Secure and Stable Government

Hot potatah hot potatah hot potatah

US terror alert fake.... or worse, real

Prisonplanet notes that most terrorists revealed by John Ashcroft in the latest government "Boo!" are already in jail.

Add to that authorities in New York and LA were not informed of any threat increase...

The Center for American Progress details how fake this alert is. Even Homeland Security is whistling 'don't worry, be happy (and go shopping)'.

The Dragon is awake

China has come a long way since 1949. From Asia's "Sick Old Man" before Mao took it away from the landlords, warlords, factory owners and drug peddlers that kept the sanitation department in the undertaking business to the monological orgies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution to the Great Architect's (Deng Xiao Ping) overture to the rest of the world.
China might not be democratic heaven but it is now a modern nation in all it's aspects.

The real 9/11 inquiry opens in Toronto

The Toronto Star reports on the new installment of the real 9/11 inquiry.

Have a look. We should not take Bush's word when he calls these people conspiracy nuts. In fact, should anyone take Bush's word for anything?

Israelis involved in next US terrorist attack?

For the second time in the past two weeks Israelis in a moving van have been detained near a U.S. nuclear facility, this time at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base near St. Marys, GA., near Sea Island, host of the G-8 Summit next month.

A very similar incident happened last week.

So... if the next attack involves a not too protected nuclear installation, you know where to start investigating.

Will I get bashed as anti-semitic for this post?

Oil for Food Program

As world food supplies crash what shall we eat? Coolwhip is the answer.

9/11 commission and the avoidance of truth

Did you know Bush's kid brother Marvin's company was responsible for the World Trade Centre Security...

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/05/con04230.html

"…when this news is combined with testimony from WTC personnel that after the security detail had worked 12-hour shifts for the previous two weeks because of threats, five days before 9/11 the security alert, which had mandated the use of bomb sniffing dogs was lifted."

It's handier to keep the bomb-dogs away if you're preparing a building for demolition -- as happened with WTC 7.

American Christians want their own state

Some Christians find the United States no longer reflect their convictions, and call for a State to declare its independence and become a Christian Republic:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38571

South Carolina has been picked, because it's pretty conservative and Christian already.

Not as crazy an idea as it sounds, if you ask me; the new independent Republic of South Carolina would work as a magnet for the Christian Right.... leaving the rest of Americans to get on with their lives and for half of them to maintain control over their reproductive system.

Berg decapitation video was filmed inside the Abu Ghraib prison

From www.whatreallyhappened.com :

Too many match-ups to be a coincidence. Keep in mind that the Berg video shows the perpetrators wearing gold jewelry, which is expressly forbidden for men in Islam. And their statement read on the video makes several mistakes that people with a real knowledge of Islam would not make. Together with the white skin showing under the ski masks, it is obvious that those are not Arab Muslims carrying out the execution. Another point is the head scarves. Real Muslims tie them in complex knots which identify the region they are from (not unlike the complex knitting patterns of Irish fisherman's sweaters which are also regional identifiers). In the video, the scarves are just wrapped around and tied haphazardly, again proving the unfamiliarity of the perpetrators with the Muslim culture.

Princeton Professor sez

He wonders "Why are most Arabs, unless forced by dire necessity to earn their livelihood with 'the sweat of their brow', so loath to undertake any work that dirties the hands?"

Morons

Morons.
Chalabi's history was sketchier then Baron Munchausen's to begin with.

Not all Butchers of Beirut

Article.

Invidious

Why immunity? To guarantee that US troups do not carry out war crimes. It's obvious. Why else?

Hero

"I respect this court but from the bottom of my heart I sit here a free man. When I am behind bars - if you put me behind bars - I will be a free man as well because my actions and my belief against the war have set me free."

Sir Lancelot strikes again

This reminds me of a scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail where a confused Sir Lancelot (picture US Army soldiers) literally crashes a wedding party. Thinking he saving a damsel in distress (picture the statue of liberty) that turns out to be an effete prince (picture the NYSE). He goes about slaughtering half the reveling guests including the bride's father (think of Iraqi sovereignty). The Prince's father, after discovering Lancelot is a knight of the round table, adopts the bride who has "really big tracts of land" on the spot (Iraq). But the bride's father is not dead, he's pulling out of it quite well until the Prince's father "does away with him" (aka the truth). He then quiets the crowd by speeching "Let us not dwell on who killed who. Today is a day of celebration! Today we celebrate the union of "tracts of land" with... what was your name again?... Sir Lancelot"...
Lancelot realizes that he's being roped into something that would distract him from his good ole questing and gets lost real quick.

