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READING

Silent Coup: The Removal of a President - Len Colodny & Robert Gettlin

George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin (free online version/download here)

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NOW AVAILABLE AT ME-ZINE

STOP TERRORISM

ABBREVIATIONS FOR SITES I OFTEN STEAL NEWS ITEMS FROM:

og = J Orlin Grabbe
u = Progressive Review's Undernews
a = Antiwar

amazon wish list

alibris wishlist

Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia

Amazon Light

Just consider what current events will sound like two thousand years from now -- the greatest nation on Earth bombing some of the smallest and weakest for no clear reasons, people starving in parts of the world while farmers are paid not to plant crops in others, technophiles sitting at home playing electronic golf rahter than the real thing, and police forces ordered to arrest people who simply desire to ingest a psychoactive weed. People of that era will also likely laugh it all off as fantastic myths...

It is time for those who desire true freedom to exert themselves -- to fight back against the forces who desire domination through fear and disunity.

This does not have to involve violence. It can be done in small, simple ways, like not financing that new Sport Utility Vehicle, cutting up all but one credit card, not opting for a second mortgage, turning off that TV sitcom for a good book, asking questions and speaking out in church or synagogue, attending school board and city council meetings, voting for the candidate who has the least money, learning about the Fully Informed Jury movement and using it when called -- in general, taking responsibility for one's own actions. Despite the omnipresent advertising for the Lotto -- legalized government gambling -- there is no free lunch. Giving up one's individual power for the hope of comfort and security has proven to lead only to tyranny.

from Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs

* * * *

You had to take those pieces of paper with you when you went shopping, though by the time I was nine or ten most people used plastic cards. . .It seems so primitive, totemistic even, like cowry shells. I must have used that kind of money myself, a little, before everything went on the Compubank.

I guess that's how they were able to do it, in the way they did, all at once, without anyone knowing beforehand. If there had still been portable money, it would have been more difficult.

It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.

Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control.

I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen?

That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.

. . . Things continued on in that state of suspended animation for weeks, although some things did happen. Newspapers were censored and some were closed down, for security reasons they said. The roadblocks began to appear, and Identipasses. Everyone approved of that, since it was obvious you couldn't be too careful. They said that new elections would be held, but that it would take some time to prepare for them. The thing to do, they said, was to continue on as usual.

from The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

* * * *

By the time Oscar reached the outskirts of Washington, DC, The Louisiana air base had benn placed under siege.

The base's electrical power supply had long since been cut off for lack of payment. The aircraft had no fuel. The desperate federal troops were bartering stolen equipment for food and booze. Desertion was rampant. The air base commander had released a sobbing video confession and had shot himself.

Green Huey had lost patience with the long-festering scandal. He was moving in for the kill. Attacking and seizing an federal air base with his loyal state militia would have been entirely too blatant and straightforward. Instead the rogue Governor employed proxy guerrillas.

Huey had won the favor of nomad prole groups by providing them with safe havens. He allowed them to squat in Louisiana's many federally declared contamination zones. These forgotten landscapes were tainted with petrochemical effluent and hormone-warping pesticides, and were hence officially unfit for human settlement. The prole hordes had different opinions on that subject.

Proles cheerfully grouped in any locale where conventional authority had grown weak. Whenever the net-based proles were not constantly harassed by the authorities, they coalesced and grew ambitious. Though easily scattered by focused crackdowns, they regrouped as swiftly as a horde of gnats. With their reaping machines and bio-breweries, they could live off the land at the very base of the food chain. They had no stake in the established order, and they cherished a canny street-level knowledge of society's infrastructural weaknesses. They made expensive enemies. . .

Louisiana's ecologically blighted areas were ideal for proles. The disaster zones were also impromptu wildlife sanctuaries, since wild animals found chemical fouling much easier to survive than the presence of human beings. After decades of wild subtropical growth, Louisiana's toxic dumps were as impenetrable as Sherwood Forest.

from Distraction by Bruce Sterling

and s-integrator

Saturday, September 21, 2002

Mel Gibson won't play Christ in his new Latin-language bio-pic, but he seems to be angling for the Pope's job

11:30 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Harvard President worries about signs of rising anti-semitism

The distinctions beween anti-semitism and taking actions that demonstrate disapproval of Israeli policies seem blurred here. An interesting barometer of the zeitgeist.

Things seem to be getting blurred in general, especially re the Iraq situation. I think we're on the cusp of a profound change in assumptions about Israel, the current administration and the devastating effects of unregulated capitalism in the American model.

Among other things.

11:27 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Short Howard Zinn interview on the Iraq War

12:15 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Essential viewing even so:
A newly restored Metropolis is still only 80% of the original that premiered to a disinterested public for a couple weeks in 1927 before being cut from 12 reels to 7
Seventy-five years after its premiere, Metropolis has been given new life by a comprehensive restoration which brings the film startlingly into the present. Far from an exhumed artifact, this Metropolis feels like it was made yesterday. Though this version, combining all the existing elements and using text intertitles to represent missing sections, still represents just under 80 percent of the film's original length, it is, barring a miracle, as close as we will ever get -- and, indeed, as close as anyone who didn't see the film in those precious first few weeks has ever gotten. While sizeable sequences, including a lengthy visit to the pleasure palaces of Yoshiwara, remain lost, the film's overreaching scope is clearer than ever -- more than a parable, it's clear Lang had in mind an overarching social saga, a futurist recasting of Balzac.
From a companion article:
Describing the bowdlerization of the film's plot, Koerber says, "What we've seen [before] is a kind of Frankenstein movie -- that's not what the movie is about at all. It's about all kinds of things, including Biblical myths, astrology and whatever." Similarly, the innumerable movies exhibited over the years as Metropolis are hybrid monsters cobbled together from leftover parts, smoothing over the gaps left by missing footage by excising plot threads with no end to be tied to.
Wish I could see it in the theatre.

11:59 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Bartering is on the rise in the US, as the economy flounders

The Web helps of course.

And it's not just because people are cash-strapped -- it's more interesting and fun.

More like connecting.
Barter postings on Craigslist have skyrocketed 110 percent in the last year, with some 5,500 postings each month, says Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's president and CEO. The steep climb in bartering has outpaced the rise in postings for general sale items, he notes. "The numbers speak for themselves; people are getting something out of this," he says.

The bartering craze underlies the fact that these days many people have more free time than disposable income, says Buckmaster. "People have extra time and skills and talents that are being underutilized, and they want to get some value for that," he explains.

There's isn't a ready market for every type of service that a person may be qualified to offer, he adds. "They may not be able to get an employer to hire them [for a specific service], but someone else might be willing to trade for it."

And there are added incentives, Buckmaster says. "With the stymied job market, people are looking to be creative, hoping to have a bit of an adventure. With bartering, you can make a new friend or have a romance--which isn't as likely to happen when you enter into a generic business transaction. There's a much different risk-reward profile."

11:42 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

A handful of Democrats actually oppose Iraq War

Just for the record. Is this on TV?

11:30 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Some books coming out this fall

This would be a nice first post on my new blog, if I'd been able to get it up yet. . .

9:23 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

9/11 may have lasting effect of encouraging people to reach out to each other in neighborhoods

12:47 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Bethesda's model of multi-zoning and "'third spaces' -- public areas where people naturally congregate and converse, even with strangers" -- should be emulated everywhere in the US

Cocooning is so 90s anyway. . .

12:38 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Backdoor censorship of the Web:
Filtering software requirement restricts Net usage at schools

The federal government's forcing schools to employ faulty software or lose funds, essentially holding complete Net access hostage.

12:26 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

National Guard re-tooled into lighter, faster units
USA - NATIONAL GUARD WILL BECOME MORE MOBILE (SEP 13/USARMY)

US ARMY -- Secretary of the Army Thomas White said that four National Guard armored brigades will be turned into lighter and more mobile units, reports a U.S. Army release.

Under the Army National Guard Restructuring Initiative, the Cold War-era armored units will be transformed into mobile infantry units, using lighter vehicles.

Two new types of units will be introduced to the force structure: mobile light brigades and multi-functional divisions.

The brigades will be part of the multifunctional divisions, which will be capable of both combat and homeland-security missions.

