.Elomer Tyr

lol

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 03:11:55 GMT

Silly Celebrity Quotes

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, The Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war."
~Charles Barkley

"My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
~Paula Poundstone

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."
~Drew Carey

"The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."
~Jeff Foxworthy

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch."
~Jack Nicholson

"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
~Robin Williams

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children"
~Unknown

"I really enjoy traveling to overseas countries a lot....like Canada!"
~Brittney Spears (from the US)
(submitted by Sally)

Disorder in the Court

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 02:25:55 GMT

Disorder in the Court

These are from a book called Disorder in the Court. These are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters - who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

Q: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A: Oral.

Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him.

Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A: Yes.
Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A: I forget.
Q: You forget. Can you give us an example of something that you've forgotten?

Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.

Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?

Q: Were you present at the time your picture was taken?

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, never the less?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:47:17 GMT

I <3 Calvin

thank you google romance

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:50:56 GMT

ROFLMAO...so google added a new type of search...the uniqueness of this one is that its for soulmates!

link here (www.google.com/romance) <--- that one is going in my favorites

so true...

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:39:03 GMT

i think this is true

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:58:12 GMT

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out.
Your heart is open to where ever love takes you!

Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out

Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking

What turns you off: fighting and conflict

Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

The DPRK

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 04:20:34 GMT

The DPRK or Democratic People's Republic of Korea [a.k.a. North Korea]

Isn't that amazing how they manage to include all that in one name...its democratic...a republic...communist...AND really a dictatorship. thats...thats fucking amazing. props to whomever thought that one up. now if they could just get capitalism in there....

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:25:19 GMT

Feliz Cumpleanos Kirsty!

me and others went to the city yesterday and it was pretty chillish. but thats not important.

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:48:29 GMT

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 04:04:05 GMT

Ski Team

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 02:33:17 GMT

Maybe one or two teams will have a few scattered thrown snowballs. That's not good enough for the Darien Ski Team. We gave up on that long ago, along with wrestling and such. We're frisbee all the way. Yes. Frisbeeing while we ski. It's quite entertaining.

...but moving on...

I decided that for my last ski team race I needed to do something special. So I did. Other's talked about padding their genital regions [*cough* cucumber *cough*] and dressing up, but I was all for dressing down. I planned it all out and everything. I asked Zeyer to watch for me when I came down and to take pictures if he could [for err nostalgic reasons] and asked my other coach to take my sweatshirt with him when he went outside to watch the races. After my first race, back at the top I stripped off my shirt and GS suit, replacing them with this pair of gym pants or something like that of TJ's and putting the t-shirt back over my GS suit. Right before I went I took off my T-shirt and walked over to the line of kids waiting to race. I got some nice reactions to that, me not having a shirt on and everything. I promplty promised them it'd get better. And it did. Right before I started, I turned to face my teammates and spectators, and with a flourish, quickly ripped off my pants [they had snaps up the sides] and took off down the course. Honestly, I found it quite enjoyable and fun. Good thing I didn't wipe out cause we'd be talking hospital possibly :\. And yes I do have pictures [or will have in as soon as they're emailed to me (thanks Coach Zeyer)].

[Telling nush the news...she took it quite well]

Thinking 0f Her: guess how far i went
nycitibird917: how?
Thinking 0f Her: thats a horrible guess
nycitibird917: oh
nycitibird917: um
nycitibird917: please
nycitibird917: tell me
nycitibird917: u kept ur shirt on
Thinking 0f Her: sorry
nycitibird917: NO
nycitibird917: NILS
nycitibird917: SHUT UP
nycitibird917: NO JUST SHUT UP
Thinking 0f Her: but i didnt stop there :-)
nycitibird917: waiiit
nycitibird917: PLEASE TELL ME U KEPT UR PANTS ON
Thinking 0f Her: pants? what are they good for
nycitibird917: NILS
nycitibird917: NILS NILS
nycitibird917: TELL ME UR FUCKING W/MY HEAD
Thinking 0f Her: hey i kept my boxers on
nycitibird917: NILS!!!
Thinking 0f Her: lol
nycitibird917: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU???
Thinking 0f Her: (some unimportant responses, editted out)
nycitibird917: WHEN I SAY "TELL ME YOU'RE FUCKING W/MY HEAD" YOU BETTER TELL ME YOUR FUCKING W/MY HEAD
nycitibird917: a;lskfj;sdldkfjas;dlkfja;sldfkjasd;lkfjas;dlf

