Friday, 23 April 2010

Dick Morris: Bill Clinton Personally Orchestrated the 1993 Waco, Texas Tragedy


It looks like somebody is going to have to update the Waco Siege page on Wikipedia. Apparently the whitewashed history that former President Bill Clinton would like us to believe regarding the 1993 federal assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, is missing important details regarding his own personal involvement.
In response to Bill Clinton’s highly publicized linking of the Tea Party movement to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, former Clinton adviser Dick Morris disclosed on Monday that it was Clinton himself, and not Attorney General Janet Reno, as Americans have been led to believe for the past 17 years, who called the shots during the 1993 botched invasion that led to the death of seventy-six people.
Speaking on the Hannity program on the Fox News Network, Morris criticized Clinton for his Oklahoma City comments: “Let’s understand what was Timothy McVeigh’s motivation …he himself had said that it was the reaction to the Waco takeover. Bill Clinton orchestrated that takeover.”
Morris went on to say, “Clinton in fact was so ashamed about what he did in Waco that he was not going to appoint Janet Reno to a second four-year term. She told him in a meeting right before the inauguration day … ‘If you don’t appoint me I’m going to tell the truth about Waco.’ And that forced Clinton’s hand … It’s never been said (publicly) before.”
For years, Clinton has been criticized for his leadership of the federal government during the Waco crisis, but he has managed to escape personal responsibility for the tragedy. With Morris’s statements, it appears this may no longer be possible. It would seem that Clinton was far more intimately involved with the government response at Waco than previously reported.
While there may be a link between Clinton and the Oklahoma City bombing, I would hardly blame the actions of a psychopath on any one individual or political party.
However, for Clinton to associate such a horrible act of violence with freedom loving Americans, especially given the fact that he must be fully aware that it was his decisions that led to the Waco catastrophe which in turn inspired Timothy McVeigh, is remarkably shameless.
Fred Dardick @'Canada Free Press'

Explosions shake Bangkok district amid protest deadlock

General Election 2010: Billy Bragg pledges to support Liberal Democrats 

Going to have to digeast that one a bit further, are the LibDems really a better alternative?  

Money quote from Mr. Bragg:

'Asked for his thoughts on the General Election, Bragg replied cryptically: ''I think it's like a big wobbly sausage and a really strange pair of trousers and the sausage sticking out of the front of the trousers.
''And people saying: 'I don't know, is that a sausage sticking out of those trousers or is it a ----?'''

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Coca Colla hopes to create a buzz in Bolivia

Coca Colla and Coca-Cola bottles
The beverage has a red-and-white label, tastes ultra-sweet, gives you a buzz and - says its producer - it keeps you awake.
But it is not the drink with similar effect and a similar name you might think it is.
An unlikely newcomer has made the world of soft drinks a little more crowded: Bolivia has started producing a new fizzy drink using the coca leaf.
It is called "Coca Colla" after the Colla people, the Andean tribes who cultivate coca in the areas bordering Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
For some a matter of indigenous pride, for others another sign of Bolivia's growing anti-US feelings, this humble local initiative has set its sights on competing domestically with giants such as Coca-Cola and Red Bull.
Coca Colla creator Victor Ledezma
I started making the drink at home, based on my beloved but otherwise reviled coca leaf and outsourcing the bottling process
Coca Colla creator Victor Ledezma
The new "energy soft drink" is made by a private company, with a modest initial investment of a $1,000 (£650), but it is backed up by a government policy of industrialising the cultivation of the coca leaf.
The leaf is a key element in the Andean people's culture and economy. However, it is also cocaine's raw material.
That association with drugs is a motivating influence on the drink's creator Victor Ledezma.
"I want to get to the whole world with my coca-leaf-based drink," says Ledezma, a coca farmer from El Chapare region in central Bolivia.
"Coca has a lot of potential … this can change the image of Bolivia as being a drug-trafficking country," he believes.
According to Mr Ledezma, Bolivia's new ally, Iran, has already expressed an interest, having ordered two million bottles.
And some countries in the region, members of the left-wing Alba bloc - mainly Venezuela and Paraguay - are considering not only importing, but also financing Mr Ledezma's project.
"I've developed my own secret formula. I started making the drink at home, based on my beloved but otherwise reviled coca leaf and outsourcing the bottling process," Mr Ledezma says.
"Now we are building a plant in Santa Cruz and aiming to have investments for at least $1m. That's for a start. The whole world should know that coca, besides from its good taste, is good for body and the soul," Mr Ledezma adds.
Kicking ingredient
Coca leaves

This is great for Bolivia and will be great for the coca leaf, because then people won't only talk just about the negative side of coca-derived products

