Yahoo to reject Microsoft bid

This is proving to be theater of the first order.

In another account I read, Yahoo wants $51b at least.

Jesus H Christ with a thick wallet these people play with large fucking sums of money. Wonder if they can spare a little for a poor blogger?

Internet giant Yahoo's board has decided to reject Microsoft's 44.6 billion dollar takeover bid, an informed source told AFP Saturday.

The source confirmed an earlier Wall Street Journal report that Yahoo's management believes the Microsoft offer, which would bring together two top names in online computing, massively undervalues Yahoo.

The Journal said Yahoo's board also believes the Microsoft offer, at 31 dollars per share, does not account for risks facing Yahoo if it pursues a deal that might be ultimately blocked by government regulators.

"Yahoo's board believes that Microsoft's is trying to take advantage of the recent weakness in the company's share price to 'steal' the company," the newspaper said on its website, citing an unnamed source.

"Yahoo's board appears to be betting that Microsoft doesn't want to 'go hostile' and try to acquire the company against the wishes of management and the board," it said.

A person knowledgeable with the situation told AFP that the Journal report was generally in line with the Yahoo board's intentions.

This is just opinion. No facts. Microsoft will get Yahoo. Microsoft always gets what it wants.

Via AFP.

The Demise of the American Middle Class

Jesus H Christ with a cardboard sign, but I really wish this guy were wrong.

I doubt if he is.

American as well as all western white and blue collar workers will soon realize that they will either have to decrease their wage demands to conform with "global standards" or chose jobs in the service sector. These global standard wages are now being set by worker in India and China, where average hourly wages are about 65 cents and one dollar respectively. The high paying jobs created in Mexico under NAFTA, the whopping $3.50 per hour ones, are moving to China because even this princely wage level is much too generous according to U.S. businessmen.

Via Daily Scare.

Must read IMHO

At least if you are a traveler.

Avoid Traveling To Or Through Dubai At All Costs.

Via Jil in Pattaya.

music

An apparent anomaly.

In Eric Clapton's excellent piece, Blues Power, he says he has the boogie woogie right down in his very soul.

The anomaly kicks in because the piece is neither boogie woogie nor blues. Its fucking rock and roll.

This was gonna be a pretty good post with the title song, blues example, boogie woogie example, but I couldn't find the fucking things on the internets tubes. At least not for free or complete.

Whatever...

Be afraid. Be very afraid

Do a Google search on InfraGard. You won't believe it. I chose the official FBI link, but there are many.

Shivers.

Via Agitprop .

Cat blogging

Much better than a fucking cat IMHO.

Spam 101

If you get an email containing any variation on the word win ie won, winning, winner, etc you may delete it as spam.

Have you ever won the lotto? Won in a casino? Won that vacation at a home show? No. We are all losers and to think some innocuous person on the internets tubes could declare you a winner is totally insane. Trust me on this.

Webmasters

Dontcha just love webmasters who fuck up? I know I do. Makes me feel superior!

Bloglines is back up and running, but it keeps telling me there are unread posts for various sites which is completely wrong. I click on them and nothing is there.

I'm sure they'll sort it all out in a few hours. Meanwhile I can gloat. Muahahaha.

Where's the fucking Bloglines plumber when they need him?

Motivation

Nah, I really am lazy.
Via Jonco.

Time to rejoice here at SPIIDERWEB™

Bloglines is finally working after several hours.

Don't know the problem. No fucking Bloglines plumber this time. Just...nothing.

The Biofuel Follies

I'm starting to wonder if I'm beginning to think more like George "F" Will or he's starting to think more like I.

Nah, I don't really think like he does.

In this op-ed piece he's spot on about biofuels, but woefully wrong about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Why won't Repugs ever accept the fact we need to reduce the use of oil and not constantly search for and extract more until the fucking planet is dry? Its a goddamn limited resource and we're exploiting it as fast as we can get our greedy little hands on it.

The ANWR is a pristine area on this planet and must be protected.

Yeah, as I've stated before, I'm a fucking tree hugger. Did you catch the last two words of the name for ANWR? Wildlife Refuge.

Iowa's caucuses, a source of so much turbulence, might even have helped cause the recent demonstration by 10,000 Indonesians in Jakarta. Savor the multiplying irrationalities of the government-driven mania for ethanol and other biofuels, and energy policy generally.

Indonesians, like most Asians, love soybeans, the world price of which has risen 50 percent in a month and 125 percent in a year, partly because of increasing world population and incomes, but also because many farmers have switched land from soybeans to crops that can be turned into biofuels. In 2005, America used 15 percent of its corn crop to supplant less than 2 percent of its gasoline use. In 2007, the government-contrived U.S. demand for ethanol was more than half the global increase in demand. The political importance of corn-growing, ethanol-making Iowa is one reason that biofuel mandates flow from Washington the way oil would flow from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if it had nominating caucuses.

