Saturday, February 28, 2009
Rachael Maddow is... GAY? Duh?!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Watermelon White House Email from Mayor
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mail-price-public-2317355-apology-people
Alright now racial stereotypes can be funny but I refuse to believe that this man didn't know that black people liking watermelon is a stereotype. Just like chicken and grape soda. Come on. We all have heard of those. It's just like Spanish people love beans and rice, tacos or what have you. Asians love rice. Etc etc. If you're going to make a joke based off those things then that's fine. Just know people are going to be a little upset because of the racial inclincations such pictures could bring up based on the person. Again, just like the other picture, it doesn't offend me. But people need to open their eyes and realize not everyone is as laid back as me. When are we going to implement my ask a black dude approach? Here's Chappelle for some comic relief:
Kellogg Damaged by Dumping Phelps
photo from: http://www.businessinsider.com/dumping-phelps-over-bong-rip-damages-kelloggs-brand-reputation-2009-2
According to Vanno, " the most accurate, unbiased measure of company reputation online"(according to their own website.... so take that as you will) ever since Phelps got sacked the reputation of Kellogg has been tarnished. While that's all well and good I'd hope that Kellogg is losing money as well. I mean let's be real about it. Are they going to really give a shit if people are pissed at them as long as folks are stil spending money on Raisin Bran and Wheaties? The answer is obviously not. So I urge you to buy Post or even the name brand cereal next time you shop. And fuck McDonald's too.
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The Razzies
Awesome....
And The Razzie Results! Screw the Oscars!
RAZZIE® Voters Love GURU,
Go Gaga Over Paris & Uwe Boll
At least someone loved THE LOVE GURU. Voters for The 29th Annual RAZZIE Awards spread the dis-honors around this year, but gave several of their berry biggest trophies to one of 2008’s most notorious box office losers, Mike Myers’ misbegotten, far-from-mystical “comedy” THE LOVE GURU. In addition to being named the year’s Worst Picture, GURU also received spray-painted gold for its screenplay and Myers as Worst Actor, in intentionally tacky ceremonies held on “Oscar Eve” at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood.
But the former SNL star wasn’t the year’s biggest RAZZIE winner/loser. That dis-stink-tion belongs to “sex-tape-celeb-utant” Paris Hilton, who tied Eddie Murphy’s hat-trick from 2007, taking a record-tying 3 trophies in a single year. For her “starring” performance in Worst Picture nominee THE HOTTIE & THE NOTTIE (which Hilton herself executive-produced) the air-headed heiress was gonged for both Worst Actress and as part of the year’s Worst Screen Couple (along with co-stars Christine Lakin and Joel David Moore). And for her mostly-left-on-the-cutting-room floor cameo in the “slasher musical” REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, she was chosen Worst Supporting Actress.
Others roundly RAZZed in the 90-minute Oscar parody included Pierce Brosnan as Worst Supporting Actor for his tone-deaf turn in MAMMA MIA! The year’s third-biggest grossing (and most disappointing) movie INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL “won” as Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel and world-class worst movie-maker Uwe Boll took both the 2008 Worst Director RAZZIE® (for 3 titles) and a well-deserved special Worst Career Achievement dis-honor. For a complete list of this year’s “winners” click here.
“Winners” were determined by mailing ballots to 657 voters in 45 U.S. states and 19 foreign countries. The RAZZIES® were created in 1980 as a logical antidote to Tinsel Town’s annual glut of self-congratulatory awards by John Wilson, author of THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE and EVERYTHING I KNOW I LEARNED AT THE MOVIES. The Barnsdall Theatre is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
For more information on the awards’ history, or to arrange an interview with Wilson, please visit the official RAZZIE® web site www.razzies.com or contact HeadRAZZberry@razzies.com
29th Annual Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE®) Award “Winners”Man, all I gotta say is The Happening got robbed son!
