Some thoughts on listening to The Rising

"the sky is still that same unbelievable blue..."

Will you ever forget what that looked like?

Bruce Springsteen has been with me through many of the most painful and difficult, as well as bittersweet and beautiful, times of my life. Since I was a feshman in college, for decades, like an old friend I never met Bruce has been there to help me find my way. From the irresistable attractions of freedom, girls and cars, to the painful paradoxes of hardship and cruelty in the land of plenty, to the agonizing marathon of trying to sustain love and keep true to yourself, to growing older and facing changes you haven't chosen, to the spectacular horrors and routine heroism of 9-11 and Iraq, Bruce was always there before me, thinking his way through some of the hardest and most wonderful parts of this life. There are lots of musicians and storytellers that I can appreciate on one level or another, but Bruce keeps on telling the story of my life before I even realize what it is. And on top of all that, he fucking rocks. PAF is not generally given to hero worship; but if I could choose someone to buy a beer and say thanks for making my life a little clearer, a little better: Bruce.

Rummy's Media Hos

Donald Rumsfeld, Laurence Di Rita, Victoria Clarke and the Pentagon pimped out a stable of retired generals to act as media military experts and recite Pentagon talking points in order to incite public support for the Iraq War, downplay public fears about Guantanamo, and otherwise achieve what Ms. Clarke called "information dominance" - that is, "information dominance" over the US public.

Got democracy???



P.S. PAF encountered a Pentagon propaganda campaign just a few months ago. You wouldn't believe the hate-mail I got when I declined to participate in that little circus and got outed to the press as a terror-symp disloyal academic of dubious masculinity. My favorite one began "Dear Pussyboy" and didn't get any better after that.

Says Yoo

Washington Post on John Yoo's 2003 memo for the White House Office of Legal Counsel:

According to Mr. Yoo, during wartime the President as Commander in Chief is not limited by laws which otherwise prohibit "maiming" a prisoner by, say, poking out his/her eye, throwing scalding hot liquid or acid on the prisoner, or slicing an ear, nose or lip. No problem. Perfectly legal, says Yoo. Mind altering drugs, pain-inducing stress positions, all okeydokey according to Yoo's OLC memo. And that pesky Bill of Rights? Fuggeddabowdit.

Yoo, who is now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, also uses footnotes to effectively dismiss the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution, arguing that protections against unreasonable search and seizure and guarantees of due process either do not apply or are irrelevant in a time of war. He frequently cites his previous legal opinions to bolster his case.

Written opinions by the Office of Legal Counsel have the force of law within the government because its staff is assigned to interpret the meaning of statutory or constitutional language.

More on Uncle Sam's Torture Team in Vanity Fair.

What's up with Iraqi Shiites?

Juan Cole explains the politics behind the recent fighting in southern Iraq.