they told me over a drink we have ways of making you think

August 30, 2009 in action, brains, socialism

There is a fascinating paper here on how people believed that there was a link between Iraq and Al-Qa’ida. Essentially, if you give people enough free-floating emotional energy, they are likely to decide that if you care so much, then there must be an explanation for the holes in your logic. It’s called inferred justification, [...]

coming to a security theatre near you

August 30, 2009 in cultures of war, funny ha ha, terrorism

US security agents indulge in street theatre, frequently accidentally involving members of the public: As a presidential limousine rolls closer, an instructor cues, “How about a little homicide bomb?” Bracaglia throws himself at the limousine and detonates…..Mike “The Horse” Dutch, who is 6-foot-2 and weighs 280 pounds, has been playing villains for five years. He’s [...]

What will happen to Harlequins RL?

August 30, 2009 in Rugby League

What about some rugby league, then? First of all, I’m delighted that we had another Challenge Cup that’s gone to an upset; even if Warrington taking it wasn’t quite as cool as the Catalans, it’s still a hell of a long time since they won anything. It’s getting on for a while since their agonising [...]

most of the people watching this are in fact my sworn enemies

August 30, 2009 in LibDems, politics, special relationships, Tories

This is right, as is this. But what’s this? I essentially joined the Liberal Democrats back in 2004 in order to escape the – ah, thanks, flyingrodent – belligerent content-free woofing blaring out of every other political entity, and here’s the party’s leader in Scotland, whining because they let a guy out of jail to [...]

Banned airlines come to the West Country

August 27, 2009 in Viktor

From the Viktorfeed: Phoenix Aviation/AVE, a company banned from the EU and which has a long history of dubious activities, sent off a flight (number 2E501 – note this as it’s important later) from Dubai at 1539 with destination Bristol (Lulsgate). DXB’s Web site lists it as “passenger charter” (click “more”). AVE is the UAE-based [...]

guaranteed – 100% content-free blogging!

August 23, 2009 in hacker, mastur/metablogging

ContentFree Comment is alive!

obligatory NHS post

August 23, 2009 in NHS

Something worth remembering, from comments at Making Light: Back before she became a vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin proclaimed a “Healthcare Decisions Day” in Alaska, when Alaskans would be encouraged to discuss end-of-life care with their physicians. Just last month Newt Gingrich wrote an editorial for the Washington Post praising “community-wide advance care planning”. They’re faking [...]

foggy

August 23, 2009 in Viktor

Well, well; the interesting bit in this story about Blackwater involvement in a CIA assassination program (which didn’t actually happen) is this. It was never fully operational, and has been canceled twice: once by then-CIA Director George Tenet, restarted by Porter Goss, and finally by CIA Director Leon Panetta in June. This is crucial; Goss [...]

the tape recorder, for special music

August 23, 2009 in music

As you can probably guess, I’m back; and if anyone can identify any of the songs here, I’d be grateful. Do we have a fado expert in the readership? (Actually, don’t answer that. I encountered a British wannabe expert at this gig and within five minutes I wanted to chuck him in the harbour.) As [...]

Tory of the Week: Dan Hannan

August 23, 2009 in NHS, special relationships, Tories

So what is wrong with Daniel Hannan? To understand this Tory of the Week, it’s worth looking back to this post on the role of the Daily Telegraph in the world media ecosystem. Specifically, it acts as a sort of reflector attack for nonsense, picking up propaganda that can’t be released directly into the US [...]