"Once upon a time, in 20th century America, there lived a lion who refused to be violent. Those who cared for her tried to train her to behave in a way they thought was dictated by nature but she refused. Instead, she taught her keepers that man's idea of what constitutes "natural" animal behavior, is not necessarily what God created the animals to be.

The Prophet Isaiah told of a millennial world in which the 'lion would lay down with the lamb.' For most people this is a promise so improbable it seems as if the very nature of animals must undergo a drastic change before that prophecy can be fulfilled. It seems they must metamorphose into different creatures; that although their outward appearance may remain the same, their inner structure must somehow be altered. Because, ultimately, we believe that biology is destiny. But the story of Little Tyke, a lioness who lived at Hidden Valley Ranch in California, gives evidence to the contrary..."


Read Little Tyke's story

The interesting thing about this art, aside from the beauty of it, is that it was made by a female Art Deco artist who was born in Poland in 1898 and lived the kind of life movies are made about. I am including a link to her biography below the painting link.



By Tamara de Lempicka

• Wikipedia biography

National Security Agency headquarters, Fort George Meade, Maryland, 2007 (photo from collection of Matthew Aid)

'In response to a declassification request by the National Security Archive, the secretive National Security Agency has declassified large portions of a four-part “top-secret Umbra” study, American Cryptology during the Cold War. Despite major redactions, this history discloses much new information about the agency’s history and the role of SIGINT and communications intelligence (COMINT) during the Cold War. Researched and written by NSA historian Thomas Johnson, the three parts released so far provide a frank assessment of the history of the Agency and its forerunners, warts-and-all.'


>>Read the documents


There is some more background information plus on the page plus the .pdf links to the documents down at the bottom. [Original link from cryptome.org]

:(

**Cleared of murder. Can you believe it? Even when they are all asking each other HOW something like this could happen, they dun even convict for murder. It would seem that there is no end to the evil and injustice in this world.

Two men found guilty of causing Baby P's death

Men and mother cleared of murder but jury finds they caused or allowed death of 17-month-old boy in case that echoes Victoria Climbié affair

Haroon Siddique and Sam Jones
Guardian
Tuesday November 11 2008

Two men have been found guilty at the Old Bailey of causing or allowing the death of a 17-month old baby in a case which highlighted one of the most severe child protection failures since the murder of Victoria Climbié.

The abuse of the child, known as Baby P, was said to have taken place over eight months, during which time the boy was on the child protection register of Haringey – the same local authority that was found to have failed seriously in its duty of care to Victoria, who died eight years ago.

This is Baby P. At his death, his injuries made him unrecognisable.

The 27-year-old mother of the boy pleaded guilty to causing or allowing his death at the beginning of the trial in September.

One of the men was the 32-year-old boyfriend of the baby's mother. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was cleared of murder. The other man was Jason Owen, 37, who lodged in the same house.

Both men have been remanded in custody to be sentenced on December 15.

Last week, on the orders of the judge, Stephen Kramer QC, the jury found the mother and Owen not guilty of murdering the baby on August 3 last year.

The 17-month-old died after months of being used "as a punchbag" and then having his back and ribs broken, the court heard.

He was seen 60 times by health or social workers during that period, around twice a week. However, close to his death he became unrecognisable, had more than 50 injuries or bruises, and an attempt had been made to cover up the crime.

A postmortem examination revealed the boy had a broken back, eight fractured ribs, missing fingernails and toenails, multiple bruises and an injury to the inside of his mouth. He had also swallowed one of his own teeth. The court heard that his back had been broken by slamming him down over a bent knee or a bannister, which would have left him paralysed.

It is claimed he was taken to hospital three times in the months before his death after being repeatedly beaten and abused. The child was last seen by social services on July 30 – when his mother and her boyfriend had smeared him with chocolate to cover up his injuries, according to Owen - and by a paediatrician two days before his death. ( >>Continue reading )

Hashi made a script thingie last night to help him with his class work. He is amazing! ;)