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I SUPPOSE YOU'VE HEARD BY NOW OF WHERE THE FCC HAS ASKED HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA'S CBS AFFILIATE WHNT-TV TO PLEASE EXPLAIN that "mysterious outage" which affected a substantial portion of the network feed during that 60 Minutes story recently about ex-Alabama Governor Seigelmann and the likelihood of political reasons for the persecution thereof--in particular the involvement of none other than Machiavelli on steroids and amphetamines.

(The station did rebroadcast the show in full later.)

How do we know that WHNT didn't create the "outage" deliberately?

Is there not, perchance, the possibility for where station management sent in goons and/or agents provocateur to sabotage the transmission feed intake when the segment in question came on?

Who, exactly, were the paymasters behind those responsible?

And will those involved, if and when pressed to explain, say they were "only following orders" (cf. the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials) in carrying out the deed in question?

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"ONS IS DIE MENSE JOU OUERS GEWAARSKU VRA OMTRENT" DEPARTMENT: Courtesy of People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch blog, word about how the Religiopolitical Right distrusts psychiatry unless same can be perverted for religiopolitical purposes (especially as a means of coercion or brainwashing):

It's no surprise to see the American Counseling Association and the National Retail Federation coming up on opposite sides of the debate over a bill on mental health care coverage. But it is a little strange to see the Family Research Center telling its supporters to call their representatives in opposition to the bill, which they call "a big goal for liberals in health care."

The bill would place a massive new government mandate on private businesses to provide healthcare coverage for mental illness. Of even more concern, though, is the fact that rather than limit the coverage mandate to severe and debilitating illness, the bill uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as the basis for identifying conditions that must be covered. Among the more troubling diagnoses incorporated into DSM-IV are:

• Circadian rhythm sleep disorder (jet lag type); 
• Caffeine intoxication; 
  
• Sibling relational problem; 
  
• Substance-induced sexual dysfunction; 
  
• Gender identity disorder;
  
• Necrophilia;
  
• Transvestic fetishism; and
  
• Pedophilia.

Under H.R. 1424, employers offering group coverage would be required to provide benefits related to these and similar diagnoses included in DSM-IV. In addition, the bill provides no conscience clause for employers who have religious or moral objections to covering the psycho-sexual disorders, including those noted above.

Normally, one hears the far-right speak of DSM-IV only in the context of whether the reference lists homosexuality as a disorder, but here, FRC is complaining that DSM's list is too inclusive of "psycho-sexual disorders." FRC adds that "this overbroad and national mandate will actually divert resources to controversial conditions and therapies, and even drive many businesses to drop their coverage altogether."

Indeed, FRC's position contradicts that of even Warren Throckmorton, one of the Religious Right's top psychologists and a prominent advocate of "ex-gay" therapy. On the other hand, FRC's points seem to precisely echo the talking points of a new ad hoc business coalition, as reported by CongressDaily this morning:

A business coalition lobbying against a mental health parity bill that will be on the House floor Wednesday has targeted 10 Republicans for "special attention" from its grassroots network.

The ad hoc coalition has listed a vote for the House version as a "key vote" against business in this Congress. The National Retail Federation, which heads the coalition, is lobbying in favor of a Senate mental health parity bill that it helped negotiate. …

Republicans are preparing to argue on the floor that the House bill would impose overly strict mental health coverage requirements on insurers, giving them incentives to drop mental care coverage entirely.

Because the House bill mandates that insurers cover all conditions listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV), opponents also are likely to highlight some of the more esoteric disorders in the manual, such as caffeine intoxication and jet lag.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Religiopolitical Right must be fond of seeing the potential for psychiatry as "the ends which justify the means" of coercive and co-optative manipulation towards a Producerist agenda they may secretly be supporting?

THANKS TO PRIMARIES IN OHIO, RHODE ISLAND, TEXAS AND VERMONT, AND THE RESULTS ENSUING THEREFROM, such could be the "make-or-break" day for the Presidential campaigns of Hillary Rodham-Clinton (Democrats) and Mike Huckabee (GOP) based on how final results--and the ensuing delegate numbers for nomination @ their parties' respective conventions this summer in Denver and the Twin Cities, respectively--turn out by the end of the day.

