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Australia: the new 51st state John Howard's servility to the US is even greater than Tony Blair's. "John Pilger," wrote Harold Pinter, "unearths, with steely attention facts, the filthy truth. I salute him." via New Statesman.
comment posted at 6:25 AM on Mar-5-07

...A few days ago the chief of the Israeli police resigned after an investigation that found several of Israel’s highest police officers guilty of corruption and negligence. This came within a week of the forced resignation of Israel’s Chief of Staff from the military because of the fiascos of the second Lebanon war... some ten days after Israel’s minister of justice was convicted of sexual assault while on duty... after Israel’s president – who holds a largely symbolic position – resigned temporarily following charges of rape and sexual misconduct. ....several other investigations are still pending, not least two or three directed at the Prime Minister himself, Ehud Olmert, concerning corruption and favoritism... Suddenly the Palestinians and the Hizbullah, and even Iranian nukes, have taken a back seat: Israel does indeed seem in danger of imploding from within, at least as a viable democracy.

Is Israel Falling Apart ?
comment posted at 6:19 AM on Mar-5-07

The Next Attack. "Terrorists in Iraq are becoming proficient at blowing up oil refineries. Similar plants in a handful of American cities represent our greatest vulnerability. We could easily be making them less dangerous. But we’re not." And one of the key players in keeping things that way happens to be Dick Cheney’s son-in-law.
comment posted at 6:06 AM on Mar-2-07

Cheney unharmed. (The closest he ever came to seeing action in battle though)
comment posted at 7:38 AM on Feb-27-07

Awesome: Gore "emphasizing the nonpartisan nature of the climate change threat," and his movie, An Inconvenient Truth netting a Best Documentary Oscar. Not so awesome.
comment posted at 8:21 AM on Feb-27-07

An editor at Outdoor Life for nearly 30 years and member of the NRA for 40, Jim Zumbo is a lifelong advocate of outdoorsmanship, hunting and gun ownership in print and on television. Last week, Zumbo left a comment on his Outdoor Life blog commenting on the rising popularity of assault rifles for hunting calling them "terrorist weapons" and suggesting they should be banned from hunting use. Three days later, Zumbo's lifelong career is all but over, having lost all his product sponsorships, was publicly disavowed by the NRA, and his show was canceled. With the 2008 election season starting and a Congress now controlled by the party supporting greater restrictions on assault weapons, Zumbo may be the first sign of a zero-tolerance conservative constituency.
comment posted at 6:39 AM on Feb-26-07
comment posted at 11:26 AM on Feb-26-07

A dozen of Putin's critics have been assassinated and Russia's vast natural resources are in the pockets of a chosen few. A 2 part article in The Guardian.
comment posted at 11:30 AM on Feb-26-07

Bachmann on Iran: “There’s already an agreement made. [Iran is] going to get half of Iraq and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone.” Claims made by Minnesota's freshman 6th district representative Michelle Bachmann during a taped interview. Bachmann is previously known for her compelling arguments in favor of intelligent design (YouTube), getting attacked in a Scanida bathroom, opposing same sex marriage, and, perhaps most famously, catching President Bush in an awesome death squeeze.
comment posted at 11:56 AM on Feb-23-07

The three-decade decline in teenage and young-adult rape accompanies huge drops in all crimes -- murder, assault, drug abuse and property -- committed by youth... Women's rapidly rising status and economic independence in the larger society fostered new attitudes and laws that rejected violence against women. That younger people growing up in this environment of greater gender equality should show the biggest decreases in rape, while older generations lag behind, is consistent with this explanation... Over the last 30 years, rape arrest rates have fallen by 80% among Californians under age 15, much larger than the 25% drop among residents age 40 and older.

