Synaptic Junction Daily

Dukes of Stratosphear Demos

2011-07-12T17:15:00.008-04:00

Thought for the day

2011-05-11T15:55:00.000-04:00

The Internet doesn't cure loneliness, it just spreads it around more evenly.

Defending Xanadu

2011-02-24T22:05:00.007-05:00

My favorite movie musicals are The Commitments, A Hard Day’s Night, Singin’ in the Rain, The Blues Brothers, Waiting for Guffman, The Wizard of Oz, Yellow Submarine, This is Spinal Tap, Dancer in the Dark, and the much maligned Xanadu (which I first saw only recently).

I now have a lot of affection for Xanadu. On my first viewing, I didn’t know what to make of it. But I kept thinking about it (this is generally a good sign). On a second viewing, I finally got it. I like this movie a lot and I want you to like it too. But it can be a confusing experience. So, as an antidote to confusion, here are 18 points about Xanadu:

Xanadu has no bad guy and almost no dramatic tension. The closest thing to a bad guy is an egotistic boss who is at best a comic foil. The only dramatic tension in the story is resolved in three seconds at the very end. I was expecting a story on the first viewing and got bored when no story appeared. Later, I realized Xanadu’s style is purposefully lifted from musicals of the 30’s and 40’s. It’s not plot-driven or character-driven. Xanadu is theme-driven.
It was a labor of love and “labor of love” is Xanadu’s theme. The labors of love are shown as building a dance hall, building a partnership, and building a romance. The romance between the artist and the Muse carries the movie. These labors of love are all shown as effortless (it is a fantasy, you know). The movie exists to celebrate falling in love and being alive. It is willfully nice. It is very nice. And it is the thoroughgoing niceness of the movie that won me over.
Xanadu doesn’t have a shred of irony. I find this refreshing. Some people confuse lack-of-irony with lack-of-self-awareness. That really doesn’t hold true in this case.
Critics accused the filmmakers of not knowing what they were doing. I think those critics were projecting their own confusion. I see the principals of Xanadu positively radiating confidence. What’s more, perfectionists like Gene Kelly and Jeff Lynne (and, I expect, Olivia Newton-John) don’t involve themselves in projects where people don’t know what they’re doing. Uncertainty and confusion are anathema to perfectionists. Quite the contrary, Xanadu accomplishes what it sets out to do. I see only three basic mistakes in the movie:
The first mistake is that Xanadu should have been rated G. It looks like they added post-production audio of the boss saying “shit” (twice) to guarantee a PG rating. If so, this was a terrible miscalculation. Some sequences are obviously made for kids. If it had been rated G, it probably would not have met so much hostility when it was released. And I think kids would really enjoy it.
The second mistake is the leading man is an everyman. Worse, he never sings and barely dances. Placing this candle between the arc lamp charismas of Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John yielded the predictable results. The actor’s performance was called wooden. If you look closely at his face, there’s real acting going on. But why look at his face when Olivia and Gene are right there?
The only other basic mistake (which I don’t mind at all) is that Xanadu embraces styles that are now kitschy and unintentionally funny. Fashions from the 70’s and 80’s are now camp legend. And, for that, Xanadu is quite an artifact. This only adds to my enjoyment of the movie. (How about that van’s paint job, or the Ruthless People wardrobe, or the Kotter stripes in the apartment?) I like it, but I can understand the facepalms.
I bet P.T. Anderson studied Xanadu very thoroughly for visual style and other elements when he was making Boogie Nights. And I suspect Xanadu’s male lead was a big influence on the Dirk Diggler character.
The handmade (pre-CGI) special effects depicting colorful streaks of light and fun scene segues are one-of-a-kind for this movie.
Xanadu is *not* a roller-disco movie. Roller skates are a form of transportation in this movie’s Los Angeles. The music is pop, new wave, and big band jazz. Electric Light Orchestra does most of the songs and they are great (even when they recycle their own material and fall into disco-y sound effects). Unfortunately, the title song is overproduced almost to the point of parody. Strip away the overblown audio and it’s a good song. (The only song I don’t like is the one Olivia sings in the studio sequence. This is just personal taste, but it’s a style of dreary ballad that was all over the place in the 70’s. Still, this particular number is worth watching, if only for the palm tree.)
A palm tree steadily erects during the studio sequence. It’s not there to be clever or subtle. It is maybe the most unapologetically Freudian moment I’ve seen on film. Then again, why the urge to be ironic? Erections are, after all, a fact of human life and falling in love. Their symbolic representations are not unknown to the cinema. But I still have to laugh for the surprise. There are other surprises (don’t worry, I’m not spoiling anything):
The Tubes perform, representing new music in one number.
There is an animated sequence. On first viewing, suddenly seeing the Disney-style images made me groan. But my groan was misplaced. It’s animated by Don Bluth and is very well done.
Olivia Newton-John, in heels and a USO uniform, tap dances with Gene Kelly in a big band sequence. Gene is a gentleman and holds back on his fireworks to let Olivia shine. And she is stellar! Who knew she could tap dance?
Olivia’s costume changes in the finale are really over-the-top. I hear the various get-ups are quite a hit with gay men and middle school girls.
Xanadu correctly anticipated: clothing styles, new wave, big band revival, working women, some aspects of hip-hop, and multiculturalism. Even the sister Muses are multi-ethnic. Combinations of styles run throughout the movie and represent an everyone-is-invited cosmopolitanism.
Xanadu’s director, Robert Greenwald, now makes popular lefty documentaries like Out-Foxed and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices.
Xanadu is like Being John Malkovich except it is a musical fantasy about designing a dance hall. In both movies, an artist is inveigled (by forces beyond his comprehension) to host an enjoyable refuge for people. In Being John Malkovich, the artist’s personality is supplanted by a bunch of greedy, fearful senior citizens. In Xanadu, the artist gets to fall in love with Olivia Newton-John. Being John Malkovich is a more convoluted and interesting movie. But Xanadu has a much happier ending. The music is great. It is relentlessly nice. And I believe Xanadu is also fun for the whole family.

And here is my decidedly underproduced version of Xanadu (flubs and all):

Image of Flying Spaghetti Monster Discovered in Pancake

2010-12-18T15:42:00.001-05:00

I’m voting for a bunch of spineless twerps and I’m not happy about it.

2010-11-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

The most recent episode of This American Life tells two stories – one about Tea Partiers in Petoskey and another about Democrats in DC.

My take on it: fighters who don’t think, followed by thinkers who don’t fight. It’s a very good episode especially if you want to get exasperated and angry.

We need the government to create as many jobs it reasonably can, as soon as possible. But the increasingly cranky Republican Party is blocking any attempt and the Democrats lost interest in fighting for it.

One unreal talking point from the Right claims, “Government can’t create jobs.” That is amazingly false. I see government workers regularly at the library. There’s another one that brings my mail. There is a whole category of jobs called government jobs. What’s more, governments can create work programs which can pump a lot of money into the private sector. Maybe we could use that to fix our crumbling infrastructure now so we don’t need to replace it, at far greater expense, later. I know people who could use the work. Or, I suppose we could just do without bridges and pipes. By the way, some communities are reverting to gravel roads because they can’t afford pavement, or because they are ideologically opposed to the idea of commonwealth. Governments can also create tax incentives and encourage industry in ways that promote job growth. The political right is keen on convincing us that government can do nothing about employing people. And some are fooled by this. And I have yet to hear this idiotic claim contradicted.

A more honest Republican talking point would be, “We don’t want the government to create jobs.”

That is why I am voting against the Republicans. And that means I’m voting for those cringing and fearful Democrats.

Any economist will tell you that during an economic downturn, deficit spending is a tool that governments can use to help revive the economy. I expect many Republican leaders are aware of this fact, but they have other priorities. The Republican leader in the House said his top priority is ensuring Obama is a one-term president. Really? That is more important than jobs and the economy during this crisis? Please, be sane. We’re hurting here.

And now we have a bunch of cranks that actually believe those talking points and are running for office. Let’s say we’ve had a house fire that’s been burning for the last couple years. These are the people who spent those two years trying to defund the fire department.

I don’t want these people in high office. I don’t want these people operating heavy machinery.

The Republicans refuse to realize the economic collapse happened because of the deregulation they continue to advocate. They led, with a lot of support from Democrats, a decades-long dismantling of all things New Deal. This allowed banks to divert mortgages into incredibly risky investments. In some cases, these investments appear designed-to-fail. If they were designed-to-fail, that’s not illegal.

I’m not generally opposed to risky complex financial instruments. I want investment banks free to try new things. But I don’t want the entire economy tied to those risky thingamajigs. Deregulation allowed that to happen. The Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 – there’s a name to behold – ended a 1933 law that kept investment banks, commercial banks and insurance companies separate. Now, all those institutions can combine.

Several mergers later, a huge part of our economy was in just a few very large buckets. That’s why humble home mortgages found their way into those bizarre financial instruments. This gave Wall Street a big appetite for making new mortgages and even betting against them. Did you know taking insurance policies out on crappy mortgages can be more profitable than having the mortgages paid off? And you never have to report the billions you made this way during the housing collapse, so there is no paper trail. It’s true. And it’s legal. And the economy is in the shitter as a result. The Right’s obsession with financial deregulation – getting rid of laws designed to protect the economy – was disastrous.

I’d rank that as one of the biggest legislative failures in the last 100 years. Yup.

And yet deregulation remains one of the few Republican platform issues – along with opposing Obama on everything and cutting taxes. (Right now, Obama wants to renew Bush’s tax cuts and the Republicans oppose him on that too, supposedly because it doesn’t apply to the very richest. And the Democratic Senate caved in and tabled the tax cut debate until after the election. Yeesh.)

To be fair, the current unemployment problem also stems from the Free Trade agreements of the 90’s. And those treaties were enthusiastically supported by both parties.

Now I know hating government is very trendy. Supposedly it’s patriotic even. I don’t get that one. But I actually want government officials who like the pretext for their jobs. I don’t want them hostile to the idea of public service. Politician is one of the few occupations where contempt for one’s work is seen as a virtue.

Of course the political power is very appealing. It’s the responsibility part they openly oppose.

I can understand the appeal of small government. Getting rid of Government creates need. Then companies can make money satisfying that need. Let’s assume that markets can satisfy anything a healthy society requires. (Yes, it is a fantastical idea.) A problem still arises when the population doesn’t have enough money to buy those requirements. If there aren’t enough jobs and the government is run by ideologues who are opposed to government helping people, we end up with a lot of very needy people.

The Bush administration’s non-response to Katrina is exactly what we should expect. I was in as much disbelief at the non-response as anyone else, but we should have seen it coming. Bush seemed genuinely surprised that people expected him to do something. The Republicans are tireless advocates of small government – it’s one of their favorite topics. Well, sometimes small government looks like a flooded city with no one to help. People were so angry at Bush, but he was just being consistent with his party’s platform. Why anyone wants to put that philosophy back in power is kind of mind-boggling.

The Republicans also want to privatize Social Security. Of course, if Bush had succeeded in this, the economic meltdown would have created a new brand of conspiracy theory: “Can’t you see? Cheney screwed the stock market on purpose so it would destroy Social Security! Man! It all makes too much sense!” (The effect is enhanced if you say this like Dennis Hopper or Crispin Glover.)

The Constitution charges our country “to promote the general welfare.” Republicans now consider that socialism.

We are far freakin’ far from socialism. If you think socialism is our big threat right now, you probably watch Fox News too much.

Instead of conservative, it’s more accurate to think of today’s Right as anti-liberal. Some of these anti-liberals are not just opposed to 60’s liberalism or the New Deal. They’re opposed the liberal tradition since the Enlightenment: Universities, scientists, journalists, progressive taxation, and the concept of public are all a part of what they see as rampant liberalism and what others see as the modern world.

The US is woefully behind the rest of the industrialized world in technology. And we have no political will to catch up. For example, the Federal goals for American Internet connectivity are to match, by the year 2020, the bandwidth South Korea enjoys today. And we may not even reach that goal because the political will isn’t there. I have nothing against South Korea but I don’t like them beating us like that.

And all those jobs that went overseas? Those jobs included research and development, because you need a shop floor to do that kind of work. So other countries are doing the innovating right now.

Can government solve this problem? Well, it can create incentives and programs that could help a lot. Well, the Right won’t have it. And we have a motivated subgroup that will rant all teary-eyed about Hitler, or some other nonsense, if it tries. But these are poor reasons not to try.

We have a vocal minority that believes Canada and Denmark operate like the Soviet Union. And they fear we’re next. I am sad our governance is influenced by these delusional people.

I am sadder there is so much airtime and money devoted to promoting and exploiting their delusional fears. It looks like the US Chamber of Commerce is trying to do for the Federal Government what General Motors did for the streetcar*. Only this time it’s legal and it’s cheered on by Fox and millions of voters.

These voters are about to vote for their own deprivation. And it’s all wrapped up in some perverse and badly-informed idea of virtue. “Vote against economic stimulus, it’s feels like fighting the Nazis.”

What’s more, some of them don’t give a crap about the world because they think their invisible buddy Jesus will put an end to it soon anyway. Leave it to religion to make the world disposable.

