While I first thought this was an item from the Onion, it appears that the Canadian Parliament has voted to mandate that Canadian Olympic athletes should wear wear a seal product — most likely seal skin — as part of their uniforms. This is the response to the opposition by the European Union to the Canadian seal hunt.
Continue reading “Canadian Parliament Mandates Use of Seal Products in Olympic Uniforms”
Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammed, has been accused of additional acts of torture — as many as 25 such victims. The video of one such torture session is available here. In the meantime, on our own torture controversy, the Obama Administration again refused today to commit to a special prosecutor or independent investigation of torture by the Bush Administration. We lack the type of tapes in Abu Dhabi because CIA officials admit that they destroyed the evidence so it could not be used against them. I will be discussing the torture controversy tonight on the Ed Shultz show on MSNBC.
Continue reading “Serial Torturer: UAE Prince Accused of Additional Acts of Torture”
The Washington Post reports that Bush officials are working the halls and telephones of the Justice Department with the formal end of the internal investigation into former Justice officials involved in the Bush torture program, including Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, Berkeley professor John C. Yoo and Steven G. Bradbury. They are reportedly working over former colleagues to soften the language and recommendations of the department. I will be discussing disucssed this and other related stories on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
Talk show host Michael Savage (aka Michael Weiner) has been banned from entry into England in the latest example of England’s rapid abandonment of free speech principles.
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The Iranian legal system has cranked about another abuse under its medieval application of Sharia law. The government stoned a man to death for adultery, the latest in a series of such executions, here and here.
Continue reading “Iran Stones Another Adulterer to Death”
Authorities in Gng’an county are concerned about the economy and faltering sales of the local cigarette brand, Hubei. The solution was simple. They reportedly ordered government workers to smoke more or face possible fines.
Continue reading “Thank You For Smoking: Chinese Officials Order Workers To Smoke Or Face Fines”
Leading Pakistani cleric chief Sufi Muhammad of Tehreek-e- Nifaz-e- Shariat-e- Muhammadi has declared democracy, communism, socialism, and fascism to be un-Islamic. Hmmm, that leaves what? Of yes, Islamic rule. He has also reaffirmed that it is unIslamic to be photographed.
British citizens Samantha Orobator faces possible execution for drug trafficking in Laos after being arrested with roughly half of kilogram. To add to the outcry, Orobator is reportedly pregnant with a child that she conceived while in prison.
Continue reading “Pregnant British Woman Faces Execution in Laos for Drug Conviction”
In one of the most perverse moments yet in the torture debate, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took time to explain the need for torture to a fourth grader who was a bit curious why his country tortured people. The question of Misha was considerably more reassuring than Rice’s answers.
Continue reading “Torture Tots: Condoleezza Rice Teaches Torture’s Necessity To Fourth Graders”
Ayman Udas was an award-winning signer and song writer in Pakistan, who was looking forward to a soaring career. Those hopes ended when she was allegedly shot to death by her brothers, who were outraged by her appearance on television a week earlier in the religiously conservative city of Peshawar.
Continue reading “Award-Winning Vocalist and Song Writer Reportedly Killed By Her Brothers in Pakistan for Appearing on Television”
There is a shocking case out of India, where Shanno Khan, 11, was punished by her teacher who forced her to stand in hot sun for two hours as she begged for water. She collapsed in a coma and later died at the hospital.
Today, William B. Moffitt will be buried in Washington, D.C.. Bill was a friend and one of the greatest trial attorneys of his generation. He was only 60. He will be deeply missed.
Continue reading “Farewell To Bill Moffitt”
In an example of colossal stupidity, Iraqi officials have called for the killing of the three wild boars in the Baghdad zoo to protect the country against swine flu. This comes on the heals of the Egyptian government moving to kill every pig in the country despite the lack of any evidence that it would help prevent the virus, which passes from human to human.
Continue reading “Iraqi Officials to Kill Zoo Animals to Protect Against Swine Flu”
Meet the America’s Torture Doctors: Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell. The names of the two psychologists have been released with a report that they played a critical role in establishing the torture program by attesting to its safety. I will be addressing the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Toronto in August on the involvement of doctors in these war crimes.
There is an interesting exchange that has surfaced between a Stanford student and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. The student confronted Rice about whether waterboarding is torture. She responded with a Nixonesque argument that, if the president ordered it, it cannot be a war crime. It sounds a lot like Nixon’s 1977 statement: “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” I discussed the Rice comment on this segment of Hardball.