Beer Steak Bullshit

WTF? You have probably never heard the name Andrew Meyer before and so haven’t I. Today, Andrew Meyer is the most talked about topic on teh interweb. He’s the student who got tasered by the police for asking a question at a John Kerry forum. Take a look:

Ouch! If you watch that video again, you’ll hear one of the police officers say that he’s being arreasted for trying to incite a riot. Ummmm, what? That was a riot? He was asking a goddamn question.

Andrew Meyer sure may have seemed like an idiot with his logic being a bit fuzzy at times, but does that equal to “trying to incite a riot”? Now I have seen it all!

I find it kind of sad that several police officers, who are supposed to be trained in their jobs, had to resort to a taser to subdue a single guy – regardless of whether he was wrong or right. There was no need to taser a guy who is on the ground and already in handcuffs and under officers control.

And people were just standing by, watching! Andrew Meyer may have been a wackjob, or maybe he wasn’t invited to the party or maybe he’s a general prick, but there was still no reason to torture him with a taser. Not when he’s down on the ground and under control.

Here’s another video which is a little longer and shows that Andrew Meyer was arrested:

What happened to the freedom of speech? Such display of power by the cops to a question at a Q&A meeting has no match in any western country. What a joke!!! Can people no longer express their opinions without being silenced in this country?

And what about John Kerry himself? Doesn’t he feel ashamed for just standing there watching this abuse and not telling the cops to chill it out a bit? Why did he go to a public question and answer meeting in the first place if he didn’t want to be asked controversial questions? The very principle of freedom this nation was founded on has just been shattered. Who would have thought a guy would get tasered at the university for asking a question, even though it may have been a hard one (question that is). The direction this country is taking is truly sickening!

Put options of the stock market can be looked at as bets that stock will crash. Put options on United Airlines and American Airlines were placed by an anonymous investor shortly before 9/11. United and American Airlines are the companies whose aircrafts were hijacked during 9/11 attack. Because put options involve great risks, if someone puts billions of dollars in put options, it clearly indicates that they know something we don’t know. Put options that were place prior to 9/11 were later traced by private researchers (Securities and Exchange Commission refused to reveal this information) to a Dutch bank with ties to a former CIA director.

In late August this year (few weeks ago) somebody again placed 245 000 put options anonymously on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index which would once again indicate that someone has a foreknowledge that the general public does not.

These anonymous investors are basically risking $1 Billion dollars that we’re going to have another event similar to 9/11 by September 21st, or they’ll lose their money. The only way for them to make money out of that huge investment is if the market crashes by a third to a half by September 21st 2007 (that is the expiry day of said put options).

Sales of this scale are referred to as “Bin Laden Trades” because it would take another 9/11 (or a Chinese dollar reserve dump) to make these options valuable. If such event does occur, the trader is looking at cashing 2 billion dollars.

Now – why is it that someone knew exactly what was going to happen on 9/11 and was able to cash on put options big time? How come they knew exactly which airlines will be hijacked and when?

Not surprisingly, the 9/11 commission released the statement after their investigation, that even though some unusual trading activity did occur just before 9/11, quote “it was all coincidentally innocuous and not the result of insider trading by parties with foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks”

Here’s a comforting news (though coming from an independent investigator, not a verifiable source):

Most of the investments in these put options originated in Germany through the Deutsche Bank. Deutshce Bank had earlier acquired Banker’s Trust, an investment banking firm whose Vice Chairman in charge of “private client relations” in the late 1990’s was A. B. “Buzzy” Krongard. In March of 2001, Krongard was appointed Executive Director of the CIA.

On the other hand – billions of dollars change hands in trades every day. Pro Investors with giant fund managers follow their indicators and make investments based on it. Billion dollars is not uncommon in these circles. Sometimes they make a whoop lot of money because they’ve made an educated guess. Other times they lose but it has been proven throughout the history that this kind of co-incidental trades do happen.

Today, there’s 4 days left to see if it’s all just a big conspiracy theory or something we should have really listened to…

Have you ever wandered why there hasn’t been another terrorist attack against the US since 9/11? It seems like Europe has been attacked by the terrorists few times since 9/11, yet even though USA is hated more than any of the European countries, there has been fewer terrorist attacks on the US soil that there has been in Europe. I do not have the answer to why, I’m just thinking aloud here.

So how come the USA have not been attacked by terrorists since 9/11?

One of the possible reasons is that US secret service busted all terrorist act attempts yet at the very beginning, before they were actually able to strike.

Another possibility is that terrorists find it easier and more effective to attack European (but not only, there’s also India and Philippines and other) countries because it’s easier to infiltrate their borders than it is with the US.

Or maybe it is that the USA got what due on 9/11 and now it’s time to strike others?

I think it attacking the USA has in fact become more difficult then it was before. It’s also a fact that being of Arabic descent raises red flags and is likely to put such person through enhanced “random” search.

