He insisted that his strategy had been "flexible enough'' to respond, and said that even now "we're adjusting to our conditions'' in places like Najaf, where American forces have been battling one of the most militant of the Shiite groups opposing the American-installed government.

Mr. Bush deflected efforts to inquire further into what went wrong with the occupation, suggesting that such questions should be left to historians, and insisting, as his father used to, that he would resist going "on the couch'' to rethink decisions. [...]

On environmental issues, Mr. Bush appeared unfamiliar with an administration report delivered to Congress on Wednesday that indicated that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases were the only likely explanation for global warming over the last three decades. Previously, Mr. Bush and other officials had emphasized uncertainties in understanding the causes and consequences of global warming.

The new report was signed by Mr. Bush's secretaries of energy and commerce and his science adviser. Asked why the administration had changed its position on what causes global warming, Mr. Bush replied, "Ah, we did? I don't think so." [...]

He said that in North Korea's case, and in Iran's, he would not be rushed to set deadlines for the countries to disarm, despite his past declaration that he would not "tolerate'' nuclear capability in either nation. He declined to define what he meant by "tolerate.''

"I don't think you give timelines to dictators,'' Mr. Bush said, speaking of North Korea's president, Kim Jong Il, and Iran's mullahs. He said he would continue diplomatic pressure - using China to pressure the North and Europe to pressure Iran - and gave no hint that his patience was limited or that at some point he might consider pre-emptive military action.

Mr. Bush did not hesitate when asked about the central charge issued by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the veterans' group that has leveled unsubstantiated attacks against Mr. Kerry's record in Vietnam. "I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record,'' Mr. Bush said. "No, I don't think he lied.''

But when pressed repeatedly if he would specifically denounce the advertisements, which Mr. Kerry has said were being run with the tacit approval of the Bush campaign, the president refused to condemn then. Instead, he said he would talk only of the "broader issue'' of the political committees that take to the airwaves with attack advertisements.

"Five twenty-sevens - I think these ought to be outlawed,'' he said. "I think they should have been outlawed a year ago. We have billionaires writing checks, large checks, to influence the outcome of the election.'' [...]

You've said that progressives should never use the phrase "war on terror" ? why?

There are two reasons for that. Let's start with "terror." Terror is a general state, and it's internal to a person. Terror is not the person we're fighting, the "terrorist." The word terror activates your fear, and fear activates the strict father model, which is what conservatives want. The "war on terror" is not about stopping you from being afraid, it's about making you afraid.

Next, "war." How many terrorists are there ? hundreds? Sure. Thousands? Maybe. Tens of thousands? Probably not. The point is, terrorists are actual people, and relatively small numbers of individuals, considering the size of our country and other countries. It's not a nation-state problem. War is a nation-state problem.

What about the "war on drugs" or the "war on poverty"?

Those are metaphorical. Real wars are wars against countries, and in the "war on terror," we are attacking countries. But those countries are not the same as the terrorists. We're acting at the wrong level. Meanwhile, by using this frame, we get a commander in chief, as the Republicans keep referring to Bush ? a "war president" with "war powers," which imply that ordinary protections don't have to be observed. A "war president" has extraordinary powers. And the "war on terror," of course, never ends. There's no peace treaty with terror. It's a prescription for keeping conservatives in power indefinitely. In three words ? "war on terror" ? they've enacted vast political changes. [...]

Bush has positioned war with Iraq as part of the "war on terror." How can progressives frame opposition to the Iraq war without being tarred as unpatriotic or as in league with the terrorists?

By criticizing Bush for weakening us. By saying out loud, while waving the flag, that the Iraq war has made us more vulnerable to terrorists in many ways. Iraq had nothing to do with 911 or al Qaeda. By moving troops from Afghanistan to Iraq, Bush may have let Osama bin Laden escape, and he certainly allowed al Qaeda and the Taliban to regroup. Moreover, the Iraq war has recruited more terrorists. The $200 billion we've spent there could have been used to enhance homeland security, which has mostly been ignored. It could also have been used to address the root causes of terrorism, which the Bush administration is ignoring. Moreover, Bush has allowed North Korea and Iran to move toward becoming nuclear powers, while he concentrated our efforts on Iraq, which had no nuclear weapons program. Allowing nuclear proliferation aids terrorism.

