Oh yeah, I forgot, Micro$oft is evil...

The history: I've used several types of computers over the years. Eventually, I started working on a Mac Quadra 800 with System 7 on it, and that was the first system that "felt right" to me, for whatever reason; as an artist, maybe it was the millions of colors available to me, instead of 256 (or "ink" and "paper" on the old Timexes). While at that job, I bought a 486, but it had many "issues". I traded up a couple of times, and ended up with a P2 333 and a Mac G4. Then OSX came out and the Mac just didn't "feel right" any more, so I left mine running 8.6, and am sticking with those two boxes for a while.

The next job had me working on Windows 2000 Pro, which was the first Windows system I worked with that didn't require at least a dozen reboots a day. By that time M$ had stolen most of the good stuff from the MacOS, so it wasn't too horrible of a transition. The boxes I work on now also run Win2K.

The last few months, our admin has been busy with patching and upgrading to guard against email viruses, and there has been a lot of really vile adware/spyware messing with things.

All that to say this: Today, after finagling with some (admittedly minor) spyware issues at work, I emailed a couple of personal graphics files from work to my home email address. When I got my email at home, "Outlook has removed some potentially unsafe attachments from this message", so I didn't get MY OWN FILES that I sent TO MY OWN COMPUTER. As I'm surfing later, I get more than one request to set my homepage to some spywaring jerk's site, and on most pages I visit, the little 'red eyeball' icon for cookies shows up, which means that someone I have no reason to trust HAS PUT THEIR FILE ON MY COMPUTER. So, basically, M$ gives hackers more external access to my computer than I have.

I understand more each day why my programmer friends like Unix & Linux so much...

Compare and Contrast

Go read some interesting statistics regarding Israel, and see if you can spot the differences...

Related: There is a solution.

A modest 4% of Saudi Arabia, some 30,000 square miles, should be set aside for a new Palestinian state. That state would be 13 times the size of the present Palestinian area proposed under the Road Map and would now have ample space for natural growth. All of the intractable problems facing both Jews and Arabs, arising under the present schemes, would be eliminated. The Palestinians could now construct their own state with full political independence, self-rule and full dignity. The sources of friction between them and Israel would now be removed along with all the immense human and material costs associated with the current conflict.

The French Prescription

The article starts with the line "Let's pretend, for just a few minutes, that we still care about France", and it just gets better from there...

You go, Dan!

Here's the full text of UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman's speech to the UN about the Israel's fence. (Actually, the link is to the first of 8 pages. I guess since the UN excels in longwindedness, he should speak their language.)

One good quote from page 5:

We are not impressed by lectures from Palestinian spokesmen about respect for the rule of law. We have all witnessed first hand the extent of the Palestinian leadership's respect for law in its support for a brutal campaign of terrorism that violates every basic legal norm. We have learned of their concern for human rights and humanitarian law, when rejoicing over the murder of innocent citizens in terrorist attacks, not only in Israel but around the world, or when plundering international donor money intended to benefit their own people. We have heard similar self-righteous rhetoric from some other regimes in our region. Those enraged when Israel seeks to protect itself under extremely difficult conditions, but unable to muster a word of condemnation for the systematic and shocking ethnic cleansing underway in the Sudan, or the violations of basic rights and freedoms in their own countries. This rage and concern, this spirited defense of the rule of law, would carry a little more conviction if it were a little less self-serving. For too many regimes in the region this declared adherence to the rule of law is advanced only when politically expedient. The cause of peace and the lives of people in the region would be far better served if these States actually held themselves to the standard to which they demand Israel alone to adhere.

Found via Occam's Toothbrush.

Photo-Op-Flop!

"You're going to find us working."

Balanced Reporting

Here's some facts to fill in the gaping holes of big media's coverage of Iraq. (found via I Love Jet Noise).

Toothless Warning #283746638

EU issues warning to Sudan to end bloodshed in the Darfur region.

The European Union refused to rule out sanctions against Sudan if the situation in the crisis-torn Darfur region has not improved in three months, threatening it will demand further action to end the violence, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said on Monday.

Bot refused to give details on the types of sanctions the EU would urge the United Nations to take, but said he was prepared to personally visit Darfur in coming months to investigate whether the situation is improving.

Are we going to wait another twelve years while the EU & UN carefully nuance their resolutions and warnings? For the sake of the victims, I hope not.

The Left’s Crimes of Silence

Read the whole thing. Here's a study guide, there may be a test later:

1. Where is the Left as the Sudanese government conducts a campaign of genocide against the wretched of the earth in Darfur Province?



