Must read IMHO

No, this is a MUST, must read.

Don't forget Katrina

Jesus H Christ with balloons, will these peeps ever get a fucking break?

You might be a winner by losing

Wanna win Lotto? Why?

"Winning the lottery isn't always what it's cracked up to be," says Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery not just once but twice (1985, 1986) to the tune of $5.4 million. Today, the money is gone and Adams lives in a trailer.

"I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It's called rock bottom," says Adams. "Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out. I never learned one simple word in the English language -- 'No.' I wish I had the chance to do it all over again. I'd be much smarter about it now," says Adams, who also lost money at the slot machines in Atlantic City.

"I was a big time gambler," admits Adams. "I didn't drop a million dollars, but it was a lot of money. I made mistakes, some I regret, some I don't. I'm human. I can't go back now so I just go forward, one step at a time."

Inspired by Bloggasm.

Hey, I steal, glean, find inspiration from the best.

(read more)

Blessed are the addicted.

(via Jesus' General)

I was doing some research on the economy, and I discovered something interesting. Of all the items listed below, the price of only one item has gone way down since Bush took office. Everything else has become much more expensive.

Dozen eggs
Gallon of Gasoline
Health Care
Gallon of Milk
Ear of corn
8-ball of cocaine
College Tuition
Loaf of bread

That one thing is cocaine.

H/T Bits and Pieces.

How smart am you

Personally, I doubt such tests because they show me to be dumber than I really am, but its a hoot anyway.

Consider "Bet you aren't as smart as me." should read "Bet you aren't as smart as I."

Case closed.

Whoa!

I step away for a few minutes and...

20,025 visits!

Thank you to all who visit my humble site. You're so blessed. Or am I. Whatever.

Sorry, being an only child isn't ideal

To hell with that. Being the oldest has its pitfalls too. Middle child is preferable.

If you were an only child growing up, you did not have an ideal situation. You would have been better off with 1.5 siblings.

(read more)

Must read IMHO

First the bad news:

The FBI And Graduate Students Working Late

Then the good news:

Some Good News

Ah, fair and balanced. Muahahaha.

Finally!!1!!

Jesus H Christ on asthma meds, I can finally sleep. Paris is free!

If you're not confused, you aren't paying attention

Headline:

Study shows that journalists are “more assertive, more adversarial, and more demanding”

The next fucking headline at the same website:

How journalists mindlessly repeat claims from government officials

Hey, the blogger is just trying to show you what's going on. I lay no blame.

I would laugh if it weren't so fucking pitiful.

More cat blogging

Hehehe.

(via Bits and Pieces)

Early cat blogging

Or perhaps cat food blogging.

(via Jonco)

Must read IMHO

IIIIIIIII!!!1!!

Must read IMHO

More lazy ass blogging.

Take some time to read "Anything They Say"

It'll do you good.

And if you get ill, don't blame me.

Must read IMHO

This is just too funny even though it wasn't intended to be. I think.

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Must read IMHO

I never steer you wrong.

Or don't think I do.

Gotta love the internets tubes

I just got a hit from Chile which is 10,164 miles (16.357 km) away.

No one so far away has ever considered my opinions before. Ya gotta love it.

Hey, the picture is a joke. K?

Doctors' disclosure wastes patients' time

OK, I'll try my best to be civil about this, but I hold out little hope.

Doctors are more likely to be wasting patients' valuable time when they want to make their patients more at ease by chatting, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine Wednesday.

My personal opinion is a doctor should spend more time "chatting" than giving me medical information.

Chatting with me means the doctor is interested in me as a human being. If I'm just a fucking cypher, the doctor will give me medical advice and send me out the door.

In other words, THE DOCTOR IS NOT WASTING MY VALUABLE TIME. Got it?

(read more)

For your entertainment

No words needed except to say its sunset Over the Pacific, as Seen from Space.

This is a fucking rant and I strongly suggest you not read it

Just had to get this shit out of my system.

I type something or click something. With no indication the fucking PC is doing anything, I wait and wait and wait.

Perhaps 5 minutes later, the damn window will open...or not.

I have no clue.

There's no way I can click on YouTube or any other fucking video site. Even Flickr takes two forevers to load.

Do you feel my pain? I'm a troglodyte in a web 2.0 fucking world.

Even this entry took more than five minutes to post.

ARGHHH!!!1!!

