Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Terrorism'

Guantanamo, False Imprisonment, and the Human Rights Toggle Switch

June 27th, 2008 · Comments Off on Guantanamo, False Imprisonment, and the Human Rights Toggle Switch · Human Rights, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, Terrorism, TESK, Torture

This story is about a week old at this point, but it goes in the “things everyone should know” category. One of the most common talking points from right-wing pundits, especially on Fox News, is that whatever happens to the people in Guantanamo Bay is okay because all those prisoners are really bad guys — […]

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Roundup: Maracas and Purple Pants Edition

June 24th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Doctor Who, Fantasy, Grammar, LGBT, News, Politics, Science Fiction, Terrorism, TV

Just a few things that are on my radar at the moment … • First up, I just found this interview with Gore Vidal from May, in which he gives his current takes on Obama and McCain. Vidal says he’s a fan of Obama now, but it took him a while to get there (hey, […]

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Roundup: Monkey in the Bathroom Edition

November 6th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Essays, Food, Heroes, History, Human Rights, Journalism, Labor, LGBT, Macintosh, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Politics, Religion, Roundup, Science Fiction, Spirituality, Tech, Terrorism, Torture, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan

I can’t scrape together enough time at the moment to do OcPot’s usual painstakingly well-rounded roundup — I’m seeing The Waterboys at the Park West tonight, woo-hoo! — but I wanted to get some of these links up before they fossilized. So here’s a charmingly slapdash, quick-and-dirty roundup. In ripped fishnet and high heels. The […]

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NYC Fire Fighters vs. Giuliani

July 12th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Culture, History, Labor, News, Politics, Terrorism, Video

Speaking of unions … here’s what the New York fire fighters’ union has to say about Rudy Giuliani.   It’s a little slow to get going, but if you take a few minutes to watch the whole thing, it’s pretty damning. Rudy really made some incredibly bad decisions. For example, I hadn’t known about him […]

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Quote of the Week

June 24th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Essays, Foreign Policy, History, News, Peace, Politics, Terrorism

From an essay entitled “The Middle of Nowhere,” by Edward N. Luttwak, which appears in the July 2007 issue of Harper’s, reprinted there from the May issue of Prospect: Hardliners keep suggesting that with a bit of well-aimed violence (“the Arabs only understand force”) compliance will be obtained. Yet what happens every time is an […]

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The Bush Malaise

June 22nd, 2007 · 8 Comments · Healthcare Crisis, Peace, Politics, Terrorism

George W. Bush’s approval rating (26%) is now officially lower than Jimmy Carter’s was at his nadir of popularity (28%), according to Newsweek. What do you think are the odds that in a couple of decades GWB will be highly regarded as a diplomat, author, nobel peace prize winner, and humanitarian? Other fun facts: The […]

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Roundup: Pottymouth Jar Edition

May 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Business, Comics, Culture, Foreign Policy, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Macintosh, Music, News, Politics, Religion, Tech, Terrorism, Torture

It’s the foreign policy, stupid: This great post at Crooks and Liars takes apart the simplistic and unhelpful notion that terrorists “hate us for our freedoms.” As Michael Scheuer, former station chief of the CIA’s Osama Bin Laden task force, says: “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and […]

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