MetaFilter posts tagged with Commission

Making Space Omelettes

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:59:33 -0800

Last Tuesday, The Augstine Commission - an independent council created earlier this year to study NASA's human spaceflight objectives - released their findings. While many are responding to the report's grim findings on NASA's budget woes, former aerospace engineer Rand Simberg has a criticism of his own: "If our attitude toward the space frontier is that we must strive to never, ever lose anyone, it will remain closed. If our ancestors who opened the west, or who came from Europe, had such an attitude, we would still be over there, and there would have been no California space industry to get us to the moon forty years ago. It has never been 'safe' to open a frontier, and this frontier is the harshest one that we've ever faced."

9/11 Commission ordered torture

Joe Beese — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:37:22 -0800

The 9/11 Commission suspected that critical information it used in its landmark report was the product of harsh interrogations of al-Qaida operatives - interrogations that many critics have labeled torture. Yet, commission staffers never questioned the agency about the interrogation techniques and in fact ordered a second round of interrogations specifically to ask additional questions of the same operative... More than one-quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al Qaeda operatives subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques.

Without Posing and Artifice

cashman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:26:48 -0800

"Using information provided earlier about their weekly routine, the photographer will arrive on the scene, and unseen, take shots of the subject." This is what Izaz Rony of Methodizaz says he can do for you for several hundred bucks. Or, perhaps use this self-hired paparazzi service as a present for friends and family? "Without posing and artifice, the camera captures only the natural beauty of the person." Flash website [via]. Sorry, "no stupid fake smiles, manufactured poses, unsightly turtle chins, or deliberate crotch shots." Sure.

The Illustrated Guide to GOP Scandals

trinarian — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:16:41 -0800

The Illustrated Guide to GOP Scandals

Step 1: Bash Candidate, Step 2: ???. Step 3: Profit!

Heminator — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 07:52:50 -0800

Nice work if you can get it. Bloggers are an increasingly important part of modern elections -- something that becomes immediately obvious when you look at FEC filings. Bloggers are increasingly starting to rake in the campaign cash. Initially inspired by this feature from The Hotline, Bill Beutler combed through the FEC records and broke down what candidates were paying what bloggers how much in the current election.

When Government Writes History

kirkaracha — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:48:14 -0800

When Government Writes History [The New Republic, registration required], a behind-the-scenes memoir of the 9/11 Commission Report, by commission historian Ernest May. [Related reading: Richard Posner's The 9/11 Report: A Dissent in the New York Times and Elizabeth Drew's Pinning the Blame in the New York Review of Books.]

Bin Laden Determined to Attack in U.S.

the fire you left me — Sun, 25 Jul 2004 07:26:42 -0800

Correcting the Record. In meticulous detail the 9/11 commission's report found that the hijackers had repeatedly broken the law in entering the United States, that Mr. bin Laden may have micromanaged the attacks but did not pay for them, that intelligence agencies had considered the threat of suicide hijackings, and that Mr. Bush received an August 2001 briefing on evidence of continuing domestic terrorist threats from Al Qaeda.

Questions Condoleezza Rice must answer

acrobat — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 04:04:48 -0800

Questions Condoleezza Rice must answer Guardian’s Mark Oliver considers the likely lines of inquiry the US national security adviser will face today from the commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Kissinger to head 9/11 commission

brantstrand — Wed, 27 Nov 2002 13:51:56 -0800

Henry Kissinger has been named head of the "independent commission" to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks. President Bush named Kissinger head upon signing bill to establish the commission. Kissinger has a controversial history and arguable distance from "independence". Given that, can the American people have any reasonable expectation of an honest inspection by their government of what lead up to that day? Will the burning questions even be asked, let alone answered?

BarneyFifesBullet — Wed, 20 Mar 2002 23:58:11 -0800

This a bronze sculpted bust of President Ronald Reagan that Arnold Schwarzenegger commisioned.Did he get his money's worth?

rebeccablood — Mon, 09 Oct 2000 15:10:38 -0800

talk about a captive audience 'AT&T Corp. is mulling a plan ... [that] ... would charge for each customer that accesses an Internet retail site using AT&T’s communications network. It would receive an additional commission when customers buy something, analysts said.'

grumblebee — Thu, 08 Jun 2000 09:30:22 -0800

My new favorite website is explodingdog.com which is the best of a new genre of websites (new to me anyhow) on which an artist creates something based on your suggestions. The artist at this site will draw a portrait of your pet if you donate $75 dollars to an animal shelter. Too bad my hamster died. Another variation on this theme is the digital doodlebox which displays a simple graphic and invites anyone to submit a variation of it. These fun sites have inspired me to add something similar to my site. Do you folks know of any other good sites like these?

tdecius — Sun, 05 Sep 1999 22:11:21 -0800

The Trilateral Commission - If The X-Files is true, these are the guys that are conspiring with the aliens. Black UN helicopters and all that.