How dumb can you get?

From Fark.

Man accused of stealing bulldozer.

Actually, I didn't know that bulldozers are equipped with lo-jack.

Ooops.

And Spats thinks he is a football fanatic.

Garbage gourmets on the streets of New York

Found this on the Dick List, who got it from Moonbattery, who found it on Drudge, who I presume found it on a news source called Breitbart.

Jan 27 10:51 AM US/Eastern

I've got yogurts!" Stephen Woloshin shouts in triumph, causing other members of his group to lift their rummaging arms and heads from the rubbish bins outside a Manhattan supermarket.

Yeah, thats right. They are digging in the GARBAGE for food. It has to do with something called "Freeganism" according to Moonbattery. Personally, I call it being pretty damn cheap.

Teachers, social workers and students, Woloshin and his fellow scavengers are far removed from the swollen ranks of New York's homeless, belonging instead to a new faction on the fringes of the environmental movement.

Teachers, social workers and students. The students I could almost understand (being stupid enough to do this), but I would think, teachers and social workers would know that they are taking some BIG risks from disease.

As "freegans," they regard over-consumption as a pernicious global trend and seek to demonstrate how people can feed themselves for "free" on the mountains of produce discarded by others.

Yeah, stuff that has been tossed because its past its sell-by date or just outright rotten.

On one particular evening, the group, kitted out with small backpacks and string bags, are on a mission in Greenwich Village, scoping the streets of the chic district before the garbage trucks rumble through.

Oooh, they be swiping high-class garbage.

Their first target is a large pile of black bags dumped on the sidewalk outside a supermarket.

How much you want to bet they rip open the bags and after rooting around for foodstuffs and junk, they leave the bags to sit?

Squatting down, they give different bags an exploratory squeeze before pulling off the string ties and plunging hand first into what they hope will prove a mystery hamper of edible seconds.

Hope they plunge thier hand into some nasty rotten potatoes. (I found one once in a place in the mall. I don't eat at the mall anymore.)

The results are mixed, both in origin and appeal -- apples, oranges, garlic, baby carrots with seasoning, and vacuum-packed chestnuts.

The vac-packed nuts may be good yet.

The freegan rule of thumb for what goes into the shopping bag and what stays in the garbage is simple: "You look at it. You smell it. You feel it. If it seems okay, you take it."

God help you if you are wrong and it's diseased, or some guy tossed the dog's crap into the bag as well.

Next stop is a bakery -- "who wants some bagels?" -- followed by the upscale wastage of a "Gourmet Garage" outlet, where the attractive aroma of rejected pastries mixes with that of rotton lettuce.

Probably not really rejected. I am sure that they are not allowed to sell anything they have laying around after so long. One maybe two days.

For Woloshin, a social worker, this is his second freegan expedition.

Wonder if the hobos know he is giving them competition for food.

"It's a good thing to expose the waste," Woloshin says. "I make good money and I can afford to buy food, but it's a shame to see this waste."

Yeah, but that dosn't mean you become a garbage picker to protest.

Janet Kalish, a 47-year-old high school teacher, criticizes stores for overstocking as a cosmetic measure to keep shoppers happy.

Beats running out of stuff and losing customers.

"It's an attempt to give people a sense of wealth .... people feel good to see shelves that are full," says Kalish, a veteran freegan of more than one-year standing.

Garbage picker for over a year. Just think another 4 and you will be fully vested as a garbage picker, if your lucky by then you will be promoted to rag picker.

Kalish has become so adept at scavenging that the only food she still purchases in traditional fashion are the soy-based products she requires for her strictly vegetarian diet.

"My meals have become more diversified because I find surprises," she says. "Things I probably wouldn't buy in stores, like endives and avocado. I wash them well and I know where there's clean garbage."

Clean garbage? Lady, its garbage.

Discussing memorable finds, math teacher Jason Samuels recalls with a gourmet's grin the still-frozen, whole turkeys he picked out of a top-end grocer's rubbish.

Good for him.

"There's not a single food we can't find in perfect condition in a bag on a sidewalk," Samuels insists.

It has still been in the garbage.

Founded several years ago, the freegan movement embraces aspects of myriad other groups, including ecologists and the anti-globalization lobby.

"The solution to world hunger lies on the streets of New York," says Adam Weissman, the organizer behind the local chapter.

Yeah, I am sure the world would love to eat NYC's garbage.

"So much food is wasted in the United States," says Weissman. "When I go to a restaurant, I bring my meal."

Then what is the point of going to a restaurant?

According to City Harvest, a non-profit organization and "food rescue" program set up in 1981, millions of pounds of good, edible food are thrown away each year by New York City food businesses.

Because laws and the FDA make them.

The New York freegans hit the streets as a group two or three times a month, although many scavenge on their own, guided by a freegan website that carries recommendations for where the most palatable garbage bags can be found.

Wonder if they tell the street people this?

Their activities inevitably attract the attention of passers-by, some of whom, like Ronnit Keha, approve of what they see.

Idiot.

"This consumerism, this waste ... is disgusting," Keha says.

Told you.

Some of the group members acknowledge to moments of discomfort when their rummaging in garbage bins draws stares.

Well.. its not as if you are street people.

"There's a bit of a stigma. I used to feel my heart pounding and people looking down at me," says Kalish, for whom the rewards outweigh the embarrassment.

"I once found some fantastic strawberries," she beams.

I am not sure if she is a bigger idiot than Ronnit Keha.

