Monday, December 05, 2005

Beat the rush: be terrified now

Way beyond embarrassing: The world knows, while we continue to deny it, in the face of overwhelming evidence. This is an IndiaTimes story about the CIA manual that OKs torture. Folks, we're gonna pay for this.... Note- IndiaTimes is a decent paper, kinda conservative, but they use pop-ups, damn their eyes. Be warned.

Russia is scheduled to have an election in 2008. Here's Russian politics, today. Given Putin's history (KGB career, later (as President) sent Michail Kodorkovsky to Siberia apparently for disagreeing too publicly...?), I don't expect a clean election. Putin has said he won't run again (he's limited to two consecutive terms, by their constitution), but I suspect one or more of the following: 1) election irregularities in Russia will be used to distract us from irregularities in our own polls, 2) terror threats will be used to cancel/disrupt/postpone elections in Russia and/or the U.S., and/or 3), charges will be brought against reformers (in either/both countries) and they will be declared ineligible as candidates or disgraced.

Just a thought.

Breaking news here: Joint Chiefs of Staff in confrontation with the Washington Post -Excuse me, are we in fucking Guatemala or Pakistan or something? Is this a tentative step toward military intervention in the media? Beat the rush: be terrified now.

Oh, and speaking of Pakistan, their last democratically elected leader, Benazir Bhutto, after being ejected in a 1999 coup led by their current leader (and close personal pal of George) Pervez Musharraf, is threatening to return to Pakistan to challenge Musharraf in an upcoming election. She's got massive huevos. To refresh your memory, Musharraf took power in a coup in 1999, then was NOT democratically elected when he took more power in 2001, nor was he elected in the national election that followed in 2002 (I think he said the country was too unstable at that time, or something). Nor was he elected in the national election of 2004, either (he had other things going on. No, he really said words to that effect). Any guesses as to how the '06 or '08 elections might go there? Is that the ISI knocking at my door?

It's a good thing we have guys on our side who are so committed to democracy-ness.


What I find particularly interesting is that he took office in June of 2000, one month before the U.S. announced that it was preparing a strike on Afghanistan, and that Bhutto herself had been strongly opposed to the Taliban government there, most unlike Gen. Musharraf. Does this tell you anything about the "War on Terror"? It should. Remember that Pakistan gets very upset when they think we've crossed their borders -even in hot pursuit of Taliban soldiers- and that Musharraf's very good friend and trafficker in nuclear materials and secrets, A.Q. Khan, got off scot free...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Death comes to Smurftown

I've never seen a Smurfs cartoon, I never owned any Smurf stuff; I just never got bit by the Smurfbug. I'm not a Smurfhater (I reserve that dubious honor for my arch-nemesis, Holly Hobby): I don't have strong feelings about them either way. But--

This made me cry. I wish I was kidding.

Here's the back story.

Who's Holly Hobby? One look from her eyes turns people to stone! That's why she wears that bonnet. With a single power-word, she can stink up an entire house with potpourri... with another word, calico print will infest your walls and furniture! I can't even bring myself to link you directly, she's just that ...evil. One day... one day, Mr. The Goat will join forces with Hello Kitty for a mighty battle and wipe that annoying pout off Holly Hobby's inhuman face forever, to ensure that she and her sinister bonnet never rise again.... Holly Hobby is the death of Art!

Hugo! Hugo! Hugo! Chavez is the man!

The elephant in the corner, is also the only iceberg that's not melting. Think before you bink.

Tough squirrels. Or maybe it's just a few bad seeds....

Do you see a pattern of corruption, influence peddling, conspiracy and fraud? Or are you blind?


Sunday, October 23, 2005

Godzilla vs Toxic Avenger at the Bangalore Thunderdome

Evolution happens. If you doubt me, get over it: it is observed fact. Evolution is simply change over time. Anyone remotely connected to the Earth knows this happens, intuitively. We see it every day. Successful critters live to reproduce.

Theories are proposed to explain observations. "Why did that apple fall to the ground? Theory: there must be a force (gravity) that draws objects together." "Why did I get sick, if I didn't eat or drink anything bad? Theory: there are things called germs that can make us sick." "Evolution" is just an oversimplified answer to the question, "where did all these different species come from?"

One way for a new species to develop, is when a portion of a population gets separated somehow -geography, habit, diet choices, whatever- and slowly adapts to the new circumstance, with successful individuals mating and thereby passing their healthy, well-adjusted gene profile along. Those who weren't so successful in the new circumstance, probably won't get that chance. If the new population remains separated for long enough, the chances for successful random genetic mutation increase, eventually to a point at which the members of the distinct populations no longer recognize the other as "like me."

In nature it takes a long time, but we might be watching it happen, as Mc Donalds and Nintendo join forces to create a habitat ideally suited for Homo sapiens couchpotatus.

