Blade Runner [1981]

Blade Runner

Pris is the standard robot pleasure model. It gets lonely working in the outer planets and a guy needs companionship. So good for him, one can afford the conscience of a conservative.
The great liberal creator of the robot race was Tyrell. He gave them a history of implanted memories and the ideals of public service. Stronger and smarter than the human dregs they had replaced, the robots [called replicants] roamed the outer planets as worker drones, prostitutes, soldiers and kick boxers. Yet, they longed to be human to loiter in 2017 Los Angeles enclosed in perpetual smog.
They had all the sensibilities of human beings, but remained slaves. Six of them executed the big crash out and had come to Los Angeles to establish meaning in their lives.
The neocon authorities immediately recognized the replicant immigrants as illegal aliens a threat to national security. The punishment was death administered by Federal bounty hunters [blade runners].
They brought Decker out of early retirement to dispose of the rebellious six. Poorly chosen for the assignment, Decker’s heart isn’t in it. This becomes obvious when the robots nearly beat him to death.
When Pris shoots the replicant preparing to murder Decker, the blade runner becomes her lover and ally.
The robot shows Decker what it means to be a human being.

Arab World Shocked by Arrest of Saudi

Arab World Shocked at Arrest of Saudi

Egypt: Many Egyptian bloggers also called for Al Farhan's release. Among them was blogger Bella, who laments the condition of Arabs, who speak their minds. She writes:
In our country, freedom of expression is a crime punishable by law, In our country, possessing a pen is a crime which deserves imprisonment, In our country, thieves are honoured, In our country, corrupt people are prospering, In our country, drug lords are happy, In our country, belly dancers are honoured were ever they go, In our country, glory is for actors and football players, In our country, scientists die and no one speaks about them, In our country, whoever says the truth is pursed by the judiciary system, This is how our country rewards those who express their opinion, Regimes are threatened by words and don't have a way around that except through suppressing words in throats. Blogging has become a crime which warrants arrest And expressing opinions should be overcome by muzzling such views. Pens should be smashed and those holding them should be destroyed. This is what happened to Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan. A blog has also been set up by activists to rally for his support here. You may view the latest post at http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/12/27/arab-bloggers-alarmed-by-al-farhans-arrest/

Killers of Christian Martyr Still at Large

Killers of Christian Martyr Still at Large

Palestine: Hamas PM promises to bring killers of Christian martyr to JusticePosted on 24 December, 2007“I hope that we get to the murderers soon and bring them to just trial and that will be an additional step that our government brings to our people in the direction of imposing order and security”. That was what Palestinian Prime Minister from Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement Ismail Haniya wrote Arab Evangelical human rights lawyers Botrus Mansour and Shadi Khouri from Nazareth. Special For "Come and See", December 24, 2007 Haniya’s letter was a response to a letter Mansour and Khouri wrote him in mid October expressing their shock of the assassination of Rami Ayyad on the 7th of October just because of his Christian faith and work with a Christian organization (The Bible society). Mansour (who is also the general director of Nazareth Baptist school) and Khouri mentioned that this unprecedented killing on religious basis is strange from the ethics and tolerance of the Arab Palestinian people that lived in tolerance and brotherhood for generations. Furthermore, Mansour and Khouri mention that they are part of an International lawyers and judges organization called “advocates International” that deals with issues of religious freedom and conscious and that they have received numerous letters from lawyers from all around the world including from Samuel Casey ,president of the Christian legal society in USA-asking to approach Palestinian leaders so they you put their full political weight in order that the murderers be arrested, their armed groups dismantled and that measures be taken in order that the Christian minority in Gaza be able to live in liberty and honor. They concluded that coexistence between Muslims and Christians should be strengthened and that no place should be given to sons of stray to demolish what generations have built. Mr. Haniya opened his letter of response saying that the Palestinian government sends its greetings to the 2 lawyers for their interest in matters of worship and conscious freedoms in the world. He continued to say that the Palestinian government has emphasized continuously that the Palestinian people in all of Islamic and Christian elements is proud of the long history of brotherhood, co-existence and unity of destiny. Haniya continued to say that the whole Palestinian people was shocked greatly when the news erupted of the murder and in that ugly method. He added that from the beginning he asked the relevant parties in the ministry of interior to work seriously to follow up the case and find the murderers and to bring them to justice. He continued to say that “there are people who do not want good to the Palestinian people and act to damage the bright civilized image of the Palestinian people while exploiting some sporadic incidents to Investigate against our government and movement”. Therefore he concluded that all should work to block campaigns that aim against the unity of the Palestinian people. He also mentioned that his government is taking every effort to chase any ideas or behavior that might effect negatively on the glueyness of the social fabrication but to encourage all activities that emphasize the unity of our people and especially toward the Christian family with all its denominations. In a respond to this letter advocates Botrus Mansour and Shadi khouri wrote Mr. Haniya again on the 23rd of December thanking him for his letter and his commitment to the Christian minorities’ rights as well as his eagerness to capture the assassinators. However the advocates inform Haniya of the rumors and news (including a rival Palestinian web site news item ) that a person called Ashraf Abu Layli from “Elkasam” brigades (affiliated with Hamas –Haniya’s party) was arrested and investigated with and that he admitted the crime, however he was released without further action and the case was closed. The Arab Evangelical lawyers demand that Haniya who has security control in Gaza strip is capable of taking action to bring the suspected before a fair trial –an action that will bring a sense of security . It is worthwhile to note that the original letters were sent to both the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his rival (Dominate in Gaza now) Ismail Haniya, but only the latter responded.

