Friday, August 31, 2007

Green Zone Slime, WTF?!

The part about this guy watching cartoons during a meeting with Congressmen is so mind numbingly insane, I'm having trouble accepting it despite the fact I read it with my own eyes. With intellectual heavy weights like Muwaffaq al-Rubaie in charge, I can see how only three of eighteen benchmarks were met.
Rap Sheets
Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007; Page A13

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."

The bio of Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes.

"This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher said of her bio.

More than two dozen House members and senators have used the August recess to travel to Iraq in the hope of getting a firsthand view of the war ahead of commanding Gen. David H. Petraeus's progress report in two weeks on Capitol Hill. But it appears that the trips have been as much about Iraqi and U.S. officials sizing up Congress as the members of Congress sizing up the war.

Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.

Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."

"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."

But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.

When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.

Porter confirmed the incident, although he tried to paint the scene in the best light, noting that at least they had electricity.

"I don't disagree it was an odd moment, but I did take a deep breath and say, 'Wait a minute, at least they are using the latest technology, and they are monitoring the world,' " Porter said. "But, yes, it was pretty annoying."

It was the bio sheets that seemed to annoy the members of Congress the most. Just who assembled them is not clear. E-mails to U.S. Central Command's public affairs office in Baghdad this week went unanswered.

"I had never seen that in the past. That's new," said Porter, who was on his fourth trip to Iraq. "Now I want to see what they're saying about me," he added, when he learned of the contents of his travel companions' rap sheets.

For one, the quotations appeared to be selected to divide the visitors into those who are with the war effort and those who are against. For another, they were not exactly accurate. Under "latest Iraq vote," Tauscher's bio noted that she had voted in favor of legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq within 120 days of the bill's enactment.

She did vote that way -- in May. On Aug. 2, Tauscher voted in favor of her own bill, which mandates that troops be granted a leave from combat at least as long as their last combat deployment before being shipped back to Iraq. That vote might have been a little too popular with the soldiers she was meeting, Tauscher said.

Still, Porter was quick to add, for all the drawbacks, the trip was worth it.

"No doubt you will have people speak the company talking points," Porter said. "But I spent time with people who were not officers, four of them from Nevada, two who were very blunt" about their support for the war and their anger over partisan fighting in Washington.

"I tend to lean with the rank-and-file members of military who have nothing to gain," he added. "They want to go home as soon as possible."

Thursday, August 30, 2007

after Gonzo, who? nobody.

I nominate Mr. Bean!

Gonzales' replacement - there won't be any nominee.
August 27, 2007 - 4:59pm.

By ROB KEZELIS

The tubes of the internets are abuzz with today's breaking news - the resignation of the worst attorney general our country has ever experienced. Of course, the president blamed Democratic politicians for dragging a good man through the mud, one who had done nothing wrong. Gonzales added to the carnival atmosphere by claiming that his worst day "serving the public" was better than his father's best day.

The next hottest issue is who will replace Gonzo. My guess is none of the above.

Let's take a look at today's reality. Our congress, as compliant, spineless and corruptable as ever, is so afraid of taking a real stance, that it is highly unlikely that even a Chertoff, an Addington, or even a Libby or Fielding would be oppsed by them. The longer that the Democratic-led congress remains clueless and impotent, the more breathing room the president has. The odds are good, given past behavior, that the Senate would eventually cave in to the president's wishes, even if Jack the Ripper, RIchard Speck, or Mr. Bean was nominated.

But, I suspect that the White House is content to do nothing. Especially now. You never push against an enemy that is busy self-destructing, and the Democratic leadership sure seems to be doing that. Of course, the White House meltdown continues unabated as well. Rove, Libby, and many others are gone, and Gonzales is following in their wake. Still, the White House is in power, and that power remains significant, what with unfettered, uncontrolled domestic spying approved by the congress, and personally controlled by the top man at the DOJ. As I said, a LOT of power.

Bush knows that a truly useful candidate would never pass through the senate, not even if he selected a senator like Hatch. Why pick a fight that might cause the democrats to organize and stand up for a change, instead of slinking away like a slimy snake, fearful, scared, clueless?

Besides, there is no need to make a choice. The status quo suits Bush perfectly. Not only do the Democrats scurry around, worrying who he might pick, but they will waste energy making demands of Bush to play fair and be nice. The louder those claims are, the more foolish and weak the Dems look.

The secret behind the resignation's timing is simple - Bush did not want to go through a messy nomination hearing. And given his promise not to inject an appointment while congress is not in session, some think that he is boxed in. They would be wrong.

When Gonzales was still #1, his top deputy resigned. That left Paul Clement as the next highest ranking DOJ employee. Now that Gonzo is leaving, while those top spots remain open, he takes charge.

