Wednesday, October 31, 2007

"We Are All Brothers And Sisters. We All Die"

Happy Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead

And The Arms Manufacturers Are Betting On Who For A Profitable Future?

Weapons Industry Dumps Republicans, Backs Hillary

"The U.S. arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Obama.
Mrs. Clinton's wooing of the defence industry is all the more remarkable given the frosty relations between Bill Clinton and the military during his presidency. An analysis of campaign contributions shows senior defence industry employees are pouring money into her war chest in the belief that their generosity will be repaid many times over with future defence contracts
."

They aren't bribing her in the hopes that peace will break out.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

George Carlin Pulls No Punches

Warmongers Love Their Decks Of Cards

Playing cards advise troops on artifacts

"FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may soon be playing cards with the ace of artifacts or the king of archaeological digs.
Nearly 50,000 decks of cards meant to help troops avoid unnecessary damage to ancient sites and curb the illegal trade of stolen artifacts will be shipped to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as training sites in the United States.
The cards were developed by Colorado State University researcher and graphic artist working with the Defense Department.
Each card displays an artifact or site and gives a tip on how to avoid damaging historic treasures.
Each suit has a theme: diamonds for artifacts and treasures, spades for historic sites and archaeological digs, hearts for "winning hearts and minds" and clubs for heritage preservation."


Aside from the Iraq most wanted deck, of course this new stunt will be as wildly successful as those "Iraq Culture Smart Cards" that that helped forge a loving relationship between Iraqis and their occupiers.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

More Evidence Polls Are Manufactured Garbage

Raw Story seems to believe that the polling is credible, I don't. I think we're being lied to on a massive basis, the only way this hideous nightmare can go forward.

Bomb Iran, majority of Americans says in new poll

"Despite President Bush's perpetually abysmal approval ratings, it appears his increasingly hostile rhetoric against Iran has drummed up enough fear of a "nuclear holocaust" or a World War III that a majority of Americans are in favor of a US strike against the country aimed a curtailing its apparent nuclear ambitions, a new poll shows.
The
Zogby International survey shows 52 percent of Americans would support a strike on Iran, while 53 percent expect President Bush to launch such an attack before the end of his second term. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is voters' No. 1 choice to deal with Iran, with 21 percent saying they would like to see her take on Tehran from the White House. Republican Rudy Giuliani was voters' second choice, with 15 percent."

Also I don't believe there's any more fake support than what Giuliani supposedly has, and anytime I see reference to it it raises great suspicions about anything else involved.

Bush Fundraiser Linked To CIA Drug Plane

"A MadCowMorningNews investigation has uncovered links between the ownership of the drug-running Gulfstream (Cocaine Two) and the other American-registered plane busted carrying a multi-ton load of cocaine in Mexico recently, the DC9 (Cocaine One) airliner caught with 5.5 tons of cocaine in Mexico 18 months ago.
Recently-released FAA records from the Gulfstream II business jet that went down in Mexico a month ago with four tons of cocaine reveal that before it was "parked" in the name of a New York real estate developer with ties to the Russian Mob, the plane was owned by a secretive Midwestern media baron and Republican fund-raiser, who had a business partner who, incredibly, owned the other American drug plane, the DC9, recently busted in Mexico.
Adams was in business with Miami attorney Michael Farkas, who founded SkyWay Aircraft, which owned the DC9 busted in Mexico 18 months ago with 5.5 tons of cocaine aboard.
Moreover at the same time the Bush Ranger extraordinaire Stephen Adams owned the Gulfstream (N987SA) in 1999 and 2000, he was personally buying over $1 million of billboard ads for George W. Bush for his 2000 Presidential election bid."


Now why would a drug runner want to buy billboard signs for a Bush candidacy unless he knew that 1. drugs would remain illegal and smuggling would be immensely profitable and 2. the very individuals who pretend to want to stop the drug trade would turn a blind eye and 3. contributing to their campaign would ensure #2?

Iraq Dam Near Collapse, Could Be Yet More Catastrophe

Iraqi dam seen in danger of deadly collapse

"AT THE MOSUL DAM, Iraq - The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials."

(...)

"In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world," the Army Corps concluded in September 2006, according to the report to be released Tuesday. "If a small problem [at] Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely."

Monday, October 29, 2007

Executive Posse

Ever wonder who accompanies Little Boots when he travels?

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

But this list is incomplete. Where is the Presidential Poop Patrol?

"The Bush White House is so concerned about Bush's security, the veil of secrecy extends over the president's bodily excretions. The special port-a-john captured Bush's feces and urine and flew the waste material back to the United States in the event some enterprising foreign intelligence agency conducted a sewage pipe operation designed to trap and examine Bush's waste material. One can only wonder why the White House is taking such extraordinary security measures for the presidential poop."

US Annexes A Chunk Of Canada

In a video, that is. True to a culture of shameless self promotion, the feds partnered with a bunch of corporate interests including Disney to boost tourism, presumably because foreigners have found it a tad difficult at airports these days. But after being frisked and body cavity searched our visitors will soon be able to view a big production feel good movie extolling god's country, which is a little bigger now.

The several minute long montage of people and vistas and soaring music is notable for a scene of Niagara Falls about four minutes in. Problem is, the producers decided not to use the American Falls at Niagara, which is really just a steep rapids after a massive rock fall in 1954, but included Horseshoe Falls, a much bigger and therefore more photogenic landmark located on the Canadian side of the border. Tough luck you hosers!

You can view the video at the DiscoverAmerica site but be prepared for massive gobs of happy.

Over 2/3 of Israelis Want US To Bomb Iran

Hurry It Up, Says Israel
"Fully 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran's nuclear program, according to a new poll."

Anything You Say, Says The US
"White House Bomber Request Leaves Some Wondering if U.S. Is Preparing Action in Iran."

Faster, Says Israel
Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans
"The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.
The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft.
That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete."


These thirty thousand pound bombs are not being deployed for Iraq or Afghanistan.

VA Hospitals Forced To Turn Away Patients

Army Times

"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Two Tampa Bay veterans hospitals turn away critically ill patients for huge chunks of the year because of an overloaded veterans’ health care system.
James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa and Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg are the nation’s busiest and fourth-busiest Veterans Affairs hospitals, respectively.
Haley has been on “divert” status for critical patients 27 percent of the time since Jan. 1, 2006, or the equivalent of about 170 days, VA figures reviewed by the St. Petersburg Times show. The hospital diverts all patients regardless of condition 16 percent of the time.
Since 2000, Bay Pines has diverted patients far more frequently than any other hospital in Pinellas County. Last year, it diverted veterans during 1,150 hours about 48 days, or 13 percent of the time, Pinellas paramedic records show.
“There’s no intent to deny veterans care,” said Dr. George Van Buskirk, chief of staff at Bay Pines. “I like to think we’re as compassionate as possible. We’d rather send them out to a place that can take care of them than have them languish on a gurney in the hallway.”
But some question the VA’s resources.
“The VA has never dealt with its capacity issues seriously,” said Bill Geden, district director in west-central Florida for the Blinded Veterans Association. “They’re underfunded, undermanned and overloaded.

