9 Out Of 10 Doctors Recommend Camels

Bonnie And Clyde Live On

Sympathy for outlaws thanks to greedy bankers

"Is America witnessing the return of the bank robber as local hero? Seventy-five years after Bonnie and Clyde were dispatched in a hail of Tommy-gun bullets, the FBI is reporting a spike in bank robberies. And as long as the only victim is the bank's cash, there are indications that there is some sympathy for the robbers.
Which is hardly surprising when Americans get a report in the New York Times saying that Wall Street 'financial workers' - bankers, brokers, Masters of the Universe - awarded themselves $18.4bn in bonuses last year. It is a breathtaking figure - and most of it was paid after the financial crisis had become apparent.
Think of it as a chunk of a $700bn bail-out package from the taxpayers. Think of it as a proportion of the $35bn flushed down the khazi last year by the brokerage departments alone of the big banks playing roulette on Wall Street. And add this detail from the survey behind yesterday's Times story: 45 per cent of Wall Streeters declared themselves 'dissatisfied' with their 2008 bonus."

Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie



Homelessness surges as funding falters

New data: under Bush, income for 400 richest Americans doubled

Israel Has US By The Balls, Yanks

US Mideast envoy Mitchell postpones visit to Turkey

"The new US envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, has postponed a trip to Turkey that was scheduled to take place on Sunday as part of a regional tour aimed at shoring up the Gaza cease-fire and promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace, Turkish and US officials announced yesterday."

Why, you might ask?

"Some Turkish news outlets yesterday highlighted the "interesting timing" of the postponement, in apparent reference to the fact that the announcement by the US side came just hours after Erdoğan walked out of a panel discussion in Davos on Thursday evening after reprimanding Israeli President Shimon Peres over the Gaza offensive."

In Defense Of Toilet Cams

Senior, sober security executives with their hand down their pants

"A Teenage pupil has been withdrawn from her school after CCTV cameras were installed in the pupils' toilets.
Anthony White, from Llandysul said the cameras at Ysgol Dyffryn Teifi in Ceredigion were an "outrageous invasion" of his daughter Jade's privacy. Jade, 14, said: "I am not going back while the cameras are there. It must be against the law to have them there."
Mr White said: "The school is being pathetic. They don't need security cameras in toilets - certainly not in schools."
Ceredigion Council said it had installed the cameras after incidents of "major concern".
Spokeswoman Anwen Francis said: "Any such viewing of CCTV footage is undertaken by senior members of staff having Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) clearance."

We See Death And Destruction, Fascists See Pangs

(In the midst of a worldwide economic meltdown) Brown sees 'new world order' after crisis - 1/25/09

"Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday the financial crisis must not be an excuse to retreat into protectionism and instead be viewed as the "difficult birth-pangs of a new global order".

(During Israeli mass murder in Lebanon) Secretary Rice Holds a News Conference - 7/25/06

"What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East."

Cop Mentality Follies

Of course you arrest and shackle an 80 pound, 94 year old to a bed.
In a nursing home.

"Family members are outraged after they said their 94-year-old relative was arrested and shackled to a bed at Grady Hospital.
Fran Daniel said her mother, who suffers from dementia, was charged with assaulting her roommate at a metro Atlanta nursing home."
"Police haven't commented on the matter."

New term for ticket quotas - Performance Goals. Got it?

"The city of Denver issued 33,000 more parking tickets and collected $3.6 million more in fines in 2008 than the year before, but officials said it is not an effort to make up for budget shortfalls."
"City spokeswoman Ann Williams classified a document requiring parking enforcement officers write at least 79 tickets per shift to cars blocking street sweepers as "performance goals" and not a ticket quota."

Here's a Wal-Mart gift certificate. All better now

"A Detroit woman and her seven children ages 9-18 are suing the Detroit Police Department for $15 million, because they allege officers attacked them without provocation in their home earlier this month.
Tasha Flowers said Thursday that approximately 14 police officers barged into her home in the 19000 block of Shrewsbury about 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 without a search warrant, demanding to know where drugs and guns were. After she explained she didn't have any, she said they twisted her arm and tried to handcuff her, while her children and two of their friends were there.
The following day, a police officer came back with $25 gift certificates to Wal-Mart and Target, $100 in cash and the promise to bring a cashmere coat because he felt bad about the alleged attack, Flowers said."

The stiff can wait on the donuts

"DETROIT (AP) — It took three calls to Detroit authorities over two days before they recovered the body of a man frozen in ice in the elevator shaft of a vacant warehouse, a newspaper reported Thursday."

No wonder it takes a long time to retrieve corpses.

Kranky Kop Kreates Krispy Kreme Kaos

"Shocked customers looked on as the officer argued with staff for several minutes in a bid to get his freebies, before finally storming off - empty handed and non-cinnamon-fingered. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing," a witness said. "He was quite rude, insisting his doughnuts should be free. He was so greedy for the doughnuts. I thought, 'you swine, get your money out and pay for them like everyone else'."
"It is believed the Krispy Kreme store now gives the leftover doughnuts to the homeless instead."

Give me a blowjob and I won't arrest you

"FORT WORTH — A former North Texas sheriff has admitted to forcing a woman to perform a sex act after telling her it was the only way she wouldn’t go to jail for drugs found in her house, a federal prosecutor said Monday."

Tax The Fatties, Air Next

Massachusetts surcharge pretends it's looking out for your health

"When Governor Deval Patrick proposed a 5 percent premium on sugary treats this week, his administration presented it as a sin tax with a bonus: Imposing such a levy, a briefing paper pledged, "is a critical first step in discouraging the consumption of these empty calories."

Stop Yer Whining, Some Are Getting Theirs

US economy shrinks almost 4%, Exxon posts record-breaking $45.2BN profit

"The U.S. economy shrank at a 3.8 per cent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending.
But its not all bad news - Exxon Mobil reported a profit of $45.2billion (£31.7billion) for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 per cent from a year ago."

Chevron's 2008 profit new record

"Chevron Corp. powered to a gusher of record profits in 2008 that totaled $23.9 billion, the company reported Friday, fueled in large measure by sky-high crude oil and gasoline prices for much of last year.
The full-year earnings for 2008 soared 28 percent above the 2007 profits of $18.69 billion - also a record at that time."

""We achieved much success in 2008," said David O'Reilly, Chevron's chairman and chief executive."

