Another satisfied customer at the DMV
Malalai Kakar: KIA KandaharIn recent decades, the first girl to make a name for herself by living up to the heroines of the past was a 16-year-old schoolgirl by the name of Nahid. In February 1980, Nahid led a demonstration of schoolgirls and female university students on the streets of Kabul. It was one of the very first public protests testing the loyalty of the communist regime's army and police force. Would the government shoot at unarmed schoolgirls and students? The answer, it turned out, was a firm yes. Soviet helicopters were soon heard hovering over the protesters, and shooting soon followed. Nahid fell immediately, and so did many of her companions.Although the Taliban and other oppressive groups trying to establish a patriarchal society through a process of subordination, it's heartening to see women rising above the tyranny. Primarily, because worldwide human rights is worthy cause now that the information age has brought about easy methods to dispel ignorance. But, privately, I advocate for a more matriarchal societal structure so that me and my guy friends can wallow in irrelevant good times with blogging, drinking, and occasionally mowing the lawn while the women run the country and stay in charge of the family unit. A trip to see the Dockyard Derby Dames doing roller derby in Tacoma proved that strong females were still around at least in this country.
It's Never Too Early to Start!Does John McCain need help? McCain gambles away thousands of dollars of his wife's money, reportedly playing craps for eight hours straight. If he were an ordinary guy, without his wife's millions to fritter away, I'd expect to see him go bankrupt and enter rehab any day now.
Violence Remains Low in Iraq (DoD pdf), but the rhetoric pegs high on the bullshit meterThe media has largely bought into this rosy view of the surge. Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq and U.S. casualties are down, and the media and the U.S. public have tacitly accepted both that the surge was largely responsible for these laudable outcomes and, to a lesser degree, that the underlying situation in Iraq has fundamentally improved. Unfortunately, neither claim is true.These people have called us liars before (see the General Betrayus FAIL), but now they are citing this UCLA study of satellite imagery of lighting in Baghdad (only goes to Dec. 2007) to prove that ethnic cleansing already took place in Baghdad prior to the surge. The study has nothing to stay about the decline in violence in other provinces, and also suggests that surge brigades were sitting on their duffs during all of 2007 and early 2008.
The U.S. military was sealing off neighborhoods that were no longer really active ribbons of violence, largely because the Shiites were victorious in killing large numbers of Sunnis or driving them out of the city all together," Agnew said. "The large portion of the refugees from Iraq who went during this period to Jordan and Syria are from these neighborhoods."A ridiculous statement, seeing how combat brigades were focused in the Sunni stronghold of Adhamiya, followed by the massive ethnosectarian violence going on in East & West Rashid along Sunni-Shi'ite faultlines, and Sadr City and New Baghdad (Shi'ite strongholds) in early 2008. What does these college kids think the soldiers were doing in Baghdad during the Surge, jerking each other off? No is saying that the refugee crisis isn't a serious problem, but to say that the entire surge failed because of some lousy study can only be seen as a fit of desperation and distortion of reality.
Apparently, a massive supercomputer designed to nuke Mars may have been a waste of taxpayer dollarsThe military's struggle to adjust to the counterinsurgency mission in Iraq "came at a frightful human, financial and political cost," Gates told an audience of military officers at the National Defense University here. "For every heroic and resourceful innovation by troops and commanders on the battlefield, there was some institutional shortcoming at the Pentagon that they had to overcome," he said.
While having a military skilled in fighting major conventional ground wars is essential, Gates said, such a war is unlikely in the near future. Yet the Pentagon has placed comparatively too much emphasis on developing high-technology weapon systems aimed at potential state adversaries such as China or Russia that take years to develop, he said, noting that the 2009 budget contains more than $180 billion for such conventional systems.
Brandon Friedman has a mancrush on our current SECDEF, and frankly, I do too. Primarily because he's not a political hack, and also he took the position at a time when he was jumping into a big shit sandwich.
