Category: world

Hypocrisy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Truly believing in one's right to a behavior whilst denying others the same right does not fit under the definition of hypocrisy, but should rather be termed as holding a double standard, thus leading to the most common misuse of the word. Examples of behavior mistakenly attributed to hypocrisy include issuing or enforcing dictates one does not follow oneself and criticizing others for carrying out some action while carrying out the same action oneself. This erroneous application of the word, hypocrisy, leads some people to believe that most people, if not all, are hypocrites; they tend to criticize what they perceive to be bad behavior in others, yet will justify it when they are inclined to perform the same action. Rather, this form of behavior is closely related to the fundamental attribution error, a well-studied phenomenon of human psychology: individuals are more likely to explain their own actions by their environment, yet they attribute the actions of others to 'innate characteristics', thus leading towards judging others while justifying ones' own actions.

When Christmas Falls on Sunday, Megachurches Take the Day Off - New York Times

In many Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, known for their rich liturgical traditions, Christmas Day attracts far more worshippers than an average Sunday. Grown children return with their parents to the parishes they belonged to when they were young. ... "I think these critics who decry the megachurches should really be aiming their barbs at individual Christians who are willing to stay at home around the Christmas tree instead of coming and giving at least part of that day to the meaning of the holiday," he said. "They should be facing up to the reality of that."

Who cares? Since when does culture at large think it is better that others go to church more often? And if the point is to highlight hypocrisy, they need to understand worship, and what Church really is, as the entire body of Christ. Individual church bodies can be set up to best serve the culture surrounding the local church. The quote about "rich liturgical traditions" is perfect for calling out what many youths are reacting against when they look at church. The focus on this effecting believers is off track, when the focus of the local church and services should be 90% on attracting non-believers. If these churches do not see non-believers turning to the service on Christmas it seems like a wise local decision to effectively show an example that Sunday service is only one part of a week-long life-long worship commitment.

Check out: New Scientist 13 things that do not make sense - Features an interesting read of some of sciences unanswerable questions, at the moment.

2 The horizon problem

OUR universe appears to be unfathomably uniform. Look across space from one edge of the visible universe to the other, and you'll see that the microwave background radiation filling the cosmos is at the same temperature everywhere. That may not seem surprising until you consider that the two edges are nearly 28 billion light years apart and our universe is only 14 billion years old.

Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, so there is no way heat radiation could have travelled between the two horizons to even out the hot and cold spots created in the big bang and leave the thermal equilibrium we see now...

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PostSecret

Post cards sent in with secrets on them.

Data taken from WA Sec. of State.. I just wanted to see how the counties played out, and I probably screwed up my math, but it looks like it will take more than 80% of the land mass of the state for Dino Rossi to win, anyone with an (R) next to their name in fact.

I have really enjoyed Colin Quinn on Tough Crowd, one of the few conservative leaning comedy shows on TV, plus the show often felt like a train wreck waiting to happen, sort of seat of the pants. It seem to have a bit of the early Daily Show flavor, and now it is being canceled, if you have seen it, and care, check out www.savetoughcrowd.com and send in a letter.

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I got my new Null hat and DVD today. Its a darn good first outing for the young skate co. , and hey I even get a shout in the credits.

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Arabs voices stay silent as ethnic slaughter carries on in Sudan
Scotsman.com News

Killing goes on as Sudan lies to world and defies UN
Scotsman.com News

African leaders call on Sudan to stop airstrikes and disarm militiamen
Scotsman.com News

US Danforth moves swiftly on Sudan - Jul 7, 2004
CNN.com

Sudan to help protect Darfur refugees
Aljazeera.Net

U.S. Faces Opposition on Sudan Sanctions Resolution
Reuters.com

San Francisco rolls out the red carpet for the Clintons

"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you".

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This whole CIA leak probe is such a joke, I mean despite the fact that it was a Novak column that released the information, it was in relation to why Former Ambassador Wilson was even sent to investigate the issue in Africa. But reporting on it is so dishonest, Kristin came away from an NPR report yesterday thinking the CIA agent was dead, when she is alive and well and really just a covert desk jockey. Not to say that breaking the law in this case was ok, but to vilify EVERYTHING as an evil plot by the president is getting to be too much.

Federal attorney questions president on operative leak
(Columbia Daily Tribune)

Now that sounds a lot like this is a big deal and Bush is the first president to be interviewed for a criminal investigation.

Bush Interviewed About CIA Leak
(Washington Post)

The post clears it up a bit.

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Anchorman Soundtrack

Check it out, hella funny. I think Steve Carrell needs his own movie.

Simpsons actors demand bigger share - TvRadio - www.theage.com.au

The cast, which includes Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu and others), Harry Shearer (Mr Burns and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart), has failed to appear for two script readings in recent weeks, delaying production of the program's 16th series.

