The Place of Dead Roads

PUCK:If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Act V, Scene I:

From Reuters:

Exxon posted record profits of $10.7 billion in its latest quarter and more than $36 billion for the year...

All totaled, Exxon and its top U.S. peers Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips reported net profits of $18.58 billion in the fourth quarter and $63.87 billion for all of 2005.

via CNN

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee," Coulter said. "That's just a joke, for you in the media."

Mr Harris Bierhoff feels this is criminal and wrote to the Arkansas Attorney General. Here is the AG's reply:

Thank you for contacting the office of the Arkansas Attorney General.

We share your view that the comments, even if made in jest, were reprehensible. It is difficult enough to be a public servant, and safety and security of public officials is a big enough concern, without having highly paid media figures encouraging violence against those public officials.

Unfortunately, there has been some miscommunication about prosecuting crimes in Arkansas. Under the Arkansas Constitution, the Attorney General has no power to bring criminal prosecutions. That power is given only to the local elected prosecuting attorneys. Because the event to which you refer occurred in Pulaski County, it would be the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney who would have to decide what crimes were committed and what charges should be brought. You can contact the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney's Office at (501) 340-8000

From the AP/CNN, Bird flu adds fresh woe for Iraq:

RANIYA, Iraq (AP) -- Battered by rampant violence and political instability, a new threat in Iraq has been confirmed -- the first case of the deadly bird flu virus in the Middle East.

A 15-year-old Kurdish girl who died this month had the deadly H5N1 strain, Iraq and U.N. health officials said.

The discovery has prompted a large-scale slaughter of domestic birds in the northern area where the teen died as the World Health Organization formed an emergency team to try to contain the disease's spread.

"We regretfully announce that the first case of bird flu has appeared in Iraq," Iraqi Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed told reporters Monday.

Mr Mohammed sounds kinda resigned to this. In a country where 6 hours of no electricity for every one hour of electricity is common, it is easy to imagine hoping to have the proper resources seeming a pipedream. Is there enough food and a dependable distribution network to help aleviate the lack of "domestic birds in the northern area." People got to eat and it is winter. I sure hope the stories I hear about the Kurdish region being more stable and less damaged are true. The article states "government institutions are most effective in the Kurdish-run area."

It will be a sad amendum to the our presence in Iraq if it creates the path of infection for this hemisphere? But I fear this may happen. The well-established business-as-usual model has already begun to take a hold of this new problem.

Khudur, the policeman conducting the cull in Sarkathan, complained that his team was also not properly equipped for the slaughter.

"We lack plastic boots, masks and gloves. If we tear the gloves on our hands, there are none to replace them," he said.

"The problem comes down to funding more than anything else," Rod Kennard, who manages the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's assistance program for Iraq, said from neighboring Jordan.

"If they have enough money in order to pay people off so that people will not be reluctant to cull their birds, it's less of an issue."

While the death of the girl's uncle and two recent admits to a hospital still need to be reviewed, Dr. William Schaffner, a bird flu expert at Vanderbilt University, "did not find the situation alarming." He added

"it indicates this is an infection now that is well-embedded in the bird population, probably poultry and the wild bird population,"

He is likely assuming the response in Iraq will be as thorough as Turkey is attempting to do. Turkey has "culled 1.6 million fowl so far." (The Kurds are expecting to kill 1000s.) I hope this doesn't get added to the list of of problems that started small and but for lack of proper attention and effort grew and grew. Because judging from Katrina, the folks in charge here don't seem to have their shit together enough these days to handle anymore big problems. Even the small ones seem beyond them.

[Update] Christiane Amanpour discussing Iraq in general with Larry King:

I mean, by an[y] indicator Iraq is a black hole.Which means, according to a new poll that is coming out today, that most of the Iraqi people are now losing hope that the promised reconstruction is going to happen and that the quality of their lives is going to increase. This is a big drama because hope is the only thing they have in the middle of this spiralling security disaster. And by any indication whether you take the number of journalists killed or wounded, whether you take the number of American soldiers killed or wounded, whether you take the number of Iraqi soldiers killed and wounded, contractors, people working there, it just gets worse and worse.

