Been busy going around Philadelphia and its outskirts, looking for Amish (in Intercourse, PA -- more later), gardens, nurseries and outlet stores. You can tell that my parents are in town.

So blogging will be few and far between, but some bits came into my centerscreen:

1. MTRCB says that a "wedding of a lesbian couple" is "abnormality of human nature."

2. Ricky Lo interviews William Hung.

3. Morning Girls to stop annoying millions (with hissing, wailing and screeching) in the morning. They get to do it on their own.

Have a good week!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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We're all set up for massive civil unrest, the kind we're always used to. With gasoline prices rising, and accusations of rampant cheating, Poe's claim that he has "won the elections and they know that" is at least an omen for a fractious six years ahead.

There's even a priest who presented proof of cheating, but really can't say who it came from because he is under the Seal of Confession. That's all very Christian indeed: the transferring guilt and sin under anonymity for redemption and atonement (See "The Passion of the Christ" and Romans 5:6-8).

And, at the very very least, the birth of a new phrase: "vote-shaving". Or, in Tagalog, "kaskas-bawas". Bow.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Everything you know about anything (washing and folding clothes in particular) will change once you've seen this video.

Link thanks to Andrea Harner.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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If you saw the video, just like I did, it was at best blurry and poorly edited. Condolences aside, there are some significant anomalies and "fishy circumstances" surrounding Nick Berg's murder that cast enough doubt on it for even the least skeptical to take a second look.

Kuro5hin has 50 listed and detailed, including why Nick Berg was wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by Iraqi detaines in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, that those weapons brandished by the "insurgents" were actually Israeli made and not AK-47s, the origins of that Monobloc chair, and, if these really were "insurgents" running from the U.S. military living in caves and tunnels, why they all seemed to be a bit overweight.

Of course, there's the strange timing: Nick Berg's captors killed him (at least on video) as a retaliation for the "shameful pictures" of Iraqis being abused at Abu Ghraib. How could this be if, according to the news reports, Nick Berg was killed two weeks BEFORE these pictures were made public?

Worth reading the long entry, including the comments and the links.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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This freeware game has been around for a very long time, and I've recently just uncovered it thanks to an entire afternoon of Pusoy Dos in pollen-coated Valley Forge and a phone call to my brother about it. In this Hong Kong version (called "Big Two") the suit rankings are a little different, but you'll get used to it. And you can re-order your cards easily by suit or by face value (and thus, by pairs or threes).

So, find that dead and useless Palm of yours and make it your new best friend.

Download it here (right-click and save as).

(If anyone knows who the author is, let me know and we can properly credit this wonderful person.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Further strengthening the rally cry for Rumsfeld's resignation, Seymour Hersh continues his investigation into what lies beneath the prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib:

According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A.

Apparently, Rumsfeld was precluded by law from mentioning these so-called "highly secret matters" in an unclassified session. These matters included a program that:

was given blanket advance approval to kill or capture and, if possible, interrogate “high value” targets in the Bush Administration’s war on terror.

With their lack of success fighting a growing -- and elusive -- insurgency, Rumsfeld had endorsed a solution to:

get tough with those Iraqis in the Army prison system who were suspected of being insurgents. A key player was Major General Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the detention and interrogation center at Guantánamo, who had been summoned to Baghdad in late August to review prison interrogation procedures. The internal Army report on the abuse charges, written by Major General Antonio Taguba in February, revealed that Miller urged that the commanders in Baghdad change policy and place military intelligence in charge of the prison. The report quoted Miller as recommending that “detention operations must act as an enabler for interrogation.

Thus, the term "Gitmoize", where Abu Ghraib and presumably other prisons in the Iraqi system was turned into a hellhole for detainees.

He also briefed military commanders in Iraq on the interrogation methods used in Cuba—methods that could, with special approval, include sleep deprivation, exposure to extremes of cold and heat, and placing prisoners in “stress positions” for agonizing lengths of time.

Read the article here.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Losing touch, and possibly some relevance, in this day and age? The Vatican, seat of the Roman Catholic leadership: a few weeks ago, there were rumors that the Catholic church would deny John Kerry communion, presumably for his pro-choice stand. Lately, the Vatican has been in the thick of controversy, first by warning against marriage with Muslims:

When "a Catholic woman and a Muslim wish to marry," the document says, "bitter experience teaches us that a particularly careful and in-depth preparation is called for."