Heroic Protesters Make Good on Maoist Values by Looting the Local StarbucksIn 1999 fifty thousand people, mostly Americans, from all walks of life, marched on the streets of Seattle protesting the policies of the World Trade Organization. The event was dubbed the "Battle in Seattle" and its organizers were clear in their mission -- to shut the talks down and focus the world's attention on policies that were in fact harming the poor, the sick, and the environment. After the world's attention shifted, I felt there was still more of a story to tell. How did David truly slay Goliath?Too bad this "awful" system of capitalism has given pretty boy Stuart a cushy existence as he's shacked up with Hollywood babe Charlize Theron. Meanwhile, us jokels in the rest of America have to pray that our landlords don't have to foreclose on our domiciles because of the crony schemes designed under the guise to "help the poor".
Businesses lost approximately $9 to $18 million in sales, and suffered $2 to $3 million dollars in property damage (mostly covered by insurance). There were further losses in tourism due to damaged reputation, and/or public apprehension in living or visiting Seattle.If these people are so upset with the horrors of capitalism, feel free to move to North Korea...I'll even pay for the ticket! As far as the "real" heroes of modern protests, it has to be the small business owner and his employees who have to clean up the feces and broken glass left behind by these wretched protestors. Of course no one in Hollywood is making a movie about those poor guys, because business is evil...unless your mass-marketing a multi-million dollar movie.
Game Over
Vote Humungus in 2008
The Humungus AmungUs
Wealthy Elites Consolidating Their Exploits With Mercenary Thugs
Vote for Lord Humungus for a chance of survival in the new American wasteland and re-acquire the American dream!
Less than a month later, Siegel was escorted off the same Army base and instructed to sign a document stipulating that he could not return. He had been kicked out—or in military parlance, "administratively separated"—due to a urinalysis that revealed the presence of cocaine. As a result, he lost a host of benefits he might have otherwise received, including military-provided health care, disability pay, and eligibility for the GI Bill.I understand the DoD's zero tolerance towards drug use, since heroin and weed were somewhat prevalent during the Vietnam days, but this seems a little harsh. Couldn't they have sent this kid somewhere to get cleaned up before pulling the rug out from under hiim? When a sailor gets drunk and wrecks his car, he'll generally get sent to mast (disciplinary action in the Navy) and then the command sends him to SARP (Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program) to dry out. But, to go for drugs, you have to go voluntarily, and if you get caught in urinalysis, you're pretty much fucked. Seems a bit draconian.
Maliki Sez Sorry to my Homies in AmericaThe facts sort of back this up. Iraq is running an $80B surplus due to oil exports, while the U.S. is $400B in the stink hole due to greedy politicians wasting money. Iraq does not have an adequate bureaucracy to spend revenue, while America has way too many in the power class with their dicks in the taxpayer pie. Multi-national oil corporations are licking their chops at the opportunity to invest in Iraq due to improved security, while access to offshore oil reserves in America is still very limited. It's naive to think that Iraq doesn't have major economic woes and the violence is still egregious, but it seems to be where the smart money is going. I'm torn between feeling respect for Iraq and a shame about my own country."If I had enough funds to assist the American economy, I would do all that I can. But unfortunately Iraq cannot solve America's economic problems.
"But what Iraq can do is take up more responsibility security-wise here inside Iraq. And I have told the Americans repeatedly that we are ready to take up responsibility here in Iraq so there are less losses, a decreased number of American lives lost, and I am prepared to present this case before the American people. ...
"Iraqis are ready to take up security responsibility inside their country but unfortunately there is not much Iraq can do regarding helping the American economy. And I do understand that it is mostly the economic burden that is impacting your people."
A delicious 40-ouncer of malt liquor
8 trips to the peep show
CD of Euro Heaven 2000 at Wal Mart (the Radiorama track alone might be worth your two dollars)
The entire Middle East and European division of Lehman Brothers. No, this is not a joke.
1) Scanners: Always a classic
2) Toxic Avenger when youngster gets run over: The head crusher scene may give you second thoughts about letting your kdis ride their bikes unsupervised or unarmed
3) Dawn of the Dead during project riot in Philadelphia: Police Brutality at its goriest (this unfortunate dude wasn't even a zombie!)
4) Running Man when political prisoner, Chico, makes a break for the perimeter: Chhiiiicccooooo! (whether or not Gov. Ahnold has ever actually uttered this in the California city is unknown)
5) Akira when Tetsuo mutates: Just an all-around weird, creepy, and fascinating movie (just like much of Japanese culture)
Look at Me Do Yoga at the Airport! I'm so much better than all of you (spotted by Ms. Kiyum)
Anti-Nuclear Hysteria May Still Have an Effect on Public PolicyMCCAIN: No one from Arizona is against solar. And Senator Obama says he's for nuclear, but he's against reprocessing and he's against storing. So...
OBAMA: That's just not true, John. John, I'm sorry, but that's not true.
MCCAIN: ... it's hard to get there from here. And off-shore drilling is also something that is very important and it is a bridge.
And we know that, if we drill off-shore and exploit a lot of these reserves, it will help, at temporarily, relieve our energy requirements. And it will have, I think, an important effect on the price of a barrel of oil.
OBAMA: I just have to respond very quickly, just to correct -- just to correct the record.
MCCAIN: So I want to say that, with the Nunn-Lugar thing...
LEHRER: Excuse me, Senator.
OBAMA: John?
MCCAIN: ... I supported Nunn-Lugar back in the early 1990s when a lot of my colleagues didn't. That was the key legislation at the time and put us on the road to eliminating this issue of nuclear waste and the nuclear fuel that has to be taken care of.
OBAMA: I -- I just have to correct the record here. I have never said that I object to nuclear waste. What I've said is that we have to store it safely.
Obama seems to be taking a middle ground approach on nuclear power, and his energy page has a bunch of pictures of trees and wind turbines, but nothing on splittin' atoms. However, I was able to dig up this video where he discusses some nuclear issues at a campaign rally:
Obama talks about keeping his kids safe, and that nuclear plants need to prove that they are safe (yawn). Pretty dishonest comment seeing how the worst nuclear accident in American history (Three Mile Island) didn't result in anyone getting injured. Meanwhile, every time an oil refinery blows up and leaves a pile of stiffs in its wake, it barely makes a dent on any politician's radar. Obama also mentions that he is against the Yucca mountain depository, which would provide a permanent storage solution for high-level waste. His criticism of the high-cost of nuclear power is justified, but with the cap and trade program he advocates, it could become more economically viable. So, Senator, hopefully you'll come around to support nuke power, and if you don't, remember that there's no bigger a nuisance in the modern age than an unemployed blogger.
JPMorgan Chase acquired the banking assets of Washington Mutual late Thursday after the troubled thrift was seized by federal regulators, marking the biggest bank failure in the nation's history and the latest stunning twist in the ongoing credit crisis.I guess the "whoo-hoo" ad campaign to inspire consumer confidence didn't work out so well. No need to bring your shotgun to make a run on the bank tomorrow, because JP Morgan assures it will be a "normal transition" for customers. Gulp. In an unrelated note, Bob Barr has an extensive piece on how we got into this fuckin mess. It seems as though he's the only one that sees that the Wall St. emperor wears no clothes and compares the Treasury Department's role in this crisis as being similar to the dictatorship in North Korea. A strong metaphor, but it seems to be more true by the day.Under the deal, JPMorgan Chase will acquire all the banking operations of WaMu, including $307 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits.
The gorgeous babes of the Temperance movement should probably be excused, as marketing wasn't a maturely developed industry back then (h/t Sisu). Of course looking at drug war Public Service Announcements (PSAs) through the ages such as Pee Wee telling us not to smoke crack (of course whackin it on PCP in a movie theater is kosher):
Saying Hello to His FansCode Pink is behind the curve, because Iran has already tried to create these so-called "sister cities" in Iraq and Lebanon. Too many incoming 240mm rockets and too many babes getting killed for not wearing the abaya, IMHO. I'm not too hot on the idea of Hezbollah coming into our country to do outreach.The CODEPINK women proposed inviting American and Iranian artists to build a “peace park” in Tehran, a memorial dedicated to people-to-people commitment to peace and diplomacy between our two countries.
They also proposed a plan to invest funds in an Iranian business, one that produces green and sustainable products, such as bicycles.
First there were the Sarah Palin action figures, then the new Pakistani president dropped the skeeze and called Palin a babe (too bad his troops aren't showing the same admiration for the ISAF), and now there's this creepy crop formation in Ohio. From KTVB:This monstrosity would only be worthwhile if the town was run by kids who killed all the adults to worship a demonic caricature ala Children of The Corn. Watch it Palintards, like Obama's fervent water carriers, you're going on notice!You need to be airborne to fully appreciate a corny caricature of Sarah Palin near Toledo, Ohio. A 16-acre cornfield has been carved up in the likeness of the Republican vice presidential candidate to form a tourist attraction's fall corn maze.
The Palin Corn Maze, is it full of weird Satanic shit?
Please Don't Be This LameThis play seems to be falling into the trap of thinking the most flamboyantly vocal of the veterans groups (IVAW) speaks for all veterans. Their strong anti-war ethos helps fuel the artists preconceived notions that have been more than likely been cultivated in some left-leaning college news rag. I'm not saying every interpretation of conflict should play out like the uber-propaganda flick "Triumph of the Will", but I think people only view veterans out of political convenience at this point in American history. A black hole of cognitive dissonance where only voices they want to hear are heard and splashed across marquees.Chambers also plays Darryl Anderson, now AWOL in Canada, who calls himself a "terrorist," for his actions in Iraq, and says he's really helping "make the Iraqi people's lives better" by speaking out against the war.
Damon Williams is particularly poignant as Herold Noel, badly affected by his part in one of the more horrible stories told, an encounter with a woman carrying a baby.
Sean Lally is notable in two roles, one as Ivan Medina, an army chaplain, who returned safely from Iraq but grieves for his twin brother Irving, who was killed there. Lally also portrays Robert Acosta, an army specialist who lost his right hand when he tried to toss an incoming grenade back out of the car he was riding in. Acosta says he liked being in the army "until Iraq came," and blasts the Department of Veterans Affairs for initially denying his medical claims for PTSD and a serious leg injury.
This idea of sterilization of undesirables is nothing new, and has been tried to be legitimized by a few kooks in recent years. However, eugenics was actually considered a viable policy in America before the Nazis began trumpeting it. From HNN:LaBruzzo said he worries that people receiving government aid such as food stamps and publicly subsidized housing are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated people who presumably pay more tax revenue to the government. He said he is gathering statistics now.
"What I'm really studying is any and all possibilities that we can reduce the number of people that are going from generational welfare to generational welfare, " he said.
He said his program would be voluntary. It could involve tubal ligation, encouraging other forms of birth control or, to avoid charges of gender discrimination, vasectomies for men.
In its first twenty-five years of eugenic legislation, California sterilized 9,782 individuals, mostly women. Many were classified as "bad girls," diagnosed as "passionate," "oversexed" or "sexually wayward." At Sonoma, some women were sterilized because of what was deemed an abnormally large clitoris or labia.
It's true that programs like Medicaid and Welfare have the unintended consequence of allowing irresponsible people to plop out more munchkins to further our society towards the set from Idiocracy, but is this a program we want the government implementing? Some libertarians (like me) freak out about the "race question" on the census being an affront to civil liberties, so this policy is reminding me of some sort of Matrix-style breeding program. But there's a solution to our woefully dumbed down America, I say let more immigrants come here to work and live, which Reason highlights is actually a bureaucratically painful process to do legally. A policy that would benefit society without donning a Mengele outfit.In 1933 alone, at least 1,278 coercive sterilizations were performed, 700 of which were on women. The state's two leading sterilization mills in 1933 were Sonoma State Home with 388 operations and Patton State Hospital with 363 operations. Other sterilization centers included Agnews, Mendocino, Napa, Norwalk, Stockton and Pacific Colony state hospitals.
Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you have freedom. I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints.Oh no, the cabal!
My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says "That's impossible." Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens' report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived.Nutty conspiracies about the government stealing your mail are so Y2K.
Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. This is not McCain's fantasy: it is Rove's and Cheney's.I think she meant American troops who have served in Iraq. You shouldn't have to learn Arabic when reporting a crime in the near future. But who has time to proofread for content when you're just so outraged.
Make no mistake: Sarah "Evita" Palin is Rove and Cheney's cosmetic rebranding of their fascist push: she will help to establish a true and irreversible "fear society" in this once free once proud nation. For God's sake, do not let her; do not let them.
I have no reason to discount alarmist rhetoric about a sadistic U.S. government, but I prefer to get my daily dose of crazy from sites talking about the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln and the Illuminati. These lefty weenies talk a big game about civil liberties, but they have burned us before by over-regulating social behavior they deem problematic and stomping out that "nuisance" of a second amendment. This is a pathetic attempt at fearmongering to scare up votes for an oligarchical state that happens to be her friends in the Democratic party as opposed to those evil Repubs. That and she's still trying to get a few rubes to pick up her book. Get in your Volvo and go back to San Francisco, you moran!
I believe we have now entered that endgame – and our decisions today and in the months ahead will be critical to regional stability and our national security interests for years to come.As Iraq has completely dropped off the radar in American news coverage due to the elections and the economy getting dicked up, it is imperative to elect intelligent representatives in order to ensure gains do not falter. The disenfranchisement of the mostly Sunni Sahwa groups could prove disastrous, as the last time the armed Sunnis were neglected, an insurgency was born. Of course, this reconciliation is the responsibility of the Iraqis themselves, but we should provide the necessary diplomatic and military support to help foster this nation. IMHO, I think the American history books will look back on regret towards Iraq as a strategic blunder based on propaganda from a failed political ideology. But, just walking away and allowing the country to degenerate into total chaos (like we did in Lebanon in the 80s and Somalia in the 90s) would have been the worst scenario.
Before I forced to join the Navy out of economic desperation, my brother and I started a business to bring classic 19th century bicycles back to America's streets and thoroughfares. The vision was that getting from Point A to Point B should be a gentleman's endeavor, while the tall height of eye and tight-fitting britches would prove irresistible to the lasses. Unfortunately, with the grotesquely large front wheel making it a baffling ordeal to even get on the seat, we had no interested buyers.
Uh-oh. The Long War Journal has an in-depth report on the Iran Deyanat, which was hijacked by Somali pirates late last month. The ship was supposedly carrying 40K Tons of iron ore from China to Rotterdam, but something seems a little fishy about this payload. From LWJ:The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair. Independent sources tell The Long War Journal that a number of pirates have also died. "Yes, some of them have died. I do not know exactly how many but the information that I am getting is that some of them have died," Andrew Mwangura, Director of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, said Friday when reached by phone in Mombasa.The symptoms cited amongst the pirates are consistent with radiation sickness, which causes reddening of the skin, nausea, hair falling out, and looking like an extra from The Day After. It takes over a 100 rads at once to get sick, and unless your standing on top of a critical reactor, getting nuked Strangelove-style, or near High Level Radioactive Waste, it just ain't gonna happen. Even the dreaded yellowcake (processed Uranium ore) probably can't cause these kind of symptoms as seen in Table 4 of this CDC PDF. So, if it's radioactive waste making the "Curious George" pirates puke themselves, it has to be some kind of spent fuel.
News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. Osman also confirmed to The Long War Journal that during the six days he negotiated with the pirates members of the syndicate had become sick and died. "That ship is unusual," he said. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."
A 23-year-old Port Orchard woman who claimed she was a nuclear scientist — and then shouted insults and obscenities at a Kitsap County sheriff's deputy — was arrested Sunday morning for assaulting the deputy.And again from the Kitsap Sun: Stolen Bremerton Chihuahua Turns Up at Vet's After Ingesting Meth
Sometimes, no commentary is necessary.The employee told an officer a Chihuahua had been brought into the clinic Thursday by a 40-year-old Silverdale man. The veterinarian believed the dog had ingested methamphetamine based on its strange behavior. They also believed the Silverdale man might have been high on methamphetamine, according to reports.
Step 1: With the economy in the proverbial shits, people start freaking out and blame the usual scapegoats of illegals, free trade, and lack of FDR-era regulation. Lou Dobbs ratings are through the roof.
Step 2: Fat cats with political connections in Washington use the opportunity to take ridiculous risks that earn them billions, despite the fact that their entire financial foundation is built on a house of straw. Regulation and government control prevents the basic tenets of the free market, such as competition, from functioning. And if their leadership proves to be a disaster, their golden parachutes remain intact.
Step 3: With the federal government running record deficits, the cost of oil is out of control, wages stall, and inflation is through the roof. Kids start making kites made out of dollar bills like Germany in 1923.
Step 4: Like a swarm of buzzards preying on human tragedy, politicians propose more regulation and nationalization as a guise to ensure those in power remain power. This is aided by unknowing surrogates in the American public who actually think the suits in Washington give a shit about normal people.
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