nolocontendere

2009-10-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

All That Is Unholy Is Now Complete

2009-07-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Somehow you knew this would happen.

Wal-Mart weighs role in U.S. H1N1 vaccination plans

"ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is discussing with U.S. health officials the possibility of putting vaccination sites at some of its stores for an H1N1 swine flu inoculation campaign this fall, a company official said on Thursday.
Federal officials met with Wal-Mart executives on Wednesday in Arkansas to discuss the issue, Dr. John Agwunobi, president of health and wellness for Wal-Mart U.S., told public health leaders at a conference in Orlando.
"We are in discussions with CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and others in local and state departments to see what role we might play," Agwunobi said. "It might be we are a site. It may be help with logistics and with supply chain."
Agwunobi said 140 million people walk through the doors of its 4,000 U.S. stores each week."

WalMart spreads like cancer

Drugs, Alcohol And Suicide

2009-07-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

When our military wakes up to their bad guy role.
And it's far, far worse than is being reported.

Irregular Army: The rise of alcoholism and drug abuse in the US military

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'

Army: Suicide rate among soldiers continues on record pace

2009-07-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Iran Busts CIA Terror Network

2008-05-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

What are the odds of seeing this in american media?

"TEHRAN - The Intelligence Ministry on Saturday released details of the detection and dismantling of a terrorist network affiliated to the United States.
In a coordinated operation on May 7, Iranian intelligence agents arrested the terrorist network’s members, who were identified in Fars, Khuzestan, Gilan, West Azerbaijan, and Tehran provinces, the Intelligence Ministry announcement said.
The group’s plans were devised in the U.S., according to the announcement, which added that they had planned to carry out a number of acts such as bombing scientific, educational, and religious centers, shooting people, and making public places in various cities insecure.
One of the terrorists was killed in the operation, but the rest are in detention, the Intelligence Ministry said, adding that the group’s main objective was to create fear among the people.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency comprehensively supported the terrorist group by arming it, training its members, and sponsoring its inhumane activities in Iran, the Intelligence Ministry stated.
The terrorists had maps, films, pictures, and sketches of important and sensitive sites in various cities in their possession when they were arrested. They also had a large number of weapons and ammunition and a great deal of highly explosive chemicals and cyanide.
The blast at a religious center in Shiraz last month was carried out by this group, and it also had plans to carry out similar attacks on the Tehran International Book Fair, the Russian Consulate in Gilan Province, oil pipelines in southern Iran, and other targets, the communiqué stated."

Hand Held Electrocution Devices Shall Remain Blameless

2008-05-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Judge orders all references to 'Taser' stricken from medical examiner's reports

"A Summit County Common Pleas judge ordered the county medical examiner to delete any reference that Tasers contributed to the deaths of three Ohio men.
All three men were in an 'agitated' state and 'on drugs' when police officers shot them with Tasers, and the judge ordered their deaths be ruled 'accidental' also that any reference to "homicide or "electrical pulse stimulation" should be deleted from death certificates and autopsy reports."
Five sheriff's deputies had been indicted on charges related to the death of one of the men, who also had a history of mental illness. The judge further ordered that man's death be ruled as "undetermined" and to "delete any references to homicide and the death possibly being caused by asphyxia, beatings or other factors."

"No no, it was ~~agitated excitement~~ ~~intoxicated restlessness~~ ~~disoriented anxiety~~ ~~deluded agitation~~ ~~incoherent disorientation~~ ~~disturbed perturbation~~ excited delirium, yeah, that's it."

Trying To Connect The Dots

2008-04-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

1. The fascists desperately want their world war on for many reasons. The plans to turn the world upside down in order to reshape it have been on the agenda for a long, long time. (Remember Rice's "birth pangs of a new middle east"?) The reason why the fascists have been unconcerned about the US economy is that it will be destroyed and replaced with a new unit of currency called the "amero" within a new political system called the North American Union. Order out of chaos, and all that. The war will be nuclear and engulf the entire globe in a gigantic clash of civilizations with the progenitor being christians vs muslims.

2. To precipitate this obscenity the fascists need to have a defining "event" take place that will generate such revulsion and hatred not only among americans but among christians worldwide, something that they and the disgusting MSM will use to whip up enough righteous indignation and bloodlust that they can then use nuclear weapons on entire nations. This false flag attack will be created by the fascists themselves and blamed on designated patsies. It would probably, but not necessarily, be radiological in nature to further allow retaliation in kind.

3. Just before Easter the CIA released another bogus tape from long dead Bin Laden, having him accuse the pope of leading a new crusade against Islam.

You may see where I'm headed here.

4. A medieval priest called St Malachy who had visions of the future laid out a list of popes from his times in the 1100s until the end of the church, and possibly the world. He described each with some noticeable trait and many have noticed how accurate his list was over the years. The 111th pope, this one, he labeled Gloria olivae, and according to Malachy he was to be the devil incarnate and the last one. If people understood what the present individual stands for I'm sure very few would consider him pious. In some accounts there's a 112th pope who was added by the Olivetan monks because they apparently didn't like being associated with the antichrist.

"However, in the 1820 printed version of Malachy's prophesies, Lignum Vitre (written in 1559 by a Benedictine historian, Arnold Wyon), a 112th pope appears that was not in Malachy's original manuscript. The 112th pope was added by the Olivetan monks. The Order of St. Benedict claims this final pope will come within the Benedictine Order, and that he was placed in the secession line because St. Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world, his Order will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its battle against evil (the Battle of Armageddon)."

All popes assume names. Ratzinger chose Benedict XVI. He may be an amalgam of the 111th and 112th.

5. The pope will lead mass this Sunday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, starting ostensibly at 2:30 in the afternoon, apparently after giving his blessing to the fascist handiwork at ground zero.

6. Yankee Stadium is scheduled to be demolished at the end of the 2008 season, and appears to be still insured.

7. The fascists are a cult who's origins go very far back in human history. They use contemporary religions as a smokescreen while they observe esoteric rites and practices that might seem arcane to our understanding but are deadly serious to them. One of the high holy periods for them is the middle of April where in the recent past some very ugly and suspicious "events" have transpired - Waco, the V Tech shootings, Oklahoma City, Columbine. From all appearances this is the time of the solar cycle where human sacrifice makes a difference for them somehow.
They also seem to need to do their dirty work coinciding with star alignments. If you use astronomical software to go back to times of huge events at aupicious places such as NY on 9/11, you'll see stars at very specific locations in the sky, again and again. Stars that are important to the cult include Sirius and the belt of Orion, and certain degrees of position mean a great deal too, like 33° and right at the horizon.

Sirius satellite radio will carry the mass

On Sunday Sirius and Orion are above NY but I lack the software right now to see at what position exactly.

8. Murdering the pope possibly along with thousands of others would be the defining moment for the fascists to unleash what they've had planned for a long time. There isn't another figurehead for christianity in the world like him, no one even close. Flames of outrage would be furiously fanned as the MSM would launch into payback mode and this criminal government would do what it does best - it would begin devastating war wherever in the world it deemed necessary to obliterate opposition to it's and Israel's hegemony. Military forces have been manouvered into place for years and preparations have been complete for some time to dismantle Syria and pulverize Iran, to destroy Pakistan and decimate the Horn of Africa. The murdering scum have nothing to fear from the american people because they've spent the years since 9/11 erecting their police state and the camps are well oiled and ready.
They've only been waiting for their big moment.

Apparently I'm not the only one who sees this.

Added - So apparently my assumptions were wrong, and I'm glad that no false flag event was staged. But the fascists WILL have their war, that's a certainty, and it's only a matter of time before something happens that will justify their filthy agenda.

Rare, Deleted Star Wars Scene

2008-03-18T22:35:00.001-07:00

Jefferson On The Reign Of Witches

2007-07-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt… And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, June 4, 1798 in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson p. 1050.

2006-12-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Piglipstick is where it's at for the time being.

2006-12-20T01:21:00.001-08:00

2006-12-18T00:02:00.001-08:00

US Could Face Catastrophic Military Defeat In Iraq

2006-12-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

What does a failing empire do when it faces collapse? Why, start another war of course. Webster Tarpley discusses the very real threat of our entire 150,000 + army in Iraq being annihilated if Codpiece makes the wrong move.

"Amateurs talk strategy; professionals talk logistics." -- Gen. Omar BradleyWashington, DC, December 16, 2005 -- The flawed assessment offered by the Baker-Hamilton report neglects a crucial aspect of the political-military situation of the US and other foreign armed forces in Iraq: the danger that the US army of occupation might be cut off, encircled, and annihilated as a fighting force over the next few months. This flaw in turn makes it easier for Baker-Hamilton to reject a priori the one rational response to the current reality, which is the extrication of US forces before it is too late. We do not need a new way forward in Iraq; we require a speedy way out of Iraq.

The real argument concerning Iraq has nothing to do with victory; the issue is now avoiding catastrophic military defeat for the US, in a form far worse than the Baker-Hamilton group has chosen to imagine. The looming specter is the worst of military cataclysms a battle of annihilation on the model of the Romans at Cannae, L. Crassus at Carrhae, or of von Paulus at Stalingrad."

Time's Person Of The Year - The Copout

2006-12-16T22:51:00.000-08:00

Time magazine ran a poll for a while leading up to it's announcement of Person Of The Year. I was interested in this poll because the two leading personalities according to those who voted were Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with 35% and 21% respectively. So who did Time magazine choose as POTY? You.

Yeah, they decided to get funky as they sometimes do and choose a concept rather than a person. Their decision says a lot about how bloated, self referential and full of themselves they are. And I suspect the real reason that they didn't select one of the two leading choices that they offered was that it wouldn't look good for the fascists if Time's POTY was assasinated.

Samantha Bee Foxifies Al-Jazeera

2006-12-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

They clearly needed a lesson to reach an american audience.

From Pocket Change to Bullion

2006-12-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

New rules outlaw melting pennies, nickels for profit.

"WASHINGTON — People who melt pennies or nickels to profit from the jump in metals prices could face jail time and pay thousands of dollars in fines, according to new rules out Thursday.
Soaring metals prices mean that the value of the metal in pennies and nickels exceeds the face value of the coins. Based on current metals prices, the value of the metal in a nickel is now 6.99 cents, while the penny's metal is worth 1.12 cents, according to the U.S. Mint.
That has piqued concern among government officials that people will melt the coins to sell the metal, leading to potential shortages of pennies and nickels."

I wonder if it's illegal to do this now:

Reisistance is Feral

2006-12-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

Over at Counterpunch Jason Hribal gives an overview of captive animal intransigence:

"The acts of resistance that often attract the most attention are violent forms. Arms are bitten off. Flesh is torn. Bones are crushed. Humans are killed. The most famous recent event occurred in 2002 in Las Vegas during a Siegfried and Roy show. Montecore, a 6 year veteran of stage, refused to lie down during a routine, and, when his trainer bristled, the white tiger clamped down on his arm. After being repeatedly hit on the head with a microphone, Montecore then grabbed him by the neck. His trainer would survive but only barely. Others have not been so lucky."

It doesn't take much to figure out why this happens. When I was growing up in the New York area I'd go to the Bronx Zoo on occasion. This was back in the 50s and 60s so the confinements were victorian and crude. The animals were plainly suffering in their cramped and spare captivity and would exhibit all kinds of mental and physical pathology. Some were very thin or fat, there were bald spots and sores, some seemed to be in a constant state of torpor or would act out their anguish with repeated movements over and over again because they went crazy. Lots of anti social and violent behavior. It was sickening.

"The most common forms of resistance, however, are those particularly unspectacular in their methods. Cheetahs who refuse to do anything. Tigers who ignore commands. Elephants who fake ignorance. Orcas who rebuff new tasks. Gorillas who break equipment. Chimpanzees who throw their shit ("scatological humor," as zoo officials call it) at visitors. One researcher marveled at how skillful the monkeys at the Los Angeles Zoo were at hitting visitors with "clods of earth" from great distances. Then there was Stuffie, the first chimp ever produced from artificial insemination. Shot to death in 1987 while attempting to escape, she was infamous at the Toledo Zoo for holding milk in her mouth for hours on end: waiting patiently until her trainers came close enough so that she could spit it out in their faces."

Even in the modern zoo environments that tout their progressive attitudes toward captivity the animals still get bored, lonely, restricted and are deprived of any control of their lives. In the acclaimed Oregon Coast Aquarium the otters repeat the same behavior back and forth for hours on end. These places are far better than the small dirty cells from fifty years ago. But it's still an unnatural existence. A lot of these parks and zoos pretend they're all about protection of species and education, but when it comes to money they're more concerned with propagation and entertainment. If the money grows tight it's spent on cosmetic improvements rather than on animal welfare, to draw in the paying customers.

I don't even want to talk about circuses.