What Bush and Rove managed to do is to "set up" congress yet again. Not only will there never be a confirmation hearing for a new DOJ head, there won't even be a nominee. Why would Bush need one? His dream candidate is already in place.

Let's look at Clement's dirty laundry: He clerked for two of the biggest neocon judges, Laurence H. Silberman (DC Circ) and Justice Antonin Scalia. He worked for Kirkland and Ellis, the GOP dream firm. In fact, he was hired to work for Ken Starr. He worked for then Senator John Ashcroft, before he was hired to write the supreme court briefs in support of the GOP in Bush v. Gore.

No matter how you slice it, Clement is a clone of the worst aspects of both Ashcroft and Gonzales, except that by all accounts, he is also brilliant and extremely ideological. And on top of all that, he is friendly, personable, and has a nice smile, with no smirk to be found.

Clement is Bush's wet dream candidate - he could not have picked a better nominee - except he doesn't even have to officially pick him now. Clement remains in place and in charge as long as no other nominee is selected by Bush.

Why would Bush risk energizing the left and the center with a worse nominee? Why would Bush remove a dream candidate who will pursue White House political and legal strategies for the next 18 months without the slightest hint of remorse? Why spend the time and energy vetting, questioning and searching, when from Bush's point of view Clement is the perfect man for the job. Committed, loyal, political, smart, neoconservative, and ideologically tested and found to be true.

For these reasons, Bush make play at a new nominee, just to keep the critics guessing and confused. He may even dangle a few names, in an effort to split the Dems and keep the GOP in line. He might even promise things in exchange for "support for my new choice", while all the time, he won't have to lift a finger, in fact, he won't lift a finger to pick anyone. Clement's already there.

Ditch Mitch!

I just read about this happening in KY. This should be replicated on a state by state basics. Bands of angry mobs following each senator around 24/7 wherever they go, being so loud that no effort can drown out our demands. These scumbags work FOR US!!!

read all about it here, http://www.ditchmitchky.com/

and here, http://www.hillbillyreport.com.

The first step would be to compile a list of every senators home addresses, establish a scheduling committee to determine when and where these people will be within earshot of their constituents. Then follow them around with dogged persistence until they get the message. If the success of this first effort in KY can be used as a guide, 200-300 protestors is enough of a presence to make a statement, so a national organization would have to be able to depend on almost 20,000 volunteers in order to make their presence felt.

This is the type of unavoidable constant effort required to dislodge these automatons from their lethargic inaction.

Youtube clip of the protest in front of Mitch Mcconnell's house.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Matthew's Cooking Narrative Episode 1

This is the first in a series of self produced cooking narratives, enjoy.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Marx Cafe tonight!

Hey all, I'll be playing records at Marx cafe tonight from 10-2am. Stop by if you can, great beer specials, 4$ Chimay and 5$ Dekoneke. I have some new records that are burning a hole in my record bag, cause these tunez are that hot!!1

203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

tar and feather attack

Oh my, I didn't think this kind of thing happened anymore. Sends a perfectly clear message however, don't deal drugs in Belfast. Perhaps this attack had little to do with narcotics and was truly a punishment attack by the Ulster Defence Association, seems unlikely given the increasing willingness of these former paramilitary groups to participate in meaningful political reconciliation with former enemies. It's still a particularly vicious mob rule incident, whatever the man's crimes I don't feel he deservers to be treated in such a horrible and extra judicious manner. It's possible no complaint will be filed with the authorities, whomever this is in the photograph will likely have more to fear by reporting the attack than from the act itself. At any rate, that shit will not come off easy!

Tarring and feathering: a shameful echo of our past
UDA role again under spotlight
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

By Ashleigh Wallace

These are the shocking pictures which show a Belfastman being tied to a lamppost before he is tarred and feathered by two hooded men in a horrific punishment attack.

The man was targeted in the loyalist Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast on Sunday evening.

After having tar poured over his head, the victim was covered in feathers. A placard was then placed around his neck.

The brutal attack will once again raise concerns over UDA activity, although a member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) has denied the incident was a UDA punishment attack, saying it was a "reaction from the community".

Local Ulster Unionist Assemblyman Michael McGimpsey branded the tarring and feathering as "ghastly" and said it "harked back to the worst days of the Troubles".

The victim was targeted on Sunday and, after being tied to a lamppost at the shops in Taughmonagh, he was tarred and feathered by two men wearing black balaclavas while a group of people - including women and children - looked on.

Family members arrived at the scene and released the man and led him away.

Colin Halliday from the UPRG, which gives political advice to the UDA, said: "This man being tarred and feathered was a community reaction. It was not a UDA punishment attack.

