http://www.truthdig.com/interview/print/20070706_gore_vidal_sounds_off_on_solar_power/
Gore Vidal Sounds Off on Solar Power Caper
Posted on Jul 6, 2007
Note to public utility companies: Do not cross Gore Vidal. A week after representatives from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power came to his Hollywood Hills home to inspect (and then shut down) his newly installed solar power system, Vidal is still “on the grid,” unable to use solar until the system is fully re-inspected. As his fans would expect, the puissant author and tough customer has let fly with some strong words about the utility company, the state of California and the state of the country at large.
Although the DWP insists that the shutdown was a safety-related standard procedure according to their protocol, and that there were some issues with the way in which his solar system was set up and activated, Vidal questions the use of said protocol and the motives behind it. Simply put, he tells Truthdig’s Associate Editor Kasia Anderson, “[utility companies] have no intention for anyone to use solar power so long as there’s a drop of oil anywhere in the world.”
Kasia Anderson: Let’s just catch up here in terms of where things stand at this point in the saga. ...
Gore Vidal: Well, in the saga of light and day and the dark of the moon ... exactly a year ago, there was a total blackout. I live in the Hollywood Hills, and the area around [my street] and other streets that go up from down below from the flats to the high mountaintop to help people cross over to the Valley—this is a street that people like to take to get from Hollywood, let’s say to San Fernando Valley, Burbank, and so on. That said, to my astonishment, I was, like everybody else, on the grid; I never questioned it, never thought about it. Next thing I know, for eight days we are without any power of any kind in the house, and some genius somewhere in the municipal divisions had managed to turn my telephone off. So, I had no telephone, no light, no nothing, and was forced, at enormous expense, to move with my godson, who is an expert—he’s part of the Green Party in France, where he lives, and he is not an American—I hope there was no resentment over that, but he was very helpful in just setting this thing up.
A lot of people fled. I was one of them. For one thing, I was not about to have a stroke; there was no air conditioning or anything else. So, I went to a hotel and stayed there at a huge expense for 10 days, maybe longer. And every day they’d say, “Oh yes, we’re getting closer,” and, “Well, your buildings are too old!” Well, this house was built in the ’20s; that’s quite true. But why not tell me, the buyer of the house, when I bought it? Did anybody from Power and Water come by to say, “Well, you’d better check on such and such?” No, they didn’t. We did check on everything to make sure everything was OK. And so many people who had rented this house over many years had cheated everybody. We had one couple—he declared bankruptcy, she wisely did not, and she ended by owing us $45,000 in rent—doing nothing about light, anything else. I dare give no more examples of her bad citizenship, because the [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] would immediately say, “She did it! She did it!” You know, they’re looking to blame somebody for the mess they made over here. The least they could do is transfer the fault elsewhere—well, they can’t. This was arbitrarily their own mess.
So in due course, my godson the Green Party man had worked out how simple it would be, and he got hold of some very nice solar people out here, so we did everything by the book to install, just to transfer over from the grid, which uses up what’s left of the oil in the world, and simultaneously we went to work to collect as much sunlight as we could. We didn’t think there was a war against it. I should have known better—this is America!—that anybody could have grabbed this, whether it be a municipal department who could claim it was under them, and you must clear everything with them ... well, that’s power! That’s real power. And it’s not power in the sense we like to think of it, which is power for the people who pay for ... power! And should get it in return and not have it taken away from them on some spurious thing: “Well, you didn’t clear; we have eight members of the board, and you have to clear it with all eight and you didn’t.”
And so we tried to, because we were told, after the initial installation had been made, that we must apply for inspection from the [DWP], which has invented a lot of rules which don’t exist anywhere in the Constitution, in the state of California’s laws, in any rulings by the state Assembly. The whole government has been thrown out by this one little bureau, sitting—cowering—over there in this great big building, and legislating our water, our power. “We have our rulings,” they say. Well, I’m sure you have; I’m sure you make 20 a day! And not necessarily the rulings of the citizens of the state of California. We’re not held by your rulings. We can be advised by them. We can be protected by them, and we know that’s what you care the most about: the well-being of the citizens of the state. You’re famous all over the world! California cares. The municipality of California cares!
Actually, nobody cares about anything except keeping total control and making sure that people, outsiders (even though I’ve been an insider in this state since 1929), are not going to get away with anything. They’re not going to be independent of the grid. The grid is holy. It drinks water desperately, like somebody starving in Death Valley. And, I shouldn’t think we were to be taken seriously on an important matter like this, which involves everybody! Who owns the sun? Well, I don’t think a little department strung up in this vast bureaucratic maze of so many little departments (and big departments) has any particular rights.
Anderson: So, just so that I understand the process, ... the contractor and your godson were aware of the procedures from the beginning and knew the DWP’s rules and [were] doing all the paperwork. As far as you knew, at the point of installation, you were good to go.
Vidal: Oh yes. More than good to go; people had been walked through it to see whether everything was correct and so on. No complaints. I don’t have affidavits, but I probably could collect them.
Anderson: And their initial complaint happened after they were finally made aware, last week, that it was installed and there hadn’t been an inspection. And their claim at that point was that it had been incorrectly and without permit ... [installed]?
Vidal: My first prediction—I like to think of myself as an authority on bureaucracy—would be that it was improperly installed. They didn’t know one wire from the other, the inspectors who came, and that’s why they made such a mess. They tore out my elevator, which gets me up from the downstairs part—I’m a gimp—and that was an unpleasant thing to do, because I woke up the next morning ready to go downstairs, and the machine wasn’t working; they had somehow ripped out the insides of it. I have some electrical stuff in the bathroom, which I need, and they had torn that out! This is a clean sweep! And they were not going to admit it. So, I started to call up the solar people, and they said, well, this isn’t solar that you’re going on, and I said, well, it basically is. They’ve torn everything up, and it’s because it’s “incorrectly done.” None of the people they sent over to examine it knew how it worked. So, they just went merrily around ripping wires out of the ground and pulling them out of the walls, without being invited in. It was also invasion of privacy.
And it was very daring, I thought. If we lived in a country of law, I’d have known exactly what to do: I’d bring charges. But we don’t. This is a country of cronies! “Heck of a job, Brownie!” I should have screamed from the housetops. “Heck of a job!”
The worse the work is, the more highly it’s celebrated, and there’s a bit of skimming going on all the time, too. Otherwise, why are there so many of these little departments, you know? Making rules by which the public must live—but they don’t have to! That is really strange.
Anderson: So you’re unable to fully get off the grid, and you’ll always be in some way beholden to the department. ...
Vidal: Oh, we’re totally [on the grid] now. We were totally off it, for a couple of weeks. By the time they finished muddling around and pulling wires out and so on, they shoved us right back on where they wanted us! Now they can just switch it off whenever they please. And apparently they can get into the basement here whenever they please to make sure that they’ve evaded such-and-such a switch.
Anderson: And they don’t call ahead to say they’re going to need to come in?
Vidal: Well, they did at first, and I said, “All the dials that you need are on the outside of the house! You don’t need to come inside!” They always want to get down into the basement, because that’s where they’re cheating ... oh, we can tell a mile away. These are real dum-dums.
Anderson: So, after your initial complaints, [DWP representatives] came [on Tuesday]. ...
Vidal: Tuesday, and by the time I got up, they’d turned off everything, all the lights. “Because, you see, we’ve got to turn off the solar panels before we can get to the—do you understand that? We’ve got to turn those off!” I said, “Why? They’re working terribly well!” Well, there was no direct answer to that, except they wanted to! And, (a) it’s infantile, their approach, and (b) it’s very, you know, Third Reich!
Anderson: I was told by another solar company provider that they don’t need to necessarily come over to inspect nor to turn anything off in order to inspect.
Vidal: Well, the fact that they know it’s on and working should be enough. They can tell that from their dials.
Anderson: So, where did they leave it after you had the summit meeting of different representatives on Tuesday?
[Vidal’s assistant] Daren Simkin: They went through all of the different requirements, and it apparently turned out that the solar was not installed exactly according to their requirements. It was installed as efficiently as possible, which made sense given the structure of the house and the efficiency of the solar, but it didn’t completely comply with what they required. So, the solar guy, William, who’s the CEO of the [solar] company, had to rewire ... and that was the end of it. So, now they’re currently working on the second stage of inspections.
Anderson: [The solar company CEO] being somebody who’s done a lot of these before—he didn’t anticipate this complaint by them [the DWP]?
Vidal: He was astonished. He didn’t expect any of this.
Simkin: The idea is it doesn’t make sense electrically for them to rewire it this way. Which begs the question: What does the department have to do with this? Why should they make these rules that don’t make sense across the board?
Anderson: Does it enable the DWP to use any excess solar energy in a better fashion?
Simkin: I think it just complies with their rules—that’s it.
Vidal: Well, I think that they make their rules backwards, you know. If there’s a situation, they say, “That’s our rule, you see, and you’ve gone against our rule! And we can’t permit that, because this is for your protection and the protection of every good American!” So we get a lot of nonsense.
Anderson: And their explanation was that it had to do with personal safety ... ?
Vidal: We’re so grateful for their attentions! They’re so good at personal safety in this state, you know. Just go along the highways—you’ll see how much they care.
Simkin: And someone has to recognize the conflict of interest here. Because as a government division, I suppose they have the right to protect the safety of citizens.
Vidal: Or pretend that they are, which is what they’re doing. They don’t give a damn!
Simkin: But at the same time, when they’re looking over the solar, if a citizen is buying solar, they’re taking their business away from the department. The department’s losing money. Why would the department want to help someone take their business elsewhere? ...
Vidal: We went through all the stages that you’re supposed to go through. They had been informed. And we opened the place for them in April to come and fulfill one of their extraordinary rules, and they never came, nor did they say they weren’t coming. They just wasted our time, and then they made a second date, I think, and that was that. By then, we were up and going.
Anderson: So, essentially, “you’re never able to be fully off the grid” is the moral of this story.
Vidal: That is what they want; that is what they’ve achieved. I want to turn it around. ... I mean, just ticking them off is not going to do it! We’ve got to prove the force majeure and that is the sun!
Anderson: If you have a boat and you want to run a solar panel on it, I gather that no inspection is required.
Vidal: Yes, and a boat can blow up in a harbor and take the harbor with it, too.
Anderson: Is there any reason why [the department’s] incentive program [for installing solar power] could be of any use to you as a household? I mean, would they cover for you if a tree fell on your solar panel?
Vidal: Oh, I’m sure they would not. They would drop a match after that.
Simkin: The incentive is sizable at this point. It’s getting smaller.
Vidal: It was big.
Anderson: I believe I read that 40 percent is about the standard incentive.
Vidal: I think that something may be made out of it that I’m the only non-greedy person in this place—in this community—who is not trying to grab something for nothing: “Boy, I really took them!” I’m just counter their culture, and I loathe their culture.
Anderson: And it would seem like, at times like this, in the summer, when there is a huge strain put on the system for air conditioning and so forth, that it would be useful for some of the households to not be adding to that strain.
Vidal: Well, as I said, I thought this was a gift from me to the community, by removing myself from the grid.
Simkin: Related to that, I mean, if there was a shortage of oil, oil companies wouldn’t be excited about electric car companies rising up—they’d raise the price of oil. This is how they exert control.
Anderson: And on top of the incentive for the installation, is there some tax write-off?
Vidal: There’s something vague, I remember.
Simkin: It seems like the only motivations that the department has [for promoting solar] are the governor’s declared intentions to get so many people on solar by 2010-2011. There’s that ... and goodwill to protect the environment, which runs counter to the rules of capitalism.
Anderson: The bottom line seems to be that the whole idea of harnessing the sun comes with red tape.
Simkin: If all goes well, the [re-]inspection process is supposed to take two weeks. The original papers were put in April 20th.
Vidal: They won’t come. And then they’ll stop coming altogether ... every time they don’t come, they say they’re delaying, you know?
Simkin: And we’re not supposed to use the solar until it’s been inspected.
Vidal: By what rule? We can take that one to court! People have been using solar ever since the first person figured out how to work it to heat the pool! Everyone’s been heating their pool [using solar] forever, and nobody’s come by to inspect it. ...
Anderson: At this point, you’re fully back on the grid.
Vidal: Yep, to their delight. They don’t want anything to change now.
Truthdig/Zuade Kaufman
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Vick suspended indefinitely without pay
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070825/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_michael_vick
Vick suspended indefinitely without pay
By DAVE GOLDBERG and LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writers
8-25-7
For all the big words and life lessons Roger Goodell included in his booming reaction to Michael Vick's admission of involvement in dogfighting, the NFL commissioner's message seemingly could have been whittled to two words: Nice try.
Goodell suspended the Atlanta Falcons quarterback indefinitely without pay Friday, just hours after Vick filed a plea agreement that portrayed him as less involved than three co-defendants and guilty mainly of poor judgment for associating with them.
In a letter to Vick, Goodell admonished him for "reprehensible" acts and for associating with people engaged in gambling in violation of NFL rules. He also rebuked him for seemingly trying to paint himself as something other than the ringleader.
"You are now justifiably facing consequences for the decisions you made and the conduct in which you engaged. Your career, freedom and public standing are now in the most serious jeopardy," Goodell wrote. "I hope that you will be able to learn from this difficult experience and emerge from it better prepared to act responsibly and to make the kinds of choices that are expected of a conscientious and law abiding citizen."
Vick acknowledged bankrolling gambling on the dogfights, but denied placing bets himself or taking any of the winnings. He admitted that dogs not worthy of the pit were killed "as a result of the collective efforts" of himself and two co-defendants.
Goodell decided not to wait until Monday, when U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond, Va., formally receives the plea and schedules a sentencing likely to land Vick in prison for one to five years.
The commissioner said Vick's admitted conduct was "not only illegal but also cruel and reprehensible." Even if he didn't personally place bets, Goodell said, "your actions in funding the betting and your association with illegal gambling both violate the terms of your NFL player contract and expose you to corrupting influences in derogation of one of the most fundamental responsibilities of an NFL player."
Goodell freed the Falcons to "assert any claims or remedies" to recover $22 million of Vick's signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004.
The commissioner didn't speak to Vick but based his decision on the court filings. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Goodell might meet with Vick in the future, and Goodell said he would review the suspension after all the legal proceedings.
"You have engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of the NFL and have violated the league's personal conduct policy," Goodell told Vick in a letter after meeting in New York with Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank supported Goodell's decision.
"We hope that Michael will use this time, not only to further address his legal matters, but to take positive steps to improve his personal life," Blank said.
Nike, meanwhile, terminated its contract with Vick.
Earlier Friday, a "summary of facts" signed by Vick and his lawyers was filed along with his written plea agreement on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.
"While Mr. Vick is not personally charged with or responsible for committing all of the acts alleged in the indictment, as with any conspiracy charge, he is taking full responsibility for his actions and the actions of the others involved," the defense team said in a written statement after the plea agreement was filed.
"Mr. Vick apologizes for his poor judgment in associating himself with those involved in dog fighting and realizes he should never have been involved in this conduct," the statement said.
Vick and his lawyers said his involvement was limited when it came to the enterprise known as the Bad Newz Kennels.
"Our position has been that we are going to try to help Judge Hudson understand all the facts and Michael's role," Vick's defense attorney, Billy Martin, said in telephone interview. "Michael's role was different than others associated with this incident."
In court papers, Vick said he provided most of the Bad Newz Kennels operation and gambling monies, echoing language in plea agreements by the three co-defendants — Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips.
When the dogs won, the statement said, gambling proceeds were generally shared by Taylor, Peace and Phillips.
"Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds of the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels," the court document said.
According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions in April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.
"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
In the plea agreement, the government committed to recommending a sentence on the low end of the federal sentencing guideline range of a year to 18 months. However, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, and the judge is not bound by any recommendation or by the guidelines.
Hudson has a reputation for imposing stiff sentences, according to lawyers who have appeared in his court. The judge will set a sentencing date at Monday's hearing.
Martin said Vick will "speak to the public and explain his actions." Though he declined to say when and where, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a syndicated program based in Dallas, said it will have a live interview with Vick on Tuesday.
The case began in April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick's cousin raided a Surry County property owned by Vick and found dozens of dogs, some injured, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.
A federal indictment issued in July charged Vick, Peace, Phillips and Taylor with an interstate dogfighting conspiracy. Vick initially denied any involvement, and all four men pleaded innocent. The three co-defendants later pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Vick.
Taylor was the first to change his plea, saying Vick financed the dogfighting ring's gambling and operations. Peace and Phillips soon followed, alleging that Vick joined them in killing dogs that did not measure up in test fights.
The sickening details outlined in the indictment and other court papers prompted a public backlash against Vick, who had been one of the NFL's most popular players.
Animal-rights groups mobilized against Vick — even protesting at NFL headquarters in New York — and sponsors dropped him.
"It is fitting that the NFL has suspended him," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "He's now a role model for something terrible, and it's not appropriate that he suit up in an NFL uniform."
___
Associated Press Writers Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va., and Hank Kurz Jr. and Michael Felberbaum in Richmond contributed to this report.
Vick suspended indefinitely without pay
By DAVE GOLDBERG and LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writers
8-25-7
For all the big words and life lessons Roger Goodell included in his booming reaction to Michael Vick's admission of involvement in dogfighting, the NFL commissioner's message seemingly could have been whittled to two words: Nice try.
Goodell suspended the Atlanta Falcons quarterback indefinitely without pay Friday, just hours after Vick filed a plea agreement that portrayed him as less involved than three co-defendants and guilty mainly of poor judgment for associating with them.
In a letter to Vick, Goodell admonished him for "reprehensible" acts and for associating with people engaged in gambling in violation of NFL rules. He also rebuked him for seemingly trying to paint himself as something other than the ringleader.
