National Council of Churches speaks out about Iraq.

Wow, Bush's fanbase is starting to wake up, be sure and sign the petition.
http://ga3.org/campaign/endorsement

The Governing Board of the National Council of Churches USA invites you to join them in this call to pursue peace and justice in Iraq.

July 4, 2005

This year our nation is at war as we observe the 4th of July, a day that honors those founders who spoke out for independence from tyranny. Today in Iraq a cruel dictator has been deposed, yet the suffering of the Iraqi people continues. Mandated elections have been held, yet the future of Iraq remains as uncertain as ever. Day by day the cost of this war for the United States, for Iraq, for peace grows clearer. No weapons of mass destruction have been found; no link to the attacks on September 11, 2001 has been shown. It has become clear that the rationale for invasion was at best a tragic mistake, at worst a clever deception.

As people of faith, we believe in the transcendent sovereignty and love of God for creation, and that the responsibility of human beings is thus to pursue justice and peace for all. We also believe that, as the biblical prophets of old, who in faithfulness to God spoke out to a people and a nation they loved, in humility before God we too are to speak to a land and people we love. As religious leaders we invite others who share our affections and dismay to recognize the time has come to speak out.

The time has come to say:

- NO to leaders who have sent many honorable sons and daughters to fight a dishonorable war;

- NO to the violence that has cost over seventeen hundred American lives, left thousands grievously injured, and killed untold numbers of Iraqis whose deaths we are unwilling to acknowledge or count;

- NO to the abuse of prisoners that has shamed our nation and damaged our reputation throughout the world;

- NO to the price tag for this war that has rendered our federal budget incapable of adequately caring for the poorest of our own citizens; and,

- NO to theologies that demonize other nations and religions while arrogantly claiming righteousness for ourselves as if we share no complicity in human evil.

The time has come to say:

- YES to foreign policies that seek justice rather than domination, compassion rather than control;

- YES to an early fixed timetable for the withdrawal of United States troops and the establishment of a credible multinational peacekeeping force;

- YES to the honoring of human rights even for our enemies and for a restoration of our reputation as a people committed to the rule of law;

- YES to spending and taxing priorities that put the poor first, providing health care, housing, employment, and quality education for all, not just the few; and,
- YES to a restoration of truth telling in the public square and to "last resort" rather than "first strike" as the criterion for the use of force to restrain evil.

On the day we celebrate our freedom, we acknowledge that the freedom promised in the toppling of a dictator has been replaced by the humiliation of occupation and the violence of a civil war. The sacrifice of brave men and women has been used to serve policies that have diminished our nation's prestige and our capacity to be agents of justice in the world.

It is time to speak out that this 4th of July will celebrate the best ideals of our nation for our sake and for the sake of the world.

Casting call for new movie

There is an open casting call on Thursday, June 30 here in DC, for principal and background/extra positions for LADY IN THE WATER, a feature film to be shot in the Philadelphia area beginning in August. (yes I know it's philly but hey, it's also M KNIGHT PEOPLE!)

Open call is 3 pm-7pm on Thursday, June 30 at the Wyndham Washington DC which is located at 1400 M Street, NW. They want anyone who auditions for background to come dressed casually and they especially want an 'urban' look.

The casting office assigned this movies casting is:

REBELLION CASTING
1735 Market Street, Suite A-532
Philadelphia, PA 19103-7502

They ae looking for anyone for the background roles, but also specifically looking for the following types to play PRINCIPAL roles:

African American boy 10yr – 12yr age range
Caucasian boy & girl 8yr age range
Korean woman 55yr+ age range
Spanish speaking Latino man 55yr+ age range
Spanish speaking Latina women in the 20-30 age range

CASTING HOTLINE 215.552.8880

Details about the film are listed below.

LADY IN THE WATER
Writer/Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer
Associate Producer: Jose Rodriguez
SAG Feature Film/Big Wheel Productions LLC

Alladin goes bra shopping.

Wow, that's so progressive of them!

Lingerie Shops to Employ Women
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH, 30 June 2005 — The Labor Ministry yesterday announced a timetable for employing Saudi women instead of men in shops selling women’s clothing, underwear and other such items.

“Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has taken a decision that limits employees in shops selling women’s lingerie and clothing to Saudi women,” the Saudi Press Agency said, adding that the decision would be fully implemented within two years.

The ministerial decision stipulates that all lingerie shops in the Kingdom must employ only Saudi women within a year while shops selling women’s clothing have two years to comply with the decision.

“Shop-owners must also design their shops so those outside cannot see inside and that prevents any interaction with men. Shops must also have special entrances for women only,” the decision said.

The move comes after a Cabinet decision in May last year which directed that more jobs and business opportunities be created for women. The Cabinet issued a nine-point plan which included restricting jobs in shops selling items for women only to Saudi women.

Al-Gosaibi said his ministry would gradually stop the recruitment of foreign workers to fill jobs in shops selling women’s accessories, adding that labor cards would not be given to foreigners working in a sector restricted to Saudis.

The minister urged shop-owners to take the necessary steps to comply with the decision within the specified period. Women should also be given training to enable them to do the new jobs; the training will be with the support of the Manpower Development Fund and in coordination with other government agencies engaged in training Saudis.

