...more recent posts
blog trend tool
first jessica alba, now this?
JETER AND WANG
TAME THE TIGERS
phil spector, man or bush?
This blog will document
the in-and-outs and ups-
and-downs of the
renovation of our 1870's
brownstone in Clinton Hill.
The Bush Administration's aggressive response to a Newsweek story alleging that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed the Koran down the toilet in front of Islamic detainees displays the height of hypocrisy. After Newsweek clumsily issued an apology, followed by a retraction, White House spokesman Scott McClellan called on the magazine to "help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region," by explaining "what happened and why they got it wrong." Maybe the Bush Administration should do the same, by opening up its secret facilities for inspection to the Red Cross and other third-party observers. We are printing below a letter from reader Calgacus--a pseudonym for a researcher in the national security field for the past twenty years--that shows how the desecration of the Koran became standard US interrogation practice.
i was wondering about this. payback time baby!
Google Maps satellite image of a... um... well... weather balloon? Swamp gas? Atmospheric anomaly? (via robotwisdom)
Here is the smoking gun:
"C [Dearlove] reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.
It is not surprising on the face of it that Bush had decided on the Iraq war by summer of 2002. It it is notable that Dearlove noticed a change in views on the subject from earlier visits. By summer of 2002, the Afghanistan war had wound down and al-Qaeda was on the run, so Bush no longer felt vulnerable and was ready to go forward with his long-cherished project of an Iraq War. What is notable is that all this was not what Bush was telling us.
[....]
Goldsmith's hands trembled as he reached out for the chainsaw rig. He saw himself and the others sitting in the Hague, one day, facing the same judges that Milosevic harangued. Charged. But it is a long way from Crawford to the Hague. The man from Connecticut with the cowboy boots and the fake twang would get away with it. They would all get away with it. But people would know they had lied.
-juan cole
could you hold this leash for a sec. thanks. click. (?!)
According to my calendar, someone's got a birthday today!
Spring Is Now!
May Day, 2005
Prospect Park
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
Osprey (5pm flyover.)
Red-tailed Hawk
Solitary Sandpiper (Upper Pool.)
Spotted Sandpiper (A few.)
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Ravine.)
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird (Nethermead, S of Arches.)
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow (Lake.)
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
House Wren (Sullivan Hill.)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery (Ambergill.)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (1 certain; 1 red-tinged bird maybe Bicknell's... Nelly's Lawn/Vale; south of Rose Garden.)
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush (Peninsula.)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler (Seen on Quaker Hill; a few heard around.)
Northern Parula (Several.)
Yellow Warbler (Good numbers throughout.)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler (Lookout Hill.)
Blackburnian Warbler (Lookout Hill.)
Pine Warbler (Bright male, Breeze Hill.)
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart (A few.)
Prothonotary Warbler (1st spring male, Ravine, moving down the stream from the waterfall.)
Ovenbird (Several.)
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush (1 at waterside south of Breeze Hill.)
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler (Ravine, singing along the stream.)
Eastern Towhee (Several.)
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Several moving around Lookout Hill.)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole (Several.)
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow