While the world has been watching the rise of the left – from Obama’s ascendancy to the reorganisation of political parties across South America, another game has been in play – the ascendency of the Pirate King.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
Drink up, me ‘earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot,
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho.
While Johnny Depp brought smiles to our faces though the Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s the Somali Pirates who are writing the script in 2009. On the 7th April this year hijackers off Somalia’s coast seized five ships in 48 hours. The pirates eluded the armada of warships from more than a dozen nations patrolling Somalia’s seas.
According to Wikipedia piracy off the Somali coast has been a threat to international shipping since the beginning of Somalia’s civil war in the early 1990s. Since 2005, many international organisations, including the International Maritime Organization and the World Food Programme, have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Piracy has contributed to a rise in shipping costs and impeded the delivery of food aid shipments. Ninety percent of the World Food Programme’s shipments arrive by sea, and ships have required a military escort. According to the Kenyan foreign minister, Somali pirates have received over US$150 million during the 12 months prior to November 2008.
Where things get interesting is in the analysis of cause and effect. According to an article over on the New York Times Somali officials said piracy started about 10 to 15 years ago as a response to illegal fishing. The country’s tuna-rich waters were plundered by commercial fishing fleets soon after its government collapsed in 1991. Somali fishermen turned into armed vigilantes, confronting fishing boats and demanding they pay a tax. In 2008, more than 120 pirate attacks occurred in the Gulf of Aden, far more than in any other year in recent memory. Experts said the Somali pirates netted more than $100 million, an astronomical sum for a war-racked country whose economy is in tatters.
UPDATE: 12 April 2009
Rachel Maddow provides a roundup on the Meet the Press.
UPDATE: 13 April 2009
John J. Kruzel of the American Forces Press Service reports Hostage Captain Was in ‘Imminent Danger’ at Time of Rescue
1,477 replies on “The Pirate King”
The Liberals will end up in the same pitiful state as the GOP if Rudd gets a DD happening – (Steven I love you- keep on blocking babycakes 😉 ).
This is bigger the parochial politics – it is a cultural shift away from neoconservatism , and the fools can’t see it.
Ahahaha
Johnny the Lil Creep has crawled out of his hole and declared that Krudd has caused, or worsened, the recession because he dumped Workchoices.
Sky are advertising a 40 minute one on one tonite between slimy Speers and slimy Johnny….what rivetting fare…puke bucket anyone????
The Trogs aren’t/won’t let the Libs come into the 21st Century. They’re still pulling the strings lol
The misery has only begun for anyone hoping for a Lib resurgence.
Meanwhile New Labour continues encroaching on their old semi-sane turf.
When i say “semi sane turf” – i should say New Labour are leaving footprints in the damper areas of Old Lib turf.
Theirs is the legacy of El Rodente, Jen and Harry. And my, how the smarmy grub snuggled up to and slobbered over every ranking neocon whose path he happened upon. He grovelled to them and he still holds them dear in his little ratty chest.
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May 15:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur;_ylt=A0WTUfXmCw1KZFcAMAoDwLAF
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70627
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http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70571
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70624
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70664
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May 15:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tomtoles;_ylt=AlJFuORhGQprMcwklOqKTnUxvTYC
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70625
Sometimes a cartoonist gets it *so* right,. Words are quite redundant.
http://newmatilda.com/files/images/Glenlelievre.jpg
Then again…..The words of a living legend, can sometimes help to explain the unspeakable. 🙂
http://media.crikey.com.au/Media/images/090515-GroupSex-18d93769-359a-4898-8850-68ecd8d5cdcb.jpg
paddy-
brilliant!
Now that’s funny!
and this is sad
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/people/film-and-tv-legend-charles-bud-tingwell-dies-20090515-b56s.html
Maybe Turnbull knows that the Libs need smashing at a DD election before they will realise how far off the mark they are. That’s the only explanation I can come up with to describe what he’s doing.
So why aren’t Rudd and Gillard exploiting this situation more? Why the half arsed climate policy and timidity on middle class welfare? This is the frustrating part of the situation.
so agree HW- the only explanation is that Rudd is as conservative as he looks.