http://www.comeandsee.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=851

Brother, Can You Spare $100 for a Coffee?

A Coup for Christmas Has a Merry Ring to It
Payback911

In 1934 Gramps Prescott Bush had 50,000 cutthroats set to overthrow the Roosevelt regime. A General betrayed him to the Justice Department. For his present coup d'etat, GWB has the Generals and the DOJ in his pocket. The 2008 Depression will set the stage for his enthronement.

Brother Can You Spare $100 for a Cup of Christmas Cheer?
Payback911

My blog today is about 3 Democratic Congressmen who gathered 100,000 signatures in 5 days to impeach Cheney. The HuffPost had to drag the item out of the Palm Beach Sentinel. Major media ignored it.More news from Bumpedoff3, the municipal bond market is headed for a fall big time. We aint seen nuthin' like this since the Great Depression.Wait till the great unwashed figure out that unemployment benefits, welfare and relief payments will be suspended.General Petraeus will deploy American mercenaries to shoot down 'enemy combatants' demonstrating.GWB will send his condolences [Seasons Greetings] from his ranch in Paraguay.

Cynical since 911, the writer has other opinions on his blog http://payback911.blogster.com

Freedom is not Free It is Earned

Freedom Is Not Free
Slywoody3

How does the Congress re-act to the disgraceful deeds of our past? They re-write the textbooks and swallow the lies about the great warriors MacArthur and Eisenhower. If those miscreants would have served under Saddam Hussein, they would have gassed the Kurds with glee.The vets in 1932 had an easy time with it compared with what would happen if they tried such a march today. The Posse Comitatus Act ceased in 2006. Nowadays, Iraq vets can shoot Vietnam vets with alacrity. The militarized Police have light infantry capabilities. As the casualties mount, the FBI and CIA have all the powers to suppress media and Internet reporting.After the carnage subsides, the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts permit the authorities to arrest protestors locking them forever in black sites for torture. As enemy combatants, the vets who fought for the country can suffer Rendition elsewhere subject to some of the sadists they had defeated in previous wars.If anyone desires a preview of what will happen, he can read what Bill Clinton did in 1999 to peaceful demonstrators in Seattle.Vietnam and Iraq veterans should know by now they can't expect the kind support of their countrymen. Why? In no way did they defend America. They get no respect for overseas aggression and preemptive wars.By contrast, my IDF unit engaged the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Our northern cities were under missile attack. An estimated 500,000 of our countrymen became refugees sleeping in the homes of our southern brethren. As we came by, the people rushed out to give us Soldiers food, candy, cheers and hugs.They loved us, because we were defending our homes, our kinfolk and our religion [way of life].

