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Thursday, Sep 28, 2006
The basic premise behind habeas corpus is that you cannot be held against your will without just cause. To put it another way, you cannot be jailed if there are no charges against you. If you are being held, and you demand it, the courts must issue a writ or habeas corpus, which forces those holding you to answer as to why. If there is no good or compelling reason, the court must set you free. It is important to note that of all the civil liberties we take for granted today as a part of the Bill of Rights, the importance of habeas corpus is illustrated by the fact that it was the sole liberty thought important enough to be included in the original text of the Constitution.
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Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006
Talk about a tough room
In the New and Improved Constitution-Lite America, humor is once again a punishable offense. All you budding Lenny Bruce's out there, watch your step, punk!
This is the kind of "justice" the Congress is about to enshrine into law:
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Badr Zaman Badr and his brother Abdurrahim Muslim Dost relish writing a good joke that jabs a corrupt politician or distills the sufferings of fellow Afghans. Badr admires the political satires in ''The Canterbury Tales" and ''Gulliver's Travels," and Dost wrote some wicked lampoons in the 1990s, accusing Afghan mullahs of growing rich while preaching and organizing jihad.
So in 2002, when the US military shackled the writers and flew them to the US naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, among prisoners whom Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared ''the worst of the worst" violent terrorists, the brothers found life imitating farce. For months, interrogators grilled them over a satirical article Dost had written in 1998, when the Clinton administration offered a $5 million reward for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Dost responded that Afghans put up 5 million Afghanis, about $113, for the arrest of President Clinton.
''It was a lampoon . . . of the poor Afghan economy" under the Taliban, Badr recalled.
The interrogators didn't get the joke, he said. ''Again and again, they were asking questions about this article. We had to explain that this was a satire." He paused. ''It was really pathetic."
It took the brothers three years to convince the Americans that they posed no threat to Clinton or the United States, and to get released.
Sometimes she needs a reminder
Secret prisons? The end of habeas corpus? Torture?
Not in my name!
If you fight the good fight, your seat is safe. Just look at Boxer's victory in 2004. If you go along to get along ... well, ask Joementum how that's working out.
All I'm asking for is fearless devotion to our founding principles.
cheers,
-Mark
Tuesday, Sep 26, 2006
The only thing worse than a race traitor is a lynch mob of race traitors
Dan Riehl found out that one of the people lynching Allen is a race traitor. I left this comment.
What the hell was Allen doing hanging around with a Negro-lover? Does the CCC know about this? Well, I'm sure Allen has an excuse: he's just another clueless jock.
Reminds me of the time a ditzy woman that I had just met told me how much she preferred living in Orange County rather than the SF Bay Area. "It's mostly white people," she explained. Only then, by seeing the change of expression on my face, did she realized that I was a race traitor.
Something similar probably happened between Allen and Taylor. Allen carelessly and casually associated with a race traitor. It would be mighty white of you to forgive Allen this indiscretion.
And about Shelton ...
“It appears to me that Kenny Shelton has some deep-rooted
problems with his self-identity and a rather hyperactive
imagination,” one former teammate, George Korte, said in
his statement.
Same thing. Race traitor. But they're hard to avoid. So please don't be too hard on Allen.
Monday, Sep 25, 2006
Flambé of Chickenhawk
Comment left at Roskam's blog about Duckworth v. Roskam debate.
By the way, Roskam, you look to be of prime fighting age. Where's the courage of your convictions? The Marines are calling up the IRR, reservists are on stop loss. Why aren't you at OCS, or bootcamp?
Wait, I know the answer! You can better serve the country by insulting the fighting men and women who do a job you don't have the courage to do.
Saturday, Sep 23, 2006
The church sign guy has been busy.
Thursday, Sep 21, 2006
I should have a hundred of these (10x3 stickers) within a week from makestickers.com. They did a good job with a couple text-only stickers: IMPEACH and IMPEACHMENT / Now More Than Ever. I'll be placing them on traffic light poles at various high traffic intersections.
