Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year (plus a storm)

moderate to heavy snowfall is expected this afternoon ocean effect snow bands may persist through 1 am strong north winds with gusts up to 60 mph are expected late today and into this evening likely yielding near whiteout conditions.


The Turning Year

Nightfall. Clouds scatter and vanish.
The sky is pure and cold.
Silently the River of Heaven turns in the Jade Vault.
If tonight I do not enjoy life to the full,
Next month, next year, who knows where I will be?


Su Tung P'O

Monday, December 29, 2008

And Now for Something Completely Different: Department of Been There Done That







RevPaperboy has tagged one, with what he describes as the "latest stupid blog meme", and one must respond.

It's a job thing. One must make a list of all the jobs one has held so far.

So.

Jobs in chronological order (paying):

horrible job as clerk typing letters on stock certificates, Boston

GS-1 civil servant ordering wastebaskets and other supplies, Philly

dancer in bar, Pittsburgh (the tame kind of dancing, not pole-dancing. but dicey, dancing on actual bar 3 ' wide 4 feet off floor next to cash register w/out help of contact lenses while acrophobic )

grant writer, Boston Model Cities program, Roxbury (I don't know how I landed this job. I had just dropped out of college to work with the theater company below, to the dismay of my family of origin. My co-wokers were nice people, and there was a fabulous classic sub place across the street.)

actress, Blood Theater, Cambridge/Roxbury, w/desperately funny playwright who morphed into screenwriter & went on to pen "Air America," one of NBFH's fave movies.

camp counselor teaching theater & dance (Camp Sunningdale), Maine

actress, summer stock, Albany NY (including a charming love scene in Foster's "Tom Paine" as Marguerite Bonneville with Tom Paine, played by John McTiernan, later of the many Die Hards, which partially made up for (but not entirely) his having earlier slapped me viciously across the face (in character of course, Talthybios vs. Hecuba) during an improv for Nicholas Nabokov's production of Sartre's "The Trojan Women" at Planting Fields experimental college. yes some part of me after all these years still wants to punch him back but I'm buddhist now lucky for you, John, dear. ; )

general factotum, Academy of American Poets, NYC

actress, director, playwright, teacher for experimental theater in Chelsea, NYC; also festivals & gigs in US, Germany (Dusseldorf Schauspielhaus, Munich Theater Festival; Warsaw, Poznan, Teatre Kalambur, Wroclaw, Poland; residencies at Antioch, SUNY Albany, Bard, somewhere in Pittsburgh, too. What I remember best is at the Dusseldorf Schauspielhaus, still acrophobic, wearing five-inch high platform shoes, a floor-length blue silk dress, standing on the very edge of a table three feet off the floor, leaning backwards over the edge of the table, holding a mirror in my hands, and suddenly having a total blank for my lines. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. But then, they came to me. And I did not fall off the table and break my head.)

book shelver, Cornell Univ. Medical College/New York Hospital

new! just remembered! --->New York City Board of Elections, Proportional Represenation Balloting poll worker, Staten Island.

research secretary, later research editor on the uses and functions of language in medicine, CUMC-NYH

highly-paid fecal homogenizer, CUMC-NYH

Wang sec'y at CBS News Finance & CBS Records Law

Voice-over "The Emperor's New Clothes."

hopelessly inept waitress at east village famous ethnic restaurant on 2nd ave, the Kiev. Lasted maybe four days.

ESL teacher, ELI, Kathmandu, Nepal

travel & tourism writer; w/occasional news writing & restaurant reviews, and endless articles on Tibetan rugs, Kathmandu

editor for reports of international development projects, Kathmandu

breeder of a classic line of Tibetan Mastiffs, Kang-ri ( 'snow mountains' in Tibetan)

writer of Regency novels, novellas & short-stories for Zebra books

nanny, Boston

teaching assistant at residential school for violent traumatized girls, MA

licensed clinician specializing in treatment of complex trauma & dissociation, The Trauma Center, Boston (Allston)
& practicing elsewhere at NFP agency in MA now

---
unpaid work:

candystriper counting surgical sponges
counselor-in-training at riding camp
modern dancer
actress at LaMaMa E.T.C.
actress, several indie films, including a war protest flick where I played a corpse and had to undergo three hours of wound application and three hours of wound-removal all in the service of lying verrry still. which I did SO very well. lie still, I mean.
poems in the Paris Review, Chelsea, the Mississippi Review, Hanging Loose, Nimrod, and other small literary magazines and anthologies
translations of poems from Spanish, Nepali, Tibetan into English
back-up singer for 2 song demos
actress, director, playwright, Himalayan Amateurs/Extreme Off-Off Broadway Alliance
editor-in-chief for 706-page biography of an 18th-century Tibetan lama (initially translated into English by 6 different translators, among them four non-native speakers of English, each with a different native language.)
Youth Committee chair for American Women of Nepal
fashion-show choreographer
meditation instructor
publisher of dharma pamphlets, Mirror Editions, Kathmandu
Editorial board member, the Nalandakirti Journal, Rumtek, Sikkim
Brownie Guide Leader, Kathmandu
Member of the Board, The British Primary School, Kathmandu
board member, DC, Nepal
actress, community theater on NE isthmus
LMHC intern at elementary schools, middle school, domestic violence/sexual assault resource center
actress, writer of plays at other community theater on NE isthmus
board member, SSI-USA
state-certified domestic violence/rape crisis counselor

Now I must tag others. Hmm.

democommie at polrant.
The Out of Joint Times.
Advice From Abu Shri.
Kvatch at Ragebot.

Bristol Births Tripp. No, Really. She Does.