Exxon and Chevron - $6m an hour

Terrorist Grapefruit Trees

Ziofascist spite ruined cropland with craters and toxic weapons, now the palestinians face hunger and ruined livelihoods.

That Israeli Ambassador Video

I don't read too much into this supposed gaff by the guy in Australia, where he apparently blows it and reveals Israeli plans to go to war with Iran within a month. However he did insist the cameras stop filming.

The problem is that every day that goes by millions more people worldwide realize the truth about Israel - that it's a racist terror entity run by psychopathic monsters. Since the murderous killing spree in Lebanon in 2006 and certainly because of war crimes in Gaza hardly anyone is fooled by zionist lies and they don't like it. The shitty little parasitic state has a long history of black ops to start conflicts and their fascist desire for eretz Israel is no secret, so starting a war (probably by a false flag attack, the poor victims) with Iran would possibly be a way the twisted murderers will try and reverse their fast fading support.

Movies

By the book western.

Both figuratively and literally. "Appaloosa" is based on a Robert B. Parker novel of the same name which some critics claimed wasn't a masterpiece but pretty damn good. You could say the same for the movie.

The cast is stellar with Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons, and Harris directed. It tells the tale of two gunmen (Harris and Mortensen) who make a living cleaning up crime ridden old west towns in a heavy handed, brutal manner and their newest job pits them against a malignant crew headed by Irons in a dusty New Mexican hamlet.

Now I'm a sucker for westerns. I've probably seen all the A list and a good chunk of the B list movies in this genre going back to the Duke's 1930 breakout film "The Big Trail". In my later years I've relaxed my judgement and just accept the older ones for what they are, basically period examples of film making. Westerns from the last couple of decades or so I'm more critical of because there's no excuse for sloppiness or wooden acting or dopiness, a lot of which can be found in John Wayne's Republic years for example. I always liked the themes in this genre and if the cinematography is good, the vast sweep of western landscapes.

Appaloosa is good for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it has it all. When you think about these movies virtually everything that comes to mind found a way into this one and Harris integrates it all with a deftness that was a joy to watch. He also apparently was anal as hell about authenticity and every stitch and weapon, every set, the mannerisms and lingo were true for 1882. Sticklers for the real thing won't find much to quibble.

It's actually a fine character study tucked neatly into a taut melodrama. You get to know these people. Harris and Mortensen (at his best IMO) had been together for a long time and were as comfortable in their silences as they were in their scrapes. Zellweger does a good job straddling the fine line between a manipulatrix and a frightened woman in a violent world. Irons, apparently in his first western, plays up his mob boss persona admirably. Harris uses tension throughout really well and the violence, as we're told in the bonus features, has to always advance the story.

One small element in the film - the ever popular quirky weapon, a plot device used often from Dirty Harry's magnum to Indiana's whip to Javier Bardem and his pneumatic punch. Here it's Mortensen's 8 gauge shotgun, a market hunting blunderbuss that was so heavy it would be mounted on a swivel to shoot entire flocks of birds out of the sky, but as they said in Romancing the Stone, "bastards have brothers".

Shoe Sculpture A Little Too Embarrassing For Occupation Collaborators

Bush shoe sculpture 'taken down'

"A sculpture of a shoe erected in Iraq to honour a journalist who threw his footwear at George W Bush has been dismantled, reports say."

"It had been erected in the grounds of an orphanage."

"As he pulled off his shoes, Mr Zaidi, now 30, shouted: "This is from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq."

Gaza Schoolchildren. The Signs Are Dead Kids

Small Change

Looks like it's only going to be cosmetic.

Obama allows short-term CIA sites

"Amid praise for US President Barack Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, the Washington Times has reported a loophole in the president’s executive order closing Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ‘black sites’ – a little-noticed exception that allows the spy agency to continue to operate temporary detention facilities abroad."

Obama finds room for lobbyists after all

"President Obama promised during his campaign that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House."
So far, though, at least a dozen former lobbyists have found top jobs in his administration, according to an analysis done by Republican sources and corroborated by Politico."

Obama refuses to release records on US bailout to banks

"U.S. government guarantees on securities totaling $419 billion for bank bailouts provide an early test of President Barack Obama’s pledge to be open with taxpayers about what they have at risk in the credit crisis."

US refuses to rule out Iran attack

"Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said Barack Obama, the new US president, was keeping open "all his options" in dealing with Tehran, despite signalling that he was prepared to engage in direct diplomacy."

Nine Brutal Disappointments For US Obama Fans

Hitler Israeli Youth Speak Out

"Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the fans had come up with a new chant: “Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?” sang the crowd. “Because all the children were gunned down!” came the answer."

"When the leader of Israel's religious-Zionist Meimad Party recently addressed a meeting of 800 high-school students in a Tel Aviv suburb, his words on the virtue of Israeli democracy for all its citizens were drowned out by student chants of "Death to the Arabs."

The BBC Has Sucked For Years

The Beeb has never been an impartial news organization. Just like it's MSM brethren here in the US it's solely a propaganda outlet for elite power and their interests. Which means fake journalism with all it's stupid diversions wrapped around bias and lies.
Their refusal to air an appeal for the suffering palestinians in Gaza shouldn't surprise anyone since the BBC has a long history of covering up for Israel's crimes. An undeserved reputation coupled with it's gigantic global reach means their nefarious influence is all the more egregious.

BBC panders to Israel and won't air appeal for Gaza aid

M15 spooks have infested BBC staff for decades

BBC shows 9/11 complicity by screwing up timeline

BBC 9/11 Hit Piece a Tissue of Lies, Bias and Emotional Manipulation

BBC faked up Obama inauguration speech

Horrors, BBC caught lying about the queen

BBC pro Israeli bias? Is the pope catholic?

Disgraced Minister And His Beard Decide To Get Their 15 Minutes Of Fame

Hypocrite struggles, she prays, they go on Oprah.
It's a paycheck.

Wife of Pastor Ted Haggard Tells Oprah She Knew of Husband's Same-Sex Attractions

Don't Hold Your Breath

$2,666 - Afghan Life According To Americans

U.S. pays $40,000 after 15 Afghans die in raid

"U.S. commanders on Tuesday traveled to a poor Afghan village and distributed $40,000 to relatives of 15 people killed in a U.S. raid, including a known militant commander. The Americans also apologized for any civilians killed in the operation.
The issue of civilian deaths is increasingly sensitive in Afghanistan, with President Hamid Karzai accusing the U.S. of killing civilians in three separate cases over the last month. Karzai has repeatedly warned the U.S. and NATO, saying such deaths undermine his government and the international mission.
In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed Karzai's concerns, telling a Senate committee that "civilian casualties are doing us enormous harm in Afghanistan."

