Bailout Math

Makes things pretty crystal clear, I think!

Secret Plotters Plot Their Schemes From Back In The Day

The Plan: Secrets Circa 1984

You're Still Here?

Didn't we break up?

A Theme Song For Life

Wassup 2008

A nice little motivational video to get y'all out to the polls this year.

A Wise Man Once Said...

"I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."

-John McCain, 2000

Colin Powell Tells It Like It Is

Guilty By Association - The Pot or the Kettle: Who's Blackest?

Trust Us! We Won't Abuse the Power You've Given Us... Ha! Ha! Fingers Crossed!

Yet another reason we might want to change up the 'old guard' in Washington this election. You know, that "freedom thing" that we might want to keep around for all of us and our children. This repost from ABC News.

-Maltok 5


Exclusive: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans
U.S. Officers' "Phone Sex" Intercepted; Senate Demanding Answers
By BRIAN ROSS, VIC WALTER, and ANNA SCHECTER
Oct. 9, 2008

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Intercept operators allege the NSA is listening to citizens' phone calls.

Watch the video.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), called the allegations "extremely disturbing" and said the committee has begun its own examination.

"We have requested all relevant information from the Bush Administration," Rockefeller said Thursday. "The Committee will take whatever action is necessary."

"These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort Gordon from November 2001 to 2003.

Kinne described the contents of the calls as "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism." [more]

Republicans for Obama in Ohio

Those Who Forget the Lessons of History Are Doomed...

...to repeat them.

Remember the last time the banking industry was so "F'd" up? Well, actually this is worse this time, but we shouldn't forget John McCain's eager participation in one of the worst scandals from previous history.

KEATING ECONOMICS: John McCain & The Making of a Financial Crisis

Lefties Lie Down With the Righties

Interesting how "conservative" Republicans and "liberal" Democrats are sort of together on this whole bailout thing.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Ah, those randy Brits. This mindless little clip is good for washing the bad taste of bad politics and policies from your mouth.

Just mind the swallow...

Does Anyone Remember the Last Time McCain Helped Tank the Economy?

Well, if you were in Texas or pretty much any of the southwest states, it was pretty gnarly. This repost from Wonkette.

-Maltok 5

Reporters Also Can’t Remember McCain’s Banking Scandals

Here’s some hilarious video from outside a McCain campaign stop in Ohio, where some older people chant “Keating Five,” which was the great group of corrupt senators (including John McCain) who caused the last collapse of American finance, in the late ’80s. This teevee reporter has no idea what they’re talking about, of course. [Blogger Interrupted]

Repost - This Is Your Nation On White Privilege

This fellow has put into words a sad but true commentary on the underlying issues still facing this country as it continues to wrestle with the undercurrents of code speech, white indignation and the other dark corners of our history still affecting our present. Apparently he was once called a "leftist extremist" by that godfather of centrists, our own ex KKK member, David Duke. In that context, it sounds like a badge of honor.

-Maltok 5

September, 14 2008

By Wise, Tim
Tim Wise's ZSpace Page
Join ZSpace

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

• White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
• White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
• White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
• White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
• White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
• White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
• White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
• White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.
• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

My Friends Are Lobbyists

From a great columnist and presidential historian, Richard Reeves, whose books and writings on Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan and Clinton I have always enjoyed. I always appreciate his perspective on current issues through his lens into history.

-Maltok 5

IS OBAMA ALREADY PRESIDENT?

by Richard Reeves
Mon Sep 8, 10:01 AM ET

NEW YORK -- As a member of the Elite Eastern Media in good standing (I hope), I would like to say that St. Paul was the most educational and enjoyable Republican National Convention I have ever watched. Thrilling, really. I did not know that we, the people like me, were running the country until hearing it from John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and the rest of that wonderful bunch from real America.

This is just great, I thought again and again. My favorite revelation was Romney's declaration that the Supreme Court was "liberal." And I was delighted to hear Sen. McCain described as: "A restless reformer who will clean up Washington ... (and will) drain that swamp." Wow! You really have to pay attention these days, what with things changing so fast.

Romney was a hoot. My favorite. He must hate the media more than most of those who were in St. Paul, because he spoke as if he has not read or noticed anything for years. It is hard to believe he said:

"Is Washington now liberal or conservative? Let me ask you some questions. ... Is a Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle Eastern tyrants? It's liberal. Is government spending, putting aside inflation, liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? It's liberal. ... Throw out the big-government liberals and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin. ... You know, it's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother."

The big-government liberals he's apparently worried about are the reigning Big Brother, Vice President Cheney, and the reigning borrow-and-spend budget-busting president, whom I had been thinking was named Bush.

Maybe it was me who got it wrong. I must admit that I was sorry to hear that this president -- Barack Obama, is it? -- is screwing up so bad, fighting wars and building bridges to nowhere and presiding over a tailspinning economy. You know, until McCain and the rest told me, I didn't even realize Obama was in charge the whole time. Pay attention!

Oops! This just in: George W. Bush is still president and has been for more than seven distressing years. I guess I was fooled by the fact that his name was almost never mentioned in St. Paul. A computer count indicated that Bush's name was used 12 times as often at the Democratic convention in Denver than in St. Paul -- but you know the Eastern Elite Media, they probably made that up.

