Sanity returns to Iraqi capital? No Bid Oil deals reversed

What?? A serious, NON political Post?
I got tired of shouting STOP thief, to the republicans.

I missed this... It wasn't on TMZ (not that I usually go there...) or X17online.com

But the OIL Lobby lost their NO-BID one year contracts given by the IRAQI oil minister.
The NYTimes reported

that Iraq's Oil Minister, told reporters at the OPEC meeting this past Tuesday, that talks with the six companies (Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, BP), announced in June and then delayed,...
...had dragged on for so long that the companies could not now fulfill the work within that time frame. The companies confirmed on Wednesday that the deals had been canceled.

Geez Louise. Perhaps the Oil Minister actually follows US politics?

(Earlier this summer), a group of Democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York had appealed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to block the deals, contending that they could undermine the efforts of Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites to reach agreement on a hydrocarbon law and a revenue-sharing agreement.

This criticism was conveyed to the Iraqi Oil Minister by the American Embassy in Baghdad in late June, and after that the deals were delayed.

“I’m glad the Iraqis heard our plea that to do this now would be bad for Iraq and bad for Iraqi-American relations,” Senator Schumer said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s a good first step. Now let’s make progress on the long-term” goal of passing a hydrocarbon law, he said.

Wow.. Real Hard News. As reported by the NY Times.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Shame-Out: Man decapitated on Bus.

The "Beeb" (BBC) reports:

A man on a Greyhound bus travelling across the Canadian Prairies was killed and decapitated by the guy sittng next to him...

An eyewitness said the victim was stabbed 50 or 60 times by the man sitting next to him, who then severed his head with a large knife.

The bus made an emergency stop to allow passengers to escape and the driver barred the door from the outside while waiting for the police to arrive.
"All of a sudden, we all heard this scream, this bloodcurdling scream," a passenger said.

The man calmly walked up to the front [of the bus] with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," the passenger said. "There was no rage in him ... It was just like he was a robot or something," he added.

This passenger said he and a truck driver helped the bus driver bar the bus door to prevent the attacker from leaving.

When the attacker tried to drive the bus away, the driver disabled the vehicle.

hmmm...

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes. (this is from my OTHER blog-- sos-newdeal.blogspot.com )

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

6-18-08: Terry Gross VALIDATES my theory!!

in a blurb about TOMORROW's show:

June 19 · Philippe Sands, author of the book, Torture Team, explains the legal aftermath of Gitmo, and why, under international law, some members of the Bush administration may face investigation in other countries

GO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL.

BUSH Cheney RUMSFELD, and ESPECIALLY The jerk who was given a Presidential Medal of Honor


Run this search on my http://markbnj.blogspot.com/search?q=War+Crimes

=================================
(In case you haven't seen this, I believe the CURRENT recession will become a BAD DEPRESSION (Just like the 1930's!)
We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.

We need a new deal.

We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

We need to FIX:
* A Living Wage
* National Single payer Healthcare
* National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Tax Reform
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure
* Lack of Training/futures


See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details on rebuilding society.

WTF: Judge bars use of word "Rape" in RAPE TRIAL!

Ms. Tory Bowen (33), sued Lancaster, (NE) District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, claiming that he violated her free speech rights.

WTF???

Lancaster District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, recently barred words such as "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial.

Wait... A JUDGE..barred the word RAPE from a TRIAL involving SEX??

Look HERE:
-----------------
Summary:
The JUDGE issued (IMHO) A STUPID male centrist; paternalistic ruling. He had his REAR Reamed, when about 75 people staged a lunchtime protest at his courthouse, while the Jury pool was there.

The Judge then declared a mis-trial, and said the case should be moved out of the city.

-------------
Mark Says:

FOR SHAME judge.... This is the Year 2007, and male chauvism SHOULD be DEAD.
YOU PRESUMED that the WOMAN was GUILTY, and your ruling SHOWS that. YOU should be CENSURED!
---------------------------------
(back to the Case...) THe MALE's ol' boy network (Judge) approved a defense motion before the first trial that banned certain prejudicial terms from testimony. The motion was granted based on a state law that gives judges authority to ban certain evidence and language.

The words the judge banned were "rape," "victim," "assailant," "sexual assault kit" and "sexual assault nurse examiner," the title of the nurse who examined Bowen.

The victim, Bowen, said, "This wouldn't have been an issue if the court had ruled that I had the right to say I was raped."

"It's a huge issue, and all eyes are on Nebraska," Bowen said.

This was the second trial, as Last Winter, a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict, and a mistrial was declared.

The Judge, a district judge for 24 years, said from the bench it was not an unusual ruling.

However, several lawyers, both prosecutors and defense attorneys, have said banning terms like "victim" is common, though some said Cheuvront went too far in banning the word "rape."

