I saw "U.S. vs. John Lennon" tonight. You must see it.

Anybody remember that sequence of words from the past? Tass is the name that comes to mind. The good old U.S.S.R. And now...

Pentagon boosts 'media war' unit The US defence department has set up a new unit to better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet.
The Pentagon said the move would boost its ability to counter "inaccurate" news stories and exploit new media.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier this year the US was losing the propaganda war to its enemies.
On Monday, vice-President Dick Cheney said insurgents had increased attacks in Iraq to sway the US mid-term polls.
The Bush administration does not believe the true picture of events in Iraq has been made public, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says.
The administration is particularly concerned that insurgents in areas such as Iraq have been able to use the web to disseminate their message and give the impression they are more powerful than the US, our correspondent says.
'Correcting messages'
The newly-established unit would use "new media" channels to push its message and "set the record straight", Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff said.
"We're looking at being quicker to respond to breaking news," he said.
"Being quicker to respond, frankly, to inaccurate statements."
A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press news agency said the new unit would "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to "correct the record".
The unit would reportedly monitor media such as weblogs and would also employ "surrogates", or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio shows.
Mr Russ said the move to set up the unit had not been prompted either by the eroding public support in the US for the Iraq war or the US mid-term elections next week.
'War of ideas'
Mr Rumsfeld said earlier this year that he was concerned by the success of US enemies in "manipulating the media".
"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," Mr Rumsfeld said.
On Monday, US Vice President Dick Cheney also made reference to the use of media, suggesting insurgents had increased their attacks and were checking the internet to keep track of American public opinion.
"It's my belief that they're very sensitive of the fact that we've got an election scheduled and they can get on the websites like anybody else," Mr Cheney told Fox News.
"There isn't anything that's on the internet that's not accessible to them. They're on it all the time. They're very sophisticated users of it."
Mr Cheney's comments came as American forces suffered one of the highest death tolls in October - more than 100 troops killed - since the war began in 2003.
President Bush has said recently that terror groups were trying to influence public opinion in the US, describing their efforts as the "war of ideas".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6100906.stm

Published: 2006/10/31 03:29:04 GMT

© BBC MMVI

What are the chances this guy is an atheist?:

Father jailed for US mutilation
A US court has sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for genital mutilation of his two-year-old daughter, in what is said to be first such case in the US.
Khalid Adem, an Ethiopian immigrant, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children by the court in the state of Georgia.

Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in 2001.

A US women's rights group described the verdict as a victory against female genital mutilation worldwide.

Adem, 30, wept loudly as the jury's verdict was read in the town of Lawrenceville.

This was a violation of her rights as a child, her rights as a woman, and most of all her rights as a human being, she will never be the same
Fortunate Adem
Victim's mother

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6108516.stm

Published: 2006/11/02 00:53:15 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Religious people talk a lot about faith. Politicians too, usually when they're trying to get the "people of faith" vote. I will attempt to define the word "faith" for us all now (from the atheist's perspective, of course).

Faith: the ability to believe in something that is unsupported by any evidence and is in fact contradicted by what evidence there is.

Any people of faith out there? Comments?

p.s. It is my opinion that most people would be just fine without this "faith", that they don't need it to keep from being "filled up with despair" (an actual quote from a reply I got once), but they are afraid to even entertain the notion because when the people were filling their heads with this nonsense they also drilled it into them that it is a "sin" to question anything that they were being told.

I will make my comments at the bottom of this:

Bush signs Mexico fence into law
US President George W Bush has signed into law a plan for 700 miles (1,125km) of new fencing along the US-Mexico border, to curb illegal immigration.
Mr Bush said the US had not been in control of the border for decades.

Illegal immigration is expected to be a major question in next month's US mid-term elections.

Mexican officials have opposed the fence, with outgoing President Vicente Fox calling it "shameful" and likening it to the Berlin Wall.

About 10 million Mexicans are thought to live in the US, some four million of them illegally.

An estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants were arrested last year trying to cross into the US via the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

'Nation of immigrants'

In signing the Secure Fence Act 2006 into law, Mr Bush said that his government would tackle illegal immigration by means of increased funding and numbers of immigration officials.

Ours is a nation of immigrants - we're also a nation of law
President Bush


He said that remote cameras, satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles would also be used to create a "21st-century" border with Mexico.

"We're modernising the southern border of the United States so we can assure the American people we are doing our job of securing our border," he said.

"Ours is a nation of immigrants. We're also a nation of law.

"Unfortunately the United States has not been in complete control of its borders for decades. Therefore illegal immigration has been on the rise."

But Mr Bush promised to balance the tightening of the border with a temporary guest worker programme and moves to grant eventual citizenship to some of the illegal immigrants already in the US.

Those moves are opposed by many within his own Republican party.

'Not impenetrable'

The BBC's Nick Miles in Washington says that, though few US congressmen have questioned the need for some action to reduce illegal migration, many have queried how effective the fence will be.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing patrol agents, told Associated Press that it would not be enough on its own.

"A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don't have the agents to stop them it does no good. We're not talking about some impenetrable barrier," he said.

Mexico has pledged to challenge the fence at the United Nations and on Wednesday presented a declaration against the policy to the Organisation of American States, supported by 27 other Latin American and Caribbean nations but opposed by the US.

'Unnecessary and offensive'

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Mexico City says the fence has united Mexican politicians in opposition.

Across the political divide, politicians have come together to condemn what they see as an unnecessary and offensive barrier, he says.

And they accuse the United States of hypocrisy for enjoying the benefits of cheap Mexican labour but not being prepared to offer Mexican people a chance to cross the border legally, our correspondent said.

Part of the funding for the fence is likely to come from the $1.2bn (£0.6bn) set aside for it in a recent homeland security bill, but the full cost may be greater and the source of the funding is still unclear, our correspondent says.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6088084.stm

Published: 2006/10/26 15:26:48 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Is it just me or does this remind anyone else of a "country club" mentality?

"This sure is a nice country club we have here Bob."

"It sure is Bill, but you know, sometimes non-members try to get in"

"Yes, I've noticed that too, I wonder what we can do?"

"I know! Let's build a fence!"

"Yeah, that'll keep out those undesirables!"

"Of course, that doesn't apply to Pedro, the guy that cleans the pool. Or the locker room guys. Or the caddies"

"No, no, of course not"

What's next, fences between states?