Thermite for sale on ebay.

Why the fuck is this stuff available for purchase on Ebay? Thermite, a violent explosive, a potential tool for terorists, is cheap and plentiful, and absent any restrections on it's sale. WTF!!?!?


Auction with thermite + mag det strips. what a great deal!

4 pounds + detonator strips! get it while it's hot, (pun intended)

10 Pounds, all ready to blow sir!

Bush Pilot

Water powered car?

Iranians speak out

It's good to see someone has some sense over there in persia. Now if we could somehow ensure they would try and reprocess the spent fuel rods, then perhaps we could come to an understanding.

Some Iranians angry over Hezbollah aid

TEHRAN, July 22 (UPI) -- Some Iranians are worried and angry that their country is too closely tied to Lebanon's Hezbollah, The New York Times reports Saturday.

For decades, Iran has been Hezbollah's prime patron, creating a Shiite Muslim militia by supplying it with money and weapons. But now that Hezbollah is in the midst of fighting with Israel, Iranian officials are insisting that they had nothing to do with the events that set off the crisis, the Times said.

Iran fears punishment from United States and Europe, the newspaper reported, but Iranian officials may have a wary eye on their public. In interviews in central Tehran Saturday, person after person said the same thing: Iran should worry about Iran's problems and not be dragged down by others' battles.

The Hezbollah crisis comes at a time of heightened anxiety. Many Iranians are nervous about the potential for sanctions as a result of their nuclear program, the Times said.

However Iranians have rallied for nuclear power, saying that is their inalienable right. And while they are willing to tolerate public isolation, there is far less unity about standing up for Lebanon, many people told the Times.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

MARX CAFE TONIGHT

oh yeah! I'm playing tonight, taking it back to last year. I'm going to play some old records. Here's some cool drawings.

3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

bum returns bonds, and gets what's his.

Hey, who is it that said good things never happen to poor people? Not this guy.

Homeless man rewarded $4,000 for honesty

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT -- A homeless man who returned $21,000 worth of saving bonds he found in a trash bin is finding out how much honesty can pay off.

Charles Moore, 59, had been searching for returnable bottles last week when he came across the 31 U.S. savings bonds. He turned them in to a homeless shelter, where a staff member tracked down the family of the man who had owned them.

For his good deed, the bond owner's son gave Moore $100, but residents around Michigan and in other states decided his action merited a more generous reward.

So far, Moore has received over $4,000.

One man sent him eight trash bags full of returnable bottles and a bowl of coins. Three others gave a combined $2,500, and two businessmen from Troy donated $1,200, a shopping spree and a lead on a job.

"I was thankful for it," said Moore, who had lost his roofing job in Ohio and moved back to Michigan but couldn't find work.

Moore said he plans to use the money to find an apartment.

David C. Smith, of Albuquerque, N.M., gave Moore $1,000. Smith said he and his fiancee wouldn't have thought twice about what to do if the bonds had belonged to them.

"We would have given him the whole amount, period," Smith said. "No questions asked."

wacky news round-up

Sounds like copper theft could become a good part time home-business for many people.

6NEWS Investigators: High cost of copper theft 3:56 PM

03:57 PM EDT on Monday, July 24, 2006

By STUART WATSON / 6NEWS
E-mail Stuart: SWatson@WCNC.com

The high price of copper is drawing thieves bound and determined to steal the metal. At Overcash Electric in Mooresville crooks were caught on tape carting away four rolls of copper wire. At a Greenville, South Carolina Duke Power substation a man was electrocuted while trying to strip copper. At a Charlotte cell phone tower thieves dug under a fence to steal copper tubing. At a Charlotte antique store thieves even heisted a 7 foot, 600 pound bronze fountain for its copper. Newcomb Spring near the Charlotte Douglas Airport has to use fans to cool the plant since crooks ripped the copper pipes from their giant air conditioning units.

From businesses to construction sites, “They're breaking into houses under construction and stealing the copper piping that is already in the house," said Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Detective Andy Leonard.

Police say these days if it has copper, thieves want it.

continue reading...

This article mentions Limewire then dosen't elobrate how it was used to assist in the theft of $500k.

Man arrested over theft of 500,000 yen from account

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A man was arrested Monday on suspicion of stealing about 500,000 yen from a postal savings account using LimeWire file-sharing software, police said. According to the Nagano prefectural police, this is the first known case of the software being used to gain illegal access to an Internet banking system.

