Enemy Combatant
Friday, December 31, 2004
We'll Tak' A Cup O' Kindness Yet
May the New Year bring you all what you most wish for, and George W. all that he deserves!
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot, Over?
Sometimes these stories only make sense when I'm wearing my tinfoil hat:
Marines will stay close to home for urban training
Unit to use downtown Toledo
The Marines will take over parts of downtown Toledo as sounds of gunfire will echo off buildings when training exercises are conducted next weekend.
A Marine Corps unit based in Perrysburg will stage the exercises from 9 p.m. Jan. 7 to about noon Jan. 9, Maj. Gregory Cramer said.
"The only request we would have of folks, if they happen to be near where an exercise is taking place, is to stay away as much as possible," Major Cramer said.
Wow, now that's the understatement of the year. Tell it to the Fallujans.
Now, as a friend pointed out to me, if you were training people for desert warfare in Iraq, you wouldn't exactly send them to a Great Lakes city in the wintertime, now would you? (I mean, I'm no military genius like, say, Donald Rumsfeld -- but I'm just sayin'.)
So where exactly do they expect this "urban warfare" to take place, hmm?
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Aw, C'mon! He's Very Busy -- Ignoring Bigger Problems Than This One
Sunday, December 26, 2004
That's Why I Love Mankind (God's Song)
by Randy Newman:
And the Lord said
And the Lord said
I burn down your cities -- how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why I love mankind
You really need me
That's why I love mankind
A somber and contemplative Boxing Day to you all.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
When Karl Met Groucho: History Repeats Itself, First As Tragedy, Second Time As Farce
In 2000, the Supreme Court of the "big" Washington said, Stop the Counting! with Bush only 573 votes ahead, and (except for some rather transparently fraudulent juristic legerdemain) that was pretty much it -- Bush was effectively appointed leader of the Executive branch, by the one unelected branch.
In an act of near-farcical deja vu, in 2004, the Supreme Court of the "little" Washington, on the opposite coast (never mind that you could fit nearly 45 of the "big" Washingtons into the "little" one) said, Hey, Here's Another 537 Votes That Haven't Been Counted Yet, and the result is, that The Democrat With The G Name will likely be made leader of the Executive branch by -- well, a majority of the votes -- what a concept, eh?
Night and day, as far as judicial opinions go. One thing is consistent, though: The GOP argued in both cases to exclude votes from the count, rather than to count every vote. Once more, from the rooftops: The GOP wins only when every vote is NOT counted.
Fortunately, the Washington (state) Supreme Court opinion, because it deals exclusively with state election law, is untouchable by Scalia & Krewe -- unless, of course, this time they're willing to say that the federal Constitution's guarantee to each State of "a republican form of government" means something more, uh -- "fundamentalist" -- than we've ever been led to believe before.
But, who knows? Before Rehnquist kicks off, they may just have another "Star Trek" opinion in them. ("To boldly go where no court has gone before!")
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Attack On Mosul Mess Tent Kills At Least Score Of Soldiers
Looks like Rummy will need to loosen up his condolences-signing hand . . . too bad the "cognitive dissonance" to the standard Orwellian misinformation shitstorm from yesterday's "news conference" comes not in the form of hard questions raised by a revitalized and skeptical press, but rather through more death and destruction.
Watched the Robert McNamara documentary ("The Fog of War") on the Independent Film Channel the other night, and had to laugh aloud when I saw, among the (largely Civil War-era) names that the military had assigned to battles during the Vietnam fiasco, one scrolled by on the screen as "Operation Certain Victory." I've been trying to track down just when that "mission [was] accomplished" (and more important, how many more soldiers died after that particular battle ended).
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Dowd To Rummy: Here's Your Lump Of Coal
I have plenty of issues with the Mother Of All Beltway Heathers, believe me, but this time Maureen Dowd sure seems to be channelling Frank Capra -- "It's A Not So Wonderful Life," with Rummy in the role of George Bailey:
Since Rummy hadn't been born, no American troops died or were maimed in Iraq. No American soldiers tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib. No Iraqi explosives fell into the hands of terrorists. . .
Saturday, December 18, 2004
God Save Us, Every One
Happy Holidays, everyone.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Creeping Elmer Gantryism Spreads Among Red State Judiciary
Ala. judge wears Ten Commandments on robe
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold.
Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan showed up Monday at his Covington County courtroom in southern Alabama wearing the robe. Attorneys who try cases at the courthouse said they had not seen him wearing it before. The commandments were described as being big enough to read by anyone near the judge.
* * * *
McKathan told The Associated Press that he believes the Ten Commandments represent the truth "and you can't divorce the law from the truth. ... The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong."
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That tears it -- I'm moving down to Alabama, and cornering the market on selling those mooks full facial tattoos of the Ten Commandments -- like Maori tribesmen.
"Why, you're just not a Christian if you won't go under the needle for the Law-erd!"