DefenseNews

"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost the United States $602 billion, and they are likely to cost as much as $1.7 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports.
And since the war so far has been financed with borrowed money — since 2002 the war costs and other federal expenditures have exceeded federal revenues — interest payments on that debt will add at least $415 billion, and possibly $705 billion to war costs by 2017, the CBO reported to the House Budget Committee on Oct. 24.
In all, the wars could cost $2.4 trillion by 2017, the CBO said."

Halliburton Muscles Into Strong Earnings

"For the period, the company reached a profit of $727 million, or $0.79 per share, compared to $611 million, or $0.58 a share, in the third quarter of 2006."

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Paris Hilton, Wearing A Skeleton Costume, Tears Down Posters In A Porn Shop

The end of the world is indeed at hand

"For sale: Video showing Paris Hilton allegedly ripping her posters of her porn tape, "One Night In Paris" off a Toronto Porn store wall, according to CTV.CA.
The owners of the store said they were negotiating with two U.S. tabloid entertainment shows for exclusive rights to the footage. Offers as high as $50,000 were reportedly made for the tape, reports CTV.
Employees at a Toronto adult video store claim Hilton stormed into their establishment and demanded posters promoting her raunchy sex tape with Rick Salomon be removed.
Hilton apparently entered the downtown store on Wednesday afternoon and threw a fit while disguised in a skeleton costume and mask, a store manager told CTV News on Friday."

In related apocalyptic news, George W. Bush Butt Plugs now on sale

Plus, a delightful love story told in just three pictures:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Time To Flesh Out Our Collapse


Putting a face on the inevitable

We all know it's coming, don't we? Even the most self satisfied, lazy, TV watching consumer drone has that nattering little monkey in the back of the head, warning that things won't last, even if it's only about the nearly empty Cheetos™ bag.

The signs are all around us, aren't they? Basically you can tell that our unsustainable society is about to implode just by how frantic all the propaganda has become in trying to convince us otherwise.
Sometimes I forget how different we tube netizens are from the vast majority of people in this country; I always have to stop and remember that we pay a whole lot more attention to what's really going on than most people who only depend the loathsome MSM to inform them. Consequently a large percentage of dumbed down americans are completely ignorant of impending catastrophe, or at least in a state of very active denial. But that's not going to help anyone avoid the inevitable.

Neverending war, economy in free fall, exhausted resources, disintegrating infrastructure, natural disasters - all coming together as a perfect storm in an EOTWAWKI moment. I think the fascist overlords know full well what's coming and have prepared for years to survive it. That could be the reason why they're seemingly uncaring and unresponsive to so many problems. They're busy squeezing the last drops of lifeblood from this society while they can, pretending that it's business as usual while they distract the rubes with bread and circuses.

It's not like living in a society that's coming apart at the seams is a common experience. Trying to put a finger on how it's all going to go down has always been tricky, which is why I was absolutely floored by this essay. I found it at Rense and it's called "Closing the 'Collapse Gap': the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US" The author is a guy named Dmitry Orlov who went through the Soviet collapse, experienced it first hand and writes extensively about what we should expect our society's demise it to be like. He compares pre collapse Russia with pre collapse america and sizes up the strengths and weaknesses of both countries in dealing with catastrophic changes. He breaks it down into categories like politics, food, medicine and with the economy he opines:

"The subject of economic collapse is generally a sad one. But I am an optimistic, cheerful sort of person, and I believe that, with a bit of preparation, such events can be taken in stride. As you can probably surmise, I am actually rather keen on observing economic collapses. Perhaps when I am really old, all collapses will start looking the same to me, but I am not at that point yet. And this next one certainly has me intrigued.
From what I've seen and read, it seems that there is a fair chance that the U.S. economy will collapse sometime within the foreseeable future. It also would seem that we won't be particularly well-prepared for it. As things stand, the U.S. economy is poised to perform something like a disappearing act. And so I am eager to put my observations of the Soviet collapse to good use."

I like his tone as he guides us through what the Russians had to endure and what we certainly will too. And he doesn't mince words about how utterly unprepared we in this country are for a radical change in living conditions:

"It seems safe to assume that the creature comforts to which we are accustomed are going to be few and far between. But if we are willing to withstand the little indignities of reading by candlelight, bundling up throughout the cold months, running around with buckets of water, shivering while standing in a bucket of tepid water, and carrying our poop out in a bucket, then none of this is enough to stop us from maintaining a level of civilization worthy of our ancestors, who probably had it worse than we ever will. They were either depressed or cheerful about it, in keeping with their personal disposition and national character, but apparently they survived, or you wouldn't be reading this."

It's easy to get complacent and smug complacency will kill us when the plug gets pulled. As for dealing with the fascist scum who will most definately and immediately attempt to capitalize on the chaos, I like his quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn -
"Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them."

"An economy collapses one person, one family, one community at a time. First, the dreams evaporate: the future starts looking worse than the present, and ever more uncertain. Then people are forced to withstand ever greater indignities and privations, which they tend to accept as their personal failings. The resulting stress causes them to experience a variety of physical and psychological symptoms. Our pride, our habits and expectations, and our unwillingness to adapt, can kill us faster than any physical hardship. But eventually something has to give, and even if life does not get any easier, one morning we wake up, and not only has life all around us been transformed out of all recognition, but everyone we encounter recognizes that times have changed. And we realize that none of this is about us personally, and feel better."

Zombies!

Zionists Light The Fuse

Powder keg in northern Iraq

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Turks To Kurds: We Will Make You Grieve, You Unclean Mountain Jackals

"Turkey's top military commander promised Saturday to make Iraq-based Kurdish rebels "grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine..."

Kurds To Turks: May You Suffer With The Vermin Of 10,000 Camels, Bring It

"We will turn over not a single Kurd to Turkey, in fact, not even a Kurdish cat."

Number One Campaign Topic

Saturday, October 27, 2007

A Young Girl Finds Inspiration

The Ann Coulter Song

Fascist Priorities

US military eagerly uses Russian cargo planes to bring equipment to Iraq

"The Air Force has been forced to use Russian commercial cargo jets to rush mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles from the U.S. to Iraq because it does not have enough C-5 and C-17 planes to do the job, the service’s top civilian official said recently.
Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne said at an Oct. 24 House Armed Services Committee hearing that American reliance on Russian Antonov jumbo jets to move critical war supplies indicates that the Air Force may need more than its current 300 C-5s and C-17s.
“We are now sharing the mission of flying MRAPs over to Iraq between C-17s and Antonov airplanes,” Wynne said
."

US consistantly refuses offer to use giant Russian water air tankers

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Ilyushin-76TD supertanker, "a rugged, airborne behemoth that can haul 11,000 gallons of liquid to a fire, nearly four times the carrying capacity of the C-130 Hercules, the largest tanker used by the Forest Service. "

"11,000-gallon tanker plane pours 'too much water,' officials say."

The Greek Miracle

"It was in 1999, and Greece was enduring its worst wildfires in over a century. Infernos were raging in the mountainous terrain, and winds were so fierce the air tankers of the Greek Air Force were grounded.
As he tells it, "There were two 3,000-foot-wide fires that were going unabated because of windy conditions through the mountains, burning all their monuments and forests. CNN was there and said it was unstoppable. But we filled up at the Greek Air Force base, then went to the first fire. We flew by on an observation run, came back around, lined up on the fire, judged the wind direction, opened the doors on the tanks v and whoosh v 10 seconds later we looked back and that 3,000 feet of fire was gone, absolutely gone."
That took care of the first fire. The pilot returned to the base, the tanks were refilled, and they went to the second fire and put that one out just as quickly. "These fires had burned for a week, with hundreds of firefighters and all kinds of equipment brought in from Germany and other countries," said Robinson.
"The Greek media called it a miracle."