The increase would raise each actor's pay to $US8 million a series. The actors work an average of six to seven hours each episode. However, the cartoon is thought to be worth $US1 billion to its owner, Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox.

S360,000 an epis. x 13 epis. = $4,680,000 yr
7hr an epis. x 13 epis. = 91 hrs

$4,680,000 yr / 91hrs = $51,428 an hr.

For voice acting.

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UrbanDictionary.com/Ridonculous

Ridonculous
def: When ridiculous knows no bounds

exp: "Check out the hunk of blue cheese he's got on that wing, that's ridonculous!"

The Camera Never Lies, but the Software Can

"But not all digitally altered images are innocuous. A malicious one surfaced last month, when two photographs taken a year apart began circulating on the Web as one. The composite, which carried a false Associated Press credit, purported to show John Kerry and Jane Fonda, known for her stance against the Vietnam War, sharing a speaker's platform at a 1971 antiwar rally. "

Amazing that the times had to go and attack Photoshop to defend Kerry against claims he kicked it with Jane Fonda. Multiple things are funny about this, but it is amazing how they can do this whole write up but all they are really doing is using it to deflect from the fact that there are "real" pictures of John and Jane hanging out, not that I really care either way, plus who knew Conservatives could use a program like Photoshop.

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While this movie looks like it will be funny; Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Snoop D-Oh-Double-G, it is yet another remake and redo of a prior creative endeavor and seems to simplify a lack of new creative in our culture. I saw a bunch of kids in the ferry this weekend coming over to Seattle for some type of prom and several of the guys were dressed as some kind of pseudo-70s prom king, along with the 70 dirt bag hair style return to Seattle, it is a funny and disturbing trend. A trend that has been ongoing it seems for the last decade or 2, and I never really have a good historical perspective to say wether this is always how it has been, I mean we still redo Shakespeare, or if there is some symptom of modern culture that drives it. It is always easier to get into a new song which is a remake of an old tune you liked, the Diddy built his empire on it. I was reading on the creation on the Mac interface this week over at Folklore, who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Mac on the 24th of January by recounting some of the development teams stories, and reading about the thought that went into the development of the original "desktop" interface it becomes so painfully clear that there has been little to no innovation on making a similar leap from the cursor environment to the GUI we still have today. I have also lately been thinking lately about something my Dad was fond of saying at one point, that "We stand on the shoulders of giants", originally a quote from Isaac Newton I think, he said something like "If I have seen further, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants".

Dean Says Faith Swayed Decision on Gay Unions (washingtonpost.com)

Bush has made is share of stupid statements, no doubt about it, but this comment from Dean is surprising, not because it is just a stupid comment, but it shows a total lack of logic and understand of his so called faith, that it should be insulting most of the non-sky fairy worshiping people of faith in America.

"The overwhelming evidence is that there is very significant, substantial genetic component to it," Dean said in an interview Wednesday. "From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."

Dean said he does not often turn to his faith when making policy decisions but cited the civil union bill as a time he did. "My view of Christianity . . . is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind," he told reporters Tuesday. "So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions."

So, if this is true then what about every one of the ten commandments? If God had thought murder was a sin, he would not have created murder. If God had thought (insert sin) was a sin, he would not have created (insert sin). It is such a rudimentary element of faith that it is crazy for a candidate for president to say. Now if he did not claim to believe in Jesus, it would be a different story, he could say whatever he wanted, but he is talking political talking out of both sides of your mouth to a new level with this comment.

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This Rush Limbaugh flap is the biggest hypocritical joke I have the displeasure of watching recently. These comments by Kordell Stewart mark one of the sad and ludicrous double-reverse double standard crap that is going on with regard to race in the media these days, with out any one looking at the trutha dn reality behind the comments, but favoring to jump on the bandwagon.

Rush to judge: Stewart claims double standard

Bears quarterback Kordell Stewart, one of nine African-American starters at the position in the 32-team NFL, believes Limbaugh resigned under pressure and deserved to be fired.
Stewart doesn't have a lot of tolerance for the double standard he believes exists in the evaluation of NFL quarterbacks. Although Stewart said he hasn't been subjected to a great deal of direct racism during his nine-year career, he believes ''it's there'' and points out that Limbaugh merely loses a weekend gig but is allowed to keep his daytime radio job.

''It's like Terrell Owens, he expressed himself with passion. Not because he's angry and wants to kill somebody,'' Stewart said. ''That's like David Terrell, he has passion, too. If it's a white guy, like Rich Gannon, nobody [complained] about that. There are exceptions. Why did we not ridicule that situation? Because he was MVP of the league? Because he went to the Super Bowl?''

