"Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences," the report said.

That ought to tag pretty much everyone who uses Twitter. They also take the opportunity to decry how GPS is now easily available. And how "terrorists" are discussing "voice-changing software".

That last part was so interesting I had to re-evaluate the market for voice changers. And by voice changers I assume they mean software implementations. I found pretty much the same alternatives as suggested in the Wikipedia article. None of them were all that impressive even if they did work as advertised. Modern PCs seem to finally have made real-time effects truly effortless. And with a growing list of VoIP and MMO:s on the market there may finally be a use for modulators, besides pranks. I will definitely consider using one in the future. Especially since it seems to bother the powers that be. Lets all thank the US military for reminding us to stay secure.

"Death and Taxes:2009" is a representational poster of the federal discretionary budget; the amount of money that is spent at the discretion of your elected representatives in Congress. Basically, your federal income taxes. The data is from the President’s budget request for 2009. It will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress by October 1st to begin the fiscal year.

The poster provides a uniquely revealing look at our national priorities, that fluctuate yearly, according to the wishes of the President, the power of Congress, and the will of the people. If you pay taxes, then you have paid for a small part of everything in the poster.

The way I see it we come down to the same issue of military versus economic imperialism to borrow Chalmers Johnson’s terminology from "Sorrows of Empire". The point here is that America’s policies and its presidents usually fall into one of two categories. The important difference being that the economic imperialist approach is much harder to expose. But they are just two songs from the same old broken record. For the person staring down the barrel of an American gun, it wont matter all that much in the end. In that sense, a president like George W Bush is a blessing. American power when wielded in such a brazen way effectively drives a wedge between the US and its allies. But all of this is of course rather obvious.

Another obvious observation is that the world loves Obama, much to the ire of some American and Swedish commentators. If they had any sense at all they would realize that this is the best possible starting point for a nation that has irrevocably entangled itself with foreign nations and interests. Thankfully they don’t, or we’d have two economic imperialists. But this love affair with Obama is also part of the problem.

For Obama to make a real difference he would have to basically be lying about his positions, be as "radical" and insightful as Wright and Ayers, and that is simply too unbelievable. The US system may be broken in many ways, but to allow an actual progressive candidate who is in earnest critical of America’s role in the world to move to within a heartbeat of the White House, well, that is simply hard to believe. It is far too easy to sympathize with Obama. And of course it really hurts me every time I see the familiar wingnut smears. And my personality makes me inclined to want to decorate the streets with McCain’s and Palin’s intestines. But those are just feelings, just like the somewhat irrational inclination to believe that Obama can and will solve all the world’s problems. Given a personal, superficial look at the two candidates alone, obviously Obama is the superior choice. He is calm, intelligent, eloquent and by American standards fairly enlightened. But a deeper understanding of the United States and its history raises quite a few red flags. Especially in the light of his recent adoption of all too familiar American values. In short Obama seems to be falling into line.

Once elected, Obama can never live up to the expectations. And if he did he would surely be forced out of office or assassinated, probably by his own party. Already the fact that he has come this far gets my highly cynical grey cells working, suggesting that something is wrong and that he is not a principled as some would believe. His seemingly effortless backpedalling on net neutrality, Israel and government wiretapping suggests that he is indeed a politician. He does not, like the Ron Pauls and Ralph Naders of the world, apparently stand his ground ad absurdum. So in short he cannot be trusted.

What of McCain? Well, on a personal level he seems like real asshole. He could foment World War III if we are very very lucky. Or he could be the quasi-liberal conservative maverick that he was a decade ago and what we are seeing is just empty bellicose rhetoric. He could be lying just as well as Obama, but it is not likely, and even if it is the case, he’d have to continue to lie to stay in office, just like Obama. Most likely he’d just be a continuation of Bush policies. And that is good enough. Because America’s greatest asset isn’t its military or economic prowess. No, America’s single greatest asset is rather its hard earned social and political influence. It’s kind of like the economic markets that way, driven largely by psychology. This influence is something that has been artificially created via propaganda, careful political manipulation and sometimes brute force. It took more than a century to create and it has been tanking harder than the US economy lately. Without this good-will, America is just another country and to put it simply, people would see though American policies – even in highly Americanized countries like Sweden. Without informal support (from countries like Sweden) and the direct support from its proxy states, America would be down to a choice. It would either have to pay for its existence, fight for its existence or largely retreat to within its own borders. Either way, the USA would never be the same again -  and they as well as the rest of the world would be better off for it. Of course, millions might die as violence escalates all around the globe, as a result of other parties vying to fill the void or the United States refusing to yield. But as the saying goes in Washington – it is a price I think is worth paying -  if we can permanently weaken America once and for all.

So what I am saying is this: McCain/Palin would have zero cred going into office while Obama/Biden would be incredibly overvalued, particularly internationally. This social capital would take time to dissipate. Obama/Biden are thus much shrewder at projecting American power whether they know it or not. And they might even balance the national budget. Plus, hope is a dangerous thing. You get the idea. They will do a good job and strengthen America and inspire its past and present allies to once more unconditionally rally under their aegis. The only real reason to support Obama is if you’re an American, and naive to boot. For non-Americans to support Obama they would have to be ignorant and naive beyond compare. Or maybe that is just what they call hope.

We cannot allow this to happen, and therefore the seemingly senseless alternative makes the most sense.

I have already been over most of the poignant details of the case and I remain convinced that Östberg’s guilt is not so clear cut. Despite the best efforts of Lester Fleming at the time. There are some incriminating circumstances. But at most, she is an accessory to murder by definition of a backwards legal system where being in effect a more or less passive bystander is tantamount to murder. Her so called admissions are construed ("confessed to an inmate" etc) and the authorities have gone out on a limb to make her out as guilty. This also includes the lesser known death of a Donald McKay back in 1974 which is now portrayed as yet another act of a cold blooded killer even though the system itself once came to a much different conclusion. Also, the informal details of the plea bargain she entered into haven’t been honored by the state of California due to a changing political winds. Again, read the correspondence with Lester Fleming from three years ago for more details and a clear difference of opinion.

As it stands she couldn’t even get her 25-to-life sentence commuted. Obviously, having the sentence commuted would have been a first step towards a possible future extradition to a Swedish prison or indeed some barely tangible concept of freedom to look forward to. But even that was to much to ask for.

Annika Östberg remains the longest incarcerated Swedish citizen. 27 years and counting. It is time for the spineless Swedish government to put its foot down in this extraordinary case.

September 13: Free The Cuban Five

The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prisons, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being arrested in September 1998 and wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001.

They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. They were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and related charges.

But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were fighting terrorism — they were monitoring the actions of CIA-backed Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent attacks on Cuba.

The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S.government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States.

Either by total gold medals or a reasonable weighted system, China will have won the games. Just give it up America. You’re embarrassing yourselves. If there is to be any alternative system of comparison it ought to be one relative to population size that also disfavors expatriated athletes.

America – number one in deceit and denial!

Political cartoon by Matt Davies (blog) via Cagle.

Flint residents now have to watch their butts because Police Chief David Dicks is on the lookout.

Found on Reddit and Digg.

Or "why America is fucked". A modernized version of the IWW Pyramid of Capitalist System. Found on Reddit.