ZEE ???


*look in mirror*

Me not Zee.

*polish and repaint sign*



*make fresh batch blue juice*

*polish floor of pub with 5 coats industrial polish*







Laters all. Time for me to Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hockey is not torture ..... Hockey is a religion and the Habs are the gods.

What can I say.....I'm from Montreal. lol

The latest directive says in "exceptional circumstances" where there is a threat to human life or public safety, urgency may require CSIS to "share the most complete information available at the time with relevant authorities, including information based on intelligence provided by foreign agencies that may have been derived from the use of torture or mistreatment."

In such rare circumstances, it may not always be possible to determine how a foreign agency obtained the information, and that ignoring such information solely because of its source would represent "an unacceptable risk to public safety."

"Therefore, in situations where a serious risk to public safety exists, and where lives may be at stake, I expect and thus direct CSIS to make the protection of life and property its overriding priority, and share the necessary information — properly described and qualified — with appropriate authorities."

The directive says the final decision to investigate and analyze information that may have been obtained by methods condemned by the Canadian government falls to the CSIS director or his deputy director for operations — a decision to be made "in accordance with Canada's legal obligations."

Finally, it says the minister is to be notified "as appropriate" of a decision to use such information.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/07/pol-cp-torture-csis.html

So the Intelligence agencies of the US are that incompetent?

A President must be vetted for security reasons as well. A lot of classified information goes to him. I would hope that a thorough check is done of each Presidential candidate by Intelligence agencies to be sure that there is no problem is done.

He fooled them all?






Yup. This is funny as hell. American citizens doing their very best to make their Intelligence / Security Agencies look incompetent and succeeding.

Not the first time it happens.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/film-rolls-as-troops-burn-dead/2005/10/18/1129401256154.html



Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
Articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice

Sub Chapter X. Punitive Articles
Art. 134. General article

Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special, or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.





Hopefully the Marines involved will be identified, charged and punished.

Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau said it best:


“The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.”

Who says that gamers waste their time? 10 years of research that got stuck finally done in 3 weeks by online gamers.



The players of the online protein-folding game Foldit (which we’ve reported on before) outperformed scientists by discovering the structure of a protein involved in the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV). The M-PMV is a retrovirus, like HIV, that causes AIDS in monkeys and apes. Understanding its structure will help researchers develop antiretroviral drugs that can fight HIV—but this has been a mystery for over a decade.

Now, with the help of groups of (generally) non-scientist players and their pattern-recognition skills, scientists from the University of Washington have joined with groups including "Foldit Contenders Group" and "Foldit Void Crushers Group" to model the crystal structure of the M-PMV retroviral protease (PR), a protein responsible for viral growth.

What exactly is protein folding, and how are gamers doing it? Our earlier article on Foldit does a great job explaining both, but I’ll briefly summarize here.

Proteins consist of long chains of amino acids, molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Figuring out the order of the amino acids is easy, but that's only part of the story—the amino acid chain folds into complex shapes that determine the function of the protein. Due to the incredibly high number of degrees of freedom, understanding this structure is one of the hardest problems in modern science. A lot of research has focused on designing programs dedicated to solving this problem, which is mainly an energy minimization task (the correct shape is the most stable, the one with the lowest energy).

Minimization algorithms only work so well, however. The idea behind Foldit is that human pattern recognition and problem solving skills can succeed where the algorithms fail. The group's first publication described this success; now, Foldit’s players have solved an important problem related to AIDS research.

The actual protein they considered is a protease, an enzyme that cuts up other proteins In retroviruses like M-PMV and HIV. It's a necessary component of the virus' life cycle. Because of this important role, protease inhibitors have been the subject of intense drug development, and understanding the exact structure of the protease could help this effort immensely.

The Foldit players were given ten different, incorrect models as a starting place. Over the course of sixteen days, players tweaked the designs, coming up with tens of thousands of variations. Then, the breakthroughs: a player named "spvincent" came up with a structure much better than any previous iteration, and two more players ("grabhorn" and "mimi") quickly improved on it. With a few more days of work, the researchers completed the solution. Achievement unlocked, indeed.

In fact, according to the Foldit website, the research team is currently working on at least two more papers based on the game’s success. One will take the recipes (sets of interactions between proteins) created by Foldit players, and compare them to those from state-of-the-art algorithms. Another describes an entirely new synthetic protein discovered with the help of Foldit.

What does the future hold for gaming-inspired citizen science? It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to picture gold-farmers converted to protein-folders. If scientific problems can be turned into something fun and easy-to-use (like Foldit), and offer Achievements or Trophies to show off, perhaps the legions of gamers could spend their free time a bit more productively, solving important scientific problems.



http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/09/gamers-discover-protein-structure-relevant-to-hiv-drugs.ars

Great Northern Ki Ki Bird


No feathers on this bird from land of snow
Rarely, if ever, heard in lands of sun
Of it's existence only climatologists know
Only those of the north hear the cry and run
When -40 is the temp of the morning
And winds blow the crystalline snow
You can hear it's cry as an early warning
That you'll freeze your butt you now know


Ki KI KI Kiriiiiiist It's Cold !!!!!!

ty

Just that bumping from that far back is frowned upon.

