ThinkFast: May 30, 2006
ThinkFast: May 30, 2006
Afghanistan is suffering its “worst street violence since the fall of the Taliban,” a “full-blown anti-American riot” that broke out after a major car accident involving a U.S. vehicle. Slate sums up the subsequent murky details: “A crowd gathered and started throwing stones — or the truck pulled a hit-and-run and later was blocked by a crowd. Five Afghans died in the accident — or they were shot to death, by either U.S. or Afghan troops.”
“Another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy.” Ivy grows “faster and bigger” as carbon dioxide levels increase.
The death toll from Indonesia’s latest earthquake tops 5,400, with 6,500 more survivors badly injured, and 200,000 displaced. The United Kingdom has pledged the largest amount in international assistance, $7.4 million. The United States has pledged just $2.5 million.
75: The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees staging a hunger strike, up from three, according to U.S. officials. The spike reflects “increasing defiance among men who have been held for up to 4 1/2 years, most without charges and with little contact with the outside world.”
The State Department has transferred Michael Zorick, “formerly Somali political affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya,†to a post in Chad after Zorick spoke out against the administration’s support of Somali warlords. “He really decided to take up the battle,†one diplomat said. “He realised very well what he was doing.â€
Privatization problems: “Several major U.S. cities that have hired private companies to run their water systems have had problems with pollutants, bad water and corruption,” a Los Angeles Times report shows.
Peter Piot, who heads the United Nation’s HIV/AIDS program, warned that the disease “shows no sign of letting up after 25 million people have died a quarter-century into the epidemic.†“Intervention is very low,†Piot warned, “for many critical populations in many countries. We need to really intensify the response to AIDS.â€
“Although patients seldom know it, many patient groups and drug companies maintain close, multimillion-dollar relationships while disclosing limited or no details about the ties.” The American Diabetes Association, for example, “privately enlisted an Eli Lilly & Co. executive to chart its growth strategy and write its slogan.”
And finally, Lex Luthor’s approval ratings are set for a nosedive. Comic books are now “tackling topics such as terrorism, war, and civil liberties as a heavy dose of 21st-century reality seeps into their alternate universe.†For example, “Superman and archvillain US President Lex Luthor tangled in 2003 over plans to invade the imaginary Middle Eastern country of Qurac, which was linked to weapons of mass destruction.â€
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Don’t do it lex… let the inspectors do their job… not another quagmire in Qurac
May 30th, 2006 at 9:14 amThe United States has pledged just $2.5 million.
Make it a billion. Just add it to our tab…
May 30th, 2006 at 9:17 am“The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees staging a hunger strike”
Is feeding them still considered torture? Is the US now ‘torturing’ anouther 75 people?
Also, anyone else see this:
May 30th, 2006 at 9:19 amFormer Marine Fights Off 5 muggers
It was entertaining, apparently he used a pocket knife to fend off robbers with a shotgun and a pistol.
The American Diabetes Association, for example, “privately enlisted an Eli Lilly & Co. executive to chart its growth strategy and write its slogan.â€
Yet another incentive to stay as healthy as possible… (Not that that’s easy anymore with all of our natural resources polluted in some manner).
May 30th, 2006 at 9:22 amHey, Squeege:
You’re okay with holding people for over four years without charges or any intention of giving them a trial?
How uniquely neo-conservative American of you.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:29 amwow Afghanistan…. like… hey man, where did my kid’s dollar go and all?
May 30th, 2006 at 9:32 am“You’re okay with holding people for over four years without charges or any intention of giving them a trial?”
I know, amazing, so not like me to have views along those lines, but suprisingly enough, no real issue with it.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:32 amSweet, Squeege.
Nothing like stepping all over basic human rights. If you were put in jail without charges and sat there for four years with no hope of getting a fair trial, you’d be screaming at the top of your lungs about your rights.
But because they’re in Cuba and not US citizens, screw them, right?
Question: are conservatives born without a heart, or do they have it surgically removed soon after birth?
May 30th, 2006 at 9:37 amno real issue with it.
