Seat of the Revolution

"This country has been having a nationwide nervous breakdown since 9/11. A nation of people suddenly broke, the market economy goes to shit, and they're threatened on every side by an unknown, sinister enemy. But I don't think fear is a very effective way of dealing with things -- of responding to reality. Fear is just another word for ignorance."

--Hunter S. Thompson, Salon.com interview, February 2003

Goodnight good doctor.

DENVER (Reuters) - Hunter S. Thompson, the renowned American journalist and novelist who wrote "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself at his Colorado home on Sunday night, police said. He was 67. "We do have confirmation that Hunter Thompson was found dead this evening of an apparent self-inflicted wound," said Tricia Louthis, spokeswoman for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office. Thompson was found dead at his home outside the ski resort of Aspen. The Sheriff's Office was unable to provide any further details.

Dear M. Cherry:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the National Intelligence Reform Act (P.L.108-458). I appreciate hearing your views on this important matter.

The release of the 9/11 Commission Report fueled a debate about how our intelligence community should be reformed to better respond to the new threats we face in a post 9-11 world. This is a debate we needed to have and the country is indebted to the Commission for its work in setting us on the road toward reform. The National Intelligence Reform Act that passed the Senate on December 8, 2004, and was signed into law by the President on December 17, 2004, represents an important first step on that road.

A major focus of the National Intelligence Reform Act was the creation of a strong Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The new DNI will have greater authority over the national intelligence budget, programs, and personnel than currently exists for the Director of Central Intelligence. Another focus of this legislation was the creation of a strong National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) with the authority to conduct strategic counterterrorism planning and to assign roles and responsibilities for counterterrorism activities.

In addition, P.L.108-458 included a provision I authored with Senator Coleman (R-MN) to help stop money laundering and terrorist financing. In its final report, the 9-11 Commission acknowledged that disrupting terrorist financing is one key to winning the battle against terrorism.

This law also includes a provision I authored to permit private security employers to obtain timely national criminal background check information on people hired to protect critical infrastructure facilities.

I voted in favor of this bill because I support the creation of a strong Director of National Intelligence and National Counterterrorism Center. However, their creation will not solve all of the problems we face or even the most critical ones in our intelligence community. In fact, the creation of a stronger DNI makes it even more important that we enact reforms to ensure that intelligence assessments are not influenced by the
policy judgments of the Administration in power and that a stronger DNI is not just a stronger policy and political arm of that administration. I was deeply troubled that this law did not contain critical provisions, which
were included in the Senate-passed bill, intended to promote independent and objective intelligence analysis.

I am hopeful that the issue of independent and objective analysis in the intelligence community will be addressed during the 109th Congress. Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,
Carl Levin

The four pigs waited, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes. They were the same four pigs as had protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings. Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick. They added that Snowball had privately admitted to them that he had been Jones's secret agent for years past. When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.

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Finally I've got all my V65 moved from my friend's garage to the new pad. My new shop's got a nice wood floor and plenty of space in which to spread out but no power yet.

There's still the matter of bolt I broke last year. I was checking it out yesterday evening after moving everything. I filed down what's left of the protruding metal so that there's some chance of drilling into it.

This time I'm going with a much bigger bit, one that leaves me just enough room to avoid the threads. With some luck I'll be able to get the busted bit of metal out of there and a little bit closer to running.

My neighborhood is supposed to be full of retired steelworkers, maybe I ought to canvass for some expert advice.

(via "Skid Marks")

On December 22, 2004 the Bush administration issued broad new rules
overhauling the guidelines for managing the nation's 155 national forests
and making it easier for regional forest managers to decide whether to
allow logging, drilling or off-road vehicles. The final rule requires
forest managers to comply with the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act, but an accompanying proposal - which is open to
public comment for 60 days - gives managers new discretion on what kind of
environmental review constitutes compliance.

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"This could be a seminal moment in technology liberty. It's a brilliant campaign on Downhill Battle's part. I hope you'll participate."
Cory Doctorow about Eyes on the Screen, BoingBoing.net

"The record industry is hypocritical and the domination has to be shared. P2P to me means 'power to the people'."
Chuck D, Public Enemy

Dustmen in Frankfurt are being sent back to school after accidentally destroying an important piece of modern art.

It comes after they collected, crushed and burned a stack of plastic yellow sheets, reports the Guardian.

The sheets were part of a city-wide exhibition of modern sculpture by Michael Beutler, a graduate of Frankfurt's St�el art school.

Thirty of the dustmen are now being sent to modern art classes to try to ensure that the same mistake never happens again.

The head of Frankfurt's sanitation department, Peter Postleb, took personal responsibility for the mistake.

"As the weather was bad I thought it was construction workers who had dumped their materials on the street and called my people to come and take it away," he said.

He only realised his mistake a few days later when he read about the exhibition in a local paper.

"I instantly called the depot, but they told me that it had already been thrown into the incinerator," he said.

Embarrassed, Mr Postleb contacted Beutler, who, he said, took the news well.

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LA Times:

Powell found himself again at the center of controversy last year, when he drew the ire of broadcasting when the FCC began levying more fines for the airing of indecent material.

Viacom Inc.'s CBS was hit with a $550,000 fine for airing a Super Bowl halftime show during which pop singer Janet Jackson partially bared her breast. Then, in November, Viacom agreed to pay a record $3.5 million to settle several outstanding FCC enforcement actions against the conglomerate's TV and radio stations, including those who broadcast shock jock Howard Stern's show.

Stern, who features an altered photograph of Powell with devil's horns on his website, told listeners Friday that it was "a great day" for broadcasting.

"Thank God he's gone," he said. "But God help us with what's next."