Going back through a few links in my RSS feed, I found this little gem regarding the legal advice given to the Bush administration regarding torture, and whether prosecution should be undertaken.
If only Saddam Hussein had been smart enough to solicit a legal opinion from his government lawyers that gassing people was within the law, he could have been playing golf in Myrtle Beach right now.
Naomi Wolf, author of End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot has a new post at The Huffington Post talking about her concerns over the rise of fascist policies of the U.S. government.
You’ve gotta see this one to believe it. This CNBC news anchor is alright with having unsafe toys for children as long as Wal-Mart’s prices stay low.
Sometimes, ‘finding the middle ground’ isn’t always the best, or right solution.
Bird Brains
An interesting video criticizing US foreign policy that is as beautiful as it is direct. By Knife Party
Loading...A recent story from Newsweek focuses on a video shot of abortion protesters being asked the question: okay, if abortion’s illegal, what should the punishment be for the women?
You have rarely seen people look more gobsmacked. It’s as though the guy has asked them to solve quadratic equations. Here are a range of responses: “I’ve never really thought about it.” “I don’t have an answer for that.” “I don’t know.” “Just pray for them.”
The simple extension of making abortion illegal is that those who get them should be punished. Apparently this corollary has never been considered, by at least those protesters on the video, and I’m sure, many other anti-abortion advocates. The questioner does an excellent job.
The repulsive reality of war is always just below the surface of the palatable imagery provided by the media. The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/hedges) has provided new in-depth testimony from veterans of the Iraq war about the reality on the ground, and the horrible things they witnessed. The original article is worth a read, but I’ll put several excerpts below.
It seems difficult for these men and women to fully appreciate the situation they’re in during deployment. Only when they return home, can they truly appreciate what it is that went on.
I have no intention of participating in the rabid posting about the Virginia Tech massacre. I grieve for the families in Blacksburg and can only imagine the pain they’re feeling after losing a child, loved-one or friend. But it is the grief that strikes me most about the national reaction to this event.
On CNN last week, they showed John McCain talking to Wolf Blitzer about progress in Iraq. McCain complained that the media was refusing to cover the ‘good news’ in Iraq and claimed that Americans were safe to walk the streets of Iraq. After the interview they had on a CNN correspondent, Michael Ware, refuting McCain’s assertion, stating, emphatically, that it was not safe for Americans in Baghdad.
Apparently, McCain wanted to prove it, so he decided to take a stroll. However, in order to do so,
He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.
An article in today’s New York Times highlights the potential damages of global climate change for third world countries. Despite the fact that the industrialized nations of the US and Europe are the producers of most of the world’s greenhouse gases, it is the third world countries that might be the least equipped to deal with the problem.
Two-thirds of the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that can persist in the air for centuries, has come in nearly equal proportions from the United States and Western European countries. Those and other wealthy nations are investing in windmill-powered plants that turn seawater to drinking water, in flood barriers and floatable homes, and in grains and soybeans genetically altered to flourish even in a drought.