Freedom On The March?

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Another Middle East Country, another election.

BINT JBEIL, Lebanon – Hezbollah and its Shiite allies claimed victory in southern Lebanon in Sunday’s second stage of national elections, a vote the militant group hopes will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the United States.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters drove through the streets of Beirut waving the group’s yellow flag in celebration. In Beirut’s predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, fireworks lit the sky.

***

The United States, which labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization, wants the guerrilla group to abandon its weapons in line with last year’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, a position backed by Lebanese authorities.

[Source].  So why aren’t the wingers struttin’ about THAT?

Another Gets Unplugged From The Matrix

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Iraq, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Read the whole thing:

Two years ago I was a neocon. I supported Bush’s war on Iraq and I called everyone who didn’t a liberal Kool-aid drinker. I voted for Bush in 2000 and I listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and just about any right-winger on the radio that I could get a four-word talking point from to use against liberals. I would say things such as “liberals won’t defend America,” “shut up and sing,” “freedom is on the march,” and “you’re a great American.” I supported the war at first because I bought into the lies and propaganda.

I no longer do. I’m a recovering neocon.

***

I was but a tiny wheel in the machine of neoconservatism, but the survival of the neocon agenda depends on millions of us tiny wheels, or it cannot go anywhere. Most of all the neocon agenda depends on a much bigger wheel, the media. For the neocon machine to roll, the big wheel of the media must pull the millions of tiny wheels without the tiny wheels knowing they are being pulled.

***

When the Bush Administration was found to be creating fake news propaganda for public consumption the media did not inform the public. When the Bush administration marched towards pre-emptive war with Iraq the media was a lapdog instead of a watchdog. When the Bush administration described the assault on the Iraqi public as Shock and Awe, the media used that phrase to scroll alongside the words “War on Terror” without questioning if the assault on Iraq had anything to do with terrorism. When the Bush Administration tore into the U. S. Constitution with the Patriot Act, causing the illegal imprisonment of American citizens while denying them counsel, the media acted more like a timid cocker spaniel than an aggressive Doberman pincher, and failed to defend a sacred American document. When the UK’s Downing Street memo implicated the Bush Administration as being hell bent on a pre-emptive invasion on Iraq before even going to the UN, the American media was silent and once again failed to inform the public.

But the tiny wheels still want to call the media liberal. The tiny wheels still want to say the media isn’t reporting the good things happening in Iraq. Most of all the tiny wheels do not know about the big wheel that’s pulling them. But now I do. That’s why I am an ex-neocon and I am in recovery. It’s more clear to me now than ever that the most American thing one can do is speak out against the actions of their country because it means you love your country.

Get Ready For The Kristian Kook Backlash

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

For those not in the know, ICANN is the organization which decides, among other things, Internet domain handles.  They’re the folks who literally gave us “dot-com”, and more recently “dot-org” and “dot-gov”, to name a few.  And now—as blogged about here—ICANN has approved the use of “.XXX” as a top-level domain. 

Yup.  It’s for porn sites.

The blogger at the link above thinks that creating a dot-xxx domain for porn sites is “morally backrupt”.  It’s not.  It makes sense.  Give them their own red light district, which makes it easier for those searching for porn (everyone, raise your hands) to find what they are looking for, and makes it easier for everyone else to avoid those sites.  Everybody wins. 

The only complainers, I’m sure, will be those who want to stifle free speech.

Finally!

Ken AshfordBush & Co., IraqLeave a Comment

"When I go back (to Washington) on Monday, I am going to raise the issue,” he said of the memo, which has not been disputed by either the British or American governments. “I think it’s a stunning, unbelievably simple and understandable statement of the truth and a profoundly important document that raises stunning issues here at home. And it’s amazing to me the way it escaped major media discussion. It’s not being missed on the Internet, I can tell you that."

– John Kerry (Source)

Now, many on the left are already touting the Downing Street memo as grounds for Bush’s impeachment.  I’m having extreme difficulty in taking this seriously.  If this memo points to lies told by Bush to the American people, that can—snd should—have political ramifications.  But that type of lying is not a high crime and misdemeanor.  It’s not impeachable against Bush.

That said, the people do have a right to know when the decision to invade Iraq was made, and why.

Questions Answered

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

How did Bob Woodward know Mark Felt?  How did they arrange their meetings? 

