Just To The Left

Political Olympics

2008-07-30T09:36:00.007-04:00

Politics and Olympics seem to go hand in hand. In Ancient Greece, a truce was announced before and during each of the Olympic festivals, to allow visitors to travel safely to Olympia. During the truce, wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from entering Elis or threatening the Games, and legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden. But politics did inevitably play a role--political alliances were announced, games were declared invalid if a hosting country was out of favor, and exiles were pardoned.

In 1939, Hitler's Berlin games were possibly the lowest point in our history. In Germany, Jews, Gypsies and other "undesirables" were not even allowed to compete. On the flip side, the 1968 Mexico City Olympics gave black athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos (the gold and bronze medalists), a platform to demonstrate civil rights awareness by raising the black-gloved fist as the Star Spangled Banner was played.

This year is no exception and already it seems like we are starting off on on a sour note. Take our host China--in addition to the pollution, human rights violations, and overall bad vibes, they are now censoring the games for the rest of the world. China promised the International Olympics Committee that they would provide the media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics. However, today we find out that the IOC has brokered a deal with the Chinese government, which would allow Internet censorship.

"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time," IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers.

"I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," he said.
Attempts at the main press centre to access the website of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges, continued to prove fruitless by mid-week.

We also have a little country called Iraq, who up until today was banned by the IOC from participating in the Olympics after the country’s government disbanded the committee and appointed a government official as its new leader. The IOC requires national committees to be elected and autonomous. But on the bright side, it looks like some of their athletes will be able to indeed compete.

[Their banning] led to widespread criticism of both the Iraqi government and the I.O.C. On Tuesday at I.O.C. headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, a compromise was reached. Iraq agreed to hold elections for its Olympic committee before the end of November. In the meantime, Iraq will have an interim committee approved by the I.O.C.

We look forward to putting politics aside and seeing sprinter Dana Hussein Abdul-Razzaq and discus thrower Haidar Nasir, compete for their country.

They don't call it the Dirty South for nothin'

2008-07-29T12:56:00.006-04:00

HOUSTON — While most large American cities have started ambitious recycling programs that have sharply reduced the amount of trash bound for landfills, Houston has not.

The city’s shimmering skyline may wear the label of the world’s energy capital, but deep in Houston’s Dumpsters lies a less glamorous superlative: It is the worst recycler among the United States’ 30 largest cities.

Houston recycles just 2.6 percent of its total waste, according to a study this year by Waste News, a trade magazine. By comparison, San Francisco and New York recycle 69 percent and 34 percent of their waste respectively. Moreover, 25,000 Houston residents have been waiting as long as 10 years to get recycling bins from the city...

But city officials say real progress will be hard to come by. Landfill costs here are cheap. The city’s sprawling, no-zoning layout makes collection expensive, and there is little public support for the kind of effort it takes to sort glass, paper and plastics. And there appears to be even less for placing fees on excess trash.

“We have an independent streak that rebels against mandates or anything that seems trendy or hyped up,” said Mayor Bill White, who favors expanding the city’s recycling efforts. “Houstonians are skeptical of anything that appears to be oversold or exaggerated. But Houstonians can change, and change fast.”...
Those without the special bins must cart their recyclable garbage to one of just nine full-service drop-off depots in the city. But when Monica Pope, a locally renowned chef, approached a city-run recycling depot in her silver pick-up truck full of containers, she was turned away.“They said my truck was too full,” Ms. Pope recalled, laughing. “There are cultures that just don’t get it, and, unfortunately, Houston is one of them.”...

Gross Texas, gross.

Gentrification, Forbidden City style

2008-07-23T10:31:00.005-04:00

Call me old fashion, (go ahead, I dare you) but when it comes to historic cities, progress and gentrification is not always a good thing. Growing up in Brooklyn, I know a little bit about the subject, but New York City is a relative new-born in comparison to, lets say, Beijing where some houses date to the Qing dynasty (mid 17-early 19th century). Very little is being done to preserve these fascinating and historic areas in China, especially now with a booming economy and the Olympics on the way. And what's more frightening is, in an Orwellian twist of fate, buildings are being razed and history censored on purpose to eradicate the 1950s-60s Socialist projects-style architecture that is viewed unfavorably by the government today.

