In the News

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=90 BGCOLOR="#BBBBBB" TEXT="#080000" background="04a64643.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>J W Durham</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="J W Durham"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>     </B><A HREF="reference_materials.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reference"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="topical_comments.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Commentaries"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#BBBBBB" TEXT="#080000" background="04a64643.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="j_w_durham___writings.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings"><U>Writings</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="photos.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="reference_materials.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reference"><U>Reference</U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In the News</B></div> <div> <A HREF="topical_comments.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Commentaries"><U>Commentaries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="about_me.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About J W Durham"><U>About J W Durham</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="contact_info.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="J W Durham Contact Information"><U>J W Durham Contact Information</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="legalities.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Legalities"><U>Legalities</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="recent_updates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recent Updates"><U>Recent Updates</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="j_w_durham_on_line_archives.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Archives"><U>Archives</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=326 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>In the News</I></div> <div> <B>Thursday, September 25, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10050080-38.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-100500"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bush administration opposes RIAA-based copyright bill Politics and Law</U></A>. Amid the blizzard of economic news is this little tidbit, which might ultimately produce (or eliminate) more of an effect on daily life than the proposed bailout of institutions with bad securities portfolios. This is also a remarkable development because, in general, the Bush 2 Administration has usually tended to take the side of greater executive power. In all likelihood, the motivation for the Administration's stand is that the Democrats are generally supportive of the bill, which in turn is supported by RIAA and Hollywood, which normally identifies with the Democrats. Politics makes strange bedfellows.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Thursday, September 18, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/group-posts-e-m.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Group Posts E-Mail Hacked From Palin Account</U></A>. See <A HREF="id388.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sarah Palins EMails"><U>Sarah Palin's E-Mails</U></A>.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080918083207.wh5hl7iv&show_article=1" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id="><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fed announces $180bln cash flood to fight crisis</U></A> - Probably not enough. The real question is whether any amount of cash can fix the problems.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunday, September 14, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122142278543033525.html?mod=special_coverage" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12214227"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bank of America Reaches Deal for Merrill - WSJ.com</U></A>. It is far from obvious that this is a good deal, or that it will be approved by regulatory authorities, although they may have little choice. For the last year or two, "Bank of America" (I put the name in quotation marks because A. P. Giannini, the founder of that famous bank, would be appalled by its current behavior) has been engaged in an extremely risky strategy of acquiring firms whose capital consists mainly of bad debt. One wonders about the future health of the shark that keeps on eating sponges. A pyramid of bad (in fact, fraudulent) investments let Enron to disaster, and may well do the same for Bank of America. <I>Then</I> we will see a true disaster.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, September 10, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/proposed-copyri.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Proposed Copyright Law a 'Gift' to Hollywood</U></A>. This is an extremely important matter. The proposed legislation would criminalize certain copyright violations (at present, copyright violation is a tort, and hence a civil matter). Eventually, if we continue along the path already laid down by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the proposed new law, there will be a legal platform from which censorship can be exercised. (How? You might ask this ... Consider that it is already possible to exercise censorship through copyright laws. See <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/massive-takedown-anti-scientology-videos-youtube" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/mas"><U>Massive Takedown of Anti-Scientology Videos on YouTube</U></A>.)</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, September 9, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.dodbuzz.com/2008/09/08/former-af-leader-on-georgia-what-must-be-done/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.dodbuzz.com/2008/09/08/former"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Former AF Leader on Georgia What Must be Done</U></A>. The commentary is by the recently removed Secretary of the Air Force, Mike Wynne. It gives a fairly even-handed sketch of what options lay open to the West in confronting Russia in the Georgian crisis.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, August 20, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080820/D92M9HD80.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008082"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Officials Deal calls for troop pullback in Iraq</U></A>. This is, of course, as John McCain would have it, a patriotic, victorious withdrawal. Not at all like the craven, cowardly, evil pullback that Obama wants. I'm sure that McCain will explain this to us in detail, venemous, vicious detail, full of hatred as usual.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-08-20-white-house_N.htm?csp=15" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">White House missing hundreds of days of e-mail</U></A>. Yeah, sure. Actually, given the almost superhuman level of incompetence that has been obvious from the first days of the W Regime, it's not out of the question that they really lost all of this stuff inadvertently. But then - well, after all, Dick Cheney's in charge, so probably it was deliberate. He does nothing by accident, or so his five or six remaining admirers would have us believe.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080820/D92M49D01.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008082"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Joe Lieberman to speak at GOP convention</U></A>. What kind of party, what kind of nation honors a traitor so?</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1927197620080820?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/i"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">McCain pulls ahead 'by 5 points'</U></A>. What a surprise. Obama had better come up with a dramatic choice for VP. To win, he will need to attack, attack, attack, and destroy the myth that John McCain has even the slightest hint of integrity. Why not Hillary? Or Gov. Sebelius of Kansas?</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunday, August 10, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080810/D92FMO4O0.