"You are now justifiably facing consequences for the decisions you made and the conduct in which you engaged. Your career, freedom and public standing are now in the most serious jeopardy," Goodell wrote. "I hope that you will be able to learn from this difficult experience and emerge from it better prepared to act responsibly and to make the kinds of choices that are expected of a conscientious and law abiding citizen."
Vick acknowledged bankrolling gambling on the dogfights, but denied placing bets himself or taking any of the winnings. He admitted that dogs not worthy of the pit were killed "as a result of the collective efforts" of himself and two co-defendants.
Goodell decided not to wait until Monday, when U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond, Va., formally receives the plea and schedules a sentencing likely to land Vick in prison for one to five years.
The commissioner said Vick's admitted conduct was "not only illegal but also cruel and reprehensible." Even if he didn't personally place bets, Goodell said, "your actions in funding the betting and your association with illegal gambling both violate the terms of your NFL player contract and expose you to corrupting influences in derogation of one of the most fundamental responsibilities of an NFL player."
Goodell freed the Falcons to "assert any claims or remedies" to recover $22 million of Vick's signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004.
The commissioner didn't speak to Vick but based his decision on the court filings. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Goodell might meet with Vick in the future, and Goodell said he would review the suspension after all the legal proceedings.
"You have engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of the NFL and have violated the league's personal conduct policy," Goodell told Vick in a letter after meeting in New York with Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank supported Goodell's decision.
"We hope that Michael will use this time, not only to further address his legal matters, but to take positive steps to improve his personal life," Blank said.
Nike, meanwhile, terminated its contract with Vick.
Earlier Friday, a "summary of facts" signed by Vick and his lawyers was filed along with his written plea agreement on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.
"While Mr. Vick is not personally charged with or responsible for committing all of the acts alleged in the indictment, as with any conspiracy charge, he is taking full responsibility for his actions and the actions of the others involved," the defense team said in a written statement after the plea agreement was filed.
"Mr. Vick apologizes for his poor judgment in associating himself with those involved in dog fighting and realizes he should never have been involved in this conduct," the statement said.
Vick and his lawyers said his involvement was limited when it came to the enterprise known as the Bad Newz Kennels.
"Our position has been that we are going to try to help Judge Hudson understand all the facts and Michael's role," Vick's defense attorney, Billy Martin, said in telephone interview. "Michael's role was different than others associated with this incident."
In court papers, Vick said he provided most of the Bad Newz Kennels operation and gambling monies, echoing language in plea agreements by the three co-defendants — Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips.
When the dogs won, the statement said, gambling proceeds were generally shared by Taylor, Peace and Phillips.
"Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds of the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels," the court document said.
According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions in April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.
"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
In the plea agreement, the government committed to recommending a sentence on the low end of the federal sentencing guideline range of a year to 18 months. However, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, and the judge is not bound by any recommendation or by the guidelines.
Hudson has a reputation for imposing stiff sentences, according to lawyers who have appeared in his court. The judge will set a sentencing date at Monday's hearing.
Martin said Vick will "speak to the public and explain his actions." Though he declined to say when and where, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a syndicated program based in Dallas, said it will have a live interview with Vick on Tuesday.
The case began in April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick's cousin raided a Surry County property owned by Vick and found dozens of dogs, some injured, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.
A federal indictment issued in July charged Vick, Peace, Phillips and Taylor with an interstate dogfighting conspiracy. Vick initially denied any involvement, and all four men pleaded innocent. The three co-defendants later pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Vick.
Taylor was the first to change his plea, saying Vick financed the dogfighting ring's gambling and operations. Peace and Phillips soon followed, alleging that Vick joined them in killing dogs that did not measure up in test fights.
The sickening details outlined in the indictment and other court papers prompted a public backlash against Vick, who had been one of the NFL's most popular players.
Animal-rights groups mobilized against Vick — even protesting at NFL headquarters in New York — and sponsors dropped him.
"It is fitting that the NFL has suspended him," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "He's now a role model for something terrible, and it's not appropriate that he suit up in an NFL uniform."
___
Associated Press Writers Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va., and Hank Kurz Jr. and Michael Felberbaum in Richmond contributed to this report.
'Manhunt 2' Receives Mature Rating
http://wii.themanroom.com/news.php?id=1588
'Manhunt 2' Receives Mature Rating; October Release
August 24, 2007
Rockstar Games today announced 'Manhunt 2' has received a Mature rating from the ESRB and will be released in North America October 31 on Playstation 2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii.
The ESRB had originally slapped 'Manhunt 2' with an AO (Adults Only) rating in June, forcing Rockstar and Take Two Interactive to delay the game's original July 9 launch date.
In order to achieve the new Mature rating, Rockstar was forced to tone down several unspecified aspects of the game. Whether the original Adults Only version of 'Manhunt 2' will be available later on remains to be seen.
"Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience," said Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games. "We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it."
'Manhunt 2' Receives Mature Rating; October Release
August 24, 2007
Rockstar Games today announced 'Manhunt 2' has received a Mature rating from the ESRB and will be released in North America October 31 on Playstation 2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii.
The ESRB had originally slapped 'Manhunt 2' with an AO (Adults Only) rating in June, forcing Rockstar and Take Two Interactive to delay the game's original July 9 launch date.
In order to achieve the new Mature rating, Rockstar was forced to tone down several unspecified aspects of the game. Whether the original Adults Only version of 'Manhunt 2' will be available later on remains to be seen.
"Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience," said Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games. "We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it."
Moonbeam is Back!
http://www.observer.com/2007/moonbeam-back
Moonbeam is Back!
by Steve Kornacki
Published: August 23, 2007
Tags: Politics, The City, Jerry Brown
If you like comeback stories, then you’ll love this one. It seems that 69-year-old Jerry Brown – the former two-term California Governor, two-term Oakland mayor, California state Democratic Party chairman, three-time failed presidential candidate, unsuccessful 1982 U.S. Senate candidate, and current state Attorney General – is eyeing another run for Governor in 2010.
This according to the Sacramento Bee, which interviewed Brown on Wednesday.
And, early as it is, he’s probably the front-runner to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will be term-limited out in ’10 (when he may challenge Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer): A March poll showed Brown, who was elected AG last fall, topping a crowded Democratic field with 31 percent – not entirely surprising, given his name recognition and the positive press he’s received over the last decade.
Brown, the son of two-term California Governor Pat Brown, has reinvented himself countless times in a fascinating political odyssey that spans four decades. He has repeatedly pursued the presidency, but in unorthodox ways, and his standing – in California and nationally – has risen and fallen dramatically over the years.
For veteran Brown-watchers, it’s not exactly a surprise that after his elevation to A.G. last fall – his first statewide win in California since 1978 – he’d reach for the governorship again. The question is whether he might be laying the groundwork for another, even more improbable White House run down the line. Ken Khachigian, a longtime G.O.P. consultant, predicted to the Bee that "If he ran for governor in 2010 and won, he'd start running for president in 2011.”
He may be long in the tooth, but a look at Brown’s career suggests he may have another national campaign in him.
He claimed the governorship for the first time in 1974, succeeding Ronald Reagan at the age of 36. Almost immediately, he set out to run for President, entering – and winning – a string of late spring primaries in 1976 in an effort to stake a claim at a brokered Democratic convention that never came (Jimmy Carter won a first ballot victory). He was re-elected Governor in 1978 and tried for the presidency again in 1980 – this time with a dour, almost apocalyptic message that failed to resonate. He left the governorship in 1982 – pursuing an unsuccessful Senate bid that year – and then spent the rest of the 1980s in exile, working with Mother Theresa for a stint. He returned to politics in 1989 as California’s Democratic chairman, but left that job after a year, swearing off big money. After flirting with a Senate bid in 1992, he instead decided to run – again – for President, this time refusing to accept donations greater than $100 and flogging, in every public appearance, a 1-800 number for contributions.
New Yorkers may remember the climactic showdown of that campaign. In late March – a week after Paul Tsongas had left the race, supposedly clearing the field for Bill Clinton – Brown pulled a stunning upset in the Connecticut primary, knocking off Clinton by one point. That set the stage for a do-or-die battle in New York, with national Democrats prepared to pull the plug on Clinton – who, as you may recall, was dogged by character questions – if he lost. Brown poured his heart into the New York campaign, tossing copies of the federal tax code into trash cans at rallies (a 13 percent flat income tax was his pet issue in ’92) and bashing Bill and Hillary at every stop. But on primary day, Clinton prevailed – and the nomination was essentially his.
After that loss, Brown disappeared from public view again. He moved to Oakland and in 1998 won the mayoralty there, convincing voters to switch to a “strong mayor” model in the process. His reforms – particularly in education -- won him newfound mainstream respect and paved the way for his A.G. bid last year.
Now he’s using the powerful A.G.’s post to pursue a crusade against global warming, the perfect way to rack up headlines that should provide a seamless segue to a gubernatorial bid three years from now. It doesn’t matter if a Democrat wins the White House next year. If 2012 rolls around and Governor Jerry Brown wants to run, he’ll have a reason.
Moonbeam is Back!
by Steve Kornacki
Published: August 23, 2007
Tags: Politics, The City, Jerry Brown
If you like comeback stories, then you’ll love this one. It seems that 69-year-old Jerry Brown – the former two-term California Governor, two-term Oakland mayor, California state Democratic Party chairman, three-time failed presidential candidate, unsuccessful 1982 U.S. Senate candidate, and current state Attorney General – is eyeing another run for Governor in 2010.
This according to the Sacramento Bee, which interviewed Brown on Wednesday.
And, early as it is, he’s probably the front-runner to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will be term-limited out in ’10 (when he may challenge Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer): A March poll showed Brown, who was elected AG last fall, topping a crowded Democratic field with 31 percent – not entirely surprising, given his name recognition and the positive press he’s received over the last decade.
Brown, the son of two-term California Governor Pat Brown, has reinvented himself countless times in a fascinating political odyssey that spans four decades. He has repeatedly pursued the presidency, but in unorthodox ways, and his standing – in California and nationally – has risen and fallen dramatically over the years.
For veteran Brown-watchers, it’s not exactly a surprise that after his elevation to A.G. last fall – his first statewide win in California since 1978 – he’d reach for the governorship again. The question is whether he might be laying the groundwork for another, even more improbable White House run down the line. Ken Khachigian, a longtime G.O.P. consultant, predicted to the Bee that "If he ran for governor in 2010 and won, he'd start running for president in 2011.”
He may be long in the tooth, but a look at Brown’s career suggests he may have another national campaign in him.
He claimed the governorship for the first time in 1974, succeeding Ronald Reagan at the age of 36. Almost immediately, he set out to run for President, entering – and winning – a string of late spring primaries in 1976 in an effort to stake a claim at a brokered Democratic convention that never came (Jimmy Carter won a first ballot victory). He was re-elected Governor in 1978 and tried for the presidency again in 1980 – this time with a dour, almost apocalyptic message that failed to resonate. He left the governorship in 1982 – pursuing an unsuccessful Senate bid that year – and then spent the rest of the 1980s in exile, working with Mother Theresa for a stint. He returned to politics in 1989 as California’s Democratic chairman, but left that job after a year, swearing off big money. After flirting with a Senate bid in 1992, he instead decided to run – again – for President, this time refusing to accept donations greater than $100 and flogging, in every public appearance, a 1-800 number for contributions.
New Yorkers may remember the climactic showdown of that campaign. In late March – a week after Paul Tsongas had left the race, supposedly clearing the field for Bill Clinton – Brown pulled a stunning upset in the Connecticut primary, knocking off Clinton by one point. That set the stage for a do-or-die battle in New York, with national Democrats prepared to pull the plug on Clinton – who, as you may recall, was dogged by character questions – if he lost. Brown poured his heart into the New York campaign, tossing copies of the federal tax code into trash cans at rallies (a 13 percent flat income tax was his pet issue in ’92) and bashing Bill and Hillary at every stop. But on primary day, Clinton prevailed – and the nomination was essentially his.
After that loss, Brown disappeared from public view again. He moved to Oakland and in 1998 won the mayoralty there, convincing voters to switch to a “strong mayor” model in the process. His reforms – particularly in education -- won him newfound mainstream respect and paved the way for his A.G. bid last year.
Now he’s using the powerful A.G.’s post to pursue a crusade against global warming, the perfect way to rack up headlines that should provide a seamless segue to a gubernatorial bid three years from now. It doesn’t matter if a Democrat wins the White House next year. If 2012 rolls around and Governor Jerry Brown wants to run, he’ll have a reason.
Patriot Hero Aaron Russo Passes Away
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/august2007/240807_b_aaron.htm
Patriot Hero Aaron Russo Passes Away
Prison Planet
Friday, August 24, 2007
We were saddened to hear of the passing of activist, film maker, freedom fighter and all round maverick Aaron Russo today, who died today after a long battle with cancer at the age of 64.
Aaron will be remembered fondly for all his achievements, not least of which the excellent America: From Freedom to Fascism, his final movie which exposed the fraudulent basis of the IRS and the Federal Reserve.
Aaron was a real patriot who loved his country and risked his whole career to stand for the truth. He was an example to us all.
Aaron Russo was the Samuel Adams of our day, a stalwart defender of liberty, his passing is greatly mourned but his fiery spirit lives on in all of his great work and in his wife, his children and his film America From Freedom to Fascism.
Our deep condolences go out to Aaron's family and friends at this difficult time.
God Speed Aaron, we salute you.
Patriot Hero Aaron Russo Passes Away
Prison Planet
Friday, August 24, 2007
We were saddened to hear of the passing of activist, film maker, freedom fighter and all round maverick Aaron Russo today, who died today after a long battle with cancer at the age of 64.
Aaron will be remembered fondly for all his achievements, not least of which the excellent America: From Freedom to Fascism, his final movie which exposed the fraudulent basis of the IRS and the Federal Reserve.
Aaron was a real patriot who loved his country and risked his whole career to stand for the truth. He was an example to us all.
Aaron Russo was the Samuel Adams of our day, a stalwart defender of liberty, his passing is greatly mourned but his fiery spirit lives on in all of his great work and in his wife, his children and his film America From Freedom to Fascism.
Our deep condolences go out to Aaron's family and friends at this difficult time.
God Speed Aaron, we salute you.
DIANA 'WAS NINE WEEKS PREGNANT'
SENSATIONAL NEW DOCUMENT PROVES WITH 'NEAR CERTAINTY' THAT DIANA 'WAS NINE WEEKS PREGNANT WHEN SHE DIED'
Princess Diana on holiday in St Tropez shortly before her death
Thursday August 23, 2007
By Mark Reynolds in London and Ian Sparks in Paris
A sensational new document proving with "near certainty" that Princess Diana was pregnant at the time of her death has been found in France.
An investigative journalist, formerly of the reputable Paris Match magazine, claims to have uncovered the explosive proof from archives at the hospital where the Princess was taken after the crash on the night of August 31 1997.
The document has previously remained hidden for 10 years due to "ethical and privacy" concerns, according to respected investigative reporter Chris Lafaille.
The journalist makes the shocking claims in a new book called Diana, the Inquiry They Never Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death later this month.
Diana and Dodi share an intimate moment on board his yacht
He said: "It is a near certainty Diana was nine to 10 weeks pregnant at the time she died, according to papers from the Paris Public Hospitals archives.
"The document dated August 31 1997 was sent to the then minister of the interior Jean-Pierre Chevenement, with copies to health minister Bernard Kouchner, foreign affairs minister Hubert Vedrine and Paris police chief Martine Monteil."
He added: "It has never been claimed or proved to be a fake."
The revelation would explain why the Princess was illegally embalmed in the hours after her death. The process, carried out contrary to French law, meant any potential pregnancy test results would have been rendered invalid.
The pregnancy claims address one of the key questions set out by the coroner to be answered at the inquest into Diana's death, which is due to begin in October. Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker recently listed 20 key issues he intends to explore during up to six months of hearings.
Lord Justice Scott Baker said he wanted to deal with allegations that the Princess was murdered in a criminal conspiracy.
As a result the hearings will examine whether Diana feared for her life, whether she was pregnant and whether chauffeur Henri Paul was drunk or on drugs. They include many of the issues highlighted in a Daily Express crusade for the truth.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi also died in the crash, said: "If there is any new evidence it should be handed to the coroner so he can properly conduct the inquest." Other questions to be addressed include whether a Fiat Uno or flashing light contributed to the crash.
The coroner wants to tackle such issues so that he can either confirm or allay the public's suspicions amid claims that Diana and Dodi Fayed were murdered by British agents because the couple were about to get engaged and the Princess was pregnant.
The new revelations will raise further speculation as to who might have been father to Diana's unborn child. The Princess had recently been holidaying with Dodi Fayed prior to the fatal crash in Paris.
Mr Al Fayed has long claimed that the Princess was pregnant - a claim dismissed by the multi-million- pound Paget Inquiry led by former Met Police Commissioner Lord Stevens.
The startling new claims come almost 10 years to the day after the Princess's black Mercedes limo ploughed into a concrete pillar in the Alma tunnel while being pursued by 10 paparazzi.
A four-year investigation by Paris magistrate Herve Stephan ruled that high speed and a cocktail of drugs and alcohol taken by chauffeur Henri Paul caused the crash.
But findings of the official inquiries have come under attack, with many believing the Princess was murdered by the British establishment to prevent her marrying a muslim.
Mr Al Fayed claims the pair were killed in a plot hatched by the British Establishment, headed by Prince Philip.
Mr Al Fayed was bitterly disappointed by Lord Stevens' report into the deaths which he branded a whitewash as it failed to address many key questions.