The explosion of construction activity that has transformed Beijing into a modern metropolis over the past decade also turned many of its historical neighborhoods — known for their narrow alleyways, or hutongs — into rubble. As grass-roots preservationists began sounding the alarm, the aging wood frames and tile roofs of the ancient courtyard houses that give these neighborhoods their identity were being supplanted so quickly by mighty towers that it was hard to pinpoint where they once stood...
The current wave of demolitions was under way by the early 1990s as free-market changes gained momentum, and real estate speculators saw potential profit in redevelopment. It accelerated after Beijing’s bid to play host to the Olympics was accepted in 2001 and the city began a substantial slum-clearance program to prepare for foreign visitors.
In the Qianmen area, for example, a once poor but thriving neighborhood south of Tiananmen Square that was home to many of the city’s teahouses and theaters, hutongs have been replaced by shopping malls and office blocks with ugly postmodern facades that already look dilapidated, although many are only a few years old...
As affluent foreigners and China’s new rich buy the houses, they are embarking on multimillion-dollar renovations that are robbing the neighborhoods of their souls...
The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who seems to be everywhere in China these days, has argued that designating specific buildings as landmarks creates a distorted version of history. Rather he has proposed carving out a protected wedge through the city in which all of the city’s historical layers, from hutongs on through the Communist-style projects, would be permanently preserved. The result would be a sort of living museum, a place fixed in time even as tumultuous changes unfold around it...

The Forgotten War in Afghanistan

2008-07-18T10:51:00.002-04:00

It's true, Afghanistan is so far off most of our radars that we have all but forgotten that there are still troops there. It's also somewhat shrouded in mystery. What's going on over there? Why has the news stopped covering it?

The Pentagon and presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain all seem to agree on the need to send more troops to Afghanistan, but they are at odds with much of the country these days on the need to send more Americans into the lawless Afghan mountains.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found that a startling 45 percent of Americans said they do not think the war in Afghanistan is worth fighting, despite the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which provoked the war in the first place.
The growing disenchantment with the Afghan deployment hasn't reached the level of national frustration with the Iraq war, but after more than six years with U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan and violence on the rise, Americans are becoming increasingly wary about the country's involvement.
Fifty-one percent of Americans now say that the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan has been unsuccessful, up from 24 percent in fall 2002.
Only 44 percent of Americans consider the war in Afghanistan a success, down from 70 percent in 2002...
"I'm not shocked at all that American support is waning," [Sholom] Keller [a veteran who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq] told ABCNews.com. "If we are in Afghanistan because the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, then I want to see the perpetrators captured and brought to justice.
"If we're not finding them in Afghanistan, then I don't know why we're there," he added. "And if they are there I want to know why we haven't found them in the last seven years if they've been giving troops the right intelligence and missions."
Experts on the Middle East told ABCNews.com that many Americans share Keller's frustration, blaming several factors, including the fatigue from hearing about not one but two wars, as well as pressing issues at home, such as the failing economy.
"It's battle fatigue," [Judith] Kipper [director of Middle East programs at the Institute of World Affairs in Washington, D.C.] said.
"American don't want war; they know it's costing a lot and the worse the economy gets at home, the more people feel a lack of confidence in their daily lives," Kipper said. "The less confident they feel, the less likely they are to support foreign wars and adventures."...
"This is many years later and life goes on," Kipper said. "It's hard for Americans to relate to what happened years ago to their battle fatigue and war weariness now.
"[They care] about the problems that they're facing on a daily basis," she added...

This Ain't Rockwell's America

2008-07-09T12:14:00.006-04:00

“OURS ... to fight for.” That simple phrase sits atop the Rockwell “Freedom From Want” and “Freedom From Fear” posters. But today, as many returning soldiers have witnessed, that sense of collective responsibility often seems absent, except for the occasional campaign speech....

Culled from a surprising new exhibition at the Wolfsonian museum at Florida International University titled “Thoughts on Democracy,” they are all artists’ responses to Rockwell’s wartime “Four Freedoms” series.

Sixty artists contributed to the show. But their creations bear little resemblance to the Rockwell paintings, which helped raise $133 million for the war effort in 1943 after the government turned them into posters. There is no folksy man standing up to speak his opinion (exemplifying “Freedom of Speech”), no devout group praying (“Freedom of Worship”) no wholesome family sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal (“Freedom From Want”)...

What all of this suggests is not just a reinterpretation of Rockwell but a meditation on an American crisis of self-confidence: the sense that trust in American ideals is giving way to fear and uncertainty about how they are exploited. Culture has long been a documentarian of sorts, and this somber mood is also reflected at the box office these days, where the dystopian world of “Wall-E” is a hit, and in bookstores, where titles like “Are You There, Vodka, It’s Me, Chelsea” are best sellers...

Many of the artists interviewed said they felt that now was not the time to emphasize American greatness, as Rockwell did, but rather to caution people about the risks of complacency. They said they created the posters because they loved their country — about two-thirds of the 60 are American — but felt that their fellow citizens needed to wake up, to break free from anxiety and a habit of looking away...

Reuse, Recycle: 1957 Interrogation Techniques used against US Soldiers now in use at Guantánamo

2008-07-02T10:47:00.021-04:00

WASHINGTON — The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners. [!!]

The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Some methods were used against a small number of prisoners at Guantánamo before 2005, when Congress banned the use of coercion by the military. The C.I.A. is still authorized by President Bush to use a number of secret “alternative” interrogation methods...

In 2002, the training program, known as SERE, for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape, became a source of interrogation methods both for the C.I.A. and the military. In what critics describe as a remarkable case of historical amnesia, officials who drew on the SERE program appear to have been unaware that it had been created as a result of concern about false confessions by American prisoners.

Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after reviewing the 1957 article that “every American would be shocked” by the origin of the training document.

I urge you to read the entire article; it only gets worse. More shocking than this story is that there will never be any public outcry. We have become the "Evil Doers" we once detested. If we let this war continue, we are all guilty of crimes against humanity.

The government doesn't need to know about my extensive online kitty porn collection!

2008-07-01T10:09:00.006-04:00

WASHINGTON — Advocacy groups and some legal experts told Congress on Wednesday that it was unreasonable for federal officials to search the laptops of United States citizens when they re-enter the country from traveling abroad.

Civil rights groups have said certain ethnic groups have been selectively profiled in the searches by Border Patrol agents and customs officials who have the authority to inspect all luggage and cargo brought into the country without obtaining warrants or having probable cause.

Companies whose employees travel overseas have also criticized the inspections, saying that the search of electronic devices could hurt their businesses.

The federal government says the searches are necessary for national security and for legal action against people who bring illegal material into the country...

“But,” [Senator Russ] Feingold [Democrat of Wisconsin] continued, “if you asked them whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government absolutely has no right to do that.”...

McBush

2008-06-17T11:22:00.002-04:00

Now that we have our candidates in place it's time to start looking at the bigger picture. How much is McCain like Bush? Are you comfortable with the similarities?

A look at Mr. McCain’s 25-year record in the House and Senate, his 2008 campaign positions and his major speeches over the last three months indicates that on big-ticket issues — the economy, support for continuing the Iraq war, health care — his stances are indeed similar to Mr. Bush’s brand of conservatism. Mr. McCain’s positions are nearly identical to the president’s on abortion and the types of judges he says he would appoint to the courts...

The disparities between the two are murkier on other issues. On immigration, Mr. McCain started out with Mr. Bush — at odds with the Republican mainstream — by favoring a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, then backed off and emphasized the border-security-first approach favored by a majority of his party...

Mr. McCain has reversed himself on some issues — most notably, embracing the Bush tax cuts now after deriding them initially as fiscally risky and excessively skewed to the wealthy — and continues to adjust his positions on others. On Monday, he said he continued to oppose opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, leaving him at odds with the White House and most of his party, but said he favored giving states more flexibility to decide whether to explore for oil off their coasts.

On balance, the McCain campaign has sought to emphasize the differences between Mr. McCain and the unpopular Mr. Bush rather than the similarities...

In a CBS News poll two weeks ago, 43 percent of registered voters said they believed he would continue Mr. Bush’s policies, and 21 percent said he would be more conservative in his policies than Mr. Bush. Twenty-eight percent said he would be less conservative than Mr. Bush...

Twas the Eve of Destruction

2008-06-16T12:11:00.006-04:00

Check out this very funny video from our new friend, comedian/radio host/activist, Steve Hofstetter.

Merry voting to all and to all a good night!

Environment be damned, just keep them dirty foreigners out!

2008-04-02T09:37:00.004-04:00

Is this how much we hate our neighbors to the south that we would cut off our nose to spite our face?

The Bush administration will waive more than 30 environmental and land-management laws in order to finish building 470 miles of border fence in the Southwest by the end of the year, officials said yesterday.

The move, permitted under an exemption granted by Congress, will be the most sweeping use of the administration's waiver authority since it started building the fence to curb illegal immigration. It will affect environmentally sensitive areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said the agency has no choice but to bypass the standard environment reviews required of the federal government.

"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Chertoff said. "Congress and the American public have been adamant that they want and expect border security. We're serious about delivering it, and these waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward. At the same time, we value the need for public input on any potential impact of our border infrastructure plans on the environment -- and we will continue to solicit it."

However, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the administration has exceeded what Congress intended when it granted the department added flexibility under the Real ID Act. "Today's waiver represents an extreme abuse of authority," he said in a statement. "Waiver authority should only be used as a last resort, not simply because the Department has failed to get the job done through the normal process. It was meant to be an exception, not the rule."...

"Thanks to this action by the Bush administration, the border is in a sense more lawless now than when Americans first started moving West," Schlickeisen said in a statement. "Laws ensuring clean water and clean air for us and our children -- dismissed. Laws protecting wildlife, land, rivers, streams and places of cultural significance -- just a bother to the Bush administration. Laws giving American citizens a voice in the process -- gone. Clearly this is out of control."...

$3.29 / Gallon = $123 Billion Profit

2008-04-01T15:03:00.005-04:00

Top executives of the five biggest U.S. oil companies were pressed Tuesday to explain the soaring fuel prices amid huge industry profits and why they weren’t investing more to develop renewable energy source such as wind and solar.

The executives, peppered with questions from skeptical lawmakers, said they understood that high energy costs are hurting consumers, but deflected blame, arguing that their profits — $123 billion last year — were in line with other industries...

With motorists paying a national average of $3.29 a gallon at the pump and global oil prices remaining above $100 a barrel, the executives were hard pressed by lawmakers to defend their profits.

“The anger level is rising significantly,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., relating what he had heard in his district during the recent two-week congressional recess...

“Our earnings, though high in absolute terms, need to be viewed in the context of the scale and cyclical, long-term nature of our industry as well as the huge investment requirements,” said J.S. Simon, Exxon Mobil’s senior vice president...

“These companies are defending billions of federal subsidies ... while reaping over a hundred billion dollars in profits in just the last year alone,” complained Markey, chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

The House last year and again on Feb. 27 approved legislation that would have ended the tax breaks for the oil giants, while using the revenue to support wind, solar and other renewable fuels and incentives for energy conservation. The measure has not passed the Senate.

Banning Makes No Impact on Abortion Rates

2007-11-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

As many of us have always believed, women who need to have an abortion, no mater the reason, will find a way weather it is legal or not.

In a study examining abortion trends from 1995 to 2003, experts also found that abortion rates are virtually equal in rich and poor countries, and that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe.
The study was done by Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in the United States and colleagues from the World Health Organization. It was published in an edition of The Lancet medical journal devoted to maternal health.

“The legal status of abortion has never dissuaded women and couples, who, for whatever reason, seek to end pregnancy,” Beth Fredrick of the International Women’s Health Coalition in the U.S. said in an accompanying commentary.

Abortion accounts for 13 percent of maternal mortality worldwide. About 70,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions. An additional 5 million women suffer permanent or temporary injury.

“The continuing high incidence of unsafe abortion in developing countries represents a public health crisis and a human rights atrocity,” Fredrick wrote.

The number of worldwide abortions has dipped from about 46 million in 1995 to just under 42 million in 2003. But there was no change in the rate of unsafe abortions; nearly half the procedures are still performed illegally in potentially dangerous conditions.

“The only way to decrease unsafe abortion is to increase contraception,” said Sharon Camp, president and chief executive officer of the Guttmacher Institute.
Camp said that more countries are allowing women to have abortions legally, but many women only receive medical attention after a procedure has gone wrong. “I don’t think women should have to hurt themselves before they get medical treatment,” she said…

Nicaragua, for example has banned all abortions, even to save the life of the mother (something most pro-lifers in the US would probably agree with). It is one of 35 countries worldwide to completely ban abortions.

Two weeks after Olga Reyes danced at her wedding, her bloated and disfigured body was laid to rest in an open coffin — the victim, her husband and some experts say, of Nicaragua’s new no-exceptions ban on abortion.

Reyes, a 22-year-old law student, suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The fetus develops outside the uterus, cannot survive and causes bleeding that endangers the mother. But doctors seemed afraid to treat her because of the anti-abortion law, said husband Agustin Perez. By the time they took action, it was too late.

[Poster © Barbara Kruger]

Harry Potter, leftist intellectual?

2007-10-26T12:31:00.001-04:00

Harry Potter -- left-wing hero of the intellectual aristocracy against the materialist middle classes? Well, yes, according to the French daily Liberation...

[French philosopher Jean-Claude Milner] identified a reaction to the free-market revolution instigated in Britain by Margaret Thatcher's governments.

"Reading it, one has the feeling that J.K. Rowling feels, like many cultivated English people, that there was a real, catastrophic Thatcherite revolution [I’m going to add Reaganomics here for us Americans], and that the only chance for culture now is to survive as an occult science," he wrote.

Milner identified the "Muggles" -- inhabitants of the ordinary, non-magical world -- as the uncultured bourgeoisie who did well materially out of the Thatcher years and later under Tony Blair.

"In the world described by J.K. Rowling, there are the Muggles, who represent the Thatchero-Blairite middle class (going from the lower middle class to the upper middle class), and then the others: the people, cultivated people and the penniless aristocracy, people whom you would expect to find in public schools or at Cambridge," he said.

Milner said the disinterested world of culture upheld by Harry Potter and his friends at the elite Hogwarts Academy represented a form of opposition to the values of the profit-seeking market economy.

"As such, Harry Potter is a war machine against the Thatcherite-Blairist world and the 'American Way of Life'."

Ouch! I was all excited to hear that Harry Potter was one of us, a left-leaning intellectual, but come on British people! “Cultivated penniless aristocracy,” really? You look down on the Muggles for not being born to privilege? For being Middle-Class? Even I can’t be that snobby. We hate the Thatcher-Reagan political era too, but being born an aristocrat rather than working hard for what you have is not a virtue that we share.

Al Gore-geous does it again!

2007-10-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

Today it was announced that Al Gore, former vice president of these fine United States, two-time Democratic candidate for presidency, and inventor of the internet, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

He joins the pantheon of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Mr. Gore, congratulations! We on the left have faith in you. Run baby, RUN!

Dita von PETA - Updated

2007-10-08T11:46:00.000-04:00

PETA has chosen the fur-loving burlesque queen herself, Dita von Teese, as their latest spokesmodel. Didn't they do their homework? I have never agreed with PETA's tactics or points of view but where is their integrity? To call them hypocritical would be inane.

From PETA's website: "Dita Von Teese is the definition of sexy. She is a spokesmodel for the MAC Cosmetics Viva Glam campaign and the face of the holiday catalog for Frederick's of Hollywood, performs live burlesque shows, and has graced the cover of magazines around the world, including Playboy, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar. Now Dita is combining her sex appeal with her compassion for animals to launch PETA's new ABC campaign."

From Dita's recent book: "Who wouldn't love an opportunity to don a cuff of mink given them as a gift, or to wrap a luscious stole of fox around her shoulders on a chilly day? (I guess there are some people out there that wouldn't want to, but I am definitely not one of them!) Silks, satins, furs--I have crowded rooms of such sumptuous materials--are decadent. I've always loved these materials for their softness, their beauty, and the added luster of femininity they bestow upon me when I wear them." (Dita Von Teese, Fetish and the Art of the Teese, p. 77)

One of our faithful readers (just so happens to be my sister) e-mailed PETA about this glaring error today and got this really, really long form letter back, excerpts of which I've included below:

"First, please know that, as an organization staffed and run largely by women, we would not do something that we felt contributed to the serious problems that women face. However, we feel that there is nothing shameful or “wrong” about being naked, and we believe that women—and men—should have the choice to use their own bodies as political statements...

Our purpose is to stop animal suffering like this, and we use all available opportunities to reach millions of people with powerful messages...

If you are concerned that a particular celebrity with whom we have worked may not yet be 100 percent vegan or in total agreement with PETA’s views on all animal issues, we can certainly understand your feelings. But we believe that by taking a stand against even one form of animal abuse or exploitation—and by helping us to educate the public about these issues—celebrity supporters can make a big difference...

Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to explain our position on this important topic and for all that you do to help animals.

Sincerely,

The PETA Staff

Uhhh... ok, not really what we asked but thanks anyway.

And thanks Maria for the tip!

UPDATE 10/08/07 (from People.com):

"PETA's totally aware of me," Von Teese told PEOPLE before performing – in fox fur – her signature striptease at the Macy's Passport AIDS benefit last week. "I'm not working with PETA to tell people to be vegetarians or to stop wearing fur. I am there to strictly speak about spaying and neutering your pets."

The animal-rights organization says it was aware of Von Teese's fur affections before approaching her to star in its campaign.

This is why PETA is a sham and why all it's members are, in my opinion, ditzes who can't grasp larger, more important social issues so they cling to something simple like saving kittens and puppies. Let's not forget PETA's number one gal Pamela Anderson, who sported sheep-skin UGGS for years and then claimed she had no idea they were made of SKIN. That soft supple feeling is a dead animal around your feets Pammy.

How can PETA collaborate with a known fur-advocate? Is this not the same organization that throws paint at women wearing fur, destroying their very expensive personal property??

Don't Tase Me Bro!

2007-09-20T02:17:00.001-04:00

Wow, so I sure did miss a lot on my extended visit to the Greek island of Crete (you'll get it if you pay attention to the linked Wired article). So Senator John Kerry had finished a speech @ the University of Florida and a during the Q&A portion, an arguably annoying kid is arrested and tasered by the police. This incident brings up a lot of questions and has incited a lot of strong reactions. Below are some comments collected by Wired.com: (My favorite is the very last one in bold) because it most concisely encapsulates my initial gut reaction.

"This was really sickening to watch. In the video the kid offers to leave and walk out on his own, but instead more and more of those officers try to force him on the ground and into handcuffs.

What a horrible way to handle such a simple situation," writes "Aaron," one of Threat Level's readers.

"The University and its police department should be ashamed of themselves and embarrassed of the way they looked in front of a US Senator. Totally unacceptable," he adds.

Meanwhile, "Nightwatch," who says that he's with a university police department, weighed in and says that he and his colleagues agree that the Florida police handled the situation badly.

Taserprotest_7 And "Jon in Austin" writes that as an intensive care unit trauma nurse, he's concerned about the safety of the devices.

"I am an ICU Trauma Nurse, and I know there have been numerous deaths resulting from the use of the Taser device -- and no one knows who that next victim is going to be! It could be any one of us.

"If we don't stand up against the use of the Taser, who will be next?"

(Taser International says its technology is a "safer use-of-force option" on its web site.)

"I don't believe that asking a question at a town hall meeting, EVEN IF it is long-winded and perhaps even a little combative, should lead to this," writes Jon.

Judge Rules Patriot Act Equivalent to Breaking and Entering

2007-09-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing "national security letters" that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that the landmark anti-terrorism law violates the First Amendment and the Constitution's separation of powers provisions because it effectively prohibits recipients of the FBI letters (NSLs) from revealing their existence and does not provide adequate judicial oversight of the process.

Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act provisions related to NSLs are "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."

The decision has the potential to eliminate one of the FBI's most widely used investigative tactics. It comes amid widespread concern on Capitol Hill over reported abuses in the way the FBI has used its NSL powers...

But Marrero wrote that "in light of the seriousness of the potential intrusion into the individual's personal affairs and the significant possibility of a chilling effect on speech and association--particularly of expression that is critical of the government or its policies--a compelling need exists to ensure that the use of NSLs is subject to the safeguards of public accountability, checks and balances, and separation of powers that our Constitution prescribes."

He ruled that only some of the NSL provisions were unconstitutional, but found that it was impossible to separate those provisions from other parts of the law. He therefore struck down the FBI's ability to issue NSLs altogether...

Scaaaaaandalous Republican Senator

2007-08-28T14:44:00.000-04:00

A government watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Larry Craig Tuesday, after revelations that the Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a lewd conduct complaint in Minneapolis.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Senate ethics committee seeking an investigation into whether Craig violated Senate rules by engaging in disorderly conduct.

Read all the juicy details of what went down in that airport men's bathroom here.

Idaho’s Larry Craig on the issues:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

**Thanks PerezHilton.com for the scoop and the photo!

Rumsfeld Resigned Before the Election

2007-08-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the unpopular Iraq war, resigned as defense secretary before last year's November election but his decision was not announced until after the voting, according to his resignation letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

If its not already obvious, this is just another instance of George W. Bush's unbound hubris. He doesn't think of the greatest good (even for his own party) but rather how he can save himself and his pride. Some Republicans are none too happy with this news, believing that their party might have kept more seats in congress and kept control of the Senate if Rumsfeld left before the election.

Rumsfeld did not mention the Iraq war in his four-paragraph resignation letter.

Instead, the man who had become the focal point for critics of the Bush administration's management of the war praised the president for his leadership.

"I leave with great respect for you and for the leadership you have provided during a most challenging time for our country. The focus, determination and perseverance you have so consistently provided have been needed and are impressive," Rumsfeld told Bush.

"It is time to conclude my service. As I do, I want you to know that you have my continuing and heartfelt support as you enter the final two years of your presidency," Rumsfeld wrote.

Rumsfeld also praised U.S. troops for their dedication, professionalism, courage and sacrifice.

