Fear Of Seizure … Or Fear Of Failure

Sicko, Michael Moore's new film, is ostensibly about health care in America; it's not, any more than Moby Dick is about a fishing trip. Like Moore's other documentaries (Fahrenheit 9-11, Bowling for Columbine), Sicko's central theme is American democracy -- how it works, where it doesn't -- and the culture of capital. Caption and Image Credit: Cinematical

Fear Of Seizure … Or Fear Of Failure

After the surprising breakout success of Michael Moore’s “mockumentary” Fahrenheit 9/11 … you remember, the “Palme d'Or” awarded 2004 film at Cannes designed to derail a presidential election and paint all people who believe our freedom loving way of life was somehow being hijacked by (not Islamo-Fascist terrorists) George H. W. Bush and his administration … the film maker had a very steep hill to climb with the release of his follow-on effort entitled “SICKO”.

He entered the film in the Cannes Film Festival for 2007 in the hopes of repeating his political and cultural coup. The film was a bust – no award, not even an honorable mention.

As one reviewer wrote, “Moore then tells how he anonymously sent a check for the cost of the wife's treatment -- $12,000. It's a funny bit -- and, to anyone who can parse a sentence, not actually 'anonymous' at all, anymore.

It's that tone -- of selfless self-celebration, of public altruism, of snide sensitivity -- that undercuts a lot of Moore's work, and it undermines Sicko.” - James Rocci

So now SICKO is reported as being leaked to a video posting site ostensibly to protect the film from being confiscated by the Federal Government.

This excerpted from Zero Paid -

Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" leaked on BitTorrent
posted by soulxtc in bittorrent - 6-15-2007

Won't have to worry about copies getting seized by the Feds after all as his new controversial film makes its way around BitTorrent tracker sites everywhere.

A couple of days ago it was reported that Michael Moore had decided to stash a copy of his latest and greatest documentary "Sicko," an apparently scathing expose on the US healthcare system, in Canada just in case the Feds decided to confiscate it.

He feared such a seizure because of the fact that part of the documentary was filmed in Cuba without proper authorization from the US Treasury Department. Its illegal for US citizens to travel to Cuba because of a trade embargo in place since 1962.

Moore insists he hasn't broken any laws because he traveled to Cuba for a "journalistic endeavor."

"We brought back 15 minutes of the movie and we're concerned about any possible confiscation efforts," Moore told a news conference in New York.

"We took measures a few weeks ago to place a master copy of this film in Canada so if they did take our negative we would have a duplicate negative of this film in Canada."

Well, it would seem his concerns are no longer warranted because a DVDSCR of the film, the most magical download of them all (Oscar season anyone?), has appeared on BitTorrent tracker sites for all the world to see.

So now, even if the Treasury Dept does decide to seize his film, it looks like there will be plenty of copies to go around.

Moore's stance on file-sharing is that it's okay so as long people aren't profiting from it. He feels that the message behind his films are what's most important, and that he does well enough financially that he's more concerned with spreading ideas than he is with ensuring that everybody properly pays to hear them.
Reference Here>>

We at MAXINE believe this, SICKO was pre-released to the internet so that Michael Moore would have a scapegoat for the films commercial failure.

With all of Michael Moore’s liberal, socialistic views … he has proven himself a capitalistic egomaniac and will go to ANY length to promote his products and give himself wiggle-room. Especially when the appearent success of his current product does not match up to previous efforts.

SICKO may be the title of Moore’s latest effort but it is also describes a bent in the personality of Michael Moore himself --- A Counter-Culture-Capitalist!

This opinion and recommendation to Michael Moore from possible GOP Presidential nominee, Senator Fred Thompson -

UPDATE June 21, 2007:

Preview Screening Reviews are in:

B- (140 votes)
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=sicko.htm

Slightly above Average but below Good ... not Excellent.

Backdrop:

WILL PIRACY INFECT BOX OFFICE FOR SICKO?
Thursday, June 21 2007

Michael Moore’s Sicko had been downloaded about 4,000 times from peer-to-peer websites PirateBay and Mininova as of Wednesday, according to figures posted on the sites.

Clips from the film were also viewed over 1,000 times on YouTube and Google Video before they were yanked following protests by the Weinstein Company, which produced the health-care documentary. (Trailers and interviews with Moore remain.) Moore has said that the piracy appeared to be an “inside job,” given the fact that a perfect digital print was posted on the file-sharing sites.

CNET News writer Greg Sandoval commented Wednesday that he doubted that the online piracy will hurt the film at the box office. “First,” he wrote, “the controversy ... generated plenty of headlines for Sicko.

Nobody associated with the movie is going to be distressed about that. On the sites where the bootlegs appeared scores of comments were posted and that’s the kind of word-of-mouth promotion marketers love.”

“Castro said, under Political Prisoner Health Plan, I could easily lose 90 pounds in 90 days ... and that’s without surgery!” - Caption and Image Credit: Rocketman, Powerline Forum

UPDATE July 01, 2007:

SiCKO Is Ill At The Boxoffice

The results this weekend leave Michael Moore hoping to match “Bowling for Columbine” numbers as opposed to being able to heat up to “Fahrenheit 9/11”!

Excerpts from a FOX News report -

1. "Ratatouille," $47.2 million.

2. "Live Free or Die Hard," $33.15 million.

3. "Evan Almighty," $15.1 million.

4. "1408," $10.6 million.

5. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," $9 million.

6. "Knocked Up," $7.4 million.

7. "Ocean's Thirteen," $6.05 million.

8. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $5 million.

9. "Sicko," $4.5 million.

10. "Evening," $3.5 million.

"Sicko," Moore's dissection of the ills of U.S. health care, played in 441 theaters, about half the number for his last movie, 2004's $100 million hit "Fahrenheit 9/11." With a $23.9 million opening, "Fahrenheit 9/11" did five times as much business, though.