Arrested was Mitsugu Tominaga, 34, of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, who is on trial on charges of violating the Antiunauthorized Access Law. Junichi Iwai, 33, of Hatogaya in the prefecture, who had been indicted on the same charge in an earlier case, was sent to the prosecutors for the same charge. In February, the two men were arrested on suspicion of withdrawing 950,000 yen by illegally accessing an Internet banking account at Hachijuni Bank in Nagano.

According to the police, Tominaga and Iwai obtained the password for a Japan Post postal savings Internet account and transferred 500,000 yen from the account of a Ishikawa Prefecture man to Iwai's account.
(Jul. 25, 2006)

Missing Tesla Patent!?!?

Whaaaaaaa?? Is this some sort of generator based on tesla coils? It's interesting to note that the US patent office won't accept any submissions claiming to produce excess electricity, must be a rule left over from the perpetual motion machines of the 1800's. If this is for real it'll be HUGE! that's a lot of tesla for one week, from motors to nicola!

World's Most Valuable Patent Released As Freeware
Thursday July 20, 10:54 am ET

EDMONTON, Alberta, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- What has been described as "The missing Tesla Patent" has been posted on the web site www.fluxite.com .

The Fluxite patent has not been filed with any patent office. In general it describes a method and apparatus that wobbles a high strength magnetic field using low voltage Tesla Coils. According to the inventor, a person that has numerous core patent applications both granted and pending, "the United States Patent Office rejects all patents applications that claim to produce excess electricity, thus making its allowance impossible anyway."

Without any doubt, a need exists for such a technology. It is semi-conductor based and therefore has no moving parts. Such a portable, low cost, clean and safe electrical supply system could be used to irrigate crops, purify water supplies, move vehicles, and power all forms of mechanical devices. The purpose of its freeware release is to put it in the hands of the Internet's numerous skilled electronic designers in mass and thereafter spread around the world as a free and peaceful technology.

About The Fluxite Patent Author:

The Author is not seeking financial gains. No attempt to contact the author of this patent is wanted, nor will any response be given to assist in the development of this technology. Although the use of the Fluxite technology is not dangerous in skilled hands, it could be considered dangerous to commercialize. Further, the Fluxite patent author gives no guarantees as to results anyone else obtains with the building of this technology.

Email: info@fluxite.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Safe Harbor Statement: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not historical facts, are forward- looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors. Information concerning potential factors that could affect the Company is detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tesla Roadster!

Fat Kids, and what we can do about them

I hate to admit it but.... My mom was right! Many, many, years ago I really wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System, yet my parents were dead set against it. All my friends had one, I felt totally left out. My parents warned of a depersonalized society devoid of human contact and decreasing activity in community projects as a result of personal entertainment. I of course thought they were bonkers and plain mean by not rushing out and spending $100, or whatever it cost back in 1990, on a video game system for me to play Mario on. Oh boy is hindsight twenty-twenty.

The breakdown of the American community that has been able to rely on neighbors and friends for literally hundreds of years is responsible for this public health crisis. It's one of our strengths as a Nation, being able to count on each others when it matters most. People today likely don't know their next door neighbors. I'm not going to hunt for studies about this, I'm sure that they are out there for the finding, and I'm certain of what I would find. That Americans know less of their neighbors than they did two decades ago. And we have, FAT KIDS! As a result of living increasingly isolated and compartmentalized lives, our kids are less likely to organize that neighborhood game of football. If parents don't know their neighbors they are less likely to let their kids go play next door, where the kid might actually get some exercise. Of course this may be nothing new, and I would toss it off as such if it weren’t for the alarming rate at which childhood obesity has been increasing as of late. It's wacky that we have to address this topic with such sensitivity. GET OFF YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES AMERICA!! Young kids should be running around causing all sorts of trouble, not sitting in front of a computer or TV screen. Trust me, you'll have plenty of time to sack out in your 30's, but for now go run, climb a tree, organize that neighborhood football game, etc... Parents - please encourage your kid to go get some exercise!

So, yes my Mom was in fact right (certainly not the first time), that there would in fact be negative consequences to the personal entertainment craze. And here we are, FAT KIDS!

Who Are You Calling Fat?

By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 18, 2006; Page HE01

Some doctors call it "the other f-word" -- a problem they see on a daily basis but many are reluctant to address: kids who are too fat.

