Saddam Hussein: Iraqi President and PS2 Fan?

the proprietor — Wed, 20 Dec 2000 06:15:12 +0000

This item, I think, says something important about sanctions and about technology, but I’m not sure what that is (and on the other hand the story probably isn’t even true). Anyway, the Iraqi Government has apparently discovered a loophole in the UN sanctions against it. According to WorldNetDaily.com the US Federal Government thinks that several thousand of the hard to find Sony PlayStation 2 game machines have been shipped to Iraq. The loophole is that computer machinery in general, but not video game machines in particular, are tightly restricted by the sanctions. And, the punchline is that the significant computing power inside the latest breed of game machines could support a relatively inexpensive “supercomputer” (according to WND.com sources anyway).

The details seem a little bit thin (WND.com cites a “secret Defense Intelligence Agency report” and indicates that there is a joint FBI/US Customs Service investigation), but it could be true I suppose; eventually someone finds the holes in any given set of sanctions. Particularly, when that someone is under the Great American Thumb, so to speak. On the other hand, maybe President Hussein is tired of trying to sell oil and has decided that PS2 speculating offers a better profit margin? A possibility hinted at (tongue in cheeck, I think) by the UpsideToday article where I saw this originally.

Hat tip to Salon.com

The “Petticoat Mafia” Of Benham, Kentucky

the proprietor — Sat, 09 Dec 2000 06:00:00 +0000

The AP (via the Dallas Morning News) asks the question, “What happens when the garden club takes over the government of a Kentucky coal town?” The answer turns out to be a great story about a particularly different approach to government, one involving bake sales, concerts and a thrift shop instead of more usual, and blunter, instruments. These two paragraphs summarise the piece nicely, and the last sentence is certainly its best part:

“Beginning next month, [Mayor Betty] Howard will preside over a Town Council made up entirely of women from 54 to 80 who have worked their way to political power from the Benham Garden Club.”

“Over the past decade, the garden club brigade has built its power slowly, claiming the mayor’s office in 1994 and regularly occupying three to five seats on the Town Council. But in the November election, three men now serving on the council opted not to seek re-election to allow the club members to take all six council seats.”

Hat tip to Free-Market.Net’s Freedom News

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Saddam Hussein: Iraqi President and PS2 Fan?

The “Petticoat Mafia” Of Benham, Kentucky