Here are the reasons why the the feds will never allow this clearly superior fire fighting plane to be used in the US. First, I have personal experience that fire suppression is Big Business in this country. I fought fires with the Forest Service for two summers and it's a monstrous, intertwined bureaucracy that involves complex interstate agency cooporation and gargantuan amounts of funds. All the bureaucrats involved are firmly entrenched in this top heavy endeavor and jealous of their positions. As Jon Rappoport puts it:

"...realize that the US government and state governments have put together this wonderful exchange program, through which fire fighters go from one state to another when fires break out---and they have daily teleconferences to determine where the needs are greatest, blah blah blah. It's a whole sophisticated network, and the media are completely on board with it.
Now one plane flies over a fire and puts it out.
The plane is from Russia.
The contract for the job was $500,000.
Poof.
How much insanity does that expose?"

Also there is intense opposition in corporate circles to the federal government giving contracts to anyone outside the usual suspects. Like Lockhead or Evergreen. Even though clearly superior equipment could do the job quicker and much cheaper.

And the fires rage on.

Friday, October 26, 2007

People Are Waking Up To Bush's Insanity

President Bush Needs a Time Out

"If I were a school teacher, and little George Bush made a comment in class about World War III with Iran – particularly given the current political climate – I would tell him to put his head down on his desk and take a time out."

Straitjacket Bush

"The president's warmongering remarks on the Iranian threat suggest he is psychotic. Really."

Where are we on World War III?

"These guys are out of control," says Douglas Roche, our former disarmament ambassador, of the latest Bush-Cheney sabre-rattling on Iran - of their war-as-a-first-resort mentality. "Out of control."

Putin Denounces `Madman' With Knife Approach to Iran

"Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced what he called the "madman waving a knife'' approach to diplomatic negotiations aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program."

George Bush – “Running around like a madman..”

"Although Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t mention any names when he gave his response to the new sanctions imposed on Iran by the US, his comment of “Running around like a mad man with a blade in one's hand is not the best way to solve such problems,” seems tailor-made for George Bush."

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President

"Bush Administration policies are not only a "great catastrophe" but the products of a disturbed mind..."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Commanding Officer Of Top Nuclear Sub Removed

Fired for not supporting the fascists' upcoming war on Iran?

"LOS ANGELES — The commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton was relieved of his duty yesterday because of a loss of confidence in his leadership, the Navy said.
Cmdr. Michael B. Portland was relieved of duty after a U.S. Navy investigation found that required daily safety checks on its nuclear reactor were not done for a month and records were falsified to cover up the omission
."

If it was just sloppy bookkeeping or procedural carelessness this could easily be a non story. But there's a little more that, considering our race towards armeggedon, that makes me pause for thought. For one thing, he isn't going to be charged with anything. For another, this removal is very much a major shakeup.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Also, it seems to fit a pattern.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

I don't know how often this happens but it seems to me that there could be something other than sloppiness or rule breaking that's caused such a turnover. If it turns out that these guys wouldn't play ball with the warmongering, one would hope that they would be patriots who recognize their moral obligation to spill the beans.


A google search for his replacement, a "commander william j houston", turns up exactly nothing.

World Watches As FEMA Masturbates

FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA
Emergency organization asks itself nice easy questions

"FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.
Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices.
They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions.
(...)
Very smooth, very professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters."

added - FEMA apologizes for stroking itself. Republican stooges are vowing they'll never ever pretend again.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Being An Empire Means Never Having To Speak Rationally

Iran Sanctions Are Meant to Prevent War, Bush Aides Say

"In approving far-reaching, new unilateral sanctions against Iran, President Bush signaled yesterday that he intends to pursue a strategy of gradually escalating financial, diplomatic and political pressure on Tehran, aimed not at starting a new war in the Middle East, his advisers said, but at preventing one."

What sad, twisted logic that these deluded, smug warmongers use. Apparently facing opposition from every direction in their frothing at the mouth determination to force conflict on the world, they resort to Machiavellian terminology.

Who in their right minds would consistently think they could make people do their bidding through the use of force? Nobody. This blood soaked mafia has a history of it, and every step in their efforts to get their way shows how deeply sick they are. To them up is down, war is peace, and the despicable MSM dutifully reports these unbalanced utterances as high level diplomacy.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Logical Progression For Operation FUBAR

Ill-Equipped Soldiers Opt for "Search and Avoid"

"WATERTOWN, New York, Oct 24 (IPS) - Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here say that morale among U.S. soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.
(...)
Millard told IPS "search and avoid" missions continue today across Iraq.
"One of my buddies is in Baghdad right now and we email all the time," he explained, "He just told me that nearly each day they pull into a parking lot, drink soda, and shoot at the cans. They pay Iraqi kids to bring them things and spread the word that they are not doing anything and to please just leave them alone."

Bushista America

Stress

"October 25, 2007 -- We're stressed out, we can't sleep, we're drinking too much - and it's getting worse.
Forty-eight percent of Americans say they're more stressed now than they were five years ago, and the same percent report regularly lying awake at night because of stress, according to a new study by the American Psychological Association.
"Stress continues to escalate, and it's affecting every area of people's lives," said Russ Newman, a psychologist and executive director of the APA."


Stupidity

"I have this ongoing discussion with a longtime reader who also just so happens to be a longtime Oakland high school teacher, a wonderful guy who's seen generations of teens come and generations go and who has a delightful poetic sensibility and quirky outlook on his life and his family and his beloved teaching career.
And he often writes to me in response to something I might've written about the youth of today, anything where I comment on the various nefarious factors shaping their minds and their perspectives and whether or not, say, EMFs and junk food and cell phones are melting their brains and what can be done and just how bad it might all be.


His response: It is not bad at all. It's absolutely horrifying."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Porn

War Criminal Confronted By Woman With Bloodied Hands

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - An anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted “war criminal!”, but was pushed away and detained by police.
“The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands!” yelled the protester, Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz of the Code Pink organization which often disrupts hearings on Capitol Hill with protests against the Iraq war.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

watch video here

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Cal Fires An Osama Plot

7/11/2003 - "The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States."

Right.

Here's a much more plausible arson plot.

Back in 2003, my wife and I took a road trip around western states and were coming back home to the west side of the Cascades in Oregon. We like to stay at a campground on the Metolius River in the mountains outside of Sisters the night before we drive home. We heard that there was forest fire very near there but went to camp anyway. The next morning we left in a hurry because the fire had exploded and there were actually ashes falling all around us and a lot of smoke. The road across the mountains was closed and we had to drive 200 miles north to Mt. Hood to get over to the other side.

These two conflagrations that began on August 19, the Bear Butte Fire and the Booth Fire, which later merged to be known as the B&B Fire, started under very suspicious circumstances. For 11 days prior the weather had been absolutely clear and cloud free. No thunderstorms, no lightning. Here is a picture of one of them, look at the sky to see what it was like for 11 days -

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The two fires started at the same time in three places. Near one of them a truck had gone off the road and cops had detained a couple of guys but let them go. That's all I know about that - whether they were pressured or not is unknown.
The official story of how the fires started was that lightning two weeks before had started fires in duff and smoldered all that time. Wound up as a 90,000 acre burn.

