tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52453562011-04-21T12:40:57.315-07:00Skeptical views and commentary on politics, life, computers and green technologyDougnoreply@blogger.comBlogger531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-85479555679950345202009-02-04T11:43:00.000-08:002009-02-04T11:50:26.878-08:00

My bank apparently sent me an e-mail advertising identity theft insurance. It contained a link to log in to my account on the web site (which brings up the main login page). I sent them this reply.Please see the e-mail below which I received from a phishing con artist, trying to harvest my bank account number and password. The e-mail contains a link to a page which appears to allow me to log in

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-73467567387321838832007-09-19T23:53:00.000-07:002007-09-19T23:56:57.016-07:00

I was duped. I saw the e-mail, the enticing headline. The words "Kerry" and "tasered" in the same sentence got my hopes up for a second. And then I clicked on the link. I watched the video, helping to contribute to the number of views it received, launching it into the upper echelons of YouTube stardom. It would appear that YouTube stardom was exactly what Andrew Meyer was hoping for.This guy

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-61901582281919180712007-08-27T07:35:00.000-07:002007-08-27T08:01:55.854-07:00

Scott Ott's summary of the Gonzales scandal puts the whole thing into perspective.Mr. Gonzales, who has devoted the last year to fending off allegations that he fired eight political appointees for political reasonsI know that there are people who will think it's just a joke. Well, come to think of it the whole thing is just a joke. It's remarkable, really, how many people don't seem to get it.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-44032699170527491522007-08-22T10:45:00.000-07:002007-08-22T12:15:10.595-07:00

I used to read Andrew Sullivan regularly, but I lost interest around the time he took his rather hysterical turn against the war in Iraq. Today I ran across his site by chance and decided to check back in just for fun.Well, it was more fun than I expected. I really should start reading him again. Apparently he's given up on opinion blogging and has instead devoted himself to making fun of Andrew

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-33270731394331911052007-06-15T15:48:00.001-07:002007-07-03T21:01:17.627-07:00

Holy crow! That must be some oppressive law they got there in Britain. I mean these women don't even blink an eye at religious laws requiring that they swaddle themselves tip to toe in heavy brown sheets leaving only tiny slits from which they can peer out upon the world. What law could possibly be so oppressive that it actually has their dander up?

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-35417445418030859152007-06-08T12:27:00.000-07:002007-06-08T12:31:39.790-07:00

MICHAEL S. MALONE writes an interesting article on working from home.As a post-doc I worked from home on Fridays. I had a newborn son and thought that this would be a great opportunity for me to spend some more time at home with my family. It turned out that while I thought I was getting Fridays at home what really happened was my employers were now getting Saturdays and Sundays from me.Now that

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-80758056236999312352007-05-15T22:01:00.000-07:002007-05-18T01:06:21.049-07:00

James Lileks is writing about Disney World. He took a trip there recently. As it turns out, this is exactly the sort of thing to revive me from my recent slumber. It just happens that I am a big Disney fan. Although living in Southern California, I'm a little bit of a Disney purist. I mean seriously, Disney Land is so much more authentic than Disney World. Right??? Right??!!We are on the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1163720786418435912006-11-16T15:06:00.000-08:002006-11-16T17:34:57.873-08:00

This is an interesting analysis of the effects of troop size on the number of violent deaths in Iraq. The executive summary is: There's little evidence that putting more troops in will actually reduce the violence in Iraq. I'm not surprised. In fact I'm actually surprised that a rigorous analysis doesn't show violence increasing with troop size because the presence of troops acts as an irritant.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1163029147166660512006-11-08T15:33:00.000-08:002006-11-08T15:39:07.176-08:00

Well. There is one good thing that will come out of this election. The press just noticed that the Dow is up again.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1163036179515852602006-11-08T13:51:00.000-08:002006-11-13T10:24:16.316-08:00

Well, the election is over and results are pretty bad for the Republicans. I'll admit there have been some times in the preceding months that I have felt despondent for the future of the party, and the country too for that matter. But I'm not going to go out and start a web site apologizing to the Iraqis for letting them down. To those who say that this was a stunning loss for the hawks and a