2. Where are the campus demonstrations against Robert Mugabe, who destroyed Zimbabwe, terrorized its people, and is using scarce reserves of food as a weapon while his citizens slowly starve?



3. Where is the American Left’s sense of justice in the face of European anti-semitism?



4. Where were they when the screams of torture victims pierced the prison walls under Saddam?



5. Where were the celebrity journalists when Iraq’s mass graves were being opened over the past fifteen months?



6. Why doesn’t the Left complain about the hate speech spewed in mosques and madrassahs around the world?



7. When will we see mass demonstrations demanding rights for women in the Islamic world? Are women’s rights only for middle-class whites with college degrees?



8. Where is the Left’s passionate sense of humanity when Islamic extremists behead the innocent—and videotape the event?

The blood of al Qaeda’s victims is on the hands of terror’s apologists, whether in Cairo or in Cambridge.

ADD nation

Read the whole thing at I Love Jet Noise:

In a culture little disposed to delayed gratification, proportionality is critical. A three-week war seemed to imply that reconstruction would be achieved at blitzkrieg-speed. Instead, it has dragged on and on... Bored and confused, with neither the example of history to temper our snap judgments nor the hard-earned character of our forebears to stiffen our spines, the citizens of the ADD nation fall to fighting amongst ourselves.

President's speech to the Natl. Urban League Conf.

Excerpted from remarks by the President to the 2004 National Urban League Conference:

Does the Democrat party take African American voters for granted? (Applause.) It's a fair question. I know plenty of politicians assume they have your vote. But do they earn it and do they deserve it? (Applause.) Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party? That's a legitimate question. (Applause.) How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete? (Applause.) Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat party truly served the African American community?

Does blocking the faith-based initiative help neighborhoods where the only social service provider could be a church? Does the status quo in education really, really help the children of this country? (Applause.)

...Has class warfare or higher taxes ever created decent jobs in the inner city? Are you satisfied with the same answers on crime, excuses for drugs and blindness to the problem of the family? (Applause.) Those are legitimate questions that I hope people ask as this election approaches.

Another Lileks grand slam

I continue to be amazed at how quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive with Mr. Lileks. Here's a good one about the 9/11 commission report:

The commission has issued its report! Mo better, the commission has issued recommendations! And the Washington press corps open their beaks, spindly necks trembling, waiting for the savory worm to be dropped from the blue-ribbon mother bird.

Unless you’ve spent some time in DC you can’t imagine the tremendous self-importance that possesses the people who feed off the government. They’re like people who live in the same town where NASA has a tracking station, and think that it makes them all astronauts.

Kerry's commitment to defense

In the inbox:

In case anyone actually believes John "Waffle" Kerry's TV ads on his commitment to defense of the United States...

1. John Kerry voted to kill the Bradley Fighting Vehicle
2. John Kerry voted to kill the M-1 Abrams tank
3. John Kerry voted to kill every aircraft carrier proposed or built from 1988
4. John Kerry voted to kill the Aegis anti-aircraft system
5. John Kerry voted to kill the F-15 Strike Eagle
6. John Kerry voted to kill the Block Sixty F-16s
7. John Kerry voted to kill the P-3 Orion upgrade
8. John Kerry voted to kill the B-1 bomber
9. John Kerry voted to kill the B-2 stealth bomber
10. John Kerry voted to kill the Patriot anti-missile system
11. John Kerry voted to kill the F/A-18 attack/fighter aircraft
12. John Kerry voted to kill the F-117 stealth fighter/bomber
13. John Kerry voted to kill every military appropriation for the development and deployment of every weapons systems since 1988 to include the battle armor for our troops.
14. John Kerry voted to cut the funding of the FBI by 60%
15. John Kerry voted to cut the funding for the CIA by 80%
16. John Kerry voted to cut the funding for the National Security Agency by 80%.

Showing his true intentions and disregard for our nation’s security, John Kerry voted to increase US funding for UN operations by 800%! The UN has openly stated a majority opinion of its hatred for the United States, yet John Kerry wants to turn over the operations of our military to the UN. Is this a President YOU want?

Protest Warrior

Click the title to see some of the good guys on the domestic front lines.

Moore to crash Kerry's party

quote: "Democrats were abuzz... as Bush-hating filmmaker Michael Moore unveiled plans to descend upon... John F. Kerry's hometown nominating party."

I'm really looking forward to this! I watched all those apocalyptic movies - "Armageddon" "Deep Impact" "The Day After" - and I loved that scene in the Hitchhikers' Guide where the whale materializes above, and then crashes into, Magrathea. This should be even better, because it's really happening! Moore should be able to vaporize Taxachusetts (with the remaining Kennedy gene pool), and a large portion of the Dim-bulbs once and for all.

Bueller... Bueller.... Frye... Frye...

is anybody reading this blog yet? i don't have stats set up. please post a comment.

Trousergate

Yes, Virginia, it is just a third-rate burglary.

Talking Monkeys!

From: Sgt Mom
To: The Usual Overpaid Celebs
Re: The Brutal Squashing Of Your Brave Dissent

Mikey gets it wrong again

money quote: "Yep, Linda Ronstadt can say whatever the h*** she wants during her shows, as that is her First Amendment right. A right which, unfortunately for smug, arrogant, narrow-minded Hollywood liberals, also extends to people who think Hollywood liberals are smug, arrogant, and narrow-minded.

Moore = Pig

Hardly a balance to all the bush=hitler & bush=chimp hate speech sites, but it's a start...

You can't have your yellowcake and eat it too...

Another article about the "Wilson lied, kids died" scandal. As a bonus, it also includes a term not heard often enough these days: "perfidious calumnies".

A fair trade

Read the whole thing, but the money quote is:

"If you truly believe that sending U.S. troops into Iraq was the gravest, foulest mistake of the current generation, if you are convinced no justice was served by attacking Baghdad and that the Iraqis should have been left to deal with Saddam as best they may, then you forfeit the right to complain, ever again, about human-rights abuses anywhere in the world."

...But that would make sense, and the left has none.

Air America promotes election fraud

The transcript reads: "As the office of the Ohio Secretary of State notes, only 30 days of residency are required in order to vote in the election. Have you been thinking about moving this October? Move to Ohio!"
 
Since they can't win on ideology, they resort to stealing elections - $&*%^$ crooks. Actual Ohio residents should be on the lookout for a smelly hippie and mafia thug invasion in a few months.

Random Thought

I prefer not to think of them as lottery tickets. They're more like "job dissatisfaction referendum ballots" to me...

Belmont Club on Terror & Jihad

Click this post's title for another good article at the Belmont Club. Here's two of the top quotes:

Jihad is an excuse for avoiding the task of making Islamic society work.

...The conflict between terrorist factions in Iraq may not be isolated phenomenon but the consequences of the Israeli and American campaign against terror.

Simply Too Weird

ICK! Tolkien may be spinning as fast as Asimov watching Will Smith in I Robot.

"Can I" or "May I"

USS Clueless explains the important distinction between "Can I" and "May I".

Comment on Scrappleface

Why is it that the ones spewing "baby killer" at our vets are the same ones who are pro-abortion? Just wondering...

The speech that should have been...

Another great one from Mr. Ott.

More AIDS hypocrisy

According to this, Kofi Annan said "he believed Mr Bush was concerned about the impact of Aids, but said it was now time to step forward and commit resources to that fight." Apparently tripling HIV/AIDS Relief spending and giving the cure - abstinence - away for free just isn't enough. Maybe the UN thugs... er, 'delegates' would prefer an oil-for-condoms program where they could steal a few more $billion while letting millions die.

This article says that "Mr. Bush's administration restricts AIDs funding by a third to programmes that support abstinence-until-marriage." Imagine that! A government program that supports an effective solution to the problem! No wonder the loony left hates it.

I Love Jet Noise

If you haven't already, you should go check out I Love Jet Noise. Here's a good example of what you can expect there.

p.s. Here's a link related to that particular article.

Recycling #0006: Leno on Kerry

Attributed to Jay Leno:

"The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why - with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him."

"We make jokes about it but the truth is this presidential election really offers us a choice of two well-informed opposing positions on every issue. OK, they both belong to John Kerry, but they're still there."

"John Kerry will undergo surgery to repair his right shoulder. He originally hurt it when he suddenly switched positions on Iraq."

"President Bush listed his income as $822,000. You know what John Kerry calls someone who earns $822,000? Not even worth dating."

"Well, the good news for Democrats, now over half the country can identify a picture of John Kerry. The bad news, the majority still thinks he's the dad from The Munsters."

"John Kerry accused President Bush of catering to the rich. You know, as opposed to John Kerry who just marries them."

"They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period. Actually, that's nothing. He once raised $800 million with two words: 'I do.'"

"Today, John Kerry announced a foolproof plan to wipe out the $500 Billion deficit. John Kerry has a plan, he's going to put it on his wife's GoldCard."