Saturday, April 12, 2003

Fall of Baghdad No Comparison With Fall of Wall: German Speaker

BERLIN -- The difference between the fall of the Berlin Wall and this week's fall of Baghdad was that nobody was killed 13 years ago, the speaker of the German Parliament said Friday in biting criticism of the U.S. invasion.

In remarks which was to publish in Saturday's edition of the daily Die Welt, Wolfgang Thierse, a former East German, compared the televised scenes of jubilation in November 1989 as communist East Germany stopped shutting in its citizens with those of statue-toppling this week.

"When we celebrated the fall of the wall in 1989, there weren't any dead people lying around," he said as quoted by DPA.

The two events had been compared this week by Bush adminstration officials. Germany opposed the invasion of Iraq. Thierse, a Social Democrat who presides over Germany's Bundestag, added, "When statues in the former GDR or other Eastern European countries were ripped down, the citizens did it themselves, not the troops of a victorious belligerent."

Tehran Times
posted by Irdial , 9:05 PM Þ 

inetnum: 217.64.32.0 - 217.64.35.255
netname: HAVENCO-CORE
descr: HavenCo Sealand Core Infrastructure
descr: Principality of Sealand
descr: Principality of Sealand
country: GB
admin-c: RL960-RIPE
tech-c: AF7944-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
notify: ryan@venona.com
mnt-by: HAVENCO-NOC
changed: ryan@venona.com 20030115
source: RIPE
posted by Irdial , 5:35 PM Þ 

traceroute to cracks.am (217.64.35.212), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 2.535 ms 2.431 ms 1.408 ms
2 cr0.ynoe.worldonline.dk (213.237.127.69) 15.17 ms 15.329 ms 14.478 ms
3 cr0.kh.worldonline.dk (213.237.127.11) 17.31 ms 13.798 ms 14.068 ms
4 atm1-0.1.cr0.pbv.worldonline.dk (212.54.86.34) 15.399 ms 13.131 ms atm6-0.105.cr0.pbv.worldonline.dk (212.54.86.38) 15.484 ms
5 so-4-2-0.cph10.ip.tiscali.net (213.200.73.5) 16.484 ms 22.265 ms 16.018 ms
6 so-2-0-0.lon12.ip.tiscali.net (213.200.81.149) 37.296 ms 33.829 ms 40.407 ms
7 rt-linx-a.thdo.bbc.co.uk (195.66.224.103) 45.735 ms 45.825 ms 48.594 ms
8 * * *
9 vsx-orange1-bb1-tele-lon.havenco.net (217.64.33.66) 44.332 ms 40.938 ms 44.593 ms
10 faste0-gw1-dc1-sx.havenco.net (217.64.34.9) 51.118 ms 59.493 ms 44.391 ms
11 customer-ip.havenco.com (217.64.35.210) 47.588 ms 47.214 ms 42.755 ms
12 customer-ip.havenco.com (217.64.35.212) 135.188 ms 148.506 ms 144.826 ms
posted by Claus Eggers , 12:02 PM Þ 

And lest we forget, Safeweb was financed by the CIA
posted by Irdial , 12:00 PM Þ 

www.re-code.com/index2.php
this is hilarious...
posted by Kris , 6:55 AM Þ 

ooo that total control fing is scary
http://www.tarpley.net/bush2.htm
theres a bush/hitler link....
posted by Kris , 3:37 AM Þ 

Like that document says they want Total Control of the internet!
posted by Irdial , 1:10 AM Þ 

The 23rd installment of get your war on. and its a classic.
posted by Irdial , 12:01 AM Þ 
Friday, April 11, 2003

US drops censure of China on human rights

By Edward Alden in Washington
Published: April 11 2003 20:43 | Last Updated: April 11 2003 20:43

The US said on Friday it would not offer a United Nations resolution condemning China for human rights abuses, the first time since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre that Washington has not tried to censure the Beijing government.

The decision, made by the White House, is the latest sign of the improving ties between the US and China as a result of the war on terrorism and China's muted opposition to the war in Iraq.

The annual UN debate over its human rights record had been a continual source of embarrassment to China, even though the US was never able to muster enough support in the 53-nation UN Human Rights Commission to pass a censure resolution.

The commission, currently chaired by Libya, includes many countries with poor human rights records, and has repeatedly rejected US resolutions on China. The US last year was denied a seat on the commission and was unable to offer any resolution.

Philip Reeker, a US State Department spokesman, said the decision this year was a result of some improvements in China's human rights record, and a desire by the US to allow the new leadership in Beijing to build on that progress.

But the move comes just two weeks after the State Department's annual human rights report condemned China, saying that its "human rights record throughout the year remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses".

While noting some positive developments in the release of dissidents and other areas, the report said progress was derailed last year by the arrests of democracy activists, trials of labour leaders and the imposition of death sentences against two Tibetan dissidents.

Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of Human Rights Watch Asia, said the US decision "will undermine those in China who are trying to bring about reform and change".

Human rights groups have criticised the administration of President George W. Bush for largely ignoring human rights violations in its efforts to build international support for the war on terrorism.

US military sales and foreign aid have increased significantly to countries such as Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan that the State Department has cited for repeated abuses.

China has taken advantage of the war on terrorism to launch a crackdown against Muslim Uighur separatists in north-western China.

Nicholas Lardy, a China expert at the Institute for International Economics, said the US decision was likely in part a reward for China not playing a leading role in opposing the US war in Iraq.

The US also needs Chinese co-operation to resolve the nuclear weapons crisis in North Korea.

FT
posted by Irdial , 10:07 PM Þ 

Finally!
posted by Irdial , 9:59 PM Þ 

Good for the goose good for the gander

JODHPUR, India (AFP) - Defence Minister George Fernandes reiterated Indian warnings that Pakistan was a prime case for pre-emptive strikes.

"There are enough reasons to launch such strikes against Pakistan, but I cannot make public statements on whatever action that may be taken," Fernandes told a meeting of ex-soldiers in this northern Indian desert city on Friday.

Yahoo News
posted by Irdial , 9:40 PM Þ 

It 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;

COSMIC DECEPTION: LET THE CITIZEN BEWARE

by Steven M. Greer M.D.
Director, The Disclosure Project

http://www.disclosureproject.org

Copyright 2002

Imagine this. It is the summer of 2001, and someone presents you with a script for a movie or book that tells how a diabolical terrorist plot unfolds wherein both 110 story World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon are destroyed by commercial jets hijacked and flown into those structures.

Of course you would laugh, and if you were a movie mogul or book editor, reject it out of hand as ridiculous and implausible, even for a fictional novel or movie. After all, how could a commercial jet, being tracked on radar after two jets had already hit the World Trade towers, make it through our air defenses, into the most sensitive airspace in the world, and in broad daylight on a crystal clear day, slam into the Pentagon! And this in a country that spends over $1 billion a day to defend itself! Absurd, illogical - nobody would swallow it!

Unfortunately, there are some of us who have seen these scripts - and of far worse things to come - and we are not laughing.

http://www.disclosureproject.org/cosmicdeception.htm
posted by Irdial , 6:11 PM Þ 

It 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';

Hitler's Germany failed because it opened the second front with Russia.

If the USA goes against China, it will be GAME OVER.

Korea and to a lesser extent China both BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY, and therefore will not be a walk in the park. They are also properly armed, TO THE TEETH.

The closer America approaches to looking like Rome, the closer it gets to falling like Rome. No empire has ever survived; they have ALL fallen in the end. The only way to avoid this fall is to not become an empire in the first place.
posted by Irdial , 6:02 PM Þ 

EEEeeek - don't read that link whilst listening to Brother Stair. It's all too close for comfort.
posted by captain davros , 4:35 PM Þ 

this is really scary: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1221.htm

it's actually going to happen isn't it?
posted by alex_tea , 2:59 PM Þ 

We have no TV at home and it has been that way for most of the last 3 years now. Sometimes it has been hard, but mostly I haven't missed it at all. Not with the internet at work. And now I have internet and DVDs at home and I've been almost addicted since we got the computer... But it will wear off and I'll be back to books.

And that picture of the statue event is fantastic. Media manipulation at it's finest. And by golly they must want to be manipulated. Why did no-one, TV or newspaper, print that image?
posted by Alun , 2:01 PM Þ 

Singapore Turns to 'Webcams' in SARS Battle
Thu Apr 10,11:44 AM ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore took drastic measures on Thursday to
enforce quarantine orders on hundreds of people suspected of exposure to
SARS, including mounting "Webcams" in homes and threatening to use
electronic wrist bands...

As the size of its home quarantine more than doubled to 490, the
government said a private security company would install Internet-linked
"Webcams" in homes to ensure people suspected of catching SARS stayed
inside.

Those quarantined "will be called at random intervals daily and
requested to turn on the camera and present themselves in front of the
camera to show their presence," the ministry said.

An electronic wrist band would be slapped on offenders, designed to send
a signal if anyone tried to leave their home...

Yahoo News
posted by Irdial , 1:46 PM Þ 

I was totally freaked when I held my satellite dish up in the garden and swept across the horizon and saw all the TV that was out there, raining down on our heads

In the early '90s we used to have horizon to horizon motorized sat tv, with access to hundreds of channels spread across 21 different geostationary sattelites.



There is nothing like having hundreds of channels to watch, movies from every era, sitcoms from every era, sci fi from every era; you name it, it was there; even British TV was there.

The TV Guide Bible of this world was called "Orbit" I have one copy left;



it came out once per month, and was 1/2 an inch thick, on newsprint (very thin paper).

The USA is spread over three time zones, so you could see some programmes three times in one day. Anyone who loved re-run science fiction was in heaven.

Because you had basically the entire US TV network at your finger tips, you could watch news stories propagate and mutate across the time zones.

Some of the best stuff were the "wild feeds":



which were the raw unedited uplinks from stations around the world, as they were being fed into the newsrooms of the entire USA.

The news wasnt all US centered; there were regular foreign news programmes from all over the world:



What was the result of having so much TV on tap? You have to learn to control it. Certainly, when hot news is around, you can go into "TV mode" and sit for extended periods channel surfing, but then, when you have no problem playing space invaders or star wars vector graphics stand up cain cabinet for six hours, watching TV is nothing.

Other times, watching hundreds of channels simply has no interest, and the system remained off for weeks at a time. Its important to have TV in a closed off room, by itself, so that you can walk away from it and forget it. The worst thing you can do is to have TV in every room, especially the kitchen, as many Americans do. I know some people who have TV, and keep it in a closet, only taking it out when there is something that they want to watch.

Optimum!
posted by Irdial , 1:36 PM Þ 

Frank Chu has all the secrets.
posted by Irdial , 12:32 PM Þ 

GSM cells - yes, that's much more of a possibility. Those and the many cameras that are around could be combined to great (or devastating) effect. But the GPS I dunno - the cell would be much easier to capture data from. Imagine getting tazered by SMS!

Incidentally, good mobile phone site here

The electromagnetic environment we surround ourselves with now is awesome. I remember seeing a kid walking along the street in deep conversation on a mobile and suddenly realised if you could hear everything that we're transmitting these days you would be deafened. 100 years ago the skies must've been much quieter. Similarly I was totally freaked when I held my satellite dish up in the garden and swept across the horizon and saw all the TV that was out there, raining down on our heads, 24 hours a day whether you knew it or not.

I've noticed more new cameras of late - near a bad ring-road junction where I live are rhino type cameras, with two aerials, one long and one short (like the african rhino's horns). If these are wireless they must be adding to the tx matrix that enmeshes us. And at a new zebra crossing in town there are three cameras on each side of the road, one for each direction of traffic and one on the zebra section. I have no idea who has the time to monitor all of these. One hopes in both cases however that they help to sort out road chaos.

Incidentally, now that were several weeks in, what's congestion-charge London like these days? Is it different? Better? Worse?
posted by captain davros , 12:25 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 11:29 AM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 11:13 AM Þ 


Someone set us up the bomb!
posted by Irdial , 11:09 AM Þ 

The idea that someone can delineate an area via satellite and stop you going there, or make you go there, seems a fair way away for the time being.

All they need to do is put GPS reciever on you in a tamper proof way, say, inside an ankle bracelet, combine this with a GSM telephone stapped to the same person and the project is very doable, right now.

The telephone transmits your location every minute with an SMS, or if you are under less strict supervision, only when the GSM phone notices that you have left the cell you are meant to stay in. And by "cell" I of course mean GSM cell.

If you had one of the early GSM phones, you could turn on a feature that allowed you to see the GSM cell you are in. Using it on a train was fascinating; your phone logs in and out of different cells seamlessly, and they are all named in a human readable form, similar to postcodes; so if you are in Twickenham, you might find yourself in cell "TW1-J22".

Its incredible how GSM cells might become cells for "criminals"... Its only a small step to incorporating a Tazer unit to the package so that you get a huge electric shock if you stray out of your cell.

