Postcard Confessions

Anonymous postcards say the darndest things.

Imagine

I wonder if you can.

Exploding Toads

I knew frogs occasionally exploded but not toads...

If You Had Wings

Here is was a site devoted entirely to the now defunct 'If You Had Wings' exhibit - Disneyworld's answer to Disneyland's 'Adventure Through Inner Space' attraction. Narrated by Orson Welles, it was a loud, visually overwhelming, and a bit silly ride that also had novel audio-visual design for its time including the "speed tunnel"; a bullet shaped room that simultaneously projected 3 high speed 70mm film images as an 'omni-mover' car slowly moved through the center creating the illusion of super fast movement. I rode this ride more than any at Disney World before it disappeared in the late 80's. There's a whole page with people's memories of the ride and another others include sounds and pictures from the ride, history, design, constuction, and deconstruction.

50's Robots on Mars

King Bush I's pipe dream. Predates Ann Coulter's recent Time magazine cover minus the faintly perceptible mobile home behind her and the squirrel steak platter simmering next to the fried fluffernutter sandwiches...

"Justified" Torture According to the Bush Administration

The memo (click above) starts out ordinarily enough. The Bush administration insinuates that the United States somewhat 'reluctantly' signed on with the Geneva 1994 program outlawing and defining torture (not true). It then goes on to discuss the very few ways in which the United States has complied with these accords both toward Guantanamo Bay detainees and in Iraq.

Then comes the interesting part. The document suddenly hinges on an unspecifically related Federal ruling which states that international law does not apply to the United States (in that particular case with all of the attendant specifics) because it is not Federal law. In addition, the memo basically self-extrapolates (without cause) that anything which is not specifically in the United States Constitution (letter of the law only) is basically allowable. And then the circus begins.

The memo continues to go on at length in making exception after exception to the Geneva Accords in the Bush Administrations interpretation of them through their artificially constructed lens which they believe to be justified (especially considering the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on illegal detainees, much less torture specifically.) It even gives helpful suggestions in which the letter of Federal law can be followed without violating anything specifically, and being mindful that the Geneva agreements appear to be followed.

Reading this kind of stuff really makes it quickly apparent as to why multiple former multi-party United States ambassadors and operatives have signed a petition in protesting this faux administration's lack of respect for its own word, much less other countries, and severely threatening national security and eroding decades of diplomatic international understanding. Nobody internationally implicitly trusts the United States - especially under the current regime; and no one is ever going to do us any favors until his Moronity is gone and it appears that Soviet style caplitalistism disguised as libertarianism is set aside for true diplomatic intercourse. American men get killed in Iraq because of an utter lack of international support due to an intentional systemic failure of U.S. diplomatic intelligence and effort starting right at the top.

Regime change is a comin' eventually. As Iraq creates a 'democracy', perhaps we can dispense with the Soviet style rhetoric and get back to learning to be a Democracy ourselves.

Reagan's Poison Jellybeans

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Practically Nothing

I'd like to start off by first thanking Accenture, a former subsidiary of Anderson Consulting (implicated in Enron and other scandals and one of the three finalists for the proposed 'virtual border' electronic system for foreign visitors to the United States I might add) for being so adept at invading corporate echelons at no risk to its management team while simultaneously attacking and removing their minions, making themselves indispensable by converting all processes to theirs, eliminating virtually everyone else as part of their process, and then actually taking over their job responsibilities and increasing their fee to equal the combined salaries of removed workers as they do so. It's essentially corporate culture takeover in slow motion without shareholder responsibility. Not to mention once they're in, they hypnotize management into staying for at least two years. That is, unless someone wakes up and remembers to spray them with Raid.