Your Tax Dollars at Work: Footing the Bill for CIA Torture Flights

SEIZED, HELD, TORTURED: SIX TELL SAME TALE


The Guardian

"Mamdouh Habib, 49, an Australian citizen, was caught up in the rendition system after being arrested near the Pakistani-Afghan border shortly after the 9/11 attacks. His lawyers say he was bundled aboard a small jet by men speaking English with American accents and flown to Egypt, the country where he was born. For the next six months, they say, he was held in a Cairo jail, where he was hung from hooks, beaten, given shocks from an electric cattle prod, and told he was to be raped by dogs.

Habib also says that he was shackled and forced into three torture chambers: one filled with water up to his chin, requiring him to stand on tiptoe for hours, a second with a low ceiling and two feet of water, forcing him into a painful stoop, and a third with a few inches of water, and within sight of an electric generator which his captors said would be used to electrocute him. He made statements - which he has since withdrawn - declaring that he had helped train the 9/11 attackers in martial arts. Habib was moved to Afghanistan and then to Guantánamo. Last January he was released without charge and allowed to return to his wife and three children in Sydney.

Maher Arar, 34, a Canadian citizen, was seized in September 2002 while travelling through JFK airport in New York, on his way home after a holiday in Tunisia. After being questioned for 13 days about a terrorism suspect - the brother of a work colleague - he was handcuffed, placed in leg irons, and put aboard an executive jet. Hearing the crew describe themselves as members of the "special removals unit", and discovering he was bound for Syria, the country where he was born, he begged them to return to the US. The crew, he says, ignored his pleas and suggested he watch a spy film that was being shown on board. After landing in Jordan, Arar says he was driven to Syria, where he was held in a small underground cell which he likened to a grave. His hands were repeatedly whipped with cables, he says. He added that he would eventually confess to anything put to him. Arar was released a year later after the Canadian government took up his case. The Syrian ambassador in Washington announced that no terrorist links had been found. Arar is suing the US government.

Amnesty International has highlighted the plight of two Yemeni friends, Salah Nasser Salim 'Ali, 27, and Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah, 37, arrested separately in August 2003. Salah was detained in Indonesia, then flown to Jordan, where Muhammad was already under arrest. They say they were hung upside down and beaten for several days, before being flown to an unknown country about four hours' flying distance.

Neither man knew that the other was under arrest, but both described being detained in solitary confinement in an old underground prison, staffed by masked American guards, where western music was played in their cells 24 hours a day. Both men say they were moved after eight months, spending around three hours in a small aircraft, and then a helicopter, before being taken to another underground prison, this time modern, with air conditioning and surveillance cameras in the cells. This too was run by Americans, they say. The two men were returned to Yemen last May, but remain in custody. Amnesty says Yemeni officials have said they are being held at the request of US authorities. "What we have heard from these two men is just one small part of the much broader picture of US secret detentions around the world," said Sharon Critoph, the Amnesty researcher who interviewed them in Yemen.

Ahmed Agiza, 43, a doctor, and Muhammad Zery, 36, were abducted in Stockholm in December 2001, with the connivance of the Swedish government. . .

According to evidence to a Swedish parliamentary inquiry last year, they were taken to Bromma airport, Stockholm, by uniformed Swedish police and Americans wearing suits. They were stripped, searched, sedated and dressed in boiler suits and hoods. They were shackled and bundled on to a Gulfstream 5 executive jet, before being flown to Cairo. This aircraft has flown in and out of the UK at least 60 times since December 2001, most recently with a new tail number. Senior Swedish police officers told the parliamentary inquiry the aircraft was operated by the CIA.

Both men later told relatives and Swedish diplomats that they were subjected to electric shock torture in Egypt."


We're spreadin' democracy. Yessiree.

Democracy, democracy 'n freedom!

Heheheheh. Yep.


How about this, from The Observer? Will this make you forget about the horrid, pervasive War on Christmas, or will it not? Just asking.


MI6 and CIA 'SENT STUDENT TO MOROCCO TO BE TORTURED'

"An Ethiopian student who lived in London claims that he was brutally tortured with the involvement of British and US intelligence agencies.

Binyam Mohammed, 27, says he spent nearly three years in the CIA's network of 'black sites'. In Morocco he claims he underwent the strappado torture of being hung for hours from his wrists, and scalpel cuts to his chest and penis and that a CIA officer was a regular interrogator."


Freedom's on the march.

Freedom's marchin'. Spreadin'.

Yep.



....
Torture
Bush
Blair
CIA renditions
Rumsfeld

Bubble Boy Brings Home Heroes' Corpses as Excess Baggage

Just how nauseated can one get?

.







"Family Upset Over Marine's Body Arriving As Freight

Marine Bodies Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.
Click here to find out more!

John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when they found out the body of their only child, Matthew, who died in Iraq last month, would be arriving at Lindbergh Field as freight.

"When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made," said John Holley.

John and Stacey Holley, who were both in the Army, made some calls, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Matthew was greeted with honor and respect.

"Our familiarity with military protocol and things of that sort allowed us to kind of put our foot down -- we're not sure other parents have that same knowledge," said Stacey Holley.

The Holleys now want to make sure every fallen hero gets the proper welcome.

The bodies of dead service members arrive at Dover Air Force Base.

From that point, they are sent to their families on commercial airliners.

Reporters from 10News called the Defense Department for an explanation. A representative said she did not know why this is happening."


Why is this happening?

Because Bubble Boy started a war based on an Oedipal feud with his own Dad.

Because Preznit Toad-Exploder can't face the fact that he's killing thousands of his own people and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Because Preznit lacks the cojones to take responsibility for his bringing moral and fiscal bankruptcy to America.



Gee. Who was our last peace and prosperity president? Oh, that would be Clinton, would it not?

War and Poverty Preznits are so much more -- deep. Are they not?



.

Eugene McCarthy, Democrat With Brains & Cojones, Dies

Boston Globe -- Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.

. . . Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over the Vietnam War. The challenge led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race.

The former college professor, who ran for president five times in all, was in some ways an atypical politician, a man with a witty, erudite speaking style who wrote poetry in his spare time and was the author of several books.

"He was thoughtful and he was principled and he was compassionate and he had a good sense of humor," his son said.

Rest in peace, Gene.

The Horror! The Horror! O'Reilly Revealed as Self-Proclaimed Horrorist!! (GITMO FOR CHRISTMAS!)

Well, REALLY.

Now we've moved from TERR-OR to HORR-OR, thanks to the guy who can't tell a loofah from a felafel, such that it all becomes so much more CLEAR-er.


Here's what the person some say is a megalomaniacal phone-sex enthusiast said of late:

"I (WHO CAN'T TELL A LOOFAH FROM A FELAFEL)

am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, (Wait. Are not the American Taliban Totalitarians of America the true totalitarians?)

anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. [this would be the megalomaniacal part)

I'm (DITTO)

gonna use all the power that

I (DITTO)

have on radio and television to bring horror (SYN. FOR TERROR)

into the world of people who are trying to do that.

And we have succeeded (megalomania).

You know we've succeeded (meg.).

They are on the run in corporations, in the media, everywhere. They are on the run, because I will put their face and their name on television, and I will talk about them on the radio if they do it (MEGMEGMEG).

There is no reason on this earth that all of us [WHAT YOU MEAN 'WE,' WHITE MAN?)

cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together. There is no reason on the earth that we can't do that.

