"Luis Posada Carriles is a convicted international terrorist; yet the Bush Administration is protecting him and refusing to extradite him to Venezuela to stand trial for his crimes...
"Posada was one of the organizers of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. He was employed by the CIA from approximately 1965 until 1974, after which he ran an international security company in Venezuela. Posada and several of his colleagues were responsible for the bombing of Cubana flight 455 on October 6, 1976 and were imprisoned in Venezuela.
"After bribing his way out of prison in Venezuela in September 1985, Posada went directly to El Salvador to work on the illicit contra re-supply operations being run by Lt. Col. Oliver North. He has also been tied to the importation of large quantities of cocaine into the US in support of the Contras in Nicaragua in the 80's.
"On November 17, 2000, a group of terrorists led by Posada Carriles was arrested in Panama. Posada and the other terrorists had entered Panama with false documents in order to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government. (Political assassinations violate both US and international law.) Their weapons, explosives, a sketch of Fidel Castro's proposed route as well as an agenda of public meetings were seized. Posada was convicted and imprisoned in Panama. He was pardoned by Mireya Moscoso, the famously corrupt president of Panama, just before she left office in 2004.
"The US Response The US government is shielding Posada from extradition to Venezuela and has merely detained him on immigration charges. He is currently in a detention center in Texas. But since immigration cases can take years, this action could amount to placing him in protective custody temporarily to avoid the chance that he will have to face imprisonment for his crimes."
"The shortest distance between two points is under construction."
- Noelie Altito -
"A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer."
- Mitch Hedberg -
"It is clear the insurgency, contrary to the Bush administration's view, is homegrown and is exacerbated by every week longer that the U.S. occupies Iraq. American troops are still dying daily and the security situation in Iraq is still a mess two years after Saddam's ouster. It is also clear now that ousting Saddam wasn't the primary goal.
"The Bush administration has steadfastly refused to tell Americans the real reasons for invading Iraq: having a permanent U.S. military presence in the heart of the Middle East that will allow U.S. forces to leave Saudi Arabia, gaining control over Iraqi oil reserves, privatizing the state-run Iraqi economy and, most of all, sending a message to other Arab nations that they, too, will be attacked if they fail to fall into line with U.S. policy.
"All these goals were sought by the Bush administration long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but few dared to talk openly about them. Instead, we were fed nonsense such as 'weapons of mass destruction,' 'fighting terrorism' and 'bringing democracy to Iraq.'
"It's time to give up on the administration's real plan of turning Iraq into an oil-rich, pseudo-democracy under U.S. influence that serves as the forward base for U.S. forces fighting the Jihadis. Iraqis want to see a real government, not a bunch of American puppets, and they want a chance to decide their own political and economic destiny instead of having American corporations plunder their economy. They want electricity, a functioning water and sewer system, hospitals, schools and to simply be able to walk the streets of their cities without the threat of being killed."
"Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. I have read and heard many attempts at a systematic account of it, from materialism and theosophy to the Christian system or that of Kant, and I have always felt that they were much too simple. I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth that are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is the reason why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for dreaming."
- John Burden Sanderson Haldane: Possible Worlds and other Essays (1927) -
"The guild representing Hollywood writers disclosed Monday that more than 75% of the scribes on TV reality shows have signed cards asking to be represented by the union. The campaign sets up a potential showdown with the companies behind such programs as Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Bachelor.
"The Writers Guild of America, West, said about 1,000 reality TV writers, producers and editors out of an estimated 1,300 have requested since May 7 to join the union. Guild officials said they had sent letters to all the major production companies asking to negotiate, but none responded.
"Organizing writers on reality TV shows brings to light what has been one of the proliferating genre's open secrets: that so-called unscripted shows often are scripted after all.
"Behind the scenes of popular reality shows, writers craft game formats, coach contestants and feed lines to such stars as Paris Hilton in Fox's The Simple Life.
"Writers also splice together comments to create story lines and manufacture drama. In industry parlance, it's an editing process known as 'Frankenbite.'
"Because writers are deeply involved in the dozens of reality shows, union leaders argue, they should get similar pay and benefits as writers on conventional programs...
"'People who tune into a reality show expect a beginning, middle and an end,' [David Rupel] said. 'We're storytellers, and we should get the same benefits.'"
"Republican dirty tricks are not confined to just me any more. I also saw that Congressman Jones made the news by calling for a withdrawal of our troops. Whatever one may think about the war, one should ask when the mission will be over and when the troops can come home. Are we going to stay indefinitely? While it is nice that we are building Iraq, what about America? And what about the cost? Why do the Americans have to foot the bill when we can ill afford it? These are all legitimate questions to ask. Congressman Jones did nothing more than make a proposal to start pulling out.
"But it seems that the administration in Washington will brook no criticism of its policies. So it has sent out its dutiful attack dogs to shoot the messenger. What have we heard? That Walter Jones is a member of the lunatic fringe. That Walter Jones should resign. It's the same stuff that COPAM pulled on me, only this time its orchestrated by those in Washington instead of those in Raleigh.
"What I find disturbing is that we are criticized for nothing more than the exercise of our Constitutional rights. Those who disagree with any aspect of the administration are branded as traitors and must be silenced. I thought the previous administration was bad because of the amorality. This is far worse.
"There is a famous poem about the Nazis of Germany - first they came for one group, then another, but the writer did not speak up. And then they came for the writer and there was no one left to speak up. The administration is acting like the Nazis. I will not be quiet. I agree with Congressman Jones that we should ask the administration the tough questions and that we should begin to withdraw."
"Before the arrival of Spanish colonizers some 500 years ago, Indians in what is now Ecuador dipped their arrowheads in venom extracted from the phantasmal poison frog to doom their victims to convulsive death, scientists believe.
"More recently, epibatidine - the chemical which paralyzed and killed the Indians' enemies - has been isolated to produce a pain killer 200 times more powerful than morphine, but without that drug's addictive and toxic side effects.
"Pharmaceutical companies have not yet brought epibatidine to market but hope to discover other chemicals with powerful properties in frogs, which are a traditional source of medicine and food for many of Ecuador's Indians.
"They may want to hurry because the treasure trove of the world's frogs and toads is disappearing at a catastrophic rate. And it's not just potential medicines which could be vanishing but creatures of beauty."
"Various pictures of Jennifer Aniston elicited a response in a single neuron inside the medial temporal lobe of another patient. Interestingly, images of her with her former husband Brad Pitt did not sway this cell, the authors of the paper report. Their findings appear this week in the journal Nature.
"Quian Quiroga also found that a lone neuron in one subject responded selectively to various pictures of the actress Halle Berry - as well as drawings of her and her name written down. Other cells were found to respond to images of characters in The Simpsons or members of The Beatles.
"The team thinks that these brain cells probably respond to a range of different items, but that this limited study didn't include all the various pictures that might make a particular cell light up."
"A hero is a man who does what he can."
- Romain Rolland -
"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: prepare to die!"
- Inigo Montoya: The Princess Bride -
"Hello, my name is George W. Bush. You threatened to kill my father: prepare to die!"
- George W. Bush: The War in Iraq -
"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
- Walter Sobchak: The Big Lebowski -
"Man, we ain't found shit!"
- Henchman: Spaceballs -
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
- Jules: Pulp Fiction -
"And now the whole nation - pulpit and all - will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."
- Mark Twain -
"I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners."
- Coach Norman Dale: Hoosiers -
"I know you're trying to help but believe me, my mind's made up. I've given this long and careful thought, and it's medical experiments for the lot of you."
