12 of the World's Most Fascinating Ruins

Babylon (Iraq)

Some 90 kilometres south of modern Bagdhad lies the ruins of ancient Babylon, the original name of which, "bab-ili", may be translated as "the Gate of the Gods". For the world at large, Babylon ranks as one of the most famous cities of antiquity, renowned alike for its refinement, beauty and magnificence. In classical times, the city walls of Babylon were spoken of with admiration and astonishment, while her "Hanging Gardens" were accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

As a centre of culture and government, it flourished for about fifteen centuries, from the arrival of the Amorites ca. 1850 B.C. down to Alexander the Great, who died there in 322 B.C. One of the best known of the city's early rulers was the great law-giver, Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.). (Source | Photo)

Palenque (Mexico)

The ruins of Palenque are among the most important Mayan archaeological sites in all of Mexico and Central America. Set on a ledge overlooking the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico, Palenque recedes into the dense tropical forest of the foothills of the Tumbala mountains of Chiapas, Mexico.

Although analysis of pottery shards demonstrates that the area was occupied by 100 B.C., most of the buildings we see today were constructed between the 6th to 10th centuries A.D.

The greatest ruler of this city-state was Pacal, who took power in 603 A.D. and commenced a construction boom of architecturally innovative buildings that lasted through and beyond his 68-year reign. One of the most impressive projects was the Palace. Its walls and roofs are covered with stucco carvings depicting the ceremonies and activities of rulers and gods, giving modern observers insight into the lives and beliefs of the Mayans. Another magnificent structure, the Temple of the Inscriptions, contains tablets of glyphs recounting the ancestral history of long ago rulers.

The true reward of a trip to Palenque is to revel in the mystery of the unanswerable questions that arise as he meanders through the ruins in morning mists that swirl around the ancient structures. Only 34 of perhaps 500 buildings have been excavated. (Source 1 | Source 2 | Photo)

Ruins of Ayutthaya (Thailand)

Ayutthaya, whose name means "undefeatable" in Sanskrit, may not be as popular as Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Phuket but it's one of the many places in Thailand that's frequented by tourists who want to see its world-renowned ruins.

In its heyday, Ayutthaya was a bustling metropolis of international repute, whose progress, according to historians, rivaled even Europe's capitals at the time. So prosperous was the kingdom that her neighbor Burma (now Myanmar) coveted her, so the Burmese army succeeded burned and sacked the city. Today, only the debris of the empire's glory remains, forming part of what is now known as the Ayutthaya Historical Park, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Source | Photo)

Jesuitical Ruins of Trinidad (Paraguay)

Located about 25 km away from Encarnacion, on the route to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, is one of the most interesting and suggestive ruins of the 8 missions in Paraguay.

Trinidad was founded by natives that came from the mission of San Carlos. Its main architects were fathers Juan Bautista Prímoli of Milan and the Catalan Jose Grimau. Uncompleted, this mission had one of the larges and prettiest churches of all missions, according to descriptions by travelers of that period.

After crossing the nave of the old church, you can see an impressive view of the frieze high on the altar wall, entirely decorated on the very stone, with a sequence of angels in baroque postures and their instruments. The two doors giving access to the sacristies are worth mentioning: the columns with disproportionate capitals and a triple row of leaves supporting the frieze with two lateral pillars and a sculptural motif in the center.

On the west side are the ruins of the tower and a long chapel. The tower, with a square base, reminds us of a fort tower and it is not known whether it was a belfry, an observation tower, or both at the same time. The chapel was probably used while the main church was being built. One of the sacristies also holds a small museum with local items (in original colors) and a scale model of the mission. Declared Patrimony of Humanity in 1993 by UNESCO. (Source | Photo 1 | Photo 2)

Copan Ruins (Honduras)

A Maya capital from the 400s to the 800s, Copan is one of the largest and most impressive of all the Maya centers discovered so far. It consists of pyramids, temples and 21 stone pillars, or stelae, with exquisite carved likenesses of ancient Copan kings. Although Tikal in Guatemala is the largest known Maya site and is easier to get to, Copan shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in the Mayan civilization. (Source)

Palmyra Ruins (Syria)

In the heart of Syrian Desert it is hidden Palmyra, often described as the bride of the desert. Its magnificent remains tell of a heroic history during the reign of Queen Zenobia. The Oasis, as it is sometimes called, is located near a hot-water spring called Afqa, which make it an ideal halt for caravans moving between Iraq and Al-Sham (present day Syria, Lebanon, Holy Land and Jordan), trading in silk from China to the Mediterranean.

Palmyra's strategic location and prosperity attracted the interest of the Romans, who took control of the city in the first century A.D. The destiny of the great kingdom of Palmyra was no better than that of its queen: Zenobia was defeated and taken captive to Rome, fettered in chains of gold where she poisoned herself, while the city fell prey to looting and destruction. Archaeologists are still working on excavations there in order to uncover queen's palace, which was destroyed by Romans and replaced by a military camp. (Source | Photo)

Talisay City (Philippines)

Talisay City in the Philippines features a mansion built by a sugar magnate at the turn of the last century that not once, but twice, was destroyed in the Second World War in order to prevent Japanese forces from using it. Once on their way out of the Philippines, the USAAF bombed and strafed the home, and Philippines rebels burned it down to keep it from falling into Japanese hands. (Source)

 

http://www.oddee.com/item_96671.aspx

Exploiting The Credit Card Law Loophole

Card Issuers May Hike Charges And Interest Rates Before New Regulations Take Effect; Borrowers Who Pay In Full Targeted

CBS)  The Senate passed a major reform of the credit card industry Tuesday that clamps down on arbitrary fee and interest rate increases. But even after President Barack Obama signs the bill, the law won't fully take effect for nine months.

That's a nine-month loophole, and as CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason reports, consumer groups are concerned the credit card companies will use the time to hike up interest rates and fees while they can.

At a credit counseling center in Dallas, calls for help are up 40 percent over a year ago. Many come from borrowers buried in credit card debt.

"It's amazing how much of the debt is actually fees and interest instead of principal," said Todd Mark of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas.

Comedians may joke about the banks - Stephen Colbert said this week that the card companies "simply change their rules and interest rates based on what the credit rule monkey spins on his rule randomizing wheel" - but they're not laughing on Capitol Hill anymore.

"They will go kicking and screaming into the night on this one," said Adam Levin of Credit.com.

Levin warns that lenders will use the nine months before the law in enacted to raise interest rates and hike fees.

During that time, he said, "We could face the continuing reign of terror."

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/19/eveningnews/main5026108.shtml

Right-to-Repair Law Proposed ... for Cars

Legislative Analysis by Fred von Lohmann

It's not often that you get former presidential candidates from the Green Party and the Libertarian Party to agree on legislation, but Bob Barr and Ralph Nader have done just that -- jointly supporting the Right-To-Repair Act of 2009 (H.R. 2057):

This aptly named bill would allow independent repair shops to compete for the business now guaranteed only to dealer-controlled establishments. This is important because car manufacturers now severely limit the number of repair shops that are allowed to have the tools, diagnostic codes and updated repair information essential to being able to repair late-model cars (which are heavily dependent on computers for performance and repair).

