as always

i just don't GET it. i don't understand why one group is killing another. in this case it's shias killing sunnis but it COULD have been (and HAS been) the other way around

Shia massacre revives fears of civil war

· Mahdi army blamed for Baghdad street slaughter · Shias killed as car bombs explode near mosque Jonathan Steele Monday July 10, 2006 The Guardian

At least 40 people, apparently all Sunnis, were killed yesterday by Shia militants in a rampage in a Baghdad suburb - one of the capital's most deadly sectarian pogroms - that revived fears of civil war.
Witnesses said gunmen, some masked, set up roadblocks and stopped motorists in the mainly Sunni suburb of Jihad, near Baghdad airport, demanding to see identity cards. Those with Sunni names were shot dead; Shias were released.
The slaughter lasted several hours, according to Alaa Makki, a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic party, one of the main Sunni parties, who blamed the Mahdi army, the Shia militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. "There is a lot of evidence it was done by the Mahdi army," he told the Guardian by phone from Baghdad.............

many stories about this subject have been in the news of late

neo-nazis, skinheads (skinheads in the BAD definition), white supremacists, infiltrating our armed services. getting training so they will be well prepared to fight in their 'race wars'. we're allowing (well NOT we, THEY) them into the service well aware of who and what they are. even though there are REGULATIONS AND LAWS AGAINST admitting nazis into OUR armed forces, the decline in inlistments has recruiters shaking in their combat boots.

anyway, this is one of the best articles i've read on the subject:

Pentagon Reduced to Recruiting Neo-Nazis
By David Holthouse, Intelligence Report Posted on July 8, 2006, Printed on July 9, 2006http://www.alternet.org/story/38680/
Before the U.S. military made Matt Buschbacher a Navy SEAL, he made himself a soldier of the Fourth Reich.
Before Forrest Fogarty attended Military Police counter-insurgency training school, he attended Nazi skinhead festivals as lead singer for the hate rock band Attack.
And before Army engineer Jon Fain joined the invasion of Iraq to fight the War on Terror, the neo-Nazi National Alliance member fantasized about fighting a war on Jews.
"Ever since my youth -- when I watched WWII footage and saw how well-disciplined and sharply dressed the German forces were -- I have wanted to be a soldier," Fain said in a Winter 2004 interview with the National Alliance magazine Resistance. "Joining the American military was as close as I could get."
Ten years after Pentagon leaders toughened policies on extremist activities by active duty personnel -- a move that came in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing by decorated Gulf War combat veteran Timothy McVeigh and the murder of a black couple by members of a skinhead gang in the elite 82nd Airborne Division -- large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists continue to infiltrate the ranks of the world's best-trained, best-equipped fighting force. Military recruiters and base commanders, under intense pressure from the war in Iraq to fill the ranks, often look the other way.
Neo-Nazis "stretch across all branches of service, they are linking up across the branches once they're inside, and they are hard-core," Department of Defense gang detective Scott Barfield said. "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," he added. "That's a problem."
The armed forces are supposed to be a model of racial equality. American soldiers are supposed to be defenders of democracy. Neo-Nazis represent the opposite of these ideals. They dream of race war and revolution, and their motivations for enlisting are often quite different than serving their country.
"Join only for the training, and to better defend yourself, our people, and our culture," Fain said. "We must have people to open doors from the inside when the time comes.".............

terrorists exist

and we must take action(s) to be aware of them and their plots and STOP the legitimate ones. however, we are going around busting people like the stooges in florida (those men living in a warehouse and doing ninja exercises BUT little else to threaten america, except of course shooting their mouths off and being stupid).

yesterday when i heard about the 'terrorist threat to bomb the holland tunnel', i thought the same thing. are these just a bunch of yahoos with big ideas and big mouths or is it for true?

turns out it just MAY be a bunch of id-jits with NO where-with-all to carry out the threats. YUP i agree instances such as being in a 'terrorist chatroom' spouting violence against america (or any other country for that matter) need to be investigated. BUT do you come out and give press conferences saying WE JUST SAVED AMERICA FROM YET ANOTHER BUNCH O' TERRORISTS when in reality america MAY have been saved from a bunch of assholes? action must be taken i am NOT disagreeing with that part. what i AM disagreeing with is stirring up the citizens of this great nation. overblowing a simple situation and telling us half truths and pretending to be heros when in reality once the bully is confronted, they run away crying for their mommie.........

