Subject: Guantanamo Bay

• My Music at Work

  October 19, 2006

• Daily Briefs: KC Altruists. PLUS: Don't worry your pretty head about the food supply.

  April 14, 2008

• All-Star Apathy

  July 16, 2008

• Jimmy Gobble Injured by Ineffectiveness

  July 24, 2008

• Daily Briefs: The heart, brains and sexy bare midriff of Kansas City media

  August 20, 2008

• Daily Briefs: John McCain is very reluctant to talk about that thing he constantly talks about.

  September 5, 2008

• Culture warrior Bill O'Reilly takes on 'pro-abortion zealots' and 'Fox News haters'

  Bill O'Reilly took to his Fox News bully pulpit last night to defend his good name in the wake of George Tiller's murder. There's been a whole lot of finger pointing after Tiller's killing, and some of it's in O'Reilly's direction.O'Reilly was playing victim, saying he knew as soon as he heard about Tiller's murder that the "pro-abortion zealots" and "Fox News haters" would tar him with his own words. Those words -- repeatedly referring to Tiller as "Tiller the killer" or "Tiller the baby killer

  June 2, 2009

• Daily Briefs: Funkhouser; Econocalypse; Brownback

  Dumb-bunny civic embarrassment Mayor Mark Funkhouser's proposal to settle Ruth Bates' lawsuit against him was rejected by the City Council, 2-10. Funkhouser wants to settle because he can TOTALLY WIN THIS THING in court. He was asking for $135,000 to pay off the legal tab incurred by wife Gloria Squitiro's fat, stupid mouth, plus another $40,000 for his attorney. BUT! Councilman Ed Ford said that the council wouldn't approve a settlement unless Funkhouser dropped his crybaby lawsuit against the

  December 5, 2008

• Why can't we have Guantanamo's prisoners?

  The closer it gets to Barack Obama's inauguration, the more talk we're hearing about closing Guantanamo Bay -- and what to do with the 250 supposed Islamic radicals who are still there. Last week, Kansas Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts said no way do they want the suspected terrorists shipped to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. On Monday, Brownback issued a press release inviting Obama to tour the USDB."I would be honored to show him first hand why Fort Leavenw

  January 16, 2009

• Sen. Kit Bond on Gitmo, "Bush derangement syndrome"

  So glad this dodderer's retiring.Watch him talk in circles about how there shouldn't be hardened criminals in prisons. Catch his proclamation that "Missourians and Kansans believe Gitmo is just fine" -- and his self-satisfied little joke about San Franciscans. Marvel about how he's introduced legislation to prohibit torture... after the fact. And pay special attention to his warning about prosecuting the crimes of past administrations.

  January 24, 2009

• The Give-a-Shit List

  In this week's edition: the initiative that could make or break Mayor Mark Funkhouser, a session on how utilities might be screwing you into paying for their construction costs and free vegan popcorn.

  February 2, 2009

• The Idiot's Guide to Protesting

  December 11, 2003

• Lawmakers kick and scream over transfer of Gitmo detainees

  The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, is one potential site to which Guantanamo Bay (Check out this week's feature story "Guantanamo's Last Days") detainees could be transferred. U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback toured the site on December 4 and declared that it wasn't secure enough to hold Guantanamo's prisoners. On January 28, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that contained eight bullet-pointed reasons why the barracks was

  February 26, 2009

• Justice for jerks: Shields' brother in town with doc

  Photo by Angela C. BondDonald ShieldsAt the Oscars, Bill Maher encouraged film fans to watch more documentaries. Project Save Justice, showing here Sunday, is not the best place to start, however.Retired professor Donald C. Shields will be in town with a short documentary about the politically motivated prosecutions conducted by the Bush Justice Department. A professor emeritus at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, Shields and a co-author studied federal investigations of local officials a

  February 27, 2009

• Top Pentagon lawyer Alberto Mora argued against Guantánamo abuses. Now he’s an Obama man.

  February 26, 2009

• As Fort Leavenworth waits for word on the future of Gitmo prisoners, here’s an up-close look at the toughest case

  February 26, 2009

• The Toxic Avenger

  January 22, 2009

• W.

  October 16, 2008

• Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

  April 24, 2008

• Patterns of Abuse

  March 13, 2008

• Ripper Offer

  Gregg Gillis doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.

  October 4, 2007

• Memo From Turner

  September 13, 2007

• Cannes Report: We Aren't the World

  How the Americans fared at Cannes.

  May 31, 2007

• Future Shock

  Face a bleak future with Children of Men.

  January 4, 2007

• How Would Jesus Haunt?

  October 12, 2006

• Art of War

  A KCAI professor unveils new work.

