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Okay, this is mean AND funny, all at the same time (particularly for those of us of a certain age and demographic, shall we say):
ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE MYSTERIOUS PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. BUSH (PDF file)
(last political gag/snark for a while, I promise.)
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Offered without comment:
War Crimes Act Changes Would Reduce Threat Of Prosecution
The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners, according to U.S. officials and a copy of the amendments.
Officials say the amendments would alter a U.S. law passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties governing military conduct in wartime. The conventions generally bar the cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment of wartime prisoners without spelling out what all those terms mean.
The draft U.S. amendments to the War Crimes Act would narrow the scope of potential criminal prosecutions to 10 specific categories of illegal acts against detainees during a war, including torture, murder, rape and hostage-taking.
Left off the list would be what the Geneva Conventions refer to as “outrages upon [the] personal dignity” of a prisoner and deliberately humiliating acts — such as the forced nakedness, use of dog leashes and wearing of women’s underwear seen at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — that fall short of torture.
“People have gotten worried, thinking that it’s quite likely they might be under a microscope,” said a U.S. official. Foreigners are using accusations of unlawful U.S. behavior as a way to rein in American power, the official said, and the amendments are partly meant to fend this off.
[more]
Via Sullivan.
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Ron and Val Ives (with additional child labor provided by Olivia) made these boards for my associations as a gimmick to promote our industry “Team Building Night” for the regional construction specifiers conference and trade show. (even though I realize that Cornhole is barely a team sport which is why it took some real pitch work to get it approved as the game/giveaway for the exhibit)
They were a huge hit (which I totally knew they would be) and we were far and away the most popular booth in the entire place. (except with our neighbors whose exhibits kept being hit by errant throws – by a miracle no one was injured)
I wanted to make sure they got posted so Val and Ron could see how great they looked after they were lettered and everything. When I called FastSigns to have them lettered I told him I had something weird for him to do, and after hearing what I wanted, he told me that they letter those boards all the time. Evidently, I’m behind the curve, again. But not too far behind since scads of folks told me last night that they had seen it, but never played.
The set now has a new home with an association membership prospect and many more were converted to the game having tried it on such awesome boards! – Great job, Ives!
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ESPN’s Tom Friend is reporting that Maurice Clarett called him Tuesday night at about 11 pm to “thank him” for running January’s ESPN story on Clarett’s drinking problem and its effect on his career in the wake of the January robbery charges — and notes that the phone call came about two hours before Clarett’s latest arrest. Friend goes into a LOT more detail, though — an incredibly interesting read (and Clarett claims he called Tressel right before that!)
Via weColumbus.
