Wednesday, October 18, 2006

When you wake up in the morning and read that a nukulur power is saying that it will "deal merciless blows" to anyone that messes with it, you know it's going to be one of those days...and maybe that's why I have been wanting to crawl back under the covers...the no-sky-all day thing we have going here doesn't help either...and neither does the fact that the Antarctic just told us, again, that it's our fault... and then of course there's the news that the worst in Iraq is yet to come...which should sound pretty bloody scary to our northern neighbours who have had worse and worse for years now...especially since the Lancet just published another study saying that 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the occupation and war...
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October must be the month for sexual predators getting bit back...at least as far as awful Moshe Katsav and icky old Foley are concerned...and it was a little blog that got the Foley scandal out there..
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The BBC has a piece on Saudi blogging
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South Africa's fastest growing paper runs stories like 'girls who pee spoons' and 'boyfriends who eat mothers'...yeah I don't know what the hell is going on either..but there you are.
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I'm too sleepy to remember what else I read...but this is today's poem.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Saturday, October 7, 2006

Salon has an article about Battlestar Galactica's "intoxicating darkness"...and about season three's storyline which includes Caprica being invaded and occupied by the Cylons and the humans having to fight back, like insurgents...or like that other word with a 'T'...I keep tellin ya, scifi is 'the real world'.
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mmmmm mmm...this news just deserves a direct quote:
"Food from a Lancashire dairy has been banned from sale across Europe after it was found to contain out-of-date ingredients, milk with traces of detergent and dyes, and mouldy and contaminated cheese including "floor waste". The Independent
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When the Pope made those remarks about Islam a couple of weeks ago, it apparently didn't provoke quite as much Islamic rage as one would have wanted...so this week Jack Straw decided to try his luck..bless them for trying and trying again...
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And speaking of trying to start a war...What is up with the US navy issuing “Prepare to Deploy Orders”, Rice's visit to the ME being a front for building a coalition against Iran, the news running with stories of Iran defying, ignoring and dissapointing all them folks who just want it to stop having what they have, the US planning to 'punish' Iran, and that pesky letter...anyone smell the November elections?...
Mother Jones invites you to Meet the "Whack Iran" Lobby as well as 'the talented Mr. Fakhravar': Has Washington found its Iranian Chalabi?
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And just in case the disaster in Iraq is not enough to turn your stomach against US flavoured intervention , here is what it looks like in Afghanistan:
"In recent months the Taliban has seized control of entire regions of the country. The security situation has worsened as suicide bombings are up 600 percent this year. Opium and poppy cultivation are at record highs." Watch the whole show on Democracy Now!
Then take a look at Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report October 6th, 2006
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Thanks to Shemsi and Andy I have a new show to watch religiously, The Show with zefrank...Gotta do something religiously after all.
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And in short:
Bahrain's 'Bandargate'---The Daily Show asks what prez Bush's Job really is?---Shocker: KTV programs called 'sub-standard'...oh no wait, they meant 'immoral'---More fights with Elisabeth on The View---Ban Ki Moon, know him?
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The weather is really pretty...so are the two noisy birds on the tree outside the window...so is the cat that is watching them very very closely...

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

This retirement business is growing on me...but then who would give you too many links to articles you wish I hadn't found?...There is a responsibility on my weak little shoulders that has been nagging and nagging...so here it goes:
  • Wonder Woman...Joss Whedon...woweee.

Ok, here it goes:

  • When you have oil wealth overflowing like it was a heavenly river...you could go the way of Venezuela or...well, you could futz around a lot and then give people 200KD every so often. Plane to Caracas anyone?
  • The best documentary I have ever seen was showing at the Beirut Film Festival...I can't even begin to describe the look on all our faces when the lights went up at the end...Iraq in Fragments, see it, see it, see it...stunning in every way.
  • Yet another study tells us that our apocalypse is coming dressed as climate change for the big bash-ing. Between now and 2100 one third of the planet will be desert. Think wars for water, drought, starvation in the millions, struggles over limited resources...and other pretty things.
  • Did you think that was the only mention of climate change I would include? Sorry, you know me better than that. The ice in the arctic, yeah, it's vanishing.
  • What are these two up to?
  • And really, what are these two up to? Here is the Daily Show on the issue.
  • If King George's power grab didn't scare you before...I think it's time you got really terrified. Why? Here's a list:

Bizarro President

Detainee bill lifts Bush's power to new heights

Lincoln Weeps
by Bill Moyers

And finally...can't leave my first post in ages without the loveliest voice to come out of the Supreme Court on there...Shemsi I know this creeps you out...so look away now.

200px-US_Supreme_Court_Justice_Potter_Stewart_-_1976_official_portrait

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And on October 20 a meteor shower near Orion will say hi to us all..