The Bush reply is always avoidance: that we're better off without Saddam Hussein. Clinton gave the clearest rebuttal of that argument: There are other bad guys like Saddam Hussein in the world, in North Korea, Iran, and Sudan. There are bad guys all over the place. Are we going to invade all these countries? As Clinton said, we can't possibly attack, imprison or kill everyone who's against us. We have to make friends. [...]

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/08/25_lakoff.shtml

I agree with this, in that if you want to discuss or debate something, dont let your opponent set the terms.

Wether or not debating the real issues without any illusion will actually do anything is another matter entirely. Talk is cheap. Bullets cost something. We have been there before right?

Generative Music

rising from the ashes of my ill-fated involvement with blanco y negro, el's first objective was to establish a highly individualistic reputation that would also charm potential backers into investing in our plan.

those startlingly different, deliberately obtuse first records still sound really exciting. and shp's anthemic "I, bloodbrother be" remarkably achieved "single of the week" in all four national british music papers. though even this outstanding record was ignored by a lethargic radio one to whom the single appeared both offensive and incomprehensible (a reaction that would come to be their pathetic stock response to any el record).

cherry red proved to be the only people with the courage and imagination to finance the label, though I remember taking care not to give too many of the more colourful aspects of our strategy away to their accounts department as we set out to make a mirage and an exercise in continuity that would stand or fall by virtue of its individuality. I was determined to make records that were spontaneous and imaginative with people of character and often regardless of their musical ability.

in direct contrast to the dreary mediocrity of the prevailing scene, the theme of el records would be escapism into a pop fantasy world which would always be optimism and sunshine. a world oblivious to sordid realities and pre-occupied with life's finer pursuits. so armed with a paintbrush, a map of southern spain, a bottle of chianti, a copy of "pandora & the flying dutchman" and luis bunuel's "my last breath", we set out to confuse, enchant and antagonise as many people as possible.

having been brought up on surrealist sixties fantasies like "the prisoner" "the singing ringing tree" and "the avengers", I thought, how splendid it would be to recreate this meeting of strangeness and dry humour in the context of a record label. a label that I like to imagine was being run by john steed and mrs peel (with the monkees and jackson pollock hovering somewhere in the background!) in an industry that had forgotten artistry and humour our maxim would be "replace money with imagination"

so teenybop idol of my acquaintance, simon turner became this peter pan type figure, the king of luxembourg, jessica griffin, an elegant lyricist who actually worked in the city of london, would be the would-be-goods (a kind of shangri las expelled from roedean) whilst bad dream fancy dress made a psychedelic racket that was akin to the shaggs meeting stanley kubrick over a hot madrass. entering into this spirit of play, one critic described as "pop that can spell it's name backwards".

we never feared or contemplated failure. though with every record we risked our security to progress-often adopting completely unconventional styles in complete defiance of the eighties - flirting with disaster as we tilted at windmills. [...]

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/el/elhistory.htm

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how it is DONE.

1. Mess will definately be there
2. They are not selling enough tickets
3. It will be priceless/unmissible/to die for
4. We should all meet up there for the do and the after party piss up
5. Mess made a messtake
6. Its a slow day for news
7. $your_reason_here

h3o live in london this weekend

Western music is strictly censored in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime.

But an album of Queen's greatest hits was released in Iran on Monday.

Mercury, who died in 1991, was proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran.

Lyrics explained

The album contains hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody, The Miracle and I Want to Break Free, but reportedly omits a number of Queen's love songs.

The cassette, costing less than $1 (55 pence), comes complete with translated lyrics and an explanatory leaflet.

It tells Queen fans that Bohemian Rhapsody is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil.

On the night before his execution he calls God in Arabic, "Bismillah", and so regains his soul from Satan. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3593532.stm

Like I keep saying, you cant make stuff like this up!

