Two Prayers for the Price of One

Via the Rudepundit

According to a poll over at Fox "News," Republicans love America a fuck of a lot more than non-Republicans. 'Cause, see, while 52% of us "are more proud" to be Americans this happy Fourth O' July, 63% of Republicans are feelin' the pride bulge in their pants, compared to a pathetic, traitorous 44% of Democrats. (Independents, never able to figure out if they should shit or get off the pot, are at an expected 50%.) As for the converse, feelin' "less proud"? 14% of Dems, 2% of Repubs.

When people challenge my patriotism or question my pride in America I am always reminded of the following by Mark Twain. It was written about the U.S. crackdown on the Phillipines at the turn of the last century. It is worth reading again and again.

"It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in
arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism;
the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the
bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down
the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness
of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide
avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and
sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion
as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to
patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they
interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running
down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion
to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our
good cause in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.

It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half
dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a
doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry
warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of
sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came-next day the battalions would leave
for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their
faces alight with material dreams-visions of a stern advance, the
gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight
of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the
surrender!-then home from the war, bronzed heros, welcomed, adored,
submerged in golden seas of glory!

With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy,
and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to
send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or, failing,
die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter
from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was
followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse
the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out
that tremendous invocation --"God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!"

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like
of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The
burden of its supplication was that an ever--merciful and benignant
Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid,
comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield
them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in
the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their
flag and country imperishable honor and glory -

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless
step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body
clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair
descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face
unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him
and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended
to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting.

With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence,
continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words,
uttered in fervent appeal,"Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord
our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside
-- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some
moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes in which
burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne-bearing a message from Almighty God!"
The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he
gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd
and grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have
explained to you its import-that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto
many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it
is aware of-except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he
paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two- one uttered,
the other not. Both have reached the ear of His Who hearth all
supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this-keep it in mind.
If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you
invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the
blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are
possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not
need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer-the uttered part of it.
I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it-that part
which the pastor, and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently.
And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard
these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient.
The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words.
Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for
victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow
victory-must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening
spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He
commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts,
go forth to battle-be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go
forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with
our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of
their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the
shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their
humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of
their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out
roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of
their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun
flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn
with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it
-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives,
protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way
with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and
Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and
seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause)

"Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The
messenger of the Most High waits."

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic,
because there was no sense in what he said."

-Written by Twain during the American military's brutal and senseless
crackdown on the Philippines (1899-1902), which resulted in the deaths of
4,600 Americans and 272,000 Filipinos.

Unbelieveable...U.S. Made

I am happy to report, and much to my surprise, that I was able to buy a pair of athletic shoes just now that were made in America. I have been thinking that it was impossible, pretty much, to buy anything like clothes or shoes that were still made in the USA. New Balance 766 Athletic Shoes are and the tag on the shoe says so. As a bonus I got 4 pair of ankle length white socks and those guys are American made as well. Granted most of the other shoes in the New Balance store were Chinese made but these were the ones I was looking for to replace my old NB 765's so I lucked out in finding them.
Kinda neat to find them on the 4th of July too!

I used to sort of make it practice to buy U.S. made stuff when I could find it and I used to go out of my way to see if I could find it. It got so frustrating to not find anything anywhere that I kind of got out of the habit. Looks like I abandoned my fellow American workers too soon. I apologize and will once again make a genuine effort to find American made stuff.

Happy 4th Everybody...

Another One-A Liquid Man

While we are at it...here is another flash animation that is hypnotizing. I find myself just dragging my cursor around the screen for minute after minute watching the liguid man follow. It kind of gives you a sense of control or power but it also drifts over into caring and insuring that you do nothing too radical. It seems most beneficial to move slowly in large circles. More good time wasting therapy.

again via BoingBoing

Fascinating! I Think!

This flash animation is very cool, but also it is also kind of creepy, if you know what I mean. The mannequin seems to follow all the rules of physics she falls through an infinite collection of randomly shaped and spaced spheres. If the mannequin gets stuck, you can help her along with the cursor.) Watch for a few minutes and you seem to begin to identify with her predicament of falling without control, her only assistance being when you help her if she becomes lodged in some uncomfortable position and even your help seems degrading in a way. Still, all in all, it is fascinating in a kind of weird way.
See what I find when I have too much time on my hands!

Via BoingBoing

SCOTUS: Do Something

Via DavidNYC at KOS

Whatever happens with the Supreme Court nomination battle that is about to ensue, it's going to happen fast. Here are some things you can do right now:

* If you have a cell phone, sign up for People at the American Way's Mass Immediate Response site. This way, you'll be able to receive text message action items instantly as events break. (If you signed up during the nuclear option fight, you'll need to re-sign up.)

* Also sign up with the Save the Court, another PFAW website devoted specifically to this issue.

* Recruit friends and family members to the cause.

* Write to the President, telling him he should choose a consensus candidate to replace O'Connor.

* Contact your Senators to tell them the same thing.

If you have any other action items, please post them in the comments below, with links.

Trouble for Moderates

Whoever gets the nomination to replace Justice O'Connor will have a huge impact on the United States for most likely a long time. For the last 20 plus years, Justice O'Connor has been the only vote stopping a major shift to the radical right championed by Tony Scalia and Long Dong Silver Thomas. Her departure spells big trouble in the war against the radical right's complete take over of all three branches of the government. Yes, she is a conservative but she is moderate and a woman. Anybody appointed that is any further right than she will spell big trouble for reproductive rights especially if it is a man. Abortion Rights could be the biggest issue surrounding the nominee and people with a uterus could wind up the big losers.
The Bumbler in the Big House is effectively a lame duck and will not have to face the American public again regardless of his nomination. The yahoos in Congress, on the other hand, have an election coming pretty soon and you can expect devisive issues such as abortion rights to be a major issue in Congress' decision on a nominee. Most people in America are in favor of abortion rights and this can be definining issue for democrats if they will just go after it and quite letting Rove define them on every issue.
I won't be surprised to the see the right try and paint O'Connor as too liberal making it easier for them to try and justify someone further to the right. It's going to be a battle for sure and the fallout could set the U.S. human rights back a hundred years.

Update: Armando over at KOS has some much more definitive information

Told You So!

Check this link over at Left in SF
If you will recall last week my post on the Rove speech on how this was an opening shot in a classic propoganda ploy.
David over at Orcinus has the usual excellent analysis of the entire phenomena.
If you are so naive as to believe that the fascists in charge can't make the sheep start to accept this meme then I'm sorry for the shock you will have when it hits your life directly.
To quote David:

But there should be no real surprise that Rove made these remarks. They've been a long time coming. I mean, Ann Coulter published Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism two years ago. Sean Hannity's Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism came out a year ago. Michael Savage published The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Schools, Faith, and Military last year too. Meanwhile, there's been a steady drumbeat on the airwaves from Rush Limbaugh and his thousand little imitators making the same charges.

This is how propaganda is supposed to work: Circulate ideas on the popular level first, perhaps disguised as "humor" or "edgy commentary," until they become part of a broadly popular "conventional wisdom." Seemingly "outrageous" ideas gradually gain broader acceptance, leveraging the populace toward the movement's agenda. Then, when these notions are enunciated at the official and most powerful levels of government, any outrage that might be voiced is easily ignored. (Indeed, Rove's remarks are notable for being the embodiment of a panoply of propaganda techniques all rolled into one.)

Where in Hell?

(CNN) -- The number of Americans disapproving of President Bush's job performance has risen to the highest level of his presidency, according to the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.

According to the poll, 53 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bush's performance, compared to 45 percent who approved.