So we are going to do it. And anyone who tries to stop us from doing it is gonna face me. [YUHH, AND ANYONE WHO FAILS TO CELEBRATE BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY IS GONNA FACE ME, BIG-TIME. AND I CAN TELL A LOOFAH FROM A FELAFEL BTW]."


Thus spake he who some say is a megalomaniacal phone-sex enthusiast, one Bill O'Reilly.


Okey-dokey, then, and a Very Merry Ole Christmas to you, too, Mr. Felafel-brain (no offense to felafels).


Well, I don't know about you, but I'm totally psyched for this new American war on horror.


A war on right-wing horror.

HOO-AH!

The war on horror: Coulter, Condi, Scooter "What-Kind-of-Name-is-That-for-a-Grown- Man?" Libby.

The mega-horrorists: Preznit Toad-Exploder (referring to his confirmed history of cruelty to animals), Dogbeater Dobson (referring to his confirmed history to cruelty to animals and his advocacy of the whipping with whips of toddlers), Gulag-Geezer Rummy (referring to his ongoing espousal of the torture of human beings).

The horror, the horrors: Big Dick "Fuck You,& Yr. Genevas, Too" Cheney, "Hasta La Vista, Genevas!" Gonzalez, and 'I Heart JimmyJeffGannon Guckert' Karl "Grease-geek!" Rove.


OK, then. You ready? LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE NEW WAR ON HORROR!

It's time. It's past time!

The war on horror embodies the TRUE spirit of Christmas!


Join us! Now! END horror in our lifetime!

Clean House -- 2006 -- and Senate!

Send Bubble Boy, Cheney, Rummy, and all the torturers to jail!



In Gitmo!

For Christmas!

Gitmo for Christmas! Gitmo for Christmas!



Ho ho ho! GITMO FOR CHRISTMAS!!



Torture
Bush
Cheney
Rove
Rumsfeld

SHE DIDN'T ACT TRAUMATIZED ENOUGH

As American women's rights continue to sink back toward the sixth century, we have a judge in Oregon prosecuting a gang-rape survivor for making "false accusations" because SHE DIDN'T ACT TRAUMATIZED ENOUGH.

Got that?

Sans weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth--there is no rape. Unless one behaves as the body politic believes one should behave after rape, there is no rape.

That's the fantasy, anyhow, the fantasy of die-hard "she-asked-for-it" rape denialists, who continue to take blame-the-victim-ism to new lows.


JUDGE RULES TEEN FILED FALSE REPORT IN RAPE CASE

Teen never recants, and her lawyer says the verdict may stop others from reporting sex crimes

(via Shakespeare's Sister)

BEAVERTON -- A municipal judge found a 19-year-old woman guilty Friday of filing a false police report after she said she was raped by three young men.

Even though the woman never said she lied or recanted her story, city prosecutors say they took the unusual step of filing charges against her because of the seriousness of her accusations.

The woman's attorney and advocates for rape victims say the prosecution sets a dangerous precedent and could discourage others from reporting sexual assaults

"This will have a huge chilling effect on men and women across the board," said Erin Ellis, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Center in Washington County. "We're sliding backwards."

After a day-and-a-half trial, Municipal Judge Peter A. Ackerman on Friday convicted the woman of filing a false police report, a class-C misdemeanor. Ackerman explained his decision, saying there were many inconsistencies in the stories of the four, but that he found the young men to be more credible. He also said he relied on the testimony of a Beaverton police detective and the woman's friends who said she did not act traumatized in the days following the incident.


[Judge Ackerman no doubt possesses clinical licensure with particular experience in post-traumatic stress disorder, as do the woman's 'friends'.]

The woman's lawyer, Jeff Napoli, said he plans to appeal the case to Washington County Circuit Court, where a new trial would be held.

The woman, who was 17 at the time of the April 30, 2004, incident, testified Friday that she was attacked by an 18-year-old boyfriend and his two friends. She said she was in the boyfriend's bedroom preparing to go to a party when she was sexually assaulted by the men.

The three men testified Thursday that the acts were consensual and at the girl's initiation.

The Oregonian is not publishing the names of the woman or the three men because the case remains unresolved and involves allegations of sexual assault.

The Washington County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case against the men. Robert Hermann, the county's district attorney, said prosecutors reviewed all the information and statements but didn't think they could prove a rape allegation.


It's easy to see why rape is an underreported crime, and why rape crisis counselors frequently advise clients not to pursue charges.

But this case is particularly egregious, depending, as it does, on clinical judgments being made by people who are not clinically trained--e.g., the judge, and the two 'friends.'

What are the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder? Numbing/avoidance, autonomic hyperarousal (panic, anxiety, hypervigilance, rage, irritability, etc.), and intrusions (flashbacks/nightmares).

Consider:

Initially, most sexual assault victims react with shock and disbelief. You may feel numb and dazed, withdrawn and distant from other people. You may want to forget about what happened and avoid people or situations that remind you of the assault.

The young woman's symptom, as described in this article, (and she may well have others) fall under the first category. Contrary to the judgment of the judge, her behavior was perfectly consistent with a post-traumatic reaction.

The judge rendered an opinion based on his own clearly erroneous understanding.

I hope the young woman sues the crap out of everyone she can.






rape
PTSD
women's issues
Rape Victim Found Guilty

War. What is it good for? Mental Health! (Well, If You Live in BushWorld)

More breathtakingly arrogant, wholly ridiculous, nipcheese Bushist fascist spin here:

From Wounds, Inner Strength
Some Veterans Feel Lives Enlarged by Wartime Suffering

As Hilbert Caesar told his harrowing war story one night recently in the living room of his apartment, he patted the artificial limb sticking from a leg of his business suit. "This, right here," he said, "this is a minor setback."

Eighteen months after Caesar's right leg was mangled by a roadside bomb near Baghdad, and after weeks of coming to terms with what he thought was the end of his life, the former Army staff sergeant believes he has emerged a richer person -- wiser, more compassionate and more appreciative of life. . .

Although the shattering psychological impact of war is well known, experts have become increasingly interested in those who emerge from combat feeling enhanced. Some psychiatrists and psychologists believe that those soldiers have experienced a phenomenon known as "post-traumatic growth," or "adversarial" growth .

Although war left him with a leg of plastic and steel, Caesar, 28, of Silver Spring, appears to be among those who return home with psyche intact and a sense that they are in some mysterious way improved.

"I'm the same person," he said, "but I'm a different person now."

Combat's potential to inflict psychic wounds has been recognized as far back as the ancient Greeks, but so has its ability to exhilarate, intoxicate and instruct those who experience it, experts say."


"Some experts" assert that war is good for you?

Oh, gee, would that be those experts with a financial and political interest in minimizing the damage to troops that Bubble Boy's Iraq War of Choice has done, and continues to do? Ya think?

The new War-Is-Good-For-You is cavalier Bushist Up-Is-Down-ism at its smarmy best: a way of suggesting they're supporting the troops, while actually undermining them.

It's classic Karl Rovery, cueing the War is Good-niks to swarm out of the woodwork, buzzing that PTSD is for pussies, and that if you're mangled and depressed and suicidal after combat, it's your own damn fault.

Not enough testosterone. Get a grip, boy. Get Patton to slap some sense into you.

Say, haven't we been down this road before?

Yuh. We can revisit the recent Bushist attempts to save money by un-diagnosing veterans with PTSD: "Dirty Bush to Vets: First We Maim Your Minds, Then We Dump You." That was a corker of a campaign.

But really, they've outdone themselves this time in their blame-the-victim-ism.