It's easy to anthropomorphize confined animals and their response to a degraded existence. It seems like it's a natural tendency for authoritarian societies to confine and imprison, just like it's the natural response of free thinking people to demand a freer environment. It's no wonder the US has over 2.2 million people behind bars giving us the distinction of having the highest per capita incarceration in the world. The fascists will always automatically default to a prison mentality when faced with opposition. Thus our expeditionary forces in Iraq have dredged up the "strategic hamlet" program. Hence the new era of "free speech zones". Consequently we see the government awarding $400,000,000 to Halliburton to build concentration camps.

If we willingly decide to accept this fate, I wonder what animal behavior our response will resemble - the big cat who sleeps on the cold concrete for 20 hours a day that only gets up to eat what's thrown to him, or the monkeys who throw something of their own back the other way?

Movies

2006-12-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

I'm a cinephile. I like to watch movies. My tastes are eclectic but I try to prescreen selections to pick ones that appeal to me because of a general consensus that they're good, or there are certain actors involved, or they have certain style. Mrs. Contendere and I rent them and watch at home; I haven't been in a movie theater in twenty years. There are so many on DVD now that sometimes it takes awhile to get around to some titles.

As it was for Transamerica which I watched last night. So much has been said about Felicity Huffman's performance that I'll just jump on the bandwagon and say that it's as good as it gets. Gender bending stories are common enough but it takes real acting chops to pull off a triple role - a woman playing a man turning into a woman. In this one it's done with deft poignancy as a vehicle to get to the heart of the matter - two people together on a physical and inner road trip of self discovery. It could have been easy to trivialize this topic and stumble with self parody, but never does.

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is a good documentary about some Microsoft retirees who bought the ailing Professional Bowlers Association and their efforts to revitalize the sport. As with all good documentaries there isn't narration, the camera seems invisible as it follows the pro bowlers and it follows the tried and true buildup to a championship event. It starts off with a bang with great old footage and graphics but falters a bit while the principles are fleshed out. If they had stayed with the format used during the first fifteen minutes it would have been a real treat, otherwise it's a just a solid documentary that the hidden bowler in us will appreciate.

One of my goals is to catch every oscar winner from when the awards first were given out. Double Indemnity won a bunch, including best picture, in 1944. It takes a certain mindset to appreciate a sixty year old movie as something more than a curiosity, after all our society has changed so much. But I think if a flick concentrates on universal understanding, those timeless archtypes, then everybody can resonate with it's story regardless of it's age. This one is tight Billy Wilder film noire with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson all caught up in murder for an insurance scam. Every great film starts with casting and this team is perfect. It was cutting edge material back in production code days and the tension gets so thick you could slice it up with Wilder's sharp dialogue.

Best Two Out Of Three?

2006-12-14T01:48:00.000-08:00

Tom Engelhardt reminds us of a prior Iraq war, one that was fought in a virtual universe back in July of 2002. The US military decided to drop a cool $1/4 billion on a war game with an unnamed middle east country, meaning Iraq, and things didn't start to turn out too well for the yankees:

"At the cost of a quarter-billion dollars, the Pentagon launched the most elaborate war games in its history, immodestly entitled "Millennium Challenge 02." These involved all four services in "17 simulation locations and nine live-force training sites." Officially a war against a fictional country in the Persian Gulf region -- but obviously Iraq -- it was specifically scripted to prove the efficacy of the Rumsfeld-style invasion that the Bush administration had already decided to launch.
Lt. Gen. Van Riper commanded the "Red Team" -- the Iraqis of this simulation -– against the "Blue Team," U.S. forces; and, unfortunately for Rumsfeld, he promptly stepped out of the script. Knowing that sometimes the only effective response to high-tech warfare was the lowest tech warfare imaginable, he employed some of the very techniques the Iraqi insurgency would begin to use all-too-successfully a year or two later.

In other words like the inventive misfits at a war game in the movie "The Dirty Dozen", the red team was fluid and innovative and used their strengths against the enemy's weaknesses with devastating results.

Such simple devices as, according to the Army Times, using "motorcycle messengers to transmit orders, negating Blue's high-tech eavesdropping capabilities," and "issuing attack orders via the morning call to prayer broadcast from the minarets of his country's mosques." In the process, Van Riper trumped the techies.
"At one point in the game," as Fred Kaplan of Slate wrote in March 2003, "when Blue's fleet entered the Persian Gulf, he sank some of the ships with suicide-bombers in speed boats. (At that point, the managers stopped the game, ‘refloated' the Blue fleet, and resumed play.)" After three or four days, with the Blue Team in obvious disarray, the game was halted and the rules rescripted. In a quiet protest, Van Riper stepped down as enemy commander."

So there is one out of two reasons why america is flushing itself down the toilet with it's bloody shitheap in the middle east - the military is as dangerously incompetent and stupid as it's commander in chief, or war game outcome or no, the situation over there was planned to turn out this way.

I believe the latter. There's such a laundry list of conscious steps to get to this unholy hell that I can't even begin to list them all. I believe it was deliberate policy to destroy Iraq and to dangerously destabalize the entire region. Why else would you have the most elaborate war gaming in military history and not learn from or give a shit about the outcome?
And then stroll right into the real thing?

The Same, Only More So

2006-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

I suspect the weighty decisions are all made well in advance among the heavy hitters at the top, barring some unexpected crisis. Sockpuppet will then get his marching orders to be the front man in the well oiled propaganda effort to make the rubes think we have a government that functions like we're told in history class. That acts with wise deliberation for the good of the people and all that. It's all about perception.

We've travelled so far into bizarro world that the Baker group's tepid findings and suggestions about Iraq are touted as a stinging rebuke to Codpiece and his bloody shitheap. It's nothing of the kind. First of all the bandaid brigade is made up of water carriers for the fascists like former congressmen and cabinet members who helped implement the disastrous invasion and occupation in the first place. It's a who's who of wheeler dealers. Their final presentation is like the army's "hurry up and wait" attitude. Frank Rich of the NYT says:

"The group's coulda-woulda recommendations are either nonstarters, equivocations (it endorses withdrawal of combat troops by 2008 but is averse to timelines) or contradictions of its own findings of fact."

Adding to it's irrelevance is the claim that the sole reason for Baker and the boys to do what they did is to appease the Saudis, who desperately want the US to stay and watch over the Sunni minority. After all, Baker and other members are involved with law firms representing the Saudis. Makes you wonder what their first priorities are.

The perceptual charade continued with Von Rumsfeld's ouster and having Iran Contra gangster Robert Gates breeze through his secretary hearings. Shuffling the war criminal deck chairs will probably fool enough of the rubes into thinking something is being done to fix Iraq. Putting Gates in as secretary of defense is as venal as the Iraq group report name - "The Way Forward" is inane.

So now we have Bush announcing that this week he's all bound and determined to get "new ideas on Iraq" by meeting with various sycophants and co - conspirators and yes men. What a bunch of crap. The mixed messages the fascists keep delivering ensure that nothing at all is going to change and Babylon is going to continue to drip blood.

Like today, where we learn that around 150 Iraqis and 5 GIs are dead and who knows how many wounded.

Nobody's Enamored With The Hammer

2006-12-11T00:36:00.000-08:00

A lot of blogs have glommed onto this today but it's so much fun I'll just pile on.
Tom DeLay (sleazebag, Texas) decided to start a blog and didn't find a very warm reception.

From his first post:
"I have created this blog in order to provide Americans with a new meeting place where such opinions and viewpoints might be better shared, discussed and debated; a place where conservative and traditionalist Americans might speak truth to power and to one another.In all honesty, I did not fully realize the impact or potential of the blogosphere until very recently…"

His site was up for about an impressive one hour before it and all the not terribly supportive comments were removed. Somebody mirrored the site for our amusement.

Biggest Demonstration In Lebanon's History

2006-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

Half of the population of the country turned out today to protest the fascist leaning pro western government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

"Speakers told the throngs that the government was in the thrall of the United States, repeating accusations that Siniora's allies had hoped Israel would crush the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah in its recent war with Israel.
"I tell you that after the (Israeli) aggression ... there is no place for America in Lebanon," said Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Kassem, speaking behind bullet proof-glass."

Tsunami On The Sun

2006-12-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

Tsunami - like blast wave rips across the Sun

A huge blast of energy from a group of sunspots rippled it's way across the sun's surface on wednesday, after a similar release of energy on tuesday. A quicktime video of it can be found here. This thing has been exploding since it was first detected on Dec. 5 and the earth is going to just brush by some of the plasma from one of the coronal mass ejections tonight, maybe triggering some fantastic northern lights like this:

The problem in the next couple of weeks is that if this bad boy sunspot group explodes again with these mega blasts and if the earth is hit directly , all sorts of havoc can happen from phone lines going down to hemorrhoid flare ups.

2006-12-08T01:54:00.001-08:00

Iraq’s Death Squads: An Instrument Of The Occupation

2006-12-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

by Ghali Hassan at Global Research

On November 14, 2006 militias and death squads dressed as police commandos kidnapped up to 150 staff and visitors in broad daylight raid – one of daily raids throughout Iraq – on the Higher Education Ministry annexe in central Baghdad. Although some hostages have been released, the fate of others is unknown. It is alleged that large number of the hostages have been tortured and others were murdered. The totality of the raids, kidnapping, torture, ongoing civilian massacres and murder were part of the illegal and racist war of aggression perpetrated by the U.S. and Britain against a defenceless nation in disregard of International Law and contempt for International institutions.

Let me stating the obvious. The U.S. did not invade Iraq to establish “democracy” and “free Iraqis”. The U.S. invaded and destroyed Iraq in order to humiliate and divide Muslims – Arabs in particular –, protect Israel’s Zionist expansion and control Iraq’s natural wealth.

Destabilisation was one of the aims of U.S. foreign policy.

Movies

2006-12-07T22:57:00.001-08:00

When winter comes Mrs Contendere and I like to settle in on these dark, cold nights and watch movies. It's just so pleasant to get a crackling fire going in the fireplace, set out a bowl of good popcorn and get into a flick while the rain pounds and the wind howls.

I've been a fan of online rentals for a couple of years. It's simply the best value for your money, especially if you like classic films that aren't carried by your local rental shops, which mostly have new releases. The two online rental giants are Blockbuster and Netflix with a bunch of smaller outfits. With no late fees and free postage back and forth, it can come out to less than a dollar a movie if you watch a bunch per month. The only problem was the lag time using snail mail.

Last year war broke out between BB and NF. NF dropped their monthly price for three movies out at a time to undercut BB by $3 and vowed to crush BB. I switched over to NF because of the cheaper price and the fact NF had so many distribution centers which meant faster turnaround. Their website is also very advanced and easy to use. They started pulling away from the competition. Netflix was everywhere online and looked like the winner.

Until about a month ago. I have to hand it to Blockbuster - they understood the problem and responded well. Since just about everybody is in easy driving distance to ubiquitous BB stores they decided to use them as drop off centers. You take your online rental in, they scan it to alert the distribution center to mail you your next pick on your online list, plus you use the drop off movie to get a free in store rental. In essence you get six titles out at one time. Plus your account gives you two free rentals from the store per month. The only drawback could be that individual BB stores might have crappy inventories.

From a marketing viewpoint what they did was sharp and bold or completely insane. It'll be interesting to see how Netflix responds. Pass the popcorn.

2006-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Henry Rollins is pissed, and rightly so.

NASA Officials Admit There Maybe, Possibly, Could Be Flowing Water On Mars

2006-12-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

At the press conference today, NASA (Never A Straight Answer) honchos allowed that liquid water could be present on the surface of Mars. They said they compared images taken years apart by the Mars Global Surveyor and found some newly formed suspicious seeps. Of course that's completely at odds with the cold, dead planet myth we've been fed for years but this isn't the first time our moribund scientific establishment fails to reconcile observed phenomena with outdated dogma.
Or maybe they're just a tad hesitant to admit the obvious.

For example, what do you see going on here?

To me it's fair to say they're geysers, shooting up and all blowing downwind.

And can't say for sure, but this stuff sure looks like some sort of vegetation, no?

NASA Press Conference

2006-12-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

NASA (Never A Straight Answer) announced two days ago that it's going to hold a press conference in a few hours to announce "asignificant find on Mars". What's known is that they'll indicate that the Mars Global Surveyor mission is about at an end. There's speculation that they'll announce some other interesting items.

The scientists finally imaged the two Viking landers and their assorted debris from the 1970s along with the current rover Spirit. Considering how small they are from orbit that's quite a coup. A major blockbuster could be that they have proof of standing water on the surface of the planet, or some evidence of recent water erosion. Up to now official paradigms have insisted that Mars is too cold, too dry with air too thin to allow water to exist in liquid form. However ever since Mariner in the 60s there have been plenty of pictures like this of what appear to be seeps all over the face of the planet:

Two years ago there were layers of dust on the Opportunity rover solar panels that were blocking sunlight and limiting performance. Then suddenly one night something happened that cleaned them off. Speculation was that some wind gusts did it, but when the rover took a picture of it's tracks down on the bottom it sure appeared as if there was a puddle. Did a rain shower clean the panels?

