August 2009
BBC NEWS | Technology | Pirate Bay website back... →
Barack Obama on brink of deal for Middle East... →
Today we received our health insurance renewals:-
Me - Age 55, Worldwide cover (excl. USA), excess £100.00 - Cost £599.02 p/a
Wife - Age 58, Worldwide cover (excl. USA), excess £100.00 - Cost £648.15 p/a
(Todays X-rate = $1.64 / £1.00)
Because we choose to be ex-pats and live in Cyprus rather than the UK we need private insurance as we no longer have NHS cover. However, this is hardly...
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat...”
– Unknown (via retropolitics)
truth: america kind of sucks
abbyjean:
[the nasty nasty shit in the IG report on torturing detainees] this is not my america. i want my america back. (via abbyjean)
nezua:
oh but this is our “america” and has been since massacres on the indigenous of this continent slicked up and set in motion by lies and greed and european “explorers” looking for more resources and gold and land. it is the same “america” that carries...
Holder to Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate CIA... →
caraobrien:
From the Washington Post, excerpt:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has decided to appoint a prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws and other statutes when they allegedly threatened terrorism suspects, according to two sources familiar with the move…
Word of Holder’s decision comes on the same...
reblog if tumblr gives you faith in people again
caraobrien:
(via davegri)
Ackerman: CIA Documents Provide Little Cover for... →
retropolitics:
Documents Fail to Exonerate ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ Techniques
Cheney just doesn’t get it! He could’ve been correct, maybe more intelligence was garnered by these techniques, if you hold a gun to someone’s head they’re likely to tell you what you want to hear, if you threaten to rape someone’s wife and child they’ll confess to anything, BUT IT...
Obama to Nominate Bernanke to Lead Fed for Second... →
skylounge:
jmarie3:
jhnbrssndn:
shaneguiter:
President Obama on Tuesday will nominate Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, administration officials said.
The announcement is a major victory for Mr. Bernanke, a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush almost four years ago and who had briefly served as chairman of Mr. Bush’s Council of...
Taleb: Our Leadership Is "Literally Incompetent"....
skylounge:
from Washington’s Blog
Nassim Nicholas Taleb told it straight on CNBC today, saying:
“We still have leadership that’s literally incompetent” The government doesn’t see the problem. They are just applying patches.
The risks to the economy that were there before are still there. In fact, the risk to the economy is probably worse now than before. Fewer people employed today with same...
EARTHQUAKE!!!
We just had a 4.5M earthquake, epicentre was only a couple of kilometers from here. No damage other than to my underpants.
Internet cut-off threat for illegal downloaders →
jhnbrssndn:
publiccommunication:
People who persist in swapping copyrighted films and music will have their internet connections cut off under tough new laws to be proposed by the government today.
The measures also include taking the power to target illegal downloaders away from regulator Ofcom and giving it to ministers to speed up the process.
The decision to cut off peer-to-peer...
Child gang hangs boy from tree -
... →
A gang of children as young as seven put a rope around a boy’s neck and strung him up from a tree, the victim’s mother said today.
This is disturbing!
Government Overspending £258 Million Per Day - Guy... →
The Public Sector Borrowing Requirement for July came in at £8.016 billion. That means the government was over-spending by more than £258 million per day last month, which is living beyond our collective means by more than £10 million an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Gordon Brown and Ed Balls reckon the government should spend even more. John Redwood blogs “No wonder the Governor...
Martha's Vineyard will be changed by Barack... →
I spent a few days in Martha’s Vineyard once - what a boring place it was.
this would be a big adjustment
abbyjean:
As reported in today’s Wall Street Journal, the Samoan prime minister has ordered a switch from driving on the right (a la the U.S. and most of the rest of the world) to driving on the left (a la Britain and its former colonies). The idea is that because Australia and New Zealand do it in the British style, the switch will make it easier and cheaper for Samoans to purchase used cars....
One crime solved for every 1,000 CCTV cameras,... →
A senior Scotland Yard officer, Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, warned police must do more to head off a crisis in public confidence over the use of surveillance cameras.
DCI Neville said officers need to improve their results to make captured images count against criminals.
He said there are more than a million CCTV cameras in London and the Government has spent £500 million on the...
“In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes’ right to the...”
– The Law: Can Atheists Be Parents? - TIME MAGAZINE (via chvnx)
I’m an atheist and a good parent. What the hell happened to the separation of church and state. No court has the right to do what that judge did. What about crazy fundamentalists who raise kids to hate? That’s okay?
