Those Were The Days

blather, Crazy, Forward!, history, I'm from the government, politics, ಠ_ಠ 3 Responses »
May 172013

Yesterday a friend of mine mentioned that she had gone into a store that was playing the song “Those Were The Days” by Mary Hopkin, and that the song had become lodged in her head. Because this is what one does, I looked up the song on Wikipedia. Of all the factoids the article has, by far the most bizarre was this:

On Christmas 1975, the President of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Macías Nguema, had 150 alleged coup plotters executed in the national stadium while a band played Those Were the Days.

Errrr…….

The Wiki article  on Nguema has a little more info:

During Christmas of 1975 he ordered about 150 of his opponents killed. Soldiers dressed up in Santa Claus costumes executed them by shooting at the football stadium in Malabo, while amplifiers were playing Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days”.

Errrr…..

Africa seems to be the place to be if you are a weirdo-bizarre nut with delusions of divinity. In the US, the best you can do is sic the IRS on your political opponents.

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Posted by admin at 9:17 am

Has Obama gone buggo?

blather, Crazy, Forward!, Hmm..., I'm from the government, news, Obamazombies, politics, ಠ_ಠ 4 Responses »
May 162013

Regardless of your views on Obamas policies and ideology, one thing that can’t really be denied is that he was pretty much wholly unprepared to become President. A little while in the Senate  following a basically contest-free election, following a little while in the Illinois senate, characterized by voting “present” a lot, followed by no time spent in positions of business or military leadership. And now that his incompetence is coming to the fore with multiple scandals, questions are starting to be raised about whether the stress is finally getting to him.

Take, for example, this CNBC article:

An Onset of Woes Raises Questions on Obama Vision

Where we read:

Yet Mr. Obama also expresses exasperation. In private, he has talked longingly of ”going Bulworth,” a reference to a little-remembered 1998 Warren Beatty movie about a senator who risked it all to say what he really thought. … ”Probably every president says that from time to time,” said David Axelrod, another longtime adviser who has heard Mr. Obama’s movie-inspired aspiration.

Why is this of interest?  Well, here’s part of the plot description of Bullworth from Wikipedia:

Tired of politics and his life in general and planning to commit suicide, Bulworth negotiates a $10 million life insurance policy with his daughter as its beneficiary in exchange for a favorable vote from the insurance industry. Knowing that a suicide will negate his daughter’s inheritance, he contracts to have himself assassinated within two days’ time. … Bulworth happily accepts a new campaign for the presidency right before he is shot in front of a crowd of reporters and supporters by an insurance representative fearful of Bulworth’s push for single-payer health care.

A President fantasizing about emulating a suicidal movie character who supports the same policies as the real-world politician sounds juuuuust a little bit disturbing.

Posted by admin at 9:54 am

And so it begins...

AARRRGH, blather, Forward!, Gah., I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ 9 Responses »
May 092013

Well, the US FedGuv has finally waded into the debate on 3D printed guns. Wielding the sort of bludgeon that authoritarians like Bloomberg and Schumer can only dream of, the US Department of Defense Trade Controls has shut down Defense Distributed via the dubious power of ITAR. ITAR – International Traffic in Arms Regulations – is supposed to prevent US citizens and corporations from sending overseas technologies and designs for advanced weapons and the like that might aid enemies of the US. But as it’s being used here, it is being used to prevent the likes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Whatever from being able to build unreliable, expensive zip guns.

Much as it pains me to link to Infowars, they seem to have the details.

BREAKING: 3D printable gun ordered to shut down by government

GUNSGUNSGUNS

Here’s one of many things to consider: if the exact same files had been created by, say, a Canadian, and were hosted on a Canadian website, the US FedGuv would have neither the power nor the interest to shut them down. Why would they? Printed guns are, and will be for some time, substantially crappy devices compared to properly manufactured firearms. However, as printing technology evolves, and as design capabilities and experience progress, printed guns will become substantially better, potentially eventually becoming competitive or even superior in some ways. So what the government is doing, in effect, is turning over the future of not only weapons development but advanced manufacturing systems and basic entrepreneurship itself to foreign powers.

Posted by admin at 3:12 pm

Putin's gettin' frisky

aircraft, Hmm..., news, politics, russian empire 6 Responses »
May 082013

Russian ‘Attack’ Raises Questions Over Sweden’s Readiness

Two Tu-22M3 Backfire supersonic bombers and four Su-27 fighters ran exercises in the Baltic near Sweden, practicing attacks on Swedish territory. This caught the Swedes by surprise, who did not respond to the provocation.

