JUST TAKE A LOOK @ THE FOLLOWING VIDEO FROM BRAVE NEW FILMS, with the hat tip to Down With Tyranny, showing just how contagious the Fox Prolefeed Virus is afflicting the Mainstream Media when it comes to Indecision 2008:

Is it any wonder that the blogosphere is starting to look all the more sane in the face of how Fox Prolefeed is influencing the mainstream media with "big lie" journalism crossing, @ times, into "dog-whistle" pandering to latent prejudices?

(Which is enough to suggest that you might want to subscribe to this blog's RSS feed; there's plenty of ways you can do so, all of which are so explained.)

SPRING JUST SEEMS TO TAKE ITS OWN SWEET TIME MAKING HER PRESENCE FELT, LET ALONE ACKNOWLEDGED, HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI as makes the home of Your Correspondent.

As in: Where it got up to around 75 degrees under filtered sunshine yesterday, this morning we woke up to skies threatening rain and a temperature 25 degrees cooler. (There was some showery rain this morning, but that has since passed.)

Meanwhile, things should get fine (in theory) as the day wears on, with maxima of around 65 expected. And the current forecast for the weekend calls for the Minnwissippi seeing a slight chance of rain, but otherwise halfway decent with maxima trending around 55-60 degrees.

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IT'S NO WONDER JOHN McCAIN'S SOCIOECONOMIC AGENDA VIS-A-VIS HIS PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS is one of "staying the course" with the Club for Growth's flawed logic suggesting that low taxes=jobs=social stability.

Especially so among the "chronic and habitual" welfare "basket cases" seen to be "needing healthy empowerment towards developing a healthy respect for industry, self-reliance and personal responsibility" within free-market capitalistic models and paradigms.

Put another way:

see more crazy cat pics

Am I on to something here, readers?

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ZIMBABWE MUST BE IN REALLY DESPERATE CIRCUMSTANCES, AND THEN SOME, if reports of what amounts to a new "dirty war" against innocent civilians in reprisal for supporting the opposition in recent elections (results of which are still subject to "confirmation"--i.e., manipulation by the "inside of the inside" of ZANU-PF) are independently verifiable.

As the BBC notes:

Post-election violence has displaced 3,000 people, injured 500 and left 10 dead, according to MDC secretary general Tendai Biti.

Human rights groups say they have found camps where people are being tortured for having voted "the wrong way".

But Mr Chinamasa denied that anyone had died in political violence.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said that of the 10 people reported dead, only four names had been supplied and "of these three no basis whatsoever while the fourth is still under investigation and will be concluded soon", he was reported as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper.

Zimbabwe's church leaders are also calling for intervention to prevent the violence reaching genocidal proportions.

"If nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere," leaders of the main denominations said in a joint statement.

"We appeal to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union and the United Nations to work towards arresting the deteriorating political and security situation in Zimbabwe," a statement said.

Further embarrassing Harare is news that the Chinese-flagged vessel An Yue Jiang, carring arms and ammunition destined for Zimbabwe, has been refused docking permission by several African nations; in response, the Chinese owners of the vessel may consider returning to its home port of Guangzhou without offloading the martially-loaded cargo.

Meanwhile, you can just imagine His Fraudulency's Great Within (and especially so its "inside of the inside") secretly studying news reports of post-electoral intimidation across Zimbabwe for inspiration on how to cook up civil disorder following Indecision 2008, especially among the Lower Classes and National Minorities--especially if the Great Within has some close droogs among illicit "citizen militia" and "patriot" organisations who can be counted upon as agents provocateur most reliable.

Who can be expected to deny any and all knowledge of everything if and when pushed with the Nuremburg Patsy--"I was only following orders."

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MANY OF YOU READERS, I SUPPOSE, WOULD SYMPATHISE WITH REMARKS BY BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES about the wealthy interested only in buying fancy, fuel-inefficent cars rather than showing any empathy or concern for the hungry and suffering--especially so now more than ever, as more and more of the world's cereal grains are being diverted to biofuel production, not to mention more and more of the world's arable lands being diverted to biofuel-crops production.

Motherdear, for her part, would.

