Losing One's Mind

"Israel also kidnapped people from Lebanon to serve as bargaining chips in dealings with the kidnappers of Israeli soldiers. Now, it is trying out this tactic on Hamas politicians. As the prime minister said in a closed meeting: 'They want prisoners released? We'll release these detainees in exchange for Shalit.' By 'these detainees,' he was referring to elected Hamas officials.

The prime minister is a graduate of a movement whose leaders were once exiled, only to return with their heads held high and in a stronger position than when they were deported. But he believes that with the Palestinians, things work differently.

As one who knows that all the Hamas activists deported by Yitzhak Rabin returned to leadership and command positions in the organization, Olmert should know that arresting leaders only strengthens them and their supporters. But this is not merely faulty reasoning; arresting people to use as bargaining chips is the act of a gang, not of a state.

The government was caught up too quickly in a whirlwind of prestige mixed with fatigue. It must return to its senses at once, be satisfied with the threats it has made, free the detained Hamas politicians and open negotiations. The issue is a soldier who must be brought home, not changing the face of the Middle East."

The government is losing its reason - Haaretz - Israel News

International "Hugo" Fund

Not a bad idea. The IMF has been primarily an organ to suck the blood out of the needy countries and leaving them worst off. Chavez has got it right. The IMF and the World Bank have got to go.

Greg Palast | Hugo Chavez

Chávez, notes The Wall Street Journal, has become a "tropical IMF." And indeed, as the Venezuelan president told me, he wants to abolish the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, with its brutal free-market diktats, and replace it with an "International Humanitarian Fund," an IHF, or more accurately, an International Hugo Fund. In addition, Chávez wants OPEC to officially recognize Venezuela as the cartel's reserve leader, which neither the Saudis nor Bush will take kindly to.

Politically, Venezuela is torn in two. Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution," a close replica of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal-a progressive income tax, public works, social security, cheap electricity-makes him wildly popular with the poor. And most Venezuelans are poor. His critics, a four-centuries' old white elite, unused to sharing oil wealth, portray him as a Castro-hugging anti-Christ.

A Very Good Question

Erin Johnston, LCSW

Perhaps a greater issue is that the official gum of Major League Baseball is Bubble Yum - a product of the Hershey Company! How can this be? This seems like a clear conflict of interest to me. How is a person, fan or not, to make an informed decision about gum choices?

The High Price of American Gullibility

"Many Americans have turned a blind eye to the administration's illegal and unconstitutional spying on the grounds that, as they themselves are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. If this is the case, why did our Founding Fathers bother to write the Constitution? If the executive branch can be trusted not to abuse power, why did Congress pass legislation establishing a panel of federal judges (ignored by the Bush administration) to oversee surveillance? If President Bush can decide that he can ignore statutory law, how does he differ from a dictator? If Bush can determine law, what is the role of Congress and the courts? If 'national security' is a justification for elevating the power of the executive, where is his incentive to find peaceful solutions?

Emotional appeals to fear and to patriotism have led close to half of the population to accept unaccountable government in the name of 'the war on terrorism.' What a contradiction it is that so many Americans have been convinced that safety lies in their sacrifice of their civil liberties and accountable government.

If so many Americans cannot discern that they have acquiesced to conditions from which tyranny can arise, how can they understand that it is statistically impossible for the NSA's mass surveillance of Americans to detect terrorists?"

Watch Us, Wiretap Us, Search Us, Jail Us...

The Irony of It All...

... Or, all roads lead to the US Taxpayer!

"The Palestinian power plant bombed by Israeli forces Tuesday is insured by a US government agency, and US officials say they expect American funds to be used to pay for the damage.

The destruction of the 140-megawatt reactor, the only one in the Gaza Strip, threatens to create a humanitarian disaster because the plant supplies electricity to two-thirds of Gaza's 1.3 million residents and operates pumps that provide water supplies."

Gaza Power Plant Hit by Israeli Airstrike is Insured by US Agency

Mabel and Madge Will Have to Forgive Me

Buffet on eBay Auction

Now, obviously these people are out of their mind. $500,000!!!

"Warren Buffett Power Lunch to Benefit Glide Foundation
Winner & up to 7 Guests in NYC with Mr. Buffett"

eBay: Warren Buffett Power Lunch to Benefit Glide Foundation (item 6639163837 end time Jun-29-06 19:00:00 PDT)

OK-Now Let Us Close It Down

"The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions are unconstitutional.

In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized under U.S. law or the Geneva Conventions. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in the case, called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. recused himself from the case."

Supreme Court Rejects Guantanamo War Crimes Trials

A Must Read

This is what is going on there in Iraq. It's worth the time to read it.

