Wednesday, 27 October 2010



@Disinfo.com

Gaspar Noé Interviews Kenneth Anger

"NOÉ: In Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, the priest or the shaman is giving a magic drink to all of the people around him, and I was surprised to read in some books about you, that he's giving them yage. I've done yage many times in the jungle in Peru, and it's a drink that is full of DMT. Have you ever done yourself chemical DMT? Or have you drunk ayahuasca?

ANGER: No, neither one. I've read about them, but I've never tried them. I don't go out of my way to seek that sort of thing. But yage is from South America, isn't it? I tried peyote, which makes me kind of ill before it clears up. But that takes all night.

NOÉ: Have you tried it many times?

ANGER: A few times. I haven't taken any drugs, of any kind, in years. It was an experimental period in an earlier part of my life.

NOÉ: They open your mind, if you don't lose your mind.

ANGER: Well, one thing you cannot do—once, I tried to film when I was on LSD. And I had very good LSD in the early days, because I was a friend in San Francisco of Owsley Stanley, the famous chemist. And in the early days, it was just a drop of it on a sugar cube. So I had very good LSD, but the problem was—I tried making a film, or doing some filming, when I was on LSD, and it's impossible. I couldn't focus. I tried focusing, but when I looked through the lens, I'd see all different layers of focus, and I couldn't find which was the real one behind the camera. And I just thought, this does not work, and I never tried that again."...

MORE
@'Interview Magazine'

RIP - Paul the Octopus


Paul, the famous psychic octopus who shot to fame after predicting the outcomes of World Cup this summer, died Tuesday. He lived just two and a half years.

After passing away peacefully during the night of natural causes, Paul will be remembered for predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then the final by selecting Spain over the Netherlands. Just before each game, the Octopus would choose one of two boxes, each loaded with a mussel food treat and marked on the outside with one of the teams. (He also made an enemy in Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.)
Staff at the aquarium center where he lived said his death was not entirely unexpected, since common octopuses generally only live a few years. Paul's body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides "how best to mark his passing." "We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine," said Stephan Porwell, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany.
However, Paul's fans need not despair–his aquarium is said to be grooming a successor, also to be named Paul. (Even though, chances are, he won't be psychic.) And on a commercial note, the iconic octopus lives on in iPhone apps and clothing lines devoted to his soothsaying ways. NewsFeed salutes you, Paul. May you predict World Cup outcomes in octopus heaven.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/26/r-i-p-paul-the-world-cup-psychic-octopus/#ixzz13TvHg1pd

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Back tomorrow...

Scuba - Triangulation (Interpretations)

   HFCD003i - Triangulation (Interpretations)
Release date: November 15
01. Before (After)
02. Latch (Will Saul & Mike Monday Remix)
03. On Deck (FaltyDL Remix)
04. You Got Me (I Got You)
05. Tracers (Deadbeat Remix)
06. So You Think You're Special (Joe Remix)
07. Before (Deadboy Remix)
Released by: Hotflush Recordings Ltd
Release/catalogue number: HFCD003i
Release date: Nov 15, 2010

Divide and Conquer

I've never been a fan of shooting the messenger. I like to believe that people are capable of making their own minds on the information they've been given, but I'm starting to have second thoughts. In the currently polarized climate of American politics, it is increasing difficult to have a civil discussion on current events unless one is preaching to the choir. In recent conversations where I'm speaking with an avowed republican, I notice they all say the same talking points that are aired on Fox News on a daily basis. When I ask if they get their news from other sources, 9/10 times they say no. The excuse is they don't "trust" other outlets. What has resulted is cause for concern. One out of five Americans mistakenly believe Obama is Muslim. Many Americans mistakenly believe Obama's raised taxes.

Recently, NPR fired Juan Williams. What I find amazing is Fox News signed Williams to a contract the next day. Apparently, $2 million is the going price for Islamophobia.

Former Fox Newser Major Garrett admits that Fox News is in the business of keeping America divided. So, between the outrageous sums of money pumped into Fox and now the newly allowed unlimited anonymous campaign contributions (thanks to Bush appointees on the Supreme Court), the truth doesn't stand a chance.

WikiLeaks Exposes Rumsfeld's Lies

Monday, 25 October 2010

Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters

Paul O'Grady tells it how it is...


(Thanx Joe!)

RIP - Gregory Isaacs

Reggae legend Gregory Isaacs has died after a battle with cancer.
Isaacs, who was 59 years old, died on Monday morning at his home in London where he spent part of his time.
He leaves behind a wife and children.
Close friends told BBC Caribbean that he had originally been diagnosed with cancer of the liver which had then spread.
The Jamaican reggae singer, who was nicknamed the Cool Ruler, was best known for the song 'Night Nurse'.
@'BBC'
   

The Nixonian henchmen of today: at the NYT

♪♫ Sylvain Chauveau - The Unbroken Line (version 2)

'...the only Muslim member of congress.'

