Child in Clinton’s “3am Phone Ad” supports Obama

Too funny

Casey Knowles, a High School Senior in Washington state, recently discovered she was one of the sleeping children in Clinton’s controversial “Children” ad appearing prior to the Texas primaries.

Knowles, a supporter of Barack Obama was shocked that she had contributed to the national security message of a candidate that she passionately opposes.

“While I love Hillary, I would much rather hear Barack Obama’s voice at the other end of the phone at 3am. Its hilarious and ironic that the child in Hillary’s ad is now of voting age and not her supporter. I’ve been campaigning for Barack since October and was a caucus precinct captain. I’ve been a very avid advocate of his and recruited a lot of folks to caucus for him in January. He’s inspired and mobilized so many already, he’s refreshing and quite simply the best option for people who want to change this country.”

Heathrow airport first to fingerprint

"The data will be destroyed after 24 hours. It will not be made available to the police or anyone else. This is purely for border and immigration control."

That is a lie and we all know it. And here all along I thought only criminals got fingerprinted. Silly me, I forget we are all suspects now.

Millions of British airline passengers face mandatory fingerprinting before being allowed to board flights when Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opens later this month.

For the first time at any airport, the biometric checks will apply to all domestic passengers leaving the terminal, which will handle all British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.

The controversial security measure is also set to be introduced at Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1, and many airline industry insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK airports within a few years.

Read more here.

Teaching your children to hate part II

More hate filled religious themed wisdom, this time from Oklahoma State Legislator Sally Kern, Republican (NO!!!)

Seems this woman has a long history of antigay work, so perhaps justice is being served.

Substitute "jew" for "gay" in her speech and she sounds remarkably like another well known group.

Teaching your children to hate

Cal shows you how to stroke the pussy

I'm not sure who Cal Thomas is.

His site says "Cal Thomas is America's #1 nationally syndicated columnist. He also writes for USA Today, is an author and speaker and regularly appears on FOX News Channel as well as numerous radio stations with a syndicated commentary"

What he actually is is another of those hate filled Christian nut cases, who is worried the next generation isn't as hate filled as he is.

He is making sure they will be...

As one group attempts to use California public schools as laboratories to assist children in "coming out" with their nontraditional sexual orientation, another is urging parents to come out from these schools and educate their children with their values at home or in private schools.

Last Sunday, a group called "Exodus Mandate" (www.exodusmandate.org) began placing literature in scores of Southern California church lobbies, urging parents to take charge of their children's education and oppose attempts by activists and politicians to shape the worldview of young people, a worldview that runs counter to what many taxpaying parents believe and teach in their homes and places of worship.

It must be nice to be able to hate openly, and then claim it is the word of God...

Fuckers.

Read more here.

Star Wars. The Best and Worst

Best Movie

Star Wars
without a doubt. As close as you can get to a perfect movie.
The Empire Strikes Back
The epic becomes well, epic
Revenge of the Sith
and moves from epic to operatic
Attack of the Clones
the move to operatic, with some missteps
Return of the Jedi
made for kids, way too cute
The Phantom Menace
made for idiots, way too dumb


Worst Movie
That's a tough one. I'm torn between "Return of the Jedi", with its Ewoks, bad overdubbing, and Harrison Ford's appalling acting, or "The Phantom Menace" with its poor pacing, dull characters and JarJar Binks. I'm afraid I must go with "The Phantom Menace". A trade dispute? Fart jokes? Whoopee!


Worst Scene
"Revenge of the Sith", Darth Vader's reaction to the news of Padmé's death, a cliched "Noooo!". Awful. Terrible. It made me laugh, not the reaction they'd hoped for I think - Runner up - "Attack of the Clones" Anakin rides the space cows to impress Padmé (this was a contender for Worst SFX). Didn't anyone turn to George and say "You have to be fucking kidding..." No, I guess not.


Best Good guy
Yoda. Rest my case I do.


Worst Good Guy
Other than JarJar? - Qui-Gon Jinn. The man is a slightly unprincipled idiot. Perhaps Lucas knows this and kills him off for it. Face it, the man's choices get them in all sorts of trouble, and he does use a child to raise money and further their cause. Obi Wan learned this lesson well.


Best Villain
Other than Darth?...General Grievous, if only for his fighting skills. On this point, Darth Mull would have to be a close second. Both are disposed of far too quickly. Nod to the Senator/Supreme Chancellor/Emperor as well.