I don't feel like writing.

So, just read the article and wonder on the stupidity of kids.

Kidnappers release new film of British peace activist

By Colin Freeman
(Filed: 29/01/2006)

Fresh footage of Norman Kember, the kidnapped British peace activist, was broadcast yesterday as his captors renewed their threat to kill him unless all Iraqi prisoners were freed.

Not likely to happen.

The demand, broadcast on Al Jazeera, the Arabic television channel, was the first public communication from the gang holding Mr Kember, 74, in nearly two months. In a statement accompanying the video, they gave no deadline for their demands to be met but said it was the "last chance" for the American and Iraqi authorities to save Mr Kember and his three fellow hostages.

How many last chances? 2 so far.

The appearance of the tape, dated January 21, seems to confirm that the kidnappers did not go ahead with their previous threat to murder the men in early December.

In the video, Mr Kember, from Pinner, north-west London, looked haggard and drawn but not visibly distressed. He was lined up with his fellow captives: the American, Tom Fox, 54; and James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both Canadian. Although the hostages appeared to be talking into the camera, there was no soundtrack on the video.

Probably have already decided that they are going to die anyway.

The broadcast of the video follows the release last Thursday of five female Iraqi prisoners from US military custody. Coalition commanders insisted that the women, who were suspected insurgents, were not being used as bargaining chips for the release of Jill Carroll, an American journalist who was kidnapped on January 7, or any other hostages.

They better not have been.

The Rev Alan Betteridge, a friend of Mr Kember, expressed hopes that the release of prisoners would nonetheless give the kidnap group an excuse to free their hostages. "I would long to feel that the captors would find a way of saving face and of saving life too," he said.

And encourage them to take more. Once they find out that even the Americans can knuckle under to threats, there will be no end to the the kidnapping.

Mr Kember was a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, which was investigating human rights abuses in Iraq. They were snatched as they left a Sunni Mosque in western Baghdad on November 26.

What were they doing in a Sunni Mosque.

Mr Kember's wife Pat, who was described by friends as "holding up well" under the circumstances, declined to comment on the latest video as she arrived at her home in Pinner last night.

Electronic signboard pisses off castro.

U.S. signboard touting rights angers Castro
Cuba leader says Bush trying to start crisis

By Gary Marx
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published January 27, 2006

HAVANA -- The top U.S. diplomat in Havana on Thursday defended the decision last week to install a huge electronic sign on the facade of the American diplomatic mission with streaming text of news and sayings about freedom.

So, its going to be like the street outside the NBC building. Only NBC won't say anything about freedom.

"What we are trying to do is communicate with the Cuban people," said Michael Parmly, chief of the U.S. Interests Section.

But Cuban President Fidel Castro denounced the sign and other U.S. measures, saying the United States is intent on sparking a diplomatic crisis.

It's only a crisis because castro wants to keep his people ignorant.

"All of the measures they have taken have the intention of provoking a rupture in these ties, these minimum links, in diplomatic relations," Castro told reporters Wednesday night as he stood outside the Interests Section.

Silly commie, you have no more interest in being diplomatic than I do.

In response, Cuban workers wielding jackhammers and other equipment have begun erecting a huge structure that observers said they believe is likely to block the sign that transmits messages from figures ranging from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to President Abraham Lincoln to President Bush.

That's the ticket, hide what you fear.

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent," the quote by Lincoln read.

Also passing slowly on the 5-foot high ticker, which is on the building's fifth floor and is illuminated only at night, is a quote by French philosopher Voltaire that reads, "Man is free in the moment he wishes to be free."

I wonder if they can move the sign higher on the building?

Alfredo Mesa, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a powerful Miami-based exile group, said the ticker is a good way to break the Cuban government's stranglehold on information.

But Wayne Smith, the former top U.S. diplomat in Cuba during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, said the sign would only further aggravate relations between Cuba and the United States.

I would sooner believe a Cuban than a man who worked for jimmah da rabbit slayer.

"Instead of tackling real issues they are doing this," said Smith. "It's theater of the absurd."

What are the "real issues"?

Few Cubans say they have seen the ticker because island officials have blocked off traffic around the U.S. Interests Section building in recent days.

Even before that, Cuban officials prohibited vehicles from stopping in front of the Interests Section, a modernist building on the Malecon, Havana's sweeping seaside boulevard.

At least you won't have problems finding a parking space.

"You have to drive fast on the Malecon, and it was impossible to read," said Llanes, a Havana taxi driver who refused to give her last name out of fear of being identified.

Reminds me of the members of demagogues underground, only instead of believing she is going to be arrested, she knows she will be arrested.

Since taking office, Bush has tried to weaken Castro's grip on power by tightening the 4-decade-old trade embargo while increasing support to the island's small and fractured dissident movement.

Gotta start somewhere I suppose. I would rather just tell castro "Step down or be invaded".

But Bush's measures have done little to shake Cuba's one-party system, in part because Cuba is now receiving assistance from oil-rich Venezuela.

Watch what happens when the money runs out.

Undeterred, U.S. officials have resorted to what some European diplomats describe as unorthodox methods to pressure the Cuban government.

Well, people whine when we use bombs to pressure commies, so we have to do something.

James Cason, Parmly's predecessor as head of the Interests Section, placed a large, illuminated sign emblazoned with the number 75 on the front lawn of the diplomatic mission in 2004 as part of its Christmas decorations.

The 75 signified the number of opposition figures incarcerated by the Cuban government during the crackdown on dissidents in the spring of 2003.

