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/_/_/ |_|__/|__/_/ |_/http://www.acronymchile.com/yawn.html
2003-04-23
You cannot hope to bribe or twist
thank God! The British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to.
-- Humbert Wolfe, 1930
###!!!!!###### SERBIA ##############################(##)##################
Very interesting interview with Andrej Grubacic. Describes current state
of emergency in Serbia and Montenegro, and the curtailment of civil rights.
He likens the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic to the
September 11th attack in the US, in the way it has been used to justify a
crack-down on liberty and the opposition. Also interesting as it gives
a perspective on Djindjic's term in office and political legacy quite
different to that of much of the Western media:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=36&ItemID=3498
###!!!!_###### PATRIOT #############################(/.)##################
Civil liberties take a hit as PATRIOT starts to become the status quo:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/09/international/worldspecial/09TERR.html
Working with the Bush administration, Congressional Republicans are
manoeuvring to make permanent the sweeping anti-terrorism powers granted
to federal law enforcement agents after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
###!!___###### NLP #################################(GG)##################
http://www.deep-trance.com/
Free information on NLP, self-hypnosis, hypnotherapy and
self-improvement
###!!!__###### PHOTOS ##############################(/.)##################
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-ednote_blurb.blurb
On Monday, March 31, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page
photograph that had been altered in violation of Times policy. Times
policy forbids altering the content of news photographs. Because of the
violation, Walski, a Times photographer since 1998, has been dismissed
from the staff. The altered photo, along with the two photos that were
used to produce it, are below:
Some of the slashdot discussion is good:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/02/1650258&mode=nested&tid=149
This comment:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=59363&cid=5647650
discussing these two photos:
http://www.milanet.ie/~andrew/pc/tank.jpg
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/91/897/10x7/twip_2002_0704_05.jpg
is particularly worth reading. I remember seeing those two pictures
before, but never noticed how unskilled the doctoring was. I could do
better myself:
http://www.acronymchile.com/mick_tank_airbrush.jpg
compare with original:
http://www.acronymchile.com/twip_2002_0704_05.jpg
###!!!__###### TERROR ##############################(PA)##################
http://www.post-atomic.com/2003_03_01_fallout.shtml#200029901
http://www.libertythink.com/2003_03_01_hivearchives.html#200029291
Powder and gasmask found in handbag but Israeli woman not detained,
allowed to board plane to Texas. The Texas FBI won't return calls
asking if the woman has been interviewed. The powder tests positive for
anthrax, then is declared to be harmless, but ten people become sick
and are treated, plus the screeners are decontaminated.
###_____###### NEW ECONOMY #########################(##)##################
This wasn't how i thought these things worked. Amazon.co.uk, looking for
"Jarhead" i saw that it was priced like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=sr_sp_go_as/202-8432183-0953409
HARDCOVER:
Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War
~Anthony Swofford
Scribner
Hardcover - 17 March, 2003
Usually dispatched within 24 hours
List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £10.49
You Save: £4.50 (30%
EBOOK:
Jarhead; A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
~Anthony Swofford (Author)
Scribner
Digital Download
Available for download now
Our Price: £12.78
How on earth can they charge more for an electronic download than they do
for a real physical hardcover book?
###!!!__###### URANIUM #############################(RW)##################
Discussion of the fraud behind allegations of uranium deals between Niger
and Iraq. An interesting part of the article is the background it gives,
which reveals that this is not such a recent phenomenon, but part of a
protracted campaign.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030331fa_fact1
###!!!__###### SPAM ################################(RW)##################
Very interesting discussion of spam, and effectiveness of methods to avoid
it:
http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.shtml
###!!!__###### WAR #################################(RW)##################
Interesting background to the strategies and challenges of the United
States' invasion of Iraq:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0303/032803nj1.htm
The scale is hard to comprehend:
An armored or air-mobile division on the move consumes roughly 550,000
gallons of fuel a day. COSCOM, just to supply V Corps's forward forces
with the requisite 1 million gallons of fuel, must have 3 million
gallons in its pipeline.
Veterans' voices on the current war:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7472
###!!!!!###### RUMMY ###############################(RW)##################
interesting article about Rumsfeld's attitude to military chiefs:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030407fa_fact1
Rumsfeld's personal contempt for many of the senior generals and
admirals who were promoted to top jobs during the Clinton
Administration is widely known. He was especially critical of the Army,
with its insistence on maintaining costly mechanized divisions. In his
off-the-cuff memoranda, or "snowflakes," as they're called in the
Pentagon, he chafed about generals having "the slows" a reference to
Lincoln's characterization of General George McClellan. "In those
conditions - an atmosphere of derision and challenge - the senior
officers do not offer their best advice," a high-ranking general who
served for more than a year under Rumsfeld said. One witness to a
meeting recalled Rumsfeld confronting General Eric Shinseki, the Army
Chief of Staff, in front of many junior officers. "He was looking at
the Chief and waving his hand," the witness said, "saying, `Are you
getting this yet? Are you getting this yet?'"
###!!!!_###### CON #################################(RW)##################
A very cogent and well researched article on the larger neo-conservative
agendas behind current US adventures in the Middle East. Nicely written
and a good read:
http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/03/04/01.html
An interesting link from that story is the following...
Sydney Morning Herald article on preparations for martial law in US:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/27/1027497418339.html
When Reagan was preparing to invade Nicaragua, plans were put in place to
deal with the eventuality of large-scale civilian unrest at the actions.
The plans became public during the Iran-Contra hearings:
FEMA, whose main role is disaster response, is also responsible for
handling US domestic unrest.
From 1982-84 Colonel Oliver North assisted FEMA in drafting its civil
defence preparations. Details of these plans emerged during the 1987
Iran-Contra scandal.
They included executive orders providing for suspension of the
constitution, the imposition of martial law, internment camps, and the
turning over of government to the president and FEMA.
Somewhat strangely, a former head of the KGB has been employed as a
consultant in the Department of Homeland Security. How things change!
###!!___###### FECK ################################(/.)##################
Slashdot story:
Spending more time cursing your code than writing it? Well now there's
an answer. feckfeck (a language in the vein of Whitespace and
Brainf*ck) will help you get back that precious time by converting your
foul words into code.
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/06/1733235&mode=nested&tid=133&tid=156
http://www.chilliwilli.co.uk/ff/
http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/index.php
http://esoteric.sange.fi/brainfuck/
###!!!__###### GATEKEEPERS #########################(IB)##################
The Gatekeepers
The Progressive / Left establishment and the marginalization of conspiracy
research
http://www.questionsquestions.net/topics/left_gatekeepers.html
###!!!__###### CHAOTIC #############################(RW)##################
Iraqi aftermath:
http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/00000006DD4C.htm
A little-known Iraqi militia called the Iraqi Coalition of National
Unity (ICNU) has apparently taken over the town of Hay Al Ansar in
southern Iraq, with the backing of US special forces. According to the
Financial Times, the people of Hay Al Ansar were happy 'to be rid of
the Ba'ath party government…but they appear to be just as terrified, if
not more so, of their new rulers'. The FT says the ICNU 'has taken to
looting and terrorising the neighbourhood with impunity'.
...
This instability is the by-product of an intervention that destroyed
central authority, when there was nothing else to take over.
Makes one wonder if the argument that "the iraqis have no viable opposition
to Saddam so they must be liberated" was actually an argument AGAINST the
war. The absence of any viable opposition obviously makes the aftermath
very hard to manage, and very hard to live in for the Iraqis.
###-----###### FIN #################################(##)##################