Dahr Jamail | An Iraqi Withdrawal From Iraq

"I asked him if there was any way to find a seat if I came back tomorrow. "No way," he replied. I asked what a seat cost now if one was available. "125,000 Iraqi Dinar ($83), and within a week it might be increased. Yesterday here the shootings were everywhere and scared the passengers. Everybody hid wherever there was a place to hide. Two of the passengers were injured and taken to the hospital. Yet still you see, despite the threat of being killed here, everyone is trying desperately to leave."



Meanwhile, the oil companies and other corporate cronies who the Bush cabal represents are making great progress in solidifying their presence in Iraq.

Another Design...

Is it even relevant anymore?

"Designers presented on Wednesday new plans for the 1,776-foot-high Freedom Tower, a glass tower that would be the world's tallest building and would fill the void left by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center nearly five years ago."

Architect Presents New Design for Freedom Tower

Best Computer I Ever Bought

MacBook with Intel Core Duo processor

I had a Dell at work and used my Mac at home and had to always sync the two together so that I had the same information on both. Now, I have only one computer--I used the Microsoft XP at work running the PC partition at work and I come home and use the same box and run OS X. One Box... I have access to everything at all times.

My Dell is going either one sale on eBay or I will keep it as a backup. The G4-15 inch may go on eBay soon.

Best thing ever... Now if they come up with a way to switch back and forth without having to restart... that would be way bithin'.

Protect Me...

StumbleUpon

The Emperor Has No Clothes...

'Nude Bush' artwork dropped

A cartoon-style nude painting of US President George W Bush has been taken down by a museum in Washington.

Kayti Didriksen's Man of Leisure, King George, shows a nude Mr Bush being attended to by a man resembling Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Someone Tell Him...

... To go Fuck himself.

Bush Slams Leak of Terror Finance Story: "'For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America,' Bush said, jabbing his finger for emphasis. He said the disclosure of the program 'makes it harder to win this war on terror.'"

Whoa!!!

"Chicago police are warning the city's elderly residents about an area code telephone scam that has been known to cost victims many thousands of dollars.

According to the Chicago Police Senior Citizen Program, all residents should be aware of e-mails, phone calls and web pages that tell them to call a number with the area codes 809, 284 or 876.

The scam tries to keep the caller on the phone as long as possible and charges more than $2,000 per minute. People who make the calls will often see charges of more than $24,000 on their phone bills.

The 809 area code, located in the British Virgin Islands, is a 'pay-per-call' and works similar to a 900 number, but is not required to notify callers about charges associated with the call. "

Police warn of phone scam

This What All The Fuss is About?

Seven of the men were definitely up to no good, authorities say. According to a federal indictment unsealed Friday, they were a cadre of al-Qaida wannabes who planned to create an 'Islamic army' and 'wage a full ground war' on the United States by blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago and FBI offices in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.

But, long on ambition, they were short on success. They acquired combats boots, a cell phone, a camera and some cash, but never stockpiled explosives, carried out a mission nor posed any real threat.

Indictment reveals little hard evidence of terrorist plot

Fuck The Wall Street Journal

"The WSJ's June 23 editorial is titled 'A Vote for Venezuela Is a Vote for Iran.' The commentary in it is one of the paper's most extreme diatribes against the Venezuelan leader which would seem to indicate the Bush administration and corporate America are stepping up their attack on Hugo Chavez in advance of when they plan to make their move to oust him. The Journal writer calls him a 'strongman' in an 'oil dictatorship' leading a government that values 'tyranny and aggression' who'll use his seat and Council presidency when his nation assumes it to support 'hostile states' like Iran, Cuba, Sudan and North Korea. Observers knowledgeable about Venezuela under Chavez would have a hard time containing themselves as the true Chavez record is totally opposite the one the Journal portrays. The Journal writer, of course, knows this, but would never report it in her column. Her employer and the interests it serves wouldn't be pleased if she did.

While claiming that a Guatamala seat on the Council is a 'voice for the region, not its own national interests,' it says Venezuela's 'rests largely on oil 'diplomacy' and the capacity to push anti-American buttons around the UN.' It goes on to state 'It may seem strange Venezuela has any support in the region. Over the past seven years, its meddling in its neighbors' politics 'have' (even the grammar is wrong) earned it a reputation as a bully. Mr. Chavez is persona non grata in more than a few Latin nations. Many countries are worried about Venezuela's 'big spending' to acquire fighter jets and 100,000 kalisnikovs from Russia.' Readers may need to pause to catch their breath.

