Showing posts with label - waterboarding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label - waterboarding. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Cheney Conundrum


Image licensed under Creative Commons by Mick Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Cheney Conundrum: Dick's latest media foray could be his last (that is, before his attorneys and handlers clamp a Denver Boot on his tongue...) and its making us ask the question; "Just how dumb is he?" and, further, "Just how dumb are we?".  Boy, some of us just aren't grasping the Cheney Conundrum - and that means the heavy hitters like Keith-O, Rachel, Chris Matthews and more... Or maybe we just missed a report from David Corn or Chris Hayes (we like Chris...).  JoeNBC seems a little too quiet, maybe he gets it...Joe is, after all, conservative...but still a professional...

GET IT?  Get what?  You may ask.  What Countdown has aired on the primetime (last night AND the night before...) is video of apparently Dick Cheney stepping on his own...er, sword...and possibly foisting himself on it.  How?  By the tacit admission that he supported *enhanced interrogation techniques (i.e., waterboarding) and some other potential war crimes.  We - try to momentarily forget that we are leftofleftliberalefties - firmly believe that he has really set himself up here and just about every other high-level persons-of-interest in the former Bush Administration for war crimes prosecution or violations of the Geneva Convention.

Further, these "confessions" were obtained from a person who apparently was not tortured nor subjected to waterboarding nor *EITs.  Yet, this person has apparently put himself and others of his ilk in jeopardy of a war crimes trial (or military tribunal) - with possible punishments and fines and other sanctions.  Therefore, by his own administration's "definitions" he has made himself a war criminal, or loosely defined, a bit of a terrorist himself.  Yet, his confession(s) and/or admissions were obtained without mention of habeas corpus, without rendition (extraordinary or otherwise), without restraint, without punishment, without military detention, without EITs, without waterboarding and without torture.  The man has clearly given us information without benefit of his own tightly adhered-to embrace of EIT and other illogical means of extracting confessions and/or verdicts.  Without delay.  Without restriction.  With freedom of speech and liberties guaranteed under a Constitution and Bill of Rights that his kind appear to have willingly usurped.

Lets try this again.  This man Cheney was not waterboarded, nor subjected to any form of EIT that we know of.  Nor is he under threat of such or any physical harm or torture.  Yet he appears to have willingly admitted and/or confessed to "terroristic" forms of war crimes and tortures by himself and by his own members of his administration.  Now isn't that extraordinary?  Its extraordinary that a proponent of extrajudicial means of obtaining punishments and extreme measures need not have been subjected to them now nor in the past nor in the future.  Its extaordinary that he is going around town promoting such means live and on-air.

In other words, he's just contradicting himself.  Over and over and over.  He's a living walking contradiction.  And an alleged war criminal.  Its supremely ironic.  The man has publicly disproven his own argument of what he stands for and continues to support.  The man is running rings around himself logically.  Yet, here he be.  He exists despite himself.  He should have collapsed into a black hole of irony by now.  Or at the very least, the Bush Administration should appear out of a wormhole and render him unto a secret POW camp in the past.  Which is where they should be.

Get it yet?

Bit.ly: http://bit.ly/aqWZeP

FOM: Cheney's Costly Mistake , It Came from the Veep and Paradix or Dickundrum.

Updated/Revised: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

This Sad, Grotesque and Terrible Dance


Image licensed under Creative Commons by billypalooza


This sad, grotesque and terrible dance we are witnessing in the ranks of the GOP, Donald Trump's business and ranks, torture, waterboarding ranks and other affairs. We couldn't belive the new segment introduced on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Should the travails of Carrie Prejean (she's already got her own page in the Wikipedia, see the link...) really have been the first story for this new segment? And remember the failure of a previous new Keith segment -"Worst Person of the Week"? Seems that one got buried and so should this one - if the censors don't find reasons to take it off the air first.




And why is our favorite GOP Chairman (Michael Steele) running interference on another Republican - again - namely, Mitt Romney. We don't think Mr. Romney is one to be trifled with. Just look what happened when Mr. Steele trifled with Rush Limbaugh, the Democratic Party, abortion, hats and others. Remember the "hat flap"? The man is pure comedy genius. Now shouldn't he be running interference on Dick Cheney and his recent takes on torture, waterboarding and protecting the US? Isn't the man kind of going "off message" here? Would Mr. Steele score big points if he somehow stepped in and got Mr. Cheney off of the soapbox? Shouldn't he be defending his party? Mr. Steele, these are not insults or aspersions on your character, we love you.