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006
Devolution Buried Under Daily Carnage
In these articles by NYT and AP, the coverage of the movement towards autonomy for Shi'ites is buried in a larger story about the daily carnage. Rather than pretending that a peaceful, unified, democratic, pro-American Iraq can be achieved if only we clap louder, the US should be preparing for devolution of Iraq into three states.
Meanwhile, Turkey is watching events and warning of regional instability.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Instructional video.
Reprise: This is a picture of a very dangerous man
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
September 10, 2006
Donald Rumsfeld, Special Envoy to Iraq for the Reagan Administration, visiting Saddam Hussein on December 20, 1983, to offer continuing support during Hussein's war against Iran. That support included dual use technologies which were of use in the development of chemical weapons, and intelligence from satellite imagery, to better target those weapons against Persians.
An associate in wrongdoing, especially one who aids or abets another in a criminal act, either as a principal or an accessory.
Were you born that stupid, or did it require years of training?
Professor Billy Wilbanks
Chair of the Science Department, Jacksonville College
Private junior college owned by the Baptist Missionary
Association of Texas
Monday, Sep 18, 2006
Physician, Heal Thyself
From the Letters published today in the WSJ ...
Eugene Sullivan
Lieutenant Colonel
U.S. Army, Retired
Stanardsville, Va.
No army will ever be able to defeat a ruthless and barbaric enemy by providing it with food, water, hospitals and school supplies. The only way to accomplish that is the old-fashioned way: Kill as many of the enemy as possible. Our society seems to have lost its will to win if it requires bloodshed. What will it take to change this collective suicidal brainwash? Probably nothing short of a WMD attack. While the generals and the military hand out crayons, Iran builds nuclear weapons for, of course, "peaceful purposes," I'm sure.
R. Menendez, M.D.
El Paso, Texas
Democracy Now!
D and I just got back from seeing Amy and David Goodman speaking at the Rio in Santa Cruz. This talk was a benefit for KUSP,
and is just one of eighty stops on their tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of Democracy Now! and to support their new book, Static -- Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.
Both Amy and David are very good speakers. David focused on the failures of the media. Amy covered many topics, but focused most on the cost of war and violence. Her talk was very dense with specifics -- of people, places, events -- but I didn't see her refer to notes once. She spoke from the heart and the head at the same time.
The book is currently 18th on the New York Times best seller list. The Times shows only the top 15 their paper. We bought three copies (one for us, one for folks in Chicago, and one for a local library) to help bump them up on the list.
Check them out in a city near you. It's an evening well spent.
Why does the WSJ hate America?
Growing Concern:
Terrorist Havens
In 'Failed States'
Instability in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Lebanon Raise Risk
That U.S. Seeks to Address
I'm gonna have to go all Wolfowitz on their ass. Let's hear it from the good doctor:
Take that, blame America firsters!
It's a new day!
The Today show debuts its new co-host and new TV set/production suite today. And Matt's gonna talk to that pouty, blonde, Fla. school teacher made famous a few years ago for screwing her 14 year old student -- in H fucking D!
AWEsome!
Plumbing the Depths of Inadequacy
Ian Faith: I really think you're just making much too big a thing out of it.
Derek Smalls: Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea.
Any memorial is inadequate to express the full extent of the loss of loved ones. Bush, as a specialist in inadequacy, helps the WTC memorial reach new depths of inadequacy.
Monday, Sep 11, 2006
Fun with thesauraus.reference.com
From the WSJ today, Rummy had a few words to say about how we had to invade Iraq to secure victory against bin Laden, or something like that. Can anyone really tell what that man is talking about?
In the passage below, it's quite disturbing to see that Rumsfeld is calling for us to be more like our enemy. Further, the wording doesn't quite capture what Rummy really has in mind, based on observations of his actions over the past five years. The word, "confident," doesn't really strike the right Rumsfeldian tone of self-assuredness.