Get it? In the Bush universe, not only is dirty air really clean air, and polluted water quite pristine, deficits really surpluses, but--war doesn't actually suck!

Why, so long as you're macho enough, if war doesn't killya, it makes ya stronger!

Macho men and women. Gggrrrgh!


First the black-heart neo-cons conjure up a war, just to prove they can.

Then their black-heart neo-con war maims troops' minds and bodies.

But then, if troops' suffer--it's their own damn fault! They're weakling swine. Get it?

Wow!

You go, Preznit Toad-Exploder! You create that reality!

You go, guy! Grrgggh!





Veterans
Bush
PTSD
Rove
Rumsfeld

Whole Lotta Smitin' Goin' On (Or--Is Pat Robertson SATAN??)

Is Pat Robertson Satan?

I mean, he's certainly Satanic.

Here's a guy who says he's a preacher of the Lord, but he's breaking God's Ninth Commandment, advocating the breaking of God's Sixth Commandment (See "Robertson Calls For Chavez Murder: God's Sixth Commandment Not Good Enough for Anti-Christ-ist Crackpot Right"), fervently praying for Supreme Court Justices to drop dead, advocating the breaking of the Golden Rule while ignoring if not contravening virtually all of the actual teachings of the actual Jesus Christ.

He's the guy who memorably said: "(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

"Rev." Robertson also points out that "Presbyterians are the spirit of the Anti-Christ."


So, ok, ok, ok, he's Satanic, but is he actually Satan?

This urgent, burning question arises due to Pat Robertson's recent prophetic-wannabe comments to the citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania.

Via PFAW:

'On today’s 700 Club, Rev. Pat Robertson took the opportunity to strongly rebuke voters in Dover, PA who removed from office school board members who supported teaching faith-based 'intelligent design' and instead elected Democrats who opposed bringing up the possibility of a Creator in the school system’s science curriculum.

Rev. Robertson warned the people of Dover that God might forsake the town because of the vote . . . [saying], "I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there.'"

So he's claiming to know what God's gonna do, because God, I guess, tells him.

But, as I recently wrote to Rev. Robertson--what if that voice in his head belongs to--Satan?

Don't you think God might just get pissed off enough to smite this guy, big-time? Squash him down like a bug?

Whackk!

Or, forget about Pat hearing the voice of Satan and then doing his bidding, worse yet, what if "Pat Robertson" is actually Old Scratch, Beelzebub himself--in human drag?

We need to work this out, boys and girls. Discuss. Ponder. Vote!

(Vote via comments below).

Is Pat Robertson--Satan?

Or is he--the Anti-Christ?


Reference re the Anti-Christ:

"Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 1:7, ESV.)"

Here it seems to describe any false teacher or false prophet or corrupter of the Christian faith, but sometimes also seems to indicate a specific person or a single spirit of deception that motivates false teaching, and whose presence is a sign of the end times. However, in popular understanding, many Christians identify this particular Antichrist with the man of sin or son of perdition mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2, and with several figures in the Book of Revelation including the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Whore of Babylon. The Antichrist is variously understood to be a group or organization, such as a consummately evil system of government or a false religion; or, more commonly, as an individual, such as an evil government leader, a religious leader that sets up false worship in place of the worship of Christ, the incarnation of Satan, a son of Satan, or a human being under the dominion of Satan."

Bubble Boy Keeps on Bombing

Like the gift that just keeps on giving, Preznit Toad-Exploder's dirty little secret plan to eliminate Al-Jazeera, the free press of the Arab world, just won't go away.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald: OUTRAGE GROWS AT BUSH BOMB CLAIM.

AN executive of Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news channel, is seeking an urgent meeting with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, over reports that George Bush discussed bombing the satellite channel's headquarters in Qatar.

Wadah Khanfar, the station's director-general, is flying to Britain this weekend after newspapers reported the US President made the comments during a meeting with Mr Blair at the White House on April 16 last year.

Mr Bush's alleged comments about bombing Al-Jazeera's building in Doha are reported to be contained in a note of the meeting. The British Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, warned newspapers they could be charged under the Official Secrets Act if they published further material from the note.

In the House of Commons on Thursday, a Liberal Democrat MP, David Heath, said Lord Goldsmith had threatened editors with the Official Secrets Act to prevent government embarrassment rather than protect national security. . .

The White House meeting, in April last year, took place at a time British officials and military commanders were appalled by US tactics in Iraq, particularly the assault on Falluja. Pictures shown on Al-Jazeera of the attack infuriated US generals.

Karma's a bitch. Go cry on Tony's shoulder, why don'tcha, Bubble Boy?

From the original Mirror UK story:

"Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims.

The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten the West.

Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's capital, Doha.

Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors."


Military errors? As in "oops, so sorry we bombed you"?

Say, Bush's wish mirrors that of Taliban Rightist Ann Coulter, hoping that the not-even-liberal media sheep medium, the New York Times, had been destroyed on 9/11?

What is the Taliban Right's problem with freedom of speech? What was Bush's deep obsession with Al-Jazeera all about?

Check out Don't Bomb Us, a new blog by three al-Jazeera staffers.


In a related story of dirty laundry finally coming to light via the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH link above):

The CIA has been accused of flying terrorist suspects through US air bases in Germany without informing the German Government. Handelsblatt newspaper, citing a CIA source, referred to the Ramstein base and the Rhein-Main base near Frankfurt.


There may be difficult ramifications for the US.

The issue could have serious consequences for both Washington and European countries. If such prisons are found in EU territory, they would likely violate European conventions on human rights. If they exist in countries such as Romania, they could threaten its application to the EU.

The matter could also call into question European participation in the war on terror. For example, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot recently told his country's parliament that the existence of such prisons in Europe would have "consequences" for Dutch military operations in Afghanistan.

The CIA source told Handelsblatt that the discovery of CIA practices was "very painful" for employees. Another US government official said that the US plans to answer European concerns soon. And a top US official on Wednesday acknowledged mounting EU pressure for Washington to come clean about reports of secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe while stressing his country's right to protect itself against terrorists.

"Very painful," you say?

Painful as in waterboarding?

Painful as in hanging people up by their limbs?

Just how painful?



....
Torture
Bush
Blair
Al-Jazeera
Rumsfeld

New England Thanksgiving, Tibetan Buddhist-Style

Patches of grey-blue clouds, rainy wintry sky. Dusky red and brown trees, fog over the marsh. Eighteen mourning doves under the holly tree, red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, cardinals, finches, downy woodpeckers feasting on sunflower seeds and suet cakes. One majestic northern flicker, yellow-tailed.

We're inside with the new puppy, cooking, cleaning, preparing, polishing, waiting. St. Matthew's Passion playing in the background, puppy doing ok with it so far (she howls at some sopranos and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders).

Mantras offered on behalf of all sentient beings deceased in the making of this food: turkey, insects disrupted by growing and harvesting of celery, onions, herbs for Bell's Seasoning. Thanks to pig for the salt pork in the stuffing. Squash, green beans, Yukon Gold potatoes, russet potatoes, carrots. Wine. Pumpkin pie.

Nice article on Thanksgiving graces in the NY Times.

Today's grace to come:

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May all beings never be apart from the great happiness free from suffering.

May all beings remain in the great equanimity of mind
free from passion, aggression and ignorance.



That means you, too, George.






Tibetan
Thanksgiving
New England
Buddhist

Blair: NOT the Preznit's Poodle--His P.O.!

So, gee, it turns out that British Prime Minister Tony Blair wasn't Preznit Toad-Exploder's Poodle after all!

