Blair's Torture

Some very revealing leaked documents that put the lie to Tony Blair's denials that the UK shares our policy of torturing folks. Be sure to spread the link to as many as you can, because this may not be up for very long.

How long will Blair spend in hell for his moral cowardice and hypocrisy?

I Approve

Bin Laden's American-born niece will be doing some posing.




Naturally, my first reason is that she's hot, but the fact this may make that repressed, misogynist slimeball writhe...well, I can't really argue with that.

(Don't misunderstand me; I despise equally he, Bush and all other upper-class bastards who make the world suffer)

Speaking of Monkeys and Men...

From the always-fascinating Soviet archives, the (admittedly dubious) news that the Soviet government in 1926 authorized a project to cross-breed humans and apes so as to create, well, super-soldiers. Which, unsurprisingly, failed.

How did the USSR last as long as it did with so much money and resources diverted to pseudoscientific charlatans like this over so many years?

Science Wins

What, do you creationists think the rest of us are idiots?

Well, usually we are. But not in this case. Not even a nice try.

One of my favorite quotes from the judge:

"The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board [who have since been voted out--JLR] who voted for the ID policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID policy."

More such quotes here for your amusement.

Texas: Killing The Fully Conscious

The Christian Right will get up in arms about a totally brain-dead woman being taken off life support in Florida. What about a fully-conscious 27-year-old girl in Texas with cancer who simply can't pay for her care? Because Texas, which allows such killing if the hospital deems it financially expedient for themselves, just did this, under a law Bush approved while still governor.

Think it would have made a difference if this woman had not been East African? Because some months ago I wrote here about a similar incident and lo and behold, the patient the doctors killed was black.

If Terri Schiavo were black, do you think the Christian Righties would have rallied to her aid?

And isn't denying life support to a fully-conscious patient against their and their family's wishes cold-blooded murder?

Unclean Spirit, CNN Casts Thee OUT

Cheers ring across the skies as Novak has at last been tossed out of CNN. What took them so long?

And could the timing have anything to do with Novak's statement earlier in the week that Bush knows who the Plame leaker was? There's nobody the administration fucks over faster than one of their own flying monkeys when they betray them.

Come to think of it, one wonders: it's mostly their own they choose to persecute, isn't it? But then, those are the only people they pay attention to. The rest of us may still only be enjoying free speech because the Bush administration isn't listening.

Lower and Lower

Appears Judith Miller is an even more odious person than she appeared. In 1993(as she herself reported in her 1996 book God Has Ninety-Nine Names), she aided--though she doesn't seem to have looked at it that way, or indeed even reflected on it much--in the interrogation of a Hamas prisoner, which may have involved torture.

Should journalists participate in this kind of thing?

No.

As I said before: what an unprincipled cunt. (I would say "bitch" but Miller would probably take it as a compliment)

I Bet Rumsfeld Will Soon Resign

Not only did he look petulant and bitter in a press conference yesterday(in almost a "you won't have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore" way), but George Bush said this about him to Fox News' Brit Hume:

"He's done a heck of a job...Well, the end of my term is a long time, but I'll tell you, he's doing a heck of a good job. I have no intention of changing him."

Rumsfeld is toast. We'll see whether it's because he wants to spend more time with his family or if he's concerned about his health, but I'll bet he's gone before the SOTU speech.

Boo Fucking Hoo

Bay Area newspapers are whining that Craigslist's free ads are costing them money, and reporters their jobs.

Please. Cry me a river.

Newspapers have been declining ever since...forever, but particularly since the rise of the web and the ability to get news from many sources, rather than being a captive audience for whatever paper happens to be in your city.

Is it bad for the reader to be able to get news from many different sources, to compare coverage, to be able to find out what's bullshit easily and quickly?

No. It's not. And newspapers have been losing audience themselves in their misguided attempts to increase revenue, such as "news you can use"--i.e. consumer news--being more supported than investigative journalism. What investigative journalism there is, is tainted; look at the NYT. Look at your Howell Raines, your Jayson Blair, your Judy Miller, your--god help us all--Bob Woodward. And most newspapers--like most MSM outlets these days--are really not much more than the mouthpieces of large corporations, who filter and spin according to their own economic agendas. Which have no bearing on the public's right to know.

Except when it comes to celebrity news, newspapers haven't cared about the public's right to know in a long time, and finally sealed their fate when they and the networks chose to help Bush in his lies about Iraq. You reap what you sow. We simply don't trust the MSM anymore and information is available elsewhere, and of course if one can post classifieds for free one will do it; is an industry's inability to compete our problem?

Who lost the faith and loyalty of readers? They did, themselves, through their spineless, blinkered greed. The MSM no longer serves the noble function it purports to; they themselves violated the sacred trust they like to trumpet now. The only time you ever hear them standing on that principle, it's not for the sake of the public, but of their own careers and their access to politicians, which they will not sacrifice for anything. Particularly not the truth, because that's whatever a reporter says it is, isn't it?

There are still many great reporters, but the industry they belong to has corrupted itself into dangerous irrelevance. The industry did this to themselves; why should we weep?

Fear for a free press? When was the last time the MSM was that? I suspect that we'll have a freer press once reporting is freed from its deal with the corporate devil.

Permanent Illegal Majority

From the Washington Post department of I Told You So:

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

These people belong under a prison.