Many women’s shops in the Kingdom are currently staffed by men. Recently several women have written articles complaining about the irony of the situation in a country that does not allow women to drive or to be seen with a man who is not a relative.

The Labor Ministry said it would conduct a survey of shops selling women’s clothes and accessories and monitor the measures they take in order to comply with the new decision.

On Tuesday, addressing a graduation ceremony at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Al-Gosaibi said the nationalization of jobs was the duty of every Saudi. He said the ministry had been successful in finding jobs for nearly 30,000 Saudis in a single month.

Al-Gosaibi urged the private sector’s cooperation in ending the problem of unemployment among Saudis. He said young Saudis were adapting to the job environment in private companies.

New Iranian president is a frickin' terrorist.

Lovely.....

Photo claimed to show Iran President with hostage
By Sam Knight, Times Online

A photo has emerged which it is claimed links the President-elect of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with the taking of 60 American hostages during the US embassy siege in Tehran in 1979.

A London-based Iranian news agency which opposes Mr Ahmadinejad is circulating the photograph, which it says was taken by the Associated Press news agency on the first day of the hostage crisis.

In the picture, a man which the Iran Focus agency claims it has identified as Mr Ahmadinejad, is seen holding the arm of a blindfolded US hostage.

The possible role of Mr Ahmadinejad in the embassy takeover, which lasted 444 days and remains a significant sore between America and Iran, came to light in the run-up to the presidential elections on June 17.

Mr Ahmadinejad is known to have been member of the "Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries" or the OSU, the main student group behind the takeover, but his precise role in the hostage-taking was unclear.

Yesterday, in an article on the BBC website, the broadcaster John Simpson appeared to pour fuel on the controversy when he said he recalled meeting Mr Ahmadinejad after the hostage crisis and remembered seeing him in the grounds of the embassy.

"When I read a profile of him in the English-language Tehran Times, I realised where I must have seen him: in the former American embassy in Tehran," writes Mr Simpson.

"Ahmadinejad was a founder of the group of young activists who swarmed over the embassy wall and held the diplomats and embassy workers hostage for 444 days."

And today, Mo Jazayeri, the executive editor of Iran Focus, the agency distributing the picture, was adamant that it showed Mr Ahmadinejad. He said: "We strongly believe it was 4 Nov 1979, the first day of the hosting taking in Tehran. The AP took these photos. There is also apparently footage which shows Ahmadinejad and several other hostage takers taking this hostage out of the compound and bringing him in front of the crowd which chants ‘Death to America.’ It was a very horrific scene which was shown on television outside Iran worldwide."

According to Michael Theodoulou, who covers Middle East affairs for The Times, the photograph, if genuine, could have a damaging effect on Mr Ahmadinejad's relationship with America, which is already expected to be fractious.

"These images will really anger the Americans," he told Times Online. "Britain is never really aware of the impact the hostage crisis had on the American pysche. No other foreign crisis had the same effect. It really formed the image of Iran in America and is a real source of the continuing hostility between the two countries."

But the claims have been strongly denied by Mr Ahmadinejad's office, which says that the man in the image is not him. Other hostage-takers who were present at the embassy siege also say that the President-elect was not involved in the storming of the embassy.

Ramita Navai, correspondent for The Times in Tehran, spoke to Abbas Abdi, one of the leading hostage takers, who has recently been released from prison, this morning. She said: "I spoke to Abbas Abdi today and he said that Ahmadinejad didn't storm the embassy. And he also said: 'Look, a lot of people came in and out of the embassy during the crisis. It went on for more than a year'."

Ms Navai said that so many of the students involved in the hostage crisis went on to become politicians that there is no reason why Mr Ahmadinejad would disguise his role in the siege.

continue reading...

Who says a penny isn't worth much these days?

The details involved in this LAPD prison break story are just too funny; you can't make stuff like this up.

A Penny Exposes Jail's Weak Points

LAPD's 77th Division lockup has been fraught with problems, such as lack of reinforced walls, since it was built in 1997.

By Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writer

How hard was it for Francisco Puemas to escape from the 77th Division police station earlier this month?

He took a penny, sharpened it and chipped at a holding cell wall, digging a hole and fleeing less than an hour after entering the cell.

On Monday, Los Angeles Police Department officials outlined how profoundly broken the police station's detention system is.

The 20-year-old burglary suspect was able to escape from the jail because the station's holding cell walls, unlike those at other stations, were not reinforced with sheet metal or made of cinderblock to prevent escape. While officials reacted with surprise at the June 9 escape, documents released Monday show the city was aware that the holding cell was not secure when the station was built in 1997.

Originally, officials planned to build the cell with two pieces of drywall that sandwiched empty space around a metal frame. At the last minute, the city ordered wire mesh installed between the drywall as a security measure, documents show.

But officials acknowledge the mesh would do little to stop an inmate bent on escaping.

Since then, the holding cells have been closed as officials work to reinforce the walls with sheet metal.

In addition to the penny, Puemas also chatted incessantly with police officers and asked "inane" questions, apparently in order to lull them into ignoring him, said LAPD Capt. Bill Murphy.