"There was a lot of anger within the community.

"The community demanded something be done. There were people baying for blood but that's not the way things are done now.

"There were women and children present when this was going on and what happened has sent out a very clear message."

South Belfast Assembly member Mr McGimpsey said the weekend attack was " ghastly".

He said: "If there is an accusation against an individual, then this should be dealt with by the police and the courts.

"It is wrong for anyone concerned - whether they purport to represent the community or not - to take the law into their own hands and administer this type of mob punishment.

"I know the community in Taughmonagh and community leaders have been working tremendously hard over the years to overcome negative publicity in the area.

"I feel they will see what happened on Sunday as a major setback to that hard work."

A police spokesman confirmed the PSNI received a report that a man had been assaulted in the Finwood Park area of Taughmonagh on Sunday evening.

He said: "When police arrived at the scene, no victim was located and none has since come forward."

The attack happened at a time of heightened public concerns over UDA violence. Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie has warned she will pull a £1.2m grant for a conflict transformation initiative if the UDA fails to move on the arms issue after recent violence in Bangor and Carrickfergus.

Last week in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, loyalist 'brigadier' Jackie McDonald challenged the Chief Constable to remove criminals from the ranks of the UDA and called for dialogue between the loyalist leadership and the Department of Social Development.

Monday, August 27, 2007

An Arab plan to end the war in Iraq

This sounds much like the plan that Colin Powell had drafted before being forced to go to the UN and lie in an attempt to legitimize our invasion of a sovereign nation. It has even less chance of being acted upon now.
Substantive Plan for Ending the Iraqi War
Jonathan Power, Arab News


Everybody out! Surely that is the only answer for Iraq. The trouble is — among all the other troubles — that no one has a plan. At best we have vague ideas — a pull back but leaving troops in their bases to do training work, a conference with the interested neighbors, or a break-up of Iraq into its constituent ethnic and religious parts. Where do we go from there, remains unanswered.

Rather bravely, if belatedly too, Sweden’s Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (TFF) has come out with a plan. (Although I am an unpaid associate of the foundation I have had no say in the plan’s drafting.)

It begins with a telling observation: “As long as the overall perspective is concentrated on how bad and wrong everything is, it is a safe hypothesis that there will be either no withdrawal or an even worse situation after such a withdrawal... Withdrawal is not likely until many more citizens around the world can see alternatives to occupation. Elise Boulding has eloquently stated that what people can’t envision, they are not likely to fight for.”

A “withdraw-and-forget” policy à la Vietnam would be the worst and most dangerous policy.

TFF suggests that we have to establish an international peacebuilding mission under UN leadership. This will not be “just another UN mission”. It will be of a fundamentally new type. Its main ingredients must be — a clear and comprehensive mandate giving the UN control with funding secured for a least five years at the onset; partnership with influential organizations, such as the Arab League, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as nongovernmental organizations; 100,000 UN troops (I would double this figure) of which 15 percent will be acting under a robust command, as laid out in Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, 25 percent will be police and 60 percent will be civilian-humanitarian workers. No military personnel will be recruited from countries that have been occupiers and a majority will come from non-Western countries. Countries with sophisticated armies like India, France, Japan and Brazil must play a leading role.

This will be the largest ever UN mission. “It must be big enough so that it can do the job, but not so big that the Iraqis will feel that it is a new occupation.” The mission must strike a balance between the traditional “heavyweight” activities such as the military, law, institution building and physical re-building and “lightweight” people-orientated elements, such as working directly on reconciliation, forgiveness, human healing, neighborhood-regeneration, schooling, health and psychiatric care. The UN would work through two new Iraqi bodies appointed by the Iraqi government — a reconstruction and development council run by Iraqi professionals and technocrats with support from the UN and a national security council that will oversee defense, interior affairs, intelligence and national security.

Added to this there should be a South Africa-style commission so that those accused of wrongdoing can find a way to clean the sheet by owning up publicly to their crimes.

Remembering what the supposed reason was for the American-British invasion — to root out weapons of mass destruction — the UN should resolve to insist that the Middle East become a zone free of such weapons. The US and Britain should also make Iraq a hefty endowment to compensate for all the destruction they have brought about, just as Iraq was compelled to aid Kuwait after the first Gulf War. This would amount to at least $250 billion. The whole effort will demand a high-class team of high-powered international diplomats who have earned a reputation for impartiality and the ability to empathize with both sides in a conflict. Fortunately over the years the UN has built up a cadre of these — Kofi Annan could be one.

Here is a plan that will require not just American and British consent but active support from all over. It needs the full weight of the European Union and real credible backing from Moscow and Beijing. It also demands that the rest of the world pull their weight too — with troops, professionals and finance. Nearly every country in the world has a vested interest in making sure that Iraq does not go from bad to worse, that Iraq doesn’t become a major recruiting ground and front for Al-Qaeda.

