C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported.
Yesterday a friend sent me a link to the video below. It’s kind of disturbing–both the content itself, and the notion of making a song about it. But you know how when you read stuff in the paper or hear it on the news, it can be awful and painful but you’ve kind of built up a resistance to hearing awful stuff on the news, so you remain somewhat detached? Because this is such a different mode of delivering the information, I think it’s harder to do that.
I’m visiting my mom in PA, and this afternoon after going to the post office, getting groceries, and procuring a patio set at Target, we swung by a heavy metal concert. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday I had to drive 10 hours from Vermont to Western PA, where I’m doing a school visit at Clarion University. It’s always miraculous traveling south at this time of year because you can watch the grass getting greener and the trees unfurling as you go. Here’s my trip, from the Green Mountains, to the Adirondacks, to the Catskills, then at dusk I plunge off the edge of New York down into the Delaware River Valley, Pennsylvania and the Poconos. Around Scranton the sun set and I had to stop taking pictures.
When I tuned into the live streaming of the legislature on VT public radio Tuesday to follow the same sex marriage proceedings, I was surprised to find the Senate discussing Read the rest of this entry »
Governor Stoat vetoed the same sex marriage bill yesterday, as he promised to. This morning it gets sent back to the Senate for an override vote, which is expected to pass. Then it goes to the House, where NOBODY KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN! The House voted last week 94-52 in favor of the bill, but pro-same-sex marriage Republicans could vote NOT to override the veto. 100 votes are needed for an override.
I would just as soon be tied in a burlap sack and tossed off a bridge as married, but I’m gonna be pissed off if this all comes to naught. And ecstatic if it doesn’t.
My pal Cathy Resmer who works for our local alt weekly Seven Days took some great videos yesterday morning at the Statehouse. 300 people descended on the Governor’s office to tell him how peeved they were with his announcement that he’s going to veto the same sex marriage bill pending in the legislature. Things are getting pretty exciting up here in the north woods.
This is me up in the middle of the night all haunted by Sarah Waters’ new book, The Little Stranger. I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy, and just finished. I can’t tell you ANYTHING about it or I’ll ruin it. But I will say this: READ IT. Then we can talk! It’s coming out at the end of April or early May.