This world has...
“If the “national health care rationing board” takes over, when mama falls and...”
– Rep. Paul Bron, who the great state of Georgia is fortunate enough to have as a Representative. (Does the rest of the country judge you for this, Georgia? A little bit.) I hate to add anything to such an elegantly concise bit of ignorance—but in case anybody is wondering, this is not true. The...
“In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes’ right to the...”
– The Law: Can Atheists Be Parents? - TIME MAGAZINE (via chvnx)
I’m an atheist and a good parent. What the hell happened to the separation of church and state. No court has the right to do what that judge did. What about crazy fundamentalists who raise kids to hate? That’s okay?
This world has...
Surge in business confidence means UK recession... →
jhnbrssndn:
“A record surge in confidence among business professionals indicates Britain’s recession is at an end, according to research.
Optimism among professionals in the third quarter hit its highest level since the start of the financial crisis two years ago, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said.”
SO THAT’S ALL RIGHT THEN
Are these the same...
To my followers - my apologies, not enough original stuff, too many reblogs - sorry, I’ve been busy, please bear with me.
Steve Jobs's new trick: the Apple tablet... →
I’d sure like to see it!
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Netanyahu enters Sweden... →
In which Israel demonstrates it’s inability to recognise freedom of speech.
Ludicrous military
Has anyone stopped to think, and I mean REALLY think, about the implications of allowing private military contractors so much freedom to operate the way Blackwater (or Xe as they are now called) and others have? Would it it be fair to say that these corporations are not and never will be restricted to accepting contracts only with the US government? If this is so then there exists the possibility...
The Grey Zone: How a secret Pentagon program came...
retropolitics:
The Abu Ghraib story began, in a sense, just weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks, with the American bombing of Afghanistan. Almost from the start, the Administration’s search for Al Qaeda members in the war zone, and its worldwide search for terrorists, came up against major command-and-control problems. For example, combat forces that had Al Qaeda targets in sight had to...
Silly
vela:
hoosierbuddy:
vela:
The more I think about last night, the more upset I get. I shouldn’t have to go somewhere and feel like I could possibly being harassed. I’m probably the most upset about not dumping my hot coffee on him. Well that’s a place I’m never going back to…
it’s worth writing a letter to the club manager. I think they would be interested in hearing from you.
I’m thinking...
I'm sorry?
David Frost: Are you really saying the President can do something illegal? Richard Nixon: I’m saying that when the President does it, that means it’s *not* illegal! David Frost: …I’m sorry?
Cold-brewed coffee results
marco:
My first batch of cold-brewed coffee didn’t turn out very well.
One problem was filtering it. I don’t yet own a good coffee grinder (the best are the conical burr grinders). In fact, I don’t own a coffee grinder at all: since my pre-Brooklyn life involved very little coffee-making at home, I’ve just been using a Magic Bullet. (Really.) And it’s just as good as any other typical...
“In an hourlong conversation I had with four Blackwater men, they characterized...”
– Jeremy Scahill | The Nation | 09-21-05 (via retropolitics) (via jhnbrssndn)
Pentagon Shift Gives Names of Detainees to Red... →
squashed:
In a reversal of Pentagon policy, the military for the first time is notifying the International Committee of the Red Cross of the identities of militants who were being held in secret at a camp in Iraq and another in Afghanistan run by United States Special Operations forces, according to three military officials.
If you’re feeling that Obama hasn’t delivered on his promises, pay...
Time to stand up and be counted
It’s time for the left to stand up and be counted. It has always appeared to me that the left has been afraid to stand up and be seen in public for fear of being branded ‘un-american’ or ‘unpatriotic’. This element of fear throughout American politics may be a hangover from the witch hunts of the McCarthy era or it may be a part of the American psyche that sees left...
This isn't about liberal or conservative, Democrat... →
soupsoup:
(via thedailyfiona)
I agree with you when it comes to government intrusion, like:
Bankrupting our country to fight a war against a country that didn’t pose a threat to us, resulting in 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed, 4520 coalition troop deaths, 4209 of them Americans.
Taking away our civil liberties through the so-called “Patriot” act.
Using our tax dollars to hire Blackwater...
Bogosphere: The Strangest Things Pulled Out of... →
“How typical of the NHS to identify the only non-malignant part of Mandelson and...”
– +++ Mandy Hospitalised for Prostate Operation +++ - Guy Fawkes’ blog