While, I can't do anything about his desire to be more alqeadariffic, I can wordsmith the passage to better capture the essence of Rumsfeld. The beauty of the English language is the vocabulary. There are so many words to chose from to obtain just the right shading to a particular phrase.
arrogant, authoritarian, bumptious, cavalier, cocksure, credulous, doctrinaire, dogmatic, fanatical, fervid, haughty, heedless, hubristic, imperious, irreflective, monomaniacal, narcissistic, obdurate, overweening, peremptory, pigheaded, prejudiced, presumptuous, self-deluded, self-righteous, smug, supercilious, swaggering, unrealistic, vainglorious, zealous.
I tried to select just one word from the list that best captures the relevant connotations. But there's an admixture of fanaticism, dogmatism, ignorance, and arrogance that defies distillation into a single word.
And now for something completely different ...
a man who can type and fellate at the same time.
Where your Sept. 9 editorial "Hot Topic: Five Years On" so eloquently laid out the justification for going to war in Iraq, you nevertheless had a lapse. Yes, the Bush administration overemphasized WMDs; but Charles Duelfer's report not only mitigated that apprehension, his findings validated the underlying premise of that rationale.
What many people overlook about this president is the scope of his understanding about the Middle East. And the reason they do so is that they lack his perspicuity. Indeed, the indispensable ingredient for any understanding of democracy is that it will swing from inertia to radicalism before it takes hold. This is precisely what the president's critics don't grasp, and if they do, they are purposely leading the American people to impatiently second-guess the president's judgment.
The task for Mr. Bush, therefore, is to frame the issues -- and form the perception of the people -- to see the long-range picture so that they don't fall into the trap of complacency and self-doubt that is the undoing of any civilization. What the Democrats are doing is to stunt the peoples' historical recollection of who they are in favor of their own political gains. What the American people need, if they need it at all, is a reaffirmation from the president that their libertarian ideals are the manifest destiny of all people. And that this belief is the universal salvation that radical Islam is not.
Richard Reay
Riverdale, N.Y.
WSJ
And as I explained to my 8th grade history class at a Roman Catholic grammar school, "manifest destiny" is code for "it's okay to kill brown people who get in our way, because God's on our side."
Creepy, Just Creepy
A military escort stands at attention as President Bush and first lady Laura Bush observe moment of silence after laying memorial wreath in a reflecting pool at 'ground zero.'
President Bush and first lady Laura Bush walk away after laying a memorial wreath at ground zero, the site of the former World Trade Center, during a ceremony honoring the victims of the attacks of Sept. 11th in New York Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006. Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the attacks. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Sunday, Sep 10, 2006
I suck at photoshop
An oldy but a goody I came across ...
Dick Dale in Brookdale
Last night D and I saw living legend Dick Dale perform at the Brookdale Lodge. This is a once famous resort in the Santa Cruz Mountains that traces its history back to 1890.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing Dale is self-taught. He's a lefty, and plays a left-handed guitar, but it's strung like a right-handed guitar.
According to imdb, Dale was born in 1937. That makes him 69. Yet, he worked it for about two hours last night. He said he'd recently done 39 shows in 42 days. I hope still have that kind of energy in 2030.
Email from KGO TV
General Manager, Valari Staab:
I appreciate you taking the time to email me with your concerns, ABC is reviewing the criticism and taking it seriously. Below is ABC's statement regarding the show and a copy of the disclaimer that will air during the show. Again, thank you for your email and know that I am letting ABC know how many of these we are receiving.
Valari Staab
President and General Manager, KGO-TV/DT
Statement from ABC Entertainment on The Path to 9/11
"The Path to 9/11" is not a documentary of the events leading to 9/11. It is a dramatization, drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 Commission Report, other published materials, and personal interviews. As such, for dramatic and narrative purposes, the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, and time compression. No one has seen the final version of the film, because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible. The attacks of 9/11 were a pivotal moment in our history, and it is fitting that the debate about the events related to the attacks continue. However, we hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast of the finished film before forming an opinion about it.
