Wow. No beating around the bush here.

Israel: No place in U.N. for Iran.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Several world capitals have condemned Iran's leader for saying Israel should be "wiped off the map," and Israel's prime minister has suggested that Tehran should be expelled from the United Nations.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad didn't mince his words when he, among other statements, "quoted a remark from Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, that Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world."

The president then said: "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism,"

hrm. That, along with the rest of his statements, make it pretty damn clear that he hates us and he hates Israel and wants nothing short of our destruction.

So... I have to say, I don't see any good reason why they should still be in the U.N. either. Kick their fundamentalist religious asses to the U.N. curb posthaste.

I didn't like the bastards as it was... murdering teenagers for being gay... and not secretly either. Public executions, by decree of the law.

*sigh*

Not even going there right now.

SUCK IT CON BOYS.

This is for all those morons out there who tried to diminish the scale and veracity of the Valerie Plame case.

Grand Jury in CIA Leak Case Adjourns.

SUCK IT. SUCK IT. AND THRICELY SUCK IT YOU FUCKS.

She was covert. A crime was committed. You are a fucking idiot.

Nuff said.

In the news...

Court: laws treating gay and straight teen sex should be equal. Kansas high court rejects harsher treatment of illegal gay sex.

Some excerpts:

• The case involved an 18-year-old man, Matthew R. Limon, who was found guilty in 2000 of performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Had one of them been a girl, state law would have dictated a maximum sentence of 15 months.
• A lower court had ruled that the state could justify the harsher punishment as a way of protecting children's traditional development, fighting disease or strengthening traditional values. But the Supreme Court said the law was too broad to meet those goals. (highlighting done by myself)
• "The statute inflicts immediate, continuing and real injuries that outrun and belie any legitimate justification that may be claimed for it," Justice Marla Luckert wrote for the court. "Moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate state interest."
• "A lot of the reasoning used here by the state comes up again and again," she said. "What the court is saying is, `If you've got a better reason, you would have told us by now. The ones you've come up with are not good enough, and they amount to not liking gay people."'

Christian DVD sparks riot. Muslims clash with police outside Egyptian church; 1 dead, 90 wounded.

How's this for "Freedom of Religion"? ;-) This is the kind of bullshit that makes me still try to protect Freedom of Religion here is the USA. While I think they're all stupid idiots and wish they weren't religious, I'm not about to threaten bodily harm and death if people believe differently than I do. This bullshit in the middle east and other Muslim dominated areas is ludicrous.

The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a play that was performed at the church two years ago. The play, "I Was Blind But Now I Can See," tells the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes disillusioned.

Bush salutes Reagan, angers Schwarzenegger. California governor upset by fundraiser appearance.

To make a long story short, even Republicans in California don't like Bush and are ashamed to be associated with him. Governor Schwarzenegger was trying to raise last minute funds, and was pissed that Bush would show up right before the vote and remind people of just how fucking stupid the Republican party is being right now, as it's going to swing Independants and Democrats back away from his initiatives.

It's nice to see that even a lot of Republicans are realizing that they made a big mistake in voting for Bush. :-)


FDA approves first brain stem cell transplant. SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Federal regulators on Thursday approved what would be the first transplant of fetal stem cells into human brains, a procedure that if successful could open the door to treating a host of neural disorders.

Just another case of conservative, traditionalist, "moral" and "ethical" prudes holding back the advance of groundbreaking lifesaving medical discoveries and procedures... in the same vein as the Christians razing the Libraries of Alexandria and setting humanity back by centuries because they didn't like what was written in those libraries. Which just happened to be the sum of most known worldly knowledge... information on what built rome... sewage systems, human sexuality and reproduction, machinery, industrial methods etc etc. Some people believe that we would have been on the moon in the 18th century if not for the traditionalist religious prudes destroying what didn't agree with their ignorant belief system to preserve a belief system based on ignorance and illiteracy. *sigh*

*Grumble* I hate Christians... I hate religion... but I digress.

Such an experiment showed promise in Batten-afflicted mice, but such an ethically charged test has never been tried before in humans.

"I'm sure there is no threat to anyone's identity," said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics. "But we are starting down that road."

What's more, some of the brain cells to be implanted will be derived from aborted fetuses, which Caplan also said raised ethical concerns for some.

and...

McGlynn said Batten disease was chosen because mice genetically engineered with the disease were readily available and because it's a brutal, fatal disease with no cure -- a fact the FDA considered when weighing whether to approve such a novel human experiment.

McGlynn said the stem cells had to be tested in humans.

"You cannot ask a mouse how it's feeling," he said.

For Marcus Kerner, a federal prosecutor in Santa Ana, California with a Batten-afflicted son, the FDA's approval Thursday gave him hope his child may actually survive.

He said he will apply to have his 5-year-old son Daniel enrolled in the experiment.

