Original post by Barry Grey at the indefatigable WSWS.

Over the past two years an agency of the Clinton White House, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has secretly worked with all of the commercial television networks to broadcast anti-drug propaganda as part of the story lines of popular, prime time programs.

The pair look more like starved spacemen tucking into the tropical treats at the back of Jane Robert's home in Fareham, Hants.

Miss Roberts, 46, leaves out two coconuts a week and suspends them on pieces of string from her washing line and watches her furry friends dig in.

She said: "The first time I saw them feeding I nearly died laughing, they looked like a pair of astronauts and even now I can not stop chuckling every time I see them.

Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland were made for each other. Tim Burton was born to make 3D, and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was born to go 3D.

Today’s pop music is filled with symbols and messages aimed to shape and mold today’s youth. Apart from the occult symbolism discussed in other articles, other parts of the elite’s agenda are communicated through music videos. Two of those parts are transhumanism and the introduction of a police state. We’ll look at the way those agendas are part of the acts of Rihanna, Beyonce, Daddy Yankee and the Black Eyed Peas.

"Born Free, Taxed to Death" was chillyphantom's poem post for the day.. So I put on my clown makeup, and shot it in my kitchen with my digital camera and with a tambourine under my foot and a tinfoil hat. I think I got the spirit of the poem. (although I kinda flubbed a verse or two).... :-)

Available in pdf or html form.

p.7, as you can see under the strikethrough:

"WHILE WE DO NOT STRESS THE USE OF COERCIVE TECHNIQUES, WE DO WANT TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF THEM AND THE PROPER WAY TO USE THEM"

becomes, after the proposed revision:

"WHILE WE DEPLORE THE USE OF COERCIVE TECHNIQUES, WE DO WANT TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF THEM SO THAT YOU MAY AVOID THEM."

Mamoon Alabassi compares two "Iraq war" movies, "Avatar" and "Hurt locker", and argues that, for Iraqis who feel de-humanized by the media, the positive depiction of non-humans in "Avatar" is welcome: "If some humans can relate to the 'humanity' of non-humans in fiction, then surely they would find it easier to identify with the true humanity of de-humanized humans in real life."

Khagendra Thapa Magar is travelling to Europe to campaign for the Guinness World Record title. He applied for a place in the record book in October, soon after turning 18, but said he has not received any response.

Magar's family initially filed a claim when he was 14, but it was rejected because he was not an adult and there was a chance he might grow.

They say doctors in Nepal have not been able to explain why Magar is so small.

Seems someone got tired of the overreach of the government. Breaking news is the Austin IRS/CIA/FBI building just got slammed by a person that burned the house down and went all kamikaze into Big Brother. Would it be wrong to call this person a freedom loving patriot? Now we get to watch the the media spin about how horrible of a person to do such a terrible thing to our benevolent handlers.

Cobra Gold bushtucker trial: US Marines eat frogs, scorpions and lizards in jungle survival training
Marine prepares to put a scorpion in his mouth during jungle survival training as part of the annual combined military exercise Cobra Gold 2010 at a Thai Navy base in Chonburi province

Did you catch the Super Bowl? If you did, that makes one of us. Your viewership helped make Super Bowl XLIV the most watched TV show of all time. Estimates are that more than 106 million people watched this coveted professional football game. Yay ball fans!

Venice Carnival 2010: masks and the flight of the angel in pictures

Lifelike Sexy Robot Girlfriend Talks Sports as Well as Having Sex with You

summary by Anne (praiseworthy and tireless) of The Internet Patrol.

The ultimate female robot has just hit the scenes. The Roxxxy robot - (not Roxxy robot or Roxy robot because, you see, "Roxxxy" is triple-X) - is one sexy robot girl. In fact, Roxxxy is a sex robot - which means that as girl robots go she is, well, the ultimate fantasy robot. And, indeed, for some the ultimate fantasy girlfriend. Not only does Roxxxy talk sports, respond to touch, and come with three ... er ... serviceable ports ... but she also sports five distinct personalities, ranging from 'Frigid Farrah' to 'Wild Wendy' (bad robot!) and everything in between - including a 'Mature Martha' and 'S&M Susan' (we kid you not). Want a topless robot? A bottomless robot? Roxxxy can be anything you want her to be!

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Hines says that initially he thought about creating a robotic home health care aide. “But there was tremendous regulatory and bureaucratic paperwork to get through. We were stuck. So I looked at other markets,” explains Hines.

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.

"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said.

Graffiti legend Banksy is dipping his toe into the world of film, as his new movie premieres at the Sundance Film Festival.

Described as the world’s first street art disaster movie, Exit Through The Gift Shop made its debut on Sunday.

The film tells the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner.

Elin Nordegren had been ready to separate from the world’s richest sportsman after reports he had affairs with 19 different women.

But the former Swedish swimwear model is now said to have changed her mind after spending five days with him at a sex addiction rehabilitation centre.

The 30-year-old is believed to be pleased about the efforts that Woods has made to save their marriage.

Radaronline, the US celebrity website, claimed a source said: “She was happy when she came home. Things went well.”

The department has received praise for the hour-long rescue operation, but has also come under criticism for using so many resources.

Mr Ruda said there was no extra cost because the firefighters were on duty and stationed nearby.

The German shepherd, nicknamed Vernon after the southern California town where it was found, was saved when a firefighter dangling from a helicopter grabbed the dog and held tight as they were taken to an overpass. The dog bit the firefighter, who lost a nail and fractured his thumb.