"He would say all kinds of stuff, like 'Hey, I want food.' He engaged whoever he could in conversation" Murphy said. "He was real smart, he was really street smart. He knew how to engage people and aggravate them. That was part of his plan."

Murphy said Puemas cut a hole 15 inches by 9 inches into the front of the holding cell, crawled through and made his way down a corridor about 18 feet from the watch commander's office.

He went through two interior doors and then through a fire door with an alarm that has not worked in more than a year, Murphy said.

"That door, unfortunately, led into 77th Street," he said.

He added that Puemas, who was picked up a day later, was rather proud of his escape, and eagerly shared with police details about how he did it.

The walls are only one of the station's many problems, which have already cost the city about $700,000 in repairs and could cost at least $1 million in further repairs and improvements.

"Where do I start?" LAPD Lt. Paul Von Lutzow said when asked about the problems.

Sprinklers in the jail cells are situated low enough that inmates have climbed their bunk beds and kicked them loose, causing flooding. The flooring of the jail ward showers is buckling.

And the panic button does not work in the jail ward. "The idea is that you hit that button and patrol comes to your aid. If it doesn't work, the jailers could be in a world of trouble," said Murphy, the commander in charge of the 77th Division's patrol division. "It's scary. We shouldn't allow that."

At a meeting Monday of the Los Angeles City Council public safety committee, Councilman Dennis Zine asked how a relatively new station could be plagued with so many problems.

"Why have we had so many failures with jail wards, … video cameras and basically the whole operation itself?" Zine asked. "Every time I go down there, honestly, I find more problems."

Gail Kennard, president of the firm that designed the building, said the problems at the station were the result of poor "maintenance and housekeeping." She added that the design, which was done by her late father, Robert Kennard, involved input and approval from the LAPD and city agencies and that to "say that we kind of willy-nilly did this on our own would be a mischaracterization."

Continue reading...

drugs are bad, mkay?

Ok, so some of the facts in this story aren't very accurate, but the general gist is dead on. METH IS VERY FUCKIN' BAD!!! I have seen friends totally fuck thier lives over this shit, it is no joke. If you know anybody doing meth; get them help! People will say that it's no big deal and they can stop anytime, but that's not the case with meth, it will rob them of the will to live. So please spread the word.

Meth's Grip in Midwest Strangles Authorities

By Stephanie Simon Times Staff Writer Mon Jun 27, 7:55 AM ET

HILLSBORO, Mo. — The detectives were relaxing over fried pork rinds when they saw a car turn into the driveway of the farmhouse they had just raided.

The car rattled past the Confederate flag, past the skull and crossbones, heading for the overgrown yard where several addicts had been cranking out the illegal drug methamphetamine. The detectives exchanged glances. They ducked behind a truck.

When the car stopped and the driver got out, they rushed him.

"Randy!" Det. Darin Kerwin exclaimed in mock surprise. "I thought you were trying to clean up."

"Oh, man," the driver said, sweating. "Oh, man."

Rummaging through the back seat, Kerwin pulled out a McDonald's bag crammed with decongestant pills — a key ingredient for manufacturing meth.

"Oh man," the driver said again. He banged his head on his car trunk. "I'm dead."

In fact, he'd be released within hours — just as he had been the last time these officers arrested him at a meth lab, and the time before that. Swamped with meth cases, the crime lab that serves Jefferson County is six months to a year behind in processing evidence. That's not unusual.

A decade after meth took hold in the heartland, the inexpensive, highly addictive home-brewed stimulant is straining rural law enforcement resources to the breaking point.

The Polk County Jail in central Iowa is so packed with addicts that the sheriff sends the overflow out of state, at a cost of $5 million a year. Indiana's state crime lab has such a huge backlog of meth cases that the governor has appealed for help from chemistry graduate students.

In central Missouri, nearly every case of child abuse involves meth. Social workers in Franklin County keep a log of parents under investigation and the circumstances involved; this spring, it read: Cocaine. Meth. Medical and physical neglect. Meth. Sexual abuse. Meth. Meth. Manufacturing meth.

"It becomes the only work you can do," said Cpl. Jason Grellner of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

Meth is not just a Midwestern drug. It's popular among club-hoppers in Miami and gay men in New York City. It poses a challenge for law enforcement in cities such as Phoenix, Sacramento, San Jose and Honolulu, where two out of every five men arrested test positive for meth.

But it's in the Midwest that the drug has most severely tested the justice system, in part because sheriff's deputies, jail wardens and crime lab technicians in rural counties don't have the resources or the experience to deal with a drug epidemic.

Officers struggle to subdue addicts so high on meth that even a Taser won't stop them. They complain of a justice system clogged with so many meth cases that it can take a year after an arrest for prosecutors to file charges.

"It's not effective law enforcement," said Sheriff Mark Kenneson of Greenwood County, Kan.

His deputies used to handle calls about stray cattle. Now they're being asked to raid booby-trapped labs. In one such bust in January, Kenneson's predecessor was fatally shot in the neck.

Kenneson has been trying ever since to scrape up the funds for bulletproof vests with neck guards. He can't — not with calls coming in from every small town in his county reporting suspected meth labs. "It drains your budget," he said.