And, darn, the papers said McCain has been in Congress for more than 25 years. His party, the Republicans, have controlled the White House or Congress or both since 1980. That did make me wonder a bit why McCain said, "We're worse off than we were four years ago." And then he added: "I promise you, if you're sick and tired of the way Washington operates, you only need to be patient for a couple of more months. Change is coming! Change is coming! Change is coming!"

Maybe he really does think Obama is now and has been for four years our president.

No, he must know Bush is still in office. Why else would he and Gov. Palin, the sparky leader of that expensive federal preserve called Alaska, declare victory in Iraq? Some victory. McCain said triumph was a result of his personal resolve and the surge led by "the leadership of a brilliant general, David Petraeus." Petraeus is one smart and admirable guy, but his timing is not always perfect. Just before McCain spoke, it was revealed that the general has recommended to the president (Bush) that sharp troop cuts trumpeted by the Republicans should be postponed until next year.

But, of course, McCain has already said we may be there for a hundred years. He may be right.

The conventions were fun and games and a bit of fantasy this time around. But except for introducing the country to Gov. Palin of the Yukon, "Caribou Barbie" to the bloggers, I doubt these rock concerts did much beyond holding the contenders in place. This race will still be about Bush's record, Obama's race and McCain's age.

Previous: WHO IS PREPARED TO BE PRESIDENT? NOBODY

What is this 'Iraq war' charge on my bill?

And While We're on the Subject of Spending...

This from cartoonist Steve Greenberg at the Ventura County Star. Sent in by our friend, Richard B.
-Maltok 5

Obama Campaign: Focus on McCain, Not the Moose in Wolf's Clothing

This analysis, in my opinion, is right on the money on how to deal with the "new" Republican distraction machine. Yeah, it sure is easy to get all worked up about Palin, whether you're for or against her. I know I've fallen into that trap myself. But... It distracts from the truth of McCain and Bush and the Republicans' last 8 years of systematic destruction of our rights, freedoms and standing in the world, who used to look up to us as a country, even with our known faults. And we are not any more safe. In fact probably far less so.

So, yeah she's a feisty, moose huntin', Pentacostal "in tongues" speakin', sarcastic ex beauty queenin', it's "God's plan" that we're in Iraq talkin' ball of jingoistic energy, er... bullshit, but... SHE'S JUST THERE TO DISTRACT FROM McSAME'S LACK OF REAL CHANGE AND IDEAS.
-Maltok 5

Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose Concealing Four More Years of George Bush

Posted September 8, 2008 | 03:28 PM (EST)

---

Read More: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, John McCain, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Trojan Horse, Trojan Moose, Politics News

Did Sarah Palin wrongfully push to have her ex-brother-in law fired? Was she really against the "Bridge to Nowhere?" Did she really sell Alaska's plane on eBay, or just list it on eBay? Did she actually have any substantial duties commanding the Alaska National Guard?

The correct answer to all these questions is: who cares? Which isn't to say these aren't valid questions, or that Palin and the McCain camp aren't playing it fast, loose, and coy with each of them. The point is that Palin, and the circus she's brought to town, are simply a bountiful collection of small lies deliberately designed to distract the country from one big truth: the havoc that George Bush and the Republican Party have wrought, and that John McCain is committed to continuing.

Every second of this campaign not spent talking about the Republican Party's record, and John McCain's role in that record, is a victory for John McCain.

Her critics like to say that Palin hasn't accomplished anything. I disagree: in the space of ten days she's succeeded in distracting the entire country from the horrific Bush record -- and McCain's complicity in it. My friends, that's accomplishment we can believe in.

Just look at the problem John McCain faced. George Bush has a disastrous record, and the country knows it. John McCain -- the current one, not the one who vanished eight years ago -- has no major disagreements with George Bush (and I'm sorry, wanting to fire Donald Rumsfeld a bit sooner doesn't qualify) and wants to continue his incredibly unpopular policies for another four years. The solution? Enter Sarah Palin, a Trojan Moose carrying four more years of disaster.

And the plan has worked beautifully. Just look at what's being discussed just 57 days before the election. Is it the highest unemployment rate in five years? The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The suicide bombing yesterday in Iraq that killed six people and wounded 54 -- in the same market where last month a bomb killed 28 people and wounded 72? That the political reconciliation that was supposedly the point of "the surge" is nowhere near happening? That Iraq's Shiite government is now rounding up the American-backed Sunni leaders of the Awakening? That the reason 8,000 soldiers may be leaving Iraq soon is so more can be deployed to Afghanistan where the Taliban is steadily retaking the country?

No. We're talking about whether Sarah Palin was or was not a good mayor, whether she was or was not a good mother, whether her skirts are too short and her zingers too sarcastic.

Contrary to what we're hearing 24/7 in the media, the next few weeks are not a test of Sarah Palin. The next few weeks are a test of Barack Obama.

