Archive for February 23rd, 2006


Morrissey quizzed by FBI

Bob Morris @ Feb 23rd 2006 15:47 - Category: Government spying ;

This is not satire.

Singer Morrissey was quizzed by the FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments.

The Brit is a famous critic of the US-led war in Iraq and has dubbed President George W Busha “terrorist” - but he was baffled to be hauled in by authorities.

Morrissey explains, “The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I’ve been interviewed and taped and so forth.

“They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn’t take them very long to realise that I’m not.

“I don’t belong to any political groups, I don’t really say anything unless I’m asked directly and I don’t even demonstrate in public. I always assume that so-called authoritarian figures just assume that pop/rock music is slightly insane and an untouchable platform for the working classes to stand up and say something noticeable.

“My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies. You can’t really speak your mind and if you do you’re investigated.”

Then it’s time to create a society that actually values democracy!

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Blogger question

Bob Morris @ Feb 23rd 2006 11:36 - Category: Unfiled ;

I’m helping another blog convert from Blogger to WordPress. Importing the entries from Blogger into WordPress is easy, just one click.

The problem comes with Blogger blogs that are hosted on blogspot. They do not allow hot-linking to images hosted on their servers. So, while entries can be imported, the images hosted on blogspot will not be viewable in WordPress. This is not a problem if your Bloger blog is hosted on your own server, the images will appear.
Blogger allows you to change where your site is hosted, from blogspot to your own server.

Question: if you do so, do the images come too? Meaning, are they downloaded? If so, then you can import into WordPress from there and the images will appear.

Anyone know?

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Bob Dole is port lobbyist

Bob Morris @ Feb 23rd 2006 07:55 - Category: Unfiled ;

From Americablog

As if this deal to sell off control of US ports to the United Arab Emirates couldn’t become any sleazier, we now have former Republican Senator Bob Dole being hired as a lobbyist to influence - who? - HIS OWN WIFE. Yes, Bob Dole’s wife is a Republican Senator from North Carolina.

I’m sorry, but how much sleazier can you get than having a sitting member of Congress being paid by a foreign government to lobby his own wife?

Given the open corruption in DC, this might even be legal. One wonders how much other money is being spread around to influence this deal. Of course, no one in either party in DC will mention how ethically bankrupt this is. Because that would exclude them from future gravy trains.

Not to mention, I’m not real sure of the propriety of our national security decisions being influenced by foreign money.

Well, no need to fly off into Jingoist Land. Like it’s fine and dandy for the US to buy whatever it wants in other countries and ‘influence’ things, but not ok for other countries to do the same here? Welcome to the wonderful world of global capitalism. Bush is being loyal to his own, supporting the billionaire class against the rest of us.

Would I wonder, there be so much protest against the deal if it was a Japanese, not Arab firm, buying the British port firm? The implication of course is that an Arab firm is not reliable and might be terrorist, which seems simple racism to me.

Jack Abramoff would be proud

Naw, he’s too busy ratting out his pals to think about anything else now.

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Right wing anti-abortion campaign

Bob Morris @ Feb 23rd 2006 07:22 - Category: Unfiled ;

Statement on So-Called “Partial Birth Abortion” Law

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) continues to oppose so-called “partial birth abortion” laws, including the conference committee bill approved by the US House of Representatives yesterday and sent to the US Senate.ACOG’s Statement of Policy explains why ACOG believes such legislation to be “inappropriate, ill advised, and dangerous.” The policy statement notes that although a select panel convened by ACOG could identify no circumstances under which intact D&X would be the only option to protect the life or health of a woman, intact D&X “may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman, and only the doctor, in consultation with the patient, based upon the woman’s particular circumstances, can make this decision.”The Statement of Policy further reads that such legislation has the potential to outlaw other abortion techniques that are critical to the lives and health of American women.
This is a crucial point. The wording of the law, written by politicians not doctors, is so (deliberately) vague that M.D.’s aren’t even sure what it means. It also sneaks in bans on other types of abortion hoping no one is paying attention, a favored tactic of neocons.
From Guttmacher:

Courts have found that the measures do not proscribe a specific, late-term abortion method but, rather, are so broad and vague as to effectively outlaw a range of abortion methods, both before and after fetal viability

Because “partial-birth” abortion is a nonmedical term coined by opponents of reproductive rights, the crux of the confusion has to do with what the measures aim to outlaw, and when.

However, the typical “partial-birth” measure has no gestational parameters, and therefore is not limited to postviability abortions.

Thus, this is a deliberate wedge campaign, pretending to be against one particular type of admittedly grotesque abortion yet in reality, it targets all abortions. If they win here, they will move against all abortion.
ACOG concludes:

The medical misinformation currently circulating in political discussions of abortion procedures only reinforces ACOG’s position: in the individual circumstances of each particular medical case, the patient and physician — not legislators — are the appropriate parties to determine the best method of treatment.

[tags]abortion[/tags]

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Destruction of the shrines

Bob Morris @ Feb 23rd 2006 07:21 - Category: Anti-war ;

Iraq took a lethal step closer to disintegration and civil war yesterday after a devastating attack on one of the country’s holiest sites. The destruction of the golden-domed Shia shrine in Samarra sparked a round of bloody sectarian retaliation in which up to 60 Sunni mosques were attacked and scores of people were killed or injured.

Another Day in the Empire wonders if this was a Black Op, a deliberate attempt to create chaos by occupation forces. But that implies occupation forces are a) still in control and b) have a coherent plan, both of which seem almost certainly not true. Plus, it discounts the insurgency as the real force that it most certainly is. The insurgency is a hydra, with multiple forces working to drive the US out. Some of them may loathe each other but they are most certainly united on their goal of forcing the US from their homeland.

It makes absolutely no sense for Sunnis to bomb Shia mosques; this would be akin to Baptists bombing Catholic churches.

Well, 10 Alabama churches have been firebombed recently, and no doubt it’s “Christians” doing it. That it makes no sense is a given. But it is happening nonetheless.

While the neocons are certainly slimy enough to blow up mosques in hopes of creating confusion they can exploit, that’s not what’s happening here. The neocons have no mojo left in Iraq. The US has already lost. And now due to their shortsighted greed and stupidity, they’ve destabilized the entire Middle East. Their plan probably is to try and grab the oil-rich southern portion of Iraq as the country disintegrates. But they’ve failed at every thing they’ve attempted in Iraq , haven’t they? That thousands have died and thousands more will die in their bloodlust for oil and dominance concerns them not.

But the neocons are losing. And that’s the one thing they never thought could happen.

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