These included why the driver of a Fiat Uno which clipped the Mercedes has never been found and why none of the original 18 eyewitnesses were interviewed again by the Paget team.
Other issues include whether or not chauffeur Henri Paul's blood samples were switched or why the blood contained such high levels of carbon monoxid.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/17094/Diana-was-nine-weeks-pregnant-when-she-died
Note from Rayelan Allan:
From my book, Diana, Queen of Heaven:
* A marriage between Dodi and Diana would have served as a powerful symbol behind which the Arab people could have united.
* Diana, by all reports, seemed to have been 3 months pregnant, carrying Dodi's child, when she died.
* Dodi Fayed is the nephew of international arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi. Khashoggi is said to be either a CIA contract agent or * CIA asset. Khashoggi was involved in the 1980 "October Surprise" negotiations.
* The Diana death car, the Mercedes, had been stolen just prior to the crash and its instrumentation tampered with.
* Henri Paul, the chauffeur, supposed to have been seriously intoxicated when the crash occurred, gives absolutely no indication of drunkenness in hotel surveillance videos taken moments before the fatal tragedy.
* The Al Fayed family was not allowed to conduct their own, independent autopsy on the chauffeur, Henri Paul.
* The British government security services who guarded Princess Diana, were withdrawn just prior to the fatal car crash. Diana was guarded only by Trevor Rees-Jones.
* "Paparazzi," key witnesses to the car crash, were immediately detained by authorities. Threatened with "stalking" charges, these paparazzi were apt to keep their mouths shut.
Princess Diana Was Pregnant!
The assassins of Princess Diana believed she was pregnant and would be marrying Dodi as soon as possible. Therefore they needed to act quickly. If the assassination was hastily planned, then the people behind the murders would not have had the time to thoroughly check everything!
All they cared about is that all the loose ends would be covered up and the truth would never be known. In keeping with the airplane crash of Commerce Secretary, Ron Brown; and the automobile accident of nuclear protester, Karen Silkwood, her murder was made to look like a tragic accident. Therefore the planning of her murder had to involve a group of assassins who specialize in creating "assassidents"; airplane crashes or car accidents that are purposely created to murder people.
However, it appears as if someone within the circle of conspirators wanted to send a message not only to the World, but to the men who ordered the execution of Princess Diana.
The spot chosen to murder Diana was a sacred site which promised that those killed there would be taken directly to the Throne of Heaven. The Legend also says that once the soul returned to God, it was granted the power and the freewill to Aindividuate and return to Earth in a powerful ethereal body, like a ghost or an Angel! Why would her assassins have wanted her to return to earth more powerful than before? Did they know about the Legend of Pont de L'Alma? Or did one of the assassins want the truth to be known?
PONT de L'ALMA Means Bridge of the Soul
It is a Bridge from Earth to the Throne of God
Princess Diana was murdered in an ancient Temple of the Goddess Diana, a Temple that was used for Human Sacrifice and Ritual Murder! Was the choice of Pont de L'Alma as the site of her death deliberate? And if so, what message were her assassins sending? And to whom were they sending it?
Did the men who murdered Diana know the occult history and significance of Pont de L'Alma? The CIA/MI6 document (p.8) states that the Mercedes was stolen and rebuilt to respond to external radio controls. This is significant because the car crashed into the 13th pillar. Was the car responding to an outside radio signal?
It almost seems as if crashing into the 13th pillar was done to send a signal. One thing the New World Order likes to do is use dates, places and rituals from the past. In occult lore, this adds the power of what came before to the present. It is also a way of communicating to each other through Anewspaper headlines.
There are only 80 first editions left. I will one day republish it with hundreds of articles that prove the things that I said in that book which was started just days after she was murdered. It took me almost a year to finish the book. Confirming a lot of things I was told in the first few weeks took quite some time since very little was on the internet at that time. I had to do the research over the telephone or in libraries.
If you want one of the First Editions here is the link:
http://www.dianaqueenofheaven.com/order.htm
Rayelan
Princess Diana on holiday in St Tropez shortly before her death
Thursday August 23, 2007
By Mark Reynolds in London and Ian Sparks in Paris
A sensational new document proving with "near certainty" that Princess Diana was pregnant at the time of her death has been found in France.
An investigative journalist, formerly of the reputable Paris Match magazine, claims to have uncovered the explosive proof from archives at the hospital where the Princess was taken after the crash on the night of August 31 1997.
The document has previously remained hidden for 10 years due to "ethical and privacy" concerns, according to respected investigative reporter Chris Lafaille.
The journalist makes the shocking claims in a new book called Diana, the Inquiry They Never Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death later this month.
Diana and Dodi share an intimate moment on board his yacht
He said: "It is a near certainty Diana was nine to 10 weeks pregnant at the time she died, according to papers from the Paris Public Hospitals archives.
"The document dated August 31 1997 was sent to the then minister of the interior Jean-Pierre Chevenement, with copies to health minister Bernard Kouchner, foreign affairs minister Hubert Vedrine and Paris police chief Martine Monteil."
He added: "It has never been claimed or proved to be a fake."
The revelation would explain why the Princess was illegally embalmed in the hours after her death. The process, carried out contrary to French law, meant any potential pregnancy test results would have been rendered invalid.
The pregnancy claims address one of the key questions set out by the coroner to be answered at the inquest into Diana's death, which is due to begin in October. Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker recently listed 20 key issues he intends to explore during up to six months of hearings.
Lord Justice Scott Baker said he wanted to deal with allegations that the Princess was murdered in a criminal conspiracy.
As a result the hearings will examine whether Diana feared for her life, whether she was pregnant and whether chauffeur Henri Paul was drunk or on drugs. They include many of the issues highlighted in a Daily Express crusade for the truth.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi also died in the crash, said: "If there is any new evidence it should be handed to the coroner so he can properly conduct the inquest." Other questions to be addressed include whether a Fiat Uno or flashing light contributed to the crash.
The coroner wants to tackle such issues so that he can either confirm or allay the public's suspicions amid claims that Diana and Dodi Fayed were murdered by British agents because the couple were about to get engaged and the Princess was pregnant.
The new revelations will raise further speculation as to who might have been father to Diana's unborn child. The Princess had recently been holidaying with Dodi Fayed prior to the fatal crash in Paris.
Mr Al Fayed has long claimed that the Princess was pregnant - a claim dismissed by the multi-million- pound Paget Inquiry led by former Met Police Commissioner Lord Stevens.
The startling new claims come almost 10 years to the day after the Princess's black Mercedes limo ploughed into a concrete pillar in the Alma tunnel while being pursued by 10 paparazzi.
A four-year investigation by Paris magistrate Herve Stephan ruled that high speed and a cocktail of drugs and alcohol taken by chauffeur Henri Paul caused the crash.
But findings of the official inquiries have come under attack, with many believing the Princess was murdered by the British establishment to prevent her marrying a muslim.
Mr Al Fayed claims the pair were killed in a plot hatched by the British Establishment, headed by Prince Philip.
Mr Al Fayed was bitterly disappointed by Lord Stevens' report into the deaths which he branded a whitewash as it failed to address many key questions.
These included why the driver of a Fiat Uno which clipped the Mercedes has never been found and why none of the original 18 eyewitnesses were interviewed again by the Paget team.
Other issues include whether or not chauffeur Henri Paul's blood samples were switched or why the blood contained such high levels of carbon monoxid.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/17094/Diana-was-nine-weeks-pregnant-when-she-died
Note from Rayelan Allan:
From my book, Diana, Queen of Heaven:
* A marriage between Dodi and Diana would have served as a powerful symbol behind which the Arab people could have united.
* Diana, by all reports, seemed to have been 3 months pregnant, carrying Dodi's child, when she died.
* Dodi Fayed is the nephew of international arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi. Khashoggi is said to be either a CIA contract agent or * CIA asset. Khashoggi was involved in the 1980 "October Surprise" negotiations.
* The Diana death car, the Mercedes, had been stolen just prior to the crash and its instrumentation tampered with.
* Henri Paul, the chauffeur, supposed to have been seriously intoxicated when the crash occurred, gives absolutely no indication of drunkenness in hotel surveillance videos taken moments before the fatal tragedy.
* The Al Fayed family was not allowed to conduct their own, independent autopsy on the chauffeur, Henri Paul.
* The British government security services who guarded Princess Diana, were withdrawn just prior to the fatal car crash. Diana was guarded only by Trevor Rees-Jones.
* "Paparazzi," key witnesses to the car crash, were immediately detained by authorities. Threatened with "stalking" charges, these paparazzi were apt to keep their mouths shut.
Princess Diana Was Pregnant!
The assassins of Princess Diana believed she was pregnant and would be marrying Dodi as soon as possible. Therefore they needed to act quickly. If the assassination was hastily planned, then the people behind the murders would not have had the time to thoroughly check everything!
All they cared about is that all the loose ends would be covered up and the truth would never be known. In keeping with the airplane crash of Commerce Secretary, Ron Brown; and the automobile accident of nuclear protester, Karen Silkwood, her murder was made to look like a tragic accident. Therefore the planning of her murder had to involve a group of assassins who specialize in creating "assassidents"; airplane crashes or car accidents that are purposely created to murder people.
However, it appears as if someone within the circle of conspirators wanted to send a message not only to the World, but to the men who ordered the execution of Princess Diana.
The spot chosen to murder Diana was a sacred site which promised that those killed there would be taken directly to the Throne of Heaven. The Legend also says that once the soul returned to God, it was granted the power and the freewill to Aindividuate and return to Earth in a powerful ethereal body, like a ghost or an Angel! Why would her assassins have wanted her to return to earth more powerful than before? Did they know about the Legend of Pont de L'Alma? Or did one of the assassins want the truth to be known?
PONT de L'ALMA Means Bridge of the Soul
It is a Bridge from Earth to the Throne of God
Princess Diana was murdered in an ancient Temple of the Goddess Diana, a Temple that was used for Human Sacrifice and Ritual Murder! Was the choice of Pont de L'Alma as the site of her death deliberate? And if so, what message were her assassins sending? And to whom were they sending it?
Did the men who murdered Diana know the occult history and significance of Pont de L'Alma? The CIA/MI6 document (p.8) states that the Mercedes was stolen and rebuilt to respond to external radio controls. This is significant because the car crashed into the 13th pillar. Was the car responding to an outside radio signal?
It almost seems as if crashing into the 13th pillar was done to send a signal. One thing the New World Order likes to do is use dates, places and rituals from the past. In occult lore, this adds the power of what came before to the present. It is also a way of communicating to each other through Anewspaper headlines.
There are only 80 first editions left. I will one day republish it with hundreds of articles that prove the things that I said in that book which was started just days after she was murdered. It took me almost a year to finish the book. Confirming a lot of things I was told in the first few weeks took quite some time since very little was on the internet at that time. I had to do the research over the telephone or in libraries.
If you want one of the First Editions here is the link:
http://www.dianaqueenofheaven.com/order.htm
Rayelan
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good
http://www.rense.com/general77/whymac.htm
Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good
By Eric Schlosser
Excerpt From Eric Schlosser's book 'Fast Food Nation' (Houghton-Mifflin, 2001)
From The Atlantic Monthly
8-23-7
The french fry was "almost sacrosanct for me," Ray Kroc, one of the founders of McDonald's, wrote in his autobiography, "its preparation a ritual to be followed religiously." During the chain's early years french fries were made from scratch every day. Russet Burbank potatoes were peeled, cut into shoestrings, and fried in McDonald's kitchens. As the chain expanded nationwide, in the mid-1960s, it sought to cut labor costs, reduce the number of suppliers, and ensure that its fries tasted the same at every restaurant. McDonald's began switching to frozen french fries in 1966 -- and few customers noticed the difference. Nevertheless, the change had a profound effect on the nation's agriculture and diet. A familiar food had been transformed into a highly processed industrial commodity. McDonald's fries now come from huge manufacturing plants that can peel, slice, cook, and freeze two million pounds of potatoes a day. The rapid expansion of McDonald's and the popularity of its low-cost, mass-produced fries changed the way Americans eat. In 1960 Americans consumed an average of about eighty-one pounds of fresh potatoes and four pounds of frozen french fries. In 2000 they consumed an average of about fifty pounds of fresh potatoes and thirty pounds of frozen fries. Today McDonald's is the largest buyer of potatoes in the United States.
The taste of McDonald's french fries played a crucial role in the chain's success -- fries are much more profitable than hamburgers -- and was long praised by customers, competitors, and even food critics. James Beard loved McDonald's fries. Their distinctive taste does not stem from the kind of potatoes that McDonald's buys, the technology that processes them, or the restaurant equipment that fries them: other chains use Russet Burbanks, buy their french fries from the same large processing companies, and have similar fryers in their restaurant kitchens. The taste of a french fry is largely determined by the cooking oil. For decades McDonald's cooked its french fries in a mixture of about seven percent cottonseed oil and 93 percent beef tallow. The mixture gave the fries their unique flavor -- and more saturated beef fat per ounce than a McDonald's hamburger.
In 1990, amid a barrage of criticism over the amount of cholesterol in its fries, McDonald's switched to pure vegetable oil. This presented the company with a challenge: how to make fries that subtly taste like beef without cooking them in beef tallow. A look at the ingredients in McDonald's french fries suggests how the problem was solved. Toward the end of the list is a seemingly innocuous yet oddly mysterious phrase: "natural flavor." That ingredient helps to explain not only why the fries taste so good but also why most fast food -- indeed, most of the food Americans eat today -- tastes the way it does.
Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find "natural flavor" or "artificial flavor" in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences. Both are man-made additives that give most processed food most of its taste. People usually buy a food item the first time because of its packaging or appearance. Taste usually determines whether they buy it again. About 90 percent of the money that Americans now spend on food goes to buy processed food. The canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques used in processing destroy most of food's flavor -- and so a vast industry has arisen in the United States to make processed food palatable. Without this flavor industry today's fast food would not exist. The names of the leading American fast-food chains and their best-selling menu items have become embedded in our popular culture and famous worldwide. But few people can name the companies that manufacture fast food's taste.
The flavor industry is highly secretive. Its leading companies will not divulge the precise formulas of flavor compounds or the identities of clients. The secrecy is deemed essential for protecting the reputations of beloved brands. The fast-food chains, understandably, would like the public to believe that the flavors of the food they sell somehow originate in their restaurant kitchens, not in distant factories run by other firms. A McDonald's french fry is one of countless foods whose flavor is just a component in a complex manufacturing process. The look and the taste of what we eat now are frequently deceiving -- by design.
The Flavor Corridor
The New Jersey Turnpike runs through the heart of the flavor industry, an industrial corridor dotted with refineries and chemical plants. International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), the world's largest flavor company, has a manufacturing facility off Exit 8A in Dayton, New Jersey; Givaudan, the world's second-largest flavor company, has a plant in East Hanover. Haarmann & Reimer, the largest German flavor company, has a plant in Teterboro, as does Takasago, the largest Japanese flavor company. Flavor Dynamics has a plant in South Plainfield; Frutarom is in North Bergen; Elan Chemical is in Newark. Dozens of companies manufacture flavors in the corridor between Teaneck and South Brunswick. Altogether the area produces about two thirds of the flavor additives sold in the United States.
The IFF plant in Dayton is a huge pale-blue building with a modern office complex attached to the front. It sits in an industrial park, not far from a BASF plastics factory, a Jolly French Toast factory, and a plant that manufactures Liz Claiborne cosmetics. Dozens of tractor-trailers were parked at the IFF loading dock the afternoon I visited, and a thin cloud of steam floated from a roof vent. Before entering the plant, I signed a nondisclosure form, promising not to reveal the brand names of foods that contain IFF flavors. The place reminded me of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Wonderful smells drifted through the hallways, men and women in neat white lab coats cheerfully went about their work, and hundreds of little glass bottles sat on laboratory tables and shelves. The bottles contained powerful but fragile flavor chemicals, shielded from light by brown glass and round white caps shut tight. The long chemical names on the little white labels were as mystifying to me as medieval Latin. These odd-sounding things would be mixed and poured and turned into new substances, like magic potions.
I was not invited into the manufacturing areas of the IFF plant, where, it was thought, I might discover trade secrets. Instead I toured various laboratories and pilot kitchens, where the flavors of well-established brands are tested or adjusted, and where whole new flavors are created. IFF's snack-and-savory lab is responsible for the flavors of potato chips, corn chips, breads, crackers, breakfast cereals, and pet food. The confectionery lab devises flavors for ice cream, cookies, candies, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and antacids. Everywhere I looked, I saw famous, widely advertised products sitting on laboratory desks and tables. The beverage lab was full of brightly colored liquids in clear bottles. It comes up with flavors for popular soft drinks, sports drinks, bottled teas, and wine coolers, for all-natural juice drinks, organic soy drinks, beers, and malt liquors. In one pilot kitchen I saw a dapper food technologist, a middle-aged man with an elegant tie beneath his crisp lab coat, carefully preparing a batch of cookies with white frosting and pink-and-white sprinkles. In another pilot kitchen I saw a pizza oven, a grill, a milk-shake machine, and a french fryer identical to those I'd seen at innumerable fast-food restaurants.
In addition to being the world's largest flavor company, IFF manufactures the smells of six of the ten best-selling fine perfumes in the United States, including Estée Lauder's Beautiful, Clinique's Happy, Lancôme's Trésor, and Calvin Klein's Eternity. It also makes the smells of household products such as deodorant, dishwashing detergent, bath soap, shampoo, furniture polish, and floor wax. All these aromas are made through essentially the same process: the manipulation of volatile chemicals. The basic science behind the scent of your shaving cream is the same as that governing the flavor of your TV dinner.
