I want to see what all that music copying looks like after they install the table's DRM.

The final 2.5 seconds of the video are the best part.

"these are the same kids that throw rocks, stones and anything they can find. They steal and loot whenever possible and help set IED's on the roads. While not ALL of them do these things most do."

Jeez, unsung hero, blame the victim much?

Do you really think that kid would've run that far if he wasn't absolutely desperate for clean water? And do you really think twelve-year-old kids are the ones setting explosives? (flipside of that, of course, is if they keep being treated like that by soldiers, damn right they're gonna throw rocks at them. I would too.

Beautiful video for a beautiful song.

"[America] is not a country of hate, we are a country of tolerance that in my opinion needs to keep a basic set of values to keep it on the correct path."

I absolutely agree with this statement. But by adopting these tactics, we're abandoning those values.

There's a lot of really interesting subversion of the usual shouting-head TV News stuff here.

"We'll now go to two conservatives with opposing views to talk about it!" This is straight out of an old Tom Tomorrow cartoon. (Liberals? What liberals?)

Then a very pissed-off looking Hitchins bluntly interrupts to say he's not a conservative. I love the stunned look on her face while she tries in vain to absorb the idea that there are people on earth who don't fit neatly into Red / Blue categories.

Then the two opposing points of view turn out to be exactly the same, and exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from a "conservative" pundit.

But my favorite part is when she brings up Kerry's botched joke: "I know you guys both think this issue is so ridiculous that it's not worth talking about! Let's talk about it!"

"If this is the worst that a terrorist gets, they get the 4-star treatment compared to what other countries would do."

First of all, these are not "terrorists". They are suspects. You've heard of innocent until proven guilty, right? One of the fine principles of American government?

Many of the detainees at Guantanamo were arrested on little or no evidence -- the accusation of a neighbor with a grudge was enough. About 200 Guantanamo prisoners have been released without charges. That's at least 200 completely innocent people we've tortured. There's still 500 more at Guantanamo, plus god only knows how many others hidden away in the other secret prisons.

Even setting that aside, this isn't "the worst" they get. I don't know why waterboarding gets so much attention; at various times they've also acknowledged using temperature extremes, sleep deprivation, and "stress positions" (forcing the victim to stay in a painful position for a long period of time). Not to mention the dog attacks, beatings, rapes and murders at Abu Ghraib. (If you're of short memory: "The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience." That was Senator Lindsey Graham. A Republican, before you ask.) All of those are torture, as far as I'm concerned. Or at the very least, cruel and unusual punishment. Which used to be illegal. Another fine principle of American government down the drain.

And about that "compared to what other countries would do" part... you've heard of "extraordinary rendition," right? We're shipping prisoners to those other countries to be tortured. Does it make it any less torture if we pay someone else to do it for us?

And even if you're enough of a monster to stomach all that, torture still doesn't work. Just as the reporter in this clip says -- "I was ready to submit, tell them anything." People will say anything to make the torture stop. Whether it's true or not. The information we get from these guys is absolutely valueless. Not a single terrorist plot has been foiled by this vile nonsense. Instead, we're creating terrorists, stirring up anti-American hatred and giving them a real reason for that hatred. Al Quaeda probably views all this as the best thing that could possibly happen for them -- what better recruiting tool for terrorist groups? What better way for America to live up to the "Great Satan" moniker?

Those perpetrating this are evil men. Those who support it are fools. Waterboarding is unamerican. We're supposed to be better than this. Wumpus, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Beyond reach of all rangers. Like Sweden.

You just beat me to posting this one. The 70's were... an earnest time, weren't they?

And the initiator factors are hot hot hot.

Forget the "February 30" flub -- since when does a fiscal year end at the end of February? The US Government fiscal year starts in October. Obviously they just picked whatever dates best fit the numbers they wanted to present, and hoped nobody would notice.

Here's the higher-resolution original, and an Interview with the video's creator

The thing that made this less counterintuitive for me:

When Monte opens one of the doors, he is not choosing at random: he never opens the door that has the prize behind it. That's what throws the (expected) probability off.

This needs goofy sound effects and an obnoxious laugh track. And Bob Saget. Without those I can't tell where the funny parts are. </sarcasm>

The good stuff start about 40 seconds in; some nudity near the end of the video as one of the dresses transforms into a hat.

You're all skipping straight to the end, arencha?

Didn't "corner" him. Didn't even come close. Whenever he hit a question he didn't want to answer, Bush just ducked behind a quick "can't tell ya any details, because the terr'ists might adjust!!" and then leapt into another clockrunning repeat of "I'm protectin' the American people!!!"

My *god* that man makes me angry.


(And kadampa1, it's not the rights of the quote bloodthirsty terrorists unquote you ought to be concerned about: it's your own. Government breaking its own rules, that starts to become a habit.