Friday, 28 May 2004
Funny Shit
Not much time for blogging lately, but here's some funny stuff to check
out:
- McSweeney's Internet Tendency: PROS AND CONS OF JOHN KERRY'S TOP TWENTY VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
- BUSHGAME.COM - The Anti-Bush Online Adventure. Help Hulk Hogan, Mr. T and He-Man defeat George Bush and Voltron.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 28, 2004 at 02:17 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 27 May 2004
Group Unearths Part of Ancient University
Cool:
The lecture halls, with a capacity of 5,000 students, are part of the 5th century university, which functioned until the 7th century, according to a statement from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "This is the first material evidence of the existence of academic life in Alexandria," Majderek said. Knowledge of earlier intellectual pursuits in the Mediterranean coastal city came through historical and literary documents and materials.
Ancient Alexandria was home to a library, which was founded about 295 B.C. and burned to the ground in the 4th century. Ruins were never found, but Alexandria was an intellectual center where scholars are thought to have produced the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and edited Homer's works. The auditoriums were found near the portico of the Roman Theater in the eastern part of the ancient city. All the lecture halls are of identical dimensions. Each contains rows of stepped benches in a form of semicircle and an elevated seat apparently for the lecturer, the Antiquities Department statement said.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 27, 2004 at 12:53 PM in Random News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, 26 May 2004
Homeland Insecurity
[...]
The estimate of 18,000 fighters was based on intelligence estimates that al-Qaida trained at least 20,000 fighters in its training camps in Afghanistan before the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban regime. In the ensuing war on terror, some 2,000 al-Qaida fighters have been killed or captured, the survey said. The United States remains al-Qaida's prime target, the report said. An al-Qaida leader has said 4 million Americans will have to be killed "as a prerequisite to any Islamic victory," the survey said.
I'd like to thank George Bush, Congress, and the piss-poor Media for "taking the fight to the enemy". Great job guys. That whole flypaper strategy is working out real well.
I'd also like to take a moment to thank all the spineless Americans out there who were either too chickenshit or too stupid to even consider the idea that this war was a lie. During the run-up to the invasion there were articles being published all over the world casting doubt on the Bush Administration's claims of "hundreds of tons of WMD" in Iraq. By the time we started Shocking and Aweing even UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix was saying that he hadn't found any WMD at all and that he needed more time to determine what the situation was.
But that didn't give the average American any pause at all. Most of you were out for blood. I was called unpatriotic, unAmerican and worse because I insisted this war was a deception. From the very beginning I maintained that the Bush Administration was trampling on the Constitution, destroying our international relationships (freedom fries, anyone?), and had placed us in greater danger.
Sadly, my voice was drowned out by the legions of Americans who believed George Bush's lies about Nigerian yellowcake uranium and Saddam's ties to Al Qaeda. Bush used 9/11 as a pretext to wage his foolish war and most of you ate it up. Seventy percent of Americans didn't even bother to notice that none of the hijackers were Iraqis.
Over and over I was accused of "helping the terrorists". But in the end, who really helped Al Qaeda? Who gave them the perfect recruitment tool? Who gave them the holy war they so desperately wanted? Who allowed American resources to be diverted from Afghanistan and the actual war on terror to the make-believe threat in Iraq?
Not me, that's for sure.
As a resident of a major metropolitan area in the US, I pray to God that none of these Al Qaeda plots comes to fruition. But if they do, there will be plenty of blame to go around. Sadly, the war that you all accepted on blind faith may coming home very soon. And if it does just remember that I did everything I could to stop it.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 26, 2004 at 05:13 PM in War on Terra | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Photographer Makes High-Resolution Camera
I've been taking pictures for a couple of years, and I've found it's something that I really enjoy. For me, it's a perfect combination of art and science. I get into messing around with shutter speeds and double exposures, and since I got a digital camera I've been tinkering with Photoshop. I come out with some cool stuff every now and then, but this guy has taken things to a whole other level:
But Ross found that his 35mm photos didn't get anyone else excited. They simply didn't capture enough detail to convey the majesty of the white-capped mountain surrounded by grassy fields.
So he decided to make a camera that could create an image as awe-inspiring as the vista before him. The result was R1, a 110-pound, 6-foot film camera that produces what experts say are some of the highest-resolution landscape photographs ever made.
"Mountain I," a 5-foot-by-10-foot color photograph captured by that camera, is on display at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York through July 30.
Ross, 51, wanted to share a near-replica of reality, without any of the blurring visible in most large prints. "You can choose to go up to the picture and experience it intimately with a sense of unbroken reality," he says.
Details of the mountain's snowcapped peak - 7 miles from the camera - are in sharp focus, as are individual blades of grass only 30 meters away. When sections of the image are magnified nearly four times, other details are clearly visible: the shingles on a barn 1,200 meters from the camera, a red bird in the grass 45 meters away.
A lower-resolution image captured on everyday 35mm film would break down when displayed at the size of "Mountain I." Viewers would see a fuzzy, fractured image - and Ross' miniature red bird would likely not be visible at all.
"You have to ask the question, `What's the point of painting a scene like this when you can reproduce it with no loss of resolution?'" says Conor Foy, a 36-year-old painter. "The resolution of this seems to be more than anything I've seen before."
Ross acknowledges that he has very little technical background. "I'm not a research scientist and I'm not a designer of photographic mechanisms," the first-time inventor says. "I'm doing this because I want to make a piece of art."
Posted by flow Frazao on May 26, 2004 at 02:51 PM in Random News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mouseland
Here's a little story by Tommy Douglas (1904 -1986), one of Canada's best known New Democrats. He first wrote it down in 1944, but it's as still as relevant as ever:
Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.
They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.
Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for the last 90 years and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are.
Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.
All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.
Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said:"The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did. And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the cat could get both his paws in. And life was tougher than ever.
And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.
You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.
Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" So they put him in jail.
But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 26, 2004 at 10:56 AM in Little Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pathetic
It's only been in the news every day for the past two weeks:
During the half-hour televised address, Bush mispronounced Abu Ghraib each of the three times he mentioned it while announcing U.S. plans to tear down the infamous jail and replace it with a new facility.
