On Cheney

A Different Understanding With the President

The General’s Report

How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.

and if you don't want to read the whole thing, here is a short version.

What is wrong with these people?

Sentencing can get out of hand in US courts

Last Monday, Elisa Kelly and her ex-husband George Robinson began purging a 27-month prison sentence in a Virginia jail for serving beer and wine at their son Ryan's 16th birthday party.

The parents said they feared Ryan and his friends would drink behind their backs, so they chose to buy the drinks and supervise the party themselves.

But in Virginia, where you can drive a car at 16 and vote, buy a gun or join the military at 18, it is against the law to drink alcohol before 21.

...

In November 1995 in California, Leandro Andrade stole 150 dollars' worth of movies on video tape for his children, including 'Snow White,' 'Cinderella,' and 'Free Willy.' With several prior convictions for robbery under his belt, Andrade was put away for no less than 50 years.

His case went to the US Supreme Court, whose justices upheld the sentence, five-to-four, saying it was not too extreme. The following year, California voters rejected in a referendum a measure to weaken the "three strikes" law.

That is a society totally out of whack. We need to end our ridiculous experiment with mandatory sentencing. Something is not right if there is one inmate for every 136 citizens.

A primer on Palestine

Hamas May Find It Needs Its Enemy

Don't we all.

Mindfulness training...

in the classroom.

Dispelling conventional wisdom

Turns out that intellectual engagement isn't turning kids away from religion. Looks like those liberal militant-atheist college professors aren't doing there job:

Percent of Young Adults Reporting Religious Declines, by Level of Education

Educational Attainment	Decline in Attending Services	Decline in Importance of Religion	Disaffiliation From Religion
Didn’t attend college	76.2%	23.7%	20.3%
Attended, but earned no degree	71.5%	16.3%	14.6%
Earned associate degree	60.3%	15.1%	14.4%
Earned at least a bachelor’s degree	59.2%	15.0%	15.0%

Behavioral factors, he said, are a better way than college status to predict whether young adults will become less religious. Those who don’t have sex before marriage are also those who don’t experience as much of a drop in religious connection. Those who have smoked pot experience more of a drop. Those who increase alcohol consumption during their young adulthood experience more of a drop in religious connection.

Those who blame college for declining religious activity by students don’t understand that it is these factors, among others, that are the influence, Regnerus said. “This is about this period of the life course where freedom and choice become paramount,” he said. “What diminishes religiosity is freedom and choice, not intellectual engagement.”

You could even make the argument that going college increases your chance of staying in religion. It would be most likely be wrong, but you could make it.

No real surprise

New Orleans turns to international aid

Alan Watts

Music and life animated by the South Park guys.

Pay attention.

[WHOOPS, had the wrong link there. Try it again. This time... Pay attention]

I like to see the media confronted

This is depressing but SO true

Gore writes about he media's assault on reason, and the media proceeds to prove him right.

Possibly one of the stupidest f@#king things I have ever heard

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'

No. Really. They wanted to build a hormone bomb that would turn enemy soldiers gay, and more interested in sex than fighting.

Just frikkin' dump ecstasy on their heads and pump in some loud techno music and watch them dance themselves tired.

On the other hand, I'm all for less-violent means of war. Heck, why isn't that just diplomacy?

Disaffected conservatives

...set a litmus test for '08
Want vow to curb presidential power

A new political group recently asked Mitt Romney to promise not to wiretap Americans without a judge's approval or to imprison US citizens without a trial as "enemy combatants." When Romney declined to sign their pledge, the group denounced him as "unfit to serve as president."

Gonzales no-confidence vote

Fails in the Senate

And MAN is Lieberman (voted no) is amazing - he is a righteous git and a unprincipled ass - each one judiciously applied at all the wrong times. I can't wait until 2008 when the Dems have a larger Senate majority and they strip him of all is leadership positions and stops caucusing with the Democrats.

Jailed Chinese reporter sues Yahoo

Snap

China’s Plan for Global Warming

Wait for the US

could be a while...

First CIA rendition trial opens

The first criminal trial over the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects has opened in Italy.

Twenty-six Americans and six Italians are accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.

The Americans - most believed to be CIA agents - will be tried in absentia. Italy has not announced if it will seek their extradition to the Milan trial.

Krugman

Lies, Sighs and Politics (behind select wall)

In Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney completely misrepresented how we ended up in Iraq. Later, Mike Huckabee mistakenly claimed that it was Ronald Reagan’s birthday.

Guess which remark The Washington Post identified as the “gaffe of the night”?

Folks, this is serious. If early campaign reporting is any guide, the bad media habits that helped install the worst president ever in the White House haven’t changed a bit.

You may not remember the presidential debate of Oct. 3, 2000, or how it was covered, but you should. It was one of the worst moments in an election marked by news media failure as serious, in its way, as the later failure to question Bush administration claims about Iraq.

Throughout that debate, George W. Bush made blatantly misleading statements, including some outright lies — for example, when he declared of his tax cut that “the vast majority of the help goes to the people at the bottom end of the economic ladder.” That should have told us, right then and there, that he was not a man to be trusted.

But few news reports pointed out the lie. Instead, many news analysts chose to critique the candidates’ acting skills. Al Gore was declared the loser because he sighed and rolled his eyes — failing to conceal his justified disgust at Mr. Bush’s dishonesty. And that’s how Mr. Bush got within chad-and-butterfly range of the presidency.

Now fast forward to last Tuesday. Asked whether we should have invaded Iraq, Mr. Romney said that war could only have been avoided if Saddam “had opened up his country to I.A.E.A. inspectors, and they’d come in and they’d found that there were no weapons of mass destruction.” He dismissed this as an “unreasonable hypothetical.”

Except that Saddam did, in fact, allow inspectors in. Remember Hans Blix? When those inspectors failed to find nonexistent W.M.D., Mr. Bush ordered them out so that he could invade. Mr. Romney’s remark should have been the central story in news reports about Tuesday’s debate. But it wasn’t.
...
For if there’s one thing I hope we’ve learned from the calamity of the last six and a half years, it’s that it matters who becomes president — and that listening to what candidates say about substantive issues offers a much better way to judge potential presidents than superficial character judgments. Mr. Bush’s tax lies, not his surface amiability, were the true guide to how he would govern.

And I don’t know if this country can survive another four years of Bush-quality leadership.

Freaky new technologies

Wireless power sources

and

Britain's endemic surveillance cameras talk back

and of course

Google street view

Attorney-general knew of BAE and the £1bn. Then concealed it

What is this all about??

British investigators were ordered by the attorney-general Lord Goldsmith to conceal from international anti-bribery watchdogs the existence of payments totalling more than £1bn to a Saudi prince, the Guardian can disclose.

The money was paid into bank accounts controlled by Prince Bandar for his role in setting up BAE Systems with Britain's biggest ever arms deal. Details of the transfers to accounts in the US were discovered by officers from the Serious Fraud Office during its long-running investigation into BAE. But its inquiry was halted suddenly last December.

Those Liberal Canadians

Sex, or he's your ex

Poll: Americans Lean Dem By Wide Margin

From tpmcafe

The new AP-Ipsos poll has a fascinating number. Respondents were asked they identified as Democrats, Republicans or independents, and then independents were asked which way they lean. With leaners, 54% of Americans are Democrats, compared to only 36% Republicans — an almost 20-point Dem margin. This is likely a product of recent Washington scandals and mishandling of foreign affairs by Republicans, but it could very well turn into a full-fledged political realignment if the Democrats can sustain it.

The nexus of politics and terror

The kingdom made me slouch

In Saudi Arabia, a view from behind the veil

Libby gets 30 months

Freezers of cash

William Jefferson (D-LA) indicted

He needs to resign, ASAP.

and, Fox is up their fun little tricks again. Good to see they haven't lost their edge.

Speaking the truth

O'Reily is worried about the breaking down of the 'white Christian power structure'

Wow, well, points for honesty.

Street Level

Google Maps incorporates a street level view

crazy. Currently only in a few cities. Looks like they drive the whole city with a 360 camera.

Why Hawks Win

A psychologists explanation

Why are hawks so influential? The answer may lie deep in the human mind. People have dozens of decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession. A look at why the tough guys win more than they should.