Eschaton: "Under the proposal, some prisoners would in effect be kept off public records and away from the scrutiny of lawyers and judges."

see, when the SUPREME court makes a call you don't like, well ya just go ahead and ignore it...
that's the thing to do, right?

The Poor Man: My! Such A Silly Series Of Entirely Inadvertent Accidental Exculpatory Evidence-Erasing Mistakes!

"What a silly series of time travel screw-ups have prevented us from seeing the exact files which would have conclusively proven the President's complete innocence!"

I just talking about how I needed a time machine the other day...
and I wouldn't even use mine to get the president off the hook...
c'mon time machine people, get in touch!

Abu Ghraib, USA | Anne-Marie Cusac | July 2004 Issue: "When I heard that dogs had been used to intimidate and bite at least one detainee at Abu Ghraib, I thought of the training video shown at the Brazoria County Detention Center in Texas."

if the state of the world doesn't have you nauseous already then this article should just about do it...
via TalkLeft

News Hounds: Typical Fox "Fair & Balanced" Interview

I think the Dems need to start playing the access game a little better...
Lefties, Libs, Progressives, and even Demcratic centrists should just stop agreeing to appear on Fox News for anything and we should fight to deny them press credentials...
they are no more objective than Michael Moore and something tells me he didn't get press credentials to the Repub convention...

Sadly, No!: Children in Iraqi prisons

so, are these kids better off without Saddam?

Eschaton: "The defining case in Edwards' legal career wrapped up that same year. In 1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines. She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys' behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to $1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5 million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to hear Edwards' closing argument, 'the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen,' recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service. "

had to quote the whole thing...

when you hear folks going after Edwards for being a trial lawyer remember this story...and tell it loudly and often. Lawyers are at times the only defense we have against corporate wrongdoing...

DNC Video: McCain

The Republicans are getting ready to release a Bush ad with McCain and the dems have pre-emptively responded...
here's what McCain really thinks of Bush and his policies...

M

Telegraph | News | Rumsfeld gave go-ahead for Abu Ghraib tactics, says general in charge: "The former head of the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad has for the first time accused the American Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, of directly authorising Guantanamo Bay-style interrogation tactics."

It's the story everybody's talking about!
right?
I mean it is, isn't it?

has he resigned yet?

ok...
just like I've been avoiding the comic shop, I've been avoiding the record shop...
but I did go in today and pick up the new remaster of Eno's "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy"...
no bonus tracks, no frills, nice packaging, and overall a pretty amazing job at cleaning up this classic...
the drums are crisper and cleaner, the reverb and other effects are much easier to hear...some of the changes in the sound make it even more Eno if that's possible...but some of the horns seem a little shrill now...
I'd put it just under the Willie Nelson "Stardust" remaster (which is amazing...made a revelation of one of my favorite records without destroying my memories of the original), and way above the job Prince did on "The Hits" or whoever did that awful ZZ top hits cd where they made all the old stuff sound like "Eliminator"....grr...
anyway, if you're wondering, yes it's safe and a good idea to go pick up the new eno remasters...
if anyone gets or has any of the others post in comments and let me know what you think...

oh, also, gonna go trade in some stuff later in the week for the Sonic Youth DVD (not "screaming fields of sonic love" but it will do for now) and the new Galaxie 500 2 dvd set...2 dvd's for a band with 4 videos...impressive...and even more impressive is that it looks like cool enough of a package that I want it...

Now, where are my Jesus and Mary Chain DVD's?

M

The Onion | Good-Citizenship Tips

Another Independence Day Special!
Citizenship tips from our good friends at the The Onion...

My favorite?:

Make an effort to "follow" politics, much the way you would follow, say, sports or the career of J-Lo.

NEWSARAMA - CLOWES & ZWIGOFF RE-TEAM FOR ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: "EIGHTBALL #23 HITS STORES AS CLOWES &
ZWIGOFF RE-TEAM FOR ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL!"

WHOOHOO!
I've been avoiding the comic shop, but now I'll have to go back in...
A NEW EIGHTBALL!
and an "ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL" movie...
YAY!
If you haven't read Clowes before go out and pick up "Caricature", "David Boring", or if you're feeling adventurous, "Like a Velvet Glove cast in Iron"...
all quality stuff.

Daily Kos || Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "On the morning of November 29, 1864, the southern Arapaho chieftain, Black Kettle, awoke to the sounds of the Third Colorado Volunteers thundering across the snow covering the hills around Sand Creek, Colorado. He immediately raised a white flag alongside the 34-star American flag he had been given in Washington the previous year by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He had been told soldiers would not attack if he flew that flag.

He had been lied to. When the slaughter was over, at least 200 southern Cheyenne and Arapaho were dead. Soldiers mutilated their bodies and took trophies of breasts and scrota to be turned into tobacco pouches and other memorabilia. The Denver papers praised the Third Colorado and Colonel Chivington, their Washington-appointed leader. In 1866, Congress held hearings on the massacre and excoriated Chivington.

When I put out the Stars and Stripes, I fly it in memory of Black Kettle and anticipate the day when everyone can justifiably put their trust in it as a flag of peace. "


happy 4th everybody...