Tags: justice department, water boarding
Today I heard about the report being released regarding the decisions made to use certain types of interrogation techniques by the justice department and other senior civilian officials in the U.S. Government.
I have a question: How did the justice department determine that water-boarding was not torture?
The media simply tells us that they made a recommendation to the President. How did they come about this decision? Were the lawyers subjected to the “interrogation technique” known as water-boarding? Did they hear testimony from people who had endured this type of interrogation? How did they determine the precise limits of this procedure? Did doctors or psychologists testify as to the impact of this tactic on individuals? It seems to me that the media is leaving something out.
I would assume that the idea of water-boarding was “put on trial” and that a decision was reached, but I have no way of knowing.
The one thing I know for certain is that I do not know if water-boarding is torture. I do not know what torture is. I have never endured anything resembling torture. I wonder how these lawyers could make this decision.
The thing I find most disturbing (based solely on the reporting of mainstream media, including NPR) is that military lawyers advised against using water-boarding while the justice department concluded it was acceptable.
The people at MiracleGro are asking you to plant an extra row for the hungry this year. Find a foodbank near you and take your excess produce from your garden and feed the hungry.
Visit www.GroGood.com
For those of you who missed it. This woman has some incredible talent. She’s down to Earth and knows how to choose the right song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
This week on CounterSpin they aired a story about a GMA piece on racism where Roxanne Roberts and Dianne Sawyer returned to their Southern communities to talk to individuals about race. The end result was that both blacks and whites they talked to had a more positive outlook for blacks and a better attitude with less prejudice towards each other. Sounds good doesn’t it?
It’s not good enough for the CounterSpin staff they say racism isn’t about prejudices and perceptions of individuals but about the socio-economic gap between races. They think that just because more people view members of the opposite race as equals that doesn’t mean that their is less racism. For the people at CouterSpin I provide some definitions of racism from the Internet:
Definitions of racism on the Web:
- the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races
- discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
- Racism, by its simplest definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. People with racist beliefs might hate certain groups of people according to their racial groups. …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
- The belief that each race has distinct and intrinsic attributes; The belief that one race is superior to all others; Prejudice or discrimination …
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/racism
Ok, on average African-Americans are still in a lower economic bracket than whites, but if the Euro-Americans around them don’t have anything against them and view them as just as capable as a white individual they now have the same ability to rise out of their current condition. Their past was bleak, their future is brighter. The world isn’t perfect yet (with respect to racism) but it has greatly improved.
GMA’s conclusion that their is less “racism” now than there was several years ago is a fair one, supported by the evidence they gathered. CounterSpin is supposed to point out factual errors and missed stories, they failed on this one. This reporting was accurate and balanced.
So, what will $10 Billion Dollars buy you? It may not be enough to save GM or Chrysler but on the Vegas Strip this is what it will buy you:
The City Center is estimated at $10 Billion dollars and has created 8,000 construction jobs and will create 12,000 full time positions when it opens next year. It consists of 9 high rise buildings, a monorail system, retail, residential, hotels, casinos, resort, and a fine arts complex.
If the auto manufacturers can’t save themselves with the amount of money it takes to provide 500,000 sq ft of retail, 2400 residences, a 61 story, 4000 room hotel, and so much more something is wrong.
Don’t have $10 Billion dollars. With $480,000 dollars you could pick up this Rolex GMT-Master II:
Don’t have a half a million either? The cheapest meal in Vegas is the Slots A Fun Hot Dog - only $1.99:
Tags: PLA, Priesthood, Priesthood Line of Authority, Religion
As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I hold the Priesthood. — Now, in our church we have a lay priesthood. The priesthood is the power given by God to men to act in his name. My current duties in the priesthood are few but I may be called at some point to serve in other duties. One of my friends was recently called to serve as the Bishop of our ward (congregation). His responsibilities have been far expanded.
Anyway this post is about how I got my priesthood not what it is our my role in the priesthood.