ANWR's 10.4 billion barrels of oil have become hostage to the planet's saviors (e.g., John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama), who block drilling in even a tiny patch of ANWR. You could fit Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware into ANWR's frozen desolation; the "footprint" of the drilling operation would be one sixth the size of Washington's Dulles airport.

Clinton has an alternative to drilling: Oil should be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—which exists to protect the nation against major interruptions of supply—as "a signal to the market." A signal of what? Readiness to release more? All 698 million barrels? Then what?

Americans can still drill for … water. Water rights (T. Boone Pickens has bought 400,000 acres of them in the Texas Panhandle) are becoming more valuable as ethanol production, which is extremely water-intensive, puts pressure on supplies.

To avoid drilling for oil in ANWR's moonscape, the planet savers evidently prefer destroying forests, even though they absorb greenhouse gases. Will ethanol prevent more carbon-dioxide emissions than would have been absorbed by the trees cut down to clear land for the production of crops for ethanol? Be that as it may, governments mandating the use of biofuels are one reason for the global rise in food prices, which is driving demand for more arable land. That demand is driving the destruction of forests—and animal habitats. In Indonesia alone, 44 million acres have been razed to make way for production of palm oil.

Via Newsweek.

Russian immigrant solves math puzzle

This story sort of provides one with hope that nothing is impossible.

A 63-year-old mathematics professor at Bar-Ilan University, who worked as a guard for about five years after his aliya from the former Soviet Union in 1990, has solved an abstract math problem that has befuddled experts for the last 38 years.

Prof. Avraham Trakhtman finally found the solution, which will be published in a few months in the Israel Journal of Mathematics, solely by tossing it around in his brain and using a pencil and paper. His research, which has already been placed on a Web site for professionals and is available for download, has elicited much excitement among mathematicians in the esoteric field.

Trakhtman solved the "Road Coloring Problem," which was raised by Israeli mathematics Prof. Binyamin Weiss and others in 1970. There are many forms but the most popular one among experts goes like this:

A man reaches a town he has never visited before and drives around trying to find the home of his friend even though there are no street names. The friend says not to worry and that he will provide instructions (left, right, left...) on how to get there.

This is called synchronizing instruction. The problem is whether by using such instructions, the driver could reach his destination no matter where he was lost, said Prof. Stuart Margolis, a colleague and mentor of Trakhtman who made aliya from the US and joined Bar-Ilan the same year as the Russian mathematician.

"He is brilliant with a high IQ," Margolis told The Jerusalem Post. "It's God-given gray matter in his brain. He is shy, reserved and very modest. He intentionally offered his paper to an Israeli journal even though any mathematics journal in the world would be overjoyed to get it. Now he's working on a real algorithm to implement his solution."

There is also a computer version of the problem: One has a big network like the Internet, and an e-mail message is lost somewhere. The systems operator wants to get it sent to the right place, said Margolis. "But he doesn't know where it is. Synchronizing instructions could get it there, like a mouse through a maze. Avraham's work proves that it's always possible to find one's way with such instructions."

Trakhtman's colleagues, who were following his instructions, could quickly see that his solution was correct as he prepared proofs with paper and pencil. Nevertheless, it still must go through the referee process.

Via Jerusalem Times.

Americans give up lattes, vacations as economy sours (CAW)

Jesus H Christ with a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte. This is getting fucking serious now. Its striking at the heart of Americana when it hurts Starbucks®.

With the economy in a nosedive, Americans are shedding unnecessary expenses, saving their cash and voting "no" to discretionary spending. That means later for lattes, farewell to fashion and goodbye to family vacations at Disney World.

BTW, I have no goddamn idea what a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte is. Is that like some kind of dildo?

You didn't really believe I'd forget the fucking Starbucks® logo did you? Silly rabbit.


Via McClatchy.

Disgrace

By Bessie Pease Gutmann
Disgrace used to be ugly. No one would welcome it and busted their asses to avoid it.

Bush has rendered disgrace on America.

He has destroyed all credibility the country had. He's ruined the world's opinion about how America treats people.

If you're an American, most people in other countries will treat you much worse than they would have 10 years ago. An American is a pariah. I don't give a shit about where you stand politically, you are judged by Bush.

You are your country and you are disgraced. Live with that sad fucking fact.

The US will invade and occupy a foreign country preemptively, it will kill innocent people, it will bring down the financial structures of other countries, it will kidnap, it will hold people without charges and without a right to trial in secret prisons, it will spy on its own citizens, it will torture people, it will bully other countries, it will violate all the principles upon which it was founded.

Don't know about you, but I'm fucking proud to be an American.

USA! USA! USA!

H/T Ted Compton. He got me to thinking about this.

Are you an American over 30?

This is so fucking true.

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking
twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
there was no way in hell I was going to lay
a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty,
I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you
don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The
Internet. If we wanted to know something,
we had to go to the damn library and
look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write
somebody a letter ...with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and
put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to
steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd
usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you
were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!
It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your
bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you
just didn't know!!! You had
to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!
We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and
'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your
imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting
harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such
thing as stadium seating!
All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy
or some old broad with a hat
sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels
and there was no on screen menu and no remote
control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off
your ass and walk over to the TV to change the
channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You cou ld only get cartoons
on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK
for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ..
imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing
and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted
five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Via a good friend.

