saucyvox: the colony (a literary and visual arts community)
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I found a link to your article on a popular news website I visit frequently (fark.com). After reading the linked article ( "Leadership Matters"), I went on to read more of your articles. Scathing and brutally honest. I've bookmarked your column page and will be checking it for new articles in the future. Kudos to you and your intelligent, insightful and honest articles. I am a new fan.
In your article "Routine Messages From The Pentagon - And The Truth", near the end you state "There were only two credible reasons for invading Iraq: control over oil and preservation of the dollar as the world's reserve currency."
The problem I have with this statement is scientific rather than political (though in turn, it changes the politics of the reasons). Simply stated, oil is not a finite resource. Rather, it is a self-renewing resource created by the internal pressure of the Earth and its plate tectonics. Over a 50 year period, Soviet and American scientists have proven over and over again that crude oil is not from organic origins. Assuming (and by "assuming", I mean taking half a century of empirical data into account) this is true, we come to a myriad of implications. The first and foremost is the reasons for our invasion of Iraq. If there really is no war for oil (since it isn't finite), what's the real reason, economics or gaining the popular vote? Secondly, is the current U.S. administration so uninformed that they believe that crude oil actually comes from big piles of dead dinosaurs? I am sure you will see more into this than I do.
In closing, I'll provide the address of a website containing a good deal of information about the abiotic (non-organic) origins of oil.http://www.gasresources.net/index.htm
Thanks
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some of you may have noticed one of two things. either that you've been removed from the snobby elitist blog ring, or that the snobby elitist blog ring has gotten smaller. there's a reason behind this and it's simple: it's snobby and elitist. meaning not just any jackass can (or should) join. you have to be an elitist, snobby jackass (we know who we are). so, if you've noticed that you're not in the blog ring any more, please look below for your user name and get some closure. sadly, i removed a few before i thought to be considerate enough for closure. if you've been removed and your name isn't listed, i apologize for my inconsideration. at the very least, you can rest assured that you are an idiot of some kind.
cmc1o04: your crypto-racism just proves my point. i hope you're considering permanent forms of birth control.
mkamen: too many jewish jokes in your sidebar. lame.
nedrazeall: your blatantly sexist "power hungry little boys with grown up toys" has just furthered the stereotype of feminists as male bashing femi-nazis. kudos to you.
temporaryresolutions: apparently you've been doing it right since june. i applaud this, but it's time to go bye bye.
hooizz: you have way too many references to the matrix. philosophy is good. philosophical ideas ripped off from a somewhat juvenile sf/x extravaganza... not so good.
treediary: no updates since june; your window of opportunity has closed. you coulda been a contender!
billysue: same as above, only without the part about being a contender.
spintin: it's your fault you've been removed. it's also your fault that everyone else who is on this list was removed. you own a vaio.
beautiful_getaway_x: all your pics are broken and your page background is atrocious.
simply_lynne: you blog about the bachelor and quote justin timberlake. 'nuff said.
merrymiser: no updates since may.
fadedpaperdoll: "no profound thoughts" is certainly correct.
nikkibear740: no, we can't pretend you're amazing. sorry. also, the word "i'm" contains an apostrophe. please fix your profile. kthx.
nik_e: although your moods may swing like a pendulum, this is no reason to bastardize edgar allen poe.
marissastar: your page background is of the massive migraine inducing variety. under your interests, you list your own height, weight and other physical stats. please. narcissistic personality disorder and elitist snobbery have nothing in common.
abacuzz: abacus. a-b-a-C-U-S.
cheshyr: stop trying to be william f house
flygirlnextdoor: initially, the username did it for me. blogging about britney spears' wedding closed the deal.
dash_of_spice: re-subscribe and try harder.
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Soldier Blog Shutdown? Stryker Diarist Stops Posting
By Nathan HodgeSometimes success can spoil a good thing.
A soldier with the Stryker brigade in Iraq who posted riveting online accounts of combat in Iraq has apparently made his last post, abruptly closing a Website that drew an untold number of readers.
