I found a site that might be of interest to fellow barflies, Swedish Meatballs, I thought it might have something to do with ASKOD at first but that is not likely. A link there led me to Center for Media and Democracy which has the top ten propaganda videos.
and I found a great quote,

In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. … Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
–Hannah Arendt, The Origins Of Totalitarianism

all this stuff is still fairly new for me and I find very few in my circles who are curious or aware of this very effective way of controlling the masses. I wonder if those who have observed this and found themselves alone with their knowledge and insight feel the same despair I do. I sometimes picture myself as the weird lemming standing on a rock watching all the others rush to the sea and questioning myself why I can’t be like them.

Posted by: dan of steele | Dec 24 2007 10:09 utc | 3

Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 24 2007 12:25 utc | 5

anna missed, noticed non arab arab in badgers comment section. he/she posts about current SA-Iran coordination…

I was in a meeting today with an old friend who has spent many years in the Gulf and Washington. He is a private citizen, always has been, i.e., not part of the power structures in either place. But he knows and is privy to the thoughts of many of the power brokers. I have respected him as an individual and an analyst for many years, he is far less hot-headed than I am and is always deeply insightful.
He was asked by someone in the meeting his views on current state of Iraq. In a nutshell his view can be summarized as:
* The Saudi-US relationship is badly soured, they have lost respect for the United States as a nation deeply in debt to China (i.e., squandering global influence to the rising new power), and for having deliberately harmed the Palestinians and now the Iraqis with the invasion that the Saudis openly warned them would be a disaster.
* The Saudis want the US out of Iraq, they’re just making a mess of it, but they want the Americans out on their terms.
* The Iranians feel almost exactly the same – they want the US out, but on their terms.
* So the Saudis and Iranians have found common ground and have more or less struck a deal to help calm Iraq so that the Americans can “claim victory” and get out. The Saudis and Iranians are meeting regularly behind the scenes and closely coordinating their efforts.
* So the Saudis are funneling huge support to anti-Al-Qaeda Sunni elements to tamp those hotheads down, and the Iranians have used their influence to calm down Sadr. So each side is calming down their respective sectors.
* They are perfectly happy to let the Americans pretend the “surge” is what has caused the recent calming as it will let Americans feel good about themselves then skidaddle quicker.
* Nobody in Washington has a clue what’s really going on on the ground. He thinks Petraeus and a few others likely do, but of course it serves their interests to pretend and let Washington think that they brought about the success instead of other actors beyond their control.
So, realist power politics in the Gulf, and yet more incompetence in Washington.

Posted by: annie | Dec 24 2007 16:38 utc | 7

Eid El Leil

Posted by: n/a | Dec 24 2007 17:59 utc | 9

Here’s AP story relating to climate and crowds: 3,000 walruses die in stampedes tied to climate

Posted by: plushtown | Dec 24 2007 19:14 utc | 11

IDF investigates IDF war crimes in Lebanon, declares them kosher.

Posted by: ran | Dec 25 2007 1:26 utc | 13

Just as an aside question, is there a functional difference between the CIA, NSA, FBI, BATF, HS, DoD, Secret Service (initializing that one would be too revealing) and DARPA anymore? I’m losing track of the purview of the Praetorian predators these days. It looks to me like they’re all announcing the same projects.
FBI aims for world’s largest biometrics database

Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 27 2007 3:41 utc | 15

a surprise to come across this syndicated opinion piece in the western press on xmas day, even if it simplifies the situation & flippantly assigns the blame to the islamic courts union for their woes b/c of their choice of names…
CIA behind Somalia’s bloody occupation by Ethiopian troops

