Avoiding the Bicycle Thief Part II

A day after this post
My $25 properly locked bike was stolen from outside my apartment. Ironic NO?
They left the base of my kryponite lock taking the bike the cable and the hasp.
Far as I can tell it was twisted off????

Kryptonite KryptoLok STD U-lock, $29.99
Pertinent Thickness: 13 mm
Weight: 2 pounds
Free Anti-Theft Warranty: $0

The Kryptonite KryptoLok showed some heart, but with the right tool even Lois Lane could bust it. It took me less than a minute to break through, since the steel in the shackle is so soft and vulnerable. The included mounting bracket is flimsy plastic junk: One of the "EZ Mount Brackets" broke when I was putting it on, resulting in a two-point portability deduction.

Security: 8
Portability/Ease of Use: 8
Value: 5.3
Total: 21.3

Death warrants – Saddam 148, Bush 152

What are they saying about the US in the foreign press?

The difference between Saddam Hussein and George Bush is that both signed death warrants but only one of them is in the dock. Let us draw some parallels between these two men and reach some conclusions.
Read the rest

Report: 18 Uber-Wealthy Families Led Estate Tax Repeal

The families behind Wal-Mart, Gallo wine, Campbell’s soup, and Mars candy, among others, engaged in a deceptive, multi-million dollar lobbying campaign to repeal the tax, according to a report by two watchdog groups. It’s “one of the biggest con jobs in recent history,” reads the news release.
Read it

Card Stacker

Pretty amazing

John Dean : Bush is becoming an Increasingly Dangerous President

If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President
By JOHN W. DEAN
----
Friday, Apr. 21, 2006

President George W. Bush's presidency is a disaster - one that's still unfolding. In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive and most troubling traits among those that political scientist James Dave Barber has cataloged in his study of Presidents' personality types.
Read rest

California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment

By David Swanson

Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.
Read the rest

20 Amazing Facts About Voting In The United States

here's #1 and #3 read the rest.
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

Hastert switches to SUV after photo op in Hybrid

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV, which uses gasoline, after holding a new conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive back the few block back to the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Loose Change

Loose Change is a documentary challenging the official version of the events of September 11, 2001 Its on Google video, I'm not sure I believe all of it but.... draw your own conclusions. It does raises some interesting points.
Among them:
How did they make cell calls from an airplane flying 2000ft plane
Why did the towers collapse when other buildings have burned for longer and higher temperatures and still stood?
How did they find DNA in the Pentagon crash but the plane was vaporized by the crash?
Watch it.

Transparent Screens

Nice collection of very creative desktop wallpapers

You Suck At Parking

"I Park Like An Idiot" Bumper Stickers

Mystical Ball

The site says "Prepare To Be Amazed!"
I was still amazed. Try it

Art or Crap?

Do you know your Dada from your Moma?
Try the quiz and see.

Expatriate Games

Expatriate Games
Travelers Are Heading to Buenos Aires for the Culture -- and Staying for the $250 Rent

How To Hack A Soda Machine

This is cool
Most modern soda machines have little computers in them. The tiny RED LCD usually displays the data. The computer can be controlled by using certain buttons on the soda machine in different combinations. This can be used to check the temperature, see the amount of money (load and dump), and dump certain sodas. Will usually only work on newer machines that look like the one on the right. They need to have an LCD and also need to have some type of message on it “ICE COLD SODAS” This tells you it is running something.

Become A Republican

Become A Republican

Faulty Intel? A spy speaks out on 60 Minutes

Crooks and Liars has the full interview on "60 minutes"
FDL wonders when the swift boating will begin

Merle Haggard: "Rebuild America First"

Merle Haggard: "Rebuild America First" (Video on his website)
This is gonna piss off them "Dixie Chick" hating people.

Dogs on wheels

Via (J-walk Blog)

Dance, Monkeys, Dance

A nice slide show about our species: Dance, Monkeys, Dance.
Via (J-walk Blog)

Avoiding the Bicycle Thief

The best locks to protect your wheels.
Via (Slate)

The Only Campaign Ad The Democrats Should Need

Tom Tomorrow

Bush impersonator reads speeches written by little kids

Just great, Listen to them.
via (waxy.org)

Former top CIA officer in Europe: Intel Was Cherry Picked

"The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy."