If the Libs are the GOP, then is Andrew Bolt their Rush Limbaugh?
This is Bolt’s favourite meme.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25487718-601,00.html
Now THAT is funny
HW
Because Rudd tries to hover between New Labour and Wet Lib.
That is his natural home.
That is the place that will win a generation of elections until a credible alternative arrives ever so slightly to the Left of them.
IMO Labour will continue to hover in that space and rotate Leaders as effectively as they possibly can to reduce personal scandal, staleness and Brand damage…ala Beattie/Bligh and Bracks/Brumby.
Matthew Johns: “I’m Spartacus”……
And not one of the assembled cluster from yore moved a muscle. Not a statement of support from any of them.
Makes all those post-try hugs and gropes of endearment seem a tad phoney when you leave a mate shagged on a rock.
So, mateship in the corporate game has come to this.
Rarely agree with Gus Gould, but he struck a chord with me in the SMH article on his support for an old friend.
Comrades in arms, eh?
Yeah, right!
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Great toony, paddy. Deux Monsieur Verts!
Was it Annabel Crabbe who pulled back the jersey to expose the whole thing for what it really is: a chance for the jocks to get naked in room together with hard-ons? Most likely, but she’d not be the first woman to note that the girl in the centre of the scrum (and they are barely ‘women’, and more likely schoolgirls if they could arrange it) is more ornament or beard than the true locus of desire.
Girl, just say no. Go on, try it, you’ll be so impressed with the gentlemanly behaviour you receive, (along with the black eye, no doubt).
Whatever the facts, these guys are planks for even thinking this stuff would not come back to haunt them and play out in sweaty detail in every tabloid around the world. (Not to mention the distinct possibility they could face the inside walls of a concrete box for a very long time.)
Drongos.
Aye, Kirri. Being a boofhead seems to come with the territory so brutally gained by all those hard yards or more modernly, marauding metres.
The fact that the young woman involved complained about the incident to local coppers at the time (who blew her off) gives her muchos credibility.
Ozzie Sports Male Code of Conduct here we come…. and about bloody time too!
Dontcha just love it when the Rude Pundit just talks plain and clean, as he delivers the knockout punch?
This is one such moment:
In an interview, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (who was so hot when she was on Charlie’s Angels) said, “If people have so clearly overstepped the mark in terms of the way not just that they are talking but the sort of attitudes that they are expressing to the extent that we think that this is likely to cause or have the potential to cause violence or inter-community tension in this country, then actually I think the right thing is not to let them into the country in the first place. Not to open the stable door then try to close it later.”
That’s something you think that Savage would respect since, on page 122 of his 2004 book The Savage Nation, he spittles: “And I’ll tell you something else. ‘It’s our borders, stupid.’ If America is going to survive…we must defend our borders from those who come to exploit our nation or we’re cooked. We’re finished…In the spirit of nationalism…we must defend our borders against the dregs of society.”
Which is just what Britain did, almost like they were advised by Michael Savage.
…bless the foul mouthed one, for he is truly a saint with Tourette’s.
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70645
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/05/12/tomo/index.html
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70646
For those keeping count at home: Pig flu in the US has reached 4,300 confirmed cases and is spread throughout 47 states.
Pretty good going in three weeks, huh?
It seems fairly benign just now, but one thing about viruses we all should remember…they don’t stand still for long.
Updating my records as we blog, Kirri, how many poor bastards actually carked it in this “pandemic”? And for a virus that don’t stand still, has it got legs? 🙂
Apparently the first showing of the 1918 version was mild too Ecky.
Pandemic is the correct term for a virus which rapidly spreads like this one. Mortality rates at this point aren’t the issue. Any new flu strain that gets into the human population is potentially a dangerous little beastie as 1918 proves.
Worse than home grown terrorists, them virusy varmints! Pretty soon authorities will be whacking up posters of Pontius Pilate doing his historical schtick in global airport dunnies to remind potential carriers to do the right thing. 🙂
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You’ve been a really good girl these last hundred or so days, Brutusina, so it’s high time we paid tribute to your personal management skills…….