The conclusion of the Tea Party story on This American Life is surreal. The reporter is trying to make sense of one man’s contradictory decisions. This particular guy decided to do a number of things that are completely self-defeating. And it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t seem to care about being logical or consistent or even successful. It’s a stark moment of hearing someone not thinking.

Electing that mindset is a bad idea.

So please join me in voting for those lame-ass Democrats. You probably won’t enjoy it anymore than I will. But it may keep cranks from having a legislative majority.

*General Motors was found guilty of criminal conspiracy under anti-trust law involved in the destruction of municipal streetcar systems across the country. GM, Firestone, Standard Oil, Mack Truck and Phillips Petroleum were fined $5,000 each. Their executives were fined $1 each. See the excellent one-hour documentary, “Taken for a Ride” for details.

A Diplomatic Letter from Space

2010-10-07T22:48:00.002-04:00

There used to be an early draft of a story here. But it was just for a short time. And it was just for some friends who are smarter than me to take a look. Now it is gone. It may re-appear here or elsewhere. I don't know yet. If you know me personally, feel free to contact me on this trivial matter and we will talk about this and other things.

Vet Charities

2007-12-13T19:48:00.000-05:00

"The American Institute of Philanthropy, a leading charity watchdog, issued a report card this month for 29 veterans and military charities. Letter grades were based largely on the charities' fundraising costs and the percentage of money raised that was spent on charitable activities."

Air Force Aid Society (A+)
American Ex-Prisoners of War Service Foundation (F)
American Veterans Coalition (F)
American Veterans Relief Foundation (F)
AMVETS National Service Foundation (F)
Armed Services YMCA of the USA (A-)
Army Emergency Relief (A+)
Blinded Veterans Association (D)
Disabled American Veterans (D)
Disabled Veterans Association (F)
Fisher House Foundation (A+)
Freedom Alliance (F)
Help Hospitalized Veterans/Coalition to Salute America's Heroes (F)
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (A+)
Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation (F)
National Military Family Association (A)
National Veterans Services Fund (F)
National Vietnam Veterans Committee (D)
Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (A+)
NCOA National Defense Foundation (F)
Paralyzed Veterans of America (F)
Soldiers' Angels (D)
United Spinal Association's Wounded Warrior Project (D)
USO (United Service Organization) (C+)
Veterans of Foreign Wars and foundation (C-)
Veterans of the Vietnam War & the Veterans Coalition (D)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (D)
VietNow National Headquarters (F)
World War II Veterans Committee (D)

[The list is from this Washington Post page. Via the Rachel Maddow Show.]

Response to Paul Davies

2007-11-25T18:11:00.000-05:00

"People say to me, 'Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics?' No, I'm not... If it turns out there is a simple ultimate law which explains everything, so be it — that would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it's like an onion with millions of layers... then that's the way it is." -- Richard Feynman from "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"

Paul Davies' Op-Ed in the New York Times, "Taking Science on Faith" (November 24, 2007) makes a familiar argument. If he had used the light version of the argument, I might have agreed. But he uses the strong version which is just wrong.

The light argument is: Everyone works with metaphysical assumptions. For example, I have a working assumption that the universe is comprised of matter and energy -- and everything we experience emerges from those two entities. Maybe there is more to the universe than I am guessing. I just haven't seen convincing evidence of anything else yet. So yes, I have a metaphysical assumption and it might be wrong.

Davies argues a much stronger version of this. He states,

"science has its own faith-based belief system. All science proceeds on the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way."

That is demonstrably false.

Quantum physics is not rational or intelligible. On the quantum scale, sometimes "if A then B" -- sometimes "if A then not-B." No one understands why this is the case. But if we perform enough experiments resulting in B or not-B, we can statistically chart the probabilities. That is a rational approach to something we don't understand. The use of probabilities delivers extremely reliable results over the long term. But the actual workings of the quantum world remain mysterious.

Physicists Richard Feynman and John von Neumann are both attributed saying, "You don't understand quantum mechanics, you just get used to it."

The world is not so orderly -- and this is already accepted by scientists. There is a difference between rationality in nature and using rationality to study nature. Davies conflates the two ideas.

Davies continues,

"The laws of gravitation and electromagnetism, the laws that regulate the world within the atom, the laws of motion — all are expressed as tidy mathematical relationships. But where do these laws come from? And why do they have the form that they do?"

Davies presents these as questions that science ignores. Actually, these are vital and pressing questions in the physics community.

The mathematical relationships that he describes as "tidy" are actually pretty hairy. The relationship between gravity and electromagnetism has been a mystery for decades and is the impetus for studies in supersymmetry and the string hypothesis. When relativity and quantum mechanics are combined on the tiniest scales, they generate messy infinities.

The sexiest and busiest theoretical physics happening from Einstein to today has been the attempt to reconcile this problem. But Davies portrays the scientists as in a blithe disregard.

Davies reports,

"Over the years I have often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are. The answers vary from 'that's not a scientific question' to 'nobody knows.' The favorite reply is, 'There is no reason they are what they are — they just are.'"

First, "nobody knows" is perfectly legitimate answer. It's the kind of answer that gets scientists out of bed in the morning. It's a mystery to solve. "Nobody knows, but maybe we can find out."

Second, we can't assume there is an ultimate explanation. If we found one, that would be nice, just as Feynman said at the top quote. But we can't currently assume such an explanation will be found.

Davies rebukes,

"The idea that the laws exist reasonlessly is deeply anti-rational."

Again, we can't assume that nature has any reasons. But we can still use our rationality to study nature. Nature is what it is. Our rationality helps us discover nature. But we should not assume we will find rationality staring back at us. Currently, we don't.

Davies argues,

"If one traces these reasons all the way down to the bedrock of reality — the laws of physics — only to find that reason then deserts us, it makes a mockery of science."

No, it just means that some phenomena are unintelligible -- as in quantum physics.

A few words about the "laws" of physics. The use of the term "laws" carries some baggage. Plus, it invites additional baggage from those who want to assume a "lawmaker."

Let's take the law of gravity as an example. The law of gravity is one of the most respected ideas in physics. Galileo measured falling bodies at 32 feet/sec/sec. But that measurement turned out to be true only locally. Newton revised this by showing that the strength of gravity is inversely proportional to distance, and in doing so explained planetary motion. Einstein revised Newton, describing gravity in terms of space-time geometry -- which fit better with the orbit of Mercury around the sun. Now Einstein may be under revision as we try to understand the apparently accelerating expansion of the visible universe.

Like our secular laws, physical laws are open to revision. What's more, our current physical laws break down when we go back in time within the Big Bang model.

Our use of the word "laws" is a relic from science's past. Greater minds may be able to think up a better word. But it is important to realize that any scientific explanation is tentative, open to revision, maybe true at one time but not in another time. Modern cosmology now treats "laws" as potentially mutable.

Davies talks about his science education,

"The laws were treated as 'given' — imprinted on the universe like a maker’s mark at the moment of cosmic birth — and fixed forevermore."

It sounds like that education was a disservice. The Big Bang and inflationary models contradict these assumptions.

Leaving the Big Bang aside, let's concentrate on the consistency of scientific findings. Consistency of experimental results is the norm today and makes science possible. The current universe, to our best evidence, is very consistent. That does not necessarily mean that, at its root, the universe is intelligible or has "laws" for a "reason." Consistency and rationality are two different ideas. For example, the quantum world is consistently and dependably irrational.

Davies then touches on the multiverse speculation. This is the idea that our universe is only one of many universes. The other universes may have different physics which may or may not be stable or hospitable to life. He writes,

"In this 'multiverse,' life will arise only in those patches with bio-friendly bylaws, so it is no surprise that we find ourselves in a Goldilocks universe — one that is just right for life. We have selected it by our very existence."

Davies is responding to a line of questioning often called the anthropic principle. "Why is the universe so suited for our existence?" is a way of summarizing the idea. The problem with the anthropic principle is that explores the universe by looking through the wrong end of the telescope.

In the novella Candide, Voltaire ridicules this kind of thinking with the character Dr. Pangloss. Pangloss argues we live in the best of all possible worlds. Evidence for this assertion is that our noses are perfectly designed for resting eyeglasses.

Actually, most of the universe is hostile to human existence. We are not adapted to survive in the vacuum of space (the vast majority of the universe). And if the earth happened to form near the center of our galaxy, the turbulence may have made it impossible for creatures to evolve to the point where they could ask teleological questions.

A better question might be, "Why is our universe productive enough to create life at all?" That might be interesting except that it's likely unanswerable. Our sample set of universes is limited to one. And we don't know what portion of this one is visible to us.

While it's unlikely we are the first life in the universe, we're the only ones we have found. The universe is not teeming with life forms except very locally. A few miles up or a few miles down and you're escaping our humble biota.

If Davies is dissatisfied with speculating on a multiverse, we are in agreement. Unfortunately, he goes further:

"Both religion and science are founded on faith — namely, on belief in the existence of something outside the universe, like an unexplained God or an unexplained set of physical laws, maybe even a huge ensemble of unseen universes, too."

Scientists do not necessarily assume there is something outside the universe. For example, asking what was happening before the universe may be nonsensical because time is part of the universe in question. To paraphrase Stephen Hawking, asking what happened before the beginning of the universe is like asking what land is south of the south pole.

Davies' argument misconstrues the search for "physical laws" as necessarily appealing to something "outside" the universe. Plus, it throws in the problematic multiverse idea for good measure.

Then comes the zinger,

"For that reason, both monotheistic religion and orthodox science fail to provide a complete account of physical existence."

This is a subset of the general rule: "no one can provide a complete account of physical existence."

This is not a controversial point.

The advantage of scientific inquiry is that it admits this ignorance. But Davies tries to use our shared ignorance as a basis for false equivalence.

There is a difference between saying,
"The universe seemed to start with a Big Bang, I wonder why?" and
"The universe seemed to start with a Big Bang, I wonder who made it?"
The second question assumes a particular kind of answer.
The first question is more open-ended and parsimonious.

Davies' argument falsely equates the two. It does this by misrepresenting the quest for physical "laws" as a faith-based initiative. Today's cosmology is not so certain.

If Davies was arguing that we are all ignorant of any full explanation of physical reality and we do our best with our assumptions, I would agree. But he goes further to argue that all scientific inquiry is like religion.

In practice, the answer "God made it that way," tends to stop inquiry (and generates an unwarranted amount of certainty these days). On the other hand, all scientific knowledge is tentative.

Even a discovery as well revered as gravity is under continuous scrutiny and revision.

Under what circumstances does the God speculation get revised?

-- Pat McComb

Dear Conservative Alerts

2007-10-27T19:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Conservative Alerts and VBS Radio,

I read your alert below, "Fight Liberal Air America’s Attack on Christianity."
Let me try to understand this,

- I'm supposed to get upset about "Freethought Radio," a radio show for atheists, agnostics, brights, etc.?

- I'm further supposed to fear the destruction of America because of this one-hour weekly show?

- You are to have me believe that freethinkers are in the business of attacking American values?

- And the way to fight back is to help start a religious radio station?
(which has clearly been in the works for a while and not a response to a show which debuted two weeks ago)

- I am to assume there is some lack of religious programming today?
(Air America has a couple religious shows of their own)

- I am to be upset that Al Franken has "free reign on the airwaves" despite the fact that he no longer has a radio show and he is not an atheist?

- You would have me think conservative Christians (Falwell, Robertson, Reed, Dobson, Haggard, Perkins, come to mind) have been timid, "roll over," when it comes to politics and media?

- I am supposed to give startup money for this new radio station -- not invest, but donate?

- And my big motivation is those scary atheists? ...and their one-hour weekly radio show?

Is the above all accurate?
I want to make sure I understand this correctly.

Thanks for the email alerts,
-- Pat

PS: Does your PS suggest that if people do not believe in God, then God ceases to exist?

From: info@conservativealert.com
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:58:46 -0400
Subject: Fight Liberal Air America’s Attack on Christianity

This CONSERVATIVE ALERT is a special message from the Victory Broadcast Service:

Air America Launches Nationwide Atheism Program -- Select below to Fight Back for Conservative Christian Radio: http://shurl.org/vbs

Dear Conservative Friend:

What’s the best way to permanently destroy a building?

DESTROY THE FOUNDATIONS.

The Bible says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)

So what is the best way for liberals to permanently destroy the American republic?

Destroy the foundations.

The radical left in America will stop at nothing to destroy traditional values in this country -- the foundations that were built upon the solid rock of Christianity. This month, they took one more step to destroy those foundations… According to CNSNews.com:

The liberal talk radio network Air America announced this week it will launch a nationwide show focusing on atheism. The first national show will feature Christopher Hitchens, author of "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."

“How Religion Poisons Everything”???!!! Are you joking???

You read that right: the leading self-proclaimed liberal radio network is openly working to destroy the foundations of Christianity in this country, as part of their overall plan to move America to the far left.

