Quote of the day
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Posted 6 months agoComments & 114 notes • April 27th, 2009
So Bobby Jindal makes fun of “volcano monitoring”, and soon afterwards Mt. Redoubt erupts. Susan Collins makes sure that funds for pandemic protection are stripped from the stimulus bill, and the swine quickly attack.
What else did the right oppose recently? I just want enough information to take cover.
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Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (1953- ) [link]
(thebusstop via apsies) (via avh) (via freckledawesome)
(via peterwknox)
(via feinsodville)
Congress Knew About the Interrogations
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Posted 6 months agoComments & 2 notes • April 24th, 2009
Via: John Cole & Retro*Politics
Rep. Peter Hoekstra writes in Pravda the WSJ op-ed pages:Congress Knew About the Interrogations
Accessory
It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses. by them.
An accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the commission of the crime as a joint principal. The distinction between an accessory and a principal is a question of fact and degree:- The principal is the one whose acts or omissions, accompanied by the relevant mens rea, are the most immediate cause of the actus reus (Latin for “guilty act”).
- If two or more people are directly responsible for the actus reus, they can be charged as joint principals (see common purpose). The test to distinguish a joint principal from an accessory is whether the defendant independently contributed to causing the actus reus rather than merely giving generalised and/or limited help and encouragement……. wikipedia
Quote of the day
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Posted 6 months agoComments & 2 notes • April 22nd, 2009So they tortured Gitmo detainees to get information, which turned out to be false, to build support for a war they had already made up their mind they would wage. And keep in mind, these decisions were made by political appointees. Not JAGs, not military generals, not even veteran CIA agents (most people in all three positions actually opposed these policies). They were made by neocon warmongers with little to no actual military or interrogation experience who hadn’t the slightest idea what they were doing. These people belong in a prison cell. To excuse them is to say that no abuse of power should be punishable so long as you can come up with some tortured justification about how you were only trying to protect the country.
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The Agitator (via azspot) (via feinsodville)
Here - Here - Amen!
Gonzales, Yoo, Addington, Feith, Bybee, Haynes to be indicted
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Posted 6 months ago • SourceComments & 18 notes • April 13th, 2009
vaughnshirley:spiegelman: Torture.
In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's
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Posted 7 months ago • SourceComments & 2 notes • April 10th, 2009
Commentary by Tim Jones @www.eff.org
Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, EFF’s litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration’s made two deeply troubling arguments.
Read full article here
First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They argue that simply allowing the case to continue “would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security.” As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence….
China Details Incentive Plan for Electric Cars - NY Times
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Posted 7 months ago • SourceComments • April 10th, 2009
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: April 10, 2009
BEIJING — Senior Chinese officials on Friday outlined how they aimed to turn their country into the world’s largest producer of electric cars, including a focus on consumer choice rather than corporate subsidies…..China is already giving the US it’s lunch money; it looks like they will be eating our lunch as well. As the world shifts to a new economy (one NOT centered on oil) China might be leading the way.
read whole article
Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world
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Posted 7 months agoComments & 3 notes • April 8th, 2009
From Financial Times
By Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Published: April 7 2009 20:02
These are the 10 principles read the article to see each items explanation.
A free registration is required to read articles at the Financial Times. Via: Max Zeledon- What is fragile should break early while it is still small.
- No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains
- People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus
- Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks
- Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
- Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning
- Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”
- Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains
- Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible “expert” advice for their retiremen
- Make an omelette with the broken eggs.
Quote of the day
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Posted 7 months agoComments & 12 notes • April 4th, 2009There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
- Richard Feynman (via seashelllz)
Video of the Day
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Posted 7 months agoComments & 1 note • April 3rd, 2009
Geithner Plan II Explained Chalkboard Style
The video was made by The Khan Academy—an educational non-profit focusing on math training. The conclusion: The money ends up in the hands of the people who created the mess.
Via: Max Zeledon
Gingrich is a very likely going to run for President in 2012, he is charismatic and to the Right of George W Bush; reading this article shows how dangerous he could be.