http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/to/~3/BCEwAnxx2_c/DVD-by-Mail-Services-Cleared-In-Patent-Troll-Case

http://www.metafilter.com/87273/At-This-Museum-I-Damaged-Navid-Nuurs-Art

http://www.metafilter.com/87272/Arcangel-and-the-future-of-diginet-art

http://www.metafilter.com/87271/Stylin-and-Profilin

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/to/~3/oCdEk5Kual0/Google-CEO-Says-Privacy-Worries-Are-For-Wrongdoers

http://www.metafilter.com/87270/Christmas-specials-generally

http://www.metafilter.com/87269/Nude-not-rude

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDetroitTigerWeblog/~3/WbmqvosxGFQ/

http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/2009/12/winter-meetings-day-2/

The first day of the Winter Meetings has come to an end and the sun is coming up on a snowy second day. For Tigers fans there was no shortage of news and drama. To recap:

• The Tigers were tied to several relievers including Kevin Gregg, George Sherrill, and as of a late night rumor J.J. Putz
• Two of their own relievers both turned down salary arbitration in Brandon Lyon and Fernando Rodney
• The Tigers traded Clay Rapada to the Rangers for cash considerations
• The Tigers signed reliever Brad Thomas who had pitched the last two years in Korea and they made room for him by outrighting Zach Simons to Toledo
• Adam Everett inked a 1 year deal to return and be the heavy side of a shortstop timeshare with Ramon Santiago.
• And there was a bevy of Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson speculation culminating in a rumored  potential (and potentially dead) 3-way deal with the Yankees and Diamondbacks.

“Tomorrow will bring a different tone in conversations,” Dombrowski said Monday.

Day 2 figures to have much more of the same, but talks are likely to intensify as Dombrowski tries to sort out the back of their bullpen.

My feeling is that they don’t want to spend a lot, but that they want some established presence closing games. Lyon and Rodney were both in that mix had they accepted arbitration. Neither are necessarily out of that discussion but the Tigers no longer have to hold a potential spot for them.

And all those rumors swirling around the Tigers, Lynn Henning caught up with Dombrowski. Dombrowski said the deals make sense from a baseball perspective, but not to believe everything you hear.

Taking of some administrative functions, I ran things a little differently on the site with the most active (posts getting multiple updates throughout the day) or relevant posts staying at the top of the list with a carousel of recent posts at the very top. Does this work for people or should I return to straight reverse-chronological?

As a reminder, there are many ways to follow the Winter Meetings at the Detroit Tigers Weblog

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mackavenuetigers/~3/3S7bhlALDqI/roster-rumblings-fernando-rodney-brandon-lyon-decline-arbitr.html

Players offered salary arbitration by their teams had until midnight last night to decide whether to accept or decline the offer. Both players offered by Detroit -- relief pitchers Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon -- declined the offers made to them, Newsdad's Kevin Davidoff reported. (Via BYB.)

As expected, I think.

What this teams is that the Tigers will receive a sandwich -- between the first and second rounds -- draft pick in 2010's First-Year Player Draft if they now go on to sign with other teams.

The Tigers are said to be looking into former Cubs closer Kevin Gregg, who fits the Tigers' M.O. of finding guys who you don't think should be closing games to close games. Or former Mariner and Met  J.J. Putz.

I would hope Detroit could bring Lyon back at a fair rate, but he seems to be drawing interst from the Phillies and beyond.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/2KGnuYUUZWY/were-still-war-photo-day-december-8-2009

US Soldiers and an Afghan police officer complete a joint patrol in Shabila Kalan, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Nov. 30, 2009. The Soldiers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade Combat Team. (US Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez.)

     

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/HJrEPfGmdN8/need-read-december-8-2009

     

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/9b6sxiSE73w/palins-latest-ethics-flap

Sarah Palin may be gone from the governor's office of Alaska, but the ethical lapses she committed there are not forgotten. Self-proclaimed Alaska watchdog Andrée McLeod, who has filed several ethics complaints against Palin, this week submitted yet another. And with this one, McLeod has a point.

In the complaint sent to the state's attorney general, McLeod notes that this past July an independent inquiry found that Palin had violated state law due to her involvement with a legal defense fund established on her behalf. Thomas Daniel, an attorney retained by the Alaska Personnel Board to investigate an ethics complaint (not filed by McLeod) about the legal defense fund, dubbed the Alaska Fund Trust, reported to the board:

In light of the evidence that the governor expressly authorized the creation of the trust ad the fact the trust website quite openly uses the governor's position to solicit donations, there is probable cause to believe that Governor Palin used, or attempted to use, her official position for personal gain in violation of Alaska Statue 39.52.120(a) [the state's ethics law].

Daniel concluded that contributions to the fund had to be disclosed; the fund was not doing so. He also stated,

I find probable cause to believe that payment of the governor's legal fees by the Alaska Fund Trust will violate the Ethics Act prohibition against a public office accepting gifts intended to influence performance of official duties.

McLeod's complaint notes that in the months since the Daniel report was filed, the state's Personnel Board has taken no action. She adds, "Meanwhile the fund still collects money with absolutely no oversight. Contributions and expenditures have never been made public, even while Palin was a public official and had to comply with public financial disclosure laws." In fact, the website for the Alaska Fund Trust still (as of today) identifies Palin as the "current" governor of Alaska.

Now that Palin is an ex-governor, it could be that the fund's current operations--and Palin's past violations--are not of pressing concern to the state's ethics officials. But her reputation still matters. Whether or not she's a contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, she remains a leader of the conservative movement. Pitching her book on Sean Hannity's Fox News show last month, Palin dismissed ethics complaints filed against her as "frivolous things that were thrown our way." But the Daniel report was unambiguous: with her legal defense fund, Palin had violated state ethics laws. As McLeod accurately points out, nothing has been done about that. So far, Palin has gotten away with it.

You can follow David Corn's postings and media appearances via Twitter.

     

http://community.livejournal.com/abandonedplaces/2005227.html

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/to/~3/e-RnYU6gf74/The-Struggle-For-Private-Game-Servers

http://www.metafilter.com/87268/Hai-Hai