OMG there is a God!

Headline: Tobacco could kill 1 billion by 2100

I'll be long dead by then so it won't affect me. W00t!!!1!!

Meanwhile, smoke 'em if you got 'em.

The World Health Organization warned in a new report Thursday that the "tobacco epidemic" is growing and could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking.

Hey, got a light?

Via Yahoo News.

Endorsement?

According to my results, I'm for Obama (72%). After that there are several candidates I would like to see, but they've dropped out. Then there's Clinton (60%).

Without the aid of a computerized questionnaire, I can state I would vote for either if they were nominated.

McCain? Not for anything. Well, I do have my price, but its pretty high.

Via SelectSmart.

The White House's Perverse Argument

Waterboarding Torture
Demonstrated at UC Berkeley
You be the judge.

Condoleezza Rice.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States does not permit or tolerate the torture of any terrorists detained in its custody.

Dim Son him own self.

President Bush on Friday defended his administration's methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, insisting, "This government does not torture people."

Mitch McConnell.

"The United States does not engage in torture. We do use enhanced interrogation techniques," McConnell said.

Ah, but...

Waterboarding has been condemned internationally as a form of illegal torture, and McConnell was quoted in the current issue of The New Yorker magazine as saying he would consider the practice torture if it were applied to him [see last link].

Mike Mukasey.

Days after refusing to rule out the use of waterboarding, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has attacked congressional Democrats, calling the investigations of torture a violation of basic privacy rights [Privacy rights? Ya gotta be shitting me.].

We don’t consider anything we do to be torture, and I find the Democrats’ inquiries a distasteful intrusion into people’s private conduct,” Mukasey said today on the “Jerry Springer” public affairs television program.

Did you catch that? On "Jerry Springer"? So fucking professional. What's next? An appearance on American fucking Idol?

Ah, but...

When you get right down to it, the White House's new argument in favor of waterboarding is that the ends justify the means.

The White House line: Yes, we did it, but only to three chief terrorists [bullshit alert!], and only when we thought the nation was in imminent danger. We got life-saving information in return. And so we'd do it again in similar circumstances. (See yesterday's column for more.)

Putting aside for a moment the question of whether the ends did in fact justify the means -- and there is considerable evidence that the waterboarding of those three men miserably failed that test as well -- the White House argument is deeply perverse and goes against core American values.

Waterboarding is undeniably cruel. It is undeniably an assault on human dignity. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution -- the one banning cruel and unusual punishment -- doesn't come with an asterisk indicating: Except when you think it's really, really important.

It's true that on TV, the ticking time bomb scenarios are crystal clear, being tough means using torture, and torture always works. But none of those things are remotely true in the real world. Which is why we have rules that we're supposed to follow, even in emergencies.

And even on the twisted terms the White House is advocating, the evidence suggests that the ends in this case did not justify the means. The White House asks us to believe that in this case it was worth it. But despite all the generalized assertions that countless lives have been saved by the CIA's interrogation program, Bush and his aides -- as I wrote in my Dec. 11 column-- have yet to offer a concrete case where intelligence produced by torture saved a single life. To the contrary, as I wrote in October, Bush has repeatedly cited examples of thwarted attacks that turned out to be wildly exaggerated.

Finally, the White House argues that waterboarding is legal because the Justice Department said so. But waterboarding is flatly, objectively illegal -- according to both U.S. and international law. Try to find one independent expert to tell you otherwise. And, despite their heated assertions, no one in the White House or at the Justice Department has yet to provide a single vaguely reasonable argument to support their position. All those legal briefs are conveniently considered top secret.

Bottom line is: Waterboarding is torture and the fucking Bush administration admits its permitted and actually used. Compassionate conservatives? Give me a fucking break.

Via WaPo.

Life's decisions

Attorney General Michael Mukasey
(AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
Perhaps eating that fucking grapefruit at breakfast wasn't such a good idea.

Reality

I'm not so sure the mother is absent-minded.

Little girl eying food at counter: Mommy, how much is a dollar?
Absent-minded mother: Thirty-six cents.

Via Overheard in New York.

Old joke

Take my husband... Please!

Via Henny Youngman.

Must read IMHO

76003.1414

This is just how I'm thinking.

Via A bunch of numbers.

The ever-changeing faces of terror

Click for larger image
I'm quite surprised no one has picked up on this. No matter what happens, there's always another enemy out there.

The US needs enemies or it doesn't need a huge military industrial complex.

The recently expressed view of Nigel Inkster, the former deputy chief of Britain's secret service (MI6), that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is now the world's "deadliest Islamist threat and public enemy number one" reveals the puerility of the so-called "war on terror". As it enters its seventh year, the massive American effort to root out al-Qaeda and its allied organizations around the world faces a credibility problem with few successes and several mishaps.