Comment by squegeeboo — May 30, 2006 @ 9:32 am
You’ll grow one (an issue with it), if it’s ever you who is subjected to such treatment. You’re egocentric attitude really is a house of cards just one injustice away from collapse…
May 30th, 2006 at 9:38 amThis blogger from Daily Kos, now in Afghanistan, near Kabul, says that Reuters seems the closest to having it right:
Read the rest of the diary.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:38 am#3 It’s not as your mommy force feeding you when you was a baby, it’s like a chef force feeding a turkey the October 30th, using a funnel, even if you puke or choke.
Or maybe you can call it “love” when some police in the future sticks his lantern in your a**hole instead of ticketing you for speeding.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:38 amHaving backed dictators in the past with disastrous results, last week we learned the US is backing Somalian (Black Hawk Down) warlords; today the ambassador who objected has been transferred. The competency and integrity of the State Department is called into question again.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:39 am“If you were put in jail without charges and sat there for four years with no hope of getting a fair trial, you’d be screaming at the top of your lungs about your rights.”
That I would
“not US citizens, screw them, right?”
Yup.
“Question: are conservatives born without a heart, or do they have it surgically removed soon after birth?”
May 30th, 2006 at 9:41 amNo scars on the chest, so I must have been born without, not surgery.
Do conservatives hate freedom and due process of law, or just America in general?
May 30th, 2006 at 9:43 am#13 You don’t want to know what other living beings are heartless.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:43 amI don’t think the body part inquestion of being removed is the heart. It’s the one placed between the ears.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:45 amSquegee just needs to be ignored.
May 30th, 2006 at 9:54 amHe’s like a three year old using a newly acquired “bad word” for the attention.
Ignore him and he’ll stop.
Oh come on folks, the war in Afghanistan is over. Why I heard Bush declare over 2 years ago that the Taliban was no more. Oops.
There are two stories floating about as to why the riots in Kabul yesterday. One is that a truck hit an American truck in a convoy and tipped it over onto a taxi loaded with Afghans. Another being floated is that the brakes on an American military truck in a convoy failed and it ran into a group of civilians.
Which is true? We will never ever know. Bushco will just let both stories float out there. It is better for them that way.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:00 am“Do conservatives hate freedom and due process of law, or just America in general?”
We hate people who try to harm America, and are willing to do unsightly things to stop them.
“I don’t think the body part inquestion of being removed is the heart. It’s the one placed between the ears.”
Having an opposing view point dosn’t make us stupid.
“Squegee just needs to be ignored.”
May 30th, 2006 at 10:00 amDoes hearing the conservative viewpoint bother your delicate sensibilities that much?
Repug thought process on the Indonesian earthquake disaster: They are being repeatedly struck by natural disasters sent by god because they didn’t send any troops to Iraq in support of the Coalition of the Divine Rightousness. They will continue to see more disasters until they appease our god and realize that Bush was picked by god to be the president of the US and all should follow his directions.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:02 amHaving an opposing view point dosn’t make us stupid.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:05 amIt does when that point of view comes from La-la land.
“It does when that point of view comes from La-la land.”
May 30th, 2006 at 10:09 amSpeaking of La-La land, I enjoyed your post #20.
The United States is now caught in The Great Game in Afghanistan. The results may be disasterous.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:09 amLittle or no discussion here of the shut down of the capital after the “shooting” last week. I think this was just a dry run to test how easily the capital can be shut down and the members of congress taken into “protective custody”. Lets see if it happens again.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:11 amOT:
May 30th, 2006 at 10:16 amThere is interesting coverage of House hearings on the FBI search of Rep. Jefferson’s office. No one is saying he is not guilty – but most are saying that the abuse of power and trampling of the Constitution is extremly worrisome.
#25 – it’s on C-Span.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:17 am#22
May 30th, 2006 at 10:20 amYeah it is pretty out there I will admit that. Could be something dancing between the ears of Pat Robertson though.
“Could be something dancing between the ears of Pat Robertson though.”
Well sure, thats a given, I’m suprised the press conference hasn’t happened yet. There are def. portions of the right that I’m ashamed/scared of.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:24 amDo we know for a fact they are staging hunger striks, or are they just not being fed as a new form of torture that can actually be blamed on the victim.
Hey! We didn’t torture him, he refused to eat. There was nothing we could do…and being nice to him would be appeasing the terrorists and then the terrorists win.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:25 amThe sad thing that the neo cons are failing to take notice of is that many of these people at gitmo are not guilty of ANYTHING. They have not done anything to harm American interests, there is no evidence that they were planning to harm American interests, they were just rounded up and sent to Gitmo.
