Last posts on politics

An Energy Alliance with Iran

2011-12-09T13:18:00+01:00

After Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran knows that it may be attacked without reason, and after Libya and now perhaps Syria, it knows that it may be attacked if there is a civil war, which, as part of the Arab Spring, may well take place. Right now, nuclear weapons seem the only way Iran can prevent war, for once they can threaten to kill millions of people at once should anyone declare war on them, no one will. Iran will never actually use them, however, knowing that if they would, they would themselves be attacked by nuclear bombs (Arutz Sheva: Dubai Sheikh: If Iran Attacks, Israel Will Wipe It Off the Map). Iran knows that without nuclear weapons, war is be likely. The only way that Iran can be kept from building nuclear weapons is to take away the threat of war. The only way to do this is to not only make peace with them, but actually ally with them. It will take something huge to do this, but one such huge thing would be to cooperate in building thorium reactors in Iran, which would at the same be the best way to keep them from building nuclear weapons, as once they have thorium reactors, the only reason they could still want to build uranium reactors is to build nuclear weapons, and the whole world would know this, so that this would make it harder to build nuclear weapons in secret and would also make it easier to prevent war through cooperation. One way it could do this would be by not cracking down on protests should they become major, which could in turn prevent civil war.

Breed Mares For Jaysus

2011-06-21T05:05:00+02:00

My friends have been talking about this Quiverfull thing. Some of them have just heard about this and now they realize that the Duggar family is/was on TV promoting this shit. "Look at how much fun we have with a zillion kiddies for the Lord!" One of my friends came across this.

BIRTHING GOD’S MIGHTY WARRIORS

Re-examines our ideas about birth control.

God’s people were never supposed to use it.

But with the introduction of the birth control pill in 1960 and its blessing by the World Council of Churches in 1961, Protestant ministers and their wives jumped on the birth control bandwagon. Their action lead many of God’s people to accept a lifestyle of family planning. Twenty-five years ago in the mid 1980′s home-schoolers revived the no birth control belief and today the movement has broadened to tens of thousands of couples.

Basically rethinking birth control has gone mainstream.

Those of us who are quiverfull know that quiverfull mothers are some of the happiest because we are birthing and raising our children. It’s a shame the liberal press is attempting to portray us as a bunch of “uneducated breeders” being forced to go along with dictatorial husbands. My husband is one of the nicest guys in the world, hardly a dictator and I am a college educated women. If this were true of other quiverfullers then there’s got to be some unhappy women out there!! RIGHT?

It’s been 25 years now. A lot of women have become quiverfull. Some of their sons and daughters are grown and are becoming quiverfull. Surely in 25 years time given the internet, youtube, blogs, books, cult watching scandals, religion in the news and the ease of information in our press wouldn’t a large group of women have spoken out by now?

THE TRUTH IS: They’re not out there!

Letting God give us children makes mothers happy and after twenty five years quiverful mothers are some of the happiest!

This is my response to this.

I've always said that I didn't have children because there were plenty of people out there having enough of them that I didn't need to participate. And you ladies are a prime example of that. Definitely don't have to worry about the extinction of the human race. While I could care less if you have 100 of them I just sincerely hope that you are supporting these children on your own. Because I have no interest in paying to feed them or paying for their medical care. So as long as you aren't on food stamps or medicaid, have as many as you like. I find nothing admirable about having a bunch of kids that you can't support on your own as I've noticed that some of these families find themselves needing outside help with food and clothing. Just make sure that your husbands support you and your families on their own. I refuse to financially support any children that are born under these circumstances and I will have issues if I find that ANY of you belonging to this "movement" are on public assistance. If that's not the case then birth away for Jesus ladies. By the way, what's with all the militaristic stuff and "the final generations"? That's kind of creepy as I totally abhor violence of any type.

I truly find these people very creepy. They're part of a cult movement that believes in mass producing babies and brainwashing these kids into doing the same and there is a seedier side to this business. They honestly think that if they produce enough of these "warrriors" they will take over the government and put any business out of commision that offends their sensibilities. In other words, they would very much like to force their lifestyle and beliefs on the rest of us. Turn the country into a theocracy. We as a free, democratic nation where no one has to abide by someone else's personal beliefs need to be wary and not allow this to happen.

Introducing Herman Cain

2011-06-12T00:18:00+02:00

Herman Cain is probably the most important 2012 candidate you’ve never heard of — and we’d like to change that. With Herman Cain growing more popular in the polls and the next GOP primary debate just around the corner, here’s the rundown on Herman Cain.

What you might know about Herman Cain

He is the former president and CEO of Godfather’s pizza
He is a Tea Party favorite
He is a former radio show host and Fox Business Channel contributor, naturally

What you might not know about Herman Cain’s and his campaign

He is surging in the GOP primary polls and is more popular than other, more well-known candidates. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll out just yesterday, he was tied for third with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) — putting him ahead of Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Jon Hunstman.
He was the most googled presidential candidate during the month of May
He was on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City during the 1990s
He won the GOP’s first official debate, held last month in South Carolina, according to a Fox News/Frank Luntz focus group
His official campaign announcement in Atlanta attracted nearly 15,000 people
He has visited Iowa 19 times
He says he is proof that the Tea Party is not racist

What you should know about some of the extreme views of Herman Cain

Cain wouldn’t appoint Muslims to his administration: Back in March, ThinkProgress asked Cain if he’d be comfortable appointing Muslims to his cabinet and the federal judiciary. His response: “No, I will not.” During the now three-month long media firestorm that ensued, Cain has repeatedly tried to deny that’s what he said. PolitiFact awarded his denials a “pants on fire” rating. Religious tests are, of course, unconstitutional.
Cain would require special loyalty oaths for Muslims: Yesterday, Cain gave an expansive interview to Glenn Beck, who asked him about his comments on Muslims appointees. Cain once again attempted to tamp down the controversy by insisting he’d been misquoted, but then added he would require special loyalty oaths for Muslims — but not for any other religious group.
Cain says Muslims “have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them”: In an interview with Christianity Today magazine, Cain remarked: “The role of Muslims in American society is for them to be allowed to practice their religion freely, which is part of our First Amendment. The role of Muslims in America is not to convert the rest of us to the Muslim religion. That I resent.And so I push back and reject them trying to convert the rest of us. And based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them.”
Cain’s solution for securing the border is a Great Wall of China featuring a moat with alligators: During an event ThinkProgress attended earlier this week in Iowa, Cain said: “Now, my fence might be part Great Wall and part electrical technology. […] It will be a 20-foot wall, barbed wire, electrified on the top, and on this side of the fence, I’ll have that moat that President Obama talked about. And I would put those alligators in that moat!”
Cain worked for a group and voiced ads in previous elections that accused Democrats of wanting to kill “black babies”: The group for which he was the spokesman and helped voice ads for in the 2004 and 2006 election cycles ran spots on black radio stations with lines like: “Black babies are terminated at triple the rate of white babies. The Democratic Party supports these abortion laws that are decimating our people, but the individual’s right to life is protected in the Republican platform. Democrats say they want our vote. Why don’t they want our lives?”
Cain thinks it’s “plausible” that Planned Parenthood was formed to systematically lower the black population: During a 2004 Senate run, Cain said: “One of the motivations was killing black babies, because they didn’t want to deal with the problems of illiteracy and poverty.”
Cain thinks homosexuality is a sin, but he’d appoint gay cabinet members –because, he says, they would not try to impose Sharia law: Cain told CBS news that he believes homosexuality is a sin; however, he told ThinkProgress earlier this week that he’d still be willing to appoint gays because he apparently believes they are anti-Sharia: “Nope, not at all. I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all. I just want people who are qualified, I want them to believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. So yep, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person. Because they’re not going to try to put sharia law in our laws.”
Cain taking part in a Tea Party, pro-gold standard bus tour of Iowa: Along with several other candidates, Cain will participate in a three-week tour of Iowa that is focused, in part, on returning the U.S. to the gold standard, a favorite theme of Glenn Beck and the Tea Party. Blaming the national debt, Cain did admit to an Iowa audience earlier this week that it might be too difficult for the U.S. to go back on the gold standard.
Cain misreads the Constitution to say the federal government can’t do anything about the foreclosure crisis: During a recent interview, Cain said, “The United States federal government, folks, has no jurisdiction over bankruptcy law. States do!” Article I of the Constitution, however, explicitly states: ““[t]he Congress shall have power . . . [t]o establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.”

You know, I hate to tell Mr. Cain this but abortion is not an attempt to murder black babies and it's a well known fact that more white women obtain abortions than black women. As a matter of fact all anti abortion organizations have nothing but white people, mostly men, running them. Planned Parenthood not only provides abortions, but they also provide contraception to low income women and offer gynecological services such as pap smears to low income women. But of course we wouldn't want low income women to prevent themselves from becoming pregnant or deciding when such a thing is feasible and we woudn't want them to be screened for cervical cancer or cancer of the uterus. I am really growing tired of people's hysteria on this matter. I'm sorry folks but this country does not need to be overpopulated with people of any race. There aren't enough jobs to go around so what do you want to do? Bring a bunch of people into the world who won't be able to find employment? On the one hand people are fine with exporting jobs to other countries for cheap wages and on the other hand they don't want women aborting babies. Well guess what folks, those babies will one day become adults. What is this obssession with fetuses?

