Obama orders Stephen Colbert's head to be shaved

Wearing a custom-made Brooks Brothers camouflage suit, Stephen Colbert began his weeklong broadcast from Baghdad yesterday in a show of support for the troops. He is doing these shows to help the U.S.O. in its mission to "provide morale, welfare and recreation-type services to uniformed military personnel." You have to love this guy.

Attending bootcamp wasn't quite enough, however, and President Obama beamed in to order the shaving of his head! Yowza.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama Orders Stephen's Haircut - Ray Odierno
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Keyboard Cat

What about the Geneva Conventions, Mr. President?

"Guantanamo Bay Prisoner" by Banksy

"You asked me once," said O'Brien, "what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world."

"The worst thing in the world," said O'Brien, "varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is some quite trivial thing, not even fatal."
~
George Orwell, 1984

The ACLU got its wish and Obama released the Bush administration's "torture memos" to the public. These detail the sick tactics used at Abu Ghraib, Gulag Guantanamo and elsewhere that had Cheney and Rumsfeld licking their chops with excitement.

Former CIA inspector general Fred Hitz told Voice of America, "I was appalled. When you read through it it's sort of like it's a memo out of some science fiction movie. It's like you're reading a manual that would have been more appropriate during the Nazi era than in the United States of America."

Although I am a big fan of Obama, I am disappointed that he's letting the CIA torture team off the hook. 95 year-old Nazis are still hauled into court. Pol Pot's regime used waterboarding. Yet our President wants to simply "reflect?" on illegal torture? Shiny surfaces reflect. If you want to uphold something, Mr. President, put down the mirror and pick up a copy of the Geneva Conventions. Uphold those.

It states in the third Convention against Torture, and basic precepts of customary international law—each country has the obligation to investigate and prosecute persons alleged to have committed torture and other violations of the laws of war.

Anderson Cooper had a great segment last night on this topic. Very much worth watching.

COOPER: Well, we've seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib, of course, when we've heard the stories of brutality and abuse. And while we can't confirm the numbers, an AP report says at least 108 detainees held by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in American custody; most reportedly died violently.
A quarter of those deaths were investigated as a result of possible abuse by U.S. personnel. That report was from 2005. We don't have numbers after that.

And as we told you before the break, the Justice Department released the memos detailing interrogation techniques endorsed by the Bush administration from the very top. CIA operatives though, who carried out those techniques will not face prosecution.

In a statement released today, President Obama said, quote, "This is a time for reflection, not retribution. Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

Um, yes it would. That something to be gained is justice. As in the Department that authorized the torture to begin with. We need to hold accountable those responsible for the war crimes they committed, starting with that schmucky, torture-loving Alberto Gonzales -- who's now enjoying what looks like a really successful lecture circuit.

Kumar Goes to White House

“…I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House.”

~Actor Kal Penn, a.k.a. Kumar

For real, Kumar, as in Goes to White Castle and Escapes from Guantanamo Bay, is now working for President Obama. I love this country.

Entertainment Weekly got the scoop first.

Variety writes:

Essentially, Penn will be working to forge alliances with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities and the arts community, mirroring some of his efforts as a relentless campaigner for Barack Obama before the election.

You can now major in stem cells at Harvard

"Today, with the executive order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, these past eight years: We will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research."
~ President Obama, March 9

Christopher Reeve would want to jump for joy. Just one day after President Obama lifted Bush's asinine, religious-based ban on the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, Harvard's undergrad college, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced that FAS had late Tuesday voted to approve a new concentration (Harvard-speak for "major"). The new Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology (whose website is so new it's actually still blank) will be available through the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology which was formed in 2007. FAS reports:

One of the first of its kind in the nation, the new program will be available this fall to students starting with current freshman, the Class of 2012. The concentration will focus on human development, disease, and aging, and will provide “hands on” science education from the first semester.

According to the department's website,

The department's subject area is the study of the development, maintenance and repair of vertebrate tissues. How organisms, including humans, develop from a fertilized egg, maintain tissues in the adult body and repair dysfunctional or damaged tissue is a broad subject to be addressed using the approaches of developmental biology, regenerative medicine and aspects of tissue engineering. Emphasis will be placed on using these aspects of biology to inform the understanding of human diseases.

This is pretty exciting news, thanks to Obama! As he said regarding this issue, "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident."

For a more in-depth discussion about stem cell research, CBS has a nice little summary here.

"Bill Maher's Life After W."

Unfortunately, the interview with Bill Maher in the new (March 5) Rolling Stone by Sean Woods isn't online, because it's a good one. Here's an excerpt from page 36.

"The Republicans are geniuses at picking very small issues and making them giant issues. We've already seen it: Obama wants a more informal White House,
which has a lot of the conservatives enraged. In the Bush years, a jacket and a
tie were required to enter the Oval Office -- not to mention a strictly
enforced two-drink minimum. But Obama has said, 'We're gonna keep it a little
more laid-back,' and people are acting like he's going to cover the Oval Office
with black-light posters of Pam Grier, for God's sake. It's not like he's
showing up in cornrows with a neck tattoo. He's just taking his jacket off. And
by the way, you fucking clown posse, you may have forgotten, but when people are
working, that's what they do: They take their jacket off."

The Obama Mashups have landed

He barely finished recording the audio version of his memoir Dreams From My Father, and already the club mixes are spreading throughout YouTube Land. Although he's just quoting his friend Ray, it's pretty funny hearing Obama say
“There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you,” and “You know that guy ain’t shit. Sorry-ass motherfucker ain’t got nothing on me.”

A bittersweet day for Obama

Poor Obama. His grandmother, who raised him from age ten to eighteen, died of cancer on Sunday night. He called her "Toot," short for the Hawaiian name Tutu that island kids call their grandparent. He must be so devastated. He told the crowd at a University of North Carolina rally yesterday, "Some of you heard that my grandmother who helped raise me passed away early this morning. I'm not going to talk about it too long because it's hard for me to talk about." He had tears in his eyes.



Obama requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made for the search for a cancer cure. For a list of the top-rated cancer research non-profits, click here for CharityNavigator.org's four-star recommendations.

KA-POW! BATMOBAMA and ROBIDEN Print

This is a Giclee print by Columbus artist Paul Richmond. There are only 12 left of the limited 200 series. It's so good. Here's the Etsy site to buy it.

Even better than the New Yorker cover

Barack Obama Tiger Beat Cover Clinches Slumber Party Vote

"Barack is sooooo hot!" said 12-year-old Tiger Beat subscriber Beth Majors upon reading the issue, which included a "supercute" poster of Obama leaning against the Lincoln Memorial and an interview in which he revealed that his most inspirational hero is "you." "He so totally has my support. Obama in '08!"

Obama is expected to remain a solid favorite with the giggling-and-talking-until-4 a.m. voting bloc, as hunky war hero John McCain, his closest contender, is widely considered by the slumber party demographic to be a gross dork.

Courtesy of The Onion, of course.

JibJab: "Time for Some Campaignin' " video

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Oh heck, while we're on the topic of Barry riding unicorns, check out this beauty by Lukas Ketner.