returned from portland today. MIL was as dysfunctional as always, although now that she’s got multiple sclerosis as well, she’s even more helpless than before. combine that with the fact that ann, who is her housemate and landlord, started smoking again after having (seemingly) successfully quit, has been in and out of the hospital several times in the past few weeks, and suffered a stroke less than a week ago, and you get a concerned moe, who is sure that her mother can’t come and live with us (!!) but is wondering, at the same time, what she’s going to do if and/or when ann kicks off. it was a typically dysfunctional family x-mas eve dinner, with moe’s father, and his wife, ann, bill (a friend of the family who is somehow connected to ann), and moe’s mother (who is not, and never has been married to moe’s father) gathering for a dinner that was fixed at the last moment by moe, because ann (the traditional cooker of x-mas dinner) was too sick to do it… and then another, somewhat less dysfunctional x-mas day dinner with moe’s mother and step-grandmother… and ann and bill (again), once again gathering to eat a magnificently prepared dinner cooked by moe (again)… all of which was planned on the spur of the moment, since what was planned for both days fell through when ann got sick less than a week ago… all i can say is that i’m glad it wasn’t my family.
the following is a bunch of URLs that i collected before x-mas, but didn’t have time to post them before:
http://www.WorldPyroOlympics.com/
http://www.FuckThisWebSite.com/
and from the freeway blogger…
White House Defends Use of Cannibalism, Pedophilia Shocking Disclosures Stun Many
Washington – Already reeling from charges of massive corruption, widespread use of torture and illegal wiretapping, the White House angrily responded to yesterday’s disclosure in the New York Times that top administration officials had participated in numerous acts of cannibalism and sex with minors.
“My most important job as President is to protect the American People.” Bush stated emphatically during this morning’s hastily convened press conference, “September 11th changed everything, and I think the people understand that.”
While acknowledging that the rape and molestation of young children, as well as the consumption of human flesh might be disturbing to some, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pointed out that such acts were technically within the law and had been approved by Congress in the broad powers given to the executive branch after the attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001.
Officials at the Times acknowledged that they’d known about the program for well over two years but had chosen to withold publishing its details until after the election because it “slipped our minds.”
The super-secret program, dubbed “Operation Freedom Patriot Eagle Flag”, was run primarily out of the office of the Vice-President.
US authorities have been secretly monitoring radiation levels at Muslim sites amid fears that terrorists might obtain nuclear weapons, it has emerged.
Scores of mosques and private addresses have been checked for radiation, the US News and World Report says.
A Justice Department spokesman said the programme was necessary in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Last week, President George W Bush admitted allowing the wiretapping of Americans with suspected terror links.
Mr Bush has defended the covert programme and vowed to continue the practice, saying it was vital to protect the country.
No warrants
According to US News and World Report, the nuclear surveillance programme was set up after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
It began in early 2002 and has been run by the FBI and the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team.
The Associated Press news agency said federal law enforcement officials have confirmed the programme’s existence.
The air monitoring targeted private US property in the Washington DC area, including Maryland and Virginia suburbs, and the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York and Seattle, the magazine said.
At its peak, three vehicles in Washington monitored 120 sites a day.
Nearly all of the targets were key Muslim sites.
“In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the programme,” the publication said.
“The targets were almost all US citizens,” an unnamed source involved in the programme told the magazine.
“A lot of us thought it was questionable, but people who complained nearly lost their jobs,” the source said.
Muslim anger
Federal officials cited by US News and World Report said that monitoring on public property, such as driveways and parking lots, was legal and that warrants were not needed for the kind of radiation sampling it conducted.
They also rejected the claim that the programme specifically targeted Muslims.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the programme was necessary as al-Qaeda remained committed to obtaining nuclear weapons.
An FBI spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the news “comes as a complete shock to us and everyone in the Muslim community”.
He added: “This creates the appearance that Muslims are targeted simply for being Muslims. I don’t think this is the message the government wants to send at this time.”
From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 22 December 2005
Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.
Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.
The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns, cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts.
By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million number-plate “reads” per day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites.
Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into the central databank.
Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as possibly the biggest advance in the technology of crime detection and prevention since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting.
But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely recorded and kept on a central computer database for years.
The new national data centre of vehicle movements will form the basis of a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation designed to drive criminals off the road.
In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to gather intelligence data on the movements and associations of organised gangs and terrorist suspects whenever they use cars, vans or motorcycles.
The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and has the full backing of ministers who have sanctioned the spending of £24m this year on equipment.
More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon via a secure police communications network.
Chief constables are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate their own CCTV cameras into the network. In addition to cross-checking each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test certificate.
“Every time you make a car journey already, you’ll be on CCTV somewhere. The difference is that, in future, the car’s index plates will be read as well,” said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
“What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn’t at a particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime scenes. Particularly important are associated vehicles,” Mr Whiteley said.
The term “associated vehicles” means analysing convoys of cars, vans or trucks to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is already known to be of interest to the police. Criminals, for instance, will drive somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy to commit further crimes “You’re not necessarily interested in the stolen vehicle. You’re interested in what’s moving with the stolen vehicle,” Mr Whiteley explained.
According to a strategy document drawn up by Acpo, the national data centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that should deny criminals the use of the roads.
“The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader infrastructure across the country to stop displacement of crime from area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements to be captured,” the Acpo strategy says.
“This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation opportunities on a national basis,” it says.
Mr Whiteley said MI5 will also use the database. “Clearly there are values for this in counter-terrorism,” he said.
“The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don’t have access to. It’s part of public protection. If the security services did not have access to this, we’d be negligent.”
time for the brits to break out the bicycles…