Fight back NOW by supporting the Conservative Christian Radio Network, VBS Radio:

Tax-deductible donation: http://shurl.org/vbs

We don’t have to just roll over and “play dead” any more. For too long, conservative Christians in this country have retreated inside the four walls of the church building, handing over everything to radical leftists like Air America’s Al Franken, Al Gore, Janeane Garofalo, Jerry Springer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Arianna Huffington, Sen. Bob Kerrey… the list goes on and on.

NO MORE. It’s time to stand up and fight back against the lies being spread by liberals like Air America, whose goal is to destroy the foundations that the American republic has stood on for centuries now.

That’s where the VBS Radio network comes in. Part of the Victory Broadcast Service, VBS Radio is a brand new conservative Christian radio network which has been “webcasting” (broadcasting over the internet) since January of this year… but which is launching its new FREE satellite broadcast on Wednesday, October 31… Reformation Day!

Select below to listen to VBS Radio online now:
http://www.VBSradio.com/

VBS Radio is a multi-denominational religious radio network that features local church service programs from around the U.S.A., 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Several hours a day are dedicated to strong conservative Christian radio shows, including “The Gary DeMar Show,” “Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul,” “The Narrow Path” and others.

But the bulk of our programming consists of teachings from dozens of local churches around this great country -- churches from every part of the nation, whose pastors still believe in the foundations of America’s past, the relevant truth of the Gospel for today, and a glorious hope for our future!

THIS is what we need counter the lies of the anti-Christian Left -- preachers who are willing to stand up for what’s RIGHT, like they did from the founding of our country!

Ever heard of the “Black Regiment”? The "Black Regiment" was a group of patriot-preachers from virtually every protestant denomination located throughout Colonial America at the time of America's fight for independence, who courageously preached the Biblical principles of liberty and independence. (The name came from the tendency of these patriot-preachers to wear long, black robes in their pulpits.)

Those patriot-preachers ARE still around… and now, they’ll be broadcast on FREE satellite radio, 24/7! We don’t HAVE to let Al Franken and Al Gore have free reign on the airwaves!

Fight back NOW by supporting the Conservative Christian Radio Network, VBS Radio:

Tax-deductible donation: http://shurl.org/vbs

We need your help TODAY. Usually, satellite time -- even for just a few hours a day -- is very expensive. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get VBS Radio onto a 24-hour-a-day North American satellite feed… CHEAP.

But it’s not “cheap” to us!

It’s going to cost us $1,100.00 in setup fees; plus a $1,500.00 deposit; and then $750.00 each month.

Now, compared to just the “normal” satellite fees of at least $12,000.00 per month, that really IS cheap… but to get us up and running by October 31, we MUST raise $3,350.00.

Hearing news like we shared with you earlier -- where radical liberals are taking to the airwaves to destroy the moral and religious foundations of our country -- tells us that this is the right thing to do, at the right time, with the right message. We’re ready to take that “leap of faith” to start satellite broadcasting over the entire U.S.A. -- and we’re asking YOU to take that leap of faith with us!

WILL YOU TAKE A STAND WITH US TODAY, to fight back for what’s right in America?

If you can make a tax-deductible donation of just $3,350.00 today, we can go LIVE over satellite right on time.

If you can give a gift of just $1,500.00 right away, we can cover our costs for our deposit.

If you can make a contribution of just $1,100.00 right now, we can completely take care of our setup fees to get on the air.

If you can give just $750.00 today, we can pay for a whole month of satellite airtime.

If you can make a donation of just $187.50 right now, we can cover the cost of one entire week of satellite airtime.

If you make your tax-deductible contribution of just $25.00 right away, we can purchase one whole day of satellite airtime.

Every dollar counts as we launch our satellite programming! Whether you can give $3,350.00, $1,500.00, $1,100.00, $750.00, $187.50, or even $25.00 -- your donation is needed today!

Fight back against the liberal atheist assault NOW by supporting the Conservative Christian Radio Network, VBS Radio:

Tax-deductible donation: http://shurl.org/vbs

Thank you, and God bless!

William Greene, President
Victory Broadcast Service
http://www.VBSradio.com/

P.S. The atheism-promoting “Freethought Radio Program” on Air America is hosted by the co-presidents of the “Freedom From Religion Foundation.” Is that what we want to see happen in America -- freedom FROM religion, with God removed completely?

PLEASE, help us FIGHT BACK by selecting the link below to make your best tax-deductible donation to VBS Radio right away -- $3,350… $1,500… $1,100… $750… $187.50… or even $25. Thank you!

http://shurl.org/vbs

Listen to VBS Radio now: http://www.VBSradio.com/

Ebert Archive and Chat

2007-08-01T00:03:00.000-04:00

On At The Movies this past weekend Richard Roeper announced:
1) The past 20 years of At The Movies (formerly Siskel & Ebert & the Movies) is going to be archived for free download online. That's several thousand reviews -- from Adventures in Babysitting to Zodiac. Unfortunately, the first ten years of of the show was poorly preserved. (This is sad, as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had the most compelling on screen relationship since Kirk and Spock or Lucy and Desi.) I hope some of those great "Dog of the Week" excerpts got preserved.
2) Roger Ebert will be a guest for an online chat Thursday at 8:00 Eastern (7:00 Central). You can submit questions in advance here. The chat will be at this link.
Strangely, this is not being promoted much. Aside from Roeper's announcement, there have been no Googlable press releases and only a couple very short blog entries.
Until the actual archive shows up online, you can enjoy these links.

Godless Political Values: Importance of Godless Values to Modern Democracy

2007-07-11T12:44:00.000-04:00

Politics in a liberal, democratic democracy cannot long proceed or survive simply by inertia; instead they must be constantly fed by people who are engaged in the political process and who share some of the basic values necessary for such a democracy to thrive. None of these values depend in any way upon religion or theism; this means that they necessarily “godless” — that they exist independently of people’s religions and gods. [More...]

The Integration of Theory and Practice

2007-07-10T19:04:00.000-04:00

[The following is from a recently deleted Wikipedia page.]

The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement was a strategic plan published in essay form in 2001 by the Free Congress Foundation.^[1] It was written by Eric Heubeck with guidance from Paul Weyrich.^[2] It urges conservatives to reassess their position in American society, to avoid an over reliance on political activism, and to consolidate their position by focusing on building conservative institutions with the goal of "taking over political structures." Heubeck makes a number of pragmatic arguments, such as "Good Results More Important than Good Intentions."

The essay describes as "hopeless and self-delusional" the political activism efforts of conservatives to "compensate for their weakness in the non-political sectors of society." Instead it called for fostering an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of conservatism in American society which would in turn convince the American people that conservatives can be trusted to take over political structures: "to do that we must win the people over culturally -- by defining how man ought to act, how he ought to perceive the world around him, and what it means to live the good life. Political arrangements can only be formed after these fundamental questions have been answered." Weyrich's 1999 A moral minority? An open letter to conservatives from Paul Weyrich^[3] is cited for its call for "a tactical retreat from political battle" for conservatives to regroup and reorganize. Again citing Weyrich, it suggests that "a network of parallel cultural institutions" be developed, "existing side-by-side with the dominant leftist cultural institutions" and that the these institutions will supersede "the existing ... conservative movement ... because it will pursue a very different strategy and be premised on a very different view of its role in society."

[hide]

[edit] Selected excerpts

Heubeck makes the case that radical changes are necessary steps for achieving American conservative's goals:

"This essay is based on the belief that the truth of an idea is not the primary reason for its acceptance. Far more important is the energy and dedication of the idea’s promoters—in other words, the individuals composing a social or political movement..."

"There will be three main stages in the unfolding of this movement. The first stage will be devoted to the development of a highly motivated elite able to coordinate future activities. The second stage will be devoted to the development of institutions designed to make an impact on the wider elite and a relatively small minority of the masses. The third stage will involve changing the overall character of American popular culture..."

"Our movement will be entirely destructive, and entirely constructive. We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them. We will endeavor to knock our opponents off-balance and unsettle them at every opportunity. All of our constructive energies will be dedicated to the creation of our own institutions..."

"We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment's rest. We will endeavor to prove that the Left does not deserve to hold sway over the heart and mind of a single American. We will offer constant reminders that there is an alternative, there is a better way. When people have had enough of the sickness and decay of today’s American culture, they will be embraced by and welcomed into the New Traditionalist movement. The rejection of the existing society by the people will thus be accomplished by pushing them and pulling them simultaneously."

"We must create a countervailing force that is just as adept as the Left at intimidating people and institutions that are used as tools of left-wing activism but are not ideologically committed, such as Hollywood celebrities, multinational corporations, and university administrators. We must be feared, so that they will think twice before opening their mouths..."

"We will be results-oriented rather than good intentions-oriented. Making a good-faith effort and being ideologically sound will be less important than advancing the goals of the movement..."

"We will use guerrilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime. We will take advantage of every available opportunity to spread the idea that there is something fundamentally wrong with the existing state of affairs. ... contribute to a vague sense of uneasiness and dissatisfaction with existing society. ... We need to break down before we can build up. We must first clear away the flotsam of a decayed culture."

"We need more people with fire in the belly, and we need a message that attracts those kinds of people...We must reframe this struggle as a moral struggle, as a transcendent struggle, as a struggle between good and evil. And we must be prepared to explain why this is so. We must provide the evidence needed to prove this using images and simple terms..."

Reactions

Katherine Yurica of the anti-dominionism blog "The Yurica Report" has written that Paul Weyrich guided Eric Heubeck in writing The Integration of Theory and Practice, the Free Congress Foundation’s strategic plan published in 2001 by the foundation,^[4] which she says calls for the use of deception, misinformation and divisiveness to allow conservative evangelical Christian Republicans to gain and keep control of seats of power in the government of the United States.^[2]

TheocracyWatch calls the essay "Paul Weyrich's Training Manual"^[5] and "a new manifesto" for Dominionism.^[6] The Integration of Theory and Practice was taken down from the Free Congress Foundation's website and those of other Christian groups after critics began linking the strategy it detailed to Dominionism and specific policies of the religious right.^[7]

Author Eric Heubeck

Eric Heubeck is a paralegal who has worked for several conservative organizations in Washington DC. He is interested in religious freedom issues. He has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

He was Deputy Director at the Center for Cultural Conservatism at the Free Congress Foundation, where he was mentored by Paul Weyrich, and wrote a number of articles that garnered attention. He is reputed to have met often with Karl Rove at the Whitehouse when his boss Weyrich was unable to.

Heubeck joined the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm in 2003. He also worked as a newspaper editor for the Capital Research Center.

Heubeck's other writing

The Living Wage Campaign, Eric Heubeck, Labor Watch, Capital Research Center, October 1, 1999^[8]

Labor-Backed Third Parties, Eric Heubeck, Labor Watch, Capital Research Center, March 1, 1999.^[9]

Notes

^ The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement Eric Heubeck. Originally published on the Free Congress Foundation website in 2001, available through the Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b Conquering by Stealth and Deception, How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power Katherine Yurica. The Yurica Report. September 14 2004.
^ A moral minority? An open letter to conservatives from Paul Weyrich Originally published on the Free Congress Foundation website in 1999, available through the Internet Archive.
^ The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement Eric Heubeck. Originally published on the Free Congress Foundation website in 2001, available through the Internet Archive.
^ Paul Weyrich's Training Manual TheocracyWatch. February 2005.
^ "The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party", TheocracyWatch. December 2005.
^ Paul Weyrich's Teaching Manual? The Yurica Report.
^ The Living Wage Campaign, Eric Heubeck, HEARTLAND INSTITUTE website
^ Labor-Backed Third Parties, Eric Heubeck, Labor Watch, Capital Research Center, March 1, 1999.

References

Zoominfo biography of Eric Hebeck

External links

The Integration of Theory and Practice As published the Free Congress Foundation's January 2002 website, via The Internet Archive.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Integration_of_Theory_and_Practice"

Categories: Conservatism in the United States | Religion and politics | Dominionism

Wakka Wakka Wakka

2007-07-02T19:09:00.000-04:00

I just put together this animated GIF.
It's a variation on a very nifty optical illusion.

Click on the file so you can see the whole graphic and fix your eyes on the white dot in the center.

-- McLir

Atheist vs Culture Warrior

2007-06-09T00:56:00.000-04:00

Last month, I had an online argument with a Christian culture warrior, Janice Crouse. Crouse is from the DC Christian think tank, Concerned Women for America where she is a senior fellow for the Beverly LaHaye Institute.

Crouse is also a columnist at Townhall.com who advocates for abstinence-only sex education, against homosexuality, against condoms to prevent AIDS, and was a leading critic of Mary Chaney's decision to have a child. (Crouse is the one who famously called Mary Chaney's choice "unconscionable.")

The new controversy was over PBS airing the documentary "A Brief History of Disbelief" by Jonathan Miller. (Available online)

She was angry that public money was being spent to show what she sees as anti-Christian propaganda. In a recent article on the subject, she made this statement:

"airing the program gives credibility and cohesiveness to individuals who seek to undermine the beliefs and values on which democracy and the American dream are founded."

I thought that was pretty outlandish. That line of talk makes me mad. After finding her email address (pretty difficult, considering her media presence) I sent her a message. I tried to be polite but forceful.

