Monthly Archives: June 2011

Delta Airlines Appears to Join Saudi Arabia in Banning Jews or Israelis

by Cimaxion

In an agreement that harkens back to those between certain U.S. companies and Nazi Germany during the thirties and forties, U.S. carrier Delta Airlines has entered into an agreement with Saudi Arabia to offer service to the country that bans travelers who are from or who have visited Israel at any time.

Some reports around the web today, starting with an article on the USA Today web site which has since been deleted, say that the policy bans Jews from traveling to Saudi Arabia.  This may be true.  There is some confusion.  I think the historic policy of the Saudis is to stop people who have been to Israel.  But this is just another way to couch bigotry in slightly less obvious terms.  The ban is essentially a ban against Jews.  The bigoted kingdom has tried to prevent Jewish travel to its territory in the past and have removed such bans only when directly confronted.  In general, there is ongoing discrimination against Jewish people in the country.

In fact, Saudi Arabia is one of the most bigoted countries on the planet.  Non-Muslims are not allowed to even enter certain Saudi cities.  That’s hard to equal in terms of sheer bigotry.  Women are considered to be property and must wear concealing garments, move about in public with a male chaperone, and cannot operate a motor vehicle.  In and of itself, this treatment of women is one of the most egregious crimes against human rights by any nation on earth.  In addition, Muslim citizens of Saudi Arabia who convert to other religions are killed.

The fact that some American companies maintain a presence there is an embarrassment for me and I would hope for most Americans.

Delta airlines has released a statement that basically says they have to follow the rules of each country they fly to.  Really?  Well, I’m sure the good folks at Delta would have been very happy to follow the rules of the Third Reich just as well.

Here’s part of what Delta had to say about it:

First and foremost, I think one of the most important things to mention here is that Delta does not discriminate nor do we condone discrimination against anyone in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.

That said, some have raised questions about whether Saudi Arabian Airlines’ membership in SkyTeam means Delta is adopting any type of policies that could present barriers to travel for some passengers, including Jewish customers. For this particular concern, it’s important to realize that visa requirements to enter any country are dictated by that nation’s government, not the airlines, and they apply to anyone entering the country regardless of whether it’s by plane, bus or train.

We, like all international airlines, are required to comply with all applicable laws governing entry into every country we serve. You as passengers are responsible for obtaining the necessary travel documents, such as visas and certification of required vaccinations, and we’re responsible for making sure that you have the proper documentation before you board.

Okay, so what would this airline do if Saudi Arabia banned anyone who had ever traveled to the African continent?  Would Delta airlines happily dance into a deal under those circumstances?  But that’s exactly what they’ve done!

I recognize that Israel has its own problems with human rights in its treatment of Palestinian people.  They do things to people that I object to and that often rise to the level of crimes against humanity.  But quite frankly, I’d have my finger on the trigger too if I lived anywhere near countries like Saudi Arabia or Syria or Egypt.

If Delta airlines has to follow the barbaric and revolting rules of a country like Saudi Arabia, then it simply should not fly there.

Photography Breakthrough Allows Image Focusing Outside of Camera

by Cimaxion

The soon-to-be-available Lytro camera allows picture taking without focusing. The photos can be focused later by simply clicking on any part of the image to bring that area into primary focus. It’s a pretty historic achievement in photography. I don’t think anyone has done it before.

The camera uses something called a light field sensor. It captures the color, intensity and vector direction of the rays of light. This directional information is completely lost with traditional camera sensors, which simply add up all the light rays and record them as a single amount of light. So you can snap a picture without focusing at all and then later focus the image the way you want to.

Try clicking around on these images:

Talkin’ World Awakening – New Topical Song For Greece, Freedom and All People Sacked by Banka-Gangstas

by Cimaxion

German musician and filmmaker Michel Montecrossa sings a song of rage and protest aimed at banks and their governments who seek to eliminate entire populations in favor of a very small group of super-wealthy. The first decades of the 21st century are proving not to be about some ridiculous war on terror, but instead they are seeing the beginning of a conflict between large corporate interests and enormous populations. The uprisings in the Middle East have nothing to do with the dictators there. Those uprisings are against the corporations that do business with the dictators.

I like Mr. Montecrossa’s hard and direct approach. He is a wild man and he’s making some very interesting things. I posted earlier about his ‘Resurrection’ movie.

Sometimes a Dead Jackass is Just a Dead S.O.B.

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

Hey, it’s never too early to call a jackass a jackass, is it?  No it ain’t.  Leave it to a prick like me if you want.  A jackass driving drunk at 132 miles per hour who suddenly goes to zero is better for everybody, that’s what I think.  Whatever his dim friends might say about it, a jackass in a Porsche going 132 mph is simply firing his gun into a crowd.  Just like the soldiers in Syria who probably swallow some good shots down before pumping bullets out into a crowd of innocent people.  When a jackass gets drunk and puts a friend in his car and drives 132 mph down a road and crashes and kills himself and his passenger I call it manslaughter.

Some of this dick’s friends thought it might be a good idea to call movie critic Roger Ebert some nasty names for Tweeting ‘Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive’ shortly after the ‘accident.’  They thought somehow it might be too early for such harsh criticism.

Would it have been too early for me to have thrown a rock through Ryan Dunn’s windshield?  Because I surely would have if he’d driven past me that night.  You betcha.  I do lots of windy mountain road bike stuff and nine times out of ten its some jerkoff with a beard in a Porsche that comes speeding through and nearly misses a curve.  I kid you not.  These guys with the Porsches have some issues, it seems.  I’ve got a very bad attitude about these people.  If one of them takes me out while I’m on the road, I give everyone permission to beat the guy to death with a rock.  You can also smile at his dead body if you like – just like I’m doing now.

I had a friend in high school back in the seventies who decided to drive 100 mph down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.  He crashed into a tree.  Killed his best friend and his lovely little sister who was a year behind me in school.  I ran into this prick several years later in a burger joint.  He looked like a homeless broken nut at the age of nineteen.  I said ‘Hi’ and shouldered him out of my way at the door.  Forgiveness is for twits.

But that’s just the kind of nightmarish guy I am.

So Ryan Dunn’s friends can bend over low and kiss my ass.  A dead jackass is better than a live one any day.

Killing the Net: A Film by Duncan Elms

by Cimaxion

This short film by Duncan Elms explores the danger of an Internet that can be shut down quite easily by governments that want to suppress free expression or crack down on popular movements toward freedom. The recent experience of Egyptians trying to stage a revolution and spread information about it amongst themselves and to the world should be very informative. The Mubarak government was able to turn off Internet access throughout the nation. Even in the U.S., President Obama has sought the power to switch off the Internet if he declares an emergency. That effort has since been watered down, but it is clear that the U.S. government does in fact seek a method for shutting down the Internet.  The continued treatment of China, a nation that monitors every single word typed into a web site, as even remotely civilized is an embarrassment to the entire world.  Those people won’t even allow a person to think freely, much less post freely on the web.  There must be a way to maintain worldwide access to the Internet that is beyond the control of any national government, including the United States government.