The Monolith Crumbles - "It is a well-known fact--except among the American media, the American government, and about 98.7 percent of the American people--that Iran is not a monolithic state where sheep-like masses bray with a single voice in chorus with their demented leaders, but is, on the contrary, a complex society where many conflicting opinions on matters political, religious, social, historical, etc., contend with each other in open debate. True, it does have a government dominated by repressive clerics, who exercise the kind of veto power over secular law that George W. Bush's vaunted "base" dreams of seeing established in the United States; but Iran is far more open than, say, Saudi Arabia or China, just to name two countries where the Bush Family and friends have long engorged their bellies through insider connections with the ruling cliques. Therefore it must have come as a great shock to the system for Americans this week to hear Iran's former president, Mohammad Khatami, rail against the ignorant Holocaust revisionism mouthed by his successor, the hardline flibbertigibbet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Excerpts below.) Or rather, it would have come as a shock to the American system to hear Khatami's words--if Americans had actually been told about them. But it serves no interests among America's own ruling cliques to dilute the current line of the day: that Iran is a hellhole of unremitting evil, a new Nazi Germany led by a new Hitler. So Khatami's remarks, reported widely elsewhere in the world, were not allowed to disturb the lie-drugged slumber of the American consciousness."
The Man Who Wasn't There on 9/11 - "Zacarias Moussaoui was sitting in jail when the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. Now, the government wants him executed for that day of terror because he did nothing to stop it."
Rumsfeld denies claims of torture at Guantanamo - "He insisted that there was no torture at Guantanamo Bay, adding: "We know that for a fact."" -- Just like you knew for a fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, right Don?
For the women of South Dakota: an abortion manual - "DISCLAIMER: I am posting this as information only. Whether anyone chooses to act upon this information is their own concern. I believe in the free exchange of information and ideas. I believe this information has been kept from women for too long, and there is no reason they should not know about a procedure being performed on their own body, and no reason women should be kept in the dark about how to perform it -- especially if someone they know is having their health jeopardized by this law." -- You know, I'm just not sure what to say.
White House Delays Release of Study Showing Toxic Rocket Fuel in Most Americans - "Following a published report that the Bush Administration is holding up a study that shows most Americans carry a toxic rocket fuel chemical in their bodies at levels close to federal safety limits, Environmental Working Group (EWG) is calling for the immediate release of the study so EPA and state agencies can take steps to protect the public."
Former anchor questions TV news priorities - " Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown had an epiphany following his network’s saturation coverage of the 2001 murder of actor Robert Blake’s wife. ... "I am sure there were other things we could’ve reported that night," Brown said. ... He suggested his eventual demise at CNN resulted from criticizing the network’s obsession with lurid celebrity gossip while short-changing meaningful news. ... "The news in this country is a business," he added. "You might not like to think of it that way, but it is." ... However, he didn’t let the casual TV viewer off easily. Because the news is a business, he argued, it is only giving consumers what they want. "In the perfect democracy that I believe TV news is, it’s not enough to say you want serious news, you have to watch it," he said."
God told me to - "What does it mean to say god told you to? It means that there is no rational explanation necessary for what you did. Sure, there were reasons and rationales aplenty, all false as it turns out, but that doesn't matter because god told me to. Worse than Abraham, Blair killed other people's sons and daughters, lots and lots of them. The asylums throughout the world are filled with people who killed at the insistence of the voices in their heads. In a rational world, Tony and George would be there too."
Blair under fire for evoking God in Iraq war decision - "Tony Blair triggered strong reactions from parents of soldiers killed in Iraq and the political opposition, after the British prime minister evoked God in his decision to go to war." -- Killing in the name of God is humanity's biggest downfall.
Venezuela aims for biggest military reserve in Americas - "Around 500,000 Venezuelans will start a four-month military training programme today to turn them into members of the country's territorial guard. They are the first group of a total of 2m Venezuelan civilians who have so far signed up to become armed reservists. By the summer of 2007, Venezuela is likely to have the largest military reserve in the Americas, which is expected to be almost double the size of that in the United States." -- They're not stupid.
Spousal spats can damage your heart - "The manner in which husbands and wives argue over such hot-button topics such as money, in-laws, and children, may be a factor in their risk of developing coronary atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries of the heart."
Monaghan backtracks on Catholic-based restrictions for new town - "Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan, who is helping to bankroll the birth of a southwest Florida town and university, backtracked Friday from comments that he'd like the community to be governed by strict Roman Catholic principles. His ideas about barring pornography and birth control, he said, apply only to the Catholic university. ... Monaghan's comments Friday contrasted with statements he made last year to a Catholic men's group in Boston that pornographic magazines won't be sold in town, pharmacies won't carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels."
Old shack will give Madonna front-row seat for arrival of her Messiah - "MADONNA is trying to buy a house overlooking the Sea of Galilee at the place where followers of her Kabbalist faith expect the Messiah to reappear to herald world peace." -- The world is full of followers.
Officials: Woman's Gang Rape Story Is Bogus - "The Orange County Sheriff's Office just announced that it has arrested the woman who claimed she was raped by several men who work at Walt Disney World. They say the woman made up the story, and that the sex was consensual."
Professor Allegedly Shows Explicit Video - "A criminal justice professor at Grand Rapids Community College has resigned after showing a video in class of a man having sex with a pig, students and a faculty representative said."
Top exorcist condemns 'Harry Potter' - "Rev. Gabriele Amorth said: "You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you end up with the devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness is clearly within these books.""
Quote of the Day
"In God's name they use weapons, for the massacre."
~ Thin Lizzy
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