It's hard to keep track of how many rats have already jumped the sinking Titanic, but I'll give it a shot:

Colin Powell, Secretary of State (till 2005)
John W. Snow, Secretary of Treasury (till 2006)
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense (till 2006)
Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary (till 2006)
John Ashcroft, Attorney General (till 2005)
Mike Brown, FEMA Director (till 2005)
John Bolton, US Representative to the UN (till 2006)
Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff (till 2007)

I Hate You MTA

2007-08-08T14:46:00.000-04:00

I know this is a somewhat of a local story, but it's my blog so I get to rant. Early this morning New York experienced a bit of rain, ok it was a down pour. As a result the entire New York City subway system crumbled before our eyes. For those of you not familiar with our lovely system, when the subways stop running, NY stops running, literally. There is mass hysteria and panic when this occurs. And today, every line on the system experienced some form of failure. Why? Because some rain got on the tracks and evidently flooded the joint. In my part of Brooklyn, a tree fell over and blocked four lanes of subway tracks. My normal one hour commute took 3 ½ hours today. I came to work sweaty, upset, and with a headache. And there are thousands of horror commuter stories like mine; just check out the New York Times report.

How is it that the subway system stops completely when there is a storm or trains are put out of service when there is a sick passenger? There will always be rain and people will always get sick. You'd think after 100 plus years they would have some sort of contingency plan for these events. How can it be that the trains in Tokyo are considered extremely late if they are not on the platform within 30 seconds of their scheduled time? Don't they have rain? Don't they have sick passengers?

We need a major overhaul and increasing the fare from the already high $2 a ride is not the answer. The government needs to put an enormous amount of money into the transportation system, and why not, we deserve it! New York City is the main money maker for the tristate area and everyone sucks us dry. We get very little financial support from the state in relation to what we put in. We no longer collect a commuter tax from those suburbanites who find the city good enough to work in in during the day but run home at night to Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut to their big homes and lower taxes without paying for the privilege of earning a living here.

Discipline, Hello Kitty style

2007-08-07T09:33:00.000-04:00

I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to legitimately post a story about a Sanrio character, and here it is!

Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot-pink armbands featuring “Hello Kitty,” the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won’t wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

“(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps,” Pongpat said…

*Sigh, a bunch of burly cops wearing pink Hello Kitty bands. What could be better?

Make mine a Venti

2007-08-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

All of my life I’ve heard that coffee is bad for you, but no one can explain to me exactly what’s so bad about it (seriously, if you know feel free to leave a comment). I know that it stunts your growth, but I’m not nine so I don't care. I know it's supposed to make you jittery but I just call that a healthy burst of energy. I know it's addictive, but who cares if its not bad for you.

Since no one can explain the bad I'll give you the good. It tastes delicious, it cuts down your hunger pangs in the morning, it's a natural laxative, it tastes delicious, it gives you pep and oh yea, and it tastes delicious! Even more exciting is that coffee may actually have some real health benefits.

Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half, according to a study by Japanese scientists.

Researchers from Tokyo's National Cancer Center studied data from more than 96,000 men and women aged between 40-69 over a period of up to 12 years from 1990, a member of the team said on Wednesday. They found no significant benefit in men. [Sorry guys]…

Coffee is also good for your skin.

The combination of exercise and caffeine increased destruction of precancerous cells that had been damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet-B radiation, according to a team of researchers at Rutgers University.

Americans suffer a million new cases of skin cancer every year, according to the National Cancer Institute…

The researchers report in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science that they studied hairless mice in four groups. Some were fed water containing caffeine, some had wheels on which they could run, some had both and a control group had neither.

“The most dramatic and obvious difference between the groups came from the caffeine-drinking runners, a difference that can likely be attributed to some kind of synergy,” Conney said.

Compared with the control animals, those drinking caffeine had a 95 percent increase in apoptosis in damaged cells. The exercisers showed a 120 percent increase, and the mice that were both drinking and running showed a nearly 400 percent increase…

I suppose if you drink a vat of coffee a day it might have adverse affects but so does eating a vat of anything, so as the wise ancient Greeks used to say, moderation in all things.

I Agree with His Holiness?

2007-07-26T11:48:00.002-04:00

Could it be? Is the man making some kind of stone cold sense or is it just me?!

The pontiff, speaking as he was concluding his holiday in northern Italy, also said that while there is much scientific proof to support evolution, the theory could not exclude a role by God.
“They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other,” the pope said. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”

He said evolution did not answer all the questions: “Above all it does not answer the great philosophical question, ‘Where does everything come from?’”

Benedict also said the human race must listen to “the voice of the Earth” or risk destroying its very existence…

“We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth,” he said in a closed door meeting with 400 priests on Tuesday. A full transcript of the two-hour event was issued on Wednesday.

“We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us,” said the pope…

“This obedience to the voice of the Earth is more important for our future happiness ... than the desires of the moment. Our Earth is talking to us and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive,” he said.

U.S. Has Never Supported the Troops

2007-07-25T10:06:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I saw a special on TV, one of those Dateline, 20/20 type shows, that did an exposé on the VA hospitals across the US. What I saw was shocking. For better or worse, these men and women sacrifice themselves for this country and even though I may not agree with many of the conflicts we've started, our soldiers deserve to come back to the finest medical and psychiatric support that U.S. dollars can buy. Instead what the exposé uncovered was the dirtiest, scariest, most crowded, third-world looking hospitals you can imagine. In one of the more shocking instances, they showed a surveillance video of a man whose limbs were shot off during some war. A nurse comes over to his bed and simply places a tray of food in front of him and walks out of the room. How was he supposed to reach that food with no arms?

Let’s face facts, this country has never supported the troops. We use them up and spit them out. They give their bodies to whatever cause we send them to and they come back to nothing. This happened in Vietnam and it’s happening still.

Now Veterans are suing the U.S. over "shameful failures" in their medical care.

The many medical claims by veterans of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has completely overwhelmed the American government, leading to "shameful failures" in treatment, a class-action lawsuit filed on Monday alleged.

"Because of those failures, hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered grievous injuries fighting in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being abandoned," according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

More than 1.5 million U.S. service members have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001.

Repeated and extended deployments to war zones have driven a rise in post-traumatic stress among troops. But Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department lack the resources and staff to help service members, according to recent reports.

The filing by two veterans groups sued various officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and challenged the constitutionality of a 1988 law establishing various VA practices. The two plaintiff organizations represent about 12,000 American veterans.

"Unless systemic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the costs to these veterans, their families, and our nation will be incalculable, including broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in drug abuse and alcoholism, and crushing burdens on the health care delivery system and other social services in our communities," the suit said.

The suit said the Department of Veterans Affairs faced a backlog of 600,000 claims, with some veterans dying while waiting to settle claims. It also claimed the VA was unable to deal with the growing number of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cases…

UPDATE 7/25/07

A presidential panel on military and veterans health care released a report Wednesday concluding that the system was insufficient for the demands of two modern wars and called for improvements, including far-reaching changes in the way the government determines the disability status and benefits of injured soldiers and veterans.
The bipartisan commission made 35 recommendations that included expanded and improved treatment of traumatic brain injuries and the type of post-traumatic stress disorders that overwhelmed public mental healt facilities during the Vietnam era but remain stigmatized to this day.
President Bush told reporters at the White House late Wednesday that he had directed Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary, and Jim Nicholson, secretary of veterans affairs, “to take them seriously, and to implement them, so that we can say with certainty that any soldier who has been hurt will get the best possible care and treatment that this government can offer.”
The commission said fully carrying out its recommendations would cost $500 million a year for the time being, and $1 billion annually years from now as the current crop of fresh veterans and active military members ages and new personnel is in place.

Hopefully some good news. Read the details of this new plan here.

These are the kinds of stories that make us hate the Republican agenda

2007-01-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

I find it pitiful when the lower and middle classes align themselves with the Right on an economic level. Do you think that they are looking out for your best interest? Your precious tax dollars? No! They want to squash your American dream and keep the pockets of the rich and super rich consistently lined with gold.

Oh Reaganomics, what hast thou done to my country?

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the Democrats from fulfilling a campaign promise to increase the federal minimum wage, demanding that the pay hike include tax relief for small business.

On a vote of 54-43, Democrats fell six short of the 60 needed to end debate and go to passage of a House-approved bill, to raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade -- boosting it over two years to $7.25 per hour from $5.15…

With the gap between rich and poor widening, Democrats promised a minimum wage increase as a part of the campaign that saw them win control of the Congress from Bush's Republicans in last November's elections.

"Millions of Americans who earn the minimum wage have been waiting a decade for a much-deserved raise," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Democrat. "Incredibly, Senate Republicans would have them wait even longer."

Republicans have cited studies that say an increase would drive people out of work and hurt the economy.

But Democrats counter that a modest increase would cause no significant job loss. They have also noted a survey that found most small businesses believe it would not hurt them. Most already pay above it.

At $5.15 per hour, a person working 40 hours per week makes $10,712 per year, about $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three…