The following disclaimer will air throughout the movie:
"The following movie is a dramatization that is drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 Commission Report and other published materials, and from personal interviews. The movie is not a documentary. For dramatic and narrative purposes, the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, as well as time compression."
We are planning to innoculate the minds of millions of Americans with a flawed and fictional version of the causes of an event seared into the American conciousness. But this innoculation with a contagious and fallacious meme comes with a warning message, which completely nullifies our responsibility for spreading propaganda. And by the way, complaining about the innoculation of the body politic with propaganda prior to its adminstration is irresponsible. ... Bitch.
Email to the Bud Man
ABC is airing a program called "The Path to 9/11" that admittedly contains distortions about key historical events. The writers and producers have a right wing agenda to smear a former president.
I find this propaganda so offensive that I will punish ABC's parent company, The Walt Disney Corporation, and all its subsidiaries and advertisers for a one year period. That includes companies that advertise on ESPN.
Please find another outlet for your advertising so that I don't have to boycott your refreshing beverages.
cheers,
-Mark
Thursday, Sep 07, 2006
Bad Policy for Bad People
Apologies to the Cramps for cribbing the title of a great album.
Wonder of wonders, the WSJ carried a major opinion piece that -- gasp -- criticizes Dear Leader.
In all that analysis of the region, he somehow forgot to discuss one of the most pivotal events: the CIA's overthrow of the democratic government of Iran in 1953. Heckova oversight, what?
In the end, Kaplan's critique is of the execution, which all rational people (which doesn't include the opinion staff of the WSJ) can agree is a clusterfuck of historic proportions. But he doesn't have a problem with the basic policy goal, which he describes as "moving history forward after 9/11 [by] shaking up the suffocating complacency of the Sunni Arab police states from where the terrorists originated." Ah, that makes sense. Help Saudi Arabia move toward constitutional monarchy by blowing the crap out of Baghdad. Yes, it all makes sense now.
But this brilliant plan was foiled by poor execution by Mr. Bush. Due to his failures, we will have to draw closer to the remaining Sunni dictatorships.
The invasion and occupation have been a horrendous implementation of a immoral and strategically idiotic idea. Failure by Americans to grasp this allows policy makers to dismiss the problems in Iraq as "Bush's screwups", and leaves us vulnerable to the next wave of ill-advised adventurism: Iran.
Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006
Joe Mutha Fuckin Mentum
Joe has finally figured out how the internets work, and has relaunched his web site. It's about time we had the mutha fuckin Joes on the mutha fuckin Internets!
Here's a tasty sample from his website, edited for length, as they say in the news biz.
- not winning the support of our allies in the run-up to the war;
- not having a plan to win the peace;
- not putting enough troops on the ground;
- putting an American in charge of the Iraqi oil supply.
Friday, Sep 01, 2006
Mighty Sea Wind -- First Impressions
Here.
Thursday, Aug 31, 2006
"Fostering Democracy"
1. To bring up; nurture: bear and foster offspring. See Synonyms at nurture.
2. To promote the growth and development of; cultivate: detect and foster artistic talent. See Synonyms at advance.
3. To nurse; cherish: foster a secret hope.
American Heritage Dictionary
Amrani, a journalist in Morocco, lauds "the efforts of ambitious independent media that consider themselves indispensable to the fabric of Moroccan civil society and a veritable agent of reform." She concludes with this thought:
But if he considers invasion and occupation to be "fostering", I have to wonder about his views on other things. Would tossing a baby into a pool be "nuturing natation"? Would pumping raw sewage into his vineyard be "cherishing with nutrients"? Would napalming a village be "encouraging renewal"?
Hanson's views are the same as those of the childish bullies who lead this country: violence is the only solution. While Amrani has the more patient view of an adult: durable change requires intelligent action, persuasion and learning. She describes how to foster democracy, while Hanson reveals that he doesn't even understand the meaning of the phrase.
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