My problem with Jesus freaks

Go here and read.

I give a shit if you worship some big hairy ass Yeti motherfucker, just don't force me to. If you want to convert folks, go to Africa and preach to them. Ain't that what the Europeans did? Do some good and feed 'em while you're there. I don't wanna hear it anymore.

Torture

From the ACLU via Bubba:

A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as “torture” and a June 2004 “Urgent Report” to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

[. . .]

Bush, Dick, & Rummy had an end in mind, and reverse engineered the legal system to justify it. This is criminal, ladies and gentlemen. This regime is criminal and so are their policies.

Yay!!!

My new computer came today, so my power surge woes are finally over. Now all I need is the check from my homeowner's insurance. At their leisure, I'm sure. This is my 1st post from the new PC. BFD, right. A surprise, seems a 17" flat screen monitor came along with it. Cool. Merry Christmas to me. Now to get all my peripheral shit hooked up and my software loaded. Maybe tomorrow. Oh, a note to Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway: I downloaded Firefox right off, as soon as the damn machine was up and running. Only opened IE once, to get to the Mozilla site. I'll be up later. Gotta get the Mrs. from the train.

See Ya Later

Well, folks, Mrs. G and I are off to the coast to visit her family for a few days. I'll be back probably next Sunday. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. For my Shinto and Wiccan friends, enjoy the Winter Solstice.

Maybe I'll post something while I'm there if I can con my sister-in-law out from in front of her keyboard.

Merry Chrismahannukwanzakka.

Bush yesterday

[. . .]

Now, I would call the results mixed in terms of standing up Iraqi units who are willing to fight. There have been some cases where when the heat got on, they left the battlefield. That's unacceptable. Iraq will never secure itself if they have troops that, when the heat gets on, they leave the battlefield. I fully understand that. On the other hand, there were some really fine units in Fallujah, for example, in Najaf, that did their duty. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Transcript.

Unacceptable? They had a good role model, didn't they? Bush never let himself get near the battlefield 35 years ago (neither did Rummy and Dick) and he left early too. Fucking asshole.

Anal

Light blogging today because I'm fucking anal. I can't help it. It's my German side, and from building hotrods for two thirds of my life; always takes over when I'm doing things like carpentry, or wiring. As you know, I had electrical problems, through no fault of mine (here, here). Well, the last thing that has to be replaced is the computer, which is on its way. Today, a box from Gateway came, big box. Thought it was the computer. Nah, it was the sound system for the fucking thing. Who knew? I didn't realize it when I ordered it. I usually keep the volume muted anyway.

I told you (here) about the entertainment center I have, and the changes I had to make to fit the new DVD/VHS recorder I bought. My office is the same way and it adjoins the bedroom, well . . . it's part of the bedroom. It's a big bedroom. Built my desk and all the peripherals had a place, or a shelf. Well, the new computer, with this new surround sound (buncha speakers, big subwoofer) means I gotta more shit to add.

Like I said, I'm anal. So there can't be a bird's nest of wires under my desk. No, not here. All the wires have to be in harnesses, you know, like the wiring you see under the hood in your car. You wouldn't believe the amount of wire ties I go through in a year. I buy 500 at a time in assorted sizes and colors. When it comes to wiring I'm insane. Each time I add another device to my system, I cut the all the wire ties off and add the new wires into the big harness. Every time a wire enters or leaves a harness, a wire tie goes on either side. Like I said, anal. Neat as hell though. That's how I spent my afternoon and evening. Also had to paint all the new shelves I built. Oy. Hopefully the computer will be here tomorrow so I can finally finish up. That's after I buy a new, longer printer cable so I can tuck it where nobody can see it. And after I shorten the cable line to the modem because now it's about 5 feet too long. Heaven forbid there's and excess loop of cable hanging there. I gotta get more wire ties too.

Irrelevance

Via Pandagon, by Tim Dunlop. Think about it:

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a friend who works on Capitol Hill. He was recently part of a Congressional delegation that went to India. The delegation was mainly Republicans.

