraqi officers are manning checkpoints and swooping down on suspected criminal gangs. Led by their American counterparts, Iraqi soldiers are combing through palm groves in search of weapons caches. One vanguard unit of the new Iraqi Army, known as the Iraqi Intervention Force, is allowed to patrol the streets without Americans." Speaking of the Iraqi Intervention Force, you can read more about them in this profile. The force is expected eventually to number 6,500 troops ready to suppress insurgency in urban areas: Certainly, this looks more like a real Iraqi army than three previous efforts by the U.S.-led coalition that I visited over the past year. The officers have decades of experience in the old Iraqi army; many of them seem to be good leaders who try to inspire their men, rather than browbeat them. And it helps, too, that since June 28, the army has been part of a sovereign Iraqi government. The Iraqi officers can now describe [Lt. Gen. David] Petraeus and the other Americans as advisers, rather than occupiers. Lt. Col. Ali Malekey has just arrived at the Intervention Force's training camp at Taji, just north of Baghdad. He's an enthusiastic soldier who rattles off U.S.-style statistics on his battalion's readiness: ambush preparation, 60 percent ready; convoy protection, 70 percent ready. Malekey's most encouraging news is that many of his ex-officer friends are now asking how they can get into the new army. Read also the story of Iraqi Second Battalion, which patrols Doura, one of Baghdad's rougher neighborhoods: "In the past people on the streets did not greet us. Now we get a good reaction. They welcome us. Maybe they are proud of us," says Maj. Mehdi Aziz. More here about the U.S. Army's efforts to build the new Iraqi army from scratch. American civilians also are providing security training to new Iraqi authorities. Several hundred American policemen are sharing their expertise with their Iraqi counterparts--men like Chris Hurley of Shawnee, Okla., a tribal police officer and a reserve sheriff's deputy who will teach Iraqi cops more about investigating crime. The Iraqi policemen, meanwhile, continue with their jobs despite all the dangers. As always, you can read more about Iraqi security operations at the excellent Iraq the Model blog. The new Iraqi authorities are now also able to buy equipment freely for their armed forces, as both the U.S. and the European Union lift their long-standing arms embargo against Iraq. And the new Iraqi air force is expected to take delivery of its first two aircraft, Seabird Seeker made by a joint Jordanian-Australian venture, which will start surveillance over Iraq's oil fields. Last but not least, "Iraq has asked the UN nuclear watchdog agency to send inspectors to conduct an inventory of the country's nuclear material, and the agency's head says UN arms experts should also return to finish their job." Finish the job--this indeed seems to be the key phrase. Iraq, which a few decades ago had so much promise for a decent future, stagnated under Saddam. All the unfulfilled hopes of Iraqi people hibernated under the Baath Party rule; now with the tyrant removed it's time to finish the job. The coalition forces and friendly governments are still there to help, but with sovereignty now transferred, the work of building a normal country belongs increasingly to the Iraqi people. Arthur Chrenkoff is an Australian blogger. He writes at chrenkoff.blogspot.com. Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 5 17:13:16 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 5 17:14:54 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird Message-ID: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> well. i have acquired by cheap but legal means a macintosh computer and a 16-inch macintosh monitor. it is one of the power pc macs. i have just now, in an effort to rid myself of severe boredome, hooked it up. the lone excitement was discovering that the power switch is on the frigging *keyboard* and not labeled. i have not yet worked up a full head of steam over the one-button mouse, and i'd kind of hate to offer a less eloquent opinion of this abomination than it deserves, so i'll apply myself and be back about that later. it apparently contains claris works, norton utilities, netscape, and i do not know what else. my sense is that it does not contain any of the really good graphics and multimedia stuff for which macs are famous. i also see no evidence of a network card, though there does appear to be some network software aboard. anybody got a copy of OS/2 for the power pc lying around? you know, the one with the microkernel. alternately, anybody know anything about these machines? -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Sun Dec 5 17:22:53 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sun Dec 5 17:24:37 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird In-Reply-To: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <20041205222255.GOQX22017.out005.verizon.net@localhost> On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 17:13:16 -0500, dep wrote: >anybody got a copy of OS/2 for the power pc lying around? you know, the >one with the microkernel. > >alternately, anybody know anything about these machines? No, and no. Sorry 'bout that, Chief. Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From m.o.davis at gte.net Sun Dec 5 22:08:21 2004 From: m.o.davis at gte.net (Davis Mark) Date: Sun Dec 5 22:10:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird In-Reply-To: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <15CCC2C6-4734-11D9-BB23-000393A9592A@gte.net> On Dec 5, 2004, at 4:13 PM, dep wrote: > i have acquired by cheap but legal means a macintosh computer and a > 16-inch macintosh monitor. it is one of the power pc macs. What version of the OS? I've only used 9.2 and up, currently using 10.3.6. I wouldn't go back to 9.2 for anything. I think you have to have at least a G3 processor to run OS X. -- Mark Davis San Angelo, TX From dep at linuxandmain.com Mon Dec 6 04:29:35 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Mon Dec 6 04:31:01 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird In-Reply-To: <15CCC2C6-4734-11D9-BB23-000393A9592A@gte.net> References: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> <15CCC2C6-4734-11D9-BB23-000393A9592A@gte.net> Message-ID: <200412060429.35919.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Davis Mark: | On Dec 5, 2004, at 4:13 PM, dep wrote: | > i have acquired by cheap but legal means a macintosh computer and a | > 16-inch macintosh monitor. it is one of the power pc macs. | | What version of the OS? I've only used 9.2 and up, currently using | 10.3.6. I wouldn't go back to 9.2 for anything. I think you have to | have at least a G3 processor to run OS X. it's, uh, 7.51. lots of fairly uninteresting software, but also norton utilities, which informed me that i have a blistering 75mHz chip, 16 megs of memory, and a fairly fast 883-meg hard drive. sean suggested that i put yellow dog linux on it; thing is, i have a whole stack of machines better-equipped to run linux. i have one of the one-piece macs in the garage -- rescued from the dump some time ago -- that lacks keyboard and mouse; i may see if this keyboard can be made to work on it and fire it up. so far i'm not very impressed -- though the "?" menu tutorial is missing, which means that using it at all is more solving a puzzle than anything else -- but i doubt i'd be impressed if, having used something else for a couple of decades, i were now presented with a 486-66. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From gsjenkins at longview.net Mon Dec 6 03:53:02 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Mon Dec 6 08:06:45 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird In-Reply-To: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <200412060253.02569.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Sunday 05 December 2004 04:13 pm, dep wrote: > anybody got a copy of OS/2 for the power pc lying around? you know, the > one with the microkernel. > > alternately, anybody know anything about these machines? Yellow Dog Linux -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From operagost at operagost.com Mon Dec 6 22:22:45 2004 From: operagost at operagost.com (Stephen Eickhoff) Date: Mon Dec 6 22:25:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 7 In-Reply-To: <200412061700.iB6H0AVb021340@carme.jtan.com> Message-ID: <20041207032249.SRGO4719.out006.verizon.net@purcell.operagost.local> On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 12:00:10 -0500 (EST), os2-right-stuff-l-request@jtan.com wrote: >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 17:13:16 -0500 >From: dep >Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] boy, macs are weird >To: os2-right-stuff-l@jtan.com >Message-ID: <200412051713.16599.dep@linuxandmain.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >well. > >i have acquired by cheap but legal means a macintosh computer and a >16-inch macintosh monitor. it is one of the power pc macs. i have just >now, in an effort to rid myself of severe boredome, hooked it up. the >lone excitement was discovering that the power switch is on the >frigging *keyboard* and not labeled. i have not yet worked up a full >head of steam over the one-button mouse, and i'd kind of hate to offer >a less eloquent opinion of this abomination than it deserves, so i'll >apply myself and be back about that later. > >it apparently contains claris works, norton utilities, netscape, and i >do not know what else. my sense is that it does not contain any of the >really good graphics and multimedia stuff for which macs are famous. i >also see no evidence of a network card, though there does appear to be >some network software aboard. Open Transport included both PPP and LAN support, I believe. Some who just needed dial-up used MacPPP. >anybody got a copy of OS/2 for the power pc lying around? you know, the >one with the microkernel. > >alternately, anybody know anything about these machines? >From the description in your other messages, I believe the CPu is a 601. You can run up to Mac OS 8.51, but you would need much more RAM. 8.1 or 7.6 would be much slimmer, but the hard part is getting a hold of them. You will have to get a used copy, as Apple STILL doesn't give away any versions newer than 7.5.5, and doesn't sell any versions other than 10.2 and I suppose whatever the last 9.x version was. If you can get some RAM (I think it's rather mundane EDO or FP mode with parity), 8.1 will be much faster than 7.6 owing to the native code. 7.5.5 is really the clunkiest, being a lot of legacy stuff (kind of like Windows 95)! ---------------------------------- Stephen Eickhoff www.operagost.com "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33 ---------------------------------- From dep at linuxandmain.com Wed Dec 8 16:02:14 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Wed Dec 8 16:03:20 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] wonderful news! Message-ID: <200412081602.14440.dep@linuxandmain.com> in "best of the web today" today, james taranto uses the word "dysphemism," the antonym of "euphemism." i have searched for this word for, literally, 30 years. now it is found, and i am happy. well, about that, anyway. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Wed Dec 8 19:19:49 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Wed Dec 8 19:21:44 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Re: IBM is selling its PC business Message-ID: <20041209001950.CUJO1339.out014.verizon.net@localhost> Hmmm...I think that this is a good and fair question, and I'm not sure that I have an answer. ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 15:24:26 -0500, Alan Beagley wrote: >IBM is selling its PC business to a Chinese (mainland) company, which >will become the world's third-largest PC maker, after Dell and HP. > >Lenovo will have the rights to the "IBM" and "Think*" names for five years. First domestic student positions were "outsourced" to people from overseas who came here to be educated. Then domestic professional positions were "outsourced" to people from overseas who came here and stayed to work before returning to their original homes. Then professional functions were "outsourced" to people trained overseas by the category above and who never came here. Then support functions were outsopurced to foreign entities who have no presence here. Now whole domestic companies are "outsourced" to foreign entities who compete with us. What is next? Don't get me wrong - my grandparents were immigrants, but they came here to be part of and help build this wonderful country. Where did we go wrong? -- Phil Kane From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/9rHolB/TM ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/os2hardware/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: os2hardware-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us Fri Dec 10 08:29:26 2004 From: rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us (Bob Bernstein) Date: Fri Dec 10 09:04:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Torres weighs in, finally Message-ID: <1102685366.23521.67.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> The judge in this case displays why *he* is the judge in this case: (don't bother going to the court website just yet, the opinion isn't there yet). 'Media hype' distorted issues, judge says 01:00 AM EST on Friday, December 10, 2004 BY MIKE STANTON Journal Staff Writer PROVIDENCE -- The case of Jim Taricani has drawn national attention as a defining moment for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. But it is much more than that, Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres said yesterday. Near the end of a long and dramatic day, as a crowded courthouse awaited Taricani's fate, Torres prolonged the suspense with a 30-minute discourse on the First Amendment, the U.S. Constitution and a defendant's right to a fair trial. As Taricani's case moved toward its conclusion, it became linked with other high-profile cases around the country in which reporters have been ordered by judges to reveal their sources, including the case of who leaked the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. "Based on what I've seen and heard, the issues have been obscured and distorted by a number of myths that have been created by spin and media hype," said Torres. In seeking to correct those "myths," Torres said he was ignoring some sage advice he had heard uttered by another defendant who appeared before him: former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. Torres remembered Cianci quoting a famous line about the media: "Never argue with anyone who buys ink by the barrel." "That's generally good advice, but there are times when one has to argue with people who buy ink by the barrel, or own television and radio stations," said Torres. The judge went on to elaborate on what he described as "five myths" surrounding the case: Myth No. 1: Taricani uncovered corruption that would not otherwise have been revealed. Noting that the videotape was part of an ongoing federal corruption case, and was ultimately played at trial, Torres said all Taricani had accomplished in airing it was "to provide a scoop during sweeps week . . . to preview evidence that soon would be presented" at trial. Taricani and his lawyers have argued that the public was still entitled to see important and dramatic evidence in a high-profile corruption case, and that federal prosecutors had indicated that the videotapes would not be released even after the trial. But by broadcasting the tape before the trial, Torres said, Taricani threatened to compromise the case. Myth No. 2: Forcing Taricani to disclose his source will have a chilling effect on other reporters seeking important information from confidential sources. While the courts have recognized that reporters do have a right to protect sources, it does not extend to someone who breaks the law, said Torres. Taricani's source, Joseph Bevilacqua, committed a crime that was "aided and abetted" by Taricani. While this case may make reporters' jobs "slightly more difficult," Torres said, their jobs also are tougher because there are laws that prevent them from breaking into people's houses to steal documents, or tapping their telephones to eavesdrop on conversations. "That's the price we pay for living in a society governed by the rule of law," said Torres. "I suggest that it's a fair price to pay." Myth No. 3: Taricani is being punished for doing his job. Being a reporter is "a very important and honorable job," said Torres -- but not a license for gathering news "obtained by others through illegal means." The judge said that Taricani was not being punished for airing the tape, but for violating the judge's court order to reveal who gave it to him. The integrity of the criminal-justice system "should concern everybody, even reporters," said Torres. The judge said that he found it "disturbing to hear thoughtful people in important positions" say that the leaked tape in this instance caused no harm, because the defendants ultimately did receive a fair trial. That logic, argued Torres, is like excusing a murder attempt because it fails. Myth No. 4: Reporters have an absolute right to keep their sources confidential, regardless of the law. Some of Taricani's media colleagues, said Torres, have suggested that this absolute right exists, arguing that a reporter should only have to reveal a source if it's a matter of national security or if lives are at stake. But the judge said that reporters should not be the sole arbiters. That decision belongs to a judge, operating under the rules of law. "Just as I am ill-equipped to gather the news," he said, reporters are equally ill-equipped to make legal judgments about protecting a source. "I'm not suggesting that it's never appropriate to afford confidentiality to a source, but the issue is who decides," said Torres. Reporters, he said, can "act on the spur of the moment, and don't have all the relevant facts." Myth No. 5: Going after Taricani is an assault on the First Amendment. "This is the biggest, most misleading myth of all," said Torres. "The First Amendment does not confer on reporters the right to violate the law or to encourage others to do so." The First Amendment still offers protection to reporters, said Torres, "but this is one of those exceptions." "There are several assaults here, but none on the First Amendment," he continued. "There is an assault on the rule of law. There is an assault on the criminal-justice system. There is an assault on a defendant's right to a fair trial." Torres did not elaborate on whom he believes has perpetuated the five myths, but he vowed to post his remarks on the court's Web site, www.rid.uscourts.gov. "There are very important issues raised by this case," he said. "It's important for the public to understand them accurately." Mike Stanton can be reached at (401) 277-7724, or mstanton [at] projo.com ________________________________________________________________________ Online at: http://www.projo.com/trial/content/projo_20041210_myth10.2b23a7.html -- Bob Bernstein DSA ID 9FC0CB5A http://ruptured-duck.com/BobBernstein.asc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 186 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041210/b5d1f4fc/attachment.bin From rluchor at yahoo.com Fri Dec 10 10:27:41 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Fri Dec 10 10:30:49 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE Message-ID: <20041210152741.90079.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> > > EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE > (Commentary by Mathias Döpfner) > > Matthias Döpfner, Chief Executive of German publisher Axel Springer AG, has > written a blistering attack in the daily WELT against the cowardice of > Europe in the face of the Islamic threat. Hartmut Lau translated the article > for us. > > A few days ago Henryk M. Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "Europe - your > family name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out of your head > because it's so terribly true. > > Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives as England and > France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated too long before they > noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to agreements. Appeasement > stabilized communism in the Soviet Union and East Germany in that part of > Europe > where inhuman, suppressive governments were glorified as the ideologically > correct alternative to all other possibilities. Appeasement crippled Europe > when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo and we Europeans debated and debated > until the Americans came in and did our work for us. Rather than protecting > democracy in the Middle East, European appeasement, camouflaged behind the > fuzzy word "equidistance," now countenances suicide bombings in Israel by > fundamentalist Palestinians. Appeasement generates a mentality that allows > Europe to ignore 300,000 victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery > and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace-movement, to issue bad > grades to George Bush. A particularly grotesque form of appeasement is > reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and > elsewhere by suggesting that we should really have a Muslim > holiday in Germany. > > What else has to happen before the European public and its political > leadership get it? There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially > perfidious > crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on > civilians and directed against our free, open Western societies. It is a > conflict that will most likely last longer than the great military conflicts > of the last century-a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by > tolerance and accommodation but only spurred on by such gestures, which will > be mistaken for signs of weakness. > > Two recent American presidents had the courage needed for anti-appeasement: > Reagan and Bush. Reagan ended the Cold War and Bush, supported only by the > social democrat Blair acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in > the Islamic fight against democracy. His place in history will have to be > evaluated after a number of years have passed. > > In the meantime, Europe sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the > multicultural corner instead of defending liberal society's values and being > an > attractive center of power on the same playing field as the true great > powers, America and China. On the contrary-we Europeans present ourselves, in > contrast to the intolerant, as world champions in tolerance, which even > (Germany's Interior Minister) Otto Schily justifiably criticizes. Why? > Because we're so moral? I fear it's more because we're so materialistic. > > For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of > additional national debt and a massive and persistent burden on the American > economy-because everything is at stake. > > While the alleged capitalistic robber barons in American know their > priorities, we timidly defend our social welfare systems. Stay out of it! It > could get expensive. We'd rather discuss the 35-hour workweek or our dental > health plan coverage. Or listen to TV pastors preach about "reaching out to > murderers." These days, Europe reminds me of an elderly aunt who hides her > last pieces of jewelry with shaking hands when she notices a robber has > broken into a neighbor's house. Europe, thy name is cowardice. > > > > ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 From daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com Fri Dec 10 10:45:24 2004 From: daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com (Daniel Kruse) Date: Fri Dec 10 10:48:06 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE In-Reply-To: <20041210152741.90079.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20041210152741.90079.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <46d72e000412100745590e4667@mail.gmail.com> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:27:41 -0800 (PST), Rich Luchor wrote: > > > > > EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE > > (Commentary by Mathias D?pfner) > > [snip] Rich, Thanks for that article. It is a great commentary. Wow. Daniel Lee Kruse From sjkleinsr at cox.net Fri Dec 10 16:36:36 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Fri Dec 10 16:39:57 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Old Timer's Prayer] Message-ID: <20041210213638.HWBW1657.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> > > Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every > subject and on every occasion. > > Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. > > Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details - give me wings > to get to the point. > > I ask for the grace to listen to the tales of others pains. Help me to > endure them in patience. > > But seal my lips on my own aches and pains - they are increasing and my > love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. > > Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I > may be mistaken. > > Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint - some of them > are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is one of the crowning > works of the devil. > > Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents > in unexpected people. > > And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. > > Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. > > With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all - but > Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends in the end. > Sitting at the Werner Terminal i9n Fontana, California waiting for an oil change. Stan Klein, Sr. On the road somewhere From spmaiorca at cox.net Fri Dec 10 18:20:59 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (spmaiorca@cox.net) Date: Fri Dec 10 18:22:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] steling elections is not building democracy Message-ID: <20041210232059.FSOJ16028.fed1rmmtao05.cox.net@smtp.west.cox.net> Hi, Thie Chinese tried the same thing we did not call it aiding democracy then....hy do you call it that now when it is the US subverting democracy the results once taking in the fraud cam out acurate...close and one that Bush did not like... between Bosnia Kosovo (Bin Ladin weasn't to gratfull was he?) and this is there any doubt why some in Russia view us as an enemy? http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=544&e=4&u=/ap/20041210/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_ukraine_election_4 --------------------- U.S. Money Helped Opposition in Ukraine 1 hour, 47 minutes ago White House - AP By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has spent more than $65 million in the past two years to aid political organizations in Ukraine, paying to bring opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to meet U.S. leaders and helping to underwrite exit polls indicating he won last month's disputed runoff election. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Ukraine Elections U.S. officials say the activities don't amount to interference in Ukraine's election, as Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) alleges, but are part of the $1 billion the State Department spends each year trying to build democracy worldwide. No U.S. money was sent directly to Ukrainian political parties, the officials say. In most cases, it was funneled through organizations like the Carnegie Foundation or through groups aligned with Republicans and Democrats that organized election training, with human rights forums or with independent news outlets. But officials acknowledge some of the money helped train groups and individuals opposed to the Russian-backed government candidate ? people who now call themselves part of the Orange revolution. For example, one group that got grants through U.S.-funded foundations is the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, whose Web site has a link to Yushchenko's home page under the heading "partners." Another project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development brought a Center for Political and Legal Reforms official to Washington last year for a three-week training session on political advocacy. "There's this myth that the Americans go into a country and, presto, you get a revolution," said Lorne Craner, a former State Department official who heads the International Republican Institute, which received $25.9 million last year to encourage democracy in Ukraine and more than 50 other countries. "It's not the case that Americans can get 2 million people to turn out on the streets. The people themselves decide to do that," Craner said. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "There's accountability in place. We make sure that money is being used for the purposes for which it's assigned or designated." Since the Ukrainian Supreme Court invalidated the results of the Nov. 21 presidential runoff, Russia and the United States have traded charges of interference. A new election is scheduled for Dec. 26. Opposition leaders, international monitors and Bush's election envoy to Ukraine have said major fraud marred the runoff between Yushchenko and current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was declared the winner. Yushchenko is friendlier toward Europe and the United States than his opponent, who has Putin's support as well as backing from the current Ukrainian government of President Leonid Kuchma. Putin lauded Yanukovych during state visits to Ukraine within a week of both the Oct. 31 election and the Nov. 21 runoff. Yushchenko's backers say Russian support for Yanukovych goes beyond Putin's praise and includes millions of dollars in campaign funding and other assistance. Putin has said Russia has acted "absolutely correctly" with regard to Ukraine. Documents and interviews provide a glimpse into how U.S. money was spent inside Ukraine. "Our money doesn't go to candidates; it goes to the process, the institutions that it takes to run a free and fair election," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. The exit poll, funded by the embassies of the United States and seven other nations as well as four international foundations, said Yushchenko won the Nov. 21 vote by 54 percent to 43 percent. Yanukovych and his supporters say the exit poll was skewed. The Ukrainian groups that did the poll of more than 28,000 voters have not said how much the project cost. Neither has the U.S. The four foundations involved included three funded by the U.S. government: The National Endowment for Democracy, which gets its money directly from Congress; the Eurasia Foundation, which gets money from the State Department, and the Renaissance Foundation, part of a network of charities funded by billionaire George Soros that gets money from the State Department. Other countries involved included Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Grants from groups funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development also went to the International Center for Policy Studies, a think tank that includes Yushchenko on its supervisory board. The board also includes several current or former advisers to Kuchma, however. IRI, Craner's Republican-backed group, used U.S. money to help Yushchenko arrange meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage and GOP leaders in Congress in February 2003. The State Department gave the National Democratic Institute, a group of Democratic foreign policy experts, nearly $48 million for worldwide democracy-building programs in 2003. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news - web sites) chairs NDI's board of directors. The NDI says representatives of parties in all the blocs that participated in Ukraine's 2002 parliamentary elections have attended its seminars to learn skills such as writing party platforms, organizing bases of voter support and developing party structures. NDI also has been a main financial and administrative backer of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, an election watchdog group that said the presidential vote was not conducted fairly. NDI also organized a 35-member team of election observers headed by former federal appeals court Judge Abner Mikva for the Nov. 21 runoff vote. IRI sent its own team of observers. The U.S. Agency for International Development also funds the Center for Ukrainian Reform Education, which produces radio and television programs aiming to educate Ukrainian citizens about reforming their nation's government and economy. The center also sponsors press clubs and education for journalists From mriddle at papillion.ne.us Sat Dec 11 12:09:05 2004 From: mriddle at papillion.ne.us (Mike Riddle) Date: Sat Dec 11 15:14:35 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Editorial Message-ID: <20041211170905.QQFZ16610.lakermmtao08.cox.net@enigmaster> ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== By Ian Robinson CalgarySun, November 14, 2004 In the wake of the U.S. presidential election -- in which I cheerfully took a Sun assistant city editor, who figured Senator John Kerry couldn't lose, for $10 (a quick pause to gloat here) Americans disenchanted with President George W. Bush's re-election romp back into the White House, continue to deluge the Canadian immigration website. How anybody can be unhappy with the president's re-election is beyond me. Bush has my admiration in no small part because he manages to simultaneously annoy France and Germany, not to mention those renowned deep, geopolitical thinkers, the Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, P-Diddy or whatever he's calling himself now, Gwynneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. (Interesting note about France:America invades Iraq without UN approval and Americai s portrayed as a barbarian striding across the world stage. Recently,France essentially invaded theIvory Coast to protect its interests there ... without asking the UN squat. Just pointing out the hypocrisy.) Plus, let's face it:France deserves to be annoyed by as many people as possible, as often as possible, if only for encouraging Jerry Lewis by telling him that he was a genius. Not to mention for exporting snotty wine culture across the Atlantic so that otherwise reasonable North Americans have turned into cork-sniffing oenephiles -- although the word sounds like an exotic perversion, it just means wine-nerd -- who can actually say with a straight face: "This is a full-bodied Cabernet, rich with a full body tasting of plum, blackberry and leather cooked on an oak plank." Anyway, the day after theU.S.election, 115,628 Americans checked out the site and those numbers haven't fallen off very much. Before the election, some U.S.celebrities and numerous other Democrats vowed that they'd move to Canada if Bush were re-elected. I hope I'm not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: Stay home, you pathetic whining maggots. Particularly celebrities.Canada has suffered enough without having to put up with any of the Baldwin brothers or -- heaven forbid -- Barbra Streisand. And frankly, I don't know if we can afford to feed Michael Moore. Bad enough that Canada became a haven for the gutless wonders of the 1960s who fled the Vietnam draft. I sometimes think that the draft dodgers welcomed by the Trudeau government were a political virus that invaded our body politic, and we still suffer the lingering effects of that illness. Our nation's preposterous pacifism, belief in nonsense such as "soft power" and fidelity to a morally bankrupt United Nations overrun with tin-pot dictators and other left-wing idiocies, may well be traceable back to the influx of thousands of the testosterone-challenged whose allegiance to country was superceded by their allegiance to smoking dope while trying to figure out the inner meaning of Beatles songs. We have immigrants coming to this country who have been hunted from the air by murderous Islamofascists inSudan. Some new Canadians survived the atrocities in Rwandaor old Europe's final convulsions of genocide in the formerYugoslavia. We have physicians from some parts of the world who are willing to throw away their prestige and power in their homelands for the privilege of driving a cab in Moose Jaw. As a nation, we ought to welcome our share of people fleeing genuine oppression, and those willing to gamble everything to secure a safe and decent future for their families. But welcome a bunch of spoiled brats willing to abandon their very nation because they don't like the man elected to be their leader for the next four years? Geez, in my entire lifetime, there was maybe one prime minister I'd trust to run a street-corner hot dog stand -- the rest of them weren't fit for much more than compost -- but it never occurred to me to emigrate. If we close our borders to anybody, it should be these fools. They'll be easy to screen out. They'll be the ones who are whining. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sat Dec 11 17:07:36 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sat Dec 11 17:10:49 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" Message-ID: A book review from the current issue, dated 12/27/04, of _National Review_: Heart of Valor Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, by James Webb (Broadway, 384 pp., $25.95) MACKUBIN THOMAS OWENS Without really intending to do so, James Webb may have written the most important political book of 2004. Born Fighting helps explain why George W. Bush won reelection by a margin greater than conventional wisdom predicted. Democrats especially, but Republicans as well, ought to take note of this book. The Scots-Irish, writes Webb, are all around us. They shape our culture, "more in the abstract power of emotion than through the argumentative force of law. In their insistent individualism, they are not likely to put an ethnic label on themselves when they debate societal issues. Some of them don't even know their ethnic label, and some who do don't particularly care. They don't go for group-identity politics any more than they like to join a union. Two hundred years ago the mountains built a fierce and uncomplaining self-reliance into an already hardened people. To them, joining a group and putting themselves at the mercy of someone else's collective judgment makes as much sense as letting the government take their guns. And nobody is going to get their guns." These are the "red state" voters. They are family-oriented, take morality seriously, go to church, join the military, and listen to country music. They strongly believe that no man is obligated to obey the edicts of a government that violates his moral conscience. They once formed the bedrock of the Democratic party ? from Andrew Jackson until Vietnam ? but have been moving to the GOP ever since. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Webb called the Scots-Irish in America the "the secret GOP weapon." This is Webb's first nonfiction book, and it is a tour de force. He describes the migration of a stubborn, individualistic people from the mists of Northern Scotland through Ulster to the highlands of America, and thence ? by the "hillbilly highways" ? to the Midwest and Far West. Throughout, they have refused to bend the knee to kings, bishops ? or modern American elites. It is important to recognize that we are talking about culture here and not "blood": Scots-Irish culture is so populist and assimilative that other ethnic groups have gravitated toward it. That's how it has become, arguably, America's strongest cultural force. For many Americans, however, the Scots-Irish culture is either invisible or an object of derision. In today's group-identity politics, the Scots-Irish are usually lumped into the WASP category, which illegitimately papers over many significant differences among white, "non-ethnic" Americans. When they are noticed at all, they are liable to be ridiculed by the coastal elites, who view them as violent rednecks or trailer-park trash. After the elections, for instance, novelist Jane Smiley wrote that "the election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. . . . Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. . . . Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are ? they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence." Unfortunately, the Left does not have a monopoly on this attitude. Commenting on a statement that Howard Dean made during the Democratic primaries, Charles Krauthammer opined that Dean was campaigning for the "white trash vote" by pandering to the "rebel-yelling racist redneck." In the Wall Street Journal, Webb called this "the most vicious ethnic slur of the presidential campaign," noting dryly that Krauthammer "has never complained about this ethnic group when it has marched off to fight the wars he wishes upon us." Webb is a remarkable man: a graduate of the Naval Academy who, while serving as a Marine officer in Vietnam, was wounded twice and awarded the Navy Cross for valor (think non-posthumous Medal of Honor). A graduate of Georgetown Law School, he was secretary of the navy during the Reagan administration. He is a man of letters whose most important fictional characters are convincingly realized representatives of the people he chronicles in Born Fighting: Robert E. Lee Hodges Jr. (Fields of Fire, the best novel about Vietnam), Bill Fogarty (A Sense of Honor and Something to Die For), and Judd Smith (A Country Such as This). And ? most important for Vietnam veterans like me ? Webb is the man who time and again stood on the front lines of the culture war that still rages between those who served and those who didn't, a culture war that played a major role in the recent election. And just as he stood up to the elites who peddled falsehoods about the Vietnam veteran, he now takes them on about this important group as well. Not surprisingly, the two stories are related. The Scots-Irish have an age-old military tradition: They have turned up disproportionately for all of America's wars. In Born Fighting, the scene shifts seamlessly from Berwick and Bannockburn, to Ulster, to Civil War battlefields, to the An Hoa basin of Vietnam ? where Webb led a platoon and a rifle company of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Webb is writing about his own "people," his forebears. "History becomes personal," he writes. "And the personal becomes history." Readers of Born Fighting will already have heard of Andy Jackson and Braveheart's William Wallace, but Webb also recounts the stories of his own family ? among whom no one stands taller than his father, who passed on to him the Scots-Irish code of honor, courage, loyalty, and audacious leadership. The Scots-Irish tend to see politics and religion from the bottom up rather than from the top down. In the British Isles, they resisted Norman feudalism, adhering to political relations based on personal honor and voluntary associations. In America, especially the South, they fought against a top-down political system imported by the Cavaliers, and they shaped Jacksonian democracy. In the British Isles, they resisted both Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, preferring the Kirk and Presbyterianism (the rule of elders); in America, they became Baptists and fueled the various Great Awakenings. In Scotland, they lived in dugouts and cabins that reflected the reality of frequent English depredations. In America, they lived in cabins that reflected the reality of an often-dangerous Indian frontier. Unpainted barns and trailer parks are today's legacy of an uncertain environment. The English imported Scots Presbyterians to Ulster to manage their unruly Celtic cousins, the Irish. These Scots were repaid by the Test Acts of Queen Anne that essentially outlawed their religion. Growing tired of fighting Anglican England's battles against the Catholic Irish in Ulster, in the 18th century they migrated in large numbers to America, where both the Virginia aristocrats and Pennsylvania's Quakers saw them as a buffer against the Indians. As in Ulster, the elites of Pennsylvania and Virginia likewise often repaid the Scots-Irish with legislation that was disadvantageous to them. Some 95 percent of the Ulster Scots who immigrated to America ended up in the South, so that region and the Scots-Irish are irrevocably linked. And of course, the mythic event for the South, even more than for the rest of the country, is the Civil War and Reconstruction. Despite the fact that poor whites, especially the Scots-Irish, had no stake in the preservation of slavery, the planter class was successful in recruiting them for the war: They formed the core of the Confederate armies that struggled against the odds for four long and costly years. But the impact of the Scots-Irish did not stop here. They also provided the bulk of Union soldiers in the Western armies ? Hoosiers, Buckeyes, and other "butternuts" from the Northwest, as well as Unionist groups in east Tennessee, western Virginia, northern Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana that resisted central Confederate authority just as assiduously as they had federal. The Scots-Irish paid a high price for the Civil War. The economic status of the Scots-Irish is similar to that of black southerners ? but since they are lumped in with other non-ethnic whites, they do not benefit from "affirmative action." America's elites do not see this. All they see are rednecks waving the Confederate flag. But while the Confederate battle flag unfortunately has been co-opted by racists, most descendants of the Scots-Irish see it as I do: a tribute to honorable men who fought bravely against great odds. If the Democrats ever want to be competitive again, they need to figure out a way to appeal to the Scots-Irish culture of the red states, and indeed of the red counties within blue states. Maureen Dowd can stamp her feet all she wants, but it is this culture that gave rise to true American-style democracy. James Webb has shown us that as long as the likes of Dowd and Michael Moore are the arbiters of the Democratic party, the Democrats are unlikely to win another national election. But the flipside is just as important: The Republicans cannot afford to take this culture for granted. Mr. Owens is an associate dean of academics and a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From prather.js at verizon.net Sat Dec 11 19:52:42 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sat Dec 11 19:54:16 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041212005242.VQPC27681.out007.verizon.net@localhost> On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:07:36 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: >A book review from the current issue, dated 12/27/04, of _National Review_: > >Heart of Valor > >Born Fighting: >How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, An absolutely superb book review. I must read this!!! Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sat Dec 11 21:20:44 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sat Dec 11 21:22:33 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: <20041212005242.VQPC27681.out007.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041212005242.VQPC27681.out007.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 19:52:42 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: > An absolutely superb book review. I must read this!!! Yeah, agreed, and I thought of you when I posted it, what with all the USN connections, both the author's and the reviewer's. The mention of some Unionists of Scots-Irish persuasion coming from Alabama, albeit "northern Alabama," prompted me to send a copy of the review to my wife's sister's husband, a self-described "yellow dog Democrat" from Montgomery in that state. (He'd vote for a yellow dog sooner'n for a Republican.) He's a fairly smart guy, makes his living as an anesthesiologist, and reads history as a hobby. So he writes back to me, "Very good, I'm Scotch-Irish myself." to which I reply "Well, *that* explains an awful lot, huh? " He will rue the day he ever shared that tidbit of info with ME! Ha! -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sat Dec 11 23:41:21 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sat Dec 11 23:45:19 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Judge Torres' Sentencing Opinion Message-ID: I've done my best to tidy up the official pdf and make it readable, but there are a few typos in the transcription that I'm sure will leap out at the reader. Yes, this is longish, but I think it's an excellent read, so I post it herein in full. Plot summary to date: A federal investigation, replete with grand jury, into corruption at Buddy Cianci's Providence City Hall produced a videotape courtesy the FBI of one of Cianci's lieutenants taking a bribe. One of the attorneys representing a co-defendant (yet another Cianci lieutenant) gave a copy of the tape to the local NBC affiliate's reporter Jim Taricani, whose station aired the tape. All the proceedings at the time where under a protective ("gag") order issued by Judge Torres. Taricani refused to name the source of the tape, citing First Amendment protection. He was found guilty of contempt of court, and the case became a cause celebre. Thursday last he was sentenced to six months home confinement on account of a heart transplant condition. Read on...) IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * C.A. NO. 01-47 IN RE: * * * DECEMBER 9, 2004 SPECIAL PROCEEDING * * 10:00 A.M. * PROVIDENCE, RI * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BEFORE THE HONORABLE ERNEST C. TORRES CHIEF DISTRICT JUDGE (SENTENCING HEARING EXCERPT) APPEARANCES: SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: DESISTO LAW OFFICES BY: MARC DESISTO, ESQUIRE BY: JOAN MCPHEE, ESQUIRE 211 ANGELL STREET PROVIDENCE, RI 02903 FOR MR. TARICANI: BINGHAM MCCUTCHEN, LLP BY: MARTIN MURPHY, ESQUIRE ONE FINANCIAL CENTER BOSTON, MA 02110 -AND EDWARDS & ANGELL BY: DEMING SHERMAN, ESQUIRE ONE FINANCIAL CENTER PROVIDENCE, RI 02903 -AND- SUSAN WEINER, ESQUIRE NBC, INC. 30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA 10TH FLOOR EAST NEW YORK, NY 10112 9 DECEMBER 2004 - 3:40 P.M. - SENTENCING EXCERPT THE COURT: AS I'VE SAID FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS PROCEEDING, I THINK THERE'S SOME VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES RAISED IN THIS CASE, AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THE PUBLIC UNDERSTAND ACCURATELY WHAT THOSE ISSUES ARE AND WHAT THE FACTS OF THIS CASE ARE, AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I HAVE BEEN POSTING THE COURT'S DECISIONS ON THE COURT'S WEBSITE, SO THAT ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED MAY REFER TO IT. I THINK THAT HELPS, HOPEFULLY, REPORTERS WHO HAVE A DIFFICULT JOB OF TRYING TO TAKE NOTES AND WATCH WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME, AND I THINK IT HELPS MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO MAY WANT TO GET THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY SOMETIMES. AND I'M GOING TO DO THAT WITH THIS, THE DECISION I'M ABOUT TO GIVE HERE. IT WILL BE POSTED, UNFORTUNATELY BECAUSE OF THE HOUR, IT'S NOT GOING TO BE AVAILABLE TODAY, BUT THE COURT REPORTER WILL POST THE TRANSCRIPT OF MY DECISION TOMORROW MORNING, AND THOSE OF YOU IN THE MEDIA WHO ARE TRULY INTERESTED IN SEEING THAT YOUR VIEWERS, LISTENERS, AND READERS ARE FULLY INFORMED WITH RESPECT TO ALL OF THE FACTS AND ALL OF THE ISSUES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUES, I WOULD ENCOURAGE AND INVITE YOU TO LET YOUR READERS, VIEWERS AND LISTENERS KNOW THAT THEY CAN GET ACCESS TO THE DECISION AT WWW.RID.USCOURTS.GOV. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GO TO THE WEBSITE, GO TO THE 3 BULLETIN BOARD, AND ALL OF THE DECISIONS RENDERED IN THIS CASE, WHICH IS UNDER THE HEADING "SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS" ARE THERE IN THEIR ENTIRETY FOR ANYONE TO READ. AND I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT, BECAUSE BASED ON WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD, THE ISSUES IN THIS CASE HAVE BEEN OBSCURED AND DISTORTED BY A NUMBER OF MYTHS THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED BY SPIN AND MEDIA HYPE, AND I'M GOING TO TAKE A FEW MOMENTS NOW TO ADDRESS THESE MYTHS AND ATTEMPT TO DISPEL THEM. ORDINARILY I DON'T DO THIS, I WON'T SAY MUCH, USUALLY, AT SENTENCINGS, BUT I'M GOING TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION IN THIS CASE. THERE ARE FIVE MYTHS BASICALLY THAT HAVE BEEN PROPAGATED IN THIS CASE. I'M VERY AWARE OF THE ADVICE THAT I THINK WAS GIVEN, I BELIEVE IT WAS BY FORMER MAYOR CIANCI, IRONICALLY ENOUGH, WHO SAYS, "YOU SHOULD NEVER ARGUE WITH ANYONE WHO BUYS INK BY THE BARREL," AND I THINK HE SHOULD ALSO AGREE, OR ANYONE WHO OWNS A T.V. OR RADIO STATION, AND THAT'S GENERALLY GOOD ADVICE, BUT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN ONE HAS TO ARGUE WITH PEOPLE WHO OWN STATIONS AND BUY INK BY THE BARREL. AND IN THIS CASE I THINK I HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO TRY TO STATE THE CASE, MAYBE I HAVEN'T STATED IT WELL ENOUGH IN THE PAST, SO THAT PEOPLE TRULY UNDERSTAND THE REAL ISSUES. THE FIRST MYTH IS THE MYTH THAT THE PROMISE OF CONFIDENTIALITY THAT WAS MADE IN THIS CASE ENABLED MR. TARICANI TO UNCOVER CORRUPTION IN CITY HALL THAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE GONE UNPUNISHED OR THE PUBLIC WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN ABOUT. AND IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT IN THIS CASE NEITHER THE SOURCE NOR MR. TARICANI UNCOVERED ANY EVIDENCE OF CORRUPTION. THE TAPE THAT WAS BROADCAST ON CHANNEL 10 WAS MADE BY THE FBI, NOT BY THE SOURCE, NOT BY MR. TARICANI. THE TAPE WAS ALSO KEY EVIDENCE IN THE PROSECUTION THAT ALREADY WAS WELL UNDERWAY. MR. CORRENTE AND SEVERAL OTHER DEFENDANTS ALREADY HAD BEEN INDICTED AND WERE SCHEDULED FOR TRIAL IN ABOUT TWO MONTHS FROM THE TIME THAT THE TAPE WAS OBTAINED. NOW THAT TRIAL, IT'S TRUE, WAS LATER POSTPONED. AT THE SAME TIME, THE GRAND JURY WAS CONTINUING ITS INVESTIGATION OF MAYOR CIANCI, THAT INVESTIGATION WAS NEARING ITS COMPLETION, AND THE TAPE WAS GOING TO BE PLAYED AT THE UPCOMING TRIAL, AND MR. TARICANI, HIMSELF, ACKNOWLEDGES KNOWING THIS. TO THE EXTENT THAT THE PROMISE OF CONFIDENTIALITY ENABLED MR. TARICANI TO OBTAIN THE TAPE, ALL THAT IT ACCOMPLISHED BESIDES CREATING THIS SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS IN WHICH WE FIND OURSELVES TODAY, WAS TO PROVIDE MR. TARICANI AND HIS STATION WITH A SCOOP DURING SWEEPS WEEK, AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GETTING A SCOOP, AS MR. TARICANI SAID. IT PROVIDED A SCOOP DURING SWEEPS WEEK BY GIVING VIEWERS A PREVIEW OF EVIDENCE THAT SOON WOULD BE PRESENTED AT THE UPCOMING TRIAL. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT DID SO AT THE COST OF THREATENING TO COMPROMISE THE ONGOING GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION AND THREATENING TO DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANTS OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY POISONING THE PROSPECTIVE JURY POOL. NOW, IT'S TRUE THAT THE CORRENTE TRIAL THEN HAD BEEN POSTPONED, BUT EVIDENCE LIKE WAS ON THIS TAPE WOULD BE AWFULLY HARD TO ERASE FROM THE MINDS OF PROSPECTIVE JURORS, I THINK. I WISH I COULD BELIEVE THAT THE TWO- TO THREE-MONTH DELAY BETWEEN THE TIME THAT THE TAPE WAS OBTAINED AND THE TIME THE TAPE WAS AIRED HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME TOO COINCIDENTAL THAT THE TAPE WAS AIRED DURING SWEEPS WEEK. THE STATED CONCERN FOR NOT JEOPARDIZING MR. CORRENTE'S RIGHTS WHICH WAS THE PROFFERED EXPLANATION FOR THE DELAY, DOESN'T SEEM TO SQUARE WITH THE DECISION TO AIR IT ANYWAY, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SOMETIME BEFORE THE POSTPONE DATE FOR THE TRIAL. AND THAT'S ESPECIALLY TRUE SINCE THE TAPE CONTAINED NOTHING THAT THE PUBLIC EVENTUALLY WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SEE, BECAUSE IT WAS GOING TO BE PLAYED AT THE TRIAL. THE SECOND MYTH IN THIS CASE IS THE MYTH THAT REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF MR. TARICANI'S SOURCE IN THIS CASE WILL DETER FUTURE SOURCES FROM COMING FORWARD WITH INFORMATION THAT THE PUBLIC OUGHT TO KNOW AND WILL CHILL REPORTERS FROM USING CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES. FIRST, THAT CLAIM GREATLY DISTORTS THE PRINCIPAL ISSUE IN THIS CASE. THE ISSUE IN THIS CASE IS NOT WHETHER THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF A REPORTER'S SOURCE EVER MAY BE PROTECTED. COURTS HAVE CONSISTENTLY SAID THAT THERE ARE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH A REPORTER SHOULD NOT BE REQUIRED TO REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THE SOURCE. THE ISSUE IN THIS CASE IS WHETHER A REPORTER HAS A RIGHT TO CONCEAL THE IDENTITY OF A SOURCE WHO COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT IN PROVIDING MATERIAL TO THE REPORTER, ESPECIALLY WHEN, AS APPEARS TO BE THE CASE HERE, THAT THE REPORTER KNEW AT THE TIME THAT THE SOURCE WAS ACTING UNLAWFULLY AND ACTUALLY ENCOURAGED THE SOURCE BY MAKING A PROMISE OF CONFIDENTIALITY AND AIDED AND ABETTED THE SOURCE BY PUBLISHING OR AIRING THE TAPE WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE. NOW, IT MAY BE THAT REQUIRING A REPORTER TO IDENTIFY THE, PRESUMABLY AND HOPEFULLY, RARE SOURCE WHO VIOLATES THE LAW IN PROVIDING INFORMATION TO A REPORTER, MAY MAKE IT SLIGHTLY MORE DIFFICULT FOR A REPORTER TO DO HIS JOB OF GATHERING AND DISSEMINATING WHAT THE REPORTER VIEWS AS NEWS. BUT A REPORTER'S JOB ALSO IS MADE MORE DIFFICULT BY LAWS THAT PROHIBITED REPORTERS, LIKE ANYONE ELSE, FROM BREAKING INTO PEOPLE'S HOMES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN NEWSWORTHY DOCUMENTS OR ILLEGALLY TAPPING PEOPLE'S TELEPHONES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN EVIDENCE OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION OR ANY OTHER NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION. AND I HOPE THAT WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT REPORTERS HAVE NO PRIVILEGE TO ENGAGE IN SUCH CONDUCT UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT, AND IT'S DIFFICULT TO JUSTIFY OR SEE HOW ONE CAN JUSTIFY ANY SUCH PRIVILEGE ON THE PART OF A REPORTER TO ENCOURAGE OR ASSIST OTHERS IN ENGAGING IN THAT KIND OF CONDUCT. SUCH DIFFICULTIES IN PERFORMING ONE'S JOB, THE DIFFICULTIES OF COMPLYING WITH LEGAL CONSTRAINTS, ARE THE PRICE THAT WE PAY FOR LIVING IN THE SOCIETY GOVERNED BY THE RULE OF LAW, AND I SUGGEST THAT IT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY. IF SOMEONE VIOLATES THE LAW BY REVEALING TO A REPORTER THE IDENTITY OF AN UNDERCOVER INTELLIGENCE OR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, THEREBY JUSTIFYING THE OFFICER'S LIFE, THAT PERSON OUGHT TO BE PUNISHED AND OTHERS TEMPTED TO DO THE SAME OUGHT TO BE DETERRED AND A REPORTER UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD HAVE NO RIGHT TO CONCEAL THE IDENTITY OF THAT PERSON. SIMILARLY, IF AS IN THIS CASE, THE SOURCE VIOLATES THE LAW BY PROVIDING THE REPORTER WITH TAPES, PUBLICATION OF WHICH THREATEN TO COMPROMISE A GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION OF SERIOUS CRIME OR TO DEPRIVE DEFENDANTS ACCUSED OF THOSE CRIMES OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL, THAT PERSON OUGHT TO BE PUNISHED AND OTHERS TEMPTED TO DO THE SAME OUGHT TO BE DETERRED, AND A REPORTER HAS NO RIGHT TO CONCEAL THE IDENTITY OF THAT PERSON. AND I WOULD SUBMIT THAT A REPORTER SHOULD BE CHILLED FROM VIOLATING THE LAW IN ORDER TO GET A STORY, AND I'M NOT SAYING THAT MR. TARICANI DID THAT HERE, FROM MAKING ILL-ADVISED PROMISES OF CONFIDENTIALITY THAT ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO, AND FROM AIDING AND ABETTING THEM. THE SOURCE SHOULD BE CHILLED FROM ENGAGING IN THAT KIND OF CONDUCT, AND I THINK IT'S PROPER IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCE, TO CHILL THE REPORTER FROM ASSISTING OR ENCOURAGING THAT KIND OF CONDUCT. THE FACT THAT A REPORTER MAY HAVE MADE WHAT TURNS OUT TO HAVE BEEN RECKLESS OR ILL-ADVISED PROMISE OF CONFIDENTIALITY MAY CREATE A DILEMMA FOR THE REPORTER, BUT IT DOESN'T PROVIDE ANY LEGAL JUSTIFICATION FOR CONCEALING THE PERPETRATOR'S IDENTITY. THAT'S AN ISSUE THAT THE REPORTER OUGHT TO CONFRONT AND DEAL WITH AND RESOLVE BEFORE MAKING THE PROMISE. THE THIRD MYTH IS THE MYTH THAT MR. TARICANI IS BEING PUNISHED FOR JUST DOING HIS JOB. THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT A REPORTER'S JOB IS A VERY IMPORTANT AND HONORABLE JOB, BUT THIS IS STILL A MYTH UNLESS ONE DEFINES A REPORTER'S JOB BY GATHERING NEWS OBTAINED BY OTHERS BY ILLEGAL MEANS AND EVEN ENCOURAGING AND ASSISTING OTHERS IN DOING SO, AND THEN CONCEALING THE IDENTITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHO VIOLATED THE LAW IN ORDER TO PROVIDE THE INFORMATION. MR. TARICANI WAS NOT FOUND GUILTY OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT IN THIS CASE FOR AIRING THIS TAPE. WHAT HE WAS FOUND GUILTY OF CONTEMPT FOR WAS REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH A LAWFUL COURT ORDER THAT HE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAL, AND IT WAS AFFIRMED ON APPEAL, THAT DIRECTED HIM TO IDENTIFY THE PERSON WHO COMMITTED THE UNLAWFUL ACT THAT THREATENED TO DEPRIVE VARIOUS DEFENDANTS OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL, WHICH IS THE VERY HEART OF OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND THAT SHOULD BE OF CONCERN TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING REPORTERS. IT'S VERY DISTURBING TO HEAR THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE IN POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY SAY THAT IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT THE SOURCE'S CONDUCT THREATENED TO DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANTS OF THEIR RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL, BECAUSE AS THINGS TURNED OUT, THE DEFENDANTS APPARENTLY DID GET 10 A FAIR TRIAL. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, IF AN INDIVIDUAL ATTEMPTS TO COMMIT A MURDER AND THAT INDIVIDUAL IS THEN APPREHENDED, WE DON'T EXCUSE THE ATTEMPT ON THE GROUND THAT THE ATTEMPT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL. IN THIS CASE, MR. TARICANI IS NOT BEING PUNISHED FOR JUST DOING HIS JOB, BECAUSE IF THE SOURCE HAD PROVIDED THE TAPE LAWFULLY, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE, REGARDLESS OF HOW IRRESPONSIBLE THE COURT MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS TO AIR THIS TAPE BEFORE MR. CORRENTE'S TRIAL AND WHILE THE GRAND JURY WAS INVESTIGATING THE CASE AGAINST THE MAYOR. AS I SAID EARLIER THIS MORNING, AIRING THE TAPE UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD BE PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT, AND THE IDENTITY OF MR. TARICANI'S SOURCE WOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE HERE. THE FINAL TWO MYTHS ARE, PERHAPS, THE MOST TROUBLING BECAUSE THEY DISPLAY WHAT, IN MY VIEW AT LEAST, IS EITHER A COMPLETE MISUNDERSTANDING OF SOME OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, OR AN ATTEMPT TO SPIN THIS MATTER IN A WAY THAT DISTORTS THOSE PRINCIPLES, AND I DON'T KNOW WHICH OF THOSE WOULD BE OF MORE CONCERN. THE FOURTH MYTH IS THAT EVERY REPORTER HAS AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO BE THE SOLE ARBITER OF WHETHER AND UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES THE IDENTITY OF THE SOURCE SHOULD REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL NO MATTER WHAT THE LAW OR THE COURT MAY SAY. NOW, THIS MYTH HAS NOT BEEN PROPAGATED IN THOSE TERMS, THE OTHERS HAVE BEEN, PRETTY MUCH. THIS MYTH HAS NOT BEEN PROPAGATED IN THOSE TERMS. ON THE CONTRARY, SINCE MR. TARICANI AND HIS ADVOCATES, AND I'M NOT REFERRING TO COUNSEL HERE, I'M REFERRING TO HIS COLLEAGUES, OR SOME OF HIS COLLEAGUES, SINCE THEY APPARENTLY RECOGNIZE THAT THAT PROPOSITION IS COMPLETELY INDEFENSIBLE, IT HAS BEEN DISCLAIMED. THEY PURPORT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE MAY BE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH A REPORTER SHOULD REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THE SOURCE, AND THEY SUGGEST OR IMPLY THAT THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT INCLUDE CASES IN WHICH NATIONAL SECURITY IS INVOLVED OR LIVES ARE AT STAKE. BUT THAT DOESN'T ALTER THE FACT THAT WHAT THEY ARE REALLY CLAIMING IS THAT A REPORTER HAS A RIGHT TO UNILATERALLY DECIDE WHAT THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE. THEY CONCEDE THAT THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT INCLUDE CASES, AS I'VE SAID, IN WHICH NATIONAL SECURITY IS INVOLVED OR LIVES ARE AT STAKE, BUT THEY CLAIM TO BE THE SOLE ARBITER OF WHEN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES EXIST. AND APPARENTLY SOME OF THEIR COLLEAGUES DO NOT BELIEVE THAT NATIONAL SECURITY WAS INVOLVED OR LIVES WERE AT STAKE IN THE VALERIE PLAME CASE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE IT WAS ALLEGED THAT THE LIFE OF AN UNDERCOVER CIA AGENT WAS THREATENED WHEN A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE ILLEGALLY REVEALED HER IDENTITY TO REPORTERS AS A MEANS OF GETTING BACK AT HER HUSBAND. AND, OBVIOUSLY, AS THIS CASE DEMONSTRATES, THEY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT PUNISHING AND DETERRING CRIMINAL ACTS THAT THREATEN THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF OTHERS PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT REASON FOR REVEALING THE IDENTITY OF A SOURCE. AND I THINK THAT PROVIDES AN APT ILLUSTRATION OF WHY IT IS CONTRARY TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST TO VEST SUCH EXCLUSIVE AND UNREVIEWABLE AUTHORITY IN INDIVIDUAL REPORTERS. OUR SYSTEM OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT ULTIMATELY VESTS THAT AUTHORITY IN THE COURTS, JUST AS IT DOES WITH EVERY OTHER LEGAL ISSUE OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE. DESPITE THE GREAT RESPECT THAT I HAVE FOR THOSE MANY REPORTERS WHO CONSCIENTIOUSLY SEEK TO GATHER THE NEWS AND REPORT IT FAIRLY AND ACCURATELY, IT IS NOT AND SHOULD NOT BE UP TO INDIVIDUAL REPORTERS TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE DECISION IN CASES WHERE IT BECOMES AN ISSUE FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS; ONE IS THAT NOT ALL REPORTERS LIVE UP TO THOSE STANDARDS. FORTUNATELY, MOST DO, BUT THERE'S SOME WHO DON'T. AND IF THE ULTIMATE DECISION IS MADE BY EACH INDIVIDUAL REPORTER, WE WOULD HAVE AS MANY STANDARDS AS THERE ARE REPORTERS. ALSO, IT'S A BAD IDEA BECAUSE REPORTERS ARE REQUIRED TO ACT ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT, THEY'RE UNDER COMPETITIVE PRESSURE TO GET A STORY OR A SCOOP, AND THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW ALL OF THE RELEVANT FACTS. IT DEFIES LOGIC AND COMMON SENSE, AS WELL THE LAW, TO SAY THAT A PROMISE OF CONFIDENTIALITY MADE UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD BE ABSOLUTE AND UNREVIEWABLE BY A COURT OR ANYONE ELSE. IN CASES WHERE THE ISSUE ARISES, THE QUESTION OF CONFIDENTIALITY IS ONE THAT MUST BE REVIEWABLE BY A COURT. THE COURT IS IN THE POSITION TO HEAR ALL OF THE FACTS. THE COURT IS IN A POSITION TO DETERMINE THE APPLICABLE LAW AND TO BALANCE ANY COMPETING PUBLIC INTERESTS THAT WOULD BE IMPLICATED BY DISCLOSURE VERSUS NONDISCLOSURE. AND A COURT'S DECISION IS REVIEWABLE, IN TURN, BY A HIGHER COURT. SO JUST AS I AM ILL-EQUIPPED TO GATHER AND REPORT THE NEWS, SO IS AN INDIVIDUAL REPORTER ILL-EQUIPPED TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE DECISION AS TO WHETHER A SOURCE IS ENTITLED TO ANONYMITY, ESPECIALLY WHERE, AS HERE, THE SOURCE COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT. I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT I'M NOT SAYING OR SUGGESTING THAT IT IS NEVER APPROPRIATE TO ACCORD CONFIDENTIALITY TO A REPORTER'S SOURCE. I THINK I'VE SAID THAT COURTS HAVE CONSISTENTLY SAID THAT THERE ARE CASES WHERE THAT IS APPROPRIATE. THE ISSUE HERE IS WHO DECIDES THAT AND UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCE. THE FIFTH MYTH OR LAST MYTH IS THE MYTH THAT 14 ORDERING MR. TARICANI TO REVEAL HIS SOURCE IS AN ASSAULT ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT, AND THAT IS, PERHAPS, THE BIGGEST AND MOST MISLEADING MYTH OF ALL. FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTS THE RIGHT OF REPORTERS AND THOSE WHO OWN MEDIA OUTLETS OR NEWSPAPERS, TO PUBLISH WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO PUBLISH WITHOUT CENSORSHIP BY THE GOVERNMENT. THE FIRST AMENDMENT DOES NOT CONFER ON REPORTERS OR ANYONE ELSE THE RIGHT TO VIOLATE THE LAW IN ORDER TO GET INFORMATION THAT THEY MIGHT CONSIDER NEWSWORTHY, THE RIGHT TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO, OR THE RIGHT TO CONCEAL THE IDENTITY OF A SOURCE WHO COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT IN PROVIDING THE INFORMATION BY REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH A LAWFUL COURT ORDER DIRECTING THE REPORTER TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE. TO SUGGEST THAT THESE THINGS ARE PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT, DEMEANS THE FIRST AMENDMENT. AND WHILE, AS I SAID, THAT COURTS HAVE AFFORDED PROTECTION TO THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF REPORTER'S SOURCES IN CASES WHERE THERE IS NO SUFFICIENT REASON TO REQUIRE DISCLOSURE, THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE CASES. UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN THIS CASE, IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR THAT MR. TARICANI HAD NO PRIVILEGE UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT OR OTHERWISE, TO DISOBEY THE ORDER DIRECTING HIM TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE THAT PROVIDED HIM WITH THIS TAPE. AS THE SUPREME COURT EXPRESSLY HELD IN THE BRANZBURG CASE, "A REPORTER HAS NO PRIVILEGE UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT OR OTHERWISE TO REFUSE TO DISCLOSE THE IDENTITY OF A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE TO A GRAND JURY INVESTIGATING A CRIME WHEN THAT INFORMATION IS RELEVANT TO THE INVESTIGATION, BECAUSE THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND EFFECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERRIDES ANY INCIDENTAL BURDEN THAT DISCLOSURE MAY IMPOSE ON NEWS-GATHERING ACTIVITIES." SO REPORTERS ARE FREE TO USE SOURCES, AND IN MANY CASES, PRESERVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THOSE SOURCES, BUT THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THAT, AND THIS IS ONE OF THOSE EXPENSES. AS THE SUPREME COURT ALSO NOTED IN BRANZBURG, "NO OTHER CITIZEN ENJOYS SUCH A PRIVILEGE." IF JOE CITIZEN HAS POSSESSION OF RECORDS EVIDENCING BRIBERY OR EXTORTION BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS, AND HE'S SUBPOENAED TO APPEAR BEFORE A GRAND JURY, JOE CITIZEN HAS NO RIGHT TO REFUSE TO PRODUCE THE RECORDS OR TO REFUSE TO IDENTIFY THE PERSON WHO GAVE HIM THE RECORDS ON THE GROUND THAT JOE CITIZEN CONSIDERS THIS INFORMATION TO BE CONFIDENTIAL OR HE PROMISED SOMEONE THAT HE WOULDN'T TELL. IF THAT HAPPENED, JOE CITIZEN WOULD BE IN JAIL IN SHORT ORDER. IN THIS CASE, MR. TARICANI APPEALED THIS COURT'S ORDER, AS HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DO, AND THE ORDER WAS AFFIRMED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS. IT'S INTERESTING TO 16 NOTE THAT APPEAL FOCUSED MORE ON WHETHER IT WAS PROPER TO REFER THIS MATTER TO A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR, RATHER THAN ON ANY FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUE. IT ALSO APPEARS THAT THERE WAS NO ATTEMPT MADE TO GET THE SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW THE CASE. AND I SUSPECT THAT THE REASON FOR THOSE DECISIONS, WHICH I BELIEVE WERE SOUND, WAS THAT COUNSEL RECOGNIZED THAT UNDER THE FACTS OF THIS CASE, THEY COULD NOT PREVAIL ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT CLAIM. I SUPPOSE ONE MIGHT ARGUE THAT EVEN UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES THE REPORTER SHOULD NOT HAVE TO REVEAL THE SOURCE, BUT IT'S DISINGENUOUS TO CLAIM THAT REQUIRING HIM TO DO SO UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES CONSTITUTES AN ASSAULT ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT. THOSE ARE TWO ENTIRELY SEPARATE THINGS, WHETHER ONE THINKS THAT A REPORTER SHOULD HAVE TO REVEAL SOURCES UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES AND WHETHER REQUIRING HIM TO DO SO, AS THE LAW REQUIRES, CONSTITUTES AN ASSAULT ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT. THERE ARE SEVERAL ASSAULTS HERE, BUT NONE OF THEM IS AN ASSAULT BY THE COURT ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF. THE ASSAULTS WE HAVE HERE ARE ASSAULTS ON THE RULE OF LAW, ASSAULT ON THE EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, AND ASSAULT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF A DEFENDANT TO A FAIR TRIAL. THERE'S AN ASSAULT ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT LAWFUL COURT ORDERS MUST BE OBEYED. AND THAT ASSAULT TAKES THE FORM OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CLAIMS THAT IT WAS OKAY TO PROMISE CONFIDENTIALITY TO THE SOURCE WHO PROVIDED INFORMATION IN VIOLATION OF A PROTECTIVE ORDER, EVEN IF AT THE TIME THE REPORTER KNEW THAT IT WAS A VIOLATION FOR THE SOURCE TO HAVE PROVIDED THAT INFORMATION. IT IS ALSO AN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CLAIM HERE THAT THE FACT THAT THE ORDER WAS VIOLATED IS NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT PURSUING THE MATTER NOW THAT THE CASE IS OVER. THERE'S THE IMPLICATION THAT IT WAS OKAY, EVEN LAUDABLE FOR MR. TARICANI TO REFUSE TO COMPLY WITH THE ORDER BECAUSE HE HAS WHAT HE THINKS IS A GOOD REASON. THERE'S AN ASSAULT HERE ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT UNDER OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, LEGAL QUESTIONS AND QUESTIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL DIMENSION THAT AFFECT THE PUBLIC INTEREST MUST BE DECIDED BY AN IMPARTIAL COURT AFTER WEIGHING ALL OF THE RELEVANT FACTS AND NOT BY INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS MAKING SPUR OF THE MOMENT JUDGMENTS. JUST AS A POLICE OFFICER HAS NO RIGHT, AND CERTAINLY NOT AN ABSOLUTE AND UNREVIEWABLE RIGHT, TO DETERMINE WHETHER A SEARCH AND SEIZURE VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS OF THE FOURTH AMENDMENT, NEITHER DOES A REPORTER HAVE AN ABSOLUTE AND UNREVIEWABLE RIGHT TO ULTIMATELY DETERMINE WHETHER A SOURCE IS ENTITLED TO CONFIDENTIALITY. THOSE DECISIONS, ULTIMATELY, HAVE TO BE MADE BY A COURT, AND THANKFULLY, DON'T COME UP OFTEN. THEY DO COME UP IN CASES LIKE THIS WHERE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS ARE INVOLVED, THAT WAS THE BRANZBURG CASE. THERE'S AN ASSAULT IN THIS CASE ON THE ABILITY OF GRAND JURIES AND OTHER DULY AUTHORIZED INVESTIGATIVE BODIES TO EFFECTIVELY INVESTIGATE CRIMES AND ON THE ABILITY OF PROSECUTORS TO EFFECTIVELY PROSECUTE THEM. IF INDIVIDUALS SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY PRODUCE DOCUMENTS BEFORE A GRAND JURY OR AT TRIAL DON'T HAVE TO COMPLY EVEN AFTER BEING ORDERED BY A COURT, IT'S PRETTY OBVIOUS THAT THE ABILITY OF GRAND JURIES AND PROSECUTORS TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE CRIMES WOULD BE SEVERELY COMPROMISED, TO SAY THE LEAST. AND, FINALLY, THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS TO A FAIR TRIAL. IN CLAIMING THAT IT'S OKAY IF SOURCES UNLAWFULLY LEAK EVIDENCE THAT THREATENS A DEFENDANT'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING IDENTIFIED BY THE ONLY PERSON WHO KNOWS WHO THAT INDIVIDUAL IS. IT'S VERY UNFORTUNATE, IN MY VIEW, THAT SOME WHO HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED THE TRAUMA OF BEING ACCUSED OF A CRIME HAVE DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING THAT A FAIR TRIAL BEFORE AN IMPARTIAL JURY IS A VERY PRECIOUS RIGHT TO HAVE. NOW THAT I'VE HAD MY SAY ON THOSE POINTS, WE'RE GOING TO PROCEED TO THE SENTENCING ASPECT OF THIS CASE. I'M VERY SADDENED AND DISAPPOINTED BY WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THIS CASE FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS. I'M SORRY FOR THE PARTIES AND THE IMPACT THAT THIS HAS HAD AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE ON THEIR LIVES AND THEIR FAMILIES. AND I'M SORRY THAT I NOW FACE THE VERY UNPLEASANT TASK OF SENTENCING A REPORTER WHO I HAVE ADMIRED AND RESPECTED FOR MANY YEARS AND WHO SUFFERS FROM A SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION. IT'S ALSO GOING TO BE UNPLEASANT TO FACE THE POSSIBILITY OF SENTENCING A LONG-TIME MEMBER OF THE BAR, WHO, AT LEAST IN HIS DEALINGS WITH THIS COURT, HAS ALWAYS CONDUCTED HIMSELF IN A VERY PROFESSIONAL MANNER AND WHO HAS HEALTH PROBLEMS IN HIS OWN FAMILY. BUT WHAT'S AT STAKE HERE IS THE RULE OF LAW AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF A PERSON CHARGED WITH A CRIME TO RECEIVE A FAIR TRIAL, AND I HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO DEFEND BOTH. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, NOT PRESIDENTS, NOT REPORTERS. LIKE ALL CITIZENS, A REPORTER MUST ABIDE BY WHAT THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS SAY AND NOT BY WHAT THEY THINK THEY SAY OR THINK THEY SHOULD SAY. YOU'VE SAID THAT YOU BELIEVE YOU WERE JUST DOING YOUR JOB, MR. TARICANI, AND NOW I HAVE TO TRY AND DO MY JOB. IN DETERMINING WHAT SENTENCES IS JUST IN THIS CASE, THE FIRST PLACE ORDINARILY THAT I WOULD LOOK WOULD BE AT THE GUIDELINES, BUT AS COUNSEL HAVE POINTED OUT, THERE ARE NO GUIDELINES, NO FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR THE CRIME OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT. THE GUIDELINES SIMPLY SAY THAT THE COURT OUGHT TO REFER TO THE GUIDELINE FOR THE MOST ANALOGOUS OFFENSE, WHICH GENERALLY HAS BEEN CONSIDERED OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. I WAS AWARE OF THAT AT THE TIME THAT I FOUND YOU IN CRIMINAL CONTEMPT, AND I REJECTED THE OBSTRUCTION GUIDELINE. THAT WOULD CALL FOR A RANGE OF 15 TO 21 MONTHS, AND I THOUGHT AT THE TIME THAT WAS EXCESSIVE AND THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS THAT I DECIDED TO LIMIT THE SENTENCE TO 6 MONTHS. THE FACTORS, THEN, THAT THE COURT MUST CONSIDER ARE SPELLED OUT IN THE STATUTE, SECTION 3553 OF TITLE 18, AND I'M NOT GOING TO REPEAT EVERYTHING COUNSEL HAVE SAID. ONE OF THE FACTORS IS THE NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE OFFENSE. AS WE ALREADY KNOW, THE OFFENSE IS A WILLFUL VIOLATION OF A COURT ORDER. I'VE INDICATED HOW SERIOUS THAT IS. I DON'T THINK ANYONE DISPUTES, AT LEAST HASN'T DISPUTED DURING THIS PROCEEDING THAT IT'S SERIOUS. IT STRIKES AT THE HEART OF THE RULE OF LAW, AND IN THIS CASE IT OBSTRUCTED AND GREATLY INCREASED THE COST OF A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE VIOLATION OF STILL ANOTHER ORDER. ANOTHER FACTOR IS THE HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEFENDANT. AND IN YOUR CASE THOSE WEIGH, CERTAINLY, IN YOUR FAVOR. YOU'VE LED AN EXEMPLARY LIFE; YOU'VE HAD NO PRIOR CONTACT WITH THE LAW; THIS IS YOUR FIRST OFFENSE. YOU'VE DONE A GREAT DEAL OF GOOD IN THE COMMUNITY, BOTH THROUGH YOUR WORK AND YOUR CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES. YOU APPARENTLY HAVE BEEN VERY ACTIVE IN THE HEART ASSOCIATION, THE FOOD BANK AND AMOS HOUSE, AND PROBABLY OTHER THINGS AS WELL. AS COUNSEL HAVE MENTIONED, YOU HAVE A SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION. YOU ARE THE RECIPIENT OF A HEART TRANSPLANT, AND YOU HAVE A MULTITUDE OF RELATED PROBLEMS, AND I'LL GET INTO THOSE A LITTLE BIT LATER. AMONG THE OTHER FACTORS THE COURT HAS TO CONSIDER, THE NEED FOR THE SENTENCE TO REFLECT THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE OFFENSE, TO PROMOTE RESPECT FOR THE LAW, TO PROVIDE JUST PUNISHMENT FOR THE OFFENSE, AND TO AFFORD ADEQUATE DETERRENCE TO CRIMINAL CONDUCT. AND I'M NOT GOING TO REPEAT ALL THAT'S BEEN SAID, I'LL JUST SAY THAT, AS I'VE ALREADY INDICATED, I THINK IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE SENTENCE REFLECT THE SERIOUSNESS OF OFFENSE, PROMOTE RESPECT FOR THE LAW, AND DETER OTHERS FROM BEING TEMPTED TO ENGAGE IN SIMILAR CONDUCT IN THE FUTURE. THERE ARE SOME OTHER FACTORS THAT AREN'T RELEVANT; PROTECTING THE PUBLIC, I DON'T THINK THE PUBLIC HAS TO BE PROTECTED FROM YOU. TO AVOID UNWARRANTED SENTENCING DISPARITIES; COUNSEL HAVE PROVIDED THE COURT WITH A LISTING OF THE SENTENCES THAT WERE IMPOSED IN CRIMINAL CONTEMPT CASES, BUT THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THAT THE CASES ARE ALL SO DIFFERENT EACH ONE TURNS ON ITS FACTS, AND I DON'T THINK THAT ANY OF THOSE CASES ARE HELPFUL IN THAT REGARD. COUNSEL DID MAKE A POINT, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS A VERY LEGITIMATE POINT ABOUT THE SANCTION THAT WAS IMPOSED ON THE ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY IN THIS CASE WHO VIOLATED THE PROTECTIVE ORDER BY SHOWING THE VERY SAME TAPE TO A COUPLE OF FRIENDS AND A MEMBER OF HIS FAMILY, I BELIEVE IN THE PRIVACY OF HIS HOME. AND IN HINDSIGHT, I WOULD AGREE THAT I WAS TOO LENIENT IN THAT CASE. THAT INDIVIDUAL WAS NEVER PROSECUTED. I SANCTIONED HIM SUMMARILY. AND AS I SAY, AS I LOOK BACK ON IT, IT WAS TOO LENIENT, I DON'T WANT TO OFFER EXCUSES, BUT I WILL SAY ONLY THAT I WAS ONLY SWAYED BY WHAT I WAS CONVINCED WAS A SPUR OF THE MOMENT LAPSE IN JUDGMENT ON HIS PART IN AN ATTEMPT TO SHOW-OFF FOR TO A FEW FRIENDS. IT DIDN'T APPEAR TO ME TO BE TO BE A PREMEDICATED ACT THAT THREATENED TO POISON THE JURY POOL OR DEPRIVE ANY OF THE DEFENDANTS OF THEIR RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL OR GIVE ANYONE AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE IN THAT TRIAL. AS I SAID AT THE TIME, THE DISCLOSURE WAS VERY LIMITED; IT CREATED LITTLE RISK OF AFFECTING THE FAIRNESS OF THE TRIAL THAT THE PROTECTIVE ORDER WAS DESIGNED TO PROTECT. AND I MADE IT CLEAR AT THAT TIME THAT THE SITUATION WOULD BE MUCH DIFFERENT IF AND WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL WHO PROVIDED YOU WITH THE TAPE THAT WAS AIRED TO THOUSANDS OF VIEWERS WAS DISCOVERED. SO ALTHOUGH I DON'T CLAIM TO JUSTIFY THE LENIENCY SHOWN ON THE PREVIOUS OCCASION -- THE OTHER FACTOR THAT INFLUENCED ME AT THE TIME WAS I ASSUMED THAT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WOULD TAKE SOME DISCIPLINARY ACTION. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THEY EVER DID. I DON'T KNOW IF THOSE THINGS ARE MADE PUBLIC, I'VE NEVER INQUIRED. I'VE CERTAINLY SEEN NO EVIDENCE OF IT. BUT HOWEVER LENIENT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN, THIS SITUATION, I THINK, IS DISTINGUISHABLE FOR THE REASONS THAT I HAVE MENTIONED. THIS WAS NOT A SPUR OF THE MOMENT LAPSE IN JUDGMENT BY THE INDIVIDUAL WHO VIOLATED THAT PROTECTIVE ORDER. THE MOTIVE -- WELL, THE MOTIVE REMAINS UNCLEAR. IT CERTAINLY DIDN'T CREATE A RISK OF JEOPARDIZING THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL. AND, FINALLY, WHAT YOU'RE BEING SENTENCED FOR IS 24 NOT VIOLATING THE PROTECTIVE ORDER, AS I'VE SAID, BUT RATHER VIOLATING THE ORDER REQUIRING YOU TO IDENTIFY THE PERSON WHO DID VIOLATE THE PROTECTIVE ORDER. ONE OTHER FACTOR THAT'S MENTIONED IN THE STATUTE IS THE NEED FOR RESTITUTION, AND I THINK THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED. I DID ASK COUNSEL TO PROVIDE MEMORANDA TO THE COURT ON WHETHER OR NOT RESTITUTION SHOULD BE ORDERED IN CONNECTION WITH MR. TARICANI'S SENTENCE. I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE, THAT IT WOULD BE INAPPROPRIATE. BUT I REACHED THAT CONCLUSION FOR REASONS DIFFERENT FROM THOSE EXPRESSED IN THE DEFENSE COUNSELS' MEMORANDUM. IT'S MY OPINION THAT WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL COMMITS AN ACT OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT, THAT INDIVIDUAL MAY PROPERLY BE REQUIRED TO PAY RESTITUTION FOR ANY LOSS OR EXPENSE INCURRED BY ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL OR A GOVERNMENT ENTITY AS A RESULT OF THE CRIMINAL ACT. THAT WAS THE BASIS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT'S DECISION IN THE HAND CASE WHERE THE COURT REQUIRED A JUROR, WHO WAS HELD IN CONTEMPT FOR IMPROPERLY HAVING CONTACT WITH A CRIMINAL DEFENDANT, WHICH RESULTED IN A MISTRIAL, TO PAY RESTITUTION FOR THE PRORATED SALARIES OF TWO PROSECUTORS AND THE EXPENSES OF TWO GOVERNMENT WITNESSES THAT WERE INCURRED DURING THE TRIAL. BUT THAT'S NOT THIS CASE. IT SEEMS ALSO CLEAR TO ME THAT IT'S NOT PROPER TO REQUIRE A DEFENDANT TO PAY RESTITUTION FOR EXPENSES INCURRED IN PROSECUTING HIM, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT THOSE EXPENSES CONSTITUTE RECOVERABLE COSTS THAT ARE SPECIFIED IN SECTION 1920 OF TITLE 28, WHICH A DEFENDANT, EVEN A CRIMINAL DEFENDANT IS REQUIRED TO PAY UNDER SECTION 1918 OF TITLE 28. AND IN THIS CASE, IN DETERMINING WHICH OF THOSE MODELS FITS, IN THIS CASE IT SEEMS PRETTY CLEAR THAT THE AMOUNTS PAID TO THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR HAD BEEN INCURRED IN TRACKING DOWN THE SOURCE, OR IF THEY HAD BEEN INCURRED IN TRACKING DOWN THE SOURCE AFTER MR. TARICANI HAD BEEN HELD IN CONTEMPT AND BECAUSE OF HIS REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH THE COURT'S ORDER, I THINK RESTITUTION WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. BUT IN THIS CASE THE FACT IS THAT ALL OF THE EXPENSES INCURRED AFTER MR. TARICANI WAS HELD IN CONTEMPT APPEAR TO BE RELATED TO HIS PROSECUTION FOR THAT CONTEMPT. THE EXPENSES INCURRED IN TRYING TO TRACK DOWN THE SOURCE BY OTHER MEANS WERE INCURRED BEFORE MR. TARICANI WAS HELD IN CONTEMPT, AND EVEN THOUGH THOSE EFFORTS WERE MADE IN AN EFFORT TO AVOID HAVING TO ASK HIM FOR HIS SOURCE, I DON'T BELIEVE THAT RESTITUTION IS PROPER. SO I'M NOT GOING TO ORDER RESTITUTION. NOW, THE DIFFICULT THING IN THIS CASE IS, AND WHAT THE COURT'S DECISION COMES DOWN TO IS MR. TARICANI'S HEALTH. EXCEPT FOR HIS HEALTH AND HIS HISTORY AND GOOD RECORD, ALL OF THE FACTORS ENUMERATED IN THE STATUTE WOULD CALL FOR A MEANINGFUL PRISON SENTENCE. SO THE QUESTION HERE IS WHETHER IMPRISONMENT WOULD POSE A RISK TO MR. TARICANI'S LIFE OR HEALTH THAT IS REAL ENOUGH AND SERIOUS ENOUGH TO WARRANT SOME KIND OF AN ALTERNATIVE SENTENCE. AND VERY FRANKLY ONE OF THE REASONS, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I FIND MOST DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH IN ATTEMPTING TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IS THAT MR. TARICANI FACES IMPRISONMENT BECAUSE OF A SERIES OF CONSCIOUS DECISIONS THAT HE VOLUNTARILY MADE WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE POTENTIAL RISKS TO HIS HEALTH, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, HE'S ASKING THE COURT TO MITIGATE THE SENTENCE BECAUSE OF THE RISKS THAT HE CONSCIOUSLY AND VOLUNTARILY ASSUMED. HE CHOSE TO PROMISE CONFIDENTIALITY TO MR. BEVILACQUA KNOWING THAT IN PROVIDING THE TAPE, MR. BEVILACQUA WAS VIOLATING A PROTECTIVE ORDER DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE PARTIES RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL. HE CHOSE, HE AND THE STATION CHOSE TO BROADCAST THE TAPE TO PROSPECTIVE JURORS AFTER HAVING AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBLE RAMIFICATIONS, CONSULTING WITH COUNSEL, AND I HAVE TO THINK RECOGNIZING THE VERY REAL POSSIBILITY THAT ONCE THE TAPE WAS AIRED, A COURT MIGHT VERY WELL ORDER HIM TO IDENTIFY THE PERSON WHO PROVIDED THE TAPE. AFTER BEING HELD IN CIVIL CONTEMPT, MR. TARICANI MADE THE DECISION NOT TO AVAIL HIMSELF OF ANY OF THE MANY OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE COURT AFFORDED HIM TO PURGE HIMSELF OF THAT CONTEMPT, EVEN AFTER THE COURT WARNED HIM THAT HE COULD FACE IMPRISONMENT FOR CRIMINAL CONTEMPT, AND THAT IF THAT HAPPENED, IF HE WAS CONVICTED OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT, IT WOULD BE TOO LATE TO PURGE HIMSELF. AND HE MADE ALL OF THESE DECISIONS WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE STATE OF HIS HEALTH AND THE RISKS THAT IMPRISONMENT MIGHT POSE, AND HE DECIDED TO ASSUME THOSE RISKS. SO, IN ESSENCE, MR. TARICANI IS NOW ASKING THIS COURT TO SHOW MORE CONCERN FOR AND REGARD FOR HIS HEALTH THAN HE HIMSELF HAS SHOWN, AND VERY CANDIDLY, THAT'S SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW. BUT I ATTRIBUTE THAT MORE TO THE FACT THAT MR. TARICANI IS A RISK-TAKER THAN TO AN INDICATION THAT HE DOESN'T BELIEVE THAT IMPRISONMENT WOULD PRESENT AS GREAT A RISK TO HIS HEALTH AS HAS BEEN PORTRAYED HERE, AND I RECOGNIZE THAT I HAVE TO PUT ASIDE THE FEELINGS OF BEING UNFAIRLY PUT IN THIS POSITION OF HAVING TO BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT MR. TARICANI'S HEALTH THAN HE HAS INDICATED HE IS, AND I'VE GOT TO IMPOSE A SENTENCE THAT IS SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE PUNISHMENT FOR THE OFFENSE BUT DOES NOT HAVE THE UNINTENDED OR UNWARRANTED CONSEQUENCE OF ENDANGERING MR. TARICANI'S LIFE OR HEALTH. AND I'VE TRIED VERY HARD TO DO THAT. I'VE AGONIZED LONG AND HARD OVER THIS. AND I'VE LOOKED AT THE FACTS THAT BEAR ON THIS QUESTION, AND THEY SEEM TO POINT IN TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. ON THE ONE HAND, AS I'VE PREVIOUSLY OBSERVED, MR. TARICANI LEADS AN ACTIVE LIFE. HE VIGOROUSLY PURSUES HIS PROFESSION. HE HAS TRAVELED ABROAD RECENTLY, AND HE HAS TRAVELED AT LEAST TO NEW YORK RECENTLY TO BE ON THE TODAY SHOW. THE BUREAU OF PRISONS HAS INDICATED THAT IT CAN PROVIDE PROPER CARE. I KNOW THAT THEY HAVE FIRST-RATE MEDICAL FACILITIES, I'VE TOURED DEVENS, AND I'VE SEEN FIRSTHAND THAT THEY RUN A FIRST-RATE OPERATION. SO WE HAVE THOSE FACTORS ON ONE SIDE OF THE EQUATION. ON THE OTHER SIDE WE HAVE BASICALLY THE AFFIDAVITS OF TWO OF MR. TARICANI'S DOCTORS, BOTH OF WHOM ARE HIGHLY-QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS. AND I THINK MR. MURPHY PRETTY ACCURATELY SUMMARIZED THE IMPORTANT POINTS THAT WERE MADE IN THOSE AFFIDAVITS. MR. TARICANI IS A HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT, HE'S SUFFERING FROM A REDUCED KIDNEY FUNCTION AS A RESULT OF HIS PRIOR HEART PROBLEMS. HE HAS SEVERE HYPERTENSION, WHICH IS A SIDE EFFECT OF THE MEDICATIONS THAT HE IS TAKING. HE'S ON A REGIMEN OF MEDICATIONS THAT MUST BE TAKEN ACCORDING TO A STRICT SCHEDULE AND CANNOT TAKE GENERIC SUBSTITUTES. THAT AS A RESULT OF THE IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT MEDICATION THAT HE'S BEING GIVEN TO PREVENT REJECTION, HE'S UNUSUALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO INFECTION, WHICH IN HIS CASE COULD BE LIFE-THREATENING. HIS CONDITION REQUIRES NUMEROUS PRECAUTIONS TO AVOID BEING EXPOSED TO ANY TRANSMISSIBLE DISEASES. THOSE ARE ENUMERATED IN THE AFFIDAVIT OF ONE OF THE DOCTORS. THEY INCLUDE AVOIDING CONTACT WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE COLDS, FLU OR THE COMMON VIRUSES, NOT TO SHARE PLATES, GLASSES, CUPS OR SOAP WITH OTHERS, NOT TO USE GROUP SHOWERS, TO AVOID POORLY-VENTILATED AREAS, TO AVOID PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO COLD TEMPERATURES, AND, PERHAPS, MOST OVERREACHING OF ALL, TO LIVE IN A FAIRLY GERM-FREE ENVIRONMENT, A SANITARY ENVIRONMENT. THEY ALSO INDICATE THAT MR. TARICANI'S CONDITION REQUIRES CLOSE MONITORING AND SUPERVISION BY SPECIALISTS IN CARDIAC TRANSPLANT MEDICINE, AND PREFERABLY THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH HIS CONDITION, AND THERE'S SOME QUESTION, DESPITE THE EXCELLENT FACILITIES AT THE BUREAU OF PRISONS AND THEIR WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL CENTER, WHETHER THAT CONDITION COULD BE SATISFIED, OR AT LEAST WHETHER MR. TARICANI COULD GET THAT TYPE OF MEDICAL CARE ON VERY SHORT NOTICE AND CERTAINLY BY PHYSICIANS FAMILIAR WITH HIS CONDITION. THE DOCTORS ALSO INDICATE THAT THE STRESS OF IMPRISONMENT COULD ALTER WHAT THEY DESCRIBE AS THE DELICATE BALANCE THAT THEY BELIEVE THEY HAVE ACHIEVED BETWEEN THE SUPPRESSION OF ANY TENDENCY OF HIS BODY TO REJECT THE TRANSPLANTED HEART AND HIS ABILITY TO FIGHT INFECTION. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT I'M REASONABLY CONFIDENT THAT THE BUREAU OF PRISONS COULD PROVIDE APPROPRIATE CARE, BUT I'M NOT SURE ENOUGH THAT I WANT TO SUBJECT YOU, MR. TARICANI, TO THE RISK TO YOUR HEALTH OR LIFE, THAT THEY MAY BE JEOPARDIZED BY IMPRISONING YOU. AND APPARENTLY THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR AGREES BASED ON HIS RECOMMENDATION. SO, THEREFORE, INSTEAD OF PLACING YOU IN PRISON, I'M GOING TO SENTENCE YOU TO SIX MONTHS OF HOME CONFINEMENT WITH VERY STRICT CONDITIONS DESIGNED TO MIRROR AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE THE CONDITIONS THAT YOU WOULD BE SUBJECT TO IF YOU WERE INCARCERATED. I DON'T CONSIDER THE RECOMMENDATION MADE BY MR. MURPHY TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR ADEQUATE TO ACHIEVE THE PURPOSES THAT I'VE MENTIONED. AND THE ONLY REASON THAT THE PRISON SENTENCE IS NOT BEING IMPOSED IS OUT OF CONCERN FOR YOUR HEALTH. YOU DON'T DESERVE TO SUFFER ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES TO YOUR HEALTH OR TO HAVE YOUR LIFE JEOPARDIZED. I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT, IF I HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO, THAT HOME CONFINEMENT IN THIS CASE IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INCARCERATION. IT'S NOT A STEP DOWN THE ROAD TO REHABILITATION, YOU DON'T NEED ANY REHABILITATION. THE POINT HERE IS TO IMPOSE A PENALTY FOR THE CONDUCT IN WHICH YOU'VE ENGAGED. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO ENUMERATE EVERY CONDITION NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE THAT OBJECTIVE. I WILL IN A FEW MOMENTS STATE SOME OF THE CONDITIONS THAT READILY OCCUR, MANY OF WHICH, I MIGHT ADD, ARE TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE RULES AND REGULATIONS IN PLACE AT DEVENS, THE INSTITUTION TO WHICH YOU MOST LIKELY WOULD HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED. IF YOU VIOLATE ANY OF THOSE CONDITIONS OR ANY OTHER CONDITIONS OF YOUR PROBATION OR HOME CONFINEMENT, YOU COULD, AND I ASSURE YOU THAT YOU WILL BE INCARCERATED. I HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT AT THIS POINT. THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH CONSIDERATION THAT THE COURT CAN EXTEND AND SO MUCH CONCERN THAT THE COURT CAN HAVE FOR YOUR CONDITION IF YOU DON'T SHARE THAT CONCERN. I'M SURE THAT IF YOU ARE INCLINED TO REWARD THE LENIENCY THAT IS BEING SHOWN BY CONDUCTING YOURSELF IN A WAY THAT CIRCUMVENTS THE PURPOSE THAT I HAVE STATED WITHOUT TECHNICALLY VIOLATING THE CONDITIONS I'M ABOUT TO DESCRIBE, I'M SURE YOU COULD DO THAT WITH THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU. THERE'S NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT YOU COULD PROBABLY DO THAT. I HOPE AND EXPECT THAT YOU WON'T. FIRST OF ALL, BECAUSE I HOPE YOU'RE NOT THAT TYPE OF A PERSON, AND SECONDLY, BECAUSE AN INDIVIDUAL WHO TREADS TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF A CLIFF RUNS THE RISK THAT THEY MIGHT FALL OVER. SO, TECHNICALLY, I GUESS THE WAY TO PUT THIS IS THAT I HEREBY -- WOULD YOU STAND UP, PLEASE, MR. TARICANI, WHILE I IMPOSE THE SENTENCE -- I HEREBY SENTENCE YOU TO A PERIOD OF PROBATION FOR SIX MONTHS ON THE CONDITION THAT YOU SPEND THE SIX MONTHS IN HOME CONFINEMENT WITH THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL CONDITIONS: FIRST OF ALL, YOU MAY NOT LEAVE YOUR HOME FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER OTHER THAN TO SEEK AND OBTAIN MEDICAL CARE AND TREATMENT. AND BEFORE LEAVING FOR THAT PURPOSE, YOU MUST CLEAR IT WITH YOUR PROBATION OFFICER UNLESS IT'S AN EMERGENCY SITUATION. IF IT'S AN EMERGENCY AND YOU CAN'T DO THAT, THAT'S UNDERSTANDABLE, BUT YOU ARE TO NOTIFY THE PROBATION OFFICER AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE AFTER DOING THAT. FURTHER CONDITION IS THAT YOU MAY NOT ENGAGE IN ANY BUSINESS OR PROFESSION DURING THE TIME OF YOUR HOME CONFINEMENT. YOU MAY NOT HAVE ANY INTERNET ACCESS, JUST AS INDIVIDUALS IN PRISON MAY NOT HAVE ANY INTERNET ACCESS. YOU MAY NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY APPEARANCES ON RADIO OR TELEVISION. AND YOU MAY NOT HAVE VISITORS EXCEPT DURING THE HOURS OF 2 TO 4 IN THE AFTERNOON AND 6 TO 8 IN THE EVENING. NOW, JUST AS PRISONS PROVIDE INMATES WITH AN INCENTIVE NOT TO GET TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF A CLIFF BY GIVING THEM GOOD TIME CREDIT, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU AN INCENTIVE TO ADHERE TO BOTH THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT OF THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR HOME CONFINEMENT BY INVITING YOU TO PETITION THE COURT FOR EARLY TERMINATION OF YOUR HOME CONFINEMENT, IF AFTER FOUR MONTHS HAVE GONE BY, YOU HAVE CONDUCTED YOURSELF IN THE MANNER I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DESCRIBE, BOTH BY STATING THE PURPOSE OF THE HOME CONFINEMENT AND DESCRIBING THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR HOME CONFINEMENT. IF YOU'VE DONE THAT, I INVITE YOU TO PETITION AT THAT TIME FOR EARLY TERMINATION. IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THAT, YOU CAN PETITION, I GUESS, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE A WASTE OF TIME. YOU MAY BE SEATED, MR. TARICANI. DO COUNSEL HAVE ANYTHING FURTHER? DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING FURTHER, MR. DESISTO? MR. DESISTO: I DO NOT. MR. MURPHY: AS TO THE DATE OF COMMENCEMENT, YOUR HONOR? THE COURT: RIGHT NOW. AS OF TODAY. COURT WILL BE ADJOURNED. I NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT THE HOME CONFINEMENT WILL BE WITH ELECTRONIC MONITORING. THERE MAY BE SOME PROBLEMS, SINCE I UNDERSTAND YOU HAVE A PACEMAKER, MR. TARICANI, I DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF A PROBLEM THAT CREATES WITH THE ELECTRONIC MONITORING, BUT I'M SURE IT CAN BE WORKED OUT. MR. WEINER WILL WORK WITH YOU. MR. TARICANI, IT WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT I NEGLECTED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO APPEAL YOUR CONVICTION AND YOUR SENTENCE. IF YOU DO WISH TO APPEAL, YOU MUST FILE YOUR NOTICE OF APPEAL WITHIN TEN DAYS. COURT WILL BE IN RECESS. (ADJOURNED 4:45 P.M.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, ANGELA M. GALLOGLY, RPR-FCRR, DO HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING PAGES ARE A TRUE AND ACCURATE TRANSCRIPTION OF MY STENOGRAPHIC NOTES IN THE ABOVE-ENTITLED CASE. ANGELA M. GALLOGLY, RPR-FCRR Original available here: http://www.rid.uscourts.gov/PDFS/transcripts/12092004_1-01MSC0047T_Sentencing.pdf http://www.projo.com/extra/2004/taricani/torresmyths.pdf -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 12 04:44:34 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 12 04:47:03 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: [Orthodox_Re-Forum] U.S. Communists praise ACLU] Message-ID: <1102844674.3020.1108.camel@localhost.localdomain> -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Teresa A. Polychronis" Subject: [Orthodox_Re-Forum] U.S. Communists praise ACLU Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 21:43:22 -0500 Size: 6022 Url: http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041212/6bc64e72/attachment.eml From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 12 04:44:21 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 12 04:47:04 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: [Orthodox_Re-Forum] Wife of Coptic priest still held hostage] Message-ID: <1102844661.3020.1107.camel@localhost.localdomain> -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Teresa A. Polychronis" Subject: [Orthodox_Re-Forum] Wife of Coptic priest still held hostage Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 22:05:00 -0500 Size: 8514 Url: http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041212/3fb1df11/attachment.eml From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 12 04:55:19 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 12 04:56:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] nader Message-ID: <1102845319.3020.1113.camel@localhost.localdomain> http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/nader.php From prather.js at verizon.net Sun Dec 12 08:36:27 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sun Dec 12 08:38:36 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041212133628.YXPU12052.out002.verizon.net@localhost> On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:20:44 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: >So he writes >back to me, "Very good, I'm Scotch-Irish myself." to which I reply >"Well, *that* explains an awful lot, huh? " He will rue the day >he ever shared that tidbit of info with ME! Ha! Well, exactly how do you determine *what* you are after your ancestors have been over here since the 1600s? My paternal lineage is purely English and may go back to Roman antecedents, but my maternal line is mostly Scots-Irish with a little German thrown in. And I know that my paternal side is also mixed in with Scots-Irish (how about Thornton for a Scots-Irish name! -- paternal grandmother). We Americans are all mongrels and proud of it! As far as the reference to the Civil War in the review goes, it was pretty easy for the slave owners to get the Scots-Irish to join the Confederacy whole heartedly. All they had to say was that the Yankees are invading (which they were), and that got the Scots-Irish to volunteer in droves. Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 12 14:23:18 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 12 14:24:23 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Kerry's lesons of Vietnam Message-ID: <1102879398.3020.1139.camel@localhost.localdomain> http://www.sacredcowburgers.com/fresh/showpics.cgi?kerrys_vietnam_lessons From spmaiorca at cox.net Sun Dec 12 14:41:22 2004 From: spmaiorca at cox.net (S.P. maiorca) Date: Sun Dec 12 14:43:11 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] How the war bemifeted Afganistan Message-ID: <1102880481.3020.1143.camel@localhost.localdomain> Miss America vs. Miss Afganistan Read Title: Miss Afganistan vs. Miss USA Read Author: Via Email On the left is Katie Harmon, Miss America, wearing the swimsuit she chose for the competition. On the right is a typical Afghan girl, wearing the heavy smothering burqua as required by the oppressive Taliban regime. Miss America is a junior at Portland State University, hoping to eventually get a Master's degree in Bioethics. Miss Afghanistan is forbidden from receiving any education at all, and cannot read or write. Miss America has worked as a lab assistant at both the Oregon Health Sciences University and the University of Puget Sound. Miss Afghanistan is forbidden from working. Miss America's father is an engineer. Her mother is a teacher. Miss Afghanistan's father was shot by a gang of Taliban militants. Her mother begs for bread scraps since she cannot work or remarry. Miss America wowed the judges by singing a Puccini aria, "O Mio Babbino Caro". Miss Afghanistan is forbidden from singing or even listening to music of any kind. Miss America will be traveling the nation nonstop during her reign. Miss Afghanistan cannot leave her house without a male family member, cannot drive, and cannot be out after dark. Miss America is an advocate for breast cancer research. Miss Afghanistan cannot be treated by a male doctor, and for all practical purposes has no access to medical treatment of any kind. Miss America can date, marry, or divorce anyone she chooses. Miss Afghanistan will be stoned to death if caught in the company of a male outside of her family. She is likely to be sold into an arranged marriage to a man who already has two wives. Miss America wears sunscreen on the beach to keep from burning. Miss Afghanistan cannot live in a house with windows unless they are painted black. Since she must wear a burqua outside, her pale translucent skin has not seen a ray of sunlight in years. Miss America could have been disqualified if her swimsuit did not meet pageant standards. Miss Afghanistan can be flogged if the holes in the mesh covering her face are too large. Miss America will decide how many children, if any, she wants to have. Miss Afghanistan will be pregnant 3-4 times more often than Miss America. Unfortunately, her babies are 25 times more likely to die in the first year. One out of four will not see their 5th birthday. Miss America is majoring in speech communications at PSU. Miss Afghanistan is forbidden from speaking in public. Miss America is 21. Since the U.S. life expectancy for women is 80, she's still a very young woman. Miss Afghanistan is also 21. But since the life expectancy for an Afghan woman is 43, next year she will be "over-the-hill". (Besides having a shockingly short life expectancy overall, Afghanistan is one of the only countries in the world in which women have a shorter life expectancy than men) Miss America is a beautiful, intelligent woman and everyone knows it. Miss Afghanistan could be a beautiful, intelligent woman, ... but nobody will ever know it. God Bless Miss America God Help Miss Afghanistan... From gsjenkins at longview.net Sun Dec 12 10:49:39 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Sun Dec 12 21:10:48 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Old Timer's Prayer] In-Reply-To: <20041210213638.HWBW1657.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> References: <20041210213638.HWBW1657.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> Message-ID: <200412120949.39991.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Friday 10 December 2004 03:36 pm, Stan Klein, Sr. wrote: > > Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every > > subject and on every occasion. I knew we were all alike on this list. -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From gsjenkins at longview.net Sun Dec 12 11:26:10 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Sun Dec 12 21:10:50 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200412121026.10286.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Saturday 11 December 2004 04:07 pm, Bob Bernstein wrote: > A book review from the current issue, dated 12/27/04, of _National Review_: > > Heart of Valor > > Born Fighting: > How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, > by James Webb (Broadway, 384 pp., $25.95) > MACKUBIN THOMAS OWENS Sounds like a must read. I thought Jerry was posting this at first. I had to check to be sure. -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From sjkleinsr at cox.net Mon Dec 13 06:07:20 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Mon Dec 13 06:10:55 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Old Timer's Prayer] Message-ID: <20041213110720.JQRN1713.lakermmtao09.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> But, I AM an authority on EVERY subject, aren't I ? > > From: Stewart Jenkins > > On Friday 10 December 2004 03:36 pm, Stan Klein, Sr. wrote: > > > Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every > > > subject and on every occasion. > > I knew we were all alike on this list. > Sitting at Santa Nella, CA waiting to make a delivery in Tracy, CA. Stan Klein, Sr. On the road somewhere From dep at linuxandmain.com Mon Dec 13 06:32:15 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Mon Dec 13 06:33:25 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? Message-ID: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> greets. as some of you know, i shall be moving shortly. i am not certain exactly where i'll be moving, but a place i'm looking at is in eastern ohio, a couple miles from the ohio river. decent little cabin and outbuildings and 4.5 acres. pretty. i may go out there next month to scope things out; in the meantime -- anybody know anything about living in ohio in general? strange laws, hidden taxes, that kind of thing? -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Mon Dec 13 08:16:43 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Mon Dec 13 08:18:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: <200412121026.10286.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <20041213131643.GDWM4717.out011.verizon.net@localhost> On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 10:26:10 -0600, Stewart Jenkins wrote: >Sounds like a must read. I thought Jerry was posting this at first. I had to >check to be sure. Ha! I wish my book reports were as well written as this review! Jerry -- Bigot: Someone who still doesn't agree with you after having heard all of your best arguments. -Me, 2004 From mriddle at oasis.novia.net Mon Dec 13 08:49:33 2004 From: mriddle at oasis.novia.net (Mike Riddle) Date: Mon Dec 13 08:55:38 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <200412131349.iBDDncn7012690@oasis.novia.net> On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 06:32:15 -0500, dep wrote: >i may go out there next month to scope things out; in the meantime -- >anybody know anything about living in ohio in general? strange laws, >hidden taxes, that kind of thing? Hanging chads, Kerry Kritters recounting ballots, weird anti-gun attitudes in the state capitol and the major cities, CCW after a court challenge. Sorta like the east coast. "You'll fit right in." ;-) From prather.js at verizon.net Mon Dec 13 18:30:25 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Mon Dec 13 18:33:06 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury Message-ID: <20041213233026.PMXM4287.out008.verizon.net@localhost> I've been watching the media question the three members of the Peterson jury who have elected to speak. First of all, they are all complete fools. I was with the first statement by "Steve" which said, in effect, "We've made our decision, now leave us alone." The rest of it has been both enlightening and disturbing. I found a lot of hate in the responses; it is clear that they hated Scott for the murder once they had (somehow) decided he was guilty. I found no reasonable response as to why the original juror got thrown off the jury. "Pinky" is an absolute joke; multiple kids and no mention of a husband -- classic unwed mother (or so it appeared to me). Again, I have no evidence shown to me (as a rather distant observer) that Scott was or was not guilty. On the other hand, I kind of feel like if he had been found not guilty, there would have been a (physical) lynching. It ain't over until it's over, and the case will be appealed. I don't believe Scott is innocent, but I certainly hope that someone finds some real evidence of his guilt. Any lawyerly opinions??? Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From mriddle at oasis.novia.net Mon Dec 13 18:57:55 2004 From: mriddle at oasis.novia.net (Mike Riddle) Date: Mon Dec 13 18:58:48 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury In-Reply-To: <20041213233026.PMXM4287.out008.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <200412132357.iBDNvtw5025505@oasis.novia.net> On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:30:25 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: >It ain't over until it's over, and the case will be appealed. >I don't believe Scott is innocent, but I certainly hope that >someone finds some real evidence of his guilt. >Any lawyerly opinions??? It ain't over until it's over. I haven't seen the jury instructions, but they're *always* fair game. There better be a good explanation for dismissing the doctor/lawyer from the jury. That one, in particular, seems to stink. From kari.m.jackson at verizon.net Mon Dec 13 19:32:05 2004 From: kari.m.jackson at verizon.net (Kari Jackson) Date: Mon Dec 13 19:30:51 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <41BE3485.3070500@verizon.net> You are kidding, right? I lived in Ohio from 9 mos. of age until I made the worst mistake of my life moving to Omaha, 8 years before I did the most sensible thing of my life moving to New York. I can't believe you're going to go right where I came from. We're trading places. I'm sorry I don't have answers for your questions though. I wasn't old enough to care about laws and taxes when I left there. dep wrote: > anybody know anything about living in ohio in general? strange laws, > hidden taxes, that kind of thing? -- Kari Jackson White Plains, NY From mriddle at oasis.novia.net Mon Dec 13 21:07:09 2004 From: mriddle at oasis.novia.net (Mike Riddle) Date: Mon Dec 13 21:08:55 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <41BE3485.3070500@verizon.net> Message-ID: <200412140207.iBE27AP5023063@oasis.novia.net> On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:32:05 -0500, Kari Jackson wrote: >You are kidding, right? I lived in Ohio from 9 mos. of age until I made >the worst mistake of my life moving to Omaha, 8 years before I did the >most sensible thing of my life moving to New York. I can't believe >you're going to go right where I came from. We're trading places. >I'm sorry I don't have answers for your questions though. I wasn't old >enough to care about laws and taxes when I left there. You didn't like Omaha! Just re-rent "About Schmidt" and ask yourself, "Don't I really miss Omaha?" ;-) From dep at linuxandmain.com Mon Dec 13 21:52:13 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Mon Dec 13 21:59:42 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412131349.iBDDncn7012690@oasis.novia.net> References: <200412131349.iBDDncn7012690@oasis.novia.net> Message-ID: <200412132152.13969.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Mike Riddle: | Hanging chads, Kerry Kritters recounting ballots, weird anti-gun | attitudes in the state capitol and the major cities, CCW after a | court challenge. i think it might be all right. down by pomeroy. lot of hatfields. the cities think that the walls are to keep the country folk out, but the country folk see it another way. looking at a pretty place with a couple of outbuildings and room to do stuff, on a dead-end road that has three other places on it. walnut and hickory and land good for pasture or growing stuff. and the people i know there are all shooters. no sailing, but my having gotten married put short work to my sailing anyway, so i'm used to it. and i'll be able to grow a lot of food, which isn't all that easy way up here. also, water out of the ground there tends to be potable, unless you hit a vein of coal. then you can use it to heat the house. least, that's how i figure. so many things seem to be coming together to suggest that this would be a good place for me. it's near the river, and i used to spend my summers as a kid in cannelton, indiana, on the ohio. the place is halfway to everywhere. and i just now picked up my little guitar for the first time in months, and played better than i had in a year. and i can prob'ly afford it. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Tue Dec 14 08:19:55 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Tue Dec 14 08:20:55 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412132152.13969.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <20041214131956.XEUP7873.out006.verizon.net@localhost> On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:52:13 -0500, dep wrote: >and i can prob'ly afford it. Ahh! The key element! Well, it sounds like it would suit your needs, so go for it and best of luck. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Tue Dec 14 17:04:10 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Tue Dec 14 17:07:19 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: <20041212133628.YXPU12052.out002.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041212133628.YXPU12052.out002.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: Catching up... On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 08:36:27 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: > On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:20:44 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: > > >So he writes > >back to me, "Very good, I'm Scotch-Irish myself." to which I reply > >"Well, *that* explains an awful lot, huh? " He will rue the day > >he ever shared that tidbit of info with ME! Ha! > > Well, exactly how do you determine *what* you are after your > ancestors have been over here since the 1600s? I think Webb's reviewer addresses this: "It is important to recognize that we are talking about culture here and not "blood": Scots-Irish culture is so populist and assimilative that other ethnic groups have gravitated toward it. That's how it has become, arguably, America's strongest cultural force." > As far as the reference to the Civil War in the review goes, it > was pretty easy for the slave owners to get the Scots-Irish to > join the Confederacy whole heartedly. All they had to say was > that the Yankees are invading (which they were), and that got > the Scots-Irish to volunteer in droves. Which makes all the more remarkable the Scots-Irish *exception* to that rule to which our attention is called: "They [the Scots-Irish] formed the core of the Confederate armies that struggled against the odds for four long and costly years. But the impact of the Scots-Irish did not stop here. They also provided the bulk of Union soldiers in the Western armies ? Hoosiers, Buckeyes, and other "butternuts" from the Northwest, as well as Unionist groups in east Tennessee, western Virginia, northern Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana that resisted central Confederate authority just as assiduously as they had federal." Hence my comment about Unionists -- and Scots-Irish ones to boot -- from northern Alabama; who knew? -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From prather.js at verizon.net Tue Dec 14 19:31:17 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Tue Dec 14 19:33:07 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041215003116.HNWK10436.out012.verizon.net@localhost> On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:04:10 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: >Hence my comment about Unionists -- and Scots-Irish ones to boot -- >from northern Alabama; who knew? Hatfields? McCoys? Sound Scots-Irish to me. Same bunch from the same general area that Cornwallis ran into at Cowpens and King's Mountain. It's also noted that the reviewer is referring to the Mid-West and mountain Scots-Irish and not the new potato-famine Irish that had flooded the northeast. They were the frequent target/victim (what's the right word here) of the buy-out draft system that the North was running. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From dep at linuxandmain.com Tue Dec 14 20:17:27 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Tue Dec 14 20:17:17 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: <20041215003116.HNWK10436.out012.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041215003116.HNWK10436.out012.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <200412142017.27053.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Jerry Prather: | On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:04:10 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: | >Hence my comment about Unionists -- and Scots-Irish ones to boot -- | >from northern Alabama; who knew? | | Hatfields? McCoys? Sound Scots-Irish to me. Same bunch | from the same general area that Cornwallis ran into at Cowpens | and King's Mountain. wasn't it dan morgan's boys, under nathaniel greene from up north, who beat tarleton at the cowpens? i think that the bulk of the continentals there were northerners. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Tue Dec 14 21:10:11 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Tue Dec 14 21:11:08 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" In-Reply-To: <200412142017.27053.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <20041215021012.HPQP4717.out011.verizon.net@localhost> On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:17:27 -0500, dep wrote: >wasn't it dan morgan's boys, under nathaniel greene from up north, who >beat tarleton at the cowpens? i think that the bulk of the continentals >there were northerners. If I remember correctly, Dan Morgan was a mountain man from either North Carolina or Tennessee (nobody knew exactly where the border was because it didn't really exist until later). He was the primary guy at King's Mountain, which actually only involved a small number of combatants. Cowpens was a much larger action which involved the Continental army, reinforced by the local militias. Greene was certainly from the north, but I'm not at all certain that troops were. Mike has studied Cowpens in detail and maybe he can tell us where the Continental troops were from. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From MSPRATH at aol.com Wed Dec 15 00:35:12 2004 From: MSPRATH at aol.com (MSPRATH@aol.com) Date: Wed Dec 15 00:37:44 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" Message-ID: <111.3f771ee6.2ef12710@aol.com> OK. Since I've been called out, I'll weigh in. I couldn't remember for sure, but a quick internet search confirmed what I thought I remembered. See excerpt from the link below: _http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/cowpens/page4.html_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/cowpens/page4.html) "About two hours before daybreak on January 17, 1781, a scout brought news to General Morgan that British _Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/tarleton.html) was about five miles away. Morgan immediately ordered reveille. He gave his men a chance to eat breakfast before deploying his forces, which numbered about 1,000 on this day. Morgan placed 120 chosen Georgia and North Carolina sharpshooters in trees to pick off British officers and act as a skirmishing line. About 150 yards behind them, Morgan placed 300 North and South Carolina and Georgia militia under the command of _Andrew Pickens_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/pickens.html) . 