Thursday News Bucket – PLEASE UNRECOMMEND

14 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 7:06 am

   Pavarotti dead at 71:  Guardian

   Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C’s and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.

   His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

2. 

   CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 7:14 am

   continues to be a thorn in Bush’s side; this time it’s Homeland Security getting the failing grade: WashPo

   Hobbled by inadequate funding, unclear priorities, continuing reorganizations and the absence of an overarching strategy, the Department of Homeland Security is failing to achieve its mission of preventing and responding to terrorist attacks or natural disasters, according to a comprehensive report by the Government Accountability Office.

   The highly critical report disputes recent upbeat assessments by the Bush administration by concluding that the DHS has failed to make even moderate progress toward eight of 14 internal government benchmarks more than four years after its creation.

   • 

     dada on September 6, 2007 at 12:23 pm

     wonder if they’re planning on issuing a grade card for the pentagon?

     another example of the dismal state of the governmental infrastructure brought about by Bush’s™ politicization and appointments of incompetent, inept, and bungling sycophants to positions of power:

     China flexes muscles of its ‘informationised’ army

     · Pentagon attack part of long-running effort to breach US networks
     · Hacking incidents seen as effort to develop computer warfare capability

     …Disclosure by the Financial Times that the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, assaulted part of the Pentagon’s system used by policy advisers to the defence secretary, Robert Gates, is the latest and potentially most serious breach and set alarm bells ringing across the US military.

     The Pentagon reportedly resisted the PLA onslaught for several months, but was finally penetrated, forcing a shutdown of that part of its network for a week. A spokesman would not comment on the assault or its source, but emphasised that any information obtained would have been unclassified.

     […]

     The threat of state-sponsored hacking is dominating the thoughts of security officials around the world. Some suggest as many as 120 countries are actively pursuing cyber warfare. China has spelled out in a white paper that what it calls “informationised armed forces” are one of the three pillars of its military strategy, setting itself the target building a cyber army which could win such a war by 2050.

     The extent of cyber warfare was underlined earlier this year when the Guardian revealed that Estonia had been almost overwhelmed by an attack believed to have originated inside Russia which rendered a number of government websites useless and was described by officials as a “very serious disturbance”.

     The US is particularly vulnerable, both because of the extent of interest in its activities around the world, and because of the sheer size of its systems. The Pentagon operates 3.5m computers across 65 countries, including 35 internal networks.

     Its most sensitive network, Siprnet, is for secret information, and is thought never to have been hacked. Non-classified information passes through the less secure Niprnet; it is in one segment of this network the Chinese operation is believed to have pierced.

     Though the Pentagon stressed that any emails intercepted would be unclassified, that does not inherently rule out disruption. Sami Saydjari, who worked as a Pentagon cyber expert for 13 years and now runs a private company, Cyber Defence Agency, said: “If someone is able to attack information that is needed by decision makers, or that is crucial to organising logistics and supply lines of an army on the ground, that means they can induce chaos in a nation.”

     complete article at Guardian UK

     msm?…msm?…..<crickets>……..must be their day off.

     lTMF’sA

     

3. 

   CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 7:34 am

   from King5 News in Seattle

   Workers at one coffee stand are taking a stand against their new boss.

   The owner is implementing a dress code – requiring employees to wear skimpy outfits.

   All the workers have quit.

   “I make coffee, I don’t sell my body, you know?”

   That’s what Barista Amy Klett told her boss at Lola Bean Espresso last week.

   Good for her.  Here’s more:

   Like a lot of similar stands throughout the Northwest, people come for the coffee — and the dress code.

   “Military Monday, Cowgirl Tuesday, Bikini Wednesday, Schoolgirl Thursday and Fantasy Friday,” said Cyrus.

   The girls at Lola Bean talked about it.  One by one, they went to their boss and told him they quit.

   Th Northwest apparently has a different idea of morning eye-opener than folks here in the Northeast…

   • 

     Alice on September 6, 2007 at 9:03 am

     Good for them.  But why did they have to do it “one by one?”    

     Is that the way it’s gonna be for us now – one by one those who can afford it slip away?    

     No more E pluribus unum, I guess.  Take this job and give it to some poor peasant who’s got to sell her body.  