From the NYTimes:

"I've asked why nobody saw it coming," Ms. Rice said, speaking of her own staff. "It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse."

What is it about these guys that they never seem able to predict what is going to happen with terrorist groups. I thought this was their big advantage over the Democrats; that this adminstration was the only ones that could handle terrorism. They don't even seem to be trying to understand what is going on internationally.

More over at ThinkProgress.

Once upon a time at the foot of a great mountain,
there was a town where the people known as Happyfolk lived,
their very existence a mystery to the rest of the world,
obscured as it was by great clouds.
Here they played out their peaceful lives,
innocent of the litany of excess and violence
that was growing in the world below.
To live in harmony with the spirit of the mountain called Monkey was enough.
Then one day Strangefolk arrived in the town.
They came in camouflage, hidden behind dark glasses, but no one noticed them:
they only saw shadows.
You see, without the Truth of the Eyes, the Happyfolk were blind.

Falling out of aeroplanes and hiding out in holes
Waiting for the sunset to come, people going home
Jump out from behind them and shoot them in the head
Now everybody dancing the dance of the dead,
the dance of the dead,
the dance of the dead

In time, Strangefolk found their way into the higher reaches of the mountain,
and it was there that they found the caves of unimaginable Sincerity and Beauty.
By chance, they stumbled upon the Place Where All Good Souls Come to Rest.
The Strangefolk, they coveted the jewels in these caves above all things,
and soon they began to mine the mountain, its rich seam fueling the chaos of their own world.
Meanwhile, down in the town, the Happyfolk slept restlessly,
their dreams invaded by shadowy figures digging away at their souls.
Every day, people would wake and stare at the mountain.
Why was it bringing darkness into their lives?
And as the Strangefolk mined deeper and deeper into the mountain,
holes began to appear, bringing with them a cold and bitter wind that chilled the very soul of them up.
For the first time, the Happyfolk felt fearful for they knew that soon the Monkey would soon stir from its deep sleep.
And then came a sound. Distant first,
it grew into castrophany so immense it could be heard far away in space.
There were no screams. There was no time.
The mountain called Monkey had spoken.
There was only fire.
And then, nothing.

O little town in U.S.A, your time has come to see
There's nothing you believe you want
But where were you when it all came down on me?
Did you call me now?

Gorillaz

Have things gotten so bad in this country that even Arabian horses need a lawyers? ->

Tricky Dick speaking to David Frost in 1977:

Via Forbes, George Bush on Dec 19, 2005:
"It is legal to do so. I swore to uphold the laws. Legal authority is derived from the Constitution"

She really likes me!

Thursday, Jan 26
Earth Observatory: The IMAGE satellite captured this view of the aurora australis (southern lights) on September 11, 2005, four days after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma flying towards the Earth. The ring of light that the solar storm generated over Antarctica glows green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, shown in this image. The IMAGE observations of the aurora are overlaid onto NASA’s satellite-based Blue Marble image.

Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein,
back when he was our friend. But people change, I guess...


Via TBogg

A couple of polls
From Gallop:

The poll, conducted Jan. 20-22, finds half of Americans (51%) believe the Bush administration was wrong in wiretapping terrorist-linked telephone conversations without first obtaining a court order, while 46% say it was right. The latest results show a slight shift in opinion from early January, when more respondents said the Bush administration was right (50%) than wrong (46%), though the change is within the margin of error for comparing samples between these two surveys.

From Zogby:

But a poll released last week by Zogby International showed 52 percent of American adults thought Congress should consider impeaching Bush if he wiretapped U.S. citizens without court approval, including 59 percent of independents and 23 percent of Republicans. (The survey had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.)

(Thanks again Kinght Ridder.)

More here

Gustave Gilbert with a dejected Hermann Goering in his cell on the evening of 18 April 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day Easter recess:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Snopes says it is a real quote.

NSFW

Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst:

The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress.
"A coalition in Congress is being formed to support impeachment," an administration source said...prelude to the impeachment process could begin with hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February.

Administration sources said the charges are expected to include false reports to Congress as well as Mr. Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance inside the United States without a court warrant.

"Our arithmetic shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president," the source said.