CBFTW—the pseudonym of the online diarist, an enlisted soldier with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team—won a following for his frank, profane and often funny take on the life of a soldier in Iraq. He chronicled the tedium of a lengthy deployment and the occasional moments of sheer terror, including a vicious, but largely unpublicized, firefight the Fort Lewis-based unit was involved in earlier this month.
His intense, first-person account of that battle was quoted extensively in an article by Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune reporter Michael Gilbert, who traveled with the Stryker Brigade to Iraq and has closely followed their deployment. More recently, CBFTW was profiled in a story on NPR's "Day to Day" radio program.
Visitors to CBFTW's Weblog (cbftw.blogspot.com), however, can now find only one entry, posted Friday, that quotes Johnny Rotten, front man for the legendary punk act the Sex Pistols: "Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?"
The caption on the main page (posted over a black-and-white image of of Picasso's Guernica) reads: "OVER AND OUT."In recent posts, CBFTW had hinted that he was under threat of reprimand from his superiors; the NPR story noted that he had been lectured by his commanders for possible violations of operational security, or OPSEC. A spokesman for CBFTW's unit told NPR his blog entries would be reviewed by a platoon sergeant and superior officer before they were posted.
Before the NPR story, CBFTW posted a note that cryptically advised readers to "stay tuned," followed with the full text of the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...").
If his commanders indeed have ordered him to shut down his blog, it won't be the first time. In October 2002, Defense Week reported on a Website run by soldiers of a medical logistics battalion stationed in Afghanistan. They launched the blog to keep friends and family informed, but enthusiastic strangers linked to the site; when the members of the battalion were swamped with fan mail, they decided to shut the site down.
Blogs are, in some way, a defining cultural phenomenon of the war in Iraq, much as psychedelic music provided the soundtrack to the Vietnam War. There are dozens of Iraq blogs, posted by ordinary Iraqis, civilian administrators living in the Green Zone, rear-echelon soldiers and combat infantrymen. One Iraqi blogger, known by the nom de plume Salam Pax, even saw his Web diary published as a book, The Baghdad Blog.
Families of deployed soldiers maintain their own informal support networks through blogs, and soldiers—who have access to Internet cafes—kill the boredom of deployment by posting their own thoughts online.
Some blogs are patriotic, others are personal rants. CBFTW—a native of the San Francisco Bay Area who listed his interests, variously, as "drinking, skateboarding, reading, [and] 7.62 fully automatic weapons" along with punk rock and barroom poet Charles Bukowski—favored the rant, his long posts unencumbered by spelling and standard punctuation. He was also an avid reader, peppering his posts with literary allusions as well as references to punk and metal classics (the title of his blog—"My War"—comes from a Black Flag song). In some respects, CBFTW's irreverent blog echoed the spirit of Dave Rabbit, an enlisted man who ran a pirate radio in South Vietnam called Radio First Termer.
CBFTW is not the only military blogger who has won notoriety. Army Capt. Eric Magnell, an Army lawyer in Iraq, also was profiled in the NPR story. On Thursday, he posted a few thoughts on the interview, as well as on the case of CBFTW, on his blog (daggerjag.blogspot.com).
It's worth quoting at length:
"On Monday I spoke with Eric Niiler from NPR about my blog and how the army is treating bloggers. ... I think the story perfectly illustrates one of the reasons why soldiers may want to tell their story on their own blog rather than leaving it to the mainstream media. I don't think that Eric was misleading or twisted our words but he definitely wanted to give the impression that soldiers are being persecuted by their leaders over blogs and that their free speech rights are being infringed by a command that doesn't want their stories told. I would disagree with this thesis on several grounds."As I said in the story, the information environment has changed so much and is so different than in any previous war or conflict. Here in Iraq we have access to so much new communications capabilities it really is mind-boggling when you think about it. When my father was in Vietnam he wrote letters and mailed home cassettes or reel-to-reel tapes to keep in touch with my mom and his family. Even thirteen years ago, during Desert Storm, the soldiers still wrote letters and had very, very few opportunities to call their families in the States. With these new capabilities come some very real concerns over operational security. ... We know that our enemies are computer `savvy' and may have the ability to intercept e-mails or other communications over the Internet. Every soldier has to be aware and concerned about saying or writing anything that could potentially give our enemies information. Even potentially innocent statements which, by themselves, mean nothing can provide intelligence for our opponents when matched with other innocuous open source information."
