This article by David Swanson on desertion in the US army is a must read. Excerpt:
As long as there has been a U.S. military, people have been leaving it. That choice has never been more appropriate than today. Individuals who signed up to defend the United States are engaged in a war that was sold on the basis of lies, was entirely unnecessary, is making us less safe, has nothing to do with defending anyone, and which involves the horror of slaughtering men, women, and children by the hundreds of thousands. The majority of Americans want the war to end and just voted accordingly in the Congressional elections. The majority of Iraqis want the war to end. The majority of American service men and women in Iraq want the war to end. And taking part in this war is illegal, whether you are ordered to do so or not.
Approximately 6,000 Americans have refused to report for duty or deserted in order to avoid taking part in this war, or to avoid taking further part in it. Many have objected to the stop loss program that requires them to serve longer than they had agreed to. Others have objected to the rationale behind the war and the horrors that are part of it.
Interestingly, the same article on Alternet says 8,000 Americans deserted instead of the 6,000 mentioned in the original article posted just 2 days earlier.
December 7th, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 2 Comments
Do a search for the term Google using Yahoo! Search and you’ll see a special search box on top of the results labelled “Search the Web with Yahoo!”. They’re singling out Google for this treatment, as a search for MSN or Altavista will show you.
Google hasn’t returned the favor, which I’m sure they won’t.
[ Edit - The special search box has been removed. Guess they’re friends now. ]
December 7th, 2006
Categories: Cribs, Google . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: No Comments
For a kiss??? An “obscene sequence”? Seriously?
The case was filed in the court of judicial magistrate first class R K Batham by advocate Shailendra Dwivedi under Sections 292 (vulgarity) and 509 (derogatory to women) of the IPC.
The complainant has alleged that women felt offended after watching the scene and it promoted vulgarity in society, especially among the youth.
I’m sure whatever this scene is, it’s nowhere near most Tamil/Telugu movies on the obscenity scale. The only thing with these movies is that they turn out looking so funny that they lose the intended effect. I’m guessing Dhoom 2 managed to pull it off and that’s why people are making a song and dance about it. (pun intended)
BTW - Bollywood needs to stick to dance sequences and comedy. Dhoom 2 looks like it was made by a desi version of John Woo on happy pills.
December 3rd, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 2 Comments
Does it really matter? Apparently there’s a lot of noise about the upcoming movie “Color of the Cross“. Less people less Idiots says it all here:
I’ve heard so many Christians say how tolerant we are in this country when faced with offenses towards Christianity, and how completely intolerant Muslims are when they are confronted with the same situation. Why is it then that any time a movie comes out that in some way attempts to deal with the story of Christ that such a massive ruckus occurs? Is this a case of a director calling Jesus black, or the pot calling the kettle black?
Then there’s the issue of why does this really matter to anyone, and why 2000 years later there would be such a stir over his skin color. Jesus transcended race, and his teachings were left for all people of all races to largely sit back and ignore. So as far as I am concerned, no matter which side of the argument you may fall on in this matter, an obsession regarding Christ skin color, only serves to prove that the person obsessing over it is dealing with some serious personal prejudices.
October 31st, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 2 Comments
Yes, India’s on the top 10!
October 23rd, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: No Comments
Vaastu?
The shit people come up with.
“Earth is the layout, fire is the color, air is the HTML, space is name of the Website, and water is the font and graphics,” says Narang, adding that each must be chosen carefully and strike a balance with the other.
Narang, a Vaastu expert who has spent four years analyzing around 500 sites, says a Website that is not designed according to Vaastu rules will have few hits and will negatively affect the business.
Yeah. Right. Need to make sure my navigation bars face east and my flash banners are in the NE corner from now on.
October 21st, 2006
Categories: Cribs, Web . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: No Comments
So what are the three B’s again?
Apparently “Three Beautiful Things” is one of the most popular blogs on blogspot. Seems to me like someone desperately needed to convince themselves that the world is worth living in. Also seems like there are many others who need it as well.
Only one I liked was “The huge satisfaction of being unhelpful to a rude customer.”
October 8th, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 1 Comment
Have you noticed that everything new on the web seems to have a “beta” affixed to it? It’s getting tiring. According to Wikipedia - “A beta version or beta release usually represents the first version of a computer program that implements all features in the initial software requirements specification. It is likely to be unstable but useful for internal demonstrations and previews to select customers, but not yet ready for release.”
That makes sense, but labelling everything as beta just because you don’t want to take responsibility for the bugs you’ve left in it? I say quit the beta tag and start developing software without the damn bugs/compatibility issues.
October 1st, 2006
Categories: Cribs, Web . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: No Comments
I just love the stuff on this website. Had me rolling on the floor and laughing. Don’t miss the satanic quotes by rock musicians and the page that describes how Beyonce is a child of Satan himself. Makes me think of the backwards message Iron Maiden put into “still life” as a joke. Reverse it and you hear drummer McBrain saying “Hmm, Hmmm, what ho sed de t’ing wid de t’ree bonce. Don’t meddle wid t’ings you don’t understand”, followed by a belch. 
Incidentally, a few accidental 666 messages on Anwin’s Blog.
October 1st, 2006
Categories: Cribs, Music . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 2 Comments
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald - Challenged for language and sexual references.
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger - Challenged for being “anti white” and “obscene.”
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - Banned due to the words “damn” and “whore lady”
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding - Challenged because the book is “demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey - Labeling it “pornographic,” they charged the novel “glofiries criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.” (I’ve never read the book, now I wonder why?)
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien - Burned in Alamagordo, N. Mex. (2001) outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic.
“Banned books week”, promoted by Google Book Search just ended. Check out the complete listing of reasons as to why these and many books are banned.
And yeah, right - Frodo IS the anti-christ.
October 1st, 2006
Categories: Cribs . Author: Renie Ravin . Comments: 2 Comments
