"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Waxman's form-letter on impeachment by Sherri B. Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Writing to Waxman Here's the Pinhead's response:
Sherri B. I'd say Waxman is a lot worse than a pinhead. He's pathetic. He's a Congressman, Constitutionally charged with oversight of the White House when the President violates the law. He is, in essence, a cop who's witnessed crimes that have led to more than a million deaths, but decides he's too busy to file a report. He's a collaborator in a massive crime and cover-up, and he deserves prosecution as such. Helen & Harry
Bad cops by Diesel1507 Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Newspaper's investigation shows that when cops investigate cops, cops are almost never punished Imagine going to jail for the night for being pushed down the stairs, and facing felony charges at trial. This woman was damn lucky. Diesel1507  Nothing but catastrophic choices by Herb Ruhs, MD Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re No nukes and no change Although Sir J presents an exaggerated worst case scenario for the radiation consequences of high altitude nuclear explosions, I am in essential agreement that an effective high altitude nuclear attack would have multitudinous catastrophic effects. The Chernobyl scenario, multiplied as he imagines, is misleading to some extent. Chernobyl was an antique graphite pile type reactor, few of which, if any, are still in use. Graphite core reactors are the absolute worst possible design. The Soviet Union, obsessed with competing with the West at any cost, built these things in a slapdash manner and turned their management over to a brain dead, but politically reliable, bureaucracy. One would hope that control circuits in a significant number of currently operating nuclear power installations would have been protected by the simple measure of metal shielding and surge suppression. The measures needed to protect against EMP are childishly simple. One of the big revelations of the congressional hearings on the matter was that such extremely simple measures had not been taken at that time to protect key military and infrastructure assets against EMP?. It is not rocket science as they say. Protection of circuitry is not a technological or scientific problem. It is a political and management problem. We are slated to be killed off not by the technology of industrial culture itself, but by the primitive thinking of those who manage that culture. If key circuits are protected from surges (the same technology that probably protects the computer you are reading this on) and are encased in metal boxes with no holes, EMP will not harm them. I presume that more military hardware has now been protected thus than was protected at the time of the congressional hearings, maybe not, but the deciding issue is not the technology of protection from EMP. The essential problem, as with most problems, is the primacy of stupidity and greed. The world is headed off a cliff by virtue of an industrial culture fueled by high octane stupidity. No one can be as stupid as a technological expert. Or as my late father in law used to say, "An expert is someone who strives to know more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing." And as smart as he was even he failed to see the eventual consequences of introducing industrial agriculture to India that led to his being crowned "the father of the green revolution." Industrial technology is highly dangerous with potential lethal unintended consequences once it is in general use. We have learned this truth but have yet to implement the kinds of cautious controls that are needed to use such technology safely. The internal logic of existing industrial capitalism is as brain dead as that practiced by the managers of Chernobyl. My point in reaching for hope in the paradoxical form of high altitude nuclear explosions is that the consequences will be markedly less catastrophic than those from just maintaining the status quo and thus allowing the industrial nightmare to evolve to its logical conclusions. Pulling the plug on industrial culture will likely provide breathing room for life to reassert itself on earth. Humans, in a chastised state, would also likely survive in sufficient numbers and with enough basic technology to have the choice to not to set off again in the same direction as we are on with our current road to oblivion. Count up for yourselves the risks to the planet presented by credible analyst and see that the cumulative effect of climate change, resource depletion, environmental pollution, the horrendous destruction and pollution (if only by the use of DU alone) spread by inevitable resource wars, damage from genetic engineering, fresh water depletion, soil destruction by industrial farming, and a host of other contributing factors, and it is easy to see that the destruction wrought by pulling the plug on industrial culture is a favorable choice compared to allowing it to continue to run free. When confronted by nothing but catastrophic choices, choose the least catastrophic. Of course maybe space aliens planned all this. Perhaps our species was genetically altered a hundred millennia ago such that our fate is sealed in our genes. Plant a crazed species on a planet that is programmed to develop an industrial culture that obsessively extracts valuable mineral resources and deposits them in neat piles called cities and then, after the species goes through its programmed self destruction, return and harvest the goodies. Convenient way to mine a planet. Humans under this hypothesis would serve a function analogous to a colony of yeast that turns mash into whisky. Of course, if that science fiction plot is actually true, we are truly beyond hope. Herb Ruhs, MD The attack on the Istanbul US Consulate by Marie K. Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Strangely, there was little likelihood of the attackers ever getting inside the Consulate. Security starts while you are outside. Once you are let in, you get checked by the security people inside, and then you wait again before you can leave that area which is a BUILDING separate from the next part of the compound - which I assume also has parts that are underground. If those attackers didn’t know this much, then again they were pretty dumb. ... Click for more ... Marie K. Kool-Aid and unseen video by Steven W. Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re A place for you have you had that much kool-aid?so much that you no longer recognize sarcasm? Steven W. If there's something we've misunderstood, please explain it to us. Helen & Harry why after 7 years havent the tapes from the pentagon been released? Steven W. A good question that remains un-answered, and in mainstream media virtually un-asked. There are thousands of good questions un-asked and un-answered — it's the hallmark of the Bush-Cheney administration and the mass media that serves them, not the public. Helen & Harry
Flatulence-mouthed gas bags, assholes and complete jerks by Chris M. Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK McCain adviser talks of 'mental recession'
It constantly amazes how republicans can turn out to be such flatulence-mouthed gas bags, assholes and complete jerks so totally out of touch with reality. Is it possible that these people are born with dementia and senility?
I'm sorry but there is something about McCain's "war hero" label that just does not smell right to me. In fact it down right stinks. He just does not come off as the hero type. More the rich kid — spoiled brat — "I'll say anything you want me too as long as you don't hurt me" type. Chris M. 'Hero' is an overused word, and if McCain is a 'war hero' then those words must mean next to nothing. He flew a bomber in a war that had nothing to do with defending America. He got shot down, held prisoner and, he says, tortured. Sounds thoroughly unpleasant, but I wouldn't call any of that 'heroics'. Helen & Harry
Story of McCain's heroism changes by Jesus Jones Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK McCain changes his oft-told story of defiance while a POW I'll save you the insufferable reporting of ABC's Jake Tapper, and briefly summarize: John McCain has long and often described a particular act of defiance while he was held prisoner of war: His Vietnamese captors asked him to name names, he has said, and he named the starting line-up of the Green Bay Packers. But on Wednesday, appearing in Pittsburgh, McCain told the same story again, only this time it was the starting line-up of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tapper, of course, again dutifully praises McCain's alleged valor as a POW, and describes substituting the Steelers in Pittsburgh as "odd". Jesus Jones Cowardice in their hearts by MonkeyMan Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re A place for you I was just doing some reading about Thomas Paine. He spoke out against injustice and the government. History remembers him as a patriot and a hero, although in his time he was surrounded by those loyal to the crown. Those people thought him a fool. We still are plagued with people like them; people who will die surrounded by injustice with cowardice in their hearts. I personally would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. MonkeyMan Irradiated meat by SirJ Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK As latest E. coli recall mounts, Bush-appointed Crony of Agriculture says US beef remains safe
... and killing the nutritional value of the meat as well. CONSUMER REPORTS doesn't think too much of the irradiated meat idea:
Irradiated meat produces carcinogenic compounds in the meat:
Chow down on "electronically pasteurized" meat and get your minimum daily requirement of carcinogens! SirJ Bush v. Hitler by Laserblazer Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Comparing Bush and Hitler, and the monsters behind the curtain Hitler built the Autobahn which makes his useful contributions to his country one higher than Bush, to wit, one. Other than that, identical, including the mass-murder, treason and terrorism. Laserblazer Is Rove working for Iran? by Marshall S. Friday, July 11, 2008 PERMANENT LINK McCain tell a new version of POW story Who knows what is the truth of McCain in Vietnam? By the time he comes back, Bush will have his lap dogs in the Congress absolve Rove from everything possible. And let me tell you, that much will be necessary. Mission still getting accomplished, eh Prez Bush? Yes, the goal of ruining the US is going along nicely. Won't be long now, with everything in financial ruin and the dollar in the toilet, that foreign nations will buy us up on the cheap and make us their feudal slaves. Will there be a world left for our grandchildren? Our children? Us? I guess these crooks figured that Alaska was so far away, they could get away with anything. For awhile, they seemed to be correct. They've got the guts to do something about their oppression, while we in the US sit and take it. Isn't this precisely what Bush-Saudi-Carlyle wants? So now they know what to do to get it. Millions die? So what, they'll say, it's not us. That's an admission of guilt we'll never hear from the US. There's some truth in every joke. The real joke is that McCain is running for anything. If he can't even read the teleprompter, how's he gonna be the sock puppet monkey replacement for GWB? Why should the Republicans have all the fun? Is Karl Rove working for the Iranians now? Marshall S. |
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