On commencing his costly misadventures in 2001, US President George W Bush confidentially delivered bad news to his military generals that "this will be a long campaign". As the vague and drifting campaign reached the limits of temporal stretching with no end in sight, a psychological strategy that found favor with the US and its allies was to personalize and simplify the problem for the imagination of skeptical publics.

If victory is redefined as eliminating individual personalities rather than defeating a complex network or ideology, the bitter pill of failure can not only be sweetened but also showcased as a sweetmeat for citizens' consumption. This carefully crafted ruse of selling defeat as success begins with lionization of an al-Qaeda-affiliated leader through relentless coverage of his dreaded activities in the state-browbeaten media. The next step is to keep releasing stories that a hunt is on for the high-value target and that US/North Atlantic Treaty Organization intelligence is closing in on the star figure.

Since warfare is lethal, the likelihood of an operational commander being killed in combat is not far-fetched. After months or years of media buildup about the significance of a particular jihadi leader and the extent of havoc he has caused, when the subject does meet his maker, the event will be hailed by American spokespersons as a major milestone and feather in the cap for the "war on terror". The reality on the ground is likely that a replacement for the slain leader has already slipped into his new shoes, but Western media will be asked to raise a toast and self-congratulations will resound in Washington and London that they are one step closer to extinguishing the Islamist threat.

Truth is, building weapons of destruction, mass or otherwise, is the predominant manufacturing base in the US outside Boeing's building of commercial aircraft and Detroit's building cars which are too expensive for most foreigners to purchase.

No, the US has little else to offer. It specializes in "services" which is selling services to other Americans. Not hardly an exportable commodity.

Via Asia Times.

Personal

I have to admit this. I'm reluctant, but feel the need to confide.

My favorite game is rock, scissors, assault rifle.

Maybe that's why I'm anti-gun control? Muahahaha.

Wal-Mart workers are so lucky

This is really fucking depressing. Wal-Mart is such a piss poor employer they don't even pay as well as panhandling.

Coos Bay, Ore., police survey panhandlers outside Wal-Mart and learn they’re making a lot more money than the employees inside.

Via News of the Weird.

Perpetual Motion Machine Stumps MIT Professor

I'm really ashamed right now. I stole almost all of this post from Neatorama, but Its something you need to read even if you aren't a science wonk.

Fuck. I even stole the picture. Yeah, I have no shame.

Inventor Thane Heins was a college dropout who worked on his invention so obsessively that his wife kicked him out and he lost custody of his children. If that’s not bad enough, he had difficulty getting scientists to take his idea seriously. His invention is a perpetual motion machine, which is viewed by the scientific community as squarely belonging in the realm of the batty.

Until, that is, he managed to convince Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Markus Zahn (previously on Neatorama: Zahn’s work with ferrofluid), an expert in electromagnetic and electronic systems, to take a quick look:

Heins has modified his test so the effects observed are difficult to deny. He holds a permanent magnet a few centimetres away from the driveshaft of an electric motor, and the magnetic field it creates causes the motor to accelerate. It went well.

Contacted by phone a few hours after the test, Zahn is genuinely stumped – and surprised. He said the magnet shouldn’t cause acceleration. "It’s an unusual phenomena I wouldn’t have predicted in advance. But I saw it. It’s real. Now I’m just trying to figure it out."

There’s no talk of perpetual motion. No whisper of broken scientific laws or free energy. Zahn would never go there – at least not yet. But he does see the potential for making electric motors more efficient, and this itself is no small feat.

"To my mind this is unexpected and new, and it’s worth exploring all the possible advantages once you’re convinced it’s a real effect," he added. "There are an infinite number of induction machines in people’s homes and everywhere around the world. If you could make them more efficient, cumulatively, it could make a big difference."

Courtesy link to Neatorama.

Gates: U.S. won't promise to defend Iraq in accord

For starters, why wouldn't the US promise to defend Iraq? It's what amounts to a US colony.

And why the constant fucking lies to the American people? The US is building permanent bases already.

Jesus H Christ playing hide and seek, this ain't no secret. Check here too. Why do they always assume Americans are fucking idiots? Just asking.

Follow the first link to an earlier post of mine. Tell me if you think that base is temporary.

The United States will not promise to defend Iraq nor seek permanent bases there under a planned agreement on future relations between the two states, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.

Via Yahoo News.

Dave Barry for President!

Dave Barry is running for president (yes, of the United States). He is currently leading every single poll by a wide margin, although you will read nothing about this in the so-called “mainstream” media. You can, however, find out where Dave stands on the issues by reading this Q&A, which consists of Q’s submitted by actual humans (we think) followed by Dave’s answers.

Dave updates this Q&A regularly, so check back often. You can also visit his official Web site. Or, you can do something productive with your life. But we don't recommend this.

A taste of what you will find at the link.

