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The World Cup’s Effect on South Africa’s District 9…
A mashup of two films about South Africa: one you’ll surely recognize, the other is World Cup Soccer in Africa, distributed by Disinformation.
Inside Germany’s Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandal
Reported on SPIEGEL ONLINE:
The Catholic Church in Germany has been shaken in recent days by revelations of a series of sexual abuse cases. Close to 100 priests and members of the laity have been suspected of abuse in recent years. After years of suppression, the wall of silence appears to be crumbling.
This is what it looks like, the document of a conspiracy: 24 pages, with appendix, in Latin, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. A “norma interna,” or confidential set of guidelines for all bishops, who were required to keep it a secret for all eternity, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The guidelines, issued in the year of our Lord 1962, address a sensitive subject: sex in the confessional. The Vatican doesn’t put it quite that directly, preferring to use more guarded terminology to describe what happens…
Pope John Paul II Self-Flagellated to Get Closer to Jesus
Richard Allen Greene and Hada Messia write on CNN World:
Pope John Paul II used to beat himself with a belt and sleep on a bare floor to bring himself closer to Christ, a book published Wednesday says.The late pope had a particular belt for self-flagellation and brought it with him to his summer residence, according to the book, Why He is a Saint: The True Story of John Paul II.
“As some members of his own entourage were able to hear with their own ears, both in Poland and in the Vatican, Karol Wojtyla flagellated himself,” the book says, using the name the pope was given at birth.
“In the closet, among the cloaks, a particular pant-belt hung from a hook, which he utilized as a whip and one which he always had brought to Castel Gandolfo,” the book says.
The book was written by a Vatican insider, Slawomir Oder, with Italian journalist…
‘Obama Has Kept the Machine Set on Kill’ Journalist/Activist Allan Nairn Reviews Obama’s First Year in Office
Via Democracy Now!:
In an extended interview, award-winning journalist and activist Allan Nairn looks back over the Obama administration’s foreign policy and national security decisions over the last twelve months. “I think Obama should be remembered as a great man because of the blow he struck against white racism,” Nairn says. “But once he became president … Obama became a murderer and a terrorist, because the US has a machine that spans the globe, that has the capacity to kill, and Obama has kept it set on kill. He could have flipped the switch and turned it off … but he chose not to do so.” He continues, “In fact, as far as one can tell, Obama seems to have killed more civilians during his first year than Bush did in his first year, and maybe even than Bush killed in his final year.”
7 Completely Unrealistic Movie Plots (That Came True)
Danny Harkins, Cracked.com: Sci-fi visionaries like Jules Verne and Gene Roddenberry get all sorts of credit for predicting the future via fiction. But you know who doesn’t get credit? Weekend at Bernie’s. As it turns out, lots of movies turn out to be prophetic, seeing even the most ridiculous plot points turn into real headlines months or years later.
#7. Office Space: While Idiocracy is often cited as the under-appreciated Mike Judge film that is most likely to come true, Office Space already has. After performing poorly at the box office, Office Space became a massive hit on DVD, inspiring many a wage-slave to rip their apron off and tell their boss to kindly go fuck himself.
The films protagonist, played by Ron Livingstone, takes office rebellion a little further than that and decides to rip off the company he works for. His scam involves stealing fractions of pennies from financial transactions that would usually automatically…
Graham Hancock’s First Novel, ‘Entangled’ Set For Publication
The Disinformation team was recently given a prized sneak preview of the very first novel from Graham Hancock, bestselling author of nonfiction blockbusters like Fingerprints of the Gods and Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind. It’s called Entangled and it’s set for publication in the UK in April 2010 (US publication is still not determined).
There’s a general description on Graham’s site here, but it doesn’t really do justice to the fantastic nature of the book. I don’t use that word lightly: this book really is in the fantasy genre, but it is infused with all the marvelous, groundbreaking insights that Graham has brought to his previous work, especially the book that we were privileged to be involved with, Supernatural.
I won’t reveal any more of the plot than is on the official site, but suffice it to say that it’s written in cliffhanger style and I was left with that awful…
India’s First Porn Star is Dead?
