Travolta's Scientology Turning Point?

The actor’s public acknowledgement that his son, who died in January, was autistic has former Scientologists convinced that he will leave the church—which they say has little tolerance for chronic conditions.

When John Travolta took the witness stand last week and testified that his late son, Jett, was autistic, it came as a grim relief to some former Scientologists.

“Wasn’t that amazing?” said a fallen-away church member after Travolta appeared in an extortion case that followed the death of his 16-year-old son last January. “I thought, ‘Good for him.’ He denied it for years. It’s really important that he says it.”

@'Daily Beast'

What with Paul Haggis's resignation and the recent court loss in France, it couldn't happen to a nicer 'church'!

Israel’s Growing Problem: Will Its Ministers Be Arrested?

Israeli Army Radio reported on Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will not cut short his trip to Britain, despite warning from activists that they will press war crimes charges against him. Last month, British authorities rejected a petition to arrest Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying that Barak was Britain’s diplomatic guest.

Still, lawyers in Britain and other European countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, and Norway have been collecting testimonies of Palestinians regarding the alleged war crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces during the Gaza War. If the alleged crime is proven in court, individuals charged will be arrested as soon as they enter these countries.

On Wednesday, the former IDF chief of staff and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, whose trial has been sought over the assassination of senior Hamas activist Salah Shehadeh in July 2002, said he is “willing to forgo visits to European capitals and to allow the Israel Defense Forces the freedom to act.” He added:

"Israel is transparent. The IDF has recently conducted five serious probes, the criminal investigation division opened an investigation into credit card theft. There is a team that will respond to the report without having to stop the army in order to do so."

@'enduring America'

RePost - Two songs by Lou Barlow

Lou Barlow

'Easy'
The Folk Implosion

Said I wouldn't do it, leave it alone
Tried to ditch it, followed me right back home
After a while I don't resist
I'm alive with a purpose
My way down looking for it
That's what I'm afraid of

When I finally hold it, arrive on the scene
The doors are open I can hardly breathe
And like every guilty feeling
I've forgotten before
Three hours later, I'm hungry for more
That's what I'm afraid of
I don't have the will to change
Not when it's so easy, to be easy

Resistance is low when I'm feeling bored
What I thought was fun isn't fun anymore
Gravity pulls neither wrong or right
The moon is full and we're out of our heads
Let's do it again and feel allright
The fight is over for now
The fight is over

'Too Pure'
Sebadoh

Is something missing in my touch, a tension tugging at my smile?
If there's a right thing to say, I'm sure I missed it by a mile
Swallowed in some detail, heavy in my blood
I wanna hold you close, but I can't lift my arms up
Is there a reason for this distance?
More than the drug that floats my days
A nervous bug in my system, it keeps me edgy and ashamed
I've got a saint, never ever will forgive
That never understood me but still tells me how to live
It fits when I stretch and I stretch because I can
I stretch until I'm sore and then I open up for more
I do it out of habit, not addiction
And if I give it up, clean out my blood
Will I still feel bored and disconnected?
If I do it all for love, will I ever give enough?
'cause you can never be too pure or too connected
You can never be too pure or too connected
You can never be too pure

Lou Barlow session at Spin TV

Includes a cover of La Roux's 'Bulletproof' !
Watch it
HERE

Intrusion - RA Mix

Tracklist
Linkwood Family - Miles Away (Intrusion Sunrise Dub) - Firecracker
Tony Allen - Ole (A Remix By Moritz Von Oswald) - Honest Jon's
Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive - Rhythm & Sound / Wackies
Loops & Samples from Deepchord - Electro Magnetic Dowsing - Step 2 - S Y N T H
Intrusion - Tswana Dub - Echospace
Rhythm & Sound - See Mi Yah (Basic Reshape) - Burial Mix
Rhythm & Sound w/Paul St. Hilaire - Free For All - Burial Mix
Echospace - Empyrean - Modern Love
Maurizio - M5 - Maurizio
Rhythm & Sound w/Cornell Campbell - King In My Empire - Burial Mix
Maurizio - M5 - Maurizio
Luke Hess - Reel Life (cv313's Dimensional Space Mix) - Echocord
cv313 - Space - Echospace
Deepchord - Vantage Isle (DC Mix I) - Echospace
Model 500 - Starlight (Echospace Unreleased Mix) - Echospace
cv313 - Starsailing (Intrusion Dub) - Echospace
Precession - Sandcastle (Mike Huckaby Remix) - Ferox
Atheus - Deploy - Styrax
Substance and Vainqueur - Libration - Scion Versions
XDB - Descap (Live Mix) - Metrolux / Wave Music
Son's Of The Dragon - The Journey Of Qui Niu (SQX Mix) Echospace
Convextion - Miranda - Matrix Detroit

Massive Attack/Portishead - Rising Son & Glory Box

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

Car bomb in crowded Pakistan market kills 105

Suspected militants exploded a car bomb in a market crowded with women and children Wednesday, killing 105 people and turning shops selling wedding dresses, toys and jewelry into a mass of burning debris and bodies.

The attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar was Pakistan's deadliest since 2007 and came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the country to offer support for its fight against a strengthening al-Qaida and Taliban-led insurgency based along the Afghan border.

Clinton was three hours' drive away in the capital meeting Pakistani government leaders when the bomb went off in Peshawar. Her trip was not announced in advance in Pakistan for security reasons.

The bomb was directed squarely at civilians, unlike many previous blasts that have targeted security forces or government or Western interests. While no one claimed responsibility, the bomb appeared aimed at undercutting public and political support for an ongoing army offensive against militants close to the frontier and showing that the government was unable to keep its people safe.

@'AP'

Why a tight market for drugs may be contributing to recent violence in Rio

All of Brazil’s big cities have a vigorous market in illegal drugs. If surveys of drug use are to be believed, consumption of cocaine, crack and cannabis per head in Rio de Janeiro is near the median when compared with other state capitals. So why is the city that has just won the 2016 Olympics so prone to paroxysms of drug violence, as seen on the weekend of October 17th-18th, in which about 25 people were killed (including three policemen), ten buses were set on fire and a police helicopter was shot down?
@'The Economist'

"Helpmaboab!"

New computer & Google Wave...
My head is
EXPLODING!!!

Opium and Afghanistan

(Thanx for the link Fifi)

Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1 in Afghanistan

There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.

The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban today and farmers tomorrow.

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has nearly finished gathering information and advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan, where bombings killed eight more American troops. With October now the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the war, many experts question the need for more troops.

"The U.S. and its allies already have ample numbers and firepower to annihilate the Taliban, if only the Taliban would cooperate by standing still and allowing us to bomb them to smithereens," said Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations and history at Boston University, and one-time platoon leader in Vietnam.

"But the insurgents are conducting the war in ways that do not play to (allied) strengths."

@'AP'

Date-rape drink spiking 'an urban legend'

Widespread spiking of drinks with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB is an "urban legend" fuelled by young women unwilling to accept they have simply consumed too much alcohol, academics believe.
A study of more than 200 students revealed many wrongly blamed the effects of a "bad night out" on date-rape drugs, when they had just drunk excessively.
Many are in "active denial" that drinking large amounts of alcohol can leave them "incoherent and incapacitated", the Kent University researchers concluded.

@'Telegraph'

However, as George Pitcher quite rightly points out here it is rapists that rape NOT alcohol!

Brother of Afghan President Is on C.I.A. Payroll

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, and those financial ties and the agency's close working relationship with him raise significant questions about America's war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.
@'NY Times'

Smoking # 37

Monica Bellucci by Ellen Von Unwerth