Answer me this. What part of hell do the 45 percent who still approve of Bush's job performance come from? The scary part is to ask yourself what he would have to do to make that 45% disapprove. Think about it.

Grand Theft Repuglican

Can somebody 'splain to me why this story is on not the front page of every freaking paper in the damn country. Do the news media in this country enjoy seeing their money pissed away/stolen so brazenly that they can't even mention it on the last damn page of the comics section. Gimme a break. This is what Bush ought to be explaining tonight instead of why we are so cocked up in Iraq.

The estimates of excessive spending and improper billing by Halliburton, a Texas-based company that provides logistical support and oil-field repairs in Iraq, are more than twice as high as those in previous official reports. The findings, including previously unpublicized internal Pentagon studies, were released at a Democrat-sponsored forum that was held, Democratic leaders maintained, because the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans have refused to hold the contractor accountable.

"The bottom line is, the Republican leadership in the Congress is giving Halliburton a free pass," said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey.

Large contracts awarded to the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root have been a focus of questions and criticism since even before the Iraq invasion in 2003, in part because some were awarded without competition and because of allegations that the company, formerly led by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, was aided by political connections. In some cases, the Pentagon has publicly complained about excess bills and reduced payments, but the audit figures released Monday suggest that billing disputes have been more extensive than previously disclosed.

[snip]

The hearing featured videotaped testimony from a former food manager in Iraq for Kellogg Brown & Root who said the dining hall where he worked in early 2004 charged the Army for 20,000 meals a day when it was only serving 10,000, routinely used expired foods and punished him for speaking to auditors by transferring him to the more dangerous outpost of Falluja.

[snip]

A new report, released on Monday by Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, and Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, quotes the chief of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, an internal Pentagon watchdog, as saying that "questioned" costs under the Logcap contract now total $813 million.

"Questioned" costs are defined by the agency as those "on which audit action has been completed" and "which are not considered acceptable." In the case of K.B.R., the agency found many expenditures to be "unreasonable in amount," meaning they were higher than necessary.

An Army Audit Agency report in November 2004, publicly described for the first time on Monday, found a pattern of duplicate billing and "excessive" costs in the logistics contract, including a charge of $152,000 to provide a movie library for 2,500 soldiers and the purchase of more than $500,000 worth of unneeded heavy equipment.

[snip]

Pentagon audits of the firm's performance under that second contract, known as RIO-1, have found $219 million in "questioned" costs, mainly because of what critics have called exorbitant fees paid for fuel imports in 2003.

K.B.R. received the oil-repair and fuel contract without competitive bidding, and after it had been secretly hired to detail the needs and likely costs of postwar oil repairs.

[snip]

Beyond the $1 billion in questioned costs, Pentagon auditors found that K.B.R. had not properly documented another $443 million in expenditures under the two largest contracts.

Kudos to Holden at First-Draft

Fried Green Tomatoes

It's been awhile since I talked about food here. Those of you who know me in real life know food is my great passion. Not a snob but passionate about good food. Tonight was the first fried green tomatoes of this summer. Not to blow my own horn but I can cook fried green tomatoes. Slap yo' mama good! Take really green tomatoes and slice about a quarter inch thick. Dipped in flour and then in fresh buttermilk before coating thoroughly in a mostly corn meal and flour dredge that has been salted and seasoned with cayenne and onion powder. Fried in about a quarter inch of peanut oil 'til crisp and golden. Lord ha' mercy they were fine.
Did I mention the buttermilk fried chicken and green beans?

Kristen on Karl - No Pulled Punches

Kristen Breitweiser does a masterful job of ripping off Turd Blossom's head and shoving it up his ass. You really must read the whole wonderful thing.

More to the point, Karl when you say, “Conservatives saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and prepared for war,” what exactly did you do to prepare for your war? Did your preparations include: sound intelligence to warrant your actions; a reasonable entry and exit strategy coupled with a coherent plan to carry out that strategy; the proper training and equipment for the troops you were sending in to fight your war? Did you follow the advice of experts such as General Shinseki who correctly advised you about the troop levels needed to actually succeed in Iraq? No, you didn't.

It has always been America's policy that you only place soldiers' lives in harm's way when it is absolutely necessary and the absolute last resort. When you send troops into combat you support those troops by providing them with proper equipment and training. Why didn't you do that with the troops that you sent into Iraq? Why weren't their vehicles armored? Why didn't they have protective vests? Why weren't they properly trained about the rules of interrogation? And Karl, when our troops come home – be it tragically in body bags or with missing limbs – you should honor and acknowledge their service to their country. You shouldn't hide them by bringing them home in the dark of night. Most importantly, you should take care of them for the long haul by giving them substantial veteran's benefits and care. To me, that is being patriotic. To me, that is how you support our troops. To me, that is how you show that you know the value of a human life given for its country.

Stab In The Back Time

I just want to go on record here with a warning concerning the latest strategy by Rove and the upcoming speech by Dipstick at Fort Bragg.
They have figured out that they are losing the game. The razzle-dazzle they used in the first term is no longer as effective and hence the falling poll numbers.
Solution? Shift responsibility for the disaster in Iraq to the liberals. That was the purpose in Rove's appearance in New York. Begin the effort to shift the blame.
The liberals didn't support the troops and we lost the war.
The liberals didn't suppport the president in his glorious struggle against terrorism and we lost the war.
The liberals wouldn't let us get the information we needed from prisoners and we lost the war.
The liberals questioned the reasons for war and we lost.
The liberals encouraged the enemy with lies about torture and we lost.
The liberals whined for a pullout of troops and invigorated the insurgents and we lost the war.
You will here it more and more from now on out and you will here it from Bush at Ft. Bragg. It won't be as virulent and openly nasty as Rove but it will be there. Some references about failing support for the war and questioning the purpose. A lack of resolve to fight terrorism. Forgeting the tragedy of 9/11 and relaxing the vigilance. It will all be in the Ft. Bragg speech in one form or another.
Listen closely and remember that the true motive is to gradually reinforce the meme that the liberals, by questioning the President and the torture and the reasons for war have given aid and comfort to the enemy and are therefore traitors to the glorious cause of spreading democracy and the reason we have lost the war in Iraq. Mark my words.

Whoop Ass Wallflower

If you are not a regular visitor to Shakespeare's Sister, then you should be. Otherwise, you will miss posts like this.
BTW it is also the place to keep track of the what's happening on the Downing Street Memos.

Change the Rules - Win the Game

Billmon over at the Whiskey Bar has an excellent analysis of Karl Rove's latest bullshit and reminds us that, regardless of out disgust, he remains a dangerous adversary. We should never forget that he has been quite successful over the years of whipping us with our own sticks and taking advantage of our inability or unwillingness to crawl down into the gutter with him.

So Rove is falling back on his classic strategy of rallying the base. What's more, he's mainlining it a much rawer and more savage version of the conservative message than the White House usually permits itself. While the customary surrogates -- Fox News, Rush, the blogger hyena pack -- have snarled and snapped, the results apparently have been found wanting. Now Bush's "brain" is stepping into the ring himself.

But, like fellow psychopath Mike Tyson, Rove isn't just telegraphing his punches, he's also displaying the depths of his fear. The rhetorical ear chewing and head butting is a clear sign the champ doesn't have the juice any more, and knows it. Rove is trying to get by on sheer intimidation. He's pushing as many primordial conservative buttons as he can -- leaning on them, in fact -- in hopes he can once again make the dreaded liberals the story, not the march of folly currently sinking into the Iraqi quicksands.

This is going to get uglier and uglier.