The fucking Washington Times (by way of their magazine Insight) is talking impeachment! I think Kagro X's efforts are having an effect.

From the AP, Study: Army Stretched to Breaking Point:

Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.

Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.

As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump - missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 - and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.

So John Murtha was right after all.

From Reuters:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Republican Party activists on Friday night that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was the "worst nightmare of liberal Democrats."

Asked about the senator's remark, Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said that Alito "is a thoughtful mainstream conservative jurist who is well respected by his peers, by Democrats and Republicans alike."

From The Whitehouse, MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
January 20, 2001
SUBJECT: Standards of Official Conduct
Everyone who enters into public service for the United States has a duty to the American people to maintain the highest standards of integrity in Government. I ask you to ensure that all personnel within your departments and agencies are familiar with, and faithfully observe, applicable ethics laws and regulations, including the following general principles from the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch:

1. Public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain.
2. Employees shall not hold financial interests that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.
3. Employees shall not engage in financial transactions using nonpublic Government information or allow the improper use of such information to further any private interest.
4. An employee shall not, except as permitted by applicable law or regulation, solicit or accept any gift or other item of monetary value from any person or entity seeking official action from, doing business with, or conducting activities regulated by the employee's agency, or whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employee's duties.
5. Employees shall put forth honest effort in the performance of their duties.
6. Employees shall not knowingly make unauthorized commitments or promises of any kind purporting to bind the Government.
7. Employees shall not use public office for private gain.
8. Employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.
9. Employees shall protect and conserve Federal property and shall not use it for other than authorized activities.
10. Employees shall not engage in outside employment or activities, including seeking or negotiating for employment, that conflict with official Government duties and responsibilities.
11. Employees shall disclose waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption to appropriate authorities.
12. Employees shall satisfy in good faith their obligations as citizens, including all just financial obligations, especially those -- such as Federal, State, or local taxes -- that are imposed by law.
13. Employees shall adhere to all laws and regulations that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.
14. Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that they are violating applicable law or the ethical standards in applicable regulations.

Executive branch employees should also be fully aware that their post-employment activities with respect to lobbying and other forms of representation will be bound by the restrictions of 18 U.S.C. 207.

Please thank the personnel of your departments and agencies for their commitment to maintain the highest standards of integrity in Government as we serve the American people.

GEORGE W. BUSH

From The Mail Trubune, a conversation with Kurt Vonnegut.

"I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end: ‘C-Students from Yale.’

"George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, a.k.a. Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or PPs, the medical term for smart, personable people who have no consciences.

"So many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick. They have taken charge of communications and the schools, so we might as well be Poland under occupation."

In case his comment about Christians bothers you, he also said this:

"I say of Jesus, as all humanists do, ‘If what he said is good, and so much of it is absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?’

"But if Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being."

From TalkLeft:

BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY DESTROYED BY FLOOD
Crawford, Texas -- A tragic flood this morning destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. The flood began in the presidential bathroom where the books were kept. Both of his books have been lost. A presidential spokesman said the president was devastated, as he had almost finished coloring the second one. The White House tried to call FEMA but there was no answer.

From The San Jose Mercury News Feds after Google data:

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases...The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

The Mountain View-based search and advertising giant opposes releasing the information on a variety of grounds, saying it would violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade secrets, according to court documents.

Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's effort "vigorously."

"Google is not a party to this lawsuit, and the demand for the information is overreaching," Wong said.

"This is exactly the kind of case that privacy advocates have long feared," said Ray Everett-Church, a South Bay privacy consultant. "The idea that these massive databases are being thrown open to anyone with a court document is the worst-case scenario. If they lose this fight, consumers will think twice about letting Google deep into their lives."

"The government can't even claim that it's for national security."

Sure, why not. Why would we not trust our federal law enforcement personal with our private search data. Have you been using a different search engine? Keep this is mind:

The government indicated that other, unspecified search engines have agreed to release the information, but not Google.

See also this diary at DailyKos.

Please excuse me, but I am having a paranoid moment here. What would the currently unpopular ruling party do with a huge database of people's porn search history?

Squash Dissent.

