Boing Boing: World Health Organization's bird flu warning: 100 million deaths

These warnings are suspiciously missing from American news sites - we get things like "Godzilla honored with 'Walk of Fame' star" from CNN's front page." Link

Vandals Glue Store Locks on 'Black Friday'

Yahoo! News - Vandals Glue Store Locks on 'Black Friday'The busiest shopping day of the year turned out to be a sticky affair. Vandals apparently glued the locks on dozens of Lafayette's biggest retailers, preventing managers from opening up promptly on lucrative "Black Friday." At least 200 locks on dozens of businesses were glued, including main entrances, rear doors and employee entrances

US blamed for reporters' deaths

The global managing editor of British news provider Reuters has said the US military is entirely to blame for the deaths of three of its employees in Iraq.
via Disinfo

And soon Iraq will be just as free!

"This year Afghanistan has established a double record -- the highest drug cultivation in the country's history, and the largest in the world," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told a news briefing.

via Die Puny Humans

UC Berkeley E-vote update

Source of the previously mentioned UC Berkeley study.

Robert Anton Wilson interview

New interview with RAW.
Bob: I started the Lecter for President write-in campaign to make people think about style in politics. Look: Dr. Lecter doesn't kill for money. He has some standards, however egregious. Dubya seems to have none at all. Besides, Hannibal has a decent education and a sense of humor. He frightens me much less than Dubya. If we must have a serial killer in the oval office, and most Americans east of the Rockies seem to think we must, I’d prefer one with some class and panache. Dubya has as much of those as the stuff you step in and scrape off on the curb, hoping it’s not as bad as it smells.
via Technoccult

UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds 'Smoke Alarm' for Florida E-Vote Count

New on Common Dreams
Today the University of California's Berkeley Quantitative Methods Research Team released a statistical study - the sole method available to monitor the accuracy of e- voting - reporting irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000-260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in Florida in the 2004 presidential election. The study shows an unexplained discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties where electronic voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting methods - what the team says can be deemed a "smoke alarm." Discrepancies this large or larger rarely arise by chance - the probability is less than 0.1 percent. The research team formally disclosed results of the study at a press conference today at the UC Berkeley Survey Research Center, where they called on Florida voting officials to investigate. ... "The study shows, that a county's use of electronic voting resulted in a disproportionate increase in votes for President Bush. There is just a trivial probability of evidence like this appearing in a population where the true difference is zero - less than once in a thousand chances."

They voted for this mess

For those who didn't look at the Ken Macleod essay, there was a great link on it that examines the masochistic lower/working class voter who voted for Bush, based on, well ... what his Country-Fried-Born-Again Fascism.
Lot's of angry vitriol here, but you know what they say, if you ain't pissed off right now, you're not paying attention.

"If your workplace is safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into labor; if you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a 40-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights -- you can thank liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable -- you can thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social Security, so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family -- you can thank liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn't black with pollution; if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green -- you can thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public facilities; if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry regardless of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society -- you can thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many others were achieved by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined conservatism, and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those advances…"
-Joe Conason

Ken Macleod on resurrecting liberty in American politics

Great rant from a Euro-lefty on the state of the American electorate.
Some of his ideas on ways liberals can redefine issues towards a more sane perspective -

Class. Give poorer people in the red states some good reasons to vote your way. Forget socialism. From the Babylonian captivity of the Walmart workplace and the Enron boardroom, normal law-abiding capitalism will start to look like the New Jerusalem.

Conservatism. Conservatism is not an ideology of world revolution. Neoconservatism is. Real conservatives know this. Make sure they know you know. Red-bait every ex-Trot neocon, and smear the rest.

First rule of craigslist is you don't talk about craigslist

Straight male seeks Bush supporter for fair, physical fight - m4m
I would like to fight a Bush supporter to vent my anger. If you are one, have a fiery streek, please contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I would like to beat the shit out of you.

Media Accused of Ignoring Election Irregularities

From Common Dreams -
In an appearance Nov. 8 on the "Democracy Now!" program, Harris, whose organization is investigating allegations of voter fraud in Florida and Ohio, told host Amy Goodman that sources in television news have told her "there is now a lock-down on this story. It is officially . . . 'Let's move on' time." In an interview with The Boston Globe, she reiterated those potent allegations but declined to reveal her sources. She also appeared to soft-pedal the idea that the media was at fault, saying instead that it was too early in the fraud-investigation process to blame reporters for not being more aggressive.