"These multipurpose brigades and divisions would be of much more use, not only to war-fighting commanders because we can get them to the war-fight quicker, but, I think, for governors and for peacetime deployments under state control," said White. [my emphasis] [periscope defense newsletter]

12:15 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, September 20, 2002

Bush reverses position on independent inquiry under pressure of Congressional investigation into 9/11 intelligence failures

Which makes you wonder what else would be revealed about Bush & co were investigations conducted independently (is it possible now?) into connections to corporate malfeasance and lying, the 2000 election, etc. The unprecedented fetish with secrecy of this administration seems queer even with the attacks in mind. One can't help thinking things are being hidden, even if you share their politics.

Unfortunately, the White House's stonewalling has been matched only by the press' steadfast refusal to take their word as anything less than gospel.

11:36 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Pretty damn good bibliography of books and articles on US Foreign Intelligence since WWII

I've only started to look through this, but it's at least a good starting point for research. The collator (?) is an Intelligence veteran and administrator at Muskingum College in Ohio. There's a search engine for the site too.

I just picked up Jim Hougan's Spooks, Evan Hunter's The Very Best Men, and James Bamford's Body of Secrets this week since I found them all fairly cheap so I've taken it as a sign to find the best books on US Intelligence.

If anyone has any suggestions, please comment or email.

8:40 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

OBE created by brain stimulation

3:36 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Hatfill's lawyer pleads with The Justice Monolith

My original post on Hatfill back in August (here's the link to the article I mentioned -- the permanent link doesn't work right now) may have been based on MI6 disinfo?

10:27 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Drug use skyrocketing among record execs

The answer to music mobster woes: a more expensive CD ("warmer, more like vinyl"), a new player you have to buy ($300, or DVD-A discs at $24 a pop if you have a DVD player).

All "copy-protected" natch. Really. We Mean It.

Oh, and by the way, file-sharing supports Terrorism. Don't be Satan's Stooge!

9:18 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Map site list [refdesk]

This looks like a good resource.

9:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"We do not use our strength to press for unilateral advantagee. We seek instead to create a balance of power that favors human freedom."

I feel much better now. The heroin- and Paxil-drip is doing wonders.

Wish you were here.

8:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Emoticons 20 years old

1:48 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Ridiculous "security" snafu #34111667

23-year Coast Guard veteran (and Lieutenant Commander) stopped at airport for being on FBI terrorist list [a]

Then the paper that printed the story was told by a young security nazi that "By writing about the Musarra case, we helped the enemy."

1:08 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Computerized voting easily rigged [u]
Don't blame the poll workers in Florida. The facts, supported by voting machine experts and numerous newspaper articles, have made it clear. Computerized voting machines that were certified by the state of Florida, caused most of the problems in Florida's primary election. In the absence of paper ballots, the damage is now irreversible.

This was no accident. It's not new. And Florida is not alone.

"The concept is clear, simple, and it works. Computerized voting gives the power of selection, without fear of discovery, to whomever controls the computer," wrote the authors of VoteScam (1992), James & Kenneth Collier (both now deceased). It's a 'must read' book about how elections have been electronically and mechanically rigged in the United States for decades, and with the knowing and sometimes unknowing support of media giants and government officials, including... ironically... Janet Reno.

12:43 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Surprise surprise

Deregulation not what it's cracked up to be [u]

Three points:
‡ The oft-repeated claim that deregulation cut consumer prices while regulation kept prices artificially bloated is a myth. The inflation-adjusted cost of airfares, telephone service, and electricity were falling for decades before deregulation. Cable-television costs, which had decreased when the industry was regulated, rose sharply after deregulation.

‡ The marketplace has become more adversarial toward consumers. Absence of strict rules has inspired aggressive tactics, which have led competitors to respond in kind. Sellers have gained disproportionate power over buyers through widespread use of hidden charges, fine-print loopholes, ever-changing prices, and unauthorized switching of service.

‡ When Congress deregulated industries, it didn't just untie the hands of business. In many cases, it straitjacketed consumers. For example, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 quietly exempted airlines from states' basic deceptive-practices laws that prohibit such things as bait-and-switch advertising. The Supreme Court in 1992 upheld the airlines' immunity.