By thus unfairly limiting the universe of repair shops able to diagnose and repair late-model cars to only those repair shops that are connected with their dealers, the manufacturers dramatically limit consumer choice and significantly increase the costs to those car owners (by some 34 percent, according to a study preformed for the Automotive After Market Industry Association by Lang Research).

We're all for promoting competition and consumer choice. But this bill points to a much bigger consumer issue. The problem that this law attempts to fix is the direct result of the use of computers in cars, accompanied by proprietary diagnostic tools and "lock-out codes." Sound familiar? It should, as it's the very sort of thing that can also make it difficult to repair computer systems, sell replacement garage door openers, and refill printer toner cartridges. One underlying legal problem here is the DMCA, which prohibits bypassing or circumventing "technological protection measures."

So while the Right-to-Repair Act of 2009 is legislation that deserves our support, it doesn't help those who repair things other than cars. For example, it won't help Joe Montero, who treks to the Copyright Office every three years to argue for a DMCA exemption to permit the repair and replacement of obsolete and malfunctioning software "dongles," those little hardware devices purportedly intended to prevent software piracy, but which often end up frustrating perfectly legitimate customers.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/right-repair-law-pro

Believe it or Nada!

Creepy

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds State Medical Marijuana Laws

(ChattahBox)—The U.S. Supreme court on Monday, upheld the right of states to implement and administer their own medical marijuana laws, affirming the long held position that federal law does not preempt state medical marijuana laws. The Supreme Court refused to hear San Diego's case against California, where it claimed it wasn't required to issue state mandated medical marijuana IDs, because the federal ban on marijuana trumped California's law.

This decision today comes as great news to the thousands of patients in California suffering from chronic pain and various medical conditions, who can now benefit from the use of medical marijuana. Ten California conservative holdout counties have been fighting the state's medical marijuana ID law since 2004, stubbornly refusing to issue the IDs with a doctor's approval to patients requesting them.

The state IDs are required for a patient to enter medical marijuana dispensaries and are needed to show to police to prove the right to possess the drug.

Today's decision removes the last barrier to full implementation of California's medical marijuana laws on a statewide basis. The conservative holdout counties no longer can refuse to comply with state law, based on their faulty federal preemption argument.

This ruling also has positive implications for other states that are planning to enact medical marijuana legislation. To date, thirteen states have enacted laws permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor's approval. The states of Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York are also considering medical marijuana laws.

http://chattahbox.com/us/2009/05/18/us-supreme-court-upholds-state-medical-marijuana-laws/

Suu Kyi trial a 'mockery,' laureates say

YANGON, Myanmar, May 19 (UPI) -- The trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a U.S. citizen moved into its second day Tuesday, with nine Nobel laureates calling it a "mockery."

Prosecutors indicated they plan to call 22 witnesses against the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years.

She is on trial with Amerinca John Yettaw, who is charged with violating the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest, CNN reported.

The woman's supporters maintain the charges are an excuse by the military junta of the country formerly known as Burma to extend her house arrest.

"The trial is a mockery," nine Nobel Peace prize winners said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday, urging his intervention. Signatories included Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

"There is no judicial system in Burma," the letter said. "It is clear that this is an excuse by the military junta to add trumped-up charges at a time when Daw (an honorific recognition) Aung San Suu Kyi's unlawful detention was scheduled to end May 27, 2009."

The charges stem from May 3, when Yettaw allegedly swam almost two miles across a lake behind Suu Kyi's home and stayed for two days.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/19/Suu-Kyi-trial-a-mockery-laureates-say/UPI-21611242732011/

Quarrel on the Titanic

by Uri Avnery

 

ONE OF THE HAPPIEST moments in my life occurred in a restaurant.

It happened before the second intifada. I had invited Rachel to celebrate her birthday with dinner at a famous restaurant in Ramallah.

We were sitting in the garden under strings of colorful lights, the air was fragrant with the perfume of flowers and the waiters were hurrying back and forth with laden trays. We ate Mussakhan, the Palestinian national dish (chicken with tahini baked on pita bread), and I drank arak. Our waiter, who had overheard us talking, took our order in Hebrew. We were the only Israelis there. At the nearby tables, Arab families with the children in their best clothes, as well as a bride and groom with their wedding guests. Bursts of laughter punctuated the murmur of Arabic conversations, and spirits were high.

I was happy, and a sigh escaped me: "How wonderful this country could be, if only we had peace!"

I THINK of that moment every time I hear sad news from Ramallah. The news is depressing, but the memory helps me to keep alive my hope that things could be different.

The most depressing news concerns the split between the Palestinians themselves. This split is a disaster for them, and, I believe, also for Israel and the world at large. That's why I dare to comment on a matter that seemingly does not concern us Israelis. It does.

It is easy to blame Israel. Easy and also justified. In their struggle against the national aspirations of the Palestinians, successive Israeli governments have applied the old Roman maxim divide et impera, divide and rule.

Since the Oslo agreement, the central component of this policy has been the physical separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Article IV of the Oslo Agreement of September 1993 says: "The two sides view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a single territorial unit, whose integrity will be preserved".

Article X of Annex 1 of the Interim Agreement of September 1995 says: "There shall be a safe passage connecting the West Bank with the Gaza Strip for movement of persons, vehicles and goods…Israel will ensure safe passage for persons and transportation during daylight hours…in any event not less than 10 hours a day."

In practice, the safe passage was never opened. Among all the blatant violations of the Oslo agreements, this was the most severe. Its consequences have been disastrous for both sides.

True, there was a lot of talking about the passage. Ehud Barak once fantasized about constructing a giant bridge between the West Bank and the Strip, after seeing such a 40 km long bridge somewhere abroad. Others spoke about a tunnel underneath Israeli territory. Yet others proposed an extraterritorial highway or railway. None of these ideas was ever implemented. On the contrary, while before Oslo there had been free movement for all, including the inhabitants of the occupied territories, after Oslo this freedom was abolished.

THE PRETEXT was – as always – security: convoys of murderers and terrorists would pack the safe passage, trucks loaded with Palestinian rockets would drive to and fro. But the consequences disclose the true aim: what remained of Palestine was cut into two disconnected parts.

One cannot rule a territory without physical contact with it. That was proven in Pakistan, which was founded as a state with two disconnected parts separated by Indian territory. Soon enough, war between the two broke out and the Eastern part became the independent state of Bangladesh.

According to the latest Palestinian statistics, which seem reliable, there are now 2.42 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and 1.46 million in the Gaza Strip (in addition to 379 thousand in East Jerusalem). From Yasser Arafat I once heard that more than half of the Palestinian Authority's resources were being devoted to the Gaza Strip, in spite of the fact that the Strip amounted to only 6% (one sixteenth) of the Palestinian territories.

Now there exist in practice two Palestinian entities: the West Bank, whose actual capital is now Ramallah, and the Gaza Strip, with its capital Gaza city. From the political, economic and ideological points of view, the distance between them is growing.

And from the point of view of the Israeli occupation policy, that is a great victory.

THE ISRAELI government conducts different strategies against the two Palestinian entities.

Against Gaza, the policy is simple and brutal: to overthrow the Hamas government by turning the life of those 1,460,000 men and woman, old people and children, into hell. They are allowed to bring in only the most basic foodstuffs. There was an international outcry when Senator John Kerry discovered the import of noodles is prohibited, because pasta is apparently a luxury. "We shall not give them chocolate when Gilad Shalit is not getting chocolate," an army officer declared this week. It would be interesting to know how much chocolate the 11 thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are getting.