They spoke to a lot of Indian government people and the message from them was very clear, and in a nutshell it was this: We don't much care about America. He said they were very polite but almost indifferent. Maybe matter-of-fact is a better description. The conversation went something like this:

We consider ourselves as in competition with China for leadership in the new century. That's our focus and frankly, you have made it very difficult for us to deal with you. We find your approach to international affairs ridiculous. The invasion of Iraq was insane. You've encouraged the very things you say you were trying to fix - terrorism and instability. Your attitude to Iran is ridiculous. You need to engage with Iran. We are. We are bemused by your hypocrisy. You lecture the world about dealing with dictators and you deal with Pakistan. We are very sorry for your losses from the 9/11 terror attacks. Welcome to our world. You threaten us with sanctions for not signing the non-proliferation treaty, but you continue to be nuclear armed and to investigate new weapons. You expect us to neglect our own security because you want us to. We don't care about sanctions.

[. . .]

We're gonna be left behind soon enough. Our inept leadership had put the American Century soundly to bed. It's downhill from here.

Yo wasup, my dog

The talking dog asks, "would you rather Saddam Hussein were still in power?"

[. . .]

While Saddam's regime was clearly brutal, it was orderly and staunchly opposed to, say, the theocrats of Iran, and hence, useful to us (at one time, of course). By Middle Eastern standards, it was a secular state, women had rights, gas was cheap, and people didn't routinely get blown up while attending funerals.

Well, they do now.

[. . .]

While Saddam was no saint, his people, sadly, were better off with him than us. This administration can fuck up a wet dream.

Fly your Nazi flag

From the Reno News & Review:

It is useful to remember that one of the ways Nazism came to power in Germany was through efforts to suppress it. Driven into dark corners, it thrived on the fringe and then worked its way into the mainstream. The point is worth making in the wake of a dispute over the display as a teaching tool of a Nazi Youth flag in a Washoe County middle school classroom. The flag should upset the upcoming generation as it has the last generation. While it's great that the parties reached meeting of minds, it's also important that an enduring lesson is learned--sometimes it's important to use upsetting symbols because they are upsetting.

It is not difficult to understand the legitmate anguish of Jewish members of our community about this incident. One of them told the Reno Gazette-Journal, "We take this symbol to be as serious as a heart attack. This is a symbol of someone who wants to kill Jews."

Exactly. Which is why the use of the flag serves as a learning tool in helping teach students the evils of Nazism. Nazi Germany's history is supposed to disturb people, including middle school students.

Would we want instruction that does not? If we drain the horror from the history of Nazism to make it palatable to students, we will also drain it of its power to teach. The teacher who hung the flag is doing exactly what his critics want him to do--impart the dread of that terrible time. The flag will, if the teacher does his job, inspire the heart attack-style feelings his critics lament.

The school district and the teacher's critics have focused attention on how long the flag was displayed. But it's the teacher who's actually in the classroom. Critics and the school district shouldn't second guess those on-the-scene decisions. The omnipresence of Nazi indoctrination was a part of classroom life in Germany, and keeping the flag in place for an extended period is a reasonable way of showing that.

"I approach the lesson as to how Hitler manipulated children," the teacher says. "He gave them their own flag. He gave them their own uniform. He gave them their own songs. ... Then we talk about the death camps under that flag. We talk about Hitler sending children to war under that flag."

It sounds like this teacher has his head screwed on right and deserves the support both of the school district and of his critics. Part of "Never again!" is understanding what happened before.

In a famous 1890 case of an economics teacher who exposed his students to the tenets of socialism and therefore faced loss of his job, the regents of the University of Wisconsin announced, "We must therefore welcome from our teachers such discussions as shall suggest the means and prepare the way by which knowledge may be extended, present evils be removed and others prevented."

Methinks the current administration does not want people to remember the Nazis, particularly their very effective indoctrination and propaganda techniques. They do, however, want to see children indoctrinated their way. Keep 'em ignorant, they won't question lies later. They'll work on that pesky First Amendment too.

Thanks

I've had Sitemeter installed here for the last month and, looking over the statistics, we've had nearly 1,700 hits since it went up. Far exceeded my expectations when I first started blogging. Couldn't have done it without Gord and KR. Thanks guys, and great thanks to our readers who believe we have something to contribute to the debate over our nation's future.

Tales from the Christ-weary

The Rude Pundit has stories:

It just seems appropriate that as we edge closer and closer to the false date of the birth of Jesus that we spend more time with the weary among us. And, Lord, sweet, sweet Lord, how the people are sick of having whacked-out interpretations of the Christ myth shoved down their throats and up their asses. A few weeks ago the Rude Pundit asked you to send your own tales of the creedal and the damage done, and you have continued to respond, crying out (or sighing out) in agony to evangelicals, "We get it, we get it - you love you some Jesus - now step the fuck back." . . .

