Saturday, June 6, 2009

Vagabond Scholar: The Torture Apologia Chart

Vagabond Scholar: The Torture Apologia Chart

NY Times mea culpa....sorta

After a sensational (and false) story on May 21st that claimed one in seven gitmo prisoners who were released "returned" to the battlefield the NY Times is now admitting its error... although they still will not admit that they were spun.
The false story about the recidivism rate was "leaked" by the pentagon during the middle of a congressional debate about closing Guantanamo.... as a result of this and other scare tactics our wimpy senate voted to withhold money for closing Guantanamo. Shame on the NY Times.... and of course shame on those 93 wimpy senators.
Click on the title for the NY Times "correction."

POETIC INTERLUDE

STALK- LAURA ELRICK

Part dystopian urban cartography, part spatial-poetic intervention, this video/poem tracks a solitary figure (dressed iconically in the manner of a Guantanamo detainee) as it shuffles through work-a-day Manhattan at lunchtime. Appropriated text is from the Secret Orcon Interrogation Log, US Department of Defense. FYI: the first minute or so contains no images, only a black screen w/audio voiceover.

CLICK ON THE TITLE- 22 MINUTES