   • 

     chocolate ink on September 6, 2007 at 5:17 pm

     I get so tired of this kind of crap I could just scream and it sometimes makes me feel like we haven’t come a very long way baby after all.  By the way what is it with the continuing schoolgirl fantasy/dress-up that men-some men-seem to like..I just find that really perverted and downright creepy.

     I’m glad that the young women all quit although if the idea stays afloat I’m sure there will be plenty of young women who will take the job.

     • 

       CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 6:53 pm

       It is tiresome, isn’t it?  And why don’t we ever see someone deciding that we need guys with great pecs and 6-pack abs serving us our coffee?

       The schoolgirl thing is creepy – pederast much?.   Remember that Britney Spears cd with the plaid catholic school outfit on the cover?  We see how well that’s worked out for her now…

       • 

         chocolate ink on September 6, 2007 at 7:29 pm

         Yeah I remember that and the truly ironic thing about that was Brit was quoted as saying she didn’t understand why creepy old guys were always hitting on her..duh but then she’ll never be accused of being the brightest bulb in the pack now will she.

         • 

           CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 8:01 pm

           The thing I remember most about that was my co-worker’s 11-year-old daughter who wanted to be just like Britney back then, and how he (my co-worker) thought it was kind of funny and I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t cringing.   It made me very glad I have boys.

4. 

   CabinGirl on September 6, 2007 at 7:40 am

   I think so.

5. 

   idredit on September 6, 2007 at 11:20 am

   After 4 months Riverbend- Baghdad Burning has a new post. Safe in Syria.

   Leaving Home

   “The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness… How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death?

   How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.”

   I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…

   How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away?

   Blessings.

6. 

   idredit on September 6, 2007 at 2:24 pm

   White House floats names for AG . Missing is Chertoff.

   TalkLeft gives us a peek.

   Aides in both parties say there are six names:

       Former Solicitor General Ted Olson; former Attorney General Bill Barr; former Deputy Attorney General George Terwilliger; D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman; former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson; and Michael Mukasey, a former judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

   Larry Thompson has said he doesn’t want the job, he’s happy at Pepsico.

   As to the others:

   Mukasey — who was recommended by Senate Judiciary member Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) — is considered a long shot. Democratic sources said Olson and Terwilliger, both well-known, strongly conservative Republicans, likely would run into significant opposition from Democrats…

   Although members of both parties likely would be receptive to Silberman, aides in both leadership camps cautioned that because confirming him would open a seat on the crucial D.C. Circuit Court — providing Bush a chance to nominate another federal judge to a lifetime appointment — Democrats could end up blocking him. Nevertheless, a senior Democratic leadership aide said Silberman would “have a good chance of confirmation.”

7. 

   on September 6, 2007 at 4:24 pm

   A blog at Harper’s gives further reasons to believe an attack on Iran is coming, quoting a former CIA officer:

   It looks like a military strike is in the works and I base that on two things: observable fact and the rhetoric emanating from the White House. There’s a lot of movement of troops and materiel into the region-it’s stuff the United States can’t hide. It’s a huge expense to put Navy battle groups in the Gulf and we’ve got three of them there. We’ve also moved new fighter planes to Guam amidst much public fanfare. You can plainly see the upturn in US Naval activity in and around the Norfolk Naval installations. The movement of ships, re-supply, ammunition loading and general level of activity is high.

   The Naval facilities and the ammunition loading areas are well known, and the activity is readily visible, especially at night. There’s a stream of ships coming in to load up and when they take off new ones come in. There’s only one part of the world where all that stuff is heading. Also, everyone I know who would be involved in an attack on Iran-pilots and other air assets-is gone. Normally some of them are around but now all of them are away at the same time.

   It’s déjà vu all over again. So much for the idea that the military wouldn’t go along with Bush-Cheney on attacking Iran.

   If the US does attack Iran, no one knows how this is going to happen. The biggest uncertainty in the short term is whether and how intensely the Shia in Iraq will turn against the occupiers. In the long term, the likelihood of future 9/11s will go up considerably, but Bush will be out of the White House by then.

   • 

     Gaianne on September 6, 2007 at 11:28 pm

     to hack are military computers.  

     The proposed assault on Iran could get interesting.  

     Don’t worry about 9/11s–that was false flag.  Or rather, do:  That is how they will sell their war to the public.  But it comes first, not after.