------------------------
I wrote to Crouse:

Recently, you criticized PBS for the upcoming airing of "A Brief History of Disbelief."

"airing the program gives credibility and cohesiveness to individuals who seek to undermine the beliefs and values on which democracy and the American dream are founded."

I don't question your sincerity in saying this. But I hope to explain how rude it is.

You are making a political argument against a sizable segment of the population. 10-15% by recent accounts. We are people who have asked the question "is there a God?" and you don't like our answer. So you paint us as a threat to America.

I personally know atheists who are models of morality, honesty, generosity and patriotism. So it gets very tiresome hearing people's knee-jerk reactions against non-believers.

I would also like to point out that there is no mention of democracy in the Bible. In fact, the Bible advocates very explicitly for a "kingdom." As a proud American, I prefer that we remain a democracy.

-- Pat McComb

------------------------
Crouse responded quickly:

Your note is terrific. Let's see ... It is rude for me to complain about a propagandistic and demagogic piece against Christianity. It is OK for you complain about Christianity (history of DISbelief) in a 3-part series -- a political statement against the majority of Americans (not 10-15%)---- paid for by public taxation and presented as a "documentary."

------------------------
I was surprised that a public advocate and a columnist would choose to express herself this way.
OK, I wasn't that surprised. But it reminded me of why I don't watch much TV.

I could have gone in any number of directions on this:
- Dispute whether the show is propaganda (it's available online, see for yourself)
- Enumerate the many shows PBS has presented about Jesus and Christianity
- Distinguish between fact claims and political claims (valid, but not a productive route)
- Or I could have explained that I neither produced nor appeared in the documentary

I decided to stay on point.

------------------------
I responded to Crouse:

No, it's not rude for you to complain about that.

It's rude for you to portray atheists as a threat to America.

-- Pat

------------------------
Crouse responded (this time easing up on the facetious condescension):

It is a truism that American was founded on Christian principles; Judeo-Christian ethics and values permeate the founding documents of this nation. Anything that threatens those principles is a threat to America. Those who repudiate those principles (more non-believers who are self-centered and disregard anyone else -- they don't adhere to any positive values because it is all about "me" -- than those who, as a matter of ideology, disbelieve but have their own code of conduct that is ethical for secular reasons). BTW, I think there is a logical inconsistency is adhering to a code of conduct when you don't believe in an "authority" outside yourself. What makes one person's code of conduct more applicable than someone elses in that case?

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

Early America was very Christian. However, the Constitution is a very secular document for an open society. Invocations of God were purposefully left out of the Constitution and it was a tough sell to the states. It only mentions religion in the ban on religious tests for judges and the ban on laws respecting an establishment of religion. This is a worthy line of argument, but it's one of those that can go off the rails in varying interpretations and heavily propagated falsehoods.

I could have pointed out that non-believers are disproportionately un-represented in the prison population. But that probably wouldn't mean much to her.

I avoided mentioning Pat Tillman. The NFL star and non-believer left pro football to fight in Afghanistan and died in friendly fire. I have a lot of respect for Tillman leaving his millions for military service. But trotting him out as a poster-boy for atheism is in pretty poor taste, so I refrained. In another context, he might be worth mentioning, but not this time.

Her main claim about atheists got lost in the parentheticals, but I think I got her basic idea.

------------------------
I responded to Crouse:

I think you are talking about ethical egoists -- people who are just "in it for themselves." I don't know any. I know a lot of atheists but I don't know any real egoists.

If you assume atheists are egoists, I can only guess you don't know many atheists.

You and I both share values that do not appear in the Bible. We can agree that rape and child abuse are morally wrong, but the Bible never forbids these acts. On the other hand, the Bible says that working on the Sabbath is punishable by death. We can probably agree, it's good that that rule is not enforced much anymore.

The good news is, we can talk and reason about morality. Empathy, generosity, alleviating suffering, the Golden Rule, we can grow in those moral aspects without needing to invoke a supernatural referee.

According to your argument any threat to Judeo-Christian principles is a threat to America. Does that mean contrary religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, tribal gods, etc. also pose a threat?

-- Pat

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

She didn't respond after this. Perhaps I was so persuasive that she is now leaving Washington DC and pursuing a fruitful career as a secular humanist. Ya think?

Some people think it's a waste of time to argue with some people. Maybe.

But as I hear some people's preconceived notions about atheists, I become more convinced that non-believers should speak out.
People need to get to know us.
People need to know we're generally nice and smart people.
And if anyone claims we are any less American, any less human, or any less moral, people should know why we can get righteously pissed off.

Daniel Dennett says, "...the idea that 'belief in God is a requirement of morality,' you hear this all the time. ... I think it is false. And I think it's very important for those of us who believe it is false to start saying it is false at every public opportunity. [Applause]. Stop being polite about this. And just draw to the person's attention that there are many excellent, engaged, moral individuals leading fine, meaningful lives who don't have God in their lives. And that this is simply a lie that should not be promulgated further. Don't let people presuppose this." [Applause].
-- Daniel Dennett at Center for Naturalism lecture

An Evening with Bill Moyers: Writer's Symposium by the Sea 2005

2006-10-06T17:06:00.000-04:00

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers criticizes the Religious Right for misinterpreting the teachings of Christianity as he reads from his book ... all » Moyers on America and follows with a celebration of poetry with excerpts from his Fooling with Words in this unforgettable program with host Dean Nelson marking the 10th anniversary of the Writer's Symposium by the Sea sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea"

Ira Glass on Storytelling

2006-10-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

The host of "This American Life" explains the elements of good storytelling for audio and video. Sharp, cogent and very interesting.
Part 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=n7KQ4vkiNUk
Part 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=3qmtwa1yZRM
Part 3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE
Part 4 http://youtube.com/watch?v=9blgOboiGMQ

The legal mind behind the White House’s war on terror

2006-07-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

Most Americans, even those who follow politics closely, have probably never heard of Addington. But current and former Administration officials say that he has played a central role in shaping the Administration’s legal strategy for the war on terror. Known as the New Paradigm, this strategy rests on a reading of the Constitution that few legal scholars share—namely, that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries, if national security demands it. Under this framework, statutes prohibiting torture, secret detention, and warrantless surveillance have been set aside. A former high-ranking Administration lawyer who worked extensively on national-security issues said that the Administration’s legal positions were, to a remarkable degree, “all Addington.” Another lawyer, Richard L. Shiffrin, who until 2003 was the Pentagon’s deputy general counsel for intelligence, said that Addington was “an unopposable force.”
The overarching intent of the New Paradigm, which was put in place after the attacks of September 11th, was to allow the Pentagon to bring terrorists to justice as swiftly as possible. Criminal courts and military courts, with their exacting standards of evidence and emphasis on protecting defendants’ rights, were deemed too cumbersome. Instead, the President authorized a system of detention and interrogation that operated outside the international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war established by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Terror suspects would be tried in a system of military commissions, in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, devised by the executive branch. The Administration designated these suspects not as criminals or as prisoners of war but as “illegal enemy combatants,” whose treatment would be ultimately decided by the President. By emphasizing interrogation over due process, the government intended to preëmpt future attacks before they materialized. In November, 2001, Cheney said of the military commissions, “We think it guarantees that we’ll have the kind of treatment of these individuals that we believe they deserve.”
Yet, almost five years later, this improvised military model, which Addington was instrumental in creating, has achieved very limited results. Not a single terror suspect has been tried before a military commission. Only ten of the more than seven hundred men who have been imprisoned at Guantánamo have been formally charged with any wrongdoing. Earlier this month, three detainees committed suicide in the camp. Germany and Denmark, along with the European Union and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, have called for the prison to be closed, accusing the United States of violating internationally accepted standards for humane treatment and due process. The New Paradigm has also come under serious challenge from the judicial branch. Two years ago, in Rasul v. Bush, the Supreme Court ruled against the Administration’s contention that the Guantánamo prisoners were beyond the reach of the U.S. court system and could not challenge their detention.

Church Execrises Right to Display Ahistorical Kitsch

2006-07-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

As the congregation of the World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church looked on and its pastor, Apostle Alton R. Williams, presided, a brown shroud much like a burqa was pulled away to reveal a giant statue of the Lady, but with the Ten Commandments under one arm and "Jehovah" inscribed on her crown.

And in place of a torch, she held aloft a large gold cross, as if to ward off the pawnshops, the car dealerships and the discount furniture outlets at the busy corner of Kirby Parkway and Winchester that is her home. A single tear graced her cheek.

It was not clear if she was crying because of her new home, her new identity as a symbol of religion or, as the pastor said, America's increasing godlessness. But although big cheers went up from the few hundred onlookers at the unveiling, and some people even wore foam Lady Liberty crowns bearing Christian slogans, she was not universally welcomed.

CIA disbands unit set up to hunt for bin Laden

2006-07-06T08:31:00.000-04:00

The CIA has disbanded a unit set up in the 1990s to oversee the spy agency's hunt for Osama bin Laden and transferred its duties to broader operations that track Islamist militant groups, a U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday.
The bin Laden unit, codenamed Alec Station, became less valuable as a separate operation as counterterrorism operations eliminated top al Qaeda operatives and the movement's focus shifted more to regional networks of militants, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

St Petersburg Times: Rove, Satan plot GOP fall campaign strategy

2006-06-23T14:44:00.000-04:00

Compiled from Times wires
Published June 23, 2006

At a joint press conference today in Washington, White House adviser Karl Rove said that he would be plotting the Republican Party’s fall election strategy with his longtime comrade-in-arms, Satan.
The Prince of Darkness, wearing his traditional red horns and cape and carrying a smoldering pitchfork, appeared to beam as Mr. Rove, his protege, talked about how much he was looking forward to working with him on the fall campaign.
“Every time Satan and I get together, good things happen,” Rove said, adding, “Or should I say - bad things happen!”
The two of them then dissolved in laughter, demonstrating an easy collegiality that has made them an unbeatable team in past GOP campaigns.
Satan’s partnership with Rove goes back to 1994, when the two of them teamed up to orchestrate George W. Bush’s first election as governor.
But their work together reached its apogee, perhaps, during the 2004 presidential election, in which Rove and Satan devised the infernal “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” campaign.
While Satan let Rove have most of the spotlight in the hour-long press conference, he did take the microphone to say that he had been “relieved” recently when the White House advisor was cleared of all charges in the CIA leak investigation.
“I can’t imagine running a Republican campaign without my buddy here,” he said, giving Rove a bear hug. “There are plenty of Satans out there, but there’s only one Karl Rove.”
Elsewhere, Dan Rather retired from CBS after 44 years there but said that he would remain active in news and misinformation.

Privacy Schmivacy

2006-06-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

On the eve of its hearing on charges that it assisted in the government’s illegal spying on millions of Americans, AT&T, the largest phone company in the United States, has changed its privacy policy to clearly establish its ownership of its customers’ personal account information. In its revised policy, AT&T makes it clear that “while your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T. As such, AT&T may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process." Oh, really? [from MetaFilter.com]

Frontline: The Dark Side

2006-06-21T14:42:00.000-04:00

After 9/11, Vice President Richard Cheney seized the initiative. He pushed to expand executive power, transform America's intelligence agencies and bring the war on terror to Iraq. But first he had to take on George Tenet's CIA for control over intelligence.

FBI Shadowed Playwright Arthur Miller

2006-06-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

In the summer of 1956, playwright Arthur Miller married screen idol Marilyn Monroe in a Jewish ceremony, an event of high-level gossip for much of the world and of high-level curiosity for the U.S. government.
"An anonymous telephone call" has been placed to the New York Daily News, an FBI report notes at the time. The caller stated that the "religious" wedding — Miller was Jewish and Monroe had converted — was an obvious "cover up" for Miller, who "had been and still was a member of the CP (Communist Party) and was their cultural front man." Monroe also "had drifted into the Communist Party orbit."
The memo is one of many included in Miller's FBI files, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act. Miller, who died last year at age 89, was a longtime liberal who opposed the Vietnam War, supported civil rights and, in one play, "The Crucible," linked the Cold War pursuit of communists to the Salem witch trials of the 17th century.

Street Legal Jet Powered VW Beetle

2006-06-19T14:23:00.000-04:00

What can you do with a GE Model T58-8F helicopter turboshaft engine, converted to jet? With Ron Patrick’s custom VW Beetle you can have lots and lots of dangerous fun exploiting all 1350 horsepower. This monster is powered by two engines (original up front, jet in back) and is perfectly street legal since you’re only using the gasoline powered engine in normal driving conditions. But if you’re feeling adventurous, fire up the jet engine - which spins up to 26,000 rpm/13,000 rpm idle - and watch the afterburner come to life.

Who is the US fighting in Iraq?

