Celebrating Trail mix at SCOTUS

This week certainly has been a mixed bag of nuts from the supreme court. Early in the week SCOTUS' decision on the VRA led to moves in Texas to deny voting rights of minorities within two hours.

Today, the discrimination promoted by DOMA and California's Prop 8 was gutted. But the decision was crafted in such a way that the federal governments ability to defend the rights of the people against rogue state legislatures has been damaged.

The comments from the right were pretty predictable. Shirley Phelps freaked out on twitter. Republicans banged on the "sad day" sound bite.

No one should have been surprised that Antonin Scalia dissented on marriage equality, what was surprising was how obsessed with man on man anal sex Scalia's comments were.

Michelle Bachman, whose lifestyle is perhaps most threaten by today's decision (just as soon as Marcus can find a nice interior decorator with which to settle down), opined that it is not for judges to over turn what god had wrought. Later, Nancy Pelosi, had the most apt and succinct response to Bachman's comments: "Who cares?"

But lets hear from dumbest man in the US Congress...


The more the political right focus on moralizing to the American people the more the American people embrace progressive politics. This may be what drove Texas Republicans to act so fast after the VRA decision, migration of progressives into the state is diluting the GOP vote and increasing attacks on women's rights are driving moderate Republicans away from the GOP.  No doubt this has the Texas GOP in a panic. Keep in mind, these are the people who developed the platform to take critical thinking and higher order thinking skills out of schools in the the run up to the presidential election.

Even GOP darling Bobby Jindal said the GOP has to "stop being the 'stupid' party" if it wants to remain a viable political force. It seems the message sailed passed them like a leaf in a hurricane. Poetic really, since the GOP's energy policies would rapidly create the conditions for more frequent and more powerful hurricanes by pumping carbon into the atmosphere as fast as the economy dig it out of the ground, with out regard to Copenhagen, or the already evident changes in climate.

Antarctic Albatros future uncertian says immigration minister.

On Thursday, the most severe storm in more than forty years hit the New Zealand capital, Wellington. Breaking sea walls from the south coast to Petone, disrupting power, road rail and air traffic. But also, albatrosses made land fall after being blown in from sub antarctic waters.
Many the Albatrosses were reported to be in shock, some with minor injuries and many with a distinct "What the f*&^ am I doing here?!" expression, said keepers at Wellington Zoo, who are also taking care of a number of other sea birds, some of which have more severe injuries. 
Late Friday, immigration minister, Michael Woodhouse, expressed concern that these albatrosses were using resources allocated for New Zealand wildlife and that he had signed a treaty with Australia for offshore processing of asylum seekers to
"prevent this sort of thing". He continued "I don't like the way these birds have sought to undermine our territorial sovereignty. Questions must be asked about the Navy's monitoring and handling of this case. Really how could they miss them? "

Minister also "We'll be looking at deporting these albatrosses, just as soon as we can determine their country of origin." It is understood that officials are having difficulty communicating with the albatrosses who do not speak any English, or any language they recognize. Officials also the albatrosses have no identification papers, noting "It is a common ploy used by those with criminal records in their own countries to attempt to hide their identity and claim refugee status."

See also
  Albatross rescued at airport after crash landing
  Australia - New Zealand refugee agreement

Florida: Zombie Apocalypse preparations started

In the the run up to the 2012 US presidential election, Josh Whedon noted that Mitt Romney was well prepared for the Zombie apocalypse...


Why would any one say that? You might well ask.

The close relationship between ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and Republicans is well documented. Including the incident in which 1534 journalists fell out of their chairs laughing when one GOP legislator forgot to put her name on a piece ALEC crafted legislation.

Perhaps there is a deeper reason, Mitt Romney and others in top business are so comfortable with a zombie apocalypse, ... it is part of the business plan. Ultimately the goal is to capture the entire money. They started extracting money from the general economy in the mid 1980s through neo-liberal economics, better known as Reaganomics and more recently described as Rigonomics.

The problem is that once enough money is taken out of the system, eventually there is not enough money remaining for people to live on.  In order to preserve business interests as people stop living and become zombies, ALEC has crafted legislation now passed into passed into Florida law designed to keep the zombies at work rather than dawdling in the street and eating brains.  The legislation criminalizes sick-leave for all Florida workers.

Critics of this plan note that servers at restaurants frequented by ALEC members and sponsors may expose patrons to infected material.

Herb Havataul, CEO of Richmond Flux Capacitors, said "Look,  I'm not sure zombie thumb is something I want in my clam chowder, but it has to be done. we want the money supply."

To date there has been no word on a release date of the zombie virus. Analyst, Dick Witham, says "starvation and overwork continue to be keeping cognitive acuity to minimum in the slave,  er working population, Jim Jones was certainly on to it on people management".

Witham also notes "This is the most cost effective strategy, we could shoot them, but at 15c per shell, that would cost millions, this way we get something out of them. It really is a methodology that must be used only in exceptional circumstances, like when they try to eat your face, a teenager looks at you funny, and of course in situations where life and limb maybe under threat, like negotiating with a union or giving a deposition to ACLU lawyers."

