US Military Discovers International Law!

An unidentified US soldier was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan on June 30. The response of the US military is breathtaking in its hypocrisy:

"A U.S. military spokeswoman in Afghanistan, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said the Taliban was using their captive for propaganda.

"I'm glad to see he appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video," she said. "They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law."

I wonder if Ms Sidenstricker is completely unaware that for the past eight years, international law — as understood by John Yoo amongst many others in the Bush regime — has been ignored, trampled on and ridiculed? I'm guessing not... either that or her tongue is firmly in her cheek.

Note to self: never buy a Kindle

Kindle owners who had purchased copies of 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell had their copies digitally removed from their devices by Amazon recently. The legally bought editions were deleted from the accounts and the Kindles of purchasers. Accounts were credited back the purchase price.

The company selling digital copies of the books hadn't secured the proper rights to sell them, making this a scary scenario for any consumers who like to pretend that they actually own their digital copies of anything.

And it's rather ironic Orwell's 1984 should be one of the novels 'taken back' [for the sake of a phrase], given one of its main themes is censorship and the control of information. The moral in this story? Never buy a Kindle.

If you want to read 1984 or any other book, buy the real thing, since Amazon are unlikely to break in to your house and steal it back from you.

Are they?

Get me one of these

Avoiding the waste of toothpaste when you near the end of your toothpaste tube is one of my pet peeves.

This toothbrush, by designer Jee Young Choi comes with its specially crafted rear, lets you squeeze out the littlest of toothpaste that remains in the end of the tube, allowing you to minimize on the wastage.

I like it, I want one...

Killing the planet

Kids in the fetid pollution of the Ganges River, India

Slum dwellings alongside a creek full of garbage in Malaysia

Vacha Dam, southern Bulgaria

We are killing the planet, with suffocating, non-biodegradeable plastics, heavy metals, air pollution, CFCs, toxic chemicals — and I'm not even talking about climate change.

Seeing these photographs is nothing short of depressing and we [the human species] is doing it to itself and to all other living things — flora and fauna. We are shitting in our own crib.

How pure are YOU?

Oh yes! I got to get me one of these for my iPhone... it looks like a cool app. All you have to do is cruise over to the App Store on iTunes and head for the Lifestyle category, and BAM. There it is.

Plus, as the promoters of the app note, it is gaining global media attention. I mean, wow, no wonder, right? What a great idea to remain pure. Ask Palin's daughter, she knows all about abstinence.

Oh, wait. Does this mean NOT having sex?

Hmm, that boat sailed long, long ago... and I have to tell all you potential celibates, it's way too much fun.

Start now. Apologise to your god later, she'll understand.

Nokia complicit in Iranian repression

"The mobile phone company Nokia is being hit by a growing economic boycott in Iran as consumers sympathetic to the post-election protest movement begin targeting a string of companies deemed to be collaborating with the regime.

Wholesale vendors in the capital report that demand for Nokia handsets has fallen by as much as half in the wake of calls to boycott Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for selling communications monitoring systems to Iran.

There are signs that the boycott is spreading: consumers are shunning SMS messaging in protest at the perceived complicity with the regime by the state telecoms company, TCI. Iran's state-run broadcaster has been hit by a collapse in advertising as companies fear being blacklisted in a Facebook petition. There is also anecdotal evidence that people are moving money out of state banks and into private banks." The Guardian

This is great news. Guerrilla protest action at its most effective. And the best news out of Iran I've heard in days.

I totally support a boycott of Nokia and Siemens. This should be spread worldwide. Any commercial organisation that collaborated with the Iranian regime that has murdered and tortured protestors should be shunned.

If Iranians can do it, we can.

Liz Cheney: a rather stupid version of Dick

Drivel from Dick's puppet:

"The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism. It is irresponsible for an American president to go to Moscow and tell a room full of young Russians less than the truth about how the Cold War ended." Liz Cheney, Washington Times

The real words from President Obama:

"The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful."

And as many people in the reality-based world can clearly recall from the Reagan period: conservatives wouldn't even admit the events were happening at the time, and — as a commenter has already noted — George Will [that self-righteous idiot] actually claimed the Berlin Wall would not come down in a column published the very day it came down.

This woman is seriously dafter than a brush with only a tenuous grasp on history, that is history as it really was, not the lurid, masturbatory fantasy of Cheneyville. The GOP is screwed if this woman decides to run for office.

Unless it's to clean offices.

Leader of Young Republicans is a racist, shock!

First of all what the hell is an alleged 38-year-old doing in the Young Republicans anyhow? And particularly one that looks 48 but wants to be 18. Sad.

Whatever. It seems republicans don't know the difference and don't care anyhow since they've recently elected Audra Shay their fuhrer. Audra is a racist it seems, since she laughs at jokes made by her other racist friend Eric Piker, posting on her FaceBook page.

This friend of Audra commented, "obama bin lauden is the new terrorist....muslim is on there side .....need to take this country back from all these mad coons.......and illegals." And Audra replied: "You tell em Eric! lol."

Nice. Eric seems like a really nice, well-educated chap — if you like brainless assholes.

Confused of Bay Ridge writes:

I remember the whole kerfuffle surrounding President Bill Clinton and his blow-job/sex/secret kiss — whatever the hell it was, which meant an impeachment hearing costing $40million.

However, lying and instructing a government agency to lie, to Congress and pretty much everyone else not in Cheney/Addington's secret inner circle, about torture, about kidnnapping/renditions, about illegal surveillance of Americans — somehow makes you untouchable?

I don't understand.

President Obama please explain why Cheney, Addington and all the accomplices in the CIA and the enablers in the inner circle [John Yoo et al] are not under indictment? I'm really confused...

Gonzo to DoJ: STFU, we say what the law is

Here is a golden moment from the recently released Inspector Generals' report on surveillance.

When under-qualified Alberto Gonzales was still White House counsel, he wrote to then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who had raised "serious issues" about the legal basis of the surveillance program, and particularly the lack of congressional notification.

Gonzo's 2004 letter to Comey:

"Your misunderstanding appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of the President's expectations regarding the conduct of the Department of Justice. While the President was, and remains, interested in any thoughts the Department of Justice may have on alternative ways to achieve effectively the goals of the activities authorized by the Presidential Authorization of March 11. 2004, the President has addressed definitively for the Excutive Branch in the Presidential Authorization the interpretation of the law."

In plain language: When we said we were interested in the DOJ's opinion about what's legal and what's not, we were only kidding. We've already decided for ourselves.

TPMMuckraker

Admin ratings still high

The latest administration poll findings from the Pew Research Centre.

Of course, impatient Brit here... my ratings are not as high. I'm disturbed by the backtracking — serious backtracking — on "transparency" for example. It simply has not happened. We're still in Bushworld when it comes to secrecy and that breaks a promise candidate Obama made during the campaign.

And then there's the veiled hints of backtracking on a public health care plan. [I guess the $1.4 million per day the health industry is paying lobbyists is working.]

Bottom line: my wallet is closed to the democrats and the Obama administration until I see some positive action on all the campaign promises.

Lies, lies, more lies...

Why yes of course, I'm talking about the Pentagon, aka. Bureau of Misinformation.

Cliff Schecter is mightily pissed about this story, and rightly so:

"A former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was named by the Pentagon as one of 74 former captives who returned to terrorism after being released has done no such thing.

So says a new report from McClatchy Newspapers, which profiles Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil, a tribal elder who regularly meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials on behalf of the people of Kunar province.

In May, an unreleased Pentagon document was leaked to the press, alleging that one in seven released Gitmo detainees -- fully 74 individuals -- had returned to terrorism once freed."

Not just wrong, but a complete lie.

Well, I have to say my respect for McClatchy Newspapers is growing with every story I read.

Truth to power, yes indeed! More please.