China's premier is hero of quake rescue effort

Compare and contrast to the moron in the White House vis a vis 9/11. I'm not going to mention NOLA. Shit! I did mention NOLA.

Note: Headline links to source.

Woman rescued after 124 hours trapped in ruins

No excerpt from the story about China's Sichuan Province. The headline says it all...NEVER GIVE UP!

Note: Headline links to source.

License Plate Controversy

Hey, I'm not one to side with the fundies as a rule, but this is fucking ridiculous.

Who gives a shit if someone has a cross, image of Christ or a star of David on their license plate?

You? Then you are a thin skinned, anal retentive asshole.

This has nothing to do with separation of church and state. The state would be providing license plates some in the public want. Big deal. As long as they don't require me or you to have such a license plate its a non-issue.

I'm personally no more offended by this than those who have "Jesus is Lord" or "God is great" in their rear window. They have every right to do such.

Christian-themed license plates are inching closer to becoming legal in South Carolina, setting up a new constitutional showdown over freedom of expression and the wall between church and state. The proposed plate would carry the words "I believe" in front of an image of the cross. [OMG!]

The popularity of personalized and thematic plates is exploding nationwide, as Stefan Lonce outlines in his upcoming book LCNS2ROM—License to Roam: Vanity License Plates and the GR8 Stories They Tell.

But it's also proving to be a legal nightmare, as political forces battle over what is acceptable. A DMV administrator in South Dakota recently testified before the state legislature on behalf of banning personalized plates altogether, saying it makes the state vulnerable to First Amendment lawsuits. After all, what is perfectly reasonable to one person may be offensive to another.

Perhaps its just me, but offending others because of my self expression is of no concern.

Yeah, I know the image is from Florida. Closest I could find.

BTW, I still have no idea what 2Xtian4aPl8 means (at the link).

Note: Headline links to source.

CDC: Syringe reuse linked to Las Vegas hepatitis C outbreak

Unconscionable: adj. A hepatitis C outbreak was caused by workers improperly reusing syringes and medicine vials at a Las Vegas clinic, federal health officials said Friday.

It's also the definition of some other less savory words.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was contacted by state health officials earlier this year after two people treated at the now-closed Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada were diagnosed with hepatitis C.

Officials have linked 84 cases of the liver disease to the clinic after notifying 50,000 patients of the clinic to be tested.

CDC investigators said in a report to the Nevada State Health Division that during visits to the clinic, they saw employees reusing syringes to give a sedative and that interviews suggested it was common practice.

"This was considered the most likely mode of transmission," the report said.

The CDC said the same syringe was used for an individual patient if more sedative was needed. Backflow into the syringe from an infected patient could have contaminated the sedative vial. The virus could have been passed along from the contaminated vial when it was improperly used for the next patient, the CDC said.

Note: Headline links to source.

68% of Italians want Gypsies expelled - poll

I really hate to think it impossible to stop humans from hating groups of other humans, but xenophobia is universal.

I've never been to a country which doesn't have "others" they just can't stand. And in each case, its always the same. They can't be trusted. They lie. They steal. They'll kidnap your children. They're lazy. They aren't smart (like us). They smell. They'll eat your dog.

Well, in some locations there's something to that last one. Keep Fido in the yard or you might never see him again.

Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled, according to an opinion poll. The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished . About 70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s. Another 10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy.

Yep, that's a photo of cooked dog.

You might want to be careful the next time you eat out. The menu might give you a clue.



Note: Headline links to source.

NAACP picks young activist as its new president (AP)

Benjamin Todd Ellis
OK. I apologize in advance for this post. I couldn't help myself. Low hanging fruit as it were.

But before we get to the fruit, let me say the NAACP seems to have chosen a great new president. His credentials are astonishing for someone so young..

Ben became a member of the NAACP when 13 years old.

The NAACP board of directors has chosen Ben Jealous, a former news executive and lifelong activist, as the organization's next president and the youngest [35 years old] in its 99-year history.

...

The NAACP was founded in 1909 by an interracial coalition that battled segregation and lynching and helped win some of the nation's biggest civil rights victories. [emphasis mine]

Interviewer: So what's your name, son.
Ben: Ben Jealous sir.
Interviewer: I've been jealous myself, but I have to know your name.