Hell

"It's a massacre. They fired missiles into a crowd full of children. That is a

massacre."

Hell

"Occupation soldiers have also ordered by loudspeaker all males over 16 to gather in one place or risk demolition of family homes."

Coverup smear job.

Half the time it's not so much the crime which reveals so much about the criminals but the coverup. Just like Watergate and Iran-Contra, 9/11 will end up blowing the lid off all this crap.
Why silence the lies surrounding a conspiracy? They only obfuscatre and distract. It's the truththat ALWAYS gets the axe.

Thou Shalt not take the Lord's Image in vain

What happens when you give a vain, nah Mr. Universe could never be vain, Hollywood shootem up actor and make him gubernatorial?
He becomes a vain, string em up Governator. Politicians that have won more then one election are used to satire. Especially ones that reach such a position of power. They are able to laugh at themselves. But Aaanold has nothing else to stand on but his image. He has nothing else to be proud of. What do we expect from a man who's only claim to fame, the only way he reached his position was by posing?

On the lighter side

Jim Hightower's discovered the latest ad fad: interactive urinal advertising:

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/read.asp?id=11367

Crazy man with crazy ideas.

Rumsey knew about the torture at Abu Ghraib as early as January sez this freak from nowhere. His sources are at best apocryphal and credibility is unquestionably questionable. Yes, this man is completely discountable.

It only took 3 years.

Want the FBI to know where you spent your vacation this year, which trinkets you bought, how much they cost, where you stayed and where you live? Fly
British Airways!

Peanuts

Lucent Is charged with a mere 1G$ fraud. Beh... I could swindle that much in my sleep. Well in my dreams to be more accurate.
Well right now the only scandal that would shock and awe me would involve the Red Cross and the UNHCR selling newborn children to cattle rendering plants.

WMDs!!!!

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!! GWB WAS RIGHT!!
I can't take this shit anymore. If you need me I'll be in a hut in Nunavut hunting caribou and counting the stars.

Kabloui

Members of the Iraq governing council have one more reason to quit their posts. You see getting geting blowed up was not part of that deal. I think not being one of those being killed was half the reason for joining.

15 Anomalies Surrounding Death Of Nick Berg

In case you're not convinced yet there's something fishy about the Berg beheading:

http://www.rense.com/general52/anom.htm

Fahrenheit 9/11 could light fire under Bush

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1218376,00.html

"Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is without doubt the most flaming-hot ticket at the Cannes film festival. And with good reason: Moore hopes that it will bring down the US government."

Oh wouldn't that be just sweet. Popular uprising in the United States - They The People reasserting their rights.

The Emperor's clothes

If Bush's policies are transparent to those who bother to look closely enough maybe the Leader needs a make over.

True Rulers of the Bush family

After having asked myself all the right questions I still have a few left unanswered. Such as who is the real moral influence of the Bush family? I believe I have found Jeb Bush's. It's Marvin,Secret Service codeword "Cerberus". I've heard of southerners holding debutante balls at the governor's mansion but tennis balls I've not heard of. I guess that might explain the funky lighting.

Aids Test Unscientific: Test Kit Makers Sued in Kansas

The test kits used to determine "HIV positive" status in patients are deeply flawed - they were developed on the basis of faulty scientific methodology and assumptions and are without value in determining whether a person suffers from "HIV Aids", alleges Kim Marie Bannon in a civil suit filed under the Consumer Protection Act of the State of Kansas, US

We have done out part.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1217375,00.html

this little artcile got me thinking. Us, the vocal, the ones who stand up for their fellows. The ones who belive in the better above all. Have made our mark on this world in the 20th century.
Bush's war maybe disgusting. It may be callow and viscious. But it greatly tempered by the work of the UN. The UN cannot be omited when seriously discussing it's legitimacy. After Watergate, the govenment of the USA cannot assume it's crimes will be excused.
The force of arms may be supreme upon the body but when it stands against the wrong it cannot do it. The fact that force is the chosen method of the wrong does not mean that force is trumped with thought and it's expression. The wrong will use force simply for that reason. But what we have done in the 20th century to make our thoughs and wishes respected does call force to answer for itself.
Bush&Co. have been doing their best to pay lip service to these institutions. But wth why shouldn't they? They have no one to anser to but themselves. Which this time around are the Senate, Congress and the folk who were kind enough to elect him. I foget if Renquist was able to put together a unanimous vote but it carried.
We though. Those not represented in those intitutions are not paying lip service. We make it clear that none of this is acceptable to us. We make it clear that what they are, have and will do they will have to answer for when speaking to us.