The prison, the scene of torture under Saddam Hussein and the setting for the Iraqi prison abuse scandal under the U.S. military, has a name that English speakers usually pronounce as "abu-grabe".
But the Republican president, long known for verbal and grammatical lapses, stumbled on the first try, calling it "abugah-rayp". The second version came out "abu-garon", the third attempt sounded like "abu-garah".
White House aides, who described the speech as an important address on the future of Iraq, said Bush practised twice on Monday before boarding his helicopter for his trip to the speaking venue at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
link.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 26, 2004 at 09:26 AM in Funny Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Rampaging Cicadas Attack George Bush
Even the cicadas want Bush gone.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 25, 2004 at 11:59 PM in Funny Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, 24 May 2004
It's About Time
Finally, someone has taken some decisive action regarding the Abu Ghraib prison torture. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, has implemented a policy that is sure to stem the tide of pictures coming out of Iraq.
He has banned cameras from US military compounds:
Quoting a Pentagon source, the paper said the US Defence Department believes that some of the damning photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were taken with camera phones.
"Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq," it said, adding that a "total ban throughout the US military" is in the works.
Problem solved.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 24, 2004 at 04:47 PM in Iraq | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's That Up In the Sky?
It's a bird!
It's a plane!!
It's SUPER BUSH!!!
Yes, this is real. The ad linked to above was actually paid for by the Republican National Committee. I suppose this is the way the RNC views our President. Unfortunately, here's how the rest of the world sees him:
As a recent Kos diarist put it, "Finally, a leader that combines the intellect of Dan Quayle, the paranoia of Richard Nixon, and the physical dexterity of Gerald Ford."
Posted by flow Frazao on May 24, 2004 at 04:24 PM in Funny Bush, Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Free Stuff
MoveOn.org is giving out free stickers.
Pretty cool.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 24, 2004 at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
About Time
Is America ready to join the rest of the civilized world by outlawing the death penalty?
Justices said that lower courts were wrong to block appeals by death row inmate David Larry Nelson, who was less than three hours from execution last fall when the Supreme Court gave him a temporary reprieve.
Looks like we'll find out.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 24, 2004 at 11:28 AM in US News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Friday, 21 May 2004
Minimize Profits for Big Oil
Stick it to The Man and shop around for the lowest gas prices in your area.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 21, 2004 at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
10 Stories the World Should Hear More About
reported, but are often second-rung issues that need more thorough,
balanced and regular attention. The list itself is a snapshot of the
most compelling stories that, at this point in time, the Department of
Public Information believes are in need of more media attention. And
the top story is merely the first among equals. The list includes the
plight of child soldiers in Uganda, who are emerging as central figures
amid deadly violence and a growing humanitarian emergency; the crisis
of children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa; and overfishing as
a threat to marine biodiversity.
Sometimes it's easy to get swept up in the 14 second news cycles, but
every now and then it's good to step back and take a look at some of
the other things that are going on in the world that don't get any
coverage. One of the stories that I found particularly interesting is
about Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation around the world:
indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation in Amazonian Ecuador,
Peru, Brazil and Bolivia – the Tagaeri, Huaorani, Taromenane, Corubo,
Amamhuaca, Mascho, Kineri, Nanti, Nahua and Kugapakori, among others
– are condemned to gradual extinction. These tribes remain
mysterious, avoiding all contact with strangers and preferring the
isolated existence they have maintained for centuries. What little is
known about them has been gleaned from other indigenous groups and from
chance encounters with developers and rights groups. But what is clear
is that their numbers are rapidly dwindling: the Coruba now number only
40; and the number of Mascho speakers is estimated to be between 20 and
100. The Amamhuaca language, it is thought, is spoken only by 720
people: 500 in Peru and 220 in Brazil.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 21, 2004 at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Do They Teach That In Law School?
witness during a deposition, has been fined $8,500 for misconduct and
harassment of opponents.
[...]
During a deposition in which Kittle [the defendant] was giving sworn
statements on Jan. 16, 2002, he referred to letters he had received
from Fink. He called them threatening, "mad dog lawyer" letters,
according to Kittle's lawyer, Samuel Friedman.
At the continuation of the deposition the next day, Friedman said, Fink
started barking like a dog when Kittle was asked about the letters by
Donald Creadore, the lawyer who had taken over the case from Fink.
Friedman said Fink "behaved in a very mocking manner, making the
witness feel intimidated, speaking over other people and making it
difficult for the court reporter to record much of anything."
Posted by flow Frazao on May 21, 2004 at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 20 May 2004
Dear Abby
Check out this letter from today's Dear Abby (the most popular and widely syndicated column in the world):
DEAR READERS: I'm still receiving fascinating letters in support of the
13-year-old girl who was ridiculed by her teacher and classmates for
revealing that she'd one day like to be president of the United States.
Read on:
DEAR ABBY: I read the letter from "I Have a Dream" and would like to
offer her encouragement:
DEAR "I HAVE A DREAM": I was touched by your letter to Dear Abby, and I
want you to know that you can become the president of the United States
because of who you are, not in spite of it. I have no doubt a woman
will be president one day, and America would be lucky to have you
leading us every step of the way.
When young people like you express such a desire to make a difference
in people's lives, you should be applauded. Your teacher and your
classmates were wrong to laugh at your dream.
What you already know, but they seem to have forgotten, is that we live
in a country where every child, girl or boy, has an equal chance to
grow up and become president, or a teacher, or a doctor, or a CEO, or
the shopkeeper down the street. That is what makes our country unlike
any place on Earth. Anything is possible.
But to do the things we believe in, we all have to work hard, do our
best, and fight those who do not always believe in us. It is not easy
to ignore their criticism, and it is tough to look beyond their doubts.
But remember, doubters never made America a better place. It is people
like you -- people who dream big and are filled with hope -- who make a
difference in this world.
Always remember that the great thing about America is that you can
become president, and you should never let anyone tell you different.
