Mike's Blog Round Up
First, to paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi: You're either with us or you're with the torturers. I thought God was clear on this "torture debate," folks. Apparently not. Fresh news cycles of "Is Waterboarding Torture?" are upon us. Brad Jacobson of MediaBloodhound here - and if this disturbing debate makes you madder than a neocon spotting a baby's smile, pull up a chair:
No money in the cure...or the prevention: "The Checklist" saves lives but Big Pharma can't profit from it. (If you're unfamiliar with Collateral News, this and this are two more examples of its exceptional reporting - it's what 60 Minutes should be.)
"Three Against a Thousand": The arrested development roots of neocon foreign policy.
Maybe they hate us for more than our freedoms.
Dana Perino as Bud Abbott. The White House press corps as Lou Costello. In the modern-day retelling of "Who's on First?"
Tom Engelhardt interviews Jonathan Schell.
The animated story of Mormonism that's received over half a million hits on YouTube. It reminds me of this less creepy, satirical take. (Disclaimer: I'm no scholar on Mormonism, yet I'm fairly sure it's not the only religion that incorporates myth and metaphor and demands blind faith.)
Honoring the memory of James Baldwin: "I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." A courageous, brilliant, gentle soul.
The End. For today. Send those post suggestions to mediabloodhound (at) yahoo (dot) com.
Jesus shoulda waterboarded the Roman centurians.
Why is this man still talking?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUOC7B383e8&feature=related
Please Say Hello to this Fine Fellow:
http://whoarethepeopleinyourneighborhood.blogspot.com/
Finally, another person with an overhead projecter who knows how to use it.
This morning, for some obscure reason, Bush asked Perino to research the War of 1812, to find out the year it started, Dana said she'd get right on it. He wants to mention it in a speech tomorrow.
I wonder if she'll have it researched by then?
Well folks. We just saw the wholesale pricing index jump in a way that hasn't been seen since 1973. Remember the recession of the late 70s early 80s? Remember the inflation that was so high it was stopping economic growth? Well if you are not old enough to remember you might want to read up on it. Because we are heading into another one very much like it. Just as the bill for vietnam came due and all the deviant republicans blamed it on Jimmy Carter, we will see them yet another time blame their own failures on the other party. The next president is going to have to deal with the bill from the Iraq war that is actually coming due more quickly than the bill came for vietnam. This should be named from the start as the "Bush Recession". When Bush came into office they tryed to spin the economic slowdown that came from the doubting consumer base more because Bush was selected and not elected as a cyclical happenning that had allready started before the Nov 2000 election. Not to mention the turmoil that the crooks and Bush cronies caused over at Enron. This recession cannot be spun anyway other than what it is. The Bush Recession.
"god was clear"
what bs is this?
God clearly expects us to enslave and torture others.
Off Topic - Sounds like Bush will get his way on war funding again. He will also get his way on the energy bill. Why the fuck did any of us vote for any dems in the last election? WE are the god damned fools here....
YOUR CENSORSHIP SUX!
Site Monitor: Back the horse up, Cowboy. You got caught in our spam filter. There's no censorship involved. I've cleared it out and your comment is up now. Next time, instead of assuming the worst, why don't you drop a friendly line to us at the Site Team address to ask us to check the spam filter?
debaser71 @ 6:
God uses Oxy-10 instead of oxycontin
So we are covering eight topics at once.
It's no wonder this country is so fu*cked up.
debaser71 @ 6:
Click on the provided link and yea shall receive the answer...
I remember the first time I heard that word, “content.”
You won't see the msm covering this.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Teenagers flipping burgers, stocking shelves or studying for finals don't think about their retirement. The government does, however, and the prognosis isn't good.
More than one out of every three American workers born in 1990 will have zero dollars in a 401(k)-style plan at retirement, a government report said Tuesday, an ominous sign considering many businesses are dumping pension plans.
Later
Paraphrasing is one thing but i think you meant to paraphrase Bush or butcher Ghandi. If i am not mistaken, Ghandi never even suggested that there was more than one side.
I like the Larry King and god interview. Very creative and funny too.
steambomb @ 5:
Not there yet, Steambomb. Keep your fingers crossed though.
Before you completely soak your Depends, you might want to be somewhat fair about an aberrant PPI number and mention the strong Retail Sales number today, up 1.2% for November, twice as much as forecast and the biggest since May. Ex-autos, up 1.8%, the most since January '06. Just one number and just one month, but it has eased a lot of the fears of recession. In fact, many today are saying gowth hasn't slowed enough to stave off inflation.
Like politics, there's always two sides to the story, but it's not a Bush Recession yet. Way too early for you to be popping the champagne corks already that it is one.
Debate really solves nothing.
It's like saying, "Mr. Bush could we debate with you about your torture policy?"
Hopeless
The "satirical link" about Mormons, takes me to a page with a whole bunch of videos, which one are we supposed to watch?
L.A. Confidential @ 19:
You are confussing real debate with media directed Presidential debates perhaps?
L.A. Confidential @ 19:
Why do you need to debate him, LAC? Why not start with the Dem Congress who Nifonged you into believing they'd stop this sort of stuff?
Pass this on because the more people that see this, the more people will take action and contact the newspaper:
Please send this video to everyone you can. Post it on your blog, email it. see video: Kucinich is excluded from the Democratic Debate because his Iowa Field Director and State Coordinator, Marcos Rubinstein, works from home!?! SEE LINK TO CONTACT THE NEWSPAPER.
send the link to the video to others, tell them to follow the link in the video description and contact the newspaper and others:
LINK to page about what the Des Moines Register is doing to Kucinich
Dennis @ 18:
Dennis @ 18:
You got to me kidding me. It's no wonder the Top 1% are laughing all the way to the Chalet while the Fed lackeys keep injecting life support transfusions into the market to bail out the banks.
Never mind
Now after watching some of the animated story of Mormonism, I know where the idea of Jesus and Satan being brothers originated. That vid was too weird to keep watching. I couldn't
Dennis @ 22:
I'm not going to start with you because when you start arguing with an Idiot people won't be able to tell the difference.
pissed off patricia @ 25:
Not Satan; Lucifer. Satan became the Great Claus. :)
pissed off patricia @ 20:
Actually, just scroll up once you get there; it's at the top right of page. I accidentally have the link to the comments in there (will try to get that corrected).
pissed off patricia @ 17:
And thanks...
The only thing that irritated me about the Collateral News piece is that everyone is always so politically correct and say that doctors and health care workers need to accept checklsits and change. It's doctors who need to change. Nurses have had checklists, SOP's and standard pathways for years. Stop saying health care workers. It doctors who oppose any restrictions being put on them.
pissed off patricia @ 25:
It is creepy, but don't miss the second vid link.
Some folks might consider this spam, but here goes:
Please contact the Des Moines Register today to voice your displeasure with them uninviting Kucinich to the final Iowa debate on a craptastic technicality:
The Des Moines Register's top officials, including Editor Carolyn Washburn (515) 284-8502.
Laura Hollingsworth President and Publisher (515) 284-8041
Randy Brubaker Managing Editor (515) 284-8590
Randy Evans Assistant Managing Editor (515) 284-8118
The Des Moines Register letters to the editor e-mail: letters@dmreg.com
Telephone switchboard
Local: (515) 284-8000
Iowa: (800) 532-1455
Outside Iowa: (800) 247-5346
If I upset you C&L folks with this..I do apologize, but folks should stand up for Kucinich on principle, even if they aren't prepared to vote for him.
but it’s not a Bush Recession yet.
December 13, 2007
A day after the Federal Reserve disappointed investors with a modest cut in interest rates, central banks in North America and Europe on Wednesday announced the most aggressive infusion of capital into the banking system since the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
Most market specialists and economists welcomed the effort but concluded that it would probably have only limited success in addressing broader problems in the global economy and the credit markets.
I think spam is unwanted advertising sent out in thousands of emails.
What you have posted is what we here in America call actively participating in the democratic process.
James Baldwin was one of the most thoughtful, passionate, intelligent, articulate voices to speak out, not only regarding race relations, but also against the Vietnam War, being one of the first Americans to do this as early as 1963. This country is sorely in need today of another voice such as James Baldwin, who can point out the evils that beset America that are just as evident today, if not more so, than they were were those many years ago.
fwacbar @ 7:
WTF did we even bother to vote in the last election? Is it becoming clearer to you that we are being good copped/bad copped by the republicans and the democrats?
Erroll @ 34:
The problem is we have those americans that you are calling for. They just are ignored by the mainstream media. So no one sees them and they are like a bug on the windshield of the great corporate take over of America.
Brad J. @ 28:
The page loads with the top at the top. There is nowhere to scroll but down and there is nothing in the top right. I'm lost in space on a You tube site. :( I'll try it again later, so not to worry. :)
Erroll @ 34:
Howard Zinn is still here. So is Daniel Berrigan. Greg Pallast, Amy Goodman, and dare i say it? Dennis Kucinich.
L.A. Confidential @ 32:
I agree with that 100%, LAC. Things suck the big one right now. I didn't say it was all rosy, but what you printed here doesn't say it's a recession either, nor does it say it's a certainty we're headed there.
My point isn't to say things are great as I laugh all the way to my chalet that there's no market for anymore, it's to say be fair when you point to an unusually high inflation number and declare it to be proof we're in a recession.
I don't rule out a recession though. Higher taxes should do the trick.
Dusty @ 31:
No, Dusty, this is spam. And this...this is just wrong.
I agree with xoites. You're being a concerned citizen. We need all of that we can get in the current US of A.
pissed off patricia @ 37:
Ah, copyright tangles...it appears YouTube had to remove this video. You can see it here (and, again, will try to get that link updated):
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=9495572
Preacher Boob @ 4:
She will still be counting. Hopefully she will be up to 18. That's past 12 right? ;)
Well, I guess the satire on Mormonism isn't altogether wrong: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/70372/
It sure is an awful lot like some of the original Star Trek episodes. Years ago I lived in Idaho Mormon country, and one week a story was all over town. It seems a couple whose teenaged son had died the year before had contacted the parents of a girl in a nearby town who had recently been killed in an auto accident. The parents went to Salt Lake City and had their two deceased children married to each other in the Temple! I thought that was SO strange, but I guess I understand why now, if they believe that married Mormons become polygamous god-couples on other planets to populate them.
Is waterboarding torture? A good question to ask fools like O'reilly and Hannity is: Would they be comfortable with this technique being used on captured american soldiers or civilians and , if it isn't torture why can't the police use this form of interrogation?
pissed off patricia @ 36:
Appears YouTube had to remove vid for copyright reasons. You can view it here.
Thanks Brad, I really just wanted to get the word out. I also have a list of their advertisers and their phone numbers:
CALL advertisers off their web site. Be polite, ask to speak to the sales, general
manager or person in charge of advertising. Object to their advertising in
a paper that would include Keyes in the Republican debate, but exclude
Kucinich.
Des Moines Chrysler Plymouth (515) 270-8100
Charles Gabus Ford 800 742 6403
Karl Chevrolet, Ankeny, Iowa 800 622 8264
Business Furniture Warehouse 515.254.9091
Prudential First Realty Phone: (515) 453-7200
Village of Pondersa 515.440.2222
McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith, P.C. (CPA's)
515-288-3279 - 515-462-1882
If you are feeling REALLY frisky, go into classified ads and contact people who have something for sale and object to them advertising in the paper. IT WORKS. They call the paper back and say WTF?
The paper can't believe how their switch board is over loaded over this. Geez..ya think? Kucinich stands with progressives..the only candidate to do so.
xoites defends Constitution @ 38:
I agree, these are certainly people who have spoken out, and are currently speaking today against injustice in this country and what is going on around the world. Unfortunately, many of them end up being marginalized by the mainstream media. Kucinich has been shut out of the Iowa debate because the Des Moines Register has used a flimsy excuse to bar Kucinich from the debate. Greg Palast has been forced to report from England because he was not given a free hand by the major media in this country. Amy Goodman fights the good fight but she is probably up against a stacked deck in trying to compete against the shackles of the corporate media. Nevertheless, I remain a loyal part of her audience which follows her on Democracy Now!.
Gah. Torture apologists love to keep the issue "Is Waterboarding Torture?" Of course it is. But as long as we're busy arguing the obvious to hacks who know better anyway, we have less time to ask things like, "Will the Bushies face justice for the illegal torture they authorized?" and "What exactly did the Bush administration do, what did they know, and when did it all happen?"
Love the Collateral videos...I went for Big Pharma, and I stayed for 9/11!
Batocchio, why do you hate America?
Something to put you into the Christmas spirit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTneO6UgRuM
Mormonism Cartoon,
It is surreal that we have two candidates for president--for Leader of the Fricken' Free World--arguing over whose invisible superhero in the sky is better as part of a presidential election. Sure Romney's church believes some strange things, but so do charismatic and fundamental Christians (speaking in "tongues" anyone?)--and Huckabee has certainly voiced some weird beliefs. There's a disturbing gullibility factor with religious zealots. Do we really want someone running things who apparently can't identify BS when confronted with it? These are scary times.
Brad J. @ 40:
Finally got to see it and it was sure worth the wait. Just excellent! Nice ending too. Thank you, Brad J.
Brad J. @ 44:
Finally got to see it and it was sure worth the wait. Funny as hell with a great ending too.
Thanks for all your help, Brad J. :)
The CNN piece on waterboarding is deliberately inflammatory and dishonest, and so are you for uncritically republishing it. There are different varieties of waterboarding and the CNN version bears absolutely no resemblance to what the CIA was doing. Unlike the CNN version, the CIA covers the subject's nose and mouth loosely with cellophane before the water is poured on the subject. Consequently **NO** water enters the subject's respiratory tract. The effect is purely psychological - there is absolutely no risk of physical harm to the subject. This is in **NO WAY** torture. Rather it is a psychological game of cat and mouse, much like the good cop/bad cop routine.
Nobody Asked Me, But...
nabalzbbfr @ 54:
Yes, I prefer my waterboarding with a nice sitz bath, candlelight and Bach played softly...
....uh, sorry for the cold water of reality, but waterboarding IS, WAS and WILL ALWAYS BE torture. This isn't my opinion. And it's really not open for opinion anymore than that debate on gravity's existence. It's a part of history. The U.S. tried Japanese soldiers for waterboarding committed during WWII, it was a favorite technique of the Gestappo, it dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, etc., ad nauseum etc.
And ANY form of it is torture; each form is designed to attain the same results.
Don't believe me? Take it from an expert who knows firsthand.
As Malcolm Nance says, waterboarding is not only torture, it's drowning, not "simulated drowning." When water is filling your lungs - whether through your mouth or nose - you're drowning. You just haven't drowned yet. When that happens, of course, you're dead. There's nothing simulated about drowning involved in waterboarding.
I thank you for commenting but it's time people come to terms with what waterboarding is and what it is not. Most importantly, it is not, or shouldn't be in a democracy, a partisan issue...anymore than whether rape or murder could be a partisan issue.
Murder is murder. Rape is rape. Torture is torture. And waterboarding is torture.
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