And Unto Her a Childe Is Born.
"While pregnant, Bristol often appeared with her mother as she campaigned across America during the elections.

Johnston's mother Sherry made headlines earlier this month when she was arrested and charged six felony drugs offenses.

Tripp joins a host of strange-named Palins. Alaska governor Sarah Palin's youngest son is called Trigg, and her eldest son is called Track.

The governor's office said the birth was a private family matter."

Brutal Murder Victim Broad Found to be At Fault For Brutal Death(s) of Self and Whole Family


So, I bet you all thought that the Missus in the Killer Santa murders waited too long before divorcing malevolent whackjob Bruce Pardo?

Pfft.

You are soooo wrong.

Apparently filled to the brim with a Very Special Kind of Christmas Spirit, spirited Anti-divorce activist Milhouse Gregor, via the ever-watchful Jesus' General, really lets that dead uppity broad have it, right in the kisser. And as a Primary Source, it is SO worth a read:
"This was not a case of spousal abuse, which has been defined by the United States Government as "beating your wife with a stick wider than her thumb". [?] Generally, one would have to be pretty well off; in a strong position, to have the luxury of living without support from one's husband. [?]

Also, one must have legitimate reason for the divorce. Life is not an all-you-can-eat buffet. You may not take food and throw it away when you get tired of the flavor, then get another plate of something else. [no vomiting?] Even at buffets you are encouraged not to take more than you can eat.

You wouldn't go into a candy store, chew up candy and regurgitate it back into the container with the other candy, would you? When you do that with food, it's considered to be vandalism, and it's considered to be sick. When you do it with people, you're actually rewarded for it with money.

But woman's eyes were bigger than her stomach, and now she is left with neither. Her body will rot to ashes in the ground and will be consumed by maggots. Mr. Pardo just helped to accelerate the process, and give her an attractive aroma which is pleasing to insect life. After all, we need to be considerate of the insects. [and why not]

Let that be a lesson to anyone thinking about getting divorced, or anyone for that matter, who is thinking about getting married. [marriage as punishment? death as punishment for having gotten married?]

There are a few people left in this country who care about the truth, and if you should have the honor; the privilege, of ever meeting one, or marrying them for that matter, please don't show your gratitude by divorcing them, or you may find yourself six feet under ground and burnt to a crisp. [misunderstanding of karma cause and effect?]

This woman made the decision to divorce Bruce Pardo, most likely without ever consulting her family [what no Saudi Arabian influence?], and considering no abuse was involved -- no legitimate reason for divorce -- no family in their right mind would advise divorce [no because Pardo is such a charmer?]. What this woman did was kill her family. [oh] The 8-year-old girl they talked about was killed by the woman, not Bruce Pardo. Her entire family was killed by her poor decision-making. She deprived them of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She is the criminal."
Well, well. That settles that.

Hat-tip to Jesus' General.

World Of NBFH, Too

Been there, done that. Do that still.

From the front lines in Third-World America: You Know Who We Really Hate?

Hat-tip Susie Madrak via C&L.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Close Your Eyes and Think of -- What Part Of "No" Do Reichwing Wackos Not Understand? The Whole 'No' Part, No?


HERE's a fun piece from Town Hall by Dennis Prager about [hat-tip to bbrtpd]:

why women who don't want to have sex with their husbands should have sex with their husbands anyhow, the very beings with whom at that particular moment they don't actually want to be having sex with.

Got that?

Free will? Pfft.

Desire? Perish the thought!

Martial rape? No way. Mutual desire? No way, it's just one way. It's like Christmas! It's all about giving!
"A husband knows that his wife loves him first and foremost by her willingness to give her body to him."

Oh?
Right.

Me give body you. You give back when done.


"Every man who is sexually faithful to his wife already engages in daily heroic self-control. He has married knowing he will have to deny his sexual nature's desire for variety for the rest of his life."

[Coffeeespit.] Oh?
You know, this kind of thinking, like all the bestest sexism, is not only totally insulting to women, it is totally insulting to men. Prager builds a male archetype that is whiny, spineless, and testosterone-deficient and rampantly asexual. Smells Like Teen Spirit/Sounds like Rush Limbaugh?
"But, to repeat the key point, [a wife's] rejection of sex should happen infrequently. And it should almost never be dependent on mood — see Part II next week."
Ah yes. 'Lil woman as vibrator equivalent. 'Lil man as braindead wanker.

Well, I sure can't wait to see what else this guy has in mind. Hey, dude I'm in the mood! You give part II! Me no can wait!

In the meantime, ladies and gentlemen, let's just all lie back, close our eyes and think of England.

The Rick Pick: This You Call Change?















Eccch.

Here's a letter to the editor of the Seattle Times on hopeChangechope's choice of a real red-blooded American Talibangelical anti-gay guy to do the invocation at hopeChangehope's inauguration, an inauguration to which girly-dogs are uninvited, sweeties. (wink wink ; ) nudge nudge saynomore. )

And I hear he's invited Perenniel Paid-Ladies'-Man & Viagra Enthusiast Rush Limbaugh to swear in Hillary Clinton as SOS!!

Pfft.

Don't talk to one, for one is in such a bad mood.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Teacher Beats Kid To Death for Failing to Do His Homework

A cheery story for Christmas Day, eh?

Playwright Harold Pinter Dies.

Love Harold Pinter's work. RIP, Harold.

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men




Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

Keep the faith, baby.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

WaPo Wants Pro-Torture Crowd to Get Away With Murder: Pardon Me While I Vomit Blood, Ma'am?















What is f*cking wrong with these people?

WaPo uses up column-inches on a column on why the US pro-torture crowd really ought to get off scot-free. And it's a real knee-slapper. Well, forehead-slapper, in this case.