For The Kid’s SoS, Madame Secretary Clinton, who has handled the spotlight with barely a stumble and a degree of panache …..this lyrical from David Byrne circa late 80’s seems very much on target.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV7HYSVoPoE
Jon Stewart. Its extremely funny.
The Daily Show. He’s Gay
Bill Leak is well and truly back to 100% after his fall.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/gallery/0,25198,5024288-20581,00.html#
Yeah, funny sketch CB, but the best line of the week was when the Pope visited Israel, went to the Holocaust Museum and spoke of the ‘killing’ of 6 million Jews. Some TV interview with some old rightwing Jew had him complaining that the Pope, OK, at least acknowledged the Holocaust, but hey, he did not use the word ‘murdered’ but ‘killed’ instead!
Jon Stewart: so now the Pope is anti-semantic?
Tish boom!
Gee- here’s a Big Surprise.
… http://www.theage.com.au/national/turnbull-to-deny-rudd-poll-trigger-20090515-b64m.html
‘Tis very amusing Jen. Not even waiting for the first whiff of grapeshot, the Pretender-General dives for the trenches as soon as he sees the barrels being moved to the cannon line.
Not that I blame him, mind you. The effects of a DD at the moment should cause calls for an update of the Geneva Conventions.
Kirri, ‘top wordsmithing from TDS team. That Jonny Boy…… he’s such a mensch!
Here’s a tad more from Stewart on ObiCo’s duplicity. Noticed Alelrod doings the media rounds yesterday justifying the censorship of other torture photos.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20090515_drawing_the_chorus_line_in_the_sand/
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70695
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20090515_customer_care/
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http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70719
Two versions of the “Ticking time bomb theory”.
It looks like the ticking time bomb scenario is in need of a little revision:
http://www.1115.org/2009/05/15/ticking-time-bomb-scenario-version-20/
Flaneur 😆
It must have a wonderful feeling being able to go out in public and and have a quiet drink or two and get heaps of loud praise at important events.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/14/donald-rumsfeld-loudly-ha_n_203542.html
Jen et al., here’s a top shelf couple of programmes from Robyn Williams on cars and our future. Inspirational stuff, but we the peope are gonna have to DEMAND that our governments get a bit more serious about commuters becoming early adoptions of the clean, green technology. This is where a motza of future jobs are gonna be too. FUBIGC!
Just listened to Part 2 with the bloke from Curtin U.
Can’t wait for motorists to start pumpin’ electricity straight from the sun, ungouged by corporations and untaxed by governments into our grids, as we simultaneously to and fro our ways about our biosphere. 🙂
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2009/2571785.htm
Thanks Ecky – will get to it shortly.
In the meantime however , John Cusack Hear Hear…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack/a-hollow-and-horrible-equ_b_203817.html
I am ambivalent on the subject of the release of the new photos/videos of the tortures. There are some that have been released which showed that these things were in fact taking place and the neocon wingnuts have admitted that they had sanctioned waterboarding. The release in public of any more of this would not make them any more guilty of these acts.
I would much rather these bastards be hauled before the courts and be charged as i believe there is enough evidence available to do that.
Any further photos/videos could be produced in court if necessary and i do not know what effect the public release of this further evidence would have on them being able to be produced in court as evidence once they have gone public.
The release of them certainly would give one more reason to demand to have them prosecuted but i am of the opinion that there is ample evidence already for that.
IMO the energy should be funneled in the direction of the DOJ to get the scum before the courts.
gaffhook- it is the fact that Obama has backed down that is the issue – although it sounds as if the images are so bad that they will lead to absolute outrage- as they should.
I completely agree that all efforts must gp into prosecution, but I guess the images will galvanise more public support for this which i turn means Obama can’t try to bury this.
And now the link between torture and the lead up to Iraq… this just gets worse and worse..
“In Egypt, al-Libi was placed in a coffin-sized box for 17 hours, then beaten. Al-Libi cracked. He gave the information Cheney and his crowd most wanted: a direct link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Al-Libi, (who reportedly died this week in Libya), said Iraq had provided al Qaeda with training in the use of chemical and biological weapons.