Map of USA Puzzle... THIS IS NEAT

Wonder how a high school senior would do on this one?
See how you do in placing the states of the United States Of America ..

All you do is look at the top of the page and drag'n'drop the state to where it belongs. [Smart map, varies the order of the states' placement with each new try!]

It ain't easy [mostly because placing a state in the precise location when it as yet has no boundaries in place is a bit tricky! No half credit for close but over a tad....]

It was surreal but absolutely fascinating," said the 40-year-old photographer from Bristol. "I wasn't entirely comfortable with it the whole time. As a photographer I am just an observer - I don't have a view point on it and I leave that up to the reader...

Patti Turner with Kyra, in her cheetah-themed bedroom in Indianapolis, Indiana

Our elite Boomer ethos—that America is wrong, that machines are bad, that the Bad Dad who made us go to Vietnam is who America is—gives us cultural expressions like Avatar that sell massively in theaters and video-game consoles alike and inculcate a species of self-loathing.

If stories of heroes are the stuff that keeps cultures going, what we are devouring is another story of a hero who is heroic only in rejecting who we are.

This sort of thinking is distinctive to the post-colonialists of the West. Today’s active colonial powers will have none of that thinking.

WARNING:
EXPLICIT LANGUAGE.
NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
PARENTAL DISCRETION ADVISED.

Please do not view if explicit language offends you irregardless of how perceptive, timely, appropriate or witty it may be. Thank you.

of course, they may actually HAVE oil - but this was too incisive a commentary to leave unposted...

This guy is fantastic!

For most American teenagers the very thought of sticking together whatever they could find as their prom outfit would be horrific. However, that is exactly what high school students across the States have been doing each summer for the past ten years for Duck-Tape's 'Stuck at Prom' contest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66nqhVtq6xo

Each winter Romeo the black wolf descends from the hills of Alaska's Tongass National Forest to play with domesticated dogs on their winter walks.

For the past six years, wildlife photographer John Hyde has been following the friendly animal. And gaining the huge wolf's trust has allowed him to take these intimate photos.

"I have been following Romeo ever since I heard there was a lone wolf patrolling the surrounding area," revealed the 56-year-old from Juneau, Alaska.

Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect ...

Director Oliver Stone's upcoming Showtime documentary miniseries "Secret History of America" promises to put mass murderers such as Stalin and Hitler "in context."

Thanks to the success of downloads, the UK singles market had its best year ever in 2009, with more than 150m copies sold

Here we are. What now?

New Year. New Decade. New Hopes, dreams, expectations. What now? Change we can believe in is just around the next bend so all we have to do is sit here, have a beer and let good things happen. After all, the bowl games are on.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, the country's prime minister, are the subject of a rare spoof in a New Year's cartoon that shows the leaders dancing across Red Square.

Mr Medvedev plays an accordion and turns pirouettes while Mr Putin performs traditional dances while thwacking a tambourine on his bottom.

It may only have been a cartoon, but a two-and-a-half-minute segment broadcast on state television on Friday gently mocking Russia's ruling pair was greeted with surprise by Russians used to stern-faced messages from their leaders.

The Digital Economy Bill, which requires internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect users who are accused of illegal filesharing, will cost consumers up to £500 million, the Government has estimated.

The Bill, which is expected to become law next year, will add £25 a year to the cost of broadband, according to ISPs. The Government’s impact assessment document [available in PDF form], which examines the likely effects of the Bill, estimates that around 40,000 households will give up their broadband connections entirely to avoid the higher fees.

"Avatar may well be the biggest anti War film of all time. It stands against everything the West is identified with. It is against greed and capitalism, it is against interventionism, it is against colonialism and imperialism, it is against technological orientation, it is against America and Britain. It puts Wolfowitz, Blair and Bush on trial without even mentioning their names. It enlightens the true meaning of ethics as a dynamic judgmental process rather than   fixed moral guidelines (such as the Ten Commandments or the 1948 Human Right Declaration). It throws a very dark light on our murderous tendencies towards other people, their belief and rituals…"

Gilad Atzmon views Joel and Ethan Coen’s film “A serious man”  as “a cinematic allegory of Jewish cultural detachment from nature” and “a masterpiece that elaborates on the abnormalities of the Jewish tribal existence”. It “reflects on Jewish Diaspora life, Jewish segregation and the misery of operating within the kosher tribal template”.

"'A serious man' does not explicitly touch upon issues related to Israel, Zionism, occupation, organ harvesting or anything distinctly identified with the Jewish state... Yet, [it] portrays a clear message regarding Israel and Zionism, for Israel is the Jewish state and, in spite of the Zionist promise to erect a civilized nation, Israel functions as a Jewish ghetto and is subject to all the symptoms of abnormality conveyed by the Coens."

A Serious Man does not explicitly touch upon issues related to Israel, Zionism, occupation, organ harvesting or anything distinctly identified with the Jewish state. It instead reflects on Jewish Diaspora life, Jewish segregation and the misery of operating within the kosher tribal template. It is about Jewish alienation both natural and human. Yet, A Serious Man also portrays a clear message regarding Israel and Zionism, for Israel is the Jewish state and, in spite of the Zionist promise to erect a civilised nation, Israel functions as a Jewish ghetto and is subject to all the symptoms of abnormality conveyed by the Coens.

The 3-D film, which already stood at number one took $75 million (£47 million) during the three days beginning on Dec 25, said its distributor 20th Century Fox.

The film lost just three per cent of its opening-weekend audience as its 10-day total soared to $212.3 million across the US and Canada.