We half-expect Sarah Palin to raise her head at one terrible point and sound off "Gaaaaahhhhh"! More comedy is what is needed here...in this sad and terrible dance of confusion and miscues and the like. Oh, that would be the perfect GOP Presidential ticket... The comedienne from Wasilla and the "hatmaster"! Oh, please! We're begging you! Three words: Pure. Comedy. Gold. Our senior editor (if he's still alive, would switch political parties just to vote for that ticket, he swears...) If weren't all such grotesquerie, it would be Pythonesque. However, the real soon-to-be-exposed hat master (or ringmaster - we expect) is Mr. Romney. And he will surely get his hat back in the ring. And that's a sobering thought.




And we are deeply concerned that Madame Pelosi may have seen some memos exposing the use of torture (which me mention again, Mr. Zelikow did proud by fighting the torture cause). We're not concerned about Ms. Pelosi, there must be a way out of this for her and her fellow Senators... They've got the memos, and they can use them. Next come the photos. What sad evidence will we have in those? We're desperately waiting for the findings on the Sheldon Whitehouse hearings. This could get bigger than Watergate, we're hoping, sort of... Our senior editor was around, and he remembers that one and believes this is much, much bigger. Hunter where are you when we need you the most? To quote the late, great Mr. Thompson it is "a sad and terrible spectacle"...and all bets are off. Res ipsa loquitor.








Michael Steele

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Steele

Chemission

http://antizendictionary.blogspot.com/2009/05/chemission.html

Chemania

http://antizendictionary.blogspot.com/2009/05/chemania.html

Analysis: Why is Dick Cheney so chatty all of a sudden?

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1071158

Washington diary Is Dick Cheney the new face of the Republicans?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8047062.stm

Dick Cheney

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney

Ex-Bush official testifies on waterboarding

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30721458/

Ex-Bush Official Lobbied Against Torture

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/13/politics/main5011113.shtml

Philip D. Zelikow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zelikow

Alleged prisoner abuse photos to be released


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/12/prisoner.photos/index.html

Newsweek: Former CIA detainee dies in Libyan jail

http://www.newsweek.com/id/196818

Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Shaykh_al-Libi

Does Torture Work?


Thursday, May 7, 2009

More on the US Torture Scandal and More for Thursday, May 7, 2009

Troops killed in Pakistan clashes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8037281.stm

Bush attorneys who wrote terror memo face backlash

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ca_interrogation_memos;_ylt=AjpMvdAaYb5V1gkBg0MAALwDW7oF

John Yoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo

Jay Bybee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bybee

U.S. envoy in China seeking North Korea strategy

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre54625q-us-korea-north/

UN 'stunned' by scale of bail-out

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8036559.stm

In Europe, safety net softens slump

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30363790/

U.S. Air Force eyes way to help space industry

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5455pu-us-airforce-space/

Launch protocols for US missiles found on second-hand computers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8036324.stm

Office intruder 'steals' data

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7843206.stm

FBI Agent Reflects On Cybercriminal Role

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/07/tech/cnettechnews/main4998243.shtml

Analysis: An autopsy of liberal Republicans

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/liberal.republicans/index.html

WH plans to release flyover report, photo

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/air.force.one.flyover/index.html

US banks 'safe from insolvency'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8037258.stm

Sales slump doubles losses at GM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8038036.stm

GM burns through $10.2B US in 1st quarter

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/05/07/gm-first-quarter.html

CAW, GM told to go back to bargaining table

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/05/07/caw-generalmotors-negotiate.html

Chinese reveal child quake toll

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8037273.stm

Police enter Suu Kyi home; American detained

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/myanmar.suukyi/index.html

Aung San Suu Kyi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suu_Kyi

Iran hangs nine convicts in jail

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8037864.stm

Aristocrat guilty of Kenya manslaughter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8037430.stm

Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_P._G._Cholmondeley

Man dies in Brooks after Taser hit

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/05/07/calgary-brooks-taser-rcmp-police.html

Fuel for deep space exploration running low

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30621668/

Feds to reconsider critical habitat for 2 fish

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_sc/us_threatened_fish;_ylt=AvVjlH9JFQwnhGv4sD2WeMgPLBIF

Meda fulgida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spikedace

Rhinichthys cobitis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loach_minnow

Friday, April 24, 2009

Waterboarding Authorized and More Disgusting News for Friday, April 24, 2009


Image licensed under Creative Commons by waterboardingdotorg


Rice approved CIA waterboarding

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8013759.stm

Condoleeza Rice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleeza_Rice

Waterboarding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding


Report: 110,600 Iraqis killed since invasion

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30383144/

Obama faces dilemma on Armenian killings

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30384966/

Arbor Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbor_Day

Remembering the lost forests of America

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30376570/

New swine flu strain caused 800 Mexican cases, health minister says

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/24/health-flu-mexico090424.html

Mexico shuts schools around capital in flu scare

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre53n228-us-flu/

Deadly outbreak in Mexico caused by swine flu

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30386163/

Swine flu


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_flu


No More Cover for CIA? W.H. to Release Abuse Photos

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/obama-adminis-3.html

Russia military spy boss 'sacked'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8016371.stm

North Korea to boycott nuclear talks: Russia

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/seo304133-us-korea-north/

Americans face N. Korea criminal trial

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30378038/

Canadian soldier found dead on base in Afghanistan

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/24/canadian-soldier-death-kandahar.html

Spain's jobless rate soars to 17%

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8016364.stm

Ex-hostages out of fuel, fear new pirate attack

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30387340/

NYT: Chrysler bankruptcy filing soon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30366383/

US ramps up cybersecurity focus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8011380.stm

RCMP Database on Taser Use

http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/taser-deployment/

Animals Get The Boot From Bronx Zoo

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/24/national/main4966089.shtml


FAA publicizes bird strike data

javascript:vPlayer('30387805','8a343e31-a6f6-4b9a-9437-476b95d27f98')

Investor seeks proceeds from Madoff’s villa

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30387391/

Gossip, blogger ... spokesperson?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30329216

Gayspoke

http://antizendictionary.blogspot.com/2009/04/gayspoke.html

Website helps homeless man transform

javascript:vPlayer('30372442','eb5c05fa-359e-4a0c-a83c-d5a5c87da97c')

Myanmar arrests Buddhists — for praying

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30386725/

First Dog is 'crazy,' Michelle Obama tells kids

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/24/bo-obama-loves-to-chew/

Monday, March 30, 2009

Crises in NKorea and Auto Industry? and More for Monday, March 30, 2009

USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) image licensed under Creative Commons by Matt Watts


U.S. deploys anti-missile ships before N.Korea launch

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre52t0f8-us-korea-north/

Obama: We Cannot Let Auto Industry Vanish

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/business/main4903151.shtml

Auto Workers Uneasy Over Obama's Auto Plan

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/business/main4902920.shtml

Obama denies bailout funds for automakers

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29944834/

Car problems slam Wall Street

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3683270/

World stock markets tumble on automotive, banking concerns

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/03/30/world-markets.html

GM, Chrysler rocked by Obama autos team hard line

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre52s1vv-us-autos/

GM chief Wagoner ousted by Obama

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7971202.stm

Rick Wagoner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Wagoner

Japanese Anxious Over U.S. Auto Woes

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/business/main4902178.shtml

Officials: Waterboarding Foiled No Plot

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/29/politics/washingtonpost/main4901154.shtml

Abu Zubaydah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Zubaida

2nd U.S. GI Convicted For Iraqi Executions

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/iraq/main4902039.shtml

North Korea rocket shown on launch pad

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/north.korea.rocket/index.html

China dismisses cyber-espionage claims

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/30/ghostnet.cyber.espionage/index.html

Israeli military rejects Gaza abuse claims

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/30/israel.gaza.abuses/index.html

Fargo braces as new storm nears

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29873706/

Obama monitors flooding, pledges federal help

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29938827/

Fargo Works To Protect Good Water From Bad

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/national/main4902624.shtml

'Torture' Could Haunt Bush Officials

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7203966&page=1

Brown accused over green spending

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7971183.stm

Judge to rule whether British MP can enter Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/03/29/galloway-mp--ruling-injunction.html

George Galloway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Galloway

Hamas (Wiki page)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

Spain bank bail-out hits shares

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7971582.stm

Japan debates digging itself out

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29951880/

Why wasn't I hired? How to deal with rejection

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796678/

Court hears Khmer Rouge testimony

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7971231.stm

Thirty years on, Khmer Rouge torturer in dock

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre52t0kz-us-cambodia-rouge/

Khmer Rouge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge

Death toll cut in Australia fires

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7971270.stm

2009 Victorian Bush Fires

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2009_Victorian_bushfires

Tibet reopens to foreign tourists

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7971445.stm

Border corruption US graft fuels the drugs war, Mexico's president tells BBC (…actually most Americans think/believe it’s the other way around…)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7971335.stm

Felipe Calderon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_calderon

Fans blamed for Ivorian stampede

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7971596.stm

'Open cloud' computing sparks dissent

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7969458.stm

Cloud Computing Manifesto (Wiki page)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Computing_Manifesto

Google China to push music tracks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7972399.stm

Obama plans climate summit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970274.stm

Nasa man's 'extinction' warning