Also worth noting 50,000 ballot voters voted to make sick-leave a legal requirement. Witham comment "Well, that'll never work, we can't have people not working, They might start thinking and demanding to get back some of the money we stole from them in 2009, worse yet, the last 30 years."

GOP hero Rick Scott, stepped in using the ALEC crafted bill, to make sure the "working" were kept to busy to recover from fatigue, ebola, necrotising faciitus, swine flu, bird flu, west nile virus, rickets, shingles, botulism or zombie virus, and thus the plan to own the money supply continues, but it certainly was a close one.

Big Girls blouse with a badge.

There have been a few strange incidents lately, offering peculiar insights into the minds of law enforcement agencies and the companies who pay for off-duty offices to provide their security. Once, the public perception of law enforcement  personnel was the of a strong an confident personality ready to solve any problem, protect and serve the public. But that perception is being damaged. Incidents are occurring with regular monotony of security and law enforcement  overreacting to the slightest provocation.

Recently homeland security agents felt so threaten by a journalist, Laura Poitrus, using her pen to take notes that they insisted that she put away her weapon. It was said the the pen is mightier than the sword, at a time when pens were made from quills, now that the are made from plastic and steal the also appear to be mightier than pepper-spray, side-arms, and Tazers. Even when there was one of her and two of them.

Miami-Dade beach cops tackled and choked 14 year-old Tremaine McMillian after seeing him roughhousing with his friends, after talking to him, he went to get mom. That was when they pounched. What triggered this attack? In the officers word a "dehumanizing stare". As the attack started officers knock the six week old puppy Tremain was carrying out of his hand. This overreaction has a followup in court. Tremaine has been charged with resisting a police officer. At the arraignment the judge has committed Tremaine to trial.

What's going on here? Are they hiring panty-wastes to protect and serve? Probably not.

In Laura's case her work as a journalist has set her at odds with authorities for exposing some of the lies and secrets of the US government and the industrial complex. Include the documentary The Oath that examines the cases former Gitmo detainees returned to Yemen. And, as of early last week, filming the interview with Edward Snowden.

In Tremains case, the most likely explanation is a combination of racism and a career working with drunks, and abusive characters creating an overly cautious mentality. Problem is it too easy to think worst of people just because of the their skin colour. As a recent hidden camera test showed people will let a white guy steal a chained up bike some queried what he was doing, most ignored him. But when the actor was replaced with a black actor, one passer-by grabbed the chain breaking tools and told the camera crew as it revealed itself to go after him.


Just exactly what constitutes terrorism seems to be shifting. Once upon a time, maybe ten years ago, everybody was sure that it required an act of mass murder for the purpose of furthering a political goal. Today some terrorists are so vicious they let security-guards and police officers handcuff them and walk them away from large scale sit-ins. One of them was so dangerous he hung a sign on his own neck say "world war 2 veteran: Handle with care". These "terrorists" are known house-wives, farmers, builders, technical professionals. Of them the farmers are the worst as they continually meander over land they own or lease. Like me you are probably thinking that doesn't seem very terroristic, who is calling these people "terrorists"? That would be TransCanada. The people described as terrorists are mainly from the well known hot bed of terrorist activity that is Nevada. This is where TransCanada is constructing the Keystone XL pipeline, which is as well received as ... ebola virus. 

TransCanada needs Presidential sign off for the Northern league of Keystone XL. If there is one thing that terrorizes the folk inside TransCanada more than anything it is the possibility that President Obama will veto the northern league. The case for the pipeline is weak. Canadian Oil sands will add 140ppm CO₂ to the atmosphere. The business case presented to the congress was prepared by a consultant with close ties to TransCanada. Also the jobs the project creates are limited in comparison to other energy technologies.

This reminds me of The Hollowman, in which Kevin Bacon, becomes invisible, but wears clothing and a latex mask so people can see a public face while he hide dark secrets and an agenda everyone else rightly sees as barking mad once they figured out what he was up to. The rhetoric against the NO-KXL campaign, is a thinly veiled lie used to employ off duty law enforcement and security firms to protect equipment and supplies. Perhaps also keeping workers from having to be bothered by the idea that they are betraying their neighbours, and their own families' futures.

TransCanada exposes massive bong plot.

TransCanada has been working with the US and Canadian governments to expose terrorist elements among the anti Keysone-XL protest movement. Officials holding a press conference in conjunction with the White House Press corp reveals. They released few details but reveal that the attack would have left the nations capital "devastatedly happy".

SWAT raids in Yockle, Nebraska, found a 20 mega tonne bong ready for loading on to a privately own air freighter. "We were stunned by what we saw, splifs the size of Noahs Ark" said lead officer Eric Himler.

A manifesto mailed to the New York Times in an envelope with Yokle post marks claimed

"We are the children of the Earth and she is hurting, right. She asked us to help her with her pain relief medication, right. We love her and cannot deny her, right.

Our plan is simple, right. While the lobbyists were sleeping or otherwise occupied with the munchies, right. We would give congress time pass legislation requiring dirty energy companies to pay for their polution and end exploration subsidies, right; Out law astroturfing and pass a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, right; and end the failed war on drugs, right.