All of this is doable right now. All that it takes is the will of a private contractor to put it together and market it to the government.
posted by Irdial , 11:06 AM Þ 

If Anne Frank was wearing one of those, she'd be writing a Livejournal.
cant help smiling

and happy birthday yesterday Captain D!
posted by Alison , 10:30 AM Þ 

They slowly and firmly got closer and closer....
I cound'nt do anything...
gave up and gave in
knowing it probably would be good for me

they came through my ears
down my spine
through my vains
into my heart
followed my blood presure
made it raise to the extreme
suddely I felt like on drugs
but no...This was better... so much better....

Suddenly...
I drowned
but in the water
there was Oxygen for me to breathe...
Bubbels everywhere...
They took me further and further....
my fear slipped out of me....
sunshine - but how?
down in these debths?
I dont understand!

"Shut the fuck up!!!!" They said, just listen, be silent....
My heart stopped....

I swam and swam knowing it was for my best
They said
get a life
enjoy
take care
I got tears in my eays
such beauty
such longing
such art
such love
I ended up wanting more


this man attacked me!!! with his chilling bees!!!! How to make art like this? It is facinating and pure beauty.... Thank you !
posted by Alison , 10:27 AM Þ 

How long would Anne Frank's diary be...

If Anne Frank was wearing one of those, she'd be writing a Livejournal.

I've got a GPS receiver, and people always ask if it means that I can be tracked - hardly. Even if it had the circuitry you'd have a hard time making sure the 2 cm square antenna was always pointing at the satellite that's several miles above you. It's more like a radio - my pocket transistor radio can recieve Virgin 1215 but can't transmit back and wouldn't be heard above the noise if it could. The idea that someone can delineate an area via satellite and stop you going there, or make you go there, seems a fair way away for the time being.

If you get a chance to play with a GPS then get a signal in the open and then stand under a tree, or in the shadow of a tall building and watch the signal strength meter. In fact, try using one in any major city with tall buildings. The signals are bounced back and forth like crazy and the accuracy gets very random. Much better to just get out in the countryside, have a laugh and go geocaching! or GPS Drawing.
posted by captain davros , 10:17 AM Þ 


Again, this is a Shia custom and, in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, was frowned on. A ritual that is integral to the commemoration of the deaths of the first and third imams, Ali and Hussein, it is also practised at other times as an expression of loyalty to the imams.

It is, in fact, an expression of joy and catharsis through self-inflicted pain. But in this instance - on the streets of Baghdad - it's first and foremost a political statement.

You are so right Mr. Discs... it is facinating,
I was raised with this shia custom in a land like Denmark... Every Thursday all my childhood....
posted by Alison , 10:08 AM Þ 

Oooo mr irdial i think your music is great
but theres one thing
i think the 32nd triplet quantisation structure should have been grooved slightly
possibly with an iterative percentage quantise thus removing the rigidity of the sprocket interupt
how comes i get here when all the action is over...
must be on a different time frame
i found this i dunno whether you've seen it
oh yeah lets hear your recent stuff then ?
got a url for mp3's or whatever?

DOH
really enjoyed the thumbs up as a :
"symbol of co-operation and freedom"
or was it "up yours"

fuck i aint got a clue on this fing..
posted by Kris , 4:10 AM Þ 
Thursday, April 10, 2003

posted by Irdial , 9:00 PM Þ 

Formal academic paper:
http://convention.allacademic.com/aag2003/view_paper_info.html?pub_id=1522

and a popular account (for those in a hurry):

http://www.saljournal.com/stories/030803/tec_gps.html

Professor concerned about abuse of GPS technology
-------------------------------------------------

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Jerome Dobson worries that "1984" may be just around
the corner.

Dobson, a University of Kansas research professor and president of the
American Geographical Society, is concerned that technical advances carry
the potential for bringing about George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a
society that destroys privacy.

This new threat, says Dobson -- a respected leader in the field of
geographic information technologies -- is "geoslavery."

Devices currently on the market, for example, use satellites to locate and
track people anywhere on the planet.

One company sells a device that can record a vehicle's location so
employers can keep track of every move their drivers make.

Another company makes implanted chips to keep track of livestock or pets,
and a device that looks like a digital wristwatch and can pinpoint the
wearer's location and sound an alarm.

Dobson knows the good these devices do, but he also worries that they may
be abused. He hopes his fearful vision will create debate and perhaps
legislation or safeguards around the technology that will keep it from
being misused.

Already the technologies are sparking debates regarding privacy. Add a
transponder to a locked device, he says, and the punitive possibilities are
endless.

"What we are suggesting," Dobson says, "is that we are only one
technological step from placing a transponder in there that burns or stings
a person if they step off a prescribed path by a meter. Or if they stay too
long in one place. Or cross the path of another person they are prohibited
from seeing or if they congregate with other people.

"I can confine you to a place. You can't go there. Or you must go there.
And I can control it."

In the hands of repressive governmental regimes, the devices could be
devastating, Dobson said, just as they could be in people's personal lives.

Before going to Kansas less than two years ago, Dobson worked 26 years at
Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory creating, for the government, the
maps used in global tracking.

"We may avoid the most serious abuses of this technology in the U.S.
because we have a tradition of personal freedom," he says. "But it will
differ by country and by culture. Think of the countries where they already
have ethnic cleansing.

"The phrase I like to use to bring this home is to ask, 'How long would
Anne Frank's diary be if she were wearing one of these nifty devices?' "
posted by Irdial , 8:02 PM Þ 

thanks for the ur jolt alun ........ memories of bouncing remarkably high and for inadvisable amounts of time in small clubs in & around vienna ........ crisp, edible noise ...

box ? what box?
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 7:56 PM Þ 

And is anybody here actually working today?
Hey, I'm working (as hard as that is to believe)! I had to get up super-early (for me) today to reserve a parking space online. It was horribly, horribly net-congested but I managed to get a spot slightly (2 blocks or so) closer to my faculty for next school year. Hopefully it will be better than walking across campus for 15 or so minutes in -40C weather at 10 pm to arrive at a very cranky car whose transmission just does not want to go! Those two weeks of hard-core Canadian winter SUCKED.
Later today I will PAINT! Oh HOORAY. Thank god I'm not taking painting again next year. The undergraduate studios are pathetically poor and limited. They make me not want to paint.
posted by Barrie , 6:28 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 4:47 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 4:43 PM Þ 

I am working! So far today I've worked on a promo sleeve, done some adverts and right now I'm working on a poster. Haven't actually finished anything, but that's cos a lot of it is waiting on other people. It will all be finished by the end of the day though.

Blimey, that last one brought back a few memories... buying my first Drexciya 12"... noise... hard noise...

Drexciyan DJ StingRay was awesome at ATP!! He's playing on Friday at Haywire, but I just realised the Wheels instead of Hooves night is on as well... Damn, what should I do?
posted by alex_tea , 4:39 PM Þ 

Ronald McDonald Rumpsfeldt
posted by Irdial , 4:37 PM Þ 

Is this the most posts in one day on Blogdial? It's over 50 so far.


And is anybody here actually working today?

I was 'working' from home this morning. Now I'm at 'work' and stuffed with thai food and beer, so it's back to 'work'.

Outside the box of tricks
Pandora's box car willie
Disc space 1999
Burning rubber stamp
Underground resistance is futile

Blimey, that last one brought back a few memories... buying my first Drexciya 12"... noise... hard noise...

Birthday greetings to the good captain too!
posted by Alun , 4:14 PM Þ 

"You are men without courage. You have lost your right to survive."

"The creatures of Earth have no stomach for judicial murder.
They prefer to leave you to rot and die. They call it being humane."

"You are soft. Like all Time lords, you prefer to stand and watch. Action requires courage. Something you lack."

"It [Earth] is a planet i shall destroy at my leisure."

"So, like an errant child they come to me, but this time, they will not abuse me; this time, I will take my rightful place, as their leader. And once more, under my control, the Daleks will become triumphant!"

All quotes from from the mouth of DAVROS of planet Skarro.

HB/C-DAV!
posted by Irdial , 4:03 PM Þ 

everything within our means to stop this illegal war.
Don't forget to use the right terminology (even if peace&progress uses war). It's an illegal invasion. I think the conditions for a war starting are slightly (understatement) different than how this invasion started. Part of the illegality of this conflict is that it is indeed an invading force.

This means arguing, applying rigid logic and putting aside everything else.
Though, one must remember, rigid logic cannot be applied to everything. Because, of course, the world is most definitely not a logical place. Human beings are not logical beings like computers, and therefore we should not totally think about world affairs logically. The logical answer would be to "think outside the box..." this is clearly not the case.

To paraphrase megaman: Fight, Irdial! Use your angergy, for everlasting peace!

Happy birthday, davros. May you have a wonderful time!
posted by Barrie , 3:49 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 3:42 PM Þ 

Happy Birthday Capt. D!
posted by chriszanf , 3:13 PM Þ 
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 3:02 PM Þ 

It is no coincidence at all young T. Same as it was no coincidence that I was 23 in 1994, when 1+9+9+4=23!
posted by captain davros , 2:43 PM Þ 



happy birthday davros!

is it coincidental that you are 32, which is the opposite of 23? and further more, that i will be 23 this year? and that this year has the numbers 2 and 3 in it?
posted by alex_tea , 2:36 PM Þ 

Why thankyou Anthony. My work colleagues bought me a recording pen - 20 seconds of digital recording in a pen! And we're all eating lots of cake as well, since my boss baked vegan chocolate muffins and my sister bought a vast raft of a cake from M&S. I would post the collage I made last year, reflecting on haircuts I had known over the previous 31 years, but it's over 1000 pixels wide and would muck up the Blogdial layout. I started one last night with new images but a picture cd crashed my pc when it tried to start up one of those annoying proprietary browsers.
posted by captain davros , 2:18 PM Þ 

happy birthday cd !!
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 2:11 PM Þ 

Incidentally, the old man comment is bang on. 32 years ago today, in the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston Lincolnshire, I was born.
posted by captain davros , 2:04 PM Þ 

In a roundabout way - you did mean that, but I was trying to clarify that I meant it too.
posted by captain davros , 2:03 PM Þ 

you're welcome alison
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 2:02 PM Þ 

Ummm I dont think the American Indians would agree with your there old man!

Au contraire, they'd say 'New? New?!? The "new world" was "new" only in the eyes of the invaders. We'd been there for ages'.

Isnt that what I meant?
posted by Irdial , 1:54 PM Þ 

and look what happend.

What I meant was, they were very confident, and got totally destroyed in the end. It will happen again, and we do not want this to happen to the UK or the USA. This is the biggest fear for probably everyone, certainly me.

So Iraq's neighbours and allies have to stand up to the Imperialists.

This will not happen. Incomprehensible as it is.

you're annoying me because you don't seem to want to do anything except shoot down everyone else's arguements.

We have to try and think clearly about what to do! We cant have TEN MILLION PEOPLE on tap and tell them to leave flowers in the street. We have to think obliquely, out of the box, strategically. This means arguing, applying rigid logic and putting aside everything else.

And dont get angry, or at least, not too angry...heh I should talk, I have been FURIOUS for the last 48 hours. Its time to put this engergy (uh oh spelling attact) angergy to use in finding a permanent solution to this problem.

We already agree that it has to be non violent, non confrontational, individuall in its fundamental basis. I would add this...

Call it the "Cloud Strategy" a cloud is made up of a trillion trillion parts of water vapour. When the conditions are right, the vapur coalesces and it rains, and this rain is good for everyone. Too much rain, and you get devastation. Not enough rain, and nothing grows and plants / people / animals starve.

A cloud of citizens, raining...just enough.
posted by Irdial , 1:52 PM Þ 

Fear fear fear

it truly scares me, that people are so scared today (what a stupid sentence, please forgive me my english)
more than ever.... Hunter S Thompson just wrote a book with the perfect title "Kingdom of fear" has anyone read it yet?

And Anthony Manning, I just send you an email - thank YOU for your kindness...
posted by Alison , 1:48 PM Þ 

Ummm I dont think the American Indians would agree with your there old man!

Au contraire, they'd say 'New? New?!? The "new world" was "new" only in the eyes of the invaders. We'd been there for ages'.
posted by captain davros , 1:48 PM Þ 

and look what happend.

This change came from external forces, not from their own, oppressed population. This change came because they threatened the rest Europe's power structure. I can't see how this could replicate itself now. America and the UK are in the wrong here not Iraq, we all know that. So Iraq's neighbours and allies have to stand up to the Imperialists. France and Russia aren't going to do much.

It just all seems unstoppable and you're annoying me because you don't seem to want to do anything except shoot down everyone else's arguements. I know this isn't true, I'm just getting angry, angry with everything around me.
posted by alex_tea , 1:33 PM Þ 

Come on! The last 6000 or so pixels of this blog have been to do with how public opinion affects nothing.

True. Public opinion as expressed in marches.

Moreover the new world would not have existed without the colonizing spirit.

Ummm I dont think the American Indians would agree with your there old man!