This would be like an American being kidnapped and taken to a foreign country and held without trail, without the benefit of an attorney and without being allowed to contact their family.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:32 amHEY HMMM.
I think you have a brilliant thought there. That was a very, very effective lockdown of the house and all its staffers, was it not?
Could very well be a dry run for what Bushco has in mind if the pukes lose out in the November elections.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:34 amThis would be like an American being kidnapped and taken to a foreign country and held without trail, without the benefit of an attorney and without being allowed to contact their family.
Comment by Jules — May 30, 2006 @ 10:32 am
Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979-1980… Though SpongeBob was still just an egg and a dream at that time.
May 30th, 2006 at 10:49 amGuantanamo Bay
contrary to Bushes statement” Abu-Gharib was the biggest mistake”
I think personally the biggest mistake America has made is these poor guys at guantanamo they are innocent and been tortured badly the eyes of the world are on these people THEY SHOULD BE RELEASED A.S.A.P
this is an insult to everybody american and the rest of the world
everybody knows these guys had nothing to do with 911
do you all seriously think 490 prisoners were in on 911 – I dont think so
May 30th, 2006 at 11:13 am“That’s why I said to the Taliban in Afghanistan: Get rid of al Qaeda; see, you’re harboring al Qaeda. Remember this is a place where they trained — al Qaeda trained thousands of people in Afghanistan. And the Taliban, I guess, just didn’t believe me. And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence.? [Bush, 9/27/04]
May 30th, 2006 at 11:15 amwhy also do you think hostages are being killed with orange suits on — ring a bell
May 30th, 2006 at 11:16 amOld turtle beak, bull shit bush on c-span, putting in another ugly old white neo-con ass kisser for the treasury, Yikes! sick of all this. Over and out. Time to hug the pup’s and trees……Blessings all…..
May 30th, 2006 at 11:18 am#25 – Marie, I was watching the hearing this morning before I left for work. Even the Rep from Texas (can’t remember his name) was a bit stunned about the raid on Jefferson’s office. There were a couple law professors testifying, Jonathan Turley (a brilliant mind) was one of them. They all seemed flabbergasted at this turn of events. I think it should be true that since Jefferson had $90K in his home freezer and they have a tape of him accepting it, they’d have enough evidence.
Just for the record, trolls, Jefferson, although a Democrat, is probably as corrupt as a Republicrook, and I don’t want him around.
TP should do a thread on this topic.
May 30th, 2006 at 11:30 am#31 rememebr the president can do anything he thinks he needs to do in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. His followers have bought into that notion. It is nto a far cry to move from military and law enforcement matters to “protecting congress” from terrorist activities or any other action he wishes to undertake. And he will have 30% of the people behind him at all times regardless of what actions he orders.
May 30th, 2006 at 11:49 amOk, are the moon bats working new talking points on Iraq these days? I had a party this weekend and my brother in law, who is a fox/limbaugh/oriley spoon fed unhinged rightwing bush can do no wrong liberals have ruined the world 911 changed everything constitution hating (except for the gun part) ideologue, was talking new angles on why we invaded Iraq. There was no mention of imminent threat or WMD or mushroom clouds over New York or fight them there rather than here, what he was talking was completely different. His angle was that we had to invade Iraq because we have to have bases in the middle east and we could no longer stay in Saudi Arabia because those bases were offending our friends so we had to invade Iraq in order to build the needed forward operating bases for any future middle east actions.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:02 pmOk, are the moon bats working new talking points on Iraq these days? I had a party this weekend and my brother in law…was talking new angles on why we invaded Iraq. There was no mention of imminent threat or WMD or mushroom clouds over New York or fight them there rather than here, what he was talking was completely different.
Comment by Mark #39
Mark,
…and you continue to talk to this hypocrite, supporter of mass murder and corruption…
why?
May 30th, 2006 at 12:13 pmMark
“Ok, are the moon bats working new talking points on Iraq these days?”
Moonbat is a term for the left, specifically the anti-war left.
