Clipmarks | papananook's clips

Moral Depravity in the Highest Places

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:30:57 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: After 7 1/2 years of George W. Bush, much of the media and political establishment — which have never shown much interest in holding Bush to account — now appear anxious to simply move on. They seem determined to leave unexamined the full cruelty and mendacity of the Bush administration, with its unlawful wars and blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Moving on is a great idea - once there’s been some accountability, with a full public recognition of wrongdoing, and a commitment to bring about change. Otherwise, nothing will have been learned.

The comments of Yoo, who authored top-level internal memos justifying torture and virtually unlimited presidential power, suggest a moral depravity in very high places.

That depravity led to the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib and at other U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and “black sites” around the world.

The dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, Lawrence Velvel, argues that Bush and top administration offi

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Does the president of the United States have the right to order a detainee buried alive?

Oddly, this grotesque question was posed at a U.S. Congressional hearing last week. Even odder was the answer — from John Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Bush administration, now a law professor at the University of California.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever given the advice that the president could bury somebody alive,” Yoo told a judiciary subcommittee hearing into detainee interrogations.

Apparently there isn’t. In a public debate in 2005, Yoo was asked if he thought it would be lawful for the president to authorize crushing the testicles of a detainee’s child.

It would seem like a simple “no” would suffice. But here’s how Yoo responded: “I think it depends on why the president thinks he needs to do that.”

Pentagon to EPA: You and What Army? Refuse to clean up

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:27:34 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: If it were a private polluter and not the Pentagon, the EPA would most likely go to court to force compliance, but an executive branch policy prevents federal agencies from suing one another.

Other agencies, including NASA and the Department of Energy, have complied with the EPA’s Superfund cleanup orders without protest.

This is the second time in a week that it’s been revealed that the EPA’s authority has been ignored by others in the government. The New York Times reported last Wednesday that, when the EPA sent an e-mail to the White House concluding that greenhouse gasses can be regulated by the Clean Air Act, the White House simply refused to open it, successfully getting the EPA to backtrack.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

The Washington Post is reporting that the Pentagon is refusing orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up three sites where it dumped chemicals that the EPA says have contaminated soil and drinking water and pose “imminent and substantial” dangers to public health.

The sites are at military bases at Fort Meade in Maryland, Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

The Post also reports that the EPA has identified 12 Superfund sites contaminated by the Pentagon that the Pentagon refuses to acknowledge, even though it is required to do so by law. Of the 1,255 Superfund sites on the EPA’s list, the Department of Defense owns 129 - making it the single biggest polluter in the country.

“This is stunning,” said Rena Steinzor, who helped write the Superfund laws as a congressional staffer

“The idea that they would refuse to sign a final order - that is the height of amazing nerve.”

Mandela off U.S. terrorism watch lists

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:10:43 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: DHS of USA is soooo stupid.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to be removed from U.S. terrorism watch lists under a bill President Bush signed Tuesday.

Nelson Mandela arriving in London last month for his 90th birthday celebrations.

Mandela and other members of the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight against South Africa's apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in 1994.

Apartheid was the nation's system of legalized racial segregation that was enforced by the National Party government between 1948 and 1994.

The bill gives the State Department and the Homeland Security Department the authority to waive restrictions against ANC members.

"He had no place on our government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become law," said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

He spent 27 years in prison on charges that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid. He was released in 1990.

Wonderful Kurt Vonnegut Interview

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:25:58 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Well worth the whole read...I loved Vonnegut.

Clip Source: cathy-edgett.livejournal.com

As war against Iraq looms, I asked Vonnegut, a reader and supporter of this magazine, to weigh in. Vonnegut is an American socialist in the tradition of Eugene Victor Debs, a fellow Hoosier whom he likes to quote: “As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

—Joel Bleifuss

You have lived through World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Reagan wars, Desert Storm, the Balkan wars and now this coming war in Iraq. What has changed, and what has remained the same?

even somebody as old as I am, which is 80, only just got here. There were already all these games going on when I got here. … An apt motto for any polity anywhere, to put on its state seal or currency or whatever, might be this quotation from the late baseball manager Casey Stengel, who was addressing a team of losing professional athletes: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

"Beehive in my heart..."

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:15:04 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: 2 sweet poems by Machado

Clip Source: cathy-edgett.livejournal.com

Last night, as I was sleeping
I dreamt - marvelous error! -
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey

from my old failures.

Antonio Machado
Translated by Robert Bly

Wayfarer, the only way

is your footsteps, there is no other.

Wayfarer, there is no way,
you make the way by walking.
As you go, you make the way
and stopping to look behind,
you see the path that your feet

will never travel again.

Wayfarer, there is no way -

Only foam trails to the sea.

~ Antonio Machado ~

McCain's Long Strange Trip South of the Border

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:08:54 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: To see more of his lies on video, see site link

Clip Source: ourfuture.org

The McCain campaign gets ... stranger.

The American economy has been battered on multiple fronts, including the loss of 3.4 million manufacturing jobs. The current trade strategy has not only contributed to the offshoring of jobs, but helped harm the lives of workers abroad. NAFTA in particular has disrupted the agricultural economy in Mexico, displacing peasant labor and driving illegal immigration. Even the pro-NAFTA Heritage Foundation concedes that stark inequality still plagues Mexico.

In turn, public anger with trade agreements written by and for multinationals, protecting the interests of corporations but not workers, is on the rise.

And McCain decides to campaign ... across the border, where the jobs are being sent.

And he releases a new ad, standing by the delusion that the current strategy is creating good jobs for everyone.

But NAFTA didn't work. Period.

This is a question about what makes a smart global economic strategy

I wouldn't do this, but You might

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:04:49 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I wouldn't waste 2 cents on Faux news, let alone $2...but I liked the picture and caption...hahahahaha

Clip Source: secure.ga3.org

Tell Fox News "I Love My Country! End the Attacks on Patriotic Americans."

There's no more room for attacks on patriotic Americans by other Americans. Help send that message loud and clear to the conservative megaphone operators at Fox News Channel. Declare your progressive patriotism, and contribute to send your declaration to the Fox News team -- affixed with a genuine Made-In-The-USA flag pin.

NEWS BALLOON - BARACK OBAMETER 3

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:32:37 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: blip.tv

[Video]

First celebration, then the dreaded third phase in the march to the presidency.... from www.BlimpTV.net

Ocean Sucking Up More Ozone than First Thought

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:20:20 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

The day that someone finally manages to create a climate model that accurately predicts the full range of planetary weather systems, I think we will probably be a hundred years too late. It is such a tough challenge, attempting to pin together the whole range of influences that go in to making our planets weather what it is.

More proof of this difficulty is found in a recent discovery by researchers working off the west-African coast of Cape Verde. What the researchers found has totally shifted the thinking concerning two types of greenhouse gases: ozone and methane.

The group found that 50% more ozone is being destroyed above the Atlantic Ocean than was previously thought. As a result, through the release of halogens from the seawater, 12% more methane is being chewed up as well.

"But the tropical Atlantic cannot be taken for granted as a permanent sink for ozone. The composition of the atmosphere is in fine balance here."

Lion reunion video

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:49:35 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: worth goin to the site Just right of the pot pic.

Clip Source: earthfirst.com

Watch This Video

Man Claims Pot was for Composting, Not Smoking

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:44:37 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: uhm....my dog eats it...uhm..

Clip Source: earthfirst.com

File this under incredibly creative excuses: an Iowa man told police that recycling was all he had in mind when he was found to be the proud owner of a large quantity of marijuana. I mean, why bother pulling the old “It’s not mine!” or “I thought it was oregano!” when you can at least come up with something entertaining that will get your name in the news.

A complaint by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says the 30-year-old man told police in Iowa City that he planned to turn several large bags of marijuana into compost.

Officers report the bags he had when he was arrested early Saturday held a “gallon” or more of marijuana each.

The complaint says officers didn’t buy the compost story. The suspect remained in jail Sunday without posting $14,000 bail on a charge of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.

I’m going to remember that next time I uh, know somebody who knows somebody who has what might be something like pot. Especially if they have several GALLONS of it.

The Complete Bushisms

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:32:17 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: "A lot of times in politics you have people look you in the eye and tell you what's not on their mind."—Sochi, Russia, April 6, 2008
This from the biggest liar in the country.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

"And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president."—discussing flooding in the Midwest, Washington, D.C., June 17, 2008

"There is some who say that perhaps freedom is not universal. Maybe it's only Western people that can self-govern. Maybe it's only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-government. I reject that notion."—London, June 16, 2008

"The German asparagus are fabulous."—Meseberg, Germany, June 11, 2008

"One of the things important about history is to remember the true history."—Washington, D.C., June 6, 2008

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 4:05.

"Let's make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times in our economy."—Washington, D.C., June 2, 2008

"We got plenty of money in Washington. What we need is more priority."—Washington, D.C., June 2, 2008

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

Somebody Should Do Something About All the Problems

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:22:33 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: DNA fingerprinting—that's what they're doing now. And still strawberries at Bergmann's are $2.99 a quart. It's ludicrous. It's as if we live in the Dark Ages.

Cloned genes and fiber optics, but the cat still goes into heat and scratches up my new mahogany coffee table. I kicked that thing as hard as I could with my good leg and it still came back screeching and wagging its fanny like a Broadway showgirl.

Isn't there something someone can do about that? I'm sure with all the vaccines and hybrid cells and carbon dating equipment we've got today someone can take a minute to whip up a pill I can force down Pumpkin's throat so I have one decent thing in this shoebox house that I worked like a dog at the phone company for 27 years in order to afford.

These are the good years for me? Huh! I'm still watering my flowers and hosing off my driveway. Where is the fiber optics in that? How's superconductivity helping me when my new cotton housedress shrank up to nothing the first time I pu

Clip Source: www.theonion.com

Why isn't anyone doing anything about all the problems? We're living in a time with super computers and underwater sea stations and million-dollar laboratories. And still, everyday when I watch the TV news shows I see all sorts of problems!

What are the scientists doing with all that technology? Just sitting on their patoots? Just yesterday there was another plane crash. Isn't that what we have radar for? Why isn't someone taking care of that?

And then there's all those people starving. You can't tell me that we can't figure out a way to feed them. What about all those high-energy vitamin supplements I read about? And what about the dehydrated space food? Someone has got to start putting this information to good use.

I hear jabber-jabbering about the discovery of new subatomic particles. What good is a quark to me? Three and a half minutes it takes to cook a bag of microwave popcorn. Three and a half minutes!