On Friday, it will be is exactly a year since Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, fell to Ethiopian troops and the occupation has been one of the most brutal on record. The resistance started at once, and Ethiopian counter-insurgency tactics are not gentle.
As early as last April, Germany’s ambassador to Somalia, Walter Lindner, wrote a public letter condemning the indiscriminate use of air strikes and heavy artillery in densely populated parts of Mogadishu, the systematic rape of women and even the bombing of hospitals. By now, the Ethiopian army’s attempts to terrorize the residents of Mogadishu into submission have driven 600,000 of them – 60 percent of the population – to flee the city.
The Ethiopians and their local allies indignantly deny these figures, but they come from the United Nations aid coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche, and the makeshift camps along the roads leading away from Mogadishu are there for all to see. It is, says Laroche, the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, worse even than Darfur. But “since it is in Somalia, no one cares.”
You will notice that some of the phrases used above do not appear in the agency reports about Somalia. The wire services do not talk about an Ethiopian occupation of Somalia, and they refer to the local Somali collaborators as the “transitional federal government,” or TGF. This is mainly in deference to the United States, which organized and backed the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.
…
The people of Mogadishu, enjoying their first taste of normality in 15 years, overwhelmingly supported the UIC, but the United States decided it must be overthrown. To do the job, Washington turned to its close ally Ethiopia, Somalia’s perennial enemy. The Ethiopians, who have no interest in a stable and strong Somalia, were happy to oblige – and for diplomatic cover, the U.S. could use the “transitional federal government” of Somalia.
…
The TFG set up in the town of Baidoa in early 2006, and promptly went to war with the Union of Islamic Courts that controlled the capital. Since it had only about 5,000 soldiers of its own, the TFG depended from the start on far larger numbers of Ethiopian troops to do the actual fighting. Large numbers of government members resigned as it became clear that the TFG had fallen into the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Ethiopians, but a force of about 20,000 Ethiopian troops (with some U.S. air support) fought its way into Mogadishu a year ago.
With the occupation of Mogadishu, the interval of peace ended, and the past year’s fighting has driven more than half the city’s population into flight. The TFG has been permanently discredited by its link to the hated Ethiopians, but it will probably take more years of war to end the occupation, and a lot more Somalis will die.

as a companion piece, for something else you don’t see anything on, check out
sourcewatch: Select Armor, Inc.

Select Armor is a private military corporation based in Virginia. It describes itself as “…a woman-owned enterprise HQ in The Plains, VA with offices in Santa Fe Springs, CA, Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, Salzburg, Austria, and Baghdad, Iraq whose core team competency is Force Protection technologies, Security and Emergency Preparedness, Tactical and CBRN training.”
…
Africa Confidential reported in September 2006 that the company had

“…been planning military operations in support of President Abdullahi Yusuf’s Transitional Federal Government in Somalia and raising questions about an attack on Mogadishu, according to documents obtained by Africa Confidential. The documents refer to Uganda’s willingness to secure arms supplies using its own end-user certificates (in contravention of the UN arms embargo) and makes disparaging remarks about ‘the fucks’ in the United Nations who have been ‘snooping around’ Select Armor’s personnel.”

The Observer also saw the leaked emails, and reported the contents of one sent on June 16, 2006 by chief executive Michele Ballarin:

including Chris Farina of the Florida-based military company ATS Worldwide. Ballarin said: ‘Boys: Successful meeting with President Abdullay Yussef [sic] and his chief staff personnel in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday … where he invited us to his private hotel suite flacked by security detail … He has appointed is chief of presidential protocol as our go to during this phase.’
“She refers to one ‘closed-door meeting’ with a senior UN figure and mentions there are ‘a number of Brit security firms’ also looking to get involved. Ballarin claimed she has been given ‘carte blanche’ to use three bases in Somalia ‘and the air access to reach them’. She then suggests that the CIA have been kept informed of the plans. Ballarin states: ‘My contact whom we discussed from the agency side requested an in-person meeting with me. I arrived in New York at 2340 last night and was driven to Virginia – arriving at 0200 today.'”

Africa Confidential gave some more details about the planning of the alleged operation:
* “Select Armor claim to have briefed” Ugandan Minister of Security Amama Mbabazi and Intelligence Director Brigadier Noble Mayombo.
* Ballarin also claimed “…to have secured meetings with the UN’s Colonel Harry Haen and Sidi Zahab”.
* Ballarin wrote that President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda “…put us up in the facility next to his compound”.
* “Select’s main contact in the Somali government appears to be Minister of Interior (a former US marine and son of the late General Mohamed Farah Aydeed) Hussein Mohamed Aydeed, who is code-named ‘Alpha’. President Museveni provides accommodation for the Aydeed family in Kampala.”
* Select’s General Douglas Eaton “…was cited as handling wire transfers of money to fund the operation.”
Ballarin was allegedly less than grateful for the hospitality shown to her by President Museveni. She declared that “Kampala is a real shithole”, and complained that in the accommodation provided by Museveni “…we had no hot water during our five days.” She also branded Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi as the ‘Prime Sinister’.