For those who have doubts they should re-read the UN Charter. It was written with situations like this clearly in mind — when such is the hell that only the combined will and willingness of mankind can rectify the destruction being done.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Flemish Belgium to secede?

Who ever said that Europeans have no sense of humor?
Viewers fooled by 'Belgium split'
BBC

Belgians reacted with widespread alarm to news that their country had been split in two - before finding out they had been spoofed.

The Belgian public television station RTBF ran a bogus report saying the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence.

Later it said Wednesday night's programme was meant to stir up debate.

It appears to have succeeded. Thousands of people made panicked calls to the station and politicians complained.

"It's very bad Orson Welles, in very poor taste," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, referring to the famous director's 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. That spoof fooled many Americans into believing Martians had invaded.


We obviously scared many people - maybe more than we expected
Yves Thiran
RTBF head of news

"In the current context, it's irresponsible for a public television channel to announce the end of Belgium as a reality presented by genuine journalists," he added.

The French-language TV channel interrupted regular programming with an apparent news report, announcing that Dutch-speaking Flanders had unilaterally declared independence and that Belgium as a nation had ceased to exist.

It showed "live" pictures of cheering crowds holding the Flemish flag, huge traffic jams leading to Brussels airport, and trams stuck at the new "border".

Monarchists gather outside the Royal Palace in Brussels with Belgian flags
Monarchists rallied outside the Royal Palace after the report

The broadcast came amid an apparent growth of separatist sentiment in Flanders.

Recent regional elections have shown strong support for the far-right, nationalist Vlaams Belang party, which advocates Flemish independence.

The station's website crashed briefly as alarmed viewers sought more information, and 2,600 calls were made to a telephone number given out during the spoof.

"Our intention was to show Belgian viewers the intensity of the issue of the future of Belgium and the real possibility of Belgium no longer being a country in a few months," Yves Thiran, head of news at RTBF, told the BBC.

He said it introduced people to the debate who would otherwise have ignored it, but he admitted some may have taken it the wrong way.

"We obviously scared many people - maybe more than we expected," he said.

Diplomatic reaction

Some politicians were in on the joke, contributing interviews to the programme with their reactions to the "news". But others were not amused.

The minister for audiovisual affairs for the French-speaking community, Fadila Laanan, said the words "this is fiction" appeared on screen half an hour into the broadcast - at her insistence.

"I find it questionable to use such a tactic, which frightened people unbelievably," she said, adding that a number of people had called her in panic when the "news" broke.

The AFP news agency reported that even some foreign ambassadors in Brussels were taken in, and sent urgent messages back to their respective capitals.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Electricity in Baghdad

So now we have local militias seizing critical infrastructure to ensure that their neighborhood, clan or tribe has electricity before others. Doesn’t seem very positive at all coming right after the reports many regional power plants were beginning to take themselves off of the grid to avoid having to send power to Baghdad. Lovely.
BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 — Armed groups increasingly control the antiquated switching stations that channel electricity around Iraq, the electricity minister said Wednesday.

That is dividing the national grid into fiefs that, he said, often refuse to share electricity generated locally with Baghdad and other power-starved areas in the center of Iraq.

The development adds to existing electricity problems in Baghdad, which has been struggling to provide power for more than a few hours a day because insurgents regularly blow up the towers that carry power lines into the city.

The government lost the ability to control the grid centrally after the American-led invasion in 2003, when looters destroyed electrical dispatch centers, the minister, Karim Wahid, said in a news briefing attended also by United States military officials.

The briefing had been intended, in part, to highlight successes in the American-financed reconstruction program here.

But it took an unexpected turn when Mr. Wahid, a highly respected technocrat and longtime ministry official, began taking questions from Arab and Western journalists.

Because of the lack of functioning dispatch centers, Mr. Wahid said, ministry officials have been trying to control the flow of electricity from huge power plants in the south, north and west by calling local officials there and ordering them to physically flip switches.

But the officials refuse to follow those orders when the armed groups threaten their lives, he said, and the often isolated stations are abandoned at night and easily manipulated by whatever group controls the area.

This kind of manipulation can cause the entire system to collapse and bring nationwide blackouts, sometimes seriously damaging the generating plants that the United States has paid millions of dollars to repair.

Such a collapse took place just last week, the State Department reported in a recent assessment, which said the provinces’ failure to share electricity resulted in a “massive loss of power” on Aug. 14 at 5 p.m.

It added that “all Baghdad generation and 60 percent of national generation was temporarily lost.” By midnight, half the lost power had been restored, the report said.

