Clipmarks | Raw story Clips

Book: McCain temper boiled over in '92 tirade, called wife a 'cunt'

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:14:11 GMT

clipped by: dewitte

John McCain's temper is well documented. He's called opponents and colleagues "shitheads," "assholes" and in at least one case "a fucking jerk."

But a new book on the presumptive Republican nominee will air perhaps the most shocking angry exchange to date.

The Real McCain by Cliff Schecter, which will arrive in bookstores next month, reports an angry exchange between McCain and his wife that happened in full view of aides and reporters during a 1992 campaign stop. An advance copy of the book was obtained by RAW STORY.

Tags: mccain, the real mccain

Halliburton Sued for ‘Human Trafficking’

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:55:49 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: blog.puppetgov.com

Chicago Tribune: U.S. stalls on human trafficking

Salt Lake Tribune: An unflinching look at China’s sex-slave trade

Dyncorp and Halliburton contractors were exposed as having operated child prostitution rackets in the Balkans

PBS Frontline: Sex Slaves

Larry Craig Pervert Scandal Is Tip Of A Shocking Iceberg

NBC Today Show: Sex slaves, human trafficking … in America?

The Franklin Cover-Up by John DeCamp

HumanTrafficking.org

By John Byrne~Raw Story

Twelve men recruited in Nepal died after forced transfer to Iraq, lawfirm says.

Thirteen Nepali men were recruited and held against their will for thirteen months in a human trafficking scheme engineered and perpetrated by Halliburton and its Jordanian contractor, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court

allegedly hired as kitchen staff by the then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners. Once they arrived in Jordan, however, their passports were seized and they were dispatched to Iraq

Tags: evil, world, humanity, people, power, wealth

Forgery and the Proof Threof ?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:34:27 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: It would not be unheard of that Dick C. would go to that extreme and forge Documents to further the " Cause"

Clip Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info

Tape: Top CIA official confesses order to forge Iraq-9/11 letter came on White House stationery

In damning transcript, ex-CIA official says Cheney likely ordered letter linking Hussein to 9/11 attacks

By John Byrne

09/08/08 "Raw Story" -- - A forged letter linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was ordered on White House stationery and probably came from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new transcript of a conversation with the Central Intelligence Agency's former Deputy Chief of Clandestine Operations Robert Richer.

The transcript was posted Friday by author Ron Suskind of an interview conducted in June. It comes on the heels of denials by both the White House and Richer of a claim Suskind made in his new book, The Way of The World. The book was leaked to Politico's Mike Allen on Monday, and released Tuesday.

The denial, however, directly contradicts Richer's own remarks in the transcript.

Homemovies Conversion

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:18:05 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: skwirlshare3.blogspot.com

Homemovies Conversion

Well, I finally hooked up the old VCR to my media center pc and started converting our homemovies to movie files
Right now they are very raw and hugely big (38.2GB).
I will be chopping them down and posting them on photobucket soon. Eventually I will use moviemaker to create some kind of watchable story.
I just think its great to capture those old vhs movies to my computer - its why I bought the media center pc in the first place. Those old vcr tapes are treasures that are deteriorating every year.
Right now everything is raw footage. Pretty boring stuff unless it is your zygotes you are watching. Memories are dear.

Tags: homemovies conversion, skwirlinator, media center pc, huge files

Lightning Storm during Volcanic Eruption

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:09:00 GMT

clipped by: grammydjb1

Clip Source: nynerd.com

Taken in Chaiten, Chile. Update: National Geographic has the story.

I think you need to revisit the title. It should read the other way around according to modern volcanic science: “Lightning Storm During Volcanic Eruption”.
“As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze.”
The Associated Press paraphrasing and sensationalizing (it sells) scientists monitoring this event.

Tags: science;photography

NASA Peculiar Thermometer: Painting By Numbers

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:41:53 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ..10 second video...UAH Satellite Temperatures March, 2008 - looks cool

Not surprisingly, the missing areas in Canada and Africa were cold. The NASA data thus becomes disproportionately weighted towards warm areas - particularly in the northern hemisphere. As can be seen in the UAH satellite map above, the warm areas actually made up a relatively small percentage of the planet. The vast majority of the earth had normal temperatures or below. Given that NASA has lost track of a number of large cold regions, it is understandable that their averages are on the high side.

Additionally, NASA reports their global temperature measurements within one one-hundredth of a degree. This is a classic mathematics error, since they have no data from 20 per cent of the earth's land area. The reported precision is much greater than the error bar - a mistake which has caused many a high school student to fail their exams.

