Deja Vu All Over Again? Roll Out The Propaganda Machine For another Run!

They're at it again... Beating the war drums and turning up the volume on the subtly fascist propaganda machine. They're preparing you for a war with Iran, just like they did for the wonderful little party we now enjoy and pay for with blood and treasure in Iraq. You might wanna take action on this by letting the media and your congress reps that we won't be fooled again. Support the troops for real. Help keep them out of harm's way for yet another boondoggle.

-maltok 5

Keith Olbermann is God

OK, so I've been out of commission working on some other projects outside your little world, but every time I come back, there is another Keith Olbermann nugget of not only wisdom, but prophetic vision and bravery. This from a year ago, but still even more important if you are to survive with a semblance of democracy intact. I should change this blog to the "Keith Olbermann Please Help Us! Fanclub."

Happy, happy... - maltok 5

Keith Olbermann Loves You

happy Independence Day...

Behold a pale horse rising
Underneath the radar screen
Of you and me conniving
Underneath the bleacher seats...

Well me and Marie
Thought we'd nothing left to see
At the tenderized age of 19
Our logic unassailable
Our goals were all attainable
We were on top of the Scene

Well we rode around in cars and to many juice bars
In a Vanagon with a crop circle emblem
Political connections led to
Other world inspections
Till the men started showing up in black suits
Banging on my door
And then our bodies started floating off the floor

I want to know
I don't want to know

Some things I've seen have been worrying me
But I think I got it all figured out
I took the documentation on the alien nation
And I mailed a thousand copies
To the Postmaster General for the war
But it didn't get far

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If I should die before I wake
Just let me dream...

Now I'm edgy and I'm nervous and I'm twitchy
And I'm feeling pretty sketchy about the
Weight of the world falling off our shoulders

Behold a pale horse rising
Underneath the radar screen
Of you and me conniving
Everywhere and in between
I want to know
I don't want to know

May all beings be free from hostility
Bathe our hearts in the Sea of Tranquility
Give us strength and give us clarity
Open our minds to possibilities
May all beings be free from hostility now

Now I'm boarding up the windows
And I'm charging up my batteries
And hiding in the basement
With my shotgun pointed at the door
I can't take any more

I can't feel my face in the morning
I can't feel my baby beside me
I can feel the flesh rot on my bones
We're going down...

Behold a pale horse rising
Underneath the radar screen
Of you and me conniving
Cutting off the puppet strings

© Ken Adams, BMI

I Just Love Me Some Cheney!

Yet another story about our cuddly VP's hilarious hi jinks. What will that crazy madcap rascal think of next? He's such a card... I just want to hug him. - Maltok 5

'A Different Understanding With the President'

By Barton Gellman and Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 24, 2007; Page A01

Just past the Oval Office, in the private dining room overlooking the South Lawn, Vice President Cheney joined President Bush at a round parquet table they shared once a week. Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.

In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.

Cheney's proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed "military commissions."

"What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded, [more]

A Most Profitable Farce

From our good friend Chris Nelder. He crunches the numbers and worries late at night... so you don't have to! - maltok 5

2007-06-15
By Chris Nelder

I hope you’re watching the debate right now over the sprawling S.1419/H.R.6,12 ball of energy legislation in Congress, because if you aren’t, you’re missing some real comedy.

You can almost figure out which state a Congressman is from just by reading what he or she is saying.

Bashing wind power? Clearly from a coal state. Probably Illinois or West Virginia.

Bashing coal? Clearly from a solar state. Probably California or Nevada.

And so on. Those bills are already encumbered by some 20 amendments, and the debate only started Tuesday. It’s real-life comedy in earnest.

We’ll get to the “profit” part in a minute. But first we need “broad satire and improbable situations” to make it a true farce.

We don’t have to look too hard for that.

Take the battle over CAFE standards. They haven’t been updated since 1983, leaving America still grinding away with 210 million inefficient guzzlers. We set standards of 27.5 mpg for cars and 24 mpg for light trucks, and wound up with a fleet that gets about 20.4 mpg on average, while European cars are getting an average 40+ mpg and Japanese cars 45 mpg. [more]

Now Here Are Some Real Amurcans!

Happy Birthday, Habeas Corpus!!

Today, June 15th, marks the 792nd anniversary
of the writ of habeas corpus.*

There’s rarely been more at stake for our friend
Habeas Corpus than there is this year. So we’re
taking a moment to celebrate him and show him
we care. And you can be a part of the celebration.

