Due to a scheduling conflict with Drinking Liberally we have changed the details of the debate watching party tomorrow night. Instead we will be joining staff from the NY Obama HQ downtown at John St Bar and Grill.
I just wanted to send a quick email about the debate watching party with Drinking Liberally this Thursday night:
Debate Watching Party with Drinking Liberally!
You are invited to the Democratic Debate Watching Party hosted by Drinking Liberally. As the primaries near, the debates become more critical and exciting. There is only one more debate after this one.
Join us for a fun evening of debate watching and stimulating discussion with our Drinking Liberally friends.
Where: The Irish Rogue (13 plasma tv's!!) 356 West 44th St.
Due to a scheduling conflict with Drinking Liberally we have changed the details of the debate watching party tomorrow night. Instead we will be joining staff from the NY Obama HQ downtown at John St Bar and Grill.
NY governor drops immigrant driver's license plan ABC News Do a Putin in India Times of India I remember Vajpayee smilingly saying - 'he edits the paper I edited once'. Putin signed and returned the smile politely. .... Vladimir Putin has emerged as the hero of the Russian people, walking in the shadow of legendary ruler, Peter the great. He is young - just 55 - has definitive ideas for making Russia regain its strength and an independent say in global affairs, rejuvenated the economy and ruthlessly eliminated the terror groups, mostly of the Islamic jihadi variety. ..... He had inherited from his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, the first democratically-elected President of the Russian Federation post-Communist era, a tottering economy, when bagful of roubles (check the spelling please) fetched dollars less than what fingers could count and a virtual parallel rule of the ex-KGB mafia goons from airport to downtown areas. ..... single-mindedly campaigning against terrorism and his catch words were -'eliminate terrorism without talking to rebels'. ...... Putin refused to hold negotiations with Chechen rebel leaders, saying that "negotiations are out of the question because they are senseless''. ..... Today Russia claims hard currency reserves of $303 billion (234 billion euros), the third largest in the world and the government's Stabilization Fund -- used to soak up extra oil revenues and keep a tight leash on inflation -- is close to $100 billion (77 billion euros). Oil production is expected to reach 540 million metric tonnes per year by 2015, up from 482 million at present. ... A black belt in karate ..... Russians, ask in return, is that Bush administration speaking who has unleashed a global military campaign to 'democratise Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and has Iran next on its list? ..... India purchases 70 per cent of its military hardware from Russia ..... a renewed emphasis on creating an India-Russia-China block ..... Putin has been openly critical of a uni-polar world ..... Putin had plans to build four more Russian nuclear reactors in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. .... the nuclear trade with India is still banned till it moves ahead finally with the Indo-US nuke deal. .... No nation on earth is so complacent on security issues and eliminating terror as we are. .... There are daily news reports regarding killings of innocent citizens by Stalinist Maoists and jihadis ... Putin providing military hardware is fine, but our leaders should also take a few grams of courage and a ruthless decisiveness for restoring peace and national pride from him. Pakistan opposition tries to unite against Musharraf Reuters Canada Police detained cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan after he emerged from hiding to lead a student protest against Musharraf ...... After police stifled a protest by Bhutto on Tuesday and put her under house arrest, she announced her talks with Musharraf were over, and for the first time called on him to step down as president as well as army chief. ..... She also contacted old rivals including Islamist alliance leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Sharif's party to try to unite on a "minimum agenda"; the ouster of Musharraf and formation of a neutral government to organisorganizee fair elections ........ Analysts say Bhutto's refusal to deal with Musharraf had isolated the president, though he retained the crucial backing of the army and the support of a disparate group of politicians expected to do badly in the polls. .... Pakistani shares ended 2.24 percent down on political worries while the rupee edged to a three-year low. ELECTION NOTEBOOK Huckabee hugs Romney in Iowa pollMarketWatch Edwards campaign struggles but gains speed KCRG Clinton: No Illegal Immigrant Licenses The Associated Press Memo to Obama: No Rush to "Fix" Social Security AlterNet Will absence from South Carolina hurt Clinton?CNN The Iowa caucuses will be held January 3, to be followed by New Hampshire, and then Nevada. ...... former President Clinton, who remains enormously popular with African-Americans and has made four appearances during the last two weeks, suggesting the Clinton campaign will use his presence more and more in South Carolina as his wife works to break out of a tight three-way race in Iowa. ....... "I think her image is being reinforced by the constant coverage by the media," Graham said. "She may not be physically here, but in terms of image and voice she is here." ....... "They continue to say she's the most unelectable because she's so polarizing," Clinton told the crowd. "Well, they have dumped on her for 16 years. They'd all be polarizing too if the right wing of the Republican Party, which controls their politics, had been dumping on them for 16 years. I'd like to see how those boys would stand up to it. I think the girl's done pretty well." ...... Ford said that Hillary Clinton's December and January schedule is "loaded with South Carolina stuff." Poll: Clinton has large lead in Nevada prior to debate Sen. Clinton top pick of 51 percent of likely Nevada caucus-goers ..... Front-runner leads Sen. Barack Obama by 28 points in Nevada .... perception that she is the most electable candidate and the strongest leader in the field ...... Only 42 percent said Clinton had the clearest positions on the issues, and just 41 percent said she was the most likely to say what she believes. ...... "It's the view that she's tough. She's experienced, and she's a winner." Spitzer drops illegal immigrant license plan Rivals criticize Clinton for changing stance ..... Clinton says she will not support licenses for illegal immigrants .... Spitzer says federal government "has lost control of its borders" ....... "New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own." ....... about 1 million undocumented workers in New York state, "many of whom are driving without licenses ........ Spitzer put forward his proposal in September, saying it would bring New York's estimated 1 million illegal immigrants "out of the shadows." ........ Rangel .... noting that undocumented workers "are part of the economy, they are part of what America's supposed to be." ........ "When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," Burton said. ..... Seventy-six percent of Americans oppose giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants ..... Members of the New York State Sheriffs' Association voted in October to oppose Spitzer's proposal. Martin: A few states shouldn't decide presidencyIf a candidate doesn't do well in Iowa and New Hampshire, the media attention turns away from them, and then the political dollars dry up, and the packing begins. ....... the hard part is coming up with a plan to which everyone will agree. ...... Iowa and New Hampshire residents want to keep saying it's about tradition. I think it's about money. The TV stations, newspapers, hotels, restaurants, sign companies and other businesses make a ton of dough off these candidates, and they don't want that cash cow to feed others. Matt Damon is People's 'sexiest' Matt Damon has been named the "sexiest man alive" by People magazine, an honor that has been bestowed twice on his pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt. ...... Luciana Bozan ..... "You gave an aging suburban dad the ego boost of a lifetime," he says in a letter published in the magazine. "My 9-year-old stepdaughter now thinks I'm cool -- well, cooler." ....... "all the campaigning" by Clooney and Pitt had finally paid off. Simpson to stand trial charges that could send him to prison for life ....... has pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal counts in connection with what prosecutors contend was an armed robbery. ...... conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. ..... Simpson said he was merely taking back items that belonged to him ...... Alexander and McClinton testified Simpson requested they carry guns and "look menacing" during the incident. ...... Fromong and Beardsley were offering more than 600 Simpson-related items for sale Brace Yourself: mccain's Manager Calls CNN 'The Clinton News Network' National Review Online 7 years on, India will be top energy guzzler Hindustan Times Dire climate warning linked to China and IndiaInternational Herald Tribune Sun Buddies Up With Dell Forbes Michael Dell: Going Green Is Key To Industry's Future CRN Michael Dell promises ‘Greenprint’ reference architecture ZDNet Yahoo to pay Chinese families Los Angeles Times Yahoo settles with jailed Chinese journalistsSan Francisco Chronicle War costs could top $1.6 trillion, panel saysMarketWatch UPDATE 2-US Democrats forecast $3.5 trillion in war costsReuters The Iraq and Afghanistan wars could cost the United States $3.5 trillion through 2017 if "hidden costs" like higher oil prices, care for wounded soldiers and interest on borrowed money are counted ....... new report assumed the United States would withdraw about half of its present combat troops from Iraq by 2013 and maintain 75,000 soldiers there from 2013-2017. ........ 3,860 U.S. troops have been killed and 38,164 wounded in Iraq. ..... the Democratic report estimated the total economic cost so far was about double that amount, at $1.6 trillion. ..... the war in Iraq had further hurt the U.S. economy by helping drive up world oil prices World Bank mulls NRS 1600 crore aid for Nepal Hindu Anti-abortion group: Thompson best candidate to beat Giuliani CNN Courting India Tehran Times India is receiving much attention as Asia is replacing the West as the center of economic and military power. .... the country is becoming a second China and even a rival to its giant neighbor in terms of economic importance. ...... the United States and Russia are breaching international regulations by agreeing to build nuclear power plants in India and transfer nuclear technology to the country ..... the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) ..... India’s bid to secure a seat at the UN Security Council has also won backing from some permanent council members including Britain. ..... India is likely to soon initiate formal negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with giant neighbor China, the third largest destination for Indian goods and the country’s biggest source of imports .... talks are also underway for an India-ASEAN free trade pact, and South Korean steelmaker POSCO plans to start work on a 12-million-ton-capacity steel plant in eastern India by April 2008. The $12-billion plant will be India’s single largest foreign investment project. ...... Iran, an energy-rich country that has close linguistic and cultural ties with India, is also eying India’s power-hungry economy and making serious efforts to finalize the deal for the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline Bhutto Calls for President to Resign New York Times her political party, which usually commands about one-third of the popular vote, will probably boycott the parliamentary elections planned for January ....... her party will pursue an alliance with other opposition groups, including its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League ....... Riot policemen sealed off the neighborhood using barbed wire and dump trucks loaded with sand. ....... the party had broken off all talks with the government ...... “I prefer to live in Pakistan in jail,” she said, “than to leave.” ....... Pakistan would be suspended from the organization unless the decree was repealed and General Musharraf stepped down as army chief by Nov. 22 Is Obama making his move? Boston Globe Obama Campaign Ratchets Up Offensive CBS News there has been an “important shift in the campaign.” The email claims that Obama is gaining ground on Clinton. “Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire are beginning to focus on the race more intently and are increasingly making decisions. As they do Senator Obama is profiting at Senator Clinton’s expense.” ...... “Senator Clinton has been ducking and dodging tough questions at rapid pace lately” and that Edwards has become an apologist. “John Edwards has apologized for most of his record while in the Senate” Obama Challenges Clinton on Trade DealsThe Associated Press Clinton's doubts about big foreign trade deals came only in the heat of the presidential campaign ...... Obama told the labor activists that there have been few occasions when he's had to switch positions, because he's been on the side of workers since he got into politics 20 years ago. ....... He drew a standing ovation when he vowed to fight any deal that doesn't protect workers and the environment. ....... "Politics didn't lead me to working people," Obama said. "Working people led me into politics. I was standing with American workers on the streets of Chicago 20 years ago. Obama did not want his poems, short stories seen Baltimore Sun the Tribune ....... was preparing an eight-part biographical series on his life. The newspaper had asked to see a couple of the short stories he had written after college during his time as a community organizer in Chicago, a period he has described as one of the most formative of his career. Obama Says Parents Need More Help The Associated Press Obama trades stories of familyConcord Monitor Obama said his mother was just 18 when she had him ........ There were a couple of times when she had to go on food stamps. . . . She was constantly trying to patch things together - scholarships, loans, grants. It took her a long time to complete her education ........ guaranteeing seven paid sick days a year for all employees, doubling the amount of money available for after-school programs and setting up a $1.5 billion fund to help states experiment with ways to provide paid leave. ..... expand the Family Medical Leave Act to apply to companies with more than 25 employees, instead of those with more than 50 ...... expand the act to cover elder care, school activities and the fallout from domestic violence. ...... create a program to help businesses give their employees more flexible working schedules. ....... "When you create flex time, employers are happier, employees are happier, you have greater productivity," Obama said. ....... a tax plan that would give middle-class workers a $500 tax credit to offset payroll taxes ...... support for early childhood education ....... his plan for universal health care, which he says would cut health insurance costs by $2,500 a year for middle-class families by emphasizing preventive care and management of chronic diseases, investing in information technology and streamlining administrative costs. ......... "My mother's experience is duplicated all across the country each and every day." ...... Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said Obama's plan was surprisingly similar to Clinton's. ........ Clinton talks more about encouraging telecommuting and goes more in depth on ensuring better access to high-quality child care. ........ While seeming to ignore the roughly 25 reporters with TV cameras and recorders, Obama listened intently to each participant, asking follow-up questions and responding with both policy and anecdotes. ....... "Up until a couple of years ago, we used to go through heck," he said. ...... At the time, Michelle Obama was working full time as a hospital vice president, while Barack Obama was a state legislator who also taught and practiced law. Michelle Obama's mother had not worked professionally, giving Michelle Obama a certain idea of what a good mother did, Barack Obama said. "She's the best mom I know, but she felt that, somehow, if she wasn't there for everything, that somehow she wasn't doing a good job. Then she'd get mad at me," he said. ....... Then, we'd think about, what if we were making less money? ........ I discovered I'd committed an enormous faux pas by actually reproducing while also trying to teach ..... She said she did not have time to both nurse her child and eat her meals, she said, since she needed to eat in the student dining hall, where nursing was not allowed. ........ Obama said a similar issue had come up at his senate office, when an aide returned after maternity leave and told him the building had no convenient place to nurse. ....... "He knows what it is to just barely have enough." As Clinton looks to use attacks to raise money, Obama takes ... USA Today John Edwards thinks "compromise is a dirty word." Which Clinton is really running here?Los Angeles Times They both seem to be popping up everywhere. ...... lest the natural campaigner overshadow the hardworking one in the forced smile and pantsuit ..... Have they made a calculated in-house decision that the narrowing Democratic polls mean she isn't the inevitable winner after all? And she needs to call up the big gun already? ....... he's something of a loose cannon. Twice, in recent weeks he has totally detracted from Hillary's campaign messages by making distracting news himself ....... a ubiquitous Bill Clinton on the campaign trail raises the whole dynasty specter ...... Anecdotes in recent books suggest the couple was often not on the same page. ..... who in their right mind of any substance would agree to be Hillary Clinton's vice presidential partner when she's married to an assistant president already? Hillary Clinton gets snared by a planted question. Slate Student describes how she became a Clinton plantCNN Student says Clinton staffer showed her a binder with about eight questions ....... Student said she was not the only one told what to ask ..... she wasn't the only one who was planted. ..... In an exclusive on-camera interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics. ......... "The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. "It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question." ...... "I don't know whether Hillary knew what my question was going to be, but it seemed like she knew to call on me because there were so many people, and ... I was the only college student in that area" ...... "I heard another man ... talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question." ....... a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requested she not talk about the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer. ....... Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Illinois, on the Iowa border, said the Clinton campaign wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April. ..... Mitchell said he had never met the staffer before the event. ..... "The problem here is it feeds a damaging perception of Hillary Clinton that she can't quite be trusted." New details on Clinton's planted questionBoston Globe Hillary Clinton said in Iowa Sunday that the fact that questions had been planted was "news to me." Her campaign says it will not happen again. The Clinton-Edwards two step ABC News An Impossible Promise From John EdwardsWashington Post
Giuliani Goes Big, Not Early Washington Post Google Co-Founder Page to Wed The Associated Press After Brin's wedding, Mountain View-based Google invested $3.9 million in Wojcicki's biotechnology startup, 23andMe Inc. ..... Southworth was a biomedical informatics doctoral student at Stanford University, where both Page and Brin were studying as graduate students before leaving to start Google in 1998. Page has been dating Southworth for more than a year. ...... Al Gore ... said he still hopes to make an appearance through video conferencing. Now the other Google founder is planning a secret weddingSan Francisco Chronicle attendees were asked to bring a passport. ...... Southworth and Page are poised to become players on the international social scene by virtue of his wealth and connections. They've been seen at parties around the Bay Area, including a dinner for Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and his wife, Anna, hosted by jet-setter Denise Hale at the Ritz-Carlton in October 2006, and in Hollywood at the Vanity Fair post-Oscar party in February this year. ..... "She's stunning and bright, and he's very attractive and bright." From Danger's realm come Android's makers CNET News.com Android is based on the work of Andy Rubin and several other founders of Danger. Google acquired their newer venture, Android, in 2005. ...... a mobile mashup platform. That is a new concept for cell phones. So the developer can now stand on the system platform and take advantage of other developers' work for the first time. So, that just creates more flexibility for the developers, less work, faster turnaround, rapid prototyping ...... One of the advantages of Linux is, it's a pretty prevalent operating system. The portion of Linux that we use for Android is just the kernel portion, and the benefit of kernel, of course, is that it's been already ported to all the varieties of semiconductors that run in cell phones. ....... The platform is completely open in a variety of ways. Of course it has open APIs, but it's also open source, and it being open source means it's (open to inspection). So expect to have the entire industry crawling all over the source base, trying to make sure that there aren't security issues, and there aren't inefficiencies in how the platform is designed. ........ semiconductor companies, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), carriers, software companies, and commercialization partners ..... Google's mission is organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and relevant. ....... it's 250 kilobytes, not 3.4 megabytes. ...... minimal requirements are 32 megabytes of RAM, 32 megabytes of flash, and a 200-megahertz online processor ...... MID, or Mobile Internet Device, which is somewhere between a cell phone and a PC. It's a large-display device meant to be primarily an Internet access device. ....... In 2009, there will be single-chip cell phones, so you can go to Qualcomm and get basically a cell phone and a chip ........ ("The cloud" refers to data residing on a server on the Internet that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can access.) Remember, the cloud didn't exist when the Internet didn't exist--when cell phones first were introduced. So that's part of the game that changed. ........ There are close to 3 billion cell phones out there today. They are pervasive. They're intimate. ..... By having a free and open platform, we're reducing the cost of software, which, in turn, reduces the cost of the cell phone. ....... It's probably the best version 1.0 piece of consumer electronics that I've ever used. ....... Apple has a great business in building really, really high-quality consumer products
When you write a letter to your Senator trying to influence his or her vote on a certain issue of interest to you, you are acknowledging a vertical degree of separation between the two of you. The Senator has the power to influence the eventual outcome way more than you do. Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics have marched in immigration rallies all over America the past two years trying to influence the 100 individuals on Capitol Hill.