Nothing against reprints though.



Erotique

A gentle touch, a caress
I trace the soft line of jaw
Gently from ear to chin
Raise your face, look into your eyes
With my thumb, caress your lips
Lower my face, our mouths meet
Warmth exchanged, heat rising
Breath, sweet breath exchanged
My lips trace a path down your throat
I gently bite the base of your neck
Fingertips trace softness of your arms
I feel the rise and fall of breast
Your breathing, as mine, quickens
I feel the heat from your body
Caress your hips, your sides
Slowly moving to your breasts
Tracing the curve of each
Run my hands down your belly
Feel the curve of your hips
Kiss you, deeply, passionately
Trace a line of kisses between
Breasts soft as silk, you gasp
My tongue traces down to belly
I feel your need, feel the heat
Kiss the hollows of your hips
Lips trace kisses down your legs
Returning to where they join
Inhale your perfume, feel the heat
Tongue the moistness, taste you
Kiss, nibble, that sweet flower
You take my head, raise your hips
Desire rising, passion mounting
Fever pitched, need to be one
Pull me up, hold me close
Caress your hair, soft whispers
You take me, guide me, envelope me
Joining our souls, joining our love
Seeking release, aching for it
Moans, whispers, whimpers, cries
Language of our passion, our love



.........................................................



Erotique 2



Music is low
Glow of candlelight
Kiss deep, slow
Touch feather light
Raising our desires
Candle flame flickering
Lighting our fires
Ecstacy to bring
Love songs play
Whispers in ear
Together to stay
Into eyes peer
Our lips brush
Breast caressed
Feel blood rush
Against me pressed
Smell your hair
Feel your heart
Time to share
Not be apart
Curve of hip
Softness of thigh
Neck gently nip
Our passions fly
Open your lips
Taste your nectar
Raise your hips
Pull me closer
Needing you now
Feel slick desire
Wanting me now
Quench the fire
You envelope me
Feel wet caress
Sweet, sweet ecstasy
Nethers tightly press
Release is nigh
Legs wrap around
A natural high
Over edge bound
Lips together crushed
Bodies locked together
Pulses are rushed
Wishing 'twas forever
Music is low
Basked in candlelight
You are aglow
Beautiful sight tonight



...........................................................




Erotique 3


The warmth from the fireplace
Cool compared to heat from you
As seen from the flush on your face
As your beauty is exposed to view
The twinkling of the stars this night
Fade next to the sparkle of your eyes
That come as I take infinite delight
In the form that my eyes apprise
The sweet curves cause desire
Passion flares and then burns
Need becomes a growing fire
Which in my heart adjourns
Reaching out with soft caress
To show the feelings of my soul
As each gentle curve I assess
Seeking to learn of the whole
Finding places sweetly hidden
Tongue darting, tasting in delight
To those secret places bidden
Hot passions in you to ignite
Never wanting this to end
Forever wishing this to last
Wanting time to suspend
There be no future or past
Finding in that special flower
Hidden in its petal's folds
The sweetest of any nectar
As slowly it opens, unfolds
Yet nature demands we be united
Become one within our bliss
For that which we have incited
Cannot be ended with a kiss
Higher than the stars to fly
Our bodies joined, souls as one
Never shall I be able to deny
That each time we've just begun
Making love is such a wonder
Showing love with every touch
Joining souls one to other
Love was meant to be just such

Here's 3 of mine from the vaults.

Just please don't bump them up.



http://mingle2.com/topic/show/12668

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/14708

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/19243

At least use the actual cover

http://hnn.us/articles/862.html

How about not adding to it at all. The area is in lands sacred to the Lakota. It is considered the Heart of the Lakota Nation. These lands were left to to the Lakota by treaty but now they cannot even go there for their own ceremonies without permission of Park Service.

Strange thing.....looked at from a satellite view ..it looks like a human heart.

World War II

During World War II both Japanese troops, especially the Kempeitai, and the officers of the Gestapo,[112] the German secret police, used waterboarding as a method of torture.[113] During the Japanese occupation of Singapore the Double Tenth Incident occurred. This included waterboarding, by the method of binding or holding down the victim on his back, placing a cloth over his mouth and nose, and pouring water onto the cloth. In this version, interrogation continued during the torture, with the interrogators beating the victim if he did not reply and the victim swallowing water if he opened his mouth to answer or breathe. When the victim could ingest no more water, the interrogators would beat or jump on his distended stomach.[114][115][116]