The decline of rape
So, kids today are different.
comment posted at 12:22 PM on Feb-23-07

Everything you know about Pythagoras is wrong (except the bit about the beans). Less the golden-thighed Einstein of the Ancient World and more the L. Ron Hubbard of Magna Graecia. [Last link has some rude words]
comment posted at 11:52 AM on Feb-22-07
comment posted at 12:30 PM on Feb-22-07

Man thinks the screams from neighbors porn is rape, breaks down door armed with a cavalry saber.
comment posted at 12:12 PM on Feb-22-07

For Your Eyes Only? Allegations that the government is reading your e-mails, with the help of AT&T. The latest episode of NOW did a good piece on the NSA's domestic surveillance program (previously discussed here.) It can be viewed on their website. Meanwhile, Canadian human rights attorney Maureen Webb has written a new book on the scope of government surveillance, and found that the use of sophisticated methods to search for terrorists is not identifying the right suspects.
comment posted at 7:39 AM on Feb-22-07

Sex Toys are Just Like Prostitution
comment posted at 6:57 AM on Feb-21-07

Criminals and Scoundrels: The Top 25 Most Corrupt Officials of the Bush Administration. Maybe we could make playing cards for them? (found via del.ici.ous)
comment posted at 5:49 AM on Feb-14-07

You know Bruce Schneier the polymath security genius. Now meet Bruce Schneier the kind-hearted reviewer of local Minnesota restaurants. (He doesn't like to give bad reviews -- sounds like "security through obscurity" to me!)
[previously, also]
comment posted at 10:31 AM on Feb-14-07

How to use MS PowerPoint to exploit the U.S. Oh, the humanity...
comment posted at 5:28 AM on Feb-13-07

What's attractive? Averaged female faces from Hot or Not "These women do not exist.They are a composite of about 30 faces that I created to find out the current standard of good looks on the Internet." also by age and origin
comment posted at 7:25 AM on Feb-13-07

Gerrymandering v. Progressives Al Gore's former Chief of Staff argues that, even if liberals are drawing voting lines to benefit Democrats, gerrymandering always hurts progressives.
comment posted at 5:16 AM on Feb-13-07

Corporal Punishment Imagery in Print Advertising. Only NSFW if your coworkers like to jump to conclusions.

Unfortunately, it's probably a different Colin Farrell.
comment posted at 5:32 AM on Feb-13-07

Teens convicted of producing and possessing child pornography for taking pictures of themselves. [via]
comment posted at 5:46 AM on Feb-13-07

Would you drive a pick-up truck with "Man Love Rules OK" across Alabama? (YouTube video) The presenters behind UK motoring/male-entertainment show Top Gear did. See what happens when they pulled into a "gas" station. More information here. Do you think the footage was manipulated?
comment posted at 6:15 AM on Feb-12-07
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comment posted at 9:35 AM on Feb-13-07

"I failed to disobey a meritless order, I failed to protect a prisoner in my custody, and I failed to uphold the standards of human decency. Instead, I intimidated, degraded and humiliated a man who could not defend himself. I compromised my values. I will never forgive myself."
comment posted at 10:38 AM on Feb-9-07
comment posted at 12:39 PM on Feb-9-07

The Reedy Creek Improvement District's goal "is to provide effective and efficient services to the public and our taxpayers." The taxpayer is Disney, and the taxes are used to provide services for Disney by contracting the services to Disney. The RCID is a county-like entity in Florida, composed of the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, which are also controlled by Disney. The government of the RCID is elected by the landowners - Disney executives who own five-acre plots, the only non-corporate and non-government landowners. The governments of the cities are elected by the residents - about 40 Disney employees split between Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. The Rotten Library (SFW article on a NSFW site) discusses the district, which is administered from a SimCity 2000 construction site.
comment posted at 5:48 AM on Feb-9-07
comment posted at 10:34 AM on Feb-9-07

Hoohaw? Florida comedy club changes marquee advertising a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" after a resident complains. The local news video (embedded windows media) had me laughing out loud. What's your favorite euphamism? And don't forget Woody's list.
comment posted at 5:57 AM on Feb-9-07

