Hurtful Racist Propaganda or Hilarious Video?

I saw this over at Political Party Poop. It was posted with the warning "Racist YouTube Clip..Don't watch!" Snoop, at PPP, is ever on the watch for frail sensibilities.

OK...are you watching yet?

by Mondoreb



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

MySpace: Teenage Girl's Profiles Hacked By Predator

A fifteen year old girl, alone in her room, sees mysterious text appear across her computer screen. The messages are ominous. "Submit nude photos or your family will be harmed."

Reads like a cheesy teen horror flick but it was all too real.

A 33-year-old North Carolina man sentenced Friday to 110 years in prison used "tools of terror" to hack into the computers of Brevard County girls and extort nude pictures from them, an assistant U.S. attorney said.

Ivory Dickerson, a civil engineer, gained remote access to their computers, giving him the ability to type words onto their screens. He was arrested last December after girls at Rockledge High School told authorities their MySpace profiles had been hacked into and the person on the other end was demanding revealing and pornographic images.

He threatened to harm their family members, post nude pictures of them on the Web and, in one case, make a 17-year-old "the most well known girl at school" if they didn't do what he said, according to court records. [1]

Dickerson had hacked into the girls MySpace profiles.

One victim, who was 15 at the time of the incident, told U.S. District Court Judge Anne Conway during Friday's sentencing hearing that she felt as though the computer intruder was watching her every move.

"I was afraid to walk outside because I didn't know if it was the neighbor," the girl said.

MySpace was involved in another high profile story, that of Megan Meiers, a fragile thirteen-year-old Missouri girl who took her life over a cyberbully incident.[2]

No word yet on the steps the cyber-site MySpace has taken to ensure member's profiles are hacker proof.

This predator's method of hacking into the girl's own computers and typing messages onto their screens is flat out creepy. Dickerson was sentenced to over 100 years in prison. His skills would have been better served in international espionage instead of stalking and terrorizing girls online.

Source - Orlando Sentinel
Source - 2- MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen's Suicide

By LBG
Image [gamesforfree.net]



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Bush, Cheney Mug Shots In NY Library Exhibit

Nora Ligorano - Marshall Reese Exhibit
New York Public Library

We found this little snippet in the pages of the New York Post

December 1, 2007 -- The New York Public Library is under fire for showing photos of Bush officials doctored to look like police mug shots.

The pictures, by artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, are part of an exhibit privately financed at the library, which receives public funding.

GOP spokesman Matthew Walter called it a "political attack."
The library said the exhibit has no political agenda.

Nora Ligorano - Marshall Reese Exhibit
New York Public Library

From New York Public Library Online:

Nora Ligorano (American, born 1956) and
Marshall Reese (American, born 1955)
Line Up
Portfolio of eight digital prints with colophon and DVD
Brooklyn: Madness of Art Editions, 2006
Harper #4

For more than twenty years, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese have used art to address political and social issues. In Line Up, present and former high-ranking government officials, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, and Karl Rove (Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz are not on view here), appear in a series of fake mug shots. They hold slates inscribed with numbers that refer to specific dates when the “suspects” made “incriminatory” statements about Iraq. President Bush in his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003, reported, “Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa…. He clearly has much to hide.” On January 25, 2002, Alberto Gonzales reported to President Bush, “[t]his new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.” In an accompanying DVD, these and other officials are heard making their assertions; the pop of a flashbulb is then followed by the mug shot of the speaker, growing progressively larger until it more than fills the screen. The screen goes dark, and a metallic clunk, presumably the sound of a prison door slamming shut, ends each sequence.

From the New York Post article:

The library said the exhibit has no political agenda.

From the Library's website:

For more than twenty years, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese have used art to address political and social issues.

No political agenda?

Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.

By LBG
Source - New York Post
Source - New York Public Library Online



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The Backyard Brawl: 100 Years of WVU and Pitt Football

Overview, 30 Years of Backyard Brawl Highlights, Newsflash & a Poem


It's the Mountaineers Vs. the Panthers with a berth for WVU in the BCS National Championship on the line. 100 Years of the Backyard Brawl between West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh.
A story, scenes from the last 30 years, a newsflash and a poem. A complete look at the Backyard Brawl.

It's been nearly a year since Rich Rodriguez made the toughest decision of his career, rejecting a lucrative offer at Alabama and returning for his seventh season at West Virginia.

It turned out to be the right move. Rodriguez is one win from playing for a national title.

No. 2 West Virginia (11-1, 5-1 Big East) will start mapping a trip to New Orleans if it can beat Pittsburgh (4-7, 2-4) in the 100th Backyard Brawl on Saturday night.