Hahaha.

For some reason the guy reminds me of Vince Vaughn.



Note: Headline links to source.

Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices (AP)

This is a group of people rarely considered by most and are taking the economic decline in the shorts.

What if you had no money for food for two weeks? Just asking.

Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran out nearly two weeks ago.

...

This is what the skyrocketing cost of food looks like at street level: Poor people whose food stamps don't buy as much as they once did rushing into a store in the dead of night, filling shopping carts with cereal, eggs and milk so their kids can wake up on the first day of the month to a decent meal.

"People with incomes below the poverty threshold are in dire straits because not only are food prices increasing but the food stamps they are receiving have not increased," said Dr. John Cook, an associate professor at Boston University's medical school who has studied the food stamp program, particularly how it affects children.

On the South Side of Chicago, people like Brown wait for the stroke of midnight, when one month gives way to another and brings a new allotment of food stamps.

Dennis Kladis began opening his family owned One Stop Food & Liquors once a month at midnight nine months ago to give desperate families a chance to buy food as soon as possible.

"I'm telling you, by the end of the month they're just dying to get back to the first," said Kladis, who has watched other area stores follow his lead. "Obviously, they are struggling to get through the month."

Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department, which runs the food stamp program, said there is only so much the aid can do.

"Food stamps were designed to be a supplement to the food budget," she said. They "were never intended to be the entire budget."

Perhaps Danielle could have been more frugal with the stamps she did spend. Ramen, which I survived on most of the time for a few years comes to mind, but we don't know if she did that or not.

They "were never intended to be the entire budget." Well in many cases that's exactly what they are. Does Jean think for a moment rents are coming down? The costs to clothe a child are dropping? Of course we all know utilities aren't rising.

Note: Headline links to source.

Questions requiring answers

This is an easy one.

Does the US really need a cult of personality in the White House again? Just asking.

Here's something that can make you feel proud

Bagram prison in Afghanistan
Well, maybe I'm wrong about the proud bit.

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The proposed detention center would replace the cavernous, makeshift American prison on the Bagram military base north of Kabul, which is now typically packed with about 630 prisoners, compared with the 270 held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Until now, the Bush administration had signaled that it intended to scale back American involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan. It had planned to transfer a large majority of the prisoners to Afghan custody, in an American-financed, high-security prison outside Kabul to be guarded by Afghan soldiers.

But American officials now concede that the new Afghan-run prison cannot absorb all the Afghans now detained by the United States, much less the waves of new prisoners from the escalating fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The proposal for a new American prison at Bagram underscores the daunting scope and persistence of the United States military’s detention problem, at a time when Bush administration officials continue to say they want to close down the facility at Guantánamo Bay.

Apparently with a proclivity for incarcerating people (one in 100 adult Americans are in jail or prison), its hard not to export such a mindset to other parts of the world.

Note: Headline links to source which links to the NYT.

Toddler sparks full-scale search by wandering off

First rule of parenting: Ya gotta keep your eye on the little fuckers every second.

A three-year-old sparked a full-scale police search in England today when he wandered off from his mother in a busy market and hopped on a bus.

Lee Loram became separated from her in the town centre of Blackburn and somehow managed to board a service from the town to Bolton.

The toddler stayed on the Lancashire United route 225 service – an hour’s journey each way – as it winded its way through Darwen, Egerton and Astley Bridge to its final destination.

He remained on the bus at Bolton for the return journey and got off at Blackburn bus station where he was quickly spotted by police officers who returned him to his family safe and well.

Note: Headline links to source.

Unanswered 9/11 Questions

Now, assuming this petition is not coming from 357 people in tinfoil hats, this is a pretty astonishing accusation.

At the least, it should be treated seriously and require further investigation.

Source: ABC.Net.Au - Hereward Fenton [FYI: the .Au stands for Australia - ed]

The collapse of New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 is arguably one of the most well documented events in human history. Less well documented is the controversy over why the buildings fell as they did.

At the time of writing, 357 architectural and engineering professionals have signed a petition which directly challenges the National Institute of Standards & Training's official finding that the destruction of these massive buildings was caused solely by structural damage from the impact of jet airliners and the resulting fires.