Also food for thought - the probes have taken lots of pictures like the following which to my untrained eye look for all the world like vegetation. Up to now NASA and JPL haven't come up with any explanations for what this is:

Are they going to announce definitive proof of life on Mars?

Demonstrations Will Be Extinct

2006-12-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

The fascists get all high tech on us.

"The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer. Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in agony. You feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. You almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble backwards -- and then start running. To your surprise, everyone else is running too. In a few seconds, the street is completely empty.
You've just been hit with a new nonlethal weapon that has been certified for use in Iraq -- even though critics argue there may be unforeseen effects.
According to documents obtained for Wired News under federal sunshine laws, the Air Force's Active Denial System, or ADS, has been certified safe after lengthy tests by military scientists in the lab and in war games.
The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves -- 94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven."

"It will repel you," one test subject said. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it -- reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again."

Wanna know how a frozen pizza feels? Oh, and it's just one of a whole host of "non lethal" toys the gendarmes will employ at say, the next big antiwar crowd. There are acoustic beams and bullets, ultrasound emitters, sticky polymers, electronic fences, lasers, biotechnical agents and on and on.
Our overlords consider us lab rats.

"Fear took over' in Baghdad raid"

2006-12-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

This article neatly encapsulates Bush's Iraq. Some collaborator units with their american trainers went into a Sunni Arab neighborhood in a raid for suspected "insurgents". Seems the 'hood didn't take too kindly to that:

"Staffed with veterans of the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s and equipped with a complement of refurbished Soviet tanks and American Humvees, the 4,000-soldier 9th division is considered Iraq's best hope for an eventual U.S. troop withdrawal.
But confusion swiftly reigned as insurgents in Fadhil pummeled dismounted Iraqi troops and their American advisors. U.S. radio jammers seeking to hinder communications between insurgents ended up blocking the Iraqi soldiers' walkie-talkies, forcing them to use unreliable cellphone signals to stay in contact. Voice commands were lost amid the explosions and gunfire echoing off the walls.
At one point, U.S. and Iraqi troops piled into a Humvee to escape the hail of insurgent bullets pinging off the armor cladding.
"I was pulling people in," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Kent McQueen. "We were all bunched in there together with the gunner. It was like a game of Twister.
"An insurgent tried to throw a grenade into a Humvee's top hatch, but it bounced off and exploded on the ground.
At times, the overwhelmed Iraqi soldiers fired wildly, sweeping their machine-gun barrels across friendly and insurgent targets alike, witnesses said.
"I had to throw bullet casings at them to get their attention," said Sgt. 1st Class Agustin Mendoza, another U.S. trainer who manned a Humvee gun turret during the battle. "They had no weapons discipline."
"A round hit the glass shield of my turret behind me," Mendoza said. "I hit a guy down the alley and a propane tank. It exploded in a big fireball.
"The number of insurgents in the area was estimated at more than 100. Soldiers said they killed 20 and detained 43 others, including three foreign fighters.
No count was made of the number of civilians killed in the densely populated neighborhood, but U.S. and Iraqi soldiers acknowledged a significant amount of "collateral damage."

What you have here is a timeless example of what occupation eventually becomes. The invading force desperately needs to install a puppet government and cobble together some sort of security force to keep them in power. The satrapy is an illusion, the motivation for the collaborators is half hearted at best. Under occupation Iraq has become a toxic, corpse strewn shitheap.

Gold Medal Wiener

2006-12-03T06:52:00.001-08:00

Von Rumsfeld was awarded a gold medal by some rich boys club in Philedelphia a couple of days ago. What for? Who the fuck knows.

Interesting that the recipient this year was shrouded in secrecy until the last minute. According to the AP:
"When asked about the secrecy surrounding the Rumsfeld medal, league spokeswoman Patricia Tobin said, "It's up to the awardee. We always try to respect the wishes of the awardee."
Later, Rummy was seen running up the stairs trying to sneak in.

Safeguarding Our Seed From Suds

2006-12-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

Maine state officials are banning several beermakers from using "controversial" labels on their products. One, called Santa's Butt Winter Porter shows jolly old St Nick looking back over his shoulder with a pint in hand.

The other two banned labels show bare breasted women.
I happen to be firmly on the side of Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming, who says the label with Santa might appeal to children. In fact that's probably what those brewers had in mind, knowing the appeal that breasts have, especially to the younger crowd. "Let's get 'em hooked as soon as they can waddle" you can almost hear them say.
We can't stop here. Shamelessly using Santa to lure our impressionable urchins to a life of drunken debauchery is only one way to corrupt them. Let's ban all tantalizing images!

swearing

animal abuse

satanism

sexism

mormonism

So How Many Lebanese Were In That Demonstration?

2006-12-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

As usual crowd size is subjective, depending on how you view the anti western demonstrators.

Hezbollah takes to Beirut's streets
- thousands

200,000 call for Lebanon's 'US puppet' to go

Hezbollah-led protesters paralyse central Beirut - hundreds of thousands

800,000 Lebanese protestors demand PM's resignation

Will Britney Spears' Pantyless Antics Hurt Her Custody Case?
- Fox News

2006-12-02T01:36:00.000-08:00

It Adds Up To Dangerously Incompetent

2006-12-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Jeffrey Feldman at Kos read the Deciderer's body language in Amman and it wasn't pretty:

"In his press conference in Amman, President Bush repeated the word "success" over a dozen times in a clear attempt to frame the debate with a message of confidence. But when we pay attention to the staging--to President Bush's posture, tone, and facial expressions--we picked up on the exact opposite of confidence: absolute fear."

The Black Commentator says It Is Time To Ask The Question: Is George Bush Sane?:

"The horrible thought is that we have been taken into and kept in Iraq by a guy who is not quite right in the head. His life has shown elements of lack of balance you know, and other countries have had leaders whom we regarded, or have come to regard, as not quite right in the head for one reason or another. (I really don’t have to mention names, do I?) So why should it be impossible that our national leader, too, is a bit “teched,” as they say, or maybe is more than just a bit “teched.” Refusing to recognize the facts of the world, after all, and instead living in a dream world in one’s head, is not the model definition of sanity."

Seinfeld, the Lost Episode

2006-12-01T00:42:00.000-08:00

The signs were all there.

The Coup d’Etat at Midnight

2006-11-30T23:55:00.000-08:00

Felipe Calderon, the thief who stole the Mexican election that took place July 2, opted out of his planned swearing in Dec 1 by having the ceremony behind closed doors in the dark.

Because his opponent, López Obrador, won the popular vote but was denied the victory through fraud and deceit, it's a coup d’etat by any measure of the word. Obrador's supporters vow not to let this situation stand, including many members of the Mexican National Congress which is in full tilt civil war.

The situation is volatile. With widespread outrage at the stolen election and the rebellion in Oaxaca, expect the incoming thugs to inaugurate their theft with truncheons, bullets and mass arrests. Sneaking into the presidential sash in a furtive midnight ceremony doesn't bode well for the people of Mexico.

Shrub Gets Snubbed

2006-11-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

"At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.
"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.
"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.
"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"
"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House."

Another senator elect challenged another Bush at the White House when Paul Wellstone badgered Poppy in 1991 about education issues and warned him about war on Iraq. Bush 41 was later overheard saying "Who is this chickenshit?"
We know what eventually happened to Paul Wellstone.
Jim Webb, watch your back.

Catholic School Wisdom

2006-11-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

Actual answers by kids on tests, their spelling and grammar.

1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.

2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH'S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.

6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.

7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.

8. THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA . THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES.

15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA C ART A.

16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.

18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAIN A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.

22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.

23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY.

Abbatoiraq

2006-11-26T23:59:00.001-08:00

The prevailing opinion and conventional wisdom about Iraq goes something like this - intelligence was faulty, mistakes were made, Bush and the boys miscalculated with their war but invaded with the highest of ideals. The sectarian violence unfortunately spiralled out of their control. Al Qaeda is fighting our soldiers and if we left Iraq it's a victory for terrorism, we'd end up fighting the terrorists here and Iraq would descend into the pits of hell because of our absence. In short, a defeat for us and everything we stand for.

Of course, all of that is total bullshit.

Most people need to believe that their government has the best of intentions. It's easy to convince them that if something turns out badly, well, anyone can make mistakes. The government counts on that. We're brainwashed from birth with a constant drone of unctuous platitudes about our righteous intentions. We always wear a white hat. We may stumble and fumble around but deep down inside we have irreproachable objectives.

That may be what we want to believe but it ain't what we got. This country was taken over by the most despicable cabal of filthy cutthroats the world has ever seen and that's the crew that's calling the shots, not us. They set the agenda with it's consequences and I would dare say very few of them are unintended. While the scumbags go about fulfilling their venal agenda they lie to us over and over again. Some people think ours is the most brainwashed society on earth and that's probably true; because of our good intentions we want to believe theirs.

Iraq is a bloody shitheap because it was meant to be that way. The fascist/zionist agenda was to tear the country apart, to balkanize a once stable, prosperous and tolerant country into a sectarian hellhole, and so here it is. Right from the very start of the invasion we saw the policies that would lead to this disaster of biblical proportion. Those policies were thought out long in advance and decisions were not made lightly. Disbanding the army, encouraging the looting, destroying the infrastructure, allowing a quarter million tons of explosives to be stolen, all this was seen in advance and was deliberately allowed or made to happen. The entire country became a killing zone.

But for the machiavalian psychos the best was yet to come. In order to complete their destruction of the country they had to have the Iraqi people tear each other apart. Would our vaunted military establishment and the CIA actually create an environment that would encourage attacks and reprisals? Yes they would, and are doing it to this day:

"According to a classified document prepared for Rumsfeld by his Defense Science Board, the new organization--the "Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group (P2OG)"--would actually carry out secret missions designed to provoke terrorist groups into committing violent acts. The P2OG, a 100-member, so-called "counter-terrorist" organization with a $100-million-a-year budget, would ostensibly target "terrorist leaders," but according to P2OG documents procured by Arkin, would in fact carry out missions designed to "stimulate reactions" among "terrorist groups"--which, according to the Defense Secretary's logic, would subsequently expose them to "counter-attack" by the good guys. In other words, the plan is to execute secret military operations (assassinations, sabotage, "deception") which would intentionally result in terrorist attacks on innocent people, including Americans--essentially, to "combat terrorism" by causing it."

The fascist plan all along was for Iraq to descend into chaotic madness and the manipulators don't care how many people die and suffer as a consequence. Most of the wretched violence we see daily in the news is black op state terror designed to turn the Iraqis against one another. All institutions are under siege - Robert Fisk reported in 2004 that "University staff suspect that there is a campaign to strip Iraq of its academics, to complete the destruction of Iraq's cultural identity which began when the American army entered Baghdad." Over 300 educators have been liquidated and hundreds more have been disappeared. Over a million terrified Iraqis are refugees. This is a concerted attempt to eradicate the country from world maps.

It isn't hard to discern the motives for it all. The empire is bankrupt and needs the oil. Building those gigantic bases and the obscene embassy in Baghdad means the US plans to throw it's muscle around the region in order to obtain and keep it. Destroying and breaking up one of Israel's Arab enemies was a wet dream for the dual citizenship zionists in the cabal. There's a lot of money to be made for Sockpuppet's and especially Cheney's buddies when things get blown up and the security situation is dire. Getting the military bogged down in a bloody nightmare is a small price to pay when the fascists have so much to gain, as long as they can keep their real intentions hidden

McDavid

2006-11-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Worth1000 photoshop contest

thanks to boingboing

Venezuela In The Crosshairs

2006-11-26T00:03:00.000-08:00

By all reputable accounts Hugo Chavez enjoys massive support from the Venezuelan population and leads his opponent in the Dec. 3 election by a wide margin, almost 2 to 1 in some polls. Since Chavez represents the populist Bolivarian movement that challenges corporatocracy and privilege, he and what he represents have been under unremitting attack on all fronts short of war. MSM knows it's marching orders:

MSNBC - Hugo Faces His Toughest Test
"Like so many populists in Latin America, Chávez loves the Venezuelan poor as they are, and wants to keep them that way."

Int. Herald Tribune - Chavez is rigging the election.

ABC - Chavez throws hissy fits and nobody pays attention to him anymore.

Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American lawyer specializing in human rights. She wrote a book called "The Chavez Code - Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela" where she used the freedom of information act to get proof that the US was behind the attempted coup against Chavez in 2002. The meddling never stopped and the fascists are quite busy in the public arena and especially covertly, financing 132 anti - Chavez opposition groups. The US has imposed sanctions, made up accusations of drug trafficking and terrorist activities and has operated with paramilitaries along the border with Columbia. There was possibly even an assassination attempt back in late September.

