An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media

An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media

......But even the Guardian, often regarded as fearless in taking on powerful interests, packaged its report in such a way as to deprive Curveball’s confession of its true value. The facts were bled of their real significance. The presentation ensured that only the most aware readers would have understood that the US had not been duped by Curveball, but rather that the White House had exploited a “fantasist” — or desperate exile from a brutal regime, depending on how one looks at it — for its own illegal and immoral ends.

Why did the Guardian miss the main point in its own exclusive? The reason is that all our mainstream media, however liberal, take as their starting point the idea both that the West’s political culture is inherently benevolent and that it is morally superior to all existing, or conceivable, alternative systems.

In reporting and commentary, this is demonstrated most clearly in the idea that “our” leaders always act in good faith, whereas “their” leaders — those opposed to empire or its interests — are driven by base or evil motives.

It is in this way that official enemies, such as Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic, can be singled out as personifying the crazed or evil dictator — while other equally rogue regimes such as Saudi Arabia’s are described as “moderate” — opening the way for their countries to become targets of our own imperial strategies.

States selected for the “embrace” of empire are left with a stark choice: accept our terms of surrender and become an ally or defy empire and face our wrath.

When the corporate elites trample on other peoples and states to advance their own selfish interests, such as in the invasion of Iraq to control its resources, our dominant media cannot allow its reporting to frame the events honestly. The continuing assumption in liberal commentary about the US attack on Iraq, for example, is that, once no WMD were found, the Bush administration remained to pursue a misguided effort to root out the terrorists, restore law and order, and spread democracy.

For the western media, our leaders make mistakes, they are naïve or even stupid, but they are never bad or evil. Our media do not call for Bush or Blair to be tried at the Hague as war criminals. more

‘Do remember that dishonesty and cowardice always have to be paid for. Don’t imagine that for years on end you can make yourself the boot-licking propagandist of the Soviet Regime, or any other régime, and then suddenly return to mental decency. Once a whore, always a whore.’ As I Please

Build a Great Big Bomb Factory? Yes We Can

If nothing else in this tale from the asylum, the accompanying graphic gets it spot on. And I don't mean the slightly updated one on this page.

U.S. trims its nuclear arsenal while upgrading production

......The $85 billion upgrade of our bomb-making infrastructure in Kansas City with Honeywell and at other locations is occurring 50 years after President Dwight Eisenhower warned in his farewell address of the military-industrial complex and its “potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power.”

It’s also taking place two years after President Barack Obama told the world in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, that the United States was committed to ridding itself of nuclear weapons.

“Today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” he said to the cheers of 20,000 people.....

There is a madness going on here that is.... that is.... nothing new I don't suppose.

.......U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, in explaining his vote on the Senate floor in December made no effort to make the deal sound anything but quid pro quo:

“I will vote to ratify the New START treaty with Russia because it leaves our country with enough nuclear warheads to blow any attacker to kingdom come and because the president has committed to an $85 billion, 10-year plan to make sure that those weapons work.” More Kansas City Star

Update here.

