Looks like Binyam Mohamed et al. may get their day in court: A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit brought by five men who say they were tortured as part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s “extraordinary rendition” program can proceed, dealing a blow to efforts by both the Bush and Obama administrations to …
Author Archives: Moral Authority
from the torture memos
We recognize that as a matter of diplomacy, the United States may for various reasons in various circumstances call another nation to account for practices that may in some respects resemble conduct in which the United States might in some circumstances engage, covertly or otherwise. Diplomatic relations with regard to foreign countries are not reliable …
jedermann sein eigner Stylo
Hi! I was going to write another post complaining about stuff I dislike about the Obama administration, but news stories kept piling up before I could find time to write editorial comments about all of them. So just do what I do and read Glenn Greenwald. How can he type that fast? Some highlights (not …
every crystal that crawled up your nose has helped to create the economic power base for a worldwide secret government
(note: this post’s title is a Zappa quote) Hey, remember how the other day Obama (exhibiting his usual supercilious mien) laughed off the question of marijuana legalization, saying “I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy”? And remember those recent DEA raids in San Francisco? Maybe the story behind Barry’s newfound …
sundry
I think Poetariat will have new posts soon regarding our recent surface-world projects. Stay tuned. Anyway, I wanted to post something this month, so here’s a salient quote from Glenn Greenwald: The political class wants people to see them as helpless captives to immutable political realities so that they have a permanent, all-purpose excuse for …
all cats have Asperger syndrome, cont’d
I got some more e-mails from my friend Jason: It happened again. Just as I had finished putting my laundry away, I felt that mysterious buzz inside my head and suddenly found myself in pure white surroundings, with only Joey’s face before me. I had no body of my own; it was like I was …
a hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut
I’ve been meaning to write about President Obama’s implicit support for penile torture. Glenn Greenwald had a pretty comprehensive summary. Basically what the Obama administration has done is apply the Bush administration position on the state secrets privilege: the expansive use of the privilege to get entire cases thrown out of court, whereas earlier administrations …
ars magna
I haven’t posted any of my own poetry for a while, but hopefully I’ll post new creative works soon. But here is a great anagrammatic poem you should read. And here is a 1996 New York Times book review by Douglas Hofstadter with some other examples of stunt poetry (basically the literary equivalent of stunt …
all cats have Asperger syndrome
My friend Jason sent me the following e-mail: Space Kat Today Joey revealed to me his space ship which he used to get to this planet. He also telepathically hacked my computer with his mind and made the attached images appear on my Desktop. He then communicated to me that these images are of him …
MEIN FÜHRER, I CAN WALK
Here‘s a Devo song that should be rewritten for Dick Cheney: he got big and fat and he was ridin’ high makin’ lots of cash trashin’ others’ lives now Cheney’s in a wheelchair and I don’t care Anyway, what did everyone think of Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem? I think mine was better. The news on …