Amercia! Epic Mitt Romney App Gaffe Goes Viral Online

Mitt Romney launched an official iPhone app Tuesday night — only to find that it came with one glaring, humiliating oversight for his campaign.

Here’s how the free app works: You take a photo, then are able to lay one of 14 “I’m With Mitt” banners over the image. The banners shout slogans such as “I’m a Mom for Mitt.” Then you can post the photo directly to Facebook or Twitter, or email it to a friend. The friend then receives a message reading: “I’m with Mitt Romney in 2012. And here’s a photo showing my support. Check it out!”

The problem? One of the 14 options reads, in fact, “A Better Amercia.” Yes, Amercia. A-M-E-R-C-I-A.

Just a couple hours after the app was officially announced, the Twittersphere and online peanut gallery were already having a field day with the editorial oversight. Obama supporters, media and general snarkmeisters reveled in taking photos with the glitchy app and inserting “Amercia” into some of Romney’s most memorable campaign quotes.

UPDATE: Mitt Romney’s “With Mitt” iPhone app no longer includes the “Amercia” typo.

mashable.com

Dictator

Urgent, Danger and all that Stuff

This is an urgent warning to all the people of Britain and anyone worldwide who can access the BBC. Exclusive sources have told us that a virulent outbreak of terminal sycophancy and communal arse-licking will become an epidemic on BBC television and radio in the next few days and this will be extremely infectious for those who have no brain and thus no immune system.

The epidemic has been triggered by a virus widely known as the 'Queen's Diamond Jubilee', or QDJ, the bizarre celebration of an ancient virus that has infected societies throughout most of known human history. The virus deletes people of their personal power by causing them to give it away through a form of religious worship akin to a prisoner worshipping his jailer. The QDJ virus also has a tendency to make the tongue protrude, very much like the rituals of some ancient peoples.

More on David Icke Website

A Life On Hold

An intimate portrait of Omar, a 17 year old stranded in a refugee camp since the 2011 war in Libya. The film offers a unique perspective of one person amongst thousands waiting for a chance to start their life again in a safe country.

When war broke out earlier this year in Libya, thousands of refugees from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea, who were living in or transiting through the country at the time, were forced to flee for their lives yet again. They are now waiting in refugee camps along the Tunisian and Egyptian borders - unable to return home due to war or persecution, unable to return to Libya due to ongoing violence and discrimination, and unable to stay in Tunisia or Egypt, countries both undergoing their own political upheavals.

A Life On Hold on Vimeo

‘Human barcode’ could make society more organized

Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it's a good idea to "barcode" infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program. “I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features "a global thinking" discussing a "radical, inspiring or controversial idea" for 60 seconds. Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly and often ineffective. In her opinion, human barcoding would save a lot of time and money.

The proposal isn’t too far-fetched - it is already technically possible to "barcode" a human - but does it violate our rights to privacy? Opponents argue that giving up anonymity would cultivate an “Orwellian” society where all citizens can be tracked. “To have a record of everywhere you go and everything you do would be a frightening thing,” Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Daily News. He warned of a “check-point society” where everyone carries an internal passport and has to show their papers at every turn, he said. “Once we let the government and businesses go down the road of nosing around in our lives...we’re going to quickly lose all our privacy,” said Stanley.

NY Daily News

Prostitution Ring in Madrid Tattooed 19-Year-Old Woman with Bar Code - ihrg.org and CNN

Polluting Occupation

The ground water reservoir in the West Bank is one of the main sources of water in the area. However in most of the Israeli and Palestinian settlements the wastewater are treated inadequately, and the sewer flows to the natural habitat and seeps to underground reservoir. In the Palestinian town Salfit near Arial, 8 million Euros were founded by the locals for a wastewater purification device, but the project was halted.

The Real News

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (orig. Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies, including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Founded by Ernest Anton, the sixth duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, it is also the royal house of several European monarchies, and branches currently reign in Belgium through the descendants of Leopold I, and in the Commonwealth realms through the descendants of Prince Albert. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V of the United Kingdom changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917.

