The absolute best parody of The Matrix.

Here's a text clip from one of the action pages that you can head to after the movie:

Why is corn pollen suspected of killing Monarch butterflies? What was the Taco Bell scandal a few years back? Why are Mexican corn farmers afraid of the wind? Why do many countries refuse to buy American crops? Since the introduction of genetically engineered foods (GE) to the market in 1995, genetic engineering has sparked a global controversy. Environmental hazards, food and crop contamination, declining market prices, and political battles are all side effects of the genetic tampering with your food.

Linux creator, Linus Torvalds, and the professor who wrote the book that inspired young Finnish college student Linus, strike back publicly at what appears to be an astroturf assault by a Microsoft funded think tank Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

A little reflection from Tanenbaum on Ken Brown's motivation:

In his email, Linus said that Brown never contacted him. No email, no phone call, no personal interview. Nothing. Considering the fact that Brown was writing an explosive book in which he accused Linus of not being the author of Linux, you would think a serious author would at least confront the subject with the accusation and give him a chance to respond. What kind of a reporter talks to people on the periphery of the subject but fails to talk to the main player?

Why did Brown fly all the way to Europe to interview me and (and according to an email I got from his seat-mate on the plane) one other person in Scandinavia, at considerable expense, and not at least call Linus? Even if he made a really bad choice of phone company, how much could that cost? Maybe a dollar? I call the U.S. all the time from Amsterdam. It is less than 5 cents a minute. How much could it cost to call California from D.C.?

From reading all the comments posted yesterday, I am now beginning to get the picture. Apparently a lot of people (still) think that I 'hate' Linus for stealing all my glory (see below for more on this). I didn't realize this view was so widespread. I now suspect that Brown believed this, too, and thought that I would be happy to dump all over Linus to get 'revenge.' By flying to Amsterdam he thought he could dig up dirt on Linus and get me to speak evil of him. He thought I would back up his crazy claim that Linus stole Linux from me. Brown was wrong on two counts. First, I bear no 'grudge' against Linus at all. He wrote Linux himself and deserves the credit. Second, I am really not a mean person. Even if I were still angry with him after all these years, I wouldn't choose some sleazy author with a hidden agenda as my vehicle. My home page gets 2500 hits a week. If I had something to say, I could put it there.

Andy Tanenbaum developed a operating system called MINIX for use as a teaching tool for his classes on the subject matter. Linus desired to network his PC and set out to build a microcomputer version of UNIX based on the textbook material on MINIX. The professor and the young visionary had a much celebrated heated usenet exchange which led to the expulsion of Linux banter from comp.os.minix.

Unless you're a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois being stalked by your Republican rival.

For the past 10 days, U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama hasn't been able to go to the bathroom or talk to his wife on his cell phone without having a camera-toting political gofer from his Republican rival filming a few feet away.

In what has to be a first in Illinois politics, Republican Jack Ryan has assigned one of his campaign workers to record every movement and every word of the state senator while he is in public.

That means Justin Warfel, armed with a handheld Panasonic digital camcorder, follows Obama to the bathroom door and waits outside. It means Warfel follows Obama as he moves from meeting to meeting in the Capitol. And it means Warfel tails Obama when he drives to his campaign office.

General Zinni appears on CBS 60 Minutes this weekend to share his thoughts on the Iraq invasion.

"There has been poor strategic thinking in this...poor operational planning and execution on the ground," says Zinni, who served as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000.

Zinni blames the poor planning on the civilian policymakers in the administration, known as neo-conservatives, who saw the invasion as a way to stabilize the region and support Israel. He believes these people, who include Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense, have hijacked U.S. foreign policy. In his upcoming book, "Battle Ready," written with Tom Clancy, Zinni writes of the poor planning in harsh terms. "In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw, at minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence and corruption," he writes.

A bad day for the neoconservative faithful, as there's this story regarding charges of selected puppet Chalabi leaking secrets to Iran...
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A conspiracy theorist's armchair guide to the Nick Berg tale.

The video of the killing has many flaws including problems with time skips, audio dubbing, and the characteristics, appearance and speech of Berg and the killers. People from Middle Eastern cultures believe that Middle Eastern people were not involved in this video, based on the mannerisms, accents, behavior and appearance of the killers. A close inspection of the video suggests that Westerners may have been involved.

Moises Alou's secret to hitting.

"He urinates on his hands," Miller wrote. "That's the honest truth. Alou said he isn't sure where he learned this distasteful folk medicine, but it wasn't from his famous father. And it works for Moises."

