Building Iraq's Army: Mission Improbable: "Young Iraqi soldiers, ill-equipped and drawn from a disenchanted Sunni Arab minority, say they are not even sure what they are fighting for. They complain bitterly that their American mentors don't respect them.
In fact, the Americans don't: Frustrated U.S. soldiers question the Iraqis' courage, discipline and dedication and wonder whether they will ever be able to fight on their own, much less reach the U.S. military's goal of operating independently by the fall."

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming - New York Times: "A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents. "

Automotive Parts Information, Resources, Auto Parts And Car Care at Inner Auto Parts: "
Explore the marvel of the automobile."

How to build your own Linux distribution: "How to build your own Linux distribution"

Democratic Peace: The End of War?: "Global military spending is also in decline. Stated in current dollars, annual global military spending peaked in 1985, at $1.3 trillion, and has been falling since, to slightly over $1 trillion in 2004, according to the Center for Defense Information, a nonpartisan Washington research organization."

Democratic Peace: The End of War?: "the fact that we now see so many visuals of combat and conflict creates the impression that these problems are increasing: Actually, it is the reporting of the problems that is increasing, while the problems themselves are in decline. Television, especially, likes to emphasize war because pictures of fighting, soldiers, and military hardware are inherently more compelling to viewers than images of, say, water-purification projects. Reports of violence and destruction are rarely balanced with reports about the overwhelming majority of the Earth's population not being harmed. "

And this was in Date: 23 July 2002

The secret Downing Street memo - Sunday Times - Times Online: "The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun 'spikes of activity' to put pressure on the regime."

This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.

The secret Downing Street memo - Sunday Times - Times Online: " Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Friendly fire. || kuro5hin.org: "Writing in an army report, Brigadier General Gary Jones admits that the official cover-up even included 'the destruction of evidence'. Did the Army burn Tillman's Ranger uniform and body armor to hide the fact that he had died in a hail of American bullets? Why burn the body armor and clothes? A routine procedure in a combat zone?
It doesn't really matter, friendly-fire is a part of war. What matters is the government of the United States covered up the true events to score points with the public. A few more points, just like the winning field goal kick. In the game of propaganda, every point matters. We are the unsuspecting patrons of the propaganda game, paying our tickets with our taxes, allowing the government to wage an unpopular war. "

Excel add in ASAP Utilities free MS Excel tools. Add ins for Microsoft Excel 79, 2000, 2003. Numbering, decompiler, add time in excel, statistics, data analysis, statistical, hours excell add in. Excel addin erstellen. XP freeware 2000, : "ASAP Utilities contains over 300 useful and powerful utilities to fill the gaps in Excel, and automate frequently used tasks.
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PodcastAlley.com -- The place to find Podcasts: "Podcast Alley is the podcast lovers portal. Featuring the best Podcast Directory and the Top 10 podcasts (as voted on by the listeners). You will also find podcast software, the podcast forum and great podcasting info. "

Original web site that Adam Curry started to centralize information about podcasting. This site continues to be one of the central points to which new podcasters go to have their shows added to the primary directory others build from. The iPodder.org directory is maintained by podcasters, but is owned by Adam's commercial company; Adam assigns volunteers to specific categories to maintain the site listings, ensuring that links stay up-to-date and that new podcasts are categorized correctly. The number of people dedicated to maintaining the site is amazing.
iPodder.org :

WordCount™ is an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonness. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance. The larger the word, the more we use it. The smaller the word, the more uncommon it is.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language /

Bore Me Away

About the Center for Responsive Politics: "The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy. The Center conducts computer-based research on campaign finance issues for the news media, academics, activists, and the public at large. The Center's work is aimed at creating a more educated voter, an involved citizenry, and a more responsive government. "

WhoWhatWhen - Interactive Historical Timelines: "WhoWhatWhen is a database of people and events from 1000 A.D. to the present. Create graphic timelines of periods in history and of the lives of individuals."

Quote-O-Matic: "My one regret in life is that I am not someone else"

Patridiot Watch - A Look At Today's News: "If the plane flying at the White House were really a terrorist attack and not a stupid student pilot, the President should know as early as possible. There could have been other attacks ongoing elsewhere like the Somerset, PA attack in 2001. The sooner the President is aware of a problem the sooner he gets over shock, gets briefed on the current situation and options, and can lead our nation's response.
The only reason that the President was allowed to ride happily in oblivion as Washington DC was evacuated is because the President is not involved in decision-making if we are under attack. That's scary."

After the evacuation of the White House and Congress a few days ago, we learned President Bush was off mountain biking

NAMES & FACES: "In a photo taken just after the ride, Bush is holding what appears to be a copy of 'I Am Charlotte Simmons,' the Tom Wolfe novel about debauchery on a college campus. In early February, Bush told reporters he was reading that same book -- which, if he is almost done, averages to about seven pages a day."

Opinions You Should Have: "Secretary of Health and Human Resources Tommy Thompson said today that the flu vaccine shortage thus demonstrated the kind of 'careful, long-range planning' that the Bush Administration brings to bear on difficult problems. 'One or two more vaccine shortages, and we'll be able to put away that so-called lockbox,' Thompson boasted."