12:23 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

It's just so great to live in a country where everyone is treated equally under the law and race doesn't matter [u]
The Alabama federal judge who sentenced a black nonviolent first-time drug offender to three concurrent sentences of life without parole in 1993 just has sentenced a white lawyer-turned-drug- dealer to four months in a work-release facility.

Why the disparity? John Mark Greer pleaded guilty. He's a lawyer who no doubt understands how the federal courts punish defendants who try to beat a rap.

College student Clarence Aaron, 23 at the time of his sentencing, pleaded not guilty.

12:18 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Those crazy environmentalists, when will they learn? [u]
In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. U.S. air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. This scourge of cities in industrial and developing countries alike threatens the health of billions of people.
They just don't get the point. The Economy, baby. Job loss, baby. Breathable air is a luxury we can't afford.

After all, we're at war!

12:14 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, September 19, 2002

shrub throws mojo, country meekly assents

It's like mass hypnosis. Maybe people just don't want to see what shrub would rather they didn't: the economy is very unstable (and war will only deplete government coffers) and Iraq is a country we can (illegally) bomb, though the connections with the terrorist attacks have nothing to do with Iraq -- certainly less than Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. 9/11 was the work of operatives from many countries (probably with different, if not opposing, agendas), with SOME tacit agreement with SOME agents of different governments.

But the terrorist attacks seem almost beside the point now that the neo-con agenda of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle and the US-Israeli proto-fascistas have put down roots in the White House. Apathy, exhaustion, and a sense of impotence in the populace and Congress are allowing demagoguery by default to follow a course which will have baleful ramifications for the foreseeable future. As happened many times in the 20th century, the US is doing whatever the fuck it wants; but these are different times, and the consequences won't be dodgeable this time.

I have a sense that this has to play out too, but not because I agree with it. shrub will go down as one of the worst (and only un-elected) presidents in history, and the reactionary cabal that's really pulling the strings will eventually be exposed. After a period of painful introspection, America WILL finally wake up to what's going on. By the '04 election, things will have started to shift dramatically, but the recovery will take years.

11:46 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Looks like this is the book to get if you want to get serious about the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)

10:56 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

This nasty piece of work became something we had to deal with this past week

We're not hackers here, but fortunately a fairly quick response from the manufacturer solved the problem.

Of course NEVER download an .exe file from someone you don't know, even if it seems like a prank by a friend.

But just in case something called "slave.exe" installs itself invidiously on your PC, this link will download a .zip file to uninstall it.

The program is Remote Anything, which "allows [the "master"] to completely control the keyboard, mouse, and screen of a remote PC via a modem, a LAN or the Internet: explorer-like file transfer, ability to install and use programs, to power up/down PCs, and to record sessions that you can play back."

10:31 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

The Harvard Classics [refdesk link-of-the-day]

Feel like you know it all today! Free e-texts!

Nice to know it's there, I guess.

9:58 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"Snow White and the Seven Shao Lin"?

Martial arts films flow cleanly through my aesthetic net like plankton, so my comment is arrogant and extraneous if you're under 30, I guess.

9:49 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"Information Commissioner"?

I'm not even close to being an expert on spam prevention, but Microsuck's new anti-spam initiative strikes me as just plain silly

I stopped using Hotmail months ago, but I'd be interested in what informed people think about this.

9:38 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Due to Missouri's Jean Carnahan being a temporary appointee, if she loses what is now a dead heat race with her Republican opponent, the Senate (and thus Congress) would have a Republican majority till January (at least)

The Democrats are strategizing to counter this possibility. But you can imagine how the neo-con screwheads might take advantage of this.

If you wake up on Nov 5 and see clusters of riotgeared troops cruising the streets in armored vehicles on the streets of your town, and you only get one station on your TV . . . well, you get the idea.

9:27 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Had to post this piece on how suicide numbers spike under conservative regimes [drudge]

The perhaps accidentally droll closing sentence is luscious:
The researchers at Sydney University say possible factors include conservative parties' traditionally less interventionist approach than Labor on issues like health and welfare, which may cause a sense of exclusion among some people.
*smacks forehead*

1:17 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

David Rees' tree-based version of his classic Get Your War On strips will be out October 10 (the anniversary of the US bombing of Afghanistan)

Profits to be donated to Afghan landmine relief.