With summer temperatures routinely exceeding 110 degrees, and demand soaring for air-conditioners and refrigerators, those blackouts deeply undermine an Iraqi government whose popular support is already weak.

In some cases, Mr. Wahid and other Iraqi officials say, insurgents cut power to the capital as part of their effort to topple the government.

But the officials said it was clear that in other cases, local militias, gangs and even some provincial military and civilian officials held on to the power simply to help their own areas.

With the manual switching system in place, there is little that the central government can do about it, Mr. Wahid said.

“We are working in this primitive way for controlling and distributing electricity,” he said.

Mr. Wahid said the country’s power plants were not designed to supply electricity to specific cities or provinces. “We have a national grid,” he said.

He cited Mosul and Baquba, in the north, and Basra, in the south, as being among the cities refusing to route electricity elsewhere. “This greatly influenced the distribution of power throughout Iraq,” Mr. Wahid complained.

At times the hoarding of power provides cities around power plants with 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity, a luxury that is unheard of in Baghdad, where residents say they generally get two to six hours of power a day.

Mr. Wahid said Baghdad was suffering mainly because the provinces were holding onto the electricity, but he said shortages of fuel and insurgents’ strikes on gas and oil pipelines also contributed to the anemic output in the capital.

Although a refusal by provincial governments to provide their full quotas to Baghdad could easily be seen as greedy when electricity is in such short supply, many citizens near the power plants regard the new reality as only fair; under Saddam Hussein, the capital enjoyed nearly 24 hours a day of power at the expense of the provinces that are now flush with electricity.

Keeping electricity for the provinces, said Mohammed al-Abbasi, a journalist in Hilla, in the south, “is a reaction against the capital, Baghdad, as power was provided to it without any cuts during the dictator’s reign.”

Other Iraqis are just grateful for anything that brings more comfort to their families and neighborhoods.

“We support any step that provides us with power,” said Ahmed Abdul Hussein, an ironsmith in Najaf, in the south.

The precision with which militias control electricity in the provinces became apparent in Basra on May 25 when Moktada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army carried out a sustained attack against a small British-Iraqi base in the city center, and turned that control to tactical military advantage.

“The lights in the city were going on and off all over,” said Cpl. Daniel Jennings, 26, one of the British defenders who fought off the attack.

“They were really controlling the whole area, turning the lights on and off at will. They would shut down one area of the city, turn it dark, attack us from there, and then switch off another one and come at us from that direction.

“What they did was very well planned.”

The electricity briefing began with Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, commanding general of the Gulf Region Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, saying the United States had finished more than 80 percent of the projects it planned for rehabilitating the Iraqi grid.

He said that even though Baghdad now got no power from either the south or north, about a third of its electricity was still supplied by the national grid.

But General Walsh said he knew people in Baghdad were far from satisfied.

“I understand people’s impatience,” he said. “Certainly when you flip the light switch and nothing happens, you can get angry.”

Damien Cave contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, Hilla and Karbala.

LOL!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Marx Cafe tonight!

Hey guys, I'll be playing records at Marx Cafe tonight, 10-2. Seeya there!

3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

Monday, August 20, 2007

The United States is no more

Do you know what day it is today? Today is the day that the United States as we know it has been disolved. That's right. mark it on your calanders, as of noon today we now live in North America. Canada, Mexico and the US have merged. check it.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Speed of light broken?

Yeahh! This is great news, now we can begin to tear down and rebuild our understanding of how the universe functions, should be fun.
'We have broken speed of light'

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/08/2007

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.
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For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

Pentagon auditors uncover overbilling "scheme"

HA HA HA H!!!! I think to call this a scheme gives these sisters a little more credit than they are due. From the article here it sounds like the whole thing happened due to a rather ugly and shortsighted flaw in the payment system in use at the pentagon; automatic processing of purchasing requests. Nothing terribly complicated or clever about that. It likely developed like this, one fateful day while entering PO's into the computer a simple mistake was made (the wrong amount was entered) and lo and behold the order went through the system without any problems. Then these devious "schemers" started thinking, "hmmm maybe I should try entering a slightly larger request and see if that works".. Sooner or later your billing the govt a million dollars to ship wood screws to Baghdad, I could see how that may have happened.
Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers (Update3)

By Tony Capaccio

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.

C&D and two of its officials were barred in December from receiving federal contracts. Today, a federal judge in Columbia, South Carolina, accepted the guilty plea of the company and one sister, Charlene Corley, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said.

Corley, 46, was fined $750,000. She faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years on each count and will be sentenced soon, McDonald said in a telephone interview from Columbia. Stroot said her sibling died last year.