Up is down and down is up or vise versa

Oil today, water tomorrow.

Angry youths torched petrol stations and long queues formed at fuel pumps after oil-rich Iran announced the start of fuel rationing, triggering nationwide protests on Wednesday.

"Several stations were damaged by agitators," state radio reported, as angry drivers joining long lines for fuel clashed with police after the surprise announcement that the rationing would take effect from midnight Tuesday.

Shouting "(President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad must be killed," stone-throwing demonstrators set ablaze a car and petrol pumps at a service station in the Pounak residential area of northwestern Tehran late on Tuesday.

Rationing oil in a country which is the 4th leading producer of oil? How bizarre.

My head is about to explode.

(read more)

Can't pass up any reference to spiders, spyders

Oh my, but this is fantastic. I want one.

Its really a Toyota MR2.

And it sure beats the hell out of this:




I keep hinting and hinting and no one ever buys these things for me. How about a laptop?

I have no shame.

(read more)

This is fucking awsome

Do I use variants of "fuck" too often?

Tough shit! Hey, I have a parental advisory alert.

Check out these mini-homes.

Face it, you don't need that much room. Its just space to keep your stuff and until its filled you buy more stuff.

Tribal Forces Advancing on Abu Ghraib

This story confuses me which isn't all that difficult.

"Advancing on Abu Ahraib?" Then the fucking story delves into gas and curfews? What the fuck?

US-backed tribal forces fighting Sunni militant groups around the Falluja area are advancing eastward towards the Abu Ghraib area, as a month-long curfew in the city and attacks on the communications infrastructure in the city have left most residents unable to operate their automobiles or telephones.

Being the lazy ass blogger I am, I leave it to you to sort out.

It just seems Abu Ghraib and tribal forces are the story here and not curfews. Either the story is one thing and the headline another or the other way around.

Coming Alice.

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Extremist Group Claims Mansour Hotel Attack

File under "a really stupid headline".

What's the fucking alternative?

"Harmless, middle of the road passive group attacks hotel?"

OF COURSE THEY WERE EXTREMISTS! That's the only people who blow up things. Think Bush.

Sorry, but I got carried away there. All is calm now.

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Choose your addiction

I just wish to fucking hell Blue Gal had warned me before I chose panties. Argh!!!1!!

(pic via Blue Gal)

When idiots rule (not political, SFW)

The truth is, Jonco keeps me sane. Its all about balance, right?

(via Jonco)

Ain't it the truth

In case your eyes are old and tired like mine, it reads:

EVENING NEWS IS WHERE THEY BEGIN WITH 'GOOD EVENING' AND THEN PROCEED TO TELL YOU WHY IT ISN'T.

(via Jonco)

Must read IMHO

I told you I admire the Anonymous Liberal.

That doesn't mean I'm above taking cheap shots at him(?) or anyone else, but I'm just saying...

Oh yeah, the "must read" is the "Anonymous Liberal" link. The "admire" link takes you to something completely different. Capiche?

And if you don't like the "Y" in the road picture above we have others. How about a fork in the road? Now that is completely different.

OK, I'll weigh in on this fucking kabuki dance

Cheney has always run the government. To think otherwise is foolish.

In removing himself and his office from both branches when convenient, Cheney has, wrote Dana Milbank in today's Washington Post, "declared himself to be neither fish nor fowl but an exotic, extraconstitutional beast who answers to no one," which is another way of saying he's the first sitting vice president to put himself above the law since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton and got away with it.

But come to think of it, Cheney did that too.

As the occupant of both or neither branches, Cheney seems to prefer the executive when it comes to trappings of office. Milbank noted that on Monday, Cheney made the short trip from the White House to the Capitol "escorted by eight police motorcycles, three police cruisers, two armored limousines and five SUVs and minivans packed with aides and armed Secret Service agents."

Life is good in the Cheney branch of government.

I've posted about this before, the fact a non-elected asshole makes decisions for you in the Cheney administration, but can't find the fucking post. If you can, please let me know.

UPDATE: I'm nothing if not anal and I finally found the "fucking post" referenced above and its here.

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I believe

There are three people/agencies I believe in:

Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
GAO (Government Accounting Office)

These three are keeping our republic from totally disintegrating.

If not for them, chaos would ensue, IMHO.

I ♥ Waxman

Well, not really, but the guy has balls the size of Jupiter.

