Experts: Burning Biofuels May Be Worse Than Coal and Oil

Palm oil plantation - Malaysia

Some more scientists weigh in. I just hope it isn't too late.

Using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, according to experts. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland.

The problems of climate change and the rising cost of oil have led to a race to develop environmentally-friendly biofuels, such as palm oil or ethanol derived from corn and sugar cane. The EU has proposed that 10% of all fuel used in transport should come from biofuels by 2020 and the emerging global market is expected to be worth billions of dollars a year.

But the new fuels have attracted controversy. “Regardless of how effective sugar cane is for producing ethanol, its benefits quickly diminish if carbon-rich tropical forests are being razed to make the sugar cane fields, thereby causing vast greenhouse-gas emission increases,” Jörn Scharlemann and William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, write in Science today.

“Such comparisons become even more lopsided if the full environmental benefits of tropical forests - for example, for biodiversity conservation, hydrological functioning, and soil protection - are included.”

Efforts to work out which crops are most environmentally friendly have, until now, focused only on the amount of greenhouse gases a fuel emits when it is burned. Scharlemann and Laurance highlighted a more comprehensive method, developed by Rainer Zah of the Empa Research Institute in Switzerland, that can take total environmental impacts - such as loss of forests and farmland and effects on biodiversity - into account.

In a study of 26 biofuels the Swiss method showed that 21 fuels reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 30% compared with gasoline when burned. But almost half of the biofuels, a total of 12, had greater total environmental impacts than fossil fuels. These included economically-significant fuels such as US corn ethanol, Brazilian sugar cane ethanol and soy diesel, and Malaysian palm-oil diesel. Biofuels that fared best were those produced from waste products such as recycled cooking oil, as well as ethanol from grass or wood.

I'm afraid I've been visiting this subject often, but its something that can be stopped if people learn about the topic.

If more money can be made selling palm oil for biofuels, forests get cut down for larger and larger plantations. Meanwhile, there's a shortage of palm oil for cooking.

You can search for "biofuel" or "bio-fuel" on the right sidebar. I apologize beforehand, some of the results don't go to specific posts, but to pages containing a biofuel post. Those links are a fucking PITA (pain in the ass) because there are so many posts per page.

Via Mathaba.

Thinking for yourself is now [soon to become] a crime

Bring on the jack boots and brown shirts. Some more fucking freedoms are being trashed in the US.

When HR 1955 becomes law, it will create a commission tasked with identifying extremist people, groups, and ideas. The commission will hold hearings around the country, taking testimony and compiling a list of dangerous people and beliefs. [...] We are beginning to see who will be the inmates of the detention centers being built in the US by Halliburton under government contract.

Extinguishing Liberty's Light and Independent Views

What was the greatest failure of 2007? President Bush's "surge" in Iraq? The decline in the value of the US dollar? Subprime mortgages? No. The greatest failure of 2007 was the newly sworn in Democratic Congress.

The American people's attempt in November 2006 to rein in a rogue government, which has committed the US to costly military adventures while running roughshod over the US Constitution, failed. Replacing Republicans with Democrats in the House and Senate has made no difference.

The assault on the US Constitution by the Democratic Party is as determined as the assault by the Republicans. On October 23, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by California Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman, chairwoman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, that overturns the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free expression, association, and assembly.

The bill passed the House on a vote of 404-6. In the Senate the bill is sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins and apparently faces no meaningful opposition [emphasis in original].

Are you gonna contact your Senator to try to stop this? Just asking.

Via The Signs.

UK govt scientist sees few benefits from biofuels

Finally someone is waking up. I'm a little disappointed this guy still thinks biofuels are viable considering Brazil might be completely deforested, but its a start.

Rising production of biofuels has distorted government budgets, helped to drive up food prices and led to deforestation in south-east Asia, the chief scientist of Britain's farm ministry said on Friday.

"The way we are currently producing biofuels is not the way to go," former World Bank chief scientist Robert Watson said, citing the U.S. ethanol programme and German support for biodiesel as among the least cost effective.

