Via Digby a nice little Max Blumenthal video of Israeli-Americans in Jerusalem giving their viewpoint on the American President and his Middle East policy. The video is NSFW, so turn down the volume before you start it.

Compare the contents of this video with the comment of Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, and the reaction to her remarks. These are American citizens, most if not all who have dual citizenship in Israel. I guess if you are a Republican or an Israeli-American the concept of not criticizing the President when he is abroad isn’t applicable.

On MSNBC: Lawsuit a glimpse into ‘worst’ of the Web

The Internet provider called itself Triple Fiber Network – or 3FN.net — and claimed to be based in Oregon while operating servers “in the heart of Silicon Valley.” But the Federal Trade Commission alleges that 3FN — also known as Pricewert LLC and APS Telecom — was really controlled by criminals in the Ukraine and Estonia, and was the “worst ISP located in the United States in terms of hosting malicious content.”

The FTC obtained a temporary restraining order on Wednesday from a federal judge in the Northern District of California that shut down the service and possibly thousands of Web sites. FTC staff attorney Ethan Arenson said it was the first time the agency had ever shut down an ISP.

Technically, this is a hosting site, not an ISP, but it has been a major PITA for me personally, as much of the garbage I delete comes from their server farm, based on IP lookups. Of course, they will simply move their operation somewhere else, and if they move it to a Republican area, they will get tax breaks and grants to “start a new business and create local jobs”, so it is only temporary relief.

This is just stupid: Aerial images online endanger national security, critics say.

I have looked at the satellite photos of my neighborhood, and they are five years old. You can’t use them to find my house from three of the four possible starting points, and if you don’t live here you probably wouldn’t see the fourth starting point from street level. Things change.

If you think that an aerial view is a lot of help for anything other than aerial bombing, you have never been in a ground attack. There is no scale with these pictures that is adequate for a ground assault, so you would have to conduct reconnaissance to have any hope of success.

If al Qaeda had an air force and guided weapons the paranoia might be justified, but suggesting that “some guy in a tent” is going to be materially assisted by these photos is just stupid.

The “New” Labour Party is the gift that keeps on giving – to the Tories. I used the same headline twenty-five months ago.

The BBC says Tories ‘winning across England’:

Conservative leader David Cameron has said his party’s performance in the local elections shows it can win in “every part of the country”.

So far the Tories have taken councils from Labour and the Lib Dems including Derbyshire, run by Labour since 1981.

The Lib Dems have won control in Bristol while Labour has lost control of all of its four councils.

Labour deputy Harriet Harman admitted the results were “disappointing” but said the party would learn from them.

One would hope they would learn that if people are going to get a conservative government no matter which party they vote for, they will volt for the Tories. If you want to get out liberal voters, you are going to have to act like a liberal when you are in power.

Ringo Complains

What, no food?

[Editor: Ringo is looking better than ever in a slimmed down form as a result of a regimen of tree climbing, but she still wants me to have food whenever she deigns to notice me outside. Like many Korats, instead of a meow, she voices a squeaky chirp.]

Friday Ark