The Doctor's Log

Wikileaks released thousands of 'classified' documents—most pertaining to the War in Afghanistan—the other day.

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A classic tactic is to attack the messenger if one can't attack the message, and this is what is happening, in purely Orwellian fashion.

Steven Aftergood, head of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, in his blog posting on June 28 accused WikiLeaks of “information vandalism” with no regard for privacy or social usefulness. “WikiLeaks must be counted among the enemies of open society because it does not respect the rule of law nor does it honor the rights of individuals,” he wrote. (emphasis mine)

Steven must've been asleep for the last 9 years. You know, the part where the US decided that International Law was an “inconvenience” and could be ignored. We have NO leg to stand on when it comes to accusing others of disregarding the law. Remember how we stopped following the Geneva Convention (or, more accurately, redefined the rules of the game to conveniently side-step the Convention so Bush, Cheney, Rumpsfeld, et. al. wouldn't be declared 's war criminals and subject to trial)?

In either case, remember that to expose government cover-up and lies by exposing them to the light of day is to be an enemy of open society: cover-up is transparency.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. — George Orwell, “1984”

(Note: I found this while cleaning out old files; I wrote it back on Sep 8, 2003 and never published it! Sheesh.)

Seems that since no one is going for the national ID card scam, Big Bro is pulling the “terror” card to get his way. Bob Hager and Bob Sullivan report that it seems that it is incredibly easy to get a driver’s license, which happens to be the key to society, or something. Apparently, undercover agents were able to obtain licenses with obviously fake documents. Sometimes they had to correct minor mistakes (like birthdates not matching or fake birth certificates printed without a state seal), but the incompetent DMV workers failed to confiscate the fake documents and alert the police, which is what they’re supposed to do.

The net sum of all of this is ... (wait for it)...

Behind the scenes we need to have standardization so an ID card from Virginia can be verified using the same software as an ID card from California.
—“Privacy expert” Rob Douglas

Ding, ding, ding! Give that man a prize! If we don’t get national IDs then the terrorists will win---or something. Please have your papers ready; the Volkssicherheitsministerium will be by shortly to check. Old people, small children, the sick and infirm to the left; all abled-body people to the right. Schnell!

Here is a quote I will leave you with, from Philip K. Dick.

“Don’t confuse a totalitarian society with a dictatorship,” Kellma

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n said dryly. “A totalitarian state reaches into every sphere of its citizens’ lives, forms their opinions on every subject. The government can be a dictatorship, or a parliament, or an elected president, or a council of priests. That doesn't matter.”

No more blaming Google for telling you to walk into moving traffic!

Ugh. Give it to a blogger, says Sullivan.

Why not allow bloggers in the front row? We'd sure make the awful, smug, useless Gibbs less comfortable.

Hell, yeah!

At least a feisty blogger would be more likely to serve in the spirit of Thomas than some warmed-over putrid Gannon-like crapnugget.

What is the definition of a Terrorist? There really isn't one, so let's turn to the random people at Wikipedia:

Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which ... disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).
—“Terrorism”

BP, in the effort to maximize profits, knowingly and adversely modified the blowout preventer, operated without safety documentation (ironically the documentation was for handling the exact problem that occured), avoided standard inspections on the blow-out preventer, and failed to install a top-kill stack on the same BOP, which would've allowed it to actually be engaged when the rig exploded.

Is extreme negligence in the face of an—if not THE WORST—environmental disaster ever a form of terrorism? We're talking about at least 11 dead on the platform, and another 7 injured cleanup workers (who were not provided respirators, even though OSHA recognizes oil's VOCs as hazardous). All the other cleanup workers are exposed to VOCs. Why no respirators for any of them? The levels of Benzine are "low," right?

Is extreme negligence due to incompetence, laziness and greed ‘terrorism’?

BP CEO Tony Hayward

If so, this man needs an orange jumpsuit and a reserved cage at Guitmo Bay.

While watching the fascinating video series, Climate Denial Crock of the Week, I came across the following comment:

There is not enough data to prove there is global warming, ~.
—@Shotosboring1stpick

Sigh.

I got news for you, pal—there's also not enough data to prove "gravity" or "germ theory," either.

Fortunately for us, science doesn't work that way.

Newsweek this week printed an interview with Franklin Graham (son of Billy), who was disinvited to the national prayer day ceremony at the Pentagon.

Franklin again spews out misinformation:

But you have—what is it?—80 percent of America claims to be of the Christian faith.

According to the CIA Worldbook:

Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)

That's 76.8, bubba. Add the Mormons and you're almost there: 78.5.

Now the scary part: America is 100% (one hundred percent) atheist. Yes.

How many Americans believe in Jove as the King of the Gods? How many worship Achuhucanac? Mug Ruith? Njörðr?

I thought not. Buncha heathens!

The Oklahoma Senate passed another Woman-Hatin' bill this week:

The bill requires a woman seeking an abortion to provide marital status, reasons for ending the pregnancy, whether she currently is receiving public assistance and whether the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.

OKLAHOMA CHILD MURDER QUESTIONAIRE

Marital Status: Yes, I have a status.

Reasons for ending the pregnancy: Look in the mirror sometime.

Are you receiving public assistance:  Look it up yourselves, 
or don't you know how to use a computer?

Was the pregnancy the result of rape or incest: Why, are 
you worried you're the father?

Douche Sen. Steve Russell, R-(duh) Oklahoma City, said the bill is not about women: "It’s about the children in the womb and the life God created.”

George Carlin had something to say about that. "People say 'life beings at conception'. I say life began about a billion years ago and it's a continuous process. Continuous. Just keeps rolling along. Rolling, rolling, rolling along." (@ 3:31):

I recently needed some tamper-proof torx wrenches to open and repair a leaky coffee maker.

Why there are tamper-proof torx screws on a coffee maker? I guess to protect it from vandalism. Or to keep prying eyes away from the trade secrets contained within.

Anyway, my first stop was Sears. I love me some Sears, yes I do. It doesn't take long to find what I want.

Excitement quickly turns to disappointment when I learn that I cannot go get it at a store, but must have it shipped (for an additional cost). Surely I can find it locally?

A bit of googling later...

That's like HALF PRICE! Ha HA! Now who's your daddy?