Look for more crap to be dumped on Chavez in the next week leading up to the election down there. The fascists are up to their old tricks in trying to destabilize western hemisphere governments that don't suck up to corporate hegemony. The fascists hate the thought of real democracy spreading across the Americas - and they're looking at Venezuela as the threat of a good example.

-------

Psycho-babel: a ponerological approach to modern double-speak - For a psycopath, the only injustice is not getting what he wants - power.
Speaking of psycopaths:
Dick Cheney: the most dangerous man in the world.

Coincidence? Probably not

2006-11-23T09:57:00.001-08:00

Iraqi media is reporting a Cheney sighting in Baghdad.

Today marked the biggest death toll of civilians in Iraq since the invasion.

Bad Luck, Or Is Someone Sending A Message?

2006-11-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

~~> Air Force One blew six tires on the trip to Ho Chi Minh City.

~~> Someone robbed one of the First Twins' purse on a trip to Argentina.

~~> Another someone poured molasses into the fuel tanks of Bush's helicopters.

~~> Motorcycle cops covering Codpiece's visit to Hawaii crash and are hurt.

~~> Acting director of the White House travel office was robbed and beaten in Hawaii.

And that's just stuff we hear about.

2006-11-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

Gore's "Inconvenient Truth"

2006-11-22T02:52:00.000-08:00

It came out on DVD yesterday and I went to rent a copy. I found it interesting in a couple of ways. (Rated PG for ~mild thematic elements~ Huh?)

Conventional wisdom would have you scoffing at the idea that policy wonk Al Gore, stiff Mr. what-the-hell-is-a-soundbite could carry what is essentially an environmental lecture without boring you to death. He may be too pedantic in snippets but given an hour and a half he relaxes and warms up to the task. The production of the movie is top notch, with a stern warning about global warming interspersed with family history, videos and animation. Gore's dedication to his cause is obvious and he should be commended for that. His presentation is persistent and convincing.

Gore's been really excoriated by the reich wing for years, unfairly in my opinion. Those early swift boat-like attacks for the internet, Love Canal and environment hypocrisy were all either fabricated or blown way out of proportion. Questioning his devotion is as stupid as questioning the reality of the subject he presents in his book and movie. And global warming is viciously denied by them for years even as the evidence for it piles up by the day.

Monied interests consistently smear efforts to curb warming and try to suppress real science with the problem. Gore advocates action to control carbon emissions. The phony free market advocates should be embracing that course of action with enthusiasm because the innovation of the free market would ensure powerful breakthroughs with new technology. But monied interests don't believe in a free market, and they believe they can do whatever the hell they want without facing consequences for their actions.

As a matter of fact, Gore leaves politics out of his presentation except for mention of the 2000 presidential imbroglio and a few humorous digs at Commander Codpiece. It's a warning about warming brought about by rising CO2 levels and the disastrous effects we are now starting to experience. You gotta wonder how things would have been different if this man were President.

Movies

2006-11-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

With the weather and politics turning foul and dark there's nothing more comfortable to Mrs Contendere and I than a warm glow in the fireplace, a bowl of Newman's Own popcorn and a good DVD to enjoy. My taste in movies is pretty catholic - I'll get into and enjoy any genre except television shlock, martial arts and anything with a laugh track. We don't have a fancy setup, just an old 27 inch RCA with the sound routed through the stereo speakers. Settling into the futon with the cat nestled between us we've watched a wide range lately.

Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder's self referential classic astounded me. Gloria Swanson was a faded silent movie star who played a faded silent movie star infatuated with a world weary William Holden. In 1950 it skewered hollywood movie making so much that it made the studios cringe. Crackling, intelligent dialogue.

Mission Impossible 3 - Cruise's star vehicles won't save the guy's career. This insult steals from any number of much better flicks and relies on truly assinine action to make up for his missing acting chops.

Cars - Some of the best movies in recent years have been animated. I guess the format allows the imagination to run free and be inventive in a way that's unique to the genre. Coupled with whiz bang computer tech the results can be dazzling and endearing like this effort. I think the best animation will be attractive to anybody of any age and this one certainly has it all, wrapped up in a smart, joyous package.

To Have And Have Not - Another classic with Bogart and especially Lauren Bacall. Howard Hawks directed this adaptation of Hemingway's novel. Bogart shined in these undertakings with his character going up against the baddies, in this case the local equivalent of Nazis. But it's Bacall who fries your eyeballs. She was only 19 and this was her very first film but she sizzled and smoldered in a sultry way that has to be seen to understand.

For the past several years there's been stiff competition with internet movie rentals. I only know about Netflix and Blockbuster although there may be others. Last winter I had a subscription to Netflix where for $17.99 a month you could have unlimited rentals and no late fees. You just picked your titles from a large library at the website and when you sent one back they'd ship your next selection. I had tried BB but what made NF better was that their numerous distribution centers made the mail transit time much shorter, hence more rentals for the money.

That may have changed. A couple of days ago I started an account with BB's new service called Total Access. They decided to use their strength in this market, all their rental stores, to deal a knockout blow to the competition. You do the same thing - choose titles from the website and they send them to you, three out at a time in my case. But you can either send a used one back to them or take it down to the local BB for a replacement and they'll send it back for your next online pick. In essense six movies out at a time. A pretty bold move on their part, but it remains to be seen what the transit time is via snail mail. Still, instantly trading one in for another at the local store seems like a pretty good deal.

Low Expectations For The Newly Ensconced

2006-11-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Top Democrats to Voters: Enough Already, Now Shut Up!

"You can set your watch by the speed with which the new crowd lowers expectations and announces What is Not To Be Done. Nowhere was\ there an item on the Democrats' "must do" list saying "Reverse plunge towards fascism. Rescind Patriot Act. Dump the Military Commissions Act. Restore habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights." Pelosi made haste to say: impeachment is off the table."

Entertaining any hope that the US military will be withdrawn sometime soon from Iraq? I think I'm safe in saying that's not even a distant possibility.

It took three long years for the majority of people in this country to realize the true horror of the bloody meatgrinder our overlords created. Disregarding dire warnings, blind to the contrived lies, most people stupidly trusted Bush and his war criminals and it took years to realize that, hell, maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Now most people oppose the occupation and apparently overwhelmed Rovian machinations and sent democrats to congress. But since most of them were hand picked by Rahm Emanuel not to rock the boat, it looks like it's going to be dirty business as usual.

Even though the fascists have run out of excuses for our legions being in Iraq, there's always the perfect fall back position to stick around these invaded countries - the violence will never end as long as we have troops there. Our occupation will breed resistance by it's very presense thereby guaranteeing further justification for staying and even upping the ante.

The fascists will never voluntarily assess the situation soberly and do what's best for our country, the troops and the Iraqis. This Baker commission is a window dressing joke. As Justin Raimondo put's it "Put not your trust in politicians, of whatever party: they will come through only under pressure." It looks like that's sadly true with the new crop that was just elected as well.

Four Carrier Groups in the Persian Gulf

2006-11-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

Massive naval power off the coast of Iran.

The USS Eisenhower

The USS Enterprise

The USS Boxer

The USS Iwo Jima

"A phantom attack on two U.S. destroyers cruising the Gulf of Tonkin was staged by the Pentagon and the C.I.A. The bogus attack occurred early in August, 1964. That evening President Lyndon Johnson went on television giving the grim details of the non-attack. Later, however, it was revealed that navy commander James Stockdale flew cover over the Gulf of Tonkin that night. Stockdale disclosed that U.S. ships were firing at phantom targets—targets that didn’t exist. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident that drew the U.S. into the quagmire of Viet Nam simply didn’t happen. Johnson, as presidents so often do, lied to the American people. The result was the rapid passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which was the sole legal basis for the Viet Nam War. As a result of Johnson’s lie, three million Vietnamese people and fifty eight thousand U.S. soldiers died." (Charles Sullivan, Global Research, January 2006)

A Good First Step

2006-11-16T23:38:00.000-08:00

Senator Chris Dadd of Connecticut introduced a bill today to ameliorate the recent filth called the Military Commission Act of 2006. Arguably the worst, unconstitutional assault on our liberties, if the MCA isn't amended or abolished to restore the bedrocks of constitutional law to our society, revolution is is a distinct possibility sometime in the future.
Dodd isn't wasting time. He gets a big thumbs up from me.
Some of the points in his bill:

* Restores Habeas Corpus protections to detainees
* Narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants
* Bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials
* Empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence the deem to be unreliable
* Authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the Military commissions
* Limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight
* Provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions

We Do Not Want Democrats, We Just Hate The Republicans

2006-11-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

Seen on Unknown News:

"An open letter to the Democrats in Congress:Congratulations. Now pay attention. Do not make the mistake of thinking the American people have chosen you to lead us. It's just that we are so fed up with the Republicans screwing this country within an inch of its life that we are willing to try anything, including getting off our fat asses and going to the polls in enough numbers to defeat the Diebold scheming Repugs.

Repeat. We do not want you, we just hate the Repugs.

Now, if you are smart, you will stay on the horse what won you the election, namely beating the Repugs like a cheap Chinese gong. Make no mistake, the majority of Americans have spoken loud and clear, and we do not like those Jesus-debased, child molesting, torture approving, influence purchasing, environment destroying, lying, scheming, insular, billionaire bastards one bit."

Bush's Head Suffers Damage

2006-11-13T01:28:00.000-08:00

At Madame Tussaud's wax museum in Las Vegas, that is:

"Bush's head suffered about $25,000 in damages when a Madame Tussaud's visitor attacked it the day before last week's elections.

No one's pushed one over before," said Jack Taylor, spokesman for the tourist attraction.
Bush has needed repairs a number of times, mostly from having his nose pinched, Taylor added."

thanx to Wonkette

MSNBC Poll

2006-11-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

2006-11-11T01:34:00.000-08:00

2006-11-11T01:25:00.000-08:00

Happy ~~Armistice~~ ~~Remembrance~~ Veterans Day.

-------

Over at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's website they post the following:

"AIPAC Builds Ties With New Lawmakers

AIPAC reached nearly every lawmaker elected in Tuesday’s mid-term congressional elections as part of its effort to educate political candidates on the value of the U.S.-Israel relationship. During the campaign that ended Tuesday, nearly every viable candidate met with AIPAC professional staff members and submitted a position paper summarizing his or her views on U.S. Middle East policy. A non-partisan organization, AIPAC has for decades worked with Republican and Democratic members of Congress to strengthen the ties between the United States and Israel."

All the candidates had a job interview and had to "submit a position paper" explaining how far they'd bend over and spread 'em.
The fucking gall.

Yo Democrats - Put Up Or Shut Up

2006-11-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

From Bob

"Democratic Party talking heads are already out there talking about how the election results are not only the best thing since sliced bread, not only the biggest political event of the last 200 years, but also an abrupt end to everything that the neo-cons stand for.

According to these characters Bush and the neocons were uniquely responsible for the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, the erosion of civil liberties, the legal threats that they claim point in the direction of martial law or fascism, the economic changes that have resulted in the rich getting richer, and all else that's not right with the world.

Okay...then it's put up or shut up time!

Let's see the Democrats rescind the complete Patriot Act. No tinkering around the edges - the whole thing has got to go.

And while they're at it, let's see them dismantle the 1996 Anti-terrorism and pro Death Penalty Act that Clinton signed.

Let's see them restore the right to habeas corpus.

Let's see them end the use of torture by the US military, CIA, private armies paid for with tax dollars, and countries whose governments are under US control."

And a ton of other stuff to rectify the immense damage the corporate scumbags inflicted on us. The one lousy aspect of the startling results we saw the night of Nov. 7 is the spectre of giddy complacency now that the democrats supposedly won. It remains to be seen if they'll reverse the march toward authoritarianism and restore a semblance of a republic.

Pastor Ted To Get Treatment For Gay Cooties

2006-11-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

Disgraced hypocrite pastor Ted Haggard is going to start treatment towards "spiritual restoration" :

"After tumbling from the pinnacle of the American evangelical movement amid allegations he snorted meth and cavorted with a male prostitute, Haggard has agreed to a rehabilitation process that could last three to five years."

I think the guy is going to do very well with this.

The process includes "laying on of hands."

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In a related story, the famed Jesus Camp is being shut down. The documentary about the brainwashing center was in theaters this past summer and featured scenes with the aforementioned Pastor Ted.

2006-11-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

When the United Nations was founded, Henry Cabot Lodge said something like "the election results will not take the US to heaven, but it will certainly reduce the chances of going to hell." Aside from the Jeebus related references, to me that about sums up my reactions to what happened in the last 48 hours or so.