Watson told the Oxford Farming Conference that biofuels production from sugar cane in Brazil may be one of the only sustainable current methods.

He added that there needed to be aggressive research and development and in five to 10 years time it was possible that new, better technologies could be commercially viable.

Crispin Tickell, director of the Policy Foresight Programme at Oxford University's James Martin Institute of Science and Civilization, said U.S. ethanol policy had been "disastrous."

Via Reuters.

Cat blogging

2008

Oh my, but this be fun.

A bunch of numbers had this.

Then check this out.

So, who you gonna bet your money on? I'd bet on Kinky Friedman who I'm guessing will be a write-in candidate.

The thing is, these early caucuses and primaries are for your amusement and not indicative of what will happen at the polls in November.

So enjoy. Have some popcorn, miss your favorite shows and get jerked around by the media. Its not like anything important is happening.

Fox News/New York Times: "Bin Laden is Dead"

Would someone go track down this sumbitch and find out if he really is dead or alive? Inquiring minds want to know.

The Bush administration, it seems, has kept Bin Laden alive for about seven years now, despite reports by the Fox news network that the alleged terrorist mastermind has been dead for years. On December 26, 2001, the Fox network reported that Osama bin Laden died of "serious lung complications" in mid-December of that year. If so, it means that Benazir Bhutto was correct to say that bin Laden is dead but it does not mean that she misspoke when she said that bin Laden had been murdered.

Via Daily Scare.

Bush's Final Year

Dan Froomkin, as always, has an excellent post.

Folks, please cooperate and organize on this. Contact your Congress critters (links on right sidebar) and stop this.

Or, if you want to live in the former communist Soviet Union or Germany under Hitler, just ignore the fucking problem.

Ya got your choices. Make the right one.

This is much more goddamn important than who you vote for POTUS.

As President Bush begins his final year in office, the White House is aiming for one last major domestic legislative triumph: permanent expansion of government spy powers, including retroactive immunity for the telecom companies that assisted in warrantless surveillance.

In an impromptu briefing aboard Air Force One, as Bush returned to Washington from his Texas vacation yesterday, White House counselor Ed Gillespie told reporters that an administration-supported bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is Bush's top priority.

Lets put this another way.

Don't be a bunch of fucking sheep who don't give a damn if the government spies on and knows everything about you. Stop the assholes now.

Personally, I'm not nuts about my neighbor's knowing my income, medical records, emails much less some fucking bureaucrat or government spook in Washington.

Truth is, I have almost nothing to hide. OK, there's the cross dressing and the inflatable doll, but most all my friends and family know about those. Only my mother was concerned. And she thought the doll was cute.

Via WaPo.

Norovirus shuts wards at quarter of hospitals

OK, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, most observant spectator, hitting on all cylinders, playing with a full deck, marching to the same drummer.

Had enough clichés? Kay.

Where the hell did this fucking disease come from? It seems almost overnight its infected thousands.

There are currently a large number of super models trying to be admitted so they can lose weight.

ZOMG!!!1!! I can't believe I just typed that.

I believe it was triggered by this: Zizzle-Zot, etc.

One quarter of hospitals in England have got wards closed to new patients while they battle to bring the winter vomiting bug under control.

It may well be this is a common disease in UK hospitals in winter, but I've never heard of it.

Via Telegraph News.

Alaskan sea drilling plans criticized

Here we go again. Add another issue to the damage this administration can do before leaving office on 20 January 2009.

The federal government will open up nearly 46,000 square miles off Alaska's northwest coast to petroleum leases next month, a decision condemned by enviromental groups that contend the industrial activity will harm northern marine mammals.

The Minerals Management Agency planned the sale in the Chukchi Sea without taking into account changes in the Arctic brought on by global warming and proposed insufficient protections for polar bears, walrus, whales and other species that could be harmed by drilling rigs or spills, according to the groups.

The lease sale in an area slightly smaller than the state of Pennsylvania was planned without information as basic as the polar bear and walrus populations, said Pamela A. Miller, Arctic coordinator with Northern Alaska Environmental Center. The lease sale is among the largest acreage offered in the Alaska region.

