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Any average person may look at this (especially if they have an ebay account) and go, "oh no, what could I have forgotten to pay?" Well, if you're naive enough to get suckered into this little trap (cunning, though, I have to admit), this is where it takes you: http://instajob.net/~update/ebay/ebay/

I wouldn't click on this link unless you have an antivirus program or some kind of internet security software. I'm not saying this link is dangerous in that way, but you can never be too careful.

If you're into trading oil futures...

Shots, explosion at Saudi oil refinery - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com

...GO LONG! I guarantee that this one incident will be enough of an "excuse" for oil companies to jack up the price of gasoline at least 25 cents per gallon (I'm wagering on 50 cents).

Just as a little additional info: My father was friends with a comptroller for Exxon back in the 70s. This guy would PAY hundreds of thousands of dollars to protesters to go out and protest nuclear power plants. That's how low these oil companies will go to make a buck. So it wouldn't surprise me to find out that an oil company paid these "terrorists" to go attack an oil refinery, just so they could make a few extra bucks to get that golden-plated cigarette lighter in their Lexus.

Pathetic.

While the rest of the world is focusing on the Middle East...

CNN.com - Congolese seek refuge on floating islands - Feb 23, 2006

Too much to do, and too little to do it with.

What they really care about

Large blast destroys Shiite shrine - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

In Baghdad, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie blamed religious zealots such as the al-Qaida terror network, telling Al-Arabiya television that the attack was an attempt "to pull Iraq toward civil war."

IF this is true: this is a clear indicator to what radical Muslim groups really care about. They don't care about people. They apparently don't even care about Islam or Mohammad, apparently. They'll destroy whatever they want, whenever they want, to further their goals. And their goals aren't the destruction of the US--well, not alone, anyway. Their goal is to spread destruction, for the sake of destruction.

People like bin Laden and al-Zarqawi are not people, but demons; and should be treated as such. They do not warrant any kind of human--or humane--treatment, because they are not human, nor are they natural. They are solely agents of evil, and warrant nothing less but that which they dish out.

No, I don't think they should be put to death. I think they deserve much worse. I just cannot figure out right now what that entails. Anyone who would kill their own people for the sake of hatred are as bad--if not worse--than Hitler (if that were possible), and I cannot find any sympathy in my heart for them.

Let me put this in a different way: If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? If bin Laden and his ilk are doing what they're doing--killing his own people--for the good of Islam, then how can Islam stand? If they stand for what Islam stands for, then Islam cannot survive, because it will eventually destroy itself from the inside. However, if bin Laden and his cohorts do what they do outside of the realm of Islam, then it can be deduced that they do nothing for the good of Islam and should be treated as such. If bin Laden keeps this shit up, I wouldn't be surprised to see in the news one day the story of a poor Muslim farmer bringing in bin Laden's head for the $25 million reward (or whatever it is now).

Won't that be ironic. Won't that be wonderful.

Beyond asinine

Cleric offers reward to kill cartoonist - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

'If the West can place a bounty on Osama bin Laden ... we can also announce reward for killing the man who has caused this sacrilege of the holy prophet,' Qureshi told Reuters, referring to the $25 million U.S. bounty on the al-Qaida leader's head.

Yes...except that bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of thousands. The cartoonists (NOT just cartoonist) are responsible for ... cartoons. It's apples and oranges, baby!

Okay, well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I hereby offer a reward of ... (checks bank account) $983.55 for the death of Maulana Yousef Qureshi. Now all I need to help back this are some jewelers and a group of wackos.

Our latest and greatest crusaders for freedom: Skype

Skype could force end to wiretapping calls - Security - MSNBC.com

The things you find when you've got nothing better to do.

www.myspace.com/xanadumusic

This is a rare gem. If it isn't automagically playing when you load up the page, you should make it a point to listen to "So High." To me, it sounds like a cross somewhere between Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and Rusted Root.

Mark my words, you'll be hearing these guys on the AT40 real soon. If not, then it's yet another reason for me to doubt the validity of the entire music industry.

!

Identity tags implanted under workers' skin - Innovation - MSNBC.com

Anybody--especially Christians--who has ever read Late Great Planet Earth (or at least 1984) must be shouting in alarm right now. We're just that much closer, folks. Those "radical religious kooks" from way back when seemed to know what they were talking about.

waiterrant.net - Heaven & Hell

waiterrant.net - Heaven & Hell

What did I immediately think about after reading this post?

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Nobody seems to understand that when Jesus said the kingdom of God is at hand, he wasn't talking about the end of the world. When we act as the little girl did in Waiter's story, we create a piece of heaven on Earth; here and now.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Why Russia may be abandoning Iran on this latest crisis

Click the link and look at the map. Chechnya (Russia's biggest thorn in its side) is just north of Georgia and Azerbaijan. And further south, by about 500 km (300 mi)...

Iran.

Can you imagine if Muslim fundamentalists in Chechnya could get nuclear material from Iran!? Yeah. Russia's spooked. Of course, this is just speculation.

Still thinking about China...

Pessimist for a day.

Denmark ROCKS!! - Democracy Frontline - Blog

I'm going to be a pessimist for a day. First, my comment on the above article:

"There’s a Fatwa on Danish troops now in Iraq. All over a friggin Cartoon. I only pray God (not Allah) has mercy on these animals. I know I won’t."

The funny thing is this: Christians, Jews and Muslims *ALL* have the same God: the God of Abraham. All three religions can trace its roots all the way back to Abraham. WTF is wrong with people!?

There is one other thing that disturb me about problems people have with Islam, and problems Muslims have with the rest of us. History repeats itself. Need I say more? Ok then. Here comes the Politically Incorrect Statement of the Year.

First, a disclaimer: I do not in any way support or even *like* "certain events" in recent history (cough 1930's Germany cough). However, that being said, as Muslims--the truly radical ones (I don't believe that ALL Muslims are dead-set on jihad, just as Knight Templar said: "But I still have hope because a lot of the younger Turks for instance are in opposition to their parents and don’t give a sh*t about Religion and Islam. They just want to live a western lifestyle.")--continue to grow in numbers in the various Western countries, things will come to a boiling point. Several things can (and maybe will) happen, the worst of which is a new Nazi-like regime that instead of preying on Jewish people will prey on Muslims. This is Armageddon.

I wouldn't be too surprised if there are already a good number of people out there joining neo-Nazi groups with that set in their minds. It would be a sad twist in the history of our planet; especially since, unlike in World War II (the larger part of it), we now have nukes. Both Iran and (of all countries) France have already started the saber-rattling (among others). Mix that with some reactionary "Western" regime and we're f*cked: Islam, Christian, atheist, you name it.

So, the $500,000 question is: how do we avert this? And the million dollar question: CAN it be averted?

Here's my pessimistic statement: the world is fucked. Reading the comments of first the Muslim people (and just the general news on their reaction to some cartoons), then reading (oddly enough) everyone ELSE's comments tells me one thing: Muslims and "Everyone Else" are irreconcilable. President Bush saying "protect the innocent Muslims" after 9/11 may apply to Muslims who no longer hold steadfast the "gospel" of the Koran, but I often wonder if it was just nothing more than a political gesture. I wonder if, in fact, behind closed doors, he's saying the exact same thing I'm saying.

We're fucked. They're fucked. Everyone's fucked. All because of religion. I'm really beginning to understand John Lennon nowadays. I find nothing wrong with believing the words of Jesus Christ, or Moses, Buddha...or even Mohammad when it's relevant. But to kill in the name of someone--in the name of a religion--is going to be the end of humankind.

Period.

Fuckers.

OK, I'm now back to my chipper self.