NO Exit...NO Exit...Politcs, history, context and commentary for the discerning reader. 
Articles
Oh, the Banality of Evil, Inside the Mind of John Yoo.
2008-05-01 05:01:00 "It is the very nature of a democracy that it not only does, but should, fight with one hand tied behind its back. It is also in the nature of democracy that it prevails against its enemies precisely because it does." - Very Unserious Person*Yoo: The Geneva Conventions issue comes up around December of 2001 and gets settled January of 2002 -- that’s just the question of whether the Geneva Conventions apply -- this questions of cells versus open camps and do you provide them with all the same rights under the Geneva convention. That comes up before there is any issue of interrogation.Esquire: That’s disturbing to a lot of people because those conventions were difficult to achieve and we prosecuted the Nazis for war crimes. Was that difficult for you?Yoo: Actually, everyone in the government agreed that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to al Qaeda. The thing we were arguing about was whether it applied to the Taliban. But no one dissented that Geneva applied to al Qaeda. I’m... More About: John , Mind , Evil , Inside , The Mind
It's So Hard to Find a Man of Integrity...
2008-04-29 05:54:00 Santa Claus wears a Red Suit,He must be a communist.And a beard and long hair, Must be a pacifist.What's in that pipe that he's smoking?- Arlo Guthrie More About: Find , Hard , Integrity
Torture Most Sublime...
2008-04-29 04:53:00 Justineby Marquis de Sade, 1791.Form flecked his lips as he spoke these words interspersed with revolting oaths and blasphemies. The hand, which had been prying open the shrine he seemed to want to attack, now strayed over all the adjacent parts; he scratched them, he did as much to my breast, he clawed me so badly I was not to get over the pain for a forthnight. Next, he placed me on the edge of the couch, rubbed alcohol upon that mossy tonsure with which Nature ornaments the altar wherein our species finds regeneration; he set it afire and burned it. His fingers closed upon the fleshy protuberance which surmounts this same altar, he snatched at it and scraped roughly, then he inserted his fingers within and his nails ripped the membrane which lines it. Losing all control over himself, he told me that, since he had me in his lair, I might just as well not leave it, for that would spare him the nuisance of bringing me back down again; I fell to my knees and dared remind him again of... More About: Torture , Sublime
One Long Damn Sentence... Russian Exuberance
2008-04-25 04:58:00 1. As though such a stone wall really were a consolation, and really did contain some word of conciliation, simply because it is as true as twice two makes four.2. Oh, absurdity of absurdities!3. How much better it is to understand it all, to recognise it all, all the impossibilities and the stonewall; not to be reconciled to one of those impossibilities and stone walls if it disgusts you to be reconciled to it; by the way of the most inevitable, logical combinations to reach the most revolting conclusions on the everlasting theme, that even for the stone wall you are yourself somehow to blame, though again it is as clear as day you are not to blame in the least, and therefore grinding your teeth in silent impotence to sink into luxurious inertia, brooding on the fact that there is no one even for you to feel vindictive against, that you have not, and perhaps never will have, an object for your spite, that it is a sleight of hand, a bit of juggling, a card-sharper's trick, that it ... More About: Russian , Long , Damn , Sentence
Beer is God in NorCal... Left Hand Man
2008-04-25 04:50:00 You Should Be So Lucky... More About: Beer , Left , Hand
Dr. Strangelove Movie Promotion with George C. Scott
2008-04-25 02:40:00 this deserves a wider audience. certainly amongst fans of Dr. Strangelove... More About: Movie , Promotion , George , Scott
Yoo and Punishable Offenses...
2008-04-16 06:11:00 NPR.org, November 3, 2007 · The surprisingly contentious confirmation process of Michael Mukasey, President Bush's pick for attorney general, has come down to one issue: waterboarding. Mukasey has called waterboarding personally "repugnant," but said he did not know enough about how it has been used to define it as torture.The Washington debate over the simulated-drowning technique may be new, but the practice is not. It predates the Inquisition and has been used, off and on, around the world ever since.Its use was first documented in the 14th century, according to Ed Peters, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania. It was known variously as "water torture," the "water cure" or tormenta de toca — a phrase that refers to the thin piece of cloth placed over the victim's mouth.At the time, using water to induce confessions was "a normal incident of law," Peters says, and people viewed it more or less as we view a cross-examination today. If anything, Peters says, the Inquisi...