Space 1999

No Moonbase, no Quiller drive, a *very* small space station...need I go on?!?!
posted by Irdial , 1:25 PM Þ 

the country will errupt.

No, it will not, and if it did, that would be a bad thing®. Distuption is a bad thing, and it will not permanently disable the war machne, so it should not be done.

I agree. But lets hope they don't leave them there for ever, we don't need another Raj, another 'Jewel in the Crown'. We do need more Ghandis.

Like they are in Quatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia? They are there forever now and will not be kicked out unless there is a fundamental change in how the USA finances itself.

Maybe you should come.

"I drink to remember who I am" Gareth Sager
And not to plan a social revolution.

Surely we can start to stop this next invasion now, by getting the government out of power.

Even if it could be done, which would be a mistake, the instruments and mechanisms that make war feasable would still be in place. The problem is not governments but the mechanisms of warpanning and warmaking which are trans governmental.

If they are not prepared to stare this fact in the face, then all is lost.

As for mr Goering, isnt it astounding how that government repeatedly blurted out the facts about how populations are controlled? They thought that their positions were unnasailable....and look what happend.
posted by Irdial , 1:18 PM Þ 

the future
great, will i be back for tea ? actually, i'm meant to be going swimming this afternoon ... can we make it yesterday ?
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 1:17 PM Þ 

public opinion is the rubber stamp that is used to erase "regimes" that USUK doesnt like

Come on! The last 6000 or so pixels of this blog have been to do with how public opinion affects nothing. Neither the US nor UK have justified their actions with our opinions.

It is this thinking that made people leave Britain for the new world. Nothing in life is inevitable; this should be clear to everyone now

This isn't the 17th Century and that analogy is inappropriate to the way we live now. Moreover the new world would not have existed without the colonizing spirit. By leaving one place where they could not make a change they had to go to a new place and make an enormous change. And now some bits of the new world are stronger than the old world could ever be. Would those people leaving have left if they had know what their idealism would have invented? They could not have been made to believe it, even if they were granted eternal life to see the results of their history it as it unfolded.

We don't need a portal by the way, we're already living in the future - it's 2003! That's 4 years on from Space 1999 for a start, and still no moonbase!
posted by captain davros , 1:16 PM Þ 

By doing what?

Making sure they don't do it again. Firing a 'warning shot'. If this happens again, the country will errupt.

To withdraw the troops now would be total INSANITY.

I agree. But lets hope they don't leave them there for ever, we don't need another Raj, another 'Jewel in the Crown'. We do need more Ghandis.

What we have to prevent is the NEXT INVASION.

When, Where and How? I got a package from the SWP this morning, it says people from the anti war coalition are meeting in a pub after the march to discuss things. Maybe you should come.

Surely we can start to stop this next invasion now, by getting the government out of power. Maybe that's a waste of time, cos the public won't buy that mow as they've been brainwashed by the media and patriotic crap.
posted by alex_tea , 1:07 PM Þ 

I am going to open up a portal and send you to the future, where my rule is LAW.
posted by Irdial , 1:02 PM Þ 

whatever I want ...
you're a despot in ill-fitting disguise
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:59 PM Þ 

you want me to say ?

No, whatever I want is what I want to happen!

Like this:
posted by Irdial , 12:57 PM Þ 

Starring Lord Haw-Haw, Ronald McDonald and Laura Bush with their own chat shows, and gospel sing-a-longs through the night!

And this in the afternoon for the kids:
posted by Irdial , 12:51 PM Þ 

you want me to say ?
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:50 PM Þ 

Whatever you say....

Thats what I want!!!!!
posted by Irdial , 12:48 PM Þ 

Well why not start on Saturday?

By doing what?

it is our human duty to resist and to do everything within our means to stop this illegal war. That is why Part Two makes a strong call for civil disobedience and trade union action. It calls on trade unions to withhold all financial support from the Labour Party and on the TUC to organise a general strike,

See Rule #2: the answer is "No". Dont waste time doing it.

to force the government to withdraw British troops.

To withdraw the troops now would be total INSANITY.

Now that the Baath party is effectively wiped out, it would be INSANE to not try and replace it with another government while the troops are there. Leaving Iraq with a power vacuum would lead to instant civil war.

After the new government is there and they want to go back to Baath politics, its none of our business.

What we have to prevent is the NEXT INVASION.
posted by Irdial , 12:47 PM Þ 

Whatever you say....
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:45 PM Þ 

Deal with it?
Whatever you say....
posted by Irdial , 12:40 PM Þ 

Tony Blair and George Bush have recorded television messages to be broadcast to the Iraqi people on Thursday.

Downing Street said the messages, recorded during their summit in Northern Ireland, will be among five hours a day broadcast by the coalition's new "Towards Freedom" TV channel.

!!!!!!!!!
Starring Lord Haw-Haw, Ronald McDonald and Laura Bush with their own chat shows, and gospel sing-a-longs through the night!
posted by Alun , 12:38 PM Þ 

We know some people in the peace camp believe now the war has started it is too late; others consider it unpatriotic to oppose the war now that British troops are fighting and dying.

We disagree with both these positions and maintain it is our human duty to resist and to do everything within our means to stop this illegal war. That is why Part Two makes a strong call for civil disobedience and trade union action. It calls on trade unions to withhold all financial support from the Labour Party and on the TUC to organise a general strike, to force the government to withdraw British troops.

from peace & progress.org.

The ability to prepare for the NEXT one is the only thing that you CAN influence and STOP.

OK. Well why not start on Saturday? I'm starting to think, in my most paranoid and frustrated moments, that you are my O'Brien. I really hope not.
posted by alex_tea , 12:34 PM Þ 

How can I be calm when Iraq has just been COLONIZED?
Deal with it

you're very kind, alison .... tell me where to send it & i'll pop an lq ep in the post
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:30 PM Þ 

Where I come from prepare means to make something ready before it is to be used.

This invasion is over. There is nothing that you can do about it.

The ability to prepare for the NEXT one is the only thing that you CAN influence and STOP.

Forget about stopping or influencing this event. Its OVER.
posted by Irdial , 12:25 PM Þ 

One of the rules already takes care of this problem. Even if the equipmen from this invasion is already there, there is a rule to stop it; under the "preparation" part.

Where I come from prepare means to make something ready before it is to be used. Prepare. Semantics aside, even if the equipment needs to be prepared before each battle or maneuver, it is still a few thousand miles away from me, and so there's not a lot I can do. Unless some things are prepared over here. But what? The B52s were flying from England,
but I doubt they'll be used again, now they're using short range planes with quick response times.

Unless we non violently stop the war cabinet from meeting and planning I can't think of much else right now. And even so, I doubt they have any real say. The British war cabinet at least.
posted by alex_tea , 12:09 PM Þ 

One could go on and say each individual is a 'state' with their own culture and so on.

No, I am talking about something very specific; there are 160 million people living in Nigeria. That is many more that the number that are living in France or the UK. It is completely MAD to talk about them, and all the other people who live on that continent in general terms.

it becomes extremely laboursome for reader and viewer to list specifics.

If we havent got the time to address these issues politely and with sufficient detail, then we should not address them...which is what I have been saying. The labour it takes to drill wells, build roads and forcibly reform societies is, I would say, much greater than the effort it takes to talk about the specific problems.

Personally, the broad brush is one of the most convenient ways of getting a point across, its funny sometimes also. The problem is that now more than ever, since the colonizing spirit has been unleashed, its actually dangerous to do this, since public opinion is the rubber stamp that is used to erase "regimes" that USUK doesnt like.

Rubber stamp...eraser....ummm a little mixed up!
posted by Irdial , 12:07 PM Þ 

Halliburton?

This is a distraction; Halliburton is a company that gets lucrative contracts from the Government. It is not the source of power that is being tapped to wage war.

When the source of power is cut off, Halliburton will be as irrelevant as McDonalds.
posted by Irdial , 12:00 PM Þ 

Most of the equipment, artillery and soldiers needed for this war are already in the Gulf, and therefore we can't do a lot to stop any of these things. Short of flying out there (almost impossible right now I should imagine) and lying infront of a tank - this probably wouldn't do much anyway. We'd get shot and...

Lying in front of a tank is DEMONSTRATION.

Another rule:

"Is the action violent?"

If the answer is yes, dont do it.

This invasion is a done deal. Deal with it.

Most of the equipment, artillery and soldiers needed for this war are already in the Gulf

One of the rules already takes care of this problem. Even if the equipmen from this invasion is already there, there is a rule to stop it; under the "preparation" part.

there'd be a press cover up.

Another rule:

"Does it rely on the media's co-operation?"

If the answer is "Yes" then dont do it.
posted by Irdial , 11:56 AM Þ 

This swarm power, when co ordinated and unleashed in a non violent, non destructive action will change everything overnight, permanently.
Start co-ordinating. Tell us what you'd like to see happen.
posted by Alun , 11:54 AM Þ 

American business is not the problem.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oil, Halliburton?
Isn't it the American economy that pays for war? That's what the Euro vs dollar thing is all about. Oil allows the US to ignore inflation re it's currency and that economic dominance fuels the US economy and thus the US war effort.

t is certainly NOT "OK" to talk about "Africans" there is no such thing as an "African".
One could go on and say each individual is a 'state' with their own culture and so on. While this may be true to some extent and an ideal situation, possibly, at the moment we need words to describe peoples, regions, situations and big pictures (ugh. did I just type that?). Thus we have 'global politics', Europeans, Americans, Arabs, muslims, christians and, yes, even Africans. While discussing generalities it becomes extremely laboursome for reader and viewer to list specifics.

What's wrong with mediation? If you had the power to get two sides to sit and talk, understand each other, instead of shooting at each other, would you not use it? It's not about telling people what to say or do or think, it's about promoting understanding.
posted by Alun , 11:49 AM Þ 

So are you implying that voting for anyone, even if the party they represent doesn't get into power, makes a voter a "legitimate target"? And a legitimate target for what?

Ask the IRA. Ask ETA. Ask $european_resistance_group

People know that it's a flawed system that doesn't do what it seems like it should, but any fule know that to think you can make a difference by not voting at all is like not rowing in the lifeboat - you will get taken along for the ride whatever you do, unless you bail out. And I bet you don't *really* want to bail out.

I want to head for land. We should not be living as if we were in a lifeboat. We should be living on dry land. This is what we want. The lifeboat imagery is perfect; we are in constant danger of capsising, we are FORCED to row or we will be killed by the other "survivors", there is no escape, we live in fear every day, forever.

BUT what you DIDNT KNOW and cannot seemingly imagine is that if you get out of this lifeboat, the water is only

12 inches deep.

and thats no bullshit.

Whoever is in power, whether it's Tony Blair or the Queen or a politburo of crusties drinking special brew or an all-seeing supercomputer, is going to be friends with other countries, and is going to do "things I don't like" (putting it mildly).

It is this thinking that made people leave Britain for the new world. Nothing in life is inevitable; this should be clear to everyone now.

To understand that "they" have power that I will never control is not to roll over and give in to whatever they want to do with that power.

There is no "they", there is only "us". Each of us props up this illegitimate power by co-operating with it, forgiving it, excusing it and saying that it is an immovable object when in fact it is not.

The strength we have can be described as Swarm Power. In terms of software, its like bittorrent. In terms of nature, its like a swarm of bees. Indivisually powerless, but able to kill a lion, or produce delicios honey.

This swarm power, when co ordinated and unleashed in a non violent, non destructive action will change everything overnight, permanently.
posted by Irdial , 11:49 AM Þ 

"Does it have a direct effect on a country's ability to prepare for, start and wage war?"

This war was prepared a long time ago.
This war has already started.
This war is being waged.

Most of the equipment, artillery and soldiers needed for this war are already in the Gulf, and therefore we can't do a lot to stop any of these things. Short of flying out there (almost impossible right now I should imagine) and lying infront of a tank - this probably wouldn't do much anyway. We'd get shot and there'd be a press cover up.

The famed Scottish railworkers got it right, but I'm unlikely to be in a position as they were where I am asked to transport arms.

So to stop this country, the un-United Kingdom of not so Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from waging a war we must stop the soldiers from firing their weapons and driving their tanks, but how is that going to happen?

Maybe we can stop their chain of command? I just can't see a way that any citizen can stop this.

I could steal my Dad's tractor and plough up the A3 but the tanks are already there, so that's not going to help.
posted by alex_tea , 11:36 AM Þ 

Boycott Brand America.

McDonalds doesnt send arms to foreign countries. American business is not the problem. Boycotting American culture will just make you miss the next installation of the Martix.

Lets test it:

"Does it have a permanent effect?"

Answer: No. Take appropriate action.

Lets add another rule:

"Does it have a direct effect on a country's ability to prepare for, start and wage war?"

If the answer is "No" dont do it.
posted by Irdial , 11:22 AM Þ 

Calm down! I never mentioned a sinlge 'cultural "problem"', I was referring to health and water above all. Are these not problems Africans (is that OK to use?)