"So let's just bribe them to shut up, but not too much, because at a little over two grand a pop we won't have to give a shit."

Supreme Court Again Traitorous

Amendment IV Of The Bill Of Rights:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

US Supreme Court says passenger can be frisked

"The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so."

The situation in this country is fast approaching a critical juncture. At some point in the not too distant future it seems, no one worth his or her salt will allow the cops to take them into custody, because their only prospect for freedom is to fight them on the spot. Which will mean a lot of dead cops.

Indirect Correlation Between Economy And Perky Breasts

Boob jobs on the rise despite the credit crunch

"Cosmetic surgery is booming in Britain... despite the credit crunch, figures show.
More than 34,000 procedures were performed last year – a leap of more than five per cent on 2007.
Boob jobs rose by 30 per cent."

"BAAPS president Nigel Mercer said: “Despite the financial downturn, the public’s interest in aesthetic surgery remains strong.”

My Vote For The Best SB Ad Of All Time

The Cat Herders

What If This Were Your Father?

City utility scumbags murder a 93-year-old Michigan man

"Officials in central Michigan say a 93-year-old man who owed more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home -- where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.
The company had put a "limiter" device in the home because of the unpaid bills. The device limits the power that reaches a home, and it blows out like a fuse if power consumption rises past a set level.
The manager of Bay City says the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man's body.
The body of Marvin Schur was discovered on January 17th. According to the Bay City Times, neighbors who found his body said the indoor temperature was below freezing.
Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner says Schur died a "slow, painful death" from hypothermia."

Neighbors say the city never instructed the guy on how to reset the device and that his bill was on a table with a large amount of money attached, apparently because he was about to pay it. He was a WW2 veteran.
Whoever cut the electricity should be charged with homicide.

Would Be Demigods Have Thin Skins

Montreal police ask city to make insults against cops illegal

"Montreal police have asked the city to empower local officers to crack down on insult-hurling citizens - likely with a blow to their pocketbooks.
Mayor Gerald Tremblay said Monday his public security committee is mulling the request to slap offenders with fines, a suggestion first brought forward by Montreal's police brotherhood.
The union wants Tremblay to make it illegal for members of the public to call cops profanity-laced nicknames, or lob jeers, such as "pig" and "doughnut-eater."

"I pick my nose and fling it in your general direction!" Monty Python

Tree Hugging Pants Wetter

1000 horsepower

"Shelby Super Cars (SSC) have unveiled their Tesla-trashing Ultimate Aero EV, an electric-powered sportscar apparently capable of 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds thanks to 1000 hp and 800 lb‐ft of torque. Keep your right foot planted and SSC claim you’ll see 208mph. Given that normally you’d expect to punctuate such performance with a few hours of recharging, what’s even more exciting than the speed stats is SSC’s promised 10 minute full battery rejuicing, courtesy of their “Charge on the Run” system.

Death Rabbis

Draw your own conclusions.

Military Rabbi Urged Troops to Show No Mercy in Gaza

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din is calling for the ouster of the military’s top rabbi, Brigadier General Avichai Rontzki over his messages to soldiers during the 22-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The primary concern was a booklet which, among other things, contained a rabbinical edict against showing mercy.
The booklet contains quotes from a nationalist rabbi which declares that showing mercy during the battle would be “terribly immoral” and quotes a medieval sage who cautioned Jews not to “be enticed by the folly of the Gentiles who have mercy for the cruel.” Yesh Din says the booklet could have been seen by soldiers as official encouragement to act in violation of international law… an important issue as the Israeli government scrambles to defend itself against accusations of massive war crimes during the war.
Another pamphlet told troops that the civilian population of the Gaza Strip was not innocent, and urges them to “spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us.” Over 1,400 Palestinians were killing during the war, a large number of them civilians."

Snipers And Machine Guns To Break Up A Kegger

Insanity. Those frat rats are a tough bunch, they should have sent the dogs in first.

SWAT raid for underage drinking at Washington State University

"The Pullman Police Department called in members of the regional SWAT team to execute a search warrant at a Washington State University fraternity Wednesday night.Police responded to the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity shortly before 8:30 p.m. after receiving reports that members of the house located at 500 NE Colorado St. were furnishing alcohol to minors.

When they arrived on scene, Pullman Cmdr. Chris Tennant said police found a crowd of intoxicated individuals playing with air soft guns."

74,000 Livelihoods Axed In One Day

Major corporations cut 74,000 jobs on brutal day for layoffs

"Caterpillar Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., Home Depot Inc. and ING Groep NV led companies today announcing at least 74,000 job cuts as sales withered and construction slowed amid a global economic recession that may persist through 2009.
In the U.S., the firings brought the number of job eliminations this month to at least 150,500, according to Chicago-based executive search firm Challenger Gray & Christmas."

Oh bullshit with that recession language. It's a worse depression than seventy years ago and about to get a whole lot uglier. But the Dow yawns and goes slightly higher, after all, paying less workers means a better bottom line, right?

also - Jumpstarting The Economy One Jet At A Time

"The New York Post reports today that Citgroup — the recent recipient of a $45 billion government bailout — is about to receive a brand new $50 million corporate jet."


they so deserve it

It's Worse Than You Think

Here Comes A Flood Of Foreclosures

"Housing might be in worse shape than we think.
There is probably even more excess housing inventory gumming up the market than current statistics indicate, thanks to a wave of foreclosures that has yet to hit the market.
The problem: Many foreclosed homes and other distressed properties that are now owned by banks have yet to be listed for sale. The volume of this so-called 'ghost inventory' could be substantial enough to depress already steeply falling prices when it does go on the market.
"That's not good news," said Pat Newport, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. "[Excess] inventory is the biggest problem in housing these days, and it leads to lower housing prices, which leads to more foreclosures."

I'm betting this week is going to be one for the record books on Wall Street.

