THE phone company went to Atlanta and all I got was this crappy two year commitment

The big concessions that ATT had to make to recreate Ma bell:
a two year commitment to net neutrality and the promise to offer 19.95 crap-ass DSL to people in the south.

From Business Week.

Ethopia bombs Somalia

From the Times
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, Dec. 24 ? Ethiopia officially plunged into war with Somalia?s Islamist forces on Sunday, bombing targets inside Somalia and pushing ground troops deep into Somali territory in a major escalation that could turn Somalia?s internal crisis into a violent religious conflict that engulfs the entire Horn of Africa.

The coordinated assault was the first open admission by Ethiopia?s Christian-led government of its military operations inside Somalia, where ? with tacit American support ? it has been helping a weak interim government threatened by forces loyal to the Islamic clerics who control the longtime capital, Mogadishu, and much of the country.
[snip]
Some of the most frightening snipets:
The bombs also destroyed a recruitment center and a fuel depot, killing at least 10 people, witnesses reported. Hours later, the transitional troops marched into the area, and a new mayor was installed.

Many of Beledweyne?s people seemed relieved, not so much about the change in government, but because the fighting appeared to have ended so fast.

?We?re so sick of war,? said Ahmed Issa, a shopkeeper in Beledweyne. ?We?ll obey anybody.?
[snip]

In a hint of a possible direction to come, Ethiopia?s prime minister recently told American officials that he could wipe out the Islamists ? in one to two weeks.?

US Army might break Goodyear strike

From the The Financial Times ("The only paper that tells the truth"). It seems to be the only paper reporting this, but it also charges money for full access.

The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tyres for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A strike involving 17,000 members of the United Steelworkers union has crippled 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada since October 5.

The Next Afghanistan?

I don't know if you all have been following this, but a coalition of Muslim groups have overthrown the warlords running the transitional government in Somalia, and pushed them out of most of the country. Now, Ethiopia, a mainly Christian country has thousands of "trainers" (give or take a few thousand) in the country and the Somalis want them out. Of course, its hard to know who the good guys are when one is an invader and the other is a group of religious zealots.
From the NYT today:

The inevitability of war hangs over Mogadishu, Somalia?s bullet-pocked seaside capital. But unlike the internal anarchy that has consumed the country for 15 years, the looming battle is now with Ethiopia, threatening to further destabilize the troubled Horn of Africa.

In the past week the increasingly militant Islamists in control of Mogadishu and much of the rest of the country have begun a food drive, a money drive and an AK-47 assault rifle drive, and have sent doctors and nurses, along with countless young soldiers, to the front lines.

For its part, Ethiopia, with tacit approval from the United States, has been steadily slipping soldiers across the border, trying to hold off the Islamists and shore up Somalia?s weak, unpopular and divided transitional government.

Judge's Decision on Libby's Graymail Gambit

Judge settles classified info fight in Libby case - Politics - MSNBC.com:

"WASHINGTON - A federal judge has accepted a series of redactions and substitutions proposed by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald - to be provided to I Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's defense team - which will limit what Libby can share with jurors at his upcoming trial on some of the specifics of his top-secret White House briefings."

Iran students heckle Ahmadinejad

From Al Jazeera.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization

The Report also states that its suggestions should be implemented as a whole, not piecemeal (i.e. no consideration of troop w/drawl before oil is clearly available to multinationals):

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization: "In its heavily anticipated report released on Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group made at least four truly radical proposals.

The report calls for the United States to assist in privatizing Iraq's national oil industry, opening Iraq to private foreign oil and energy companies, providing direct technical assistance for the 'drafting' of a new national oil law for Iraq, and assuring that all of Iraq's oil revenues accrue to the central government."

Venezuela's Chávez Wins Decisive Victory - washingtonpost.com

Venezuela's Chávez Wins Decisive Victory - washingtonpost.com: "CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 3 -- By an overwhelming margin, Venezuelans reelected President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, further extending a presidency that began when the former paratrooper was swept into power eight years ago, intent on overturning Venezuela's old social order. Chávez will receive another six years in office to broaden his leftist revolution and contest American initiatives across Latin America."

