PunkAssBlog.com

I may start posting one every Friday or so. Expect music that will span the decades.
Historical perspective note: My boyfriend first watched this three or four years ago when he was in Kuwait, waiting to be sent on to Iraq.

Karol Sheinin unwittingly highlights certain differences of opinion as to the meaning of English words:
I want to free Tibet as much as the next person (in fact, my parents can confirm that I had a “Free Tibet” sticker hanging in my room in their house since about 1992) but I’m not sure what scaling the [...]

Drawing by Sami al-Haj, imprisoned Al Jazeera cameraman
After over two years, the U.S. military is finally releasing AP photographer Bilal Hussein. Hussein, guilty of practicing journalism while Arab, had been imprisoned without evidence or charges, and presumably will be released without apology.
These days, holding folks for no reason, indefinitely, is apparently no big deal. (Even [...]

Here’s one, from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, that should put a smile on your face:

Of course, we here in Canada recognize this as satire. I’m not sure that it reads that way to Americans. What do you think?
Hat tip: Audra Williams
And here’s one that really won’t put a smile on your face: American [...]

Mother Jones has gotten a hold of some of the music that U.S. troops use to “induce sleep deprivation, “prolong capture shock,” disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams.”
Lovely.

I find the use of Rage Against the Machine and Springsteen particularly abhorrent (not only because of the artists’ politics, but because I happen to [...]

If we need to have fascism, can it at least be well-dressed fascism?
Okay, so this fellow Scalia has actually managed the unthinkable, which is to change my mind on the ethics of torture. Previously, as you may recall, I had the sane belief that torture was always unethical, under any circumstances. But this good judge [...]

Six years, umpteen godzillion dollars and a Patriot Act later and this is all we got?
While the Defense Department conducts exhaustive planning for operations overseas, its planning for possible action inside the United States in response to attacks is inadequate, said the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves.
“We looked at their plans. They’re totally [...]

Watch out, Palestinians and Israelis! Condoleezza Rice has seen another moment of opportunity:
Rice cautioned the going would be tough as she wrapped up four days of intense shuttle diplomacy during which she met twice with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to bridge wide gaps over a declaration the conference is [...]

So we’ve all heard about the Blackwater thing by now, right? After last Sunday, when Blackwater Christofascist mercenaries went on a killing spree, murdering at least 28 people in cold blood, Iraq’s puppet government finally said “enough is enough,” and revoked Blackwater’s license to operate in the country. This isn’t the first time that Blackwater [...]

Here’s something neat that you can read in preparation for your inevitable incarceration in Guantanamo Bay—a U.S. Government-funded manual on psychological torture, published in 1961 by John Wiley & Sons.*
It begins with “don’t try this at home” reassurances:
This work might help the armed forces to offset the lack of knowledge that was in part held [...]