pixel rust

army men

army men

"But now, the war on terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that the prisoners should not be covered by habeas – or even by the Geneva Conventions – because they're the most fearsome terrorist enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes? Reporter Jack Hitt unveils everything we know about who these prisoners are. In interviews with two former detainees, he finds out the consequences of taking away habeas, for them and for us."

Link to This American Life Real Audio File.

army men

The War in Iraq Costs
$245,332,217,217

army men

"Like thousands of other soldiers, Army veteran Mike Woods said he developed bizarre symptoms after serving in the first Gulf War -- blackouts, chest pain and numbness in the extremities.

Woods looked to the Veterans Administration for help. He said his VA doctor prescribed him a drug called Obecalp.

'She told me there was this new drug out that would really help me with all of my physical conditions, and my pain. She really wanted me to try it,' said Woods."

army men

" A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

army men

""We want to give our troops at least a two-horsepower augmentation of strength and endurance," says Ephrahim Garcia, who directed the exoskeleton program at DARPA and is now a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Cornell University. The agency gave $50 million in grants to Sarcos, a Salt Lake City engineering firm; Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and the Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley to create a legs-only exoskeleton ready for trials by 2003. A whole-body version could be ready by 2005.

Garcia says versions of the suit could be created for different missions. "Now the soldier can carry 120 pounds and move 2 kilometers an hour," he explains. But, with a suit designed for deep reconnaissance, "he will be able to carry 200 to 300 pounds, which will feel like 5 to 10 pounds, and he'll be able to go as fast as 8 kilometers an hour."

army men

army men

"I refute every moral lesson my parents ever taught me about how I
somehow "owe" the world something simply for not being a complete
fucking retard. The only thing I owe is to myself- because our entire
country is going down hill fast- to accumulate as much fucking cash as
I can in my life and build up walls both literal and figurative to
protect myself from the violent and simpleminded. I don't have the
energy anymore to keep feeling bad for, or empathizing with, people
who are this. freakin'. idiotic. South Dakota is running itself into
the pits, and the worse they get the more any remaining intelligent
people will leave, which will further run that wintry cesspool into
the ground. And fuckin' good riddance, I say, in all the blood and
pain and anguish that will mean to personal lives as that state is in
its death throes."

hincandenza, from the metafilter comments page

army men

I'm fed up with Neo-America. Fed up with Wars. Fed up with Wire Taps. Fed up with the NSA. Fed up with Torture. Fed up with Halliburton. Fed up with Sad Ass New Orleans. Fed up with Iraq. Fed up with Enron. Fed up with Court Nominations. Fed up with Scandel. Fed up with Karl Rove. Fed up with Dick Cheney. Fed up with no Body Armor. Fed up with Body Counts. Fed up with I.E.D's. Fed up with Diebold. Fed up with Paperless Voting. Fed up with Medicare Cuts. Fed up with Stem Cell dead ends. Fed up with the RIAA. Fed up with Root Kits. Fed up with DRM. Fed up with Intelligent Design. Fed up with Interest Rates. Fed up with long winded posts about nothing. Fed up with Religion. Fed up with Church & State blurry lines. Fed up with Abstinence Programs. Fed up with No Bid Contracts. Fed up with Kickbacks. Fed up of so many things I don't know where to start. Here we are in the shit. The deep dark shit. And all we care about is People Magazine. I'm fed up with America. Like a deal gone bad. You held so much promise and fell so far. Fed up with Love it or Leave it. Fed up with Yellow Ribbons made in China stuck on Ford Trucks made in Japan. Fed up with Patriot Acts. Fed up with No Fly Lists. Fed up with 1984 looking trite. Fed up with The Carlyle Group. Fed up with KBR. Fed up with Semtex. Fed up with Israel. Fed up with XBOX. Fed up with Grand Theft Auto. Fed up with laid off dip shits who still vote republican. Fed up with Democrats who would not stand up against Hitler himself. Fed up with broken systems. Fed up with being sold out, short changed and waking up in a roofie haze 3 days down the river without a paddle.

Can you help?