Chase J. Nielsen, one of the U.S. airmen who flew in the Doolittle raid following the attack on Pearl Harbor, was subjected to waterboarding by his Japanese captors.[117] At their trial for war crimes following the war, he testified "Well, I was put on my back on the floor with my arms and legs stretched out, one guard holding each limb. The towel was wrapped around my face and put across my face and water poured on. They poured water on this towel until I was almost unconscious from strangulation, then they would let up until I'd get my breath, then they'd start over again... I felt more or less like I was drowning, just gasping between life and death."[38] The United States hanged Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American prisoners of war.[9]

Use by law enforcement

In 1981 Texas sheriff James Parker and three of his deputies were convicted for conspiring to force confessions. The complaint said they "subject prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal to coerce confessions. This generally included the placement of a towel over the nose and mouth of the prisoner and the pouring of water in the towel until the prisoner began to move, jerk, or otherwise indicate that he was suffocating and/or drowning".[117] The sheriff was sentenced to ten years in prison, and the deputies to four years.



International law

All nations that are signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture have agreed they are subject to the explicit prohibition on torture under any condition. This was affirmed by Saadi v. Italy in which the European Court of Human Rights, on 28 February 2008, upheld the absolute nature of the torture ban by ruling that international law permits no exceptions to it.[183][184] The treaty states "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture".[185] Additionally, signatories of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are bound to Article 5, which states, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".[186] Many signatories of the convention have made specific declarations and reservations regarding the interpretation of the term "torture" and restricted the jurisdiction of its enforcement.[187] However, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, stated on the subject "I would have no problems with describing this practice as falling under the prohibition of torture", and that violators of the UN Convention Against Torture should be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction.[188]

Bent Sørensen, Senior Medical Consultant to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and former member of the United Nations Committee Against Torture has said:

It's a clear-cut case: Waterboarding can without any reservation be labeled as torture. It fulfils all of the four central criteria that according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) defines an act of torture. First, when water is forced into your lungs in this fashion, in addition to the pain you are likely to experience an immediate and extreme fear of death. You may even suffer a heart attack from the stress or damage to the lungs and brain from inhalation of water and oxygen deprivation. In other words there is no doubt that waterboarding causes severe physical and/or mental suffering– one central element in the UNCAT's definition of torture. In addition the CIA's waterboarding clearly fulfills the three additional definition criteria stated in the Convention for a deed to be labeled torture, since it is 1) done intentionally, 2) for a specific purpose and 3) by a representative of a state– in this case the US.[189]

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, concurred by stating, in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, that he believes waterboarding violates Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.[190]

...............................................................

Judging by American military and civil precedents, International agreements and current opinion of Director D.I.A.


It's torture.

A link to the actual UN site showing these figures would be better than a e-mail circulated to affect elections.

The odds are that they vote opposite to American voting on various proposals. No doubt most of them regarding Israel which the US backs. Such voting is not Anti-American which this circulated e-mail would have people believe.

At a Monday news conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about Davis’ case, declined to weigh in. “Well, as you know, the president has written that he believes the death penalty does little to deter crime but that some crimes merit the ultimate punishment,” Carney said. He referred questions about the pending Davis execution to the U.S. Justice Department. The case was one of the most popular topics throughout Wednesday on the social media Twitter site. MacPhail, 27, was moonlighting on a security detail shortly after midnight on Aug. 19, 1989, when he rushed to help a homeless man who had cried out while he was pistol-whipped in a Burger King parking lot. MacPhail was shot three times before he could draw his gun. One witness said the killer wore a “smirky-like smile” and stood over the fallen officer, firing again and again, including once in MacPhail’s face. Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who accompanied Davis to the scene, was the first to implicate Davis to police. Other witnesses said they either saw Davis fire the fatal shots or identified Davis as the killer by the clothes he wore. Davis was tried, convicted and sentenced to death during a 1991 trial. In ensuing years, however, several key prosecution witnesses renounced or backed off their trial testimony, while others issued sworn statements that said Coles had told them he was the actual trigger man. Coles, once asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the accusations, declined to comment. At trial, he testified that he left the immediate crime scene before he heard shots fired. The new testimony and evidence gained notoriety because the murder weapon was never found, and no DNA, fingerprint or blood evidence tied Davis to the killing. At least three jurors who sentenced Davis to death recently signed sworn statements that said they now had doubts about their verdicts and asked that Davis be spared execution.



http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/deat/US/davis1269.htm




No hard evidence tied him to the killing. It was all strictly 'eyewitness' recanted later.

With the State's 'Star Witness' Sylvester “Redd” Coles fingered as well.

Wow !! So if I cross the border using my passport at the border to show that I am entering the country I should be shot??

Kiss the tourist trade goodbye.

It's already legal in New York, Ohio, Idaho, Maine and of all places ...District of Columbia.

Cases brought before the courts there have been won by the defendants and in Ohio police are being educated on how / when to react.

http://www.gotopless.org/news.php?item.3.1

In Canada a Federal Law was overturned by an Ontario Provincial Appeals Court.