George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran, giving the plan an amber light.

As Tehran tests new missiles, America (bush & cronies) believes only a show of force can deter President Ahmadinejad

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.(BushCo wants the "negotiations" to breakdown, though.) Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times. “Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support. EXCERPT  Complicating the calculations in both Washington and Tel Aviv is the prospect of an incoming Democratic president who has already made it clear that he prefers negotiation to the use of force. Senator Barack Obama’s previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November’s US presidential election. “If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,” the Pentagon official added. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4322508.ece Kristol: Bush might bomb Iran if he thinks Obama will win http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4KnawqvugU

 Google ORDERED to Turn Over User Data of YouTube By MIGUEL HELFT Published: July 4, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far. The order raised concerns among YouTube users and privacy advocates that the video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of the site’s visitors. Viacom also said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to outside lawyers, who will use it solely to press Viacom’s $1 billion copyright suit against Google. Still, the judge’s order, which was made public late Wednesday, renewed concerns among privacy advocates that Internet companies like Google are collecting unprecedented amounts of private information that could be misused or fall unexpectedly into the hands of third parties. “These very large databases of transactional information become honey pots for law enforcement or for litigants,” said Chris Hoofnagle, a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. For every video on YouTube, the judge required Google to turn over to Viacom the login name of every user who had watched it, and the address of their computer, known as an I.P. or Internet protocol address. Both companies have argued that I.P. addresses alone cannot be used to unmask the identities of individuals with certainty. But in many cases, technology experts and others have been able to link I.P. addresses to individuals using other records of their online activities. The amount of data covered by the order is staggering, as it includes every video watched on YouTube since its founding in 2005. In April alone, 82 million people in the United States watched 4.1 billion clips there, according to comScore. Some experts say virtually every Internet user has visited YouTube. Google and Viacom said they had had discussions about ways to further protect users’ anonymity, but as of Thursday evening the two companies had yet to agree on how to do that. “We are investigating techniques, including anonymization, to enhance the security of information that will be produced,” said Michael D. Fricklas, Viacom’s general counsel. Mr. Fricklas said Viacom would not have direct access to the data, and that its use would be strictly limited by the court order. Viacom would not, for example, chase down users who had illegally posted clips from “The Colbert Report.” “The information that is produced by Google is going to be limited to outside advisers who can use it solely for the purpose of enforcing our rights against YouTube and Google,” Mr. Fricklas said. In a letter sent Thursday, Google’s lawyers pressed their counterparts at Viacom to accept a more limited set of data. “We request that plaintiffs agree that YouTube may redact user names and I.P. addresses from the viewing data in the interests of protecting user privacy,” wrote David H. Kramer, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In a response, a Viacom lawyer wrote that Viacom was “committed to working with Google” on the privacy issue. Interestingly, Google has rejected demands by privacy groups for more stringent protections for I.P. address records, saying that in most cases the addresses cannot be used to identify users. Yet Google argued that YouTube viewing data should be kept from Viacom, in part, to protect the privacy of its users. Judge Louis L. Stanton of the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over Viacom’s lawsuit against Google and YouTube, referenced Google’s past statements on I.P. addresses to conclude that its “privacy concerns are speculative.” “It is an ‘I told you so’ moment,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group in Washington. Other privacy advocates said they welcomed Viacom’s commitment to limit its use of the information, but they remained concerned about user rights. “Users should have the right to challenge and contest the production of this deeply private information,” said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties group. That right is protected by the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, Mr. Opsahl added. Congress passed that law in 1988 to protect video rental records, after a newspaper disclosed the rental habits of Robert H. Bork, then a Supreme Court nominee. Mr. Opsahl also said that even records that did not include a user’s login name and I.P. address might be able to be associated with specific people. In 2006, after AOL released for research purposes the search records of thousands of anonymous users, reporters from The New York Times were able to track down one person by analyzing her search queries. Mr. Opsahl said anonymous viewing habits may similarly yield clues about the identity of viewers. Viacom wants the viewing data in part to help it determine the extent to which YouTube’s success was built on the popularity of copyrighted clips that were illegally posted to the site. Outside experts say that without the data it would be virtually impossible to pin that down. Judge Stanton agreed that the information could help Viacom make its case. “A markedly higher proportion of infringing-video watching may bear on plaintiff’s vicarious liability claim, and defendants’ substantial noninfringing use defense,” he wrote.   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/technology/04youtube.html

