Galileo's Feast -- A Critical Thinking Symposium

Welcome! This purpose of this blog is to discuss a wide range of topics and to consider the merits of different points of view expressed about each topic. Suggest a topic that you'd like to think about and I'll be happy to include it in this blog. Bring your brain and enjoy~
Showing posts with label Democracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democracy. Show all posts

Friday, 14 March 2008

Taxi to the Dark Side -- Full Documentary

Watch the full length of this year's oscar winning documentary.


Sunday, 9 March 2008

AL Qaeda, a Myth? BBC Documentary




From the BBC documentary, "The Power of Nightmares" which describes how leaders can use fear and terror as a way of increasing their power.

Today Mr. Bush vetoed a law that would make waterboarding and other "harsh" interrogation methods illegal.

From the New York times:

Mr. Bush announced the veto in the usual format of his weekly radio address, which is distributed to stations across the country each Saturday. He unflinchingly defended an interrogation program that has prompted critics to accuse him not only of authorizing torture previously but also of refusing to ban it in the future. “Because the danger remains, we need to ensure our intelligence officials have all the tools they need to stop the terrorists,” he said.

Mr. Bush’s veto — the ninth of his presidency, but the eighth in the past 10 months with Democrats in control of Congress — underscored his determination to preserve many of the executive prerogatives his administration has claimed in the name of fighting terrorism, and to enshrine them into law.

Mr. Bush is fighting with Congress over the expansion of powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and over the depth of the American security commitments to Iraq once the United Nations mandate for international forces there expires at the end of the year.

The administration has also moved ahead with the first military tribunals of those detained at Guantánamo Bay, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite calls to try them in civilian courts.

All are issues that turn on presidential powers. And as he has through most of his presidency, he built his case on the threat of terrorism.

Words in bold are my emphasis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/washington/09policy.html?hp

Warning: there are some graphic images is this documentary.


Saturday, 1 March 2008

Oscars 2008: Taxi to the Dark Side wins best documentary




The film focuses around the controversial death in custody of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base.
Taxi to the Dark Side also goes on to examine America's policy on torture and interrogation in general, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. There is description of the opposition to the use of torture from its political and military opponents, as well as the defence of such methods; the attempts by Congress to uphold the standards of the Geneva Convention forbidding torture; and the popularisation of the use of torture techniques in shows such as 24.