a pleasant sunday in ChinaTown, S.F.

Crap-O-the-Day!

South Africa - H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama

Global

Basic Info

Description:

In March 2009, the Dalai Lama was denied a visa to enter South Africa in order to attend an international peace conference. The South African government initially stated that it denied his visa to avoid distracting attention from South Africa and its hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, although the visa-refusal precipitated precisely such a distraction. South African government officials later acknowledged that his visa had been denied to maintain close relations with China. Chinese officials had urged the South African government to not admit him.  Two other Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Arch Bishop-emeritus Desmond Tutu and former South African President FW de Klerk, criticised the denial and pulled out of the conference. Current Minister of Health Barbara Hogan was critical of the decision, accusing the Government of "being dismissive of human rights". Opposition parties to the ruling African National Congress, including the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party and Congress of the People, also expressed disgust. "The recent shameful denial of entry to South Africa to a peace icon and Nobel laureate, the Dalai Lama, is a demonstration of the ANC government's willingness to sacrifice the standing of South Africa on the altar of political expediency," said Mvume Andale, leader of the last-mentioned, as well as former presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and former head of the All Africa Council of Churches. "This is especially so if the rumours are true that this was because of the funding arrangements between the ANC and the Communist Party of China." Conference organisers, including the grandson of Nelson Mandela, also expressed outrage over the refusal to issue the Dalai Lama a visa. The conference was subsequently cancelled.  The South African government defended its decision as a matter of sovereignty. One South African official publicly criticised the Dalai Lama and lamented a taboo on criticism of him, while another publicly criticised the government for denying his visa.

Location:

Cape Town, South Africa -----

no-happy-hours friday

Funny Crap !



Crap-O-Week!

<-- A South Korean marine stands guard at an anti-aircraft gun position on Yeonpyeong Island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea on May 28, 2009. (Photo: Getty images)

Maybe We Should Take the North Koreans at Their Word

Tad Daley, Tikkun.org: "The one thing we can probably say for sure about the prospects for universal nuclear disarmament is that no state will agree either to abjure or to dismantle nuclear weapons unless it believes that such a course is the best course for its own national security. To persuade states like North Korea and Iran to climb aboard the train to abolition would probably require simultaneous initiatives on three parallel tracks. One track would deliver nuclear weapons policies that directly address the long-simmering resentments around the world about the long-standing nuclear double standard, that directly acknowledge our legacy of nuclear hypocrisy, and that directly connect nuclear non-proliferation to nuclear disarmament." (More)


Apeldoorn Sets High Energy Self-Sufficiency Goals

Le Monde (French): http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2009/05/27/apeldoorn-aux-pays-bas-veut-croire-au-solaire-et-a-l-eolien_1198579_3244.html#ens_id=1198672

Gregoire Alix reports for Le Monde from the Dutch city of Apeldoorn: "'In 2020, all energy consumed in Apeldoorn will have to be renewable, without fossil fuels, without nuclear power, and produced in our own city.' With graphs for support, Michael Boddeke, the official in charge of sustainable development for this city that looks like a blossoming village at the center of the Netherlands, is optimistic: solar, wind, and biogas from organic waste and wastewater should suffice to warm and light this town of 156,000 residents." (More)

A family wades through flood waters to catch a relief boat, north-east of Patna, India. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

Report: Global Warming Causes 300,000 Deaths a Year

John Vidal, The Guardian UK: "Climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300 million people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming." (More)

Flood victims flee Trinidad, Bolivia, for higher ground. (Photo: Aizar Raldes / AFP / Getty Images)

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the night is deep

Whatta Crap!

Armageddon: the photo is copied and pasted from Stan Van Houcke's blog "STAN: the empire 452"

Bush's Shocking Biblical Prophecy Emerges: God Wants to "Erase" Mid-East Enemies "Before a New Age Begins"
By Clive Hamilton, CounterPunch. Posted May 25, 2009.

Bush explained to French Pres. Chirac that the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Mid-East and must be defeated. (Read More)

the day after memorial day

O For Crap's Sake!

Oil giant in the dock over 1995 murder of activist who opposed environmental degradation of Niger Delta

Shell On Trial for Human Rights Abuse

Daniel Howden, The Independent UK: "Royal Dutch Shell will revisit one of the darkest periods of its history tomorrow as a potentially groundbreaking court case opens in New York. The oil giant stands accused of complicity in the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian environmental activist." (full story)

A mountaintop mine in West Virginia (NRDC photo)

EPA Mining Decisions Favor Coal Industry

Mike Lillis, The Washington Independent: "Despite renewed vows to protect Appalachian waterways from the ravages of mountaintop coal mining, the Environmental Protection Agency has recently authorized a number of pending mountaintop permits that will bury dozens of streams in the nation's oldest mountain range. The move has left mining supporters cheering the federal endorsement of a popular extraction method, environmentalists wondering if the Obama administration truly intends to prioritize water-quality concerns above those of the powerful coal industry, and both sides unsure what to expect of mountaintop permitting in the future." (full story)

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at the end of memorial long weekend

Crap-O-Day !