The best part: Coach Zeyer told us not to fool around since the Superintendent of the Darien Public School system was going to be there. Oops...

amazing photos

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:26:33 GMT

Look at the stars...look how they shine for you...

perhaps my favorite

love this one too though

Photos of the day

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 20:14:55 GMT

My favorite --> called "Full Moon"

My favorite pictures for the day

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 21:10:54 GMT

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:26:44 GMT

for the last image [and maybe the best] go here

so apparently Cheney wasnt just stupid, he was also hunting illegally...

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 03:49:11 GMT

BY DAVE MICHAELS AND TODD J. GILLMAN

The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - Vice President Dick Cheney was hunting illegally - without the required $7 stamp on his license for quail - when he accidentally shot one of his hunting partners, Texas Parks and Wildlife officials said Monday.

And so was Harry Whittington, 78, who was recovering Monday from a shotgun blast to the face, neck and chest.

In its report, the state agency that oversees hunting and fishing said it found that neither Cheney nor Whittington had purchased the game bird stamp required to hunt quail in Texas, although both had valid hunting licenses. Both will get warning citations, and there will be no fine or other penalty.

Cheney's office said Monday he hadn't realized he was lacking the proper stamp and has since sent a $7 check to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

"I don't know how they missed it," said Cheney spokeswoman Jennifer Mayfield. A statement from Cheney's office said his staff had asked for applicable permits and would "take whatever steps are needed to comply with applicable rules."

Cheney has not commented publicly about the accident, which took place on the 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in Kenedy County on Saturday afternoon.

The incident dominated cable TV, radio and talk shows Monday and provoked heated exchanges between the White House press corps and Bush press secretary Scott McClellan on the nearly 24-hour delay in disclosing the accidental shooting.

McClellan said Cheney's first priority - and that of the White House - was to ensure that Whittington got proper medical care, though he had no ready explanation for why that precluded public disclosure.

He said Bush aide Karl Rove told the president about 8 p.m. Saturday that Cheney had shot someone, and McClellan learned that night from the White House Situation Room "that there had been a hunting accident, and that is was a member of the vice president's hunting party." More details emerged in a 6 a.m. Sunday call from aides, and McClellan said he urged the vice president's office to get the news out "as quickly as possible."

Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III said he knew about the incident Saturday evening and decided then not interview witnesses based on information from others that the shooting was accidental.

Bush said nothing about it when he passed reporters at church Sunday morning, and no one from the White House staff discussed it with the national media until that afternoon, nearly 24 hours later.

"The vice president thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to go out there and provide that information to the public, which she did. She reached out early Sunday morning" to the local newspaper in Corpus Christi, McClellan said.

Joel Goldstein, an authority on the vice presidency and a law professor at St. Louis University, said the incident is ready-made for late-night comics, noting that apart from the famous duel in which Vice President Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, "you don't think about the vice president going around shooting people."

That alone can hurt both Cheney and the administration, he said, adding, "This is just going to make him more of a lightning rod-slash-laughingstock."

But the real damage, he said, comes from the delay in revealing the incident. The benefit of avoiding mention on the Sunday morning's talk shows, he said, was far outweighed by the fact that it fuels perceptions of a vice president "obsessed with secrecy."

He cited the Cheney-led energy task force, the "time spent in undisclosed locations," the vice president's role in the domestic wiretapping policy and the fact that his chief of staff, Scooter Libby, has been implicated in leaking the name of a CIA officer to discredit her husband.

On Monday, the third hunter in Cheney's hunting party said that she believes Cheney was not at fault.

"We really thought he (Whittington) was way back behind us," said Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland since October 2003.

She was on a brief vacation visiting her husband, Dr. George Willeford, III, a gastroenterologist in Austin. Dr. Willeford was also hunting at the Armstrong ranch but in a different field at the time of the shooting about a mile away.

She said Whittington was perhaps 90 feet away when the vice president shot him, as he was tracking a quail that had flown up and dipped back down, and only she, Cheney and Whittington were hunting at the time.

