“Given how intent the president is on expanding his authority, it is startling to recall how the Constitution’s framers viewed presidential power. They were revolutionaries who detested kings, and their great concern when they established the United States was that they not accidentally create a kingdom. To guard against it, they sharply limited presidential authority…”
Just What the Founders Feared: An Imperial President Goes to War – New York Times
Remember when President Bush said that the Iraqi oil reserves belonged to the people of Iraq? That the proceeds from the sale of said oil should go to the rebuilding of the country after the brutal regime of Sadaam (not to mention what has happened since)?
The Iraq parliament is now considering a new law that would allow a majority of Iraqi oil fields to be developed by the likes of Chevron and Exxon/Mobil, even when every other major oil producer in the Middle East has nationalized its oil industry.
It would also form a new body called the Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council to make the decisions for the government. Who sits on this council? It could be foreign oil companies.
See, it should come as no surprise that it's been about the oil all along. And, as one commenter has, well, commented:
There's absolutely no excuse for letting these "free people" have their own property. What kind of an example would that set? And as far as them doing that democratically, well, they simple voted the wrong way. Anybody can make a mistake like that.
SO I GO INTO my local Vons to pick up some diet soda. Now normally, I get whatever's on sale – Coke, Pepsi, don't matter, I'm not brand-loyal. And normally, one is priced lower than the other.
Lately, though, I've been noticing that the sale prices have been steadily creeping upward – it's like the sale prices are close to what the regular price used to be. I used to be able to get a 12-pack for $2.50 on a fairly regular basis. Now the lowest prices are hovering around $3.34 or so, or the way things are priced these days, 3 for $11, or Buy 3 get 1 free, that sort of thing. They post the regular price at something like $4.50 or $5.29 – five bucks for a 12-pack! I would NEVER pay that much!
This past weekend, no sales – everything was priced exactly the same. Coke – $3.79 for a 12-pack, $1.39 for a 2-liter bottle. Pepsi – $3.79 for a 12-pack, $1.39 for a 2-liter bottle. 7-Up – $3.79 for a 12-pack, $1.39 for a 2-liter bottle.
If that's not collusion, I don't know what is.
OVER THE YEARS I'VE endeavored to digitizing several albums in my collection of vinyl LPs; playing them on a turntable connected to my computer, using software to record them, using other software to clean up the major pop, clicks and other noise, and either burning the resulting files to CD or just adding them to my vast MP3 collection. I've had some success with that; I'd even go so far as to say it's a somewhat enjoyable way to pass the time. It can be a little tedious – to record the album in real time, then go back and meticulously listen to the recording, stopping at every pop and try to chop the noise out without destroying the music underneath, then moving on to the next click.
I've always taken pretty good care of my records over the years. In the time before CDs came to the fore, I stored my albums in plastic slip covers, and carefully 'de-dusted' them with an anti-static brush, cleaned the stylus, blah, blah. So my records are pretty quiet. Not so for the ones I've picked up over the years in thrift stores and used record shops.
Today on NPR I heard a story about a Library of Congress project called 'Irene', which involved using cameras and software to 'play' old records without even touching them. Some of the thousands of recordings in the Library are so fragile that even playing them might destroy them – others are so damaged and old that the sound is barely discernable. This device takes detailed pictures of the grooves cut into the disc and uses the images to reconstruct the sound without ever touching the record. This will allow even broken and cracked records to be 'played'. It can be set to ignore dust and scratches, as well.
I wish I could get a job in that organization.
Check out the story link -
NPR : You Can Play the Record, but Don't Touch