Still, "Sicko" had the second-best documentary debut ever behind "Fahrenheit 9/11." By comparison, "Ratatouille" opened in nearly 4,000 theaters, about nine times as many as "Sicko."

Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., said he wanted to roll "Sicko" out slowly to give it a longer shelf life and keep Moore's stand for universal health care on the front burner.

"The idea is to hold during the summer and just continue to build this thing," Weinstein said. "I just think the debate in this country is going to catch up with the movie, so we've got to keep it slow."

Weinstein and Moore said they hoped "Sicko" would do in the range of the $21.6 million total for the filmmaker's 2002 Academy Award winner "Bowling for Columbine."
(ht: FOX News)
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Regardless of the spin Harvey Weinstein is putting on the numbers, “SiCKO” NOT the success that Michael Moore was aiming for.

I guess it is just going to be less for Moore!

Hydroxymethylfurfural - A Substance For The Ages

Scientists have discovered the most effective method yet to convert glucose, found in plants worldwide and nature’s most abundant sugar, to HFM, a chemical that can be broken into components for products now made from petroleum. Image Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Hydroxymethylfurfural - A Substance For The Ages

Oil has become the root substance of our modern society. The compounds not only fuel our automobiles, they are the building blocks that form plastics and chemical compounds that make modern life easier.

Corn and other plant material, when distilled to make Ethanol, have been heralded as the replacement for gasoline for our cars but what if we were able to use plant material for more … much more.

Well, scientists at the The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland Washington is a US Department of Energy (DOE) government research laboratory, have released an article to the journal, Science, that describes just this breakthrough.

Scientists have discovered the most effective method yet to convert glucose, found in plants worldwide and nature's most abundant sugar, to Hydroxymethylfurfural - HMF, a chemical that can be broken into components for products now made from petroleum.

Excerpts from press release issued from The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) -

Scientists get plastic from trees
Submitted by Vidura Panditaratne - PNNL - Fri, 2007-06-15

The researchers at PNNL-based Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, or IIC, took a giant step closer to the biorefinery when they directly converted sugars ubiquitous in nature to an alternative source for those products that make oil so valuable, with very little of the residual impurities that have made the quest so daunting.

“What we have done that no one else has been able to do is convert glucose directly in high yields to a primary building block for fuel and polyesters,” said Z. Conrad Zhang [Chief Scientist - Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, Pacific Northwest National Lab], senior author who led the research.

That building block is called HMF, which stands for hydroxymethylfurfural. It is a chemical derived from carbohydrates such as glucose and fructose and is viewed as a promising surrogate for petroleum-based chemicals.

Glucose, in plant starch and cellulose, is nature’s most abundant sugar. “But getting a commercially viable yield of HMF from glucose has been very challenging,” Zhang said. “In addition to low yield until now, we always generate many different byproducts,” including levulinic acid, making product purification expensive and uncompetitive with petroleum-based chemicals.

Zhang, lead author and former post doc Haibo Zhao, and colleagues John Holladay and Heather Brown, all from PNNL, were able to coax HMF yields upward of 70 percent from glucose and nearly 90 percent from fructose while leaving only traces of acid impurities. To achieve this, they experimented with a novel non-acidic catalytic system containing metal chloride catalysts in a solvent capable of dissolving cellulose.

The solvent, called an ionic liquid, enabled the metal chlorides to convert the sugars to HMF. Ionic liquids provide an additional benefit: It is reusable, thus produces none of the wastewater in other methods that convert fructose to HMF.
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“This, in my view, is breakthrough science in the renewable energy arena,” said J.M. White, IIC director and Robert A. Welch chair in materials chemistry at the University of Texas. “This work opens the way for fundamental catalysis science in a novel solvent.”

The chemistry at work remains largely a mystery, Zhang said, but he suspects that metal chloride catalysts work during an atom-swapping phase that sugar molecules go through called mutarotation, in which an H (hydrogen) and OH (hydroxyl group) trade places.
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“The key is to take advantage of the open form to perform a hydride transfer through which glucose is converted to fructose.”

Zhang’s next step is to tinker with ionic solvents and metal halides combinations to see if he can increase HMF yield from glucose while reducing separation and purification cost.

“The opportunities are endless,” Zhang said, “and the chemistry is starting to get interesting.”
Read All>>

The Real Survivor Fiji – A Neighborly View

“My hand was forced,” says Commodore Bainimarama. “In November, when I was in New Zealand, three high commissioners and ambassadors went up to the [army] camp to convince my troops and senior officers to stop following my orders - they were inciting mutiny. If they were successful, we would be fighting one another in the camp. But my troops knew what action they must take. They warned me immediately.” - Interim Prime Minister of Fiji, Commander Frank Bainimarama. Image Credit: Dev Nadkarni

The Real Survivor Fiji – A Neighborly View

The United States, much like Fiji, has a lot of problems. Our nation states are suffering from a force of insurgency.

In the United States, the insurgency takes the form of twelve to twenty million people who are not here under a process of legal assimilation. This has the effect of hijacking the sense of fairplay and the dilution of the rule of law our country is known for. This problem also may result in our country becoming less safe from the threat of terrorism.

In Fiji, the insurgency takes a more sinister form in that the country has already lost its Government. The military hijacked any sense of fairplay and the rule of law through its “bloodless” coup when it ousted the freely elected democratic Government of the people. As for the threat of terrorism? ... the terrorists are already in charge!

In both cases, a minority illegally holds the culture and processes of the rule of law hostage to their selfish demands. The main difference here, however, the United States still has its Government (barely) whereas Fiji has lost any of its Governmental legitimacy through the demands of one headstrong military leader.

This view from the neighboring nation of New Zealand -

The Mapp Report: The Fijian Banana Republic
Friday, 15 June 2007, 5:04 pm - Press Release: New Zealand National Party

The coup in Fiji continues to cause problems, which is not surprising. Let's be clear; the current regime in Fiji is not a legitimate interim government, it is a military dictatorship.

