Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Snip URL

Snip URL is a great utility for shrinking the length of a web address. For example, rather than sending this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3BO1VM9CSCWW1/ref=cm_aya_bb_rev/103-1431998-3653458

send this:

http://snurl.com/23ue

By the way, the above links to my Amazon.com reviews.

posted by Walter at 4:07 PM

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Nominations for 'Man of the Year'

posted by Walter at 4:17 AM

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Friday, August 08, 2003

The "Terrorism" Trump Card Raises Its Ugly Head

In today's New York Times, we learn of some serious human rights abuse:

A group of villagers from Myanmar, formerly Burma, charge that when a gas pipeline was built in their region, they were subjected to forced labor—and that the American corporation Unocal played a role in their mistreatment (an accusation that Unocal denies).

But . . .

The Bush administration has asked an 11-judge panel to block it, arguing that it interferes unduly with foreign policy. . . .The Bush administration argues that permitting the Myanmar villagers to sue will interfere with American foreign policy, including the war on terrorism.

Evidently, we can remove Saddam because of his human rights abuses (the new argument, since there are no WMDs), but an American corporation is free to abuse others without even the annoyance of an suit brought against them.

posted by Walter at 5:04 PM

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Tuesday, August 05, 2003

Jailing Immigrants

Ann Coulter states:

What are we to make of people who promote the idea that America is in the grip of a civil-liberties emergency based on 100 hazy stories of scowls and bumps and one-week detentions? Manifestly, there is no civil-liberties crisis in this country. Consequently, people who claim there is must have a different goal in mind. What else can you say of such people but that they are traitors?

And then we have an article in the New York Times:

Ms. Markvukaj is a friendly, formidable woman from Albania who carries with her the disturbing memories of her years in a Communist internment camp. Vaso, Mario and other members of the close-knit Nikpreljevic clan settled in the U.S. after fleeing Montenegro in the 1990's.

On Nov. 30, 2002, Mr. Nikpreljevic was pulled over for speeding on the Connecticut Turnpike. A computer check revealed that his immigration papers were not in order. A nightmare scenario ensued. He was handcuffed and arrested, and has not been out of custody since. The government has ordered him deported. And under current law he would be barred from any realistic chance of returning.

I suppose Ms. Coulter's opinion depends on which side of the tracks you live . . .

posted by Walter at 4:19 AM

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Sunday, August 03, 2003

I don't have a %$#%@ Bomb!

A teenager was arraigned on a felony charge yesterday morning after he and his family were removed from a plane bound for Hawaii following the discovery of a profanity-filled note referencing a bomb in his luggage examined at Logan International Airport.

...

According to the police report, the note, which was placed on top of clothes in a black gym bag read: ''[Expletive] you. Stay the [expletive] out of my bag you [expletive] sucker. Have you found a [expletive] bomb yet? No, just clothes. Am I right? Yea, so [expletive] you.''

I guess zero tolerance means you can't even say you don't have a bomb. [article]

posted by Walter at 7:28 PM

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