The dangerous prisoners of Guantanamo

How dangerous are the most dangerous prisoners of Guantanamo? If you listened to the Bush Administration, you'd think that they were all hardened killers. But guess what happens when a real-life judge looks only at the government's evidence regarding those the government hasn't released willingly? Glenn Greenwald reviews recent information from the Washington Post:

Federal judges, acting under a landmark 2008 Supreme Court ruling that grants Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to challenge their confinements, have ordered the government to free 32 prisoners and backed the detention of nine others. In their opinions, the judges have gutted allegations and questioned the reliability of statements by the prisoners during interrogations and by the informants. Even when ruling for the government, the judges have not always endorsed the Justice Department's case. . . .
This, of course, is a national travesty. Considering only the government's evidence, judges have ordered the release of 32 out of 41 of the detainees. This is not an indication that the judges have been lenient; they are the same career federal judges who run the United States District Courts. Rather, these shocking statistics show that there is no meaningful evidence that most of the longest imprisoned detainees are guilty of anything at all. Consider also that the U.S. released most of the detainees a long time ago because even the U.S. admitted that it had no evidence of wrongdoing in most of these cases:
Since October 7, 2001, when the current war in Afghanistan began, 775 detainees have been brought to Guantánamo. Of these, approximately 420 have been released without charge. In January 2009, approximately 245 detainees remained. . . Of those still incarcerated, U.S. officials said they intend to eventually put 60 to 80 on trial and free the rest.
It's a beautiful system, isn't it? Imprison and vilify hundreds of innocent people, distributing their images to garner public support for a needless series of military occupations. More and more, I think of the U.S. as primarily a warmonger society. The evidence just keeps pouring in from every direction.

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Nanny’s Gone Wild

This may actually be more about problems in cross cultural communication. But it does appear to be a case of runaway Nanny-State-ism. I have come to accept with a chuckle the warning labels on toasters and VCR's to not use them in the bath or shower. I'm sure they are slippery when wet, and one might drop them on ones foot. This is a problem among electrocuted zombies, I'm sure. But what am I to make of the warning on this product? Warning on a chest of drawers I need ANSI-Approved eye protection to open a drawer? Did an actual lawyer sign off on this? This box is actually lower quality than a similar one that I'd bought at Target a couple of years earlier for the same price. Target doesn't have them any more, so I resort to Harbor Freight. I've been mail-ordering from Harbor Freight since the 1980's, long before they had stores east of California. This is a cheap tools import house that now has an outlet a few blocks west of Crestwood Plaza Court. The prices are amazing, but you get what you pay for.

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Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver is a chef who wants to talk about people who are killing themselves by eating dangerous food. Obesity is killing us in huge numbers, though the media still would rather scare us about homicides, which are relatively rare. We have become so big that there is a significant market for double-sized coffins. The system is rife with misinformation. We are a country where food manufacturers make prominent "no fat" labels when the food (including milk) is full of sugar. One of his messages is that we've got to stop trusting food manufacturers to properly label their food products. What we do to our children by feeding them crappy food is "child abuse." Our schools are complicit, along with food manufacturers. Oliver's talk is an up front and personal look at the perpetrators and victims of the problem, and they are often the same people. But consider, also, that we now live is a system where accountants choose our food, not nutritionists. The low-light of the video is at the 11-minute mark. How well do our kids recognize fruits and vegetables? Not well at all. We are failing miserably at educating our children about food. We can do a lot better, and Jamie offers some promising solutions that all focus on educating our families and children. Oliver offers a positive energy and an urgency that we desperately need. Here's Oliver's wish: jamie-oliver-food-wish

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How was public money used to prop up financial institutions?

The quick answer is that we don't know. This is unbelievable, given that public tax money was used. As reported by the NYT, lawsuits brought by Bloomberg and FOX, as well as an Congressional effort to audit the Federal Reserve seek answers to these questions:

Who got money from the Fed? How much did they get? In exchange for what collateral? And under what terms?

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