MetaFilter posts by fold_and_mutilate.
Displaying 51 through 62. Subscribe: http://www.metafilter.com/user/10248/postsrss RSS feed for this tag

Among the 'American Taliban' in Smalltown, USA. "I discovered that Taliban-style attitudes are not restricted to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They exist tenaciously in American towns like this one. Sometimes tolerance prevails in small towns; other times the dark fears and hatreds of the "American Taliban" -- vicious fundamentalists -- are resurgent."
posted on Mar-29-02 at 12:44 AM

America, Heal Thyself. "Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality health care than whites do, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable, says a new report from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine. 'Disparities in the health care delivered to racial and ethnic minorities are real and are associated with worse outcomes in many cases, which is unacceptable. The real challenge lies not in debating whether disparities exist, because the evidence is overwhelming, but in developing and implementing strategies to reduce and eliminate them.'"
posted on Mar-20-02 at 11:45 AM

"They were weakening our morale, it was better for them to go." Thus spake one of our new allies, Afghan Commander Allah Mohammed, about U.S. soldiers in yesterday's Times article entitled "'Inadequate' U.S. troops pulled out of battleground". No doubt many will just call Commander Allah a low-down fluoridator and leave it at that. Sheesh, I mean, it's U.S. troops doing the fierce ground infighting over there, right? Er...well...but anyway...strangely, at least some U.S. troops "tactically reappraised" out the battle (as the U.S. military so aptly phrase-coined it) echo his judgment: "It was nothing like training at all," said Sgt. Michael Dickson, 21. "They were real bullets, and they were intended to hit you. It was scary at all times."

Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? Our young...Afghan young...always the young, learning about the reality of bullets, in our name.
posted on Mar-14-02 at 2:03 AM

"Let us pray that our country will stop this war." From a recent speech by U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: "We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases. We did not authorize war without end. We did not authorize a permanent war economy. We did not authorize an eye for an eye. Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on Sept. 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan." Amen.
posted on Mar-5-02 at 12:05 PM

What can The White Rose teach us today? 59 years ago..."February 22, 1943, 9am... three students from the University of Munich are brought to trial for treason. The trial lasts until 1 pm and by 5 o’clock all are dead...Why are their voices silenced? And how many more innocent people will have to die before they are heard?" Their executioners maintained "It was not a time for tackling theoretical problems, but rather for grasping the sword , yet [they] sowed doubt among our youth. [They] nourished doubt instead of dispelling it..."

In memory of Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willie Graf, Kurt Huber, and untold others whose terrible crime has been to speak truth to power.
posted on Feb-22-02 at 11:11 AM

The Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations. Ah, what would the silent animals do without we oxy-moronic humans looking after their welfare. Pity they taste so good.

Some giblets to chew on: "No person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, any mechanical apparatus to kill any surplus chick unless the apparatus contains rapidly rotating mechanically operated killing blades or projection...any person who slaughters by a religious method any animal which has not been stunned before bleeding shall ensure that each animal is slaughtered by the severance by rapid, uninterrupted movements of a knife, of both its carotid arteries and both its jugular veins...no person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, a water bath stunner to stun any bird unless appropriate measures are taken to ensure that the current passes efficiently, in particular that there are good electrical contacts and the shackle-to-leg contact is kept wet...no person shall bleed any bull, cow, heifer, steer, calf, sheep, goat or pig in a slaughterhouse, knacker's yard or lairage within sight of any other such animal."
posted on Feb-5-02 at 3:06 PM

Pollution Linked to Birth Defects in Recent Study. There is no better example of "terrorism" than maiming children simply to further bloat the wallets of the rich. Of course, our fearless right-wing leaders are right on top of the problem.
posted on Dec-29-01 at 1:30 PM

It's That Pesky Skin Color Thing Again. An Arab-American member of President Bush's security detail was denied passage on an American Airlines flight from Baltimore to Dallas Tuesday evening... "They didn't see an American, they didn't see a law enforcement professional. All they saw was a racial and ethnic profile that they didn't want on their flight." -- NY Times site.
posted on Dec-27-01 at 10:47 AM

Cool. I had no idea Condoleezza Rice got an oil tanker named after her!
Any bets on names for the upcoming trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline?
posted on Oct-23-01 at 11:40 AM

How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic Terrorists, and Common Criminals with 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles. "Therein lies an object lesson in the danger of unrestrained civilian sales of weapons of war like 50 caliber rifles. Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda has acquired at least 25 Barrett 50 caliber sniper rifles. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing how many more 50 caliber rifles Al Qaeda has obtained from Barrett or from its many competitors. No one keeps track of them." At the risk of chilling the patriotic rush to buy firearms, SUVs, gas masks, flags and Cipro (got to keep American rolling!), ya really gotta read this study of America's moral superiority in controlling "terrorism" around the world.
posted on Oct-16-01 at 12:46 AM

The Limits Of Soviet Airpower: The Bear Versus The Mujahideen In Afghanistan, 1979-1989 "This manuscript [from the United States military's Air University] analyzes the failure of Soviet air and ground forces to defeat the Afghan mujahideen during the nine-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In pursuit of this objective, Soviet military strategy underwent a process of increasing radicalization that eventually resulted in a sanctioned policy of terror by Soviet air and land forces. During this period, airpower played a critical role in this campaign of terror by providing the platforms for punitive bombardment, chemical attack, aerial mining, troop insertion, and fire support." Oh. Soviet air attacks were "terror". Ours are different. Somehow. After all, we're fighting terrorists, so how can we be terrorists ourselves, eh?
posted on Oct-11-01 at 5:13 PM

Cancer, and Carcinogens "This event is not an isolated instance of violence. This is not an 'act of war.' It is one symptom of a cancer that threatens to metastasize."
posted on Sep-13-01 at 12:22 PM

« previous page |