Guy Who Helped Pastor Ted Blow His Career Pens A Tell All

I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard's Fall
"For almost three years, a man named "Art" came to see Mike Jones, an escort, at least once a month. With time, the relationship deepened, including sexual experimentation as well as sincere conversation. Like many of Jones' closeted clients in the clergy or the military, Art revealed his vulnerabilities as he struggled with his true desire for sexual contact and emotional involvement with a man.
One day, Jones recognized Art preaching hate on a religious cable channel. He soon discovered that Art was actually the Reverend Ted Haggard, who, as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, influenced the daily lives of thirty million followers, advocating virulently against gay rights and same-sex unions, with direct access to White House policymakers."

2006 was a bad year for religeous hypocrites. Not too many people know that Pastor Ted wasn't the only screeching wacko that resigned in disgrace because of personal peccadillos. There must be something inherent in xtian fundamentalism that attracts men who are trying to flee the scourge of inner demons.
Just a few weeks after PT resigned in disgrace from New Life Church a youth leadership minister named Christopher Beard of New Life was kicked out because of 'sexual misconduct' with an anonymous person of undetermined gender. Another Colorado flock fleecer, a Rev. Paul Barnes, resigned last December after admitting to his homosexuality. Yet another one in December named Pastor Paul Williams out of Memphis was "forced to take a leave while a church committee investigates charges that Williams sexually molested a family member 17 years ago."

What makes Haggard's situation and Jones' book extremely important is not only the fact that a deeply conflicted man had the ears of the country's policymakers but that his crashing fall from grace helped swing a national election. My take on last November was that the Rovian fix was in and vote counts in crucial precincts were flipped at a certain percentage. But fixing an election like that takes time; the machines were tweaked perhaps months in advance to what they felt was a believable, winning amount of votes. Crusader against child abuse Congressman Foley and especially Pastor Ted dominated the news just before people went to the polls, creating enough of a backlash against hypocritical republican types that it was even more of an avalanch for democrats, putting many of them over the top.

So Jones' tale of Haggard coming to terms with who he really was and the subsequent firestorm that erupted might be interesting reading. From an interview at Nerve:
"According to the book, with Ted, it seemed like there was a progression - at first, he was really shy and reticent, but the more often he saw you, the kinkier he got.
Especially when he started doing meth."

Mexican Land Grab

Since last October when Sockpuppet signed a bill into law mandating a so called security fence along the border with Mexico, opposition to the boondoggle has only gotten stronger:

"Elected officials and civic leaders along the 900-mile Texas-Mexico border are fuming over what they consider a patronizing and devious planning process to build 153 miles of security fence in the state.
And they worry about the impact the fence will have on the environment; the flow of trade and relationship with Mexico; and the system of levees that control flooding in the Rio Grande Valley. In Hidalgo County, the plan calls for fencing atop the flood-control levees that are already in "serious need of repair," said Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas III."

The scheme is pure idiocy - poorly thought out emotion driven garbage championed by asshat Repug dolts who think bisecting a college campus would be a Good Thing to show the folks they care about national welfare. It was all just for show before the last election cycle, an expensive symbolic gesture of very simple minded solutions to a very complex situation. Most of the money allocated for the project is going to stolen anyway because the congress gave the Bushistas leeway to spend it as they wished. And basically it can't be built what with mounting local fury and some truly mind boggling logistics.

A taste for what's in store if and when they try erect this flapdoodle can be found at Columbus, NM, where a few miles of a simple five foot high car barrier mistakenly stole Mexican territory:

"It is very difficult to make a straight line between two points in rugged and mountainous areas that are about two miles apart."

Now think a distance equivalent to between D.C. and Florida, with steep ravines and craggy mountain peaks. Those people in Columbus must still be worried about Pancho Villa.

"Al Qaeda" Learning Curve Sucks

When the government pulled off 9/11 they wanted us to believe we faced a powerful and implacable foe filled with hatred of anything american and capable of defeating a multi trillion dollar defensive shield. Of course a stand down order from Dick Cheney didn't hurt, but Al Qaeda, according to the damage done and all the bloviating brownshirts, was such a force to be reckoned with that we were impelled to turn our republic into an authoritarian police state.

The brownshirts will tell you there hasn't been another 9/11 because of all the draconian measures and due diligence exercised by our overseers and their minions. The real reason is we haven't gotten to the right timing for the fascists to pull off another massive false flag attack to further their agenda for full control, likely to happen just prior to war with Iran and Syria.

But we fluoridated hoi polloi don't have no lengthy attention span let alone any kind of long term memory so our masters felt the need to remind us about Osama and his death machine. From time to time they stage laughable events and play tapes for us and generally try to inject that good old 9/11 fear and outrage they fed from of like starving vultures. Rounding up some patsies that can't tie their shoes without help, setting off a bomb or two here and there and resorting to battling sippy cup terrorism is supposed to reduce us to quivering bowls of jello, fearfully begging them to save us from the Dreaded Al Qaeda menace.

But a couple of gallons of gas and some nails? Sometimes I think the spooks at Langely and M15 get bored with their invented terror plots.

Bald Eagles No Longer Endangered, U.S. Says

National symbol makes a comeback

Challenger, a bald eagle, was released today during an event with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, center, marking the removal of the bald eagle from the endangered species list.

"June 28 — Bald eagles, whose numbers dwindled to historic lows in the early 1960s, are once again flourishing and no longer need the protections of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced today."

Vice President Dick Cheney takes advantage of the newly designated species and bags Challenger on the second shot.

Bushistas Set Up Constitutional Rumble

Memo to congress - grow a sac

"WASHINGTON - President Bush, in a constitutional showdown with Congress, claimed executive privilege Thursday and rejected demands for White House documents and testimony about the firing of U.S. attorneys.
His decision was denounced as "Nixonian stonewalling" by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
(...)
White House press secretary Tony Snow weighed in with unusually sharp criticism of Congress. He accused Democrats of trying "to make life difficult for the White House. It also may explain why this is the least popular Congress in decades, because you do have what appears to be a strategy of destruction, rather than cooperation."

Memo to Snow - you're a lying weasel. Congress' numbers are down because they've bent over and let your slimy bosses have their way with them. Their numbers are down because most people have had enough of your fascist shit and want an end to it. Capice?

The Jets are in gear, Our cylinders are clickin'!
The Sharks'll steer clear 'Cause ev'ry Puerto Rican's a lousy chicken!
Here come the Jets Like a bat out of hell.
Someone gets in our way, Someone don't feel so well!
Here come the Jets: Little world, step aside! Better go underground, Better run, better hide! We're drawin' the line, So keep your noses hidden!
We're hangin' a sign, Says "Visitors forbidden" And we ain't kiddin'!
Here come the Jets, Yeah! And we're gonna beat Ev'ry last buggin' gang On the whole buggin' street!
On the whole! Ever! Mother! Lovin'! Street! Yeah!