'Was it a racial situation? I would say yes and no. But I would say more no than anything because I got it done and I had some success there. Yes, because it's the obvious. People say: 'That was a great throw,' as opposed to, 'That pass had a nice touch on it.'

''How words are used is such a fine line ... but if you really pay attention, you can hear it sometimes.''

Do you remember what Terell Owens said? Well here it is: (espn)

"You have a white guy as an announcer and sportscaster," Owens was quoted as saying in the San Francisco Examiner. "Me, I'm black. I do it and I've already done some stuff in the past.

"We're (African-Americans) more expressive than the white guys," Owen said. "You look at the skilled players. We're the ones that get into the end zone. We get in the end zone more than they do."

Which comments are more racially motivated and demeaning? And if you the the media is covering both sides of this story fairly? Take a look at a random list of headlines from Google, 3 days after the story broke...

Mark Craig: Limbaugh was wrong
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - 1 hour ago
Fifteen years ago, Doug Williams threw four touchdown passes in the second quarter
as the Washington Redskins blew out the Denver Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl ...

Taking a Gander at Rush
Newsday - Oct 3, 2003
By Verne Gay. So who is is Rush Limbaugh? The easy answer is this:
A talk radio host syndicated to about 600 radio stations daily ...

Listen to The Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax
The name is a pseudonym, which combines the Arabic and Latin words for peace. Pax's web log is still going on today. Peter Maass of the online magazine Slate said Pax was "the Anne Frank of this war ... and its Elvis. Pax's diary entries have been collected in book form in the forthcoming The Baghdad Blog.

Fresh Air: Sunday - September 21, 2003

Thanks : Magyar

"My vision is to make the most diverse state on earth, and we have people from every planet on the earth in this state. We have the sons and daughters of every, of people from every planet, of every country on earth," he said.

- Gov Gray Davis

Davis concedes he had lost touch with voters

Wired News: 'Cool Hunters' Like Apple's Shine

"Thanks to the iPod, the iTunes Music Store and the PowerMac G5, Apple is one of the hottest companies in youth culture, say so-called "cool hunters," researchers who track buying trends among young people. "

Suprise, suprise, a company that makes well thought out products and makes them usable, and attractive is hip with kids.

Now if I could only fihure out which one I want to buy. Still can't decide. I feel a bit like the whole product line under the G5 is out dated and with out the ability to upgrade anything that makes the decision that much harder.

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Michael Novak on Ten Commandments & Alabama on National Review Online

"Yet before we agree with Judge Thompson, it might be useful to make three important distinctions. On the outside wall of the federal courthouse in Montgomery is a much larger statue of Artemis, described in the Court's brochure as the Greek goddess of justice. No one asserts that that statue represents an establishment of religion. Perhaps that is because no one still believes that Artemis is a real goddess. In any case, the mere stone embodiment of her image obliges no one's conscience.

It seems significant, secondly, that the text chosen by Chief Justice Moore is from the Jewish Testament, not the New (or Christian) Testament. That makes it less sectarian and broader. Furthermore, even if one does not take the Ten Commandments literally, as a gift by the Almighty to Moses, one may take them as a symbol for that higher law ("of Nature and Nature's God") reached by reason itself. Such a higher law has traditionally been seen (by Americans from Founding Father James Wilson of Pennsylvania through Martin Luther King Jr.) as infusing all man-made law, on the one hand, and upholding a standard beyond the power of states or nations to alter or abrogate, on the other. Only such a law is a sure foundation for our rights against the changing tempests of political fortune."

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Graduates, if you will indulge me for a moment, let me paint a picture of what it's like out there. The last four or, for some of you, five years you've been living in a fantasyland, running around, talking about Hemingway, or Clancy, or, I don't know, I mean whatever you read here at Harvard. The Novelization of the Matrix, I don't know. I don't know what you do here.

Will Ferrell: Class Day speech

See the video here scroll to 1:30.

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Astronomers searching for signs of a Solar System like our own said on Thursday they had found a planet very similar to Jupiter orbiting a star resembling the Sun, 90 light years away.

Reuters News Article

Pretty cool.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A state appeals court on Thursday refused to allow Viacom to change The National Network's name to Spike TV until its dispute with Spike Lee is decided at a trial.
Lee had sought and won an injunction after telling a lower court that the name change was a deliberate attempt to hijack his name, image and reputation. "

CNN.com - Court stands by Lee in Spike TV dispute - Jun. 20, 2003

Dude that is the biggest load of crap, like TNN is trying the leverage the strong manly brand Spike Lee has developed for the word Spike. I really could care less about TNN but what about Railroad spike, or Spike Jones, in this case I think they deserve more credit than Spike Lee for being cool.