Two others were waiting in a car nearby - Katharine Armstrong and Serita Hixon - in keeping with a safety rule that limits the number of hunters to three at a time, she said.

"The three of us were out of the vehicle hitting a covey," she said. "Harry Whittington dropped back to pick up a bird he'd shot. The vice president and I moved on to shoot another covey and unbeknownst to us Harry had picked up a bird and caught up with us. He had walked up and we didn't realize that he had caught up with us," she said.

"He was back behind us and we turned off to the left to shoot another covey ... The bird came up and was going back down and you know how you swing on it, with your gun, following a bird," she said.

Mrs. Willeford said she'd hunted once before with Cheney and would do so again.

"Absolutely," Mrs. Willeford said. "He's a great shot. He's very safety conscious. This is something that unfortunately was a bad accident and when you're with a group like that, he's safe or safer than all the rest of us."

She said she was surprised at the hubbub stemming from the delay in putting out word of the incident.

"The focus was on Mr. Whittington and his well being. There was no intention not to share the pertinent info at the proper time," she said, adding that Cheney never consulted with her over how the handle the incident.

Armstrong said she made the decision to inform the Corpus Christi Caller-Times about the accident on Sunday. Armstrong and her mother, Anne Armstrong, were too occupied with tending to Whittington and worrying about his condition to make it public on Saturday, she said.

She said she spoke to Cheney on Sunday and he agreed with her decision.

"I said, `Mommy, this important news. This needs to get out,'" Katharine Armstrong said. "We ran it by the vice president and he was very mindful of his role as a guest. He said something along the lines of, `You all do whatever you are comfortable with.'"

Cheney stayed at the Armstrong Ranch on Saturday night.

"We had dinner and went to bed," Katharine Armstrong said. "We were all very worried about Harry. That was the main thing on our mind."

Sally (Whittington) May said her father does not recall a lot of the incident, nor was he involved in how or if information about the incident was released: "He didn't know at the time if he was going to the hospital or the mortuary."

The doctors were back around Monday morning. They have mostly been concerned with injuries to his throat.

She said her dad is back to joking.

"One of the surgeons said, `We'll get this BB from near the liver, and go ahead and get that other one at the same time.' The surgeon looked at him and said, `that way we'll kill two birds with one stone.' And he said, "I consider that a poor choice of words.'"

Kenedy County investigators on Monday determined that the shooting was an accident after interviewing their last witness and said "there was no alcohol or misconduct on anyone's part."

But questions remained as to why Cheney was not interviewed on Saturday.

Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel suggested he always knew where the vice president and the other witnesses were.

"We were always in contact with Secret Service," he said.

Salinas said he decided Saturday night not to send anyone to the ranch and added that he was relying on information from others that it was an accident.

"If I wanted to go in there, we would have gone in there," said Salinas. "If someone called and told me there was a shooting and they didn't think it was an accident, I'd have five or six people on the ranch."

Chief San Miguel returned to the ranch about 8 a.m. Sunday and interviewed Cheney and other witnesses, Salinas said.

"They've cooperated," he said. "They didn't treat us like backdoor law enforcement. They didn't hide anything or try to coerce anybody to say anything."

Cheney "felt kind of bad" about the accident, Chief San Miguel told Sheriff Salinas, but everyone was calm, Sheriff Salinas said.

"It's just another accident," Salinas said. "But of course it' s the vice president. Nobody's perfect."

The other hunters present on Saturday included ranch manager Anne Armstrong; Whittington's wife, Merce; Ambassador Willeford; and her husband, George "Boots" Willeford. Anne Armstrong's two daughters, Katharine Armstrong and Serita Hixon, were there. So was Hixon's husband, Bob.

Whittington shot two birds, which he left to retrieve and put into a truck, Katharine Armstrong said.

As Whittington re-approached the group, he was walking through a low point in the land where they couldn't see him, Ms. Armstrong said.

"The cardinal rule is you stay on line," Katharine Armstrong said.

A Secret Service agent called Salinas on his cell phone "five to 10 minutes" after the shooting occurred, the sheriff said. And San Miguel, the department's chief deputy, went to the scene.

Half of the world's human population is infected with mind-control parasites....sweeet!

