In a related story from a few days ago.....

An army captain with says that he tried without success to get his superiors to look into his concerns about prisoner treatment. He was with the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. He said that he was concerned that the abuse of prisoners was widespread in Iraq and due to confusion over how prisoners should be treated. He also said that his concerns were only being investigated after he spoke to senators (including John McCain) and Human Rights Watch.

I'm sure this kind of story has nothing to do with the presidents threat the military appropriations bill if it calls for an investigation of prisoner abuse. How long is congress going to condone this behavior by the administration? I guess that is a rhetorical question.

But I also have a prediction. Eventually it is really going to hit the fan about this. And when it does, the lowest people on the totem pole are going to take the hit. Shit of this kind very definately runs downhill and unfortunately the people with the least ability to protect themselves are going to get it all blamed on them. That would of course be the soldiers in the field. It sucks, and it shouldn't happen, but it will. It always does.

Worst year for army recruiting since 1979

That's right. Read about it here. They are trying to increase the size of the army and they have their worst recruiting year since 1979. I remember 1979, it was a few years after Vietnam and it was so much not a time to be in the military. But it is as bad now. Looks like the president may need to get Bill Bennett talking about Hispanics.

Give me everything or I will take nothing or don't go telling me I can't torture people

That is the bottom line for the president. The Defense appropriation from Congress is short 7 billion versus what Bush asked for. In addition, there is the possibility that the bill will contain wording that about how prisoners should be treated and that WE should set up a commission to investigate how we have treated prisoners. Bush will have none of it, he says he will veto it. He will not allow an investigation and he demands all the money.

The ironic thing is that the Republicans accuse the Democrats of being partisan. Is there ANY REASON AT ALL for the Republicans to tolerate this from Bush other than blind partisanship. If they have any sense that they are even a functioning part of government they would call his bluff, and override a veto. Not holding my breath, I dont think they are up to it. And in reference to my post of earlier this evening, this is an issue the Democrats should be all over instead of being all over Bill Bennett. This one matters. From my perspective, Bill Bennett stopped mattering a long time ago.

We have quite a sideshow going over Bill Bennett.

He is getting a large amount of attention. The White House got to say his remarks were "regretable" or some such crap. This gave them a chance to actually look good.

So on the day after one of the president's closest allies is indicted, the Republicans pass over someone in the House because he is possibly (let's be charitable on this) gay and like 110 people are killed in Iraq and we're talking about Bill Bennett's radio show.

And the president stopped laughing at us over this long enough to agree with us. It's no wonder Democrat's can't win any elections.

A handful of senators are blocking medical aid to Katrina surviors.

Blocking a bipartisan bill at the request of the president. Nice to see that the president and a small number of senators are blocking 9 billion in medical aid. I'm sure it's because they are looking to be sure the money is well spent.

Like it was on the initial response. Or like the article above says, like the 1.5 billion for contracts, much of them having vague terms previously identified as problematic. Oh and most of them bid noncompetitively. Okay, nevermind, they aren't blocking the money for medical aid because they are trying to be responsible. They don't give a fuck about the victims, only about making sure the contractors get out as much as possible.

Senator Frist, there are more cats here to see you.

A lot of cats, Senator Frist. They seem to work for the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Bloomberg.com:

" The SEC authorized a formal order of investigation of Frist's sale in June of HCA Inc. shares, people with direct knowledge of the inquiry said yesterday. The order allows the agency's enforcement unit to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the order hasn't been made public."

Well, that should perk up the old run for the Whitehouse. Nothing like a lot of subpeonas to get things off to a rousing patriotic start. It's possible it is a calculated gamble I suppose. Mess around with stocks enough to get the SEC's interest to distract people from other things. After all, Republicans seem pretty comfortable with run of the mill crooks in high places. So maybe this is a daring gambit to distract people from both the ridiculous spectacle Frist made of himself during the Schiavo debacle and from the enemy of the pure he made of himself with his stem cell position. After all, how bad could he look to the Republican base if he is just another crook?

Another perspective on Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay has been indicted and has stepped down from his leadership post in the House. A lot of people are very happy about this, but lets put this in perspective. Here is a man who, after being an exterminator, devoted much of his life to public service. Maybe we should take that into account and not prejudge him, but rather let the facts play out in court.

Nah, fuck that. It is WAY too much fun watching this slimy weasel shitheel squirm. And he so deserves it. Ah, karma is a bitch, ey Tommy Boy?

Im glad to see that Dr. Rice is expressing concern about Haiti

The Secretary of State visited Haiti. She was concerned about the rampant crime, lack of democracy and generally horrific conditions. It is really bad there. I think it is likely we will have to intervene in their affairs for 80 or 90 years to clean that mess up. I'm glad the Secretary is getting so involved.

Oh wait, Haiti. Oops, now I remember. We have already been intervening there for 80 or 90 years. That's a bit different I suppose. Forget about Haiti, really, it isn't important. Let's talk about Iraq.

Yes, Iraq. Minor intervention that one. I remember Secretary Rumsfeld was it or perhaps the Vice President saying that we would only need to be intervening for "months rather than years". Yes, certainly not 90 years in Iraq. I mean things are going better there every day. I'm certain it will all work out fine. Really, trust me.

