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July 31, 2006
President Bush answers challenge from Tupac
{They tryin to say that I don't care}
I woke up screamin, "Fuck the world!"
{They tryin to say that I don't care}
Just woke up and screamed, "Fuck the world!"
{They tryin to say that I don't care}
Uhh, I woke up and screamed, "Fuck the world!"
{They're tryin to say that I don't care}
Just got up and screamed, "Fuck the world!"
Asked by Fox News television whether Chavez was a threat, Bush replied: "No. Not a military threat. We've got a very strong military and we can deal with any threat to the homeland there is. And will if we have to."
In a separate interview President Bush, unaware he was on live TV, launched into a tirade when a Middle Eastern interviewer drew an analogy to the famous Tupac Shakur song. He apparently screamed, "Oh yeah? Well, fuck you, too! I take you all to fucking hell! You need an army you hear! You need a fucking army to kill me!"
Furious, Tony takes more than a few guns out of a case on his wall muttering to himself "So, you wanna play rough, huh? O.K." he aims a launcher straight at the exit to his room where many hitmen have gathered on the other side! "SAY 'ELLO TO MY LI'L FREN'!" Tony screams as he fires his large gun, blowing the door, along with several hitmen to pieces! Still incandescent with rage, Tony throws caution into the wind and fires his Uzi at the malevolent crowd below."You think you can kill me with lousy bullets, huh?!" Tony persists, despite being hit with many bullets and he shouts, "I take you all to fucking hell! You need an army you hear! You need a fucking army to kill me!"
In response, he is hit with what seems to be thousands of bullets! However, he does not see the metaphorical TANK approaching menacingly behind him, and “The Skull” silently approaches Montana from behind.
"HAHAHAHAAAA! you whores! you scum! I piss in your faces! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" he fires on, as his carapace is showered with machine gun shots! It finally seems certain he will die, his gun is forced out of his hand, and his bloodied suit is in shreds and tatters. Tony lets out a final defiant ROAR! "HAH! I'm still standin' I'm still standin!" However, he doesn't notice the shadow of death in the shape of “The Skull” sneakily growing in the background, stepping closer with every round of bullets, he poises his sawn-off shotgun and fires!
Tony Montana's spine explodes out of his stomach as he crashes through the white railing, face first into his pool below. Above him, a globe with the brightly illuminated words "The World is Yours" shines into his now red-tinted pool. For a moment, we are left to think the world was truly his too, while we see his shattered estate looted top to bottom by wild hitmen.
Posted by Mike at 10:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 26, 2006
A blast from the past
No one except a dumb thief plays with the security of others and then makes himself believe he will be secure. Whereas thinking people, when disaster strikes, make it their priority to look for its causes, in order to prevent it happening again.But I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes. And thus, the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.
So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider.
I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.
The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.
I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.
The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.
In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.
And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.
And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.
This means the oppressing and embargoing to death of millions as Bush Sr did in Iraq in the greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known, and it means the throwing of millions of pounds of bombs and explosives at millions of children—also in Iraq—as Bush Jr did, in order to remove an old agent and replace him with a new puppet to assist in the pilfering of Iraq's oil and other outrages.
So with these images and their like as their background, the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?
Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor in kind, objectionable terrorism? If it is such, then it is unavoidable for us.
This is the message which I sought to communicate to you in word and deed, repeatedly, for years before September 11th.
It sounds like that guy might need a blanket! Maybe this guy needs one, too:
The Syrian Ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, has criticised the United States and Condoleezza Rice for playing the role of peacemaker while supplying arms to Israel.IMAD MOUSTAPHA: And the only thing she would do is send the blankets to Lebanon, humanitarian aid. Of course I don't know who will, which cargo will reach the Middle East first: the blankets, or the laser bombs that the United States will be sending Israel very soon.
Posted by Mike at 08:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 22, 2006
Six months in jail for feeding the homeless
In an effort to curb charity that is having unintended consequences, the City Council has made it illegal to give food to homeless people in city parks.Residents complained that the large numbers of homeless gathering in the parks make it impossible for others to use them, said city spokesman David Riggleman.
"We're trying to empathize with both camps," he said. "We're hoping we can improve their lives and improve the lives of people living around the park, some of whom have people urinating and defecating in front of their door."
The law, which went into effect Thursday, targets so-called "mobile soup kitchens." It carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
Riggleman said that by shutting down such soup kitchens, homeless people will be encouraged to go to a center or charity that offers services such as mental health evaluations or job placement.
Gail Sacco, who operates a mobile soup kitchen seven days a week, said the city doesn't have adequate homeless services and that she is undeterred.
Posted by Mike at 03:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 14, 2006
Must See TV
If you've seen Mr. T preach on late night evangelical television, you will understand why I will be watching TV Land this October. What, you haven't seen that? Well, trust me then. He's damn good at it.
The former television action star shed the piles of gold chains that were his signature look after witnessing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina."As a spiritual man, I felt it would be a sin against my God for me to wear all that gold again because I spent a lot of time with the less fortunate," the actor said Thursday at the Television Critics Association's summer meeting.
