BotCast #12 – Earth Mountains

BotCast #12 DEUXIÈME ÉPISODE EN MP3 SURROUND!!!!!!!! On vous présente des Mercédez dans la flotte, Microsoft Firefox, des jouets qui disent des gros mots, 3462 miles à nager, et des chiens sniffeurs de disques. Pour écouter le cast en son surround, visitez www.mp3surround.com pour downloader le codec ou le Player surround. Pas grave si vous n’avez pas de Surround, ça joue pareil sur votre lecteur MP3 standard. 3 avril 2007. NOTES & ARTICLES BotCast-0012.mp3 BotCast-0012.m3uBreak: Milan Kolarovic, One of a kind www.milankolarovic.comOutTro: Breeze & Spay, Earth MountainsRemerciements: www.simple-net.ca , www.TacticalFM.com et les Rotisseries Au Cock     -Show number 12 -Date 3 avril 2007 -Simple-net.ca – TacticalFM -Rotisseries au Cock ————————————————- INTRO Le BotCast with cheese – Site Web: www.ChickenorFish.com/botcast Email: botcast@cof Mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/botcast NEW GoogleGroup! pour recevoir les notifications qui indiquent un nouveau BotCast Abonne-toi au RSS à travers iTunes ou ton RSS reader favori ——————————————— FIRST SEGMENT ———————————————- BREAK -Simple-Net promo -TacticalFM -Toune de Milan Kolarovic One of a kind 4:28 -Tequila ——————————————— SECOND SEGMENT –Game Tech Support requests: ——————————————— Site Web: www.ChickenorFish.com/botcast Email: botcast@cof Mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/botcast NEW GoogleGroup! pour recevoir les notifications qui indiquent un nouveau BotCast Abonne-toi au RSS à travers iTunes ou ton RSS reader favori —————————————————– OUTTRO OUTTRO Tune: Earth Moutains Artist: Breeze & Spay Group: Capacala Year: From demo: Duration: 3:25 Type: ProTracker Channels: 8 Samples: 14 Size: 149k Patterns: 20, 20 different, 1 unused Canada blocks bid by Arab countries for vote Israel’s nuclear capabilities VIENNA, Austria (AP) – More than a dozen Arab countries were blocked by a Canadian motion in their bid to… ur<x>l: http://www.ziopedia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1974&Itemid=0 http://www.ziopedia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1974&Itemid=0 Semiconductor Execs Indicted for DRAM Price Fixing A U.S. grand jury has indicted three former semiconductor vendor executives, two from Samsung Electronics and one from Hynix Semiconductor America, for their alleged roles in a “global conspiracy” to fix DRAM prices, the U.S. Department of Justice said. ur<x>l: http://digg.com/tech_news/Semiconductor_Execs_Indicted_for_DRAM_Price_Fixing Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections ABC News has obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still being used on many voting machines.The SAIC study also shows myriad other security flaws, including administrative over-ride passwords that cannot be changed by local officials but can be used by hackers or those who have seen the discs. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Ethnic cleansing comes (further) out of the closet in Israel Lieberman’s party believes what all Israelis believe: that Israel is a Jewish state. Unlike the more respectable Israeli parties, however, Lieberman’s party is willing to add that since Israel is a Jewish state, non-Jews are not welcome. Even if they were born there.That is to say, Lieberman and his party call openly for the “transfer” (expulsion) of non-Jewish Israelis from the borders of Israel. And while ethnic cleansing has been the policy and practice of the state of Israel since its founding (and even before), rarely has it been so openly defended and advocated as it is by Yisrael Beitenu. A party which is now joining the U.S.-backed, U.S.-funded Israeli government. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Des DVD avec l’étiquette «Fumer nuit à la santé» Los Angeles — Certains DVD de films commercialisés aux États-Unis porteront bientôt des étiquettes portant la mention «Fumer nuit à la santé», comparables à celles présentes sur les paquets de cigarettes, après un accord annoncé hier entre un studio de cinéma et les autorités de 41 États. Suite URL: http://www.ledevoir.com/2006/10/25/121254.html Program’s Creator Is Hired to Assess It The government contractor that set up a billion-dollar-a-year federal reading program for the Education Department and failed, according to the department’s inspector general, to keep it free of conflicts of interest is one of the companies now evaluating the program. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Israel tops the world in rate of malicious Internet activity >From July through December 2006, 9 percent of all such activity could be traced back to Israel. Taiwan came next with 8%, while Poland and the US tied at 6%, according to a report issued in March by security software giant Symantec, based in Cupertino, California. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Fire destroys Neturei Karta synagogue, rabbi’s residence in NY A fire deemed suspicious destroyed a New York suburban synagogue of an anti-Zionist Jewish group heavily criticized for attending a conference last year where participants debated whether the Holocaust occurred. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Ethanol-blend auto emissions no greener than gasoline: study An unpublished federal report appears to undermine the belief that commercially available ethanol-blended fuel produces cleaner emissions than regular gasoline. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Deuxième coup dur pour la loi antiterroriste Pour la deuxième fois en moins d’une semaine, une importante partie de la loi antiterroriste a été invalidée hier par un tribunal ontarien, dans la cause du présumé terroriste Mohammed Momin Khawaja, au motif qu’elle brime les libertés d’association, de conscience et de religion. Suite du texte réservée aux abonnés URL: http://www.ledevoir.com/2006/10/25/121274.html Microsoft(R) Firefox 2007 Professional “The new award-winning browser from Microsoft is now faster, securer and quicker anything else on the market. Why use anything else?” ur<x>l: http://digg.com/tech_news/Microsoft_R_Firefox_2007_Professional www.msfirefox.com Police Toy drops the F-Bomb when the Nightstick is removed from Cop’s Belt “It must have been a faulty chip”…The toy set, named the “Elite Operations Role Play Set: Police,” includes a nightstick and a utility belt. A recorded message that includes what sounds like a curse word plays when the nightstick is removed from the belt. “I’ve had to explain to parents why my so URL: http://digg.com/gadgets/Police_Toy_drops_the_F_Bomb_when_the_Nightstick_is_removed_from_Cop_s_Belt Sunita’s USB VoIP Mouse Phone: enough already Filed under: Peripherals Oh yes it is, more of that integrated VoIP phone and mouse nonsense. This is the bigazz, USB VoIP Mouse Phone from Sunita Telecom, which, as that overly pragmatic name implies, is a USB 2.0, 800-dpi optical mouse which doubles as a Skype-compatible VoIP phone. It can be picked up for use as a traditional handset or used handsfree while presumably allowing you to mouse around beneath your muffled man-hand. And yeah, the LED apparently shuts off when held up to your noodle just in case you fear any damage from that glowing LED. No word on pricing or availability but we have to ask, do you really care? Another picture from up-under after the break. Via AVING Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/43308294/ School Safety Drill Upsets Some Parents A school safety drill that included police officers in riot gear with weapons has caused concern among some parents who say it was too realistic and frightened some students. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ FLASHBACK: Bush confesses to war crimes George W. Bush’s speech on September 6 2006 amounted to a public confession to criminal violations of the 1996 War Crimes Act. He implicitly admitted authorizing disappearances, extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, transporting prisoners between countries and denying the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisoners. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Siemens board member arrested in payola scandal Filed under: Misc. Gadgets With all of the bribery, corruption, and kickback scandals plaguing German giant Siemens at the moment, we’re half expecting to wake up tomorrow and learn that one of their executives drunkenly wrapped his exotic car around a tree after a night of boozing it up with notorious Deutchland bad boy Dietrich. The latest player to get caught up in this mess — and the highest ranking — is board member Johannes Feldmayer, who was detained yesterday while prosecutors tore his life apart executed search warrants on three o ffices. Interes URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/104997058/ Texas Governor Signs Deadly Force Bill Texans will be able to use deadly force to defend themselves in their homes, cars and workplaces under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Rick Perry. ur<x>l: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Vista Can Be Taken Down by an Animated Cursor “In what could be the most embarrassing exploit to impact Windows Vista since its commercial launch in January, security engineers at McAfee’s Avert Labs confirmed today – and posted the video to prove – that the operating system can be caused to enter an interminable crash-restart-crash loop…” ur<x>l: http://digg.com/microsoft/Vista_Can_Be_Taken_Down_by_an_Animated_Cursor Latest plugin lets you fry eggs on Apple TV AwkwardTV has what is the most unusual hack for the Apple TV to date: Stove.frappliance, a plugin that effectively turns the Apple TV into a heating device capable of rewarming dishes, keeping coffee hot or even frying eggs (for the really adventurous) by generating 100% CPU and GPU load, overclocking the bus and throttling the internal fan. ur<x>l: http://digg.com/apple/Latest_plugin_lets_you_fry_eggs_on_Apple_TV Le FBI et René Lévesque Le Bureau fédéral d’enquêtes (FBI) des États-Unis était dans l’attente d’une possible tentative d’assassinat contre René Lévesque, en 1977, lorsque le premier ministre québécois s’est rendu à New York, selon des documents internes du service de la police fédérale américaine. Suite URL: http://www.ledevoir.com/2006/10/02/119531.html http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070319/CPMONDE/703190496/6551/CPMONDE Déserter au Canada Alexandre Sirois La Presse Toronto Entre 200 et 300 soldats de l’armée américaine ont trouvé refuge au Canada ces dernières années, pour la plupart dégoûtés par la guerre en Irak. Hantés par les horreurs de ce conflit, ils tentent de refaire leur vie même si, jusqu’ici, Ottawa refuse de leur accorder l’asile politique. La Cour d’appel fédérale se penche aujourd’hui sur le cas de ces « réfugiés », que notre journaliste a rencontrés à Toronto. Contrairement à ce qu’on pourrait croire, Dean Wolcott est dans une forme resplendissante. Il dort dans une étroite cuisine d’une propreté douteuse, sur un vieux canapé fleuri qui empêche la porte du four de s’ouvrir. Il reçoit de l’aide sociale depuis peu, n’a pas de permis de travail et a besoin d’antidépresseurs pour fonctionner en société. Le comble : il ne pourra peut-être plus jamais retourner dans son pays d’origine, les États-Unis, sans se faire jeter en prison. Pourtant, Dean, âgé de 25 ans, nous assure qu’il va très bien. Lorsqu’on le questionne, il nous répond généralement avec le ton désinvolte et l’air serein d’un homme profondément soulagé. « C’est comme si j’étais redevenu moi-même. Je peux marcher dans les rues d’une ville et y prendre plaisir. Il y a longtemps que ça m’était arrivé. » Il y a quatre mois, Dean a retrouvé sa vie d’homme libre. Il fait partie des quelques centaines de déserteurs de l’armée américaine qui ont trouvé refuge au Canada depuis le début des guerres en Irak et en Afghanistan. Ingénieur en électronique, il a séjourné deux fois au pays de Saddam Hussein depuis 2003. Mais c’est en Allemagne qu’il a découvert l’horreur de ce conflit. Là où l’armée américaine traite ses blessés les plus graves. On l’avait nommé officier de liaison responsable des contacts entre ces victimes et leurs familles. « La plupart étaient là en raison de graves brûlures. À un point tel que, dans certains cas, on ne pouvait même pas dire qu’il s’agissait d’êtres humains », se souvient-il. À l’abattoir Ce jeune homme originaire du Connecticut a pété les plombs, mais il a néanmoins continué à servir son pays. Jusqu’au moment où, de retour aux États-Unis, on lui a demandé d’entraîner les réservistes – des Américains qui consacrent généralement deux jours par mois à leur carrière militaire – pour les expédier en Irak. « Des enfants de 17 à 22 ans », lance l’ancien soldat, qui pourrait lui-même passer pour un adolescent. Avec son visage poupin, son jean trop large et son ample kangourou bleu, il ressemble plus au rappeur Eminem qu’à un militaire. Ces réservistes allaient hériter des tâches les plus ingrates en Irak. Ramasser les restes des soldats tués par les bombes des insurgés, par exemple. « Ça voulait dire les envoyer à l’abattoir », dit-il. C’était l’automne dernier. Dean, qui dit s’être enrôlé avant tout faute d’argent pour payer ses études, a alors cherché un moyen de s’en sortir. Il a découvert sur le Web que son salut passerait par Toronto. Plus précisément par la War Resisters Campaign : une trentaine de bénévoles qui accueillent les militaires américains désabusés. Dean partage d’ailleurs l’appartement de l’un d’eux, organisateur communautaire de 23 ans. Environ 45 soldats américains ont fait appel à cet organisme depuis sa création en 2004 à Toronto. La plupart de ces militaires ont d’ailleurs trouvé refuge dans la Ville reine. De nombreux autres soldats vivraient illégalement au Canada, affirment les responsables de l’organisme. Entre 200 et 300, estiment-ils d’après le volume d’appels reçus. Déserteurs déboutés