About two-thirds of the U.S. meth supply — including most of what's available in big cities — comes from superlabs run by organized crime. In the Midwest, most of the meth is homemade, a few ounces at a time, in informal labs heaped with toxic, highly flammable chemicals.

To enter an active lab, a detective must wear a hazmat suit, a respirator and a $2,500 self-contained breathing apparatus. Once the investigative work is done, deputies must guard the site until cleanup crews arrive. That can take up to 36 hours.

In a rural county with just a few deputies on duty each shift, baby-sitting a lab overnight — much less for several nights — can paralyze the department.

"It just cripples my patrols," said Sheriff Steve Frisbie of McMinn County, Tenn.

Though the White House acknowledges that meth presents "a unique problem" for law enforcement,
President Bush has proposed cutting the two main grant programs for rural narcotics teams — one by 56% and the other by 62%, according to John Horton, associate deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The administration plans to focus instead on the meth superlabs in Mexico and along the border. With a "belt-tightening budget," that's the most efficient way to run the war on drugs, Horton said.

Lt. Steve Dalton, who heads a drug unit in southwest Missouri, said: "If those cuts go through, they're going to wipe us out. Meth is a totally different drug from everything we've seen. It's extremely stressful on law enforcement."

The strain doesn't end when a meth offender is put behind bars.

The drug is such a potent stimulant that users often can't sleep for 10 days after a binge. Besieged by hallucinations and paranoid to the point of psychosis, addicts often holler through the night, setting other inmates on edge. Some go on destructive rampages, smashing their heads through cell windows and ripping bolts out of walls.

"We have a concrete and steel holding cell, and they still manage to tear it up," Sheriff Wayne Youell said of the Mason County Jail in central Illinois, where thousands of dollars have been spent on repairs.

Once the offenders get to state prison, the cost skyrockets. The drug can cause such severe damage to addicts' organs that 30-year-olds may enter prison needing pacemakers and liver transplants. Many suffer from "meth mouth" — their teeth rotted to the gum — and require a complete set of dentures.

Treating a single meth addict in prison costs taxpayers thousands — and there are more of such inmates every day. About half of those entering the Nebraska state prison have a meth-related conviction. Minnesota counts more than 1,000 meth offenders in state facilities — up from about 140 four years ago.

"It's been awful, just awful. Our costs have gone through the roof," said Kathleen Bachmeier, director of medical services at the North Dakota State Penitentiary.

Here in the farm country of eastern Missouri, Cmdr. Gary Higginbotham sometimes longs for the days when a roadside patch of marijuana was considered a major drug threat.

These days, he commands a squad of 12 detectives, including the men who raided the farmhouse in Hillsboro, about 40 miles south of St. Louis. The squad often works double or triple shifts. Last year, they shut down 313 labs.

"I've never seen anything like this drug," Higginbotham said. "I don't want to use the word 'overwhelming,' but it's nonstop."

He pulled his Ford Explorer up next to the sagging farmhouse. Last week, his squad discovered an outdoor meth lab here, just beyond the sign warning: "Trespassers Will Be Violated and Survivors Will Be Shot." Now they had returned to arrest the 46-year-old addict living on the farm.

They found him with his pit bull mix, Dixie, a fat stack of cash, and a few grams of meth. He didn't bother trying to flee.

"They're going to catch up with me anyhow," the man said bleakly.

Like many addicts, he had already spent a few years in prison for meth possession. More than a dozen states in recent years have passed stiffer penalties for meth-related crimes. But the drug has such a strong pull on addicts — one hit can produce a 12-hour high — that the tougher laws have had little effect.

With less than $600 worth of supplies (decongestants, lithium batteries, antifreeze, anhydrous ammonia), addicts can produce enough meth to keep them and their friends high for days, with a few grams left over to sell.

Meth cooks rarely aim to strike it rich; they simply hope to bring in enough cash to keep the cycle going. Often, they pay others to go out and buy the ingredients for them.

Detectives say one arrest may lead to a string of busts as each person in the supply chain turns in his contact in hopes of winning leniency.

The farmhouse raid here was typical. Detectives got a bonus arrest when the man drove up with his McDonald's bag full of pills. Though he denied even knowing they were in his car, officers suspected he was planning to trade them for meth.

Then the man who ran the lab agreed to wear a hidden microphone and buy cold pills from a woman who often supplied his lab. "Just being a good citizen," he explained. (His name is being withheld at law enforcement's request because he is working as an informant.)

Higginbotham listened from his Explorer as the woman with the pills pulled up next to the informant at a gas station.

"I got 600 here," she said. "Don't forget about me when you get done [cooking], all right?"

"I won't," the man said. He handed her $85 in exchange for a Walgreen's bag stuffed with cold tablets.

"Be careful," she said.

"Be careful yourself," he responded.

At that, five detectives swarmed in, surrounded the woman and grabbed the pills.

Surveying the stash, Higgenbotham grinned. "Someone isn't going to be making meth today," he said. He thought for a moment, then amended: "At least, not with these pills."

"We can't catch 'em all," his deputy commander, Det. Derrick Blankenship, said. "All we can do is inconvenience them as much as possible."

Sweating in the Missouri humidity, Blankenship took a swig of his sports drink and contemplated the afternoon ahead.