Would those be the dissidents that amnesty international refuses to believe in?

Cuban officials responded to the sign by placing huge banners and billboards outside the Interests Section featuring swastikas and images of bloodied and tortured Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody.

I have an idea, lets put huge banners of the tortured prisoners castro is holding.

On Tuesday, Castro led a huge government-organized march in front of the Interests Section to protest the ticker and other U.S. actions aimed at Cuba.

U.S. officials turned the ticker on just as Castro was beginning to address the crowd.

I hope the first message was something snarky.

"How brave the cockroaches are," Castro said. "It seems that Little Bush must have sent the order."

Speaking of cockroaches, have you managed to clean them out of your hospitals yet?

Back Massagers

I bought a back massager from JC Penny yesterday.

As yet, I am undecided if it was a good idea of if I am subconsciously punishing myself.
I do have to admit, its kind of nice on my lower back but its ripping up my upper back to beat hell.

If anyone in Texas wants to try it out, remind me to bring it.
BTW has anyone done any thinking on if its going to be March or April?

Pope's First Encyclical

The Pope has issued his first Encyclical.

I suggest you read it, even if your not a Catholic.

CIA secret prisons

Inquiry Finds No Proof of C.I.A. Jails But Stays Skeptical

Just because we have no evidence does not mean they are not there. Well, we have no evidence that elves don't exist too, does that mean elves are real?

By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: January 24, 2006

STRASBOURG, France, Jan. 24 - The Council of Europe's inquiry into allegations that the C.I.A. has operated secret detention centers in Eastern Europe has turned up no evidence that such centers ever existed, though the inquiry's leader, Dick Marty, said there are enough "indications" to justify a continuing investigation.

Remember, no evidence of crime is still "indicates" evidence when it involves the Americans.

The report added, however, that it was "highly unlikely" that European governments were unaware of the American program of renditions, in which terrorism suspects were either seized in Europe or transferred through the Continent to third countries where they may have been tortured. Drawing from news reports, Mr. Marty contended that "more than a hundred" detainees have been moved anonymously and illegally through Europe under the program.

If this really happened, don't you think that foreign governments would have a vested interest in nailing the jihad boys before they can blow up people?

The findings, delivered to the council today, drew scornful reactions from some representatives of the council's 46 member states, particularly from the British, who called the interim report "as full of holes as Swiss cheese" and "clouded in myth and motivated by a desire to kick America."

You mean eurotrash can actually figure that out? Damn, I'm impressed.

Mr. Marty, a Swiss senator and chairman of the council's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, was put in charge of the inquiry after a Washington Post article in November cited unnamed intelligence officials as saying that the C.I.A. had maintained detention centers in eight countries, including some in Eastern European democracies.

Ok, if they belive what the Washington (com)Post has to say without bothering to try and find out which "unnamed intelligence officials" (it was Spongebob, we swear!) said we had secret prisons in eastern Europe (or was it in bikini bottom atoll?).

A subsequent report by Human Rights Watch named Poland and Romania as two of those countries. Both countries, as well as others in Europe, have denied the allegations.

But, we all know that Poland and Romania are good American friends and should not be believed, even with no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr. Marty's findings to date amount to little more than a compendium of press clippings.

We all know how accurate THAT is.

"It would seem from confidential contacts that the information revealed by The Washington Post, Human Rights Watch and ABC came from different sources, probably all well-informed official sources," one passage in the report reads. "This is clearly a factor that adds to the credibility of the allegations, since the media concerned have not simply taken information from one another."

The well-informed official (to the press) source was a magic 8-ball. I swear to Allah it's true. "Since the media concerned have not simply taken information from one another." You know this, how?

Part of the reason Mr. Marty finds the allegations credible are other well-documented cases of America's rendition of terrorism suspects on European soil, including the 2003 C.I.A. abduction of an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who was sent to Egypt for interrogation.

Maybe the Egyptians wanted to ask him a few questions too.

Mr. Marty is equally wary of Romanian and Polish denials of the detention center allegations, noting that both countries are part of the American-led coalition fighting in Iraq and "escaped long dictatorships thanks largely to the American intelligence services."

Oh, yes, unimpeachable proof that they are American lackeys in the eyes of the EU. Wasn't it not too long ago they were bitching because Poland, Romania, and the rest of East Eurostan were thinking for themselves and not listening to france and Germany?

He has requested data on aircraft movements from Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control agency, and satellite imagery from the European Union's Satellite Center. But it is not clear what he hopes to find in the data or photographs.

Hoping to get good pics of naked eurotrash stewardesses, I suspect. Or maybe stewards. You can never tell with eurotrash.

His assertion that more than a hundred detainees have been moved through Europe - a number that he took from an article in the German newspaper Die Zeit - is not of a scale that would show up in satellite imagery.

He is after porn, don't worry about it. Is it just me or is "Die Zeit" translate as "The zit"? Maybe it's just me.

The debate over renditions and secret prisons reflects the deep mistrust that has developed in parts of Europe toward the Bush administration and its Eastern European coalition partners since the invasion of Iraq.

They haven't trusted us after George did what he said he was going to. How dare we!

Both Mr. Marty and the Council of Europe's secretary general, Terry Davies, are convinced that the American media know more about the alleged detention centers but are under government pressure to keep the information secret.

They don't know our papers very well do they?