Quatre ans après le début du conflit en Irak, quelques mois après l’annonce de l’envoi de renforts par George W. Bush, le nombre de déserteurs en sol canadien augmente rapidement. « Depuis octobre dernier, nous en accueillons un, parfois deux par semaine », indique le coordonnateur de la campagne, Lee Zaslofsky. Ce sexagénaire coloré et exubérant accueille les déserteurs dans un petit bureau situé tout près de l’Université de Toronto. Il a lui-même traversé la frontière en 1970, pour fuir la guerre du Vietnam. Il se souvient de ses débuts euphoriques au Canada. « Quand on arrive ici, on n’a plus la pression de l’armée et on se sent en sécurité parce qu’on ne sera pas arrêté. On sent aussi qu’on fait un nouveau départ avec des possibilités infinies », explique-t-il. Un état d’esprit temporaire, ajoute ce déserteur. Après un certain temps, le quotidien s’installe et le naturel revient au galop, avec son lot de stress et d’inquiétudes. L’avenir des nouveaux venus au Canada demeure par ailleurs incertain. L’accueil officiel du Canada n’a pas été très chaleureux. La Commission de l’immigration et du statut de réfugié du Canada (CISR) a jusqu’ici refusé l’asile politique à tous les déserteurs qui l’ont demandé depuis 2004. Les soldats déboutés – il y en aurait une dizaine – ont tous décidé de contester les décisions rendues par la CISR. Le premier, Jeremy Hinzman, s’adresse aujourd’hui à la Cour d’appel fédérale dans l’espoir d’un jugement en sa faveur. Aucun regret Les responsables de la War Resisters Campaign réclament l’intervention du gouvernement de Stephen Harper. « On demande une politique qui permettrait à tous les résistants à la guerre d’avoir un statut de résident permanent », dit Michelle Robidoux, bénévole rencontrée lors d’une réunion du comité logement de l’organisme, dans un sous-sol d’église. C’est ce qu’avait fait Ottawa à l’époque de la guerre du Vietnam, rappelle-t-elle. Entre 50 000 et 60 000 conscrits en avaient profité pour s’établir au Canada. Même si son sort reste en suspens, Dean Wolcott dit pour sa part n’avoir « aucun regret ». « C’est la première fois en six ans que je me sens utile », lance-t-il. Il collabore dorénavant aux activités de l’organisme qui l’a accueilli, multiplie les entrevues avec les médias et rencontre les étudiants des universités canadiennes pour leur parler de la guerre en Irak. Quatre ans après le début du conflit, il milite activement pour le retrait d’Irak de ses anciens camarades. « Il n’y a plus aucune raison d’être là. C’est une guerre civile et on est au beau milieu de cette instabilité, dit-il. Et notre “nouvelle” stratégie, c’est d’envoyer plus de troupes. En fait, rien n’a changé. » De moi: “L’étincelle?” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6484279.stm UK sailors captured at gunpoint Fifteen British Navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says. The men were seized at 1030 local time when they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars. The Royal Navy said the men, who were on a routine patrol in Iraqi waters, were understood to be unharmed. The Foreign Office has demanded the immediate and safe return of the men, who are based on HMS Cornwall. That vessel’s commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said he was hoping there had been a “simple mistake” over territorial waters. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they British personnel were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may claim they were in Iranian waters. “I hope we find this is a simple misunderstanding at the tactical level.” Helicopters had reported seeing two British boats being moved to Iranian bases and there had been no evidence of fighting, he added. He said that despite scant communication, the 15 people were understood to be safe and had reacted in an “extremely professional way, in line with the rules of engagement”. “I look forward to seeing them on their return and congratulating them.” He said naval authorities were doing everything possible to ensure their safe return. The Ministry of Defence said: “The group boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters. “We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level. “The British government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.” Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has summoned the Iranian ambassador in London to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in an attempt to get the men released as quickly as possible. In a statement, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, also called for their immediate release. “Whatever the rights and wrongs of military action, British forces in Iraq are now there with the authority of a UN security council resolution… and the Iranian government should be left in no doubt of the serious implications of their action,” he said. The incident comes as British Army Colonel Justin Masherevski, who is based in Iraq, says most of the violence against UK forces in Basra is being engineered by Iranian elements. Col Masherevski said Iran was providing “sophisticated weaponry” to insurgents and “Iranian agents” were paying local men to attack British troops. In 2004, Iran detained eight British servicemen for three days after they allegedly strayed over the maritime border. The UK claimed the men were “forcibly escorted” into Iranian territorial waters. While they were being held, the men were paraded blindfold and made to apologise on Iranian TV before their release was agreed. The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said the difference this time, and a cause of concern, is that the present Iranian government under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was much more hardline. “The political climate is worse with Britain among those confronting Iran over its controversial nuclear programme,” he added. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070323/CPMONDE/70323222/1014/CPMONDE Mexico propose d’échanger son 9 mm contre un ordinateur Agence France-Presse Mexico Les habitants de la ville de Mexico pourront à partir de la semaine prochaine échanger leur arme à feu contre un ordinateur et un programme Microsoft dans le cadre d’un plan de lutte contre la violence annoncé vendredi par la municipalité. Pour avoir droit à l’ordinateur, il faudra toutefois proposer une arme d’un calibre d’au moins 9 mm. Si l’arme est d’un calibre inférieur, son propriétaire recevra 2500 pesos (un peu plus de 200 euros) et un panier de produits alimentaires pour une valeur de 500 pesos (environ 35 euros). Le plan a été bouclé la semaine dernière lors de la visite de Bill Gates, le patron de Microsoft, à Mexico où il a rencontré le maire de gauche de la capitale, Marcelo Ebrard. Notre objectif «est de réduire la violence et l’usage des armes à feu dans les rues de la ville», explique un communiqué de la sécurité publique de la capitale. Chaque possesseur d’une arme de gros calibre recevra