He needs to dramatically redirect this election back to a discussion over the issues that really matter -- the issues that will impact the future of this country. A presidential campaign is a battle and this is the time for Obama to show some commander-in-chief skills. I'm not talking about calling Palin out for lying about his record and demeaning community organizing. I'm talking about grabbing the political debate by the throat. The country is already angry about what's happened over the last seven-plus years -- he shouldn't be afraid to give voice to that anger. Obama has spent years adopting a non-threatening persona; but he can't let his fear that appearing like an "angry Black man" (a stereotype not-too-subtly fueled by Fox News) will turn off swing voters keep him from channeling the disgust and outrage felt by so many voters --swing and otherwise. [more]

Joe Biden On Fire

Joe shows why he was a good pick for Vice President. Calls the McNasty Palincomparison team on its snarky snarkiness.

Who Needs "Actual Responsibilities" When You Can Just Belittle Others?

Some items that seem to be missing from Ms. Palin's resume. Biting, snarking sarcasm doesn't appear to be one of them, but is apparent in spades...

-Maltok 5

The Sarah Palin Digest

ThinkProgress has put together a document compiling what we know about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate. Here are the issues:

* Foreign Policy
* Earmarks
* Environment
* Energy
* Big Oil
* Science
* Women’s Rights
* Ethics
* Troopergate
* Radical Right
* Civil Rights
* Health Care
* Economy

ON FOREIGN POLICY

Palin Hasn’t Given The War In Iraq Much Thought. Palin told the Alaska Business Monthly, “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place.” [Alaska Business Monthly, 3/1/07]

Palin Has Never Been To Iraq. In her only trip overseas, Palin visited Alaska National Guard troops stationed in Kuwait and Germany in July 2007. [AP, 7/25/07]

Palin Believes That The Iraq War Is A Task ‘From God.’ Speaking at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June, Palin said that “our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.” [Huffington Post, 9/2/08]

Palin Believes The Iraq War Was Fought Over Oil. “We are a nation at war and in many [ways] the reasons for war are fights over energy sources,” Palin told BusinessWeek in an interview. [BusinessWeek, 8/29/08]

Palin Didn’t Have A Passport Until 2007. Palin first obtained a passport in July 2007 for her trip to Kuwait and Germany to visit Alaska National Guard troops. Her only other trip outside of the United States was to Canada. A Palin spokeswoman had previously said that Palin had also been to Ireland, although it was actually just a “refueling stop” on her Germany/Kuwait trip. [New York Times, 8/29/08; Politico, 9/2/08]

[more]

Former POW says McCain is Not Cut Out To Be President

This guy doesn't seem to have a big axe to grind. He might even be telling the truth. Either way, it's good to try to put a countering argument to the whole "I'm a hero! Vote for me!" thing McCain and his campaign have been doing, regardless of the topic. They cheapen the true worth of McCain's actual heroic deeds.

John McCain's Wandering Eyes

I just couldn't help myself. Besides, who needs an intern when you've got a...

History in the making, indeed!

Karl Rove Leaks the Truth About the Palin Choice

Bill O'Reilly's wooden nose grows almost as long as the "bridge to nowhere," and Dick Morris eats his own foot.

Fair Questions?

Okay, so I'm really going to just be reposting this story, as I couldn't have said it better myself. I will say that maybe the campaign that has lived by the Rove, might just die by the truth. And sure, take away all the questions about her family, and there's still plenty to make this little alien sceer'd ta death about this person being a heartbeat away from McNasty, what with all the cancer and age stuff. Oh well...

-Maltok 5

Have You Hugged a Republican Today?

When did the Republican Party become the Pity Party?

What has surprised me this week in St. Paul is the sense of grievance that Republicans feel, or pretend to feel, at the cruel forces that are treating them in such a beastly manner. The news media are the principal villains. Having rallied around Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, Republicans are outraged that anyone would ask whether a first-term Alaska governor, whose only other political experience was as a small-town mayor, is the right person for the job. Having announced that Sarah Palin’s unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the McCain campaign is irate that anyone would write about this circumstance, much less ask further questions about it.

“Why hound the Palin family over such a private matter?” the campaign protests. Uh, maybe because you put out a press release?

Anyone who questions Palin’s qualifications, or points out that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it, is being sexist. Anyone who mentions that McCain is 72, which would make him the oldest man to be elected president, is being ageist. Who knew the Republican Party was so keenly attuned to delicate matters of political correctness? It’s hard to square the image of the party that Fred Thompson tried to project Tuesday night -- tough, muscular to the point of being martial, unafraid and uncompromising, able to skin a moose -- with all the exquisite sensitivity, all the wailing and the lamentation and the gnashing of teeth, on display in St. Paul. This is a party that seems to want reassurance, validation, and maybe a hug.

It all reminds me of those old Saturday morning cartoons in which an elephant would jump up on a stool and tremble in fear at the sight of a mouse.

By Eugene Robinson

Journalist Arrested at RNC

Yes, Amy Goodman is on the left and is the host of "Democracy Now," but does that give the McFascists the right to arrest her for peaceful activities just because it gets in the way of the RNC message?

I guess the answer is yes. Especially if you're wearing jack boots.

