Tuesday, August 31, 2004

RNC Guliani

I stayed up to hear the former Mayor Guliani's speech at the RNC. I have never heard a more delusional, distorted, suicidal and contradictory speech in my entire life. Welcome to the capital of the World. A figure of speech, or what he really thinks and what the Neocons want? Either way, in a time of great sensitivity, if you say things like this people dont like you. Not that a bellicose bumpkin like Guliani cares a single bit.

It was here in 2001 in lower Manhattan that President George W Bush stood amid the fallen towers of the World Trade Center and said to the barbaric terrorists who attacked us: 'They will hear from us.'

The whole reason why you got hit was because they have been hearing from you for decades you idiot!

They have heard from us!

Oh really?!

They heard from us in Afghanistan and we removed the Taliban.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem.

They heard from us in Iraq and we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem.

They heard from us in Libya and without firing a shot Gaddafi abandoned weapons of mass destruction.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem. And as for not firing a shot, you killed his daughter and many others you murdering pigs!

They are hearing from us in nations that are now more reluctant to sponsor terrorists.

They all have nothing to do with 911; you are scrupulously avoiding the source country of the real problem, and refusing to take the simple actions that need to be taken to resolve the source of your... disquiet..

So long as George Bush is president, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism.

Yes of course. Doubt is the leading thought process when it comes to GWB.

We owe that much and more to those loved ones and heroes we lost on 11 September.

Using the dead like this is a sin, pure and simple.

The families of some of those we lost on 11 September are here with us. To them, and all those families affected by 11 September, we recognise the sacrifices your loved ones and you have made. You are in our prayers and we are in your debt.

A sacrifice is something that a person voluntarily does in an act of selflessness. The people in the twin towers were murdered - by definition their lives were ended involuntarily. You cannot say that they "sacrificed their lives"; its just a lie. And a very disgusting one at that.

From the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to President George W Bush our party's great contribution is to expand freedom in our own land and all over the world.

More nonsense. What you call "Freedom" is appropriate only for you. By trying to impose it on other people by force, you are asking for nothing but trouble. Keep your flawed ideologies and systems of governance to yourself. If anyone wants to emulate you they will do it willingly. Leas by example, or watch the very system you adore so much be destroyed. This process has already begun; for example, you have secret lists of American citizens who are not allowed to fly in their own country. Not very "American" is it? And all of this is a direct resuld of innapropriate interference in other peoples affairs.

Neither party has a monopoly on virtue.

That should read "Neither monopoly party has a virtue".

On 11 September, this city and our nation faced the worst attack in our history.

Perl Harbor was a much worse attack, with more terrible consequences. It was a true act of war, and not retaliation.

On that day, we had to confront reality. For me, standing below the north tower and looking up and seeing the flames of hell and then realising that I was actually seeing a man, a human being jumping from the 101st or 102nd floor, drove home to me that we were facing something beyond anything we had ever faced before.

The world is facing an president without a brain. An American government without a moral centre. A narcoleptic Amercian populace. This is what we are all facing. And a terrifying and infuriating vision it has been.

President Bush's response in keeping us unified and in turning the ship of state around from being solely on defence against terrorism to being on offence as well and for his holding us together.

Spreading "Freedon" throughout the world is "offence". It is the offence that has caused this attack and the widespread hatred directed at you. You have been on the offensive for decades; this is not new, prudent, effective or rational.

For that and then his determined effort to defeat global terrorism, no matter what happens in this election, President George W. Bush already has earned a place in our history as a great American President.

He has earned a place in history, along with Nixon, Kissinger and the other american war criminals. He will be forever remembered by honest people as a war criminal, a treaty breaker, a puppet of big money, of oil, a corrupt, golf playing, corpse rattling usurper. And we will not forget, or forgive this administration for what it has stolen from America and the world. From Americans he has stolen the rights that were handed down to his generation. He has stolen their place in the world as a generally beloved and aspired to nation.

But let's not wait for history to present the correct view of our President. Let us write our own history.

This is what you and all your other delusional Rebublican cronies do every time you open your mouths; you re-write history again and again and again, and amazingly, some of the American people actually buy it. What will it take for them to realize that their president is the threat?