Maybe.

How To Lose The Pet Owners

Treat the family dog like a piece of dirty luggage

"Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.
Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it.
The ride was largely what you'd expect with five brothers, ages 13 and under, packed into a wagon they called the ''white whale.''
As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.
As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management."

One wonders if Seamus ended the trip terrified, shivering, and half dead.

Update on Caninegate - offhand remarks made to explain the story only make it worse.
"The Associated Press described it this way: "Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack. When Romney's eldest son, Tagg, and his four brothers complained about the brown runoff down the back windshield, their father quietly pulled the car over, borrowed a gas station hose and sprayed down both the dog and the kennel before returning to the road."
(...)
For the record, Romney said Thursday that his dog liked being on the roof. "He scrambled up there every time we went on trips," he said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, the AP reported."

It only makes what he did worse. Some sentiments had it that the dog shit on the roof out of fright and Romney wants to blame it on diarrhea. So now he's putting an obviously sick animal in fierce winds on the highway after soaking it with gas station water. And since the dog knew it had to get up on the roof that meant Romney did this all the time.
You know, there's a certain public figure who stuck firecrackers in frogs' asses and didn't think there was anything wrong with that...

Forty Years Of Overdraw Penalties

Cash machines are 40 years old

"The first one opened on June 27 1967, outside a branch of Barclays bank in Enfield, north London.
Comedy actor Reg Varney made the first transaction, withdrawing a £10 note in front of the small crowd that had gathered to witness the event.
By the end of the decade there were 781 cash machines across the world, with 595 in the UK alone.
The inventor of the cash machine, John Shepherd Barron, said he struck upon the concept after being confronted with a shut door at his local bank.
Mr Shepherd Barron said: "I remember back in 1965 that I would always take money out of my bank on a Saturday morning.
"However, one Saturday I was one minute late at my bank and it was closed. I had to ask my local garage to cash my cheque.
"That night I started thinking that there must be a better way to get cash when I wanted it."
(...)
The reach of ATM has even gone as far as the South Pole - a machine at the remote McMurdo station serves a small permanent team of Antarctic scientists"

Just in time for a financial crisis too. Even a depression?

Lots Of Attention For Kid Who Takes O'Really To The Woodshed

from Radar
"Bill O'Reilly is in his element when it comes to badgering the children of 9/11 victims, accusing kidnapping victims of enjoying their captivity, and anything involving loofahs or falafels. But put him in front of an affable and articulate 16-year-old, and he turns to mush.

(...)

As for what it's like being the kid who put a hurting on Bill O'Reilly, Lange says he is getting "a couple hundred Facebook requests a day" and letters from college professors, "just asking me to consider their schools when I apply to college."

Criminy, Impeach The Scum

And that's being lenient.

"The vice president has run utterly amok and must be stopped.
Under Dick Cheney, the office of the vice president has been transformed from a tiny acorn into an unprecedented giant oak. In grasping and exercising presidential powers, Cheney has dulled political accountability and concocted theories for evading the law and Constitution that would have embarrassed King George III."


swiped from Blah3

If This Had Been An Actual Emergency...

Goof sends presidential alert code over the air, hijacking Illinois radio and TV transmissions

"In the parlance of the Cold War era that spawned the federally mandated Emergency Alert System, launch codes were issued throughout Illinois on Tuesday morning, automatically pre-empting dozens of radio and television stations as if the region faced nuclear annihilation.
(...)
Compounding the error, an actual presidential code, minus any audio explanation, was sent rather than a lesser alert or a notification of a systems test of some kind."

Accidental test run of the upcoming raison d'être for war with Iran?

Giuliani Fired Snow Blower South Carolina Chairman, Hires His Racist Dad

It looks like Adolph and his campaign decision making team are aren't doing a very good job deciding on personnel. I still think Giuliani will be tagged by the powers that be for the White House, mainly for the excellent job he did covering up for the 9/11 perpetrators. But his campaign is stumbling around pretty good at this point.

His SC chair who resigned was fired for cocaine possession with intent to distribute and is being replaced with his 80 year old father who in the past, well, stuck his racist foot in his mouth:

"On October 18, 2006 The Post and Courier of Charleston, SC wrote " Arthur Ravenel Jr., who is running for an East Cooper seat on the board, caught flack 16 years ago when he was in Congress and made a comment about white committee chairmen who operated on 'black time,' which he said meant fashionably late."
As recently as January 2000, the Post and Courier reported in an article headlined "Ravenel stepped outside 'civility,'" that Ravenel called the NAACP the "National Association For Retarded People."

Some stupid remarks by some old Carolina cracker shouldn't be damaging to Giuliani except that he comes on the heels of his snowmeister son's run in wth the law. Not too awful smart to pick the guy.

Another blow to the campaign, so to speak, is the continuing blame for 9/11 first responder illness that former environmental protection agency honcho Christine Whitman is flinging at Adolph. She's testifying at a congressional hearing, maintaining that it was up to the mayor to force the workers at ground zero to wear respirators. As far as that goes, they're both lying shitbags as the pressure was on everybody that day to, as they say, maintain an air of normalcy and get Wall Street up and running as fast as possible, and they both knew that breathing those toxins was going to make people sick. This is one issue that may really dog Giuliani, snapping at his backside. Oh yeah - and that child molesting buddy of his doesn't help either.

I still think today that all those corrupt touch screen vote machines will flip over to him next selection, but if crap like this keeps popping up then our overlords might go with some other stooge that sits a little better with the hoi polloi.

Number of Americans Who Believe Saddam-9/11 Tie Rises To 41 %

"A new Newsweek poll out this weekend exposed "gaps" in America's knowledge of history and current events.
Perhaps most alarmingly, 41% of Americans answered 'Yes' to the question "Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?"
That total is actually up 5 points since September 2004."

"People Should Know When They Are Conquered" Quintus-"Gladiator"

US military prepares Fallujah-style bloodbath in Iraqi city of Baqubah

"A huge US offensive codenamed “Operation Arrowhead Ripper” is underway in the Iraqi city of Baqubah, as part of extensive American operations aimed at suppressing insurgent groups in Baghdad and areas to the north and south of the capital. US troops, backed by armoured vehicles, artillery, helicopter gunships and warplanes, have sealed off the city of 300,000. The action recalls the murderous November 2004 assault on Fallujah in which much of the population fled and large sections of the town were levelled."

It's necessary to remember just what the occupiers did to the city of Fallujah and it's inhabitants to understand what they're about to do again.

