Spoiler alert: The U.S. Navy SEALS murder Osama Bin Laden and several others in his Pakistani compound without mercy and with vengeful malice. Most of the controversy swirling round the film revolves around whether the filmmaker, Kathryn Bigelow – positioned as auteur by most commentators – endorses torture or whether the film’s narrative
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Politics and Entertainment: Zero Dark Thirty Leaves Plenty of Space for Viewer’s Moral Judgment
Spoiler alert: The U.S. Navy SEALS murder Osama Bin Laden and several others in his Pakistani compound without mercy and with vengeful malice. Most of the controversy swirling round the film revolves around whether the filmmaker, Kathryn Bigelow – positioned as auteur by most commentators – endorses torture or whether the film’s narrative
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: The Sarcastic Cyborg Debriefs
[recording starts] Is this thing on? Seriously. Is it on? I’m not getting any neural feedback. You humans are so odd. You are human aren’t you? Why don’t you just implant a microphone in your scull — there’s lots of … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch World Report 2013 (VIDEO)
Video available on YouTube The Canadian Progressive recommends: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring Canada’s Human Rights Reputation is Fast Becoming a Myth Cornel West Is Upset Obama Was Sworn In On Martin Luther King’s Bible U.S. pressuring Bradley Manning to implicate Julian Assange (VIDEO) The Young
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring
The willingness of new governments to respect rights will determine whether those uprisings give birth to genuine democracy or simply spawn authoritarianism in new forms.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou: Torture was official US policy
Via YouTube: Former CIA agent John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison for revealing the identity of a covert officer to a reporter. But originally he was pending charges on the violating the espionage act. Kiriakou is the first CIA official to publicly confirm the use of waterboarding
Continue readingArt Threat: On efficacy and ideology: Zero Dark Thirty and the ethical justification of torture
“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule.” -Walter Benjamin Kathryn Bigelow’s film Zero Dark Thirty was met with both large audiences and waves of criticism for how the film depicted, and seemingly endorsed, the
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Am I An Abuser?
All this talk of torture in my last post got me wondering about the most awful times of pain and suffering in our own Nicholas’ life. When Nick was small, he had a surgical procedure to correct gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. The procedure was called an ‘open full-wrap fundoplication’.
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Torture, The Movies and the Politics of Caregiving
A couple of nights ago, my husband Jim and I went to the movies. We saw Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” – a film already infamous for its portrayal of torture as a measure to ensure post 9/11 homeland security and as a tool to locate and eliminate Osama Bin
Continue readingPutting lipstick on the PIIGS: the health of modern macroeconomics
Ok, so some of the best economists, trained at elite institutions, working for the pinnacle of the of the financial world got it wrong, very wrong. How wrong? Just go ask a Greek citizen. But, of course, we all knew that just by reading the headlines coming out of Greece
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Supermax hellholes: solitary confinement in US prisons
The US has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. It breaks down to about 754 per 100,000 (2009 figures). By way of comparison Canada had 117 per 100,000 (as of 2008), Australia 133 per 100,000 (as of 2010) and Japan 59 per 100,000. According to 2010 figures put
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: America’s Shame – Guantanamo Bay
We have not written on America’s imperial adventures for awhile here at DWR. Constant examination of the antithesis of our civilization lays bare the soul, to touch the carefully crafted web we ensconce ourselves in and shake it till the dirty bitter truths rupture forth wearies the heart and
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Torture is Great – More Positive Republican PR
I’m not a fan of all of Jessie Ventura’s politics, but he makes a strong case against the use of torture while explaining to the designated right-wing nut on the View how and why its wrong. Let’s open up the discussion. When, if ever, is torture permissible? Leave your opinion
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Oh look. Security certificates are in the news again.
I wonder if the Harper government has really thought this one through. A security certificate issued against Hassan Almrei was thrown out by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley in December of 2009. Almrei filed a civil suit against the government and asked for a summary judgement on the basis that
Continue readingParliamANT Hill: Torture directives from Anttawa ‘immoral,’ NDP says
Inspired by this headline: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/08/28/pol-cp-torture-opposition.html
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Harperland and the Sad Days of August
I hate this time of the year. When you wish summer would go on forever eh? But you know it will soon be over. And as David Frum tweeted recently "Few things on earth are sadder than the last week of a Canadian August."Read more »
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Vic Toews Gives RCMP Okay to Violate UN Anti-Torture Convention
Vic Toews, Public Safety Minister issues a directive to RCMP, CSIS and Canada Border Services to use information obtained through torture.
In 1985, Canada led by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture&…
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Vic Toews Gives RCMP Okay to Violate UN Anti-Torture Convention
Vic Toews, Public Safety Minister issues a directive to RCMP, CSIS and Canada Border Services to use information obtained through torture. In 1985, Canada led by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture . Article 2.2 of the UN Convention… ..
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Vic Toews Gives RCMP Okay to Violate UN Anti-Torture Convention
Vic Toews, Public Safety Minister issues a directive to RCMP, CSIS and Canada Border Services to use information obtained through torture. In 1985, Canada led by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture . Article 2.2 of the UN Convention… ..
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Star-Phoenix editorial board comments on the need to crack down on tax havens: (T)he scale of the avoidance Mr. Henry detailed in his report, The Price of Offshore Revisited, drives home just how immoral is the practice of tax avoidance, particularly
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