donc un «office» Microsoft et une encyclopédie informatique. http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/F/FRANCE_UFOS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Le GEIPAN publie ses archives sur Internet 22 mars – Après 30 ans de collecte de témoignages et d’enquêtes sur le terrain, le Groupement pour l’Etude et l’Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés (GEIPAN) publie aujourd’hui ses archives sur Internet. France Puts Secret UFO Archive on Web PARIS (AP) — The saucer-shaped object is said to have touched down in the south of France and then zoomed off. It left behind scorch marks and that haunting age-old question: Are we alone? This is just one of the cases from France’s secret “X-Files” – some 100,000 documents on supposed UFOs and sightings of other unexplained phenomena that the French space agency is publishing on the Internet. France is the first country to put its entire weird sightings archive online, said Jacques Patenet, who heads the space agency’s UFO cell – the Group for Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena. Their oldest recorded sighting dates from 1937, Patenet told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. The first batch of archives went up on the agency’s Web site this week, drawing a server-busting wave of traffic. “The Web site exploded in two hours. We suspected that there was a certain amount of interest, but not to this extent,” Patenet said. The archive includes police and expert reports, witness sketches (some are childlike doodlings), maps, photos and video and audio recordings. In all, the archive has some 1,650 cases on record and about 6,000 witness accounts. The space agency, known by its French initials CNES, said it is making them public to draw the scientific community’s attention to unexplained cases and because their secrecy generated suspicions that officials were hiding something. “There’s always this impression of plots, of secrets, of wanting to hide things,” Patenet said. “The great danger would be to leave the field open to sects and charlatans.” He said many cases were unexplained lights in the sky. “Only 20 to 30” could be classified as “Objet Volant Non Identifie” – UFOs that appeared to be physical objects, leaving “marks on the ground, radar images,” he said. Even Charles de Gaulle, France’s wartime hero who became president, got the UFO bug. “In 1954, there was a wave of sightings of phenomena in France, and it went up to the highest levels of state. Gen. de Gaulle himself assigned … an aide and told him, ‘Look into this for me, study it to see if something needs to be done,'” Patenet said. That year, there were hundreds of sightings over several months, but generally there are 50 to 100 reported each year. Only 9 percent of France’s strange phenomena have been fully explained, the agency said. Experts found likely reasons for another 33 percent, and 30 percent could not be identified for lack of information. Other cases were impossible to crack. The most baffling were labeled “Class D aerospace phenomena” – which the agency defines as “inexplicable despite precise testimonies and the (good) quality of material information gathered.” Some 28 percent of sightings fall into this category. Patenet singled out the January 1981 case of the saucer-shaped object that a witness said he saw land in Trans-en-Provence, a village inland from the French Riviera. Some 8 feet across, the zinc-colored object made a whistling noise as it landed. The witness later drew a picture: It resembled a wok with a lid and legs. “The machine stayed a few seconds on the ground and then left very quickly but it left marks that were analyzed and allowed us to determine that the ground had been heated up, that the object must have weighed several hundred kilos (pounds), and that surrounding plants underwent biological changes,” said Patenet. “So something really happened. It really defies analysis,” he said. The agency said everything in the archive would be published, except for psychological reports about witnesses and their names. Most of the time, witnesses were sincere about what they saw, Patenet said. “Very few look for publicity because they fear most of all that they will not be taken seriously.” Still, there were frauds. In 1979, in Cergy-Pontoise outside Paris, a man showed up at a police station claiming his friend had been abducted by a UFO – a bright light that appeared on the road and swallowed up his car. Several days later, the man purportedly reappeared in a field, emerging out of a sphere of light. Investigators went so far as to test the man’s blood for signs that he had recently experienced weightlessness – and they found none. The agency labeled it a hoax. Some cases took years to unravel. In 1985, two farmers near the Atlantic coastal city of Royan saw a burning object drop into a field nearby. Experts initially concluded that it was part of the propulsion device of a recently launched satellite. Eventually they realized it was a piece of German World War II ordnance that spontaneously exploded four decades after the war. Among the unexplained cases, one of the most perplexing concerned a 1994 Air France flight. While flying over the Paris region, the crew noticed a large brown-red disk hovering on the horizon and constantly changing shape. The case “has never been explained to this day, and leaves the door open to all possible hypotheses,” the agency wrote. So, do we have neighbors out there, after all? “I don’t have an answer to that,” said Patenet. “Even if there is such a planet, given the size of the universe, what is the probability that two civilizations … will meet or come across each other? I really don’t know. It’s very complicated. It’s incalculable.” ———— Le site de l’agence spatiale francaise est tres long a loader a cause de l’immense intérêt: https://cnes.fr/fr http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070326/CPINSOLITE/70323116/0 Deux chiens renifleurs de disques piratés menacés de mort Associated Press Kuala Lumpur Leur museau est mis à prix. Les auteurs malaisiens d’actes de piratage musicale et cinématographique, furieux, ont offert une récompense à quiconque éliminera Lucky et Flo -deux Labrador qui ont aidé à débusquer près d’un million de DVD de contrebande dans le cadre d’une opération de police. Selon le New Strait Times, les chiens renifleurs, prêtés pour un mois par la Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), ont été installés dans un endroit sûr après que les autorités eurent appris que les têtes des deux chiens étaient mises à prix. Le montant de la somme offerte aux chasseurs de primes n’a pas été révélé. «Les chiens sont une véritable menace» pour les pirates, ce qui explique qu’une récompense ait été promise pour leur élimination, explique Firdaus Zakaria, du ministère du Commerce intérieur et des affaires de consommation. C’est la première fois au monde que des autorités font appel à des