April 7, 2010 archive

Late Night Karaoke

Open Thread

For Your Consideration: War Courts

The Obama administration disregard for the rule law and human rights continues

Guantanamo war court resumes hearings amid uncertainty

Photobucket

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Still operating under Bush-era policies that President Barack Obama last year called “a mess,” the Pentagon will resume military commission hearings for accused terrorists Wednesday in a top secret compound originally designed for the trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

War court critics denounced the decision to go ahead with hearings this week, saying that without new rules that the Obama administration has yet to complete, the commissions are operating with uncertain procedures.

“It’s really like a lame duck commission,” bristled Mike Berrigan, deputy chief defense counsel.

snip

Among the questions the lack of a new manual of procedures leaves unanswered is whether a defendant could enter a guilty plea in a case where he might face the death penalty. Under military law, such a confession isn’t allowed, a requirement that stymied earlier efforts to try the 9/11 conspirators after they offered to confess to a judge directly without empanelling a jury.

Dialogue……………….

There are many styles/forms of communication……….

lately I have been trying to look at four…

these are by no means the only ones which exist…

just a parsing of my own mind along the the conversations I have had……

I always begin with the notion that a conversation requires more than one participant……

at least 2 participants………….

and it is always an extension of scope to have a conversation amongst many…….

what if more than two could have an intentional conversation…..

a conversation whose intention was to seek the solution to the survival of life……

or more specifically a conversation whose intention was to seek the optimal path for life through the changes to come whatever they may be…….

crawl, walk, run, a progression of integration……

beginning with two since a conversation with your self is boring…….

it is also potentially degenerate and a path to psychosis……

you need another to find the path to life….

it takes a minimum of two to have a conversation which is a path to life……

and if either participant leaves the conversation….

then the exchange ceases to be a conversation which leads to the survival of life…….

a majority of the conversations I have fall into these four categories…..

lecturing, argument, discussions, dialogue…..

and these categories are not absolute, nor all inclusive, just convenient……

they exist by declaration only not in any absolute way…..

so you can parse conversation any way you wish, these categories do not in any way limit any other conversation……

the conversations which I am referring to share certain characteristics…..

the continuums of symmetry,listening, purpose/goals…..

The Biggest Fraud in History

  Fraud traditionally occurs behind closed doors. The larger the fraud, the more chances of its existence leaking out to the public. Only after the scheme has blown up does the media report it.

   Fraud has a short lifespan once it is subject to the harsh rays of sunlight. It is only a matter of time before the lies on which it is built come crumbling down.

 Last week a massive case of fraud was exposed to the light, but because it hasn’t imploded yet the mainstream news media isn’t reporting it. In fact, the media seems to want to ignore the facts.

  Why? Not because they question the facts, but simply because of the subject of the fraud – precious metals.

Tonight’s Sunset Open Thread

Cross-posted at DailyKos and Firefly-Dreaming.

Tonight’s was a very pleasing sunset. I posted last night’s sunset here and today was the opposite of yesterday’s. Yesterday was clear and sunny all day with just enough clouds rolling in to add a little mood to sundown. Today was milky and dull until the very late afternoon and the sky cleared as the sun went down.

I get a little excited when the sun is bright but not to bright for digital photos. It is also coming to the time of year that the sunsets directly into my window. That is when the reflections on the water are most dramatic.

So if you can use a soothing visual, then below the fold is how the sun setting over the Hudson in the Bronx looked tonight.    

Chew On This, Teabaggers (Song)

I don’t sing, but I play a little gee-tar. While I don’t sing well, this is more than the teabaggers who condone or act out violence deserve – even if it is to make fun of them. And it is.

How the Corporations Broke Ralph Nader and America, Too

I’ve focused a lot on the history of how big business overtook the Democrats and America. I do so because I think it’s critically important to know how we got in this situation so we can know how to get out.

This piece by Chris Hedges draws light on a different story of the war on us that I was completely oblivious to. I love it when that happens.

How the Corporations Broke Ralph Nader and America, Too

By Chris Hedges

Ralph Nader’s descent from being one of the most respected and powerful men in the country to being a pariah illustrates the totality of the corporate coup. Nader’s marginalization was not accidental. It was orchestrated to thwart the legislation that Nader and his allies-who once consisted of many in the Democratic Party-enacted to prevent corporate abuse, fraud and control. He was targeted to be destroyed. And by the time he was shut out of the political process with the election of Ronald Reagan, the government was in the hands of corporations. Nader’s fate mirrors our own.

“The press discovered citizen investigators around the mid-1960s,” Nader told me when we spoke a few days ago. “I was one of them. I would go down with the press releases, the findings, the story suggestions and the internal documents and give it to a variety of reporters. I would go to Congress and generate hearings. Oftentimes I would be the lead witness. What was interesting was the novelty; the press gravitates to novelty. They achieved great things. There was collaboration. We provided the newsworthy material. They covered it. The legislation passed. Regulations were issued. Lives were saved. Other civic movements began to flower.”

Nader was singled out for destruction, as Henriette Mantel and Stephen Skrovan point out in their engaging documentary movie on Nader, “An Unreasonable Man.” General Motors had him followed in an attempt to blackmail him. It sent an attractive woman to his neighborhood Safeway supermarket in a bid to meet him while he was shopping and then seduce him; the attempt failed, and GM, when exposed, had to issue a public apology.  

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Blasts rock Baghdad killing 35

by Ammar Karim, AFP

2 hrs 48 mins ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Six bombs rocked Baghdad killing at least 35 people Tuesday, the second time the capital has come under attack in three days, fuelling fears insurgents are making a return due to a political impasse.

The explosions destroyed residential buildings in mostly Shiite neighbourhoods, with Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta saying four of the bombs detonated inside the buildings.

“Six bomb attacks in several neighbourhoods of Baghdad occurred, and seven buildings collapsed,” an interior ministry official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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