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Latest Factoid From The Ministry Of Truth: Lani Guinier Had "Nanny Problems"
Buried in the stories of Bernard Kerik's withdrawal of his name for head of Homeland Security, is this little bit of "revisionist history:"
Lani Guinier, a Clinton classmate at Yale University Law School, was the president's choice to head the Justice Department's civil rights division until it was learned that she had not paid taxes for a domestic worker.
No, no, no. Christ, this was not that long ago; some of us actually remember this: Kimba Wood had "nanny problems." Zoe Baird had "nanny problems." Lani Guinier, on the other hand, got smeared by the rightwing as "The Quota Queen," and her name was withdrawn because of her "controversial" writings about race and discrimination remedies.
I challenge anybody out there to find me a contemporaneous account (i.e., not written in the last few weeks or months) that shows that Lani Guinier had any "domestic help" controversies discussed in the media at the time of her Justice Dept. nomination, or its withdrawal shortly thereafter. This is such lazy, sloppy, dishonest reporting -- I expect to hear next that Robert Bork withdrew his name from consideration as a Supreme Court Justice because he smoked pot with his college students at parties!
Friday, December 10, 2004
The Heresies Of Parson Dubya
There's an excellent article in the Seattle Weekly featuring interviews with several liberal Christians, about why Bush's particular brand of "Christianity" is, in fact, its opposite:
[Trinity United Methodist Reverend Rich] Lang argues that followers of Jesus, not Bush, should call an Antichrist an Antichrist—or rather, its spirit. "The progressive church should bring back—and this sounds so crazy—the word 'heresy.' The end times theology and this other thing called Dominionism or Christian Reconstruction—those are heresies." Lang says not to believe Christian Coalition leader–turned–Whore of Enron–turned Bush/Cheney campaign lieutenant Ralph Reed when he claims the Christian right has no plans to upend the Constitution and impose its religion on civic life. "He's a liar," says Lang. "Dominionism is the notion that God has given the dominion, the governance of the world, to the church. And so Christians literally are born to rule, by force if necessary, to bring the Kingdom of God on Earth. I believe that the theology that drives the Bush administration affirms this." When Falwell preached, "We must take back what is rightfully ours," his ambitions did not stop at U.S. borders. This is a Church of a Law Unto Itself.
In the Greek, the word "anti" doesn't just mean "against." It also contains the meanings "equivalent to" or "a substitute for." Nero was anti-Christ because he falsely claimed to be God. The idea of deception is crucial. The Antichrist isn't the devil, the opposite of God. He's an evil human masquerading as a golden god. . . .
In this sense, the Bush church is Antichristlike indeed. It is institutionalized deception, anti-American ugliness with a beguiling face, a neocon job. Only when necessary does it employ the perilous bald-faced lie, the outrageously transparent duplicity—the political equivalent of Robertson arguing that "Do unto others" indicates Christ's support of capitalist selfishness. More often, a smoothly dissembling surface is preferred. Rove notoriously emulates Machiavelli; the Christian right is a stealth movement, infiltrating school boards and mainstream churches and every institution of democracy like a thief in the night—in order to undermine, overthrow, and replace democracy with theocracy. Bush is the father of lies. The Union of Concerned Scientists proclaims Bush's lies about science "unprecedented." In With God on Their Side, Kaplan concludes, on mountainous evidence, "The goal is not to engage your opponents in the public square, but to kneecap them, or send them into exile."
"It is a conspiracy in the sense that they have not been public and accountable to their ideology," says Lang. "Follow the money! The same filthy-rich foundations that have funded the rise of neocons are funding the rise of the religious right." He suggests that you check out the exposé Web site www.yuricareport.com for the terrifying particulars.
Listen, eight years of Cat'lick school left me a confirmed and consecrated agnostic. But I want this Rev. Lang and his spiritual comrades on the radio and TV, front and center, whenever they interview that vile little Pharisee, Falwell. "Fair and balanced," don'tcha know.
The Good Intentions Road Paving Company
(a Halliburton subsidiary)
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Some Of Those Who Are Forces / Will Be Those Who Burn Crosses
In the midst of a long, far-ranging post today on his blog, Informed Comment, Juan Cole discusses some testimony by
former Marine staff sergeant Jimmy Massey, who testified in favor of Army Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 26, who deserted just before the war and is seeking asylum in Canada. AP's Beth Duff-Brown reports that
"Massey . . . said his 7th Marines weapons company killed more than 30 civilians during a 48-hour period in April while stationed at a checkpoint in the southern Baghdad district of Rashid. The victims included unarmed demonstrators and a man who drove up in a car and raised his hands above his head in the universal symbol of surrender. "I know in my heart that these vehicles that came up, that they were civilians,'' he said. ''But I had to act on my orders. It's a struggle within my heart.'' The orders, he said, were to shoot at anyone who drove into what is known as the ''red zone'' surrounding the checkpoint because they could be suicide bombers. . . . I saw plenty of Marines become psychopaths. They enjoyed the killing.''
A Marine spokesman said that he did not want to suggest that Massey was lying, but insisted that Massey's interpretation of the situation was different from that of the corps.
