Tale of telepathic gorilla inspires fan to go on rampage

Alan Boyle writes:The "Ishmael" books are aimed at encouraging radical social change — but their author says hostage-taking is definitely not the change he had in mind.

Daniel Quinn's story of Ishmael, a telepathic gorilla who tries to show humans where they're going wrong, has spawned a popular series of books, an eerie Hollywood movie and a movement that takes a critical look at our global industrial society. Unfortunately, it also spawned an escalating series of threats from James Lee, who resented the Discovery Channel so much that he took company employees hostage.

PHOTO: "My Ishmael," written by Daniel Quinn and published in 1998, was cited as a guide to global change by hostage-taker James Lee. "I wish I could understand ... what he's trying to say," Quinn said. "It's hard to connect it with my book."

A Year Ago, the Australian Town of Bundanoon Banned Bottled Water

I just ran across this article and had to share it. Who knew? A tiny town of 2000 set an example for the entire planet!

(Sept.26, 2009) “An Australian town pulled all bottled water from its shelves Saturday and replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a world-first ban.
Hundreds of people marched through the picturesque rural town of Bundanoon to mark the first day of its bottled water ban by unveiling a series of new public drinking fountains, said campaign spokesman John Dee.
Shopkeepers ceremoniously removed the last bottles of water from their shelves and replaced them with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town's shops or at water stations in the street.

The tiny town, two hours south of Sydney, voted in July to ban bottled water after a drinks company moved to tap into a local aquifer for its bottled water business.
"In the process of the campaign against that the local people became educated about the environmental impact of bottled water," said Dee.”

"A local retailer came up with this idea of well why don't we do something about that and actually stop selling the bottled water and it got a favorable reaction," he said.
Dee said the 2,000-person town had made international headlines with their bid, which he hoped would spur communities across the world to action.”

Law enforcement group endorses Prop 19

“Legalizing marijuana would put a big dent in drug cartels and free up police, prosecutors and judges to go after violent crimes, a law enforcement group said Monday in endorsing Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure.

Proposition 19’s passage in November would decriminalize an estimated 60,000 drug arrests made in California each year, said former Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray.

“I was a drug warrior until I saw what was happening in my own courtroom,’’ said Gray, a former federal prosecutor.”

Image source

The Propaganda of an idiotic gesture leads to globalization of insanity

The Rev. Terry Jones achieved something new, something that will be studied for generations: the propaganda of the idiotic gesture

“It is a horrifying wonder of the Internet age that a failed, half-crazed Florida pastor with a Facebook account can cause checkpoints to be thrown up on major roads in New Delhi, provoke violent demonstrations in Logar province south of Kabul, and be rewarded with the attention of America's four-star commander in Afghanistan and the president of the United States.”

PHOTO: Rev. Terry Jones at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla Photo: AP

THE STOLEN PACKAGES KEPT COMING AND COMING

Having credit cards means you can be a target for criminals. It’s that simple. Today’s criminals have more ways of getting your vital financial information than ever.

This cautionary article tells one woman’s story. She is just one victim among thousands every year.

Here’s some tips (and a link) that the article gives to try and protect yourself.

Read the entire article here.

*Insist the police department get a subpoena for the email accounts involved, and pull all the records.
*Every time it happened, I would send a letter to the email addresses saying, “Stop using my information,” and I would copy the police department I am working with. Sometimes that scares off the suspect
* Call the local U.S. Postal Inspector’s office and see if you can get anyone to care there. The postal service is more likely to investigate widespread mail fraud than local police.
* File a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov

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A legend exposed – famed civil rights photo journalist was an FBI informant

Rich Shulman says:I was surprised to read in this morning's New York Times that legendary civil rights photojournalist Ernest Withers has been revealed as an FBI informant, according to a Memphis Commercial Appeal story on Sunday. While such an ethical compromise would probably end a journalist's career today, no one can deny the impact Withers' images had on the civil rights movement

PHOTO:Children huddle in the entrance of a tent during 1960 in Tent City near Somerville, Tenn. Tent City was home to black sharecroppers who were kicked-off white-owned lands in 1960 because blacks were registering to vote. Pipe at top is from a stove in the tent.

Guest Opinion: K Street and the Status Quo

An unprecedented 10-year study’s surprising verdict: The real outcome of most lobbying is … nothing. Until the right party or person comes to power.