Q What do you say to those who claim that you aren't French enough?
Anatole France, Montreal, Quebec 2/05/08
A I flatulate in their general direction.
Dave Barry 2/07/08
Q Dave, Since red and blue are already taken, what color will you use on the national map as you win state after state? Please let it be a manly color.
Tom, secret bunker, south of Pittsburgh 2/05/08
A I won't use a color. I will use a sound effect, made from a recording of a large individual -- Ed McMahon springs to mind -- passing gas.
Dave Barry 2/07/08
Q One of your early books, Dave Berry Slept Here, was eerily prophetic of your ascent to the presidency (following in the footsteps, errr....bedsheets, of George Washington). So, when you are elected, just where will you have slept that will make you even more famous?
imhistory, Houston, Tx 2/05/08
A Everybody involved was consenting.
Dave Barry 2/07/08

Via McClatchy.

Privacy

Click for larger (photo AFP)
How does this make you feel if you're an American?

Just look at all the countries which respect a person's privacy more than does the US.

Via The Economist.

Rice: NATO mission in Afghanistan 'bumpy'

Condoleezza Rice at age 5

I can think of many words to describe the situation in Afghanistan. But "bumpy" ain't one of them.

Where do they find these Pollyannas? Just asking.

And I wonder if she still believes in Santa Claus.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan is "bumpy," and the international aid effort needs firmer coordination among the many nations participating.

Rice said she hopes a new candidate will be chosen quickly to replace a respected British diplomat who had accepted a job as overall international coordinator of aid, government and economic projects in Afghanistan but backed out because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The choice for the job would probably be a European, not an American, Rice said as she traveled to Britain for meetings Wednesday on Afghanistan strategy and other matters. The United States is trying to bridge a rift among NATO allies participating in unequal measure in Afghanistan.

"It's bumpy and it's a lot of maturing that the alliance is having to do to do this," Rice told reporters.

Why can politicians never come out and say they are optimistic in the long run because..., but right now its the equivalent of a shit storm and it doesn't look good?

Via Chicago Sun-Times.

Maliki and Bush discuss future Iraq-US relationship

Photo: AFP

I'm sorry, but doesn't a fucking video link-up seem more appropriate for Amway or Tupperware distributors than between two heads of state, one of which is occupying the other's country?

But never let it be said Bush is reluctant to actually expend effort.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US President George W. Bush held talks on Wednesday via video link-up about the future relationship between their countries, Maliki's office said.

Their talks also focused on economic, political and security developments in insurgency-wracked Iraq, his office said.

The talks come ahead of a meeting later this month between Iraqi and US leaders during which they will negotiate a new agreement on their countries' relations and the long-term presence of US forces, according to Iraqi officials.

This is one of those posts that will come back to bite me in the ass if I congratulate a Democratic President on taking the time to communicate via video link-up. Gotta remember not to do that.

Via Yahoo News.

Despite Warnings, Tornadoes Kill 55

Volunteer fireman, Adrian DeBruin, sits
with Carrie DeBruin, amongst the damage
in Lafayette Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 6,
2008. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

Is it just me or does that headline imply the dead got what they deserved? If that doesn't do it for ya, how about the sub headline?

Twisters Kill at Least 55 Across the South, Despite Repeated Warnings From Forecasters

Once you get into the story (note my emphasis) the people are given a break.

Perhaps, to be fair, its impossible to convey the information warnings were given without unintentionally suggesting people were stupid.

One man pulled a couch over his head. Bank employees rushed into the vault. A woman trembled in her bathroom, clinging to her dogs. College students huddled in dormitories.

Tornado warnings had been broadcast for hours, and when the sirens finally announced that the twisters had arrived, many people across the South took shelter and saved their lives. But others simply had nowhere safe to go, or the storms proved too powerful, too numerous, too unpredictable.

At least 55 people were killed and hundreds injured Tuesday and Wednesday by dozens of tornadoes that plowed across Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. It was the nation's deadliest barrage of twisters in almost 23 years.

Now you may have noticed I labeled this as "humor disgusting". Watch for the emphasis in the next paragraph.

President Bush gave assurances his administration stood ready to help. Teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were sent to the region and activated an emergency center in Georgia.

"Loss of life, loss of property; prayers can help, and so can the government," Bush said. "I do want the people in those states to know the American people are standing with them."

Ya gotta love the fucking idiot. The destruction caused by Katrina devastated the people and the city of New Orleans which still haven't been "helped". Didn't he "assure" the people of NOLO too? What a maroon.

Via ABC News.

Lower house passes anti-terror law

Ya gotta fucking love law makers regardless of country.

Canada's lower house Wednesday passed a revised anti-terrorism law that remains one of the country's most contentious, allowing the government to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely without disclosing evidence against them.

Canada's Supreme Court struck down the previous law last year, finding that it violates Canada's bill of rights. The law said non-citizens suspected of being a threat to national security could be held indefinitely under security "certificates," and did not allow them to see details of the case against them.