We need George Bush now more than ever.

The horror, the shock and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes.

They placed a thick lead helmet over your heads, so that you could neither hear see or smell, and whats more, you are licking the iinside of this helmet, and are being driven insane by lead poisioning.

We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes but a religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to eradicating us and our way of life.

This is an interesting passage. It is America that is dedicated to eradicating the way of life of anyone that doesnt eat McDonalds and listen to Rock & Roll. This is the stated aim of that administration and party, "to spread freedom all over the world". In places that do not have "Freedom" American wants to eradicate that system. America would fight back if someone tried to turn them into a Communist state, and of course, other states fight back against anyone that would try and change them. Its obvious and clear; leave others to their own devices, live and let live and all your problems will melt away. They will still buy your operating systems and cellular phones (Quallcom and M$ both sell to China without any qualms) why not sell to Iran in the same way, wtihout trying to Americanize them? Because the preception is that they can get away with it..."because its there" .

Terrorism did not start on 11 September, 2001. It had been festering for many years.

Festering? Another lie. Amerca has been sponsoring it, enflaming it, fueling it, participating in it, for decades. But you know this.

And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed. The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. And the pattern had already begun.

"The world" meaning what exactly? Certainly the UK had a perfect approach to it - do something, but not too much. This is how they managed to control their problem and eventually solve it.. Destroying you r way of life is not the solution.

The three surviving terrorists were arrested and within two months released by the German government.

Action like this became the rule, not the exception.

Because it works. No one believes, except the ignorant American, that a single German life is worth the troubles of any other nation. IT simply is not worthwhile for Germany to risk perpetual and indescriminate attacks because dimwits in some far flung place cant live next door to each other.

Terrorists came to learn they could attack and often not face consequences.

It is the American terrorist state that caame to think that it could meddle in the affairs of other countries without having to face the consequences, and it is YOU that have just learned that there ARE consequences to be faced when you do the bad things tha tyou have been doing for decades. Previously it has not been possible to mount a retaliation, now, anyone can do it, and surprise surprise, they are doing it! If you really think that you can invade someones country and not face the music afterwards you are dreaming.

Some of those terrorist were released and some of the remaining terrorists allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals.

Look at what is happening in France right now. France was against the illegal attack on Iraq, and look at how they are repayed; two of their citoyen are kidnapped because the French pass laws ini their own country that affect their own citizenry. France should not send a single citizen to those places, not spend a single euro on them, completely turn their backs on these unpredictable, ungrateful, irrational and tiresome people and their endless problems.

And so should you!

So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was "accommodation, appeasement and compromise."

Is this the same "world community" that you serially abuse and disobey?

And worse the terrorists also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously, almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack.

Ummm thats why they do it you country bumpkin!

Terrorist acts became a ticket to the international bargaining table.

Yes indeed, that is now nations are born, America was born that way, and so were Kenya and Isreal. It is a proven strategy, thats why people do it, and will continue to do it until international law works fairly and justly.

How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize when he was supporting a terrorist plague in the Middle East that undermined any chance of peace?

America supoported the Taleban and OBL; "terrorism" is a tool, nothing more. People who use tools for peace get the prize. That is the only explanation that is required.

Before 11 September, we were living with an unrealistic view of the world, much like our observing Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate ourselves to peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union through mutually assured destruction.

MAD was not unrealistic, it "worked"! I have to agree with RJ on this one though; America has lived with an unrealistic view of the world, for many many years. And it still does.

And that is enough of that, though there was much more to demolish.

DIY:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3613480.stm

The transcript is right there.

If Irdial is going to focus on NYC, then I shall focus on LONDON... Absolutely do not do that. Focus on what you think is interesting because you think its interesting, not in response or oposite reaction to someone elses posts.

REVERSALS

If Irdial is going to focus on NYC, then I shall focus on LONDON... There is a large video about GNU in London...view it!

