incredulous

[H]e does business Chicago-style. His first political ambition was to be mayor of Chicago, the boss of all he surveyed; he has had to settle for the broader but less complete hegemony of the presidency. From Chicago he brings the assumption that there will always be a bounteous private sector that can be plundered endlessly on behalf of political favorites. Hence the government takeover of General Motors and Chrysler to bail out the United Auto Workers, the proposal for channeling money from the private nonprofits to the government by limiting the charitable deduction for high earners, the plan for expanding government (and public employee union rolls) by instituting universal pre-kindergarten.

Dodge facts, skip details, govern Chicago-style | Washington Examiner.

In any case, if you can construct advanced equipment of this nature, there’s a good chance you know how to jam or override it. The joint venture should provide this information as quickly as possible to people and organizations that can do something about this before it is used for even more nefarious purposes (when Iran gets the bomb). Other high technology companies should immediately desist from dealing with Iran. That includes General Electric, whose record on Iran is checkered at best. Technology companies who do not do this voluntarily should be boycotted. Due to Twitter, etc., this is probably happening already. A significant number of people – myself included – will not be thinking of Nokia for their next cell phone.

Roger L. Simon » Iran: Siemens and Nokia should jam their own equipment – or be boycotted.

Community Organizations International

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.

ACORN drops tarnished name and moves to silence critics | Washington Examiner.

PARIS (AP) – President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out Monday at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of the “debasement” of women and that it won’t be welcome in France.The French leader expressed support for a recent call by dozens of legislators to create a parliamentary commission to study a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment in France.

In the first presidential address in 136 years to a joint session of France’s two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved—braving critics who fear the issue is a marginal one and could stigmatize Muslims in France.

“In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity,” Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles southwest of Paris.

“The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement—I want to say it solemnly,” he said. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

Dailymotion – Battle w/ Police – Tehran, Iran – June 20th 2009 – a News & Politics video.

True Story.

Obscure Sound is an indie music blog that I formed in February 2006 out of a love for music, journalism, and creative writing. My name is Mike Mineo and I am the founder/editor/writer of this site, as well as a frequent contributor to PopMatters. After contributing to other music sites for a few years, I decided that forming my own site would be a fun experience. So far, it’s been working out very well. I still contribute toward other music publications but Obscure Sound remains my primary outlet of production.

My goal is to provide music fans with the latest and greatest music. I do not have a schedule, but I guarantee that updates will be very frequent.

Music downloads will be in MP3 format, with personal impressions and a link to buy material from the artist. Musicians make a living too, so I encourage you to buy whatever you like. I will never put up more than three songs from a particular artist unless I have their permission.

Band features provide information on relatively unknown bands that I think others will find enjoyable. We do not care if the band is unsigned or signed, just as long as we have an audio sample and a nice sound. If you are interested in having your band featured, please visit the contact page.

Other content includes interviews, compilations, editorials, contests, and other scribblings related to our content.

Album reviews and track reviews are personal thoughts on albums and songs. I am not paid by any one to write these, and they are entirely from my own personal opinion and musical insight. Unless noted otherwise, the rating scale is from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most appealing.

via Obscure Sound – Indie Music Blog » ABOUT.

The micro-holographic disc, which is the same size as existing DVD discs, is aimed at the archive industry.

But the company believes it can eventually be used in the consumer market place and home players.

Blu-ray discs, which are used to store high definition movies and games, can currently hold between 25GB and 50GB.

Micro-holographic discs can store more data than DVDs or Blu-ray because they store information on the disc in three dimensions, rather than just pits on the surface of the disc

via BBC NEWS | Technology | Optical disc offers 500GB storage.

Let’s hope our President gets it together soon.

Team Obama demonstrated remarkable discipline during the presidential campaign. From raising an unprecedented amount of money to milking every advantage from the Internet to grabbing lots of delegates from inexpensive caucus states, they left nothing to chance.

And now the administration has scored a major legislative victory in an extraordinarily short period of time. Less than 700 hours after taking the oath of office, President Barack Obama signed the largest spending bill in American history.

Nevertheless, this fast start can’t overcome a growing sense the administration is winging it on issues large and small.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123500260310017735.html