Clip Source: www.theregister.co.uk

Analysis The story is that the world is heating up - fast

At the same time, there are new scientific studies showing that the earth is in a 20 year long cooling period.

The map (http://www.climateaudit.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/usgrid79.gif) below shows what the raw unadjusted USHCN temperature trends for the US in the 20th century looked like.

20th century temperature trends - USHCN raw data (lots of blue)

Prior to any adjustments, more than half the US shows declining temperatures over the 20th century - blue and green colors - i.e. the US is cooling down. However, subsequent to the adjustments the country goes dominantly warmer (red and yellow) - as seen in the image below (http://www.climateaudit.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/usgrid81.gif).

20th Century temperature trends - USHCN raw data (lots of red)

Below is a video showing the USHCN adjustments in action.

[Video]

Divergence

So how does NASA's data compare with other temperature sources?

So what was NASA missing?

Tags: climate audit.org, ushcn, u.s. temperature trends, 20th century, nasa's data, temperature divergence

Corporate Complacency

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:52:37 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.votenader.org

Corporate Complacency 06/18/08

Here is a counter-intuitive story for you. Why don't organized corporate interests challenge damage or risks to their clear economic interests?

Think about oil prices for big consumers, not just your pocketbook. Airlines are groaning, limiting flights, and laying off employees because of the skyrocketing price for aviation fuel. Executives in that industry say that fuel costs are close to 40 percent of the cost of flying you to your destination.

The powerful chemical industry is under pressure from the prices they're paying for petroleum-probably their main raw material.

The powerful trucking industry is beside itself with diesel fuel going to $5 per gallon.

Why aren't these very influential lobbies throwing their weight around Washington to get something done about the speculators on Wall Street determining what is paid for gasoline and related petroleum products? It is in their own economic interests.

Media Ignores Kucinich Impeachment Push

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:33:34 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: The piece goes on:

Kucinich support John Kusumi responded angrily at OpEdNews, writing, "The most important thing going happened on Monday night. An event that matters greatly to the course of history and to all Americans. Did you hear about it? Did ABC, CBS, and NBC break into normal programming with special coverage? Are there special alerts and bulletins on the cable news networks, where people can see them? No, no, and no!"

I just checked CNN's front page -- no mention of Kucinich. I did learn that more people are sleeping at work.

CNN; news you can't possibly use.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

On Monday evening, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) took to the floor of the House of Representatives to read out 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush in an almost five-hour marathon.

By noon on Tuesday, RAW STORY's article on the subject was the top political story of the day at digg.com and the 10th most popular for the last year. A separate article at afterdowningstreet.org was also high in the ratings. Both sites, as well as Kucinich's own webpage, were experiencing slowdowns due to the volume of traffic.

However, the mainstream media were far more reticent in their coverage of Kucinich's resolution -- much as they were following the release last week of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the administration's misuse of prewar intelligence. For example, the Washington Post and USA Today had short items in their blog sections, while other major outlets merely ran wire service coverage from AP or Reuters.

Tags: news

Impeachment Against Bush Introduced

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:34:03 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: the Senate Intelligence report recently lends solid ground (see previous Clipmark):

Article 1 - Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq."

Go to the Raw Story article to view the video of its introduction by Kucinich. Sad state of affairs, when a Congressman has to fight his own party Speaker to get the House to order and serious-mindedness about upholding the laws of the land!

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Kucinich presents Bush impeachment articles

An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.

Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House of Representatives late Monday evening, airing live on C-SPAN.

"Resolved," Kucinich then began, "that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate. ...

Article 1 - Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq."

"In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States

Tags: bush, impeachment

Kucinich Presents Bush Impeachment Articles

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:18:21 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Raw Story has video and rush transcript.

With this Congress -- who seem intent on making sure that Bush's crimes are never recognized, let alone punished -- I wouldn't hold my breath.

Still, it's nice to see that someone in Washington has some concern for justice.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.

Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House of Representatives late Monday evening, airing live on CSPAN.

"The House is not in order," said Kucinich to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), upon which Pelosi pounded her gavel.

Tags: news

Ray gun microwaves demonstrators

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:43:11 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Harmlessly repels enemies ???
I can already see how enemy parties 'harmlessly repelling each other' becomes our new definition of peace. Is this one of the 'End of democracy and freedom' signs?