The court said the non-citizen suspects should have a right to respond to evidence used against them by intelligence agents and noted that Britain allows government-appointed special advocates to review such sensitive intelligence material.

It suspended the judgment from taking effect for a year, to give Parliament time to rewrite the law, called the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act [emphasis mine].

Did you catch my point? The title of the law is the fucking Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Who is going to rejoice about getting such goddamn "protection"? Just asking.

Via Yahoo News.

AP Confirms Secret Camp Inside Gitmo

In this Dec. 5, 2006 file photo, reviewed by a U.S.
Dept of Defense official, a detainee sits alone
inside a fenced area during his daily outside
period, at Camp 5 maximum security detention
prison, Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
This administration is somewhat remarkable in that it lies and is secretive even when it isn't necessary.

In this story I can understand why these prisoners are kept apart because they may retaliate against others who have talked, but I don't buy the claim the location must be a secret because of the threat of fucking terrorist attacks.

I say this primarily because these prisoners are kept separate due to the fact, apparently, they won't talk and would kill those who do. The only prisoners terrorists should want to kill are in the other camps inasmuch as they are talking.

But then, I'm not one for paranoia either.

Somewhere amid the cactus-studded hills on this sprawling Navy base, separate from the cells where hundreds of men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban have been locked up for years, is a place even more closely guarded - a jailhouse so protected that its very location is top secret.

For the first time, the top commander of detention operations at Guantanamo has confirmed the existence of the mysterious Camp 7. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rear Adm. Mark Buzby also provided a few details about the maximum-security lockup.

Guantanamo commanders said Camp 7 is for key alleged al-Qaida members, who must be kept apart from other prisoners to prevent them from retaliating against long-term detainees who have talked to interrogators. They also want the location kept secret for fear of terrorist attack.

Many operations have been classified since the detention center opened in January 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. More than four years passed before the military released even the names of detainees held on this 45-square-mile base in southeast Cuba - and it did so only after the AP filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

Detainees have been held in Camp Echo and Camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Journalists cleared by the military have been allowed to tour some of these lockups, where 260 men are held, but aren't allowed to speak to detainees. Some lawmakers and other VIPs have passed through, and the International Red Cross has access, but doesn't divulge details of visits with prisoners.

Camp 7, where 15 "high-value detainees" are held, is so secret that its very existence was not publicly known until it was mentioned in December by attorneys for Majid Khan, a former Baltimore resident who allegedly plotted to bomb gas stations in the United States. Previously, many observers believed the 15 were being held in Camps 5 or 6, which are maximum-security facilities.

"Under the gag order ... we are prohibited from saying anything more about their camp," lawyer Gitanjali Gutierrez, who met with Khan in October, said Tuesday. Most of the lawyers' notes and memos have been stamped "top secret" by the government.

Buzby told the AP he is sharply limiting to a "very few" the number of people who know Camp 7's whereabouts.

He described it as a maximum security facility that was already built when President Bush announced in September 2006 that 14 high-value terrorism suspects had been transferred from CIA secret detention facilities to Guantanamo. An additional detainee, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, arrived last April.

"They went straight into that facility," Buzby said.

Buzby, who heads all military detention operations on Guantanamo, said he controls Camp 7, but would not discuss whether the CIA might still be talking with the high-value detainees.

Via The Observer.

Gaza: Israel's Energy Cuts Violate Laws of War

To my mind, terrorism takes many forms. This is definitely one of them.

Israel isn't just making life unpleasant, uncomfortable, inconvenient for the people in Gaza. Its killing them.

Israel's cuts of fuel and electricity to Gaza, set to escalate today, amount to collective punishment of the civilian population, and violate Israel's obligations under the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today.

These cuts, which Israel says are intended to pressure Palestinian armed groups to end their unlawful rocket attacks against civilians in southern Israel, are having a grave impact on Gaza's hospitals, water-pumping stations, sewage-treatment facilities, and other infrastructure essential for the well-being of Gaza's population.

Starting today, Israel will reduce the electricity it sells directly to Gaza by 1.5 megawatts over the next three weeks. This adds to a series of Israeli measures since 2006 that have caused a 20 percent shortfall in Gaza's electricity needs. The Israeli Supreme Court approved the most recent cuts last week, rejecting a petition by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

"Israel views restricting fuel and electricity to Gaza as a way to pressure Palestinian armed groups to stop their rocket and suicide attacks," said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "But the cuts are seriously affecting civilians who have nothing to do with these armed groups, and that violates a fundamental principle of the laws of war."

Human Rights Watch said that indiscriminate Palestinian rocket and suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians constitute war crimes, but Israel's attempts to suppress those attacks must not also violate international humanitarian law.

Israeli officials have implicitly acknowledged that the fuel and electricity cuts amount to collective punishment. "There is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards at Sderot and other communities in the south," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on January 24.

Morever [sic], Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said on January 18: "If Palestinians don't stop the violence, I have a feeling the life of people in Gaza is not going to be easy."