[. . .]

Unbelievable. The last one especially.

Heh . . . ACME

Stole this from Ol' Rook, who stole it from the 12th Harmonic Blog:



Also ran across this in the wee hours:



You can buy a whole bunch of reality-based stuff here.

Christmas in New York

From Blondie:

[. . .]

Da windiz of da fancy stawz.
Ya gotta tell da kids dat dere's no way ya gonna buy dem shit in doze staws though. There's perfectly good stuff for sale along the sidewalk, ya know?
Translation for idiots: Lovely windows at some of New Yorks finer retail establishments.

[. . .]

It's about time somebody wrote in my language.

Maybe We Can Clone Him...

WaPo columnist Tom Shales writes about Bill Moyers' retirement. I present it here in its entirety.

Bill Moyers Gets In the Last Word

By Tom Shales

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Bill Moyers has always taken the high road, but it got a little lonely up there. In a country where political discourse grows ever more shrill, his voice was more and more easily drowned out. Last night, at the age of 70 and on the eve of his 50th wedding anniversary, Bill Moyers took the high road home.

Moyers said not goodbye but "farewell" as he took leave of "Now," the program he has hosted for the past three years on PBS. The show will continue in a few weeks with another host, but Moyers's presence will be an irreplaceable loss. Watching the final program, which consisted of a report on the dominance of right-wing ranting in TV and radio and an interview with Anthony Romero, head of the ACLU, one may have felt guilty about not having supported Moyers more loyally as he kept fighting the good fight.

His is one of the few liberal voices left in broadcasting, it seems, and his insistence on being armed with facts to support his opinions left him at something of a disadvantage when dealing with people who think the way to win an argument is to scream the loudest. Moyers represented reason, deliberation, serious questioning of the status quo and, especially, standing as firmly as possible against government encroachment into Americans' private lives.

Moyers may not have helped his own image as something of a pontificator, however, by mentioning "Mein Kampf" in a cautionary note about the Pentagon's use of deception and disinformation against enemies, real or imagined, abroad. Piety is one of the sins most common to those on the political left, and Moyers's career has hardly been devoid of it. In the grand scheme of things -- if there is a grand scheme of things -- it wasn't much of a character flaw.

After the preliminaries and the listing of what sounded like 75 underwriting foundations, Moyers last night introduced the first report, "A Matter of Opinion," by recalling a car trip he and wife Judith Davidson Moyers (a partner in his business) took and how shocked they were when they started scanning the radio dial. What he heard, Moyers said, was "a freak show of political pornography" on a scale he found "malignant."

The report, produced by Kathleen Hughes, documented conservative excesses on the "public" airwaves. Sean Hannity, a bullying buffoon on the "fair and balanced" Fox News network, spent much of his time this year campaigning for George W. Bush, telling an audience in one city that a vote for Democrat John Kerry would help "Osama get his way."

Sinclair Broadcasting, a major owner of TV and radio properties, tried to force its stations to air what was clearly a free political infomercial for Bush until protesters forced company executives, loyal Republicans all, to back down. Sinclair fired one journalist, Jon Leiberman, for his protests. He told Moyers he was dumped for "refusing to toe the party line." The "documentary" was eventually cut into sections and passed off as news on the stations' newscasts.

Equally conservative and arguably more powerful Clear Channel Communications also went all-out in supporting Bush's reelection and Iraq war. A popular talk-jock at one Clear Channel station argued against the war on his show and found himself exiled to a remote time slot. "Management directed me to shut up about the war," he said.

Moyers naturally dealt with radio personality Rush Limbaugh and Fox's noisiest loudmouth, Bill O'Reilly, during the report. But he never mentioned the personal yet very public problems that the two men went through during the past year -- tabloid stuff that Moyers and his producer obviously found irrelevant to the points they were trying to make. During the second half of the show, the ACLU executive did mention Limbaugh's addiction to prescription painkillers but only in illustrating how even conservatives benefit from the ACLU's vigilance in defending the right to privacy.