House Government and Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) has shot another flaming arrow at the White House, this time accusing the White House of being careless in its handling of classified material and ignoring flagrant breaches of security. “There is evidence that both the White House and the Office of the Vice President have flaunted multiple requirements for protecting classified information,” wrote Waxman in a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding. The letter is the latest move in Waxman’s escalating investigation of Vice President Cheney’s handling of classified documents.

Waxman said he has been contacted by “current and former White House security personnel” who say they were ignored when they reported breaches, such as “a report that a White House official left classified materials unattended in a hotel room” or reports that “White House officials left classified information on their desks”, says the letter. The security officials were prevented from “conducting unannounced inspections of the West Wing”, such as those allowed by previous administrations, wrote Waxman, who called White House security practices “dangerously inadequate.

If only the rest of the Dems would grow a pair. Nancy Pelosi excluded, of course, but it's up to her and other women in congress.

Yes that's a pic of Jupiter.

(read more)

You know more than I

This is totally, dude, out of left field, but bear with me if you will.

And why is my use of "bear" the 10th definition at Dictionary.com?

I digress.

For most of my life I've had the uneasy feeling I was 'out of the loop". The kewl kids knew things I didn't. Congress critters knew things I didn't which is why they would often legislate what to me seemed fucking stupid laws.

Just when I thought I had a handle on things I run into this shit:

The Gates Inheritance will be posted in three parts this week and, long as it is, it's actually a marvel of compression, packing into a relatively modest space an epic history of mayhem none of us should avoid -- a grim history that led to September 11th, 2001 and now leads us into an unknown, increasingly perilous future.

And this:

US media outlets have recently been demonstrating an increasingly unwholesome affinity for delivering a GOP-centric message to the American public. And, in some cases, rabidly so. Back in September, coyly timed just before the November elections, Disney/ABC squirted out the excreable partisan hack-job, The Path to 9/11, which blamed 9/11 on Clinton and ignored the mendacious stylings of the Bush administration in steering clear of the vast spectrum of warnings of impending attack.

Years ago, many, I read The Invisible Government which outlined the clandestine activities of the US. My X and I had heated debates about it. I believed it and she didn't. Then came the Bay of Pigs...

At this stage I'm pretty sure all of us are out of the loop. We know much more now than we have, but we know little.

Feeling foolish? I know I am. But we have to keep looking and searching for the "real" truth.

(read more)

Cheney BAE scandal ignored by American media

Ah ha, but not by SPIIDERWEB™. Little gets by us. Hahaha.

Explosive revelations that Vice-President Dick Cheney was behind the failed effort to cover up an $80 to $100 billion dollar slush fund run through the British defense firm BAE Systems, as reported several days ago by the Executive Intellegence Review and Mathaba News Agency, have been totally ignored by the mainstream media.

Instead, the American media establishment has been agog over a series of articles in the Washington Post claiming that Cheney has overstepped the boundaries of his office of Vice-President and behaves in an importunate manner to the President, George W Bush.

This type of deflection has become common during the Bush Presidency. A story detailing how the British Government set up a long-term agreement with the Saudi Arabian monarchy where defense systems and fighter jets were bartered for vast quantities of oil, which most of the profits from were turned into a slush fund used for gun-running and covert operations, aided and abetted by the U.S. government and Cheney, is more important to the public than four-year-old allegations about how Cheney supposedly manipulates Bush.

(unintentionally stolen from Mathaba)

Hey, it was a short post and all pertinent. Shoot me now.

What a maroon!

Uh, it can get embarrassing when the synapses fail you. Couldn't happen to a nicer idiot.

You know, I've heard all the rhetoric -- you've heard it, too -- about how this is amnesty. Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally, and this bill does that."

-- George "the idiot" Bush
Temporary US president

President Bush, quoted by ABC News, suggesting the immigration bill does provide amnesty after months of claiming otherwise. The apparent slip of the tongue comes with a key Senate vote on the issue later today. [emphasis mine]

The pic is of synapses. Pretty kewl, huh? How the hell do they photograph such things?

H/T Teagan Goddard.

U.S. Congress: saying "eliminated from the pages of history" is genocide

In my opinion, Alice Through the Looking Glass had it easy. The world's gone completely bat shit crazy and I just can't cope.

