NEW TERRORIST THREAT!!! "Radical Militant Librarians"

'While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from Office of Intelligence Policy and Review's failure to let us use the tools given to us'

Washington - Some agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been frustrated by what they see as the Justice Department's reluctance to let them demand records and to use other far-ranging investigative measures in terrorism cases, newly disclosed e-mail messages and internal documents show.

Publicly, the debate over the law known as the USA Patriot Act has focused on concerns from civil rights advocates that the F.B.I. has gained too much power to use expanded investigative tools to go on what could amount to fishing

But the newly disclosed e-mail messages offer a competing view, showing that, privately, some F.B.I. agents have felt hamstrung by their inability to get approval for using new powers under the Patriot Act, which was passed weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

One internal F.B.I. message, sent in October 2003, criticized the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review at the Justice Department, which reviews and approves terrorist warrants, as regularly blocking requests from the F.B.I. to use a section of the antiterrorism law that gave the bureau broader authority to demand records from institutions like banks, Internet providers and libraries.

'While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us,' read the e-mail message, which was sent by an unidentified F.B.I. official. 'This should be an OIPR priority!!!'"

FEDS investigate student using inter-library loan for "The Little Red Book"

NEW BEDFORD -- A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called 'The Little Red Book.'

Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a 'watch list,' and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

'I tell my students to go to the direct source, and so he asked for the official Peking version of the book,' Professor Pontbriand said. 'Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring inter-library loans, because that's what triggered the visit, as I understand it.'
"

LYNYRD SKYNYRD at the RYMYN

Thu, 02/09/06

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CUMBERLAND HEIGHTS PRES
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
AND FRIENDS
HOSTED BY JOHN HIATT
RYMAN AUDITORIUM
THU FEB 9 2006 8:00PM

fuck christmas

(here's a little Joy for the Season from fuckchristmas.org -- b)
____________________________________


Oh man, fuck Christmas.

Seriously – are you kidding me with this “There’s a war on Christmas” bullshit? FOX News wasn’t raking in enough cash already from all the Christmas commercials for Kill ‘em All Barbie and Girls Gone Wild Brand Toddler Gear? They had to start publishing books about some bogus attack on Christianity? And who did they pick to lead this particular charge?

John fucking Gibson. This guy has wiener written all over him.

Bill O’Reilly gets all the credit as the biggest nutcase in FOXville, but Gibson really deserves his own special wing in the happy house. This motherfucker’s embedded assignment reads “Up Karl Rove’s ass.”

What makes him such a dick? I mean, besides making a fortune by screaming hysterically about how oppressed Christians are by the other twenty percent? How about advocating bombing countries that don’t vote the way we want in their own elections? Way to encourage democracy, fuckhead. And maybe he was kidding when he wished, on air, that the French had gotten the 2012 Olympics instead of the Brits so the terrorists would “blow up Paris,” but it might have been just a touch over the top to call for it again on the day of the London train bombings. Classy move, asshole.

And really? That’s just scratching the fucking surface. Anyone remember who was responsible for the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City? John does: Iraq. And speaking of Iraq, Gibson thinks Rove deserves a fucking medal for outing that CIA agent. And, like any good reporter, he wanted to burn the Florida ballots after his buddy Bush got “elected” rather than, I don’t know, count them? “Is this a case where knowing the facts actually would be worse than not knowing?” That right there is why sometimes it’s useful for journalists to go to, what do you call that fucking place? Oh yeah, journalism school.

And now he’s all worked up about Christmas being stolen. What is this, the fucking Fairytale Network? It’s a national fucking holiday and we’re spending gobs of our hard-earned tax dollars on wreaths and lights for your special Santa day. But these bastards are all “But they call them Holiday trees!” Here’s a clue: no, they fucking don’t. Ok, maybe in a couple places, like on FOXNews.com and at the White House, but if Christmas is under attack, I’m Kris fucking Kringle.