“His angle was that we had to invade Iraq because we have to have bases in the middle east and we could no longer stay in Saudi Arabia because those bases were offending our friends so we had to invade Iraq in order to build the needed forward operating bases for any future middle east actions.”
May 30th, 2006 at 12:24 pmI’ve heard that Iraq was picked as the first non 9/11 related country for the war on terror, becuase it was viewed as an easy nut to crack, and would provide us with military bases close to Syria/Iran, that is prob. what your brother-in-law was trying to convey.
“You’re okay with holding people for over four years without charges or any intention of giving them a trial?†Hey I am all for releasing everyone at Gitmo with one condition: They come live with you. After all if they are nothing but peace loving Muslims what harm would they cause you or yours? This is also the standard that I think should be put in place in criminal probation cases. You think it is a good idea to release a homcidial pedophile? Ok let him come live with you and your children. So if you want he Jihadis out of Gitmo, offer to house them with you.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:27 pm#18 In fact the american military tend to use the tactic “don’t stop for anything”. If they see cars in their path, they ram them out of the way. I bet that Afghans are very tired of seeing their cars being thrased by every whacko driving a Humvee, as long as it is HARD to buy a car in Afghanistan. You know, lack of money, lack of car resellers, lack of own car industry. Isn’t very strange that some afghani people becomes mad when see their only mean of transportation, so hardly earned, being crushed in a matter or seconds. And then, the trigger happy crew of the Humvee, when see “brown” people asking them “Why in the h*ll do you have crushed my car? I was only unloading some vegetables to my cousin’s shop” in farsi, don’t understand cr*ap, and start shooting to the “menacing” people.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:32 pmSponge bob, Moonbat in my book is anyone divorced from reality who firmly believes that he or she is firmly roooted. Does not matter if they are right or left, Malkin loving hater do not have a monopoly on the word.
Taht is excatly what he is trying to convey except it bears absolutely no relation to any public reasons for the war that the administration has tried to put forth. i.e. if it is the truth or always has been the truth then the administration has been lying for 4 years (including the lead up to war) If it is their new reality then it shows how gulible and malleable the right wing minds have become.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:35 pm#42 To determine that someone is a homicidal pedophile, you need to demonstrate your allegations. Same for terrorists. The only fact of being prisoner in Guantanamo doesn’t demonstrate that someone is guilty, as the freeings of people who have stayed for years there has demonstrated.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:36 pmMark
Turns out your right on moonbat, all the definitions I found said generally refer to the left, but works for any diehard extremist.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:44 pmFrycook, read:
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/001981.html
May 30th, 2006 at 12:46 pm2.5 million Dollars in aid pledged by the US
THATS IT….how embarassing…..
Do you realize that is $0.01 per American or 1 CENT per American Citizen in aid relief
The President spends 2.5 million dollars in one week for travel arragements to elaborate photo-ops..and we cant send more than 1 ent to a coutry in need…
Meanwhile Great Britain sent 12.5 cents per citizen….
May 30th, 2006 at 12:49 pmThanks bill, cool site, and much better def. then wikipedia’s.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:50 pmwe cant send more than 1 ent to a coutry in need…
Comment by lib4 — May 30, 2006 @ 12:49 pm
We’re 9 trillion in debt.
May 30th, 2006 at 1:06 pm#50 So the USA owes 1500$ to every inhabitant of the world? Gosh, talk about bankrupcy…
May 30th, 2006 at 1:14 pm42 - Retired Republican Soldier
I hope the two missing copter pilots get waterboarded live on video then you can blame your own Bush goverment is that what your really saying about the guantanamo innocent prisoners – - twat
May 30th, 2006 at 1:47 pmGosh, talk about bankrupcy…
Comment by Evil Spaniard — May 30, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
I used to wonder how lottery winners could go bankrupt. Now we know. Needless spending (war in Iraq, corporate welfare, and taxs cuts for the rich).
May 30th, 2006 at 2:04 pmHey moron, these people have not been charged with anything. Therefore they cannot be called Jihadis. They have not been charged. That is like me calling you a pedophile, even though you haven’t been charge with that, yet.
May 30th, 2006 at 2:37 pmTop 10 sign of the impending US police state:
http://www.alternet.org/story/36553/
May 30th, 2006 at 4:45 pm[...] Think Progress [...]
May 30th, 2006 at 7:15 pm