Sources say no serious plot for NYC, just hate chatter

Larisa Alexandrovna Published: Friday July 7, 2006
One former intelligence field officer says, and two other CIA officials confirm, that the alleged plot by Muslim extremists to bomb the Holland Tunnel in New York City was nothing more than chatter by unaffiliated individuals with no financing or training in an open forum already monitored extensively by the United States Government, RAW STORY has learned.
The so-called New York tunnel plot was a result of discussions held on an open Jihadi web site said Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer and contributor to American Conservative magazine, in a late Friday afternoon conversation. Although Giraldi acknowledges that the persons involved three of whom have already been arrested in Lebanon and elsewhere - are indeed extremists," their online chatter is considerably overblown by allegations of an actual plot.
They are not professionally trained terrorists, however, and had no resources with which to carry out the operation they discussed," Giraldi added. "Despite press reports that they had asked Abu Musab Zarqawi for assistance, there is no information to confirm that. It is known that the members discussed the possibility of approaching Zarqawi but none of them knew him or had any access to him.................

the nutmeg grater: oh my great goddess#links

9ithe nutmeg grater: oh my great goddess#links

well i can relate to this (in a way)

not that my employer would fire me or give me a bad review based on my beliefs (i think my immediate bosses sort of know i'm not a practicer of 'regular' religions). i'm lucky in that respect. i'm judged on the ACTUAL JOB I DO. however, others around the company (and it is a BIG company) look at me askew and/or don't return my greetings. i'm sure most of them are just thinking i'm a devil worshipper just based upon how i look. (i'm not by the way. not only don't i worship the devil, i don't even believe in the devil. evil comes from human kind, not some otherworldly creature(s))


Woman says firm fired her for being Wiccan
July 6, 2006
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
A Schaumburg company allegedly fired a woman, and one employee is accused of calling her a "devil worshipper" after she disclosed she practiced Wicca -- a pagan religion viewed by some as witchcraft.
Now, the woman is suing.
Rebecca Sommers said the company fired her in 2004, citing poor job performance. She had worked with the firm since 2002.
But Sommers insists in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that Crawford & Company Inc. fired her because supervisors there didn't like her religion.
Crawford is a Georgia-based insurance adjusting firm with an office in Schaumburg. Representatives there could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Sommers, an accounts analyst, said when she requested a day off for a Wiccan holiday, she was told by a manager to keep her religion "to herself." She said another supervisor who knew she practiced Wicca called her a devil worshipper in front of other employees...........

this is HARDLY a 'winner'

he is a GIANT asshole is what he is. first it appears he assaulted his wife (again. appears that way, i don't know for sure) THEN he effing SHOOTS A PUPPY WITH AN ARROW. if it was up to me, i would order this man to be SHUNNED for the rest of his life BY ALL.

and what's that he's wearing, a german shepherd?


'Police Say 'Survivor' Winner Shot Puppy With Arrow

Wife Called Police To Report Shooting
UPDATED: 10:06 am EDT July 6, 2006

ATLANTA -- The man who won "Survivor: Thailand" four years ago is charged with battery and cruelty to animals.
Officials said Brian Heidik shot a puppy with an arrow.
A Georgia county judge has released Heidik on bond.
Atlanta TV station WSB-TV reported that Heidik told the judge he thought the dog was a coyote that has been harassing his pets.
But a prosecutor said Heidik's wife called authorities at 3 a.m. to say he'd shot a puppy "and planned to shoot another one."
Officials said Heidik fled in his car when sheriff's deputies arrived. He was quickly captured.
The prosecutor said evidence at the home also supports a charge of battery for family violence.
Heidik is a former North Carolina State football player, used-car salesman and part-time actor

image: ap

god hates jews

and jains, and buddhists, and muslims and hindus and sikhs, and baha'is, and shintos and pagans and everyone else who doesn't believe EXACTLY like this group of people whom i am SURE are WITHOUT SIN believe

to me, this story is far more upsetting than even the iraq war. it is 2006. it is america. OR, is it 1940 germany. you decide. (and NOW i understand why king george is STILL on his throne. THESE people)

from jesus general

the gist of the story is;

.............A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. [...]On the evening in August 2004 when the board was to announce its new policy, hundreds of people turned out for the meeting. The Dobrich family and Jane Doe felt intimidated and asked a state trooper to escort them.The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."...A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to "go back up north."In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby.........

but please go to jesus general to read the letter(s) sent to one of the instigators of this racial/ethnic cleansing. his name is nedd kareiva but i think he's going to change it to adolph in the near future

i am very frightened. VERY

The Kiss - A Float for Bloggers in CT

wow, i JUST now saw this. i don't know where the heck i was to have missed it! i LOVE my state!

Look Who's Talking - George Bush or Joe Lieberman?

peace

if not this 4th, what about the 5th and thereafter? peace, now

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace. - buddha

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. -black elk

Peace is the only battle worth waging. -camus

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. -isaiah

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. -eleanor roosevelt

all we are saying, is give peace a chance -john lennon

Mother, mother There's too many of you crying Brother, brother, brother There's far too many of you dying You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today - Ya Father, father We don't need to escalate You see, war is not the answer For only love can conquer hate You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today Picket lines and picket signs Don't punish me with brutality Talk to me, so you can see Oh, what's going on What's going on Ya, what's going on Ah, what's going on In the mean time Right on, baby Right on Right on Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong Oh, but who are they to judge us Simply because our hair is long Oh, you know we've got to find a way To bring some understanding here today Oh Picket lines and picket signs Don't punish me with brutality Talk to me So you can see What's going on Ya, what's going on Tell me what's going on I'll tell you what's going on - Uh Right on baby Right on baby -marvin gaye

photos: as.wn.com, motherearth.org, newstandardnews.net, keralamonitor.com, robert-fisk.com, nomorebush.premiumfinder.com, kokedit.com

shocking

and sad and unbelievable. we all know there are crazy people in the world. amoral, no conscience, yes even evil. however, to have three, four or five of these people all together cannot be a coincidence, can it? i do so hope this entire story is NOT true.

AP: Alleged U.S. Atrocity in Iraq May Have Been Premeditated Murder
Published: July 01, 2006 1:00 PM ET
BAGHDAD Investigators believe a group of U.S. soldiers suspected of raping an Iraqi woman, then killing her and three members of her family plotted the attack for nearly a week, a U.S. military official said Saturday. Up to five soldiers are being investigated in the March killings, the fifth pending case involving alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops. The Americans entered the Sunni Arab's family home, separated three males from the woman, raped her and burned her body using a flammable liquid in a cover-up attempt, a military official close to the investigation said. The three males were also slain. A senior Army official who also requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing said one of the victims was a child. The soldiers had studied their victims for about a week and the attack was "totally premeditated," the official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The family had just moved into the home in the insurgent-riddled area around Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The U.S. military issued a terse statement about the killings Friday, saying only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family of four in Mahmoudiya. U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims were killed in sectarian violence. But Mahmoudiya police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report on March 13 alleging that American soldiers had killed the family in the Khasir Abyad area, about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya. ..........

UPDATE: AP Embed Gets Scoop on Latest Alleged U.S. Atrocity

By E&P Staff Published: July 01, 2006 12:05 PM ET
NEW YORK AP correspondent Ryan Lenz, embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq, produced the latest news bulletin today concerning yetr another alleged U.S. atrocity in Iraq, and one of the worst yet.Lenz reported this morning that five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her on March 12-- and three members of her family in Iraq. The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of raping. Iraqi police had been told about the killings three months ago. The U.S. contended the killings were by insurgents, until two or three soldiers spoke up. The New York Times followed on this report later in the afternoon: "The deaths were originally attributed by the military to 'insurgent activity,' American officials said. That implies that soldiers involved in the incident may have misreported it to their commanders, or that there may have been a cover-up in the chain of command, as is suspected in the case of the Haditha killings last November.............

whew! not to worry THE greatest actor of all time IS ALL RIGHT

it was touch and go there for a while, but we can now breathe a collective sigh of relief

Hasselhoff in chandelier accident

US actor David Hasselhoff has been treated in hospital after being hurt in a chandelier accident.
Hasselhoff, 53, hit his head on a chandelier in the men's room after using the gym at the Sanderson Hotel in London's West End on Thursday.
His right arm was cut by shards of glass, severing a tendon.
A spokeswoman for the former Baywatch and Knight Rider star said he was "out of hospital and ready to continue his work tomorrow". ......................

Glenda in the Land of Oz: July 4th. Let's Post for Peace!! Join in!!

Glenda in the Land of Oz: July 4th. Let's Post for Peace!! Join in!!

just because

the lovely and talented cv rick sent this along to the comments section of a posting...................................... (and he's posted it in his blog as well - along with a link to a video of the speech)

"The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as
a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret
oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of
excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the
dangers which are cited to justify it."

- John F. Kennedy

just because

guerrillas in the midst sent me this picture of an aye aye

and mr shakespeare thought the OTHER picture looked strangely similar to a notorious blood sucking boney long fingered vampire......

and now for something i really DO like - lemurs!!!

little TEENY TINY ones at that. can you imagine ANYTHING cuter? well putting aside my baby pictures that is

Microcebus mittermeieri is one of three newly announced mouse lemur species found on the African island of Madagascar.Photograph by Mark Thiessen/NGS

Three New Lemurs Discovered, Add to Madagascar's Diversity
Scott Norrisfor National Geographic News
June 26, 2006
Three new species of lemur in the African island nation of Madagascar have been discovered (Madagascar map and facts).
(Related: "Madagascar Movie Magic Might Be Real-Life Nightmare.")

All three are mouse lemurs and are as tiny as their name implies. The palm-size creatures are primates—the group that includes apes and humans.
Researchers first located the three new mouse lemurs in Madagascar's eastern rain forests in 2001. .........

a little animated slide show with audio (warning: not all of the pictures are nice)

my head is spinning and i'm spewing from my ears

how are we letting these people get away with this shite? i don't get it. more and more and more abuse then THEY (the king and his court) have the balls to say WE (the common folk) are at fault? WE don't have the right to know we are being SPIED UPON ILLEGALLY. our king and his court are NOT following that little piece of paper called THE CONSTITUTION? WE are undermining the safety and security of our GREAT NATION? i understand following party lines and if you're republican you stick with your party TO A POINT. how can ANYONE ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE? THE VERITABLE RAPING OF OUR SOULS. HOW? i just don't get it.

VIDEO: Snow Lashes Out at Media, Suggests NYT Has Undermined Americans’ ‘Right to Live’ President Bush today called the New York Times story revealing the administration’s monitoring of bank records “disgraceful,” and said the decision to publish details of the program “does great harm to the United States of America.”
Press Secretary Tony Snow followed up with another attack at today’s press briefing:
[T]he New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public’s right to know in some cases might override somebody’s right to live, and whether in fact the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans.
Watch it: .......

and

LATEST BLOW TO OUR WAR EFFORT NATIONAL REVIEW? wtf????????? do you actually believe we SHOULD be in iraq? why? i want to know. sure saddam was an evil man but then ago so are so many others we are actually BUDDIES with. so that makes no sense. they bombed the world trade center? NOPE, wasn't iraqis that did that either, so THAT isn't it. ok, they had weapons of MASS destruction! NOPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE no one found any of THOSE either (well we have 'em but we don't want anyone ELSE to have 'em). so THAT isn't it. mmmmmmmm did the iraqi's dis the king's dad back in the day? could be. could be a LOT of things but we ain't gonna know in this lifetime OR the next. there IS NO REASON OUR MEN AND WOMEN (AND THEIR MEN AND WOMEN) are dying. HOW THE HELL can the national review say revealing an ILLEGAL operation by the king and his court is threatening our 'war effort'. THERE SHOULD BE NO WAR EFFORT you bunch of steamin' wankers

'National Review' Urges Revoking 'NYT' White House Credentials

By Joe Strupp Published: June 26, 2006 3:30 PM ET
NEW YORK The same day that President Bush criticized The New York Times for disclosing a secret bank records monitoring program, editors of the National Review - the influential conservative magazine - are urging the White House to revoke the Times' press credentials.In an unusual move that has one publication seeking to block the press credentials of another, National Review wrote online today that the publication of the bank records story by the Times and other newspapers is the "latest body blow to the war effort.""Every passing week, it becomes more apparent that disgruntled leftists in the intelligence community and antiwar crusaders in the mainstream media, annealed in their disdain for the Bush administration, are undermining our ability to win the War on Terror," the editorial began. Although it noted that both The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times had disclosed the same information in stories that were first posted online late Thursday, the editorial aimed squarely at The New York Times."President Bush, who said on Monday morning that the exposure 'does great harm to the United States of America,' must demand that the New York Times pay a price for its costly, arrogant defiance," the editorial continued. "The administration should withdraw the newspaper's White House press credentials because this privilege has been so egregiously abused, and an aggressive investigation should be undertaken to identify and prosecute, at a minimum, the government officials who have leaked national-defense information."........