He and his partners would interrogate the woman they'd just arrested and track down any partners she had named. Maybe they could persuade her to cooperate in another sting.

But they wouldn't have much time; she would be out of custody within hours. It could be well into 2006 before prosecutors file charges against her for this afternoon's bust.

In the meantime, Blankenship had no doubt she'd keep chasing her high. And he would keep chasing her.

Take my fox, please!

I just thought this was wierd.

The tale of a fox out of its element

M. Madan Mohan

HUBLI: In what may well provide a modern-day twist to ancient tales featuring its art and cunning, a nervous fox has become something of a celebrity in a northern Karnataka village. And everyone is waiting for its next move.

This is the story of a fox, which on June 16 strayed into the house of Channabasappa Hadkar, a farm labourer of Chebbi village, about 15 km from here. Foxes are known to be endemic but extremely elusive, as is their wont, in this region.

The female fox, which entered the pooja-cum-kitchen room of a typical village house and took position next to the pedestal called the "virabhadra gaddige" where the family deities are kept, has not come out of the room even once, although the doors have been kept open for three days and nights.

The unexpected visitor has almost become a member of the family after a week's stay. A symbiotic relationship appears to have developed between the family and the animal. A week of coexistence has changed the perspective on both sides. It sits quietly, pensively, in a corner as the family members go through their daily pooja rituals of lighting the lamp and burning incense sticks. It shrinks away from human contact.

Iravva, the woman of the house and mother of three, said that initially she was afraid. Was it a mad dog that had strayed into the house, she had wondered. She had even picked up a stick to shoo it away. "Once I came to know it was a fox, I felt relieved. We kept the doors open for three nights for the animal to move out. It did not but continued to stay put. We were all worried and anxious when it did not take food for two days. We are now glad that it is taking food, some rice and milk, which are offered periodically. We have begun to love it as the days pass and have taken a liking to it."

"Why should we dislike the fox? It has not harmed anybody so far," says Mr. Channabasappa. They have a dog, but it has not been allowed near the fox. "Its behaviour over the days has made us feel there is something divine in the unexpected visit. We are convinced that something good will come out of this," says Mr. Channabasappa, who has consulted village elders and astrologers about the strange occurrence.

The family faced some disconcerting moments when officials of the Forest Department came calling on Tuesday with a request to hand over the animal to them. They indicated that keeping a wild animal in a domestic situation could constitute a punishable offence. However, Mr. Channabasappa's young daughter told them that the animal had come of its own and there was no question of driving it away.

On the seventh day on Thursday, the animal sat huddled in a corner. "An effort made by the Forest Department officials to catch it apparently scared it. And camera flashes added to its nervousness," said a family member.

How long will the fox stay? A number of curious people from nearby villages have come to the house to have a look. Many of them speculate feverishly, but the family members are not too worried.

It is not immediately clear which specific species this animal belongs to. According to the website of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), in addition to the nearly ubiquitous red fox, the widely distributed golden jackal, and the wolf, four canid species are found in south Asia: the dhole, the Bengal fox, the corsac fox, and the Tibetan fox. In South-East Asia, canids are represented by three species: the dhole, the golden jackal, and the dingo.

All eyes are now on the Forest Department. Its officials were expected to come calling again on Wednesday. E. Vidyasagar, Conservator of Forests, Dharwad, said that it was not a good idea to let the fox stay. "It has to be removed and kept in the zoo or let out in the forests," he told The Hindu. They would work out a strategy to entice it out of the house, he said.

The unpalatable truth is that Haiti just does not matter very much.

A very interesting article on the continuing fallout stemming from the recent US orchestrated coup in Haiti. It offers a seldom seen window into the problems affecting the beleaguered island nation. The title of this post unfortunately is the painful truth. The people of Haiti suffer constantly as the victims of international neglect, rarely discussed in the mainstream news reports and then only when a change of government takes place or the UN is sent in to restore order, the quiet tragedy continues unabated. I have traveled through Haiti working on relief aid projects sponsored by the United Methodist Church, I have helped build schools and wells, etc.. You can't begin to understand the island until you travel there and witness it first hand, I urge all Americans to go there, it probably wont be a fun vacation but it could very well change your life and the way in which you view the world.

Faking Genocide in Haiti
Canada’s Role in the Persecution of Yvon Neptune
by Kevin Skerrett
June 23, 2005

The US, Canada, and France-backed coup d’état that overthrew Haiti’s elected President on February 29, 2004 put an end to almost ten years of constitutional democratic government in that country. Ostensibly, the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was an expression of the “international community’s” desire to “re-establish democracy” in Haiti. But having seen similar rationales used to justify support for an attempted coup in Venezuela in 2002 (as part of a long-term and continuing destabilization program there), observers of US, French, and Canadian intentions in Haiti are well advised to examine what has happened there – both prior to and following the 2004 coup – with an especially critical and skeptical eye.

Such a critical eye now finds a growing number of very credible and well-documented human rights reports revealing that the human rights situation in this desperately poor country has now completely unraveled. The unelected post-coup “Interim Government of Haiti” (IGH), backed by Canada, the US, and France, is now carrying out what many observers have referred to as a low-grade civil war of repression. Hundreds of political killings have been reported, as well as summary police executions, more than 700 political prisoners held without charge in Haitian jails, and court decisions exonerating the convicted paramilitaries and killers who carried out the first visible phase of the coup. All of this has followed Haiti’s “coup for human rights”.