And guess who’s stealing Christmas, according to Gibson. Go on — guess. “A cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wracked Christians — not just Jewish people.” (Emphasis mine. Pure, unadulterated anti-semitism, his.) A cabal? Are you fucking kidding me? Could we try to be a little more fucking original with our Jew-hating?

Speaking of Jew-hating, Pat Buchanan has joined the hype-a-thon of the supposed Attack on Christmas, too. Or, as he put it, “What we’re witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity.” Sorry? We’re not so hot on paying for an inflatable camel for your goddamn nativity scene and suddenly we’re Slobodan fucking Milosevic? Fuck you. Get some goddamn perspective, you little prick. When they start hunting Christians in the streets, it’ll be time to start yelling “Hate crime.” And no, it won’t count when they start chasing you with the torches. That’ll be called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

And Bill O’Reilly, Gibson’s cellmate in the silly shack, is doing his part to save Christmas, too. He’s been going after New York’s Mayor Bloomberg (that Commie) because he says the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center has been renamed a “Holiday Tree,” and “No Christian Christmas symbols are allowed in the public schools.” The only problem? Neither of those things is even remotely fucking true.

It takes some super-sized balls for O’Reilly to get all lathered up about sinners and their fictional anti-Christian crusade. Every fucking person on the planet has hard and fast evidence that Bill is a world-class pervert, but still he feels totally justified lecturing the rest of us on our moral inferiority.

How fucked up is Bill O’Reilly? Pretty fucked up. Everyone got so crazyfaced about him confusing a sponge and a Middle Eastern snackcake (pretty fucking funny, mind you), that they missed the scary bit: what he meant to say. Old Bill wanted to get all funky on his intern like this: (you’ll excuse my foul language, I’m quoting an award-winning newscaster here) “I’d take the other hand with the [loofah] thing and put it on your pussy.”

loofah (l?’f?) noun. A natural exfoliating sponge.

exfoliate (?ks-f?’l?-?t’) verb. To remove (a layer of bark or skin, for example) in flakes or scales; peel.

That’s right. Bill O’Rielly, fount of morals, is super familiar with the female anatomy. So much so, that he knows how good it feels to have one’s pussy exfoliated. We’re talking h – o – t, Hot. That’s exactly who I’m going to for my life lessons.

Sorry, where were we? Oh yeah, fuck Christmas.

Can we back up just a couple steps here? At what point did a basic understanding of the separation of church and state become a fucking war on religion? And how did we get to the point where you can call an organization set up to defend our civil liberties “Terrorists” on national television and no one fires your ass? Enough. Fuck all of you lying little shitheads who wish the world was out to get you so you could play the poor oppressed victims. Wake up assholes — you’re the cowboys, not the fucking Indians.

“But we want to display our Christmas tree on city property!” You can, go right ahead. “They’re stopping us from praying in school!” They’re not, so fuck off. “We’re not allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas’ anymore!” Are you fucking kidding me? Knock yourself out. Say it at work, scream it in your high school lunch room, hell, tattoo it on your fucking forehead for all we care. Guess who’s gonna be there defending your right to do every one of those things? The fucking ACLU. One of these days you bastards are going to drive those fuckers out of business, and then you’ll see some actual attacks on your religious liberties. I thought conservatives were supposed to be all proud and independent? When did they turn into a bunch of fucking crybabies?

Let’s back up even fucking further, shall we? Can anyone tell me how old Christmas is? Anyone? Two thousand years, give or take, right? Gee, who’s been reading their No Child Left Behind History Textbooks? Try fucking four thousand years. Huh. Twice as fucking long as your little baby king has been around. How could that possibly be, unless. . . waitaminute. . .

Christmas isn’t fucking Christian. Ok, now we’re talking.

