Castro Says Bush Plotting to Kill Him

from WTOPNEWS.com

Must read on Diebold voting machines

sunspot.net has this report on the voting machines being mass produced by Diebold:

Diebold "basically had no interest in putting actual security in this system," said Paul Franceus, one of the consultants. "It's not like they did it wrong. It's like they didn't bother."

Oh, and in case you forgot .

juan cole on hutton inquiry

Juan Cole gives an excellent point-by-point rundown of the Hutton inquiry here .

Silliness

8 years? For being the weirdest freak currently walking the planet? BBC NEWS | Europe | Manslaughter verdict for cannibal

mmmmmm.... pooooooorrrrrrkkkkk

King Publishing Group: Conference

Could Linux sympathisers be behind the latest cyberattack?

an update here --------------- from The Economist A virus with a motive Jan 29th 2004 | SAN FRANCISCO From The Economist print edition Could Linux sympathisers be behind the latest cyberattack? A NEW computer virus, the fastest-spreading ever, was this week making the rounds among unprotected computers running on Microsoft Windows. Such incidents of online vandalism by what are often presumed to be geeky teenage hackers are, sadly, routine. But this virus, called MyDoom by some and Novarg by others, seems to be of a different nature-conspiratorial and political. That is because its main feature, besides humiliating Microsoft, is to turn infected machines into weapons against a controversial company called SCO. SCO, a tiny software firm in Utah, and Microsoft, the world's largest software firm, have only one thing in common. Both are passionately hated by "open-source" software programmers, who typically believe that computer code should be freely shared instead of sold as property. Microsoft is hated chiefly because it represents the opposite model, proprietary software, and because its operating system, Windows, is the main rival to Linux, the best-known open-source software today. SCO is hated even more intensely. That is because it claims-vaguely, so far-that Linux contains stolen code from an older operating system, called UNIX, the copyright for which SCO owns. So SCO has sued firms that distribute Linux, such as IBM, and intends soon to start to sue those that use Linux. Google, the popular search engine and a heavy user of Linux, is one potential target. As a result, malicious hackers have declared open season on SCO. MyDoom is the fourth attack against SCO's website so far. The code, upon infecting a computer, is designed to wait until the Superbowl on February 1st and then deluge SCO's website with so much internet traffic that it breaks down. Darl McBride, SCO's chief executive, says he will pay a reward of $250,000 to anybody who provides information to track the perpetrators down, and that the FBI is also on the case. "We believe it is somebody sympathetic to the Linux cause," he says. Linux leaders are outraged by suggestions that a member of their community could be behind MyDoom. Bruce Perens, an open-source evangelist, reminds sympathisers that Linux has been trouncing SCO in the public-relations battle, and urges his fellow open-sourcers "to deplore the attacks" and "always take the high road". As to who the perpetrators might be, Mr Perens thinks that SCO "would not balk at attacking their own site in order to paint their opponents in a bad light." As the war enters its second year, the gloves are clearly off.

iran election update

from Taipeitimes.com Hardliners' veto fuels Iran crisis

a good scroll

Table Talk | DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES - follow them here...

not so shocking Iraqi oil update

AP: U.S. in No Rush to Privatize Iraq Oil

Maryland's one armed bandits

Well, the slots issue is heating up in the Maryland legislature... and by all means it will be an interesting battle. Opponents will certainly trumpet the concerns about crime rates and precedent. While those in favor will continue to claim that this is the most effective way for Maryland to dig out of it's current budget woes. Also interesting are the competing headlines running simultaneously in the Washington Post and the Washington Times. Ehrlich's Slots Plan Turns Up Doubters (washingtonpost.com) vs Ehrlich proposes off-track slot sites note this earlier post on Paul Weisengoff, hired last week by Ehrlich, assumably for no reason other than to help win the hearts and minds of slots supporters. Jan 28 update: also see this editorial in the Wash Post.

Libyan nuclear parts sent to US

BBC NEWS | Americas | Libyan nuclear parts sent to US

Rise of a ruling-class family

Salon.com Books | Rise of a ruling-class family

wha?

Wired News: U.S. Uranium Stock in Peril

on Iranian elections

An update on the struggle facing the Iranian government, coming to grips with the political change affecting their country. Two nearly identical stories out of Tehran; the first from the Saudi government sanctioned media outlet arabnews.com led with this headline: Reformists in Iran Challenge Hard-Liners while the BBC ran this: Iran hardliners 'reject reform. Hope to get a chance to revisit these later... but I'm struck by this closing statment in the arabnews.com story:

Reformist MP Hossein Ansari-Rad warned that the electoral reforms may only serve to heighten political tensions.

Ilham Aliyev

A startling editorial in the WashingtonPost today titled Our Man in Baku surrounding the events following the elections in Azerbaijan. Not surprisingly, the newly-elected President plays the oil game. An excerpt:

American diplomats and oil executives portray Mr. Aliyev as an urbane pro-Westerner and a secret moderate who plans to liberalize the police state he inherited from his dad. This account strikes Azerbaijanis as ludicrous. Only 42 years old, Mr. Aliyev is renowned in Baku as a playboy with a bad gambling habit. During his tenure at the state oil company, Azerbaijan was rated the sixth most corrupt nation in the world by Transparency International. Following the election, a Human Rights Watch reporter described what he witnessed: The government clearly stole the election, and then brutally beat hundreds of people who poured out in the streets in protest. The day after the election, I watched from the roof of a hotel in Baku as thousands of riot police beat protesters unconscious. Afterward the riot police raised their shields to the sky and turned their batons into drumsticks, celebrating the victory of intimidation. Now hundreds have been arrested, while Isa Gambar, the opposition leader, is effectively under house arrest and activists from his Musavat party are being beaten and detained all over the country. Everyone I speak to is scared. The violence surrounding the election was shocking yet predictable, as the government for years has shut the opposition out of the political process. In the months leading up to the poll, Azerbaijani authorities blatantly manipulated the electoral process to ensure that Ilham Aliyev would inherit his father's presidency. The opposition had nowhere to go but the streets.

The entire report can be viewed here. On January 23rd, Human Rights Watch published a more-detailed account of the arrests, beatings, and in some cases torture.... following what many believe to be a fraudulent election. Will the Bush administration come to the aid of the Azerbaijanis? Somehow I doubt it. Said Mr. Aliyev proudly: "The United States is a strategic partner."