Worst Villain
The Trade Federation. These hand wringing nobodies are Star War's wimpiest villains (See Worst Accent). Even their droid army can't hit shit (see Worst Robot).


Best Babe
"Return of the Jedi". Slave Leia. Not much to choose from really, is there?


Scariest Babe
"The Phantom Menace" Padmé, Queen of the Vampire Women. She's looking at you Anakin.


Best Robot
R2D2. He has attitude, although this was overdone in "Attack of the Clones". Flying indeed. Yeah, I know C-3PO has attitude as well, but he became JarJar's understudy (also see "Attack of the Clones"). Runner up - Jabba the Hutt's TT-8L Gatekeeper Droid. How rude.


Worst Robot
"The Phantom Menace" The Droid Army. Dogfaced clowns who can't hit a thing. Roger roger. Runner up - "Revenge of the Sith" the birthing droids. "She's dying, opps sorrryyy"


Worst SFX
"Return of the Jedi" The Rancor. Matte lines a mile wide (sorta fixed in the Special Editions). This scene does provide the pretense for Star War's only nude scene...


Best Cinematic moment
"Revenge of the Sith" silent (music with no dialog) montage between Anakin and Padmé. Lucas can do it sometimes.


Darkest Moment
"Star Wars" The death of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Nasty. - "Revenge of the Sith" - The killing of the younglings at the Jedi Temple.


Best Minor Character
"Return of the Jedi" General Akbar. It's a Trap! No one can withstand eyes of this magnitude. Runner up "The Empire Strikes Back" Admiral Piett.


Most Annoying Character
Oh gee let me see... The first film's humour was sparse and controlled. By 1999, the part of the annoying sidekick had grown, and Jar Jar is in this tradition. He is also remarkably ill conceived and irritating. Didn't anyone turn to George and say "You have to be fucking kidding..." Oh right, I asked that already. Runner up - "Star Wars". Luke whining about power converters, and those bloody Ewoks (Return of the Jedi)..Leia would be here but she is no longer viewed as a "bitch", in 1977 the most common word used to describe her.


Creepiest Plot Element
The Anakin/Padimai romance, especially the early period (later it just gets unbelievable). Runner up - Luke/Leia, brother/sister. No matter what Lucas claims, "Star Wars" gives no hint of their actually relationship but in fact gives quite the opposite impression..ewww.


Worst Acting
"The Phantom Menace" the kids gathered around Anikan's speeder. Cheap shot I know, knocking kid's acting, sooo - Runner up - "Return of the Jedi" Harrison Ford is awful. "Proper?"


Worst Plot arc
Anakin/Darth Vader. I mean, wtf. Any clear eyed observer would have locked Anakin up early as a dangerous psychotic. The Jedi though keep going on about "The Prophecy", so their eyes are closed. But what's up with Padmé? Didn't she get out much? He just seems to go too far too quickly.


Best Space Battle
Opening of "Revenge of the Sith". The sequence owes something to "Starship Troopers" (which itself owes something to..etc), but on a much larger scale.


Best Land Battle
"Attack of the Clones", The Battle of Geonosis. Very digital but great to watch. Runner up - "The Empire Strikes Back" The Battle of Hoth. Very analog but great to watch.


Best Space Chase
"The Empire Strikes Back" - The Falcon chased through the asteroids. I might be wrong, but it is the first use of camera shake in an SX shot.


Best Ground Chase
"Attack of the Clones*" Chasing the Bounty Hunter. Runner up - Speeder chase from "Return of the Jedi". The race in "The Phantom Menace" is warmed over Nascar but fits comfortably into the IQ range of its target audience.

* thanks to Juice for pointing out an error here.


Best Lightsaber fight
"The Phantom Menace" The Jedi vs. the Sith. The film comes alive for those few moments. Runner up - "The Empire Strikes Back" Luke and Darth's final fight (of this film).


Worst Lightsaber fight
"Star Wars". I know, it looked fine in 1977, but really. Your powers are weak, old man. Parts of this sequence were in the running for Worst SFX.


Most Operatic Moment
"Revenge of the Sith" Mace Windu breaks a window. The Emperor and Yoda's redecoration of the Senate chamber is a contender as well.


Worst Mismatch between old and new
Obi Wan and the droids. He doesn't remember haven't owned any droids? Did he have his memory erased too? (Uncle Owen has a similar memory lapse). Runner up - Leia's memory of her mother. Huh? The Midichlorians rank up high up the list of blunders.


