The latest INGSOC directive:

British motorists face paying a new charge for every mile they drive in a revolutionary scheme to be introduced within two years.

Drivers will pay according to when and how far they travel throughout the country's road network under proposals being developed by the Government.

Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, revealed that pilot areas will be selected in just 24 months' time as he made clear his determination to press ahead with a national road pricing scheme.

Each of Britain's 24 million vehicles would be tracked by satellite if a variable "pay-as-you-drive" charge replaces the current road tax.
posted by Kevin at 11:02 PM

The people who write this sh*t are obviously worn out. Five-year-olds routinely cook up better stories than this. My personal favorite is the urine-flying-through-the-air-vent trick. HAHAHAHAHA! I don't know what's worse, the laughable, fabricated nonsense, or the fact that CNN offers this up as objective news!?

CNN---what a joke. I might as well link to Mad Magazine:

A U.S. military investigation into the mishandling of the Muslim holy book at the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected terrorists has determined that detainees -- not U.S. soldiers -- attempted to flush the Quran down the toilet there.

However, the report did find four confirmed incidents in which U.S. personnel at the base mishandled the Quran, including guards kicking a detainee's Quran; a guard's urine "splashed" a detainee and his holy book after coming through an air vent; and guards got in a water balloon fight that resulted in two detainees' Qurans getting wet.

In a fifth confirmed incident, it could not be determined whether a guard or a detainee wrote a two-word obscenity in a detainee's Quran.
posted by Kevin at 9:41 PM

Man summons UFOs, Deep Throat revealed...

Apple switching to Intel!?

What could possibly be next?

I apologize if you don't follow computer news, but, if this is true, it's the most important story in the history of Apple Computer.

I like OSX, but I don't use Mac systems because they are expensive and slow compared to the garbage I can slap together on the x86 platform under Windows and Linux.

Now, before the iTwits (those Apple users who have swallowed Steve Jobs' KoolAid) get on my case, know that I grew up using an Apple ][e and that I started using Macs when they were released in 1984. In 1996, I switched to Windows because the Mac OS had gotten THAT bad. Can you imagine, seeking relief in Windows 95? A couple of years ago, I bought a Titanium Powerbook (running OSX) because I really wanted to return to the Mac. The problem was, Windows 2000 just wasn't that bad, since I knew how to lock it down and it was/is really fast! I sold my Powerbook after a couple of months because the thing started to feel like it was stuck in the mud.

It's not just me.

I guess Steve Jobs finally got fed up with articles like this; articles that show the Mac's performance to be joke, relative to similar class gear from Intel.

If you're not getting speed when you buy a Mac, what are you getting? The Mac OS is very secure by default and users don't need to know anything about security to avoid being set-up-the-bomb. This is probably the strongest argument for Apple's offerings. (On Windows, the average user WILL experience pain. It's only a matter of time.) Additionally, there is tight integration between apps, and, of course, OSX is nice to look at.

But before you get too excited about the prospect of Intel based Macs... Consider the gloomy bits:

These new Macs will be stuffed full of all the evil DRM hardware that the rest of the world is already starting to choke down. My guess is that, in a dark crypt somewhere, hooded figures are saying something like, "One DRM architecture to rule them all!" That's right! Since Microsoft and Intel designed it, Apple will have to implement the thing for Mac OS to run on those chips. And the non DRM Linux holdouts, who will probably figure out a way to get around the DRM hardware mess, will be hunted down and thrown in a gulag with the other terrorists.

So it goes... The End of general purpose computing:

Apple Computer plans to announce Monday that it's scrapping its partnership with IBM and switching its computers to Intel's microprocessors, CNET News.com has learned.

Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said.

The announcement is expected Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, at which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is giving the keynote speech. The conference would be an appropriate venue: Changing the chips would require programmers to rewrite their software to take full advantage of the new processor.

IBM, Intel and Apple declined to comment for this story.
posted by Kevin at 7:54 PM

The baked-on matte finish hasn't been grinded down?! Almost certainly, these weapons were never stamped in the first place:

The report forwarded by American intelligence officers is brief and to the point. "Hostiles" in Iraq are toting Berettas. Insurgents have a large number of Italian-made side arms, all recent-model weapons, and what is even more disturbing, with illegible or non-existent serial numbers. Apparently, these phantom weapons were manufactured in the recent past. Investigators are unable to attribute them to legal imports during the early 1980s.