Human Rights Watch is correct. The indiscriminate Palestinian rocket and suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians constitute war crimes. There's no doubt about that, but they are also correct in saying Israel's attempts to suppress those attacks must not also violate international humanitarian law.

Via Reuters.

Election Farce: Chicago voters are told pen had 'invisible ink'

This would be funny haha if it weren't so disgusting.

When it comes to election shenanigans, Chicago has been accused of just about everything. But invisible ink? Twenty voters at a Far North Side precinct who found their ink pens not working were told by election judges not to worry. It's invisible ink, officials said. The scanner will count it. But their votes weren't recorded after all.

Furthermore, people believed what they were told. What maroons.

Via The Signs.

Quote of the day

"A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation."

-- Howard Scott
founder of the technocracy movement
(1890–1970)

Via Pensito Review.

Isn't this a tad bit extreme?

Just asking.


Via Neatorama.

Singapore reports 13th chikungunya case

Perhaps you've never heard of dengue fever. If so you're lucky.

Now there's another one for ya. Another with no cure.

Singapore reported one more case of the mosquito-borne chikungunya fever, bringing the total number of the tropical disease to 13, local media reported Wednesday.

Local television Channel News Asia quoted the National Environment Agency and the Health Ministry as saying that the latest probable case was a Singaporean female who was admitted to hospital for suspected dengue fever on Jan. 16, and later was found to have chikungunya fever.

Its an old fucking joke, but why didn't Noah kill that pair of mosquitoes and house flies when he had the chance?

Just another missed opportunity I'm thinking.

Via Xinhua.

Is Ombudsman Already in Jeopardy?

Whew that was close! Bush nearly blew it, but he came up with a great fucking save.

He can't just let anyone have access to information via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). That would be so, like, un-American.

Hours before the new year, open-government groups won a key victory in their years-long fight to force government agencies to release documents without months, and sometimes years, of delay. The moment came when President Bush reluctantly signed a law enforcing better compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

But in his budget request this week, Bush proposed shifting a newly created ombudsman’s position from the National Archives and Records Administration to the Department of Justice. Because the ombudsman would be the chief monitor of compliance with the new law, that move is akin to killing the critical function, some members of Congress and watchdog groups say.

“Justice represents the agencies when they’re sued over FOIA. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to be the mediator,” said Kristin Adair, staff counsel at the National Security Archive, which is suing the White House to force it to preserve e-mails the administration says it may have lost.

What is totally bizarre is how people in the Bush administration don't seem to understand what unlimited power they are handing to the next administration which very likely will be Democratic.

Sometimes the hight of stupidity within this goddamn administration really is mind-blowing.

Via Free Press.

The World's Dump: Ocean Garbage from Hawaii to Japan

It can amaze what humans are doing to Earth.

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris -- in effect the world's largest rubbish dump -- is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Ah, plastic. Another fine benefit from oil.

Via AlterNet.

Diebold E-Voting Machine Key Copied from Online Picture!

It was revealed in the course of last summer's landmark virus hack of a Diebold touch-screen voting system at Princeton University that, incredibly, the company uses the same key to open every machine. It's also an easy key to buy at any office supply store since it's used for filing cabinets and hotel mini-bars! That is, if you're not a poll worker who already has one from the last time you worked on an election (anybody listening down there in San Diego?) [emphasis in original].

Please see my post just below. See what I mean?

Via Political Bunker which got it from Brad Blog.

Super Tuesday

Just trying to be realistic here. For many years I never had a doubt I'd marked a ballot and it would be counted. Not so much anymore.

Actually this post is a charade because my state isn't part of Super Tuesday. Gotcha!

Clintons' finances

I can't vouch for this information. It was forwarded to me by a friend. Most of it does sound right. Some of the facts I know to be true.

If Hillary Clinton wins in 2008 And Bill Clinton is 'appointed' to fill her Senate Seat And either live to retire 'they' (together or alone) Would get....

Two US Presidential retirement checks,

Two US Senate retirement Checks,

And

A retirement check from the State of Arkansas .

About the only thing they MIGHT NOT get is...

A Social Security Check....

But I wouldn't bet on it....

I understand old Bill has earned

$40,000,000 in the past six years.

What a guy!

AND THE REST OF THE STORY...

HRC, as a New York State Senator,

Now comes under the

'Congressional Retirement and Staffing Plan,'

Which means that even if she never gets re-elected,

She STILL receives her Congressional salary until she dies.

(Would it not be nice if all Americans

Were pension eligible after only 4 years?)

If Bill outlives her,

He then inherits HER salary until HE dies.

He is already getting his Presidential salary until he dies.

If Hillary outlives Bill,

She also gets HIS salary until she dies.

Guess who pays for that?

It's common knowledge that in order for her

To establish NY residency,

They purchased a million dollar-plus house

In upscale Chappaqua, New York .

Makes sense!

They are entitled to Secret Service protection for life.

Still makes sense.

Here is where it becomes interesting.

