Can we all at least agree that "torture" doesn't become "not torture" by virtue of the fact that the victim provides information? President Bush got on the world stage and said, "We do not torture". Now, it is beyond all doubt that we did conduct torture. The response from Bush defenders (and Cheney himself) is that we got good information … Read More
At Long Last, A Good Use Of Twitter
Celebrities tweet. Politicians tweet. News organizations tweet. It seems that everyone (yes, me too) has something to tweet. And that's fine by me. Say what you want to say, and praise God that you must to do it in 140 charactors or less. But I wouldn't argue that there is much social utility to Twitter. It's just this… thing that's out there. … Read More
For Today Is “Talk Like Shakespeare” Day, Brothers…
… and he who sheds common parlance for that of the Stratford bard shall be my brother. Thou recollects an army of good words are penned of habit upon the annual pirate's day. And joy it doth bring to chroniclers of daily online musings. But lo, the sheen of such a venture darkens upon the news of a forenight past, when … Read More
Earth Day
Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, Nevada, taken last week. The “bathtub ring” records the water level less than a decade ago. Until recently, there was a “No Fishing” sign on the cantilevered pier. The road on the left was carved from what used to be lakebed. The triangle-shaped hill in the upper right is Pyramid Island, although it’s no … Read More
FDA Approves Use Of Morning-After Birth Control Pills For 17 Year Olds
…without a prescription. Cue hysteria from the social conservatives. 3…2…1…
Corporal Punishment In NC Schools: If We Can Beat Mules, Why Not Kids?
North Carolina is one of the few states that permits educators to hit students. Although the practice has been banned by some school districts in this state, 60 of the 115 school districts think that a teacher walloping a kid is a good way to maintain discipline. That has prompted legislation about corporal punishment in schools. A bill is now … Read More
Movie Deaths
Johnny Depp, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, and Bruce Willis. (1) Four of these guys have died nine times (and no more) in the movies. Name them. (2) One of these guys died nine and a half times in the movies (i.e., he died ten times, but his character was resurrected from the dead in a sequel). … Read More
We Have Ways Of Making You Bolster Our Untenable Position
Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney wanted to find links betweel al Qaeda and Iraq, so they could make their case to the American people that invading Iraq was a proper response to 9/11. They didn't have any evidence of links, but they wanted their Iraq War, so they tried to get that "evidence" out of terrorist suspects….by torture: A former senior U.S. intelligence official … Read More
Strip-Searching Students
Ah, the days when I used to write in detail about Supreme Court cases in this blog are long in the past. A shame, really. But the Supremes did happen to hear a rather interesting Fourth Amendment case yesterday. I should preface by saying that the nation's highest court hears a lot of Fourth Amendment cases: in the neighborhood of … Read More
“Stop It Right Now Or I’ll Pull This Car Over And Let You Out”
Ah, the classic parental threat to the bickering kids in the back seat of the car. One parent actually went through with the threat. Result? FAIL: Madlyn Primoff, a 45-year-old Park Avenue lawyer, has been accused of doing just that Sunday evening in downtown White Plains, N.Y. Police say she ordered her two quarreling daughters from the car and drove … Read More
Okay. I’ll Be The First To Say It….
I'm getting a little tired of Susan Boyle, especially articles/commentary about why we're obssessed with her.
A Lie Can Get Halfway Around The World Before The Truth Can Get Its Boots On
An interesting article by Michael Tomasky in The Guardian looks out how a conservative meme — one that is blatently false — gets started and circulated. Tomasky was reading an interview with Newt Gingrich in which Gringrich said: "You have Obama nominating Judge Hamilton, who said in her ruling that saying the words Jesus Christ in a prayer is a sign … Read More
Can Wingnuttery Be Cured?
I used to read Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs blog. I stopped because he was, to my mind, just another batshit crazy conservative, and his commenters were often outright racist. Blatently, unapologetically so. But according to The Washington Independent, something has happened to Charles as of late: But in the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency, LGF has … Read More