Our Heartbreaking Hypocrisy
The policy of rape in Darfur, that is, the genocide fostering the policy of rape in Darfur is nothing if not a story I've heard over and over in the media.

No one is denying that the policy exists, least of all our government, and yet...nothing. We get nothing from our decision-makers about it. After 142 days of silence President Bush finally used the word genocide. Why bother if you’re not going to do anything about it?

If he really gave a damn he'd put his money where his mouth this and do something. Darfur could be a win-win for him. He sends in a couple thousand troops to end the killing, he gets props for doing something good and saves people in the process. What could be better? Especially for a guy who’s so into his “culture of life”.

The problem? I just don't think he cares.

Amnesty International Report
According to Bush, the recent report by AI is absurd. Well, I thought I'd do a little research.

First, a little lecture on why torture shouldn?t be used. On a pragmatic note, the torture of prisoners only serves to increase terrorism because it seems that we can't keep our torturous ways a secret. We are giving insurgents, al-Queda, and anyone else out there who hates us, the perfect recruitment tool because it increases their hatred for us and their drive to do us harm.

On an emotional note, it is probably safe to mention that when we throw out the Geneva Conventions, we can?t really expect our enemies to adhere to them either. So good luck, all you American kids over there. Hope you don?t get captured because our government has given tacit approval for your slow and agonizing torture.

And now for the "absurd" part. AI is not the only organization that has made note of our torture. Two months ago the the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament made mention of our "unacceptable treatment of detainees". And the British are our allies, for heaven's sake. If this is what our allies think of us, what hope is there for the future?

Funnily enough, the U.S. State Department has a website to combat all those rumors and conspiracy theories out there (it talks about everything from whether Saddam?s capture was faked to whether the U.S. had a hand in planning 9/11 to whether the U.S. was involved in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri). Do you want to know what it doesn?t talk about? Torture at Guantanamo Bay. Go figure.

The Truth Hurts
From the AP:

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney says he's offended by a human rights group's report criticizing conditions at the prison camp for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

The report Amnesty International released last week said prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba had been mistreated and called for the prison to be shut down. Cheney derided the London-based group in an interview set to be broadcast Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"Frankly, I was offended by it," Cheney said in the videotaped interview. "For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously."

~~

Interesting that Amnesty International was a respected organization when it left us alone. Now that we've been added to this list, all of a sudden, the organization isn't to be taken seriously. Sounds like crap to me, Dick. Frankly, I find it offensive to have my country on a list that also includes Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Cuba, El Salvador, China, Bangladesh, Albania, and Turkey, just to name a few.

If we are indeed a "culture of life", wouldn't it make sense to start respecting lives? Torture is a very serious charge. When there is proof that we will likely not stop torturing prisoners any time soon, I think one could argue that we don't give a damn about human life and therefore we deserve to be listed with the rest of the world's villains

Paris to wed Paris
From the AP:

I guess this means Paris Hilton really will do anything to stay in the spotlight. You know what’s really funny, though? I totally didn’t recognize her in this picture because...well...she's clothed.

So good luck. Do your best to keep your sex videos off the Internet and I’m sure all will end well.

As an aside, would it be too much to ask of the Associated Press to only cover news and leave stories like this to those bastions of journalism US Weekly and Star Magazine? This is really a little beneath you isn't it? Don't you feel dirty? Why don't you go shower off, huh? And make sure you use the bleach this time.

Happy Freaking Memorial Day
Too Few, Yet Too Many
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 30, 2005

One of the more bizarre aspects of the Iraq war has been President Bush's repeated insistence that his generals tell him they have enough troops. Even more bizarrely, it may be true - I mean, that his generals tell him that they have enough troops, not that they actually have enough. An article in yesterday's Baltimore Sun explains why.

The article tells the tale of John Riggs, a former Army commander, who "publicly contradicted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld by arguing that the Army was overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan" - then abruptly found himself forced into retirement at a reduced rank, which normally only happens as a result of a major scandal.

~~

Read the full aritcle here (registration is free).

Conservative Hypocrisy
I said I wasn't going to double post, but this is just too much. From the Democratic Underground's Top Ten List of Conservative Idiot's:

Here's a conundrum for conservatives - what do you do with a teenage girl who becomes pregnant, but rather than having an abortion decides to keep the baby, and not only that but goes on to complete high school? Last week, St. Jude Educational Institute answered the question by barring student Alysha Cosby from taking part in her own graduation ceremony because she was pregnant.

So let me get this straight - if she'd gotten an abortion, she could have participated (or perhaps if she'd gotten comprehensive sex education, but that's another story). But the shame of a pregnant high school graduate was just too much for St. Jude's to bear? Fortunately Cosby decided to take matters into her own hands, attended the graduation ceremony, waited until the last student had been called, and then called her own name and walked across the stage. Props.