The crucial detail is the erasure of the serial numbers. The numbers do not appear to have been physically removed. Instead, the guns seem to have come off the production line without any serial numbers at all, or to have had them erased with industrial technology. The detail suggests to investigators that the weapons were intended for intelligence operations or terrorist cells with substantial government backing.
posted by Kevin at 4:04 PM

This would make a great additive to the chemtrails that are raining down on all of us:

Shakespeare told us to "love all, trust a few," even to "trust none, for oaths are straws." Despite such warnings, trust has always been at the centre of all human dealings -- romantic, commercial, or political -- even if the reasons for it have been murky.

But now Swiss researchers say they have finally isolated the secret: In oxytocin, we trust.

University students who inhaled the hormone in a nasal spray were discovered to be far more trusting of one another -- eager, in fact, to hand over money to strangers in investment deals.

The results suggest trust can be bottled and used to forge commercial relationships. Oxytocin levels have long been known to spike with sexual climax or influence the production of mothers' milk, but the new study suggests they are also "the biological basis of trust among humans."

"We find that intranasal administration of oxytocin causes a substantial increase in trusting behaviour," a research team said.

The team was led by Dr. Michael Kosfeld of the University of Zurich, whose findings appear in the journal Nature.

"Of course, this finding could be misused to induce trusting behaviours that selfish actors subsequently exploit," the team wrote. "However our findings may have positive clinical implications for patients with mental disorders."
posted by Kevin at 10:08 AM

What if it was down for days? Remember Silent Horizon, the CIA cyberwar game from a few days ago:

A communications outage at the New York Stock Exchange in the critical final minutes of trading on Wednesday and the exchange's refusal to immediately detail what went wrong frustrated customers and exposed frailties of its electronic systems.

"I don't think last night's event was fraught with potential disaster," said Robert Morris, director of equity investments at Lord, Abbett & Co., which manages assets of about $90 billion.

"On the other hand, it does make you wonder" what would happen "if we had a market-driven event where things are going at a thousand miles an hour," he said, adding that his traders were "miffed" because of the pressure to get good prices.
posted by Kevin at 9:53 AM

Woops:

Wachovia Corporation has apologized for its ties to slavery after disclosing that two of its historical predecessors owned slaves and accepted them as payment.
posted by Kevin at 8:31 AM

Update: Google Cache of this Story

Nope, that link wasn't broken when I posted this. It's actually an old story that goes back to around 2000. This Google search finds several references.

Ananova:

A US man who had part of his brain erased by a psychiatrist who was training an army of zombie-like killers has won massive damages.

Neuropsychiatrist Donald Dudley used drugs and hypnosis to form a militia of murderers from the ranks of his patients.

A jury at Pierce County Court in Washington state has awarded autistic patient Stephen Drummond, who did not attend the hearing, $2.1 million.

Psychiatrist Dudley died last October. A lawyer representing his estate has refused to comment, reports the News Tribune.

Mr Drummond's mother, Jeanie, said, "It's very fair and reasonable. There's no amount of money that can make up for his losses."

Mr Drummond's parents filed the lawsuit on his behalf in 1998.

Drugs Dudley prescribed made his patient psychotic and delusional - symptoms not usually associated with autism.

Dudley's files state he intended to erase part of his brain and implant a new one.

When Mrs Drummond confronted the medic over her son's treatment he said he was going to take over hospitals, police forces and schools, and that she was fortunate he wanted her son to be one of his trained soldiers.

Dudley's license to practice was suspended in 1993 after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In addition, Bellevue police found him with an arsenal of guns in a hotel room where he was treating a suicidal 15-year-old boy.

Research Credit: psychotronicatx.tripod.com
posted by Kevin at 8:21 AM

Woops:

The Netherlands emphatically rejected the European Union constitution in a referendum on Wednesday, potentially killing off a treaty already spurned by France and plunging the bloc deeper into crisis.
posted by Kevin at 2:33 PM

As the present energy paradigm collapses...

As slight discomfort gives way to major inconvenience, which gives way to shortages which gives way to chaos which gives way to... uh... yeah, just remember, it's all by design and totally unnecessary.

Have a nice day:

Japan's bureaucratic rank and file march in dark jackets and ties to government offices every day, sweating their way through the country's sticky, sweltering summers. Starting Wednesday, they'll be sweating a little less.

In a nationwide campaign to save energy by cutting down on air conditioning, the government has asked public workers to leave their ties and jackets home for the summer.