Bingo! Vice President Cheney and others cited the information to justify the war in Iraq. Trouble is, it turned out to be false. As early as February, 2002 – just two months after al-Libi’s “confession” — the Defense Intelligence Agency reported to the White House and the National Security Council that it had doubts about al-Libi’s charge. The DIA’s Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary (DITSUM) all but destroyed al-Libi’s credibility. The report said, in part:
“However, he (al-Libi) lacks specific details on the Iraqis involved, the CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) materials associated with the assistance, and the location where training occurred. It is possible he does not know any further details; it is more likely this individual is intentionally misleading the debriefers. Ibn al-Shaykh has been undergoing debriefs for several weeks and may be describing scenarios to the debriefers that he knows will retain their interest. ”
huffpo.
Jen
I agree with his sentiments regarding getting them prosecuted at the earliest available opportunity.
As i said earlier i am ambi re releasing further photos at this stage.
I would also like to add that if there are any Democrats complicit in the torture business then they should be in for the skate as well.
At the moment Cheney and his public statements are shifting the publicity from himself and his ilk on to Pelosi who now has to go public to try to refute his allegations.
The quicker they prosecute the bastards the quicker it will shut them up from making public statements about it as the matter will be before the courts.
I agree gaffers- but I think Obi has to be careful not to appear to be backing down/ protection senior dems etc. If Pelosi knew and did nothing her head should roll too (althought she is saying the CIA mislead her…who knows). And yes, the sooner the proceedings begin the better, but there will be massive attempts to stall going on, no doubt. Let’s face how could they not have know – we did too.
1135
Jen
I am thinking that just the fact that the public knows that these outragous photos/videos are there should be enough to get the public outraged enough to put pressure on the DOJ to do something positive.
As Cusack says the photos/videos will come out whether it is now or later, the public will eventually get to see them. I would be more interested in whether Cheney and the nutbags would be able to claim they are not getting a fair trial and all that bullshit if they were released. I would much rather that option be denied them. They may still be able to claim that after the earlier releases, i do not know how the law works in that scenario.
I also agree with Cusack when he says it is no longer a matter for
Obama as he should not be able to interfere with the process of law under their constitution and that it is now a matter for the police.
The other side of that coin of course is that it did not stop the imbecile or Darth from trashing their constitution and putting a wrecking ball through the law.
That is the big reason why i would like to see them all before the courts at the very least.
I have my doubts as to whether some of them may be convicted.
Also not being privy to any inside information i would not even hazard a guess as to why he has backflipped being the good “cultist” i am.
Jen
Not that i agree with what Hicks did to get himself in that situation I would love to read a story by him as to his treatment while he was there.
I would also like to read a full statement from Mumdho Abib (spelling) about what exactly happened to him during his sojourn, if he can remember, and it was not edited by Bolter or Hackers.
That Obi just keeps on backing down, doesn’t he…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/us/politics/16gitmo.html?_r=1&hp
I’m a much better cultist than you then Gaffy – it must be a conspiracy to protect senior democrats
and yeah I pretty much agree with everything else you say about getting the legal thing happening asap. Don’t think Obi can get out of this one.
Jen
“Don’t think Obi can get out of this one.”
You ain’t smellin’ the prevailin’ wind, Jen.
The Great Saviour ‘aint gonna be doin’ no prosecutin’ – ‘cept maybe for those terrorists at Gitmo.
Geezus Ferny, I wish he’d cut it out – can you imagine the crowing over teh fence?? I’m v. glad we have new premises… 😉
Things are happening Jen and looks like here is another one coming out of the woodwork and implicating
MandyCondi Rice.http://www.opednews.com/articles/AG-Holder-Repudiates-Tortu-by-Robert-Wexler-090515-825.html
Ferny – seems he wants to avoid the whole thing – but the general public won’t let him, is what I’m saying. Including pressure from international community
And as this bloke rightly points out :
Who Cares What Nancy Pelosi Knew or When She Knew It?