Massey is being a little unfair. If you are in a guerrilla war zone and a car comes speeding at you and doesn't stop when so ordered, if you don't shoot the driver then you risk it being a car bomber who will kill you and your men. Of course civilians got killed that way, but it isn't clear that that is criminal as opposed to regrettable. But that some of the troops had a sadistic streak or thought all Arabs responsible for 9/11, etc., is also quite plausible. Those sadists aren't typical of the troops, but we know they exist. Timothy McVeigh took delight in blowing Iraqis away, during the Gulf War.
So, one more side effect of this war that we're bound to see in the future is many more hardened psychokiller Timothy McVeighs returning home to a shitty economy, a sleepwalking media and an indifferent public. Great. Thanks again, Dubya. Cheney. Rumsfeld.
What was that about "fighting them over there, so they don't attack us here," again?
A Return To "Soviet" Psychiatry For War Dissenters?
This story, published in Salon yesterday, should give us all pause:
Whitewashing torture?
A veteran sergeant who told his commanding officers that he witnessed his colleagues torturing Iraqi detainees was strapped to a gurney and flown out of Iraq -- even though there was nothing wrong with him.
The lunatics are quickly overrunning the asylum, folks -- and in their world, we're the crazy ones.
O Canada!
The Canadian Supreme Court, in an advisory opinion this morning, approved same-sex marriage as federal policy for the Great White North.
My (limited) understanding of Canadian constitutional law is that the Parliament must still pass enabling legislation, and the issue may still need to be litigated against the lone provincial holdout, Alberta (think of Texans transported to a frozen tundra), but that (as the Texans would say), "It's all over but the shoutin'."
(And a note to all purveyors of rightwing hate radio in this country: Some of us consider this a fundamental human-rights issue -- so please, no lame and predictable "Mountie" jokes, OK?)
Peter Beinart Is Still Drinking The Iraq War Kool-Aid. So Why Should We Listen To Him About Michael Moore And MoveOn.com?
David Niewert over at Ornicus rips Peter Beinert of the New Republic a well-deserved new one, in annotated detail, over Beinart's caricature-ridden slander that the left doesn't care at all about fighting the "war on terror."
I say "well-deserved," but it's also medically necessary -- after all, on the subject of the Iraq War, Peter Beinart is long past (shall we say) "maximally fulfilling his crap-containing capacity."
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Enough! The Next "Bipartisan Date Rape" They Try, We Go Full Lorena Bobbit On 'Em
Here's a welcome "alternative diagnosis" in contrast to all the Democratic handwringing I've seen of late:
First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less is you don’t resist and fight back. Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 56 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 56 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
At This Rate, We Should Declare War On Oil, Food And Shelter, And Universal Health Care
A Washington think tank has now concluded that our decades-long "War on Drugs" is a failure, given that illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin are now cheaper, purer and more readily available than ever before.
As with the "War on Terror," Americans have been asked to focus in this "war" exclusively on symptoms, and ignore causes. Similarly, it is anticipated that this bad news will prompt the Powers That Be to simply redouble their enforcement efforts, and impose more draconian punishments.
Yeah, that'll work.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Not Quite The Plummet From Thurgood To Clarence -- But Close
Unable to contain his enthusiasm for destroying All Things Fair And Just, the War-Criminal-In-Chief has now jumped the gun by weeks on replacing Mary Frances Berry, Chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission -- a veritable centurion in the battle for civil rights in this country, an Independent first appointed by President Carter -- with Gerald A. Reynolds, a recent laissez-faire corporate regulator and attorney, who detests affirmative action and can be expected to do the bidding of his less-pigmented GOP patrons.
Like Clarence Thomas, Mr. Reynolds can be expected to hold aloft the lamp at the far end of Liberty Street (now part of a "gated community") -- another Lawnjockey for Justice.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
The eternal Thompson gunner, still wandering through the night
Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun
And bought it.
Amazing, Isn't It?
How an "isolated few," in far-flung locations, spontaneously and in an uncannily similar manner, suddenly decided, on their own (in an organization whose essence is top-down authority) to violate a half a century's military-justice practice, and begin to act like Nazis?
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Cross Nostradamus With Ebenezer Scrooge, And Voila: H.L. Mencken
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-- H.L. Mencken, July 26, 1920
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Oh Would That It Were So
Unfortunately, it's a parody site.
More's the pity.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Be DoublePlus Afraid: Ahorita Viene Gonzales
Nat Hentoff makes the case to reject Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, in a Village Voice piece entitled Worse Than Ashcroft:
On November 10, [NPR's Nina] Totenberg quoted retired general Jim Cullen of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, who says Gonzales directly contradicted established military and international law. He added that Gonzales realized that "the Judge Advocate Generals' Corps would never sanction departures from the Geneva Conventions or engaging in practices that the common man would regard as torture."
Hentoff argues that those of us who value constitutional rights must always reject fascism -- even when it comes with a brown face.