How can I be calm when Iraq has just been COLONIZED?

It is certainly NOT "OK" to talk about "Africans" there is no such thing as an "African". The Kenyans are to the Nigerians as the Scots are to the Welsh, and I am being rude by saying that because inside Nigiera the Hausas are to the Yorubas as the Scots are to the Welsh. Are you starting to understand what I am saying?

would not want solved?
They can solve their own problems. If they want to, they will, if they do not, then they wont. Its not our affair. By saing that "they want them solved" implies that they want them solved for them. You may not think that it implies this, but like I say, dont trouble yourself to find out the hard way, and by this I mean outside of friends, that sort of talk is simply "not on".

slaughter of Congolese civilians to continue while we watch updates on the BBC?

They need to find their own level, and then live there. The guns that they shoot are supplied by the west. Your government allowes these guns to be shipped there. If you want to stop this slaughter, plug the hole at your end.

Isn't mediation an option at all in your book?...those capable from offering to help.

Each country in the African continent has its own very capable experienced diplomatic services. If they want to arbitrate, mediate have summits, sign accords, they do this. There have been many, of course, none of them reported. Face up to it, THEY DONT NEED US.

Everyone wants to be needed, to have that warm feeling of being a selfless human being. The fact of the matter is that these problems start HERE and not THERE. South Africa is the proof that staying out fixes the problem. Stay out, in every way, of the problems of other people, and the world will calm down...and then I can calm down!
posted by Irdial , 11:17 AM Þ 

And by the way, when you vote, you put a target on your back; you are personally responsible for what your government does, and become a legitimate target in the eyes of the people that have woken up and gone beyond the "lets see what happens at the next election" stage of conciousness

So are you implying that voting for anyone, even if the party they represent doesn't get into power, makes a voter a "legitimate target"? And a legitimate target for what?

People know that it's a flawed system that doesn't do what it seems like it should, but any fule know that to think you can make a difference by not voting at all is like not rowing in the lifeboat - you will get taken along for the ride whatever you do, unless you bail out. And I bet you don't *really* want to bail out.

If these earth shattering powers are not removed, then voting is USELESS as a curb on said powers

Like I said, in the UK you vote for your local MP, who might even live in your street if you're lucky. My vote is nothing to do with curbing the powers of the government and I can't think what we'd end up with if it was. Whoever is in power, whether it's Tony Blair or the Queen or a politburo of crusties drinking special brew or an all-seeing supercomputer, is going to be friends with other countries, and is going to do "things I don't like" (putting it mildly). To understand that "they" have power that I will never control is not to roll over and give in to whatever they want to do with that power.
posted by captain davros , 11:12 AM Þ 

i see you're making us think for ourselves. damn, that's just cunning and unfair!
Rarely do we find men who willingly to engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. (MLK)
posted by Alun , 11:01 AM Þ 

is NONE OF MY or YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS w....

Calm down! I never mentioned a sinlge 'cultural "problem"', I was referring to health and water above all. Are these not problems Africans (is that OK to use?) themselves would not want solved? Amongst the violence, do you want the slaughter of Congolese civilians to continue while we watch updates on the BBC? Isn't mediation an option at all in your book? Just because there may be some cultural aspects to this conflict should not prevent those capable from offering to help. Not forcing thier help upon people, but offering it.

I do not and have never advocated any kind of occupation or invasion. Anywhere.

A boycott can totally change the nature of a country
Boycott Brand America.
posted by Alun , 10:59 AM Þ 

"Does it have a permanent effect?"

If the answer is "No" then dont waste time doing it.

alright then smart ass, what are we supposed to do? oh, i see you're making us think for ourselves. damn, that's just cunning and unfair!

what can one do that is permanent then. the mind boggles. blow up parliament? even that's not permanent, they'll build another. i don't believe anything's permanent, maybe that's my problem.

cutting the power to central london would be impressive, but not permanent.
posted by alex_tea , 10:55 AM Þ 

So why aren't Stopwar.org organizing sit-ins?

Sit ins are another form of demonstration; the term "sit in" comes from the '70s, as you know.

Sit ins do not have any permanent effect. Here is one of the rules you need to apply to formulate the next response:

"Does it have a permanent effect?"

If the answer is "No" then dont waste time doing it.
posted by Irdial , 10:45 AM Þ 

claus: no, you're not scary. i am just weird. i wish i had the guts to go and say hello now.
Alex, you seem very shy... not wierd... Nobody are really wierd...
Has any of you Blogdial'ers ever meet outside cyberspace?

no no no - I love analogs!!!! Really!!!!
yamaha dx 7
You are a Yamaha DX-7
-You are the most popular FM synthesizer ever
-your digital bleeps and bloops offer a different
sound than analogs
-You are a child of the 80's
-You are very hard to get along with unless people
get familiar with you
-Your were very revolutionary
-You are mass produced
-You are liked by many


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

By the way Mr Manning, you got 2 more fans!!!! Me and my sistha think your music (the music I got from irdial) is full of profundity and at the same time very sublime, melodic and fine... A very rare combination in music, and it is of very high quality... You bless the world. Thank you!

And I love Aquaregia...it makes me smile and dance
posted by Alison , 10:45 AM Þ 

I know, but I thought you could read the pieces, instead of me listing Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, RSA, Togo, Nigeria....

No one ever has a problem specifying / typing out the word "Germany" when they talk about German problems; on average, they do not do this for countries populated by non europeans.

and all the other states with major social or political problems.

These so called "problems" are just that; so called, and none of anyones business, meaning just because someone has what THE WEST thinks is a "problem" this does not give them the right to INVADE and impose their will on another country.

Amina was to be stoned to death for adultery. I might not think that that was an appropriate penalty, or that, ineed, there even SHOULD be a legal penalty for adultery, but is is NONE OF MY or YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS what the sharia following northerners in Nigeria do with themselvs.

What you and I do with our money is a completely different matter. A boycott can totally change the nature of a country, and this is what happened in South Africa. No invasion. Not a shot fired. Aparthied destroyed forever.

Dont even TALK about invading "Africa" to solve its "problems", at least, not when you are outside the company of friends :] cause those are fighting words.
posted by Irdial , 10:42 AM Þ 

Non-violent, non physical disruption is the only way to stop this perpetual war machine from grinding our bones into dust.

non-physical? as in mental? metaphysical? technological?

i'm not sure i get what are you suggesting. non-physical seems to denote that it would not involve one's body in a direct fashion. therefore sit-ins are out.

So why aren't Stopwar.org organizing sit-ins?

cos they'd be liable for inciting public disturbances or something, i assume.

anyway, the demonstration is a good way to get lots of people into one area legitimately. what they do from then on is their business. if you are in support of direct action then lets all meet up and have our own sit in on saturday? prove it to me, and let me prove it to you, and more importantly the rest of the country. once someone starts, others will follow.
posted by alex_tea , 10:36 AM Þ 

Non-violent, non physical disruption is the only way to stop this perpetual war machine from grinding our bones into dust.


It Really Works©. About 50 students from the socialist workers party at UCL brought Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road, New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road to a standstill about a week ago by sitting down at the crossroads.

So why aren't Stopwar.org organizing sit-ins?
posted by Alun , 10:31 AM Þ 

The world's fresh water crisis

First of all, there is no such place as "Africa".
I know, but I thought you could read the pieces, instead of me listing Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, RSA, Togo, Nigeria.... and all the other states with major social or political problems.

US drive into Africa...
I didn't say I wanted it. I just think it highlights American priorities. Self self self. And America are not the only ones. And it goes for the water problem above, the HIV epidemic, all sorts of social problems which would be cheaper to solve than Iraq has been, but less beneficial to US interests.

voting...
so i'm to be first against the wall for voting at all? Come on...

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. (JFK)

I guess it could happen here. But then the US would 'restore civilization and democracy'.



unflattering photo the BBC selected
It's not a selective process targeting African leaders. I know a picture editor for Torygraph Online and they select any photo of George Bush "so long as it makes him look like a monkey".
posted by Alun , 10:25 AM Þ 

if you stop now

No one is talking about "stopping". What I am saying is that demonstrating in the streets on marches is pointless / innefectual / a waste of resources.

This is now completely proven.

Non-violent, non physical disruption is the only way to stop this perpetual war machine from grinding our bones into dust.
posted by Irdial , 10:19 AM Þ 

i tried to post this last night but it didn't work. actually i'm glad, cos now i've read a couple of people's responses, bu it still upsets me. what are you going to do? what can you do?

a totally absurd waste of time?

"'The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy,' said Corporal Ryan Dupre. 'I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him.' "
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030407~vnw.asp

so what are you going to do? what can you do? even if protesting / demonstrating won't change things now it may help in the long run, it's obvious things don't get changed by voting so people are taking to the streets; the more frustrated people get, the more direct their actions become. if you stop now, it's like giving up. how can you just sit back and let it happen beneath your eyes?

maybe you're talking about the flowers idea rather than the actual demonstration. i'll be on the demonstration but i won't leave flowers or a card, because yes i do think that is futile.
posted by alex_tea , 10:07 AM Þ 

there are a couple of problems there.

look at that unflattering photo the BBC selected for that photo of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.

They select these photographs deliberately to ridicule African leaders and promote this idea that an invasion of "Africa" is needed to sort out their "problems".
posted by Irdial , 9:59 AM Þ 

Will the US now lead a peace and freedom, humanitarian aid and prosperity drive into Africa? I hear there are a couple of problems there.

First of all, there is no such place as "Africa". Africa is a continent, that has many different states in it, each with many different and completely distict cultures.

Jesus Wept, you ARE joking right? The last thing ANYONE ANYWHERE needs is more egomaniacs thinking that they are responsible for the entire world.

i hope people remember what they felt next time they vote.

BOTH of you have GOT to realize that voting is completely USELESS as a system of democratic control. If you dont understand this after the last few months, then .... i dont know what.

Whoever you vote for, will have the SAME POWERS that Blair, the ostensibly mild reformist had. The problem is the unfettered power that is transferred to seach sucessive government when you vote, and your inability to remove or excersise any control over that government when it goes maveric.

If these earth shattering powers are not removed, then voting is USELESS as a curb on said powers.

Only a totally blind man cannot see this. Only a fool thinks that voting in a "first past the post" system is an effective way to elect and control a government.

And by the way, when you vote, you put a target on your back; you are personally responsible for what your government does, and become a legitimate target in the eyes of the people that have woken up and gone beyond the "lets see what happens at the next election" stage of conciousness.
posted by Irdial , 9:51 AM Þ 

i hope people remember what they felt next time they vote.

I hope so too, though in the UK I would not be surprised if we get Mr Blair again. He's not due to leave yet after all, and the alternative is "the quiet man", Ian Duncan Smith. Chas Kennedy, whilst he's a bit of a biffnut, I don't think stands a chance.

Which is a shame, because isn't it the case that in the UK we really vote for that nice local MP who says he/she will get us a community centre and tidy up the streets? I've never voted "for" Tony Blair in my life, always liberal as the candidates are better in this neck of the woods.
posted by captain davros , 9:35 AM Þ 

shit. buggered up me tags. irdial to the rescue! (please)
posted by Alun , 9:15 AM Þ 

a totally absurd waste of time?
yes.
BIG SIGH.
there was momentum after the first big march. the march got ordinary people doing something. it was a very necessary step. that was when the organizers should have shown people that they could do even more. unfortunately, the first step was as far as it got.

sigh.

i hope people remember what they felt next time they vote.

but now what? what becomes of the lack of justification, the disregard for international law and opinion? who will stand up for the next in line, and who will speak against the americans as they brandish their iraq 'success' in the faces of the opposition? who will make sure guantanemo bay is not extended?
i tried to find a transcript of yesterdays prime ministers questions.. blair was asked to confirm that 'we' would not allow iraqi pows to be taken to G.B. He blathered...blah blah.. international law... blah...
Found on Hansard from PMQs yesterday... what a larf!
Mr. Kevin Hughes (Doncaster, North): As the coalition forces move deeper ... brutalities committed by Saddam and his henchmen...ensure that this evil is eradicated from Iraq by ordering the hunting down of these people-butchers?


T.B.:In relation to who we would take a surrender from.... I cannot at the moment make a judgment as to who that may be, but one thing that we must—

David Winnick (Walsall, North): Galloway! [Laughter.]

The Prime Minister: I will resist all temptation at this point.


Mr. Kevin McNamara (Hull, North): One of the reasons for going into Iraq was to establish the rule of law. Can my right hon. Friend give an undertaking that none of the prisoners taken by Her Majesty's forces will be transferred out of their custody until their position has been properly established by independent tribunals, and that they will not be sent to Guantanamo Bay without there being a proper reason for it.

The Prime Minister: I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that any of our prisoners of war will be treated fully in accordance with international law, which lays down strict rules in respect of that matter and we shall abide by them.

............