It would be a journey like no other in school history.

The Mountaineers have maintained a calm, businesslike approach on their ascent to the national stage. If others had the Mountaineers in the national title talk at the start of the season, Rodriguez wasn't among them.

"We don't talk nationally as much as we could talk about competing for a Big East championship," Rodriguez said. "We've been in the hunt over the last several years and we thought this team had the same chance if we had a little luck. And they've performed the way they're capable."

Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads has played a role in some of college football's biggest rivalries, including Ohio State vs. Michigan. None, he says, is like Pitt vs. West Virginia in one special quality.

To Rhoads, the Backyard Brawl is a perfect nickname for an always-physical, always-meaningful series that will be played for the 100th time Saturday night when Pitt tries to block No. 2 West Virginia's path to the national championship game.

Other rivalries are better known nationally and make a bigger impact on the Top 25 rankings, but the Brawl decides who is the toughest kid on a very small block.

"This rivalry is big and it's important," Rhoads said Wednesday. "This one is mean. This one is physical and these are two teams that like to get after each other for 60 minutes."

Separated by only 75 miles of interstate highway, the Panthers and Mountaineers often recruit from the same talent pool, with brothers and former high school teammates sometimes landing on opposing sides.

30 Years of Backyard Brawl Highlights 1977: Pitt’s 44-3 win at Mountaineer Field in Jackie Sherrill’s first season as Pitt’s coach remains the Panthers’ most lopsided win in Morgantown during the rivalry. 1978: Tailback Ray “Rooster” Jones and the Pitt offense broke out for a season-high 52 points in a 52-7 defeat of WVU at Pitt Stadium. 1979: Freshman quarterback Dan Marino directed Pitt to a 24-17 victory in the final college football game played at old Mountaineer Field. 1980: Starting free safety Rick Trocano moved over to offense in the second quarter to replace the injured Dan Marino, and led Pitt to four second-quarter touchdowns during the Panthers’ 42-14 win at Pitt Stadium. 1980: West Virginia had just three days to prepare for No. 2-rated Pitt after making a midseason trip to Hawaii. 1980: Don Nehlen is introduced to the Backyard Brawl with a 42-14 loss to the Panthers. It was the worst defeat a Nehlen-coached West Virginia team endured against Pitt. 1981: With Danny Daniels starting at quarterback in place of the injured Dan Marino, Pitt failed to complete a single pass, but still won the game, 17-0, at Mountaineer Field. 1982: Dan Marino’s six-yard scoring pass to Julius Dawkins rallied Pitt from a 13-0 fourth-quarter deficit on its way to a 16-13 win at Pitt Stadium, the Panthers’ seventh straight in the Backyard Brawl. 1982: The country was introduced to All-American linebacker Darryl Talley, who intercepted a Dan Marino pass and blocked a punt for a safety in West Virginia’s 16-13 loss to the No. 2-rated Panthers. 1982: The 1982 game was one of just five times both teams were nationally ranked: Pitt was rated No. 2 and West Virginia was 14th after upset wins over Oklahoma and Maryland. 1983: West Virginia drove 90 yards on 14 plays – 13 of them runs – against Pitt’s No. 1-ranked defense to snap the Panthers’ seven-game losing streak 24-21 in 1983. 1984: Willie Drewery’s 74-yard punt return for a touchdown helps West Virginia to an easy 28-10 victory at Pitt in 1984. 1985: The two teams played to a 10-10 tie in Morgantown in one of more non-descript games in Backyard Brawl history. It was the first tie in the series since 1909. 1986: Mike Gottfried won his first Backyard Brawl as coach of the Panthers by a 48-16 count at Pitt Stadium. 1987: Neither team scored a touchdown, but Jeff VanHorne booted a pair for Pitt as the Panthers won in Morgantown, 6-3. It’s the last time a touchdown wasn’t scored in a Backyard Brawl. 1988: Skeptical that West Virginia was for real and installed as a one-point underdog by the odds makers, the Mountaineers rolled to a 31-10 victory over Pitt on the way to their first undefeated, untied regular season in school history. 1989: In the first Backyard Brawl played at night, Eddie Frazier’s 42-yard field goal as time expired capped a Pitt rally that saw the Panthers erase a 31-9 fourth quarter deficit and produce a 31-31 tie. 1990: Panther Ricky Turner returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, but West Virginia beat the Panthers, 38-24, at Pitt Stadium. It’s the last time a kickoff was returned for a score in the Backyard Brawl. 