"Although studiously ignored by the mainstream news media, last month came reports that the U.S. used napalm and chemical weapons in its assault upon the city of Fallujah. The assault of November 2004 resulted in the near-total destruction of the city, as well as the deaths of thousands of non-insurgent Iraqi civilians." Fallujah: Dresden in Iraq

"During our stay in Fallujah, American snipers controlled a part of the city, which we called the ‘ghost area’. Everything that moved became a target and even ambulances weren’t spared." A young Iraqi doctor testifies

"Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.
Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city." US forces 'used chemical weapons'

"Burhan Fasa'a, a freelance cameraman working for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), witnessed the first eight days of the fighting. "I saw cluster bombs everywhere and so many bodies that were burnt, dead with no bullets in them," he said. "So they definitely used fire weapons, especially in Jolan district." 'I treated people who had their skin melted'

"A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact "– Mohamad Tareq, a Fallujah resident

"We are enveloping the enemy into a kill sack."

We Aren't From Here

I don't know why I didn't hear of this before now and I don't know why it affects me the way it does, but it seems we're probably from a different galaxy than the Milky Way.

"We are from another galaxy in the process of joining with the Milky Way. The Milky Way is actually not our parent galaxy. The mystery of why the Milky Way has always been sideways in the night sky has never been answered -- until now.

Scientists have calculated that the solar sysem was originally in the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy or SagDEG which was captured by the Milky Way and has been orbitting it for billions of years.

"Sagittarius Dwarf is now so stretched out that it has lost gravitational hold and cohesiveness to our solar system and we will finally join the "sideways in the sky" Milky Way for the first time in our history. Our solar system is apparently going to finally take a right angle turn for the first time in history and start going around in the Milky Way whirlpool."



The path and inclination of the solar system always caused problems for astronomers but this new model neatly ties things up.

"Our solar system is travelling in a different direction to the rest of the Milky Way, scientists say.
When they used radio signals from two spacecraft nearing interstellar space to map the route, they had some unexpected results.
The researchers determined that the magnetic field in interstellar space is propelling our solar system along at a 60-90° angle to the rest of the galaxy."

A Most Interesting Video

It seems there's still a lot more to uncover about Black Tuesday.

SEPTEMBER CLUES part5

See parts 1 to 4

Seen at Total Information Analysis

Repeat A Lie Often Enough...

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing it. You know, the "wiping Israel off the map" crap. I just heard it yet again from some joker on Coast to Coast and I turned the radio off. What makes this myth so ugly is that it's being used ad nauseum by warmongering idiots as a casus belli for killing millions of Iranians. It's waved in our faces time and again to prove Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to kill jews.

And it's bullshit. First from Arash Norouzi at Antiwar:

"So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi:
"Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."
That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "regime." pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime occupying Jerusalem).
So this raises the question.. what exactly did he want "wiped from the map"? The answer is: nothing. That's because the word "map" was never used. The Persian word for map, "nagsheh" is not contained anywhere in his original Farsi quote, or, for that matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase "wipe out" ever said. Yet we are led to believe that Iran's president threatened to "wipe Israel off the map." despite never having uttered the words "map." "wipe out" or even "Israel."

He goes on to say that the stupid quote is actually a quote unto itself - having first been uttered by the late Ayatollah Khomenei.

So how did Ahmadinejad's speech get so thoroughly mangled?
Let's go to Kurt Nimmo at Another Day in the Empire:

"As we have known for some time now, MEMRI, short for the Middle East Media Research Institute, specializes in disinformation by distorting translations of film and print media stories originating in Arabic, Iranian and Turkish media. In essence, what MEMRI does is change the context of news stories by way of mistranslation and excision. Call it MEMRI loss, the deliberate mangling of media."

According to Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Washington Times: "Memri's intent is to find the worst possible quotes from the Muslim world and disseminate them as widely as possible."

From the Information Clearing House:

"Memri just happens to be owned by two right-wing neo-con Israelis: Meyrav Wurmser, the wife of one of Dick Cheney’s aides (and ex-special assistant to ‘Strap-on’ John Bolton), David Wurmser and former(?) Israeli Military Intelligence officer, Colonel Yigal Carmon. Indeed a look at Wikipedia’ s incomplete staff list seems to suggest a heavy Israeli bias in staffing and at least two more ex-Israeli Military Intelligence people."

That's why you constantly hear "wiped off the map."

More Bad Ad Placement

Just found this morning by Mrs. Lipstick:

a little further down:

Collected from various sites.

2007 Ugliest Dog Crowned

Meet Elwood from Jersey.

No Porn Or Booze If You're An Aborigine

"Pornography and alcohol will be banned for Aborigines in Australia's Northern Territory, the country's prime minister, John Howard, announced today, after a report found that "rivers of grog" were leading to rampant child abuse."

It's not only a simple ban on things but a draconian police state system put into place. Troops and police are going to invade and sieze control of many indigenous settlements all across the Northern Territory. Strict controls are going to be placed on welfare with non compliance to new laws meaning cessation of payments. The government is basically turning back the clock to the 1800s with white 'administrative' control over the aboriginal camps and reservations. It's all being done supposedly for the kids, but there won't be any new funds allocated for social services.

"He made no apology for overriding NT laws to implement his plans, saying protecting children of tender ages was more important than constitutional niceties."

Where have we heard that shit before.

I'd like to see how long a booze ban would last in white neighborhoods.

See the movie "Rabbit - Proof Fence" for a representation of how the Australian govenment wants to care for aboriginal children.

GOP Aides Not Very Helpful

McCain aide pisses off Mormons
"The campaign of Senator John McCain is now apologizing for anti-Mormon remarks made by one of its key organizers in Iowa. According to the Boston Globe, one of McCain's Iowa County Chairman: -Questioned whether Mormons are Christians - Alleged that the LDS Church helps fund Hamas, a terrorist organization - Compared the Mormons treatment of women to that of the Taliban."

Brownback aide pisses them off too
"WASHINGTON -- An aide to GOP presidential candidate Sam Brownback has been reprimanded for sending e-mail to Iowa Republican leaders in an apparent attempt to draw unfavorable scrutiny to rival Mitt Romney's Mormonism."

Giuliani prefers professional pedophile prevaricator
"Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests."

(Oh yeah, and that other guy with the blow.)

Romney aide has cop fetish
"State Police are investigating one of Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe.
In 2004, the Globe reported, Garrity was cited and fined for driving a Crown Victoria with red and blue lights mounted in the grill, a siren, a PA system, and strobe lights; and for having a nightstick and identification showing a State Police patch that read "Official Business."

(And, um, that finance chairman of his.)

Flailing False Flag Fascists Flaunt Flesh

So Ambassador Bernard's "shitty little country" is resorting to half naked young women to fight it's ugly reputation to attract tourist money. Why am I not surprised that Israel feels the need to dangle tits to sweeten it's rotten image?
Even the military angle is patently phony. Most Israeli women do a compulsory two years in the military anyway so it's like Playboy doing a spread on the "Girls of Earth."


can you say cheese? Say it!

Third Carrier Group On Way To Persian Gulf

And we all know what that means.