Fact remains – they don’t really need to attack the US again, do they. Just look how much chaos this one attack caused. Everything is going well for them. They wanted the war and they got it. Now they can pick us apart one man at a time. It has damaged the US on many levels in the aftermath – economical situation is worsening, international position of the US has weakened, domestic front is all upside down. Their 9/11 aftermath is working just fine.

But then again – maybe the terrorists can see that the USA is doing enough damage to itself so they don’t even have to bother. US citizens are under terrorists attack from within…

Terrorism is the war of the poor, and War is the terrorism of the rich. — Peter Ustinov

Lars Vilks is a Swedish cartoonist who drew the series of cartoons entitled “modog” portraying prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi – the leader of al-Quaeda in Iraq offered $100k bounty for the murder of Lars Vilks and additional $50k for Ulf Johansson, the chief editor of the Nerikes Allehanda where cartoons were published. al-Quaeda group further offered 50% bonus if Lars Vilks was “slaughtered like a lamb” – which means to have the throat cut.

Lars Vilks seems to be able to keep his cool and says: “It’s good to know how much one is worth”. Following the incident, another Swedish national daily paper – Dagens Nyheter republished the cartoon and its editor Thorbjörn Larsson said:

We live in a country where freedom of expression is not dictated by fundamentalists, nor by governments. To me, publishing it was the obvious thing to do.

al-Quaeda’s Abu Omar al-Baghdadi called Lars Vilks a criminal when he announced the $100k award be put on his head.

Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt initiated talks with ambassadors of Muslim based countries in Sweden in an attempt to defuse the tension. Free press and the right of free speech and expression are not punishable by Swedish law.

There certainly are risks and consequences involved when one exercised their right to expression. Just as you have the right to speak, so do they have the right to disagree. This is the point of free speech. And that’s what western civilizations are (or should be) all about – fundamental freedoms, such as the aforementioned freedom of speech, as well as freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of peaceful assembly and so forth. This freedom of speech right certainly gets misused by whiny little bitches who use word “censorship” each time somebody exercises their right to object, but that’s not the point.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has made a reference to giant Swedish companies such as Ericcson, Scania, Volvo, Ikea, and Electrolux stating that al-Quaeda would strike the economy of these companies as part of their revenge against Lars Vilks’ cartoons. Now, if al-Quaeda said they were going to boycott Swedish products and companies, I could in a sense understand that as that is how you exercise your fundamental freedoms and you are entitled to choose who you do business with and who you don’t. But to put a price on the head of an artist???

It looks like oil and arms industries are laughing at the rest of the US economy, which seems to be going in to the shitter. And now, once again, in the middle of this ruckus comes another former high rank US Fed with a book. Alan Greenspan is a former boss of US Federal Reserve who served his post for 18 years. According to Greenspan – “oil was the primary motive for the Iraq war” – what a discovery…

Alan Greenspan is now looking to cash in with his unbelievable discovery by releasing a book which he entitled The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. The books is due to be published today (Monday) and allegedly the main topic of it is the war in Iraq, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and oust of Saddam Hussein which US and Britain claim to be the primary reasons for war, not oil.

At first sight it seems to me like Alan Greenspan is just looking for the opportunity to make a lot of money by coming with a biography to denounce the war as hypocrisy. What boggles me, though is that he wouldn’t come clear with it right away… Why wouldn’t he say so at the time? Was retaining his high pay job more important to him than people dying in war for oil? If he knew all about it, if he knew first hand the war in Iraq was not about the weapons of mass destruction, why did he not say so at the time? Why only now, that he wants to sell the book he comes clear about it? If he feels so strong on the issue, why oh why did he not say so at the time?

There are some positive aspects to it though – Alan Greenspan’s book might help wake up a few more Americans, which is never too late for. It is possible that the remorse eventually caught up with the dude and he wants to clear his own conscience so he no longer keeps silent about it. And maybe he wasn’t able to talk about it why he was in the office… but what do we know. Money talks!

I think the men with power will utilize their might to spin and discredit him, which will be fairly easy not that he is out of the office, because he “doesn’t know all the facts” anymore, does he? It will be just more damage to the US reputation abroad because there’s few high rank Americans who still enjoy international respect and Alan Greenspan is one of those few.

Now to the obvious – the facts are easily available and no one is “shocked” anymore that this war is in fact about oil, not terror. Unless you’re really slow, you’d already know that. However it is always a big positive to have a high rank fed come up and state the obvious. Even though we all know it and have known for a while, it is in fact sad there’s almost 10 million children who die throughout the world each year, yet billions are spent to kill tens of thousands in the name of protecting the few that might become victims of a possible terrorist attack. Think about it… Does it sound like “our people are worth more than your people” attitude to you?

The McLaren Formula 1 team was fined $100 million for allegedly using Ferrari’s technical documents which McLaren leaked by some means – aka spying on Ferrari. All of McLaren constructor’s points were taken off as a result of this scandal… Now – F1 is one big drama, as you can see… But $100 fucking million? That’s insane, man… Though, mind you… that’s probably a pocket change for a giant of McLaren ranks, however it’s still hundred mil and that’s a lot no matter how big an entity you are.

