WASH POST EDITORIAL: Bush lied

Today's editorial about Abu Ghraib in the Washington Post is beyond shocking. The Post outright accused the president and his administration of willfully lying about the mistreating of prisoners across Iraq and Afghanistan, including charges that US soldiers actually murdered people and then the administration tried to cover it up!

I can't even believe this is my country. I have never felt this betrayed by my government, never distrusted my president to such a degree (be he Democrat or Republican). I simply can't take any more of this. This guy has to leave. And I'm talking impeachment. If Bush has now lied to us about ongoing homicides being committed by people on his payroll, I mean, Jesus Christ.

Read this entire editorial and email it to every person you know:

PRESIDENT BUSH'S persistence in describing the abuse of foreign prisoners as an isolated problem at one Iraqi prison is blatantly at odds with the facts seeping out from his administration. These include mounting reports of crimes at detention facilities across Iraq and Afghanistan and evidence that detention policies the president approved helped set the stage for torture and homicide. Yes, homicide: The most glaring omission from the president's account is that at least 37 people have died in U custody in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that at least 10 of these cases are suspected criminal killings of detainees by U interrogators or soldiers.

The deaths reveal much about the true nature of the still-emerging prisoner scandal. First, only a minority of them occurred at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad; nine of the 10 homicides acknowledged by the Pentagon occurred elsewhere. Second, the administration has done its best to cover up the killings: They have been reported only after news of them leaked to the media, and details about most of them are still undisclosed.

No one has been criminally charged in any of the cases, even though some date to December 2002. Investigations have been shoddy and secretive. And no senior officer or administration official has accepted responsibility or been held accountable for allowing unlawful killings to take place under his or her command. Had it not been for the leak of the photographs from Abu Ghraib, which record less serious crimes, it is probable that none of the deaths in Iraq would have become public knowledge....

It is horrifying to contemplate that U interrogators have tortured and killed foreign prisoners and that their superiors have ignored or covered up their crimes -- and yet that is where the available facts point. Pentagon officials say they will pursue investigations vigorously and that those guilty of crimes will be brought to justice. It is essential to the preservation of this country's fundamental values that they do so. It is essential also to examine the consequences in the field of policy decisions made by the most senior officials in Washington. But the sorry record of the Bush administration -- and the president's own refusal to speak the truth about it -- suggests that justice will require vigorous and sustained intervention by outside parties, beginning with Congress.

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FBI finds terrorist-tracking a bore

The Denver Post

Samuel Mac, manager of the Denny's in Avon, isn't happy with the response he got from the FBI when he reported that two of [the suspected terrorists] ate at his restaurant Wednesday.

When he called the FBI in Washington, D.C., Mac said the man who answered the telephone said he had to call the Denver office and declined to take down any of the information.

When he called the Denver office, he was shuttled to voice mail because the agents were busy, Mac said. It was five hours before a seemingly uninterested agent called back.

But perhaps my favorite line from the story was:

[Monique Kelso, spokeswoman for the Denver office, said] the FBI has no reason to believe any of the seven are in Colorado or traveling through.

Really? So if you know where they are, why did you go on TV and scare the shit out of us? Read More......

See, gay marriage is destroying hetero marriages

Man Commits Suicide After Sex with Hen Read More......

Creepy

Michael Moore interviewed Nick Berg, the American conractor beheaded in Iraq. Read More......

Fucking Cicadas

Craig's List via Wonkette. This totally cracked me up, as I had one cicada take a ride-along on my right shoulder until I noticed it while I freaked out in the middle of a busy street, and the second cicada dive-bombed into my hair while walking on the sidewalk (in front of an amused woman) yesterday. We hates them...

Anyway, this is from Craig's List:

Fucking Cicadas
Tue May 25 21:24:14 2004

To the little fucker who dive bombed me on my way to lunch. You retarded, blind, little shit. You flew into the back of my ear while I was crossing the street! People laughed and pointed while I had, what looked like, an epileptic seizure. Bitch.

To the sneaky bastard who tried to smuggle himself into my office after lunch. My boss spotted you on my shoulder. I looked like a fucking sailor with his bug-parrot. I hope you liked the smack down I gave you.

To the beltway hitchhiker(s). For stupid bugs, you guys sure have good aim. Who would've thunk that two little shits like you could fly INTO a moving car! The first one landed on my passenger seat near Georgia Ave. You are more retarded than most of your friends (which is impressive). All you could do was fall over yourself and get stuck in the seams of my car seats. I didn't even have to fuck with you. Your friend though.... oh that muthafucka.... He flew into my driver's side window and smacked me in the throat! At 60mph!! That shit hurt. I almost rear-ended the Saturn in front of me because of you! But I had the last laugh... After you kamikazied my throat, your dumb ass got scared and flew to that back of my car, right at the base of the rear windshield. As soon as I saw your ass camped on my speakers, I cranked up the stereo. I hope you enjoyed 110dB of Dandy Warhols from half an inch away!!!

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GOP: Only sell-out gays welcome at national convention

Today's Wash Post reports that Republican party has kicked DC Council member David Catania out of the Republican national convention in New York City because he stood up to President Bush's bigoted proposal to make Catania and millions of other gay Americans second class citizens in the US Constitution. Catania was a delegate to the convention, and has raised nearly $80,000 for Bush's re-election.