Apparently Mr. Cain knows very little about Muslims. The vast majority of them are not interested in converting people to Islam and have no desire to murder people who don't want to be Muslims. Apparently he doesn't know many Muslims. And why should they have to swear a special oath? How ridiculous. It's no secret that Christianity has a history of murdering people who wouldn't convert to Christianity. It's no secret that there are sects of Christians who believe that it's okay to kill people who aren't Christians. You're worried about Sharia Law? There are a number of Christians who would like this country to be run by Biblical Law which is the Christian version of Sharia Law. Let us not forget that Judaism begat Christianity which begat Islam. All three religions share similar feelings and have similarities in their religious texts. People criticize stoning in the Middle East and refuse to acknowledge that the method of execution in the Bible is stoning people to death. Where do you think Muslims got that from? And by goodness there are Christians who feel that should be a method of execution for people who are gay or who don't obey the Ten Commandments. How about we deal with the homegrown loonies in our midst and we'll let people in the Middle East deal with theirs. There is absolutely no chance of Sharia Law being instituted into the Constitution. There are not enough Muslims who even run for political office for that to become an issue. And I would dare say that the reason a lot of Muslims move here or to other countries is to get away from Sharia Law. Apparently there are Muslims who don't like such strict rules and they would rather live elsewhere. I have yet to meet a Muslim and I have met several who have stated that they want to kill non Muslims and man if only they lived under Sharia Law. Once again, hysteria.

Mr. Cain, if you think being a fucknut is going to convince white supremacists to vote for you and let's face it, white supremacists all vote Republican, that ain't gonna happen. And no, being the token black in the Tea Party doesn't mean that many of those people are not racist. It doesn't mean they all are but many are. They view your race as a problem. You might as well face reality brother. And no, you are not going to have a rat's ass chance in hell of becoming President unless you can trace your family lineage to the Queen of England because all of the former Presidents could. Including Obama. Let us not forget the man is half white and his mother's family can trace their lineage to the old bitch's family. Wake up and smell the fucking coffee you jackass.

Face it

2011-05-13T10:54:30+02:00

There’s nothing so difficult about the truth as we but tell ourselves in order not to face it. Face it, and you’ll see it.

PersonhoodUSA's Radical, Fetal-Separatist Agenda

2010-10-27T04:31:00+02:00

I just had to post this lady's article here. Her name is Lynn Paltrow. These right to lifers are getting more and more insane as time goes. Pretty soon women who don't become pregnant are going to have hand their ova to the state to ensure they get fertilized because these women are denying their ova life.

Next week, people in Colorado will be voting on Amendment 62, a ballot measure sponsored by PersonhoodUSA. This organization seeks to establish the "pre-born,” including eggs, embryos and fetuses as separate “legal persons with protection under the law."

This organization claims that its goal is to end the "injustice of abortion.” In fact they are promoting a Fetal Separatist movement, one that is trying to legally separate pregnant women and the fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses inside of them. Their efforts are dangerous to all pregnant women including those who go to term, those who expect confidential medical care, and those who want to preserve their right to life and liberty.

The argument that eggs and fetuses may be treated as if they are legally independent of the women who carry them has been used to deprive pregnant women of their status as full constitutional persons. Angela Carder was forced to have cesarean surgery to advance the rights of the fetus inside of her. Shortly after the surgery both the baby and Ms. Carder died. Ms. Carder was deprived of her right to life. Recently, a pregnant woman was kept prisoner in a Florida hospital because doctors believed that doing so would advance the rights and health of the fetus. She nevertheless suffered a stillbirth. Ms. Burton was deprived of her right to liberty. Although courts in both cases eventually held that these deprivations of life and liberty were wrong, adopting fetal separatist measures would allow outsiders to take similar actions whenever they disagreed with the pregnant woman.

In New Jersey, V.M. refused to pre-authorize cesarean surgery. Although she had a successful vaginal birth, New Jersey hospital workers reported her to child welfare authorities for medical neglect of her unborn child. This report led to the removal of the newborn from her parent’s custody. As a result, V.M. her husband and her child have been deprived of their fundamental liberty interests in family life.

When doctors at a hospital learned that Laura Pemeberton was attempting to have a home birth, fetal separatist arguments became the basis for sending a sheriff to her home. She was taken into custody, forcibly restrained while in active labor, judged without representation and forced to undergo cesarean surgery, depriving her of her right to liberty, privacy, bodily integrity, medical decision-making and due process of law.

When CT in Iowa was five months pregnant and fell down a flight of stairs, she assumed that she had a right to privacy in her medical information. Hospital staff, however, reported her to the police and she was arrested – deprived of her liberty – for the made up crime of “attempted fetal homicide.”

Fetal separatists analogize fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses to African-American slaves who were once “denied their humanity” and “stripped [of] their personhood.” They suggest that their goal is simply continuing an American tradition of expanding membership in the population of Constitutional persons. But, in fact, fetal separatism, in the guise of adding one group to the Constitutional population will do something unprecedented in US history: subtract another.

When former slaves were added to the constitutional population, this did not in any way diminish the constitutional rights or personhood of any other people in the United States. Although slaveholders lost significant power and privilege to enslave, and exploit others, they did not lose anything in terms of their status as constitutional persons under the law.

Similarly, when women of all races were added to the population of Constitutional persons through the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote, and Supreme Court cases prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex neither the constitutional rights nor the personhood of men was diminished. While men lost significant power over their wives and daughters as well as advantages in the worlds of work, education and civic life, they did not lose their status as full constitutional persons under the law.

In contrast and as the examples above demonstrate, efforts to legally disconnect fetuses and to grant them entirely independent constitutional status would not merely add a new group to the Constitutional population: it would effectively denaturalize pregnant women, removing from them their status as Constitutional persons.

Passing measures that legally segregate eggs, embryos and fetuses from the pregnant woman will also result in a new regime of separate and unequal. Pregnant women could be sued, subject to child welfare interventions, or even arrested if they engaged in activities at work and at home that might be thought to create a risk to the life of the “preborn.” Legally separating the “pre-born” from the pregnant women who sustain them will ensure that in jobs, education, and civic life, pregnant women will, once again, be unequal to men.

When African-Americans and women of all races were added to the Constitutional population those individuals were empowered. Adding the “pre-born” to the Constitution will not free fetuses nor will it empower them. Rather, it will empower outsiders including police officers, prosecutors, judges, and child protection workers to advance their beliefs about what is right for the “pre-born” and to do so by controlling the pregnant women who carry, nurture and sustain them.

People voting on a “personhood measure” in Colorado next week should remember what is really at stake -- the personhood of pregnant women.

Is it merely coincidence that this shit is up for vote and we have all these Republican candidates who are opposed to abortion for any reason and want to outlaw contraception? If women don't watch out they are going to be reduced to human incubators giving birth to babies for the state. Less government my fucking ass.

Republicans And Their Love Of Incest And Rape

2010-10-20T00:20:43+02:00

I found this article and it once again revives the question of why Republican candidates are obsessed with babies conceived out of rape and incest.

cross the state, it has been headline news that Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch has refused to debate Democratic candidate Tom Nelson. A story by the Associated Press on Oct. 5 was picked up by many newspapers and TV and radio stations. But one week later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has still not reported this to its readers.

The media, of course, routinely pushes candidates from either party to debate. The La Crosse Tribune did an editorial calling on Kleefisch to debate. It also noted that you can’t find any details of her stands on the issues at her website.

Adding irony is that Kleefisch is a former journalist herself who worked as a reporter at WISN-TV Channel 12 in Milwaukee. But she seems quite unavailable to the media. She declined a week’s worth of requests to do an interview with the Madison weekly Isthmus.

Kleefisch wouldn’t even talk to the press about her refusal to debate. A spokeswoman for her campaign was left to inform the media that Kleefisch won't debate, explaining that she wouldn’t because Nelson and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett are only interested in running away from their records and using false TV ads to distort the record of Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker. I would have thought that was a reason to debate the issues and clarify the truth.

Kleefisch ran to the right of everyone in the race for lieutenant governor. She has declared herself 100 percent opposed to abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. She supports allowing the concealed carrying of guns. And she religiously notes her Christian views. "It's important to voters to know that I answer to a higher power," Kleefisch told the JS. “If we aren’t Christ-centered, who are we to say we should be leading?” she declared in a speech in July.

Kleefisch appeared on Fox News in July as one of the “Mama Grizzlies,” a Sarah Palin-coined term for conservative women eager to protect their cubs. "Kleefisch is very Sarah Palin-esque, and she's embraced that," UW political science professor Barry Burden told Isthmus.

Isthmus suggested Walker’s campaign handlers could be trying to keep Kleefisch under wraps. “It hurts her credibility if she's not allowed to talk to media," Burden told the weekly.

Perhaps. But it’s worth noting that Palin was seen by Americans as losing her debate with eventual vice president Joe Biden. She – and Republican presidential candidate John McCain – would have been better off if the debate had never happened. That appears to be the thinking of Wisconsin Republicans – better to protect Kleefisch from a Sarah-style debacle in a debate. Hiding from a debate ,of course, wasn’t possible for Palin. That would have created a storm of protest from the national media, which would never allow a presidential or vice presidential candidate of either party to refuse to debate.

But there’s no such storm in Wisconsin over Kleefisch’s refusal, largely because the state’s largest newspaper has decided not to pursue the issue. The JS still has tremendous power, and when it chooses to be a crusading newspaper, it can influence state legislators and other policymakers, as well as the media. In this case, the editors have decided to ignore an issue that’s normally considered of vital interest in an election. Why?

Honestly, what kind of mentally depraved perverts are these Republican candidates? Especially with incest. How mentally sick can you be when you think it's perfectly all right for men to father babies with their female relatives? I'm beginning to wonder why rape and incest is even illegal since it's all right with these folks for women to give birth under these conditions. The Republicans act like they are so moral yet they love rape and incest. They probably engage in it themselves. It's quite obvious that they don't consider women anything more than just a walking birth canal.