Catch this:
"In the end, [stopping additional US torture] may be more important than punishing those who acted wrongly in pursuit of what they thought was right."


Oh. So all is forgiven if the torturers' hearts were in the right place?

Final Solution much, ma'am?

Pol Pot killing fields excusable since motivated merely by misguided childhood dweams of agwawian utopia?

(Slaps forehead. Hurts self. Groans.)

Hey lady, torturers' hearts are always in the right place, had you not noticed?

People are always doing really shitty things for the very best of reasons. That's why we have the rule of law.

Or used to. Till the feckless, reckless, out of control Bushist fascists came along, fueled by hubris and contempt for the rule of law. Oh, and you know, by a sharp streak of sadism .

But hey. That was then, this is now. Marcus [e.g. the establishment] wants these guys [Rummy, Cheney, Gen. Geoffrey Miller, etc.] to get away with it.

Well, I don't. How about you?

-----

Oh, and don't miss:
How Do I F*ck My Base? at Jesus' General.
Mike Flugennock
Obama's Divisive Choice of Rick Warren
The Daily Howler
In Which VastLeft Apologizes For Being Prematurely Correct

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Toast to Random Parenthood

Mr and Mrs. Duggar welcome their 18th random child to the universe.

Reminds me of . . .

Groucho Marx was interviewing a woman who had 18 children.

Groucho said, 'That's a big responsibility. Why so many children?'

The woman replied, 'Well, I just love my husband.'

Said, Groucho: 'Well, I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth every once in a while.'


Hey, it's not as if there were lots and lots of unwanted, abused, and neglected kids already out there, is there?

Nothing to It But to Do It


Gates orders Pentagon to draw up plan to shut down Gitmo.

How hard was that, really?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

CIA's Tenet : Sleeping Pill PLUS Booze? Sounds a little suicidal gesture-y to me.

Or a little bad-conscience-y, how can I numb out this nightmare-y.

George Tenet: Drunk as a skunk in Bandar's pool, railing against the neocon cabal..

According to a story on TheAtlantic.com, journalist Patrick Tyler’s forthcoming book, A World of Trouble, includes a scene where Tenet is drinking copious amounts of scotch in the pool of a Saudi prince. Drunk and on sleeping pills, Tenet allegedly proceeds to rave about the Bush administrations attempts to pin Iraq’s missing weapons of mass destruction on him.

The December 16 story includes two passages from Tyler’s book.

A servant appeared with a bottle. Tenet knocked back some of the scotch. Then some more. They watched with concern. He drained half the bottle in a few minutes.

“They’re setting me up. The bastards are setting me up,” Tenet said, but “I am not going to take the hit.”


No wonder Bubble Boy had to give Tenet the Medal of Freedom.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Iraq Shoe-Tosser Was a US Torture Victim, Brother Asserts






Well, really what a fucking surprise.

One must congratulate the shoe-tossing torture survivor for his forbearance, must one not?

Cheney: The Leader of the (pro-torture) Pack



What, you mean Vice-President "Dick" Cheney?


One is shocked! Shocked!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Throwing Shoes at Bush

Throwing shoes at someone in Iraqi culture is like spitting in someone's face in our culture, a sign of utter contempt.

Throwing of the shoes at Bush's head in particular compounds the insult.

As does calling Bush a "dog."

A contempt trifecta for our departing Preznit Toad-Exploder.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Global Kiddy Porn Ring Busted

These people are scary, and very well networked, very slick, very aggressive.

They like to go after therapists working with their victims. They like to threaten child protection agencies. They are very hard to mess with.

I am glad to hear that one ring has been taken down. Kudos to Mukasey, et al.

" U.S. law enforcement agencies have arrested 61 people and rescued 11 children as part of the larger takedown of a far-reaching global child pornography ring, Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced Friday.

Mukasey said the international law enforcement effort started after a "horrible" discovery in 2006: Australian authorities discovered a child abuse video depicting a father who had been "sexually abusing his young daughters and producing images of that abuse."

The video had been widely distributed online in closed Internet forums and servers that authorities discovered.

Authorities arrested the father, identified only as a Belgian national, about a month after the discovery of the video.

The man allegedly had large amounts of child pornography in his possession, and had allegedly enlisted the services of an Italian photographer whom officials said documented the sexual abuse and added the documentation to as many as seven Web sites.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Why I Love VastLeft

Because he's a guy who really understands rivalgasms.

I Just Had a Rivalgasm. Was it good for you, too?

"Every time Obama takes even more counsel from wingnuts, don't you feel the earth move in the scintillating "Team of Rivals" way that's got the Village all a-twitter?

Ooh, ahhh, just a little more to the right. OOOOOHHHH! YES! YES! YES!"

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Riding the (Cotton) Unity Pony (Periodically)



Yo, sweeties. What's wrong with these pictures?

Nothing! So--don't get your panties in a twist like ho's who bitch about a guy calling a girly-dog a girly-dog.

Just STFU.

It's all kewl!! We're so POST-sexism! It's just a cardboard cut-out! Re-lax!! Chill! Sniggering frat-boy sexism is so who cares? Feeling up a cardboard titty iz just high-spirited blogger-type boyz having boyz-y fun! RE-lax!


Sexism is like bad weather -- and rape. As long as it's inevitable, why not lie back and enjoy it??



No Laughing Matter.

Sillly, Sexist, Stupid WaPo Column on Caroline Kennedy

Why do these people still have jobs?

Monday, December 08, 2008

Obscure Bloggers Stick Bamboo Slivers Under Brennan's Fingernails, Force Him Out, Boo Hoo


See, it used to be all Bill Clinton's fault.

