In These Times

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• • 13 Mar 08
  • 7:46 am

  At least this blatant Obama shilling is filed under Viewpoint. I fail to see how normally clear-thinking individuals still blame Nader for the 2000 Bush "victory" and the resulting policies. I remember my 87-year-old granduncle scoff at Gore as a man "who couldn't even win his own state." And - ahem - that state isn't Florida. Nor did he take Clinton's Arkansas. With either he would have taken the presidency. Washington's piece isn't so much "mean and unfair" but ahistorical.

  Posted to The Nadir of Nader

• • 11 Nov 07
  • 4:36 am

  Regarding the line in The Ninth most crucial to Zizek's thought here, let's recall that Schiller's original text read: "Bettler werden Fürstenbrüder" and not "Alle Menschen werden Brüder" (Trans: "Beggars become brothers of princes" NOT "All men will become brothers") In short, Schiller struck a note of economic justice absent from The Ninth. So I wonder: were this particular sentiment included in the chorale would the piece still be hailed as a celebration of humankind's inherent sense of solidarity or would it be dismissed as maudlin sentiment?

  Posted to The Disturbing Sounds of the Turkish March

• • 14 Feb 07
  • 7:27 am

  José Padilla's case isn't exactly about race Redhorse. Sure, when we talk about Gitmo, well, sure, it doesn't seem anybody there is white. So I am not saying race isn't a factor, just personally doubt it's the crucial one. The issues here should be discussed. Should Americans (yes, I am a citizen) tolerate these newfangled presidential powers to whisk American citizens off to be drugged and humiliated and tortured? I mean, really... what the hell is that? Pretty much psycho dictator stuff. The threat of being reduced to a mental malum insanum scares people into submission. I can badmouth America with …

  Posted to Interrogations Behind Barbed Wire

• • 17 Feb 07
  • 4:04 am

  Okay gang, I thought to chime in. WTH: As for drugging in Gitmo, a few released detainees have asserted as much. A 2006 UN Comission on Human Rights report, 'Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay', reads: 'The Special Rapporteur on the right to health has received serious and credible reports of violations of the right to health – both health care and the underlying determinants of health – at Guantánamo Bay. The reports allege, inter alia, that (i) the conditions of confinement have had devastating effects on the mental health of the detainees; (ii) provision of health care has been conditioned …

  Posted to Interrogations Behind Barbed Wire

• • 18 Feb 07
  • 6:26 am

  Hi again recursive: Sorry about abandoning the Zizek discussion. I probably got distracted. As for Gitmo being "one of the beacons of our hypocrisy," I'll agree with you up to a point. The way I see things, because X-Ray symbolizes so much, it can be shut down with great fanfare, showing the world "we" finally did something about it, put our house in order, etc. However, I, a bit of cynic, can imagine this being done in the interest of PR. The same disgusting policies can be continued elsewhere (and that was gist of my comment on the recent ITT article …

  Posted to Interrogations Behind Barbed Wire