Ahmadinejad's jesture was symbolic, but it opened a huge portal for real diplomacy and real communication. Bush's refusal is equally symbolic, in slamming that portal shut. In Bush's view, an american president cannot, must not, be seen to engage/interact with evil (Ahmadinejad)--aside from conflict with it.--Casual Observer

The symbols seem to me to be used to control authoritarian followers by invoking carefully cultivated reflex reactions. And it doesn't take much to make the reflex part of the dogma. My own experiences with these reactions are, once they become engaged, further discourse is pretty much aborted for any topic. This tactic is a consistent theme across the board for them, used to control everything from individual conversations to elections (gay marriage anyone?).

This is particularly dangerous when it becomes the method for applying foreign policy as it completely rules out diplomatic nuances and accepts nothing short of abject capitulation from those who are trying (however honestly or dishonestly) to open a dialogue with us. This isn't the first time we have slammed a door in Iran's face.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001320.php

I wonder how many more opportunities we will squander before they just decide we are no longer worth the effort.

"The symbols seem to me to be used to control authoritarian followers by invoking carefully cultivated reflex reactions. "

As an example of what you're saying, look at the two protests in DC, this past weekend, on the war. Look at a frontal shot of the anti-war protest front stage. Then, look at the same for the pro-war "gathering of eagles". US Flag ratio will be what? 5:1? 10:1?

For Ahmadinejad, this is the gift that keeps on giving. He wins either way. If US says yes, then he can justifiably claim credit for the gesture because he initiated it. If US rejects, then he goes back to the ME and shrugs, saying: "See--I told you. I tried, but they are completely nuts over there. They are angry, unreasonable, and dangerous." If I were him, I'd be making that offer to lay a wreath once or twice a year. Play Bush like the cast-bronze fool that he is.

Senate vote three fourths said yes

Although all Dem presidential candidates voted no, of those who were present, MSNBC said 75 senators voted yes for the sense of the senate condemnation attached to the defense bill. A lot of Dem cowards who don't trust the American people to recognize the hypocrisy involved in this bill should be ashamed of themselves.

-- Retired Military Patriot

Well now, this just twists my knickers into a knotty bundle! I'm sorry, but "sense of the senate" my back passage. They have no sense at all!

As if they don't have a big enough load of work to do, now they have made themselves the arbiters of "polite discourse" too. Heaven help us all, because the devil's LHAO down below.

I wonder if, while they're considering retroactive immunity for the telecoms, we could ask them to also consider retroactive condemnation of the Swift Boat Bassturds.

Yes. Welcome home bebop-o. Thank the Nova Scotia librarian for us again, please, and also the lares et penates for keeping the hearth in your absence. It's good to have you back under your domestic handle again.

If I were him, I'd be making that offer to lay a wreath once or twice a year. Play Bush like the cast-bronze fool that he is.

-- casual_observer

I would too. Nothing quite like letting the Emperor-who-has-no-clothes show his a$$ to the world - over and over again - to cultivate a few (gag) reflexes for the other side.

Who should we bet on figuring out this strategy first, Mr. A. or our fawning Dems in Congress?

The cloning software says it can't clone the source drive if it is connected via SATA, and the manual advises getting a SATA-IDE converter to get around this. I confirmed this with their tech support, but I have no IDE connector plug on the motherboard, and therefore no IDE tape to connect an IDE drive to, and the final destination of the clone, if it is successful enough to boot, would have to be a SATA drive. Currently, I have a drive big enough to accept the clone on the system through a USB. I would have to clean it off first, but that won't be a problem. But it can't be the final internal drive, because it isn't SATA, and internally only a SATA drive can be plugged in.

Ok, so to start with you have never been able to use the cloning software due to it not supporting a source drive connected via a SATA interface? And I'm assuming by "tape" you mean a ribbon cable?

And the destination is another SATA drive connected through a USB interface, meaning that even though it is a SATA drive the ultimate interface is really USB, with the conversion handled internally to the unit itself. And of course, internally to the computer there aren't USB connections, being as USB is pretty much strictly for external devices only.

Cool. We're finally on the same page hardware wise ...

The cloning program is actually a recovery suite, so one of the options is to look at what's on the drive (a different one from the cloner), this one gives only errors, which the manual says is because of accessing via SATA. What this option does, if it can, is access the boot records on the drive and bring up the file system enough to see it (the program knows about NTFS).

Ok, the viewing of the drive is actually handled by a separate program altogether and doesn't handle SATA drives. Again, cool.

Based on the software understanding NTFS and the fact you mentioned freeDOS previously then the disk must be setup with DOS level NTFS drivers but not drivers for accessing SATA devices. If true this leads me to believe that it isn't necessarily a newer recovery suite but rather something they might have been using prior to SATA really taking off. The dates on the files and the programs themselves would clarify that point, although minor it is.

To start with I'd take a look at the two CDs I mentioned earlier - HiRens & The Ultimate Boot CD. Since you obviously have internet access hit google.com and goto their respective homepages and download the ISO images and burn it to a blank CD. I forget exactly which one has the best set of tools for data/disk recovery/testing and unfortunately I'm a little short on time at the moment. I can check and report back but it won't be until roughly 10:00pm EST.

Basically you need a tool or suite of tools that loads USB drivers for accessing your KB and mouse but does it in a "standard" manner - ie doesn't assume that all USB devices are storage-only and therefore pre-allocates control of the ports for its own use. It needs to leave the ports alone so the operating system itself can access the KB and mouse via the USB ports.

Then the next step in this scenario is that the boot CD must also support SATA connections so you can actually see and access your internal drive - hopefully. Or at least enough access so as to pull a image or clone if you will off the drive.

I really appreciate your taking this time, I do hope you are on antibiotics for the sinus infection. Make sure the doctor keeps you on them until it's completely gone (usually double the time for other illnesses), otherwise it can do permanent damage (cause asthma, allergies).

No problem. I enjoy these kinds of challenges as well as helping people. Unfortunately, when my wife up and left town 7-months ago she took with her my health insurance and due to financial restraints seeing a doctor is out of the question right now. So I'm riding it out hoping it clears up. Bad move I know, but my options are extremely limited.

Lastly, since this is so OT for this blog if you want to take it to email I can be contacted at: chekmarx@gmail.com