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Mark Knoller, a CBS News radio correspondent, is known as the “leading collector of modern presidential arcana,” and “collects data about presidential activities as if it were baseball trivia.” He has tallied some very interesting statistics about W: he’s “spent 42 percent of his term so far at one of his three leisure destinations (Camp David, Kennebunkport, and his Texas ranch)” and has “devoted far more time to golf (15 rounds) than to solo news conferences (six).” Go figure. Ha, get it? Go figure? Never mind…

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ZDNet (among many other news sources) reports that Google is inaccessible in China, as the Communist Party expands its control over web content in the country. And it’s no coincidence that a Communist Party congress is upcoming in November, “sparking speculation of a crackdown on Internet content viewed as subversive.” Great. I think it’s a damn shame that no other country has had the balls to make more of an issue of things like this happening in China, to say nothing of the more egregious human rights violations. For a discussion of the Google issue, Slashdot (as always) is a good source.

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I was beginning to worry about imposters taking over the Italian capital until I saw “Rome to issue gladiator licenses” on CNN. Now I can be sure that my photo will be taken with a certified fake gladiator when I visit.

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To say that I agree with Donald Rumsfeld on something is an odd position for me to be in. Normally his chest beating and fist shaking get all the headlines. But quietly he has been wielding his budget axe towards the Pentagon in a way that must make congressmen scowl. He is not cutting the Pentagon’s overall budget, he is killing programs considered boondoggles and shifting their funding to more useful projects. Most people know of the “Crusader” self-propelled artillery project that he nixed, but the Washington Post reports on some of the other programs that are being reviewed in this article. It is hard for me to believe that a Republican administration is taking the lead in stemming the tide of shortsighted Pentagon wish lists and congressional pork barrel defense spending to make a sensible defense strategy based on needs. Well Rummy if you make it happen then good for you, but I won’t hold my breath.

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The RIAA website was hacked recently, as it steps up efforts to crack down on music file-sharing. The site looks to be down at this moment as they try to fix things, but here is a screenshot. Apparently for a little while there, you could actually download the Linkin Park album, which I think is pretty hilarious.