Posted by: b real | Dec 27 2007 6:16 utc | 17

Wars Cost $15 Billion a Month, GOP Senator Says

The latest estimate of the growing costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worldwide battle against terrorism — nearly $15 billion a month — came last week from one of the Senate’s leading proponents of a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq.
“This cost of this war is approaching $15 billion a month, with the Army spending $4.2 billion of that every month,” Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, said in a little-noticed floor speech Dec. 18.
…
While most of the public focus has been on the political fight over troop levels, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported this month that the Bush administration’s request for the 2008 fiscal year of $189.3 billion for Defense Department operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and worldwide counterterrorism activities was 20 percent higher than for fiscal 2007 and 60 percent higher than for fiscal 2006.

Posted by: b | Dec 27 2007 8:00 utc | 19

From Antiwar.com this link regarding Chomsky’s view of Ron Paul, which seems very close to local MOA orthodoxy. Naturally, Chomsky’s points are well-taken and well-stated, and one can understand why Hillary’s “progressive” domestic social program (at least compared to that of RP) make her a more attractive candidate for Chomsky, or perhaps one should say “less unattractive”. Nevertheless, the need for a sharp break with established convention seems compelling.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Dec 27 2007 9:35 utc | 21

Let the mystery be
Smart lady here…lol Iris Dement.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 27 2007 20:15 utc | 23

Nice Iris Dement, U$ & will follow with one of my favorite John Prine Big Old Goofy World
(Love this song because its uninspired inspired running on empty creativity – making something from nothing)

Posted by: anna missed | Dec 28 2007 3:37 utc | 25

yep, iris rocks.
damn anna missed, this is one of my favorite songs. the whole album (i bought it when it came out) marks that era of my life. my kid’s dad grew up w/prine’s music because his parents performed his songs. when i was pregnant we went to hear him perform (taos) and i dragged his dad backstage (he’s shy). we had so much fun. john is super real. went out after the show. so much fun. what a guy. thanks.

Posted by: annie | Dec 28 2007 6:16 utc | 27

looks like the united states’ partner in kenya, the incumbent prez kibaki is gonna lose to the challenger odinga raila. had read elsewhere (one of salim lone’s columns perhaps) that word was that if kibaki played along w/ the u.s. on the GWOT narrative, they’d support him in the 2007 elections. i guess it’s not officially over yet – apparently lots of funny stuff going on – polls not open, misprinted ballots, delays, violence, etc – but odinga’s moved comfortably ahead according to the latest returns. interestingly, odinga had hired dick morris to help run his campaign.
yet, while perhaps the u.s. can’t control kenya’s presidential election outcome, looks like they’ve been involved in subverting the law in burundi
Burundi sends its first troops to Somalia

Bujumbura, 2007-12-26 (Burundi Réalités Agence Presse) – Burundi sent its first 94 troops to Somalia on Saturday 22 December 2007. Their mission is to prepare for the arrival of a battalion of Burundian troops to be deployed later. The last stage of military training for Burundian troops ended in early October. For six weeks Americans marines trained two Burundian battalions that are to be deployed in Somalia. The training mainly focused on combat tactics.
…
It appears that the parliament was not consulted before the deployment of these troops to Somalia where various Muslim factions do not welcome any force that is mainly made up of Christians. Article 250 of the Constitution of the Republic of Burundi provides that the President of the Republic must inform promptly and in a detailed way (a) the reason for the deployment of the national defence force; (b) where the force is to be deployed, and (c) the length of the deployment.

Posted by: b real | Dec 28 2007 7:09 utc | 29

From over at A Tiny Revolution blog someone asks, is The Scanner = the new Billmon?
It’s good writing, but…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 28 2007 11:50 utc | 31

Nice forensic WSJ piece on how Wall Street Wizardry Amplified Credit Crisis
They took credit bonds rated BBB (marginal investment class) mingled them a bit and sold 80% of the mingled stuff as AAA rated (top investment security).