Tony's job was to serve as Parole Officer for our youthful offender, trying to keep Bubble Boy from getting into trouble yet again.

Heads are rolling and politicians being charged in Great Britain as the Blair government tries to get this sticky, cranky, white-hot toothpaste back into its tube again: Preznit Toad-Exploder had a hankering to bomb Al-Jazeera to smithereens!!

Information leaked to the Daily Mirror asserts the existence of a memo "hugely damaging to Bush." The British government has already forbidden the Mirror to publish more, fearing revelations to come that may prove even more embarrassing.

From the Mirror:


"[Bush] made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

Another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."


One can only wonder in shock and awe what other Toad-Exploder catastrophes Blair narrowly averted . . .

Poor Tony, staying up late into the nights, pleading, "No, no, you mustn't nuke the Polar Ice Caps, George. You can't have Teddy Kennedy disappeared. Or George Soros. Or anyone. No, you may not pave the Euphrates. Can you put on Laura?"

"Laura, darling, please, would you be so good as to slip him another Mickey? I'm afraid George is wilding again."




Al-Jazeera
Bush
Blair
Cheney
Rumsfeld

More Anti-Christian Christmas Messages from the Taliban Right

Falwell, Dobson, Robertson. Why are these people leading anyone, much less being seen as leaders of practicing Christians?

Dobson's a confirmed dog-beater and toddler whipper; Robertson lies and advocates assassination, not to mention peppering his broadcasts with occult Satanic hand signals (see devil's horn gesture, above; to vote on whether Robertson is Satan OR the Anti-Christ, see: A WHOLE LOTTA SMITIN' GOIN' ON, below) and now Falwell comes up with his joyful Christmas holiday "Friend or Foe Campaign".

So Falwell's another Sunday School dropout, hunh?

"Friend or Foe"?

Good God.

Did he white-out this paragraph from his dog-eared copy of the Gospel?


"There is a saying, 'Love your friends and hate your enemies.' But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too.

If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much. If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (TLB, Matthew 5:43-48)

Like the unselfish Samaritan man of Jesus' parable, we are called to extend our love and concern to all persons everywhere, as our neighbors. We should not exclude anyone or any group because of social status, a supposed character fault, religious difference, racial difference, ethnic difference, citizenship difference, etc."


Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, all these Satanic pseudo-Christian miscreants deserve to have their noses rubbed in the actual teachings of Jesus.

When will their misled followers awaken?

Gay Priests? God Forbid!

One would think that celibacy is celibacy, regardless of sexual orientation, that not having sex means just not having sex, regardless of which sort of sex one is not having.

But no. The Vatican now forbids gay male seminarians.

The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.

A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.

Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.


Disallowing pedophiles from the priesthood would have been more to the point, would it not?



.

WE HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY, AND HE IS US

Sorry, I must have missed something.

We were the Good Guys back in the Clinton years, were we not? You remember, the years of peace and prosperity? As opposed to war and poverty? Way way back when?

We're wearing the Black Hats now, in case anyone has failed to notice.

British-trained police in Iraq 'KILLED PRISONERS WITH DRILLS'

By Francis Elliott, Raymond Whitaker and Kim Sengupta

20 November 2005


Britain has been dragged into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings in Iraq

British-trained police operating in Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.

Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.

The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.

The disclosure drags Britain firmly into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings, torture and disappearances in Iraq. More than 170 starving and tortured prisoners were discovered last week in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.

American troops who uncovered the secret torture chamber are also said to have discovered mutilated corpses, several bearing drill marks.

Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, who uncovered the death at al-Jamiyat police station, called for an immediate UN investigation into police torture. "The Government keeps on saying that respect for human rights is a pre-condition of withdrawal. Well, it should be a pre-condition for UK soldiers to continue risking their lives in Iraq," he said.

Mr Reid said: "I am aware of serious allegations of prisoner abuse at the Jamiyat, including two deaths in custody. We take this very seriously. We have been pressing the Iraqi authorities very hard to investigate these allegations thoroughly and then to take the appropriate action."

Ministry of Defence sources privately confirm that the two SAS soldiers seized and held in Jamiyat in September were investigating allegations of police torture prompted by the discovery of the bodies.

British forces in armoured vehicles smashed their way into the station to rescue them, but officers have admitted they are powerless to protect civilians in southern Iraq from militias, and military patrols have been withdrawn from central Basra in the wake of the September clashes.

In the US-controlled districts of Iraq, some senior military and intelligence officials have been accused of giving tacit approval to the extra-judicial actions of counter-insurgency forces.

Critics claim the situation echoes American collaboration with military regimes in Latin America and south-east Asia during the Cold War, particularly in Vietnam, where US-trained paramilitaries were used to kill opponents of the South Vietnamese government.
British-trained police in Iraq 'killed prisoners with drills' Britain has been dragged into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings in Iraq

British-trained police operating in Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.

Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.

The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.

The disclosure drags Britain firmly into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings, torture and disappearances in Iraq. More than 170 starving and tortured prisoners were discovered last week in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.

American troops who uncovered the secret torture chamber are also said to have discovered mutilated corpses, several bearing drill marks.

Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, who uncovered the death at al-Jamiyat police station, called for an immediate UN investigation into police torture. "The Government keeps on saying that respect for human rights is a pre-condition of withdrawal. Well, it should be a pre-condition for UK soldiers to continue risking their lives in Iraq," he said.

Mr Reid said: "I am aware of serious allegations of prisoner abuse at the Jamiyat, including two deaths in custody. We take this very seriously. We have been pressing the Iraqi authorities very hard to investigate these allegations thoroughly and then to take the appropriate action."

Ministry of Defence sources privately confirm that the two SAS soldiers seized and held in Jamiyat in September were investigating allegations of police torture prompted by the discovery of the bodies.

British forces in armoured vehicles smashed their way into the station to rescue them, but officers have admitted they are powerless to protect civilians in southern Iraq from militias, and military patrols have been withdrawn from central Basra in the wake of the September clashes.

In the US-controlled districts of Iraq, some senior military and intelligence officials have been accused of giving tacit approval to the extra-judicial actions of counter-insurgency forces. [TORTURE]

Critics claim the situation echoes American collaboration with military regimes in Latin America and south-east Asia during the Cold War, particularly in Vietnam, where US-trained paramilitaries were used to kill [AND TORTURE] opponents of the South Vietnamese government.
----------------------


All those with an active conscience may start puking right

NOW.


"Spreading democracy?"

Not so much. Spreading Rummy-colored, Cheney-colored political sadism is more like it.





...
Torture
Bush
Blair
Cheney
Rumsfeld

No Exit

It's not what Sartre had in mind, but it's enough to raise up my level of existential angst.

Bubble Boy. Mr. Torture. Preznit Moral AND Fiscal bankruptcy.

Starting a war based on lies to get back at his own Daddy for their Oedipal troubles. 100,000 Iraqis dead. Two thousand Americans dead; tens of thousands of gravely wounded, tens of thousands with PTSD. May as well count the three thousand at the World Trade Center, courtesy of Bubble Boy not heeding the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S." PDB.

Temper tantruming. Hitting the bottle. Having a hard time looking in the mirror.

No exit strategy even from a press conference.

What a maroon.





Bush

TorturZ "R" U.S.

Uh-oh. Pass the compazine. It's nausea time.

Again.

There was a charming piece on "Six Degrees of Rumsfeld's Anti-Geneva Conventions' Kinda Torture" tonight on ABC news. As is usual for the media whore media, they tried to downplay the deep disgustingness of it, but hey, everyone's owned by corporations these days, so who cares.