The issue is not new, but experts say it has acquired greater urgency as obesity has ballooned in the past 25 years, accompanied by sharp increases in diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol, conditions that used to be largely the province of those middle-aged or older. In 1980, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 7 percent of children and 5 percent of teenagers were overweight; today the figures hover around 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Doctors at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where 38 percent of patients are obese, say that in recent years they have treated a 9-year-old who suffered a heart attack, a child with a body mass index of 52 (a 5-foot-6 adult with a BMI of 52 would weigh 322 pounds) and several others so dangerously fat that they underwent gastric bypass surgery.

Continue reading...

Bridge troll arrested

OMG, this story is toooo funny not to share! The details are golden. It says here that police confiscated a large marijuana joint rolled in $1 bills. That means one (1) large joint rolled with mutiple dollar bills. Quite likely the same monies they were demanding for safe passage across their bridge while armed with a golf club. ROFLMFAO!!1 Just look at these guys, they look like they are still fairly lit in their mug shots.

'Bridge Troll' Arrested After Confrontation With Deputy

POSTED: 10:09 am MDT July 13, 2006
BOULDER, Colo. -- A man who acted as a modern-day bridge troll faces charges in Boulder after he and his companion allegedly got into a confrontation with an off-duty sheriff's deputy.

According to a police report obtained by 7NEWS, Robert Hibbs, 19, was arrested Friday in a park near Foothills Highway and Colorado Avenue after demanding money and attacking the deputy. Police said that Hibbs insisted he was a troll and owned the bridge the deputy was trying to cross.

Witnesses told police that Hibbs and Bradley Boville, 19, were demanding $1 from joggers and bikers who attempted to cross the bridge.

The off-duty deputy, who was not identified, told police the confrontation with Hibbs started after the man hit his bike with a broken golf club when he forced his way past without paying. The two became involved in an altercation and Hibbs hit the deputy with a golf club, the police report stated. The deputy said he took the golf club away from Hibbs and struck him in an attempt to defend himself.

Boville, who was with Hibbs, reportedly told police that they had consumed LSD and that Hibbs was having a bad trip.

Police said they confiscated a large marijuana joint rolled in $1 bills at the scene and then searched Boville's apartment and recovered drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Hibbs was arrested for investigation of menacing and possession of a controlled substance, according to police. Boville was arrested for investigation of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

War in Iraq to cost half a trillion dollars.

Wow, what a collosal waste of money! Once we walk away from the war in Iraq, as some would argue we should do as soon as possible, what are we going to have gotten from this ill-conceived misadventure? Not a damn thing! Initial estimates were for a $100 to $200 Billion war, that's the war America signed up for . Iraqi oil production was said to be enough to fund reconstruction, well that didn't work out at all. Daily crude oil production in Iraq is still below the levels enjoyed during Saddam times. So in consdieration of this MASSIVE investment in "middle east security" (and boy did that ever backfire) It's unlikely that our troops are going to be coming home any time soon. Judging from some of the reports of massive perment base construction, our military knows we'll be there for at least another decade. Neverending war, a Rumsfeld wet dream!

Iraq war costs 291 billion U.S. dollars so far: report

The Iraq war has cost 291 billion U.S. dollars so far and could total half a trillion dollars even if the U.S. government pulls all troops out of Iraq by the end of 2009, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The figure comes from an analysis of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), amid debate in Washington over whether to set goals or timetables for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq, according to the report.

The CBO study estimated future war costs based on two scenarios.

The more optimistic scenario is based on the U.S. maintaining troop levels in Iraq at 140,000 through next year, but quickly dropping them thereafter and pulling out most of them by the end of 2009.

Under this schedule, the Iraq war will cost an additional 184 billion dollars for the 2007-2010 budget years.

Under a more pessimistic scenario, with a slower drawdown of troops and a continued U.S. presence of 40,000 over the long term, the Iraq war could cost 406 billion dollars over the next decade, the CBO said.

Since the war started in 2003, the actual costs have far exceeded early estimates.

Former White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey initially put the total costs between 100 billion and 200 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua

Great EV article in LA Weekly

Great Article! All about EVs. The authors mention Tommy Chong's electric lowrider, hmmm.. I wonder if it bounces, cause that would be sweet! That's another celebrity to add to the electric band wagon! It's neat to hear that the same shop working on Chong's conversion is also doing a bunch of LBC (or ABC if you prefer) conversions of Triumphs, Sunbeams, MGs and Lotus cars.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/feature....