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1163022591304959052006-11-08T13:25:00.000-08:002006-11-08T13:51:08.850-08:00

As the title suggests, I'm more than a little bit skeptical of this report from Aaron Klein. You'll recall that He was the reporter who wrote this story about the "Front for the Liberation of the Golan", a story that I never saw verified in any other source.Now he issues a report that the Syrian information minister told a crowd gathered on the Golan/Syrian border, "If in the next coming months

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1162331393506496702006-10-31T13:44:00.000-08:002006-10-31T14:02:22.383-08:00

John Kerry holds a press conference to explain his remarks about people who don't study getting stuck in Iraq.I can almost buy his explanation. What it boils down to is, "What I actually said was so unbelievably stupid, you can't possibly think that's what I meant." He does have a point. How could any politician have actually meant to say something so stupid?But put that aside for a moment. What

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1161057515187897832006-10-16T20:56:00.000-07:002006-10-16T20:58:35.200-07:00

Instapundit is not impressed with Kim Jong Il's nuclear prowess.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1159551040892010002006-09-29T09:43:00.000-07:002006-09-29T10:53:39.010-07:00

Via Michael Totten, this sounds like good news. If the analysis is correct, then Nasrallah was hurt much worse by the UN deal than most pundits predicted, myself included.However, I think there is good reason to be suspicious of this analysis. It resounds of wishful thinking and reports Nasrallah's weakness (amongst the Lebanese Shia for example) in areas that are contradicted by other news

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1156235845573469882006-08-22T01:25:00.000-07:002006-08-22T02:35:42.876-07:00

After negotiating ceasefire conditions that just about everyone agrees were a huge victory for Hezbollah, a resolution that only passed because France broadly hinted (practically assured) the world that they would play a key leadership role and contribute a large portion of the UN peacekeeping force, a lot of people are pretty miffed that the French have pulled the old bait and switch and are now

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155930785959517972006-08-18T12:43:00.000-07:002006-08-18T12:53:06.073-07:00

I'm not sure I believe this. It comes from a right wing news organization and they site an unnamed source. But if Syria is recruiting Syrian citizens, looking to create an analog of Hezbollah, then that would probably be about the worst thing they could do. Unlike Lebanon, Syria cannot claim that they don't have any way to control this group. Any action it takes will result in the destruction of

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155813783528022612006-08-17T03:29:00.000-07:002006-08-17T06:05:00.470-07:00

Efraim Inbar has sage advice in the Jerusalem Post on what Israel should do to prepare for the next round. Here it is, plain as day.SUBDUING SYRIA is the key to managing the Lebanese crisis, to rolling back Hizbullah, and to weakening Iran and its radical Islamist influence in the Middle East. In order to attain victory in the next military engagement, Israel should target Damascus.Just to be

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155671889735641642006-08-15T12:44:00.000-07:002006-08-15T12:59:05.853-07:00

I have had friends suggest that the news in Israel is heavily censored, that they only print the Israeli side of every issue and suppress all opposing views.Quite frankly I don't think these people have ever read an Israeli newspaper.Case in point: Today, Haaretz (one of Israel's leading newspapers) published an opinion piece calling on Israelis to "pack up and go". I don't agree with the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155667615814937512006-08-15T11:03:00.000-07:002006-08-15T11:47:28.063-07:00

Check out this headline "Rockets hit Lebanon despite cease-fire". Now someone who just read that headline and skipped the article would probably think that the Israelis had violated the cease-fire and were firing rockets at Lebanon. Of course, as the article states, the rockets were actually fired by Hezbollah, not Israel. The headline certainly gives the wrong impression which seems either

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155664942208896362006-08-15T10:41:00.000-07:002006-08-15T11:03:14.763-07:00

Peace loving people everywhere are hailing the UN brokered ceasefire because it will save the lives of innocent civilians.Nonsense!Consider this: on August 7th we were told "Over 1000 killed in raids on Lebanon". Despite that, the Israeli offensive continued for another week. The results of 7 days of bombing? Now there are 815 killed. Apparently negative 185 people died. That's right, the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1155224560393153132006-08-10T08:28:00.000-07:002006-08-10T18:46:44.966-07:00