1:01 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sad, sobering short piece on Nelson Mandela trying to reach shrub at his ranch to talk him out of attacking Iraq and the grimsmug babyemperor's regressive slide into paranoia and spooky isolation

12:52 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

I haven't vetted this list of shrub's impeachable (and just plain disturbing) acts (they're the starred items), but it's worth a look just to see it all in one place

12:07 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

The cherry on the sundae of a fine edition of Undernews on Monday
SANDY BRADLEY - I prepared this note a few weeks ago and have not had the courage to send it out, even to a list of family and friends that I know hold similar views. This feeling of apprehension reinforced the fact that sharing beliefs that run against the grain of the mainstream is difficult, even those that promote peace and understanding. Still, if I couldn�t make this step, how could I ever expect anyone else to do as much or more. So, here goes...

As we approach the first anniversary of the events of September 11, many of us Americans, patriots, citizens in the free world are contemplating how to commemorate this date. Some will continue to support our nation's current efforts of retaliation, others will pray, many more will search into their hearts looking for guidance as they move forward in this new world.

Here is what I plan to do, and I ask you to join me.

I have given a year of support to my president as he responds to this event and charts a new course for our country. I have flown my flag. I have, through my silence, condoned the military actions of a war against an illusive enemy. I have turned a deaf ear to rhetoric that condemns whole nations, even races, as evil doers and turned a blind eye toward retaliatory actions that have killed more innocent people.

I will mark this September eleventh by ending my silence, tuning my ear, and opening my eyes and heart. I will talk of working toward peace.

I will question my representatives on their visions of the future behavior of our country and see if it coincides with my belief that the world benefits when we act more as a consultant and less as a cop.

When friends and colleagues discuss the state of the world with dismay and nonchalance I will contribute with conviction that I want to work toward plans that aid assist countries with differing cultures because I think that understanding and mutual respect is created that way not through aggressive intervention that only benefits our own advancement.

When the current path of technical and social progress is evaluated, I will voice my opinion that we do not succeed as a planet, nor as a nation if others are left behind. We move forward with the speed that we bring others up with us.

When the requirements for my American way of life are examined, I will let it be known that while I enjoy my home, my car, my quality of living, that it is not- nor has never been - worth the taking of another innocent life. I will reiterate that if my consumption is decreasing the stability of the world we all live in, that I am willing to make sacrifices in order to mitigate the social and financial disparity that is evident amongst this world�s inhabitants.

These values of peace, stewardship, support, and compromise are the beliefs I want to demonstrate I have learned from September eleventh. Not revenge. Not fear. Not aggression.

If you agree, you can demonstrate them too by sharing this message.

11:53 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Winnie the Pooh suits new Japanese "slackers" better than hyperactive Mickey

11:46 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." -- Henry Kissinger

Chileans mourned on 9/11 too -- 9/11/73, when a US-backed coup began, ultimately resulting in over 3100 deaths and the installation of one of the worst dictators of the 20th century, Augusto Pinochet

11:38 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

MTV censors Public Enemy's 'Give The People What They Want' video re Mumia references [u]

11:30 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Francis A Boyle on emperor shrub's illegal wars [u]
But in any event [the 9/11 attacks were] not an act of war. Clearly these were acts of terrorism as defined by United States domestic law at the time, but not an act of war. Normally terrorism is dealt with as a matter of international and domestic law enforcement. Indeed there was a treaty directly on point at that time, the Montreal Sabotage Convention to which both the United States and Afghanistan were parties. It has an entire regime to deal with all issues in dispute here, including access to the International Court of Justice to resolve international disputes arising under the Treaty such as the extradition of Bin Laden. The Bush administration completely ignored this treaty, jettisoned it, set it aside, never even mentioned it. They paid no attention to this treaty or any of the other 12 international treaties dealing with acts of terrorism that could have been applied to handle this manner in a peaceful, lawful way.

