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The Gremlins must be hard at work today. Chris still is waiting on the techs to fix a hardware problem that has leveled Unequivocal Notion for two days. Blogmeister Ryan is about to roll out a fix to the problem that has caused Huckleberries Online to load soooo slooooowly. It should be rolled out this morning. (Remember, you still can see all the latest comments by clicking on the “Latest Comments” header in the right rail.) Meanwhile, on this day in history: in 1917, three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary (in the sky, not on a potato chip or restaurant grill). In 1950, Stevie Wonder was born. We’re now in the middle of Birth Defects Week. In the news this evening, radio host Michael Savage appeals to Hillary Clinton to help get his name removed from Brit ban list here. And the Wednesday Wild Card is in play …
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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toadman on May 13 at 12:01 p.m.
You know what’s funny? My WA drivers license expired last Friday (oops), and I apparently can’t renew online (their site blows…doesn’t recognize my SS#…duh.).
Can someone tell me if there’s a grace period, or am I now on the run from WA and Spokane’s finest?
Nick_Adams on May 13 at 1:28 p.m.
President Obama announced today that they’re going to court to try and block the release of thousands of photographs detailing detainee abuse in Iraq—contrary to earlier statements that the WH would release the photos per court order.
Some of my “friends” on the left are outraged over this development. Meanwhile congressional Republicans are applauding the decision. I’m trying to not be hypocritical, since I would’ve probably blasted Bush for something like this, but I’ve got to believe that Obama’s concern for the safety of our troops in the field is legitimate.
http://www.kivitv.com/global/story.asp?s=10356263
Chris on May 13 at 1:43 p.m.
Ha! Thanks for the shout out Dave.
I’m hoping that things will be back to normal in the morning.
Kendramama on May 13 at 1:58 p.m.
Hey Dave- how ‘bout putting me back on the blogroll? I give my solemn oath of a weekly post from this point forward. (see today’s for a preview)
http://kendramama.blogspot.com/2009/05/be-careful-what-you-pray-for.html
toadman on May 13 at 2:09 p.m.
“President Obama announced today that they’re going to court to try and block the release of thousands of photographs detailing detainee abuse in Iraq” -Nick
I’m on the left, waaay left, and I agree with this action. I also find it funny that one of the organizations screaming “convict! convict!” is named “Move On.”
Hypocrites come in every ideological flavor, it seems.
Releasing these photographs would be wrong, in my opinion. We’ve seen enough. Thanks.
Sisyphus on May 13 at 2:55 p.m.
“but I’ve got to believe that Obama’s concern for the safety of our troops in the field is legitimate.”—of course its legitimate. But it doesn’t add up to a policy reversal. The more this administration is seen as adopting the policy rationale of the last one, the more danger they bring to our forces in the field.
What I find as very telling is the outrage of Republicans in urging Obama to not release the photographs. They’re outraged by photos of us torturing but not the torture program itself. Embarrassed much? I know I am.
There is a rule of evidence that allows a judge to balance the probative value of a photo v. its tendency to allow a factfinder to be prejudiced by the extreme nature of it. I suspect the administration engaged in a similar analysis. But I also think its much more political. I think the administration wants to turn the page on the torture matter for now so it can get some traction on the dire domestic issues we face. But with Vice President Torquemada emerging from his undisclosed location and hitting every outlet with a mic, the media will fixate on the juicy issue.
JeanieSpokane on May 13 at 2:57 p.m.
Kendramama - I love your blog. Good to have you back!
Cindy_H on May 13 at 3:08 p.m.
Yeah! Recent Comments is back BUT the comment counter is still off. For instance, the moose thread reads 4 comments but only has two. Kinda weird.
Poor Ryan. His job is an awful lot like parenting. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, something else comes up :-)
Cabbage Boy on May 13 at 3:27 p.m.
Comments aren’t completely back in the “recent comments” either. They don’t specify what thread they belong too.
Not complaining Ryan, just offering my data from extensive testing.
toadman on May 13 at 4:07 p.m.
“The more this administration is seen as adopting the policy rationale of the last one, the more danger they bring to our forces in the field.” - Sisy
Maybe I misunderstand you…are you saying NOT releasing the pictures is “adopting the policy rational of the last” administration? If so, I’ll have to disagree. I agree with the rational for NOT releasing the pictures. We already get the gist of how bad the torture was. The world already knows we tortured. We don’t need pictures of it plastered around the internet for the world to get pissed about all over again. We’re in a good position now to be magnanimous regarding the failed morals of the previous administration, and truly move on. I sincerely believe that History will judge them harshly enough as it is…think about it…most of them can never travel outside our shores again. THAT should be punishment enough.
Ryan Pitts on May 13 at 4:15 p.m.
@Cindy H, @Cabbage Boy - We’re running a script that is re-saving all 36,000-plus comments in our system. While it is running, some of those things (comment counts, missing headlines) may appear a bit wonky. But once it’s done all that should be back to normal.
Sisyphus on May 13 at 4:30 p.m.
