Child Abuse/Neglect No Priority for GOP Gov Ahnold

I don't know if Arnold is a fetus-firster. I do know that he has just slashed funding for the department charged with dealing with child abuse and neglect.

I continue to be horrified by the upsurge in fetal sentimentalism, while the job of actually protecting actual kids from abuse and neglect remains so, well, neglected.

Feh.

Lindsey Graham Complains That Sotomayor Asks "Tough Questions"

I never said that playing the shrew card, calling a female temperamental, argumentative, and tough was sexist.

I never said that Lindsey Graham was a pussy, either.

Waterboarding Without Permission

Sure we tortured in 2002 well before we cooked up some lame excuse to justify doing it.

Whut's yer frickin' problem, pussies?

Via BBC interview: former CIA Agent John Kirakou pinpoints use of torture as early as the end of May/beginning of June 2002, well before the notorious Bybee memo.

All the Lonely People -- David Brooks' Groper Edition

So, here's an adult male who is being groped in the general genital area by a lonely male Republican politician who is so powerful that columnist David Brooks does not dare to tell the Senator to take his hand off Brooks' inner thigh, but allows the Senator to leave his hand on said inner thigh all during a dinner?



Which Senator might it be? Nominations?

Blast from Past. Deja Vu All Over Again, Again, Again

On Bush and the Agony of Mirror Neuron Retardation.

Real Torture Yields Fake Facts

Force-Feeding at Gitmo.

Preznit Toad-Exploder Spreads His Culture of Sadism

Torturz "R" U.S.

While We Weep Over Frozen Feti, Real Cruelty Marches On

America the beautiful.

More of the Same

Sounds like Sarah Palin and her gang of Pro-Life Killas, but -- it's not. No caribou were harmed. Not like in that picture, anyhow. That one was harmed. You know, as in, like, killed. Not living anymore. Deaded. Deprived of life. Anyhow.

It's just as bad, but different.

It's someone else hurting animals and children.

Because why not?

Teen Charged With Cat Mutilation

Cruelty to animals -- not a happy symptom.

The Vicious Mrs, (Palin) Calls It Quits. For Now?

I dunno why.

I dunno why Sarah Palin is throwing in the towel.

Affair with Sanford?

ADD restlessness?

Consciousness of guilt?

Unexpected pregnancy?

Seeking a Senate seat?

Wanting to earn money to pay to process all those rape kits?

Belatedly discovering concept of cruelty to animals, becoming Preznit of PETA?

Desire to found a charity brain trust to provide the underprivileged with idiosyncratic babynames?

Wishing to devote her heart and soul to a new socio-political movement to enrich the universe by means of tough laws enforcing compulsory winking?

NETROOTS NATION IN SECOND LIFE -- BE THERE OR BE SQUARE DUDES LIKE CLUELESS JOHN MCCAIN WHO CAN'T EVEN DO HIS OWN EMAIL OMIGOD

Well, but it's true. The be there or be square part. It's good to be an early adopter of virtual reality. Really.

Sure, you've heard that Second Life is just a game. And you've heard that life is just a dream. And that all the world's a stage. And that life is like a rainbow, a bubble in water, a dewdrop, a flash of lightning, a magician's apparition. All of which has nothing to do with the fact that likeminded persons who otherwise would not have the chance to meet have that chance by means of Indra's interNet. Start now, because why not, eh?

Start here. Or start here, at Virtually Speaking.

RIP Pina Bausch

Brilliant work.

Devout Christian Incests Step-daughter

Mom says she had no clue her husband was raping her daughter.

But let's get all worked up about snowflakes rather than incest, shall we?

Child -Abuse-Porn Industry Kingpin Caught

Kingpin Arthur Lelland Sayers caught.

Four million images of children.

For a widespread, profit-making industry.

HufPo: Another Sexist Article on a Prominent US Politician

HuffPo is supposed to be a liberal site?

Well, guess what. It isn't.

Regarding females primarily as sex objects is uh -- duh -- sexist. And that's uh -- duh -- bad.