White House spokesman  Jay Carney described the plot as "potentially the most devastating assault on democracy in history," he went on to say "We are so grateful we can spy on American citizens without warrants or reasonable cause in the manner made possible by the Patriot Act and NDAA. We'd like to thank the ACLU for not busting us on it."

See Also
  TransCanada: Protesters are "terrorists"
  TransCanada: Nebraska landowners "terrorists"
  Mass arrests of KXL protesters ensnare farmers, veterans, soccer moms.
  ACLU sues administration over Prism

Big Oil heading for Big Crunch or big Crash

Now that peak-oil has come and gone where are we now? Peak Oil described the period of time when oil production from traditional and relatively easy land based oil drilling would be at its maximum, that was about 10 years ago. Gone are the days when using 1 barrel of crude oil would translate to 20 barrels of new crude extracted from the ground.
The reduced supply, and the extra costs in drilling at sea, or of the many small drill sites involved in shale-gas extraction. Today, the extraction industry delivers as little as 2-4 barrels equivalent barrels. Shale gas extraction is especially expensive, since transporting equipment, fracking fluids, "produced" fluids, requires many large "gas guzzling" trucks.
Oil sands suffers from essentially the same problem. But on top of that, Canadian oil sands alone, are set to add another 140ppm for atmospheric CO₂ which is in-congruent with organized life on this planet. So far climate change has seen the planets temperature rise <1°C. Already we have seen consequences. Some days in the last Australian summer were so hot that petrol(gasoline) evaporated before it reached the tanks of motor vehicles. Ohio was too hot for corn to fertilize in 2012. Wildfires in Colorado, and Sandy in New York. These freak weather incidents are becoming the new normal.  New Zealand now has a tornado season, and the media have stopped using "80 year" flood/drought terminology any more because such events are now seen so regularly they are really "5-10 year" events.
Over the last 40 years, litmus paper dipped in ocean water has been coming out a different colour. Ocean water is now 30% more acidic than it was in the 1970s.
Warmer air absorbs more water, Water evaporates from the soil faster, the air carries more water before reaching saturation. as the air moves and its pressure falls it now dumps more rain often in places and in such quantities declarations of emergency from local and national authorities are inevitable. The air is now 5% wetter. Europe is seeing floods in summers, 20million Pakistani people were displaced by floods in a region that never sees floods(so much for Mosaic rainbows).
It seems to me, and I could be well wrong, that the last time the climate changed this fast was 65m years ago, and saw the extinction of dinosaurs.

Well known liberal radical bastions (that's sarcasm for the benefit of Louie Gomert and Michelle Bachman) Price-Waterhouse Coopers, the International Energy Agency, and the World Bank, point to the world heading for trouble. Price-Waterhouse Coopers the people who count the Oscar votes looked at the proprietary databases of the extraction industry and found 2795 giga tonnes (Gt) of carbon in their business plans. The world bank noted that there is no chance of development in a world with rapidly rising temperatures. The International Energy Agency's annual report says 80% of the carbon in the business plans of extraction companies must stay in the ground. The maximum amount of carbon the atmosphere can absorb is 565Gt - any more than that and temperatures rise above the 2°C safe limit agreed upon in 1995.

While Copenhagen was haled at the time as a great starting point, you might be forgiven for thinking there should by now be some bold new action plan that would have been decided upon and agree to with exciting projects receiving public funding, new jobs, international cooperation. But so far bold international agreement is limited to the 1995 aggreement that anything more that 2°C would be bad. Indeed subsequent climate summits have been mired in in-fighting and nations arguing to get some advantage for petty self interests. Worse still corporations have effectively bribed law makers to do nothing that would hurt their industry including public investment in competitive industries like Wind or Solar industries with politicians using sound bites like "we don't pick winners".

But despite the dearth of support, renewable clean energy is coming online and growing fast. The Carbon fuel industry will face real competition from primarily wind and solar. The world largest coal company, Coal India, uses solar power in its facilities because it's literally cheaper than burning coal straight out of the ground. Solar generation, is already approaching grid parity in India, and will soon be cheaper than other generation that they are using.

What does this mean? It means carbon energy is losing market share, while its expense base is rising. Much profit is made through commodities speculation an derivatives. What will happen when the bottom drops out of the market? First up investment is under downward pressure from concerned ethical investors who are divesting funds from Big Carbon investments. Eventually this will cause the Big Carbon share price to crash. These divested funds wont disappear, they go into other funds and the stock market can remain stable. What ever you do don't get caught with Big Carbon stocks in your portfolio unless you want to take a bath, especially you big banks.

Bill McKibben spoke ineloquently but effective at The Embassy Theatre in Wellington last night. I was surprised to read in The Listener article that the New Zealand Superfund has over NZ$22b invested in big carbon. If you are a KiwiSaver it will be in your best interest to lobby for divestment from big carbon. Because when Big Carbon goes down investors will lose big.
As an ethical consumer you might want to avoid Z fill-up stations too. Shell the Parent Company for Z is exploring off the Otago/Southland coast putting the fishing industry at risk.
Another way to avoid adding more carbon to the atmosphere is to use filtered used vegetable oil with a dash of ethanol.