The netroots Democrats are excited about the selection of anti-war Lamont over the incumbent Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. I've even seen some armchair analysis claiming that this clear opposition to Iraq is going to help the Democratic party over all because the electorate is sick and tired of the war.However, I don't see this happening for a few reasons. The main reason is that the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1154674071017480212006-08-03T23:05:00.000-07:002006-08-03T23:54:06.530-07:00

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an offer today to Israel that many feel they cannot refuse. "Surrender today and we guarantee you, it will be your childrens' heads on the chopping block, not yours."The world's media outlets seem shocked that Israel has balked at the offer. After all, what could be better assurance than "Peace in our time"?Hat tips SMASH, and others.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1150161139676824572006-06-12T17:56:00.000-07:002006-06-12T18:16:06.926-07:00

Comment registration at Hot Air is disabled at the moment so I'll post this here instead of responding directly to the post in question.Allahpundit, responds to Mary Katherine Ham’s column at Town Hall.Mary points out that Time reports that Human Rights Watch's John Sifton told them about photographs that show "a photo, taken by a Marine with his cell phone that shows Iraqis kneeling — and thus

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1130521218061286042005-10-28T13:56:00.000-07:002005-10-28T13:56:58.756-07:00

By now, we've all heard about Scooter Libby's indictment. Of course everybody has an opinion on the whole sordid affair. My favorite take on this is the balanced summary from Abracadabrah. Also, you can check out The Corner for lots of excellent up to date opinions, speculation and rumor mongering.Me, I'm a little more light hearted. For all the breathless commentary we are getting on this story

Dougnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1128715429554953172005-10-07T12:05:00.000-07:002005-10-07T13:35:15.183-07:00

They would have to call it the Nobel Peace Prize.The blogosphere is a abuzz with negative reaction. I especially agree with the take that this is an attempt at a pre-emptive strike by the prize committee. They seem to be saying, "Gosh, this sure is an important issue and we hope that everyone will listen to ElBaradei." While ignoring what a completely ineffectual job he has done so far. On the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1128072133028469202005-09-30T02:17:00.000-07:002005-09-30T03:19:05.243-07:00

Here is an interesting interview with Cindy Sheehan by Tom Engelhardt.Of course it's filled with the usual pith and vinegar that has been covered so well elsewhere, but since I rarely read all the way down to the bottom of one of her rants I was surprised to find this little tidbit:"TD: You want the troops out now. Bush isn't about to do that, but have you thought about how you would proceed if

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1128022461953364972005-09-29T11:35:00.000-07:002006-12-21T12:31:37.233-08:00

It's a funny thing, as time passes and more and more facts come to light, our vision of what happened in the aftermath of Katrina is turning out to be radically different from what we were told at the time. Via Instapundit, Jeff Goldstein has an excellent post on the role that the media played in all of this (see also Forward Biased interesting followup). Given that some in the MSM including Dan

Dougnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1126819975997292382005-09-15T14:20:00.000-07:002005-09-15T17:59:41.823-07:00

Smash thinks that this image indicates that the POTUS (Bush) has to pee.Think again. Clearly the writing on the top: "I think I may need a bathroom break." Is not the same as the writing below. "Is this possible?"Compare both of them to this sample of Bush's handwritingJudging from the "I"s, the writing at the bottom belongs to the POTUS. So from this we can conclude that Condi has to pee.An

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1126735364736164882005-09-14T11:08:00.000-07:002005-09-14T15:07:29.060-07:00

Bush has taken responsibility for the failings of the Federal government in response to Hurricane Katrina. Curiously, one of the major charges leveled against Bush throughout his presidency has been that he refuses to admit his mistakes. Well now that he has gone out and done just that, the whole world seems determined to demonstrate why it is such a bad idea.Just last night on NPR I heard a

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1106342852252978232005-01-21T18:20:00.000-08:002005-01-21T16:14:18.306-08:00