Oh, and by the way - in case you were wondering, the male student who got Alysha pregnant was not barred from participating in the ceremony. What a surprise.

Senator from MN handed his ass by British Politician
You gotta love stories like this...from the Democratic Underground's Top Ten Conservative Idiot's list:

Picture an SUV rolling over an ice cream sandwich, and you'll have a good idea of what happened to Norm Coleman (R-[Minnesota]) last week at a Senate hearing on the so-called "oil-for-food" scandal. The freshman senator has been doing his best to become this century's Joe McCarthy by creating long lists of people whom he is convinced were in cahoots with Saddam Hussein (including, apparently, the former secretary to Pope John Paul II and the former head of the African National Congress Presidential office). Unfortunately, one of those people called his bluff last week and Coleman learned the hard way that British politicians are quite a bit tougher than the home-grown variety. Scotsman George Galloway, famous anti-war member of the British Parliament, came to Washington D.C. to confront Coleman... and handed him his ass on a platter.

From:

I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country...

...to:

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning. Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies...

...it was quite a sight to behold.

~~

Not only does it pain me that Coleman is from my home state of Minnesota, but once again I find the so-called liberal media claim baseless here. I get the headlines from five different newspapers each day and I didn't hear about this until I took a stroll through the Deomocratic Underground.

And another thing. The fillibuster compromise. I must admit that I loved - LOVED - watching Frist realize that he truly is a lame duck who was proved to be ineffectual by the wonderful John McCain. Is it wrong that it made me giggle with delight? I hope not.

Frist I think is very misguided right now. Either that or he's so focused on getting the religious conservative vote wrapped up for his 2008 bid for the White House that he doesn't see anything else.

Either he forgot, or someone forgot to tell him that the Senate is all about a voice for the minority. That's why you have two senators from each state. Delaware gets two, Texas gets two. It's not like the House where representatives are dependent on population size.

But let's face it. You don't get this far in a career without knowing how government works. He's no fool, he's simply Bush's go-to guy. Happy to be of service and always willing to go that extra mile down the slimey path of political mucky-muck.

The Liberal Media
I heard once that the liberal media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it. Lets take a look at the facts, shall we?

Viacom owns: CBS, UPN, MTV, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Video, BET, Simon and Schuster publishing, and Comedy Central.

Time Warner owns: CNN, AOL, HBO, Cinemax, The WB, Warner Bros. Pictures, Court TV, Warner Brothers, Time, Life, People, and Warner Books.

Disney owns: Walt Disney Pictures, The Disney Channel, ABC television networks, ESPN, A&E, Lifetime, E!, Disney Radio Network (a.k.a. ABC Radio which offers the leftist commentary of both Focus on the Family and Sean Hannity), Miramax Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures.

General Electric owns: NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Bravo, Independent Film Channel, American Movie Classics, Telemundo, Universal Pictures, and Universal Studios.

News Corporation (owned by Rupert Murdoch) owns: Fox, Fox News, FX, 20th Century Fox, HarperCollins, The New York Post, TV Guide, and Fox Searchlight Pictures.

What, then, after all this, is left (literally)? I am hard-pressed to name a channel not owned by one of these media conglomerates. In fact, I had no idea the Murdoch owned TV Guide until I looked it up just now. I’ll be canceling my subscription on Monday.

But the bigger question here is not so much who owns what as how much longer will the Left continue to take this shit lying down?

The left-leaning media allegation is beyond baseless and yet, when it’s hurled in our direction no one ever says, “Are you kidding me?” before listing the above facts on just exactly who owns what.

Can we please grow a pair, people?!

Report: Muslim World Largely Anti-American
From the AP: NEW YORK - Anti-American feelings are widespread in the Muslim world and extend to U.S. consumer brands, according to a report released Wednesday. It suggested the U.S. burnish its image with a change in tone and by publicizing aid programs.

~~

Holy crap, really? I'm shocked - SHOCKED!

Whom Does This Benefit?
From the blog of Norman Mailer
Intelligence 101A

I'm beginning to see why one would want to write a blog. At present, I have a few thoughts I can certainly not prove, but the gaffe over the Michael Isikoff story in Newsweek concerning the Koran and the toilet is redolent with bad odor. Who, indeed, was Isikoff's supposedly reliable Pentagon source? One's counter-espionage hackles rise. If you want to discredit a Dan Rather or a Newsweek crew, just feed them false information from a hitherto reliable source. You learn that in Intelligence 101A.

~~

And still no one is talking about the Smoking Gun lying out on grassy knoll. Liberal media my ass. If we had a liberal media every newspaper in the country would be screaming about the British Memo that is now weeks old and getting older. It's like the world has gone crazy and no one cares that our politicians are 1.) lying to us and 2.) not doing a very good job at covering their tracks.