metamadman speaks

metamadman @ 2008-05-13T20:40:00

2008-05-13T03:42:02Z

metamadman @ 2008-05-12T09:10:00

2008-05-12T16:10:35Z

metamadman @ 2008-05-03T14:04:00

2008-05-03T21:04:53Z

Cage Match: Criminal Complicity on the Campaign Trail

Anyone who actually believed in democracy and the rule of law -- anyone who actually believed that the constitutional republic of the United States was worth preserving and strengthening -- anyone who had even a vestigial sense of morality or the most flickering commitment to the idea of justice -- would already be calling for the prosecution of Bush and his minions for these capital crimes. This goes double for anyone in public life, holding public office, with a national platform to speak from, and institutional tools at their disposal for investigating these crimes.

So where are these voices in the citadel of power calling for justice to be done? They are silent. In both houses of Congress, in both major parties, they are silent. On the campaign trail, preening before the public as wise and virtuous leaders worthy to lead a nation, they are silent.

Part One of Twelve :: Garbage Island from VBS.tv :: I recommend watching all of it!

2008-05-01T23:35:17Z

About this Video:
Before this trip, I was never all that crazy about the ocean. I’ve always appreciated the fact that it generates the majority of the world’s oxygen and keeps us nice and far from places like Britain, but in terms of any sort of awe or “respect” it just never happened. I would say I looked at it less as the primeval womb of all terrestrial life than as an excessive amount of water you sometimes have to fly over.

Part and parcel with this was my attitude toward the Pacific Garbage Patch, or as we willfully misidentified it for the duration of our journey, the elusive Garbage Island. All the journalism I’d read about the patch had carefully danced around physical descriptions of the trash, leading myself and the rest of the shooting crew to fanciful visions of a solid, Texas-size barge of discarded Coke bottles and sporting goods. The idea that people had managed to fuck up a part of the world that nobody even visits, much less inhabits, and on such a monumental scale struck me as interesting and, to be honest, slightly awesome-sounding, but at the end of the day the impact of the mess on the rest of the world failed to register. I mean, sure, sea birds choking to death on deflated balloons and sea turtles whose shells have been completely deformed by soda can rings (click here for a picture of this if you want to completely ruin your day)—all this definitely sucks, but so do a lot of things, you know?

Needless to say this whole journey ended up overturning my expectations about the Garbage Patch, as well as just about every misconception I’ve ever held about the sea, environmentalism, consumption, barfing, knots, pollution, humanity, and myself. After absorbing the myriad dangers of our plastic-heavy lifestyles for three weeks, I’m now a proud, carbon-conscious “Earth Warrior” who yells at grocery clerks for double-bagging my produce and carries around one of those 70s gunnysacks to drink out of. Just kidding, although the trip did lead me to ferret out a group of non-hippie environmentalists who you can read about here. I also finally got into Earth Crisis. Pretty decent.

VBS CORRESPONDENT THOMAS MORTON

I wish...

2008-04-18T16:28:51Z

$1.5 million and it's yours...

Missile Silo For Sale: Near Moses Lake, WA

The Former Larsen Air Force Base Complex 1A Titan ICBM Facility

Located Central Washington between Moses Lake and Ritzville

Ten Minutes to Interstate 90

1 1/2 hours West of Spokane

57 acres more or less

16 UNDERGROUND buildings including

3 - 160' Tall Missile Silo

3 - (4 story) Equipment Terminal Bldgs

2 - Antenna Silos

100' Diameter Control Dome Bldg.

125' Diameter Power Dome Bldg.

TERMS: $300,000 down

balance @ 7% interest only all due in 3 years

SERIOUS PARTIES ONLY - NO TOURS!!

$10,000 escrowed earnest money required - contingent upon inspection.

The facility is also available for lease all or part for up to 30 years with options to renew.

Flexible terms.

FKN News

2008-04-18T16:26:25Z

Oh sweet...

2008-04-17T03:08:11Z

Q: What does the Neighborhood Network Watch do?

A: The Neighborhood Network Watch, goes out into the community to identify publicly used networks and to collect samples of network traffic or data that is being transmitted and received over the network. This data is then analyzed to see if it contains any terrorist related or threatening network traffic that maybe endangering both the community and our nation.

I came across this organization that is affiliated with but not a part of the Department of Homeland Security. They straight out say that they can read your e-mails and invade your privacy but of course it's for your best interest. They even have a manual telling you how to basically spy on your own neighborhood networks.

Official Website
Neighborhood Network Watch: Introduction Video
The Neighborhood Network Watch: Introduction of HNAP Video

Actor Jason Beghe is the first celebrity Scientologist to leave Scientology

2008-04-16T22:30:27Z

metamadman @ 2008-04-10T21:57:00

2008-04-11T04:57:38Z

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Classic...

2008-04-11T03:07:22Z

funny and cheesy, but hey...