After reading Rummy's little list of Six Favorite Ways to Torture Others, I googled the Geneva Conventions:

Part II. General Protection of Prisoners of War

Art. 12. Prisoners of war are in the hands of the enemy Power, but not of the individuals or military units who have captured them. Irrespective of the individual responsibilities that may exist, the Detaining Power is responsible for the treatment given them. [YO, DUDES, THIS WOULD INCLUDE GIVING THEM OVER VIA RENDITIONS. DON'T BE TAKING VACATIONS IN EUROPE ANYTIME SOON.]

Prisoners of war may only be transferred by the Detaining Power to a Power which is a party to the Convention and after the Detaining Power has satisfied itself of the willingness and ability of such transferee Power to apply the Convention. When prisoners of war are transferred under such circumstances, responsibility for the application of the Convention rests on the Power accepting them while they are in its custody. [DITTO. RUMMY, SEE ABOVE.]

Nevertheless, if that Power fails to carry out the provisions of the Convention in any important respect, the Power by whom the prisoners of war were transferred shall, upon being notified by the Protecting Power, take effective measures to correct the situation or shall request the return of the prisoners of war. Such requests must be complied with. [DITTO. DITTO, RUMMY.]

Art. 13. Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.

Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.

Art. 14. Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour.

Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favourable as that granted to men.

Prisoners of war shall retain the full civil capacity which they enjoyed at the time of their capture. The Detaining Power may not restrict the exercise, either within or without its own territory, of the rights such capacity confers except in so far as the captivity requires.

Art. 15. The Power detaining prisoners of war shall be bound to provide free of charge for their maintenance and for the medical attention required by their state of health.

Art. 16. Taking into consideration the provisions of the present Convention relating to rank and sex, and subject to any privileged treatment which may be accorded to them by reason of their state of health, age or professional qualifications, all prisoners of war shall be treated alike by the Detaining Power, without any adverse distinction based on race, nationality, religious belief or political opinions, or any other distinction founded on similar criteria."



Of course, here's the thing: after 9/11, everything CHANGED. So RUMMY and TOAD-EXPLODER BUSH can now do anything they want.

So they say.


After 9/11, everything changed, so that it then became NOT a BAD and STUPID thing THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS when President Toad-Exploder Bush and his merry men failed to do jack shit about that pesky PBD "BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES."

No, afterward, they all determined that their own idiocy in paying no attention whatsoever to the Clinton administration's repeated warnings about Al Qaeda meant that they could now unleash their own personal-and then collective--sadistic urges.

Oho. And how would that come about?


How shall we torture? Let us count SIX Ways:

(with appropriate counterspin)


1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

Translation: a punch in the face to show person we don't adhere to the quaint Genevas.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

Translation: a total massive blow to the stomach designed to injure internal organs, and may kill.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

Translation: A rose by any other name would smell less sweet. Despite the cute spinny name--which alone should alert one that this procedure totally sucks--the spin tries to portray this form of torture as being negligible in terms of horror. But--hoo ah--it's not! Causing pain--is--uh--TORTURE! Surprise, surprise?? Forcing humans to stay awake until they lose their minds is--uh--TORTURE!


5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water. [This is being spun as benign. Guess what? It's not! It's TORTURE!]

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

[Isn't that Orwellian name SO cute? Makes it sound so insignificant, like, snowboarding or skateboarding!! Woo hoo! Who could get upset about that? Oh, except, historically speaking, people who take other people prisoner and then bring them to the point of death, and then revive them, and then do that again, and again, wow, they're pretty much know as engaging in

T O R T U R E.


Yee haw, you sick evil black-heart neo-con draft-dodging blowhard sadistic perverts.

What part of "hurting others is wrong" did Mummy forget to teach you? Or did her words just bounce off your shiny, empty full-metal-jacket skulls?


Feh.





...
Torture
Bush
Cheney
Rumsfeld

Sex = Parenthood? Uh, NOT.

Linking having sex to necessarily having kids is a mistake, though one understands why this error is made. People may be perfectly competent at having sex, while being totally incompetent at having--and raising--children.

Government-forced maternity is abhorrent: in consultation with their doctors, and partners, where possible, need to decide the size of their families. No one else should intrude.

THIS IS NOT A PET ISSUE.

This issue directly concerns 50% of the human race, and indirectly, but substantially, concerns all the rest of us. Which makes it a batting-100% issue.

Government-forced maternity is just female slavery with a fake, stamped-on HappyFace.

Unwanted children lead to child abuse and neglect, and to crime.

Abortion, so far, has helped women postpone childbearing until they know they can take care of the child they will bear.

Let's hear it for people bearing "wanted children" for a change; let's put random parenthood back into the dark ages, where it belongs.

Forcing men and women to parent who are not up to the task is completely unfair to the child.

Children don't become magically wanted and loved because some church guilt trips their parents into giving birth to them, regardless of the parents' ability to parent. Childre who are unwanted and unloved suffer, sometimes in unimaginable ways.

It's no surprise that there was a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals in the United States well before there was a society for the prevention of cruelty to children.

Children are real. They have a right to be loved and wanted. We have a duty and a responsibility to protect post-born children, and to help those who are unfit for parenthood avoid parenting preferably by the use of birth control, by early termination otherwise.

"Child abuse is a symptom that parents are having difficulty coping with their situation.

Are victims of child abuse more likely to engage in criminality later in life?

According to a 1992 study sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), maltreatment in childhood increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 53 percent, as an adult by 38 percent, and for a violent crime by 38 percent. Being abused or neglected in childhood increases the likelihood of arrest for females by 77 percent. A related 1995 NIJ report indicated that children who were sexually abuse were 28 times more likely than a control group of nonabused children to be arrested for prostitution as an adult."

One story here.

INFANT'S FATHER CHARGED WITH FELONY CHILD ABUSE

Hampton police have charged the father of a six-week old infant with child abuse.

Police say they were alerted on November 1 by medical personnel at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters about an infant boy in their care. The staff told authorities the infant was suffering from fractures to his skull, wrist and ribs.

Authorities claim their preliminary investigation revealed the infant was assaulted by his father on October 26. Ian Wesley Frey Sr., 22, of the 100 block of Tide Mill Lane, has been charged with one count of felony child abuse.



And here.

BACK IN CARE OF HER FATHER, GIRL, SEVEN, IS KILLED

A Queens father was charged yesterday with killing his 7-year-old daughter, who tested positive for cocaine when she was born, spent time in foster care, and came to the attention of a city agency again two years ago because of suspicious injuries.

Catherine Harris, at her front door in Queens this week, says she voiced concerns about the treatment of a young neighbor, Sierra Roberts. Sierra Roberts lived with her father, Russell Roberts, on the second floor of this house on Hillmeyer Avenue in Arverne, Queens.

The girl, Sierra Roberts, died on Oct. 25. An autopsy revealed severe internal injuries, including a ruptured bowel and extensive internal lacerations, according to the authorities.

Prosecutors said her father, Russell Roberts, had physically abused her on Oct. 23 and 24, kneeing her in the abdomen on the first day and then bending her over the edge of a bed and beating her with a belt on the second day. Then, they said, knowing that Sierra was suffering, he waited before calling 911.

It was the second time in two weeks that a birth parent was charged in the death of a child who had been placed in foster care by the city and then returned to the home.

Last week, Tracina Vaughn was charged with reckless endangerment in Brooklyn because, prosecutors said, she had left her 16-month-old son, Dahquay Gillians, unsupervised in the bathtub, where he drowned.