I've got to admit that I was surprised to see that the elections turned out the way they did. Despite a massive repug war chest, their bully pulpits, seemingly endless tales of obviously crooked voting machine irregularities and voter intimidation, most ballots were cast and counted toward a repudiation of overtly thuggish republicans. It certainly appears that the people in this country overwhelmingly despise the current abuses and were able to make that known in the face of big money and dirty tricks. It seems that the thugs were only able to stem a whopping landslide with their crap; only a third of the senate was contested. One wonders what would have happened if all the seats were fought over.

On the face of it, as the dust settles the results look like some speedbumps and detours for the fascist agenda. The Pathetic Chimp got slapped around in front of the cameras today when he whimpered on about the elections. They're forced to rearrange the deck chairs by shuffling the personnel around. More local control by democrats will frustrate repug consolidation of power as they'll merrily re - jerrymander voting district boundaries. Some might say that congress won't be just a rubber stamp for any more authoritarian insanity.

Yet try as I do to feel otherwise, my cynicism keeps overriding even fun images like seeing Santorum drop kicked out of his Pennsylvania seat. It's hard to shake the perception that yesterday was only a facelift, a symbolic one finger salute against the empire that won't have much meaning in the overall scheme of things. Knowing their penchant for leaving nothing to chance it's entirely possible that the election results were scripted to come out the way they did. It's possible that the fascists thought it was time to put a velvet glove over their iron fist for a while. As Sockpuppet even alluded to as he stammered through his press conference earlier today - "But it's hard to win an election when you're trying to win a write-off campaign"

So what would our overlords gain from taking one step back after two steps forward? Knowing full well how much discontent there is in the country, after three stolen elections it might have been appropriate to throw some crumbs to the so called opposition party. It may have seemed time to finally legitimize the easily hacked touch screen machines. As a matter of fact the MSM is starting to do just that. 80% of the country used them so they have to be touted as a success for when they're used to seal our fate in the 2008 presidential election. It could be that the new democrat controlled congress will now be blamed for the hideous cesspool we're in because of bushista policies.

Scripted or not, it looks like the democrats will wind up not losing one seat in the senate, house or governors' mansions, something that's never happened before in modern american politics according to Billmon. But the cynical part of me doesn't expect jack shit to be done to fix the long list of despicable horrors perpetrated over the last six years. The democratic party failed every gut check and even cheerled while Bush and his cabal perpetrated the mind numbing crimes that will take generations to undo - the worst being Iraq, where if you remember the senate was controlled by a dem majority when it approved Codpiece's adventure. As for possible impeachment of the scumbags, Ms. Pelosi told us in advance of the election to forget about it. Chris Floyd tells us what we can expect from a democrat controlled congress:

"(...) The Democratic leadership is a deeply embedded part of the Establishment; multimillionaires like our soon-to-be Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (who is probably richer than Bush) aren't going to seriously challenge the near-total domination of American politics and society by Big Business and wealthy elites. They may re-arrange the display a little, but they are not going to upset the golden applecart. So while we may see a slight goosing of the minimum wage, we will almost certainly not see a major rollback of the relentless rightwing assault on the rights, protections and well-being of working people and the poor. We can hope for some modifications of the bizarre and punitive prescription drug "reforms" imposed by the Bush Party; but we won't see anything resembling a national health insurance system, despite the majority of Americans in favor of one. We won't see a reinstatement of the safety net that was gutted, pre-Bush, by Democrat Bill Clinton. We won't see major reductions – or indeed, any reductions – in military spending from a party that has faithfully approved every cent of every "special spending bill" that Bush has submitted to finance his off-the-books wars. We won't see a lessening of international tensions from a crew that has spent most of the past year bashing the Bush Administration for not being bellicose enough in threatening Iran, and for not larding Israel with even more deadly weaponry to carry out its aggression in Lebanon and its increasingly frenzied decimation in Gaza. We will not see an immediate withdrawal from Iraq; at best, we will see a few tentative timetables based on unreal and unrealizable "benchmarks" produced by some grandly gassy "bipartisan agreement" based on the face-saving formulas of the "Baker Commission.
There is going to be no impeachment of Bush, even if the Democrats get hold of the Senate. There is going to be no criminal prosecution for the principal architects of the war crime in Iraq (and probably none of small fry either). There will be little or no rollback of the draconian strictures of the Patriot Act, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Democrats, or the many other measures – "national security letters," warrantless surveillance, etc. – introduced hugger-mugger by the "Unitary Executive." Indeed, we will be very lucky if the new Democratic leadership even revisits the Military Commissions Act."

In sum, not much.

So, all the money and machinations of Rove and company could barely buy off a landslide but with such widespread outrage couldn't avoid defeat. There could be litigation and recounts but it doesn't seem like it. But if all the newly formed democratic congress will do is continue business as usual and not slam the brakes on this highway to hell, Rove had nothing to worry about.

update - Looks like I'm not the only one with suspicions.

Face Of The Diebold Selection Process

2006-11-07T21:19:00.000-08:00

In Iraq it's purple.

The Saddam Farce

2006-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Joe Quinn at Signs of the Times has an excellent overview of the stage play which just happened to culminate two days before the US midterms.

When "Saddam" was supposed to have been captured just about three years ago some things just didn't seem right. Of course was stuff like those ripening-out-of-season dates in one of the few stills released to general consumption. But it was the staginess of the production that didn't sit well with me. Over the next few days all the trite minutiae seemed like it had been hammered out well in advance, tested by focus groups and then packaged for timely delivery. To label the information releases controlled is very much an understatement.

the money shot

Most of all it's been the consistant humiliation factor which stands out to me. The "rat hole", a dentist sticking his fingers in the mouth, underwear pictures, talk of mental breakdown and peeing on himself. If the propagandists wanted to paint a portrait of defeat to the Iraqis (those who actually believed all this) and the home audience, I don't know what else they would have done.

As with 9/11, the phony Al Qaeda boogyman and this election farce our mind control freaks seem to enjoy presenting their extravaganzas to us while they quietly proceed with their agenda. If the real Saddam is currently enjoying a cigar at his lakeside Belarus retreat while a hapless doppelganger gets dragged back and forth in front of us, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
By the way, the appeals process for the dude will take two years before any execution takes place, just in time for the presidential Diebold selection process on '08.

Top Ten Neocon Tricks For A November Surprise

2006-11-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

By Douglas Herman

With an upcoming election, the GOP-enabled Neocons are increasingly nervous. Not so much nervous they might actually lose another rigged election, but nervously awaiting the November surprise that many probably already know is coming.And what exactly could that pre-election or post election surprise be?

1. Iran is attacked by the US or Israel , or a NATO coalition. This attack would occur, of course, following a dastardly sneak attack by those wily Iranians on our US fleet which is, coincidentally, assembled nearby. The only US recourse is to counter- attack. Perhaps the sinking of an old US Navy aircraft carrier by an (alleged) Iranian submarine would initiate the war. Since most Americans know nothing about the fraudulent Gulf of Tonkin attack that led to the Vietnam War, this seems like the #1 pre-election or post election distraction.

2. Terrorist bombing-Pick your American Target. I already wrote about another faked "terrorist" attack here in America months ago. From the Statue of Liberty to another architectural white elephant (WTC), the sneaky terrorists seem undeterred by Homeland Security, especially so close to vital US elections. Vital for the Neocons, that is.

3. Sudden announcement of the capture of Osama bin Ladin. Why not Tuesday morning? This would have the greatest effect immediately pre-election, informing gullible voters (is there any other kind?) that the Neocons can best protect America . Few would question the coincidental capture.

4. Discovery of Weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq . Slamdunk pre-election boost for the Neocons who could now chortle about how right they have been all along.

5. Release of those FBI-confiscated videotapes offering conclusive proof that a 757 struck the Pentagon. The right wing talk show hosts would have a field day, and perhaps a substantial boost in the polls. In the subsequent months the 9-11 Truth Movement would labor to prove the videotapes fake. Meanwhile voters might consider how trustworthy the Neocons really are.

6. The fraudulent results of the stolen 2006 election become the distraction itself. The increasing, violent division among Americans becomes the November Surprise itself. Divide and conquer.

7. Dollar collapses within days or weeks following the elections. Of course, only the party in power can save us all, right? Better not vote them out now, especially on the cusp of a worldwide panic and depression.

8. Worldwide epidemic, beginning in whatever US Democratic state ( Massachusetts ?) designated by the Neocons as a sacrificial lamb. Once again, with a boost from the mainstream media, the message would become clear: only the party in power can save us from the panic and spread of the disease.

9. A military coup, right here in good old America . Abrupt cancellation of the elections nationwide. Of course, if the military coup was secretly engineered by the Neocon branch of the CFR, so much the better for their worldwide agenda.

10. A joint US-Israeli attack on Iran immediately following the predicted, massive loss at the polls for the Neocons. Never underestimate the spitefulness of the cabal in power. This is probably the most likely "surprise"---long predicted---whatever happens at the polls.

(Or some sort of combination, or not. It just fucking sucks that we're sitting around making bets on where the criminal swine in our own government will strike again.)

Sockpuppet Jets Around, People Underwhelmed

2006-11-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

The more Codpiece campaigns, the less support for repugs.

when is this over

Nov. 4, 2006 - As President George W. Bush jets across Red State America this weekend, Republican candidates are falling further behind Democratic rivals, according to the new NEWSWEEK poll.

2006-11-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

2006-11-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

GOP's Dick in Butts today.

Vice President Dick Cheney staged a media event today at Butts Army Air Field in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Just so we could be treated to this headline.

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Sympathy For Mrs. Haggard's Ass: A Haiku from the Rude One:

Gayle always wondered
Why Ted said, "Jesus enters
Us through our back doors."

American Prison Planet

2006-11-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

The Bush Administration as Global Jailor

"Today, the United States presides over a burgeoning empire -- not only the "empire of bases" first described by Chalmers Johnson, but a far-flung new network of maximum security penitentiaries, detention centers, jail cells, cages, and razor wire-topped pens. From supermax-type isolation prisons in 40 of the 50 states to shadowy ghost jails at remote sites across the globe, this new network of detention facilities is quite unlike the gulags, concentration-camps, or prison nations of the past.

Even with a couple million prisoners under its control, the U.S. prison network lacks the infrastructure or manpower of the Soviet gulag or the orderly planning of the Nazi concentration-camp system. However, where it bests both, and breaks new incarceration ground, is in its planet-ranging scope, with sites scattered the world over -- from Europe to Asia, the Middle East to the Caribbean. Unlike colonial prison systems of the past, the new U.S. prison network seems to have floated almost free of surrounding colonies. Right now, it has only four major centers -- the "homeland," Afghanistan, Iraq, and a postage-stamp-sized parcel of Cuba. As such, it already hovers at the edge of its own imperial existence, bringing to mind the unprecedented possibility of a prison planet. In a remarkably few years, the Bush administration has been able to construct a global detention system, already of near epic proportions, both on the fly and on the cheap."

Add to that the vast system of domestic internment camps that KBR, a part of Halliburton, has been merrily building all year and unless you're terminally stupid you understand the purpose of all this. The fascists have been consolidating their power, being very careful to legitimize the unthinkable every step of the way while declaring our rights formerly guaranteed under the constitution to be null and void.
Of course the average, complacent american, if he or she happens to notice word of any of this will automatically assume it's for his or her own good. Only those "other" people who must be doing something wrong because the fascists say so will be locked up and as long as they do what they're told everything will be just fine.
All this is being sold as "Bush's job is to protect americans" and the gullible ignorati will buy it. But there's a slight problem with that. It's not his job. This is his job:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

"Protecting the people" is a lie to enable the fascists to set up their filthy police state as they scare the somnambulants into submission and acceptance. They're doing it step by gradual step punctuated by synthetic terror, a thoroughly corrupt media and phony elections, as they habituate us to endless war and suffocating authoritarianism.
And if you don't like that those bunks at the camps are waiting.

Haggard Outed, Christians Convert To Islam

2006-11-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

It's hard to judge the ultimate impact of Pastor Ted Haggart being outed as having a long homosexual relationship, but one suspects this is going to get huge at least in the short term.

Colorado is same sex politics central, with two proposals on the ballot tuesday - an amendment banning gay marriage and a measure that would give same sex couples the same civil rights accorded to straight marriages. Colorado's politics seems to be so important at this late date that Cheny is going there for photo ops tomorrow.

Haggard is no small potatos among the rabid christian crowd. He presided over the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), with 45,000 churches and 30 million believers making up the nation's most powerful religious lobbying group. He was in contact with Bush or his minions every week. His New Life Church has 11,000 members and is in Colorado Springs, the Evangelical Center of the Universe. There are hundreds of churches and groups there with more moving in and metastasizing all the time. The heavyweight among those is James Dobson's Focus on the Family who reach 200 million people around the world.

It's going to be shouted from the usual neocon megaphones that this is a political smeer timed to coincide with the elections and especially the same sex amendments in Colorado. That actually holds some water as the accuser, Mike Jones, "told The Associated Press he decided to go public with his allegations because of the political fight. Jones, who said he is gay, said he was upset when he discovered Haggard and the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage."