To help make the goal, air conditioners in government buildings will be set at a toasty 82, the maximum allowed by law. Offices usually keep the temperature at around 77.
posted by Kevin at 8:41 PM

I need a drink:

The legendary source "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal that brought down a president was identified Tuesday by Vanity Fair magazine and The Washington Post as W. Mark Felt.

Felt, now 91, was the No. 2 official at the FBI in the early 1970s. The information he provided Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein helped them break many of the stories that led to the resignation of President Nixon in August 1974.

The revelation ended more than three decades of speculation about Woodward and Bernstein's famous confidential source in reporting on the cover-up by the Nixon White House following the bungled break-in of National Democratic Committee headquarters at the Watergate office-hotel complex in June 1972.

Woodward, Bernstein and Benjamin C. Bradlee, who was the Post's executive editor at the time, confirmed that Felt was Deep Throat in an article Tuesday on the paper's Web site.

"W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage," according to a statement issued by Woodward and Bernstein.
posted by Kevin at 6:45 PM

UPDATE: This Thing Is Snowballing

I DON'T THINK RAMON WATKINS, IF THAT'S HIS REAL NAME, IS AWARE THAT HE'S AN ACTIVE COMPONENT OF A MACRO SCALE MINDWAR OPERATION. I think he believes aliens speak to him. He almost certainly hears voices. There's one difference, however, between the run of the mill schizophrenic and Ramon Watkins: Craft appear in the sky when Mr. Watkins asks for them to appear in the sky. The phenomenon is visible to others. He has probably been altered in some way (he's a PSYOP weapons platform) and isn't aware of it.

At this point, I'm ready to declare this thing a full tilt, top down U.S. intelligence operation. It's going too far in conventional media. He was on Coast to Coast AM last night. That's an audience of millions. The fact that War of the Worlds is being released in the middle of the public "summoning" in Vegas is just too damn much. I mean, COME ON!?!! This is a joke, right?

Whatever happens, try to remember that the people running this show have god-like powers. Don't let it affect you at the "gut" level. Use your skills of discernment to calmly and logically unravel this thing.

I hope Cryptogon readers in Las Vegas are standing by---just in case. Charge your video camera batteries. Load and cue fresh tape. Use a tripod. If you can, leave the autofocus off and dial the manual focus out to infinity. I doubt anything will happen (this entire episode may have been stimulus/response feedback loop), but if it does, the more tape we have to look at, the better.

Also, don't just focus on the obvious show in front of you. Watkins is almost certainly under constant physical surveillance by his handlers. It might be interesting to identify these people... If anyone in Vegas manages be around him for a "summoning," stand off and take in the big picture. Try to notice the presence of unusual military/law enforcement/civilian vehicles, aircraft, personnel and/or anything else that may be of interest. Look for vehicles with unusual antennas, circling aircraft, etc. Look for people making a point of video taping or photographing the crowd.

The one thing I'm sure of is that if anything actually happens in Las Vegas, up will be down, black will be white, nothing will be as it appears.

If I didn't have to plant my ass in this cube tomorrow morning, I'd already be driving to Vegas with my Canon GL2 cocked and locked... I'd just like to see the show.

I wonder if the people at the Global Consciousness Project are noticing anything?

- - - - - - -

I effing knew it. The former press release should read: Spaceships will appear on Cheney's signal.

Here is the Yahoo Personals page that contains the picture of Watkins dressed as a U.S. Marine: http://personals.yahoo.com/prophetyahweh

If that link dies, here is a PDF of the same page.

PDF Credit: ME
posted by Kevin at 6:40 PM

Killer robots... Blah blah blah. Wake me up when it walks on two legs, uses a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range and reports to SkyNet:

Rogers' Predator is one of more than 1,200 UAVs in the US military arsenal; three years ago, there were fewer than 100 in the field. Today drones as small as a crow and as big as a Cessna are searching for roadside bombs, seeking out insurgents, and watching the backs of US troops. They're cheap, they can stay in the air longer than any manned aircraft, and they can see a battlefield better - all without risking a pilot.

Those capabilities tell only part of the story. UAVs give rank-and-file soldiers powers once reserved for generals. They push generals into the thick of battle. And they're blurring the lines between the fighter jocks and the grunts on the ground. Firmly entrenched hierachies don't change easily, but drones are reshaping military culture.
posted by Kevin at 1:35 PM

This is a touching story. IRobot is making its Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner available in pink and donating a percentage of the profits from the sales of those robots to breast cancer research.

