Only The Onion will tell….
Author: TL
Poor Ron Paul
Evolution is a theory? Evolution is a theological issue?
Any Republicans reading, first read The Bad Astronomer, and then consider this rambling nonsense from Ron Paul:
Prosecuting The Damned
We’ve heard the stories before. Soldiers in Iraq have committed suicide, others have attempted. The Army is prosecuting, according to The Washington Post:
In a nondescript conference room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her in a preliminary hearing. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.
Her hands trembled as Maj. Stefan Wolfe, the prosecutor, argued that Whiteside, now a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed, should be court-martialed. After seven years of exemplary service, the 25-year-old Army reservist faces the possibility of life in prison if she is tried and convicted.
Military psychiatrists at Walter Reed who examined Whiteside after she recovered from her self-inflicted gunshot wound diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stresses of a war zone. But Whiteside’s superiors considered her mental illness “an excuse” for criminal conduct, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
At the hearing, Wolfe, who had already warned Whiteside’s lawyer of the risk of using a “psychobabble” defense, pressed a senior psychiatrist at Walter Reed to justify his diagnosis.
“I’m not here to play legal games,” Col. George Brandt responded angrily, according to a recording of the hearing. “I am here out of the genuine concern for a human being that’s breaking and that is broken. She has a severe and significant illness. Let’s treat her as a human being, for Christ’s sake!”
I can’t even begin to comprehend what is happening here. Our fighting men and women are placed in extreme danger, in Hell. Their time in Iraq is extended. Some are sent back for two or three tours of duty. And some simply cannot take it any more.
This is not at all an article advocating suicide, nor an admission that this is the only alternative for those fighting in Iraq. If any of our veterans or soldiers currently serving read this, I have the utmost respect for you and your service to this country. I cannot imagine what you have gone through, or what you are going through if you are serving now.
This country is far too punitive, in every respect. We can’t build prisons fast enough. We have a problem, and our only solution is, “Lock-em up!” But prisons do not build a healthier society.
We all get one shot at life. Some have chosen to serve the United States of America in the Armed Services, and our Coward-In-Chief has put them in harms way. The Coward-In-Chief has yet to attend a single funeral for one of the fallen. The Coward-In-Chief never served, and neither have his children.
The Coward-In-Chief has damned these young people to Hell-on-Earth.
Those who command should spend more time with those who know something about the so-called “psychobabble”, and realize what they are doing to our young people.
Prosecution for an attempted suicide? This is a solution only for those who have ceased thinking, or those who have given up looking for solutions. We need to ask the big questions, and cease the clichés. Soldiers attempting suicide is a real problem, and these petty, simplistic prosecutions are no solution for those trapped in Hell.
Iraqi Blogs – A Glimpse Inside
I found this site on the BBC. Mohammed, a 25 year-old dentist, writes about life in Baghdad. According to his profile on Blogger:
i’m a 25 years old dentist i live in iraq (Baghdad) i was born and raised here but unfortunately i’m thinking that the iraqis are going to extinct so i made this blog wishing that i can make a difference or even share my greif with the whole world and give them an idea about what’s happening here from the point of view of a civilian living in the war zone not from the politicians nor people who gets their benefits from the conditions.
According to Mohammed, Al Qaeda is very strong now in Iraq:
Yesterday I heard that al-Qaeda also distributed fliers in Adhamiya, saying they wanted the best for the people, and end to the sectarian violence and getting life back to normal.
They told shop owners to open their shops again and said they would protect them. They even mentioned that Shias shouldn’t be afraid of anything if they had done nothing bad.
It’s a struggle for power and control between the Ba’ath party, al-Qaeda and the Salvation Council, each one trying to prove they are better than the others, were they in charge.
Mohammed writes about the quality of life in Baghdad, including the drinking water – this from a September 25, 2007 entry:
I went to the kitchen and was filling the kettle from the tap water … I decided to fill a glass so I could see it.
What a shock. I immediately brought the camera and took the picture and video.
Is this drinking water or is it rice water? What are those floating things? I know about the cholera, I know it might be epidemic in Baghdad but I’d be so lucky if this water only contained cholera bacteria!
How could they give us this water? Why should I respect, obey or even recognise my government if they are not providing us with electricity, water, or even security?
Each Iraqi house should be a country and have a flag and its own government. I depend on myself for electricity, water and even security. What a farce.
His most recent entry speaks of the prominence of Al Qaeda in American prisons in Iraq:
I was watching TV few days ago when I saw a show that really got my attention, it was on Alarabyia satellite news channel, it was about how AlQaeda had a great influence inside the American jails in Iraq and there was statements from witnesses who were prisoners in these jails, they described how the conditions are, and what is really happening there, it was a real shock to me….. here is a small part of the show…..I’ll write about the important things they mentioned….. I haven’t translated it in the video but I’ll talk about many thing that they said…..they brought four witnesses and they talked about things I didn’t think was possible, and I believe many don’t know these things too.
I don’t know how accurate Mohammed’s information is. His is just one part of the overall reality. This is certainly a perspective I haven’t seen before.
Two Chinese Teachers Sentenced to Death
Wow.
The BBC reports that two Chinese teachers have been sentenced to death for forcing more than 20 young girls — including their own students — into prostitution.
Zhao Qingmei and her husband, Chi Yao, were convicted of running a child-sex ring in the southern Guizhou province.
The girls, aged between 11 and 17, were taken to local hostels and reportedly told that their families would be poisoned if they refused to have sex.
And later:
Bijie Intermediate Court handed down the death sentences last Friday after hearing how the couple forced 23 girls into prostitution between March and June 2006.
Six of the victims were under the age of 14.
The court was told that the child-sex ring made 32,350 yuan.
Chi’s sentence was suspended for two years, and is likely to be commuted to life imprisonment.
The couple have until 24 December to appeal against the sentences.
Wow.
Did Oprah Ruin It For Obama?
Did Oprah ruin it for Obama?
I wondered that this evening after I heard a friend remark that Oprah had brought the wrong kind of attention to Obama’s campaign. Too many people see Oprah as “Hollywood” or removed from the real world, and Obama should not have accepted her help on the campaign trail, according to my friend. He was also concerned that Oprah turned Obama into “the Black candidate”, where before Barack had succeeded in defining himself simply as a candidate. The concern is that far too many whites will recoil now from Barack because he’s identifying too closely with Oprah.
Election politics always turn my stomach.
Meanwhile, as of today’s writing, John Edwards leads in Iowa — without Oprah.
Cheney On Fire
I know, it’s too easy.
A two-alarm fire broke out on the White House grounds Wednesday morning, sending 1,000 federal workers scurrying for safety and damaging Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial suite in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street from the West Wing.
Mr. Cheney was not there when the fire started about 9:15 a.m.; he and President Bush were in the White House Situation Room for an intelligence briefing. The two were informed of the blaze when they returned to the Oval Office, and later went outside together to shake the hands of firefighters who had responded.
And later:
The building’s centerpiece is the second-floor ceremonial office of the vice president, with two Belgian black marble fireplaces and wooden floors designed in a geometric pattern of mahogany, white maple and cherry. The office was used by 16 secretaries of the Navy beginning in 1879. In 1929, after a Christmas Eve fire damaged the West Wing, President Herbert Hoover moved in.
It’s too easy. Cheney was burning old CIA tapes. Cheney was incinerating files. Cheney was cleaning house, setting fire to all the “real” tapes out of Guantanamo.
The conspiracy theorist in me really believes that Dick just had someone torch the joint. But the realist knows somewhere inside that the fire started for other reasons.
Or did it?
It’s far too easy.
What Can Boy George Say Now?
So the President had no idea that the CIA had these torture-tapes? Really?