Corley didn't immediately return a phone message left on her answering machine at her office in Lexington. Her attorney, Gregory Harris, didn't immediately return a phone call placed to his office in Columbia.

`Got More Aggressive'

C&D's fraudulent billing started in 2000, Stroot, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's chief agent in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in an interview. ``As time went on they got more aggressive in the amounts they put in.''

The price the military paid for each item shipped rarely reached $100 and totaled just $68,000 over the six years in contrast to the $20.5 million paid for shipping, she said.

``The majority, if not all of these parts, were going to high-priority, conflict areas -- that's why they got paid,'' Stroot said. If the item was earmarked ``priority,'' destined for the military in Iraq, Afghanistan or certain other locations, ``there was no oversight.''

Scheme Detected

The scheme unraveled in September after a purchasing agent noticed a bill for shipping two more 19-cent washers: $969,000. That order was rejected and a review turned up the $998,798 payment earlier that month for shipping two 19-cent washers to Fort Bliss, Texas, Stroot said.

The Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency orders millions of parts a year. ``These shipping claims were processed automatically to streamline the re-supply of items to combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,'' the Justice Department said in a press release announcing today's verdict.

Stroot said the logistics agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, which pays contractors, have made major changes, including thorough evaluations of the priciest shipping charges.

Dawn Dearden, a spokeswoman for the logistics agency, said finance and procurement officials immediately examined all billing records. Stroot said the review showed that fraudulent billing is ``not a widespread problem.''

``C&D was a rogue contractor,'' Stroot said. While other questionable billing has been uncovered, nothing came close to C&D's, she said. The next-highest billing for questionable costs totaled $2 million, she said.

Stroot said the Pentagon hopes to recoup most of the $20.5 million by auctioning homes, beach property, jewelry and ``high- end automobiles'' that the sisters spent the money on.

``They took a lot of vacations,'' she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: August 16, 2007 15:16 EDT

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Marx cafe

I stayed home last night to complete a report for work, I'll be back next week for sure! I hope my new records have arrived by then, waiting on some fresh tunez sucks, and there's a post strike going on in the UK right now, not helping matters any I'm sure.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Biker dosen't notice missing leg, wtf?

Now that is hardcore!
Japanese biker fails to notice missing leg
Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:46AM BST

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for 2 km (1.2 miles), leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.

The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying.

The man and his leg were taken to hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Rudy G is a liar, what?!

"America's Mayor" is an unmitigated disgrace.
RUDY'S 9/11 TOXIC SHOCK
By CARL CAMPANILE

August 10, 2007 -- Rudy Giuliani claimed yesterday he was at Ground Zero "as often, if not more" as rescue and recovery workers - and exposed to the same health risks.

"This is not a mayor or a governor or a president who's sitting in an ivory tower. I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers," he said while campaigning in Cincinnati.

"So, in that sense, I'm one of them," he added.

The statements enraged victims' families and responders who became ill after being exposes to toxins at Ground Zero.

"That's insulting and disgraceful. He's a liar," said Fire Capt. James Riches, whose firefighter son, James Jr., died on 9/11.

"I was down there on my hands and knees looking for my son. [Giuliani is] living in a dreamland," said Riches, part of a fire officers association opposing Giuliani.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Woman walks 38 miles for Ron Paul

Great story!
Woman walks to Concord for presidential candidate

By JEREMIAH ROOD
Staff Writer
jrood@fosters.com

DOVER — ABC Television personality George Stephanopoulos said on his show in July that he'd bet every last nickel that Texas Congressman Ron Paul never would make it to the White House.

His prediction angered one Dover resident, who decided to take the 2008 Republican presidential candidate's message to the streets — literally.

Kelly Halldorson, 34, started her 38-mile march to Concord from her Silver Street home at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. She hoped to finish before 11 p.m.

"I'll make it if I have to crawl," Halldorson said.

She made good on her pledge, arriving in Concord before 10 p.m.

"I feel great, but Ihave really sore feet," she said at the end of her walk.

She stopped at the Irving Blue Canoe at the intersection of routes 9 and 125 in Barrington ahead of schedule Saturday morning, meeting her husband Jeff, a worried set of grandparents and a couple of fellow Ron Paul supporters.

Her trip from Dover to Barrington took just a couple of hours.

Jeff Halldorson said he's never seen his wife this committed to something, beyond her own family.

"She's very determined," he said.

Kelly Halldorson stepped off sporting a Ron Paul Revolution T-shirt, a campaign sign and an iPod filled with Cat Stevens songs and David McCullough's "1776."

"When did journalists become prophets?" she said, referring to the Stephanopoulos comment.

She said she admires Paul's approach and commitment to the Constitution.

She also said she thinks its time for a doctor to serve in the White House, not just another lawyer.