America, among the family of nations, is a Senator country by virtue of being its oldest and most vibrant democracy. Wealth has been a byproduct of that democracy, but wealth is a substantial attraction in its own right. That wealth has made possible a mighty military, film and education industries that impact all continents. But democracy is the mother lode. Democracy is the fountain.
Somewhere down the decades all countries will have transformed into becoming democracies. After that a democratic world government might take shape. And at that point America will still be important, perhaps the New York or California of the world, but it will no longer be the Senator country that it is today. But until then it is. It has to lead the world, it likes it or not. When it does not choose to, it is forced to. Ignored parts of the world rise up as security threats.
Imagine your Senator telling you, stop bugging me, why don't you go and vote the way you want to vote, why bug me! Imagine America telling the world, stop bugging me.
Spreading democracy is America's number one global goal. It has always been. Too bad every previous wave for democracy has been a result of big wars. Neocons are referring to that history whey they espouse a military way to spread democracy into the Arab world, democracy's newest frontier.
My contention is that if all the non military options are made the best use of, the military option becomes unnecessary. But you can not fight bad policy with no policy. You fight bad policy with an alternative, better policy.
Terrorism, Immigration
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have said those two are going to be major issues next fall. Both are to do with the world.
You can't send 12 million people back home. But you can legalize them, put them on a four year path to earned citizenship. And you can help them organize themselves to become the champions of political, economic, and social reform in their countries of reform.
Evrybody you need to spread democracy into all countries of the world are right here in New York City. I believe that.
Anti-War Left: Half Right
The antiwar movement is correct about being antiwar. But it misses the other half of the picture. It refuses to connect the dots. It refuses to invest itself in helping spread democracy the grassroots way.
A case study organization that I got to know after I moved to the city was DFNYC. It was amazing to me how much pride the organization took in its lack of interest in the Nepal democracy movement I was working on at the time. Another lame excuse I heard was that it was Democracy For New York City, not Democracy For The World.
I would not have gone out of my way to single out the organization except that it is no different today. It was recently a co-sponsor of a major antiwar rally in downtown Manhattan. Iraq is not in New York City.
War On Terror = Cold War
The two are of similar magnitude. And the only way to conclude the War On Terror is by ensuring a total spread of democracy in the Arab world. The progressives can agree on those two counts.
And then we part ways. We say the neocon way of spreading democracy - military invasion - is wrong, expensive, and counterproductive. There is a progressive way, a nonviolent way, a grassroots way, Nepal's magical April Revolution 2006 way.
The Arab world is a major one. And Africa is related. And there are parts of Asia too that are not there yet. Burma was recently in news. China and Russia are two big ones that are complicated.
America, China
I believe the two have to meet half way. America needs total campaign finance reform. China needs pluralism. Otherwise China needs to get into the business of teaching all poor countries how to achieve double digit growth rates year in year out for decades.
I have been thinking, China loans so much money to Bush at 5% or so. Should it not instead focus on the idea of universal and lifelong credit for its own 700 million poor? Maybe at 7%? If it were to do that, I believe it could achieve a 15% growth rate.
China could also become a lender to the countries in the Global South. Chinese FDI into all poor countries, now that is an idea.
India, China
China just gave birth to the world's first trillion dollar company in PetroChina. There is much talk of this being the Asian Century. Both India and China are seeing near double digit growth rates.
But the average Indian is hungry, the average Chinese is poor. India has the largest middle class in the world, and the top 100 million Chinese perhaps will compete with the top 100 million people anywhere. But even when China becomes a larger economy than the US, as is expected in a few decades, the per capital income will still be less than 25% of that in the US.
Take away India and China and the world would have been in a recession right now after the Katrina in the US finance industry. Global economic growth truly is a win-win situation. It is good news for America that India was not going to be a country of subsistence farmers forever.
I just wanted to send a quick email about the debate watching party with Drinking Liberally this Thursday night:
Debate Watching Party with Drinking Liberally!
You are invited to the Democratic Debate Watching Party hosted by Drinking Liberally. As the primaries near, the debates become more critical and exciting. There is only one more debate after this one.
Join us for a fun evening of debate watching and stimulating discussion with our Drinking Liberally friends.
Where: The Irish Rogue (13 plasma tv's!!) 356 West 44th St.
When: Thurs, Nov 15 @ 7:30
All are welcome!!
In The News
Pakistan Detains Bhutto in Bid to Stop Protest March New York Times Environmental Disaster Unfolding in Russia New York Timesat least 11 ships, including a small oil tanker, sank or broke apart in a fierce storm ...... 30,000 seabirds were covered with oil and would probably die ...... the heavy fuel oil also settled onto the seabed, surely destroying marine habitat and killing fish. ...... 18-foot waves ..... 1,300 tons of heavy, viscous oil — the equivalent of 560,000 gallons ..... the Russian practice of using river tankers, like Volganeft-139, on the open sea in rough weather. ........ laws requiring double-hulled tankers were introduced in the United States after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. ....... Oil spills from pipelines on land are common in Russia. The country, the world’s second largest oil exporting nation after Saudi Arabia, maintains a vast terrestrial pipeline network tying Siberian fields with refineries as far away as Poland. Carla Marinucci: Obama's team oozes optimismSan Francisco Chronicle a conference call with California reporters Monday in preparation for the senator's visit this week to the state. ...... heads to the Golden State for a two-day stop ...... Obama riding high, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in choppy seas and Team Edwards taking on water. ...... we see Nevada as more of a Clinton-Obama contest ...... Clinton's campaign in California -- which has been heavy on endorsements and organization -- is more "grasstops" than "grassroots," while the Illinois senator has "a campaign of inspiration and not obligation." Campaign: Obama little known to many votersSan Francisco Chronicle People may know Sen. Obama's name, but they don't know much beneath that ...... When voters get more exposure to the Illinois senator, his popularity increases ....... "a poll question where she is the one they know the best, so they default to her ....... Obama is returning to California this week, where he is scheduled to attend a San Francisco rally and meet with Google Inc. employees Wednesday. ...... She "needs to win each and