In other EV news the Tesla Roadster is to be unveiled (finally) next Thursday infront of a sold out crowd in Santa Monica, California. Expect this to be big news, as the company has been very secretive concerning this car and hasn't released too many pictures of the vehicle. If you are lucky enough to have seen 'Who Killed The Electric Car?' then you got a glimpse of what it looks like in the closing segment of the film. If you poke around Tesla's website a little there are a few images here and there, a fender here, a charge port there, etc... but no real good view of what by all accounts is to be an amazing ground breaking vechicle.

http://teslamotors.com/

Tastings Journal

Some spam that I received, sounds like it could be fun!

This month we are going to do something a little different – I want to change things up a little for the summer, light and breezy. Its not a full dinner, but we are offering 5 Wines and 5 specially paired tapas dishes. The food will be amazing and the wines are French (BASTILLE DAY!!) and are all rated 93 and above by Wine Spectator ™ This is a ONE DAY event, Friday July 14th.

We had such a tremendous response to the amazing service that Kolumbia Restaurant provided last month, that we are going to honor them with a Wine Tasting and Tapas event there this Friday. Ok, Ok.. the other owner Carolyn is one of the top sommeliers here in DC and she picked all the wines.

For more info and the location : http://www.TastingsJournal.com

But just like all of our other events, this one is unique. You know how everyone is always a little shy to order rose wines aka the “Pink” ones? Well don’t be. Let us introduce you to absolutely the best Rose available anywhere in the world. Each wine comes with its own Tapas Course that complements the wine. They are the perfect summer drink.

There will be 5 drinks and 5 tapas courses, you will not need to eat dinner afterwards, so come kill two birds with one stone (Happy Hour & Dinner) and expand your wine expertise all at the same time. Rose Wine is THE wine to drink this summer for the fashionable set (trust me, I thought of the idea while I was in East Hampton at the Maidstone Club) Become an expert with us this Friday. DRINK PINK – Spread the word, invite your friends and bring your co-workers.

Tastings Journal

OH HAPPY DAY!!! Alfa returns to USA.

For real this time, Alfa Romeo has for real announced it will be returning to the US starting with the 2009 model year! I can't wait till these fine autos are rolling around state-side once again. I'm... speachless.

The United States of Alfa

Uncork the Chianti!! Italian maker Alfa Romeo returning to the U.S. in 2009

By GREG KABLE

AutoWeek | Published 07/10/06, 2:24 pm et

Alfa Romeo has confirmed it is preparing a high-stakes return to the North American market after more than a decade’s absence. A trio of contemporary new models will lead the charge.

Although not officially due to go on sale here until the end of 2009 (coinciding with the company’s 100th anniversary in 2010), the new Alfa Romeo lineup is well on the way to fruition, having already been launched in Europe in the past 12 months. Engineering work is now under way at home and in the U.S. to make the cars fit for North American sale, a task Alfa Romeo officials say is a mere formality given that all three models were developed with U.S. safety and emission regulations in mind.

Among the new models the Italian carmaker has earmarked for North America are facelifted versions of the one-year-old 159 sedan, as well the recently launched Brera coupe and Spider convertible. Alfa especially likes the Spider’s chances, given its link with the Duetto, which rose to prominence starring alongside Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in the popular 1967 movie The Graduate.

Each model coming stateside is based on Alfa Romeo’s new Premium platform (a modular structure developed with General Motors’ Saab division). The chassis supports front- and four-wheel drive, and is engineered to conform to North American crash regulations.

Continue reading...

Random @ MARX tonite.

I'm stepping aside tonite and letting my good buddy Random spin his unique blend of downtempo oddities. Be there!

3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

RAV4-EV sells for $55k on Ebay.

Going once... going twice... and SOLD! $55,000 that's amazing! Some pretty intense bidding for the car, with 36 bids it sure saw a lot of action. And with only 33k miles its got plenty of motoring days ahead of it. and people say there's no demand fot these types of cars...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI...

ECO-Celebs put money where mouth is

Wow, ZAP cars has received orders for $2.2B in smart cars!?!? That's billion, with a B. This is wonderful, horrah for hollywood!

Celebrity cachet helps drive demand for eco-friendly cars

By CAROLYNE ZINKO
At the 2003 Academy Awards, Cameron Diaz and Tim Robbins made an unlikely fashion statement: They each arrived in a chauffeur-driven Toyota Prius.