Slywoody3 serves in the Israel Defense Force. He writes at http://slywoody 3.blogster.com

Shouting about Genocide

Shouting About Genocide

When these atrocities happened, very few people bothered to find out what was going on. The genocide continued, as few people and no governments wanted to intervene.
Sadly, this deplorable situation is true today with Rwanda, the Central African States, Darfur and Iraq as prime examples.
Every year four millions become slaves. Nobody much cares about them either.
Those being persecuted are in no position to complain about their plight. They need outside voices to speak for them. Such an organization is Global Voices that gets 42,000,000 hits every month. Daily, GV posts many blogs on human rights issues from bloggers in the affected areas all over the world.
A GV free subscription keeps newspapers, governments and ordinary bloggers better informed than at any time in history.
Thousands of Armenians and Jews have worked hard to make the world conscious of the evil elements that have persecuted them. They inspired the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights a guideline to prevent genocide.
Millions of bloggers report activities in trouble spots such as China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Palestine. These folks are catching up to the Armenian and Jewish loud mouths who refuse to allow the world to forget about genocide.

A Pyrrhic Victory

A Pyrrhic Victory in Iraq

Even one Soldier lost would have been a price too high to pay. I think the bitter experience taught nothing to the Congress. It has exhausted the Iraqis who have lost nearly 20% of the population dead, homeless or in exile.A Pyrrhic victory at best, it may cost Americans their liberty.

In Lidice Poland grown-ups locked the townsfolk in the Church and then burned it down. ] In 1943 Polish partisans ambushed and killed a Nazi SS officer. The town nearest the ambush was Lidice.Just as our Soldiers have sacrificed to allow us to celebrate El Din, Chanukah and Christmas, so did the innocent citizens die in the fight to defeat fascism.Our traditions mean nothing if we forget the human beings who defended them.

Enlightened Civilizations are Scarce

Enlightened Civilizations are Scarce

The Christians occupy Afghanistan and Iraq and we Jews control large parts of Palestine. What Christian countries have fallen to Islam?The Palestinians learned torture methods in Israeli detention camps? They hold 3 Jews captive and we hold 9,200.The US holds many more Americans in her black torture sites than Islamists hold in theirs. The administration has tens of thousands of Muslims incarcerated without due process. Why? With a fair trial, the bulk of them would win outright release. The US has no evidence and must rely on torture to gain confessions.Who is the more aggressive and warlike? The USA waged an illegal preemptive war that has killed over one million Iraqis and has sent four millions homeless into exile.Which civilization is the more moral? The American candidates leave the nuclear destruction of Iran on the table. This could mean the end of Iran, a nation that has no equivalent capability or the means to deliver it.The Islamists talk too much boasting of abilities they do not possess. Despite this, they have encouraged racism, fear and hatred among the vengeful simpletons who constitute the bulk of the US public.In the last seven years the USA has become a virtual dictatorship the once proud Congress a school of jellyfish. In the name of security the dictator has expunged habeas corpus and the rule of law. He has trampled the Constitution and the rights, freedoms and liberties it entails. While the so-called war on terror netted no domestic terrorists, the war on drugs led to the arrest of over 820,000 US potheads for possession of MJ.The US enlightened moral leadership characterized the teen-aged female population as either virgins or sluts.The fourteen-year-old Muslim girl who becomes pregnant has no such problem, because she is married.While the US President imprisons his drug addicts, the enlightened President of Iran offers them criminal-free treatment and rehabilitation.

Here Are Your Human Rights on the Internet

Here are Your Freedoms of Internet Expression
They are Articles from the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Right
Every UN member state had to ratify the Declaration to qualify for membership

Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Any person or government that violates your rights to free expression and opinion should be charged with crimes against humanity locally. If the charge doesn’t stick, you can pursue it internationally preferably as a class action. This usually allows the addition of murder charges.
[A wrongful death in the course of a felony becomes First Degree Murder.]

Torture Trumps Liberty

Torture Trumps Liberty
Payback911

I see America as in a period of severe moral decline. Aside from Kucinich and Paul, the candidates appear complicit in the decline or at least oblivious to it. Despite the recent revelations about the President's poor character, his approval rating has risen to 37%. As long as there is a chicken in every pot, we could care less who leads us. Ratified by the US Congress, the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights has the status of US Law. Article IV of this Law outlaws Torture as a crime against humanity. Those who indulge in torture or fund it should be locked until executed for murder. [A wrongful death during a felony crime becomes first degree murder.] Many employees in the three branches of the government deserve lethal injection. We could execute the torturers under the Constitution as well, but much of it has been erased. The hateful simpletons only vilify dissenters. Of course I am an American. Just because I migrated to Israel for religious freedom and personal liberty is no argument to discount my opinions. In 1968 we went to the streets against racism and war. Today's generation is afraid to demonstrate. To those of us who love liberty, this is a tragic loss of freedom.