Hey. What About Bob?

How was Bob Woodward, once a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist seduced by the Dark Side?

WaPo says:

The belated revelation that Woodward has been sitting on information about the Plame controversy reignited questions about his unique relationship with The Post while he writes books with unparalleled access to high-level officials, and about why Woodward denigrated the Fitzgerald probe in television and radio interviews while not divulging his own involvement in the matter.

"It just looks really bad," said Eric Boehlert, a Rolling Stone contributing editor and author of a forthcoming book on the administration and the press. "It looks like what people have been saying about Bob Woodward for the past five years, that he's become a stenographer for the Bush White House."

Said New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen: "Bob Woodward has gone wholly into access journalism."

Robert Zelnick, chairman of Boston University's journalism department, said: "It was incumbent upon a journalist, even one of Woodward's stature, to inform his editors. . . . Bob is justifiably an icon of our profession -- he has earned that many times over -- but in this case his judgment was erroneous."

Did the Bubble Boy cabal force his rendition to Gitmo, order Col. "Torture's as American as Apple Pie" Geoffrey Miller to have some innocent-yet-ultimately-blameworthy underling turn on an Official Culture of Torture industrial strength vacuum and suck out Bob's brains?

Then replace them with a pile of rotting smelts and raw sewage?


Or, was Bob Woodward . . . with the Dark Side all along?

A Night Light suggests that, if not precisely with the Dark Side, Woodward was not what he represented himself to be in "Woodward: Smoke and Mirrors From the Start."

I think he was with the Dark Side all along.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson believes Woodward should be investigated by the Washington Post.

Wilson pointed out that Woodward, repeatedly criticized the leak investigation without disclosing his own involvement.

"It certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. He was taking an advocacy position when he was a party to it," Wilson said.

I'm also wondering if Bob Woodward was that notorious "no partisan gunslinger," referred to by Novak, Novak's second source, after Rove, for the story in which Novak outed in print CIA NOC Plame?

Black-heart neo-con Bushist fascists (say that phrase ten times!) are spinning that the Woodward admission somehow gets Scooter "What Kind of a Name is That For a Grown Man?" Libby off the hook.

No way.

I'm with Tran who asked:


"What difference does it make who was the first to out Plame to a reporter?

Sounds to me like they were shopping the story to everyone they could think of.

Can we spell c-o-n-s-p-i-r-a-c-y?"


Big Dick and his Merry Men, bound to suck up to allies and punish their enemies, unaccountably following Smokey Robinson's mama's advice:


"My Mama told ME--you'd better shop around !!"


Shop it around they did. To Woodward. Novak. Miller. Pincus. Cooper.

Anyone who'd buy what they were selling.



..

Bob Woodward
plame
Cheney
Fitzgerald

ROE V. WADE: SAY GOODBYE, GRACIE (PT. 2)

Told you so.


Them freedom-lovin' black-heart neo-cons seeking to overturn Islamist medievalism seek to subject all women of America to their mysogynist hellfire & brimstone medievalism, so that their government, not you, will regulate the size of your families.

They, not you, will decide if you're ready to bear a child. Here's the kicker: the size of your family will depend upon your fertility. Not planned parenthood, just random parenthood.

You ready for that?


ALITO REJECTED ABORTION AS A RIGHT

By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 14, 2005


Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" in a 1985 document obtained by The Washington Times.
"I personally believe very strongly" in this legal position, Mr. Alito wrote on his application to become deputy assistant to Attorney General Edwin I. Meese III.
The document, which is likely to inflame liberals who oppose Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, is among many that the White House will release today from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
In direct, unambiguous language, the young career lawyer who served as assistant to Solicitor General Rex E. Lee, demonstrated his conservative bona fides as he sought to become a political appointee in the Reagan administration.
"I am and always have been a conservative," he wrote in an attachment to the noncareer appointment form that he sent to the Presidential Personnel Office. "I am a lifelong registered Republican."
But his statements against abortion and affirmative action might cause him headaches from Democrats and liberals as he prepares for confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, scheduled for January.

It has been an honor and source of personal satisfaction for me to serve in the office of the Solicitor General during President Reagan's administration and to help to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly," he wrote.
"I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

All together now: smoking gun! Smoking gun! Smoking gun!


(Hat tip to Inflatable Dartboard and and BarbinMD at Kos, who, correct me if I'm wrong, as of this posting, has not seen fit to elevate this story beyond his sidebar. // Oh, now it's on the left side, with a bunch of other recommended diaries. Too chickflick still, I guess)


Let's all get on that great big bus toward government-forced maternity, ladies! Gents who think freedom of reproduction is just some pussy chickflick issue, step aside! Gents who get it, come on down!




-------------------------------------------
We can't care for the children we already have dept.

Here's a story from Houston, Texas.

Convicted child abuser Ivan Castaneda gets life in prison
By PEGGY O'HARE
Houston Chronicle

A jury decided this afternoon that Ivan Emmanuel Castaneda should be sentenced to life in prison for inflicting severe injuries on his infant daughter.

In contrast to his stoic appearance the previous day, when the jury convicted him of injury to a child, the 23-year-old Castaneda quietly wept at times today during testimony in the trial's punishment phase. . . Testifying today, Castaneda said he did not cause his daughter's massive injuries and denied ever abusing her. . .

On Thursday, Houston police Sgt. Randall Upton, who investigated the case, said the jury did the right thing in convicting Castaneda.

``They saw through the lies and deceit,'' he said, adding that Castaneda is, ``hands down, probably one of the most cold-hearted, emotionless people I've ever seen in my life.''

The child's mother, Donna Marie Norman, 20, remains in the Harris County Jail, awaiting trial on a charge of injury to a child by omission. Prosecutors say she was charged for failing to protect her daughter. Norman testified this week that she saw Castaneda squeeze the baby's abdomen and stick his finger down her throat on repeated occasions. The baby, then 6 months old, was clinging to life when she was brought to a hospital Feb. 2.

Police said the baby was injured ``head to toe,'' with fractures to her skull and other bones, as well as brain contusions and hemorrhaging, and injuries to her liver, lungs and kidneys. . .

Prosecutor Kari Allen told jurors Thursday that Castaneda's statement to the police was enough for him to be convicted, even without Norman's testimony.

She said Castaneda initially tried to blame the baby's injuries on an uncle who has Down syndrome, whom he falsely described as ``mentally ill.''

Castaneda then suggested that staff members at the first hospital to treat his daughter, Doctors Hospital Parkway, might be to blame, Allen said.

``This is someone who is desperate to point the blame somewhere else, because he's guilty,'' she told jurors. Though prosecutors couldn't explain how the injuries were inflicted, they said it was clear the child's parents didn't protect her.

``She had a daddy who, when she cried, stuck his finger down her throat,'' Allen said. ``He wanted to make her stop crying, so he did something to her tongue. (She) had a mother who wouldn't stand up to that man, wouldn't protect her,'' she said.

``She survived, despite all the odds. Despite everything her parents did to her, she survived. We need to give that child justice.'' . . . No plea deal for Norman has been discussed, prosecutors said, and they told jurors she should spend time in prison for failing to protect her daughter.

"WHITE HOUSE DECLINES TO TOTALLY RULE OUT TORTURE"

"We do not torture," said Bubble Boy.

OK, ok, so that was sort of an exaggeration.

Turns out, we do.






According to Stephen Hadley.

He's the "turns out, we were wrong" about those Weapons of Mass Destruction guy.