The next day Bush flew into Oregon on an arranged trip and gave a speech at the town of Redmond, just up the road. The topic? Fire prevention by thinning forests of trees and underbrush. You know - clear cutting.

They sure do like their backdrops.

Zionists Are Behind Push For Region Wide Middle East War

This past spring and summer it became apparent that a serious rift was growing between Turkey and the US. Continued failure by the american occupation and their puppet government in Iraq to clamp down on Kurdish seperatists forced the Turks to shift a large military force to the border with Iraq and they've been threatening to invade to wipe out the thousands of Kurdish PPK commandos in the area. In public the Bushistas have been trying to play it cool, pretending that everything can be smoothed over with both the Kurds and Turkey but forces behind the scenes have been working to plunge the whole region into chaos.

It's emerged that The US along with it's "special friend" Israel has basically ditched it's NATO ally Turkey in favor of the Kurds in their quest for an independent Kurdistan. Oil contracts between american companies and the Kurds are giving them added muscle in their drive to create an independent Kurdish nation, something that Turkey will absolutely not allow to happen. But that wierd push in congress to recognize a century old Armenian slaughter as a genocide which was pushed for by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and enraged the Turks, shows that Israel is pushing to drive a wedge between america and Turkey.

"Experts on U.S.-Turkish relations in Washington report that the recent deterioration in relations between Washington and Ankara are primarily due to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) (...)
Turkey blames Israel for the passage by the House International Relations Committee of the Armenian genocide resolution."

Not that the ziofascist element in this country minds that another muslim nation is added to it's enemy list. All summer long Turkey has been seizing weapons from the PKK that have american origins. It's no secret that even though publicly the Kurdish seperatist group is called a terrorist organization, the US is quite chummy with them:

"British Daily Telegraph claimed that the US officers have regular meetings with the PKK terrorists in Northern Iraq. Damien McElroy in his report mentioned “US army helicopters are reportedly used to shuttle officers to regular meetings with Kurdish fighters”.

All this isn't lost on the Turkish people. "Turkey is well aware that the US has turned a blind eye towards the PKK’s operations, while actively supporting its sister organization in carrying out terrorist attacks against Iran in the name of Kurdish separatism." It's no secret that the zionists have a hard on for a much wider war, and have been aiding and abetting that PKK sister organization PJAK in a not-so-secret war on Iran. Last year Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker:

"In the past six months Israel and the US have been working together in support of a Kurdish resistance group known as the Party For Free Life in Kurdistan. The group has been conducting clandestine cross border forays into Iran, I was told by a government consultant with close ties to the pentagon civilian leadership, as part of an effort to explore alternate means of applying pressure on Iran"

The PKK and its affiliates are spread through a region of some 35 million Kurds that straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Israel has a long-standing relationship with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani and it's a fact that it funds and trains Kurdish rebel groups. All those countries have banded together now and give support to one another in their fight against zionist terror. In Turkey's case it looks like the gulf has widened so much between it and the US that it's conceivable that two NATO members could actually wind up on opposing sides of a battlefield.

Movies

It's that time of the year to re-subscribe to a video rental service, with winter gloom and darkness settling over the landscape. Nothing like a warm, crackling fire in the fireplace and snuggling down under a comforter with a bowl of popcorn and me and Mrs Lipstick watching a flick or two to stave off the winter blahs.

Last season Blockbuster, going head to head with Netflix, really put the pedal to the metal by unveiling their Total Access packages where you get the DVDs in the mail, take them into the local BB rental place and trade them for an in-store movie, and by scanning your return the warehouse is prompted to mail another one. It was a bold move. BB realized that their numerous stores was a potent weapon to one-up NF in the rental biz. It worked well for us and using the three-out-at-a-time plan for $17.99 we watched up to twenty movies a month last winter.

I switched back to Netflix this time around. Why? Well for one thing BB bumped that rental plan up to $24.99, probably realizing their pricing was too much of a good deal after looking at the stats after a few months. Now even at that price the plan was a bargain but I resented the money grab.
With both companies you pick a list of movies you want and the deal is when you send a movie back they'll ship you the next one on your list. Au contraire figured Blockbuster. Apparently they decided your list was only a loose guideline and seemingly picked your titles at random. At times the first few in the queue were overlooked for weeks.
And speaking of the titles, even though both services have tens of thousands to choose from, slight preference differences in their libraries means a wealth of new movies to rent if you switch from one to the other.
The final thing that made me change to NF is the fast delivery of DVDs through the mail. Blockbuster has a lot of stores for that Total Access thing, Netflix has a lot of warehouses around the country, meaning quick turnaround. If I send a movie back in the mail, I get the next one in two days. Much faster than BB.

So there you have it Blockbuster, the ball is in your court, your move.

added - looks like I'm not the only one who likes Netfix again.

added - Fergot ta mention that NF also has an on demand online movie selection too. For every dollar you pay for your particular rental plan you get an hour of viewing their growing list of online titles. Watched "A Boy and his Dog" the other day.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Fire Problems Were Anticipated

From various sources the number of California National Guard totals around 20 to 22 thousand. From what I can gather, roughly a third of them is federalized and deployed overseas. It seems there were warnings everywhere, all year, that this was possibly going to be a bad fire reason and that there were problems with equipment, personnel and funding.

State National Guard warns it's stretched to the limit
"May 11 - As state forestry officials predict an unusually harsh fire season this summer, the California National Guard says equipment shortages could hinder the guard's response to a large-scale disaster.
A dearth of equipment such as trucks and radios -- caused in part by the war in Iraq -- has state military officials worried they would be slow in providing help in the event of a major fire, earthquake or terrorist attack.

The readiness of the Guard has been described as a national problem and has become a political liability for the Bush administration, which came under fire this week when the governor of Kansas complained that the National Guard response to a devastating tornado in her state was inadequate. National Guard readiness has become a growing concern as the Guard has taken on extra responsibilities caused by the Iraq war and the increased threat of terrorism.
In California, half of the equipment the National Guard needs is not in the state, either because it is deployed in Iraq or other parts of the world or because it hasn't been funded, according to Lt. Col. John Siepmann. While the Guard is in good shape to handle small-scale incidents, "our concern is a catastrophic event,'' he said."


Alliance fears cuts in wildfire prevention
"April 2, 2007 - Brad Hellenthal cut down a cedar tree in the Birch Hills area of Palomar Mountain last month.Across San Diego County's fire country, an alliance of agencies has spent about $50 million to clear dead trees and overgrown brush after blazes charred much of the region in 2003.
But now, the federal fire-prevention money for their work is drying up. Priorities in Washington, D.C., have shifted to paying for national defense, cleanups after Hurricane Katrina and other needs, forestry experts say.

The group said Thursday that the administration of President Bush has proposed cutting 14 percent of the budget for a critical fire-prevention fund – one that has paid for work in San Diego County – when what it needed was an 85 percent increase.

Arnold's Katrina? Governor vetoes bills to strengthen fire departments
"June27 - As the Tahoe fire kicks off an extremely dangerous fire season, the Governor's budget-cutting has left the state's fire departments woefully short on recommended equipment and staff."
As far as Arnie's Governors Office of Emergency Services goes, it hasn't been updated in almost two years.

