This image is obscene

Yet it's the first thing you see when you go to PLEASEVOTE.COM.

It's work safe, but I've put it in read more anyway.

I don't want to take away these people's freedom of speech, but I do want them charged with treason.

The registration wars, part 2

The NY Times seems to have disabled all of the registrations served up by Bug Me Not, including Freddie Farthole.

Poor Freddie.

Well, no shit!

'Nato too weak on terror' - Blair.

I don't often agree with anything Tony Blair says, but he's got me this time.

Israel's High Court orders wall changes

Israel court orders barrier shift, even if it means less security for Israel.

Semper Fi

Marine Letter to Al Qaeda.

Go Supremes!

I like porn. And for now, it's still legal.

The issues

Not that most denizens of the blogosphere need help forming their opinions. But just in case, the Public Agenda Issue Guides are a good place to start. They have in depth analyses that (so far) appear to be non-partisan of various issues, such as terrorism, gay rights, and social security. This isn't a voting guide. They don't tell you which candidates support which side of an issue. They merely look at the issue from all angles and discuss where we stand now and the pros and cons of various approaches.

'Foot and Mouth' outbreak simulation exercise underway

I was living in the UK in 2001 when the awful 'foot and mouth' disease broke out over large areas of the country. I remember the clouds of smoke rising from the field where the slaughtered cattle were being burned to stop the disease spreading further. We destroyed many thousands of animals, both infected and not, and we got the outbreak under control (after we called the Army in to run it), but our dairy industry is still recovering.

The Government and various agencies are now running an exercise, examining the various decisions that will need to be made if there is another outbreak. The hope is that further outbreaks will be handled more efficiently. I approve.

Ah, the joys of being an (alleged) cocaine addict

Singer Love angers US court judge.

Amongst other things, it seems to make you think you are above the law.

Optimism

A woman walks into a drugstore and asks the pharmacist if the store carries extra-large condoms. “Yes we do,” he says. “Would you like to buy some?” “No,” she replies. “But do you mind if I wait around until someone does.

Personal matters

Are we entitled to be aware of a political candidate's personal life?

Kerry's divorce records will probably be unsealed. The media is a junkie, and they're getting the jitters now that Jack Ryan has dropped out of the race. They need another fix.

I have two minds on this. The first is that knowing about a candidate's character is important. We can ask all about "the issues" before the election, but what they say doesn't really matter. After getting in office, things change. Maybe the candidate's pet project turns out to be politically impossible. Maybe events make his priorities change. We can ask all we want "What would you do if...?" and never get all the scenarios right. At some point, we just have to decide what person we trust in office when the unexpected happens. And knowing how that person treats friends and family, spouses and lovers, is part of analyzing his character.

The other part of me knows though that these candidates are people. They may have sought out a public life, but that doesn't mean they deserve to have every moment scrutinized. Who could live in that kind of fishbowl? How can we expect our leaders to actually lead if they are having to defend themselves against trivial charges? What about their mental health? How could someone be able to perform at their best in this kind of environment?

Inevitably, a conversation like this comes down to one man: Bill Clinton.

Common knowledge says he was impeached for having an affair with an intern (usually with the implication that Republicans are prudes.) To which a Republican always replies "He wasn't impeached for having sex, he was impeached for perjury." The Clinton defenders then retort "But it was a lie about sex... everyone does it."

Here's what I believe: 1. It mattered that he lied under oath, whether it was about sex or not, and he deserved to be punished for it.
2. However, the situation in which he was giving testimony shouldn't have come up.

The perjury came about in a deposition. Paula Jones filed a suit against him for sexual harrassment. Had he harrassed her? I don't know. Clinton settled the lawsuit without admission of guilt. However, I disagreed strongly at the time with the precedent of allowing a civil suit against a sitting president. Criminal matters are dealt with in the Constitution. But civil matters? Has the Paula Jones suit opened the door for all kinds of frivolous lawsuits against sitting presidents? Let whatever statute of limitations might apply be put on hold until the president leaves office. Then let the lawsuits proceed. But not while he has a job to do.

(An aside: I also disagreed very strongly with requiring members of the Secret Service to testify. Just as spouses, lawyers, and clergy cannot be made to testify, there should be immunity for the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our president.)

So... imagine an alternate timeline in which Paula Jones was not allowed to pursue her case against the president until after he left office. Would he have committed perjury then, without his job at stake? I don't know. But surely if he had, it would've been a footnote on his presidency rather than what everyone remembers. Perjury charges would have been handled by a local prosecutor rather than the farce of an independant counsel. Congress wouldn't have been involved at all, as you can't impeach someone who no longer holds an office.