Yee haw! Here we go into another interesting election to say the least.

-Maltok 5

McNasty Chooses Experienced Basketball Player to Be A Heartbeat Away

Well, John McCain has sure stirred things up, that wily wascal maverick type old guy that he is. Hmmm... let's see... How can we tap into that whole "youth, change" thing? Oh I've got it! Let's pick an anti choice former school basketball star who has been mayor and is now governor of a state with very little population! Oh yeah, well, she's got five kids, one a newborn with special needs... ah she even said recently she wasn't ready to be Vice President. Er, uh that'll sure shake things up. See? I am a maverick, yes I sure am...

Don't worry that I'm 72, have had 2 bouts with cancer and might blow a head gasket next time I get angry. This person can do the job. And... she'll pick up all those disgruntled Hillary voters.

Well, maybe not, with that anti choice thing she's got going. It is historic though.

Tom Waits Clarifies Things

This gentleman speaks, and suddenly... it all makes sense.

-Maltok 5

Gergen Tells It Like It Is...

Republican, David Gergen, finally talks about the real "code" behind the hoopla over Obama's comments about the dollar bill thing. Don't you love the McCain campaign's self righteous glee in acting like they have been "dealt the race card from the bottom of the deck." Goebbels would be proud there Mr. McCain.

Gergen's right. In the south, and for that matter, out here in the west to a great degree, that code is known, not talked about, and runs deep. But Americans better get a clue that the swindle continues, before we all wake up with our freedoms gone, boiled to death metaphorically, as in the story of the frog who didn't see any problem sitting in a pot of cold water, even as the flame was turned on underneath, until the lil' bastard dun' got boiled up.

Wake up people! If you don't like his tax policies, foreign policy plans, etc., cool. Shout that from the rooftops, but we've got to evolve a little here, or lose the things most dear to us... not to mention our self respect.

Thanks Gergen for speaking some truth.

Sheesh!

Here's Yer Real Race Card...

These folks aren't really helping us out with the whole "I'm proud of America" thing... Maybe someone could help them with their spelling...
-Maltok 5

Some thoughts on the race card - updated 2x

by zenbowl

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:58:31 AM PDT

In Florida, the cars were spray painted with words like "Oboma [sic] smokes crack"

And "Oboma [sic] is a Nigger"

In Indiana, the windows were broken, more hateful words were scrawled, and an American Flag was stolen.

So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

• zenbowl's diary :: ::
• 
  

In Nevada, fliers of Obama posing like a monkey, with a noose/lightbulb hanging over his head, were on the lightpoles.

In Georgia, they made Obama is monkey T-shirts. Hate groups like them so much, [warning: hate site linked] they sell them too under the motto "Buy this shirt from us, we won't deny being racist!" [more]

Help Karl Rove Learn To Drop The Soap

Let's help put this man where he belongs.

AL GORE: Green Energy by 2018 (7/17 Speech)

Gotta give a man props for keeping up the good fight.

I Met The Walrus

Topical short from John Lennon's Toronto "Give Peace a Chance" period.

The Race Card: Confronting The New "Big Lies"

Excerpted From:
GOEBBELS' PRINCIPLES OF PROPAGANDA

Based upon Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda by Leonard W. Doob, published in Public Opinion and Propaganda; A Book of Readings edited for The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.

a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of competing propaganda.

b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the optimum moment

c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness

14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses

b. They must be capable of being easily learned

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations

d. They must be boomerang-proof

Throwing Our Freedoms Out the Window??

This great opinion piece from a man with a unique perspective on America. He's a Brit who's been in the US for many years and who three years ago took a solemn oath and was proclaimed a citizen of this country. He has a cool blog, too.
-Maltok 5

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it." - Mark Twain

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The Eagle Has Landed (maybe for good)

Today the Senate passed Bush's bill extending the government's power to eavesdrop on it's citizens & granting immunity to the telco companies who assisted in illegal surveillance. Obviously the news & blogs are all over this with what appears to be pretty consistent condemnation of the bill & the 69 Senators who voted for it, including a certain Presumptive Candidate for President, Barack Obama.

The democrats are running on a platform of Change. But we already have a majority of Democrats in BOTH houses and yet the war continues and the trampling of the 4th Amendment alongside it. Perhaps I'm worrying needlessly, in fact Sen. Bond (R-Mo) claimed that "unless I have al Queda on speed dial I have nothing to fear" This from a government that can't even implement a functional no-fly list.

Three years ago this fall, I stood in a room with 842 others & swore an oath of allegiance to a country that I truly believed represented the highest ideals of freedom & liberty on our planet. It breaks my heart to see small minded, self-serving politicians, their lobbyists & the corporations that support them, trample on the very ideals I stood up for. To wit: “I will from this point forward grant my allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, and to its Laws, defending the Constitution and the Laws from all enemies that attack them.” Seemingly in 2008, defending the Constitution from enemies will serve only to get me wiretapped?

Harry Buttle, Meet Harry Tuttle...