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A stranger was seated next to little Tommy on the plane when the stranger turned to the little boy and said "Let's talk. I heard that flights will go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passengers." Little Tommy, who had just opened his book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger "What would you like to discuss?" "Oh, I don't know," said the stranger. "how about nuclear power?"

"OK," said Tommy. "that could be an interesting topic, but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff, Grass. yet the deer excretes little pellets, while the cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. why do you suppose that is ?. " "jeez," said the stranger. "I have no idea." "Well then, " said little Tommy,"How is it that you feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know Shit?"

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The interactive bill provides an animated tutorial on the anti-counterfeiting and other design features of the new $20 note. To view the interactive bill, click the button provided.

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing | New Money | The New Currency

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Byline: Friday, May 2, 2003

Some times I feel like Seattle is a world away from the opposite side of the country. Mayb e I am naive.

CNN.com - Georgia high school students plan white-only prom - May. 2, 2003

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I can't stand cribs for more tha a few minutes anymore before I turn away in pitty.

Rock And Roll Confidential

29. Most importantly, do not get too attached to any of this. You will not have it in five years.

Dominey also had some observations a while back.

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I am pretty hyped for this movie, and it will be one of the few that we will probably make time to go see (read get babysitter), and this is a pretty good review.

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

Unlike "The Matrix," all fights and stunts -- including a 14-minute freeway chase -- have a disturbing tendency to repeat intricately choreographed action. Thus, computer technology and overkill supplant the ingenuity of the original film's action. How this strategy of raising the bar in special effects and annotating most nonaction scenes with philosophical and mythological references will pay off in the final chapter may ultimately validate the Wachowski brothers' choices in this film. As the Matrix deteriorates in "Revolutions," much of "Reloaded" may resonate in ways we can now only imagine.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | With pot and porn outstripping corn, America's black economy is flying high

Marijuana, pornography and illegal labour have created a hidden market in the United States which now accounts for as much as 10% of the American economy, according to a study. As a cash crop, marijuana is believed to have outstripped maize, and hardcore porn revenue is equal to Hollywood's domestic box office takings.

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My public school education left me with a very limited knowledge of radiation and radioactive processes. Depleted Uranium is a topic I have heard discussed in regards to it being used in munitions from the US military, apparently both armor piercing weapons and actual armor are made from the stuff. The link listed below has some lots of information, though a google image search brings up lots of disturbing photographs, as well as many, many sites about the topic, somewhat similar to the land mine debate.

Depleted Uranium and the IAEA: Burkart Interview

6. What are the military uses of depleted uranium?
Uranium's physical and chemical properties make it very suitable for military uses. DU is used in the manufacturing of ammunitions used to pierce armour plating, such as those found on tanks, in missile nose cones and as a component of tank armour. Armour made of depleted uranium is much more resistant to penetration by conventional anti-armour ammunitions than conventional hard rolled steel armour plate.

Armour piercing ammunitions are generally referred to as "kinetic energy penetrators". DU is preferred to other metals, because of its high density, its pyrophoric nature (DU self-ignites when exposed to temperatures of 600° to 700° and high pressures), and its property of becoming sharper, through adiabatic shearing, as it penetrates armour plating . On impact with targets, DU penetrators ignite, breaking up in fragments, and forming an aerosol of particles ("DU dust") whose size depends on the angle of the impact, the velocity of the penetrator, and the temperature. These fine dust particles, can catch fire spontaneously in air. Small pieces may ignite in a fire and burn, but tests have shown that large pieces, like the penetrators used in anti-tank weapons, or in aircraft balance weights, will not normally ignite in a fire.

Depleted Uranium and the IAEA: Burkart Interview

Photos of Afghanistan that I think are worth a review.

Mustafa Rasuli || Photography

About the Photographer:

I hope you enjoy and learn from this website, the pictures, and my journals........

Crazy Japan Cat Costums

Now I don't own anything near a cat, but these pictures are damn funny.

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OpinionJournal - Wonder Land

But evil on itself shall back recoil
And mix no more with goodness, when at last
Gather'd like scum, and settl'd to itself
It shall be in eternal restless change
Self-fed and self-consumed; if this fail
The pillar'd firmament is rottenness
And earth's base built on stubble.

--John Milton, 1634

Symposium- Q: Will pre-emptive war, such as in Iraq, make the United States safer in the long term?

Decent Artile By Peter Huessy

Q: Will pre-emptive war, such as in Iraq, make the United States safer in the long term?
Posted April 23, 2003

The traditional deterrence upon which our critics would have us rely and the threat of retaliation did not, of course, stop any of these terrorist attacks. For too long we saw all such attacks as perpetuated by crazy individuals, not state sponsors employing and supporting crazy individuals. We saw traditional law enforcement as adequate, seeking out and arresting individual "criminals." In doing so, we may have sent our adversaries a message that we neither were serious nor prepared to fight.