39% of Americans favor Bush impeachment

It's about time Congresspeople realise that the criterium for 'Crimes and misdemeanor' has long been met:
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0511-08.htm

A time for truth

This may mark the turning point where true American conservatives turn against Bush. Pat Buchanan explains it simply and plainly:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38454

More strange things about the Berg decapitation

Alex Jones points out some more oddities about the Berg decapitation: for example:

----------------------------
7) Audio clearly dubbed in.

8) "Arab" reader flips through pages of "statement" and keeps ending up on
the same page.  Perhaps doesn't even known enough Arabic to recognize what
page he's on?

9) "Arabs" have lily-white hands and (other exposed) skin.

10) "Arabs" have Western-style body posture and mannerisms.

-------------------------------------------

Read the whole list at http://www.infowars.com/print/iraq/berg.htm

Berg Decapitation Video declared a fraud?

From www.rense.com:

 

http://www.rense.com/general52/decap.htm

 

"The first casualty of war is the truth and this one has been no exception. La Voz de Aztlan obtained a copy of the video showing the beheading of American Nick Berg of Philadelphia and immediately something very odd was readily apparent. Not only were the purported screams of Nick Berg not in synchrony with the decapitation but their was also a total lack of blood spurting out as his jugular and other veins and arteries were being cut."

 

Read the whole piece - it does raise questions...

 

 

 

Wages of War

After reading about this little fete these men had themselves with their American hostage I am utterly demoralized. Men which had democracy and civil order not been constantly mined and discarded in the middle east by the USA (never mind at home) and the regimes it keeps alive or relentlessly attacks might have grown up in nations where such thoughts and actions would have been those of the mentally ill. Instead they are the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" of popular Middle Eastern psyche.

But what struck me the most was the justification of this murder.

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the US administration to exchange this hostage with some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused," one of the men read from a statement. "So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffin after coffin ... slaughtered in this way."

Once all forms of legitimate justice are destroyed it will only occur in the perverted and grotesque versions we see happen every day. As al-Zarqawi has shown us today. Once justice is lost we fall yet another rung down to the hell we've been trying to get away from since we realized we lived in it. Justice is as inherent to humanity as love. It is an impulse. It is what makes a child strike back when one is struck. Once it has been removed from it's chalice, it's place amongst holy things to make room for the profane, it writhes on the floor trying it's best to do as it is.

Soft Wash

Between the pictures coming to press from horrified civilians to charges being immediately laid upon a Private First Class and this little thigamajig only makes me smell a little 'soft wash'. Whitewash would be that Saddam was the last one to torture anyone at Abu Ghraib.
One thing does shine through though. Tony Blair is a lot better at sincerity then Baby Bush.

EU corrupt? No way!

somebody gets arrested.
I've heard much worse about the UN in Geneva. I met a Canadian guy in Portugal who was working as a lawyer there. Poor bastard was completely fed up with how his bosses would charge up to 40k Euro in doctor's expenses for a single appointment. But I guess that's pretty much the idea behind European social democracy. If there are going to be any pork bellies they might as well fall to everyone in equal share. As opposed to Bush&Co. Providing you have a job that is. I guess that when the world is awash in money, as Europe is, ethical dilemmas tend to be diluted.

Change of view

Between right and left there is still right and wrong.
Hitler and Stalin might have been sworn enemies but in so many ways there were kindred spirits.
This little article brought me back to my happy center. I'm not talking about right and left here. I'm talking about right and wrong.
Though the subject is very grim it does express many of my beliefs on the subject.
You will find among the truly righteous the willingness to accept the punishments of their peers for their crimes. From Aristotle and his hemlock water to Jesus of Montreal are men who commit crimes knowing they are guilty and fully accept punishment. Not because they


aha! Freedom of Independence! THAT is what this world needs a little stone hewing about. Write it in stone. Every person who demands the right of independence must have it granted.
In the context of crime I think it all goes towards the Scandinavian concept of the Outlaw. The Outlaw was a free man. But for which the he or she could claim no protection from the law. One would become one by refusing the punishment given by law. But once one was any crime could be committed against him or her without the violator being punished for it. If one wanted to cease being one they would then have to face the the punishment for all crimes they have committed before an since becoming one.

