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Bush could see a boost in poll numbers

With no indictment for Karl Rove, and successful secret trip to Iraq Bush just might see his numbers bump up a little. It has been quite some time since there has been any good news for the Bush administration. These two positive notes following the killing of Zarqawi might reassure his base. Of course their are still questions surrounding Rove’s conduct but no indictment has to be consider more good news. The secret visit to Iraq implies positive progress without going out a limb and declaring some sort of victory. All things considered I see this as a very good couple of weeks for the president and republicans in general.

Taking Zarqawi into custody would have been more useful

I know it might have been too dangerous and maybe impossible, but having Zarqawi alive or at least his laptop and/or contact list would have been very valuable. I doubt they will recover anything of any intelligence value from the rubble. No doubt he deserved to die, but now he is a martyr in the eyes of his followers. Had we recovered him and his contact list we could have made it appear as if he snitched out his partners in crime. The only type of propaganda the Bush administration seems to focus on is aimed at the US public. They want to control the news/media but instead they should be feeding the media and letting them do their job (reporting news). Zarqawi’s execution was carried out with two 500 pound bombs which is a bit of overkill in my opinion. Again that just raises his status in the eyes of his followers, as well as destroying any potential intelligence gains. I suppose though since the Bush administration doesn’t interrogate & prosecute terrorists it would have just been too much trouble for them to take him into custody. I suspect many of the terrorists we have in custody now will eventually be released when Bush is finished torturing them. Eventually human rights will outweigh any crimes they may have committed and bring more criticism from the world. OK they got Zarqawi now what?

After Zarqawi, no clear path in weary Iraq
Questions of leader’s legacy, followers’ unity are wide open

Is the White House learning to listen?

The nomination of Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary and the meeting of Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey Oval Office with President Bush about Iraq sure makes it look like Bush is listening. However it remains to be seen if any real policy changes emerge. Being open to different points of view has not been a strong point for this administration. In fact it is indirectly related to every negative issue that has the president’s poll numbers in the toilet. This can only help his numbers now (even though they can’t go much lower). He must be under extreme pressure with mid-terms looming and his polls so low….

WP White House opens door to dissenters - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com
Aversion to criticism appears to be fading, but to what end?

FBI head wants ISPs to keep records for 2 years

Depending on how the government goes about obtaining these records I see no real privacy issues. Provided they stick to using the courts to legally obtain the records privacy shouldn’t be a problem. The problem I see is putting quite a load on the ISPs. What if they don’t keep them long enough? Or they get lost? It sounds to me like we need an internet access tax to pay for all that storage. Since most internet usage is not metered I see no practical reason for the ISPs to need such a long retention. They do need them internally to monitor user activities for security and other reasons. But 2 years could present a huge database that may or may not be needed. All that data would need to stored and backed up. It would also need to be secured to prevent tampering and insure accuracy. This would probably present the need for new personnel for the larger ISPs possibly even entire departments for the largest ISPs. In term of time, people, & equipment the costs could be significant. Somebody would have to pay for it and I’m sure that would be the consumer.

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The Body Odd

Got an unaswered question about the human body? Everything you ever wanted to know about the human body but are afraid to ask. Things like what causes man boobs? Can you loose weight by passing gas? A unique new biweekly podcast format that can be downloaded to a PC or MP3 player. The Body Odd - MSNBC.com Mark Leyner, author of “Why do men have nipples?”, talks about the new podcast on MSNBC.com where he and Dr. Billy Goldberg explore the weird things our bodies do.