Start getting too loud and critial, and suddenly you find yourself defending yourself against charges of sexual impropriety. Stories about the presentation of charges are a dime a dozen, but how often is there a story when the charges are found to be false. It is the local stories that get people concerned, what neighbors think.

Just need to make a few examples; local GOP operatives start rumors about the neighborhood peace activist and his desire to tie up his wife. A lot less of a challenge come election day.

I know this is a paranoid rant, but how far are we from this happening? Aren't (false) sexual rumors already part of the Rove playbook? Even worse when the rumors are based on personal search data.

From CNN, Fatal accident occurred as aircraft prepared to fly to Houston:

A mechanic standing near a Boeing 737 at El Paso International Airport in Texas was sucked into one of the engines and killed Monday, officials said.

[S]aid Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's southwest region in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, "Someone on the ground was sucked into the engine."

A spokeswoman for Boeing said Monday's incident is not the first such accident. "It doesn't happen very often," spokeswoman Liz Verdier said. "It has happened in the past."

Darwin in action on the tarmac?

Via http://www.whale.to/m/disin.html:
by H. Michael Sweeney
copyright (c) 1997, 2000 All rights reserved
http://www.whale.to/b/sweeney_h.html

Built upon Thirteen Techniques for Truth Suppression by David Martin, the following may be useful to the initiate in the world of dealing with veiled and half-truth, lies, and suppression of truth when serious crimes are studied in public forums. This, sadly, includes every day news media, one of the worst offenders with respect to being a source of disinformation. Where the crime involves a conspiracy, or a conspiracy to cover up the crime, there will invariably be a disinformation campaign launched against those seeking to uncover and expose the truth and/or the conspiracy. There are specific tactics which disinfo artists tend to apply, as revealed here. Also included with this material are seven common traits of the disinfo artist which may also prove useful in identifying players and motives.

Here are just the headers, please read the whole thing.

1. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
2. Become incredulous and indignant.
3. Create rumor mongers.
4. Use a straw man.
5. Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule.
6. Hit and Run.
7. Question motives.
8. Invoke authority.
9. Play Dumb.
10. Associate opponent charges with old news.
11. Establish and rely upon fall-back positions.
12. Enigmas have no solution.
13. Alice in Wonderland Logic.
14. Demand complete solutions.
15. Fit the facts to alternate conclusions.
16. Vanish evidence and witnesses.
17. Change the subject.
18. Emotionalize, Antagonize, and Goad Opponents.
19. Ignore proof presented, demand impossible proofs.
20. False evidence.
21. Call a Grand Jury, Special Prosecutor, or other empowered investigative body.
22. Manufacture a new truth.
23. Create bigger distractions.
24. Silence critics.
25. Vanish.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

In a political environment that can brew controversy out of allegorical children's fables or a documentary about penguins, it is hard to imagine the intensity of feeling that will greet "V for Vendetta," a movie whose heroes are terrorists. One foresees news talk shows in which red-faced pundits denounce the filmmakers and call for boycotts. Given a film as entertaining and solidly crafted as this one, such attention could turn into strong boxoffice...

Bottom line: Wachowskis leave "The Matrix" for a compellingly stripped-down dystopia and a loud "fight the power" message.

amazon

The Expatriate
Achtung! You are 23% brainwashworthy, 22% antitolerant, and 19% blindly patriotic
Congratulations! You are not susceptible to brainwashing, your values and cares extend beyond the borders of your own country, and your Blind Patriotism does not reach unhealthy levels. If you had been German in the 30s, you would've left the country.

One bad scenario -- as I hypothetically project you back in time -- is that you just wouldn't have cared one way or the other about Nazism. Maybe politics don't interest you enough. But the fact that you took this test means they probably do. I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.

Did you know that many of the smartest Germans departed prior to the beginning of World War II, because they knew some evil shit was brewing? Brain Drain. Many of them were scientists. It is very possible you could have been one of them.

Conclusion: born and raised in Germany in the early 1930's, you would not have been a Nazi.


Then what am I still doing here?

The Would You Have Been a Nazi Test

From Geek Tattoos

The Real Monge-Ampere Equation
An equation relating to my Ph.D. research. What can I say? I really love what I do ;-).
(by Andre, Wicked CO, 2431 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley CA)

From David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

Date: November 21, 1974
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and geisha play a Japanese game during President Gerald Ford's visit to Kyoto, Japan.