‘We don’t need pictures of it plastered around the internet for the world to get pissed about all over again.’—uh, there’s still a national debate going on with A team Republicans arguing that we don’t torture and, paradoxically, that torture works. And the substance of that debate was only recently provided when the cloak of secrecy in which the previous administration hid the program was lowered by the release of some of the torture memos. Certainly the photos will put an end to one, if not both of those issues. Agreeing with Republicans that it may harm our soldiers is using one of the weakest and most cowardly excuses for hiding the evidence of an abhorrent policy I think they utilized. The pictures will be released, its just a matter of when. I’m a thinking September, 2010.
DFO on May 13 at 4:36 p.m.
Kendramama; welcome back, prodigal; you’re blog link is back where it belongs — on the right rail as part of the HBO Blogosphere. I’ll hold you to your promise to post once a week. BTW, if I’ve pulled your blog link for lack of posting, all you have to do is ask that I repost it — and redouble your efforts to post more frequently.
DFO on May 13 at 4:37 p.m.
Dang, this blog is really flying this afternoon. Another monster H/T to Blogmeister Ryan.
toadman on May 13 at 4:44 p.m.
Sis, you and I agree on many many things, but surprisingly, I don’t think citing the safety of our troops is a weak argument…and in my own mind, it’s not the only argument for not releasing the pictures. We’ve had enough noxious spectacles of torture, in my opinion.
I realize there’s a lame argument in favor of torture, or that torture works, but I don’t think it’s going to wash because I think THAT’s the weaker argument.
Still, we may just have to agree to amicably disagree on this point. I think Obama made the right call.
Cabbage Boy on May 13 at 4:48 p.m.
Ryan, come on, how long should it take to run a script on 36,000 comments? Sheesh. ;)
Wonder how many are mine? Any hope for that feature?
poolman on May 13 at 4:54 p.m.
I saw I all I need to see about US torture strategy in the documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side” (Thanks for the tip on that Sys - it was done by the same guy that produced “Enron: the smartest guys in the room” that dude is a genius). It’s based on Afghanistan and Gitmo but you can get a very clear picture of what the US military strategy was and I’m sure connect the dots as to what the Iraq pictures would reveal
Basically it shows sleazy Rumsfeld and Cheney literally ‘making up’ policy that allowed untrained military personnel to do pretty much whatever they wanted to “Arab Terror Suspects” with no accountability for their activities. Sleep deprivation, using dogs, waterboarding, electrocution, continuous beatings, pornography, you name it. As it turned out the CIA was paying Pakistanis to provide said suspects. Very quickly it became a bounty situation. The Pakistanis would go out and wrangle up unsuspecting Afghanis and then turn them over for the loot. Then the US military prison folks would do crazy stuff to them, in many cases for their own entertainment, never really obtaining any useful information because most of the subjects were “Joe Blows” off the street with no intelligence to give. Then it was decided that we needed a prison facility at Gitmo to hold these “terror suspects”. Guess what company was contracted to erect the facility -Halliburton. No wonder Dick is so defensive about the closure. This torturer stuff is the tip of the iceberg of how deceitful and evil our last administration was. The only potential value I see in releasing the photo’s is to clearly illustrate one little part of what Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush did to facilitated the “War on Terror”. Unfortunately most people are not smart enough to figure out what they are seeing and will just be confused. Obama is smart enough to realize that.
JeanieSpokane on May 13 at 4:55 p.m.
Welcome once again, Kendramama. I look forward to your great writing style.
vitalyb on May 13 at 5:10 p.m.
@Cabbage Boy
As of right now (5:09pm) you have 851 comments on this site, lol.
spokelooneh on May 13 at 5:31 p.m.
As I recall, when the first pictures were released, it was because the Pentagon lost a lawsuit, a judge ordered them released.
I agree with Sis, they may take until Sep. 2010 to be resolved.
Perfect.
Ryan Pitts on May 13 at 5:39 p.m.
@Cabbage Boy - Click on your name next to a comment to view your profile page. There’s an all-time comment count there (it updates once an hour).
mike_s on May 13 at 8:37 p.m.
Toadman, not sure but you may have to take the driving test again having let the license expire.
mike_s on May 13 at 8:42 p.m.
Does anyone know the story behind the old church building for sale in Rathdrum?
Cindy_H on May 13 at 8:52 p.m.
Omigosh, Ryan!
What a terrible thing to know. Please, get rid of this feature ASAP!
Can other people access this? Will everyone soon know the amount of time I spend commenting on HBO, instead of working?
This is bad. Really bad.
florined on May 13 at 10:16 p.m.
OK, history buffs, rabid readers, and followers of world affairs, check out this fun site:
http://cliptank.com/PeopleofInfluencePainting.htm
Sisyphus on May 14 at 7:02 a.m.
Toad, the argument has already been rejected by the Courts. They want something more concrete than the very nebulous and speculative ‘might cause harm to the troops”.
Poolman, I’d forgotten they were the same director. And thanks for prompting me to get Enron. Very well put together but what was maddening about it was the issues it portends from deregulation. Did you know that when ‘Taxi’ won the Academy Award in February 2007, Disney bought the distribution rights and shelved it until HBO finally got them to sell and it was finally released in September, 2008. Powerful forces did not want that movie released.
Nick_Adams on May 14 at 8:22 a.m.
@Sis: So does the case go to the Supreme Court now or back to the court that issued the order? I ask because, if it goes to the Supreme Court, do we have to wait until the SCOTUS goes back to work in October? If so, it’d be interesting to watch Obama’s first Supreme Court appointee to weigh in on the case.