"The Minerals Management Service is required to have preleasing baseline data sufficient to determine the post-leasing impacts of the oil and gas activities that will occur," Miller said. "They simply do not have that."

Via The Signs.

Exchange your dollars, then go see Taj Mahal

Who needs your stinking money? It'll be worth less by the end of the day.

In yet another troubling sign for the greenback, at least one of the seven wonders of the world is now off-limits if you have only U.S. currency in your pocket.

India's tourism minister said Thursday that the dollar will no longer be accepted at the Taj Mahal and other national tourist sites.

For years, tourists visiting most sites in India were charged either $5 or 250 rupees.

But after falling 11 percent in 2007, hitting nine-year lows to hover around 39 rupees, the dollar is out.

Via Seattle Times.

Alert over the march of the 'grey goo' in nanotechnology Frankenfoods

My tendencies are to be practical, realistic, non-alarmist, but I do have a problem with science which is invisible and questioned by other scientists.

A breed of Frankenfood is being introduced into human diet and cosmetics with potentially disastrous consequences, experts said last night.

Academics, consumer groups and Government officials are warning that the arrival of nanotechnology threatens dangerous changes to the body and the environment.

The particles it uses are so small - 80,000 times thinner than a human hair - that they can pass through membranes protecting the brain or babies in the womb.

Nano health supplements, such as antioxidants, are already on the market while the first of hundreds of new foods are expected to arrive in the next 12 months.

However, the products are being introduced without any regulation or independent assessment to ensure they are safe - mirroring the controversy over the launch of GM foods ten years ago.

Some critics have talked of the threat of the creation of a "grey goo" of tiny particles with hidden harmful properties.

Prince Charles has said it would be "surprising" if the technology did not "offer similar upsets" to thalidomide - the morning sickness drug that caused children to be born with deformed limbs.

Professor Vicki Stone, Professor of Toxicology at Napier University in Edinburgh, is concerned about unforeseen side effects.

If these scientists have a hidden agenda its well hidden, at least well hidden from me. Its easy to deduce the agenda of the nanotechnology scientists. They're directly rewarded by the success of the industry.

Via BlackListedNews.

EPA Spews Auto Industry Propaganda

Hang in there, the author gets around to explaining his "religious hypocrite" comment. In some detail, I might add.

The recent holiday season is a reminder that among the most vile of creatures is the religious hypocrite on the taxpayer dole.

There are no doubt numerous examples that could be cited within the Bush administration, but top of mind this week would be Steve Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ignoring all legal and technical evidence -- and the advice of his career experts -- Johnson sided with the car industry and rejected the request of California to enforce the state's landmark greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles. (No fewer than 19 other states have already adopted these standards or are considering them, representing about half the U.S. population.) In fact, Johnson took action that his own legal team said was probably illegal.

It just doesn't surprise me much anymore that these hacks will flat out fucking lie. Their allegiance is to the administration and big business. They couldn't care less about you.

However, California is going to sue the EPA over this. Good for California.

I posted before on this when news first came out. Having national and California standards is no problem. Remember when all California cars had to have catalytic converters? Big deal.

Via AlterNet.

No comment

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part 1, Chapter 5:

He did not know how long she had been looking at him, but perhaps for as much as five minutes, and it was possible that his features had not been perfectly under control. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself — anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.

Us, now:

TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program — called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) — that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.

But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions — a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.

“In the SPOT program, we have a conversation with (passengers) and we ask them about their trip,” said Maccario from his office in Boston. “When someone lies or tries to be deceptive, … there are behavior cues that show it. … A brief flash of fear.”

(Seattle PI link via Ken MacLeod)

Stolen from Making Light.

Dave Barry's year in review

This sumbitch* is good.

It was a year that strode boldly into the stall of human events and took a wide stance astride the porcelain bowl of history.

It was year in which roughly 17,000 leading presidential contenders, plus of course Dennis Kucinich, held roughly 63,000 debates, during which they spewed out roughly 153 trillion words; and yet the only truly memorable phrase emitted in any political context was "Don't tase me, bro!"