Jason Overdorf, GlobalPost: Thanks to an anonymous group of computer geeks, India’s first international internet porn star is fast becoming this conservative country’s answer to Wonder Woman — and Monica Lewinsky.
But here’s the trick: The steamy web seductress is a cartoon.
Turning the tables on Bollywood’s demure heroines — who’ve only recently started agreeing to lip-to-lip kisses on screen — “Savita Bhabhi” (or sister-in-law Savita) is a buxom, recently married housewife who knows what she wants and how to get it.
Bored with her workaholic husband, she seduces door-to-door salesmen, neighborhood cricket players, even a not-so-subtle stand-in for the gray-bearded Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan — a move that earned her some flak from Indian entertainment channels.
Though pornography is illegal in India, Savita Bhabhi’s sexual misadventures, published on savitabhabhi.com with scripts based on fantasies submitted by fans, have attracted a huge following, according to one of the strip’s anonymous creators, who goes by…
How the Food Industry Has Made Bacon a Weapon of Mass Destruction
The confluence of factory farming, the boom in fast food and manipulation of consumer taste created processed foods that can hook us like drugs.
Among my fondest childhood memories is savoring a strip of perfectly cooked bacon that had just been dragged through a puddle of maple syrup. It was an illicit pleasure; varnishing the fatty, salty, smoky bacon with sweet arboreal sap felt taboo. How could such simple ingredients produce such riotous flavors?
That was then. Today, you don’t need to tax yourself applying syrup to bacon — McDonald’s does it for you with the McGriddle. It conveniently takes an egg, American cheese and pork and nestles it between pancakelike biscuits suffused with genuine fake-maple-syrup flavor.
The McGriddle is just one moment in an era of extreme food combinations — a moment in which bacon plays a starring role, from high cuisine to low.
There is: bacon ice cream; bacon-infused vodka; deep-fried bacon;…
Did An Embezzlement Scandal Force Sarah Palin to Resign?
Max Blumental reports on The Daily Beast that Sarah Palin may have quit her job today because she was trying to avert a major, yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal. The gist of the rumor is that an Alaska building company called Spenard Building Supplies (SBS) was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla, AK, and in return, SBS helped construct Palin’s home:
Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide open state.
SBS has close…
Happy Canada Day! Anyone Up For an ‘Escape to Canada’?
Around the world, Canada is known for its beavers, Mounties and winter climate. But a new image of the country is emerging, one of potent marijuana, gay marriage and new freedoms.
In 2003, gay marriage and marijuana were legalized in Canada on the same day. Coincidence or trend? Either way, suddenly, Canada changed forever and Canadians began enjoying their “new found” freedoms-north-of-the-border of the country that proclaims to be the true “Land of the Free.”
Soon, Canadians were not the only ones enjoying the newly forged liberties, as Americans raced across the border to marry same-sex partners and smoke marijuana in peace. AWOL U.S. army soldiers arrive seeking refugee status. To many, Canada had become a red-and-white beacon of freedom around the world.
Michael Jackson’s Chimp Bubbles Tried to Commit Suicide in 2003!
From the Times of India, 23 Dec 2003:
The year seems to be ending on a bad note for some of the male pop-stars on the international scene. Several of them are battling law-suits or the ire of fans. Heading the list is Michael Jackson, who was formally charged with child-molestation last week.
The singer has always been under a cloud of suspicion, following a similar court case some years ago but that time an out of court settlement was reached. This time round, the charges are believed to involve a 14-year old boy who has spent night at his famous ranch named Neverland … To show their support to his cause, friends and relative descended on his ranch.
The singer is expected to travel to Britain soon to fulfil unspecified contractual obligations and also to promote his latest CD, Number Ones, which has opened to dismal sales. But the Moonwalker should not…
Michael Jackson Dead at 50
The Los Angeles Times reports that Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told the newspaper that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his home and CPR was performed. TMZ.com reported that he may have suffered cardiac arrest.
Doomsday Pending? James Lovelock on ‘The Hour’
CBC’s The Hour: James Lovelock is an independent scientist, he works in a lab that used to be a barn in Cornwall, England.For years now, he’s been sounding the alarm on climate change.