Will the US now lead a peace and freedom, humanitarian aid and prosperity drive into Africa? I hear there are a couple of problems there.
posted by Alun , 9:12 AM Þ 

Rumsfeld repeats charges against Syria

"US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reiterated charges that Syria was sending military aid into Iraq as another senior US official warned Damascus to take a lesson from what was happening in Baghdad on Wednesday. [...]"

SECRETARY POWELL: No, there is no list. There is this common perception in Europe that there is this list of enemies and we are going to go down one-by-one and invade them all in some predetermined order. This is not the case.

So what did we just learn here? We already know that Colin Powell is completely full of shit - his buddy Rummie has just refuted this statement, in a roundabout sort of way. Thanks, al Jazeera.

(also, I can ONLY read al Jazeera stories in IE on my mac - both safari and camino/mozilla show no story bodies. I have just realized that IE is also a slow, sad piece of shit)
(also, I just realized that Danmark, another member of the "Coalition," is also a member of the anti-euro coalition. How... interesting.)
posted by Barrie , 8:43 AM Þ 

Is there anyone here that now thinks that this is anything other than a totally absurd waste of time?
It's like some kind of method of coping for people who think laying a wreath or lighting a candle or doing something else so EASY will do something. News: standing around going "Hey, over here - listen to us please" is not going to do anything. The time for demonstrating is over - what the hell are these people going to demonstrate? Their laziness? Their unwillingness to do anything constructive? They'll just stand there and blabber and blubber... useless. Embarrassing.
posted by Barrie , 8:09 AM Þ 
Wednesday, April 09, 2003

Watch Scott Ritter do his thing.
posted by Irdial , 11:37 PM Þ 

You mean, there is another browser other than Mozilla?!?!

Of-van-der-course there is! IE, Act, Netscape, Konqueror, Spunkle, they're all browsers, but for the truly |337, there's only Lynx.

Just been to see an independant financial advisor. No closer to buying Davros towers, but at least I understand inflation for once.
posted by captain davros , 11:21 PM Þ 

"We Arabs are clever only at talking," Haitham Baghdadi, 45, said bitterly in Damascus, Syria. "Where are the Iraqi weapons? Where are the Iraqi soldiers?"

"I spit on them," he said. "Do those crowds who are saluting the Americans believe that the United States will let them live better?" Fakhoury said. Americans "will loot their oil and control their resources, leaving them nothing."

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud, looking upset at a news conference, called for a quick end to Iraq's "occupation." In a rare departure from diplomacy, Saud responded to a question about Arab anger toward the United States with: "I don't want to talk about anger if you don't mind today."

SF Gate
posted by Irdial , 10:42 PM Þ 

From Stopwar.org, the people who organized the biggest ever demonstration in the UK:

"On this Saturday's demonstration we are asking people to bring flowers, cards, wreaths or whatever you think is appropriate, to lay outside 10 Downing Street as we walk past there. We will also be stopping both demonstrations as they arrive at Parliament and holding a 2 minute silence. This will be in memory of all those who have died so far in Iraq."

http://stopwar.org.uk/

Is there anyone here that now thinks that this is anything other than a totally absurd waste of time?
posted by Irdial , 8:01 PM Þ 

"Frankly, we believed that Baghdad would remain Iraq's impregnable citadel. We thought that Baghdad's walls would turn into swords to decapitate the invaders. Saddam Hussein had misled us into believing that the invaders would never take Baghdad. But the home of five million people collapsed in record time."

"Why did the Iraqis not blow up the bridges over the Tigris and Euphrates to prevent the invaders from reaching their planned targets?" he asks. "It is a disgrace that these huge Iraqi troops relaxed idly and woke up to the roar of gunfire on all sides. It is now clear that the traitors are many and those who gave in to the Satan temptation outnumber them."[...]

The Egyptian Gazette

Now listen to this recorded by me 03/16/97. Sounds familiar doesnt it? If I didnt give you the date, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was recorded yesterday.

We used to say that, "these guys have to get their poop in a group once and for all" well, now its being done for them. More than one bird is being killed with this stone (and I am talking about America's "€uro problem".) There wasnt a blood bath, no desecrations, no historical relics destroyed. Perhapts, one hundred years from now, we will all be happy it went so easily.

For now, all the revolutionary rhetoric in the world will not save Iran. They are not willing to fight for what they believe in, either because they dont have any real beliefs or they are not predisposed to the effort to do it -- for whatever reason, Islamic Iran is going to fall down HARD and be smashed to pieces, so savour this "Islamic Peoples Republic of Iran" recording, because these people and their empty words are going to be permanently erased from the world once and for all, and this will ne not be done via violence, but it will be extinction through sheer indolence and absence of will.

From the Syria Times:

" M. Agha

Who can stop the Cowboys of George Bush?! Who can disarm the war criminals who possess the most up to date weapons of mass destruction?! Who can stop the villains, who have turned Iraq into grounds for testing their hi-tech bombs and bombers?!

They have so far slaughtered many Iraqi babies, women and elderly persons by their bombs and maimed and turned many into disabled. They have so far destroyed a big area of the Iraqi cities and towns.

The Anglo-American invaders are using their weapons of mass destruction against the densely-populated areas and the offices of foreign media in Baghdad. They want to silence the people who tell the truth and report massacres to the world public. So, they bombed the buildings in which foreign reporters and correspondents stayed killing and wounding many. The invaders seek to kill the voice of truth and objectivity.

As journalists seeking truth and objectivity, we have never sided with the totalitarian regimes or dictators. On the contrary, we have always been advocates of real democracy, not the زdemocracyس imposed on nation at gunpoint. It is right to say that democracy and freedom have the same essence across the world, but each nation has its own reality on the basis of which democracies and freedoms should be built...

As journalists, we never felt sympathy with a regime that suppressed its people and massacred many, but we owe a great deal of sympathy to the people, who were subject to the terror and massacres of the regime, and now to the terror and massacres of the Anglo-American invaders.

Under no circumstances, Bush and Blair can justify their acts of collective genocide in Iraq, whether they claim the زliberationس of Iraq, or the seizure of the oilfields!!! They have no right to invade a sovereign country under any pretext to cover their strategic imperialist goals. The Iraqis have the right to defend their very existence.

Vis-a-vis the current criminal aggression on Iraq, the world has to act in a practical manner to stop the war criminals. The US-British aggression seems to be worse than the Nazisص. In the Second World War, the West stood in confrontation of Hitler. Now, Bush is acting worse than Hitler. The world, in the foremost among whom being all advocates of peace and democracy, must build their alliance to stop the new Hitler. The West, China, Japan and other freedom-loving nations elsewhere must close ranks to stop the Chief Cowboy, Bush. We believe that this Cowboy is able to light his cigar without putting the whole forest on fire!!! Donصt let this war criminal at large! "

http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/s-we/op001.htm

Same bullshit, different day. YOU ARE NEXT SYRIA. You had better can the empty words and the repressive government with them, because you can be 100% sure that NO ONE IN THE WORLD will come to your aid when The Coalition of the Willing comes a knocking on your front door.
posted by Irdial , 7:34 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 6:49 PM Þ 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 01:56:19 -0400
From: Danny Yavuzkurt
To: declan@well.com
Subject: And the hits just keep on coming.. (PSU Daily Collegian: Cops use
ID info in criminal cases)

>From the Daily Collegian, today: "Cops use ID info in criminal cases"

So, apparently all these ID scanners they've been using around the state
liquor stores have been secretly storing the information they gather about
who's buying what in a police database - which the cops can use as evidence
to make arrests. They're only *required* in state liquor stores (which are
the only allowable venues for liquor purchases in PA), but are strongly
encouraged at beer distributors and - get this - bars. So they can tell
where you went, when you went, and possibly even who you went with.
Information that won't be misused?.. maybe, maybe not.. and I've seen that
they actually *scan* every ID at these places, even IDs from people who look
patently old enough.. even my mother (and I'm 23) gets scanned when buying
wine at the local liquor store! Also, many local bars *have* begun scanning
IDs when entering.. at least, some of them have, especially when there's an
'event' going on.. most drinking establishments still just use the old
human-looks-at-the-ID method, but the scanners are definitely spreading..
it's getting to be an atmosphere of total distrust of anyone who looks under
30, here in State College.. no one treats students like they have an ounce
of human dignity or privacy anymore.. and of course, there's that article I
sent you yesterday about the public surveillance cameras that are being
proposed.. it's really getting '1984'-esque around here..

And what's really chilling is that I, for one, and I'm sure many others, had
no idea that the scanners were adding to databases.. thought it was just an
easier way to check if an ID was 'good' or not.. naive, I now see. If the
government ever has a chance to collect data, and use it, it will.

-Danny


http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/04/04-09-03tdc/04-09-03dnews-08.asp

And these are the SMART ones!
posted by Irdial , 6:34 PM Þ 

Must be something in the water.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Drinking Water,
But Didn't Know Who To Ask

http://www.cyber-nook.com/water/index.html

He shakes his head and, with a bemused chuckle, recalls the days when he too drank tap water -- which, he shudders, can be recycled as many as seven times before it flushes from your faucet. Drinking it is the kind of mistake we all make when we're young.[..]

http://www.nataliemaclean.com/articles/bottled_water.html
posted by Irdial , 6:13 PM Þ 

I was the casio too.
Must be something in the water.
posted by Alun , 6:02 PM Þ 

The site is down at the moment while I sort out renewing hosting....should be back in a day or so.

You mean, there is another browser other than Mozilla?!?!

I use Opera as well but it does funny things when I try to blog. Like not creating this little window to post in...strange that one.

the currency war: Hasn't every past empire enforced their currency on those that they 'liberate'?

I bet 'dubya' even has visions of himself being on a future dollar donimination.
posted by chriszanf , 5:53 PM Þ 



This is the extraordinary graph of traffic resulting from 4000 people all leeching RedHat9 with bittorrent. The bandwidth across all clients at its peak was the same as that used by a major ISP; 1.4gigs PER SECOND.
posted by Irdial , 5:38 PM Þ 

Chris what has happened to your dinar note: the page is gone.
posted by Irdial , 5:33 PM Þ 

"This type of claim absolutely does not and cannot correspond with reality," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.[...]
Channel News Asia
posted by Irdial , 5:28 PM Þ 

You mean, there is another browser other than Mozilla?!?!
posted by Irdial , 5:19 PM Þ 

search them to boot.

hmmmm; the archives are being squirted onto the site that blogger pushes the blog to, but they are not immediately accessible...i have been thinking about setting up a serach (yes serach) but if everyone who actualy has an account are the only ones that can look back, well thats ok by me®

I cant read the archives from blogger because I am admin.....hmmmmm

I cant wait for blogger to go 100% silicon at google. It will at last not be running on IIS, and will be fast as google, and as reliable.
posted by Irdial , 5:18 PM Þ 

FWIW about:cache works on Mozilla, didn't on my IE5.5
posted by captain davros , 5:15 PM Þ 

put this:

about:cache


in your location bar and press return...


???
posted by Josh Carr , 5:07 PM Þ 

What archive?

If you go to the Blogdial page on blogger you can look at all of the posts going back and search them to boot.
posted by Josh Carr , 5:06 PM Þ 

One has to say, even though I've not heard their music, Geggy Tah is an inspired name for a band. Saying it aloud makes me think of tasting freshly cooked pizza.
posted by captain davros , 4:55 PM Þ 

why do you have it?

Now, what kind of question is that, friend?
posted by Irdial , 4:13 PM Þ 

claus: no, you're not scary. i am just weird. i wish i had the guts to go and say hello now.

irdial: where is that arafat.mp3 from? who is saying that? why do you have it?

everyone: some nice mozilla links.
posted by alex_tea , 4:06 PM Þ 

Oh Aye, me just 8-bit.
posted by captain davros , 3:46 PM Þ 

"And he murdered them, and killed them, and had them kill each other."

arafat.mp3
posted by Irdial , 3:37 PM Þ 

beyond me...

that's because -you are a simple personality

;]
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 3:02 PM Þ 

Well-I-will-be-so-kind...
posted by captain davros , 1:42 PM Þ 

The offer remains open; Beer. Thai dish. A Laugh!
posted by Irdial , 1:32 PM Þ 

mini moog
You are a MiniMoog
-Everyone wants you
-You are very popular
-You have a vintage look and unique personality
-You are loved by indie rockers the world over
-You are a leader and always get the melody


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by chriszanf , 1:31 PM Þ 

My God can't you people read?
posted by Irdial , 1:31 PM Þ 

Alex - do I look scary? I hope not. And Akin I only saw your msg when I got home. Some other time London will call... More on ATP later...
posted by Claus Eggers , 1:29 PM Þ 

Word.
mini moog
You are a MiniMoog
-Everyone wants you
-You are very popular
-You have a vintage look and unique personality
-You are loved by indie rockers the world over
-You are a leader and always get the melody


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by Claus Eggers , 1:26 PM Þ 

I enjoy listening to some of your sermons...
you see you think you're complimenting me, some of my sermons? What do you think I preach part truth and then the other part is error? You think I'm like most of these fellows out here who's just out to make a name for myself? I command this broadcast emphatically every night, over and over I declare to you that this is the voice of the last day prophet of God, and I can tell you the longer I live and the more I hear of the perversion and the erroneous teachings and proclamations that are going out, I can...see more and more why God has raised us in this crooked and perverse generation. The people of God are walking in absolutely derision my friend, and confusion!