Keith Ellison
As TRMS examined last week, we've had a 2010 campaign season full of "macaca" moments, gaffes from Republican/Tea Party candidates that would've ended their chances in any normal election.
Threaten to obstruct and possibly shut down the government? Dude, that's so 1994. Now you have to threaten violent revolution to get some attention. The goal line has been moved (forgive the football metaphor; it's Sunday) to a place we've never seen it before, and it's kept a lot of candidates viable long after they normally would have been. To the GOP/Tea Party folks, none of those things have yet disqualified these candidates.
But despite being willing to tolerate any manner of political gaffe, they do have standards. Being Muslim, it seems, is a bridge too far.
A Tea Party Nation e-mail (requires login) sent late Saturday night in support of Lynne Torgeson, the Republican candidate in Minnesota's 5th district, went full negative against Rep. Keith Ellison, the Democratic incumbent.
Best to just let you read it, verbatim:
There are a lot of liberals who need to be retired this year, but there are few I can think of more deserving than Keith Ellison. Ellison is one of the most radical members of congress. He has a ZERO rating from the American Conservative Union. He is the only Muslim member of congress. He supports the Counsel for American Islamic Relations, HAMAS and has helped congress send millions of tax to terrorists in Gaza.
Good to know they have some standards, I guess.
Whether or not they can prove that Rep. Ellison has "helped congress send millions of tax" to Gaza, or whether the Congressman or the Council on American-Islamic Relations supports Hamas, that's besides the point. Because all Muslims are anti-American, right?
Right? Being a Muslim, per the Tea Party Nation, is now a disqualifying characteristic for being a member of Congress. Calling for the violent overthrow of government if, you know, that whole democracy thing doesn't go their way?
Now, that's American!
(Image: University of Minnesota-Morris.)
Update: As some of our commenters have noted, Tea Party Nation will be surprised to learn that Rep. Andre Carson (D-IL) is also a Muslim.
Jamil Smith @The Maddow Blog'
Still NO exscuse for working for Iran's PressTV though!

WikiLeaks Iraq war logs: Nick Clegg calls for investigation of abuse claims

Allegations of killings, torture and abuse in Iraq contained in leaked US military logs "need to be looked at", Nick Clegg said today.
The deputy prime minister said any suggestion that the rules of war had been broken or torture had been condoned were "extremely serious".
The almost 400,000 secret US army field reports show two cases of alleged involvement of British troops in the abuse of detainees.
Clegg did not rule out the possibility of an inquiry into the actions of British forces in Iraq, but said it was up to the US administration to answer for the actions of its forces.
His comments contrasted with a statement from the Ministry of Defence yesterday, which warned that the posting of classified US military logs on the WikiLeaks website could endanger the lives of British forces.
Clegg told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show: "We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious. They are distressing to read about and they are very serious. I am assuming the US administration will want to provide its own answer. It's not for us to tell them how to do that."
Asked if there should be an inquiry into the role of British troops, he said: "I think anything that suggests that basic rules of war, conflict and engagement have been broken or that torture has been in any way condoned are extremely serious and need to be looked at."
He added: "People will want to hear what the answer is to what are very, very serious allegations of a nature which I think everybody will find quite shocking."
Vince Cable, the business secretary, also said allegations of abuse should be investigated and criticised the way in which they were leaked. He told Sky News Sunday Live: "The Liberal Democrats were strong opponents of the Iraq war and we do feel vindicated by what's happening."
He added: "I think there have been several investigations already but I think, clearly, if there have been abuses taking place they need to be investigated – that's obvious enough."
British involvement in the alleged torture and unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians may also be the subject of legal action. Lawyers said the reports embroiled British as well as US forces in an alleged culture of abuse and extrajudicial killings in Iraq.
Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, appearing alongside the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a press conference in London yesterday, said some of the deaths documented in the reports may have involved British forces and could now go through the UK courts. The Iraq war logs, Shiner said, indicated that British as well as US commanders were likely to have ignored evidence of torture by the Iraqi authorities, contrary to international law.
"Some of these deaths will be in circumstances where the UK have a very clear legal responsibility. This may be because the Iraqis died while under the effective control of UK forces – under arrest, in vehicles, helicopters or detention facilities," he said.
The Ministry of Defence said the publication of the records was reckless and put the lives of British military personnel in danger, adding that it investigated any allegations made against British troops. It said: "There is no place for mistreatment of detainees. Any civilian casualty is a matter of deep regret and we take any incidents extremely seriously."
As Assange defended the decision to disclose the documents – saying it was of "immense importance" to reveal the truth about the conflict – the UN warned that if the logs pointed to clear violations of the UN convention against torture, Barack Obama's administration had a clear obligation to investigate them.
Manfred Novak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said: "President Obama came to power with a moral agenda, saying we don't want to be seen to be a nation responsible for major human rights violations." A failure to investigate credible claims of complicity in torture, Novak suggested, would be a failure of the Obama government to recognise US obligations under international law.
The US defence department condemned the WikiLeaks release, describing the documents as raw observations by tactical units, which were only snapshots of tragic, mundane events. Assange said the snapshots of everyday events offered a glimpse at the "human scale" of the conflict. He told the news conference his motive for the disclosure was "about the truth".
Iraq Body Count, a private British-based group that has tracked the number of Iraqi civilians killed since the war began in 2003, said its analysis of the logs had raised its total of civilian deaths from 107,369 to more than 122,000. IBC, which worked with WikiLeaks, said the war logs showed there were more than 109,000 violent deaths between 2004 and the end of 2009. They included 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as "enemy", 15,196 members of the Iraqi security forces, and 3,771 coalition troops.
John Sloboda of IBC said: "They [the documents] show the relentless grind of daily killings in almost every town or village in every province."
WikiLeaks yesterday promised to publish 15,000 more documents about the war in Afghanistan.
Jonathan Haynes, Mark Townsend, Jamie Doward and Paul Harris and agencies @'The Guardian'