Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

BBC NEWS | Technology | Attack prompts Bush website block

While not an official government web site, this seems all too consistent with current administration information policies. Interestingly, the Bush campaign is able to do this by making use of the exact same service that GPO has just announce plans to use: Akamai EdgeScape.

The policy of trying to stop overseas visitors viewing the site is thought to have been adopted in response to an attack on the georgewbush.com website.

Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign said: “The measure was taken for security reasons.”
He declined to elaborate any further on the blocking policy.

“Separate Reality of Bush/Kerry Supporters (pdf)

This new report out yesterday from the Program on International Policy Studies (PIPA) shows that Bush and Kerry supporters live in totally different universes where Bush supporters believe it is a fact that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass estruction; Kerry supporters don’t. Bush supporters believe Saddam was supporting al Qaeda; Kerry supporters don’t. Bush supporters believe most people in other countries approve of the war in Iraq; Kerry supporters don’t.

PIPA has some other valuable online reports on such hot-button issues as global warming, Iraq, Israel-Palestinian conflict, and Americans’ role in the world.

[Thanks to Electoral Vote for referring me to the report!]

Florida 2000: The Sequel - Five ways the election could end up in court, again. By Richard L. Hasen

With all the uproar about voting irregularities (paper thickness issues in Ohio, companies paid to register voters actually throwing out democratic registrations in OR, FL once again trying to dump voters off the rolls and intimidating black voters…) and truly nasty ads on both sides in the swing states, here’s an interesting article that surmises 5 nightmare scenarios on November 3rd.

–Voting glitches involving electronic or other voting machines
–Litigation over which provisional ballots are valid
–A fight over the Colorado amendment to split the electoral vote
–A tie in the electoral college or a faithless elector
–A terrorist attack that disrupts voting in a swing state

Poll reveals world anger at Bush

According to the Guardian poll, Eight out of 10 countries favour Kerry for president.

Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy

Over 650 foreign affairs specialists in the United States and allied countries have signed an open letter opposing the Bush administration’s foreign policy and calling urgently for a change of course.

The letter was released today by “Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy,” a nonpartisan group of experts in the field of national security and international politics.

Washington > Inspector’s Judgment: U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90’s” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/politics/07intel.html?ex=1254801600&en=48d79cbf21216c36&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland”>The NYT: Inspector’s Judgment: U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90’s

Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld and now this. It’s been a busy week for the Bush administration as they try to plug the ever increasing holes in their political dike. The report, released yesterday, found that IRAQ HAD NO WMD, and had no ability to produce them.

However, VP Cheney STILL holds to his twisted sense of reality by saying that the report justified the US going to war?!?! All I can say is WHAAAA?

Read the report in its entirety:

Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) on IraqÕs WMD 30 September 2004
Read the rest of this entry »

DIY radio with PODcasting | Doc Searls’ IT Garage

That’s do-it-yourself radio by creating MP3 audio files
that folks can listen to on their iPods and other music/audio players!

Thanks to Dan Gillmor

No Joke: Daily Show Viewers Follow Presidential Race

According to a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Daily Show viewers are “more likely to know the issue positions and backgrounds of presidential candidates than people who do not watch late-night comedy.” The data can be found in their Sept. 21, 2004 press release.

The blog, On Lisa Rein’s Radar has a nice archive of Daily show clips to get you up to speed on the political process.

California To Set P2P Policy

Governor Schwarzenegger signed executive order S-16-04 last week charging the state CIO, Clark Kelso, with setting up a policy on statewide use of P2P technologies. While the order mentions legitimate uses of P2P, it looks to me like the RIAA and MPAA have his ear. P2P is already being used for legitimate purposes across the UCs and the state. LOCKSS relies on P2P as do many other projects. IT departments everywhere rely on bit torrent to download critical patches and updates to webservers and OS’s.

Concerned? Write early and often to the Governor and CIO Kelso. Kelso mentions in the article that he’d like to have a policy in place by the end of the year. They need to hear how the technology is already being used and that any limitation on legitimate use would adversely (and economically!) affect organizations across the state.

library of unwritten books

File this under “whimsy”. This library is touring around England and Scotland in 2004/05, interviewing folks about the books that they would write.

The collection is evidence of the common desire to write a book and is an ongoing survey of this literary phenomenon.

[Thanks Librarian.net]