War Protestor's Public Suicide in Chicago Went Unnoticed by Media

He's The Worst Ever

This is the title of Eric Foner's opinion piece in today's Post.

washingtonpost.com

Bush Fails Women With Global AIDS Plan

Figures I was not aware of and won't attest to their authenticity, but seeing this coming from Ms. Magazine is shocking. Since today is World AIDS day I thought it appropriate to recognize this form of structural violence...(had to throw that in there)

Bush Fails Women With Global AIDS Plan: "Today, 17.3 million women in the world live with HIV/AIDS, and of the 16,000 new HIV infections daily, as many as 55 percent occur among women. The proportion of women among the total infected population has risen at a steady and frightening rate: from 35 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 1997, to 48 percent in 2004."

Bolivia passes major land reform | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

Let's hope it spreads...

Bolivia passes major land reform | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited: "The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has secured a sweeping land reform bill with the help of thousands of indigenous peasants who marched on the capital, La Paz.

To the jubilation of his supporters, Mr Morales signed the bill into law at a midnight ceremony last night after overcoming fierce resistance from senators representing large landowners.

The law is intended to reverse centuries of discrimination against the indigenous majority by seizing 77,000 square miles of land - an area around three-quarters the size of Britain - deemed unproductive or illegally owned and redistributing it to the poor."

A Quantum (Computer) Step

University of Utah News Release : November 19th, 2006:

"Nov. 19, 2006 -- A University of Utah physicist took a step toward developing a superfast computer based on the weird reality of quantum physics by showing it is feasible to read data stored in the form of the magnetic 'spins' of phosphorus atoms."

Michigan Teen Fuses Atomic Nuclei for Fun

He creates fusion in his Oakland Township home: "In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion."

Leftist leads banana baron

Leftist leads banana baron in Ecuador election:

"A leftist nationalist who is friendly with Venezuela's anti-U.S. president held a commanding lead over a Bible-toting banana tycoon in Sunday's runoff presidential election in Ecuador, exit polls showed.

The tall and charismatic Rafael Correa received nearly 57 per cent of the vote, compared to 43 per cent for Alvaro Noboa, according to an exit poll conducted by CEDATOS-Gallup."

Crowd stones Iraqi PM

Calls for calm as crowd stones Iraqi PM | Top News | Reuters.co.uk: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The motorcade of Iraq's prime minister was pelted with stones on Sunday by fellow Shi'ites in a Baghdad slum when he paid respects to some of the 200 who died there last week in the deadliest attack since the U.S. invasion."

'More popular' President Bush defends son from 'hostile audience'

Yeah, you go original King George, you tell those pesky kids, what the hell do they know

'More popular' President Bush defends son from 'hostile audience': "The former president lost his cool with one audience member, calling him 'crazy' and recommending that he 'go back to school.'

According to the AP, a student implied that 'U.S. wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies,' and that 'globalization was contrived for America's benefit at the expense of the rest of the world,' but 'Bush was having none of it.'

'I think that's weird and it's nuts,' Bush said. 'To suggest that everything we do is because we're hungry for money, I think that's crazy.'

'I think you need to go back to school,' Bush added."

What an awkard moment...

"For all the focus on the Democrats, a former Bush official who predicts a coming bloodbath between the White House and disgruntled conservative Republicans brushed off the Pelosi-Hoyer tussle as much ado about process."

"'The Democrats are the sideshow,' he said. 'Bush self-destructing is the big story in town.'"

New York Daily News - Politics - Pelosi's bruising:

Oh Fuck

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth | Science | Guardian Unlimited:

"A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs."

"The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036."

"A 1bn tonne asteroid just 1km across striking the Earth at a 45 degree angle could generate the equivalent of a 50,000 megatonne thermonuclear explosion."

Workers without bosses at a turning point

Workers without bosses at a turning point: "Workers face off with the Argentine government on the status of their worker-controlled factories and other businesses. Since 2001, many have had to face bleak futures of unemployment. The workers, reclaiming their destinies, have opened closed plants and started operating outside the system to make a living. Many of these worker-controlled plants have operated for years in legal limbo."