Bye, Bye Fifth

Remember when a man's home was his castle and that only a legitimate public need could cause you to lose your home. Well congratulations because the next wealthy developer that thinks your neigborhood would make a nice mall or office complex can take it with no problem. The Supreme court just took another big bite out of the Constitution.

Via CNN

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development.

It was a decision fraught with huge implications for a country with many areas, particularly the rapidly growing urban and suburban areas, facing countervailing pressures of development and property ownership rights.

<>

As a result, cities have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes to generate tax revenue.

Scratch one Fifth Ammednment. We are so fucked!

Watch What You Say

Well, there is another blow to the right of free speech and truth. Hewitt, Limbaugh, Savage, Frist, DeLay and the rest including fellow democrats have successfully swept more of the Bush crimes under the carpet. They have reinforced the notion that it is not allowed to question the actions of Bush and company and certainly not allowed to question their treatment of prisoners. This will surely chill any thought of courage and any willingness to stand up to the bastards for while.
Remember that it is treason to question our "dear leader" and the cesspool he has created. Ignore the anti-american whirlwind that is blowing across the rest of the planet. If the world thinks we are bad now just wait till Bush and company cash this latest blank check. We are so fucked!

From The Observer

"Under fire from Republicans and some fellow Democrats, Sen. Dick Durbin apologized Tuesday for comparing American interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to Nazis and other historically infamous figures.
"Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line," the Illinois Democrat said. "To them I extend my heartfelt apologies."
His voice quaking and tears welling in his eyes, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate also apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks."

Global Warming, Global Denial, Global Assholes

The following from the Observer just goes to show you that my continued assertion that Bush and company are completely detached from the real world and are, in fact, certifiably insane. Can someone explain to me how they can actually sleep at night? Are they that convinced that the American people are so hypnotized by FOX or programmed by the education system that they are not aware of this shit?

Extraordinary efforts by the White House to scupper Britain's attempts to tackle global warming have been revealed in leaked US government documents obtained by The Observer.
These papers - part of the Bush administration's submission to the G8 action plan for Gleneagles next month - show how the United States, over the past two months, has been secretly undermining Tony Blair's proposals to tackle climate change.
The documents obtained by The Observer represent an attempt by the Bush administration to undermine completely the science of climate change and show that the US position has hardened during the G8 negotiations. They also reveal that the White House has withdrawn from a crucial United Nations commitment to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions.
The documents show that Washington officials:
• Removed all reference to the fact that climate change is a 'serious threat to human health and to ecosystems';
• Deleted any suggestion that global warming has already started;
• Expunged any suggestion that human activity was to blame for climate change.
Among the sentences removed was the following: 'Unless urgent action is taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible long-term changes to our climate and oceans.'
Another section erased by the White House adds: 'Our world is warming. Climate change is a serious threat that has the potential to affect every part of the globe. And we know that ... mankind's activities are contributing to this warming.

Keep Hoping, Keep Hoping
Can we say Impeachment and prison?

I Need Some Outrage

I was kind of hoping that my week away from the internet and constant exposure would some how magically renew my damaged “soul” but I am afraid I “mis-underestimated” the depth to which the right would stoop.
The right wing whackos are now calling Senator Durbin a traitor for repeating what an FBI agent reported and being aghast at the abuse of prisoners at Gitmo. They are deliberately twisting his remarks and saying that he is calling all American soldiers Nazi’s. The are lying with their eyes wide open and hoping the sheep follow right along.
What is so frightening is that they seem to be succeeding into morphing the question of whether torture of prisoners is right or wrong but one of treason for even admitting that it is being done.

I actually think my psyche is being overwhelmed. We really can’t let this happen.

I don’t think the average American realizes what a serious impact this kind of behavior on the part of Americans means to the rest of the world and to ourselves. The moral cost is monstrous. Americans like to see themselves as a moral people. We look with pride on our historic fights for human rights and freedom. Remember that we, as Americans, don’t have an ancient history of thousands of years nor any great traditions that act as the glue for the country. All we have is our short history and our resistance to tyranny here and abroad to give ourselves meaning. This is all we have and mistreating prisoners and then refusing to admit it makes the world see our moral claims and “holier-than-thou” attitude as meaningless hypocrisy. Worse, it removes all our own claims to a national identity based upon what’s right, fair and good. If the country as a whole ever lets what has been going on in our name really sink in it will be a huge deflation of the national ego. All the morality aside, there is also our defense of the “rule of law” as a foundation of American democracy. Forget the absolute moral collapse; consider the collapse of the law. We harp endlessly on the fact that no country or government is above the law while at the very same moment ignoring our most solemn commitments to international law regarding the treatment of prisoners. What is left to us if there is no law left for us to revere?

Ever since the short outrage over the photographs from Abu Ghraib prison it seems we have become immured to the daily reports, if they are even carried by American media, of the cruelties and indignities inflicted on prisoners at Gitmo. Not only are we seeming to ignore Gitmo we seem also immune to the reports of prisoners being beaten to death by American soldiers and of unknown numbers of others held in secret locations by the CIA and others rendered for torture to places like Uzbekistan. Have Americans ceased to care?
We are a party to The Geneva Conventions, which protect people captured in conflict, and they prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment." We are quick to claim them for our own troops but we allow Bush and company to ignore them with impunity?
We are also a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture which requires signatories to "prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction ... cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." But we allow the Bush administration to declare this provision doesn’t apply to the treatment of non-Americans held outside the United States?
Lastly, there is the Uniform Code of Military Justice which makes cruelty, oppression or "maltreatment" of prisoners a crime. Have we allowed Bush to trump even our own law?

This situation is really dragging me down as I wait for the outrage. Where is the outrage? Where is the impeachment?

We're Back

Ok..got the Natchez Trace done and it is worth the time. Checked in on Mom and Grand Ma. Back home and while I did put 2200 miles on the car I am not too tired. Back to the old grind tomorrow and I am extremely disappointed in you guys. I expected an impeachment and multiple life sentences at Gitmo while I was gone. Just because Tbogg and I take a week off does not mean you are allowed to slack off. Jane has kept busy agitating and stuff so all is not wasted. Going to take me a few days to catch up but is am going as fast as I can.
Later.

Muscle Shoals

Well we've made it to Muscle Shoals home of some of the greatest rock and roll recordings. So far the drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway has been great. No problems with the weather as Arlene stayed a little more east than originally predicted.
Natchez is charming and has over 500 buildings on the National Register...no time to see them all but Rosalie was worth the trip alone. The drive from Natchez to Jackson is just full of places to see the history of the area and the park service has done a wonderful job. I don't feel so bad about taxes when I see these kind of results. Jackson to Tupelo is another great leg with historical stops the entire way. This is the longest day with 160 miles or so to travel....that doesn't sound like much but when you ar stopping every five miles to look at some historical site....it adds up to a full day. the speed limit is 50 as well.
Jackson to Tupelo and the birthplace of Elvis Presley...nuff said. More good stuff along the way.
Finally a short jaunt to Muscle Shoals/Tuscumbia/Sheffield. Tuscumbia is the birthplace of Helen Keller and you can tour the house and grounds of Ivy Green where she was born and lived until she went off to school.
Tomorrow is the last leg to Nashville only we will stop in Franklin, TN which has some historical interest and where we have never been.
Next off to the hills of Virginia/West Virginia to see Mom for a few days. All in all a good week. Probably 1500 plus miles by the time it is all over and we are back home but not too hectic.

Off into the Storm

Excellent Timing once again. Out trip alongthe Natchez Trace over the coming days is going to coincide with tropical storm Arlene's tour ofthe Natchez Trace. Might get a little wet before it is all over. Fortunately the storm should only be with us over the weekend.
Limited access from the road so don't expect much from this side. Maybe a Balckberry message or two.
On the Road Again!

