This Strange World

Ray McGovern: Real American Hero

2006-05-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

You know there's a problem when a 27 year ex-CIA guy who used to give Bush Sr. his daily CIA breifings is using words like fascism to describe the executive power grab that has be going on in D.C. since the Bush administration came to power. Ray McGovern was the guy who called Rumsfeld a liar at a press conference when he asked why Rummy lied his way into Iraq, reciting a quote from Rumsfeld in which he says "We know where they [WMDs] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
Here's a link to the video clip, and when you hear Rummy say, "No, no, no, just hold on a minute, let him stay," thats Rumsfeld calling off the security guards who rushed McGovern as he asked his question, ready to haul him out of the room... Rummy must have realized who McGovern was and what would happen if he was hauled out of a press conference for questioning the Defense Secratary's quote... What ever happened to a "Free Press?" (by the way, we now rank 44th in the world in press freedom)
Here's a link to Ray McGovern's interview on the lovley Randi Rhode's show on Air America Radio. I highly suggest listening to this guy, he knows what he's talking about.

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Thank God For Nazi Germany?

2006-05-11T17:05:00.000-05:00

On the way home from work I was listening (as I always do) to Randi Rhodes on Air America Radio and what she said really peaked my interest.
Everyone has been so afraid to compare Bush to a Nazi (even though his grandpappy was trading with the Germans in WWII, helping them build their war machine with American steel), let alone Hitler. But Randi finally gave me a connection. The Enabling Act of Germany, as stated by wikipedia:

The Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz in German) was passed by Germany's parliament (the Reichstag) on March 23, 1933. It was the second major step after the Reichstag Fire Decree through which the Nazis obtained dictatorial powers using largely legal means. The Act enabled Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his cabinet to enact laws without the participation of the Reichstag.

hmmm... So Hitler said he was the law, Bush says he's "outside" the law, or at least 750 of them.

Click here to show/hide the rest of the story

Hitler cataloged everyone in his country, Bush wants the NSA to index every single call made in the USA, he wants an agency who is expressedly forbiden to spy on Americans to do this! This is just what Hitler did before he started locking people up, he found out who didn't like him. He indexed them, then he got rid of them and said they were the enemy.
Bush uses 9/11 to keep the whole country scared to death that we could be under attack at any moment, he told us we would hunt them down and make them pay, but why would they want to find him? He gives them an excuse to invade Iraq, raise gas prices and give the gas companies huge tax relief because of an unstable oil market (if it cost them more to get the oil, they would pass the cost on to the consumer, but they wouldn't be posting windfall profits!), ignore the law without anyone noticing, and gather information on anyone he wants, with nobody checking these powers he claims to have! They went too far by going into Iraq when we knew Osama was in Afganistan, and they are using the same false reasons to invade another country! The President is turning out to be exactly what I thought he was, a dictator.
The caller on Randi Rhodes was right, Thank God for Nazi Germany, if that wouldn't have happened we would have been tricked into it, just like Hitler tricked Germany into thinking Jews were their problem, just like Bush has tricked us into thinking Islam is our probllem.

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Anti-Bush Shirts, Stickers & Etc.

2006-05-11T13:56:00.000-05:00

So I found a Google AdSense link while looking through my gmail that actually intrigued me enough to click it, www.BeatBushGear.com

There were a lot of good ones but I think this is my favorite ------->

Hayden's NSA Collected Millions Of Domestic Phone Records

2006-05-11T11:14:00.000-05:00

USA Today is reporting that the phone records (care of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth) of tens of millions of Americans have been organized into what could be the world's largest database ever by the NSA under the direction of General Hayden (who was recently nominated to head the CIA... I thought the CIA was a civilian organization... I guess if Bush already knows he's down with shredding the Constitution, he's a good choice).
The article on USATODAY.com has a timeline in the sidebar with a lot of interesting info, it really puts the story in perspective and, for me, makes it impossible to argue that something sinister isn't going on behind the scenes. The FISA court is a secret court set up to allow the President to legally do all of this, without the public knowing, but it still checks the President and makes sure what he's doing is legal.
If they are unwilling to use a secret court which was set up to handle this exact situation, I have to assume there is a reason, and I think it means they don't want anyone to know why they are doing this, and I'm sure it's not because of the 'War on Terror' or the FISA courts would have no problem approving it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if someone doesn't go down for this whole NSA domestic spying thing, I'm out of this country, WE'RE BEING TAKEN OVER BY FASCISTS FROM WITHIN!!
update - 2:23 pm - It makes me happy to see so much being writen about this issue. I was reading some other stories on this and found a quote from Bush's response in a Chicago Tribune blog post:

After September the 11th, I vowed to the American people that our government would do everything within the law to protect them against another terrorist attack. As part of this effort, I authorized the National Security Agency to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.

