PittsburghThoughts

 

 Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary about an innocent Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by U.S. officials at Bagram Air Base, has received wide critical acclaim since its debut in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. The New York Times’s A.O. Scott said, “If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.”

Earlier this month, ThinkProgress reported that the Discovery Channel broke its contract to broadcast Taxi prior to the 2008 elections. With plans to take the company public, executives were afraid the “film’s controversial content might damage Discovery’s public offering.”

In response to the Discovery Channel's cowardly business decision:  

In a press release on Thursday, HBO announced that it has bought the rights to Taxi and will show the film in September 2008.

Giving the Discovery Channel the cover it needs for a thin, face saving maneuver and announce that they: 

 ...may also show the film on cable in 2009. [After President Bush is out of office.]

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Somewhere along the line I wrote:

According to Carl Berstein, in his 628-page book on Hillary, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton:

"She argued with Bill Clinton when she was First Lady, her husband,(sic) she said ‘Bill, you are doing Republican economics when you are doing NAFTA.’ She was against NAFTA. And if she would somehow come out and tell the real story of what she fought for in the White House and failed in a big argument with her husband she would end up moving much closer to those Edwards followers."

I commented, if true, it was reassuring. It may be true, however, her voting record on the subject isn't. According to Hillary Clinton on the Issues she:

• Voted against CAFTA despite Bill Clinton's pushing NAFTA. (Oct 2005)
• Voted YES on free trade agreement with Oman. (Jun 2006)
• Voted NO on implementing CAFTA for Central America free-trade. (Jul 2005)
• Voted YES on establishing free trade between US & Singapore. (Jul 2003)
• Voted YES on establishing free trade between the US and Chile. (Jul 2003)
• Voted NO on extending free trade to Andean nations. (May 2002)
• Voted YES on granting normal trade relations status to Vietnam. (Oct 2001)
• Voted YES on removing common goods from national security export rules. (Sep 2001)

Giving her a mixed record on free trade.

Disclaimer: the nuances and justifications for her votes are beyond my scope and I'm taking a purely protectionist stance.

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Tonight, 60 Minutes will finally air an expose' on Don Seigleman's plight. On the surface it appears to have vast implications for the Bush Presidency, the Attorney General appointment fiasco and it exposes the sheer disregard that a select group of conspiring Republicans, including Karl Rove, have for a man, his career and his family.

Here's a short synopsis, I'm not sure when this was aired:

P.S. In the Alabama 2002 general election, machines made by Election Systems and Software (ES&S) flipped the governor's race. Some 6,300 Baldwin County electronic votes mysteriously disappeared after polls had closed and everyone had gone home. Democrat Don Siegelman's victory was handed to Republican Bob Riley, and the recount Siegelman requested, was denied.