Category Archives: Current Events

Charles C. Krulak was commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Joseph P. Hoar was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994. They think the torture policies of Dick Cheney (a) didn't yield any useful info, (b) broke the law, (c) helped the enemy's recruitment efforts and (d) lowered our moral standing in the world. But hey, it is possible that they could have gotten information that Jack Bauer could have used to stop a nuclear bomb from going off in Manhattan.

Ronald Brownstein offers an economic summary of the George W. Bush years. Here's the quick summary…

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

Well, at least Halliburton and the oil and drug companies did well.

Dahlia Lithwick on the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Texas man who was executed for arson. Experts now seem unanimous that the verdict was flawed and that Willingham was, as he insisted to his dying moment, an innocent man. But those who have a lot of emotion invested in the Death Penalty don't care…and if they continue to have their way, the prevailing attitude towards the wrongly-convicted will be: "Too bad. But you had your day in court and lost!"

I think it's enormously disingenuous for Justice Scalia and others to insist that no one has ever proven an innocent person has been put to death. The sheer number of wrongful convictions, including folks who would have been executed but for the relatively-new science of DNA testing, suggests there have probably been many. The trouble is that once the government executes someone, the people in that government have a compelling, almost desperate need to not allow innocence to be proven. So they make it darn near impossible.

My chum Robert Elisberg has a good piece up about the dismantling of the Motion Picture Home, a facility that has done so much good for folks in show biz who weren't wealthy and needed aid in their declining and ill years.

Take it as a dire sign that the Motion Picture and Television Fund folks don't think they can afford to keep that place open. It's bad enough that we have so many people in this country who can't afford and/or get health insurance. Even if all those people just die off (as some will do because they can't pay for doctors), the system is failing those who have Honest-to-God, real, paid-for health insurance…and I don't see a single projection that it won't get a lot worse unless something major is done.

Matt Taibbi on how bad Health Care is in this country and how it won't get fixed.

Another one of those damned Liberal Socialist Commie-inspired health plans.

Bruce Bartlett, who was once as loyal a Reaganite as you could ever find, explains his unhappiness with the current Republican party. It has to do with the fact that its leaders would rather have the support of "birthers" than of folks like him.

In The New Yorker, David Grann has a long article about Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texan who was put to death in 2004 for, the court said, starting a fire which killed his three daughters. Since then, an awful lot of experts have suggested that the investigation and trial were flawed and that Willingham may have been right when, just before his execution, he insisted for the eight zillionth time that he was an innocent man.

Lately, there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to argue that he was guilty. But there do seem to be folks who don't want this matter to be investigated too much because — well, you know — it might cast some negative light on the way the Death Penalty is administered in Texas. And we can't have a little thing like executing the innocent get in the way of stringing up folks we think deserve to die.

Nicholas Kristof reminds us that the current, unchanged health care system is hazardous to life and family.

In the midst of Republicans trying to scare Americans into believing that Democrats want to "pull the plug on Grandma," Jacob Weisberg lists some of the G.O.P. efforts to…well, to pull the plug on Grandma.

Here we have a long profile of James Randi, AKA The Amazing Randi. If you're not familiar with his work, you should be.

Fred Kaplan thinks we're in for trouble in Afghanistan.

Fred's appearance on Tavis Smiley has been rescheduled for September 4. So reset your TiVos if you want to see him.

Years ago, people in favor of the Death Penalty used to dismiss claims that innocent people are sometimes executed. It struck me that their certainty was some combination of wishful thinking and stubborn denial.

It's getting harder and harder to take that position, especially with DNA testing now proving how many people have been wrongly convicted of serious crimes. This latest case doesn't involve DNA but there's still some pretty solid evidence that an innocent man was executed in Texas in 2004. This is not to suggest, of course, that the government of Texas will ever admit it.

Thanks to Mark Thorson for sending me this link, and also for a lot of typos he's caught on this site. Between him, Gordon Kent and Rephah Berg, I don't need a spell-checker.

Roger Ebert discusses his problems over the years with drinking and how he stopped via Alcoholics Anonymous.

Having never had a drink in my life — not even beer or wine — I don't understand a large swath of that world and that problem. On the other hand, I have had a few friends who destroyed their lives that way, usually dragging down others around them. So I have a large respect for those who quit and those who work to help others quit. And it's just a coincidence that this posting is following the one about Ted Kennedy.

Harry Shearer offers two anecdotal views of health insurance.