"The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran."

This ain't no party,
this ain't no disco
this ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing,
or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now Life During Wartime

It's pretty easy to see what's going on, and just as it has for decades the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians could be the driving force behind larger events in the middle east.

When Israeli Prime Minister Olmert huddled with his fellow war criminals in Washington the final plans were put in place and cooporation was essential between the participants. In fact all the principal players in the region are hobnobbing at a furious pace. All of the autocratic governments under the zionist sway will meet in Egypt on Sunday. Hamas is going to be dealt with in a brutal and decisive manner since they secured all of the Gaza Strip. Whether a Gaza invasion will coincide with their agenda of a wider war throuout the middle east remains to be seen, but the zionists will not allow Hamas to consolidate their position within the midst of Israel. Likud psycho Bibi Netanyahu all but told CNN yesterday that Gaza is toast:

"I think ultimately, to resolve the Palestinian problem we'll have to have a regional component. We'll have to have Egypt help in Gaza once the Hamas rule is terminated and we'll have to have Jordan help with the West Bank," Netanyahu told CNN."

This has the possibility of turning into a major war crime of terrible intensity. It could be Israel's final solution in their long and brutal subjugation of the palestinian people and likely will drag in other countries with fighting and streams of desperate refugees. The arrival of the Enterprise carrier group could be just a warning to other forces in the middle east to back off, or it could be another stage in the preperation to redraw the borders of the whole area according to the zio/fascist wet dreams.

Another Nation Joins The Nuclear Club

Liechtenstein Successfully Tests Teeny Tiny Nuclear Bomb

Pox Noise Taken To The Woodshed

Joseph Amann and Tom Breuer, authors of "Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly", have a book out now that's going to be my summer reading list for sure.
"Fair and Balanced, My Ass!: An Unbridled Look at the Bizarre Reality of Fox News" is certain to be good fun.

"But Fox can be frustrating, too, because its employees are so unswervingly dedicated to denying their true nature. If your local weatherman dressed up as a Viking every day, called himself Hjørt Bjornsen, and told you there was a 60 percent chance of snow flurries and a 30 percent chance that Thor would rain fire and canned hummus from the sky during midmorning rush hour -- all the while claiming he absolutely was not dressed as a Viking -- eventually it would stop being cute. That's essentially what it feels like to be sane and reasonably intelligent and tuned in to Fox News. It's hard to look away, because there's a guy on TV making a complete ass of himself while saying obviously untrue things. But it would be nice to get the forecast every once in a while."

Why I Won't Be Flying Anytime Soon

Long lines, petty regulations, surly goons, cramped seats, shitty food, worn out equipment, what's not to like?

Computers go haywire
"CHICAGO - A computer malfunction at United Airlines halted all departures systemwide for two hours Wednesday, forcing the delay or cancellation of nearly 300 flights, the carrier said."

Make sandwiches, become a terrorist
"DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist."

SFO nightmare -- 400 stuck on plane 7 hours
"We sat there three hours before they said anything," said Mark Valenta, a newlywed for whom the flight was to have been the start of a dream honeymoon to Asia. "Then the PA system went down, the lights were going on and off, babies were crying. It was a nightmare."
And it lasted the entire night."

Proliferation of sippy - cup terrorism
"The incident started when Monica, who left the Secret Service to raise a family, was stopped while going through airport security because there was water in her son's sippy cup."

Toilets overflow, shit runs down aisle of trans - Atlantic flight

"I've never felt so offended in all my life. I felt like I had been physically abused and neglected. I was forced to sit next to human excrement for seven hours," said Brock."
update - "A passenger told Seattle television station KING that sewage flowed into the aisles, only one restroom was partially working, and flight attendants kept serving meals but told passengers not to eat much. He called it the worst flight of his life.
Messing, the spokesman for Houston-based Continental, said in a statement, "We deeply regret the serious inconvenience to our customers and are apologizing to them and compensating them for the poor conditions on the flight as well as the diversion and delay."

Have a bag of peanuts and an extra barf bag.

Bad Ad Placement

Seen at the Mystery Link section of Unknown News

Halliburton Paved Over Babylon

So what does the military do?
Hand out decks of cards.

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is sending another deck of playing cards to troops in Iraq — this time showing some of the country's most precious archaeological sites instead of the most-wanted former regime officials.
Some 40,000 new decks of playing cards will be sent to troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan — as part of an awareness program so troops can help preserve the heritage of those countries, said Laurie Rush, archaeologist at Fort Drum in New York."

One might be cynical and suggest that it's just another propaganda ploy to make it seem like the military actually gives a shit, or at worst it's a guideline to help the soldiers identify what stuff is best to pocket. In any event it's a tad late to put a smiley face on what actually happened in Iraq:

"The report, drafted by Dr. John Curtis – one of the world's leading archeologists – documents that the military base, built and overseen by Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, jeopardized what is often referred to as the "mother of all archeological sites." Helicopter landing places and parking lots for heavy vehicles caused substantial damage to the Ishtar Gate, one of the most famous monuments from antiquity. U.S. military vehicles crushed 2,600 year old brick pavement, archeological fragments were scattered across the site, trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists."

I kid you not, the honcho who was in charge of the devastation says the site had to be destroyed in order to save it:

"Col Coleman argues that whatever his troops did, the alternative would have been far worse.
If they hadn't moved in, Babylon would have been left at the mercy of looters, he says."


arab women point out non targets

Rudy!

Adolph says screw Iraq, show me the money
"WASHINGTON -- Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.
(...)
Giuliani failed to show up for a pair of two-day sessions that occurred during his tenure, the sources said -- and both times, they conflicted with paid public appearances shown on his recent financial disclosure. Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million."


Giuliani's South Carolina state chairman Charged With Cocaine Distribution


Adolph kisses war criminal butt
"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with front-running US presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani in New York on Monday to discuss the current situation in the Middle East."


Firefighters despise Adolph
"Some still speak bitterly about a contract that left firefighters without a raise for two years. Some also say Mr. Giuliani has exaggerated the role he played after the terrorist attacks, casting himself as a hero for political gain. The harshest sentiments stem from Mr. Giuliani’s decision nearly two months after 9/11 to reduce the number of firefighters who were allowed to search for colleagues in the rubble."


New York mayor leaves GOP, says he's disgusted to be in same party as Giuliani

Swarthy Hordes Are Coming To Kill You

Exclusive: Suicide Bomb Teams Sent to U.S., Europe
Wait a minute, hmmm, haven't we heard variations on this theme before? That's right...

Libyan Hit squads Dispatched to the US

A Commie Sanctuary 'Two Days Drive From Texas'

Watch Out! Here Comes The Iranian EMP!