Ladies, before you spend any money on this crap, keep in mind that IRobot is the same company that manufactures robots that improve the killing efficiency of the U.S. military.

When will the Packbot with shotgun mount be available in pink?
posted by Kevin at 1:03 PM

Toyota Motor Corp. aims to start selling robots that can help look after elderly people or serve tea to guests by 2010, the Asahi daily reported on Tuesday.

Japan's top automaker sees a declining birthrate and aging population leading to growing demand for robots that can help in tasks such as child care and nursing care, the report said.

Toyota will soon set up a liaison committee to develop technology for the robots with group firms, including car parts maker Denso Corp., it added.
posted by Kevin at 12:45 PM

I love the flippant tone of Wired magazine. I wonder if the jackass who wrote this will be making video game jokes when version 2 of this thing knocks on his door:

The battle bot advances on an enemy position, its knobby tires kicking up dust in a distant war zone. A flick of the joystick sends it rumbling down a side street. Blam! Blam! Blam! Another hostile dispatched.

What sounds like videogame combat will soon be the reality of warfare. By 2007, the US Marine Corps expects to deploy Gladiator, a brawny, six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle developed by the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and United Defense. Powered by a gas engine, the 1-ton drone will roll into the Fallujahs of the future, operated by a soldier wielding a PS2-style controller from a safe distance and communicating with the bot via radio control. "It's designed for dangerous duty," says Carnegie Mellon's Dimitrios Apostolopoulos. "It will replace a marine during the first wave of an attack."

Gladiator has more optional equipment than a showroom Hummer: M249 squad automatic weapon, M240G medium machine gun, 9-mm Uzi, thermal imaging equipment, GPS and laser rangefinders, day and night cameras, acoustic and chemical detectors, light vehicle obscuration smoke system. Fully loaded, expect a sticker price of $400,000. Haptic feedback controller sold separately.
posted by Kevin at 9:57 AM

Try this one on for size.

Over the past couple of decades, a Las Vegas man taught himself everything he needed to know about summoning UFOs from reading the Bible. He's kept this a secret all of this time. However, just recently, he started to hear voices in his head that told him to go public. The local television news in Las Vegas got wind of this, uh, news and picked the time and place for him to summon a UFO.

A camera crew was dispatched.

I tore into a container of Trader Joes All Butter Shortbread Cookies with apricot and raspberry filling as I clicked the link to the news piece. I started gobbling, thinking, man, this is going to be a good one. I fully expected the poor, old slob to make an ass out of himself on the 11 o'clock news... except for one thing.

Some kind of weird craft showed up in the sky!

Oh yeah, did I mention that it was roughly in the area over Area 51?

I nearly choked on my cookies.

I can't let myself believe that They're actually going to play the "Alien" card. That theory has been out there for decades, and it's always been a source of a few laughs in the alt research community... And the next thing you know, an overweight man in a white t-shirt hears voices in his head and then "summons" a UFO that appears in the general vicinity of Area 51. And the entire episode runs on the 11 o'clock news in Las Vegas.

Jeff Wells sums it up nicely:

Whatever happens, and however weird it gets, don't let yourself be too astonished.

Update: Add War of the Worlds Into the Mix

I was looking at the dates for the big Las Vegas show, you know, the one where the ship will hover for days for all to see:

For only 45 days, starting June 1st until July 15, 2005, Prophet Yahweh, Seer of Yahweh, will be calling down UFOs and spaceships for the news media to film and photograph. During this time, a spaceship will descend, on Prophet's signal, and sit in the skies over Las Vegas, Nevada for almost two days.

Guess which movie will be released on June 29th? That's right. I CAN'T MAKE IT UP!

More: Several Yahweh "Summoning" Videos
posted by Kevin at 12:27 PM

It's a slow news day, so...

Even though I've wanted a portable MP3 player since 1999, I never bought one. No matter how well I was doing, financially, I never succumbed to what is probably the basest consumer desire of all: The Portable MP3 Player.

The whole Apple iPod thing, I'm convinced, is the work of da Debil. Yes friends, six months ago, I wandered into an Apple store and fondled an iPod. A kind looking salesgirl walked up to me and asked if she could be of any assistance. I shook my head 'NO' emphatically. "Man, this stuff is all crack," I said. "If Steve Jobs offers you a cup of KoolAid, I'd politely decline."

