in other news, freedom is slavery & ignorance is strength...
from latimes: President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize [in Oslo] today, acknowledging the irony of winning it as a wartime president and calling his own accomplishments "slight" in comparison to past winners.
But in his speech to the Nobel Committee, Obama spoke of the concept of a "just war" and the pursuit of a "just peace," which he said sometimes depends on more than simply refraining from violence.
Lauding the commitment of past Nobel laureates to nonviolence, Obama said that, as a head of state and commander-in-chief of a military at war sworn to protect and defend his nation, he cannot follow their examples alone.
"I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people," Obama said. "For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince Al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."
With his remarks, delivered in the brief sunlight of the Norwegian winter's midday, Obama answered critics who complain that he was receiving the award before he has really done anything to achieve peace.
The award also comes just days after the president announced a military buildup in Afghanistan, a surge of 30,000 U.S. troops which the White House hopes will disable the terrorist headquarters in the region and bring the eight-year war to an end.
pnac members start new neocon group from raw replay: The Neocons are back. The same Republicans who sold the country on the war in Iraq have formed a new group called the Foreign Policy Initiative, and declaring their last group as “mission accomplished.” Rachel Maddow is joined by thinkprogress.org’s Matt Duss. This video is from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Mar. 31, 2009.
john yoo arrested? wishful april foolin' from infowars: A number of websites are carrying a story claiming that John Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States, was arrested in Milan, Italy, and is being held “for possible extradition to Spain, where he and five other retired officials who served under former President George W. Bush are expected to be indicted by a Spanish court for violations of the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
from collateral news: Project Artichoke. MKULTRA. The CIA has a long & sordid history of using mind-altering drugs on unsuspecting victims. But until recently, many thought that that's just what it was: history. Yet new reports from more than two dozen Guantanamo detainees indicate that forced drugging may be routine practice once again.
from raw story: In an interview Sunday on CNN, onetime gay conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan asserted that Bush officials who worked on a memo authorizing legal use of torture "should not leave the country" because they "will be, at some point, indicted for war crimes."
pentagon wants student directories from thinkprogress: The Army Times reports that the Pentagon “has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs... Under rules that will take effect April 28, defense officials said they want the exact same access to student directories that is provided to all other prospective employers."
cheney opposed chemical weapons convention from danger room: Vice President Dick Cheney opposed the signing ratification of a treaty banning the use chemical weapons, a recently unearthed letter shows. 183 countries pledged never to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone" under the Chemical Weapons Convention, put into effect in 1997.
rules to be waived for border fence from ap: The Bush administration plans to use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday. Invoking the two legal waivers - which Congress authorized - would cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas...
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from latimes: President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize [in Oslo] today, acknowledging the irony of winning it as a wartime president and calling his own accomplishments "slight" in comparison to past winners.