Speaker Wants To Keep Shoveling Your Money To The Banksters

Pelosi signals willingness to add to TARP funds

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday the federal government may need to pump more taxpayer funds into the faltering banking system and that taxpayers should receive equity as compensation.
Pelosi told ABC's "This Week" program that "some increased investment" might be needed beyond the $700 billion approved last year under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to stabilize the nation's banks and get them to resume making loans."

$1.6B in TARP Money Bails Out Corporate Executives

"The Associated Press has completed a fascinating study. It finds that around $1.6 billion in TARP money was paid out to corporate executives. Per the article, the benefits were paid out to around 600 executives and included “cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management.”

Mysterious Prison Buses In The Desert

"Prison buses are driving around empty in the Tucson area. Are Wackenhut and the DHS preparing for civil unrest?

The new Wackenhut operation is shrouded in mystery. It has been running its fleet of empty prison buses night and day, apparently logging miles on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract. Multiple buses can be seen driving all over town and even on remote desert back roads. Oddly, except for the driver and one escort guard seated in front, these buses are always empty."

BBC Stops Fellating Israelis And Broadcasts Appeal For Gaza Aid. Oh Wait...

BBC refuses to broadcast charity appeal for Gaza aid

"LONDON, England (CNN) -- The BBC is refusing to broadcast a plea from leading British charities for aid to Gaza, saying the ad would compromise the public broadcaster's appearance of impartiality."

Funny how this BBC controversy is big news all over the world, but basically non existent here in the US. I guess you would expect the vile mainstream media like CNNABCCBSFOX to give short shrift to the fact that one of the largest news organizations in the world is getting raked over the coals for being a good little zionist lapdog, but wouldn't this story be front and center at lefty news sites?

not at Buzzflash

nothing at Huffpost

Sometimes The Firemen Turn Out To Be The Arsonists

Weapons are smuggled into Gaza from Israel, says Egyptian human rights official

"CAIRO: Egypt has proof that the majority of weapons that are smuggled into the Gaza Strip come from Israel, said the general secretary of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights Mukhlis Qutb.In an interview with the state owned Al-Ahram newspaper, Qutb said Egypt has the necessary documentation and confessions proving that weapons are smuggled into Gaza by people possessing Israeli citizenship.He also alleged that some members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are involved in the smuggling and selling of Israeli weapons to the Strip. Qutb added that the deals and payment for the weapons are struck inside Israel."

If true, this would add more fuel to the fire that the zionist slaughter was simply a war of extermination and a political ploy to gain support for the Likud party. Fascists everywhere need enemies and the zionist blood orgy in Gaza will ensure they'll have endless numbers to continually have to deal with in the future.

If true it would also mean that the tunnels under the border with Egypt are basically what the palestinians say they are - the only way to get food, fuel and medicines into Gaza around the murderous Israeli blockade of goods. And if true, bombing the tunnels is simply a way to purposely starve 1.5 million sick arabs to death while lying to the world.

Shitty Little Terror State Will Bomb Tunnels Again - Livni

Economic Collapse Hits Guantanamo And Bagram

Israeli Spokesman: Hamas Used Phosphorus, Not Israel

palestinians shelling themselves with white phosphorus munitions

"When you walk into a totalitarian government where people have injuries, how do you know that some of these injuries weren't caused - for example - by Hamas munitions?," Regev told Britain's Channel Four.

When confronted by the Channel Four presenter for accusing Hamas, Regev argued that the democratically-elected government of Hamas is an "authoritarian government" and therefore reports gathered from witnesses in Gaza can not be relied upon.

He went on to lash out at a report by the channel's correspondent in Gaza for suggesting that "Israel went and randomly killed civilians" adding that it "is not clearly the case."

clearly a self inflicted wound

This is one propaganda level below the "You can't say that. That's antisemitic." argument.

Secret History Of Obama And Clinton On The Campaign Trail

America Continues To Spread Democracy And Hope Around The World

U.S. troops in Iraq kill couple, wound daughter in raid on home

"U.S. forces killed a couple and wounded their 9-year-old daughter during a raid on their home in northern Iraq early Saturday, U.S. military and Iraqi officials said."

Death toll hits 21 in US strikes on Pakistan

Obama’s new foreign policy team prepares escalated bloodletting in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Afghan President: US Forces Killed 16 Civilians

But wait. Didn't the Obama administration just name that well known "peacekeeper" Richard Holbrooke as the US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan?

"A little known chapter in Holbrooke's career in the US government is his complicity in Indonesia's campaign of genocide against East Timor. Holbrooke was head of the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs during the Carter Administration. On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor, which it continues to occupy today, killing over 200,000 Timorese in the process, approximately 1/3 of the pre-invasion population."

Reverend Ted Loves The Trouser Snakes

is that a woody little fella?

Disgraced pastor faces more gay sex accusations

"Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard's former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard - a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.
Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, told The Associated Press that the man came forward to church officials in late 2006 shortly after a Denver male prostitute claimed to have had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with Haggard.
Boyd said an "overwhelming pool of evidence" pointed to an "inappropriate, consensual sexual relationship" that "went on for a long period of time ... it wasn't a one-time act."

This bewildered dude hasn't got a prayer in trying to get his former xtian mojo working. The one thing that will save this man's ass is to drop the pretense and declare openly that he indeed loves the wrinklebeast, he can't get through his day without some zipper ripper, and so what?

If he renounced his phony xtian past and stood up straight and embraced his man-love, he'd redeem himself fully; if he went ahead and exposed xtian hypocrisy while proudly affirming his jones for junk he'd become a cult figure.

Cut Off All Aid To Israel And Kick Them Out Of The UN

Israel to approve aid for IDF officers accused of Gaza war crimes

"The government is set to approve a bill Sunday to grant aid and support to Israel Defense Forces officers in cases where they face suits for alleged war crimes from Operation Cast Lead."

IDF censor bans naming officers involved in Gaza op

Real proud of their accomplishments, aren't they?

Israel, U.S. formally sign new defense aid agreement - 2007

"Israel and the United States signed Thursday a Memorandum of Understanding on the new American defense package for Israel. Under the new aid agreement, the U.S. will transfer $30 billion to Israel over 10 years, compared with $24 billion over the past decade. The aid deal signed at represents a 25 percent rise in U.S. military aid to Israel."

And that doesn't include loan guarantees.

Mixed Bag News

Where's the news? Obama's whitehouse.gov is transparent -- but not in a good way.