Indymedia Deathwish

Secret Service Attempts Subpoena For Indymedia Logs as Part of Harassment Campaign Current rating: 3
30 Aug 2004
As was reported in today's New York Times, the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation and is demanding records concerning anti-RNC deleagte posts to this website. Specifically, the DOJ is seeking information on lists of 2,200 RNC delegate names posted to our Open Newswire.

NYC Indymedia believes that this investigation is wholly without merit, and is part of a larger campaign of intimidation against our supporters and peaceful protest activities surrounding the RNC.

Additionally, NYC Indymedia does not keep the records that the DOJ is seeking. According to Global Indymedia, "as a result of [previous] attempts to violate our clear rights, we felt it prudent to develop a policy of not voluntarily gathering data for the government on people who visit our websites, or who post material to sites. '. . . we do not log IP addresses as a way of protecting the privacy of our visitors. . .'

Those of us at New York Indymedia feel, first and foremost, that this site is in the business of media-making and journalism. We invite first time visitiors to look around, and we hope they like what they see.

Calyx's contacts at Indymedia are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We advise all members of the press to contact our lawyers for further comment on this matter.

As was reported in today's New York Times, the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation and is demanding records concerning anti-RNC deleagte posts to this website. Specifically, the DOJ is seeking information on lists of 2,200 RNC delegate names posted to our Open Newswire.

NYC Indymedia believes that this investigation is wholly without merit, and is part of a larger campaign of intimidation against our supporters and peaceful protest activities surrounding the RNC.

Additionally, NYC Indymedia does not keep the records that the DOJ is seeking. According to Global Indymedia, "as a result of [previous] attempts to violate our clear rights, we felt it prudent to develop a policy of not voluntarily gathering data for the government on people who visit our websites, or who post material to sites. '. . . we do not log IP addresses as a way of protecting the privacy of our visitors. . .'

Those of us at New York Indymedia feel, first and foremost, that this site is in the business of media-making and journalism. We invite first time visitiors to look around, and we hope they like what they see.

Calyx's contacts at Indymedia are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We advise all members of the press to contact our lawyers for further comment on this matter.[...]

http://nyc.indymedia.org/feature/display/107119/index.php And here is the actual CSV file: http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/102389 Indymedia reaches the inescapable conslusion. The next step is keeping the list secret, between a few people, and then doing something really violent. This is how it starts; reasonable, peace loving people who have no other way to fix their problems turn to violence. You march. Nothing happens. You vote. Nothing happens. No one listens. They press harder on the back of your neck. They arrest you for... riding a bicycle. They wont back off. "Then one night in desperation the young man breaks away, He steals a car gets a gun, Tries to run but he don't get far, And his momma cries..." "We see your bicycle arrest and raise you the threat of personal attacks".

Tearing up the plans

<>Ford: Don't Destroy Zero-Emission Vehicles -- Build Them!

Zero-emission vehicles powered by solar panels? Sounds like a great step towards ending our destructive dependence on oil and moving us towards a more just, sustainable future, right? Many Bay Area residents thought so and leased Ford Motor Company's most efficient car ever: the all-electric, super efficient "TH!NK City". However, now Ford has decided that zero-emission vehicles are not viable, and Ford is confiscating the TH!NKs and sending them to scrap yards to be dismantled. [...]

http://jumpstartford.com/home/

DISMANTLED.

Monday, August 30, 2004

The silent majority will burn.

How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of Newt Gingrich?s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk? [...]

Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader. It?s a beautiful world, rain or shine, and there is more to life than winning. [...] http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/979

NYC TOON TOWN

This image looks like something from a comic book; FOXNEWS, an evil force from another planet, led by MURDOCH is scheming to turn the people of the planet Earth against themselves, and has employed "NYCPOLICE" to survey the ensuing doom. It would be nice to find the identical image from some comic, or anime... you know it exists!

NTSC: Never Twice the Same Cacophony

RAND()%INFO: ------| rand()% is an internet radio station streaming generative music.

------| it is a host for computer driven / user defined audio programming that is entirely automated, where every programme is composed in real-time by computer.