Sorry
Link
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Who-Cares-What-Nancy-Pelos-by-Donald-de-Fano-090515-762.html
and what’s the bet Howard, Ruddock et al knew too. We need to demand answers here too.
Ferny
The Kid is slowly learning that when you are eatin crow it is better if it is cooked and defeathered, and had with a healthy serving of hot potatoes.
The moral of the story is when you are out prospectin and you find a gold lode you should shut yer fuckin mouth till you get all the spade work done.
Other than we ignorant loathing lefties, Jen, the general public don’t give a rats about terrorists or torture. The pressure has, in fact, been pushing to continue the Bush policy. Hence Obi’s weak compliance.
And as for prosecuting the previous administration – they acted on the advice of their Office of Legal Council. John Yoo and his OLC legal team may have provided very dubious legal advice re torture (and as a lawyer I can tell you it was flimsy advice at best), but the government is entitled to rely on that advice. That will be their defence and it will be hard to beat it. The only ones who are at any real risk of prosecutiion are those low ranking military types who went “too far” – and we’ve seen some prosecutions of these poor saps already under Bush.
Apart from that, no government prosecutes their predecessors. Hell! Obi is too busy adopting their policies to prosecute them!
Nah Gaffy,
The only mother lode Obi is prospectin’ is the votes of middle America.
Ferny, as not-a-lawyer oyu are no doubt right abotu teh liklehood of prosecuion being successful , but to do nothing is to tacitly condone it. The fact taht teh law is inadequate is no surprise, and that a government would advise itself to pretty much do what it likes is not either, but for us to sit back , shrug and say ‘oh well- too bad ‘ is not ok.
There are surely other mechanisms – commissions for one, that allow the truth to be revealed – the punishments and who deserves them is another issue.
And what about International law?- does this have any jurisdiction in a case where a government abuses human rights…and torture clearly does this.
sorry – in shop serving people while typing: not that it’s any worse than usual 🙄
Jen.
International law only has as much jurisdiction as individual sovereign states wish to give it. The International Criminal Court (ICC), for example, has jurisdiction over war crimes (and would be the appropriate jurisdiction to deal with charges of torture) but the USA, along with China, USSR and India are not signatories. It therefore has no jurisdiction to deal with American war crimes.
Both the GOP and the Democrats are in agreement in their refusal to recognise the ICC, so we can expect no change to this policy from Obi.
Ferny- it’s all too depressing. There must be SOME way these fuckers get what they deserve. At least if we were religious we could think they’ll get their just desserts in the afterlife. As an atheist, it just has to be in this one!
Even The Pundit is having a shot at Obi on this one…
“Unfortunately, with the selfish move by the Obama administration in reversing itself on the release of torture photos (a purely, crassly political move to make the courts do the dirty work), we are still more concerned with living in denial than in facing up to our shame and using it to learn and move on.”
can anyone enlighten me?…Why does the Rude One have a problem with the courts dealing with this, and what does he think Obama should be doing instead ? (confused tickster).
Well, bugger me. Here i was thinking that the financial problems here were a result of global crisis, but No – it’s all beacuse we don’t have Johnny at the helm.
“He did not regret WorkChoices, nor any of the other major things his government did. “WorkChoices helped give us the lowest unemployment for 33 years. I don’t think in my lifetime — and I hope to live a long time yet — we will see employment return to the level it was when I ceased being prime minister.
“We are paying very dearly as a country now for the Government winding back those reforms.”
The Age.
Jen, in JohhnyWorld WC would have rendered most Australians serfs of the trickledown in aeternum. The little grub’s a zealot with narry a dram of the milk of human kindness in his icy cold veins. He’s no longer a Player at the big table; can’t even find his taxpayer-funded limo after a gabfest these days.
Fucken schmendrick!
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http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70724
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70720
Let’s hope Johnny isn’t taking a leaf out of Dick Cheney’s book.
While mostly silent while in office, he is now popping up like the proverbial bad penny.
Makes me nervous,he does 🙂
“Why the caged bird sings”-
http://www.truthout.org/051509J
Oh, and didn’t it spoil the start of the day when his nasally little Howard voice hit the ABC this morning?