A few days ago, ever vigilant to show its obeisance to Israel, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to urge the United Nations to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with genocide because of his statement that Israel will be "eliminated from the pages of history," naturally claimed by Congress to have been a call "for the destruction of the State of Israel." This despite Ahmadinejad's very clear statement that the "wiping out" he was referring to is precisely the kind of "wiping out" that happened to the Soviet Union, and has nothing to do with "a fight between Judaism and other religions."

Only two members of the House voted against the resolution, Republican Ron Paul and Democrat Dennis Kucinich. A handful of others voted "present" or didn't vote. All the rest voted for this absurd resolution.

Thank you to Left I on the News from whom I stole this post in its entirety.

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Foreign Nationals Hired For 2 Calif. GOP Posts

A slight variation on the "guest worker" program?

The California Republican Party is having a tough time with immigrants -- but not because of the usual debates over Mexican border crossers. For the nation's largest state GOP, the troubles hit closer to home.

First the party was forced to admit it had hired a Canadian citizen with no political experience to be its new political director, under the H-1B visa program -- a program that grants temporary visas. Now revelations have surfaced that the party's chief operating officer, an Australian citizen, was ordered deported in 2001, spent one month in jail and then filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging wrongful arrest. The officer resigned on Sunday.

Absolutely nothing about the GOP surprises me. At least not up 'till now.

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Tagging is not my thing, but...

I'll try it this time. The only other time I tried it was a disaster.

1. All right, here are the rules.

2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

4. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I feel uncomfortable tagging others, so you're not obligated to participate. Duh! If you decide to pick up this tag, please leave a comment on this post so others can read about you. Thank you.

My "facts":

1. I absolutely hate my father.

2. My friends often introduce me to others with something like, "This is probably the nicest person you'll ever meet." Which I find both amusing and inaccurate.

3. When 17, I managed a rock band. Inevitably at practices I'd be offered cigarettes which I declined because they made me cough. So I decided to steal some of my father's unfiltered Camels and smoke in the basement until I could tolerate cigs. HUGE mistake. Been hooked ever since.

4. Have never met a hooker or gay/lesbian person I didn't like. Maybe its just coincidental.

5. My son, over the phone, was telling me where to find something in my living-room. He said, "Its right there on the shelving next to the gorilla head."

6. I know a little about almost everything and a lot about nothing.

7. Can't stand to have my nose touched.

8. It wouldn't be a problem for me to live the rest of my life on only tuna dishes or sandwiches, pepperoni pizza, lasagna and Diet Pepsi®. But I do eat vegetables too.

(via Eli)

2008 SelectSmart.com Presidential Candidate Selector

You had to know this was coming. In this "tech savvy" age, why think? Just click a few times with teh ol' mouse and ya got yourself a candidate. Its 'bout time too.

My top 10:



(candidate selector)

(via Jonco)

Abu Graib for orphans

I've been reading about this situation and, after seeing the above picture, smell something fishy.

That room looks clean. There seem to be beds for all the children. Why are they naked on the floor? Does that make any fucking sense to you? Does it make sense such a picture might be staged? For what purpose? Are all Iraqis animals?

I just don't get it, but I also just don't buy it.

(read more)

EarthTalk: Is Fluoride in Water Beneficial for Dental Health

Ah, the debate that will not die, along with aluminum cookware, microwaves and other such debates.

Dear EarthTalk: Why do some people complain about fluoride in drinking water and toothpaste? I thought it was beneficial for dental health? -- Becky Johnston, Shoreline, WA

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Wish to hell this were all true

But I seriously doubt it's all so rosy.

CENTCOM.

I'm not perfect, but...

This is a fucking publication with many more resources than moi:

So after a ten-year wait, Chancellor Gordon Brown will finally become Prime Minister on Wednesday, pledging to restore the British public’s trust in the government. [emphasis mine]

They have no apostrophes over there? Possessive is possessive. No apostrophe is not possessive.

Yes, I'm anal. And while I'm at it, why does "possessive" need so many fucking "Ss"? Maybe I SMS too much? Nah.

im sur sms isnt the prob. its jst thr lak of atntn 2 detail. lol

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Yeah, we want Rudy to lead the free world...NOT!

He's a poser just like the idiot-in-chief now in office.

Former Environmental Protection Agency boss Christie Whitman says she urged Ground Zero workers to wear respirators, but then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani blocked her efforts.

She also said city officials didn’t want EPA workers wearing haz-mat suits because they “didn’t want this image of a city falling apart.”