Israel Teacher Strike 65 Days

Israel Teachers Strike 65 Days
The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy

Israeli high school students will return to school today for the first time since October, as the teachers strike concluded this Thursday.
After months of politicking and arguing over some very valid issues, here are the results of the strike:
It was the longest strike in Israeli educational history, lasting 65 days, 48 of which were school days
Teachers received a 17% wage increase overall: 8.5% of which will be given immediately, along with an additional 5% given to all public workers for “wage erosion” (additional raises are promised over the next 13 months)
Teachers will now be teaching 2 additional classroom hours per week
The number of students per classroom will be lowered
The school year will be extended 10– 20 days
Teachers will be fully reimbursed for the strike– now that’s interesting
Note that in a recent study on Israeli priorities, education was the number one concern, followed by security, corruption, and poverty.
Why Israeli Education Matters: Claim Your Stake
[more]
mnorton@thenewjew.org

A Note for a New Refugee

What Motivates the Evil Doers?

They are in it for the money. Only a few get sadistic pleasures out of torture. Subverting the Constitutional rule of law is treason punishable by death. How many employees are so dedicated to preemptive war they would risk execution to butcher over a million Asians? Where is the fun in crushing human rights and watching whole nations become concentration camps?The big pleasure is exercising control over humanity and collecting enough to make the family filthy rich for generations.They continue through the absence of oversight, checks and balances of any kind. At worst they will accept a pardon from the President and Fast Track ascension to heaven.The only way to stop this is to guarantee execution for the miscreant's entire family. On a personal note, please contact us from time to time. I vacated Reagan's America in 1983 the only reason I remain among the living.

Jerusalem Earthly and Heavenly

Jerusalem Earthly and Heavenly
Rabbi Berel Wein

A number of years ago I visited San Diego, California to deliver a lecture at a local synagogue. On the next day, I prevailed upon my friend and colleague, the rabbi of the synagogue to accompany me across the US-Mexican border to visit Tijuana. Ignoring the advice of the rabbi that the visit was not worth the time I insisted in doing so anyway. The rabbi was right. Tijuana was vastly disappointing. But on the way back, crossing into the United States from Mexico an incident occurred that has remained stamped in my memory ever since.
The burly Mexican American customs officer at the border examined my passport and paused. He then asked me in awe and wonderment: "Do you really live in Jerusalem?"
When I answered affirmatively he looked at me and said: "How blessed you must be to be able to live in Jerusalem."
It was a moment of transcendent revelation to me. Truly, I should feel fortunate and blessed to live in Jerusalem. The customs officer confirmed a truism to me that, like other truisms in life, I sometimes tend not to remember and concentrate on.
I live in a very special place at a very special time. I have an opportunity granted to me that was denied to generations of my more worthy ancestors. I should savor and appreciate this opportunity and not treat it in a cavalier or mundane fashion. The Jewish past has an opportunity to currently live with and through me. There is responsibility carried with this opportunity.
The Talmud asks: "Why are the hot springs baths of Tiberias not located in Jerusalem?" Why are the great and tasty fruits of the Ginossar area not grown in Jerusalem?"
The Talmud responds: "So that no one should ascend to Jerusalem for the sweet fruits or for the hot baths. Rather, one ascends to Jerusalem for the sake of Jerusalem itself."
Jerusalem is its own attraction. It does not rely upon natural wonders, outstanding weather or unusual surroundings for its attraction. It is holy, mysterious, the soul of Jewish history and longing. The rabbis taught us that there is a heavenly Jerusalem perched over the earthly Jerusalem. In order to truly appreciate the earthly Jerusalem one must also be able to glimpse the heavenly Jerusalem as well.
To see Jerusalem as a piece of real estate, a place on the map, is not to see it at all, let alone appreciate its role in Judaism and Jewish life and thought. The driving force behind Zionism, even its most secular format, was the hunger of the Jewish people for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the emotional battery that charged all of the movement of the return to Zion by Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries. The earthly Jerusalem with all of its wonders and problems, greatness and shortcomings, is a product of seeing the heavenly Jerusalem with eyes of tears and hope.
Nehemiah built the walls of Jerusalem at the beginning of the Second Temple period with one hand on the sword and the second one on the building locks. But Midrash records that his eyes were always looking heavenward at the heavenly Jerusalem.
The capital's diplomatic fate is a hot topic of conversation these days. The people who claim to represent our best interests regarding the city apparently only see the earthly Jerusalem. In their practicality they have become wildly impractical. There is no way for a body to survive once its heart has been broken asunder.
There has never been a Jewish power in our history that contemplated willingly ceding Jerusalem or any part of it to others, especially to sworn enemies who denigrate our faith and question our right to exist. It is the complete disregard, whether out of ignorance or ideology, of the heavenly Jerusalem that brings one to compromise the very existence of the earthly Jerusalem, a Jerusalem that we should feel so blessed and appreciative to control.
A friend of mine summed up the matter when he told me this story about his aged father who had just come to Israel on aliya in his eightieth year. The son settled the father in a very comfortable senior citizen residence in the coastal part of the country. But after two months the father insisted on relocating to Jerusalem. He said: "I have not waited for 80 years to finally come to the Land of Israel and not to live in Jerusalem."
We see the traffic jams, the torn-up streets, the problems of living in a metropolis that is still developing. That is the earthly Jerusalem. But the heavenly Jerusalem resonates in our souls and hearts and that is what makes life in the earthly Jerusalem so meaningful and important.
How can it be otherwise?
This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jerusalem/Jerusalem3_Earthly_and_Heavenly.asp