abuse of power?

our king and his court? our phone calls, our emails, our meetings to protest, our post office mail and now our bank records (you know they're checking our health records and atm records as well. NO ALL of that stoli was NOT JUST for me). they say they are only 'spying' (WITHOUT A WARRANT) on SUSPECTED TERRORISTS. c'mon now who is buying that? how much are YOU going to let THEM get away with BEFORE you open your mouths? are you going to wait until they put an electric collar around your neck? i am not. sure they just caught those five or six (i've forgotten now) YOUNG 'terrorists'. 'terrorists' who were all talk, never had any weapons, never met with any formed terrorist organizations. did they need to read MY mail to do that? did they need to read YOUR mail to do that? did they need to listen to a phone conversation (well it was more of a fight actually) i had with my sister? NO we weren't arguing about anything to do with being a terrorist. we were talking about my father's dvd player........at any rate; Keller of 'NYT' Responds to Criticism of Bank Records Bombshell By E&P Staff Published: June 25, 2006 7:35 PM ET
NEW YORK Responding to comments and criticism of the newspaper's revelations last week about government surveillance of certain interantional banking records, Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, has crafted a lengthy letter and had it posted on the Times' Web site today.A link can be found on the home page at www.nytimes.com. Keller's document is described as a reply that has been sent to numerous readers who have written the newspaper concerning the article by Eric Lichtblau and James Risen.Here are excerpts from the Keller letter.*It's an unusual and powerful thing, this freedom that our founders gave to the press. Who are the editors of The New York Times (or the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and other publications that also ran the banking story) to disregard the wishes of the President and his appointees? And yet the people who invented this country saw an aggressive, independent press as a protective measure against the abuse of power in a democracy, and an essential ingredient for self-government. They rejected the idea that it is wise, or patriotic, to always take the President at his word, or to surrender to the government important decisions about what to publish. ........

money money money

the all mighty or is that almighty dollah!

it's ok to sell 'em it just ain't ok to wear 'em

(of course NO ONE could say WHY they were offensive, but that's NOT the point)

hey, i wonder if belly shirts are allowed or mini skirts or tshirts with 'nra' emblazoned upon them are allowed? i wonder........

Bandanna banned in Springfield mall Officials wonÂ’t explain how headgear is offensive.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - A southwest Missouri mall defended its dress code after a security guard told a 10-year-old girl her bandanna decorated with peace signs, smiley faces and flowers violated the mallÂ’s code of conduct.
Lydia Smith, who was shopping with her mother at Battlefield Mall for new church clothes when the incident happened Saturday, said she wore the orange and yellow bandanna to give her outfit some color.
Lydia and her mom, Susan Smith, were eating lunch when the girl saw a mall security officer ask a nearby teenager to remove a bandanna. Then the officer approached her.
"(The officer) asked me to take it off and said thereÂ’s this new rule we have or something like that," Lydia said.
The officer handed LydiaÂ’s mother a printed copy of the Battlefield Mall Code of Conduct, which prohibits patrons from engaging in certain activities while on mall property.
Lydia had violated No. 10 on the list of 17 offenses: "failing to be fully clothed or wearing apparel which is likely to provide a disturbance or embroil other groups or the general public in open conflict."
Mall officials wonÂ’t clarify what clothing and accessories are prohibited..........

watch out sri lankans are trying to take away YOUR guns (NOT)

my friend richard from australia forwarded this article to me.

if you notice those christian organizations who are protesting a television show or a cd write TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LETTERS (well really a computer is writing them and they aren't from tens of thousands of people. perhaps five or six). same with the nra. what THIS person has to do with guns in america is beyond me (and beyond mr kariyawasam as well)

UN takes aim at gun runners

Those trying to control the trade in small arms find themselves in the sights of the powerful US gun lobby.


PRASAD Kariyawasam seems an unlikely person to get 5000 letters a day. Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN is a softly spoken diplomat, trained to avoid controversy, not provoke it. But in the past few weeks, his office has been overwhelmed with 100,000 letters.
They are not friendly postcards. They come from supporters of America's National Rifle Association, who claim that he is trying to take away their guns.
How this man poses a danger to the right to bear arms of 80 million gun-owning Americans is a puzzle. He is the chairman of a two-week United Nations conference starting on Monday that will review progress in the past five years to curb the trade in small arms, which fuels and sustains many international conflicts.............