Magnell, however, puts in a word of support for CBFTW:
"I've read SPC Buzzell's blog and, while I'm not a security manager, I haven't seen anything that clearly is prohibited but I can understand his chain of command's concerns."The Army, Magnell concludes, "isn't a sinister organization looking to trample invidivual freedoms but, as any large bureaucracy, it can be slow to react to new situations and changes in the environment."
An e-mail to CBFTW went unanswered.
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CBFTW is now back online, with access to his archives. If you haven't read him, I highly suggest you do. Start at the beginning.
CBFTW: My War -
the stanford prison experiment
in 1971, an experiment was done at stanford university. approximately 70 students volunteered. after a battery of psychological testing, 24 were selected to participate, based on their relatively "normal" test results.
of the 12 who were arbitrarily selected (by a simple coin toss) to become the prisoners, 9 were arrested and processed in true to life scenarios. pulled from their homes by palo alto police officers, handcuffed, read miranda rights, taken to the palo alto police station for fingerprinting and documentation in police cruisers, sirens screaming. neighbors watching. after officially being booked, the "prisoners" were left blindfolded in holding cells until they were transported to the jail.
the jail was constructed inside of stanford university, in a hallway. laboratory doors were replaced with bars. the hallway itself became their exercise yard; the only place where they were allowed to walk freely.
upon entering the prison, they were greeted by the warden and the seriousness of their crimes and their situation were reiterated.
the other 12 of those selected became the guards, 9 actively participating and 3 on call. the duty fell on the 9 to strip and search the prisoners. they deloused the prisoners, and issued them their new attire: a stocking cap to be worn at all times, a simple surgical scrub-like smock, and a chain locked around their right ankle. they became a number.
the guards themselves were attired in identical khaki shirts and pants, wearing mirrored aviator glasses. the each carried a whistle and a billy club borrowed from the palo alto police. a uniform. the guards were told they would be able to use any means necessary to ensure compliance, and they soon devised their own rules for the prisoners. push ups were used for punishment, with the guards often stepping on their back or making other prisoners sit on their backs.
over the course of the experiment, the prisoners staged a rebellion, barricading themselves in their cells by pushing the cots against the doors. the rebellion was quelled by guards wielding fire extinguishers, using bursts of carbon dioxide to force compliance. the rebellious prisoners were punished; stripped naked and forced into solitary confinement (a 2 ft wide closet just big enough for a person to stand in). the general amount of intimidation and harassment by the guards increased noticeably.
a 'privilege' cell was set up. the prisoners who were in the 'privilege' cell were allowed to wear clothes, were allowed to wash themselves, and allowed to eat. those who were not in this cell were allowed none of this. privilege and non-privilege prisoners were selected and interchanged by the guards at random. this brought about a general distrust, breaking any form of solidarity the prisoners had formed.
the intimidation and control by the guards increased to the point that a prisoner was not allowed to go to the bathroom without expressed permission, seemingly given on a whim by the guards. a bucket was left in the cells for them to use.
prisoner # 8612 began suffering from acute emotional disturbance; disorganized thinking along with uncontrollable crying and rage. the guards thought he was attempting to dupe them. the other prisoners belittled him, telling him he couldn't quit. the guards tempted him with the possibility of better treatment by becoming an informant. he was later released from the experiment after his
visitations were held, and the prison scrubbed from top to bottom. family members were allowed to see the prisoners. only 2 family members at a time for 10 minutes. as outsiders to the experiment, they were astoundingly compliant when asked to register, made to wait 30 minutes and were allowed to visit under surveillance of a prison guard.
rumor of a mass escape plot. supposedly, the prisoner released from the experiment was gathering a crew to come and free the remaining prisoners.