Never mind where viable alternatives to diverting cereal grains for biofuel exist, notably Jerusalem artichokes (which are actually close relatives of the sunflower) and switchgrass, both of which can be converted into a high-quality grain alcohol which can be incorporated into E85 as well as being a viable ersatz gasoline. Come to think of it, how many of the ethanol production centres currently configured to produce ethanol from cereal grains can be modified to produce ethanol from Jerusalem artichokes?

(Not to mention a variety of bitter hazelnut which can be planted to not only help control soil erosion following flood-generated landslips, but can also produce a viable form of biodiesel. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.)

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SUCH IS THE POWER AND INTRUSION OF THE SAMSUNG GROUP IN SOUTH KOREA'S SOCIOECONOMIC LIFE AND CULTURE that local television gave exhaustive coverage to the shock announcement that Samsung CEO Lee Kun Hee had decided to resign for the greater glory of the consumer electronics chaebol, as family-run Korean cartels are commonly referred to.

This in the wake of charges that Mr. Lee used his position to evade millions of dollars in taxes and breaching public trust and confidence; charges that he used his position to build up a "slush fund" to buy off judges and politicos were dismissed.

Imagine Halliburton having as much power and intrusion over American socioeconomic development, especially so heading into Indecision 2008....

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SO MUCH FOR BILL "NO-SPIN ZONE" O'REILLY'S DEMANDS FOR BOYCOTTING FRANCE AS A "PATRIOTIC" MOVE to shame them for non-support of the ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism: The BBC is noting where the Chinese Government is seeking to use the Information Stuporbahn to whip up xenophobic sentiment against France in response to the recent protests during the Olympic Torch Relay's Paris leg over China's "cultural genocide" campaigns in Tibet:

Blogs, internet forums and text messages circulating in China have urged consumers to boycott French goods in response to the protests that accompanied the torch relay in Paris.

Popular anger at chaotic scenes which saw pro-Tibet protesters grab the flame from Paralympic fencer Jin Jing has been inflamed by detailed accounts posted on the internet by eyewitnesses.

The blog EastSouthWestNorth translated the most notable of these posts from popular Chinese internet forums and newspapers.

One bystander waiting by the Seine for the torch to pass found himself involved in the scuffle for the torch. He recounted his experience on popular Chinese-language forum Tianya.

"The brave girl lowered her head and used her back to shield the torch. The thug pulled her shoulder back and hit her... Tears rained out of my eyes. I was sad and angry. Here was an unarmed girl who was handicapped, and the thug had to hit her?"

The anger and the bewilderment at the actions of the protesters is palpable in one of the response posts: "Who is abusing human rights? Who is bringing violence to this world?"

Lists of products and brands to boycott, including Louis Vuitton and French retailer Carrefour, have been widely circulated.

Blogger Wang Jian Shuo says several of his friends have started to boycott French products and describes the impact of recent events on his own thinking: "If you need an example, I am the person in China who were turned from pro-France to anti-France within few days... I don't think France is a friendly country at all."

But then again, how do we know such comments were not cooked up under officially-issued "guidance" to ensure "conformity to the official line"?

THOSE REGARDING AMERICA AS HAVING BEEN PREDESTINED BY "DIVINE WILL" TO BE THE ONE TRUE CENTRE OF THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE, AND THE 28 KNOWN GALAXIES may want to ponder the following item per the BBC:

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.

Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.

The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice.

One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.

He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.

Mecca watch

A prominent cleric, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim "qibla" - the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray.

The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.

The watch is said to rotate anti-clockwise and is supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on Earth.

The meeting in Qatar is part of a popular trend in some Muslim societies of seeking to find Koranic precedents for modern science.

It is called "Ijaz al-Koran", which roughly translates as the "miraculous nature of the holy text".

The underlying belief is that scientific truths were also revealed in the Muslim holy book, and it is the work of scholars to unearth and publicise the textual evidence.

But the movement is not without its critics, who say that the notion that modern science was revealed in the Koran confuses spiritual truth, which is constant, and empirical truth, which depends on the state of science at any given point in time.

IT APPEARS ALL THE MORE LIKELY THAT THE CONSTITUTION PARTY--IDENTIFIED BY THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTRE AS A "PATRIOT" GROUP, KNOW--may be making a serious Presidential bid designed to appeal particularly to the so-called "values voter" crowd not wanting to be caught dead voting for John McCain come Indecision 2008, contending that McCain's platform and articles of faith don't do enough for the Traditional Values agenda.

