Directives from the Ministry of Truth: Wenzhou High-speed Train Crash | China Digital Times (CDT)

Directives from the Ministry of Truth: Wenzhou High-speed Train Crash | China Digital Times (CDT)

Sounds so Faux-Newsy, so Murdoch-y:

Additional directives for all central media: The latest directives on reporting the Wenzhou high-speed train crash:
1. Release death toll only according to figures from authorities.
2. Do not report on a frequent basis.
3. More touching stories are to reported instead, i.e. blood donation, free taxi services, etc.
4. Do not investigate the causes of the accident; use information released from authorities as standard.
5. Do not reflect or comment.

Reminder on reporting matters: All reports regarding the Wenzhou high-speed train accident are to be titled “7.23 Yong-Wen line major transportation accident.”

Reporting of the accident is to use “ ‘in the face of great tragedy, there’s great love’” as the major theme.

Do not question. Do not elaborate. Do not associate. No re-posting on micro-blogs will be allowed! Related service information may be provided during news reporting. Music is to be carefully selected!

Department of HateSpeak, Cause & Effect

"We're on Sarah Palin's targeted list but, the thing is that the way she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gunsight over our district, and when people do that they've got to realize there's consequences to that action." - Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in March 2010 MSNBC interview

Death of Alice Miller, Brilliant Defender of Children.

Hat-tip to fellow Miller enthusiast Arthur Silber.

Fetal Sentimentalist & ProlifeKiller Warns of More ProlifeKiller Death to Come

Yes, that's what he said.

Mancow Waterboard

People who do not suffer from Mirror Neuron Retardation Syndrome don't have to BE waterboarded like this guy had to, in order to realize that waterboarding is torture.

Is it "torture"?

Watch conservative Radio host Mancow attain sudden and complete enlightenment.




Waterboard Cheney. Waterboard Rummy. Waterboard Rush, Bush. Waterboard Geoffrey Miller. Waterboard the whole entire pro-torture crowd. Then we'll talk.

GOP Cons End "Era of Apology" -- Without Even Apologizing

Michael Steele Hails End of "Era of Apologizing."

You have to give them points for creating their own reality. As in unilaterally ending an era it just unilaterally created.

But then you have to take all them points away for their destroying our reality.

I just wish they would shut up and slink off. Really, I do.

Scores Tortured to Death or Murdered in US Custody: Pro-"Life," Pro-Torture Crowd Revels in Moral Bankrupcty

What is wrong with these people?

Oh. Right. I remember now. They have no mirror neurons.

So much for the noble rules of war and the rule of law.

[T]he May 10, 2005, Bush Administration torture memo by Stephen Bradbury notes that doctors were nearby to perform a tracheotomy if during waterboarding the suspect is approaching death.

“Most seriously, for reasons of physical fatigue of psychological resignation, the subject may simply give up, allowing excessive filling of the airways and loss of consciousness,” Bradbury wrote. “An unresponsive subject should be righted immediately, and the integrator should deliver a sub-xyphoid thrust to expel the water. If this fails to restore normal breathing, aggressive medical intervention is required….’”

The memo says CIA doctors were on hand with necessary equipment to perform a tracheotomy if necessary during waterboarding sessions: “[W]e are informed that the necessary emergency medical equipment is always present—although not visible to the detainee—during any application of the waterboard.”

Technorati Tags: torture, torture memos
torture memos

Yesterday's News

Nothing to see here. move along.

Is Rape Serious? Is Torture Serious?What About the Heartache of Mirror Neuron Retardation Syndrome?

Hey, there, boys and girls! Let's play pattern recognition!

What do these two stories and mirror neuron retardation have in common?



Nicholas Kristoff: Is Rape Serious? Answer: no.


Is torture serious? Answer: no.

But it pays well. CIA does.

Become a CIA Torturer. Thousand bucks a day.

That ain't workin.'

That's the way you do it.


Money for nothin' and the chicks for free.

Newsweek Whitewashes Waterboarding Torture: Would That Count As Numbing & Avoidance? Why, Yes! It Would!