He says we can’t undo the damage we’ve done and that by the end of this century many places on earth will be unliveable. If that weren’t bad enough, most of the human race will be wiped out.
So, we shouldn’t waste our time trying to reverse climate change. Instead, he says we should focus on finding ways to survive the inevitable ahead. He lays it all out in his new book The Vanishing Face of Gaia.
New ‘2012′ Trailer Released
Mike Sampson, JoBlo: The new trailer for 2012 is online and I want to say a few things about it. 1) It’s too bad Roland Emmerich’s movies suck because he really knows how to make a good trailer. 2) Roland Emmerich seriously hates the White House. 3) This movie is literally Independence Day plus The Day The Earth Stood Still.
The movie isn’t going to win any awards (do Razzies count as awards) but if you like watching famous landmarks crumble, explode or get otherwise destroyed, you’ll probably be able to sit through this movie without wanting to slit your own throat. Though if John Cusack somehow uploads a virus into the Earth’s core that stops the apocalypse, I’m gonna really be pissed. Check out the trailer below or head to Yahoo! Movies.
Beyond 2012: Practical Tools for Your Transformation
Evolver.net: With massive changes happening on every level — to the environment, the financial system, our bodies and immune systems, our consciousness, even our intimate relationships — where can you find the tools and techniques to prepare yourself, your family and your loved ones through the coming years?
We’re excited to announce the Evolver.net teleseminar series, “Beyond 2012: Practical Tools for Your Transformation.” Please join us and explore concrete ways to make transformation real in our daily lives.
This teleseminar intensive is about how to take clear, practical steps to address the huge changes in food, consciousness, community, economy, health and intimacy that are taking place today. Evolver.net is the new social network for online collaboration and off-line activation, where you discover and share the new tools, ideas and projects that improve your life and change the world.
This series is devoted not just to understanding change, but to practical ways of making change…
Wikipedia Blocks Scientology From Altering Entries
Wikipedia has blocked the Church of Scientology from editing entries at the communally-crafted online encyclopedia due to an unrelenting battle over the group’s image.
A “longstanding struggle” between admirers of Scientology and critics of the group prompted Wikipedia on Thursday to bar online edits from computer addresses “owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates.”
An array of editors believed to have taken sides in a Scientology public-image war at Wikipedia have also been barred from tinkering with topics related to the church.
U.S. Doctors’ Association Calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has just issued a call for an immediate moratorium on Genetically Manipulated (GMO) Foods. In a just-released position paper on GMO foods, the AAEM states that ‘GM foods pose a serious health risk’ and calls for a moratorium on GMO foods. Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes ‘there is more than a casual association between GMO foods and adverse health effects’ and that ‘GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health.’
The report is a devastating blow to the multibillion dollar international agribusiness industry, most especially to Monsanto Corporation, the world’s leading purveyor of GMO seeds and related herbicides.
In a press release dated May 19, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, which describes itself as ‘an international association of physicians and other professionals dedicated to addressing the…
Twitphilia & Twitanoia: Controlling Technology
An in-depth analysis of Twitter from a radical perspective.
Nihilo Zero: I created a Twitter account during the planning phase of the protest surrounding the 2008 Republican Nation Convention. I had heard about it’s text-to-phone cababilities and thought it might be useful to help organize the protesters and provide them with up-to-the-minute logistics while they were in the streets. This still seems like a potentially viable use of the system (capable of bringing flashmobs to a whole new level), but I had neither the time nor the technical understanding before the protest to make a serious push in this direction. I simply posted a prescient “tee hee” tweet and abandoned the endeavor.
Since then I have learned more about Twitter.com and I have revived my account in an effort to increase my web presence and spur discussion about radical politics. I continue to network with other radicals and enjoy sharing and spreading…
Tonight On TV: Cheney Vs. Obama Knockdown!
President Barack Obama plans to say in his speech Thursday that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values, according to an administration official.
Obama will also renew his pledge to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying he will honor the commitment he made in the first week of his presidency.
In a remarkable split-screen presentation of opposing world views, former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak on the exact same topic moments after Obama finishes. Cheney is appearing at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where the audience will watch the president on large TV screens.
Cheney will say: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.”
Cheney will argue that his intent is not to look…