"I saw some, I call it `sorry celebrities.' They'll go down there and hook up with the people to take a photo-op. I said, `How disgusting.' If you're not going to go down there with a check and a hammer and a nail to help the people, don't go down there."
Mr. T, whose real name is Lawrence Tero, stars in "I Pity the Fool" debuting in October on TV Land. He dispenses advice to viewers who are struggling with life's problems.
The former star of "The A-Team" said he's about more than his rough-and-tough image.
"Yes, I am qualified to beat people up. But I am pretty intelligent," he said. "That's what throws people off. If you've been through something, that gives you an authority that you can speak on certain things. That's why people relate to me. I pull no punches."
Posted by Mike at 12:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 13, 2006
So what would qualify as declaring war?
An air, land, and sea blockade, bombing roads and bridges that lead to the capital, taking out the runways at the airport. Preparing 6,000 troops for rapid reaction strikes into Lebanon. Is it me or did Isreal just declare war on Lebanon but no one will admit it yet?
Four big powers met today to try to head off “all-out war” as Israeli jets bombed the Beirut international airport and Israel announced a total blockade of Lebanon, which it blames for the Hezbollah cross-border raid in which two soldiers were kidnapped and eight killed.Lebanese police said 28 civilians had been killed in airstrikes.
An Israeli woman was killed when Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets across the volatile border, sending terrified residents of communities in northern Israel into bomb shelters.
As the international community issued urgent appeals for restraint, the so-called Middle East Quartet was holding consultations in a bid to prevent the conflict from escalating into “all-out war”.
France and Russia condemned Israel’s action as “disproportionate,” but the US backed its main Middle East ally over the crisis.
A day after Israel sent troops back into Lebanon for the first time in six years, its warplanes conducted at least 50 raids today, firing missiles into runways at Beirut airport, Hezbollah’s TV station and other targets in the capital and the south of the country.
Israeli jets also bombed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in the Gaza Strip overnight in the latest offensive over the seizure of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants three weeks ago.
The raids on Lebanon forced the closure of Beirut’s brand-new airport and the diversion of flights to the neighbouring Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Israel announced an air, sea and land blockade against its northern neighbour, with warships patrolling Lebanese coastal waters, in what the military said was an effort to halt arms smuggling.
Lebanese police said 28 civilians, including 10 children, had been killed in waves of air strikes launched after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert branded the abduction of soldiers an “act of war”.
A Hezbollah militant was also killed, in an attack on a relay station for the organisation’s An-Manar TV channel, while three employees were injured in a raid on its offices in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Altogether 75 Palestinians have been killed in the military onslaught on Gaza, which the UN has warned is causing a humanitarian crisis in one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
Russia condemned Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” against Lebanon and Palestinian territory, saying civilians were being made to suffer.
But the US held Syria and Iran, which bankroll Hezbollah, responsible for the fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the worst since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in May 2000.
Hezbollah, or the Party of God, whose militia was instrumental in forcing the Israeli troops out, said it was demanding the release of Arab prisoners in return for the soldiers.
But Olmert, facing the most serious test of his leadership since being sworn in as prime minister in May, insisted there would be no negotiations.
Yesterday, Israeli fighter jets, gunboats and artillery pounded Hezbollah targets and about 10 bridges in Lebanon, cutting off the highway linking Beirut to the south.
The Israeli cabinet, meeting in emergency session late yesterday, gave the green light to “harsh and aggressive” action against Lebanon. Israel has called up a rapid-reaction force of 6 000 troops.
“The Lebanese government, which allowed Hezbollah to commit an act of war against Israel, will pay a heavy price. The rules of the game have changed,” Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.
The Lebanese government – which includes a Hezbollah minister – denied involvement in the Hezbollah action and demanded an urgent UN Security Council meeting.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, whose cabinet was due to meet again today, contacted world leaders “to ask them to help Lebanon in the face of the aggression and in order to contain the situation”.
The governing Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, whose military wing is one of three groups holding a soldier captive in Gaza, said the latest abductions showed the “weakness of the Israeli army”.
Israel has been on high alert for possible retaliation after its threats to kill Hamas leaders in Damascus and since it sent warplanes over a Syrian presidential palace in a show of force last month.
Posted by Mike at 10:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
July 11, 2006
Just because you aren't paranoid
Doesn't mean they are not out to get you:
In the new scam, which Secure Computing calls "vishing," identity thieves ask potential victims to call a phone number attached to a VoIP account, easily obtained online through services such as Skype or through retailers reselling VoIP products such as Vonage Holdings, Henry said.In one vishing case, scammers targeted PayPal users by including a telephone number in a spam e-mail. In the other case, the criminals configured an automatic telephone dialer to dial phone numbers, and when the phone was answered, played an automated recording saying their credit card has had fraudulent activity.
The recording asked the telephone customer to call a number with a spoofed caller ID related to the credit card issuer, Secure Computing said. Once users call, they are asked for personal account information.
VoIP numbers are easy to obtain anonymously, but Henry didn't fault VoIP providers for vishing scams. A larger problem is the ease of obtaining credit online or over the telephone, he said.