That Globetrotting Cuban Menace

Attack Of Saddam's Poison Killer Drones

Real Life "Midnight Express" Dude Visits Turkey To Apologize

"ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Billy Hayes, whose ordeal in a Turkish prison was adapted into the 1978 Academy Award-winning movie «Midnight Express,» said Friday he wanted to make amends for the damage the film had caused Turkey. The Hollywood drama about an American imprisoned and brutalized in Turkey after being caught for drug smuggling has long tarnished Turkey's image abroad. The film was adapted from Hayes' book of the same name."

First I have to say I like this movie a whole lot. Alan Parker directed a stellar cast in a truly terrifying movie that even with repeated viewings gets your pulse racing at the airport scene. John Hurt, Bo Hopkins, a young Randy Quaid, Mike Kellen and especially Brad Davis do a great job.

The film also has one of the most notoriously racist depictions of an entire culture that was ever made. The only non humorous picture that even comes close is the execrable "Not Without My Daughter" from 1991 starring Sally Field. In that one muslims in general and Iranians in particular get the ugly treatment. In ME the Turks are portrayed as unredeemably slovenly, cruel and sadistic, with the advance screenplay probably being the reason why the Turkish government refused to allow it to be made in their country. It was instead filmed in Malta and production was so offhandedly flippant that Maltese dialogue was supposed to pass for Turkish.

The real life Billy Hayes admitted years after his experience that the film went over the top. A lot of it was made up out of thin air for dramatic effect which is why Turkey objected to it so vociferously and Hayes decided to go there to apologize. By the way, he stupidly tried to smuggle his hashish at a time when airports were locked down due to threats of a terror attack, possibly from the Kurds who might be at war with Turkey any minute now.

Trivia:

A piece of the score is used as the "Coast to Coast" theme music.

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First movie to win an Oscar for "Best Original Score" featuring a totally synthesized music score.

Both Richard Gere and John Travolta were considered for the part of Billy Hayes.

In an attempt to really get into character, John Hurt stopped bathing for most of the 53-day schedule and reeked so badly in time, most of his colleagues avoided being close to him.

The scene in which Brad Davis' character bites out the tongue of a fellow inmate upset the crew so much that they all walked off the set, leaving Alan Parker to shoot it with his two actors. For the scene, Davis carried a pig's tongue around in his mouth.

Invasion Fig Leaf Folds Tent

United Nations may officially end search for Iraq's illicit weapons

"In October 2004, the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group found that Saddam had destroyed his stockpiles of illicit weapons just months after the Persian Gulf war in 1991, as he had maintained all along."

It was always a joke to the scumbags.

Try Them All For War Crimes

Then let the Iraqis have them. Go read Seymour Hersh's article in the New Yorker about criminals who know nothing and their treatment of a true patriot.

I had an argument at work when the Abu Ghraib filth was revealed back when. Some repug bought the propaganda that it was all just a few overly zealous underlings who tortured the Iraqi prisoners. To me, studying the fascists' modus operandi, it was quite obvious that what was going on was known up and down the chain of command, and that they were invoking the old 'deniability' and the well worn 'out of the loop' routines. Just like everything else in their bizarro universe, the situation was exactly the opposite. These are the most controlling, manipulative machiavellian thugs in history who have a fetish for knowing every fucking thing they can about everything. They try to leave absolutely nothing to chance.

For any of these scumbags to claim ignorance is laughable in the extreme.

Don't want to read the lengthy article? Go watch Hersh get medieval on the liars.

From Hiroshima To Iraq, 61 Years Of Uranium Wars

A suicidal, genocidal, omnicidal course

"With little awareness in the global community, the global ruling elite have carried out three continuous and overlapping secret nuclear wars since the end of World War II, with atmospheric testing, nuclear power plants and depleted uranium weaponry. Nuclear technologies certainly meet their depopulation policy goals and, at the same time, the maximization of profits – since they own the uranium sources needed for nuclear fuel and have vested interests in nuclear energy.
There are also ties to pharmaceutical companies, which further their goals of maximizing profits. They get paid to make the mess, they get paid to clean it up and they get paid to treat the illnesses they caused. It is repeat business – extreme capitalism at its best."

The Best Music Festival Ever

Forty years ago this weekend the greatest music jamboree in history was put together mainly by John and Michelle Phillips of Momas & Papas fame and held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in California. It became the prototype rock festival - Woodstock copied it's format - and it happened only once. Nothing like it had ever happened before, and in my opinion, since.

Younger people might not recognize the names who performed there, but most of them were giants in the music business or about to become legends. It's even remarkable for who were going to show up but didn't - Donovan, the Beach Boys, Captain Beefheart. It was non profit with the money going to charity.

There's an astounding documentary movie called The Complete Monterey Pop Festival which has to be seen to be believed. It's just jaw dropping in a lot of ways. Not only did the artists put on a really good show but it's a wonderful slice of americana with the camera examining the crowd as well as the performers. Some of them had never gotten a venue like this before and made the most of their appearance. This was the legendary occasion when Pete Townshend of The Who and Jimi Hendrix almost got into a fight as to who would follow who onstage. Townshend won the coin toss but Hendrix, appearing for the first time in america after success in europe, gave such a hot performance that his guitar burned up. (With help from a little lighter fluid.)

You'll want to crank the volume on this one.

Manufacturing Crises "R" Us

There was a terrific book that came out in the mid eighties by a former Wall Street Journal reporter named Jonathan Kwitny called "Endless Enemies: Americas Worldwide War Against Its Own Best Interests." It's a fascinating expose of how the fascists operate in world affairs summed up in it's subtitle "The Making Of An Unfriendly World."

Our authoritarian state loves it's enemies and strives to create and support them to justify egregious acts and keep people duly afraid and submissive. That's the way authoritarian states work. Of course this is completely opposite what the country is supposed to stand for and what emanates from politicians pieholes, but just a cursory glance at real history shows this time after time. Filthy MSM outlets perpetuate the lie that this country is always caught by surprise as it lurches from crisis to crisis. In reality america manipulates events into bloody confrontations because there's profit to be had from chaos. Lots of profit.

I was reminded of Kwitny's book by an essay at Antiwar called "Bush Faces Crises from Palestine to Pakistan"
It tells the trail of woes throughout the middle east and south asia as flashpoints erupt and anger swells at US foreign policy. It fails to fully address the real problem which is the actual intent to have things turn out in horrible ways, and relies on false assumptions like this paragraph about our favorite bogeymen:
"al-Qaeda today is a global operation – with a well-oiled propaganda machine based in Pakistan, a secondary but independent base in Iraq, and an expanding reach in Europe," wrote Bruce Riedel, a former high-level Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst, in Foreign Affairs magazine last month."
Well he oughta know, "Al Qaeda", that CIA front organization, that shadowy omnipotent threat that pops up at the most propitious times to further the fascist agenda, is doing very well because it's so useful to our overlords. It's newest incarnation is in sub sahel Africa where a massive secret military force and their proxies are busy setting the stage for resource grab battling Al Qaeda terrorists.