Worst Accent
Our old friends the Trade Federation again. What were they thinking? I know I though of WWII Japanese villains. Honorabre gentremen excuse prease but we are brockading your pranet. Ah so.


Worst Dialog
"Attack of the Clones" Anakin, sand and where it can get to. Ewww. In fact anytime Lucas has his lovers chatting away to each other, it is too painful.


Best Ship
"Attack of the Clones" Senator Amidala's shuttle, the one the gets blow away at the beginning. Neo Deco. Great design.


Worst Ship
Tie Fighters. Look at it, you can't see to the side of you. Not much good in a fight. The Empire's strong point was never design. Two Death Stars blown up? Two? One I can understand.


Worst SciFi moment
"Star Wars" Hans Solo: "I made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs." Say what? Even Obi Wan doesn't get it.


Greatest Rip Off
Just the one? Coruscant. Direct steal from Issac Asimov's Foundation and its city planet Trantor ("Foundation" was heavily mined by Lucas). Parts of "Star Wars" are a bit Dune-ish as well. In the music department, a theme used in "Star Wars" has reminded me of one from "Star Trek" from the first time I heard it.

Recently the publishers of the Bible have threatened to sue Lucas over the virgin birth storyline.


Most Wasted Opportunity
Mace Windu. He sits most of the time, nodding and agreeing with Yoda. He does get to kick some ass, but not enough. Runner up - Count Dooku could have been more, oh I don't know, Transilvanian, also how Bobafett meets his end (although this last may better fit under Worst Mismatch).


Worst case of Lucas's love for Nazi themed imagery
The end of "Star Wars". The Rebels have been watching their Leni Riefenstahl, haven't they? It's a triumph if you will.


Best case of Lucas's love for Nazi themed imagery
Darth Vader in "Star Wars". From the first second you see him, you know he's bad.


Best Special Edition addition
"The Empire Strikes Back" Cloud City. The additions really do add to the story and the film.


Worst Special Edition addition
Guido shoots first. Hands down. Stupid move. Audiences howled with agreement at the original version. There's a reason George, get over it. It's only Guido. Others include the dance number at Jabba the Hutt's ("Return of the Jedi")., followed by Luke, Obi Wan and the droids arrival in Mos Eisley in "Star Wars". An unsuccessful layering of digital and real footage (Jabba's appearance in this film is also not entirely successful, no matter how many times they tried and fix it). Hayden Christensen's substitution at the end of "Return of the Jedi" is mildly disturbing.


Best Surprise
Hans Solo's return at the end of "Star Wars" or Luke's father's actual identity. Shocking!

This Modern Age

Chester is touring with the one and only Simone Denny, for a Mac cosmetics event in New Delhi.

Here I am (on their screen) just moments ago talking with them via iChat video.

It's like living in the future.

Canadian NAFTA memo leak 'interference': U.S. ambassador

A recent leak of confidential diplomatic information that raised doubts about the sincerity of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's threat to renegotiate NAFTA amounts to Canadian interference in America's political process, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Thursday.

Read more here.

Universe submerged in a sea of chilled neutrinos

We are all submerged in a sea of almost undetectable particles left over from the first few seconds of the big bang, according to the latest observations from a NASA satellite. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has confirmed the theory that the universe is filled with a fluid of cold neutrinos that remain almost entirely aloof from ordinary matter.

Read more here.

Independence by other means than referendum: PQ

Don't trust the PQ on this issue, they *will* fuck you over on it.

Pauline Marois is betting her young leadership of the Parti Québécois on her ability to push the province closer to independence without resorting to a referendum.

A bellicose Marois announced Wednesday she will ask PQ members to free the party from a commitment to hold a referendum soon after an election win.

A PQ government would instead adopt a policy of "national governance" to gradually free the province from Ottawa's grip.

"I am freeing myself from shackles in proposing … that we suspend the obligation to hold a referendum in the first part of a mandate," Marois told reporters in Montreal.

Read more here.

Royal Opera House airbrushed away my manhood, claims naked actor

Aspiring actors rarely have qualms about casting aside their shyness - and their clothes - in search of that elusive big break.
So when Juan Pablo di Pace was asked to appear naked in an advert for the opera in which he was performing, he was only too happy to oblige.

But seven years on, with the poster of di Pace still being used to promote the Royal Opera House's production of Verdi's Rigoletto, the now-established actor has had an attack of the blushes.

He claims a crucial part of his anatomy has been air-brushed unflatteringly, making it appear much smaller than it is in real life.

See more here.