Clip Source: www.techradar.com

The Pentagon tested out its latest toy – a ray gun that harmlessly repels enemies by causing a “burning sensation in the top layer of the skin” – on mock demonstrators this week.

To exhibit the weapon, the military staged a scenario that “soldiers might encounter in Iraq”. This consisted of a handful of military volunteers acting as civilian protesters, who were armed with signs saying ‘peace not war’ and threw objects at a small collection of soldiers, The Raw Story reported.

A few blasts from the Active Denial System later, and the crowd was effectively dispersed. However despite this demonstration of faith, the military reportedly remains unwilling to trust the weapon enough to send it to Iraq, raising suspicions that the real intention is to use it for domestic crowd control.

We’re not so sure – if you saw last week’s million-round-a-minute gun slash robot you’d know the crowd control market is all sewn up...

Tags: ray guns, weapons

McCain's Two Positions on Wiretaps

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:15:18 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Yeah, about that position -- it's kinda new and kinda 180 degrees off his previous position. Wonder why?

Raw Story:

While McCain's position on wiretaps and telcos is zigging this way and that, a new report also details the extent to which lobbyists who earned a living representing the very phone companies accused of breaking the law are now working for his campaign. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is leading the charge against telco immunity and representing plaintiffs in several pending lawsuits, lays out the connections...

How awkward...

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush’s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team.

In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance.

Mr. McCain believes that “neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,” Mr. Holtz-Eakin wrote.

Tags: news

Mock Protesters Attacked by Military

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:57:20 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns
clipper's remarks: A step in the wrong direction, if you ask me.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

60 Minutes: Pentagon’s Raygun Demonstrated on Mock Protesters

Published on Monday, June 2, 2008 by Raw Story

by David Edwards and Muriel Kane

The Pentagon has been developing a raygun which can harmlessly repel enemies by causing a burning sensation in the top layer of the skin. However, according to CBS’s 60 Minutes, the military is unwilling to actually trust this weapon enough to deploy it in Iraq.

“We are now stepping into the Buck Rogers scenario,” explained Colonel Kirk Hymes, who is in charge of testing the “Active Denial System” at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Hymes demonstrated the weapon by staging what CBS somewhat oddly called “a scenario soldiers might encounter in Iraq” — a handful of military volunteers, dressed as civilian protesters, who carried signs saying “peace not war” and threw objects at a small group of soldiers. A series of raygun blasts from half a mile away disrupted their chants and finally sent them running.

Proof Oil Companies Reduced Refinery Capacity

Mon, 26 May 2008 05:04:39 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: This began about 10 years ago while talk radio blames it on government regulation. Now you have the facts. This squeezes supply during difficulties which increases prices and profits.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Group: Internal memos show oil companies limited refineries to drive up prices

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) today exposed internal oil company memos that show how the industry intentionally reduced domestic refining capacity to drive up profits, RAW STORY has learned.

The three internal memos from Mobil, Chevron and Texaco illustrate how the oil juggernauts reduced refining capacity and drove independent refiners out of business in an effort to increase prices. The highly confidential memos reveal a nationwide effort by American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying and research arm of the oil industry, to encourage major refiners to close their refineries in the mid-1990s.

The memos from Mobil, Chevron and Texaco show the following.

An internal 1996 memorandum from Mobil

An internal Chevron memo

The Texaco memo disclosed how the industry believed in the mid-1990s that "the most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus of refining

Tags: oil, gas prices, economy, refineries

Double Happiness - Retro Pinup Twins

Wed, 21 May 2008 08:30:11 GMT

clipped by: Tali99
clipper's remarks: You’re not seeing double. This list compiles pinup twins from around the world and across history.

Clip Source: www.thepinupblog.com

Sexy Retro Innocence

Although I’m not sure who’s image this is, or when it was taken, I’ll give it a raw guess: mid 1950-1960. (As usual, do let us know with an email or comment, if you know something.) Some of my readers may be a little upset with me. This is not my usually-posted sexy image, but I beg to differ. Apart from this image being visually stunning, I happen to think it’s all about sex. And just as the former twin shot wasn’t about twins, neither is this one.

It is possible that these two are not twins at all (conceptually, in reality they most probably were). It’s possible that this is a story of one young young woman losing her innocence. Note the hair-bow becomes an apple from one girl to the other. The apple being a clichéd (and inaccurate) hint to the forbidden fruit. The one holding the apple is boldly looking straight at us, while the one with the bow is bowing her head. That’s my take on these set of twins, anyhow. What’s yours?