It goes towards marriage and divorce. If a spouse demands independence from theirs they become divorced from their spouse.
Slavery would become literally optional. Though I strongly doubt many would accept such an option.

oh well, what the hell. This stuff is all basic to all laws we have here in Canada and 90% of the world's nations.

I think what I'm really talking about here is consent. Weather or not a person consents to and accepts the laws of their nation or not. If found guilty of a crime by their peers in a fair trial one should be able chose between their punishment or to walk off into the woods and suffer the greatest punishment of all. Exile.
One might feel betrayed and alone. But there is no one to share that burden. No one to relieve the pain. No one to defend them.
And no one to welcome them home.

Right of concent must be the basest principle of any law. If any person at any time declares that that they do not consent to any action take against or FOR them those wishes must be respected and the concenquences made clear for this refusal to concent.

"War made a man out of me"

What makes a man out of a soldier? Walking through hell and coming back alive to say Never Again.

Revisionism

I've noticed something. And it's intrinsic to all electronic media. But this one is a little more nefarious. All this proof that is fueling and keeping the anti-war and the anti-corporate movement of which it is part of alive has seemed to disappear from the web after a few years or even months. Broken links, deleted files and lost web sites have popped up on all the most interesting and hopefully illuminating sites.

Is this just the result of digital media's basic ephemeral character. Something built on bits and bytes of magnetic imprints a simple pull of the plug could erase for eternity?

Why was it that we know the stories of Ur? That we know the name of Ramses the Second? The Mayan calendar. Because those were written in stone.

One of the reasons why there is a historical gap in the late middle ages relative to more mundane events of the time is that history had begun to be written on paper instead of parchment. Printing overcame this by sheer numbers.

Something a lot of older photojournalists are worried about is the loss of record due to the (insert actual word for losability)
of digital media. Silver halide (the dark crystals on film) cannot be destroyed by a magnet.

Or is it just that a carnivore with a green lantern is running around eating up anything 'deleterious to the public good'?

Cut and Copy

Al Baz was not an ordinary Iraqi as far as the soldiers were concerned. He works for Al-Jazeera, the Arab media network with few fans in the administration. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently excoriated Al-Jazeera's coverage of Fallujah, saying, "I can definitively say that what Al-Jazeera is doing is vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable." These comments reflect the bitter feelings the administration has toward producers of negative news about the occupation. But this bitterness is not confined to words -- the U.S. military hit Al-Jazeera buildings in both Baghdad and Kabul, Afghanistan, strikes that the network believes were intentional, though the military denies it. As Baghdad fell to American forces on April 8 last year, a bomb struck the office of the network and killed Tariq Ayoub, an Al-Jazeera cameraman. Many journalists who have covered the war for the past year believe there is a clear pattern of intimidation toward the network by the coalition. Al Baz himself believes he was singled out because of his employer. "They knew me, they had stopped me before," he said of the soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, who arrested him.


article

What? People -have- representation above corporations??

Mosanto, the guys behind making our food unfit for human consumption, have pulled their plans to produce GM wheat.
Their canola, something like 60% of Saskatchewan crop, has destroyed all Canadian and American exports to the EU and Japan. So I guess somebody decided to put their foot down and 'have a little talk' with the Round Up Ready ppl.

I have a funny story about that. I was waiting in a hospital emergency room and looking at another 4 hours after the 5 before to see a doctor I decided to strike up a convo with the guy in the gurney beside me. Turns out he was a Swiss technician who had something to do with the machines weighing the wheat headed off back home. Never mind that his papers (passport, driver's license(??!!) etc.) came out of Khartoum. He had to repeat it twice. He probably thought it was because I didn't know but in fact it was because it didn't believe him. Lot's of reasons he told me. Apparently Swiss citizenship doesn't do much compared to a Sudanese one.
Anyways, I tells him "Did you know that Mosanto was thinking of introducing GM wheat?"
His face dropped like an Employment Insurance cheque on the teller's counter. Or whichever Sudanese equivalent.
I like that. -Employment- Insurance. I guess it's an incitement to strike. Which other way can you insure your employment? After all you only get it if you're layed off. Then again you can't really strike if you just lost the job you were striking for. So I guess it's just a slap in the face.

