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2/22/2003



Road Trip

I may or may not be posting updates for the next several days. I'm taking off fully loaded with gadgets, so I should be able to update while I'm away, but no guarantees.

If the war starts, well... oh well.





Willing to Die for Peace: Human Shields Take Up Positions in the Bull's Eye :.

Seventeen foreigners bunked down Friday night at a Baghdad water purification plant as the first "human shields" to deploy in Iraq in preparation for a looming U.S.-led war.


2/21/2003



European Analysts Forecast Economic Disaster from War :.

Maybe tens of thousands of people won't die. Maybe it won't start World War III. Maybe it won't lead to an economic disaster. Hey, if ever there was a time to believe in miracles, this is it:

The mass anti-war demonstrations across Europe over the weekend have been replaced by analyses in various capitals predicting an impending economic catastrophe.

Most such forecasts show a war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would leave industrial economies in a shambles, regardless of its speed and outcome.

In the worst-case scenario � a prolonged war with no immediate outcome � some European analysts forecast a vertiginous rise in the price of oil, a collapse of the U.S. dollar and trade wars across the industrial world.

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, a former oil minister of Saudi Arabia and founder of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was widely quoted in Europe saying that, should Saddam resort to massive destruction of oil fields, the price of a barrel of crude could rise to between $80 and $100.

The dollar is seen under this scenario as plunging as low as $1.50 to the euro, having already lost 20 percent during the past year. It traded yesterday at $1.07 to the euro.



2/20/2003



U.S. Adopts British Imperial Model for Iraq :.

Total U.S. control planned for Iraq:

The Bush administration plans to take complete, unilateral control of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, with an interim administration headed by a yet-to-be named American civilian who would direct the reconstruction of the country and the creation of a "representative" Iraqi government, according to a now-finalized blueprint described by U.S. officials and other sources.

I am extremely suspicious about this:

Under a decision finalized last week, Iraqi government officials would be subjected to "de-Baathification," a reference to Hussein's ruling Baath Party, under a program that borrows from the "de-Nazification" program established in Germany after World War II.

I wrote about the fraud of de-Nazification in The Real U.S. Economic Stimulus Package, Nazis and the Plan to Rape Iraq.





U.S. Combat Forces Enroute to Philippines :.

U.S. soldiers to serve in mercenary role under Philippine command:

Defence officials in Washington say that hundreds of American troops, including special operations units, are to join Philippines troops on combat missions against rebels in the Philippines.

The special forces will be backed up by about 1,000 United States marines, in an offensive against the Islamic rebel group, Abu Sayyaf, on the southern island of Jolo.

Officials in Washington said the operation, due to begin "in the coming days", would be under Philippine command.

But instead of being limited to a training role as in the past, US troops could be involved in combat.


2/19/2003



The Theater of the Free :.

Protest. Yell. Scream. If that's all you can do, do it. The "group hug" effect might make you feel good for a while. But I'm not going to pretend that the weekend-rock-concert-as-rebellion model can ever amount to much. You're only playing a part in a ridiculous theater of the free. You're free to be directed to the protest area by hundreds of heavily armed cops? Come on, man. Wake up.

When you spend money on stuff made by transnational corporations, you support the war. When you work hard and pay all your taxes, you support the war. When you watch tv, go to church and read the newspaper, you support the war.

I certainly support the war. I filled up my car the other day with gasoline. I bought a computer a couple of weeks ago. I drank Coke last night. In other words, I support the war. I don't like it, but the first step in getting un-fucked is admitting you're fucked. We need a plan. We need a way to short circuit this matrix around us. I'll tell you what has been very exciting for me over the last couple of days. I've been reading, Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, by Pauline Pears. My mind started warping as I turned the pages. Do you really want to start a revolution? Stop eating in restaurants that are represented by ticker symbols in global equity markets. Stop buying toxic garbage from your local supermarket. Grow your own food.

Maybe I'm alone in the opinion that, to paraphrase Malcolm X about the march on Washington, "they wanted all of those people outta town by sundown, and sure enough all of those people were out of town by sundown." Or maybe the cerebral subtleties of the protest went right over my lizard brain. �Cause lizard brain was what I was �thinking� with as I walked past all these armed cops. Fear. Rage. Desire for � what? Freedom? Power? Revenge? �No blood for oil,� the placards said. I couldn�t agree more. But no blood for freedom? Impossible.

Silly me. Still under the romantic delusion I�d been under since I first started marching in these staged events at 20, thinking of the movements of the 1960s and 1930s, that protest meant taking the streets, not borrowing them from THE MAN and agreeing to all terms of the temporary license or face nullity and void. Saturday I realized, finally, that this isn�t about peace at all, but power. THE MAN has the power to bomb, humiliate, control. We The People are more or less powerless to stop him. Occasionally HE throws us a bone or a rally to make us think we�re doing the democratic thing. As long as we�re �outta town by sundown.�


2/18/2003



Kuwait Shuts Down Oil Fields Near Iraq :.

Other stories indicate that U.S. forces are cocked and locked. Maybe they'll pull the trigger on the upcoming new moon. Whether or not the United Nations is along for the ride doesn't seem to matter much to the Bush regime. If they can get a rubber-stamp 'ok' in the Security Council, sure, they'll try for it. But U.S. military planners realize that the window for the attack is closing. They want the war over by the time the desert starts to heat up again this Spring:

Kuwait has begun the process of shutting down two oil fields near the Iraqi border.