SymposiumQ: Will pre-emptive war, such as in Iraq, make the United States safer in the long term?

Not sure what to think about this cover. I don't agree with thier comments, but I never have listened to them either so it makes no difference, I think the hub-bub is a bit overblown by the media looking to exploit them from both sides. But something just strikes me as funny about this cover, it is almost like they know that this will disarm people... I want to critque this somehow but I am having trouble.

UPDATE: Funniest tagline for this found by a commentor at LGF "Rec. Execs sell Tex-Sex: Slick Pix don't Fix Dixie Chicks Nix by Hicks in Sticks."

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Stumbled across this online while looking for the Liberian flag, seems like a resource that we all pay for so we should all use.

CIA - The World Factbook 2002

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An Odd Facts Page

A duck's "quack" doesn't echo, and no one knows why

The name "Wendy" was invented for the book Peter Pan.

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So CNN accidentally previewed some of the pre-made obituaries they had sitting on thier server, oops, and what's is funny to me is that Castro has a prominant "History will absolve me." while our vice president is just a "loyal point man.", and is that right Castro is Seventy freakin' five, that is one old commie bastard.

The Smoking Gun: CNN Obits

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I always like a good editorial cartoon, short and to the point, artistic, sometimes thought provoking, put a bunch of them together on a powerful topic and it is an interting read.

Slate: Baghdad (and that statue) Falls!

thanks Martin

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Starbucks to buy Seattle's Best Coffee

A little bit of local news that suprised me, not that I keep up on the coffe business, but I like Seattle Best's mocha's and sweet coffee's a whole hell'va lot more than Strarbucks, they put little chocolate sticks in 'em. mmmmm..... coffeeeee.....

The question is though, just how many Starbucks can the Seattle area handle, I mean litterally there is more than one place where they are across the street from each other. One of the italian reseraunts I like, Palermo's up on 15th does not even serve espresso because there are so many other coffee places around, a freakin' italian resteraunt without espresso, whaaaa? But seriously, is Arthur Anderson starbucks accountant or can they really make enough money to have a store on EVERY corner.

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The second and third instalment of the matrix animated shorts seem to have come out, I reccomend checking themout, pretty cool stuff if you are into it.

THE ANIMATRIX

I loved the tenenbaums.

> From the Los Angeles Daily News, "Bill Murray starring in a flick about a French oceanographer? Such is a project being plotted now, according to Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh, who's already been commmissioned by "The Royal Tenenbaums" scribe Wes Anderson to write the score. There's no script as yet for the movie, according to Mothersbaugh, who's scored every film - including "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" (which also starred Murray) and "The Royal Tenenbaums" - Anderson has co-written with hot actor/writer Owen Wilson. Mothersbaugh say Anderson told him he's "been thinking about doing a movie that has only Devo music in it, and it might be this one.

wesanderson.org

UPDATE 12/24/03: So that link is no longer up, but the movie is to me called "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" I believe and there is a discussion board about it here on The Yankee Racers.

>An aspiring rap star, who has been charged with murdering his roommate and eating part of her lung, did so as part of his record label's plan to cultivate a "gangsta" image for him, the victim's mother charged in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles

The full story-> Rapper 'ate roommate' - smh.com.au

This type of thing is crazy, I think that hip-hop music and the culture around it has to come to a head at some point. I hate to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, and I grew up in the age of suburban white gangsta rap creation, but at this point the stuff is just a self propagating mess of people trying to act hard, and running there life and neighborhoods into the ground. I swear it is almost a form of self oppression. I just preaches into kids hears and out from there lips negative thoughts and actions. I grew up on this music, N.W.A, Too Short, Slick Rick, and I still listen to it, but there is a difference between a nerd like myself and someone who actually believes these people, and watches cribs, and stands outside MTV to idolize people who don't really live the lifestyle, but play it out in their music. There really is nothing that we should do or can do as a society, but I guess I hope that at some point, much as how the idea of disco became less of an idealized lifestyle choice, the same will happen when people realize acting hard ain't doing anything for them and the community around them.

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Breif case guns and gold plated weapons found at Baath party homes. Below is an Koch MP-5K.

photo courtesy of levelrating.com

> The men of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, found 21 briefcases specially designed to hold Heckler and Koch MP-5K 9 mm submachine guns. The guns could be fired by pulling a trigger on the handle of the case.