Stonehenge

The final insult

It is our greatest monument, on a par with the pyramids. But soon it will be plagued by Tesco juggernauts. Why don't we care about Stonehenge?

Read more here.

Scientists identify origin of hiss in upper atmosphere, a 40-year mystery

Scientists have solved a 40-year-old puzzle by identifying the origin of the intense radio waves in the Earth's upper atmosphere that control the dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts — belts consisting of high-energy electrons that can damage satellites and spacecraft and pose a risk to astronauts performing activities outside their spacecraft.

The source of these low-frequency radio waves, which are known as plasmaspheric hiss, turns out to be not lightning or instabilities from a plasma, as previously proposed, but an intense electromagnetic wave type called "chorus," which energizes electrons and was initially thought to be unrelated to hiss, said Jacob Bortnik, a researcher with the UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

Read more here.

NAFTA-gate had 'significant impact' on primary outcome: Clinton aide

Ian Brodie, alleged Conservative scumbag, who's memory is now conveniently faulty

A leaked Canadian memo that raised doubts about the sincerity of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's threat to renegotiate NAFTA was a big factor in Hillary Clinton's victory in the Ohio primary, her top campaign aide says.

"It had a significant impact," her chief strategist Mark Penn said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. "I think it is going to be a serious issue moving forward in this campaign. It raised serious questions about Obama."

The memo leak, which is being dubbed NAFTA-gate, came in the final days before Tuesday's primary in Ohio, where Obama ended up narrowly losing to Clinton.

Someone here in Canada needs to be charged in this, now.

Read more here.

Also..

Harper aide accused of sparking NAFTA-gate

Read more here.

Hollywood productions can dodge proposed tax rule

Under the proposed changes to federal tax legislation [Bill C-10], Canadian films that receive public funding may be scrutinized by the government for their moral suitability. Yet Hollywood films shot in Canada that have applied for tax credits will get a free pass.

Film director David Weaver (Century Hotel, Siblings) said yesterday that he finds it preposterous that the Department of Heritage would apply this only to Canadian producers, not to Americans or other foreign parties. "The message seems to be big-time American producers can come and produce anything they want, but [Ottawa is] going to undermine and perhaps make impossible smaller Canadian productions. It's outrageously discriminatory."

That's Conservatives!

Read more here.

The Dumbest Thing You'll See Today

Hugo, The Cat of 1000 Faces

C-10, censorship, Liberal outrage and double standards

If the facts in this post are accurate, then our government bares watching, Liberal or Conservative.

I tell ya, it's never been easier to point out a double standard! While Taber does great work reporting on the Liberals coming forward first to suggest that they've done something similar, what she fails to mention is that the controversial section of the legislation limiting grants for subjectively offensive films is virtually word for word the same as the Liberal legislation!

Read more here.

Why Isn't Iraq in the 2008 Election?

The following speech, transcribed by Democracy Now!, was delivered by Noam Chomsky in Massachussetts at an event sponsored by Bikes Not Bombs.

Not very long ago, as you all recall, it was taken for granted that the Iraq war would be the central issue in the 2008 election, as it was in the midterm election two years ago. However, it's virtually disappeared off the radar screen, which has solicited some puzzlement among the punditry.

Actually, the reason is not very obscure. It was cogently explained forty years ago, when the US invasion of South Vietnam was in its fourth year and the surge of that day was about to add another 100,000 troops to the 175,000 already there, while South Vietnam was being bombed to shreds at triple the level of the bombing of the north and the war was expanding to the rest of Indochina. However, the war was not going very well, so the former hawks were shifting towards doubts, among them the distinguished historian Arthur Schlesinger, maybe the most distinguished historian of his generation, a Kennedy adviser, who -- when he and Kennedy, other Kennedy liberals were beginning to -- reluctantly beginning to shift from a dedication to victory to a more dovish position.

Read more here.

Whistle-blowing website back as judge reverses shutdown

Wikileaks.org is back online in the U.S. after a judge on Friday reversed his order to have the whistle-blowing website temporarily shut down in mid-February.

The site, which describes itself as a repository for leaked documents and analysis of the ethical wrong-doings of governments and corporations, was back online over the weekend after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White lifted an injunction he granted on Feb. 15.

Judge White shut the site down at the request of Switzerland-based Bank Julius Baer & Co., which said that Wikileaks was distributing confidential bank documents. The site said the documents "allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures" for money laundering, tax evasion and other misdeeds.