What the Journal writer doesn't explain is far more important than what she does - but she's doing her job as a servant of the US empire. Chavez's so-called 'oil diplomacy,' in fact, is based on his Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas or ALBA. It's based on the principles of complementarity (not competition), solidarity (not domination), cooperation (not exploitation) and respect for other nations' sovereignty free from the control of dominant powers like the US and its large transnational corporations. It's the mirror opposite of US-style predatory capitalism and the one-sided trade agreements it uses to exploit other countries for its own gain"


The Wall Street Journal Calls Hugo Chavez A Threat to World Peace

Wannabees

"In a BBC news broadcast today, Miami Herald reporter Mani Garcia remarks that the government's arrest of seven men in connection with a 'plot' to blow up the Sears Tower is probably overblown.

'They've been described to us by sources as 'wannabes' -- still to be determined if making a connection about talking about doing an attack and and being able to finance an attack,' Garcia said. 'We've seen previous cases where the Federal government has announced with great hoopla breaking terrorist cells. And when you start deconstructing a case, you see that there's a lot of talk.'"

BBC: Sears Tower 'plotters' just 'wannabes'

What An Idiot

This guy is just lying. The UN is concerned about Illegal trade and ownership of guns. Not legal ownership of it. I think illegal trade of guns is a subject that should be debated in the context of the UN. This mother fucking asshole NRA executive is simply lying.

US Gun Lobby Slams UN Meeting on Illegal Arms Trade

But in an interview with The Economist weekly last month, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre claimed that the United Nations aims to take away Americans' guns because it is a club of governments, some of which want to "strip opposition forces of the means to challenge their authority".

"So, after we are disarmed, the UN wants us demobilized and reintegrated. I can hear it now: Step right this way for your reprogramming, sir... Once we confiscate your guns, we can demobilize your aggressive instincts and reintegrate you into civil society. "No thanks," he added.

People Are So Lonely

"The comprehensive new study paints a sobering picture of an increasingly fragmented America, where intimate social ties -- once seen as an integral part of daily life and associated with a host of psychological and civic benefits -- are shrinking or nonexistent. In bad times, far more people appear to suffer alone.

[...]

Compared with 1985, nearly 50 percent more people in 2004 reported that their spouse is the only person they can confide in. But if people face trouble in that relationship, or if a spouse falls sick, that means these people have no one to turn to for help, Smith-Lovin said.

'We know these close ties are what people depend on in bad times,' she said. 'We're not saying people are completely isolated. They may have 600 friends on Facebook.com [a popular networking Web site] and e-mail 25 people a day, but they are not discussing matters that are personally important.'"

Social Isolation Growing in U.S., Study Says

Huh?

I thought we killed Zarquawi and the insurgency was no longer capable of carrying on attacks... Like they said: we cut off the head and so they will have hard time planning. If this is the situation without a head, I would have hated to see one with a head.

"Iraq's government clamped a state of emergency on Baghdad and ordered everyone off the streets Friday after U.S. and Iraqi forces battled insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles near the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The military also announced the deaths of five more U.S. troops in a particularly violent week for American forces that included the discovery of the brutalized bodies of two soldiers. Twelve U.S. servicemembers have died or been found dead this week."

Iraqis call state of emergency in Baghdad

Call Me a Cynic

Bush's poll numbers are at an all time low. The only thing that in the past few years has helped that Idiot is fear. Fear has allowed people to let these crooks have the run of the country (and the treasury) without any true accounting. So now we have this... Are we to expect that these criminals will turn out to be Democrats? I would not be surprised if that was to happen.

"Seven young men arrested in an alleged plot against the Sears Tower were part of a group of ``homegrown terrorists'' who sought to work with al-Qaida but ended up conspiring with an informant, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday."

Indictment: Group wanted to blow up Sears Tower

Quotable

"The American Dream... You have to be asleep to beleive it."
--George Carlin

More Secrecy...

Ok...

Is the NSA spying on U.S. Internet traffic?

In a pivotal network operations center in metropolitan St. Louis, AT&T has maintained a secret, highly secured room since 2002 where government work is being conducted, according to two former AT&T workers once employed at the center.

In interviews with Salon, the former AT&T workers said that only government officials or AT&T employees with top-secret security clearance are admitted to the room, located inside AT&T's facility in Bridgeton. The room's tight security includes a biometric "mantrap" or highly sophisticated double door, secured with retinal and fingerprint scanners. The former workers say company supervisors told them that employees working inside the room were "monitoring network traffic" and that the room was being used by "a government agency."

More Secret Snooping

Ok...

Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror

Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.

Quotable

"You don't have to give the Republicans Hell. All You have to do is tell the truth, and they'll think that it's Hell."
--Harry Truman adage

Underwater Delights

Simply fabulous photography...

The Smurfs Were Communists?

An interesting theory well argued...

Smurf's Communist Leanings

Upon immediate reflection, who could find any imperfections in the colony of a hundred or so blue elves? They were never violent, they never swore, and to the best of my knowledge there was never any nudity in the Smurf village. Children and parents alike were lulled into complacency by this seeming Smurf-topia, only to be blinded to a harsher reality. The Smurfs were communists. "Communists?!", you say. It's hard to believe, and trust me, it was hard for me to accept, as all of my most cherished childhood fantasies were smashed to bits. It was only quite recently, whilst I was engaged in a heated discussion about the wide variety of devious strategies Scooby Doo employs to teach children the fine art of bribery (a lesson for another day,) that I flashed back to the days when cartoons were actually more important to me than sex, and I remembered my beloved Smurfs. Once I began to ponder upon the behaviors of the Smurfs I was forced to realize the truth and the whole "Commie Smurf" theory, as I like to call it, spiralled out of control quite naturally from there.

And Again, We Turn

I just hope we are not going in circles...

Cheney: Iraq at a "Turning Point"

Vice President Cheney said today that when this period in the Iraq war is remembered, it will be seen as a turning point for the long-term future of the embattled country.

Two Things Comes to Mind

In the Pre-War era, they compared Saddam with Hitler--Remember that?  It's axiomatic that they did not have a clue about the capabilities of the Iraqi military--which I suggest their Air Force is but an example.

The second thing that comes to my mind is: so much for sovereignty!  Iraq is a puppet regime, under control and is told it cannot have airspace freedom. And that's that.

Iraq's Post-Hussein Air Force Finds Its Wings Clipped

The U.S. military has hurriedly tried to turn over square mile after square mile of territory to Iraqi soldiers and police officers, but it has yet to yield control of a single cubic inch of the country's skies.



Despite U.S. pledges to help, the fledgling Iraqi air force remains tiny and ineffective — consisting of three Vietnam-era cargo planes, a few secondhand helicopters, some small, problem-ridden aircraft and just 14 pilots, decades older than their American counterparts and under threat from Sunni Muslim insurgents and Shiite militias alike.



U.S. military officials say that addressing the question of when they will allow the Iraqi air force to acquire combat capabilities is years away. The U.S. Air Force, they say, will retain control of Iraqi airspace for the foreseeable future, regardless of any drawdown of ground troops.

Imagine

George Bush sing Imagine

The Fraud Continues

You would think that the people who are so concerned about freedom and democracy would like to see more and more people make use of these concept.

New Roadblocks To the Ballot Box

For the last several years, but particularly the last two presidential elections, nonpartisan organizations like the League of Women Voters, Rock the Vote and organizations representing minorities, the homeless and students, have done an incredible job of registering people to vote in communities with low participation rates. Both Florida and Ohio (them again) have taken steps to put a stop to all that nonsense. In Florida, a coalition of organizations have mounted a legal challenge to a law just passed there that threatens to completely shut down all voter registration drives in the state.



Under the new law, any organization that has a volunteer or employee return a registration form more than ten days after it was collected will be fined $250 for each and every form returned late. If anyone associated with the organization should fail to turn in the form before the registration deadline, the fine is $500 per form. If a registration form is not submitted, for any reason—including a hurricane or a death or any other reason at all—the fine per form jumps to $5,000. The groups say that such fines would be so debilitating to their organization’s survival that they will have to stop doing voter registration altogether. The tell-tale sign of the motives behind the measure: political parties are exempt.

:)

If You Ever Wondered...

Ever wonder what happens when you dump a bucket of liquid nitrogen into a swimming pool?

Someone Tell Her...

... To go fuck herself.

Rice says US has heard positive statements from Iran

The United States has heard some positive statements from Tehran over an offer from major powers aimed at curbing
Iran's nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said on Friday.

Lost Opportunity

In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran's Offer of Dialogue

Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department. It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States, and the fax suggested everything was on the table -- including full cooperation on nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups.

But top Bush administration officials, convinced the Iranian government was on the verge of collapse, belittled the initiative. Instead, they formally complained to the Swiss ambassador who had sent the fax with a cover letter certifying it as a genuine proposal supported by key power centers in Iran, former administration officials said.

Who really killed Huda Ghalia's family?

Guardian investigation undermines military claim that Israeli shells could not have been responsible for death of girl's family.

Heartrending pictures of 10-year-old Huda Ghalia running wildly along a Gaza beach crying "father, father, father" and then falling weeping beside his body turned the distraught girl into an instant icon of the Palestinian struggle even before she fully grasped that much of her family was dead.

But the images of the young girl who lost her father, step-mother and five of her siblings as picnicking families fled a barrage of Israeli shells a week ago have become their own battleground.

Liberal Media...? What Liberal Media.

No matter what, the Hindenburg is burning...

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

Follow the Bouncing Bush—We Have Another Winner! (6/15/06) by Greg Sargent. In an "absurd example...of the media straining for whatever scrap of evidence it can find that President Bush is rebounding in the polls," an NBC story headlined "Bush’s Standing Rises Slightly" credits the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for their poll findings that "President Bush's standing has slightly improved, especially when it comes to the situation in Iraq."

Guess how much Bush's standing rose. One point! In two months!... The margin of error for the poll? Three points. So how do we know his rating has risen, then? We don't, of course. What's more, way down in the story, we learn that 53 percent say the decision to attack Iraq was the wrong decision, compared with 41 percent who say it was right.... So why wasn't this the headline: "Despite Good News, Majorities Still Oppose War and Are Pessimistic About Outcome"?

:)

Where Is Obama... Durbin?

... And why aren't they supporting the troops?

Who Supports the Troops?

Who were the six senators who refused to play Rove's game and voted for the "Bring the Troops Home" amendment?



Barbara Boxer of California.


Robert Byrd of West Virginia.


Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.


Tom Harkin of Iowa.


Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.


John Kerry of Massachusetts.



On the day when the 2,500th American died in the Iraq quagmire, the Senate was asked to approve the sentiment of the troops who say that it is time for them to get out of the middle of a foreign civil war.



The vast majority of senators decided to do the bidding of the president who deceived them about the "case" for war and who then played politics with national security and the lives of the young men and women who wear the uniform of the United States.

It's Over...

Group D - Match #24 - Final

Portugal			Iran
	(6 Pts)	2	0	(0 Pts)
	Ronaldo 79 min (Figo)		Golmohammadi 87 min
	Deco 62 min (Figo)		Kabei 72 min
	Costinha 60 min		Madanchi 31 min
	Deco 47 min		Nekounam 19 min
	Pauleta 45 min
Carvalho, Costinha, Deco (Tiago 79 min), Figo (Simão 87 min), Maniche (Petit 66 min), Meira, Miguel, Pauleta, Ricardo, Ronaldo, Valente			Golmohammadi (Bakhtiarizadeh 88 min), Hashemian, Kabei, Karimi (Zandi 64 min), Madanchi (Khatibi 65 min), Mahdavikia, Mirzapour, Nekounam, Nosrati, Rezaei, Teymourian

A SImple Medium of Delivery of Advertisement and Thoughts

The National Entertainment State (Forum)

The centerfold is an invitation to step back from the outrage of the moment--be it over Rush Limbaugh's addled ranting, Bill O'Reilly's spin or the White House press corps's inability to distinguish between journalism and stenography--and see the big picture in gruesome detail. It reminds us that while we might hate the rigid recitation of conservative talking points on Fox News programs and love the Internet frontier reached via MySpace.com, both Fox and MySpace are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It tells us that when we are wondering whether we should trust an NBC Nightly News report on the greening of nuclear power, it is important to keep in mind that NBC's owner, General Electric, has a more than passing interest in the development and operation of nuclear power plants. And the chart also reminds us that GE owns Universal Pictures and Universal Studios, making it a major player in the creation of the culture--the TV shows and movies--that goes so far to define what Americans think and do.



It is the power that a handful of corporations continue to wield over the media we consume--even the new media of a supposedly liberating Internet--that ought to concern us as citizens. It is not enough to hope that the Internet will set us free. Yes, the World Wide Web is evolving in ways that few anticipated a decade ago, and yes, as the optimism of Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and the skepticism of Mark Crispin Miller illustrate, there are differing views among progressives of what that evolution is likely to mean. It is a good bet, however, that another forum participant, Rebecca MacKinnon, is right when she argues that new-media companies such as Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft will in relatively short order either displace some of the old-media companies on the chart or acquire or merge with them. (Those entities do not appear on this year's chart simply because they do not own major television networks--not yet, anyway--and the Internet has yet to surpass television as Americans' number-one source for news.) But the vast frontiers of new media are being colonized by big players of old media, which just won round one in the fight over "net neutrality" with the House's passage of the COPE Act, legislation that would allow commercial sites to dominate the net.

War As Usual

Israel’s killings may be the start of a bloody cycle

srael has chosen war—again. On Tuesday, it killed at least nine Palestinians, including two children, in an air strike in Gaza, according to the BBC.

[...]

“Asked last week on Israeli television how he could justify
advocating engagement with a terrorist organization that does not
recognize Israel's right to exist, Mr. Halevy ridiculed the stale
assumptions that underlie that question,” Siegman writes.
“Do not look at Hamas’s rhetoric, he said, look at what it does: Hamas
declared a truce 18 months ago and has committed no terrorist acts
against Israel since. In spite of Hamas’s refusal to change its
theological rejection of Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister in the
Hamas-led government, ordered his ministers to seek practical
co-operation with their Israeli counterparts. Mr. Haniyeh also
confirmed that Hamas’s self-declared truce is open-ended.”

Not any more. A girl, Huda Ghaliya, whose father, stepmother and
five siblings were killed in the beach incident, has become a
regionwide symbol as a victim of Israeli brutality. (Israel is now
denying responsibility.)

Obliterated!!!

Group C - Match #21 - Final

Argentina			Serbia-Montenegro
	(6 Pts)	6	0	(0 Pts)
	Messi 87 min (Tévez)		Kezman 64 min
	Tévez 83 min (Messi)		Krstajic 41 min
	Crespo 77 min (Messi)		Nadj 26 min
	Rodriguez 40 min (Crespo)		Koroman 06 min
	Crespo 36 min
	Cambiasso 30 min (Crespo)
	Rodriguez 05 min (Saviola)
Abbondanzieri, Ayala, Burdisso, Crespo, González (Cambiasso 16 min), Heinze, Mascherano, Riquelme, Rodriguez (Messi 73 min), Saviola (Tévez 57 min), Sorín			Djordjevic P, Dudic, Duljaj, Gavrancic, Jevric, Kezman, Koroman (Ljuboja 48 min), Krstajic, Milosevic (Vukic 68 min), Nadj (Ergic 45 min), Stankovic

Can You Believe This Idiot?

"Conservative suspicion was led by Jack Kemp, a former gridiron player and the Republican candidate for the vice-presidency in 1996 who in 1986 opposed a plan for the US to host the World Cup. 'I think it is important for all those young out there, who some day hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands, a distinction should be made that football is democratic, capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist sport,' he said."

The US Wises Up To the World Game

Like Music for My Ears

"Dada or Dadaism [French, from dada, child's word for a horse] Nihilistic movement in the arts that flourished chiefly in France, Switzerland, and Germany from about 1916 to about 1920 [and later -ed.] and that was based on the principles of deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and cynicism and the rejection of laws of beauty and social organization.
The most widely accepted account of the movement's naming concerns a meeting held in 1916 at Hugo Ball's Cabaret (Café) Voltaire in Zürich, during which a paper knife inserted into a French-German dictionary pointed to the word dada; this word was seized upon by the group as appropriate for their anti-aesthetic creations and protest activities, which were engendered by disgust for bourgeois values and despair over World War I.

In the United States the movement was centered in New York at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery, '291,' and at the studio of the Walter Arensbergs. Dada-like activities, arising independently but paralleling those in Zürich, were engaged in by such chiefly visual artists as Man Ray and Francis Picabia. Both through their art and through such publications as The Blind Man, Rongwrong, and New York Dada, the artists attempted to demolish current aesthetic standards. Traveling between the United States and Europe, Picabia became a link between the Dada groups in New York City, Zürich, and Paris; his Dada periodical, 291, was published in Barcelona, New York City, Zürich, and Paris from 1917 through 1924.

In 1917 the Dada movement was transmitted to Berlin, where it took on a more political character. The Berlin artists, too, issued Dada publications: Club Dada, Der Dada, Jedermann sein eigner Fussball ('Everyman His Own Football'), and Dada Almanach.

In Paris Dada took on a literary emphasis under one of its founders, the poet Tristan Tzara. Most notable among Dada pamphlets and reviews was Littérature (published 1919-24), which contained writings by André Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault, and Paul Éluard. After 1922, however, Dada faded and many Dadaists grew interested in surrealism."


DaDa Online

Never Needed it More Than Now

"So Dadaists figured it was time to throw away the rules, and you can tell they had a ball doing so. Out with jingoism and the clichés of romanticism and Expressionism, whose self-centeredness they particularly despised, and in with a new spirit of internationalism, collaboration, serendipity and transparency. (Duchamp's cracked glass was the operative symbol.) Dada stood for freedom. Art may be useless but it is also indispensable."

The Moment When Artists Took Over the Asylum

Quotable

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
--Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813).

Turning Another Corner?

With some good news for the White House--Rove having cut a deal not going to be charged, Zarkawi killed (at some point before, during or after the bombings), there is talk about another corner having been turned.

To tell you the truth I cannot recall the number of corners we have turned. I just hope that all of the corners we have turned in the past and all the ones we are going to turn in the future are not to the right, or we will be going in circles.

Too Bad...

Not the news I was hoping to hear.

The Swamp - Chicago Tribune

Karl Rove, longtime chief political adviser to President Bush and mastermind of campaign strategies for the Republican Party, will not face any charges as a result of the leak of a CIA operative's identity, according to Rove's private attorney.

Impeach The Crook

articlesofimpeachment.net

The Center for Constitutional Rights, America’s
leading institution of constitutional scholarship, has developed a
legal case for the impeachment of George W Bush. Now, in collaboration
with Melville House Books and progressives across the U.S., they are
sponsoring a “National Teach-In” to share their case, what’s at stake,
and what impeachment means for every American.

In Chicago:

July 19, 2006

From: 07:00 PM until 08:30 PM

Address
2040 N. Milwaukee Avenue * Chicago, IL

Let's Stay Positive

Mexic0: 3 - Iran: 1 and Czech Republic: 3 - USA: 0

:\

:)

A Mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has screwed him out of ten million bucks; his bookkeeper is deaf. It was considered an occupational benefit, and the reason he got the job in the first place, since it was assumed that a deaf bookkeeper would not be able to hear anything that he'd ever have to testify about in court.
When the Godfather goes to shakedown the bookkeeper about his missing $10 million bucks, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.
The Godfather asks the bookkeeper: "Where is the 10 million bucks you embezzled from me?"
The attorney, using sign language, asks the bookkeeper where the 10 million bucks is hidden.
The bookkeeper signs back: "I don't know what you are talking about."
The attorney tells the Godfather: "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about."
That's when the Godfather pulls out a 9 mm pistol, puts it to the bookkeepers temple, cocks it, and says: "Ask him again!"
The attorney signs to the underling: "He'll kill you for sure if you don't tell him!"
The bookkeeper signs back: "OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!"
The Godfather asks the attorney: "Well, what'd he say?"
The attorney replies: "He says you don't have the guts to pull the trigger."

OK... I Suppose This Makes Sense Now...

Ok... But in the final analysis, what does it really matter?

Forensic Specialists to Examine Al-Zarqawi

The U.S. military flew in two forensic specialists Saturday to examine the remains of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "to see how he actually died" and to reconstruct the last minutes of his life, a spokesman said.

The examination comes after U.S. authorities altered their initial account of the al-Qaida leader's death, first saying he died outright in a U.S. airstrike, then saying he survived but died soon after.

Also, an Iraqi man raised fresh questions, telling Associated Press Television News that he saw U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from his nose.

She Didn't Do It

Umm... nope. She did not have anything to do with it. It's the SUV's fault who decided, on its own, out of the blue, to back itself into another vehicle. Possibly because the other vehicle was the wrong color...

Chicago Tribune

Paris Hilton had a fender-bender accident when her Range Rover backed into a car in a parking garage after a shopping trip, her publicist said Friday.

Enjoy It While You Can

Because we are one step closer to losing it. Maybe in the Senate, things will be different.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Defeat for net neutrality backers

US politicians have rejected attempts to enshrine the principle of net neutrality in legislation.

Some fear the decision will mean net providers start deciding on behalf of customers which websites and services they can visit and use.

The vote is a defeat for Google, eBay and Amazon which wanted the net neutrality principle protected by law.

All three mounted vigorous lobbying campaigns prior to the vote in the House of Representatives.

What Does it Matter?

Can someone explain to me what does it matter if this guy died under the ruble or was alive and then died on a stretcher. I have heard, CNN, NPR, AirAmerica and countless articles devoted to reporting exactly when this guy died?

... I just wonder why the Military did not tell us the truth from the get-go. I mean, they had time to take a picture of the guy and blow it up to a 20x24 size and frame it suitable for mass consumption but they could not figure out when the guy died?

Zarqawi Lived After Airstrike

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was clinging to life when Iraqi and, later, American forces arrived at the scene of the bombing that killed him, a U.S. general said Friday, revising his earlier account of the al-Qaeda leader's death. Meanwhile, other circumstances surrounding the killing remained cloudy.

Quotable

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.

-Harry S. Truman

...

A Very Appealing Offer...

"Want to bike Chicago in the buff? The World Naked Bike Ride is set for Saturday in Wicker Park. Check-in begins at 6 p.m. at the fountain in Wicker Park, 1455 N. Damen Ave. The ride is set to start at 9 p.m. For more info, visit www.worldnakedbikeride.org/chicago."

Nude cyclists coming to town

FIFA World Cup--Let The Games Begin!!!

"Thirty-two teams from across the globe make up the field for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ finals. Six continents are represented and six past winners will take part, including hosts Germany, who head the 14-strong European contingent, and holders Brazil who lead the South American challenge."