They say the language ban would force her to commit perjury by describing what happened as "sex" or "intercourse," terms they say imply consent, rather than rape.

Bowen, who now lives in the Washington, D.C., area, said she has no memory of leaving the bar with Safi or consenting to sex. She said she woke up the next morning with Safi on top of her.

----------------------
SOUNDS like Date RAPE to me....

I think the answer to people this stubborn is to award, my brand new,

Male-Chauvinist-pig award.

Congratulations, Judge Cheuvront:
Here's your award!

MALE CHAUVINIST PIG, Soooeee!

------------
2008 Haiku: Impeach Cheney; Pelosi Pardons ; Democracy Restored-- Pass it on

WTF: Senator Sues G-d (God for you 'non-jewish' folken )

Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers, strategically shown with a "Man Made" Halo behind him! (snigger!)

State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week (reported yesterday by the AP via ABC).

Wait. There's an explanation!

and this is so disgusting, I've had to split it into TWO DIFFERENT Posts.

1. This post about the Leglislator suing God
2. The background about WHY the woman was suing the Judge.
   

-------------------About the God Lawsuit!----------------------

Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.

-------------------
Sen. Chambers says that,

"God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

...SNIP...He also says God has caused "fearsome floods ... horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes."

He's seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.

The Omaha senator, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, was trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.

------------------
Now for the meat of the story....


(see the explanation of that suit HERE)

------------------------------------
Chambers said Bowen’s lawsuit is inappropriate because the Nebraska Supreme Court has already considered the case and federal courts follow the decisions of state supreme courts on state matters.

Give me a BREAK.
THEN THE LAW needs to be adjusted.

UPDATE...

G-d RESPONDS to lawsuit!
------------------------------------

Today, the AP/ABC reports that there have been TWO responses to Chambers' suit against GOD.
------------------------------------

One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.

"This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here poof!" Friend said.

------------------------------------
Chambers said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.
The response to the lawsuit disputes this and says:

Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.

It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.

"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.

There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.

------------------------------------

The other response to Chambers' lawsuit disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.

Attempts to reach Senator Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful.

---------------------------------

To quote the (now) forty year old musical, "HAIR", "what a work of God is Man"

---------------------

As usual ALL comments welcome...

------------
2008 Haiku: Impeach Cheney; Pelosi Pardons ; Democracy Restored-- Pass it on

Stupid iS™: 800-Flowers Whoops to customer!

Whoops!

ABC News reports a good one.

1-800-Flowers is being sued for $1 million for revealing that a man was cheating on his wife.

Personally I think that was WAY too small an amount to ask for. Damages should be tripled, and 1/2 given straight to wife, and 1/2 to current girlfriend!

Leroy Greer said in a lawsuit filed this week in a federal court in Texas that he bought flowers for his girlfriend through 1-800-Flowers. He asked to keep his purchase private.

The company referred him to their privacy policy, and said fine.
Problem?? Not at all! The lawsuit continues that 1-800-Flowers sent a thank-you note to his house and his wife saw it.

WHOOPS!

When [the wife] called the company, 1-800-Flowers faxed her a copy of the receipt from Greer's secret purchase.

The receipt revealed that Greer had sent another woman a dozen long-stemmed red roses, along with a note that read, "Just wanted to say that I love you and you mean the world to me!" according to court documents.

According to Greer's attorney Kennitra Foote, The couple was already going through what was described as an amicable divorce.

But, after learning of the affair, Greer's wife asked for a $300,000 divorce settlement in addition to child support, said

"That thank-you note is going to cost him money," Foote said.

Greer is asking for $1 million for breach of contract and deceptive trade practices.

"This is not a moral issue," said his Attorney; "The issue is, is 1-800-Flowers in the business of causing divorce or are they in the business of sending flowers and sticking to their privacy policy?"

I think they deserve to do child support for ALL of the kids!

Just goes to show you. You have the choice: Choose good, or choose evil. Choose GOOD!

Stupid iS™: NBC Reporter for Dateline:NBC "OUTED" at Defcon!

Blonde ambition at Defcon

Reporter Michelle Madigan came to the 15th annual Defcon conference in search of a good story. Instead, she became one.

Thanks to "Robert Cringley" (The imposter at the FORMER magazine Infoworld, not the REAL Robert (X) (or bob) Cringley!)

The Chief geek at the show Jeff Moss decided to play "Spot the Reporter," asking the press person with the hidden camera to please identify herself. Once Madigan realized the jig was up, she fled the room.

She was gleefully tailed into the parking log by a dozen or so jeering Defcon attendees, which is the closest some of them had been to a girl in their lives.

For those of you in that last category, Michelle is the WOMAN, with blonde hair, and jeans at the upper right of the picture!