9/11

2010-09-13T04:09:17+02:00

Every 9/11 anniversary, people always say they won't forget. Well, it's kind of hard to forget that happened. However, if we are not to forget it in case somehow we do, then let's not. Here is a link to a very interesting web page that someone did after a lot of thorough research.

http://www.cam.net.uk/home/aaa315/peace/index.htm

Let us not forget that some very powerful, wealthy people engineered this. They did so to gain more power and more wealth. They duped the public. They caused mass hysteria and promoted hatred of Muslims and Middle Eastern people to further their plan. Do not forget that. Never forget that we are all pawns in a filthy, dangerous game of power, politics, and money. And 3,000 deaths are a drop in the bucket for these people. Let us not forget that. The deaths of U.S. troops, Afghanis, and Iraqis matter not when powerful, wealthy people are consumed by greed. Let us not forget that. It is time to demand a real, serious investigation by people who are objective and have no connection with anyone involved. Perhaps even an organization outside of this country with no ties to any other countries that may have been involved to ensure that there is a serious investigation to uncover the truth.

The time is now.

Something Interesting

2010-09-12T08:59:15+02:00

I found an interesting article about our 12 Jeffrey Dahmers who enjoy killing Afghans and mutilating their corpses. The interesting paragraph that I found in this article is the following:

Morlock and another soldier, Andrew Holmes, were on guard at the edge of a poppy field when Mudin emerged and stopped on the other side of a wall from the soldiers. Gibbs allegedly handed Morlock a grenade who armed it and dropped it over the wall next to the Afghan and dived for cover. Holmes, 19, then allegedly fired over the wall.

Would someone mind telling me why U.S. soldiers are doing guard duty at poppy fields? Poppy is grown to be used to manufacture heroin and Afghanistan is the main supplier. So why is my military guarding crops that are used in the manufacture of heroin? That is called aiding and abetting the drug trade in my book. Interestingly enough, one of the positive things that the Taliban did was to curtail the growing of poppy. Down to 0%. Which was great because it put a kink in the production of heroin. So now these farmers are growing this shit again and our soldiers are guarding the fields. Hmmmm, either Osama Bin Laden is hiding out in the middle of poppy fields or else our military is there to ensure that the poppy crops stay safe. Thus ensuring that heroin is being produced.

Pamela Geller

2010-09-10T07:10:00+02:00

I read this on another blog and I just had to repost it here. This woman is so fucking insane that no mental institution wants her.

It didn’t take Pamela Geller long to concoct a conspiracy theory to explain why hate preacher Terry Jones called off his Quran burning. In Pamela’s fevered “brain” (possibly made more feverish by liberal amounts of alcohol), Imam Rauf did tell Jones he was going to move the Cordoba House, and is now lying about it because that’s just how freaking evil he is.

Qu’ran burning, off. Islamic surpemacist Ground Zero mosque, on! Is anyone really surprised?

The pastor canceled the qu’ran burning but whatever Rauf may have promised to the pastor is off. Taqiya.

Of course, Pamela believes the guy who was going to burn copies of the Talmud in addition to Qurans, who said Judaism is, just like Islam, “of the Devil.” She believes the racist loon who spouted the N word dozens of times in a recent video.

She hates Muslims so very much that she’ll take the word of an obviously deranged person like Terry Jones before she’ll take the word of any goddamned Islamic “surpemacist.” Hic.

In the first place, methinks Terry Jones called off his Quran burning because the feebies probably paid him a visit and told him to knock the shit off. In the second place, for a woman who claims she's a patriot, she doesn't seem to mind crazy people doing crazy shit that may result in other crazy people doing crazy shit. This kind of shit is just what some overzealous Muslim needs to hear about. That could very well provoke an actual terrorist attack. I'm not talking about the shit the government claims to have prevented. Or the 9/11 war profiteering attack, but an actual terrorist attack. That's just what we need, Pamela.

You know, what I can't figure out about this woman is how someone who claims to be a Zionist Jew which I think translates into a Jewish nutjob similar to Muslim nutjobs and Christian nutjobs, would rush to the defense of some guy who hates Jewish people. I mean, does this make sense? Is this woman so out of her fucking mind that she'll coddle up with anyone who spits out as much venom as she does? As a matter of fact, I don't quite understand why this woman wants to appeal to a bunch of right wing, conservative, Anglo American fundamentalist Christians who hate her guts because the Jews killed Jesus or some shit like that. But yet, this is the audience she craves. Does she honestly think that if she spews all this anti-Moslem shit and anti-liberal shit, that somehow these people are going to accept her? Because quite frankly, they won't. They may agree to everything she spews but they still view her as a kike, you know, that term of endearment that they have for Jewish people? I mean how fucking stupid can you be? That's like a black person showing up blaspheming other black people because he thinks he'll get a charter membership in the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

Church Plans Anti-Quran Burning

2010-09-08T00:54:00+02:00

July 30, 2010|By Lauren Russell, CNN

In protest of what it calls a religion "of the devil," a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

"We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week.

Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase.

Muslims and many other Christians -- including some evangelicals -- are fighting the initiative.

The church launched a YouTube channel to disseminate its messages.

"I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts.

"No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."

The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Muslims and others to host "Share the Quran" dinners to educate the public during the monthlong fast of Ramadan beginning in August. In a news release, the group announced a campaign to give out 100,000 copies of the Quran to local, state and national leaders.

"American Muslims and other people of conscience should support positive educational efforts to prevent the spread of Islamophobia," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the release.

The National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest umbrella evangelical group, issued a statement urging the church to cancel the event, warning it could cause worldwide tension between the two religions.

"The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect," it said in the statement.

Dove's Facebook page, set up for the September event, has more than 1,600 fans.

"Eternal fire is the only destination the Quran can lead people to, so we want to put the Quran in it's [sic] place -- the fire!" the page says.

Well, hell. I'm thinking of grabbing a copy of the Torah, the Bible, the Koran, and a book of Mormon plus various and sundry Christian religious pamphlets people keep handing me, and some Catholic literature I picked up and having a bonfire on Saturday. Maybe roast some marshmallows over the open fire.

Let's do a what if. What if 9/11 had been committed by 19 Christian fundamentalists who wanted to take America over and institute Biblical Law? And turn American into a Christian Theocracy. What if. Would it be all right to hate all Christians, have a national Bible burning day, and spew hatred at all Christians? Bomb a few Christian nations maybe? Think about it. What if. Or would the Christians say "but we're not all like that!!!" What if 9/11 had been committed by 19 Timothy McVeighs. Would it be all right to hate all Christians and burn Bibles and accuse Christians of being of the devil.

Yanno, Terry. I hope I can call you Terry. You can burn physical objects. You can burn books. They're merely written words. But you can't destroy an ideology, an idea, a faith, a philosophy. They're intangible. So you can burn all the Korans you want to burn. But I guarantee you, when you wake up on Sunday morning, there will be the same amount of Moslems there were when you got up on Saturday morning.

You can outlaw things. You can burn things. But you'll never get rid of an idea. You won't burn the Islam out of anyone's head. And quite frankly I don't know what makes you think your brand of bullshit is any better than theirs. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are interrelated. Based off each other. Same basic premise. You'll have no god before me. That kind of shit. All three believe in the same god.

Quite honestly, I have no use for religion in any shape, form, or fashion so your excuse for burning these books is pretty damn funny. You're burning Korans because you think your religion is the right one. Well, guess what? All people of all faiths think theirs is the right one and everyone else has it wrong. You aren't the first to come up with this concept. So by all means, burn Korans until the cows come home if it makes you happy but bear this in mind. At first only your congregation of relatives knew you were a moron. Now the whole world knows. Isn't that just a bit embarrassing? I know it embarrasses me as an American whenever some idiot like you gets center stage for your 15 minutes of international fame. I can hear the chuckles and guffaws worldwide.

Personally, I think instead of the Afghans protesting in Kabul, they should take the Bibles that were given to them in the two dialects they speak and have a national Bible burning day. Bring the kids, the kabobs, and some marshmallows.

911 Conspiracy Theories: Pro and Contra

2010-02-09T08:43:00+01:00

Contra:

— The debris near the Pentagon matches that of a Boeing 757 (Pentagon & Boeing 757 Wheel Investigation). Using a cruise missile on the Pentagon in the open would be more risky than a hijacked airplane. The hull is the only large part of the airplane which is very solid, and the only part which could break through the concrete. Many of the bodies could still be identified, but they were flung from the aircraft before the fire reached its maximum temperature.

— The number of exercises increased until 2001, with 32 from 1995-1996, 116 from 1997-1998, and 200+ in 2000. (GAO: Combating Terrorism, figure 3), because of “the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole in October of 2000 and the bombings of two American embassies in Africa" (1998) (Fort Belvoir: Belvoir Remembers 9/11/01). The exercises were often far-fetched, sometimes involving chemical and biological terrorism, including the spread of bubonic plague in New York (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon The United States, Archives of the Mayor's Press Office: New York City Hosts "OPERATION RED Ex") and the spread of smallpox in several states (Center for Biosecurity, Michael D. Lemonick: Bioterrorism: The Next Threat?). These may have been arranged outside of the Bush Administration, explaining why at the same time the latter had been so unprepared.

— The use of the WTC as target had the same reason in the exercise as in the actual attack: "Targets such as the World Trade Center not only provide the requisite casualties but, because of their symbolic nature, provide more bang for the buck" (Washington Post: Before Attack, U.S. Expected Different Hit). Moreover, the WTC had been bombed before in 1993. Other similarities with the exercises may have been for the same reason that they were likely to happen.