The girl laughed uncomfortably, not really getting my attempt at humor, but at the same time knowing that taking the KoolAid sounded ominous for some reason.

I set the iPod down and walked out of the store. I cunningly and intentionally left my wallet in the car. If the urge to buy an iPod became overwhelming, I would have to leave the store to get my wallet. Hopefully, I would manage to gather my senses and strength in the intervening minutes.

Pfft!

I drove away without incident! I can resist these crack peddlers, no problem!

While eating lunch with a co-worker last Friday, I saw a Fry's newspaper ad offering this 1GB Creative Labs MP3 player/FM tuner/voice recorder/USB flashdrive for $109 (after all BS, hateful, soul-sucking rebates are applied).


It's not quite a naked girl offering a delicious apple in a beautiful garden, but it's still very tempting. (I wonder if they used that alluring, deep red color on purpose...) And I don't remember an Omnipotent Being telling me not to partake of a portable MP3 player, so how bad could it be??? ;)

Work let us out early on Friday, so I beat the Friday evening crush of troglodyte knuckle draggers to the crack dealer. In case you've never heard of Fry's... Hmm. How does one describe Fry's???

Do you need to build a server on a Sunday night? Do you need to buy just a CPU fan---right NOW? How about a $15,000 HDTV? Do you like to look at 99 pound Vietnamese women with fake breasts, wearing four inch thick platform shoes? Sometimes with dyed blond hair and blue contact lenses? Perhaps you'd like to buy some condoms and aspirin as you make your way to the checkout aisle. Don't forget the yummy dehydrated ice cream and beer nuts.

In short, Fry's is the finish line of the race to the bottom of consumer Hell. The Apocalypse never seems closer at hand than it does on Friday night at Fry's. These aren't WalMart-style of knuckledraggers. This is where the overclocked-gamers go. And on Friday, they're tanking up on soda and grabbing the sh*t they'll need to fire up LAN parties, or worse. You know, the people with potato chip particles spilled down the front of their torn, smelly black t-shirts. Grey-green complexions. Blood shot eyes... (How do I know so much about gamers? Never mind!)

Just gaze upon it, marvel at it, if you dare: Several acres of rubber dog sh*t, video game gear, refrigerators, OEM hard drives, generic motherboards, electronic gadgets of every description; most of it Made in China, all of it eventually headed for a landfill.

But wait...

Why are Indians buying power strips by the grocery-cart-full?

Can a 50 pack spindle of CD-Rs really be free after rebate?

What's that smell?

These are typical questions I have when visiting Fry's. (Oh yeah! Never take your girlfriend to Fry's for any reason. I learned this long ago. She won't appreciate it. Even if you preface the visit with, "This place is frightening, but I just need to pick something up really quick," it won't matter. Guys, go alone and don't subject your significant other to that.)

The dangerous part about Fry's is mission creep. I was there to buy the MP3 player. THAT'S IT. By design, my local Fry's has MP3 players scattered in FOUR different places throughout the store. As I was making the rounds, trying to find the one mentioned in the newspaper ad, I noticed a Pioneer dual layer DVD burner for $69 (after all BS, hateful, soul-sucking rebates are applied). Well, I'm here. Let's roll around in the slop. Made in China. Made in China. Made in China. WooHoo! I grabbed a DVD burner and a spindle of blank DVDs (also on sale). Why not!?

I mumbled to myself, "I can't believe this system is still up at all."

I knew I'd found the section with the advertised MP3 player because close to a dozen Chinese boat people were standing there, many with the same newspaper ad I was holding in my hot little hand. (Were they really boat people? I don't know. Yeah, probably.) Their hands were stained orange from decades of smoking. One guy had grease splattered on his shirt, probably from running a wok somewhere like the "food" court I ate lunch at earlier in the day. They were holding up the shiny, glimmering MP3 players (each sealed in an indestructible, tamper proof, anti-theft module).

One of these guys was looking at the 512MB version of the player.

I said, "You probably want this one." I gestured at the one I was holding. He looked. "One gig," I said, "Better than 512. Not much more money."

He looked at it. "That not right one. That not right one."

"It is, look at the newspaper." I handed over the ad. He looked at it.

He pointed an orange, cigarette-stained finger at the 1gig player I was holding, "That not right one. Different. Not on sale."

"Ok, whatever," I was just trying to help the guy, I didn't want to argue about it. I'd obviously selected the right player. I put my hand out to get my newspaper back.

