Adm. Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence

On the CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques" scandal:
"The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

(via First Read)

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Somebody needs to tell McCain this is getting out of hand

This just popped up on my Reader, a report about a confrontation after a McCain/Palin rally in Miami today:

After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed.

"People were screaming 'Terrorist!' 'Communist!' 'Socialist!'" Sorando said when we caught up with him. "I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me."

I don't even know what to say.

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Albert Einstein

"I don't know what the third World War will be fought with, but the fourth World War will be fought with sticks and stones."

Metalocalypse in Florida

"I swear to govern the f#ck out of this piece of sh*t state!" This week's Metalocalypse has Nathan Explosion and Dethklok elected to run Florida after their rabid fans kill the governor. The state proceeds to go to hell.

Watch it here, or get it another way. Be warned, graphic violence.

Care for some... meat?

This is "Salami Fever" by Pepe Deluxé from their album BEATitude.

WE'RE NUMBER 1!

This month is the anniversary of the Columbine massacre and the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, so the Violence Policy Center felt like bringing us down just a little bit more. They just put out an update of their study American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States (PDF warning). In it you can can read up on such lovely statistics as the 80% of the 1,000 to 1,500 murder-suicides caused by firearms, that nine occur every week, and 95% of the murderers are male. Most significantly you learn that Florida, alongside Texas, leads the nation in both numbers of murder-suicides and deaths related to murder-suicides.

A quote from a sample news report from Florida: "In January, relatives entered a home 'festooned with holiday decorations' to find David Bryant, 58, and his wife Cathy, 53, shot to death. Sheriff’s officials determined David shot his wife and..." blah blah sadness. Also of interest are 11% or so "other" weapons used:

"...seven knife, five hanging, four arson, four strangulation, two zip tie, one carbon monoxide poisoning, one antifreeze poisoning, one car, one aircraft, one power saw, one bodily force, one hammer, one iron pipe, one blunt object, and one suffocation."

Reminds me of the first couple of scenes of the Metalocalypse episode Deth Wedding.

(via Josh Sugarmann)