What does Pat Buchanan have to do to get fired from MSNBC, show up to work in a white sheet?
Yes, Virginia, there is a white supremacist on MSNBC.
His name is Pat Buchanan.
Some of Pat Buchanan's previous statements include these quotes.
"Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, [such as] reverse discrimination against white folks."
And yes, that is David Duke whom Pat is referring to.
Sadly, that is just the beginning, and it barely even scratches the surface.
At the bottom of this diary there are e-mail addresses where you can demand that this racist hack be given das boot for the hateful bile he spews forth, bile which has no place in 2009 or America in any year.
Dr. Whitehead, Dean of the English Department in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas swung a pretty big stick in his heyday there. He was able to get important persons of letters to come and give free (well, at least to the public) readings of their material. Notable amongst them were Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg. Mrs. Translator and I went to both of those.
The fliers had been distributed around town for a week or two. They were pretty much generic, essentially saying "Famous poet to give reading at the U of A on such and such date at 8:00 PM". Well, Mrs. Translator and I decided to go, as we try to be cultured individuals and I was very familiar with Allen from reading.
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Health Care Series (cross-posted at ePluribus Media. I have been invited to contribute this installment. I originally was going to post about high fructose corn sweetener, but between the time of the invitation and now FDA came out with a new warning about acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used pain and fever relievers in the United States. Much of the widespread use has to do with the fact that it causes less stomach upset and GI bleeding than aspirin or ibuprofen. It is not linked to Reye Syndrome as is aspirin, making it a good choice for children and teens with flu. Another very large reason for widespread use is heavy marketing.
However, acetaminophen has a very dark side. According to CDC, right at half of all cases of acute liver failure (ALF) in the United States is directly caused by acetaminophen. I will not be as geeky in this post as I normally am in my regular Sunday evening series, Pique the Geek, where we try to delve fairly deeply into the science of various topics. However, some scientific and historical background is necessary to understand the process of liver toxicity produced by this material.In 1887 a drug called phenacetin was first marketed for fever and pain. It is actually made from acetaminophen and is metabolized in the body to it. It was withdrawn from the United States market in 1983 due to concerns over carcinogenicity. However, acetaminophen had already replaced it in a large share of the market. The reason that phenacetin was used for so long had to do with sloppy research in the early 20th century.
Acetaminophen was first introduced in 1953 by Winthrop, but in 1955 McNeil began marketing Tylenol Children's Elixir, and the Tylenol brand is still probably the most widely recognized brand name in the United States. Now it outsells aspirin, and I believe this is a dangerous situation.
All medications are eliminated from the body, mostly as metabolites of the parent drug. The major site of metabolism is the great chemical factory of the body, the liver. There are three major pathways, two of them harmless. The first one is addition of glucuronic acid (a sugar derivative) in the liver, producing a metabolite that is nontoxic and is eliminated by the kidneys. It is thought that, in MOST people, about 40% of the drug is eliminated that way.
A second pathway, also harmless, is addition of sulfate in the liver, forming a water soluble metabolite that is carried away by the liver. In MOST people this accounts for around 20% to 40% of the total load.
The third pathway, accounting for about 15% of drug clearance, involves the cytochrome P450 set of liver enzymes (the ones that are increased by drinking alcohol). A toxic intermediate called NAPQI is formed, and that is cleared by combination with the natural antioxidant glutathione and eliminated by the kidneys. Here is where the problem arises.
NAPQI is highly reactive and combines with the lipids in liver cell membranes, killing the cells. When combined with gluatathione, it becomes nontoxic, but glutathione is essential for liver protection from the thousands of other reactive oxidizing agents that it processes constantly. Reduction of glutathione thus also damages the liver, since it is not available to protect the liver from other bad actors.
In most people, the recommended dose of acetaminophen does not cause any outward sign of trouble. However, there are behaviors that increase sensitivity towards toxicity. As mentioned before, moderate to heavy alcohol intake induces the very enzyme that is responsible for the "bad" pathway, so drinkers are naturally more susceptible. Besides, alcohol in large doses is a liver toxin in its own right, so that is a double whammy.
Another risk factor is fasting and low protein diets. Since glutathione is derived from protein, restriction of protein intake reduces its availability, thus decreasing its protective effect on the liver.
A third risk factor may be caffeine. Some fairly recent work is consistent with the hypothesis that caffeine induces a liver enzyme that also causes the production NAPQI, presumably Cytochrome P450. Now this is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, many folks drink a lot of coffee. Second, caffeine is often added to painkiller medications to increase their potency. Some of these combinations include acetaminophen.
There are also other drugs that induce these enzymes, particularly anticonvulsants. The barbiturates are potent inducers, and a few combination products contain a barbiturate, a narcotic, and acetaminophen.
In most normal people with no other risk factors, four grams of acetaminophen will show up on liver function tests after a few days for about a third of the population. Well, four grams a day is the maximum recommended dose for Tylenol Extra Strength products according to the Tylenol website. So, recommended doses affect liver function in one third of people with no other risk factors. This is not good.
Six grams a day for two days can cause significant liver function disturbances in normal (that is, no other risk factor) individuals. Now, I know a lot of folks who have the attitude, "if two tablets will help, three will help more." Here is how we start getting into trouble.
[NOTE: UPDATE: CT edscan has been banned was issued a Sternly Worded Warning from dKos. Could the words of such an unpopular an essayist as me have been any more prescient?]
During the election campaign, I met my fair share of people spouting the emailed Republican talking points. I could discern them, not because anyone I knew personally was idiot enough to send them to me, but because I learned of them through various internet sites. My friends, neighbors and family - politically in sync or not - also knew better than to forward such tripe to my inbox, thus, none did.
Last night, at the most unlikely of places imaginable (at least for me), I met my first flesh-and-blood CT.
The conversation started innocently enough with dog talk at the local dog park followed by discussion of the economy and the bailout. Then, the worm turned to politics. Not just any politics - Texas-style politics.
I posted this over at DailyKos and it was my first rec-listed diary there.
There was a front-page post the other day on DailyKos about the detainees that have died in US custody since 2002 after being tortured and abused, so I'm following up on that post with more information I've found.
In 2005, the ACLU released findings from autopsy reports of detainees held by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq. Twenty one of the autopsies were ruled homicides. Something the ACLU notes that's interesting (ugh, I hate using that word for this seriously sick finding) is that while at the time CIA abuse was being widely reported in the media, their autopsies revealed a problem with abuse by Navy Seals and military intelligence too.
Some things the report found... and I have to warn you this whole post is graphic:
A detainee at Abu Ghraib Prison, captured by Navy Seal Team number seven, died on November 4, 2003, during an interrogation by Navy Seals and ""OGA."" A previously released autopsy report, that appears to be of Manadel Al Jamadi, shows that the cause of his death was ""blunt force injury complicated by compromised respiration."" New documents specifically record the circumstances of death as ""Q by OGA and NSWT died during interrogation.""
A detainee was smothered to death during an interrogation by Military Intelligence on November 26, 2003, in Al Qaim, Iraq. A previously released autopsy report, that appears to be of General Mowhoush, lists ""asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression"" as the cause of death and cites bruises from the impact with a blunt object. New documents specifically record the circumstances of death as ""Q by MI, died during interrogation.""
The documents were obtained from the Department of Defense from a Freedom of Information Act request and a judge also ordered that more Abu Ghraib photos should be released, but as of this article the decision was stayed. Are those the ones due to be released this year?
For the Soldier who fights for Truth, calls his enemy his brother. -- William Blake
Jason Leopold had an amazing find when perusing a new released FBI document the ACLU posted on their site earlier this week. [Update: Leopold informs me that the document was released in Dec. 2004, but he caught the info while perusing the ACLU collection over these past months.]
Senior FBI agents stationed in Iraq in 2004 claimed in an e-mail that President George W. Bush signed an executive order approving the use of military dogs, sleep deprivation and other harsh tactics to intimidate Iraqi detainees.
The FBI e-mail -- dated May 22, 2004 -- followed disclosures about abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and sought guidance on whether FBI agents in Iraq were obligated to report the U.S. military's harsh interrogation of inmates when that treatment violated FBI standards but fit within the guidelines of a presidential executive order.
What follows below was transcribed from a PDF of the original document (or a copy of same), posted on the website of Senator Carl Levin, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. It, along with a wealth of other documentation, was used in preparing the SASC's highly critical report late last year on interrogations and detainee treatment, which concluded that high officials bore responsibility for the mistreatment and torture of prisoners under U.S. control.
The document below constitutes the minutes from a meeting held at Guantanamo in early autumn, 2002. It is presented with minimal editorial comment, as I believe it speaks for itself. So far as I know, no other transcription of this document, minus certain excerpts, has ever been published or posted before. It is done so here as a public service, to promote the position that prosecution of the government's torture crimes is of paramount importance.
Scott Horton has followed up on the UK Guardian story, which I also wrote on last night, describing how Reprieve attorney Clive Stafford Smith, whose organization is helping defend Guantanamo detainee and British resident Binyam Mohamed, had information he was sending to President Obama on Mohamed's torture censored by the U.S. Department of Defense.
At Daily Kos, a number of readers were incredulous at the claims I, and by implication, Stafford Smith was making about Obama being kept out of the information loop, suggesting that I was prone to conspiracy theories, or a dupe for grandstanding by Mohamed's attorneys. Some suggested either the Guardian or myself or both had completely misunderstood the situation.
But Horton, who has been following this story carefully, and is known to have excellent sources, reported on the Guardian article much as I had, and added this:
(If I were president, I'd be pissed. - promoted by Magnifico)
In a shocking revelation just posted at UK Guardian, Binyam Mohamed's attorney Clive Stafford Smith, who is also director of the legal charity Reprieve, reports that "substantial parts" of a memo, attached to a letter to Barack Obama, documenting evidence of Mohamed's torture at the hands of CIA agents and their extraordinary rendition proxies, were blanked out so the president could not read them. Who did that?
US defence officials are preventing Barack Obama from seeing evidence that a former British resident held in Guantánamo Bay has been tortured, the prisoner's lawyer said last night, as campaigners and the Foreign Office prepared for the man's release in as little as a week....
Stafford Smith tells Obama he should be aware of the "bizarre reality" of the situation. "You, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by US personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command."
This is a followup to my diary on Post Office Murals in the New Deal.
Lewis Hine was a great photographer, and also an intrepid social activist. Amongst his most famous works are pictures of child laborers in the early part of the 20th century, for the National Child Labor Committee. The black and white slides with this music are mostly all by Hine.
Am I talking about moms in mink coats driving Cadilacs and having babies for money? Nope. I'm talking about corporate welfare. Here is a close up look at the handouts that have been going on in broad daylight; and most of the numbers are from the Clinton boom years, when there wasn't even a pretense of an excuse.
Biotechnology: This industry is regarded by many economic development officials as the key to local prosperity, and thus they are willing to shower subsidies on new projects.
Private prisons: Operators of for-profit correctional institutions not only receive lucrative operating contracts from government agencies, but they also get financial help to build new facilities.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