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 03:13:32 GMT

ADVERTISEMENT

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain.

Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?

Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.

However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.

If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans?

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:

* Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
* Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
* Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia.

Dr. Torrey got together with the Oxford scientists, to see if anything could be done about those parasite-controlled rats that were driven to hang around cat urine-soaked corners (waiting for cats). According to a recent press release, haloperidol restores the rat's healthy fear of cat urine. In fact, antipsychotic drugs were as effective as pyrimethamine, a drug that specifically eliminates Toxoplasma.

Are parasites like Toxoplasma subtly altering human behavior? As it turns out, science fiction writers have been thinking about whether or not parasites could alter a human being's behavior, or even take control of a person. In his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, Robert Heinlein wrote about alien parasites the size of dinner plates that took control of the minds of their hosts, flooding their brains with neurochemicals. In this excerpt, a volunteer strapped to a chair allows a parasite to be introduced; the parasite rides him, taking over his mind. Under these conditions, it is possible to interview the parasite; however, it refuses to answer until zapped with a cattle prod.

He reached past my shoulders with a rod. I felt a shocking, unbearable pain. The room blacked out as if a switch had been thrown.. I was split apart by it; for the moment I was masterless.

The pain left, leaving only its searing memory behind. Before I could speak, or even think coherently for myself, the splitting away had ended and I was again safe in the arms of my master...

The panic that possessed me washed away; I was again filled with an unworried sense of well being...

"What are you?" "We are the people... We have studied you and we know your ways... We come," I went on, "to bring you peace.. and contentment-and the joy of-of surrender." I hesitated again; "surrender" was not the right word. I struggled with it the way one struggles with a poorly grasped foreign language. "The joy," I repeated, "-the joy of . . .nirvana." That was it; the word fitted. I felt like a dog being patted for fetching a stick; I wriggled with pleasure.

Still not sure that parasites can manipulate the behavior of host organisms? Consider these other cases:

* The lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces its ant host to attach to the tips of grass blades, the easier to be eaten. The fluke needs to get into the gut of a grazing animal to complete its life cycle.
* The fluke Euhaplorchis californiensis causes fish to shimmy and jump so wading birds will grab them and eat them, for the same reason.
* Hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, sabotage the grasshopper's central nervous system, forcing them to jump into pools of water, drowning themselves. Hairworms then swim away from their hapless hosts to continue their life cycle.

Not all science-fictional parasites are harmful; read about the Crosswell tapeworm from Brian Aldiss' 1969 story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long (the basis for the Kubrick/Spielberg film AI), which keeps people who overeat from becoming obese. Not to mention robots based on parasites. Read press release on evidence for link between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia, Suicidal grasshoppers. Story via blogger Carl Zimmer and his readers.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)

* Fine Line Revealed Between Creativity and Insanity
* Brain Breakthrough: Scientists Know What You'll Do

Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Amazing Images, Image Galleries, Interactive Features, Trivia and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:42:12 GMT

Can You Say Jesus?
www.commondreams.org

Censored News Stories of 2005:

WASHINGTON - January 27 -

Project Censored specializes in covering the top news stories which were either ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media each year. Project Censored is a research team composed of nearly 200 university faculty, students, and community experts who review about 1,000 news story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources, and national significance. The top 25 stories selected are submitted to a panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. The results are published each year in an excellent book available for purchase at their website, amazon.com, and most major book stores.

A brief summary of last year's top 10 censored news stories provided below proves quite revealing and most informative. The headline of each news story contains a link for those who want to read the entire article. Links to sources are also provided for verification. Thanks to the Internet and wonderful, committed groups like Project Censored, the news is getting out to those who want to know. By revealing these censored news stories, we can stop the excessive secrecy and work together to build a brighter future. Please help to spread the word, and have a great day!

With best wishes,
Fred Burks for the WantToKnow.info Team
Former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2006 - Top 25 Project Censored news stories
http://www.projectcensored.org/store - Order book "Censored 2006" here for full news stories

1. White House Erodes Open Government

While the White House has expanded its ability to keep tabs on civilians, it's been working to curtail the ability of the public—and even Congress—to find out what the government is doing. One year ago, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., released an 81-page analysis of how the administration has administered the country's major open government laws. The report found that the feds consistently "narrowed the scope and application" of the Freedom of Information Act, the Presidential Records Act and other key public-information legislation, while expanding laws blocking access to certain records—even creating new categories of "protected" information and exempting entire departments from public scrutiny. When those methods haven't been enough, the administration has simply refused to release records—even when requested by a congressional subcommittee or the Government Accountability Office. Given the news media's interest in safeguarding open government laws, one wonders why these findings weren't publicized far and wide.

Source: "New Report Details Bush Administration Secrecy" press release, Karen Lightfoot, Government Reform Minority Office, posted on www.commondreams.org, Sept. 14, 2004.

2. Media Coverage on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death Toll

The civilized world may well look back on the assaults on Fallujah in 2004 as examples of utter disregard for the most basic wartime rules of engagement. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called for an investigation into whether the Americans and their allies had engaged in "the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons, and the use of human shields," among other possible "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions" considered war crimes under federal law. More than 83 percent of Fallujah's 300,000 residents fled the city. Men between the ages of 15 and 45 were refused safe passage, and all who remained—about 50,000—were treated as enemy combatants. Numerous sources reported that coalition forces cut off water and electricity, shot at anyone who ventured out into the open, executed families waving white flags while trying to swim across the Euphrates, shot at ambulances, and allowed corpses to rot in the streets and be eaten by dogs. Medical staff reported seeing people with melted faces and limbs, injuries consistent with the use of phosphorous bombs. But you likely know little of this as the media hardly mentioned it.

Sources: "The Invasion of Fallujah," Mary Trotochaud and Rick McDowell, Peacework, Dec. 2004-Jan. 2005; "Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone," Dahr Jamail, New Standard, "The War in Iraq: Civilian Casualties, Political Responsibilities," Richard Horton, Lancet, Oct. 29, 2004; Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, April 15, 2004.

3. Distorted Election Coverage

The mainstream media largely ignored evidence that electronic voting machines were susceptible to tampering and downplayed political alliances between the machines' manufacturers and the Bush administration. Then came Nov. 2, 2004. President Bush prevailed by 3 million votes—despite exit polls that projected John Kerry winning by a margin of 5 million. "Exit polls are highly accurate," wrote Professor Steve Freeman of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Organizational Dynamics in an article co-authored with statistician Josh Mitteldorf of Temple University. "They remove most of the sources of potential polling error by identifying actual voters and asking them immediately afterward who they had voted for." The discrepancy of 8 million votes was well beyond the poll's recognized margin of error of less than one percent. The official result deviated by more than five percent, which is considered a statistical impossibility. Freeman and Mitteldorf analyzed the data and found that "only in precincts that used old-fashioned, hand-counted paper ballots did the official count and the exit polls fall within the normal sampling margin of error." The discrepancy between the exit polls and the official count was considerably greater in the critical swing states.

Sources: "A Corrupted Election," Steve Freeman, Josh Mitteldorf, In These Times, Feb. 15, 2005; "Jim Crow Returns to the Voting Booth, Greg Palast and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26, 2005.

4. Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In

It's a well-known dirty trick in the halls of government: If you want to pass unpopular legislation that you know won't stand up to scrutiny, just wait until the public isn't looking. That's precisely what the White House did Dec. 13, 2003, the day American troops captured Saddam Hussein. President Bush celebrated the occasion by privately signing into law the Intelligence Authorization Act—a controversial expansion of the PATRIOT Act that included items culled from the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003," a draft proposal that had been shelved due to a public outcry after being leaked. Specifically, the IAA allows the government to obtain an individual's financial records without a court order. The law also makes it illegal for institutions to inform anyone that the government has requested those records, or that information has been shared with the authorities. The law also broadens the definition of "financial institution" to include insurance companies, travel and real estate agencies, stockbrokers, the U.S. Postal Service, jewelry stores, casinos, airlines, car dealerships, and any other business "whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax or regulatory matters." In one fell swoop, this act has decimated our rights to privacy, due process, and freedom of speech.

Sources: "PATRIOT Act's Reach Expanded Despite Part Being Struck Down," Nikki Swartz, Information Management Journal, March/April 2004; "Grave New World," Anna Samson Miranda, LiP, Winter 2004; "Where Big Brother Snoops on Americans 24/7," Teresa Hampton, www.capitolhillblue.com, June 7, 2004.