Ok, Mr. Marty sounds like a name you would find belonging to an inhabitant of San Francisco's flaming pink district. It does. The guy needs to get a different last name. Sounds like one of those lame kids show host names. I had to say that.

"I know of a television company that has information that they are not willing to broadcast out of concern for their employees," Mr. Davies said. He declined to name the broadcaster or the source of the allegation.

I have information that all eurotrash are gay, I can't name my source because they are concerned for their employees. Sorry bub, but saying you can't name your source just makes me wonder if you have one.

Mr. Davies is scheduled to issue a report in February on what the council's 46-member states have done to ensure that such breaches of the Council's European Convention on Human Rights do not occur. Mr. Marty is expected to issue a final report on his inquiry in March or April.

(Song and dance routine) We have no proof, we have no proof, it doesn't matter because we hate Americans.

"This is no easy task; uncovering information about the operations of the world's most powerful spy agencies is not easy," said John Swift, terrorism researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The information doesn't fall out of the sky."

World's most powerful? Considering how often the CIA has been busted doing something stupid, I would hardly call them powerful. Oh, and have you figured out yet if Castro is still holding prisoners in gulags? Get back to us when you have found out.

For now, though, there is nothing concrete beneath the chatter to the allegations of secret prisons. "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret C.I.A. detention centers in Romania, Poland or any other country," Mr. Marty's report found.

If at the end of your investigation, you still have not found evidence, will you apologize to the US and our European Allies? Probably not.

Doreen Carvajal of The International Herald Tribune contributed reporting from Paris for this article.

No idea who she is, nor do I care.

You might be a BlueBlood if...

Got this from the Lady Heather.

--Instead of referring to two or more people as "y'all," you call them "you guys,"
(even if both of them are women)

Guilty.

--You think barbecue is a verb meaning "to cook outside."

It's not?

--You think Heinz Ketchup is really SPICY.

Bleah.

--You would never stop to buy something somebody was cooking on the side of the road. (e.g., boiled peanuts, pronounced "bald penis").

That's true.

--You don't have any problems pronouncing "Worcestershire sauce" correctly.

No idea how its pronounced.

--For breakfast, you would prefer potatoes-au-gratin to grits.

Yes.

--You never had and don't know what a moon pie is.

True.

--You've never, ever eaten okra -- fried, boiled, or pickled.

Also true.

--You eat fried chicken with a knife and fork.

Finger food.

--You've never seen a live chicken, and the only cows you've seen are on road trips.

We have had chicken and cows where I live.

--You have no idea what a polecat is.

Skunk.

--You don't see anything wrong with putting a sweater on your dog.

Dogs too big. All 3 of them.

--You would rather vacation at Martha's Vineyard than at Six Flags.

And put up with those snobs? No thanks. I like Texas better.

--You would rather have your son become a lawyer than grow up to get his own TV fishing show.

Let me think on this one.

--You drink either "Pop" or "Soda"- instead of "Cokes."

Coke is a brand, its pop, get over it.

--You've never eaten and don't know how to make a tomato sandwich.

I have too. I think.

--You have never planned your summer vacation around a gun-'n-knife show.

No.

--You think more money should go to important scientific research at your university than to pay the salary of the head football coach.

You have not seen them play obviously.

--You don't have any hats in your closet that advertise feed stores. You call binoculars opera glasses.

don't do that.

--You can't spit out the car window without pulling over to the side of the road and stopping.

Lets not go there.

--You don't know anyone with at least two first names (i.e., Joe Bob, Faye Ellen , Billy Ray, Mary Jo, Bubba Dean, Joe Dan, Mary Alice)

Ok, I don't. I used to know a Mary Jo, but she died.

--You don't know any women with male names (i.e., Tommie, Bobbie, Johnnie, Jimmie)

I know guys with girls names, does that count?

--You don't have Maw-maw's & Paw-paw's.

Whatses?

--You've never been to a craft show.

One. Never going again. BORING!

--None of your fur coats are homemade.

No fur coats.

--You have no idea who the Allisons, Pettys or Earnhardts are.

No idea, but there is Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardts kid.

Relatives.

My cousin told me he is a Liberal today.

His education has begun.

Black Jesus film preaches politics over religion

Got the original article from The Dick List.

By Rebecca Harrison

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Billed as the world's first black Jesus movie, "Son of Man" portrays Christ as a modern African revolutionary and aims to shatter the Western image of a placid savior with fair hair and blue eyes.

I don't know about you people, but I have always thought of Jesus as having brown hair and brown eyes.

The South African film, which premieres on Sunday at the U.S. Sundance festival in Utah, transports the life and death of Christ from first century Palestine to a contemporary African state racked by war and poverty.

Ok. Going from a relatively stable environment of Roman occupied Judea to something like... Somalia. Why don't I think Jesus would have lived too long in the face of armed gangs running around, raping, looting, other things African warlords enjoy doing?

Jesus is born in a shanty-town shed, a far cry from a manger in a Bethlehem stable. His mother Mary is a virgin, though feisty enough to argue with the angels. Gun-wielding authorities fear his message of equality and he ends up hanging on a cross.

Ok, but Jesus was put on the cross to suffer for the sins of mankind, not for speaking up about equal rights.

"We wanted to look at the gospels as if they were written by spindoctors and to strip that away and look at the truth," director Mark Dornford-May told Reuters in an interview.

So, to unspin it, you spinned it?

"The truth is that Christ was born in an occupied state and preached equality at a time when that wasn't very acceptable."