2008-04-05T16:14:50Z

"In their continuing tribute to Gary Gygax, Wired has created character sheets for nine celebrities. Apparently, Stephen Hawking can do 10D6 radiation damage to his enemies and Rick Astley is a 20th-Level bard. Steve Jobs' black turtleneck is actually magical armor with +6 against edged attacks."

More delightful FKN News...

2008-04-04T03:43:14Z

metamadman @ 2008-04-03T20:40:00

2008-04-04T03:40:28Z

CARET Drone Muysic Video

2008-03-30T20:11:39Z

If you read anything today READ THIS!

2008-03-30T17:44:18Z

Why the US is collapsing

Summary in one paragraph: This is the leader of the Swedish Pirate Party explaining how the US went bankrupt in 1971, and has been covering it up through an accelerating whack-a-mole borrowing frenzy that is bursting right now. It has been paying rapidly growing VISA bills using MasterCard and vice versa for 37 years. The creditors are catching up, and the US is about to go extinct as a superpower. Become irrelevant. It is not yet on its death bed, it is still walking, breathing and capable of entertaining a conversation in public. But there are ominous bloodstains on its hands used to cover the painful coughing.

i love me some elephants and artisitic ones to boot...

2008-03-30T17:38:13Z

Thanks to madamealexis for this find.

Holy crap ... this looks phenom...

2008-03-30T17:28:45Z

Thanks to nebris for this.

I had a dream once. Just me and Kissinger locked in a room. And one MRSA dipped, big black strap-on.

2008-03-30T16:59:59Z

When Henry Kissinger Opines
Immanuel Wallerstein, MRZine
March 22, 2008

When Henry Kissinger opines in an op-ed in the Washington Post, it behooves us all to pay attention. There is a message there. Kissinger has always presented himself as the supreme "realist" proponent on U.S. imperial policy. But he has also always taken care not to distance himself too far from the conservative political Establishment.

Hence, when he opines, he is both telling us where policy is moving and pushing it slightly in a "realist" path, in conjunction with allies inside the administration. He is thus preparing us for a shift in policy. He has now written about Pakistan. What is he telling us?

First of all, he notes the stakes for the United States in Pakistan. It is a nuclear power that is incapable of maintaining control at home and therefore one that could "turn into the wildcard of international diplomacy." Everyone knows this, he says, but "the remedy has proved elusive." Recent U.S. policy has been to favor a coalition of Musharraf and the civilian parties -- a "laudable goal" but not a "practical" one. Elections in a country that does not have a civil society "sharpen" rather than solve crises. Elections, it seems, too often result in electing the wrong people.

For Kissinger, there are nothing but "feudal" forces at play in Pakistan -- large landholders in Sindh province (Bhutto’s party), commercial classes in the Punjab (Sharif’s party), and the military. The struggle among them is like that of the Italian city-states during the Renaissance -- shifting alliances and no sense of the "general good." The military are the arbiters in the end. Ergo what? Any attempt by the United States to "manipulate" the political process is likely to "backfire." The "evolution of the immediate political process is beyond our reach."

Yes, Musharraf has been a loyal ally and the United States cannot afford to dissociate itself from him, for it would send a bad message to other loyal allies. But at the same time, it is Musharraf’s task -- "not ours" -- to deal with the results of the election. In short, he is on his own. The United States should not worry about Pakistan politics, only about so-called "national security questions" -- control of the nuclear weapons and resistance to terrorists (Islamic radicals).

Realism, it seems, is not much of a detailed guide to action. It instructs us as to the limits of what the United States can do. Democratic evolution -- an "important objective" -- is on a "different time scale" from national security. So, put it off. Rather, the United States should make a deal with whoever comes out on top -- if it can.

Kissinger’s op-ed was published in the same week that Admiral Fallon resigned from command of U.S. forces in the entire Middle East region. It seems he has said, too often and too loudly, that military action by the United States in Iran is not possible, as a "practical" possibility. Another "realist"? It seems also that Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been saying the same thing, if more discreetly. And it seems that Mullen’s predecessor, General Pace, also said the same thing.

Bush and Cheney wish to insist publicly that the military option is on the table, even if it is really off the table. They seem to think this will frighten the Iranians and appease the Israelis. The trouble is that no one believes Bush and Cheney any more, even about what they say they might do, and probably really want to do.

Macho militarism isn’t working for the United States these days. Realism as an imperial alternative seems pretty close to a desperate ploy. But are there any other ploys left for the United States in the Middle East?

Immanuel Wallerstein is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton. Among his numerous books are The Modern World-System (1974, 1980, 1989), Unthinking Social Science (1991), After Liberalism (1995), The End of the World As We Know It (1999), and The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World (2003). This commentary was published on 15 March 2008. © Immanuel Wallerstein, distributed by Agence Global. For rights and permissions, including translations and posting to non-commercial sites, contact: rights@agenceglobal.com, 1.336.686.9002 or 1.336.286.6606. Permission is granted to download, forward electronically, or e-mail to others, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is displayed. To contact author, write: immanuel.wallerstein@yale.edu. Visit the archive of Wallerstein’s previous commentaries at . These commentaries, published twice monthly, are intended to be reflections on the contemporary world scene, as seen from the perspective not of the immediate headlines but of the long term.