But who are the "fringe lunatics"?

Dear me. Poor Mr. Blair has gotten himself into quite a muddle. I suppose someone could be described as "fringe lunatics", but who? The SAS guys arrested by the Iraqi police? The Iraqi police who arrested the SAS guys? The British soldiers who freed the SAS guys arrested by the Iraqi police? The people who attacked the British soldiers who freed the SAS guys arrested by the Iraqi police? Oh my, oh my. Maybe it is easier to just call Mr. Blair the "fringe lunatic" than to figure the rest of it out.

I just can't post enough stories about Frist being in trouble with the law.

Meow, meow! The funniest thing about the article is that is pretty much says that Frist wants to be president but everything about him makes him a lousy candidate, he is behind in the polls, and oh yes, he is being investigated by the SEC. Maybe his candidacy will become so heavy that it will turn into some sort of political black hole that will suck everything in, including his legal troubles and he will emerge in another dimension, as a cat, not rich and powerful, but not indicted either.

Thus spake Brownie

According to Michael Brown, the former FEMA director, the problems after Katrina were the fault of the local officials. That is a little progress I suppose. For a long time they weren't even acknowledging that things had gone wrong. So now FEMA has hired the guy who was in charge, with the fudged resume and no experience, to find out what went wrong. And he says it was the other people. Case closed. No need for an investigation. Brownie has spoken. Yea, sure. This makes a lot of sense.

The completely amazing thing to me about this entire episode, hell about the entire last 5 years or so, is that it is a moving clusterfuck looking for someone to blame. These assclowns take evading responsibility to entirely new levels.

Felids of the world unite!!

Your great tormentor is in deep litter. It seems that the Senate Majority Leader has been caught with his hand in the kitty treats. Senator Frist, aka Kitty Mengele, apparently has had the eyes of an alert feline hunter on his suppossedly blind trust. This attentive non-attention has led to some very interesting stock trades which are now under investigation. The senator denies all wrongdoing of course. Sort of like when you hear a crash in you house and when you look there is a lamp on the floor and a cat near it giving you the, "what I didn't do it, it fell by itself" look. Bad kitty, bad!!

Remember Pat Tillman, the NFL player turned Army Ranger Killed by Friendly Fire?

This story is too sad for me to make a wisecrack about. But you need to read it. The link is to a blog that picked up the story. There is a link to within the blog to the source story in the San Francisco Chronicle. The bottom line is that while the Bush administration has used Pat Tillman as a cheap prop, he not only was killed by friendly fire but he was against the war in Iraq (he wanted to go to Afghanistan - remember?) and was reportedly a Kerry supporter.

Okay, I know I have a warped sense of humor, but this is funny.

Someone cut Sharon's microphone cord as he was trying to speak at a Likud party meeting. Sorry, I think that is really funny. Looks like Ariel is too liberal for them. That sort of reminds me of a joke from the mid-80s or so about how do you define a moderate Iranian? They don't eat their young. Keep those babies away from Biny! Ariel will protect them.

Some highlights from my abscence that I couldn't ignore. Part 2

Some interesting poll results from our friends at the BBC. Around the world China is more highly regarded as a country than is the US. Yea, that China, the one with the guy standing in front of the tank in the square. Maybe people have forgotten about that. Or worse, maybe they haven't and they don't think it is as bad as the things the US has done recently. In reality, a poll like this doesn't "mean" anything I suppose. But it should perhaps give some thought to those of use who think that our image in the world has some importance. Or even if we don't care about that, maybe it should worry us that for us to think highly of what we are doing we have to presume the rest of the world is out of touch with reality. That is possible, but not likely I'm afraid.

Sentenza

Some highlights from my abscence that I couldn't ignore. Part 1

This one is too rich to ignore. You have probably all seen this by now but I wanted to revisit it. It is Robert Novak's little on air episode that gained him a time out from CNN.

I like to think of myself as a nice person. But I have to admit that I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this little episode. More laughter when CNN boinked him for it. But the real issue, and a serious one is what is CNN thinking. I don't think there is any question that this guy revealed the name of a covert intelligence agent. I don't think there is any question that this information was given to him for political purposes and whoever gave it to him used him politically. The only question is who gave him the information. But isnt what was known about Novak's role in the affair reason enough to take him off the air? But instead he gets suspended for bad words. Good to see the media has their priorities straight.

My abscence from the blogsphere has not saved us.

Well, we seem to be having quite a time of it. It's been a while since I posted and the country is still going to hell in the proverbial handbasket so my posting must not have been the cause of it. I mean I never really thought it was but that's the sort of thing the Bush supporters like to say. All of the problems are caused by the obstructionist, negative thinking Democrats. It's not like they are doing what the Democrats suggest.

It's a bit like seeing someone about to step in front of a moving car and when you warn them they give you the finger and keep walking. Then, as they are gurgling blood they tell the paramedic that your negative attitude conjured up the the car that hit them.

Sort of like believing in magic. Well, and being a moron.

Sentenza