Greg's View of Todays News - 02/07/2009

• Think Progress » When asked whether extraordinary renditions will continue, Panetta answers without hestitation: ‘No.’

  Last week, the LA Times published a story asserting that President Obama “left intact” the CIA’s authority to carry out extraordinary renditions. (The unfounded claim was thoroughly debunked.) At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, Leon Panetta, Obama’s pick to head the CIA, declared decisively that the CIA would not carry out extraordinary renditions: PANETTA: No we will not.
  

  tags: press

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    • It is reassuring to hear that the concept of "Extraordinary Rendition" has been scrapped. Can we return to pre-Bush human rights and humane treatment for prisoners of war? YES, WE CAN - post by gnaylor

• Think Progress » ThinkFast: February 5, 2009

  Yesterday, the Obama administration “canceled 77 leases its predecessor sold to oil and gas companies that wanted to explore beneath the red rock country of Utah, the first of several expected steps to reverse the Bush administration’s Western legacy.”

  tags: press

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    • This just may be a move towards saving the environet. Then again, it may well be a case of keeping the oil locked upso that, in an emergency, there are some known reserves. - post by gnaylor

• Muslim cleric: Here's how to beat wives

  An Egyptian Muslim cleric has instructed that husbands should not beat their wives to the point that their beauty is scarred or bones are broken, but that it should be clear that: "A word would be enough for any wife with lofty morals, but with you, words do not help."

  tags: press

  • He explains there are three stages of discipline for wives under Islam: Admonishment, banishment and beating.
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    • Well, of course, if you beat her til her beauty is scarred, she might very well go to the police and cause you some trouble. Then, of course, ther is the media ... - post by gnaylor
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