Another bright idea from the oil men

Rather than a gasoline tax, which encourages people to use vehicles with better gas milage, the Bush Administration is piloting a plan to tax miles travelled. This would allow them to elimiate the tax on gasoline, and "lower gasoline prices". We need to revist all our taxation policies. It was the issue of taxes that caused the calling of the Estates General, and led to the French Revolution.

The new black: the poor

Craig Collins shot and killed

Elevator

Ettiquette.

Dalai Lama

[more]

Turn off the camera #4

An incident in New Orleans. An officer orders AP Television News producer Rich Matthews to stop recording.[AP] Another officer, on horseback, attempts to block the camera's view of the incident.

Crony

[1]
An article by Peggy Noonan on withdrawing Harriet's name.

Let's overturn Brown v. Board and go back to Plessy: at least equal

Clarence Thomas says that separate is OK
Regarding de facto segregation due to white flight from poor schools, in Missouri v. Jenkins (1995), he says "The supposition that black students suffer an unspecified psychological harm from segregation ... (relies) on questionable social science research, (and reflects) an assumption of black inferiority."

Video from the tribal areas

A Frontline video taken in the Pashrun tribal regions east of Peshawar:
Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, North and South Waziristan
Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden? Quetta

Friend of the poor

Carol Bellamy
[wiki]

Why has Africa floundered

while Vietnam succeeds
1.the individual  : poor health
2.the village  : poor soil and no irrigation
3.the region  : poor transportation
[the video]

Base Closings

One question for John Roberts

Would you go duck hunting
with Dick Cheney ?

Fester

Should they have lawyers?   No
1. They are not charged with anything.
2. They will not be going to trial.
Do the Geneva Accords apply to them?   No
1. We are not at war.
2. They are not a recognized army.
3. They are not signatories to the accords.
So we can do what we want with them?   Yes
1.make them kneel for hours, for months
2.in handcuffs and gloved
3.blindfolded and deafened

Groundhog Day in the Gulag1956, Budapest

33 more years of winter.

1968, Prague

21

Kind Master

Many slaves had kind masters.
But they had to accept slavery.

Those who would not accept slavery
were sold down river.

The new Pharisees

What we have become:   camel swallowers.

Michael Robertson

asks a question that isn't asked too often:
Should we sell other people out?

Bush Waives Saudi Trafficking Sanctions

President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced labor. [PDF see waiver]

In related news, strip clubs have re-opened in New Orleans.

Saudi ambassador chats with Bush

Prince Bandar was the Saudi ambassador for 20 years. His dad is crown prince. Saudis will always have access to presidents, because:
1. they pay a legion of well-connected lobbyists
2. they have a lot of oil, and we need oil to make gasoline
3. they buy Bradleys, F15s and AWACS
4. they supply matching money for CIA and DoD wars
5. they buy US bonds
6. they provide work if the party loses the election
7. they spend like there is no tomorrow

George II opposed the 9/11 commission

George Bush II opposed the commission. He settled for being allowed to appoint its head. The first two people he appointed, Kissinger and Mitchell, were not able to serve because of conflicts.

The final report was missing 27 pages on Saudi Arabia.   Truthout reports that however one interprets the 27 pages, all who have read them agreed on one thing:

If they are made public, they will prove extremely embarrassing...

Turn your equipment off, #3

[no photo available]


At 1:58 into the audio, by Baton Rouge police, at refugee center.
from Democracy Now Sept 16th.
----
Note that both the police and the reporter are very well instructed on the legal issue of status - and there are only two. You are:
1. under arrest, or
2. free to leave

Single Lens Reflex: Put the camera down.

The recovery effort will be done with dignity, meaning "no press".
"Zero access" says Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore.
Army Lt. Col. Richard Steele later explained that that does not reflect the current or past position of the U. S. Government.

Opposing tyranny ®

Bread! Work! Justice! Freedom! ®
----
Or later, when it is already too late, the poor cry
Guns! We need guns!

September 11th

Toppled by terrorists on second try.
The CIA tried to oust Allende in 1970, but failed.
On September 11th, 1973, Allende was finally killed.
He was succeeded by General Augusto Pinochet. [wiki]
[book:Pinochet&me] [movie:Missing]
Following the coup, a period of terror followed.
Pinochet was indicted for torture, in Spain, once he left office.

