Free Republic

Yesterday, as we all know, Microsoft fed an 'exclusive' story about its new 'Palladium' DRM/PKI Trust Machine to Newsweek hack Steven Levy (a guy who writes without irony of "high-level encryption"), presumably because they trusted him not to grasp the technology well enough to question it seriously. His un-critical announcement immediately sparked a flurry of articles considering what this means to the Windows user base. And that's as it should be. But my question is, what does it mean to the Linux user base? Well, of course no one knows yet; the Levy article is long on generalized promises but...

TOKYO, June 26 — A suspected North Korean spy ship that sank last year after an exchange of fire with Japanese coastguards was armed with sophisticated weapons -- including an anti-aircraft missile, Japanese sources said on Wednesday. Japanese divers had spotted a mobile anti-aircraft missile, portable anti-tank grenade launchers and machineguns in the ship, which sank in Chinese waters in December, the government sources said. The missile was identifed as an Igla-2 surface-to-air missile developed by the former Soviet Union with a range of about 3,800 metres (yards), the sources said. ''It is truly terrifying that the mystery ship was...

Our intelligence people are saying that something bad, maybe worse than 9-11, is coming this summer. If and when it happens, the recriminations will be overwhelming. President Bush will face a political onslaught -- maybe even impeachment hearings -- after the next attack. Democrats who now stand in the way of taking tough measures will be the first to throw stones. In truth, we have under-reacted to the 9-11 attacks, and we will probably over-react to the next ones. Why aren't we doing more to prevent the next attack? More can be done. It is only reluctance to make politically...

(CNSNews.com) - "Shocked" reaction from Worldcom management; shock and anger from investors; and all those shock waves expected to roil today's stock market opening. Blame it all on the latest revelation of "accounting irregularities." WorldCom Inc. - the nation's second largest long-distance telephone company - announced that it improperly accounted for almost $4 billion in expenses, and it has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate. The company has fired its chief financial officer. "Our senior management team is shocked by these discoveries," said John Sidgmore, the new CEO of WorldCom. He's been on the job for two months,...

As a frequent rail customer who depends on Amtrak, I am outraged.And if I had a congressman or senator who would listen, I'd tell them to act in the best interests of Amtrak customers and taxpayers — and shut the railroad down before writing it yet another blank check.Listen to any zealous Amtrak partisan, and they will tell you that the company, burdened by a lack of adequate federal support and careening towards bankruptcy, stands at Armageddon. That's a fitting place for it because, in its present form, Amtrak needs to perish. The problem begins and ends on Capitol...

"From the moment the State of Israel has the capability to launch a satellite into orbit around the earth at a height of hundreds of kilometers, it established [its] capability to launch, by means of a missile, a payload to any location on the face of the earth," says the head of the Asher Institute at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Prof. Moshe Gelman, in the wake of the launch of the Ofek 5 satellite. Avi Har-Even, the director-general of the Israel Space Agency (ISA), explained to Ha'aretz that the Ofek 5 launch has two strategic aspects. The first, he...

The Connecticut Democrats are proposing a “Millionaire’s Tax” increasing the Personal Income Tax by 1% on taxpayers with incomes exceeding $1.0 million. This increase would take effect beginning on January 1. 2002 and would be retroactive by six months. That’s right, a special tax to solely penalize people for being financially successful. An increase in the income tax is just not a good policy idea. In 2000, the number of millionaire filers numbered approximately 7,529 (raising around $1 billion, or $220 million each). Due to this plan, the anticipated number of filers for tax year 2002 would be 6,500, with...

Ruling leaves Mitt home free by David R. Guarino Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Republican Mitt Romney reclaimed his spot on the gubernatorial ballot yesterday with a sweeping legal victory that browbeat Democrats' residency challenge as legally flawed and absent proof. The hard-hitting, 41-page Ballot Law Commission ruling, reached unanimously by the bipartisan board after only a day of deliberations, prompted the Massachusetts Democratic Party to drop appeals and left even Romney's opponents pleading for all sides to move on. A buoyant Romney said Democrats should be ashamed at trying to beat him on a technicality rather than at the ballot...

It's going to be a long day folks, Worldcom has the market on edge. Overseas markets were down 2-4% and the Dow futures are off by 225 right now.New Worldcomm Fraud forum here click

Ann Coulter is on the Today show in a few minutes, right? Does anyone know if NBC has an internet audio feed? I want to catch this but I'm at work...