This person, who is, apparently, a professional (sic) Newsweek media person, actually said this:

[T]o pursue criminal charges against officials at the highest levels—including the former president and the former vice president . . . would set a terrible precedent. . . . That is not to say presidents and vice presidents are always above the law . .

But -- sometimes they're above the law?

And this Newsweek person thinks that committing torture and undermining the rule of law does not set a terrible precedent?

What is wrong with the pro-torture crowd? What is wrong with their media whore media enablers? Why does this Newsweek person even have a job? Why is the media whore media working so very hard to spin and spew cute little minimizing numbing & avoidance fairy tales, working so hard to let torturers get away with torture?


Yes, thanks, Mr. Newsweek, I'd love to have another serving of moral bankruptcy. Please, sir, may I have some more?


---
Thoughts on teh Pro-Torture Crowd: Lambert. BTD. RJ Eskow.

Why It's OK to Call the Pro-Torture Crowd "Retards"

That's because they're actually missing part of their brains.

OK, so maybe that doesn't make them retarded. It makes them handicapped.

Handicapped? Is that the right word? How about "deficient"?

We're not just talking about Cheney and Rummy. And Geoffrey Abu Ghraib Gitmo Colonel.

But talking head Peggy Noonan. She's not playing with a full deck, either.

And talking head Cliff May. Oy. I can remember way back when Cliff was Clifford, and a liberal. I think. Didn't think he was pro-torture. Why would anyone be? What happened? Did someone brainwash the miror neurons out of his brain?

Beyond finally acknowledging the dreadful state of moral decay that has crippled the empathy centers of vast numbers of Americans, there is the question of -- how did this plague come to pass?

Who or what removed/inactivated the mirror neurons from millions of Americans?

What happened?

Did Mommy long ago leave out the instruction on not doing shitty things to others, in particular, not hurting other living beings?


LEARNING MOMENT FOR GEORGE AND MOMMY

It's ok to kick a rock. It has no feelings.

Rock. Frog. They're different.

Stop. No. That's a frog, Georgie, don't put that firecracker in the frog, George. No. I said, no.

Stop it, George!

George, if you put a lit firecracker in one more frog, I am going to slap you silly.

There. [sound of slap]

Now, do as you're told.

Stop torturing those frogs.

[sound of brutal slap]

Got that, boy?





Yup. Got it.

Anyone for ahimsa?

Torture By Any Other Name Would Be "All-American Harsh Interrogation Techniques Move Along Don't Think Twice It's Alright"

How could anyone think that chinese water torture was unfit to become american water torture, eh?

Yes, it's that funny. Blame for torture now goes to failure to understand the lessons of history, thus being condemned to repeat it.

Haha.

According to several former top officials involved in the discussions seven years ago, they did not know that the military training program, called SERE, for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, had been created decades earlier to give American pilots and soldiers a sample of the torture methods used by Communists in the Korean War, methods that had wrung false confessions from Americans.

Even George J. Tenet, the C.I.A. director who insisted that the agency had thoroughly researched its proposal and pressed it on other officials, did not examine the history of the most shocking method, the near-drowning technique known as waterboarding.

The top officials he briefed did not learn that waterboarding had been prosecuted by the United States in war-crimes trials after World War II and was a well-documented favorite of despotic governments since the Spanish Inquisition; one waterboard used under Pol Pot was even on display at the genocide museum in Cambodia.

The top officials, not having studied that particular part of history, you know, the "we don't do shitty things to others" part, couldn't see that, well, drowning someone might, well, you know, be regarded as -- well, chinese water torture. No mirror neurons. Slept through that class in college?

Cyclic existence? Samsara as usual? We're sorry, nobody told us that pulling the wings off butterflies was wrong? What about putting lit firecrackers in toads? No one could have foreseen . . .

CIA/US Oympic Waterboard Torture Team Wins Best in Show

Well!

Don't these CIA guys and gals have the very best work ethic in the universe?

They sure were following orders!

Waterboarding people three times a day? Is that what is meant by "three squares"? Or is that a type for three quarts? Probably more like 3 gallons? I dunno. How much water does it take to drown a guy or gal? Not so much really. Plus, it's earth week. No waste water wanted.

