Believe Me, It's Torture

Writer Christopher Hitchens undergoes the insidious process of waterboarding to write this article for Vanity Fair (video here and yes, that's the actual music they used; oddly unsettling). It shames me as an American to have to admit that we torture those unfortunate souls, guilty and innocent, who are swept up in the net of our "war on terror" but unfortunately this is now de rigeur for this country under the Bush regime. I can remember a time not to distant when I felt unwavering pride when thinking about my country; the current government has long since cured myself and many others of that nationalistic certainty however. Incidentally, Hitchens lasted for 17 seconds, although I'm sure it felt like much longer; one can only assume that all torture does. Happy 4th of July.

Something I Wish I'd Said

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." -James Baldwin

Protest Fail

As a staunch advocate for the continued freedom of speech in America, I fully support the right of anyone and everyone, here and abroad, to burn our flag as a political statement or protest. That said, as someone who's very proud of my country while at the same time a tremendous fan of ironic happenstance, I have to admit that I love these pictures. Don't be stupid.

Happy 4th Of July

This is why the terrorists hate us: jealousy, baby. Hope everyone has a good time barbecuing or blowing shit up or whatever other red-blooded American things you plan on doing during my favorite country's birthday today.

Hurricane Bush

The destruction rages on:

The Eternal Drug War

Unsurprising news from the front:

A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use...

The authors found that 16.2% of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetime, a level much higher than any other country surveyed (the second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3% of people reported having used cocaine). Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4%), followed by New Zealand (41.9%).

Andrew Sullivan, as always, sums things up perfectly:

And the high drug use becomes the reason to keep at it. Perfect if you like endless war - and Washington clearly does. It's more powerful that way.

That's right, as soon as we kill every terrorist on the planet and wipe out poverty forever we'll win this war against drugs; sometimes the ignorance of this country truly astounds me.

Rube Goldberg Smashes Cadbury Eggs

Some of you may remember this post about a Rube Goldberg machine constructed from the parts of a Honda Accord; this one is homemade so it's not as slick or fancy as that corporate creation but my lifelong weakness for these devices compels me to post it anyway:

Photoshopped News

After New York Times reporters Jacques Steinberg and Steve Radicliffe wrote a piece critical of Fox News last week, the channel got it's revenge by putting up photoshopped pictures of the two men making them look less attractive. As you can see, Steinberg's teeth were yellowed, his nose and chin were widened, his ears were made to protrude more and the shadows under his eyes were darkened. The antisemitic aspects of enlarging the nose of a man with one of the Jewiest surnames ever aside, this is just beyond the bounds of professional journalism; of course, it's not the first time Fox News has tried to pull something like this:

How are these guys still taken seriously as a news organization?

Perversion For Profit

Remember when you could boldly state your opinions as absolute fact and place adjectives like "outstanding" before your name without shame? Neither do I; I'm not that old. Actually, I guess you can still do that now but the blogosphere will reign down virtual fire on your head for your lies. Either that or someone will just flame your site with links to actual donkey shows; I can just imagine the blood that would start to flow from this guy's ears watching that spectacle:

Bullitt Time

Steve McQueen's classic car chase scene through San Francisco in the movie Bullitt, with accompanying simultaneous tracking on Google Maps. Futuristically retro.