NonProphet posted recently about Gorbachev’s Op-Ed in the New York Times about Georgia. It’s hard to criticize a nobel peace prize winner (oh, unless you’re a Republican and you’re talking about Jimmy Carter), but look at it this way: South Ossetia was artificially severed from North Ossetia by Stalin. It used to be one nation. In fact, most of the borders in that region are the result of Stalin’s desire to *create* ethnic tensions.
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Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has once again introduced articles of impeachment against George Bush (he’s done so before but the Dems have decided it wasn’t in their best interest to pursue them). Will they, once again, be ignored? Impeachment is merely a rebuke. It carries no punitive weight other than public embarrassment, but for some reason speaking out against injustice, corruption, and abuse of power hasn’t been very much in vogue during the last few years. Hard to believe this nation believes that sexual trysts in the white house rise to the level of impeachment while the following real crimes do not, but it appears to be so.
I’ve posted a handy list of the articles below. For a full accounting behind each see the document posted here. If true, I would be particularly interested in hearing Bush’s justification for the charges in Article XX: “The continued detention of such children, some as young as 10, by the US military is a violation of both convention and protocol, and as such constitutes a war crime for which the president, as commander in chief, bears full responsibility.” since the Geneva convention clearly states that children younger than 15 are to be treated as victims, not combatants.
This is pretty cool if you have some videos posted. Google/Youtube announced that they have just released a new statistics package called Insight today for users of YouTube that lets video authors see a stats graph of the hits on their videos, as well as a map that displays from where around the world these hits are coming. I recognize the graph display from Google’s finance page. Click on Account | Manage My Videos | Videos, Favorites, & Playlists then click any ‘About this video’ button to see the new stats info.
Google didn’t get any of the 700MHz wireless spectrum that the FCC put up for auction, it all went to big phone companies Verizon (and their partner Vodaphone) and AT&T. But that doesn’t mean that Google ‘lost’, after all they pushed for openness, and that’s what has been forced on the big players. “Verizon must allow outside devices such as mobile handsets from other carriers and must allow users to run outside applications on the network. Verizon originally filed a lawsuit against the FCC’s open-access rules, but dropped out while trade group the CTIA continued with the lawsuit.” (infoworld) Meanwhile, nobody won the right to run the D block, a proposed set of frequencies to be set aside to ensure easier communication between the various emergency services across the nation. So who won? Looks like everybody got what they wanted except the public. No new player in telecom, no nationwide emergency system.
I find myself thinking about how ironic it is that Gloria Vanderbilt’s son Anderson Cooper can ramble on about NY Governor Spitzer’s alleged illicit associations with high class prostitutes for hours on end on CNN tonight. Cooper is apparently a very private person and does not discuss his personal life, but word on the street is that he has been spotted at “gay spots” around town. While I’m certainly not comparing prostitution (which is illegal in the US) and being gay (which at least currently, is not) I still think that if anyone should feel uncomfortable about probing (if you’ll pardon the expression) into this private sexual matter it would be Cooper. 
No matter how you feel about prostitution, clearly these were two consenting adults - nobody was forced into anything. The whole thing is so obviously a set-up, but he so richly deserved to be set up. Personally I didn’t want to hear about the Governor’s indiscretions as long as he used his own money (and not mine). Spitzer was starting to shake things up and clean house. Thankfully, now the most dysfunctional state government in the country can get back to the business of wasting my money as they have done so well for so long.