-- SEN. JOHN KERRY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
DEAR SEN. KERRY: To say that you are a busy man these days is an
understatement. That you would still reach out to help a child says
volumes about you as a person.
Whoever it was on the Kerry campaign who thought to do this gets a gold
star for the day. Just think of how many people in Middle America skip
over the A section and head straight for Dear Abby and the comics. This
is the kind of manuever that sticks in people's heads, and John Kerry
just pulled one off in a big way.
In all fairness, I'm sure George Bush would have written a letter as
well... except that he doesn't read newspapers:
watch the endless hours of people giving their opinion about things ...
I don't read the editorial pages; I don't read the columnists." In
fact, Mr. Bush said he barely "skims" four newspapers delivered daily
to the Oval Office.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 20, 2004 at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Strange Things Are Afoot en El Casa de Chalabi
Breaking news this morning is that U.S. troops have raided Chalabi's house in Iraq:
of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday, and aides accused the
Americans of holding guns to his head and bullying him over his
criticism of plans for next month's transfer of sovereignty.
There was no comment from U.S. authorities, but American officials here
have complained privately that Chalabi - a longtime Pentagon favorite -
is interfering with a U.S. investigation into allegations that Saddam
Hussein's regime skimmed millions in oil revenues during the U.N.-run
oil-for-food program. A Chalabi aide, Haidar Musawi, accused the
Americans of trying to pressure Chalabi, who has become openly critical
of U.S. plans for how much power to transfer to the Iraqis on June 30.
[...]
American soldiers and armed U.S. civilians could be seen milling about
Chalabi's compound in the city's fashionable Mansour district. Some
people could be seen loading boxes into vehicles. Aides said documents
and computers were seized without warrants.
[...]
For years, Chalabi's INC had received hundreds of thousands of dollars
every month from the Pentagon, in part for intelligence passed along by
exiles about Saddam's purported weapons of mass destruction.
The question is, how did Chalabi fall out of favor so fast? Less than a week ago, he was still receiving $340,000 per month
from the Pentagon. In the space of a week he's gone from being "our
kind of guy" in Iraq to being the subject of armed raids?
I doubt it. There is a classic nation-building technique that was
employed in British colonies all over the world. The British government
would pick their favored leader, arrest him and then make a hero out of
him. When the populace was sufficiently whipped into a fury about it
the British would release the guy just to "keep the peace" and then
hold elections. Inevitably, their handpicked stooge would win by a
landslide.
Of course, if this is what Bush and his clown troupe are trying to do
(and I'm not saying it is), it's going to fail miserably. Most Iraqis
think of Chalabi as a opportunistic, bank robbing thief who spent the last 30 years living comfortably outside Iraq:
was convicted of fraud in absentia in Jordan in 1992 for embezzling
$US288 million from Petra Bank into Swiss bank accounts and was
sentenced to 22 years in jail.
Good luck making a hero out of this guy. It'd be easier selling a line
of plush, snuggly Ken Lay dolls.
If Bush had any sense he'd have sent Chalabi's fat ass back to Jordan a
year ago. Instead he put him on the Administration's payroll to the
tune of almost $400,000 per month. That's certainly one thing you can
say about rich crooks - when times get tough they stick together.
UPDATE: Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks this is all another neoCon (link via Atrios):
Enterprise Institute who's just left the Pentagon, where he played a
small role as a neocon cog in the Office of Special Plans war machine -
let a herd of cats out of the bag about his favorite Iraqi phony, Ahmad
Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.
Chalabi, of course, is the roly-poly perpetrator of intelligence fraud
and the convicted bank embezzler who still hopes to be leader of Iraq.
Lately, Chalabi has scuttled into a would-be alliance with Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, the scowly fatwa man. In doing so, he's had the
temerity to criticize the United States, leading some fuzzy thinkers to
believe that Chalabi, whose puppet strings are made of steel, might be
trying to show some independence from Washington. Well, says Rubin, who
served as one the Pentagon's liaisons to Chalabi, that's exactly what
they want you to think:
"Much of the information he collected was to roll up the
insurgency and Ba'athist cells. It caught people red-handed," said
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser who is now at a conservative
think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute.
"By telegraphing that he is not the favorite son of America, the
administration will bolster him, showing he is his own man."
In other words, it's all a big con game. The still-neocon-dominated
Pentagon-which this week stopped funding Chalabi's INC - is playing its
last card, hoping that it can boost Chalabi's sagging fortunes by
pretending to sever ties with him. That, the neocons hope, will allow
Chalabi to strengthen his ties to Sistani, the king-making mullah who,
they hope, holds Iraq's fate in his wrinkled hands.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 20, 2004 at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, 19 May 2004
Cicada Update
There are tons of cicadas around now. It's not quite reached Plague of
Locusts proportions yet, but it's definitely gross. In the city it's
not too bad, but I work out in the suburbs and there are cicadas all
over the place.
In case you've been living in a cave for the past few months, this is
the year of the cicada:
most live conventional lives of a few years' duration. The eastern half
of the United States is home to a unique set of species, called
periodical cicadas, whose members spend 13 or 17 years underground
before suddenly emerging into a frenzied and noisy adulthood.
Periodicals are the glamour girls and boys of the cicada world. And we
are about to greet them again. A few inches below the surface of the
soil, in about 15 states and the District, billions of cicadas that
were spawned in the spring of 1987 are ready to leave their
subterranean homes and taste life in the open air. In a few weeks,
probably in early to mid-May, the cicada nymphs will crawl out of the
ground, shed their skins and unfurl their wings. The males will
out-roar lawn mowers in their search for a mate. The females will lay
their eggs in the branches of trees. Then, beginning in mid-June, the
adults will all die. Prepare to welcome Brood X (that's 10), as a
federal bureaucrat named this batch of 17-year cicadas. Periodical
cicadas last appeared in the Washington area in 1996, when Brood II
came topside. That emergence, while sparser overall, affected Virginia
more heavily than will X, which will largely sidestep the Old Dominion.