Then it was all Hillary Clinton's fault.

Now it's pussified anti-Brennan-y leftwingy obscure bloggerses' fault.

Got that?

Silly obscure bloggerses get lacey panties in a twist about, um, you know, justa little teeny tiny bitta torture? Why are they such pussies? Why won't they get over it? Why they make such beeg steenk about nada? Why have obscure bloggerses no cojones? Why? Why? Why?

Who are they waiting for? Valerie Plame?

Sheesh!

.

Glenn Greenwald.

Vastleft's "The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good."


----

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Stupid New York Times Blog Treats Torture as Panties-in-a-Twist Lefty Trivia


God help me.

"The torture issue is particularly volatile for some supporters of President-elect Barack Obama . . ."

[coughchokecough]

Please pass the bamboo slivers. Then we'll talk about volatility, k?

Can't Tell Shi'a From Shinola? Who Cares? Throw Them In Jail Just In Case!!

First there was Bush's pre-emptive war.

Now, we have pre-emptive detention!!

On a scorching morning earlier this year, Talib Mohammed Farkhan, who had been imprisoned for 15 months, shuffled into Hearing Room 3 to hear his U.S. captors explain the allegations against him for the first time.

Farkhan, a Shiite Muslim, appeared to follow along as the American officers said he had been detained for membership in the Mahdi Army, the anti-American Shiite militia. But he looked totally baffled when they also accused him of working with al-Qaeda in Iraq, the extremist Sunni Muslim group that kills Americans and Shiites.

"I don't understand how that could be possible," said a visibly flustered Farkhan, a welder from the southern city of Iskandariyah, who denied all the accusations. "They are Sunni. I am Shia."

Yet the three U.S. servicemen before him, a panel of non-lawyers convened as part of a new quasi-judicial process to review each detainee's case every six months, did not need to decide whether Farkhan had violated the law. Their task was to decide whether he posed an "imperative security threat" to the U.S.-led coalition or the Iraqi people. And they concluded that credible evidence, which they would not describe to Farkhan or a Washington Post correspondent allowed to view the 19-minute hearing, suggested that he probably did.

"I'm not looking at whether they are guilty or innocent," said Air Force Maj. Jeff Ghiglieri, the president of the review board that convened in May. "We're trying to determine as best we can whether they will do bad things if we release them."

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Scrawls on the Girls' Bathroom Stall-Walls


Hard not to just roll one's eyes and rub it out.

Alessandra Stanley

Elizabeth Bumiller

Okay, boys and girls: NBFH has to go to work.

Let's see who's been paying attention!

Read these two articles and explain why NBFH has her panties in a twist?


------
(Somerby: same twist, different day.)

India On Alert Against Further Attacks

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Airports in India threatened.

THE main Indian airports were on high alert last night after intelligence warnings that India may be the target of a fresh airborne terrorist attack following the assault on Mumbai last week.

India's Bureau of Civil Aviation issued hijack warnings for Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai airports and deployed hundreds of extra airport security personnel.

The Indian Air Force chief, Fali Homi Major, confirmed the threat of a possible airborne attack. "This is based on a warning, which has been received and we are prepared as usual," he told the Press Trust of India news agency. . .

Times of India:

Intel Sources Say Pakistan Military Involved in Terror Attack, Not Civilian Government

The names of trainers and the places where meticulous training took place are also known to the government, the sources said.

The United States is believed to have even more evidence, some of which it has shared with India, they said.

Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who was in Pakistan on Wednesday, is believed to have told his Pakistani interlocutors that Washington had enough evidence to show a Pakistani hand in the attack, the sources said.. .



Plus, blast from past: NBFH hearts Bob Gates cuz Sy Hersh sez BG's a Pak/Ind nuke-war averter.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Sympathy for the -- Roman Polanski

Ok, so Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old child. Sodomized her, too, actually.

It was a long time ago.

He wasn't even facing time for rape. He got the charges reduced to "unlawful sex with a minor." (Pfft!?!)

He didn't show up for sentencing.

He left the country.

Now he wants the charges dismissed.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

US Couple Kidnaps, Tortures Teen


Well, at least they're not the kid's own parents.

Plus --SHE's a Girl Scout leader!!

"A husband and wife have been charged with torture after a bruised, terrified 17-year-old showed up at a gym with a chain locked to his ankle, claiming he had just fled his captors, US authorities said Tuesday.

Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and Michael Schumacher, 34, were arrested late Monday, said Matt Robinson, a spokesman for police in Tracy, 60 miles east of San Francisco.

They had been taken into custody for questioning earlier in the day at their home in Tracy, where the emaciated boy was allegedly held against his will. A search of the home turned up evidence implicating the couple, Robinson said.

They were charged with torture, kidnapping and child abuse, and were set to appear in court Thursday, officials said. Bail was set at $1.2 million for Michael Schumacher but his wife's bail had not been set, authorities said.

Police said they were searching for a third suspect but wouldn't give details.

The boy turned up half-naked Monday at the In-Shape Sports Club, near the couple's home. It's not clear how he ended up in Tracy; authorities said he ran away last year from a foster home in Sacramento, about 70 miles to the north.

Robinson said the boy was confused when approached by detectives Monday, unsure where he had come from and how long he had been held against his will. He was taken to a hospital.

"The wounds he had and his physical condition as well as having a chain around his leg corroborated his basic statement that he was being held against his will," Robinson said.

Chuck Ellis, a manager of the In-Shape Sports Club, said the boy came into the fitness centre Monday afternoon wearing only boxer briefs, covered with what appeared to be soot. Ellis says the teen was scared someone was going to come after him and asked to be hidden.