Putting the breaks on insanity in reproductive rights begins in Virginia

Virginia voters, seem to have had it with intrusive reproductive legislation and Democrat candidates chose by primary vote have elected to candidacy over well funded rockstar candidates. Meanwhile GOP candidates were hand picked by Virginia's RNC, and are the most rightwing line up Virginia has seen in a long time.

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This is a winning strategy of course, doubling down on extreme rightwing dogma, stupidity and anti-scientific nonsense is the way to put ultra-conservative candidates where they belong - into the political dust bin.

The Virginia state elections may be another canary for GOP. But they haven't gotten the message from 2012, and their choice of candidates confirms this. While Christians are fond of say the road to hell is paved with good intentions it seems the road to political oblivion is paved with Biblically justified misogyny.

"I know the calls you made last summer"

Their concerns for privacy seem well founded

The title of today's post is a parody of the movie title I Know What You Did last Summer, a suspense horror in which a mysterious antagonist takes revenge on a bunch of teenagers. And somehow the tone seems to suit the NSA's snooping into the lives of ordinary American citizens.

Revelations by the ex-CIA administrator/analyst,  Edward Snowden, appear to have nudged the house of cards that was the legality of the programme. Under American law no one had legal standing to challenge the programme or it legality because no one who had been targeted by knew they were targets. But the revelations mean every American can now claim standing, and the ACLU have already file suit against the NSA. Searches without reasonable cause or legally warrented by a judge are required under the American Constitution's 4^th ammendent and federal law. Now that the legal standing issue has been pierced, short of changing the constitution and federal law NSA's Prism program is in violation of the principle of "unreasonable search and seizure" enshrined in the constitution and law.

The full video of Edward Snowden's interview with the Guardian:

Even the secret Pfizer courts, in previous judgements express opinions characterising this program as barely legal. Palantir corporation, 3news revealed have an office in Wellington. John Key admits that he knows them.  What is more interesting perhaps is a comment from Palantir's CEO "We are the best that money can buy, feels good to be gangstas." Palantir is one of three security contractors who conspired to use technology available to them against commercial and political adversaries.

Palantir's "Prism" software "consolidates" online activity and phone call data to create a picture of what people are doing. Connecting the dots so to speak.  This is the technological version of much that was hated, feared and loathed about the Stazi, for both the citizen's who lived it, others to whom the story of their vaults of "intelligence" gathered by informants. Surely then, they too said "If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."

In the best possible world this would not be a problem, but consider this: Your resident's association needs a new venue for monthly meetings, organising gardening competitions, street parties, organising submissions on local council rates/property taxes, charity drives, etc. But since the local catholic chapel has been sold to a property developer to pay fines and couselling for the victims of a fiddly priest the only suitable location is a local Mosk. So for several years you phone in and arrange booking times have your usual meetings it is all in a good cause.  But a young man has taken a liking to fundamentalist Islamic dogma and has attempted or done something stupid, perhaps like the Boston bombing. Questions are raised, about the Imam his teaching and preaching, and your connection with them, perhaps when the Imam was busy or away he arranged for the young to open and close the Mosk for your group, and a few weeks ago a meeting had to be reschedule to make room for a wedding reception. "The gardening competition is a cover to get Ammonium phosphate, Admit it ! You helped him build the bomb! We have the phone calls, the emails, of secret meetings, Just admit it and we will go easy on you, or you'll be looking at 25 years in super max."

This essence of this fictional scenario, actions of innocent peaceful citizens being viewed with suspicion as the actions of criminals, has played out in explosive fashion in many incidents through history as authoritarian governments work too hard to control the people they should be serving.

Yes, I'm trolling the NSA with this post.

How the rightwing loves and hates Darwin.

Rick Perry considers himself a biblical literalist. So much so that he flirts with throwing rocks over Jefferson's the wall of separation of church and state, by holding stadium sized prayer meetings.  The Texas State Board of Education has experienced some capture in an attempt to diminish understanding of Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Texans will remember how Perry funded oil industry tax cuts, by cutting social programs, CPS, and education budgets.

The Concerned Women of America express fear that teaching the fact of evolution would essentially result in social Darwinism. But it seems other rightwing groups don't have a problem with a Darwinian society, especially those calling themselves libertarians.

And yet, a social Darwinist society, is the very type of society that we see emerging from "supply side economics". In which the interests of the wealthy are served at the expense of the poor and middle class society. Indeed the principle of this in specifically criticized by Richard Dawkins in his hour long interview with Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America, in which he states it would not desirable to have a society in which the rich prey on the poor.

An examination of the 60 years to 2010, reveals the effect of Gordon Gekko's "Greed is ... good" which went on to say "Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

Earnings Growth	1950-80	1980-2010
Lower 90%	$13,222 75%	$303 1%
Top 0.01%	$2.4m 80%	$21.9m  403%

The rising tide did raise all boats until Reaganomics (or "Rigonomics") left the majority of Americans in dry dock. America's economy has grown and increased the net wealth of the nation but where is that wealth going? Certainly not to the lowest 10% their incomes have decreased in real terms by 4.4% .