"It's refreshing to have a brother in the White House. But Americans didn't elect a Big Brother.
Maybe there's another site that has that basic, necessary presidential info on Obama's White House. There had better be, or all his talk about "transparency" will truly be transparent.
Memo to Obama: Spare me the site's touted "blog" and give us the damn news and info."

whitehouse.gov

Establishing Tough Guy Bona Fides

Obama Orders Missile Strike Against Pakistan, At Least 20 Killed

"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 23 -- At least 20 people were killed in northwest Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan on Friday in two suspected U.S. missile strikes, marking the first such attack in Pakistan's tribal areas since President Obama's inauguration."

Flashback: Bill Clinton’s 1992 execution gambit

"Rector was severely mentally handicapped due to an attempted suicide that left him effectively lobotomized.
When Rector’s execution day approached, he was given the standard last meal. For dessert, he was offered a slice of pecan pie, which he moved to the window sill of his holding cell. When asked why he was not eating his pie, he remarked that he was “saving it” for “after the execution.”
Enter the 1992 Presidential Elections, Bill Clinton’s campaign on the ropes in New Hampshire, as well as Clinton’s need to look tough and “not pull a Dukakis” on the issue of the death penalty. Clinton interrupted campaigning in New Hampshire to fly home to preside over the execution of the mentally challenged Rector. (Such an act was not necessary legally – the execution could well have proceeded without the governor’s presence in the state. But Clinton wanted to prove that he was a “new” Democrat, tough on crime.)

Shitty Little Terror State Failed To Starve Out The Palestinians

Gaza tunnels back in business

"Hundreds of workers toiled in southern Gaza Thursday to repair dozens of tunnels dug under tents or fake greenhouses while smugglers brought in food and fuel just days after Israel ended a barrage of bombs and missiles aimed at cutting off the supply route from Egypt."

"I fixed the damage in three days, we're functional since this morning," he said, overseeing the winch that hurled a large pack of potato chips 15 yards up from his tunnel.
While both traffickers insisted they had never considered bringing weapons for Hamas, Abu Bilal, another colleague repairing his own tunnel, said he wouldn't mind doing so.
"But frankly, the resistance never asks us to," he said."

Our Allies

Gaza family says Israeli soldier shot children

"SOUAD ABED RABBO was in her apartment on the edge of the Jabalya refugee camp near the Israeli border on January 7 when the call came from Israeli soldiers for everyone in the area to come outside.
Her apartment had been bombed, and there was an Israeli tank unit approaching the building.
"We started coming outside of the apartment, and we were waving white flags to show that we were not fighters," she said through a translator yesterday.
Among the first to exit the building were one of her sons, Khaled, and his wife and three daughters, Amal, 2, Sammer, 4, and Souad, 7.
Two soldiers were standing on either side of the tank outside the house, she said. Another of her sons, Husam, told the Herald that one of the soldiers was an officer.
"They were standing there just looking at us, and they were eating chips and one had chocolate and they were talking to each other," Husam said.
"We were waiting for about 10 minutes for directions on where we should go."
Husam and another son, Ahmed, said a third soldier rose from inside the tank, holding his rifle.
Their mother says she did not see the third soldier until he started shooting.
"He did it very slowly," Ahmed said. "He took careful aim at the little girls, and shot Amal and Souad three times. Sammer started running back up the steps toward the house and he shot her also."
Their grandmother started shouting, trying to push her son, Khaled, the father of the two shot girls, and his wife, back into the house. She was also shot, three times."

Corroboration - New evidence of Gaza child deaths

Brownshirts Know Their Job

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Fascism Covets Total Control

More proof the WOT is a fraud.

NSA Analyst: Spying Far More Widespread than Previously Believed

"On January 21, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice appeared Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show. Tice, who helped expose the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, told Olbermann government programs designed to spy on the American people are more extensive and far reaching than previously admitted. “The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications,” Tice said. “It didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications.”

“Spying on Americans by the super-secret National Security Agency is not only more widespread than President George W. Bush admits but is part of a concentrated, government-wide effort to gather and catalog information on U.S. citizens, sources close to the administration say,” Doug Thompson wrote for Capitol Hill Blue on December 27, 2005. “Besides the NSA, the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and dozens of private contractors are spying on millions of Americans 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”

Who Cares About The Story

When the headlines are so good

Zimbabwe: Trillion Dollar Notes Introduced

"The central bank on Friday introduced new Zimbabwe dollar bank notes into circulation, this time in the trillion dollar range, in the most recent indication that Zimbabwe is a failed state.
The new notes, ranging from a Z$10 trillion note to Z$100 trillion, is the latest effort by the Reserve Bank to 'help' Zimbabweans deal with the country's out-of-control hyperinflation that experts believe has, unofficially, reached at least a billion percent, if not much more."


chump change

For The Dead

"We’ve been here before. It’s a ritual. Every two or three years, our military mounts another bloody expedition. The enemy is always smaller, weaker; our military is always larger, technologically more sophisticated, prepared for full-scale war against a full-scale army. But Iran is too scary, and even the relatively small Hizbullah gave us a hard time. That leaves the Palestinians."

Incredible Disappearing Criminals

You know, ever since the Bushista thugs stole the white house back in 2000 with the help of the supremes that Poppy appointed, it's really been obvious that Cheney ran the show. Bush was the front man for the facade, the running joke attention getter while the real power called the shots. It's probably why Cheney stayed in the shadows or vanished for long stretches into his dungeon.



Tom Tomorrow believes a lot will eventually come out about the last hateful eight years. I think he's right and it won't take long because too many people have the goods on those scumbags and will probably want to be among the first whistleblowers to cash in. It may be that Obama has signed off on prosecution for criminal misdeeds, but if you've been as monstrously evil as that crew, you'd want to have fallback options of avoiding prison too.

Back during the eighties there was a character named William Casey who played a role behind the scenes much like Cheney. He was a spook through and through, from the Office of Strategic Services during WW2 and onward. Reagan named him CIA diretor after 1980. He was the driving force behind the Iran Contra operations, the arms-for-hostages fiasco and the arming of central american thugs who murdered thousands in violation of the Boland amendment. When Iran Contra blew up he was supposed to testify, but just hours before that he conveniently had a "stroke" of some sort and "died" a short time later, with all the criminal information he had going with him.

