[Quote:]

The pace at which city dwellers walk has increased by 10 per cent in the last decade, a new study has shown.

The findings, from 32 countries, reflect the fact that increasing numbers of people are living in the fast lane.

Teams with stop watches timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk along a 60ft stretch of pavement.

Comparing the results with those compiled by US psychologist Professor Robert Levine in the 1990s, the study showed that people were, on average, now walking 10 per cent faster. Men are generally 25 per cent quicker on their feet than women.

People were in the greatest hurry in Singapore. Following in their footsteps were the residents of Copenhagen and Madrid, the two fastest-paced European cities.

Surprisingly, London is relatively slow compared with some other cities, the results show. On the list of 32 international cities, compiled by British psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, it ranked only 12th.

[Quote:]

If you’re a political junkie with Internet access looking for cheap laughs — and if you’re reading this column, you probably are — take a minute, go to YouTube and search for “Nixon” and “Rove.”

Your query will yield a 1972 CBS Nightly News segment on Richard M. Nixon’s reelection campaign. At the four-minute mark — not long after a passing mention of “an electric paper-shredding machine, to destroy secret campaign documents,” located “just out of sight” at Nixon headquarters — we meet the soft-cheeked, thick-sideburned 21-year-old Rove. Already the director of the College Republicans, Rove speaks with evident polish, touting the campaign’s youth outreach effort.

However amusing the interview with Rove (done by Dan Rather), the operative’s role in Nixon’s 1972 organization — the one that brought us Watergate — is more than a curiosity. Rove has recently found himself in legal peril again, this time alleged to have sought to politicize the non-partisan General Services Administration, along with scrutiny for his part in the firings of eight United States attorneys. The reminder of his roots in Nixon’s anything-to-win political machine is telling.

[..]

It’s been widely reported, for example, that Rove’s mentors in the College Republicans during the Nixon years included dirty-tricks maestros Lee Atwater and Donald Segretti. Newspapers have also reported that in 1970 Rove sneaked into the campaign headquarters of a Democratic candidate for state office in Illinois, filched campaign letterhead, and sent out fake fliers aiming to discredit the Democrat. In my own research on Nixon, I discovered that during Watergate itself, Rove used a phony grassroots organization to try to rally Americans to the president’s defense against what he called “the lynch-mob atmosphere created” by “the Nixon-hating media.” And according to Nixon’s former counsel John Dean, the Watergate prosecutor’s office took an interest in Rove’s underhanded activities before deciding “they had bigger fish to fry.”

Rove, moreover, is hardly the only link in the chain. Indeed, his youth outreach effort of 1972 had some success. A whole generation of conservative activists came of age in the 1970s either working for Nixon or, more commonly, voluntarily defending him on campuses and in political circles. His shame was their outrage.

These young conservative activists essentially endorsed the line that Nixon put out during Watergate— that “everybody does it.” They agreed that the president had to resign only because a double standard prevailed in the media and in Washington. Nixon’s dirty tricks, his efforts to politicize the civil service and discredit the media, and his willingness to use executive power for personal and political gain were really no cause for indignation. They were politics as usual.

[Quote:]

For a native New Yorker mounting a first bid for national office, Rudolph W. Giuliani has shown an impressive ability to raise money in Texas, where his Republican presidential campaign collected $2.2 million in the first quarter of the year, far more than any other candidate.

Mr. Giuliani has drawn support from Texans who were notable donors to President Bush, including a former Enron president, Richard D. Kinder, and business executives who direct many of the nation’s oil, gas and energy producers.

And a good part of this success, analysts say, stems from his affiliation with a well-established and politically connected law firm that is based in Houston and bears his name, Bracewell & Giuliani.

That affiliation adds to Mr. Giuliani’s personal wealth but also could pose political risks for him. The firm is perhaps the nation’s most aggressive lobbyist for coal-fired power plants, heavy emitters of air pollutants and carbon dioxide, a gas associated with global warming. Environmentalists say the firm played a significant role in persuading the Bush administration to roll back major provisions of the Clean Air Act.

Mr. Giuliani joined the 400-lawyer firm as a name partner two years ago, and though his legal work has been limited, his association with it has provided him entree into the wellspring of Texas money that meant so much to the Bush campaigns.

In addition to collecting $89,000 in contributions from Bracewell partners and employees, Mr. Giuliani has held a fund-raiser in Houston. The firm’s managing partner, Patrick C. Oxford, is a top-shelf Bush fund-raiser with a wealth of contacts within Republican money circles.

if the corporate contributions are THAT visible and THAT large a proportion of his funds, and all that THIS early in the campaign, there’s only one conclusion: he’s not going to the next prez.

[Quote:]

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

[..]

But, while the regulations may apply to a broad swath of people, not everybody affected can actually read them. In a Kafka-esque turn, the guidelines are kept on the military’s restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Many Army contractors — and many family members — don’t have access to the site. Even those able to get in are finding their access is blocked to that particular file.