CANCER MORTALITY DECREASES IN EUROPE

New statistics for cancer in Europe show an overall downward trend for cancer deaths, and estimates show that there has been a fall in overall cancer deaths for both men and women from 2011 to 2007.
The downward trend is driven mainly by decreases in breast cancer mortality in women and in lung and colorectal cancer mortality in men.
These 3 cancers are "the top causes of cancer deaths, and these are showing major changes," said Carlo La Vecchia, MD, from the Department of Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Institute and faculty of medicine at the University of Milan, Italy.
Dr. La Vecchia and colleagues used a new mathematical model to predict cancer mortality. Their new estimates were published online February 8 in the Annals of Oncology.
The new model predicts that the total number of cancer deaths in the European Union will reach 1,281,436 in 2011, which works out to a standardized rate of 143 per 100,000 men and 85 per 100,000 women.
This compares with 1,256,001 cancer deaths in 2007, with standardized rates of 153.8 per 100,000 men and 90.7 per 100,000 women, corresponding to a 7% fall in men and a 6% fall in women, the researchers note.
In addition to the 3 cancers highlighted by Dr. La Vecchia, the model predicts declines in mortality for stomach, uterine, and prostate cancers, and for leukemia.
In fact, a downward trend in mortality rates was seen in all cancer types that were examined, with the exception of pancreatic cancer (which is stable in men and shows a slight increase in women) and lung cancer (which is increasing in women).
The rising rates of lung cancer in women are of particular concern, the researchers note. The number of women dying from lung cancer is increasing steadily across all of Europe — with the exception of the United Kingdom, which had the highest rates in women for a decade but is now seeing a leveling off.
"Despite these favorable trends in cancer death rates in Europe, the number of cancer deaths remains approximately stable, due to the ageing of the population," Dr. La Vecchia commented in a statement.
"Further, there is a persisting gap in cancer mortality between central and eastern European countries and western Europe; this is likely to persist for the foreseeable future," he said.
The new model predicts that Germany will see the greatest drop in overall cancer.
In contrast, the highest total cancer mortality rates in both sexes are seen in Poland, where there has been no improvement in recent years, which is "particularly worrying," the researchers note.
France is also singled out for concern; the predicted decline in cancer deaths there is modest because of the recent unfavorable trends in lung cancer among French (and Spanish) women.
Ongoing Downward Trend
The decline in cancer deaths from 2007 to 2011 outlined in this report is a continuation of the downward trend that has occurred in Europe over the past few decades.
"A substantial decline in total cancer mortality rates has been observed since the late 1980s in men, and since even earlier in women in the European Union," the authors write. Between 1990–1994 and 2000–2004, the rates declined by 9% in men and by 8% in women, they note. These declines continued in 2007, and this latest model predicts that they will continue to do so up to 2011.

Housing - Rules and Actions That Can Destroy Good Neighbourliness

The joy of being poor - you have to live in ODSP and social housing with stupid rules - because, attitudes and a wheelchair prevent you from working.

I'll start out by saying I miss living with someone because it is too much work to do everything alone; even more so when you use a wheelchair, can't reach your cupboards, washing machine and drier, among other things, and the property owners started to create and lay down strict and oppressive rules in an effort to keep the peace. Sadly the rules had the counter-effect; they ultimately killed a atmosphere of neighbourliness.

I'll quote one of the rules below to show you what I mean. But before I do, I will point out that in the good old days, before the management staff changed, we had group activities to do in the common rooms downstairs every day of the week. We had Bingo on Monday, Coffee, Tea and a social hour in Tuesday, Euchre and cards on Wednesday, Shuffle-board and Crokinole on Thursday, Movie night on Friday and about once a month, fun, friendly pot lucks, sometimes with outside entertainment being brought in. What's even more nasty is this building is a mix of full paying tenants and low income tenants so a wall has been created between us.

They have formed a Christian Fellowship Group on Sunday's, a potluck for the group on Wednesday's, and an awkward (for non-fellowship members) movie night on Fridays. All tenants are invited to come, but all the coordination and planning is done by a select few. They run the activities and limit how much others can do as a volunteer, especially if they're disabled. The surface skills only are seen, we're deemed to be unable, and that means they get to run the show. Don't get me wrong. I am a strong and commited Christian. I just don't agree to the participatory limits that are being imposed by this group.

The exercise equipment was put into storage and the tenants have become expert complainers.

I'll put the rules below; the ones that first started to kill neighbourliness. Then I'll post an initiative I tried to get started last summer to restore the atmosphere of friendliness and neighbourliness. Finally, I will include a scanned copy of the Christian Fellowship poster that I took down from the elevator today, after I saw it was once again damaged. I did not damage it, but I gather it means the tempers are starting to boil again and that's what led to the poster being wrecked.

I would love to know how to reverse the nastiness, but without the staff of Town Homes showing strong management skills, there is very little I can do.

If anyone else has experienced this type of mess and knows how to get the mess resolved, please share some tips. I still can't believe that my gesture to recreate a more positive atmosphere was met with so much nastiness from others in the building, and even less support from housing management.

I kept them in the loop all the way by email and I fully had their support. I even have the email saved to prove it. However, in a meeting situation where the divide was clearly evident, the staff chose to back down and let me face the nastiness and trashing by myself. A group, who had taken a petition out against me forming a second committee to oppose what I gather, they perceived would be formalized competition that was sanctioned by the office.