Full News Story from FOXNews.com

After a busy period in which he has renamed the months of the year after himself and his mother and responded to an assassination attempt with repression, President Saparmurat Niyazov of poverty-stricken Turkmenistan has rewarded his officials with a new Mercedes each.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Let them drive Mercedes, Turkmenistan's poor told

More from magyar

You may have heard Sean Penn had his car stolen today, so what it happens to people all the time. He did have 2 guns in it, one even loaded, but so what, he had all the right permits. But did you know that this is what Sean Penn drives? A 1987 BUICK Grand National, so damn perfect.

News Story | More about the car

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Boston.com / War in Iraq

A lot of you seem to be getting this site while looking for this picture so here you go.

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U.S. Troops eat Uday's Chicken and find his Pimp Mobile. Reminds me of the movie stripes, I wish I had a picture.

Navy Times - News - More News

> The soldiers also noticed an enormous light blue tractor-trailer hidden in a warehouse. Their first thought, Bair said, was that it might be a mobile chemical weapons laboratory. But when they opened it, they found it probably served a more prosaic purpose. “We realized it was his pimp mobile, his shaggin’ wagon,” Bair said.

The mobile home — “Four times bigger than any mobile home I’ve ever seen,” Bair said — included two luxurious bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and bathroom, tiled floors and large living room with picture windows, the soldiers said. “A family of six could live in there comfortably,” Bair said.

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Ananova - Hong Kong tourism officials regret ad campaign

> Hong Kong tourism officials regret ad campaign

Tourism officials in Sars-hit Hong Kong are regretting running an ad campaign with the slogan: "Hong Kong will take your breath away."

Ouch.

Chicago Tribune | Networks' theme music sanitizes war's darkest realities

If you catch the fleeting bits of music that accompany the television and radio networks' saturation coverage of the war on Iraq, you might conclude that this is a family entertainment event on the order of "American Idol" or the Super Bowl.

There's some truth to this, although network spokespersons deny it.

CNN.com - Sahaf: U.S. troops will be burned - Apr. 7, 2003

Al-Sahaf: "The Americans, they always depend on a method what I call ... stupid, silly. All I ask is check yourself."

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Check out this image, (click the photo for a larger version) it is a composite of the Earth at night, notice the darkness coming from North Korea... and how bright South Korea is...

APOD: 2000 November 27 - Earth at Night

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GN Online: Amir Taheri: It's time for France to dump its PAF policy

Like the Cheshire cat that leaves behind a grin when it disappears, what is known as France's Arab policy (Politique Arabe de France or PAF) has had a way of putting in periodical appearances during the past three decades.

That vision is part of the legacy left by the late General Charles de Gaulle who believed that France should counterbalance the Ger-man weight in Europe, and the Anglo-American axis across the Atlantic, with a Mediterranean "profondeur" (depth) that, in practice, means a special relationship with the Arab states of North Africa and the Middle East.

Continue Reading...

If you have not seen the PBS Frontline special "The Long Road to War" I really reccomend it. It takes a suprisingly objective look at all that has lead up the current situation and gives fantastic back story. The fontline web site for the show also offers great online resources for reviewing material said by those who have lead us to where we are today. Including Richard Perle, like him or hate him, it is interesting. Also interesting when you really start digging is the history of information available online and the wealth of people who though shortly after 9/11/2001 that we sould never be able to do what we are doing today.

Saddam Hussein admiring his portraits. Only specially-approved artists have the honor of painting him.

Interesting is this "Secret Iraqi Memo" for "Plan of Action Annual plan for 1992 from 1/1/1992 to 1/1/1993" - 100 some odd point that Iraqi ministers had for plans of actions. and Said K. Aburish's interview about his book about Saddam

frontline: the long road to war | PBS

Also interesting Saddams's B-day is April 28th, only 2 days after mine and 8 days after Hitlers.

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Slate has compiled a few words by Rummy and written them out as verse.

The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld - Recent works by the secretary of defense

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
--Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Latest Posts

Good perspective from Andrew Sullivan as always, I enjoy reading these back stories on why we are where we are.

Whose war is this? If it succeeds, it will have many authors, as victories always do. If it fails in any measurable way, its architects will be strikingly few, restricted to the handful of leaders who are required to take responsibility regardless of merit or cause. So perhaps now is the best moment for proposing the true orchestrators of this, the first full-scale invasion of the twenty-first century - while wet fingers are still thrust nervously upwards in the air. And, for all the easy judgments about this being "Bush's war," it seems to me that the picture is immensely more complicated than that. History is rarely so free of irony that the actual initiator of hostilities is the real force behind them. Others lie behind him, and others still behind them. And this war, perhaps more than many others, is laden with irony.