That’s right, that Yuletide cheer you’re spreading? What exactly do you think Yule is? It's the fucking Pagan celebration of solstice. And those “Christmas” traditions? They’re not just like Pagan rituals, they fucking are Pagan rituals. Way before your Jesus got all magical with the bread and fishes, the Romans were celebrating the birth of Mithra on . . . guess? Go on – guess. December fucking twenty fifth. What a weird coincidence. Practically the whole thing is ripped off from the fucking Druids and the Romans. Twelve days? Check. Exchanging gifts? Check. Mistletoe? Check. And you’d better fucking believe that those decorated trees that Gibson and Co. are so bent out of shape over are as Pagan as the Rune and Crystal Shack at Pentagramfest 2005. You might as well be building miniature fucking Stonehenges in your den.

And don’t you read your own goddamn Bibles? Jesus was born when? In the middle of winter? Lot of Shepherds out watching their flocks around that time of year in Bethlehem? No, because they’d be freezing their fucking asses off. Tell you what – y’all go figure out which one of the different Bible stories about the birth of Baby Jesus® you want to believe, and then we’ll argue about whether it fucking happened like that or not.

Christians just stole a bunch of traditions from other cultures, slapped them together, stuck a fucking tinfoil star on top and called it the Most Important Holiday of the Year. Modern American Christmas makes Michael Jackson look positively organic.

But you boys at FOX still freak out every year about how everyone's out to get your special trees. This is really the most important thing you have to talk about? Whether Target says Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? Here’s a brainstorm: there’s a fucking war on. Our soldiers are out there dying while you guys do your 14th live feed of the day from WalMart to show us what good little consumers we are. What Would Jesus Do? He’d jump over that newsdesk and kick your ass for that shit. Are you sure you want to hang your journalism credentials on a story about what some guy calls a tree?

Well we’ve fucking had it. You want to play bullshit games and scream about how God’s fucking judgment is gonna come raining down on us if we don't start watching our vocabulary? Go right the fuck ahead. But let me clue you in on something: fire and brimstone ain’t no deterrent for us. We’re not going to hell, assholes, we’re fucking in hell. We live with you.

And fuck Easter too, you fertility–rite–celebrating, whiny, self-righteous, don’t–know–the– history–of–your–own–religion assholes. Fuck off.

stop the madness

My homepage in netscape is supposed to show me news headlines, but it included the following "news" this afternoon:

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - Matt Damon married girlfriend Lucianne Bozan during a private ceremony Friday in New York City, his publicist said...

it blah blahs on for a few more grafs, before we get to:

..."Damon is in New York shooting the Robert De Niro-directed film ``The Good Shepherd'' with Angelina Jolie."

so whom will be next for angie? matt and/or bobby... will she appear on Oprah sporting a necklace dangling a vial filled with semen? now that her daddy is pope, is anyone safe?
_________________________________________________________

-----brook, it sounds like you need an intervention. I can't imagine you watching that smith and smith movie to begin with. scary shit. (i probably won't go for a jolie flick until I see the words scheisse-fetish in the title.)

lately, i have seen the criterion collection's dvd release of the man who fell to earth, in it's original release. the pkg includes extra's that are worth watching/listening to, such as interviews with the author of the story the cast.
and rosemary's baby.

also, there is this documentary called a "good band is easy to kill", which is pretty good, esp if you need a lil ennui exercise. and there are these rock performance dvd's called burn to shine which are interesting on a couple levels. (even though steve albini's band plays on the second one, dont be afraid, he doesn't talk about anything. he just plays guitar.)

saw Mr and Mrs Smith

the other nite. shitty fucking movie, and if it weren't for the brad and jen breakup hype it'd hold no immediate interest as a viewing experience. But, you just can't help but dig on the heuristic simulacrum-miness of Brad becoming his own archetype for narcissistic destruction.




You don't think that's Hollywood Magic?



You're goddamn right that's Hollywood movie magic.

Demand the return of the Old Gods

and they're all like, "dude, we're there."