No Wishy-Washy On This

From the AP and NTodd

JERUSALEM - Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's
Gaza Strip evacuation — a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea.


Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown.

The army employed the new device, which it dubbed "The Scream," at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head.

NTodd is on the fence about whether a device like this can be considered violent, irrespective of the lethalness. I submit that anything used to make innocent people do things against their will is force. Anything that allows the police, government or military to prevent peaceful protest and assembly by force is supression and wrong. Just because this is non-lethal just makes it possible to go all wishy-washy in opposing it. This is one of those black and white things. It's the same argument about how much pain can you inflict on someone before it becomes torture. The reality is that even suggesting that you will inflict pain on someone in your custody is torture. The end never justifies the means.

Meat Grinder or Robots Are Us

Riggsveda over at Corrente has another good post up about education. This one talks about the impact of the attack on education funding (Pell Grants) on the lower and middle class but also introduces us to John Taylor Gatto and Alexander Inglis.
I know, for myself, that I really didn’t begin to become “educated” until I left the formal educational system and I suspect many others have that same sense. If I hadn’t been fortunate enough to be in Hawaii in the service at the right time I would not have connected to several people at the East-West Center that introduced me to the possibility of actual thought as separate from education. There is a very interesting quote from Gatto referencing Inglis’ on the actual functions of public education and I must say, when I think about them, they make absolute sense. It also strengthens my conviction that until you can separate yourself from the structured educational system you will not actually “learn” anything and will definitely not learn how to think or should I say “not think” and thereby open yourself to the actual universe. The post is quite worthwhile and the quote below from Gatto is worth some serious contemplation.

"Inglis breaks down the purpose - the actual purpose - of modem schooling into six basic functions, any one of which is enough to curl the hair of those innocent enough to believe the three traditional goals listed earlier:
1) The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.
2) The integrating function. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.
3) The diagnostic and directive function. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one.
4) The differentiating function. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best.
5) The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain.
6) The propaedeutic function. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor."

Ask yourself. What will be more important as the wealthy in America continue to widen the gap between the have and the have nots? It seems to me that a subservient working class, under educated and unchallenging is just the ticket. As Riggsveda asks;

Eliminate meaningful education, eliminate the means to get one, and remove the books and other human communications that could enable one to get an education on one's own. Demonize the mere idea of being educated, and the people themselves will do the rest. The fat cats can sit back and let the money roll in, while the endless supply of coolies keep coming down the pipeline.

Worth a little thought I think.

Billie Holiday

The Postmistress just delivered my latest gift to myself from Amazon...
Billie Holiday - Greatest Hits and Billie Holiday The Ultimate Collection

The Greatest hits one are all songs recorded for Columbia at Vocation and Brunswick between 1933 and 1942 and are one of the great recording collections of the 20th century...not just my opinion. I can't believe I waited so long to buy this.

The second is a new collection that does contain some of the above recordings (4 or 5) but covers her entire career up until 1958. 42 recordings in all. The bonus is a DVD of rare appearances on TV and film.

Overdose time.

Need a Two by Four

The Farmer over at Corrente has posted some extracts from a monograph by W.J. Cash originally published in The American Mercury in 1929. It is titled The Mind of the South. This is in response to a post by Tom questioning the dogged determination of apparently a majority of Americans to refuse to accept, at least publicly, that the American ideal is rapidly turning to shit and the pigs are eating it. I won’t post the whole thing here since you can click on the link and read it over there but I really was struck by one paragraph.

It is not without a certain aptness, then, that the Southerner’s chosen drink is called moonshine. Everywhere he turns away from reality to a gaudy world of his own making. He declines to conceive of himself as the mad king’s "poor, bare, forked animal"; in his own eyes, he is eternally a noble and heroic fellow. He has always displayed a passion for going to war. He pants after Causes and ravening monsters— witness his perpetual sweat about the nigger. (No matter whether the black boy is or is not a menace, he serves admirably as a dragon for the Southerner to belabor with all the showiness of a paladin out of a novel by Dr. Thomas Dixon. The lyncher, in his own sight, is a Roland or an Oliver, magnificently hurling down the glove in behalf of embattled Chastity.)

That paragraph pretty well sums up the state of affairs. For years I have been struggling with trying to understand why it appears the American people are so hell bent on ignoring the realities of the world. How they can convince themselves that driving an SUV is OK? How they can convince themselves to buy all this artificial, chemically modified, poisonous food and turn right around at feed it to their babies? How they can elect and then re-elect such an obviously venal, morally bankrupt, and weak minded man like George W. Bush to the Presidency of the United States? It staggers the mind. This monograph has finally opened the door a little.

It is not that they are stupid. They see and just flat refuse to accept it as reality…and it is cultural. It has been bred and indoctrinated into them from their first consciousness. Their Christian Church teaches them and their peers teach them and parents teach them and TV teaches them to ignore what they see and accept what we say. Ignore the man behind the curtain. How else can you explain the U.S. being the only country in the world to reject the Kyoto protocol and it is just dandy with the majority of the population? They are mentally incapable of accepting the fact that millions of their fellow Americans are without medical care and that millions of American children are going to bed hungry every night and are chronically undernourished. This is the greatest country on earth. That can’t happen here! This explains why it has taken so long for the majority to realize that we are in a no win situation in Iraq and that instead of actually making us more secure it is making us less so. It is not a large majority but at least it is beginning to be such a big elephant in the room that it is sinking in.

So I guess the answer is that we on the “reality based side” are just going to have to keep repeating the reality over and over until it begins to register. It’s kind of like the old saw about the getting the mule’s attention with a two by four. We need to scratch our fingers on the blackboard, bang the gong, shoot off fireworks, and stand in their faces and shout the truth before it will catch. There is hope but we are going to have to overcome years of programming.

Evidently The Mind of the South is still available from places like Amazon.
More on WJ Cash (including the original TMS 1929 American Mercury manuscript) here: WJ Cash.org

Free Beethoven from the BBC

The BBC is offering all 9 of Beethoven's in MP3 for free of the next month or so. The 1st and 3rd are available now.

Download all nine of Beethoven's symphonies here the day after they are broadcast. All the symphonies are performed by BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.

Symphonies 1 & 3 will be broadcast on Monday 6th June, and available to download from Tuesday 7th June to Monday 13th June.

Symphonies 2, 4 & 5 will be broadcast on Tuesday 7th June, and available to download from Wednesday 8th June to Tuesday 14th June.

Symphony 6 will be broadcast on Monday 27th June, and available to download from Tuesday 28th June to Monday 4th July.

Symphony 7 will be broadcast on Tuesday 28th June, and available to download from Wednesday 29th June to Tuesday 5th July.

Symphony 8 will be broadcast on Wednesday 29th June, and available to download from Thursday 30th June to Wednesday 6th July.

Symphony 9 will be broadcast on Thursday 30th June, and available to download from Friday 1st July to Thursday 7th July.

Cool!

UPDATE: Here is another site that offers free classical music for download as well

Keep Calm or Panic! Whichever

Jane at Firedoglake is continuing her coverage of the potential disaster that is hanging over our heads with the economy. She is doing a great job. Go read it.

Rewriting Clinton's Presidency -- Not Nice

Michael Tomasky of The American Prospect has an excellent article posted online. He reminds us of one of the agendas of the right that I think we ignore to our peril. This is their constant and purposeful attempt to paint the Clinton era as a miserable failure instead of the success it was, inspite of their best efforts to impeach him for nothing. If we allow this meme to survive unchallenged we risk it becoming the same sort of right wing myth as Al Gore and the Internet. We should challenge this lie at every utterance with the facts. The only way they can justify their insane support for "The Worst President Ever!" is to try and hide his atrocious record from the light that radiates from the Clinton Whitehouse.