— "On 9/11, NORAD was scheduled to conduct a military exercise, Vigilant Guardian, which postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union. We investigated whether military preparations for the large-scale exercise compromised the military’s response to the real-world terrorist attack on 9/11. […] We found that the response was, if anything, expedited by the increased number of staff at the sectors and at NORAD because of the scheduled exercise" (911 Commission Report). "In retrospect, the exercise would prove to be a serendipitous enabler of a rapid military response to terrorist attacks on Sept. 11" (William Scott: Exercise Jump-Starts — Response to Attacks).

— "Massive cutbacks at the close of the Cold War reduced norad's arsenal of fighters from some 60 battle-ready jets to just 14 across the entire country” (Vanity Fair, Michael Bronner: 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes).

— ""When I asked Nasypany about the conspiracy theories—the people who believe that he, or someone like him, secretly ordered the shootdown of United 93 and covered it up—the corners of his mouth began to quiver. Then, I think to the surprise of both of us, he suddenly put his head in his hands and cried. "Flight 93 was not shot down," he said when he finally looked up. "The individuals on that aircraft, the passengers, they actually took the aircraft down. Because of what those people did, I didn't have to do anything."" (Vanity Fair, Michael Bronner: 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes)

— It was not the Twin Towers which fell in 10 seconds but the first of its debris (National Institute of Standards and Technology: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster): "The seismic spikes for the collapse of the WTC Towers are the result of debris from the collapsing towers impacting the ground. The spikes began approximately 10 seconds after the times for the start of each building’s collapse and continued for approximately 15 seconds. There were no seismic signals that occurred prior to the initiation of the collapse of either tower. The seismic record contains no evidence that would indicate explosions occurring prior to the collapse of the towers."

— The so-called eyewitness accounts of “explosions” were all taken out of context, and were actually referring to the explosions of the impacts and/or collapses.

— National Institute of Standards and Technology: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: "[…] at least 0.13 pounds of thermite would be required to heat each pound of a steel section to approximately 700 degrees Celsius (the temperature at which steel weakens substantially). Therefore, while a thermite reaction can cut through large steel columns, many thousands of pounds of thermite would need to have been placed inconspicuously ahead of time, remotely ignited, and somehow held in direct contact with the surface of hundreds of massive structural components to weaken the building. This makes it an unlikely substance for achieving a controlled demolition."

— There was indeed molten metal underground (Ken Holden from New York Department of Design and Construction: "Underground, it was still so hot that molten metal dripped down the sides of the wall from Building 6." (911 Commission)) (Alison Geyh, assistant scientist with the School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences: "Fires are still actively burning and the smoke is very intense. In some pockets now being uncovered, they are finding molten steel" (John Hopkins Public Health Magazine: Mobilizing Public Health)) (Ron Burger, public health advisor for National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Feeling the heat, seeing the molten steel, the layers upon layers of ash, like lava, it reminded me of Mt. St. Helens and the thousands who fled that disaster" (National Environmental Health Association, page 40)) (Lee Turner, paramedic: "He remembers seeing in the darkness a distant, pinkish glow–molten metal dripping from a beam–but found no signs of life" (USNews, Marci McDonald: Memories)) ("One fireman told us that there was still molten steel at the heart of the towers' remains" (BNet, National Guard Magazine, Lounsbury Guy: Serving on 'sacred ground')). However, underneath the World Trade Center was a large shopping mall which may have provided enough oxygen and material to keep the fires going for quite some time, yet because the entrances were blocked, the heat kept building up. When the blockade was cleared, the temperature had gotten so high that the backdraft resulted in a flashover.

— 700 degrees Celsius is "the temperature at which steel weakens substantially" (NIST), and "steel weakens dramatically as its temperature climbs above 230ºC, retaining only 10% of its strength at about 750ºC," and "average building fire temperatures range from approximately 700º to 900º Celsius" (Softwood Export Council: Performance of Large Timbers in Fires) (Fire Science and Technology Inc., Dr. Vytenis Babrauskas: Temperatures in flames and fires).

— "When Mr Silverstein was recounting these events for a television documentary he stated, 'I said, you know, we've had such terrible loss of life. Maybe the smartest thing to do is to pull it.'" People have interpreted "pull" as meaning "demolish" (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition). However, "Mr McQuillan [spokesman for Silverstein Properties] has stated that by 'it', Mr Silverstein meant the contingent of fire fighters remaining in the building. Chief of the New York Fire Department on the day Daniel Nigro told The Conspiracy Files that the fire service does not need to ask the permission of the owner when making decisions relating to buildings that are on fire: "We are in charge and the decision will be the fire chiefs and his alone," he said." (BBC Conspiracy Files: Q&A: The collapse of Tower 7)

— Some engineers say that the Twin Towers were able to withstand plane crashes (Telegraph: Twin towers 'built to withstand plane crash'), but they only took into account mechanical forces, not the thermal effects of a fire caused by kerosene, the effects of which are far more complex.

— The debris of the airplane that crashed in Shanksville cannot be identified because the passengers took the airplane down, causing a crash far more violent than the emergency landings done by pilots. If the fighter jets had taken it down, it would be no secret because it would have been the right thing to do.

— The CIA had ties with Hekmatyar, but this was in the Afghan war, and "the CIA perhaps severed ties with Hekmatyar and his forces" (Counterpunch: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, CIA Op and Homicidal Thug).

— According to the CNN Osama bin Laden initially denied responsibility for the attacks (CNN: Bin laden not behind attacks) but by October 29 2004, "Just days before the US presidential election," he admitted full responsibility (Guardian: Timeline: the al-Qaida tapes) (Reuters: Bin Laden urges Europe to quit Afghanistan).

— Bin Laden’s appearance on the December 13 video is a tape transfer artifact, caused by different aspect ratios (Muckraker: Taking the fat out of the fat bin Laden confession video). Rings are forbidden in Islamism, but Bin Laden likely only uses Islam as propaganda without being much of a Muslim himself, similar to Hitler, who used Christianity as propaganda without being Christian himself. He has already broken the laws of the Lesser Jihad, which allow war only against soldiers as a last resort of self-defense (BBC: Jihad) (CNN, Arsalan Iftikhar: Murder has no religion) (International Center for Religion and Diplomacy: The Larger War) (The Ten Commandments in the Quran) (Harun Yahya: The Pacifism of Islam) (University of Southern California: Al Maeda) (Submission: Terrorism and Islam) (Quran 5-32) (Quran 72-21) (Quran 4-90) (Quran 17-33) (Quran 22-39) (Quran 2-19) (Quran 5:28) (Quran 5:8), and these are far more important than the law not to wear rings. He sometimes used his right hand in the video although he is left-handed, but of course, we all use both hands at some point. In some famous photographs bin Laden is seen raising his right hand: 1, G.O.P. Debate: A Broader Party or a Purer One?, the NYT's writes:

"A fundamental debate broke out among Republicans on Wednesday over how to rebuild the party in the wake of Senator Arlen Specter’s departure: Should it purge moderate voices like Mr. Specter and embrace its conservative roots or seek to broaden its appeal to regain a competitive position against Democrats?"

I have a better idea. Just retire. Move to Florida. Pick up a few hobbies (that aren't illegal, immoral). The world has moved on to the 21st Century and left the GOP behind.

How to get over your Foes

2009-04-28T14:28:00+02:00

ya'all have lovers homies friends, but you have foes too, and all of us don't like to meet them, and wont give any chance to our foes to call our name for any reason, we don't like that our enemies know about our weakness...so that's why some how we don't feel comfortable when we cross some one of our enemies in the street, then we feel embarrassed what push us to act stupid, an idiocy that can put us in shameful situations....

But don't worry am gonna give ya some practical steps to follow when ever where ever you cross one of your enemies, it will work for you for sure...it will help you to calm down as it will help you to stand straight against your enemies, even you can be scared but this things will help out to be as strong as you have to be...

First thing ,when your eyes cross your enemy one, then automatically think about something else, you can keep looking at him if you’d like to, but your mind have to fly some where else think about some thing some one you love, take deep breath...

Second one; this is one of the most helpful things. If you have ever cashed your enemy in a bad situation(been beaten by someone, if he was pegging some one to don't hurt him) then start remembering that, it will make you feel more strong then him, to every strong men there is a stronger...so you wouldn't freeze no more.

Smile for him , it wouldn't be a real smile...cause you ain't in a smiling situation, but be sure that this movement will confound him , and will make him think about the things that makes you smile, and he wouldn't be at ease...thinking that you are planning something...

If he came to you then, then check his hand press on it...ask about him his family kids if he got ones...showing an interests from you toward him...he will be confused, and you'll be the one who dominate the situation, so you'll realize that that you ain't scared anymore...

But if you don't got a responding person then you should notice that your enemy is one of those who need to be neglected, so that's why you should be careful with every step you do , and remember you have to keep your eyes on everything, and watch him, cause a foe would never be a friend , cause if he would be a friend he wouldn't be a foe...when ever you are in the hood don't walk in the shadow of confidence...you might be hurt if not from a foe then you'll be hit by a car or touched by a stray bullet...so be careful when you step out home...nowadays things are getting worst , thieves gangs and so on but remember there is kindness too...and don't let your dark side take control of you, help others in the need no matter who, a kid, a young, an old, a men a women...no matter who , cause sooner or later you'll need help too...'Its more noble to forgive, and more manly to despise, than to revenge an Injury. Because revenge belongs only To GOD sob7anaho wa ta3ala 3amma Yoshrekoan...

PS: I don't have foes but when ever am out am watching my back, my both sides...