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1242507243/

Happy ‘Whitey Tape’ Eve!

by David Weigel

One year ago tomorrow—May 16, 2008—former CIA analyst and current security consultant Larry Johnson put up this blog post at his site "No Quarter."

I now have it from two sources that there is video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against "whitey" at Jeremiah Wright's church. Republicans may have a lousy record when it comes to the economy and the management of the war in Iraq, but they are hell on wheels when it comes to opposition research. Someone took the chance and started reviewing the recordings from services at Jeremiah Wright's United Church of Christ. Holy smoke!! I am told there is a clip that is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time. The last thing Barack and Michelle need is a new clip that raises further questions about her judgment and temperament.

Johnson posted a video of a then-current Tennessee Republican ad attacking Michelle Obama, then continued his argument.

When the ugly video tapes about Jeremiah Wright's racist ravings first broke Barack Obama told us he could no more disown Jeremiah Wright than his own Grandmother. Well, we all know how that turned out. So will Barack stand by Michelle when the tape emerges of her verbally attacking "whitey?" Republicans, who are otherwise gloomy about prospects in November, recognize that this recording will create real problems for Barack and give them a shot at the White House. It is their October surprise.

Does Barack have an obligation to tell the Democrats, super delegates in particular, about this tape? Did Barack and his campaign do their basic homework and identify this tape as a potential problem? And, more importantly, do they have a copy? Probably better to deal with this issue before the convention rather than wait for October. What do you think?

The post drew more than 600 comments and kicked off three heated weeks of blog-driven rumormongering which I recapped at the time for The American Prospect. One year later, no such tape has ever surfaced.

http://washingtonindependent.com/43284/happy-whitey-tape-eve

Pizza Vending Machine

WE'RE LIVING IN THE FUTURE!! If we've accomplished this, I can barely imagine what's next. Pizza pills? Pizza trees? Pizzas that cure cancer? Pizzas that can fly us to the Moon? What a great time to be alive.

 

See more funny videos and Technology Videos at Today's Big Thing.

 

http://bit.ly/DEOZa

 

The Ugly Truth Behind Organic Food | Environment

The organic labeling standards do nothing to denote how farms treat their workers. Is your organic food a humanitarian nightmare?

By Sarah Newman

Is it time for a strawberry to make a political statement, again?

I'm standing on a farm south of San Francisco that is unremarkable in that it, like all of the other farms in the area, is a golden canvas of brilliant yellow flowers with the occasional patchwork of verdant greens, early signs of this year's season sprouting up.

It's a slice of California's multibillion-dollar agricultural region that spreads east through the state's Central Valley, down the coast toward Salinas -- America's salad bowl -- all the way to the Mexican border and north toward Oregon. While still a small minority, a growing number of these farms are now organic.

Plenty of people, including me, prefer organic produce because it is healthier and safer. But this certification does nothing to ensure that it was produced with sustainable agricultural practices.

The little strawberry I'm munching is part of a bigger story that begins in the fields and ends on your plate. It's the story of a lucrative industry that offers consumers a commodity at a low-cost but with high consequences.

Forming the backbone of this industry are the oft-forgotten armies of farmworkers who travel California's freeway arteries to plant and harvest crops in every corner of this region. The policies that oppress the 2 million people who grow our food betray its true costs.

Food writer and activist Eric Schlosser, speaking at the Slow Food Nation conference in San Francisco last fall, said that he would rather eat a conventional tomato picked by well-treated workers than a local heirloom variety harvested by oppressed workers.

The strawberry I've just plucked from a neatly lined row of plants was grown at Swanton Berry Farm, the first organic berry farm in California and the first organic unionized farm in the nation.

The Golden State has nearly 1,800 organic growers, according to 2005 agricultural records -- 30 percent of all of the state's farms. And Swanton Berry is in a class by itself, a renegade operation that is bucking the corporate trends of many of its counterparts.

It's a small farm operating on 200 leased acres with 50 staff during peak season. Its products are sold on farm stands, at regional farmers markets stands and some Whole Foods Markets. At first glance, it looks like all of the other picturesque farms in the area, with weathered handmade signs that invite passers-by to pick their own or buy fresh produce, pies and jams from the farm stand.

But inside the farm's store and visitor lounge, the scene is markedly different from neighboring operations. Delicate glass shelves, lined with fresh berry pies, strawberry chocolate truffles, homemade jams and T-shirts (all for sale through an honor-system cash register), also include photos of United Farm Workers Founder Cesar Chavez. Memorialized near the door is the story of the farm's unionization process in 1998. Farm Manager Forrest Cook sits at his computer in a corner below an enormous photograph of Chavez.

And it struck me, why is this place such an anomaly in the organic movement?

http://www.alternet.org/environment/140001/the_ugly_truth_behind_organic_food/

Court Orders Parents to Poison Their 13-Year-Old Child with Chemotherapy

 

by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

Against the wishes of both the parents and the 13-year-old patient in question, a Minnesota judge has ruled that Daniel Hauser must undergo conventional chemotherapy treatments, which are characterized by the mass-poisoning of the patient with toxic chemicals.

For opting to explore alternative and natural remedies rather than chemotherapy for their son, the parents were accused of medical neglect and now face having their son taken away from them by Child Protective Services (CPS). They may also face prison time if they refuse to follow the judge's orders.

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a health condition that is widely known by alternative cancer practitioners to be reversible (curable), especially in younger patients. Conventional medical doctors have told the courts that unless Daniel is subjected to toxic chemotherapy treatments, he has a 95% chance of dying.

That statistics is an outright lie. It is one of the many deceptive statistics put forth by the cancer industry in order to scare patients into submitting to extremely toxic protocols that cause far more harm than good.

There is not a single cancer patient that has ever been cured by chemotherapy. Zero. They don't exist. Not a single documented case in the history of western medicine.

And why is that? Because conventional medicine operates from the false belief that there is no cure for cancer! Thus, anyone offering a cure (or assisting in the body's own natural reversal of the disease) is immediately dismissed as a quack. Meanwhile, the real quackery is found in the pushing of toxic chemotherapy chemicals that are injected into the bodies of patients and called "treatment" when they should really be called "torture." (Nancy Pelosi, by the way, was never briefed on the fact that chemotherapy is torture...)

What's most disturbing in all of this, of course, is that the state is now forcing parents to poison their own children, requiring they hand over money to Big Pharma and conventional cancer treatment centers. The concept of freedom of choice has been stolen away from parents. The idea of protecting your children from toxic chemicals has been not just nullified, but made illegal!

Furthermore, the whole universe of natural cancer cures that really work has been sidelined by this Minnesota judge who is, no doubt, completely ignorant on cancer and human physiology. All these were utterly ignored: Vitamin D (http://www.naturalnews.com/008567.html), selenium, oxygen therapy, medicinal mushrooms, microalgae, Amazon rainforest herbs, Chinese Medicine herbs, high-dose vitamin C, raw foods juicing, wild foods extracts, superfood powders, raw cacao, broccoli sprouts and a thousand other things that we know help the body reverse various cancers.