He preached equality? Where is that? I think I need to make a few calls to people more religious than I am. The Romans were far more concerned with rebellions than with the idea that the subjugated were equal. As far as they were concerned you were either a Roman citizen or you were not.

By portraying Jesus as a black African, Dornford-May hopes to sharpen the political context of the gospels, when Israel was under Roman occupation, and challenge Western perceptions of Christ as meek, mild and European.

Dornford-Mays wants to be a rabble rouser. Or just get attention. He could be needy.

"We have to accept that Christ has been hijacked a bit -- he's gone very blonde haired and blue-eyed," he said. "The important thing about the message of Christ was that it is universal. It doesn't matter what he looked like."

I have never seen a picture of a blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus. Can anyone find me one?

In fact, there was a film called "Black Jesus" made in 1968 and starring Woody Strode, but it is described as a political commentary rather than an interpretation of the life of Christ.

It probably tanked.

RESURRECTION HOPE

Made by the same theater company behind last year's award-winning "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha", Son of Man is in the tongue-clicking Xhosa African language and English and was filmed in the sprawling black townships near Cape Town.

So... you plan on using sub-titles I hope.

Jesus begins his public ministry after an encounter with Satan -- who appears cloaked in black leather -- during his traditional Xhosa circumcision rite.

How much you want to bet that Satan is a white boy?

He gathers followers from the factions of armed rebels across the country and demands they lay down their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity.

Which would get them killed in reality.

Dornford-May, who says he subscribes to Christ's teachings without necessarily believing he is the son of God, says the Jesus in the film is a divine being who rises from the dead.

Ok, he is not a Christian, but is making a movie about Christ to educate the world on what he belives is the Europeanization of Christ. What do you call a person like that?

His resurrection is meant to signal hope for Africa, the world's poorest continent which is sometimes dismissed by foreigners as a hopeless mess of conflict and corruption.

Because it is a hopeless mess of conflict and corruption. It needs fundamental changes in the thinking of the ruling elite before they are going to get anywhere.

"The ending is optimistic but realistic. There is an incredible struggle to get to the optimism," he said.

I, for one, am not to optimistic about this movie. Or should I say, propaganda piece.

Dornford-May says focus groups of church leaders and ordinary Christians in South Africa, where Christianity often comes in a conservative form, broadly praised the film, which he hopes will prove a hit on the continent and worldwide.

I think he is in for a shock. At least when it comes to the US.

Mary, played by the star of U-Carmen, Pauline Malefane, gets a beefed-up role as the inspiration for Christ's politics and humanity, compared to her fairly brief biblical appearances.

Ok...

And Malefane, who is married to Dorford-May, makes a smooth transition from playing the seductive heroine Carmen to the world's most famous virgin, he said.

Ah! That explains it. Its ummm.. I can't remember the word... You know, where you give work to your relatives so they get money.

"They are both women who are prepared to stand outside of society. They may be different sides of the coin but they are still the same coin -- but I'm not going to be very popular for saying that."

No, your definitely not going to be popular.

NYT Headline Generator

Its funny. Except some of them that I got that could very well be true.

More games

Ok, I was going to write something about Lieberman, but decided not to. Instead, I will talk about Dawn of War and its add-on Winter Assault.

Dawn of War is a game based on the table top game Warhammer 40,000. There are 4 races in the game; The Space Marines, who are giant genetically modified super-soldiers of the Imperium of Man. The Eldar, who are a dying alien race who usually don't bother to tell anyone why they do something. The Orks, who are greenskinned aliens who live for combat. Lastly there is Chaos, who were once Space Marines but have turned traitor to humanity and now seek to subjugate it in the name of the Chaos Gods.

Leaders: Space Marines have 2, the Commander and the Librarian (who is a powerful psyker(psychic person) not a keeper of books, although some do). Eldar have one, the Farseer, and the Avatar of Kheala Mensha Khaine. The Farseer is a psyker who tries to guide events of the future they see into a pattern that leaves as many Eldar alive as possible. Khaine is the bloody handed God of War, a demon really. The Ork leaders are the Warboss and the Mek. The Warboss is the biggest baddest Ork around, the Mek is an Ork who has an innate understanding of technological principles. Chaos has 2 leaders, Commander and the Sorcerer the Sorcerer is like a Librarian.

Weapons vary between the races, Chaos and the Space Marines use bolters (Guns that shoot miniature rocket propelled explosive tipped bullets), Eldar use High tech weaponry, and Orks use crude bolters. There are some unit differences but overall the game is well balanced. The AI however, is overly dependent on the rush as a way to fight.

Resources are based on how many control points you control. The more points, the more resources you have. Which makes sense but once you have so many, the game is pretty much over, after all your opponent is not getting as many is if they didn't build up a reserve of points they won't be building too many units go force you back out of their base.

The story to the single player game is this, a planet called Tartarus V is under attack from a massive ork Waaaaggghhhh! Pronounced WAH! So the Blood Ravens chapter of the Space Marines is called in to halt the Waaaahhhhh! and kill or force the Orks to leave. Beyond that, I am not going to tell you. Go play the game.


Winter Assault is the expansion pack, they add the Imperial Gaurd (not hard since they had most of the animations left over from Dawn of War The Imperial Guard have the IG Commander (very cool he gets a command squad of specialists and has power claws), the Imperial Assassin (its an assassin nothing really special, besideds the one-shot kill). Neither one can be attached to other squads like the leaders of the other factions can. But, to make up for this, they have sub leaders with special abilities, like the Commissar, who makes the squad unbreakable, the Priest of the Imperial Cult, who adds hits to the squad, and the Sanctioned Psyker, who does something but I find them mostly useless. There are alot of unit types for the IG, basic infantry squads, to Kasarkin, who are the elite of the Cadian IG units, the Ogryn who are from high-gravity worlds and BIG, but really stupid.