The good news is that these insects are almost entirely harmless --
they don't bite or sting, although they can startle. They may make a
few outdoor weddings even more unforgettable than brides and grooms
might hope. The rest of the news is that they are pretty hard to miss.
There is of course the noise. But there is also their charm. Elizabeth
Kraft discovered that after a few days, she was enchanted with the
bugs. "It was really creepy, but it's also amazing. It's an amazing
encounter with nature."
As I said before, walking to work has become quite an adventure. The
cicadas hang out on trees and go shooting around on unsteady wings.
I've become used to getting divebombed by huge bugs. It's a bit
disconcerting, but it makes me feel like I'm back in the jungle. Until
I get to work. Then the whole jungle illusion kind of fades.
If you haven't gotten enough of all these grubs n bugs, check out some photos:
Posted by flow Frazao on May 19, 2004 at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle
Odds are this movie will suck, but there is a slim chance that it may turn out to be the best movie in the history of the universe.
UPDATE: Fight childhood obesity the Japanese way - with scaryass lunches.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 19, 2004 at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Step One: Remove Head From Ass
The CEO of Diebold has finally realized that promising to deliver the election to Bush was a mistake:
Diebold, has said that it was a "huge mistake" for him, as the head of
a voting machine company, to express support for President George W.
Bush's re-election in a fund-raising letter last year.
O'Dell, in a meeting with reporters and editors from The New York Times
on Monday, also said Diebold was working to address computer security
problems and build voter confidence in its wares. He apologized for
mistakes and stood up for what he said the company had done right.
"The country had a crisis" after the 2000 election debacle, he said;
his company realized that it "could help; it would be an opportunity to
serve, and it would be a good business."
O'Dell drew criticism of his company in August when he sent an
invitation to a fund-raising party that said, "I am committed to
helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
He said he had not written the letter himself, though he declined to
say who had. He added that he intended only to sign a "party
invitation."
[...]
He said he could not discuss California, which on April 30 prohibited
the use of Diebold's machines in four counties for the November
election. The California secretary of state, Kevin Shelley, has asked
state's attorney general to investigate whether Diebold should face
charges.
Yet another example of what has become a classic Republican trifecta: corrupt, inept, and monumentally stupid.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 19, 2004 at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fighting Terror With Terror
dawn Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi
officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report
and was investigating.
Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, said between 42
and 45 people were killed in the attack, which took place about 2:45
a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He
said the dead included 15 children and 10 women.
Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll
at 45.
Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck
containing bodies of people who were allegedly killed in the incident.
Most of the bodies were wrapped in blankets and other cloths, but the
footage showed at least eight uncovered, bloody bodies, several of them
children. One of the children was headless.
This report is unconfirmed as of yet. Hopefully it will turn out to be false.
UPDATE: Confirmation:
people in an attack on suspected foreign fighters in Iraq near the
Syrian border, but disputed reports that the victims were members of a
wedding party. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of
operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, told Reuters the attack early
Wednesday was within the military's rules of engagement. "We conducted
an operation about 85 kilometers (53 miles) southwest of
al-Qaim...against suspected foreign fighters in a safe house," Kimmitt
said. "We took ground fire and we returned fire." Kimmitt said there
were no indications that the victims of the attack were part of a
wedding party. He said a large amount of money, Syrian passports and
satellite communications equipment had been found at the site after the
attack.
[...]
Dubai-based Al Arabiya television showed pictures of several shrouded
bodies lined up on a dirt road. Men were shown digging graves and
lowering bodies, one of a child, into the pits while relatives wept.
"The U.S. planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us," an unidentified
man who said he was from the village said on Al Arabiya. "They hit two
homes where the wedding was being held and then they leveled the whole
village. No bullets were fired by us, nothing was happening," he added.
Guests and relatives at Arab weddings often fire guns in the air in
jubilation.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 19, 2004 at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bush and Powell Hold Secret Meeting With Aznar
Yesterday, Jose Maria Aznar snuck into the White House for a nearly secret meeting. Luckily Soj was paying attention:
[Translated from original Spanish
by Soj]
Washington - The ex-President of the Spanish government, Jose Maria
Aznar, is a good friend of the American President, George W. Bush
according to the White House spokesperson, Scott McClellan. Those were
the few official words said about the meeting between the two leaders.
Aznar ended his tour of the United States with a private meeting with
Bush, which Colin Powell also attended. The meeting was remarkable for
the absolute silence of the participants.
McClellan, during a press conference, would not go into more details
about the meeting. "Aznar is a good friend of the President, but now
he's a private citizen. He's the ex-president (of the government) of
Spain. No further comments."
Jose Maria Aznar also did not say anything. He left the White House
through a side door far from where the press were gathered.
The State Department spokesperson said it is "Quite normal for Bush and
Powell to meet with an ex head of state" but refused to go into details
on what was discussed during the meeting.
Aznar has also remained silent on a meeting he had on Monday in the
Pentagon with the American Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
Neither anyone traveling with Aznar nor anyone in the Pentagon would
give a statement about the meeting, which occurred during one of the
lowest points for RUmsfeld, when he was being grilled by opposition
Democratic Party members of Congress over the abuse and torture of
Iraqi prisoners.
Polemics in Spain
Aznar's trip to the United States has caused a great deal of political
debate in Spain. Many members of the PSOE [current government] are
especially upset over the critical stories coming from the American
media about the decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
In an interview in the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Aznar stated that
he considered the withdrawal of troops from Iraq to be tantamount to a
declaration of victory for the terrorists.
In that interview, Aznar stated that the only way to put a brake on
violent acts, such as the decapitation of American Nicholas Berg, is
for Spain and the rest of the international community to give its
support to the United States.
If I were the President of the Government, the Prime Minister of Spain,
the troops would still be fulfilling their obligations" in Iraq, said
Aznar.
This was Aznar's first trip outside of SPain since the Popular Party
(PP) lost the general elections back on March 14.
Aznar has stated that the Madrid train bombing in March, in which 192
people died, had an effect on the parliamentary elections, which were
won by the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE).