The petition, demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation, states, in part:

"...the 9/11 investigation must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that may have been the actual cause behind the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC Building 7."

This alarming statement is based on evidence from many sources, including observations of the structural behaviour of the towers as they collapsed, the known characteristics of steel framed buildings, eyewitness testimony of explosions, and research into the chemical composition of dust recovered from the collapse zone.

Current research indicates that an incendiary (thermite) may have been used to sever the massive box columns of the towers, causing the buildings to plummet to the ground at close to free-fall speed.

Chemical analysis has been conducted by a multi-disciplinary team led by
Professor Steven E. Jones and the results published in the Journal of 9/11 Studies.

The membership of Architects and Engineers For 9/11 Truth is worldwide, and qualified Australians have made contributions. Dr. Frank Legge, a chemist, has co-authored a peer reviewed paper, and Dr. David Leifer of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney is a registered member of the group.

A major focus of research is the mysterious collapse of the
47 storey WTC 7 (Salomon Brothers) Building, which was not hit by any plane, yet suddenly collapsed into its own footprint late in the afternoon of September 11, 2001.

Building 7 came down in six and a half seconds, generating a massive dust-cloud similar to the one that had enveloped Manhattan when the Twin Towers collapsed earlier the same day.

Researchers contend that only explosives could have provided enough energy to cause the pulverisation of thousands of tons of concrete into dust, and they highlight the symmetrical, free-fall collapse of the building through the path of greatest resistance, indicating that the supporting columns offered no resistance to the falling mass above.

Historically, the only way a modern office building has ever been made to collapse vertically in free-fall, as observed in WTC Building 7, is through the use of shaped cutter charges detonated in a timed sequence.

This procedure is known as controlled demolition, and requires a precise placement of explosives which are designed to cut through supports successively, usually from the bottom up, pulling buildings down under their own weight.

The collapse of Building 7 is visually identical to a controlled demolition, as illustrated in a side by side comparison on Youtube. Demolition expert Danny Jowenko has gone on record confirming this observation.
"A team of experts did this", he said.

The essence of why we need a new investigation into the World Trade Center collapses is summed up in a recent paper by Dr. Frank Legge:

"As no reports have come to light of any steel framed buildings collapsing due to fire, and as all steel framed buildings which had collapsed had done so due to explosive demolition, the logical way to have started the investigation of this surprising event would have been to question whether explosives had been used. This apparently did not occur.

The organisations carrying out the investigations clearly selectively collected data and contrived arguments to support the fire theory and ignored contradictory evidence. This is in defiance of the scientific method and flouts the ethical standard of behaviour which the public is entitled to receive from their paid servants."

The hypothesis of controlled demolition finds further support in many eyewitness accounts, including live TV coverage, which described massive explosions in the lower levels of the World Trade Center prior to the collapse.

William Rodriguez, an acknowledged hero of 9/11 who single-handedly rescued fifteen people from the North Tower, described a massive explosion in the basement which occurred before the first plane struck, pushing him upwards out of the seat of his chair.

The New York Fire Department's oral histories project contains 118 witness statements which are strongly consistent with explosive demolition. Incredibly, none of this shocking testimony was included or acknowledged in any official investigation, including the 9/11 Commission.Source: ABC.Net.Au - Hereward Fenton

The collapse of New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 is arguably one of the most well documented events in human history. Less well documented is the controversy over why the buildings fell as they did.

At the time of writing, 357 architectural and engineering professionals have signed a petition which directly challenges the National Institute of Standards & Training's official finding that the destruction of these massive buildings was caused solely by structural damage from the impact of jet airliners and the resulting fires.

The petition, demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation, states, in part:

"...the 9/11 investigation must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that may have been the actual cause behind the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC Building 7."

This alarming statement is based on evidence from many sources, including observations of the structural behaviour of the towers as they collapsed, the known characteristics of steel framed buildings, eyewitness testimony of explosions, and research into the chemical composition of dust recovered from the collapse zone.

Current research indicates that an incendiary (thermite) may have been used to sever the massive box columns of the towers, causing the buildings to plummet to the ground at close to free-fall speed.

Chemical analysis has been conducted by a multi-disciplinary team led by
Professor Steven E. Jones and the results published in the Journal of 9/11 Studies.

The membership of Architects and Engineers For 9/11 Truth is worldwide, and qualified Australians have made contributions. Dr. Frank Legge, a chemist, has co-authored a peer reviewed paper, and Dr. David Leifer of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney is a registered member of the group.

A major focus of research is the mysterious collapse of the
47 storey WTC 7 (Salomon Brothers) Building, which was not hit by any plane, yet suddenly collapsed into its own footprint late in the afternoon of September 11, 2001.

Building 7 came down in six and a half seconds, generating a massive dust-cloud similar to the one that had enveloped Manhattan when the Twin Towers collapsed earlier the same day.

Researchers contend that only explosives could have provided enough energy to cause the pulverisation of thousands of tons of concrete into dust, and they highlight the symmetrical, free-fall collapse of the building through the path of greatest resistance, indicating that the supporting columns offered no resistance to the falling mass above.

Historically, the only way a modern office building has ever been made to collapse vertically in free-fall, as observed in WTC Building 7, is through the use of shaped cutter charges detonated in a timed sequence.

This procedure is known as controlled demolition, and requires a precise placement of explosives which are designed to cut through supports successively, usually from the bottom up, pulling buildings down under their own weight.

The collapse of Building 7 is visually identical to a controlled demolition, as illustrated in a side by side comparison on Youtube. Demolition expert Danny Jowenko has gone on record confirming this observation.
"A team of experts did this", he said.

The essence of why we need a new investigation into the World Trade Center collapses is summed up in a recent paper by Dr. Frank Legge:

"As no reports have come to light of any steel framed buildings collapsing due to fire, and as all steel framed buildings which had collapsed had done so due to explosive demolition, the logical way to have started the investigation of this surprising event would have been to question whether explosives had been used. This apparently did not occur.

The organisations carrying out the investigations clearly selectively collected data and contrived arguments to support the fire theory and ignored contradictory evidence. This is in defiance of the scientific method and flouts the ethical standard of behaviour which the public is entitled to receive from their paid servants."

The hypothesis of controlled demolition finds further support in many eyewitness accounts, including live TV coverage, which described massive explosions in the lower levels of the World Trade Center prior to the collapse.

William Rodriguez, an acknowledged hero of 9/11 who single-handedly rescued fifteen people from the North Tower, described a massive explosion in the basement which occurred before the first plane struck, pushing him upwards out of the seat of his chair.

The New York Fire Department's oral histories project contains 118 witness statements which are strongly consistent with explosive demolition. Incredibly, none of this shocking testimony was included or acknowledged in any official investigation, including the 9/11 Commission.

Note: Headline links to source.

Heading out to fill up the ol' fuel tank?

This should come in handy.

Just my luck

This is pretty much how my week has gone.

Note: Headline links to source.

US will stop sending oil into strategic reserves

High gas prices posted at a Shell gas station in
Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday,May 14, 2008, as
a Toyota Prius hybrid drives by. Gas prices roared
above $3.75 a gallon Wednesday, while oil prices
fell as an Energy Department report gave a mixed
picture of the nation's petroleum reserves. At the
pump, the average national price of a gallon of
regular gas rose 2.6 cents overnight to a record
$3.758 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price
Information Service. Gas prices are 67 cents higher
than a year ago, and are expected to continue rising
at least until the Memorial Day weekend.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
File this under: When news sources try to create catastrophes which aren't.

The Energy Department says it has canceled oil shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning in July when the current purchase contract expires.

The move came days after Congress passed legislation requiring the president to suspend the shipment into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline prices.

...

The reserve is 97 percent full, holding 701 million barrels of crude.

I'm sorry, but 97 fucking percent seems pretty fine at present.

I do think, from a layman's point of view, the measly oil reserve shipments will affect the price of oil as much as SPIIDERWEB™ affects foreign policy. Its all politics, folks, and don't ya forget it.

BTW, I predicted $5 oil (can't find the fucking link). I may have shot too low.

Note: Headline links to source.

