I think this image of a TSA full body scan expresses how many have many of us have felt this year as a nation and as an individual; frozen, exposed, and helpless. Tonight I plan to plunge a dagger into 2009's heart, drink its blood, gain its strength, and dance on its grave. You?

Meanwhile in Tehran...

With all the holiday/healthcare/terror distractions of the past week, it's understandable to have overlooked the fresh riots in Tehran. Fortunately there is a deluge of home made video coming out of Iran, even though there are reports that the government there has shut down the internet. Here's some samples of what made it out:



It seems this protest took the government by suprise, and without the Basij (roving bands of lawless political thugs ) the riot police found themselves cornered and out numbered:



According to the translation on youtube the riot cops beg for forgiveness while the protesters harange them for the murders of ten protesters earlier in the day. While the Iranian regime's response will no doubt be monsterous and brutal, it's momentarily comforting to see that the reform movement can still muster thousands of bodies for a protest in a way that takes the regime by suprise.



This photo of a protester chasing a riot policeman with his own baton I thought was particularly meaningful, and can be found here along with 161 similar pics.

Christmas thwarted by underwear bomber, political correctness, and unionization?

After the close call we had in Detroit on Christmas day, we were treated to a hysterical brainstorming of precautions we now must take in order to fly safely. This segment on Fox and Friends came up with voyeuristic body scanners and segregated lines for Muslims:



The technology Christine Fair mentioned costs millions of dollars and allows security to seen essentially every detail beyond your clothes all they way to your bones, which evidently includes your junk, something a BBC reporter thankfully covered up in this report on the subject.

That was pretty much all Fair could get out before the requisite screaming match ensued, with conservative talk show host Mike Gallagher flogging the PC bogeyman and calling for segregated lines for Muslims. He wasn't the only one pushing that noise on Fox of course:



The last point made by the guest opposite Gallagher is important; the would be underwear bomber was on a no fly list, his father had warned the U.S. embassy of him, he bought a one way ticket with cash, and had no luggage. By way of all those factors he should have never been on that plane, and someone needs to be held accountable. But piling all the Muslims into a segregated line to be strip searched one by one isn't only morally reprehensible, but logistically prohibitive, as Christine Fair attempted to point out in the clip before.

Senator Jim DeMint, on the other hand, sees another threat to our airport security; collective bargaining:



Apparently to many personalities on television a failed terrorist attack is nothing more than an opportunity to carp on a totally unrelated issue. I for one sleep better at night knowing intelligent and moral minds like that of Jim DeMint are hard at work keeping us safe.

Sen. Ben Nelson: ALL YOUR UTERUS ARE BELONG TO ME.

I almost died laughing when I caught this post on Firedoglake:



For those not geeky enough to get the reference, here's an explanation.

But in all seriousness, the compromise that got Senator Ben Nelson to support the healthcare reform bill may affect the availability of abortions in conservative states:

Mr. Reid’s amendment includes tighter restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions sought by Mr. Nelson. Health insurance plans would not be required or forbidden to cover abortions, but states could prohibit the coverage of abortions by plans that are offered for sale through new government-regulated marketplaces.

Meaning states with conservative governments can prevent this reform from reaching those who need it most; their own constituents.

Merry Christmas Ginger Ninjas!

Being quasi ginger myself (facial hair only) I think this off color Christmas card is hilarious:

A LEADING UK supermarket chain has withdrawn a Christmas card that poked fun at "gingers'' after claims of discrimination.

Davinia Phillips, a mum of three flame-haired children, saw red when she came across a card which stated: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones.''

She lodged a complaint with the store and went public to defend redheads everywhere against "gingerism''.

"I kept thinking is it me because I've got ginger kids and I'm a bit over-reactive mother?'' she told BBC television.

"But everybody I've spoken to said if that had of been about an obese child, or a child with glasses, or a child with braces, or a coloured child, then there would be a massive uproar.''

Ms Phillips, 30, from York, added that a few weeks ago her children returned from school upset because they had been called "ginger ninjas''.

People in the UK seem to have a fixation on the gingers; here's a hilarious bit by Catherine Tate that takes it to the next level:

Hell hath no fury like a Lieberman's scorn.

I think this cartoon from Tom Tomorrow pretty much sums up what Joe Lieberman has been up to this week.

The Daily Show pops Beck's gold bubble.