Daddy made me do it.

Looks like Rummy and GWB had themselves a little falling out in the oval office yesterday.
Looked like it to me after he 'praised' him in such an abject stance and with Rummy's gloating smile.Oh! and the smug little heel hop.
It sounded to me so much like the pathetic apologies you'll see pro sportmen drone on yet another press conference after yet another flagrant violent outburst.
It almost looked like some kid apologizing to his father's best friend's wife for stealing her apple pie cooling on the sil.
That's right, looked just like Daddy made him do it. On national TV as President of the United States of America. I've never pitied GWB any more then I have today.

The Shredding of 9/11 Evidence

We're not talking of 18 minutes of erased Nixon tapes. This is the destruction of verbal testimony of air traffic controllers taken on September 11 2001.

Chief of safety of New York Fire Department thinks that there were actually devices that were planted in the building

"....The Chief of Safety of the Fire Department of New York told me that...er...shortly after 9 o'clock here had roughly 200 men in the building trying to effect rescues of some of those civilians who were in there...er... and that basically he received word of the possibility of a secondary device, another bomb going off."

Hear the audio or read the transcript.

When Israel talks of racial purity

Now there's moral relativism if I've ever seen it.

Lieberman (the Moldovan, not the American) , Israeli cabinet minister, calls for all Palestinians living in Israel to be deported :

"Lieberman, a former Moldovan immigrant who arrived in Israel in 1978, suggested that the existence of a large non-Jewish minority in Israel threatened the "Jewish identity" and "ethnic purity" of Israel."

Sharon and others are not condemning Lieberman.

911 tour falls flat in Skopje

As the hack journalist's moto goes "If you can't find the news, make the news" goes Macedonia has decided to make some terrorists so they could have something to show to their hopefuly soon to be mastahs. Of course nothing like this could happen in a "civilized" nation. After all Macedonia is people by degenerate lackeys of a godless nation. Nothing like the USA.

Not only in Baghdad...

You don't need to go to Baghdad to get beaten up.... it happens in New York City detention centres too.

Dueling Banjos

Looks like penis gurl was probably acting out her inferiority complex. Meaning that this woman who grew up in the USA knew less of this world then men who grew up under Saddam.

RSF reports

Well, what da ya know. And what will ya?

The Dream of Empire.

From Babylon to Rome. From Berlin to Washington. Of all the things these men carried only one thing stands out; the dream of dominion over all humans. Pax Americana doesn't sound very Latin to me. Does it to you? It doesn't take much to see the constant symbolism carried in these cultures. The obelisk, the arch, the pyramid. It's remnants are seen in Napoleon's Paris. Never mind the broad boulevards wide enough for horse races, or cavalry charges. Such as the ones in NYC. The results of these Empires are all derived from their motives. Their motives from their character. In short the lust for power. Unfettered and singular power. A nation's character is always determined by it's leadership. And these leaders are men after all.

After all has been burned in a man's heart there is nothing else left but power. After love became a fantasy, after all others became enemies all that is left is the self. And what is the self without motive? What makes a man not lay down and die? The primal will to live. And how does one live when all those others represent nothing but a threat? What can be done when these others represent nothing but a source of fear?

But America isn't an Empire. Empire is forged by unlimited war. And Congress has something to say about war. But what if a battleship is sabotaged off the coast of Havana? What if a cruise liner is sunk by a U-Boat between New York and Liverpool? What if a destroyer is attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin? What if the WTC fell like a house of cards? Then congress can easily and quickly be called to vote
appropriately.

Oil is not the issue. It never has been. It is certainly an issue, but not the issue.
This world has changed greatly since the fall of the Soviet Union. But most importantly Mutually Assured Destruction is no longer a restraint to total war. Nations were quick to realize this treat. And to realize it's growth .
But aggressive war is illegal in this world. It is illegal to the USA by treaty obligation it it's greatest obstacle to Empire. The United Nations has been the only mediating, charitable and moderating force this world has seen since the fall of Berlin. It may be slow, it may be the modern epitome of glacial bureaucracy but it's power is still universally recognized, despite the efforts of the Pat Buchanan crowd. And it's power rests not in the force of arms. It rests in it's position as the world's only forum from which legal actions may derive. The only place on earth where all nations may be heard by all others at once. And what is the greatest solvent, anathema to autocracy? The representation of opposition. The demonstration of it's guilt. Of course the USA has always chaffed at this concept. It has been deeply irritated by it's meddling in it's affairs against the Soviet Union. And as the USSR has fallen the UN is the last wall to tear down to reach it's cherished global autocracy.

