Category Archives: Politics

Israeli pilots deliberately ignoring orders to hit civilian targets

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Lebanese flag, as redrawn lately 

Israeli pilots ‘deliberately miss’ targets. From the Observer.

Fliers admit aborting raids on civilian targets as concern grows over the reliability of intelligence

Inigo Gilmore at Hatzor Air Base, Israel
Sunday August 6, 2006
The Observer
At least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence, The Observer has learnt. Sources say the pilots were worried that targets had been wrongly identified as Hizbollah facilities.
…
As international outrage over civilian deaths grows, the spotlight is increasingly turning on Israeli air operations. The Observer has learnt that one senior commander who has been involved in the air attacks in Lebanon has already raised concerns that some of the air force’s actions might be considered ‘war crimes’.

The tide is definitely turning. The BoJo flamewar is over, a ceasefire is on the table, France is ready to send in peacekeepers, and even Harper admits that Israel may have been a bit “extra-vigorous”.

Canada vs Coulter, age 45

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Canada wins, with a smackdown. And don’t give me none o’ that “but there were Canadians there as observers, there were Canadians who left to join the US Army” shit. Yes indeed, but (once more, loudly, for the people drooling in the back row):

CANADA DID NOT SEND TROOPS TO VIETNAM

as Ann Coulter, 45, learns to her dismay, confusion and, of course, ongoing refusal to face facts.

from, of all places, Perez Hilton, who has always been good to Canuckistan.

claws across the ocean

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In what can only be interpreted as a conscious effort from God to show us that mutants are crustaceans too, no matter where on the sea floor they may scuttle furtively, both the States and the UK have gifted us this week with bizarre freaks, and for once I am not talking about Bush & Blair.

A “mutant” crab with three pincers has been Clawdettepicked up off the Cornish coast.

Fisherman Jeff Brown caught the 20cm (7.8in) edible crab three miles off Portreath and realising its rarity, handed it into a Newquay aquarium.

The crab, christened Claudette by the Blue Reef aquarium staff, will be quarantined for several days before going on show.

I’m so glad they stressed that it’s an edible crab, because if there’s one thing I’m looking for in a nice seafood salad, it’s the possibility of random, freakish and poorly-understood genetic mutations.

A visitor at Percy’s General Store on Popham Beach is the talk of the town. It’s a rare yellow The Nameless Yellow Invaders from the Planet Yuggothlobster, hauled up Monday morning by David Percy.

David caught the lobster near Whaleback Island at the mouth of the Kennebec River. But he’s not the only lobsterman who found a surprise in his traps in the past few days. Just last week, Shane Hatch found a yellow lobster in a trap he set near Rockland. Scientists say the odds of finding a yellow lobster are in the millions.

“Well, its actually about one in thirty million. So its actually thirty times rarer than a blue lobster. And its just a color morph that happens to be a rare,” said Jonathan Grabowski from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

With a frickin' laser beam on its head! That would be even cooler!Let them try!

They’ll never come up with anything as frickin’ cool as:

Drumroll, please!

The two-toned and psychadelic, half-baked Fungi from Yuggoth By Way of the Gaspe Peninsula.

Radio(head), Radio(head)

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Hail to the ThiefIn accordance with the raincoaster blog’s policy of culture jamming, petard-hoisting those who don’t stand by their own words, and doing whatever the hell we want, we are happy to repost here Thom Yorke’s anti-Tony Blair rant, which was posted on Radiohead’s blog and almost immediately taken down.

We are all about being on the record here. So, for the record, we stole this report from Sploid!

“I’ve had enough of this,” the songwriter wrote on Radiohead‘s blog. “Our government’s sitting on the fence with the U.S. while World War 3 appears to be breaking out in Lebanon and Northern Israel. We must throw Tony Blair out of office NOW. He does not represent the views of British people. He does not represent the views of his foreign office and officials.”

Yorke added that Blair “cares far too much about his relationship with Bush and Murdoch.”
…
“This man is not fit to be our prime minister,” Yorke concluded. “It’s a nice sunny day. Come on, let’s do it. You know it makes sense. A vote of no confidence. Or something. Anything.”

But the call to action mysteriously vanished from Radiohead.com on Thursday. Nobody in the band will explain what happened to the message, so Radiohead fans and the music press are left to wonder if certain sinister forces are at work.

Thom Yorke is anybody listening???

Beirut, before and after 2.0

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Beirut, before and after, Aftenposten

From Aftenposten, via Fark