To "support the troops," Senate bill cuts funding for their gear

Via (America Blog)
To "support the troops," Senate bill cuts funding for their gear
by Joe in DC - 4/21/2006 08:53:00 AM

"Support the troops" is a great slogan. But, as usual, with the GOP-led Congress, actions speak louder than words:

A Senate measure to fund the war in Iraq would chop money for troops' night vision equipment and new battle vehicles but add $230 million for a tilt-rotor aircraft that has already cost $18 billion and is still facing safety questions....To pay for the Ospreys, the Senate Appropriations Committee - guided by the Corps - cut into funding for night vision goggles, equipment for destroying mines and explosives, fire suppression systems for light armored vehicles and new vehicles that can be transported into battle inside the V-22.

This should be shocking. It's not. That whole "We're at war" mantra apparently doesn't actually mean providing equipment and resources to the soldiers who actually fighting the war.

Microwaved water. See what it does to plants.

MICROWAVED WATER.

Someone took filered water and divided it into two parts. The first part was heated by boiling it in a pan on the stove, and the second part in a microwave. Then after cooling the water was used to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave.

Microwaved water. See what it does to plants.

via (the Presurfer)

Weirdly Fun

Bust through the blocks of ice with your fist. Play it. Love it.
Via (Hedonistica)

Russert: Murtha was right

RUSSERT: Well, I knew something was happening when I had John Murtha on several months ago and he talked about his plan for a timetable. And I got several calls from people at the Pentagon and others and they said, "You know Murtha’s right." And I was stunned because you don't usually get those kinds of calls. They were obviously people who would not allow me to broadcast their names.

Russert: And then, someone very close to the President said to me, you know, he won't fire Rumsfeld because it would be the equivalent of firing himself. He can’t acknowledge that it was such a big mistake, in so many ways. And so Rumsfeld will stay. And that’s the decision that the President has made and I think Rumsfeld will stay and try to see this through.

When I met with Murtha, he said the same things. The military was talking to him and giving their honest opinion about the war and what should be done. Why do you think he spoke out? When the smears were going to begin, he was informed by several of them that they had declined to speak out against him.

Video on Crooks and Liars

Bush Lauds Free Speech - Woman arrested for free speech

Woman arrested for speaking freely right after Bush call for "freedom...to speak freely" -- and CNN calls it "a blemish" on Hu visit

At an outdoor ceremony, Bush told Hu:

China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce -- and China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.

Seconds later, one of the people assembled on the White House south lawn actually tried to speak freely right here in America -- about both the lack of free speech and religious freedom in China.

That free-speaking woman was promptly hauled off and arrested:

Via (attytood)

Fox News Poll: New Low for Bush 33%

Gloomy Economic Views; Bush Approval at New Low
NEW YORK — More Americans disapprove than approve of how George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, while a majority approves of Condoleezza Rice. President Bush’s approval hits a record low of 33 percent this week, clearly damaged by sinking support among Republicans.

Former employee: AT&T is turning over YOUR calls & emails to the NSA. AT&T doesn't deny

via (americablog)
NYT editorial demands AT&T come clean, is it helping Bush spy on your email and phone calls?
by John in DC - 4/17/2006 12:11:00 PM

NYT slaps AT&T good:

A former AT&T employee has come forward with documents suggesting that there may be a lot more domestic spying going on than President Bush has admitted. The AT&T documents suggest that telephone companies may be helping the government engage in wholesale interception of telephone calls, e-mail messages and Web surfing. If AT&T is violating its customers' privacy rights, it should come clean, and stop immediately.

And by the way, AT&T is refusing to deny the allegation.

Birdy Namnam

Four French DJs that treat each turntable as a discrete instrument and play as a band; watch the videos
via (waxy.org)

Has Patrick Fitzgerald finally caught Bush and Cheney breaking the law?