In an interview scheduled to run the day before Whitman testifies in front of Congress on Monday, she told WNBC-TV she warned the city of the risks almost every day.

And she said she believes illnesses killing first responders can be blamed on the city’s lack of action.

I've read before Rudy wanted the people in haz-mat suits to change in a tent before entering the area to avoid public panic. That seemed reasonable to me, but the rest of this is pure bullshit.

via True Blue Liberal.

This is teh funny

I don't buy this for one fucking second and neither will anyone else:

"I'm LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game."

-- Sen. Barack Obama, quoted in the new book Obama: From Promise to Power by David Mendell, likening himself as NBA star LeBron James as he walked around the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Obama is soooooo fucking street. Hahaha.

Shamelessly stolen from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, but I do admit it.

I'm OK?

No lawsuits?

How to parent

Via Overheard in New York:

Four-year-old girl: Jose!
Latino dad: Stop callin' me jose! What's my name?!
Four-year-old girl: Jose!
Latino dad: If you don't stop callin' me Jose I'ma stick my foot up yo' ass, you hear? I ain't no Jose, I'm Daddy!

OMFG!!!1!!

Stop and smell the roses? Forget that shit. Just take a look at the pic. The aurora Australis viewed from space.

Awsome.

OK, I admit it. I'm a sucker for aurora pix. Shoot me.

(via neatorama)

Must read IMHO

The headline:

Get Ready For It..The Bad News

By this late date we should know the fix is in when the White House's top factotums fan out on the Sunday morning talk shows singing the same lyrics, often verbatim, from the same hymnal of spin. The pattern was set way back on Sept. 8, 2002, when in simultaneous appearances three cabinet members and the vice president warned darkly of Saddam's aluminum tubes. "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," said Condi Rice, in a scripted line. The hard sell of the war in Iraq - the hyping of a (fictional) nuclear threat to America - had officially begun.

Yes I realize, I'm just warming up leftovers, but it never hurts to remind US all how often we're offered hope only to catch the administration fucking us again.

You can believe a crack fiend more than you can believe anyone connected to Bush in any capacity. If you think September will bring flowers and candy, you're a fucking idiot.

The pic above is a flower and candy cake. Custom made actually. But this is what we'll see in September:




Sometimes its a PITA to be a cynic.

(read more)

Chief of Baghdad Children's Hospital Killed

I post and cry.

Iraqi Police said that unknown gunmen killed the director of the Children's Hospital in the Mansour area of Baghdad today.

A police source told the Independent News (Voices of Iraq) that "assassins killed Dr Ahmad Shehab, director of the Central Children Hospital, in an armed attack in Al-Mansour" located west of the capital.

...

The ministry reports that of the 34,000 Iraqi doctors, more than half have fled the country or taken refuge in Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

I tagged with Ahmad Shehab lest his name be forgotten.

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The Man Behind the Curtain

I have to start by saying I really admire The Anonymous Liberal. Every time I log on to the internets tubes I check his(?) posts. But I have no idea why this post. This is a cat chases mouse post because it is merely stating what all of us who are "in the know" have always realized.

Bush is a fucking idiot and Cheney runs the government. It is now as it has ever been.

If you haven't yet read the first two installments (1, 2) of the Washington Post's four part series on Dick Cheney's role in the Bush administration, go read them now. They're incredible. Barton Gellman and Jo Becker do an excellent job telling the behind-the-scenes story of how the Bush administration's various terrorism-related policies came into being. The articles confirm much of what has been suspected about Cheney's role and fill in many of the gaps. It's riveting stuff, and deeply disturbing.

OK, I can't help myself.

To be stereotyping, all attorneys who blog, and this includes AL and the rest, they can't seem to say something quickly. Gawd I have trouble reading line after line and screen after screen as they make their point, often several times.

I often refer to this:

Give me liberty or give me death. An attorney would use 200+ words to say that.

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The Great Biofuel Hoax

We're destroying millions of acres of these daily


so we can feed this

Being as magnanimous as I am, I'll link to this article even though the author doesn't reference my posts about this.

The bastard! It can't be because Eric doesn't read SPIIDERWEB™, ya think?

Biofuels invoke an image of renewable abundance that allows industry, politicians, the World Bank, the United Nations and even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to present fuel from corn, sugarcane, soy and other crops as a replacement for oil that will bring about a smooth transition to a renewablefuel economy.