I'm bringing this up because the stage may have been set for another conveniently timed disappearing act by Cheney, a clandestine operator if there ever was one. All through the Bushista nightmare we've been told about his lousy ticker. Then, at the inaugural event seen by most of the world, his final public appearance was in a wheelchair because of a conveniently timed strained back, looking for all the world like a tired man who might be on his way out. Might I suggest, if the heat gets turned up a little much, that we can expect yet another fortuitously timed disappearing act?

Video Of That Inaugural UFO

Download Windows Video-4.2 MB-Time-00:38

Right click and then "save target as", then open it up.
Telling us something?

A Portend Of Things To Come?

Riots in Iceland, Latvia and Bulgaria

"Icelanders all but stormed their Parliament last night. It was the first session of the chamber after what might appear to be an unusually long Christmas break.
Ordinary islanders were determined to vent their fury at the way that the political class had allowed the country to slip towards bankruptcy. The building was splattered with paint and yoghurt, the crowd yelled and banged pans, fired rockets at the windows and lit a bonfire in front of the main door. Riot police moved in.
Now in the grand sweep of the current crisis, a riot on a piece of volcanic rock in the north Atlantic may not seem to add up to much. But it is a sign of things to come: a new age of rebellion. "

CNN Captures UFO At Inauguration

Even ETs celebrated the end of the Bushista mob

The Pay Better Be Good

Barack Obama inauguration: Security team could use presidential doubles

Security experts said doubles could be used for public photo opportunities where he is not required to speak but may be exposed to a potential threat.
President Obama is understood to be against the idea of using doubles himself because the tactic is generally associated with rulers including Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il of North Korea, Stalin and Adolf Hitler.
But following hundreds of threats to his life already some of those charged with protecting him believe it may become an option.

However, the best known Obama lookalike so far, said he didn't want the job. Ilham Anas, 34, an Indonesian photographer who bears a striking resemblance to the president, said: "I don't want to get shot."


um, no thanks

Not Bad, Not Bad

I've got to say, a few positive things caught my jaded eye, something that hasn't happened in a very long time. It seems Obama's inauguration speech pissed of the Chinese government so much they censored some of it. I hate state censorship in any way, shape or form.

"China Central Television, or CCTV, the main state-run network, broadcast the address live until the moment Mr. Obama mentioned “communism” in a line about the defeat of ideologies considered anathema to Americans. After the translator said “communism” in Chinese, the audio faded out even as Mr. Obama’s lips continued to move."

Apparently the end of the Bushista reign of terror prompted so much glee for some in the world that Antigua is renaming its tallest peak Mount Obama. And in a pre emptive strike against fascist AM talk radio, Obama re-took his inaugural oath of office after John Roberts screwed the original up. Probably intentionally. Also the new president ordered a halt to all last minute shit from Bush, forcing revues.

The shitty little terror state was forced to admit using white phosphorus weapons on the palestinians. It remains to be seen if any of those murderous scum get dragged off to the Hague. And the parasite also won't get away with showering Gaza with depleted uranium. Also an Israeli site that lists Israeli war criminals, who are warned against traveling in europe because they now face arrest.

And a prominent UN guy is urging the US government to apprehend and charge Bush and Von Rumsfeld with torture, something that should have been done the minute Obama was sort of sworn in.

Online On The Road

I'm standing in a bathroom at a campground in the Southwest, typing on my laptop precariously balanced on a sink, luckily reaching the wall socket and not having to use battery power. Actually the WIFI here is pretty good except when the Mrs is in the bathroom next door, streaming the latest Portland Trailblazer game, which slows reception so much I might as well go ahead and take a shower after I click on a link.
No exaggeration here, this is precisely what I'm doing. Well, no, not actually soaping up now because notepad doesn't need the internet. But why exactly does the Mrs like to watch muscular, sweaty men run up and down the court? A mystery, I swear.

It's one of the most important things to this son, being online while travelling. Right up there with food, having a warm place to sleep and more than three fingers of whiskey in the bottle. I don't watch TV. Well, we've got a little flat screen set but reception sucks here anyway and this place doesn't have cable. The internets is where I get most of my understanding of the world, because the way I figure it's better to be a discerning connoseour online rather than just a drooling consumer in front of the boob tube. I try hard not to let the exigencies of travel keep me from knowing what's going on outside my immediacies.

I guess being such a brand new technology and after eight nightmarish years of no oversight, the tremendous disparity of internet service on the road shouldn't be any shock. But if there's any reason to be penning this it's to warn potential travelers not to expect truth in advertising and to prepare backup if being on the internet is important.

For instance my cosmopolitan friends, there are some communities that are at least ten years behind the curve for internet connections. When we went to a medium sized town near Hell's Canyon on the Oregon - Idaho border there were maybe only two WIFI hotspots, only recently installed, and they didn't know how to work 'em. On the other hand a little blink-and-you-miss-it place outside of Capitol Reef NP has several places with good connections.A majority of trailer parks and motels advertise High Speed WIFI!, but most assuredly ask about it beforehand and if you have time give it a try before you buy. It varies widely from extremely good to unbelievably poor. For instance the reason I'm standing in the bathroom here is because the signal is probably being sent from a cheap router in the office with a range of less than 100 feet and won't reach where we're camped. Other campgrounds advertise WIFI but actually rely on long term residents living at the park and their unreliable systems. Motels are a slight bit better but the way you access again varies. Some rent you a modem, some make you hook up to cable or even dial up in the office, most have WIFI but don't take it for granted and request to be near the antenna. Security is also all over the board. A motel at the indian trading post in Cameron, AZ had both a log in and password, the usual state of affairs, we just needed to click on IE in a campground in CO and here you get a password good for a few weeks.

Because you never know what to expect we looked into other methods. I've got to say the possibility of satellite internet really turned out to be a huge bummer. You pay a lot and get very little. If you want to absolutely be assured of getting online no matter what, satellite is the way to go. BUT, the technology doesn't appear to be where it should for the consumer and mobile connectivity is for the well off, and casual, user. Unless you have one of those big rigs with an antenna on top, then you have to lug the entire system around and you really don't want to damage the dish. Unless you park someplace for a while you'll be constantly setting up and tearing it apart. Only one company, Hughes, sells mobile internet systems and bandwith is very expensive. Plus they seem to be all over your usage and will penalize you for not hooking into the satellite correctly or intense activity. Almost all dishes you see at campgrounds are TV receivers.
I don't know anything about getting online with hand held devices bcause I don't even consider that to be a viable way to roam the tubes except for networking, but there's another way for the nomad. Plug and play computer cards. I avoided them for the same way I haven't gotten into cell phones - long term commitment - until today. We found one company, Alltel, that apparently has good coverage for a decent price, two bucks a day, with the added bonus of merging with Verizon and their coverage very soon. They don't have a cap on bandwith so we're taking the plunge tomorrow. It remains to be seen if we'll be able to surf around in backcountry Death Valley, but at least I won't have to listen to guys taking loud wet dumps while I'm trying to surf around in this bathroom.