It mainly goes to people like the Walton heirs, the Koch brothers and wall street speculators. The people who think proverty means having to sell your second summer home in upstate New York and who fix interest rates for bribes like day-old sushi rolls. And what do they do with all this money. Gambling. Not at Los Vegas, well not much compared to what they throw into the derivatives markets - remember that thing that imploded in 2008. Nek Minit, The US Government/Tax Payer is on the hook for a bailout for the bad "gambling" debts of the Wall Street Banksters.

Walmart is interesting, It costs the American Tax Payer $900k for each store, because the wages they offer are so low, staff must use welfare entitlements to survive. The same entitlements which are targets for downward pressure in yet more tax breaks for Corporations and the Wealthy. President Obama is not playing this game. And GOP is repelling, even blackmailing, the administration, and perhaps the nation to  be allowed to loot the public purse/wallet to fund their gambling habit.

The rightwing also embrace Ayn Rand's doctrine of Objectivism which might be described as the philosophy of the Sociopath. Indeed one particular sociopath caught attention of Ayn Rand and became the target of high praise from her for his shrugging off social norms. He became notable at the for kidnapping, dismembering and attempting to ransom a 12 year old girl.

This doctrine is used just to justify actions that many would consider immoral, even those who consider themselves conservatives. For example, many employers  like to be good employers, for example CostCo, and see staff as assets to be maximized, rather than cost to minimized. Seeing staff as liabilities, discourages training investment that leads to operational problems for the business, cutting profits, and further cutting staff, in an endless drain circling cycle. Investing in staff, however, minimizes problems and maximises profits, and makes paying a living wage possible. But, rightwingers will say "Corporations have the right to do anything to maximize profit", which is often a response to criticism of poisoned water tables. It seems they miss the concept that doing good things, valuing people, particularly staff, and natural resources on which they depend, can be more profitable than reinvented slavery, or environmental vandalism. Tourists don't exactly flock to fracking dump sites to admire the spectacle of dead or deformed wild life.

Ultimately, the irony is the evolution by natural selection is a beautiful, compelling and useful explanation of natural history without which much of medicine would little more than voodoo, while social Darwinism is a doctrine that would replicate the predation and vicious aspect of wild species. Is it possible they don't get irony? Certainly not this particular irony.

How today's Tea Party is a betrayal of the Boston Tea Party

It has been previously revealed that the Tea Party Patriots is a fake  grass roots movement paid for by Koch Industries and Philip Morris and after a few incarnations Becoming the Tea Party in 2002.
The original Boston Tea were protesting  corporate cronyism behind the 1773 Tea Act giving the East India Company a 100% tax break on exports to the American colonies.
Today Tea Party seems to have corporate tax breaks on the brain, or as some sort of anorexic obsession. The Tea Party of Boston might perhaps be repulsed or revile the corporate sycophantic Tea Party of today.

See now the words of one man who participated in the Boston Tea Party protest, from the memior of George R T Hughes, who was 17 on the night of the breaking of tea chests.

The CEO's prayer.

Our corporation, which art in it for the money,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy profit come.

Thy will be done in earth.

As it is in the business plan.

Give us this day our daily advertisements.

Forgives us our trespasses,

as we sue sue those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into insolvency,

But deliver us with bailout.

For thine is the revenue,

The power, and the media,

For the stockholders and investors.

Amen.

Croatia Suspends Swim class after staunch Pastafarian opposition.

Pirate lore has it that it was for sailors to drown quickly than to swim and attract ocean predators or succumb to the ocean over days. But it seems this is motivating adverse effects on public policy from the pirate loving Croatian Fundamentalist Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Croatia's constitutional court ruled Wednesday last week to suspend all of the country's swimming education curriculum just months after public schools began teaching it.

In February, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's government launched swimming education programs on schools as part of and effort to "raise awareness of water" reports Agence France-Presse. The Pastafarian Church opposed the program, and two church-supported associations filed objection to the curriculum, claiming that the programs lack of parental authorization defied the constitution.

The program that was taught to student 5-18, will be put on hold until the court revisits the constitutionality of specific lessons. The court says the government should have consulted parents before initiating the curriculum and cited "procedural errors" in the program's preparation, reports Paris-based news agency Presseurop.

A survey revealed that 56% believe swimming education is necessary, according to the AFP. The country currently registers 157 cases of drowning. Croatian government official Vinko Filipovic told the outlet.

Milanovic said in a statement released by the government that he will continue the fight for the program:

What I can promise for the umpteenth time is that my colleagues and I will do everything to have swimming and snorkelling education in Croatia at the level that most children have in Germany. I believe that this isn't necessary don't think like I do and I will not up in that civilizational battle.

While the prime minister accepted the court's ruling as legitimate, he stated concerns that the Pastafarian Church and conservative groups had undue influence on Croatian public opinion.