So, turns out, we do torture.

And, we will torture.

If and when we feel like it.

Whenever and wherever we feel like it.

Got that?

We're above the law. We're above the Geneva Conventions. We can do anything we damn please.

What was that you were saying about hubris?



WASHINGTON (AFP) - In an important clarification of President George W. Bush's earlier statement, a top White House official refused to unequivocally rule out the use of torture, arguing the US administration was duty-bound to protect Americans from terrorist attack.

The comment, by US national security adviser Stephen Hadley, came amid heated national debate about whether the CIA and other US intelligence agencies should be authorized to use what is being referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques" [TORTURE] to extract from terror suspects information that may help prevent future assaults.

The US Senate voted 90-9 early last month to attach an amendment authored by Republican Senator John McCain to a defense spending bill that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of detainees in US custody. But the White House has threatened to veto the measure and has lobbied senators to have the language removed or modified to allow an exemption for the Central Intelligence Agency. [PERMISSION TO TORTURE].

During a trip to Panama earlier this month, Bush said that Americans "do not torture."

However, appearing on CNN's "Late Edition" program, Hadley elaborated on the policy, making clear the White House could envisage circumstances, in which the broad pledge not to torture might not apply [PERMISSION TO TORTURE].

"The president has said that we are going to do whatever we do in accordance with the law," the national security adviser said. "But... you see the dilemma. What happens if on September 7th of 2001, we had gotten one of the hijackers and based on information associated with that arrest, believed that within four days, there's going to be a devastating attack on the United States?"

[OH. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PRESIDENT GETS A MEMO SAYING 'BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE INSIDE THE US' AND DOESN'T BOTHER TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE INFORMATION THAT THERE'S GOING TO BE A DEVASTATING ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES]

He insisted that it was "a difficult dilemma to know what to do in that circumstance to both discharge our responsibility to protect the American people from terrorist attack and follow the president's guidance of staying within the confines of law [FORBIDDING TORTURE]."

The CIA is reported to be operating a network of covert prisons in eight countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Thailand and several former Soviet bloc nations in Eastern Europe, where terror suspects are questioned [TORTURED].

Republican Senator Kit Bond, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Newsweek magazine that "enhanced interrogation techniques" [TORTURE] had worked with at least one captured high-level Al-Qaeda operative, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, to thwart an unspecified plot.

But officials have been mum about interrogation techniques [TORTURE] used on other detainees, drawing sharp criticism from members of the Senate.

A compromise with senators was in the works, Hadley assured, saying the White House was holding consultations with them about the McCain amendment.

He offered no specifics about the administration's goals in these talks. But McCain, who appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" program, said White House negotiators led by Vice President Richard Cheney were pushing to safeguard the option of using the enhanced interrogation techniques [TORTURE] in order to get information from detainees in extraordinary circumstances.

The senator said he disagreed with that approach because he was worried about the damage to the image of the United States.

"I hold no brief for the terrorists," he said. "But it's not about them. It's about us. This battle we're in is about the things we stand for and believe in and practice. And that is an observance of human rights, no matter how terrible our adversaries may be."


Yuh, sounds good, but John's not in charge.

So, we'll be torturing, whenever we damn well please.

TORTURZ "R" US.

Bubble Boy: Shitfaced, for Sure

Video reference at Crooks & Liars.

Scroll down a bit to "Bush With Kilgore."

Listen as Bubble Boy slurs his words, watch his body language as he slings his arm around his missus, puts his weight on her, and makes Laura stagger.

He's shitfaced. For sure.

Shitfaced: A word defining a person who has had too much alcohol.


Sixty-eight percent think the country's going in the wrong direction.

That would be Bubble Boy's direction.


See also: hammered, sloshed, shit-faced, tanked, blitzed, bombed, wrecked, , drunkened, loose, tipsy, defcon 1, well-done, trashed, jagged up, Irish, canned, smashed, fucked-up, intoxicated, inebriated, annihilated, laced.


Headlines some toey White House aide discovers in blogtopia, prints the page out, and leaves under POTUS' shower soap: "CONFERENCE DEBACLE CONFIRMS: IRAQ WAR HURTS DEMOCRACY IN MIDDLE EAST."


Stupefied, excited, or muddled with alcoholic liquor: besotted, crapulent, crapulous, drunken, inebriate, intoxicated, sodden, tipsy.


"Turns out, we were wrong" about them pesky weapons of mass destruction, Stephen Hadley, Big Dick sycophant and fellow sociopathic black-heart neo-con finally admits.


Informal: cockeyed, stewed.

Then there's Bubble Boy's eminence grise in jeopardy, Cheney on Trial, as captured by Sidney Blumenthal. Big Dick's jeopardy perhaps to be followed by that of Bubble Boy himself.

Oh dear.

Slang: blind, bombed, boozed, boozy, crocked, high, lit (up), loaded, looped, pickled, pixilated, plastered, potted, smashed, soused, stinking, stinko, stoned, tight, zonked.

Idioms: drunk as a skunk, half-seas over, high as a kite, in one's cups, three sheets to the wind.


Painful to watch.

And this guy's got the nuclear codes? Puh-leeze!

Grow A Brain, Willya? (Or, Let's Hear It for Neuroplasticity!)

They said it couldn't be done.

But, recently, they said otherwise.

Meditation Associated With Increased Grey Matter In The Brain

Meditation is known to alter resting brain patterns, suggesting long lasting brain changes, but a new study by researchers from Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows meditation also is associated with increased cortical thickness.

The structural changes were found in areas of the brain that are important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing, the researchers report in the November issue of NeuroReport.

Although the study included only 20 participants, all with extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation, the results are significant, said Jeremy Gray, assistant professor of psychology at Yale and co-author of the study led by Sara Lazar, assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's grey matter," Gray said. "The study participants were people with jobs and families. They just meditated on average 40 minutes each day, you don't have to be a monk."

Magnetic resonance imaging showed that regular practice of meditation is associated with increased thickness in a subset of cortical regions related to sensory, auditory, visual and internal perception, such as heart rate or breathing. The researchers also found that regular meditation practice may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex.

Hmm. No kidding.

So there's hope for--change?

Here's another article on meditation altering brain structure. The salient point here, as above, is that something immaterial (directed thoughts) are causing measurable changes in material objects (brain structure and function).

Meditation Alters Brain Structure


Scans of Monks' Brains Show Meditation Alters Structure, Functioning -- SCIENCE JOURNAL By SHARON BEGLEY - November 5, 2004

All of the Dalai Lama's guests peered intently at the brain scan projected onto screens at either end of the room, but what different guests they were.

On one side sat five neuroscientists, united in their belief that physical processes in the brain can explain all the wonders of the mind, without appeal to anything spiritual or nonphysical.

Facing them sat dozens of Tibetan Buddhist monks in burgundy-and-saffron robes, convinced that one round-faced young man in their midst is the reincarnation of one of the Dalai Lama's late teachers, that another is the reincarnation of a 12th-century monk, and that the entity we call "mind" is not, as neuroscience says, just a manifestation of the brain.

It was not, in other words, your typical science meeting.

But although the Buddhists and scientists who met for five days last month in the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, had different views on the little matters of reincarnation and the relationship of mind to brain, they set them aside in the interest of a shared goal.

They had come together in the shadows of the Himalayas to discuss one of the hottest topics in brain science: neuroplasticity.