The five foot tall man looked at me, "Mine."

"Uh, yours? No. Not yours. Mine."

"Na. Mine."

In the blink on an eye, I ripped it out of his hand.

"Mine, sport. Go find your own damn paper." If I wasn't in a public place, I would have been dead for sure. Oh well, all par for the course in Fry's on Friday evening.

Now, why bother keeping the ad, since I'd already found the right item?

Fry's is a slimy company. They routinely sell goods that are defective, have been returned and repackaged.... and they also seem to make a point of having stuff ring up for the wrong price when you go to check out. When you demand the price from the ad, having the paper with you can make the inevitable national security situation, involving at least three Pakistani assistant managers, go smoother. So, I hope I didn't startle the Chinese man when I snatched back MY OWN GODDAMN NEWSPAPER, but this was a really good deal, and I wasn't about to go mano-a-mano with those three Pakistani assistant managers without it.

I'm the worst kind of consumer. I show up and buy nothing but the loss leader items. Fry's makes money on this stuff because they know that A) most people will buy something else at full retail when they're in the store and B) most people won't ultimately go through the BS, hateful, soul-sucking rebate process in order to get their cigarette butts and bottle caps back in the mail.

If Fry's thinks I'm not going to get the rebates back on both the MP3 player and the DVD burner, they've got another thing coming. You don't put off buying this sh*t for years only to be tempted with the offer of succulent rebates... and then not get the rebates! Totally unthinkable. I'm going to win this bum fight.

So, after all of that, was it worth it?

The Creative MuVo 1GB is definitely dazzling. If you've been living the tech-ascetic lifestyle for a long time and are waiting for an excuse to fall off the wagon, it's tough to think of a more appealing gadget. It's the size of a large cigarette lighter, and I've never heard my MP3s sound "that" good before.

Of course, the purpose of devices like this is to help you forget the fact that you are a slave. I mean, look at that thing! Only rugged, X-treme, individualists would own something like that. Right? People who are sexy and cool and command their own destiny... (There must be an ad for this thing that involves a woman in a bikini or someone jumping off a cliff on a snowboard.) Don't breathe the air or drink the water, but go ahead and store a few hundred MP3s on a thing the size of a pack of gum.

Now, is there a way to have your crack and smoke it too? Is there a way to re-purpose technology like this in a way that's liberating, rather than repressive?

Ultimately... probably not, BUT, it does ease the pain a bit on the dark, long slog.

For example, I sit in a cube all day and I need to exercise more. The problem is that I find exercise to be as boring as watching TV. In the past, I've listened to a portable radio to try to pass the time on the treadmill, etc. I'm not really able to listen to most commercial media anymore. (In my opinion, Indie 103.1's Passport Approved and KCRW's New Ground are the only shows worth listening to on the radio in Southern California. For people in other areas, you may listen online if you wish.) My new MP3 player will allow me to get some much needed exercise while bathing my brain in material that is much more amenable to my world view and tastes.

Just yesterday, a Cryptogon reader sent me a 30 minute Alex Jones interview with Daniel Estulin about the 2005 Bilderberg meeting. I downloaded the file, copied it to my tiny MP3 player and went for a walk as I listened to the interview. Ahh, the outdoors. Sunshine. Global depopulation agendas. Man. Life in the so-called information age. This is great!

Maybe it is possible to have your crack and smoke it too.
posted by Kevin at 1:15 AM

Woops!

French voters rejected the European Union's first constitution Sunday, a stinging repudiation of President Jacques Chirac's leadership and the ambitious, decades-long effort to further unite the continent.

Chirac, who urged voters to approve the charter, announced the result in a brief, televised address. He said the process of ratifying the treaty would continue in other EU countries.

"It is your sovereign decision, and I take note," Chirac said. "Make no mistake, France's decision inevitably creates a difficult context for the defense of our interests in Europe."

With 92 percent of votes counted, the treaty was rejected by 56.14 percent of voters, the Interior Ministry said. It was supported by 43.86 percent.

Treaty opponents chanting "We won!" gathered at Paris' Place de la Bastille, a symbol of rebellion where angry crowds in 1789 stormed the Bastille prison and sparked the French Revolution. Cars blared their horns and "no" campaigners thrust their arms into the air.

"This is a great victory," said Fabrice Savel, 38, from the working class suburb of Aubervilliers. He was distributing posters that read: "Non to a free-market Europe."
posted by Kevin at 6:10 PM