This is maybe the fifth article from HuffPo in the past month that is openly, overtly sexist. Call for others to get their panties in a twist, plse.

Maria Cantwell Voted Sexiest Senator.

Michael Jackson Dies, Denial About MJ's Hx of Childhood Abuse Lives On

So there was a thread recently on a liberal blog I admire, mourning Michael Jackson.

When MJ's history of being an adult survivor of childhood abuse was mentioned, it was first minimized ("45 years ago many parents used corporeal (sic) punishment") and then all mention was banned, having been framed as if mentioning an innocent child's victimization by his own father were "speaking ill of the dead."

When we cannot speak honestly of what actually happens in families, we become complicit in allowing abuse to go on, unseen.

Dad "Disciplines" Son to Death -- on Father's Day.

No, I'm not making this up. I don't have to. I never have to.

Father beats seven-year-old son to death.,

Heard about the "discipline" part on the news last night, don't have a link yet.

The Baseline Scenario

Oh.

This could be fun: The Baseline Scenario


Hat-tip to Corrente.

Lest We Forget

The inimitable Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Let it be a lesson to us all.

Iran Blames West for Deaths Caused by Neo-SAVAK Basij Murderers

Yuh. The swine claim it's all our fault.

Apparently the Iranian people didn't know they were being repressed by a brutal regime till we all twittered them.

Robert Aitken Roshi Needs Help

Zen master Robert Aitken Roshi is 91 now, and in frail health; he lives in the USA, a country where health care is a luxury. 'Nuff said.

Warning: Graphic Video Tehran: wounded girl dying in front of camera

I apologize for posting this -- and oddly enough, it went up before I had even finished working on it -- but it is important to note that the Iranian regime has apparently gone with "shoot to kill" now.

The whole world is watching, and this sad video could not be more eloquent, could it?

Update: now we know her name was Neda.
Update 2: Later coverage here.

Neda

Roger Cohen.

Fake Feminist Posts at HuffPo

Periodically, it's time for a cat fight. Everyone knows how easy it is for me to get my panties in a twist.

Found this on HuffPo:

Yeah, that would be the same HuffPo that, on its front page, has yet another article ridiculing the Secretary of State and the Speaker of the House about their clothes.

"Letterman Quietly Ushers In the New Wave of Feminism," by Amy Siskind, claims that the Palin/Letterman feud shows there is a new wave of feminism a-risin'!

Wow.

"Not-feminism," apparently.

Because -- eee-ew -- feminism is just so icky?

Quoth Siskind:

It's not your mother's feminism. In fact, it's so revolutionary that the word "feminism" is being updated. The next wave is here. The players are different. The words are different. The asks are different. The weapons and tactics are different. Even the feel is different.

We knew it was coming. We just didn't know when or what it would look like. Quietly, cloaked in the unfortunate choice of David Letterman's words, the next wave has washed ashore, sight unseen by our national media. This explains why the media's constant query of "where are the feminists" is not being answered. The "feminists" are still there, yes. But the media is peeking under the wrong rocks as this next wave sweeps calmly over them and reaches our country's shore.

Gone is the "women's movement." This wave is not focused solely on women. This wave is primarily about the next generation -- our daughters and granddaughters. We see the sexualization of the next generation. We see the disturbing parade of misogyny and sexism. Mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers are sick and tired of the constant assault against women and girls.

Gone is "equal rights." This wave is not focused solely on above-ground demands for legislative change. This wave is about reaching down beneath the surface to eradicate the roots of sexism that lie deeply buried in darkness, ignorance and bias. The next generation deserves to be safe and be given a fair shake, yes; but we realize our daughters can only get there by changing our culture.

Gone is "domestic violence."

Wow. Just like that. DV -- gone?

Wowee.

Well, I know feminists, and you, madam, are no feminist.

Feminists don't make ageist frames: "not your mother's feminism"? Pfft.

"It's not about women, it's about the"next generation""? Did you really say that? Why?

Feminists don't throw domestic violence/domestic abuse under the bus.

