:: walterindenver ::

:: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 ::

Jailed for Blogging

Iranian blogger/journalist Sina Motallebi has been arrested. Be sure to sign the petition protesting his arrest. Samizdata also has an interesting take on the situation, reminding us the USA doesn't allow writers and publishers free rein, either.

:: Walter 6:42 AM [+] ::
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New Reading

Found in the referrer's log for this site; Jay Solo's Verbosity, another fine weblog. Visit Jay and see what a blog looks like when it's updated regularly.

:: Walter 6:59 AM [+] ::
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More from the Augusta Protest

We trust our news reporters to be thoughtful and discerning. Some violate this trust. The following is from an actual published news report:

Throughout the morning, law enforcement officers stood on the perimeter of the five-acre field. At no point did the protest turn violent, though officers escorted Heywood Jablome away after he held up a sign directly in front of Burk that read "Make me dinner" before shouting "Oprah rules."

And if you didn't catch that, no I won't explain it to you. Especially if you write for a newspaper.
(link via Hit and Run)

:: Walter 8:34 PM [+] ::
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Friday Night

The Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash was a good time, of course. It's nice to put faces together with the writing. I had the pleasure of talking with Andy, Stephen, Matt, and Matt. I also met Zombyboy for the first time, and found out he has a blog. Forgive me, I'm kind of slow. I've seen his comments on other sites before, and now I have some catch-up reading to do.
There were a few others I did not get a chance to meet, so lets do it again, and sooner.

:: Walter 8:35 AM [+] ::
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Golf is Vile!

Martha Burk's Augusta protest brought out pro and con demonstrators, and this one:

One protester didn't support either side. He was just against golf.
The front of his T-shirt said, "All Golf is Vile." The back said, "Golf destroyes (sic) Houses, Farms and Forests." When told he had misspelled destroys, the man said, "Yeah, I misspelled apartheid in the '80s."

I gotta get me one of them shirts.

:: Walter 7:58 AM [+] ::
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Tonight!

The RMBB II.

:: Walter 7:15 AM [+] ::
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Well, Yeah

I missed this item in a Joe Bob Briggs column published April 4th.

When a bill to outlaw toy guns was introduced in the New York City Council, the Manhattan Libertarian Party announced a "Guns for Tots" drive, collecting water pistols and cap guns for the city's children. "Playing with a water pistol is one of the most cherished rites of childhood," said spokesman Jim Lesczynski. "We want to give that experience to New York's children before the spoilsports in City Hall take it away permanently." Once the Super Soaker is secured for the future, the Libertarians intend to turn their attention to the protection of toy firebombs.

Of course we do intend to do exactly that, after we secure the rights of drive-in movie theaters to show third-rate horror flicks.

This once, I'm not joking.

:: Walter 8:05 PM [+] ::
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Oh

Laurence Simon, the madman behind Amish Tech Support, is now posting at the World Wide Rant as well. I'm not sure this is a good thing. I can't post as often As I'd like on this site, and there's no way I could post at two sites at once. If Laurence is stretched too thin we'll all suffer. Not to mention this all too creepy. My wife is from Houston, as is Laurence. The World Wide Rant is based here in Denver. I like to think that I rescued my my wife from Texas, so a Houstonian taking over a Denver institution doesn't sound like a good thing. Maybe Laurence could move here.

:: Walter 7:58 PM [+] ::
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War, the Good, the Bad

As I've noted before, there are good reasons and not so good reasons to oppose the war. There are also undeniable benefits to the war. The anti-war Aziz Poonawalla gets it:

The images we all saw on television worldwide yesterday will be in our world history books as one of the defining moments of the 21st century. Alongside those of 9-11, yin and yang. I was and still am opposed to war on Iraq - not the idea of war per se, but like Howard Dean, by the route to which we justified and pursued war. But winning the war was never in doubt and my heart is is full of satisfaction at seeing the statues of Saddam fall at last.

I am however quite disappointed by the attitude of many who oppose the war - who seem to have a grudging attitude towards the liberation. IRAQ IS FREE. Regardless of your politics, your principles, your attitudes - this must be the shared event that we all celebrate.

:: Walter 7:08 PM [+] ::
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Pat Dinizio...

...has a very novel business plan to sell to investors. I have always been a big Smithereens fan, perhaps more so than Glenn Reynolds.

Back in the day I had a chance to interview Pat for a show I co-hosted on a radio station in El Paso, TX. As a Rolling Stone magazine critic said, if there were any justice in the world the Smithereens' album 'Especially For You' would have been the all-time biggest selling LP instead of some Michael Jackson recording.

:: Walter 9:51 PM [+] ::
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Out of Town

Will be at the state Libertarian Party convention. Back Monday.

:: Walter 5:26 PM [+] ::
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Good News!

Thirty-eight of the people convicted in the Tulia, TX drug sting have had their convictions vacated. (from Talkleft) There might not have been a guilty one in the bunch, and now they're all free. Some of them had been sentenced to ten years or more in prison.

You can read what I first wrote about this last July.

:: Walter 8:58 AM [+] ::
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Possible Terror Cell Arrested in Denver

According to the Rocky Mountain News.

Federal authorities are fighting to keep three local Pakistani men locked up because they might be terrorists planning to attack the United States.
They aren't charged with that, however.
Irfan Kamran, 32, and Sajjad Nasser, age unknown, both of Denver, and Haroon Rashid, 32, of Lakewood, are charged only with conspiring to hide an illegal immigrant.
They and three other family members allegedly lied to authorities to bring a seventh family member into the United States illegally from Pakistan.
But federal prosecutors contend that the three men are dangerous because they told others they supported the Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan, and the terrorist group al-Qaida.
The three allegedly said they wanted to join in the jihad, or holy war, against the U.S. Two said they traveled to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, and one of them claimed to have killed U.S. troops there, according to government documents.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

:: Walter 8:38 AM [+] ::
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