My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=beat

Powell said the executive order signed in 1976 by President Gerald Ford forbidding assassination "is under review."

Which leader do they have their eyes on exactly?

Third prize-winning picture in the Spot News Stories category of the World Press Photo 2006 contest. 'Hurricane Katrina aftermath, New Orleans, 30 August - 5 September' taken by Michael Appleton. (Michael Appleton/New York Daily News/Reuters)

On ADHD:

"On the surface, it is hard to believe," said Curt Furberg, professor of public health sciences at North Carolina's Wake Forest University Medical School, who voted for the black-box warning. "What is also interesting is this condition is not really recognized in other countries -- you wonder what we are treating. I am sure there are patients who need these drugs, but it is not 10 percent of all 10-year-old boys."

they're jabbering on about the AWB on tv at the mo'...the thing i don't understand is why no one has asked the question of this: "why in the fuck is our wheat so dodgy that we have to pay a 3rd world country to take it?"

Now Sweden has balls!

Sweden Aims to End Oil Dependency by 2020 - By MATTIAS KAREN, Associated Press Writer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - U.S.
President George W. Bush may have surprised international observers by pledging in his State of the Union address to break his country's addiction to foreign oil — but Sweden was already one step ahead of him.

The environmentally progressive Scandinavian nation has announced one of its most ambitious goals yet: to completely end its dependency on petroleum — and do it in the next 15 years.

"Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020," said Mona Sahlin, the minister of Sustainable Development.

The target — announced in September by Prime Minister Goran Persson — has been met with applause from environmental organizations, but also with great skepticism from some experts who think the target is unrealistic.

Officials here acknowledge that getting rid of oil completely in such a short time is close to impossible, but the aim is to ensure that Swedes will never be forced to use fossil fuels because a renewable energy source is not available.

"There shall always be better alternatives to oil, which means no house should need oil for heating, and no driver should need to turn solely to gasoline," Sahlin told The Associated Press in an interview.

The ambitious plan is a response to global climate change, rising petroleum prices and warnings by some experts that the world may soon be running out of oil.

"We want to be both mentally and technically prepared" for a world without oil, said Martin Larsson, a senior administrative officer in the Ministry of Sustainable Development. "A lot of people think that in five to six years, a liter of gasoline may cost 20 kronor ($2.50). That would be a dramatic change, and a hard hit to a lot of households." Today, the price is around $1.43 per liter.

Persson has said the target will be reached by boosting research on alternative fuels, giving financial incentives for people switching to "green alternatives," and increasing the annual electricity production from renewable sources by 15 terawatt hours by 2016 — that figure equals nearly one-third of all the electricity used by Swedish industries in 2004. Some tax breaks have already been introduced, while Persson has formed a special commission tasked with finding other ways to create a society independent of oil. The commission will present its first proposals this summer.

As with Bush's plan, no one is debating Sweden's good intentions.

"I don't think this is realistic, but it is a good ambition," said Kenneth Werling, chief executive of Agroetanol, which runs Sweden's largest ethanol factory. "Maybe we can build a society that is less dependent on oil, and that is good in itself."

Sahlin, however, is confident Sweden can succeed.

"Honestly, what is the alternative?" she said. "Wait and see when oil gets even more expensive?"

Sahlin and other experts point to several factors that give Sweden better chances than most countries to phase out oil.

The country of 9 million people has coastlines stretching hundreds of kilometers, which have given rise to a number of wind power and water power plants. A large new wind farm is being built off Sweden's southern coast, expected to be online by 2009.

Sweden also has more forest per capita than any other EU country, allowing it to burn tons of biomass, which has helped make it one of the world leaders in renewable energy.

In 2003, 26 percent of the energy consumed in Sweden came from renewable sources — more than four times as much as the
European Union average of 6 percent, according to EU statistics. Only 32 percent of its energy came from oil — down from 77 percent in 1970, according to Sweden's own statistics. About one-third of Sweden's energy is nuclear power, with the rest coming mainly from coal and natural gas.

So while the EU is striving to double its average use of renewable energy to 12 percent by 2010, Sweden is correct in setting the bar much higher, said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Many countries are setting renewable energy targets. The difference with Sweden is that the targets are achievable rather than aspirational," McGlade said. "This is because government departments across sectors in Sweden have built renewable energy into their long-term policies."

That is evident in Sweden's system for heating houses and apartment buildings — a key function in a country where the harsh winter usually lasts up to five months. Many Swedish counties use district heating that distributes steam heat, often produced by burning garbage or wood.

Today only 8 percent of Swedish houses are heated by oil, said Stefan Edman, an environmental adviser to the government. As of Jan. 1, those households get tax rebates if they switch to renewable sources.

"I'm an optimist in that area," Edman said. "I think we can completely get rid of oil there."