In principle, credit-default swaps help banks and other investors pass along risks they don’t want to keep. But in the case of subprime mortgages, the derivatives have magnified the effect of losses, because they allowed bankers to create an unlimited number of CDOs linked to the same mortgage-backed bonds. UBS Investment Research, a unit of Swiss bank UBS AG, estimates that CDOs sold credit protection on around three times the actual face value of triple-B-rated subprime bonds.
The use of derivatives “multiplied the risk,” says Greg Medcraft, chairman of the American Securitization Forum, an industry association. “The subprime-mortgage crisis is far greater in terms of potential losses than anyone expected because it’s not just physical loans that are defaulting.”
…
Such cross-selling benefited banks, because it helped support the flow of new CDOs and underwriting fees. In fact, the bulk of the middle-rated pieces of CDOs underwritten by Merrill were purchased by other CDOs that the investment bank arranged, according to people familiar with the matter. Each CDO sold some of its riskier slices to the next CDO, which then sold its own slices to the next deal, and so on.
Critics say the cross-selling reached such proportions that it artificially propped up the prices of CDOs. Rather than widely dispersing exposure to these mortgages, the practice circulated the same risk among a relatively small number of players.

Posted by: b | Dec 28 2007 14:07 utc | 33

The next shoe to drop: Credit Crisis? Just Wait for a Replay

But just how different was subprime lending from other lending in the days of easy money that prevailed until this summer? The smug confidence that nothing could go wrong, and that credit quality did not matter, could be seen in the many other markets as well.
That was particularly true in the corporate loan market. Loans were cheap, and anyone worried about losses could buy insurance for almost nothing. It was not an environment that encouraged careful lending.
“The severity of the subprime debacle may be only a prologue to the main act, a tragedy on the grand stage in the corporate credit markets,” Ted Seides, the director of investments at Protégé Partners, a hedge fund of funds, wrote in Economics & Portfolio Strategy.
“Over the past decade, the exponential growth of credit derivatives has created unprecedented amounts of financial leverage on corporate credit,” he added. “Similar to the growth of subprime mortgages, the rapid rise of credit products required ideal economic conditions and disconnected the assessors of risk from those bearing it.”
…

Corporate loans and their derivates: $45 trillions – $45 000 000 000 000 of potentially bad debt.

Posted by: b | Dec 28 2007 19:32 utc | 35

Britain Drops ‘War on Terror’ Label

The
words “war on terror” will no longer be used by the British government
to describe attacks on the public, the country’s chief prosecutor said
Dec. 27.

Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless “death cult.”
…
The
term “Islamic terrorist” will also no longer be used. Officials believe
it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to
terrorist atrocities.

Fine. Now when will the War of Terror end?

The bombing of the population in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The terrorizing of the population in the ‘west’ by paranoid government agencies?
The waste of immense amounts of money to (re-)colonize countries with resources?

Posted by: b | Dec 29 2007 15:54 utc | 37

it’s a world of laughter, a world of tears
it’s a world of hopes, and a world of fears
there’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware
it’s a police-state after all…
FBI to put criminals, security issues up in digital billboard lights

The FBI today said it wants to install 150 digital billboards in 20 major U.S. cities in the next few weeks to show fugitive mug shots, missing people and high-priority security messages from the big bureau.
The initiative is made possible through a partnership with Clear Channel Outdoor, the advertising company that’s providing the space as a public service.
The billboards will let the FBI highlight those people it is looking for the most: violent criminals, kidnap victims, missing kids, bank robbers, even terrorists, the FBI said in a release. And the billboards will be able to be updated largely in real-time —right after a crime is committed, a child is taken, or an attack is launched.
The FBI said it tested its first billboard in the Philadelphia area in September, with crystal-clear images of 11 of its most violent fugitives on eight billboards and a 24-hour hotline for the public to call. The billboards paid quick public safety dividends. In October, two fugitives were captured as a direct result of the publicity, the FBI said.

Posted by: b real | Dec 30 2007 4:19 utc | 39

Riots Batter Kenya as Rivals Declare Victory

Just 12 hours before, Mr. Odinga, a flamboyant politician and businessman, had been cruising to victory, according to preliminary results. He was leading Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, by about one million votes in an election that was predicted to be the most fiercely fought in Kenya’s history and perhaps the greatest test yet of this young, multiparty democracy.
But that lead nearly vanished overnight. On Saturday morning, the gap had been cut to about 100,000 votes, with Mr. Odinga still ahead, but barely, with 47 percent of the vote compared with 46 percent for Mr. Kibaki. By Saturday night, with about 90 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Odinga’s lead had shrunk to a mere 38,000 votes.
But those results may not be valid. According to Kenya’s election commission, which is considered somewhat independent from the government, at least three areas from Mr. Kibaki’s stronghold of central Kenya reported suspiciously high numbers. In one area, Mr. Kibaki received 105,000 votes, even though there were only 70,000 registered voters. In another, the vote tally was changed, at the last minute, to give the president an extra 60,000 votes. In a third area, the turnout was reported at 98 percent.