The Psychology of Security. An essay by Bruce Schneier on the difference between the feeling of security and the reality of security. [Via MindHacks.]
comment posted at 6:06 AM on Feb-9-07

..."Shifting to StratCom indicates that they are talking about a really punishing air-force and naval air attack [on Iran]," says Lang. ..."If they write a plan like that and the president issues an execute order, the forces will execute it. He's got the power to do that as commander-in-chief. We set that up during the Cold War. It may, after the fact, be considered illegal, or an impeachable offense, but if he orders them to do it, they will do it." ...by the end of February the United States will have enough forces in place to mount an assault on Iran. That, in the words of former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, would be "an act of political folly" so severe that "the era of American preponderance could come to a premature end."

From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq
Stepped up US preparations for war against Iran
The United States and Iran: the logic of war
How the press can prevent another Iraq
What to Ask Before the Next War
comment posted at 12:12 PM on Feb-8-07
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comment posted at 12:27 PM on Feb-8-07
comment posted at 5:45 AM on Feb-9-07

US Army clears itself of abuse in Gitmo An Army officer who investigated possible abuse at Guantanamo Bay after some guards purportedly bragged about beating detainees found no evidence they mistreated the prisoners — although he did not interview any of the alleged victims.
comment posted at 9:34 AM on Feb-8-07

TPM's David Kurtz: I've gone from being open to the idea of an Imperial Vice Presidency to being convinced that historians will debate whether something approaching a Cheney-led coup d'etat has occurred, in which some of the powers of the Executive were extra-constitutionally usurped by the Office of the Vice President. More about the Vice President, Richard "Dick" Cheney.
comment posted at 6:02 AM on Feb-5-07
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comment posted at 11:38 AM on Feb-5-07

Four years ago today the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated shortly upon reentry. Here is a sad, but, fascinating real time video recreation of the final moments, compiled from various sources including Nasa radio transmissions.
comment posted at 5:46 AM on Feb-2-07

A hefty chunk of Boston was paralyzed today in reaction to the discovery of numerous devices consisting of circuit boards attached to girders. The ones that have been found have been disabled. The subway is crippled; numerous lines have been shut down and been replaced by emergency bus service as authorities root out the remaining instances of what could be bombs! Here is a photo one of these nefarious devices in action.
comment posted at 1:12 PM on Jan-31-07

Women Jailed and refused contraceptive after reporting rape. A woman visiting the Tampa area for Gasparilla was thrown in jail after being accused of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest. The Tampa jail refused to provide the woman with a second dose of the morning after pill because of the religious beliefs of an employee.
comment posted at 5:46 AM on Jan-31-07
comment posted at 5:47 AM on Jan-31-07

Bush has got a brand new bag - In an executive order signed today Bush created a new oversight position at all regulatory agencies. This position, which will be staffed by someone appointed by the White House, will over see regulatory suggestions and reports to congress.
comment posted at 5:37 AM on Jan-30-07

Instead of reducing emissions, maybe we can block out the sun. This is a proposal offered by the United States in response to a draft of a UN report on climate change, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to the linked article, the U.S. has resisted a treaty that would involve binding targets for emissions reductions, and is instead pushing for the exploration of techniques for blocking out the sun, including (according to the Sydney Morning Herald article) "putting a giant screen into orbit, thousands of tiny, shiny balloons, or microscopic sulfate droplets pumped into the high atmosphere to mimic the cooling effects of a volcanic eruption." This is via Yale Law professor Jack Balkin, who speculates that there is Biblical precedent for this proposal.
comment posted at 5:55 AM on Jan-30-07

We live in an ugly world. War, disease, famine and ugly people seem to rule our daily lives. Darwin Dating is a dating site that cuts through this ugliness and has been created for attractive people only. Darwin Dating has been designed by hot people for hot people. You won't be able to join unless you are objectively beautiful. Our strict rules and natural selection process is the perfect way for attractive people to hook up.
comment posted at 9:13 AM on Jan-30-07