It is, first and foremost, the United Nations' war. Without the U.N., it would never have happened. Indeed, without the U.N., it wouldn't have even been necessary. Back in 1991, U.S. and U.K. forces were only a few hundred miles behind the positions they advanced to in the middle of last week. Saddam was reeling, after a coalition invasion to repel his aggression against Kuwait. Both the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shi'a in the South, emboldened by the war in Kuwait and encouraged by Washington, launched an uprising against the same tyrant we are still battling today. With American air-cover, they could have succeeded. But the Americans, in the greatest military miscalculation of the last few decades, hung back. Then-president George H.W. Bush insisted that his war aims did not include the removal of Saddam Hussein, but were limited to the liberation of a small oil company known as Kuwait.

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Latest Posts

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Los Angeles Times - Editor's Note

On Monday, March 31, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page photograph that had been altered in violation of Times policy.

Times policy forbids altering the content of news photographs. Because of the violation, Walski, a Times photographer since 1998, has been dismissed from the staff. The altered photo, along with the two photos that were used to produce it, are below

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Good Post>Eject! Eject! Eject!: HISTORY

This war is an abject and utter failure. What everyone thought would be a quick, decisive victory has turned into an embarrassing series of reversals. The enemy, -- a ragtag, badly-fed collection of hotheads and fanatics – has failed to be shocked and awed by the most magnificent military machine ever fielded. Their dogged resistance has shown us the futility of the idea that a nation of millions could ever be subjugated and administered, no matter what obscene price we are willing to pay in blood and money.

We must face the fact that we had no business forcing this unjust war on a people who simply want to be left alone. It has damaged our international relationships beyond any measure, and has proven to be illegal, immoral and nothing less than a monumental mistake that will take generations to rectify. We can never hope to subdue and remake an entire nation of millions. All we will do is alienate them further. So we must bring this war to an immediate end, and make a solemn promise to history that we will never launch another war of aggression and preemption again, so help us God.

------------------------------------

So spoke the American press. The time was the summer of 1864.

Everyone thought the Rebels would be whipped at Bull Run, and that the Confederacy would collapse within a few days or hours of such a defeat. No one expected the common Southern man to fight so tenaciously, a man who owned no slaves and who in fact despised the rich fire-eaters who had taken them to war.

Lincoln was widely considered a bumpkin, a gorilla, an uncouth backwoods hick who by some miracle of political compromise had made it to the White House. Secretary of War Stanton had assumed near-dictatorial powers and was also roundly despised. Only Secretary of State William Seward, a well-spoken, intelligent Easterner and a former Presidential candidate, seemed fit to hold office.

After three interminable and unbelievably bloody years of conflict, many in the Northern press had long ago become convinced that there was no hope of winning the far, and far less of winning the peace that followed. After nearly forty months of battle and maneuver, after seeing endless hopes dashed in spectacular failure, after watching the magnificent Army of the Potomac again and again whipped and humiliated by a far smaller, under-fed, under-equipped force, the New York newspapers and many, many others were calling for an immediate end to this parade of failures.

It took them forty months and hundreds of thousands killed to reach that point. Today, many news outlets have reached a similar conclusion after ten days and less than fifty combat fatalities.

Ahhh. Progress.

Telegraph | News | Royal Marines storm Basra suburb

After the battle, there was a buzz of excitement among the Royal Marines as groups exchanged stories. A physical training instructor sergeant was generally acclaimed after he was hit on his bullet-proof vest by enemy fire. The shot shattered the heavy ceramic plate in his vest but the sergeant continued to fight and even killed his attacker.

One British armoured vehicle was attacked by 70 rocket-propelled grenades but it was not destroyed and its occupants were unhurt.
A Royal Marine told of a grenade glancing off his helmet and another told of how an Iraqi colonel driving a car with a briefcase full of cash refused to stop and was shot dead. "I didn't know what to do with the money so I gave it to the kids, bundles of the stuff," the Royal Marine said.

Yahoo! - 'TIME-TRAVELER' BUSTED FOR INSIDER TRADING

""But the fact is, with an initial investment of only $800, in two weeks' time he had a portfolio valued at over $350 million. Every trade he made capitalized on unexpected business developments, which simply can't be pure luck.

"The only way he could pull it off is with illegal inside information. He's going to sit in a jail cell on Rikers Island until he agrees to give up his sources."

The past year of nose-diving stock prices has left most investors crying in their beer. So when Carlssin made a flurry of 126 high-risk trades and came out the winner every time, it raised the eyebrows of Wall Street watchdogs.

"If a company's stock rose due to a merger or technological breakthrough that was supposed to be secret, Mr. Carlssin somehow knew about it in advance," says the SEC source close to the hush-hush, ongoing investigation.

In a bid for leniency, Carlssin has reportedly offered to divulge "historical facts" such as the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and a cure for AIDS. "

I really hope the guy is a time traveler.

