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READING

Silent Coup: The Removal of a President - Len Colodny & Robert Gettlin

George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin (free online version/download here)

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STOP TERRORISM

ABBREVIATIONS FOR SITES I OFTEN STEAL NEWS ITEMS FROM:

og = J Orlin Grabbe
u = Progressive Review's Undernews
a = Antiwar

amazon wish list

alibris wishlist

Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia

Amazon Light

Just consider what current events will sound like two thousand years from now -- the greatest nation on Earth bombing some of the smallest and weakest for no clear reasons, people starving in parts of the world while farmers are paid not to plant crops in others, technophiles sitting at home playing electronic golf rahter than the real thing, and police forces ordered to arrest people who simply desire to ingest a psychoactive weed. People of that era will also likely laugh it all off as fantastic myths...

It is time for those who desire true freedom to exert themselves -- to fight back against the forces who desire domination through fear and disunity.

This does not have to involve violence. It can be done in small, simple ways, like not financing that new Sport Utility Vehicle, cutting up all but one credit card, not opting for a second mortgage, turning off that TV sitcom for a good book, asking questions and speaking out in church or synagogue, attending school board and city council meetings, voting for the candidate who has the least money, learning about the Fully Informed Jury movement and using it when called -- in general, taking responsibility for one's own actions. Despite the omnipresent advertising for the Lotto -- legalized government gambling -- there is no free lunch. Giving up one's individual power for the hope of comfort and security has proven to lead only to tyranny.

from Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs

* * * *

You had to take those pieces of paper with you when you went shopping, though by the time I was nine or ten most people used plastic cards. . .It seems so primitive, totemistic even, like cowry shells. I must have used that kind of money myself, a little, before everything went on the Compubank.

I guess that's how they were able to do it, in the way they did, all at once, without anyone knowing beforehand. If there had still been portable money, it would have been more difficult.

It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.

Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control.

I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen?

That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.

. . . Things continued on in that state of suspended animation for weeks, although some things did happen. Newspapers were censored and some were closed down, for security reasons they said. The roadblocks began to appear, and Identipasses. Everyone approved of that, since it was obvious you couldn't be too careful. They said that new elections would be held, but that it would take some time to prepare for them. The thing to do, they said, was to continue on as usual.

from The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

* * * *

By the time Oscar reached the outskirts of Washington, DC, The Louisiana air base had benn placed under siege.

The base's electrical power supply had long since been cut off for lack of payment. The aircraft had no fuel. The desperate federal troops were bartering stolen equipment for food and booze. Desertion was rampant. The air base commander had released a sobbing video confession and had shot himself.

Green Huey had lost patience with the long-festering scandal. He was moving in for the kill. Attacking and seizing an federal air base with his loyal state militia would have been entirely too blatant and straightforward. Instead the rogue Governor employed proxy guerrillas.

Huey had won the favor of nomad prole groups by providing them with safe havens. He allowed them to squat in Louisiana's many federally declared contamination zones. These forgotten landscapes were tainted with petrochemical effluent and hormone-warping pesticides, and were hence officially unfit for human settlement. The prole hordes had different opinions on that subject.

Proles cheerfully grouped in any locale where conventional authority had grown weak. Whenever the net-based proles were not constantly harassed by the authorities, they coalesced and grew ambitious. Though easily scattered by focused crackdowns, they regrouped as swiftly as a horde of gnats. With their reaping machines and bio-breweries, they could live off the land at the very base of the food chain. They had no stake in the established order, and they cherished a canny street-level knowledge of society's infrastructural weaknesses. They made expensive enemies. . .

Louisiana's ecologically blighted areas were ideal for proles. The disaster zones were also impromptu wildlife sanctuaries, since wild animals found chemical fouling much easier to survive than the presence of human beings. After decades of wild subtropical growth, Louisiana's toxic dumps were as impenetrable as Sherwood Forest.

from Distraction by Bruce Sterling

and s-integrator

Friday, July 12, 2002

Boy, does The Royal Tenenbaums suck. Got through 20 minutes before I put it out of its misery...

1:40 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Remember a language from a past life?

Dr. Dean Radin at the Institute of Noetic Sciences wants to know. Contact him here.

