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Previously secret torture memo released

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions against torture unless they have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering, according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released Thursday.

The interrogator’s good faith and honest belief that the interrogation will not cause such suffering protects the interrogator, the memo adds.

Because specific intent is an element of the offense, the absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture, Jay Bybee, then the assistant attorney general, wrote in the memo.

The 18-page memo is heavily redacted, with 10 of its 18 pages completely blacked out and only a few paragraphs legible on the others.

Another memo released Thursday advises that the waterboard, or simulated drowning, does not violate the Torture Statute.

It also cites a number of warnings against torture, including statements by President Bush and a then-new Supreme Court ruling which raises possible concerns about future U.S. judicial review of the [interrogation] Program.

A third memo instructs interrogators to keep records of sessions in which enhanced interrogation techniques are used. The memo is signed by then-CIA director George Tenet and dated January 28, 2003.

The memos were made public by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the three CIA-related documents under Freedom of Information Act requests.

These documents supply further evidence, if any were needed, that the Justice Department authorized the CIA to torture prisoners in its custody, said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.

found here.

Spoken word poet Jon Goode: A man of his word

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — In a small independently-owned coffee shop on the corner of one of Atlanta’s urban pockets, a group of would-be poets come together at open mic night for an evening of poetry and rhymes.

It’s one of the monthly gatherings at Urban Grind coffee house that has lured talent as spoken word emerges from the underground.

Artists such as Tommy Bottoms, Goldie, Chas, Nukola, and TheresaThaSongbird take turns at the microphone testing their poetic skills. These new bohemians of varying talent coin rhymes about subjects ranging from AIDS and prostitution, to high gas prices and the pangs of unrequited love.

But it was the MC who got the most props that night.

Jon Goode rounded out the evening to much laughter and applause with a lyrical diatribe about his mom and the nostalgia of his youth:

Kids will be kids but moms will be moms, you can did what you did and mom’s gonna show you right from wrong.

‘But Billy mom let him stay out for an extra few.’

‘I don’t give a damn what Billy momma do, I will beat you, I will beat Billy, I will beat Billy momma too!’

That’s how my mom used to do.

Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Goode studied economics and finance at James Madison University in Virginia. His Southern-laced vernacular alludes to a rural upbringing. His bookish style — starched short-sleeve button up with tie, wire-rimmed glasses and a straw boater hat — is straight out of a Harper Lee novel. Watch Jon Goode perform live

Friends liken him to a civil rights leader that listens to rap music. Goode’s spoken word performances are drawn from a collection of personal stories, most of which are true, he says.

The seasoned wordsmith rose through the ranks to deliver his rhymes to the spoken word mainstream. He’s done writing stints and made appearances for Nike, Nickelodeon and CNN’s Black in America.

But it was after an appearance on HBO’s Def Jam Poetry that Goode really started to get noticed.

Goode says the trek to renown was not easy. For several years, he sent the same demo tape to HBO, hoping to get picked up on Def Poetry Jam. They told him he needed to be more animated, theatrical.

It was not until he filled in on a radio show that he was noticed by an HBO executive, who asked Goode for another tape. Goode passed along the same one he had been sending them for the past four years.

He [the HBO executive] took it home and said, ‘that was dope,’ recalls Goode.

One writing gig led to another, and eventually Goode was able to quit his corporate job and make a living from poetry. In 2006 he received an Emmy nomination for a skit written for the Nick@Nite Black History month campaign.

Borne of the smoke-infused speakeasies of 1950s and 60s underground San Francisco, California, the art of spoken word was popularized by beatnik novelists such as Jack Kerouac.

In recent years, spoken word has evolved into a by-product of rap music adopted by the urban community. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons popularized spoken word with his Def Poetry Jam series on HBO, drawing special performances from big-name celebrities such as Dave Chappelle, Alicia Keyes and Kanye West.

Educator and hip-hop linguist Michael Eric Dyson, who also performed on Def Poetry Jam, says spoken word has given an intellectual voice to urban culture and poetry a new accessibility to an American audience.

The revival of oral magic in black culture over the 25 years with the popularity of hip-hop has sparked the renaissance of spoken word and given it a new platform in black America, says Dyson.

Usually it’s more political and culturally conscientious than the hip-hop that is currently invoked, says Dyson.

Goode agrees that spoken word is hip-hop in its most stripped-down form and a pill that’s easier to swallow when it comes to appreciating poetry.

I like spoken word because it only requires you and your voice.

Hip-hop artists need all these beats and all this production, says Goode.

But Goode is quick to remind aspiring poets that success does not happen overnight. He encourages writers to have a plan before they quit their day job.

It’s a message he passes along to the young people he meets when he’s on tour performing at black colleges or mentoring elementary school children.

I try to speak to young people … and try to get them to move forward, says Goode.

found here.

Solr ipo

No Worries For First Solar (FSLR), et al: MEMC (WFR) Blow-Up Just A MEMC Problem

solar silicon wafer producer memc electronic materials’ (wfr) horrible q2 earnings report should not sink the forty winks of the solar industry. as amtech’s john hardy explains, wfr failures were mostly company-specific and dealt with manufacturing failures, not solar demand problems:

WFR attributed the miss to the premature failure of a heat exchanger in Merano, Italy and a loose pipe fitting caused by a fire in Pasadena , TX….

Given our belief that solar end market demand remained extremely strong during the quarter and will throughout 2009-2010…

The company is expecting a somewhat weaker semi environment than is seasonally typical in 2H08, though this is being offset by strength in solar demand. Solar demand remains robust with no change in spot dynamics, signaling the WFR miss is company specific.

See Also:MEMC Electronic Materials Blows Up (WFR), Wall Street Falls In Love (WFR)MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR): Target Slashed, Long Into Earnings (WFR)MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR): Production Problems Minimal (WFR)

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Yemeni

AFP: Six Yemeni soldiers killed as volcano erupts

Survivors evacuated to the Yemeni port city of Hodeida said four of the soldiers … Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh flew over the zone in a helicopter on Monday …

Portal:Yemen - Wikinews, the free news source
Yemeni man creates world’s largest crossword puzzle … One of the “Lackawanna Six” may have been among Yemeni prison escapees …

La stampa

Yemeni Arabic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yemeni Arabic can be divided roughly into several main dialect groups, each with … Judeo-Moroccan Arabic � Judeo-Yemeni Arabic � Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (Baghdad Arabic …

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F1 chief wins record sum from orgy case

LONDON, England — Formula One chief Max Mosley has been awarded a record $120,000 after winning his privacy case against a tabloid newspaper over a story alleging he attended a five-hour sex session involving Nazi role play.

The 68-year-old, was awarded 60,000 ($120,000) against the News of the World, which printed photographs of the session and posted video on its Web site.

The court also ordered the newspaper to pay Mosley’s legal costs, which were estimated at 450,000, ($900,000) in addition to its own costs, estimated at 400,000 ($800,000).

Niri Shan, head of media at law firm Taylor Wessing, said the award was substantially higher than in past cases and it was a blow for media freedom.

Mosley, who is president of Formula One’s governing body — the FIA — and the son of the late British fascist politician Oswald Mosley, had admitted taking part in a sado-masochistic orgy but said he abhorred the idea of Nazi sex fantasies.

He told the court his life had been devastated by the claims published in March and the secretly-filmed footage, labeled truly grotesque and depraved by the newspaper, which attracted at least 3.5 million hits.

(The ruling exposed) the Nazi lie upon which the News of the World sought to justify their disgraceful intrusion into my private life, Mosley said in a statement after the decision.

found here.