She is shown, quickly leaving the convention, having become today's latest celebrity gossip victim!

Of course we're talking about a group of HACKERS having a convention, so the fact that

show organizers knew Madigan was coming before she even stepped onto a plane, which is frightening but not necessarily surprising. This snippet from the IDG News story by Robert McMillan and PC World's Erik Larkin is worth repeating:

Defcon organizers identified Madigan after being tipped off by her associates, who a show organizer declined to name. After the incident, the show organizer showed reporters a complete dossier on Madigan, which included a photograph, phone number, job title and social security number. He would not say how he obtained it.

I have only two rules when dealing with the hacker community: Rule #1: Don't mess with the black hats. Rule #2: See rule #1.

'nuff said??

10 point bonus Question:

How is NBC Like the George Bush>

Answer: NBC is to George Bush, as a PERSON NOT thinking of "what comes NEXT" is to someone who is NOT CAPABLE of asking "What comes NEXT?" and has spent over 600 Billion dollars DOING it.

TecH: RFID Passports HACKED again! (2nd yr in row)

I've really gotta hand it to this overweight, German hacker (eats too much western junk food too!)

Lukas Grunwald, an RFID expert who has served as an e-passport consultant to the German parliament, says a security flaw with his German RFID enabled passport can allow him to CRASH the passport reader.

In "Geekspeak",

The security flaws allow someone to seize and clone the fingerprint image stored on the biometric e-passport, and to create a specially coded chip that attacks e-passport readers that attempt to scan it.

Grunwald says he's succeeded in sabotaging two passport readers made by different vendors by cloning a passport chip, then modifying the JPEG2000 image file containing the passport photo. Reading the modified image crashed the readers, which suggests they could be vulnerable to a code-injection exploit that might, for example, reprogram a reader to approve expired or forged passports.

"If you're able to crash something you are most likely able to exploit it," says Grunwald, who's scheduled to discuss the vulnerabilities this weekend at the annual DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas.

Last year at the BlackHat security conference he showed how he could extract the data on a read-only passport chip and clone it to a read-write chip that appears the same to an e-passport reader. Now Grunwald says he was able to add data to the cloned chip that would allow someone to attack the passport reader.

Buffer-overrun vulnerabilities occur when coding errors in software allow an attacker to overflow a section of memory dedicated to storing a fixed amount of data. Carefully exploited, they often permit the hacker to execute his own instructions on the vulnerable computer, essentially taking over the device.

Now HERE's the scary part!
If a (rfid-passport) reader could be compromised using Grunwald's technique, it might be reprogrammed to misreport an expired passport as a valid one, or even -- theoretically -- to attempt a compromise of the Windows-based border-screening computer to which it is connected.


Or even worse, take over the computer, infect a brand new unknown virus into the network
AND SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE AIRPORT
*** WHICH FOR STUPID COMPETITIVE REASONS all RUNS Microsoft WINDOZE!
Now it's time to be AFRAID.
Be REALLY afraid

Scenario one:
Al Queida:
Terrorist network hacker develops new virus/worm (see the Morris worm Here)
which will use the RFID reader to insert code allowing the terrorists into the country, and (say) 1/2 hour later take down the entire AIRPORT, then take down the
internet (the MICROSQUISH internet that is...) a section at a time

Remember " we presume that the terrorists have written a brand new, never before seen virus, that has NEVER been seen, so that ALL virus programs DONT recognize it to stop it!"
SO EVERY single darn WINDOWS box in the WORLD gets infected, and taken down...

(oh and the terrorists are NOW in the country, but their information was also erased from the network before it was blown away (erased).


AUGH... I can't even continue to a use attacking the food supply...

BTW, I AM available for hire... for the right price!!!

WTF: Stupid is as Ohio Does (new Anti-Choice laws)

Hey I admit it.

There is NOTHING new in the world.

I steal my stuff from other places too!

The Consumerist reports on the next wave of ANTI-CHOICE legislation...

Proposed LAW In Ohio Would Require ALL Women To Get A Man's Permission To Have An Abortion

Jesus Christ. ...[no... leave me out of this !!!]

Do I need to start on this? [yes, you started already]

1) It's the 21st century. What ever happened to Equal Rights???
2) WOMEN are now INFERIOR?
3) WHAT ever happened to "OUR BODIES, OUR SELVES"?
4) HOW SEXIST!
5) HOW QUAINT

Get this:

snip...
Not knowing who the father of the fetus is couldn't be used as an excuse under the new law. Women would have to provide a list of potential fathers who would then be required to submit themselves to paternity testing until a father is found. It would also make it illegal for a man who isn't the father to provide the permission.

augh...
TALK about ILLEGAL like BUSH....