* American slang for son of a bitch.

Via Miami Herald. Also H/T Bunch of numbers.

What Great Nations Do

Think.

Professional politicians and Wall Streeters insist on calling the US a ‘Great Nation’ when the fact is that, for the middle class and working poor, America is just another mediocre country with no real future, a third world workplace and more citizens in prison than China.

Via The Daily Scare.

Not to make fun of others, but...

Dyslectics untie.

RIP Netscape

Oops! Wrong fucking image. But she may return.


Shit changes. And yes, I do remember only having Netscape.

Via Balloon Juice.

Personal

My sis-in-law was worried no one would care for her "babies" so I went downstairs and discovered a room full of dogs. Five to be exact. They're Japanese Spitz and are cute as hell.

Technically, I think one ore two of them are mine. Its a hazy line.

Its almost impossible to walk without stepping on one of them. They never stop moving and love people. You can't go anywhere without one of them tagging along.

Does this seem like I'm bitching? Not at all. I love 'em. Well, not so much the fleas they seem to attract like a magnet near nails.

Waiting...

Please wait while the HP Business Inkjet installs. This could take a few minutes.

OR IT COULD TAKE A FUCKING LIFETIME!

Damn it, but I really do need my meds.

Ah, tradition...

Listening to The Orange Blossom Special. And nodding off to sleep waiting for this fucking computer to catch up to my typing which is slow in the first place.

Keeping with tradition, SPIIDERWEB™ has not made any blogger's year end list of "the best of".

Awards? Hahaha. Gimme a break. Koufax? I wasn't even nominated for a Pete Rose award (is there such a thing?).

Obscurity has its advantages. Paparazzi don't know about me nor do they hound me for photos. I've seen photos of Digby, Atrios, and others, but none exist of me. Muhahaha.

Living expenses

Via Jonco.

Open letter to the NYT

I've read you've hired Bill Kristol as a columnist.

BIG MISTAKE!

I'm available for much less money. I'll gladly post inane drivel about the Democrats. The price of my progressive soul is really quite small.

Hey, what about that Barack Obama? His middle name is Hussein? A terrorist president?

See? Its easy.

Besides I can use the money because this fucking computer is about three steps toward dead.

I will promise to make absolutely ridiculous predictions which have no more chance of coming true than my making love to Angelica Jolie.

I'm also willing to deliver papers on my bicycle, but only in my neighborhood.

Ya wanna cut costs or dontcha?

You have my email address. I'll await your reply.

U.S. official badly hurt in Sudan shooting

UPDATE: Goddamn it the diplomat died too.

Some pay the price even though they are only trying to do their jobs.

A U.S. official was critically wounded in a shooting attack on an embassy vehicle in Khartoum on Tuesday and his Sudanese driver was killed, a Western diplomatic source said.

"What we have heard is that a driver and a U.S. official, sometime a little after midnight, were heading home. The driver was shot and died on the spot and the U.S. official was shot and critically injured," the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Al Arabiya television reported that the shooting was in a main street in the capital Khartoum. It said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Courtesy link to Yahoo! News.

Bhutto Report: US Terror Aid Used to Rig Elections

Is this true? Who the fuck knows. Its politics. Smoke and mirrors. Lies and obfuscation. Charges and denials. People with agendas. OK, I'll be straight here. It boils down to assholes.

That said, isn't it plausible?

It always seems to lead back to the fucking money.

On the day she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto was due to meet two senior American politicians to show them a confidential report alleging that Pakistan's intelligence service was using US money to rig parliamentary elections, officials in her party said yesterday.

Via The Signs.

Pakistan

Jesus H Christ with no body guards, but does anyone sincerely believe Nawaz Sharif will not meet the same fate as Benazir Bhutto?

I fucking hate to be so negative, but I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

And now for something completely different

1. Absolutely no one runs like Tom Cruise in movies. Just watch him next time. Its balls to the walls full tilt.

2. This, Jackson Browne Stay, is to my knowledge the only tribute an artist has made to the roadies*. Without them they'd be playing the local Holiday Inn.

