Lost in translation

Translation kit to aid US troops in Iraq

Thursday 12 October 2006, 9:59
Makka Time, 6:59 GMT


The device will not be used in combat or conflict situations
The US military may soon be able to communicate better with Iraqis in their own language, thanks to technology developed by IBM that quickly translates spoken English into Iraqi Arabic...


...The IBM technology can translate more than 50,000 English words and 100,000 words in Iraqi Arabic, IBM said.
Eventually, Nahamoo said, the technology could find its way into commercial settings where many languages are spoken, such as banking, aerospace and defence, and law enforcement. Tourists could use the technology as well, he said.





Duz it come in purty colors too?

Cuz yoo know I been planning that vacation to Eye-Rack fer ah while now.

Ice-T - Colors (roko.one)

mmmmmm

Zoinks!

Army: Recruits doing better in boot camp, now that drill sergeants do not scream so much
The Associated Press
Published: October 10, 2006

Lower standards help Army recruit more
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 10, 4:38 AM ET
...About 17 percent of the first-time recruits, or about 13,600, were accepted under waivers for various medical, moral or criminal problems, including misdemeanor arrests or drunk driving. That is a slight increase from last year, the Army said...

So, we have kinder, gentler drill sergeants, and lower recruitment standards, including new recruits with possible drug/alcohol problems.










Hey, I know, let's send these people to Afghanistan where the opium poppy growers just had a banner fucking year!!!!



U.S. urges spraying Afghan opium crop
BUT COUNTRY FEARS HAZARDS OF HERBICIDES
Posted on Sun, Oct. 01, 2006
By Jim Krane
Associated Press

Olbermann on the Murder of Habeus Corpus

Kissinger- Condor, Condor - Kissinger-- got it?

Part 1 from Buzzflash-- Torture, Murder, Bush, Kissinger and The Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina: America on the Brink of Horror

Part 2 from Buzzflash on Operation Condor


A condor is in the same family as a vulture by the way....


How appropriate that Henry Kissinger would be behind something called Operation Condor.

Here's some more background on Kissinger:

Video: The Trials of Henry Kissinger: The Making Of A War Criminal:

Israel

In Israel you can critisize Israel.

In America, Jews can't critisize Israel.

Make sense?

Too bad, deal with it unless you want the ADL all over your ass.

from TPM Cafe

More details from Juan Cole at Informed Comment

News DIssector

Danny Schechter the News Dissector

Iraq

Every time I read something about the Iraq war my eyes widen in horror and I automatically bring my hand up to cover my mouth.

It's just one bloody, horrible, sickening story after another .


I don't know what the hell the people in charge were thinking. The British couldn't control Iraq.




Oh yeah, that's right, I keep forgetting who's in charge.

An example of why a Democrat is just an informed Republican

y mas: Required viewing by every patriot!


Hmmm, this has nothing at all to do with the Kucinich footage, but it pissed me off, so here's me going off:

Oh for f#*'s sake, no wonder TBogg calls this guy Special Ed.

Ed, you stupid twit, the Mexicans have better fako papers, why should they work in the fields?

TGIF

Republican leadership's immediate reaction to predatorgate:













and that's all I have to say about Foleygate.


I can't connect the following two stories, but they have been the only stories that I've found interesting today.

Tageblatt, Luxembourg
America's Science Empire: It's About Money ... and More
Translated By Sandrine Ageorges
October 4, 2006

According to Peter Bowler, a Professor in the History of Science at the University of Belfast, "The United States constitutes the most powerful scientific economy in the world. They invest more money and probably in a more coherent fashion than anyone else, and in the end, it pays off."
...However the picture in the United States is not completely rosey, where the number of qualified science graduates is dropping, and where public opinion surveys in regard to the sciences reflect a general indifference, if not the suspicion or aversion reflected by fundamentalist religious movements...
...Lastly, the United States is growing concerned with a number of fundamental research projects in Europe that could reverse the trend of American domination, for example into particle physics and atomic fusion...
America's Science Empire: It's About Money ... and More


Y numero dos.

Last night on the local newz one of the stations covers the local World Can't Wait Bush protest and this morning I look for an online link and I can't find it, AND I can't remember which station I was watching. Duh. I wanted a quote because the commentator had said something like 'These people aren't going to get rid of the Bush administration at the polls, they are putting pressure on them to leave office through Nationwide protests .

Of course there was no mention of the GD voting machines, AND the GD Diebold optical scanners on our local newz, which is usually brought to us by the M-I-C.

Y mas from
BradBlog

Hello again

I missed Words Have Power .

Who knew that Juan Cole could write a Letterman (-like) top ten list?

Heh.

I'm sick of the Foley stuff

The guy's name grosses me out.

If you've ever worked in a hospital you know what a "Foley" is.


Sooooooo, how about oil?

One of my favorite subjects.

Basic Petroleum Statistics (data for 2005 except where noted)
Date Last Updated/Reviewed: July 2006 Next Update/Review: September 2006

Here's one of my favorite statistics:
What we use every day

Fun to compare what we produce every day, eh?



Opec 'to cut oil production'
Thursday 05 October 2006, 23:27 Makka Time, 20:27 GMT

Daily Show: Annual GOP BBQ and Nude Cub Scout Wrestle

Not all of it is funny, it's just too disgusting

Welcome to Pottersville: House Passes “Pederast Reform Act of 2006.”

Ooooohhhhhh Yeaaaaaaah, he does it again!


Welcome to Pottersville: House Passes “Pederast Reform Act of 2006.”

Just go laugh

WaiterRant: Void Codes

Jeeeze, some of the comments are funny also.