According to Dana Perino, the President “has no recollection” that he ever saw these tapes:
Q Thanks. On these CIA videotapes, did either the President or Vice President or Condoleezza Rice, when she was National Security Advisor, or Steve Hadley, see them before they were destroyed?
MS. PERINO: I spoke to the President, and so I will have to defer on the others. But I spoke to the President this morning about this. He has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday. He was briefed by General Hayden yesterday morning. And as to the others, I’ll have to — I’ll refer you to the Vice President’s office and I’ll see if I can get the others.
Q Was there any White House involvement in approving or commenting upon their destruction?
MS. PERINO: As I said, the President has no recollection knowing about the tapes or about their destruction, and so I can’t answer the follow up.
Perino darts the question as to whether the President would support an investigation. Then, we get Good Ol’ Boy George once again. Is this President embarrassed? Is this President angry at CIA Chief General Hayden? Not Boy George:
Q Dana, is this something that you would characterize the President’s feeling about — is this something that’s sort of seen as understandable, or is this something that you’re embarrassed about?
MS. PERINO: I would say that the President supports General Hayden. General Hayden made a statement yesterday to his employees in which he said that the decision was made by the agency, it was made in consultation with the agency’s lawyers. And he said — and I quote — that “the tapes posed a serious security risk and were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues who had served in the program, exposing them and their families to retaliation from al Qaeda and its sympathizers.”
He has complete confidence in General Hayden and he has asked White House Counsel’s Office, as I said, who is already in communication with the CIA General Counsel as the CIA Director continues to gather facts. As you know, General Hayden wasn’t there at this time, either.
The President has “complete confidence in General Hayden.” Of course! Wait for it. You know it’s coming… “You’re doing a heckuva job, Haydie!”
Now let’s see if Congress has any at all. Senator Dick Durbin has called for the Justice Department to investigate. Full-steam ahead with that one.
Huckabee’s AIDS Problem
Mike Huckabee really has issues with AIDS. According to the Associated Press, Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients, according to a 1992 questionnaire he filled out when running for the U.S. Senate.
Huckabee on Huckabee:
Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee wrote.
“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
In 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact, the article continues.
And then there was this little gem as well:
Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”
The man has flip-flopped considerably on this issue since then. He now claims that his administration, “will be the first to have an overarching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals.”
We can only wonder what that strategy would be. And hope we never find out.
If any Republicans are reading, consider how a President Huckabee would treat your gay son or daughter.
Can Anybody Really Touch the C.I.A.?
I have to admit this one makes me worry. I’ve always had the idea — no doubt based on superstition and fear — that the C.I.A. was untouchable. I mean, who could possibly go after the C.I.A., really?
So the old chaps were destroying tapes. Takes me back to the 70s, it does.
According to the latest in the NYTimes.com:
White House and Justice Department officials, along with senior members of Congress, advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 against a plan to destroy hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda, government officials said Friday.
This one really has me worried. I don’t recall anyone ever really successfully going after the C.I.A. Have you? They really worry me. I’m convinced they operate outside of any laws we know of. Therefore, I want to see Congress really go after them … that is, if Congress is still working for us.
Today’s Washington Post says President Bush (All Praise His Holy Name) was unaware of these tapes, but was aware in some fashion:
The White House said that President Bush was unaware of the tapes or their destruction until this week, but administration sources acknowledged last night that longtime Bush aide Harriet E. Miers knew of the tapes’ existence and told CIA officials that she opposed their destruction.
So, somebody knew something, but we’re not quite sure who knew what, and we’re pretty certain the President knew nothing.
That sounds about right.
The real question is, “Does Congress have any balls to go after this?”
Really, that is what should be our concern.
Are we simply going to listen to Harry Reid ramble on about generalities? Or will someone attempt to really find out what happened here?
Listen: I really hope this is the “Land of the Free,” and “Home of the Brave.” I don’t want to go to sleep thinking that this is really the “Land Ruled By The C.I.A.” and “The Men In Black,” whoever the Hell they are.
“Give me liberty,” or something….