Interesting follow up to the "must read" post below . The NY Times has a follow up critique, to the Washington Posts editorial praising Bush's leak. In it, NYT may have uncovered some laws Bush/Cheney may have broken.

Here's what was written about it on America Blog (among others)

You'll recall that last week the Washington Post wrote an editorial entitled "A Good Leak." It remarkably, and with multiple errors of fact, defended George Bush having authorized Scooter Libby to leak classified information in order to attack Iraq war critic Ambassador Joe Wilson.

Well, today (Sunday) the New York Times has an editorial called "A Bad Leak," and it's clear that the editorial is just as much a swipe at the Washington Post as it is the Bush adminstration.

Two thumbs up for the New York Times, holding to the truth when it's no longer PC to do so. Some excerpts from the Times editorial, and then the rather chilling fact that it looks like Fitzgerald just caught Bush and Cheney breaking the law.

1. Bush wasn't trying to help people see the truth.

President Bush says he declassified portions of the prewar intelligence assessment on Iraq because he "wanted people to see the truth" about Iraq's weapons programs and to understand why he kept accusing Saddam Hussein of stockpiling weapons that turned out not to exist. This would be a noble sentiment if it actually bore any relationship to Mr. Bush's actions in this case, or his overall record.

....the version of the facts that Mr. Libby was authorized to divulge was so distorted that it seems more like disinformation than any sincere attempt to inform the public.

This fits the pattern of Mr. Bush's original sales pitch on the Iraq war — hyping the intelligence that bolstered his case and suppressing the intelligence that undercut it.

2. Bush didn't declassify the document until AFTER he authorized it to be leaked AND apparently AFTER it was leaked. That means he authorized the leak of still-classified material, which is a crime.

Mr. Bush did not declassify the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq — in any accepted sense of that word — when he authorized I. Lewis Libby Jr., through Vice President Dick Cheney, to talk about it with reporters. He permitted a leak of cherry-picked portions of the report. The declassification came later.

That's illegal.

3. Had Bush followed the law, he'd have known the information he was leaking was false, thus he either broke the law or he intentionally mislead the American people.

Since Mr. Bush regularly denounces leakers, the White House has made much of the notion that he did not leak classified information, he declassified it. This explanation strains credulity. Even a president cannot wave a wand and announce that an intelligence report is declassified.

To declassify an intelligence document, officials have to decide whether disclosing the information would jeopardize the sources that provided it or the methods used to gather it. To answer that question, they closely study the origins of the intelligence to be disclosed. Had Mr. Bush done that, he should have seen that the most credible information made it clear that the Niger story was wrong.

And in conclusion, let me make a rather interesting point. It looks like Patrick Fitzgerald may have now stumbled upon proof that George Bush engaged in an illegal conspiracy to transmit classified information to parties unauthorized to receive such information, and he did it for malicious reasons.

Whether or not Valerie Plame's name is involved, it's looking a lot like Fitzgerald may have just nailed Bush and Cheney.

Must read: Jane Hamisher of Firedog Lake

Fred Hiatt the editor of the Wash Post wrote an editorial supporting Bush's authorizing Cheney to leak selected intelligence through Scooter Libby.
It created a firestorm and the paper's Ombudsman, Deborah Howell wrote to defend it.

With that background, Jane Hamisher of Firedoglake tears em a new one. ... read it.

Deborah Howell and Fred Hiatt: Fact Free and Loving It
I go back and forth on the Deborah Howell conundrum — ignorant or craven? I always find myself touching down on the Upton Sinclair quote:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

And so we find ourselves with Lil’ Debbie, failing to disappoint with this week’s excuses about last week’s Fred Hiatt column:

The Post editorially has supported the war, and the purpose of the editorial — headlined "A Good Leak" — was to support that leak as necessary to show that the president had reason to believe that Iraq was seeking uranium.