Successful mutations are the key to new species formation. India seems determined to be a living evolution laboratory, given that exposure to heavy metals and other toxic waste increases the likelihood of mutations in successive generations and apparently causes loss of cognitive abilities in children. Reality TV in twenty years might be "Godzilla vs. Toxic Avenger at the Bangalore Thunderdome!"

Yikes.

Weird.

Weirder.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Aspens?

Interesting resource regarding social networks. They Rule.

Judith Miller is a whore. Sue me: you know it's true. "The aspens are already turning..." Such an interesting statement.
Aspens: thin-skinned, in-bred* white trees. Interesting metaphor, no?

*in-bred? Yeah, they reproduce asexually: little to no genetic variation between parent and child. Like certain upper-crust cliques.

Harriet Miers's "incomplete" and "inadequate" answers "insulted" some Senators. Why is she still even being considered? This is the most ridiculous nominee I can realistically imagine. Who's next, Bugs Bunny?

Exploding the pot myths.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Imagine.

Can a dog have the Buddha nature?

I have always thought so.

Imagine this. Communities will almost have to be more self-sustaining in the future. How far away is that? Is that $4 bucks a gallon? Five? That could be next year...


Y'know, if we could trust everyone to act honestly and without regulation, then we wouldn't need prisons. The very fact that prisons -and punishment in general, as a concept- exist is testament to the idiotic nature of the Republican ideal of a "free market." They just want an excuse to act unethically.

Don't get me wrong: competition is not bad! It's natural, it's inevitable, it drives us to new heights of all kinds. That's not my point. I just think a lot of our problems would disappear if we reinstated the fairness doctrine. The arguments against it are absurd.

Senator Stevens, the American people think you're empty and ugly too, can we drill you for oil? We're not asking why there isn't enough energy (what??). We're wondering how control of all the energy ended up in such few hands. How about you start talking?

Sydney Blumenthal has a somewhat complicated, but complete, digest of the scandals beseiging George's pals and the Republican party. Essential reading for the politically perplexed!

Sunday, October 02, 2005

"Amazing."

I can't NOT pass this along. The "Amazing" Randi runs away. What a prick.

And this is very interesting: it seems societies are worse off when they think God is on their side...

I can't keep track of all these Republicans under investigation/indictment anymore, the list just keeps growing too fast. Joe Conason wrote a great reader's digest update, though: check it out. Blows my mind. Staggering.

Who needs horror movies?

Saturday, October 01, 2005

If Jesus was a computer,

If Jesus was a computer, this guy would have been his Paul, and this would be his bid to evangelize the world. What's so wrong with that? Ask yourself this: what happens WHEN they break? Cha-ching! goes the computer industry. What happens WHEN they need tech support? Cha-ching! goes the computer industry. What happens WHEN they wear out? Cha-ching! goes the computer industry, and Plop! goes the computer on a trash heap, where the heavy metals leach out into the area water supply and work their way up the food chain. Yum!

Y'know, when Marie Curie discovered Radium, everybody thought it was great. Someone then thought they had a great idea for how to use this new stuff: paint things with it so they'd glow in the dark. Until they realized it was killing the people who were closest to it. Oops! Too little, too late, for too many....

So here we are, with a new idea. We have a device at our disposal, which, like Radium and Uranium and the like, is so far out of our realm of normal experience that we have no precedent for it. Engineers built computers, then found that the things were, and became increasingly, so complex that they needed Scientists -specializing in an entirely new discipline- to help them understand what was going on. To date, Computer Science has been concerned in large part with the study of what computers do, as systems in and of themselves, with almost no research at all on the biological or social-behavioral aspects of their use. Some sparse research has been done on the effects of electromagnetic fields on human bodies, but so far nothing conclusive has really been shown. Just like in the early days of Marie Curie's research, non? Now what happens if we find, ten years down the line, that electromagnetic fields, when placed in close proximity to, say, immature reproductive organs, cause ...say... cancer? infertility? Hmmm? Will Dr. Negroponte's estate be paying for the cleanup? Will MIT? Or will we just turn our backs on the (now-infertile?) Third World (like maybe Appalachia, or bayou country?) like we did to the Radium painters?

Or maybe Negroponte's right, and computers everywhere will make everybody happy and apples will rain from the heavens -er, slowly, of course- and wine will flow in the -er, very clean streets, cleaned by um... robots!- and every computer geek will have a beautiful -and round-headed girlfriend. Who knows, right?

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Thank Mammon!

