Many weblogs are linking to the Oppose Ashcroft site, which was created by People for the American Way to educate people about his virulent record at the time of his nomination as attorney general. I linked to it back then, and hate to say I told you so. From this weblog community vantage point, the outrage about the Dictatorship’s mad, ongoing powergrab under Ashcroft’s influence seems so palpable, but where’s the organized opposition behind the spleen? It may turn out to be one of the greatest, most enduring humiliations in American history — certainly on a par with McCarthyism, if that phrase still makes anyone blush — that reasonable Americans are allowing this to happen with no more than ineffectual spluttering like this. Is it time to write your Congressional representatives? Ha! Time to march on Washington? blockade the Justice Dept? Do the words mass protest, or nonviolent civil disobedience, resonate with anyone anymore? [illustration courtesy of BlackHoleBrain]

Man gets $5,525 check for confiscated pot plants — ‘A man who says he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes received $5,525 from his insurance company after arguing that the backyard crop police ripped up was covered by his homeowner’s policy.’ SF Gate

Dept. of Fried Synapses: Comcast to launch video game channel: “Comcast Corp., owner of the nation’s third largest cable company, said it will launch a channel next spring dedicated entirely to video games.

The new network, dubbed G4, will target teen-agers and men between the ages of 18 and 34.” SF Gate

AIDS-related news for World HIV/AIDS Day. Click and think:

• ‘Almost 30 years ago, the crisis was marked by panicking operators of blood banks, gurneys of dying men filling the halls in San Francisco General Hospital, a massive political protest movement and “safe sex” placed into our societal psyche.’ Tahoe Daily Tribune
• Deadly Myths: ‘The recent spate of rapes involving babies and children bears grim testimony to the widespread myth that that sex with a virgin will “cure” an HIV-infected male.’ allAfrica.com
• “Two AIDS drugs will be cheaper in South Africa from next year as Europe’s biggest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline, cuts 20 percent off the price. South Africa has five million people estimated to be living with the disease.” CNN Europe
• “(A) small biotechnology firm in California claims to be closing in on the elusive goal of developing a vaccine that could be used in preventing AIDS. VaxGen Inc. is in late-stage patient testing that’s aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of its experimental AIDSVAX.” CBS Market Watch
• AIDS continues devastating sweep: “The virus that causes AIDS is continuing to spread worldwide at a dramatic pace, with eastern Europe particularly hard hit, the United Nations has warned. The U.N.”
  
  CNN Europe

• Africa’s AIDS Fight: Are We Winning or Losing? “It seems the need is almost bottomless. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a “Global Aids Fund” – a war chest of US$7-10bn to be replenished at that level for at least the next five years.” allAfrica.com
• ” Nearly 30 percent of people deemed at risk for HIV have never been tested, the government said in warning they could be unknowingly spreading the virus that causes AIDS.”
  
  CNN Europe

• In-Depth Special – AIDS: 20 years of an epidemic — “On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a notice on page two of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report about a strange outbreak of killer pneumonia striking homosexual men.”
  
  CNN Europe

• AIDS 2001: Living longer, not better — “While people with HIV and AIDS are living longer, the disease for which there is no cure is infecting blacks and Hispanics more disproportionately than ever…” Dayton Daily News
• Some are still finding ways to observe World AIDS Day as a Day Without Art, as in past years. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• “Former South African President Nelson Mandela called on Saturday for AIDS victims to be given access to drugs that fight the disease and said heads of state must take the lead in raising awareness of the illness.” BayArea.com
• “South African scientists are hoping that a cheap and effective AIDS treatment for the millions of South Africans living with the disease could be closer than anyone thought – right underfoot in fact.” New Scientist
  

Happy second anniversary to dangerousmeta!

Tempest for Eliza: “a program that uses your computer monitor to send out AM radio signals. You can then hear computer generated music in your radio.”

Bin Laden’s mountain fortress at Tora Bora (graphic) The Times of London

The calendar flips over to December and with it comes the NaNoWriMo finish line. Here are the posted winners so far. Congratulations to you all.