"Natural" and "Artificial"
SCIENTISTS now believe that human beings acquired the sense of taste as a way to avoid being poisoned. Edible plants generally taste sweet, harmful ones bitter. The taste buds on our tongues can detect the presence of half a dozen or so basic tastes, including sweet, sour, bitter, salty, astringent, and umami, a taste discovered by Japanese researchers -- a rich and full sense of deliciousness triggered by amino acids in foods such as meat, shellfish, mushrooms, potatoes, and seaweed. Taste buds offer a limited means of detection, however, compared with the human olfactory system, which can perceive thousands of different chemical aromas. Indeed, "flavor" is primarily the smell of gases being released by the chemicals you've just put in your mouth. The aroma of a food can be responsible for as much as 90 percent of its taste.
The act of drinking, sucking, or chewing a substance releases its volatile gases. They flow out of your mouth and up your nostrils, or up the passageway in the back of your mouth, to a thin layer of nerve cells called the olfactory epithelium, located at the base of your nose, right between your eyes. Your brain combines the complex smell signals from your olfactory epithelium with the simple taste signals from your tongue, assigns a flavor to what's in your mouth, and decides if it's something you want to eat.
A person's food preferences, like his or her personality, are formed during the first few years of life, through a process of socialization. Babies innately prefer sweet tastes and reject bitter ones; toddlers can learn to enjoy hot and spicy food, bland health food, or fast food, depending on what the people around them eat. The human sense of smell is still not fully understood. It is greatly affected by psychological factors and expectations. The mind focuses intently on some of the aromas that surround us and filters out the overwhelming majority. People can grow accustomed to bad smells or good smells; they stop noticing what once seemed overpowering. Aroma and memory are somehow inextricably linked. A smell can suddenly evoke a long-forgotten moment. The flavors of childhood foods seem to leave an indelible mark, and adults often return to them, without always knowing why. These "comfort foods" become a source of pleasure and reassurance -- a fact that fast-food chains use to their advantage. Childhood memories of Happy Meals, which come with french fries, can translate into frequent adult visits to McDonald's. On average, Americans now eat about four servings of french fries every week.
THE human craving for flavor has been a largely unacknowledged and unexamined force in history. For millennia royal empires have been built, unexplored lands traversed, and great religions and philosophies forever changed by the spice trade. In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail to find seasoning. Today the influence of flavor in the world marketplace is no less decisive. The rise and fall of corporate empires -- of soft-drink companies, snack-food companies, and fast-food chains -- is often determined by how their products taste.
The flavor industry emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, as processed foods began to be manufactured on a large scale. Recognizing the need for flavor additives, early food processors turned to perfume companies that had long experience working with essential oils and volatile aromas. The great perfume houses of England, France, and the Netherlands produced many of the first flavor compounds. In the early part of the twentieth century Germany took the technological lead in flavor production, owing to its powerful chemical industry. Legend has it that a German scientist discovered methyl anthranilate, one of the first artificial flavors, by accident while mixing chemicals in his laboratory. Suddenly the lab was filled with the sweet smell of grapes. Methyl anthranilate later became the chief flavor compound in grape Kool-Aid. After World War II much of the perfume industry shifted from Europe to the United States, settling in New York City near the garment district and the fashion houses. The flavor industry came with it, later moving to New Jersey for greater plant capacity. Man-made flavor additives were used mostly in baked goods, candies, and sodas until the 1950s, when sales of processed food began to soar. The invention of gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers -- machines capable of detecting volatile gases at low levels -- vastly increased the number of flavors that could be synthesized. By the mid-1960s flavor companies were churning out compounds to supply the taste of Pop Tarts, Bac-Os, Tab, Tang, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and literally thousands of other new foods.
The American flavor industry now has annual revenues of about $1.4 billion. Approximately 10,000 new processed-food products are introduced every year in the United States. Almost all of them require flavor additives. And about nine out of ten of these products fail. The latest flavor innovations and corporate realignments are heralded in publications such as Chemical Market Reporter, Food Chemical News, Food Engineering, and Food Product Design. The progress of IFF has mirrored that of the flavor industry as a whole. IFF was formed in 1958, through the merger of two small companies. Its annual revenues have grown almost fifteenfold since the early 1970s, and it currently has manufacturing facilities in twenty countries.
Today's sophisticated spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and headspace-vapor analyzers provide a detailed map of a food's flavor components, detecting chemical aromas present in amounts as low as one part per billion. The human nose, however, is even more sensitive. A nose can detect aromas present in quantities of a few parts per trillion -- an amount equivalent to about 0.000000000003 percent. Complex aromas, such as those of coffee and roasted meat, are composed of volatile gases from nearly a thousand different chemicals. The smell of a strawberry arises from the interaction of about 350 chemicals that are present in minute amounts. The quality that people seek most of all in a food -- flavor -- is usually present in a quantity too infinitesimal to be measured in traditional culinary terms such as ounces or teaspoons. The chemical that provides the dominant flavor of bell pepper can be tasted in amounts as low as 0.02 parts per billion; one drop is sufficient to add flavor to five average-size swimming pools. The flavor additive usually comes next to last in a processed food's list of ingredients and often costs less than its packaging. Soft drinks contain a larger proportion of flavor additives than most products. The flavor in a twelve-ounce can of Coke costs about half a cent.
The color additives in processed foods are usually present in even smaller amounts than the flavor compounds. Many of New Jersey's flavor companies also manufacture these color additives, which are used to make processed foods look fresh and appealing. Food coloring serves many of the same decorative purposes as lipstick, eye shadow, mascara -- and is often made from the same pigments. Titanium dioxide, for example, has proved to be an especially versatile mineral. It gives many processed candies, frostings, and icings their bright white color; it is a common ingredient in women's cosmetics; and it is the pigment used in many white oil paints and house paints. At Burger King, Wendy's, and McDonald's coloring agents have been added to many of the soft drinks, salad dressings, cookies, condiments, chicken dishes, and sandwich buns.
Studies have found that the color of a food can greatly affect how its taste is perceived. Brightly colored foods frequently seem to taste better than bland-looking foods, even when the flavor compounds are identical. Foods that somehow look off-color often seem to have off tastes. For thousands of years human beings have relied on visual cues to help determine what is edible. The color of fruit suggests whether it is ripe, the color of meat whether it is rancid. Flavor researchers sometimes use colored lights to modify the influence of visual cues during taste tests. During one experiment in the early 1970s people were served an oddly tinted meal of steak and french fries that appeared normal beneath colored lights. Everyone thought the meal tasted fine until the lighting was changed. Once it became apparent that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, some people became ill.
The federal Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to disclose the ingredients of their color or flavor additives so long as all the chemicals in them are considered by the agency to be GRAS ("generally recognized as safe"). This enables companies to maintain the secrecy of their formulas. It also hides the fact that flavor compounds often contain more ingredients than the foods to which they give taste. The phrase "artificial strawberry flavor" gives little hint of the chemical wizardry and manufacturing skill that can make a highly processed food taste like strawberries.
A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.
Although flavors usually arise from a mixture of many different volatile chemicals, often a single compound supplies the dominant aroma. Smelled alone, that chemical provides an unmistakable sense of the food. Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate, for example, smells just like an apple. Many of today's highly processed foods offer a blank palette: whatever chemicals are added to them will give them specific tastes. Adding methyl-2-pyridyl ketone makes something taste like popcorn. Adding ethyl-3-hydroxy butanoate makes it taste like marshmallow. The possibilities are now almost limitless. Without affecting appearance or nutritional value, processed foods could be made with aroma chemicals such as hexanal (the smell of freshly cut grass) or 3-methyl butanoic acid (the smell of body odor).
The 1960s were the heyday of artificial flavors in the United States. The synthetic versions of flavor compounds were not subtle, but they did not have to be, given the nature of most processed food. For the past twenty years food processors have tried hard to use only "natural flavors" in their products. According to the FDA, these must be derived entirely from natural sources -- from herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, yeast, bark, roots, and so forth. Consumers prefer to see natural flavors on a label, out of a belief that they are more healthful. Distinctions between artificial and natural flavors can be arbitrary and somewhat absurd, based more on how the flavor has been made than on what it actually contains.
"A natural flavor," says Terry Acree, a professor of food science at Cornell University, "is a flavor that's been derived with an out-of-date technology." Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same. "Natural flavor" is now listed among the ingredients of everything from Health Valley Blueberry Granola Bars to Taco Bell Hot Taco Sauce.
A natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial one. When almond flavor -- benzaldehyde -- is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison. Benzaldehyde derived by mixing oil of clove and amyl acetate does not contain any cyanide. Nevertheless, it is legally considered an artificial flavor and sells at a much lower price. Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature.
A Trained Nose and a Poetic Sensibility
THE small and elite group of scientists who create most of the flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are called "flavorists." They draw on a number of disciplines in their work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility. Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in tiny amounts -- a process governed by scientific principles but demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one flavor company's literature, to ensure "consumer likeability." The flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound will have a "top note" that is often followed by a "dry-down" and a "leveling-off," with different chemicals responsible for each stage. The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the flavoring combination. "A little odor goes a long way," one flavorist told me. From the archives:
"The Million-Dollar Nose," by William Langewiesche (December 2000) Robert Parker Jr. is a plainspoken American with an astonishing gift for judging wine. He is indefatigable and incorruptible, and his numerical rating system is relied on by millions. His taste is changing the way wine is made and sold. Naturally, the French hate him. Naturally, they honor him. In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's "mouthfeel" -- the unique combination of textures and chemical interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth. It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food -- bounce, creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess, lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness, softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
Some of the most important advances in flavor manufacturing are now occurring in the field of biotechnology. Complex flavors are being made using enzyme reactions, fermentation, and fungal and tissue cultures. All the flavors created by these methods -- including the ones being synthesized by fungi -- are considered natural flavors by the FDA. The new enzyme-based processes are responsible for extremely true-to-life dairy flavors. One company now offers not just butter flavor but also fresh creamy butter, cheesy butter, milky butter, savory melted butter, and super-concentrated butter flavor, in liquid or powder form. The development of new fermentation techniques, along with new techniques for heating mixtures of sugar and amino acids, have led to the creation of much more realistic meat flavors.
The McDonald's Corporation most likely drew on these advances when it eliminated beef tallow from its french fries. The company will not reveal the exact origin of the natural flavor added to its fries. In response to inquiries from Vegetarian Journal, however, McDonald's did acknowledge that its fries derive some of their characteristic flavor from "an animal source." Beef is the probable source, although other meats cannot be ruled out. In France, for example, fries are sometimes cooked in duck fat or horse tallow.
Other popular fast foods derive their flavor from unexpected ingredients. McDonald's Chicken McNuggets contain beef extracts, as does Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Burger King's BK Broiler Chicken Breast Patty contains "natural smoke flavor." A firm called Red Arrow Products specializes in smoke flavor, which is added to barbecue sauces, snack foods, and processed meats. Red Arrow manufactures natural smoke flavor by charring sawdust and capturing the aroma chemicals released into the air. The smoke is captured in water and then bottled, so that other companies can sell food that seems to have been cooked over a fire.
The Vegetarian Legal Action Network recently petitioned the FDA to issue new labeling requirements for foods that contain natural flavors. The group wants food processors to list the basic origins of their flavors on their labels. At the moment vegetarians often have no way of knowing whether a flavor additive contains beef, pork, poultry, or shellfish. One of the most widely used color additives -- whose presence is often hidden by the phrase "color added" -- violates a number of religious dietary restrictions, may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people, and comes from an unusual source. Cochineal extract (also known as carmine or carminic acid) is made from the desiccated bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa, a small insect harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands. The bug feeds on red cactus berries, and color from the berries accumulates in the females and their unhatched larvae. The insects are collected, dried, and ground into a pigment. It takes about 70,000 of them to produce a pound of carmine, which is used to make processed foods look pink, red, or purple. Dannon strawberry yogurt gets its color from carmine, and so do many frozen fruit bars, candies, and fruit fillings, and Ocean Spray pink-grapefruit juice drink.
IN a meeting room at IFF, Brian Grainger let me sample some of the company's flavors. It was an unusual taste test -- there was no food to taste. Grainger is a senior flavorist at IFF, a soft-spoken chemist with graying hair, an English accent, and a fondness for understatement. He could easily be mistaken for a British diplomat or the owner of a West End brasserie with two Michelin stars. Like many in the flavor industry, he has an Old World, old-fashioned sensibility. When I suggested that IFF's policy of secrecy and discretion was out of step with our mass-marketing, brand-conscious, self-promoting age, and that the company should put its own logo on the countless products that bear its flavors, instead of allowing other companies to enjoy the consumer loyalty and affection inspired by those flavors, Grainger politely disagreed, assuring me that such a thing would never be done. In the absence of public credit or acclaim, the small and secretive fraternity of flavor chemists praise one another's work. By analyzing the flavor formula of a product, Grainger can often tell which of his counterparts at a rival firm devised it. Whenever he walks down a supermarket aisle, he takes a quiet pleasure in seeing the well-known foods that contain his flavors.
Grainger had brought a dozen small glass bottles from the lab. After he opened each bottle, I dipped a fragrance-testing filter into it -- a long white strip of paper designed to absorb aroma chemicals without producing off notes. Before placing each strip of paper in front of my nose, I closed my eyes. Then I inhaled deeply, and one food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sautéed onions, and shrimp. Grainger's most remarkable creation took me by surprise. After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous -- as if someone in the room were flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, I saw just a narrow strip of white paper and a flavorist with a grin.
Eric Schlosser is a correspondent for The Atlantic. His article in this issue is adapted from his first book, Fast Food Nation, to be published this month by Houghton Mifflin.
Illustrations by Francis Livingston
Copyright © 2001 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved. The Atlantic Monthly; January 2001; Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good - 01.01 (Part Two); Volume 287, No. 1; page 50-56.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/schlosser.htm
Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good
By Eric Schlosser
Excerpt From Eric Schlosser's book 'Fast Food Nation' (Houghton-Mifflin, 2001)
From The Atlantic Monthly
8-23-7
The french fry was "almost sacrosanct for me," Ray Kroc, one of the founders of McDonald's, wrote in his autobiography, "its preparation a ritual to be followed religiously." During the chain's early years french fries were made from scratch every day. Russet Burbank potatoes were peeled, cut into shoestrings, and fried in McDonald's kitchens. As the chain expanded nationwide, in the mid-1960s, it sought to cut labor costs, reduce the number of suppliers, and ensure that its fries tasted the same at every restaurant. McDonald's began switching to frozen french fries in 1966 -- and few customers noticed the difference. Nevertheless, the change had a profound effect on the nation's agriculture and diet. A familiar food had been transformed into a highly processed industrial commodity. McDonald's fries now come from huge manufacturing plants that can peel, slice, cook, and freeze two million pounds of potatoes a day. The rapid expansion of McDonald's and the popularity of its low-cost, mass-produced fries changed the way Americans eat. In 1960 Americans consumed an average of about eighty-one pounds of fresh potatoes and four pounds of frozen french fries. In 2000 they consumed an average of about fifty pounds of fresh potatoes and thirty pounds of frozen fries. Today McDonald's is the largest buyer of potatoes in the United States.
The taste of McDonald's french fries played a crucial role in the chain's success -- fries are much more profitable than hamburgers -- and was long praised by customers, competitors, and even food critics. James Beard loved McDonald's fries. Their distinctive taste does not stem from the kind of potatoes that McDonald's buys, the technology that processes them, or the restaurant equipment that fries them: other chains use Russet Burbanks, buy their french fries from the same large processing companies, and have similar fryers in their restaurant kitchens. The taste of a french fry is largely determined by the cooking oil. For decades McDonald's cooked its french fries in a mixture of about seven percent cottonseed oil and 93 percent beef tallow. The mixture gave the fries their unique flavor -- and more saturated beef fat per ounce than a McDonald's hamburger.
In 1990, amid a barrage of criticism over the amount of cholesterol in its fries, McDonald's switched to pure vegetable oil. This presented the company with a challenge: how to make fries that subtly taste like beef without cooking them in beef tallow. A look at the ingredients in McDonald's french fries suggests how the problem was solved. Toward the end of the list is a seemingly innocuous yet oddly mysterious phrase: "natural flavor." That ingredient helps to explain not only why the fries taste so good but also why most fast food -- indeed, most of the food Americans eat today -- tastes the way it does.
Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find "natural flavor" or "artificial flavor" in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences. Both are man-made additives that give most processed food most of its taste. People usually buy a food item the first time because of its packaging or appearance. Taste usually determines whether they buy it again. About 90 percent of the money that Americans now spend on food goes to buy processed food. The canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques used in processing destroy most of food's flavor -- and so a vast industry has arisen in the United States to make processed food palatable. Without this flavor industry today's fast food would not exist. The names of the leading American fast-food chains and their best-selling menu items have become embedded in our popular culture and famous worldwide. But few people can name the companies that manufacture fast food's taste.
The flavor industry is highly secretive. Its leading companies will not divulge the precise formulas of flavor compounds or the identities of clients. The secrecy is deemed essential for protecting the reputations of beloved brands. The fast-food chains, understandably, would like the public to believe that the flavors of the food they sell somehow originate in their restaurant kitchens, not in distant factories run by other firms. A McDonald's french fry is one of countless foods whose flavor is just a component in a complex manufacturing process. The look and the taste of what we eat now are frequently deceiving -- by design.
The Flavor Corridor
The New Jersey Turnpike runs through the heart of the flavor industry, an industrial corridor dotted with refineries and chemical plants. International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), the world's largest flavor company, has a manufacturing facility off Exit 8A in Dayton, New Jersey; Givaudan, the world's second-largest flavor company, has a plant in East Hanover. Haarmann & Reimer, the largest German flavor company, has a plant in Teterboro, as does Takasago, the largest Japanese flavor company. Flavor Dynamics has a plant in South Plainfield; Frutarom is in North Bergen; Elan Chemical is in Newark. Dozens of companies manufacture flavors in the corridor between Teaneck and South Brunswick. Altogether the area produces about two thirds of the flavor additives sold in the United States.
The IFF plant in Dayton is a huge pale-blue building with a modern office complex attached to the front. It sits in an industrial park, not far from a BASF plastics factory, a Jolly French Toast factory, and a plant that manufactures Liz Claiborne cosmetics. Dozens of tractor-trailers were parked at the IFF loading dock the afternoon I visited, and a thin cloud of steam floated from a roof vent. Before entering the plant, I signed a nondisclosure form, promising not to reveal the brand names of foods that contain IFF flavors. The place reminded me of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Wonderful smells drifted through the hallways, men and women in neat white lab coats cheerfully went about their work, and hundreds of little glass bottles sat on laboratory tables and shelves. The bottles contained powerful but fragile flavor chemicals, shielded from light by brown glass and round white caps shut tight. The long chemical names on the little white labels were as mystifying to me as medieval Latin. These odd-sounding things would be mixed and poured and turned into new substances, like magic potions.
I was not invited into the manufacturing areas of the IFF plant, where, it was thought, I might discover trade secrets. Instead I toured various laboratories and pilot kitchens, where the flavors of well-established brands are tested or adjusted, and where whole new flavors are created. IFF's snack-and-savory lab is responsible for the flavors of potato chips, corn chips, breads, crackers, breakfast cereals, and pet food. The confectionery lab devises flavors for ice cream, cookies, candies, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and antacids. Everywhere I looked, I saw famous, widely advertised products sitting on laboratory desks and tables. The beverage lab was full of brightly colored liquids in clear bottles. It comes up with flavors for popular soft drinks, sports drinks, bottled teas, and wine coolers, for all-natural juice drinks, organic soy drinks, beers, and malt liquors. In one pilot kitchen I saw a dapper food technologist, a middle-aged man with an elegant tie beneath his crisp lab coat, carefully preparing a batch of cookies with white frosting and pink-and-white sprinkles. In another pilot kitchen I saw a pizza oven, a grill, a milk-shake machine, and a french fryer identical to those I'd seen at innumerable fast-food restaurants.
In addition to being the world's largest flavor company, IFF manufactures the smells of six of the ten best-selling fine perfumes in the United States, including Estée Lauder's Beautiful, Clinique's Happy, Lancôme's Trésor, and Calvin Klein's Eternity. It also makes the smells of household products such as deodorant, dishwashing detergent, bath soap, shampoo, furniture polish, and floor wax. All these aromas are made through essentially the same process: the manipulation of volatile chemicals. The basic science behind the scent of your shaving cream is the same as that governing the flavor of your TV dinner.
"Natural" and "Artificial"
SCIENTISTS now believe that human beings acquired the sense of taste as a way to avoid being poisoned. Edible plants generally taste sweet, harmful ones bitter. The taste buds on our tongues can detect the presence of half a dozen or so basic tastes, including sweet, sour, bitter, salty, astringent, and umami, a taste discovered by Japanese researchers -- a rich and full sense of deliciousness triggered by amino acids in foods such as meat, shellfish, mushrooms, potatoes, and seaweed. Taste buds offer a limited means of detection, however, compared with the human olfactory system, which can perceive thousands of different chemical aromas. Indeed, "flavor" is primarily the smell of gases being released by the chemicals you've just put in your mouth. The aroma of a food can be responsible for as much as 90 percent of its taste.
The act of drinking, sucking, or chewing a substance releases its volatile gases. They flow out of your mouth and up your nostrils, or up the passageway in the back of your mouth, to a thin layer of nerve cells called the olfactory epithelium, located at the base of your nose, right between your eyes. Your brain combines the complex smell signals from your olfactory epithelium with the simple taste signals from your tongue, assigns a flavor to what's in your mouth, and decides if it's something you want to eat.
A person's food preferences, like his or her personality, are formed during the first few years of life, through a process of socialization. Babies innately prefer sweet tastes and reject bitter ones; toddlers can learn to enjoy hot and spicy food, bland health food, or fast food, depending on what the people around them eat. The human sense of smell is still not fully understood. It is greatly affected by psychological factors and expectations. The mind focuses intently on some of the aromas that surround us and filters out the overwhelming majority. People can grow accustomed to bad smells or good smells; they stop noticing what once seemed overpowering. Aroma and memory are somehow inextricably linked. A smell can suddenly evoke a long-forgotten moment. The flavors of childhood foods seem to leave an indelible mark, and adults often return to them, without always knowing why. These "comfort foods" become a source of pleasure and reassurance -- a fact that fast-food chains use to their advantage. Childhood memories of Happy Meals, which come with french fries, can translate into frequent adult visits to McDonald's. On average, Americans now eat about four servings of french fries every week.
THE human craving for flavor has been a largely unacknowledged and unexamined force in history. For millennia royal empires have been built, unexplored lands traversed, and great religions and philosophies forever changed by the spice trade. In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail to find seasoning. Today the influence of flavor in the world marketplace is no less decisive. The rise and fall of corporate empires -- of soft-drink companies, snack-food companies, and fast-food chains -- is often determined by how their products taste.
The flavor industry emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, as processed foods began to be manufactured on a large scale. Recognizing the need for flavor additives, early food processors turned to perfume companies that had long experience working with essential oils and volatile aromas. The great perfume houses of England, France, and the Netherlands produced many of the first flavor compounds. In the early part of the twentieth century Germany took the technological lead in flavor production, owing to its powerful chemical industry. Legend has it that a German scientist discovered methyl anthranilate, one of the first artificial flavors, by accident while mixing chemicals in his laboratory. Suddenly the lab was filled with the sweet smell of grapes. Methyl anthranilate later became the chief flavor compound in grape Kool-Aid. After World War II much of the perfume industry shifted from Europe to the United States, settling in New York City near the garment district and the fashion houses. The flavor industry came with it, later moving to New Jersey for greater plant capacity. Man-made flavor additives were used mostly in baked goods, candies, and sodas until the 1950s, when sales of processed food began to soar. The invention of gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers -- machines capable of detecting volatile gases at low levels -- vastly increased the number of flavors that could be synthesized. By the mid-1960s flavor companies were churning out compounds to supply the taste of Pop Tarts, Bac-Os, Tab, Tang, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and literally thousands of other new foods.
The American flavor industry now has annual revenues of about $1.4 billion. Approximately 10,000 new processed-food products are introduced every year in the United States. Almost all of them require flavor additives. And about nine out of ten of these products fail. The latest flavor innovations and corporate realignments are heralded in publications such as Chemical Market Reporter, Food Chemical News, Food Engineering, and Food Product Design. The progress of IFF has mirrored that of the flavor industry as a whole. IFF was formed in 1958, through the merger of two small companies. Its annual revenues have grown almost fifteenfold since the early 1970s, and it currently has manufacturing facilities in twenty countries.
Today's sophisticated spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and headspace-vapor analyzers provide a detailed map of a food's flavor components, detecting chemical aromas present in amounts as low as one part per billion. The human nose, however, is even more sensitive. A nose can detect aromas present in quantities of a few parts per trillion -- an amount equivalent to about 0.000000000003 percent. Complex aromas, such as those of coffee and roasted meat, are composed of volatile gases from nearly a thousand different chemicals. The smell of a strawberry arises from the interaction of about 350 chemicals that are present in minute amounts. The quality that people seek most of all in a food -- flavor -- is usually present in a quantity too infinitesimal to be measured in traditional culinary terms such as ounces or teaspoons. The chemical that provides the dominant flavor of bell pepper can be tasted in amounts as low as 0.02 parts per billion; one drop is sufficient to add flavor to five average-size swimming pools. The flavor additive usually comes next to last in a processed food's list of ingredients and often costs less than its packaging. Soft drinks contain a larger proportion of flavor additives than most products. The flavor in a twelve-ounce can of Coke costs about half a cent.
The color additives in processed foods are usually present in even smaller amounts than the flavor compounds. Many of New Jersey's flavor companies also manufacture these color additives, which are used to make processed foods look fresh and appealing. Food coloring serves many of the same decorative purposes as lipstick, eye shadow, mascara -- and is often made from the same pigments. Titanium dioxide, for example, has proved to be an especially versatile mineral. It gives many processed candies, frostings, and icings their bright white color; it is a common ingredient in women's cosmetics; and it is the pigment used in many white oil paints and house paints. At Burger King, Wendy's, and McDonald's coloring agents have been added to many of the soft drinks, salad dressings, cookies, condiments, chicken dishes, and sandwich buns.
Studies have found that the color of a food can greatly affect how its taste is perceived. Brightly colored foods frequently seem to taste better than bland-looking foods, even when the flavor compounds are identical. Foods that somehow look off-color often seem to have off tastes. For thousands of years human beings have relied on visual cues to help determine what is edible. The color of fruit suggests whether it is ripe, the color of meat whether it is rancid. Flavor researchers sometimes use colored lights to modify the influence of visual cues during taste tests. During one experiment in the early 1970s people were served an oddly tinted meal of steak and french fries that appeared normal beneath colored lights. Everyone thought the meal tasted fine until the lighting was changed. Once it became apparent that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, some people became ill.
The federal Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to disclose the ingredients of their color or flavor additives so long as all the chemicals in them are considered by the agency to be GRAS ("generally recognized as safe"). This enables companies to maintain the secrecy of their formulas. It also hides the fact that flavor compounds often contain more ingredients than the foods to which they give taste. The phrase "artificial strawberry flavor" gives little hint of the chemical wizardry and manufacturing skill that can make a highly processed food taste like strawberries.
A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.
Although flavors usually arise from a mixture of many different volatile chemicals, often a single compound supplies the dominant aroma. Smelled alone, that chemical provides an unmistakable sense of the food. Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate, for example, smells just like an apple. Many of today's highly processed foods offer a blank palette: whatever chemicals are added to them will give them specific tastes. Adding methyl-2-pyridyl ketone makes something taste like popcorn. Adding ethyl-3-hydroxy butanoate makes it taste like marshmallow. The possibilities are now almost limitless. Without affecting appearance or nutritional value, processed foods could be made with aroma chemicals such as hexanal (the smell of freshly cut grass) or 3-methyl butanoic acid (the smell of body odor).
The 1960s were the heyday of artificial flavors in the United States. The synthetic versions of flavor compounds were not subtle, but they did not have to be, given the nature of most processed food. For the past twenty years food processors have tried hard to use only "natural flavors" in their products. According to the FDA, these must be derived entirely from natural sources -- from herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, yeast, bark, roots, and so forth. Consumers prefer to see natural flavors on a label, out of a belief that they are more healthful. Distinctions between artificial and natural flavors can be arbitrary and somewhat absurd, based more on how the flavor has been made than on what it actually contains.
"A natural flavor," says Terry Acree, a professor of food science at Cornell University, "is a flavor that's been derived with an out-of-date technology." Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same. "Natural flavor" is now listed among the ingredients of everything from Health Valley Blueberry Granola Bars to Taco Bell Hot Taco Sauce.
A natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial one. When almond flavor -- benzaldehyde -- is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison. Benzaldehyde derived by mixing oil of clove and amyl acetate does not contain any cyanide. Nevertheless, it is legally considered an artificial flavor and sells at a much lower price. Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature.
A Trained Nose and a Poetic Sensibility
THE small and elite group of scientists who create most of the flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are called "flavorists." They draw on a number of disciplines in their work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility. Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in tiny amounts -- a process governed by scientific principles but demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one flavor company's literature, to ensure "consumer likeability." The flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound will have a "top note" that is often followed by a "dry-down" and a "leveling-off," with different chemicals responsible for each stage. The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the flavoring combination. "A little odor goes a long way," one flavorist told me. From the archives:
"The Million-Dollar Nose," by William Langewiesche (December 2000) Robert Parker Jr. is a plainspoken American with an astonishing gift for judging wine. He is indefatigable and incorruptible, and his numerical rating system is relied on by millions. His taste is changing the way wine is made and sold. Naturally, the French hate him. Naturally, they honor him. In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's "mouthfeel" -- the unique combination of textures and chemical interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth. It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food -- bounce, creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess, lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness, softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
Some of the most important advances in flavor manufacturing are now occurring in the field of biotechnology. Complex flavors are being made using enzyme reactions, fermentation, and fungal and tissue cultures. All the flavors created by these methods -- including the ones being synthesized by fungi -- are considered natural flavors by the FDA. The new enzyme-based processes are responsible for extremely true-to-life dairy flavors. One company now offers not just butter flavor but also fresh creamy butter, cheesy butter, milky butter, savory melted butter, and super-concentrated butter flavor, in liquid or powder form. The development of new fermentation techniques, along with new techniques for heating mixtures of sugar and amino acids, have led to the creation of much more realistic meat flavors.
The McDonald's Corporation most likely drew on these advances when it eliminated beef tallow from its french fries. The company will not reveal the exact origin of the natural flavor added to its fries. In response to inquiries from Vegetarian Journal, however, McDonald's did acknowledge that its fries derive some of their characteristic flavor from "an animal source." Beef is the probable source, although other meats cannot be ruled out. In France, for example, fries are sometimes cooked in duck fat or horse tallow.
Other popular fast foods derive their flavor from unexpected ingredients. McDonald's Chicken McNuggets contain beef extracts, as does Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Burger King's BK Broiler Chicken Breast Patty contains "natural smoke flavor." A firm called Red Arrow Products specializes in smoke flavor, which is added to barbecue sauces, snack foods, and processed meats. Red Arrow manufactures natural smoke flavor by charring sawdust and capturing the aroma chemicals released into the air. The smoke is captured in water and then bottled, so that other companies can sell food that seems to have been cooked over a fire.
The Vegetarian Legal Action Network recently petitioned the FDA to issue new labeling requirements for foods that contain natural flavors. The group wants food processors to list the basic origins of their flavors on their labels. At the moment vegetarians often have no way of knowing whether a flavor additive contains beef, pork, poultry, or shellfish. One of the most widely used color additives -- whose presence is often hidden by the phrase "color added" -- violates a number of religious dietary restrictions, may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people, and comes from an unusual source. Cochineal extract (also known as carmine or carminic acid) is made from the desiccated bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa, a small insect harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands. The bug feeds on red cactus berries, and color from the berries accumulates in the females and their unhatched larvae. The insects are collected, dried, and ground into a pigment. It takes about 70,000 of them to produce a pound of carmine, which is used to make processed foods look pink, red, or purple. Dannon strawberry yogurt gets its color from carmine, and so do many frozen fruit bars, candies, and fruit fillings, and Ocean Spray pink-grapefruit juice drink.
IN a meeting room at IFF, Brian Grainger let me sample some of the company's flavors. It was an unusual taste test -- there was no food to taste. Grainger is a senior flavorist at IFF, a soft-spoken chemist with graying hair, an English accent, and a fondness for understatement. He could easily be mistaken for a British diplomat or the owner of a West End brasserie with two Michelin stars. Like many in the flavor industry, he has an Old World, old-fashioned sensibility. When I suggested that IFF's policy of secrecy and discretion was out of step with our mass-marketing, brand-conscious, self-promoting age, and that the company should put its own logo on the countless products that bear its flavors, instead of allowing other companies to enjoy the consumer loyalty and affection inspired by those flavors, Grainger politely disagreed, assuring me that such a thing would never be done. In the absence of public credit or acclaim, the small and secretive fraternity of flavor chemists praise one another's work. By analyzing the flavor formula of a product, Grainger can often tell which of his counterparts at a rival firm devised it. Whenever he walks down a supermarket aisle, he takes a quiet pleasure in seeing the well-known foods that contain his flavors.
Grainger had brought a dozen small glass bottles from the lab. After he opened each bottle, I dipped a fragrance-testing filter into it -- a long white strip of paper designed to absorb aroma chemicals without producing off notes. Before placing each strip of paper in front of my nose, I closed my eyes. Then I inhaled deeply, and one food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sautéed onions, and shrimp. Grainger's most remarkable creation took me by surprise. After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous -- as if someone in the room were flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, I saw just a narrow strip of white paper and a flavorist with a grin.
Eric Schlosser is a correspondent for The Atlantic. His article in this issue is adapted from his first book, Fast Food Nation, to be published this month by Houghton Mifflin.
Illustrations by Francis Livingston
Copyright © 2001 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved. The Atlantic Monthly; January 2001; Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good - 01.01 (Part Two); Volume 287, No. 1; page 50-56.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/schlosser.htm
Virtual reality out-of-body experiences
http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1347212.php/Virtual_reality_used_to_create_out-of-body_experiences
Virtual reality used to create out-of-body experiences
By Stevie Smith
Aug 24, 2007
Somewhat creepy tech-related news today that follows the exploits of scientists at University College London who have successfully created the sensation that people are said to feel during an ‘out-of-body’ episode, reports the Guardian Unlimited.
An out-of-body experience could be described as when a completely conscious person is suddenly able to view their body as if it were a completely separate entity. Some claim the phenomenon to be indicative of a brush with death, and it has been reported that moments of out-of-body existence do occur during times of extreme physical trauma, drug abuse, epilepsy, or when brain function has been compromised following a cerebrovascular incident (a stroke).
Dr. Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist that headed the experiments to recreate the out-of-body sensation, points out that while such experiences have indeed been reported as occurring across a variety of clinical situations, understanding of the out-of-body phenomenon is still unclear from the point of view of neuroscience.