And of course, they are acting just like military dictatorships always do. They rule by decree; they use fear and intimidation. The so called 'chats' with pesky journalists at the Queen Elizabeth barracks do not involve cups of tea and cucumber sandwiches; beatings and abuse are more the order of the day.

Military dictatorships hate hearing an opposing view to their own; that not everyone is actually keen on the end of democracy, freedom of speech and the ability to hold the government to account.

The New Zealand Parliament – on a fully bipartisan basis – is united on this issue. We want to see the end of Bainimarama's dictatorship, and the return to democracy. Because, as Winston Churchill said, "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.

Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." The Fijian dictatorship is certainly demonstrating the truth of that proposition.

They claim to have taken power to end corruption, rebuild the economy and protect the constitution. It really is a bizarre claim – the rule of the gun to protect constitutional government!

There does appear to be an element to all of this that we may be missing in New Zealand. The ostensible reasons for the coup simply do not stack up on any objective assessment. Normally when such coups take place, there is some desire on the part of the coup makers to ensure some level of normality is restored. But that is not happening in this case. People continue to be arrested and taken to Queen Elizabeth barracks.

The coup leaders seem quite enthusiastic to deliberately irritate the major countries in the region. They have been resistant to the efforts of fellow Pacific Island countries to defuse tension, and restore normality. There would seem to be other factors not readily apparent that are keeping tension at a high level.

But at some point Fiji will have to return to constitutional government, and this is clearly in our interests as well as Fiji's. New Zealand will always want a good relationship with Fiji, but it is not unconditional. The Fijian regime needs to understand New Zealand will not just look aside, irrespective of the actions of the coup leaders.

When they want something from New Zealand; be it aid, transit visas, support in the UN; then the rules of good governance are among the tests we should apply.

Right now Fiji is failing those tests. The Fijian interim government needs to start thinking about how to yet again re-establish itself within the Pacific family of nations.
Reference Here>>

On Flag Day … It’s United We Stand

On June 14, Americans celebrate the adoption of the first national flag. Also known as the "Stars and Stripes" or "Old Glory," the first American flag was approved by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. In 1818, after 5 more states joined the Union, Congress passed legislation fixing the number of stripes at 13 and requiring that the number of stars equal the number of states. Image Credit: FactMonster.Com

On Flag Day … It’s United We Stand

President Bush and those who are pushing to make legal the twelve to twenty million (depending on who is doing the estimating) squatters who continue to live openly flaunting our border, culture and our laws are doing something that even the threat of terrorist attack can't do.

Unite the country!

Here we are on Flag Day 2007, and the issue of “Amnesty” … giving people who have entered our country without proper procedure and continue to break our laws through false identity documentation … is beginning to galvanize those who love America because of its structure of fairplay and the rule of law.

When one listens to the leader of the Senate, Sen. Harry Reid, speak about the legislation being proposed (CSPAN News Conference with Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV on Immigration - 6/12/2007) and state that 80% of the Democrats and 14% of the Republicans support the bill one wants to grab him by the collar and say … well, 86% of the Republicans and 20% of the Democrats oppose it.

Come On!

At Maxine, all we see is that the American people are against the Kennedy/Kyl/Bush form of REFORM. Why can’t we just enforce the border, and apply the current laws on the books and open things back up to real documented citizens as if we all actually matter?

With an 86% plus 20% body count in the Senate, one would think Harry Reid and The Crowd could at least FUND the fence they approved last year, ostensibly to increase our border security and reduce illegal immigration.

After listening to Dennis Miller ... At MAXINE, we think we know why they won't!

Oooooh Boy, this will leave a mark ...
(ht: Pajamas Media)

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Groups unite against 'amnesty'
By Ralph Z. Hallow - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - June 14, 2007

The debate over President Bush's immigration bill and opposition to it as an "amnesty" proposal have invigorated otherwise dispirited conservative interest groups and forged an anti-Bush unity on the right not seen since the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.
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"The right generally has been invigorated by the debate and has pulled together in part because of the way the administration has attempted to demonize its conservative opposition," said David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU).

"So the conservatives who have concerns about the direction the administration wants to take the country on immigration but who disagree with each other have come together to defend each other," Mr. Keene said, making conservatives stay united "in a way they have not been since the Harriet Miers debacle."

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, reports a similar experience even though his group focuses on religious and values issues and has "not been directly involved in the immigration debate."

Nevertheless, he said, "it is obvious that this issue has struck a nerve among conservatives, and they are pushing back against what they perceive to be a wayward GOP as individuals and through organizations that are challenging the Republican Party."
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"Even people who have not given [donations] to us on the basis of immigration ask us about our position," said Paul M. Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank and lobby group that opposes amnesty for illegals.

"When we tell them our position, we get a bigger-than-expected contribution -- or at the very least, we get them to continue as a contributors," Mr. Weyrich said. "It's clear that if our position were different and we were in support of the president's bill, we would get no further contribution."
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Mr. Keene said that ACU members "are very much engaged on immigration. They aren't all singing the same tune, but they are enraged at what they see as a political establishment attempting to jam something down their throats without prior discussion or consultation. And there's nothing like that to get people's blood flowing."
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Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly said that while her group has not seen significant membership changes, its members overwhelmingly support her stance against the president and his political strategists on immigration.

"The conservative movement in general is very despondent about the Republican leadership and Bush, especially on immigration," she said.

"I have been writing about immigration since 9/11, my membership is strictly grass roots and mostly Republican, and about 98 percent are in agreement with what I'm writing in opposition to what Bush wants on immigration," Mrs. Schlafly said.

Organizers for GOPAC, a group founded by former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont to use donations and educational programs to elect Republicans at state and local levels, appears to be holding its own. Once led by Rep. Newt Gingrich before he became House speaker, GOPAC too has taken a stand against amnesty for illegals and against the Senate bill backed by Mr. Bush.