I'd assume there's plenty of questions about preparedness for this disaster, including the big one of why the national guard is wasted in Dim Son's overseas adventures, but you'll never see them in the reprehensible MSM. Flipping on the idiot box will show plenty of up close and personal, tear inducing human interest stories meant to tug your emotional strings, but little else besides the 'gosh darn this was so unexpected' line of thought.

One comment about the TV coverage that I've seen. I fought forest fies for several seasons decades ago. I know that in more suburban settings there will be fire trucks and hydrants. But in mega disasters like this and especially in rural and wild areas less than one percent of fire fighting involves spraying water. Almost all energy is spent digging lines, cutting trees, moving brush and other grunt work, but that's too mundane for television cameras so you'll see endless shots of hosing down flames and thrilling water drops from air tankers. Fire suppression is the hottest, grimiest, most tiresome work imaginable, I wish them the best.

"Nineteen Kids To Get On Airplanes To Kill Three Thousand Students"

Bizarre statement from a clearly deranged and sick person. At 3:55.


Halliburton Needs More Love

Bush Asks Congress For $46 Billion More In War Funding

"At their current rate, war appropriations could reach $1 trillion by the time Bush leaves office, a total that by some measures would exceed the cost of the Korean and Vietnam wars combined."

But wants to cut government-subsidized heat to low-income households.

"The Senate wants to keep LIHEAP's budget at $2.16 billion. The House voted to raise the program's budget to $2.66 billion. But the White House wants to cut it to $1.78 billion, according to a story by Reuters. To put that another way, President Bush wants to spend about 3½ days' worth of war funding to heat our nation's poor, while the House wants LIHEAP to have the equivalent of about five days' worth of war funding."

But Halliburton needs that money in time for Christmas bonuses.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Is The Government Deliberately Making The Situation Worse In The Drought Stricken South?

First, the very real and very bad news for Atlanta.

Atlanta Suffers as Southeast Drought Continues

"An unprecedented drought stretching across the southeastern United States has forced some of the region's largest cities to declare water emergencies.
The situation has become so serious that officials in Atlanta, where rainfall totals are more than 16 inches below normal, said they could run out of drinking water in a matter of weeks."


Then there is this.

Governor sues Army Corps over water

"The governor's office claims the amount of water the corps sends downstream is about double what Mother Nature would provide to federally protected mussels living in Florida's Apalachicola River. The corps releases a large amount of water from Lanier to protect the species and provide for a power plant in Florida, even as metro Atlanta faces a historic drought that threatens drinking water supplies.
In the lawsuit, filed late Friday in Jacksonville, the state contends "that the risk that the system will be drained of all or nearly all conservation storage is not speculative and it is not remote.
"In fact, the projections upon which this motion is based come directly from the corps
."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is busy draining Lake Lanier, which supplies fresh drinking water to much of northern Georgia, in the midst of an unprecedented and extremely severe southeastern drought? The Corps is still essentially draining the lake even after it "mistakenly" relased 22 billion gallons in June at the start of the drought, a six month supply of drinking water.

War Whore Rebukes Rep Stark For Amusement Comment

Nancy Pelosi has joined in the latest Righteous Indignation fad that's sweeping through the warmongering ranks.

Pelosi Rebukes Fellow Democrat

"WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked a fellow San Francisco Bay-area liberal Friday for what she said were "inappropriate" comments about Iraq during a congressional debate.
During a debate on children's health care Thursday, Rep. Pete Stark accused Republicans of sending troops to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."
Condemnations rolled in from Republican politicians, right-leaning bloggers had a field day, and a White House spokesman declined to "dignify those remarks" with a response."


Here's what Stark had the spine to say, getting the warmongers' knickers in such a bind:

"You don't have money to fund the war or children," Stark accused Republicans. "But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

The warmongering crowd is so used to lying that when someone speaks the truth, be it generals in the military, decorated veterans or members of congress, they go for the messengers' throats because they can't stand the message. Anyone recall this hilarious sketch at a white house dinner in 2004?


from a poll at CNN -

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Another Day, More Indiscriminate Murder In Iraq

It gets so unbearable on a daily basis it makes me want to puke. It follows the same path virtually every time. The US military drones make a statement in a matter-of-fact language along the lines of X number of militants/criminals/insurgents/Al Qaeda killed in an operation to defeat those bad guys.

"In Sadr City, the U.S. military said "an estimated 49 criminals" were killed in three separate engagements during a raid targeting a suspected rogue Shiite militia leader specializing in kidnapping operations for which he sought funding from Iran."

I like how they managed to gratuitously insert Iran into the report.
But always new versions come out immediately from Iraqi government officials and witnesses that tell a radically different version of events.

"We were waking in the morning and all of a sudden rockets landed in the house and the children were screaming," it quoted a woman as saying.
An official loyal to Moqtada Sadr said the attack was "simply barbaric".
"Most of those killed and wounded were women, children and elderly men which shows the indiscriminate monstrosity of the attacks on this crowded area," Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri told Reuters news agency."


It appears that US forces were ordered to attack a crowded area in heavily populated Sadr City with helicopter gunships and started a firefight with residents who fought back. The whole bloodbath was initiated by the occupiers yet again, and I for one will believe the witnesses, local officials and hospital personnel who tell of mangled babies and grandmothers instead of the fucking military. Of course the final words on the newest horror, aside from the continued anguished reports from the war crime scene, are always a dismissive banality that's repeated ad nauseum by the sickening MSM as our military prepares it's next "surgical" operation:

"Ground forces reported they were unaware of any innocent civilians being killed as a result of this operation," the military said in the updated statement."

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Not-Gonzales Says President Is Above The Law

Mukasey Endorses Expansive Presidential Authority

"Attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey suggested today that the president could ignore federal surveillance law if it infringes on his constitutional authority as commander in chief.
Under sharp questioning about the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, Mukasey said there may be occasions when the president's wartime powers would supersede legal requirements to obtain a warrant to conduct wiretaps.
In such a case, Mukasey said, "the president is not putting somebody above the law; the president is putting somebody within the law.... The president doesn't stand above the law. But the law emphatically includes the Constitution
."

Whatever the hell that last paragraph meant. It's been a constant refrain from these scumbags - all of their filthy garbage leading right back to their claims that 9/11 gives them a big fat blank check. As soon as the twin towers were demolished they started in with the wartime commander in chief shit and haven't stopped since. Anybody with half a brain can easily see that every bit of this power grab was prepared well in advance and only needed black tuesday as an excuse to put their vision of police state hell in place.

Bonus testimony to kick his nazi ass out the door

Is It Torture? The Nominee Won’t Say

"Michael B. Mukasey, the nominee for attorney general, acknowledges that torture is illegal under national and international law. He will not say, however, what is or is not torture. This allows him to preserve the right to sanction torture by defining it as not torture."

Translation: when we do it, it isn't.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Religious Folk Who Walk The Walk

The activist group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence started up in 1979 and since then have been rabble rousing with street theater, fundraising and "drag queen elegance" as they put it.

"We are part of the modern gay rights movement," said Sister Kitty Catalyst of San Francisco. "We are not ashamed of our differences, we are proud of them."

They were among the first in the Bay area to get active at the start of the AIDS epidemic. They support free clinics and hold gay games and in general are everything that's commendable as an organization that supports community welfare. Which, of course, is why the catholic church despises them.