The term refers to the brain's recently discovered ability to change its structure and function, in particular by expanding or strengthening circuits that are used and by shrinking or weakening those that are rarely engaged. In its short history, the science of neuroplasticity has mostly documented brain changes that reflect physical experience and input from the outside world. In pianists who play many arpeggios, for instance, brain regions that control the index finger and middle finger become fused, apparently because when one finger hits a key in one of these fast-tempo movements, the other does so almost simultaneously, fooling the brain into thinking the two fingers are one. As a result of the fused brain regions, the pianist can no longer move those fingers independently of one another.

Lately, however, scientists have begun to wonder whether the brain can change in response to purely internal, mental signals. That's where the Buddhists come in. Their centuries-old tradition of meditation offers a real-life experiment in the power of those will-o'-the-wisps, thoughts, to alter the physical matter of the brain.

"Of all the concepts in modern neuroscience, it is neuroplasticity that has the greatest potential for meaningful interaction with Buddhism," says neuroscientist Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Dalai Lama agreed, and he encouraged monks to donate (temporarily) their brains to science.

The result was the scans that Prof. Davidson projected in Dharamsala. They compared brain activity in volunteers who were novice meditators to that of Buddhist monks who had spent more than 10,000 hours in meditation. The task was to practice "compassion" meditation, generating a feeling of loving kindness toward all beings.

"We tried to generate a mental state in which compassion permeates the whole mind with no other thoughts," says Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk at Shechen Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, who holds a Ph.D. in genetics.

In a striking difference between novices and monks, the latter showed a dramatic increase in high-frequency brain activity called gamma waves during compassion meditation. Thought to be the signature of neuronal activity that knits together far-flung brain circuits, gamma waves underlie higher mental activity such as consciousness. The novice meditators "showed a slight increase in gamma activity, but most monks showed extremely large increases of a sort that has never been reported before in the neuroscience literature," says Prof. Davidson, suggesting that mental training can bring the brain to a greater level of consciousness.

Using the brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging, the scientists pinpointed regions that were active during compassion meditation. In almost every case, the enhanced activity was greater in the monks' brains than the novices'. Activity in the left prefrontal cortex (the seat of positive emotions such as happiness) swamped activity in the right prefrontal (site of negative emotions and anxiety), something never before seen from purely mental activity. A sprawling circuit that switches on at the sight of suffering also showed greater activity in the monks. So did regions responsible for planned movement, as if the monks' brains were itching to go to the aid of those in distress.

"It feels like a total readiness to act, to help," recalled Mr. Ricard.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. . . .

That opens up the tantalizing possibility that the brain, like the rest of the body, can be altered intentionally. Just as aerobics sculpt the muscles, so mental training sculpts the gray matter in ways scientists are only beginning to fathom.


Maybe we could get all the black-heart neo-cons down at Gitmo, force them at gunpoint to meditate on compassion, change their brain structure, dump the war and poverty thing, and return to peace and prosperity.

Maybe we can sculpt our own gray matter so as to cope even more successfully with the currently ongoing, malignant cadre of black-heart neo-con Bushist fascists?

Or maybe we can be inspired by hearing the Dalai Lama gently beating some sense into Pat Robertson and his ilk during his recent visit to Washington.

'For most of the 14,000 conference participants who watched in the lecture hall or from overflow rooms, the Dalai Lama's enthusiastic embrace of science and promotion of meditation were warmly received. His 10-day visit . . will continue today at MCI Center, where he is scheduled to give a public talk on "Global Peace Through Compassion."

The author of a new book on the convergence of Buddhism and science, the Dalai Lama has met with prominent scientists around the world for almost 20 years and has encouraged an increasingly fruitful collaboration between brain researchers and Tibetan monks.

Because of the controversy over his speech to the neuroscientists in Washington, his aides said he would keep to a prepared text, something quite unusual for him. But he often diverged from the text, despite saying with a smile that he was feeling unusual "stress."

His talk focused on how he developed his interest in science as a boy in Tibet, within a closed and isolated society, and on his view that morality and compassion are central to science. He pointed out in his prepared text, for instance, that although the atom bomb was great science, it created great moral problems.

"It is no longer adequate to adopt the view that our responsibility as a society is to simply further scientific knowledge and enhance technological power and that the choice of what to do with this knowledge and power should be left in the hands of the individual," he said.

"By invoking fundamental ethical principles, I am not advocating a fusion of religious ethics and scientific inquiry. Rather, I am speaking of what I call 'secular ethics' that embrace the key ethical principles, such as compassion, tolerance, a sense of caring, consideration of others, and the responsible use of knowledge and power -- principles that transcend the barriers between religious believers and nonbelievers, and followers of this religion or that religion," he said.

He acknowledged that some might wonder why a Buddhist monk is taking such an interest in science.

"What relation could there be between Buddhism, an ancient Indian philosophical and spiritual tradition, and modern science?" he said. His answer was that the scientific empirical approach and the Buddhist exploration of the mind and world have many similarities.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, however, the Dalai Lama is known as the reincarnation of a major force for compassion, and his strongest words yesterday were directed at religious people who might lack that trait.

"People who call themselves religious without basic human values like compassion, they are not really religious people," he told the audience, offering no names. "They are hypocrites."

The words were unusually critical for a speaker who likes to emphasize the positive and productive.'


And I hope and trust that when the Dalai Lama met George W. Bush, he gave Bush a real piece of his mind.




Dalai Lama

Yoo-Hoo. If It Ain't Organ Failure Plus Death, It Ain't Torture

Who could ask for anything more?

Bubble Boy assured us that--WE DON'T TORTURE!

That's because--WE CREATE REALITY!

And that's because--WE GET TO DEFINE TORTURE!

While a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, torture by any other name becomes--Not-Torture!

Really, it's just win-win-win for Bubble Boy and Big Dick and the whole pro-torture-is- as-American-as-apple-pie black-heart neo-con Bushist fascists.

As a spin, it sorta hangs together.

So long as one dislikes and ignores history as much as do Bubble Boy and his black-heart minions.

Because, the organ failure thing, plus the plus death thing--it's completely wrong. If your techniques are leading to organ failure, it's not NOT torture, it's just not torture. That would be uh, execution. (You'd think that culture of life (Sic) culture of torture-ist Bubble Boy with 150 executions under his belt would get that).

Torture is about causing pain WITHOUT actually killing someone. Causing pain and suffering so severe that it makes a person WISH THEY WERE DEAD.

The bamboo slivers under the fingernail thing.

The death by a thousand cuts thing.

The boiling in oil thing keeping the liquid just at the right temperature so the person doesn't actually die thing. But so as he stays suffering until he says just what you want thing.

The ol' Club Gitmo sleep deprivation thing, the freeze then sweat them thing, the tie their limbs into a painful pretzel and leave them there suffering thing (that one's for you, Rummy). The basic Bubble Boy/Big Dick notion of do stuff that will make them all wish they were dead thing.

And let's not forget "waterboarding." Such sweet spin, for such sorrow. Makes it sound like drowning a human being, reviving them briefly, and drowning them again and again and again is an exercise in mere youthfully effusive perkiness, does it not, like "snowboarding" and "skateboarding"?

Get real, black-heart neo-cons. You're not calling torture torture, but that doesn't mean that it isn't torture.

Because--it is. And you--Big Dick and Bubble Boy and your vast evil minions--all SO suck for trying to pervert American culture by trying to get away with dumping the Geneva conventions, torturing human beings in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan, setting up special lawless prisons overseas, and generally behaving in a deeply despicable way.

Torture is as torture does, dudes.

Lucky you guys don't believe in karma.




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