Since then, celebrities and wannabe celebrities have been getting behind the wheels of eco-friendly cars, to show that they're committed to alternative energy _ and that it's easy to be green. It's working. Toyota has sold 224,975 Priuses since 2003 without paying one penny in direct marketing to promote its hybrid brand.

Now, in the latest Hollywood extravaganza "The Da Vinci Code," Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou can be seen zipping down Parisian sidewalks in the tiny Smart car.

Good gas mileage (60 mpg) and easy parking have made the vehicle ubiquitous in Europe.

But will the two-seat micro car, made by DaimlerChrysler, come west the way the Japanese-made Prius came east? In other words, on green hipster wings?

ZAP, a Santa Rosa, Calif., firm that markets alternative-fuel cars and whose name stands for Zero Auto Pollution, hopes so. It imported 11 Smart cars for sale in 2005 and another 250 this year, distributing them in states where the vehicle complies with emissions standards _ even though DaimlerChrysler hasn't made a formal decision to sell to its dealerships in the United States.

Defying the conventional wisdom that Americans will drive only big cars, ZAP thinks there is a market for cars that are not only fuel-efficient but head-turners _ and has invested $10 million in proprietary technology to modify the Smart car's internal computer codes. This allows the company to adjust the fuel mixtures so the car will meet American emission standards.

"Like 'The Da Vinci Code,' we cracked the code, literally," joked Steven Schneider, chief executive officer of ZAP.

Schneider said that last year the company received orders from U.S. dealers for more Smart cars than they ever expected to deliver, totaling more than $2.2 billion. And that was even before "The Da Vinci Code" gave the car an extra, unintentional bounce. "We have 53,000 e-mails (from prospective buyers) that we've not been able to get back to," Schmidt said. "A big portion of those (people) have been influenced by 'The Da Vinci Code.' It adds to the cool factor."

For "The Da Vinci Code," there was no official product-placement negotiation between the automaker and Columbia Pictures, said Joe Richardson, a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz USA, a division of DaimlerChrysler.

Still, the Smart car seems destined to be propelled by the twin forces of celebrity hipness and environmentalism.

This summer East Coast public relations maven Cygalle Dias is using Smart cars from ZAP to ferry New York's youngest socialites to and from her organic day spa events in the Hamptons. And actor Larry David, who has set up a family environmental foundation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, drives a Prius in his HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Meanwhile, George Clooney was pictured in the April "green" issue of Vanity Fair beside his Tango, a narrow, two-seat electric car, and is backing a campaign to reduce dependence on oil called Oil Change, in conjunction with the Sierra Club and the NRDC.

"The attention that celebrities have lavished on Prius has really helped awareness _ this is the kind of advertising that money could never buy," said Cindy Knight, communications administrator for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. "In our case, it was accidental. Celebrities found this car on their own and started talking about it, which was completely surprising to us."

Part of the hesitancy to sell minicars in the United States is based on historic buying trends and the influence of pop culture. "We as a society have preferred larger cars for a long, long time," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal, a magazine that focuses on the intersection of autos, energy and the environment. "The only time that changed was during the two oil crises we had in the '70s and '80s."

Cogan said automakers are reluctant to go full bore in bringing large numbers of very small cars to the market without perceiving a big demand. Reports in the Economist, BusinessWeek and elsewhere have said DaimlerChrysler is losing money on the Smart car in Europe, and there is speculation that the automaker wants to let an importer test the market before committing to widespread sales in the United States.

But the success of the Mini Cooper, and the recent introduction of two small gas-powered cars, the Toyota Yaris and the Honda Fit, shows that "there's a competitive nature" to the small-car market and that the Smart car could be a player, Cogan said.

Michael Marsden, a popular culture expert at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wis., thinks it is entirely possible, thanks to the Smart's cameo film role, that "a lot of people will see it, connect to the car, start asking questions and start putting pressure on dealerships. It will be identified with the intelligent choice."

The three-cylinder Smart Twofor is 8 feet 2 inches long and 4 feet 11 inches wide and was designed by the maker of Swatch watches and DaimlerChrysler. Its stateside gas mileage is 40 mpg, a result of the emissions tinkering, and retail prices start in the middle-$20,000s, according to Alex Campbell, a salesman at ZAP.