Watergate buffs and/or students of history need to read this article by Bob Woodward in today’s Washington Post.  It sheds light on some of the mysteries surrounding “Deep Throat” (and leaves a few questions still unanswered).

Another Bad Bill

Ken AshfordCongress, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Senate Bill 1113 hopes to do the following: “NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR DRUGS PRESCRIBED FOR THE TREATMENT OF SEXUAL OR ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION”.  You can read the full text of the bill by going here, and doing a search.

The bill, sponsored by Senators Santorum, Lott, Ensign and Grassley (no surprise), was obviously written in response to the recent discoveries that Medicaid was reimbursing Viagra expenses for prisoners convicted of rape and child molestation.

The problem is, this bill bans much more.

Suppose you were an Iraqi veteran, and suffered some physical trauma to the groin area.  Or perhaps you had some emotional trauma which has affected your erectile functionality.  I think we would all agree that you were a casualty of war.  Can you get federal help under this bill for your Viagra costs?  Nope. 

So I ask this: is it too much to ask that Uncle Sam reimburse soldiers for injuries they sustained in service to their country?

Religious Degradation

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Deborah Pearlstein ties the ends together and gives the big picture:

Newsweek’s missteps in reporting particular allegations of religious degradation initially obscured the broad truth that religious degradation was a tactic expressly approved by the Department of Defense. A memo signed by Rumsfeld in November 2002 listed “removal of clothing” as a permissible interrogation technique, along with “removal of facial hair,” also a technique designed to offend Muslims who wear beards. On December 2, 2002, Rumsfeld authorized interrogation tactics at Guantanamo Bay that included the removal of religious items, forced grooming such as shaving facial hair, and removal of clothing. Indeed, the Defense Department’s own investigation of operations at Guantanamo Bay, conducted by Vice Admiral Albert T. Church, found cases in which a female interrogator “touched and spoke to detainees in a sexually suggestive manner in order to incur stress based on the detainees’ religious beliefs.”

In that context, it is difficult not to take with utmost seriousness the allegations that now abound of U.S. forces denigrating Muslim religious beliefs in the course of U.S. global detention operations.

Re-evaluation of GWOT

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

An important WaPo piece discusses a possible shift in the administration’s terrorism policies.  Apparently, the Global War On Terrorism thing just isn’t working, as we find ourselves “drifting” and lacking a sense of what to do next.

Digby takes his scissors to the possible policy change.  Here’s WaPo:

Much of the discussion has focused on how to deal with the rise of a new generation of terrorists, schooled in Iraq over the past couple years. Top government officials are increasingly turning their attention to anticipate what one called “the bleed out” of hundreds or thousands of Iraq-trained jihadists back to their home countries throughout the Middle East and Western Europe. “It’s a new piece of a new equation,” a former senior Bush administration official said. “If you don’t know who they are in Iraq, how are you going to locate them in Istanbul or London?"

And Digby comments:

Who would have ever dreamed this could happen? Oh, that’s right. Those of us who were against the invasion. In fact, it was the central practical argument that I and most others I know set forth at the time. It was always obvious that invading Iraq was going to foment terrorism, not quell it. Anybody with a sixth grade education could see that. Well, except for some Republicans who went to Andover, Yale and Harvard, that is.

Yup.

Hiding The Truth

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Foreign AffairsLeave a Comment

Why is the White House refusing to hand over NSA documents regarding Bolton, so that the Senate can confirm/deny him as UN Ambassador? 

Is it national security, or is someone’s ass being covered?

In tomorrow’s New York Times, an article will appear suggesting that the White House is holding the documents tight to the chest because they contain the names of individuals and companies who have violated export restriction bans on the shipment of dangerous weapons material to China, Libya, and even Iran.  The article is previewed here.

So which companies are Bush and Dick (Mr. Halliburton Doing Business with Saddam) Cheney trying to protect here, and how many of them are major Bush/Cheney campaign contributors?

Supreme Court Gets It Right

Ken AshfordConstitution, Godstuff, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

As if on cue in the wake of the Koran desecration debate, the Supreme Court—unanimously—talks about religion and prisoners in this recent ruling:

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that a new federal law requiring prison officials to meet inmates’ religious needs is a permissible accommodation of religion that does not violate the separation of church and state.

The court rejected arguments by Ohio officials that the law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, violated the Constitution by elevating religion above all other reasons a prisoner might seek special privileges.

