Bloodstar

One of the most horrifying legacies

Of the 770 detainees grabbed here and there and flown to Guantánamo, only 23 have ever been charged with a crime. Of the more than 500 so far released, many traumatized by those “enhanced” techniques, not one has received an apology or compensation for their season in hell.

What they got on release was a single piece of paper from the American government. A U.S. official met one of the dozens of Afghans now released from Guantánamo and was so appalled by this document that he forwarded me a copy.

Dated Oct. 7, 2006, it reads as follows:

“An Administrative Review Board has reviewed the information about you that was talked about at the meeting on 02 December 2005 and the deciding official in the United States has made a decision about what will happen to you. You will be sent to the country of Afghanistan. Your departure will occur as soon as possible.”

That’s it, the one and only record on paper of protracted U.S. incarceration: three sentences for four years of a young Afghan’s life, written in language Orwell would have recognized.

We have “the deciding official,” not an officer, general or judge. We have “the information about you,” not allegations, or accusations, let alone charges. We have “a decision about what will happen to you,” not a judgment, ruling or verdict. This is the lexicon of totalitarianism. It is acutely embarrassing to the United States.

I hope that we never see this again in the United States.

(HT: Sullivan)

Tags: War, bloodstar by bloodstar
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We lie for its the truth,

We steal for it is free,

We cheat for it is honest,

We hurt for it is pleasure,

Opposite means led us to

our everyday demise to

that empty lot,

We act the part for we

fit it just right for

we are humans,

We cheat, lie & steal for

personal gain with no care

of other’s pain.

Tags: Musings, Poetry, vicious by Vicious
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So I work in my own little slice of Hell. It is a marketing gimmick that sells insurance and I am part of the IT Department thereof. I would bore you with all the ways that my little slice of Hell is different than your little slice of Hell, but this is the story of just a smaller part of my overall workplace dynamic and I felt the need to share cause the need to work today is pretty much void.

Anyways, one of the many advantages of my Hell is that nobody is responsible for anything, which in turn means that everyone is responsible for everything. So before anything can get done it requires between 5 & 15 approvals. Being the Holiday Seasons and there being an overall requirement to stagger and divide vacation time in order to keep enough people in the office “just in case.” That means that people are starting to take vacation and no group of people to approve anything will be in the office between now and say January 15th. Thus, why do any work, it won’t get approved and have value for another two months anyways.

This overall feeling of frustration is what I can imagine leads some people to go Postal. But being a slightly more hands on person myself, I just cannot imagine going Postal, it seems like an awful waste of human life without much Cathartic release. While the violence of the passing of co-workers might create some small amount of joy, I do not think it creates the pre-requisite amount to honestly be worth the eventual consequences.

I was musing this issue over in my head, while surfing the web. I came to a revelation that what this situation needed was something both more hands on and just generally more satisfying. And then I remembered the joy that a Samurai appears to experience as he is cutting through anything (not just people) and I realized that while an AK-47 might be more efficient, a Samurai is in truth more cathartic and thus a better tool for any rampage.

The clean cut of the blade, the Anime-like splatter; these things might be worth the negatives. Added to the fact that it brings the moment of scenery thought of someone baring your way in the classic hand up in your face STOP position and the subsequent joy of cutting such an impediment to your desires down like so much wheat or a stack of bamboo.

So to the next office misanthrope who feels the need to share his disdain to the world, I offer the following challenge. Buy a sword and do it right. I seems less efficient, but then death should not be the end goal but rather the complete release of all frustration, and I have to believe that a sword would be much better at that than an automatic weapon.

Tags: Uncategorized by Axl
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Okay, so I live in Florida in Green Swamp. Been here most of my life and I know that wild life abounds around here. I mean, I’ve woken up to dogs, cats, squirrels, raccoons, half eaten squirrels, etc. So I know that this sort of stuff just happens.

However, I do not and will not tolerate any of this wild life in my house. They can be out in the yard all they want and we’re good. Come inside my house? Die. Fucker. Die.

And so, as it happens, last night I opened up one of the drawers in my bathroom cabinet and discovered that … something.. chewed through my meds and such. Great. I have a rat. A large one by the size of the holes and teeth marks.

Even fucking better.

The bastard almost ate all of my fennel seed capsules. And my HYA mix. And my Midol. And my antibiotics. WTF I say. Druggie rat.

Effin Fabulous.

So luckily, I work for a pest control company. I hop in my car and go to the office and stock the fuck up. Homie don’t play. This means WAR! Snap traps, glue boards, two types of bait. This bitch will die.

So I come home, set everything up, my sister’s boyfriend comes over and sets the traps for me. And nothing happens. Nothing. At all. 6 AM rolls around, still nothing. Not a damn thing. At this point I snuggle up in bed with a friend (for protection you understand ) About 10 AM my other friend in the living room comes and wakes me up “Yo, I ain’t playing, I hear the rat chewing.” I tell her to just leave it, that we don’t want to scare it off…. *evil cackle* um… *cough*.. anyways…..
We all go back to sleep and at around 10:30AM we hear a *SNAP*…….

Bwahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha!

SWEET SWEET VICTORY!

“Fred”, as we’ve named him/her, now resides in a body bag outside. The fucker was huge. And it was awesome. I think I actually giggled when that thing was dead.

*snickers to herself*

Epic win for meh. 

Tags: Humor, Misc, toxicwreckoning by toxicwreckoning
3 Comments »

I’m kinda afraid to start law school

When the man asked for Botsios’ laptop, however, the first-year law student drew the line.

“I was like, ‘Dude, no — please, no!” Botsios said. “I have all my case notes…that’s four months of work!”

…

At that point, the law student wrestled the bat away and began punching Saucedo, Botsios said.

“I basically grabbed him and threw him this way, and he held onto the bat so it threw him to the ground,” he said.

and yes, the laptop was fine

(HT: Volokh Conspiracy)

Tags: Criminal, Humor, bloodstar by bloodstar
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(Credit: Gemini Observatory)

Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea have obtained the first-ever direct images identifying a multi-planet system around a normal star.

How can you not look and think and wonder?

also, for the extra fun and games:

Here’s another planetary system:

Tags: Science, bloodstar by bloodstar
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Okay, so it was without a doubt the most momentous election in quite a while and technically it is not completely over yet. With all the hub-bub (bub!), I am curious about one thing and I cannot find this information anywhere and it really gnaws at me. What was the voter turnout statistics like? How many people voted? What were the percentages for turnout in all the various parts of America?

We all assume that this was a massive Election and that every vote mattered and so forth, but for the life of me I cannot find any information on the total voter turnout. Win, lose or draw, the race itself is historical not only because of the outcome but also because the fact that so many people felt and acted empowered.

Americans have for too long treated the right to vote as something similar to going to Dairy Queen for the new Blizzard flavor, something you could take or leave and that really only interested them some of the time. It’s a shame, and the real better America is the one that actually lives up to and exercises its empowerment. Voting for the other guy is not a sin; but I will blame twice as much, if you chose not to vote.

Tags: Uncategorized by Axl
2 Comments »

It’s been a week, but besides the passage of Prop 8 in California (pending a court challenge), there are several other measures that deserve attention:

Colorado voted against legally defining Human life as beginning at conception. the vote was 73 – 27 against.

South Dakota’s efforts to make all abortions illegal except in the case of Rape, Incest and Health of the mother, Failed 55 – 45. (which is considered a rather stinging defeat. Particularly in South Dakota).

Michigan voted to permit Medical marijuana as well as permitting stem cell research.

Tags: Election, Political, bloodstar by bloodstar
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here we go:

Mark Begich made a dramatic comeback Wednesday to overtake Ted Stevens for the lead in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.

Late Wednesday night, Begich led Stevens by 814 votes — 132,196 to 131,382 — with the state still to count roughly 35,000 more ballots over the next week.

Assuming that this hold, which looks very likely then the only 2 Senate races left will be the Minnesota Recount (where Coleman leads by 206 votes Pending a recount) and the Georgia Runoff.

In the house, there appears to be 6 races left. 2 Runoffs in LA, 1 Race recounting in California, One Race recounting in Virginia, One race recounting in Ohio, and Alaska (which appears to be heading towards Young)

Tags: Election, Political, bloodstar by bloodstar
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Tags: Uncategorized by klossy
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(from Politicalwire)

“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”

– Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R) against Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race.

McCain is now scheduled to campaign for Chambliss in his Georgia run off against Jim Martin (D).

Good to see McCain is sticking by his principles.

Tags: Uncategorized by bloodstar
1 Comment »

Keeping Gates on would be a fantastic mood. Just because the boss hired someone doesn’t make that person mud, even if the former boss was worthless in so many ways. (and Bush did do some good things, if someone wanted I could name at least half dozen things that he did right, which should have been many more than that, but Bush wasn’t all bad) So, you have a guy who seems damn good at what he’s doing. Why take a chance and replace him? particularly if he’s effective and willing to work with you?

I’ll be curious to see his other appointments. With the Republican party too busy trying to reduce itself down to a pup tent (that’s a post for another time), Obama and the Democrats have an opportunity to create a centrist left America. But they must watch out for overreach. (though the Republican as so busy thinking they have to become even more extreme, It’s hard to imagine the Democrats screwing things up badly enought.

Tags: Political, bloodstar by bloodstar
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yep!

Tags: Uncategorized by bloodstar
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This is sooo Bloodstar…

Tags: Uncategorized by klossy
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Not to be snarky, but I think he had been working on this one for the last day or two.

He is calm and collected, composed, but the crowd is soooo not happy.

Good speech, I hope other’s can take the time to heal and move the country forward.

It’s a pity his campaign was so vicious at times. Had he ran a centrist campaign, he might have been able to pull it out. Oh well.

He sounds relieved.

Wow, the crowd doesn’t like Lieberman.

Tags: Uncategorized by bloodstar
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