Posted by admin at 5:25 am

Some science news

AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, religion, science, ಠ_ಠ 3 Responses »
May 052013

Interesting news:

A ‘Fifth Force’ May Alter Gravity at Cosmic Scales

Seems a bit like Q adjusting the universal constant of gravitation…

—————–

And truly sad, awful, head-shaking news out of Louisiana:

Senators again reject repeal of Louisiana Science Education Act

In short, this was a bill supported by Republicans that served as a back-door for pseudo-science to be taught in science classrooms. But Republicans pushing Christian Creationism aren’t the only ones. There are Democrats…

Sen. Elbert Guillory, D-Opelousas, said he had reservations with repealing the act after a spiritual healer correctly diagnosed a specific medical ailment he had. He said he thought repealing the act could “lock the door on being able to view ideas from many places, concepts from many cultures.”

“Yet if I closed my mind when I saw this man – in the dust, throwing some bones on the ground, semi-clothed — if I had closed him off and just said, ‘That’s not science. I’m not going to see this doctor,’ I would have shut off a very good experience for myself,” Guillory said.

Just… gah. Fricken’ voodoo??? Well, if there’s anything that will cause conservative Christian Republicans to vote to repeal the law, finding that the law supports the teaching of voodoo aughtta do it.

Posted by admin at 10:30 pm

New Yorkers at the forefront of banning ideas and information

dumbassery, Forward!, I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ 12 Responses »
May 052013

In their zeal to violate the second Amendment, some New York lawmakers are rushing headlong into violating the first Amendment.

Schumer: U.S. needs to block 3D plastic guns like ‘The Liberator’ from Defense Distributed 

DD is planning on releasing plans for a 3D printable all-plastic (except for a firing pin made from a nail) within a week. Senator Schumer is having a conniption that people might be able to make their very own terribly crappy .22 caliber pistols, and thus wants new laws to tell people what ideas they can have and what data they can posses.

Posted by admin at 4:18 pm

Why did NASA freak out and take NTRS away? Porn.

AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., history, I'm from the government, news, politics, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ 4 Responses »
May 032013

Remember the Chinese NASA spy? The one whose arrest caused the NASA Tech Report Server to go belly up? The one with all the classified data he was trying to sneak out? Yeah… not so much.

Bo Jiang Had Porn – Not Secrets – on His Laptop

Remember, kids, this is the same Federal Government that wants to not only register all firearms transfers, it also wants to control healthcare. And they can’t tell the difference between classified spy satellite design drawings and nekkid chix.

Posted by admin at 11:51 am

Chinese military invades India

Crazy, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ 9 Responses »
May 032013

Chinese incursion leaves India on verge of crisis

Short form: Chinese soldiers, backed up by ground vehicles and at least one helicopter, wandered across the border and took up residence in the Depsang Valley, 19 kilometers inside Indian territory, and have been there for two weeks. Indian politicians are starting to get rather annoyed.

 

Posted by admin at 7:11 am

The ricin case is getting weird

Crazy, dumbassery, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ 1 Response »
Apr 242013

It seems the Elvis impersonator arrested for mailing ricin to various politicians was framed. the tale is… odd.

Meet The New Man At The Center Of The Ricin Case

Posted by admin at 12:12 am

Terrorism or not?

blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Hmm..., news, politics, religion, ಠ_ಠ 3 Responses »
Apr 232013

Some people are still fretting about whether the Boston bombings were “terrorism,” and if so whether or not noteworthy mass shootings were also terrorism, and if not, why not. Example:

Why is Boston ‘terrorism’ but not Aurora, Sandy Hook, Tucson and Columbine?

The answer to “terrorism or not” when applied to any intentional massacre would seem to me to be simple. What is the answer to this question:

“Was the act of killing innocent people a means to an end – specifically to influence government/social policy – or was the killing the end unto itself?”

If you kill a bunch of folk because you  want to, say, change tax policy, or liberate people you feel are being oppressed, or cause people to convert to or from some particular religion… then, terrorism. If you kill a bunch of folk because you get off on seeing people die, then… well, I’d say that “terrorism” is probably still a fair assessment, but, officially, *not* terrorism. Being a part of a group would not seem to be relevant either way.

So, Boston: Terrorism or no? Hmmm…

Tsarnaev: My brother wanted to defend Islam

Joker Zardoz was, to available evidence, not a “terrorist” in a technical sense, just a weak-willed dumbass doing what his brother told him to do. But his brother Tammy *was* a terrorist. Tammy was the one with a political motive based on whackadoodle religious extremism; he apparently had the desire to affect change in US policy.

Now, a further question arises when someone unaffiliated with the terrorist act uses that terrorist act to further spread terror in order to affect a change in government policy. Is that second party also a terrorist? Consider:

Bloomberg Says Interpretation of Constitution Will ‘Have to Change’ After Boston Bombing

Posted by admin at 4:06 pm
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