In the meeting, when it became clear that I was not going to be able to proceed with my plans, management suggested I could either join their group or lead my own activities. To lead my own activities, I was to sign out a room on a sheet of paper that was to be posted on the bulletin board in the laundry room. The thing is, I use a wheelchair so there was no way I could reach the piece of paper. I asked if it could be moved elsewhere and was clearly told no. I could knock on the door of the person running the other committee, ask her to follow me downstairs and hand me the sign, let me sign it, and then take it from there.

Forget it. Why should I be forced to depend on others to do a simple task like signing my name so I can use one of the common rooms for an activity?

It's time to share the proof - the factual stuff that will show there are problems.

First of all, here is the directive from THK (Town Homes Kingston) Property Management in May 2010. It was printed in their newsletter.

The front entrance of your building is not to be used as a "sitting place", as this makes Tenants and Visitors uncomfortable and it impedes on the traffic flow of people coming in and out of the building.

We are asking everyone to refrain from sitting outside the front doors unless you are sitting on this bench waiting to be picked up or there is not a congregation of people. No inside chairs to be brought outside and no other chairs to be added for sitting on.

My comment: Get real. What do they mean, we can't sit outside, talk, and be neighbourly? However as the summer wore on, it became apparent they had the upper hand because someone almost got evicted for ignoring the rules. Rumour has it she was smoking, but I was with her and she was doing nothing of the sort.

The next one is a poster I put up in the elevator to attract people to form another committee for those who weren't comfortable with the Christian Fellowship Group. The intention was NEVER to replace the other group. It was to add a social committee, where everyone could have a voice in the planning and share their input and ideas. Here is the invitational poster:

** NEW **
TOWER’S TENANT ASSOCIATION
Please join, and give input to, our inaugural meeting

Date: Sept. 9, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Tommy Boyd Rm.
Agenda: To form a committee and elect an executive.

Long-Term Goal: To create a harmonious tenant community through community

- Activities
- Movies
- Community Outings
- Skills Sharing
- PLUS… (new ideas welcome)

If interested, please sign list on bulletin board (so we can gauge numbers and be prepared)


Planners for this meeting: Louise, Miles, Shirley, Marion, Roger.

Please join us and share your complaints (instead of slashing the signs).

APPROVED BY KELLY POWELL (staff at Town Homes Kingston) – and will be attended by her.


However, the signs were slashed daily. I kept reprinting and posting them until another neighbour stopped me and told me she has taken out a petition against me. I was shocked. The problems, she said, was I had called it an "inaugural meeting" and a "Tenants Association". I later found out that if it was called a formal Tenants Association, I would be expected to follow a strict set of rules, have a budget, and report regularly to housing. I had no interest in doing all that so I cancelled the meeting.

Little did I know the 'Opposition' would take over and make plans to carry on the meeting on the date and time that I planned. The staff of Town Homes were invited to attend and then someone else insisted I had to show up to explain myself. I had no time to gather up my proposed team so I bravely went downstairs to the meeting knowing full well I would have to face the bullies alone.

By the time the meeting was all over, the staff from Town Homes Kingston, who had been kept fully in the loop the whole time about my plans by me, backed down, didn't say a word, and watched the group, who had taken out the petition out against me, accuse me of criticizing their well functioning group and, in effect, create a social divide of their harmonious group.

What was even worse was that someone in the room was wearing too much perfume, it triggered an asthma attack, I lost my voice, and in order to breathe, I had to move out to the hall and sit in the doorway. I asked Kelly, the office staff, to read my email (which I had printed so I could hand it to her to let her read it) , and she refused saying I had to speak for myself. I had no voice because of the asthma. The one wearing the perfume had caught on to my allergy, and decided to keep me out of the room, it was a good idea to keep reappying it.

In frustration, I finally lost it and burst into tears. That's when the property manager, the one above the one I had been corresponding with by email, loudly proclaimed, in front of the other tenants, that she was worried about my state of mental health. Ever since then, I have been treated rather nasty so now, I just keep to myself and do my best to avoid the neighbours.

All this sounds bleak, but in reality, I keep to myself and am fine. The apartment building is clean, bright, and for the most part, secure. It just blows my mind that housing can watch this nastiness go on, lose their spine and refuse to speak up or admit that they were encouraging me to form a more positive committee, and then sit idly by and watch my good name be smeared.

Anyway, I will keep sharing these stories in hopes that one day we can find out how widespread these problems are, and then collectively lobby the government to fix it. If I wasn't disabled I know I would be working full time and could avoid all these annoyances and attitudes that come from being treated as a less-than just because we're poor.