Ferrari is McLaren’s main and biggest rival. They are both great teams and McLaren seems to have been deemed world’s best, but after spying on their rival scandal I wander what people are gonna see them as. I don’t know what they were thinking. It’s logical – if you’re spying on your rival, you best make sure you don’t get caught. It must be an overall very good feeling for Ferrari team though – knowing that team McLaren, generally considered the best is spying on you. If your superiors are spying on you, then it clearly proves even they realize that you are better despite their higher rank.

There are reports that OJ Simpson is being questioned by Las Vegas police Department (LVPD) about robbery. The incident took place late last and involved breaking into a room at the Palace Station Casino in Las Vegas. Police are investigating the incident and seceral people are being questioned apart from OJ Simpson. The official police statement is to be issued later today, but from early reports it appears that OJ Simpson has not been arrested.

Wanted!

All I have to say about this is – Go Prince. US pop star Prince (you know, the most gayish dude you have ever seen, also known as “smbol” and what not) plans to sue internet giant YouTube, eBay and Pirate Bay over illegal music use. Though it is disputable whether Prince’s music is in fact art, this is not the point of this post. Prince is looking to fight and sue over something that is important. And that makes up for crappy music he makes.

On the other hand, though – Prince is rich as fuck… Why the hell does he care about a few lousy videos of his on YouTube? It’s not like he’s going broke and needs some urgent cash to pay for his fag hookers… Take this into account – in the 80s there were tape recorders so people could freely record any song off of the radio or could duplicate a cassette. Did this ability to gain access of pirated music prevent artists like Prince from gathering an enormous wealth?

But that’s not the point either. Fact of a matter is – it’s his own shit, his music, his crap, if he wants it off the net, he should have the right to have it off the web (he’d be stupid to do that, but whatever). I think he’s only looking for publicity with this, but it’s way too premature a statement at this point of time.

Prince has a very valid point… He’s pissed over YouTube, eBay and Pirate Bay (which is considered one of the major player in movie and music pirateship) that they are clearly able to filter porn and child pornography out of their site pretty much instantly, but seem to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content, because this type of content is what made YouTube such a huge business success.

And that makes sense – because if you demonstrate an active involvement in filtering adult related content and child pornography, as is obvious with YouTube, then that means you are able to take actual responsibility for the content that gets uploaded on the sites. If they are able to filter one type of content, why can’t they filter another?

These websites have it worked out. For the most part they use the universal excuse of having no responsibility over user uploaded content as they serve as a mere service provider, not as a monitoring service that is aimed to police the content.

Pirate Bay is fundamentally wrong so the lawsuit against them would make sense. The past however proves that all previous attempts to shut Pirate Bay down failed, due to a simple reason that Swedish government didn’t want to have anything to do with it. As far as YouTube goes – it’s a fantastic platform for startup bands to virally market their music. If it wasn’t for YouTube, we would have not heard from such artists as Sick Puppies (their song All The Same was used as a background music for the original “Free Hugs” video). Music videos on YouTube have been nothing but free advertising for the artists of all calibers. Why would someone want off the site??? Maybe he’s just getting old and cranky. Damn senile men…

As a conclusion I would like to say one thing – I don’t know if Prince is going to succeed with his actions against internet giants. He surely has the point in what he’s trying to achieve, but take a look at a war on drugs and use it as an example to see the outcome of this. Even if Prince succeeds and any of the websites is shut down, there will be a new one started right away to take its place and the same story, different version will take place again.

PS – I searched for Prince on YouTube and no results came up… But that doesn’t necessarily mean there are no videos of Princes music on there as they could be listed under song titles or maybe under the label’s name – Universal Music Group.

After undergoing arthroscopy and a microfracture surgery following the cartilage damage found by the doctors, Greg Oden who was the #1 pick in the NBA draft for 2007 will not play this season. Greg Oden is a National Basketball Association center for Portland Trail Blazers. It takes 6-12 months to fully recover from the surgery and Greg Oden is likely to spend his initial 8 weeks on crutches.

I surely hope Greg gets well soon. Portland Trail Blazers have a good team anyway and should be able t make the play offs. even without their 7-foot tall Oden. He’s young, only 19 years old so my thinking is that his knees haven’t gone through that much high profile basketball, so hopefully we’ll see Greg Oden recovered for the 2008/09 season.

Roald Dahl was an author and a screen writer who had his fingers in such high profile movie flicks as You Only Live Twice – a James Bond movie, or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – a Disney feature. His writing career is most recognized through some of the most successful children books that include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, James and The Giant Peach, Matilda and The BFG. Roald Dahl was an outstanding story teller able to master mischief through his writing like no other. It’s actually quite accurate to assume that Roald Dahl is one of the most unusual writers. His writing is as entrancing today as it had been before he died 17 years ago. Roald Dahl would have celebrated his 91st birthday today. Happy Birthday to you, Roald, Happy Birthday, man.