1, 2... 1, 2, 3; yeah!
Inslumnational, underground
Thunder pounds when I stomp the ground (Woo!)
Like a million elephants or silverback orangutans
You can't stop a train
Who want some? Don't come un-pre-pared
I'll be there, but when I leave there
Better be a household name
Weather man tellin' us it ain't gon' rain
So now we sittin' in a drop-top soakin' wet
In a silk suit tryin' not to sweat
Hittin' somersaults without the net
But this'll be the year that we won't forget
One-nine-nine-nine Ano Domini anything goes,
be what you wanna be
Long as you know consequences are given for livin´ defenses
The fence is too high to jump in jail
Too low to dig, I might just touch hell
Hot! Get a life now, they on sale
Then I might cast you a spell,
look at what came in the mail,
A scale and some Arm and Hammer,
soul gold grill and a baby m`ama
Black Cadillac and a pack of pampers,
stack of questions with no answers
Cure for cancer, cure for AIDS
Make a nigga wanna stay on tour for days
Get back home, thangs are wrong
We're not really it was bad all along
Before you left, adds up to a ball of power
Thoughts at a thousand miles per hour
Hello, ghetto, let your brain breathe,
Believe there's always mo
Owwww!

Chorus: 2X
Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
Yeah! Ha ha yeah!
Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!

Uno, dos, tres, it's on
Did you ever think a pimp rock a microphone
Like that there boy and we still stay street
Big things happen everytime we meet
Like a track team, crack fiend, dyin' to geek
Outkast bumpin' up and down the street
Slant back, Cadillac, 'bout five niggas deep
Seventy-five mc's freestylin' to the beat
Cause we get crunk, stay drunk, at the club
Should have bought an ounce, but you copped a dub
Should have held back, but cha threw the punch
'Spose to meet your girl but cha packed a lunch
No D to-the U to-the G for you
Got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo
Got a little baby girl four year, Jordan
Never turn my back on my kids, there for them
Should have hit it, quit it, rag top
Before you RE up, get a laptop
Make a business for yourself, boy, set some goals
Make a fat diamond out of dusty coals
Record number four, but we on the road
Hold up, slow up, stop, control
Like Janet, planet Stankonias on ya
Movin' like floyd comin' straight to Florida
Lock all your windows then block the corridors
Pullin' off my belt cause a whippins in order
I like a three-piece fish before I cut your daughter
Yo quiero Taco Bell, then i hit the border
Pity pat rappers tryin' to get the five
I'm a microphone fiend tryin' to stay alive
When you come to A-T-L boy you better not hide
Cause the Dungeon Family gone ride
High!

Chorus: 2X
(Dre) Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang
(Choir) Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
(Dre) Yeah! Ha ha yeah!
Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something
(Choir) Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!

(Choir)
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!

B-I-G, B-O-I
An-An-Andre
To the T-O-P

(16X)
Bob your head. Rag top.

(1,2...1,2,3,4) (Gimme some)

Power Music, Electric Revial (repeat 23x)

UPDATE:

Capriati gets ready for match to `Bombs Over Baghdad'

By Associated Press, 3/25/2003 20:20
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) At Jennifer Capriati's request, the 1999 Outkast song ''Bombs Over Baghdad'' was played on the stadium public-address system before her most recent match at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

''I like the song, and I wanted to support the troops,'' Capriati said Tuesday through WTA Tour spokesman.

Stadium court producer Bob Ruf said he previewed the rap song and was reluctant to play it. Ruf then listened to the song with a tour official, and they found a one-minute segment that they decided wouldn't offend anyone.

The chorus to the song goes: ''Don't pull the thang out unless you plan to bang, bombs over Baghdad. ... Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something, bombs over Baghdad.''

A Nasdaq official said the tournament received no complaints about the song. Capriati beat fellow American Sarah Taylor in the match Monday, 6-1, 6-0.

Andy Roddick requested the Bruce Springsteen hit ''Born in the USA'' for one of his matches earlier in the tournament.

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frontline: the war behind closed doors: analyses: iraq, the middle east, and beyond? | PBS

That then creates the possibility for a reconstruction of Iraq, the administration is saying, along democratic lines. And I think they are serious in what they are saying. I think that they are thinking about the reconstruction along the lines of what we did with Germany and Japan at the end of World War II. How realistic that prospect is in that country is something else. But I think that they are serious in thinking like that.

And so the premise is that democracy could transplant to the Islamic world as well as it has to other parts of the world over the last 50, 100 years or so. So that is the ultimate end point that we're talking about. How long that takes, how successful that will be, what are the problems that could come up along the way; nobody can answer those questions. There is a long-term vision here, which is something that has not existed -- not in this form -- in serious American foreign policy leadership -Lewis Gaddis of Yale