2006-06-16T14:49:00.000-04:00

A February 2006 report from the International Crisis Group which provides a detailed look at the evolution of the insurgency, and describes its four main groups: Tandhim al-Qa’ida fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (recently decapitated), Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna, al-Jaysh al-Islami fil-’Iraq, and al-Jabha al-Islamiya lil-Muqawama al-’Iraqiya. In Iraq, the U.S. fights an enemy it hardly knows. Its descriptions have relied on gross approximations and crude categories (Saddamists, Islamo-fascists and the like) that bear only passing resemblance to reality. This report, based on close analysis of the insurgents’ own discourse [particularly their websites], reveals relatively few groups, less divided between nationalists and foreign jihadis than assumed, whose strategy and tactics have evolved (in response to U.S. actions and to maximise acceptance by Sunni Arabs), and whose confidence in defeating the occupation is rising. [from MetaFilter.com]

"This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"

2006-06-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

A sequel far removed from its namesake, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the 1970 sex-drugs-rock-violence classic by Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert, gets a special-edition DVD release this week. Also, at retroCRUSH, a trio of interviews with Casey, Roxanne and the ultra-eccentric Z-Man. [from MetaFilter.com]

Happy Bloomsday!

2006-06-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned:
-- Introibo ad altare Dei.
Halted, he peered down the dark winding stairs and called up coarsely:
-- Come up, Kinch! Come up, you fearful jesuit!
Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains. Then, catching sight of Stephen Dedalus, he bent towards him and made rapid crosses in the air, gurgling in his throat and shaking his head. Stephen Dedalus, displeased and sleepy, leaned his arms on the top of the staircase and looked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that blessed him, equine in its length, and at the light untonsured hair, grained and hued like pale oak.

"Do you know how many Ronald Blankenships there are?"

2006-06-16T11:51:00.000-04:00

Ronald Wayne Blankenship, a candidate in the runoff for the Democratic nomination for Jefferson County sheriff, says it's coincidence that a man with a criminal past shares his name and birthdate.
It's strange but true, he says, that both he and a man who faked his own death in 1990 are married to women named Judy Ruth Green Stonecipher Blankenship.
Blankenship calls himself an underdog. The Bessemer shoe shop owner received 12,218 votes or 25.9 percent in the June 6 primary last week. He did little campaigning and spent little money. He is vying for the Democratic nomination for sheriff with Ron McGuffie, a former sheriff's deputy and dispatcher. Blankenship, 63, beat out veteran lawman C.D. Horton to make the runoff.
Little was known about Blankenship during the campaign. He refused to release personal information and declined to be interviewed, citing fear of identity theft.
Blankenship, who said he's a former policeman, 20-year Ford Motor Co. worker and U.S. Navy veteran, said he's never been in trouble. "I stand before the Lord," he said. "I've never been convicted of anything."
Vestavia Hills police Lt. Rick Miller said he's surprised Blankenship is running for public office because he knows Blankenship is the man he arrested in 1990.
"I will be happy to meet him at the county jail and take his fingerprints and compare them," Miller said. "I want to get to the bottom of it, too. If Mr. Blankenship says that's not him, that way we'll know once and for all."

Colbert Interviews Congressman Westmoreland

2006-06-16T10:27:00.000-04:00

Colbert was priceless last night. His guest was Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland and I guess he never heard of The Colbert Report before. He will now.
(rough transcript)
Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.
Westmoreland: That's correct.
Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?
Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.
Colbert: What can we get rid of to balance the budget?
Westmoreland: The Dept. of Education.
Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?
Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all. emailer Ruth asks: Does this guy deserve a $3,300 pay raise?
The guy co-sponsors a bill about the Ten Commandments and doesn't even know them. Priceless.

IAEA chief: Iran not an immediate nuclear threat

2006-06-15T08:30:00.000-04:00

Iran does not pose an immediate nuclear threat and the world must act cautiously to avoid repeating mistakes made with Iraq and North Korea, the head of the U.N, nuclear watchdog agency said on Tuesday.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the world shouldn't "jump the gun" with erroneous information as he said the U.S.-led coalition did in Iraq in 2003, nor should it push the country into retaliation as international sanctions did in North Korea.
"Our assessment is that there is no immediate threat," the winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize told a forum organized by the Monterey Institute of International Studies south of San Francisco. "We still have lots of time to investigate."
"You look around in the Middle East right now and it's a total mess," he said. "You can not add oil to that fire."
The recent violent history in Iraq bears an important lesson for diplomacy with neighboring Iran, the diplomat said. "We should not jump the gun. We should be very careful about assessing the information available to us," he said.

First-ever cancer vaccine approved by FDA

2006-06-09T08:16:00.000-04:00

The vaccine, Gardasil, blocks infection by two types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which account for about 70% of cervical cancer cases.
Gardasil also blocks infection by two other HPV types that cause about 90% of genital warts cases. Spread by skin-to-skin contact, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA. More than 90% of cases clear up on their own, but persistent infection with certain HPV types causes virtually all cervical cancers.

Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

2006-06-09T08:14:00.000-04:00

From the fine folks that brought you the ~~Total~~ Terrorism Information Awareness program, another wickedly-named branch of the NSA, the Disruptive Technologies Office (formerly ARDA), is funding research into the usefulness of the Semantic Web for combing through and profiling the 80 million members of MySpace. [from MetaFilter.com]

CDC Defines all Women as "Pre-pregnant"

2006-06-07T10:43:00.000-04:00

Not planning on getting pregnant? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doesn’t care. As far as it is concerned, if you are one of the 62 million U.S. women of childbearing age, you are pre-pregnant--a vessel. You are a future fetal incubator.
In April, the CDC issued a report detailing measures to be taken to intervene in the life, healthcare and behavior of all women, “from menarche [first occurrence of menstruation] to menopause … even if they do not intend to conceive.”
The CDC report calls for a radical shift in medical care so that at every point of interaction, women’s doctors are to stage “interventions” to make sure they are healthy and prepared to give birth. Want to take your newborn in for a checkup or your 8-year-old in for a high fever? Expect an “intervention” into your eating habits, weight and behavioral risk factors.

GNC quits selling Robertson's protein shake

2006-06-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

Despite Pat Robertson's assertion that he leg-pressed 2,000 pounds, the protein shake the religious broadcaster credits for this astounding feat will no longer be on store shelves.
The Christian Broadcasting Network recently posted a video on its Web site showing Robertson leg-pressing 1,000 pounds.
A version of the video posted on youtube.com on May 25 has been viewed more than 11,000 times, according to the Web site.
According to a related news release, Robertson has leg-pressed 2,000 pounds. H e is 76 years old, and the current world record is 1,335 pounds.

Mushroom cloud blast in Nevada delayed

2006-06-05T17:27:00.000-04:00

The federal government on Friday indefinitely postponed a massive explosion that planners said would generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert and critics feared would spread radioactivity across the West.
Officials said delaying the non-nuclear explosion dubbed "Divine Strake" would allow time to answer legal and scientific questions about whether it would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"The previously announced date of no later than June 23 is no longer accurate," said Darwin Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration in North Las Vegas. "The experiment will be scheduled at a date later to be announced pending the legal action."
Anti-nuclear activists, an Indian tribe and Utah and Nevada congressional lawmakers have pressed the government to address safety concerns raised since James Tegnelia, director of the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said the blast "is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons." He later retracted the statement, saying it was inaccurate.
A federal judge in Las Vegas let government lawyers on Friday withdraw a finding that there would be "no significant impact" from the blast without acknowledging any shortcomings alleged in a lawsuit filed by the Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah "downwinders."

US Blocking International Deal on Fighting AIDS

2006-06-05T17:24:00.000-04:00

The Bush administration, heavily influence by the Christian right, is blocking key proposals for a new United Nations package to combat AIDS worldwide over the next five years because of its opposition to the distribution of condoms and needle exchanges and references to prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexuals.
The United States is being supported by many Muslim countries, including Egypt, and various conservative African and Latin American nations. "There are a lot of unholy alliances all over the place," said a European official attending UN talks in New York last night.
Fraught negotiations were continuing to try to salvage as much of the package as possible. More than 140 nations are attending the UN summit in New York which began on Wednesday. The meeting is intended to update a 2001 declaration that provided the momentum for a worldwide campaign against AIDS. A new declaration is due to be agreed today.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, told the summit: "The world has been unconscionably slow in meeting one of the most vital aspects of the struggle: measures to fight the spread of AIDS among women and girls. These shortcomings are deadly."

U.S. to drop Geneva rule, officials say

2006-06-05T09:42:00.000-04:00

The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Conventions that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.
The decision culminates a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Conventions protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the defense officials acknowledged.

CBC Radio Available in Podcast Form

2006-06-05T09:40:00.000-04:00

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is pumping out a pile of podcasts that have covered the importance of offensive comics to Art Spiegelman, 600 bands over 54 shows, Captain America versus the American government, Amy Sedaris and geekdom, the journey of young immigrants, French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut and Harper's publisher John MacArthur discussing Europe and America perspectives since 9/11, the after life, sex with monkeys, what radio producers do, the french word "corps", Bonnie Fuller's "The Joys of Much Too Much: Go For the Big Life — The Great Career, The Perfect Guy, and Everything Else You've Ever Wanted (Even If You're Afraid You Don't Have What It Takes)", Veteran Washington reporter Helen Thomas and some other bits & bobs.

Gonzales pressures ISPs on data retention

2006-06-02T14:42:00.000-04:00

In a private meeting with industry representatives, Gonzales, Mueller and other senior members of the Justice Department said Internet service providers should retain subscriber information and network data for two years, according to two sources familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity.

How the NSA wiretaps spiraled out of control

2006-06-02T14:40:00.000-04:00

A security consultant working with a major telecommunications carrier told me that his client set up a top-secret high-speed circuit between its main computer complex and Quantico, Virginia, the site of a government-intelligence computer center. This link provided direct access to the carrier's network core -- the critical area of its system, where all its data are stored. “What the companies are doing is worse than turning over records,” the consultant said. “They're providing total access to all the data.”
“This is not about getting a cardboard box of monthly phone bills in alphabetical order,” a former senior intelligence official said. The Administration's goal after September 11th was to find suspected terrorists and target them for capture or, in some cases, air strikes. “The NSA is getting real-time actionable intelligence,” the former official said.
The NSA also programmed computers to map the connections between telephone numbers in the United States and suspect numbers abroad, sometimes focussing on a geographic area, rather than on a specific person -- for example, a region of Pakistan. Such calls often triggered a process, known as “chaining,” in which subsequent calls to and from the American number were monitored and linked. The way it worked, one high-level Bush Administration intelligence official told me, was for the agency “to take the first number out to two, three, or more levels of separation, and see if one of them comes back” -- if, say, someone down the chain was also calling the original, suspect number. As the chain grew longer, more and more Americans inevitably were drawn in. [from UnknownNews.net]

Robert F Kennedy Jr: The Stealing of the 2004 Presidential Election

2006-06-02T10:32:00.000-04:00

Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad(3) never received their ballots -- or received them too late to vote(4) -- after the Pentagon unaccountably shut down a state-of-the-art Web site used to file overseas registrations.(5) A consulting firm called Sproul & Associates, which was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in six battleground states,(6) was discovered shredding Democratic registrations.(7) In New Mexico, which was decided by 5,988 votes,(8) malfunctioning machines mysteriously failed to properly register a presidential vote on more than 20,000 ballots.(9) Nationwide, according to the federal commission charged with implementing election reforms, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting equipment -- roughly one for every 100 cast.(10)
The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.(11)
Any election, of course, will have anomalies. America's voting system is a messy patchwork of polling rules run mostly by county and city officials. ''We didn't have one election for president in 2004,'' says Robert Pastor, who directs the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University. ''We didn't have fifty elections. We actually had 13,000 elections run by 13,000 independent, quasi-sovereign counties and municipalities.''
But what is most anomalous about the irregularities in 2004 was their decidedly partisan bent: Almost without exception they hurt John Kerry and benefited George Bush. After carefully examining the evidence, I've become convinced that the president's party mounted a massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004. Across the country, Republican election officials and party stalwarts employed a wide range of illegal and unethical tactics to fix the election. A review of the available data reveals that in Ohio alone, at least 357,000 voters, the overwhelming majority of them Democratic, were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted in 2004(12) -- more than enough to shift the results of an election decided by 118,601 votes.(13) (See Ohio's Missing Votes) In what may be the single most astounding fact from the election, one in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to stem the unprecedented flood of Democrats eager to cast ballots.(14) And that doesn?t even take into account the troubling evidence of outright fraud, which indicates that upwards of 80,000 votes for Kerry were counted instead for Bush. That alone is a swing of more than 160,000 votes -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.(15)

House Passes McDermott Depleted Uranium Study Amendment

2006-06-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

Shortly after passage, Rep. McDermott received a letter from James King, the national executive director of AMVETS, the American Veterans organization:

This is a very important issue for AMVETS and its membership. Our ultimate goal is to provide atomic veterans with the tools necessary to file a claim and be considered for due compensation. Your amendment will help begin this process.
Again, thank you for your amendment and your support of veterans and their families.