I've gotten to the end of this essay without reaching any answers. How do you balance the public's right to know with the candidate's right to privacy? Or with an officeholder's ability to do his job without distraction? What if we could shine the spotlight brightest on candidates, to allow the public to make up their minds, then turn it down once the election is over? Unfortunately, the media isn't well-behaved enough to observe such boundaries.

Is there anything embarrassing in John Kerry's divorce files? I imagine so. Will it shed any light on his ability to lead in office? On his character? Maybe. But I doubt it. We already have his years of public service to go by. Testimony of fellow veterans, both for and against the man. Decades of interviews and public appearances. His voting record. John Kerry is hardly a mystery to us.

Let the media call for the records to be unsealed. And let us see how John Kerry responds. Let us see if he calls for the privacy of his first wife to be respected.

Because there is more than one person involved. These aren't John Kerry's records alone, and although he has chosen a public life, his first wife has not.

Stay out of the courtroom. Leave the records alone. Because if the media does get them... what will they do for their next fix?

Bird Blogging

House Wrens are both clever and stupid. Evolution has told them that nesting close to humans has many advantages, not the least of which is that most predators will leave them alone.

Anyway, My and Mrs HouseWren have set up home on our balcony. They have built their nest inside the box that shell keeps some of ther gardening stuff in. They're getting in and out via the handle hole in the front.

Not the best place.

Mrs HouseWren has now laid eggs.

Apologies for the lack of clarity (the eggs are centre-left). I will try and get better pictures, but don't want to disturb the nest too much.

US Marine, a Muslim himself, taken hostage in Iraq

Does his religion mean the animal fuckwit murdering arseholes will be especially hard on him?

Sovereignty transferred in Iraq

Iraq formally returned to self-rule.

Yep, that's right - it's already happened: formally and legally, at 2:26 am Eastern today. (10:26am Iraqi time)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States has transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, formally ending the controversial 14-month occupation two days earlier than expected.

In a surprise ceremony that was finished before it was announced and before ordinary Iraqis were aware of it, Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi officials on Monday sealing the transfer of powers.

"This is a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to," Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar told the ceremony, which began at 10:26 a.m. (7:26 a.m. British time).

"This is the time when we take the country back into the international community."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said in Istanbul the handover was brought forward to try to avert attacks by insurgents mounting a campaign of bloody attacks.

Recipe blogging: Spotted Dick

Since AcidMan asked, here's a recipe for that English classic, Spotted Dick.

Yes, AcidDude, you eat it.

8 ounces flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces butter
2 ounces sugar
4 ounces raisins
6 tablespoons water

Mix together flour and salt, then blend in the butter. Add sugar and raisins, mix. Now add the sugar. Roll into a roll shape (like a thick hotdog). Grease some aliminium (aluminum) paper and seal it around the roll.

Roll into a steamer and steam for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with powdered sugar.

Like, that's so, whatever

Britney preggers.

From the Weird Science Department

A tropical animal that hibernates.

Bread Blogging: Yummy dinner rolls

I bake bread, sometimes with a breadmaker, sometimes the old fashioned way. Even with the old fashioned method, I usually get the breadmaker to prepare the dough -- it's just easier.

Here is a recipe for these:

Use a breadmaker to prepare the dough. Select White Bread and Dough Only.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons non fat dairy milk powder
3 tablespoons butter or margerine (shortening does not work on this recipe)
1 1/2 large eggs
1 cup water at 70-85f
1 egg yolk diluted with 1 tablespoon water then beaten
1/4 pound of your favourite cheddar cheese

Add the ingredients into the breadmaker, in the above order, but not the beatehn egg yolk or cheese. Depending on the breadmaker, it will take 1.5 to 2.5 hours to prepare the dough.

When it's finished, tip the dough out onto a plate. Divide up into 6 to 12 (depending on how large you like the rolls) lumps of dough. (Warning: this dough is very sticky. Don't worry about getting even balls of dough, they will even out during the raising)

Place the balls on a greased baking tray, cover with a cloth. Stand somewhere warm for at least 80 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375f.

At the end of 80 minutes raising time, brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg yolk. Then grate the cheese over the rolls. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven immediately.

shell can attest to the extreme yumminess of these.

Update by shell: Lionel has left out the recipe for the yummy burgers that will be served up on these rolls.

Mmmmmmm......

The registration wars

Ages ago, I created a login for the New York Times. Login: blogreader, password: blogreader and posted it whenever I linked to it.