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Social Websites Harming Children's Brains?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
Baroness Greenfield(how bout that name right?) the neuroscientist who is making such claims has a point. Myspace, facebook, twitter, what have you, are all capable of said behavior. Not too mention the violence that has happened because people get a wee bit too into something someone has said or posted online. I think the comparison of how man use to be so involved in their food made in the article to how people commnicate now is genius. I know people, mostly in ATL, who won't answer their phones but are quick to respond to a text if you send one. Worse than that people who'll only respond to emails! What happened to actually TALKING to one another? I rather prefer a phone call from time to time. Much more personal. Sign of the times I suppose.
McDonald's Employee Refused Worker's Comp
Now I know you may say he shouldn't have gotten involved but damn son. All those BILLIONS of dollars and they cant pay his medical bills? Sure 300 grand is a lot but how the hell is he suppose to pay that WORKING AT MCDONALDS! WTF man, pay that boys bills McDonald's.
25 Things I Learned Last Year Dealing with the Opposite Sex
It's a slow news day.
1. Never turn a girl down if she wants to come home with you. It'll be the last time you see her. Even if you'd like to be friends.
2. If a girl is a freak, acts like a freak, and you have knowledge through a friend and strangers that she's a freak, don't call her on that shit. It'll be the last time you see her. Even if you'd like to be friends.
3. The minute you start dating someone everyone wants to get in your pants, but you can be single FOREVER and women leave you the hell alone. WTF.
4. If you're friends with a girl for a reeeeeaaalllyyy long time and you end up sleeping with her, make sure you're willing for that to be the last time you see her without it being "weird" if you ever see her at all.
5. No matter what you do, you'll always be wrong or better yet, "misunderstood"
6. Never go in with expectations. As a matter of fact, the lower you keep them the better. That way you're rarely disappointed.
7. If you just smile and ask questions, she'll think you're interested. All the while you're thinking about futbol or some random song lyric.
8. If a girl starts flirting with you, and she has a man, or better yet a husband, don't flirt back. It'll only cause problems or ill communication in the future.
9. If a girl is ridiculously good looking, and smart, then she's crazy or has severe emotional problems. Or not cool crazy, but single white female crazy.
10. You can be nice but don't be the nice guy.
11. If you're constantly trying to see a girl and she never has time for you but always has a good excuse, she's lying to you to be with someone else.
12. No girl is worth losing a good friend. Especially when the girl wasn't a good friend to you in the first place.
13. Some of the sweetest girls you'll meet are some of the biggest liars and heart breakers you'll meet.
14. If her brother says, she says, you tried to "force yourself on her" bring her into the conversation BEFORE the violence erupts.
15. Don't try to pick up sober girls drunk.
16. The louder they are the more you can rest assure they're trying to make up for something.
17. The coolest chicks are the quiet ones. They're also the craziest. Cool crazy tho.
18. Don't date a girl you met at the bar.
19. Don't try and pick up girls while they're working. Unless they make moves like they wanna do something later. Don't confuse that for trying to get a better tip tho.
20. You can only be 100% truthful with a girl who's ready for that shit. You can't be too real right off the bat or you're done son.
21. You can give a girl advice but she's gonna do the opposite so why bother?
22. If you pay for a concert, drinks, parking, etc etc.... don't assume you're going to get laid. Even if you spent down near a whole check.
23. An open relationship means she can do whatever she wants until her b.f finds out and wants your nuts on a platter.
24. If you offer to buy a girl a drink and she says she's gay bt accepts the drink and you end up going home with her then she's bi.
25. Stalker chicks are not cute. Some people don't know when it's o-v-e-r.
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
OUTFOXED:Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
I watch Fox news when I want a good laugh or feel like getting upset. I know it's for conservatives(and that this doc is obviously from a left point of view) but while that's a well and fine, they could at least report the truth. They really blur the lines of news reporting. I found this after a search on Rupert Murdoch. Even if you don't watch the entire video watch the FIRST FIVE MINUTES. Murdoch owns A LOT of media. It's a bit ridiculous....