George is a cruel, greedy sonovabitch, whose first decisions about what to do about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina hinged upon the question, "how can I be sure that the money goes to 'higher, tighter, and righter hands'*?
(*Actual quote from Poppy (GHW) Bush)

Billions of dollars go missing from Iraq after we take charge. Negligence? Hell no. Try complicity. Sorry George, but I believe in responsibility, and further, that responsibility and command go hand in hand. So yeah, you are responsible for whatever you command. And so yeah, you are complicit in this mess. So take some fucking responsibility, dumbass. Make your buddies hand back the goods. Don't you think they have enough? Don't you think you have enough?

But it won't stop there, oh no. And this will be the future of New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulf Coast: billions in "recovery" funds lost, missing, or "mis-spent" by Karl Rove's pals. That's right, Karl Rove -political operative who's never held a real job in his life- is directing the reconstruction. You asked for it, America: you f-ing got it. The biggest, baddest racket ever. Enron? Pshht. WorldCom? A trifle. Baghdad? That was just practice. Just watch.

We watched Slaughterhouse Five last night, and one of the characters mentioned Communism. So I started thinking about our situation, how ironic it all is. I mean, since right after WWII, America's raison d'etre has been to fight Communism, because Communism meant that all the money and power would be consolidated in the hands of just a few. And yet, here we are, money and power neatly consolidated (in "higher, tighter and righter hands," remember)... and it's just getting worse. But gosh, aren't we lucky we aren't Godless Communists? Thank Mammon!

Oh, and what the heck, let's talk about Basra. Where two British soldiers, dressed as Arabs, driving a car loaded with explosives, fired on Iraqi police. Where these two British soldiers were arrested and held -but not for long (anxious Occupation Authorities didn't want their secrets getting out under torture, apparently), as the British army drove a (or maybe seven?) tank(s) through the perimeter wall to release their men ...along with over 100 other criminals, coincidentally.

But why talk about Basra just now? Because it was a false flag operation gone wrong: this was to have ended in a massive explosion, blamed on "insurgents," in order to prolong the occupation. Because as long as there's an "insurgency," then we "need" to be there. And apparently Tony Blair needs to maintain a presence there too. I hope you at least get a kiss, Tony, coz this has to hurt. No, let me correct that: I hope it hurts. A lot.

And we want to prolong the occupation because only in such chaotic circumstances could so few unworthy souls make so much cash so easily. So long, New Orleans.

No politics too slimy for Republicans. Never mind "right" and "wrong," or "good" and "bad:" for these guys, it's all about winning. The 2008 election will be decided by a bare-fisted brawl. The DNC will allow the RNC to write the rules, of course.

What's that behind the curtain? Abramoff and other of
George's pals are BUSTED.

OH, and meanwhile: we still don't know who sent the anthrax to news anchors and Democratic congressmen in the fall of 2001,
...and we still haven't caught Osama bin Laden. But he's not really a threat: 911 was an inside job anyway. Sleep well, Osama! You're safe as long as the US needs an enemy to excoriate. (look it up).

Finding my politics hard to swallow? Just ask yourself, whenever you hear about a disaster and it's subsequent reorganization: who benefits? (cui bono?). Follow the money, honey.

"Higher, tighter and righter hands"....

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Curioser and curioser!

From the cryptozoology corner (I guess?): Dragons. No, really: here, over Tibet, and here, over China. I'll just say I'm a wide-eyed agnostic, so far.

And from the heresy corner: No Arabs on American Airlines flight 77 (9-11-2001)? Not on the official passenger manifests, anyway. Or the seating chart. And no Arab faces on the videos, for that matter. Old news maybe, but worth checking out. So... where did those "evil-sounding" Arabic names come from?

Another red-hot letter from my current shordurpersav, Congressman John Conyers (D, MI), calling for a congressional investigation in addition to Fitzgerald's FBI investigation. Go, man, go! I wish I could vote for him.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

2008

Paul Krugman wonders, given that the last three elections were essentially stolen, what makes us think the Republicans won't steal the next? He thinks they will.

I'm not so sure. A fourth dubious election would likely put the Republican party in such a shadowy light that investigations -and most likely indictments- would be inevitable. It's difficult for me to imagine high-level Republican strategists endorsing something like that. Rather, it's much easier for me to expect them to throw the next Presidential election (maybe even using that as an excuse to campaign harder for Congressional seats).

On the other hand, recent news is showing us that the Republican party isn't so simple. In fact, results from the last nation-wide election suggest that Republican Party Central might not have had complete control over their minions, and that those minions got their own squirrely ideas into their heads, each one of them trying to be The Hero of 2004, by cheating and conspiring to send Democratic votes to Republican candidates.

Actually, either of these scenarios could work in their favor, if they play their cards right. In the first scenario, Republicans could dismiss such charges as "conspiracy theory," and the media would lap it up like pigs at a trough. And the second scenario would just allow them to dismiss all the charges as "isolated incidents" (sound familiar? it should).