5. U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia

The American people reacted to the tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean last December with an outpouring of compassion and private donations. Across the nation, neighbors got together to collect food, clothing, medicine and financial contributions. The White House initially offered an embarrassingly low $15 million in aid. More importantly, the government exploited the catastrophe to its own strategic advantage. Establishing a stronger military presence in the area could help the United States keep closer tabs on China. It could also fortify an important military launching ground and help consolidate control over potentially lucrative trade routes. The United States currently operates a base out of Diego Garcia—a former British mandate about halfway between Africa and Indonesia, but the lease runs out in 2016. Consequently, in the name of relief, the U.S. revived the Utapao military base in Thailand it had used during the Vietnam War and reactivated its military cooperation agreements with Thailand and the Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines.

Sources: "US Turns Tsunami into Military Strategy," Jane's Foreign Report, Feb. 15, 2005; "US Has Used Tsunami to Boost Aims in Stricken Area," Rahul Bedi, Irish Times, Feb. 8, 2005; "Bush Uses Tsunami Aid to Regain Foothold in Indonesia," Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Jan. 18, 2005.

6. The Real Oil for Food Scam

The United Nations allegedly allowed Saddam Hussein to rake in $10 billion in illegal cash through the Oil for Food program. New York Times columnist William Safire referred to the alleged U.N. con game as "the richest rip-off in world history." According to the GAO, Hussein smuggled $6 billion worth of oil out of Iraq—most of it through the Persian Gulf. Yet most of the oil that left Iraq by land did so through Jordan and Turkey—with the approval of the United States. The first Bush administration informally exempted Jordan from the ban on purchasing Iraqi oil—an arrangement that provided Hussein with $4.4 billion over 10 years, according to the CIA's own findings. The U.S. later allowed Iraq to leak another $710 million worth of oil through Turkey, all while U.S. planes enforcing no-fly zones flew overhead. Scott Ritter, a U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq during the first six years of economic sanctions against the country, unearthed yet another scam: The United States allegedly allowed an oil company run by Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov's sister to purchase cheap oil from Iraq and resell it to U.S. companies at market value—purportedly earning Hussein "hundreds of millions" more.

Sources: "The UN Is Us: Exposing Saddam Hussein's Silent Partner," Joy Gordon, Harper's, December 2004; "The Oil for Food 'Scandal' Is a Cynical Smokescreen," Scott Ritter, UK Independent, Dec. 12, 2004.

7. Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood

Last year was the deadliest year for reporters since the International Federation of Journalists began keeping tabs in 1984. A total of 129 media workers lost their lives, and 49 of them—more than a third—were killed in Iraq. As far as anyone has yet proved, no commanding officer ever ordered a subordinate to fire on journalists. But what can be shown is a pattern of tacit complicity, side by side with a heavy-handed campaign to curb journalists' right to roam freely. The Pentagon has refused to implement basic safeguards to protect journalists who aren't embedded with coalition forces, despite repeated requests by Reuters and media-advocacy organizations. To date, U.S. authorities have not disciplined a single officer or soldier involved in the killing of a journalist. Meanwhile, the interim government the United States installed in Iraq raided and closed down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad offices almost as soon as it took power and banned the network from doing any reporting in the country. In November, the interim government ordered news organizations to "stick to the government line on the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah or face legal action," in an official command sent out on interim prime minister Eyad Allawi's letterhead.

Sources: "Dead Messengers: How the US Military Threatens Journalists," Steve Weissman, www.truthout.org, Feb. 28, 2005; "Media Repression in 'Liberated' Land," Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service, Nov. 18, 2004.

8. Iraqi Farmers Threatened By US Mandates

Historians believe it was in the "fertile crescent" where Iraq now lies, that humans first learned to farm. "It is here...that mankind first domesticated wheat," wrote Jeremy Smith in the Ecologist. "The U.S., however, has decided that Iraqis don't know what wheat works best in their own conditions." Smith was referring to Order 81, penned by Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, and left as a legacy by the American government when it transferred operations to interim Iraqi authorities. The regulation sets criteria for the patenting of seeds that can only be met by multinational companies like Monsanto or Syngenta, and it grants the patent holder exclusive rights over every aspect of all plant products yielded by those seeds. The new scheme effectively launches a process whereby Iraqi farmers will soon have to purchase their seeds rather than using seeds saved from their own crops or bought at the local market. Native varieties will be replaced by foreign—and genetically engineered—seeds. Order 81 fit nicely into the outlines of a U.S. "Economy Plan," a 101-page blueprint for the economic makeover of Iraq, formulated with ample help from corporate lobbyists. BBC journalist Greg Palast reported that someone inside the State Department leaked the plan to him a month prior to the invasion. Smith put it simply: "The people whose forefathers first mastered the domestication of wheat will now have to pay for the privilege of growing it for someone else. And with that, the world's oldest farming heritage will become just another subsidiary link in the vast American supply chain."

Sources: "Iraq's New Patent Law: A Declaration of War Against Farmers,"Grain, October 2004; "Adventure Capitalism," Greg Palast, www.tompaine.com, Oct. 26, 2004; "US Seeking to Totally Re-Engineer Iraqi Traditional Farming System into a US Style Corporate Agribusiness," Jeremy Smith, Ecologist, Feb. 4, 2005.

9. Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency

The Bush administration has been paying a lot more attention to Iran recently. Part of that interest is clearly Iran's nuclear program—but there may be more to the story. One bit of news that hasn't received the public attention it merits is Iran's declared intent to open an international oil exchange market, or "bourse." Not only would the new entity compete against the New York Mercantile Exchange and London's International Petroleum Exchange (both owned by American corporations), but it would also ignite international oil trading in euros. A shift away from U.S. dollars to euros in the oil market would cause the demand for petrodollars to drop, perhaps causing the value of the dollar to plummet. Russia, Venezuela and some members of OPEC have expressed interest in moving towards a petroeuro system. And it isn't entirely implausible that China, which is the world's second largest holder of U.S. currency reserves, might eventually follow suit. Barring a U.S. attack, it appears imminent that Iran's euro-dominated oil bourse will open in March 2006. Logically, the most appropriate U.S. strategy is compromise with the EU and OPEC towards a dual-currency system for international oil trades. But you won't hear any discussion of that alternative on the 6 o'clock news.

Source: "Iran Next US Target," William Clark, www.globalresearch.ca, Oct. 27, 2004.

10. Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy

On Aug. 15, environmental activists created a human blockade by locking themselves to drilling equipment, obstructing the National Coal Corp.'s access to a strip mine in the Appalachian Mountains 40 miles north of Knoxville, Tenn. It was just the latest in a protracted campaign that environmentalists say has national implications, but that's been ignored by the media outside the immediate area. Under contention is a technique wherein entire mountaintops are removed to access the coal underneath—a practice that is nothing short of devastating for the local ecosystem, but which could become much more widespread. As it stands, 93 new coal plants are in the works nationwide. Areas incredibly rich in biodiversity are being turned into the biological equivalent of parking lots. Is this the final solution for 200-million-year-old mountains?

Source: "See You in the Mountains: Katúah Earth First! Confronts Mountaintop Removal," John Conner, Earth First!, November-December 2004.

Below are the headlines and links to Project Censored news stories 11 to 25

11. Universal Mental Screening Program Usurps Parental Rights

12. Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators

13. Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges

14. Corporations Win Big on Tort Reform, Justice Suffers

15. Plan to Override Academic Freedom in the Classroom

16. U.S. Plans for Hemispheric Integration Include Canada

17. U.S. Uses South American Military Bases to Expand Control of the Region

18. Little Known Stock Fraud Could Weaken U.S. Economy

19. Child Wards of the State Used in AIDS Experiments

20. American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others

21. New Immigration Plan Favors Business Over People

22. Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities, Health Effects Need Scrutiny

23. Plight of Palestinian Child Detainees Highlights Global Problem

24. Ethiopian Indigenous Victims of Corporate, Government Resource Aspirations

25. Homeland Security Was Designed to Fail

For several previous censored news stories even more important that those above, see our two-page media cover-up summary at http://www.WantToKnow.info/mediacover-up

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:37:33 GMT

"i definitely blinked during that picture."