  June 23, 2005

• Vivian Green

  Vivian (BMG)

  May 26, 2005

• This Weeks Day-By-Day Picks

  March 4, 2004

• If only Kit Bond really spoke Spanish...

  ... then maybe the Missouri Senator would make more sense than when he talks about any issue in English. Senate Republicans were proud enough to post this on YouTube: Sen. Kit Bond delivering the weekly Republican radio address, on Gitmo, with audio in Spanish. Note that says "with audio in Spanish." Not that he's actually speaking it. Better than a B movie! And shorter!

  May 12, 2009

• Say it ain't so, Sam: We're brave enough to take Gitmo's prisoners, aren't we?

  Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback's been on an all-out media tour recently, talking about how Gitmo detainees should stay in Gitmo. Here's his most recent video, on location:Which just makes me want to keep pointing out that Brownback and other politicians keep harping on the fact that "to keep America safe" we need to keep our prisoners of war offshore, they insult the very defense industry they're supposedly so proud of. Sure, the idea of housing terrorists at Ft. Leavenworth is a little scary, but wh

  May 20, 2009

• Colbert smacks down Brownback

  On Tuesday, Kansas U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback gushed about how Guantanamo Bay is a special snowflake of a maximum security prison and scoffed at the mere thought that Fort Leavenworth could hold back detainees. These prisoners must be like Wolverine times ten. Anyway, Brownback must have been reeling from Monday night's ripping by Stephen Colbert, who ripped Brownback's arguments against moving Guantanamo's detainees to Fort Leavenworth. Here's The Word: The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10

  May 20, 2009

• Gitmo prisoner debate: more funny (and unintentionally funny) videos

  In case anyone's still worrying about those Guantanamo Bay prisoners (more likely you're worrying about ditching work for the long holiday weekend), here are a couple of Friday-afternoon videos that pretty much sum up the level of political discourse on that issue this week.Ironic:Wish it was ironic:Thanks to Glenn Greenwald at Salon for bringing them to our attention -- and for agreeing with us, only much more articulately.

  May 22, 2009

• Brownback likes prisons. Prisoners, not so much

  Space constraints did not allow me to share a bit of irony in this week's column, which explored one the weaker arguments against bringing detainees from Guantánamo Bay to Fort Leavenworth.The argument in question says moving the detainees to Kansas will lead Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other nations to pull military officers who attend the Command and General Staff College at Forth Leavenworth. The college's International Student Division receives officers from dozens of countries each year.In th

  June 19, 2009

• Trying to save Leavenworth from Gitmo detainees, Sen. Sam Brownback lacks good intelligence

  June 18, 2009

• Jon Reep

  July 16, 2009

• Gitmo stance may cost Kansas greenskeepers

  Port Royal Golf Course​Public officials blasting the possible relocation of Guantánamo suspects to Fort Leavenworth deserve no courage awards.They also may be depriving northeastern Kansas of golf-course workers.Four Chinese Muslims once confined at Guantánamo are working at a golf course in Bermuda, according to the Associated Press.The men were detained by the U.S. for seven years. The Bermudan premier, Ewart Brown, agreed to accept the former prisoners into his country after the Pen

  August 6, 2009

• District 9

  August 13, 2009

• Kansas senators say Gitmo transfer a no go

  ​For those of you already losing sleep over the possibility that torture-tuned terrorism suspects currently held at Guantanamo Bay might end up at Fort Leavenworth, I have four words: Rest easy my pretties.Today, Prime Buzz reported that Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts are "confident" the deal is kaput. The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth was one of a handful of facilities being considered for the high-profile terrorism suspects.President Barack Obama has pledged to close th

  September 16, 2009

• Letters from the week
  of September 24

  September 24, 2009

• Brownback losing ground in race against Mr./Madame X

  I'm Sam Brownback, and I'm ready to take you on, you, you ... who are you?​Last week, the Kansas Democratic Party was celebrating a drop in approval ratings for Sen. Sam Brownback, who is leaving the Senate to run for governor. "In September, public support for Brownback dropped 6 points," the Dems said, heralding new numbers  from SurveyUSA. "More notably, one in ten moderates withdrew their support from Brownback during September. With an approval rate of only 48 percent, Brownback has

  October 12, 2009

• I Have Here In My Hand A List

  A brigade of musical artists including Billy Bragg and Trent Reznor, as part of the Campaign to Close Guantanamo, want to know what music was used as torture during interrogations at the Cuban military base. ​ Variety reports: Previously released documents from a 2005 Army investigation show that the works of Metallica, Britney Spears and some rap artists were used as a "futility technique" with uncooperative detainees. Reznor previously stated on his blog: It's difficult for me to imagin

  October 26, 2009