According to some, that's nothing. Jack Dempsey used to soak his face in bull urine.

A look at a lobbyist coalitions peddling influence on Washington policymakers. It is a lucrative living, at least for Mr. Joel Malina.

Molina says he charges $30,000 a month plus expenses to run a coalition. And more often than not, he asserts, the money is well worth it. Unfortunately, he warns, unlike the plays he's performed in, "there is no guarantee of a happy ending."

And it couldn't have been more evident than last week when he broadcast his despicable take that the horrid pictures of tortured Iraqi prisoners were nothing more than a prank or some soldiers "blowing off steam". Limbaugh joked about the matter.

I don't know if it's just me, but these pictures look like anything you'd see Madonna or Britney Spears do on stage.

Yes, right, this sure sounds like a harmless fraternity prank:

A new photo has surfaced showing two German shepherd dogs about to brutalize a naked prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison.

The photo was obtained by Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker, who says other photos that will be published are even worse. "We have a photo of the dogs right at him. And a moment later, he is on the ground and there's a large gaping wound and a big pool of blood," said Hersh.

On the local Limbaugh Clear Channel radio affiliate here in Arizona's capital city, the local talk hosts continued to carry water for the debased Limbaugh. The "barely famous" one, Barry Young repeatedly pounded his point that these photos did not at all represent "torture" or "abuse", and were more akin to juvenile hijinks. All the while Donald Rumsfeld was testifying that even more horrific photos will be soon coming to light.

U.S. military officials told NBC News that the unreleased images showed U.S. soldiers severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner and “acting inappropriately with a dead body.” The officials said there was also a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.

As troubling as these accounts are, I am further saddened to hear the justification for such barbarous and cruel actions. While I haven't seen numbers in black in white (yet), I hear an outpouring of "so what" sentiment. It grieves me, for I thought that America stood for freedom and justice, not the arbirtrary abuse administered to a prison population where a majority have been incarcerated simply on suspicion only.

A Red Cross report disclosed Monday said coalition intelligence officers estimated that 70-90 percent of Iraqi detainees were arrested by mistake and said Red Cross observers witnessed U.S. officers mistreating Abu Ghraib prisoners by keeping them naked in total darkness in empty cells.

You can view the US Army report on Iraqi Prisoner Torture at Abu Ghraib online and if you can stomach them, more photos of Iraqis being abused.

Reverend Sun Myung Moon declares himself to be the "Messiah" in an address to U.S. Congress, and faces bowing congressmen.

The five great saints and many other leaders in the spirit world, including even Communist leaders such as Marx and Lenin, who committed all manner of barbarity and murders on earth, and dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons. Emperors, kings and presidents who enjoyed opulence and power on earth, and even journalists who had worldwide fame, have now placed themselves at the forefront of the column of the true love revolution. Together they have sent to earth a resolution expressing their determination in the light of my teaching of the true family ideal. They have declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent. This resolution has been announced on every corner of the globe.

Truly unbelievable, and check out the host committee for a ceremony honoring Washington Times owner and media magnate Reverend Moon. Your congress representatives bowing to this kooky self appoinited messiah who sits at the head of the prominent conservative press outlets.

In between tangling with enemy rappers and pimping his juvenile prisoner bury the indigent program, the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been doing battle with webmaster Jim Cozzolino, who is the arpaio.com proprietor. Previously, the good Sheriff deployed the Threat Squad to snuff out forum board posters there spreading ill news of Arpaio and his exploits. But the latest ordeal involves Cozzolino's incarceration for an illegal firearm discharge offense and a campaign to dish out a lot of ill fate to an outspoken critic.

I've not kept close tabs on the Sheriff Joe Watch, but this story on Arpaio vs. Cozzolino was troubling to me, at least if the charges Cozzolino states are true. What an abuse of police power, to arbitrarily inflict punishment based upon false pretenses.

Stay abreast of the latest Sheriff Joe goings on here.

Claims that the "media" has "backdated" the recession.

Even before President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, his surrogates began to suggest that the Bush administration was inheriting an economic recession from the Clinton administration. Over the last three and a half years, the media has been awash in false references to Bush "inheriting a recession" from Clinton. A recent Media Matters for America poll found that 62 percent of Americans hold the false belief that the recession began under Clinton.

At least according to the NBER.

How Ahmed Chalabi conned the neocons examines this shadowy figure and his neoconservative allies.

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