The allure of empire plays well in the minds of the powerful. Where crimes are paid for by the victims and conscience is beaten to unconsciousness. Where those others are as worthless as themselves. Where pride is taken in cruelty, ignorance and above all else, and above all costs, victory. Of course these things are true in a world where all those below are utterly dominated and those above so easily dominate. But as all things false they do not last for very long.
The death of an empire is the more catastrophic the greater it's power. Of course Rome gave us a lot. The language of science and religion and law for one. But it is certain that the reason for this was that there were no others left in Western Europe after this empire, as all others, was swept aside by the same ilk of tribesmen they had so easily vanquished centuries before. The Eastern Empire, the Greek Empire of Constantinople, thrived for centuries until Western Europe learned to read again and awoke from it's six century long Dark Age in 1205 when these men lifting themselves to barbarity sacked their ally's capital at the bidding of Venician traders and discovered, as if for the first time, the grace and glory of civilized life. But though the substance of Rome had long been washed away it's Dream was still carried forth in the name of Czars and Kaisers.

The absolute power of Rome has not been seen again until Yeltsin in August '91 told the people they were once again free. But the political power of the USA might not have been as absolute as Rome's until then but it's power over human life is greater then ever imagined before. When Rome fell half of Europe only forgot how to read. When the USA will how will we cope with it's thrashing corpse? With the obscene amounts of poison extant on this planet will we even be able contain it once it's storage will break from the loss of the resources needed for its maintenance or simple inaccessibility as the collapse of the USSR has show so blatantly? With its intense hold of the world's political scene what will happen once these pressures are released as they were in Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia, after the fall of the USSR?
Have we come far enough to be able to weather such a storm?

News

Finally some real news. It might not be that fresh but it's news to me.

Disgust

This has just redefined my idea of blowback?

Still.
UN war crimes tribunal? Doesn't apply to US troops. US troops are immune to UN war crime prosecution. Thanks to the diligent efforts of John Negroponte. Unfortunately these are not isolated incidents. This is the routine of shameless oppressors. From the Assyrians to the SS it's all just another day on the field. What's the first thing an invading army does after taking a city? Does rape and pillage sound familiar?
The second I saw these images I knew I would see again the banality of this process. Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick is a reservist who was a corrections officer in a Virginia prison. He complains of lack of direction and ignorance of the laws concerning the treatment of POWs. They happen to be part of the Geneva convention. And we all know of the high esteem the US army and Bush administration have for foreign interference. Why won't they sign the UN Law of the Seas? Because it would lead to a UN Navy. BTW that's the idea behind firing that kook Surgeon General who advocated masturbation as a way to lead to safe sex. It causes blindness. So these 'screws' were not informed of their obligations under that convention. Yeah, apparently they don't believe it applies to US soldiers, Hanoi Hilton aside. Of course the only ones who could make claims against the USA for these breaches of the convention would be the representatives of the sovereign state of Iraq. Of course that's gonna happen.
But did you hear the latest? Saddam's going to be tried! Oh boy! How very... just?

But there is a silver lining here. And it does attest deeply to the inherent good of the US. The part that started with "By the people, Of the people and For the people." (yeah, those damn 'people' again. Marx had something to say about those. American -Revolution- anyone?) And that whole free press thing. That we have known of this not after years of investigation, not after a liberating army drove up to the death camps, not after the lifting of document classification but months later. Hours we would all hope for. But stuff like this doesn't exactly hit the web very fast.

Strange Bedfellows

Yeah, you're right. These guys are talking about the same things we are but in very different ways. Of course there is something JFKish going on with the WTC bombings. Denying that would do nasty things to my credibility.
One thing that I've noticed about the angry left (/me raises his hand) and the angry right is that we're basically talking about the same things. We are angry at different things or the same things in different ways.
But what really bothers me about them is their simple view of the world and automatic reactions to it. We have alot in common but they're just too ugly for me to get in bed with.