A short time ago in a lesson on the priesthood another member shared his priesthood line of authority and it had some items in common with mine, but had some discrepancies. Also, while he shared his I found an error in my copy of my line of authority so I contacted the church headquarters for a correct copy of my priesthood lineage, here it is:
- I was ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood on Aug 19, 1997 by
- my Father who was ordained a High Priest by
- Harold Daw who was ordained a High Priest by
- William James Critchlow, Jr. who was ordained a High Priest by
- George Franklin Richards, Sr. who was ordained an Apostle by
- Joseph F. Smith who was ordained an Apostle by
- Brigham Young who was ordained an Apostle under the hands of the three whitnesses:
- Olvier Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris who were called by revelation and set apart by the First Presidency to choose and ordain the Twelve Apostles and who were ordained by
- Joseph Smith, Jr. who was ordained an Apostle by
- Peter, James, and John who were ordained Apostles by
- Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry.
We made it to Pennsylvania, but not without problems. We left ABQ early Monday morning. Alison & Skyler spent hours in Chicago as two flights they tried to board were cancelled due to bad weather in Philadelphia and they finally managed to get on a third but not until I was in the air so I didn’t know until I got to Philly.
I spent several hours in Dallas with Jonah as my flight kept getting delayed. We finally got checked into our hotel about midnight.
We had a great time in Pennsylvania. I enjoyed the training. It turns out I knew two of the people in the course with me and we had a great time. Alison & the boys got to visit with friends and go to Hershey and of course, visit the Wilbur Chocolate Factory. Yummy!
Alison got home with no problems and so did I. I wish I could say the same for my luggage. Still haven’t seen it.
I should be in Pennsylvania right now. I was up at 4:30 this morning and off to the airport, but as it turns out a freak snow storm in Atlanta resulted in most flights out of there being cancelled. Delta was unable to find me a flight from Albuquerque to Harrisburg or to Philadelphia today and I had to postpone my trip until tomorrow. What a drag! I was really disappointed and so was the rest of the family. Hopefully this storm will spare Philadelphia so we can fly into there tomorrow.
Shortly after I got home I got a phone call and went to go help a brother in the ward give a priesthood blessing to a family member in the hospital here. Thus, the apologies. I guess the southeast got snowed in so I would come home and give a blessing.
Hopefully we’ll be off tomorrow.
Tags: economics, fort knox, money, stimulus, TARP
February 25, 2009 – 8:40 am
Yesterday I had a trivia question about Fort Knox. We all thought it was in Tennessee, turns out it’s in Kentucky. Anyway we went to wikipedia to check it out. According to wikipedia there is about 4603 tonnes of gold stored at Fort Knox, but it isn’t the largest reserve of gold in the U.S. The federal reserve bank of New York holds about 5000 metric tons of gold in an underground vault in Manhattan - this gold belongs to foreign governments, central banks and international institutions.
So how much is all this gold worth? Well at today’s price of about $964 an ounce there is only about $140 Billion worth of gold in Fort Knox and another $160 Billion or so at the Federal Reserve bank of New York. I know a billion dollars is a lot of money but there isn’t enough gold in Fort Knox to cover the TARP, let alone the latest Stimulus package. It probably isn’t even enough to keep the auto makers afloat.
February 12, 2009 – 2:56 pm
Happy Birthday Charles Darwin! 200 years. There was an interesting discussion on NPR last night and again this morning about religion and Darwin. He struggled with the religion question and delayed releasing his findings until he was sure of the science. They suggester perhaps he was concerned for the ridicule he (and his wife) would receive which ma have delayed his releasing his findings.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t concern himself too much with the debate between creationism and darwinism. I believe in the Creation as depicted in the Bible. I also believe there is a lot God can do that science has a hard time explaining. I accept the laws of nature as they are. God is bound by them just as he is spiritual laws but he understands them better than we do and is able to use them to command nature.
The creation in the Bible takes place over six creative periods (translated as days). The hebrew word for day is just as vague as the english word for day. It can mean daylight hours, 24 hours, or an era (as in the title of this post). This was before the Earth fell into its current orbit and we don’t even know how long a day was before the fall of Adam. I’m sure however God organized the matter and created physical life on the Earth that the laws of nature were obeyed.
Dinosaurs? You go t me. Test case before he was willing to place his children down here? I dont’ know and it doesn’t really matter to me. Maybe they’re supposed to make us think and test our faith to make us stronger, I don’t know.
Thing is we evolve, as a species and others do too. It’s all a part of the plan. Let’s evolve into better people and than we can make God and Darwin happy.
