Friday, January 23, 2009

Most Republicans approve of torture-link

Wow....any Republican you know, the chances are better than even that this person is a torture advocate. The link leads to Behind the Numbers, a political blog at the Washington Post.
Here's the money quote;
"Overall, 58 percent support the prohibition Obama declared before taking office, but there's a wide gap across party lines: 71 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents in the poll said torture should never be used, but most Republicans, 55 percent, said there are cases in which the U.S. should consider using torture against terrorism suspects."
Could it be these people just watch too much television?

The poll was conducted by Washington Post/ABC News.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

If News Was Truth





Click on the image for a larger version.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

SNL called their shot in 1999



I don't think they were too far off the mark.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Quote of the Day-link

Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.

And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make.


These are the last two paragraphs from Krugman's column today, he drives a point that I've repeatedly emphasized for about the last eight years or so, all federal office holders take the same oath with respect to the Constitution. Aside from their nominal duties that is the only requirement they have to fulfill. Any talk of mandates is pure BS, the president is not your daddy and the laws of the land are what protects us, not an obstruction to our "protection". Great column, as always, go, read.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Gunther and the Sunshine Girls-Suntrip



It's not all doom and gloom here at Itflows, and who couldn't use a laugh about now anyway? Here's the Swedish parody group Gunther and the Sunshine Girls, I've never heard of them or seen them anywhere but on the internet. Apparently they tour, they've been here in Denver (I was unaware of that) and Las Vegas, L.A., all over. I'd say as comedy they compare favorably with Flight of the Conchords and they remind me of Sprockets from the Saturday Night Live of a generation ago.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Human Shield



A very brave young Palestinian woman places herself between demonstraters and Israeli guns.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bill Moyers





This is the most fact-based and fair commentary you're likely to see on the subject of the current events in Gaza.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Clusterbombs being used in Gaza-link

Your tax dollars at work.

Quote of the Day-link

"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side ... The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." - George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism, 1945

I found this quote in Glenn Greenwald's blog at Salon.com today (title-link). I highly recommend his recent posts dealing with the events unfolding in Gaza. The comments section of the blog offers many examples of the pathological mentality Orwell described. One needn't wade into those comments to see that kind of thinking on display, simply tune to any American news broadcast. American politicians of any stripe can be depended on to echo the exact same sentiments, as if that would give cover to their funding of the atrocities committed on their behalf. Of course the greatest offense in evidence here is that all the Palestinians in Gaza have been denied their humanity, they're less than human, barbarians, beasts that can only be dealt with by brute force. The last forty years has certainly taught us that!