1:31 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Virus made from scratch using mail-order materials

Oh good...

It's OK to publish this, but we've got to hide the location of leaky chemical facilities, right? Yeah I know -- it'll get out anyway. But why were they doing it to begin with, if not for biowarfare?
Eckard Wimmer, a scientist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who led the polio virus synthesis effort, said he did not feel that the work crossed any ethical lines. For one thing. he said, many scientists - himself included - did not consider viruses to be alive, since they are so dependent on host organisms for their survival.

In his online report in Science Express, he and his co-workers, Jeronimo Cello and Aniko Paul, called the polio virus "a chemical with a life cycle."

Wimmer explained: "We shy away from using the word 'create.' We want to make a distinction between us and the Creator. I want to avoid getting letters."
It's OK, it's not alive...

1:24 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, July 11, 2002

Dell sucks

My PC is still down, til Monday at the earliest, so posts will continue at a slower pace.

What a nightmare. It's too depressing to go into.

3:43 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Years in prison if hold a marijuana rally or a rave on your property
The Senate is considering legislation that would give federal prosecutors new powers to shut down raves, marijuana rallies and other events they don't like and punish businessmen and women for hosting or promoting them. The bill (S. 2633), also known as the Reducing American's Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (RAVE Act), is moving very rapidly and could be considered by the full Senate as early as this week. (A similar bill is also pending in the House.)

S. 2633, sponsored by Senators Durbin (D-IL), Hatch (R-UT), Grassley (R-IA) and Leahy (D-VT), expands the so-called "crack house statute" to allow the federal government to fine or imprison businessmen and women if customers sell or use drugs on their premises or at their events. Property owners, promoters, and event coordinators could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars or face up to twenty years in federal prison if they hold raves or other events on their property. If the bill becomes law, property owners may be too afraid to rent or lease their property to groups holding hemp festivals or putting on all-night dance parties, effectively stifling free speech and banning raves and other musical events.

The new law would also make it a federal crime to temporarily use a place for the purpose of using any illegal drug. Thus, anyone who used drugs in their own home or threw an event (such as a party or barbecue) in which one or more of their guests used drugs could potentially face a $250,000 fine and years in federal prison. The bill also effectively makes it a federal crime to rent property to medical marijuana patients and their caregivers, giving the federal government a new weapon in its war on AIDS and cancer patients who use marijuana to relieve their suffering. [from an email I got from the Marijuana Policy Project]
Here's a link to automatically fax your Senators.

3:41 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, July 10, 2002

Music industry "pleads for a stop" to this download madness

These MusicMobsters are without shame.

6:57 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Blasphemy still illegal in Italy

. . . but cursing has been decriminalized.

I say, bring back the 10th century now!!

6:52 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Britain decriminalizes

Britain said today that it would relax its laws on marijuana smoking, keeping the use of the drug theoretically illegal but no longer arresting people using it in discreet amounts in private.[NYT username: aflakete password: europhilia]
While here in the US, I hear leeches are making a comeback as an economical substitute for surgery. . .and you can still be jailed for years for having a joint on you.

6:41 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Cloud seeding operation in Texas flood zone starting June 30 called "coincidence" [David Icke]

12:03 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Many nodes on Ix

This atomjack fellow has a site with over 1300 pages, and it's got a nice page on cyberpunk. [sm]

11:53 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Robert I. Friedman on Israel and the Palestinians

xymphora recommends this article by the now-deceased Friedman, and it looks pretty good. It's from December.

My PC still isn't up, so I don't have time to read it right now.
Huwara, I was to learn, has the misfortune of being sandwiched between four radical, particularly nasty Israeli settlements. In November of 2000 a group of settlers stormed the village around 1:30 in the morning and torched the mosque. They broke a side window and threw in a Molotov cocktail. It hit the carpet and everything burned inside, including the Korans. "The fire was tremendous," said a villager named Ali who was surrounded by a group of his friends in the small community center. "In ten minutes the settlers managed to do their task and escape under the protection of the soldiers." The mosque was badly damaged. "We called the fire department in Nablus and the soldiers wouldn't let them come through," said one of Ali's friends. "It's only five minutes away, but they wouldn't let them come."