RAND()%LISTEN: http://62.169.138.240:8000/listen.pls

All audio is generated on demand by a unique series of artist / musician developed programs.

swac'd from here:

http://www.poorlycontrolled.net/blog/index.php?p=111

Freedom of Information; The Blocks. Or is that bollocks?

Justice Department Censors Supreme Court Quote

Offers Smoking Gun Proof That Document Redactions Are Often a Joke

>>> Anybody who has read many official documents?including those making headlines in the last year or more?has seen plenty of redactions (those portions that are blacked out or otherwise made unreadable). This, we're told, is for legitimate reasons, such as "national security" or "protecting intelligence sources and methods." But now we have absolute, incontrovertible proof that the government also censors completely innocuous material simply because they don't like it. [...]

http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm --------------------- Whitehall split on fees to access files David Hencke, Westminster correspondent Tuesday August 24, 2004 The Guardian Plans to charge up to �600 for government documents obtained under the "right to know" laws from next January have split Whitehall, according to official papers released at the weekend.

Officials cannot agree on the rates, with the result that the government may have difficulty getting regulations approved by parliament in time to levy the charges. Meetings held as recently as August 3 have failed to agree which scheme should be put before ministers in October. [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1289319,00.html

The latter way is more clever; you can have whatever you want, but you have to pay for it. This means only newspapers have access, and that means that no one has access.

The King of Rock'n'Roll...completely

To stop cowboy cloners claiming their work on human reproductive cloning is acceptable... a UN convention must be passed that all countries are willing to endorse

Let the redirection begin

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953

NYC BUSH NYC SMUSH

Protesting, Schmotesting... check out: ...in certain very hardened cases, character-armoring is too deep and rigidified, and at the merest threat of its breakdown, the individual reacts with fascist extremism and anal hysteria. These people?s pathology is perhaps beyond therapeutic intervention, and we recognize the possibility that our September 2nd Orgone operations may push them into schizophrenic sensory overload. Although the BOP Collective regrets the potential danger our operations poses to these sick individuals, we feel that the planetary emergency warrants our action. For men like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft, permanent institutionalization may be the only answer. Other far-right Republicans with less distorted character structures can perhaps, over time, be rehabilitated. We expect our Orgone operations to climax at between 9 and 10 P.M., as George W. Bush mounts the podium...

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Bikes Against Bush

This is such a cool thing: http://bikesagainstbush.com/ You go to his website, put some text in a field. That text is sent to him on his bike. The bike prints your text on the streets of New York. And of course, the creator of this... has been arrested. Video of the incident is available as a torrent at DV Guide.

Live coverage of New York demonstrations

Live radio coverage of the demonstrations: http://www.screwmusicforever.com/free103/freemenu.html Streaming webcams from N.Y.C. : http://nyctmc.org/xmanhattan.asp

You will fail, as will your friends

On August 31st,

We will turn the streets of NYC into stages of resistance and forums for debate. We are calling for actions focusing on Republican events throughout the day. We are asking all New Yorkers to join us in the streets on this day. If you don't want to risk the streets, we ask that you at least participate from the sidewalks.

  • 4pm: A wave of actions will occur around the buildings of war profiteers, Republican donors and the corporations that have hijacked our air, water, land, pensions and voice. Check out "Participating Groups" for some of the listed options. Or, on August 31st, go to the stairs on the Southside of Union Square Park where people can give you directions to the action.
  • 6pm: New Yorkers and our friends from out of town will gather in Madison Square Park (23rd St. and Broadway) and on the steps of the New York Public Library (42nd St. and 5th Ave.)
  • 7pm: We will converge on Madison Square Garden. Inside the Garden, the Republicans are holding a dog and pony show, fueled by corporate dollars. Outside, where the barricades end, real democracy begins. Where ever these barricades end, we will create "free speech zones." These will be places where we can express our outrage, where we can create the kind of world we want to see through music and free food and dancing and debate. We will not be asking for permits to create these zones. If we are asked to move, we will sit down and refuse.
[...] http://www.a31.org/ This will achieve nothing, and you will be ground into dust. That dust will be swept up and thrown into the garbage, and the motes that are left will be washed into the sewers. A31 breaks all the rules:
  • No clear goal.
  • No coherent plan.
  • Overly complicated diatribes.
  • Not network based.
  • Time limited.