As far as the Republican Party goes, whatever your suspicions are, they're probably well-founded.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

it never ends

Chris Floyd sums up my frustration with the bush-cheney administration

Interesting career move.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Hoist the black flag...

Is this creativity? Consciousness?

Good essay on the Strategy of Tension, from the Moscow Times (take it from me: if you're gonna read a Russian paper, Moscow Times is a good place to start. Pravda is still crap). Chris Floyd is often a very interesting observer.

The Rove scandal explained

If you're at all unsatisfied with mainstream media news, this seems like our best place to start. Take back the airwaves.

Oh I'm sorry- the election wasn't stolen, it was bought.

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
-H L Mencken

Monday, July 04, 2005

Zombie dogs

Zombie dogs.

Hello! Asia wants to know when we'll have our stuff out. And they're not just asking. It's a demand. From Russia and China, no less. Tell us, Dr. Brezinski, is this check, or mate?

Cool letter from London, re: the recent bombings. We're through the looking-glass here, folks, but I'm warning you: we're not dreaming ...in any ordinary sense, anyway...

Hey everybody, it's filmstrip day! Yay! Watch, it's only about ten minutes. When was the last time you watched a filmstrip?

Having just watched it myself, I'm struck both by how cheesy and pedantic it seems, and also, ironically, by how radical the information seems today. That's bad. Bad, because the cheesiness of it makes us presume that it's dated, and therefore not relevant anymore. Bad, because it makes us feel we're being talked-down-to, and we tend not to repeat information that we recieve like that. Bad, because the original viewers (who probably also laughed at how cheesy it was) are now teachers and parents (grandparents, even), who are now passing along that affected ennui to their children and students, thereby encouraging further submission to Authority- the authority of Marketing and authority of State. Ironic.

Fear is the mind-killer. Submission is mental death.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Mmmmm... gravy

Mmmmm... gravy. What'll really be fun is when our water supply is fully privatized, too. Picture Pickles Bush astride her jetski in the midst of a drought, saying -with that patent-leather smile- "the people can't afford water? Well, let them drink Pepsi!"

Oh and- where the hell is Robert Novak in all this? Why are Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper going to jail when Robert Novak gets off scot-free? If he has already cooperated with the prosecution, and the identity of the leak is already known, then this judge admits he's deciding against precedent. If he didn't cooperate, then -ahem- why the hell isn't he in the same hot water, or worse? It was he, after all, who originally published the offending name. Would someone please explain, what the hell is going on here?

George is a complete embarrassment. I'm reminded of the story his mother told, about how she made him sit at the far end of the table from Queen Elizabeth on Her Majesty's visit to the GHWBush White House way back when. Because she was afraid he'd embarrass himself, of course.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Let the howling begin

What does Karl Rove's comment say about the Republican party? To refresh your memory, he said: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

Now think about that a second. Let's parse it:

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war..."

--Forget that old "innocent until proven guilty" bullshit, of course. Investigation? Bosh! Investigation schminvestigation.

Clearly, then, someConservatives knew who did it, without even looking. How might they have been so sure? Considering the evidence that the various 911 commissions couldn't cover up, complicity or willfull stupidity seem the only options. And only complicity could leave one so certain: stupidity would just leave you saying "huh?"

Then he went on, "...liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

--In other words, it wasn't enough for him to say "Conservatives don't give a shit about your stupid constitution," he wanted to say "those stupid liberals are soft (i.e. compassionate)."

Karl's little comment says so much about the conservative mind-set: it says not only that "We knew who did it even before it happened," (or more generously, "We're so certain of your guilt that we don't even have to investigate," which is just as dangerous) but also, and perhaps more importantly, that "violence is an appropriate first resort."

Kinda reminds me of the Godfather. Except, he had a conscience.

Let the howling begin.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

what could be worse than wal-mart?

So..... what happens if --no, when- prisons-for-profit start to lobby Congress? Yesterday you couldn't protest the President at an official event. Sure, the penalty isn't severe, but we're not in a time of crisis. Doubtless, anti-presidential demonstrations would be tolerated much less gracefully in such times as 9/12/01- it doesn't take much to imagine protesters on such a day being arrested and detained. Today the House passed an anti-flag-burning amendment (House: "you can't say that." ahem). It has to pass the Senate, and be ratified blah blah blah, which is to say it's ultimately not very likely, but still, it represents an incremental encroachment on true, responsible, freedom of expression. I'm not sure what the penalties would be, but imprisonment would certainly not be a surprise. What's tomorrow, then? Ever-increasingly draconian legislation, that's what. To the point, eventually, where people like you and I will no longer be officially US anymore. Maybe I'll dress wrong. Maybe you won't be able to pay your debts. Use your imagination: watch Brazil, read 1984 or Brave New World- as natural resources dwindle, the Power Elite will find more reasons to exclude those they don't like, and those definitions will be made in the halls -and sewers- of power. For the powers behind Corporate Prisons: the more people in prison, the better. More prisoners, more money. Longer terms! Put those dangerous pot smokers away for good! And how might they go about getting more prisoners? Lobbying Congress -or maybe Alberto Gonzales- for heavier sentences, broader definitions of federal crimes, easements on use of inmates as labor, silly things like that.