So you don't have to hunt:

Stay

(spoken)
I’d like to do a song I’ve never played in public before
It’s a brand new song
It’s sort of a tribute to friends of mine that come out here on the road
And to you, too...

Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up, tear it down,
they’re the first to come and the last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They’ll set it up in another town

Tonight the people were so fine
They waited there in line
And when they got up on their feet
They made the show
And that was sweet

I can hear the sound of slamming doors and folding chairs
That’s a sound they’ll never know

Roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get ‘em up them ramps
When it comes to moving me,
You know you guys are the champs
But when that last guitar’s been packed away
You know that I still wanna play
So make sure you’ve got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano

But the band’s on the bus
And they’re waiting to go
Gotta drive all night and do the show in Chicago
Or Detroit
I don’t know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in the hotel room
And wander round backstage
Til those lights come up
And we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came

Now we’ve got country and western on the bus
R&B
We got disco on eight tracks and cassettes in stereo
And we got rural scenes and magazines
And we got truckers on CB
And we got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
The only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play

People, you got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through
So come along, sing this song,
You know that you can’t go wrong
Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You’re gonna wake up in your town
But we’ll be scheduled to appear a thousand miles away from here

People, stay just a little bit longer
We want to play -- just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don`t mind
And the union don`t mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song--

Stay

As an added treat, a link to roadie images. Hey, take a look. Maybe you slept with one of them.

A fucking joke, folks.

* Roadies for those unaware are usually friends of the band. They just want to be part of the program and will bust their backs hauling equipment to be "inside". Oh yeah, there's also the sex and drugs.

Lyrics via Ask Lyrics.

Where is it not safe for Americans?

This is a follow-up to the last post. If tourists aren't safe in these countries, someone directly connected to the US government sure as hell isn't safe.

Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid a certain country. The countries listed below are currently on that list. In addition to this list, the State Department issues Consular Information Sheets for every country of the world with information on such matters as the health conditions, crime, unusual currency or entry requirements, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in the subject country.

Algeria 12/23/2007
Saudi Arabia 12/19/2007
Burundi 12/10/2007
Côte d'Ivoire 12/05/2007
Eritrea 11/14/2007
Somalia 11/13/2007
Nigeria 10/30/2007
Uzbekistan 10/25/2007
Sri Lanka 10/19/2007
Kenya 10/18/2007
Lebanon 10/17/2007
Indonesia 10/05/2007
Yemen 09/24/2007
Nepal 09/24/2007
Pakistan 09/21/2007
Syria 09/18/2007
Timor-Leste 09/12/2007
Sudan 09/06/2007
Haiti 08/31/2007
Central African Republic 08/09/2007
Iraq 07/23/2007
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza 07/13/2007
Chad 06/11/2007
Colombia 06/04/2007
Iran 05/31/2007
Philippines 04/27/2007
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 04/24/2007
Afghanistan 04/04/2007

Won't say which, but I'm a permanent resident of one of those countries.

Or I'm lying through my teeth.

No, not Côte d'Ivoire. That's a joke. Or is it? Hmmm.

Ya never know with the internets tubes.

Via US Department of State.

Bubba

News is trickling in very slowly so I'm amusing myself, and I hope you, with some other shit.

This is an oldie. Actually, today a year older, but its good if not predictable.

Sorry, but too lazy ass to reformat the cut and paste job.

Bubba was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know.
Just name someone, anyone, and I know them."

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "OK, Bubba how about Tom Cruise?"

"Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it. " So Bubba and his boss
fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and sure enough, Tom Cruise
shouts, "Bubba! Great to see you! You and your friend come right in and join me
for lunch!"

Although impressed, Bubba's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's
house, he tells Bubba that he thinks Bubba's knowing Cruise was just lucky.

"No, no, just name anyone else," Bubba says.

"President Clinton," his boss quickly retorts.

"Yes," Bubba says, "I know him, let's fly out to Washington."

And off they go. At the White House, Clinton spots Bubba on the tour and motions
him and his boss over, saying, "Bubba, what a surprise, I was just on my way to
a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first
and catch up."

Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced.

After they leave the White house grounds, he expresses his doubts to Bubba, who
again implores him to name anyone else.

"The Pope," his boss replies. "Sure!" says Bubba. "My folks are from Poland, and
I've known the Pope a long time."

So off they fly to Rome. Bubba and his boss are assembled with the masses in
Vatican Square when Bubba says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's
eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just
go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." And he disappears
into the crowd headed toward the Vatican.

Sure enough, half an hour later Bubba emerges with the Pope on the balcony. But
by the time Bubba returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is
surrounded by paramedics.

Working his way to his boss' side, Bubba asks him, "What happened?"

His boss looks up and says, "I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on
the balcony and the man next to me said, "Who's that on the balcony with Bubba?"

Living Statue of Liberty

That's people, people.


OK, once more. Click for larger image

Woman Who Tried to Shoot Ford Paroled

That's a reference to former US President Gerald Ford and not the car.

I wasn't gonna touch this story at first, but then ran into this account.

Sara Jane Moore started the new year Tuesday a free woman more than three decades after a bizarre assassination attempt on President Ford that still baffles even her own attorney.

"I never got a satisfactory answer from her as to why she did it," said retired federal public defender James F. Hewitt.

Prison officials have offered no details on why Moore, 77, was paroled Monday from a federal penitentiary east of San Francisco, where she had been serving a life sentence. Moore had been behind bars for 32 years.

The one-time aspiring film actress was 40 feet away from Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco when she fired a shot at him on Sept. 22, 1975. As she raised her .38-caliber revolver and pulled the trigger, Oliver Sipple, a disabled former Marine standing next to her, pushed up her arm. The bullet flew over Ford's head by several feet.

The attempt came 17 days after a disciple of Charles Manson tried to kill the president in Sacramento.

Despite Moore's troubled background, which included five failed marriages, name changes and involvement with political groups like the Symbionese Liberation Army, her motives have never been clear.

In recent interviews, Moore said she regretted her actions, saying she was blinded by her radical political views and convinced that the government had declared war on advocates of left-wing politics.

"I was functioning, I think, purely on adrenaline and not thinking clearly. I have often said that I had put blinders on and I was only listening to what I wanted to hear," she said a year ago in an interview with KGO-TV. [emphasis mine]

Noticing my emphasis, does this sound lie a person who should be on the streets? She attempted an assassination, but doesn't really know why? One is incapable of shooting a firearm at 77 years of age?

Via Mail Tribune.

Lockheed gets $498 mn contract to sell F-16s to Pakistan

Congress? What's the fucking point? Just send 'em all home.

The US Defence Department has awarded a $498.2 million contract to Lockheed Martin Corp to supply 18 F-16 aircraft to Pakistan just ten days after the US Congress slapped restrictions on military aid to Islamabad.

Via Japan Herald.

What Made My Year Special

US Navy SEAL insignia

Purportedly written by Dim bulb Son.

Every year about this time, the Christmas decorations come down and Washington gets ready to go back to work. In these quiet moments, Laura and I like to take stock of the year that has passed. Inevitably we find that our most treasured memories revolve around the extraordinary people we have met. These men and women inspire us, they touch our hearts, and they remind us of the true strength of our nation.

Dan and Maureen Murphy are two of these people. In June 2005, their son—Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL—was conducting surveillance in Afghanistan when his four-man team came under attack. Lt. Murphy moved into a clearing where he could get a signal to call for help for his men, knowing it would make him a target. As he made the call, he came under heavy fire that cost him his life.

OK, the first sentence contains polysyllabic words which just scream ghostwriter.

Ah, but then it gets better. There's just nothing like the fucking death of a Navy SEAL to make the year that much more special.

Jesus H Christ in Scuba gear, Bush is such a goddamn asshole.

Via Parade.

