Friday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 06 January 2012 11:40:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

The U.S. House Repugs have obviously learned not a thing from the Mikey Fitzpatrick/Steny Hoyer debacle a few weeks ago (here)?

?and once again, when it?s time to take a hard look at the news events affecting our lives (harking back a bit to the item above), that means it?s time for Jon Stewart (here, including more of the video below)?

...and maybe Hulu's videos will cooperate, and maybe they won't - sigh...

?and in case anyone out there is still nostalgic for 2011 somehow (count me out), Mark Fiore is happy to oblige here?

...and I've been trying to get around to this video for a few days - better late than never.

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http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2012/01/friday-stuff.html

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Open Thread for Night Owls: Guantanamo turns 10

post from Daily Kos on 06 January 2012 11:30:02 PM. © Daily Kos

David Cole, author of The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable and the legal affairs correspondent at The Nation, writes:

On January 11 it will have been a decade since the first of the men we once called ?the worst of the worst? were brought to Guantánamo Bay, a location handpicked by the Bush administration so that it could detain and interrogate terror suspects far from the prying eyes of the law. In the intervening years much has improved at this remote US-controlled enclave in Cuba. Allegations of ongoing torture have ceased; the detainees have access to lawyers and court review; and more than 600 of the 779 men once held there have been released.David ColeBut in another way, Guantánamo is a deeper problem today than it ever was. No longer a temporary exception, it has become a permanent fixture in our national firmament. And although at one time we could blame President George W. Bush?s unilateral assertions of unchecked executive power for the abuses there, the continuing problem that is Guantánamo today is shared by all three government branches, and ultimately by all Americans. With President Obama?s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on New Year?s Eve, the prison is sure to be with us?and its prisoners sure to continue in their legal limbo?for the indefinite future. ...
President Bush undoubtedly committed the original sin. Had he followed the rules governing wartime detention from the outset, Guantánamo would not be an international embarrassment. It has long been established that in an ongoing war a country may detain the enemy for the conflict?s duration. But the laws of war require that we afford hearings to those whose status is in doubt, that we release them when the conflict ends and that we treat them humanely throughout. Bush refused to provide hearings, asserted the prerogative to hold people during a never-ending ?war on terror? and authorized systematic cruel and inhuman treatment. For years, Guantánamo was synonymous with Bush?s defiantly lawless approach to the ?war on terror.?
But we can no longer point the finger only at Bush. He?s been out of office for three years, and Guantánamo is still very much with us. Congress, with the support of many Democrats, has adopted a shortsighted ?not in my backyard? attitude, making it impossible for President Obama to deliver on his promise to close Guantánamo. In provisions recently renewed in the NDAA, Congress has barred any transfer of Guantánamo detainees to a US prison, even for criminal trial, and radically restricted the president?s authority to transfer detainees to foreign countries, essentially requiring impossible guarantees that they won?t ever pose a threat to the United States. As a result, even though more than half of the remaining detainees?eighty-nine of 171?have been fully cleared for release by a joint review conducted by the military, CIA, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, they remain stuck there. Locking up people we concede need not be held is the very definition of arbitrary detention, but that has become the norm at Guantánamo. ...
We used to be able to blame the Bush administration for Guantánamo. No more. And although the executive, legislative and judicial branches are all deeply implicated in the ongoing injustice, we can?t really lay the blame on the government. Guantánamo is our problem as citizens. No doubt because only foreigners are held and tried there, Americans have consistently looked the other way, even as the world calls for it to be closed. A 2010 CNN poll found that 60 percent of Americans favor keeping the prison there. Guantánamo will not close until we insist that our government heed the calls for justice that the world has rightly made.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2006:

The New York Times just posted a story claiming that a secret Pentagon study, originally obtained by Soldiers for Truth, found that 80% ? eight out of ten! ? Marines with upper body wounds could have been saved by use of proper body armor.
The story reads like a classic example of total bureaucratic fucked-updom in action: increasing calls from the field wending their slow and laborious way through agencies and feet-dragging studies, as well as wrangling with cost factors.
Read it and weep.

