Daily Archives: March 10, 2004


SPAM Suits

Well, I wasn’t convinced when the ‘Can-Spam’ legislation originally passed that we could count on the big folks to go after the spammers. I was wrong:

Microsoft Corp. and other leading Internet companies, in an unusual joint effort among corporate rivals, announced six lawsuits today against hundreds of people accused of sending millions of unwanted e-mails in violation of the new federal law against “spam.”

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. But, heck, even if they successfully stamp out these folks in the US I expect that the increasing number of items I see from Russia, etc., will continue.
You can find the actual complaints at Findlaw.


Where Does the Buck Stop Now?

Apparently it still stops in the Lincoln and other White House bedrooms:

Bush’s criticism of the Clinton fund-raising scandal is one of the reasons the White House identifies guests. In a debate with Vice President Al Gore in October 2000, Bush said: “I believe they’ve moved that sign, ‘The buck stops here,’ from the Oval Office desk to ‘The buck stops here’ on the Lincoln Bedroom. And that’s not good for the country.”
Bush’s overnight guest roster is virtually free of the famous � pro golfer Ben Crenshaw is the biggest name � but not of campaign supporters.
At least nine of Bush’s biggest fund-raisers appear on the latest list of White House overnight guests, covering June 2002 through December 2003, and-or on the Camp David list, which covers last year. They include:

Yes this bit of hypocrisy should be pointed out but no one should be surprised that bedsheets are traded for friendship or money.
First, you can pretty much count on the bush team either having done, doing or planning to do something they hammer the opposition about.
Second, and more important, the US government transfers huge amounts of money from the losers to the winners and the latter’s stripes change only modestly from administration to administration. Until we the people put a stop to the massive transfers we can expect politicians to seek favours votes and donations and reward those who give them with both bedsheets and favorable laws and regulations.
Via Calpundit who picked it up from It’s a Crock. The Apostropher also comments.
Update: John Cole and Mark Kleiman both argue that a Bush – Clinton comparison is off the mark and I acknowledge both their points which are different enough that you should go read their posts.
I will, though, stick to what I say in the two paragraphs above the ‘Via’ statement.


New at Yahoo Maps

I know there are others but Yahoo Maps has worked well for me for a long time.
They have just added a new feature called SmartView which allows you to quickly find different services that are located in the area of a specific address. The should save me quite a few trips to the yellow pages!
Via beSpacific who used 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. as a test address. Give it a try.