Happy and Prosperous New Year

'Israel has megaton nuclear bombs'

Perhaps I spoke too soon. Maybe it is gloom and doom.

The fact is, only the Israeli government won't admit to nuclear arms. Everyone else has said they have them.

A Washington-based military think tank has revealed that the Zionist regime has produced nuclear weapons with 'a yield of one megaton'.

A new report complied by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) claims Israeli nuclear warheads have both air and sea capabilities.

The study, authored by former US Defense Department strategist Anthony Cordesman, disclosed that Israel is currently 'in possession of 200 nuclear warheads'.

Megaton nuclear bombs are about twice the size of MK 18, the most powerful US-made fission bomb, which used 60kg of enriched uranium.

Israel is widely believed to possess the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East; however, it neither denies nor confirms having a nuclear arsenal.

The CSIS report comes at a time when the Zionists officials have launched psywar against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear energy program.

Decide for your own self.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Exhibit C.

Just Google search on Israel nuclear arms and you'll find further exhibits.

Via The Sign.

I'm too sexy for my clothes...

Its not all gloom and doom.

A German bus driver threw a 20-year-old off because he said she was too sexy for his bus. "He opened the door and shouted 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic'," the woman said.

Via The Signs.

There is, apparently, some dispute about whether this happened or was just a threat.

And even more cleavage trouble (above pic).

Its a mad, mad world.

Must read IMHO

Headline: 3909.

Its about deaths.

2007 deadliest for US troops in Iraq

Thank you Dim Son.

The second half of 2007 saw violence drop dramatically in Iraq, but the progress came at a high price: The year was the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed.

Via Yahoo! News.

New Year's resolution

This is my New Year's resolution.

Feel free to embrace it as your own. You won't fail.

Ya ready?

I RESOLVE TO CHANGE NOTHING!

Its a win-win resolution. I'm so proud of myself.

You can relate

Just tell me none of these pertain to you. And don't lie to me.

# There are two sides to every divorce . . . Yours and Shithead's.

# The closest I ever got to a 4.0 in college was my blood alcohol content.

# Every time I walk into a singles bar I can hear Mom's wise words: 'Don't pick that up, you don't know where it's been!'

# I live in my own little world but it's OK, everyone knows me here.

# I don't do drugs 'cause I find I get the same effect just by standing up really fast.

# Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

# I don't approve of political jokes. I've seen too many of them get elected.

# The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.

# If life deals you lemons, make lemonade . . if it deals you tomatoes, make Bloody Mary's.

# I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

# Shopping tip: You can get shoes for a buck at bowling alleys.

# I am a nobody.. Nobody is perfect ... and therefore I am perfect.

# Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've stayed alive.

# That Claudia Schiffer must be a genius because I told a friend my plan to attain world peace, and he told me I have 'Schiffer Brains.'

# No one ever says 'It's only a game!!' when their team is winning.

# Ever notice that people who spend money on beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets, are always complaining about being broke and not feeling well?

# How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.

# Marriage changes passion . . . suddenly you're in bed with a relative.

# Why is it that most nudists are people you don't want to see naked?

# Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled.

Courtesy link because I stole the whole fucking post: Jonco.

I'm safe. I drive a Hummer

Blogger refuses to upload images right now. So you have to go to Jonco's site.

Via Jonco.

Just for you

Patience. I have more Jonco for ya.


Via Jonco.

Great pic

As always, click for full image. I won't tell you again.
Hey, ya gotta learn this shit.

Via Jonco of course.

Stuff you need

I rarely, like never, do this, but you need this.

Trust SPIIDERWEB™.

Table of condiments.

That periodically go bad.

Cat blogging

OK, this time its a fucking cat, but don't expect it.

And now for something completely different

Its a geeky thing.

Must read IMHO

Headline: Coincidence?

Let me posit this to you.

You see someone diametrically opposing all your country stands for, and you buy into it?

Can you say Baaa? Yeah, I thought you could.

Question: Doesn't any American have the money to take Bush and Chaney to court and demand they be tried as war criminals.

Soros?

Via Bunch of numbers.