Tweet of the Day:

High Impact Posts are here. Top Comments are here.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Klr75l7zCu4/-Open-Thread-for-Night
-Owls:-Guantanamo-turns-10

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 06 January 2012 11:30:02 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge Credit: Get Your Censor OnClick image for larger.

The comic genius behind "Get Your War On" is back with "Get Your Censor On," with links to writing Congress against SOPA. Open thread below....

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal-aka-fran/open-thread-208

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Chrysler to add 1100 jobs in Detroit factory

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 06 January 2012 11:00:39 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

Good news has been limited in Michigan and the auto industry, but this is definitely good news.

Chrysler Group will add a third shift of 1,100 jobs at a Detroit plant where it will begin producing a diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, the company said on Thursday. The Jefferson North plant in Detroit is the first Chrysler plant to add a third shift, and it was the first plant to expand to a second shift after the automaker's 2009 restructuring and bankruptcy.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/KJWJBRbgw6s/chrysler-to-add-1100-jo
bs-in-detroit.html

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Late Night FDL: Mourning Newt

post from Firedoglake on 06 January 2012 11:00:33 PM. © Firedoglake

If you begin to feel like your sense of the seasons is out of whack, it’s not just the mild winter weather across the country right now. The frightening upshot of Mitt Romney’s clear path to the Republican nomination for the White House is[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/Goi1unNFf4I/

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High Yield Stocks

post from Jutia Group on 06 January 2012 11:00:06 PM. © Jutia Group

A popular screen for high yield stocks involves taking the Dow 30 industrial stocks, finding those with the highest dividend yield, and then sorting by P/E ratio. The idea is that by choosing high yield, low P/E, DJIA stocks you will be buying undervalued quality stocks. Then you can write covered calls against them.

DJIA High Yield Stocks

The top 16 highest yielding Dow 30 stocks today are:

Company Symbol Dividend Yield AT&T T 5.8% Verizon VZ 5.1% Merck MRK 4.4% Pfizer PFE 3.7% General Electric GE 3.7% Johnson & Johnson JNJ 3.5% Dupont DD 3.5% Intel INTC 3.3% Procter & Gamble PG 3.1% Kraft Foods KFT 3.1% Chevron CVX 2.9% Microsoft MSFT 2.9% Travelers TVR 2.8% McDonalds MCD . . . → Read More: High Yield Stocks

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http://jutiagroup.com/20120106-high-yield-stocks/

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With Black Ace

post from Crooks and Liars on 06 January 2012 11:00:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: Black AceArtist: The Three Sounds

I love this footage of Texas bluesman Black Ace. Maybe you will too.

And Nights at the Roundtable has jazz from The Three Sounds - 1960.

Whatcha listening to this Friday night?

I'm the Boss Card in Your Hand

Artist: Black Ace Buck Turner Price: $13.79 (As of 01/06/12 05:11 pm details)

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http://crooksandliars.com/jared-shade-reynolds/cls-late-night-music-club--38

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Santorum Froths in New Hampshire: Gay Marriage
Boner

So Rick Santorum has dug himself in deeper! And also blew it as he was speaking before a crowd of college Republicans in Concord.Today's was one of series of rapid-fire, soon-to-be-patented "Santorum boners," which have slipped from the candidate's lips.[...]

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Animation: The Year in Crazy, by Mark Fiore

video details and more

2011 closeout! Everything must go! Through the magic of year-end compilations, the Year in Crazy can be yours! See what happened over this last crazy year - from wars to dictators to occupy everything to candidates.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/animation-year-crazy-markfiore

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Video: Very cool special effects only using
lights

There's no way to to adequately title this video. Watch it. Watch especially the second part of the video that starts around 2 minutes in And, keep in mind, the guy is NOT sitting in a room with a fireplace. Keep watching, you'll see what I mean.