I wrote about this last month; opportunistic gold brokers simultaneously advertising to buy and sell gold during programs that hype economic collapse and social unrest. It turns out Glenn Beck is up to his eyeballs in this scam; while he is probably the most outlandish prophet of doom and gloom on television, he's also a paid spokesperson for Goldline.com:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Beck - Not So Mellow Gold
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

An obvious conflict of interest, but this is one of the career perks for professional bamboozlers like Beck. If he can dupe people into sinking their nest egg into a commodity that is close to it's highest price in history, that's only morally reprehensible, not illegal. The only blow back on him would be a hit to his credibility, something Beck parted with long ago.

War on Christmas officially kicks off.

Looks like my heathen brethren are mounting an early offensive this year, by predictably infiltrating mass transit systems:



This bus add is courtesy of AmericanHumanist.org and can be found in and around the D.C. area.



And this one, from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, I've seen personally right here in Seattle. Here's a detailed shot:



Sure, our sports teams suck, but our atheists pick up the slack.

Rachel Maddow confronts a gay-cure hawking quack.

Another example of why Rachel Maddow is one of the most important journalists in America, here she mops the floor with Richard Cohen, a pseudo-psychological shyster who makes a living "curing" people of homosexuality.

As vile and exploitative as he is in this country, he's managing to do even more damage in Uganda, where one of his books is being used as evidence to support new laws making homosexuality punishable by death. Cohen is quick to condemn his Ugandan counterparts, but still manages to absolve himself of any responsibility for the pain and suffering his fraudulent career has caused. Maddow does a good job of cutting through his smiling, affable facade by reading passages from his book that reduce homosexuals to psychologically disturbed victims who need "curing":

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Climategate feeding frenzy!

It didn't take long for scientists and journalists to sink their twin fangs of sarcasm into the doughy flesh of the latest climate change denier phony scandal known as "Climategate":



And if that wasn't flippant enough for you:



Who knew nerds could be such dicks?

Meanwhile, the who and why of hacked email story is slowly being fleshed out, and it's looking more and more like this could be international espionage:

The news that a leaked set of emails appeared to show senior climate scientists had manipulated data was shocking enough. Now the story has become more remarkable still.

The computer hack, said a senior member of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, was not an amateur job, but a highly sophisticated, politically motivated operation. And others went further. The guiding hand behind the leaks, the allegation went, was that of the Russian secret services.

The leaked emails, which claimed to provide evidence that the unit's head, Professor Phil Jones, colluded with colleagues to manipulate data and hide "unhelpful" research from critics of climate change science, were originally posted on a server in the Siberian city of Tomsk, at a firm called Tomcity, an internet security business.

The FSB security services, descendants of the KGB, are believed to invest significant resources in hackers, and the Tomsk office has a record of issuing statements congratulating local students on hacks aimed at anti-Russian voices, deeming them "an expression of their position as citizens, and one worthy of respect". The Kremlin has also been accused of running co-ordinated cyber attacks against websites in neighbouring countries such as Estonia, with which the Kremlin has frosty relations, although the allegations were never proved.

"It's very common for hackers in Russia to be paid for their services," Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, said in Copenhagen at the weekend. "It's a carefully made selection of emails and documents that's not random. This is 13 years of data, and it's not a job of amateurs."

There is a real potential that this story could be very revealing as to the methods by which nonsensical denier anecdotes are dispensed to the public, as well as to powers that generate them.

Climate change rap be blowin up!

Here's a remarkably informative and entertaining rap on the climate change debate from Australian comedian Robert Foster:



It's worth noting that though the production quality is pretty low, Foster's "Flight of the Concords" style aussi/qiwi rap is far more humorous and insightful than his conservative counterparts I posted about last week.

Of course, mocking sanctimonious gasbags like Al Gore and Lord Christopher Monkton will always score points with me. It takes some real stones to hold leaders on both sides of the debate up as opportunists cashing in on their respective believer/skeptic markets.

Arseholegate.

BBC guest Profesor Andrew Watson provides an appropriate response to the typical American cable news shout-fest routine: "Will you shut up just a second? What an arsehole!"

Obama ponders legalizing drugs, loses train of thought.

Obama gets a surprisingly rational question from what can only be described as a snot nosed punk:



While it looks like legalization isn't going to be part of any government stimulus program in the near future, that hasn't stopped the black market from cashing in on Obama's brand.



Obama E.



Obama LSD.




And Obama heroin. Really? I suppose these are more useful products than worthless coins or collectors plates.