11:21 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"Home constituencies, misled by news coverage equally lop-sided in Israel's favor, remain largely unaware that Congress behaves as if it were a subcommittee of the Israeli parliament"

Former Congressman Paul Findley on the Israel lobby's chokehold on US Mideast policy [u]

11:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Archives by Page

I'm trying to set up page archives. Plese bear with me.

10:00 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Short timeline of US (covert and overt) involvement in the Arab countries of the Mideast [u/Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun]
1947: CIA helps to mount a coup in Syria putting in power a dictator who they call our "our boy." Dictator doesn't like it. US has never had good relations with Syria since and two US-backed coups have failed.

1952: US helps in coup by Gammal Abdel Nasser. Nasser later became the Saddam Hussein of his era but CIA attempts to overthrow or assassinate him fail.

1953: CIA puts Shah in control of Iran. Shah uses US-trained secret police to suppress dissent helping to create the Islamic revolution.

1958: US installs a puppet regime in Lebanon, thus beginning 35 years of instability and civil war.

1958: CIA helps to put a promising young Iraqi leader in power: Saddam Hussein.

1960: Anwar Sadat goes on CIA payroll and the agency helps put him in power after Nassar's death. He is eventually assassinated.

1969: CIA overthrows Libya's British puppet King Idris, replacing him with a young reformist colonel, Muammar Khadaffi.

1976: US, Iran and Israel arm Iraqi Kurds in an effort to destabilize Iraq. One result: the Iran-Iraq war in which one million die.

1980: Hussein becomes America's most important ally against Iran. Assistance includes access to biological and chemical weapons.

1983: Efforts by US to install a Christian fascist in Lebanon and drive out the Syrians backfires when 309 Americans die in a bomb blast.

1996: Clinton orders a CIA coup against Hussein but plot is discovered by the Iraqi government, which destroys the whole CIA operation in Iraq and leads to the firing of CIA director John Deutch.

11:22 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Damage control on White House/Intelligence 9/11 foreknowledge?

11:04 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Stratfor claims a deal is in the works between Russia and the US to swap diplomatic OKs for Iraqi and Georgian campaigns, paving the way for ~~profitable imperial warmongering~~ counter-terrorist cleansings and ~~regional instability~~ a bright fear-free tomorrow

10:44 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Chinese investigating pyramid in western China with 3 triangular entrances and iron pipes dating from ancient times

9:54 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Don't remember seeing this, but I might have missed it: 2 subsidiaries of Halliburton made $24mil rebuilding Iraq'a oil infrastructure after the Gulf War -- on Cheney's watch, natch

9:48 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Third cabinet official (last 2 were Clinton appointees) held in contempt for negligence in mangaging royalties from Indian lands
In a 267-page opinion, the judge said the Interior Department not only failed to comply with his orders but also had lied to him about its progress in repairing the trust.

"The agency has indisputably proven to the court, Congress, and the individual Indian beneficiaries that it is either unwilling or unable to administer competently the (Indian) trust," Lamberth wrote.

"Worse yet, the department has now undeniably shown that it can no longer be trusted to state accurately the status of its trust reform efforts. In short, there is no longer any doubt that the secretary of Interior has been and continues to be an unfit trustee-delegate for the United States."

[...]

The government has acknowledged major problems with the trust fund. The Interior Department has spent more than $600 million since 1996 to comply with instructions from both Congress and Lamberth, but accounting problems persist. [my emphasis]
$600 mill to fix accounting problems? And it didn't work?

9:33 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

See now this probably hasn't happened in the US, despite our "hyperdarwinist" Crown of Distinction

Clearly, we must step outside the box and rethink or the Chinese will grab the Crown soon. . .

9:23 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

I guess this isn't news if you're Japanese, but 11 Japanese nationals were kidnapped by North Korean operatives in the 70s and 80s to teach Japanese in Korean spy schools

Pyongyang has finally admitted it.

9:20 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, September 16, 2002

Latest pathetic attempt to travel back in time by Music Mobsters: sending reviewers promo CDs glued into Sony Walkmans

10:36 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Another document -- from Sep 2000 this time -- updates the two posts below on the Pax Americana dictum that's driving the White House's foreign policy now: "Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century" [the null device]
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power.

