US cop finds starving, caged 6-yr-old eating her own flesh to live | The Asian Age

US cop finds starving, caged 6-yr-old eating her own flesh to live | The Asian Age What the world needs now: more random parenthood.

Fighting the War on Two Fronts

Well, dog my cat or something, I inadvertantly stepped on a twitter hornet's nest, and I'm just so sorry that I did. I mentioned in a tweet that I thought the conditions of Bradley Manning's confinement, as I understand them, seemed rather Abu Ghraib-y to me: being kept naked, in solitary confinement. Now, if this is not the case, then I will happily STFU.

If it is the case, I will not happily STFU, and my unhappiness at his being kept in such conditions does not merely include Manning's condition, but extends to anyone who would keep anyone in such conditions anywhere anytime.

I am happy to wage war on two fronts: toward the right wing, and toward the left, when it appears to be supporting things I think ought not to be supported: you know, like keeping one's fellow humans in unacceptable conditions. You don't like it? Meh.

Obama is too timid-centrist for me. Always has been, still is. I held my nose and voted for him, and I'm glad he won. That being said, I don't appreciate a lot of what he is doing, and I don't appreciate a lot of what he is not doing. However, I dislike the behaviors and goals of the rabid right wing much much much much more.

Right wing, left wing, throwing people into solitary confinement, naked, and keeping them in those conditions is unacceptable. Stripping people naked is a form of humiliation, and sexual humiliation at that, and it is not a method to address suicidality. Mental hospitals all across America are filled with suicidal people who, remarkably enough, still have their clothes on.

Rly.



ps.
Here's what Arthur Silber has to say re: Manning. Go fight with him.

Consciousness of Guilt (Or, Yes, Bush/Cheney's Still Getting Away With Murder)

It's Rosemary Woods on crack and steroids: the convenient "disappearance" of evidence which, by federal law, must not be disappeared. Not a miserable few minutes on Nixon's tapes, but ALL SORTSA emails. Especially Dick Cheney's emails. You know, sensitive emails. Stuff that is meant to be preserved.

But it did disappear.

No biggie.

I mean, cui bono? These things just happen! Why would you think this spontaneous event involved destruction of evidence? Why?




Hat-tip to Corrente.

Call for Boycott: Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Mott's

For: Conduct Unbecoming an Employer.


Yes, that's right. A corporation tries to screw its employees and get away with it. Well, I'm not buying.

How about you?

BP Oil Volcano Butterfly-effects Cape Cod Wildlife

Nobody could have predicted . . .

ORLEANS — The BP oil spill is creating uncertainty among the people who watch over some of the threatened and endangered wildlife that visit Cape Cod.

Many piping plovers born here this summer, for example, will eventually fly to winter grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP's Deepwater Horizon rig has been releasing oil since April 20. And rare Kemp's ridley turtles, which ride the Gulf Stream to Cape Cod, now face a gauntlet of burning oil slicks and chemical dispersants as they cross the Gulf from their breeding grounds.

Gulf Coast beaches are also the winter home to terns and oystercatchers that migrate to the Cape.

"How do we face the fact that all of our hard-won successes on breeding beaches might be wiped out in an instant, as birds migrate and flock to their familiar beaches, only to find them covered in oil and their invertebrate meals tainted and smothered?" wrote Becky Harris, coastal water bird director for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, in a blog last week.

After struggling to protect plovers, least terns and oystercatchers from oversand vehicles, coyotes, crows, kites and dogs, wildlife experts feel the new threat looms large.

"They've said (this spill) will have a dramatic effect for five to 10 years, and maybe longer. It's sad," Orleans Parks and Beaches Superintendent Paul Fulcher said Tuesday.

Thanks to banding, bird experts have a good handle on the distribution of the Massachusetts population of American oystercatchers, Ellen Jedrey, assistant director of Massachusetts Audubon's Coastal Waterbird program, said Tuesday. "An estimated 30 percent of the Massachusetts population of oystercatchers — about 200 pairs — does winter along the Gulf Coast," she said.

The distinctive-looking oystercatchers — black and white with a long orange bill for opening shellfish — don't get as much press as piping plovers but need the same barrier beaches and marshes to breed and feed. The oystercatchers are relatively few in number — about 11,000 in the United States.

Piping plovers also are likely at risk from the spill, according to field ornithologist Chris Leahy at the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The birds migrate south in August and September to a variety of wintering grounds along the East Coast and Gulf Coast.

"If you look at the wintering range of the piping plover, it would be very good luck if New England piping plovers happened to winter outside the spill. There's a high likelihood that they will get onto wintering beaches where they will be affected by the oil," Leahy said.

The Kemp's ridley turtle, however, is in immediate danger. The rare sea turtle's only two breeding grounds are on the west side of the Gulf Coast, in Mexico and Texas' Padre Island, and young juveniles are believed to float across the Gulf on clumps of algae.

Now the clumps of algae, many covered with oil, are death traps because BP is burning off great patches of oil to keep it from coming ashore, according to Robert Prescott, executive director at the Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary of the Massachusetts Audubon society.

"There's a group of volunteers that is racing around in the Gulf and trying to net as many juvenile turtles as they can before the burning," he said Wednesday. "A lot of organisms, including turtles, are dying."

For years, Cape Codders have followed the fate of the dinner-plate-size turtles, the world's most endangered sea turtle. Each fall, volunteers walk Cape beaches to rescue cold-stunned ridleys that failed to leave the region before the water temperature gets too cold for them.

Genocidal Red Chinese Tap Selves to Pick Next Dalai Lama. Is That Egg on Their Faces, or Something Even More Embarrassing?

Yes, it's true.

Noted experts in cultural genocide, the Red Chinese, apparently consider themselves experts in the ins and outs of esoteric Tibetan Buddhism. Considering they prolly can't even name the four noble truths, much less practice them, it's quite a stretch.

Anyhow, they've just decided that they're going to pick the next Dalai Lama after this one (Nobel prize-winning Number 14, above, wearing Red Sox hat in Foxboro) clags it.

It's hilarious.

If they only knew how much they're embarrassing themselves, they'd probably stop.

Things that make you go "Hmm . . ."

So an idea popped into my head. What would it be like if BP is, technically, unable to stop its well from gushing oil?

What if they're not just lying because they want to find a way to save their oil and save their well?

What if the whole thing is totally, technically, out of control?

What is to be done if there is nothing that can be done?





Lambert Strether at Corrente: Are oil leaks really down hole?

Geologist Chris Landau. Wearing tin hat abiotic oil theory, but the other stuff seems ok.

The Oil Drum

Something to keep your mind off the endless misery of samsara?

Nope.

The Oil Drum.

Topkill Fails

BP announces the failure of its "topkill" plan to plug the Oilmaggedon leak.

BP began a risky operation known as "top kill" on Wednesday. The procedure involves pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well in a bid to stop the oil. It's never been tried in 5,000 feet of water.

The oil spill began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded last month, killing 11 people. It's the worst spill in U.S. history, dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf.

Smearing Elena Kagan: Grey Lady Smear-Sandwich Edition

I read the NYT this AM and realized that I was actually reading the National Enquirer.

No, really.

On the front page, to which I shall not link, is a charming piece smearing Kagan with the "A" word -- gentle readers, you must know what that one is, the thing that uppity women must not be -- (whispers) ambitiouss -- ooooooooooooo so scarey --- and on the inside back page, NYT features comments on Kagan's views of executive powers as parsed by --- insert drum roll here --- pro-torturer-in-chief John Yoo.

Oh, my. Who thought that one up? The Heathers? ("Hey, whatcha say we ask John Yoo what he thinks about Kagan's views on executive power?" [Crowd chortles, all dig elbows into one another's ribs.] "Hyuk, hyuk!" "Do it! Do it!")

Really I do get sick of this sh*t.

But -- why am I so alone?

So lucky that early adopter Goldman-Sachs-slayer Obama Afghanistan-surge non-supporter public optionist Martha Coakley didn't win over uber-charmer Scott Brown, isn't it?

Brown? Coakley? [Insert The Big Shrug.]

It really doesn't make any difference, does it? It's all hopeless, so who cares?

And then we have a wonderful blogger to whom I shall not link who's very generally wonderful save for relatively rare spasms of bad madness who's spending his precious time on earth helpfully calling Hillary Clinton a war criminal.


Jeez, people.

Wake the f*ck up.

Empire Stated

Empire stated

The Bush/Cheney Depression: A Gift That Keeps On Giving, Domestic Violence/Murder Edition

Sudden rise in domestic violence homicides in Massachusetts linked to economic stressors.

Rising economic stress cited in domestic violence increase

The Westford man who shot his wife Monday, critically wounding her, before fatally shooting his daughter and himself is the second to allegedly kill a family member in this suburb in less than a month, and the fatal shootings are the latest in a rash of domestic killings in Massachusetts this year.

Since Jan. 9, at least five women have been killed in domestic violence. Two others were severely wounded in the total of six different incidents.

The violence has alarmed authorities and advocates for women, who point out that women’s groups are reporting dramatic increases in domestic abuse in Massachusetts and across the country.

“I haven’t seen this level of violence - and it’s not just the homicides, it’s the assaults and attempted murders - and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years.’’ said Joanne Tulonen, director of the YWCA/Battered Women’s Resources organization in Leominster, where a domestic dispute led to a knife attack on two women Sunday morning.

There seem to be few common threads in the deadly domestic violence that began Jan. 9 in Westford, where a man allegedly shot his 43-year-old wife before turning the gun on himself. In Spencer the following week, a man facing a foreclosure auction took his own life after shooting and killing his sick wife and their horse, setting fire to their home, and torching his pickup truck.

On Jan. 16, a Fall River man allegedly shot his wife at a Westport restaurant before killing himself. His wife survived. The next day, a 23-year-old Seekonk man and a 20-year-old woman died in an apparent murder-suicide at a motel in North Attleborough after police tried to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant.

A Fitchburg State College freshman, Allison Myrick, 19, of Groton, was stabbed to death Jan. 23, allegedly by her 19-year-old boyfriend, Robert Gulla of Shirley. Gulla stabbed and shot himself, but survived, police said. In Leominster on Sunday morning, a 23-year-old man allegedly slashed the throat of his girlfriend

Women’s advocates said they believe that despite the varying circumstances, at least one underlying cause is an unforgiving economy that has intensified family disputes, inflamed some men’s abusive tendencies, and left some women more reluctant to leave violent relationships.

“The story behind the story is the economy,’’ said Suzanne Dubus, executive director of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, a domestic violence organization in Newburyport. “Bad economic times do not create batterers, but they do exacerbate problems. And women who are lying in the dark at night, thinking about leaving, they have no idea how they’ll support themselves and their kids on their own.’’

Thanks for nothing, MA

Really.

So (expletive deleted) stupid.

And so (expletive deleted) wrong.

Is That Egg On Brit Hume's Face Or Is He Just Happy to . . .

Hey, kids!

Remember--it's never too late for a loudmouth "Christian" talking head to slam a major world religion he knows absolutely nothing about!

Have an auspicious Western New Year, everyone!




Kvatch's take, here.

Buddhist Jihad, here.

The Illness Industry: Sometimes Less Is More, Sometimes More is More. Profitable.

From: the Heart Scan blog.

Give Arthur Silber Money, Please

Arthur Silber says what I think, only better.

And says what I feel about the normalization of violence, only better.

He's right. He deserves our support.

Stupak Is As Stupak Does

Periodically, when I'm feeling down, I launch attacks against the government-forced maternity crowd. And I launch attacks against the separation-of-church-and-state-is-for-pussies crowd, those arrogant guys in those churches that want meddle in the lives of people who don't even GO to their churches.

And, you know, like, I still have my panties in a twist about all that, you know, primary sexism stuff from all those kewl libruls who really have no problem throwing, you know, broads under the bus.

So when I heard about the Stupak thing, I just thought: hey! Broads under the bus 2009? No biggie. It's deja vu all over again.

And, you know -- it is!

I know it's just because I'm so emotional, just that time of the month, prolly, but see, there's another little tiny voice inside my head that is saying:

hel-lo.
fuck this. really.

you really don't have to be physically hit to be abused, do you?

Yes, I'm Still Here

Yes, I'm still here, but I can't think of anything to write about. Well, sure I can, I already Googled the child abuse du jour cases, and there were just so many of them, mostly featuring daddies and mommies and boyfriends doing horrible things to 13 month olds and under, and I just couldn't handle picking up the links. I mean, ugh. You, too, can Google "child abuse" and then "news" and you will see what I mean.

Torture Is as Torture Does (CIA version)

Manacled to the ceiling?

Well, and why not?
They were, like, Teh Enemy! Once they're dubbed Teh Enemy, you get to do anything you want, do you not?

CIA Torture Program Used Classic Torture Skill-Set

CIA torture program: classic bait and switch?

Nah. Classic inflict and revive.

According to human rights lawyer John Sifton, the CIA tortured some of its detainees in the War on Terror so severely that it had to take measures to keep them alive so they could continue being tortured.

Sifton, who is the executive director of One World Research, told an interviewer for Russia Today that there was both a CIA detention program and a military detention program and that "The CIA program was by far the most secretive. ... That's the one that only had a few dozen detainees at any given time -- but it's the one that saw the biggest abuses, the most serious forms of torture."

"In the military, there was actually a larger number of deaths than with the CIA," Sifton continued. "The CIA engaged in some horrendous abuses, but they appear to have taken precautions to have actually prevented people from dying -- which might sound humanitarian, but in fact was kind of sickening."

"Kind of" sickening?

See, the whole point of torture is to create experiences of suffering that are so horrendous that it makes your torturees wish they were dead. And then -- you just don't let them die. Because that would end the torture. So you just keep on doing it. And your torturees keep on wishing they were dead. And if you don't watch out, they'll go ahead and kill themselves. Or, if they're lucky, you'll slip up in your attempts to keep torturing them, and they'll die on you, the swine. And then the torturees win.


It's all so very medieval, is it not?