:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Saturday, October 15, 2005 ::

Give me your number, in case I die.

Kurt Vonnegut at 82

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 10:28:00 PM [+] ::
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We know what they want, but do we know how they got it? on Punk rock and Anarchy. With a good excerpt on Crass

Crass was loudly anti-violence, anti-police state, adopting the slogan “Anarchy & Peace” with an image of a tommy gun being shattered by the circle-A. The band also pointedly distanced itself from the first punk acts. To Rimbaud and the others, the Pistols and the Clash were merely comfortably left of center, barking of socialism and human rights, while working for the corporate interests of Columbia and Warner Bros.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 10:23:00 PM [+] ::
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It says alot that nazis can cause a riot. I don't like Nazi's but they are more of a joke than a real threat.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 09:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Rove Cancels Appearance at Fundraiser for Kilgore

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 09:22:00 PM [+] ::
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Syria... the next scapegoat in the War on Terror

I was struck by this front page article in the New York Times today
G.I.'s and Syrians in Tense Clashes on Iraqi Border

It seems that the U.S. is playing up a claim that foriegn Islamic radicals are a major force in Iraq with

frustration mount[ing] in the Bush administration and among senior American commanders over their inability to prevent foreign radical Islamists from engaging in suicide bombings and other deadly terrorist acts inside Iraq.

But if you read on towards the end of the article it goes on to state that

Some current and former United States military and intelligence officials who said they believed that Americans were already secretly penetrating Syrian territory question what they see as the Bush administration's excessive focus on the threat posed by foreign Arab fighters going through Syria. They say the vast majority of insurgents battling American forces are Iraqis, not foreign jihadis.

According to a new study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, intelligence analysis and the pattern of detentions in Iraq show that the number of foreign fighters represents "well below 10 percent, and may well be closer to 4 percent to 6 percent" of the total makeup of the insurgency.

One former United States official with access to recent intelligence on the insurgency added that American intelligence reports had concluded that 95 percent of the insurgents were Iraqi.

This former intelligence official said that in conversations with several midcareer American military officers who had recently served in Iraq, they had privately complained to him that senior commanders in Iraq seemed fixated on the issue of foreign fighters, despite the evidence that they represented a small portion of the insurgency.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Ads in Va. Governor Race Mention Hitler

The Republican candidate for governor is drawing fire for campaign ads that suggest his Democratic opponent is so averse to the death penalty he would have spared Adolph Hitler from execution.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Special Election

In an attempt to see what the other side thinks I went to the California Republican partys website. One problem is you can't pull up any info on the special election. The web site is all fucked up. Just one more reason why the Republican Party is so weak in California.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:50:00 PM [+] ::
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'God Bloggers' Head to National Conference

What would Jesus blog? That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Miers and Presidential Power

When the Senate Judiciary Committee begins its hearings on the Miers nomination, Senators should carefully probe her views on presidential power. And, as noted in an earlier posting, they should also ask about her views on the relevance of international legal rules to the exercise of this presidential power during time of war-- in particular, the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Torture Convention.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

Claiming it needs greater latitude for the war on terror, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has approved a request from the Pentagon for the right to "covertly" gather intelligence on US citizens in order to determine whether they can recruit them as informants, without telling them that they are doing so on behalf of the US government.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Democrats' hopes rise for 2006 election

Democrats on Capitol Hill see their best hope in a decade to sweep back into power in midterm elections on the coattails of Republican ethical woes.

I don't see it happening...

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:52:00 PM [+] ::
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You can now order the new propagandhi album Potemkin City Limits here

THe real question is can you still call them Propagandhi? The bass player left two albums ago and guitarist/ vocalist Chris Hannah left in 2003 meaning the only origianl member is the drummer. Basically its now a group of people who have gotten together to play Propagandhi songs. I guess we call them Propagandhi...

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Marijuana could improve memory, reduce anxiety and depression

Canadian researchers have discovered that smoking marijuana could improve a person's memory and mood.

A team at the University of Saskatchewan headed by Xia Zhang found that injections of a potent HU210 synthetic substance that mimics the active ingredients in cannabis increases the production of neurons in the hippocampus area of the brain in rats

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Daniel Weintraub has some ideas on how to get Iraqis out of the group think and into a more individualist perspective.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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