100 riflemen from Virginia protected Pickens' right. The main body of General Morgan's force was stationed on a rise 150 yards beyond the militia and 300 yards beyond the sharpshooters. There Morgan placed 280 Maryland and Delaware Continental regulars under Lt. Colonel John Eager Howard. They were joined by 200 Virginia militia, who had previously served as regulars. Behind the rise down in a small swale, _Lt. Colonel William Washington_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/washw.html) and his eighty cavalry joined by forty-five volunteers waited as reserves. " Daniel Morgan was from western Virginia (but, precise location and date of birth were unknown). Given that Virginia covered such a large area he probably was from what today is Kentucky. At Cowpens he was in command while the rest of the Continentals were to the east with Greene somewhere between the NC border and Camden. All of Greene's Continental Regulars (including Morgan's) were from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. All of the militia were obviously from the local area. So, if you consider Maryland and Delaware as "northern" as most people today do, then yes the Continentals were northern. But, during the Revolution they were certainly much more "southern" in the grand scheme of things than those places are considered today. Also, they were slave states that didn't secede in 1861. Regarding the militia at Greene and Morgan's disposal, they were definitely southern and probably mostly Scots-Irish. Interestingly, Greene used basically the same game plan for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse two months later. Put the militia out front and back them up with Continentals. Although Cornwallis carried the field he lost so many troops that his army was spent. Great discussion. I'm definitely going to have to go get the book. Mike Prather In a message dated 12/14/2004 4:14:46 P.M. Hawaiian Standard Time, prather.js@verizon.net writes: On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:17:27 -0500, dep wrote: >wasn't it dan morgan's boys, under nathaniel greene from up north, who >beat tarleton at the cowpens? i think that the bulk of the continentals >there were northerners. If I remember correctly, Dan Morgan was a mountain man from either North Carolina or Tennessee (nobody knew exactly where the border was because it didn't really exist until later). He was the primary guy at King's Mountain, which actually only involved a small number of combatants. Cowpens was a much larger action which involved the Continental army, reinforced by the local militias. Greene was certainly from the north, but I'm not at all certain that troops were. Mike has studied Cowpens in detail and maybe he can tell us where the Continental troops were from. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. _______________________________________________ os2-right-stuff-l mailing list os2-right-stuff-l@jtan.com http://mailman.jtan.com/mailman/listinfo/os2-right-stuff-l From dep at linuxandmain.com Wed Dec 15 05:45:34 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Wed Dec 15 05:46:28 2004 Subject: Fwd: Re: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" Message-ID: <200412150545.34069.dep@linuxandmain.com> not sure if this made it to the list, so i'm forwarding it as well. ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Re: [os2-right-stuff-l] "nobody is going to get their guns" Date: Wednesday 15 December 2004 12:35 am From: MSPRATH@aol.com To: prather.js@verizon.net, dep@linuxandmain.com, os2-right-stuff-l@jtan.com OK. Since I've been called out, I'll weigh in. I couldn't remember for sure, but a quick internet search confirmed what I thought I remembered. See excerpt from the link below: _http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/cowpens/page4.html_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/cowpens/page4.html) "About two hours before daybreak on January 17, 1781, a scout brought news to General Morgan that British _Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/tarleton.html) was about five miles away. Morgan immediately ordered reveille. He gave his men a chance to eat breakfast before deploying his forces, which numbered about 1,000 on this day. Morgan placed 120 chosen Georgia and North Carolina sharpshooters in trees to pick off British officers and act as a skirmishing line. About 150 yards behind them, Morgan placed 300 North and South Carolina and Georgia militia under the command of _Andrew Pickens_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/pickens.html) . 100 riflemen from Virginia protected Pickens' right. The main body of General Morgan's force was stationed on a rise 150 yards beyond the militia and 300 yards beyond the sharpshooters. There Morgan placed 280 Maryland and Delaware Continental regulars under Lt. Colonel John Eager Howard. They were joined by 200 Virginia militia, who had previously served as regulars. Behind the rise down in a small swale, _Lt. Colonel William Washington_ (http://www.patriotresource.com/people/washw.html) and his eighty cavalry joined by forty-five volunteers waited as reserves. " Daniel Morgan was from western Virginia (but, precise location and date of birth were unknown). Given that Virginia covered such a large area he probably was from what today is Kentucky. At Cowpens he was in command while the rest of the Continentals were to the east with Greene somewhere between the NC border and Camden. All of Greene's Continental Regulars (including Morgan's) were from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. All of the militia were obviously from the local area. So, if you consider Maryland and Delaware as "northern" as most people today do, then yes the Continentals were northern. But, during the Revolution they were certainly much more "southern" in the grand scheme of things than those places are considered today. Also, they were slave states that didn't secede in 1861. Regarding the militia at Greene and Morgan's disposal, they were definitely southern and probably mostly Scots-Irish. Interestingly, Greene used basically the same game plan for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse two months later. Put the militia out front and back them up with Continentals. Although Cornwallis carried the field he lost so many troops that his army was spent. Great discussion. I'm definitely going to have to go get the book. Mike Prather In a message dated 12/14/2004 4:14:46 P.M. Hawaiian Standard Time, prather.js@verizon.net writes: On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:17:27 -0500, dep wrote: >wasn't it dan morgan's boys, under nathaniel greene from up north, > who beat tarleton at the cowpens? i think that the bulk of the > continentals there were northerners. If I remember correctly, Dan Morgan was a mountain man from either North Carolina or Tennessee (nobody knew exactly where the border was because it didn't really exist until later). He was the primary guy at King's Mountain, which actually only involved a small number of combatants. Cowpens was a much larger action which involved the Continental army, reinforced by the local militias. Greene was certainly from the north, but I'm not at all certain that troops were. Mike has studied Cowpens in detail and maybe he can tell us where the Continental troops were from. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From sjkleinsr at cox.net Wed Dec 15 09:06:23 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Wed Dec 15 09:09:23 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: A Christmas card Message-ID: <20041215140626.ZCTE1657.lakermmtao11.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> This is really neat: > > Please click on the following link to see your card. If your e-mail program has not displayed this as a link, then please copy the following into the Address or Location bar of your Internet browser. > > http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=DP13601862 > > Alternatively, please visit www.jacquielawson.com and select the Pick Up Card option in the menu. Then enter your card code, which is: > > DP13601862 > > If you have any problem at all viewing your card, please click here: > > http://www.jacquielawson.com/help_1.asp > > Our ref: JLM131931-CS / DP13601862 > Taking a load from West Sacramento, CA to Everett, WA Stan Klein, Sr. Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. From gsjenkins at longview.net Wed Dec 15 04:31:41 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Wed Dec 15 10:05:48 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <200412150331.41591.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Monday 13 December 2004 05:32 am, dep wrote: > greets. > > as some of you know, i shall be moving shortly. i am not certain exactly > where i'll be moving, but a place i'm looking at is in eastern ohio, a > couple miles from the ohio river. decent little cabin and outbuildings > and 4.5 acres. pretty. > > i may go out there next month to scope things out; in the meantime -- > anybody know anything about living in ohio in general? strange laws, > hidden taxes, that kind of thing? Now wait just a darn minute. You're moving and I didn't even HEAR a consideration of God's Country, Texas. Carry a gun, freeze in the winter (20 something right now, likely to be 70 tomorrow) bake in the summer. Rarely have snow. Bush is from here. No state income tax. All the industries of the world, from chemical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, electronic, chip manufacturing, oil, shipping. One of the most liberal Universities in America (University of Texas), one of the most conservative (Texas A&M whooooop!), military, navy, geosciences, mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, immigrants, nudist beach, islands, ocean, foreign border, trees, land, cows, horses (oops sore subject), rock chucking, integration, biosciences, medical research and more. Just thought I would throw a pitch. -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From prather.js at verizon.net Wed Dec 15 10:14:16 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Wed Dec 15 10:17:15 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412150331.41591.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <20041215151416.NZRG28362.out005.verizon.net@localhost> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 03:31:41 -0600, Stewart Jenkins wrote: >Just thought I would throw a pitch. Whatta screwball... Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From mriddle at oasis.novia.net Wed Dec 15 12:05:54 2004 From: mriddle at oasis.novia.net (Mike Riddle) Date: Wed Dec 15 12:07:13 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412150331.41591.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <200412151705.iBFH5xCw003380@oasis.novia.net> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 03:31:41 -0600, Stewart Jenkins wrote: >Now wait just a darn minute. You're moving and I didn't even HEAR a >consideration of God's Country, Texas. Carry a gun, freeze in the winter >(20 something right now, likely to be 70 tomorrow) bake in the summer. >Rarely have snow. Bush is from here. No state income tax. All the >industries of the world, from chemical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, >electronic, chip manufacturing, oil, shipping. One of the most liberal >Universities in America (University of Texas), one of the most conservative >(Texas A&M whooooop!), military, navy, geosciences, mountains, deserts, >rivers, lakes, immigrants, nudist beach, islands, ocean, foreign border, >trees, land, cows, horses (oops sore subject), rock chucking, integration, >biosciences, medical research and more. Okay, for the Texans out there: "If an infinite number of rednecks riding in an infinite number of pickup trucks fire an infinite number of shotgun rounds at an infinite number of highway signs, will they eventually produce all the worlds greatest literary works in Braille?" From dep at linuxandmain.com Wed Dec 15 12:03:38 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Wed Dec 15 12:31:37 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412150331.41591.gsjenkins@longview.net> References: <200412130632.15484.dep@linuxandmain.com> <200412150331.41591.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <200412151203.39013.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Stewart Jenkins: | Now wait just a darn minute. You're moving and I didn't even HEAR a | consideration of God's Country, Texas. Carry a gun, freeze in | the winter (20 something right now, likely to be 70 tomorrow) bake in | the summer. Rarely have snow. Bush is from here. No state income | tax. All the industries of the world, from chemical, pharmaceutical, | aerospace, electronic, chip manufacturing, oil, shipping. One of the | most liberal Universities in America (University of Texas), one of | the most conservative (Texas A&M whooooop!), military, navy, | geosciences, mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, immigrants, nudist | beach, islands, ocean, foreign border, trees, land, cows, horses | (oops sore subject), rock chucking, integration, biosciences, medical | research and more. if you know of someplace in texas where i can get five good acres with a good house and barn, in a place where it rains enough that i can expect to grow good tomatoes (goodness having more to do with taste than appearance), and where the water tastes good, and prices are low, and the countryside is pretty, and where all this can be had for $100,000 cash money, let me know and i'll very likely take it. need to know pretty soon, though. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From gsjenkins at longview.net Wed Dec 15 04:32:20 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Wed Dec 15 15:35:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412131349.iBDDncn7012690@oasis.novia.net> References: <200412131349.iBDDncn7012690@oasis.novia.net> Message-ID: <200412150332.21194.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Monday 13 December 2004 07:49 am, Mike Riddle wrote: > Hanging chads, Kerry Kritters recounting ballots, weird anti-gun attitudes > in the state capitol and the major cities, CCW after a court challenge. > > Sorta like the east coast. "You'll fit right in." > > ;-) HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From gsjenkins at longview.net Wed Dec 15 04:40:13 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Wed Dec 15 15:35:34 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury In-Reply-To: <20041213233026.PMXM4287.out008.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041213233026.PMXM4287.out008.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <200412150340.13748.gsjenkins@longview.net> On Monday 13 December 2004 05:30 pm, Jerry Prather wrote: > > It ain't over until it's over, and the case will be appealed. > I don't believe Scott is innocent, but I certainly hope that > someone finds some real evidence of his guilt. > > Any lawyerly opinions??? Dammit, I think he did it, but it is a sad state of affairs in this country when you can get the death penalty when there is NO physical evidence that you committed a crime. A liar, a cheat, an adulterer, a lout, uncaring, unemotional, but a murderer. You damn well better prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I think it is bulls... You better well have a Kodak moment or something with my DNA on it to put me to death. This just ain't right. Circumstantial bullcrap. How Mike? -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From dep at linuxandmain.com Wed Dec 15 16:49:26 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Wed Dec 15 16:51:38 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury In-Reply-To: <200412150340.13748.gsjenkins@longview.net> References: <20041213233026.PMXM4287.out008.verizon.net@localhost> <200412150340.13748.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <200412151649.26243.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Stewart Jenkins: | Dammit, I think he did it, but it is a sad state of affairs in this | country when you can get the death penalty when there is NO physical | evidence that you committed a crime. A liar, a cheat, an adulterer, | a lout, uncaring, unemotional, but a murderer. You damn well better | prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I think it is bulls... You | better well have a Kodak moment or something with my DNA on it to put | me to death. This just ain't right. Circumstantial bullcrap. | | How Mike? well, first, i think that there is no lawyer in the land who would take a busload of eyewitnesses over a strong circumstantial case. (when they say on "law & order" that it's "only a circumstantial case," you can open the window and hear the lawyers guffaw, unless you've been successful in clearing them out of your area.) however. let it be noted that they could execute peterson right now if it would make everybody just shut the hell up about this local case that has been the object of nearly two years now of media masturbation. today, the big news on fox was -- i'm not making this up -- "amber frey's father speaks out on death sentence." now, what might have some pertenance would be "amber frey's father speaks out on having raised a whore." wouldn't be all that instructive, in that he clearly does not know how to raise a non-whore, which would be useful information if he possessed it. (or, were he anguished about his his daughter turned out, he might be on one of the argumentary programs with, say, the father of a child who just passed the bar exam, on the pros and cons of having whore offspring. a possibility, anyway.) -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From mriddle at oasis.novia.net Wed Dec 15 17:29:29 2004 From: mriddle at oasis.novia.net (Mike Riddle) Date: Wed Dec 15 17:33:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury In-Reply-To: <200412150340.13748.gsjenkins@longview.net> Message-ID: <200412152229.iBFMTTZY027836@oasis.novia.net> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 03:40:13 -0600, Stewart Jenkins wrote: >Dammit, I think he did it, but it is a sad state of affairs in this country >when you can get the death penalty when there is NO physical evidence that >you committed a crime. A liar, a cheat, an adulterer, a lout, uncaring, >unemotional, but a murderer. You damn well better prove it beyond a >reasonable doubt. I think it is bulls... You better well have a Kodak >moment or something with my DNA on it to put me to death. This just ain't >right. Circumstantial bullcrap. >How Mike? The left coast. Touchy-feely. If he's a cad, he did it. If he weren't guilty the cops wouldn't have arrested him. Corpus delecti (proof of a crime)? I never saw any, just two floaters. Kalifornia--the Land of Fruits and Nuts. ;-( From dep at linuxandmain.com Wed Dec 15 18:04:25 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Wed Dec 15 18:03:27 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the Peterson Jury In-Reply-To: <200412152229.iBFMTTZY027836@oasis.novia.net> References: <200412152229.iBFMTTZY027836@oasis.novia.net> Message-ID: <200412151804.25401.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Mike Riddle: | Kalifornia--the Land of Fruits and Nuts. and flakes. that's why it has so many cereal killers. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From prather.js at verizon.net Thu Dec 16 14:03:02 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Thu Dec 16 14:04:50 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Understanding Engineers Message-ID: <20041216190303.HOET28388.out014.verizon.net@localhost> Gee...I've known people like this. ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== Understanding Engineers - Take One Two engineering students crossing the campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." The first engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit." Understanding Engineers - Take Two To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Understanding Engineers - Take Three A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!" The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him." "Hi George! Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group was silent for a moment. The pastor said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist ! buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them." The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?" Understanding Engineers - Take Four What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers? Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineers build targets. Understanding Engineers - Take Five The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with an Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?" Understanding Engineers - Take Six Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of he human body. One said, "It was a mechanical engineer." Just look at all the joints." Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections." The last one said, "Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?" Understanding Engineers - Take Seven "Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet" Understanding Engineers - Take Eight An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress. The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because the passion and mystery he found there. The engineer said, "I like both." "Both?" "Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done." Understanding Engineers - Take Nine An engineer was crossing a road one-day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want." Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, and that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool." ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From rluchor at yahoo.com Thu Dec 16 15:01:19 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Thu Dec 16 15:04:10 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] anybody here ever live in ohio? In-Reply-To: <200412151203.39013.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <20041216200119.16562.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> --- dep wrote: > > if you know of someplace in texas where i can get five good acres with a > good house and barn, in a place where it rains enough that i can expect > to grow good tomatoes (goodness having more to do with taste than > appearance), and where the water tastes good, and prices are low, and > the countryside is pretty, and where all this can be had for $100,000 > cash money, let me know and i'll very likely take it. need to know > pretty soon, though. You can have all of that right here in Citrus or Marion County Florida. Still rural, lots of horses and the land is still relatively cheap, at least compared to connecticut. Rich ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com From rluchor at yahoo.com Thu Dec 16 15:17:30 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Thu Dec 16 15:19:53 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Iraq Message-ID: <20041216201731.95230.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> > > OOH RAH!!! > > > Irishsendz > J.B. "Irish" Egan > Col USMC [Ret] > Joint ISR Combatant Command Support Officer > DSN 361-2602, Comm 760-763-2602 FAX x4750 Cell 760-822-7866 Pager > 877-670-5308 SCIF 760-763-2591 > Internet: eganjb@i-mef.usmc.mil, began@rayva.org > Siprnet: jegan@imef.usmc.smil.mil > > -----Original Message----- > From:moneil61@socal.rr.com [mailto:moneil61@socal.rr.com] > Sent:Monday, December 06, 2004 5:53 AM > To:moneil61@socal.rr.com > Subject:Marines Of Force Recon Set The Stage In Fallouja > > Los Angeles Times > December 6, 2004 > > Marines Of Force Recon Set The Stage In Fallouja > > By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer > > FALLOUJA, Iraq - Soon, the Marines would be marching forward in Great > War-style formations on a chilly, rainy evening imbued with a sense of the > apocalyptic. But for now, the troops crouched in foxholes gouged from the > desert north > of Fallouja, scanning the fireworks. > > An immense barrage of air and artillery strikes rained down on the rebel-held > > city, and the Marines roared with every blast. Force Recon was at work. > > Almost two days before the battle for Fallouja, the Marines' elite Force > Reconnaissance units had infiltrated the northern periphery of town. They had > dug > into "hide sites" and "shaped" the future battlefield, calling in guerrilla > positions for the spectacular bombardment that preceded the invasion. > > " 'Shaping' the battle is making the enemy do what you want him to do," said > Marine Gunnery Sgt. Ed McDermott, 35, of Force Recon. "You drop bombs on him. > > You make him pull back. You subject him to direct and indirect fire. You cut > off his supply lines." > > The prevailing narrative of the fight for Fallouja was the dominance of > 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops over a spirited but outgunned and outmanned > insurgent > army. > > Little noticed outside Marine circles was the important role of the several > dozen troops of Force Recon, who reported on insurgent positions, spearheaded > > attacks, covered advancing infantrymen and squeezed off sniper rounds at > unsuspecting bands of guerrillas. > > "Force Recon provided us with some tremendous capabilities," said Col. Craig > Tucker, who headed one of the two major battle groups that descended on this > city last month. "I just can't say enough about the job they did." > > The specially trained Marines are similar to Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets > > and Rangers. Their precise role is often shrouded in secrecy, but a group > attached to the 1st Battalion of the 8th Marine Regiment during the battle of > > Fallouja agreed to talk as the fighting raged. > > "We enjoy what we do," said Capt. Jason Schauble, 29, a Force Recon commander > > whose platoon suffered casualty rates of more than 50% during the fight, > though most returned to action. "There's a lot of risks, but we're all > volunteers. > We understand the risks." > > They spoke late at night in this blacked-out and devastated city from their > perch in a darkened fourth-floor apartment that once housed guerrilla gunmen. > > > In one of the rooms, Staff Sgt. Mark Detrick lay on his stomach in classic > sniper position, his rifle balanced on a tripod, its muzzle protruding > through a > punched-out hole in the wall. "They don't have a clue what's coming," Detrick > > said, scanning the ruins of the city to the south, where unseen combatants > were still dug into the rubble and moving about. > > The platoon's push into Fallouja had been difficult. Guerrilla squads of four > > to six fighters attacked from fortified positions in abandoned homes, > alleyways, courtyards and on rooftops. > > "We were shooting in all directions," Schauble said, recalling that first > full day inside Fallouja. "There were enemy coming out, setting up mortars. > There > was enemy firing [rocket-propelled grenades], enemy firing machine guns and > small arms. We shot all day, at different targets." > > Guerrillas in sneakers and track pants scurried from house to house, using > weapons caches pre-positioned in anticipation of the U.S. attack that > everyone > knew was coming. > > At that point in the battle, the unit's task was to support the Marine > riflemen who were advancing into the city. The Force Recon team was watching > the > flanks, where the insurgents, seeking to evade prowling U.S. armored > vehicles, > chose to attack. > > "They found the seam - where we ended up being," Schauble said. > > But Force Recon's role in the battle had begun earlier, when Marines hunkered > > down in the northern periphery of the city. They identified spots where > troops on foot and in vehicles could cross the railroad tracks and pierce > guerrilla > defenses. Then they observed enemy positions. > > On the evening of Nov. 8, the massive, pre-invasion bombardment of Fallouja > began. > > "We used F/A-18s, we used Harriers," said a pilot who served as forward > controller. "When we needed it, we'd call in a strafing run," added the > lanky, > 37-year-old Marine, an officer who asked to be identified only as Frisky. > > The Force Recon Marines advanced into the ominous streets of Fallouja. The > gunfire, tracers and rocket flashes subsided as dawn approached. But first > light > broke with a renewed crescendo of gunfire. Guerrillas in ambush positions > opened up from all sides. Some Marine units were pinned down for hours. > > A Navy corpsman working with the Force Recon unit was hit in the back shortly > > after sunrise. Everywhere there was fire, some from the enemy, some from > nearby Marines. > > Detrick, under heavy fire, scampered into an open area on his way to what he > hoped was a more secure position. > > "As we were crossing to go, some machine gun and something else [coming] from > > an alley just lit my team up," Detrick, 29, recalled. "Right off the bat, my > assistant team leader, he got hit and he was down, KIA [killed in action] > automatically." > > Detrick and others took cover at a garbage Dumpster, cut off from the rest of > > their unit. "As I was crawling up, they shot an armor-piercing round through > that Dumpster," Detrick said. "It hit the ground in front of me and bounced > off my left forearm. Hit the wall behind me and came back at me." > > The staff sergeant got a good look at the round. The memory lingers: "It was > basically a steel bullet about a foot and a half long, an inch in diameter." > > Fortunately, the lethal projectile, meant to pierce tanks, didn't explode. > > The firing leveled off about midday, as it often did during the fighting in > Fallouja. The insurgents were inclined to take a break, grab a bite, maybe > take > a nap, before resuming their labors in the afternoon, Marines said. The > respite gave the Americans an opportunity to retrieve the body of their > comrade. > > But by 4 p.m. that first day, the streets again resounded with gunfire, the > crackling rounds of Kalashnikovs and the steady thuds of M-16s. > > To the east of a Force Recon position, a group of insurgents was suddenly > flushed from an alley. They jetted down an open street, apparently trying to > join > colleagues retreating to the city's southern reaches. Within minutes, four > were slumped over, cut down by intense Marine fire. One of them had lugged a > heavy machine gun and had several belts of large-caliber ammunition slung on > his > shoulders. The Force Recon troops say the four were probably responsible for > the death of their comrade. > > "There's a very good chance we got all or part of those guys who killed our > guy," said the officer called Frisky. "I think it's important to mention > that." > > > At nightfall on Nov. 9, the shooting subsided again. The Force Recon men > joined other Marines in a tank-escorted formation headed south to the Al > Hadra al > Muhammadiya mosque, a former insurgent stronghold taken earlier in the day by > > U.S. and Iraqi troops after a short gun battle. Many Marines would rest here > for the first time in 48 hours. > > But the numbing pattern of fighting and advancing was unrelenting. On Nov. > 12, three Force Recon Marines survived a pair of rocket-propelled grenades > that > blasted the apartment where they were holed up. Cpl. Frank Delgado was > knocked > unconscious by a separate RPG barrage and pulled from the rubble; he was > later shot as Marines exchanged fire with attackers positioned in another > mosque. > Delgado was evacuated and survived. > > In all, 13 of Schauble's platoon of 24 would be eligible for Purple Hearts > for injuries sustained in the battle for Fallouja. Several, among them > Detrick > and Delgado, are in line for multiple Purple Hearts. > > The rebels who had held sway for so many months in Fallouja were soon on the > run, pushed south in an increasingly desperate struggle. > > "It's likely some of the leaders left town and left their subordinates to > fight the fight," Schauble said. "But we thought it was important to seize > this > city, to show the insurgents we were willing to go in." > > > > > > ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 From rluchor at yahoo.com Thu Dec 16 15:19:15 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Thu Dec 16 15:21:03 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Marine Message-ID: <20041216201915.67757.