However if this is skullduggery it's not aimed at the most lucrative of targets. Pastor Ted would actually be considered a moderate among the evangelicals concerning gays. While Dobson would call down fire and brimstone and work to defeat opponents, Haggard would act as a conciliator. He was in support of the 2003 Supreme Court decision to overturn the sodomy laws. He's stated that although his beliefs are opposed to homosexual lifestyles he wouldn't want those beliefs turned into laws. If this was just a hatchet attack why not just make shit up about more high profile gay bashers like Dobson or Rick Santorum? It doesn't look good for Haggard as Jones claims he has solid evidence. That Pastor Ted resigned as well as his church cancelling a rally for him shows that this means a permanent plunge from grace.

There's no doubt that this is going to hit the christians in the solar plexus, hard. I wouldn't begin to speculate on how people will vote in relation to this because it remains to be seen that ANY voting on Nov. 7 will be counted correctly. But with smarmy revelation after scandal after disclosure coming in rapid fire succession, it must be hard counting oneself among the loudly proclaimed family values crowd.

Information about how this entered the media can be gleaned here.

The Repug Rent-a-Riot

2006-11-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

With the Diebold selection process coming up in a week I thought it was appropriate to remember an event from the stolen 2000 election. This is the thuggish face of the fascists which helped usher in our national nightmare.

On November 22nd in county offices in Miami, a bunch of people engaged in a violent demonstration to stop the vote counting. It worked.

It turns out that the demonstration was an organized republican demonstration of party loyalists who were called to Miami (with all expenses paid) to incite violence and disrupt the recounts in Miami, where the democrats are in the majority.

The New York Times reported the event like this:
"Further details are emerging about the riot Wednesday that preceded the Miami-Dade County election commission's decision to give up recounting the votes in the presidential election. As election workers sat counting votes, a mob screamed outside, pounded on furniture, tried to force its way into the building, surrounded a Democratic Party official, knocked two television cameramen to the ground, and kicked and punched several people, including a Democratic spokesman as he attempted to hold a news conference."

In fact the violence was actually incited by New York Representative John Sweeney, who was involved in the protest. The repugs pretended to be locals, but this is who they really were:

1. Tom Pyle, policy analyst, office of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
2. Garry Malphrus, majority chief counsel and staff director, House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice.
3. Rory Cooper, political division staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee.
4. Kevin Smith, former House Republican conference analyst and more recently of Voter.com.
5. Steven Brophy, former aide to Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), now working at the consulting firm KPMG.
6. Matt Schlapp, former chief of staff for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), now on the Bush campaign staff in Austin.
7. Roger Morse, aide to Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.).
8. Duane Gibson, aide to Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) of the House Resources Committee.
9. Chuck Royal, legislative assistant to Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
10. Layna McConkey, former legislative assistant to former Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot (R-Iowa), now at Steelman Health Strategies.

As Usual, The Democrats Drop The Ball

2006-11-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

What a prime opportunity that slipped through their hands yet again.

When Kerry alluded to the very real fact that if young people don't play the system and do something with their lives or they might very well wind up in a uniform in Bumfuckistan, the brownshirts went ballistic. What, are you calling our troops stupid? How dare you, you commie traitor! The troops are our toys, we own them and all the sentiments and hoopla and flag waving and national defense issues dontcha know.

The fact is, the military has been targetting less qualified, less motivated, more socially maladjusted (read poor, but less priviledge doesn't mean less intelligence no matter what the idiotic spin is) young people because their recruitment quotas have plain sucked in recent months. But all that can be debated and it's not really the point. Where the hapless Kerry and virtually all the so called opposition party failed is to not go far enough in pointing out how the military under the criminal cabal royally screws the troops.

How they let recruiters lie to the enlistees.
How they use troop extensions, stop-loss orders, involuntary recalls and multiple deployments as a back door draft.
How veteran's benefits are constantly under attack.
How the pentagon is deliberately sending troops into a toxic environment that will sicken and kill them.
How the mass murderers lied them into getting maimed and dying in Iraq and for what again?

What the spineless democrats should be saying is yeah, get your education, look at all your options, but before you enlist be aware of what the fascists are doing to the military.

Senator Macaca And His Goonsquad

2006-10-31T21:45:00.000-08:00

A guy attempting to ask Senator Allen a question at a campaign stop in Charlottsville gets manhandled to the floor by hired thugs. With repug dirtbags unable to counter the growing revulsion at everything they stand for, is this a harbinger of things to come?

The fellow who was assaulted makes a statement. I hope this puts Macaca out of reach even with Diebold in his corner and I hope the guy sues the shit out of them.

"My name is Mike Stark. I am a law student at the University of Virginia, a marine, and a citizen journalist. Earlier today at a public event, I was attempting to ask Senator Allen a question about his sealed divorce record and his arrest in the 1970s, both of which are in the public domain. His people assaulted me, put me in a headlock, and wrestled me to the ground. Video footage is available here, from an NBC affiliate.
I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.
George Allen defends his support of the Iraq war by saying that our troops are defending the ideals America stands for. Indeed, he says our troops are defending our very freedom. What kind of country is it when a Senator's constituent is assaulted for asking difficult and uncomfortable questions? What freedoms do we have left? Maybe we need to bring the troops home so that they can fight for freedom at George Allen's campaign events. Demanding accountability should not be an offense worthy of assault.
I will be pressing charges against George Allen and his surrogates later today. George Allen, at any time, could have stopped the fray. All he had to do was say, "This is not how my campaign is run. Take your hands off that man." He could have ignored my questions. Instead he and his thugs chose violence. I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I'll be damned if I'll let my country be taken from me by thugs that are afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.
It just isn't the America I know and love. Somebody needs to take a stand against those that would bully and intimidate their fellow citizens. That stand begins right here, right now."

W. Michael Stark

Halloween

2006-10-31T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Absurdity Of The Official 9-11 Account

2006-10-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

Comparable Examples of Fictional Media Reports

In a complex and well-coordinated heist, combining speed and stealth with an uncanny knowledge of automobile security systems, four tots hotwired a Toyota Land Rover and cruised along fabled Deco Drive in South Beach Miami. The merry group spent the evening crashing top night spots and easily eluding waitresses, bartenders and bouncers. Credit card receipts, obviously signed by one of the tots, showed thousands in charges for table dances, champagne and limo service. A crayon drawing left by one of the tots lent conclusive proof of their guilt, according to local law enforcement officials.

A trio of nuns broke into a North Dakota missile site in a complex and well-coordinated heist, combining speed and stealth with an uncanny knowledge of USAF security systems. The nuns quickly removed the nuclear warhead in 20 minutes from the ICBM using a crescent wrench, car jack and plastic crucifix. A nun's habit and Gideon Bible, inscribed with the name of one of the nuns, providently found at the crime scene, indicated conclusive proof of their guilt and the trio was quickly captured.

Several Saudi high school seniors commandeered the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower yesterday in a complex and well-coordinated heist, combining speed and stealth with an uncanny knowledge of Navy security systems. The teens sailed the ship across the Pacific undetected and then down to Acapulco for a weekend of binge drinking, while picking up girls along the way. Navy officials had no prior knowledge of the plan to hijack the missing aircraft carrier, nor even knew it was missing. But officials found a charred credit card belonging to one of the thieves on the flight deck of the carrier proving, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the hijackers guilt.

Nineteen flight school dropouts, in a complex and well-coordinated heist combining speed and stealth with an uncanny knowledge of our nation's security systems, commandeered four jumbo jets and flew hundreds of miles before returning to crash the planes into pre-selected targets. A flight school instructor said the men performed badly in the simplest of flight maneuvers in small Cessna airplanes. But local law enforcement officials quickly claimed the 19 hijackers could easily have performed complex maneuvers in much larger and more complex Boeing jumbo jets. Video cameras captured the ringleaders laughing and joking and a charred passport, found at the scene of the crash indicated, beyond any reasonable doubt, the guilt of the men.

2006-10-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

Anything But The Carnage

2006-10-30T00:29:00.000-08:00

Jeebus but this run up to the Diebold Selection Process is a sleaze fest. Mark Foley kicked it all off I suppose but you have to give him credit for at least resigning and then disappearing. Of course he was only the tip of a very filthy iceberg. The House Ethics Committee, whitewashing the issue, said it isn't going to release it's findings before Nov.7, thereby protecting the senior repug child molesters.

Just this last week alone we were subjected to plenty of tawdry crap, courtesy of the Greedy Old Perverts. That racist Corker ad down in Tennessee is one ugly smear - black women are stupid, Ford supported things he never did support, gotta be scared of them foreigners, white chicks are attracted to uppity, libertine black dudes so be wary of them:

Since that ran it's course it was replaced by one that maintained Ford accepted money from porn moguls. Interesting how the pot accuses the kettle.

Then Oxy Moron Limbacile attacks a parkinson's sufferer, as if there were any people left that needed to understand how much of a douchebag he could be.

In Virginia the democrat candidate for senate has some decades old fiction he wrote held up as proof he's much worse than run of the mill repug sleazebags.

All this is sideshow crap. The only issue that matters is that despicable situation that the scumbags have gotten the US military into in Iraq. But how much have you heard from the candidates on this nightmare? Meanwhile the carnage from the occupation continues while sex, lies, racism and dirty laundry dominates in the whoring media cesspits.
Here's Anthony Shadid from the Washington Post on our handiwork:

"It had been almost a year since I was in the Iraqi capital, where I worked as a reporter in the days of Saddam Hussein, the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and the occupation, guerrilla war and religious resurgence that followed. On my return, it was difficult to grasp how atomized and violent the 1,250-year-old city has become. Even on the worst days, I had always found Baghdad's most redeeming quality to be its resilience, a tenacious refusal among people I met over three years to surrender to the chaos unleashed when the Americans arrived. That resilience is gone, overwhelmed by civil war, anarchy or whatever term could possibly fit. Baghdad now is convulsed by hatred, paralyzed by suspicion; fear has forced many to leave. Carnage its rhythm and despair its mantra, the capital, it seems, no longer embraces life.

"A city of ghosts," a friend told me, her tone almost funereal."

A Preemptive Strike on Unfavorable Outcomes?

2006-10-29T21:25:00.000-08:00

I noticed in the news this morning that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, was going to review the operations of one of the electronic touch screen vote machine makers.

"A U.S. manufacturer of touch-screen voting machines confirmed Sunday it was being investigated by the federal government for alleged ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but flatly denied any connection.Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., based in Oakland, Calif., said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, was conducting the formal inquiry into it as well as its parent software company, the Smartmatic Corp., at the firms' request after news articles suggested improper ties."

Apparently Sequoia was bought out by a a firm called Smartmatic which is owned by some Venezuelans.
Smells a little fishy to me as it appears to be a real stretch to connect the Venezuelan government to the machines. It seems fairly obvious that this is setting the stage for some future outcry about vote tallies. And it's strange that it comes amid frantic measures to get Diebold machines up and running for the big show on Nov. 7, when a lot of the hard drives and all of the motherboards of Diebold machines are made in China.

2006-10-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Dixie Chicks' movie "Shut Up And Sing" opens this week.
Clearly forgetting their status as Liberal Media, NBC has refused to carry any advertisement for the movie, saying it's policy bans ads dealing with "public controversy."
What a crock of shit. NBC and every other network thrive on controversy because it'll draw viewers and the subsequent ratings. This is purely a political move to deflect criticism of Codpiece and his corrupt criminal cabal before the election cycle. Truly pathetic that a film about free speech gets it's commercials censored.

2006-10-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Two days ago eight conservative print media columnists met with Commander Codpiece in the white house for an hour or so. The fawning media whores of course hung on every word emanating from his piehole while he rambled incoherently for over an hour. If you want to see how a total moron tries to pass himself off as a statesman in a supportive, informal atmosphere, the transcript can be found here.

Some of the lowlights:

Iraq attacked us.

Ramadan causes muslims to be violent.

Only 25% or so of americans want the country out of Iraq.

Iraq + Israel + the crusades + cartoons make people want to kill us.

"Don't write that I'm always trying to put lipstick on the pig."

Well, there are other options.

The Masks Fall

2006-10-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Charles Karel Bouley :

"So this is what it's come to. Republicans are so desperate, so removed from reality, so afraid of losing power, they're now attacking the handicapped. Right wing spokeshole Rush Limbaugh--hillbilly heroine addict and privileged millionaire that avoided any real prosecution for crimes for which an ordinary black kid would be in jail--attacked Michael J. Fox.
Yes, it's horrific, but in a way, it's a good thing. How? Because the curtain is being drawn back each day on these despots, and the faces that Americans are seeing, not Republicans, not Democrats, but Americans are faces of people of no compassion, no moral values, faces of people that try and bed 16 year old kids, faces of people that lie, faces of people that only care about their jobs and not their country.
Rush Limbaugh is a soulless drug addict with no courage, no conviction, a large lump of coal polluted by success and power. He champions a party of bloated individuals, fat on the gristle of mostly lower class kids dying in Iraq, drinking the sweat of the working poor with no health insurance, sipping the blood of the 15-20 million gays and lesbians in this country that they bash at will when campaigns are sagging, a party of neoconservative parasites that have attached themselves to America and won't rest until it is devoid of any real hope or promise."