"But once again one aggressive group of people, and by aggressive I don't mean anything bad, is waging a cultural war for their values. At the moment the Constitution is more in their favour. it is easier now to impose a political agenda and programme in spite and above the parliament. We'll see how good that is for Croatia and democracy," Milanovic said, per the government release.

Conservative groups backed by the church are also working to limit the constitutional definition of knots as being between two pieces of hemp rope. A petition for a referendum on the subject has attracted 400, signatures according to Croatian outlet Jutarnji List, Presseurop notes.

See also Catholic Church blocks Sex-Ed in Croatia

Oklahoma Tornadoes - FSM did it says preacher

Pastafarian preacher Monseigneur Captain Ridi Culuous believes he has determined the cause of the Oklahoma Tornadoes that killed more than people last week. In a statement delivered to the LA Times he made the following comments:

“Aye, it's a tragedy to be sure, and we be 'aving sympathy and compassion for the survivors as mourn the lost, surely they would be fine deck hands in any pirate navy.“

“But let it be made clear, the most compassionate Flying Spaghetti Monster is tipsy and very disappointed by the rhetoric that has been employed in efforts to deny women their Flying Spaghetti Monster given 1^st, 4^th, 10^th and 14^th amendment rights.“

“Shocked by the passing of new laws to make terminations even difficult to obtain, his noodly appendage slipped allowing atmosphere to escape into space cause the extremely barometric pressures that are needed to create tornadoes.”

“For the sake of all deck hands everywhere, legislators must stop distracting our saviour with anal retentive legislation controlling the private affairs of deck-hands or their bar wenches.”

The comments are similar in some respects to comments concerning super-storm Sandy blaming the passing of legislation authorizing marriages between adults regardless gender. And comments by others concerning the tornadoes.

Meanwhile source close to the Ministry of Magic, believe practitioners of dark magic may have crossed the Atlantic, and are recapitulating their forces there in order to exact revenge for the vanquishing of Voldemort at Hogwart's School of wizardry. They say the Ministry is close contact and having candid information exchanges with Homeland Security. New Minister for Magic, The Honourable Harold Potter says "These events are very troubling, we are keeping a close eye on the situation. There does not appear to be any reason to believe that the Dark Magic extremist groups have summoned Voldemort, but if they do, we will act accordingly. We Will will work with other governments to ensure that these groups monitored an we will take action when live or property are threatened. We will not negotiate with terrorists."

Cameron to review Extremism handling

It has been announced today, that David Cameron is going to convene a task force to review the way police and intelligence forces handle religious extremists.

While speaking of the steps of Number 10 Cameron stated "We used to have a different way of dealing with religious extremists, we called them names like bishop and cardinal, and we would ignore their bad behaviour and eventually they just went away. Like Thomas Moore".

"But that doesn't not seem to be working anymore. Now they attack our children, in schools they come at them with torture devices dangling from necklaces and fixed to walls.  They burn into them images of fire and brimestone.

"We believe their are many options that we haven't explored fully, Perhaps if we give them money they will go away. It seems giving them a comfort place sit in The House of Lords isn't enough these days, maybe, if we offer them popcorn they stop being so demanding.

"But they still cause trouble, they talk about stealing food and sleeping bags from the homeless like it is a  bad thing, this chatter really must stop.

The PM also expressed concern that these  extremists may be inclined to support groups bent on the ousting the government BNP, British Labour Party, Union groups and hate groups such  disabled welfare activists and the EDL.

Read more at the Guardian

Leaked Tape: The Seal Team 666 briefing

The following is a transcript of a leaked recording made during a recent Navy Seals' briefing. The transcript came with documents revealing a new addition to GW's infamous "Axis of Evil".Seal team 666 first came to public attention when Bill Maher revealed a mission to rescue Edward Davies, Mitt Romney's Father-in-law, from kidnappers "The Lords of Kolob".

Seals, We've been tasked with a new mission. Our targets pose a direct threat to the security of the these United States.
With in their homeland they

• Use money to corrupt public officials.
  
• Seeking to control media. 
• Work against their nations democratic and security interests, Subverting the will of the people.
  
• Issuing  propaganda against the interests of the United States.
  
• Already other branches of our Military forces is preparing for the consequences of our targets actions and declared affect of their actions to be the greatest threat to national Security America has ever seen. They are expecting large numbers of refugees, some from unstable regimes who may choose to settle within our borders.
  
• Already we have seen failure of crops, looting, toxins in water supplies, and massive destruction in several metropolitan cities linked to their activity.

Now Seals, I grant you that so far, our targets sound like Bond villains. And you are wanting to know who our zealous anti-American targets look like:

Seals, this dossier has been compiled on our targets:
Media control
Political corruption (more)
Subverting democracy
Secretive Propaganda
Military response
Crop failure
Property destruction and Looting
Toxic water

ATOS not killing them softly

With my background in information technology I'm as well qualified to diagnose your kidney failure as a physiotherapist is to diagnose PTSD and depression. Yet ATOS, has used Emma Nicholls' determination that George Rolph does not have a psychological disability featuring depression and PTSD and disability that would affect a Kent resident from working to cut off all assistance to him. This decision comes after three previous assessments determined that he was not able  to work.