Wayne Besen of The Carpetbagger Report had this to say about the Constitution Party's chances now that former Republican Presidential candidate Alan Keyes is seeking the Constitution Party's Presidential candidacy:

It's pretty safe to assume that John McCain will be on the presidential ballot in November. It's also safe to assume he'll be up against Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. In most states, Ralph Nader will probably be there, too, though his influence is likely to be limited.

The next question, though, is who else might appear on the ballot.

One need not look too hard to find Democrats unhappy about the prospect of Nader splitting the left and helping McCain, but it's worth keeping in mind that Republicans may have a couple of challenges of their own.

For example, the always amusing Alan Keyes—who, rumor has it, kinda sorta ran for the Republican nomination this year—is moving closer to another campaign outside the confines of the GOP.

Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes announced Tuesday night that he has left the GOP and is considering joining the Constitution Party.

Keyes, who also ran as a Republican to challenge Barack Obama's U.S. Senate bid in Illinois in 2004, says he is talking with leaders and rank-and-file members of the Constitution Party. "They're considering me, I'm considering them," Keyes said in a conference call late Tuesday night. "We have so much in common that I find it hard to believe we won't be able to work out a common basis for working together."

Realistically, I know it's easy to laugh at Keyes, and it's equally easy to dismiss the Constitution Party—they tend to make far-right Republicans look moderate—but the party does have a spot on the presidential ballot in 41 states, and as recently as 2004, Karl Rove and other Bush-Cheney staffers were admittedly concerned about the ultra-conservative party shaving a few points off the president's total, throwing competitive states to John Kerry.

I don't really expect Keyes, if he runs, to have a significant impact, but in light of far-right discontent with McCain, it might be worth keeping an eye on.

[***]

Again, third parties rarely matter at the presidential level, and I suspect the McCain campaign isn't especially worried about Keyes or [Bob] Barr. It's not even clear if either would be able to qualify for the ballot in every state.

But in a close contest, a percentage point here or there might matter. At a minimum, it's something to keep an eye on.

But then again, the Constitution Party has that certain appeal to the weird and unwholesome element of the community--the vulnerable and easily-influenced all the more so, usually poor, undereducated or homeschooled and easily-led.

The same kind, it turns out, as is Fox Prolefeed's target audience.

In any case, Your Correspondent noted early on where the Constitution Party was identified by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a major watchdog of hate and bigotry, as a "Patriot" group, with state-level organisations in every state but California according to SPLC monitoring in 2007.

For its part, the SPLC defines "patriot" groups as generally "opposed to the 'New World Order' or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines."

Something worth thinking about if you're thinking about supporting Alan Keyes for President on the Constitution Party's ticket, regardless of whether or not you identify yourself with the same Religiopolitical Right expected to embrace its platform all the more as one with the defence of "Traditional Values" held dear by the Elmer Gantry Institute of Religiopolitical Theology.

CONSERVATIVE EXTREMISTS, ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS ENJOY SPREADING THE RATHER LAME BROMIDE that suggests where incorporating multiculturalism, tolerance and diversity into the public-education syllabus can only worsen the quality of public education.

Prompting Your Correspondent to ask:

• How many states do you know of as have formal public-education policies which discourage (howbeit subtly) the teaching of diversity, tolerance and multiculturalism in the syllabus?
• Are such policies especially directed @ school districts in mostly lower-income, rural and economically-disadvantaged areas?
• Do public schools in such states have better average scores on standardised tests among public-school students (including the SAT and ACT such used for college admission), all other factors being considered?
• Would these same states have "guidance" aimed @ steering students in public schools from "chronic and habitual" welfare backgrounds towards "healthier" private (especially religio-sectarian) schools by way of tuition vouchers or similar? How do we know such doesn't involve blackmail or intimidation, hoping instead to rely on moral suasion? 
• Are we to assume, then, that teaching ignorance and racism is actually "better" for public-school students in the long run?
• Is such an argument really nothing less than a distraction designed to push devolution of educational policy to local level, with "block grants" essentially replacing traditional educational funding?