Bolivian government source

Beverages derived from coca leaves are not a new idea.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, an Italian entrepreneur, Angelo Mariani, sparked a revolution with his coca-based wine, 'Vin Mariani'.
The drink offered "health, strength, energy and vitality" and was even awarded official recognition by one of its consumers and fans, the then Pope Leo XIII.
Most recently, coca leaves seem to be among the elements in the formula of the Red Bull Cola energy drink.
But most famously, coca leaves helped to give the kick in Coca-Cola's original formula. The company dropped cocaine from its recipe more than 100 years go, but the secret formula still calls for a cocaine-free coca extract.
The Coca-Cola Company is said to import eight tons of coca leaves from South America each year, mainly from Peru.
"The coca leaf has three alkaloids. Extracted from the leaf and concentrated into cocaine with chloride, the coca alkaloid is highly stimulating and, potentially, very addictive," explains Dr Jorge Hurtado, a local psychiatrist and coca expert who heads the International Coca Research Institute.
"However, the small dose present naturally, and unprocessed, in coca leaves provides only a slight energising sensation and it is not addictive; it carries less of a kick than a cup of coffee.
"The same applies to the Coca Colla or other coca-based products like toothpaste, flours or sweets," Dr Hurtado adds.
Trade ban
Even so, with the notable exception of Coca-Cola, most products using coca leaves are banned in most nations beyond the Andes by strict trade regulations.
Evo Morales holding a coca leaf
President Morales chewed coca leaves at the UN while campaigning against a ban
So for Coca Colla, exporting the beverage widely would require the International Narcotics Control Board of the United Nations to take the coca leaf off the list of dangerous drugs, where it has been since 1961.
And it would also require modifying the current local law, which prevents exports of any product derived from the coca plant.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has yet to indicate whether the law will change.
But Mr Morales, himself a coca grower, has fought for the rights of coca growers and called for the United Nations to lift the ban on coca, criticising the US for its opposition to any change.
Yet Bolivian law currently allows only 12,000 hectares of coca plants to be planted and its purposes must be traditional - for chewing, for tea and for use in indigenous rituals.
But with widespread plans of industrialisation of the shiny green leaf, Mr Morales is pushing to increase the area used to grow coca to 20,000 hectares.
In reality, coca cultivation is far greater than that. A recent report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that, in 2008, approximately 30,200 hectares of coca were under cultivation in two out of the country's nine departments.
The reality is that coca leaves fetch far higher prices than most food crops and cultivation is hard to resist for farmers in one of South America's poorest countries.
The government's hope is that, by supporting coca's other uses, it will help some farmers avoid the temptation of cocaine trade. It says legal coca production makes enough to support 300,000 people.
A government source told the BBC that they were in the final stages of analysing the product and would soon provide financial support to its producers.
"The aim is to provide greater social benefits to producers and suppliers of the raw material.
"This is great for Bolivia and will be great for the coca leaf, because then people won't only talk just about the negative side of coca-derived products", the source said.
"And there's more to it than that. This is a matter of national pride. Soon, people will stop talking about 'God, Country and Coca-Cola'; they'll be talking of '[Andean Goddess] Mother Earth, Bolivia and Coca Colla.'"
Andres Schipani  @'BBC'

Burrough's weapons


Here is someone who really doesn't like 'Naked Lunch'

'Commom Sense' by Scurvy Bastard

To the Young Britons, dissatisfied with years of a failed New Labour and considering voting Tory for a change. Back in the 80s the contents of your diapers was the same thing that Thatcher was feeding the country, smirking all the while as her party idolized her. Things haven't changed and won't until you figure out how to change them. Repeating the same mistake over and over again is the definition of insanity.
Illustrations by Ralph Steadman

Cabaret Voltaire - Just Fascination

Yuri Gagarin...April 12, 1961...First person in space: "Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!"

Hip-Hop - A Street History (Documentary BBC 1984)


Hitler reacts to 'Youtoob' deleting the 'Downfall' parodies


(Thanx HerrB!)

Birthday Party - Junkyard


(Thanx Michael!)
(I was very lucky enough to see the Birthday Party's second gig in London due to the fact that Tracey Pew (and Nick Cave?) were staying with friends of mine when they first came across to the UK.) 
One of the greatest live bands of all time...

(Does anyone still read it?)

Guru's family deny authenticity of final words

The family of rapper Guru, who died earlier this week, have issued a statement refuting the former GangStarr man's ability to write down or communicate any final words in the run-up to his death.
As previously reported, immediately after Guru's death on Monday, his producer Solar issued a statement and a letter purporting to be the rapper's final wishes, which included the desire for Solar to bring up his son KC and run his charitable organisation, and a particularly vitriolic rant against his former GangStarr partner, DJ Premier.
However, the rapper's family say that they were not aware of any such charity being in operation, and claim that Guru had been in a coma since suffering a heart attack in February, so could not have written, or even dictated, the letter. Nor could he have issued the statement released via Solar in March assuring fans that he was recovering well.
The family's statement revealed: "Guru suffered from multiple myeloma for over a year. Accrued complications from this illness led to respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. As a result, Guru was in a coma from mid-February until his death and never regained consciousness. Early on the morning of 19 Apr, he became hypertensive due to low blood pressure. He again went into cardiac arrest and slipped away from us. Guru died far too young but he was, and we are, proud of all his many legendary musical contributions. The family is not aware of any foundations established by Guru".
Numerous members of the hip hop community, plus fans and critics were already questioning the validity of the letter supposedly written by Guru on his deathbed, and this statement will only fuel the animosity towards Solar. The producer himself said earlier this week that those who do not believe that the note was written by Guru have a "wicked agenda".
Meanwhile, DJ Premier issued his own statement yesterday, though refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding Guru's death (although a few lines could be seen as subtle digs at Solar). Premier wrote: "I've been asked to comment on a letter speaking ill of me, which was supposedly written by Guru in his dying days. All I will say about it is that our time together was beautiful, we built a hip hop legacy together, and no one can re-write history or take away my love for him. One thing I would never do is play around with the truth about his life"

Who cares?

Melbourne Storm stripped of premierships for salary cap breaches
(...but it is nice to see that a sporting body actually has punished a club a little more than a slap on the wrist!)

Smoking # 65

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