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2006 September 20 — Why Now?
On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog
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For The Record

Back when the Shrubbery was planning his invasion of Iraq, I wasn’t blogging. While I opposed the entire operation, I did it on discussion lists, so who knows where the record is.

My basic argument was it made no sense to invade Iraq because we had Saddam between a rock and a hard place with the US/UK air supremacy and most of the infrastructure needed for the production of WMDs was seriously degraded by Operation Desert Fox in the late 1990s.

If he did anything, or tried anything, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait would provide the troops needed to invade, but there had to be a real provocation by Iraq.

Based on what happened in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, I agreed with the coalition that fought the first Gulf War: overthrowing the government in Iraq would cause the artificial construct of Iraq to collapse – just like Yugoslavia.

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September 20, 2006   2 Comments

Bad Ideas Never Die

CBS reports Gonzales Wants New Web Rules. This is the same idea they have been flogging for a while: ISPs should be required to keep customer records for years because he might need to look at them to prosecute child pornographers.

Alberto doesn’t know or care what this would cost and he has no examples that point to deleted records as a problem, but he wants the ability to spy on people.

Every bad idea is justified as “protecting children.” Nothing should be private.

September 20, 2006   Comments Off on Bad Ideas Never Die

He Had a Blogiversary

The ever snarky TBogg forgot that yesterday was his fourth blogiversary™ [Talk Left].

I guess talking like a pirate stunned him.

September 20, 2006   Comments Off on He Had a Blogiversary

Unneeded Speed

If you were wondering what to do with that extra €1 million [$1.4 million US] sitting in checking there’s always the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. With 1001 horsepower from an 8 liter [488 cubic inches] engine that drains its 100 liter [26.42 gallons] fuel tank in 12 minutes at full throttle. Actually, as explained in the Wiki article, the top speed is limited to 254 mph because that’s the highest speed at which the tires are rated safe.

Any problems are dealt with a factory mechanic being flown to your location.

September 20, 2006   3 Comments