War Criminal Yoo Should Be Worried
2008-04-16 05:56:00 March 14, 2008MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain will extradite former Argentine officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo to his homeland, where he faces charges of human rights abuses during the South American country's "Dirty War" more than two decades ago, a Spanish court ruled Friday.Ricardo Miguel Cavallo pictured while being extradited to Spain from Mexico City in 2003.Cavallo, who is in his 50s, is expected to leave Spain in a matter of "hours, or at the most, days," a court spokeswoman told CNN.An attorney, however, said Friday he plans an appeal of the decision.Although the court has sought to bring dozens of former Argentine officers to Spain to face justice, Cavallo -- who has denied all charges -- is among a small number it actually holds in custody.Cavallo was a navy lieutenant at the Navy Mechanics School in Buenos Aires, where many opponents of the Argentine right-wing, military governments in the 1970s and 1980s disappeared or were killed, according to Spanish court documents and h... More About: Criminal , Worried
You Can't Beat this Shit! My Millionaire Girlfriend
2008-04-16 05:14:00 We all deserve a millionaire girlfriend... it's the American Way...George Washington John McCainJohn KerryAlexander HamiltonAmerican GigolosIt's easy to marry rich... More About: Girlfriend , Millionaire , Shit , Beat
A New Avatar is Born... Inspired by the War Criminal John Yoo
2008-04-16 04:15:00 criminales, john yoo, league of extraordinary war criminals, wish yoo were herethis is just a test.a test of the emergency broadcasting network.there is a war criminal on the loose.his name is John Yoo.he is currently employed as a law professor at UC Berkeley...do not be fooled by his mild mannered demeanor or incubus charms...on demand,he provided the fig leaf needed for TORTURE...Yoo Knewwhat he was doing... More About: Avatar , Criminal , Inspired
America "Adopting the Way of the Hypocrite" - A. Dershowitz
2008-04-15 04:11:00 I will admit that I am a fan of Alan Dershowitz and I would point his many critics back to the scrappy advocate on display in The Best Defense. Even when you disagree with him, his arguments are logical, well-reasoned and often devestatingly effective. His penchant for representing unpopular characters has always been principled, at least in my opinion, nor do I ascribe to him the defects of his many unsavory clients.He has been a forceful and effective civil libertarian in free speech areas, death penalty cases, criminal law, constitutional law and many, many others. Dershowitz is the very epitome of an intellectual provocateur and his voice is often full of common sense.However, on the subject of Israel he should be treated as nothing more than a partisan advocate on its behalf. Right or wrong, I believe his support for Israel has clouded his judgment on the key issue he highlights so well. He walks to the well and then balks...Perhaps I am naive when I admit I harbor the secret b... More About: America , Hypocrite
Woody Church Tree on the Banks of the Money River...
2008-04-09 03:12:00 Our family was born on the banks of Money River , where the wealth of the nation flows. We can slurp from the mighty river to our hearts' content. And we even take slurping lessons, so we can slurp more efficiently. Slurping lessons from lawyers! From tax consultants! From customers men! We're born close enough to the river to drown ourselves and the next ten generations in wealth, simply using dippers and buckets. But we still hire the experts to teach us the use of aqueducts, dams, reservoirs, siphons, bucket brigades, and the Archimedes' screw. And our teachers in turn become rich, and their children become buyers of lessons in slurping. More About: Church , Banks , Tree
Surveillance of Assailants If That's What You Want to Call It...