Wondered for a moment if I was really awake.
Have such a visceral aversion to that man!!!
1160,
meant Cheney makes me nervous.
The following horror was included in the 1160 link above-
“After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon’s custody more horrific than anything made public so far. “If these are released to the public, obviously it’s going to make matters worse,” Rumsfeld said. Since then, The Washington Post has disclosed some new details and images of abuse at the prison. But if Seymour Hersh is right, it all gets much worse. Hersh gave a speech last week to the ACLU making the charge that children were sodomized in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon has tape of it.
Hersh: “Debating about it, ummm … Some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”
Is this why The Rodent has been running MSM interference lately after a heretofore relatively quiet departure from the limelight?
“The images emerged from Australia yesterday where they were originally obtained by the channel SBS in 2006 in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal. They were not distributed around the world at the time but are now believed to be among those the president is trying to block.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/15-3
From Ticster International’s Foreign Affairs Bureau:
Will “Spyder” Huntsman weave a silken web of intrigue in Cathay?
How will Party Leaders react to his pitch for a slice of the Great Wall-Mart of China franchise action?
And where does a devout Mormon like Spyder hang on China’s One Child policy?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/jon-huntsman-to-be-named_n_204201.html
Don’t know (or care) about the legal fraternity’s assessment of the prosecution possibilities, but these people need to be held to account.
And i betcha I’m not alone. Therefore I dare to believe there will be a way.
No one, including Obama, has the power to quell the tide of public opinion that will demand answers on this. It is the basis of what is deemed to be a civilised society that we claim to have (although we all know that that’s bullshit). But how TF else do we ensure it never happens again?
megan – I read that earlier and it turned my stomach. That’s what I am referring to when I say that the public- (we) – will not let this rest. It is an abomination of the highest order and the kind of thing that ‘The Free World’ uses as a reason to invade other countries – and with some justification in fact.
except that we are doing it too.
No wonder Obi is trying to suppress this stuff… i actually get it when he says retribution will be an issue.
Keeping count at home:
TOTAL*(47 states)
4,714 cases
4 deaths
US numbers above from CDC.
Meanwhile, Australian geneticist has this theory going:
The outbreak of swine flu in humans could be the result of careless laboratory practices, released via a vaccine for pigs that was prepared without being fully inactivated. Adrian Gibbs studied the evolutionary trees of the gene sequences of the new swine flu and found something strange. Parts of the gene sequence came from viruses that already existed in North America, and other parts came from Eurasia. So how did these gene fragments get together to make the new virus? And where did the new virus evolve? Adrian Gibbs suggests swine flu may have escaped from a laboratory which makes vaccines. Some virus isolates may have been combined without being fully inactivated.
….hear all about it on the ABC Science Show:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2009/2568147.htm
yay Kirri – a conspiracy!!
mind you- – could get v. serious .
Don’t ya just love it when Malbull and the private health insurance companies bleat about how the sky will fall in and everyone will bail out and sink the public system further in to the mire and premiums will have to go up because of lower numbers of members and we will go broke and ,,,,
Then some fuckwit comes along and releases the latest figures with the headline of “Bonanza for private health firms”. LOL
http://www.theage.com.au/national/bonanza-for-private-health-firms-20090516-b6su.html
Where is the dole office again?
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/cartoon/gallery/
Why there is a good chance Texas will probably decide not to secede from the good old USA!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/countdowns-wtf-moment-tex_n_204199.html
They will eventually become part of Mexico as the Hispanics will outnumber the Yanks very soon. LOL
1173 gaffhook Brilliant stuff Gaffy. If they stay in, Texas will become a blue state by 2020. We just have to b patient. Virginia, North Carolina and Texas, all prime BLUE states. There goes the Confederacy.
http://oreilly-sucks.com/
The Rachel Maddow spot on it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#30773553
Talking of Texas.