FIFA World Cup

I Am Ready For My Close Up... :)

"NBT at the anti-Bush Dog From Hell writes: 'Oh yeah ... I suspect sometimes before November 6, 2006 we will be hearing a lot about an imminent terror attack. ... Why doesn't this surprise me?' "

Bloggers on terror-attack fears. By Michael Weiss

:)

Worth Revisiting

"Here are links to a couple of neat short cartoon videos. In the first one, Ben Cohen (formerly of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, now of TrueMajority.org ) uses stacks of Oreo cookies to illustrate how areas of our federal budget stack up, including a few comparisons to some other countries.

In the second one you can re-adjust the sizes of the stacks of Oreos and then send a percentages version of the result to your Senators and Congresspersons."

The Defense Budget, Ben Cohen, and Oreo Cookies

Another Terrorist Attack Coming Soon?

Oh yeah... I suspect sometimes before November 6, 2006 we will be hearing a lot about an imminent terror attack... Why doesn't this surprise me?

"U.S. officials believe Canadian arrests over the weekend and three recent domestic incidents in the United States are evidence the U.S. will soon be hit again by a terrorist attack. Privately, they say, they'd be surprised if it didn't come by the end of the year, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart in a CBS News exclusive."

Another Terrorist Attack Coming Soon?

The Real Issue

"'We are in a curious situation, where anyone interested in a solution, including Hamas, knows what the solution is going to be — a real, viable Palestinian state in all the occupied territories, with a few changes here and there of the border. But no one knows how to get there.'

While 'a great majority' of both the Israelis and the Palestinians want peace, he says, 'the political setup on both sides ... is not really suited to finding solutions, for different reasons — on our side, because the government really does not want a solution.'

Why?

'We have an ongoing, partly hidden debate about what's really the main thing. Achieve peace or create a bigger Israel? The people in power today still believe that a greater Israel is more important."

Starving Palestinians is Inhumane, Stupid

Finally...

... someone with a brain has been prevailed in observing the obvious.

"Chicago's airports soon will have free parking lots where drivers picking up passengers will be able to wait for a cell phone call before pulling up to the 'arrivals' lanes.

The lots, located within five minutes of the terminals at O'Hare International and Midway Airports, open Monday, providing areas for motorists to wait without having to pay to park, waste precious gas or risk ticketing and towing.

The new so-called 'cell phone lots' are opening as aviation officials are predicting what could be the busiest air travel season nationwide since 2000."

No more driving in circles at airports

The Last One/Third

As Colbert said: "The last one/third is backwash anyway..."

"This is not to say that the Republicans might not one day lose Bushlandia, whose population holds decidedly lukewarm views about the party's two most likely nominees for 2008, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Even the president's 52% approval represents a steep fall from prior levels of support. But a core of affection for Mr Bush, Jim Risch insisted, would always remain."

Journey to the heart of Bushlandia

Co-Conspirators to War Crimes

"Our fearless TV journalists did not break the story.

CNN had it, but, according to Damon, didn't realize it.

Journalists like Dahr Jamail have been calling attention to many massacres that have gone mostly unreported -- even when US journalists were there, like at Fallujah, which was played up for its drama and gun battles, but never fully contextualized or focused on the vast civilian casualties.

When atrocities occur, they are invariably described as 'mistakes,' rarely crimes. What this means is that many media organizations are acting as accessories. War crimes often lead to media crimes and vice versa.

England's Media Lens discusses this same phenomenon in the UK:

'US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld told US news channels that the allegations are being investigated thoroughly and would be handled 'in the normal order of things.'

The Times (London) notes that:

'the damage limitation has already begun.'

The paper explains:

'Lawyers who have talked to the Marines emphasize the extreme pressure that they were facing that day. The insurgents had mounted a wave of attacks, and the town was one of the most dangerous in Iraq for US troops.' (Ali Hamdani, Ned Parker, Nick Meo and Tom Baldwin, 'The Marines and a 'massacre' in Iraq,' The Times, May 27, 2006)

'Damage limitation includes shifting blame back on to the Iraqis: 'Marine officers have long been worried that Iraq's deadly insurgency could prompt such a reaction by combat teams.' (Perry and Barnes, op. cit.)

Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said:

'It's clear that what happened in Haditha is a war crime. It would be idle to think this is the first war crime that has been committed in the last three years. It must be assumed that more of this is going on.' (Raymond Whitaker, 'The massacre and the Marines,' Independent on Sunday, May 28, 2006)

So there you have the kind of discussion ignore"

Media Crimes Sanitize War Crimes