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
New York Post Chimp Cartoon
Ok. I don't know why this is such a big deal(or why the picture cuts the monkey out of the frame... click on the picture to see the full shot) Back story for those of you who don't know, the chimp is poking fun at this story that ran in the NY Post:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/news/regionalnews/bizarre_animal_attack_in_stamford_155493.htm
Now we have people, like Al Sharpton, all upset over a simple cartoon. C'mon Al... see this is why I have to give Sharpton grief. Can't he find ANYTHING else to talk about? There are REAL injustices going on all over the country dealing with black people. This cartoon isn't one of them. This reminds me of the "that one" McCain B.S. People were so upset about that but it wasn't that serious to me.
I mean I'm not saying this cartoon is appropriate at all. If anything it was done in very poor taste. I mean it's no secret cops shoot their fair share of black people(OSCAR GRANT). And it's no secret some inbred ignoramuses refer to black people as monkeys. Sooooo is the cartoon offensive to me? Not really... but I do think they should have thought about this one more. I can see how people would be upset. Because despite what the paper said, as well as the artist, anyone who sees this comic and doesn't think it's implying shoot Obama is lying.
Perhaps now that Obama is President all media outlets should start a new job for relations with the public. Hire a black dude in his mid 20s to early 40s and ask him if he deems something offensive. If he does then don't do it. If he doesn't then have a ball! Sound like a good plan?
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Stimulus broke down
Here's one for the money being spent......
http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-plan-a-detailed-list-of-spending
And the other third of tax breaks.....
http://www.propublica.org/special/stimulus-plan-taxcut-list
Here's Sen. Ron Paul's comments which I happen to agree with
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"Don't Talk to the Police" by Prof James Duane
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And the police rebuttal.....
Cell Phones Being Used As Bugs
Damn... this shit is deep son....
Read the articles by way of the link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/03/google_eavesdropping_software/
Google is GOD. It'll be the new religion after 2012. I mean, I don't know about you.... but if I need to know anything, be it directions somewhere, or who sang that one song "My Funny Valentine"..... I usually google it. If that article is true then pretty soon the Google worship will be mandatory. I'm kidding of course but it does make you think...
And Comcast(big surprise there!)
http://newteevee.com/2008/03/18/comcast-cameras-to-start-watching-you/
I mean damn.... TV that recognizes you. What? So you're telling me I turn on the tele and it's going to mold my TV experience for me? That's just a wee bit creepy. It reminds me of when Tivo got popular and someone I knew had it. We were conversing on the topic and this person mentioned that the Tivo would just start recording things based off of what you were watching already. I thought that was crazy! I mean it's cool but strange isn't it? It's like TV with soeme sort of psychological link to you. Based off of what you're watching it suggests new things to watch? And as far as the camera in the box, I'm good on that. Comi-cast can keep it. That's where I draw the line.
As far as the previous story about the camera in the convert box I still cant find anything substantial but if I do I'll let you guys know
L8rs
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NSA Spies on "Everyone"...you're kidding right?
"The National Security Agency had access to all Americans' communications -- faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications," Tice claimed. "It didn't matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications."
Here's a link to the story.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Whistleblower_Bushs_NSA_targeted_reporters_0121.html
And here's the video of Tice on "Countdown" with my main man Keith Olbermann. If you get MSNBC you should watch his show. I don't watch a lot of news on TV but I love me some Olbermann. Enjoy!
Cameras in Digital Convert Boxes?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Right America: Feeling Wronged
PEOPLE THINK OBAMA IS THE ANTI-CHRIST OF AS BAD AS ADOLF HITLER.
Can you think of anything more Un-American than that? I mean honestly man that's really messed up. I mean I really have a strong dislike for George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Bush Sr, and Dick Cheney but I wouldn't go as far as calling them Hitler. This aside from the fact some might say they've done there share of ethic cleansing(Katirna, and Iraq for example).
But the real part that's totally fucked is these people ARE REAL. These aren't actors. This isn't a film of fiction. It's a documentary. My friends, as McCain would say, is very sad and some what frightening. I mean Ms. Pelosi talked to folks down here in the south(Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas) and there were grown men CRYING TEARS at the thought of Obama winning the election. Some of them openly used the n word in reference to then Sen. Obama. I believe one fellow even sad he thinks things should go back the way they use to be when blacks AND WOMEN couldn't vote. Let's be real about that. There's no sugar coating that kind of bigotry. And while I'm all for people having the right to do and say what they please that's disgusting. Period.
So for all my right wing, conservative, christian friends who are upset that Obama IS the President let us both pray that his legacy isn't any worse than W's. Because the entire time I watched this all I could think of was that these people had to have voted for W. Here's a good Olbermann clip to remind you of the good W did while in office. I present 8 years in 8 minutes.
There's your benevolent Bush in all his glory. Now, if Obama is any worse than that Ill gladly apologise for voting for Barack. Somehow I think I'll be fine. Thanks for reading and check out Lauren's post on this for the official times of showing on HBO:
http://lachabenn.blogspot.com/2009/02/right-america-feeling-wronged.html
Back to the books. Sorry bout the type-os!
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Medical Fascism Hidden in the Stimulus Bill or not?
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Republican Senators are
questioning whether President Barack Obama’s
stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks
and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.
Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to
the health provisions slipped in without
discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork
of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to
head the Health and Human Services Department.
Senators should read these provisions and vote
against them because they are dangerous to your
health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf
version).
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual
in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your
medical treatments will be tracked electronically
by a federal system. Having electronic medical
records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a
hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate
tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy,
the National Coordinator of Health Information
Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure
your doctor is doing what the federal government
deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is
to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s
decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the
stimulus bill are virtually identical to what
Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical:
What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.”
According to Daschle, doctors have to give up
autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo
practitioners.”
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical
findings is important, but enforcing uniformity
goes too far.
New Penalties
Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful
users” of the new system will face penalties.
“Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That
will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be
empowered to impose “more stringent measures
of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)
What penalties will deter your doctor from going
beyond the electronically delivered protocols
when your condition is atypical or you need an
experimental treatment? The vagueness is
intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an
appointed body with vast powers to make the
“tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.
The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal
Coordinating Council for Comparative
Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal,
Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the
development and use of new medications and
technologies because they are driving up costs.
He praises Europeans for being more willing to
accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo
experimental treatments,” and he chastises
Americans for expecting too much from the
health-care system.
Elderly Hardest Hit
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain
free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the
conditions that come with age instead of treating
them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe
and effective. The stimulus bill would change that
and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the
Federal Council (464).
The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K.
board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board
approves or rejects treatments using a formula
that divides the cost of the treatment by the
number of years the patient is likely to benefit.
Treatments for younger patients are more often
approved than treatments for diseases that affect
the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly
patients with macular degeneration had to wait
until they went blind in one eye before they could
get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It
took almost three years of public protests before
the board reversed its decision.
Hidden Provisions
If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus
bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors
in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders
of the system say that individuals benefit in
younger years and sacrifice later.
The stimulus bill will affect every part of health
care, from medical and nursing education, to how
patients are treated and how much hospitals get
paid. The bill allocates more funding for this
bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines,
and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).
Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is
intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton
administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and
attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year
ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should
act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If
that means attaching a health-care plan to the
federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too
important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”
More Scrutiny Needed
On Friday, President Obama called it
“inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to
delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill
needs more scrutiny.
The health-care industry is the largest employer in
the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the
nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats
health care the way European governments do: as
a cost problem instead of a growth industry.
Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the
electronics or auto industry during this downturn.
This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the
economy.
(Betsy McCaughey is former lieutenant governor
of New York and is an adjunct senior fellow at
the Hudson Institute. The opinions expressed are
her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Betsy McCaughey at Betsymross@aol.com
And Olbermann's piece:
So there you have it.
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Censored 2009: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08
This is the 3rd time I've tried to post this. Sometimes I swear someone's screwing with me over the interwebs...... anyways...