Casting Spells

2008-11-09T22:26:20+01:00

Not sure why Booker-prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan (Amsterdam, Atonement, Saturday) was asked for his opinion on climate change policy and the new U.S. administration, but in this piece in the WSJ (8 Nov. 2008), he wrote this lovely bit:

"The contest for the presidency, like all elections, had the self-enclosed quality of a squash game, a chess match, a post-modern novel -- and this one was far better than most. While the candidates appeared to address an external reality, they were bound by strictly ethereal requirements: to cast spells on large crowds while seeming ordinary, to trample their opponent into oblivion while seeming pleasant, to be inspirational yet sensible, to avoid offending a score of sensitive constituencies, and, an old wizard's touch, to promise the electorate various gifts without further borrowing or raising taxes. ...

btw, McEwan argues that Obama must act decisively on climate change, taking advantage of the "unearthly powers" now attributed to him.

Still Warm Election-Related Links

2008-11-08T12:34:00+01:00

Yes, I know it's over. These are some of the links I found most funny (if sometimes rivalrous and cynical), most moving, most interesting. Followed by a modest compilation of lengthy and detailed lists of 'what Obama needs to do,' proposed by various folk!

Moving

Greene: If you can’t (or can) say anything nice... by Bob Greene at CNN (31 Oct. 2008)

From 52 to 48 With Love at Ze Frank (begun: 5 Nov. 2008)

images by Patrick Moberg

Funny

I watched Fox News for five hours last night by Andrew O'Hehir at Salon (5 Nov. 2008)

Blowing Off Steam at the Margaret and Helen blog (6 Nov 2008)

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job in the Onion (5 Nov. 2008)

Obama Deletes Another Unread MoveOn.org E-Mail in the Onion (17 Sept. 2008)

Election-Related Signs: Why? by Scott Adams (4 Nov. 2008)

This.Fucking.Election.

Sarah Palin for Poet Laureate in Prospect magazine (Dec. 2008): "A great poet needs to leave open the door between the conscious and unconscious; Sarah Palin has removed her door from its hinges. A great poet does not self-censor; Sarah Palin seems authentically innocent of what she is saying."

Interesting and Useful

PolitiFact.com, applying factchecker and truth-o-meter to politicians' assertions

Political Speech by Nancy Hitt at Preaching Peace (5 Nov. 2008)

The Perils of Populist Chic by Mark Lilla in the WSJ (8 Nov.2008)

Change.gov - Office of the President-Elect (official website) - the 'agenda' section is pretty meaty

Obama's To-Do Lists

Obama's to-do list in the Boston Globe (6 Nov. 2008)

What Obama's Next Steps Should Be on Health Care, Transportation, Iraq and More at AlterNet (6 Nov. 2008)

A Towering Economic To-Do List for Obama in the NYT (5 Nov. 2008)

Economists' Advice for the President-Elect in the NYT (10 Nov. 2008)

Obama's global to-do list from John Hughes at the Christian Science Monitor (6 Nov. 2008)

Barack to the future: What can Obama do around the world at mirror.co.uk (6 Nov. 2008)

Top 10 foreign challenges for Obama at BBC News (5 Nov. 2008)

Obama's Top Three Foreign Policy Priorities at Foreign Policy in Focus (7 Nov. 2008)

Judith Kipper's Memo to the President at Huffington Post (6 Nov. 2008)

Environmental leaders offer their elevator pitches for Obama (Guardian, 7 Nov. 2008)

What the tech industry needs from President-elect Obama at CNET (5 Nov. 2008)

A Small Business Agenda for President Obama by Keith Girard at AllBusiness.com (6 Nov. 2008)

Let's consider three overlooked priorities for the new Obama administation by Judah Freed in the Portland (ME) Examiner (6 Nov. 2008)

Dave Pollard's view of Obama's Top 10 Tasks (5 Nov. 2008. Ten sounds small but wait until you see them ... 'Herculean' comes to mind)

Garrison Keillor has some advice, too: On this beautiful day, a few words for the happy couple (6 Nov. 2008)

requests for Advice for Obama at Freakonomics (see comments) (5 Nov. 2008)

what Obama should be reading from Inside Higher Ed (5 Nov. 2008)

Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw has a memo to the POTUS-elect (8 Nov.2008)

advice from Alice Walker, at Ekklesia: Care for your soul, Barack (10 Nov. 2008)

advice from folk at Sojourners: Jim Wallis (7 Nov); Elizabeth Edwards (10 Nov); Richard Rohr (11 Nov)

leaders in sustainable food and agriculture weigh in at Grist (10 Nov. 2008)

(to be continued ...)

Obama on South Park

2008-11-06T02:22:00+01:00

South Park Episode 1212: Obama Elected

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/207897/

President Barack Obama

2008-11-06T02:14:00+01:00

Wow! What a monumental moment. I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited. We have our first African American president. We have for the first time in eight years a sane and rational voice. For the first time in eight years we have a president who can pronounce the word "nuclear". That always bugged the living shit out of me about Bush. The fact that this man was in charge of my country and couldn't even speak English properly. And the Republicans were going to replace him with some other guy who couldn't speak properly and a dimwitted woman whose brain cells must have frozen solid in the frozen tundra of Alaska.

Which leads me to say this. Goodbye Caribou Barbie. I can't say it was nice knowing you because quite frankly I can't stand you. You, my dear woman, are an idiot and a disgrace to the female gender. Go back to your frozen tundra and stick an icicle up your ass and rotate on it. I'm sure we won't be hearing from you again any time soon. No matter how much money the GOP spent on trying to make you look presentable, you are still nothing more than an ignorant redneck and that shows through no matter how well people try to dress you. All the shit you said about Obama, all the racism you stirred up. In his acceptance speech as our new President, he made you look an inch tall. He was gracious towards you and I admire that in him. I don't think I could have been as gracious. So goodbye Caribou Barbie. And by the way I'm going to sign every petition in my power to make sure you don't destroy the Arctic. Drill baby drill my fucking ass.

Now that the celebrations are winding down even though I'm still elated by this miracle that occured last night, Obama has a huge job ahead of him and I am confident that he can meet this challenge. He's already been working on it and I look forward to January 20th.

Congratulations, President Obama. And good luck.

OH YES WE CAN!

2008-11-05T06:55:00+01:00

For the first time in my life, I feel that America is the greatest country in the world.

For the first time in my life, I really believe that equality can be achieved.

Congratulations, Mr President!

* * *

[Excerpt from: Obama Acceptance Speech in Chicago 11/04/2008]

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer...

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

It's a Beautiful Day

2008-11-04T16:38:00+01:00

a polling booth in my neighborhood

Sarah Palin got punked!

2008-11-02T02:16:58+01:00

"A Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state has reached Sarah Palin, convincing the Republican vice-presidential nominee she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy."

[Stef Carse is a Canadian singer, not the Canada prime minister]

[Johny Halliday is a French singer, the Sarkozy's special American adviser]

[Nailing Palin is a porn title, not a documentary on Gov. Palin's life]

[Nicolas Sarkozy probably can't see Belgium from his house]

World Series Chatter

2008-10-31T03:26:00+01:00

My friend of the great basketball blog writes:

So I'm in line at the bank just now, two behind a guy who's so frustrated at the numbing slowness that, I'm thinking, it's a good thing he didn't read Tobias Wolff's short story, "Bullet in the Brain". Anyway, a third teller who looks like something Donoghue's dog Riley might have buried three years ago and who, just moments before, dug her way out, moves toward a window, but before opening her window (really, why speed up?) says to another teller, a sister Neanderthal, but so everyone can hear, "Did you see Obama's speech is delaying the start of the World Series a half-hour?" To which I shout (maybe eight people in line now), "No it isn't it!"

And she says, spitting grass and dirt, "Yes, it is, it's supposed to start at eight o'clock; he's really messing things up for himself in a hurry."

And I shout, louder yet, "The game never starts till 8:30pm. Eight o'clock is just a pre-game show. It never starts till eight thirty. That stuff about him delaying the game is just more Republican lies." (I hear people behind me laugh.) "What's more important, the pre-game or the election?"

To which she replies, grubs and ticks and slimiest of worms calling her head home, "The World Series." I end the discussion with "There's the problem isn't it?"

Lovely.

I'll see her next Wednesday.

Didn't seem to fit his blog, so I post it for him here. True enough. Keeping my fingers crossed .

The McCain Campaign and the Lesson of Collapse

2008-10-26T00:41:07+02:00

Currently, Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has devolved into internal squabbling, selfserving information leaking, finger pointing, and a general inability to adapt to the Obama campaign's activities. Much of the McCain campaign's flailing on issues, attacks, and negative campaigning are attempts to make an issue "stick" to Obama. Some pundits have called McCain's campaign all tactics and no strategy. Some pundits believe that it is the financial meltdown They are all wrong. What we are seeing is the Musashi 's classic definition of collapse as mentioned in the Go rin no sho's Book of Fire.

Sen Barak Obama will be president because not because of the money, Senator McCain's short commings, President Bush's failings, or the financial meltdown. Senator Barak Obama will be president because the country understands that he is the prospective sovereign that understands "The Way", and that this is what the country needs now.

Senator McCain's precieved flailing is a product of his fighter pilot training. Here is what McCain says about his own decision-making process in the 2002 book "Worth the Fighting For" which he co-wrote with Mark Salter:

"I make them (decisions) as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can," ...furthermore... "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."

Why does Senator McCain say this about his decision process and why is it due to his fighter pilot training?

The answer is due to John Boyd's OODA Loop. John Boyd was an airforce fighter pilot who saw combat in the Korean War; he is the U.S.'s Musashi. He is revered not by the USAF where he served and litterally wrote the book on fighter performace methodology ("Energy-Maneuverability_theory"), but in the USMC where his theories are the foundation of maneuver warfare.