A much bigger challenge will be the transportation sector. Only 1 percent of the about 4 million vehicles on Swedish roads run on alternative fuels. But sales of so-called "environmental cars" that run on alternative fuel have almost doubled over the last year, and the parliament passed a law in December making it mandatory for all major gas stations to offer at least one alternative fuel at its pumps.

Sweden already uses more ethanol per capita than any other EU country, because of a pilot project where about 5 percent ethanol is mixed into the gasoline sold at gas stations, in order to reduce pollution, said Werling, the Agroetanol CEO.

Regardless of whether Sweden or the United States succeed in their ambitions, they are likely to pave the way for more ambitious renewable energy targets elsewhere in the world, said George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization working to boost the use of alternative fuels in the United States.

"Society sets a goal, and in moving toward that goal technology improves and you can set a better goal," Sterzinger said. "Taking on that goal, it sets a sort of (example of) 'If Sweden can do it, why can't we?'"

We're braindead. Television the drug of the nation. Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation.


What Australia watched last week

1. Australian Open men's final (7) 2.7m

2. Lost (7) 2.1m

3. Prison Break (7) 1.9m

4. Nine News Sunday (9) 1.6m

5. Today Tonight (7) 1.5m

6. Supernatural (10) 1.5m

7. Seven News - Sunday (7) 1.4m

8. Seven weekday News (7) 1.4m

9. Air Crash Investigations (7) 1.4m

10. Home and Away (7) 1.4m

I can understand why some people would get upset at the desecration at the image of Mohammad. I can equally understand how people would get upset at the desecration of Christ. The thing I cannot understand is why someone would feel the need to mass protest over it.

Granted I do not think most of them should have been published in the first place, common sense and good morals would dictate that, I also think that if I ran a newspaper I would make damn sure I was the first paper in my country to print these offending cartoons - just think of the publicity - hell everyone in the world has suddenly heard of some dodgy Danish paper!

In context - did they take the piss out of Christ equally as much? If the articles were fair and balanced then there should be no issue. I usually like to stay unbiased by offending everyone - it works out much easier. Fuck Christ. Fuck Mohammad. Fuck Buddha. Fuck God. Fuck L. Ron Hubbard. Fuck Isaac Asimov. Fuck Ray Kroch. Fuck Colonel Sanders. Fuck The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Why Rising Popularity Poses a Dilemma for Hamas - By SIMON ROBINSON/JERUSALEM

In towns like al-Bireh, Hamas has built popular support by providing a disciplined alternative to Fatah, which is seen by many Palestinians as corrupt, inefficient and unable to run a garbage collection service, let alone negotiate with Israel. Hamas has long run its own medical clinics, schools and soup kitchens for the poor—mostly in the Gaza Strip, its stronghold. In last year's local elections, Palestinian voters gravitated toward Hamas because of its reputation for having "members with a clean record," as Mayor Hamayel puts it, in a reference to Fatah's many corruption-tainted officials. Residents of towns where Hamas won control say they are now better run than they were under Fatah. In Qalqiliya, a West Bank town that Hamas won in elections last June, the Hamas council has paid off the town's debt, balanced its budget, raised salaries and begun rebuilding roads. Even in al-Bireh, which Hamas has governed for less than a month, there are signs of improvement: the streets are being cleaned and teams of men last week were installing stoplights in the rain hours after the end of the workday. The locals are impressed. "Fatah has not achieved anything for me," says Haytham Hammad, 22, a corporal in the Palestinian security forces, over a cup of coffee and a cigarette in an al-Bireh cafe. "Hamas is capable of taking back the rights of the Palestinian people—daily rights like a good job, clean water."

Hamas, hamas, hamas. They seem to be victimised so much by the western media that I know next to nothing of what they actually do. Surely there must be some reason they keep getting voted in. They are meant to help the poor and needy, aka, everyone in the Gaza Strip, and are supplying the people with food, water, and weapons - when you have people who have had all of their family killed who are being looked after with all of this generosity - is there any wonder that some want to repay their debts with their lives?. What does one do when the vote is between that which feeds you or that which has delivered nothing?

To top it all off America is refusing to "negotiate with terrorists" which includes talking to Hamas. Democracy at its best. Cuba anyone?

I'm tired. i have to do my tax from last year this weekend or I'll have the ATO onto me. Apex tax hasn't been done yet either - and I'm meant to be doing that. I hate taxes - but you know what they say, there's only three sure things in life, death, taxes and nurses.

Reese's Theme Park Photog Found Dead - E! Online.

A paparazzo who was charged with battery and child endangerment after pestering
Reese Witherspoon and her kids at a theme park last fall has apparently been found dead.

Friends of photographer Todd Wallace said his body was discovered in his Brentwood apartment, according to published reports. Police confirmed that a body was found, but were unable to identify it as Wallace's because of the state of the corpse.

The moral to this story is do not fuck with Reese Witherspoon or she'll put a cap in yo' arse! And everyone thought Hamas was dangerous - Reese is who we should be scared of.