Let's see .

The Equal rights amendment (ERA) never passed in the 1970's and 1980's. It fell THREE votes (States) short of ratification.

IF you live in these states, start writing your state legislative delegation (You won't have any women I bet!)\

States that NEVER Ratified the ERA

AKA the ERA HALL OF SHAME!

1. Alabama

2. Arizona

3. Arkansas

4. Florida

5. Georgia

6. Illinois

7. Louisiana

8. Mississippi

9. Missouri

10. Nevada

11. North Carolina

12. Oklahoma

13. South Carolina

14. Utah

15. Virginia

RUN ladies, don't walk, and START a "No ERA support NO sex campaign!"

Especially if you're married to a leglislator in one of those states!!!

WTF: Stupid is as stupid DOES (Brittany/Lindsay)

Lindsay Lohan. 2 DWI/coke arrests in a week...

Now Brittany..
The AP says: Britney Behaved Badly at Photo Shoot

Augh...

Britney Spears sat back and watched as her Yorkshire terrier puppy pooped on a $6,700 designer gown at a photo shoot for OK! magazine.

Now I really do feel that Brittany has gone thru a lot. Especially since her Ex cheated and has now fathered FIVE different children with four different women. (she has TWO kids by him while they were married!)

Damn. take a RIFLE to that man's balls, and Shoot them off!

Society is as Society Does.

Society is Crapped out, and this makes Every stupid woman think their contribution to the planet is SO Gosh Darned important that they must be forgiven for EVERYTHING.

Well Look at the stars of Yesteryear. THEY deserved it at least!

and they didn't have their dog poop on the goods that they didnt even own.
Bill that bitch for the ENTIRE cost

After about three hours, the 25-year-old singer bolted, walking away with more than $14,000 of borrowed apparel, Ivens said.

Send that woman a bill for $1,000,000 for damages!

Hell you won't find the Dixie Chicks having their dogs throw up at their press conferences...
SO much for a comeback album!

WTF : Don't try this at home department

My FAVORITE (new) WTF site is also Evil Mad Scientist Labs. (EMSL)

Do NOT try this at home.

They use something called, "A Sucide Cord"
aka a 120volt (or 220 for you Non USA/Japan-ites) power cord with it's end cut off

EMSL suggests a new DANGEROUS way to cook hot dogs (not for ME, since I'm a vegetarian!)
Electrocuting the hot-dog!


As they say in the article, do NOT try this at home, unless you Really Really want to win a Darwin award (explanation). The darwin award (web-site) and I quote

Honoring those who improve the species...by
accidentally removing themselves from it!

(in other words, killing yourself!)

SocietY: What we need HERE!

Koreans Dial "D" for DRIVE me home!

How do we set this up in the US of A?
The NY TIMES shows us this intimate profile of one of our most needed services in this country.

The "I'm Drunk, Drive me HOME" Service is where someone skunked out of their brains can call, and a sober driver will come and drive them and their car home for the nite.

These “replacement drivers” who makes their living by delivering inebriated people and their cars home. There are tens of thousands of them operating in this hard-drinking metropolis of 10 million people.


This is much better then the "cab ride home" solution we have here in the US.

What do YOU think?

WTF: NYC parking now at 225K (plus maintenence)

OK. Now (as someone who grew up in Manhattan) I'm sick.

This woman (who lives on Long Island)
now regrets her decision to not buy the parking spot in her building for 165K when she bought her apartment in the building last year.

"She and her three children, ages 7, 9 and 11, live on Long Island, but the children’s modeling schedules bring them into the city at least twice a week, and the apartment they bought in the building will be a pied-à-terre.

ARGUH. She lives less then 20 miles from manhattan,and STILL needs to commute via car.

PoliticS: Impeach The MotherFuc*er Already!

HE had the BALLS to COMMUTE Scooter LIBBY's SENTENCE?

Send the MoFo DIRECTLY to his TRIAL for torture!

what a set of IRON balls this dick has! *

*as of 6/2/07 at 10:42, we're STILL protected by freedom of speech

But based on NSPD 51 I bet it doesn't last much longer....

Until then, Mr. President, I salute you, . . . with my Middle finger...

And guess what folks, I heard on the radio the possibility that DICK CHENEY might be brought up on ARTICLES of IMPEACHMENT.

Cut HIS BALLS ANDHeart out!

TecH: Error Messages from HELL

ERROR MESSAGES from Hell

or

WTF were you THINKING, using WINDOWS for a display this size!

The WTF blog (No, you dirty people, it stands for "Worse then Failure!" shows this DOOZIE of a few ERROR Messages: Original story HERE:

Do you recognize the "Windows BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH??" SCREEN??

How about this one...Great advertising for the Paris Hotel by the way!