Think about it. All conscious critters -I think- naturally divide the world into US and them (in various and shifting ways, as circumstances and needs change). On a societal scale among humans, the sides are determined by our purportedly impartial leaders and ruling class of politicians and judiciary. Let's not be coy: the socio-political elite.

As resources threaten to dwindle, it should come as no surprise when the ruling class narrows the definition of what's legal and acceptable -eventually to a point at which you and I are their them.

Now taking bets on when that point will come...

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

How long can "last throes" last?

Very good short flash thingy explaining the Downing Street memos.

If you have a credit card, you should read this. Thanks, Washington. Good stuff from David Sirota.

This is rich: "During a White House press conference, journalist Terry Moran asked Scott McClellan whether the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes," as had been claimed by Vice President Dick Cheney, or was not. McClellan gave a vague answer, so Moran repeated his question five more times. "Is there any idea," he finally asked, "how long a last throe lasts for?""
more here

Hmm. Must be nice to have affordable healthcare, eh? Fuck you, Saxby Chambliss, you ass-sucking election thief. (Oops, did I just say that?)

Robots (scary). We're on the road to obsolescence, folks. In the meantime, you might consider a career in tech support insurance...

Former Chief Economist in Bush's Labor dept, declaring that the Official Story of 911 is BS. Good solid stuff.

So why isn't anyone asking the officials at FEMA about why they broke the law after 911 by destroying evidence and a crime scene? This is outrageous. Nothin' makes me think "coverup" like -um- covering up the evidence. DUH Looking for the banal? Here ya go. Nothing outlandish about it at all: Someone at FEMA said "clean this up." Who gave what orders, and why?

A Sherlock Holmes Type Twist To The 9/11 Murder Mystery. Verrrrry interesting...

Shell Chairman sez we're in trouble: "The boat is sinking, and we have to use everything that we possibly can." and "We have roughly 45 years. And if we start NOW, not in 10 or 15 years' time, we have a chance..."

Monday, June 20, 2005

They thought no one was looking.

A new 767-page book is out, called Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election? Essential Documents. Apparently someone wants us to think that there's some doubt. The documents, however, don't leave much room for that. The link (if you haven't followed it yet) is to an article about the book.

As I've been saying for five years now, IMPEACH already, geez. How many crimes does he have to commit before someone holds him accountable?

What's the matter with Ohio? They thought no one was looking.

Memos show British Fretting Over Iraq War Troops' families aren't too happy about it, either, says this article in Stars and Stripes


US tries to derail G8 hearings on climate change: memos leaked

I have to say, sometimes politics -even just following it in the news- gets discouraging. I'm a radical, I won't lie about it, so I don't ever expect to hear my views on the news, or to read them echoed in some editorial somewhere; I can deal with that. Lately, though, I have felt so far out there that I don't even feel like I'm in the same political galaxy as Washington (hell, even Topeka).

The Republican party has been working toward a stranglehold on Washington and national politics for over twenty years. Having achieved control of both houses of Congress and the White House, some republicans -in statehouses and Washington alike- are actually devising ways to control -or make irrelevant- our judicial branch.

It's getting ugly.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Sad times for Democracy

Tempers flare in the House this is getting good...

Another damaging memo from Downing Street ...really good...

Betcha won't see this in the Washington Post. How the mighty have fallen: after Watergate, the Post might have been as important as the New York Times. These days, however, it's all too clear that they (i.e., the publisher, who calls ALL the shots) are happy to act as a propaganda organ for an illegal junta. Sad, sad times for democracy.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Don't tell me boycotts don't work

Don't tell me boycotts don't work: I'm tired of hearing those self-defeating arguments. DON'T SHOP AT WAL-MART, YO. Fuck the man. It's easier than you think.

Howard Dean rocks. We should all be so outspoken.

Downing Street Memo comes under Judiciary Committee scrutiny. My hat's off to Representative John Conyers for this. There's a man with cojones. Representative Moore, are you listening?

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Culture of death

Culture of what?

Impeachable offenses. Excellent letter. Time to bring the bitches down. Approval ratings are so low right now, that many Republicans are jumping ship: now is the time to pressure your Representative to support the introduction of Articles of Impeachment!