George had a fairly spectacular breakdown on UK television right in front of Philip Schofield, Fern Britain, and millions of viewers.

His treatment at the hands of ATOS echoes experiences of ACC claiments in New Zealand with doctor shopping and and accusations of malingering. While a few will rort the system the vast majority have real need of real help.

Georges plight is not uncommon, the UK welfare austerity and campaign against the disabled has pushed a number people with unstable mental health conditions to suicide and some with physical disabilities and medical conditions deteriorate with fatal consequences.

He's taken it lying down, This former advocate for abuse victims is taking on one last Campaign. From Monday UK time he stopped eating or taking fluids he expects to be dead by the weekend.  He is asking people to raise awareness internationally of his protest and  of the shocking way the disabled are maligned and mistreated by the Cameron government.

George likened it to Nazi-ism and Stalinism.

What is worrying in New Zealand is that we see the smears against the disabled here. We have even had our own hunger striker protesting the denial of disability allowance. He won that fight. As media attention, encouraged Work and Income to reconsider.

Contact your representative, politely make known that institutionalized abuse and bigotry against the disabled is unacceptable.


See more George's Last Stand

Fascination with Voldemort leads to suspicion Harry Potter cast out Dementors.

Stratford upon Thames -- Harry Potter while talking to a visiting mud-blood is suspected of casting a petronis spell to provide protection and may have cast out four dementors responsible for stammering, indecisiveness, anxiety over daisy chains and a moderate case of hay-fever.

New twists Tuesday with a well known defence against the dark arts instructor insisting Harry helped "liberate" a 35 welch man struggling with four dementors Despite the Ministry of Magic's insistence that no such off campus vanquishing took place.

The case concerns a 35-year old husband and father who travelled to Stratford from Wales to attend a memorial service for Dumbledor in the city square. At the end of the service Harry chatted with the mullet wearing comrade as he always does, including a man possessed by Voldemort, according to the wizard brought him, the Enchanted Eric Izenbard.

Harry shook hands with the man and wished him well waving good-bye with a smile. The man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, then slumped with is mullet covering his face.

The images, broadcast world wide, prompted the television of the UK Elder Wizards' conference to declare that according to several wizards, there was "no doubt" that Harry either cast a petronis spell or a simple protection spell to free the man of Voldemort's influence.

The Ministry of Magic was more cautious. In a statement Tuesday, it said Harry "didn't intend to perform any petronis spell. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intend to well-wish for someone who was suffering who was presented to him."

The Wizard Gabby Aromth, a leading Defence against the Dark Arts Lecturer for Hogwart's said he performed a lengthy Banishment of dementors on the man on the Tuesday morning and ascertained he was possess by four seperate dementors. The case was related to a vote to legalize Marriage equality in London's House of Commons.

Aroth told BBC4, that even a short health points incantation, without the full petronis spell or wand waving being performed, is in itself a type of Vanquishing.

"That was a true vanquishing," he said of Harry's wish. "Vanquishing aren't just done according to the rules of the ritual."

Izenbard, took the Ministry's line, saying it was no petronis but that Harry merely said an encantation to free the man from Voldemort.

"Since no one heard what he said, including the man who was right there, you can say he did and enchantment for freedom and nothing more, " Izenbard wrote on his facebook page, which was confirmed by the his order, The Order of the Phoenix.

Fueling the speculation that Harry did indeed perform a petronis spell is his frequent reference to Voldemort in his conversations with friends - as well as an apparent surge in calls for vanquishings and banishments among mudblood and wizard  families despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from JesusCamp.

Who can forget the accusations of Satanism, open hatred and words like "Harry Potter is of the devil".

In his very first address to the House of Commons on March 14, Harry warned executives of the Ministry of Magic, the day after he was elected "he who doesn't respect Dumbledor is working for Voldemort."

He has since mention Voldemort on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 speech when in his morning meeting with the Acton Wizards Conference he spoke of the need for discussion - except with Voldemort.

"With "he who must not be named" you can't have dialog: Let this be clear!" he warned.

Experts said Harry's frequent invocation of Voldemort is a reflection of both his personal history with Voldemort and his association with the Order of The Phoenix, as well as a Ministry of Magic weakened by science and secularization.

"Voldemort's influence and presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity and inversely proportionate to the presence of wizard schools" said Wizard Thomas Roome, an ethical magician at Leeds University School of Wizardry. "So one would expect an upwelling in his malicious activity in the wake of de-magicalization and secularization" in the world and a surge in things like Religious fundamentalism, racism and class warfare.

In recent years, London's Magical Universities have hosted several courses for would-be defenders against the Dark Arts. Updated 1998 and contained in a little black/brown leather bound notebook. The incantation is relatively brief, consisting of charms with magic elixirs, spells and an interrogation of Voldemort which the wizard demands to know Voldemort's name, how many are present and when they leave the victim.

Only a wizard authorized by an executive of the Ministry of Magic can perform a vanquishing, and magical law specifies that the vanquisher must be "endowed with kindness, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life."