Gagged librarians break silence on Patriot Act

2006-06-01T12:18:00.000-04:00

The Librarians, members of Library Connection, a not-for profit cooperative organization for resource sharing across 26 Connecticut library branches sharing a centralized computer, were served with a National Security Letter (NSL) in August of last year as part of the FBI's attempt to attain access to patron's records.
The NSL is a little known statute in the Patriot Act that permits law enforcement to obtain records of people not suspected of any wrongdoing and without a court order. As part of the NSL, those served with the document are gagged and prohibited from disclosing that they have even been served.
The foursome of Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Christian, and Jan Nocek were automatically gagged from disclosing that they had received the letter, the contents of the letter, and even from discussions surrounding the Patriot Act.
The librarians, via the national and Connecticut branches of the ACLU, filed suit challenging the Patriot Act on first amendment grounds.

Amir Tahiri

2006-06-01T10:34:00.000-04:00

Who is Amir Taheri? And why is he considered an Iraq expert by the Bush Administration when he's been accused of fabricating stories about Iran. [from the Rachel Maddow Show]

EBN

2006-06-01T10:26:00.000-04:00

"Emergency Broadcast Network" has been mentioned before (E B N), but you have to see it for yourself: YouTube --> We Will Rock You, Sinatra, Get Up Get Down, Suddenly, Comply, Hello, Documercial, Psychoactive Drugs, and even Homicidal Schizophrenic.
E B N has something to do with M B M. [from MetaFFilter.com]
EBN also gave us this gem.

"History of Oil"

2006-05-30T17:13:00.000-04:00

Google Video of performance by British comedian, Rob Newman. [thanks, Kathy]

The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos

2006-05-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

One cannot criticize religious dogmatism for long without encountering the following claim, advanced as though it were a self-evident fact of nature: there is no secular basis for morality. Raping and killing children can only really be wrong, the thinking goes, if there is a God who says it is. Otherwise, right and wrong would be mere matters of social construction, and any society would be at liberty to decide that raping and killing children is actually a wholesome form of family fun. In the absence of God, John Wayne Gacy could be a better person than Albert Schweitzer, if only more people agreed with him.
It is simply amazing how widespread this fear of secular moral chaos is, given how many misconceptions about morality and human nature are required to set it whirling in a person’s brain. There is undoubtedly much to be said against the spurious linkage between faith and morality, but the following three points should suffice...

The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos

2006-05-26T17:30:00.000-04:00

The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos

2006-05-26T16:54:00.000-04:00

Richard Dawkins: God’s Gift to Kansas

2006-05-26T16:45:00.000-04:00

Science feeds on mystery. As my colleague Matt Ridley has put it, “Most scientists are bored by what they have already discovered. It is ignorance that drives them on.” Science mines ignorance. Mystery – that which we don’t yet know; that which we don’t yet understand – is the mother lode that scientists seek out. Mystics exult in mystery and want it to stay mysterious. Scientists exult in mystery for a very different reason: it gives them something to do. Maybe we don’t understand yet, but we’re working on it! Each mystery solved opens up vistas of unsolved problems, and the scientist eagerly moves in.
Admissions of ignorance and mystification are vital to good science. It is therefore galling, to say the least, when enemies of science turn those constructive admissions around and abuse them for political advantage. It is worse than galling. It threatens the enterprise of science itself. This is exactly the effect creationism or ‘intelligent design theory’ (ID) is having, especially because its propagandists are slick, superficially plausible and, above all, well-financed. ID, by the way, is not a new form of creationism. It simply is creationism disguised, for political reasons, under a new name.

Strict Net neutrality passes House Committee, but fate is rather uncertain

2006-05-26T14:40:00.000-04:00

The US House Committee on the Judiciary today approved the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act (HR 5417) in a vote of 20-12, helping to improve the provision of equal network service regardless of who receives it, without added surcharges, along with other antitrust measures. Carriers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon suggest no problem exists that requires this legislative solution, despite pushing their lobbyists hard to get Congress to enact opposing laws, and suggesting that prioritizing network traffic is required to develop newer products, such as high-definition video. Meanwhile, the FCC continues to encourage mergers while prices for telecommunications products continue to rise at rates manyfold higher than inflation, despite price gouging provisions enacted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. [from MetaFilter.com]

Follow Up: Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission releases its report

2006-05-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

On Nov. 3, 1979, in Greensboro, N.C., Klansmen and Nazis fired on Communist Workers Party demonstrators, killing five and wounding 10. The gunmen, though captured on TV-news videotape, were acquitted of all charges in two criminal trials in the early 1980s. Two years ago, a Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission was convened, following the South African model, to look into the case. It posted its report on its Web site, shedding some additional light on an incident that has divided the city for more than a quarter-century.

Bush Excusing Cooked Coporate Books

2006-05-25T14:44:00.000-04:00

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.
Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.

Red Cross Barred from US Secret Prisons, Rebukes US Policy

2006-05-23T00:48:00.000-04:00

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday deplored the refusal of the U.S. administration to allow its neutral delegates to visit people being held in secret detention.
In an unusually strongly worded statement, the agency known for its discretion expressed disappointment that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials refused to yield to the demand.
“No matter how legitimate the grounds for detention, there exists no right to conceal a person's whereabouts or to deny that he or she is being detained,” said Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, following a series of top-level meetings in Washington.
The ICRC is designated by the Geneva Conventions on warfare as the organization to visit prisoners of war. It is the only independent body the United States lets visit terror suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but it has long been demanding access to detainees held in “undisclosed locations.”
“Speaking after his meetings, Mr. Kellenberger deplored the fact that the U.S. authorities had not moved closer to granting the ICRC access to persons held in undisclosed locations,” said an ICRC statement issued Friday.

Do Pigeons (and us) Perceive Time Logarithmically

2006-05-22T23:54:00.000-04:00

There are asymmetries in the way animals perceive numbers and time, and a recent experiment showed that pigeons underestimate the midpoint between two time intervals.
In the experiment, pigeons were trained to tap one lever when a light flash was "short", perhaps 1 second long, and another lever when the flash was "long", say 16 seconds. When the birds then saw flashes of intermediate length, you would expect them to distinguish long from short around the mid-point of 8 or 9 seconds. But instead they switched at 4 seconds.

Imaginary Weapons

2006-05-22T23:33:00.000-04:00

The military subculture that pursues the development of fabulous, physically impossible weapons concepts at taxpayer expense is the subject of a new book by defense reporter Sharon Weinberger called "Imaginary Weapons."
Weinberger introduces the hafnium bomb, a hypothetical weapon that would supposedly harness the energy released from a nuclear transition within a hafnium isomer. It is a purely speculative notion that has been largely discredited, but one that attracted nearly cultish attention -- and millions of dollars -- within the defense establishment.
It is akin in its eccentricity, and lack of reproducibility, to "zero point energy," "psychic teleportation," and other notions that Weinberger terms "fringe science."
Fringe science, she contends, "has reached new heights under the Bush Administration. We have fewer and fewer scientific experts in the government, and an increasing unwillingness by the government to turn to outside scientific advisers." "The real danger in this story is not the existence of fringe science, but of fringe science in government, particularly when it receives substantial funding or guides decision-making."
"I see this problem getting worse, not better. If the government doesn't take steps to shore up its scientific expertise, I think we are facing a future filled with imaginary weapons." Her highly readable new book, filled with entertaining or disgusting anecdotes, has just been published.
See "Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld" by Sharon Weinberger, Nation Books, June 2006:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258497/002-6021113-5060015

The Perfect Mark

2006-05-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

This might be the most well researched, comprehensive and well written coverage of the 419 Scam written.
Also known as the Nigeria Scam, the 419 scam continues to bilk people under the "something for nothing" pretext.
This article is a must-read for crime-fighters everywhere.

Pentagon's Black Budget Soars to Cold War Heights

2006-05-22T23:14:00.000-04:00

The Department of Defense budget request for 2007 includes about $30.1 billion in classified or "black" spending, according to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
"In real (inflation-adjusted) terms the $30.1 billion FY 2007 request includes more classified acquisition funding than any other defense budget since FY 1988, near the end of the Cold War, when DoD received $19.7 billion ($29.4 billion in FY 2007 dollars) for these programs," wrote author Steven Kosiak. See "Classified Funding in the FY 2007 Budget Request" (pdf) from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The study was reported in "Classified military spending reaches highest level since Cold War" by Drew Brown, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, May 19: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14623031.htm

Wired Posts Documents Detailing AT&T's Internet Surveillance

2006-05-22T14:27:00.000-04:00

complete text
Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program.
In a public statement Klein issued last month, he described the NSA's visit to an AT&T office. In an older, less-public statement recently acquired by Wired News, Klein goes into additional details of his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T building in San Francisco.
Klein supports his claim by attaching excerpts of three internal company documents: a Dec. 10, 2002, manual titled "Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco," a Jan. 13, 2003, document titled "SIMS, Splitter Cut-In and Test Procedure" and a second "Cut-In and Test Procedure" dated Jan. 24, 2003.
Here we present Klein's statement in its entirety, with inline links to all of the document excerpts where he cited them. You can also download the complete file here (pdf). The full AT&T documents are filed under seal in federal court in San Francisco.

Tape Shows Lawmaker Taking $100G

2006-05-22T09:47:00.000-04:00

A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.
At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.

Pentagon Memo: Guard Deployment to Last at Least Two Years

2006-05-22T09:43:00.000-04:00

A Pentagon memo sent to California National Guard leaders this week and obtained by The Associated Press indicates President Bush's planned deployment of troops along the U.S.-Mexico border will last at least two years with no timetable for concluding the operation.
The internal guidance memo sent to National Guard officials in border states does not specify the cost of implementing the decision or how soon troops would be stationed along the 2,200-mile border from California to Texas. But high-ranking officials in the California National Guard said they were told Friday that deployments would not begin before early June.
The memo tells Guard officials the nearly 6,000 troops called for in the President's proposal would be be deployed "up to one year, with a force reduction to 3,000 during the second year."
The memo from the National Guard Bureau's Department of the Army and the Air Force said Guardsmen and women would act in a supporting role for law enforcement operations on the border, while focusing on "surveillance, reconnaissance, aviation, intelligence, engineering, training, vehicle dismantling, linguistics ... transportation and logistics."

CIA Veteran on Today's Intelligence and Mideast Policy

2006-05-19T12:13:00.000-04:00

CIA vet Michael Scheuer: "I think Iraq is finished. We’ll just find a way to get out. I frankly don’t think we ever intended to win there." And: "As a professional intelligence officer, the last people you want to report to are generals and diplomats. And if General Hayden comes to the CIA, we’ll have Mr. Negroponte [a career diplomat] as head of the community, and a general as the head of the CIA." [via MetaFilter.com]

Little Known Spy Agency Watching Americans From Space

2006-05-18T17:13:00.000-04:00

A little-known spy agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies has been spending significantly more time watching U.S. soil.
In an era when other intelligence agencies try to hide those operations, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency [NGA], retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, is proud of that domestic mission.
...Geospatial intelligence is the science of combining imagery, such as satellite pictures, to physically depict features or activities happening anywhere on the planet. A part of the Defense Department, the NGA usually operates unnoticed to provide information on nuclear sites, terror camps, troop movements or natural disasters.

The Great Flydini

2006-05-17T17:43:00.000-04:00

Old, brilliant Steve Martin bit from the Tonight Show. [from MetaFilter.com]

TDS: Phone Logs and Fox Pundits

2006-05-17T14:44:00.000-04:00

Jon Stewart and his team of very talented writers had a field day with the NSA warrantless wiretapping and the latest news from this USA Today article: "NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls."
Stewart: Well now it turns out that there was one specific type of domestic call the government was keeping tabs on. All of them....
The round up of FOX News pundits defending this new development was hysterical. Neil Cavuto wins the top prize as the biggest suck up when he says:
Cavuto: Yes, it is not great to necessary hear they're collecting our phone records, but it's a heck of a lot better than collecting our remains...
Stewart: Wow, the entire network of anchors has been hired to be the press secretary...
The Daily Show website hosts a ton of past video clips. Always check it out if you're looking for segments that you've missed.

Darfur reality: More killings, more rapes

2006-05-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

Despite a cease-fire, the horrible situation in Darfur persists. Based on Google Trends data, it appears that, as of January, people are becoming interested in Darfur again (or at least they're researching it more), which may be a catalyst for politicians to act. Or maybe not... [from MetaFilter.com]

Christian Nationalism

2006-05-15T09:44:00.000-04:00

Christian Nationalism is just one name for that ideological and aggressive species of Christianity just may be more organized, ambitious, and successful than you imagined. The dream transcends the elimination of abortion, the teaching of intelligent design, and the preservation of marriage within American politics, but instead reaches out to restore America to an imagined Christian state. Or more? "World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish." Or maybe just 29% of it. But some resistance from within Christianity is starting to appear. [from MetaFilter.com]

Things to look forward to

2006-05-10T17:24:00.000-04:00

We have about 4 billion years left until our planet is going to be destroyed. If a meteor doesn't smash us in first, over the next 250 million years the continents will continue drifting to form another pangea. If we're all still friends having survived the climate change and each other, we'll be roasted by the expanding red giant after our sun exhausts its interior hydrogen supply. In about 5.5 billion years time the helium left in the core will get hot and dense enough to burn, flaring up in a massive helium flash engulfing what remains of the solar system. When the helium core is gone, hydrogen in the outermost layers will drift off to form a ring nebula, leaving in the middle a bright white dwarf star that will slowly cool down into a cold, dense black dwarf: a silent and forgotten fossil, floating through infinite space. In other news: cats are funny! hahahahaha!