Posted by: b | Dec 30 2007 8:12 utc | 41

Worst shopping season in five years, reports retailers.

By BusinessWeek
Christmas has passed, but Elizabeth Milner is getting busier. The shoe associate at Macy’s in Overland Park, Kan., says she’s seeing even more customers now than during the Christmas rush.
That’s because the store is offering an extra 30% off merchandise already reduced by half. Shave off 10% more with a pass from the newspaper and you reap a deeper discount than last year, says Milner, when the store offered 20% off items already reduced by 40%.
“There’s even more traffic now than pre-Christmas,” says Milner, who has worked at Macy’s (M, news, msgs) since 2005. “Women are after the $100 to $200 boots now going for $30.”
After the most disappointing holiday sales season in five years, retailers are turning to “desperation discounting” to rescue bleak holiday sales. From early-bird specials to new “power hours” and savings of up to 80%, chain stores such as Macy’s and Kohl’s (KSS, news, msgs) are trying a variety of tricks to resuscitate spending.

Along the same lines, here’s a must see youtube vid..
Planned and perceived obsolescence

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 30 2007 15:21 utc | 43

@44 – annie – that will be another civil war. The opposition in Kenia most likely won – see 41. Maybe b real has more on it?

Posted by: b | Dec 30 2007 18:48 utc | 45

yea, i don’t have time to spend online right now to track coverage, but the one-sentence stmt on u.s. support for kibaki that i mentioned earlier from salim lone in an april democracynow appearance

I mean, Africa is weak. It cannot really take strong stands. In my own country, Kenya, we have played a terrible role in these extraordinary renditions and Guantanamo Bay that are going on. But, of course, one leading opposition, the candidate in Kenya, said that the US has promised to support the government in the elections at the end of this year in exchange for the terrible things it has been doing. So Africa is weak—

of course he was quoting odinga. (and if not this salim lone himself, several reports the other day quoted an odinga campaign aide named salim lone on the ramifications of the newly-introduced exit polling results, which showed kibaki winning in a very restricted sample.)

Posted by: b real | Dec 30 2007 19:05 utc | 47

US congratulates Kenyan president on re-election

The US State Department Sunday congratulated Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on his re-election, and called on all sides to accept the results despite opposition allegations of ballot fraud.

Posted by: b | Dec 30 2007 20:02 utc | 49

b 45, i know. i read the news directly after reading your 43.
odinga was widely reported as the popular favorite, yet the many delays appear to have been used to manipulate the final tallies for the presidency. reminds me of what happened in ethiopia last time
and ohio.

Posted by: annie | Dec 31 2007 0:46 utc | 51

Food Prices Set to Soar in 2008

For cash-strapped consumers already beset by higher gasoline prices and escalating mortgage rates, the hits just keep on coming. This time, it’s food. For the 1st time in modern history it might be cheaper to eat out than to cook at home.

As we already know, many of us can’t afford to eat healthy now, Healthy Foods Are Too Expensive for Millions, Research Shows

It’s hard not to spend too much time at the dinner table during the holiday season, getting fatter on our way to the poor house. Though we are lectured constantly about eating right, most of us don’t. And the reason, it seems, is more a matter of economics than self-indulgence.
Eating right, new research shows, is getting so expensive that millions of Americans can’t afford it.
In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, researchers at the University of Washington focused on the cost of eating foods that are rich in nutrients, and low in calories, like fresh vegetables, whole grains, fish and lean meats. That’s the stuff we’re told we have to eat if we are going to shed a few pounds and remain healthy.
But when the researchers checked prices at numerous stores around the Seattle area, they found that the good, healthy foods had soared in price over a two-year period, jumping by nearly 20 percent compared to a 5 percent increase in the overall food price inflation. And during that same period, high-calorie foods had remained about the same price, and in some cases had actually dropped.
“We were shocked,” Adam Drewnowsky, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington, said in an interview. Drewnowsky and fellow researcher Pablo Monsivais published their findings in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