And let's not forget Scooter Libby's Japanese sex fantasy

At age ten the madam put the child in a cage with a bear trained to couple with young girls so the girls would be frigid and not fall in love with their patrons. They fed her through the bars and aroused the bear with a stick when it seemed to lose interest.

From DailyKos, Why Not Just Dissolve the Senate?, jpol discusses George Bush's 17 recess appointments announced on Thursday. From an AP article:

Under the Constitution, the president may avoid the Senate confirmation process and make appointments while the chamber is in recess. Such appointments usually are short-term, expiring at the end of next congressional session.

But because the Senate held a pro forma session Tuesday and then adjourned, the White House contends the second session of the 109th Congress has begun. Therefore, the White House believes Bush's nearly 20 recess appointments are valid until the following session, which won't conclude until the end of 2007.

The nature of this pro-forma session:

• Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - The Senate convened at 12:00 noon for a pro forma session only and adjourned at 12:01 p.m. No record votes were taken.
• "Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days...", Article II; Section 2; US Constitution
• This section was included to prevent either chamber from blocking legislation through its refusal to meet. Each chamber takes very seriously its independence of the other body. To avoid having to ask the other chamber for permission to adjourn, the Senate and House simply conduct pro forma (as a matter of form) sessions to meet the three-day constitutional requirement. No business is conducted at these sessions, which generally last for less than one minute.

So the White House figures it can use this pro forma meeting to make an end-run around the Senate's Constitutional authority. Thus King George can do as he wishes and hold himself accountable to noone.

Let me start counting the ways we can say "Goodbye US Constitution, we knew thee well."

The other day, Bush visited some wounded troops at Brooke Army Medical Center. From the White House:

As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a Cedar. I eventually won. The Cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the Colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, Colonel.

Video at Crooks and Liars. Follow their link to Larry Johnson's thoughts on the matter.

Now a blast from the past, also from the White House:

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

(From the comments on Larry Johnson's blog.)

NutraIngredents reports that Soy could worsen heart disease, study:

New research published today reveals that consuming soy could have a “severe” impact on a genetic heart condition that affects one in 500 people, though the authors caution that the effect has so far only been observed in male mice.

The study, which appears in today’s issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is the first of its kind amidst a body of evidence linking soy to a number of health benefits.

According to scientists at the University of Colorado, male mice carrying the mutation for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, were severely affected by a soy diet, exhibiting progressively enlarged heart muscles and eventual heart failure.

But when the mice were switched to a diet of milk protein casein, their condition “improved markedly,” said the researchers...

According to lead author of the new study, Professor Leslie Leinwand, the research shows that “at least in mice, diet can have a more profound effect on heart disease than any drug that we could imagine.”

“We have no information about how this work might translate into humans,” she told FoodNavigator-USA, adding that there is also no evidence that healthy animals could be affected.

“We only see the negative effects on a specific genetic heart disease model and only in males,” she said.

Female mice carrying the mutation for HCM apparently remained “relatively unaffected” by the soy diet due to the fact that they are constantly exposed to naturally circulating levels of estrogen compounds and are therefore less sensitive than males to the change in estrogen level as a result of the soy diet.

From LATimes' 'The Envelope', And the mike goes to...:

The long search for an Oscar host is over, with an official announcement from the academy expected to come early Thursday morning.

For the moment no one at AMPAS or involved with the production will confirm it, but word is that the job of hosting the 78th Academy Awards will go to Jon Stewart, the Emmy-winning writer-host of "The Daily Show" and a past host of the Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2002.

I'll still try to love you Jon!

From Alex Jones' Infowars, New Stasi style UK Anti-Terror campaign encourages reporting your neighbours:

The latest anti-terror advertising campaign by the London Metropolitan Police encourages the residents of London to actively spy on and report anybody, including their own neighbours, should they suspect them to be behaving in a suspicious way...

Five different posters have been designed to drill it into the minds of all Londoners that anyone they know could be a terrorist and they should report anything they don't like the look of to the authorities.