Surprise

2006-05-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

Brian Eno is the godfather of electronica, the inventor of ambient music, and producer of the best work by bands like the Talking Heads and U2. Tchad Blake has helmed the mixing board for Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Soul Coughing and the Bad Plus, to name just a few. Paul Simon is one of the most recognized names in pop music both for his work with Art Garfunkel and for his fusion of American pop music with African and South American music. Surprise is the the album they collaborated on, the new Paul Simon record featuring Eno's signature sonic landscapes all over it, and the entire lovely thing, complete with liner notes, is available to listen to on Simon's website. [from MetaFilter.com]

Living without Numbers or Time

2006-05-10T17:16:00.000-04:00

The Pirahã people have no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses. That makes their language one of the strangest in the world -- and also one of the most hotly debated by linguists.

Halliburton Solves Global Warming

2006-05-10T17:08:00.000-04:00

SurvivaBalls save managers from abrupt climate change

An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible. [Speech, photos]

"The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience.

Expunged Report on Domestic Wiretaps

2006-05-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

Administrative Office of the US Courts removes report about wiretaps. The Memory Hole restores it:

Each April, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts is required by federal law to submit to Congress a report detailing the number of federal and state wiretaps approved or authorized during the previous calendar year. On 01 May 2006, the Office posted this report here: www.uscourts.gov/wiretap05/contents.html
One PDF file contained the main body of the report, and multiple separate PDFs contained the 9 text tables and 4 appendix tables.
A press release about the report is here.
On the evening of 03 May, a librarian reported on an email discussion list that all the files had been deleted from the US Courts website. A copy was not in Google's cache, although the cache did show a page with a deleted link to the 2005 report.
I contacted several journalists who had written about the report to see if they still had a copy of it on their hard drives. They didn't, but on 04 May, one of the reporters called the US Courts' press officer, who said that the report had been yanked because it contained information that is still under judicial seal. A sanitized version of the report is expected to be posted soon.
Soon after I contacted Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center about this, Sherwin Siy of EPIC kindly emailed the body of the original, uncensored report, which he had downloaded and saved.

PDF of report here.

Cato: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush

2006-05-04T10:33:00.000-04:00

In recent judicial confirmation battles, President Bush has repeatedly—and correctly—stressed fidelity to the Constitution as the key qualification for service as a judge. It is also the key qualification for service as the nation's chief executive. On January 20, 2005, for the second time, Mr. Bush took the presidential oath of office set out in the Constitution, swearing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." With five years of the Bush administration behind us, we have more than enough evidence to make an assessment about the president's commitment to our fundamental legal charter
Unfortunately, far from defending the Constitution, President Bush has repeatedly sought to strip out the limits the document places on federal power. In its official legal briefs and public actions, the Bush administration has advanced a view of federal power that is astonishingly broad, a view that includes

a federal government empowered to regulate core political speech—and restrict it greatly when it counts the most: in the days before a federal election;
a president who cannot be restrained, through validly enacted statutes, from pursuing any tactic he believes to be effective in the war on terror;
a president who has the inherent constitutional authority to designate American citizens suspected of terrorist activity as "enemy combatants," strip them of any constitutional protection, and lock them up without charges for the duration of the war on terror— in other words, perhaps forever; and
a federal government with the power to supervise virtually every aspect of American life, from kindergarten, to marriage, to the grave.

President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers.

Full Text (PDF, 966 KB)

Junking their fast food addiction

2006-05-03T12:14:00.000-04:00

“The image that is most disturbing to me,” says Schlosser, “is the rooms full of very intelligent adults with lofty degrees in psychology and anthropology sitting around trying to figure out how to manipulate three and four-year-olds.”
He could also have mentioned the picture of a child with his head in an MRI machine that scanned his brain activity as he watched commercials — research into “neuromarketing”. Lolly-maker Chupa Chups is very keen on this type of research, hoping to harness activity in the brain associated with its brand image to “create loyal customers”.
Schlosser wouldn’t mind those brainy graduates’ machinations to hook pre-schoolers on burgers and fries “if it was incredibly healthy and good for them, but thinking about getting them to do something that’s going to harm them . . .”

The Music Animation Machine

2006-05-03T12:02:00.000-04:00

...A way to visualize complex music - fugues and sonatas and all that. Other tools, such as those mentioned previously here and here, accomplish a similar task in a way, but this is still very, very cool. Watch and download all the videos you can. Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti... if only there were more! Of course, you could buy the DVD. [from MetaFilter.com]
{I bought the tape for this years ago via Edward Tufte. One-of-a-kind video! -- McLir]

Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Suit

2006-05-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

Bush administration signals intent to invoke the obscure state secrets privilege in order to stop the EFF lawsuit against AT&T, (previously discussed here) for providing the NSA direct access all 312 terabytes of its customers' telephone and internet traffic since 2001, (including those Good Vibrations charges you racked up). In a nutshell, according to legal experts, invoking the privilege kills the judicial process dead: the courthouse doors are closed, and there's nothing but grownup stuff to see here; move along, kids. [from MetaFilter.com]

Bush challenges hundreds of laws

2006-05-01T09:44:00.000-04:00

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.
Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power.
But with the disclosure of Bush's domestic spying program, in which he ignored a law requiring warrants to tap the phones of Americans, many legal specialists say Bush is hardly reluctant to bypass laws he believes he has the constitutional authority to override.

U.S. prepares to face U.N. on torture as Amnesty report blasts 'war crimes'

2006-04-28T14:44:00.000-04:00

As the United States prepares a team of 30 to defend its record on torture before a U.N. committee, Amnesty International has made public a report blasting the United States for failing to take appropriate steps to eradicate use of torture at U.S. detention sites around the world...
U.S. compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment will be the topic of May 5 and 8 U.N. hearings in Geneva.
...The Amnesty report reviews several cases where U.S. detainees held in Afghanistan and Iraq have died as a result of torture. The group also lambasts U.S. use of electro-shock weapons, inhuman and degrading conditions of isolation in "super-max" security prisons and abuses against women in the prison system -- including sexual abuse by male guards, shackling while pregnant and even in labor.

U.S.: More Than 600 Implicated in Detainee Abuse

2006-04-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

Two years after the Abu Ghraib scandal, new research shows that abuse of detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantánamo Bay has been widespread, and that the United States has taken only limited steps to investigate and punish implicated personnel. A briefing paper issued today, 'By the Numbers,' presents findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project... the first comprehensive accounting of credible allegations of torture and abuse in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo. The project has collected hundreds of allegations of detainee abuse and torture occurring since late 2001 – allegations implicating more than 600 U.S. military and civilian personnel and involving more than 460 detainees.
[from MetaFilter.com]

Google Releases Sketchup for All

2006-04-27T17:15:00.000-04:00

Google has released a free version of SketchUp (video and tutorials), quite possibly the coolest and most intuitive 3D authoring tool. An added bonus of SketchUp is it's integration into Google Earth. Google has also provided a 3D Warehouse for the posting of your models, which can be downloaded into either application (SketchUp for editing, Earth for displaying). Kind of gives you some insight into their plans for using Google Earth as an Automotive (Honda and Volkswagen) GPS service. (Sidenote: how long until this is seen as a threat to national security?) [from MetaFilter.com]

SNL Funhouse: "Conspiracy Theory Rock" '98

2006-04-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

This cartoon "Conspiracy Theory Rock" by Robert Smigel was shown on "Saturday Night Live" during the March 14, 1998 broadcast but edited out of reruns. For that broadcast, the host was Julianne Moore and the musical guest was the Backstreet Boys.

Mary McCarthy ‘categorically denies’ being the source of the leak on agency renditions

2006-04-25T12:14:00.000-04:00

McCarthy's lawyer, Ty Cobb, told NEWSWEEK this afternooon that contrary to public statements by the CIA late last week, McCarthy never confessed to agency interrogators that she had divulged classified information and "didn't even have access to the information" in The Washington Post story in question.
After being told by agency interrogators that she may have been deceptive on one quesiton during a polygraph, McCarthy did acknowledge that she had failed to report contacts with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest and at least one other reporter, said a source familiar with her account who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities. McCarthy has known Priest for some time, the source said.
McCarthy, 61, a career CIA analyst who was working in the inspector general's office, was then told on Thursday that she was being fired. She was not escorted out of the CIA buiilding, the source said. She also had been assured that the CIA would protect her privacy--just one day before her name became publicly known as the agency official who had been dismissed for leaking to the press, the source said. Ironically, McCarthy, who presvously worked as chief intelligence official for the National Security Council during Bill Clinton's second term, was planning on retiring from the CIA soon to pursue a new career as a lawyer working on adoption and family cases.

FEMA's Dirty Little Secret: A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

2006-04-25T12:07:00.000-04:00

"Turn it off man, I don't want no problems." Democracy Now attempts to interview Katrina evacuees at a FEMA trailer park. FEMA's private security guards claim that the residents don't have 'the privilege' of being able to speak freely on FEMA property without a FEMA 'minder' present. [from MetaFilter.com]

The Power of Nightmares

2006-04-24T05:33:00.000-04:00

Part 1 - Baby it's Cold Outside (1.0 GB)
Part 2 - The Phantom Victory (1.0 GB)
Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave (1.3 GB)

Summaries from Wikipedia:

Part 1 - Baby It's Cold Outside

In the 1950s Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian civil servant turned revolutionary, and Leo Strauss, an American professor of political philosophy, both came to see western liberalism as corrosive to morality and to society. Qutb had been sent to the U.S. to learn about its public education system but was disgusted by what he saw of its society. They each argued that radical measures, including deception and even violence, could be justified in an effort to restore shared moral values to society, and their arguments heavily influenced radical Islamism and American neo-conservatism, respectively. Senior American civil servants and politicians influenced by neo-conservatism came to believe anti-communist propaganda and saw communism as an evil force against which the U.S. should be presented as a force for good. This propaganda included Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney's formation of Team B, which over-estimated Soviet military technology, and the William Casey-led CIA assertion that various terrorist organisations were backed by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Qutb became influential in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and was then jailed after some of its members attempted to assassinate President Nasser.

This was first broadcast on Wednesday 20 October 2004. Its title is taken from a popular song which Qutb heard played at a church-organised dance for young people, which he saw as symptomatic of the immorality of American society.

[edit]

Part 2 - The Phantom Victory

In the 1980s the Islamist mujaheddin and the neo-conservative-influenced Reagan administration temporarily cooperated in fighting a common enemy, the Soviet Union and the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. Although the Soviet Union was already on the verge of collapse, both groups came to believe that it was their actions in Afghanistan that had caused it to fall. However, other attempts by Islamists to incite popular revolution failed, and the neo-conservatives lost power in the U.S. as the presidency passed to George H. W. Bush and subsequently to Bill Clinton. Both groups, having failed to achieve lasting political influence, identified new targets to attack: the neoconservatives sought to demonise Clinton while the radical Islamists decided that those who had not aided their cause were legitimate targets for violence.

This was first broadcast on Wednesday 27 October 2004.

[edit]

Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave

In the late 1990s the Taliban set up military training camps in Afghanistan for Islamist fighters. Most were only interested in fighting in their home countries, but Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and follower of Sayyid Qutb, paid the Taliban to allow them to recruit volunteers for attacks on the U.S. from these camps. Prosecutors for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings believed bin Laden organised them and wanted to convict him in absentia by showing that he headed a criminal organisation. Jamal al-Fadl, a former associate of bin Laden, conveniently described just such an organisation to them, which the investigators called al-Qaeda. While bin Laden apparently aided the attacks he had no organisation through which he could command and control them; al-Fadl seems to have told investigators what they wanted to hear in return for money and witness protection. Similarly, while bin Laden provided funds and volunteers to carry out the September 11, 2001 attacks, they were actually planned by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Following this attack, the neo-conservatives were able to convince George W. Bush to begin a War on Terror and to paint al-Qaeda as an international network of terrorists. The war in Afghanistan removed bin Laden's main source of recruits, but the U.S. military and the Afghan Northern Alliance also captured and killed many people in the Taliban camps that had nothing to do with him. The story circulated that bin Laden and the core of al-Qaeda had retreated to an underground complex in Tora Bora, but an exhaustive search revealed no sign of this. Al-Qaeda could not be found because it never really existed; Islamist terrorists are connected only by ideology and not by an organisation that can be cut off at its root.

The arrests of various groups of suspected terrorists in the U.S. following the September 11 attacks failed to find any substantive evidence, but did show a lot of imagination on the part of investigators. Similarly, in the U.K., arrests under new terrorism laws have resulted in only 3 convictions of Islamists, all for fundraising. Much of the media coverage of potential terrorist attacks is also highly speculative and sensational. For instance, a terrorist attack using a radiological weapon, referred to by the media as a dirty bomb, wouldn't kill many people from fallout because the radioactive material would be spread thinly by any explosion. However, the neo-conservatives had found they could use the threat of Islamist terrorism, and the claimed possibility of sponsorship by Iraq, as an enemy against which to unite the U.S., and other politicians such as Tony Blair claimed an important role in protecting their countries from attack. Politicians and counter-terrorist agents have decided that they must be proactive in imagining the worst possible attacks and in stopping those who seem likely to carry out attacks.