In the midst of these countless tragedies, one particular human rights case has attracted more attention than any other since the coup – the case of Haiti’s most famous political prisoner, the constitutional (now former) Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. Neptune turned himself in to police on June 27, 2004 upon hearing that a warrant had been issued for his arrest accusing him of responsibility for what some opponents had referred to as a “genocide” during the violence in Haiti preceding the February 29 coup.

Continue reading...

Woof!

Ha Ha... As soon as I saw this story I thought, "this belongs on my blog".

Spartanburg, South Carolina (FOX Carolina News) - People living in one Campobello neighborhood say they'll do whatever it takes to get seventeen-year-old Cory Williamson out of there before someone is seriously hurt.

Williamson is in jail accused of raping his neighbor's dog. Sylvia Jones says she wouldn't have believed it had she not seen it with her own eyes. "When I got here we were laying on the deck looking at him and he had his pants down and he was doing sexual activity with the dog like a man would do to a woman."

Renee Hulburt says her family is way too familiar with Williamson. She knows he's charged with molesting a three-year-old girl and the statutory rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. Williamson is still awaiting trial on those charges.

Hulburt says, "Basically he's a sociopath."

She went on to say that she's afraid if Williamson gets out of jail, children everywhere could be in danger.

"I'd like him out of the neighborhood. I'd like him put away, he's a danger to everybody. My youngest won't even walk through my house because she's afraid."

FOX Carolina called Solicitor Trey Gowdy's office about the new charge against Williamson. A spokesman said the solicitor's office will petition the judge next Friday to have Williamson's bond revoked.

Neighbors hope he'll be in jail at least until trial begins. "As a community we shouldn't have to watch our kids every second they're playing. We want him out of this neighborhood."

The Solicitor's office also says it will ask that Williamson undergo a mental evaluation. FOX Carolina also tried calling the Williamson family several times but there was no answer.

Rover mad a boo-boo.

Originally I noticed this story because one of the parties involved has the same initials as my employer, then I read it and wow, what a blunder. I once wanted an MG Midget in HS, those little British cars with the dashboards made of wood and the negative ground electrical system. Wouldn't it be fun driving around with the top down? Then I realized that I could get the same feeling with a simple riding lawn mower.

STRANGE BUT TRUE: MG TF Sports Car Rights "Sold by Mistake"

Date Posted 06-21-2005

BIRMINGHAM, England — Bidders for the MG sports car division of collapsed British automaker MG Rover could find their plans scuttled following revelations that Rover's management sold the rights to the MG TF roadster to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC).

The MG TF was one of the few remaining assets of value that the receivers are trying to sell, and at least three consortiums have placed serious bids for the rights to build the car. But the Financial Times has revealed that the rights to the car were transferred "mistakenly" to the Chinese automaker along with the Rover 25 and 75 sedans.

The Financial Times report said details of the transfer of the brand had been listed at the U.K. Patents Office, and any attempt to reverse the situation would require the permission of SAIC — though receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers has questioned the legality of the transfer of assets to SAIC.

Meanwhile, the deadline for bids for Rover has been set for Wednesday, and already late bidders are starting to emerge. One company that may enter a last-minute bid is Geely, a fast-rising independent Chinese automaker. Geely Chairman Li Shufu was quoted in the Dongfang Daily on Monday as saying, "Our biggest interest is in Rover's mature technology, which is a considerable attraction for Geely in its current stage of rapid development."

What this means to you: What a mess! SAIC doesn't want MG. Maybe the Chinese will allow a "white knight" to ride in and save the British brand. In the end, however, it's MG enthusiasts who will pay — one way or the other.

Internet worm on its way, look out!

If you are a systems Admin, like myself, and you haven't patched for MS05-027 well you sir are a ticking time bomb. This will be an issue, soon a named worm is going to make the news based on this exploit, speculation as to the quirky moniker abounds. patch youself foo!!

Mass TCP Port Attack Could Be Imminent, Analyst Warns
By Ryan Naraine
June 22, 2005

An ominous increase in sniffing activity on TCP Port 445 could signal an impending mass malicious code attack targeting a recently patched Microsoft vulnerability, according to a warning from security researchers.

Researchers at Symantec Corp.'s DeepSight Network have detected a surge in scans on Port 445, an indication that malicious hackers may have already created exploits for a flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s implementation of the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft uses TCP Port 445 to run SMB directly over TCP/IP to handle the sharing of files, printers, serial ports, and also to communicate between computers.

Click here to read more about Microsoft releasing a "critical" cumulative update for Internet Explorer.

The vulnerability, which was rated "critical," was patched one week ago in Microsoft's MS05-027 bulletin, and the increased noise on that port could be the first sign that a password brute force attack is imminent, Symantec DeepSight warned.

A spokesperson for Microsoft's Security Response Center said the company was not aware of any active attempts to exploit the vulnerability.

"Port scanning is an activity that may be indicative of an attempt to discover attack vectors against any vendor product and is not an activity unique to Microsoft products," she added.