All these things were apparently thrown out of the courtroom and almost certainly disparaged by drug-pushing doctors who claim that only their own chemicals can treat this disease.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026283.html

Guatemala Protests: Eyewitness Cellphone Video from Twitterers

by Xeni Jardin

(Download / Watch on YouTube)

This past Sunday in Guatemala, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital city to protest the assassination of an attorney who blamed president Álvaro Colom for his imminent murder in a posthumously-released YouTube Video.

Boing Boing Video viewer (and BB blog reader) Maria Figueroa (@thevenemousone on Twitter) was there with friends, and she sent us this eyewitness report captured on her cellphone.

Twitter has played a central role in this still-unfolding crisis: protests have been organized on this and other social networks, and Twitter user Jean "@jeanfer" Anleu went to jail last week for having posted a tweet related to the scandal. Authorities released him to house arrest, and he was forced to pay a $6,500 fine (for which he is now in debt).

The video featured here was shot on Maria's phone just as the protest was assembling. Her photos from Sunday's protest are here on Flickr. Here are more video clips documenting the protests.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/18/bb-video---guate-pro.html

Avoiding Gripes About Your Gripe (or Parody) Site

 

Here's a story we hear a lot at EFF: You think BadCo, Inc. is a bad actor and you've developed a really cool site to tell the world why. Maybe just by griping about them or maybe through a bit of parody. Fast forward two weeks: you're basking in the pleasure of calling BadCo out when bam! You find out your site's been shut down. You call your internet service provider to find out what's going on. After way too much time climbing phone trees and sitting on hold you get an answer — BadCo has claimed that your site violates its intellectual property rights.

The above scenario is all too common — and, often, could have been avoided (or at least discouraged) by a few simple measures. Below, we'll give you some tips for warding off complaints about your gripe or parody site. But first, some background on common claims and defenses.

Trademark

Also available as a PDF

Many trademark owners are not happy when they see their marks (e.g., the name of the company [like McDonald's], logos [like Nike's swoosh] and or trademarked phrases [like "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!"]) on their critics' websites or in a domain name. They may argue (to the site owner or webhost) that these uses infringe their trademarks, dilute their trademarks, and/or constitute cybersquatting. Infringement means using a mark in such a way as to cause a likelihood of confusion as to the source of good or services; dilution means using a nationally famous mark (like Coca-Cola) in a way that tarnishes the mark or blurs the connection in the consumer's mind between the mark and the mark-owner's goods or services; cybersquatting means using a domain name with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill associated with someone's trademark.

However, several courts have held that U.S. trademark law does not reach entirely noncommercial uses. In addition, your use may be a nominative fair use if:

1. It's not easy to identify the product/company without using a mark (e.g., using the term "Chicago Bulls" instead of "the basketball team that plays in Chicago");
2. Only so much is used as is necessary to identify the product/company and accomplish your purpose; and
3. You do nothing to suggest the mark-owner has endorsed or sponsored your site.

Finally, your use may be protected by the First Amendment — if use of the mark is part of your message, courts will consider whether the First Amendment interest in free expression outweighs the public interest in preventing consumer confusion.

A trademark claim will normally start with a cease and desist letter sent to you or your service provider. This kind of letter is designed to accomplish the mark-owner's objectives relatively cheaply, i.e., without the expense of going to court. If you or your service provider refuse to comply, the mark-owner may let the matter go, may sue, or, if it is primarily interested in your domain name, may seek to have the domain name transferred under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). According to the UDRP, a mark-owner who believes a domain name was registered and is being used in bad faith may demand an arbitrator be assigned to assess the matter. If so, you'll have a chance to explain your position to the arbitrator. If the arbitrator nonetheless orders a transfer (note that URDP decisions overwhelmingly tend to favor established mark-owners), you can ask a U.S. court to intervene.

Copyright

Some complaints we've seen are based on alleged copyright violations, i.e., a claim that the website infringes original creative material owned by the complaining party. Usually this will take the form of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to you or your service provider. In 1998, Congress granted online service providers (like hosting services) certain protections from copyright infringement liability, so long as they meet certain requirements. One requirement of this "DMCA safe harbor" is that online service providers must implement a "notice-and-takedown" system. Under this system, your provider has strong incentives to take down your site as long as the notice it receives complies with the DMCA. However, if you believe your copying, if any, was a fair use (or otherwise noninfringing), you can submit a counter-notice and call the copyright owner's bluff. If the copyright owner does not file suit in federal court within 10-14 business days, your site should go back up.

How do you decide whether your use is fair? In evaluating whether something is a fair use, courts generally consider four factors:

1. The nature of your use (transformative works are more likely to be fair uses, as are noncommercial works);
2. The nature of the copyrighted work (you have more fair use leeway with factual works like news stories than purely creative works);
3. The amount taken from the copyrighted work (this is both a quantitative and qualitative inquiry); and
4. The effect on the market for or value of the work.

No one factor is dispositive, and the cases say that all the issues need to be considered together, rather than simply calculating a win-loss record on the four factors.

Fair use is a big topic. Fortunately, there are excellent resources online that explain it in more detail (e.g., Stanford's Copyright and Fair Use Center and Chilling Effects). For a comparison of copyright and trademark fair use, and lots of information about protecting speech online, check out Public Citizen's Legal Perils and Legal Rights of Internet Speakers. You may also want to explore EFF's own Blogger's Legal Guide.

It is not always easy to figure out the exact basis of a complaint — copyright, trademark, or something else. If the complaint went to your service provider, ask them to tell you the exact basis for the complaint and give you a copy of any documents they have received.

Avoiding Trouble in the First Place

Whatever the nature of the complaint, dealing with it can be time-consuming, intimidating and interfere with your ability to accomplish your main purpose: legitimate criticism. Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do in advance to either stave off complaints, or give yourself some tools to nip them in the bud:

1. Be noncommercial — no ads, no links to commercial sites, no affiliate links, no Café Press T-shirt sales, no fundraising if you can help it. Several court rulings have held that noncommercial uses fall entirely outside the reach of federal trademark laws, and lack of commerciality can weigh in your favor under copyright law as well.
2. Don't use the target's name alone in the domain name — adding "sucks" is good, but you can be creative. Point is, www.badco.com is more likely to be perceived by a trademark owner as confusing than www.ihatebadco.com. And remember, if your content is good and people link to it, your site will likely come up in Google searches for your topic, no matter what your domain name is. Often, the domain name isn't worth the trouble.
3. Have a prominent disclaimer that explains that your target is neither affiliated with nor endorses your site.
4. Find a service provider with backbone. All too often, internet service providers will choose to take your site down simply because it's cheaper to do so than to pay a lawyer to evaluate whether your target's claims have merit. Services that have stood up for their customers' free speech rights in the past are Computer Tyme, MayFirst and Project DoD. A list of other service providers that reportedly "won't dump you at the first sign of controversy" can be found online.
5. If you borrow from the target's own materials, such as text or images from the target's own websites, be selective. Make sure that you have taken no more than necessary to accomplish your purpose. Consider altering them in such a way that no one could possibly be confused about endorsement or sponsorship.
6. If a mark-owner challenges your use of a mark in a domain name, don't offer to sell it to the mark-owner without the assistance of legal counsel. An offer to sell, particularly at an apparently inflated price, could be seen by a UDRP arbitrator (and possibly a U.S. court) as evidence that you are a cybersquatter.