I had another link that showed food prices rise would be triple what it is now by the end of 08, but I lost it… ;-{

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 31 2007 2:28 utc | 53

bits & pieces on the situation on the kenyan elections. sorry, not enough time to construct & fill out a smooth narrative from them.
telegraph: Kenya could be facing its greatest crisis

It is no exaggeration to say that Kenya is potentially facing its most serious crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1963.
The prospect for serious violence between the country’s two most traditionally antagonistic tribes, Mr Kibaki’s Kikuyu and the Luo, led by his challenger Raila Odinga, is worryingly high.
Luos, marginalised since independence, have reason to feel aggrieved. Thanks to an alliance that Mr Odinga built with other tribes, they felt that this was their best and possibly last chance of taking power.
The farcical nature of the vote will only heighten their disappointment. The electoral commission initially claimed that roughly a quarter of returning officers disappeared for 36 hours without announcing results and had switched off their mobile phones.
When results did finally emerge, Mr Odinga saw a one million vote lead overturned.
Opinion polls showed that the contest was always going to be close, but if the official results are correct, Kenyans voted in an inexplicably bizarre manner.
After turfing out 20 of Mr Kibaki’s cabinet ministers and reducing his party to a rump in the simultaneous parliamentary poll, they apparently voted in an entirely different manner in the presidential race.
Apart from an unusually high turn-out in some of Mr Kibaki’s strongholds (sometimes more than 100 per cent ), the president then appeared to have won many more votes in some constituencies than first reported.

the nation (nairobi): EU Observers Doubt Presidential Result

The European Union election observers have expressed doubts over the outcome of the presidential race.
A statement this evening from the EU Observer Mission doubted the credibility of the tallying process for the presidential votes.
Here is the full text of the statement:
The Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Member of the European Parliament, issued the following statement about the announcement of the winner of the presidential election in the Republic of Kenya:
“Once again, we would like to commend Kenyan citizens for the strong commitment to peace and democracy that they showed on election day.
“With a view to the presidential elections, however, we believe that, at this time, the ECK, despite the best efforts of its chairman, has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates.
“We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU EOM and the ECK have evidence. The result for the Molo constituency, for example, was announced in the presence of EU EOM Observers at the constituency tally center as 50,145 votes for President Kibaki, while the ECK today declared the result for the President to be 75,261 votes. Because of this and other observed irregularities, some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today.
“We call on the leaders of Kenya to maintain this spirit of peace and democracy so admirably shown by the people of Kenya on Thursday.”

the east african standard (nairobi): Kibaki Declared Winner, Sworn In

The Electoral Commission of Kenya has declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner of the 2007 polls and he was immediately sworn in at State House gardens, Nairobi.
…
Kibaki was sworn in just after 6.00pm Kenyan Time by Chief Justice Evan Gicheru in the presence of ministers, Attorney General Amos Wako and the top brass of the armed forces.
…
Meanwhile, an official from the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) has come out in the open and declared that the poll body is rigging the elections in favour of President Mwai Kibaki. Mr Kipkemoi Kirui, a parliamentary official, seconded to ECK was led to the press conference addressed by ODM leaders led by presidential candidate, Mr Raila Odinga.
…
“My conscience could not allow me to see what I was seeing and keep quiet,” said Kirui adding: “I have seen form 16A delivered by returning officers… and the results announced here by the chairman are different.”
The officer said “blatant and shameless alteration of documents” was being done particularly by “information technology officials.”
He said the results for Coast and upper Eastern provinces were the most affected, and named Moyale, Laisamis, Saku and Matuga among other six constituencies.
Raila said Nakuru Town, and Maragua constituencies had presented fake results.

nyt: Tribal Rivalry Boils Over After Kenyan Election

One Western ambassador said that Western diplomats tried for hours on Sunday to persuade the election commission to do a recount of the vote figures using original results but that the commission refused.
“This was rigged,” the ambassador said.
The election commission acknowledged that there were irregularities but said that it was not their job to address them.
The opposition, said the chairman, Samuel Kivuitu, “can go to the courts.”

