let's go dancing on the backs of the bruised … "Head," Prince "Head Is Happy (Heart's Insane)," Aztec Camera "Head Like a Hole," Nine Inch Nails "Head Over Heels," Tears for Fears "Headmasters of Mine," Jeffrey Gaines "The Healing Room," Sinead O'Connor "Hearing Aid," They Might Be Giants "Heart and Soul," T'Pau "Heart Shaped World," Chris Isaak "Heartbreak Hotel," Elvis Presley Read more
The area of the circle of the barrel of a gun The Third Geneva Convention forbids the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. This treaty was signed by nearly everybody — more than 120 nations — including the United States, whose ratification of it made it legally binding in this country. The Third Geneva Convention provides an unambiguous legal framework, so it becomes an obvious first response to the appalling question: Why is torture unacceptable? Torture is unacceptable because it... Read more
I'd been right, I was still right, I was always right. President Bush, Tony Snow tells us, read Albert Camus' novel The Stranger during his vacation in Crawford, Texas. Steve Benen — crossposting at Crooks & Liars and The Carpetbagger Report — finds this hard to believe. So do I. Even staunch Republicans have raised questions about Bush's intellect, but it's not just that. It's that it would be hard to imagine a novel that was more out-of-character for George... Read more
September, 2002, here on slacktivist: PowerPoint sucks. August, 2006 on Crooked Timber: PowerPoint Corrupts the Point Absolutely, i.e., it doesn't just suck, it loses wars. (Pleased to see that the Google search of "PowerPoint sucks" now turns up more than 1,000 hits.) Read more
I don't know if this is to be believed — it appears legitimate but cannot be 100-percent confirmed. From the current (Sept. 2006) Harper's Magazine: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED From a document found in the safe house of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, after he was killed by U.S. forces on June 7. The document was released to the Associated Press by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie. The best way to get out of this crisis... Read more
From a comments thread at Crooks & Liars I find this link: "Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome." And so, a story. * * * * * (more…) Read more
If there's anything better than this / I'd like to know … "Glory and the Dream," Vigilantes of Love "Glory Days," Bruce Springsteen "Gloryhound," da "Go Away Little Boy," Lone Justice "Go Down Easy," Over the Rhine "God Bless the Child," Billie Holiday "God Give Me Strength," Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach "God Is Watching You," Leslie Phillips "God Only Knows," The Beach Boys "God Only Knows," Claudine Longet "God Went Bowling," The Swirling Eddies "God's Gonna Cut You Down,"... Read more
Let's try another angle: Nobody likes terrorists, right? I mean, those of us who aren't terrorists can all agree that, you know, terrorism is Bad and terrorists are Bad People, right? I see most of you nodding but a few of you — that bunch there in the back — look worried. You're probably wondering if this is some kind of trick question. It's not. Or at least not in the wingnut sense of pretending-everybody-I-disagree-with-is-a-terrorist-and/or-lover-of-terrorists (such as). But the answer... Read more
"You're not allowed to kill civilians" is not exclusively, or even primarily, a legal statement. Like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this prohibition is spelled out in international law. But, like those rights, it precedes this particular legal formulation. Just as the Universal Declaration is not the source of the human rights it affirms, so too international law is not the source of the prohibition against killing civilians. But let's save the metaphysics for another time and consider, for... Read more
In a better world, today would not need to be remembered as the 61st anniversary of the dishonorable, indiscriminate slaughter of Nagasaki. It would instead be remembered primarily as the 70th anniversary of the day that James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens won his fourth gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin running the first leg of the United States' world-record-setting 400-meter relay. * * * * * I missed another important anniversary on Sunday. August 6 was the fifth anniversary... Read more
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