To be clear: You don't need to follow any of these suggestions to have a perfectly legal site. On the flip side, following them won't guarantee you won't get complaints. But it should help minimize your legal risk, so you can focus on the primary task — raising public awareness about the issues that are important to you.

http://www.eff.org/wp/gripe-or-parody-sites

 

The myth of the parasitical bloggers

by Glenn Greenwald

Maureen Dowd's wholesale, uncredited copying of a paragraph written by Josh Marshall (an act Dowd has now admitted) -- for what I yesterday called her "uncharacteristically cogent and substantive column"-- highlights a point I've been meaning to make for awhile.  One of the favorite accusations that many journalists spout, especially now that they're searching for reasons why newspapers and print magazines are dying, is that bloggers and other online writers are "parasites" on their work -- that their organizations bear the cost of producing content and others (bloggers and companies such as Google) then unfairly exploit it for free.

The reality has always been far more mixed than that, and the relationship far more symbiotic than parasitical.  Especially now that online traffic is such an important part of the business model of newspapers and print magazines, traffic generated by links from online venues and bloggers is of great value to them.  That's why they engage in substantial promotional activities to encourage bloggers to link to and write about what they produce.  Beyond that, it is also very common -- as the Dowd/Marshall episode illustrates -- for traditional media outlets and establishment journalists to use and even copy content produced online and then present it as their own, typically without credit.  Many, many reporters, television news producers and the like read online political commentary and blogs and routinely take things they find there.

Typically, the uncredited use of online commentary doesn't rise to the level of blatant copying -- plagiarism -- that Maureen Dowd engaged in.  It's often not even an ethical breach at all.  Instead, traditional media outlets simply take stories, ideas and research they find online and pass it off as their own.  In other words -- to use their phraseology -- they act parasitically on blogs by taking content and exploiting it for their benefit.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/18/parasites/

Remix Culture: Fair Use Is Your Friend

Montreal cop cuffs, busts and fines student $450 for not holding escalator rail in subway

by LES PERREAUX

MONTREAL — Anyone who has ridden an escalator and bothered to pay attention has seen – and likely ignored – little signs suggesting riders hold the grimy handrail.

In Montreal's subway system, the friendly advice seems to have taken on the force of law, backed by a $100 fine.

Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old mother of two, says when she didn't hold the handrail Wednesday she was cuffed, dragged into a small holding cell and fined.

"It was horrible, disgusting behaviour [by police]," said Ms. Kosoian, a 38-year-old student of international law. "I did nothing wrong. They should go find the guys who stole my tires off the balcony."

Ms. Kosoian, who studies at the Université du Québec à Montreal, was riding an escalator down to catch a 5:30 p.m. subway from the suburb of Laval to an evening class downtown when she started rifling through her backpack looking for a fare.

Ms. Kosoian, who grew up in Georgia when it was still part of the Soviet Union, says she didn't catch the officer's instruction to hold the rail when he first approached.

When he told her again to hang on, she says she replied, "I don't have three hands." Besides, she had been sick and feared catching a new bug.

That's when the officer demanded identification so he could write her ticket, she said.

Ms. Kosoian started arguing. The officers handcuffed her and threw her into a small holding cell. The officers searched her bag and gave her a $100 ticket for failing to hold the banister and another $320 ticket for obstruction.

The handcuffs bruised Ms. Kosoian's wrists and an officer's boot scraped skin off the top of her foot.

She intends to fight the tickets.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wescalator16/BNStory/National/home

 

US journo claims Bhutto was killed on Cheney’s orders

New York, May 18 (ANI): A special death squad assassinated Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on the orders of former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, an Arab TV channel has reported.

"Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he cleared the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit," The Nation quoted US columnist Seymour Hersh, as saying.

The US death unit killed Bhutto because she had told Al-Jazeera TV about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Hersh said.

The US leadership did not want Osama to be declared dead. It would have raised questions about the US Army's presence in Afghanistan, he claimed.

According to Hersh, the former Lebanese PM Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief were murdered for not safeguarding US interests and for refusing to set up US military bases in Lebanon.

Ariel Sharon, the then prime minister of Israel, was also a key man in the plot, he said.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/us-journo-claims-bhutto-was-killed-on-cheneys-orders_100194038.html

Lofty principles

STS-125 Atlantis and Hubble Solar Transit

In this tightly cropped image the NASA space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope are seen in silhouette, side by side during solar transit at 12:17p.m. EDT, Wednesday, May 13, 2009, from west of Vero Beach, Florida. The two spaceships were at an altitude of 600 km and they zipped across the sun in only 0.8 seconds. Photo Credit: (NASA/Thierry Legault)

 

Thierry made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera. Photo Credit: (NASA/Thierry Legault)

You can see more of Thierry's fine work at: www.astrophoto.fr/ 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/3531350583/in/set-72157617823159021/

Gulfnews: 'You can't authorise murder': Hersh

 

Dubai: Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently said that former US vice-president Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing that targeted America's enemies abroad.

Video: Seymour Hersh interview

Gulf News catches up with him on his trip to Dubai for the Arab Media Forum to ask about those revelations as well as issues concerning Barack Obama, Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Egypt.

GULF NEWS: You have spoken about an assassination unit that reported to Cheney called the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). There have been allegations that this unit was responsible for former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

SEYMOUR HERSH: I can't verify [that]. What I said was, and what I have written more than once, is that there's a special unit that does high-value targeting of men that we believe are known to be involved in anti-American activities, or are believed to be planning such activities.

In Cheney's view this isn't murder, but carrying out the "war on terror". And in the view of me and my friends, including people in government, this is crazy. The vice president is committing a crime. You can't authorise the murder of people. And it's not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's in a lot of other countries, in the Middle East and in South Asia and North Africa and even central America.

In the early days, many of the names were cleared through Cheney's office. One of his aides, John Hanna, went on TV and acknowledged that the programme exists, and said killing these people is not murder but an act of war that is justified legally.

The former head of JSOC has just been named the new commander in charge of the war in Afghanistan, which is very interesting to me.

About Hariri, what I've always maintained - I was in the position of seeing and interviewing President Bashar Al Assad on the day Hariri was killed in February 2005 - it seemed clear to me that he knew nothing about it. But I never wrote anything about it, even the fact that I was there, because I had no empirical or factual basis for knowing whether he was involved or not, and I never did. And I decided to wait for the investigations and they have come up with no concrete evidence that Syria did it. Despite the fact that one of the earlier investigators speculated that he did, he didn't know.

Could JSOC have been responsible?

No. Hariri, America. No. Impossible. There was no reason. JSOC's responsibility was to go after what they call high-value targets.

Can you name the Middle East countries they operated in?

No. I can't, so I've said that there were 12 countries and I think there's many more, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make good guesses. I certainly know they've operated in Iraq and Afghanistan. They've talked about that. The point is that the men doing their jobs often don't like what they're doing. They're professionals and are very skilled at what they do. Some are Navy Seals who have been trained to do underwater stuff. What are they doing running around mountain ranges hurting people?

I don't fault the men but the leadership, the president who thinks that "war on terror" means he can call for anyone's death based on what I think is often fraudulent evidence. This is painful for me in a way because I get a lot of people in the military who are very angry at me for doing this. But that's my job.

How closely is the new US administration looking at your revelations.

