Internal Obama Debate: Investigate Torture?

Within the incoming Obama administration, there appears to be two separate camps on the issue of whether or not to investigate torture that took place on Bush’s watch.  Newsweek reports that, while Obama says he wants to “move forward”, there is more pressure to investigate now that a Pentagon official has admitted that treatment of a Gitmo detainee “met the legal definition of torture.”

Likely attorney general Eric Holder signaled his displeasure with current policy when he acknowledged that waterboarding is torture. But the CIA isn’t pleased with the prospect of an investigation.

Both [outgoing CIA chief  Michael] Hayden and …

Is Killing Animals The Answer To Airline Safety?

The New York Post advances its coverage of the plane crash in New York Harbor by promoting the notion that the only way to stay safe in the air is to kill geese.

“Round them up – and get rid of them!” Or even kill them if you like.

That’s the sure answer to eliminating the potentially deadly Canada geese that threaten air travel around New York, says wildlife biologist Steve Garber, who once ran the wildlife-mitigation program at Kennedy, Laguardia and Newark airports.

The paper goes on to write that “birds have been a …

The Best Commercial In Europe

But would it play in the US?

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It’s Not Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday(Bye Bye Bush)

Rob Maurer, and Mike Boyle, the audio wizards behind my radio show do the Bush administration in just over two minutes.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]…

On Friday’s Radio Show…

• Former Bush advisor Karl Rove joins Alan to debate President Bush’s legacy.

• Pro-life activist Judie Brown tells Alan why she believes Krispy Kreme’s Inauguration Day doughnut giveaway actually promotes abortion.

• It’s the Friday Night Free-For-All!…

White America Is Over

If you’re still hung up on race, if you think about what color someone is, if you are whether Obama identifies with being black, when he’s half white, you’re very last century.  The Atlantic has a piece by Hua Hsu called “The End of White America?“, and let’s face it Whitey, your days of being a majority in the country are just about at an end. 

Just as Tiger Woods forever changed the country-club culture of golf, and Will Smith confounded stereotypes about the ideal Hollywood leading man, hip-hop’s rise is helping redefine the American mainstream, …

Did Bush Put Cheney To Sleep?

Looks like the VP dozed off during the president’s farewell address. Guess he had “other priorities“.

h/t Think Progress

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Maryland Governor’s Priority: Abolish Death Penalty

Martin O’Malley of Maryland says he will personally sonsor a bill and do “everything in [his] power” to get rid of his state’s death penalty.

O’Malley said the death penalty is not a deterrent, wastes resources that could be better spent fighting violent crime and leaves the state open to the possibility of executing innocent people. “That risk alone should be enough to repeal it and substitute it with life without parole,” he said.…

Bush DOJ Official Said He Liked His Coffee “Mary Frances Berry Style–Black And Bitter”

John Tanner, the former head of the Department of Justice’s voting rights section, told a colleague in an email in 2004,   “I like my coffee Mary Frances Berry style–black and bitter.”  At the time, Berry was the chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  Now that it’s come to light, Tanner has sent a letter of apology to Berry.

He says he used “a very poor choice of words” which were “flippant” and “ill-considered.”  He said he used the term because he had just attended “a highly contentious civil rights hearing,” and had recently been in a coffee shop …

On Thursday’s Radio Show…

• Bush Says Goodbye: Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) joins Alan to discuss President Bush’s farewell address.

• Waterboarding Is Torture: Alan weighs in on today’s questioning of Attorney General nominee Eric Holder.

 • If you could only use six words, how would you describe your love life? Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, authors of Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak, share some of the facinating responses they’ve received.…