She said software engineers at Redmond would continue to analyze and monitor for any malicious activity but stressed that she was not aware of any customers being attacked via sniffing against TCP Port 445 and have not received any indication of malicious activity associated with MS05-027.

However, the company urged enterprise customers to apply the update and enable firewalls to block TCP Port 445 at the perimeter as a protection mechanism.

John Pescatore, VP of security research at Gartner Inc., said the reports of increased sniffing on Port 445 are a "serious concern for enterprise security managers" because such activity usually means a mass attack is imminent.

"Such attacks typically follow a highly predictable timeline," Pescatore said, warning that attackers have in the past reverse-engineered patches to create exploit code or widespread circulation.

Once exploits are created, attackers typically scan associated ports to pinpoint vulnerable systems before launching a mass attack.

"The Port 445 activity may indicate that—in the week since Microsoft released the Windows patch—attackers have reached the fourth state in this process and may be preparing a mass attack employing the widely used SMB protocol," Pescatore warned.

He recommended that enterprise IT administrators accelerate efforts to ensure all Windows systems are patching.

In the interim, Pescatore said businesses should implement shielding or other workarounds until the patching process is complete.

"Administrators must immediately review all firewall policies (including those covering personal firewall software) to ensure that Port 445 access is blocked wherever possible [and] update all intrusion prevention system filters (both network- and host-based) to block attempts to exploit this vulnerability," Pescatore added.

PointerCheck out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's Weblog.

Sometimes I steal things.

A world media library would be the sort of thing that could put a dent in illegal file sharing, any movie ever made would have to be available. I would proably subscribe to something like that. At least then I would be assured the movie I was downloading wasn't actually filmed in the theater with a sony handi cam. If your looking for the hot P2P app to get in on the free media craze check out this site, http://www.zeropaid.com, it'll help you steal from those studio fat cats.

Sony wants an 'iTunes for movies'

The movie industry is keen to take control from technology firms
Sony is to make its top 500 films available digitally in the next year.

Michael Arrieta, senior vice president of Sony Pictures, said at a US Digital Hollywood conference that it wanted to create an "iTunes" for films.

Films will be put onto flash memory for mobiles over the next year, said Mr Arrieta, and it will develop its digital download services for films.

Movie studios are keen to stop illegal file-sharing on peer-to-peer nets and cash in on digital the download market.

Movie piracy cost the industry £3.7bn ($7bn) in 2003, according to analysts.

The movie industry body, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has started a campaign of legal action against operators of BitTorrent, eDonkey and DirectConnect peer-to-peer networks.

Cashing in

"We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like (Apple chief Steve) Jobs did for music, but for the film industry," Mr Arrieta told Cnet news.

Sony and other movie studios, say Cnet news, are keen to wrestle power, and financial gain, from any single technology giant - like Apple - which has had success with iTunes for music downloads.

There are legal film sites now, such as Movielink, which provides access to a limited catalogue of legal films.

It is a partnership between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.

There remain big issues to giving people more access to films and other digital content anywhere, anytime.

Issues over protecting and controlling the distribution of content once it has been legally downloaded and moved to a portable device, for instance, still concern the movie industry.

But with the growing popularity of powerful portable entertainment devices, such as Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP), which can play movies and other multimedia content, it is becoming a pressing concern for the industry.

The PSP went on sale in the US on 24 March and the first million came with Spider-Man 2.

But films for the device are available in Sony's own format, called UMD, which are physical discs.

Lions Gate Entertainment and Disney have announced forthcoming film titles that will be made available on the format.

The Digital Hollywood conference in the US runs from 29 March to 1 April.

Wedgie Dance

They call this the wedgie dance. It's kind of like the saftey dance with less sass (ok not really) Isn't the internet fun!!!

http://www.lotrplaza.com/istari/wedgiedance/wedgiedance.asp

Software piracy 'is normal'.

Wow, big news here, people aren't convinced that downloading copyrighted content is theft. So what your trying to tell me is that folks would rather, if given the option, not pay for movies, music and software. seems like a given really. I know I haven't payed a dime for any computer software or music (I would include movies but I bought several DVD's sometime in 2003) Albeton Live? Cubase? Photoshop? All downloaded! 10GB's of music, oh yeah same thing!

Software piracy 'seen as normal'
By Alfred Hermida
Technology editor, BBC News website

Counterfeit copies of films, software and games are readily available
Campaigns to persuade people to stop downloading pirated games or software from the internet are not working, a report suggests.

Two UK university researchers found that people did not see downloading copyrighted material as theft.

The findings are unwelcome news for the games industry, which says it loses more than £2bn annually from piracy.

The results of the government-funded study were previewed at a games conference in London.

The report, called Fake Nation, is due to be formally presented next week by Dr Jo Bryce of the University of Central Lancashire and Dr Jason Rutter of the University of Manchester.

Crime? What crime?

The study was commissioned to find out if the anti-piracy message was having an impact on people's attitudes.

The purchase of counterfeit goods or illegal downloading are seen as normal leisure practices
Dr Jo Bryce, University of Central Lancashire
Most campaigns in the UK have focused on the damage being done by software or film piracy.