So Limbacile, you despicable bloated punk, what did Michael J. Fox do that made you verbally assault a guy with a debilitating and terminal disease?

Impending Imbroglio

2006-10-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

This November is shaping up to be interesting indeed.

A lot has been written about how the country is turning away from the republicans and the dems are poised to take back the house after 12 years. And maybe the senate also. With a list of repug scandals and screwups that just keep accumulating, if this were a better world that would seem to be a given. But this isn't that world and the dynamics are shaping up for a lot of chaos next month.

As I've said before the repugs have two choices (well, three, if they choose to cancel the whole thing) on Nov. 7. They can use their classic election day shenanigans and rigged electronic voting machines to fix the vote count. They stole the last three elections and if anyone thinks this one will be cleaner, they're crazy. Or they can admit that the democrats win and hope that they won't be investigated for their many crimes over the years. Even though Pelosi says a democrat controlled house won't impeach there's always the threat of retribution after 12 years of getting kicked around.

The other factor that's in play is the buildup of naval forces near Iran. I think war with Iran is inevitable. It's always been the big prize in the fascist/zionist agenda and it's only a matter of timing. I thought a wider regional war in the middle east was the most important next step for them but now it seems the situation has changed somewhat. As little as a month ago it appeared that they were going to use a new war to keep the repug faction of the overlords in office. The old ~don't change horses in midstream~ metaphor. I think it won't happen like that now. It appears to me the fascists changed their game plan.

Leading up to Nov. 7 they've been very busy. The stock market hit all time highs this year with a little help from mysterious sources. The price of gas is lower than the summer. Fraudulant media reports are trying to convince us that repugs are staging a comeback. The manipulators have cranked up the fear factor. Leading repugs say don't even mention the war. Diebold is set to once again use it's technology to tweak the vote count and irregularities in the system abound. It looks for all the world like there are forces at play to at least convince the voters that everything is just humming along per usual and yep, it's gonna be one of them nip and tuck races.

However, after Foley's Mastergate hit the GOP (Grand Old Perverts) like a body blow, I think they realized their position in this election cycle was in a lot more trouble than it should have been. In more realistic polls they're very far behind, though Rove uses a different math than the rest of us. We're seeing a redoubling of effort to make us think it won't be a blowout. Unlike the last three elections though, this time the fraud will be quite evident when the strange upsets come one after the other in the crucial races, completely contrary to polls.

Here's a prediction. The repugs will pull their election stealing bullshit and the uproar will be enormous in the days following the theft. Contests will be challenged, recounts demanded and chaos will rein supreme and the media will carry the news of one giant clusterfuck that will make Mexico look serene by comparison.

Until a massive war with Iran sweeps it all off the table.

General Ditches Queensbury Rules

2006-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, felt the need to wave his dick at North Korea today during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

"It would be more brute force, wherever we might have to go next, than it would be if we weren't already involved in the war we have going on in Iraq and Afghanistan," Pace said. "Why? Because you need precision intelligence to drop precision munitions. And a lot of our precision intelligence assets are currently being used in the Gulf region. So some of those would not be available if you had to go someplace else."

Translated, that means since the US military is presently being wasted on resistance to it's occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, a lot of people are going to be slaughtered when the neocons get around to Korea. We've ditched any Geneva Convention formalities so when we start flinging those dumb bombs and nukes around y'all better watch your ass, punk.

Of course Pace doesn't want to let on about his top secret weapon on loan from the Village People:

Spot the Terrorist

2006-10-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Take note all you loyal patriots!
The Air Force has an Eagle Eyes Program that instructs us how to recognize terrorists from their suspicious activities. According to them, be on the lookout for the following clues:

"Someone... using binoculars or other vision-enhancing devices."

"... people moving around from place to place without any apparent purpose..."

"... people who seem out of place... as if waiting for something to happen."

"... people in military uniforms (who don't look right)..."

"People who don’t seem to belong in the workplace, neighborhood, business establishment, or anywhere else."

(thanx to Bob Harris)

Pelosi Promises Business As Usual

2006-10-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

Forget all of the impeachable crimes of the bushista mafia. Forget that 9/11 and the subsequent reign of state sponsered terror commandeered by the fascists ever happened. Forget mass murder in Afghanistan and Iraq. Forget the looting of the treasury, the disgrace of Katrina, the constitution shredding.
Representative Nancy Pelosi announced to the nation that as long as her faction of the War Party gets a bigger slice of the pie, the repug mafia will be left alone for another two years.
If there's a clearer message that both parties are two sides of the same rotten coin I've yet to see it.

2006-10-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
40
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Play Acting For The Core Supporters

2006-10-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

So the situation in Codpiece Commander's failed satrapy is disintegrating by the hour and the midterm election cycle is fast approaching. Apparently his handlers thought it best to make Bush look like he's doing something, although his generals probably just posed together for some WTF sessions, but we'll never know:
"The White House did not allow reporters to cover either and provided few details after each, but did release an official photo of Saturday's meeting."

But apparently afraid that his delusional supporters might get the impression that the administration is wimping out, we get repeated droning insistance that we're staying the course no matter how idiotic it is to do so.

Of course they are. It would take an act of Jeebus to dislodge the american military presense from Iraq at this point. The US military is going to be stationed there for the foreseeable future in one manner or another. It ain't going anywhere. The problem is to find a positive spin to the permanent presense in country. Does this numbing insistence on pursuing murderous, shitty policy have some other purpose besides keeping the military in Iraq?

You bet it is. It's to impress the dead-from-the-neck-up troglodytes that the Codpiece and his cabal are resolute, purposeful and unflinching in the face of reality. That no matter how their despicable conquest is collapsing around their expeditionary force's ears, no matter how bloody wrong it was to waste countless lives and treasure, they are sticking to their rotten decision making and that's that. You see, what's important is that Codpiece looks like he's unshakable, not that policy or anything else works. What they're doing is playing to their mouth breathing home audience.

It's a crowd that feeds on the pretense that Bush is a courageous war time commander who never makes a mistake. That eats up those Rovian photo ops and filthy lies about why this war began and how swimmingly it's progressing. Who's world view revolves around faith based psychosis and adoration of authority figures. Who seemingly have an endless capacity for cognitive dissonance.

You know, the Good Germans.

Coverup Continues About Baghdad Ammo Dump Disaster

2006-10-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

The situatiuon in Iraq is taking a disastrous turn for the worse as the last couple of weeks show. The fascists are determined to try to keep the lid on bad news coming out of the country in advance of the upcoming election cycle. This of course is at the expense of our military which has to accept it's losses and it's increasingly precarious position and just shut up about it.

As of October 21 it's reported that 78 US soldiers are dead this month. Of course that's using deceptive accounting and outright lies to minimize the horror. If the fascists are lying about the true number of dead Iraqis then of course they're covering up the numbers of dead and wounded US soldiers. The despicable scum consider the troops to be expendable cannon fodder when they're alive and inconvenient embarrassments when they're dead. Hence the ban on photos of flag draped coffins as our fallen are sneaked back home in the dead of night.

New reports are circulating about the true damage done on the night of Oct. 10 when the Iraqi resistance rocketed and destroyed the ammunitin depot at Camp Falcon some 11 miles south of Baghdad. If you haven't seen the video at the above link I'd urge you to take a look at 4 minutes into it. Then consider this from the military propagandists:

October 12, 2006 by Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Insurgent mortar fire hit an American military ammunition dump late Tuesday night, setting off huge explosions and rattling windows and nerves throughout the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, military and civilian officials said Wednesday.
Tank rounds, artillery shells and small-arms ammunition at the Forward Operating Base Falcon site were ignited by the explosion and subsequent fire, casting an orange glow overnight and into Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported by late Wednesday.

However the reality might be somewhat different:

"When the flames had been brought under control on the morning of the 11th of October, primarily because the entire camp had been gutted, nine large American military transports with prominent Red Cross markings were observed by members of the foreign media taking off, laded with the dead and the wounded.
Over 300 American troops, including U.S. Army and Marines, CIA agents and U.S. translators were casualties and there also were 165 seriously injured requiring major medical attention and 39 suffering lesser injuries 122 members of the Iraqi armed forces were killed and 90 seriously injured members of same, were also evacuated to the U.S. military hospital at al-Habbaniyah located some 70km west of Baghdad.
Satellite pictures and aerial photographs from neutral sources showed that Camp Falcon suffered major structural damage and almost all the U.S. military’s supply of small arms ammunition, artillery and rocket rounds, tons of fuel, six Apache helicopters, an uncounted but large number of soft-skinned vehicles such as Humvees and supply trucks were damaged or totally destroyed. Foreign press observers noted “an endless parade” of military vehicle recovery units dragging burnt-out heavy tanks and armored personnel carriers to another base outside Baghdad."

How much longer?

"I Yam The Antichrist" Johnny Rotten

2006-10-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting thing - the official logo of the republican party has an elephant with stars on it that are invariably pointing down.

As opposed to the american flag, which has stars pointing up.

From a Wiccan/Pagan website:

"The Satanic pentagram is a difficult symbol. It is presented upside-down, or inverted, with a single point facing downward. This glyph was a representation of Black magick, symbolizing the triumph of matter and material desires over the spirit. In modern satanic theology, it is far more likely to represent the individual, or the choice to pursue individual glory or immortality rather than union or absorption- where some traditions advocated the sublimation of the ego, Satanism exalts it. The symbol most commonly associated with satanic practices is the "Sabbatic goat" or Goat of Mendes, often associated with Baphomet, a figure from Templar legend, and Pan, the Greek goat God."

2006-10-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

It's over a week now since two secret service agents yanked a 14 year old girl out of class at school and grilled her about some artwork she posted on MySpace. They must have thought it was a coded message for some sleeper cell to spring into action or something. This is the sinister threat that caused the ss to interrogate her:

Stephan Pearsy at Dissident Voice has more on the teenybopper terrorist plot.

2006-10-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

After a two month hiatus, Riverbend is back online with a new blog entry. She comments on the Lancet report showing over 600,000 Iraqis have died since the Codpiece invaded that country.

"This has been the longest time I have been away from blogging. There were several reasons for my disappearance the major one being the fact that every time I felt the urge to write about Iraq, about the situation, I'd be filled with a certain hopelessness that can't be put into words and that I suspect other Iraqis feel also."

The Pressures of Being a Fascist Prick Are Getting To Him

2006-10-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ready For Another Fraudulent Election?

2006-10-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

There are two inescapable realities with the upcoming Diebold selection process - the bushista regime cannot lose to to the democrats and the Rovian manipulation machine will not let that happen. The evidence is there in the public domain even though the MSM is constantly striving to keep people distracted from it. The last three "election" cycles were corrupted. Anyone who thinks this next one - probably the most important watershed in the history of the country - will be different is insane.

By any measure, most of the country is alienated by the fascist agenda, if not repulsed by it. In a better world the pro war, pro corruption water carriers would be tossed out on their ears. But why won't that happen? Losing control of congress would mean the vast litany of crimes that have been committed since 2000 would be scrutinized and the bushistas might face prosecution and imprisonment. The fascist agenda can't be disrailed at this point, not after going for broke from 9/11 onward, so they'll do what it takes to make sure the perceived outcome is in their favor.

The manipulators have been pretty active lately. Voter rosters have been purged in key states. There's been a lot of speculation that the price of gas dropped recently to make voters a lot more sanguine about the way things are going. That the verdict in Saddam's show trial was scheduled to be announced two days before election day has Rove's fingerprints all over it.
"This is the last full news-cycle day in the U.S. before the elections…and the American public will see Saddam condemned to death and see it as a positive thing."
Then of course they have the always reliable Diebold touch screen machines. And when all else fails they can just make shit up.

Whatever the strategy that our overlords employ, expect confusion and chaos in many places on November 7. The MSM is certainly cranking up the expectations for a huge clusterfuck that day. We always should remember that the manipulators work best in a chaotic environment; it's much easier to hide what they're doing that way.

More eleemosynary observers of this charade would assume that the beleaguered criminals are faced with only two tough choices - rig this election and risk the exposure of outright fraud when the results are so wacked or allow the democrats to take congress with all the danger that entails. But of course these soulless cretins don't think along the same lines we do.
From Billmon:

Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7 -- a concern aggravated by the president's news conference this week.
"They aren't even planning for if they lose," says a GOP insider who informally counsels the West Wing.
U.S. News and World Report Bush Is Said to Have No Plan if GOP Loses October 13, 2006

The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it.
Chris Hedges Does Bush Think War With Iran is Preordained? October 10, 2006

"If I were a Republican, I'd start praying that something happens to take the spotlight away from Iraq and scandals, because this current issue mix is lethal." Charlie Cook

"Will the war gods hear their prayers?"