Or: Further Examples of Why It's Hard to Write Satire These Days "Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this?" -- Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) from the film "Casablanca," 1942. Be Careful What You Wish For: Republicans snickered and goaded Obama over not visiting the Middle East; Obama took the bait, called their bluff, and turned the trip into a three-point photo-op score showing him looking presidential with various world leaders and greeting smiling US troops. For a bonus, he even got an endorsement from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his 16-month Iraq troop withdrawal plan, leaving Blinky McCain to impotently twist in the wind. Obama also defined the role of a US commander-in-chief in strong Trumanesque terms – no more of the weak Bush Boy's lame 'I'll leave it to the generals to tell me what my policy is' nonsense. Meanwhile, back stateside, Ol' Crazy-Eyes is left with egg dripping off of his face, peevishly grousing about the amount of media coverage Obama is receiving and whining that The New York Times won't publish his op-ed wherein he waves the bloody flag of victory in Iraq without bothering to define it. 12-Step On You Program: "Wall Street got drunk," dribbled our Worst President Ever last Friday trying to explain why the country's headed into its second Great Depression. Gee, how'd that happen, Junior? Was Cheney providing them with firewater while you were on vacation in Crawford, recovering from your 'hard work' vacationing in Washington? Remember when this goof was advertised as the first MBA president? Was that 'MBA' as in 'Master of Bumbling Assessments'? Oh, brother. Hit and Run Off at the Mouth: Creature of the Night Bob Novak emerged from the Soil of his GOP Homeland recently to float the story that McCain was going to name his Veep pick this week in a desperate attempt to counteract the massive media coverage of Barack Obama's overseas trip. Then the Prince of Darkness flipped later in the week, and claimed he thought the Republicans may have played him and the story wasn't legitimate after all. "Pretty reprehensible," is the hilarious way Bob the Impaler described the possible McCain camp attempts to 'use' him to garner publicity for their candidate. Imagine that – Rove's Water Boy on the Plame leak and the shoehorn for scores of other GOP-inspired balderdash entering the media mainstream 'shocked, shocked' to discover gambling at Rick's Café. Roll your eyes and laugh, children. Incidentally, it's been reported that BYOB-Bob hit a guy on a bicycle in Dee Cee July 23rd hard enough to send the man to the hospital. When the police questioned Count Novakula, he claimed he wasn't aware he had hit anything in his low-riding Corvette while witnesses say the man rolled up right onto The Undead's windshield. So far, the Faithful Scribe of the Elite Radical Right has only been nailed with a slap-on-the-wrist 'failure to yield right of way' ticket – of course, a Sad Sack Member of the Great Unwashed would have been in plastic handcuffs on a serious hit and run charge. Perhaps Bobbo will cite the ever-expanding magic of Executive Privilege and not even show up in court to answer for the failure to yield beef. McCain's probably not going to announce his VP this week, but, courtesy of the Big Ace, here's a brief rundown of who's going to make it, who's not and why: SEN. JOHN THUNE – Who? Practically unknown short-timer from a small electoral vote state that McCain's likely going to win anyway. No. MITT ROMNEY – What, and hand the Dems ready-made oppo ads from the GOP debates? And there's the 'Mormon' thing. Besides, McCain despises the idiot. Nope. ROB PORTMAN – Most of Tabloid America will wonder if that's Natalie's brother. He has no following save the vapid Pundit Class in Washington. Nah. GOV. CHARLIE CRIST – The popularity of Florida's Golden Boy in his home state has been vastly overrated and cracks are beginning to show, especially over his flip-flop on offshore drilling. Taint in the cards, son. MIKE HUCKABEE – Would outshine McNasty and might not even win Arkansas or the Fundy Christians. Fergit it, Bubba. GOV. BOBBY JINDAL – The inept Young Republican Gunga Din is in trouble in home state Louisiana, fighting off a recall petition, aside from not knowing his hind end from a roadside ditch. Mais non, monsieur! GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS – Politically ambitious Surge Protector Petraeus is smarter than to hitch his wagon to an Old War Horse who'll be limping in the stretch. That's a big negatory, sir, over and out. TOM RIDGE – The ex-Penn State Governor and Junior's former Homeland Security chief is Johnny's kind of guy, particularly on the Fear and National Security ticket that is McCain's last faint hope. Bet the farm on Tom-Tom playing co-pilot to Cap'n Crash this fall.

I've been at the photoshop again.  Nobody was using the concept!