Yes, we know you have a lot invested in your warmongering. It has no doubt paid the giant cocktail weenie bill for years. But the fact is that there was no reason for the president to believe Iraq was seeking uranium at the time. Do we have to go through this again? I guess so. Joe Wilson’s oped appeared on July 6, 2003. Five days later, on July 11 2003, George Tenet had to admit Wilson was right and there was no credible reason to believe as of January, 2003 when the President gave the State of the Union address that the 16 words had any validity; indeed, that’s why Tenet said they never should have been included in the first place.
(Read on)

Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report for political gain

Murray Waas Reports and Firedoglake comments
"Bottom line: this time there's no wiggling out of it. Dick Cheney ordered Scooter Libby to leak classified information to a reporter for nothing more than political hay prior to an election when they felt that the truth of Joe Wilson’s allegations could hurt them at the polls. They spared nothing — not even national security - in the craven pursuit of power...read on"
Via (Crooks and Liars)

NYTimes- White folk use DNA test to take advantage of Affirmative Action

New York Times says white Americans are using DNA tests to show that they have minority ancestors so they can get in on the AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GRAVY TRAIN.

Time to play the Blame Game. FEMA says "My bad"

Report: Criticism of FEMA's Katrina response deserved
Inspector general: 'Much of the criticism is warranted'

Six retired generals have now called for Rumsfeld to step down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two more retired U.S. generals called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign on Thursday, claiming the chief architect of the
Iraq operation ignored years of Pentagon planning for a U.S. occupation and should be held accountable for the chaos there.
(Yahoo News)

White House wants media to apologize for reporting on lies

On May 29, 2003, President Bush said “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories.”
BUT 2 days before...
On May 27, 2003 a Pentagon field report transmitted to Washington “had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons.”
via (think progress)

Chris Mathews Kisses Tom Delay (Not for Broadcast)

In a "not meant to be broadcast" segment of Hardball,
Chris Mathews kisses Tom Delay's ass, and lets it be known
how he really feels about the Democrats.
I thoight Chris was supposed to be a liberal, like the rest of the MSM.
Via (Harry Shearer and the Huffington Post)

Player not working? Download the quicktime video here.

Imagine This: The video

Video for an audio mashup of George W.Bush singing Imagine by John lennon. Video by Cal-Tv. Audio by Wax Audio

Bush leaked..... lies

Shuster actually dissected the entire Scooter Libby leak story and nailed Bush to the wall for "selectively leaking intelligence" - i.e., Bush knew the info he was leaking wasn't credible.
Via (America Blog) and video on (Crooks and Liars)

Why does Newt hate America?

Gingrich calls for US to withdraw from Iraq
Ex-House speaker says U.S. made "enormous mistake" in occupation
Via (America Blog)

VIDEO: Cheney Loudly Booed During First Pitch

Vice President Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the home opener of the Washington Nationals game today. The crowd was was less than thrilled to have him there, loudly booing over the Fox News reporter. (Note: Fox producers muted the crowd audio halfway through before letting viewers “listen in” after the pitch.)
Watch it:


The good news: Cheney’s pitch landed in the dirt, not in someone’s face.
Via Think Progress

Election Rigging Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House

You gotta read this one... (Via Rich)

Phone Records in Court Show People in Election Phone Jamming Called White House.

A GOP scheme that jammed phone lines to keep state Democrats from being encouraged to vote in a 2002 senate election in a New Hampshire.

The phone-jamming operation has led to three federal convictions and a pending indictment. Prosecutors have not raised questions in court about the White House conversations but records of the calls were available to them as criminal court exhibits.

The records show that Republican campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 as the jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

Read the rest

Tom DeLay To Pursue Corruption In Private Sector

Via (The Onion)
STAFFORD, TX—Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is facing several ethics violations and felony charges, announced Tuesday that he will resign from Congress in order to concentrate on corruption in the private sector. "I can say with a clear lack of conscience that, after 21 years of public disservice, I have done everything I could to the American people," DeLay said in a televised statement to constituents. "I have a lot to offer the corporate world, such as money laundering and influence-peddling." DeLay added that, before assuming his new irresponsibilities, he looks forward to spending more time alienating his family and cheating on his wife.

yer blues

Via Jaf Project

John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell - Yer Blues
The meeting of 4 of the biggest music stars in the 60's on the Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus.