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More information…
http://www.electoral-vote.com
In 2020 or earlier, when the Hispanics become the majority. That will give the Democrats 34 house seats and 2 more senate seats. I hope Obama picks Sonia Sotomayor. That will have an influence on the 2010 Hispanic vote in Texas. Very handy with the senate seat up for grabs as per #1177. Obama’s socialism will lift the Hispanic vote in 2010, the question is by how much? That’s why the Republicans are kick up a fuss. Do they really think kicking up a fuss will stop the cash flow? 😈
Maybe they could jail a few more and hang a few more. It wouldn’t be hard to trump up a few charges.
Ah well, back to building web pages.
Jen
Looks like one of your sState greens got up in the By-election in WA and on primaries as well.
gaffers
Frank Rich says it all … the Bush era will never end until they are held to account
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Excellent article from Frank Rich, Jen. Team Obi is losing the battle to White House wash this one!
The first part of the following on-air discussion corroborates it.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20090516_left_right_center_pelosi_waffles_obama_falters/
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May 17:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur;_ylt=A0WTUfNCng9K0ygAGAwDwLAF
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Jen Says:
May 16th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
yay Kirri – a conspiracy!!
….I don’t want to disappoint you Jen, but more of the conga line of stuff ups that would allow, firstly, some ‘undead’ virus to be injected into eggs, and then for some of the resulting live ‘vaccine’ to escape the confines of the facility.
It is, as yet, just a theory, but no matter, what it does do is dispel the urban myth that this thing is the result of a bad US company operating a piggery in Mexico. The good doctor reckons this virus has been around for maybe up to seven years according to its genes.
Oh, well, another good viral conspiracy theory has escaped into the wilds of the ether and facts will not stop it dead.
See how it works? If it sounds good, fits the political agenda, has ‘evil’ global agibusiness players, well, off it goes and the facts are utterly irrelevant.
In ten years you’ll still be able to read about as if it actually happened that way. Pigs aren’t the only creatures that move in herds.
Oh dear Ecky, the left is beside itself: Obi has turned to the dark side! LOL
What a lot of breathless twaddle it mostly is.
As for Pelosi, while not in government, having no power over the Bush administration who were milking 911 for all it was worth, she gets a briefing ie told by the CIA what they might do, had been given authority to do, and she was supposed to do what exactly? Scale the Washington monument with a megaphone and start a one woman protest movement?
It’s not like Cheney didn’t broadcast to the world that him and Retard were gonna go walking on the wild side. Did you see riots in the streets at the time?
Nah, thought not.
I doubt Nancy was up to jumping in front of that oncoming train, and no one would have bothered or noticed if she had.
Must be another slow news cycle over there, or maybe it’s a conspiracy to get swine flu off the agenda! LOL
“It’s not like Cheney didn’t broadcast to the world that him and Retard were gonna go walking on the wild side. Did you see riots in the streets at the time?
Nah, thought not.”
Absolutely Kirri- the whole world knew that they were stepping outside the bounds of what was previously legal . Which is why it doesn’t matter a whit who knew- we all did in truth. It’s about who organised, sanctioned and ordered torture.
Bush, Cheyney, Rumsfeld… all the smaller players are just fall guys.
It’s not like Obi is trying to say ‘we don’t torture’ is it? He’s admitted it happened, has made it clear it’s not going to on his watch, and yet everyone wants him to drop everything else to chase the previous administration down every rabbit hole they will retreat to.
We need more pics of people being tortured? Do we, really?
I’m not saying I know the answers, few would be really privy to them, but my guess is that he’s concluded that politically it’s way too much investment with huge downside potential to clog up his show in protracted and distracting legal arm wrestling. It could sink his presidency easily, divide the nation, give the media a vulture’s feast of material, and solve what exactly? It’s not like the country does not have some very pressing problems of momentous import to deal with.
So, the military commissions just might be the most effective way to deal with some of the detainees, some of whom have no doubt, done things we would all call crimes. If he’s figured that bringing them stateside and running them through civilian courts would be a futile process, then hey, maybe he has a clue or two about such things. But to assume he’s somehow trying to protect the previous administration just does not make sense. He’s trying to move his administration forward, not get its axles bogged, nor give the Republicans an easy target.