ORDO AB CHAO and all that, only the order that comes from all this chaos will benefit the pot-stirrers quite handsomely at the expense of everybody in the region except Israel. The fascists have always done this but what's changed is the brazen openness of their provocations as if it doesn't matter anymore that the world knows what they're doing. From the deliberate dismantling of Iraqi society, to arming Fatah in Palestine to war against Hamas, to funding and arming terrorist groups against Iran, to assassination in Lebanon, to arming Sunni insurgents to attack Shiites, to false flag attacks everywhere, this is the busy season for Machiavellian Mass Murder.

This violence and hatred isn't just an unfortunate outcome of mistakes in foreign policy. To the manipulators it's the precursor to further dismemberment of the region to install puppet regimes and own the resources. This isn't that famous unforeseen blowback from poorly thought out foreign policy decisions. This is our foreign policy, and there's a lot more to come. This is what Kindasleezy Rice said last year as Israel mercilessly (with america's help) demolished Lebanon and killed anything that moved, describing the slaughter as "birth pangs":

"This is a different Middle East. It's a new Middle East. It's hard, We're going through a very violent time."

She should know.

Slow News Day

I've taken these little tests before, where you answer questions and the end result pegs you in some manner. But I've never come across one that nailed me perfectly. So I asked Mrs. Lipstick to take it too. She was born just outside of Indianapolis. Amazing.



What American Accent Do You Have?

The Zen Of Mike Gravel

Every One Of Them

FOURTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM

"Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine, a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is titled "Fascism Anyone?," and appears in Free Inquiry’s Spring 2003 issue on page 20.
The 14 characteristics are:
1.. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2.. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to ‘look the other way’ of even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3.. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe; racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists, etc..."

CNN Censors Itself, Hides The Truth

Over at Infowars, Alex Jones caught CNN in a bit of revisionism while 'reporting' on the second bombing of that Shiite mosque in Samarra, Iraq. Apparently they didn't get that directive from their masters to spin the story in the appropriate manner, that is to pump the story that Iraqis are a religiously savage bunch who are engaged in a civil war. Which is why the occupation should continue.
I'm getting the distinct impression that we're about to see a lot of violence all over the middle east. It seems to me the zio/fascists are about to unleash a series of false flag attacks that will be blamed on the designated patsies and it could be segued into a broader regional war. If this happens we need to bear in mind that the vast majority of the people involved don't want it to happen, it's only very few who'll benefit from their own actions.



"COMMENT: Now CNN has changed the damning 'inside job' headline ( see SCREEN SHOT ) to a more disguised story that downplays significance. CNN replaced the link and effectively killed the story that this is the 2nd FALSE-FLAG bombing of the Golden mosque ( see Feb 2006 )-- one of Iraq's most holy places. Both were believed to have been carried out in part by Iraqi forces and directed by Western intelligence. Such self-inflicted violence is only used as a tool to enrage the opposition and further perpetuate the Iraq War. Of course, it just came out that the U.S. is arming Sunni insurgents 'to fight al-Qaeda'-- further evidence that the West seeks to extend the war. Naturally, the bombing has already led to retaliation-- a desired and planned response."

In light of Deciderer deciding to be photographed knocking back some cold ones in Germany, let's resurrect Craig Ferguson's old clip and shudder at the thought that this scumbag has nineteen more months to do damage to the world.

Big Flow Of Horseshit Meant To Foment War

Big flow of Iranian weapons reaching Taliban, Gates says

"RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Sizable shipments of Iranian weapons are being supplied to Taliban militants in Afghanistan, suggesting the government in Tehran is aware of them, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday."

Notice the wording - "sizable shipments", "suggesting", "new information". More garbage from the warmongers, who think that just by droning away they can make it stick. The effort is to make it seem like Tehran is actively in the act of killing american soldiers. Shiite Iran has always been enemies of Sunni Pashtuns and almost went to war with them in 1999.
They tried this in Iraq, with bombs clearly marked in English going to the Sunni resistance. They must figure we all think a raghead is a raghead, like they do.

Oops, someone's not on board.
Afghan defense minister says it's a lie

But the new Joint Chief's honcho knows how the game is played.
Nominee for U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman worried about Iran's activities in Middle East

Tommy Chong On How He'd Punish Wayward Socialites

Seen over at C&L

No News Is Good News

MSM is a fucking disgrace. With Iraq and Afghanistan being exposed as monumental war crimes and our gang of vicious thugs being exposed as psychotic mass murderers the whoring corporate media continue to fail the american people. Take a look at the top five stories from last week according to the Project For Excellence in Journalism:





The war-free news Scrubbed clean?


"I feel like this shouldn't surprise me any more, but it does. With some 160,000 Americans fighting in Iraq, and another 20,000 in Afghanistan, and with the Iraq "surge" continuing to build, (and with American casualties rising as a result), it would seem like the war is pretty big news. The fact that it's not is nothing short of a national disgrace."


The trend is undeniable. The war criminals in Washington blithely continue their atrocities and are being propped up and hidden from public view by toadying sycophants. Their sick, shameful activities would make people vomit and want to string them up if truth were known so the media covers their sorry asses. This direction is so obvious Bill O'Really over at Pox felt the need to attack critics.
Here's a story I'll bet you never heard because of media blackout. Because the tyrants want to continue the war on the world's people to control all resources the set up a new military command structure called AFRICOM to do their dirty work in brand new territory. Hitting the ground running, theyve been busy with the AC130 gunships in the horn of Africa:

'Kill Anyone Still Alive': American Special Ops in Somalia

"How many people did American forces actually kill when they attacked refugees fleeing from the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia last January? We know from reports by Oxfam, the Guardian, the Associated Press and Reuters that dozens of innocent civilians were slaughtered near the Kenyan border, including villagers and nomadic tribesmen hit by American gunships seeking to kill alleged al Qaeda operatives who may or may not have been among the refugees. But a new story in Esquire magazine — detailing the creation of America's most recent military satrapy, the Africa Command — provides disturbing indications that the post-invasion killing by American operatives in Somalia was far more extensive — and deliberate — than previously known."

To show in graphic terms how sick this trend is to desperately divert attention away from news every american should be paying attention to, here is a short clip from MSNBC. Peter pace is the outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman who some say is being fired because he wasn't on board the plan to fucking nuke Iran, or at least he was opposed to a wider war in the middle east.
A disturbing and important subject, no?
See how MSNBC treats it.

"With obvious yelling in the background, MSNBC cut away from an interview with Colonel Rick Francona on the Defense Secretary replacing the Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace, to show Paris Hilton leaving her house in West Hollywood to attend court."

Czechs to Chimp "Take Your Missile Defense And Shove It"

Looks like the people in nearby towns see through the provocation and want nothing to do with the boondoggle.