The villagers described a litany of horrors: Two months ago settlers tried to burn the local gas station and ended up burning a car and truck. They uprooted about 500 olive trees; they stole horses and mules; they poisoned a flock of sheep; they burned down the cornfields. "Just yesterday afternoon settlers were throwing rocks at villagers," said one of the men as he fondled his cell phone. "So the soldiers sit and watch until there is a reaction from us, and then they intervene. Often young men go to protect houses under attack, and soldiers start to shoot. They use live bullets."

Laila and I walked into an elementary school classroom next to a courtyard that was brightly painted with Mickey Mouse and other Hollywood cartoon characters. We were joined by a teacher, three mothers and a small group of children. It is very unusual for traditional village women to speak to a Western reporter. But they were articulate and angry. "Because of its location, on the way to Nablus, Huwara used to be a commercial center," said one woman. "Now it's dead because of the closures. Ninety percent of the men are unemployed. Since the intifada they've been doing absolutely nothing." Another woman complained that because their men feel helpless, they turn their rage against their wives, and there is a high incidence of domestic abuse. Some families go hungry, but the men are too proud to admit it. And children are in need of clothes and school supplies. Laila came to give therapy to a group of mothers who are stressed out by the intifada, but because the town was under curfew, they couldn't come. "We are very isolated," said another woman. "Honestly, everyone is destroyed psychologically. We are close to an explosion."

[...]

It's no wonder Palestinians despise Sharon. He is the godfather of the settlement movement, the butcher of Beirut and the master of a brutal and relentless occupation. Sharon's requirement that Arafat must enforce a seven-day ceasefire before he will enter into negotiations is a charade. This prerequisite places the Palestinian leader in an impossible situation. Arafat does not have absolute control of the Palestinian streets, nor does he control the Islamic extremists any more than Sharon controls the violent Jewish settlers. Even if Arafat could control terrorism, Sharon has never shown any real intention of bargaining in good faith and allowing the Palestinians to realize their goal of statehood.

[...]

Sharon, who opposes a Palestinian state, is very cunning. He knows that the longer the intifada drags on, the more entrenched the extremists on both sides will become and the harder it will be to restart the peace process.

11:33 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, July 08, 2002

Organic farming saves farms
While a conventional Iowa grain farmer might specialize in corn and soybeans, spreading out machinery and other costs over more acres, Mr. Rosmann raises smaller amounts of half-a-dozen crops and cares for livestock. Instead of using pesticides, he runs each field through a six-year rotation of various crops, which builds up soil fertility and cuts down on weeds.

On this small scale, the Rosmanns can't hope to match the efficiencies of their larger, more specialized neighbors. It takes an extra week, for example, to bring their organically fed chickens to market weight. And their 620-acre farm gets only about a third of the federal subsidies a similar-sized conventional operation would, Mr. Rosmann says.

Fortunately, the family has other advantages. First, since they don't buy chemical fertilizer or pesticide, they spend less to plant a crop. Second, by raising so many products, they smooth out the boom-and-bust cycle of traditional farming. Third, many of their products fetch a premium.

11:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

The SEC finds mistakes in 25% of the annual reports it reviews

And these reviews are unlikely to uncover outright fraud.

Happy Investing!

11:51 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

US-approved totalitarian Mahathir won't be missed

Mahathir bin Mohamed's teary announcemnt of his impending (15 months) departure from Malysian politics recently can only be a good thing.
The leader of 23 million native Malays and minority Chinese and Hindus plans to step down in 15 months, leaving behind a mixed record of steady economic growth and an illiberal political system.

Despite his often ruthless ways of dealing with domestic opponents, and his verbal sparring with the West on behalf of ever-obscure "Asian values," Mr. Mahathir has lately been embraced by the US for his help in the war on terrorism. [CSM]

Mahathir, 73, challenged virtually the entire Western world by claiming that after communism was defeated, Islam had become West's next target because it threatens other religions and systems of law and order.

Homosexuals came under fire when his government blasted gays appearing on television.

The prime minister has condemned pornography on the Internet, and mocked kids with punk-rock haircuts.