Mr. Obama - You Can't Hide Your Lion Thighs*

Kilt Complex

"Calls have been made for Barack Obama to mark his inauguration as US president by creating his own tartan.
The move would be the ideal way to celebrate Mr Obama's Scottish ancestry and boost tourism, according to the Scottish Conservative Party.
Mr Obama can be traced to William the Lion, who ruled Scotland from 1165 to 1214, genealogists believe.
The Scottish Conservatives have written to Mr Obama about the tartan, which the party said could boost tartan exports amid the economic downturn."

*I really, really wish I had made this up, but didn't.

Panic Pranks For Pity

Hoaxes for eternal victimhood status.

Security alert at Israeli Embassy ends

"A major alert at the Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge has ended after a suspect package was declared a hoax.
The package containing a powder substance arrived there in the post this morning at around 8.30am.
The building was evacuated but only one member of staff was there at the time."

Champion Islamophobe Crowned

US national complains of Arab-types on Turkish plane

"Ankara - A US citizen caused delays to a Turkish Airlines (THY) flight between Istanbul and New York after complaining that there were "Arab-types" on board, Milliyet newspaper reported on Tuesday. In a news piece headlined, "Racism crisis on THY flight", Milliyet reported that police were called after US national Daniel Sussman Pincus started to shout complaints about "Arab-types" on board Monday's THY Istanbul-New York flight.

After escorting Pincus off the plane, all other passengers were forced off the flight to undergo security checks in accordance with international practice. The flight eventually took off after a delay of about two hours. Pincus was released by police and later caught a flight to London."

Xtians STILL Have Nightsweats About Evolution

Forever goosestepping towards that state religion.

Evolution Disclaimer Proposed for Miss. Textbooks

"A Mississippi lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require textbooks to include a disclaimer describing evolution as a "controversial theory" and advising students to keep an "open mind" to other explanations for the origin of life."

And we all know what that "other explanation" is, wink wink, that garbage about having open minds being a ruse to hide their agenda. Myself, I believe in panspermia but you'll never hear xtians go to bat for that other theory.

Bonus - The Virgin Mary Agate - they'll swoon at Ebay, I'm sure

Neocon Plans Come To Fruition As Depression Causes More Enlistments

Uncle Sam Wants A Bad Economy

"Uncle Sam wants you, and in a poor economy, you might want Uncle Sam, too.
The Pentagon is hiring, and having less difficulty doing so than in flush economic times. The Army and each of the other branches of the military are meeting or exceeding their goals for signing up recruits, and attracting more qualified people."

Fascists will always want you to be just smart enough to do a job and be a little poor, be a little sick all the time, and be very, very fearful.

Saying Goodbye To The Country In His Inimicable Way

And His Presidential Library



The Most Loathsome Creature In Political History Looks On



Mass Murderer Booed One Final Time



Notice how the vile media suckups tut tut this publioc display of hatred for this criminal, and immediately cut away to celebrants on the street.

We as a nation blew it today. As soon as Obama was sworn in, this traitorous walking sewage should have been summarily arrested along with his entire cabinet and sent to prison to await trial. Obama could have walked his talk and shown his country and the world that the rule of law still exists here, and that justice still prevails. By not doing that he declared clearly and unambiguously that nothing substantive will change during his administration, and that all his flowery speechifying is just more horseshit.

White House gate today

Always Thinking Continuity

Defense Secratary will become prez if everybody else gets blown up tomorrow

"Here’s something you don’t even want to think about. It comes by way of a statement from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
“In order to ensure continuity of government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been designated by the outgoing administration, with the concurrence of the incoming administration, to serve as the designated successor during Inauguration Day, Tuesday, January 20th.”
The “designated successor” become president in case of an Inauguration Day disaster that takes the lives of everybody else in the succession plan.
Where does that put Gates during the festivities?
“Undisclosed location,” says Perino."

Banksters Thank The System For Paying Off Their Yachts

Obama's Inauguration Has Been Financed Partially by Bailed-Out Wall Street Executives

"They are not the $20 and $50 donors who helped propel Obama through Election Day," said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics. "These are people giving mostly $50,000 apiece. They tend to be corporate executives, celebrities, the elite of the elite."

And in a plea for pity:

Dick Cheney To Attend Inauguration In Wheel Chair

God Exhorts His Chosen People To Murder Indescriminately

Israeli rabbis to Olmert: It doesn’t matter even if you kill million Palestinians

"GAZA, (PIC)-- A report issued by the Saudi Al-Watan news paper revealed Saturday that Jewish rabbis in the Zionist entity have issued a religious edict allowing the killing of Palestinian women and children and exonerating every Jew doing such horrible thing.
According to the paper, the rabbis opined that the Israeli massacres in Gaza Strip falls in line with Jewish teachings that consider such killing as "mass punishment to the enemies".
The paper also added that one of the rabbis opined that there would be no problem at all in exterminating the Palestinian people even if one million or more of them were killed at the hands of the occupation troops.
Citing verses from the Book of Geneses, Jewish rabbi Mordachi Elyaho, who is the religious reference of the popular religious current in the Zionist entity sent outgoing Israeli premier Ehud Olmert a weekly leaflet containing articles allowing the Jews to carryout the idea of massive punishment against the enemies in accordance with the ethics of war in the Torah, the paper pointed out."

Extremely Bad Ad Placement

Battlestar Galactica

1st Israeli Blogging Panzer Division Seeks Trolls

Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites

"The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German."

The Nanny State Wants Total Control

No smoking in most of Belmont California, not even at home

"A controversial ordinance that became law Friday extends the ban on smoking even to residents' apartments and condos."