-- refers to key allies such as the UK as 'the most effective and efficient means of exercising American global leadership';

-- describes peace-keeping missions as 'demanding American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations';

-- reveals worries in the administration that Europe could rival the USA;

-- says 'even should Saddam pass from the scene' bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently -- despite domestic opposition in the Gulf regimes to the stationing of US troops -- as 'Iran may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has';

-- spotlights China for 'regime change' saying 'it is time to increase the presence of American forces in southeast Asia'. This, it says, may lead to 'American and allied power providing the spur to the process of democratisation in China';

-- calls for the creation of 'US Space Forces', to dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent 'enemies' using the internet against the US;

-- hints that, despite threatening war against Iraq for developing weapons of mass destruction, the US may consider developing biological weapons -- which the nation has banned -- in decades to come. It says: 'New methods of attack -- electronic, 'non-lethal', biological -- will be more widely available ... combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes ... advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool';

-- and pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes and says their existence justifies the creation of a 'world-wide command-and-control system'.

3:26 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

charging the canvas is bi-locating

I'm going to start a new blog called "planing lakes" this week, hopefully. It'll be where I post about cultural topics -- books, music, art, etc. -- that I want to share. pl will have a lighter tone and format than ctc.

charging the canvas will continue to be my forum for political and other news and stuff.

1:26 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, September 15, 2002

Cloned milk and food next year

Won't be labeled, so far as I can tell from scanning this article.

10:41 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Chickenhawk Database [u]

10:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

From an Australian cartoon on the Iraq Situation [u]
Reporter to official-looking person: "How do you know Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction"

Official-looking person: "We kept the receipts"

10:51 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

War drums getting you down? You need to get in touch with what's really important:
Deep-fried Twinkies!

10:15 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Doonesbury heads into Tom Tomorrow territory

'Bout time.

9:32 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Finally: robot wisdom linked to transcripts of the Mailer interview in the London Times last weekend

Note it's in 2 parts.

12:52 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

That's one of the great things about living in America: moral superiority is so damned cheap.

-- James Crumley

This country is going so far to the right you won't be able to recognize it.

-- John Mitchell, 1973

Those who think history has left us helpless should recall the abolitionist of 1830, the feminist of 1870, the labor organizer of 1890, or the gay or lesbian writer of 1910. They, like us, did not get to choose their time in history but they, like us, did get to choose what they did with it.

-- Sam Smith

REVIEWS

from Sassafrass (9/23/02)
"Unconventional viewpoints at 'charging the canvas'

Opinions that will ruffle feathers, from someone who clearly knows their way around information and the blogosphere."

Blog of the Day
1/18/02

WEEKLY QUOTE

They tell us it's about race, and we believe them. And they call it a "democracy," and we nod our heads, so pleased with ourselves. We blame the Socias [gangsters], we occasionally sneer at the Paulsons [latest crop of craven pols] but we always vote for the Sterling Mulkerns [good old boys]. And in occasional moments of quasi-lucidity, we wonder why the Mulkerns of this world don't respect us. They don't respect us because we are their molested children. They fuck us morning, noon, and night, but as long as they tuck us in with a kiss, as long as they whisper into our ears, "Daddy loves you, Daddy will take care of you," we close our eyes and go to sleep, trading our bodies, our souls, for the comforting veneers of "civilization" and "security," the false idols of our twentieth century wet dream. And it's our reliance on that dream that the Mulkerns, the Paulsons, the Socias, the Phils, the Heroes of this world depend upon. That's their dark knowledge. That's how they win.

-- Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

In the eyes of posterity it will inevitably seem that, in safeguarding our freedom, we destroyed it; that the vast clandestine apparatus we built up to probe our enemies' resources and intentions only served in the end to confuse our own purposes; that the practice of deceiving others for the good of the state led infallibly to our deceiving ourselves; and that the vast army of intelligence personnel built up to execute these purposes were soon caught up in the web of their own sick fantasies, with disastrous consequences to them and us.

-- Malcolm Muggeridge

NOT IN OUR NAME
(link to list against Iraq War)

charging the canvas

The Link Section