Tomasky writes:

But there is another reason these anti-Clinton tomes still appear with regularity, and liberals who criticize the Clintons from the left need to recognize it: The right knows that if its historical interpretation of Clintonism can prevail, liberalism as a project can be killed for decades. That is, if they can convince America over the next few crucial years (crucial because historical interpretations of Clintonism are just really beginning) that the Clinton era was not one of prosperity, peace, and a demonstration that government can deliver common goods but was, instead, one of corruption, turpitude, and a fat and happy people discarding moral values for the sake of higher mutual-fund values, they will have won an extremely important argument with serious long-term ramifications.

Bullshit! Hateful Bullshit!

My, My, SO this is compassionate conservatism. Thanks for straightening me out I thought it was a spiteful and hateful overreaching of government intervention in personal liberty and states rights. Their special place in hell just got markedly warmer.

In a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled the Bush administration can block the backyard cultivation of pot for personal use, because such use has broader social and financial implications.

I drag the following rant from an unknown source out when I can’t think of anything more pungent to say----

In a country where the poor and old cannot afford health care, in a country where the economy is falling apart, in a country where 44 million people live on less than $12,000 dollars a year, in a nation where 5 million people are homeless, in a country where the entire media system is owned by only six media mega conglomerates, in a nation with the highest crime rate, in a country with the world's largest prison population, in a society where 60% of marriages end in divorce, in a country where 25% of kids under 12 live in poverty, in a country that cut 25 billion dollars out of veterans benefits to help pay for a new war, in a country where the gulf between the rich and poor is growing everyday, in a nation that supports dictatorships in Saudi, Egypt, and Turkey, in a country where the government is full of corruption, in a country with the world's highest teen suicide and stress rates, and you're telling me our biggest problems are TERRORISM and DRUGS?

UPDATE: Digby does a fine analysis.

Clueless in Washington

Jane at firedoglake has excerpted a must read post by the oldman over at BOP. It is the usual masterful discussion of the current economic situation and some thoughtful prognosis on what may occur. I’m afraid none of it is good news. An important concept or thread that runs through the entire article is the reality that the Bush administration is totally bankrupt both intellectually and morally. The following excerpt says it quite clearly.

That is the essential point to grasp, that the guys in three-piece suits and the guys in wife-beaters neither of them have any fucking clue what is really going on much less where to take this country. They are literally making up shit and hoping that the world doesn't catch on that they don't have any idea what is going on. And everything comes from that original mendacity. The legal torture memos of Gonzales and the pissing on Korans in Gitmo all stem from the same root. THESE GUYS DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING.

White Trash- Is Not!

While I am not in agreement with Amanda over at Pandagon over either MiracleWhip (a proper BLT requires it) or mayonnaise (a properly made one). I can agree with her over the following recipe from Amber Pawlik for veggie pizza (via Gavin at Sadly No!). It is, in fact, just so wrong.

INGREDIENTS
2 cans of Crescent Rolls
2 8 oz packages softened cream cheese
1 cup Miracle Whip
1 Package of Ranch Dressing Mix (Dry)
2 cups fresh broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
4 oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

It is also wrong for Amanda to represent this as "White Trash" cooking. I am pretty much an expert on this particular type of American cooking and this recipe has nothing to recommend it to that "high art". Proper "White Trash" cooking is not necessarily driven by hard and fast rules but there are some qualities that must be met before a recipe can be awarded that kind of status. This concoction misses on several points.
The first is the Crescent Roll thing. Everyone knows the only worthwhile bread out of a can is buttermilk biscuits.
Second is the use of fresh vegetables when it always canned or frozen for a true "White Trash" creation.
Lastly, who ever heard of using anything but Velveeta cheese to cook with? BTW by Velveeta I actually mean that process cheese that comes in the 5 pound tubes from the USDA food give away program but only a few of us on the Internet actually had to live on that stuff and knows what it is.
Lastly, Lastly, everyone knows you can't make a pizza without tomato sauce straight from the can.
Here is a proper veggie pizza in the true "White Trash" style:

INGREDIENTS
2 cans of buttermilk biscuits(not the flaky kind) spread out and mashed into a pizza shape
1 can tomato sauce spread on
2 cans Veg-All drained (if you want a meat pizza instead lose the Veg-all and substitute 5 cut up Slim-Jims)
4 oz. Velveeta or other process cheese shredded over the top

Feel Safer?

U.S. Relaxing Troop Standards

The US military has stopped battalion commanders from dismissing new recruits for drug abuse, alcohol, poor fitness and pregnancy in an attempt to halt the rising attrition rate in an army under growing strain as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An internal memo sent to senior commanders said the growing dropout rate was "a matter of great concern" in an army at war. It told officers: "We need your concerted effort to reverse the negative trend. By reducing attrition 1%, we can save up to 3,000 initial-term soldiers. That's 3,000 more soldiers in our formations."

Just for Google Fun

Downing Street Memo
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Big Time Signatures

Shakespeare's Sister is reporting that there are now over 100,000 signatures on the letter to Bush from John Conyers. If you are a blogger and haven't signed the letter or haven't joined the Big Brass Alliance then do so right this minute. You can join the alliance by emailing Pam at Shakespeare's Sister or to the Big Brass Blog itself mail [at]bigbrassblog.com.

The Downing Street Memo needs all the air it can get.

Finally the Weekend

Another grueling week is over..thank me. As you can see not much activity on the weblog other than some stolen stuff. I've got several fairly big projects to finish in July which includes a week of vacation. I didn't get my Q2 MBOs until last week and there is a lot to do. Yes, I did whine that two thirds of the quarter were already gone and that it was pretty lousy management. There will really be some noise if I miss a quarterly bonus as a result.
Atlanta has had some really less than perfect weather over the last few days and it looks to stay with us for a few more. Madame is all in a twist that it will be bad for our little holiday week after next but I keep assuring her that it will be fine. We've decided to drive the Natchez Trace from South to North over a few days and just follow our noses, stopping when we want. I made hotel reservations for five nights in Natchez, Jackson, Tupelo,MS, Muscle Shoals, AL and Franklin, TN and those are only 100 - 150 miles apart. Shouldn't be in a rush to get anywhere. I'm looking forward to it.
Just went down to the kitchen to get another coffee and noticed all the activity in the back yard. Woodpecker city! Two red-headed, a downy, a hairy, a red-bellied and a common flicker all at once. Must get some more suet when I go out...Of course, the down side of feeding the wildlife are the less than desirables, crows and even the occasional rat. I don't think there is any way to avoid them when there is food available. Oh well...all the goddess' creatures and all.
I hope to be a little more active the coming week but we'll have to see. Lots going on and some of it means I will have to waste the 45 minutes each way to drive to the office. I really hate that.
Ok, so now off on the Saturday rounds. Later...and there does seem to be some sun shining for a change better get it while I can.

Books Bad, Very Bad They Are

Preposterous Universe points us to something very interesting via Wonkette) who points to an enlightening list at Human Events Online -- The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. As voted on by leading conservative thinkers!

• The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels
• Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler
• Quotations from Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong
• The Kinsey Report, Alfred Kinsey
• Democracy and Education, John Dewey
• Das Kapital, Karl Marx
• The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
• The Course of Positive Philosophy, August Comte
• Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche
• General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, John Maynard Keynes

Did you ever you think you would see Mein Kampf on the same book list with The Feminine Mystique?

However the list of runners-up is just as interesting and in many ways more telling.