The election results "would've been diferent if those terrorist attacks
had not occurred. We know this", said Aznar in his Los Angels Times
interview.
He also warned that in American, just like in Spain, "the terrorists
will do what they can to affect the elections in the United States"
Zapatero Not Upset
Aznar's statements were roundly criticized in Spain, with people like
Josep Borrell, the head of the PSOE members running for European
Parliament elections and his counterpart in the CiU, Ignasi Guardans,
amongst others who accused Aznar of "disloyalty".
The PP came to the defense of their former leader, although various
articles published in Spain have indicated that the Party has asked
Aznar to refrain from making public statements" to try and put a cap on
the criticism.
To clarify the issue, the President of the Government, Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapataro, stated on Monday that he was "not bothered" by
Aznar's criticism and added, "to each their own".
In the same vein, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel
Moratinos, stated in Brussels on Monday that he was not concerned about
Aznar's statements about the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq
because his comments "are neither important nor listened to".
So why are Bush/Powell/Rumsfeld meeting with Aznar? Who knows. But
here's a telling snippet from yesterday's White House press briefing:
purpose for that meeting?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, President Aznar is a good friend of the
President's. And secondly, this was a meeting with a private citizen --
he is a former President of Spain -- and I'm not going to have any
further readout beyond that.
Q Were Rice and Powell also involved?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm just not going to have any further readout of the
meeting. He did bring some other people with him. But I will leave it
at that.
Why is it telling? Because it shows how completely idiotic this
administration is. Aznar isn't the former President of Spain. He's the
former Prime Minister.
It's not a big deal, but you'd think that BushCo would make an effort
be respectful of one of his only two friends in the world.
What a bunch of clowns.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 19, 2004 at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, 17 May 2004
Conflict Map
Take a look at the Conflict Map:
experienced some of the most devastating wars of all times. Where did
these wars take place? Have some regions experienced more wars than
others? Who were the main protagonists in these conflicts? This map
gives you the opportunity to answer these questions. It displays wars
with at least 1,000 military battle deaths.
The Nobel Peace Prize celebrated its centennial in 2001. Where did the
Laureates and nominees come from? How many Africans have received the
prize? Alongside the map on wars you will find statistics showing the
geographical distribution of Peace Prize nominees and Laureates since
1901.
Along with being a sobering look at 20th century warfare, it's also a super cool bit of web programming.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 17, 2004 at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Spheres of Influence
The Washington Post has an incredible graphic up describing Bush's Spheres of Influence. Interesting stuff.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 17, 2004 at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Friday, 14 May 2004
Fer Chrissakes
Hello? Earth to the Kerry Campaign? Anyone there?
Maria Cantwell's amendment to provide extended federal unemployment
benefits to 47,000 Washington workers and more than 1 million others
nationwide. The vote came as the chamber moved toward passage of a $170
billion corporate tax bill that would benefit Boeing, Microsoft and
other U.S. exporters and help defuse a mounting trade dispute with the
European Union. Cantwell, D-Wash., sought to attach her amendment to
the tax bill, but the Republican-controlled Senate rejected it on a
59-40 vote. The amendment required 60 votes to overcome objections it
violated budget guidelines. "It's really disappointing," said Cantwell,
who has repeatedly over the past several months sought to convince the
Senate to extend the benefits.
Cantwell said she ran into a Republican leadership that was determined
to defeat her amendment. She said she hadn't decided what comes next.
"It took a lot to get this vote, to get the momentum," she said.
Guess who was the only senator to miss the vote.
UPDATE: Apparently, this tactic was organized and executed by
the Republicans in the senate. The majority schedules the vote when
they know the challenger won't be there for campaign reasons and then
makes sure the vote fails by one vote. Pretty slick, and it makes for a
damning headline. Take a look at the list of voters:
40 Rs voted against (well, 39 + Zell)
The Rs that voted for extending benefits were:
Bond (MO)
Dole (NC)
DeWine (OH)
Murkowski (AK)
Smith (OR)
Talent (MO)
Voinovich (OH)
and
Snowe, Collins, McCain & Specter.
The latter four could conceivably have voted this way on principle.
However, the former seven would NEVER have voted for extending
unemployment benefits.
This was a setup. Even if Kerry had hopped on a plane and flown back,
one of the seven would surely have switched his vote at the last
second.
Those Republicans... they're pretty slick. They almost fooled me for a
second there.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 14, 2004 at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
They Can Put A Guy On The Moon...
...but they can't balance a checkbook?
agency's finances are in disarray, with significant errors in its last
financial statements and inadequate documentation for $565 billion
posted to its accounts, its former auditor reported.
[...]
"The documentation NASA provided in support of its September 30, 2003,
financial statements was not adequate to support $565 billion in
adjustments to various financial statement accounts," the auditor wrote
in a Jan. 20 report to Cobb, NASA's inspector general. It also noted
"significant errors" in financial statements provided by NASA. That big
number -- $565 billion, with a "B" -- was the result of posting
problems, new software and a "massive cleanup" of 12 years of NASA's
financial records, said Patrick Ciganer, NASA's chief for integrated
financial management.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 14, 2004 at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Third Day In a Row
If this headline looks familiar it's only because it's a new record every freakin day:
prices soared to a record Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange,
crossing $41 a barrel and settling at the highest point in the
21-year-history of crude futures trading in New York.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 14, 2004 at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 13 May 2004
Calling Bullshit
According to this NY Times article, the CIA is practicing torture as official interrogation policy:
interrogation methods against a select group of high-level leaders and
operatives of Al Qaeda that have produced growing concerns inside the
agency about abuses, according to current and former counterterrorism
officials.
At least one agency employee has been disciplined for threatening a
detainee with a gun during questioning, they said. In the case of
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a high-level detainee who is believed to have
helped plan the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, C.I.A. interrogators used
graduated levels of force, including a technique known as "water
boarding," in which a prisoner is strapped down, forcibly pushed under
water and made to believe he might drown.