voa: US Congratulates Kenya Presidential Vote Winner, EU Monitors Question Results

The U.S. State Department on Sunday congratulated Mwai Kibaki as the winner of Kenya’s presidential election and called for calm in the African nation already disrupted by deadly riots.
But European Union election observers have questioned the credibility of the results.
…
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed “real concerns” over Kenya’s election irregularities, calling on political leaders to address them “in a way that will bring the respect and support of the Kenyan people.”
He urged all sides to settle their disputes peacefully through dialogue and the judicial appeals process.
The European Union team and other election observers initially declared Thursday’s election to be free of fraud but withheld later judgment as delays developed during the vote-counting.
On Sunday, they EU said its observers were blocked from the count.

the nation (nairobi): Violence erupts after Kibaki sworn in

After being sworn in at State House Nairobi, President Kibaki asked his opponents to accept the outcome of the polls, which he described as “credible”.
…
“I thank the ECK, security agents, observers and all other players for remaining committed to the conduct of honest, orderly and credible elections that have enabled the true verdict of the people to prevail,” he said.
In other developments, the Government through Internal Security minister John Michuki suspended all live broadcasts by television and radio stations and threatened to arrest anyone publishing alarming materials.

voa: Kenya Bans Live Media Broadcasts

..a state of emergency has been imposed on some parts of the country as fighting escalates. Joseph Magoott is a Kenyan political analyst. From the capital, Nairobi he tells reporter Peter Clottey the elections outcome is a sad day in the life of Kenya’s young democracy.
“There has been an order directing all media outlets not to broadcast live materials from their stations. Remember, the ODM’s Raila Odinga was scheduled to make a statement to challenge the electoral result. And I think one of the media houses begun a broadcast, but all of a sudden it was switched off and that I think is retrogressive to essentially kill the democratic rights and again is a breach against the freedom of expression. Given that this is the very government that raised the standards and the KTN group,” Magoott noted.
He said the media ban undermines the government’s commitment to freedom of expression.
“This action evokes bad memories that this government is not committed to freedom of the media. Remember, that even the announcement of the results were done by the state media, recorded in the state house and the recorded materials were taken to the rest of the media houses,” he said.
Magoott said some Kenyans are shocked about the outcome of Thursday’s elections.
“Kenyans cannot really believe (what happened) remember it was like the rest of Kenya versus one region given the fact that this is a government that really favored one region in terms of the forming of the government and appointments in public services, and so it was a government by one tribe. And so it is shocking that this government managed to come to office. But there have been reports of the fact that this government had planned and executed rigging and cheated in the election. These are legitimate grounds that the ODM team had raised, and the announcement made by Kivuitu (electoral commissioner) were not reflective of the results of the districts, and so there was some cooking so to speak along the way. So Kenyans have not received the news well,” Magoott pointed out.

kenyan pundit (blog): Post-media blackout update

All live broadcasts have been suspended by the government. The order was released as ODM was addressing their press conference.
This is now officially a police state.
So we have no idea what ODM is saying, and what the security situation is around the country.
…
With live media shut down [update – ban just extended to phone interviews with journalists and political reporting] rumors are dominating.
…
Drove to a friend’s house less than ten minutes away and had to go through a police checkpoint. Very scary.
I have no news to report. It’s a total total blackout. Watching TV feels like watching TV under some crazy dictatorship. I mean we all know that the country is on fire, but KBC is airing Just for Laughs. WTF???
I, however, remain committed to keeping whatever news I can flowing so keep the info coming (even though it might sit in moderation for a while). And hopefully I’ll have something updates tomorrow from what is now for all intents and purposes my bunker.

also reports of “shoot to kill” orders in some districts, rumours of odinga and/or his comrades being arrested or held temporarily.
more will come out in the next day or so, but it’s pretty telling that the u.s. was the first to congratulate kibaki & call for kenyans to accept him amidst all the controversy.

Posted by: b real | Dec 31 2007 6:45 utc | 55

Euro gains on dollar in official reserves

The euro has fast gained ground against the dollar in international official foreign exchange reserves in recent months, according to official statistics highlighting the nine-year-old currency’s growing global importance.
Reflecting its increasing strength on foreign exchange markets, the euro’s share of known foreign exchange holdings rose to 26.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year, the International Monetary Fund reported late on Friday. That was up from 25.5 per cent in the previous three months and from 24.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2006.