Myths of abundance divert attention from powerful economic interests that benefit from this biofuels transition, avoiding discussion of the growing price that citizens of the global South are beginning to pay to maintain the consumptive oil-based lifestyle of the North. Biofuel mania obscures the profound consequences of the industrial transformation of our food and fuel systems -- the agro-fuels transition.

Seriously, this isn't the silver bullet to end the world's need for oil. It has absolutely devastating consequences, but not to "the people who matter". At least not yet.

Jesus H Christ in a marathon, when will intelligence and science dictate what we do instead of fucking politics? Pipe dream? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is.

(read more)

Despite Large Majorities, Democrats Are Chicken on Gun Control (NSFW)

Come on. This is pure bullshit. The Democrats are chicken shit on everything. Face it and live with it.

I've posted before I'm no advocate of gun control. Guns have always been part of my life from an early age and they can be controlled by those who own them.

But this is an issue many Americans have a problem with and the Dems don't give a shit.

This is supposed to be a republic controlled by the People. Even if I don't agree, the People should rule. The Dems are like the Repugs in not caring what the People want.

So sad.

(read more)

I know the world is trying to confuse me, but...

I have AlertNet in my RSS reader, but sometimes it changes to AlterNet. Is this some kind of al-Qaeda plot? Am I being hacked?

If I save an article as "unread" under AlertNet, its gone when the site shows up as AlterNet.

Arghhh!!!1!! I need more and stronger meds.

I'm more normal than I thought

My "Geekyness" score:

And here I thought I'm totally a geek/nerd.

OK, I admit I am, but just not in a "computer" sense. I lean toward nerd.

Do you love lightning?

I do. My youngest and I would sit up for hours watching lighting at night. Mother Nature is awesome.

Go here.

(via Jonco)

Must read IMHO

Because Christopher is THERE.

An explosion has killed or injured at least four Spanish members of UNIFIL and wounded several others, although reports trickling in are contradictory and confusing. UNIFIL spokespeople are currently not answering phones — or the lines are busy. (The linked article says four Spanish soldiers were killed and four others wounded, but other stories give differing accounts.)

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When the internets tubes go bad

Someone found SPIIDERWEB™ by searching ASK.com®:

average time to get pregnant at

Ignoring the grammar, what the fuck?

I'm not, don't expect to be and am incapable of being preggers. Nor do I think I have anything much to add to a discussion on the subject.

So how in hell did they find me with such a search?

Its a conspiracy, right? I mean they'll next find me with a search for jelly fish donuts? You know, the kind with the jelly fish fillings?

I'd better hide.

Electric Mini fitted with 'thinking' wheels

2007 Mini Cooper (gas powered)

I post about such breakthroughs in the hope some of them will make it to market at a reasonable price. This one's looking good as far as performance and mileage go.

There's no mention of price in the article.

Wheels that “think” are being added to an electric Mini with blistering performance developed by British engineers.

The “smart” wheels sense road conditions and modify the car’s performance accordingly.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will allow the wheels to communicate with each other and “learn” from experience as the car is driven.

The Mini Cooper, an early version of which was exhibited at last year’s British Motor Show, is powered by four wheel-mounted electric motors that together generate 640 brake horsepower.

As a result, the electric car performs more like a Ferrari than a milk float, with a top speed of 150 mph and the ability to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds.

A small 250cc petrol engine charges the car’s battery while it is being driven, giving it a range of 900 miles and fuel consumption of 80 to 100 miles to the gallon.

(read more)

Hamas: Fatah foiling Johnston release

Kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston
Photo: AP

This stinks to high heaven. I hate it when people play politics with innocent people, even when its only one.

Fatah leaders have been urging the captors of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston to hold on to him to avoid a situation where Hamas would take credit for his release, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said Saturday.

"Hamas is making a big effort to release the British journalist," Abu Zuhri told the Quds Press news agency. "But some Fatah leaders in Ramallah have been phoning the captors to ask them not to release him." He said Hamas had evidence that the Fatah leaders were trying to hinder Johnston's release. "They don't want Hamas to take credit for his release," he added.

Although the Hamas spokesman did not name the Fatah leaders, sources close to Hamas claimed that top Fatah operative Muhammad Dahlan, who is currently living in Ramallah, was one of them.