A man owned a small Ranch In Texas.  The Texas Work Force Department> claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent out to interview him.  "I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent.
 
"Well," replied the farmer, "there's my farm hand who's been with me for 3 years.  I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board.
 
The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $150 per week plus free room and board.

Then there's the half-wit.  He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here.  He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally."
 
"That's the guy I want to talk to ... the half-wit," says the agent.
 
"That would be me," replied the Rancher. 

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“Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed - I am still a Republican,” former Secretary of State Colin Powell reassured his party on Sunday.

Colin Powell fires back at Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney

Sunday 24 May 2009

by: Jonathan Martin  |  Visit article original @ Politico

In the latest round of the increasingly heated intra-GOP feud, former Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday defended his Republican credentials and fired back at radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney, saying the party had to expand beyond its conservative base. (Full Story)

A Blue Cross building in North Carolina. The health insurance company is running inaccurate television ads warning people against the prospect of a public health care option. (Photo: Bill Warren)

Blue Cross Millionaires Are Scared to Compete With a Public Plan
Monday 25 May 2009
by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

The boys running the show at Blue Cross in North Carolina are running scared. They're worried that President Obama is going to treat them like autoworkers and make them actually compete in the market. The Blue Cross boys think that they belong in the same league as the Wall Street bankers and should just be allowed to collect their multi-million-dollar salaries without being forced to worry about things like competition. (Full Story)

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Funny Crap of the Day

      These are actual comments made on students' report cards by teachers

      in the New York City public school system. All teachers were

      reprimanded (but, boy, are these funny!)

      1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has

      started to dig.

      2. I would not allow this student to breed.

      3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.

      4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.

      5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails

      to achieve them.

      6. The student has a 'full six-pack' but lacks the plastic thing to

      hold it all together.

      7. This child has been working with glue too much.

      8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.

      9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't

      coming.

      10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered

      twice a week.

      11. It's impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat

      out 1,000,000 others.

      12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.

      These are actual comments made by 16 Police Officers.

      The comments were taken off actual police car videos around the

      country:

      16 'You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just

      went through.'

      15 'Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll

      stretch after you wear them a while.'

      14 'If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth

      certificate a worthless document.'

      13 'If you run, you'll only go to jail tired.'

      12 'Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the

      speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you.'

      11 'You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can

      write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?'

      10 'Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think

      it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?'

      9 'Warning! You want a warning? O.K, I'm warning you not to do that

      again or I'll give you another ticket. '

      8 'The answer to this last question will determine whether you are

      drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?'

      7 'Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go

      to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey

      poop.'

      6 'Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster

      oven.'

      5 'In God we trust, all others we run through NCIC.'

      4 'How big were those 'two beers' you say you had?'

      3 'No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're

      allowed to write as many tickets as we can.'

      2 'I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend

      of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail.'

      AND THE WINNER IS....

      1 'You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we

      don't. Sign here.'

Crap From The Crypt

Obama’s brother lives in a Kenyan shack

20 August, 2008, 16:54

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama’s lost brother has been tracked down in Kenya. George Hussein Onyango Obama, aged 26, was found by journalists from the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. He reportedly lives in poverty in a shack on the outskirts of Nairobi.

He has the same father as the U.S. senator, Barack Hussein Obama, but a different mother.  Her name has been given as Jael.

The youngest of Obama’s half-brothers says he lives on less than a dollar per month in a 2m x 3m shack. Its walls are decorated with posters of famous footballers and a calendar featuring exotic beaches. The magazine also noted George has a newspaper picture of his brother.

He has only met his famous brother twice. Once when he was five and then in 2006 when Senator Obama visited Nairobi. George admits their meeting was very brief and cool.

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a cool off evening at last

Crap Shots -- Bush-Like !

Obama: acting more like Bush every day

Obama to revive Bush’s military tribunals for Gitmo detainees
May 17, 5:23 PM

President Obama has never failed to disappoint since he took office barely four months ago. I can faintly remember hearing something about candidate Obama offering “change” from eight painful years of Bush; ladies fainted, Chris Matthews got chills, and the streets of San Francisco were flooded with cheering worshippers. But somewhere in Crawford, Texas, George W. Bush is smiling.

Our new President is doing everything he possibly can to perpetuate Bush’s follies, from expanding the wars in the Middle East with no end in sight, signing trillion dollar stimuluses, nationalizing industries, and eroding civil liberties (all things that Bush was hated for doing). So why not revive the Bush era military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay detainees, as Obama is now promising to do?

(Read More)  if you care.