Archbishop apologizes for giving Communion to gays dressed as nuns

"On Oct. 7, Archbishop George Niederauer delivered the Eucharist to members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence - an activist group whose motto is "go forth and sin some more" - prompting cries of outrage from conservatives across the country and Catholics in San Francisco.
In response to a request for comment, Niederauer released a letter of apology addressed to "Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large" in which he said he did not realize his mistake until after the Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro district. (...)

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, founded in San Francisco in 1979, are known for their white face paint, outrageous costumes, theatrics and support of the gay community. They adopt names such as Sister Chastity Boner and Sister Constance Craving of the Holey Desire and have mottos such as, "It is not wise to say no to free drinks, cheap jewelry, discount cosmetics or pretty boys."
Sister Barbi Mitzvah, who serves as "Board Chairnun" and "Sexytary," said Tuesday that the group is "not offering a comment.
"These people are always after us," Sister Mitzvah said, referring to conservative pundits and Catholic leaders.
The group did not identify the two members who took the wafers. One of the men, however, sent an e-mail to the church after the Mass and gave the name "Sister Delta Goodhand."

Reverend Billy is a street theater activist originally from San Francisco and operates out of New York. He and his group "The Church of Stop Shopping" take on rampant consumerism and corporate advertising. They had an action last March when they roamed the halls of congress singing "Don't Buy Bush's War" in a protest against the Iraq occupation. Starbucks is a frequent target.

"Would Jesus buy a $4 latte if the people who raised the coffee only made 40 cents of that $4?"

U.S. Colonel Faced Life for Aiding That Guy Who Was Called Saddam

Could have gotten death sentence for acting in a humane way

"Oct 17 - A U.S. Army officer will discover this week whether he will spend the rest of his life in prison for, among other charges, providing a jailed Saddam Hussein with hair dye and Cuban cigars.

Lieutenant Colonel William Steele, 52, an Army reservist from Prince George, Va., is being tried by court-martial at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, where from 2005 he was the commanding officer of Camp Cropper, the maximum security military jail where Saddam was kept until he was sentenced to death and hanged in December. He is accused of aiding the enemy and is only the second officer to be charged with the offense since the beginning of the Iraq war.


Guy is acquitted of "aiding the enemy" but is convicted on trumped up lesser stuff

"CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — A former American commander at the Iraqi jail that held Saddam Hussein was acquitted today of aiding the enemy but sentenced to two years imprisonment for convictions on other charges — far less time than he could have received.
Lieutenant Colonel William Steele, 52, of Prince George, Va., had faced a life sentence if convicted of accusations he allowed prisoners use of his cell phone for unmonitored calls
."

That'll teach other personnel not to disregard the Abu Ghraib standard of conduct.

Seems Like Old Times

Celebrating the October 19, 1987 stock market crash where the Dow plummeted 508 points, today the Dow went down 367 points.

"One of the few major stocks to rally was Internet search service Google."

Preliminary reports have it that the main search term was "crash of '87".

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Forgotten History Lesson

A World War 2 War Department handbook has been found in the Southern Methodist University digital archives that was given to soldiers fighting the Germans in Iraq at the time. With chapter titles like "Meet the People" and "Iraqi Customs and Manners" the whole purpose of the pamphlet was to get the GIs to treat Iraqis decently and to earn their trust.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

But of course with current top down thuggishness, these historical admonitions are vivid reminders of just how much we've lost.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Approval Ratings Sink Lower, Time To Reset The Statistics Again

Watch for DimSon to magically come in around the mid thirties again in a few weeks. The pollsters have pulled this game several times in the past several years. These dancing numbers have no basis in reality because the object is propaganda rather than taking the pulse of public opinion. It's my guess that the entire government is down to single digits but we'll never see it if that's the case.

Meanwhile, ta da, the latest Reuters/Zogby fantasy:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush's approval rating to another record low this month, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
(...)
Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
my real approval numbers

Robot Opens Fire Uncontrollably, Kills 9, Injuries 14

Automatic cannon gone wild
"Mangope told The Star that it “is assumed that there was a mechanical problem, which led to the accident. The gun, which was fully loaded, did not fire as it normally should have," he said. "It appears as though the gun, which is computerised, jammed before there was some sort of explosion, and then it opened fire uncontrollably, killing and injuring the soldiers."


Summer Camp Teaches U.S. Teens To Fight Israeli Style

The allure of our 51st state.
"Jewish-American teenagers can sign up for an eight-week training course run by the Israel Defense Forces where they fire weapons, live in military barracks and saunter around in an Israeli military uniform."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The US Is Trying To Start A Brawl Anywhere It Can

Turkish General Warns US Over Ties

"Turkey's top general warned that ties with the U.S., already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide. (...)

"If this resolution passed in the committee passes the House as well, our military ties with the U.S. will never be the same again," Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet."

Putin Warns US About European Missiles

"Vladimir Putin boasted of developing new nuclear weapons to strengthen Russia’s military power today and warned the United States not to ignore Moscow's objections to a planned missile defence shield in Europe."

China Warns US About Dalai Lama Award

"China has warned that giving the award to a person it believes is trying to split the country would have serious consequences for relations, but has not said what it would do."

Bush warns of global war if Tehran gets nuclear arsenal

Translation: if Iran goes ahead with it's nuclear energy program that's allowed under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed, The ziofascists will start a global war. But of course the warmongering pantload threw in the "wiping Israel off the map" canard, why would you even ask?

"We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Mr Bush said, referring to a remark by the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel "will disappear soon".

added - The Bushistas will also start their world war if the democrats impeach Bush, according to a Massachusetts congresscritter.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Whack-A-Murdoch

Smack down corporate media.


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Righteous Indignation Is Life's Purpose

Sniffing out suspected disloyalty to the Bush Cargo cult.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Air America Host Gets Beaten Up

Randi Rhodes Attacked In NY

"Radio personality Randi Rhodes was allegedly mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon.
According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was "beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week
."

List of Murdered DJs and Radio Hosts

Being in the public eye certainly has it's risks. Especially with the top down thug mentality of our fascist police state. It wouldn't surprise me if Ms Rhodes was targetted for her work and that it wasn't a random mugging because she was wearing a jogging suit and had no purse.

Mark Your Calendar

When Girls Are Mean: Understanding Relational Aggression And Female Bullying - November 1, Mississagua, Ontario
Understanding the terrors of that, you know, psychological warfare.

International Rubber Expo - November 1-3, Udaipur, India
Build the perfect tire swing.

Festival of the Wind - October 31 - November 4, Calvi, France
All wind sports (kites, ballooning, bungee, hang-gliding) are on the agenda

Bald Eagle Festival - November 7-11, Haines, Alaska
Watch 3000 bald eagles rip salmon carcasses to pieces.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

10th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration - November 13-16, Zeeland, Netherlands
And clambake?

Incontinence, The Engineering Challenge - November 15, London, England
Fluid mechanics, neurophysiology, is there a lot more than meets the eye?
Depends.

International Pineapple Symposium - November 18-23, Paraíba, Brazil

Monkey Banquet Festival - November 25, Lop Buri, Thailand
Locals prepare a huge feast for the monkeys, wild simian food fight ensues.