Ok George, are you saying you didn't authorize them to intercept domestic calls? Or are you lying to us again?

Further Reading:
Reuters - Bush says authorized intelligence activities lawful (because you said it is? didn't Nixon use that one?)
ABC News GMA - Government Monitoring About 200 Million Americans' Calls
USA Today On Deadline

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UK Says Existance Of Guantanamo is "Unacceptable"

2006-05-10T13:36:00.000-05:00

UK's Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has come out against the US's detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tony Blair called it an "anomaly."
Goldsmith told the BBC in a recent article:

"The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and of justice deserves the removal of this symbol."

I'd say, how can we have these people being held without trial or even being charged with a crime? In my mind this is no better then the Japanese internment camps during WWII, these are people being illegally detained, end of story.

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Iran's President Calls Us Hypocrites

2006-05-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

Reuters reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a letter to Bush, accuses the west of hypocrisy saying, "Big powers pretend (they) are concerned, but it's a big lie."
I can see why he would say that after the Bush administration failed to turn up any WMDs in Iraq or any program that could allow them to create these weapons. If you look at the beginning of the war, people knew we needed more troops, people knew our troops were ill-equipted, but we were tricked into think Saddam had these weapons and he intended to use them. We were also tricked into thinking Iraq had to do with 9/11 when we now know there was no connection.
Click here to show/hide the rest of the story

Here's a quote from the Reuters story:

"I'll tell you, they are not concerned with nuclear programs ... They are themselves engaged in nuclear activities and they are expanding day by day. They test new brands of weapons of mass destruction every day," Ahmadinejad told a news conference after meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The US is detonating 700 tons of explosives in the Nevada desert, why? Could it be because Bush wants to know if it's enough to take out a bunker? Is he 'doing the math' (obviously he's not, but you know, the scientists) to see how big of a nuke he needs? It's becoming more and more obvious that we are getting ready for another war and Bush doesn't care what you think, he doesn't listen to the polls, probably because it'd be to depressing.

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Colbert Speaks Truth to Power at the White House Correspondents Dinner

2006-05-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

Colbert just tore Bush apart right to his face and you could tell "The Decider" was not happy. Bush isn't a big fan of "the truth," especially when it shows his gross incompetance, and he hates critisism even more.
Thankyoustephencolbert.org has video of the entire affair which aired on CSPAN and I must say, THANK YOU STEPHEN COLBERT!

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Bush

Fired CIA Officer Denies Being The Source Of The Secret CIA Prison Leak

2006-04-25T08:29:00.000-05:00

You may have heard about this but for those that haven't, let's recap.
Former CIA Officer Mary O. McCarthy was fired for, according to the Washington Post article, leaking information about secret CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe for suspected terrorists.

Now, Newsweek is reporting that it was a lie (except for the Kerry part).
Click here to show/hide the rest of the story

McCarthy, 61, a career CIA analyst who was working in the inspector general's office, was then told on Thursday that she was being fired. She was not escorted out of the CIA building, the source said. She also had been assured that the CIA would protect her privacy--just one day before her name became publicly known as the agency official who had been dismissed for leaking to the press, the source said. Ironically, McCarthy, who previously worked as chief intelligence official for the National Security Council during Bill Clinton's second term, was planning on retiring from the CIA soon to pursue a new career as a lawyer working on adoption and family cases.

So why did they lie? More importantly, if she's in trouble for leaking this information (info about ILLEGAL CIA PRISONS!), why aren't they disciplining the people responsible for not stopping 9-11 (since we now know they knew about it) or the people responsible for getting us into Iraq with stories about the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud? The message here seems to be, "Don't you dare tell anyone about the bad stuff we do, or we will smear the hell out of you like we did with Plame!"