Jews felt under fire last year when Mahathir cited international financier George Soros's religion as relevant to his role in moving the world's money markets and currency values.

Underneath many of the attacks, however, is a less well-known side of Mahathir's sometimes seemingly contradictory positions.

For example, his government claimed Islam was being undermined by an internal division between mainstream Sunnis and troublesome Shi'ite "fanatics."

Despite blasting Shi'ites, Mahathir then went to Shi'ite-majority Iran in 1993 to sign one of the biggest contracts by a Southeast Asian nation in the Persian Gulf, and invested in a hotel, construction, a factory and other projects in Iran's Free Trade Zone.

When meting out punishment, meanwhile, Mahathir can be extremely harsh.

Whippings are mandated under Malaysian law. Drug dealers are executed.

Mahathir was also seen by many as supporting the possible introduction of laws to amputate limbs and stone adulterers to death, which the opposition Islamic Party, also known as Pas, favored in 1992 in their stronghold state of Kelantan. [zola times]

11:43 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Bulletin from the Homelessness Front
The homeless families continuing to spill into the overcrowded US shelter system are helping prompt a major rethinking of the nation's strategies to attack the problem.

From the streets of the Bronx to the halls of the federal bureaucracy, the focus is shifting: from simply providing emergency shelter and transitional housing, to creating permanent, stable homes for families and individuals forced out of an increasingly expensive and competitive housing market.

At the same time, policymakers are calling for the development of more supportive housing -- with services like counseling and drug treatment -- for the most vulnerable of the homeless.

The transition has been underway for some years. Successful experiments in San Francisco; Columbus, Ohio; New York City; and five other states are now fueling optimism that the nation can make major progress in solving homelessness.

"We've learned from experience that simply providing shelter does not end homelessness," says Carla Javits, president and CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing in Oakland, Calif. "There's a structural problem where many people's incomes are simply too low to afford housing, and that's becoming increasingly clear." [emphasis added] [link]
Glad to see the authorites are on top of things. . .

11:27 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

That's one of the great things about living in America: moral superiority is so damned cheap.

-- James Crumley

This country is going so far to the right you won't be able to recognize it.

-- John Mitchell, 1973

Those who think history has left us helpless should recall the abolitionist of 1830, the feminist of 1870, the labor organizer of 1890, or the gay or lesbian writer of 1910. They, like us, did not get to choose their time in history but they, like us, did get to choose what they did with it.

-- Sam Smith

REVIEWS

from Sassafrass (9/23/02)
"Unconventional viewpoints at 'charging the canvas'

Opinions that will ruffle feathers, from someone who clearly knows their way around information and the blogosphere."

Blog of the Day
1/18/02

WEEKLY QUOTE

They tell us it's about race, and we believe them. And they call it a "democracy," and we nod our heads, so pleased with ourselves. We blame the Socias [gangsters], we occasionally sneer at the Paulsons [latest crop of craven pols] but we always vote for the Sterling Mulkerns [good old boys]. And in occasional moments of quasi-lucidity, we wonder why the Mulkerns of this world don't respect us. They don't respect us because we are their molested children. They fuck us morning, noon, and night, but as long as they tuck us in with a kiss, as long as they whisper into our ears, "Daddy loves you, Daddy will take care of you," we close our eyes and go to sleep, trading our bodies, our souls, for the comforting veneers of "civilization" and "security," the false idols of our twentieth century wet dream. And it's our reliance on that dream that the Mulkerns, the Paulsons, the Socias, the Phils, the Heroes of this world depend upon. That's their dark knowledge. That's how they win.

-- Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

In the eyes of posterity it will inevitably seem that, in safeguarding our freedom, we destroyed it; that the vast clandestine apparatus we built up to probe our enemies' resources and intentions only served in the end to confuse our own purposes; that the practice of deceiving others for the good of the state led infallibly to our deceiving ourselves; and that the vast army of intelligence personnel built up to execute these purposes were soon caught up in the web of their own sick fantasies, with disastrous consequences to them and us.

-- Malcolm Muggeridge

NOT IN OUR NAME
(link to list against Iraq War)

charging the canvas

The Link Section