It's not right, but we have to stay strong, support each other, and soldier on. I don't mind being the mouthpiece so we can expose this stuff and hopefully stop it. I care to much to stay silent and watch it get worse.

Finally, here is the defaced poster for today's Christian Fellowship Meeting.

Please read my other Blogs:
Transit: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com

Paul Craig Roberts: War Über Alles + Roundup

Feeling a bit sarci today Paul are we?

Would that be the same Four-star Admiral Robert Willard that was at the helm when those sneaky slitty eyed (more) little fucks paid a call on the Pacific Fleet? Because according to the dateline, I rather think it must have been.
in May 2007, he assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet

And I bet that little incident brought a whole new meaning to red faced.

Never mind, (and a must for Europeans) a few prayers from the Presidential Prayer Team should do the trick, what what?

And what better example than the PPT to confirm the United States of America as the most batshit crazy fucked up Nation on the face of the Earth. Stroll on!

War Über Alles

By Paul Craig Roberts
February 27, 2011
Information Clearing House

The United States government cannot get enough of war. With Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s regime falling to a rebelling population, CNN reports that a Pentagon spokesman said that the U.S. is looking at all options from the military side.

Allegedly, the Pentagon, which is responsible for one million dead Iraqis and an unknown number of dead Afghans and Pakistanis, is concerned about the deaths of 1,000 Libyan protesters.

While the Pentagon tries to figure out how to get involved in the Libyan revolt, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific is developing new battle plans to take on China in her home territory. Four-star Admiral Robert Willard thinks the U.S. should be able to whip China in its own coastal waters.

The admiral thinks one way to do this is to add U.S. Marines to his force structure so that the U.S. can eject Chinese forces from disputed islands in the East and South China seas.

It is not the U.S. who is disputing the islands, but if there is a chance for war anywhere, the admiral wants to make sure we are not left out.

The admiral also hopes to develop military ties with India and add that country to his clout. India, the admiral says, "is a natural partner of the United States" and "is crucial to America’s 21st-century strategy of balancing China." The U.S. is going to seduce the Indians by selling them advanced aircraft.

If the plan works out, we will have India in NATO helping us to occupy Pakistan and presenting China with the possibility of a two-front war.

The Pentagon needs some more wars so there can be some more "reconstruction." Reconstruction is very lucrative, especially as Washington has privatized so many of the projects, thus turning over to well-placed friends many opportunities to loot. Considering all the money that has been spent, one searches hard to find completed projects. The just released report from the Commission on Wartime Contracting can’t say exactly how much of the $200 billion in Afghan "reconstruction" disappeared in criminal behavior and blatant corruption, but $12 billion alone was lost to "overt fraud."

War makes money for the politically connected. While the flag-waving population remains proud of the service of their sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, cousins, wives, mothers and daughters, the smart boys who got the fireworks started are rolling in the mega-millions.

As General Smedley Butler told the jingoistic American population, to no avail, "war is a racket." As long as the American population remains proud that their relatives serve as cannon fodder for the military/security complex, war will remain a racket. ICH

If law fails, CIA will assassinate Assange


Former Reagan Administration Paul Craig Roberts says there is a concerted effort to shut Assange up. If the legal attempt fails, he'll be assassinated by a CIA assassination team.

Worth a read.

How will America handle the fall of its Middle East empire?

Empires can collapse in the course of a generation. At the end of the 16th century, the Spanish looked dominant. Twenty-five years later, they were on their knees, over-extended, bankrupt, and incapable of coping with the emergent maritime powers of Britain and Holland. The British empire reached its fullest extent in 1930. Twenty years later, it was all over. more

Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies
Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal. more

I thought they already had.


Iraqi shoe thrower rearrested ahead of planned protest

Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was arrested back in 2008 for throwing a shoe at George W. Bush, has been put in jail again, this time for supporting Egypt-style protests in Baghdad:

You remember him?



Funny, but he is such a fucking moroon.
Cobblers

Tennessee bill would jail Shariah followers
Proposed law is 'nonsense,'

And Tennessee isn't?

Huge Solar Flare. Video

The BBC seems to be pushing the boat out, embedded vids, whatever next?




H/T http://www.anhourago.co.uk/

Gorbochev: Troops Out!

