Sunday, December 4, 2005
Holiday Garden - New Orleans Style
Holiday gradens at your local mall are a cool thing to take your kids too. This one at a mall outside of New Orleans is full of holiday spirit - and a great sense of humor.
W.'s Head in the Sand
By Maureen Dowd
See Fixer's post.
I musta missed that "curling up in a ball" shit in my infantry training. They taught us to keep our heads down and try not to get hurt, but to keep the rifle's muzzle pointed at the enemy, and that's hard to do from the fetal position. Maybe it's something new.
As my memory kicks in a little, we actually were taught how to "curl up in a ball" with our backs to the enemy in one particular situation: when you have to use a hand grenade at short range, like twenty feet.
We also believed in ourselves, our buddies, and -believe it or not- our country. If not for those things, curling up in a ball is probably a good tactic to avoid dying for something you don't believe in.
We need to get the fuck out of Iraq and let the Iraqis decide for themselves what to believe in or not, and what they themselves feel is worth fighting, and dying, for. I think a forced democracy probably ain't it.
The Bush warriors are so deluded, they're even faking their fakery.
The National Strategy for Victory must have come from the same P.R. genius who gave President Top Gun the "Mission Accomplished" banner about 48 hours before the first counterinsurgency war of the 21st century broke out in Iraq.
See Fixer's post.
You have to admire Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman. He kept a straight face when he called the US "a leader when it comes to promoting and advocating a free and independent media around the world." He added, "We've made our views very clear when it comes to freedom of the press."
Exceedingly clear. The Bushies don't believe in it. They disdain the whole democratic system of checks and balances.
At the Naval Academy, President Bush talked about how well the Iraqi security forces were fighting. He claimed that 40 Iraqi battalions were taking the lead in the fight against insurgents, and that in the battle of Tal Afar this year, "the assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces - 11 Iraqi battalions backed by 5 coalition battalions providing support."
Anderson Cooper of CNN swiftly produced Time's Baghdad bureau chief, Michael Ware, who was embedded with the US military during the entire Tal Afar battle. "With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong," Mr. Ware said, adding: "I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading."
He also told Mr. Cooper: "I have had a very senior officer here in Baghdad say to me that there's never going to be a point where these guys will be able to stand up against the insurgency on their own."
Mr. Ware recalled that in a battle two weeks ago, he saw an Iraqi security officer put down his weapon and curl up into a ball when he was under attack. "I have seen that on - on many, many occasions," he said.
Curling up in a ball. Good National Strategy for Victory
I musta missed that "curling up in a ball" shit in my infantry training. They taught us to keep our heads down and try not to get hurt, but to keep the rifle's muzzle pointed at the enemy, and that's hard to do from the fetal position. Maybe it's something new.
As my memory kicks in a little, we actually were taught how to "curl up in a ball" with our backs to the enemy in one particular situation: when you have to use a hand grenade at short range, like twenty feet.
We also believed in ourselves, our buddies, and -believe it or not- our country. If not for those things, curling up in a ball is probably a good tactic to avoid dying for something you don't believe in.
We need to get the fuck out of Iraq and let the Iraqis decide for themselves what to believe in or not, and what they themselves feel is worth fighting, and dying, for. I think a forced democracy probably ain't it.
The Death Penalty . . . revisited
Since I started a ruckus with my smartass post last night, let's take it one further, even at the risk of the Secret Service giving me a cavity search. A question.
Suppose George W. Bush (and associates) is impeached, faces trial, and is found guilty of all the crimes we here in Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!*) accuse him of (humor me please). Pretty severe stuff, right? Remember, we're talking about the premeditated murder of over 2100 U.S. troops, and the conspiracy to commit those murders. Do we demand the death penalty for him?
We do have a federal death penalty available.
Suppose George W. Bush (and associates) is impeached, faces trial, and is found guilty of all the crimes we here in Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!*) accuse him of (humor me please). Pretty severe stuff, right? Remember, we're talking about the premeditated murder of over 2100 U.S. troops, and the conspiracy to commit those murders. Do we demand the death penalty for him?
We do have a federal death penalty available.
*yes! skippy coined that phrase!
You guys are an enlightened bunch. Most of you would demand jail time, though specify hard time. I also like the idea of turning him over to the International Court as a capital-building move with the rest of the world. I gather stringing his rotting corpse up in the Rotunda of the Capitol and leaving it there as an example to others who'd contemplate similar crimes is sorta out of the question, huh?
25 years
I was in a barracks room at Hurlburt Field in Florida when I heard the news. He wrote the soundtrack for the better part of my youth.
It has been twenty-five years, and it can still stop your mind.
It had been a good night. John Lennon had just finished making music with his wife, Yoko Ono, that he regarded as some of the best music of his life, and his judgment wasn't off the mark. He had also learned, just a bit earlier, that his and Ono's album Double Fantasy -- the first collection with new music from Lennon in five years, following a mysterious sabbatical -- had gone gold that day. Now he and Ono were on their way back home from the studio to see their son, Sean, the five-year-old whom Lennon had devoted himself to more than to his career. Their car pulled up to the Manhattan apartment building where they lived, the Dakota, and Lennon got out. It was a balmy night, for December. He moved to the Dakota's entrance, then he heard a voice call his name.
...
Another one
Paris - Although it is one of the most turbulent moral issues of the day, homosexual marriages and other forms of same-sex partnerships are gaining acceptance around the world.
Britain this month will become the fifth country to allow gay "marriages" on roughly the same basis as heterosexual marriages. [my em]
...
Good news. Hey, you Christo-fascists, didn't Jesus preach love above all else? Let's get with the program.
Shoot me now
People need lives. Although it's probably a better choice than Cu ...Condi.
Update:
This, however, looks like a pretty good idea.
Update:
This, however, looks like a pretty good idea.
Hat tip: PSoTD
God don't need a press secretary
The irrepressable Molly Ivins, one of the best things to ever come out of Texas:
...
Quite a few people have been mishearing the Lord lately. The Rev. Pat Robertson thinks the Lord told the people of Dover, Pa., they shouldn't ask for His help anymore because they elected a school board Robertson doesn't like. And Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana said right after Hurricane Katrina that "we finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did it."
...
Great thanks: Old White Lady
Interviews
My colleague Bulldog over at Main and Central interviews a GI just back from Iraq. A good read.
It's an honest assessment of what's going on over there.
...
8. Is there a feeling among the troops on the ground over there that the administration really cares about them? How do 'stop-loss' orders and the unwillingness of folks to enlist affect morale, if at all?
V: The troops on the ground don't feel like the Administration cares at all. The stop loss doesn't affect the troops in a sense of doing the job ... it affects them in the sense of re-enlistments and the willingness of assisting on recruiting.
...
It's an honest assessment of what's going on over there.
Saturday, December 3, 2005
The Death Penalty
Since everybody's going on about the 1000th inmate put to death, I though I'd put in my 2 cents.
First off, I don't have a problem executing a person for certain crimes. I believe we should add rapists and pedophiles to the list. The problem I have is in the execution, so to speak. Personally, I'm for harsher sentences rather than more lenient ones. But if we're gonna put people to death, let's be honest about it. Let's just say some crimes are so bad you deserve the ultimate punishment if you commit them. The death penalty, the way it's practiced in the U.S., it's no deterrent.
If you want a deterrent, do it the way it's done in countries where it works. The death penalty works when the public makes the connection between the crime and the punishment. How many people really remember the headlines when Tookie Williams was arrested 26 years ago? They're gonna torch his ass any day now. How many people remember what this last guy did? There's no connection. If you want a deterrent, you gotta put 'em down sooner.
Take this guy in Florida who abducted, raped, and killed the little girl. By the time they stick the needle in his arm, the only ones who'll remember is the girl's family. If you want to make the cause/effect relationship stick, ya gotta do it soon. Like next week, while it's still fresh in people's minds. Ya also gotta do it publicly.
Fuck this middle of the night thing with 10 witnesses. Do it in prime time, like right before Monday Night Football. Make it good too. Shit, the kids are desensitized from playing Grand Theft Auto, let's go back to hangings. Nothing brings the point across like seeing somebody twisting at the end of a rope. Beheadings are good too, just ask the Arabs. Put it on every channel too, so everybody has to watch it. It's like the Lotto drawings. Once a week, every Monday, just before Al and John 'git ya ready fer some football', there'll be the weekly hangin' hour. And then people will make the connection.