'He said 'Don't let them get me, don't let them get me,'" Ellis said. 'He was totally terrified.'"

----

Oh, and for all you rabid fans of random parenthood, don't miss: TEEN MOM SMOTHERS INFANT SON WITH TEDDY BEAR.


(More suitable subjects for tonglen, it would seem.)

Hillary Clinton Named To State: Quick, Cue MediaWhoreMedia to Ramp Up CDS Spin: rivalry, power, control, oh, my!

From the Sydney Morning Herald, Clinton Stars in Obama Team,

December 3, 2008
Frank and fearless advice … Barack Obama with some of his newly named national security team, including Hillary Clinton, who will be secretary of state.


"THERE is something about Hillary Clinton. She is not very tall, she is a conservative dresser, but when she enters a room she fills the space, even when she shares it with the president-elect.

On Monday, when Barack Obama and his choice as vice-president, Joe Biden, stood before eight American flags crowned with gilded eagles and revealed the names of the six top members of his national security team, it was the petite woman in the inky navy pantsuit who was the centre of attention. [will they ever stop talking about her clothes?]

No matter that on one side stood the first African-American attorney-general of the US, Eric Holder, and the long-standing Bush Administration official Robert Gates, who has agreed to stay on to end the Iraq war he has been running for two years.

Or that on the other side she was dwarfed by Jim Jones, a former supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a physically imposing former marine who makes Mr Obama look puny. . .

Mr Obama said he preferred to have strong-minded people with strong opinions around him.

He chided the media, saying the far bigger risk in the White House was the tendency towards "group think"."

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Racist Fundamentalists F*ck Up in Mumbai: Fail to Kill Quota; Russian Says Gunmen Likely US Special Ops-Trained

Hey.

It's ok. So they were short by 4700 sentient beings.

Everybody makes mistakes.

Plus: Russian terror expert says gunmen had US special ops training.

"The handwriting and character of the Mumbai events demonstrates that they were not ordinary terrorists," said Vladimir Klyukin, an Afghan war veteran.

"Behind this terrorist attack there are 'Green Flag' special operations forces, which were created by the Americans in Pakistan, just an year before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and in the initial period were under full US control," stressed Klyukin, a veteran of the special "Vympel" commando group of the former Soviet KGB.

He said for such guerrilla operations at least two-three years of preparatory work with the involvement of experienced instructors is required.

Klyukin did not rule out that the Mumbai attackers could have taken part in similar attacks in other regions.

"People from the streets, without any planning and training are simply not able to hold four big complexes in a city so long," Soviet special services veteran was quoted as saying by largest Russian Interfax news agency.

He also presumed that there were at least 50 attackers given the geography and scale of the strikes.

Incest Practitioner Turns His Mind Toward the Dharma?






Doing no evil whatsoever
Practice virtue perfectly
Tame your mind completely
This is the teaching of the buddha



O-kay. The roots of the lotus are in mud. So far so good.

But can't we be skeptical? Sure we can.

Incest [predator] Josef Fritzl says he's turned to Buddhism - and wants doctors to help cure him so he can be reunited with his wife Rosemarie.

Evil Fritzl spends much of his 23 hours a day in his cell studying the peaceful Far Eastern philosophy and is considering formally changing his religion in prison.

Speaking through his lawyer Rudolf Mayer, Fritzl said that he has found a lot of comfort in reading Buddhist literature and finds the religion "fascinating".

Fritzl first discovered Buddhism on a family holiday in Thailand but has only started studying the religion in depth while behind bars.

Prosecution sources remain suspicious of his Buddhist conversion.

"It's a bit late in his life to present himself as a man of peace. If he ever gets reincarnated, what would he come back as? Even making him a worm would be an insult to worms," said one.

Fritzl's facing the rest of his life in jail after imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth as a sex slave in a home-made cell under the family home in Amstetten, Austria. She was locked up for 24 years where she gave birth to seven of his children. An eighth child was miscarried.

But the dungeon demon has astonished medics by asking them to cure him so he can start a new life with his family.

"I realise now that I am not normal, and I see that somebody who did what I did cannot be regarded as normal.

"With the help of therapists I want to know what the real reasons are for why I behaved like I did and I want to get treatment, I want to be healthy again at some point," he told his lawyer.

And the deluded demon says he hopes therapy will lead to a reunion with wife Rosemarie and their children.

"I hope one day that we will be able to live together again," he said.

Fritzl, 73, has dismissed psychological reports that his cold, emotionless upbringing turned him into an incest monster.

"I don't want to blame my mother for the way I am. There's been enough bad things said about her. I don't know what the answer is and there is no solution in simply saying she is responsible for everything," he said.

Towards the end of her life cold-hearted Fritzl kept his mother locked up.

"She was not a bad woman although she had psychological problems that led her to be aggressive right up until she died - something which got worse in old age when she suffered from dementia as well.

"I forgave her a long time ago for what she did for me because I know she had a very hard life. At the end she always wanted to dress herself in rich clothes and it was one of the saddest days of my life when I went to her funeral and saw how few people had bothered to turn up," he explained.

Fritzl has also begun studying law behind bars to help him beat the charges he faces - murder, rape, slavery, incest, imprisonment and abuse.

Now it has emerged that Fritzl has been pouring over legal books about Austrian law looking for loopholes to save his neck.

While he will admit four charges which would put him in prison for a maximum of 10 years - he rejects the two more serious allegations that could see him locked up for life.

He claims that the charges of murder and slavery have been manufactured to make sure he is never free again.

Fritzl told his lawyer Rudolf Mayer: "I am guilty, but only to the first four charges, not to slavery and not to murder. The truth is that I am not a murderer either by accident or deliberately.