Remember the movie Brazil, the Orwellian dark comedy by Terry Gilliam, where the plot evolved around a mistake in a government machine that ended the life of one man, "Harry Buttle," while leaving the real "terrorist," "Harry Tuttle," (played by Robert DeNiro) free to perform his nefarious deeds of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning repairs. Well, now we have more evidence that truth is stranger than fiction. Not surprising with this administration. I just hope when they're surveying you, they don't mistake a "T" for a "B."

Sleep well tonight America...
-Maltok 5

Bush Signs Expanded Wiretap Law
By Paula Wolfson White House 10 July 2008

Wolfson report - Download (MP3)
Wolfson report - Listen (MP3)

U.S. President George Bush has signed legislation expanding the government's surveillance powers. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports from the White House the measure also protects telecommunication companies from lawsuits stemming from assistance they provide to help track potential terror suspects.

President Bush (right) speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, 10 July 2008, prior to signing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

One day after the bill cleared Congress, the president signed it into law.

"Today I am pleased to sign landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people," he said.

The measure is the most extensive revision of U.S. surveillance law in 30 years. It is designed to enable intelligence agencies to move quickly to monitor communications involving terror suspects, in some cases without a special court warrant.

Karl Rove Flips Off America... Again and Again and...

So, Karl the skating skater, skates by yet another time, while flipping the bird (see picture below) to you and me, and most importantly our future rights and freedoms. Does anyone know where I can order a few hundred spines online to be shipped to the congressional democrats? -Maltok 5 Former Bush Aide Rove Defies Congressional Subpoena
By Dan Robinson Washington 10 July 2008

Karl Rove, the former close political aide to President Bush, failed to appear at a congressional hearing Thursday to testify about allegations he was involved in politicizing the Department of Justice. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.

The empty chair in front of the House judiciary subcommittee was a reminder of the difficulty Democrats have had in obtaining testimony from Rove, and two other former and current White House officials.

Last year, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, and President Bush's current chief of staff Joshua Bolten, defied subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, triggering a House vote to hold both in contempt of Congress.

Former White House Advisor Karl Rove gestures towards the press at the White House in Washington, D.C. (file photo)

Rove was subpoenaed earlier this year in connection with Democratic attempts to determine if he exerted improper political influence in the firing of nine U.S. federal prosecutors, and to answer questions about a government corruption case against a former Democratic governor of Alabama.

He offered to speak with lawmakers only about the second of these, and only behind closed doors without a transcript and not under oath, all conditions Democrats rejected. He has denied ever trying to influence Justice Department decisions. [more]

Obama's Second Chance to Make a First Impression...

Now that the FISA vote is postponed a bit, Obama has some time to recalibrate his communications regarding the current pending legislation. As usual, Keith Olberman has a great take on this.
-Maltok 5

Pollinators at Risk

While you're freaking out about everything else that's going wrong in the world right now... don't forget the bees! For as go the bees, so goes our food.
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This Just In! Jenga and Rubric's Cube Have Skyscraper Baby!

Careful when pulling out that piece on the 14th floor...

What will Dubai come up with next for its unsustainable desert DisneyMcLuxuryPark?
-Maltok 5

Finally! That Pesky Ice Won't Get In Our Way

Come on in, the water's fine. Now we can have that super North Pole water park we've always wanted. Yay global warming!

-Maltok 5

North Pole could be ice-free this summer, scientists say

• Story Highlights
• Ice retreated to a record level last fall when the Northwest Passage opened briefly
  
• Weather patterns will determine whether the ice cover melts completely this summer
  
• Scientists say the Arctic meltdown is not part of a historic cycle
  

By Alan Duke
CNN

(CNN) -- The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Scientists say it's a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole.

"We kind of have an informal betting pool going around in our center and that betting pool is 'does the North Pole melt out this summer?' and it may well," said the center's senior research scientist Mark Serreze.

It's a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen last autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole, Serreze said.

The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage -- the sea route through the Arctic Ocean -- opened up briefly for the first time in recorded history.

"What we've seen through the past few decades is the Arctic sea ice cover is becoming thinner and thinner as the system warms up," Serreze said.

Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely this summer, he said.

Let the Good Times Roll...

More happy news. Time to get busy

-Maltok 5

NASA Climate Scientist Says 'We're Toast'

CBS News Interactive: Global Warming

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."

Hansen brought global warming home to the public in June 1988 during a Washington heat wave, telling a Senate hearing that global warming was already here. To mark the anniversary, he testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming where he was called a prophet, and addressed a luncheon at the National Press Club where he was called a hero by former Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., who headed the 1988 hearing.

To cut emissions, Hansen said coal-fired power plants that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions shouldn't be used in the United States after 2025, and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by 2030. That carbon capture technology is still being developed and not yet cost efficient for power plants.

NASA Climate Scientist Says 'We're Toast'

CBS News Interactive: Global Warming

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."

Hansen brought global warming home to the public in June 1988 during a Washington heat wave, telling a Senate hearing that global warming was already here. To mark the anniversary, he testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming where he was called a prophet, and addressed a luncheon at the National Press Club where he was called a hero by former Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., who headed the 1988 hearing.