U.S. announces deal to send 500,000 tons of food to North Korea

The Bush administration says the food aid is unrelated to its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang.

Oh yeah. Sure. And if you buy that, the moron also has a bridge he'll sell ya...cheap (some assembly required).

Note: Headline links to source.

US marine jailed for abusing 14-year-old Japanese girl

A US military court in Japan today sentenced a US marine to four years in prison for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in a case that prompted renewed anger at the huge American military presence on the island of Okinawa.

Ah, but wait until the military starts deploying the people convicted of sexual offenses.

I've visited this subject before.

Note: Headline links to source.

Friends - wealthy variety

Here are two headlines from AP posted online two hours 22 minutes apart. Money has no influence in any of this. I'm sure of it.

First the request from one friend.

Bush asks Saudis to increase oil production

And the response from the other friends.

Saudis see no reason to raise oil production now

Considering the Bush family has a long history of "friendship" with the Saudis and the idiot-in-chief's administration even authorized the bin Laden family to leave the US after 9/11 when almost no one else was allowed to fly, ya have to wonder who needs fucking friends like this?

Note: Headline links to source.

There are ways to recover damaged data

This article quoted below is misleading.

Early on in my former life as a DJ I got some CDs from a friend who didn't want them anymore. He had written his name on them with a Sharpie permanent marker.

From another former life as a store owner I knew finger nail polish remover or hair spray would remove this writing. At the time I had no idea what trouble that would cause.

Long story short, the finger nail polish remover also dissolved the label. The CDs wouldn't play anymore.

Scratches and smudges on the clear side of the CD can distort what the laser "sees" because it is like a window, but the real danger is scratching the label side. That's why you should always lay CDs down on a table or whatever label-side up.

See below for what Wikipedia has to say on this.

The course you take will depend upon the type of media on which the data is stored as well as how severe the damage is.
If the scratches aren't deep, it's likely that you can at least improve the playability of the disks simply by cleaning them. Just mix up a solution of water and window cleaner or other gentle detergent, such as baby shampoo. Then use the solution to dampen a soft, lint-free cloth.
Use the dampened cloth to wipe the data side of the CD. Sometimes what appear to be scratches are actually just smudges, and these can often be removed in this fashion.

From Wikipedia.

A standard CD-R is a 1.2 mm thick disc made of polycarbonate with a 120 mm or 80 mm diameter.

...

The polycarbonate disc contains a spiral groove, called the "pregroove" (because it is molded in before data is written to the disc), to guide the laser beam upon writing and reading information. The pregroove is molded into the top side of the polycarbonate disc, where the pits and lands would be molded if it were a pressed (nonrecordable) Red Book CD; the bottom side, which faces the laser beam in the player or drive, is flat and smooth. [emphasis mine]

As for cleaning, the article is correct, but...

Always clean from the center hole to the outer edge. The laser is trying to read a spiral of data and this is the safest way to clean and still prevent mis-reads.

Note: Headline links to source.

Pupil pulled to safety in China after 80 hours

Its far too early to give up hope in finding survivors of China's immense (7.8 or 7.9 depending on the source of the info) earthquake as this story proves.

But better still is this: I watched an interview on CNN of a emergency rescue team member who is respected internationally as well as just in the US. He said, in fact, people can survive for up to 19 days if they have enough air.

I'm sure most people wouldn't intentionally go without food, water for 19 days voluntarily, but it can be done according to him. I wish I had caught his name.

Rescuers have pulled a pupil to safety after being trapped for 80 hours in the debris of a school following China’s massive earthquake, it was reported today.

Note: Headline links to source.

Hillary Clinton Train wreck of a campaign

Too early for this? Just asking.

Note: Headline links to source.

The internets tubes

Goatsee comes immediately to mind.

Don't look for it.

Technically that should be "there're" and not "there's", but that just nit picking.

Note: Headline links to source.

This could take a while…

Damn it! This is my PC.
Isn't that progress bar just a tad aggressive? Guess Micro$oft programmed it.

Note: Headline links to source.

Hypocrisy

The US. Killing for peace daily.

Note: Headline links to source.

Tree Cutters (This end down)

Is this a joke or are these guys really so stupid they need instructions?

