Where’s the Outrage?

I love my country. There is no place that I would rather be than the US. This love causes me to be very critical of the country that I love. This brings me to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. We know that this guy has been tortured by the US and our allies. This we know. We also know that Bin Laden is probably the only target that is of higher value. We tortured this guy until he either became a babbling idiot or told us what we wanted to hear. The fact that he confessed means nothing. Secondly, Al Qaeda is proud of what they did. So, confessing is again no big deal. This is a sad day for America. A sad day for justice.

Now, for those of you who think that I love the terrorists, you’re wrong. Don’t even bother to post a comment with that noise. I’m all for chasing down terrorists. If they resist arrest then shoot them. One shot right between the eyes. Bang! If we do arrest them then they should be treated (as should anyone in US custody) with dignity and respect. This is the moral high ground and I refuse to give it up. These jihadists are not going to force me to act like them.

Video on waterboarding is here.

Update: Video added.

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From CNN.com:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, admitted to those attacks and numerous others during a U.S. military hearing on Saturday, according to an edited transcript of the hearing released by the Pentagon Wednesday.

In a statement from him, read by a U.S. military representative, he said, “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z.”

The transcript continues with the list of operations he was responsible for, including the Richard Reid shoe bomber attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean, the Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center attack and other attacks that were foiled. (more…)

 

 KSM [1:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: 9-11, Al Qaeda, WMD by ecthompson
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With so many people giving money, time and effort over seas (Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah), Stephen Colbert points out that Charity should begin at home.  (Give me money!)

 

 TCR - Home Field Advantage [4:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: The Colbert Report by ecthompson
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Senator Chuck Hagel seems to be a thoughtful man.  He has opposed the President in the Iraq debate almost from the start.  As a Vietnam Vet, he carries more weight on this subject than do most Republicans.  So, when he announced that he was calling a press conference in his hometown, everyone thought that he was going to announce that he was going to run for President or retire from the Senate.

Watch the clip.

 

 TDS - Hagel's non-announcement [1:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Election 2008, Senate by ecthompson
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First mad props to the Congress. We finally have some oversight. Now, we are seeing what is behind the cough. Man, there is some serious encrusted dirt back there.

So, Alberto told Congress what in essence would be a little fib less than 2 months ago. He said, (in front of the Senate Judiciary committee on Jan 18) that, “I think I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it.”

He also said (I’m not sure if he said this to AP or in the Senate, I’m researching now.) “And so let me publicly sort of preempt perhaps a question you’re going to ask me, and that is: I am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.

I think a United States attorney who I view as the leader, law enforcement leader, my representative in the community — I think he has greater imprimatur of authority, if in fact that person’s been confirmed by the Senate.”

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From WaPo:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales took responsibility yesterday for “mistakes” related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year but rejected calls for his resignation from Democrats who accuse him of misleading Congress.

“I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility,” Gonzales said. He said he did not know the details of the plan to fire the prosecutors, but he defended the dismissals: “I stand by the decision, and I think it was a right decision.”

The remarks came after the Justice Department released e-mails and other documents showing that, despite months of administration statements to the contrary, the White House more than two years ago initiated the process that led to the dismissals, and that the decisions were heavily influenced by assessments of the prosecutors’ political loyalty. President Bush and senior White House adviser Karl Rove also separately passed along complaints to Gonzales that prosecutors were not aggressively pursuing voter-fraud cases, officials said.

The revelations prompted another outcry on Capitol Hill over the firings and new demands for Gonzales’s resignation from key Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.). “It appears he’s over his head in this job,” Reid said.

Even Republicans who have supported the ousters sharply criticized the attorney general.

But Gonzales said he is “here not because I give up,” and White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush has “all the confidence in the world” in Gonzales, who has served Bush for more than 12 years in Texas and Washington. (more…)

 

 NN - Gozales US AG scandal [2:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Legal, Senate, US Attorneys by ecthompson
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Ava is a 15 (she maybe 16 years old by now) year old who makes powerful political videos.  I had her on my show back in July of last year. 

 

 Peace takes Courage - Letters [1:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Iraq, Party Politics by ecthompson
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A collaborative effort between the
National Library of Medicine
and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland
African American History and Culture in Baltimore.
The National Library of Medicine is the largest medical library
in the world and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum
is the largest African American museum on the east coast.

February 1 – May 31, 2007

Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons is an exhibition celebrating the contributions of African American academic surgeons to medicine and medical education.  It tells the stories of four pioneering African American surgeons and educators who exemplify excellence in their fields and believe in continuing the journey of excellence through the education and mentoring younger physicians and surgeons.   

Through contemporary and historical images, the exhibition takes the visitor on a journey through the lives and achievements of these academic surgeons, and provides a glimpse into the stories of those that came before them and those that continue the tradition today.

The four pioneers are Alexa I. Canady, the first African American woman pediatric neurosurgeon; LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., cancer surgeon, and the first African American President of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society; Claude H. Organ, Jr., general surgeon, and the first African American to chair a department of surgery at a predominantly white medical school; and Rosalyn P. Scott, the first African American woman cardiothoracic surgeon.

The exhibition also features other academic surgeons from around the country that follow in the tradition of sharing their knowledge and passing the torch to younger surgeons. These include Levi Watkins, Jr. of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who performed the first implantation of a automatic defibrillator in a human in 1980; Carla M. Pugh of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who holds a patent for a method of simulation used to design the pelvic exam simulator, a teaching tool for medical students; and Claudia L. Thomas, the first African American woman orthopaedic surgeon.

Opening Doors is not intended to be an encyclopedic look at African American academic surgeons, but is intended to provide only a glimpse into the contributions that African American academic surgeons have made to medicine and medical education. We hope that through this exhibition we can bring light to these stories and inspire others to pursue careers in academic surgery.

An online web version of the exhibition is also available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/aframsurgeons

Opening Doors will tour around the United States beginning in August 2007.  For more information, please contact Jill L. Newmark, 301-435-5241.

This exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Curated by Margaret A. Hutto and Jill L. Newmark.

Tags: Healthcare, Race by ecthompson
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