April 3, 2007

Things That Go Bump in the Night: The President and His Perverts - "Bush himself has openly championed "tough interrogation methods" used in secret prisons, based on principles that he approved when Alberto Gonazales, John Yoo and other factotums in the poison kitchen cooked up the "legal briefs" and presidential directives that declared Bush above the law and greenlighted any form of torture that did not cause near-fatal physical damage to the victim. (Although the Bush memos did explicitly provide a giant loophole for any interrogator who got carried away and actually killed a chained, helpless prisoner, saying that if the torturer did not intend to kill the victim, why then, that's OK.) We know that Bush signed off on the Yoo vision of approved savagery just short of the point of death or permanent crippling, as well as the tyrannical notion that the president alone can determine what is legally torture and what is not. Thus, when Bush speaks of "tough interrogation methods" – which he and his minions adamantly refuse to reveal – yet insists that these methods "are entirely legal," we know the true parameters of these operations. Nor is the cancerous moral relativism of the Bush Imperium confined to torture. The embrace of torture – implicit on the part of an un-outraged public, explicit in the declarations of Bush and his followers – is part of the general acceptance of lawlessness and authoritarianism as bedrock components of the new, post-constitutional American state. The twinning of these latter scourges may seem paradoxical at first, but of course they are intimately connected. Where an authoritarian ruler claims – and exercises – arbitrary power over the lives and liberties of citizens, then law is a dead letter: it means only what the ruler says it means, and it cannot be used against the ruler and his minions, no matter what their depredations."

Bush: No Iraq funding bill by mid-April will affect troops - "President Bush warned Congress Tuesday that if it fails to send him an acceptable Iraq war funding bill by mid-April, it will threaten U.S. military equipment and training."

Exclusive: Iran Nuclear Bomb Could Be Possible by 2009 - "Iran has more than tripled its ability to produce enriched uranium in the last three months, adding some 1,000 centrifuges which are used to separate radioactive particles from the raw material. The development means Iran could have enough material for a nuclear bomb by 2009, sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News."

ABC News pushing Bogus Iran nuke story - "How Did Such a patently bogus article get through the editors at ABC news?"

OUR "STRONG ECONOMY:" A POWDER KEG WAITING TO BLOW - ""You know, if you let me write $200 billion worth of hot checks every year, I could give you an illusion of prosperity, too." Senator Lloyd Bensten, presidential debates 1988 The audience laughed and thought Bensten's statement was funny. There's nothing funny about what Bensten said. Fast forward nineteen years and now Congress wants to write $2 TRILLION "dollars" in hot checks. There's no money in the treasury. As I write this column, the people's purse is $8,842,131,926,483.53 in the hole. That's close to nine TRILLION "dollars." Two days ago it was $8,836,852,277,711.67 - a 48-hour increase of over $5 BILLION dollars that doesn't even exist!"

Trillions in Debt, Can the Middle Class Hang On? - "How do we stop the credit industry's predatory business model and get Americans out of debt when incomes aren't rising as fast as the costs of healthcare and housing?"

Will Vermont Secede from the Union? - "The winds of secession are blowing in the Green Mountain State: Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again. We think the time to make that happen is now. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans' fundamental freedoms. Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an empire. Some of us therefore seek permission to leave."

O'Donnell Pledges Allegiance To 9/11 Truth - "After quoting George Orwell in response to Bill O'Reilly's intimidation tactics, Rosie O'Donnell has now pledged allegiance to 9/11 truth, writing on her blog that the reaction of those who have savaged her for simply asking questions proves freedom of speech and the country itself is under severe threat."

Email to Bill O'Reilly - "Mr. O’Reilly, I believe you suffer from a serious personality disorder, as it is obvious you are driven to dominate, are quick to anger, and are indifferent to the fate of others. In short, you suffer from social aggression, also known as bullying. I also tend to believe you are a sadistic sociopath and secretly revel in the fate of your victims."

It is contradictory to condemn slavery and yet celebrate the empire - "Why, demanded Jeremy Paxman recently, should he feel "guilty" about the slave trade, given that he wasn't alive then and that his "ancestors were peasants"? He is not alone in asking this question. Many Britons wonder, not unreasonably, why and how they should "apologise" for a crime they did not physically perpetrate."

Aids Victims Risk Lives - "Thousands of Aids and HIV patients are risking their lives by refusing medication in favour of holy water, Sky News can reveal. The controversial treatment is offered by a church in Ethiopia which claims to have cured hundreds of believers."

Children in India cheaper than buffaloes: report - "Traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as laborers or commercial sex workers, activists said on Tuesday."

'In 10 years we will be able to grow a heart' - "Thousands of people with heart disease could have new, healthy organs grown in laboratories within 10 years."

Skeleton holds key to origin of man - "A skeleton of a possible hybrid between modern and more ancient humans has been found in China, which challenges the theory that modern man originated in Africa."

Mexico City to be one, giant Wi-Fi hotspot by 2008: mayor - "All of Mexico City will be one free, wireless Internet hotspot by 2008, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard announced Monday."

Advertising on internet soars as world follows British lead - "The internet will overtake radio by next year and become the world’s fourth-largest advertising medium, a year earlier than forecast."

Daylight saving shift fails to curb energy use - "The move to turn the clocks forward by an hour on March 11 rather than the usual early April date was mandated by the U.S. government as an energy-saving effort. But other than forcing millions of drowsy American workers and school children into the dark, wintry weather three weeks early, the move appears to have had little impact on power usage."

Possible New Mars Caves Targets in Search for Life - "A Mars-orbiting satellite recently spotted seven dark spots near the planet's equator that scientists think could be entrances to underground caves."




Quote of the Day
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe that there would be a revolution before morning."
~ Henry Ford, commenting on the federal reserve.