Friday evening open thread

I'm finally setting up my new VAIO desktop, and, man, how do normal human beings who aren't somewhat techies get these things to work? I am struggling with figuring out how to get my Net connection working, the wirelss mouse, and I can't even find a simple answer to whether you can or can't hook up a desktop to a wireless Internet connection (I lost my ethernet cable - anyone know if new desktops can access wifi?) I hate this thing. Again, I ask, how do non-techies deal with this stuff? And, and the instructions suck. Big surprise there :-) Read the rest of this post...

Growing discontent among our troops

This article from the Christian Science Monitor ticks me off a bit. I've been upset for months, as has many on the left, about the treatment of our troops, the backdoor draft, the inadequate armor, etc. In fact, the most vocal criticis of the way this war has been handled have been Democrats. Far too manhy Republicans have kept their mouths shut like good little Germans. And you know what? When the troops had a choice between a war hero who was willing to fight for their concerns, and a guy who went AWOL and who has lied about everything from why they went to war to how well they're being supplied, who did they vote for? The liar.

I'm just having a very hard time feeling like this is my concern any more. It was my concern. I was pissed that Bush has ignored and abused our military. But you know what, this is a democracy. They voted for it, they own it. If the military, like the public at large, prefers us all to march in lockstep and salute our commander in chief no matter what he does wrong, then they need to face the consequences of their own actions.

You vote for this commander in chief, he's yours. Read the rest of this post...

Why do Conservatives accuse our troops of "bellyaching?"

Last Sunday, watching the Chris Matthews Show, I was really shocked to hear Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker say that the American troops in Iraq who complained to Rumsfeld about trash picking for armor were "bellyaching." During the panel discussion about the now infamous question to Rumsfeld about the need to trash pick for armor, Parker, who writes a column for the Heritage Foundation's TownHall.Com, said,

They make the, well they, they bellyache if you ask them. If they haven't had a bath in two days and they're sleeping with a bunch of smelly guys and they're tired and they're hungry they're going to bellyache. Give them a little R&R; and they come back and they have maybe a different story.

That's Parker, renowned as a conservative columnist, mocking the men and women on the front lines, comparing the lack of life-saving armor to the need for a bath. That's easy enough to do when she is sitting her ass in a t.v. studio or at the Heritage Foundation, not an unarmored humvee facing hostile fire.

The disdain the Parker and the conservatives show for our troops is astounding. To to accuse them of bellyaching because Bush and Rumsfeld sent them to die without the right equipment has got to be a new low.

The conservatives are unmitigated hypocrites. They love the war, but hate the troops.

Kathleen Parker should be ashamed. Read the rest of this post...

Religious Right compares US soldiers dying abroad to gay men having sex

Oh yeah, I sense MAJOR overstretch here. The radical right is now comparing the award-winning movie 'Saving Private Ryan' to showing two men having sex on TV. Not that the image of Matt Damon... uh, never mind.

Why does the radical right hate American soldiers?

From the bigots at the American Family Association:

The children of America and those who love decency need your help.

FCC Chrm. Michael Powell has asked that no action be taken against the ABC stations that aired over 20 uses of the "f" word and at least 12 "s" words during "Saving Private Ryan," which shown during prime time last month.

Powell's reason for taking no action opens the door for broadcasters to show any type programming. He believes there should be no action because the use of the profanity was part of an accurate representation of the events depicted, and this made them acceptable.

Using Powell's reasoning, a show about the sex life of two homosexuals would be free to show graphic sex because it would be an accurate representation of their sexual activity. There would be no limits regarding what could be shown and the law regarding indecent material would be meaningless. Any program, no matter how indecent, could claim that the material was needed in order to be an accurate representation.

If Powell can get only two other Commissioners to agree with him, then the networks and local broadcasters will be free to show anything. Everything they show, no matter how indecent, could be classified as being an accurate representation. That is what they have been wanting for years. Powell is only two votes away from giving the broadcasters their desire.

The movie could have easily have been edited for TV, but ABC refused. Powell is now defending ABC's move, making it possible to open Pandora's Box on program content.

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NYT issues correction of story on Human Rights Campaign

Kind of. But I don't get the correction.

The New York Times
Dec. 17, 2004

An article on Dec. 9 about the debate among gay rights leaders over efforts to legalize same-sex marriages referred incorrectly to the outcome of a meeting of the Human Rights Campaign a week earlier. After the meeting, leaders said they had agreed on a need to moderate their tactics and message after losing 11 ballot initiatives on Nov. 2. They did not conclude that they needed to moderate the pursuit of fundamental goals, including full rights for gay men and lesbians.