Note: Headline links to source.

Always room for one more

Sure we can squeeze you in.
Note: Headline links to source.

Global Warming - I’ll treat it like a crisis when the people who keep telling me it’s a crisis start acting like it’s a crisis

Sad but oh so true for most.

Note: Headline links to source.

Michelangelo-inspired shorts do nothing to preserve your modesty - NSFW

These things are not only immodest, but perverse, sick, clever, outrageous, disgusting, controversial, in bad taste (the adjectives could go on forever) and ultimately so funny they meet all my criteria and I had to show you.


For me? Hahaha. Ya gotta be kidding.

Note: Headline links to source.

A Very Endangered Species

Its getting to be a drag trying to snag fish
with no equipment. Maybe this will help.
Now if I can just find a fucking net.
I'm being extremely flippant here, but the other article is serious.

I must say the headline fits this entry too.

Note: Headline links to source.

Quake death toll could reach 50,000

Rescue workers carry an earthquake
victim evacuated by boat from Yingxiu
to the Zipingpu Dam as roads are still
inaccessible near Dujiangyan, southwestern
China's Sichuan province, Thursday,
May 15, 2008. China warned the death toll
from this week's earthquake could soar to
50,000, while the government issued a rare
public appeal Thursday for rescue equipment
as it struggled to cope with the disaster.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
When is an estimate of 50,000 dead good news? When other estimates place the figure at 100,000.

This is a much sadder story when you know something about the make-up of the Chinese relative to death. They accept it as inevitable, but it's to be honored, respected and not with truncated or non-existent rites and burial in pits.

If you've ever seen a Chinese cemetery it would be obvious to you.

Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting Thursday from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final toll could more than double to 50,000.

As the massive military-led recovery operation inched farther into regions cut off by Monday's quake, the government sought to enlist the public's help with an appeal for everything from hammers to cranes and, in a turnabout, began accepting foreign aid missions, the first from regional rival Japan.

Millions of survivors left homeless or too terrified to go indoors faced their fourth night under tarpaulins, tents or nothing at all as workers patched roads and cleared debris to reach more outlying towns in the disaster zone.

Health officials said there have been no outbreaks of disease so far, with workers rushing to inoculate survivors against disease, supply them with drinking water, and find ways to dispose of an overwhelming number of corpses.

"There are still bodies in the hills, and pits are being dug to bury them," said Zhao Xiaoli, a nurse in the ruined town of Hanwang. "There's no way to bring them down. It's too dangerous."

Troops in the town of Luoshui in a quake-ravaged area used a mechanical shovel to dig a pit on a hilltop. Two bodies wrapped in white sheets lay beside it. Down the hill sat four mounds of lime.

In a sign of nervousness, 50 troops lined the road outside Luoshui. Five farmers watched them dig the burial pit, after performing brief funerary rites. Local police detained an Associated Press reporter and photographer who took photos of the scene, holding them in a government compound for 3 1/2 hours before releasing them without explanation.

Across the quake zone in Dujiangyan, troops in face masks collected corpses and loaded them onto a flatbed truck. Thick black smoke streamed from the twin chimneys of the town's crematorium.

Fears about damage to a major dam in the quake zone appeared to ease. The Zipingpu dam had reportedly suffered cracks from the disaster, but there was no repair work or extra security at the dam when it was reached Thursday by an AP photographer, indicating the threat to the structure had likely passed.

Note: Headline links to source.

Local heroes step in to help cyclone victims

Myanmar volunteers serve a free breakfast to
children at a temple after the destructive
Cyclone Nargis on the outskirts of Yangon,
Myanmar, Monday, May 12, 2008. AP photo.
Does it always have to be the good with the bad?

In an apparent attempt to maintain absolute control over Myanmar, the junta is denying its own people. One word comes to mind besides "fuck" and its the far more polite "reprehensible".

One often believes a military made up our sons, daughters, friends could never do this to us, but you just never fucking know.

From shopkeepers handing out free rice porridge to medical students caring for the sick, ordinary people in Myanmar are stepping in to help cyclone victims as the military regime severely restricts international aid.