Editor’s Note: The author’s contentions are interesting, although I don’t necessarily agree with them all. Still, she makes some points and shares her sources. 

By Melinda Burns

“Who can forget Jack Abramoff, the super-lobbyist? In a pleasant operation called “Gimme Five,” he took on Indian tribes as clients, ostensibly to lobby in support of their interests in casino gambling. Privately, Abramoff described them as “morons” and “troglodytes” as he and his associates grossly overbilled the tribes, raking in $85 million while, at times, covertly working against their interests.”

AND…

“But contrary to popular belief, Washington is not widely for sale to special interests and the K Street lobbyists they hire, at least not in the short term. One of the most in-depth studies ever conducted on the day-to-day workings of Washington, and the only one based on a random sample — the prizewinning 2009 book, Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses and Why — reveals that the groups with the most money and lobbyists don’t necessarily get their congressional way. In fact, an analysis of about 100 randomly selected issues with interest-group involvement shows that advocates on both sides of an issue tend to form diverse coalitions, more or less equalizing their resources.”

Read the whole article here.

As It Stands: Are you interested in a new process for picking politicians?

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 09/12/2010 05:51:12 AM PDT

Today, I would like to propose a new process for selecting politicians at all levels of government. Candidates would not be allowed to campaign until 30 days before election, to accept political donations from lobbyists, or to spend more than a $100 of their own money in the process.

The current system of buying political office, as demonstrated by California's Meg Whitman, who has spent $99 million of her own thus far to purchase the governorship, would cease.

Under my new system, all candidates compete in three events, a series of competitions where everyone plays on an equal field. Judges determine winners by most points accumulated. For event No. 3, the public would join in the final determination.

 The first event will be the “Hot Air Competition.” As we all know, Global Warming is caused by large concentrations of politicians meeting daily worldwide. In this event, two opposing candidates will be put in a 12' x 12' glass cubicle for one hour and given a topic to debate.

For example, “Cockroaches versus Centipedes -- which is the bigger pain and where should funding for this study come from? The loser will be the first person who can't stand the heat and steam from the build up of incendiary rhetoric/hot air and bolts outside. Or crawls out. Whatever.

In the case of a draw, the contest will be extended for 15 minutes, up to three times. Contest organizers will rely on the fact that no human being (not even a politician) can survive the temperatures generated by an hour and 45 minutes of debate in a room that small.

Next, we have the “Broken Campaign Promises Dash.” Each candidate will submit a list of 12 campaign promises to the judges. The contestants, decked out in running clothes and packing cell phones, will line up on a standard one-mile track.

When the gun goes off, they break into a run while speed dialing their contacts. The idea is to see how many of those campaign promises can be broken before they cross the finish line.

Additional points will be awarded for most complete reversals. The public can be assured the biggest and best bull-s****r will take office, based on this race. Governor or president, the public will know what they're getting.

Then there's the “Mud Slinging” competition. The average American is already familiar with this event. Current office holders are professional mud-slingers with some boundaries. For this contest all pretense of civility and boundaries will be set aside. Two candidates will trade foul verbal obscenities that would usually be bleeped on public airwaves.

Faint-hearted viewers/listeners who come to this free-for-all will be warned that the air turns blue. Each contestant has ten minutes to revile the other and repudiate any alleged criminal offenses. In true democratic style the audience, both live and on television, will select the final winner via a sound meter.

The idea for these three events goes back to 1991, when I wrote an As It Stands column for The Desert Post Newspapers in the Coachella Valley on the possibility of a Political Olympics. It too, dripped with satire.

Since that idea hasn't gone mainstream -- and the International Olympic Committee said thanks for sharing, but go away, I salvaged these three events to be recycled here. Our election process is a pathetic joke at best, and maintaining a sense of humor may help us overcome hurdles like living with clueless leaders.

With November elections looming, you'll have to move fast if you'd like to see our current election process revamped, as discussed here. Starting a grassroots movement in Humboldt shouldn't be too hard. We have our share of people dissatisfied with the current political system.

I'm looking for people who are sick of our current electoral process, and who would like to circulate petitions for my proposed election method. Let's organize state and national voters to call for this transparent election process, nationwide.