Bugga, you found me!
posted by captain davros , 1:26 PM Þ 

How anyone could be anything else is beyond me...

casio sk 1
You are a Casio Sk-1
-you are a very lo tech toy from the 80's who is
treasured for its sampling capabilities
-you are a nerd
-you are extremly small
-you are a great listener
-you have a simple style and personality
-you are very cheap
-you have a great sense of humor
-you are the most fun to be with


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

p.s. irdial discs did you get my CD?
posted by captain davros , 1:24 PM Þ 

oh, the truth can be so painfull .............. !

korg triton
You are a Korg Triton
-You have multi-sampled preset sounds ranging from
opera to bongos and a fancy touch screen
control pannel
-you are f'cking new school
-very modern and hi tech
-you have to have the latest and best of everything
-you think you are better than everyone
-you probably like house or trance or somthing like
that


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:51 PM Þ 

Oh yes they are...

casio sk 1
You are a Casio Sk-1
-you are a very lo tech toy from the 80's who is
treasured for its sampling capabilities
-you are a nerd
-you are extremly small
-you are a great listener
-you have a simple style and personality
-you are very cheap
-you have a great sense of humor
-you are the most fun to be with


what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by Irdial , 12:39 PM Þ 

these things are never right...

roland juno 60
You are a Roland Juno 60
-You are an analog synth from the 80's who can pump
out bass frequencies like no other
-your anolog sound is treasured by the breakin'
electro kids of the old school
-you are highly respected
-you aren't very high tech and dont like computers
-you can either be a leader or offer great support
when you need to
-you are one of the coolest kids out there



what synthesizer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by alex_tea , 12:33 PM Þ 

Al Jazeera's sins, it would seem to us, are as follows. First, it has been Osama bin Laden's propaganda outlet, taking delivery of his videotapes and broadcasting them. Second (and this is the one that has raised ire most recently), it has shown footage of the bodies of two dead British servicemen, and of captured troops paraded by the Iraqis. Third, it shows far more harrowing pictures of civilian casualties than western outlets are prepared to run, and fourth (a sum total of the first three) it is therefore peddling Iraqi propaganda. Which is also the accusation currently being levelled at many Western journalists, including recently-ex NBC staffer Peter Arnett, and the Independent's Robert Fisk, recently described as a "Saddamite buffoon" in the Telegraph.

Essentially Al Jazeera's 'Iraqi propaganda' activities are no greater (perhaps even rather less) than those of many liberal media outlets. In the UK many of these have also been criticised by the government, but they have not been the subject of major hacking attacks, nor have hosting and services companies declined to do business with them. We should also clarify something regarding the footage of the prisoners and the dead servicemen; military spokesmen to the contrary, reproducing such images is not a breach of the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is directed at governments, and does not cover news organisations. Al Jazeera has arguably broadcast images of the Iraqi Government breaching the Geneva Convention, but that is not the same thing.

To get this into perspective, note that one of the most striking pictures from the Vietnam war was of a South Vietnamese officer shooting a prisoner - do we argue that this should not have been published? If Al Jazeera had footage of an Iraqi shooting a British prisoner, should that be broadcast? The other way around? Are our standards today different from those of the 60s, or do the criteria differ depending on the nationalities of the participants and/or the audience? The answers are not straightforward, nor should they be. In deciding whether or not to report a story and how to report it news organisations have to take into account the motivation of the people they're covering, standards of taste and decency and likely impact on people involved, such as friends and family.[...]

The Register
posted by Irdial , 12:30 PM Þ 

SECRETARY POWELL: Europeans, especially Germans, should recognize the American record, our history. Our history is not one of getting involved in conflicts just for the sake of it. We get involved in conflicts because there are major issues at stake that have to be resolved, unfortunately, by force of arms. But when you look at our history for the last sixty years, every time we found ourselves in this position, we did not just get up and walk away. We did everything we could to put in place a better system, a better society, than that which we had to go in and fight. And we will do it again this time.

In Kuwait, we fought to save a Muslim people that had been invaded by another Muslim people, Iraq, and we gave Kuwait back to its --

QUESTION: Rulers?

SECRETARY POWELL: -- rightful rulers. Its rightful rulers. Are you defending what Iraq did by invading Kuwait.

QUESTION: No.

SECRETARY POWELL: But the way you just posed that question, they were the rulers. The people of Kuwait were happy with their rulers. Iraq said we don’t care, we’re invading. We restored Kuwait to its rulers - its rightful rulers – and let them find their transition into a democratic form of government, as their people choose.

We went to Kosovo, another very controversial war, in order to save Muslims, in order to protect Muslims. And we went to Afghanistan in order to deal with the terrorist threat that had caused such destruction in the Untied States on 9/11.

And what have we done? Have we decided to make Afghanistan an American colony? No. We spent a huge amount of money and we are putting our young men and women on the line, every day, to put in place a form of government that was decided upon by the Afghan people. And we are helping them to rebuild and reconstruct their society. That pattern is the American pattern. We’re very proud of it. It’s been repeated many times over, and it will be repeated again in Iraq.

QUESTION: From you and from your colleague, Secretary Rumsfeld, came very strong warnings the last couple of days, vis-à-vis Iran and Syria, not to interfere, stay out of Iraq and stop their business of dealing with terrorists and the Iraqi regime. Are they the next ones on the list for --

SECRETARY POWELL: No, there is no list. There is this common perception in Europe that there is this list of enemies and we are going to go down one-by-one and invade them all in some predetermined order. This is not the case. The President is not looking for places to go invade. The President has made it clear that he has many ways of dealing with regimes that, we believe, are not following international standards. So, sometimes political actions are appropriate, economic actions, use of our intelligence assets. Sometimes military force is appropriate. But we are not looking for wars to get into.

It’s fascinating that we are now trying in a multilateral setting to deal with the problem of North Korea and here we are criticized for not acting bilaterally or doing something directly.

And so we have many tools available to us but it does not mean the United States has constantly looking for places to go to war. But is there something wrong with telling a nation such as Syria, or a nation such as Iran, that we know they are developing weapons of mass destruction, that we have evidence against Iran with respect to nuclear weapons. And these are nations that we know – we know, everyone knows – they are supporting terrorist activities. Is it inappropriate for us to call this to their attention and tell these nations they should stop engaging in these kinds of activities? Or should we just put our hands over our eyes and pretend they are not doing such things and not hold them to any kind of account? I think we should speak out when we find nations that are supporting terrorist activities. [...]

US Department of State
posted by Irdial , 12:04 PM Þ 
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 11:32 AM Þ 

JEDDAH, 9 April 2003 — Now it’s obvious that the Iraqis aren’t going to put up a credible fight, and it’s equally clear that as a result the world has changed into pretty much what the Americans wanted it to be. The pride the Arabs felt in the initial stages of the invasion, before those legendary “pockets of resistance” halting the advance of the world’s only superpower were revealed as a myth, has been replaced by immense shame and humiliation. The images of US soldiers taking a picnic in the heart of Baghdad will haunt the Arab psyche for generations to come.[...]

Everyone has betrayed everyone. America led the way, abandoning its Jeffersonian democratic foundations in favor of crude economic exploitation and colonial expansion. The Arabs quickly followed suit, abandoning their brothers. Britain turned its back on Europe, while Europe chose lip-service over action when push came to shove. Saddam long ago betrayed his people and so the Iraqi people, in turn, predictably betrayed him. Less predictable, but equally devastating, was the passive betrayal of the Republican Guard. They betrayed their honor and dignity, which we are supposed to believe are the most important things to any Arab man, let alone an Arab fighter.[...]

Arab News

Led to believe by whom? This is part of your problem, your ego centric insane and stupid belief system, that none of you actually believe in, that you shoult about day after day in public while in private you surf for pr0n and guzzle whiskey. The truth is you are all dishonest loosers, and you will all be OWNED.

At least afterwards you can get drunk and read Hustler without getting thrown into jail...uh oh wait a minute, thats not true, 'cause in the already own0rzd gulf states woemen are KILLED for driving, there is no booze and no "democrazy".

Looks like you are going to be D0UBLE 0WN3D; you get occupied by foreign powers and then dont get any of the bennies, just like the Saudies and Kuwaities; both OWNED and still under the polar opposite of democrazy!

YOU IDIOTS!

Morality, in a word, has been thrown out the window. The only hope now is that the US will somehow be kept in check by those ordinary Americans who, like the vast majority of the world’s people, feel betrayed and abused by what the Bush “regime” has done — all the more so for being carried out under their very noses.

Now you really are showing what an unmitigated idiot you are. There has never been a generation of Americans as stupid as this one. 50% of them think Saddam Hussein was behind 911. WAKE UP you dingbat!
posted by Irdial , 11:25 AM Þ 

Political dissent at the marines' mission persisted in Baghdad as evening fell yesterday. "Bush is a rich bully. The US has no legal right to be here. Probably Saddam would have sold chemical weapons to somebody someday and then the US would have been right to invade, but now this is the first free democratic country ever to occupy another without good reason," said a heavily armed man standing by the roadside. He was a lance-corporal in the US marines.[...]

The Guardian
posted by Irdial , 11:10 AM Þ 

http://f.scarywater.net/postmortem/
posted by Irdial , 10:47 AM Þ 

I've read quite a bit on the currency thing and it does make perfect sense. The easiest way to remove power from the US is to make their currency less attractive. Monbiot had quite a rant on it a while ago. ANd now adbusters are promoting changing your savings to euros as part of their Boycott bRAND aMERICA campaign.
posted by Alun , 9:59 AM Þ 

This is the REAL reason why UK would not join the Euro! It has nothing to do with soverignty; its all to do with US/UK Anglo Saxon solidarity!

Whoa. But do you think the solidarity is merely about being Anglo Saxon? What other reasons could there be for this alliance? I don't know enough about English/US trade to make a call here.
This currency "war" is truly chilling and very interesting. I had not even thought of it before - Blogdial wins again!
posted by Barrie , 7:14 AM Þ 
Tuesday, April 08, 2003

posted by Irdial , 11:52 PM Þ 

Did you know that Iraq actually converted to the Euro for the sale of its oil?

It was an act of war!!!!!

O...M...G...

This is the REAL reason why UK would not join the Euro! It has nothing to do with soverignty; its all to do with US/UK Anglo Saxon solidarity!!!!!

Chavez of Venezuela was bartering directly for products with its oil (Venez is the number 4 producer of oil) no doubt he is next to go to Euro as the oil currency for Venez oil.

Currency is the key weapon of WW4.

There was a programme on BBC4 tonight about the 48hr Chavez coup; if you get a chance to see it, you must. It shows the blueprint of how CIA / Private media manipulates TV to control states and engineer regime change.
posted by Irdial , 11:35 PM Þ 

The Unstated US Goal of Preserving Dollar Hegemony Over the Global Oil Market

Dominance of Middle Eastern oil will mean in effect maintaining dollar hegemony over the world oil economy. Given its present strategies, the US is constrained to demand no less. As I explain in this extract from my book, Drugs, Oil, and War, the present value of the US dollar, unjustified on purely economic grounds, is maintained by political arrangements, one of the chief of which is to ensure that all OPEC oil purchases will continue to be denominated in US dollars. (This commitment of OPEC to dollar oil sales was secured in the 1970s by a secret agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia, before the two countries began to drift apart over Israel and other issues.)

The chief reason why dollars are more than pieces of green paper is that countries all over the world need them for purchases, principally of oil. This requires them in addition to maintain dollar reserves to protect their own currency; and these reserves, when invested, help maintain the current high levels of the US securities markets.

As Henry Liu has written vividly in the online Asian Times (4/11/02),

"World trade is now a game in which the US produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy. The world's interlinked economies no longer trade to capture a comparative advantage; they compete in exports to capture needed dollars to service dollar-denominated foreign debts and to accumulate dollar reserves to sustain the exchange value of their domestic currencies. To prevent speculative and manipulative attacks on their currencies, the world's central banks must acquire and hold dollar reserves in corresponding amounts to their currencies in circulation. The higher the market pressure to devalue a particular currency, the more dollar reserves its central bank must hold. This creates a built-in support for a strong dollar that in turn forces the world's central banks to acquire and hold more dollar reserves, making it stronger. This phenomenon is known as dollar hegemony, which is created by the geopolitically constructed peculiarity that critical commodities, most notably oil, are denominated in dollars. Everyone accepts dollars because dollars can buy oil. The recycling of petro-dollars is the price the US has extracted from oil-producing countries for US tolerance of the oil-exporting cartel since 1973.

[...]


