Rendition

Last night we were out talking with some friends, one liberal and the other independent and they were saying what a great movie "Rendition" is, and how it's a true story. The story they described was nothing I had heard of, and I kept asking them if it was about the Canadian who was shipped back to Saudi Arabia and supposedly tortured, but they said 'No', this guy was an American in Egypt who got a phone call from a terrorist and was thus picked up and tortured.

So, this morning I looked up their website, and it has links to Wikipedia: Rendition the movie, which further leads to the real story. Long story short, there is almost no similarity between the real story and the movie. The only similarity is the fact of rendition.

The real guy was not American, but rather German. He married a German in 1994, and then divorced and married a Lebanese woman in 1996. He is ethnic Lebanese. He was arrested in Macedonia on suspicion of being the leader of the German terrorist cell which planned 911, and he was suspected of having a forged passport. Why did he travel to Macedonia, by himself? Supposedly on vacation! Right. Give me a break. At any rate, he was detained by Macedonian authorities for 3 weeks and then turned over to the CIA who flew him to Afghanistan for further questioning. His passport was verified not a forgery in 2 months later and released a month after that.

He has been trying to sue the US ever since, with the aid of the ACLU, however, he has been turned down in every court, all the way up to the Supreme Court. He has since burned down a store in Germany and been thrown in the loony bin. Of course he blames the US because they supposedly tortured him in Afghanistan.

He claimed on his citizenship request that he belonged to 'Al Tawhid', a rabble rousing group in Lebanon in the 1980s which strove to bring the world to monotheism, in other words islam.

The whole story sounds like something the muslims cooked up in order to 'push the envelope'. I don't believe for a second he traveled to Macedonia, by himself, on 'vacation'. But the movie has the ignorant masses in a lather! This movie is a classic example of pure Hollywood propaganda. Right up there with Al Gore's global warming farce.

M78 and Reflecting Dust Clouds in Orion

Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh
Explanation: An eerie blue glow and ominous columns of dark dust highlight M78 and other bright reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion. The dark filamentary dust not only absorbs light, but also reflects the light of several bright blue stars that formed recently in the nebula. Of the two reflection nebulas pictured above, the more famous nebula is M78, on the upper right, while NGC 2071 can be seen to its lower left. The same type of scattering that colors the daytime sky further enhances the blue color. M78 is about five light-years across and visible through a small telescope. M78 appears above only as it was 1600 years ago, however, because that is how long it takes light to go from there to here. M78 belongs to the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that contains the Great Nebula in Orion and the Horsehead Nebula.

These are your choices

I'm very sad today. My friend, whom I held in great esteem, would vote for Hussein Obama. She's black, from Ethiopia (escaped the clutches of communism, but from the priviledged class).

After all these years, and all the progress we've supposedly made... It just boils down to the color of your skin. Very sad.

On a more positive note, my other dear friend, Vietnamese ethnic origin (and escapee from the clutches of communism) actually voted for Hilary to nix Hussein's vote! Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Endeavour

Shoko Asahara

I have a friend who gave me a speech written by the head of the Soka Gakkai International organization, Mr Ikeda, and delivered at Harvard September 23rd, 1994. When I read it, and found this:

"While the authority of Marx as social prophet has been largely undermined by the collapse of socialism in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, there is an important truth contained in his equating religion to opium. And although one hopes that the recent tragedy in Waco, Texas, represents a rare extremity, it is not clear that all religions have rid themselves of their opiate-like aspects. In fact there is reason for concern that more than a few of the religions finding new life in the twilight of this century are characterized by a dogmatism and insularity that run counter to the accelerating trend toward interdependence and cross-cultural interaction."

I was totally insulted that he (supposedly so wise) would take a total sociopath like David Koresh as an example of Christianity. I was writing notes along the side of the article, and wrote "That is so unfair to blame the religion for a sociopath's behavior. There are nuts everywhere.. Remember the subway poison in Tokyo?"

Then I looked up that nutcase in Tokyo who killed all those people with Sarin gas, and guess what? He was a Buddhist. He thought - just like David Koresh - he was God's special messenger. The Tokyo subway incident happened exactly 6 months after the so-called enlightened leader of Soka Gakkai made his snide comment to Harvard. I wonder what he thought of that?

Dear Mr Ikeda, Does the Tokyo subway incident "represent a rare extremity"? Has Buddhism rid itself of it's "opiate-like aspects"? In fact, is there reason for concern that Buddhism is "characterized by a dogmatism and insularity" that runs counter to the accelerating trend toward interdependence and cross-cultural interaction? Hmmmm...

I wonder what he had to say after 3/20/95 when Tokyo got their little wake-up call to religious nutjobs!

Cross in Texas

Whew! That's a big cross!

"IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE: On a lonely stretch of highway just outside of Groom, Texas (near Pampa) stands a 19 story tall cross that can be seen for miles from any direction. The arm spans are 110 feet across. It is constructed of a welded steel framework covered with steel sheeting. This cross is the result of the efforts of Steve Thomas and family of Pampa, Texas. It took 250 welders eight months to complete, and weighs 1,250 tons. It stands alone,unsupported by guy wires, and can withstand winds of 140 miles per hour. Steve Thomas' son, Zack Thomas, is an All-Pro middle linebacker for the Miami Dolphins."

read more here