"We are having no trouble with fundraising," GOPAC Executive Director Paul D. Ellington said, although he did not provide a dollar figure. "In fact, we sent out a 'Secure the Borders Now!' bumper sticker and have received a good response."
Reference Here (subscription)>>

American Flag Jigsaw Puzzle - Unite Around The Flag!

Stick-Pin Tour & Travel Planning Made Easy

The Brooklyn Museum exhibition Graffiti looked at graffiti as a phenomenon of modern urban life. During the exhibition, June 30 - September 3, 2006, we invited the Brooklyn and Flickr communities to share their photographs of existing graffiti and/or murals around the borough of Brooklyn. This photograph of Brooklyn-area graffiti was submitted by a community member. Image Credit: Flickr

Stick-Pin Tour & Travel Planning Made Easy

People love to photograph their travels, especially in this digital age. Increasingly, people are posting their travel photos on photo posting portals like Flickr, SmugMug, & Everytrail … and, what is really cool, adding locater tags along with GPS data to the photos they upload.

What makes this really cool is that it is much easier to plan a tour in a particular travel destination tailored to ones specific interests. It’s easy - just type in a few tags into the Google, Flickr, SmugMug, and etc. search window and behold locations one can plot to create a tour of ones interest.

The planning and search process is pretty simple because the work is done through the meta-data travelers are eager to provide for being able to find and identify the photo they took to share with others they know … the extended benefit is everyone else’s gain.

Excerpts from The New York Times via CNET News.com -

Snapshots that do more than bore friends
How sharing your family vacation photos online can help others discover a place through your travels.
The New York Times - By Michelle Higgins - Published: June 9, 2007, 11:42 AM PDT

Few sentences in the English language are more dreaded than this seemingly innocent offer: "Oh, I must show you the pictures from my vacation." Who wants to see endless shots of a friend lounging by a pool or in front of a monument, or -- worse yet -- their kids doing the very same things?

But, of course, those very same shots can be extremely useful when researching your own trip. How big is that pool? What, exactly, does the room at that five-star hotel you're thinking of booking look like? What's the crowd like at the so-called hot restaurant? It's good to have documented evidence from someone who has been there.
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Through a technology called geotagging, users can add GPS data to their pictures, which can then be plotted on a digital map. This not only allows users to see exactly where a photo was taken, but, when uploaded to an Internet map, users can also quickly browse a trove of photos that were taken nearby, providing a kind of scattershot collage of a place.

For example, people planning a trip to Cancun can use Google Earth, a free mapping software, to zoom in on Cancun's crowded hotel zone and click on dozens of candid photographs, from the lounge chairs at the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach hotel and the pool at the Omni Hotel & Villas, to snapshots of less crowded beaches and the nearest mall.

Plotting photos on maps also allows trip planners to "see" the terrain before booking a trip. On Everytrail.com -- which lets users upload geocoded photos from their favorite hiking trails, biking routes and sailing trips -- visitors can check out sights along a specific driving route in Namibia, or examine trail conditions on a hilly bike route near Palo Alto, Calif.
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“Gowanus” - This photograph of Brooklyn-area graffiti was submitted by a community member. The Brooklyn Museum exhibition - Graffiti. Image Credit: Flickr

For example, fans of graffiti can search the word, "graffiti," and "New York City" at Flickr.com/map, and pull up photos of freshly painted tags, all plotted with pushpins on a clickable Yahoo map. A search for "Dumbo Brooklyn graffiti," for example, finds some 99 photos, including the infamous "Neck Face" tag, spray-painted on a brick warehouse at Jay and Front Streets in Brooklyn. Try finding that in a guidebook.

"Dumbo Brooklyn graffiti" – Photo of screenshot search for tourpoint locations. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (MAXINE)

Geotagging photos brings a whole new level of context to the image, said Andy Williams, general manager of SmugMug.com, a photo-sharing site. "After all," he said, "pictures are flat." But the real reason geotagging is getting so popular, he added, are the bragging rights involved. "We want people to know the cool places we've been," he said. "And this is a cool way to show off."
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The steps needed to geotag photos are admittedly somewhat geeky.
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To streamline the process, several camera makers have released models that are GPS-ready, with either a built-in device or a special accessory. But they tend to be geared toward professionals and are expensive.
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Once your photos are plotted geographically, others can discover a place through your travels.
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Web sites are increasingly embracing geotagging as a way to draw users. Last month, Google announced plans to acquire Panoramio.com, a photo-sharing site with more than two million images that allows users to integrate photos into Google Earth. And as photo-sharing continues to evolve, travel Web sites are recognizing how valuable images can be when users essentially act as free contributors and submit their own pictures.

Zoomandgo.com, a travel review site, recently redesigned its site around photos and videos submitted by travelers. A team of four people spent months "geocoding" thousands of hotels and attractions so that user photos can be displayed on digital maps. A new social-networking feature also allows users to create their own travel profiles, connect with like-minded travelers, and swap tips through photos.

"Facebook meets Frommers" is how Jonathan Haldane, the founder of Zoomandgo.com, described it. Before the social-networking feature went up, he said, users spent about eight minutes on the site, mostly reading or posting hotel reviews. Now, he said, users spend an average of 18 to 19 minutes, sending messages to each other and browsing through photos and videos.

But though travel sites are embracing the flood of user-generated photos, the quality can vary. A Flickr search for the W hotel in New York City, for example, turns up a mix of candid room photos and pictures of friends eating pizza
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Zoomandgo.com, which pays users a nominal fee for relevant photos, says it vets every submission.
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Panoramio, on the other hand, has a devoted online community that tends to self-edit, and post photos only of places rather than people.
Reference Here>>

Boiiiiiiiing! Five New Frog Species Found

A purple fluorescent frog, of the genus Atelopus and discovered during a follow-up survey of the Nassau plateau in mid 2006 by Surinamese scientists Paul Ouboter and Jan Mol, is seen in this undated handout photo. The frog is one of 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname, conservationists reported on June 4, 2007, warning that these creatures are threatened by illegal gold mining. Image Credit: REUTERS/Paul Ouboter/Handout

Boiiiiiiiing! Five New Frog Species Found

This Oblate Spheroid holds so many secrets left to uncover and expose to the rest of our consciousness.

Suriname, a country located on the northeast coast of South America, has become a most recent hotbed of new animal discoveries with this latest report from scientists who are combing the region, hoping to catalogue life in the hopes of saving it.

Suriname - Located on the northeast coast of South America, with Guyana to the west, French Guiana to the east, and Brazil to the south. It is about one-tenth larger than the State of Michigan. The principal rivers are the Corantijn on the Guyana border, the Marowijne in the east, and the Suriname, on which the capital city of Paramaribo is situated. Image Credit: infoplease

Excerpts from Reuters -

Purple frog among 24 new species found in Suriname
By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters Environment Correspondent - Mon Jun 4, 2007 5:01PM EDT

A purple fluorescent frog is one of 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname, conservationists reported on Monday, warning that these creatures are threatened by illegal gold mining.

The discovery of so many species outside the insect realm is extraordinary and points up the need to survey distant regions, said Leeanne Alonso of Conservation International, which led the expedition that found the new species.

"When you go to these places that are so unexplored and so remote, we do tend to find new species ... but most of them are insects," Alonso said by telephone from Suriname's capital, Paramaribo. "What's really exciting here is we found a lot of new species of frogs and fish as well."

The two-tone frog -- whose skin is covered with irregular fluorescent lavender loops on a background of aubergine -- was discovered in 2006 as part of a survey of Suriname's Nassau plateau, the conservation group said.

Scientists combing Suriname's Nassau plateau and Lely Mountains found four other new frog species aside from the purple one, six species of fish, 12 dung beetles and a new ant species, the organization said in a statement.

These creatures were discovered by 13 scientists who explored a region about 80 miles southeast of Paramaribo, including areas with enough clean fresh water sources to support abundant fish and amphibians.

A fish, of the genus Guyanancistrus and discovered by the 2005 RAP team, is seen in this undated handout photo. This species of dwarf catfish, likely to be unique to the eastern plateaus of Suriname, is called "big mouth" by its discoverers due to the unusually large size of its mouth. It is one of 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname, conservationists reported on June 4, 2007, warning that these creatures are threatened by illegal gold mining. Image Credit: REUTERS/Jan Mol/Handout

They also found 27 species native to the Guayana Shield region, which spreads over Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana and northern Brazil. One of these was the rare armored catfish, which conservationists feared was extinct because gold miners had contaminated a creek where it was last seen 50 years ago.

Including the new species, the scientists observed 467 species at the two sites, ranging from large cats like panthers and pumas, to monkeys, reptiles, bats and insects.
Reference Here>>

Sheehan: Don’t Cry For Me, America … Exit Stage Left

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007 where House Democrats were meeting. Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, says she's done being the public face of the movement. 'I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush,' Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday, May 29, 2007 while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California. Image Credit: AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke

Sheehan: Don’t Cry For Me, America … Exit Stage Left

Moonbat and grieving mom, Cindy Sheehan, leaves Texas to pursue a “normal” life back in California.

In an open letter posted at the Daily Kos (a politically liberal commentary website), Sheehan finally comes clean as to her love of the country she lives in and will not leave.

Honestly, it is one thing to want to work for the things one wants to change about the country one lives in, it is clearly another to profess to want to better the country without recognizing what the majority of the people really want. In this case, Americans really want to pursue their freely lead lives without interruption … and that includes keeping ones focus on American Idol as opposed to responding to what Cindy Sheehan thinks or does.

I guess it really is “Up To Us Now” ... to live our lives without having to hear how horrible we are, while wanting to KEEP our freedoms.

Excerpts from the Associated Press -

'It's up to you now': Sheehan quits
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer - 21 minutes ago

FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday she's done being the public face of the movement.

"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.

"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.

In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the "Daily Kos" blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

"It's up to you now."
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"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement," Sheehan wrote in the diary.

On Memorial Day, she came to some "heartbreaking conclusions," she wrote.

When she had first taken on Bush, Sheehan was a darling of the liberal left. "However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used," she wrote.

"I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of 'right or left', but 'right and wrong,'" the diary says.
----
Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."
----
"Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives," she wrote. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."

"I am going to take whatever I have left and go home," Sheehan wrote.

"Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?"
Reference Here>>

We at MAXINE, Cindy, feel that your "boy" did not fail the rest of us that love the freedoms this country affords all of us ... including you. Your son died protecting our country and our way of life ... try to be proud of that while you pursue a normal life back in California.

Indy 500 - A Slice Of The American Pie

Tux the penguin, the mascot of the Linux kernel – Image Credit: Tux 500, as drawn by Larry Ewing

Indy 500 - A Slice Of The American Pie

As we ramp up to what many believe is the greatest auto racing spectacle in the world today, here is a story that is a little slice of the “American Pie”.

One of the sponsors is a software operating system that really has no single corporate backing in that it is an Open-Source operating system code that runs on platforms that also run Microsoft Windows, known as Linux.

The driver is famous for being a substitute driver for many of the teams who race in American open-wheel racing series and was once a driver of note in the former CART Series before it split up into two different formulas – Indy Car and Champ Car.

This week it is all about Indy Car for both Linux and Robert Moreno, a Brazilian who recently applied for US citizenship.

Image Credit: TUX 500 website

This from the TUX 500 website -

The TUX 500:
A Community Linux Powered Marketing Program
Linux® is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Marketing Linux® has always been a tricky proposition. As a community, we have relied on corporations who have a stake in the Linux operating system to market Linux to the world at large. Today, we have an opportunity to change that, and make Linux marketing as much a community effort as Linux development. That effort begins with the Tux 500 project.

Our goal is simple: we want to collect community donations to enter a Linux sponsored car in the 2007 Indianapolis 500. We need your help! If less than 1% of the Linux community donates $1, this will happen... will you do your part?
Reference Here>>

WE are Linux! - TUX 500 promotional video posted on YouTube

So far, only about $16,000 of the $350,000 goal has been donated for the advertising enterprise effort.

Item #2 from Tux 500 website -

It's Official! We're in the Indy 500!
Sunday, May 20 2007 @ 06:16 PM MDT - Contributed by: Bob Moore - Views: 2,757

I just got back from the track... and what a day for Chastain Motorsports... what a day for Roberto Moreno... what a day for the Linux community!

For those of you who missed it, with less than 1 hour remaining in qualifications for the 91st Indianapolis 500, team owner Tom Chastain made a bold decision. Rather than take a chance on being bumped late in the day, he pulled their already qualified car to see if they could qualify with a higher speed. The idea being that they would put more pressure on the unqualified teams.

Roberto Moreno took the track, and put together the best 4 lap average since the day began... 220.299 mph! This put the car safely in the field, and sits us on the inside of row 11 for the race next weekend!

Roberto Moreno talks with reporters after qualifying run. - Image Credit: Bob Moore

Roberto was in tears as he was interviewed by television crews, newspaper reporters, and snapped by countless photographers. The crew members hugged each other... Tom Chastain gave his wife Carol a kiss. It was a very emotional moment.

As for the Linux community, tonight we can, and should feel a great sense of accomplishment for what we've done! But we're not done yet... tomorrow, we need to start working to reward this racing team which has put us in the middle of a great story... and has rewarded us with some wonderful moments this weekend! And remember that we still have time to make the Linux presence on the car even bigger!

p.s. For those who watched on TV, did we get good screen time like we did for Saturday's qualifications? I haven't been able to check my MythTV yet.

Update
For helios' take on it, check out blog.lobby4linux.com

Also, there were two qualification shows on ESPN2 yesterday, an early one and a late one. I only got a recording of the early one. If anyone has a recording of the late broadcast, which had our qualifying run in it, I'd greatly appreciate a copy!
Reference Here>>

This from the Auto Racing Daily -

91st Indianapolis 500 Bump Day Post-qualifying Quotes - Roberto Moreno
May 21, 2007 - Roberto Moreno (#77 Chastain Motorsports Panoz/Honda/Firestone):

About Bobby More decal on side of car:

“Well, I’ve turned in an application for my (American) citizenship. On the form, it says there, you can choose a different name if you want to. So I went with Bobby More. I just need to get the accent right. I have not figured that one out yet. ”


What did you go through to get up to speed? :

“Basically yesterday, I asked to change the car. We were going in direction quite good. Then we changed the car and got a bit lost. Then people started to get in line (for qualifying). We didn’t have time to trim and fix the car. So we decided to try and qualify with the car as it was. Just in case it decided to rain (Sunday). What if it were to rain tomorrow? The car was really difficult to drive yesterday. We had lots of wing, and it was still difficult to drive. Today, we went back to what we had initially yesterday. We worked on that. My engineer did a great job. He focused really when we needed and he was right on. The car was good today. I was doing 217.1 with race downforce. Then they said it is time to “trim. ” I was a little unsure. But as soon as we trimmed, the car felt good. We trimmed one more step. Then they said lets trim two more steps. I said, ‘No, no. ’ We are quick enough. We had just gone over 219.6, which was good. So we went ahead and trimmed one more step. The car wasn’t really good, so I said to the guys lets go back one step on the trim and go into line (qualify). We did two more laps before qualifying at 220. I said, ‘That is good enough; let’s get in line and qualify. ’ I’m so glad that I got this opportunity. Stephan (Gregoire) is doing well. He will be back racing again. Thank you to the Chastain family gave me this opportunity. It’s an honor. One day, you are nobody sitting at home. Some people think I am too old and I don’t have any more left. But do not forget my spirit. It is so young, my strong desire to succeed. I am 48 years old, and today I feel great. I did it. We got in. I love this place. ”
Reference Here>>

Now even techno-geeks have something to root for in America's greatest automobile race.

UPDATE 5-27-2007:

Lap 37: Yellow for contact in T1 by #77 Roberto Moreno.
2007-05-27 13:42:45

Lap 38: He got too high coming out of the turn.
2007-05-27 13:43:01

Lap 38: Moreno is out of the car and into safety vehicle.
2007-05-27 13:43:24

A live update report from the track indicates that Roberto Moreno is complaining of back pain and will be transported to the hospital.

TUX hits the wall on lap 37 - Image Credit: IndyCar.com

The Real Survivor Fiji – Tale Of Three Reports

Fiji’s Minister for Tourism, Labour and Environment: Mrs Bernadette Rounds Ganilau – Image Credit: e-Travel Blackboard

The Real Survivor Fiji – Tale Of Three Reports

The internet is a fascinating resource, one can receive news alerts from all over the world … or just one country and learn about how things are getting along.

For example, at the end of this week, at MAXINE, we had these three news items contained in one news alert for the island nation of Fiji.

This excerpted from e-Travel Blackboard -

Tourism is the way forward for Fiji,
says Fiji’s Minister for Tourism, Labour and Environment.
e-Travel Blackboard - Friday, May 18, 2007

At this week’s Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange (BFTE), Fiji’s Minister for Labour, Tourism and Environment, Mrs Bernadette Rounds Ganilau spoke with e-Travel Blackboard regarding her predictions for the future of Fiji’s tourism.

Although tourism has suffered greatly from the military coup late last year, Minister Ganilau feels that this downturn is already showing signs of recovery. “[Industry stakeholders] are moving even though the movement is not reciprocating from overseas,” she says, “Although I think that numbers are still healthy despite all the travel advisories and media reports overseas.”

In terms of tourism strategies for the short and long term, Minister Ganilau says, “We are trying to move to a clearer, far reaching tomorrow with the forward looking strategies we are putting in place.” This includes the consolidation of a new tourism development plan as well conducting legislative reform to better suit the needs of Fiji’s tourism industry.
----
“Tourism is it for Fiji,” says Minister Ganilau, “Tourism the way forward for Fiji. Tourism was opening doors for us when all the doors were shut. When all the doors were closed to us, tourism was leading the way. [At the same time], industry stakeholders are suffering financially, emotionally, and physically in the hopes that one person or a group of people will walk through.”
----
“We can’t do anything about the budget. We inherited a lemon. So we had to start from somewhere and that included cutting everywhere, tightening belts and being very economical about everything we do,” says Minister Ganilau. This included a 40 precent pay cut by all personnel and administrators.

“I am constantly building bridges and starting new alliances to broaden connections and benefit tourism as well. I definitely think that the cabinet have great faith in tourism,” Minister Ganilau adds.

Mr. Tony Whitton, a representative from the Tourism Action Group (which was re-activated following the coup to help with Fiji’s recovery) said, “Despite all the murmurings in the rest of the world, Fiji remains a safe, hospitable and a resort and holiday experience... It’s important for the industry to come together as one voice and one team to establish the brand Fiji.”

“The resilience of the tourism industry will pay off. Business will be as usual,” admits Minister Ganilau. “When the turnaround is slow, I have a feeling it will be permanent. When it is quick, it is like an onslaught as a result of marketing. I have hope."
Reference Here>>

We really love the quote – “We can’t do anything about the budget. We inherited a lemon.“ – wouldn’t that be … “We stole the lemons and now we are having trouble making lemonade”????

… And this from the Military front -

Does anyone else besides Frank Bainimarama and the military he controls think it is a grand idea to hold a nation hostage to the detriment of the commerce and freedoms of the peoples of the nation - Fiji? - Image Credit: CYBER DIVER News Network

Fiji military closes blogs critical of government and army
The Associated Press - Published: May 18, 2007

SUVA, Fiji: Fiji's military has blocked access to several Web sites that contained damaging allegations against the army and members of the interim government, a senior officer said Friday.

Fiji Land Force Commander Col. Pita Driti said access was cut Thursday to the Web journals, or blogs, which he said were full of lies and a threat to national security.
----
Driti said three blogs, "resistfrankscoup," "intelligensiya" and "fijishamelist" all contained "lies and agitation."

"They are all fighting for one cause and saying the same thing," said Driti. "All we are trying to say is the blog sites are full of lies and deception."

The three sites advocated passive resistance against the military-backed government, including urging Fijians not to go to work.

They also regularly posted critical comments of the government and military, including Bainimarama, and slammed the administration's ongoing crackdown on corruption as a "farce" as it failed to result in any arrests.

FINTEL, the company that governs Fiji's Internet access, confirmed the Home Affairs Ministry had approached it to shut off access to the blogs, said Chief Executive Sakaraia Tuilakepa.
----
Driti said the military would continue to hunt down bloggers critical of the government, noting emergency regulations remain in place in the wake of the coup, and "people should realize that certain freedoms are restricted, including freedom of speech."

"When we get to these bloggers we will take them up to the barracks and warn them of the dangers of what they are doing. They will just be warned and advised," he said.

Since the coup there have been hundreds of reported cases of people being detained, threatened, intimidated and in some cases beaten. Most such reports have been denied by military chiefs.
Read All>>

The top quote being - "people should realize that certain freedoms are restricted, including freedom of speech." – this should not set well with the citizens of a formally free and democratic nation.

The websites advocated passive resistance against the military-backed government, including urging Fijians not to go to work … this may not be a real problem in that there is little work to be had because the world does not want to visit a JAIL run by the military.

A jail is a jail even though it may be located in a cultural island paradise!

Of course, there is always “The Fire Sale” … this excerpted from the CYBER DIVER News Network (a report from Fiji Daily Post) -

Desperate Fiji resorts cut rates in half
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network

SUVA, Fiji (17 May 2007) -- Hotels and resorts in Fiji have now resorted to discounts of up to 50 percent to try to lure tourists to Fiji.

Tourism Action Group Chair Damend Goundar said, "They are now unable to come up with any new strategies because the hotels and resorts have done all they can."

Goundar said the main factor, keeping tourists from coming to Fiji was the continued extension of the Public Safety Regulation.

He said the Fiji Visitors Bureau should be given additional funding to better market Fiji in overseas markets.

The Tourism Action Group (TAG) was set up to revive the flagging fortunes of the tourism industry after the December 5 coup.

It has had the benefit of donations from stakeholders in the industry and the Interim Government.

TAG was instrumental in reviving the industry after the 2000 crisis but there are indications that the after-effects of the 2006 coup on the industry would be far more devastating.

An industry insider pointed to the large number of workers in the industry left jobless after last year's military coup.
Reference Here>>

Jobless due to the coup … NOT THE INTERNET, Commodore Frank!

Does anyone else besides Frank Bainimarama and the military he controls think it is a grand idea to hold a nation hostage to the detriment of the commerce and freedoms of the peoples of the nation - FIJI?

Again, no one wants to visit a JAIL!

Of Amnesty Burgers And Beltway Fools

Image Credit: Michelle Malkin

Of Amnesty Burgers And Beltway Fools

The people we elect to run our Government and protect us ... Do Not Care!

This from Michelle Malkin (with edits from MAXINE)-

The J. Wellington Wimpy immigration plan:
Amnesty now, enforcement later
By Michelle Malkin - May 18, 2007 - 01:10 PM

It was true in 1986. It's as true as ever in 2007. Wimpy will get his amnesty burgers and the Beltway fools who keep deluding themselves about the false promise of immigration enforcement will be left empty-handed. Again.