As the United States made preparations for war with Iraq, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, on 2/6/03, again denied to US journalists that the projected war had "anything to do with oil." <1> He echoed Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld, who on 11/14/02 told CBS News that "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil."

Speaking to British MPs, Prime Minister Tony Blair was just as explicit: "Let me deal with the conspiracy theory idea that this is somehow to do with oil. There is no way whatever if oil were the issue that it would not be infinitely simpler to cut a deal with Saddam...." (London Times 1/15/03) [...]

For once, they were not lying...sort of:

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/iraq.html
posted by Irdial , 11:13 PM Þ 

put this:

about:cache

in your location bar and press return...
posted by Irdial , 10:56 PM Þ 

ezekiel198: what a fag
fivesideagon: uh, no.

This is a pretty archetypal argument between a brain dead racist piece of pig flesh and someone who "has the lights on".

These arguments are pointless, and have been going on for generations.

What we need to do is argue once for the permanent removal of the ability of governments in the west (the USA) to wage war.

Once this is ability is removed, the brain dead can continue to listen to monopoly music, watch MTV and run windoze without any fear from us, or anyone in another country because their STICK will have been removed from them. Forever.
posted by Irdial , 10:42 PM Þ 

http://www.lickable.net/index.php?page=2&story=44 - This was posted by a friend of mine. Actual discussion between two Americans about the war.
posted by Mikkel , 9:47 PM Þ 
posted by chriszanf , 9:29 PM Þ 
posted by Ben , 9:28 PM Þ 

I didn't, and I can't find them in the archive either.

Anyway, I'm leaving for America this thursday to go to my cousins wedding. I'll be sure to let you know what I think of everything as seen from that side of the pond.
posted by Mikkel , 8:39 PM Þ 

archive

What archive?
posted by Irdial , 7:57 PM Þ 

Some time ago someone (Mikkel?) posted links to Current 93 mp3s and I am having trouble finding them in the archive. Can anyone help with that? I heard a song called "The Seahorse Rears to Oblivian" on the radio last night and it seems to only come from obscure releases. I would love to get a copy...
posted by Josh Carr , 7:51 PM Þ 

**

**

US Troops Fight Palestinian Volunteers In E Baghdad-MSNBC

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The strongest resistance to U.S. troops in the
eastern half of Baghdad is coming from foreign fighters, including a few
hundred members of the Palestine Liberation Army, MSNBC reported
Tuesday, citing reporting by one of its reporters embedded with the U.S.
Marine Expeditionary Force.

MSNBC cited Israeli sources as saying some of the foreigners were
probably recruited in Lebanon and then sent to Baghdad via Syria. There
are members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization among them, and
some may be members of Hezbollah, MSNBC said.

-By Steven C. Higgins, Dow Jones Newswires; 1-201-938-4378;
hbsglobaldesk@ dowjones.com
posted by Irdial , 7:00 PM Þ 

Hey is it ok to swear on this?
are like children watching or anything?
can you say the 'c' word?
if not then we can send the americans in next to liberate that
lets us britses stay out of this one though
death to punctuation.
posted by Kris , 6:23 PM Þ 

We will add your distinctiveness to our own:



The Borg world simply kill Bush because he is neither distinct or of any value.
posted by Irdial , 5:31 PM Þ 

just found this via kung-foo...

real time, collaborative text editing..
posted by alex_tea , 4:16 PM Þ 

What they say

· "The prospect facing the people of Iraq should serve as sufficient warning that in future we too might have others descend on us, guns in hand to force-feed us [with democracy]" - South African president Thabo Mbeki

Like I said....

The Guardian
posted by Irdial , 3:55 PM Þ 

Ethic chip overload Again.
Gut reaction is NO!!!!
I believe in using stem cell technology.
But I don't believe in 'designer babies'.
Explain that to the new kid. 'Y'see, the kid we already loved was sick, and we didn't really want you, but by golly did your genes look good!'.

I don't really hold with fertility treatments either. But I won't start on that as I have work to do.
posted by Alun , 3:45 PM Þ 

what happened to claus? didn't see any black army jackets with yellow stencils on. i did see someone wearing an irdial t shirt on friday. i was too scared to speak to them. idiot. i took my camera and got about 3 hours worth of stuff. not sure if any of it's interesting.

public enemy told me to stop filming. that's not good.
posted by alex_tea , 3:04 PM Þ 

Iraq's spin doctor - he kills me

No one cares about the demise of the previously mentioned Chemical Ali (now there, Tam, was a war criminal for you!), but I'm rather hoping that if one Saddamite survives the war in Iraq, it will be Comical Saeed, the information minister.

His has been an amazing act - Goebbels meets Groucho Marx. Remember, "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"? Or, "The Americans are not at the airport, they are 100km away!"? And my favourite, when asked whether he had seen Saddam Hussein, "Have I seen him? This question is none of your business!"

For nearly three weeks, almost unaided, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has faced hundreds of foreign media types, and conjured up vast, imaginary legions of resisting Saddam-loving Iraqis and certain annihilation for the invaders. His very imperturbability has suggested to many that he knew something that they didn't, that the emperor was armoured from head to foot. How does he do it?

From the Guardian.
Seems that everybody loves a joker.
posted by Alun , 2:14 PM Þ 

You could write ..........

just found some c# info ....... i might be in business after all ....
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 1:27 PM Þ 


I am throwing a party, and Mikkel if you feel like it, come and join the festivitas, just send me an email. Claus is spinning as well
posted by Alison , 1:22 PM Þ 

You could write a Perl script to do it (if you knew Perl) and it would take you only a few hours.
posted by Irdial , 1:17 PM Þ 

do any of you heros have any experience of .dbf database files ? .......... i've been asked to give a price for automating the process of extracting information from records in a comma-delimited file & appending them to one of two .dbf files ........ from the little resarch i've managed to do this morning it seems to be an old technology, non-relational, but i haven't found reference to what sort of programs use them ........... i have a feeling that i'm going to have to advise the person that they'd be better off, financially, buying an off-the-shelf conversion tool
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:20 PM Þ 
posted by captain davros , 11:28 AM Þ 

Alex Tea, you are the OS X saviour. Now all I need is a week off work to perform some self-education.

The greatest banknote ever.
posted by Mess Noone , 10:32 AM Þ 

The racists at The Mirror rear their ugly heads:

"Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (crazy name - crazy guy!)"

There is nothing crazy about his name, and dont say its "crazy" just because you are too pig-ignorant to be able to pronounce it. There is also nothing "crazy" about the name of The Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him. Millions upon Millions of males world wide carry that name you filthy dog.

"...By Kevin O'Sullivan" There are all kinds of things that a racist could say about your name, and when they do, no doubt you become hysterical on your moral high horse.

If this piece was meant to be funny, it was not, and you are a fuckng racist LOOSER!

And I use the plural of racists because the sub editors and editors let this racist write that garbage, and then printed it.

The deeply flawed "The Mirror" Newspaper
posted by Irdial , 10:23 AM Þ 

The following sections will help you understand and use different types of punctuation more effectively in your writing. This chapter begins with the comma, the punctuation mark which usually causes writers the most trouble, before turning to other types of punctuation.[...]

www.uottawa.ca


All punctuation marks are “signals” from the writer to the reader. Proper punctuation enables the reading of a document to be smoother, and the understanding of its content easier, than if incorrect punctuation is used. Some sentences may be punctuated in more than one way. In some instances, a punctuation mark may or may not be used, at the writer’s discretion.[...]

Ted's Punctuation Guide
posted by Irdial , 10:17 AM Þ 


When Copenhagen is charming
posted by Alison , 8:59 AM Þ 

hehehe
do you really think America will go in
with this whole tide of opinion against them
surely even though they are greedy
they must realise how they are causing the arab world to become unstable
nice to know that good ole blair is the calming influence on his now 'close friend' - chimp face
saddam is dead apparently again...
posted by Kris , 4:00 AM Þ 

"First they came for the Communists - so I said nothing. They they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat - so I did nothing...And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew - so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me."
-Pastor Niemöller as quoted in Terrorism and War by Howard Zinn

Now, superimpose this on the Arab states. Iran is next. Syria after. Jordan. One by one they will all be "owned" by the USA, and they will have no one but themselvs to blame. They will all deserve it, because they sat back and watched one of their neighbors being torn to shreds by jackals while they ate falafel.
posted by Irdial , 1:16 AM Þ 
Monday, April 07, 2003

posted by captain davros , 9:35 PM Þ 

Ahem: a frenzy of images; the money of the axis of evil, and the axis of weasles (ancient) and the axis of the soon-to-be-the-enemy.

And some "dudes we already stomped".
posted by Irdial , 9:11 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 9:07 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 8:53 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 8:50 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 8:47 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 8:45 PM Þ 

This:

img src="http://url.to.your.jpg" border ="0"

is how you do that.
posted by Irdial , 8:39 PM Þ 



I was given this 50 Dinar note by an Iraqi that I met in Mumbai airport in 1997, who was studying at Bangalore university.

I've also got a 100 srang Tibetan note which I want take round to my mates and scan as well.

I also scanned a lot of photos from when I visited India again in 1999. This one is from the Rock Garden in Chandigarh. The story is that Nek Chand spent 18 years building it in seclusion (the project has been ongoing now for 33 years), out of industrial and household waste. The local council were continually threatening to tear it down, as it had no planning permission, despite it being their biggest (and only, from what I remember of Chandigarh) tourist attraction.
posted by chriszanf , 6:28 PM Þ 

URBAN WARFARE FOR PROTESTERS

by Wm. Steven Humphrey

Take a Tip from Our Boys in Iraq, and Make Your Next Protest Count!

You're doing it all wrong. There's a reason why your daily protests have failed to invigorate the anti-war movement. You have no leadership. You have no direction.

Every protest is virtually the same: Start out at Terry Schrunk Plaza. Yell for awhile, try to take City Hall. Get distracted from City Hall, walk down the street to the bridge. Bridge is blocked, go to another bridge. Bridge is blocked. Sit down. Get bored. Disperse. Wonder why no one is listening to you. Rinse, repeat.

You look like zombies afflicted with attention deficit disorder.

It's time to come up with a plan and stop this senseless and annoying lollygagging about town. Everyone's getting bored with it, and you're losing support. Say what you want about the U.S. war machine, they'll never be accused of lollygagging. That's why if you want to stop the enemy, you need to think like the enemy.

The U.S. military is successful because they have a clear objective and spend time thinking of ways to obtain that objective. And just like the thousands of troops in Iraq, peace protesters have enough hippie power to create a "shock and awe" campaign in Portland that will captivate the nation--and all it takes is a little military-style planning.

Portland Mercury
posted by Irdial , 3:37 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 3:25 PM Þ 



This is what you have to carry around with you if you have peanut allergy.

You have 5 mins to inject yourself after accidental ingestion.

"When eating outside the home, people allergic to peanuts and nuts must always be extremely cautious and should not hesitate to ask specific and detailed questions about the preparation and ingredients of foods they are planning to eat. Peanut and nut products may be encountered at any meal--in breakfast cereals, trail mixes, chili and spaghetti sauces, gravies, oriental cooking (including egg rolls), pastries, sweets, ice creams, desserts, and as garnishes for almost any food. Simply removing peanuts and nuts from a dish does not remove the contaminating protein. In addition, foods may be contaminated with peanut protein from "pressed or extruded" peanut oils, or oils or utensils used to cook foods containing peanuts. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for patients dining in restaurants to react to a food that they were assured by a waiter did not contain peanuts or nuts. If there is any doubt about a food's ingredients, peanut and nut allergic individuals must not eat it.

So much for Chinese food!

Also, I think I may have blogged it before, but there was a case where a man who was not allergic to nuts, recieved a liver transplant from someone who was allergic to nuts, and this allergy was transferred to the transplant recipient!

If only youth could be transplanted along with organs....heh.
posted by Irdial , 3:09 PM Þ 

and the lack of effective treatment

Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization is showing good results for a wide range of allergies. It is massively expensive, but you can get it on the NHS. It consists of a series of painful injections of allergens under the skin.

What I dont understand is why all of a sudden so many people have just started to be born with nut allergies. There must be some environmental trigger that has started this; if we can track it down, then we can reverse this trend for the next generation.
posted by Irdial , 2:52 PM Þ 

The BMJ article (ref 3 below) is very good and general.
posted by Alun , 1:52 PM Þ 

From Journal of Clinical Investigation
J. Clin. Invest. 111:950-952 (2003). doi:10.1172/JCI200318233.
Copyright ©2003 by the American Society for Clinical Investigation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commentary

Peanut allergy: a growing phenomenon
Wesley Burks
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Address correspondence to: Wesley Burks, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, 1120 Marshall Street, Little Rock, Arkansas 72202, USA. Phone: (501) 364-1060; Fax: (501) 364-3173; E-mail: burkswesley@uams.edu.

See the related article beginning on page 1065.