In a long goodbye to his viewers at the close of the show, Moyers said: "I've learned from you not to claim too much for my craft, but not to claim too little, either. You keep reminding me that the quality of journalism and the quality of democracy go hand in hand. Or as a character says in one of Tom Stoppard's plays, 'People do terrible things to each other, but it's worse in the places where everybody is kept in the dark.' "

On "Now" and his other broadcast efforts over a three-decade career, Moyers has investigated subjects that mainstream media ignore, whether out of indifference or fear. We should have watched more often. We should have paid more attention. But Moyers can still leave "Now" with satisfaction and pride. He played by dignified and gentlemanly rules -- rules that now, alas, may be dangerously out of date.

I saw his show last night. I wish everybody could have seen it. I thought the reference to Mein Kampf was right on the money if a little late in coming, but I guess he had to wait 'til he had one foot out the door to say it. He laid into the right-wing gasbags and liars real good, from Rush Limpdope to Clear Channel. About fuckin' time.

We'll miss you, Bill.

America the beautiful

Via TBogg, this is disgusting:

ITHACA, N.Y. - Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans, according to a nationwide poll.

The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims’ civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

The only religious freedom they support is their freedom to practice their religion. Fuck everybody else. Are these Jesus' values?

Denken an der Vaterland

Lambert's in Berlin (I'm jealous) and brings us this after visiting the Reichstag:

[. . .]

So, our Constitution, with its Bill of Rights, its checks and Balances, could be no more permanent than the Prussian Empire—or the Roman Republic. And evil, ever changing and never changing, reproduces by taking the human faces, and the human hosts, appropriate to its time. Leading me to recommend to you, once again, the work of M. Scott Peck: People of the Lie (POTL). In examining evil, Peck comes to three conclusions, which are certainly relevant when thinking about the thirties, and may be relevant today. (1) The evil can be recognized by their pervasive, promiscuous lying. Lying is central to their identity. (2) The evil, like all of us, surround themselves with people who are like them. They cluster. And, not relevant to the thirties, but perhaps relevant today, (3) the evil congregate in churches, as a form of protective coloration. (Not to say that all, or even a significant minority of the churchgoing are evil; indeed, it is because most are good that the evil find protective coloration there.)

And yet I love Berlin...

So, good night...

So many similarities, so little time.

Steve Mumford

Got turned on to this guy yesterday, watching the news over dinner. That Communist Peter Jennings had this guy as the Person of the Week. Ol' Steve's a combat artist, part of a vanishing breed. I love combat photography far more than the Ansel Adams-type shit. More emotion. But the combat artists are my favorite. Go here to see more of his work. His pictures are also accompanied by his Baghdad Journal, Steve's travels with our combat units.

Saturday Springer Blogging

Shayna is still indisposed (haven't got my new computer yet) so Gord's girls, Molly and Bridget, have agreed to fill in.

I'm going to the dentist this morning, yeesh, so I probably won't be doing much blogging today. Chapter 5 is up over at creativity though.

Right View, Wrong Reason

Bull Moose is a real good blog. This comment is about the looming rift (Thank you, o kind and decent Deity) in the Republican Party. Moose is quoting Fred Barnes, of all people!

There's a third camp, those who would do nothing on Social Security because insolvency won't be a threat for a decade or more. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has privately questioned whether it makes sense to tackle Social Security now. After all, Republicans worked for years to gain control of Congress. Why jeopardize that by provoking a fight over Social Security?"

You folks know what I think of 'Bugs' DeLay. I'm confused. How do you deal with somebody you despise when he shares your viewpoint, even if it's for selfish, self-serving reasons?

Fuck it. I still hate the sonuvabitch and hope he goes to jail.

He goes on to say:

The Moose is not pollyannaish about a coming G.O.P. crack-up. Rather, he just wants to remind the donkey that he is not the only one with tsouris. The objective in the next year is for the Democrats to help heighten the contradictions within the Republican Party (my emphasis). For instance, seize the fallen standards of fiscal responsibility and military preparedness. Rising deficits and inadequately equipped troops cry out for a conservative party!

Maybe it can be the Democrats!

Lord love a duck! What have these administration assholes done to us? We need a stronger word than 'irony'. Maybe 'insanity' would fill the bill. Seems to be catching.

I do agree with the objective.

Fucking delusional

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House gave a new vote of confidence on Friday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld amid growing criticism of him from members of President Bush's own Republican Party.

"Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a great job leading our efforts at the Department of Defense to win the war on terrorism and to help bring about a free and peaceful Iraq, and the president is focused on working closely with him on those matters," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

[. . .]

Wonder what kind of medal Shrub is gonna pin on Rummy?