LADIES & GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT

Barack Obama slams Dick Cheney on Sunday's 60 Minutes. Recently, Cheney said we are less safe without torture. In the clip, Obama remains the perfect gentlemen and makes his point without resorting to violence. Still, I'd love to see him punch Cheney in the nose. Cheney's face is just so punchable.

A singularly punchable face

In related news:
Newsweek (March 21, 09) reports that more "torture memos" from the Bush Administration are soon to be released. "Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques..."

locked in coffin-size boxes; swung by towels around their necks into plywood walls; and forced to stand naked for days

Newsweek continues: "The debate about torture ramped up again last week with an account in the New York Review of Books about a secret International Red Cross report that was delivered to the CIA in February 2007. The report, according to journalist Mark Danner, quotes detainees describing, often in gruesome detail, how they were locked in coffin-size boxes; swung by towels around their necks into plywood walls; and forced to stand naked for days while their arms were shackled above their heads."

Cheney would have loved these guys: Nazis practicing "enhanced" techniques for a "safer" Germany

HITLER'S CHILDREN

This Walt Disney cartoon was made during World War II as part of the war effort, and shows the indoctrination of German youth into Nazi racism and antisemitism. Interesting propaganda film, it also deals in stereotypes. At one time Disney said this would never be re-released. Here's a chance to watch a rare cartoon.

AND YOU THOUGHT BARBIE WAS A BAD IDEA

A Ukrainian toy manufacturer is marketing an Adolph Hitler doll in local toy stores. The controversial doll will go on sale this summer.

According to The Telegraph, "The 16 inch figurine -- complete with movable arms to reproduce Hitler's famous salute -- will first go on sale in the capital Kiev...The owner will be able to choose from a selection of outfits including 'early days Adolph' (brown shirts and jodhpurs) and 'wartime Adolph' (a grey, double-breasted tunic, black trousers, and Iron Cross medal)."

With reports of antisemitism and xenophobia on the rise, this may be a big seller this holiday season. In the Ukraine alone, over 1.5 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and Ukrainian collaborators during the Holocaust. They won't be buying the Hitler doll, of course, and neither will holocaust survivors, who some say are overly sensitive. And neither will we. The Hitler doll will definitely NOT be on our Christmas list this year.