Story of the Week: The Torture Playlist

This is a headline on Democracy Now today:

Springsteen, Bee Gees, Eminem on US “Torture Playlist”
And the magazine Mother Jones has compiled a so-called “torture playlist”—a list of songs that the US military and CIA have used during interrogations to disorient detainees and to drown out screams. The list includes Neil Diamond’s “America,” “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen, “White America” by Eminem, “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees, the Sesame Street theme, the Barney theme song and a commercial for Meow Mix. At least one of the artists is happy their song was used during interrogations. Steve Asheim, the drummer of the group Deicide said, “It’s cool. If we’re up to military standards of audio abuse, it makes me feel like Deicide’s doing our part for the troops.”

Mother Jones has the music, you can read the report and listen to investigative reporter Justine Sherrock’s take on it all.

We're talking about Neil Diamond and the Barney theme song. Not exactly a surprise, huh?

Homework Exercise

Here's a fun homework assignment for investigative reporting learners. Using just the links on this blog, find out who in the state of Oregon are currently the biggest contributors to the top three presidential candidates.

Now, using these same links, try looking back to previous elections (say, the mid-term elections in 2006) to find out which out of state contributors dumped the most cash in Oregon races. Which races attracted the most $$? What long-term impact has that had on Oregon politics?

I'll try posting a few answers later this week.