"It's nonsense," said Vaclav Konicek, a Czech army captain for 21 years, who now works as a security guard for a Volkswagen dealer. "Anyone round here who is sane is against this."
Jiri Kabelka, who spends his days pretending to watch over an abandoned Czech army barracks, agreed. "They can keep their radar. Why don't they put it in America where it belongs?"

The plan is to encircle Russia

Special Ops Blows Up Samarra Mosque Again

Within hours after the first time this mosque was blown up last year the attack was immediately blamed on the mythical 'Al Qaeda' menace. The corrupt MSM launched into their propaganda right on cue as if given the signal, a lot like 9/11 where Osama was fingered before the twin towers even fell. That's the tip off for the astute observer - it's like a switch is thrown and the noise machine begins, most times using the same terminology, blaming the same patsies and planting the bogus crap repetitively.

Witnesses said the night before the two blasts in the morning last year the Iraqi National Guard and american forces had controlled the area around the mosque. Forensic evidence could have helped determine the type of explosive and the sophistication of the demolition but that was never done. Special ops then went on a killing spree to sow chaos and the MSM dutifully reported it as a civil war or sectarian violence. So 'Al Qaeda' did it, but how 'Al Qaeda' would benefit from blowing up a shrine and the murder of thousands of innocent Iraqis instead of concentrating on the occupation is one of life's little mysteries.

So this year the mosques minarets were blown up, perhaps to inject a little energy into that sectarian violence meme, and it's not hard to see more innocent people getting blown to pieces to reinforce the idiot reason that americans are still in Iraq because the job isn't done yet. Plus when the corpses pile up it has the added bonus of painting the swarthy hordes as violence prone barbarians who deserve our cluster bomb largesse. Serves 'em right.

The one thing in our favor in sorting out this garbage is that when it used to take weeks to get at the truth, now it takes hours. There are simply too many aware and active people out there now to pull the wool over our eyes for very long. They've already started in on the ~ blaming Al Qaeda garbage ~, more bloodthirsty occupation antics can't be too far behind.

President Of Albania

Bushie! Bushie!

"George W. Bush, Hero of Albania! At least there's one place in the world where they show the Decider some love.
That was a wonderful reverse-Borat moment Sunday, with the joyous townspeople of Fushe Kruje yelling "Bushie! Bushie!" and Albania's prime minister gushing over the "greatest and most distinguished guest we have ever had in all times." The crowd pressed in for autographs, photographs, a presidential peck on the cheek. Years from now, in his dotage, Bushie will feel warm all over when he recalls those magical hours in Albania. How they adored him!"

I thought they were yelling Bullshit!
Actually some probably hand picked, metal detectioned and-here's-your-little-american-flag townspeople did sort of mob the chimp, so much so that someone managed to steal the watch off his wrist.

Not So! sniffs the VOA.

Not on eBay yet.

"In Washington There Is No Shame In Being Wrong; There's Only Shame In Losing"

Except I don't call them neocons.



Truly, do these people want a civil war?

Neocon “Scholars” Call for Dismembering Bill of Rights

This Is Why You Shouldn't Vote #2

#1 here.

Anyone who thinks the MSM darlings in the presidential race have substantially different intentions from the rotten agenda that's been forced down our throats for the last number of years ought to have an immediate reality check.
You know, in essence the repugs are actually more honest than the dems. At least they have no pretensions about being anything but the scumbags they are.

If it were actually left up to voters to decide the presidency, it would be a good thing that Hillary would have a snowball's chance in hell that she'd be elected. I still think Adolph Giuliani will be handed the keys to the whitehouse but at this early point you never know.

But anyway here's a glimpse at a supposed opposition party candidate and her true allegiance:

"A Duty to Mislead: Politics and the Iraq War

All Things Considered, June 11, 2007 · Democrats are telling voters that if they are elected, all U.S. troops will be pulled out of Iraq. But as Sen. Hillary Clinton privately told a senor military adviser, she knows there will be some troops there for decades. It's an example of how in some cases, politics can force dishonesty.

Iraq Imbroglio Intensifies

Things are changing by the hour and getting intense. I still haven't been persuaded that this isn't a backdoor way for Israel/US to start their war with Iran, but I'm starting to see a shift in priorities and allegiances that are leaving me scratching my head.

I had thought that the US would drop any pretences of protecting the Kurds in northern Iraq while fellow NATO member Turkey invaded to fight the separatists along the border. After all, the Kurds have been an expendable group, the largest minority in the world without a homeland, a fact that all countries in the area want to perpetuate. Turkey has that massive army on the border, the US just picked up and left the area as if to get out of the way and hasn't said much in the way of warning Turkey to back off. That in itself is puzzling because when Turkish forces invade all hell could bust loose in Iraq, Iran and Turkey itself with a Kurdish population in the millions.

However just in the last several days the situation is getting a whole lot more complicated. Turkey is fast falling out of favor with the west. It's attempt to join the European Union is being stymied and it's Kurdish problem isn't helping. Ankara seems to think the EU is a christian club that's reluctant to admit a muslim nation. Relations are souring with the US by the hour, and even though they're about to go to war against the Kurds, the Turks see the US as the greatest threat to them. Bushista bigwigs, on their part, are still pissed that Turkey refused to help in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The US has been helping the Kurds with finances, weapons and training, yet a Turkish invasion would close the border to economic activity and curtail military activity at the massive air base at Incirlik.

Could this mess get any more complicated? Oh you betcha.

Just like the US, Israel has been on good terms with both The Turks and the Kurds. Anxious to ally themselves with non muslim groups in the region they've been a presence in Kurdistan for decades, especially after the US invasion. The alliance between Turkey and Israel is an intricate one, more about that here.
Then there's the drug connection, where Turkey has maintained it's importance in the Afghanistan to Europe opium and heroin pipeline, which shadowy US groups desperately want to keep going:
"Turkey is a major transshipment point. Turkey is also a base of operations for international narcotics traffickers and associates trafficking in opium, morphine base, heroin, precursor chemicals and other drugs. The majority of these opiates originate in Afghanistan, and are ultimately trafficked to Western Europe. A smaller but still not insignificant amount of heroin is trafficked to the U.S. via Turkey."
Add to this the fact that Iran and Turkey are getting closer and cooporating more because they have common interest in fighting Kurdish seperatists.
Then there's also this oddball development:
"As tensions with Iraq increase over the reported shelling, Iraqi radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- who commands the Mahdi Army, a militia of tens of thousands of young, impoverished Shiites, who are accused of spearheading a sectarian conflict against Iraq's minority Sunnis -- said "we will not be silent in the face of this threat." Vowing to defend the people of "Kurdistan," Sadr called on the people of Turkey to stop their armed forces from carrying out cross-border shelling in Iraq, in a statement in Najaf."