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> > > The Marine as seen by......... > > Himself: > A Stout, Handsome, Highly-Trained Professional Killer and Female Idol, who > wears a star sapphire ring, carries a finely honed K-Bar, is covered with a > crisp cammie cover, and is always on time due to the reliability of his > Seiko Diver's Watch. > > > His Wife: > A stinking, gross, foul mouthed bum, who arrives home every 6 months or so > with a seabag full of filthy utilities, a huge ugly watch, an oversized > knife, a filthy hat, and a hard-on. > > Headquarters Marine Corps: > A drunken Brawling, HMMWV stealing, women corrupting liar, with a star > sapphire ring, Seiko watch, unauthorized K-Bar, and a fuc*ed up cover. > > His Commanding Officer: > A fine specimen of a drunken Brawling, HMMWV stealing, women corrupting > bullshitter, with a star sapphire ring, fantastically accurate Seiko watch, > finely honed razor sharp K-Bar, and a salty cammie cover. > > Congress: > An over paid, over-rated, tax burden, who is however, indispensable since he > will volunteer to go anywhere, at any time, and kill whoever he is told to, > as long as he can, drink, brawl, steal HMMWV's, corrupt women, kick cats, > lie, sing dirty songs, wear filthy cammies, big sapphire rings, over-sized > knives, Seiko watches and really fuc*ed up covers > > Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States: > "Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a > difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem. " > > General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Army: > ". . . these Marines have the swagger, confidence, and hardness that must > have been in Stonewall Jackson's Army of the Shenandoah. They remind me of > the Coldstreams at Dunkerque." > > Admiral Chester Nimitz, U.S. Navy, of the Marine Corps battle for > Iwo Jima: "Uncommon valour was a common virtue" > > General Douglas MacArthur, US Army: > "I have just returned fro m visiting the Marines at the front, and there is > not a finer fighting organization in the world!" > > Lieutenant Colonel T.R. Fehrenbach, US Army in "This Kind of War": > "The man who will go where his colors will go, without asking, who will > fight a phantom foe in a jungle and mountain range, without counting, and > who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without > complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered > Britain to Democratic America. He is the stuff of which legions are made. > His pride is his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thorough and > coldly realistic, to fit him for what he must face, and his obedience is to > his orders. As a legionaire, he held the gates of civilization for the > classical world... today he has been called United States Marine." > > An Anonymous Canadian Citizen: > "Marines are about the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever > witnessed. They treat their service as if it was some kind of cult, > plastering their emblem on almost everything they own, making themselves up > to look like insane fanatics with haircuts to ungentlemanly lengths, > worshipping their Commandant almost as if he was a god, and making weird > animal noises like a band of savages. They'll fight like rabid dogs at the > drop of > a hat just for the sake of a little action, and are the cockiest > SOB's I have ever known. Most have the foulest mouths and drink well beyond > man's normal limits, but their high spirits and sense of brotherhood set > them apart and, generally speaking, of the United States Marines I've come > in contact with, are the most professional soldiers and the finest men I > have had the pleasure to meet. " > > General Pershing, U.S. Army: > "The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle! " > > General Mark Clark, U. S. Army: > "The more Marines I have around the better I like it." > > > > > > > > > > > ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 From rluchor at yahoo.com Sat Dec 18 09:30:19 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Sat Dec 18 09:31:41 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: A True Role Model Message-ID: <20041218143020.78578.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com> Interesting commentary on the skewed focus of US media, as well as a story of bravery and sacrifice. Subject: A True Role Model http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=6062 Sgt. Rafael Peralta, USMC died a true hero. Ollie North nails this one on the head... ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Jazz up your holiday email with celebrity designs. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 19 05:42:37 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 19 05:40:10 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] the nypost rightly slams . . . Message-ID: <200412190542.37667.dep@linuxandmain.com> . . . this phonied-up claim that the war will leave us with tens of thousands of traumatized soldiers who have become ticking time bombs: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/36675.htm -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From rluchor at yahoo.com Sun Dec 19 13:53:42 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Sun Dec 19 13:54:12 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Nellis Air Show Message-ID: <20041219185342.67663.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> http://nellis.airshowjournal.com/2004/ ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page – Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 19 17:02:37 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 19 17:00:44 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Nellis Air Show In-Reply-To: <20041219185342.67663.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20041219185342.67663.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <200412191702.37048.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Rich Luchor: | http://nellis.airshowjournal.com/2004/ well, that first picture was pretty nice, but i don't know what the f-15 and the mustangs were doing in a perfectly good picture of an a-10. the oracle biplane gave me an idea that could help fulfill a longtime dream: maybe i can get red hat to spring for a linux gyroplane! (especially if i get one of the places i'm looking at in ohio, any of which would have enough room for a little gyro strip.) it's be a good luck sign, too, because linux doesn't crash . . . -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sun Dec 19 17:24:26 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sun Dec 19 17:25:14 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Nellis Air Show In-Reply-To: <200412191702.37048.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <20041219185342.67663.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> <200412191702.37048.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:02:37 -0500, dep wrote: > maybe i can get red hat to spring for a linux gyroplane! With napalm delivery capability! -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us Sun Dec 19 18:11:15 2004 From: rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sun Dec 19 18:13:15 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Tonight's chortle... Message-ID: <1103497875.28621.24.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> From _The Weekly Standard_: ---snip--- Speaking of mixed-up confusion and Canadians, there was the following nugget buried in the 21st paragraph of a Dec. 16 Washington Post story on the latest Pentagon antiballistic missile test: Prime Minister Paul Martin said in television interviews Tuesday night that his country will participate in a U.S. missile defense system only if it does not have to contribute money, no missiles are based in Canada, and Canada has a say in how the system is run. Martin, the Post observes, has thus "spelled out a strong Canadian position." ---snip--- -- Bob Bernstein DSA ID 9FC0CB5A http://ruptured-duck.com/BobBernstein.asc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 186 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041219/cf0efa27/attachment.bin From prather.js at verizon.net Sun Dec 19 19:30:32 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sun Dec 19 19:31:23 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Nellis Air Show In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041220003034.QBCZ1106.out003.verizon.net@localhost> On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:24:26 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: >On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:02:37 -0500, dep wrote: > >> maybe i can get red hat to spring for a linux gyroplane! > >With napalm delivery capability! Now wait a minute! Do you expect a gyroplane to have the range to reach Redmond??? Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From prather.js at verizon.net Sun Dec 19 19:31:53 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Sun Dec 19 19:33:23 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Tonight's chortle... In-Reply-To: <1103497875.28621.24.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> Message-ID: <20041220003154.NDWQ24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 23:11:15 +0000, Bob Bernstein wrote: >_______________________________________________ >os2-right-stuff-l mailing list >os2-right-stuff-l@jtan.com >http://mailman.jtan.com/mailman/listinfo/os2-right-stuff-l Yeah, that's really funny, Bob! Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sun Dec 19 19:52:39 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sun Dec 19 19:53:20 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Nellis Air Show In-Reply-To: <20041220003034.QBCZ1106.out003.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041220003034.QBCZ1106.out003.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 19:30:32 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: > Now wait a minute! Do you expect a gyroplane to have the range > to reach Redmond??? I'm certain we can find individuals deserving accelerated extinction within dep's range when he relocates to Ohio. -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From mriddle at papillion.ne.us Mon Dec 20 11:36:18 2004 From: mriddle at papillion.ne.us (Mike Riddle) Date: Mon Dec 20 11:39:29 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Last will - Finally made public Message-ID: <20041220163617.KACU2202.lakermmtao02.cox.net@enigmaster> ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== Yasir Arafat, leader of the Palestinian people, being of corrupted mind and runty filthy little body do bequeath the following: To my wife Suha I leave all the jewelry, purchased with United Nations relief funds, stashed in safe deposit boxes throughout The Grand Caymans, The Channel Islands and the First Syrian Bank of Damascus. To the Mullahs' in Iran I leave the anthrax, nail-filled vests and detonators stashed away in the basement of my estate on the West Bank. I want the $880 million in cash hidden away is Swiss bank accounts to be divided equally between Suha and the United Nations Security Council. Both bent over and let me have my way with them though, each, in their own special way. My beloved Suha put up more of a struggle then Kofi, but he has had much more experience in "bending over" for murderous thugs. It was Suha's first time "back there". To my beloved Palestinian people who I love and have fought for, I leave a large roll of 3-mil contractor's trash bags so you can sweep up some of the refuse and trash you left in front of my mansion. Suha may retain the luxury flat in Paris. The Palestinian people who I love and fought for can have what ever the Israelis didn't destroy when they bombed my garage. I think there are some old fatigues and a Coleman stove that needs a new propane tank. Suha may keep the fleet of Mercedes that she has accumulated over the past 4 years. My beloved Palestinian people who love and have fought for can have my sincerest best wishes for a prosperous future. Suha may keep the Van Cleef and Arpels Diamond and Platinum necklace I bought her for our anniversary. The Palestinian people who I love and fought for can have whatever paper towels and plastic forks are left in the pantry of my mansion in the West Bank. To the young boys who I slept with while Suha was living in Paris, please give them my collection of Michael Jackson tapes and CDs. To the Palestinian people who I loved and fought for, I leave them with my last wish, to continue to live in filth and die for no damn good reason, to sacrifice their children and kill as many Israeli infants as possible so that you might advance your cause. But keep your hands off Suha's Mercedes and jewelry you filthy ignorant swine. To the crews of the Israeli helicopters that circled my compound . . . nice shooting fellas. That last rocket attack took out my 60-inch plasma flat screen. To Suha I leave my French impressionist collection currently hanging on the walls of her apartment in Paris. And, to my beloved Palestinian people who I loved and fought for, I leave you the list of Israeli Day Care centers so you will know where to explode yourselves without having to do a great deal of research. And please, do something about the open trench latrines in your neighborhood. I don't bathe often and you were starting to gross ME out. We will all eat lamb in paradise, your beloved, faithful and devoted leader, the wealthy, and quite dead, Yasir Arafat. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Mon Dec 20 13:28:47 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Mon Dec 20 13:30:23 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Where's Whitey? "It's kind of a famous day" Message-ID: It's almost the tenth anniversary of Whitey Bulger's er...ah....um "elopement" from known precincts. The Boston Herald is running a series on the event, which includes the interesting theory that Whitey was pushed 'round the bend by LSD experiements performed on him while resident at Alcatraz. The Herald series is here: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=59572 and here: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=59708 Howie's take follows: ---snip--- Xmas 11, and he's still naughty By Howie Carr Sunday, December 19, 2004 This will be Whitey Bulger's 11th Christmas on the lam. As the 10th anniversary of his flight on Dec. 23, 1994, nears, here are few things we know about the South Boston crime boss' decade as a fugitive: Sources estimate the 75-year-old gangster is spending between $100,000 and $500,000 a year to remain at large, the figure varying depending on how often he has to move from one location to another. He is almost certainly in a foreign country, most likely the United Kingdom or another European nation. He has not been reliably sighted in the United States since September 1996, when he fled Chicago with new documents identifying him as ``Mark Shapeton.'' He has not been reliably sighted anywhere since an acquaintance bumped into him in Piccadilly Circus, London, in September 2002. There were reported sightings of him and his moll, Catherine Greig, in northern England, in a military memorabilia store and a hair salon. The elderly couple turned out to be American tourists. Whitey is still believed to be getting assistance, financial and otherwise, from associates in Boston, some of whom are known to the police, although their numbers have dwindled in recent years. So far the feds have found at least five of his bank safety deposit boxes, one each in Florida and Montreal, and three in Europe. He is believed to have other cash stashes, both in banks and elsewhere. Catherine Greig, age 53, is probably still alive. Whitey has been known to strangle or stab women who irritated him, but Greig would be almost impossible for him to replace, given his age, violent temper, extreme paranoia and general serial-killer demeanor. And he needs a female companion to assist him in blending into foreign locales. Whitey was taking medication for hypertension before he fled Boston in 1994, but is not believed to be in ill health, contrary to underworld rumors. Catherine was known to rely on prescription anti-depressants, but is also not believed to be ailing. Whitey has telephoned or spoken directly to at least five of his former fellow Alcatraz inmates, mostly ex-bankrobbers. They include Richard Sunday, John Malone, the recently deceased Chicago hoodlum Barney ``Dirty Shirt'' Grogan, and at least one ex-con named Hess. Reports of sightings and other leads still arrive daily at the feds' Violent Fugitive Task Force, which operates out of the Coast Guard building, across the Northern Avenue bridge from the federal courthouse. Almost all turn out to be dead ends. The number of tips spikes whenever Whitey is featured on ``America's Most Wanted,'' the Fox TV series that has profiled him 13 times. In recent months, for example, FBI agents combed southern Louisiana, where Whitey spent much of 1995-96 in Grand Isle. Information on his whereabouts was received from an imprisoned con man who was stringing authorities along, demanding certain favors, including the payments of outstanding debts. In return, he said, he could deliver Whitey. He couldn't. In another dead end, an Albany, N.Y., woman last summer claimed her uncle was hiding Whitey in upstate New York. A warrant was obtained to search her home. After six hours of questioning she admitted she had fabricated the entire story. In the spring two Ohio policemen called to say they believed they had stopped Whitey for a minor traffic violation. Unfortunately, they did not decide it was Whitey until several hours after sending him on his way. It was not Whitey. Earlier this year a sighting was reported in Thailand. Given the southeast Asian nation's reputation as a premier destination for pedophiles, it was considered a good lead. It, too, did not pan out. The manhunt has been made immeasurably more difficult by the fact that the Boston FBI office of that era did virtually nothing to find Whitey in the immediate aftermath of his disappearance. Whitey was on the run for more than a year before the feds questioned his other girlfriend, Teresa Stanley. That was when they first learned of his favorite alias - Thomas Baxter. Once Whitey found out ``Thomas Baxter'' had been compromised, he made a frantic dash across the country. He first fled Grand Isle and then went to Chicago, where his Alcatraz pal Barney Grogan worked. Whitey pal Kevin Weeks, who had told him about Teresa Stanley's admission, was ordered to arrange to take photographs of Whitey's brother, Jackie, then a court clerk. Weeks did so, and then delivered the snapshots to Chicago. Whitey was dissatisfied with the mugshots of Jackie and in a huff flew to New York. He quickly returned to Chicago with very expensive new IDs. Finally, in September 1996, he and Greig fled the U.S. ``That was when they should have gotten him,'' said one person close to the case. Since 1996, Whitey is believed to have become more stationary, both because of his advancing age and because it cuts down on expenses. ``When somebody's closing in you,'' one person said, ``You don't have time to sell your car, or get back the security deposit on your apartment, or have a yard sale to get rid of your appliances. You leave it all behind, and then when you get resettled, you have to buy everything all over again.'' And that's the way Whitey's been living for 10 years now. ``December 23, 1994,'' Kevin Weeks once said proudly on the witness stand. ``It's kind of a famous day - the day Jim Bulger left Boston.'' Read more about Whitey Bulger at Howiecarr.com. Click on Whitey watch. ---snip--- -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Mon Dec 20 19:57:18 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Mon Dec 20 19:59:20 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Dutch History 101 Message-ID: The Weekly Standard Holland Daze >From the December 27, 2004 issue: The Dutch rethink multiculturalism. by Christopher Caldwell 12/27/2004, Volume 010, Issue 15 Amsterdam THE SMALL CITY of Schiedam, on the Nieuwe Maas river near Rotterdam, has played a big role in the Dutch imagination of late. Five years ago, the historian/journalist Geert Mak entranced the country with a long narrative called My Father's Century. It is still in bookshop windows and is now in its 27th printing. It begins in Mak's great-grandparents' sail-making business in Schiedam, and follows the lives of his family members as they collide with Dutch history in the twentieth century: the Dutch Reformed faith they drifted in and out of, the herring they ate, how much money they made, what it felt like to live under Nazi occupation, their shyness (or boldness) about sex, the jokes they told, and how they faced the 1960s. The book consoled Dutch people that however tumultuous the changes the 20th century had wrought, there was an ineffable "Dutchness" that somehow perdured. Schiedam played the role in the Dutch imagination that Macomb County, Michigan, or Luckenbach, Texas, did in the American imagination in the mid-1980s: You could look there to see how the "real" people in the country lived. Early this month, another Schiedam native, a 30-year-old man known in his police dossier as Farid A., was found guilty of issuing death threats over the Internet. When the conservative Dutch politician Geert Wilders described Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last year as a "terrorist leader," Farid A. posted a picture of him on an Islamist website urging: "Wilders must be punished with death for his fascistic comments about Islam, Muslims, and the Palestinian cause." That was a year ago, and since then, Wilders has done even more to tick off Muslim radicals. He left the conservative Freedom and Democracy People's party (VVD) after a personal spat with the party leadership, promising to launch his own "Geert Wilders List," along the lines of the one-person movement that turned the gay populist Pim Fortuyn into the most popular politician in the Netherlands in early 2002. Wilders has focused on Turkey, crime, and the unsustainability of high immigration. He has warned that many of the more than 1 million Muslims who live in the Netherlands "have already opted for radical Islam," and has urged closing extremist mosques. There is a market for his forthrightness. In early November, a poll in the left-leaning daily de Volkskrant showed that Wilders could win several hundred thousand votes, which would translate into nine seats in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the national legislature. When the gadfly filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and knifed in southeastern Amsterdam on November 2, the letter that his killer pinned with a knife to his corpse contained a promise to do the same to the Somali-born feminist VVD member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Wilders got similar threats shortly thereafter. There were two results for Wilders. First, his popularity shot through the roof: A second poll in de Volkskrant showed Wilders would now win almost 2 million voters, taking 28 seats, or a fifth of the parliament, and that he was drawing support across party lines and in every single sector of Dutch society, despite--or perhaps because of--perceptions that he is a single-issue candidate. But Wilders also had to go into hiding. He now appears in public only for legislative sessions in the Hague, where he travels under armed guard. He complained in mid-December that the death threats had hampered his ability to build his party. The head of a conservative think tank told newspapers he had been advised by security personnel to stay away from Wilders. Anyone who declared himself for one of those 28 seats that looked ripe for the plucking would thereby place himself on a death list, too. One strange but highly professional video that can be downloaded off the Internet shows drawings of machine guns, then photographs of Wilders with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and then captioned panels reading: name: geert wilders occupation: idolator sin: mocking Islam punishment: beheading reward: Paradise, in sha Allah In early December, an appeals court in the Hague confirmed the punishment of Farid A. of Schiedam. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service. Only the beginning This is why the murder of one Dutch filmmaker 911 days after the assassination of Fortuyn is described by people in Holland as having had the same effect on their country as the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 in the World Trade Center towers. Dutch people have the sense that, for the first time in centuries, the thread that connects them to the world of Geert Mak's father, and that world to the world of Erasmus and Spinoza and Rembrandt and William the Silent, is in danger of being snipped. Part of it is the size and the speed of the recent non-European immigration. The Netherlands, with a population of 16 million, has about 2 million foreign-born. By some estimates, a quarter of them do not speak Dutch. What's more, the public has been told for two decades now that they ain't seen nothing yet, that this is only the first wave of a long era of immigration, which they'd better learn to love. The immigrants the country now hosts have been difficult to manage. Part of the problem is the interaction of high immigration and what was for years a generous, no-questions-asked welfare state: As many as 60 percent of Moroccans and Turks above the age of 40--obviously first-generation immigrants--are unemployed, in the only major economy in Europe that has consistently had unemployment at or below American rates. Most of these immigrants are Muslims. Muslim immigrants had begun to scare people long before Pim Fortuyn, the charismatic populist, turned himself into the country's most popular politician in the space of a few weeks in 2002, by arguing that the country was already overloaded with newcomers. (Fortuyn was assassinated by an animal-rights activist in May of that year.) Already in the 1990s, there were reports of American-style shootouts in schools, one involving two Turkish students in the town of Veghel. This past October, newspaper readers were riveted by the running saga of a quiet married couple who had been hounded out of the previously livable Amsterdam neighborhood of Diamantbuurt by gangs of Muslim youths. There were incidents of wild rejoicing across Holland in the wake of the September 11 attacks, notably in the eastern city of Ede. The weekly magazine Contrast took a poll showing that just under half the Muslims in the Netherlands were in "complete sympathy" with the September 11 attacks. At least some wish to turn to terrorism. In the wake of the van Gogh murder, Pakistani, Kurdish, and Moroccan terrorist cells were discovered. The Hague-based "Capital Network," out of which van Gogh's killer Mohammed Bouyeri came, had contact with terrorists who carried out bombings in Casablanca in 2003. Perhaps the most alarming revelation was that an Islamist mole was working as a translator in the AIVD, the national investigative service, and tipping off local radicals to impending operations. The question naturally arises: If immigrants behave this way now, what will happen when they are far more numerous, as all authorities have long promised they will be? It has been estimated that the country's two largest cities, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, will be "majority minority" very soon (Rotterdam is today at 47 percent), and already 65 percent of primary and secondary students in both cities are of non-Dutch parentage. London's Daily Telegraph, citing immigration experts and government statistics, reported a net outflow of 13,000 people from Holland in the first six months of 2004, the first such deficit in half a century. One must treat this statistic carefully--it could be an artifact of an aging population in which many are retiring to warmer places. But it could also be the beginning of something resembling the American suburban phenomenon of "white flight," occurring at the level of an entire country. The pillars fall Perhaps the Dutch did with immigration what most countries do with most things: They thought too much about their own history, and then misapplied it. The concept that Dutch political scientists use more than any other to describe their society is "pillarization." For all that it is thought of as a Protestant society, the Netherlands is a quarter Catholic. Over the centuries a system of separate institutions developed. In the world of Geert Mak's father, Catholics not only went to their own churches but also had their own schools, newspapers, trade unions, social clubs, and the like. Protestants lived in a similarly separate world. There was a secular pillar as well. Elites from these different walks of life met to carve out a modus vivendi among different confessional groups. The Netherlands was a society with a high level of religious affiliation and intensity--as it still is in its own "Bible Belt," which stretches in a rough southwest-to-northeast diagonal across the country. A political system that empowered church-affiliated organizations to perform temporal tasks created a mighty role for religion. That is why the world revolution of the 1960s--which was seen as a revolution against class in Britain, against de Gaulle in France, against the World War II generation in Germany, and against Vietnam in the United States--was seen in Holland as a rebellion against church authority. The natural result was the libertine public square that will be recognized by any American who visited the Netherlands with a Eurail Pass at age 18--the Milky Way, the legalized prostitution, hashish in the "coffee shops," the laissez-faire immigration policy, a law enforcement system whereunder you get 120 hours of community service for threatening to kill someone. The essential fact about this dispensation, at the political level, is that most Dutch people don't like it. Eighty percent of Netherlanders tell pollsters their country is "too tolerant." But the post-sixties tolerance seemed to have antecedents in the national mythology: Apostles of the new ethic claimed--without much justification--the mantle of the pre-Enlightenment tolerance that once led the Netherlands to welcome persecuted dissenters from across Europe: Huguenots from France, Jews from Spain, the Mayflower pilgrims from England. This conflation of two regimes had its appeal even to conservatives who were unhappy with the new world of hashish, gay marriage, and euthanasia. Better to claim to be pursuing a difficult but very Dutch social arrangement than to admit to having been wiped out in a political struggle. The Dutch talked themselves into believing that this valueslessness was a perennial feature of their society. When immigrants began to arrive, authorities fantasized that they'd seen it all before--after all, they'd welcomed John Locke and Ren? Descartes. So they could build up an "immigrant" or a "Muslim" pillar and then let it collapse into postmodern individualism, following the same historic route that Protestantism and Catholicism had taken, as if that route were the product of an iron historical law. In came an ultra-neutral, respect-centered vocabulary: Foreigners became "allochthonous," as opposed to natives, who were henceforth "autochthonous." In the 1980s, the government started creating Muslim schools. It poured public money into the construction of mosques. There were two voices warning that history was not following this multicultural script. In 1991, Frits Bolkestein, the conservative statesman who occupies a position in Dutch political life that is an odd mix of Ronald Reagan and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, wrote a long article in de Volkskrant in which he warned that there was nothing inevitable about assimilation. Noting the threat of Muslim separatism to freedom of religion and freedom of expression, he warned, "Everyone in the Netherlands, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, is expected to obey the laws that stem from these principles." He was dismissed as a reactionary, and worse. The multicultural drama In 2000, the journalist and literary critic Paul Scheffer wrote an article called "The Multicultural Drama," which was the first attack from the left on this system of postmodern pillarization. For Scheffer, the system was a means of excluding Muslims, creating a kind of segregation by which people could "coexist without interacting." Real pillarization of the sort that worked in the past rested on shared and nonnegotiable understandings of three things: language, history, and law. But Dutch society had become too self-loathing to insist on any of them. Now people weren't even expected to learn Dutch. Scheffer complained that the Labor party (PvdA), to which he belonged, "wanted to cut the subsidies of cultural organizations that were not sufficiently concerned with ethnicity." He threw up his hands at one educator who had questioned the relevance, in a world of high immigration, of teaching Holland's history ("We're not going to bother Turkish children with the Occupation, are we?"). Dutch multiculturalism, when Bolkestein and Scheffer began to question it, was an unassailable certitude. Now it lacks a single full-throated defender. Wouter Bos, the new leader of the PvdA, many of whose members privately think the country has overreacted to the van Gogh murder, insists that "Islam is part of our country," and faults those who, "under the pretext of women's rights, try to claim that Islam doesn't belong here." He seems to want to punt the Netherlands' problems away to blue-ribbon committees and international bodies when he warns that we "underestimate the international character of the threat we're dealing with: radical political Islam." Nonetheless, Bos, too, has been stung by recent history, particularly his party's great blunder of treating Pim Fortuyn (a former PvdA intellectual himself) as some kind of sociopath or prankster. Bos admits that in recent years, "tolerance became a pretext for not addressing problems." When asked whether his party would enter a coalition with Wilders, he does not rule it out. The man who has been the most ardent defender of the old multiculturalist model has himself received threats from Islamists, and travels with bodyguards. Amsterdam's PvdA mayor Job Cohen was always so keen to embrace foreign cultures that Theo van Gogh (who was not above Jew-baiting) once wrote of him: "Of all the swindlers who have tried to pass off the fifth-column of goat-f--ers as some kind of an enrichment of our oh-so-marvelous multicultural society, Job Cohen is the most cunning." Questions within the Muslim community about whether they ought to be happy living under a Jewish mayor first arose under the mayoralty of Cohen's predecessor, Ed van Thijn, also Jewish, who ran the city in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Threats have been made, too, against Cohen's deputy, the Moroccan-born alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb, who has his own security detail. Many discussions of the Netherlands suggest that the country's multicultural model is "under threat." Maybe that was true a year ago. Now it would be more accurate to say there is a society-wide consensus that it has failed. Even before he left office in 2002, PvdA premier Wim Kok had begun tightening the country's asylum laws, and under the conservative premiership of Jan Peter Balkenende, the reforms have picked up pace. One of the top priorities has been marriage laws. Several immigrant groups have an endogamy rate approaching 100 percent: Young, marriageable people return to their homelands to find a bride or groom and bring them back to Holland. Many Dutch believe the marriage laws are being abused simply to confer automatic citizenship and the right to welfare payments on as large a number of foreigners as possible. As a result, foreign spouses marrying Dutch citizens must now be 21 and speak Dutch, and their eligibility for welfare is not immediate. Education in foreign languages has been phased out, so the Dutch can concentrate on teaching their own endangered language. Muslim Voltaires But with the killing of van Gogh, the Dutch immigration crisis--which, as elsewhere in Europe, is a polite way of saying its Islam crisis--has moved to a higher pitch than in any other country in the West. Naturally, security concerns are also driving reform. Justice minister Piet Hein Donner wants tougher laws to permit holding terrorist suspects without trial. Most everyone in the Netherlands, whether they support or oppose it, believes something like the Patriot Act is coming to their country, too. But on top of that, the Dutch public is being presented with an interpretation of their crisis that other publics in Europe are not. Namely, the view that the problem is not "radicalism" or "marginalization" or "fundamentalism" but Islam--that Islam and democracy don't coexist well. There are several reasons that the debate has taken a different turn in the Netherlands, but primary among them is the presence of outspoken Muslims. Afshin Ellian is an Iranian-born legal scholar in his late 30s who is seeking to modernize Islam. He takes heart that scholars in Iran, particularly the imprisoned theorist of democracy Akbar Ghanji, are doing the same. Ellian himself is living under police protection. When Ellian writes provocative op-eds in the country's major journals, he gets dismissed by Muslims as a "fundamentalist of the Enlightenment." They are not necessarily wrong. Ellian has a view of Western intellectual history that casts tolerance as the fruit of attacks on Christianity rather than of Christianity itself. He thus thinks that what Islam needs is its own Nietzsche, Voltaire, and Marquis de Sade. Four days after the van Gogh murder, he wrote an article entitled "Make Jokes About Islam!" The most outspoken of these foreign-born Dutch, though, is the feminist member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The daughter of prominent Somalians, she fled the country with her family when war broke out. When she arrived in the Netherlands in the early 1990s, via Saudi Arabia, she was still wearing a veil. She soon dropped it and began proclaiming the superiority of Western values to Islamic ones. She has spoken out against female circumcision, which is clandestinely practiced in the Netherlands and Belgium. She was elected to parliament in 2003 in the wake of the killing of Pim Fortuyn. Hirsi Ali has been under constant police protection since she described the prophet Mohammed as a "perverted tyrant" in the newspaper de Trouw two years ago and said she no longer believed in God. She wrote the screenplay for Submission, the violent and semi-pornographic movie about repression of women in Islam for which Theo van Gogh was murdered. Many of Hirsi Ali's associates believe that she was the preferred target of the murderers, and that van Gogh was chosen only because they could not penetrate her security arrangements. They are probably right. She is in hiding and has not been seen in public since the killing. Hirsi Ali, like Ellian, belongs to what one could call the ?crasez-l'inf?me school of reformers of Islam. She and Wilders recently cowrote a column in the NRC Handelsblad calling for a "liberal jihad." Like Pim Fortuyn (who once said, "I have nothing against Moroccans; I have them in my bed all the time"), she has a tendency to taunt her political foes. And like Fortuyn, who could play up his gayness to an almost preposterous level of camp, she is aware that her outsider status makes her a natural leader for a society that fears it will die if it does not change, but would rather die than be accused of racism, gay-bashing, or Islamophobia. So Hirsi Ali appears to many Muslims as the country's premier moral monster, and to many Dutch people as something like Joan of Arc. It is her position on women's issues that is potentially most explosive. Many European countries, notably France, are trying to recast arguments about the wearing of the Muslim headscarf as a matter of women's rights, as if that will somehow mollify fundamentalists by moving the discussion from a religious plane to a political one. But it risks doing something different: moving the discussion from an interpersonal level to a psychosexual one. It conveys that the West hopes to assimilate Islam by stealing its women out of the seraglio. The Dutch minister for immigration and integration is Rita Verdonk, a woman, as it happens. In late November she went to the town of Soesterberg to speak about "Dutch values." There she was introduced to an imam named Ahmad Salam. He refused to shake her hand. In the hours after van Gogh's death, Verdonk had given a speech that had drawn fire from a representative of the radical, Antwerp-based Arab-European League, who likened her to Hitler. ("All she was missing," he said, "was the little moustache.") But that wasn't what bothered Salam. "I cannot shake hands with a woman," the imam explained. "Well, then," Verdonk replied, "we have plenty to talk about." Christopher Caldwell is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard. ? Copyright 2004, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/059darxx.asp?pg=1 -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From prather.js at verizon.net Tue Dec 21 09:19:49 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Tue Dec 21 09:21:34 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Fw: Optical Illusion Message-ID: <20041221141950.HNOI24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> Some harmless fun! ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== If you stare at the image long enough, you should see a giraffe. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From MSPRATH at aol.com Tue Dec 21 09:50:19 2004 From: MSPRATH at aol.com (MSPRATH@aol.com) Date: Tue Dec 21 09:51:30 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Fw: Optical Illusion Message-ID: <1f0.31988f1b.2ef9922b@aol.com> Dad, Did you forget to attach something? Which image am I supposed to stare at? Mike In a message dated 12/21/2004 4:23:26 A.M. Hawaiian Standard Time, prather.js@verizon.net writes: Some harmless fun! ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== If you stare at the image long enough, you should see a giraffe. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. _______________________________________________ os2-right-stuff-l mailing list os2-right-stuff-l@jtan.com http://mailman.jtan.com/mailman/listinfo/os2-right-stuff-l From prather.js at verizon.net Tue Dec 21 10:29:25 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Tue Dec 21 10:30:19 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Fw: Optical Illusion In-Reply-To: <1f0.31988f1b.2ef9922b@aol.com> Message-ID: <20041221152925.OVYN28362.out005.verizon.net@localhost> On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:50:19 EST, MSPRATH@aol.com wrote: >Dad, > Did you forget to attach something? Which image am I supposed to stare >at? > >Mike Sorry, folks, but for some reason the .gif that was supposed to be attached just won't go out...of course, it works fine here. Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From dep at linuxandmain.com Tue Dec 21 12:09:39 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Tue Dec 21 11:11:24 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Fw: Optical Illusion In-Reply-To: <20041221141950.HNOI24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041221141950.HNOI24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <200412211209.39278.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Jerry Prather: | Some harmless fun! | | ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== | | | | If you stare at the image long enough, you should see a | giraffe. yes. especially if the image that you stare at is a giraffe. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From mriddle at papillion.ne.us Tue Dec 21 21:25:36 2004 From: mriddle at papillion.ne.us (Mike Riddle) Date: Tue Dec 21 21:27:53 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: RED States vs. BLUE States Message-ID: <20041222022532.ZEMK2202.lakermmtao02.cox.net@enigmaster> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 39253 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041221/2d16e7e1/attachment-0001.jpg From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Wed Dec 22 14:52:25 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Wed Dec 22 14:53:59 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Eddie Coyle in Ulster? Message-ID: Reporting about the Belfast heist, the Dow-Jones Newswires comment that: "The tactics in Belfast -- particularly the use of hostage-taking as a way to infiltrate a high-security target -- suggested a level of sophistication and experience most commonly found within Northern Ireland's rival outlawed groups, particularly the Irish Republican Army." Illiterate morons -- the "tactics" are right out of _The Friends of Eddie Coyle_ by George Higgins, a crime classic replete with details of a Boston bank robbery gang's operations. (You might have seen the movie with Robert Mitchum cast as Eddie.) -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From rluchor at yahoo.com Thu Dec 23 08:16:23 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Thu Dec 23 08:18:26 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: Letter from a WM Message-ID: <20041223131623.41520.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> > > >Subject: A Thanksgiving Story from a Woman Marine > >From: Kane LCpl Jessica R > >Date: November 26, 2004 3:13:33 AM EST > > > > > >Dear Mom and Dad, > > > >I, as most would of thought, was expecting a very homesick Thanksgiving. > >Although I wish I could have been home, my Thanksgiving was filled with > >motivation and inspiration. To start off, the unit got together and the CO > >said a couple of words to the unit. He complemented us for our hard work, > >and was extremely impressed with the plans we have for the future. We then > >had lunch with some MRE crackers, popcorn, and SPAM. Afterwards, like we do > >most days, we prepared for the convoy into the city. It was a good convoy > >and all went well. While we were in the city, we were asked to get together > >because the General wanted to talk to us. The General being, General Casey, > >a four star General in the Army who is in charge of all Coalition Forces in > >Iraq. He again complemented us on the good work and sacrifices we are > >making. He told us that our hard work had paid off and there is no longer a > >safe haven for insurgents in Iraq. He then said something that would > >inspire the weakest of heart. He said, "The enemy was willing to die for > >there cause, and you gave them their wish". He told us that next year when > >we are home for Thanksgiving we will be truly grateful for all the gifts in > >our life. We can look back at this Thanksgiving and be proud of what we are > >doing. Filled with juice and energy, we convoyed back to Camp Fallujah. As > >we came to the first gate to the camp, I was in shock because a Marine > >Corps Major was stand at the post. Along with the Major was a 1stSgt. I > >reported to the Major what convoy we were and how many packs we were > >carrying. He told me to proceed and have a Happy Thanksgiving. As we came > >to the second gate, a Marine Capt and a SgtMaj were standing the post. > >There was not a PFC or LCpl to be found. None of the posts had young > >Marines at them; > >Officers and Staff NCOs manned them all. The command decided that the young > >Marines were going to have the night off to get some good chow. It was > >unbelievable, and a wonderful site. The leadership took charge and took > >care of the younger Marines. This filled me with a pride indescribable with > >words. I am so honored to be apart of an organization like this. Marines > >taking care of Marines with such unselfishness. As I went to Thanksgiving > >chow with my brothers and sisters, the IMEF Commanding General LtGen Saddler > >and the IMEF SgtMaj, SgtMaj Kent were serving chow. The amazing part was > >that they were so enthusiastic about it. Everyone was in a great mood, and > >ready to take on anything. It makes you think that if a 3 star general in > >the United States Marine Corps can serve turkey to a bunch of 18-20 year old > >Lance Corporals, then you can suck up whatever you have to do and stop > >complaining. So, as I went to bed, I felt very Thankful and indeed blessed > >for a great life. Tomorrow, I am sure will be full of fighting and > >disaster, along with the added stress of little sleep and cold days and even > >colder nights. But for tonight it's Thanksgiving and everything is okay. > > > > > >One Motivated LCpl > > > >Jessica > > > >LCpl Jessica Kane > >4th CAG HQ S-6 > >Unit 43555 > >FPO-AP 96426-3555 > > > >Dulce et decorum est Pro Patria mori > >WE ARE THE FEWER, THE PROUDER...THE WOMEN MARINES! SEMPER FIDELIS! > > > ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 From sjkleinsr at cox.net Thu Dec 23 11:44:07 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Thu Dec 23 11:46:06 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Farted on Santa's Lap] Message-ID: <20041223164410.TNGT16431.lakermmtao05.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> > > I Farted On Santas Lap > Stan Klein, Sr. Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. From prather.js at verizon.net Thu Dec 23 13:52:12 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Thu Dec 23 13:54:19 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: FW: UK Newspaper Message-ID: <20041223185213.PAWR24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> At least someone over there gets it! ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== > > From the Telegraph (newspaper), United Kingdom: > > > George W Bush is not hated here and in Europe because he > removed a genocidal > tyrant in Iraq and failed to anticipate the chaos that > followed. > > He is hated because he is the embodiment of everything > that the United > States is, and Europe is not: not just enormously > powerful, militarily and > economically, but brashly confident and fervently > patriotic. > > Where Europe is steeped in historical guilt and > self-loathing - so immersed > in its own unforgivable past that it is trying to fashion > a constitution > that actually prohibits national pride - > > America is profoundly proud of the success of its own > miraculous > achievement. What it has succeeded in doing is cracking > the great dilemma of > modern history: > > How can disparate and ethnically diverse people live > together? > > How can people of differing and deeply felt religious > convictions survive, > with their beliefs intact, in a single unified country - > evangelical > Protestants such as Mr Bush alongside practising > Catholics with Jewish roots > such as Mr Kerry - without their cities turning into > Belfast or Beirut? > > The answer lies not in the post-religious, anti-clerical > mania of the > European Union which has just rejected a commissioner for > espousing > mainstream Catholic principles, but in that patriotism so > despised by > European elites. It is the unifying force of national > self-belief with all > those school rituals - pledging allegiance to the flag, > reciting the > preamble to the Constitution - that makes America whole > and -------- > > AT ONE WITH ITSELF. > > Bush is the personification of that > UNASHAMED America and that is why > Europe cannot bear the sight of him. > > > > ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From operagost at operagost.com Thu Dec 23 21:13:55 2004 From: operagost at operagost.com (Stephen Eickhoff) Date: Thu Dec 23 21:28:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 26 In-Reply-To: <200412231700.iBNH09qR010603@carme.jtan.com> Message-ID: <20041224021359.WLVX8290.out004.verizon.net@purcell.operagost.local> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 12:00:09 -0500 (EST), os2-right-stuff-l-request@jtan.com wrote: >Message: 3 >Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 11:44:07 -0500 >From: "Stan Klein, Sr." >Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] [Fwd: Farted on Santa's Lap] >To: , >Message-ID: > <20041223164410.TNGT16431.lakermmtao05.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > >> > I Farted On Santas Lap >> Cute, but I hope someone gives the web page designer a spell checker for Christmas. ---------------------------------- Stephen Eickhoff www.operagost.com "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33 ---------------------------------- From rluchor at yahoo.com Fri Dec 24 07:57:09 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Fri Dec 24 08:05:38 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Ironsides Message-ID: <20041224125709.29051.qmail@web13609.mail.yahoo.com> LITTLE KNOWN NAVAL HISTORY: The U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (fresh water distillers). However, let it be noted that according to her log, "On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum." Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping." Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Then she headed for the Azores, arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. On 18 November, she set sail for England. In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchantmen, salvaging only the rum aboard each. By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, and though unarmed, she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Her landing party captured a whiskey distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home. The U.S.S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, NO rum, NO wine, NO whiskey and 38,600 gallons of stagnant water. GO NAVY! ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page – Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com From prather.js at verizon.net Fri Dec 24 09:09:58 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Fri Dec 24 09:10:25 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Ironsides In-Reply-To: <20041224125709.29051.qmail@web13609.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20041224140959.FHOE7873.out006.verizon.net@localhost> On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 04:57:09 -0800 (PST), Rich Luchor wrote: >GO NAVY! Beat UNM!!! Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From prather.js at verizon.net Fri Dec 24 10:47:51 2004 From: prather.js at verizon.net (Jerry Prather) Date: Fri Dec 24 10:49:29 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Merry Christmas Message-ID: <20041224154752.EJVI28362.out005.verizon.net@localhost> Hi all! We'll be headed to Raleigh in a couple of hours for the beginning of our Christmas trip to South Georgia. We'll get back here on New Year's Eve Day. Hope Santa is good to all of you (but I'm worried because I saw his read pants and black boots sticking out of a car trunk this morning -- I think he's been abducted. Anyhow, Merry Christmas and the best to you all in the New Year! Jerry -- My cat and I are alike in many ways. We both are gray; we both are fat; and we both dig in his litter box. PS: Santa, we both want a new mouse for Christmas. From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Fri Dec 24 15:53:07 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Fri Dec 24 15:53:53 2004 Subject: Fwd: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: FW: UK Newspaper In-Reply-To: References: <20041223185213.PAWR24088.out009.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: Oops..... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bob Bernstein Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2004 15:51:22 -0500 Subject: Re: [os2-right-stuff-l] Fwd: FW: UK Newspaper To: Jerry Prather On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:52:12 -0500 (EST), Jerry Prather wrote: > At least someone over there gets it! Here's the complete article: --- snip --- Bush's 'crime'? Just being a patriot By Janet Daley (Filed: 03/11/2004) By the time you read this, you may know who is to be the next President of the United States. Then again, you may not. If things really are as tight as they look at the moment of writing, then the American presidency may be paralysed for months, in a time of great national peril, by a litigious frenzy. Please God, let's not go there, if only because the sight of both sides trying to sue their way into the White House would license yet another wave of supercilious European Ameriphobia. Now - in this hiatus between my copy deadline and the election result - is probably the ideal moment to look at some of the self-regarding delusions that European and British analysis has perpetrated about this election. The first - and the most outrageous - is that attacks on George W Bush personally and the United States generally, are a direct consequence of the war on Iraq. In fact, Bush was loathed by the British and European Left-liberals before he had done anything in office. He was detested purely and simply for what he was - a point to which I shall return. But the idea that the most recent wave of rabid anti-Americanism stems from mistakes in Iraq is simply absurd. Anyone whose historical memory goes back more than 10 minutes should recall the extraordinary effusion of hatred that spewed from sections of the opinion-forming class as a consequence of America being attacked. Like most expatriate Americans living in Britain, it was a phenomenon I am unlikely ever to forget. The response to the deaths of 3,000 civilians, by comment writers in the Left-wing newspapers and the producers of "flagship" BBC current affairs programmes, was to orchestrate abuse of the bereaved country. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read a leader in Saturday's Guardian which pronounced with brazen sanctimoniousness: "The attack of September 11 2001, an event of historic seriousness, created an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity worldwide." Oh really? Well, then the Guardian must have been wildly out of step with world solidarity at the time because it was gleefully leading a chorus of "America got what it deserved". And the BBC - sorry to return to this again but it remains burnished in my consciousness - staged an edition of Question Time in which anyone who expressed sympathy for the US was howled down. Anybody who says that this kind of pathological hatred - the kind that relishes the loss of innocent life as a well-deserved "lesson" - would evaporate with the election of John Kerry, or any other contender who was remotely in tune with the American political culture, is trying very hard to deceive himself or the rest of us. Perhaps there is a clue to the psychological logic of this argument in the Guardian leader's triumphal conclusion: "Three years later, much of that solidarity has been squandered." Are the people who attacked the US at the time of 9/11 now trying to justify that gratuitous viciousness by claiming that it has been, as it were, retrospectively justified by the invasion of Iraq? And they conveniently overlook the fact that the protest over America's actions in Iraq had an earlier incarnation. Try hard and you will recall that much the same doom-saying condemnations of "imperialism" and "war-mongering" were made prior to the invasion of Afghanistan. The choir began singing this tune almost immediately after 9/11: America will "rush in" and take precipitate action to remove the Taliban regime even though it is what the Islamic people of that country want. Well, they didn't rush in - they waited and planned for what seemed an unconscionable length of time. Then they liberated Kabul from a regime which - as it turned out - even most Muslims in Afghanistan hated. The Afghans have just had their first free elections without any terrorist disruption from al-Qa'eda. But the Bush-haters have largely forgotten their opposition to that venture, so happily immersed are they in the more troubled outcome in Iraq. I wonder how quickly amnesia will set in if the Iraqi elections in January go surprisingly well? So, no - George W Bush is not hated here and in Europe because he removed a genocidal tyrant in Iraq and failed to anticipate the chaos that followed. He is hated because he is the embodiment of everything that the United States is, and Europe is not: not just enormously powerful, militarily and economically, but brashly confident and fervently patriotic. Where Europe is steeped in historical guilt and self-loathing - so immersed in its own unforgivable past that it is trying to fashion a constitution that actually prohibits national pride - America is profoundly proud of the success of its own miraculous achievement. What it has succeeded in doing is cracking the great dilemma of modern history: how can disparate and ethnically diverse people live together? How can people of differing and deeply felt religious convictions survive, with their beliefs intact, in a single unified country - evangelical Protestants such as Mr Bush alongside practising Catholics with Jewish roots such as Mr Kerry - without their cities turning into Belfast or Beirut? The answer lies not in the post-religious, anti-clerical mania of the European Union which has just rejected a commissioner for espousing mainstream Catholic principles, but in that patriotism so despised by European elites. It is the unifying force of national self-belief with all those ridiculed school rituals - pledging allegiance to the flag, reciting the preamble to the Constitution - that makes America whole and at one with itself. Bush is the personification of that unashamed America and that is why Europe cannot bear the sight of him. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;sessionid=JBLIIIGNT5WYLQFIQMGSM54AVCBQWJVC?xml=/opinion/2004/11/03/do0302.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=877 -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From gsjenkins at longview.net Sat Dec 25 22:53:31 2004 From: gsjenkins at longview.net (Stewart Jenkins) Date: Sat Dec 25 22:54:22 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Merry Christmas In-Reply-To: <20041224154752.EJVI28362.out005.verizon.net@localhost> References: <20041224154752.EJVI28362.out005.verizon.net@localhost> Message-ID: <200412252153.33056.gsjenkins@longview.net> Merry Christmas everyone! -- Stewart... They took the fourth amendment and I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 26 08:03:48 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 26 08:05:20 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] krakatoa says hi Message-ID: <200412260803.48569.dep@linuxandmain.com> huge earthquake, waves wreck sumatra. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 26 08:18:15 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 26 08:19:30 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] washpost discovers the obvious Message-ID: <200412260818.15638.dep@linuxandmain.com> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23966-2004Dec24.html "When people try to describe what using technology was like this year, the word that will likely come to mind is "pain." With viruses, worms, spyware, spam and phishing, running a computer -- especially one with Windows -- has often been a colossal headache. "Most Windows users could be excused for feeling they were never more than a few clicks away from an online mugging. In 2004, they operated in a strikingly different universe than people using computers running Mac OS X or Linux, who experienced an Internet blissfully devoid of malware." . . . -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Sun Dec 26 10:36:24 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Sun Dec 26 10:37:28 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] krakatoa says hi In-Reply-To: <200412260803.48569.dep@linuxandmain.com> References: <200412260803.48569.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 08:03:48 -0500, dep wrote: > huge earthquake, waves wreck sumatra. No doubt yet another baleful consequence of global warming and the Bush administration's malevolence. -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com Sun Dec 26 11:03:54 2004 From: daniel.lee.kruse at gmail.com (Daniel Kruse) Date: Sun Dec 26 11:04:38 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] krakatoa says hi In-Reply-To: References: <200412260803.48569.dep@linuxandmain.com> Message-ID: <46d72e000412260803191faba3@mail.gmail.com> On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 10:36:24 -0500, Bob Bernstein wrote: > On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 08:03:48 -0500, dep wrote: > > > huge earthquake, waves wreck sumatra. > > No doubt yet another baleful consequence of global warming and the > Bush administration's malevolence. > Geez, don't encourage them! From dep at linuxandmain.com Sun Dec 26 17:37:19 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Sun Dec 26 17:38:38 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] i just saw . . . Message-ID: <200412261737.19134.dep@linuxandmain.com> . . . on the bumper of a newish car parked in the lot at the newtown, ct., big y supermarket, a bumpersticker, apparently brand new, which read: "kennedy-johnson." some of these kerry people are apparently taking it *very* hard. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From operagost at operagost.com Mon Dec 27 17:40:14 2004 From: operagost at operagost.com (Stephen Eickhoff) Date: Mon Dec 27 17:43:06 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 30 In-Reply-To: <200412271700.iBRH08V0022264@carme.jtan.com> Message-ID: <20041227224019.KTZV10436.out012.verizon.net@purcell.operagost.local> On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 12:00:08 -0500 (EST), os2-right-stuff-l-request@jtan.com wrote: >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 17:37:19 -0500 >From: dep >Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] i just saw . . . >To: os2-right-stuff-l >Message-ID: <200412261737.19134.dep@linuxandmain.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >. . . on the bumper of a newish car parked in the lot at the newtown, >ct., big y supermarket, a bumpersticker, apparently brand new, which >read: "kennedy-johnson." > >some of these kerry people are apparently taking it *very* hard. I know that someone in the Philly area had run into a lot of 1980 Reagan-Bush stickers back in the summer and was threatening to distribute them ... ---------------------------------- Stephen Eickhoff www.operagost.com "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33 ---------------------------------- From rluchor at yahoo.com Mon Dec 27 20:34:38 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Mon Dec 27 20:35:25 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 30 In-Reply-To: <20041227224019.KTZV10436.out012.verizon.net@purcell.operagost.local> Message-ID: <20041228013438.48212.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> --- Stephen Eickhoff wrote: in.com> > >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > >. . . on the bumper of a newish car parked in the lot at the newtown, > >ct., big y supermarket, a bumpersticker, apparently brand new, which > >read: "kennedy-johnson." > > > >some of these kerry people are apparently taking it *very* hard. > > I know that someone in the Philly area had run into a lot of 1980 Reagan-Bush > stickers back in the summer and was threatening to distribute them ... > I've been bombarded almost daily with anti-bush-sour-grapes retoric, an example of which, received today, follows: > > The Election is over .... > > > > > > The talking is done .... > > > > > > My side has lost .... > > > > > > Your side has won .... > > > > > > Now lets all pull together .... > > > > > > And let bitterness pass .... > > > > > > I'll hug your elephant .... > > > > > > And you can kiss my ass! Why can't they just get over it? Rich ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Jazz up your holiday email with celebrity designs. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com From rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us Tue Dec 28 11:25:32 2004 From: rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us (Bob Bernstein) Date: Tue Dec 28 11:26:27 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Natural disaster Message-ID: <1104251132.1143.11.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> I see the United Nations has dubbed the tsunami possibly "history's costliest natural disaster." What's the count now? 44,000 dead? Such a piddling number would be a marginal note in the account books of Hitler or Stalin. Yet oh how we are encouraged to go around in awe of "Nature's" destructive power. Nature is an amateur! -- Bob Bernstein DSA ID 9FC0CB5A http://ruptured-duck.com/BobBernstein.asc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 186 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041228/2395d75c/attachment.bin From rluchor at yahoo.com Tue Dec 28 12:04:22 2004 From: rluchor at yahoo.com (Rich Luchor) Date: Tue Dec 28 12:05:32 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Natural disaster In-Reply-To: <1104251132.1143.11.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> Message-ID: <20041228170422.56301.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> --- Bob Bernstein wrote: > I see the United Nations has dubbed the tsunami possibly "history's > costliest natural disaster." > > What's the count now? 44,000 dead? > > Such a piddling number would be a marginal note in the account books of > Hitler or Stalin. Yet oh how we are encouraged to go around in awe of > "Nature's" destructive power. > > Nature is an amateur! And the UN is also claiming that the US is not doing enough. Well, the whole earthquake thing is probably G. Bush's fault so maybe we should do more. Rich ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Send holiday email and support a worthy cause. Do good. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com From dep at linuxandmain.com Tue Dec 28 12:15:27 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Tue Dec 28 12:17:21 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Natural disaster In-Reply-To: <20041228170422.56301.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20041228170422.56301.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <200412281215.27249.dep@linuxandmain.com> quoth Rich Luchor: | And the UN is also claiming that the US is not doing enough. Well, | the whole earthquake thing is probably G. Bush's fault so maybe we | should do more. actually, after the contemptible kofi and his felonious son take their cut, and various criminals allied to bill clinton take their cut, and the likes of robert mugabe take their cut, we have to give a great deal for any at all to receive the intended victims. the sooner the doors to the u.n. are locked and it is shoved into the east river with everyone inside, the better. -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From dep at linuxandmain.com Tue Dec 28 12:27:37 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Tue Dec 28 12:30:29 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] bob's outfit ought to know something about this, too Message-ID: <200412281227.37855.dep@linuxandmain.com> http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2004/12/news_briefs.html Top Scientists Warn: Sea Gods Angry Washington, DC - Pointing to the devastating weekend Indian Ocean tsunami that left over 24,000 dead, an international blue ribbon committee of climatologists and ecoscientists today issued a stark warning that man-made pollutants have increasingly "make water spirits angry." The blunt conclusion prefaced a 2300 page meta-analysis of hundreds of scientific studies and computer models detailing links between human industrial activity and wrathful eco-deities. Entitled "Fire Bad: Fire Very Bad," the report warns that the planet faces additional catastrophies unless drastic regulatory action is taken to appease Earthen-furies. "Unclean money devils anger sacred water spirit Tai-Waku," explained Martin Knudson of Scripps Oceanic Institute. "He now call angry to son the whale, 'make slap with anger-tails! Bring vengeance-surf to villagers!'" While most empirical evidence supports the theory of wrathful whale-tail slappings, some scientists are exploring alternative hypotheses for the weekend tsunami. Ecobiologist Jane Geary of UC Santa Cruz points to mounting evidence that the ocean spirit-world may have been driven to gastrointestinal rage by gas-guzzling SUVs. "Thunder-wagon make smoke cloud of greenhouse gas," explained Geary. "hungry Tai-Waku eat smoke from thunder-wagon, pass giant wind with mighty fury." Peter Novak, chief science officer of the Sierra Club, dismissed Geary's "Divine Fart" theory, arguing it was more likely that SUVs had triggered the tsunami via a spirit underword sexual encounter. "Wheels of thunder-wagons wake up Big Earth Spirit-Mother, make to crazy tingle in hairy child-place. She now go to water lair of Tai-Waku, make big angry love on tectonic plate," said Novak. "Big Earth Spirit-Mother say, 'if ocean rocking, don't come a-knocking.'" Although they disagree on the precise causes of the wrathful spirit world, scientists were largely unanimous in recommending immediate global regulatory action. Remedial steps suggested in the report include ratification of the Kyoto treaty, elimination of automobiles, volcanic altars for virgin sacrifices, creation of a sustainable urine-based economy, and improved faculty dental benefits. "If not act now, it too late," said report editor Paul Erlich of Stanford University. Erlich, whose 1978 best seller "Ice Time Come Soon" is widely credited with saving millions of lives by warning of the massive age of glaciation that threatened Earth during the 1980s, said inaction might anger the spirit world further. "Me not know when Tai-Waku make wrath again," said Erlich. "Me need more grant money." -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us Wed Dec 29 11:40:15 2004 From: rs at bernstein.providence.ri.us (Bob Bernstein) Date: Wed Dec 29 11:42:08 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Tsunamis Message-ID: <1104338414.2323.46.camel@trollboy.legomenon.org> The Wall Street Journal December 29, 2004 COMMENTARY Why There Was No Warning By COSTAS SYNOLAKIS December 29, 2004; Page A8 In the aftermath of the horrific Asian tsunamis of Dec. 26, that has killed more than all 20th- century tsunamis combined, many attempts will be made to place blame or quickly "fix" this problem. A little reflection on the history of past reaction to destructive tsunamis may help. The history of tsunami hazard mitigation tracks well with the history of destructive tsunamis in the U.S. Following the 1946 Alaska tsunami that destroyed the Scotch Cap lighthouse in Unimak, Alaska, and then killed 173 people in Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) was established in Hawaii by a predecessor agency to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Following the 1960 Chilean tsunami that killed 1,000 people in Chile, 61 in Hawaii, and 199 in Japan, the International Tsunami Information Center, sponsored by the U.N., was formed to coordinate tsunami warning efforts of the Pacific countries. Many research and mitigation efforts were focused on the distant tsunami problem, ignoring the local tsunamis that we now know as far more common. Following the 1964 Alaskan tsunami that killed 120 people in the U.S., the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, was established to confront the local tsunami problem. In 1968, the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific was formed by Unesco. Its purpose was to assure that tsunami watches, warning and advisory bulletins are disseminated throughout the Pacific to member states in accordance with specific procedures. It presently has 26 member states out of the 129 that participate in the U.N. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). No membership fees are required, but a member country has to petition for the service and identify local disaster management officers capable to interpret and act in the event of a tsunami warning. In 1992, a Ms 7.2 earthquake in California generated a tsunami that killed no one. It was the first subduction zone earthquake recorded on the U.S. west coast with modern instruments. It triggered concern that larger earthquakes could generate large local tsunamis along the heavily populated west coast. In response, the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) was formed in 1997. * * * Two innovations of the program were to create a tsunami forecasting capability and to introduce the concept of tsunami-resilient communities. At the same time, tsunamis started being reported around the Pacific Rim, on average about once a year. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded even junior scientists and encouraged them to conduct field surveys to gather data to help validate the models and thus help build NOAA's forecasting capability. Combined, these innovations constitute a major advance in tsunami hazard mitigation for both local and distant tsunamis. Currently, inundation maps exist for many communities in the U.S. To forecast tsunamis, tsunami measurements from the deep ocean are required. It took about 30 years to transform the idea of measuring tsunamis in the deep ocean to actually reporting such data in real time. The technical feat of transmitting data from an instrument on the sea floor at great ocean depths to a tsunami warning center in real time required exceptionally creative engineering. The new tsunami measuring technology has given science a new instrument -- the tsunameter -- that provides tsunami researchers and practitioners with the basic information to understand and predict tsunamis. The second technology required to predict tsunamis is numerical models of tsunami dynamics. The tsunameter/model combination has transformed the warning function from tsunami detection to tsunami forecasting. In operational use, the tsunameter/model will eventually lead to accurate tsunami forecasts that save lives. Accurate forecasts lead to fewer false alarms that cost in lost productivity and in lost confidence in the warning system. The images from Sri Lanka, India and Thailand that have filled our screens -- and the descriptions from survivors -- are sadly all too familiar, at least to those of us who have conducted tsunami field surveys. At times, some of us thought that we were revisiting images from Flores in 1992, or East Java in 1994, Irian Jaya in 1996, Papua New Guinea in 1998, and Vanuatu in 1999 -- to just mention catastrophes in countries with similar landscape and coastal construction. The response of local residents and tourists, however, was unfamiliar, at least to tsunami field scientists for post-'90s tsunamis. In one report, swimmers felt the current associated with the leading depression wave approaching the beach, yet hesitated about getting out of the water because of the "noise" and the fear that there was an earthquake and they would be safer away from buildings. They had to be told by tourists from Japan -- a land where an understanding of tsunamis is now almost hard-wired in the genes -- to run to high ground. In another report, vacationers spending the day on Phi Phi were taken back to Phuket one hour after the event started. In many cases tsunami waves persist for several hours, and the transport was nothing less than grossly irresponsible. Contrast these reactions with what happened in Vanuatu, in 1999. On Pentecost Island, a rather pristine enclave with no electricity or running water, the locals watch television once a week when a pick-up truck with a satellite dish, a VCR and a TV stops by each village. When the International Tsunami Survey Team visited days after the tsunami, they heard that the residents had watched a Unesco video prepared the year before, in the aftermath of the 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami disaster. When they felt the ground shake during the 1999 earthquake, they ran to a hill nearby. The tsunami swept through, razing the village to the ground. Out of 500 people, only 3 died, and all three had been unable to run like the others. The tsunami had hit at night. The angry questions that hundreds of thousands of family members of victims are asking, especially in Sri Lanka and India, are "what happened?" -- and "why did no one warn us before the tsunami hit?" The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had issued a tsunami bulletin and had concluded that there was no danger for the Pacific nations in its jurisdiction. Why didn't it extend its warning to South and Southeast Asia? It is perhaps clear with hindsight that an Indian Ocean tsunami warning center should have been in place, or that the Indian Ocean nations should have requested coverage from the PTWC. Clearly, the hazard had been grossly underestimated. To give governments the benefit of the doubt, the last transoceanic tsunami that had hit the region was in 1882, and this was caused by Krakatoa's eruption. Other large earthquakes along the Sumatra trench had not caused major tsunamis, or if they had, they had not been reported as devastating. Floods occur nearly every year, as do storms. Natural hazards that are less frequent tend to be ignored. No nation can be ready for every eventuality -- as 9/11 painfully demonstrated -- at least before a major disaster that identifies the risk. Without the governments of Indian Ocean nations having identified the risk, they probably did not feel they needed the services of the PTWC, however free. Even simple and inexpensive mitigation strategies such as public education possibly did not even occur as a possibility. The rapid tourist development of Sri Lanka may also have contributed to the government's inaction toward suggesting that some of the region's most beautiful shorelines may have hidden dangers. But the occurrence of this massive and destructive tsunami does prove that megatsunamis can occur in the Indian Ocean. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission should continue its efforts to develop a long-term approach to tsunami hazard mitigation through a coordinated program involving assessment, warning guidance, and mitigation aimed at at-risk communities. Improved numerical wave propagation models, new scientific studies to document paleotsunamis, and the deployment of tsunameters will help better monitor tsunami occurrences and develop inundation maps that will guide evacuation plans. As is done among Pacific nations, Indian ocean scientists, disaster managers, policy makers, and local communities need to work together toward the common goal of creating tsunami-resistant communities with access to accurate, timely tsunami warnings. A tsunami warning center needs to be established as soon as practical in the region, and the PTWC should act as an interim warning center. Many developing countries do not have the resources and will need substantial assistance. Even among nations in the Pacific rim, only three have comprehensive inundation maps, and none, including the U.S., have probabilistic tsunami flooding maps that reflect the realities of the past 30 years. Unesco's IOC and the U.S. should help the effort in implementing the U.N.'s global tsunami hazard mitigation plan before the next Asian tsunami disaster strikes. Mr. Synolakis is professor of civil engineering at the University of Southern California. URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110428256566211695,00.html -- Bob Bernstein DSA ID 9FC0CB5A http://ruptured-duck.com/BobBernstein.asc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 186 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mailman.jtan.com/pipermail/os2-right-stuff-l/attachments/20041229/74282e05/attachment.bin From operagost at operagost.com Wed Dec 29 13:00:37 2004 From: operagost at operagost.com (Stephen Eickhoff) Date: Wed Dec 29 13:03:01 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 32 In-Reply-To: <200412291700.iBTH0ABA028577@carme.jtan.com> Message-ID: <20041229180038.GYCA12052.out002.verizon.net@mozart.operagost.local> On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:00:10 -0500 (EST), os2-right-stuff-l-request@jtan.com wrote: >And the UN is also claiming that the US is not doing enough. Well, the whole >earthquake thing is probably G. Bush's fault so maybe we should do more. That's funny -- I saw the numbers for disaster relief by country on FNC today and it looked like the USA has allocated 35 million already. Only the EU (which of course is bigger than the USA) has allocated more at 45 million. France has contributed a staggering 116 thousand. THOUSAND! She must have too many funds tied up in crushing la Cote d'Ivoire under her bootheels. ---------------------------------- Stephen Eickhoff www.operagost.com "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33 ---------------------------------- From bob.bernstein at gmail.com Wed Dec 29 13:41:51 2004 From: bob.bernstein at gmail.com (Bob Bernstein) Date: Wed Dec 29 13:43:51 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 32 In-Reply-To: <20041229180038.GYCA12052.out002.verizon.net@mozart.operagost.local> References: <200412291700.iBTH0ABA028577@carme.jtan.com> <20041229180038.GYCA12052.out002.verizon.net@mozart.operagost.local> Message-ID: On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 13:00:37 -0500, Stephen Eickhoff wrote: > France has contributed a staggering 116 thousand. THOUSAND! She must have too > many funds tied up in crushing la Cote d'Ivoire under her bootheels. Nah. Liquid capital has been depleted ever since the LAWYERS stopped taking cheques for next year's retainers in the oil-for-food cases. -- "The fact that the system allows stupid settings is not a bug." Christos Zoulas From dep at linuxandmain.com Thu Dec 30 20:10:09 2004 From: dep at linuxandmain.com (dep) Date: Thu Dec 30 20:11:37 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] it didn't take long . . . Message-ID: <200412302010.09867.dep@linuxandmain.com> . . . for the touchy-feely morons to descend on the tsumami: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2004/dec/30/123003603.html "Many useless donations of food and clothing may pile up, and public health authorities may devote too much time right now to vaccination drives, overestimate the danger of diseases like malaria, and underestimate more desperate needs, such as counseling for those suffering from mental anguish, they say." right. not important to save their lives; better to make them feel good about dying. could someone just strangle these "experts"? please? -- dep The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. -- G.K. Chesterton, "Orthodoxy" From sjkleinsr at cox.net Fri Dec 31 13:04:24 2004 From: sjkleinsr at cox.net (Stan Klein, Sr.) Date: Fri Dec 31 13:05:51 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Armed Forces Tribute Message-ID: <20041231180425.GUQP2202.lakermmtao02.cox.net@smtp.east.cox.net> PLEASE TAKE TIME TO VIEW THIS MOVIE. IT OPENS SOMEWHAT SLOW; BUT IT'S WELL WORTH YOUR TIME. Someone put together a flash presentation with music from Ricky Skaggs with an overlay of a little girl talking to her Dad who is a soldier. Whew! This is very touching and really puts things into perspective. I encourage you to watch this. Be sure to turn on your sound. Click Here To View. http://www.armedforcestribute.com/ You might need a tissue. Have a great day! Stan Klein, Sr. Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. From operagost at operagost.com Fri Dec 31 16:06:30 2004 From: operagost at operagost.com (Stephen Eickhoff) Date: Fri Dec 31 16:07:53 2004 Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] Re: os2-right-stuff-l Digest, Vol 10, Issue 34 In-Reply-To: <200412311700.iBVH07uk027830@carme.jtan.com> Message-ID: <20041231210635.BHHK28362.out005.verizon.net@purcell.operagost.local> On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:00:07 -0500 (EST), os2-right-stuff-l-request@jtan.com wrote: >From: dep >Subject: [os2-right-stuff-l] it didn't take long . . . >To: os2-right-stuff-l >Message-ID: <200412302010.09867.dep@linuxandmain.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >. . . for the touchy-feely morons to descend on the tsumami: >http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2004/dec/30/123003603.html > >"Many useless donations of food and clothing may pile up, and public >health authorities may devote too much time right now to vaccination >drives, overestimate the danger of diseases like malaria, and >underestimate more desperate needs, such as counseling for those >suffering from mental anguish, they say." > >right. not important to save their lives; better to make them feel good >about dying. Perhaps this is why I feel so desperate this week. I went to the hospital to treat my sucking chest wound when all I needed was some counseling. ---------------------------------- Stephen Eickhoff www.operagost.com "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33 ----------------------------------