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Nuclear Bunker Busters "Big Mistake" Says UCS

2006-04-25T08:08:00.000-05:00

The Union Of Concerned Scientists, a non-partisan non-profit organization of scientists , posted an animation on their website explaining exactly why Bush's plan to nuke Irans underground bunkers with "tactical" nukes is just plain stupid. But could we really expect any different from this president?
Clipped from thinkprogress.org

Presidential advisers believe that by putting pressure on Iran, Bush may be able to rehabilitate himself on national security, a core strength that has been compromised by a discouraging outlook in Iraq.

So, he thinks he can improve national security by starting a nuclear war, not to mention the fact that this will pit every Muslim country against us. Another great idea from "The Decider."

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StopGlobalWarming.org

2006-04-19T20:22:00.000-05:00

Ok, everyone should go to stopglobalwarming.org and read up on global warming, and if you're convinced it's a problem join the virtual march. You'll get an email every once in a while with interesting stuff. Also, if you sign up you can get a bunch of easy things you can do to reduce your contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions, and calculate how much money and CO2 you save.

Proof That Nuking Iran Is Idiotic

2006-04-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

clipped from The Times Online:

IRAN has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nation’s nuclear sites are attacked. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.

Click here to show/hide the rest of the post

Bush is going to start World War III if somebody doesn't tie him up and gag him. It's not suprising what Iran is doing, given it's present situation. It's surrounded by hostility, they see the Americans setting their sights on Iran while telling them not to develope nuclear weapons. If I was the leader of Iran, I would be trying to build a nuke as fast as possible, because the way things are looking, there's a good chance of Iran being attacked soon (in fact, some say we're already there).

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White House Press Secretary McClellan Resigns

2006-04-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

More changes in the Bush administration, as if it would make a difference. Scott McClellan, White House spin doctor extraordinaire, announced his resignation which was accepted by Bush saying, "It's going to be hard to replace Scott."
Damn right it will be hard to replace him, who in their right mind would want his job? His job is to lie to press so George doesn't have to, he's like the whipping boy, taking all of Bush's beatings for him.

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Bush.Administration

Retired Counter-Terrorism Expert Tells Us Why We Shouldn't Bomb Iran

2006-04-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

Former Chair of the Counter-terrorism Security Group, Richard A. Clarke wrote an op-ed piece with Steven Simon for The New York Times about what would probably happen if we bombed Iran. (You have to register to view the story, but it's free and fast)
Click here to show/hide the rest of the story

We're seeing the same reasons we were given for going to Iraq (even though we should have been focused on Afganistan) being used to sell us on attacking Iran. I know the Iranian government is run by religious fanatics, but that doesn't mean we should nuke them. We need to find a diplomatic solution but we have no leverage with them. Though China and Russia do, since they are two of Irans best oil customers. We should use our leverage with China and Russia to get them to put pressure on Iran not to seek nuclear weapons. If we attack Iran I think it could be just the thing to get Iran and North Korea to team up and if that wasn't enough, if China was convinced to call in its' U.S. debt, our gov't would be bankrupt. I don't see how anyone in the Pentagon could think war with Iran is a good idea, unless you were the CEO of Haliburton like Dick Cheney(who btw, is getting a $1.9-million tax refund this year) was, then it 's like money in the bank.

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Former IL Gov, Convicted On All Counts

2006-04-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

"For a brief moment, I'd just like to remind all of you out there that the charges involved were very serious and the corrupt conduct was very disturbing," - U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

Included in the 22 count indictment are charges of racketeering, fraud, and lying to the FBI. Basically, he gave out big money contracts to his friends and political insiders.

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Bush To Blow Up 700 Tons Of Explosives In Nevada

2006-04-17T20:04:00.000-05:00

Thats right. 700 tons of explosives,code named DIVINE STRAKE, buried in the Nevada desert, an earth shaking explosion... In Nevada... Isn't anyone worried about setting off an earthquake or is Bush just trying to break off California into the ocean?
Click here to show/hide the rest of the story

The President has lost his mind. Here's what Air America's Randi Rhodes had to say:

Bush has found a loophole in the nuclear testing ban. Project Divine Strake is scheduled for June. The Pentagon is already lying to Congress about the test, claiming it’s a conventional bomb exercise.
However, there is no such thing as a plane big enough to carry a 700-ton bomb…the biggest plane we have (C-5 Galaxy) maxes out at 145.5-tons of payload and a B-52 only can lug 35 tons of ordinance.