Chinese soy sauce from human hair

OK this is just crazy. Sounds like a headline outta Transmetropolitan which is funny 'cause I found this on Warren Ellis's diepunyhumans

Reach out and sneer: Dem radicals speak to the Red States | The Register

A friendly letter from the Blue States to the Red States...

Ritual, Magick & How Pagans will Save the World

If you believe yourself among the elect, especially if you are working under the Calvinist doctrine, the world is there for you to consume until the rapture comes and after that it won’t matter anyway. You might as well just use it up. And if you are among the dammed, you might as well get yours now since you will be spending an eternity in hell. My deepest concern is that the leaders of government and industry are laboring under this belief. And, consciously or unconsciously, it guides their policy decisions. This would be bad.

So, as was in the rallying cry in Wilson and Shay’s “Illuminatus! Trilogy”, ‘don’t let the bastards immanentize the eschaton.’ We must not let the powerful ignorant destroy our world.
via Technoccult

This is what freedom looks like.

Parents and students say they are outraged and offended by a proposed band name and song scheduled for a high school talent show in Boulder this evening, but members of the band, named Coalition of the Willing, said the whole thing is being blown out of proportion.

The students told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver they are performing Bob Dylan's song "Masters of War" during the Boulder High School Talent Exposé because they are Dylan fans. They said they want to express their views and show off their musical abilities.

Then again, the first time I heard this Dylan tune, I was surprised the er... ahem... Military Industrial Complex didn't just have him offed.
Still it's a sad glimpse of what we may be dealing with for the next four years.

The November Surprises

Just as Bush Senior helped postpone the October release of American hostages in 1980, putting himself and Ronald Reagan in the White House on virtually the day of their release, Bush II has stockpiled crises, equating democracy with delay. As quiet as it is kept, John Ashcroft has been sitting for months now on the final chapter of The 9/11 Commission Report, a 70-page examination of everything from the Federal Aviation Commission's missteps that morning to the orders issued by Bush and Cheney. Similarly, Ashcroft's appointee Patrick Fitzgerald is now in the 14th month of a grand jury probe of who in the White House leaked the name of a covert CIA agent married to a Bush critic. Fitzgerald's pre-election targets have, conveniently enough, only been reporters.

GREEN & LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO DEMAND OHIO RECOUNT

Just got this press release in our email. No link for the release, and it is interesting enough news, that we'll go ahead and post it in its entirety.

GREEN & LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO DEMAND OHIO RECOUNT

David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, the 2004 presidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties, today announced their intentions to file a formal demand for a recount of the presidential ballots cast in Ohio.
"Due to widespread reports of irregularities in the Ohio voting process, we are compelled to demand a recount of the Ohio
presidential vote. Voting is the heart of the democratic process in which we as a nation put our faith. When people stand in line for hours to exercise their right to vote, they need to know that all votes will be counted fairly and accurately. We must protect the rights of the people of Ohio, as well as all Americans, and stand up for the right to vote and the right for people's votes to be counted. The integrity of the democratic process is at stake," the two candidates said in a joint statement.
The candidates also demanded that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who chaired the Ohio Bush campaign,
recuse himself from the recount process.
The Ohio presidential election was marred by numerous press and independent reports of voter intimidation, mis-marked and discarded ballots, problems with electronic voting machines and the targeted disenfranchisement of African American voters. A number of citizens' groups and voting rights organizations are holding hearings this Saturday in Columbus, Ohio to investigate voting irregularities and voter suppression in the Ohio
2004 general election. The hearings will be held from 1-4 p.m. at the New Faith Baptist Church, 955 Oak Street. Voters, poll workers, journalists
and voting experts are invited to testify. A second hearing will be held on Monday at a location TBA, from 6-9 p.m.
The Cobb and Badnarik campaigns are in the process of
raising the required fee, estimated at $110,000, for filing for a complete recount.
The campaigns are accepting contributions through their websites. The Cobb-LaMarche website is http://www.votecobb.org. The Badnarik-Campagna contribution page is https://badnarik.org.
The Cobb and Badnarik campaigns have displayed a level of
cooperation and civility rarely found in electoral politics. The
campaigns jointly participated in and/or sponsored a series of independent debates. Cobb and Badnarik were also simultaneously arrested in St. Louis protesting their exclusion from the restricted, two-party corporate-sponsored debates.
To see an investigative report by Greg Palast, author of
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, which asserts that the Ohio vote was improperly decided, see http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won.php.
For an article detailing a dozen ways in which the Ohio
vote was potentially manipulated, see http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/810.