"According to Boyd, decision-making occurs in a recurring cycle of observe-orient-decide-act. An entity (either an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain a military or business advantage....

"In order to win, we should operate at a faster tempo or rhythm than our adversaries--or, better yet, get inside [the] adversary's Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action time cycle or loop. ... Such activity will make us appear ambiguous (unpredictable) thereby generate confusion and disorder among our adversaries--since our adversaries will be unable to generate mental images or pictures that agree with the menacing as well as faster transient rhythm or patterns they are competing against."

wikipedia OODA Loop

Sadly, Senator McCain is misinterpreting John Boyd's OODA Loop. Senator McCain s understanding is based solely on speed in traversing the OODA Loop. This is a very common and very fatal reading of Boyd. What Senator McCain is doing is quickly observering, making decisions and acting but eliminating the orientation process. Further, the OODA Loop is not a simple loop, but "the entire 'loop' (not just the orientation) is an ongoing many-sided implicit cross-referencing process of projection, empathy, correlation and rejection.". Currently, the McCain campaign has become detached from the empathy and correlation part of orientation.

fig 1 ref

What the McCain campaign has failed to understand is that the actions taken in the OODA Loop must be based on reality. The whole idea of tempo warfare is to create a mismatch between the opposition's preception of reality and what is real and concurrently, preserving and enhancing your preception of reality. What happens when the mismatches to reality become accute? Infighting, finger pointing, and dissention. Musashi and Sun Tzu consider this a severe form of insanity. Students of Boyd have a term for this state: self-referencing. At one time this was a more severe epithet than many four letter words in the USMC. It means that you are wholely focused inward; you have lost all touch with reality and are as good as dead. This is why to Sun Tzu "Warfare is the Way of Deception".

So the lesson here is that while one may traverse the OODA Loop quickly, but one must take actions that are strategically relevent. A failure to take strategically relevent actions will create a rapidly deteriorating situation. You must attempt to perceive the situation and your opposition in ever increasing levels of clarity or risk taking actions that degrade your capability to Observe. You must not degrade your capablity to Orient (project, empathize, correlate, and reject information) by indulging in prejudices, accepting the opposition's deceptions, or fall prey to your own deceptions.

At this point it is appropriate to disscuss the concept of cheng and chi Cheng is the concept of the conventional attack, and chi is the unconventional attack. The cheng is the attack that is in plain sight. The purpose of cheng is to provide a real and credible threat to a strategically important target. The chi is the unconventional attack, often less visble and more harmless looking, on a strategically important target. In warfare, one fortifies one's strategic, but vulnerable points while attacking the opposition's vulnerable strategically important points. This is why Sun Tzu is often quoted as saying to "One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles."

The essence of Senator McCain's problem is that Senator Obama is operating at a faster tempo that is amplified by the fact that Obama is making more appropriate decisions (based on a better understanding of ground truth). Senator McCain has been driven to a state of selfreference because he has failed precieve that Senator Obama's cheng (conventional attack) is the tv commercials while his chi (unconvetinal attack) is his community orgainzation ground game, fortified by his understanding and implementation of policies that adhere to "The Way". The good news is that the millennial generations have embraced "The Way" and are now active in the electorate. Thank you Master Sun, Col. Boyd and all those who follow the lessons that they teach; and thank you to those who have paid for these truths with blood and iron.

I've never wanted someone to win so badly!

2008-10-25T06:04:00+02:00

Statistically speaking, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in America always, always shrinks under a Democratic government...

Portraits of Obama Supporters

2008-10-22T05:54:00+02:00

If you sign up as a volunteer, you won't have to go to the zoo area towards the back, where latecomers snaked around the whole memorial more than once...

"Vote Now"

"What are the conservatives conserving?"

"Yes We Can"

"No third term" "Ask me how many houses I have"

Smiley gangsta

"Time for a Change"

"That One"

"History in the Making"

The VIP Stand

Bush's Cousin Apologizes

2008-10-22T04:36:00+02:00

"George H. Walker, had this to say when responding to a suggestion that his fellow executives at failed Lehman Brothers be denied their bonuses:

"Sorry team," he wrote to the executive committee, according to {chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Rep. Henry} Waxman. "I'm not sure what's in the water at 605 Third Avenue today.... I'm embarrassed and I apologize."

This was in response to the suggestion from Lehman's money management subsidiary, Neuberger Berman."

Yeah, we sure wouldn't want those fucking embezzlers to miss out on their multi-million dollar bonuses which are probably why that company went belly up in the first place. Multi-million dollar bonuses. I wonder what incredible things these people did to warrant bonuses like that. Maybe I need a job like that. I bet I could bankrupt a company too and then I'd get all sorts of money. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...where do I sign up?

"Congress hears Lehman sought millions for execs
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
52 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Days from becoming the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, Lehman Brothers steered millions to departing executives even while pleading for a federal rescue, Congress was told Monday.

As well, executives who feared for their bonuses in the company's last months were told not to worry, according to documents cited at a congressional hearing. One executive said he was embarrassed when employees suggested that Lehman executives forgo bonuses, and cracked: "I'm not sure what's in the water."

The first hearing into what caused the nation's financial markets to collapse last month, precipitating a $700 billion bailout, opened with finger-pointing and glimpses into internal company documents from Lehman's chaotic last hours.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the giant investment bank was "a company in which there was no accountability for failure." Lehman's collapse set off a panic that within days had President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asking Congress to pass the rescue plan for the financial sector.

Richard S. Fuld Jr., chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers, declared to the committee "I take full responsibility for the decisions that I made and for the actions that I took." He defended his actions as "prudent and appropriate" based on information he had at the time.

"I feel horrible about what happened," he said.

Waxman questioned Fuld on whether it was true he took home some $480 million in compensation since 2000, and asked: "Is that fair?"

Fuld took off his glasses, held them, and looked uncomfortable. He said his compensation was not quite that much.

"We had a compensation committee that spent a tremendous amount of time making sure that the interests of the executives and the employees were aligned with shareholders," he said. Fuld said he took home over $300 million in those years — some $60 million in cash compensation.

Waxman read excerpts from Lehman documents in which a recommendation that top management should forgo bonuses was apparently brushed aside. He also cited a Sept. 11 request to Lehman's compensation board that three executives leaving the company be given $20 million in "special payments."

"In other words, even as Mr. Fuld was pleading with Secretary Paulson for a federal rescue, Lehman continued to squander millions on executive compensation," Waxman said before Fuld appeared as a witness.

The government let Lehman go under Sept. 15, only to bail out insurance giant American International Group the next day, in a cascading series of financial shocks and failures that put Washington on track for the multibillion-dollar rescue starting the end of that week.

Waxman described that plan as a life-support measure. "It may keep our economy from collapsing but it won't make it healthy again," he said.

That sentiment echoed on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrials sank below 10,000 on Monday for the first time in four years. Investors fear the crisis will weigh down the global economy and the bailout won't work quickly to loosen credit markets.

The rescue plan, now law, was so rushed that the usual congressional scrutiny is only coming now, after the fact.

"Although it comes too late to help Lehman Brothers, the so-called bailout program will have to make wrenching choices, picking winners and losers from a shattered and fragile economic landscape," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, the committee's senior Republican.

Waxman said that in January, Fuld and his board were warned the company's "liquidity can disappear quite fast."

Despite that warning, he said, "Mr. Fuld depleted Lehman's capital reserves by over $10 billion through year-end bonuses, stock buybacks, and dividend payments."

Waxman quoted Fuld as saying in one document, "Don't worry" to the suggestion that executives go without bonuses.

That suggestion came from Lehman's money management subsidiary, Neuberger Berman. Waxman quoted George H. Walker, President Bush's cousin and a Lehman executive who oversaw some Neuberger Berman employees, as responding with a dismissive tone to the idea of going without bonuses.

"Sorry team," he wrote to the executive committee, according to Waxman. "I'm not sure what's in the water at 605 Third Avenue today.... I'm embarrassed and I apologize."

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said: "I wonder how he sleeps at night."

Fuld said in his statement that the company did everything it could to limits its risks and save itself.

"In the end, despite all our efforts, we were overwhelmed, others were overwhelmed, and still other institutions would have been overwhelmed had the government not stepped in to save them," he said. "

Yeah, old George H. Walker (Georgie's cousin) is so embarrassed that he and his buddies can't take Lehman Brothers for a ride. How humiliating. Yeah, that company did everything it could to put millions of dollars of someone else's money into the pockets of its board of directors and other overpaid jackasses. Woohoo!

Lehman Brothers

2008-10-22T02:08:00+02:00

Well, well. I guess it's not surprising that Lehman Brothers went belly up. From August of 2007.

"NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers has hired Jeb Bush, brother of the President of the United States, as an advisor to its private equity business, a source familiar with the situation said.

Lehman hired another relative of U.S. President George W. Bush last year--George Walker, a second cousin, who heads up the bank's asset management business.

Jeb Bush is the former governor of Florida.

Lehman Brothers declined to comment."

Gee, I wonder how many millions of dollars Georgie's cousin and brother absconded with. I remember back in the 80's when we had the savings and loan swindle there was another Bush involved in that one. I believe it was brother Neil. I tell you anytime something bad goes down in this country there's a Bush behind it. I think the Bush family needs to be rounded up, have all their assets frozen and liquidated, and put in prison for the rest of their lives. This crime family outdoes the fucking Mafia.

Portraits of an Obama Rally

2008-10-21T06:18:00+02:00

Location: WWI Museum, Liberty Memorial, Kansas City

Time: 2008-10-18, 4-7pm

Attendance: 75,000

Show Me Your Vote!