every state or her candidacy will be in severe jeopardy." Hillary Clinton Thinks Iowans Are Stupid Yahoo! News Obama Gobbles Down Mouse _ Made of Candy The Associated Press Obama plucked the mouse off the plate, dangled it by its tail and devoured it in one bite — to the applause of workers at the gourmet chocolate company that crafted the critter. ..... "This poor little mouse," he said, holding up the candy for the cameras. "This is the end of him." Obama hears from working women in NHWCAX supporting working women is a lot like supporting preventative health care. ... lack of support early on ends up costing more later. ..... One mother told Obama she thinks parenting is the hardest job to do - maybe besides being president. That Clinton Boy Defends His Wife and Raises Eyebrows New York Times Mr. Clinton, who is broadly popular with Democratic primary voters, has been colorfully coming to his wife’s defense since the debate. ...... Southern vernacular from an Arkansas native. Clinton Says ‘Boys’ Are Tough on His WifeNew York Times Russia, India to join in moon mission AFP Yen rising 'too fast' - Japanese PM Forbes Can WiMax make it in the US? CNET News.com US: No OPEC promise to raise output BusinessWeek New Dell PowerEdge Servers Outperform Competition WELT ONLINE Italy Moves to Tighten Soccer Security and Control Fans After Riots New York Times Drama for US women's soccer team continues with coaching search USA Today Ronaldo still hopes to play in 2010 World CupXinhua Google's Android parts ways with Java industry group CNET News.com Google's development of its own core Java virtual machine (JVM) technology called Dalvik ...... "When we bring it to higher-performance devices, it's just going to scream." Google's Android aims at desktop-grade mobile appsInfoWorld Android wants to put Linux and Java desktop power in mobile developers' hands. Can Google remake mobile application development against the grain of powerful, entrenched competitors? ....... Midlets, applications built to the MIDP (mobile information device profile), run just about anywhere. ...... Google, whose future depends on a pervasive cross-platform mobile applications model -- Google Maps and Talk are examples of applications that could not be done as so-called "Web 2.0" apps -- has an obvious need to create a cross-platform mobile SDK for its own use. Some mobile device manufacturers and wireless operators have realized the benefits that gathering around a cross-device, cross-vendor, cross-operator mobile platform would bring to their customers and bottom lines. ........ Android's mission is so astonishingly broad that it will likely take years before it is realized in a handset. Mobile developers have been waiting for eons for a unified platform, and if Android finds form in a physical device, it could turn mobile software on its ear. ......... Without the promise of riches to spur the Alliance into fast action, the Open Handset Alliance will plod along at the sorry pace of the mobile industry as a whole, where progress is measured in decades. ....... while the world of technology is planted thick with alliances and consortia, they can amount to little more than bet-hedging; if some wild idea happens to take off, it's wise not to be last in line. Intel's transistor redesign ushers in 'new era' of technology Computerworld To make the jump from 65 nanometer to 45 nanometer processor technology ..... trading polysilicon for a metal gate and using hafnium oxide as an insulator ........ will extend Moore's Law by another 10 years ...... the new transistor design is one of the most significant technological advances in the past several decades ...... going from 90nm to 65nm and now to 45nm ....... Intel has refused to say what the metal gate is made up of. ..... 820 million of these transistors. .... in 1971, it held a little more than 2,000 transistors. Mayor’s Offer of Mediator in Theater Strike Goes Nowhere New York Times US gives visa to 'terrorist' Maoist MP from Nepal Times of India Giuliani sticks with big-state strategy Boston Globe Pope will pass on Boston, visit New York and DC insteadBoston Globe Commonwealth threatens Pakistan with suspension Reuters Yepsen: Obama's Superb Speech Could Catapult His Bid ABC News five of them gave very good speeches. ..... Barack Obama's was excellent. It was one of the best of his campaign. ...... The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucusgoers his way. ...... His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others — especially Clinton — without being snide or nasty about it. ...... the Iowa party's "JJ" dinner ....... The charge that they brought in outsiders was denied by the Obama people, who were nevertheless pleased they beat the other candidates in the noise war inside Veterans Memorial Auditorium. ........ while all did quite well, Obama was particularly impressive. Should he come from behind to win the Iowa caucuses, Saturday's dinner will be remembered as one of the turning points in his campaign here ....... problems that George Bush made far worse and that festered long before George Bush took office ....... the need for school reform, merit pay negotiated with teachers' unions, more efficient cars or money to rebuild the military. ....... "When I am the nominee of this party, the Republican nominee will not be able to say I voted for the war in Iraq, or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, or that I support Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don't like." ........ Obama also did something else he rarely does: He invoked Martin Luther King Jr. and adopted the cadence and uplifting touches of a traditional black preacher's sermon. ....... the hour it was given and the poor timing. He didn't start until after 11 p.m. and was the last one to speak — after most of the crowd had been sitting for four hours. ........ For a lover of political oratory, it was a little like listening to a long Beethoven symphony while having some kid play a Tonette between movements. Kurds on Edge in Turkey Combined Jewish Philantropies Obama stands out in night of speechesSeattle Times Clinton gave a strong speech at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner late Saturday. But Obama, criticized for occasional lackluster performances, delivered one of his most focused and powerful addresses. ...... emerged as the oratorical winner at the biggest Democratic political event in Iowa before the state's January caucuses. ...... a new Democratic majority capable of breaking the gridlock and polarization that have plagued Washington for a decade or more. ....... Obama and Clinton, the final two speakers ...... "I am running for president because I am sick and tired of Democrats thinking the only way to look tough on national security is by talking and acting and voting like George Bush Republicans." ...... Before the Saturday dinner, Barbara and Mike Donnelly hadn't been certain which candidate to support in the Democratic caucuses. They left with colorful glow necklaces, handed out by Obama's campaign. "We just think he's a very strong character," said Barbara Donnelly. Obama's speech "crystallized it for me," said Mike Donnelly. Starting Gate: Obama Wows 'Em In Iowa CBS News GOP support for ObamaConcord Monitor He is the only Democratic candidate with support from Democrats, independents and Republicans. .... He had more votes than Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Sam Brownback combined. Recently in New Hampshire, 68 Republicans announced that they had changed their party affiliation to vote for Obama in the primary. ..... at Obama events in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia, 20 percent of audiences have