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080810"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Russia Expands Blitz; Attacks Georgian Ships</U></A>. The situation grows worse and worse. Clearly Russia intends to conquer Georgia. The U. S. will stand helplessly by, and the Europeans will dither and wring their hands. The triumph of Russian Fascism is at hand.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/technology/11privacy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/techno"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Web Privacy on Radar in Congress...</U></A> Yeah, right. By the time they get through with it, we'll have another fiasco like the latest copyright legislation. You can guarantee that no matter what Congress says, privacy will be eroded dramatically.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Saturday, August 9, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080809/D92EVIT00.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008080"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Georgia In 'state of war' over South Ossetia</U></A>. This is <I>extremely</I> serious. Open war between Georgia and Russia will inevitably lead to Georgia's defeat unless outside parties intervene. You can fill in the blanks. See also <A HREF="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L9618164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk"><U>Russian jets targeted major oil pipeline</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4af34942-65a1-11dd-a352-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=729ab242-9cb1-11db-8ec6-0000779e2340.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4af34942-65a1-"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Lieberman 'on McCain short-list'...</U></A> You've gotta be kidding me. Heh-heh ... Just think about how this might affect the Senate for the remainder of its term.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0808/Cheney_will_speak_at_GOP_convention.html?showall" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanma"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cheney and Bush both speaking first night of convention...</U></A> This should be fun to watch. Presumably Cheney would go first, so we would have Darth Vader followed by the Chimp.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/08/rich-town-in-the-hamptons_n_117866.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/08"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Rich Town In The Hamptons Claims Poverty</U></A>. This shows us how honest and public-spirited the well-to-do are.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, August 8, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080808/D92ECNBO0.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008080"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Edwards admits he had affair after heated denials</U></A>. Well, Ann Coulter was right. For some reason, I have the impression that she got her information first from the tabloids; perhaps it's not so. But sometimes they have significant news. For example, at the supermarket today, I saw by no means the first "cover" story informing us that George W and Laura Bush are going to divorce. In any case, the Edwards story is a very sad one, and hardly unique to John Edwards. There is a strong tendency for those that rise high in public life to fall prey to temptations of many kinds. Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, they all face the same temptations, and they're all human. </div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8cc0b4e0-6574-11dd-a352-0000779fd18c.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8cc0b4e0-6574-"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">'Watershed' increase for dollar; Biggest daily rise in eight years...</U></A> If this holds, it's wonderful news for the U. S. economy, except that a strong dollar means that we will be more inclined to continue our reliance on cheap, imported goods.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/08/tickets-for-obamas-convention-speech-sold-out/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/200"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Obama DNC Speech In 75,000 Seat Stadium Sells Out In 24 Hours</U></A>. Maybe McCain and his people are right. But wouldn't they like to have Obama's ability to fill a stadium!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Thursday, August 7, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080807/D92DMIO07.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008080"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">119 illegal African clawed frogs seized in Nevada</U></A>. Huh? Do people in Reno have nothing better to do?</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702133_pf.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">McCain reviewing hefty donations from murky sources...</U></A> "Murky" sources. Probably Republicans.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=264" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/arti"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A Baby Daddy for Both A</U></A>mericas. Ann Coulter sure loves this story. It's interesting how quickly she has accepted the tabloids' versions of things. And they could be right, but she sure spends a lot of energy and time on a peripheral issue. I suppose her point must be that all Democrats have illegitimate children. No Republicans would, of course. Amazing.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunday, August 3, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080804/D92B6REO0.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008080"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Poll McCain's attack strategy paying dividends</U></A>. Exactly as I predicted. It's an honor to live in a country where sewage is honored and viciousness exalted.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080804/D92B66I81.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008080"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Solzhenitsyn, chronicler of Soviet gulag, dies</U></A>. I well remember when <I>A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich</I> was published; it was one of the first major works of Russian literature I ever read. Even today, I think it is the best of Solzhenitsyn's works - compact, direct, and profoundly important.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, August 1, 2008</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-quick1-2008aug01,0,376116.story" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/new"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">British Museum will buy astrolabe quadrant - Los Angeles Times</U></A>. Chaucer, of course, wrote a treatise on the astrolabe. It was composed at roughly the date of the device mentioned in this news item. Chaucer’s work includes a reference to “numbers of algorism,” one of the earliest (maybe the earliest) English reference to what we today call the “Arabic” numerals. The device is 14th Century (Chaucer's time, roughly); as pictured in the <I>LA Times </I>article, it clearly shows Arabic numerals. A beautiful instrument.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080731/D9292MO00.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://apnews.myway.com//article/2008073"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Researchers may have found cosmic Rosetta stone</U></A>. Well, it’s an important find, but the Rosetta Stone was a trilingual text that allowed decipherment of ancient Egyptian. The “protostar” mentioned in this article will presumably help us to understand the very early Universe, but it’s not trilingual. Really.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=64 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" background="04a64643.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="05164230.png" border=0 width="100" height="35" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> All text on this page is the work of J W Durham and is licensed only under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Other licensing terms may be available. <A HREF="mailto:jw@jwdurham.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:jw@jwdurham.com"><U><I><B>E-mail me</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>