Yard signs

Obama memorabilia, even a cardboard cutout!

A glimpse of the podium

Men in Black everywhere

It was like going through airport security.

Safety is of paramount importance, specially for an outdoor event.

Anything can happen here... remember those Palin's rednecks shouting "kill him"?

Glad to see so many enthusiastic young volunteers.

Hello boys

I saw Obama!

2008-10-19T20:26:00+02:00

Rally for Change, Kansas City, Liberty Memorial, 2008-10-18

The vibe was very positive, the atmosphere was electrifying but also kinda relaxed.

Yay! Obama entering the Memorial Park.

(have to say GOOD JOB! to my Sony alpha DSLR)

I could tell that he was slightly tired, coming all d way from St Louis that morning. But he did a fine job.

There was definitely a sense that this is history in the making.

You should've seen that miles of cars that clotted the street afterwards... I simply didn't know there can be that many!

Different packages for conferencing service...

2008-10-15T12:06:22+02:00

This month Eagle conferencing is providing is a free trial for checking the reliability and scalability of the service. This means that you can check the quality of service before signing up with us. Presenters and attendees can instantly start an audio conference call by just dialing a conference bridge number and entering the corresponding pass codes provided to them. The evolution of audio conferencing services brought a rapid change in the conferencing world. The face to face meetings have almost lost their place with the introduction of conference calls. There is no need of equipped conference room as the conference is going to happen over a phone. There is also no limit to the number of participants in the conference calls. You can have the conference with unlimited number of conferees as per your requirement.These services offer methods that can handle the dial up on long distance; each of them works a little differently and you have many types of packages to sign up for. Some of them are:•Flat Monthly Fee -Unlimited Usage •Dial In Facility/Dial Out Facility•Usage Based Billing PackagesFor more details or the latest updates on current offers running on check with the main site. It is:www.eagleconferencing.in

Google's In Quotes

2008-10-14T20:08:00+02:00

Find out what various politicians (Obama, McCain, Clintons, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Condoleezza Rice, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, et al.) have said about various topics at Google's 'In Quotes': Iraq, the economy, abortion, marriage, oil, George W. Bush, or anything else you can think of. There are also Canadian, Indian, and UK editions which feature politicians in those places.

I tried 'libraries' and 'librarian' for both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin and got nothing. Got two hits on Palin for 'library,' though only one was a quote directly from her (the other was a quote someone attributed to her). Nothing for Hillary. Tried 'stem cell' for Palin and GW Bush -- turned up no quotes by Bush at all, which seems highly unlikely.

My initial assessment is that the quotes database is vastly underpopulated. One very useful feature: date and linked location are provided for each quote.

Asia Weekly Focus

2008-10-10T18:23:00+02:00

This week has been all about the markets starting to factor in the prospect of a global recession, it's not just the banking crisis in the northern hemisphere, which has been driving a lot of volatility in the markets in the past year or so but now the prospect is very real of a global downturn. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he's more concerned about the stability of Australia's banks than its competitiveness. The Commonwealth Bank has launched a bid to buy Bankwest, while Westpac is trying to takeover St George Bank. Australia's opposition says the global economic crisis is an opportunity for the big banks, and will reduce competition in the market.

But Mr Rudd has brushed aside those concerns. "Competition questions can be resolved over time," he said. "The stability of the system is of fundamental importance, not just to businesses, but to every working family in the country, every pensioner and carer wants to know the banking system is stable, that's our first responsibility and I don't back away from it." Australian shares closed down 8.3 percent as the global financial crisis drove a fresh round of losses on world stock markets. The Japanese Nikkei index is still down by more than 10 per cent after shedding a massive 11-point-four per cent earlier in the day. The selling frenzy has been repeated all around Asiatic continent, although not with the same intensity. Share prices in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea have all dropped by about seven per cent. In the meanwhyle Singapore's government has released figures showing the economy has slipped into recession. The ASX 200 has dropped 297-points to four-thousand-and-24. The Australian dollar has also been hit hard, falling more than six cents from its overnight peak to 65-point-six-six US cents.

China's top negotiator on Taiwan will meet the island's president for the first time, a Taipei official said on Thursday, in what would be a further sign of improved relations between the diplomatic rivals. Ma's Nationalist Party (KMT) ruled all of China until Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek fled with the KMT to Taiwan. Taiwan is recognised by just 23 countries around the world compared to about 170 that recognise China. China has claimed sovereignty over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary. But relations have improved since Ma came to office in May with pledges to boost the local economy by forging new trade and transit links with Beijing.

The two sides will also sign deals on regular flights and direct cargo shipments, PK Chiang, Taiwan's top negotiator on China policy. Chen Yunlin, head of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, would meet President Ma Ying-jeou in Taiwan at the end of October or at the beginning of November. At a landmark meeting in Beijing in June, China and Taiwan agreed to begin direct charter flights Friday through Monday and let as many as 3,000 Chinese tourists visit the island per day. Before direct flights, previously banned for security reasons, travellers would make time-consuming plane changes in Hong Kong or Macau.

China and Taiwan are in talks to add six more Chinese cities to the five that handle Friday-through-Monday flights, and to shorten some of the flight paths. Trade and transit links with fast-growing economic powerhouse China should help lift Taiwan out of a seven-year economic slump aggravated by the global financial crisis. Taiwan is in last place among emerging Asian markets, and these direct flights can add business opportunities. At a round of talks expected in mid-2009, negotiators will discuss investment guarantees, financial relations and double taxation.

The head of the Solomon Islands Leadership Code Commission Emanuel Kouhota has told members of parliament that it is illegal to borrow money from individuals, while in office. The commission is investigating members of the Sikua government for possible misconduct. Local media have reported 18 ministers and backbenchers secretly obtained so-called loans from a prominent Honiara businessman.

The Speaker of the Solomon Islands Parliament, Sir Peter Kenilorea, has told the allegations are serious. "If it is true that such a situation occurred, then all I could say is that I would concur with the view of chairman of the Leadership Code Commission that it would be improper, and that it could be considered as misconduct in office."

Security forces are patrolling the streets of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, in an effort to maintain calm a day after deadly clashes. The leaders of mounting protests in Thailand have been granted bail after turning themselves in on charges related to their campaign to topple the government. A senior People's Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul says the police have granted him - and six others - bail unconditionally. Sondhi said he was heading directly to the protest camp at the prime minister's Government House offices, which the PAD have occupied since late August. No details were immediately released about the amount of bail. All seven protest leaders had turned themselves in on outstanding arrest warrants on charges of inciting unrest and illegal assembly. The move comes after PAD supporters and police clashed on the streets of Bangkok on Tuesday, with two people killed and hundreds injured. Leaders of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy say they will continue their rallies until the elected administration steps down.

A new report shows middle income earners and younger New Zealanders are at risk of debt stress by Christmas. The New Zealand Herald reports Dun & Bradstreet's latest survey of consumer credit expectations shows a debt divide emerging in New Zealand as the global credit crisis impacts spending behaviours. One third of middle income earners and younger people expect to be forced to use their credit card to make ends meet, while one third of high income earners expect to lower their debt levels in the coming three months. The survey conducted last month shows younger New Zealanders and middle income earners face the greatest risk of debt troubles.

Written: by LuisB

Asif Ali Zardari, Presidential Cartoon?