1991: Sean Gilbert returned an interception for a touchdown as Pitt beat WVU, 34-3, in the first-ever Big East Conference game for both schools. 1991: West Virginia’s plans to use a no-huddle, shot-gun offense were thwarted when quarterback Darren Studstill went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter. 1992: West Virginia registered a 44-6 beating in one of Pitt’s worst home defeats in Backyard Brawl history. 1993: Johnny Majors’ second go-around at Pitt wasn’t nearly as successful, dropping a 42-21 decision to West Virginia in Morgantown on the way to losing four straight to the Mountaineers by a combined score of 154-62. 1993: Curtis Martin broke loose for an 86-yard run – not a touchdown – but Pitt lost to the unbeaten Mountaineers in Morgantown, 42-21. 1994: Dietrich Jells set a Pitt single-game record with 225 receiving yards in this Backyard Brawl at Pitt Stadium. 1994: John Ryan ran for a two-point conversion to give Pitt a 41-40 lead late in the contest after Pitt had trailed 31-6 in the second quarter. The Mountaineers eventually won this Brawl, 47-41. 1994: Chad Johnston hit Zach Abraham for a 60-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left to beat Pitt 47-41. Johnston passed for a career-high 396 yards. 1996: Amos Zereoue took his very first college carry 69 yards for a touchdown in West Virginia’s season-opening 34-0 victory over Pitt. It was the only time West Virginia has managed back-to-back shutout losses against the Panthers. 1997: Pete Gonzalez completed a fourth-and-17 pass to Jake Hoffart that set up the game-winning strike to Terry Murphy in Pitt’s dramatic 41-38 triple-overtime win at Mountaineer Field, sending the Panthers to their first bowl game since the 1989 season. 1997: Amos Zereoue’s 151-yard rushing performance was wiped out in Pitt’s 41-38 triple-overtime loss to Pitt. It was the first overtime game in Backyard Brawl history. 1997: Current radio voice Tony Caridi describes his first Backyard Brawl for the Mountaineer Sports Network. 1998: For the first time since 1982 (vs. North Carolina), Pitt hosts a home game at a venue other than Pitt Stadium. The Mountaineers spoil the occasion, winning 52-14 at Three Rivers Stadium. 1998: Hometown product Marc Bulger torched Pitt’s secondary for 409 yards and six touchdowns in West Virginia’s 52-14 victory over the Panthers. 1999: Marc Bulger capped off a brilliant career with a 20-of-30, 331-yard passing performance in West Virginia’s 52-21 triumph over Pitt to end the 1999 season. Freshman Avon Cobourne ran for a season-high 210 yards in the win. 2000: In the final college football game played at Three Rivers Stadium – Pitt Stadium had been demolished earlier in the year – Kevan Barlow ran for a Backyard Brawl single-game record 272 yards in Pitt’s 38-28 victory. 2001: Antonio Bryant caught 11 passes – one for a touchdown – to give Pitt a 23-17 win at Mountaineer Field, keeping Pitt’s bowl hopes alive (5-5) following a 1-5 start to the season. 2002: Larry Fitzgerald caught a Heinz Field single-game record 11 passes in the Panthers’ 24-17 loss. 2002: Pittsburgh native Rasheed Marshall’s 74-yard touchdown pass to Connelsville’s Phil Braxton was the deciding score in West Virginia’s 24-17 victory at Pitt in Heinz Field. 2003: Rod Rutherford passed for a career-high 419 yards at Mountaineer Field. 2003: Quincy Wilson rumbled for 208 yards rushing to help West Virginia to a 52-31 victory over Pitt in Morgantown. It was the last time both teams played a Backyard Brawl nationally ranked. 2004: Tyler Palko’s fourth-quarter touchdown run gave Pitt a 16-13 win on Thanksgiving Night at Heinz Field. 2004: Without suspended wide receiver Chris Henry, West Virginia’s BCS bowl hopes went up in flames at Pittsburgh, 16-13 in a game the Mountaineers led until the fourth quarter. 2005: Freshman quarterback Patrick White ran for 220 yards in leading West Virginia to a 45-13 victory over Pitt on frozen Milan Puskar Stadium. At halftime when asked what his team could do to stop West Virginia’s rushing attack Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt infamously said, “Run faster.” 2006: Steve Slaton and Patrick White became just the third tandem in NCAA history to rush for more than 200 yards in the same game in West Virginia’s 45-27 victory at Pitt. 2006: Patrick White became only the ninth player in NCAA history to rush and pass for more than 200 yards in the same game in West Virginia’s 45-27 win over Pitt. 2006: Kicker Pat McAfee’s 51-yard field goal was the longest in Heinz Field history by either a professional or a collegian.

Pre-game News: Wannstedt Signs Extension

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt has a new three-year contract extension.

Wannstedt was given the new deal despite not producing a winning record in three seasons. Before he arrived, the team went to a bowl game five consecutive seasons.

Wannstedt was already under contract through the 2009 season and is now signed through 2012. The announcement was made on the day of the Backyard Brawl game against Number 2 West Virginia, which now dominates a rivalry Pitt once controlled.

Pitt apparently chose to give Wannstedt the extension now to end any immediate speculation about his status as Pitt winds up a second losing season under the former Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins coach.

What's a big game with a poem or song. This one has a poem.

"Twas the night before Pittsburgh , when all through my mind, Were visions of couch burnings, both yours and mine. Firemen were resting and acting quite lazy, But they knew that things were about to get crazy.

The players were nestled, Markell did his dreds, While visions of bourbon Street danced in their heads. There were Quinton's gold teeth, Larry's son in his lap, While the quarterback made noises to sound like a cat.

When down in the endzone there arose such a noise, They sprang from their homes and called all their boys. To the field they flew, as fast as Devine, Making sure to pick up the offensive line.

The invaders had arrived at the stadium early, These panthers were looking noticeably surly. There was a point to this late-night trip through the hills, They were out on the field doing defensive drills.

With a dapper old coach who combed his mustache, You knew in a moment it must be Wannstedt. He'd made his name as a defensive master, And he whistled and shouted for them to run faster!

"Watch Slaton! Watch Schmitt! Watch Reynaud and White! Watch option! Watch bubble! Could be a rough night! Let's stand on the goal line and build a big wall, And keep them from their shot to play for it all!"

As they began to believe his bold rally cry, There was a flash and a pop up high in the sky They reacted the same, with a quick double take, What they saw made them stop in their cleats and quake.

On top of the stadium a man made his stand, As he calmly adjusted his Nike wristbands. He said "My name's Rich, as you surely know," Then he ran down the bleachers with Mountaineers in tow.

They were dressed all in gold, from their heads to their feet, And they looked like they'd win a 12-team track meet. A bundle of plays he had in his book, And there was no mistaking that confident look.

Pitt's eyes, how they widened! Their hearts, how they pounded! All for the biggest game since this brawl was founded. One side had momentum, the other desperation, This battle wouldn't wait for the eyes of the nation!

Caridi was roused from a much-needed sleep, So were Hickman and Hertzel, the last with a bleep. They brought their pens, paper and elaborate prose, To witness this battle of bitter old foes.

It was dark and cold, your breath you could see, But that didn't stop the kickoff of Pat McAfee. The tackle, of course came from an old Hawk named Emery, And so started this game that would soon be a memory.

They spoke so few words as they went to work, But score after score drove the visitors berserk. The Mountaineers rolled, as was expected, While the Panthers backed off, clearly dejected.

There was a Gatorade shower that gave poor Rich shivers, While no one seemed happier than one Vaughn Rivers. They exclaimed after singing about Almost Heaven, "We'll see you in New Orleans on January 7."

Compiled by Mondoreb
Sources:
AP - Backyard Brawl stakes high as Mountaineers hope to clinch spot in title game
Sporting News - Backyard Brawl Turns 100
MSNsportsNET - Tales from the Backyard Brawl
Pitt, Wannstedt Agree To Contract Extension
Backyard Brawl Poem Makes Internet Rounds




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Russia Bums Unlikely To Transmit HIV; Journalists Ranked Second in Risk Groups

"Bums don't have sexual lives,
and they have no money for [injectable] drugs"

From the Moscow Times comes a story about which "groups" were most likely to contract and transmit HIV. According to the head of the Federal Center to Fight AIDS, Journalists and "homosexuals" top the list.

Journalists Help Spread HIV

Journalists and homosexuals top the list of social groups that most actively contract and transmit HIV, Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Federal Center to Fight AIDS, told the Novy Region news agency Thursday.

He added that the most risky groups were the ones where homosexuals have the opportunity to actively socialize, and he also mentioned policemen, doctors and show-business figures as risk groups.

Pokrovsky said, however, that public perception about high rates of HIV among the homeless had been proven wrong. "Bums don't have sexual lives, and they have no money for [injectable] drugs," he said.

After homosexuals and journalists were cops, doctors and "show business types' as risk groups.

These figures surprised us but then again these only apply to Russia?