As It Stands, as you may have surmised, I don't have any politician pals, and I attribute that to good living.

Reality tourism - where did you spend your summer vacation?

Editor’s Note: This column ran in the print edition of The Times-Standard on Sept. 5th. For reasons unknown, it didn’t get in the Online edition. It still may, but for now this is it: 

                        By Dave Stancliff
    Reality tourism gets more real and dangerous every day.
    Forget spending a week of luxury living at some small, hard to pronounce island. That’s so yesterday. Ice motels and bars - think the Hotel de Glace, in Canada - are still cool and there’s nothing wrong with the exotic ecosystem tours offered by legions of travel agencies.
    I’m waiting to see how reclaimed oil rigs as Oceanic Eco-Resorts (inhabitat.com) turn out. Who knows? Perhaps they’ll revive tourism on the Gulf Coast?
   There are other exciting, somewhat dangerous, travel alternatives available for the adventuresome tourist.
    European tourists who want a thrilling vacation can go to Mexico and sign up for mock border crossings and tours of dangerous slums. I seriously doubt if many American tourists have taken advantage of these tours.
   Intelligent Risk Systems (iJet.com), a company that helps multinational organizations monitor, protect against and respond to global threats, ranks Northern Mexico alongside Algeria for being a “dire danger” to travelers. 
     Despite that, people still brave the dangerous trip to remote mountain areas that are home to leftist Zapatista rebels, or to the most crime-ridden neighborhoods of Mexico  City, rife with prostitutes, thieves, and murderers.
    Mexican promoters like Cesar Estrada, head of Universal Travel, are doing well, despite the country’s sick economy. Domestic tourists also go to the central state of Hidalgo where locals simulate the dangers of crossing the U.S. border illegally.
    The tourists pay about 200 pesos ($15) for the thrill of tromping through a national park at night while crazed ’polleros” (guides) push them to their physical limits.
     To me, it sounds like a hands-on course on what to expect for those thinking of illegally entering America. Talk about fun. I wonder if children get a discount?
     Oh those jokers! If a tourist collapses, they have mock border patrol trucks where the exhausted tourist is confined. Sound fun yet? Bet you wonder how long this odd tourism attraction has been going on?
     Turn the clock back about six years, when a U.S.-based tour operator, Global Exchange Reality Tours sought to educate tourists about social conditions in developing countries. At first, the tours went to Northern Mexico, but security deteriorated in those border regions.
    Now tourists go to Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas where they meet members of the Zapatistas, an indigenous rebel group. They enjoy the local food and culture and (I suspect) they get a thrill out of hanging with revolutionaries.
    I say, why stop there? With a couple of keystrokes, I discovered a list of the five most dangerous countries in the world, according to a 2009 survey by Forbes. Thrill-seeking tourists could go to:
  1. Somalia - no surprise. These rascals like to venture out into the coastal waters to hijack ships because there are slim pickings at home. Perhaps tourists could arrange to be on ships most likely to be attacked. For an extra charge, tourists could even man the water cannons while being attacked by Somali pirates!
2. Afghanistan - there are two ways of taking a tour there. Join the military and they’ll send you on a free tour (maybe two or three of them!) Or you could take your chances and hitchhike across the country with a local guide. Making out your will is a good idea if you choose this route.
3. Iraq - It’s getting so safe there we have pulled out our last combat battalion. I hear tourists are already paying $180 a night to sleep in Saddam Hussein’s bed.       
4. Democratic Republic of Congo - Tourists could mix their love of sports (as in running) with their desire for realism while they try to avoid marauding gangs of rebels who hate outsiders.
5. The Sudan - If you can’t make it to the Congo, don’t worry. A visit to the Sudan is the same exciting experience, with different warring tribes.
   As It Stands, I considered offering thrill-seekers a parachuting experience over the heart of the Florida Everglades, but changed my mind when I factored in the insurance - it would have eaten up my profits.

Insect Inspection: a look at bugs we love and hate

Love bug, cute as a bug, snug as a bug. Bugaboo.

If bugs are such pests, why are there so many cute, bug-related phrases? It’s because not all insects cause us to shriek and go running for a rolled-up newspaper. As the bedbug plague spreads across the U.S., we examine some of America’s most hated insects, while pausing to remember some of the bugs we love.

Go here to see a collection of bugs.