• The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich
• What Is To Be Done, V.I. Lenin
• Authoritarian Personality, Theodor Adorno
• On Liberty, John Stuart Mill
• Beyond Freedom and Dignity, B.F. Skinner
• Reflections on Violence, Georges Sorel
• The Promise of American Life, Herbert Croly
• Origin of the Species, Charles Darwin
• Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault
• Soviet Communism: A New Civilization, Sidney and Beatrice Webb
• Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead
• Unsafe at Any Speed, Ralph Nader
• Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir
• Prison Notebooks, Antonio Gramsci
• Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
• Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon
• Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud
• The Greening of America, Charles Reich
• The Limits to Growth, Club of Rome
• Descent of Man, Charles Darwin

I, for the life of me, can't figure out why Silent Spring is on the list. But as Sean points out it's Darwin's appearance that is most telling. If this really does
represent how the so-called mainstream conservatives think then they are really intellectually bankrupt.


You do have to consider who was on the committee however and that list is pretty interesting in itself.
Harry Crocker, Vice President & Executive Editor, Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Phyllis Schlafly, President, Eagle Forum
among others...

War Crimes are for Real and Bush Should Pay

There is an excellent a very detailed article by Matthew Rothschild, of the The Progressive concerning the apparent impunity of Rumsfeld and Bush with respect to war crimes. Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, the American Bar Association, and Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) have joined in a call for a special prosecutor. But, guess what, that decision is up to Gonzales and ultimately Bush. These guys have managed, with the appointment of Abu Gonzales to immunize themselves from any prosecution for their crimes.
It is imperative that that issue be kept alive in the media and on the internet. It would be the greatest travesty if these bastards got away with this unscathed. Bush and Cheney should not be allowed to just dismiss the opinions of all of these respected human rights organizations by just saying their findings are absurd. Somebody in the media have to call them on it and keep pressing. It is probably too much to expect our media to do the job.

Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA say there is "prima facie" evidence against Rumsfeld for war crimes and torture. And Amnesty International USA says there is also "prima facie" evidence against Bush for war crimes and torture. (According to Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "prima facie evidence" is "evidence sufficient to establish a fact or to raise a presumption of fact unless rebutted.")

The Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture all prohibit the torture and abuse that the United States has been inflicting on detainees. Article 2 of the Convention Against Torture states that "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."

Article VI of the Constitution makes treaties "the supreme law of the land," and the President swears an oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed. Bush has violated his oath of office not only in this but in many ways.

Here is the White House response from Scotty

"The allegations are ridiculous and unsupported by the facts," McClellan said. "The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity. We have liberated fifty million people in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . . We're also leading the way when it comes to spreading compassion."

Gag me with a spoon! When did death, maiming and misery become compassion?

Foot in Mouth

Looks like there is a central message breakdown at Fox, or at least in the London branch. An article in Slate notes the following quote from Scott Norvell the London bureau chief for Fox News. This evidently only appeared in the Euro edition of the Wall Street Journal so damage as been pretty well contained.

Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind.

Fox News is, after all, a private channel and our presenters are quite open about where they stand on particular stories. That's our appeal. People watch us because they know what they are getting. The Beeb's institutionalized leftism would be easier to tolerate if the corporation was a little more honest about it.

This happened on May 20th and you notice that all the main stream media jumped on it here.

Fer Chrissake!

Bob Moser writes in Rolling Stone

It's February, and 900 of America's staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to look back on what they accomplished in last year's election

SNIP

the name of the conference: RECLAIMING AMERICA FOR CHRIST

SNIP

they kick off the festivities with "Soldiers of the Cross, Arise," the bloodthirstiest tune in all of Christendom: "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."

SNIP

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government.

SNIP

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," Kennedy says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

SNIP

In the conference's opening ceremony, the Dominionists recite an oath they dream of hearing in every classroom: "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe."

Enough Said...

Lies Need Attention

Thank goodness for John Conyers. He is making sure the continuing lies of Shrub and company aren't completely ignored by the media. He is trying to get 100,000 signatures on a letter he will present to flightsuit demanding accountability.

If true, these assertions indicate that not only had our nation secretly and perhaps illegally agreed to go to war by the summer of 2002, but that we had gone on to take specific and tangible military actions before asking Congress or the United Nations for authority.

Thus, while there is considerable doubt as to whether the U.S. had authority to invade Iraq, given, among other things, the failure of the U.N. to issue a follow-up resolution to the November 8, 2002 Resolution 1441, it would seem that the act of engaging in military action via stepped up bombing raids that were not in response to an actual or imminent threat before our government asked for military authority would be even more problematic from a legal as well as a moral perspective.

You can sign the petition here. It will only take a second.

Thanks to Jane at Firedoglake for the lead and I'm pretty sure the missing WMD are in my briefcase somewhere and not in her couch.

Lazy Holiday Weekend

Finally, a lazy weekend with nothing pressing. No little jobs, no little errands, no nothing. Just put a nice little Boston Butt, a slab of ribs and a free range chicken in the smoker and in just 6- 8 hours it will render an array of delicious BBQ. Got a couple of six packs of Anchor Steam Liberty Ale chilling in the fridge. I can't see anything wrong with the world right now(If I don't think beyond my own little world). I don't have to travel next week. Tomorrow is the annual Memorial day shindig on the square which is always pretty nice. The city and the Rotary do a nice job and a couple of thousand people turn up to eat some Slopes BBQ and listen to patiotic speeches and honor our men and women, past and present who sacrificed for our liberty. I'll get to stand up when they call out for all the Navy vets to stand and I'll get to tear up when out pipe and drums pipe in the colors with Amazing Grace and march around the grounds with Scotland the Brave.
I always have a good time even now when I am so distressed about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wasted lives. Was it last year or the year before when Paul Tibbets was the guest of honor? I got him to autograph his biography.
Everyone make sure you take time this weekend to fly the flag and stop to honor all the men and women who have served and are serving.
Right now America is sucking a lot but its heart is still there and I can only hope that this current nightmare will be over soon.

Change in the Wind?

The USA Today poll has a very interesting piece of information. It seems that 53% of Americans polled would likely vote for Madame Clinton if she elected to run in 2008.

For the first time, a majority of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday.

I have said all along that Clinton would be a formidable candidate and while she is not as progressive as I and her liberal credentials are a little shredded by political necessities I still think it might make sense.

I am quite sure the right wing crazies are going to go ballistic of this poll and shit a brick. And frankly, just watching them foam at the mouth would be worth it.

They, of course, will try and stick every dirty Repug trick on her and paint her as a hyper-liberal witch that eats babies. If you think Kerry got whacked and jerked around just watch what they try and do to Mrs. Bubba. Hillary has already survived a lot and after what she saw them do to Bill I think she might be just strong enough to take the bastards on. Granted she has moved to the center but I actually don't think anyone more left has much of a chance in America today to be President.

Who would the Repugs run against her? Condi to counter the female vote? It is interesting to speculate. Maybe a Clinton/Edwards ticket would have a better than average chance especially when you extrapolate the current situation with Iraq, Afghanistan, Social Security, enviromental policy and the assault on the constituion that is starting to bubble up in the average person's conciousness. Hillary's 53% is a lot better that bunnypants' approval right now and I really can't see what could improve his numbers all that much.

Most of all I miss the Big Dog and would sure like to see him back in the White House even if he is the First Gentleman.