The state had said that by requiring prison officials to cater to the demands of adherents of Satanist or white-supremacist religions, the law would result in attracting new followers to these sects, to the detriment of prison security.

The five Ohio inmates who brought the case belong to nonmainstream religions, including one, Asatru, that preaches that the white race needs to use violence and terrorism to prevail over the “mud races."

Now, in my book, you can’t find a religion more screwy than Little Green Footballs Asatru.  But is it protected?  You bet.  The freedom to practice religion, even for prisoners, means nothing if it applies only to majority-approval-stamped doctrines.

UPDATE:  I haven’t read the opinion, but apparently Thomas’ concurrence is ruffling a few feathers.  What he suggests (according to some) is Congress did not have the power to enact the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act under the Spending or Commerce Clauses.  If true, some argue (and I tend to agree), then Congress didn’t have the power to enact Civil Rights Acts, Americans with Disabilities Acts, etc.

The Education President

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Republicans just shouldn’t be in the education business.  Not since Quayle instructed a student to spell the word potato incorrectly, have we seen a boner like this:

It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of—and the allegations—by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble—that means not tell the truth.

Uh, don’t teach English, Dubya—it’s not your strong suit. “Disassemble“ means “to take apart”.  The word you were looking for was “dissemble“.

Worse Than Appeasement

Ken AshfordForeign Affairs, IraqLeave a Comment

Not long ago, the right-wing blogosphere was chastizing the left because (supposedly) we all wanted to “appease” Saddam.  Of course, “appeasement” in our view meant inspections, fly-overs, sanctions and a whole host of other active efforts which—let’s be honest—are just the opposite of appeasement.

Today’s LA Times has a piece by former NSC director Steve Andreasen which takes Bush to task for his appeasement of North Korea and Iran.  He makes the distinction between active appeasement, which is bad enough, and passive appeasement, which characterizes the Bush policy:

No one can accuse the Bush administration of making an active effort to appease North Korea or Iran. In fact, the administration has gone to great lengths to avoid even the appearance of “giving in” to Pyongyang or Tehran, refusing to engage in direct negotiations regarding their nuclear programs. Without negotiations, the reasoning appears to be, there can be no concessions, no agreement and no appeasement.

Or can there be? The administration seems to have forgotten the part about meeting the aggressor head-on. Indeed, the administration’s approach might be called passive appeasement — and the absence of energetic diplomacy or credible military threat may be just as injurious to U.S. interests as an active agreement recognizing renegade nations as nuclear powers.

***

Because of a lack of assertive diplomacy, the most isolated, dangerous regime on the globe has been permitted to increase its nuclear inventory. Only now — when North Korea appears ready to stage a nuclear test — is the administration considering establishing its own red line, backed by threats of negative consequences. But bilateral negotiations with the North apparently remain off the table.

Read the whole thing, and ask yourself, where are the cries of “appeaser” now?

NASCAR – The Sport of Pussies?

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

I don’t get the appeal of NASCAR.  I really don’t.  It’s as exciting to watch as butter melting, except when they crash, and I don’t find human mutilation to be entertaining.

I’ve always assumed that there is some technical prowess involved for the drivers, but as a spectator, I can’t appreciate it because I can’t see what they are doing.  But it looks like I may be wrong.  The success of a driver apparently depends on, not his skill, but his weight.  At least, that’s what Robby Gordon is indicating in his recent whine:

Robby Gordon accused Danica Patrick of having an unfair advantage in the Indianapolis 500 and said yesterday he will not compete in the race again unless the field is equalized.

Gordon, a former open-wheel driver now in NASCAR, contends that Patrick is at an advantage over the rest of the competitors because she only weighs 100 pounds. Because all the cars weigh the same, Patrick’s is lighter on the race track.

“The lighter the car, the faster it goes,” Gordon said. “Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.

“I won’t race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away."

Danica Patrick finished fourth in this past weekend’s Indy 500, the highest placement for a woman competitor.

To Gordon, I suggest you look at other sports.  Tall basketball players.  Midget jockeys.  Breastless gymnasts.  Huge linebackers.  You name it, size and shape plays a role in almost every sport, and in none of them do we try to equalize the body types.  If indeed NASCAR qualifies as a “sport”, then you better stop whining and switch to salads, Gordo.