But you have to admit the zeal of the US Waterboard Torture Team is/was magnificent.

So. Celebrate their success. Just do it. Instead of getting all bitchy and PMS and hot an bothered about silly pussy things like moral bankrupcty and undermining the rule of law, shouldn't we join Obama and Rahm and just STFU?

Shouldn't we be passing the hat around to support them, taking up a collection so they can afford to develop some mirror neurons?

Waterboarding [E.g. Chinese Water Torture] Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects.

2 suspects, eh?


Would that be -- Cheney? And Rummy?


Technorati Tags: torture, Bybee, CIA, memo, moral bankrupcty

Bushist Fascist Teabag Sadist Mafia Sez: Hey, There Boyz 'n Girlz! Remember --Torture WORKS!!

No, it's not like anyone likes inflicting pain on others. (Well, of course there was that toad-exploder thing, the dobsondogbeater thing, the vitter diaper thing, I forget what else. Oh. Yeah. The canned hunt/killing for fun kinda thing.)

How can we ever hope to save the all-important moral values of Western Christian civilization if we don't torture other people? AND -- their kids?

Abu Zubaydah had provided much valuable information under less severe treatment, and the harsher handling [eg. the torture] produced no breakthroughs, according to one former intelligence official with direct knowledge of the case. Instead, watching his torment caused great distress to his captors, the official said. [instant karma much?]

Even for those who believed that brutal treatment could produce results, the official said, “seeing these depths of human misery and degradation has a traumatic effect.” [told you so. and of course, you'd think a normal person, finally noticing that he was doing something "wrong" might u, you know, "stop."]

C.I.A. officers adopted these techniques only after the Justice Department had given its official approval on Aug. 1, 2002, in one of four formerly secret legal memos on interrogation that were released Thursday.

A footnote to another of the memos described a rift between line officers questioning Abu Zubaydah at a secret C.I.A. prison in Thailand and their bosses at headquarters, and asserted that the brutal treatment may have been “unnecessary.”

Unnecessary?

Oh. Ya think?

Technorati Tags: torture, Bybee, CIA, memo, moral bankrupcty

Note to teabaggers: pay your taxes like a man

This is why:

Desperate veterans turn to suicide.

You break it, you buy it.

Several branches of the military are reporting significant spikes in the number of suicides committed by both active-duty troops and veterans returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Experts are calling the number of military-related suicides sweeping the country an "epidemic."

Survivors of veterans who committed suicide are starting to file lawsuits, accusing the VA of medical malpractice. The agency also has come under attack by lawmakers and veterans' groups charging that it failed to treat injured veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, the signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The agency also has been accused of manipulating suicide statistics to downplay the problem and systematically misdiagnosing returning combat soldiers who suffer mental illness because their resources are tapped.

I wrote long ago about the cons deliberately mis-diagnosing PTSD in an attempt to deny services. Click on PTSD; I can't elaborate because I'm off to a seminar. On treating PTSD, as it happens. More later.

Technorati Tags: torture, Bybee, CIA, memo, moral bankrupcty

Torture. It's a Tough Job, But Somebody Has To Do It.

The US has to torture. The CIA has to torture. Preferably torturing by trained medical professionals, eh?

Because -- we can torture if we say it isn't what it obviously is.

Sort of like "a rose by any other name would ---" except backwards.

Anyhow, no wonder humans who did stuff like this -- you know, torturing -- might not want word to get out about it. Oh but wait. It's out. Well never mind. We'll get out of it somehow. Heck, we only torture because we must. We was only following orderss.

Here's some fun facts about the CIA's notion of patriotism in action:

Raise your hand if you think doing unto others the following things puts you in the category of "good person" (sic):

*Suffocation by water poured over a cloth placed over the nose and mouth...
* Prolonged stress standing position, naked, held with the arms extended and chained above the head...
* Beatings by use of a collar held around the detainees' neck and used to forcefully bang the head and body against the wall...
* Beating and kicking, including slapping, punching, kicking to the body and face...
* Confinement in a box to severely restrict movement...
* Prolonged nudity...this enforced nudity lasted for periods ranging from several weeks to several months...
* Sleep deprivation...through use of forced stress positions (standing or sitting), cold water and use of repetitive loud noises or music...
* Exposure to cold temperature...especially via cold cells and interrogation rooms, and...use of cold water poured over the body or...held around the body by means of a plastic sheet to create an immersion bath with just the head out of water.
* Prolonged shackling of hands and/or feet...
* Threats of ill-treatment, to the detainee and/or his family...
* Forced shaving of the head and beard...
* Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food from 3 days to 1 month after arrest...

The ICRC report further clarifies the report's frequent use of the term 'ill-treatment':

The general term "ill-treatment" has been used throughout the following section, however, it should in no way be understood as minimising the severity of the conditions and treatment to which the detainees were subjected. Indeed, as outlined in Section 4 below, and as concluded by this report, the ICRC clearly considers that the allegations of the fourteen include descriptions of treatment and interrogation techniques -- singly or in combination -- that amounted to torture/and or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

"Furthermore, nine of the fourteen detainees reported that they had been subjected to threats of ill-treatment that included waterboarding, electric shocks, infection with HIV, sodomy, arrest and rape of family, torture, being brought close to death, and interrogation sessions where "no rules applied."


How do torturers sleep at night?

Answer: not well.

Technorati Tags: torture, Bybee, CIA, memo, moral bankrupcty

Military Blows Up Live Pigs. Makes Them Dead.

I wonder what percentage of the military, so heavily Talibangelical, considers itself to be strongly pro-life (sic). Like ex-Preznit Toad Exploder.

More here.

Love Hurts

I'm not making this up.

Why it is ok that vaginal sex hurts. Ok, well, he's making it up.

Demo using tomato. No, its an apple. Dutch guy explains it all. Really. Well, or not really. Yes, not really.

And arguably the worst part is -- that one really cannot tell bushistfascist unseen-inherently-satirical-reality from regular reality-type satire anymore. Oh my. The thin thin thin thin thinnest line. (Refers readers to stories on adopting snowflake "babies" frozen feti and christian domestic discipline and talibangelical christian daddies' inappropriate balls, and and and . . .)

Pope re Suffering: Drop Dead

Ok, so condom use prevents the transmission of AIDS, thus preventing the suffering to follow.

Moral of the story: don't use condoms. Because really, we just don't give a shit about your suffering.

Compassion, Compassion, Compassion, But Really, People -- First Things First

One is, like, TO-tally into the whole rilly rilly widespread compassion kinda thing. Rilly. One means -- one is actually buddhist. See sidebar. Does one not specifically advocate generating limitless compassion, inconceivable compassion [!] toward all sentient beings, even including Dick Cheney? Answer: why, one does!

That being said, there is a continuum of being, with Dick Cheney way to the right [the less-sentient side] of well, you know, amoebas and little motile sperm. Which are way more sentient than he. Imho. [Oh alright, one is exaggerating for effect. But Cheney IS morally deformed.]

That being said, one thinks that it is not ok for there to be a sperm-rights movement, nor an embryo liberation front, as still-employed [why? why?] bushist fascist blowhard Kathleen Parker apparently would like. Unhappiness over the horrid possibility of certain death for widdle fwozen embryos with their big round sad eyes, the passionate attachment that drove Octo-Mom to save her own brood of widdle fwozen ones from melting leave me, well --cold.

Obama, she says . . . "missed an opportunity to prove that he is pro-science but also sensitive to the concerns of taxpayers who don't want to pay for research that requires embryo destruction."

Well, as long as she's not an anti-vivisectionist, hunh?

One feels she is crazy. Not unlike one's feelings about having more compassion for the pre-born than for the post-born. One does not think that is actual compassion, one thinks that is just really stupid. In other terms, it is a view born of [heh] passion, aggression, and ignorance.

But one gets it. Bushist fascism means not caring about torture, poverty, child abuse, war, actual post-born people, the suffering of sentient beings.

Morality just means never having to say "DEFROST."