chiens pour mettre la main sur des disques de contrebande, selon Mike Ellis, directeur régional de la MPAA. Lucky et Flo sont entraînés à détecter des polycarbonates – des produits chimiques utilisés dans le processus de fabrication des disques. La prise, d’une valeur de 2,8 millions de dollars, qui vient de les rendre célèbres, a eu lieu le 19 mars dans le sud de la Malaisie. Cinq Malaisiens et un Vietnamien ont été arrêtés dans le cadre de l’opération. Faith in GPS sends Mercedes downstream Filed under: GPS, Transportation So far, over-dependence on GPS devices has resulted in more inconvenience than actual danger, but things took a turn for the worse earlier this month when a U.K. woman sent her £96k Mercedes SL500 flying into a river, trusting the car’s optimistic GPS guidance instead of the road signs warning of impending doom. Matters we worse as the r URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/104702821/ http://consumerist.com/consumer/google/google-suggests-you-swim-across-the-atlantic-ocean-248199.php Google Suggests You Swim Across The Atlantic Ocean You can’t always rely on the advice of computers, especially when it comes to transoceanic driving directions. From Upgrade: Travel Better: Google, either encouraging physical fitness or zero population growth, offers the above helpful suggestion when mapping the route from Chicago to London. Click here for the full directions and map of the route.—MEGHANN MARCO Screw air travel: Google suggests you get out and swim Upgrade: Travel Better MPAA names its Top 25 movie piracy schools The MPAA may be gearing up for an RIAA-inspired assault on US colleges and universities. Last week the group announced its support for the “Curb Illegal Downloading on College Campuses Act (2007),” and MPAA head Dan Glickman said that his organization would work with school administrators to put an end to movie piracy on campuses, which Glickman says costs the industry $500 million annually. Most telling, the group has heard the call of Representative Howard Berman and has compiled a list of the most piracy-ridden schools in higher education. This is a page straight out of the RIAA playbook. Here they are, the schools that made the MPAA’s “dishonor roll” and the number of students identified as making unauthorized use of copyrighted materials: 1. Columbia University – 1,198 2. University of Pennsylvania – 934 3. Boston University – 891 4. University of California at Los Angeles – 889 5. Purdue University – 873 6. Vanderbilt University – 860 7. Duke University – 813 8. Rochester Institute of Technology – 792 9. University of Massachusetts – 765 10. University of Michigan – 740 11. University of California at Santa Cruz – 714 12. University of Southern California – 704 13. University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 637 14. North Carolina State University – 636 15. Iowa State University – 586 16. University of Chicago – 575 17. University of Rochester – 562 18. Ohio University – 550 19. University of Tennessee – 527 20. Michigan State University – 506 21. Virginia Polytechnic Institute – 457 22. Drexel University – 455 23. University of South Florida – 447 24. Stanford University – 405 25. University of California at Berkeley – 398 A number of schools have the dubious distinction of being on both the MPAA and the RIAA list. The overachievers are: Ohio University (#1 RIAA/#18 MPAA), Purdue University (#2, #5), University of Nebraska at Lincoln (#3/#13), UMASS (#6/#9), Michigan State (#7/#20), North Carolina State (#9/#14), University of South Florida (#11/#23), Boston University (#15/#3), and the University of Michigan (#18/#10). In all, 10 schools appear on both lists, and Purdue University wins the Gold Medal for highest overall ranking between the two combined. Whether or not the MPAA will get into the trenches and follow the RIAA’s pre-litigation strategy is not yet clear, and historically the MPAA has been less eager to wage a public campaign against file sharing. But like Santa, the MPAA is making a list and checking it twice… the question is, are they merely humoring Representative Berman or planning something more aggressive? http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=GRA20070330&articleId=5231 Le plus grand déploiement de forces navales des Etats-Unis aux larges des côtes iraniennes Mondialisation.ca, Le 30 mars 2007 Granma internacional BAGDAD, le 27 mars. – Les Etats-Unis ont commencé aujourd’hui, dans les eaux du Golfe Persique, des manœuvres militaires considérées comme le plus grand déploiement de ses forces navales dans cette région depuis le début de la guerre contre l’Irak en 2003, a rapporté PL. L’armée dispose de deux porte-avions et d’avions qui simulent un combat aux larges des côtes iraniennes. Participent aux manœuvres deux groupes de bateaux de guerre étasuniens et quelque 200 avions de combat, qui exécutent des simulations d’opérations de guerre dans les canaux du Golfe. Environ 10 000 soldats nord-américains dans des bateaux et des avions de guerre participent à la simulation d’attaques contre des bateaux, l’aviation, des chasseurs de sous-marins et des chercheurs de mines ennemis. Iranian Videogame Depicts Attacks on U.S. Targets A new Iranian computer game sets players the task of blowing up a U.S. tanker in the Gulf to block the sea route for much of the world’s oil supplies, a newspaper reported on Saturday. ur<x>l: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/extremetech/~3/31144310/0,1558,2022942,00.asp http://duggmirror.com/politics/Cheney_Betting_on_US_Economic_Collapse/ The Veep’s Curious Investment Portfolio Is Cheney Betting On Economic Collapse? By MIKE WHITNEY Wouldn’t you like to know where Dick Cheney puts his money? Then you’d know whether his “deficits don’t matter” claim is just baloney or not. Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney’s financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly. The article is called “Cheney’s betting on bad news” and provides an account of where Cheney has socked away more than $25 million. While the figures may be estimates, the investments are not. According to Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney has invested heavily in “a fund that specializes in short-term municipal bonds, a tax-exempt money market fund and an inflation protected securities fund. The first two hold up if interest rates rise with inflation. The third is protected against inflation.” Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to $25 million in a European bond fund which tells us that he is counting on a steadily weakening dollar. So, while working class Americans are loosing ground to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth Cheney will be enhancing his wealth in “Old Europe”. As Blackburn sagely notes, “Not all bad news’ is bad for everybody.” This should put to rest once and for all the foolish notion that the “Bush Economic Plan” is anything more than a scam aimed at looting the public till. The whole deal is intended to shift the nation’s wealth from one class to another. It’s also clear that Bush-Cheney couldn’t have carried this off without the tacit approval of the thieves at the Federal Reserve who engineered the low-interest rate boondoggle to put the American people to sleep while they picked their pockets. Reasonable people can dispute that Bush is “intentionally” skewering the dollar with his lavish tax cuts, but how does that explain Cheney’s portfolio? It doesn’t. And, one thing we can say with metaphysical certainty is that the miserly Cheney would never plunk his money into an investment that wasn’t a sure thing. If Cheney is counting on the dollar tanking and interest rates going up, then, by Gawd, that’s what’ll happen. The Bush-Cheney team has racked up another $3 trillion in debt in just 6 years. The US national debt now stands at $8.4 trillion dollars while the trade deficit has ballooned to $800 billion nearly 7% of GDP. This is lunacy. No country, however powerful, can maintain these staggering numbers. The country is in hock up to its neck and has to borrow $2.5 billion per day just to stay above water. Presently, the Fed is expanding the money supply and buying back its own treasuries to hide the hemorrhaging from the public. Its utter madness. Last month the trade deficit climbed to $70 billion. More importantly, foreign central banks only purchased a meager $47 billion in treasuries to shore up our ravenous appetite for cheap junk from China. Do the math! They’re not investing in America anymore. They are decreasing their stockpiles of dollars. We’re sinking fast and Cheney and his pals are manning the lifeboats while the public is diverted with gay marriage amendments and “American Celebrity”. The American manufacturing sector has been hollowed out by cutthroat corporations who’ve abandoned their country to make a fast-buck in China or Mexico. The $3 trillion housing (equity) bubble is quickly loosing air while the anemic dollar continues to sag. All the signs indicate that the economy is slowing at the same time that energy prices continue to rise. This is the onset of stagflation; the dreaded combo of a slowing economy and inflation. Did Americans really think they’d be spared the same type of economic colonization that has been applied throughout the developing world under the rubric of “neoliberalism”? Well, think again. The American economy is barrel-rolling towards earth and there are only enough parachutes for Cheney and the gang. The country has lost 3 million jobs from outsourcing since Bush took office; more than 200,000 of those are the high-paying, high-tech jobs that are the life’s-blood of every economy. Consider this from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) June edition of Foreign Affairs, the Bible of globalists and plutocrats: “Between 2000 and 2003 alone, foreign firms built 60,000manufacturing plants in China. European chemical companies, Japanese carmakers, and US industrial conglomerates are all building factories in China to supply export markets around the world. Similarly, banks, insurance companies, professional-service firms, and IT companies are building R&D and service centers in India to support employees, customers, and production worldwide.” (“The Globally integrated Enterprise” Samuel Palmisano, Foreign Affairs page 130) “60,000 manufacturing plants” in 3 years?!? “Banks, insurance companies, professional-service firms, and IT companies”? No job is safe. American elites and corporate tycoons are loading the boats and heading for foreign shores. The only thing they’re leaving behind is the insurmountable debt that will be shackled to our children into perpetuity and the carefully arranged levers of a modern police-surveillance state. Welcome to Bush’s 21st Century gulag; third world luxury in a Guantanamo-type setting. Take another look at Cheney’s investment strategy; it tells the whole ugly story. Interest rates are going up, the middle class is going down, and the poor dollar is headed for the dumpster. The country is not simply teetering on the brink of financial collapse; it is being thrust headfirst by the blackguards in office and their satrapies at Federal Reserve. Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: [email protected] http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-03-21T130322Z_01_PEK138057_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHINA-HOSPITALS.xml http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-03-21T130322Z_01_PEK138057_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHINA-HOSPITALS.xmlScandal brews over tea-for-urine switch BEIJING (Reuters) – A group of Chinese reporters came up with a novel idea to test how greedy local hospitals were — pass off tea as urine samples and submit the drink for tests. The results: six out of 10 hospitals in Hangzhou, the capital of the rich coastal province of Zhejiang, visited by the reporters over a two-day period this month concluded that the patients’ urinal tracts were infected. Five of the hospitals prescribed medication costing up to 400 yuan ($50), the online edition of the semi-official China News Service (www.chinanews.com) said in a report seen on Wednesday. Of the hospitals, four were state-owned. “It makes one shiver all over even though it’s not cold,” the China News Service said after its reporters and colleagues from Zhejiang Television tested the hospitals. The Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said in a commentary on Wednesday: “Healthy people are diagnosed with diseases. Small ailments are said to be serious problems. Patients have become automatic teller machines for the hospitals.” The failure of health reforms and rising costs of medical care have sparked social discontent and become flashpoints for unrest in the world’s most populous nation, where millions cannot afford to consult doctors or buy medicine. Health Minister Gao Qiang has accused greedy hospitals of charging excessive fees and prescribing unnecessary and expensive medication. Market reforms in the past two decades have cut off state subsidies to many hospitals and left the health care system in need of life support. State media have reported patients committing suicide because they cannot afford exorbitant medical costs. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23390052-details/Chatroom+users+%27egged+on+father+who+killed+himself+live+on+webcam%27/article.do Chatroom users ‘egged on father to kill himself live on webcam’ 23.03.07 Add your view A father-of-two hanged himself live over the internet in Britain’s first ‘cyber suicide’. Kevin Whitrick, 42, took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting. But as they watched in horror, Mr Whitrick climbed onto a chair, smashed through a ceiling and then hanged himself with a piece of rope. Scroll down for more Kevin Neil Whitrick, 42, was found dead by police in Wellington, after being alerted by a web user who is thought to have watched in horror as the man harmed himself Stunned by what they had witnessed – broadcast on a popular chatroom website used by millions of people across the globe – chatroom users immediately contacted the police. Officers rushed to the electrician’s home in the Wellington area of Shropshire within minutes, smashing down the door to try to save him. Kevin Whitrick had two 12-year-olds who he visited regularly But despite their efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene. Last night it emerged that Mr Whitrick had been suffering from depression after being badly injured in a car crash last year. Friends said that the breakdown of his marriage with wife, Paula – with whom he had 12-year-old twins – and the recent death of his father had also been causing him some distress. Mr Whitrick told users of web-chat site PalTalk what he was going to do two hours before he killed himself on Wednesday night. He was logged on with around 50 other users to a special “insult” chatroom where people “have a go at each other”. Today distraught users of the site said that they felt sick and had previously thought the web broadcast was a hoax. They confirmed Mr Whitrick told friends in the internet chat room of his plans to kill himself but, thinking he was joking, they egged him on telling him to make sure the his webcam was on. Mr Whitrick, using the user-name Shyboy-17-1, switched on his webcam and went ahead with his grisly plan. One anonymous user said: “He tied a rope around an uncovered ceiling joist and stood on the chair as he tied the rope around his neck. “Some of us chatroom users, talking to Kevin over text chat, microphones and video tried to convince him to step down, but others egged him on telling him to get on with it. “We just couldn’t believe he was doing it – it was surreal. “One chatter said: ‘F***ing do it, get on with it, get it round your neck. For F***’s sake he can’t even do this properly’.” Another user who did not wish to be named said: “When Kevin stepped off the chair and was left dangling, the mood in the chatroom changed and people began to realise what they had just seen. “We started asking if anyone knew where he lived and saying they should contact the police. “I think someone contacted the police in their local area but sadly no one could get to him in time.” Shortly after, moderators on the site closed the feed from Kevin’s webcam. ‘Considerate and kind’ Mr Whitrick had been living in his flat, a converted house, after splitting from his wife Paula two years ago. The couple, who married in 1988, had 12-year-old twins Lewis and Melissa who live with their mother in a three-bedroom, semi-detached home close by. They are said to have visited their dad, who worked at family firm RMW electrical services in Shrewsbury, at weekends. His older brother Malcolm Whitrick is an associate director at Shrewsbury Town Football Club. Kevin Whitrick’s sparse profile on the paltalk website Last night Mrs Whitrick said: “Kevin was a loving father and family man. He was always the life and soul of the party, an extremely considerate and kind person and loved by many, he will be so sadly missed by us all. “Unfortunately Kevin had a very serious car accident in July 2006 and had never fully recovered back to full health.” Mr Whitrick’s stepmother Betty Whitrick, 74, told the Mail: ‘Kevin was a bubbly kind of person, full of fun. I just don’t know why he would do this. “He lived alone but he always cheerful when I saw him. I knew he was very into computers and he also used to like playing bowls.” Detective Chief Inspector Jon Groves who is leading the investigation said: “Our enquiries to date have revealed that Mr Whitrick was using a chat room with a number of other people at the time of his death. “We are liasing with the internet service provider at this time to contact other users who were online at the time of this incident and who may have information that could assist our enquiries. “We are also working to ensure that witness support facilities are available to those who may have been affected by what they saw.” Sharon Atwal, who works in a cornershop opposite Mr Whitrick’s flat, described him as “subdued” the last time she saw him. She said: “Every night he’d take eight cans of Boddington’s bitter from the fridge and re-stock it with the cans from the shelf. He always seemed quite cheerful. “On Wednesday night, though, he didn’t seem himself and it was the first night that he did not re-stock the fridge. It was as if he knew he wouldn’t be coming back. “He always struck me as very happy, he was friendly and had two perfect kids. I cannot believe he has done this.” Her brother Bobby added: “Kevin has lived in the flat for the past year and I have seen him every day without fail. “Last week, he told me about his chat room. He was excited and said he had set it up himself. He said he had been speaking to people in Australia on his webcam. “His two children used to visit at weekends. He had a very good relationship with them and always gave them lots of money to buy sweets.” The case appears to echo that of Brandon Vedas, a 21 year-old from Phoenix, Arizona, who committed suicide online using a mix of alcohol and prescription medication. In that case people in the chat room egged the young man on, while others tried desperately to find his address. Local MP for the Wrekin, Mark Pritchard, said: “This is a very sad and rare incident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. “It is important that the use of the internet in this death is fully investigated.” Des dîners coûteux aux frais de la Banque du Canada Pendant que la plupart des fonctionnaires fédéraux faisaient la file à la cafétéria ou amenaient leur déjeuner de la maison l’an dernier, la Banque du Canada organisait une série de déjeuners et de dîners, à un coût de 70 $ par personne, dans ses salles à manger élégantes. ur<x>l: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070325/CPACTUALITES/70325084/1019/CPACTUALITES http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070326/CPMONDE/70326131/1014/CPMONDE Mort d’une ex-star de football: neuf officiers accusés Washington Le Pentagone accuse neuf officiers, dont quatre généraux, d’avoir couvert les circonstances de la mort de Patrick Tillman, ex-star de football aux États-Unis, tué en 2004 par d’autres soldats américains en Afghanistan, selon un responsable militaire. L’inspecteur général du Pentagone, Thomas Gimble, et le chef du commandement des enquêtes criminelles de l’armée de terre, le général Rodney Johnson, devaient publier lundi les résultats d’une enquête sur la mort le 22 avril 2004 de Patrick Tillman. Un responsable de l’armée de terre, ayant requis l’anonymat, a confirmé les informations de la chaîne de télévision CBS vendredi selon lesquelles ils ont recommandé de tenir neuf officiers, dont quatre généraux, pour responsables des erreurs commises autour