Other bums may be in a higher risk group

Source - The Moscow Times

By LBG
Image [plig.org]
Image 2 [ibiza-sportlight.com]



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Western Colorado Buck Tussle

Happy Holidays From The Colorado High Country

I got a shot of these two big boys tussling in front of the house. The larger buck, I've named Big Boy. He and his erstwhile opponent got into a scrap over the ladies. They took turns stomping their hooves, attacking trees and bushes and huffing at each other until Big Boy jumped the fence and let the other buck have it.

Big Boy shows up every year in the fall and stays until the first thaw up in the West Elk Mountains. The elk have returned too. Every now and then I hear the bulls bugle to one another along the ridge.

The weather forecast calls for up to five foot of snow in the high country. So far the snow line is up around 9,000 ft. It's been raining heavily here all night and dumping the white stuff up higher.

Happy Holidays everyone.

By LBG
Image [EGraphics]



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Oppression et Liberté : Socialist Disillusion from a Former True Believer

Oppression and Liberty was published posthumously by Simone Weil in 1955. How has it stood the test of time? 52 years after it's release, how has it fared?

Is it more popular today as it was when it came out?

The book, a comparative view of political systems, trends and features, looks at socialism and its political system rivals.

A little about the book.

OPPRESSION AND LIBERTY
Simone Weil, Arthur Wills (Translator), Preface by T. S. Elliot
Routledge, reprint (2001)
(published posthumously as Oppression et Liberté in 1955)



"The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at." Simone Weil, Oppression and Liberty (1958 edition), Chapter 1, from The Columbia World of Quotations (1996)

"It would seem that man was born a slave, and that slavery is his natural condition. At the same time nothing on earth can stop man from feeling himself born for liberty. Never, whatever may happen, can he accept servitude; for he is a thinking creature." Simone Weil, Oppression and Liberty (1958 edition), Chapter 4, from The Columbia World of Quotations (1996)

(quoted on Bartleby.com)

In Oppression and Liberty (1955) she [Simone Weil] is concerned with the nature and possibility of individual freedom in various political and social systems, finally opting for liberalism rather than socialism. (from Pegasos website)

PUBLISHER
The French thinker Simone Weil counts as one of the leading intellectual and spiritual figures of the twentieth century. She was a legendary essayist, political philosopher and member of the French resistance, whose literary output belied her tragically short life. Most of her work was published posthumously, to widespread acclaim. Always concerned with the nature of individual freedom, Weil explores in Oppression and Liberty its political and social implications. Analysing the causes of oppression, its mechanisms and forms, she questions revolutionary responses and presents a prophetic view of a way forward. If, as she noted elsewhere, 'the future is made of the same stuff as the present', then there will always be a need to continue to listen to Simone Weil.

BOOK REVIEWS
"...She would not accept, in particular, the Marxist vision of historical development and inevitable proletarian triumph. She understood that it was absurdly simplistic, a-historical and self-contradictory. Weil rejected the suggestion of any inexorable progress in the development of "productive forces," and found it ironic and damning that in making a "religion of productive force," Marxists seemed to share a facile optimism with their capitalist enemies...She was impatient with the suggestion that history was progressing toward some final stage in class conflict characterized by material abundance and culminating in the end of oppression....

...she did not over-argue the potential for change. She hoped at most for action that would 'encourage whatever is capable, in the sphere of politics, economics or technique, of leaving the individual here and there a certain freedom of movement amid the trammels cast around him by social organization.'

It is this emphasis on the individual and the distrust of State authority and bureaucratic elitism—an emphasis on justice, not just rights—that is among the distinctive features of Weil’s progressive outlook...." (from book review by Bob Bauer on More Soft Money Hard Law website)

Oppression and Liberty's author, Simone Weil (1909-1943), gained fame after her death for her writing. The book has had introductions by both T.S. Eliot and Albert Camus.

French philosopher, activist, and religious searcher, whose death in 1943 was hastened by starvation. Weil published during her lifetime only a few poems and articles. With her posthumous works - 16 volumes, edited by André A. Devaux and Florence de Lussy - Weil has earned a reputation as one of the most original thinkers of her era. T.S. Eliot described her as "a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints."

"What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Gasoline is much more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict." (from The Need for Roots, 1949)

Nothing makes for a good read like the writings of a disillusioned Socialist.

Simone Weil's Oppression and Liberty is Socialist disillusion in the nutshell.

by Mondoreb
[images:coalitionsquebec & ou.edu]

Source:
Oppression and Liberty
Simone Weil




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