“Even though it is supposedly rewritten to include rules for contractors (i.e., me) I am not allowed to download it,” e-mails Perry Jeffries, an Iraq war veteran now working as a contractor to the Armed Services Blood Program.

[Quote:]

Twelve weeks ago, I asked the Congress to pass an emergency war spending bill that would provide our brave men and women in uniform with the funds and flexibility they need. Instead, members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders. So a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill.

He vetoed the bill because it “substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders.”

Has anybody asked any military commanders? VoteVets.org did:

May 1, 2007

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.

Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear — most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops’ peril.

[...]

As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military’s finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.

I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.

Respectfully,

Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired

Well, there you have it. Horse’s mouth to horse’s ass.

Let us flashback to 1999, when George W. Bush was governor of Texas. Then, Bush criticized President Clinton for not setting a timetable for exiting Kosovo.

George W. Bush, 4/9/99, Houston Chronicle:

“Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”

And on the specific need for a timetable:

George W. Bush, 6/5/99, Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

“I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”

[Quote:]

An Interior Department official accused of pressuring government scientists to make their research fit her policy goals has resigned.

Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, submitted her resignation letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, a department spokesman said Tuesday.

MacDonald resigned a week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on accusations that she violated the Endangered Species Act, censored science and mistreated staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

MacDonald was recently rebuked by the department’s inspector general, who told Congress in a report last month that she broke federal rules and should face punishment for leaking information about endangered species to private groups.

The administration has so many scandals going on at the same time that this one hardly made the news…

[Quote:]

Circuit City fired 3,400 of its highest-paid store employees in March, saying it needed to hire cheaper workers to shore up its bottom line. Now, the Richmond electronics retailer says it expects to post a first-quarter loss next month, and analysts are blaming the job cuts.

[..]

In particular, the televisions showing disappointing results are “intensive sales” requiring more informed employees, Allen said. “It’s a big-ticket purchase for somebody. And if they feel like they’re not getting the right advice or are being misled by someone who doesn’t know, it would be definitely frustrating. They will take their business elsewhere.”

[..]

At the same time, however, the company has initiatives underway to keep employees on the sales floor, Cimino said. For one, employees who are often torn between helping customers and other store duties such as stocking shelves will be directed to confine their attention to customers when stores are open. The other duties are to be performed after or before store hours, he said. The practice is being piloted in several stores and will be expanded during the next few months.

Somehow I don’t think making the remaining less experienced employees work longer hours is going to prevent an “going out of business” sale in the near future…

[Quote:]

A Halliburton Co. executive Monday defended the legality of the oil-field-services giant’s past business dealings in Iran, dismissing suggestions a foreign subsidiary working there wasn’t truly independent of the parent.

Sherry Williams, Halliburton’s vice president and corporate secretary, told a Senate panel the company sought advice from three outside law firms as well as federal regulators about the work a foreign subsidiary might perform in Iran in the wake of a 1995 executive order barring U.S. companies from trading with Tehran.

Halliburton did business for years with Iran through a Cayman Islands-registered company called Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Under current law, U.S. citizens and operations cannot do business directly with Iran. But foreign subsidiaries are permitted to do work there as long as the subsidiary acts independently of the parent company.

100% of the profits from the Cayman Islands company came from dealing with Iran, and 100% of the profits flowed directly to Texas. Does anybody really believe in “independence” in this case?

In March, Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill when he announced he would be relocating to Dubai.

Halliburton officials said the move was an effort to cement relations with customers in that part of the world, but Dorgan questioned at that time whether Lesar’s relocation was a back-door way to do more business in Iran.

On April 9, Halliburton announced that it had completed all contractual commitments and, thus, was no longer working in Iran.

That revelation came four days after Halliburton had completed its separation from KBR, an engineering, construction and military contractor that had been a Halliburton subsidiary.

KBR is still in Iran.

Cheney’s options don’t expire untill 2009, so every time his former company profits off the war, his net worth increases as well.

[Quote:]

- China, Russia and 10 other nations were targeted by the Bush administration for failing to sufficiently protect American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy.

The Bush administration on Monday placed the 12 countries on a “priority watch list” which will subject them to extra scrutiny and could eventually lead to economic sanctions if the administration decides to bring trade cases before the World Trade Organization.

[..]

In elevating Thailand to the priority watch list, the administration said it was concerned by a range of issues including a “deteriorating protection for patents and copyrights.” Thailand is currently in a dispute with international drug companies including Abbott Laboratories of the United States over the cost of drugs to fight
AIDS and other diseases.

The Thai government in January issued compulsory licenses allowing the use of much cheaper generic versions of two leading drugs in Thailand.

Representatives of U.S. companies applauded the new administration report but Oxfam America denounced the administration for what the international development agency said was a misstatement of the rights of U.S. companies under international trade rules.

“The report ignores important international agreements signed by the U.S. government … which clearly state that developing countries have the right to place public health and the public interest over intellectual property rules,” said Rohit Malpani, a policy adviser with Oxfam.

Microsoft would is trying to make you believe sudo was their idea. Cancel or Allow?

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