meta-roj

two stories that cross the wires over a holiday weekend when everyone is out having a beer and roasting their weenies, but somehow… i made a connection. a connection, speculative at best, that i will share with you.

Al-Zarqawi’s wife: Al-Qaida sold him out [ap via yahoo, 2006.07.03]

“My husband has been sold to the Americans,” the woman said in an interview published Sunday. “He had become too powerful, too troublesome.”

…

“I think a secret pact was struck whose immediate goal was his death,” she told the newspaper. “In return, the American troops promised to ease, at least momentarily, their hunt for bin Laden.”

“Al-Qaida is currently especially worried with protecting its charismatic leader,” she added.

and

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden [new york times, 2006.07.04

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice “dead or alive.”

happy birthday america. do you feel safer?

today is america’s birthday, so i reflect on those words that gave birth to this nation, in light of 2006, in part:

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

….

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

you may find other sections personally applicable.

is it so much to ask that those executives of our government, sworn to uphold and defend the constitution, actually understand it?

just a quick nod to the philippines for their courage in outlawing the death penalty.

back in february, i introduced the concept of 911 iraq parity day, because while there is no connection between 911 and iraq, i guess we needed one. so, with the news that the american death toll in iraq has reached “a number” [according to white house press secretary tony snow], that number is now just 252 short of the number of americans killed on 911.

at the moment, the bigger number is between 38355 and 42747, but we don’t do body counts (we do do damage assessment).

so, i encourage you to drop in on the original post and get your bets in the comments. after all, at this rate (60-80/month), we’re just a few months away from 911 Iraq Parity Day.

in 1976, one mel brooks directed (and starred in…) a film called silent movie. that film features the earliest obvious goatse i’ve ever documented, and for your browsing pleasure, i provide this documentation to you:

to save your eyes, the text reads:

salut, mr. brooks. genius. sheer genius.

update [2006.07.21] more explorations over at boingboing. i still think brooks was first…

this sort of thing doesn’t happen in america, right? stolen elections are the sorts of things you expect from third-world strongman dictators.

there are several months to get it fixed…

i still stand by my assertion that square waves suck, and for some time, i’ve toyed with the idea of revisiting the subject with some pretty graphics and specific examples from this era of american-idol-pop-music, but i haven’t. fortunately for you, someone else has put together a well-written and accessible piece exploring the problem.

check this out. america is a class-a human rights offender. from the regional summary,

Hypocrisy and a disregard for basic human rights principles and international legal obligations continued to mark the USA’s “war on terror”.

we’ve come so far in just a few presidents – from an old inaugural speech:

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans – born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed today at home and around the world

testified

this is an inside joke. deep. inside.