Don't believe the network news: America is still fundamentally progressive. Religious conservatives only have the upper hand because they're loud and have a few charismatic leaders (who happen to have ingratiated themselves to the Bush cartel). WE ARE THE MAJORITY, we just need to raise our voice. Speak up! Time to be heard!

Contact your congressman

Sign Rep. Conyers' letter demanding Bush answer to the Downing Street Memo

Monday, May 30, 2005

kicking ass and taking names

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan may be getting close to making real trouble for the Bush administration. He needs your signature on a letter, that's all, just to show that we mean business. Check it out.

Does this monkey know something we don't?

Saturday, May 28, 2005

I'd say "told ya!" because I saw this coming, ...but I don't think I actually said anything about it here. This rift is something that I've been predicting since November. I'll keep the rest of my prognostication to myself, lest I jinx it.

This might be a good time to learn Mandarin. China has been leveraging its position as the West's manufacturing bitch for some time now, and is on the verge of turning the tables. Very interesting article.

I've been reading a lot here recently. He covers a lot of territory, some of it troubling, some simply disturbing. He and I seem to share many interests, and seem to be approaching similar hypotheses about UFO-related phenomena, but I first got hooked when reading some of his research into the surprisingly widespread phenomena of ritual sexual abuse and pedophilia. This is scary, scary stuff. Listen: if your kids tell you something that sounds crazy, believe them. Believe them. They haven't learned how to use their cultural blinders, so they may well see more than we do.
In the words of Norman Brown, "all that is, is metaphor." Chew on that a while.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

I got a rock.

"Oh, that's where I left it..." Too weird for comment.

Everything you need to know about how Newsweek embarrassed the Bushistas

George Galloway (MP) kickin' ass and taking names! Did you hear this guy? WOW. I heard some of his testimony on AirAmericaRadio, and let me say this: our congress should be ashamed of itself. I have never heard such an eloquent and stinging (not to mention well deserved) dressing-down in my life. Transcript here.

The mainstream US press promptly dropped this story like a hot rock. Why? Because all the fingers the senators were pointing, eventually pointed back to their friends. Go figure.

B-b-but it's not racketeering when we do it...


*click*

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

True Tales from the Underbelly

Harper's Weekly, it's just a column. "Just" a column. Check it out. Hang on to your hat.

True Tales from the Underbelly Halliburton: Your tax dollars at work!

George sez "Strip malls for everybody! If a crack develops in the integrity of another culture, American greed will be ready to fill it."

More and more every day, people are flocking to cities. The implications of this are huge. Go ahead, use your imagination: what do you think might change as this comes to pass? Among other things, short-term natural disasters like earthquakes or storms will have greater impact when they hit cities. Long-term natural disasters like droughts or El Nino may have greater impact too: both development of arable land, and the flight of rural populations to cities will leave us with a less flexible agricultural infrastructure, less able to adapt to change (like, say, long- and short-term climate change).

And that's to say nothing of this. What then?

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Irony: not for children

Here's irony for ya: Mainstreaming 'creation science' is evolution at work. Or more specifically, "In the long run, the teaching of 'creation science' to children will produce evidence of evolution."*

It's not newsworthy. Stories like this (Kansas Board of Education is having a hearing about including creationism/excluding science in the curriculum...) and the story about the girl in Florida who got cold feet on the day of her wedding (and then lied about it, telling cops she had been kidnapped...) are not newsworthy. We have instantaneous access to information from all corners of the world, every second of every day, and this is what we're told is news?

Hey, major media, listen: Fuck you.

We're expected to believe that nothing newsworthy is going on anywhere else in the world? We're expected to be that self-indulgent, that self-involved, that we would be more interested in whether or not some normal girl gets prosecuted at the local or state level for ditching her finace? Is that really our business? Why are we being told that it's news?

Because the rest of the world is reporting on things like this, or this, or -god forbid- this, and your handlers don't want you to get upset. You are theirs, their prey, as long as you watch.


*Here's how: The world is watching. The appearance of poor education in America will lead to waning confidence in Americans. Simple.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Agape

Amazing ants. This goes beyond simple "tool use."

Primate language acquisition research goes to a new level. This is exciting stuff- the days of trying to teach apes to speak English are gone: these researchers are trying to find common ground with Bonobos, while providing the Bonobos with innovative challenges and stimuli. What happens when we can no longer pretend that we're the only animals with emotions, culture, and complex motivations? Our awareness of the world, our consciousness, will be irrevocably altered. You watch!

Hippos are aggressive. They've been known to eat people. This one drinks coffee with them. I've read this story over and over, and I'm still slack-jawed: she drinks coffee, and nudges people out of the water. Amazing.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Fork tongued, red handed

Hilarious: a call to Unitarian Jihad!