She previously has said Paul has proved his integrity through his work as a Texas congressman and that she believes his strict interpretation of the Constitution and non-interventionist foreign policy will steer the country in the right direction in 2009.

She had watched the candidate for some years in Congress, but was alerted to his candidacy at the beginning of the year via e-mail. She since has become a strong supporter of Paul's campaign.

She began blogging in support of the candidate and tried to raise awareness about Paul through Internet advocacy. With her walk Saturday, she said she hopes to prove Paul's support is more than an Internet phenomenon.

Marx Cafe tonight!

I'll be at Marx tonight, playing records, eating food, drinking beer and talking smack about congress. What a corrupt institution! Bunch of no good, grumble, grumble, gripe. etc...

Seeya there!

3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

Monday, August 06, 2007

Afghan Opium production

I think it's hilarious that this article tries to link the rise in the poppy harvest with a resurgent Taliban. Nothing could be more misleading as everybody knows that the Taliban opposed the poppy harvest on religious grounds and worked to eradicate it. The poppy trade has been allowed to flourish under the watchful eye of the Coalition troops protecting the poppy growers from the Taliban seeking to stop the practice. If it weren't for the protective envelope established after the 2001 mulit-national invasion; this industry wouldn't be able to post such robust growth numbers year after year.
Another record poppy crop in Afghanistan
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 4, 12:27 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.

As President Bush prepares for weekend talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, divisions within the U.S. administration and among NATO allies have delayed release of a $475 million counternarcotics program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.

U.N. figures to be released in September are expected to show that Afghanistan's poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world's crop, 3 percentage points more than last year, officials familiar with preliminary statistics told The Associated Press.

But counterdrug proposals by some U.S. officials have met fierce resistance, including boosting the amount of forcible poppy field destruction in provinces that grow the most, officials said. The approach also would link millions of dollars in development aid to benchmarks on eradication; arrests and prosecutions of narcotraders, corrupt officials; and on alternative crop production.

Those ideas represent what proponents call an "enhanced carrot-and-stick approach" to supplement existing anti-drug efforts. They are the focus of the new $475 million program outlined in a 995-page report, the release of which has been postponed twice and may be again delayed due to disagreements, officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because parts of the report remain classified.

Counternarcotics agents at the State Department had wanted to release a 123-page summary of the strategy last month and then again last week, but were forced to hold off because of concerns it may not be feasible, the officials said.

Now, even as Bush sees Karzai on Sunday and Monday at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Md., a tentative release date of Aug. 9, timed to follow the meetings, appears in jeopardy. Some in the administration, along with NATO allies Britain and Canada, seek revisions that could delay it until at least Aug. 13, the officials said.

The program represents a 13 percent increase over the $420 million in U.S. counternarcotics aid to Afghanistan last year. It would adopt a bold new approach to "coercive eradication" and set out criteria for local officials to receive development assistance based on their cooperation, the officials said.

Although the existing aid, supplemented mainly by Britain and Canada and supported by the NATO force in Afghanistan, has achieved some results — notably an expected rise in the number of "poppy-free" provinces from six to at least 12 and possibly 16, mainly in the north — production elsewhere has soared, they said.

"Afghanistan is providing close to 95 percent of the world's heroin," the State Department's top counternarcotics official, Tom Schweich, said at a recent conference. "That makes it almost a sole-source supplier" and presents a situation "unique in world history."

Almost all the heroin from Afghanistan makes its way to Europe; most of the heroin in the U.S. comes from Latin America.

Afghanistan last year accounted for 92 percent of global opium production, compared with 70 percent in 2000 and 52 percent a decade earlier. The higher yields in Afghanistan brought world production to a record high of 7,286 tons in 2006, 43 percent more than in 2005.

A State Department inspector general's report released Friday noted that the counternarcotics assistance is dwarfed by the estimated $38 billion "street value" of Afghanistan's poppy crop, if all is converted to heroin, and said eradication goals were "not realistic."

Schweich, an advocate of the now-stalled plan, has argued for more vigorous eradication efforts, particularly in southern Helmand province, responsible for some 80 percent of Afghanistan's poppy production. It is where, he says, growers must be punished for ignoring good-faith appeals to switch to alternative, but less lucrative, crops.

"They need to be dealt with in a more severe way," he said at the conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There needs to be a coercive element, that's something we're not going to back away from or shy away from."

But, in fact, many question whether this is the right approach with Afghanistan mired in poverty and in the throes of an insurgency run by the Taliban and residual al-Qaida forces.

Along with Britain, whose troops patrol Helmand, elements in the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Defense Department and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy have expressed concern, saying that more raids will drive farmers with no other income to join extremists.

