Our linkfest offering readers links to blogposts from websites of many different viewpoints. Linked posts do NOT necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers.
Security Guards Gone Wild Department The Sequel: No, they didn’t taser the student this time, they just broke the 16-year-old girl’s arm. Pandagon:
In short, this teenage girl spilled some cake, was told to clean it up by security guards, and when she didn’t do it to their satisfaction, they assaulted her, called her names, and broke her wrist. Another kid taped the assault on his cell phone, and he was also pinned and arrested. The video above has videos and pictures of the whole thing.
Watch the video at Pandagon at the link above.
Don’t these guards get it? Let’s say it loudly: YOU ARE IN THE YOUTUBE AGE AND THE AGE OF CELL PHONE CAMERAS. We keep seeing mounting evidence of older people inclined to use excessive force rather quickly and seemingly eagerly against younger people. Shouldn’t she have said: “Don’t break my arm, ‘bro…”?
A Former Bush Administration Official Admits Parts Of The Surveillance Program Were Illegal: Law professor Jonathan Turley has the details on his blog and he writes:
For years, some of us have been pointing out repeatedly the fact that the Domestic Surveillance Program implemented by President Bush constituted a federal crime. Indeed, many were horrified when the Democrats decided to extend the program, codifying if only temporarily an unlawful program. Now a former top Bush attorney has admitted that he and others knew it was illegal.
Turley points some fingers at key players asleep at the switch…so read it all.
Fox News Invites Stephanie Miller On and she is one of yours truly’s favorite broadcasters. Her show, progressive talk, is a barrage of one-liners, comedy shtick and sound effects — not your usual left/right anger fest. But as you can see in THIS VIDEO host Sean Hannity cut her off. (Who did she think she was? Alan Colmes?)
Are We In For Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton? Some thoughts on that and more HERE.
Is Rudy Giuliani Stumbling? Balloon Juice’s Tim thinks so.
Iran’s President Got His Just Desserts At Columbia — or did he actually come off like a gentleman who was treated rudely? Read the post but remember: there are ALWAYS two perspectives and each side thinks they’re correct. I’ve lived in places where shaking a head “no” means “yes” (which probably increases the birth rate quite a bit..).
The Jury Ruled Against Isiah Thomas in the high-profile sexual harassment case. Booker Rising’s Shay has gives her own reaction to the verdict.
You Have To REALLY Wonder: Do they know how to shoot in New Zealand? (They should hire Dick Cheney as a consultant.)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ Book is already controversial. Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey gives it a thumbs up.
The Democrats Have Been Proposing A “War Tax” and some have dismissed the idea. But Steve Shrum writes:
While I don’t like the idea of my taxes going up, especially to pay for a war that I don’t support, I can wholeheartedly buy into the concept. Part of the reason that government spending is out of control is that there isn’t any direct connection between spending and the taxes that are assessed in order to pay for that spending. I think government spending (and all of the ills that accompany having Washington be such a large part of the economy) would be greatly reduced if the voters/taxpayers had ala carte approval of the federal budget. If we’re not willing to have our taxes raised in order to pay for a particular program, such as Hillary’s proposal to spend $20 billion a year giving $5,000 to every new baby, then we don’t enact that particular program.
Read it in its entirety.
A Big Debate Is Raging In Oak Lawn, Illinois over holidays and practices that could be offensive to Muslims.
See you next time in “Blogtopia” (this guy invented that word…)!
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.