The judge ordered the domain-name registrar for Wikileaks in the United States to disable its web address and ordered the site owners not to distribute the bank documents. The documents, however, were still widely available on Wikileaks websites in other countries.

The orders drew criticism and court filings from numerous organizations advocating the First Amendment protection of free speech, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

In his reversal, Judge White acknowledged that the bank's request posed serious First Amendment questions and could constitute unjustified prior restraint. He also expressed frustration that the law could not seemingly stop the flow of information once it was put online.

"We live in an age when people can do some good things and people can do some terrible things without accountability necessarily in a court of law," he said.

Any age has been like that Einstein.

Mike Oldfield regains control of Tubular Bells

At 19, Mike Oldfield achieved huge success with Tubular Bells – and has lived with the consequences for 35 years

Read more here.

Make Public Draft Guidelines for Bill C-10

I agree that if the government says this has 'nothing to do with censorship', then they must state clearly just what exactly it is.

This is too important.

The Government of Canada is reassuring the film and television industry that the guidelines informing tax credit eligibility for productions have 'nothing to do with censorship' – "well," says Maureen Parker, Executive Director, Writers Guild of Canada, "if they want to reassure us, then make the draft guidelines public now, and let's have the debate. Enough secrecy, enough speculation – we need to know now. The industry cannot do business in the dark."

Read more here.

PM denies top aide leaked Obama NAFTA memo

WTF?

"They will do what is necessary to help Republicans. They're a nasty, unprincipled bunch, who are incompetent to boot,"

Well duh...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday denied the top official in his office leaked a memo of a meeting between an aide to Barack Obama and a Canadian diplomat over the Democratic presidential hopeful's NAFTA position.

Read more here.

"Start Something." Say no to Bill C-10

We haven't stopped them, but boy did we draw attention to their slimy ways.

No one is really saying it, but it's the Christians under the Canadian Family Action Coalition that scared the crap out of everyone. Even the government.

There's hope yet, this is not America.

The slogan at the bottom of David Kahane's University of Alberta web page says it all: "Start Something."

Kahane certainly did. The associate professor of political science--specializing in democratic theory and practice--got an email Thursday from a friend, playwright Brad Fraser, outraged at something he'd read in the Globe and Mail. Attached was the story, "Tories plan to withhold funds from offensive productions."

Inspired by a Facebook group looking at new copyright legislation, Kahane--contacted by TV Feeds My Family through Facebook--decided to see if he could "help to make a difference around C-10 using such a group."

The result: within 24 hours, 5000 people had joined "Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10!"

Read more here.

Also from the same blog, tvfeedsmyfamily.blogspot:

Separation of Church and State.

A Clinton/McCain or McCain/Clinton ticket?

That would be too horrible.

Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and the presumtive Republican nominee John McCain offer the experience to be ready to tackle any crisis facing the country under their watch, but Barack Obama simply offers more rhetoric. “I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say,” she said. “He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.” Clinton was referring to Obama’s anti-war speech he delivered in Chicago before entering the United States Senate.

Read more here.

Canada puts tax bill on hold

The Canadian Parliament has pushed back a planned vote on a controversial tax bill that could open the way to government censorship of domestic film and TV shows.

Bill C-10, which proposes to grant the federal government authority to deny taxpayer support for domestic film and TV projects deemed excessively sexual and violent, on Monday was sent back to the Senate Banking Committee for review.

The Canadian film and TV industry first learned of Bill C-10 -- a proposed amendment to the federal Income Tax Act that would permit the Heritage minister to withhold tax credits for domestic film and TV projects deemed offensive according to unspecified guidelines -- as it was headed to the Senate floor for a third and final reading last week.

That revelation provoked an immediate charge of censorship from Canadian artists and producers, who believe it would result in a choking off of bank and distribution financing for homegrown projects.

Read more here.

Saul Bass's Star Wars

Ironman

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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Experts create new image of Bach

Experts have digitally rebuilt the face of 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach — and say the results may surprise his fans.

Read more here.

No to Bill C-10

Join the Facebook group fighting this sneaky new law. That Christian nutcase should have kept quiet.

Canada's Tory government is using clauses hidden away in Bill C10, an omnibus piece of legislation tweaking the Income Tax Act, to set itself up as the arbiter of which films and TV programs made in Canada are offensive, or not in the public interest. If C10 passes, the Heritage Minister will develop guidelines to deny tax credits (a key part of film and TV financing in Canada) to shows that step over the line--and it's anyone's guess how the Tories will define 'decency', 'obscenity', or 'contrary to public policy'.

Join here.