Britain should pull out of Afghanistan, says Gorbachev

The ex-Soviet leader argues the US must take some blame for fanning Islamic fundamentalism

Afghanistan, that'd be somewhere in Armagh now?

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, has called for fundamental change to world politics against the background of uprisings across North Africa, saying that the will of the people can no longer be ignored.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent on Sunday, marking his 80th birthday on Wednesday, Mr Gorbachev also calls on David Cameron to withdraw British troops from Afghanistan. And, in comments that risk provoking outrage in the US, he portrays the war against Islam as a conflict partly of the US's own making.

"It's called the historical and political boomerang," he says, referring to the US's secret funding of Islamic extremists during the 1980s, when the Americans were fighting communism. "[The Americans] were working in secret with those forces with whom they are now fighting. They should accept their part of the blame. Let them say so. I think God has some mechanism that he uses to punish those that make mistakes."

The former communist also expressed disgust at the extravagances of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, saying he felt "ashamed" to read of his wealth.

Drawing on his experience of six years governing the USSR, from 1985 to 1991, when he helped end the Cold War and oversaw the collapse of communism, Mr Gorbachev condemns the Western occupation of Afghanistan, and issues a direct appeal to Mr Cameron to act. "I am using this interview to appeal to the Prime Minister to go in the right direction on Afghanistan," he says. "I am appealing to him to set that goal. And I am not saying that he should do it exactly the same way we did it."

Mr Gorbachev became President after Soviet forces had occupied Afghanistan, and oversaw the eventual withdrawal of troops in 1989. He points out that Britain advised against the Soviet invasion, saying the Afghans are a special people who live by their own rules, and that Britain should now heed its own advice.

Earlier this month, Mr Gorbachev welcomed the uprising in Egypt: "The people have spoken and made clear they do not want to live under authoritarian rule." In today's interview, he appeals to a generation of young people to enter politics and the media, to regain control, and to restore democracy, describing himself as an idealist.

At a press conference in Moscow last week, Mr Gorbachev criticised Vladimir Putin's administration as "a sham democracy", saying: "We have institutions, but they don't work. We have laws, but they must be enforced." In today's interview, he repeats this, calling on Russia's leaders to reflect. "Sometimes it's difficult to accept, to recognise one's own mistakes, but one must do it," he says. "I was guilty of overconfidence and arrogance, and I was punished for that.... I am sharing my experience with [Putin and Medvedev], because I don't want them to go astray by making similar mistakes."

Asked if Russia would ever be a superpower again, he says: "I don't think this should be Russia's goal. I think even the US doesn't need to be a superpower. China doesn't need to be a superpower. It's a different world. Relations in the world are different.

"When certain people arise and get power, with such ideas of superpowership, I think such people should be rejected. They should not be allowed to have the mandate of support."

At last week's press conference, Mr Gorbachev also announced the launch of an annual award honouring people "who have changed the world".

Mr Gorbachev has enjoyed strong links with Britain since Margaret Thatcher declared he was a man she "could do business" with. In the interview, Mr Gorbachev reveals his admiration for Mr Cameron and the Big Society. "I welcome David Cameron's work. This idea, or programme, as I understand it, means that the gaps between different groups of people should be bridged. I think this is a very democratic idea, and I support that. So may Britain have its own 'perestroika', but I'm sure the British will find their own way of calling it." Independent

Julian Beever

Posted alphabetically apart from the first three. And the reason for that is, to try and get across how Beever's incredible brain must be computing the required data to produce what he does.

If you take a look at the girl in the pool from both directions, and then take a look at the Batman drawing with its incredible detail and perfect or near perfect perspective, and then try to imagine what it must look like in the opposite view.

SHORT TELOMERES AND CANCER RISK

The first prospective population-based study to examine telomere length and subsequent cancer risk has confirmed animal data suggesting that short telomeres are associated with higher cancer risk and worse cancer survival. The study appears in the July 7 issue of JAMA.

"The key message that the aging of cells may contribute to cancer manifestation and dissemination has been postulated before, based on several lines of evidence. Our study provides the first large-scale support of this notion," senior author Stefan Kiechl, MD, from the Department of Neurology at Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, told Medscape Medical News.

The researchers suggest that this might be because some cells that have lost bits of telomere over many cell cycles reactivate telomerase in a bid to recover their lost youth, but wind up with uncontrolled cell division instead.

Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes at the ends of chromosomes that shorten a bit with each cell division, and thus constitute a sort of internal cell clock. Once telomeres shorten to nubs, their associated chromosomes become unstable, and the cell is headed for senescence and death. Experimental work in animals has suggested that short telomeres might also contribute to malignant cell transformation.

The research team, led by Peter Willeit, MD, from Innsbruck Medical University, report that short telomere length was associated with a 60% increased risk for subsequent cancer, independent of other risk factors, in 787 subjects in the Bruneck Study in Italy. All were cancer-free at baseline in 1995, when leukocyte telomere length was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Subjects with the shortest telomeres had more than triple the incident cancer risk of those with the longest telomeres. Hazard ratio for incident cancer was 1.60 for every 1-standard-deviation (1-SD) decrease in telomere length. Compared with subjects in the group with the longest telomeres, incident cancer risk was 3.11 for those in the group with the shortest telomeres and 2.15 for those in the group with mid-length telomeres.

The researchers also found a doubling of cancer mortality with every 1-SD decrease in telomere length, that the association between telomere length and cancer risk applied to both males and females, and that short telomeres were particularly associated with cancer subtypes with high fatality rates.

Dr. Kiechl said that the study could have implications for clinical trial design. "However, a step to be taken is to prove whether telomere length at the time of cancer diagnosis is a predictor of cancer mortality as well; preliminary unpublished data form our group indicate that this is the case. In the current JAMA publication, we have measured telomere length well in advance of cancer onset," Dr. Kiechl said.

Dr. Kiechl expects telomere length to be useful in cancer screening. "We are confident that telomere length, in addition to other recent advances like microRNA profiling, may become components of future risk scores for cancer manifestation — at least for some types of cancer," he said. "I think that it may also become useful in the estimation of tumor prognosis, which again can influence the choice of therapy."

Dr. Kiechl also said that the researchers were surprised to find that individuals with the shortest telomeres at baseline showed an increase in telomere length over the 10-year follow-up. "This may eventually indicate that aged cells at risk of cell senescence are capable of reactivating telomerase to prolong telomeres," he said.

The researchers have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee

No comment, there are sufficient accompanying the article.

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.


Welcome To America

TSA Harassing And Searching A 9 Year Old

The only bad thing on our trip was TSA was at the Savannah train station. There were about 14 agents pulling people inside the building and corralling everyone in a roped area AFTER you got OFF THE TRAIN! This made no sense!!! Poor family in front of us! 9 year old getting patted down and wanded. They groped our people too and were very unprofessional.

Source and comments.


O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!



O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.



O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.



O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

- - -

When I see or read or hear

Folks all trembling like frightened deer

Government spin

Has sucked you in

Right where they want you a climate of fear

Himself 2006


I was in fact looking for something else, but try this, that I reported on in January 08.










This was the one, quite funny really, but do follow the 'Welcome to the Bedwetter Nation' link.

A Nation Of Pussies. Bioterrorism Indeed



Related: We Are All Prisoners Now: Paul Craig Roberts

Women

And Men.

The Republican war on women. NY Times

It's a Funny Old World: Breast Milk Edition

Breast milk ice cream goes on sale in Covent Garden

A restaurant in London's Covent Garden is serving a new range of ice cream, made with breast milk.

The dessert, called Baby Gaga, is churned with donations from London mother Victoria Hiley, and served with a rusk and an optional shot of Calpol or Bonjela.

Mrs Hiley, 35, said if adults realised how tasty breast milk was more new mothers would be encouraged to breastfeed.

Each serving of Baby Gaga at Icecreamists costs £14.

Mrs Hiley's donation was expressed on site and pasteurised before being churned with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest.



Icecreamists founder Matt O'Connor placed an advert appealing for breast milk donations and believes his new recipe will be a success.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

What's the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash?”

End Quote Victoria Hiley Mother

"If it's good enough for our children, it's good enough for the rest of us," he said.

"Some people will hear about it and go yuck - but actually it's pure organic, free-range and totally natural."

Mrs Hiley, who gets £15 for every 10 ounces of milk she donates to the company, said it was a great "recession beater".

"What's the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash?" she added.

"I teach women how to get started on breastfeeding their babies. There's very little support for women and every little helps."

Mr O'Connor said 14 other women had come forward to offer their services. Health checks for the lactating women were the same used by hospitals to screen blood donors.