These techniques were authorized by a set of secret rules for the
interrogation of high-level Qaeda prisoners, none known to be housed in
Iraq, that were endorsed by the Justice Department and the C.I.A. The
rules were among the first adopted by the Bush administration after the
Sept. 11 attacks for handling detainees and may have helped establish a
new understanding throughout the government that officials would have
greater freedom to deal harshly with detainees.
Defenders of the operation said the methods stopped short of torture,
did not violate American anti-torture statutes, and were necessary to
fight a war against a nebulous enemy whose strength and intentions
could only be gleaned by extracting information from often
uncooperative detainees. Interrogators were trying to find out whether
there might be another attack planned against the United States.
The methods employed by the C.I.A. are so severe that senior officials
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have directed its agents to stay
out of many of the interviews of the high-level detainees,
counterterrorism officials said. The F.B.I. officials have advised the
bureau's director, Robert S. Mueller III, that the interrogation
techniques, which would be prohibited in criminal cases, could
compromise their agents in future criminal cases, the counterterrorism
officials said.
This piece has been getting a lot of attention, but to be honest I'm
surprised that it's even news. It's one thing to see the sadistic
escapades that have been going on in Abu Ghraib, but I was just under
the assumption that the CIA was torturing the shit out of "high level"
detainees. Was I alone in thinking this?
Back when they captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in all his bedraggled, Ron Jeremy-esque glory,
I figured that they'd whisked him off to some underground bunker
somewhere for some Marathon Man style questioning. He was one of the
many "Number Two" Al-Qaeda operatives we'd captured, and it was such a
huge accomplishment to have arrested him. There was all kinds of talk
about the time-sensitive nature of his intelligence and how every hour
was precious because Bin Laden would be changing his plans, blah blah
blah.
Now the NY Times is reporting that the worst thing we did to him was
pretend to drown him? I don't buy it for a second. If our lowliest
redneck troops were hooking electrodes up to Iraqi farmers then just
stop for a second and think about what the CIA would be doing to Al Qaeda's second in command.
"Threatening a detainee with a gun"? Please. I'm willing to bet the CIA
went medieval all over these guys and now they're worried they might be
held accountable.
I'm calling bullshit. This is a coverup in the making.
UPDATE: I just reread the article, and buried in the middle is the following paragraph:
Congressional and criminal inquiries into abuses at Pentagon-run
prisons and other detention centers in Iraq and Afghanistan may lead to
examinations of the C.I.A's handling of the Qaeda detainees. That, in
turn, could expose agency officers and operations to the same kind of
public exposure as the military now faces because of the Iraq prison
abuses.
Torture is the new black. Everybody's wearing it, but nobody wants to admit they've got a whole closet full of it.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 13, 2004 at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Six Months And Counting...
Kos brings this CBS News poll (MoE 5%) to our attention. It looks like Bush's house of cards might finally be on the verge of collapsing:
Bush is handling his job as President? Approve 44 (46)
Disapprove 49 (47)
How about the economy? Do you approve or disapprove of the way George
W. Bush is handling the economy? Approve 34 (39)
Disapprove 60 (54)
Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the
situation with Iraq? Approve 39 (41)
Disapprove 58 (52)
Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the
campaign against terrorism? Approve 51 (60)
Disapprove 39 (32)
Do you think the result of the war with Iraq was worth the loss of
American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not worth it? Worth
it 29 (33)
Not worth it 64 (58)
Time to break out the bubbly? Not quite. But this is definitely some heartening news.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 13, 2004 at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Whiskey Bar World Tour
Billmon is going to be in Jordan for
the next few days. Should be some interesting posting going on over
there, so stay tuned.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 13, 2004 at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, 12 May 2004
They're Here
Saw my first cicadas tonight. Fiona and I got home from a movie at
about 12:30AM and there were about 25 of them on our front door. A few
had just hatched out of their weird little grub shells and were sitting
there drying out, all white and red-eyed. They look creepy. It's hard
to imagine a hundred zillion of them flying around all over the place,
but from what I hear that's the way it's going to be for the next month
or so.
Fiona was totally disgusted, but the ten-year old kid in me was
secretly thrilled. I can't wait till they're everywhere.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 12, 2004 at 01:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, 11 May 2004
Word to the Wise
Why you should never put your picture on the internet.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 11, 2004 at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
News Flash: Government Employees Are Uneducated Liars
I wish I could say this is unbelievable:
agencies have bogus college degrees, including three managers at the
office that oversees nuclear weapons safety, congressional
investigators have found.
The problem is likely even bigger, mainly because the government has no
uniform way to check whether employees' alma maters are "diploma mills"
that require little, if any, academic work, the General Accounting
Office reported.
The findings by the investigative arm of Congress were to be presented
to a Senate committee Tuesday.
An earlier GAO report revealed how easy it is to buy a degree from a
diploma mill; this one shows high-level federal workers securing such
degrees at taxpayer expense. The tally was $169,471 at just two of the
schools.
The colleges in question often use names similar to those of accredited
schools and offer degrees largely on a person's "life experience." Some
simply sell degrees for a flat fee.
Among those with bogus degrees in the GAO review were three workers
with emergency operations roles and security clearances at the National
Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Department of Energy.
One of those workers paid $5,000 for a master's degree from LaSalle
University, an unaccredited school, the report said. He attended no
classes, took no tests and told the GAO his degree was "a joke."
Other senior government employees with bogus degrees worked for the
departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
Transportation and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Small Business
Administration and the Office of Personnel Management.
Under law, the federal government may only pay tuition for academic
degree training at schools sanctioned by a recognized accrediting body.
I'm currently working for the federal government, and believe me -
these people are no geniuses. I'd be impressed if they even had the
smarts to figure out how to buy a fake degree, much less earn a real
one.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 11, 2004 at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Friday, 07 May 2004
Lite Blogging
Blogging will be pretty sparse this weekend. Life intercedes.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 7, 2004 at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 06 May 2004
Just Plain Nuts
This has got to be the best name in the history of snack foods:
A few potential slogan ideas come to mind:
- "So good, everyone'll wanna pop a nut!"
- "Mmm, nut-poppingly delicious!"
- "I'd bust my balls for some Nut Poppers!"
- "Hey, quit popping my nuts! Pop your own!"
- "Nut Poppers? Hang on, I'm coming!"
- "Have YOU popped a nut today?"
- "New Planters Nut Poppers! Taste the explosion!"
Be sure to check out the official Nut Poppers site!
While you're there, visit the games section and play "Nut Vendor," in
which the object is to "sell your nuts," and Slam Dunk!, in which you
can "take it hard to the rim!"
Posted by flow Frazao on May 6, 2004 at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yes, America Can!
Actually, it's Yes, Made In Canada!
yesterday in a bus emblazoned, "Yes, America can." It turns out the bus
was made in Canada. The front of the bus bore another label: Prevost
Car, jointly owned by the Swedish Volvo Bus Corp. and Britain's Henly's
Group PLC. Prevost's manufacturing facility is in St. Claire, Que.
Foreign-made vehicles are a touchy topic in the job-strapped industrial
Midwest -- states like Michigan and Ohio. A Bush campaign spokesman
said many of the components are American-made.
C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S
Posted by flow Frazao on May 6, 2004 at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, 05 May 2004
Georgia Update: I Am Psychic
Looks like the shit has hit the fan in Georgia:
Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili has imposed direct presidential
rule in the rebel region of Ajaria. The moves came amid growing
pressure on Ajaria's leader Aslan Abashidze to accept Tbilisi's
authority or resign. The Georgian government has warned Aslan Abashidze
that he has only a few hours to step down and avoid bloodshed. Police
have joined the thousands of people in Ajaria's capital to call for his
resignation, but Mr Abashidze still has the support of private
militias.
[...]
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania was able to enter Ajaria for
talks with local officials, the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Batumi said.
Mr Zhvania had to cross on stones over a river into the territory,
because Mr Abashidze's militia blew up bridges linking Ajaria with the
rest of the country. Georgian officials have said that Ajarian forces
may have planted explosives at the region's main oil terminal in
Batumi. Earlier on Wednesday, Georgia's security council secretary,
Vano Merabishvili, said Mr Abashidze's private militia must lay down
their arms to avoid blood being spilled.
And here's the money quote:
multi-billion dollar pipeline to transport Caspian Sea oil through the
volatile region to the international market.
Boy, is that ever an understatement. Here's a little background to sum up where the "interests" lie in the Caspian region:
- The Head of Emergency Situations Department of Adjara was shot in the head by an unknown gunman on February 22.
- On
March 22, the Adjaran government arrested four men and claimed to have
uncovered a secret plot to seize the republic and it's capitol city of
Batumi - An intrinsic part of today's oil transport network is the Batumi Oil Transport Facility.
- Both Anadarko and Chevron have been "long time users" of the Batumi Oil Transport Facility in Adjara.
- Condoleeza Rice was on the Board of Directors for Chevron.
- Bush created/served as a consultant to Anadarko.
- On February 28, Colin Powell went to Georgia to offer the new president a "symbolic stamp of U.S. approval."
And of course, we've got Mr. Oil himself on the record saying:
- Dick Cheney, CEO Halliburton, Inc. 1998
I've been following this story for a while now. For a more in depth look click here, here, or here.
It kills me how predictable these people are. Every conflict, every
"insurgence", and every invasion can be easily explained by simply
following the oil. It always leads to the same place.
Click for detailed maps of Caspian oil/natural gas pipelines
UPDATE: Reports
are now coming in saying that Abashidze has resigned. Obviously this is
good news in that it would avoid more unnecessary bloodshed in the
region. We've already had quite enough of that, thanks.
UPDATE II:Now it's looking like he's NOT going to resign:
regarding his intentions to flee Adjara as “disinformation.â€
“Secretary of the Russian National Security Council Sergei Ivanov
will arrive in Batumi and we will discuss who to solve the current
crisis in Adjara,†Aslan Abashidze told Adjara TV, while thousands of
protesters are rallying in Batumi demanding his resignation. “We
should avoid bloodshed,†he added. President Saakashvili said a
shortly before the Abashidze’s comments that he asked Russian
President Putin, with whom Saakashvili talked twice on May 5, to grant
Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze political asylum after he resigns.
“Several hours are left before the final victory,†Mikheil
Saakashvili added as a hint that Abashidze is ready for resignation.
However, in his comments to the Adjara TV Aslan Abashidze showed no
sights that he intends to step down.
I'll shut up now. If there's one thing this world doesn't need any more
of it's idiotic breathless reporting. I'll leave that to Drudge.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 5, 2004 at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, 04 May 2004
From the Horse's Mouth
Riverbend is a female Iraqi blogger. There have been a lot of talking heads spewing forth about the pictures, but sometimes it's good to go straight to the source:
things as I saw them... the most prominent feeling was rage, of course.
I had this incredible desire to break something- like that would make
things somehow better or ease the anger and humiliation. We've been
hearing terrible stories about Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad for a while
now, but those pictures somehow spoke like no words could.
Seeing those naked, helpless, hooded men was like being slapped in the
face with an ice cold hand. I felt ashamed looking at them- like I was
seeing something I shouldn't be seeing and all I could think was, "I
might know one of those faceless men..." I might have passed him in the
street or worked with him. I might have bought groceries from one of
them or sat through a lecture they gave in college... any of them might
be a teacher, gas station attendant or engineer... any one of them
might be a father or grandfather... each and every one of them is a son
and possibly a brother. And people wonder at what happened in Falloojeh
a few weeks ago when those Americans were killed and dragged through
the streets...
All anyone can talk about today are those pictures... those terrible
pictures. There is so much rage and frustration. I know the dozens of
emails I'm going to get claiming that this is an 'isolated incident'
and that they are 'ashamed of the people who did this' but does it
matter? What about those people in Abu Ghraib? What about their
families and the lives that have been forever damaged by the experience
in Abu Ghraib? I know the messages that I'm going to get- the ones that
say, "But this happened under Saddam..." Like somehow, that makes what
happens now OK... like whatever was suffered in the past should make
any mass graves, detentions and torture only minor inconveniences now.