Monday, October 15, 2007

When Aliens Attack

Sniffs Senator Wide Stance: Romney Was A Naughty Boy
Sen. Craig: Romney "threw me under" campaign bus.
"Disgraceful," Romney said (...) "frankly it's disgusting."
Craig: ""He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."

Thompson: Giuliani is just a girlie man, unlike me
"Without naming Giuliani, Thompson suggested the ex-mayor of New York, a one-time Democrat who backs abortion rights and gay rights, was a closet Democrat."

Huckabee, Hunter: what constitution?
"...four of five Republican presidential candidates, when asked, say that the president does not have to or should not go to Congress for authorization to declare war on another country..."

Giuliani: I'll protect you from an Extraterrestrial 9/11
"During a town hall meeting in Exeter, a young questioner asked the former New York mayor about his plan to protect Earth.
"If (there's) something living on another planet and it's bad and it comes over here, what would you do?" the boy asked.
Giuliani, grin on his face, said it was the first time he's been asked about an intergalactic attack.
"Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that, yes we will. We'll be prepared for anything that happens," said Giuliani."

Sunday, October 14, 2007

How To Enrage Americans

A Priori Godliness And Purity

Despicable lamestream media will always have you believe the united states is blameless, faultless, pure as the wind driven snow, always wearing the white hat, always acting in everybody's best interests. It's a shameless 24/7 propaganda war for your mind.

The fascists understand that the vast majority of people will momentarily, if they do it at all, scan the news headlines and a few brief sentences and look at a picture or two before their tiny attantion span is exhausted and they go on to something else. The propagandists therefore make sure the message that you'll get is that the criminal scum who have stolen this country are in control and are at their saintly best in Doing The Right Thing. Because they know they don't have much time to get this point across, their efforts are increasingly transparent and infantile.

So you'll get loaded headines like these

Obstacles Stall Rice's Mideast Diplomacy - automatically assuming the warmonger would bring Peace On Earth if only the ragheads would let her.

Rice in fresh push for peace

Rice treads carefully towards peace deal

And just in case you don't see that Israel is joined at the hip to the US in this angelic effort, check out the flag porn:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Thugocracy

American Tears by Naomi Wolf

"I read the news in a state of something like walking shock: seven soldiers wrote op-eds critical of the war -- in The New York Times; three are dead, one shot in the head. A female soldier who was about to become a whistleblower, possibly about abuses involving taxpayers' money: shot in the head. Pat Tillman, who was contemplating coming forward in a critique of the war: shot in the head. Donald Vance, a contractor himself, who blew the whistle on irregularities involving arms sales in Iraq -- taken hostage FROM the U.S. Embassy BY U.S. soldiers and kept without recourse to a lawyer in a U.S. held-prison, abused and terrified for weeks -- and scared to talk once he got home. Another whistleblower in Iraq, as reported in Vanity Fair: held in a trailer all night by armed contractors before being ejected from the country.
Last week contractors, immune from the rule of law, butchered 17 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. Congress mildly objected -- and contractors today butcher two more innocent civilian Iraqi ladies -- in cold blood.
It is clear yet that violent retribution, torture or maybe worse, seems to go right up this chain of command? Is it clear yet that these people are capable of anything? Is it obvious yet that criminals are at the helm of the nation and need to be not only ousted but held accountable for their crimes?

Is it treason yet?"

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Attention WalMart Shoppers, 9/11 Was An Inside Job

Our Society Is A Mortuary Cult

Welcome to the Grim Faced Abattoir

"The US military (and its subcontracted private security firms) are made up of video game soldiers. Men and women without any historical awareness, class consciousness, or relevant outlet for their inarticulate frustrations and anger. I point again to the US support for the death penalty as an expression of this anger. Vengeance remains a popular theme in american popular culture. Vigilantism, militarism, and punishment are the main themes driving our ever more childish culture today."

Which is why righteous indignation is so popular with brownshirted Kool ade slurpers.

Expect News Of Firefights Between US Soldiers And Blackwater Type Thugs

At some point there will be tragic dust ups, if it hasn't happened already.

"Oct. 15, 2007 issue - The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV."

Another Day, Another Repug Hypocrite Busted

Do as we say, not as we do. Family values gang strikes again.

"The chairman of the Republican Party in Brown County faces criminal charges for allegedly fondling a 16-year-old Ethan House runaway and providing the boy with beer and marijuana late last year.
Donald Fleischman, 37, of Allouez, was charged last month with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child."

Friday, October 12, 2007

It's The Oil

by Jim Holt, a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times

"Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’, a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no ‘exit strategy’.
Iraq has 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves. That is more than five times the total in the United States. And, because of its long isolation, it is the least explored of the world’s oil-rich nations. A mere two thousand wells have been drilled across the entire country; in Texas alone there are a million. It has been estimated, by the Council on Foreign Relations, that Iraq may have a further 220 billion barrels of undiscovered oil; another study puts the figure at 300 billion. If these estimates are anywhere close to the mark, US forces are now sitting on one quarter of the world’s oil resources. The value of Iraqi oil, largely light crude with low production costs, would be of the order of $30 trillion at today’s prices. For purposes of comparison, the projected total cost of the US invasion/occupation is around $1 trillion."


I'm very glad to see that more and more people are beginning to see the light about what the overlords have really done. Rather than just chalk up the hideous barbarity of the invasion and occupation of Iraq to "mistakes" and gross ineptitude, it was a pre planned and much thought out operation of staggering and despicable evil.

It was drawn up and meticulously organized, probably just after the first Gulf Slaughter in 1991. All that needed to be done was to shock and awe the world in general and the american people with their 9/11 lollapalooza to create the necessary propaganda for invasion. The hardest part to overcome was the opposition in the lead up to instigate a war. They knew that once they were in they could breathe a sigh of relief as they put their other plans to work.

And it's hard to grasp mindsets of the scum who drew this shit up. Once Iraqi society was shattered the operation began and the exploiters poured in. Carefully organized looting began. Spook agencies set up shop. Virtually unlimited cash was brought in for bribes. Thousands of nationalists, professionals, leaders were targeted and murdered. Intense propaganda began to try to make it all as benign and palatable as possible for the rubes at home.

But the worst was yet to come. Everybody knew that Iraqi society was a fragile cobbling together of ethnic, religious and tribal groups. Divide and conquer always works and so the false flag experts went to work with their bombs. It's been a endless campaign to pit them at each others' throats, to seperate them and weaken them, to drive them mad by the sheer non stop bloodsoaked carnage and kill their spirits. The psychopaths wanted a dazed, frightened, sick society unable to rise up to stop the resource rape of their country.

The warmongers knew that brainwashed americans would never grasp the enormity of this crime which is why the ineptitude cover story worked so well. It wasn't all a mistake, it wasn't good intentions gone bad, it wasn't faulty intelligence and all the rest of that propaganda garbage that led to this nightmarish horror, it was design. All those excuses were meant to exculpate the perpetrators and by proxy, the american people.

Four Horsemen's Greatest Hits

Favorite oldies from the Scabrous Four

Via World Gone Mad via Americablog

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Moron Is There To Tell You Why He's There


The douche has a massive sense of entitlement and priviledge and treats everyone else as his ignorant subjects. He's just in a constant state of reminding himself what motions he's got to go through to seem all presidential and stuff.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Moms! Dads! You Too Can Be Fascists!

With the Teen Safe Driver Monitoring Device!

"The Teen Safe Driver Program uses a small device placed behind the rearview mirror of your teen’s vehicle. It captures the view out the front, and into the interior, of the vehicle but never saves any data UNLESS activated by an erratic vehicle movement – extreme braking, cornering, and acceleration or if there is a collision."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The monitor looks like it could be an obstruction that just might help cause an accident. And won't it be comforting for Buffy or Trevor to know that Mom and Dad will be right there with them when they're rocking in the back seat of the Lexus.

Coming Soon To An Antiwar Demonstration Near You

The ADS, an "Active Denial System" or crowd control weapon, a microwave beam that cooks you just a little bit, unless some jackboot thug has a wee bit of sadistic impulse and puts it on a different setting.


The test subjects were eventually told to remove glasses and coins and keys from their pockets because of the possibility of severe burns. And then there was this comment at a discussion group:

"Being a practicing dentist, I am familiar with the likely damage to teeth in people exposed to the ADS beam. Millions of people worldwide have had their teeth restored with silver amalgam fillings and porcelain fused to metal crowns. According to reports that detail how this beam will cause the generation of heat in metal, it is safe to expect that teeth restored with metal will be subjected to increased temperature. Dental pulps within the pulp cavity of teeth do not react well to such temperature increases and will probably be damaged. This damage will likely lead to the development of pulpal pathology and create the need for root canal therapy or extraction in affected teeth."

Not to mention eye cataracts and eventual cancer tumors.

MSM Is Lying Again, What Gives?

Just like the fact that Ron Paul supposedly has barely 2% support yet consistently gets poll results that crush everyone else like this one at CNBC which was removed because they didn't like the results:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Or the "news report" that that Wisconsin off duty cop shot himself in the head three times, that "Australian earthquake" that supposedly happened two days ago on October 9 doesn't seem to exist in this time/space continuum.

4.8 earthquake shakes parts of Western Australia
"It is the strongest quake to have hit the south of WA in 40 years."

ABC Radio Australia
"GeoScience Australia's duty seismologist, Spiro Spiliopoulos, says it is the largest quake to hit the Great Southern in decades."

Hmm, this is the current USGS earthquake map of the region:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Wolves In Sheep's Clothing

from George Washington's Blog

"Those who carried out 9/11 left numerous clues that it was a false flag attack: from the obvious stand down of the military; to the physics-defying demolition of Building 7 and the Twin Towers; to Cheney's control of all of the war games and his angry declaration that "of course the orders still stand!" as Flight 77 approached and then plowed into the Pentagon.
With the Net, people's ability to see that 9/11 was a false flag is easier than it has ever been in history. Will people see that Cheney and the other high-level officials pushing the "official" 9/11 myth are wolves in sheep's clothing? Will they see that the blood on their clothes is the blood of innocent Americans who they killed? Will they see that they were dressed up as patriots and heroes trying to defend the skies and the American people on 9/11, when they were actually the ones doing the killing?
Will people act like Homo Sapiens (which means "wise men")? Will we reclaim our freedom, our liberty, and our power to govern ourselves?

Or will we devolve into Homo Sheepiens?"

Despicable MSM Strikes Again

CNBC's Mysterious Vanishing Poll

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

All opposition to our new fascist police state will be expunged.

added - CNBC editor admits dumping poll because Ron Paul was ahead

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

You, Yes You, Stand Still Laddie

Good Indication There's Funny Business With That Wisconsin Shooting

Wis. AG: Deputy Shot Himself 3 Times

"CRANDON, Wis. - An off-duty sheriff's deputy who killed six people apparently shot himself three times, with the last shot hitting him in the right side of the head, the state attorney general said Tuesday.
Tyler Peterson, 20, shot himself twice under the chin before firing the third and fatal shot, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. Peterson also was shot once in the left biceps from a distance.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Turkey/US Relations Going South, Fast

Can things get any worse between Erdogan's government in Turkey and the bellowing Bushista junta? Yes they can, a lot worse.

All summer long Turkey has threatened to carry out cross border strikes into Iraq to punish the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, whose seperatist elements have battled Turkish armed forces for years. Pleading with the US to curb this Kurdish group has gone nowhere and after fifteen Turkish soldiers were killed since Sunday by the PKK. The situation is going critical.



Prime Minister Erdogan had been opposed to any invasion but is under immense pressure after the latest violence and finally gave the go ahead to pass legislation unleashing the army. Turkey has a large military force perched on the border with Iraq. Any invasion would cause tremendous headaches for the Bushistas, who consider the Kurds the most friendly faction in the country under the occupation. The US has even warned it's fellow NATO member to stay the hell out, but there's little that could be done if the invasion is a go.



Not to be outdone, Turkey has issued a warning back to the US that if that congress passes their Armenian Genocide Bill which recognizes the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the first world war:

"..that will be the moment when relations between Turkey and the United States collapse."



There's already intense hatred of US policy in Turkey. From the insanity of the Iraqi invasion and subsequent carnage to the failure to clamp down on the PKK and their terrorist attacks and the anti muslim sentiments in america there's a strong undercurrent to sever ties with the Bushista regime. If congress passes that bill, and it looks like there are enough votes to do that despite frantic pleas by the administration, Turkey could severely undermine US control of the area. Not only will a new war break out in Iraq with a Turkish invasion, activity at the absolutely critical air base at Incirlik in Turkey would be disrupted. Over 3,000 convoy truck missions are taken off the increasingly dangerous Iraqi roads every month because of resupply from Incirlik. Almost two thirds of all air cargo bound for Iraq passes through the place.



Ever since Turkey denied the use of it's soil to stage the invasion in 2003, relations between the two countries have deteriorated, while those between Turkey and it's neighbors have very much improved, much to the warmongers' disgust:



Relations between Turkey and Syria reach highest level possible: Babacan

"DAMASCUS (TurkishPress) -- “Turkey and Syria have deep historical ties. The relations between Turkey and Syria have reached highest level possible in the recent past...”



TURKEY DETERMINED TO PRESS AHEAD WITH IRANIAN GAS DEAL

"The Turkish Energy Ministry has repeated Turkey’s determination to press ahead with a new natural gas agreement with Iran, despite objections from the United States."



Turkey, Iran planning rail link

"Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to construct a railway to boost trade ties between the two neighboring states."



It only makes sense that Turkey would bond closer with it's fellow muslim neighbors. They have a long history of relations with them and a relatively short history of relations to a power that is increasingly seen as an intruding bully that is antithetical to their self interest. That mysterious bombing run by Israeli jets over Syria and through Turkish air space didn't do wonders for amity in the region either. Speaking of Israel, that congressional bill may even be a wedge that the ziofascists are deliberately using to drive america and muslim Turkey apart:



"The widespread perception in Turkey is that US Jewish organizations have linked up with Armenian groups to "defame" and "condemn" Turkey, visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told The Jerusalem Post Monday.
He warned that if a measure characterizing the killing of Armenians as an act of genocide was approved by Congress in the coming days, it would not only harm Turkey's ties with the US, but also Ankara's ties with Jerusalem
."



That's another, very interesting story.

The Foreign Affairs Committee will approve the bill tomorrow and it will be sent to the full house. Expect some real fireworks.
Cost of the War in Iraq
(JavaScript Error)
To see more details, click here.