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Lies, Damn Lies, and George W.

Looking at the various news sites on the internet, and the daily newspaper, it is becoming pretty self evident that the Teflon administration may have gotten a stain. The oft touted ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq are nothing more than a marketing ploy.

To be honest, I thought it was all a big lie from the beginning. The very fuzzy satellite photos, obviously hand draw and doctored photos of unmanned aerial vehicles and weapons trucks didn’t convince me and they didn’t convince the UN. Working in the aerospace industry, I know how hard it is to create an unmanned vehicle that can travel any appreciable distance, no less half a world away. It was less than a year go that the United States could build a vehicle capable of this! How do they expect the Iraqis, who must be at least 30-50 years behind us, aerospace technologically speaking, be able to construct something that could come close to harming the United States. It was a farce then, it is a farce now. The satellite photos shown to us could of been anything. They looked like a worn down truck depot to me. At least with the Cuban missile crisis, it LOOKED LIKE they were building missile emplacements.

Now, to the meat of the problem: They can’t find A SINGLE WEAPON DESCRIBED TO BE AN IMMEDIATE THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES!

No one, single gram of anthrax, not a single vial of smallpox, not an ounce of Sarin. Nothing, nada, ZERO. What does this mean? For a country that was supposedly overflowing with these weapons, and just rearing to attack the U.S. it seems a little odd we have found nothing. There are 2 possibilities:

1) We have not found the small quantities they still have, and intelligence was wrong in assessing the capabilities of Iraq or…

2) There never were any of these ‘weapons of mass destruction’ still in Iraq. This indicates either a severe failure of American intelligence, or LIES were told to us by the administration.

If we were lied to, that means we attacked a sovereign nation, without provocation, and killed thousands of people with no justification. It is an impeachable offense, and can be tried under international law. It makes the U.S. no better than Germany in 1938 or Japan in 1941.

It only adds to my disgust of this administration if it true. I hope it is not, but it doesn’t look good now.

 

Posted by on June 9, 2003 in General Comments, Political

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The future of computing.

Commentary for June 6th, 2003.

The future of computing.

Right now I am plunking at my Zaurus, writing on my free time a work, thinking about how far computers have come. I am not even thirty yet, but I have seen the evolution of computers from eight bit machines with 64K of RAM, to the beasts you can get now that are 3000 times faster, with 4000 times more memory. Yet, the irony is that today’s machines don’t do all that much more productive work that than the computers of my childhood. We still use most of our computing time to create paper, documents, play games, and a few other basic tasks.I think the computer industry needs to step back and re-evaluate what people really need.

Cheap, reliable, easy to use computers to do the mundane tasks that computers have always done with a few of the extras needed to make the computer more fun.A case in point are my in-laws. My wife and I build our own computers, so when they needed a computer, we built them one. Sadly, we actually lost money just in the parts, not to mention providing lifetime technical support. It cost too much for us to build, and the ‘lowest’ machine you can build now is till about 10 times more computer than they will ever need.We need a $200, easy to use computer. They don’t make it.Why?

1) There is little profit in selling a $200 computer (Just ask Handspring and e-machines about that).

2) The cost of Windows licensing with useful applications is much more than the computer is worth.

The closest thing we have to the perfect machine are the Linux loaded machines at Walmart. It avoids the problems of licensing, and any low markup or loss can easily be absorbed by Walmart.

Can they make 200 computers and make a profit? Sure they can, if they put older, but more robust parts inside. Who needs 2Ghz to write an e-mail? Build a 800Mhz machine, with integrated everything, and you can do it. If I had the capital, I would do it right now, a computer for the masses. Everyone deserves a computer of their own, and they should not have to rely on the questionable handouts from a company that shall remain nameless. It won’t solve world hunger, but it will go a long way to computing equality.

That is all,

David N.

 

Posted by on June 6, 2003 in Uncategorized

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Abandoning the charade

It looks likes Bush abandoning his charade of looking for U.N. appoval for his insane little war. Well, at least he will just get it over with. Like Father, like son, I hope it is all over in 2 years.

 

Posted by on May 13, 2003 in Uncategorized

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Looks like Syria is next

Well, the Shrub has decided that he will ‘deal with’ Syria next. He said they

“Just need to cooperate.” Well, I can read between the lines, I know how the Shrub makes other countries bend to the will of the United States, and that is with
the most advanced weaponry money can buy. It is a good thing we are ‘liberating’ the weakest countries in the world, while other nations with far more horrible, and truly evil regimes still exist. Heavan knows we don’t want a fair fight. That is the way bullies work. Say what you want about supporting our troops, but the truth of matter is a draft dodging AWOL creep from Texas is using the most powerful army in the world for some sort of personal vision of world domination with the United States firmly at the top. I am just sickened by it all.

 

Posted by on April 13, 2003 in General Comments, Political

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No War Yet

Well, we have almost made half way through March and we are not bombing Iraq. It is not the fact it is a pretty pointless war, but the fact the administration can’t decide exactly why we are going to war. Another thing that disgusts me is the fact Bush is now saying ‘weapons of terror’ in a vain attempt to link Iraq with the September 11th attacks. Here is a little truth:
Of the all the hijackers on 9/11, exactly 0 (ZERO) were from Iraq.
Of all the money that was used to train the hijackers, $0 (ZERO) came from Iraq.
I am not sure why we want to go against a country which niether a threat to us or our allies. They may be able to threaten someone in 10 years or so. Another fact is Iran and North Korea have nuclear weapons NOW. Not tomorrow, not net week, NOW. North Korea has ICBM’s that CAN DIRECTLY HIT THE UNITED STATES. Ask yourself what is the more important threat?

 

Posted by on March 11, 2003 in General Comments, Political

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