...perspectives...

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

The White House has dug a hole so big and so deep, that no one can ignore it. I highly recommend listening to the audio of Today's White House Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer, especially the end...
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Q -- the French press is quoting actually two different diplomats from the United States State Department that -- they're highlighting that the United States is giving some sort of agreements or benefits to Colombia -- and other non-members of the Security Council --

MR. FLEISCHER: I haven't seen the story. And you already have the answer, about what this will be decided on. But think about the implications of what you're saying. You're saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition.
(Laughter.)

Thank you.

END 1:03 P.M. EST

wo 5:11 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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It sure is going to be helpful removing the tax on dividends now that dividends are disappearing in the ailing economy...

FTSE sags as insurers hit by Pru dividend fear

"The market questions that if even the mighty Pru is having to rethink dividend policy what will happen to everyone else?" one analyst said.

wo 7:59 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Friday, February 21, 2003

US and British leaders are leaving the choice of war up to Saddam Hussein. Is this any way to resolve a crisis? Leaving the crisis to one side to determine? It does makes sense if the one side knows what the other side will do and it is what they want. In this case, that appears to be war. US and British leaders should at least attempt to look like they want to try for peace.

Blair: How Crisis Ends Is Up to Saddam

07 February 2003 - President talks to reporters about Iraq and North Korea
Q: Mr. President, given the facts as Secretary Powell laid them out at the U.N. the other day, do you really see any means of disarming Saddam other than, at this point, using military force?
The President: That's up to Saddam Hussein. ...

wo 8:05 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Peace takes two to make
War takes one to start

wo 3:11 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Tuesday, February 18, 2003

President Bush says "Evidently some in the world don't view Saddam Hussein as a risk to peace; I respectfully disagree."

Evidently our president views Saddam Hussein as more of a risk to his agenda than to the American people, since he chooses to ignore their significant opposition to a war with Iraq. I respectfully disagree with President Bush. I do think Saddam Hussein is a risk to peace, but President Bush is not proactively pursuing peace himself. President Bush has said before that force is a last resort with Iraq and he hopes for a peaceful resolution. But without a proactive approach to pursuing peace, a last resort is simply a matter of setting a date to begin war. I realize that without any useful intelligence from the intelligence community, the president's options may be somewhat limited. But President Bush has acted, and continues to act, as if he is going to war with Iraq, without a real regard to the UN, NATO, the citizens of the United States or the people of the world.

So let us step back for a moment and take a look at the big picture. President Bush has not stopped the terrorists that have actually terrorized and killed 3000 people in the United States, has not provided reliable intelligence and/or warnings to the American people about terrorist threats, is obsessed with starting a war with Iraq, is ignoring the very real and far more dangerous threat from North Korea, and has not stopped the economy from sliding into an extremely dangerous state (even with a majority in the House and Senate).

Yes, democracy is a beautiful thing. When Americans express their opinion in the next election, I expect Mr. Bush will no longer be president.

wo 5:20 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Sunday, February 16, 2003

GPL and BSD license intersection - Intel, Red Hat cure open-source hiccup.

wo 9:15 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Saturday, February 15, 2003

Seems this flies in the face of the RIAA and industry hacking to stop illegal copying on the Internet of copyrighted media.
InformationWeek > Security > FBI Warns Of Cyberthreats As Tensions Climb > February 14, 2003
"Regardless of the motivation, the U.S. government does not condone so-called 'patriotic hacking' on its behalf," the warning says. Such activities, no matter what the reason, are felonies, the FBI says.

wo 9:17 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Monday, February 10, 2003

Microsoft .Net patent could stifle standards effort for web services.
If approved as is, the patent would cover application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow actions related to accessing the network, handling Extensible Markup Language (XML), and managing data from multiple sources. APIs are the hooks in software that allow applications to work with another system.
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Meanwhile, Bruce Perens, a consultant and leader of the open-source movement, worries that Microsoft's patents could shut out alternative software development. "Microsoft is being careful to patent every aspect of APIs related to .Net," he said. "It's preventing the open-source community from being involved in this area."

So don't be surprised when Palladium becomes a rerun of this scenario.

wo 9:00 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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In an update to a previous Broadband Market Shake Up post, another example of how Verizon has not provided the fiber infrastructure to New York City that it promised and New York City has been paying for in extra fees on phone bills for over 10 years.
Despite promises by Verizon's predecessors NYNEX and Bell Atlantic in 1993 to upgrade to fiber optic cables, the company now claims that there is not enough money to do so.

Meanwhile, competitors are forced to take Verizon to court to get access to their UNE "dark fiber".

TeleTruth is one site that covers this area.

wo 2:18 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Why medical malpractice rates rise...
October 2002 insurance industry study on profits and premium rates by Americans for Insurance Report.

NPR item
wo 9:27 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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