Condi Rice is BUSTED

Au revoir, rational politics. Frightening. Excellent essay though.

Wow! Some of FDR's radical ideas revisited. It's sick that the Neocons, having only been able to climb the American socio-political ladder because of FDRs policies, now want to dismantle them. "Burn the ladder behind you!" There's good thinkin'!

Sunday, April 10, 2005

We don't need no education

Worst invention ever? 1. It fails utterly to encourage communication of ideas between humans. Rather, it encourages students -who should be asking questions- to let machines solve their problems and tell them the answers, in lieu of turning to the giants on whose shoulders they're standing (the giants are apparently napping, or out driving their SUVs to their giant therapist appointments). 2. It presumes -and forces all users to similarly presume- that there is one correct "best" way to express an idea. Sayonara, creativity! But gosh, how convenient for the teacher/professor -er, shall we say operator.

We have always been at war with Iran...

Other nominees for Worst Invention Ever include the gas-powered leaf blower, the wristwatch videocamera, and chocolate covered Cheez-its. What would you nominate?

Go, Turkmenbashi! Never a dull moment in Turkmenistan. I wonder if one has to be a citizen, to run?

Wal-Mart hates you. Encouraging companies to pay sub-standard wages, invites poverty and crime into your community. Resist! Shopping there is only saving you a few dollars a week, if that, and even then you'll have to replace that crap you bought too soon, because it's crap. Further, it's costing your city more than that to keep them here, and you'll pay that bill too, when taxes come due. Who do you think paid for that parking lot, and those traffic lights? Wal-mart: it's not worth the scar.

Thursday, March 31, 2005

The goods behind the hoo-hah

The goods behind the hoo-hah about Tom Delay.

Bill Bradley speaks up after what seems a long media silence. Sen. Bradley ran a helluva race against Gore in the 2000 primaries; I say Gore won because of his proximity to Clinton, while Bradley should have won because he'd have fought harder. Maybe this suggests he'll want back in for 2008?

Animals laugh. This story blew my mind. Anyone who knows me, knows that I try not to underestimate non-human intelligence, especially in social animals, but laughter? Wow! I had never thought of it this way before.

My mind already having been blown yesterday, I then tripped across this gem. A new theory of yawning, now based on actual evidence! I've always found it curious that we have traditionally attributed yawning in humans to anoxia (lack of oxygen, from shallow breathing I guess?), while attributing it in other apes to shows of aggression or dominance. Curious, and often amusing, as I watch who yawns in the company of whom. Even more fun now!

Not pretty
, but important.

Scott Ritter, no holds barred
. Tough!

Sunday, March 27, 2005

We've been had.

That's right: Secret plans for Iraq's oil fields were being drafted just weeks after George took office in 2001. Weeks. Long before the "new Pearl Harbor" (in the words of the PNAC) of 911. Ahem. From the brilliant Greg Palast: as usual, well written and thoroughly documented. That's right, folks: we've been had.

So, why is gas still so expensive? Primarily because oil companies are in business for one reason: to make money. Cha-ching!

South America Watch: Otto "The Fourth" Reich versus the Western Axis of Evil, Hugo! and Evil Genius Fidel Castro

The Long Emergency. Scary.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Kill your television

Are you listening? AirAmericaRadio has been doing The Work for over a year now. The morning show, "Morning Sedition," is great mix of humor and news/analysis, and Randi Rhodes (late afternoons) is probably one of the best-informed personalities on the air. Janeane Garofalo comes across better on screen though. Al Franken, well... let's just say he comes across better on paper... but he's on while I'm at work, so I don't hear his show. Good stuff! Stay informed! Kill your television!

Very good, short essay from Noam Chomsky. Say it with me now: Kill your television!

Syria's relationship with Lebanon is more complex than George seems able to understand.

Who's surprised by this, at this point? Hussein wasn't really captured hiding in a hole.

Congressman Tom Feeney told a then-employee to "design a software prototype that could "flip" the vote in South Florida voting machines." If this bothers you, as it probably should, take a minute to write a letter to whatever paper you read/news show you watch asking them: where's the coverage of this?

Scary thought
.


Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Is it getting hot in here?

Is it getting hot? Seems like fights are breaking out all over...

The emotional lives of... cows. Fun, funny article about a subject with staggering implications.

And in robot news... yikes.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Hugo!

Hugo calls George out, bam! Hugo Chavez is a man to watch. He's no freaked-out paranoid little Napoleon, either: the Bush administration has every reason to fear him, and vice-versa. Venezuela is one of our biggest sources of oil, and Hugo has no intention of selling it cheap, like so many other little dictators have done in the name of greed and nepotism. In fact, within a year of Chavez winning the Presidency -legally and transparently, I might add- the Bush administration sent flunky Otto Reich to organize a coup (it failed: Chavez's support among the people was genuine). Typical of the Bush administration, they didn't even have a viable candidate to put in Chavez's place had they managed to pull it off....

