31 Mar 2004
US opposes Oklahoma headscarf ban

As I've said before, I'm not certain of the need for a complete ban on religious ornaments in public schools. But in the case of attire, especially headgear, it behooves us to remember that most gangs identify their members by clothing and/or headgear. So I dunno - it's a tough one.

The justice department files a complaint on behalf of a Muslim girl sent home from school for wearing a scarf.

(link) [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Completely Unexpected

Well, this has gotta have the loonies are in a tizzy! Seems as though one of their own, former Representative Bob Barr (R-Ga.), the receipient of a The Burning Times Award, has come out against the proposed Marriage Amendment, using language that sounds, well, almost rational!

"I don't think it's the function of Congress to monkey around with state court jurisdiction," Barr said in testimony that put him at odds with Judiciary Committee Republicans looking back from the dais.

What's the world coming to?

Proposed amendment on same-sex marriage draws conservative foe

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Bush official defends outsourcing

I could go on about this for pages and pages, but I've said enough to refute and lambast these apologists for multinational corporations. Suffice it to say here that this is proving to be the issue of the 2004 Presidential campaign: and there's a very clear choice.

Treasury Secretary argues that the benefits of free trade outweigh the costs.

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

SCO vs. IBM vs. SCO: Is the end in sight?

Methinks the Register is being overly optomistic here: after all, there are lawyers involved...

Big Blue seeks declaratory judgement

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Liberal Voices (Some Sharp) Get New Home on Radio Dial

It will sure be nice to have a choice on the AM dial for talk radio ... listening to Limbaugh, Hannity and Ingram et. al. on my recent drive to Florida was enough to turn me into a flaming Commie. Maybe if I could listen to some of the doom and gloom policy wonks on the left it would even my perspective out again.

Air America, which makes its debut on Wednesday with Al Franken at the microphone, intends to challenge the hegemony of conservatives on commercial talk radio.

(link) [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Maybe the Music's Just Lousy?

Well, doh!

The recording industry insists that CD sales are off because everyone's online stealing the music. Now a study comes along saying that piracy has little, if anything, to do with stagnant sales.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Making A Better Browser History

I was cursing the so-called 'History Feature' in Firebird yesterday: it's virtually unusable. This sounds like an interesting idea, but it's always tough to get the public to accept new models for data representation.

tudents at the University of Illinois have released TrailBlazer, a new user interface to represent your web browsing history. It lays out the pages you visit in a simple 2D map with thumbnails and summaries.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link