Also:
Euro notes cash in to overtake dollar

The US dollar bill’s standing as the world’s favourite form of cash is being usurped by the five-year-old euro.
The value of euro notes in circulation is this month likely to exceed the value of circulating dollar notes, according to calculations by the Financial Times. Converted at Wednesday’s exchange rates, the euro took the lead in October.

In a few hours Cyprus will join the euro … welcome …

Posted by: b | Dec 31 2007 11:47 utc | 57

For askod in case he drops by.
A nature video of some rare wild beasts in Sweden. The narratation is in German but like any of these it is easy to understand.
Includes copulation so it may not be worksafe.

Posted by: b | Dec 31 2007 14:22 utc | 59

it just says ‘failed link’ when i try to connect beq.

Posted by: annie | Dec 31 2007 17:19 utc | 61

haditha – fuck their ‘justice’ – haditha is the real & continuing face of imperial occupation

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 1 2008 4:12 utc | 63

What the everybody implicitly understands is that is their plan already.

Posted by: anna missed | Jan 1 2008 8:20 utc | 65

Not sure if anyone has seen this.
“bbc-censored-benazir-bhuttos-reports”
This is f-ing pathethic. I saw the original clip before the “censorship”. Just the one sentence is deleted, so no excuses are valid. Which also means a whole chain of shit-kickers at the BBC are involved.

Posted by: DM | Jan 3 2008 15:56 utc | 67

This may be old news to some.
Special forces on standby over nuclear threat

Posted by: DM | Jan 4 2008 7:04 utc | 69

Another PSA from your Uncle…
Don’t know about anyone else, but I recently bought a moderately priced headphone set from Sears, I wish I had know the following before hand.
Sears Wants To Hack Your Computer

Online communities to become more ‘all-encompassing.’ If you join the SHC community on Sears.com, all web traffic to and from your computer thereafter will be copied and sent to a third party marketing research firm – including, for example, your secure sessions with your bank! The Sears.com proxy will send your logins and passwords along with a cleartext copy of all the supposedly secure data. But wait, it gets better: you can only view the true TOS once the proxy has already been installed.

This isn’t even opt in, apparently Sears has opened up it’s entire database of all your purchases going back to ’89 with so little security that anyone can pull up details on anyone else (apparently with just knowing a name and address)
As one of the comments there said, I hope some hacker finds and releases the ‘cell number, SSN, home address, and boat landing of every suit on top of the food chain at Sears, the sniveling crop of MBAs that greenlighted this project, and the assholes who agreed to code and host it. Also: David Cross’.

Posted by: PSA FROM Uncle $cam | Jan 4 2008 8:33 utc | 71

no murder charges for the goons that did the Haditha mass murder
try to read this horseshit without becoming physically ill:

Initially called a massacre by Iraqi residents of Haditha and later characterized as coldblooded murder by a U.S. congressman, the case has turned not on an alleged rampage but on a far more complex analysis of how U.S. troops fight an insurgency in the midst of a population they seek to protect.
…
Military law experts said the manslaughter charges reflect the military’s reluctance to pursue murder charges because they are hard to win in court — especially as military juries tend to give combat troops the benefit of the doubt. Investigating officers in the cases have recommended lesser charges because they have found that the Marines determined the houses were hostile and believed they could kill everyone inside, more likely a case of recklessness than intent to commit a crime.
“I think it’s still going to be hard to get convictions in these types of cases when you’re in a battlefield environment,” said David P. Sheldon, a military law expert in Washington.
Mark Zaid, one of Wuterich’s defense attorneys, said the charges show there was no “massacre” and that the case highlights how difficult it is for U.S. troops to make tough battlefield decisions. He said Wuterich and the other Marines were following their rules of engagement when they shot and killed their targets in Haditha, with unfortunate — but not illegal — consequences.
“Every Marine, period, is trained with the intent to kill,” Zaid said. “What everyone will realize at the end of the day is that the characterization of the events was nothing like reality, that the training the troops on the ground received was primarily responsible for what happened, and that the fog of war sometimes ends up with terrible results.”

bottom line: stern slaps on the wrists for war crimes. despicable.

Posted by: ran | Jan 4 2008 14:32 utc | 73