Taxi drivers, factory owners, college students, teachers and other Yangon residents — many of whom lost their own homes — are among those organizing grueling trips into the Irrawaddy delta, the hardest-hit region.

"They are true humanitarian heroes," said Bridget Gardner, International Red Cross representative in Myanmar, after touring an area where volunteers were giving first aid to the injured.

They are taking up collections at businesses and donating food, clothes and water. Some who are too poor to give money or supplies are offering their labor to help clear debris and rebuild villages leveled by the May 3 cyclone.

"We feel sympathetic to the cyclone victims and want to help them in our own way," said Daw Mya Win, who runs a small grocery in a northern Yangon suburb where many bamboo shanty houses were destroyed.

The 49-year-old woman cooks rice porridge every day to feed anyone who comes. She also sends pots of the thick viscous mixture of rice, water and seasonings to some of the thousands of homeless who have sought shelter in the country's Buddhist monasteries.

Others have taken refuge in Catholic churches where priests and nuns are caring for the hungry and homeless.

Note: Headline links to source.

Is Barack Obama Mentally Fatigued?

This really does bother me and has for some time. Larry nails it.

Running for office and running a fucking country are hardly comparable.

Note: Headline links to source.

Boat carrying Myanmar aid sinks; toll climbs beyond 28,000

Oh man!*

Myanmar's monumental task of feeding and sheltering 1.5 million cyclone survivors suffered yet another blow Sunday when a boat laden with relief supplies — one of the first international shipments — sank on its way to the disaster zone.

The death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned that "malign neglect" by the isolated nation's military rulers was creating a "humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions."

Note: Headline links to source.

* I explain.

Obama

It appears Obama will win the nomination and win again in November.

In many ways he will win for the wrong reasons as did the moron we have now.

Is he winning because he is someone you want to have a beer with? Nope.

Is he winning because he brings experience to the office? Nope.

He's winning because he has an aura people can't deny.

So did Mussolini and Hitler.

Is Obama similar to them? I sure as shit hope not. Bush comes close enough for my taste.

Jenna Bush married in lovely ranch ceremony (sources say)

Am I the only one who couldn't give a shit? Just asking.

Note: Headline links to source.

Them good ol' days

File under humor? Yeah, I think so. On second thought, perhaps under sad.

“I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.”

“Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won’t be long before $2000 will only buy a used one.”

“If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.”

“Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?”

“If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.”

“When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage”

“Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.”

“I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying ‘damn’ in ‘Gone With The Wind,’ it seems every new movie has either “hell” or “damn” in it.

“I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.”

“Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the president.”

“I never thought I’d see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.”

“It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.”

“It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.”

“Marriage doesn’t mean a thing any more; those Hollywoodstars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.”

“I’m just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.”

“Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes.. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.”

“The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.”

“There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omahaanymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel.”

“No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood.”

“If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.”

Note: Headline links to source.

Obeying the NPT is bad for the NPT

No excerpts. Just follow the link.

I've been here before. Iran may well plan nuclear arms, but so far they've followed the NPT.

Note: Headline links to source.

Stop already!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.

I am a thief

All of these were stolen from Small Bits and Pieces which is run by someone close to my heart (in a definitely manly way).

Note: Headline links to source.

Bloomberg Teaches London’s New Mayor Old Tricks

"You don’t have to match your answers to their questions. If you don’t give the right answers to their questions, they asked the wrong questions,"

-- Michael R. Bloomberg
-- Mayor of New York

Note: Headline links to source.

I found this at Bad Attitudes.

Ya want fries with that?

Are you feeling at all...hungry? Muhahaha.

Bush = shit

This is so fucking fitting.

A group called the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco has launched a ballot initiative that would rename a city sewage treatment plant the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant."

Note: Headline links to source.

I got this from a bunch of numbers.

Myanmar's junta holds referendum despite cyclone crisis Myanmar's junta holds referendum despite cyclone crisis

God, please deliver us from small, insecure men.

Myanmar's military rulers held a referendum Saturday aimed at solidifying their hold on power while brazenly turning cyclone relief efforts into a propaganda campaign. In some cases, generals' names were scribbled onto boxes of foreign aid before being distributed.

Note: Headline links to source.