Peanut allergy is one of the most serious of the immediate hypersensitivity reactions to foods in terms of persistence and severity and appears to be a growing problem (1). The prevalence of food hypersensitivity in adults is reportedly less common, but a recent survey in the US found that 1.3% of adults are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts (2). Recently, in a cohort of American children referred for the evaluation of atopic dermatitis, the prevalence of allergic reactivity to peanuts was nearly twice as high as that in a similar group evaluated a decade earlier (3). In spite of increased recognition and understanding of food allergies, food is the single most common cause of anaphylaxis seen in hospital emergency departments (4), accounting for about one-third of anaphylaxis cases seen. It is estimated that about 30,000 food-induced anaphylactic events are seen in American emergency departments each year, 200 of which are fatal (5). Either peanuts or tree nuts cause more than 80% of these reactions.

Due to the persistence of the reaction and the lack of effective treatment, peanut-specific immunotherapy is currently being examined as a treatment option. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms is vital to ensure the eventual, effective treatment of peanut-allergic patients.

Sampson, H.A. 2002. Clinical practice. Peanut allergy. N. Engl. J. Med. 346:1294-1299.[Free Full Text]
Sicherer, S.H., Munoz-Furlong, A., Burks, A.W., and Sampson, H.A. 1999. Prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergy in the US determined by a random digit dial telephone survey. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 103:559-562.[Medline]
Sampson, H.A. 1996. Managing peanut allergy. BMJ. 312:1050-1051.[Free Full Text]

Try this for NEJM
posted by Alun , 1:48 PM Þ 

It's the fall of 1983. Michael Jackson is riding high with Thriller; Ronald Reagan is obsessed with a red menace in the jungles of Central America; humiliated U.S. troops have just retreated from Beirut; and America's newest nemesis, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, is locked in a vicious conflict with America's soon-to-be ally, the secular "socialist" dictator Saddam Hussein.

In November, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz receives an intelligence report describing how Hussein's troops are resorting to "almost daily use of CW [chemical weapons]" against the Iranians. Undeterred, Reagan signs a secret order instructing his charges to do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq from losing the war. A month later, the president dispatches a special envoy to Baghdad on a secret mission. The identity of the envoy is intriguing. He's not a diplomat or a member of Reagan's cabinet - he's a private citizen, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
On December 20, the envoy meets with Saddam Hussein. He is not there to lecture the dictator about his use of weapons of mass destruction or the fine print of the Geneva Conventions. He is there to talk business.
The envoy informs the Iraqi leader that Washington is ready for a resumption of full diplomatic relations, according to a recently declassified State Dept. report of the conversation, and that Washington would regard "any major reversal of Iraq's fortunes as a strategic defeat for the West." Iraqi leaders later describe themselves as "extremely pleased" with the visit.

The envoy was Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Searle. The meeting is widely considered to be the trigger that ushered in a new era of U.S.-Iraq relations, one that opened the door to shipments of dual-use munitions, chemical, biological agents and other dubious technology transfers. But for years what exactly was discussed in that now infamous meeting has been shrouded in secrecy.
Until last week.

guerillanews
posted by chriszanf , 1:41 PM Þ 

[More] Signs that U.S.-style 'patriotism' and 'freedom of speech' are coming to the U.K.
You're either with us....

George Galloway fights back.
posted by Alun , 10:47 AM Þ 

Bill Nelson's Diary

Excellent write-up from the Be-Bop man, detailing the unfortunate cancellation of his latest gig in Mexico.
posted by captain davros , 9:40 AM Þ 

Saddam is drawing us in

by Mark Gery

With all the contradictory info on the war, there are three facts that cannot be denied.

1.

The Iraqis had months before the conflict to blow up all the bridges over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and to mine the main highways of Iraq. The fact that they did not do this (even after the conflict started) means the present U.S. drive to Baghdad was desired by Saddam.
2.

The average April temp. in Baghdad is 85 degrees. 95 in May and an intolerable 105 in June. (110 in July). Average temperatures well remain above 90 degrees until October. Troops and vehicles will require vast quantities of clean water to maintain effective operation.
3.

April through September is also the period of the Shamal - desert winds that often cover much of the area in sandstorms. Starting in June the Shamal¹s get hotter and can generate sandstorms that last up to 40 days.

Because our tracked vehicles and troops have been disturbing the top layers of Iraq¹s terrain, there will be more loose soil than normal, adding additional thickness to the air-borne sand.

The effects of all this? Grounding of helicopters, severe limits on jet aircraft effectiveness and an inability to see more than a hundred yards on the ground. Air filters are clogged by dust, guns start to jam, radio transmission becomes impaired and sand gets into practically every nook and cranny of man and machine.

Prediction for the war: Saddam and the Special Republican Guard will probably lay low in Baghdad and elsewhere and let the Fedayeen and other paramilitary units harass us as we try to move about the city. (We have yet to secure even one major city in Iraq). They have already discarded their combat uniforms and apparently dispersed into several locales.

At some point, when temps. near 100 and the the sandstorms begin again, thousands of Iraqi troops now in hiding will strike in mass at a few choke points in our supply lines, which extend all the way into Kuwait. They may even still blow the bridges over the rivers. Our forces will become isolated from each other, and within a few weeks will be out of water, food, and gasoline. Vehicles and men will have to come into Iraqi cities for clean water, and again be subject to commando attack.

In short, weather and logistics will win the war for Saddam. At the end of it all most of his army (which we have seen less than one-third of) will not even have to be used as well as his air force and helicopter units. Thousands of US troops may end up as prisoners of war, desperate for relief from heat, thirst, and in need of fuel for their vehicles. Hundreds of American vehicles will likely be confiscated.

This scenario is very possible. Even likely.[...]

media monitors
posted by Irdial , 8:50 AM Þ 

Absolutely poetic, and here is the poem

Leaf, me, alone



By Peregrine Davros III

Oh I was a leaf
and I was trapped beneath
a double yellow line
which was a waste of my time
but due to degredation
or perhaps stomatic perspiration
I shrugged off that yellow
and now I feel more mellow
(though it has to be said,
I was already dead).

Pathetic really - I am off to bed.
posted by captain davros , 12:14 AM Þ 
Sunday, April 06, 2003

English Al-Jazeera is sort of working now... I can see the front page and click the links, but no stories show... just the headlines. Hmmm.

I have like, a piece of paper, with this glued to it. :P
posted by Barrie , 9:35 PM Þ 

Why do we aid and abet the lies and propaganda of this filthy war?

[...]
Another enjoyable lie was the American assertion that the anti-chemical weapons suits issued to Iraqi soldiers “proved” that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqis neatly replied that the equipment was standard issue but that since US and British forces carried the same equipment, they too must be in possession of forbidden weapons. The Iraqi lie — that the country remains united under a beloved leader — is hardly questioned in press conferences held by the Iraqi vice president. Unity may be the one element Iraq will never possess under American occupiers. But its existence under Saddam has been imposed through terror. Then there’s the famous “war in Iraq” slogan which the British and American media like to promote. But this is an invasion, not a mere war.[...]

And isn’t it turning into an occupation rather than a ‘liberation’? Shouldn’t we be remembering in our reports that this whole invasion lacks legitimacy? Sure, the Americans claim they needed no more than the original UN Security Council Resolution 1441 to go to war. But if that’s the case, why did Britain and the US vainly seek a second resolution? I can’t help thinking that readers and viewers realize the mendacity of all this sleight of hand, and that we journalists go on insulting these same readers and viewers by thinking we can con them. Thus we go on talking about an “air campaign” — as if the Luftwaffe was taking off from Cap Gris Nez to bomb London — when not a single Iraqi aircraft has left the ground. So it’s “coalition forces”, a war not an invasion, liberation rather than occupation, and the taking of cities that are “secured” rather than “captured” and, when captured, are insecure.[...]

Arab News
posted by Irdial , 8:51 PM Þ 

"This should be seen as a trial run. Iraq is seen as an extremely easy and totally defenseless target. It is assumed, probably correctly, that the society will collapse, that the soldiers will go in and that the U.S. will be in control, and will establish the regime of its choice and military bases. They will then go on to the harder cases that will follow. The next case could be the Andean region, it could be Iran, it could be others." - Interview with Noam Chomsky
posted by chriszanf , 8:05 PM Þ 

Poetic I say.
posted by Irdial , 7:50 PM Þ 

The Power of Be-Leaf



A work colleague noticed this leaf shape in the double-yellows on the way home from work. I nipped out to grab it this avo.
Beautiful, I say.
posted by captain davros , 7:06 PM Þ 

In December 1999, President Clinton signed a law that makes it a federal felony to possess "a depiction of animal cruelty" with the intent to distribute across state lines -- such as on the Internet. During a floor debate, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) claimed that "sick criminals are taking advantage of the loopholes in the local law and the lack of federal law on animal cruelty videos."

Wired
posted by Irdial , 5:10 PM Þ 

What if Fox News were around during other historical events?



Fark!
posted by Irdial , 11:25 AM Þ 

Korea Image Poisioning begins:

Korea's 'lucky' triplets seized

30mar03

ALL triplets in North Korea are being forcibly removed from parents after their birth and dumped in bleak orphanages.

The policy is carried out on the orders of Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-il, who has an irrational belief that a triplet could one day topple his regime.

The number three is thought to be auspicious in North Korea and triplets are revered. It is believed they are likely to rise to positions of power, which accounts for Kim's insistence that they are all raised in state-run orphanages, where their development can be controlled.

Officially, the policy was introduced to help poverty-stricken parents in a country where hunger is widespread.

But aid agencies and diplomats have dismissed this: triplets born to high-ranking officials are also seized.

"There is no doubt that the policy is compulsory and universal," a veteran Western diplomat told London's Daily Telegraph newspaper.[...]

heraldsun news

This story is particularly potent and resonates vividly for the crusading "Christians" of the west; the tenth miracle that killed all first born Egyptians caused Pharaoh to release the Hebrews, now, we have a man that is sequestering all triplets, because of an "irrational" belief.

Need I point out that thinking the tenth miracle is rational and that The Dear Leader's believing a triplet is a threat to him is irrational is a DOUBLE STANDARD?

No, of course I need not!
posted by Irdial , 10:45 AM Þ 

No more fun

Drunken prank closes New York bridge

Reuters
Mar. 28, 2003 11:35 AM

NEW YORK - Three men climbed on a New York bridge in a drunken prank on Friday, shutting the bridge, sparking an anti-terrorism response and sending the dollar down in morning trading, officials said.

Police said they arrested three men in their 30s, who were caught by a police officer in the morning rush-hour after they were spotted climbing the cables of the Williamsburg Bridge that links Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River.

Anti-terrorism teams, including helicopters, radiation detection units and bomb squads -- on high alert since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and stepped up since the U.S.-led war on Iraq started last Thursday -- converged on the area.

But police said the incident was not terrorism-related and nothing suspicious was found. Police also searched all of the city's bridges and tunnels as a precaution, officials said.

New York Police Department Deputy Chief Bruce Smolka told reporters that the men ''had been drinking all night'' and looked ''scruffy.''

One of the men told the arresting officer he had climbed the bridge once before and wanted to do it again with two friends, Smolka said.

The prank closed the bridge for more than two hours and snarled traffic on the Manhattan side along the main FDR Drive that sweeps alongside the East River.

In recent weeks in the build-up to the Iraq war, calls about suspicious packages and other false alarms have risen sharply in New York, a city jittery about the war and from the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, killing nearly 2,800 people.

www.azcentral.com

This is the most important change in America's life; no more sponetenaiety, no more fun, total, paralyzing paranoia, and for what?
posted by Irdial , 10:40 AM Þ 

Is there ANYONE on this planet that doesnt think that this is part of an ongoing conspiracy?:

THE original blueprints for a device that could have revolutionised the motor car have been discovered in the secret compartment of a tool box.

A carburettor that would allow a car to travel 200 miles on a gallon of fuel caused oil stocks to crash when it was announced by its Canadian inventor Charles Nelson Pogue in the 1930s.

But the carburettor was never produced and, mysteriously, Pogue went overnight from impoverished inventor to the manager of a successful factory making oil filters for the motor industry. Ever since, suspicion has lingered that oil companies and car manufacturers colluded to bury Pogue’s invention. [...]

The Times
posted by Irdial , 10:35 AM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 10:31 AM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 10:23 AM Þ 

Of the expressions that I know, the closest that I come is dada/found art. Dada in that it has no relation to the work at hand, found art in that it is something random off a tape in his drawer somewhere. My goal is to reach that talent. Not the talent to make whatever, but the talent to pick up something, look at it, then give whatever and say it is a remix and people accept it. Basically for people to pick up my shit and agree.

I have a huge Iraq discussion I'll save in a text later and put on here, very intersting shit.
posted by Mikkel , 9:25 AM Þ 

Havent seen anything of this anywhere but Edwin Starr died recently.
posted by chriszanf , 5:00 AM Þ 

All your base.
posted by b , 1:07 AM Þ 
posted by b , 12:53 AM Þ 
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