Experts Say Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Kill RFK

2008-03-30T16:56:26Z

Hacker Club Publishes German Official's Fingerprint

2008-03-30T05:47:28Z

A number of readers let us know about the Chaos Computer Club's latest caper: they published the fingerprint of German Secretary of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble(link is to a Google translation of the German original). The club has been active in opposition to Germany's increasing push to use biometrics in, for example, e-passports. Someone friendly to the club's aims captured Schäuble's fingerprint from a glass he drank from at a panel discussion. The club published 4,000 copies of their magazine Die Datenschleuder including a plastic foil reproducing the minister's fingerprint — ready to glue to someone else's finger to provide a false biometric reading. The CCC has a page on their site detailing how to make such a fake fingerprint. The article says a ministry spokesman alluded to possible legal action against the club.

Got somebody you don't like? Get their fingerprints and then make some wearable versions of their fingerprints. Commit some crimes...

Griefers Assualt Epileptics Via Message Board

2008-03-30T05:44:13Z

An anonymous reader tips us to a story up at Wired reporting on what may be the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on victims. Last Saturday, griefers posted hundreds of bogus messages on the support forums of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation that used JavaScript and strobing GIFs to trigger migraines and seizures in users. For about 3% of the 50 million epileptics worldwide, flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures. "'I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts,' says [an IT worker in Ohio]. 'I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak.' ... Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread — since deleted — planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold."

Ganked from /.
I found this comment very interesting...
...It's not useful to associate "anonymous" as a group or entity. "Anonymous" is a completely chaotic, anarchistic, loose association. It is akin to race. There are (excuse this analogy) white people, and there are other white people who do bad things, and there are yet more white people who do good things. It is not useful to say "white people" are anything, except that "white people" came from europe and have a history of colonialism.

It is exactly the same with "anonymous". Anonymous is simply a subset of most people in the world who use the internet, and there is a subse tof them who do other things, and a subset of THEM who attack things, and a subset of this which may have assaulted an epilepsy board. But none of them are really related beyond circumstance.

The point is "anonymous" does not have any goals or means or anything. They don't even share interests, the only real connection is a mode of communication (and often web sites). Some anonymous coalesce to do things, like protest scientology or mess around on the internet, but they are not related except by modes of action. Attributing causal notions to this Anonymous is fallacy.

metamadman @ 2008-03-29T14:41:00

2008-03-29T21:42:06Z

“If ye love wealth better than liberty; the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you; may your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!”

~Samuel Adams

Yes, when shall we wake up?

2008-03-29T00:09:08Z

The Media Calls him Al Qaeda, but his Jewish Father calls him Adam Pearlman
How much longer will it take Western citizens to wake up to the fact that all those scary terror organisations such as Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are actually creations of their own governments, or to be more precise, Mossad, CIA, MI5 and alike. Their sole purpose is to scare ordinary citizens into blind support of their criminal governments, enabling them to dismantle civil rights and social services in the name of combatting terror and create excuses for brutal oppression of whoever is in the way of profit maximisation for their neo-fascist corporations. Sure, there might be many naive, true believers amongst ordinary members of those phony terror organisations, but the people in power, the likes of Saudi billionaire Osama Bin Laden, are actually part of the Orwellian elite.

Get Gucci to design 'em and America will wear 'em...

2008-03-26T00:04:38Z

Torture Bracelet To Control Dissenting Americans
The Department of Homeland Security is pursuing the introduction of a device known as the Security Bracelet, a wearable tag that would allow authorities to inflict pain compliance on suspects from a distance, while also recommending law enforcement applications and potential use in "crowd control situations".

Introduced ostensibly to combat airline terrorism, a creepy promo video courtesy of the patent holders Lamperd FTS exploits shocking 9/11 imagery to push the torture device as a solution to countering potential hijackers by inflicting "Electro-Muscular Disruption" and presumably giving the rest of the passengers a debilitating shock at the same time.

it just keeps getting funnier...

2008-03-16T17:02:30Z

"A circuit court judge has denied the Church of Scientology's second request for an injunction against protests by the internet group "Anonymous." The Church sought to prevent Anonymous from protesting on the birthday of the Church's leader, the late Ron L. Hubbard. The petition filed by the Church listed twenty-six individuals allegedly affiliated with Anonymous, but "accidentally" included others who merely work near the location of the first protests held in February and did not participate in them, such as a Starbucks employee. Furthermore, the Church failed to show that any of those listed actually committed any wrongdoing."