In Phoenix, Greg Peterson said he bought a Smart car from a local dealer in March for its fuel efficiency and its looks. The 44-year-old former software company owner is studying environmental planning and lives in a "sustainability showcase house" that features edible landscaping and rainwater harvesting equipment.

"(The Smart car) is so distinctively different that 30 to 50 people stop me and ask about the car on a weekly basis," said Peterson. "What I'm into is sustainability, and making a statement in the world."

Update from Pamplona

Just one goring? The festival isn't over yet however, there's still 4 more runnings planned, so someone being violently trampled isn't out of the question.

Man gored in Pamplona's running of the bulls
10/07/2006 - 08:17:43 One man was gored in the leg as hundreds of thrill-seekers ran alongside massive bulls through the streets of Pamplona in Spain today. A scene from the bull run is pictured.

One man was gored in the leg as hundreds of thrill-seekers ran alongside massive bulls through the streets of Pamplona in Spain today.

In the fourth of eight planned runs at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, six bulls charged along the 800-metre route leading to the bull ring in just over two minutes with only one incident where a leading bull caught a man.

Emergency services were called to the cobblestone streets after the bulls had run past, but the severity of the injury was not immediately known.

Preliminary Red Cross information said one young man was gored in the leg and several suffered bruises and sprains.

The worst injury so far this year came on the opening day when an American man was left partially paralysed in a side event after the run. He was thrown by one of five feisty young cows set free in the Pamplona bull ring for people to taunt and dodge.

He has been identified as Ray Ducharme, a 31-year-old bond trader for Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Since record-keeping began in 1924, 13 people have been killed during the runs. The last death was in 1995.

Running of the Bulls!!

I sure wish that I was over there, sounds like one wild party!

Six Hurt on First Day of Pamplona Bull Run

Six half-tonne bulls charged down the cobbled streets of Pamplona today, chasing thousands of runners prepared to risk life and limb in the first of a week of bull runs in this northern Spanish city.

The bull runs, part of the city's annual San Fermin fiestas, got off to a dangerous start as six runners were taken to hospital. One was reportedly in intensive care, suffering paralysis from the neck down, after being tossed into the air by one of the calves released into the crowd in the bull-ring at the end of the run.

Foreign runners, attracted to a fiesta first made famous by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises, once again proved they were the most likely to get hurt in the half-mile dash through Pamplona's streets.

A New Zealander, David MacDowell, 25, was the first to be gored as a bull's horn ripped into his thigh. A British man broke his wrist and an American suffered facial injuries.

The paralysed man was a 31-year-old New Yorker. Officials said he could not move his legs and was taken to the Hospital de Navarra for an emergency operation. "He is in very serious condition and could be paralysed for life," said Pello Pellejero, a Pamplona government spokesman.

At 8am six bulls stormed out of the corral where they had spent the night to start the 900-metre run along a route crowded with people wearing the traditional red and white colours of the fiestas.

One frightened, angry bull dropped his head and charged a group of runners trapped against a wall. Several other runners were battered as the bulls skidded around a corner in their dash towards the city's bullring.

All six bulls were due to be killed this evening in a proper bull-fight with three of Spain's top matadors.

Animal rights campaigners had marched through the city in their underwear on Wednesday to protest at what they claimed was cruelty to the bulls.

Alan Donohue, frontman for British guitar band The Rakes, was arrested after stripping off during the protest.

"I did take all my clothes off and tried to run down the streets but got apprehended by riot police," he said. "It's not necessary to eat and exploit animals."

More than 400 people were injured in the bull runs last year, with about 30 needing hospital treatment.

Fourteen people have been killed since 1924. A Spaniard was killed in 2003 and an American student died in 1995.

Happy Birthday President Bush!!

Here's to many more. He should totally kick back with a half gallon of Jack Daniel's finest and celebrate, he's certainly earned it!!

The Veep's Curious Investment Portfolio

That smart guy!

Is Cheney Betting On Economic Collapse?
By MIKE WHITNEY

Wouldn't you like to know where Dick Cheney puts his money? Then you'd know whether his "deficits don't matter" claim is just baloney or not.

Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney's financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly.
The article is called "Cheney's betting on bad news" and provides an account of where Cheney has socked away more than $25 million. While the figures may be estimates, the investments are not. According to Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney has invested heavily in "a fund that specializes in short-term municipal bonds, a tax-exempt money market fund and an inflation protected securities fund. The first two hold up if interest rates rise with inflation. The third is protected against inflation."

Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to $25 million in a European bond fund which tells us that he is counting on a steadily weakening dollar. So, while working class Americans are loosing ground to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth Cheney will be enhancing his wealth in "Old Europe". As Blackburn sagely notes, "Not all bad news' is bad for everybody."

This should put to rest once and for all the foolish notion that the "Bush Economic Plan" is anything more than a scam aimed at looting the public till. The whole deal is intended to shift the nation's wealth from one class to another. It's also clear that Bush-Cheney couldn't have carried this off without the tacit approval of the thieves at the Federal Reserve who engineered the low-interest rate boondoggle to put the American people to sleep while they picked their pockets.

Reasonable people can dispute that Bush is "intentionally" skewering the dollar with his lavish tax cuts, but how does that explain Cheney's portfolio?

It doesn't. And, one thing we can say with metaphysical certainty is that the miserly Cheney would never plunk his money into an investment that wasn't a sure thing. If Cheney is counting on the dollar tanking and interest rates going up, then, by Gawd, that's what'll happen.

The Bush-Cheney team has racked up another $3 trillion in debt in just 6 years. The US national debt now stands at $8.4 trillion dollars while the trade deficit has ballooned to $800 billion nearly 7% of GDP.
This is lunacy. No country, however powerful, can maintain these staggering numbers. The country is in hock up to its neck and has to borrow $2.5 billion per day just to stay above water. Presently, the Fed is expanding the money supply and buying back its own treasuries to hide the hemorrhaging from the public. Its utter madness.

Last month the trade deficit climbed to $70 billion. More importantly, foreign central banks only purchased a meager $47 billion in treasuries to shore up our ravenous appetite for cheap junk from China.
Do the math! They're not investing in America anymore. They are decreasing their stockpiles of dollars. We're sinking fast and Cheney and his pals are manning the lifeboats while the public is diverted with gay marriage amendments and "American Celebrity".

The American manufacturing sector has been hollowed out by cutthroat corporations who've abandoned their country to make a fast-buck in China or Mexico. The $3 trillion housing (equity) bubble is quickly loosing air while the anemic dollar continues to sag. All the signs indicate that the economy is slowing at the same time that energy prices continue to rise.

This is the onset of stagflation; the dreaded combo of a slowing economy and inflation.

Did Americans really think they'd be spared the same type of economic colonization that has been applied throughout the developing world under the rubric of "neoliberalism"?

Well, think again. The American economy is barrel-rolling towards earth and there are only enough parachutes for Cheney and the gang.
The country has lost 3 million jobs from outsourcing since Bush took office; more than 200,000 of those are the high-paying, high-tech jobs that are the life's-blood of every economy.

Consider this from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) June edition of Foreign Affairs, the Bible of globalists and plutocrats:
"Between 2000 and 2003 alone, foreign firms built 60,000manufacturing plants in China. European chemical companies, Japanese carmakers, and US industrial conglomerates are all building factories in China to supply export markets around the world. Similarly, banks, insurance companies, professional-service firms, and IT companies are building R&D and service centers in India to support employees, customers, and production worldwide." ("The Globally integrated Enterprise" Samuel Palmisano, Foreign Affairs page 130)
"60,000 manufacturing plants" in 3 years?!?
"Banks, insurance companies, professional-service firms, and IT companies"?
No job is safe. American elites and corporate tycoons are loading the boats and heading for foreign shores. The only thing they're leaving behind is the insurmountable debt that will be shackled to our children into perpetuity and the carefully arranged levers of a modern police-surveillance state.

Welcome to Bush's 21st Century gulag; third world luxury in a Guantanamo-type setting.
Take another look at Cheney's investment strategy; it tells the whole ugly story. Interest rates are going up, the middle class is going down, and the poor dollar is headed for the dumpster. The country is not simply teetering on the brink of financial collapse; it is being thrust headfirst by the blackguards in office and their satrapies at Federal Reserve.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com

Bruce Willis buys electric car

Way to go bruce!

Bruce Willis Goes Green, Buys Electric Car
by Bang Media
Jun 29, 2006

Bruce Willis is buying an electric car. The actor was so affected by his role as a racoon in family movie 'Over The Hedge' that he is trading in his gas-guzzler and going green.

He told BANG Showbiz: "I live in Los Angeles and spend about five hours a day in a car. I do know a lot of people who used to own those big cars but are changing over. "I'm getting one of those electric cars because it makes sense to use an alternative to digging up oil.