Kill a cop = Monday night
Rape and kill a little kid = Monday night.
Until that happens, let's call it what it is. It's not a deterrent, it's just a way for the powerless to believe they have some measure of retribution.
Note: I gotta stop waxing satirical. Judging from the comments I received over night, either I do satire really badly or you folks don't get it. I'm going for the former. You guys take me far too seriously sometimes. For the record:
As long as human nature is involved, the punishment will never be meted out fairly.
As long as police and prosecutors strive for a conviction instead of the truth, innocent people will continue to be put to death.
As long as racial and social attitudes in this nation remain the same, the poor and minorities will comprise the majority of death row inmates.
As long as support or opposition to the death penalty remain a political issue, it will never be administered fairly.
The death penalty is a tool of mostly authoritarian, totalitarian regimes. The United States of America should not be included in that group (present leadership not withstanding).
The death penalty is NOT (and never will be) a deterrent.
Okay, I'm done now.
Go see the guy in the fancy suit too.
First off, I don't have a problem executing a person for certain crimes. I believe we should add rapists and pedophiles to the list. The problem I have is in the execution, so to speak. Personally, I'm for harsher sentences rather than more lenient ones. But if we're gonna put people to death, let's be honest about it. Let's just say some crimes are so bad you deserve the ultimate punishment if you commit them. The death penalty, the way it's practiced in the U.S., it's no deterrent.
If you want a deterrent, do it the way it's done in countries where it works. The death penalty works when the public makes the connection between the crime and the punishment. How many people really remember the headlines when Tookie Williams was arrested 26 years ago? They're gonna torch his ass any day now. How many people remember what this last guy did? There's no connection. If you want a deterrent, you gotta put 'em down sooner.
Take this guy in Florida who abducted, raped, and killed the little girl. By the time they stick the needle in his arm, the only ones who'll remember is the girl's family. If you want to make the cause/effect relationship stick, ya gotta do it soon. Like next week, while it's still fresh in people's minds. Ya also gotta do it publicly.
Fuck this middle of the night thing with 10 witnesses. Do it in prime time, like right before Monday Night Football. Make it good too. Shit, the kids are desensitized from playing Grand Theft Auto, let's go back to hangings. Nothing brings the point across like seeing somebody twisting at the end of a rope. Beheadings are good too, just ask the Arabs. Put it on every channel too, so everybody has to watch it. It's like the Lotto drawings. Once a week, every Monday, just before Al and John 'git ya ready fer some football', there'll be the weekly hangin' hour. And then people will make the connection.
Rape and kill a little kid = Monday night.
Until that happens, let's call it what it is. It's not a deterrent, it's just a way for the powerless to believe they have some measure of retribution.
Note: I gotta stop waxing satirical. Judging from the comments I received over night, either I do satire really badly or you folks don't get it. I'm going for the former. You guys take me far too seriously sometimes. For the record:
Okay, I'm done now.
Go see the guy in the fancy suit too.
Injustice
A 17-year-old girl went to police at the urging of her friends after she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including her boyfriend. The men testified that the act was consensual. After reviewing all the information and statements, prosecutors decided they didn't think they could prove a rape allegation, and so declined to prosecute the case.
Instead, they prosecuted the victim for filing a false police report. Yesterday, she was found guilty.
...
Read the rest but take your blood pressure medicine first.
More corruption
If you're gonna have to weather a natural disaster, it's best to live in Florida:
After all, it was an election year and Jeb might wanna be Preznit in a couple. Motherfuckers.
Government lawyers on Friday released Federal Emergency Management Agency documents, including memos sent to the White House that they had tried to keep secret for more than a year.
Although portions of the documents were removed, they showed that FEMA early on decided to give Florida a significant increase in the usual reimbursement costs of a disaster. [my em]
...
After all, it was an election year and Jeb might wanna be Preznit in a couple. Motherfuckers.
Hat tip: Susie
Buying while black
...
"I keep going over and over the incident in my mind," said Reginald Pitts, the 34-year-old human resources manager for the roof material manufacturer's Tampa distribution center. "I cannot come up with any possible reason why I was treated like this except that I am black."
...
Go see Gillard.
Pond scum
This via John at AMERICABlog:
Worst President EVER.
...
[President James Buchanan] was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents.
...
Worst President EVER.
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