Perhaps Our Last Hope Dances To The Beat Of An Internal Defibrillator

Some forward thinking folks may be on to something here. Who but the whining, knee jerk, elite, poo-poo head liberals would need to hide behind something like the Constitution anyway? The man is nothing if not dashing, muscular and oozes credibility. Do you think that in this picture he's asking where the Queen got her handsome hat? - M5

Dick's the Man: Dick Cheney 2008

America is under attack from people who hate our freedom, and the Democrats are every day growing bolder in their support of the kind of radical " 21st century fascism" practiced by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Hugo Chavez, and in their attacks on our brave troops. Indeed, the situation is so dire for our country that some have begun to ask a very relevant question: is a military coup and dictatorship the only thing which could save this great land?

There is a much more positive solution for our country, and some are already beginning to recognize it: [more]

Governments Claim Timeshare Rights in Melting Arctic

It's staggering to think of the ramifications of what this article reports on. A new land rush of governments to claim waterways and land for when you humans melt all that ice up on top (and bottom) of your planet. Just think, a timeshare on the beach with imported GMO palm trees planted outside a wonderful fake plastic igloo condo building! Now that's a place to party, eh? One giant step for mankind...

Sleep well. - Maltok 5

From OnThe Commons.org

Reclaiming a True Global Commons in the Arctic Melt

Posted by Kathryn Milun on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 1:22pm

New territorial claims on islands and sea-routes emerging as the Arctic icecaps melt might make you laugh if you could forget the last 500 years of Euro-American expropriation and colonization. (See “Arctic Ice Melts Create New Land Rush” by Robert J. Miller, May 7, 2007.) With global warming we have a ludicrous display of national patrimony along with the usual international theft. Denmark, Canada and Russia are dispatching warships to hoist flags on frozen tundra. Bottles of brandy have been buried as proof of discovery and claim. The U.S. is also making claims in the region on behalf of an international community eager to see the emerging waterways as “neutral,” open access global commons whose assets are ready for the taking by First World nations and multinational corporations. Folks, what is this nonsense of flag raising and bogus international commons all about?

In the wake of global warming there is a vast water and land grab now taking place under the guise of international law. Who are the rightful owners of the right-of-way, resources, and wealth potential now surfacing along with the disastrous effects of global warming in the Arctic region? Can the legal tradition of a global commons be invoked at the international level to secure justice in this new domain? [more]

D'oh!!

A choice article from Chris Nelder of the GetReal List and Energy and Capital.
Excerpted from Energy and Capital.

There’s a Hole in the Bucket

2007-05-18
By Chris Nelder

That does it. Time to set this record straight.

If I get one more email petition asking me not to buy gasoline on some day or another, or from one company or another, I'm gonna scream.

Some consumers actually decided not to buy gasoline yesterday, because an email chain letter suggested that if enough of them stayed away from the pumps on May 15, it would bring prices down.

Get a grip, people.

Such tactics could never reduce the price of gasoline. And that chain letter has been going around since 1999.

One instance claimed that if all 72 million MySpace users participated in the "gas-out," it would bring the oil companies to their knees by depriving them, at $30/tankful, of $2 billion in revenue that day. (Huh, I only wish I could fill up my tank for $30!)

Eeeyeah . . .

Before I get into this flawed math, allow me to cite yet another nursery rhyme . . . after all, everything we needed to know we learned in kindergarten, right?

Sing along, now: [more]

FREE the evil galactic overlord named XENU

Isn't it time to let Xenu go free? He's been locked up for 75 million years. So what if he blew up trillions of people, implanted their souls into our human bodies and this is now the main cause of all our problems today. Hey, we all make mistakes.

Xenu and I, Maltok 5 have been sworn enemies for the last 36 million years, (but who's counting?) I think it's finally time to bury the hatchet. -Maltok 5
Satire.

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Consumans - Not A Pretty Picture

Boy, the raw consumption of humans is always astounding, but when depicted in artistic form, brings the sheer volume home... with a vengeance. Check out these beautiful and terrifying art pieces by artist Chris Jordan; and be sure to "zoom in." Thanks to Chris Nelder of the GetRealList and Energy and Capital for posting this on his venerable energy blog. Now get back to consuming... the world won't end itself now, will it? -Maltok 5


Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait
By Chris Jordan

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. [more]