"I can understand how Elisabeth feels. I know that she hates me and that she is terrified I might one day again see freedom. But the fact is that many of the things she has said are just not true."

Astonishingly he admits to threatening to kill his cellar family with gas or electric shocks - but claims he never intended to go through with it.

"It is true that when they were underground I threatened them with murder, and led them to believe they would die from electricity shock or be gassed if they tried to escape. But I am not a murderer," he told his legal team."


Hmm. Hope this guy, while he's studying Buddhism so hard, gets to the part about karma, cause & effect.

Hubris? Bush Don't Got No Steekin' Hubris!!

I'm not making this up.

I don't have to.

I never have to.

BUSH WANTS HISTORY TO SEE HIM AS LIBERATOR OF MILLIONS.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Mumbai Gunmen Skillful, Planful, Ruthless

Indian commandos battle well-trained, ruthless gunmen.

"Fighting room-by-room through two luxury hotels, over dozens of bodies and through darkened corridors slick with blood, the commandos came up against well-trained and determined gunmen.

Explosions and gunfire continued intermittently at the Taj Mahal hotel Friday afternoon, two days after a chain of militant attacks across India's financial center left [153] people dead and the city in panic. . . .

It was a game of cat and mouse through the hotels' hundreds of rooms, and in many cases the gunmen had the advantage.

"These people were very, very familiar with the hotel layouts and it appears they had carried out a survey before," the commando said.

The gunmen used their knowledge to move skillfully from place to place, thwarting efforts to pin them down. To further confuse the commandos, they switched off lights and plunged the rooms into darkness. . . .

The gunmen showed "no remorse to anybody, whoever came in front of them they fired," said the commando.

They were armed with assault rifles and hand grenades and knew how to use them.

'It's obvious they were trained somewhere ... not everyone can handle the AK series of weapons or throw grenades like that,' the commando said."


Scale, sophistication suggest outside help

"Television footage showed the assailants carrying automatic rifles and backpacks filled with ammunition and grenades. Analysts said the fact that the gunmen quickly fanned across the city and were able to hold off Indian security forces over three days suggested that they had received training at organized camps.

"What is striking about this is a fair amount of planning had to go into this type of attack," said Roger W. Cressey, a former White House counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations. "This is not a seat-of-the-pants operation. This group had to receive some training or support from professionals in the terrorism business." "


Lashkar-e-Tayiba connection.

Suspect confirms LeT link.

Siege continues at the Taj.

Photo coverage via Boston.com.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgivingday Post


One will be heavily involved in cookery and eatery all day today, as the No Blood for Hubris household gathers together for a festive Tibetan buddhist version Thanksgivingday feast. Mr. NBFH and oneself start dicing salt pork at dawn, no we don't I'm lying. Maybe around nine. Making NE style stuffing. This is complex and takes hours.. (Throw the salt pork into a big pot. Chop mounds of onions and celery and garlic. Wait around till the salt pork gets crispy. Watch cricket in the meantime. Remove salt pork pieces from big pot. Throw onions and celery and garlic into pot. Saute same. Throw in some Bell's Seasoning. Must be Bell's. . . . well, you get the idea . . . )

Life goes on in this vein for hours, with a serene wish that all things being cooked are ready more or less together which they never are, and that the gravy is purty smooth, which is mostly is. A good time is had by all, with thankfulness to toward all circumstances which have auspiciously arisen so that this occasion could occur.

So I wanted to put up something re: T-day, for the day. One was tempted by William Burroughs'Thanksgiving prayer, by Lord Amherst's biological warfare blankets (did that last year), and "Thanksgiving & Socialism: What Really Happened at Plymouth.".

One's slightly better self won out. This Thanksgiving song by Don Henley, attached to endless pictures of Don Henley, embodies hope, if not change, awareness of impermanence, and some other relevant Thanksgiving-y stuff.

Don Henley - My Thanksgiving (Photos and Videos Slide) - video powered by Metacafe


Be well, those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, and be well, those who do not.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Bubble Boy: Pissed As A Newt on Pisco Sours in Gay Peru












Yup, it's official: Preznit Toad-Exploder's fallen off the wagon.

Libby Spencer's got it.

FYI: AP story asserts that that which Dirty Bush is drinking might be uh 'alcohol-free' Pisco?

[coughchokecough]

Yuh, they make a lot of that in Lima. Trust me.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

My Tax Dollars At Work Torturing Sentient Beings at Gitmo. Swell.

A story that turns one's stomach. And if it doesn't, there's something really wrong with one's stomach.

Trapped at Gitmo.

The only people . . ."he sees [are] the camp guards who bring his meals. He has had no other human contact. The glaring lights in his cell are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When we left the cell, we could hear Saber shouting -- brief, truncated cries. We could not understand what he was saying."

Thursday, November 20, 2008

This She Calls Being Pro-Life?



Ha.

Al-Zawahiri Calls Obama a House Nigger

He tries to pass it off as "house negro," but of course that's not the actual term, is it?

Makes one want to call him a pig.

But one won't do that.

One will instead quote Nargarjuna's wish for the King:

Some beings go from dark to dark.
Some from dark to light.
And some from light to dark.
May you go from light to light.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

News Flash: No Blood for Hubris Undergoes a Sudden, Unwitting Sex Change!!!




No, really.

Lookee here.


Www.genderAnalyzer.com, a site which analyzes the gender of blogwriters, scrutinized this here very blog.

And what were the results?

Results

We think http://nobloodforhubris.blogspot.com is written by a man (74%).


Wow. One finds that oneself is a man. Actually.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that. Per se.)