(read more)

China called to account for bad imports

If the Chinese government knows what's good for China, it'll crack down on dangerous or low quality exports. In the long run it will be costly for their economy, much more costly than putting in place proper controls and inspections.

China has become a top exporter of tainted and dangerous products to the United States.

Reports are flooding in from consumers, causing regulators to become very concerned.

There have already been reports of of tainted pet foods, dangerous toys, fake drugs, poison-coated fish and cosmetics, drug-laced frozen eel, illicit pesticide-laden mushrooms and other products that have led to bans.

Pet owners were horrified to learn their pets had been subjected to melamine spiked pet food. Melamine is a chemical used in fertilisers.

Chinese toothpaste has also been blacklisted, after fears it could contain potentially deadly chemicals.

Last week saw the recall of popular toys, manufactured in China, coated with potentially poisonous lead paint.

China, which exports about two billion dollars each year in food products to the United States, is a top violator of American food safety standards, according to US authorities.

(read more)

Will BAE Scandal of Century Bring Down Cheney?

Sometimes the perfect picture

With the U.S. Department of Justice now confirmed to be investigating money laundering and bribery by the British aerospace giant, BAE Systems, Congress and the American people must make certain that the investigation does not turn into one more Bush-Cheney-Gonzales coverup. The issue on the table is far bigger than the alleged $2 billion in bribes that BAE Systems paid out to former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, through the now defunct Washington, D.C. based Riggs Bank. As Executive Intelligence Review revealed in a stunning expose appearing in the June 22, 2007 edition ("Scandal of the Century Rocks British Crown and the City"), at least $80 billion in unaccounted for loot has been generated by the Al-Yamamah oil-for-jet fighters barter deal, since it was first signed in Sept. 1985.

While British news organizations, led by The Guardian and BBC have published revealing details of BAE bribery and slush funds, involving Prince Bandar, former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and the late Dutch Royal Consort, Prince Bernhard, none of the British media have touched upon the full magnitude of the scandal--the approximately $160 billion in secret oil revenues, generated by the BAE-Saudi Al-Yamamah deal, over the past 22 years (see accompanying chart for the year-by-year cash value of the Saudi oil shipments to BAE, through British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell and the British government's Defence Export Sales Organization).

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Washington sources have reported to EIR that the Al-Yamamah revelations have sent shock-waves through the City of London. According to one senior U.S. intelligence source, who spoke to EIR on condition of anonymity, "the Al-Yamamah story opens a window into the inner world of Anglo-Dutch financial power. While Al-Yamamah is not the only such off-budget arrangement, it is one of the largest, and it provides a clear picture of a mode of operation--totally outside the control of any government agency, especially the U.S. government. Ultimately, this is a London scandal, not a Riyadh scandal."

One consequence of those shock waves is that Vice President Dick Cheney, according to knowledgeable Washington insiders, is in deep trouble with his London friends. Cheney, the sources report, was the guarantor that the story of the $80-100 billion dollar fund would never see the light of day. And, while the American and British establishment press have attempted to bury the scandal, either through blacking it our altogether, or focusing attention on tertiary features, like the relatively small flow of cash into Prince Bandar, the EIR revelations have saturated the U.S. Congress and have been picked up around the world.

The next chapter is now being written in the scandal of the century, and that could mean the political doom of Dick Cheney. Ironically, it could come at the hands of his own political boosters in the City of London, rather than from Congressional Democrats, who remain divided on the issue of Cheney's impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. Ultimately, the real powers behind the throne in London have very low tolerance for failure.

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70 reasons to doubt...

Something to engage your imagination.

DISTURBING FACTS ABOUT THE 9/11 ATTACKS

Here are a couple of examples:

1. The president of the United States, when informed that a second plane had struck the World Trade Center, continued to read about a pet goat.

2. This same president was moved from his high rise hotel in Genoa Italy two months previously for security reasons, because of a known al Qaeda plot for hijacking and "crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations." The assumption in July 2001 was that there existed a plot that "terrorists would try to crash a plane to kill Bush and other leaders" (LA Times, 9-27-01).

3. The Secret Service did not secure the president, even though his location was publicly disclosed in the press for days before the school photo op on 9/11. This was a break in standard operating procedures that left the president vulnerable in the middle of a purported "attack" on America.

And you get 67 more reasons at no extra cost. Yes, it calls for a tinfoil hat, but it looks so good on you.

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