Dick Cheney Age: 67 Occupation: Vice President of the United States Aliases: Big Time, Satan, the President Remarks: Goes hiding in “undisclosed locations” during times of crises. Shot friend in the face with a shotgun. Caution: Wanted for being the key architect of the Iraq War, which runs counter to the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on the use of armed force except in self-defense. Responsible for approving torture techniques and the illegal detention of prisoners in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. Subverted democracy, ignored the Geneva Conventions and unleashed crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan. Should be considered armed and dangerous.
George W. Bush Age: 62 Occupation: President of the United States Aliases: Dubya, the Vice President Remarks: Used family prestige to avoid combat in Vietnam. Won the 2000 presidential election even though he lost the popular vote. Considered a puppet of neoconservative strategists. Caution: Responsible for approving torture techniques against prisoners of war. Authorized the violations of rights of individuals under the American Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Should be considered armed but not dangerous.
Donald Rumsfeld Age: 76 Occupation: Former Secretary of Defense Aliases: Rummy, the Procrastinator Remarks: Forged a close relationship with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War (provided him with intelligence, hardware and strategic advice). Had Hussein killed two decades later for crimes committed during Iran-Iraq War. Caution: Key architect of Iraq War. Authorized torture techniques at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Breached Geneva Conventions by approving the extrajudicial execution of suspected Al-Qaeda operatives anywhere in the world.
John Ashcroft Age: 66 Occupation: Former Attorney General of the United States Aliases: Chicken Legs, the Surfer Remarks: Lost the 2000 Missouri Senate election to a dead man. Key supporter of the USA Patriot Act, which drastically curtailed the rights and freedoms of Americans. Caution: Authorized the use of abuse against prisoners of war in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. Approved the use of waterboarding against terrorism suspects.
Who remembers the Muhammad cartoons? I do. Then none of the major news outlets in North America were willing to publicize the cartoons. Reason? Respecting religious views; the cartoonsy were supposedly too offensive.
Fast forward 3.5 years, and then check this out (click picture for larger version):
I can somewhat understand that a right-wing tabloid newspaper makes "the mistake" of printing a racist cartoon. But considering the fact that none of the major news outlets in North America published the Mohammad cartoons, should they then not do the same with the offensive monkey-Obama cartoon by not publishing it?
How do you think the black community feels when they see one of their own being depicted as a monkey that deserves to be murdered by white policemen? Don't you think blacks can feel offended? Where's the respect for coloured people? Where's the consistency here?
Obviously North America is still a racist continent, one in which religion deserves far more respect than black people.
LOS ANGELES — The state of California — its deficits ballooning, its lawmakers intransigent and its governor apparently bereft of allies or influence — appears headed off the fiscal rails.
Since the fall [...] the state has fallen into deeper financial straits, with more bad news coming daily from Sacramento. The state, nearly out of cash, has laid off scores of workers and put hundreds more on unpaid furloughs. It has stopped paying counties and issuing income tax refunds and halted thousands of infrastructure projects.
Twenty-thousand layoff notices will go out on Tuesday morning, Matt David, the communications director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Monday night. “In the absence of a budget we need to realize this savings and the process takes six months,” Mr. David said.
After negotiating nonstop from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night on a series of budget bills that would have closed a projected $41 billion deficit, state lawmakers failed to get enough votes to close the deal and adjourned.
Håkan Roswall, the prosecutor in the trial of the men behind the popular file sharing site The Pirate Bay surprised a Stockholm court by amending the charges as the trial entered its second day on Tuesday.
Roswall has removed all mention of "complicity in the production of copyrighted material" from the charge sheet against the four men, Hans Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström.
Roswall has confirmed that he now plans to limit the charges to the production of the actual torrent file and not the resultant hard or soft copy. The new charges will be amended to read "complicity to make (copyrighted material) available".
"A sensation," according to defence lawyer Per E. Samuelsson. "It is very rare that you win half the case after one and a half days and it is clear that the prosecutor has been deeply affected by what we said yesterday."
BILL MOYERS: I think you wrote on your blog that Dave Brody from the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson’s outfit, will one Sunday show up on “Meet the Press.” But an Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” will never show up on “Meet the Press.” What’s behind that phenomenon?
JAY ROSEN: I think part of the reason is that if Amy Goodman came on “Meet the Press,” she would say all sorts of things that not only challenge the people on the program, but challenge what they have been saying over the years. Would go back, in a sense, discredit the narrative that’s been building up for a long time. And even though it’s maybe not wholly conscious, the idea that there’s a kind of building narrative that is more or less accurate, that we kind of tell you what’s going on in Washington, is a common assumption in the press. And people who would completely shatter that, don’t [get invited on shows such as NBC's Meet the Press].
GLENN GREENWALD: I think that’s exactly right. It’s all about the content of views. Rush Limbaugh can depict himself as being this insurgent outsider [..] [but] all of the conventional clichés that the media airs frequently [...] are ones that Rush Limbaugh and the furthest fringes of the right essentially embrace.
And so, to include [extreme right-wing views] into our discussion is not very disruptive at all, whereas if you had people on from the left who were advocating things like the United States’ responsibility for its unpopularity in the world, the fact that we wage wars and bomb other countries and invade and occupy other countries far more than any nation on the planet. To include somebody like [Amy Goodman] would not only threaten the vested interests of everybody who’s participating in these conversations, it would disrupt the entire narrative, as Jay said it would. [...]
[These views are] stigmatized, they’re demonized as being things that don’t really deserve a platform. And so, you can’t include advocates of these views in these shows.
By Michael Steen in Amsterdam | Published: February 11 2009 00:45 | Last updated: February 11 2009 00:45
Britain has taken the unusual step of banning a Dutch member of parliament from entering the country due to his stridently anti-Islamic views, prompting the Dutch government to protest. Geert Wilders, who heads the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, had been due to travel to London on Thursday for a screening of his film, Fitna, organised by Lord Pearson of Rannoch, a eurosceptic peer. The film criticises Islam, one of Mr Wilders’ main targets.
Footnote: Do you want to nominate someone for Taser-Nazi of the week? Then leave your suggestion in the comment box.