One does of course wonder what criteria Gender Analyzer used to analyze one's gender, does one not?

w00t!?

Monday, November 17, 2008

Get Your Church Out of My State




Oh good.

We so like it when civil rights are determined by majority rule, a majority propagandized and hyped by churches pushing specific behavioral agendas.

What's next?

Mosaic Law?

Slavery -- on an up-or-down vote?

Hey, the sky's the limit if you can organize bigots to vote the way your church wants, eh? (Me, I'm pushing the legislative agenda of Buddhists Against Roach Motels).

Mormon interference in Proposition 8 and Catholic interference in the Presidential election do not constitute an exercise in freedom of speech. It is meddling in politics.

If churches want to do politics, fine, but if they do, they must be stripped of their precious tax exemptions.

Which makes the whole thing more about karma, cause and effect, does it not?

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Closing Gitmo: Inadmissable Evidence, Inconvenient Torturees


Good article from the BBC on issues facing Obama re: closing Gitmo.

"Legal problems

The legal problems involved in trying terrorist suspects have not yet been resolved. Some say that the prisoners should simply be brought before normal US courts. It is thought there are about 50 or so prisoners who might face trial, out of the 255 or so in the camp.

A new system would also come under the close scrutiny of the US courts and a case against it would probably go right up to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality

The problem is that evidence against them might have obtained either through coercion, or even torture, or from foreign agencies which have used similar methods.

Some of this evidence might be admitted in a trial before a military tribunal. So might hearsay evidence, in which someone relates what he or she was told, if the military judge decides that it would have "probative value to a reasonable person".

But neither would be acceptable under the normal rules of US courts.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for example, charged at Guantanamo with responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, was subject to waterboarding. It is true that he has expressed a wish to die but a civilian court in the US might not admit evidence against him gathered at Guantanamo Bay. Then what happens? It is hard to see him simply being released.

There is also the problem of whether the source of some evidence should be withheld from the prisoner."



And what are they going to do with all the prisoners they've driven mad?

See Torturing Democracy.

What's Wrong With This Picture?


Yes.

That is the correct answer.

Bob Somerby Gets It

Three prostrations with folded hands to Bob Somerby. No, really, for Somerby takes media whore media whore misogynists to task at the Daily Howler:

"OLBERMANN: Wow. I mean, to what degree is that the other prominent Republican governors who got some passing mention during this campaign, with an eye towards 2012—Jindal, Pawlenty, Crist? Is there any sense that any of them are forming a power base behind Palin? Or are they intending to, you know, cut her up like a Roman dictator and smuggle her out under their robes?

CARLSON: Ha, ha. Well, they only say that quietly, Keith."

Sorry, but that’s very strange. A few months ago, Olbermann apologized for picturing Hillary Clinton getting beaten up by a bunch of goons behind locked doors. This week, he was picturing Sarah Palin getting cut up into pieces.

Within moments, he mockingly compared her to Lindsay Lohan—then, to Dizzy Dean.

It’s always surprising to see the way such fellows discuss the women they hate. They seem to find it hard to do so without picturing violence or turning to overt, gender-based derision. In our view, Palin is a remarkably underwhelming figure, in ways which are quite easy to define. You don’t have to compare her to Lohan, or picture her being killed—unless your skills are remarkably weak, or you simply enjoy hating women. But MSNBC has trafficked, for many years, in weird, remarkable woman-loathing. And when it comes to their new uber-star, it seems he’s gotta have it.

But then, [t]here’s Archie Bunker—sorry, Josh Marshall—letting us know, just yesterday, who the latest “dingbat” is. Without even bothering to report what this new “dingbat” actually said!

But so it goes as progressive intellectual standards spiral steadily downward. Olbermann’s performance on Wednesday’s show was an unfortunate case in point. He performed in ways which used to define the woeful standards of pseudo-con talk. . . .

What can you say about a guy who can’t lay out Palin’s obvious weaknesses without resorting to gender-based trashing? But most strikingly, Olbermann’s instinct for violent imagery doesn’t seem to want to quit. This is bad for progressive interests, and it’s bad for young men and young women. We’d have to say it’s just plain bad for the world in which we all live.

Can someone explain why “progressive” leaders can’t seem to quit this kind of talk?

Anglachel's Journal: Women They Love To Hate.

Perhaps more to the point, why don't we have more men like Bob Somerby unflinchingly calling out the misogyny of people like Olbermann?


Hmm. I don't know why we don't.

Why don't we?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Election Euphoria Over, Back to Samsara As Usual







Lee couple arrested on charges of child abuse after boy's ear partially detached.



[Mom and] Teen [BF] Charged As Adult In 2-Year-Old's Beating
New details are coming out about the mother and teenager arrested in a horrific case of alleged child abuse in Pahrump that left a 2 - year - old boy in critical condition.
28 - year - old Michaele Griffin is facing felony child abuse charges.
Her 16 - year - old boyfriend, Danny Linville, was booked on attempted murder. Linville is being charged as an adult.

Daycare Provider Charged With Child Abuse
A day care provider in Rugby is accused of striking, kicking or throwing six children in her care.

Afghan Schoolgirl Attacked With Acid for Daring to Attend School Will Return to Classes
KABUL (Reuters) - A victim of an acid attack on schoolgirls in Afghanistan said Saturday she was determined to stay in school and finish her education even if that meant risking death.

The girl, who gave her name as just Shamsia, was the most seriously injured of a group of girls attacked outside their school by unidentified men in the southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday.