I keep thinking of M. and how she was 'lucky' indeed. And you know
what? You won't hear half of the atrocities and stories because Iraqis
are proud, indignant people and sexual abuse is not a subject anyone is
willing to come forward with. The atrocities in Abu Ghraib and other
places will be hidden away and buried under all the other dirt the
occupation brought with it...
It's beyond depressing and humiliating... my blood boils at the thought
of what must be happening to the female prisoners. To see those smiling
soldiers with the Iraqi prisoners is horrible. I hope they are made to
suffer... somehow I know they won't be punished. They'll be discharged
from the army, at best, and made to go back home and join families and
cronies who will drink to the pictures and the way "America's finest"
treated those "Dumb I-raki terrorists". That horrible excuse of a
human, Janis Karpinski, will then write a book about how her father
molested her as a child and her mother drank herself into an early
death- that's why she did what she did in Abu Ghraib. It makes me sick.
Where is the Governing Council? Where are they hiding now?
I want something done about it and I want it done publicly. I want
those horrible soldiers who were responsible for this to be publicly
punished and humiliated. I want them to be condemned and identified as
the horrible people they are. I want their children and their
children's children to carry on the story of what was done for a long
time- as long as those prisoners will carry along with them the
humiliation and pain of what was done and as long as the memory of
those pictures remains in Iraqi hearts and minds...
Read more here.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 4, 2004 at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
So, Uh, What're You Saying?
Take a look at this chart.
Notice a pattern?
Posted by flow Frazao on May 4, 2004 at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, 03 May 2004
Can You Hear Me Now Part II
I know it's hard to imagine, but if you should ever happen to notice
our media acting irresponsibly feel free to give them a call.
Here are the numbers, followed by the extensions required to reach the
comment line. For extensions not listed, you have to ask the human to
leave a comment.
CBSNews - 212-975-4321
CNN - 404-827-0234 ... #, 1
FoxNews - 888-369-4762 ... 7, 1
MSNBC - 201-583-5000
NBCNews - 201-583-5222
Posted by flow Frazao on May 3, 2004 at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
News From Tip of the Iceberg
Veteran journalist Sy Hersh was being interviewed by veteran media whore Wolf Blitzer yesterday. Here's an excerpt of the transcript:
remember you broke the story of the My Lai massacre. You won a Pulitzer
Prize for your coverage during the Vietnam War.
Give us your historic perspective, what you saw, what you reported in
Vietnam, and what you're reporting now in The New Yorker magazine.
HERSH: Oh, there's no -- we're talking about in My Lai shooting people
in cold blood. We're not -- that did not happen.
BLITZER: As far as you know, no one was killed at Abu Ghraib, is that
what you're saying? HERSH: No, that's not true. There were people
killed, yes, but not by the soldiers, not by the reservists. There were
people killed -- I can tell you specifically about one case. One of the
horrible photos is a man packed in ice. You want to hear it? I'll tell
it to you.
They killed him -- either civilians, the private guards, or the CIA or
the military killed him during an interrogation. They were worried
about it. They packed him in ice. They killed him in evening. They
packed him in ice for 24 hours, put him in a body bag, and eventually
at a certain time -- don't forget, now, the prison has a lot of other
Army units about it, and they didn't want to be seen with a dead body.
So they packed him in ice until it was the appropriate time. They put
him on a trolley, like a hospital gurney, and they put a fake IV into
him, and they walked out as if he was getting an IV. Walked him out,
got him in an ambulance, drove him off, dumped the body somewhere. That
literally happened. That's one of the things I know about I haven't
written about, but I'm telling you, that's where you're at. There was
bloodshed on the other side of the... BLITZER: We heard from Dan Senor
earlier in this program, suggesting he said he didn't know of anyone
who died at Abu Ghraib prison. HERSH: I have some photographs I'll be
glad to share with him anytime he wants to know.
I have a feeling this particular rabbit hole goes far deeper than we're
being led to believe. This is extraordinarily ugly stuff and it happens
to be coming out at what might be the worst possible time in terms of
Arab sentiment towards the US. I don't know if there's any way we're
going to be able to recover from the damage that's already been done,
let alone recover from any additional atrocities that seem to be
simmering near the surface.
And by this point it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) - the
Bush Administration has absolutely no idea how to handle this. They are
even more clueless now than they were one year ago.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 3, 2004 at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Can You Hear Me Now?
Just in case things aren't clear:
without one-time gains. ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. refiner and
the third-largest U.S. oil company, on Wednesday reported profit of
$1.62 billion, also a record.
And finally:
For financially pressed consumers, it's coming down to a choice between spending on gasoline or groceries,
and gasoline is winning, a food industry analysis finds.
[...]
Gasoline prices have been soaring: about 35 cents a gallon since
December, driven by surging crude oil prices, according to gasoline
industry analyst Trilby Lundberg. The food industry report said the
fuel price increases are tightening the pressure on personal budgets
that already were squeezed hard by credit card bills.
"...and gasoline is winning." Truer words hath ne'er been spoke.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 3, 2004 at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Buffett Joins Kerry Campaign as Economic Advisor
Here's an interesting bit of news:
person, said on Sunday he had joined Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry's economic advisory team.
Buffett has long been a critic of the tax policies of the Bush
administration, which he believes favor the wealthy and big
corporations over the middle class. [...]
Buffett, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $42.9 billion, said
he was not likely to have much contact with Kerry and expected to play
a limited role.
He said that he believed the election would be more about Bush than
about Kerry. "I personally think our election will be a referendum on
George W. Bush," Buffett said. "The Kerry campaign is much less
important than how people feel about Bush." Buffett's support of Kerry
is the second time in the past year he has entered the political fray.
Though a Democrat, Buffett was an economic advisor to Arnold
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, in his successful bid to become governor
of California.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 3, 2004 at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, 02 May 2004
You're Fired
If only it were this easy.
(thanks to Ruth for the link)
Posted by flow Frazao on May 2, 2004 at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack