Quote of the Day

"The working stiffs...They make $75-100k a year. That's not much to live on."

- Jack Valenti on who piracy hurts most

Comm Carriers Spin Fees as "Taxes"

The Wall Street Journal - Pesky new fees -- with names that
sound like government taxes -- are popping up on even more
telephone bills.

The fees are listed in a way that makes them look like
government taxes on your bill. But they're not. They go to
the companies, which can do whatever they want with the money.

National cellphone carriers, which started adding the new fees
in force early last year, now all have them. And, the practice
is spreading to DSL bills.

BellSouth - "regulatory cost recovery fee" - $2.97
SBC Communications - "Federal Universal Service Fund Fee" - $1.84
Verizon Comm. - "universal-service-fund fee" - $2-$3 new for May
Verizon Wireless - "regulatory charge" - 45 cents
T-Mobile USA - "regulatory program fee" - 86 cents
AT&T Wireless - "regulatory program fee" - $1.75

Wall Street Journal article

Quote of the Day

Bob Woodward:
"How do you think history will regard the war in Iraq?"

George W. Bush:
(hesitates) "It won't matter. We'll all be dead."


- from Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward.

The Affair of the Shoelace Necktie

LONDON (Reuters) - Mystery surrounds the death of a leading
Sherlock Holmes expert who was found in his bed garroted
with a shoelace and surrounded by cuddly toys.

He suffered a "very unusual death" quoted the Westminster
Coroner's Court.

Reuters Article

Yessir, Extra Safe!

The Patriot Act granted unprecedented surveillance powers. Lawmakers approved the act not only because of the crisis of 9/11, but because it was aimed primarily at foreign nationals.

Most Americans believed the powers would never be applied to them, according to Georgetown University law professor David Cole. But Cole says history shows that once the American government goes after foreigners, it's only a matter of time before it turns the same laws on Americans.

Wired News

I Feel Safer Now

A businessman from Oxford flew round trip from Heathrow to Marco Polo on his wife's passport.

BBC News article


On the bright side, at least the airlines are still violating passenger privacy:

American Airlines disclosed that it turned over 1.2 million passenger records to the Transportation Security Administration in June 2002 without the passengers' knowledge or permission.

One of its vendors turned over "some passenger travel data" -- itineraries, according to The Associated Press -- to four research companies vying for contracts with the TSA.

American is the third airline to acknowledge that it turned over passenger information to the government.

CNN article

NYT Calls Candidate a Murdering Klansman, but it Could be Worse

Rocky Mountain News - Thursday's New York Times misidentified
GOP Senate candidate Pete Coors as a Ku Klux Klan member
who murdered a black sharecropper.

"It could have been worse," joked Coors' spokeswoman Cinamon
Watson. "Pete could have been identified as John Kerry."

Rocky Mountain News article

Quote of the Day

". . . should this occur, avoid looking at laser with remaining eye."

Keeping Chevys Safe for Democracy

Kansas City, Missouri-AP

Ryan Allen just wanted to buy a Chevy -- instead, he got a whole lot of trouble.

When a Chevrolet dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, checked his credit, Allen's Social Security number came up as belonging to Ramzi Binalshibh (RAM'-zee bin-al-SHEEB'), who's alleged to be a senior al-Qaida operative who helped plan 9/11.

The dealership called police, who then called the FBI, who said the terror suspect was arrested two years ago and remains in custody.

But the dealership still refused to sell to Allen.

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1808098

A New Kind of Terrorist?

-- Forget terrorists - last week, LAX's control tower was shut down for a few hours due to a power outage caused by . . . a bird.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bird21apr21,1,3801246,print.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Now Where did I Leave that Army?

-- The U.S. has decided to move the headquarters of its First Army, which is currently stationed in western Washington State, to Japan.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2004042244048

A Unique Company

-- On its website, New Bridge Strategies describes itself as "a unique company that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the US-led war in Iraq".

The website advertises the political connections of its chairman and director, Joe Allbaugh -- who ran FEMA in 2001 and 2002, was Bush's campaign manager in the 2000 election, and formerly part of the "iron triangle" of close Bush aides which included Karl Rove and Karen Hughes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1053060,00.html