Which, in Texas' case, could be all the more interesting thanks to early voting results; by one estimate, 65% of Texans eligible to vote per the Electoral Rolls used the early voting route--including one particularly memorable march by students @ Prairie View A&M upon the sole early voting site in the county; the better to dilute its traditional GOP electoral strength.

And, in Ohio's case, could be complicated by Divine Intervention in the form of severe weather forecast for the Buckeye State, judging by the following Right Wing Watch item:

Fervent Huckabee supporter Janet Folger's prayer at an event in Chillicothe, Ohio with Huckabee's wife:

If it's a blizzard that would keep the people home who would not vote the right way, Father, I pray for a blizzard. Out of this prayer meeting in this little town in this great state we pray that you would move mountains.

(For "vot[ing] the right way," per the above, read "vote Straight Republican," and without question or reservation, dankie jou.)

Come to think of it, with Huckabee having some 20% of the delegate numbers John McCain has to win the GOP Presidential nomination, expect the former Arkansas governor, true to previous categorical pledge, to withdraw if the results from today's primaries push McCain over the required numbers.

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COULD IT BE LIKELY THAT THE GOP IS CONSULTING ASTROLOGERS AND FORTUNE-SMELLERS OF THE WORST REPUTE to divine electoral strategems for Indecision 2008?

I mention this because the British National Archives has released newly-declassified intelligence from World War II which note that the wartime Special Operations Executive, a branch of MI5 devoted to war intelligence for His Majesty's Forces, recruited a Hungarian of questionable repute named (depending on source) Ludwig von Wohl or Louis de Wohl to find out what sort of astrological forecasts Hitler was receiving to devise Nazi war strategies from a Swiss astrologer by name of Karl-Ernest Krafft.

As the BBC reports:

De Wohl claimed that as Hitler relied heavily on Krafft's predictions, which were based on mathematics surrounding birthdates, the British could gain a unique insight into his thinking if they knew the astrological advice he was receiving.

The plan appealed to some leading figures, including the Director of Naval Intelligence Admiral John Godfrey, who found Hitler's erratic strategic moves hard to work out.

While his plan was enthusiastically embraced by member of SOE and the Political Warfare Executive, MI5 and MI6 were appalled.

"One of our senior officers comments that he cannot believe that anyone is going to re-employ this dangerous charlatan and confidence-trick merchant," a report from MI6 said.

Another MI5 officer said none of de Wohl's predictions had come true, apart from his forecast of Italy's entry into the war, which he made when it was "quite patent to anybody with the slightest knowledge of international affairs".

Historians now say that Hitler took no notice at all of astrological forecasts.

And you have to wonder if His Fraudulency's Great Within relied heavily on fortune-smelling and Other Forbidden Arts and Sciences to devise war strategy in the ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism, usually late @ night and in highly-disreputable parts of Washington....

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MEMO TO THE ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS OF "REGULATORY RELIEF" as the Last and Only Hope to save free-market capitalism as Great White Father:

Results of what may best be called deregulation in the liquor-licencing laws in England and Wales have turned out to be rather mixed, despite notions that allowing pubs and bars to remain open 24/7 if so desired would create a "cafe culture" across England's Green and Pleasant Land.

For one, only 470 pubs in England and Wales have 24-hour opening licences, while some 1,400 have applied for same.

For another, overall crime numbers have fallen by 1% and violent crimes have fallen by 10% since the licencing-law reforms went into force, although some areas have seen increases in assaults on police officers and "anti-social behaviour" in consequence.

On top of that, the notion of liberalised closing-hour laws reducing binge drinking has been put paid to, showing studies suggesting quite the opposite.

In any case, Parliament is now considering fine-tuning the licencing laws to help control disorder and violence caused by drinking by imposing measures such as:

• Timelier closures of pubs where Notorious Incidents of Disorder have occured;
• A "two strikes" rule to revoke the licences of such establishments caught serving to under-18's;
• Adopting a "yellow-card/red-card" system to warn licencees and sellers about violating licencing laws;
• Increasing from £500 to £2,500 the penalty for anyone choosing to ignore a "stop drinking" order; and
• Establishing a rating system of local neighbourhoods based on how bars and nightclubs therein pose clear and present danger based on factours such as crime/disorder, public nuisance and harm to children.