"Out-of body-experiences have fascinated mankind for millennia," explained Dr. Ehrsson, who is now based at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, "their existence has raised fundamental questions about the relationship between human consciousness and the body, and has been much discussed in theology, philosophy and psychology."
However, using perfectly healthy volunteers, Dr. Ehrsson and his team claim to have utilised a system of cameras hooked up to a head-mounted VR display in order to help analyse exactly how the human brain processes exterior information to accurately determine body positioning – and thus recreated a form of out-of-body experience.
Normal circumstances see the brain processing sensory information passed to it from the body in order to formulate and build a sense of where the body is physically located in space. Through the application of jumbled sensory inputs during the experiment, Dr. Ehrsson wanted to test whether the human brain could be fooled into thinking the body was in a completely different location, adding weight to the notion that errors in the brain’s processing of sensory information causes out-of-body experiences.
Willing volunteers first donned virtual reality googles, which contained a video screen situated in each eye. These two screens then received separate images via camera units pointed at the volunteer from behind. The brain, upon processing and combining both of these images, subsequently caused the participant to firmly believe they were actually viewing a three-dimensional image of their own body.
Other physical experiments combining both the camera system and display goggles with the application of physical touch also caused participants to believe they were watching interaction with themselves from across the room. Dr. Ehrsson believes that such techniques, apart from aiding in the scientific understanding of out-of-body experiences, could have a significant bearing on the likes of medical and videogame technology.
Describing the technique as a form of projection or teleportation, Dr. Ehrsson offered that it could potentially see videogame interaction reaching a level far beyond current achievements while doctors could even perform remote surgery through the control of their virtual selves: "If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications."
Virtual reality used to create out-of-body experiences
By Stevie Smith
Aug 24, 2007
Somewhat creepy tech-related news today that follows the exploits of scientists at University College London who have successfully created the sensation that people are said to feel during an ‘out-of-body’ episode, reports the Guardian Unlimited.
An out-of-body experience could be described as when a completely conscious person is suddenly able to view their body as if it were a completely separate entity. Some claim the phenomenon to be indicative of a brush with death, and it has been reported that moments of out-of-body existence do occur during times of extreme physical trauma, drug abuse, epilepsy, or when brain function has been compromised following a cerebrovascular incident (a stroke).
Dr. Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist that headed the experiments to recreate the out-of-body sensation, points out that while such experiences have indeed been reported as occurring across a variety of clinical situations, understanding of the out-of-body phenomenon is still unclear from the point of view of neuroscience.
"Out-of body-experiences have fascinated mankind for millennia," explained Dr. Ehrsson, who is now based at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, "their existence has raised fundamental questions about the relationship between human consciousness and the body, and has been much discussed in theology, philosophy and psychology."
However, using perfectly healthy volunteers, Dr. Ehrsson and his team claim to have utilised a system of cameras hooked up to a head-mounted VR display in order to help analyse exactly how the human brain processes exterior information to accurately determine body positioning – and thus recreated a form of out-of-body experience.
Normal circumstances see the brain processing sensory information passed to it from the body in order to formulate and build a sense of where the body is physically located in space. Through the application of jumbled sensory inputs during the experiment, Dr. Ehrsson wanted to test whether the human brain could be fooled into thinking the body was in a completely different location, adding weight to the notion that errors in the brain’s processing of sensory information causes out-of-body experiences.
Willing volunteers first donned virtual reality googles, which contained a video screen situated in each eye. These two screens then received separate images via camera units pointed at the volunteer from behind. The brain, upon processing and combining both of these images, subsequently caused the participant to firmly believe they were actually viewing a three-dimensional image of their own body.
Other physical experiments combining both the camera system and display goggles with the application of physical touch also caused participants to believe they were watching interaction with themselves from across the room. Dr. Ehrsson believes that such techniques, apart from aiding in the scientific understanding of out-of-body experiences, could have a significant bearing on the likes of medical and videogame technology.
Describing the technique as a form of projection or teleportation, Dr. Ehrsson offered that it could potentially see videogame interaction reaching a level far beyond current achievements while doctors could even perform remote surgery through the control of their virtual selves: "If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications."
Google will "probably" bid on airwaves
http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/08/23/schmidt_speech/index.html
Google will "probably" bid on airwaves, Schmidt says
In an engaging speech to fellow techno-libertarians, Google's CEO defends openness on the Internet, and says his company will probably make a bid to become a wireless carrier.
By Farhad Manjoo
Aug. 23, 2007 Like George Bush but only not fake, Google CEO Eric Schmidt piloted his own twin-engine jet into Aspen yesterday, and when he landed put forth Google's telecom mission: Keeping the Internet "free and open." He added, "If it goes the other way, we've got a serious problem."
Schmidt also noted that because the Federal Communications Commission "got the spirit of what we were asking for" in setting out rules for the upcoming auction of the 700 MHz band of radio space, Google would likely make a bid for some of the space when it goes on sale next year. Google, that is, may become a wireless carrier.
Schmidt's essential message -- delivered to a group assembled by the libertarian Washington think tank the Progress and Freedom Foundation -- was that because the Internet is based on compatible standards and interoperability, and because principles of "openness" are at the heart of its success, we've got to cultivate and protect openness to keep the net functioning well.
He highlighted four main prerogatives for regulators and others interested in seeing a booming global network: pushing for universal broadband; pushing for interoperability in how networks operate; "making information available" (a thing Google does pretty well); and defending freedom of speech.
Schmidt's a pro-limited-government, free-market-loving libertarian in the mold of many who'd come to see him speak, but he's not absolutist in his belief system, and recognizes areas where government intervention can actually preserve freedom and keep markets humming (not to mention help Google). In recent years his firm's pushed hard for such efforts -- first in lobbying legislators to mandate network neutrality on broadband lines (which hasn't yet happened), and second in asking the FCC to allow people to use applications and devices of their choice on wireless networks (which the agency agreed to last month.)
I watched this speech on YouTube after seeing excerpts in the Washington Post; I didn't intend to get through the whole thing, but Schmidt is engaging and animated, and though he rambles a bit, it's not a bad way to spend an hour.
Google will "probably" bid on airwaves, Schmidt says
In an engaging speech to fellow techno-libertarians, Google's CEO defends openness on the Internet, and says his company will probably make a bid to become a wireless carrier.
By Farhad Manjoo
Aug. 23, 2007 Like George Bush but only not fake, Google CEO Eric Schmidt piloted his own twin-engine jet into Aspen yesterday, and when he landed put forth Google's telecom mission: Keeping the Internet "free and open." He added, "If it goes the other way, we've got a serious problem."
Schmidt also noted that because the Federal Communications Commission "got the spirit of what we were asking for" in setting out rules for the upcoming auction of the 700 MHz band of radio space, Google would likely make a bid for some of the space when it goes on sale next year. Google, that is, may become a wireless carrier.
Schmidt's essential message -- delivered to a group assembled by the libertarian Washington think tank the Progress and Freedom Foundation -- was that because the Internet is based on compatible standards and interoperability, and because principles of "openness" are at the heart of its success, we've got to cultivate and protect openness to keep the net functioning well.
He highlighted four main prerogatives for regulators and others interested in seeing a booming global network: pushing for universal broadband; pushing for interoperability in how networks operate; "making information available" (a thing Google does pretty well); and defending freedom of speech.
Schmidt's a pro-limited-government, free-market-loving libertarian in the mold of many who'd come to see him speak, but he's not absolutist in his belief system, and recognizes areas where government intervention can actually preserve freedom and keep markets humming (not to mention help Google). In recent years his firm's pushed hard for such efforts -- first in lobbying legislators to mandate network neutrality on broadband lines (which hasn't yet happened), and second in asking the FCC to allow people to use applications and devices of their choice on wireless networks (which the agency agreed to last month.)
I watched this speech on YouTube after seeing excerpts in the Washington Post; I didn't intend to get through the whole thing, but Schmidt is engaging and animated, and though he rambles a bit, it's not a bad way to spend an hour.
Dubai World to pump $5.1 billion into MGM
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vegas23aug23,1,6169499.story?coll=la-headlines-business
Dubai World to pump $5.1 billion into MGM
By Kimi Yoshino
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 23, 2007
The Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai anted up Wednesday, announcing it would invest $5.1 billion in MGM Mirage for a 50% stake in the massive Las Vegas CityCenter project now in development and a 10% interest in the gaming company.
The deal continues Dubai's investments in name-brand and hospitality destinations around the world, but also infuses Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage with cash to quickly pursue other projects without being laden with debt.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dubai World, the holding company for the emirate, will invest $2.7 billion in the 76-acre CityCenter, a densely packed collection of condos and hotels on the Vegas Strip, considered the country's largest privately funded construction job.
Dubai World will also buy 28.4 million shares of MGM Mirage for $84 a share, a 13% premium over its Tuesday closing price of $74.32.
"Dubai World is looking to invest in projects that make good business sense, and which employ our expertise in developing large scale mixed-use projects with a strong focus on leisure and hospitality," the holding company said in a statement. "This investment is in line with our objective to only partner with 'the best' and MGM is one of the world's leading entertainment companies and hotel resort operators."
For MGM Mirage, it connects the company to the elite tourists who frequent Dubai.
"We're very excited," said Terry Lanni, chief executive of MGM Mirage. "The cross-fertilization, cross-marketing of brands... will be valuable. I would like to see us marketing in Dubai to visitors coming into Dubai. These are people with significant net worths. One development they plan [in Dubai] will be villas with your own hangars for your private planes and these are not little planes."
There are no immediate plans to build an MGM Mirage property in Dubai, though any project would be non-gaming, Lanni said, because gambling is illegal in Muslim-dominated Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.
Beyond that, Lanni said the cash investment gave MGM Mirage a "significantly enhanced" balance sheet as it relates to CityCenter.
"With that comfort, we'll be able to move along other projects that otherwise would have waited awhile," he said. "Usually, you get financing, build it, open it, get cash flowing . . . and build another one."
CityCenter is to open by the end of 2009.
MGM Mirage, one of the world's leading gaming companies, owns and operates 17 properties in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan. New developments are also underway in Macao, China. On news of the deal Wednesday, shares of MGM Mirage surged $6.62, or 8.9%, to $80.94, their biggest jump since May.
Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. -- a Beverly Hills investment firm -- holds a 54.1% stake in MGM Mirage; the Dubai World deal is expected to reduce that to about 51.65%.
kimi.yoshino@latimes.com
Dubai World to pump $5.1 billion into MGM
By Kimi Yoshino
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 23, 2007
The Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai anted up Wednesday, announcing it would invest $5.1 billion in MGM Mirage for a 50% stake in the massive Las Vegas CityCenter project now in development and a 10% interest in the gaming company.
The deal continues Dubai's investments in name-brand and hospitality destinations around the world, but also infuses Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage with cash to quickly pursue other projects without being laden with debt.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dubai World, the holding company for the emirate, will invest $2.7 billion in the 76-acre CityCenter, a densely packed collection of condos and hotels on the Vegas Strip, considered the country's largest privately funded construction job.
Dubai World will also buy 28.4 million shares of MGM Mirage for $84 a share, a 13% premium over its Tuesday closing price of $74.32.
"Dubai World is looking to invest in projects that make good business sense, and which employ our expertise in developing large scale mixed-use projects with a strong focus on leisure and hospitality," the holding company said in a statement. "This investment is in line with our objective to only partner with 'the best' and MGM is one of the world's leading entertainment companies and hotel resort operators."
For MGM Mirage, it connects the company to the elite tourists who frequent Dubai.
"We're very excited," said Terry Lanni, chief executive of MGM Mirage. "The cross-fertilization, cross-marketing of brands... will be valuable. I would like to see us marketing in Dubai to visitors coming into Dubai. These are people with significant net worths. One development they plan [in Dubai] will be villas with your own hangars for your private planes and these are not little planes."
There are no immediate plans to build an MGM Mirage property in Dubai, though any project would be non-gaming, Lanni said, because gambling is illegal in Muslim-dominated Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.
Beyond that, Lanni said the cash investment gave MGM Mirage a "significantly enhanced" balance sheet as it relates to CityCenter.
"With that comfort, we'll be able to move along other projects that otherwise would have waited awhile," he said. "Usually, you get financing, build it, open it, get cash flowing . . . and build another one."
CityCenter is to open by the end of 2009.
MGM Mirage, one of the world's leading gaming companies, owns and operates 17 properties in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan. New developments are also underway in Macao, China. On news of the deal Wednesday, shares of MGM Mirage surged $6.62, or 8.9%, to $80.94, their biggest jump since May.
Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. -- a Beverly Hills investment firm -- holds a 54.1% stake in MGM Mirage; the Dubai World deal is expected to reduce that to about 51.65%.
kimi.yoshino@latimes.com
Rangers score 30 in twin-bill opener
http://www.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070822&content_id=2163692&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Rangers score 30 in twin-bill opener
08/23/2007 1:00 AM ET
By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com
BALTIMORE -- The Rangers smashed their way into the record books on Wednesday night with the biggest offensive outburst seen in the Major Leagues in 110 years.
Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf both hit grand slams and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez hit two home runs each as the Rangers walloped the Baltimore Orioles, 30-3, in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Camden Yards.
The 30 runs were the most in the Major Leagues since the 19th century and set a new American League record. The Boston Red Sox scored 29 runs on June 8, 1950, against the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox matched that on April 23, 1955, against the Kansas City Athletics.
The most runs scored in a Major League game was 36 by the Chicago Colts (now the Cubs) against Louisville in the National League in 1897.
The Rangers completed the sweep in Game 2 with a 9-7 victory, and set a new American League record for most runs in a doubleheader with 39. The old record was 36 set by the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns on Aug. 14, 1937.
Metcalf, just called up on Wednesday, had eight RBI in two games. That ties a club record held previously by Toby Harrah and Bobby Bonds.
The Rangers entered the doubleheader hitting .190 with 10 runs scored in their previous five games, but they ended up setting a new club record with 29 hits in Game 1. The previous record for most runs came in a 26-7 victory over the Orioles on April 19, 1996, and they had 23 hits on three separate occasions.
"It was awesome," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "The whole offense just came to life. I've never seen anything like it. I was hoping we would open up offensively but I wasn't expecting anything like that."
Byrd and Metcalf, who was just called up from Triple-A Oklahoma, became only the second pair of Rangers to hit grand slams in the same game. The other was July 4, 2004, when Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira went deep with the bases loaded.
"We were just out there shaking our heads," Byrd said. "No one has seen that before and you won't see it again. The whole offense was clicking. Things were just going our way. Everybody was just trying to get hits regardless. It's a pride thing. You're trying to get hits and score runs but you don't expect that."
The Rangers, who trailed 3-0 after three innings, did all their scoring in just four innings. They scored five runs in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six more in the ninth.
Every starter had at least two hits and scored at least one run. Every starter but right fielder Nelson Cruz had an RBI. The 49 total bases on 21 singles, two doubles and six home runs was also another single-game club record.
Saltalamacchia and Vazquez both finished with a career-high seven RBIs, two short of the club record for one game set by Ivan Rodriguez on April 13, 1999. Saltalamacchia and David Murphy tied a club record by scoring five runs, done previously by Pete O'Brien, Luis Alicea and Kevin Mench.
"It was unbelievable," Saltalamacchia said. "That was ridiculous. I've never been in a game like that in my life. It was one of those things. We were just seeing the ball and hitting the ball. You can't help but laugh. It's nothing they did. It's not like they made a lot of errors. It was just ridiculous. Everybody is going to remember it."
Metcalf's grand slam was the first of his career and just his second home run. He had been called up earlier in the day and didn't even get into the game until he replaced shortstop Michael Young defensively in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"It was great to be a part of," Metcalf said. "It was amazing in capital letters."
Amazingly, there was one negative note. The Rangers struck out 11 times, giving them 41 over a three-game stretch. That also tied a club record.
Rangers left-hander Kason Gabbard picked up his second victory for the Rangers despite trailing 3-0 after three innings. He ended up going six, allowing seven hits and a walk and striking out three. He is now 6-1 with a 3.65 ERA overall with both the Rangers and the Boston Red Sox.
Wes Littleton threw three scoreless innings in relief which actually qualified for his first save of the season.
The Rangers wiped out the Orioles three-run lead in the top of the fourth against Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera. Saltalamacchia got the scoring started with a two-run single and Vazquez followed with his first home run, a three-run shot over the right-field wall.
Saltalamacchia then hit a home run to lead off the sixth, the first of 10 hits the Rangers had that inning. That tied a club record set on May 17, 2001, against the Cleveland Indians.
Reliever Brian Burres replaced Cabrera and the Rangers loaded the bases on a single by Vazquez, a walk to Frank Catalanotto and a single by Young. Byrd then crushed one high and deep into the left-field seats for a grand slam, the third of his career.
That gave the Rangers a 10-3 lead but they didn't stop there. Burres struck out Jason Botts, but the Rangers followed with six straight singles to bring home four runs. The Rangers finished with nine runs that inning but weren't even close to being done.
Metcalf entered the game defensively for Young and hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off reliever Rob Bell. Saltalamacchia added a three-run home run in a 10-run inning. This was the sixth time in Major League history that a team has scored at least nine runs in an inning twice in one game.
The Rangers scored six more in the ninth with the help of a two-run double by Botts and a three-run home run by Vazquez. The hits and runs given up were the most in Orioles history and it was also their worst defeat in club history.
"You just have to have a short memory and let it go," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.
Rangers score 30 in twin-bill opener
08/23/2007 1:00 AM ET
By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com
BALTIMORE -- The Rangers smashed their way into the record books on Wednesday night with the biggest offensive outburst seen in the Major Leagues in 110 years.
Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf both hit grand slams and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez hit two home runs each as the Rangers walloped the Baltimore Orioles, 30-3, in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Camden Yards.
The 30 runs were the most in the Major Leagues since the 19th century and set a new American League record. The Boston Red Sox scored 29 runs on June 8, 1950, against the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox matched that on April 23, 1955, against the Kansas City Athletics.
The most runs scored in a Major League game was 36 by the Chicago Colts (now the Cubs) against Louisville in the National League in 1897.
The Rangers completed the sweep in Game 2 with a 9-7 victory, and set a new American League record for most runs in a doubleheader with 39. The old record was 36 set by the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns on Aug. 14, 1937.
Metcalf, just called up on Wednesday, had eight RBI in two games. That ties a club record held previously by Toby Harrah and Bobby Bonds.
The Rangers entered the doubleheader hitting .190 with 10 runs scored in their previous five games, but they ended up setting a new club record with 29 hits in Game 1. The previous record for most runs came in a 26-7 victory over the Orioles on April 19, 1996, and they had 23 hits on three separate occasions.
"It was awesome," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "The whole offense just came to life. I've never seen anything like it. I was hoping we would open up offensively but I wasn't expecting anything like that."
Byrd and Metcalf, who was just called up from Triple-A Oklahoma, became only the second pair of Rangers to hit grand slams in the same game. The other was July 4, 2004, when Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira went deep with the bases loaded.
"We were just out there shaking our heads," Byrd said. "No one has seen that before and you won't see it again. The whole offense was clicking. Things were just going our way. Everybody was just trying to get hits regardless. It's a pride thing. You're trying to get hits and score runs but you don't expect that."
The Rangers, who trailed 3-0 after three innings, did all their scoring in just four innings. They scored five runs in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six more in the ninth.
Every starter had at least two hits and scored at least one run. Every starter but right fielder Nelson Cruz had an RBI. The 49 total bases on 21 singles, two doubles and six home runs was also another single-game club record.
Saltalamacchia and Vazquez both finished with a career-high seven RBIs, two short of the club record for one game set by Ivan Rodriguez on April 13, 1999. Saltalamacchia and David Murphy tied a club record by scoring five runs, done previously by Pete O'Brien, Luis Alicea and Kevin Mench.
"It was unbelievable," Saltalamacchia said. "That was ridiculous. I've never been in a game like that in my life. It was one of those things. We were just seeing the ball and hitting the ball. You can't help but laugh. It's nothing they did. It's not like they made a lot of errors. It was just ridiculous. Everybody is going to remember it."
Metcalf's grand slam was the first of his career and just his second home run. He had been called up earlier in the day and didn't even get into the game until he replaced shortstop Michael Young defensively in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"It was great to be a part of," Metcalf said. "It was amazing in capital letters."
Amazingly, there was one negative note. The Rangers struck out 11 times, giving them 41 over a three-game stretch. That also tied a club record.
Rangers left-hander Kason Gabbard picked up his second victory for the Rangers despite trailing 3-0 after three innings. He ended up going six, allowing seven hits and a walk and striking out three. He is now 6-1 with a 3.65 ERA overall with both the Rangers and the Boston Red Sox.
Wes Littleton threw three scoreless innings in relief which actually qualified for his first save of the season.
The Rangers wiped out the Orioles three-run lead in the top of the fourth against Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera. Saltalamacchia got the scoring started with a two-run single and Vazquez followed with his first home run, a three-run shot over the right-field wall.
Saltalamacchia then hit a home run to lead off the sixth, the first of 10 hits the Rangers had that inning. That tied a club record set on May 17, 2001, against the Cleveland Indians.
Reliever Brian Burres replaced Cabrera and the Rangers loaded the bases on a single by Vazquez, a walk to Frank Catalanotto and a single by Young. Byrd then crushed one high and deep into the left-field seats for a grand slam, the third of his career.
That gave the Rangers a 10-3 lead but they didn't stop there. Burres struck out Jason Botts, but the Rangers followed with six straight singles to bring home four runs. The Rangers finished with nine runs that inning but weren't even close to being done.
Metcalf entered the game defensively for Young and hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off reliever Rob Bell. Saltalamacchia added a three-run home run in a 10-run inning. This was the sixth time in Major League history that a team has scored at least nine runs in an inning twice in one game.
The Rangers scored six more in the ninth with the help of a two-run double by Botts and a three-run home run by Vazquez. The hits and runs given up were the most in Orioles history and it was also their worst defeat in club history.
"You just have to have a short memory and let it go," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.
Casa Bonita
Wikipedia Entry of the Week:
Casa Bonita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Casa Bonita in Colorado
This article is about the restaurant. For the South Park episode, see Casa Bonita (South Park episode).
Casa Bonita is the name of a Mexican-themed restaurant (formerly a chain of restaurants) which originated in Oklahoma City. As of 2006, only one location remains open, in the western Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colorado.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Lakewood, Colorado
1.2 Tulsa
2 Similar restaurants
3 External links
History
Casa Bonita was founded by Bill Waugh in 1971. The restaurants could be found in many cities in Oklahoma and adjacent states until the 1990s. The most popular dishes are the "all you can eat" beef or chicken plates that feature 2 enchiladas,a taco, refried beans, and Spanish rice. Sopaipillas - small squares of fried bread served with honey - come with every meal. The restaurant also offers some standard menu items like fajitas or salads that are not "all-you-can-eat". There is also a children's menu. Each table had a small flag that you would raise any time you needed a refill of food or drink. The food is reasonably priced but is not an authentic experience in Mexican cuisine - in fact, you don't really go to Casa Bonita for the food.
In 1982, the company (including Taco Bueno fast food restaurants) was sold to Unigate (now Uniq). In 1992, Unigate sold the restaurants to CKE Restaurants, owners of Carl's Jr. In 1997, the two remaining Casa Bonita restaurants were spun off by CKE as part of South Salt Lake, Utah-based Star Buffet.
The Tulsa location closed 30 September, 2005, leaving the Lakewood, Colorado location as the last remaining Casa Bonita restaurant.
Lakewood, Colorado
The Lakewood location, west of Denver on Colfax Avenue opened in early 1974. It features strolling mariachis, flame jugglers, and a 30-foot waterfall with cliff divers. Casa Bonita is designed to be an entertaining place for children and adults alike, although it is obvious that the children are the primary audience. It also has a small puppet theater, a "haunted tunnel" called Black Bart's Cave, an arcade with a large skee-ball room (extra charge), and a magic theater. The building is nearly 16,000 square metres and has seating for approximately 1,100 customers. This location was featured on an episode of the animated TV series South Park.
The restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner and is popular with tourists and tour groups. Arriving early is advised during the summer or on weekends.
Tulsa
The Tulsa location, which opened in 1971, was designed to create a nighttime, outdoor atmosphere. There were full-size artificial trees, and the entry way featured large aquarium tanks which at one time housed live tropical fish. There were various themed dining areas, including a volcano room, complete with lighted eruptions; a cave room, and a room resembling an aristocratic dining hall with strolling mariachis. The Tulsa location also included a video arcade, including an original Frogger machine, as well as other video and arcade games, skee-ball, a working carousel, and a gift shop. The location shut its doors Friday, 30 September 2005 due to the end of their lease. The Tulsa location has since reopened, under the new name of Casa Viva.
Similar restaurants
Bill Waugh, founder of Casa Bonita, founded Casa Viva, opening the first location in 1995 at the site of a former Casa Bonita in Little Rock, Arkansas. (This restaurant closed however, in early 2006). Plans have been made to open a second location at the site of the closed Tulsa Casa Bonita (source: Tulsa World, October 1, 2005).
Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, opened a restaurant called "The Mayan" in Sandy, Utah in 2000. Casa Bonita has sued Miller for copyright infringement [4] due to similarities with their restaurant, which Miller visited several times.
A subsidiary established in the 1960s, Taco Bueno, is a major fast food chain throughout Oklahoma and Texas.
Restaurante Arroyo, in Tlalpan, Mexico, the grandaddy of all "super-size" Mexican restaurants, which seats 2,200 people and is likely the world's largest Mexican restaurant. Like Casa Bonita, Arroyo has an array of customer diversions including its own bullring.
Casa Bonita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Casa Bonita in Colorado
This article is about the restaurant. For the South Park episode, see Casa Bonita (South Park episode).Casa Bonita is the name of a Mexican-themed restaurant (formerly a chain of restaurants) which originated in Oklahoma City. As of 2006, only one location remains open, in the western Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colorado.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Lakewood, Colorado
1.2 Tulsa
2 Similar restaurants
3 External links
History
Casa Bonita was founded by Bill Waugh in 1971. The restaurants could be found in many cities in Oklahoma and adjacent states until the 1990s. The most popular dishes are the "all you can eat" beef or chicken plates that feature 2 enchiladas,a taco, refried beans, and Spanish rice. Sopaipillas - small squares of fried bread served with honey - come with every meal. The restaurant also offers some standard menu items like fajitas or salads that are not "all-you-can-eat". There is also a children's menu. Each table had a small flag that you would raise any time you needed a refill of food or drink. The food is reasonably priced but is not an authentic experience in Mexican cuisine - in fact, you don't really go to Casa Bonita for the food.
In 1982, the company (including Taco Bueno fast food restaurants) was sold to Unigate (now Uniq). In 1992, Unigate sold the restaurants to CKE Restaurants, owners of Carl's Jr. In 1997, the two remaining Casa Bonita restaurants were spun off by CKE as part of South Salt Lake, Utah-based Star Buffet.
The Tulsa location closed 30 September, 2005, leaving the Lakewood, Colorado location as the last remaining Casa Bonita restaurant.
Lakewood, Colorado
The Lakewood location, west of Denver on Colfax Avenue opened in early 1974. It features strolling mariachis, flame jugglers, and a 30-foot waterfall with cliff divers. Casa Bonita is designed to be an entertaining place for children and adults alike, although it is obvious that the children are the primary audience. It also has a small puppet theater, a "haunted tunnel" called Black Bart's Cave, an arcade with a large skee-ball room (extra charge), and a magic theater. The building is nearly 16,000 square metres and has seating for approximately 1,100 customers. This location was featured on an episode of the animated TV series South Park.
The restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner and is popular with tourists and tour groups. Arriving early is advised during the summer or on weekends.
Tulsa
The Tulsa location, which opened in 1971, was designed to create a nighttime, outdoor atmosphere. There were full-size artificial trees, and the entry way featured large aquarium tanks which at one time housed live tropical fish. There were various themed dining areas, including a volcano room, complete with lighted eruptions; a cave room, and a room resembling an aristocratic dining hall with strolling mariachis. The Tulsa location also included a video arcade, including an original Frogger machine, as well as other video and arcade games, skee-ball, a working carousel, and a gift shop. The location shut its doors Friday, 30 September 2005 due to the end of their lease. The Tulsa location has since reopened, under the new name of Casa Viva.
Similar restaurants
Bill Waugh, founder of Casa Bonita, founded Casa Viva, opening the first location in 1995 at the site of a former Casa Bonita in Little Rock, Arkansas. (This restaurant closed however, in early 2006). Plans have been made to open a second location at the site of the closed Tulsa Casa Bonita (source: Tulsa World, October 1, 2005).
Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, opened a restaurant called "The Mayan" in Sandy, Utah in 2000. Casa Bonita has sued Miller for copyright infringement [4] due to similarities with their restaurant, which Miller visited several times.
A subsidiary established in the 1960s, Taco Bueno, is a major fast food chain throughout Oklahoma and Texas.
Restaurante Arroyo, in Tlalpan, Mexico, the grandaddy of all "super-size" Mexican restaurants, which seats 2,200 people and is likely the world's largest Mexican restaurant. Like Casa Bonita, Arroyo has an array of customer diversions including its own bullring.
The New Issue of Steamshovel Press!!!
Kenn Thomas
Now available as PDF exclusively from Steamshovel!
The New Issue of Steamshovel Press!!!
All conspiracy. No theory.
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
Charles Fort: Dogma be Damned by Skylaire Alfvegren; Southern California, Cult Mecca, by Adam Gorightly; Parapolitics in Popular Culture: The Prisoner by Kenn Thomas; Notes on Conspiracy Theories, by Jim Keith; Correspondence with Jim Keith; Freeplay Excerpted by Len Bracken; Short Shrift: Beatnix and Comix by Kenn Thomas; Caries, Cabals & Correspondence with X. Sharks DeSpot; Robert Anton Wilson RIP; The O’Reilly Factor In The JFK Assassination by Bill Kelly; Dark Matters by James Romerger.
PDF: $7; PRINT OUT: $10; SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25. Be sure to include e-mail address with order. All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” at POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
ALSO AVAILABLE:
THE CONSPIRACY FILES by Kenn thomas
The Conspiracy Files: Evidence Behind the World’s Most Notorious Theories reviews current and historical mysteries, clearly setting out the main players involved in each story and providing detailed background information. This unique gathering of the hard facts works to spell out the sometimes preposterous, yet always fascinating, connections between the different theories. PDF only, $20 (via disk, or supply e-mail address)
PARAPOLITICS BY KENN THOMAS
Join Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas as he tracks parapolitics—aka conspiracy theory—in the 21st Century. Thomas has traveled and lectured about conspiracies throughout America for the past decade, appearing in the major media as the sharpest critic of the consensus view of current affairs. From the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, Thomas examines the underlying parapolitics that animate the secret elites and the war ravaged planet they manipulate. Parapolitics collects Thomas' lecture remarks, interviews, correspondence and articles printed in the underground press from around the world. PDF only, $20 (via disk or supply e-mail address)
Now on DVD!
Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con, San Jose, CA, May 2007
Moving beyond the confines of 9/11, Thomas reviews the current parapolitics around the globe, starting with the assassination-by-polonium-poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, through the Valerie Plame spy scandal, to the remaining mysteries of the Trade Towers' destruction. "Parapolitics is activity that happens alongside the normal politics people read in the papers and see on TV, not instead of it," explains Thomas. "It's not just a matter of saying that the media just lies and that the Bush baddies are responsible--although gawd (sic) knows that's true. But, we ignore the conspiracies that exist in the wider world, such as global jihad and the assassination that culminated with Litvinenko, at our peril." This lecture will put these other global conspiracies in the context of what's happening in America. Part of the lecture will also include a tribute to his friend, the late author of Illuminatus!, Robert Anton Wilson, including rare video. 1 hour DVD, $10
send e-mail address with order
All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
ORDER FORM
STEAMSHOVEL #23
___ $7 for PDF version. My e-mail address is:
___ $10 for print out. My land mail address is:
____ $25 Steamshovel Press subscription
____ $20 for PDF of The Conspiracy Files (supply e-mail address above)
____ $20 for PDF of Parapolitics (supply e-mail address above)
____ $10 for DVD of Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con, May 2007 (supply land mail address above)
BACK ISSUES (photocopies only), $10 each (to land mail addresses only)
Total enclosed: ____________
All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas”. Send e-mail address with order.
STEAMSHOVEL PRESS, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
On the web: steamshovelpress.com
Now available as PDF exclusively from Steamshovel!The New Issue of Steamshovel Press!!!
All conspiracy. No theory.
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
Charles Fort: Dogma be Damned by Skylaire Alfvegren; Southern California, Cult Mecca, by Adam Gorightly; Parapolitics in Popular Culture: The Prisoner by Kenn Thomas; Notes on Conspiracy Theories, by Jim Keith; Correspondence with Jim Keith; Freeplay Excerpted by Len Bracken; Short Shrift: Beatnix and Comix by Kenn Thomas; Caries, Cabals & Correspondence with X. Sharks DeSpot; Robert Anton Wilson RIP; The O’Reilly Factor In The JFK Assassination by Bill Kelly; Dark Matters by James Romerger.
PDF: $7; PRINT OUT: $10; SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25. Be sure to include e-mail address with order. All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” at POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
ALSO AVAILABLE:
THE CONSPIRACY FILES by Kenn thomas
The Conspiracy Files: Evidence Behind the World’s Most Notorious Theories reviews current and historical mysteries, clearly setting out the main players involved in each story and providing detailed background information. This unique gathering of the hard facts works to spell out the sometimes preposterous, yet always fascinating, connections between the different theories. PDF only, $20 (via disk, or supply e-mail address)
PARAPOLITICS BY KENN THOMAS
Join Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas as he tracks parapolitics—aka conspiracy theory—in the 21st Century. Thomas has traveled and lectured about conspiracies throughout America for the past decade, appearing in the major media as the sharpest critic of the consensus view of current affairs. From the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, Thomas examines the underlying parapolitics that animate the secret elites and the war ravaged planet they manipulate. Parapolitics collects Thomas' lecture remarks, interviews, correspondence and articles printed in the underground press from around the world. PDF only, $20 (via disk or supply e-mail address)
Now on DVD!
Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con, San Jose, CA, May 2007
Moving beyond the confines of 9/11, Thomas reviews the current parapolitics around the globe, starting with the assassination-by-polonium-poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, through the Valerie Plame spy scandal, to the remaining mysteries of the Trade Towers' destruction. "Parapolitics is activity that happens alongside the normal politics people read in the papers and see on TV, not instead of it," explains Thomas. "It's not just a matter of saying that the media just lies and that the Bush baddies are responsible--although gawd (sic) knows that's true. But, we ignore the conspiracies that exist in the wider world, such as global jihad and the assassination that culminated with Litvinenko, at our peril." This lecture will put these other global conspiracies in the context of what's happening in America. Part of the lecture will also include a tribute to his friend, the late author of Illuminatus!, Robert Anton Wilson, including rare video. 1 hour DVD, $10
send e-mail address with order
All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
ORDER FORM
STEAMSHOVEL #23
___ $7 for PDF version. My e-mail address is:
___ $10 for print out. My land mail address is:
____ $25 Steamshovel Press subscription
____ $20 for PDF of The Conspiracy Files (supply e-mail address above)
____ $20 for PDF of Parapolitics (supply e-mail address above)
____ $10 for DVD of Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con, May 2007 (supply land mail address above)
BACK ISSUES (photocopies only), $10 each (to land mail addresses only)
Total enclosed: ____________
All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas”. Send e-mail address with order.
STEAMSHOVEL PRESS, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121
On the web: steamshovelpress.com
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Padilla jury opens Pandora’s Box
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2326.shtml
Padilla jury opens Pandora’s Box
By Paul Craig Roberts
Online Journal Guest Writer
Aug 21, 2007
Jose Padilla's conviction on terrorism charges on August 16 was a victory, not for justice, but for the US Justice [sic] Department's theory that a US citizen can be convicted, not because he committed a terrorist act but for allegedly harboring aspirations to commit such an act. By agreeing with the Justice [sic] Department's theory, the incompetent Padilla Jury delivered a deadly blow to the rule of law and opened Pandora's Box.
Anglo-American law is a human achievement 800 years in the making. Over centuries law was transformed from a weapon in the hands of government into a shield of the people from unaccountable power. The Padilla Jury's verdict turned law back into a weapon.
The jury, of course, had no idea of what was at stake. It was a patriotic jury that appeared in court with one row of jurors dressed in red, one in white, and one in blue (Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, August 17, 2007).
It was a jury primed to be psychologically and emotionally manipulated by federal prosecutors desperate for a conviction for which there was little, if any, supporting evidence. For the jury, patriotism required that they strike a blow for America against terrorism. No member of this jury was going to return home to accusations of letting off a person who has been portrayed as a terrorist in the US media for five years.
The "evidence" against Padilla consists of three items: (1) seven intercepted telephone conversations, (2) a 10-year old nonrelevant video of Osama bin Laden, and (3) an alleged application to a mujahideen (not terrorist) training camp with Padilla's fingerprints. We will examine each in turn.
The International Herald Tribune and Associated Press reported in detail on the telephone intercepts (June 19, 2007): "Accused al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was never overheard using purported code words for violent jihad in intercepted telephone conversations and spoke often about his difficulties in learning Arabic while studying in Egypt, the lead FBI case agent testified Tuesday. The questioning of FBI Agent James T. Kavanaugh by Padilla's attorney, Michael Caruso, focused on seven intercepted telephone calls on which Padilla's voice is heard mostly talking about his marriage and his studies but never about Islamic extremism. . . . Caruso asked Kavanaugh if Padilla ever was heard using what prosecutors say were code words for violent jihad . . . 'No, he does not,' Kavanaugh replied. . . . Caruso asked Kavanaugh if Padilla was ever overheard discussing jihad training. 'No jihad training that I've seen,' Kavanaugh said. . . . 'He's not referring to anything here but studying Arabic, correct? Study means study, right?' Caruso asked. 'That's what they're talking about,' Kavanaugh testified."
Despite the FBI's testimony that the intercepted telephone messages contained no incriminating evidence, the "patriotic" jury accepted the federal prosecutor's unsupported accusation that there were hidden code words in the message indicating that Padilla was a terrorist. After all, who but a terrorist would want to learn Arabic?
The video of bin Laden had no relevance whatsoever to the charges in the case. The video is 10 years old and makes no reference to any of the defendants. Moreover, none of the defendants were accused of ever being in contact with bin Laden. The only purpose of the video was to arouse in jurors fear, anger, and disturbing memories associated with September 11, 2001. The fact that the judge let prosecutors sway a fearful and vengeful patriotic jury with emotion and passion rather than evidence is obviously grounds for appeal.
Whoriskey reports that in their closing arguments prosecutors mentioned al-Qaeda more than 100 times and urged jurors to think of al-Qaeda and groups alleged to be affiliated with it as an international murder conspiracy. Padilla "trained to kill,' Assistant US Attorney Brian Frazier misinformed the jury in his closing statement.
Who Padilla wished to kill was never identified, but according to the prosecutors he had been wanting to kill persons unknown since 1998. Padilla was convicted for harboring alleged intentions, not for committing any acts. Indeed, no harmful acts are charged to Padilla. The incompetent jury fell for the prosecutors' wild tale of a murder conspiracy many years old that had no results.
As Andrew Cohen put it, Padilla and the two co-defendants were convicted on the charge of "terrorist-wannabes" on the basis of "evidence that federal authorities did not believe amounted to a crime when it was gathered back before 2001." Cohen concludes: "it's further proof that if you can convince an American jury that a man in the dock had anything to do with al-Qaeda, you can pretty much bank on a conviction no matter how tenuous the evidence" (washingtonpost.com, August 16, 2007).
The training camp application form is as suspect as any evidence can be.
Moreover, the prosecution had no evidence that Padilla actually attended such a camp. Padilla was held illegally for 3.5 years and tortured. At any time during his illegal detention and torture, Padilla could have been handed a form, thus tainting it with his fingerprints.
Amy Goodman, the forensic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty, the Christian Science Monitor and others have described how US interrogators abused Padilla and destroyed his mind. To expect a person as badly tortured and abused as Padilla to retain the wits not to touch a piece of paper handed to him, or forced into his hands, is unreasonable.
When Padilla was arrested five years ago in 2002, the US government charged that he was about to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a US city that would kill tens or even hundreds of thousands of Americans. The story was a total lie, a fabrication designed to keep the fear level high after 9/11, in order to keep support for the Bush regime's wars and domestic police state. None of the charges on which Padilla was illegally held, during those years before the US Supreme Court intervened and ordered the Bush regime to release Padilla or bring him to trial, were part of the charges on which Padilla was tried.
There is little doubt that Padilla's conviction, and probably also the convictions of the two co-defendants, is a terrible injustice. But the damage done goes far beyond the damage to the defendants. What the red, white, and blue "Padilla Jury" has done is to overthrow the US Constitution and give us the rule of men.
The US Constitution and Anglo-American legal tradition prevent indictments, much less convictions, based on a prosecutor's theory that a person wanted to commit a crime in the past or might want to in the future. Padilla has harmed no one. There is no evidence that he made an agreement with any party to harm anyone whether for money or ideology or any reason. The FBI testified that the telephone calls were innocuous. The bin Laden video was evidence of nothing pertaining to the defendants. The piece of paper, alleged to be a personnel form recovered from an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan is nothing but a piece of paper and an assertion.
As Lawrence Stratton and I demonstrated in our book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions (2000), the protective features of law had been seriously eroded prior to the Bush regime's assault on civil liberty in the name of "the war on terror." The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights rest on Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Blackstone explained law as the protective principles against tyranny -- habeas corpus, due process, attorney-client privilege, no crime without intent, no retroactive law, no self-incrimination.
Jeremy Bentham claimed that these protective principles were outmoded in a democracy in which the people controlled the government and no longer had reasons to fear it. The problem with Blackstone's "Rights of Englishmen," Bentham said, is that these civil liberties needlessly limit the government's power and, thus, its ability to protect citizens from crime. Bentham wanted to preempt criminal acts by arresting those likely to commit crimes in advance, before the budding criminals entered into a life of crime. Bentham, like the Bush regime, the "Padilla Jury," and the Republican Federalist Society, did not understand that when law becomes a weapon, liberty dies regardless of the form of government. If they do understand, they prefer unaccountable government power to individual liberty.
The incompetent "Padilla Jury" has done Americans and their liberty far more damage than will ever be done by terrorists, other than those in our criminal justice [sic] system who now wield the powers that Bentham wanted to give them.
The Padilla case was the way the Bush Justice [sic] Department implemented its strategy for taking away the legal principles that protect American citizens. Padilla is an American citizen. He was denied habeas corpus and his rights to an attorney and due process. He was tortured in an attempt to coerce him into self-incrimination. In treating Padilla in these ways, the US Department of Justice [sic] violated both the US Constitution and federal law. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Justice [sic] Department committed far more crimes than did Padilla.
By the time the Supreme Court finally intervened, Padilla was universally known as the demonized "dirty bomber," an "enemy combatant" who was arrested before he could set off a radioactive bomb in a US city. The Injustice Department could now simultaneously convict Padilla and enshrine Benthamite law simply by appealing to fear and patriotism. And that is what happened.
Under Benthamite law, the individual has no rights. The new calculus is "the greatest good for the greatest number" as determined by the wielders of power. On the basis of this new law, not written by Congress but invented by the Injustice Department and made precedent by the "Padilla Jury" verdict, the US can lock up people based on the percentage of crime committed by their race, gender, income class, or ethnic group.
Under Benthamite law, people can be arrested and prosecuted for thought crimes. Under Benthamite law, it is the government that protects the people, not the Constitution and Bill of Rights that protect the individual. Benthamite law makes "advocacy speech," for example, a call for the overthrow of the US government, upheld in the 1969 Supreme Court decision, Brandenburg v. Ohio, a serious federal crime.
The "Padilla Jury" has opened Pandora's Box. Unless the conviction is overturned on appeal, American liberty died in the "Padilla Jury's" verdict.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice.
Padilla jury opens Pandora’s Box
By Paul Craig Roberts
Online Journal Guest Writer
Aug 21, 2007
Jose Padilla's conviction on terrorism charges on August 16 was a victory, not for justice, but for the US Justice [sic] Department's theory that a US citizen can be convicted, not because he committed a terrorist act but for allegedly harboring aspirations to commit such an act. By agreeing with the Justice [sic] Department's theory, the incompetent Padilla Jury delivered a deadly blow to the rule of law and opened Pandora's Box.
Anglo-American law is a human achievement 800 years in the making. Over centuries law was transformed from a weapon in the hands of government into a shield of the people from unaccountable power. The Padilla Jury's verdict turned law back into a weapon.
The jury, of course, had no idea of what was at stake. It was a patriotic jury that appeared in court with one row of jurors dressed in red, one in white, and one in blue (Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, August 17, 2007).
It was a jury primed to be psychologically and emotionally manipulated by federal prosecutors desperate for a conviction for which there was little, if any, supporting evidence. For the jury, patriotism required that they strike a blow for America against terrorism. No member of this jury was going to return home to accusations of letting off a person who has been portrayed as a terrorist in the US media for five years.
The "evidence" against Padilla consists of three items: (1) seven intercepted telephone conversations, (2) a 10-year old nonrelevant video of Osama bin Laden, and (3) an alleged application to a mujahideen (not terrorist) training camp with Padilla's fingerprints. We will examine each in turn.
The International Herald Tribune and Associated Press reported in detail on the telephone intercepts (June 19, 2007): "Accused al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was never overheard using purported code words for violent jihad in intercepted telephone conversations and spoke often about his difficulties in learning Arabic while studying in Egypt, the lead FBI case agent testified Tuesday. The questioning of FBI Agent James T. Kavanaugh by Padilla's attorney, Michael Caruso, focused on seven intercepted telephone calls on which Padilla's voice is heard mostly talking about his marriage and his studies but never about Islamic extremism. . . . Caruso asked Kavanaugh if Padilla ever was heard using what prosecutors say were code words for violent jihad . . . 'No, he does not,' Kavanaugh replied. . . . Caruso asked Kavanaugh if Padilla was ever overheard discussing jihad training. 'No jihad training that I've seen,' Kavanaugh said. . . . 'He's not referring to anything here but studying Arabic, correct? Study means study, right?' Caruso asked. 'That's what they're talking about,' Kavanaugh testified."
Despite the FBI's testimony that the intercepted telephone messages contained no incriminating evidence, the "patriotic" jury accepted the federal prosecutor's unsupported accusation that there were hidden code words in the message indicating that Padilla was a terrorist. After all, who but a terrorist would want to learn Arabic?
The video of bin Laden had no relevance whatsoever to the charges in the case. The video is 10 years old and makes no reference to any of the defendants. Moreover, none of the defendants were accused of ever being in contact with bin Laden. The only purpose of the video was to arouse in jurors fear, anger, and disturbing memories associated with September 11, 2001. The fact that the judge let prosecutors sway a fearful and vengeful patriotic jury with emotion and passion rather than evidence is obviously grounds for appeal.
Whoriskey reports that in their closing arguments prosecutors mentioned al-Qaeda more than 100 times and urged jurors to think of al-Qaeda and groups alleged to be affiliated with it as an international murder conspiracy. Padilla "trained to kill,' Assistant US Attorney Brian Frazier misinformed the jury in his closing statement.
Who Padilla wished to kill was never identified, but according to the prosecutors he had been wanting to kill persons unknown since 1998. Padilla was convicted for harboring alleged intentions, not for committing any acts. Indeed, no harmful acts are charged to Padilla. The incompetent jury fell for the prosecutors' wild tale of a murder conspiracy many years old that had no results.
As Andrew Cohen put it, Padilla and the two co-defendants were convicted on the charge of "terrorist-wannabes" on the basis of "evidence that federal authorities did not believe amounted to a crime when it was gathered back before 2001." Cohen concludes: "it's further proof that if you can convince an American jury that a man in the dock had anything to do with al-Qaeda, you can pretty much bank on a conviction no matter how tenuous the evidence" (washingtonpost.com, August 16, 2007).
The training camp application form is as suspect as any evidence can be.
Moreover, the prosecution had no evidence that Padilla actually attended such a camp. Padilla was held illegally for 3.5 years and tortured. At any time during his illegal detention and torture, Padilla could have been handed a form, thus tainting it with his fingerprints.
Amy Goodman, the forensic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty, the Christian Science Monitor and others have described how US interrogators abused Padilla and destroyed his mind. To expect a person as badly tortured and abused as Padilla to retain the wits not to touch a piece of paper handed to him, or forced into his hands, is unreasonable.
When Padilla was arrested five years ago in 2002, the US government charged that he was about to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a US city that would kill tens or even hundreds of thousands of Americans. The story was a total lie, a fabrication designed to keep the fear level high after 9/11, in order to keep support for the Bush regime's wars and domestic police state. None of the charges on which Padilla was illegally held, during those years before the US Supreme Court intervened and ordered the Bush regime to release Padilla or bring him to trial, were part of the charges on which Padilla was tried.
There is little doubt that Padilla's conviction, and probably also the convictions of the two co-defendants, is a terrible injustice. But the damage done goes far beyond the damage to the defendants. What the red, white, and blue "Padilla Jury" has done is to overthrow the US Constitution and give us the rule of men.
The US Constitution and Anglo-American legal tradition prevent indictments, much less convictions, based on a prosecutor's theory that a person wanted to commit a crime in the past or might want to in the future. Padilla has harmed no one. There is no evidence that he made an agreement with any party to harm anyone whether for money or ideology or any reason. The FBI testified that the telephone calls were innocuous. The bin Laden video was evidence of nothing pertaining to the defendants. The piece of paper, alleged to be a personnel form recovered from an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan is nothing but a piece of paper and an assertion.
As Lawrence Stratton and I demonstrated in our book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions (2000), the protective features of law had been seriously eroded prior to the Bush regime's assault on civil liberty in the name of "the war on terror." The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights rest on Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Blackstone explained law as the protective principles against tyranny -- habeas corpus, due process, attorney-client privilege, no crime without intent, no retroactive law, no self-incrimination.
Jeremy Bentham claimed that these protective principles were outmoded in a democracy in which the people controlled the government and no longer had reasons to fear it. The problem with Blackstone's "Rights of Englishmen," Bentham said, is that these civil liberties needlessly limit the government's power and, thus, its ability to protect citizens from crime. Bentham wanted to preempt criminal acts by arresting those likely to commit crimes in advance, before the budding criminals entered into a life of crime. Bentham, like the Bush regime, the "Padilla Jury," and the Republican Federalist Society, did not understand that when law becomes a weapon, liberty dies regardless of the form of government. If they do understand, they prefer unaccountable government power to individual liberty.
The incompetent "Padilla Jury" has done Americans and their liberty far more damage than will ever be done by terrorists, other than those in our criminal justice [sic] system who now wield the powers that Bentham wanted to give them.
The Padilla case was the way the Bush Justice [sic] Department implemented its strategy for taking away the legal principles that protect American citizens. Padilla is an American citizen. He was denied habeas corpus and his rights to an attorney and due process. He was tortured in an attempt to coerce him into self-incrimination. In treating Padilla in these ways, the US Department of Justice [sic] violated both the US Constitution and federal law. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Justice [sic] Department committed far more crimes than did Padilla.
By the time the Supreme Court finally intervened, Padilla was universally known as the demonized "dirty bomber," an "enemy combatant" who was arrested before he could set off a radioactive bomb in a US city. The Injustice Department could now simultaneously convict Padilla and enshrine Benthamite law simply by appealing to fear and patriotism. And that is what happened.
Under Benthamite law, the individual has no rights. The new calculus is "the greatest good for the greatest number" as determined by the wielders of power. On the basis of this new law, not written by Congress but invented by the Injustice Department and made precedent by the "Padilla Jury" verdict, the US can lock up people based on the percentage of crime committed by their race, gender, income class, or ethnic group.
Under Benthamite law, people can be arrested and prosecuted for thought crimes. Under Benthamite law, it is the government that protects the people, not the Constitution and Bill of Rights that protect the individual. Benthamite law makes "advocacy speech," for example, a call for the overthrow of the US government, upheld in the 1969 Supreme Court decision, Brandenburg v. Ohio, a serious federal crime.
The "Padilla Jury" has opened Pandora's Box. Unless the conviction is overturned on appeal, American liberty died in the "Padilla Jury's" verdict.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice.
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