After Foley, New Fears For the GOP

Some Say Party Could Lose House and Senate
By Dan Balz and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; Page A01



My response?



Sympathy is in between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.

Who's next?

Former Rep. Mark Foley Enters Rehab
MONDAY OCTOBER 02, 2006 03:30PM EST
By Stephen M. Silverman


Report: Ex-Rep. Ney to plead guilty, enter alcohol rehab



Maybe one of these two? They look like they have substance abuse problems. I don't know that, I'm just sayin.

Venezuela and Nigeria cut oil output

Hat tip: WTF? is it now?


By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: September 29 2006 19:02 Last updated: September 29 2006 19:02

Venezuela and Nigeria, both members of the Opec oil cartel, on Friday announced that they would reduce their oil production by as much as 200,000 barrels a day to shore up prices.

Gee, what fun to deal with right after the Repugnant thuglicans steal the next election.

http://www.teambio.org/2006/09/stick-a-yellow-ribbon-up-your-suv/

Borat

It probably would have been a good idea to find out who Borat was before I posted this . I don't have cable, and there's only so much TV I can stand. Ali G is all over YouTube, & it's funny, but I'm not thrilled with Borat.

this is funny: http://cheneys.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

skippy invites us to visit

the Armchair Blog's "Rick Santorum's Republican Child Molester's" page

GOP (Grand Old Pedophiles)

Blue hats and wife storage - Borat haunts Kazakh president

Blue hats and wife storage - Borat haunts Kazakh president
Ed Pilkington in New York
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian

The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, met George Bush in the White House yesterday vowing to continue to push for the modernisation of his central Asian country. "Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old," he said.

Wow, interested enough in reform to meet with Cap'n Crusades anyway.

Update: I knew there was more to this than met the eye:

China to build billion-dollar pipeline
Wednesday 27 September 2006, 17:27 Makka Time, 14:27 GMT

China has approved the construction of a multi-billion dollar pipeline to carry gas imported from Turkmenistan to China's southern business city of Guangzhou.

...The pipeline would have to go through either Kazakhstan or a combination of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan...

Um, yeah, make that oily and gassy and ready to torture Cap'n Crusades.

Think the Cap'n is taking advice from Kissinger?

Wow, even the USA Toady sez:


Don't trust vulnerable Diebold voting machines, use absentee ballots
Updated 9/29/2006 9:39 AM ET


They do NOT, however, mention that the Diebold optical scanners that some of the counties use for their absentee ballots can throw an election also.

Duh!

Detainee bill

Sooooo, everybody has something to say about the bill that the Senate passed yesterdy. I tilt to the left on most issues, so here is some commentary from the left.

“A Total Rollback Of Everything This Country Has Stood For” (audio)
Sen. Patrick Leahy Blasts Congressional Approval of Detainee Bill

How did we sink so low in just 6 years?
By Mike Whitney
“This is how a nation loses its moral compass, its identity, its freedom.” Rep Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)
By Molly Ivins


And then I go to read this thing:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.3930:

There are 2 versions of Bill Number S.3930 for the 109th Congress1 . Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Introduced in Senate)[S.3930.IS]2 . Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Placed on Calendar in Senate)[S.3930.PCS]
(you must search for it again, the bills # is s3930)

I can't do it.
It's huge.
I think a more important question is did the people who passed it read it?
And which bill did they pass?

My friend and I just had a discussion on US Code. We decided that it was like prescription drugs: Too many is too many and they complicate, and override, nullify other perfectly good ones, and some in the wrong combination will kill you. We decided that there are too many. They fuck each other all up.

To stop and think

Okay, so I watch this video and I react with anger. Pure rage and then hatred for the Iraqis, for Iraq, mixed with a visceral loyalty for a fellow American. It happens in an instant before I even have a chance to think about it.

Troops abandon Halliburton truck driver video


And then I go read the following opinion piece, which slips in under the radar some history of the Middle East. Not something we get in our K-12 Education in the United States.

The erosion of the Arab state
By Soumaya Ghannoushi

Helllooooooooo?

Why not?

And didn't I see somewhere that Halliburton truck drivers are making three or four times what the Army privates that protect them are making?

Oh yeah, I did:
This factsheet revised January 30, 2006.

Defense CEO & Private Contractor Pay vs. Military Pay

Army Private:$24,278

Defense Contractor CEO:$100,000

General with 20+ Years Experience:$168,509

Private Military Contractor:$11,586,000

I'm not angry any more. I'm back to wondering why the fucking neocons were allowed to steal two elections and how much more damage they can do in the two years they have left.

Welcome to Pottersville: Like, Wow, Psychedelic!

Welcome to Pottersville: Like, Wow, Psychedelic!

Tomgram: Michael Klare, Why Oil Prices Are Falling

A bit time-consuming to read, but definitely helpful in understanding.

blogger is pissing me off today

Bill Clinton and Chris Wallace on Fox

Is it just me, or does this pic remind anyone else of Chris Wallace?

Bill Clinton and Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday
(September 24, 2006)

part one

part two

part three

Ok then. Jon Stewart via Crooks and Liars looks at what the MSM concentrated on highlighting about this particular interview. Freakin' hilarious.

America's Free Press

Today on the Stacy Taylor Show I listened to James Moore talk a little bit about his new book:

The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power

He'll be at the Coronado Library tonight.
He's been on the No-Fly list for a while.

Hmmmmmm.

Danny has an awesome post on an awesome man: TV Industry Praises Bill Moyers
September 26, 2006

I don't know how I missed this, but here are the Freedom of the Press rankings.