Unfortunately, the ideal and the political don’t often share the same bed.
Kirri-
all fair points, but the upshot is they tortured people and absolutely nothing happens. This is unacceptable – and this is not just about idealism. It’s about a real need to bring the facts to light so that no government can repeat it. It’s the reason Germany, South Africa, Cambodia to name some obvious ones have allowed the truth to be told. It’s why 80 year old people are still held to account over crimes committed in their youth. In some ways it is pointless, in that nothing can change what has happened, but justice needs to be seen to be done even if it is messy and distracting. Otherwise aren’t we just saying that those in power are above justice (as opposed to The Law- which they themselves created)?. And surely it is a desire for this to change that is why Obama gained such support, against all the political wisdom of the day.
Sometimes Idealism is what is needed.
I totally agree Jen, but from what I can see Obi is passing this to the Justice Department and is not being seen to be the instigator.
I don’t hear this as ‘there will never be trials’, or anything like it.
Guess it musta been a non-core Presidential election promise from a former professor of U.S. Constiutional Law like Obama eh, Kirri?
US Govt sanctioned torture is too big to be swept under the axminster, imo. No ifs, no buts, no bullshit. The struggle for the soul of a nation, to some, is a great deal more than “mostly breathless twaddle”. Call me old-fashioned, but I think integrity counts for a lot in a leader.
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70728
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2009/05/15/rsu_torturephotos/index.html
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70706
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/70740
It’s all a matter of how he goes about it Ecky. Does he start show trials immediately or does he let it run through the Justice department in its own time?
He’s gotta balance doing the ‘right thing’ with not letting this thing erupt like a volcano in the middle of a major economic meltdown.
I know idealists don’t like priorities, but those who are canny enough to get power have to deal with reality. Idealists only think they do.
America’s ticking time bomb of truth tortured……….
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/16-4
Kirri-
“I know idealists don’t like priorities, but those who are canny enough to get power have to deal with reality. Idealists only think they do.”
It can be both , not either/or.
Idealists (I assume you mean anyone who says that the law is not teh only benchmark for what is right) are those that do not accept that the current paradigm is enough and that we can strive for better.
I think that is most of us.
And when the images of US-sanctioned soldiers raping children in front of their mothers are finally released (give it 24 hours) will our horror be Idealism or just plain human?
I hear you, Kirri…..Baz would keep himself a lot of votes by letting the DoJ deal with matters (bring charges) of breaches of the Constitution re torture. To wait would also give him the opportunity to appoint a couple of left of centre SCOTUS trumps when the inevitable rotations occur.
I dig realpoltik but I love justice more.
And justice will not be seen to be done unless General Miller and the Chain of Command to the top have to answer for their deeds under oath in open court.
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That is exactly what i said on a previous thread that he was doing way back when he appointed Holder. He made some sort of statement then that it was not up to him to decide who was to be prosecuted it was the DOJ. That would exonerate him from blame for goig after them. I also believe i said it would take time to unravel the shit. I concur that he should get on with fixing up the rest of the mess and should make some kind of statement to the effect that it will be up to the DOJ and he has no further part in it. Maybe he is making statements to that effect and the MSM are not reporting it as it is being said.
No doubt it will be very complicated but if he comes out and says he does not want to release photos for whatever reason, that’s fine, but he should also add the rider that that does not mean there will be no court cases over the issue as that will be decided by the DOJ.
IMHO the thing has got big legs now and he is not going to stop it so he should just step aside and let the prosecuters get on with it.
As i said in 1016 and the link, there are 200 organisations calling for a special prosecutor specifically for this scenario.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/200-Orgs-Ask-for-Special-P-by-David-Swanson-090512-194.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/16
I don’t recall these being posted but if they are the photos that all the fuss is about then they are out there now.
Some of them may be a bit gruesome if you have a weak stomach.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11923.htm
The high cost of hegemony in a collateralized debt obligation fueled recession.
Not that some of these MIC funds could be better spent in the heartland and the homes of the braves.
(great thumbnail of an empire dwindling)
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20090514_chalmers_johnson_on_the_cost_of_empire/