Feminists don't ridicule the history of the women's movement, putting "protest rallies" in quotes, disparaging feminism, and suggesting the notion of "equal rights" is trivial. Cripes. Where you been?


You so need a big cuppa consciousness-raising, sweetie.

Thoughts On the Tubesock Holocaust

From General JC Christian, Jesus' General.

Obama Justice Dept.: Protect ing Poor Big Dick Cheney From the Heartbreak of Satire

No, I'm not making this up. I don't have to. I never have to.

Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said. “I don’t want a future vice president to say, `I’m not going to cooperate with you because I don’t want to be fodder for ‘The Daily Show.’”

Psst, Jeffrey: Cheney's been fodder for The Daily Show for 4 everrr. And he'll never cooperate, ev-errr. Duh.

A Fly on the Wall at Gitmo: An Antidote for Compassion Fatigue

Here's an opportunity to do the right thing: via RobinElliot at Kos, via Major Barry Wingard, a Gitmo detainee's lawyer.

Let’s recap: Some guy made a couple of afghanis by selling Fayiz to our guys so that the thug-infested Bush administration could justify their fraudulent little war and all its torture-y perks.

And what did Fayiz get? This:

While in U.S. custody in Kabul in December 2001, Al-Kandari was shackled in various stress positions for as long as 36 hours at a time. He was beaten with a chain and water hose. Photographs documenting his condition have not been released.
In early 2002, Al-Kandari was transferred to Bagram and held in a roofed tent with no sides where overnight temperatures typically reached below freezing. Photographs again documented his condition, but they have never been released. [...] He was transferred to Kandahar in early 2002, ... [where] his entire body was shaved (except for a cross on his chest, which was later shaved off) and he was initially kept awake in solitary confinement for five straight days. The abuse continued and resulted in broken ribs and severe bruising documented by medical exams performed months later.
Before being placed on the plane out of Kandahar, his sound-proof headgear was lifted and a female voice whispered, "You are going to hell in GTMO." At the time, he was also drugged, sandbagged, and placed into a head harness for the 24 hour trip.
At Guantanamo, he was again shackled into stress positions for extended periods of time. He was also urinated on and subjected to sleep deprivation, strobe lights, ear piercing music, cell extractions, and extreme heat and cold conditions in his cell via temperature controls. All told, Al-Kandari has been interrogated approximately 400 times and abused throughout the time he was in U.S. custody.

Wait, sidebar: I smell a reason for releasing those pesky torture photos everyone's talking about... evidence. Sidebar over.

So... all that torture must have worked, right? I mean, who could withstand that kind of abuse and not spill what’s left of their guts, because, you know, "some" say torture works and-- What’s that? Sorry, something’s coming through my imaginary earpiece:

A Department of Defense legal review of Al-Kandari’s case found the evidence against him "is made up almost entirely of hearsay evidence recorded by unidentified individuals with no first hand knowledge of the events they describe."
Oh.
In short, the U.S. learned nothing of value from its abusive treatment of Al-Kandari and in all likelihood exculpatory materials confirming Al-Kandari’s whereabouts and accounts of abuse will be classified and withheld from public view.
Oh.

So what options are available to Fayiz and those like him? Not many. It all boils down to those infamous military commissions, Wingard's skills, and a judge who will believe Fayiz's testimony, because with the word "classified" popping up everywhere, that's all detainees like him have.

Sidebar #2: Per Barry Wingard, "the military is not behind the commissions." Sidebar #2 over.

However, Major Wingard did share one silver lining with me: He could get a sympathetic judge. Maybe. If he's lucky. But—and there’s always a pesky but-- delays and more delays are kicking that silver-lined opportunity down the road, and Fayiz is still in prison.

But at least he has one hell of a caring, persistent, ethical lawyer.

Vice-President Cheney insists that enhanced interrogations were only used on "hardened terrorists" after other efforts failed, that such efforts prevented the deaths of thousands, and that the U.S. never lost its moral bearings in its treatment of detainees. Al-Kandari is living proof he is wrong on all counts.