To cut emissions, Hansen said coal-fired power plants that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions shouldn't be used in the United States after 2025, and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by 2030. That carbon capture technology is still being developed and not yet cost efficient for power plants.

Burning fossil fuels like coal is the chief cause of man-made greenhouse gases. Hansen said the Earth's atmosphere has got to get back to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it was 10 percent higher: 386.7 parts per million.

Hansen said he'll testify on behalf of British protesters against new coal-fired power plants. Protesters have chained themselves to gates and equipment at sites of several proposed coal plants in England.

"The thing that I think is most important is to block coal-fired power plants," Hansen told the luncheon. "I'm not yet at the point of chaining myself but we somehow have to draw attention to this."

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for many U.S. utilities, including those trying to build new coal plants, said while Hansen has shown foresight as a scientist, his "stop them all approach is very simplistic" and shows that he is beyond his level of expertise.

The year of Hansen's original testimony was the world's hottest year on record. Since then, 14 years have been hotter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Two decades later, Hansen spent his time on the question of whether it's too late to do anything about it. His answer: There's still time to stop the worst, but not much time.

"We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen told the AP before the luncheon. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would."

Hansen, echoing work by other scientists, said that in five to 10 years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.

Longtime global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., citing a recent poll, said in a statement, "Hansen, (former Vice President) Gore and the media have been trumpeting man-made climate doom since the 1980s. But Americans are not buying it."

But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., committee chairman, said, "Dr. Hansen was right. Twenty years later, we recognize him as a climate prophet."

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Oceans act as the world's heating and cooling system; James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. (File)

CBS News

John McCain Gets Owned on Meet The Press

Tim Russert watches John McNasty eat a crow sandwich.

Obama Goes After McCain's "Energy Strategy"

It takes a pretty brave politician to tell folks the truth, that solutions to our energy problems won't be super easy and fixed by "drilling more at home."

Obama ridicules McCain's plan to tap offshore oil

3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama Tuesday accused White House rival John McCain of "posturing" as the Republican, tapping voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices, called for offshore oil drilling.

In a speech later in the Texas oil capital of Houston, the Arizona senator was to call for a 27-year-old moratorium on offshore exploration to be lifted -- reversing his own support for the ban when he ran for president in 2000.

McCain was again to push for a summer suspension of federal taxes on gasoline, to ease a little of the pain at the pump for voters already reeling from an epidemic of home foreclosures and job losses.

Obama, who has been hammering McCain and the Republicans on the economy, said his White House opponent's support of the moratorium in 2000 was "certainly laudable."

"But his decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades," the Illinois senator said in a statement.

"Much like his gas tax gimmick that would leave consumers with pennies in savings, opening our coastlines to offshore drilling would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all, and the effect on gasoline prices would be negligible at best since America only has three percent of the world's oil.

"It's another example of short-term political posturing from Washington, not the long-term leadership we need to solve our dependence on oil."

TPMtv: McCain Leaves Fox Speechless

That's not change we can believe in...
-Maltok 5
p.s. Try to stay awake for the whole video.

The Hillary Song: Clinton Concession Speech Song

Some Yahoo sings about Hillary...

Hillary as VP? Maybe Not...

Head of State: The Reasons That Hillary Should Not Be Vice President

Regarding Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama's running mate.

Originally, this seemed to be a potentially plausible choice--and if presented in the following way, could turn her divisive campaign into a potential coup as a VP candidate. The thinking was the following:

Hillary has run a divisive campaign. Now, just as the nation should mend its divisions in favor a greater unity that would serve the greater needs of our country, so now they would explicitly put these divisions behind them, in the interests of the unity that this nation, after a bitter and divisive Administration, is so in need of. This would serve as a powerful and vibrant example of the very ability to unify that Obama both offers and represents.

However, this would require a candidate that was willing to take such a position of relative shared selflessness in the interests of a greater good--while the Vice Presidency certainly offers its honors (now far beyond the "warm pitcher" of John Vance Garner's famous phrase) and positioning for later Presidential aspirations, such a plan would require the ability to think in terms of a shared effort based on the betterment of the nation, rather than in more grasping, combative and singular terms.

The Clinton camp's behavior over this past week has made such a positive scenario clearly untenable, showcasing the same characteristics that have signified her campaign throughout its long, chaotic, march--its contradictions of previous statements when such changes have a slight possibility of adding a week or two of vitality, its sudden and implausible use of populists guises and specious historical parallels for transparently opportunistic purposes, its near-hallucinogenic transmogrifications of personality and central bases for further continuation, and the central campaign tendency to place personal attainment over virtually all values that lay in its path.

These characteristics--self over nation, positioning over a consistent presentation of position, values and even self, the willingness to put personal viability over the need to transcend and transform the vast wreckage of state and international relations that remain at this critical time--are as present now, at a moment when wisdom rather than a remorseless, obdurate desperation could fill this gap, as they have been throughout much of the campaign. They would continue to make themselves present during a campaign for vice president, complicating, diminishing and often distracting, in trivial internecine battles, the message of unity and change.

Perhaps Clinton could adopt a more unifying and integrated and less grasping position on the VP subject. However, thus far, the actions of the Clinton camp have made it clear: It's time to clean the slate. Hillary Clinton should not be the Vice Presidential candidate.