Wikipedia

Ending Overfishing

Despite an increased awareness of overfishing, the majority of people still know very little about the scale of the destruction being wrought on the oceans. Ocean2012

U.S. to differentiate between 'personally displaced' Palestinians and their descendants

the U.S. government approved a resolution to differentiate between Palestinians "personally displaced" in 1948 and their millions of descendants.

The count will be conducted by the State Department and will only include refugees who receive United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) services. Known as the "Kirk amendment" after the drafter, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL). The bill reads:

United Nations Relief and Works Agency.- Not later than one year after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations detailing the number of people currently receiving United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) services 1) whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were personally displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict ('such persons'); 2) who are children of such persons; 3) who are grandchildren of such persons; 4) who are descendants of such persons and not otherwise counted by criteria (2) and (3); 5) who are residents of the West Bank or Gaza; 6) who do not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and are citizens of other countries; and 7) whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who were personally displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, who currently do not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and who are not currently citizens of any other state.

Mondoweiss.net (Also on Alternet)

Also see Palestinian-Israeli Conflict For Beginners or The 1948 Palestinian exodus, known as the Nakba on Wikipedia

Parler le fracas

Le Peuple de l'Herbe

Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran

From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.

Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after an element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran’s Natanz plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet.

At a tense meeting in the White House Situation Room within days of the worm’s “escape,” Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time, Leon E. Panetta, considered whether America’s most ambitious attempt to slow the progress of Iran’s nuclear efforts had been fatally compromised.

NYTimes.com

The 60th Bilderberg Meeting

The 60th Bilderberg Meeting will be held in Chantilly, Virginia, USA from 31 May - 3 June 2012. The Conference will deal mainly with political, economic and societal issues like Transatlantic Relations, Evolution of the Political Landscape in Europe and the US, Austerity and Growth in Developed Economies, Cyber Security, Energy Challenges, the Future of Democracy, Russia, China and the Middle East.

Approximately 145 participants will attend of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance from North America and other countries. About one-third is from government and politics, and two-thirds are from finance, industry, labour, education, and communications. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.

bilderbergmeetings.org

Final List of Participants (among the usual suspects, Kodmani, Bassma - Member of the Executive Bureau and Head of Foreign Affairs, Syrian National Council)

Bilderberg Agenda Attracts National Exposure

Mercy

Triggerfinger ft. Selah Sue - Live op Lowlands 2010

Invisible Empire

Jason Bermas presents Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined produced by Alex Jones.

New Face of Terror: FBI creates bogeyman out of Occupy

From disorganised slackers to terrorists - the Occupy movement has seen its media image go from bad to worse over its nine months of existence. Protesters now even face accusations that they pose a threat not just to Corporate America, but to the country as a whole. But activists say it's all just scaremongering to stifle the movement.

Calls to end detention of children in Australia

To mark 20 years of mandatory detention for asylum seekers in Australia, an international campaign has been launched to end the imprisonment of children. Australia is the only first world country with a policy of mandatory indefinite detention for asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Up to 4,000 people are held under this policy. Campaigners say locking children up in prison is unnecessary, unethical and harmful.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from Melbourne.

 

Al Jazeera English

A Secret Hidden From Mankind

Zuckerberg and wife spotted in Chinese police video

Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys. (Emma Bull)

File this under "random." Eagle-eyed folk have spotted Mark Zuckerberg and his new wife Priscilla Chan in the midst of an action-packed documentary (at 0:29) about China's police, which aired on Chinese network CCTV. At about the 29-second mark you can clearly glimpse a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerberg strolling near some purposeful-looking Chinese cops. Why? We don't know. Considering Facebook has been banned in China since 2009, the appearance does have a certain delicious irony.

now.msn.com

Violence against African immigrants on rise in Israel

Violence against African immigrants to Israel seems to be on the rise in the entity, as hateful headlines against foreign individuals continue to dominate headlines in Israeli media.