raised their hands when emcees ask for Republicans in the crowd. A "Republicans for Obama" website has 11 state chapters Google Options Make Masseuse a Multimillionaire Bonnie Brown was fresh from a nasty divorce in 1999, living with her sister and uncertain of her future. On a lark, she answered an ad for an in-house masseuse at Google, then a Silicon Valley start-up with 40 employees. She was offered the part-time job, which started out at $450 a week but included a pile of Google stock options that she figured might never be worth a penny. .... has written a book, still unpublished, “Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.” ...... it is estimated that 1,000 people each have more than $5 million worth of Google shares ...... a very rare phenomenon when one company so quickly becomes worth so much money ...... Google has seemed to exist in its own microclimate, with its shares climbing ....... the stock has risen more than 44 percent, or $203 a share, this year. ....... Nearly half of the 16,000 employees now at Google have been there for a year or less ....... The number of options granted to new employees at Google usually depends on the position and the salary level at which the employee is hired ....... 685 shares at a price of roughly $475 a share. ..... The wealth generated by options is giving a lot of people like Ms. Brown the freedom to leave and do whatever they like. ...... Ron Garret, an engineer who was Google’s 104th employee, worked there for a little more than a year, leaving in 2001. When he eventually sold all his stock, he became a venture capitalist and a philanthropist. He has also become a documentary filmmaker and is currently chronicling homelessness in Santa Monica, Calif. Link by Link: Will Success, or All That Money From Google, Spoil Firefox?the little browser that could ..... 15 to 20 percent of the browser market worldwide and higher percentages in Europe and among technology devotees ........ three times as many users as Apple’s Safari. ....... Mozilla “the first corporate open-source project.” ...... tens of millions of dollars in royalties from search engine companies that want prominent placement on the browser ........ $74 million in assets, the bulk invested in mutual funds and the like, and last year it collected $66 million in revenue. Eighty-five percent of that revenue came from a single source — Google ........ paid the corporation’s chief executive, Mitchell Baker, more than $500,000 in salary and benefits. ....... Microsoft, for structural reasons, could not show the enthusiasm Firefox developers have. ....... “I take the view that we are doing something fundamentally important, and as that becomes clear, there could be other entrants.” She added: “Google is on everyone’s mind, but it could come from China, who knows?” ..... “We’re living in a cold war between open and closed systems ..... “No one is surprised that Turkey would get aid from the U.S. during the cold war.” Cellphone Straitjacket Is Inspiring a Rebellion tussle might undermine the control incumbent companies have over mobile phone consumers .... build a network free from carrier constraint. ...... whether the wireless network should be open, much like the Internet is today ...... the battle of the overdogs ...... software developers would not prosper unless phone companies were less greedy. ...... venture capitalists and technologists are better at whipping up interest in sexy new technologies. “Silicon Valley has done a good job in telling the world what a wonderful nirvana the Internet is,” he said. “But 90 percent of the sites aren’t profitable.” ...... the phone feels more like property Intel to Unveil Chips for Improving Video Quality on the Web the chips’ increased computing power would begin the transformation of today’s stuttering and blurry videos ..... high-resolution, full-screen quality that will begin to compete with the living room HDTV. ..... Intel’s new family, made up of 16 processors, would first be used in servers and high-end desktops that compress the video. ...... increasing computing performance while reducing power consumption. ....... squeeze up to 820 million transistors onto a single silicon die. The company is making the chips at two factories, in Oregon and Arizona. Next year, it will add two plants, in Israel and New Mexico. ...... the new instructions would make possible a new generation of servers that enhance the compression of digital video ....... “Video is becoming ubiquitous on the Web” Is a Flying Car About to Take Off? a small airplane that can land, fold up its wings and drive down the highway. ....... in the process of building a prototype of The Transition, a 19-foot, two-seater the company describes as a roadable light-sport aircraft. ...... anticipated price of US$148,000 ........ a sky filled with people who don't have pilot's licenses could be problematic. ....... about 6,000 public airports in the U.S., and most people are, on average, within 20 miles of one ........ advanced orders for 30 to 50 Transitions already. Al Gore, Venture Capitalist a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital firm that invested early in Google, Netscape and Amazon.com. Mr. Gore will play a high-profile role in the firm’s “clean tech” investment efforts ...... last year earmarked $100 million of its $600 million investment fund to startups that work on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The firm expects to dedicate one-third of new funding to clean tech by 2009. ...... the two spent so much time together during the 1990s that a jokester created “Gore and Doerr 2004″ buttons ........ “What we are going to have to put in place is a combination of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, and the Marshall Plan, and scale it globally,” Mr. Gore told Fortune. A Weekend of Skirmishing for Obama and ClintonNew York Times accusing her of running a “poll-driven campaign” that avoided tough questions ...... The dinner featured dueling exchanges between the two that nearly eclipsed speeches by other presidential candidates who focused largely on attacking President Bush. ....... thousands of Iowans who either sat in rapt attention or responded in extravagantly orchestrated displays of cheers, signs and chants ..... led “not by polls but by principle, not by calculation but by conviction.” ..... her references to Mr. Obama were some of her most direct attacks on him and reflected the strength that Mr. Obama was showing in polls in this state Foes say Clinton ducks hardballs Chicago Tribune Clinton's 'planted' questions: Edwards compares her to Bush; she ...USA Today Flags Fall Around Clinton CBS News Clinton faces tougher attacks within partyBaltimore Sun Iowa Voters Could Balk at Clinton Campaign Question-Planting Incident FOX News News this weekend of a planted question at a Hillary Clinton campaign event in April, and a possible second attempted question plant at another event just last week, might be leaving voters with a bad taste in their mouths. ..... Clinton says she was not aware of the incident until news reports of the matter surfaced. ... it could be a problem for Clinton in Iowa, where voters are more sensitive to political tactics. ....... the stain of Clinton's incidents could go deeper. ...... "Rarely has there been as packaged and protected a presidential candidate as Hillary Clinton. God forbid there should ever be any spontaneity, lest she switch positions again on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants," Sabato said in an e-mail conversation with FOXNews.com ......... a sense that Clinton is heavily handled and isolated by consultants and staffers. That naturally makes people suspicious, causing them to ask, ‘What does she really think? What would she really do as President?' .......Clinton is uncomfortable with dynamic situations. ...... how they are going to deal with unpredictable, dynamic situations that they can't control. And what Hillary Clinton has shown us is that even in a friendly audience, she's too afraid to hear unprepared questions Clinton Addresses Planted Questions FlapCBS News "I mean if you actually want to be president of the United States, you go out, you face people–which I've done–in every one of the 99 counties in Iowa and answer their questions," said Edwards. "We don't stage questions. We go in and answer the questions that are asked, and that's the way it's supposed to work in the caucus process." ...... “Senator Clinton has taken hundreds of questions here in Iowa and across the country from voters and reporters, and she will continue to. What George Bush does is attack the Democrats and divide the country, and John Edwards’s campaign is resembling that more and more every day.” Clinton faced 'canned' questionsThe Australian BJP milestone in southern India BBC News Karnataka is a politically important state, and its capital, Bangalore, is the hub of India's booming IT industry. Clifton Park: Former Congressman Charged With DWI New York Times Yeddyurappa sworn-in - South India gets first BJP Chief MinisterMera Bilaspur China's trade surplus surges to record The Age NEWSMAKER-Maverick tycoon stirs Georgian politics Reuters Georgia's leaders are reeling from the biggest challenge yet to their power, and the driving force behind it is a moustachioed multi-millionaire wanted in Russia on fraud charges. ...... Georgia's richest man .... galvanised a series of protests against President Mikhail Saakashvili this month that ended with police closing down the tycoon's television station ...... his colourful biography. .... his friendship with Boris Berezovsky, the Russian tycoon who wielded huge political influence in the 1990s and now lives in self-imposed exile in London. ..... made his fortune in Russia during the chaotic period after the Soviet Union folded when state property was being sold at bargain prices in rushed privatisations. ....... Many Georgians say in private he cannot win high office because he is Jewish in a country where voters like their leaders to belong to the majority Christian Orthodox faith. Washington envisions a Pakistan beyond Musharraf Christian Science Monitor "Musharraf has blinded Washington over and over again with a mastery of blackmail, but in the two areas we worry most about – nuclear proliferation and Islamist extremism – there are alternatives that are just as good, if not better." ......... Captivated by Pakistan's status as a nuclear power, linchpin in the US-led war on terror, and the presumed home of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the US has treated the military leader as if he were the last stand before nuclear Armageddon or a new triumph for Islamist extremism .......... Gen. Ashfak Kayani as military chief .... "more than 54 years of US policy of blindly supporting Pakistan's dictators." Big B sees ten-fold surge in stock market wealth Economic Times Amitabh Bachchan has seen his stock market wealth grow over ten-fold in just about two-and-half years. .... Bachchan currently holds shares worth over Rs 23 crore in a company promoted by his friend and politician Amar Singh, from Rs 2.3 crore at the end of June 2005 quarter when he purchased these shares. ..... probably the only listed company in India where Bachchan holds shares. ....... more than tripled in the past one month. The company's market cap has grown to over Rs 600 crore, representing about five-fold jump in a year. ...... Bachchan is also an executive director on the company's board, while Singh is an executive chairman. One Laptop Per MeCNET News.com Pay For Two XO Laptops, Give One Away InformationWeek ‘Bee’ Bumps ‘Gangster’New York Times
Barack will carry more than 35 states next fall. I see signs.
Tim Russert Remedies
I just watched online the hour long interview of Barack by Russert. The first thing I noticed was it was an hour. Otherwise he has people on for half an hour. Hillary got half hour, so did all the other Dems and Repubs who went on the show in the 2008 series. This more than makes up for the mistake of basically ignoring Obama at one of the debates that he hosted. (Tim Russert: Bill O'Reilly's Lower Case Cousin)
I also thought the inteview was extremely well done. It was not one of those gotcha ones that Fox specializes in. And it was definitely not an easy one. He asked all the tough questions anyone could think of to ask Obama. As an ardent supporter of Barack, I would rather Barack face the tough questions early rather than late.
But the interview almost had a Charlie Rose quality to it. Neither looked like they were in a hurry. From the beginning it felt like Russert will cover all bases, as he proceeded to do.
At the end it felt to me like this is what a great, professional journalist would do to a would be president. His job is to inform the people and he did plenty of that. He was thorough, he was grilling and inquisitive. He brought answers out of the candidate. Russert dug with much skill.
I also think it is symbolic that Barack is the last Dem candidate to appear on the program. That means the program thinks he is the one who will get the nomination.
Barack just got immunized.
Meet The Press with Tim Russert - Video, Podcasts, News and ... About Meet the Press - Meet the Press, online at MSNBC- msnbc.com Tim Russert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia was chief of staff to Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 to 1982. An avid fan of the American Football team the Buffalo Bills, Russert usually closes Sunday broadcasts during the football season with some type of pro-Bills comment. ........ During NBC's coverage of the 2000 US Presidential Election he calculated possible electoral college outcomes on a marker board on the air, accurately predicting in advance that the election would hinge on "Florida, Florida, Florida." Four years later, Russert would again accurately predict the final battleground of the presidential elections: "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio." ........ On MSNBC's show "Tucker," Russert predicted that the battleground states of the 2008 presidential election would be New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada working-class neighborhood in South Buffalo ....... , saying "If democrats can win three of those four, they can lose Ohio and Florida, and win the presidency." ...... growing up in a predominantly IrishOne concert that Tim booked was headlined by a then-unknown singer, Bruce Springsteen, who charged $2,500 for the concert appearance. Open Letter To Tim Russert How to beat Tim Russert. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine Tim Russert: Discussion on Politics, Entertainment, The Media and ... Crooks and Liars » Hannity’s new BFF is Tim Russert… tim-russert - The Huffington Post Tim Russert, on The Uncomfortable Side of a Question ...the "Meet the Press" inquisitor -- the man who puts all those quotations up on the screen and presses politicians about contradictions and evasions -- found himself on the receiving end of a tough cross-examination. ....... a case study in the importance of controlling the microphone ....... His apparent strategy was to remain low-key, regardless of the provocation ...... Russert used the occasion to deliver a journalism lecture on the "chilling effect" of subpoenas ....... Russert, who always tries to get a rise out of his guests, gave the attorney precious little to work with.
