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Libby indictment

The celebrations of the"Bush lied, people died" crowd must be somewhat tempered tonight.

No indictment on the "national security" issue of outing Plame.

No indictment for Karl Rove.

On the other hand, Republicans are hard-pressed to argue that perjury is not serious (not since Bill Clinton's House-not-Senate impeachment).

But ironies abound. We know what we know about this "leak" case from "lawyers close to the investigation" who have been leaking information to the press.

So far no official information is forthcoming from this two year-old investigation about who told who that Plame was a covert CIA agent. And since no one has been charged with the crime of leaking that information, it is still a very untidy affair. Questions. No answers.

I'd like an answer to these questions: What precisely did the President lie about to get us into a war in Iraq? What did he say? Why was it false? And why did that result in our going to war?

Anyone?

ND 49 BYU 23

Cougs played hard, but Irish strategy to pick on Y's short corners (6'5" receivers against 5'7" and 6'1" cornerbacks) worked to perfection. Irish QB Brady Quinn threw for school-record 6 touchdowns. Because of injuries, Y is down to receivers who've been switched to corner. The recruiting class of defensive backs that wasn't (because they were charged with rape shortly after arriving on campus) has been sorely missed with all the injuries Cougs have had. While the two who pled not guilty were acquitted, all of them violated the Honor Code and were justifiably kicked out of school. Turns out B.J. Mathis has been cleared of similar allegations in Texas. Wish them well in the future.

"Media Bias and Technology Reporting"

PC Magazine writer John Dvorak writes that Apple gets great coverage, and Microsoft doesn't, for a simple reason: (anecdotally, he says) 90% of mainstream tech writers are Mac users.

Anecdotally, I agree. At last week's BYU-CSU football game, I scanned the press box through binoculars and saw the familiar backlit Apple logo on the vast majority of laptops:
So sports writers in Utah also favor the Mac.

Apple, Apple, ueber alles!

Cougars v. The Fighting Irish

Two college football teams that "won", then lost, to quality competition face each other tomorrow in South Bend.

BYU's offense was unstoppable and led TCU by 18 points in the second half, when TCU's starting quarterback was injured. His backup led an amazing comeback, and a controversial 51-50 win in overtime related to a fumble call at the goal line. (It appeared from still photos that BYU's defense caused a fumble, and recovered it, before (not after) the running back crossed the goal line, but instant replay review was inconclusive -- because there wasn't a camera at the goal line...duh -- given CSU's controversial game-ending goal line stand against the U, it may be a good idea for the MWC to post a camera at the goal line if they're going to do instant replay...seems like a kind of critical place on the field. But I digress...).



Last week, Notre Dame led #1 USC with under two minutes to go, when USC's quarterback directed a comeback drive, but fumbled out of bounds near the goal line with 7 seconds to go. A USC coach left the box and called for a time out (which USC didn't have -- normally a delay of game penalty) as the clock wound down to 0:00 and the Irish crowd stormed the field. But the refs ultimately reset the clock to 7 seconds, and put the ball at the 1 yard line where USC's quarterback was able to lunge into the end zone on second effort on the last play of regulation. (And there wasn't instant replay to help anyone).


BYU fell 31-10 to a pretty lousy San Diego State team the week after TCU, obviously flat and out of sorts after their heartbreaking loss, but has won twice since.

Remains to be seen if Notre Dame has a similar week-after emotional letdown tomorrow.

As a Cougar fan, I hope they do -- and that BYU takes advantage and wins.

On the other hand, I also hope that both teams play their best -- and that BYU wins anyway.

Either way, intriguing matchup.


Go Cougs!

Plame-out redux

Tom McGuire pieces together a summary to answer the question, "How covert was Valerie Plame?"

If you don't know about Valerie Plame, or Joe Wilson, or yellow-cake uranium, or Patrick Fitzgerald, or Lewis Libby, or Karl Rove -- that's OK. In my view, it's much ado about nothing. The breathless Plame-out will ultimately flame-out.

But I could be proven wrong.

All I can say at this point is I've gained new perspective about my haste to believe the latest anti-Clinton revelation.

I'm a recovering Clinton-hater. I wonder what it will take for Bush-haters to get healthy again. (Hillary's election?)

Speaking of law school...

My mom wrote a poem I've adapted:

Someday the peaks will glimmer
Far below,
Etched in light and shadow;
So surmountable:
Remembered -- but surpassed

Apple announces new PowerBooks, Power Macs, and Aperture

Apple tweaks its top line computers: new PowerBooks ("Higher resolution. Better mileage") with new screens, improved battery life, and SuperDrives (DVD burners) across the platform), and new hepped-up Power Macs (dual-core G5s, PCI Express, performance gains).

Apple also continues to innovate with Aperture -- a new all-in-one post-production tool for professional photographers.

Does anyone else have a cooler product line (from hardware to software with tight integration)? Nope.

JRCLS class of '85 reunion

I graduated from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, in 1985. Last night my wife and I attended the alumni dinner and reunion. It was good to renew acquaintances. Only wish more of my classmates would have attended. Hard to believe it's been 20 years.

Apple introduces new iMac (w/built-in iSight), new iPod (w/video), Front Row, Photo Booth, and iTunes 6

See the streaming video of Steve Jobs' presentation yesterday here.


Front Row is an app with a slick and tiny remote to allow you to sit on your sofa and watch DVDs, video, or slideshows of your iPhoto digital photos, and listen to your iTunes music. The iMac becomes an entertainment center -- a computer merging ever closer to a TV/multimedia/stero center.

Photo Booth -- like the little booth at the drugstore, but on your desktop -- uses the built-in iSight camera, and the computer's screen as the "flash" (it generates a white light burst). The software gives you lots of options (distortion, sepia, etc.):


Apple continues to be cutting edge. And with all the improvements, the price points remain the same -- or actually go down.


I've been a Palm PDA guy for around 8 years (currently use a Tungsten E), and my next toy will likely be a Treo 650. But I'm still hoping Apple will come up with an iPod-based smartphone (PDA, cell phone, iPod, handheld).

Right now users essentially have two PDA OS choices: WinCE (unfortunate acronym for Microsoft...), and Palm OS. Why doesn't Apple come out with a Mac PDA OS? They do an operating system better than anyone -- and to make it seamless with Mac OS X? -- makes sense to me.

President Bush on GWOT at Endowment for Democracy

Read the President's speech here.

Sweater weather

The "storm that broke the back of summer" (as my dad would say) arrived today. Cold and rainy, a high of 50 F, and a dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains. Timpanogos only went a couple of weeks with no snow. And now the top is covered. Now it will likely have snow until July. I love fall. The leaves have changed: bright oranges and pinks and yellows. Football weather. If the Cougars could only win...