Consumers are comfortable with obtaining credit online or by dialing automated telephone services to get credit, but if credit-granting businesses required physical contact, phishing and vishing scams would be almost eliminated, he added."In today's environment, it's absurd," Henry said.
Absurd? Cornerstone of our consumer driven economy? Same difference?
Posted by Mike at 07:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 06, 2006
There is an analogy in here somewhere
To the current situation in Iraq:
A New Orleans couple who left their two dogs at a shelter when fleeing Hurricane Katrina went to court to get the pets back from two women who each adopted one.A judge set a Tuesday hearing to try to determine the rightful owners of the St. Bernard and the shepherd mix originally owned by Steven and Dorreen Couture.
The Coutures left the dogs at a temporary animal shelter in Louisiana in August after their home was "virtually destroyed" by Katrina, according a complaint filed in state court last Friday.
The complaint claims negligence by the Humane Society of Pinellas, which helped rescue the dogs and then placed them with the women in Florida who are now refusing to return them.
"The Coutures have always been the owners," said Murray B. Silverstein, the St. Petersburg lawyer representing the family, which now lives in Talisheek, La.
Pam Bondi, a Hillsborough County prosecutor who adopted the St. Bernard, has said the dog was dying when she took him and she saved his life, an assertion disputed by the Coutures. Rhonda Rineker of Dunedin, who adopted the shepherd mix, hasn't talked publicly about the dispute.
The Coutures went to court after several attempts to speak with Bondi and Rineker about the dogs, including a trip to Florida last week.
"My clients do not want a battle and were very reluctant to enter litigation," Silverstein said. "They just want their dogs back."
Replace dogs with country. See my point?
Posted by Mike at 03:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Update on Iraq
From Robert Dreyfuss at TomPaine.com:
Ironically, in response to Maliki’s less-than-forthcoming initiative, what appears to be a majority bloc of the Iraqi resistance made an offer of their own. The resistance, they said, would halt the fighting, stopping all attacks on U.S. occupation forces and the Iraqi government, in exchange for a U.S. pledge to leave Iraq in two years. For the United States, fighting a war-without-end in Iraq, that ought to have been seen as a good deal. But it was rejected out of hand.The offer by the resistance, a ceasefire in exchange for an end to the occupation in 2008, also got little U.S. media attention. And, although I may have missed it, not a single U.S. political leader from the left nor those who are calling for a U.S. withdrawal—not Russ Feingold, not John Kerry, not Jack Murtha—took note of the offer. None had the guts to say to Bush: we ought to accept this deal. No editorial writer at the New York Times took up his pen to support it. No thinktanker at the Brookings Institution or the Center for American Progress had the courage to say: “What the Iraqi resistance is saying is a good idea.”
Meanwhile, back in Iraq, Maliki made it clear exactly what “conditional amnesty” means. While offering to talk to Sunni tribal elders and to minor elements of the resistance that he believes he can co-opt, the government of Iraq issued “Wanted” notices and rewards for 41 resistance leaders. It was a bitter irony. The list of 41 was a Who’s Who of the Iraqi resistance; in other words, the regime was offering rewards of up to $10 million for the capture or killing of precisely the people it ought to be negotiating a truce with! Among them were Raghad Hussein, the daughter of Saddam, who is living in Jordan; Saddam’s wife, Sajida Hussein, who lives in Qatar; Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former top Iraqi official who is widely believed to be a leader of the underground; and at least a dozen other top former Baathists, Iraqi military and intelligence officials, and others. The issuance of the list underscored the fact that neither Khalilzad nor Maliki are seeking a deal with the real Iraqi resistance, merely attempting to corral a few more stray Sunni leaders into the regime.
The list of 41 received an immediate rebuke from Jordan. Since 2003, Raghad Hussein has lived in Jordan under the protection of the government of Jordan and King Abdullah. Asked whether Jordan would turn her over to the Iraqi government, Amman slapped Baghdad in the face. A spokesman for the king of Jordan said bluntly: “She is the guest of the Hashemite royal family.”
The Jordanians added that, in their opinion, Raghad is not violating the terms of her asylum agreement, according to which she is supposed to refrain from political activity. Of course, it is widely believed that she, along with many other top Iraqi officials in Jordan, are helping to direct, support and finance the Iraqi resistance. Although the Jordanian government prefers to maintain the polite fiction that Iraq’s resistance has no base in Jordan, it does. And Jordan’s rebuff of Iraq means that even this erstwhile American ally is prepared to challenge the U.S.-Iraqi regime of quislings in Baghdad.
Jordan’s stance makes it even clearer that no end to the fighting can occur until and unless an international conference is convened to involve Iraq’s neighbors (including Iran), the Arab League, and the United Nations (including Russia and China) in helping to stabilize Iraq politically. Part One of ending the war is a deal with the resistance, and Part Two is the internationalization of the peace. So far, there is not the slightest hope that the Bush administration is prepared to accept either. “We will stay. We will fight. And we will prevail,” Bush told troops at Fort Bragg on Sunday.
Posted by Mike at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)