Most favored kleptocracy

Some facts about Saudi Arabia
1. The rulers get all the money.
2. The money trickles down, a lot to the bodyguards.
3. Everyone is wahhabi or discreet.
4. The oil infrastructure can't be protected.
5. Fifteen of the hijackers came from here.
[book:Sleeping]

The only good X is a dead X

prolonged aggravated genocide (HIV)
AntiRetroVirals for jailed rapers, in Arusha,
but not for the women raped, in Rwanda.

Translations from the Arabic

Middle East Media ... latest
-----
"No muslims were involved in 9/11" [video]
Dr. Abd Al-Subour Shahin teaches at that prestigious
seat of Sunni learning, Al-Azhar University [1] in Cairo.
This is not Dr Emad Shahin of the American University of Cairo/Poly Sci. [2]
-----
[other MEMRI vidoes]

Gretna police shoot at pedestriansBut allow cars to leave New Orleans

1. Shep Smith from the bridge above the Convention Center,
2. Geraldo Rivera from the Convention Center below.
They refer to an armed checkpoint keeping pedestrians from crossing, while cars are seen passing behind Shep Smith.
----
The convoy in the video is by the Dome, on Sugar Bowl Dr and Stadium Dr.

Traffic in Los Angeles

Nice.

Can the eye see itself?

Can the mind grasp itself?

Can a computer emulate itself? Actually, yes it can, but the emulation will run slower and seem to have less memory.
So what? Well, by analogy, the brain could have a model of itself in itself, but the model will fall short.

If you want to drive a

"Go to Iraq."   Thomas Friedman

Democracy Now

Difference of opinion, Iraq, August 25, 2005
DN! Headlines: text, audio, and video
[Bloodshed in Iraq: Violence Among Religious Factions]

Digerati

Annie Lennox

Click to Listen.
Darfur

Some of the news that's fit to print

[Free News]

Put the camera down Put the camera down. Now.

Police swat party in Utah. No pics please. [wikinews]

Philosopy of the mind

John Searle
How exactly do neurobiological processes in the brain cause consciousness.

Serial killer

He was our ally at one time. By mistake.
Are these leaders mistakes?
Saudi Arabia's Abdullah [1]
Russia's Vladimir Putin [2]
China's Hu Jintao [3]
Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo [4]

Divine Right of Kings

Divine Right in today's language: National Sovereignty.
-----
"Why is it right that the world takes no action when millions are ... dying in a dictatorship?" Haider asked. "In the Red Zone", p54.

Elevated walkways and bikeways

The Highline in New York City.
The cars have taken the earth.
Let's have elevated bikeways and walkways.

Banana Republicans

Richest country.   Poorest government.

The "All Volunteer" army: the War Core

Americans in the Spanish Civil War
----
Many soldiers are extended against their will via "Stop Loss".

Valerie Plame

is not the largest issue.
That was a "dirty trick", and criminal.
Whose idea was it to forge the Niger "yellow cake" documents?
Italian military intelligence officer Rocco Martini? Let's ask him.
Democracy Now! contemplates Berlusconi as a co-consiprator
----
Adrianna speculates, darkly, on why Judith won't talk.
Similarly, Cockburn squints at Judy Miller's War
----
John Dean comments on Karl's problems with Title 18 USC 641.

Fundamentalist

Extremist
----
[1.Is it: good secular muslims and bad fundamentalist muslims?]
[2.What we need is more radicals]

Peak coal

500 billion tons is 10 Quintillion BTUs (US share = 2.3 Quint BTUs)
Current USA coal usage is 23 Quadrillion BTUs per year.
2.3 Quints is a 100 year supply if used at the current rate.
----
Wyoming produces the most coal. The black hills.

What comes before Hydrogen cars?

Coal cars.
What comes after hydrogen cars?
Bike paths.

Fetus

This was you.

Love your enemy

The sermon on the mount. [Matthew 5]

Marlboro Man

Barbara Walter's comment
[causes of death in the USA]

TV: The whole world is watching

Genocide IS news.[play video]
----
August 23rd:
Networks refuse to carry ads about themselves. [story]