"The law is the first of its kind in California, going far beyond the statewide prohibition against lighting up in businesses, restaurants and bars. In Belmont, it is now illegal to smoke inside any multistory, multiunit dwelling."

"The fine for each citation is $100. No ifs, ands or butts."

Now I'm not a smoker. I haven't even smoked pot for decades, and I have a damaged lung from a motorcycle accident 10 years ago. I hate the smell of cigarettes and all the crap the manufacturers put in the stupid, addictive and poisonous things. It's not really tobacco anymore but cancerous profit making tools for the industry's magnates.

That being said, this sort of crap makes me extremely mad. If people want to destroy their health then they should bloody well have the right to go ahead and do just that, with no interference from the government. What you and I do with our bodies is our own business and the state should keep the hell out of our lives.

Over the years it seems the friction between smokers and non smokers has pretty much abated. Social venues are mostly smoke free and any differences can easily be worked out without government beaurocrats sticking their noses where they don't belong. Telling people what they can and can't do in the privacy of their own homes is simply wrong. And the first thing free people should do is kick the shit out of nanny state toadies like the nicotine cop stooge that's profiled in the story above.

"Hell is full of good intentions or desires." - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)

Organolic And Naturamal

A third of new products make natural claims

"Mintel GNPD said one-third of all US new launches in 2008 highlighted these attributes, which was an increase of 16 percent compared to 2007."

ET GTO UFO

'Muscle car' UFO hoons over Darwin

"A MYSTERIOUS blue car-shaped UFO has been spotted in Darwin as it flew across a cloudy wet season sky.
But in the words of amateur photographer Mark Schmutter, 79, "It does look like a car but what would a car be doing up in the sky?"

And You Want To Keep Paying Your Bank Of America Credit Card Bill At 29% Interest?

GAO: 83% of big U.S companies, contractors use offshore tax havens

"The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just issued a report showing that most of the nation's largest public companies and government contractors rely on offshore subsidiaries to do business and cut their tax bills. Some of these same firms — including big banks and insurers — have already received tens of billions in taxpayer money from the federal bailout fund.
Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, American International Group, American Express have set up hundreds of tax-haven subsidiaries, the report states. All have taken billions from the bailout fund."

No Israeli War Crimes Here, Move Along

Israeli 'phosphorous shells' incinerate 1,000s of tons of UN food as Gaza starves

Fish Shall Now Be Known As "Sea Kittens" (PETA)

"There's a real image problem with anything that doesn't have two or four legs."

Strange new creature with legs discovered walking on a sea bed.

Inevitable Culmination

California controller to suspend tax refunds, welfare checks

"John Chiang announces that his office will suspend $3.7 billion in payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1, as a result of the state's cash crisis. Student grants are also affected."

Of Unsustainable Bullshit

Nobody's Buying, Unsold Cars Pile Up

"Carmakers around the world are cutting production as inventories build up to unprecedented levels. Storage areas and docksides are now packed with vast expanses of unsold cars as demand slumps"

more pictures

How Convenient

Both Engines Missing From Crashed Plane In Hudson River

Bank of America, Wells Employees Were Aboard Crashed Plane

"Bankers figured prominently in another aircraft crash that ended in a New York river. As DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin reported in 2005, a helicopter carrying top executives from MBNA, the credit card giant, fell into the East River.
No one was seriously hurt. But days later, the deal that the MBNA executives had come to negotiate in secret was, as the company failed to sell itself to Wachovia. MBNA quickly sold itself to Bank of America for $35 billion."

‘Assassination By Plane Crash’ Of Top American Bankers Fails In US

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Gaza.
Not much to say anymore, is there?

And People Wonder How The Church Can Protect Child Molesters?

Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins

A priest who has sex with someone and then forgives the act is a more serious sin than genocide.

"The Apostolic Penitentiary, or "tribunal of conscience", has been shrouded in secrecy ever since it was established by Pope Alexander III in 1179 and until now has never provided details of the cases it scrutinises.
They are considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.
But in an effort to present a more transparent image and to encourage more people to make confessions, the tribunal held a two-day conference in Rome in which it discussed its purpose and inner workings.
"Even though it's the oldest department of the Holy See, it's very little known - specifically because by its nature it deals with secret things," said Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the tribunal's second most senior official.
While priests and bishops can deal with confessions of sins as grave as murder or even genocide, the tribunal is reserved for crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious.
They include attempting to assassinate the Pope, a priest abusing the confidentiality of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who admitted to it, or a priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act."

Israeli "Settlements" Explained

In All The Atrocities, Poor Israeli Victims Are Supposedly Fired Upon

From schools, from the UN, from across the border, from hospitals, from refugee camps, from apartment complexes, from ambulances, from babies.

UN headquarters in Gaza hit by Israeli 'white phosphorus' shells

"The main UN compound in Gaza was left in flames today after being struck by Israeli artillery fire, and a spokesman said that the building had been hit by shells containing the incendiary agent white phosphorus.
The attack on the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) came as Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, arrived in Israel on a peace mission and plunged Israel's relations with the world body to a new low.
Mr Ban expressed his "strong protest and outrage" at the shelling and demanded an investigation, only to be told by apologetic Israeli leaders that their forces had been returning fire from within the UN compound.

Israelis "fired on from UN school"

"GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israeli artillery Tuesday struck near a U.N. school sheltering civilians in Gaza, killing at least 40 people after, according to the Israeli military, Hamas militants fired mortars from the location."

How Bad Is It?

Japanese cities raiding remains of dead for precious metals

"Cash-strapped city governments in Japan are searching through the ashes of cremated residents to extract precious metals, pocketing the proceeds from the recycled gold and silver, it has emerged.

The city of Nagoya alone has reportedly collected 12 kg of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in 2007 from teeth and bones, worth more than Y10 million (£77,000)."

"Tokyo collected some 700 grams of gold, 500 grams of palladium and 1.9 kg of silver from cremated bodies in 2007, adding Y3.2 million (£24,600) to the city's bank account. The city also banked around Y90,000 (£690) in coins left as offering inside the coffins"

Economic Woes in Dubai Halt Work on World's Tallest Skyscraper

"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The developer of a skyscraper planned to be the world's tallest said Wednesday it is halting work on the project for a year as the Middle East's business and entertainment capital grapples with the financial crisis."

added - U.S. Foreclosure Filings Up 81 Percent in 2008

"More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices."