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Saturday, January 13, 2007

Continued losses of freedoms and civil liverties.

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > New Adventures in Asset Forfeiture
Santa Fe police will soon be able to seize the cars of motorists merely accused of drunken driving. No trial or actual conviction necessary.

Meanwhile, police in Florida are confiscating the motorcycles of operators accused of outrunning police cruisers based only on an officers memory of the bike's license plate. Again, no trial required.
You follow that, right? No due process required. You don't have to ever be found guilty of anything. Simply charged. And you lose all your stuff. God bless America. Cocksuckers, I swear to god.

Felipe Fernández-Armesto - Wikipedia
Fernández-Armesto gained media attention in 2007 for an incident on January 4th in which he was allegedly brutalized by 5 policemen led by Kevin Leonpacher in Atlanta, Georgia as a result of jaywalking (which does not exist as a legal and therefore criminal concept in his home country of the UK) while in town for a conference of the American Historical Association.



When told by 28-year-old officer Leonpacher that he was not supposed to cross where he had, he said he simply thanked him and continued on, claiming not to have known that Leonpacher was an officer because he was wearing a "bomber jacket" which covered his badge and obscured the uniform that Leonpacher claimed to have been visibly wearing. When Leonpacher ordered him to procure identification, the 56-year-old responded by questioning his authority to make such a demand and in turn, requesting to see the officer's ID.

Upon asking that Leonpacher show him his credentials, he was subsequently "knocked", "thrown" and/or "wrestled" to the ground after having his legs kicked from under him, and pinned there by the officers. Professor Lisa Kazmier, who witnessed the incident, was quoted as saying "It was like he was Osama Bin Laden or something." Leonpacher and the Atlanta Police Department deny that unnecessary or inappropriate measures were taken. After having been arrested and jailed for eight hours, Fernández-Armesto was released and charges of "disorderly conduct" against him were unofficially dropped following an appearance in traffic court the next day. Despite having once been mugged, he stated that "It was the most violence I've ever experienced in my life".





Boing Boing: London metro police poster
"This is an actual British Government poster outside a London Metro. Looks like they ripped it straight from the set of 'Brazil.'"
How very "Big Brother is Watching" of them.




Guantanamo detainee's lawyers post video to YouTube
David sez, "Now that habeas corpus has been eliminated there are no traditional means to advocate for the rights of detainees and Guantanamo. Here is a video put together by the public defenders office in Oregon, released on youtube, about their client Adel Hamad, a hospital charity worker and ping pong player who sits in Guantanamo since 2002. The lawyers traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to tape video testimony of people who knew and worked with Mr. Hamad. But the U.S. government does not seem interested in this added material. Thus, the website for Project Hamad that has this video was put together by citizens concerned both about the disappearance of habeas corpus (and the lack of media attention this has received) and who are looking for a way on the internet and in the neighborhoods to spread the word, getting people to put Adel Hamad's face in the window of their houses, cars, local businesses, blogs, websites etc."
Adel Hamad was a teacher of elementary school orphans, a hospital worker, and someone who coordinated the delivery of food, medicine and blankets to refugees. He has been imprisoned for 5 years and classified as an enemy combatant, despite the lack of any allegations or evidence that he ever acted against the U.S. or its allies, or even had political sympathies for those who did.

'Sometimes, we just didn't get the right folks' - Brigadier General Jay Hood

Bush is being led by fake Klingons.

The geek power is strong with this one.

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > I! Have Had! Enough! Of YOU!
David Wu (D-Oregon) - "...this president has listened to some people -- the so-called "Vulcans" in the White House. The ideologues. But you know, unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek who make their decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it on ideology. These aren't Vulcans! There are Klingons in the White House! But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war. It's wrong."

Thursday, January 11, 2007

America's best-known-obscure philosopher decides he'd like to try something else.

Robert Anton Wilson [January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007]

Rest in Peace.

Cosmic Trigger, Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology should be required reading for every upright mammal on this planet. We'd all be better off.



Fnord, damnit.

"Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory." - RAW


RAW Essence
Robert Anton Wilson Defies Medical Experts and leaves his body @4:50 AM on binary date 01/11.
All Hail Eris!

On behalf of his children and those who cared for him, deepest love and gratitude for the tremendous support and lovingness bestowed upon us.

(that's it from Bob's bedside at his fnord by the sea)

RAW Memorial February 07
date to be announced

My worlds collide.

My geek worlds, but still.
Joss Whedon to direct NBC's The Office

PopWatch has not yet confirmed the delicious rumor that both Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams will be directing episodes of The Office. I hope it's true; I'd love to see Dwight, armed with his goose-carving knife and gaydar wand, combating vampires and/or polar bears...

UPDATE: Awesome! NBC Universal has confirmed to EW's Dan Snierson that Whedon and Abrams are indeed both directing episodes of The Office. Watch for them to air around late February.

See, what we need is more parents involved in their kid's lives...

Like this!
Mothers, daughters arrested after brawl outside school - CNN.com
WOONSOCKET, Rhode Island (AP) -- Two mothers and their 13-year-old daughters were arrested after police say one woman drove her already suspended daughter to school to fight a teenage rival.
Ana Rivera, 44, and Maribel Santiago, 34, are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on a charge of simple assault in connection with Monday's fight.
... Rivera allegedly drove her daughter to Woonsocket Middle School so she could fight Santiago's daughter.
...Authorities said a teacher tried to break up the fight and was hit by Santiago.

No compassionate segregation forever!

Or something like that...

10AM What I Meant to Say Was I'm Pro Racial Segregation

Girl: I don't know, I just hate it when they mixed the coloreds and the whites.
Random passerby: What?
Girl, loudly: What? Ohhh! I mean Christmas lights! I swear. I like houses that are all decorated the same way.
Friend: Just stop talking.
Girl: I am such a dipshit.

Overheard by: i was confused too
via Overheard in the Office, Jan 10, 2007

11AM No Bereavement Time-Outs in Office Warfare

Female coworker: Did you hear that Bobbi lost her father?

Chorus of 'Awwws' from other coworkers.

Male coworker: Why doesn't she look in her cunt? Everyone else seems to have been in there.

Ruby Tuesday's
Carle Place, New York
Overheard by: Big Larry
via Overheard in the Office, Jan 10, 2007

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Heh.

Christopher Hyatt, Ph.D., Adv. M.ED.
If you prefer to let someone else do your thinking for you, make your life happen for you . . . . we suggest attending the religious establishment of your choice.

Monday, January 08, 2007

“Comic books today have generally become more violent, sexy and godless than ever.”


Outstanding.
That is why I read them, after all.

Blog@Newsarama » Comics: ‘More violent, sexy and godless than ever’
If any sentence is crying out to be made into a marketing slogan, it’s this one, from an article in Utah’s Deseret Morning News about Christian comic books: “Comic books today have generally become more violent, sexy and godless than ever.”

Sunday, January 07, 2007

"Was it a dream where you're standing in sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?"


"Why am I the only one who has that dream?"

Kilmer plans Genius return - Movie news - Movies - Virgin.net
Val Kilmer is reportedly set to sign up to star in a sequel to his 1985 comedy 'Real Genius'...

In the original 80s project Kilmer played Chris Knight, one of two brilliant teenagers who head a team of young geniuses developing a laser for what they believe is a class project and later discover that their professor intends to turn their work over to the government for use as a weapon.
I will absolutely watch this - I still remember seeing the first one in the theater with my older brother.

Death is far too important to take seriously.

When my day comes, I hope I do it with this much style and grace.

RAW Data: Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night
Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.

(typed from his bedside at his fnord by the sea)