Month: April 2005

That’s how much Hewlett-Packard’s board agreed to pay CFO Robert Wayman for serving as INTERIM CEO from February 8th to April 1st, when HP hired new Chief Mark Hurd. That’s $3 million dollars for 52 days of work. Oh, and that’s on top of the $1.5 million dollar annual salary and bonuses that Wayman already collects.

And how YOU doin?

(h/t Dan Gillmor)

Saddam ‘upset’ at Kurd’s election.

Saddam Hussein watched the televised election of Iraq’s new president from his jail cell yesterday and was “clearly upset”, a senior official said. Jalal Talabani, a former Kurdish guerrilla commander and sworn enemy of Saddam, was elected to the highest office in a parliamentary ballot, bringing a new government a step closer.

Under Saddam the only way Mr Talabani would have left his northern redoubt was in chains or a coffin, but yesterday he arrived in Baghdad in a blaze of triumph.

Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shia who is finance minister in the outgoing government, and Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab tribal leader, were elected vice-presidents.

It was galling viewing for Saddam, according to Bakhtiar Amin, the human rights minister, who said the former dictator had chosen to view the recording of the parliamentary vote.

“He was clearly upset. He realised that it was over, that a democratic process had taken place and that there was a new, elected president,” Mr Amin told Reuters.

Yes, this story does appear in the Guardian, a place inhabited by “progressives” who shed tears over the fact that Mr. Hussein is incarcerated, so I have to take all of this with a grain of salt. Still though, why should we care one wit about what Saddam thinks, feels, hopes, wants, or needs?

HE’S A TYRANT WHO DESERVES TO RECEIVE THE SAME TREATMENT HE INFLICTED ON TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IRAQI’S.

(You should see the size of the vein that is popping out of my forehead right now)

Mr. Amin said the footage demonstrating the progress towards a democratically elected government could change attitudes in the prison camp where Saddam and his former aides are being held.

“They know for sure that they are not coming back and my feeling is that they may be inclined to be more honest when they go before the tribunal,” he said.

The trials are due to begin later this year.

Saddam and his lackeys should be more concerned about seeking forgiveness from almighty Allah than from a court. In fact, they should be more concerned with the food they eat, and the people hiding in the shadows awaiting a clear shot.

GOP Bloggers scored an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. Go check it out.

Unbelievable

En route to Rome, Clinton told reporters the pope “centralized authority in the papacy again and enforced a very conservative theological doctrine. There will be debates about that. The number of Catholics increased by 250 million on his watch. But the numbers of priests didn’t. He’s like all of us – he may have a mixed legacy.”

When you’re as self absorbed as Bill Clinton, comparing your legacy to the work of the Pope is as normal as vanilla pudding. It isn’t that Clinton feels guilty and needs to lift his self esteem whenever possible. Not at all. This guy really feels like his time in the White House was as close to the Second Coming as any generation will get.

But will anyone else pick this item up and talk about how arrogant Clinton is? Nope. Don’t expect his little comment to go any further than the index.html page at drudgereport.com.

Take a look at the kind of pope related items you can get right now on eBay, like this Marvel comic book.

Or my favorite, the Pope John Paul II Chicken Breast

You know…for kids!

Which will you choose? The red or the blue pill?

Sony patents “real life Matrix”

THE Japanese entertainment giant Sony has patented an idea for transmitting data directly into the brain, with the goal of enabling a person to see movies and play video games in which they smell, taste and perhaps even feel things, it was reported today.

The patent – based only on a theory, not on any invention – marks the first step towards a “real-life Matrix”, New Scientist says in next Saturday’s issue.

In the sci-fi film of that name, cyber-reality is projected into the brains of people via an electrode feed at the back of their necks.

In Sony’s patent, the technique would be entirely non-invasive – it would not use brain implants or other surgery to manipulate the brain.

The patent has few details, describing only a device that would fire pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify the firing patterns of neurons in targeted parts of the brain.

Something tells me that, in this Matrix, the “blue screen of death” would be a really bad thing.

I’ve seen this before, but today it showed up in my inbox again. Every time I read about some kind of political correctness psycho-babble, I think of the “good ‘ol days”.

To all the kid’s who survived the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s…

• We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
• Our Mom took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
• Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
• We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets
• When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
• We rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
• Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
• We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE died from it.
• We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, and we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
• We would leave home in the morning and play all day as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day, and we were O.K.
• We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
• We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, only 12 channels on television, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cellphones…WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
• We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
• We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
• We were given BB guns for our 10th birthday, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
• We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
• Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.
• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

 This is pretty much how I grew up. It’s a different world today.

At the time of his death, the Pope had a number of product endorsement deals.

To finance the pope’s 1998 visit to Mexico City, the Archdiocese of Mexico City received corporate sponsorship from more than two dozen firms. The single largest sponsor was the Pepsi-owned Sabritas chip company, which paid $1.8 million for the right to use the pope’s image in its packaging. The Spanish-language play on words-“Las Papas del Papa” (-The Potatoes of the Pope”) was lost on absolutely no one. Equally obvious was the seemingly inescapable TV and billboard ads connecting the pope’s picture with Bimbo bread, a local cement company, and other joint promotions between the church and its corporate benefactors….

In 1999, the Vatican approved a licensing deal with Miami-based Siesta Telecom to issue a Pope John Paul II pre-paid phone card. The card comes with a signed certificate and the pope’s likeness on the card; the company already sells phone cards with the Virgin Mary’s picture on them.

(h/t Dean)

Dick Morris: Sandy rolls over for Bill & Hill

FORMER National Security Adviser Sandy Berger has now joined the pantheon of those who, in the immortal words of Webb Hubbell, have chosen to “roll over one more time” to protect Bill and Hillary Clinton.
 
This Hall of Ill-Fame includes Susan McDougal, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, Johnnie Chung, former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and old Webb himself. What they each have in common is their silence and willingness to take the fall to protect the Clintons.

Alcohol “bad for breastfeeding“.