It's a Wonder How Ted Kennedy Survived

It is a Wonder How Ted Kennedy Managed to Survive

Ted lost brother Joe in WWII and the forces of evil assassinated John and Robert. Those tragedies were more than enough to turn a man into a basket case. Suddenly, Ted was the head of three families.Still, he had the fortitude to win his Senate job and to run for President.The telling moment was 1976, when Ted and Frank Church headed the COINTELPRO probe.The Ford Administration included George H W Bush, Don Rumsfeld, David Wolfawitz and Dick Cheney. Men who would make a dictator out of GWB a generation later, they defended their intelligence baby COINTELPRO to the limit. They ruined Frank Church, but were content only to smear Ted Kennedy forever.It's a wonder Ted is not dead.
Ford’s crew changed the name to MKULTRA and carried on business as usual.

Is Enhanced Torture Useful at All?

We Did not Need Enhanced Torture to Get Vital Information
By Faiz Shakir

This post, written by Faiz Shakir, originally appeared on Think Progress
In an interview last night with ABC News, John Kiriakou -- the CIA official who headed the team that interrogated al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah -- said that Zubaydah was waterboarded, but defended those actions as having prevented "maybe dozens" of planned attacks and "probably saved lives."
But despite his vigorous defense of his past conduct, Kiriakou says he now views what he did as torture and says that he would not recommend those tactics going forward. "We don't need enhanced techniques to get that nugget of information," he said in an interview with Matt Lauer this morning on The Today Show.
Lauer asked Kiriakou where the permission was given to carry out torture. "Was the White House involved in that decision?" Lauer asked. "Absolutely," Kiriakou said, adding:
This isn't something done willy nilly. It's not something that an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he's going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner. This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department.
Lauer then referenced an earlier interview he did with President Bush, in which Bush said he was assured by the Justice Department "we were not torturing." "I disagree," Kiriakou said. Watch it the video to your right.
As evidence increasingly builds for the argument that CIA interrogators carried out illegal acts of torture, the New York Sun reports that President Bush may soon decide to issue pardons:
With talk of a special prosecutor again in the air and the looming prospect of a Democrat taking over the White House, CIA officials involved in prisoner interrogations and the disputed handling of videotapes of those sessions may seek the only ironclad assurance against any criminal prosecution: a presidential pardon. [...]
"I think there's a real possibility one of President Bush's last acts very well might be granting immunity to certain CIA employees," a defense attorney who has defended military personnel accused of prisoner abuse, Frank Spinner, said. "I think it depends in part on the election."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/70284/