Publicly they don't say anything at all. It's obvious I have credibility because I've written things that have turned out right. My colleagues at the press corps often don't follow up, not because they don't want to but because they don't know who to call. If I'm writing something on the Joint Special Operations Command, which is an ostensibly classified unit, how do they find it out? The government will tell them everything I write is wrong or that they can't comment. It's easy for those stories to be dismissed. I do think the relationship with JSOC is changing under Obama. It's more under control now.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/05/13/10313137.html

 

REGULATION VACATION CELEBRATION!

Palin-Prejean Alliance Predicted in Book of Revelations

by Andy Borowitz

 

Just hours after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin voiced her support for embattled Miss California Carrie Prejean, Biblical scholars noted that the alliance between the former and present beauty queens is prophesied in the Holy Scriptures.

 

While many observers have called the Palin-Prejean link-up predictable, few suspected that it was in fact predicted in The Book of Revelations.

 

"The unholy alliance between Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean is explicitly stated in the Book of Revelations as a harbinger of the End of Days," said the reverend Dr. Davis Logsdon, Dean of the University of Minnesota's School of Divinity. "They're right in there, after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

But Dr. Logsdon was quick to point out that the first person to notice the Palin-Prejean reference in the Bible's book of prophecy was actually the sixteenth-century seer Nostradamus, legendary for his predictive powers.

 

According to Dr. Logsdon, in 1555 Nostradamus predicted the alliance between the two right-wing beauties when he wrote, "The slayer of beasts shall meet the barer of breasts."

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/palin-prejean-alliance-pr_b_203436.html

 

After the Rapture: Orlando man will deliver messages to those left behind

By Jeff Kunerth

As sure as the True Believers are they will escape this earth when the Rapture arrives, Witter is just as certain he will be left behind to deliver their mail. He has committed blasphemy to make sure.

"Anyway you look at it, I'm screwed. It's too late for me," said Witter, a 24-year-old computer software engineer who wears long sideburns and hip black-framed glasses.

Witter started his website -- postrapturepost.com -- as a joke, a satiric jab at those who see things like the swine flu, economic collapse and the election of a liberal president as sure signs the end is near.

But then he started receiving orders for his merchandise. Since 2005, Witter said he has sold more than 200 items, most of them T-shirts and coffee mugs, and many of those (he admits) to friends and fellow atheists.

Among the best sellers are the line of I-Told-You-So cards, which sell for $8. Some of those who ordered the cards -- Witter suspects they are not true Christians -- are willing to pay extra to have them sent early as Christmas cards.

Witter doesn't have a stack of cards or letters with Post-Rapture messages in a dresser drawer or safety deposit box. All the messages are stored in his computers, encrypted to protect their privacy and backed up by a fail-safe system. His website might be all in jest, but when it comes to his paying customers, Witter is a responsible entrepreneur. He doesn't share the contents of the messages with his friends over beers or mock those who take this whole end-of-the-world business more seriously than he does.

He concedes that delivering on his promise to hand-deliver the cards and letters entrusted to him may be difficult. Witter has read all the books of the popular "Left Behind" series, so he knows what to expect. Covered with boils, he will have to fight his way through perpetual darkness, clouds of insects, and meteors falling from the sky to deliver the mail.

"Your hope lies with me. I am your mailman," he vows. "I'll do my best come Hell or high water to deliver those letters."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-rapture-postman-joshua-witter-05142009,0,1981214.story

 

10 People Who Gave Their Name To Food

Many of the foods we love were named for their creator or for the inspiration of the recipe. So many foods and recipes we take for granted and don't even realize have a namesake. Here are ten foods that owe their name and fame to one person's name. Feel free to mention any others you can think of in the comments.

10

Nellie Melba

Helen Porter Mitchell (1861-1931) began her opera career and became a famous singer under the stage name Nellie Melba. While staying at the Savoy Hotel in London in 1897, Auguste Escoffier invented Melba Toast in her honor (this is very thinly sliced and toasted bread which is served usually with soups). A great fan of Melba, Escoffier had invented Peach Melba for her four years earlier (1893). It was during this period of time working at the Savoy, that Escoffier and César Ritz met. Just one year later the two would team up to create the first Ritz Hotel.

9

Suzanne Reichenberg

Crêpes Suzette (thin pancakes covered with orange liqueur and sometimes set alight) were invented by the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier in honor of the renowned French actress (and Baroness) Suzanne Reichenberg (1853-1924). While this is the most likely origin of the dish (as Escoffier almost single-handedly invented modern French cuisine), other stories claim it was invented by a 15 year old assistant chef serving Queen Victoria's son. This is most unlikely as an assistant chef would not have been given the chance to cook for royalty.

8

James H Salisbury

The Salisbury Steak was created by James Salisbury in 1886 as a treatment for many afflictions such as gout, bronchitis and tuberculosis. He believed that well-done ground beef should be eaten three times a day and a glass of hot water be taken before and after each meal. While the medicinal properties can certainly be argued, the fame of this food cannot. During the World Wars, many Americans petitioned for the hamburger to be renamed Salisbury Steak, but efforts ultimately failed.

7

Lemuel Benedict

New York socialite Lemuel Benedict returned to his hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria, after a long night of drinking and asked the maitre d'hotel for a specific hangover remedy. His request included a piece of toast, a poached egg, bacon and hollandaise sauce. He received his order but an English muffin was substituted for toast and ham for bacon and Eggs Benedict was born. The jury is still out on its ability to cure a hangover.

6

Robert Cobb

Robert Cobb was the owner of the famous Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. One lonely night in 1936 he created the Cobb Salad out of necessity. That evening all the employees and guests had gone home and he needed to provide dinner to Sid Grauman of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, so he made a quick salad out of leftovers from the refrigerator. He was so pleased with his results that he added it to the menu.

http://listverse.com/food/10-people-who-gave-their-name-to-food/

AND HE SHALL BE JUDGED

Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has always answered his detractors by claiming that history will one day judge him kindly. But as he waits for that day, a new group of critics—his administration peers—are suddenly speaking out for the first time. What they're saying? It isn't pretty

By Robert Draper

on the morning of Thursday, April 10, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush. This document, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, was a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House. The briefing's cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days' war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline secretary of defense, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death."

This mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery, which until now has not been revealed, had become routine. On March 31, a U.S. tank roared through the desert beneath a quote from Ephesians: "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." On April 7, Saddam Hussein struck a dictatorial pose, under this passage from the First Epistle of Peter: "It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."

(To see Bush-administration intelligence cover sheets, visit GQ.com's exclusive slideshow).

These cover sheets were the brainchild of Major General Glen Shaffer, a director for intelligence serving both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense. In the days before the Iraq war, Shaffer's staff had created humorous covers in an attempt to alleviate the stress of preparing for battle. Then, as the body counting began, Shaffer, a Christian, deemed the biblical passages more suitable. Several others in the Pentagon disagreed. At least one Muslim analyst in the building had been greatly offended; others privately worried that if these covers were leaked during a war conducted in an Islamic nation, the fallout—as one Pentagon staffer would later say—"would be as bad as Abu Ghraib."

But the Pentagon's top officials were apparently unconcerned about the effect such a disclosure might have on the conduct of the war or on Bush's public standing. When colleagues complained to Shaffer that including a religious message with an intelligence briefing seemed inappropriate, Shaffer politely informed them that the practice would continue, because "my seniors"—JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself—appreciated the cover pages.