Notice to Bicyclists; no lesson learned.

The image ?http://images.indymedia.org/imc/nyc/image/5/large/Critmasscops.jpg? cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

I was listening to the whole thing, live, on Internet radio. The pigs clearly committed unprovoked -- often brutal -- attax on the riders.

Clearly their main intent is to intimidate people from showing up for Sunday's march -- making their assault on the Critical Mass ride a clearly political and criminal act (besides being about their usual glee at 'legally' being able to assault people they don't like, and their incredibly obscene and wholly criminal intent to use these arrests and criminal assaults as a *test* of their system before Sunday and beyond).

I was less than impressed by the lack of appropriate response of all the laid-back and too-cool people. All the usual "whenever" lack of thinking things out and planning (no matter all the actual planning on the ground). What, me worry..? Even people organizing for support in the middle of the night is really too little too late, no matter the hard work of some (not enuff) people.

These remarks are certain to twist noses. So what. The entire anti-RNC is being mismanaged (this is already apparent), no matter how many months of "planning" have been undertaken, no matter the few groups that are probabky doing a great job.

Good intentions are no substitute for proper strategy. Ever. And this goes for the anti-capitalist movement as a whole, since I'm bringing that subject up.

This first calculating assault by the pigs on the citizenry, in advance of the RNC, is an OUTRAGE -- and the pigs should be racked and pilloried in the courts and the responsible media by all those phalanxes of lawyers who've organized for just such eventualities as this. It is a provocation and it must not go unanswered. That will only encourage the fascists to take the next step and commit the next, more brutal affront to U.S. democracy. [...] A comment from the blog post below. Planning is an absolute must, but before planning must come the setting of a goal. Without a clearly defined and achievable goal, all of the planning in the universe is for naught. The Stop War brigade are brilliant planners, but they have no goals. They fail it. But you know this. All of this. And you already know what demonstrations do. Exactly nothing. New York City, which now has edge to edge wireless networking, SMS, and everything else, is a perfect field for a networked display of power. Imagine it; for the duration of the convention, no one on the streets. No economic activity. No shopping. No commuters. No taxis. No waiters. No shops. Nothing. The goal; test mass economic refusal as a means to control policy. The sign that this would give, not only to the USA but to the entire world; New York City, turned into a ghost town would be extraordinary. The organizers who could pull this off would instantly become more powerful than they could possibly imagine. Which is the problem.

Mass arrests in N.Y.C.

Just what you would expect in a police state:

Resisting the Bush Agenda in the Streets...

Jed Brandt has written a must-read commentary on this week of protest examining police tactics, direct action protest and the importance of the resitance movement. The entire article is online here at the NYC Indymedia site. Here is an excerpt:

"After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest. We can expect liberals to fear the popular outrage at the war, Bush's contempt for democratic rights and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.

We are winning. The city is coming out. Energy is on the trains and in the streets. It's unprecedented....

A popular resistance to the war and domestic repression will energize tens of millions alienated from any political action, and will let people under threat of American cruise missiles and F-16s know that we do not consent. We are not "good Germans" doing the leaders' business. We are a free people whether the government gives us permission or not. If we have to choose between the warmongers and the world: we choose the world. Our audience is small town America, the city we live in and the rest of the world. The conservatives are a tiny minority and the liberals defeated. We believe another world is possible and we're going to show it tomorrow. We will not allow police to suppress the will of the people. We are marching and the world will know. With their help, we can win."

August 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Parolees Ordered To Stay Out Of Manhattan During RNC

From City Limits: "A Bronx parolee planning to protest the Republican convention got a rude shock this week when he was warned to avoid not only the march, but Manhattan entirely. The parolee?s trouble began Wednesday, at a scheduled meeting with his parole officer in the Bronx. When he asked about protesting, the officer pulled out a notice, typed on New York State Division of Parole letterhead, and ordered him to sign. The document advises parolees not to enter Manhattan from August 30 to September 3, unless they have a verified job there. Those employed in the borough are barred from the ?Red Zone? of 26th to 35th Streets, 6th to 9th Avenues during the same dates. 'Failure to abide by the above Special Condition will result in a violation of your parole without exception,' it states. The New York Civil Liberties Union was quick to blast the Division of Parole. 'The arrival of the Republican National Convention should not be used as a pretext to strip parolees of their rights,' said executive director Donna Lieberman. More

August 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Over 5,000 Bike in Critical Mass; 260+ Arrested

In the first major protest connected to the Republican National Convention, between 5,000 and 10,000 bikers took to the streets Friday in the largest Crtical Mass bike ride in city history. As bikers left the starting point at Union Square, police distributed flyers warning of arrests. After a relatively quiet first hour, police swarmed in making mass arrests in three areas: near Madison Square Garden, just south of 14th Street and on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Church. The Village Voice reports at least 264 arrests were made. For extensive coverage of the ride including photos and video visit NYC Indymedia.

August 27, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

[...]

all from the rcnwatch blog

Saturday, August 28, 2004

A goldmine of...gold.

UbuWeb is a completely independent resource. Additional technical support and facilities are provided by The Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY Buffalo, PennSound at The University of Pennsylvania and The Center for Literary Computing at West Virginia University. Vito Acconci The Bristol Project Hannah Weiner Little Books / Indians Jazz: A Cool Duel Three Perspectives on Jazz Velvet Underground Loop Ron Silliman Sunset Debris Glossalalia Speaking in Tongues Frank O'Hara Poem / Poem Andy Warhol "Kiss" Flipbook John Oswald Radio Radio Interview Joan La Barbara 73 Poems Adrian Piper Untitled John Cage Memogram Correspondences Merce Cunningham Statement & Interview more... [...] http://www.ubu.com/

thanks!

you see, i didn't even think of my tendons. clearly lessons in anatomy are in order.

GWB: Not much better than a Turing Test bot!

File under: Mr. Bush also acknowledged for the first time that he made a "miscalculation of what the conditions would be'' in postwar Iraq. But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency that has upended the administration's plans for the country was the unintended by-product of a "swift victory'' against Saddam Hussein's military, which fled and then disappeared into the cities, enabling them to mount a rebellion against the American forces far faster than Mr. Bush and his aides had anticipated.

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.

"I'm confident that over time this will work - I certainly hope it does,'' he said of the diplomatic approach. [...]

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.'' [...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/politics/campaign/27bush.html Now, will someone knock together a "Spot the difference between the Turning Test and GWB" site please?

Your finger carrys more filth than your palm

Fujitsu claims the palm scanning technology is a good balance of security and convenience. He pointed out that most people don't want to submit to retinal scans every time they withdraw cash from an ATM. Fingerprint scanners were also considered, but market research found that women responded badly to the hygiene implications of sharing the print recognition pad with so many other people. [...] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/27/palm_biometrics/

Aren't they sweet?

I found Fafi on one of my web jaunts, I did not know she had cohorts. She mentions Miss Van on her site, perhaps they are friends? Definately influences. I thought it was so strange, I was just looking at this handbag t'other night, to wake up and see M2's post ... coincidence??? In other news, I have found the best yoga teacher. I was never ready before to hear. But she ... well, what can you do when someone tells you to imagine a tube. Imagine a tube and the hollow space inside the tube, the emptiness. Imagine the emptiness and then think of inside your core. Make the space inside your core as empty as the tube, empty but supported. And keep this emptiness, this hollow supported core, as you experience each posture ... her metaphors are simply beautiful. Spines spilling forward like waterfalls. But I ask you, what does it mean to move from the back of your knees?

If you must talk about it, frame it correctly

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?

Friday, August 27, 2004

9/11 Attack Toy In Bags of Candy

Miami company recalling bags of candy packed with 9/11 attack toy 9/11-attack toy A wholesaler in Miami began recalling 14,000 bags of candy on Friday that contain a toy, right, that shows a plane flying into the twin towers. Lisy Corp. said Friday the toys were purchased in bulk and the company did not notice what the small figurines depicted until someone complained. [...] Sun Sentinal Hogwash!