More Peak Oil Analysis... Yay! $4 Gas Is Here!!

More great analysis from our friend, Chris Nelder. Chris tries to break through the persistent denial that we can "drill our way out of the problem."

-Maltok 5

Peak Oil Consequences of Bush's Failed Energy Policies

Illusions of Candor

By Chris Nelder
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Rising oil prices just seem unstoppable.

Even I was amazed to see crude pushing $130 on Tuesday. Not because it had gotten to that price, but because it got there so fast. That's 30% over where it was at the beginning of the year.

The peakers (or, if you like, the "peak freaks") have won the debate about oil supplies, and it was the price shock that ended it. I'd still prefer that the discussion revolved around flow rates—that is, whether we can really get from 85 million barrels per day (mbpd) today to 116 by 2030, as the IEA has predicted—but I'll settle for not having to see some "expert" on TV predicting that oil is going back to $45, or $25, or whatever, anymore.

At least the message that oil prices are never going back to those levels seems to have gotten through.

Last July, the National Petroleum Council joined the chorus predicting that oil supply would reach 115-120 mbpd by 2030. I lambasted them for it, along with many other knowledgeable observers.

One of those observers was Matthew Simmons, the world's top oil investment banker, who remarked, "We don't have any idea where those reserves are going to come from or how we are going to get them out of the ground. The odds of this ever happening are zero."

Simmons had argued for years that oil was far too cheap, and would soon go into triple digits. He saw $150 oil not too far into the future, and eventually perhaps $300 oil, but in mid-2007, he was widely ridiculed for it.

Well, Simmons was right. He wasn't the only one, either.

Legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens agreed with Simmons, and placed his bets accordingly, which made him a fortune. Pickens' latest bet is that we'll see $150 oil by the end of this year.

Goldman Sachs is another. They were the only investment bank to correctly predict today's oil prices last year. Their latest prediction? $148 a barrel this year.

I think that's about right. It might even be a bit on the conservative side.

But not everyone in the oil and investing business has had the vision to see the future of oil clearly, or the guts to make such bold predictions.

Unfortunately for America—indeed, for the world—our president, with all of his experience and knowledge of the oil business, has been one of the last to come around.

The Jawbone of an Ass [more]

Hope Ad

More Bee Colonies Lost: This Could Really Muck Things Up

This is an "under the radar screen" type of story that has more major implications to it in the near future than most of our other problems combined.

Bees = Food

No Bees = No Food

WTF??

-Maltok 5

From CNN:
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.

Bees are dying at unsustainable levels, the president of the Apiary Inspectors of America says.

Last year's survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.

As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it's clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.

This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren't enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

"For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."

Hillary Sacrifices For You

Monday, April 14, 2008

Things Hillary Clinton Would Do To Become President

In order to become President, Hillary Clinton would...

- undergo torture
- slip Dick Cheney the tongue
- eat hair out of the shower drain
- sit on a porcupine
- invent a fictitious black grandparent
- swim across the Arctic ocean
- become a Republican
- become a Libertarian
- become a Socialist
- become a Communist
- become a Whig
- try out for American Idol
- shoot herself in the forearm
- bear the child of a Superdelegate
- sell Chelsea to gypsies
- eat a banana peel
- iron your shirt
- step on a rusty nail
- sleep with Fidel Castro
- watch "Gigli" on loop for four days
- pour acid on her skin
- attempt to escape actual sniper fire by Bosnian militants with no running start
- shave her eyebrows
- disavow pantsuits
- stare down an angry rhinoceros
- admit that perhaps she might have sort of conditionally been a hair of a smidge wrong for voting for the Iraq war but really only kinda sort of wrong if you look at it from the right perspective and take into account the facts of the time which were not at all straightforward and really hypothetically if she had been president at the time she not only would have not made the same decision she might not have even been partly wrong about the fact that she voted incorrectly that is to say if her vote was incorrect in the first place given the facts on the ground at the time and actually if you want to get technical about it she was not president and was only a senator making a potentially and possibly ill-advised vote if you want to look at it in that fashion but really it was not that kind of a vote
- clip Rush Limbaugh's toenails
- become a Wiccan
- stand in line at Target to get you a Wii
- donate both kidneys
- eat nothing but Big Macs for two months
- fire a shotgun at reporters to demonstrate love of 2nd Amendment
- release her tax records
- lie down in a busy intersection
- walk 500 miles
- work as a rodeo clown
- be an actress in a Herpes medication ad
- agree to be bitten by a rattlesnake
- walk naked through Baghdad
- cry
- join The View
- kick Howard Dean in the nuts
- change her last name to Bush
- start her own country
- hike across the Gobi desert with no water
- smash a beer bottle over her head
- become Obama's Vice-President, then murder him
- sell her soul to anyone buying
- marry Bill Clinton

Funny How Context Changes Everything

Some of the "hateful" Pastor Wright's video in fuller context.

FOX News: Fairly Unbalanced - More Fear Please!!