Distraction is the Game

Bill Maher posts over at Huffington in response to Congressman Bachus and his attack over Bill's frsutration and remark concerning the lack of success in the U.S. recruiting efforts recently. It points out a clear fact the we on the left don't pay attention to often enough. A common tactic of the extremist right is to shift the dialogue to some small fraction of the overall conversation and ignore the whole conversation. Focus on some bit of the dialogue that can be taken out of context and turned into a controvesial hook to distract from the overall conversation. Bill does a good job of bringing the subject back to the real issue and that is all the time we are spending wringing our hands over bullshit instead of the important stuff. We really need to pay attention and keep redirecting the dialogue to where it needs to be.

183.5 Million and Counting

While we all focus on Paris Hilton and her latest demonstration of good taste and hamburger marketing, Sean over at Preposterous Universe has some happy facts. He takes us on a merry walk through the 20th century and the shameful record of human inhumanity to itself. He details the records of the largest number of deaths attributable to human action in this century and it staggers the mind. He does neglect to produce a total so I'll correct that here. 183.5 million humans have died this century worldwide in the largest of the debacles from the 55 million in WWII to the paltry million or so in places such as Mexico during the revolution. Sobering.

Fine Lady from Texas Speaks

You just have to read Molly Ivins latest post which is quoting Senfronia Thompson rant to the Texas house over the gay marriage ammendment. It is too good to just snip out a part it must be read in its entirety.

Dodged That Bullet

Well, much to my surprise I have found a few moments to cruise around and see what is going on. I tried to go to bed and get some much needed shut eye but the watcher wouldn’t let me sleep so here I am back at the laptop.
Obviously, the big news over the last 48 hours is the filibuster compromise. I checked in at Firedoglake and Jane has a lucid comment that I agree with and so commented. As usual Kos is on it. Steve Gilliard probably comes closest to synching up with my gut reaction though.
This, on its surface, was about a few whacko judges and whether the minority has the duty under the constitution to oppose their lifetime appointment to the bench. The fundamental reality of this whole “cluster F..k” was in stopping James Dobson, which we have done for the time being.
Dobson is just the most visible manifestation of the hard Christian right and their attempt to turn this country into their vision of a theocracy. He and his ilk expected to be able to appoint the next Supreme Court justice and with the filibuster still in place cannot accomplish this. This bunch, as represented by Dobson, are the most imminent threat to the continuation of the United States as we know it. They have money and the conduit to the media that allows them to get their message out. Poison pure and simple. They want to eliminate all the rest of us and failing that would like to see that we have no representation in government at all. They do not recognize compromise, as evidenced by the reaction to the deal made in the Senate. It is all or nothing for them. If we let up one moment and let them gain the edge we are doomed. This was not a small victory but a major defeat of the forces of evil as represented by Dobson.

Absolutely Maxxed

In Minneapolis and totally committed to things other than the weblog. I haven't been this over comitted in a while. Probably the weekend before too much happens here.

Updates:Fixed my typos - comes from typing while asleep.

Well, Well, Well

Can we say DUH?

The International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday that it repeatedly expressed concern to the U.S. government in 2002 and early 2003 about a series of credible detainee allegations that military guards at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba had mishandled and shown disrespect to the Koran.

From the WaPo

Please Not More

And why was flushing a Quran down the toilet so unbelievable? The New York Times has this this morning. This is only a small piece from a sickeing and lengthy article. I love my country and I respect the men and women who are risking their lives and while they share some blame the ultimate, final and damning responsibility lies with George W. Bush and his hell spawned minions. I will never forgive any of them for what they have done and are doing. I am also quite sure the Goddess is not pleased and will deal with them in her own juicy way.

Even as the young Afghan man was dying before them, his American jailers continued to torment him.

The prisoner, a slight, 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar, was hauled from his cell at the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, at around 2 a.m. to answer questions about a rocket attack on an American base. When he arrived in the interrogation room, an interpreter who was present said, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably in the plastic chair and his hands were numb. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.

Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar's face.

"Come on, drink!" the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. "Drink!"

At the interrogators' behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

"Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.

Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.

Don't Miss This One

Juan Cole's article about the leaked British Intelligence Memo is online now at Salon. Get the One Day pass and read it. Then pass on the link and tell everyone you know about it. If you think you can swing it, get your local paper to pick up the story. This information needs to be in front of every American's eyes.

The lies that led to war
A leaked British memo, and other documents, make it clear that Bush intended all along to invade Iraq -- and lied about it to the American people. The full gravity of his offense has not yet sunk in.

May 19, 2005 | When Newsweek's source admitted that he had misidentified the government document in which he had seen an account of Quran desecration at Guantánamo prison, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita exploded, "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?"

Di Rita could have said the same things about his bosses in the Bush administration.

Tens of thousands of people are dead in Iraq, including more than 1,600 U.S. soldiers and Marines, because of false allegations made by President George W. Bush and Di Rita's more immediate boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, about Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and equally imaginary active nuclear weapons program. Bush, Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeatedly made unfounded allegations that led to the continuing disaster in Iraq, much of which is now an economic and military no man's land beset by bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and political gridlock.

Plausible - You Bet

Don't miss Anne Applebaum's column on the Newsweek brouhaha. She is at the heart of it.

Now, it is possible that no interrogator at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed pages of the Koran down the toilet, as the now-retracted Newsweek story reported -- although several former Guantanamo detainees have alleged just that. It is also possible that Newsweek reporters relied too much on an uncertain source, or that the magazine confused the story with (confirmed) reports that prisoners themselves used Korans to block toilets as a form of protest.

But surely the larger point is not the story itself but that it was so eminently plausible, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and everywhere else. And it was plausible precisely because interrogation techniques designed to be offensive to Muslims were used in Iraq and Guantanamo, as administration and military officials have also confirmed.

Another One's Revealed

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the goods on on Ralph Reed this morning. The wannabe Lt. Governor is now shown to have been up to his eyes in dirty money whilst trying to "help" the Christian Coalition in Alabama stop Indian gaming.

"Ralph Reed delivered what was expected as a consultant to two Alabama anti-gambling campaigns: victories over proposals for a state lottery and video poker, and donations totaling $1.15 million.

But Reed didn't tell the campaign organizations - and, he insists, he didn't know - that the money came from a Mississippi Indian tribe trying to protect its casinos from competition.

The money's path to the Christian Coalition of Alabama and another anti-lottery group echoes Reed's entanglement in a scandal surrounding Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Indian casino money in Texas.

In that case, Abramoff hired Reed in 1999 to build public support for closing the Tigua tribe's casino in El Paso. The casino closed in 2002. Immediately afterward, Abramoff, who had kept his role secret, offered to help the Tiguas reopen the casino - for $4 million, according to Senate testimony.

Reed has said he was unaware that he was being paid with money from rival tribes.

In Alabama, leaders of the anti-gambling groups said Reed was the conduit for contributions from a group headed by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who has said the money originated with the Mississippi tribe. The Alabama organizations said Reed had repeatedly told them the money was not tainted by ties to gambling interests."

Notice also that Grover Norquist is mentioned in the article. Seems like Americans for Tax Reform is also a money laundering operation.

Jeebus what a bunch of slime dogs. The scary thing is that Ralph Reed will probably wind up being the Lt. Governor of Georgia because this story will get buried and all the whackos in this state will vote for him because "He's such a nice Christian boy".

Democrats: A New Standard

Nancy Pelosi and George Miller had a news conference discussing Congressional ethics...here are the highlights:

The American people want, they expect, and indeed they deserve, Congress to function in a way that meets a high ethical standard. I do not believe that that is the case now.

"Democrats are setting forth the new ethical standard containing these six principles:

* Ban Members from accepting any gifts from lobbyists.

* Ban Members from secretly working with corporate lobbyists to write legislation.

* Ban lobbying by Members of Congress and high level staff for two years after leaving Congress.