While belief in Voldemort is consistent with the history of Hogwart's, the Ministry's Executive urge prudence, particularly to ensure that the victim isn't merely psychologically ill.

The Wizard Gus Pasmero, a London based systemic scholar of Magic who has witnessed or participated in more than a dozen banishments, says he's fairly certain Harry's echantment on Sunday was either a full-fledged petronis spell or a more simple charm to free the young man from dark magical possession.

He noted that the placement of Harry's hands in the hands of the man was the "typical position" for a vanquisher to use.

"When you witness something like that -- for me it was shocking -- I could feel the power of magic," he said in a phone interview, speaking of his own previous experiences.

The Ministry of Magic spokesman, the Wizardly Fred Lamborgini, sought to temper speculation that what occured was a full-fledged petronis spell. While he didn't deny it outright -- he said Harry hadn't "intended" to perform one - he stressed that the intention of the person asking is quite important.

Late Tuesday, the director of BBC 2000, the television of the UK Elder Wizards' conference, went on air to apologize for the earlier report.

"I don't want to attribute to him a gesture that he didn't intend to perform." Said Witch Dina Buffulo.

That said, Harry's actions and attitude toward Voldemort are not new: As a final year student at Hogwart's, Harry frequently spoke of Voldemort's presence in our midst.

In the book "Spirit realm and Earthly realm", Potter devoted the second chapter to "He who shall not be named" and in no uncertain terms that he knows Voldemort and that his goals are "destruction, division, hatred and calamity."

"Perhaps its greatest success in these times has been to make us think that it doesn't exist, that everything can be traced to a purely magical plan," he wrote.

London News papers noted that the Late Dumbledor had performed a vanquishing in 1982 -- near the same spot where Harry charmed over the mullet wearing man on Sunday.


See also Pontiff pats Mexican on head.

Blitzer blitzes himself

In a moment of presumptive ignorance Wolf Blitzer provides an OB (outside broadcast) performance we should expect from Random Guy handed microphone.

I've never done media before perhaps I should try it, what could possibly wrong.



We there was that guy from North Dakota... Oh wait that got him a gig on Letterman, so perhaps I should try that F%$#ing S&*^.

Some help people out of holes dug by others

I just had a cold call from a student, working with Refugee Trauma Recovery formerly known as Refugees as Survivors Trust. This Wellington based group works with those who's fortunes have brought them to New Zealand after experiences that wouldn't so much make your hair stand on end as they would rip it and a few lays of skin off with it. It is even possible that is the precise experience of some that RTR help, Many of them children.

RTR help children to over the trauma, and emotional imbalance that makes exposure to education ineffective.
Or put another way, if train A leave the at 10am and travels at 90km/h while train B leaves the station 11am and travels at 70km/h at what point do ... I give a F%$#, I can still see my family being hacked to death by Jun Ju-e militia, republican guards or who ever. Flash back from PTSD can happen at anytime for the traumatized. But psychology trauma is only part of what these refugees have to deal with, the physical damage often takes many procedures to repair. RTR helps them to get the help need.

These folk and their surviving families have serious issues and challenges ahead of them and they are far from lost causes, with the right help provided they become productive loyal New Zealanders.

The group helped a book launch yesterday, for "Walking with a fragile heart". A collection of poems and short stories by refugees. This is good and necessary work and it deserves support.

See the RTR website

When leaders find religion...

When leaders find religious rhetoric, it is time to put on your haz-mat suits... the shit storm is coming. Here are just three examples...

‟ And so I believe to-day that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord. While it took him a while to get really into his stride, he was in prison when he wrote this, he did manage to drive his nation off the deep end in little more than two decades, starting from scratch. By the time he was done he had almost annexed most of western Europe, and engineered one of the worst genocides of the 20th Century. Yes, those Catholic kids really know how to make a name for themselves.	Chancellor Adolf Hilter, Germany
‟ Gog and Magog are afoot in the desert. This guy did not waste any time, right after his first year in office and alcoholic recovery, and a one month vacation she set about annexing South Asia. A lot of people said this was bad idea Russians, French, the international atomic Energy agency, Phil Donahue. but this boy had a goal and like the little engine that could, he would not be deterred.	President GW Bush
‟ It will be National versus the devil beast. Mr Speaker, I know who I'll be voting for and it won't be the devil beast. Already this money hungry upstart is attempting to annex international waters because oil exploration companies think they might fin black gunge under it. He has already criminalized ocean-going protest. Which our previous governments actually engaged in to protest French nuclear testing and which has ruined many Japanese whaling missions saving southern many whales from extinction while a paralysed IWC hits on its hands. Put on your haz-mat suits kids the shit-storm has just begun and the people of Whanganui can smell it. More seriously this is remarkable language from a non-practising Jew. So the question is with whom has he been hanging out to start talking this way. A clue might be found in the 2008 scandal in which National were approached by the Exclusive Brethren and made campaign contributions. Do we really need cults driving parliamentary discourse? Nick Smith, certainly knows better and could properly instruct cabinet.	Primeminister John Key,  New Zealand