Interesting when you consider the "Massive Embassy" we're building in Iraq, which is convieniently Iran-adjacent, who, as we're told, have underground bunkers refining uranium for use in an nuclear bomb. This sounds a lot like the reasons we were given to go to Iraq, which ended up being false. And pay no attention to the analysts who say Iran is years away from a nuke. All of this came to light after it was listed in the Pentagon's budget justification

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West Point Grads Speak Out Against The War

2006-04-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

A group of West Point graduates have come together to oppose the war and the lies of the Bush administration to form 'West Point Graduates Against The War.' Their website offers visitors a chance to see the multitude of lies the Bush administrations has used to justify the war in Iraq

"A cadet will not lie, cheat,
or steal, nor tolerate those who do."

That is the message behind the Honor Code at West Point which cadets must swear to uphold. But don't they also have a sworn allegiance to America and their Commander In Chief? To Bush, you know you screwed up when these guys turn on you!
Click here to visit westpointgradsagainstthewar.org

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South Park Makes a Point About Free Speech

2006-04-14T10:59:00.000-05:00

Quote from Washingtonpost.com:

Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the creators of "South Park" skewered their own network for hypocrisy in the cartoon's most recent episode. click here for full article

Click here to see what Comedy Central showed instead
Comedy Central should really know better than to try and keep Matt Stone & Trey Parker in chains. They may have played by Comedy Central's rule about showing Muhammad, but they will never change their message. Like a kid whose parent says "Sit on the couch and stay there," only to stand up with a couch cushion pressed on their butt, Trey & Matt will find a way to get their message across.
click here to show/hide the rest of the story

It all started when the writers of South Park tried to write a show commenting on the Danish cartoon featuring an image of Muhammad. The Danish cartoon set off protests in Muslim areas because according to their religion any image of Muhammad is blasphemous.

The comedy _ in an episode aired during Holy Week for Christians _ instead featured an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag.

Using the formula Cartman used, "If you pull one episode, it starts a domino effect", South Park could be in real trouble since it has now been censored twice if you include having their Scientology episode pulled in response to Tom Cruise's crying. God I love this show. They offend everyone, so I don't ever find them offensive. All comedy is at someone's expense. If you can't laugh at yourself then you have no right laughing at anything.

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AT&T Tries To Get NSA Docs Back

2006-04-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

show/hide quote from Wired.com

Mark Klein, a former technician who worked for AT&T for 22 years, provided three technical documents, totaling 140 pages, to the EFF and to The New York Times, which first reported last December that the Bush administration was eavesdropping on citizens' phone calls without obtaining warrants.

Klein issued a detailed public statement last week, saying he came forward because he believes the government's extrajudicial spying extended beyond wiretapping of phone calls between Americans and a party with suspected ties to terrorists, and included wholesale monitoring of the nation's internet communications.

Now AT&T, who is being sued by the EFF for damages from AT&T on behalf of AT&T customers, is trying to get the documents back, I'm assuming on the grounds of some sort of confidentiality agreement between worker and employer. These documents and Klein's statement are the only real hard evidence on this case, so losing them could be really bad for the EFF.
show/hide quote from Wired.com

AT&T's lawyers also told the court that intense press coverage surrounding the case, including Wired News' publication of Klein's statement, was revealing the company's trade secrets, "causing grave injury to AT&T." The lawyers argued that unsealing the documents "would cause AT&T great harm and potentially jeopardize AT&T's network, making it vulnerable to hackers, and worse."

This just sounds like classic Bush rhetoric. 'Don't ask questions, or the terrorists win.'
digg story

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Make Your Own LED Light, CHEAP!

2006-04-12T10:58:00.000-05:00

I found this project @ digg. Using nothing more than 3 'AAA' batteries (which fit perfectly), a small micro switch, and a white LED.
I'll have to try and whip a couple of these up before camping season starts. The instructions look pretty simple, even for an amateur solderer like myself.

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D.I.Y.

Online Identity

2006-04-10T22:27:00.001-05:00

I an act of boredom I recently went to wikipedia.org and just started clicking around. I eventually ended up on an article about online identity.
Show/Hide wikipedia quote

The future of online anonymity depends on how an identity management infrastructure is developed. Law enforcement officials often express their opposition to online anonymity and pseudonymity, which they view as an open invitation to criminals who wish to disguise their identities. Therefore, they call for an identity management infrastructure that would irrevocably tie online identity to a person's legal identity; in most such proposals, the system would be developed in tandem with a secure national identity document. Online civil rights advocates, in contrast, argue that there is no need for a privacy-invasive system because technological solutions, such as reputation management systems, are already sufficient and are expected to grow in their sophistication and utility.