Mr and Mrs Smith was indeed a huge shitfest, but a couple of days later this Mrs Smith can appreciate the singularity of message: married partners compete. You can do therapy thru three sets of Birkenstocks and still get mileage out of this. We compete. We will tear each limb from limb doing it. We don't give a fuck.

Isn't it a shock? Married people compete and hold each other in contempt and still expect compassion. We all fucking do it, and if you haven't yet, give it five or six years.

Mr and Mrs Smith are doomed by their competition just like the rest of us schmucks. They aren't sympathetic characters (ibid). They are hired assassins and they actually like working for the man because it feeds their big fucking egos.



They are butchers withholding their choice meat, either to hoard it for themselves or for special customers. Are we supposed to care? I really didn't care. I wanted to see them kill each other.

And so there's the inevitable money-shot: THEY KILL THE HOUSE. Literally set it on fire.
It's a symbol for their crucible. Isn't that sweet?

If only it were so easy in everyone's Town Without Pity.


In the movie, Jolie's character had dinner at 7. New drapes. And everything under control. Hubby Brad; the ultimate guy with the old man tool shed, dirty socks and Poison (Poison?) blaring, is content to be the child in the mix. Does he want a mommy? Does she want a child? No and no, but there they are.






THEN, the stunt people come in to blow up the house so Brad and Jen -- I mean Jolie -- can rebuild from scratch.



All better.

All their personal work happens in one fell swoop, and if you don't think that's the Magic of Hollywood...

"you're goddamn right that's THE MAGIC OF HOLLYWOOD."

They said we could never win....

But a big thanks to everyone that has supported the Skynrd in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame movement that was started here several years ago. I have no doubt that your efforts were instrumental in adding them to this years class. This is a great example of what can happen when people work together! I knew that once the mighty power of the JC Blog got behind the movement then it could not fail! Thanks again my friends for showing what a mighty force a grassroots movement can be!

The Blog Game (Try to put these in chronological order):

Time marchs on...

Sorry it has been so long between posts but between school and work I have been slammed and then of course some personal issues came up. By now everyone has heard that Jessica has filed for divorce from Nick. I appreciate that no one on here has tried to pry into this issue with me, I think it is best that we have some space, Jessica and I, to work out where our lives are going. I only post today as I have read where Britney has sought legal advice about her marriage to Kevin. Britney Britney Britney... Get over it! It’s never going to happen! You have known it would never work ever since you endorsed Bush. Just leave us alone and let us live our own lives! These games have gone on long enough.

Also, it’s good to see Mark, Tony and Chris Fucking Slaughter posting again.

Thanks guys, more later as I am free to write about it.

the truth hurts

"When I was 20, I was part of Food Not Bombs in Vancouver and I took part in some protests like APEC rally protests-- I was really into that idea of communal living. But you know what happens, you set up a house with free rent and a clothes bin and communal dinners and eventually some crusty punks from Tennessee show up and start shooting Meth in the basement and never leave and the whole thing just kinda breaks down."

-DAN BOECKNER of Wolf Parade
(full interview transcript at link)

Bush / Blair Banter

Go Cat Go !

the Edge Launches MUSIC RISING

cmj.com:

U2 guitarist the Edge has launched a campaign named Music Rising aimed at helping musicians affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an undertaking inspired by his trip to a devastated New Orleans. The project aims to raise funds that will replace instruments and equipment that was lost or damaged in the storms. In one of the first orders of business, Gibson Guitar and Guitar Center are attaching themselves to the endeavor by creating an exclusive hand-painted guitar which will see its proceeds directed to the Music Rising fund. Other corporations such as VH1, MTV, and Ticketmaster are also co-signing the campaign. The MusiCares Foundation, a charity set-up by the Recording Academy, will help oversee Music Rising, and potential supporters will be able to make donations online and via mail.

Mailing Address:
Music Rising
c/o MusiCares Foundation
3402 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405

www.grammy.com/musicares/musicrising/