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Opinion poll: Is President Obama right to suppress torture pictures?

I don't know any Americans who agree with our president's assessment that releasing the hundreds of torture photos uncovered in the congressional investigation "puts our troops in danger". Maybe some will pop up in this poll.

This is the old "locking the barn door after the horse was stolen" reasoning used by our last president. The gratuitous reference to "our troops" in a blatantly Bushian attempt to arouse our not-so-warm-and-fuzzy-anymore feelings of "patriotism" comes straight out of the last regime's book of bullshit justifications..pretty unsettling for a guy who campaigned on a "transparency in government" platform, no?


I mean, you'd have to be living in another galaxy to be unaware that torture was practiced by Americans at Abu Graib; we've got plenty of photos of that. The whole world knows it happened. So...more photos are suddenly going to piss Middle Eastern people off?

Got news for you, Mr. President: they're already pissed off. A couple more pictures of the worst, most shameful moment in American history isn't going to make a difference, know what I mean? They're already on to us. Time to step up, admit our colossal trashing of one of the most integral values America has held since its birth as a nation, and come clean.

There's also the question of Federal law; under the Freedom of Information Act (bless you, Ralph Nader) the government is required to release this evidence to the public.

Double standards, anyone?

So...unlike our U.S. media, I'm interested in hearing opinions from all over.

Should president Obama release those photos, folks?

I'll leave you to it with this hilarious pic from the magazine after my own heart: the Buffalo Beast. A brutally honest, offensive to the humorless mag with no agendas and no slant.


buffalobeast.com
American media captured by the Buffalo Beast


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May 14th 2009 @ 04:01

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


There's something about this guy...

I stumbled on this artist by accident not long ago; when I first heard him singing my reaction was "whaaaat the f**k?!" (The man can't sing)

He called himself a "Rock and Roll poet", and he is. Was.

Backstory: His name was Wesley Willis. He was a homeless man in Chicago, with one of the saddest and most horrible childhoods imaginable.

He was also suffering from acute schizophrenia.

Wesley Willis walked the streets and rode the buslines of Chicago, selling his artwork out of a paper bag. Because of his illness, he was prone to occasional outbursts of profanity directed at the "demons" who were tormenting him. He wrote thousands of songs on the computer at a neighborhood Kinko's, which he would perform on the street.

His artwork is linear and beautiful.
Courtesy culturebully.com


His songs are...strange yet deeply appealing to many. He used the default song structures on a cheap Casio-type keyboard and would speak stream-of-consciousness lines and sing a chorus.

The song structures never vary. The default songs are always cheery and pop-music oriented, and serve as a disturbing yet perfect palette for his spoken words.

"This beast comes out when it is 25 degrees below zero. It can rip your head off. It can fly as high as a bird. It can bite your face. (Chorus) The Chicken Cow The Chicken Cow The Chicken Cow The Chicken Cow.."

Wesley Willis would always end his songs the same way: "Rock over London, Rock on Chicago", followed by a line from a T.V. ad, like " Blockbuster. Wow what a difference."

He was a huge, gentle man who would greet his friends and fans by butting his head softly against theirs, for as long as they would tolerate it. The big spot you see on his face in the video is a callus from headbutting.

Wesley Willis died of leukemia at the age of 40 in 2003.

I wish I could have heard him play. There's just something about the guy.



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April 29th 2009 @ 02:59

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Pay attention. This could be us.

In a chilling report straight out of George Orwell's worst nightmare,The Real News interviews professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn, who faces 15 years imprisonment in his native Thailand. Professor Ungpakorn's offense? "Lese Majeste", or insulting the king. Professor Ungpakorn wrote a bestselling book last year entitled "A Coup for the Rich", which was an academic analysis of the ongoing Thai political crisis from a pro-Democracy point of view.

Apparently it isn't cool to criticize the government in Thailand just now. Another prisoner accused of "Lese Majeste" is Australian writer Henry Nicolaides, whose self-published book "Verisimilitude" offended the king and his heir apparent by describing a fictional prince in Thailand with "turbulent marital relations" (AJC.com/Associated Press). According to Nicolaides and his family, the book has sold a grand total of 7 copies.

source: eurekastreet.com.au
Melbourne writer Henry Nicolaides (before imprisonment)


The Melbourne writer has been in detention for almost five months; he received his prison sentence of six years 2 days ago (19 Jan) in Bangkok, Thailand. Since Nicolaides pleaded guilty, his sentence was reduced to three years.

Photo AP News/Apichart Weerawong
Australian writer Henry Nicolaides being returned to his cell after sentencing. Nicolaides told reporters of "unspeakable suffering


Those of us living in so-called "Democratic" nations would do well to listen to the two-part interview with professor Giles; some of the parallels between Thailand's road to its present state and the roads other "free" countries are presently traveling down are disturbingly similar. Click HERE to watch 2-part video interview
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January 21st 2009 @ 01:23

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


The Death Penalty: Are you for or against it?

U.S. president-elect Barack Obama, has shifted his position a bit on the Death penalty; he now supports it.

In his memoir, he stated that capital punishment "does little to deter crime


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November 26th 2008 @ 00:15

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Best quote about U.S. 2008 election EVER

"The lesser of two bads is not good enough for the American people. We need the best."


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October 19th 2008 @ 23:37

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Who is ultimately to blame for the "bailout bill"'s passage, America? We are.

We are.

-For having blind loyalty to a party without checking up on that party's candidate


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October 7th 2008 @ 01:18

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Average Americans-time to change the image!

***The bill has passed, but it's not too late to let Congress know exactly what "Joe Sixpack" (gag) is saying..

Alright, Americans--speak your piece while the window's open 'cause it won't last long


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October 3rd 2008 @ 14:35

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Orble Poll: Your opinions needed please!

Across America, millions of pub-goers throughout the ages have started sentences with the phrase: "If I were president, I'd...."

I'm reasonably sure it's the same everywhere else, even if that statement has to be whispered for fear of "repercussions". Human beings are thinking creatures, and all thinking creatures have opinions


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September 24th 2008 @ 01:39

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Prejudice and Bigotry in the music world

Yes, it's been there all along in the music business; prejudice and bigotry have played a part in musicians' lives for decades.

If you're looking for a story about white musicians rejecting a black player, look elsewhere. To paraphrase jazz legend Ben Webster, "Players don't look at each other, they hear each other. It's the agents, club owners, promoters and especially the audience who draw the color lines


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July 25th 2008 @ 04:19

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


Legends of Orble Pt. 2: Mrs. M., Everyone's Mum

Mum's Word is final!!


Well, Orbleites--after many many hours of agonising deliberation I've managed to come up with the perfect candidate to follow up the notoriously hard-to-follow David. Someone who is pretty much the polar opposite of the Black Knight but whose work has garnered an equally voluminous amount of heated responses in its day, with this difference: this author has never offended anyone. That, you have to admit, is quite a feat


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July 10th 2008 @ 19:32

Posted By: D. Armenta - Category: No Category
   


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