This is the title to a book I ran across in Barnes and Noble this past weekend. The stories should have garnered some sort of attention on a national level but there are more important things going on like missing white girls, OJ Simpson, yadda yadda yadda. I'd like for you to check out the wbesite which lists all these stories as well as the source. It's well worth your time.
L8rs
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10411
1. How many Iraqis have died?
Nobody knows exactly how many lives the Iraq War has claimed. But even more astounding is that few journalists have mentioned the issue or cited the top estimate: 1.2
million.
During August and September 2007, Opinion Research Business, a British polling group, surveyed 2,414 adults in 15 of 18 Iraqi provinces and found that more
than 20 percent had experienced at least one war-related death since
March 2003. Using common sociological study methods, they determined
that as many as 1.2 million people had been killed since the war began.
2. NAFTA on Steroids
Coupling the perennial issue of security with Wall Street’s measures of prosperity, the leaders of the three North American nations have convened the Security
and Prosperity Partnership. The White House-led initiative—launched at
a March 23, 2005, meeting of President George Bush, Mexico’s
then-president Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul
Martin—joins beefed-up commerce with coordinated military operations to
promote what it calls “borderless unity.”
Critics call it “NAFTA on steroids.” However, unlike NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the SPP has been formed in secret, without public input.
“The SPP is not a law, or a treaty, or even a signed agreement,” Laura
Carlsen wrote in a report for the Center for International Policy. “All
these would require public debate and participation of Congress, both
of which the SPP has scrupulously avoided.
3. InfraGard Guards Itself
The FBI and Departmentof Homeland Security have effectively deputized 23,000 members of the business community, asking them to tip off the feds in exchange for preferential treatment in the event of a crisis. “The members of this
rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of
terrorist threats before the public does—and, at least on one occasion,
before elected officials,” Matthew Rothschild wrote in the March 2008
issue of The Progressive.
InfraGard was created in 1996 in Cleveland as part of an FBI probe into cyberthreats. Yet after 9/11, membership jumped from 1,700 to more than 23,000, and now includes 350 of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies. Members typically have a stake in one of several crucial infrastructure industries,
including agriculture, banking, defense, energy, food,
telecommunications, law enforcement and transportation. Eighty-six
chapters coordinate with 56 FBI field offices nationwide.
4. ILEA: Training Ground for Illegal Wars?
The School of the Americas earned an unsavory reputation in Latin America after many graduates of the Fort Benning, Ga., facility turned into
counterinsurgency death squad leaders. So the International Law
Enforcement Academy recently installed by the United States in El
Salvador—which looks, acts and smells like the SOA—is also drawing
scorn.
The school, which opened in June 2005, before the Salvadoran National Assembly had even approved it, has a satellite operation in Peru and is funded with $3.6 million from the U.S. Treasury and staffed with instructors from the DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI, and tasked with
annually training 1,500 police officers, judges, prosecutors and other
law enforcement agents in counterterrorism techniques. Its stated
purpose is to make Latin America “safe for foreign investment” by
“providing regional security and economic stability and combating
crime.”
5. Seizing Protest
Protesting war could get you into big trouble, according to a critical read of two executive orders recently signed by Bush. The first, issued July 17, 2007, and
titled, “Blocking property of certain persons who threaten
stabilization efforts in Iraq,” allows the feds to seize assets from
anyone who “directly or indirectly” poses a risk to the war in Iraq.
And, citing the modern technological ease of transferring funds and
assets, the order states that no prior notice is necessary before the
raid.
On Aug. 1, Bush signed another order, similar but directed toward anyone undermining the “sovereignty of Lebanon or its democratic processes and institutions.” In this case, the secretary of Treasury can seize the assets of anyone
perceived as posing a risk of violence, as well as the assets of their
spouses and dependents, and bans them all from receiving any
humanitarian aid.
6. Radicals=Terrorists
On Oct. 23, 2007, the House overwhelmingly passed, by a vote of 404-6, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, designed to rootout the causes of radicalization in Americans.