de cette mort. «C’est le chiffre dans le rapport», a dit ce responsable, faisant référence aux neufs officiers, dont quatre généraux. Pat Tillman, 27 ans, membre de l’équipe des Arizona Cardinals, avait mis fin à sa carrière aux États-Unis pour s’engager dans l’armée comme simple soldat au printemps 2002, estimant qu’il devait aller défendre son pays après les attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001. Il avait renoncé à un contrat mirifique de 3,6 millions de dollars pour une solde de 18 000 dollars par an. Sa mort, la première d’une célébrité dans la «guerre contre le terrorisme», avait suscité une immense vague d’émotion aux États-Unis. L’armée avait d’abord affirmé qu’il était mort héroïquement dans une bataille contre des insurgés talibans. Des semaines plus tard, elle avait reconnu qu’il avait été tué par des tirs de soldats américains. Un soldat afghan qui se trouvait avec lui avait également tué par ces tirs. De précédentes enquêtes ont montré que les supérieurs de Patrick Tillman ont couvert les circonstances de sa mort et caché la vérité à son frère Kevin qui servait dans la même unité. Ces enquêtes ont indiqué qu’il avait frénétiquement agité ses bras et crié «amis» pour tenter d’alerter ces camarades qu’il s’agissait de lui alors qu’ils lui tiraient dessus. Selon CBS, des dizaines de soldats, dont des officiers de haut rang se trouvant à un poste de commandement tout proche, ont su dans les minutes ou les heures qui ont suivi sa mort que Tillman avait été victime d’un «tir ami». L’armée, cependant, a persisté à raconter à la famille de Tillman cinq semaines après sa mort qu’il avait été tué dans une embuscade, notamment lors des funérailles nationales retransmises à la télévision. La famille du joueur a accusé l’armée d’avoir étouffé les raisons de sa mort. «Ils ont volontairement interféré dans l’enquête en fabriquant une couverture. Je pense qu’ils pensaient pouvoir la contrôler et ont réalisé que leurs efforts de recrutement allaient être complètement sabotés si la vérité sur sa mort était connue», a déclaré par le passé le père de Tillman, Patrick Senior. Les derniers éléments d’enquête sont publiés alors que l’armée de terre sort d’un scandale sur le traitement des soldats blessés à l’hôpital militaire Walter Reed, qui a entraîné le départ du secrétaire à l’armée de terre et de deux généraux. Le secrétaire à la Défense Robert Gates a promis de tenir les dirigeants militaires pour responsables des erreurs commises. Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070327/62697703.html 27/03/2007 17:31 MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran’s borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday. “The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran,” the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched. He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran “that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost.” He also said the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran’s military infrastructure in the near future. A new U.S. carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf. The USS John C. Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, eight support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Gulf, where a similar group led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been deployed since December 2006. The U.S. is also sending Patriot anti-missile systems to the region. Inspector Lists Computers With Atomic Secrets as Missing WASHINGTON, March 30 — The office in charge of protecting American technical secrets about nuclear weapons from foreign spies is missing 20 desktop computers, at least 14 of which have been used for classified information, the Energy Department inspector general reported on Friday. This is the 13th time in a little over four years that an audit has found that the department, whose national laboratories and factories do most of the work in designing and building nuclear warheads, has lost control over computers used in working on the bombs. Aside from the computers it cannot find, the department is also using computers not listed in its inventory, and one computer listed as destroyed was in fact being used, the audit said. “Problems with the control and accountability of desktop and laptop computers have plagued the department for a number of years,” the report said. In January, Linton F. Brooks was fired as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Energy Department agency in charge of bombs, because of security problems. The agency was created in the 1990s because of security scandals. When the most recent audit began, the Counterintelligence Directorate was unable to find 141 desktop computers. In some cases, documents were found indicating that the computers had been taken out of service. Previous incidents of wayward computers have also involved nuclear weapons information. But the office involved in this breach has a special responsibility, tracking and countering efforts to steal bomb information. Its computers would have material on what the department knew about foreign operatives and efforts to steal sensitive information. The report includes a response from the security agency that generally agrees with the findings. But the inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, noted in his report that “the comments did not include planned corrective actions with target completion dates.” A spokesman for the department, Craig Stevens, said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman “recognizes that we need to manage this place better.” The counterintelligence office was recently merged with the intelligence office to improve operations, Mr. Stevens said. Completement fou… http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2007/04/RAMONET/14597 Pologne parano Loi de « lustration », ils l’appellent. C’est-à-dire, selon le dictionnaire : de « purification rituelle ». Ce qui ne manque pas d’avoir, dans ce pays au catholicisme chevillé à l’histoire, une signification forte de repentir et de pénitence. Sept cent mille Polonais devront donc, en vertu de cette loi votée en octobre 2006 et entrée en vigueur le 15 mars dernier, confesser s’ils ont collaboré avec les communistes entre 1945 et 1989. Tous les hauts fonctionnaires, les professeurs, les avocats, les directeurs d’école et les journalistes nés avant août 1972 ont désormais jusqu’au 15 mai pour avouer leur « faute ». Tous doivent remplir un formulaire et répondre à la question : « Avez-vous collaboré secrètement et consciemment avec les anciens services de sécurité communistes ? » Ils devront le remettre à leur supérieur hiérarchique, lequel l’adressera à l’Institut de la mémoire, à Varsovie. Celui-ci vérifiera dans ses archives et délivrera un certificat de « pureté politique ». En cas de col … Message clipped ——-~~--~——~—-~~--~ “Le BotCast with Cheese” http://groups.google.com/group/botcast -~—–~~--~–~–~~--~~—