"It is a horrific, terrible way to watch a child die and there is currently nothing available to stop it," Kerner said. "I think this is going to be a major medical breakthrough that will save Daniel's life."

Bush vows not to be distracted by political problems. 'The American people expect me to do my job'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, jarred by investigations of White House officials and congressional leaders and an uproar over his Supreme Court nomination, said Thursday there was "some background noise here, a lot of chatter" complicating the work of his administration.

... Oh man... I don't even know where to start in on this one.

But I'll give it a shot none the less. ;-) This is just too priceless to pass up.

The president promised to remain focused on seeking peace in the Mideast, invigorating the economy, rebuilding the hurricane-shattered Gulf Coast and protecting it from the new storm approaching this weekend.

... Ok, let's see...

You created the current catastrophe in the middle east, and also served to exacerbate the existing problems in the middle east which are themselves largely the responsibility of the US.

You have single handedly annihilated the US economy and created such a staggering deficit and debt that our great grandchildren will still be bearing the weight of it.

You're spending Federal tax dollars to repair a state, or even local, problem directly resulting from people being stupid enough to live BELOW SEA LEVEL in an area that was going to inevitably be flooded. And now, to make matters worse, you're assisting in rebuilding the same fucking shit! So all these retards are just going to get flooded and killed again, and you're just going to spend even more of my tax dollars on a bunch of stupid trash 2,000 miles away that I couldn't give a fuck about. If you're stupid enough to live where you're not supposed to, when the shit hits the fan, THAT'S YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM. NOT MINE. And what's worse is that they just keep doing it because they know that even though it's their own fault, the government will continue to bail them out! And just to exacerbate the issue... even now, while most of the people have left and most of the shit is destroyed, rather than doing the smart thing and calling it a loss and moving out of the immediate area to somewhere ABOVE FUCKING SEA LEVEL OFF THE COAST, they're just moving the fuckers back in! Gee, nothing like setting the pins up for another strike. FUCKING IDIOTS. (also see the previous point about our economy, as the use of tax dollars to aid these stupid fucks is just crippling our nation even further on top of the war debts... pushing us towards $500,000,000,000.00 in debt, where we're now having to borrow from other nations again for the first time since almost the inception of our country I believe.)

*sigh*

Ok... that's enough of that for now. Just figured I'd give a taste of the news with the Phreadom flavor. ;-)

And with that, I bid you a good day. :-)

Swastika...

I've decided to do a little history/culture lesson for those of you who read this that might not be aware of this...

The swastika is not a hate symbol. Allow me to explain.

The swastika is actually one of the oldest symbols known to man, having been used as a symbol of good luck and the like for over 3,000 years by cultures from Japan, China, India, Southern Europe, The Americas etc.

Even the United States own 45th Infantry used the swastika as their symbol from 1924 to 1939 until it's association with the National Socialist German Workers Party in Germany forced them to come up with a new design.



Some links for further information:
History of the swastika.
45th Brigade Combat Team, Shoulder Insignia.
Swastika (at Wikipedia).

So, try not to just jump to the "NAZI!?!?" conclusion the next time you see this symbol. Have a little more cultural awareness. :-)

More random updates...

Mike just pointed out some good music to me... a band called Thunderbirds Are Now. You might want to check them out. :-D Not my normal genre, but the fact that I find myself still rocking out to them after 45 minutes says something good about them. :-P

I sat around yesterday working on a new logo for Phreadom... here's what I came up with:

A few things that went into the logo were the hand holding the torch, as a beacon... as the website says "A beacon of truth in dark times". Also, the three stars... 3 is an important number in numerology, and while personally I think numerology is a huge crock of shit, some of the ideas behind it are very fitting in a symbolic sense.

Three solves the discord created in the polarity of two, resulting in a new integration and wholeness. This can be seen in the divisions of a human: mind, body, and spirit makes us whole. Three can also relate to expansiveness and learning through life experiences. It is considered to be lucky, and is often associated with money and good fortune. Three can depict several people joining together to achieve a common goal, whether through a social or professional affiliation. Three also represents communication of all kinds, expression, drama, acting, and humor. Although three possesses attributes of wisdom, understanding and knowledge, negatively it can exhibit pessimism, foolhardiness and unnecessary risk taking. Three is seen as a very magical number. In some cases, the number three can take on some negative aspects and is seen as demonic or unnatural, as there are no creatures in our world who walk upon three legs.
-- From Wikipedia

Also, the Latin words "Cogito" and "Percipio", which mean "to think, ruminate, ponder, consider, plan" and "to gain, learn, perceive, understand" respectively.

Mike was putting forth the idea to flesh that out into a more rounded sum of "cogito, eruditio, percipio, devenio veritas", which means roughly "Think, learn and teach, understand and reach the truth.", with Eruditio meaning "instruction, teaching / knowledge, learning" and "devenio veritas" meaning "to come to, arrive at, reach ... truth".

So I may end up doing another variation on the logo to try to fit those aspects in.