2008-09-27T16:22:00+02:00

'Zardari: A Presidential Cartoon? By Investigative Journalist.Friday, 26 September 2008. Overseas Desk::------------------------>The day Asif Zardari was supposed to make one speech, he ended up making three. Well, he only meant to make two, but he made three. This isn’t statecraft; it’s the blind leading the lame leading the deaf. The ‘second speech’ fiasco is being blamed on that political appointee at PTV, Shahid Masood. Here’s some advice for Zardari: fire him. And the others too.I’m sure all the people working at PTV, the information ministry and in the president’s media team are nice people. I have no doubt they have families to support and unemployment in these tough economic times is nothing to sneeze at. But good, decent people can also be rubbish at their jobs. The media team surrounding Zardari has a simple task: make the president look presidential. Think Jinnah, not a Disney cartoon. The only reason Zardari got in front of a camera in the middle of the night was to reassure a frightened public that he has a steady hand at a time of crisis. His unsteady gaze and fumbling for words probably frightened the people a little more — this is the man in charge of our fate and security?The main show — the speech before the constellation of Pakistani and foreign elite — was botched too. I sat, pen in hand, ready to learn about Zardari’s plan for saving us. By the end of it, I wasn’t the only one wondering who will save us from Zardari. Forget his halting, fumbling delivery and his poor English — that’s just red meat for the snickering patricians amongst us. It matters little in which language he speaks and how he chooses to phrase himself, if — if — he is saying the right things. But he didn’t.Give him a break, the jiyalas cry. He’s learning on the job. Well, I’m sorry. Since when did supporting Team Democracy mean you have to support Team PPP? Especially if Team PPP is running the place into the ground? If Zardari isn’t ready for statesmanship, why must an orphaned country wait for him to grow into his job? He is only president because he wanted to be. And the same goes for the PPP co-chairmanship. It may rankle that the PPP is, in the memorable phrase of Tariq Ali, a “family heirloom”. But that’s our politics, so we can’t get stuck up over it. Now that Zardari has exercised his right to become leader though, it is our right to expect leadership from him.Bizarrely, some in the news media have argued that Zardari’s speech in parliament was presidential and that if he had given detailed policies he would have been criticized for eviscerating parliament. Rubbish. The circularity of power at the top of the civilian government is lost on nobody. Zardari is the PPP co-chairman. Forget the de facto configuration of power, it is factually his government. Were he to give up the co-chairmanship and strip himself of the powers inimical to parliamentary democracy, it would make sense to make a show of separating the presidency from parliament. But he hasn’t. The country needed policy. Asif Zardari could have made everyone happy by simply prefacing every policy statement with, “My government has instructed me to say….” But we got nothing.Zardari thundered that he wouldn’t let anyone violate our sovereignty. When Kayani said the same, the realists exchanged knowing glances. The general was pandering to the gallery — playing to a nationalist audience. It was red meat for the people, and the people loved it. The general was playing politics. It’s what Zardari should have done weeks ago.But in politics what’s fresh yesterday is stale today. A week is a long time in politics. Parroting Kayani’s line 10 days after the general surprised the world was pitiful. It’s a bit silly to talk about inviolable sovereignty when missiles have been raining down on Waziristan for weeks, isn’t it? Tell us instead what you’re going to do about missiles — and terrorism. Especially when you’re about to fly off to the UN to hobnob with the world’s elite.You want to win the war against the terrorists, defeat those who killed Benazir Bhutto and hundreds of Pakistanis, and rein in our shadowy agencies? Win over the people. All this talk of not violating our sovereignty and being our war is only violating our eardrums. Tell Pakistanis who we are fighting in Bajaur and why. Explain who the terrorists in Waziristan are. Unmask the sectarian hate-mongers in Khyber and Kurram. Use graphs and videos and numbers and pictures to expose the ugliness and hate that is spreading amongst us. The shadowy elements in the state apparatus will strike back. But they are no longer the real terror — the terrorists they have long since lost control of are.And squeeze the Americans for more aid. The Americans have given us a few hundred million to upgrade our F-16s. With great fanfare, they have also given us 11,000 tons of wheat. Some perspective: our annual wheat requirement is 23 million tons; we are importing two and a half million tons. This is a joke. Get something meaningful from the US. Bring the country money. Bring it fuel. Bring it a plan. Help the poor. Do something. Anything. Husain Haqqani and Mahmud Durrani owe their jobs to the fact that the Americans trust them — but what use is that trust if it earns us nothing? ‘Us’ being regular Pakistanis, not the PPP elite or the establishment.By now Zardari’s plan has revealed itself and it is wretchedly familiar: the consolidation of power. The trenches are being dug in Punjab rather than Waziristan. If someone dares, he should whisper into Zardari’s ear: what’s the point of consolidating power if you’ll end up presiding over the burned-out shell of a country?????? 'This column was first published.in Dawn newspaper'

Californian Gay Marriage TV Ad #1

2008-09-23T04:25:00+02:00

The Thorons - Don't Eliminate Marriage For AnyoneMake History - Vote NO on Prop.8The first gay marriage TV advert from Equality California & HRC is hitting the airwave today.I guess it's understandable why they're going for this non-offensive 3rd person angle. But it's just ironic that we have to shove ourselves back into the TV closet and "protect" the viewers from gay and lesbian visibility in order to garner support from the general population. Hmm...

SNL: Sarah Palin as Tina Fey

2008-09-15T01:40:00+02:00

Oh boy. This might be the best thing that came out of the election...

We must not blink, Charlie

2008-09-12T06:55:00+02:00

The best lairs do not blink - Chinese wisdom

Troopergate hitting the fan?

2008-09-11T23:30:00+02:00

What are friends for?

2008-09-09T21:19:09+02:00

Anne Kilkenny's Sarah Palin Gone Viral

2008-09-06T22:00:00+02:00

[[An ordinary Wasilla housewife's take on her ex-Mayor Sarah Palin]]ABOUT SARAH PALIN I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city. She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe". It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She's smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit- generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them. While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below). As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex- husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in- law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance-- but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork". She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species. McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it. CLAIM VS FACT *"Hockey mom": true for a few years *"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since*"NRA supporter": absolutely true *social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional) . *pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it. *"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation *"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000. *political maverick: not at all *gutsy: absolutely! *open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions. *has a developed philosophy of public policy: no *"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro- drilling off-shore and in ANWR. *fiscal conservative: not by my definition! *pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards. *pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents *pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history. *pro-labor/pro- union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro- union. WHY AM I WRITING THIS? First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations. Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life. Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship. Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable. CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers. You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.(I saw this from an iReporter the other day, who from Newsvine & Political Examiner, and now finally the mainstream media including NPR)

Qualifying McBitch

2008-09-04T06:45:00+02:00

[Drill drill drill, I wanna puke!][I hope baby Trig had earplugs.]Must say for some twisted reasons, I did have some high expectations from Sarah Palin's first speech on the national stage at the RNC. Given her sassy energetic image, I thought it'd at least be fun to listen to.But after struggling through the first 10 minutes of "Hymns to POW", I realized that the independent Goddess of Alaska has morphed into a full-fledged Republican attack dog, mouthing nothing but inaccurate "fact" and personal accusations against Obama.Where's the meat?Not even ONCE did she talk about health care or education or protecting the environment! Oops I forgot, she's an R.Why mention "Bridge to nowhere" or "earmarks" or the importance of experience when all these questionable issues are giving her troubles? How delusional!Why telling Obama what a mayor does when it reminds people that only 2 months ago you didn't know what the VP does everyday?!Baffling to say the least.You're completely off your mind if you think this is the way to court independents.One day, your negative comments on community organizers will come back to haunt you~ Fact Check.orgThis image reminds me of the Parade of Shame back in old Communist China...Oh, Levi, what a difference a fuck made!

Levi Johnston: Curse of his Myspace profile

2008-09-04T03:45:00+02:00

[Can't believe I'm blogging this. You need popcorn to watch CNN these days. Look which babydaddy is joining the American Royal Family]Levi Johnston"I’m a fuckin’ redneck, who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin’ chillin’ I guess.""Ya fuck with me I’ll kick ass."Status: In a RelationshipHere for: FriendsOrientation: StraightHometown: WASILLABody type: 5′ 8″ / AthleticZodiac Sign: TaurusChildren: I don’t want kidsEducation: High schoolJohn McCain, if these kids ruined their lives, you're going to hell!

Dude, that's SO COOL

2008-09-04T01:20:00+02:00

Levi, you're SO COOL!

I wanna nail a girl before the prom and brag to the WHOLE freakin WORLD just like you!

Before this, I didn't know that havin unprotected sex and gettin ya gal pregnant can get you onto TV!! Even my church said you're one FINE role model to America.

That's awesome dude. You're my hero!!

John McCain: ready to have more wars

2008-09-02T23:45:00+02:00

more wars X3

Go into Iran

Warmongering nature

Cafferty: John McCain the hypocrite

John McCain: Straight Talk Outta Your Ass

2008-09-02T07:45:00+02:00

10 things you should knowMcCain's YouTube ProblemJohn McCain vs. John McCainMcCain Caught LyingJohn.he.isJohn McCain eats his own words on Meet the Press

Snow White Trash

2008-09-02T06:00:00+02:00

My oh my. Look at the power of the internet gossips.Poor Bristol Palin. I just can't believe this irresponsible monster Governor Palin chose to openly drag her daughter's private life through the mud by accepting a VP nomination. Ironic isn't it, given the "abstinence only" bullshit she's been trumpeting with Bush, telling people how to live their lives.Or, should I say, hypocrite, since Ms Alaska runner-up was once a teenage mother herself, who eloped with the high school sweet DUI dude.Snow white trash (since it's Alaska)!Please spare those "it's a common American story" comments. If we want a common person in the white house, just go pick one off the street. Don't really need to throw billions into an election.All those right wing Evangelical fuckers lining up to show their "praises" and "respects"? Give me a break. It's a hypocrites edition of Who's Who.In Chinese, we have a saying that the better it looks from the outside, the more rotten it is inside.I know I should never underestimate anyone spotting an immaculate beehive.But if Palin can't even keep her family under control, don't expect her to keep the world order under control.Sorry McCain, your news dumping didn't work. Gustav didn't make a landfall on the internet.

Gender stereotyping

2008-08-18T05:35:00+02:00

Appalling reich-wingers continue to claim that institutionalised sexism doesn't exist anymore. Excuse me? Take the Iguana-gate affair. Would there have been even the slightest interest in this matter had Belinda Neal been a male?

Of course not.

And remember all the mockery of Ms Neal for saying, "Don't you know who I am?". No man in politics would have received such criticism if he'd said it. (And no man would have needed to say it anyway, because people would have known who he was.)

In any case, this seemingly aggressive attitude is quite understandable from a woman in politics. She has been routinely ignored; treated as second class citizen by the political patriarchy for decades. She shouldn't be excoriated for such demands; she should be celebrated for them!

Of course many other media attacks on her have been sexist in the extreme. But sassy as always, she continues to fight on. For instance, understandably affronted by an appalling item in the Murdoch rag The Australian in which it was claimed "she wears the pants" in her relationship with her signifcant other, she is complaining to the Press Council.

I hope she finds justice. I also hope that John Della Bosca lodges a claim of his own, because it implies that he doesn't wear anything!

Hogarthian virtues

2008-08-08T22:20:00+02:00

Hogarth would have been proud of these stills from a biting satire on China's political record. The People's Republic executes more of its citizens than any other nation, many for minor crimes such as tax evasion. A similar idea occurred to a French designer for a much slicker but less effective piece of photographically based work:

The attractive official logo is the work of 70-year old Han Meilin, known as the 'Chinese Picasso' who was apparently paid less than 10p for his work. Even allowing for different standards of living this seems remarkably low. Meilin's design alludes to Chinese calligraphic seals and has a recognisably oriental feel to it. The design works well - and so much better than the much derided 'streetwise' (and according to some fellatio-themed) 2012 Olympics logo: