Sunday - July 02, 2006

Through The Looking Glass

“Big Dogs”

BigDog robots trot around in the shadow of an MV-22 Osprey while given commands via remote control at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., June 26, 2006. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is considering plans such as weaponizing the BigDog robots and using them to carry extra gear to free Marines of the burden of extra weight.

-- U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. M. L. Meier

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/02/2006 at 02:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Military •  
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   Saturday - July 01, 2006

Blogs Study May Provide Credible Information

The Air Force is beginning a

3-year project entitled “Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information.”

Anyone know what that is in English? Whatever it is, it’s automated so that means software searching blogs for;

“It can be challenging for information analysts to tell what’s important in blogs unless you analyze patterns,” Ulicny said.

Patterns include the content of the blogs as well as what hyperlinks are contained within the blog.

Within blogs, hyperlinks act like reference citations in research papers thereby allowing someone to discover the most important events bloggers are writing about in just the same way that one can discover the most important papers in a field by finding which ones are the most cited in research papers.

So watch who and what you link to. Somebody’ll be watching.

“We are developing an automated tool to tell analysts what bloggers are most interested in at a point in time,” Ulicny said.
…To some degree blog interpretation, he said, involves understanding a different form of communication.

“Blog entries have a different structure,” Ulicny said. “They are typically short and are about something external to the blog posting itself , such as a news event.  It’s not uncommon for a blogger to simply state, ‘I can’t believe this happened,’ and then link to a news story.”

In this example, Ulicny said, there might not be much of interest in the blog posting, yet the fact that the blogger called attention to this story can be significant to understanding what matters.

A good example, he said, is the recent furor in the Muslim world over the publication of cartoons of Mohammad in a Danish newspaper. The original publication wasn’t much noticed in the West, but bloggers discussed this event that possibly contributed to riots worldwide.

Blame the bloggers for rioting muslims? Next the bloggers will be blamed for dethroning Dan Rather… uh, yeah

How much is this costing? A cool $450,000. 

Posted by Christopher     on 07/01/2006 at 04:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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Comedy Central: Pravda Edition

No doubt, the former Commies at Pravda are having a field day with President Bush. They read the liberal media here in the US, drink a few gallons of vodka and are off to the races. Every week they provide me with more entertainment than all of Hollywood put together. What is amazing is the similarity between the Commies at Pravda and the Commmies at the New York Times. They practically echo each other. Hmmmm. There may be something there. What if the two Commie groups are one and the same?

As you read this insightful analysis by the Commies at Pravda, be warned: do not drink hot liquids while doing so. There is high risk of spraying your keyboard and monitor in dismay at the conclusions the Reds make. Keep your eyes open for the next to last paragraph. This is a Monstrous Irony Alert. The key quote to look for is: “[President Bush] has made explode the hatred of most of the countries throughout the world against the USA, the best loved nation after WW II.”

WHO KNEW? The Soviet Commies loved us all along and we never caught on. Duh!? I guess Kruschev was expressing undying admiration when he jokingly said, “WE WILL BURY YOU!!” What a joker Ol’ Nikita was. I’m just glad we got all that Cold War silliness cleared up after all. Read on ...

Will George W. Bush Surpass Hitler?
June 30, 2006 (PRAVDA)

George W. Bush was not elected president of the USA, in the year 2000, by the majority of US-voters. He was elected with one vote of a so called Supreme Court of the USA with the vote of one single judge, put in charge byGeorge Bush I, father of the later. A court that functions like a right-wing think tank is as useless for a nation as a kettle with a big whole in the bottom for a household….

But the destiny was friendly with the most stupid politician of the world ever… Provoked by a supremacist state that advanced always the interest of Israel over the rest of the whole Arab region and the Palestinians in special, some eager minorities in Arabia decided to shorten two towers in New York. Not a good idea, but very efficient, just as efficient as the biggest US-companies, when they decided to shorten the chances of people living in poor areas of the world. Comparable to the tumbling down of a rotten regime opening all chances to Hitler, the tumbling down of towers opened George W. Bush all opportunities he wished to have and that the one judge in Washington alone could not guarantee him….

Now he found good reasons for a war in Afghanistan, some other in Iraq and some possible future war against Iran, whose population was however already shortened with the assistance of the USA in Saddam Hussein’s gas war some years earlier. When his army entered Afghanistan, they found some crazy chaps that were not destructing three million Vietnamese but studying terrorism against the ones who see capitalism, neo-liberalism and new-borness as the one real thing on Earth. Unfortunately, many of the people brought to Guantanamo proved to be rather marginal terrorists or even totally innocent.

But George W. changed the whole USA in a McCarthy-camp, terrorised his own population and violated all international human rights and courts laws. And Russia, who gave away the whole wealth of Ex-Soviet-Union to a handful of oligarchs, China gave away all chances for developing a reasonable program to cure the situation of its population, especially of the peasants on the country-side, and favoured instead a funny mass-Milton-Friedman-capitalism, and Europe continued to dream its dreams for growth, to the disadvantage of all future generations, all these nations just looked over the two oceans and applauded George for his heavy-metal Hollywood-behaviour. It is easier not to interfere, if the own limits of growth, feasibility and financing bubbles by debts will prove to have been rather unrealistic.

No doubt, Adolf Hitler was a bad, bad guy, indeed. Let’s face it: The nation of culture of the Germans made him dictator by democratic votes, exactly like George, and they accepted all crimes against Jews, and many must have known about the “Wannsee-Konferenz”. Without the help of millions of Nazi-Germans, never six million Jews and about hundred million Russians, Poles, Americans, English, French and other nationals could have been killed or tortured to death. Here we have some parallels with Pinochet’s and Videla’s torturing to death of its youth and their final killing, assisted by later USA and its CIA and even worse the extermination of some three million Vietnamese for capitalistic ideology and many other nationals being killed since 1950 to this very day for the same purpose - with the assistance of CIA and some other crazy conspirators and blood dictators.

But Bush has not only invested in Guantanamo, this heroic monument for the criminal energy of the US-politicians since 50 years, no, he has in addition made explode the state indebtedness of his country that will make tumble down stock exchanges, banks and old age insurance, he has made explode the hatred of most of the countries throughout the world against the USA, the best loved nation after WW II, he has convinced that a terrifying war against environment with a stupid growth and the exposure of billions of tons of poison spread out by huge cars, planes, power stations etc., helping therewith the future generations to “survive”, and with the neo-liberal theory of Friedman and Greenspan he helped to enrich his greatest US-Companies and, at the same time, to destroy all hopes of the weaker states in South America, Africa and Asia.

Final conclusion: George W. Bush has put a time-bomb in the world that could kill in the long run billions of human beings from now on. Has anyone opened the question if Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Putin, Blair, Chirac or George W. Bush are to be recognized the greatest criminal figures of all times? The historians of the year 2100 will know.

- Read the full text of this literary masterpiece at Pravda ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 03:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Commies • Stoopid-People •  
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A Special Koombayah Moment

Now let’s all gather around in a circle, hug each other tightly and sing Koombayah for poor Tookie Williams. His only crime in life was the cold-blooded murder of four human beings in the course of two robberies - plus founding one of the bloodiest, nastiest gangs in the country. Surely we can find forgiveness in our hearts for this kind, gentle man as we spread his ashes over Africa.

Executed Crips Co-Founder Gets Final Wish, Friend Says
_{Saturday, July 1, 2006 9:59 a.m. EDT (13:59 GMT)}

RICHMOND, California (AP)—The ashes of executed Crips gang co-founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams were spread in a lake in South Africa in accordance with his will, a friend said.

Barbara Becnel, who co-authored children’s books with Williams and witnessed his execution, said in a statement Friday that she and Williams’ longtime friend Shirley Neal sprinkled the ashes into the lake Sunday in Thokoza Park in the city of Soweto, as Williams had requested.

“On his last day of life Stan asked me to spread his ashes in South Africa,” Becnel said. “He wanted to return to the motherland.” Williams was cremated after his death by injection at San Quentin state prison on December 13.

He was convicted of murdering four people during two 1979 holdups. He claimed to have redeemed himself by writing books encouraging youngsters to stay away from gangs.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 03:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
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A Major Nuisance

Alright! Enough is enough. Will someone please send this ugly broad a clue? I, for one, am sick and tired of her ceaseless whining. This media whore has taxed the country to the point of total embaressment.

Cindy, just go the f**k away and STFU will you! Your lawsuit has about as much of a chance as a snowball in hell. Get a life, beeyatch! The people of Crawford have lives ... and businesses ... and very little patience left with your mob. Get thee gone before some exasperated farmer unloads some buckshot in your direction!

Sheehan Sues Over Bush Ranch Parking Bans
_{June 30, 2006, 11:50 PM EDT}

WACO, Texas (AP)—Cindy Sheehan and four other war protesters filed a lawsuit Friday challenging roadside camping and parking bans near President Bush’s Crawford ranch.

Sheehan, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., was in Waco to file the case, which asks that the ordinances not be enforced during protests in August and ultimately be declared void.

The suit, filed in state district court, was filed against McLennan County, the sheriff and county commissioners.

Sheehan, whose oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, reinvigorated the anti-war movement last summer with her peace vigil—dubbed “Camp Casey”—that started in ditches off the road to Bush’s ranch.

As it grew, the group also set up “Camp Casey II” on a private, one-acre lot closer to the ranch.

Neighbors complained of traffic congestion from the August rally and commissioners enacted the parking ban on parts of 14 roads near the ranch and prohibited camping in any county ditch.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 03:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People •  
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World Cup Update

After the English lost David Beckham to an injury and Wayne Rooney to a red card, Portugal won a shootout 3-1 Saturday night following 120 minutes of scoreless soccer. Portugal, which also beat England on penalty kicks in the European Championship quarterfinals two years ago, meets Brazil or France on Wednesday in its first World Cup semifinal since 1966.

Neither of these sides could find a way through during 120 minutes of entertaining and closely-contested action, with Portugal unable to translate into goals a numerical advantage they had held for almost an hour thanks to Wayne Rooney’s 62nd-minute dismissal.

The match therefore became the second 2006 FIFA World Cup™ quarter-final to be settled on penalty kicks and, just as Jens Lehmann was Germany’s hero yesterday, so Ricardo was Portugal’s today, saving from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher to leave Cristiano Ronaldo to stroke home the decisive kick.

- More FIFA World Cup coverage ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 01:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Sports •  
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Edging Up To The Abyss

The time has come, the walrus said ... to speak of complete and total annihilation. The Jews and Paleosimians have edged up to the abyss and are gazing down into the depths. There is no backing down now. The Israelis are determined this time to make a statement. The Hamas scumbags don’t have a single clue as to what is about to happen. They have been blinded by their hatred and are crawling up to the edge of the abyss as fast as they can. With any luck the end game is near, as reported by The Australian ....

Israel last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed. The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.

It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza. Hamas’s Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding. But last night’s direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.

The bid to free Corporal Shalit was brokered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who last night warned Hamas it faced severe consequences if it did not curb its “extreme stance” and described the growing conflict as a lightning rod for Palestinian vengeance.

A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.

Israeli fighter jets bombed 20 targets in Gaza, including the Interior Ministry, which it said had been used by militants to stage meetings, while artillery hit the northern strip with 500 shells in the 24 hours until yesterday morning.

Jewish settler Eliyahu Asheri, who was murdered by militants this week, was buried on Thursday as leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees pledged to seize more hostages in the West Bank. No further word has emerged about another suspected Jewish hostage, Noach Moskowitz, who Israeli police said was found dead hours after Mr Asheri’s remains were found.

Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis. “They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored,” said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.

Residents complain that sonic booms caused by Israeli jets traumatise children and that shelling confines families to their homes. The arrested Hamas legislators have been sent to security prisons and many will stand trial on terrorism offences. The detentions have hurt Hamas’s already limited ability to govern and are likely to force a regime change.

Israel claims it has intelligence about the area where Corporal Shalit is held, but has been unable to pinpoint the exact location. Mr Olmert said the military would leave the strip if he was unconditionally and safely returned.

Egypt and the neighbouring Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon fear a war between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to uprisings within their own borders, which house many Palestinian refugees.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 11:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Paleswine •  
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Saturday Silliness

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 11:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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Orgasmic Delight

Yesterday I quoted an article from The Register, a British newspaper that is extremely Liberal, as they examined the Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld. In the introduction to the piece I described The Register thusly: “The Record makes the NY Times sound like Rush Limbaugh.”

I was wrong and I wish to offer a retraction and my apology for the description (and to Mr. Limbaugh). The following excerpt from an editorial yesterday in the New York Times is offered as evidence of my wrongful assumption.

As you can plainly see in this report entitled ”Justices, 5-3, Broadly Reject Bush Plan to Try Detainees”, the NY Times is literally ecstatic with almost orgasmic delight over the ruling. In fact, I bet there wasn’t a single piece of dry underwear in the entire Times editorial offices yesterday.

The Supreme Court on Thursday repudiated the Bush administration’s plan to put Guantánamo detainees on trial before military commissions, ruling broadly that the commissions were unauthorized by federal statute and violated international law.

The decision was such a sweeping and categorical defeat for the administration that it left human rights lawyers who have pressed this and other cases on behalf of Guantánamo detainees almost speechless with surprise and delight, using words like “fantastic,” “amazing” and “remarkable.” Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest law firm in New York that represents hundreds of detainees, said, ”It doesn’t get any better.”

The courtroom was, surprisingly, not full, but among those in attendance there was no doubt they were witnessing a historic event, a defining moment in the ever-shifting balance of power among branches of government that ranked with the court’s order to President Richard M. Nixon in 1974 to turn over the Watergate tapes, or with the court’s rejection of President Harry S. Truman’s seizing of the nation’s steel mills, a 1952 landmark decision from which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy quoted at length.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did not take part in the case. Last July, four days before Mr. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, he was one of the members of a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court here that ruled for the administration in the case.

In the courtroom on Thursday, the chief justice sat silently in his center chair as Justice Stevens, sitting to his immediate right as the senior associate justice, read from the majority opinion. It made for a striking tableau on the final day of the first term of the Roberts court: the young chief justice, observing his work of just a year earlier taken apart point by point by the tenacious 86-year-old Justice Stevens, winner of a Bronze Star for his service as a Navy officer in World War II.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Mr. Hamdan’s Navy lawyer, told The Associated Press that he had informed his client about the ruling by telephone. ”I think he was awe-struck that the court would rule for him, and give a little man like him an equal chance,” Commander Swift said. “Where he’s from, that is not true.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 10:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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