With an estimated four-year cost of $22 million, the act establishes a 10-member National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, as well as a university-based Center of Excellence “to
examine the social, criminal, political, psychological and economic
roots of domestic terrorism,” according to the bill’s author, Rep. Jane
Harman (D-Calif.). During debate on the bill, Harman said, “Free
speech, espousing even very radical beliefs, is protected by our
Constitution—but violent behavior is not.”
Jessica Lee, writing in The Indypendent, pointed out that, later, Harman stated: “The National Commission {will} propose to both Congress and {Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael} Chertoff initiatives to intercede before radicalized individuals turn violent.”
7. Slavery’s Runner-Up
About 121,000 people legally enter the United States to work every year with H-2 visas, a program legislators are modeling as part of future immigration reform.
But Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) called this guest worker program “the
closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center likened it to “modern-day indentured servitude.” They interviewed thousands of guest workers and reviewed legal cases for a report released in March 2007, in which authors Mary Bauer and Sarah Reynolds wrote, “Unlike U.S. citizens, guest workers do not enjoy the
most fundamental protection of a competitive labor market—the ability
to change jobs if they are mistreated. Instead, they are bound to the
employers who ‘import’ them. If guest workers complain about abuses,
they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation.”
8. Bush Changes the Rules
The Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice
has been issuing classified legal opinions about surveillance for
several years. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen.
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) had access to DOJ opinions regarding
presidential power and he had three declassified in order to show how
the judicial branch has, in a bizarre and chilling way, assisted Bush
in circumventing its own power.
According to the three memos:
1. “There is no constitutional requirement for a president to issue a new executive
order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous
executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the president
has instead modified or waived it;”
2. “The president, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the president’s authority
under Article II,” and
3. “The Department of Justice is bound by the president’s legal determinations.”
Or, as Whitehouse rephrased them in a Dec. 7, 2007, Senate speech: “I don’t have to follow my own rules, and I don’t have to tell you when I’m breaking
them. I get to determine what my own powers are. The Department of
Justice doesn’t tell me what the law is. I tell the Department of
Justice what the law is.”
9. Soldiers Speak Out
Hearing soldiers recount their war experiences is the closest many people come to understanding the real horror, pain and confusion of combat. One would think that
might make compelling copy or powerful footage for a news outlet, but
in March, when more than 300 veterans from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan convened for four days of public testimony, the media
largely ignored them.
Winter Soldier was designed to give soldiers a public forum to air some of the atrocities they witnessed. Originally convened by Vietnam Vets Against the War in January 1971, more than 100 Vietnam veterans and 16 civilians described
their war experiences, including rapes, torture, brutalities and
killing of non-combatants. The testimony was entered into the
congressional record and filmed and shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
10. APA Helps CIA Torture
Psychologists have been assisting the CIA and the U.S. military with interrogation and torture of Guantanamo detainees—which the American Psychological Association has said is fine—in spite of objections from many of its 148,000
members.
A 10-member APA task force convened on the divisive issue in July 2005 and found that assistance from psychologists was making the interrogations safe and
they deferred to American standards on torture over international
human-rights definitions.
11. El Salvador's Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
Salvadoran police violently captured community leaders and residents at
a July 2007 demonstration against the privatization of El Salvador’s
water supply and distribution systems. Close range shooting of rubber
bullets and tear gas was used against community members for protesting
the rising cost, and diminishing access and quality, of local water
under privatization. Fourteen were arrested and charged with terrorism,
a charge that can hold a sixty-year prison sentence, under El
Salvador’s new “Anti-terrorism Law,” which is based on the USA PATRIOT
Act. While criminalization of political expression and social protest
signals an alarming danger to the peace and human rights secured by
Salvadorans since its brutal twelve-year civil war, the US government
publicly supports the Salvadoran government and the passage of the
draconian anti-terrorism law that took effect October 2006.
12. Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
The architect of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), President Bush’s first
senior education advisor, Sandy Kress, has turned the program, which
has consistently proven disastrous in the realm of education, into a
huge success in the realm of corporate profiteering. After ushering
NCLB through the US House of Representatives in 2001 with no public
hearings, Kress went from lawmaker—turning on spigots of federal
funds—to lobbyist, tapping into those billions of dollars in federal
funds for private investors well connected to the Bush administration.
13. Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
Beginning in April 2003, one month after the invasion of Iraq, and
continuing for little more than a year, the United States Federal
Reserve shipped $12 billion in US currency to Iraq. The US military
delivered the bank notes to the Coalition Provisional Authority, to be
dispensed for Iraqi reconstruction. At least $9 billion is unaccounted
for due to a complete lack of oversight.
14. Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons production sites are being
dumped into regular landfills, and are available for recycling and
resale. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has tracked
the Department of Energy’s (DOE) release of radioactive scrap,
concrete, equipment, asphalt, chemicals, soil, and more, to unaware and
unprepared recipients such as landfills, commercial businesses, and
recreation areas. Under the current system, the DOE releases
contaminated materials directly, sells them at auctions or through
exchanges, or sends the materials to processors who can release them
from radioactive controls. The recycling of these materials—for reuse
in the production of everyday household and personal items such as
zippers, toys, furniture, and automobiles, or to build roads, schools,
and playgrounds—is increasingly common.
15. Worldwide Slavery
Twenty-seven million slaves exist in the world today, more than at any
time in human history. Globalization, poverty, violence, and greed
facilitate the growth of slavery, not only in the Third World, but in
the most developed countries as well. Behind the façade in any major
town or city in the world today, one is likely to find a thriving
commerce in human beings.
As many as 800,000 are trafficked across international borders
annually, and up to 17,500 new victims are trafficked across US borders
each year, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). More than
30,000 additional slaves are transported through the US on their ways
to other international destinations. Attorneys from the DOJ have
prosecuted ninety-one slave trade cases in cities across the United
States and in nearly every state of the nation.
16. Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
The first Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights to be
published by the year-old International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC) documents enormous challenges to workers rights around the
world. The 2007 edition of the survey, covering 138 countries, shows an
alarming rise in the number of people killed as a result of their trade
union activities, from 115 in 2005 to 144 in 2006. Many more trade
unionists around the world were abducted or “disappeared.” Thousands
were arrested during the year for their parts in strike action and
protests, while thousands of others were fired in retaliation for
organizing. Growing numbers of trade union activists in Africa, the
Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific are facing police brutality and
murder as unions are viewed as opponents of corporatist governments.
17. United Nations' Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
In September 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the
Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The
resolution called for recognition of the world’s 370 million indigenous
peoples’ right to self-determination and control over their lands and
resources. The adoption of this resolution comes after twenty-two years
of diplomatic negotiations at the United Nations (UN) involving its
member states, international civil society groups, and representatives
of the world’s aboriginal communities.
The declaration emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain
and strengthen their institutions, cultures, and traditions, and to
pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and
aspirations. The declaration was passed by an overwhelming majority
vote of 143–4. Only the United States, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand voted against the resolution, expressing the view that strong
emphasis on rights to indigenous self-determination and control over
lands and resources would hinder economic development and undermine
“established democratic norms.”
18. Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
In states across the country, child advocates have harshly condemned
the conditions under which young offenders are housed—conditions that
involve sexual abuse, physical abuse, and even death. The US Justice
Department (DOJ) has filed lawsuits against facilities in eleven states
for supervision that is either abusive or harmfully negligent. While
the DOJ lacks the power to shut down juvenile correction facilities,
through litigation it can force a state to improve its detention
centers and protect the civil rights of jailed youth.
19. Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
The industrial model of livestock production is causing the worldwide
destruction of animal diversity. At least one indigenous livestock
breed becomes extinct each month as a result of overreliance on select
breeds imported from the United States and Europe, according to the
study, “The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources,” conducted
by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Since research for
the report began in 1999, 2,000 local breeds have been identified as at
risk.
20. Marijuana Arrests Set New Records
For the fourth year in a row, US marijuana arrests set an all-time
record, according to 2006 FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests
in 2006 totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005. At current
rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every thirty-eight seconds, with
marijuana arrests comprising nearly 44 percent of all drug arrests in
the United States. According to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of
the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), over 8
million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges during the
past decade, while arrests for cocaine and heroine have declined
sharply.
21. NATO Considers "First Strike" Nuclear Option
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officials are considering a
first strike nuclear option to be used anywhere in the world a threat
may arise. Former armed force chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany,
France, and the Netherlands authored a 150-page blueprint calling for
urgent reform of NATO, and a new pact drawing the US, NATO, and the
European Union (EU) together in a “grand strategy” to tackle the
challenges of an “increasingly brutal world.” The authors of the plan
insist that “the first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver
of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons
of mass destruction.” The manifesto was presented to the Pentagon in
Washington and to NATO’s secretary general in mid-January 2008. The
proposals are likely to be discussed at a NATO summit in Bucharest in
April 2008.
22. CARE Rejects US Food Aid
In August 2007, one of the biggest and best-known American charity
organizations, CARE, announced that it was turning down $45 million a
year in food aid from the United States government. CARE claims that
the way US aid is structured causes rather than reduces hunger in the
countries where it is received. The US budgets $2 billion a year for
food aid, which buys US crops to feed populations facing starvation
amidst crisis or enduring chronic hunger.
23. FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutial Drugs
While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) turns a blind eye, drug
companies are making false, unsubstantiated, and misleading claims in
their advertising, often withholding mandated disclosure of dangerous
side effects. Though companies are required to submit their
advertisements to the FDA, the agency does not review them before they
are released to the public. A Government Accountability Office report
released November 2006 found that the FDA reviews only a small portion
of the advertisements it receives, and does not review them using
consistent criteria.
Claiming lack of funds and resources necessary to impose effective
regulations on drug marketing, the FDA is asking Congress to charge
drug companies fees in order to fund FDA review of advertisements
before they go public as part of renewing the Prescription Drug User
Fee Act (PDUFA). PDUFA has come under fire from consumer advocates who
say it gives the pharmaceutical industry too much leverage over the FDA
and has resulted in rushing drugs to market. But the FDA hopes that if
Congress approves the plan, it will raise more than $6 million annually
through “user fees” to review advertisements.
24. Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror
Testimony in the Japanese parliament, broadcast live on Japanese
television in January 2008, challenged the premise and validity of the
Global War on Terror. Parliament member Yukihisa Fujita insisted that
an investigation be conducted into the war’s origin: the events of
9/11.
In a parliament Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee session held to
debate the ethics of renewing Japan’s “anti-terror law,” which commits
Japan to providing logistical support for coalition forces operating in
Afghanistan, Fujita opened the session by stating, “I would like to
talk about the origin of this war on terrorism, which was the attacks
of 9/11, . . . When discussing these anti-terror laws we should ask
ourselves, what was 9/11? And what is terrorism?”
Fujita pointed out that, “So far the only thing the government has said
is that we think it was caused by al-Qaeda because President Bush told
us so. We have not seen any real proof that it was al-Qaeda.” He
reminded parliament that twenty-four Japanese citizens were killed on
9/11, yet the mandate of a criminal investigation by the Japanese
government never followed. “This is a crime so surely an investigation
needs to be carried out,” said Fujita (Censored 2008, #16).
25. Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer
The exposure of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer’s tryst with a
luxury call girl had little to do with the Bush administration’s high
moral standards for public servants. Author F. William Engdahl advises
that, “in evaluating spectacular scandals around prominent public
figures, it is important to ask what and who might want to eliminate
that person.” Timing suggests that Spitzer was likely a target of a
White House and Wall Street operation to silence one of its most
dangerous and vocal critics of their handling of the current financial
market crisis.
Spitzer had become increasingly public in blaming the Bush
administration for the subprime crisis. He testified in mid-February
before the US House of Representatives Financial Services subcommittee
and later that day, in a national CNBC interview, laid blame squarely
on the administration for creating an environment ripe for predatory
lenders.