Kuwaiti officials said the decision was based on an assessment that the oil fields could be a target of an Iraqi missile attack amid the expected U.S.-led war on Baghdad. Officials said rigs and other equipment have been withdrawn from the northern oil fields of the Abdali and Ratqa, Middle East Newsline reported.

Oil workers were also being evacuated from the northern fields, officials said. They said the work began last week amid an order to evacuate civilians and non-essential personnel from northern Kuwait.


2/17/2003



Britain: Shut It Down in the Event of War :.

Now we're talking! Outdoor rock concerts on the weekend, populated with flaky Hollywood types and Berkeley Democrats are merely distractions, but when people stop showing up to work, NOW YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A NATIONAL SECURITY PROBLEM. Surely, Britain has a martial law contingency plan for just such a situation. In the United States, REX 84 BRAVO, CABLE SPLICER and GARDEN PLOT used to refer the operational directives for martial law. After 9/11, and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, these terms have probably changed.

Don't get me wrong, this protest stuff is great news! Well, that is until UKUSA intelligence fabricates some type of terrorist incident that will immediately silence the resistance to war. At that point, we will have to ask ourselves: Why, with resistance to war growing in the West, would the alleged terrorists do something to completely swing public opinion back the other way toward war? Answer: They wouldn't.

Anti-war coalition leaders, emboldened by the massive turnout at peace rallies in London and around the world, are planning to try to shut Britain down should Tony Blair defy public opinion and go to war without a UN resolution.

"We want people to walk out of their offices, strike, sit down, occupy buildings, demonstrate, take direct action and do whatever they think fit the moment war starts," said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition yesterday.

"We want to completely close down Whitehall and prevent the Ministry of Defence going to work. At 6pm on the first evening after the bombing starts, there will be demonstrations and vigils all over the country, to be followed by another march with CND on the first weekend after war starts."





The Rise of the Technocratic Psychopaths :.

Computers of the future will be built not by factory machines, but by living cells such as bacteria.

That at least is the vision which has been outlined by scientists speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Denver.

They have described how wires can now be made by yeast organisms, and how solar panels could be built using substances produced by sea sponges.

Researchers believe these kind of technologies will be essential if we are to continue to shrink the size of electronic devices.


Our computers will be built by bacteria? The magic nanobots will amaze and dazzle us. Excellent.

Maybe humans will be able to enhance themselves so they can work 24 hours per day without care or complaint. Wouldn't that be great? Nanotechnology can be used to build anything! Why eat an apple grown the old fashioned way. That's not cool. Surely ADM will just assemble one for you.

In all seriousness, we must be extremely cautious of the new biomolecular and nanotechnologies. Even if you don't heed the words of Bill Joy, with his dire warnings about self replicating nanotechnology, consider the type of world the Them have in mind for the rest of us once control of nanotechnology is achieved. Should private tyrannies, the same corporations that are responsible for the horrific state of the planet, be trusted with what amounts to the power of creation?

Technology is being used to harness our productive and creative energies for the exclusive benefit of an increasingly adept and devious elite. The more advanced technology becomes, the lower wages (and higher taxes) go. Why? Because technology allows the Them to stick it to us in an ever increasing number of ways. Simple. Beautiful. Diabolical. Graph it, in terms of individual buying power, if you doubt what I'm saying. This race to the bottom is a byproduct of technological advancement in the hands of psychopaths. Twenty first century technology, under the command and control of an elite with 19th century attitudes, will almost definitely lead to the destruction of most life on this planet. Interestingly enough, technology is not the problem. The intent of the user is the problem.

Yeah, yeah, Kevin. We know all of that. This has been the case since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. So what, in the name of God, are you on about?

This is the point: Technology is being used to enslave us. If you doubt that, you aren't taking an objective look at modern society. But we are now entering a phase where the technologies under development are more dangerous than anything we have ever dabbled with; and they have lower barriers to entry than, say, nuclear weapons. Humans have only possessed the capability of destroying life on this planet for about the last sixty years. Whether or not we make it another 60 years depends on our ability to show restraint and to reflect on our previous mistakes. Blindly adopting new technology that has the capacity to enslave or extinguish all life on this planet is the height of folly, yet this is standard operating procedure.

What's the difference, really, between primates and humans? Humans can write things in books, create websites and launch rockets into space, but both species basically look to a silverback for guidance and fling their feces when agitated. If you want to get an idea of how successful humans will be with nanotechnology and genetic engineering, place a crate full of hand grenades into a habitat containing several apes or gorillas and watch what happens.

And before you accuse me of being a continual downer, listen to Joe Frank's, An Enterprising Man (RealAudio stream). Joe Frank's site. This makes me laugh so damn hard I almost forget it's The End.

Recommended donation $2.






Colorado Plans for Mass Cremations and Burials :.

"The funeral codes say that a dead body is to be handled by a funeral home and that you must notify the next of kin and give preference to the religious practices of the next of kin," said Deputy Attorney General Renny Fagan, a member of the governor's advisory committee.

"But in a biological event or in a mass-casualty event, it may not be practical to follow that law," Fagan said.

Infected corpses might have to be isolated at temporary morgues to prevent the spread of disease, Estock said. In certain situations, mass cremations or burials might be required.




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