MetaFilter posts tagged with amnesty

Obama supports Blue Dog

joannemerriam — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:51:30 -0800

Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system. Georgia Rep. John Barrow ran ads accusing his party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the Blue Dogs to send a letter to Pelosi asking to be allowed to vote to give the President warrantless eavesdropping powers and to give lawbreaking telecoms amnesty (previously). Barrow faces a July primary challenge from State Senator Regina Thomas, whose policy positions more closely match Obama's views and the views of the Democratic base in that district. Despite this, Obama has taped a radio ad in support of Barrow.

The day the grass was mowed.

Smedleyman — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:41:01 -0800

What’s a protest without a little counter-protest? Not that army of one Nita Shinn hasn’t done a bang up job before, but asking people to come out and protest with their toilet bowl brushes, their brooms, their lawn mowers, their pots and pans? - man, that’s just brilliant. Because it’s not un-American to fight to keep America, or to turn in an illegal alien. And, uh, what was the issue again? Flags? Or the national anthem in Spanish or something?

Teenage Detainees at Gitmo

digaman — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 09:55:19 -0800

"One lawyer said that his client... has told him that he was beaten regularly in his early days at Guantánamo, hanged by his wrists for hours at a time and that an interrogator pressed a burning cigarette into his arm." The age of this "client" when he was detained? 14 years old. The reply of the camp's public affairs officer: "They don't come with birth certificates."

Political Terror Scale

Crushinator — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 06:38:49 -0800

The Political Terror Scale (link opens an Excel sheet). There have been several posts about human rights recently and the Political Terror Scale ties them all together. The PTS is an ongoing project which assigns a number from 1-5 (5 is bad) to a country based on its level of political terror (usually human rights abuses committed by the government) based on the yearly Amnesty and U.S. State Department reports according to these criteria (link opens a Word document). Because the PTS was started in 1980, one of its most useful aspects is that it allows changes in political terror to be tracked over time. For example, a nearly worldwide spike in human rights abuses in the years following the 9/11 attacks can be clearly visualized using the information provided by the PTS.

In return for your soul and your first born.

riffola — Thu, 04 Sep 2003 17:32:03 -0800

RIAA to give file swappers amnesty. Provided they delete all unauthorized music files from their computers, destroy all copies (including CD-Rs) and promise not to upload such material in the future. Each infringing household member will have to send a completed, notarized amnesty form to the RIAA, with a copy of a photo ID. Those who renege on their promise will be subject to charges of willful copyright infringement.

About the towels, we forgive you

Mwongozi — Sun, 31 Aug 2003 17:57:40 -0800

Holiday Inn Towel Amnesty Day Ever nicked a towel from a Holiday Inn? Holiday Inn say: "About the towels, we forgive you."

Postroad — Sun, 19 May 2002 15:04:21 -0800

House set to 'cloak' amnesty I have long believed that all bills ought to be limited strictly to the major content of the Bill under discussion and not allow for riders and questionable bills to be tacked on in order to slip them through when there seemingly is going to be stiff opposition. This tacking on seems a favorite gambit in Congress, and it does not matter for me what the bill but (that is, whether I like or oppose it) but the priciple: a bill ought to be about a spcific issue and not contain elements not connected, which mayh slip through or help defeat at otherwise decent bill. Am I wrong in this?

StOne — Fri, 15 Mar 2002 09:16:46 -0800

A Bush amnesty for a Mexican army. Perhaps hell has frozen over, but I find myself in agreement with Pat Buchanan. "With this vote to grant mass amnesty to hundreds of thousands from Mexico, the House and the president abdicated their duty to defend the American Southwest from foreign invasion [...] Congress was inundated with phone calls and faxes pleading, "Don't do this!" But well after dark, Speaker Hastert, under a suspension of rules, did his business and ran it through, by one vote. White House lobbyists had greased the skids." I heard about this on TV last night, but this is the only story I've yet run across which really goes to the meat of the issue, even if I still think Buchanan is a meathead and even if it isn't exactly an unbiased news source. In time of "war," does this really serve the interests of homeland security?.

blackholebrain — Wed, 28 Nov 2001 08:55:49 -0800

Bombing the Taleban prisoners
"There are hundreds of bodies in there - bodies and bits of bodies, all over the place."

The crush of the Taleban prisoner revolt at the Qala-e-Jhangi fort has Amnesty International asking what happened there... I'd like to know, too. (More here and here and here.)

Steven Den Beste — Wed, 20 Dec 2000 22:20:43 -0800

To much acclaim and publicity, a town in Illinois organized a program where people could bring in their violent video games, and trade them for other merchandise at local retailers. The program ran for 6 days.

Not a single person took advantage of it.