But one government official was disturbed enough by these biblically seasoned sheets to hold on to copies, which I obtained recently while debriefing the past eight years with those who lived them inside the West Wing and the Pentagon. Over the past several months, the battle to define the Bush years has begun taking shape: As President Obama has rolled back his predecessor's foreign and economic policies, Dick Cheney, Ari Fleischer, and former speechwriters Michael Gerson and Marc Thiessen have all taken to the airwaves or op-ed pages to cast the Bush years in a softer light. My conversations with more than a dozen Bush loyalists, including several former cabinet-level officials and senior military commanders, have revealed another element of this legacy-building moment: intense feelings of ill will toward Donald Rumsfeld. Though few of these individuals would speak for the record (knowing that their former boss, George W. Bush, would not approve of it), they believe that Rumsfeld's actions epitomized the very traits—arrogance, stubbornness, obliviousness, ineptitude—that critics say drove the Bush presidency off the rails.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_9217

Pat Boone says in letter to President ‘mama inflicted more actual physical pain than waterboarding'

by Ron Moore

 

In his weekly WorldNetDaily column Pat Boon begins and ends an open letter to President Obama with a positive and one hopes sincere pledge to pray for him. Then the column devolves into an odd defense of torture claiming that: 

May I tell you that my own mama inflicted more actual physical pain on me and my brother Nick – raising welts on our butts with a sewing machine belt when we got really out of line – than any of the techniques, including "waterboarding," that detainees of the U.S. military have endured

 

He further suggests a good option for Guantanamo is Antarctica:

 

So – and I'm very serious – why not load all these guys into a transport plane and fly them to deep Antarctica? Deposit them in barracks and drop food and necessary items by parachute once in a while. Let them compare being on their own in that snowbound environment with the three meals a day and "harsh treatment" they experienced in Cuba. Any better ideas? I didn't think so. Then shut the base, or convert it to a Motel 6.

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-5697-Grassroots-Politics-Examiner~y2009m5d16-Pat-Boone-says-in-letter-to-President--mama-inflicted-more-actual-physical-pain-than-waterboarding

Jesse Ventura: You Give Me a Water Board, Dick Cheney and One Hour, and I'll Have Him Confess to the Sharon Tate Murders

By Heather Tuesday

 

On Larry King Live Jesse Ventura takes on the Bush administration chickenhawks and Rush Limbaugh, and defends Colin Powell. After being waterboarded himself in the SERE program, Ventura makes no bones about it. Waterboarding is torture. I'd like to see Hannity have Ventura on his show to debate the issue.

King's reaction to Ventura's straight talk on how terrible of a President W was is amusing. He's shocked...just shocked I tell you, that anyone would talk so badly about our former President.

KING: Joining us now, Jesse Ventura, former wrestler, former governor of Minnesota, former Navy SEAL, the author of "Don't Start The Revolution Without Me." That book is now out in paper back. Welcome to have you back, Jesse. There you see the cover of the book. How's Obama doing?

JESSE VENTURA, FMR. GOV. OF MINNESOTA: Too early to tell, Larry, really. In my opinion, George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime.

KING: Have an opinion, will you?

VENTURA: I will. I will. And he's the worst president in my lifetime. So Barack Obama, President Obama inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression. So it's far too early to judge him 100 days in. I think if you have me back about two years from now, I can give you a much better of how he's doing.

KING: He poked fun at himself at the White House correspondents' dinner Saturday night. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Finally, I believe that my next 100 days will be so successful I'll be able to complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day, I will rest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: He's very likable.

VENTURA: Oh, yes.

KING: Right?

VENTURA: Very intelligent, which is a change from our previous president.

KING: All right already with Bush.

VENTURA: No, I live in Mexico now, Larry. So I do a lot of reading. I don't watch much TV. This year's reading, I covered Bush's life. I covered Guantanamo and a few other subjects. And I'm very disturbed about it.

I'm bothered over Guantanamo because it seems we have created our own Hanoi Hilton. We can live with that? I have a problem. I will criticize President Obama on this level; it's a good thing I'm not president because I would prosecute every person that was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it. I would prosecute the people that ordered it. Because torture is against the law.

KING: You were a Navy SEAL.

VENTURA: That's right. I was water boarded, so I know -- at SERE School, Survival Escape Resistance Evasion. It was a required school you had to go to prior to going into the combat zone, which in my era was Vietnam. All of us had to go there. We were all, in essence -- every one of us was water boarded. It is torture.

KING: What was it like?

VENTURA: It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

KING: Even though you know it's not going to happen -- even though before it, you know you're not going to drown.

VENTURA: You don't know it. If it's -- if it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. You could do a whole bunch of stuff. If it's it done wrong or -- it's torture, Larry. It's torture.

[.....]

KING: A lot of things to go into, Jesse. What do you make of the Cheney/Limbaugh --

VENTURA: I don't have a lot of respect for Dick Cheney. Here's a guy who got five deferments from the Vietnam War. Clearly, he's a coward. He wouldn't go when it was his time to go. And now he is a chicken hawk. Now he is this big tough guy who wants this hardcore policy. And he's the guy that sanctioned all this torture by calling it enhanced interrogation.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/jesse-ventura-you-give-me-water-board-dick

Anti-abortion nuts fly an 'abortion plane" in circles over Notre Dame university

 

A Pew poll last week found that a majority of Catholics actually supported Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to give the commencement address. But as we inch toward the May 17 date, conservative opponents are ramping up their outrage. So far, nothing can hold a candle to the cuckoo "abortion plane" which has been circling the campus for weeks now.

Hired by the Center for Bioethical Reform, the "abortion plane" plane trails a banner with a picture of a dead fetus and the words, "10 Week Abortion." The group's other banner reads, "Abortion is terror." How crazy is this? So crazy that even David Brody, Christian Broadcasting Network commentator, thinks it's a terrible idea:

Surely, there has GOT to be a better way of communicating the pro-life message. Is abortion a nasty thing? Yes. But if you're trying to win people to your side of the argument these tactics don't seem very helpful to the cause.

But "reasonable" doesn't seem to be in the CBR wheelhouse. Wonkette recently posted a letter sent to a student who dared to complain about the abortion plane, being understably weary of seeing pro-life messages advertised on campus like they were, you know, Captain Morgan's Rum. The response letter the student received is a jaw-dropper. You can read the whole hot mess here, but we'll quote the money line:

The sewers of South Bend are literally running red with the blood of Notre Dame's children. We are going to figuratively pry open the manhole covers and force the entire university community to smell the stench of death. … Every time they look at that diploma, framed on their wall, we want them to see a dead baby.

...OK, then. Have a blessed day!

 

http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/u-s-politics-issues/102929-anti-abortion-nuts-fly-abortion-plane-circles-over-notre-dame-university.html

Why the Caged Bird Sang

by William Rivers Pitt

It's impossible to say to yourself how did we get there? Who are we? Who are these people that sent us there?