"I'll continue my schooling even if they try to kill me. I won't stop going to school," Shamsia said from her bed at Afghanistan's main military hospital in Kabul.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Shout-Out "w00t!" to Americans United for the Separation of Church & State


One is seriously considering metaphorically renditioning Talibangelical pin-up gov and cheeky, winky ex-Trophy VEEP Sarah Palin forcibly metaphorically to induct her into Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a fine bunch of separationists who organized a fab blogger meet-up in DC recently, at which many fab bloggers actually met up (including the divine Flying Corrente Brothers VastLeft and Lambert, BlueGal, Dr. Zaius, PZ of Pharyngula, tristero, Ed of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, the divine Jesus' General, et al.) to frolick and to gambol, to say the least. It was inspiring.

Many many thanks to Beth Corbin and AU.

Bush Admin to Obama: Shutting Down Gitmo "Won't Be Easy"

Not as easy as leading the US into moral and fiscal bankrupcty, anyhow.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bushist Fascist Operative Compares Palin-McCain Infighting to "Middle School Girls' Clique"

Bet them operatives don't recognize that as a sexist frame, either, do they?

Not that one minds. "Circular firing squad" works, too.

"Sarah Palin is sorting through her luggage working out what clothes belong to her and what do not, her spokesman said yesterday. [hey shouldn't that be "spokeswoman"? Or "spokesmodel"?]

Meg Stapleton added that the Alaskan governor was coming under unfair attack from a 'firing squad' of anonymous John McCain staffers in a frenzy of finger-pointing.

'It’s a circling firing squad,' said Ms Stapleton.

In a string of damaging briefings, it was claimed that Mrs Palin had spent 'tens of thousands' more on her clothes than budgeted for, that she once met McCain aides dressed in nothing but a towel and that she did not know Africa was a continent.

She was also unable to name the nations in the vitally important North American Free Trade Agreement. There are only three - her own, its northern neighbour Canada and its southern neighbour Mexico. "


Hat-tip to reader AT.

Monday, November 10, 2008

News Flash: God To Show Palin "The Way"



Hmm.
Didn't He do that last Tuesday?

Rightwing Culture War To Die Terrible Death


Republican Party Sees Some Kinda Light: MUTATE OR DIE.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

"The Republican Party must abandon its 'stringently right wing' positions on gay marriage, abortion and immigration or it could be banished to the political wilderness by the American people for decades, says the deputy director of a conservative think tank.

As the recriminations over the Republicans' defeat in last week's elections continued, the deputy director of the Hoover Institution, David Brady, said the party had moved too far to the right, leaving behind a significant proportion of its supporter base, and that more would leave unless the party returned to the centre.

"In order for the Republicans to win again they have to drop the anti-gay, anti-immigrant, strict pro-life, no-abortion social positions they have taken," said Professor Brady, who is in Australia as a visiting fellow at the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University.

"They have to drop those things and move to the centre where the American voters are. Look at gay marriage - support for gay marriage in America is going up; it's not going down. It's a similar situation if you're pro-life. The majority in America has been pro-choice for a while, and it's not moving anywhere."

Using a series of internet surveys to determine voter preferences, the Hoover Institution found that 8 per cent of the Republican base had [already] shifted towards the Democratic Party since 2004."

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Obama, Lama



As is said:

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May all beings never be apart from the great happiness that is free from suffering.

May all beings remain in the great evenness of mind free from passion, aggression,and ignorance.



w00t!


hat-tip for pic to The Out of Joint Times.

US Votes To End Bush Nightmare



"Americans, frightened and frustrated, have rejected the party of George Bush and have made a leap of faith with Barack Obama, writes the Herald's Political Editor Peter Hartcher. . .

Today, the US has voted to reject the nightmare of George Bush's America and has elected . . .[the] fairy tale.

Americans are more pessimistic today than at the time of any election in four decades. . . .

The economy was the dominant issue for 63 per cent of voters, according to exit polls.

The Bush Administration has given the US two recessions now, and two unfinished wars.

Of a panel of 100 US presidential historians, 61 have voted Bush as the worst president in 2¼ centuries.

He is the most unpopular in the history of US opinion polling.


Americans have rejected the party of Bush and embraced a candidate who, in many ways, is his exact opposite.

He is not only youthful and black, articulate and cosmopolitan, he's also well to the left of Bush on many key issues.

'Bush and the economy were the fundamental dynamics of this election," observed the commentator E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post.'"


Must be the right day to quit drowning government in Grover Norquist's bathtub.

Update, via Talk:Left: A Few More Election Results




Why Sarah Palin May Be the Last In a Line of Culture Warriors, via the Sydney Morning Herald.

US Votes to Reject Bush Nightmare, Via the Sydney Morning Herald.

Praise from around the world.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Day -- So Far, So Good. (Or Maybe Not)


So I was at the local polls at 7:10 AM, and the line of voters snaked all around the building. It took me an hour to vote, and it usually takes five minutes. Town clerk is expecting 100% turnout of registered voters in this tiny village of 2,212. I was looking around the line to see who was coming out -- seemed like lots of golfers and construction workers. Hm.

Friend T in DC arrived at his polling place at 6:40 AM, and it took him an hour to vote. He said the mood was upbeat there.


We'll see.


-----
Update:

Hat-tip to Kvatch: Election Protection has received >50,000 calls as of 4:29 PM EST complaining of problems with voting in multiple states. See also OurVoteLive.

My favorite so far:

UPDATE (4:05 p.m.): Heather Smith of Rock the Vote reports that youth voters have received the following deceptive text message:

Due to long lines today, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you for your cooperation.




Then there's this, out of sight, out of mind ballots for New englanders.

And from Hominid Views:

Probability of Obama winning 100.0%

Probability of McCain winning 0.0%