You know where to leave the comments.

FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ADVERTS IN THE GUISE OF EDITORIAL COPY FROM A BOSTON OUTFIT STYLING THEMSELVES "NATIONAL FUELSAVER CORPORATION" promoting what they stylee as "The Platinum FuelSaver."

The which is explained (and debunked) in this recent adjudication from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in Great Britain after complaints were received about the latest specimen of American Colonial Arrogance (so to speak) from between Land's End and John O'Groats:

Ad
A national press ad, for a fuel saving device, stated "U.S. Consumer Protection has confirmed the fuel saving described in this advertisement. Device may increase petrol mileage by 22% BOSTON, USA - National Fuelsaver Corporation has developed a low cost automotive accessory called the Platinum Petrol Saver which is guaranteed to increase petrol mileage by 22% while meeting all emission standards. With a simple connection to a vacuum line, the Petrol Saver adds platinum vapor [sic] economically to the air and fuel entering the engine. Since platinum enables non-burning fuel to burn, the Petrol Saver's platinum increases the percentage of fuel burning inside the engine from 68% of each gallon to 90% of each gallon, a 22% increase. Since unburnt fuel leaving an engine is pollution, this 22% of each gallon normally burns when it reaches the platinum of the catalytic converter. Unfortunately, the platinum of the catalytic converter burns this fuel outside of the engine, where the heat and energy produced from this fuel cannot give you more miles per gallon. But when the air and fuel carry the platinum into the engine, 22% more of each gallon burns inside the engine so that 22% fewer gallons are required to drive the same distance. After a five year study, the U.S. government concluded: 'Independent testing shows greater fuel savings with the Petrol Saver than the 22% claimed by the developer.' In addition to the fuel savings, the Petrol Saver has received patents for cleaning out the abrasive carbon and raising octane, making the premium fuels unnecessary for most vehicles ...".

Issue
1. Four complainants challenged whether the fuel saving claims could be substantiated.

2. Two complainants also challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied the product had been endorsed by the US Government.

Response
National Fuel Saver Corp (NFS) sent US Court documents from 1984 and two tables of results from fleet tests on 42 vehicles in 1980. NFS maintained that the Court documents were US federal court credentials that showed they met the highest standards of truth in advertising. They argued that the fleet tests were determined by the US courts to meet all necessary controls to be admitted as valid test data 25 years ago.

NFS argued that the platinum in their Platinum Petrol Saver performed its function inside each combustion chamber between the moment that the spark plug ignited (approximately 30 degrees before top dead centre of the compression stroke) and the moment that the exhaust valve opened 180 crankshaft degrees later (approximately 30 degrees before bottom dead centre of the power stroke). They argued that there had been no changes to petrol engines in the last 60 years regarding that part of the petrol engine's function and believed therefore that their evidence was sufficient.

NFS said their platinum process could not be demonstrated in a laboratory because the dispensing of the platinum required road vibration. They said the US courts had therefore accepted their fleet tests, which were backed up by court testimony on the controls that were applied to the baseline and the "after platinum" testing.

NFS asserted that the US court case had not been concerned with whether platinum would improve miles per gallon, which they believed everyone agreed on, but about the percentage of the fuel that burnt inside the engine and the percentage left in the engine unburnt. They said the US Government's Federal Test Procedure had proved that the perfectly tuned petrol engine burnt only 80% of its fuel, and data from the Champion Spark Plug Company had proved that the average engine was 12% worse, burning only 68% of its fuel. The US court had therefore ruled in favour of NFS test data. NFS said, once the court had accepted that only 68% of the fuel burnt in the average gasoline engine they accepted the fleet tests were consistent with the science.

NFS believed the use of platinum in catalytic converters performed the same function as their platinum inside the combustion chambers. They said platinum's function was to enable the fuel that would not normally burn inside the engine to burn there, and it was sufficiently successful to give the 22% increase in miles per gallon that they claimed.

Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA noted the evidence sent by NFS. We also noted, however, the US court documents referred to a legal case about different NFS advertising claims in the US around 25 years ago and the test data consisted of two tables of data but did not contain any details of the methodology involved. We considered that, to substantiate the fuel saving claims in the ad, we would need to see robust documentary evidence. We considered that the evidence we had seen was not sufficient to support the fuel saving claims and concluded that the ad was therefore misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. Upheld
We considered that the claims "U.S. Consumer Protection has confirmed the fuel saving described" and "U.S. government concluded: 'Independent testing shows greater fuel savings with the Petrol Saver than the 22% claimed by the developer.'" implied that the product had been endorsed by the US Government. We noted the US Court documents referred to a legal case about different NFS advertising but considered that we had seen no evidence to support either claim and concluded that the ad was therefore misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 14.5 (Testimonials and endorsements).  

Action
We told NFS to withdraw the ad and advised them to consult the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising in future.

In other words: If it won't exactly make the cut between Maine and Mauna Loa, don't expect likewise between Land's End and John O'Groats.

Let alone the likelihood of this working as advertised with coal-derived ersatz gasolines in the South African stylee or E85.

EVEN IF THERE WEREN'T SIGNS OF A POSSIBLE MEXICAN STANDOFF (SO TO SPEAK) BETWEEN OIL-EXPORTING AND OIL-IMPORTING NATIONS by way of an international forum opening today in Rome discussing the energy issue, there emerges the likelihood for what amounts to wasteful and counterproductive practices being excused, tolerated--even encouraged as official policy--in the name of "energy self-sufficency" as United States public policy.

Case in point:

This morning, Mein Innkeeper Friend was recalling where, several years back, a close relative of his was employed with Halliburton drilling oil wells in the Williston Basin of North Dakota--and capping them as soon as drilling was complete.

In effect, taking such wells out of production as soon as drilling was finished; the better, so the line of thinking went, to "stabilise prices" on the crude oil markets so that oil-company profits could be all the more maximised.

Which is enough to wonder if a similar policy will be "advised" with respect to the Bakken fields in North Dakota and Montana, notwithstanding its having an estimated 500 million barrels of crude--which, @ the current spot market price of $117/bbl. (one barrel of crude oil being 55 gallons), would be worth US$58.5 billion.

And that's not counting mineral-rights payments to landowners, property taxes paid by oil companies or even royalties which Bismarck or Helena are entitled to; how they would use their share of the oil wealth is, for want of anything better, a "state's rights" matter, and whether they would likely emulate the Alaska Permanent Fund (in which proceeds from investments made using the State of Alaska's share of oil and natural gas royalties from the North Slope fields are returned to The Last Frontier's residents) is anybody's guess.

And the excuse to be given?

Officially, "to stabilise prices."

In reality, to benefit His Fraudulency's Great Within, whose investments in crude oil, natural-gas, gasoline and heating oil futures are so substantial, methinks, they could stand to lose heavily if there were but one fatal misstep in the markets--especially so the Bakken field's going into full-on production without "waiting for the proper signs" beforehand.

(Said "proper signs" coming by way of fortune-smellers with whom the Great Within, and especially its "inside of the inside," has a special relationship. Not unlike North Korean propaganda in the fall of 1997, as reported where spontaneous, out-of-season blossoming of thousands of pear and apricot trees across North Korea, as well as a fisheries crew catching a white sea cucumber, "confirmed" the formal elevation of the heretofore "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il to "Great Leader.")

And those involved in the drilling operations being instructed to deny any and all knowledge of such "drill-and-cap" operations being carried out, especially for fear that "meddling bloggers" might expose the whole and "distort things out of proportion."

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FOR ITS PART, OPEC'S RELUCTANCE TO INCREASE PRODUCTION OUTPUT AHEAD OF THE SUMMER SILLY SEASON, even if to reduce prices for the benefit of the Lower Classes especially, isn't good enough for oil-consuming nations such as the "morally superior" United States.

Especially when OPEC resorts to such platitudes as suggest that demand is but one factor as controls world market prices ... and certain elements of oil-consuming nations (especially such reliant on imports) resorting to all manner of xenophobic paranoia to push for energy self-sufficency as one with national identity and cohesion.

Some specimens of xenophobic paranoia resorting to Islamophobia and anti-Semitism to make their point known for "winning of hearts and minds" (witness Pat Robertson's blatant Islamophobia packaged as "Christian Love").

In any case ... suffice it to say that there may be no royal road to energy self-sufficency.