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IN A SOMEWHAT RELATED VEIN (AS IN CORPORATISATION OF "NON-ESSENTIAL" AND "NON-STRATEGIC" GOVERNMENT SERVICES), another dear article of faith among conservative Zealots and True Believers--our British brethren have an interesting case study which should serve as a caution to such seeking to denationalise Amtrak in the name of saving passenger rail in the United States.

Again, from the BBC:

Rail operator First Great Western has been warned it could be stripped of its franchise if services do not improve.

Speaking in the Commons, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly urged company managers to "get a grip".

She said the firm was being put "on notice" to improve services, which had been "unacceptable for far too long".

First Great Western said it had already put in place a £29m package of improvements, which includes hiring more drivers and guards.

In a statement the company said it accepted it had not provided the service level its customers deserved.

"We have put in place a remedial plan that has been agreed with the Department for Transport, it said.

"We are already seeing improved performance and this includes our latest cancellations figures for February, which are the lowest level of cancellations for 18 months."

'Worst Great Western'

Ms Kelly said the company had recorded the highest level of passenger dissatisfaction in a survey last autumn.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray remarked how services from Paddington to the West Country and Wales used to be called "the Great Western Railway or even God's Wonderful Railway" but now it was known as "Worst Great Western".

Ms Kelly said: "I certainly agree their performance has been unacceptable for far too long."

She said a package of improvements announced last month, which is part of a remedial plan agreed between the operator and the government, included a doubling of compensation for disrupted services, new rolling stock and more cheap tickets.

'Red card coming'

Stroud's MP David Drew said he welcomed the "slap of firm government" but urged her to go even further in tackling "countless delays and cancellations".

Mr Drew said: "This yellow card is welcome but what do we now need to expect to make sure that if they don't reform themselves, there will be a red card coming in due time?"

Ms Kelly told him: "First Great Western have definitely been put on notice. Their performance has to improve. That's why we have agreed a remedial plan.

"If they breach that remedial plan it is open to me to withdraw their franchise."

In other words, the only way any denationalisation of passenger rail services can be effective is if the public as much as passengers are all the more watchful of their maintaining mininum standards, and holding the operator responsible.

In short, transparency--not the opacity which conservatives prefer in the name of saving capitalism from itself. 

ALTHOUGH THERE IS AN APPARENT LACK OF CREDIBILITY TO THE STORY, as is typical with such featured in the "WaiWai" column of the Mainichi Daily News out Japan way, the following is presented as something which the conservative media would just love to see in the United States towards making sure the Fourth Estate stays in line with the Greater Conservative Agenda, seconded all along by Fox News Channel and their droogs on the Religiopolitical Right whose articles of faith speak much of preserving so-called "Traditional Values" by promoting Virtue and preventing Vice along "Christian" models:

Japan's racier weekly magazines--and the careers of the sexy pin-ups queens who pose for them--are in a bitter fight for survival, thanks to a new prudish regime in charge at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Sports (2/26) says.

From next month, the steamier photo spreads in Japan's wilder weeklies are likely to vanish because the metropolitan government is accusing publishers of being on the verge of breaking an ordinance aimed at providing youths with a wholesome upbringing.

"During personnel changes in June last year, the metropolitan government appointed a woman at the top of the section responsible for policing the ordinance. She's a hardliner and has apparently turned her attention to doing something about the pin-ups in men's dirty magazines," a publishing industry insider tells Tokyo Sports.

The first magazine to cop heat from the capital's pen pushers was lowbrow weekly Asahi Geino.

"Its editor in chief was ordered to appear at City Hall and given a warning to tone down the sexiness of the magazine," a freelance writer who often submits articles to weeklies says. "After that, the people in charge of Shukan Jitsuwa and Shukan Taishu were repeatedly ordered to present themselves to the bureaucrats and both magazines were placed under really strict regulations."

Tokyo has apparently stipulated four types of photos it wants eliminated from the weeklies. They want no shots of men and women embracing, no photos implying female masturbation, no pictures giving the impression of having been taken with a hidden camera and no bondage images.

"Nipples are out, too. And so are any cosplay shots that might be construed as indecent," a magazine desk editor says. "Apparently, the three companies called to present themselves at City Hall have promised 'complete self-restraint.' If that happens, pin-up queens like Aki Hoshino, bondage specialist Aya Sugimoto and Mieko Arai won't be able to get their shots run. This is a matter of life or death for these pin-up queens."

