[Quote:]

Rachel Maddow recently interviewed former head of the Iraq Survey Group Charles Duelfer – who claims that Washington suggested using stronger interrogation techniques against an Iraqi official who was already cooperating – and former NBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem who says two sources confirmed to him that the suggestion from Washington was to use waterboarding, that the purpose was to find a link between Al-Qaida and Iraq, and that it came from the Vice President’s office.

The more information leaks, the more it becomes obvious that Cheney knew (and knows) torture doesn’t work when you want to get information, but it works perfectly when you want to confirm something – like that Saddam was connected to 9/11. It reminds me of that old soviet joke:

One nasty morning Comrade Stalin discovered that his favorite pipe was missing. Naturally, he called in his henchman, Lavrenti Beria, and instructed him to find the pipe. A few hours later, Stalin found it in his desk and called off the search. “But, Comrade Stalin,” stammered Beria, “five suspects have already confessed to stealing it.”

Cheney wanted a link between 9/11 and Saddam, and he got it.

Now could somebody please send the motherfucker to the ICC?

[Quote:]

“When this issue started to resurface I called the appropriate people in the agency and said I would like to know the dates from your records that briefings were held,” Graham recalled. “And they contacted me and gave me four dates — two in April ’02 and two in September ’02. Now, one of the things I do, and for which I have taken some flack, is keep a spiral notebook of what I do throughout the day. And so I went through my records and through a combination of my daily schedule, which I keep, and my notebooks, I confirmed and the CIA agreed that my notes were accurate; that three of those four dates there had been no briefing. There was only one day that I had been briefed, which was September the 27th of 2002.”

As for the one briefing he did attend, the Florida Democrat said that he had “no recollection that issues such as waterboarding were discussed.” He was not, per the sensitive nature of the matters discussed, allowed to take notes at the time. But he did highlight what he considered to be pretty strong proof that the controversial technique was not discussed.

[Quote:]

A few weeks ago I closed my account at Bank of America and opened an account at a credit union instead.

I cut my ties with one of the banks responsible for our economic crisis — one of the banks whose actions have caused countless Americans to lose their jobs and their homes, and caused many children in the third world to go hungry.

I felt clean. Moral. New.

Now I have a dream. What if millions of Americans disassociated themselves from the banks that have brought us grief?

[..]

In the words of Sen. Dick Durbin: “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Well, they don’t own YOU, do they? It’s time to disown them. You have the power. These banks don’t deserve your helping hand; they deserve the back of your hand.

They don’t just hold too many toxic assets — they ARE the toxic assets in our financial life. Drop them out of your own life, like you would plop a turd down the toilet. Flush the toxic banks out of our economy.

[Referendum Curaçao:]

Voorlopige uitslag (laatst bijgewerkt op 15 mei 2009, 21:37 uur)

[Quote:]

Pirate Bay judge Tomas Norström’s objectivity has already been called into doubt because of his ties to national and international pro-copyright lobby groups. Now, one of the defense lawyers says he has uncovered another scandal and claims to have evidence that Norström wasn’t assigned to the case randomly, as should be the case according to court procedure.

[..]

“We’ve found some things, particularly about the random selection. It doesn’t seem to have been random,” Samuelson told SVT. The chief magistrate of the district court in Stockholm denied this, claiming that the regular selection procedure was carried out.

The lesbians next door gave me a Rolex for my birthday. Very nice, but I think they may have misunderstood when I said I wanna watch.

[Quote:]

“It would be wrong if our Party never makes the transition from a state that was suitable in a time of war to a state more suitable to a democracy society… The ruling Party must achieve two breakthroughs. One is to allow other political parties and a free press to exist. The second… is, the Party needs to adopt democratic procedures and use democratic means to reform itself… Different opinions must be allowed to exist, and different factions should be made legitimate.”

From the secret memoirs of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party leader ousted for opposing the military crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, published yesterday, four years after his death.

And that wasn’t really an improvement over twitter in 1935:

Wolfram|Alpha has just gone live.

If you don’t know what Wolfram|Alpha is, prepare to be amazed.

[Quote:]

“I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet,” said Sony Pictures Entertainment chief executive officer Michael Lynton. “Period.”

Nothing inspires my confidence in a company like a forward-thinking CEO.