Rope! Lampost!

Rumsfeld Responsible for Torture, Report Says

A bipartisan Senate report released today says that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials are directly responsible for abuses of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and charges that decisions by those officials led to serious offenses against prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere.

The Senate Armed Services Committee report accuses Rumsfeld and his deputies of being the principal architects of the plan to use harsh interrogation techniques on captured fighters and terrorism suspects, rejecting the Bush administration's contention that the policies originated lower down the command chain.

Michelle, my belle

Dear Michelle Malkin, I Like You Too!

I wish you would use your platform to stand for something, rather than against so many things. I wish you would stop your incendiary attacks against a group of people you obviously know little about, but who, for some very strange reason, you seem obsessed with, and frightened by.

And I wish, Dear Michelle Malkin, you would just leave us alone. Because until you do, until you stop your ugly, hateful, uninformed, senseless attacks on the gay community, I promise you, we’ll be alert and vigilant and call you on every one of your ugly lies. We’re here, Michelle, and we’re watching your words.

Via David Badash

Just one bullet, that's all it would take

Robert Mugabe Says Disease Does Not Exist, South Africa Declares Disaster

In a televised speech to the nation, Robert Mugabe said that cholera no longer existed in the country. 

"I am happy to say our doctors have been assisted by others and WHO (the World Health Organisation)... so now that there is no cholera," he said.

"Political debate is riddled with cognitive errors."

Stumbling and Mumbling: Karen Matthews & cognitive bias

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the Shannon Matthews affair, it’s that there are no lessons to be learned.

Put it this way. Human nature being as it is, some welfare mums are criminals, some are heroes struggling under terrible circumstances, and many are just ordinary folk. There’s a distribution of qualities.

But we can infer nothing at all about the shape of any distribution, or its average or standard deviation, from just seeing one extreme data-point.

So, how come so many people think they can “learn lessons”?
Cognitive biases, that’s how.

Via Jonathan Watson

For anyone out there that still thinks this is a 'thought crime'

Australia: Child Pornongraphy Ring Crackdown - 22 Arrested Including Policeman, Lawyer And Child Carer

Australian police seized 500,000 images and 15,000 videos showing the abuse of children as young as 12 months old.

The arrests were made in a series of raids around the country, following a one-year investigation into an online image sharing network.

"The videos seized as part of this operation have to be among the worst we have seen," said Australian Federal Police officer Andrew Colvin.

"Some depicted sexual abuse of children lasting more than two hours."

It's all Greek to me

Can I have my lens hood back officer?

Two police officers attempt to stop Photojournalist Marc Vallée reporting on a blockade of the Greek Embassy by Greek and British anarchists in London, England on Monday 8th December 2008.

Seems we're not the only ones to have officials who leave papers on trains

Receipts for Chinese Bureaucrats Who Enjoyed San Francisco 'Homosexual Show'

A cadre of Chinese officials who blew through around $94,000 of the Glorious Taxpayers' money on a recent junket to the United States are in hot water after a bag of recepits left on a Shanghai subway found its way onto the Internet.

In addition to traveling to far more cities than the budget allowed, the junket stayed at a $700-a-night hotel in Las Vegas and, apparently, took in a "homosexual show"...in San Francsico.

And it only took 40 years!

Finally, more than forty years after their introduction, women can now obtain oral contraceptives without requiring the approval of their GP or Family Planning clinic.

I'd like to see most drugs available over the counter. The 'safety' issues are almost always overstated. A woman is more likely to die at the hands of a partner than from the side effects of taking the pill. And in any case, over 4,000 people die every year from taking simple, widely available over the counter NSAIDs like ibuprofen.

After my recent run-in with my new GP I've decided that the NHS can go fuck itself and I've chosen to buy all my meds from an online pharmacy in future. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it, but it's money well spent if it means I won't have to sit and listen to some ill-informed, patronising twat of a GP every few weeks.

Contraceptive Pill to be available without doctor's prescription

Women will not be able to buy the Pill off the shelf like paracetamol but will have to go through a face to face consultation with a suitably qualified pharmacist before being issued with the hormonal contraceptives.

Currently women have a prescription written by a GP or family planning doctor who takes blood pressure and a medical history and then a pharmacist dispenses the tablets.

Fuck me! And watch out for that technicolour yawn!

Town bans swearing in the street in crackdown on anti-social behaviour

Swearing on the streets has been banned by a council in an effort to reduce antisocial behaviour in the run-up to Christmas. Anyone caught uttering offensive language could be handed an on-the-spot fine of £80. The regulation has been imposed by Preston City Council to try to curb drunk and disorderly behaviour in its town centre during the party season.

Chunder!

The council is also planning to 'ban' vomiting in the street. A sort of anti anti-peristalsis law. I'd love to see how that is going to be enforced.

You missed? They missed!

The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008

This year, a historic U.S. election, a catastrophic financial crisis, and China’s Olympic dreams dominated headlines, but some of the biggest stories never made the front page. From the Afghanistan “surge” that’s already begun, to the global warming solution that could be making the problem worse, here are 10 big stories that never became big news.

The 10 Worst Predictions for 2008

Prognostication is by far the riskiest form of punditry. The 10 commentators and leaders on this list learned that the hard way when their confident predictions about politics, war, the economy, and even the end of humanity itself completely missed the mark.

Weird and Wonderful

Bagpuss and Ivor creator dies

Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate has died aged 83, his family has confirmed.

Mr Postgate, who lived in Kent, created some of the best-loved children's TV series including Ivor the Engine, the Clangers and Noggin the Nog. His work, screened on the BBC and ITV from the 1950s to the present day, was often in collaboration with the artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin.

"Santa's gone home. Santa's fucking dead."

Charlie Brooker on the closure of the Lapland New Forest Christmas theme park

"Santa's gone home. Santa's fucking dead." As theme park slogans go, it's a winner. Sadly, it wasn't the official tagline for Lapland New Forest, the temporary Christmas attraction that was forced to close last week after furious visitors demanded their money back.

Instead, the "Santa" line was shouted at a Sun reporter and a "handful of queuing families" by a member of staff disconsolately closing the gates for the last time.