The tinfoil hat crowd shows up at an anti-Bush protest.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1106283109510777342005-01-21T07:43:00.000-08:002005-01-21T09:55:18.593-08:00

Senator Boxer took her best shot at Condoleezza Rice in the senate confirmation hearings on Wednesday and came up way short. Much has already been written about Boxer's feeble criticisms and outright misstatements, including here and here and here and here. That Senator Boxer could make so many factual errors while accusing Rice of lying is ironic to say the least. There is one little tidbit that

Dougnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1104963345697366292005-01-05T14:15:00.000-08:002005-01-05T15:39:42.633-08:00

Instapundit links to a story on Sgt Stryker about the recent rash of incidents in which airplane pilots had ground based lasers shined into their eyes. There's a lot of speculation as to what this could be, ranging from a target acquisition exercise to an attempt to blind pilots. Then there's this story from Reuters and others. A New Jersey man has been arrested for shining a green laser at the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1102093551126506002004-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:002004-12-08T12:14:58.473-08:00

I saw this earlier and it was part of what gave me the idea to post Sorry Everybody links on my blog. Treacher has done a wonderful collection of Sorry Everybody links.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101951829179696002004-12-08T07:36:00.000-08:002004-12-08T12:13:48.943-08:00

Is this person really advocating IQ tests for voters? Why don't we just bring back the poll tax? Are these the same people complaining about voter disenfranchisement? Funny thing is, if voting eligibility were based on intelligence, Bush would have probably improved his margin. Let's make the (probably justified) assumption that intelligence correlates with education level. If you look at the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101950461016848612004-12-08T07:31:00.000-08:002004-12-08T12:11:20.376-08:00

My daddy didn't love me and now you too.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1102465896407159672004-12-08T07:25:00.000-08:002004-12-08T12:09:41.310-08:00

Citizen Smash covers the controversial resignation of San Diego Union Tribune columnist James Goldsborough. On Smash's site you can read the article that led to Goldsborough's resignation when it was rejected by Union Tribune editors because it might be offensive to Jews. A lot of people don't see any reason why this might be offensive to the Jews. Now I am not a Jew myself so this may be way off

Dougnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101950118123825802004-12-03T08:15:00.000-08:002004-12-03T08:17:53.343-08:00

Somebody's pokin' fun at the Sorry Everybody crowd I suspect that it was too subtle for the site administrators to notice.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101949824870880032004-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:002004-12-03T08:16:11.720-08:00

Looks like somebody's starting to question that whole gun control thing. Heh heh.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101949286038988702004-12-03T08:05:00.000-08:002004-12-03T08:14:48.436-08:00

Nice Orwell quote. I've got another one for you: "The terrorists attacked you because you tried to stop them." OK, Orwell didn't actually say that, but he could have.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1102031245000754742004-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:002004-12-03T08:11:54.370-08:00

From Best of the Web, a story about a man in England who eats a fox as performance art. The folks at Reuters seem absolutely appalled by the idea.Forget the soiled bedsheets and pickled animals, British art has taken another outrageous turn in an example of the unspeakable swallowing the uneatable.Considering some of the truly disgusting things that people do in the name of art, I don't find it

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101948208923980262004-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:002004-12-02T15:48:55.093-08:00

This guy has a pretty interesting point. Do all of the Sorry Everybody people actually think that the rest of the world would be perfectly happy with John Kerry? They would have been happy for a few months that he wasn't Bush. But if he had done even half of the things that he promised to do during the campaign, they would have hated him too. This was never a choice between the world loving us

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101946145544812222004-12-02T07:50:00.000-08:002004-12-02T15:48:28.806-08:00

Stop watching TV and drink more beer. I like that idea, but wonder how that is supposed to make for a better informed voter.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101918908248508682004-12-02T07:46:00.000-08:002004-12-02T07:46:07.370-08:00

Real Clear Politics links to an article in the New York Observer by Nicholas von Hoffman with the provocative title "Democrats Must Oppose Bush’s Imperial Conquests". You can usually count on Real Clear Politics to point out interesting and factual articles, relevant to the times. I have no idea how this one got through their screen. Perhaps it caught their eye because it starts off well,