Amnesty is the hamburger. Enforcement is the payment that will never come. I've reported this reality over and over and over and over and over again. All the leaked memos and graphs and analysis in the world, however, cannot sum up the deportation/enforcement/border security sham--and the mess at DHS--more clearly than the reality expressed by an illegal alien quoted by the Associated Press today:

"If I get deported and need to cross the border again, that's not a problem," he said.

Republicans in Washington who are embracing the Bush-Kennedy amnesty will tell you the package is tough on enforcement because the millions of illegal aliens who are here now will be deported later if they fail to meet the requirements of their so-called "Z visas."

Here is how the clueless Republican National Committee is selling it:

No Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants: Illegal immigrants who come out of the shadows will be given probationary status. Once the border security and enforcement benchmarks are met, they must pass a background check, remain employed, maintain a clean criminal record, pay a $1,000 fine, and receive a counterfeit-proof biometric card to apply for a work visa or "Z visa." Some years later, these Z visa holders will be eligible to apply for a green card, but only after paying an additional $4,000 fine; completing accelerated English requirements; getting in line while the current backlog clears; returning to their home country to file their green card application; and demonstrating merit under the merit-based system.

Those who refuse to return home, comply with the visa provisions, or who remain here illegally and don't apply, supposedly would be deported ... Later.

Department of Homeland Security chief and Ted Kennedy cheerleader Michael Chertoff regurgitated the same talking points at a press conference earlier today. Open-borders Republicans in the Senate are committing them to memory pronto.

Image Credit: Michelle Malkin

Does this empty promise of the amnesty/deportation trade-off sound familiar?

Why, yes, yes it does.

Let me boil it down to fundamentals: Bush-Kennedy amnesty is the J. Wellington Wimpy plan:

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
Reference Here>>

The Real Survivor Fiji - Frank Hates People's Opinions

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces - Image Credit: Wikipedia

The Real Survivor Fiji - Frank Hates People's Opinions

In a move that can only mean the worst has yet to come, the self-appointed (he would never have been elected - not bright enough) leader of the nation of freedom loving island peoples, Fiji, is attempting to shut down the ... get this ... The Internet!

Of course, this act is beyond hubris. It reminds me of the boast that Al Gore made during the run up to America's 2000 presidential elections (to paraphrase) "I invented the Internet!"

What does Commodore Frank Bainimarama plan to say ... "I killed the Internet!"???

To which the collective response should be ... "Was that before or after you killed the country and peoples you forcibly took rule over?"

Frank hates people's opinions so that is why we at MAXINE do not really care for Frank.

This from All Headline News -

Fiji Military Moves To Close Down Blogging Sites
Richard Bowden - AHN Staff Writer - May 11, 2007 7:01 p.m. EST

Suva, Fiji (AHN) - The Fijian ruling military junta has moved to close down blog sites critical of the regime after unsuccessful attempts to find those responsible for the sites.

Senior military commander Colonel Pita Driti told Pacific Radio Friday that access to the sites would be closed yesterday.

A spokesman for Fiji's only internet provider FINTEL confirmed they had been asked to shut down the web sites by the Government "for security purposes."

"They asked us to address a few things. We have given them some options to consider, because we can't just go into the web and stop access. It would be unfair to the general public," the spokesman said.

He said if the military directed them to block the offending web sites the provider would have no choice but to agree.

"If the directive is to block, then we have no other option but to comply. ... we are seeking authorization on that from our administration," he said.

Three blog sites which have published stories which have embarrassed the military Government since their coup in December 2006 are Intelligentsiya, Resist Frank's Coup and Discombobulated Bubu.
Reference Here>>

Hey Frank! ... BLOCK THIS!

Security reasons ... who's security, Frank?

And Frank thinks to himself, "This is all such an embarrassment."

Hey Frank, GET OVER IT!

To the folks over at Intelligentsiya, Resist Frank's Coup, and Discombobulated Bubu - If you all get shut down, write to MAXINE and we will publish what you have to say. Frank can't shut us down here in the sunny Southland of the good ol' USA!

UPDATE May 17, 2007:

Fijian free speech websites have been inactive for approximately one week. Maybe the writers have "gone to ground" or is Frank and his weak kneed military followers slamming the free speech door shut?

This from Fijilive.com -

Anti-military blogsites become inactive
Thursday May 17, 2007

All activity on the controversial "resistfrankscoup" blogsite has stopped with the last entry now glaringly standing at May 9.

Last week, the Fiji Military Forces had said it was talking with Fiji International Telecommunications Ltd (FINTEL) to stop blog spots on the Internet which it claimed were a threat to national security.

But FINTEL spokesperson Iowane Koroivuki says they haven't done anything to the blogsite.

"If somebody has done something, then it is not us. It has got nothing to do with FINTEL," he said.

"If we had done something we would have told the truth anyway."

The army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama told Fijilive.com that he has informed his people not to waste their time on blogs.

"The blog will take you back its not going to do any good for us.

"It's meant to depress us, it's meant to tell people anti-military stories. It's all lies and there is no use reading it," said Bainimarama.

Another blog site "Intelligentsia" shows no activity either.

Last week, Land Force Commander, Colonel Pita Driti had said they were trying to close all anti military sites namely, Intelligentsia.com, Resistfrankscoup and Fijishamelist.

He claimed the blog spots have continued to annoy the public with their lies and racists comments and they must be stopped.

"We are doing everything we can to put an end to these deceitful rumors by people behind this blogs because they are creating more problems for us and the country," he had said.

"How can we move forward when we have people like this destroying the peace and citizens of this country would be stupid to read their site and fall into their trap?"
Reference Here>>

WHAT TRAP??

You, Frank, have taken upon yourself to DEPRESS the future of your whole country by force and you think, through your EGO colored glasses, ALL decisions and opinions that are made by you are the ONLY opinions that are valid.

Very sad, this!

We, at MAXINE, say - Frank is the problem and as his name suggests --- Frank IS the BAIN of the Fijian people!