Richard Feynman: The Horizon/Nova Interview

2006-04-23T02:16:00.000-04:00

"The 1981 Feynman Horizon is the best science programme I have ever seen. This is not just my opinion - it is also the opinion of many of the best scientists that I know who have seen the programme... It should be mandatory viewing for all students whether they be science or arts students"
- Professor Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Scott Ritter: A Path to Peace with Iran

2006-04-22T21:58:00.000-04:00

Many in the anti-war movement seem to recognize that there is a need to expand the base of this movement to be much more inclusive of mainstream America. I suggest that the pace of current events dictate a much more dramatic solution -- that the anti-war movement begin to reach out to the very institutions that it condemns and make common cause for the preservation of a way of life -- the unique blend of corporate capitalism and individual rights -- that is at risk from the policies of the Bush administration. It is not likely that there will be many points of agreement on the long-term path that America should take regarding achieving the ideal balance between these two competing, and somewhat contradictory, concepts. But one thing is certain: if the Bush administration has its way regarding war with Iran, both concepts will be put at risk in the chaos which will follow.

US Emissions Rise 16% Above 1990 Levels

2006-04-22T21:51:00.000-04:00

The report looks at four main categories of greenhouse gases pumped out by human activities in the United States. It lists all emissions in 'carbon dioxide equivalents', which reflect the amount of a gas that would cause the same amount of warming in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions have declined, but carbon dioxide is up so much it completely swamps these gains (see 'Changes in US annual emissions between 1990 and 2004').
Total emissions topped 7 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent in 2004.
...The United States is the biggest national emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide, and these figures reinforce that position.
Many other countries have committed to reducing their emissions to below 1990 levels, although it is questionable how well they are doing (see 'European greenhouse emissions climb again').
UK emissions, for example, came to about 656 million tonnes CO₂ equivalent in 2004 (less than a tenth of US emissions), which is 14% below its 1990 levels. The British government says it is on track to hit targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Media Link Dump - YouTube

2006-04-22T17:50:00.000-04:00

- Jean Michel Basquiat - Painting Live, Downtown N.Y. (1981)

- Jean Michel Basquiat Interviewed By Glenn O’Brien On His New York City Cable Tv Public Access Show Tv Party

- Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture - Pt1 | Pt2
Documentary by Chris Rodley. Starring John Cale, Salvador Dalí (archive footage), Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper, Mick Jagger, Udo Kier, Lou Reed, Donatella Versace, Andy Warhol, Mary Woronov.

- Andy Warhol - TV Commercial Braniff Airlines

- Andy Warhol - TV Commercial TDK

- CIAO! MANHATTAN Lost Footage
Filmmaker David Weisman recently discovered over 30 hours of pristine 35mm outtake footage from the film, believed lost for decades.

- Edie
“After Hours” by The Velvet Underground

John Lennon 31st Birthday Home Movie - 1971

- Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures - Pt1 | Pt2 | Pt3
Directed by Jan Harlan

- Johnny Cash: The Last Great American
BBC4 Documentary profiling Johnny Cash (also available as torrent)

- Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138:4EB
Short movie directed by George Lucas in 1967 while he attended the University of Southern California. USC sums up the movie as “A nightmare impression of a world in which a man is trying to escape a computerized world which constantly tracks his movements.”

AND MUCH MORE

CIA warned White House -- no WMD programs in Iraq.

2006-04-22T17:06:00.000-04:00

A retired senior CIA official interviewed by 60 Minutes claims that the White House ignored intelligence from Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri in the run-up to the invasion. CIA Director George Tenet delivered the information to President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other high-ranking officials in September 2002, according to the CIA official. A few days later the administration said it was no longer interested. "...we said 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.' " The interview airs on CBS, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT. [from MetaFilter.com]

Union of Concerned Scientists: Explaing Use of Nuclear "Bunket Busters"

2006-04-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

This animation depicts a proposed weapon with a one megaton yield. The funding for this weapon was cut in 2005 defense appropriations. However, the United States still has a B61-11 nuclear 'bunker buster' in its arsenal which has a 340 kiloton yield, which could still cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and spread radiation to other countries. Learn more. [thanks Tom P.]

Nearly 30 percent at Guantanamo jail cleared to go

2006-04-21T14:39:00.000-04:00

Nearly 30 percent of the Guantanamo detainees have been cleared to leave the prison but remain jailed because the U.S. government has been unable to arrange for their return to their home countries, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The Pentagon refused to identify these 141 men despite having released on Wednesday its first comprehensive list of detainees held at the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Of these 141 detainees among the 490 still at Guantanamo, various military reviews have cleared 22 to be freed in their home countries and the remaining 119 for transfer to the control of their home governments.
"It's just an outrageous situation where people have gone through this system that has been established, such as it is, and the (U.S.) government itself has found there's no reason for them to be held any longer, and yet they continue to be held," said Curt Goering, a senior Amnesty International USA official.

The Worst President in History?

2006-04-20T18:38:00.000-04:00

Was the lousiest James Buchanan, who, confronted with Southern secession in 1860, dithered to a degree that, as his most recent biographer has said, probably amounted to disloyalty -- and who handed to his successor, Abraham Lincoln, a nation already torn asunder? Was it Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, who actively sided with former Confederates and undermined Reconstruction? What about the amiably incompetent Warren G. Harding, whose administration was fabulously corrupt? Or, though he has his defenders, Herbert Hoover, who tried some reforms but remained imprisoned in his own outmoded individualist ethic and collapsed under the weight of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the Depression's onset? The younger historians always put in a word for Richard M. Nixon, the only American president forced to resign from office.
Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies."

Friendly Dog Needs Home

2006-04-20T18:22:00.000-04:00

Mint writes:
Hi:
This is the dog I found Wednesday, April 19th. He doesn't have a name yet. The Ann Arbor Police and local Humane Society do not have anyone looking for a lost dog of his description. He does not have an ID chip. He's about 2 years old and very nice. He likes getting a bath. I'd keep him except I have to take care of my 14 year-old dog Grace who has leg problems.

If you think you might know anyone that is interested, I will make fliers that you can take to work, church, or where ever to show to people.

Thanks for your help. Ciao and be well -- Mint

Friendly Dog Needs a Home
Housebroken
Doesn't tear up the house.
Energetic
Quiet
Guards house and car.
Healthy
87 lbs.
Likes to play ball.

M-F 9-5 (734) 647-8723
All other times (734) 604-3886

Top Court Rejects Appeal at Guantanamo

2006-04-19T18:12:00.000-04:00

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider whether a federal judge can free two Chinese Muslims who remain imprisoned unlawfully at Guantanamo Bay, despite being cleared as "enemy combatants."
The justices refused to review the judge's decision that a federal court cannot provide any relief to Abu Bakker Qassim and A'del Abdu Al-Hakim, two members of the Uighur ethnic group held at Guantanamo while the United States searches for a country to take them.
Their attorneys urged the justices to decide whether a federal court has the power to craft a remedy for those who are indefinitely and unlawfully imprisoned at the U.S. military base in Cuba.
They took the unusual step of appealing directly to the high court after the ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson.
The two men, who were captured by Pakistani forces in Pakistan, have been detained since June 2002 at Guantanamo, where the United States holds about 490 terrorism suspects. In March last year, the U.S. military determined the two Uighurs should no longer be considered enemy combatants.

FBI Seeks First Access to Jack Anderson's Files

2006-04-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to review the files of the late muckraking journalist Jack Anderson and confiscate any documents it believes are classified before they are opened to the public.
This amazing story was first reported yesterday by the Chronicle of Higher Education (see Update below).
There has long been an unwritten agreement the government may do what it must to deter unauthorized disclosures of classified information and to punish leakers but that, once disclosed, the government does not pursue those who receive or publish the information.
Yet the Bush Administration and some on the political right seem intent on disrupting that longstanding convention through subpoenas of reporters, prosecution of recipients of leaks (as in the AIPAC case), threats of prosecution against the press for reporting classified information, and now the FBI pursuit of the Anderson files. A series of email messages on the FBI matter from Jack Anderson's son Kevin were posted yesterday by Don Goldberg on his blog here:

http://www.qorvis.com/2006/04/fbi-outrage-bureau-attempts-to_18.html

CIA Expands Categories to Deny FOIA Requests

2006-04-19T17:51:00.000-04:00

The Central Intelligence Agency conducted a review of its "operational files" last year, as it is required to do every ten years under the CIA Information Act of 1984, to see if any such files could have their "operational" designation rescinded, making them subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
But instead of removing any files from operational status, as contemplated by the 1984 Act, the CIA added nearly two dozen new categories of files that will now be exempt from search and review under the FOIA, according to a newly disclosed report to Congress.
Remarkably, the CIA report to Congress misstated the requirements of the 1984 law. The CIA told Congress that:

"The CIA Information Act... required that not less than once every ten years, the DCI review the operational files exemptions then in force to determine whether such exemptions could be removed from any category of exempted files or portion of those files, and whether any new categories of files should be designated as exempt."

Only the first half of that sentence is true. The statute that governs these reviews -- 50 U.S.C. 432 -- refers only to the removal of the operational file exemption based on "historical value or other public interest." It says nothing about adding new designations.

Rumsfeld Alleged to be Personally Involved in Abusive Interrogation

2006-04-18T22:21:00.000-04:00

A December 20, 2005 Army Inspector General's report, obtained by Salon.com this week, contains a sworn statement by Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt that implicates Secretary Rumsfeld in the abuse of detainee Mohammad al-Qahtani. Based on an investigation that he carried out in early 2005, which included two interviews with Rumsfeld, Gen. Schmidt describes the defense secretary as being �personally involved� in al-Qahtani's interrogation.
Human Rights Watch urges the United States to name a special prosecutor to investigate the culpability of Rumsfeld and others in the al-Qahtani case.

Library of Congress Selects 50 Recordings for Preservation

2006-04-17T21:09:00.000-04:00

The Library of Congress has competed its annual selection of 50 sound recordings for the National Recording Registry. But the task of preserving the likes of Martha and the Vandellas' 1964 “Dancing in the Street” and the broadcast of the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight is just beginning.
As mandated by the 2000 National Recording Preservation Act, the Library is responsible for annually selecting recordings for the registry that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Registry recordings must be at least 10 years old.
On Tuesday, library officials selected a wide variety of spoken and musical recordings that from 1903 to 1988. Among the artists whose music is now in the registry are Mahalia Jackson, Fats Domino, Jimi Hendrix and Sonic Youth.

MIT: The War on Terror and the Cold War: They’re Not the Same

2006-04-17T14:25:00.000-04:00

The Cold War was a great power contest that had many dimensions. There was a "war of ideas," and there were military confrontations. But there were also proxy wars, vast alliances, and institutions for managing the conflict -- indeed, it was a highly formalized affair, with mechanisms, treaties, ambassadors, and so on specifically dedicated to defusing potential conflict. It was, most important, an inter-state competition. The states could and did speak with each other, negotiate with each other, trade with each other, sustain cultural and educational exchanges, and the like, for decades.
While the causes of the end of the Cold War remain a contentious topic, there is much to suggest that these dense networks, institutions, global norms, rational discourse, and civil society advocacy had enormously powerful effects in lowering tensions and opening opportunities to conclude the rivalry. The military competition was essentially a stalemate. Up to the end, American hardliners warned of Soviet nuclear superiority, for example, or their numerical advantages in the European theater. And the major proxy war -- Vietnam -- was a colossal failure for the United States.
The Cold War was ended by engagement, rather than "destroying the threat," and that is a powerful lesson. But because of the highly formal and state-centric nature of the confrontation, one has to ask if there is any relevance to the "twilight struggle" with Soviet communism.

"Photon Holes" May Behave Like Particles

2006-04-17T00:40:00.000-04:00

In some semiconductor devices, such as light-emitting diodes, an applied voltage can dislodge electrons from some atoms, leaving behind a hole which behaves in some situations as if it were a positively charged particle in its own right.
A "current" of holes can move through the material and the holes can recombine later with electrons to produce light. In very loose analogy, James Franson (Johns Hopkins, 443-778-6226, james.franson@jhuapl.edu) suggests that photonic holes might be created; a photon hole, to give one example, would be a place in an otherwise intense laser-beam wavefront where a photon had been removed, for example by passing the laser beam through vapor.
Not only can there be photon holes, Franson suggests, but the holes can be entangled, meaning that their quantum properties would be correlated, even if far apart from each other. Such entangled photon-holes would be able to propagate through optical fibers just as well as entangled photons, but might be even more robust against the decoherence -- the undoing of the quantum correlations -- that plagues present efforts to establish quantum information schemes.

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Contents

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Reactions

Author Eric Heubeck

Heubeck's other writing

See also

Notes

References

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