This political fag-bashing comes on the heels of the Republican party of North Carolina telling a gay Republican group in that state last week that gays are "not normal" and not welcome at the party's state convention that took place this past weekend.

Catania, in response to the news, announced that he is leaving the DC Republican party.

In an effort to Uncle Tom the news of Catania's summary dismissal from the convention, and appear that the Republican's NYC convention will actually be accepting of gays, the Republican party quickly found a token "house homo," Carl Schmid, to replace David (i.e., a gay man with so few scruples he STILL openly supports Bush's re-election, and a man who would be so low as to accept taking David's place in order to provide cover for the party's clear homophobia).

It's clear that the only gays the Republican party leadership welcomes are men and women like openly-lesbian VP daughter Mary Cheney who are willing to sell their soul for a very small and very quiet obstructed-view place at the small fold-up card table in the room next to "the table." Lick our boots and cut our cotton, and you're welcome in our party. Actually stand up and defend the party's founding principles, and be a true and honest representative of the community you represent, and you'll be fag-bashed quicker than you can sing "Proud to be an American."

More homophobic crap from the GOP.

And more. Read More......

Bush to spend $100M on medical database study

I am not questioning the benefit of having a computerized medical record system, because it would probably be useful. But in light of the reported budget chopping that is coming and considering the numerous problems with healthcare in America, is this even an honest or sensible program? Who doesn't know someone who is forking over money to subsidize their healthcare because their company is unloading those costs? Of those people that you know, how many of those people are working for companies that also find enough money to handsomely pay senior executives and are showing growth? The Bush crowd believes that there is no healthcare problem and that as soon as the employees are paying for all of it, corporate America will be better off. Read More......

Cardinal Keeler to stay out of partisan politics

I have not lived in Baltimore in years but I have always remembered the Catholic Church in Baltimore being much more open minded than the church elsewhere. Cardinal Keeler is now speaking out against vocal elements in the church who have been trying to drag US politics into the Catholic church.

"Our position is ... Catholics have a responsibility to examine their own conscience and see if they are in a state that is appropriate for the reception of the sacrament," he said. "We don't need bishops to get into the act."

"We have said again and again as bishops, we are not in partisan politics," Keeler said. "We dare not be pulled into a dispute between one party and another." - Baltimore Sun

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Next G8 Summit "a summit of the lame"

Considering the amount of money spent on these summits and the failure to deliver results, are these summits really effective or useful anymore? Have they ever been effective? I am all for world leaders working together, but these summits seem to me to be a waste of time and money. Why bother when they spend all of their time agreeing on silly statements that do not really mean anything. Schroeder can talk about change needing to come from the region (Middle East) itself, but when all of us, I mean really mean all of us, continue to do business with these regimes, is that really possible? When Chirac talks about US economic policy and its negative effect on world markets, has he forgotten about his own economic record? And Bush, well, who is listening to him anymore? Read More......

Confusion over security threat continues, Keystone Cops alive and well

I thought that the new Homeland Security team was supposed to sort out this kind of mess and present a unified, clear message on possible terror threats. Sadly, the confusion continues and Americans are left wondering if a threat actually exists or if this is just politics as usual by Bush.

"Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the Ashcroft-Mueller news conference on Wednesday mistakenly led some to believe the nation's threat level had been increased.

"Their separate public appearances left the impression that the broad and close interagency consultation we expect — and which the law requires — may not have taken place in this case," Cox said.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse reiterated Thursday that his agency has not seen any change in the "steady stream of threat reporting." - AP

So what the hell is going on? Is anyone running the show serious about safety or is this just another game? Let's start demanding that these clowns start showing us tangible results from previous alerts. Oh, that's right, this is not even an alert because the color code has not changed. Read More......

Alternative medicine gaining ground, Big Medicine turns to smear & fear

Perhaps the so-called traditional medicine people ought to quit being so nervous and defensive about alternative medicines and figure out how to bridge the two communities. Big Medicine is always so afraid of anyone who questions what they believe is their sole authority on health issues, they resort to the old fear & smear. Having watched my father go through chemotherapy (a $12B per year industry) really made me take a closer look at the pharmaceutical industry and its relationship with doctors and institutions such as NIH, CDC as well as Congress. The medical profession considers my father a success story, because his cancer is gone but they do not recognize that he is terminally ill with two new sicknesses (emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis) as a result of the chemotherapy. If the medical profession wonders why so many people are investigating alternative medicines, they only need to look at their own record of treating patients to figure out the answer.

"A majority of Americans are now trying to cure their ills with prayer or unconventional remedies, including herbal tonics, acupuncture, massage and yoga, federal researchers reported yesterday.

A new government survey of more than 31,000 U.S. adults nationwide, the most comprehensive assessment of the use of alternative medicine in the United States, found that 36 percent are using some kind of "complementary and alternative" therapy. That number jumps to 62 percent when prayer is included.

"The distinctions between alternative and conventional are really going to have to fall away," she [Dr. Maggie Covington] said. "We have to look for a type of medicine that addresses not just the physical aspect of the disease but the whole picture -- the physical, the spiritual and the emotional." - Wash Post

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