There is also skepticism about the incentives in the new strategy from those who believe development assistance should not be denied to local communities because of poppy growth, officials said.

Opponents argue that the benefits of such aid, new roads and other infrastructure, schools and hospitals, will themselves be powerful tools to combat the narcotrade once constructed.

One U.S. official said the plan was a good one but might take another year or two before it can be effectively introduced.

___

On the Net:

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/

State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs: http://www.state.gov/p/inl/

Audio link to comments on new strategy by acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Thomas Schweich at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_events/task,view/id,1350/

U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html

Friday, August 03, 2007

A Message from Ron Paul

Yeah! Ron Ron Run! Keep sending in those donations folks! I'm amazed at the momentum his campaign has been building over the last couple of months, it's getting serious up in here! woo hoo!

Message from Ron Paul

What a great time we had in San Antonio last weekend. An enthusiastic bunch of Texans thronged the Alamo for a rally, and then there was a fundraising dinner at an historic museum. More than a thousand people attended one or the other.

San Antonio is a military town. Indeed, I served there myself in the Air Force, and lots of soldiers and airmen came up to offer their support. Some were Iraq veterans, some were headed there, and all supported getting us out.

As I told the crowd, with our non-interventionist foreign policy, there would be 3,600 young Americans still alive, and 25,000 more not badly wounded. It got the biggest response of the evening.

Then a 14-year-old girl told me she was helping the campaign so her daddy, a soldier, would not have to go to Iraq. I told her there are many thousands of us working to that exact end, to keep him and all the others safe. What an outrage that we are accused of not supporting the troops. What a scam when the warmongers claim to be pro-soldier.

Lots of military people turned out to be aware that our campaign got more donations from soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines than any other. Funny, that made a big impression in Congress too. Many of my colleagues were amazed and encouraged that you can be against this unconstitutional and disastrous war, and get military support.

This weekend I meet with family, high-school classmates, and local friends and supporters in Pittsburgh (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/events/pittsburgh-area-rally/). We are really looking forward to it!

Then it’s a full week in Iowa. On Sunday, there’s the ABC debate (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3437758&page=1), and next weekend is the Ames straw poll. Other campaigns seem to be pulling back, to try to lower expectations. We are stepping things up, with more staff, another office, and a significant TV and radio buy. This all costs a lot of money, of course, as does our continuing work in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, and other states.

But I have been thrilled by the support among Iowa Republicans for our issues-on the war, on pro-life, on fiscal conservatism. This is fertile territory for us. Now we just have to work harder than our opponents at recruiting supporters, organizing them, and getting them to the straw poll.

Some media have hinted that a good showing by our campaign would be a bombshell. I don’t make predictions, but I am cautiously optimistic about our chances. However, I very much need your help.

We got a lot of good publicity earlier about our prudence in spending. Indeed, I treat every donation with care, since it comes from a good American who shares our hope for the future, and who had to work hard to earn that money.

But all that publicity about our non-spendthrift ways had a “blowback” effect-if you will excuse the expression. It made some people feel the campaign did not need support, right at the very time we especially need it.

Stand with me in Iowa. I very much need your support. Please, send the most generous donation (https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/) you can, as soon as you can.

Sincerely,

Ron

Crazziiee!! ...but true.

OMG this story is hilarious. I couldn't make this stuff up if they paid me, well actually I would do so willingly. I'm still waiting to hear back from The Onion, would love to land a job on their editorial review board, that would be a pretty sweet gig.
Minister Charged With Indecent Exposure
July 31, 2007 - 5:53pm

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - The minister of a Baptist church has been charged with indecent exposure and driving under the influence, and police officers say he propositioned them.

Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly urinating in front of children at a car wash, police said.

Police also said Tester offered to perform oral sex on officers who were sent to the scene.

Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian radio station WZAP-AM in Bristol.

There was no immediate response Tuesday to calls to the church and Tester's home.

WZAP issued a statement Monday asking for prayers and saying Tester had been suspended during an investigation.

"We pray this matter can be quickly resolved," WZAP owner Al Morris said in the statement.

Tester was released Friday on $1,000 bail. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - The minister of a Baptist church has been charged with indecent exposure and driving under the influence, and police officers say he propositioned them.

Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly urinating in front of children at a car wash, police said.

Police also said Tester offered to perform oral sex on officers who were sent to the scene.

Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian radio station WZAP-AM in Bristol.

There was no immediate response Tuesday to calls to the church and Tester's home.

WZAP issued a statement Monday asking for prayers and saying Tester had been suspended during an investigation.

"We pray this matter can be quickly resolved," WZAP owner Al Morris said in the statement.

Tester was released Friday on $1,000 bail. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Thursday, August 02, 2007