At some point, one or more of the groups that collect passwords collected it. I logged into it one day to see that the email address had been changed to something with "cypherpunk" in it. No big deal. I didn't need the NYT to email me anyway. I kept using "blogreader" to register on other sites.

Today, the NYT gave me this message:

Couldn't find your Member ID or Password. Please re-enter them.

I was pretty sure it wasn't a mistype, since the login and pass were loaded by Firefox, but I tried again. No go.

No problem. bugmenot.com to the rescue.

Now I am "freddiefarthole" with the password "freddie".

Lionel will be amused.

Wandering again

The English legal system is slowly grinding to a halt. Even in simple divorce cases, like mine, it takes many months for all the paperwork to be done. So much so, that I must leave shell and return to England on the 11th of July - possible for as long as 8 weeks.

To those who believe that marriage is for life: I used to believe that, too, I now know, based on personal experience, that sometimes things just don't work out and, after things have settled down, both former partners end up happier than they were (my soon-to-be ex also has a new live-in partner).

I consider myself lucky. It never thought it might be possible to find love twice. At one time, I assumed I would be partnerless for the rest of my days, and that was a risk I was prepared to take.

I live in the US now, although it will be a few months yet before all the legalities are sorted out. So I don't think of this trip as my returning home, but as a visit to my homeland. I also get to see my kids again, and that can't be bad, can it? *happy smile*

I want my first amendment back

That damnable campaign finance law is being interpreted as banning Michael Moore from advertising his crockumentary after July 30, because it can be interpreted as a commercial against Bush.

Does anyone feel like this makes campaigns cleaner?

Anyone?

Who watches the watchers?

AOL worker held over e-mail scam.

Yep, that's right ..... an AOL employee has been arrested after he allegedly sold the 90 milion-name AOL screen name list to a spammer.

Have I mentioned how much I hate scumbag e-mail spammers?

Iran releases British servicemen

Iran releases British servicemen.

These are the guys who allegedly strayed into Iranian waters in their patrol boats. I am left wondering what behind the scenes deal was struck to obtain their release.

One more reason not to trust CBS

This is shameful.

RatherBiased.com has received official confirmation from an ad executive at CBSNews.com that the network's Web site is a business partner with Amazon.com.

In an interview, CBSNews.com sales director David Ghiraldini verified the existence of the relationship but declined to discuss the partnership or its ethical ramifications for a news organization profiting from the sale of controversial political books, especially since CBS News isn't known for being particularly friendly with conservative authors.

Besides its controversial vending of the books of authors featured on its news programming and its unprecedented decision to devote an entire 60 Minutes episode to Dan Rather's dialogues with former president Bill Clinton, CBS has also come under fire for forcing all of its radio affiliates to carry a live townhall meeting featuring Clinton tomorrow.

"It's going to be like one big commercial for the book! Why didn't Mr. Clinton's publisher just buy an hour," a CBS Radio News affiliate exec told Matt Drudge last week. "This is not news, this is marketing. I already feel dirty!"

Apple sells 800,000 iTunes during Week 1 in Europe

16 times more than its nearest competitor.

Go Apple!

Radical stuff

Brazil to shoot down drugs planes.

I feel about this the same way I feel about capital punishment: execute the wrong person, and you can hardly say "Sorry!" and let them go home, can you?

Then there's this:

Colombia and Peru called a halt to the controversial practice in 2001 after the Peruvian air force mistakenly shot down a plane carrying missionaries.

Kim Sun-il's parents

There are monsters in the world.

The filthy animals strike again

Korean hostage 'beheaded'.

South Korean citizen Kim Sun-il was kidnapped in Iraq and beheaded on June 22, 2004.

"Sloppy, self-indulgent, eye-crossingly dull"

That's what the New York Times says about Bill CLinton's memoirs.

*snigger*

SpaceShipOne - more details

Here, including the fact that its rocket is fuelled by laughing gas. Really.

SpaceShipOne is trying to make makes history

No 'Net feed. No TV coverage. It's own website grinding to a halt under the strain.

Un-phuqueing-believable in 2004.

UPDATE: It's done it!

More: The rocket engine shut itself down early. It is not yet known at what altitude.

FINAL: Don't worry, they did it.

Iran seizes three Royal Navy vessels

They did what?

These can (presumably only be small patrol craft, on the lookout for oil smugglers.

THe BBC has more.

A spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the vessels had entered Iranian waters without permission.

The Ministry of Defence in London confirmed that it had lost contact with three small patrol boats in the area.