Murray Waas - The New Bob Woodward

Via Crooks and Liars

Jay Rosen says that Murray Waas is the new Bob Woodward. I've been posting Murray's articles for a long time and he's uncovered facts about this administration that so many have missed. He's been Mr. Indispensable. Joe Gandleman shares the same view.

Gee... and I knew him when ...
Read more of Murray's writings on his site
Whatever Already

1st Year Student Stumps Bush

In an outrageous attempt to avoid a very important question about the private military security that is running around in Iraq, President Bush-well starts panting out of desperation and then said he needed to ask Rumsfeld. How can he not know the answer to this question? Even with the Iraq government in flux-he's the President.
Video on Crooks and Liars

Spelling Poems

For poetry lovers and/or spelling freaks: Poems showing the absurdities of English spelling.

Eye halve a spelling checker
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques for my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it to say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

(Via J-WalkBlog)

Vampire Slaying Kit from 19th Century Transylvania

If you need an authentic vintage vampire slaying kit, there’s one for sale on eBay right now! From the website:

The items enclosed in the box are as followed: one wooden hammer (6.5 inches long), four stakes 6 inches-each) — the wooden hammer has applied a small holy cross, same as the stakes; the lower side containing: prayer book, crucifix, knife and eight bottles with Pamant (holy soil), Agheazma (holy water), Mir (anointing oil), Tamaie (holy incense), Usturoi (garlic), red serum, blue serum and secret potion. We believe a romanian monk from Transylvania has created this box during the period of 1870-1890 .

The old Prayer Book is old romanian language (chirilica), 19th century-hard covers. There is a mith saying whoever is able to read from this Book, he will be able to win the fight with the dark forces, demons, vampires and other demonic creatures.

Some vampire experts claim that kits such as the present lot were very common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries among travelers to Eastern Europe, particularly the Carpathians, and could be requested from the concierge desk of their hotels. Others claim that the kits originated in twentieth century America and are nothing more than romantic curiosities.

Link (via Neatorama)

Bush's Failed Policies on Canvas

With Bush and his policies on the ropes,
Eric Callahan literally commits them to canvas.
Shown:
George and the Cherry Tree
36" x 60" (91.44 x 152.4 cm)

Cancel your cell phone contract without a fee

via exploding cigar

A poster on Blogger has revealed how cell phone customers can get out of a service contact without paying an early termination fee. By using roaming minutes for 51% or more of calls for three months, most carriers will drop you as a customer because you are costing them more money than they’re making. Unlike when a customer initiates the cancellation, when a carrier cancels a contract, there’s no fee involved.

Fun with Fundamentalists

Bill Nye (The Science Guy) gave a lecture at a community college in Waco, Texas. He made an outlandish statement.

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

Via J-walk Blog

Libby: "Bush authorized leaks"

Guess that makes finding the leakers easier huh?

Harry Taylor: American Hero

Harry Taylor blasts Bush

Taylor: Okay, I don't have a question. What I wanted to say to you is that in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate...And I would hope -- I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself...
Video on Crooks and Liars

"Anteater Boy" Voted Most Popular

Video of a kid with a 2.5 inch tongue

Dog Food is Healthier Than Fast Food

TINS of pet food are better for you than many fast food meals, boffins have discovered.
Via The Sun UK

See ya Tom!

Time Exclusive: Tom DeLay Says He Will Give Up His Seat
Maybe he wants to spend more time with his family before he goes to jail?

Manipulating Iraq and the 2004 Presidential election

If there is a person alive that doesnt believe Bush lied to invade Iraq and he
knew Joe Wilson was telling the truth. More proof, from Murray Waas.

Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration.

Voting machine problems hit the mainstream press

Florida subpoenas voting machine companies
and
from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Voting software vulnerable to hackers
The flaw affects Montco's central election computer. Officials are scrambling for a fix before the May primary.