Sentiments against African migrants reached their peak on Wednesday after some 1,000 people in southern Tel Aviv staged a violent demonstration against the rising number of Africans moving into the area.
The demonstrators armed with sticks and stones attacked African-run shops and those serving African customers, and smashed up a car with two African men on board. They also shouted racist slogans, including "Blacks out!" and "Infiltrators, get out of our homes."

Witnesses say the rally turned violent after several racist speeches by right-wing members of the Israeli parliament, many of whom were from the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The infiltrators are a cancer in our body," Likud MP Miri Regev told the crowd, as fellow MP Danny Danon shouted, "The infiltrators must be expelled from Israel! Expulsion now!"
The protesting Israelis claim African immigrants have disrupted their lives by stealing from homes and shops and even taking the laundry left outside to dry. Israeli women claim they are in constant fear of rape by the Africans particularly at nights.

Press TV

Students at Stuyvesant Take Issue With Sexist Dress Code

Stuyvesant is one of the best public high schools in New York City; it’s very competitive to get in, and its graduates go on to excellent colleges. And apparently the kids at Stuy were dressing “inappropriately,” and a new code had to be issued and enforced. Here’s the code:

• Sayings and illustrations on clothing should be in good taste.
• Shoulders, undergarments, midriffs and lower backs should not be exposed.
• The length of shorts, dresses and skirts should extend below the fingertips with the arms straight at your side.

How many of these apply to male students at Stuyvesant, do you think? And also, you can’t show your shoulders?

Students at Stuy are pointing out that while the dress code is ridiculous, the enforcement is even moreso — because it’s inconsistent, and seems to be based more on a particular student’s body type than on what they’re actually wearing. Oh and the enforcement also comes with a healthy dose of “You’re gonna get raped wearing that” and “You’ll never find a husband in that”:

More on AlterNet – Also see: Stuyvesant To Female Students: Stop Dressing Like Sluts at Gothamist

Iron

Woodkid

Activists Speak Out Against Lack of Access to Bradley Manning

US rights activists Friday condemned a lack of disclosure in the case against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, saying there was even less transparency than proceedings against the alleged September 11 attackers.

A coalition headed by the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a petition asking the US Army to order the judge in Manning's court martial to allow access to government papers, court orders and transcripts of proceedings, "none of which have been made public to date."

Manning, whose trial is scheduled to start on September 21, is accused of "aiding the enemy" and dozens of other charges over his alleged leaking of documents to the site -- a charge that carries a potential life sentence.

Manning allegedly leaked hundreds of thousands of military logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he served as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq.

AlterNet - Center for Constitutional Rights - Bradley Manning Support Network

Dance Craze

The Best of British Ska...

Chen Guangcheng's brother goes missing after fleeing to Beijing

The brother of the blind activist Chen Guangcheng has gone missing after fleeing his village in north-eastern China to seek help for his son who is facing an attempted murder charge. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, disappeared two days after he arrived in Beijing to support his son, Chen Kegui, who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists.

The Shandong-based lawyer Liu Weiguo said Chen Guangfu, a 55-year-old farmer and labourer, did not return to his hotel room in Beijing on Friday night. Zhao Wei, a Shandong supporter of Chen Guangcheng's family, was the last person to have contact with Chen Guangfu before they parted ways on Friday afternoon, Liu told the Reuters news agency.

"As of now, there's still no news on Brother Guangfu," Liu said. "We're not optimistic. Guangcheng is also very worried. He's contacting friends to look [for him]." Chen Guangfu appears to have become the latest target of Beijing's reprisals against Chen Guangcheng's family in the wake of the activist's escape from his village in late April after 19 months of detention at home.

guardian.co.uk – More on Chariweb.com

CNN says:

The brother of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said he's worried about his incarcerated son and has met with attorneys in Beijing to get legal advice for him.

Chen Guangfu told CNN Saturday that he's back home in Shandong province village of Dongshigu after meeting with Beijing lawyers in the case of his son Chen Kegui. The son was arrested and accused of murder this month shortly after his activist-uncle, Chen Guangcheng, escaped from their village.

What a waste

Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1978)