I suspect that this correction will only fuel the controversy and not quell it. In my view, the problem that HRC and other gay groups, and other non-gay groups (like the enviros, women, anti-gun folks, etc.), faced over the past year was not that their tactics were too tough. But that's what this correction is suggesting - that HRC now thinks it needs to moderate its tactics. I simply don't agree. I've said before on this blog that I tend to be a defender of HRC - I still think they're probably the best group of the "big" gay groups - but one thing I haven't felt about HRC (and every other progressive nonprofit out there) in a while is that they're too tough in their tactics. Hmmm... Read the rest of this post...

I really don't get it

Yes, I like my Christmas parties and my trees and all the decorations, and loved singing the carols in school (and watching young kids sing them now), but... I'm a Christian. If I were Jewish or Muslim or an atheist, I'd have serious problems with my kid being in a Christmas pageant in school, since it is a religious holiday and it wouldn't be MY religious holiday. Perhaps a pageant for all the faiths might be better, but still. Is it just me, or why can't people understand how insulting all this would be to someone who isn't Christian?

Ok, here's your chance to speak out, all your non-Christians (and Christians too). Am I wrong? Isn't this all a bit insulting to non-Christians? Read the rest of this post...

Because the Bible told me so...

But remember kids, if you say you're doing it in the name of the Bible, then no one can question you or they're anti-Christian. Read the rest of this post...

Ukrainian premier calls for civil war

He's pretty pissed that poison thing didn't work out.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said Thursday that he would not accept a victory by his opponent in the Dec. 26 rerun of Ukraine's contested presidential race and that his supporters were likely to turn out into the streets en masse to block such an outcome.

Yanukovych, who was the government-backed candidate in the contested vote of Nov. 21, said the country's political and judicial systems had buckled under the weight of what he called illegal demonstrations and were violating the constitution to orchestrate his defeat.

Yanukovych warned in an interview that he might not be able to control supporters who are already mobilizing to launch a campaign of street protests in the capital in the event of a victory by the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.

"Even if Mr. Yushchenko wins, he will never be a president of Ukraine," Yanukovych said in a 45-minute interview at his campaign headquarters in Kiev. "The people who voted for me, they will never recognize him. They are talking about it even now."

"If this legal nihilism continues, I will not be able to stop people," he said. "It's impossible to agree with this great injustice, this discrimination. And if it is indeed the face of the future authorities, I will never be on their side. Today in these regions, there are civil organizations that are being established, that are making lists of volunteers, and they will be making some decisions."

The prime minister said he was not involved in making those decisions and did not know what they might involve.

Yeah right. Funny, but I bet someone thought Yuschchenko would be dead by the time of the new election. Whoops. Read the rest of this post...

HRC: $30 Million for What?

Last week, the December 9, 2004 New York Times story about the Human Rights Campaign adopting a more moderate approach....and possibly supporting Social Security Privitization....generated a lot of controversy.

But there is one line from that article that really stuck with me: "The group's annual budget is about $30 million."

$30 million???? For what?

Before HRC decides on any new course of action, they should figure out what they spent $30 million on....and what they got for it.

A lot of public interest groups do an awful lot more with a hell of a lot less.

Read the rest of this post...

Off to the US

I'm heading over for a few weeks to see family but I have not yet figured out how to explain to my neice and nephew (8 and 11) the disgusting, obscene, pornographic, art that we're going to visit at the Barnes Foundation. Hopefully there's a guidebook by the GOP on art that can help us out.

Enjoy the holidays!
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Desperate times call for desperate measures

These are desperate times.

Police have arrested a soldier they say had his cousin shoot him so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq.

Army Spc. Marquise J. Roberts, of Hinesville, Ga., suffered a minor wound Tuesday to his left leg from a .22-caliber pistol, police said. He was treated at a hospital, then arrested after he and his cousin allegedly admitted making up a story about the shooting.

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Saddam only now meeting with his attorney

I have no sympathies for Saddam Hussein at all and think that he deserves to stand trial for his crimes. Whether or not those crimes include hundreds of thousands killed after the first Gulf War is up for debate and I hope that they clarify that point during the trial. The US and UK spent so much time over-spinning it is hard to say what really happened because those early reports of mass graves appeared to have been overblown by hundreds of thousands. Either way he did kill thousands he did torture thousands and he needs to be brought to justice for those crimes.

My question is why is he only now being given access to an attorney? Again, I have no sympathy for the man but find this incredibly unfair and it makes me question (yet again) how fair the legal system will be in the new Iraq. If we're just going to submit him to a kangaroo court well just go ahead and do it without all of the fanfare and get it over with. At this point I'm also pretty doubtful about any previous US-Iraqi ties coming out.
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