Their mortgage payments hover at around

$10,000 per month.

BUT, an extra residence 'had' to be built

Within the acreage to house

The Secret Service agents.

The Clinton's charge

The Federal government $10,000 monthly rent

For the use of that extra residence,

Which is about equal to their mortgage payment.

This means that American taxpayers,

Are paying the Clinton's

Salary,

Mortgage,

Transportation,

Safety and security,

As well as the salaries For their 12 man staff -- and,

This is all perfectly legal!

How many people

Can YOU send this to?

The Star Spangled Banner - rewrite

Do you know the last sentence of The Star Spangled Banner? Here it is.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Its been rewritten to reflect what Bush has done to America.


Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the surveilled and the home of the afraid?

The future is NOT now

Yeah, I know it says by "admin", but its Jonco. Trust me on this. Still some bugs to work out at the new website methinks.

Via Jonco.

Global food security plummets

Two subjects I've visited in the past. Dwindling food and water supplies. Emphasis mine.

WORLD food security has slumped to its lowest since records began in 1960, with a marked decline in grain stocks.

Julian Cribb, from Sydney's University of Technology, said the oil and credit crises rattling world economies were nothing compared to the threat from emerging global food shortages.

Food prices have risen steeply over the past two years and farmers last week warned the cost of basic items such as bread, milk and meat would jump again this year, mainly due to soaring commodity prices. "Year on year, humanity now eats more than it produces," he said.

...

"Cities are now taking much of the water that was used to grow food, while ground water levels are falling in every country where it is used for food," he said.

And just wait until all the affects of biofuels kick in when grains being grown will be diverted to biofuels and won't be available as food.

There is hope, however, food is one thing, but just wait until brew masters can't get enough grains and water to brew beer. Then there will be a resounding outcry.

BTW, yes workers do tramp around in their dirty shoes on the grain that will eventually end up in your loaf of bread. Muahahaha.

Via The Signs.

Amazing, at least to me

Its amazing to me that out of the, literally, millions of blogs out there, SPIIDERWEB™ would be ranked 205,230 in Technorati™.
Via Technorati™.

The New Bush Legacy — Sticking Us in Iraq

Must read IMHO.

A trillion-dollar federal deficit isn’t enough. A slime trail of obfuscation and secrecy is not enough. A record of trampling on our constitutional rights with secret wiretaps and illegal Internet monitoring is not enough. Now George Bush wants to cement his legacy by tying us to Iraq indefinitely by means of a “status of issue agreement.”

Via Pensito Review.

Sorry, but enough of the "Obama Song"

Jesus H Christ on guitar, but does everyone have to recommend the fucking Black-Eyed Peas song?

Yes, I do like the expression of confidence, determination, "can do" attitude, but this ziss boom bah shit isn't gonna save the US. It'll take tons of sacrifice to bring the US back to where it was.

Americans can recover from the current problems Bush has created. They have a knack for that, but chearleading isn't the same as rational, adult, intelligent leadership.

BTW, isn't it amazing what pictures are out there on the internets tubes?

Personal

This will be a strange post, but its my blogsite, so I'm allowed.

In a discussion with one of my sons, he said he feared me the most when I spoke quietly.

Be it known I never abused or hit my children.

Well, that isn't entirely true. Once I spanked my oldest with a piece of Hot Wheel track. It left welts and I never ever used corporal punishment against any of my children thereafter. I was so ashamed.

Ah, perfect food

Ya gotta love it. It may kill you, eventually, but so will most everything else. Meanwhile &mdash enjoy.

Via Jonco.

Superbowl sunday

Be forewarned. This may be an incoherent, disjointed post. Basically its a draft.

The super bowl is coming. Will I watch? Probably not. Possibly for the commercials, but they'll be available later. Why you ask? Let me explain.

US professional football is corporate sport of the highest order. Each team has number crunchers. They "predict" exactly what will happen in each situation. X will do this on offense. Y will do this on defense. Its so predictable as to be boring. I usually fall asleep.

Yes there are incidences of individual physical athletic ability which I do admire, but mostly its "by the book" execution.

Baseball is much worse, basketball much better.

For real novelty and unexpected action you have to watch soccer.

Brazil's Carnaval: too rich for poor?

Hey, I know that girl!
I'm quite sure we dated.
This is one of hundreds of reports about Rio's carnival.

Media reporters are flooding us with reports about carnival.

My supposition is most of these reporters are in Rio, drunk on there asses, reporting on the "spectacle" they're viewing through bloodshot eyes.

Of course, the girl in the above photo has nothing to to with their perspective.

Are any of these reporters female? I've not seen any such stories.

I could well be wrong but I'm rarely infallible.

Tonight, millions of people will tune in to a world-famous spectacle involving carefully choreographed moves, intense competition and fanatical spectators.

ADMISSION: Should I get the opportunity to go to Rio for carnival on someone else's dime and drink myself silly and stare at the girl above, I would be packing my bag.

Via International.