Added on for the other factions are, for the Space Marines, The Chaplain, who cannot be added to a squad (pity, that), but is an excellent hand to hand fighter. The Eldar get Fire Dragons, support unit with short range but nasty weapons. Orks get, Mega-armored Nobs, Orks in powerarmor! Only there are 4 of them, which is NOT enough. Chaos get the Khorne Berzerker, imagine a Space Marine who lives to kill at close quarters, in fact its the only pleasure in life they get, then add in a religious dedication to spilling blood in the name of Khorne. You get Khorne Berzerkers.

What I don't like about Winter Assault is they made some units less expensive but more limited, like the Land Raider, one is not going to cut it, let me have my 4 back. Space Marines are hard to use now, everything is expensive and by the time you get a decent force together your overrun. They AI now uses the wave tactic, namely it builds 3 units maxes their numbers out then dumps them in your base. It sucks, because you have to concentrate on defenses instead of on getting control points. Namely, you grab the closest and start building turrets to slow down the enemy while you build the rest of the force.

The single player campaign revolves around a fallen Imperial Titan on Lorn V, the IG wants it back so it can return to war in the Imperial Armies, the Eldar want to use it against an unknown evil, Chaos and the Orks don't know of its existence at first but when they find out they both want it for themselves.

Titans are 100 feet tall and carry enough firepower to destroy a city in short order, very fun to use on opponents, even if it cant move around on its own... yet.

Harvey.

Ok, Orcs getting wood could have been phrased as, Orcs fetching wood.

I still see no Charlie Brown...

Bin Laden transcript (partial) from Fox News

The following is a translation of the portion of the purported Usama bin Laden audiotape aired on the Al Jazeera network:

I propose a long-term truce with the U.S. military. God has prevented us from lying and betraying. You can give us this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan that you have destroyed.

Truce? What if we would rather have you dead? Your probably not going to get a truce, namely because we are stomping you like the rats you are and the fact that your probably already dead. Tape recordings does not a living man make.

This will prevent the loss of millions of dollars, billions of dollars that go to corrupt businessmen in the United States.

Still pissy that your money got frozen?

Our situation is getting better and better and your situation is getting worse and worse.

Prove it.

But I wanted to talk to you because of the lies that have been given to you by your President Bush when he commented on the results of the opinion polls in your country that showed the majority was for the pull out of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Uh, Dude, that was Ted Kennedy or one of the other demonrats.

You [Bush] opposed this opinion by saying a pull out of U.S. forces would send the wrong message and that it is better to fight them in their land than they fight us in our land.

A statement I agree with. It IS better to fight on your enemies land than on your own.

I have an answer for this. I'm saying that the war in Iraq is lit up like crazy and the operations are estimated in our favor in Afghanistan and the number of dead and injured on your side is greater and greater, in addition to material losses.

I have a better answer. Surrender now and we will let you keep your goat.

The result of the opinion polls are wise and Bush must follow it. Iraq has now become a point of attraction to all qualified people the mujahadeen who by the grace of God were able to infiltrate all the security measures that were taken by Coalition forces. And as proof to that: The bombings that you saw in many important capitals of the world.

My opinion is to erase islam from the face of the earth, it is wise and should be done forthwith.

The reason why we didn't have any such an operation in the United States is not because of security difficulties; the operation will take place and you will see such operations by the grace of God and by the will of God.

Riiigggghhttt. And God is going to award me rulership of the universe tomorrow.

So you see how Bush was misleading people. The opinion polls are for the pull out and it's important that opinion polls say the people didn't want to fight the Muslims in their land and they didn't want the Muslims to fight them in their land.

Not all the opinion polls are for a pullout, unless of course there are no more people shooting at ours. Oh, and we have your head on a stick.

I propose a long-term truce that will give the two sides stability and security.

Roughly translated this means "Stop killing us!"

And this is the most important, most diligent solution as a result of which there will be no losses.

Again, "Stop killing us!"

Worthless Sons of Bitches

Got this from Beth, who seems to want to get my blood pressure WAY up.


Update: University Committee Approves Bible Study Ban
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
January 18, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - A committee formed to examine bans on employee-led Bible studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) last week recommended that the university system president allow the bans to continue.

Ok, I knew about this a while back but I figured that the U. would mind its own damn business when it came to students free time, or more accurately the resident assistant's free time.

In a Jan. 11 report, the committee of administrators and students recommended that University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly allow the university's campuses to ban student employees from leading Bible studies in their university-funded dormitories.

Despite the fact that they are not on University time when they hold these and its not like you have to show up for them. In fact the only reason they don't like them is that they "might make students not want to bring problems to them". If you feel uncomfortable that the dorm headman is studying the Bible with a bunch of his buddies, your an idiot. Damn libtard dweebs.

Reilly formed the group in December after Lance Steiger, a Christian resident assistant (RA) at the Eau Claire campus, filed a federal lawsuit against the school charging that its ban on dormitory-based Bible study violated his free expression of religion.

You can bet there will be "repercussions", even if he loses horribly.

RAs "can participate in, organize, or lead meetings as long as they don't use their position to inappropriately influence, pressure, or coerce student residents to attend," the university report states. It does not explain what inappropriate influence means.

What they mean by it is anything that might offend someone somewhere unless it is NOT Christianity or conservatism.

The group's findings, which Reilly must endorse if they are to become official university policy, state that the university "has the right to establish reasonable restrictions on RA activities" and "the determination of where the meetings may be held has been left to the discretion of the individual institutions."

Translated that means any of the Universities can say what you can and cannot do for religious activities as long as you live in their dorms.

If approved by Reilly, the policy would allow the Eau Claire and Madison campuses of the University of Wisconsin to continue enforcing their pre-existing bans on RA-led Bible studies, at least until the Steiger lawsuit is decided.

And they will do their damnedest to make sure that even if he wins you still can't hold a Bible study.

Greg Lukianoff, interim president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which is backing Steiger, said he wasn't sure why the university committee recommended support for the bans.

He probably has some REAL good guesses, though.

"Certainly from where I'm standing it looks like there's been an awful lot of response to this case," Lukianoff said, pointing to "an awful lot of angry phone calls and e-mails by regular citizens to the university, but also state political involvement too."

DUH! A direct violation of a students activities on his own time? Yeah, that is going to upset quite a few people around here.

The case has prompted U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Wisconsin Republican, to voice his support for Steiger and other religious RAs in a letter to Reilly Jan. 13. "While I am glad the working group did not directly reaffirm the current ban on Bible studies by RAs in their dorm rooms," Green wrote, "I am extremely disappointed that it fell short of explicitly guaranteeing this Constitutional right."

Never expect libtards to understand the concept of "Constitutional Rights".

Green added, "Any policy that doesn't specifically affirm the right of RAs to hold private, non-mandatory Bible studies in their room is unacceptable and I urge you to reject it."

That would be because, if it isn't written in plain English, they will either, A: Weasel out of it, or, B: Ignore it completely.

Lukianoff also expressed concern that the UWEC Office of Housing and Residence Life was promoting what he called a double standard because it "likes and endorses ... public and official politicized events, but doesn't seem to want to tolerate private religious expression."

No shit, Sherlock.

The UWEC office sponsors a student group called Making Our School an Intercultural Community, which organizes productions of the controversial feminist play, "The Vagina Monologues."

Warning! Leftists reside here!

The student group also organized a presentation of the "Tunnel of Oppression," an exhibit at campuses nationwide that exposed students to graphic depictions of racial and sexual oppression. Cybercast News Service reported on the University of Maryland's version of the "Tunnel of Oppression" in May 2005.

How about the rights of RAs? They are oppressed, oh wait, they are oppressed by the school board, never mind.

Reilly has not announced when he will make a final decision regarding the new policies at the University of Wisconsin. Representatives from his office did not return repeated calls requesting comment for this article. Meanwhile, the website outlining the recommendations welcomes feedback from the public.

He will probably make a decision when the heat dies down, and he can get away with leaving the ban in place.

WTF?

Something is up.

Figure it out later.

Re-post tomarrow if I have to.



School sucks (all classes handed out homework, the bastards).

Video Games

I own a LOT of games, most of them have been rendered unusable because of the lack of DOS on my computer. Yeah, I am aware of DOS emulators, just haven't gotten around to that yet.

Anyway, I borrowed "The battle for Middle Earth" from my brother. The graphics are nice but its nothing totally new. Same rock-paper-sissors approach to combat. Pikes have bonuses against cavalry, Infantry against Archers, and Archers against Pikes and so on, so forth.

I do like the idea of the heros. You can level them up to get bonus powers for them. Gandalf gets wizard crap. Aragorn, Boromir, Faramir all get fighter type crap. Legolas gets archer crap. Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden all get Calvary stuff, for the most part. The hobbits get... a rock. Oh, and Elven cloaks. Don't remember much for them, they are support troops at best, they spent most of the battle for Rivendell either A: getting treasure chests or B: sitting by the back door, in case I lost the battle (didn't happen).

Cavalry if funny because they charge units and send the front and sometimes second ranks flying, to land by the last rank of a unit. That and I have fun sending wargs to go eat the peasants.

A word on resources, the Evil side uses wood and the good side uses farms. At least the orcs getting wood can fight if they have to. The farm can produce peasants. Who suck until you buy the draft power. Then they still suck, just not as bad.


I bought Civ IV last week, if you play Civ, the only major changes are to units and combat. Inviolate borders are a nice addition. The AI CANNOT cross into your territory and if they plop down a city they cant grab the surrounding squares like they could with III. Other than that, its Civilization, nothing really new. Except that someone finally told Sid Meiers that global worming is probably dreamed up by money hungry scientists. Global worming only happens after someone nukes somebody. Contrary to popular opinion, I have NOT done that... yet.

Ok, enough writing, gonna go back to playing middle earth or take a nap. One of them.

Security Council Members Agree on Iran -- FOX News

LONDON -- Russia and China agreed with the United States and its European allies Monday that Iran must fully suspend its nuclear program,

Ya think?

but the countries stopped short of demanding referral to the U.N. Security Council, Britain's Foreign Office said.

Based on the security council's current record, referring it to them would have resulted in the same as not referring it. They have wasted how much time trying to "negotiate" with the mad mullahs?

In a conciliatory statement, Iran's ambassador to Moscow praised a Russian proposal to move the Iranian uranium enrichment program to its territory; a step that could resolve the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

How about you give up on nukes and stick to coal and oil?

Russian President Vladimir Putin also urged caution in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue, saying that Tehran might still agree to the Russian offer and warning "it's necessary to work carefully and avoid any sharp, erroneous moves."

Because the last thing you want is to piss off mad dogs with nuclear weapons.

Britain, France and Germany, backed by Washington, want Iran to be referred to the Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

Ooooh, sanctions! How effective were those with Saddam Insane? Oh, yeah, NO EFFECT (other than to line the pockets of the UN and member nations).

But Russia and China, which have close commercial ties with Iran, have resisted such a move in the past and could stymie efforts against Tehran as veto-wielding members of the U.N. body.

They did the same with Iraq. It didn't help then, it won't help now. Wait until Tehran has nukes and decides they no longer need your help. Stupid wankers.

The British Foreign Office said all five permanent members of the Security Council — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China — and Germany had shown "serious concern over Iranian moves to restart uranium enrichment activities."

As well they should be, they should have been concerned a long time ago.

They agreed on the need for Iran to "return to full suspension," according to the statement.

To which the Iranians probably thought, "Try and make us."

Diplomats from Britain, France and Germany also informed officials from Russia, China and the United States that they plan to call for an emergency board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency next month. The 35-nation IAEA board, which could refer the issue to the Security Council, will discuss what action to take against Iran.

Since when do you need 35 nations, each with their own agenda, to decide if Iran is a threat or not? The Iranian President has only been calling to annihilate Israel. I suppose that is not concern enough for most nations. Stupid asshats.

Representatives of the six countries held a daylong meeting in London in a bid to reach consensus over what action to take after Iran removed U.N. seals from its main uranium enrichment facility last week and resumed research on nuclear fuel, including small-scale enrichment, after a 2 1/2-year freeze.

The response should have been, tamper with those seals and we stomp you.

The move alarmed the West, which fears Iran intends to build an atomic bomb. Iran claims its program is peaceful, intended only to produce electricity and it has threatened to end cooperation the U.N. nuclear watchdog if it is brought before the Security Council.

I will believe it is peaceful when the Iranians hand in their arms and keep only a token military.

The Russian proposal would ensure oversight so that uranium would be enriched only as much as is needed for use in nuclear power plants and not to the higher level required for weapons.

And how long will it take for someone to be bribed into ignoring a few tons of weapons grade uranium to be enriched? A month? Two months?

"As far as Russia's proposal is concerned, we consider it constructive and are carefully studying it. This is a good initiative to resolve the situation. We believe that Iran and Russia should find a way out of this jointly," Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, said in comments translated into Russian and shown on state Channel One television.

Meaning, they are the most likely to accept bribes.

Putin, speaking in Moscow after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Moscow's position is "very close" to that of the U.S. and the European Union. But he added that "it's necessary to work carefully and avoid any sharp, erroneous moves."

Covered my opinion of this statement already.

European diplomats have said in recent days there are signs that Russia, which is deeply involved in building Iranian reactors for power generation, is leaning toward referral. Putin's comments, though, seemed to suggest he was still looking for other alternatives.

Fishing for a bigger bribe. Cough it up muzzies!

China, which is highly dependent on Iranian oil, has warned that hauling Iran before the Security Council would escalate the situation.

Ok, our oil supply is threatened and it is a good thing, theirs is threatened and its a bad thing. These people like to say they are our friends?

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing took a cautious tone.

"China believes that under the current situation, all relevant sides should remain restrained and stick to solving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations," the ministry said in a statement.

Until its too late.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the vote on referral "ought to be as soon as possible."

Like yesterday, or maybe the day before.

"We've got to finally demonstrate to Iran that it can't with impunity just cast aside the just demands of the international community," Rice said Sunday during a trip to Africa.

Iraq did for over 10 years. Within 10, Iran will have nuclear weapons. TALKING is not going to intimidate them into obeying.

Speaking before Monday's talks in London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the "onus is on Iran" to prove its program is peaceful. He said the international community's confidence had been "sorely undermined by a history of concealment and deception" by Iran.

Thank you for noticing.

Straw said the dialogue with Russia and China was of "crucial importance."

Yes, getting it through their heads that we can't be waiting for another year or two, while they squeeze as much out of Iran as they can, will not be tolerated.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said the London talks signaled "growing international concern at the behavior of the Iranian government and at ... the words of the Iranian president," who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said the Nazi Holocaust a "myth."

That alone should give you a good idea of their intentions.

Iranian state radio, meanwhile, reported that the government had allocated the equivalent of $215 million for the construction of what would be its second and third nuclear power plants. Iran plans to build 20 more nuclear plants, and Russia has offered to build some of them.

And Russia is receiving how much to do this work?

Straw reiterated that military action against Iran is not an option.

Yes it is.

He also said sanctions were not inevitable even if the nuclear dispute is referred to the Security Council, saying other countries had complied with council demands without the need for sanctions.

They were not being backed up by a former superpower and a near superpower.

Who to blame.

You all can blame this whole thing on, Harvey , Humble Devil Dog, Beth, Denita, and of course Misha(who has not a clue he is being blamed).

Why do this? I don't know why either, it seemed like a good idea at the time, of course, that was around 11:30 PM, or so, and I was paying more attention to the blond girl that was sitting a couple of tables to the left when Harvey was taking my excuses apart.

I think I need to start paying more attention when giving excuses. Or something. Anyway, we will see how long I pay attention to this before I get bored and forget about it.