* Enforce the ban on Members and staff soliciting privately-funded travel.

* Ban lobbyists from arranging and financing travel.

* End the 'K Street Project' - ban Members and staff from threatening lobbyists with official actions.

The Stakeholder has more

Stupid Newsweek

Let me see how stupid Newsweek is and how stupid anyone who believes that the retraction of the Koran in the toilet story wasn't a Rovian setup. It has been in the news for a long time and anyone who believes that the story damaged the image of the United States any more than it is already damaged is a fool.
I stole all of these links from Corrente
and they have even more.

Yorkshire Post, November 1, 2004 | Tipton Three turn on the trauma for £22m... injected with "unknown substances", and had their Korans thrown into the toilets.

DAILY MAIL (London), October 28, 2004, ED_3RD; Pg. 1; Pg. 2, TIPTON THREE SUE FOR Pounds 22M, DUNCAN GARDHAM... guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets

DAILY MAIL (London), October 28, 2004, ED_3RD; Pg. 1; Pg. 2, TIPTON THREE SUE FOR Pounds 22M, DUNCAN GARDHAM... guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets

The Express, October 28, 2004, U.K. 3rd Edition; NEWS; Pg. 4, GUANTANAMO BRITONS WILL SUE US FOR £22M, By Lianne Kolirin... guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets

Irish News, October 28, 2004, Pg. 26, British men detained at Guantanamo sue US government for rights abuses;... guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets

Press Association, October 27, 2004, Wednesday, HOME NEWS, GUANTANAMO BRITONS SUE US GOVERNMENT, Mark Sage, PA News, in New York... guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets

Belfast Telegraph,
August 5, 2004, Father demands release of his British son after claims
of torture at Guantanamo Bay, By Andrew Buncombe in Washington... allegedly threw prisoners' Korans into toilets, while others were injected with ...

Birmingham Post,
August 5, 2004, Thursday, First Edition; NEWS; Pg. 2, TIPTON TRIO CLAIM
THEY WERE TORTURED BY ALLIES, EMMA PINCH A detainee is led by military
police to be interrogated by military officials at Camp X-Ray at the US
Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Shafiq
Rasul... Guards would throw prisoners' Korans into the toilet 'as part of their clear policy to ...

Federal News Service,
August 5, 2004 Thursday, PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT - RELEASED GUANTANAMO
DETAINEES ALLEGE ABUSE (ABC RADIO, AUSTRALIA, 08:25 (GMT+11) AUGUST 05,
2004)... guards would throw detainees' Korans down the toilet and shave them, to try to get them to ...

IPR Strategic Business Information Database, June 28, 2004, THEY ALLEGE ABUSE BY U.S. CAPTORS... at Guantanamo. "They tore the Koran to pieces in front of us, threw it into the toilet," Vakhitov said.

BBC Monitoring International Reports,
June 26, 2004, RUSSIAN TV INTERVIEWS FREED GUANTANAMO PRISONERS...
bucket instead of a toilet. People were in cells, ... ... floor.
(Vahitov) They tore the Koran to pieces in front of us, threw it into the toilet.

The Observer,
March 14, 2004, Observer News Pages, Pg. 5, 5420 words, World
Exclusive: Inside Guantanamo: How we survived jail hell: For two years
the Tipton Three have been silent prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Now, in
this remarkable interview with David Rose, they describe for the first
time the extraordinary story of their journey from the West Midlands to
Camp Delta, David Rose... ... sleeping tents, copies of the Koran would be trampled on by ... ... occasion, thrown into a toilet bucket.

A Sunday Truth

James Wolcott has a Sunday Sermonette quoting Robert Ingersoll. Here is a snippet but go read the whole thing.

"To Paine, Jefferson and Franklin, we are indebted more than to all the others, for a human government, and for a Constitution in which no God is recognized superior to the legally expressed will of the people. they knew that to put God in the Constitution was to put man out. They knew that the recognition of a Deity would be seized upon by fanatics and zealots as a pretext for destroying liberty of thought."

Pardon my French but AMEN!

Keep it Alive

Paul Krugman has bitten the bullet and decided to push the Downing St. Memo. All I can say is thank goodness! The MSM is not on this story and it should be. This is one of the most blatant examples we have had that Bush and Company cooked the books on Iraq. If this memo had concerned Bill Clinton or any other Democrat there would be blood in the streets.
I believe it is vitally important for the blogosphere to not let this story die. There is hope now that it is on the NYT editorial page it might get some legs but Rove and company are very good at killing messengers. If you need proof just watch the poisoning of the well over at Newsweek on the Quran story. As I commented over at Firedoglake this morning...it would not surprise me one bit to see that this whole fiasco was planted in order to take the heat off somewhere else or to punish Newsweek or Kristoff for some unknown slight to Bush or Rove. Never underestimate how low they will go to forward their own agenda. Everyone should be linking and supporting Krugman on keeping this alive and in front of the noise that Rove will be generating to try and bury it. Come to think of it, what better way to move the Downing St memo out of the main stream than a few riots and deaths in Afghanistan.

Then Again

Now on a slightly different note. Try this on for scary. Via Corrente and Tiny Revolution

Not Anti Christian

Several people have noted that I seem to be pretty strongly anti Christian and I think I need to correct that idea immediately. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am a firm believer in the positive potential in following the wisdom and teachings attributed to Jesus. It is a philosophy of trust, caring and love that can produce wonderful effects in a world sorely in need of positives. I am, however, vehemently opposed to those on the so-called Christian Right or Fundamentalist Christian Right who have turned the teaching 180 degrees into a religion of hate and intolerance and I will fight them every chance I get. They are the antithesis of everything thing Jesus taught.
I personally can't call myself a Christian today but I was raised and baptised a Christian. Through my life, study of other beliefs and experience I have grown beyond the need to restrict myself to a single belief structure. That doesn't mean I discount it or any other.
Please be aware that there are many liberal or progressive Christians that are not pleased with how the radical right and fundamenatlist crowd have usurped their religion and are beginning to fight back. Once such group is the Christian Alliance for Progress that started in Florida and is organizing the fight to reclaim their churches from the crazies. Below is part of their statement from there website and it wraps up their mission pretty well.

The success of the Religious Right in appropriating the language of Christianity has led many people to become generally wary of religion in the public sphere and of Christianity in particular. The Religious Right has used the language of Christianity to promote an extreme and divisive political agenda that has helped polarize our nation. But foundational Christian values like compassion, justice and peace are largely absent from our political discussion. And there are millions of Christian Americans who share progressive views, or, at a minimum, are increasingly turned off by the extreme rhetoric and political agenda of the Religious Right.

The Christian Alliance for Progress is a national movement that started in Jacksonville, Florida among ordinary Americans who want to reclaim Christianity and change this current political picture. Members in the movement want to restore core values of Christianity while honoring diverse views about religion and Christian life. Many Americans, especially people of faith, are ready to hear from Christians who are tolerant, and who understand the many ways that our faiths impact our views of public life. The Christian Alliance advances a renewed, progressive vision of Gospel values and seeks to help Americans express this moral vision in our lives and in our politics.

I wholly support these people and their efforts and wish them all success. The Christian Right is using their distorted religion to try and create a theocracy in this country that rejects all other beliefs and is violently intolerant. If you don't sing from their song book they want you dead. They are a poisonous and virulent infection on mankind and I want to see them relegated to where they belong and that is not part of the mainstream.

Excellent Idea

Via Jackie at Airing of Grievances and Corrente and originally from IndyBay

Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking
miniature flag portraits of US President George W. Bush into piles of
dog poo in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth,
said: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be
2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that
time."

TA DA! I Love it!