This could be very big. I mean, what if -all of a sudden- Africa could stand on its own again? You think India is a big market? heh

VERY interesting take on the Putin/Bush press conference following their meeting last week.

Just a few of the many reasons to boycott WalMart. Who wants a crappy neighbor?

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Who to smite?

Paul Krugman on Social Security: . Sorry, but it's important.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Whoaa. Beautiful -if frightening- illustration of how just a few people control all of the news. Also a chilling portrait of DC society, and Presidential politics. Robert Parry is a journalist with integrity.

Umm... isn't this feudalism? Didn't we fix that or something?

Great. Faith-based environmental policy. Let's hope it's better than our faith-based intelligence on Iraq and North Korea.

Science news. I don't really think a device like this could 'predict the future,' but the implications of their findings are immense anyway. What do you think? Seems to threaten the notion that consciousness is isolated to our brains, doesn't it?

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Georgie wargie

Excellent -excellent- speech given to the House on Wednesday. Forget that he's a republican; he's asking hard questions about our foreign policy, questions that no one else in government seems to be asking. It's about damn time!

This is hardly news, but little Georgie is lying to you again. -er, still.

Third columnist found in Bush's pocket. Perhaps Georgie's most blatant, flagrant flaunting of US law yet. And further evidence that he -and the rest of his neo-con pals- are utterly bereft of ethics and morals.

Good essay. Let's kick some ass.

Don't look
. No, don't. It's not funny. Stop laughing!



And in robot news...

"Bag o' skin, comin' right up!" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4184627.stm

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Social security: divided we fall

FINALLY someone refutes the idiotic Bush rhetoric about Social Security. Thank you, Rep. Rangel.

Social Security is only threatened by privatization. Social Security is what keeps many elderly people housed and fed.

Who might benefit from "privatization" anyway? Well, we're expected to invest it all in the stock market; it will cost us to play that game. So the first to benefit will be the stock traders, who extract a portion of your invested money as fees for their services (let's call it a "privately levied tax," because it is). Stock trading is VERY restricted, a very private club. They're not interested in you, they're only interested in your money. Do you want to trust your future to someone who is only interested in your money?


But you have to have a certain amount of money to even make it worth their time to deal with you. So, if you don't have $1,000.00 or so (minimum) laying around to get started with, get started on saving that (if you work for minimum or near-minimum wage, you'll know how difficult this can be, but I don't think anyone more privileged can imagine). Once you get that saved up, it's time to look around at how best to invest.

Obviously we want to earn interest, to make sure our investment is growing faster than inflation (otherwise, we're losing money). Savings accounts don't do that. Ever. Checking accounts -even "free" ones, or ones that pay interest, cost money. Money market accounts and CDs sometimes offer higher interest, but rarely exceed the official rate of inflation, so we're still losing money on our money.

How much money does it take, to make money? Inflation right now is supposedly low -about 3-4%- but you should know that fuel and food prices are NOT included in that figure, so let's include that for our own adjusted inflation rate, which I'll estimate at about 7% (on the basis of the rising food and fuel prices I've seen, and which affect me directly). So, we want to be earning at least 7% interest on our money, just to be breaking even. To get rates like that, we would either need to a) have enough money to get a banker's or broker's personal attention (a mere grand is not enough, trust me), b) be really good at poker, or c) make some very lucky picks on the stock market. Or I suppose we could get on a game show and get really lucky, but in the end, it's all about getting lucky.

Luck. The real problem with having everybody depend on the stock market for their safety net, is that the very nature of the stock market is that someone has to lose. The whole point is "every man for himself." Every profit results from someone else's loss. Dependence on this cruel system is what got us this economic disparity in the first place.

Destroying Social Security in the name of "ownership" and "privatization," will only serve to send more money into the hands of the wealthy, and further isolate the less-fortunate in shitty minimum-wage service-sector jobs.

Divided we fall, my friends: divided, we fall.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Armstrong Williams is a whore, and George Bush is his john.

I can't believe this shit.

American politics sinks to new lows every day under the Bush administration. Ethics shmethics.

I suppose we all sell ourselves, one way or another, to make a living. Such is life in a money economy. But there are whores, and there are prostitutes: whores will sell anything, just for the sake of a buck, but prostitutes have limits. Whores sell their self-respect, their ethics, heritage, their grandmothers, for a little bling-bling. Prostitutes sell a service, to put food on the table.

Kill your television.

I mean it.


I'm so tired of harping about the Bush junta, that I'm not even going to touch the problem of our President, the Leader of the Free World, buying journalists.

Is it even news anymore?

Friday, January 07, 2005