God Won't Damn America: We're Doing A Fine Job Of It On Our Own, Thank You

Check out some of the comments attached to this story. And to think I was actually getting hopeful that this country was turning around, and living up to its ideals, not just its hypocrisies. But from some of the hate filled spew coming from Amurka in these comments, it's pretty obvious to this lil' alien that the haters ain't lettin' go too soon.

Well, at least this proves he's not a radical Muslim...

By the bye, remember all the hate filled nuttiness that Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and the like disseminated amongst us about how the queers caused Katrina, 9/11, etc.???

I'm going back to the bunker now.

-Maltok 5


Obama Disagrees With Pastor's 'God Damn America' Sermon
Obama on His Pastor: 'I Profoundly Disagree With Some of These Statements'
Sen. Barack Obama says he "obviously disagrees" with his pastor of 20 years who said black Americans should sing "God Damn America" instead of "God Bless America." Reacting to an ABC News story about the sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Obama told the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, "I haven't seen the line. This is a pastor who is on the brink of retirement who in the past has made some controversial statements. I profoundly disagree with some of... [more]

It Must Be Spring: Our President's a Song Bird

Ya gotta love a man who sings from the heart... about all the pretty darn illegal stuff he's gotten away with, criminals he's helped, and well the overall feeling of a job well done. All the while thinking this was an "off the record event." Ahhhh, Spring.

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Plumps When You Cook 'Em...

Buy More Stuff!

Enjoyed enough of being part of the problem? Now look at some ways to either dig out or rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic. Either way it's a great little movie.

-Maltok 5

Young Teacher

Her Lesson
Originally uploaded by Clonny

Talk about no child left behind!

-Maltok 5


What I learned from BUSH
1. Lying is O.K.
2. Cheating is O.K.
3. Torture is O.K.
4. Taking people's rights is O.K.
5. Neglecting the poor is O.K.
6. Being a religious hypocrite is O.K.
7. Killing is O.K.
8. Incompetence is O.K.
9. Cronyism is O.K.

In all 'fairness', I think she left out one thing.
10. Dancing is O.K.

Fight the Cynicism They're Selling: Grow Your Own Hope

Help Save the Helpless Telecoms! Terrorcrats Have No Shame

Seems that the Democrats have nothing better to do than attempt (ham fistedly I might add) to protect civil liberties. Do they truly hate America that much that they would go after the immunity of the poor, struggling telephone companies? Colbert has the answer.

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Seems Hillary's Hired Karl Rove

Yet another reason that we've had just about enough of the Clintons. Oh yeah, that and the fact that overwhelmingly, Republicans want her to be the nominee cause they can probably beat her. Hillary, drop the ego and step aside. It's not your time; and if you keep this up you may never get a chance and may help the Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But what do I care? It's not my planet.

-Maltok 5

Obama "blacker" ad no accident

by kos

Wed Mar 05, 2008 at 02:42:02 PM PST

From a reader:

I just wanted to leave a remark about this "blacker" issue, and comments that it is somehow something that just happened in the video editing process. I work in advertising (copywriter, [Big national advertising firm]). I sit in the rooms where the post production occurs, and this includes color correction. While things look different on many TVs, they don't look this dramatically different. Nothing that you see in a final advertisement is accidental. These things are looked at (or should be looked at if they are doing their jobs) second by second. Even more unforgiving is the stretching of the footage. It is possibly the result of laziness on the part of the editor, but it would have been easier to actually not stretch it, and just crop it.

Nothing in advertising is accidental. It is over-thought and then subjected to second thoughts and second guessing then over-thought and re-looked at again. I've been doing this ten years. It is my professional opinion that the film was made darker, and it has obviously been stretched. I will not comment on their reasons, as I can't offer an informed case for that.

Remember the "RATS" ad used against Gore in 2000? The Bush campaign was mocked in its claims of ignorance because ad makers pore over every detail of their ads before releasing them for broadcast. There was a concerted effort by Clinton's ad people to make Obama look darker, more sinister, and with a wider nose. The evidence is indisputable.

And from reader cartwrightdale:

Sara Connor We Need You! Robots of Death Imminent!

Don't say I didn't warn ya.
-Maltok 5

Bloodthirsty Robot Hoodlums Will Be Terrorists And Soldiers Of The Future

Robot slaves may be the foot soldiers in John McCain’s thousand-year surge, if expert predictions prove true. Scientists in the field of artificial intelligence see a time in the not-so-distant future when robots will be able to kill on command without any human intervention. This intriguing development could leave the United States to wage robot wars across the planet with other countries’ robots, making war into a sort of healthy and ultimately deathless exercise, except for the robot slaves who will perish horribly in flames. Scientific proof after the jump.

• University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey says that autonomous robots “are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war.”
• Nations already enjoying the services of military/law enforcement robots include South Korea, Israel, China, India, Russia, and Britain.
• Unfortunately, terrorists could use robots as suicide bombers. “I don’t know why that has not happened already,” says Sharkey.

The only person alive to see this nightmare scenario will be John McCain himself, who will live to the age of 1 million before his circuit board craps out.

Automated killer robots ‘threat to humanity’: expert [Breitbart]