Saturday, August 9, 2008

Weekend open thread

Here is your open thread for the weekend.

As always, play by the rules...

11 comments:

Purr said...

I do have one comment-- before I went to bed last night, I was channel surfing looking for what I call real news-- After minutes of seeing most of the news channels were so ABSORBED in Edward's affair, I gave up and went to bed!

Karl Reisman said...

Obama as "pink". and he's dead on about the salute (and it's probably Star Trek origins)

http://unclejimbo.com/blog/2008/08/07/obama-as-pink/#comments

Scott

Mr. Bill said...

I'm looking for thoughtful comments.

A new book by Pulitzer prize-winning author Ron Suskind ("The Way of the World") claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein. The letter was designed to portray a (false) link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda, and was later used as a justification for the Iraq war.

If that was all, I'd expect most to shrug it off. However, on Friday the claim was confirmed in a report published by the American Conservative magazine. Philip Girauldi wrote that an "extremely reliable and well-placed source in the intelligence community" confirmed the gist of the claim, saying that the Vice President was personally behind the effort, and that Suskind got it right save for one detail. The detail was that it wasn't the CIA that produced the letter, but Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans. And it was Doug Feith's Office that floated the letter to the media.

Purr said...

mr. bill--

I saw that segment about the CIA and the White House on CNN a couple nights ago-- but I had no clue this had been confirmed-

here is one for this thread-

Japan remembered Nagasaki today- 63years later



Nagasaki marks 63rd anniversary of A-bombing
The Yomiuri Shimbun

NAGASAKI--The Nagasaki municipal government held a ceremony Saturday marking the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, at which participants called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

A total of 5,650 A-bomb survivors, representatives of victims' families from around the nation and Nagasaki citizens participated in the ceremony. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also attended the ceremony, which was held in Nagasaki Peace Park near ground zero.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue read out the Nagasaki Peace Declaration, which urges the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons.

"Human beings have no future unless nuclear weapons are eliminated. We shall clearly say no to nuclear weapons," Taue said.

The ceremony started at 10:40 a.m. Three books listing the names of 3,058 people confirmed to have died as a result of the bombing in the past year were placed inside a memorial box in front of the Peace Statue.

Purr said...

oh-- just a reminder for the trillionth (is this a word?) time, just in case anyone is living in a cave and you haven't heard for the last 24 hours, nonstop, Edwards cheated on his wife--

so did FDR, so did Kennedy, all of the brothers, so did Clinton, and so did a few million other people-- who cares!!!

fours hours of this bullchara, one minute of Nagasaki, and two minutes of Georgia/Russia news!

Purr said...

and Churchill probably doesn't remember his liasons-- lucky man-- he knew how to drink!

Purr said...

and Ted Kennedy just dumps his liasons over bridges--

OK-- I am done with toying with this-- I am soooooooo sick of this Edward's news!

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@karl

"...and by the way, which one is 'pink'?" -- yes, different album, but it jumped to mind. Hehheh.

@mr bill

I'm really not current on R. Suskind's efforts, nor his latest book except by partisan second-hand sources, so there's not much I can pitch in except:

.He is considered an unrelable source by the critism of mistakes (intentional or accidental) in his earlier work.

.The dissemnation of the OBVIOUS FORGERY er, I mean the letter in question, came after the date of the debate and authorization for resuming the conflict with Saddam's Iraq.

I'd be interested to see any investigative report that either hangs the forgery on D. Feith's OSP (and/or ranks above) or on CIA factions double-dealing politically. Thank you for the head's up on this!

@Susan

So you notice the ironic detail of that article on Nagasaki's annual Shamefest?

from your comment:
"Three books listing the names of 3,058 people confirmed to have died as a result of the bombing in the past year were placed inside a memorial box in front of the Peace Statue."

Yes, that is right. ANYONE who was classified as hibakusha (A-bomb survivor) is counted as a casualty when they die... even 63 years later... of natural causes...

It is an intentionally disingenuous padding of the numbers to play to the Japan-as-victim culture. ((sigh))

Purr said...

well LDG--

I think the intent was to maybe bring the reality of Nagasaki so just embellish a bit-- regardless

what the hell-- if I die of cancer, I will blame my cancer on my Marlboros I smoked years ago-- hence, cigarettes are bad! LOL

Purr said...

but no-- I did not catch that! Now I did--

Karl Reisman said...

@Mr.Bill

Apparently it's ahornets nest about your item. The following link should give you some more information.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/19942