POLITICAL VIDEO TWOFER

Uplifting first:

Jimmy Carter on the Tonight Show

My young sidekick Miles posted last week about former President Jimmy Carter's appearance on the Tonight Show. I missed the interview myself, being in hardcore rehearsals for my upcoming show, but I finally got around to seeing it: it is, indeed, a pretty great statement from the best ex-President this country's ever had. Hearing him speak makes me realize that, even though America was far from being a just society back in the late 70s, it was waaaay more sane than what we've got now. Carter notes that during his administration the US never shot a bullet at another nation, or fired a missle, or tortured anybody, and we enjoyed very good diplomatic relations in general with most of the world. Like I said, the 70s weren't perfect, but rationality prevailed to some extent.

Lord, we've come a long way since then.

Anyway, I've got a link to a video download of the interview here, thanks to Crooks and Liars. Check it out; it's good stuff.

Depressing second:

'Trophy' video exposes private security
contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers

From the London Telegraph, courtesy of Barenucklepolitics, courtesy of Eschaton:

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

Click here for more.

So, my guess is that these "security contractors" (which really means "mercenaries") have been doing this the whole time they've been there: I think it was the Daily Kos that recently observed that the four mercenary deaths in Fallujah last year, which resulted in the US firebombing of the entire city, may very well have been the result of this kind of predatory behavior. That is, those particular mercenaries probably had it coming.

At any rate, seeing is believing. The music playing in the video's background, by the way, is by Elvis Presley, and was apparently added by whatever mercenary scumbag cut the video together. Check it out, again courtesy of Barenucklepolitics, here. It's disturbing, to say the least.

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