The Onion | Nation's Poor Win Election For Nation's Rich

I love the Onion!

IQ and Politics :: Media Island International ::

Yes, IQ tests suck for measuring innate intelligence, but maybe they can tell us something about education levels?
Even beyond these issues this chart is kinda scary.

Olympia actions to protest war escalation in Falluja

The invasion of Falluja, anticipated to be the bloodiest battle since Vietnam, began on Sunday. There are reports of hospitals and clinics bombed as well as civilian casualties. The US administration is trying to sell the line, "We warned them. Now they deserve whatever they get." But people on the ground estimate that 50,000 civilians either would not or could not leave (in fact, prior to the invasion US troops prevented men from leaving).

The retaking of major urban areas is likely to be the new face of this war. OMJP and other groups will be working on long-term responses that keep issues of Iraqi suffering and US militarism visible, and promote nonviolent solutions on local and global levels. There are also important actions that can be done this week:

ACTIONS
Call elected officials and ask them to halt the bloodshed:
White House: (202) 456-1111

Senator Murray: (206) 553-5545

Senator Cantwell: (206) 220-6400

Rep. Baird: (360) 695-6292

Rep. Smith: (253) 926-6683

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation has invited people to participate in their peace vigils with Falluja signs. The first vigil is Wednesday at 12:00 at Sylvester Park, and the second is Friday at 4:30 at Percival Landing. These are peaceful vigils and all are welcome. Please bring signs about Falluja.
INFORMATION SOURCES
Al Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
Democracy Now: www.democracynow.org
United for Peace and Justice:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/falluja_talking_points.doc

Lancet estimates Iraqi War Deaths at 40,000

A study published on October 29th in the Lancet, a British medical journal, suggests the death toll is quite a lot higher than the newspaper reports suggest. The centre of its estimated range of death tolls—the most probable number according to the data collected and the statistics used—is almost 100,000. And even though the limits of that range are very wide, from 8,000 to 194,000, the study concludes with 90% certainty that more than 40,000 Iraqis have died.

Cuyahoga County Precincts

Some details on screwy election results from one county in Ohio.
More whining about the election, you ask. When will these guys shut up about it?
When Bush and Cheney are impeached, and the Ceo of DIebold is on trial baby! That's when.

Overdoses linked to methadone

The Olympian has a follow up story on the rash of overdoese in the past few months.
But after comparing autopsy reports, a group of health officials, pharmacists and drug task force detectives say methadone was the most common factor among the victims, suggesting a possible rise in methadone abuse among local addicts.

The Ultimate Felony Against Democracy :: Media Island International ::

This is what we've been trying to say for a while.

Kerry Won. Here are the Facts.

Another great link from the aforementioned benefactor.
Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. At 1:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. The exit polls were later combined with—and therefore contaminated by—the tabulated results, ultimately becoming a mirror of the apparent actual vote. Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state.

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes

Thanks to one of our great customers, who sent us an email link to this story, which I'd seen on BoingBoing but their link required logging in to the newspaper's site.

Last Word Blog: Boing Boing: My Modest Proposal: The U.S.A.R.?

Last Word Blog: Boing Boing: My Modest Proposal: The U.S.A.R.?:
Just noticed an extremely intelligent and impassioned comment on the recent posting from BoingBoing about liberal states seceding from the union. Wow, not only do we love our bookstore customers, but we love our online readership. This is great stuff the everyone should read.

"Anyone who'd consider a northern secession movement is thinking and dreaming in white. There are millions of disenfranchised, ignored people of color in the South, and the DNC has never bothered to organize them...or even listen to them. When Jesse Jackson and PUSH and Operation Vote and the Rainbow Coalition organized voters of color in the '80s, leading to a wave of Democratic victories in Congress, the DNC's response wasn't, 'How can we continue to include black Americans in our party,' but 'How will this phenomenon further our goals of getting white people elected to the posts of highest power?' While calling Jackson 'unelectable' (that year's codeword for Black)."

The words of the prophets are written on the bathroom walls.

This was found written in Last Word Books bathroom on Nov. 3rd and bears repeating.

One half of the world is screaming.
The other half is snoring.
I will pledge "whatever" no more forever.
Nihilism is boring.

Sisters and Brothers, the real work begins now. Get out and DO SOMETHING!!

Boing Boing: My Modest Proposal: The U.S.A.R.�

Funny I've heard, like, three other proposals for this today.
Check it out.