"No-one's done anything interesting with ice cream in the last hundred years," he added. BBC+clip

Best link and clip here.



H/t Steel Magnolia

Mono and teens: More than just hype

Mono. For some adults, just hearing the word brings back parental warnings on the dangers of teen makeout sessions and straw sharing.

There’s a reason why many of us hear about mono, officially known as mononucleosis, during our teens: It’s more common in that age group. Most of us carry the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mono, and become infected with it at least once. However, the virus doesn’t usually cause symptoms or just seems like a cold. But in teens and young adults, the virus leads to infectious mono 35 percent to 50 percent of the time. Hence the warnings many of us remember from a younger age.

Symptoms of mono include fever, sore throat and swollen lymph glands. It’s spread by prolonged contact of saliva, such as kissing. Mono usually clears up in about one or two months, but at times it can last longer.

There’s no vaccine or cure for mono, but you can relieve the symptoms by drinking fluids, gargling with warm salt water to ease a sore throat, getting plenty of rest and taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain and fever.

To prevent catching mono, follow a few simple tips. Wash your hands frequently and avoid those who have the disease. Don’t share cups, utensils or straws with someone who is sick, and never share a toothbrush. And of course, never kiss someone who is sick.

Texas The Lone Neuron State

I say lone neuron, because if they had two that they could bolt together, then it's unlikely that there would be half the stories that there are on this just stumbled across website, Dumbutt Texas.

In what manner I stumble upon it, I can't remember, not that it matters in the least. It might have been this 'quote of the week' uttered by Tom Delay when he was initially found guilty by a Houston jury: (earlier report)

“This is an abuse of power,” he said. “It’s a miscarriage of justice. I still maintain my innocence. The criminalization of politics undermines our very system.”

Which, coming from the likes of Tom Delay, ain't bad, ain't bad at all.

Update: On the subject of quotes of the week, I just tripped over this US comment: I didn't even bother reading it when I saw bbc as a source. UK terrorist state propaganda. Can't argue with you there old lad.

Or perhaps what really might have caught my attention, was what the writer of the story had to say about. Tom, The Hammer, Delay.

DeLay holding a Bible and quoting scripture in and around his trial did not help as he expected. Sentencing is scheduled for December 20th with punishment for the crime at 5 to 99 year in prison, just in time for Christmas. Tom DeLay, a bigoted intolerant asshole deserves a few years in the Walls Unit in Huntsville which he has bragged is one of the harshest prisons in America. Merry Christmas Tom! Keep yer butt covered... more and video

Not a lot of love lost there by the sound of things. But there is this little gem featured near the end of a Tweety clip, where it reported that Delay has a bitch about that same Houston Jury:

Poor pitiful Tom DeLay. Somewhere a million tiny violins play the unjust jury serenade. This morning on the Today show DeLay argued that not only was his conviction for money laundering politically motivated, but so was his conviction by a liberal jury as well. To hear him talk he had no chance with the most liberal jury in the most liberal county in Texas! (Where the Jury Foreman was a Greenpeace activist no less)

A 'Liberal' jury in, 'the most liberal county in Texas' That would put them a touch to the left of Attila the Hun then?

And talking of Republican Congress Critter for Sugarland, means for the enlightenment and entertainment of my readers outside the US, I shall. when finished here, have to go in search of a certain map!



There is much to astound as one takes a stroll around the site, seemingly every other story is about some batshit crazy motherfucking redneck, calling for someone to be shot, but they ain't all from Texas. And of course no show would be complete without some good ol' boy calling for the murder of Julian Assange.




And where no doubt all this violent rhetoric, not just that of the rednecks but the press as well, contributes to a climate where robbers of convenience stores murder store clerks, not by accident, but by pre-designed plan. And if watching the short clip of this asshole gunning down another human being for the sake of a few bucks, if it don't scare the shit out of you, I don't know what will.

For as we all know, down here in Texas and most of the rest of yokel American, it is a matter of how many guns one has, how big they are, how fast they can fire and how quick on the trigger one is. Everything else is secondary, especially education. shooting

This little lot gleaned from just two pages, there is a rake of other stuff on subjects various.

Dumbutt Texas

Or Main site page.

http://rackjite.com/

Now, I have a map to find.

Better still, here's a clip explaining redistricting, or more accurately named, in the case of Tom Delay, gerrymandering.