They have also pushed the idea that consumers are supporting organised crime when they buy a game or DVD from someone in the street.

Despite ads in the cinema, magazines and newspapers, the message is falling on deaf ears.

"Consumers have an awareness of the scale of the problem and cost, but don't take onboard industry concerns or government messages," said Dr Bryce, a senior lecturer in psychology.

The researchers found that people did not equate downloading a game with the idea of shoplifting the disc from a shop.

"People are more accepting of it, even if they didn't engage it in themselves," said Dr Bryce. "They don't see it as a great problem on a social or economic level.

"They just don't see it as theft. They just see it as inevitable, particularly as new technologies become available."

Unsurprisingly, the main reason people grab games from the net was because they are free.

But scratching beneath the surface, the researchers found that not having to pay for games was particularly attractive for teenagers, as it meant they had more money for other things.

"Teenagers are being tactical spenders," said Dr Bryce. "The money saved lets them spend more on mobile phones, going to the cinema or eating out."

Pub pirates

In the past, much of the anti-piracy drive has been directed against people selling counterfeit discs at markets or on street corners.

The games trade body, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, (Elspa) has a 40-strong anti-piracy unit.

Counterfeit games
Copied games worth £4m were seized last year
Last year, it carried out 538 raids across the UK, seizing £4m worth of copied games and successfully prosecuting 67 software counterfeiters.

But the Fake Nation study suggests these efforts may also be misguided. The researchers found that most people did not buy counterfeit software from dodgy dealers on street corners.

Instead they bought games from people they knew in places like the office, the pub or at school.

"The purchase of counterfeit goods or illegal downloading are seen as normal leisure practices," said Dr Bryce.

"The downloading of games is a burgeoning issue, and with broadband growing, this is likely to increase and drive access to pirated games away from commercial interests into people's homes."

Cost to creativity

Despite the study's results, Michael Rawlinson, deputy head of Elspa, remained confident that attitudes towards pirated software could be changed.

"It is possible to effect a change in young people's behaviour once you explain the process of creation in bringing these products to market," he said.

But he admitted that wiping out illegal downloads would take time and money.

"The government has spent millions of pounds to change public awareness of drink-driving and smoking.

"As a society, we need to go through a similar process for creativity and intellectual property."

Around 2,400 people were questioned via the post and the web for the study between August and September last year. The researchers also held 12 focus groups.

I like to get wasted and fuck

I need this shirt!! well, I don't need it per say, do any of us really need anything at all? But it might be fun to wear, maybe I'll even get laid. MoeWampum.com has some funny other ones as well, check em' out.

http://www.surrendermartha.com/ilitogetwaan.html

There's no cabbage in baseball.

Is this really fair to the ball players? Does the practice really hurt anybody? this is the type of quality you can expect in the future, stories about korean baseball players and cabbage.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's baseball players have been banned from putting frozen cabbage leaves under their caps to beat the summer heat.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) took action after Doosan Bears pitcher Park Myung-hwan's cap fell off during a game last weekend, revealing his secret cooling agent.

After an emergency meeting, KBO officials ruled that cabbage leaves are a distraction and cannot be considered part of the baseball uniform.

"Park has been using frozen cabbage to cool down since last summer, but we didn't know until now," KBO chief of referees Heo Koo-youn told Reuters Wednesday.

"We had to act because imagine if it happened in the World Series. If something drops out of the pitcher's cap, it could put the batter off. Does the umpire call strike or ball?"

Park, who twice dropped leaves on the mound during last Sunday's game with the Hanhwa Eagles, said he was disappointed with the ruling but would not appeal.

"I'm sensitive to the heat and my wife recommended I put frozen cabbage leaves under my cap to cool my head," he said.

"I will respect the KBO's decision. Even without the cabbage, my pitching won't be affected."

so i have a blog now.

Well im not really sure exactly what will come of this but i now have my own blog.. yeaahaa.. so come what may, I'll try and post as much as possible and see if i can't create something interesting and unique here for others to read and perhaps over time appreciate, cause that's what this whole thing is about right? sharing? After reading others relentlessly and following this emerging trendiness for a couple of years now I decided to join the fray. I'm sure that this is reminiscient of every first post ever by a junior blogger, but whatever. monkey see monkey do, and well there are plenty of other monkies out there for me to imitate. and also i got tired of having to post as anomoyous all the time on other people's blogspot posts, so now I can do so as mattb79, 79 being the year in which I was born, and Matt, well that's what i call myself, the b being the first letter of my last name, clever, eh? I'll try to populate this space with tidbits from the web, news, etc.. that haven't allready been splattered all over the blogsphere by everybody else, as i so commonly see, you know you'll flip through a buncha diff blogs and see the same items repeated here and there, well i think that's lame. oh and no spell checking, that's not my style. at least not right now, some entries will be vetted carefully, others will be the result of me being really sloppy drunk which happens alot btw, in which case i proably wont remember making them at all, and they might get deleted the next morning. or possibly this post will be the only one ever and I'll loose interest in the whole thing together. I'll try and make most of the posts like this one where I just sort of type fast off the top of my head, I find that this produces the most usable results for this medieum, otherwise I might not have much to say. ehh.. we'll see.