In addition to the "Terrorists need places to live" poster, there is one that informs us that "terrorists could use the river", another that suggests refunds to credit cards are terroristic, another that makes the point that "terrorists need vehicles", and finally a poster that suggests using a garage or lock up may be the behaviour of a terrorist.

So essentially the Met, in conjunction with British Transport Police, City of London Police, Transport for London and the Mayor's Office are informing us that you're likely to be a terrorist suspect if you sometimes get refunds, if you go on the river, if you live in a house and if you rent or buy a vehicle and keep it in a garage.

Good Lord, they're all around me! Get me the phone quick I need to report EVERYBODY I' VE EVER KNOWN.

The adverts are total fear based mind control and work on a number of different levels...

Alex Jones' article includes copies of the adverts, along with audio of a radio ad.

From Washington Post's Eugene Robinson:

(1) George W. Bush will continue his bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Frequent Use of the Blame-the-Messenger Strategy (Modern Era)."...Next target: Who's leaking all that unhelpful news from Iraq, such as figures on American casualties and reports of torture by U.S.-trained Iraqi police?

(2) The administration will see steady "progress" in Iraq, even if the new government's first act is to sign a friendship pact with Iran.

(3) Congress will soldier on in its brave attempt to spend and collect public funds without the use of a pocket calculator...The only duty of Congress is to spend money as fast as the Chinese will lend it to us.

(4) Whenever she's asked, Condoleezza Rice will deny she's even thinking about running for president.

(5) Hillary Clinton will also deny that she's running for president -- at least until she gets reelected to the Senate.

6) Many other potential candidates will not deny they are running for president in 2008...only John McCain will gain any real traction. The White House will attempt to seem pleased by this development.

(7) Any and all of the above will be driven from the public consciousness...by an engrossing, ratings-boosting saga: An attractive young white woman will vanish.

(8) Fox News Channel...will go on to concoct imaginary "wars" against other holidays...here's a challenge to my talented friends at Fox: Come up with a "war on Labor Day."

(9) When the summer hurricanes come...the president will give a bold speech full of noble promises. Evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, still in their cramped trailers and temporary apartments, will not applaud.

(10) Americans will suddenly wake up and question the Bush administration about Iraq, about domestic spying, about global warming, about tax cuts. But just then, as the president fumbles for answers, a compelling news event will steal away the nation's attention.

Hard to believe, but another attractive young white woman will vanish.

Not usually one to perpetuate stereotype-based jokes, but best blonde joke ever.

Save Greedo

In 1977 Greedo was hired by Jabba the Hut to collect a bounty on Han Solo. He was then brutally gunned down in the Mos Eisley Cantina... but he did not die. What followed has been categorized by some as a vast Jedi conspiracy to cover up this incident, ultimately making it look like Greedo shot first.

But for what purpose? Why was Han Solo protected? Who covered this up? The answers have eluded the public for 28 years. Here are some facts that are now known.

• Greedo did not die that day. He was put into a persistant vegetative state due to his inuries.
• His family, wife Meedo, son Teedo and baby girl Freedo, were left without a provider for their family.
• The Rodian Insurance policy did not cover his medical bills, which have slowly piled up over 28 years. Your donations are welcome.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was the trigger man. No, not physically. Old Ben Kenobi used his force powers to make Han's blaster go off, maiming Greedo first. Was it because he needed Han's Ship? No. The answer will astound you.
Who was the real mastermind of this incident? Finally, thanks to years of research done by Greedo's son Teedo, the answer can be revealed.
Yoda had foreseen the fall of the Jedi, and had devised a plan to make sure the Jedi lived on. Yoda foresaw Han Solo and Leia Skywalker having children and repopulating the Jedi ranks. Efforts were exhausted to keep Han alive. And it was Yoda who contacted Obi Wan and told him where to find Han, and that he would soon be in great danger. A careful ruse to make this whole adventure look like it was about Luke and his father, and stopping the Death Star. They carefully wove the plot together.
Read the whole story over at Save Greedo.

"I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Yes, Christmas. I hate religion, but all that 'holiday' shit is so annoying, every time I hear it I want to go join the priesthood. And I don't even like kids." HuffPost