2008-04-08 05:05:00 google hoover, warrantless, wiretap... and then read damn you!March 13, 2006 IssueCopyright © 2006 The American ConservativeWatching the DetectivesState of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, James Risen, Free Press, 256 pagesby James BovardJames Risen’s State of War has opened a Pandora’s Box for the Bush administration that no amount of howling, scowling, or bogus terrorist-attack warnings will be able to close. Risen’s revelations on pervasive National Security Agency warrantless spying on Americans shred the final pretenses to legality of the Bush administration. Now the debate is simply whether, as Bush and his supporters claim, the president is effectively above the law and the Constitution during a time of (perpetual) war.Risen has been a national security reporter for the New York Times for many years. He was not one of the Times reporters who simply recycled hokum from the White House Iraq Group.In October 2002, he wrote a piece shooting d... More About: Surveillance , Call
Great American Hypocrites On Sale Now
2008-04-07 18:33:00 If one examines America's presidential elections beginning in 1980 to the present, what one finds is a consistent and unchanging pattern. The Republican Party dresses up its leaders in all sorts of virtuous personality costumes. The establishment press, driven by the vapid dynamics of high school personality complexes, digests and then promotes that iconography. National elections are dominated by personality imagery and smears and are almost completely bereft of consideration of substantive issues. Worst of all, the personality images that dictate our election outcomes are not just petty, but entirely false, grounded in pure myth.In every one of these critical aspects, John McCain is perfectly illustrative of the same twisted process that has infected our political discourse and converted our national elections into, using the words of John Harris and Mark Halperin, a personality-based freak show. The media depicts McCain as a moderate despite his warmongering extremism. He is her... More About: Great , Sale , American , Hypocrites
I Feel Their Pain AND Reap the Profit
2008-04-05 19:41:00 The Bush administration says its ban on ceremonies honoring the dead is intended to prevent invasion of the privacy of families during a time of grief. Excluding military honors is one less thing for families to worry about, it says.The administration claims that it's trying to save family members the burden of feeling obligated to attend base homecoming ceremonies.The truth is that the White House is obsessed with not associating President George W. Bush with slain American troops so close to the 2004 presidential elections. Bush worries that it will harm the already poor image of his occupation of Iraq as a supposedly bloodless "piece of cake" for the United States.Former combat veterans say, soldiers in the field have a lot more on their minds than whether or not the President has been photographed with a flag-draped coffin. But for vets' rights activists who have not only noticed but begun to demand answers from the Bush Administration, the President lost the benefit of their ... More About: Pain , Profit , Feel
Truman, the Atom Bomb and Scientific Consensus
2008-04-02 06:23:00 President Truman Did Not UnderstandDr. Leo Szilard, 62, is a Hungarian-born physicist who helped persuade President Roosevelt to launch the A-bomb project and who had a major share in it. In 1945, however, he was a key figure among the scientists opposing use of the bomb. Later he turned to biophysics, and this year was awarded the Einstein medal for "outstanding achievement in natural sciences."At NEW YORKQ Dr. Szilard, what was your attitude in 1945 toward the question of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan?A I opposed it with all my power, but I'm afraid not as effectively as I should have wished.Q Did any other scientists feel the same way you did?A Very many other scientists felt this way. This is particularly true of Oak Ridge and the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago. I don't know how the scientists felt at Los Alamos.Q At the Oak Ridge and Chicago branches of the A-bomb project, was there any division of opinion?A I'll say this: Almost without exception,... More About: Atom , Bomb , Consensus
Steve Jobs - Screw College and Third World Debt... Get Rich Bitch
2008-04-02 04:34:00 This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.The first story is about connecting the dots.I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided a... More About: World , Rich , Steve Jobs
Pudding Head Wilson For President
2008-04-01 03:19:00 The next day--that is to say, on the fourth of September--somethingoccurred which profoundly impressed Roxana. Mr. Driscoll missed anothersmall sum of money--which is a way of saying that this was not a newthing, but had happened before. In truth, it had happened three timesbefore. Driscoll's patience was exhausted. He was a fairly humane mantoward slaves and other animals; he was an exceedingly humane man towardthe erring of his own race. Theft he could not abide, and plainly therewas a thief in his house. Necessarily the thief must be one of hisNegros. Sharp measures must be taken. He called his servants before him.There were three of these, besides Roxy: a man, a woman, and a boytwelve years old. They were not related. Mr. Driscoll said:"You have all been warned before. It has done no good. This time I willteach you a lesson. I will sell the thief. Which of you is the guiltyone?"They all shuddered at the threat, for here they had a good home, and anew one was likely to be a chan... More About: President , Head , Pudding , Wilson