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101944720606314022004-12-01T18:36:00.000-08:002004-12-01T18:43:25.810-08:00

It would have been enough for me that Bush won, but seeing the abject misery that his victory has brought to the moonbat left is a welcome bonus. I'm not the kind of person to gloat (seriously) but when they go out and start posting self parodies like http://www.sorryeverybody.com/ and http://www.apologiesaccepted.com/index.html sometimes it's just too much to bear. It's like driving past a car

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1101940580927866912004-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:002004-12-02T15:49:57.840-08:00

Via Best of the Web, finally someone in Canada has the nerve to ask some hard questions: Is it not a source of national shame that we must import people to do this kind of work? What does this say about us? Nothing good, I think.But don't worry. At this very moment there must be hundreds of fine reporters across Canada petitioning their editors to let them cover this story in detail.

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100717890435965722004-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:002004-11-17T12:54:08.253-08:00

Via Instapundit, another look at electoral maps at Tech Central Station. Does population density predict the election results? It appears that there is a pretty strong correlation. This map which I received via e-mail gives a much clearer picture of this. Unfortunately I was not able to find anything about the method used to produce this map but I am guessing that the red/blue color indicates

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100627958881314692004-11-16T07:49:00.000-08:002004-11-16T10:04:20.986-08:00

The folks at Urban Archipelago point out that its not so much red states vs. blue states as blue urban islands in a sea of rural red. This is a pretty accurate observation and I love their imaginative name for it, "Urban Archipelago". But in the analysis on their front page they come off as a little bit unhinged. Citizens of the Urban Archipelago reject heartland "values" like xenophobia, sexism,

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100464122467565022004-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:002004-11-14T14:08:10.066-08:00

I continue examining the claim from the left that they represent the reality based society while the rest of America is not reality based. Their major support for this claim comes from the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) survey decrying "The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters". In this series I'm examining some of the results of this survey and offering my opinions

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100283852514100742004-11-12T08:02:00.000-08:002004-11-12T10:24:43.310-08:00

When somebody dies, it is common courtesy to wait for a respectable period before badmouthing them, to give those who mourn a chance to grieve in peace. Now I'll admit it very well may be that period has passed in the case of Yasser Arafat (who probably died more than a week ago, not yesterday). But still I think that a reasonable period of respectful silence is in order. That is why I agree with

Dougnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100250556646816012004-11-12T00:21:00.000-08:002004-11-12T01:20:21.366-08:00

An old friend of mine who frequently disagrees with me politically sent these questions on the Iraq war. I have answered them here to help explain where I stand. 1. who exactly are we fighting in iraq and why? A lot of factions: Foreign Islamist terrorists; A radical Shia Sheik and his followers; Baathist holdouts and Fedayeen created entirely for this purpose. We're fighting them

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100052438229079772004-11-10T06:21:00.000-08:002004-11-10T06:46:07.250-08:00

Those on the left have been loudly decrying Bush's supporters as ignorant. They even claim that the divide in America is not based on liberal vs. conservative or left vs. right but "reality based" vs. "not reality based". Reality based, a phrase that has taken on truly Orwellian dimensions. One of the main pieces of evidence cited as proof that Bush supporters are not reality based is the

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1100017860832573202004-11-09T07:31:00.000-08:002004-11-09T08:31:00.833-08:00

From Little Green Footballs, this post links to a Guardian article. In it we find the following: Because, while the Democrat supporters had right on their side, the Republican supporters were far, far better at fighting dirty. Conservative mega-sites such as Freerepublic.com galvanised their hundreds of thousands of visitors into an army of amateur attack dogs - ready to yap and snap the moment a

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245356.post-1099965185747405962004-11-08T17:06:00.000-08:002004-11-08T18:10:22.100-08:00

I saw a link on Instapundit to Bob Herbert's New York Times column on Republican ignorance. It doesn't look like the left is going to give up on this meme any time soon. Reading Herbert's piece, I have to admit I am a little bit confused. He refers to the PIPA survey: A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of

Dougnoreply@blogger.com0