Author Archive for heidi-kitrosser
Sacha Baron Cohen & Mark Twain
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
I knew very little about Sacha Baron Cohen before going to see “Borat” on Friday. (The full movie title being, of course, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”).
I came out raving about the movie, essentially echoing the chorus of critics who call Cohen a brilliant social satirist. I think that New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis puts it very well when she says that Cohen, in giving racists, homophobes and misogynists just enough media rope to hang themselves unwittingly, more than realizes the goal that Jerry Lewis identified for comedians: “if the comic can berate and finally blow the bully out of the water, he has hitched himself to an identifiable human purpose.”
The scene that most stood out for me was a scene at a very large rodeo, in which Cohen, as Borat, gets the crowd to applaud wildly as he expresses violent, bloody sentiments toward Iraqis. It made me think back to a wonderful short story by Mark Twain that I’d read years ago called The War Prayer. I highly recommend reading the Twain story, and, of course, going to see Borat … (As for the parallel between the Twain story and the Iraq invasion itself – the parallel is less to that which we purport to be doing in Iraq, since we purport (sort of, when we’re not reciting other justifications) to be “liberating” Iraqis, and more to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths deemed to have occurred as a result of the invasion, and the relative media and public indifference to those deaths).
November 7, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Posted in: Culture
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Torture and Secrecy discussed at Balkinization
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
See here:
You Call It “Torture”; We Call It “Coming Into Possession of Classified Information”
Marty Lederman
and here:
We could tell you how we torture people, but then we’d have to kill you
Jack Balkin
November 4, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Posted in: Politics
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Wash. Post: “U.S. Seeks Silence on CIA Prisons”
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
U.S. Seeks Silence on CIA Prisons
Court Is Asked to Bar Detainees From Talking About Interrogations
By Carol D. Leonnig and Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 4, 2006; A01
The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the “alternative interrogation methods” that their captors used to get them to talk.
The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets and that their release — even to the detainees’ own attorneys — “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage.” Terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques and foil government efforts to elicit information about their methods and plots, according to government documents submitted to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Oct. 26.
November 4, 2006 at 9:17 am
Posted in: Uncategorized
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one more from the Onion
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
As long as I’m thinking about the Onion _and_ about government secrecy, here’s an all-time favorite:
CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years
November 30, 2005 | Issue 41•48
November 3, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Posted in: Humor
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Onion headline of the week …
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
I love this one:
Bush: Thousands Of Registered Democrats Needed For ‘Extremely Important’ Mission
Dems ‘Only Ones’ Who Can Make Nov. Operation A Success
November 1, 2006 | Issue 42•44
November 3, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Posted in: Uncategorized
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So THAT’S why Secrets Were Kept from Congress, Statutory Law Was Circumvented, and Journalists May Be Prosecuted …
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
I recently wrote an article about the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy and its connection to government secrecy and the separation of powers for a Minnesota Law Review symposium. In the course of my research and writing, it struck me how very much the controversy exemplifies: (1) the propensity of executive branch officials to invoke “national security” and information classification as talismans to shut down all further argument and inquiry, and (2) the effectiveness of such invocations.
As I explain in the article, the administration’s defenses against the argument that its warrantless surveillance program violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [“FISA”] can be stripped down to one essential assertion: It would have been too dangerous to let “the enemy” know that they could secretly be spied on through a warrantless surveillance program. **(At the very end of the post, I summarize why I deem that assertion crucial to the administration’s argument)**
MORE AFTER THE JUMP (including some unintentional humor by A.G. Gonzales) …
November 2, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Posted in: Constitutional Law
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A Wonderful Resource for Info. on Gov’t. Secrecy
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
Government secrecy in its myriad forms — information classification, punishment of information leaks, executive privilege, etc. — is an intrinsically important topic in any society based on the concept of self-government. Such societies, including ours, must reconcile secrecy’s anti-democratic nature with the practical impossibility of complete transparency. And the topic of government secrecy may well be as important, if not more important, now than at any time in our nation’s history. Indeed, it has been said by many across the political spectrum that the current presidential administration is among the most secretive in American history. Among other things, intensive secrecy has been blamed for helping to create an insular group-think culture that bred so many intelligence, strategic and policy mistakes before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
That said, I wanted to share what I have found to be an absolutely invaluable resource for educating one’s self about the ins and outs of government secrecy, from classification policy to more general intelligence community information to current events relating to secrecy and intelligence policy. I speak of the wonderful Project on Government Secrecy of the Federation for American Scientists. I highly recommend exploring the very informative website of the Project on Government Secrecy. I also recommend visiting the project’s secrecy news blog.
November 2, 2006 at 12:40 am
Posted in: Current Events
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Racism in Sports discussed at blackprof
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
I just noticed an interesting post by Chris Bracey over at blackprof: “(More) Racism in Sports.”
Here’s the beginning: “What has gotten into people these days? A number of folks here and elsewhere have commented upon what appears to be an uptick in racial callousness among Republican candidates for public office. But it’s also worth noting that, within the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed a similar uptick in racially insensitive conduct in the realm of athletics. Is racial callousness back en vogue or what?”
You can link to the whole piece here.
November 1, 2006 at 8:23 am
Posted in: Race
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hello and thanks
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
Thanks to Dan and to everyone else here at Concurring Opinions for inviting me to hang out for the month. I suspect that I will blog mainly about two topics: (1) the intersection of national security and free speech and (2) current debates about presidential power. Unfortunately, there’s all too much to say about both issues these days … I also may make the occasional lame pop culture observation (I confess to a bit of an agenda on that score: there’s a bone I’ve been meaning to pick with the Smurfs® since roughly 1982).
I’m glad to be here!
November 1, 2006 at 7:03 am
Posted in: Administrative Announcements
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