But the publishing industry insider sounds an ominous warning.

"Everyone's saying," the insider tells Tokyo Sports, "the next magazines in Tokyo's sights are (pictorial weeklies) Flash and Friday."

Meaning, in other words, that the only "healthy" media permitted in the United States would be nothing short of saccharine propaganda-laden bromides tending to glowing generalities--think, perhaps, the glory days of The Saturday Evening Post or Collier's ... the South African weekly Huisgenoot (Afrikaans; "Home Chat") ... and the Israeli weekly Mishpuga ("Family"), as caters to an Orthodox Jewish audience.

Which ought to be asked of the Religiopolitical Right for once.... 

FOR A FEW YEARS AFTER MOVING BACK INTO WINONA IN THE FALL OF 1981, after some rather painful episodes with inapproriate and abusive psychiatric treatment in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (byproduct of a referral by the Minnesota DVR to a sheltered workshop in Eau Claire, and with reckless and utter disregard for other facilities as were available in Minnesota @ the time of my high-school graduation in 1980), Your Correspondent was prone to suffering occasional episodes of emotional burnout aggravated by "flashbacks" of the abuse I was made to suffer in the name of making me mentally employable.

Episodes which included occasional fantasies (or were they nightmarish daydreams?) about "certain influential and prominent citizens of the community" being "compelled" to ask for my leaving the Winona community "to prevent your causing us further harm" as could lead to factory closings, mass unemployment and general social uncertainty which "very dangerous elements" were likely to exploit.

Which the companies involved would "officially" blame (or so I would be told) on "changing economic conditions" making communities like Winona less profitable to continue operating in--but, privately, would blame on "outspoken tendencies" through my letters to the editor of local gazettas.

Hence, to "prevent further damage to our beloved community" and "protect any chance they had for attracting real jobs" to same, I was "advised" to leave Winona with nothing more than the clothes on my back and a one-way bus ticket to some one-horse jerkwater town in some part of the country lacking adequate mental-health services @ the community level.

Outright force was the last thing they would have wanted, instead preferring "co-optation" and "moral suasion" on my part in leaving town.

And those behind the whole, preferring to call themselves "Society," took great pains to avoid arousing suspicions that "powerful and prominent citizens and business leaders" were behind the banishment request.

The prospect of which, no doubt, scared me quite a few times.

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HOW MUCH LONGER COULD IT BE BEFORE HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GREAT WITHIN, IN A FIT OF CRUDEST DESPERATION to save any regard for "public trust and confidence" in their corrupt and evil ways, seeks ways to get rid of "troublemakers" by "dumping" such upon Canada under what turns out being false or misleading pretenses--the better to cover up potential for scandal? 

Now tell me if this is perhaps the best and only hope we "morally superior" Americans have to return sanity to intercity travel:

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"CULTURAL HERITAGE."

Those two words are a favourite among cultural conservatives who want such promoted as part of their ideal educational syllabus for "reclaiming America from herself"--as in homeschooling based on the apartheid South African syllabus of Nasionale Christen Opverdoing, which sought to equate the defence of racism and free-market capitalism as being one with National and Racial Identity, particularly so from the Afrikaner standpoint.

In promoting what cultural conservatives would see as "cultural heritage" in furtherance of a True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command for the Nobility of America, expect many such to suggest among their "recommended reading" reprints of the original editions of the likes of Stratemeyer Syndicate pablum such as Tom Swift, The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. All recommended notwithstanding their containing all manner of racist, xenophobic and jingoistic language as was considered acceptable when these works first came out.

And AFAIK, said reprints (presumably from the originals) don't contain any type of disclaimer alerting readers (especially children) that the language likely to be encountered reflected prevailing social attitudes towards minorities when these works first came out.

That, and imagining how many copies of the original versions of these series (racist language and all) are still around in attics and antiquarian bookstores from Eastport to Mauna Loa, Point Barrow to Key West, ready for parents to introduce nothing less than lessons in racism and jingoism under the guise of "cultural heritage" to a new generation.

And Another Thing:

How does "cultural heritage" excuse promotion of outright racism and bigotry excused as "patriot love"?