December 15, 2011

Changes to the National Defense Authorization Act: Are They Enough?

Changes to the National Defense Authorization Act: Are They Enough?
http://www.politicususa.com/en/ndaa-civil-liberties

I'd quote text, but the article has a zillion blockquotes, and I don't have time to deal with the formatting. Read it and judge for yourself.

December 14, 2011

Gut-check: Fail

http://www.truthout.org/gut-check-moment-mr-obama/1322618578

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/white-house-says-no-1259587.html

December 13, 2011

For your favorite anti-war protester...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/​books/gallery/2011/dec/13/​stop-the-war-a-graphic-history-​in-pictures#/​?picture=383056188&index=9

Stop The War: A Graphic History - in pictures

A new book from the Stop the War Coalition and Francis Boutle Publishers celebrates a decade of the Stop the War movement, from the 2003 demonstration against the Iraq war to this year's protests about Libya and Afghanistan, in photographs, posters, graphics, cartoons and art works

Some examples:





This book looks amazing.

December 13, 2011

The House and Senate have agreed on the draconian new defense bill. Obama threatened to veto it.

Now we'll see, I guess.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/12/13/house_and_senate_agree_on_sweeping_defense_bill/?p1=Well_Politics_links

Congress is pressing ahead with a massive $662 billion defense bill that requires military custody for terrorism suspects linked to al-Qaida, including those captured within the U.S., with lawmakers hoping their last-minute revisions will mollify President Barack Obama and eliminate a veto threat.

Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees announced late Monday that they had reached agreement on the policy-setting legislation that had gotten caught up in an escalating fight on whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals in the civilian justice system.

Responding to personal appeals from Obama and his national security team, the lawmakers added language on national security waivers and other changes that they hoped would ensure administration support for the overall bill.

"I assured the president that we were working on additional assurances, that the concerns were not accurate," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who spoke to Obama last week, told reporters at a news conference. "That we'd do everything we could to make sure they were allayed, and met." White House officials said Tuesday they were reviewing the bill. It was unclear whether they would hold firm on the veto threat.

...more...

December 12, 2011

Short Tales From Bizarro World: The GOP Primaries Edition

Short Tales From Bizarro World: The GOP Primaries Edition
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Sunday 11 December 2011

Bahwitabah da bang da bang diggy diggy diggy said the boogie said up jumped the Mitty...

Sorry, couldn't help myself. You see, I was perusing the New York Daily News and came across this little gem about Mitt Romney choosing the Kid Rock song "Born Free" as his 2012 campaign anthem. "The patriotic pick," reported the Daily News, "comes as Romney tries to shake the image that he's a buttoned up elitist who has little in common with the average American."

Mitt Romney and Kid Rock. Throw them together with Fred Phelps and the ghost of Lee Atwater, and you'd have the most phenomenally deranged golf foursome in the history of the universe.

It is moments like this that make life, for me, very much worth living. This is what we have come to expect from the Republican field as they have staggered across the landscape in search of the opportunity to challenge President Obama for the White House some eleven months from now. It has been, at times, truly magical to behold, as when Rick Perry went off on his extended derp-a-thon and single-handedly blew out all the tires on his campaign bus. There was Herman Cain's recent dramatic flameout, the culmination of which was a press conference of such stupendous, weighty idiocy that it bent the very light. Michele Bachmann is still forging ahead, and could very well throw the entire GOP primary season into a state of bedlam by winning in Iowa right out of the gate, which to me is the very definition of awesome.

The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/short-tales-bizarro-world-gop-primaries-edition/1323290003