    - Seymour Hersh

    Dick Cheney has been doing a lot of talking lately. From his most recent barrage of public statements, we have gleaned that he loves Rush Limbaugh, doesn't much care for Colin Powell, believes President Obama is about to sell the Sixth Fleet to the Taliban for pennies on the dollar and thinks torture is a nifty and effective tool that saves lives and defends freedom. Really, this isn't anything we haven't heard before from our growly, snarly, face-blasting former vice president. But it does beg the question: What the hell is he up to? NPR's Ron Elving posited the question in a Wednesday article titled "What is Dick Cheney Trying to Accomplish?"

    "The man whom many consider the most powerful veep in history had already been far more vocal and visible than most of his predecessors in retirement," wrote Elving. "This week in particular, the former No. 2 has been out there almost daily, doing talk shows and giving a formal address to the American Enterprise Institute on the importance of interrogation techniques widely considered to be torture. Along the way, he is also unburdening himself of opinions on everything else, from tax policy to the fate of the GOP to the choice of a commanding general in Afghanistan. Once known for his reticence and low profile, the man from Wyoming is suddenly his party's most prominent national figure and audible voice. He is having his catharsis, and having it abundantly."

    As for his motives, Elving states his belief that Cheney's sudden whirlwind tour of every television, radio and newspaper in America has a three-pronged purpose: 1) He is a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, neocon, true believer, who insists on defending the use of torture because he believes it actually works; 2) He is defending the legacy of the administration he basically ran single-handedly for eight years; and 3) He is now liberated from the constraints of White House PR concerns and can speak as freely as he likes.

    Mr. Cheney is not the only one who has been out in the public eye defending the practices of the former administration. His daughter, Liz Cheney, went off like an old barrel of TNT on the cable news shows, going so far as to invoke 9/11 (like father, like daughter) and accuse Obama of supporting terrorism for even considering the release of photographic evidence of the American use of torture against detainees. "I have heard from families of service members, from families of 9/11 victims," she said, "when did it become so fashionable for us to side with the terrorists?"

    The Cheney clan is not known for their restraint when it comes to launching a verbal carpet-bombing campaign, but even for them, this is flame-thrower language. Ron Elving's explanation is almost certainly accurate, but only to a point. His analysis leaves off the one central and defining motive behind Cheney's thunderous defense of himself and the activities of his administration.

    He was scared, I think.

    He was scared the real stuff is going to come out.

    He was scared of the universal damnation that will come down upon him if the truth comes out.

    Finally, I believe he was scared of going to prison.

http://www.truthout.org/051509J?n

 

US soldier takes on Afghan militants – in pink underpants

Zachary Boyd fights the Taliban in 'I love NY' boxer shorts after forgetting his combat trousers

by James Sturcke

 

Zachary Boyd from the US Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry takes a defensive position at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

The world's best-equipped army has revealed one of the more closely guarded and, one must hope, private items in its armoury – pink underpants.

Scrambling to raise himself from sleep during a Taliban attack high in the Afghan hills, Zachary Boyd, a soldier with the First Brigade, grabbed his automatic gun, helmet and bulletproof jacket.

But in his haste he left behind his combat trousers – showing to the world that below the belt he was fighting in nothing more protective than "I love NY" boxer shorts.

Boyd, pictured looking through the sights of his automatic rifle, also has a red T-shirt peeking out from under his flakjacket, and sandals. Alongside him is a colleague in trainers who at least had the apparent foresight to sleep in an appropriately coloured T-shirt.

An embedded war photographer, David Guttenfelder, took the image in the hills above the Korengal Valley, Kunar, four days ago. Thanks to the power of the internet and front-page exposure in the New York Times, it is fast threatening to become an icon of conflict photography.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/pink-underpants-us-army

Blackwater-affiliated contractors investigated for shooting

It seems like we've heard this story before.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Four U.S. contractors affiliated with the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide fired on an approaching civilian vehicle in Kabul earlier this month, wounding at least two Afghan civilians, according to the company and the U.S. military.

The off-duty contractors were involved in a car accident around 9 p.m. on May 5 and fired on the approaching vehicle they believed to be a threat, according to the U.S. military. At least some of the men, who were former military personnel, had been drinking alcohol that evening, according to a person familiar with the incident. Off-duty contractors aren't supposed to carry weapons or drink alcohol.

The incident occurred as the U.S. is facing rising outrage from Afghan leaders over civilian casualties from U.S. air strikes. For Xe, which is the name Blackwater chose earlier this year to distance itself from its controversial security work in Iraq, the shooting comes as the Obama administration and Defense Secretary Robert Gates reconsider the role of military contractors, a practice that boomed during the Bush administration.

From CNN:

Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Xe, the parent company of Paravant, said the company was aware of the incident in Afghanistan involving the four contractors, but was unable to provide specific details for legal reasons.

She said Xe is also conducting its own investigation.

Tyrrell said Xe has terminated the contracts with the four involved for failure to follow standards and regulations set by Xe and all four have been instructed by Xe not to leave the country without the permission of the Department of Defense, Tyrrell said.

-- Stephen C. Webster

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/blackwater-affiliated-contractors-investigated-for-shooting/

The Rosetta stone to Bush era torture

We're getting close — so close you can almost smell the stench of the rottenness. To be honest, I had pretty much given up hope for any sort of real justice in response to Bush Administration torture. Sure, a lot of dust was being kicked up, a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth: but actual substantive justice — a judge, a jury an accounting for the crimes committed? It just didn't seem to be in the cards.

It didn't seem to be in the cards that is until, just maybe, right now.

What's changed? Perhaps everything. And, if so, that change has come in two parts.

Part one: The GOP screwed up. They pushed too hard, particularly in their attacks on Pelosi and other Democrats in Congress. Their calculation, of course, was that by accusing the Democratic congressional leadership of complicity in torture, they would scare off the Democrats. Who can blame them? When have the Democrats ever shown any backbone before? But this time it backfired. Instead of quaking in fear, Pelosi and other Democrats struck back — accusing the CIA and the Bush Administration of lying to them.

This left the Republicans in Congress in the soup. They have become so habituated to attack politics that they're utterly incapable of remaining silent — even when silence is their only possible friend. So, instead, they're striking back themselves, defending Bush and the CIA. But by doing so they are now unwittingly (or is it dimwittingly?) playing right into the hands of those of us demanding investigations. By jumping squarely into the scrap, accusing the Democrats of deceit, thus raising whole new issues that need to be investigated, they make it much more likely that congressional investigations into torture will actually occur and that they will be vigorously pursued.

And based upon what we're learning now, the results of any such investigations are likely to be explosive to the degree of a supernova.

Part two: At the same time all this is happening, an already massive, but still evolving, body of evidence strongly suggests that we're on the verge of uncovering the Rosetta stone to Bush era torture: the code to understanding everything that's happened. The explanation, at long last, for why senior Bush Administration officials were so insistent on pursuing "enhanced interrogation techniques," even in the face of the nearly unanimous opposition of intelligence professionals. The answer too to why they would push so hard for torture's use when all of history had proven that any information extracted in that fashion would be inherently unreliable. And here also, finally, is an arguably rational, though monstrously evil, motive to explain why Cheney was so insistent on torturing even suspects who were already cooperating in interrogations.

What this growing body of evidence indicates — the Rosetta stone that finally makes everything make sense — is that producing reliable intelligence was never the actual goal of the torture anyway. The Bush Administration's true goal was something else altogether — to produce coerced confessions "establishing" a false link between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=2272

Heartless

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