The End of the Grand Experiment

2006-10-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Start of our long struggle.
The above photo shows traitors attempting today to legislate away our inalienable rights as defined by the constitution.
When our republic is restored these criminals will answer for their crimes.

Kurt Nimmo refers to this disgrace by pointing out a certain boot licking gossip columnist:

"The elimination of habeas corpus, a bedrock right going back to 1215 and the Magna Carta, did not even as much as merit a passing mention on the Drudge Report, probably one of the most popular Republican web sites on the internet.
Instead, if we are to believe Drudge, Republicans are interested Madonna going to Africa and adopting babies. The sanctimonious Hillary, who voted for killing habeas corpus with nary a blink, wearing a small diamond-studded cross warrants an all caps link, but the death of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights does not. And oh, incidentally, Matt Drudge feels it is important you know the mother of Chris Rock was discriminated against at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in South Carolina. All the insipid and meaningless news fit to print, but not a word about the end of our once cherished republic.

"And I agree with him, as I've said before, all the efforts by the contemptible scum have been directed towards consolidating their power and setting the stage for eliminating internal opposition to their takover. If anybody thinks that attempting to discard human rights is directed at suspected Muslim terrorists, think again.

News Blackout on Major Disaster Near Baghdad

2006-10-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Something very ugly happened late tuesday night at an ammunition depot near Baghdad.
A search of the news doesn't bring much up. A few cursory statements, all basically saying the following, tend to minimize what happened:

ContraCostaTimes - U.S. ammo dump explodes in Baghdad
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. ammunition dump on the southeastern edge of Baghdad caught fire late Tuesday, setting off at least a half-dozen thunderous explosions and several smaller ones that rattled windows across the city.
Despite the size of the blasts, no casualties were reported, Spc. Jennifer Fulk, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said early Wednesday. There was no information yet on the cause of the fire, Fulk said."

The exact same report can be found at TrueBlueLiberal, Statesman, McClatchy and other minor news sources, but a search on CNN, CBS, ABC etc turns up nothing.
Reuters has this:
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A fire broke out at an ammunition dump at a U.S. base in southern Baghdad on Tuesday night, causing a series of explosions that rocked the capital, the U.S. military said in a statement. "The explosions are from ammunition "cooking off,"" the military said, adding that it had no immediate reports of U.S. casualties."

Apparently this was a gargantuan series of explosions started by a rocket attack on the arsenal, known as Camp Falcon. The place burned and exploded for six hours. According to the Iraqi Resistance Report from Free Arab Voice:
"The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the arsenal, located in the as-Saqr Base in the south of Baghdad is the main supplier of equipment to the US forces. It came under Resistance rocket attack late on Tuesday night. At the time of reporting, mountains of American arms and ammunition were continuing to explode in the sky in a huge fire unprecedented in Baghdad’s history.
The source admitted that dozens of Americans had been killed or wounded in the blasts that were still ripping the American arsenal apart. The source said that the US forces were unable to do anything to stop the massive inferno of flame and explosions that was lighting up the Baghdad sky like fireworks."

From a news forum:
"General al-‘Ithawi said that the Falcon base was the biggest US arsenal in central Iraq and was the launching point for US military operations. The arsenal contained more than 50 tanks; numerous artillery pieces; a landing strip for Chinook helicopters, some of which were parked there when the place exploded; in addition to armories containing weapons and ammunition. He said that all the buildings and furnishings of the base had been totally destroyed, and the archive records of the US troops was completely wiped out."

Other reports have it that there were massive casualties that required five transport planes for evacuation to hospitals. In any case, this was an unprecedented attack that recieved scant attention by the whoring corporate media determined to keep us in the dark about what's really going on with Bush's little crusade.
I found an Arab news broadcast and uploaded it to YouTube. Bear in mind the base is located 11 miles from Baghdad. Notice at about 3:55 into the film what appears to be a small nuke going off.

Sheeple

2006-10-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Register - Airport to tag passengers

"Airport security chiefs and efficiency geeks will be able to keep close tabs on airport passengers by tagging them with a high powered radio chip developed at the University of Central London.

Airport security chiefs and efficiency geeks will be able to keep close tabs on airport passengers by tagging them with a high powered radio chip developed at the University of Central London.

Colin Brooks, Optag co-ordinator, said the trial would determine if the tags would be feasible in the light of obvious problems, such as the possibility that people might ditch their tags to avoid detection, or swap them with another person.

One solution might be to require people to use their tags to get through gates placed throughout the airport, he said. Perhaps a little like a shepherd might gate off his pasture and check the tags on his sheep as they passed into this field."

2006-10-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Olbermann checks in on the Bill of Rights, that quaint and now obsolete "piece of paper."

Aircraft Slams Into NY High-Rise

2006-10-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

MSNBC - "A small plane piloted by New York Yankees baseball pitcher Corey Lidle slammed into an apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side on Wednesday in an apparent accident that nonetheless reminded nervous New Yorkers of the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

Officials are astounded that the building still stands.

Wait, There's More

2006-10-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

No cut-and-run from Iraq, Bush says.

Bush: "If we were to leave before the job is done, the enemy is coming after us.

"Death Toll of Iraqis Exceeds 600,000, Report Says.

Only 26,074,906 more to go.

Fence Follies

2006-10-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

The idea of putting up a 700 mile fence along the border with Mexico is absolutely insane. For both the house and senate to have voted for this stupidity makes it criminally insane. It seems the votes were strictly for show, to make it look like the lawmakers were actually accomplishing something about immigration reform. The fence will never be built and here's why.

Real immigration reform is like an onion with many layers. It basically is too complex an issue for congress to get together on to make radical changes, so voting on a fence let them off the hook. They knew the vote was only symbolic - right afterword $1.2 billion of the $6 billion in fence money was allowed to go to related stuff which involves homeland security, so you know it's gone.

The proposed barrier would only be on a third of the border leaving about 1,200 miles still wide open.

It wouldn't be just a fence, but would include roads, detention centers and installations, surveillance drones, cameras, radar etc. Logistics for all this boggles the mind.Anybody who thinks it would deter illegals isn't thinking it through. Before the thing is finished there would be holes punched through, tunnels and whatever it would take to get to the other side. Desperate people get very innovative. And since 40% of illegal immigration comes from overstayed visas that would only increase, compounding the problem.

Plus, according to the WaPo:
"Advocates and opponents of the measure said it is not clear that the fence can be built as the bill envisions. The Arizona branch would have to plunge down steep ravines and scale craggy mountain peaks. "This is not Iowa farmland," said Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.). Construction is "going to be near impossible."

Environmental damage would be catastrophic:
"The fence would have a negative effect on everything from the insects that would now be flying around the lights instead of pollinating the cactuses, to the birds that eat them, right up to the large predators like the jaguars," said William Radke, the manager of the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, east of Douglas, Arizona.
Radke said the fence would prevent snakes and turtles, as well as wild turkeys and road runners from crossing. In addition, the bright lights at the top of the tall fence would interfere with birds' ability to navigate by the stars."

After a late night concession to win votes the project has to have input from Indian tribes, congressmen, governors and local pols on a lot of decision making. There's also strong opposition from mexicans.

So it doesn't look like any kind of fence will be built. But it probably allowed the critters to whip up some spiffy campaign ads.

To Reiterate: Al Qaeda = Phony CIA Scare Machine

2006-10-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

When are we going to wake up?

"Al Qaeda" is a mythical booga booga organization that only exists to be used as a weapon by the fascists against the people of America. Apparently not able to find the information in the public domain that proves over and over that we're being lied to on a massive scale, americans choose to stay ignorant and just smile and nod as our country is being destroyed from within.

Repugs and dems are equally responsible for this sham, although the repugs repeatedly vie to be first to lick fascism's boots. AQ now encompasses everything we fear - it's the new and improved communism of the fake cold war period. AQ is this nebulous nightmare that's used as a bludgeon on our heads to keep us in line; if you stray from the fascist agenda it's gonna gitcha.

Recent NY Daily News headline - "Hillary helps Al Qaeda, says her opponent"

"Republican Senate candidate John Spencer accused Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday of "aiding" Al Qaeda with her demand last August that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resign his post over the Iraq War."

So Clinton, who by the way is sickeningly hawkish about Iraq and Afghanistan, wants at least to dump war criminal Von Rumsfeld.

But no, getting rid of a mass murderer really helps a non existent fascist fantasy.

Repeat endlessly.

It's no wonder the propagandists tried calling this planned destruction of our country the idiotic apellation "The Long War". It's not meant to be won, just like the "War on Drugs" was never meant to be won. It's a scam that was set up all through the 80s and 90s and then put into full blown production on 9/11. Since AQ doesn't actually exist, it can be morphed into whatever the propagandists need. Need to instill more fear? Pull a false flag attack and blame AQ. Need to sway an election? Yank a fake video out of your ass and wave it around. Want to create the illusion you're actually doing something? Blow some people up and call them Al Qaeda.

But don't worry about running out of enemies, just make'em up as you go along.

Back on 9/11, it took only minutes after the first plane hit that the corrupted media began chanting Osama and Al Qaeda endlessly. They had to hammer home this lie while we were all in shock and at our most vulnerable. Fascism needed to establish this phony jeremiad to then exploit it mercilessly right up to the present, to install their authoritarian police state.

What's funny, if you can find humor in this sickness, is that according to Alex Jones, the choice of the term Al Qaeda is a little ironic:

"You have heard before that "Al-Qaeda" roughly translates into "the base," but were you aware that "Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is arabic colloquial for "I'm going to the toilet"?

Are they shitting us?

2006-10-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Do you know why the GOP is successful in passing all their legislation?

They're all on the same page.

+++++++

Another flat daddy moment as a cheap cardboard likeness plays with it's child.

Maintaining the 9/11 Fiction

2006-10-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

There's a firestorm brewing around revelations in Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial" that Kindasleazy Rice brushed off CIA chief George Tenet when he worriedly came to her with evidence of impending attacks. She says it never happened, he says he's got documents to prove it. The official fairy tale that the fascists have to stick to is that 9/11 happened out of the blue and no one saw it coming. Or as Justin Raimondo at Antiwar put's it:
"An odd apologia indeed: We're clueless, therefore blameless."

On the face of it it just seems like more denial from the usual pack of liars, but I have real problems with narratives like these. Fleshing out the official storyline about Black Tuesday, you always get to the Al Qaeda subtext, where a shadowy international terrorist group planned and carried out 9/11. Maintaining that fiction is the core of the big lie that surrounds what happened five years ago. Hell, it's the chief ingredient of the toxic fascist stew that we're being force fed today.

The propagandists are very careful to make it seem as if there are conflicts between factions in the government while buttressing that Al Qaeda mythology. We've been led down these blind alleys with a series of small revelations that big media makes a huge fuss over, but which turn out to be nothing more that deliberate red herrings. Rather than a watchdog press, we have a completely corrupted administration megaphone.
Clinton's supposed reluctance to strike at Osama was the centerpiece of the recent ABC/Disney propaganda flick "The Path to 9/11". Lots of squawking and jawboning back and forth ensued after that execrable garbage as to who was a more macho terrist fighter, Bush or Clinton, but again the Al Qaeda superstitions were reinforced in the public arena.

Osama Bin Laden was always a CIA asset, acting according to a script throughout the nineties leading up to 9/11. On that day I was struck about 10 in the morning, with the TV on and while furiously surfing around and saving initial reports, by the realization that the media was pounding home the prepared, official lie that Osama was behind what we were seeing. His name was chanted endlessly from then on to strengthen the belief that we were under attack from outside forces. They used their precious window of our vulnerability to plant the disinformation that enables the fascists to continue with their aganda.

But the propagandists have to re-inject us with the terrorist myth, so we've seen plenty of false flag attacks and phony booga booga. The only international terrorist organizations extant are the ones set up and maintained by spook agencies a la the CIA/Mossad/M15 nexus. Look at it like how the drug war, that other counterfeit farce, is played. Sure, there may be a few bit players here or there, but the real cartels and heavy hitters are the government agencies with their unlimited resources, and they don't put up with any competition.

So when controversy swirls around some minor aspect of 9/11, or who said what to whom, or when which people knew whatever, the basic pretext of Al Qaeda is never touched. As a matter of fact because of it's a priori existence it's integrity, along with the veracity of the whole fraudulent 9/11 fairy tale, is strengthened. The bogus reasons for what happened that day are cemented a little deeper in people's minds especially since it's receding into the past. And the real perpetrators are breathing a whole lot easier.