In The News
Human Error Cited in California Oil Spill New York Times they collided with a fixed object ...... sideswiped a support on the bridge, leaving a gash of nearly 100 feet on the side of the 926-foot vessel ...... most of the spilled oil would never be captured and eventually will dissolve into the water. Globules of it could remain for months Daughters of Rival Drug Kings Unite New York Times Francine Lucas says she thought her father was in the candy business. ..... were archrivals three decades ago in Harlem’s cutthroat heroin trade. ...... “By the time we were old enough to understand what he had done, we had so many positive experiences with him.” California's first female Episcopal bishop ordained in Saratoga San Jose Mercury News India calm in face of turmoil in Pakistan National Post Thousands March in Malaysia to Demand Electoral ChangesNew York Times one of the biggest anti-government rallies in nearly a decade. ...... Bersih, a coalition of 26 opposition parties and nongovernmental groups ....... rigged elections, judicial corruption and widespread corruption in the dominant political parties. ..... 500 protesters .... 2,000 protesters, mainly teenagers wearing yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Bersih,” or “Clean” in Malay ..... They chanted “Reformasi,” a reform demand that was the rallying cry of 1998 opposition protests. Georgian Says Emergency Rule to Last as Needed New York Times an important oil pipeline from the Caspian basin through Georgia and Turkey that serves world markets. ...... Also on Saturday, Mr. Patarkatsishvili announced his candidacy for president in a statement, though he has fled the country. US and Germany vow to pursue diplomacy on Iran CNN Sprint’s WiMax plans come undoneKansas City Star scuttled talks aimed at producing a joint effort in building a new nationwide WiMax network. ...... Sprint executives on Friday vowed to push ahead with the project on a more limited basis. ...... “We are on track for soft launch late this year in the Chicago and Baltimore/Washington markets and commercial launch in 2008” ...... Sprint is going through a period of significant change with a focus on simplifying its business ....... The WiMax challenges are layered atop other issues Sprint is experiencing with its partners in the cable-television industry. ...... Sprint, the Kansas City area’s largest corporate employer, also has heard renewed speculation that it could once again become a possible acquisition target. ....... the stock market still values Sprint at about $46.4 billion. WiMax Anticlimax: Sprint, Clearwire Ditch Plans TechNewsWorld neither plans to abandon WiMax itself nor the possibility of working together in the future .... the deal was too complex to carry out properly ....... "This doesn't look good for WiMax, as it makes it look like Sprint is walking away from the entire thing because they need to focus on its core business, which has been under-performing of late" ...... Xohm -- the brand Sprint has used to tout its WiMax vision -- remain large ........ Beyond just laptops, the vision of Xohm is to empower PMPs (portable media players), video cameras, MP3s and more with Internet access ....... "We recently completed the first Xohm market-to-market WiMax data session between Chicago and Washington, D.C., using ecosystem devices and the same commercial network customers will access next year, as a preview of coming attractions" .... "We have 10,000 sites readied for deployment, plus 1,750 base stations and 20,000 antennas ordered. There are a lot of moving parts involved in a rapid build of the new network" Despite Sprint-Clearwire Divorce, Intel Says WiMax Is Not Dead Yet InformationWeek Intel says laptops and mobile devices powered by WiMax-capable silicon will appear in the first half of 2008. ...... major backers like Intel ...... the first half of 2008 will see laptops and mobile devices powered by WiMax-capable silicon. ........ Sprint reaffirmed its commitment to an end-of-year lighting-up of WiMax networks in several U.S. cities, including Chicago and the Washington/Baltimore area ........ One possibility: a spin-off of the WiMax unit, dubbed Xohm. ...... Xohm might actually fare better as an independent company, not chained to the dying beast that is Sprint's core cellular service. ....... a heavier blow to Clearwire, which lost a quarter of its market value on the news ........ with the participation of Intel and other high-tech warhorses like Google, WiMax may simply have too much momentum and money behind it now to be derailed even if Clearwire falters and Sprint bows out of the business ...... Revenue from the WiMax equipment market will grow to more than $3.3 billion, according to Gartner, with 48 million connections worldwide by 2010. ....... The technology is growing rapidly overseas, particularly in developing countries that lack legacy infrastructure. Last month the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, endorsed WiMax as the mobile technology of choice for wireless broadband. Another Path to a Billion Motley Fool Entrepreneurship remains the surest path to riches. ...... most notable is the northward march of the Google twins. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are now ranked fifth and sixth, respectively ..... Real estate mogul Sheldon Adelson, whose fortune is comprised mostly of stock in Las Vegas Sands, remains in third. ....... Venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla is 317th with $1.5 billion. ...... as rich as Gates is, the bulk of his wealth comes from staying invested in the company that brought him to the billionaires' ball. Why? Because anyone with a brokerage account could have enjoyed similar percentage gains. ........ A $1,000 investment in Mr. Softy at the dawn of 1990, four years after his debut on the Nasdaq, would be worth roughly $65,000 today. Security Pro Admits to Hijacking PCs for Profit Washington Post infecting more than a quarter million computers with malicious software and installing spyware that was used to steal personal data and serve victims with online advertisements. ....... $1.75 million in fines and nearly 60 years in prison. ....... On at least 137,000 of those infected systems, Schiefer and his cohorts installed programs that allowed them to control the machines remotely. The malicious "bot" programs also allowed the attackers to steal any user names and passwords that victims had saved in Internet Explorer. ...... a "botnet" -- the term for a large grouping of hacked, remotely controlled computers ...... Internet relay chat(IRC) forums, a vast sea of text-based communications networks that predates instant-messaging software ...... IRC channels have traditionally been among the most popular means of controlling botnets. ..... spread the bot programs mainly over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) ....... Schiefer and his co-conspirators spammed out messages inviting recipients to click on a link. Anyone who took the bait had a "Trojan horse" program downloaded to their machine, an invader that then tried to fetch the malicious bot program. ........ used several hijacked PayPal accounts to purchase Web hosting that helped facilitate the spreading of their bot programs. ...... DefCon, a massive hacker and security research conference held annually in Las Vegas. ...... Schiefer was a member of Defonic, a hacker group ...... Another member of Defonic --- Cameron "cam0" LaCroix -- earned his reputation after breaking into Paris Hilton's cell phone account and later leading the group in breaching data giant LexisNexis, a stunt in which cam0 and several others pulled sensitive records on more than 310,000 people, including a number of Hollywood celebrities. ......... "I don't think anyone should feel sorry for me," Schiefer said. "What I was doing was wrong [and] stupid, and I got caught."
