Links and Minifeatures 09 22 Friday

Carnival of the Vanities I apologize for not having the time to go through it for recommendations.

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Everybody is losing laptops. Why should the Commerce Department be any different? But the Commerce Department lost 1137 laptops. I think that likely qualifies for this year's personal data mining gold medal.

"All of the equipment that was lost or stolen contained protections to prevent a breach of personal information," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said in a statement. "The amount of missing computers is high, but fortunately, the vulnerability for data misuse is low."

Who exactly does he think he's kidding? The people who have them have from now until doomsday to crack that. Get a good computer program and it will crack - that's provided it's even encrypted, as opposed to merely password protected.



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Ahmadinejad says quarrel is with Zionists, not Jews. Of course, refusing to accept dhimmitude makes them Zionists.



Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Won't Disarm. Thus violating the terms of the settlement with Israel. Am I hearing any calls for Israel to resume their offensive?

Former President Amin Gemayel, a sharp critic of Hezbollah, said parts of Nasrallah's speech were "dangerous."



"He is linking giving up Hezbollah's weapons to regime change in Lebanon and ... to drastic changes on the level of the Lebanese government," Gemayel said. "This is very surprising and dangerous, and leads us to ask, what kind of government does Sayyed Hassan want for what kind of Lebanon?"

What he means, of course, is if they control Lebanon, they can amalgamate into the army, and then they're not Hezbollah fighters anymore, are they?



Palestinian PM Won't Recognize Israel

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he will not head a government that recognizes Israel, striking a potential blow to President Mahmoud Abbas' attempts to create a national unity government.

So we'll see where the Palestinian people stand in whether or not they replace him at the next elections.

"We support establishing a Palestinian state in the land of 1967 at this stage, but in return for a cease-fire, not recognition," Haniyeh said.

Hudna. Look it up.

Taqiyya. Ditto.



And people intercede on behalf of these extremists when Israel decides to believe they mean what they say, due to their actions.



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NASA it's not, but desert spaceport nears first launch. This is where the future of space travel is. Thirty years later than it should have been, thanks to NASA jealously guarding its bureaucratic turf, but it's finally happening.



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Via Fraudblogger, yet another warning on foreclosure rescue scams: 'Foreclosure rescue' scams prey on people in trouble



NEVER sign a quitclaim to anyone you don't want to stay on title forever.



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I just noticed that Eidelblog caught the SF Chronicle out in a lie: Mainstream Media 102: How to make stuff up



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Bush 'Taken Aback' by Musharraf Comment

President Bush said Friday he was "taken aback" by a purported U.S. threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.

and

In an interview to air Sunday on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" program, Musharraf said that after the attacks, Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan's intelligence director that the United States would bomb his country if it didn't help fight terrorists.



He said that Armitage had told him, "Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age."

A sign that the Washington power brokers are turning against Armitage? It's been five years since he reportedly said it.



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I do have an article for the week scheduled to go for tomorrow. I think it's a good one, on lender's policies and how they drive the market. I'll also try to throw off a few more good links around the 'sphere over the weekend.