I HEART Puddin' Head Wilson... Truly Superior Twain
2008-04-01 03:05:00 To all intents and purposes Roxy was as white as anybody, but the onesixteenth of her which was black outvoted the other fifteen parts andmade her a Negro. She was a slave, and salable as such. Her child wasthirty-one parts white, and he, too, was a slave, and by a fiction of lawand custom a Negro. He had blue eyes and flaxen curls like his whitecomrade, but even the father of the white child was able to tell thechildren apart--little as he had commerce with them--by their clothes;for the white babe wore ruffled soft muslin and a coral necklace, whilethe other wore merely a coarse tow-linen shirt which barely reached toits knees, and no jewelry.The white child's name was Thomas a Becket Driscoll, the other's name wasValet de Chambre: no surname--slaves hadn't the privilege. Roxana hadheard that phrase somewhere, the fine sound of it had pleased her ear,and as she had supposed it was a name, she loaded it on to her darling.It soon got shorted to "Chambers," of course.Wilson knew R... More About: I heart , Heart , Head , Superior
Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Heart's of Men? Dostoevsky Knows.
2008-03-29 18:30:00 The fact is, gentlemen, it seems there must reallyexist something that is dearer to almost every man than his greatestadvantages, or (not to be illogical) there is a most advantageous advantage(the very one omitted of which we spoke just now) which is moreimportant and more advantageous than all other advantages, for the sakeof which a man if necessary is ready to act in opposition to all laws; thatis, in opposition to reason, honour, peace, prosperity--in fact, in oppositionto all those excellent and useful things if only he can attain thatfundamental, most advantageous advantage which is dearer to himthan all."Yes, but it's advantage all the same," you will retort.But excuse me, I'll make the point clear, and it is not a case of playing upon words.What matters is, that this advantage is remarkable from the very fact thatit breaks down all our classifications, and continually shatters everysystem constructed by lovers of mankind for the benefit of mankind. Infact, it upsets every... More About: Evil
Lincoln Assasination Ordered by Jefferson Davis?
2008-03-26 17:52:00 From the prosecution's closing argument;What more is wanting? Surely no word further need be spoken to show that John Wilkes Booth was in this conspiracy; that John H. Surratt was in this conspiracy; and that Jefferson Davis and his several agents names in Canada, were in this conspiracy. If any additional evidence is wanting to show the complicity of Davis in it, let the paper found in the possession of his hired assassin, Booth, come to bear witness against him. That paper contained the secret cipher which Davis used in his State Department at Richmond, which he employed in communicating with his agents in Canada, and which they employed in the letter of October 13th, notifying him that " their friends would be set to work as he had directed." The letter in cipher found in Booth's possession, is translated here by the use of the cipher machine now in Court, which, as the testimony of Mr. Dans shows, he brought from the rooms of Davis' State Department in Richmond. Who gave Boot... More About: Lincoln , Assasination
President Cheney Take Away - Iraqi Oil Forever
2008-03-26 17:24:00 In order to get a sense of the direction America's Iraqi policy is headed, it is best to ignore bush, who is at best a puppet, and pay attention to cheney.Having read the transcript below, cheney lays out precisely his vision of "victory" in iraq.President Cheney describes,victory in Iraq, that's the establishment of a democracy..., it's the establishment of a regime that respects the rights and liberties of their people, as an ally for the United States in the war against terror, and as a positive force for change in the Middle East. How long does President Cheney intend to stay?You do it as long as you have to until you get it right. What is the first thing President Cheney would like to see our new Democratic Ally address?Hydrocarbons law, as you mentioned, is one that needs to be addressed. They've got a lot of work to do on that. That's an issue I discussed with virtually all of the Iraqis that I talked to, in terms of the importance of getting that done. And how does Pres... More About: Forever
Archie Bunker on Gun Control Supreme Court Citation... Not! And a Novel So
2008-03-26 02:58:00 This is Archie Bunker speaking on behalf of Guns For Everybody.Question?What's the first thing the communists did when they took over Russia? More About: Supreme Court , Gun Control , Control , Court , Citation
Archie Bunker Meets Sammy Davis Obama
2008-03-26 02:34:00 Sometimes my father says bad things, but he's not a bad guy.He'd never like burn a cross on your lawn.No, but he'd probably toast a marshmallow on it. More About: Obama , Davis , Archie , Sammy , Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker Politics...
2008-03-26 02:27:00 That Reader's Digest says walking can be very good for you. More About: Politics , Archie , Archie Bunker
President Cheney is a Lying Machine
2008-03-25 21:39:00 Q Let's go to Iraq. We've been there the last couple of days. I know the President is giving a major speech today about the progress in Iraq. You spoke to many Iraqi leaders. There are also political problems: The major significant political benchmarks have not been met, still need the hydrocarbon law, provincial elections. Tell me what you said to the Iraqi leadership, and how far you're willing to push them?THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we talked a lot about the -- both the security situation, as well as the political situation. On the security front, I think there's a general consensus that we've made major progress; that the surge has worked; that the addition of additional troops -- General Petraeus and the counterinsurgency strategy that was adopted a year ago has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of incidents -- attacks, if you will -- and the casualty rate both among civilians and military personnel, including ours, as well. That's been a major success. The de... More About: Machine , Cheney , Lying
Money, Money, Money...
2008-03-24 06:03:00 "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." A lot of people think Jesus said that, because it is so much the sort of thing Jesus liked to say. But it was actually said by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, five hundred years before there was that greatest and most humane of human beings, named Jesus Christ.The Chinese also gave us, via Marco Polo, pasta and the formula for gunpowder. The Chinese were so dumb they only used gunpowder for fireworks. And everybody was so dumb back then that nobody in either hemisphere even knew that there was another one.We've sure come a long way since then. Sometimes I wish we hadn't. I hate H-bombs and the Jerry Springer ShowBut back to people like Confucius and Jesus and my son the doctor, Mark, each of whom have said in their own way how we could behave more humanely and maybe make the world a less painful place. One of my favourite humans is Eugene Debs, from Terre Haute in my native state of Indiana.Get a load of this. Eugene Debs, w... More About: Money
Catch 22? It's the Best there is....
2008-03-24 05:24:00 Chapter 1: The TexanIt was love at first sight.The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn't quite jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat it. If it didn't become jaundice and went away they could discharge him. But this just being short of jaundice all the time confused them.Each morning they came around, three brisk and serious men with efficient mouths and inefficient eyes, accompanied by brisk and serious Nurse Duckett, one of the ward nurses who didn't like Yossarian. They read the chart at the foot of the bed and asked impatiently about the pain. They seemed irritated when he told them it was exactly the same."Still no movement?" the full colonel demanded.The doctors exchanged a look when he shook his head."Give him another pill."Nurse Duckett made a note to give Yossarian another pill, and the... More About: Catch 22 , Catch
A Shock to the Sytem
More articles from this author:2008-03-23 22:20:00 There is no question the bushcheney presidency has administered a stress test to our consitutional system that is virtually unprecedented. It was to prevent the type of tyranny bushcheney has inflicted on the american people through a shameless manipulation and perversion of the rule of law that prompted the carefully calibrated system of checks and balances enshrined as the very architecture of our government.It is important to recall that bush's honeymoon in office was short following his installation pursuant to BushGore. Bushcheney's popularity began decling almost immediately. The American public didn't like the Cheney Energy Scandal, Enron and other early signs of crony capitalism, corruption and the complete repudiation of his promise to be a uniter.9/11 breathed new life into a dying, and probably one term president. Bushcheney were not re-elected based on their otherwise failed first term, but, because they started a war. of course, they proceeded to act as if they has o... More About: Shock 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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