Heavy Use Taxes Submarines, US Navy Commander Says Copyright © 2002, Dow Jones Newswires By Greg Jaffe NORFOLK, Va. -- The commander of the U.S. Navy's submarines recently warned his bosses that the fleet, which has played a critical role in gathering intelligence about the al Qaeda terrorist network, should slow its pace of operations. The vessels' nuclear-reactor cores are burning up faster than planned due to added missions since Sept. 11, shortening the submarines' life spans, Vice Adm. John Grossenbacher told his superiors. "I've told them this next year we need to see a reduction in the tempo of...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - And now this -- the most actively traded stock on U.S. markets is cut by two-thirds as its shareholders drive home from work Tuesday night - the result of a $3.8 billion lie.Add WorldCon to the growing list of U.S. accounting scandals. Shareholders lost $2 billion in a matter of minutes Tuesday night, after news leaked out that debt-laden WorldCom (WCOM: news, chart, profile) treated billions of dollars in what lawfully should have been expenses as a corporate asset. The result? The Clinton, Miss.-based telecom giant improperly shifted costs from its rightful pile to a blatantly...

Roots of Liberal Media BiasDan Chavez 06/24/2002Thanks to the efforts of conservative and right wing activists a dawning awareness is taking place in the public's mind as to the existence of a pervasive and widespread left-wing, pro-statist and anti-freedom bias in many of the major "mainstream media" venues. What is less well known is that this bias has been in existence for many decades. During the Great Depression there was much disillusion with America and many critics became enamored with the slogans of peace and prosperity emanating from the Soviet Union. Walter Duranty, the New York Times Moscow correspondent, praised...

This report does not purport to cover all the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming areas. Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting all that happens. Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to minimise the risk of reprisals. NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF Chipinge - a farmer's cattle were grazing on a neighbouring farm when one heifer was caught in a snare and slaughtered. Only the front legs were remaining when discovered. Mvurwi - On Vigila Farm two cattle have been axed but they are still alive. Norton - On...

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy has run into bipartisan opposition to his demand that the Justice Department turn over secret documents in the confirmation battle over one of President Bush's most prominent judicial nominees.The nominee is Miguel Estrada, picked for a seat of the federal court of appeals for the District of Columbia. The 40-year-old Estrada is regarded by Washington Republicans as a rising star with the potential to one day sit on the Supreme Court. On the other side, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, along with allies in liberal interest groups, have been scouring Estrada's record in...

Will Bush follow Bill to bailout city?Posted: June 26, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc. "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions," said Hamlet. If President Bush has time left over from defusing a war between India and Pakistan, and preparing a plan for Mideast peace, he best take a quick glance south. From Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego, democratic capitalism is in deepening peril.Some 500 maquiladora plants in Mexico have moved to Asia, taking 250,000 of Mexico's best jobs, in search of 25-cents-an-hour Chinese labor. The global race to the bottom is on.Mexico's stock...

<p>Entertainment companies could legally launch electronic attacks against Internet file sharing networks under a proposed law previewed Tuesday by a Southern California congressman.</p> <p>U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, plans to introduce a law to legalize the use of electronic countermeasures to thwart copyright infringement on popular peer-to-peer networks such as KaZaa and Morpheus, where millions of music and movie files are traded.</p>

Pres. Bush signed this law extended bennies to these partners.Maybe it's me and I am sure that I will be told this, but I seem to have lost sight of just what his conservative values are.I am sure that there are those out there that can tell illustrate them for me.

For three decades, left-wing extremists have dominated American academics, spouting odd but seemingly harmless theories about "deconstruction," "post-modernism," "race, gender, and class," while venting against the United States, its government, and its allies. Only these ideas are not so harmless. The radical notions espoused in the classrooms and in campus demonstrations have recently had dangerous consequences. These are especially visible with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Consider some of the steps American professors took during 2002: Columbia University: Hamid Dabashi, a specialist on Iran, compares Israel's military maneuvers in Jenin (to prevent future suicide bombings) with the Nazi Holocaust. He...

Helicopter plucks injured climber from Rainier after earlier copter crash SEATTLE - Rescuers pushed the limits of daylight Tuesday to lift an injured climber from Mount Rainier. The rescue happened hours after a first attempt sent one chopper crashing into the side of the mountain. A Chinook helicopter out of Fort Lewis hovered for more than 30 minutes around 9 p.m. Tuesday over the site where rescuers had brought 19-year-old Jesse Whitcomb. The chopper left the scene around 9:20 p.m. with the injured climber. He was reported in fair condition at Madigan Army Medical Center late Tuesday night. Whitcomb was...