Hmmm... Interesting point. Though I can see how this can be a problem for law enforcement, I think the fact that anyone can get on the Internet and not be judged by the way they look (appearance is your first, and strongest impression), but by the way they speak. But how do you stop those few people who will exploit the Internet to assume a false identity and engage in malicious behavior.
The only solution to the law enforcment problem I can see would involve some kind of Internet registrar which would be in charge of registering every netizen in every country, which would be a huge project and need the cooperation of every nation who wants access. Obviously people want to know who they are dealing with online, but what price are we willing to pay?
I don't see this becoming a 'major issue' any time soon. I just hope that when it is, people will remember the open spirit of the Net and not be quick to lock it down.

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Martian Ruins or huge coincidence?

2006-04-10T10:12:00.000-05:00

I know, it doesn't look like anything more than a crater, but what caused those strange shapes in the terrain? Wind, cross-drafting, meteors, or living creatures?

I wouldn't call this proof, but I'd say it's worth putting more $$$ into NASA and space exploration. Even if there is no life on Mars, it's getting more and more obvious that there was most likely life on Mars at some point. And if so, where did they go? What happened, and are we doomed to the same fate?

Planets last much longer than the life they sustain, and their landscape/climates change as time progresses. Maybe Mars is in a stage of transition similar to our Ice Age(not the ice part, but the extinction part). Maybe Mars' life will flourish in a million or so years when conditions change... There's an interesting thought...

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Mars

Secret NSA Spy Room In AT&T Switching Center

2006-04-08T23:38:00.000-05:00

Wired News has a story on a secret NSA spy room full of wire-tapping and datamining equiptment installed in an AT&T switching center in San Francisco
expand/hide Wired.com Quote

According to a statement released by Klein's attorney, an NSA agent showed up at the San Francisco switching center in 2002 to interview a management-level technician for a special job. In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T's #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls.

"I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room," Klein wrote. "The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room."

Klein's job eventually included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to the secret room. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabinets were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

"While doing my job, I learned that fiber optic cables from the secret room were tapping into the Worldnet (AT&T's internet service) circuits by splitting off a portion of the light signal," Klein wrote.

Speaking as someone who has had his phone tapped for no known reason (other than the fact that I took part in a protest at Dick Cheney's fundraiser), I take this issue very seriously. Bush & Cheney better lose his job over this or I'm off to Canada...

Trying to use del.icio.us for the first time

2006-04-07T20:17:00.000-05:00

Testing out a way of using del.icio.us for making categories...

Rupert Murdock owns Myspace.com, be afraid.

2006-04-06T22:42:00.000-05:00

This is not a stupid man. He sees a place where thousands of people write about themselves, their likes/dislikes, fav bands, and such and thinks, "Cha-Ching!"

He is just gunna datamine the hell out of all these Myspace junkies, and to top it off, he's promoting the shit out of it! In the last week I've heard at least 3 references to Myspace on newscasts or daytime TV. Tyra Banks did a "Myspace.com Show" in which she talked with Myspace studs about how many girls they've slept with on Myspace, followed by them making Tyra's Myspace page, live on the air! Oh, my god! I can't miss that! What a scam. That system is set up in a way so that you give them all the information the corporations' marketing depatments feed from.

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I knew it all along... The President just wanted Iraq

2006-03-29T22:06:00.000-06:00

I was listening to Air America the other day and they were talking about a 5-page memo
expand/hide therandirhodesshow.com quote

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

I just knew it! From the beginning of this whole Iraq debacle I just knew something was wrong.
I remember Sept. 11th, I remember looking up and noticing the lack of any airplanes in the sky (less then 25 miles from O'Hare there are always a few planes in the sky).
I said I would never join the military unless we were attacked, here, in our country. I didn't want to be used like a tool for the government to wrangle for power outside it's borders.
Thank god I didn't run out to my local recuiter and sign up. First we were huntin' Osama in the mountains of Afghanistan, then it seemed like overnight, we were all over Iraq. We were told that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and that he was helping Osama, how could you argue with that?
Now, 3 years and countless disproved reasons for the war later, we finally have proof that they always wanted to invade Iraq, and when George W. wants something, like a drug addict, he will do whatever it takes, he will lie to your face, to get it. I think when Saddam's trial is over we need to have one over here for Ol' George.

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