That's right - radical Shiite muslims accused of sectarian violence against Sunnis are willing to protect Kurds who are mainly Sunni and aligned with Jews by fighting Turks who are mainly Sunni and also aligned with Jews and may have to also fight Iranians who are mainly fellow Shiites who are getting closer to the mainly Sunni Turks.

Showing The "War" To Santa Monica

These brave guys are trying to wake people up.

This Is What The Government Will Do In An Emergency

The pattern is becoming very clear. When calamity strikes in the US the people will not be helped by this government, in fact the government at the highest levels will actively make the situation worse for the people on the ground seeking help. The official intent is to "secure" areas in an emergency, meaning the first issue is to strip everyone involved of their rights and dignity and ruthlessly force them to bow to authority regardless of human need. The first instinct of our autocratic bureaucracy in an emergency is to point a gun at our heads.

First person account of Hurricane Andrew

"The injuries of those who survived were mind-boggling. I had a broken jaw with eight teeth knocked out. Huge shards of glass impaled my body so deeply, they were impossible to remove without the aid of a scalpel. My head injuries were so severe that they permanently affected my eyesight.
But I was only one amongst thousands of severely injured victims who struggled to survive the aftermath. For ten long days we were roped off from the outside world by United States military forces, leaving us stranded with no food, no water, no medical supplies, no shelter. Suffering from severe shell-shock, we waited and waited for rescue teams to arrive, but that just never happened. None of the injured in the roped-off areas was ever rescued from the devastation. It was the worst gut-wrenching betrayal I have ever experienced. I saw grown men lying on the ground in the foetal position, moaning and groaning pathetically as they tried to hug and rock themselves. My son was amongst them.
Don't get me wrong. United States military forces were indeed present in the roped-off areas within hours of Andrew ending. But they were not there to help survivors."

Katrina

"Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina unleashed her wrath, causing immense devastation and killing an as-yet-uncounted number of people, New Orleans has become, for all intents and purposes, a federal city.
A metropolis that once bustled with busy residents and tourists who partied on Bourbon Street is now occupied by U.S. military forces and a dozen federal agencies working side by side, street by street, with state and local authorities. It seems that every agency wants a piece of this action."
New Orleans was a giant benchmark for how all natural disasters will be dealt with in future.
FEMA and the federal government deliberately sabotaged relief efforts in order to deepen the crisis, including blocking water and fuel supplies.
FEMA cut communication lines in one parish, causing Sheriff Harry Lee to reconnect the lines and place armed guards around them to thwart FEMA.
The federal government deliberately hampered relief and recovery efforts in order to provide the justification for Americans to accept gun confiscation and foreign troops on US soil."

The May 4 Greensburg tornado

"Shortly after the tornado, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took control of the recovery efforts in Greensburg. The United Way became the coordinating organization for relief volunteers but, after orders came from FEMA, halted the flow of volunteers into Greensburg. FEMA demanded that Greensburg needed to be "secured" before the area could be opened to real recovery efforts."
And after confiscating people's firearms? "The citizens of Greensburg figured out that their guns were being held in a trailer. Brennan says that for three days, people lined up outside the trailer, asking for their firearms to be returned to them. Finally, authorities relented.When gun owners went to pick up their guns, Brennan says they found them simply piled to the roof of the dark, wet, 40-foot trailer. None of the guns had been labeled, and Brennan says that guns were returned to anyone who claimed to own them."

Iraq Was Always Permanent, And Only A Piece Of The Pie

It doesn't matter what vernacular the Would Be Masters of the World use, their intention was to rumble into Iraq and take the country over forever, or at least until the oil ran out. So now that they're using terms like "beyond the horizon" and "Korean model" it's just other words for a permanent presense to secure the conquered plunder and to crush the local resistance to foreign subjugation.

It's not like the Bushistas suddenly came across this grandiose idea of long term occupancy, a lot of people saw what they were doing for years, even though the rotten MSM chose to ignore it. Iraq is just a part of the long term plan to control the entire planet by any means necessary. The fascists have been busy colonizing and building what they consider permanent bases in a lot of other places besides Iraq. There are about 750 of them worldwide and counting. You might have heard our globetrotting Resident claim today that Kosovo should be independent, in another backhand slap to Russian opposition. Well the US has already claimed Kosovo as it's own colony and is busy expanding it's Camp Bondsteel there. Sorry Vlad.



So how do you like living in a would be empire rather than a democratic republic? Lorded over by autocratic tyrants, saddled with more and more taxes to finance their bloody ambitions, responsible for the deaths and misery of millions? Because empire is what weve been turned into, like it or not. As Chalmers Johnson puts it at Alternet, we've reached the Big League:

"Interestingly enough, the thirty-eight large and medium-sized American facilities spread around the globe in 2005 -- mostly air and naval bases for our bombers and fleets -- almost exactly equals Britain's thirty-six naval bases and army garrisons at its imperial zenith in 1898. The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD required thirty-seven major bases to police its realm from Britannia to Egypt, from Hispania to Armenia. Perhaps the optimum number of major citadels and fortresses for an imperialist aspiring to dominate the world is somewhere between thirty-five and forty."

Wow, bully for us.
At least there are some people who don't mind being conquered.

Atomic Cafe Is Online

Absolutely one of the most chilling yet hilarious productions ever. I strongly recommend seeing the entire movie if you haven't done so.

"And Lo, God Maketh The Earth As A Salad Bar, But No Bacon Bits"

Pictures from the Creation Museum in Kentucky.
"Prepare To Believe" only $19.95

Scientists Refind Water On Mars

They've known about flowing water on the planet for years, it's just a matter of timing as to when they tell us things like this.

"A new analysis of pictures taken by the exploration rover Opportunity reveals what appear to be small ponds of liquid water on the surface of Mars."

No kidding. NASA has known about standing water since at least Mariner 9 in 1971. The Mariner missions were the first to measure and take photos of Mars. Some of the pictures were pretty obvious:



As I recall there was a picture last year when one of the rovers looked down at it's tracks and found it was sloshing through a mud puddle, look at the lower right:



Like I said, they know a hell of a lot more than what they let on. Keeping us in the dark until they feel the need to hand out some stale crumbs is how they play this game. I'm wondering when they might start to begin to speculate to ponder whether there could be life forms on Mars.

Poll: Why Is Bush’s Approval Still So Amazingly High?

"How does Pres. Bush do it? If the polls accurately reflected his job performance, not to mention the disregard for him among the public, his polling would be minus 32."

This has been a ongoing puzzlement for a couple of years until it dawned on me how the lying pollsters play the game. That the ratings continue to drop constantly is no secret - what they do is as soon as the polling nears 20% or so they reset the numbers back up to around 35% and start all over again.

Rich Snot Loses Fashion Edge

World cracks a beer, life goes on.