It also says "profound cultural and religious differences" exist between the two faiths, particularly concerning the rights of women, who are referred to as "the least protected member of the Muslim family."

then the sainthood of Giana Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician who died a week after giving birth to her fourth child, even under advisement from her doctors that it would be dangerous to proceed with the pregnancy because she had a tumor in her uterus. Her "extreme sacrifice" (and her anti-abortion stance) was praised for its "simple and profound message"

And, after the Vatican's criticism on the "pranks" in Abu Ghraib, a Rep. Peter King (D-NY) had this to say about the Catholic leadership:

Whatever the United States has done to prisoners in Iraq is nothing compared to what priests and nuns did to Catholic kids for decades while the Catholic hierarchy covered it up,'' King said. ``Think of the thousands of kids in the U.S. and Ireland who were abused by priests and nuns - you wonder where the Vatican's moral compass is.

This amidst the upcoming June 4 Bush-Pope John Paul II visit.

Informed sources in Rome said Iraq and the Middle East would be at the top of the discussion agenda. It will be the third meeting between the two leaders, and the first since the start of the Iraq war, which was strongly opposed by the pope and his aides.

Vatican officials have said for months it would be unusual for a pope to meet with a sitting president during a re-election campaign, because of the risk that it could be seen as partisan. But after careful consideration, the reasons for such a meeting prevailed over the Vatican's usual caution, a Vatican official said.

These days, it seems, everyone's "lost the moral high ground".

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:35 PM | Permalink
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(Following this letter)

Dear Flip Saunders,

My my, now that you've gone and won your first playoff series after, heck, I've lost count, you're probably thinking that things look pretty good to march all the way to the championship. You have the MVP on your team, and some really hard workers. In fact, I'm willing to overlook that you have that Laker reject Mark Madsen coming off your bench -- I like him dunking on Brad Miller the other night. Good job, Flip.

But, like the last time, there are things we need to talk about. Wally's gone, boohoo, that's okay. World's mug's better than his game. But seriously, you gotta tell Sam to stop shooting those jumpers. I mean, if it's on, it's on, but if it's off, then tell him to pass to Spree or KG. I know Sam can ball, but he's better passing the rock to 4 or 2 for the dribble penetration, the bucket and the foul. 21 + 8 is still bigger than 19 last I checked.

And, a note on defense, those two H's, Hassell and Hoiberg, they're really good defenders, but they are offensive liabilities. They need to at least know how to make an open J, you know?

Best,

Benito

P.S. The Kandi man, despite being drafted #1, is brick. Always has been, always will be. You'll need better than that to beat L.A. should you get there.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:11 AM | Permalink
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Regurgitating these laughs from last year. Incredibly funny.

Noisy doors.

You can't walk three feet in a starship without some door whooshing or screeching at you. My office building has automatic sliding doors. They're dead silent. If those doors went "wheet!" every time a person walked through them, about once a month some guy in accounting would snap and go on a shooting rampage. Sorry Scotty, the IEEE has revoked your membership until you learn to master WD-40.

Mwahahaha!!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:58 PM | Permalink
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U.S. Senator James Inhofe:

"I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment," the Oklahoma Republican said at a U.S. Senate hearing probing the scandal.

"These prisoners, you know they're not there for traffic violations," Inhofe said. "If they're in cellblock 1-A or 1-B, these prisoners, they're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents. Many of them probably have American blood on their hands and here we're so concerned about the treatment of those individuals."

"I am also outraged that we have so many humanitarian do-gooders right now crawling all over these prisons looking for human rights violations, while our troops, our heroes are fighting and dying," he said.

You scare me, Mr. Senator. Like Mr. Bush said, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not, but whether you believe it.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:56 PM | Permalink
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According to their official website, they're on.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Actually, I didn't get to vote. That's because I was too lazy to fly to Chicago or New York, register there, and manage to show up there again to vote. Maybe there was another way, but I didn't know of any. Either way, I didn't get to cast my vote. If I could have, this is how I would have:

President and VP: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro. After which, I would have to ask for forgiveness. I would have cast this vote only to make sure that no one else fills in the blank for me and that one more vote for GMA is one negated vote for FPJ.

Senator: One vote for Mar Roxas who, should he win the Senate Presidency, will surely run for Malacanang in 2010. Mr. Roxas, if you are reading this, I would like to help in your election bid in 2010.

Okay, back to work.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Only one of these candidates will have their prayers answered. As an estimated 43 million make that decision, the powers that be have already decided late last week: GMA will get another 6 years.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Well, I started this parttime gig all the way out in Wayne (about 2 hours away) from where I live. That, and a website for a current client (plus the on again off again relationship with Animo Magazine) and I've been busy as a hamster on a wheel.

But last weekend not only did we go to an Asian foodstore (to stock up on crispy fried dilis) but we also went to Manila Bay, the premier Filipino restaurant in the Philadelphia region.

More on that when I get a break.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:11 PM | Permalink
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