The precise nature of Battisti's revolutionary activities has never been entirely clear. Born in 1954, the biography on his website records that he joined an organisation called Armed Proletarians for Communism in 1976 after various run-ins with the police. In 1979, he fell foul of what he describes as a "vast anti-terrorist operation" and was jailed.

Two years later, Battisti escaped - first to France and then to Mexico, where he worked as a journalist before returning to Paris. Mr Mitterrand allowed him to stay on condition that he renounced all terrorist activities and did not attempt to flee.

Several critically acclaimed thrillers followed, including the semi-autobiographical The Last Bullets. In 1993, an Italian court found Battisti guilty in his absence of the murders of a prison guard, a policeman, and a neo-fascist militant.

But it was not until February of this year that the French government - keen to avoid the charge that it was soft on terrorists - finally bowed to pressure from Rome and arrested him.

Much to the disgust of his supporters, a French court subsequently ruled that he could be extradited to Italy. His lawyers claim the only evidence against him was supplied by turncoats and that at least one of them was tortured during the trial. [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1289836,00.html

This is what a borderless EU means; no jurisdiction, no concessions. Everyones laws are everywhere, fair or not.

Right. Who shall we pick on this week? How about Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD): she is number one in the bestseller charts, after all, and she does have a weekly show on Channel 4, called "You are what you eat".

And I dont. I have a shabby, sour column in the Guardian, for which I am paid £300. I dont have a show on Channel 4. I dont have a best selling book. I dont have breasts. I have a mortgage. I am angry.

I dont have anything to offer humanity except negativity. My column does not help a single human being. Dr. Gillian McKeith helps many people. I hate that. I hate anything that works outside of my rigid, sour world view.

I hate.

This is my religion. All those who do not agree with my religion must be cast down, vilified, ridiculed and destroyed. My column will do this. My column will ensure that my colleagues in the great cult of science know that I have not broken ranks, that I am adhering to the dogma, and that I pour scorn on the non-believers as we are trained and istructed to do.

ALL HAIL SCIENCE!

She dared to don the robes of science. This means everything she says is a lie. This means that she cannot help anyone. For this grave infraction, she must be silenced; her tounge cut out and her throat sliced from ear to ear. Our cult is exclusive. How dare she, a mere person pretend to be one or our ranks? We have made many concessions to her kind, "the men without penises" but we cannot tolerate this kind of pretender; a user of our secret sauce handshake that has not been properly inducted. If there were a hell, she whoud burn in it.

Today's article does not actually destroy what she says, only the fact that she wears our sacred cloth without spilling her blood in our secret underground temple at the appointed time. I shall save that for another time. Maybe. I have so much HATE to disseminate, I might not mention Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) again. But that does not matter. I have hurt her. My mission is complete.

ALL HAIL OBESITY
ALL HAIL ILLNESS
ALL HAIL SCIENCE
LET THE PEOPLE BE ILL SO THAT THEY MAY TURN TO THE GOD OF SCIENCE
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN

- Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.

Strict regulations published by Athens 2004 last week dictate that spectators may be refused admission to events if they are carrying food or drinks made by companies that did not see fit to sponsor the games.

Sweltering sports fans who seek refuge from the soaring temperatures with a soft drink other than one made by Coca-Cola will be told to leave the banned refreshment at the gates or be shut out. High on the list of blacklisted beverages is Pepsi, but even the wrong bottle of water could land spectators in trouble.

http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/index.asp?story_id=38149

To spell it out; we are not FOR those rival corporate entities, but aghast that people will be denied entry because they are wearing clothing that says something other than what the organizers want. Pure, absolute, corruption. And dont try the line that anyone is attempting to hijack the feeds as the camera pans the spectators, beacuse no one is turning up to watch!

August 22, 2004

Angelina Jolie Hacks Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Website

Or at least that is how Tavarisch Rusty is imagines TeaMz UsA's lead hacker looks like. When did hackers give up utopian dream of bring down capitalism? K chyorta! Was good dream!! Instead of developing useful trojan horses and viruses to foil Bill Gates' plot for worldwide domination, they are hacking oppressed brothers in al Qaeda. What is world coming to? I am blaming decadent rock & roll music. But maybe is Michelle Malkin's fault. Everything else is!! [...]