the prisoners were chained together, blindfolded and moved to another section of the building. the jail was temporarily dismantled. the plan was to wait for whoever it was that was attempting to free the prisoners, and tell them the experiment was over. this never happened, and the jail was reassembled and the prisoners returned to their cell.
after this, the intensity of harassment by the guards rose even more. prisoners were forced to clean toilets with their bare hands. the count of push ups and jumping jacks were raised to several hours.
a second prisoner broke into uncontrollable crying and hysterics. he was told to rest in an adjacent room, sans stocking cap and ankle chain. the other prisoners were forced to chant "prisoner 819 is a bad prisoner. because of what prisoner #819 did, my cell is a mess, mr correctional officer."
upon hearing this, prisoner 819 became even more hysterical, wanting to return to his cell and prove he was not a bad prisoner. even though he was physically ill, he wanted to return and prove he was not a bad prisoner. he was told that he was not prisoner #819, he was [his name] and this was not a prison this was only an experiment. he registered this information as someone waking from a dream. he left.
the remaining 7 prisoners were chained together and taken to a parole hearing. all of them were denied parole and returned to their cells.
the cruelty of the guards further increased. by this time of the study, the prisoners had become completely under their control. some even reacted to the guards orders with military precision.
a stand-in prisoner was called in. he rebelled against his harsh treatment by the guards by going on a hunger strike. he was subsequently put into solitary confinement for 3 hours, even though the guards had decided that 1 hour was the limit. the other prisoners regarded him as a trouble maker. given a choice between surrendering their blankets to the guards and freeing the prisoner from solitary confinement, or leaving him there and keeping their blankets, the original prisoners kept their blankets and the newest prisoner spent the night in solitary confinement (although the conductors intervened and returned the prisoner to his cell only a few hours later).
the parents of one of the prisoners contacted a lawyer to get their son out of prison. the lawyer came and interviewed them the next day with a standard set of legal questions. it was at this point that the conducting psychologists realized it was time to end the experiment. the situation they created became too intense, too consuming. the prisoners were becoming pathological, withdrawing into themselves. some of the guards were behaving in alarmingly sadistic ways, to the point where the "good" guards felt helpless in intervening on behalf of the prisoners.
the experiment was called off, 8 days short of its' planned time.
the experiment lasted only 6 days. -
SATURNDESIGN{dot}NET v2.0
is now live.
enjoy. -
last temptation, by the twilight singers
everytime i think of you,
i get the same old sinking feeling
i think of a garden, so still.
i think of a cross upon a hill,
and i think you know what i'm saying.
so as these chords descend,
so i shall follow them,
they holler "catch me if you can"
they holler "catch me", holler "catch me"
baby,
i'm goin' down.
get your hands up off me, girl.
i think i know my way around by now.
they come to the party
one by one
until it's done, until it's done.
my enemy
you must think you have the best of me
but you must know me to be vain
to leave this undone would be such a shame. -
Photo Of The Week: Texture
Click icon to open siteThe Fire Theft are coming! The Fire Theft are coming! I'm definitely going to see the legendary emoness that is Jeremy Enigk. How could you miss it? If you can find the songs 'Sinatra' or 'Carry You (In My Breath)', I highly suggest them. I also suggest downloading as many Metallica songs as possible and deleting them.
I'm definitely bringing the Minolta and the Holga cameras for the show.
I had to give a short speech in front of 100+ people today, for work. Talk about nerve racking. I've never been one for public speaking, I don't even like being the center of attention if more than 2 people are around.
I won a Fisher Price camera from eBay and received it the other day. Last nite I took it apart to fix the (assumed) broken film loading door. As I was messing with it, I accidentally put my finger on an exposed electronics board and the fucker shocked me. A lot. There was enough juice in it to make me almost throw the camera, and it left a blister. There were no batteries in it. Let me say that again, THERE WERE NO BATTERIES IN IT. It's possessed. Then it shocked me again. Out of spite, I touched a screwdriver to the board and shit just exploded. The arc popped loud enough to scare the shit out of everyone in the living room. Evil. Evil. I can't wait to use it.
I think I'm obsessed with photography and cameras.
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