Monday, May 03, 2004
Some thoughts found at the bottom of a bottle of wine:
a) David Brock is a "progressive" now? What gives? Didn't trust him then, don't trust him now. . .
b) I hear 754 dead soldiers now. Close to 1,000 injured since April 1. Nearly 1400 dead Iraqis in April. Weaselwitz got these numbers wrong, by a lot, in Congress on Thursday. Did I mention these guys seem disconnected from reality?
c) I don't think they like us anymore. New poll also shows 57% of Iraqis surveyed want the US to leave now. This was not the case a year ago.
d) ''It's getting harder and harder to explain to the Marines: Why are we here?" said Peterson, 27. ''I'm very clear with them: We got an order from the president, and we do what the president says."
e) It was great to see you bastards last week. I couldn't help but notice that in newspaper coverage of the March for Women's Lives, the counterdemonstrators got equal time, even though we outnumbered them about 10,000 to 1. I'm just saying. Speaking of the march, second only to the Radical Cheerleaders were the people from Screw Abstinence. Why are they cool? Because Abstinence-only education doesn't work - for many reasons. And I'm not just talking about the fact that 80% of Americans do not wait until marriage to bump uglies, although that would be enough in a sane society. Locally we have an epidemic of good Catholic Latina girls who abstain until marriage and get STDs anyway. Why? Because their husbands lie and cheat. Here in the real world, "good" is just not as good as safe.
f) It's hard for me to think about other issues while people keep getting blown up. Real life seems like a dream compared to the reality of ongoing violent death. I think 9/11 required decisive action and a change in our defense posture. Unfortunately, we had such crappy leadership in this country, dedicated to cutting taxes, shrinking government, downsizing and privatizing the military . . . "government bad. Rich people good." So they didn't know what to do, but they were perceptive enough to know they had to do something. The tragedy of the 2000 election continues. Or, hell, why did the Republican primary voters choose Bush over McCain? Imagine John McCain as President, September 12, 2001. It's enough to make one weep. But these issues are all distractions. The real crisis facing the country is:
g) Jose Pedilla. "Enemy combatant?" They guy was picked up getting off a plane at O'Hare Airport. He has been detained for 2 years. He is not charged with a crime. The constitution clearly requires that the government get an arrest warrant, from a judge, based on evidence, and charged with a crime or released - I believe the word was "speedy." It doesn't matter if he is a terrorist. The issue is, if the government can lock him up without meeting some standard of proof before a judge, they can lock you up too, but just saying you are an "illegal combatant." With no legal recourse, they don't need any proof. If this stands up in court, democracy is dead and we should prepare to defend our homes and communities from our government. I had hoped for a 9-0 Supreme Court slam dunk. But it seems like Scalia will agree to anything his hunting buddies ask for. Why is that guy even a judge, let alone on the high court? Still, anything less than 8-1 would be troubling. If Bush actually wins the case, the Constitution ain't worth the paper it's written on.
a) David Brock is a "progressive" now? What gives? Didn't trust him then, don't trust him now. . .
b) I hear 754 dead soldiers now. Close to 1,000 injured since April 1. Nearly 1400 dead Iraqis in April. Weaselwitz got these numbers wrong, by a lot, in Congress on Thursday. Did I mention these guys seem disconnected from reality?
c) I don't think they like us anymore. New poll also shows 57% of Iraqis surveyed want the US to leave now. This was not the case a year ago.
d) ''It's getting harder and harder to explain to the Marines: Why are we here?" said Peterson, 27. ''I'm very clear with them: We got an order from the president, and we do what the president says."
e) It was great to see you bastards last week. I couldn't help but notice that in newspaper coverage of the March for Women's Lives, the counterdemonstrators got equal time, even though we outnumbered them about 10,000 to 1. I'm just saying. Speaking of the march, second only to the Radical Cheerleaders were the people from Screw Abstinence. Why are they cool? Because Abstinence-only education doesn't work - for many reasons. And I'm not just talking about the fact that 80% of Americans do not wait until marriage to bump uglies, although that would be enough in a sane society. Locally we have an epidemic of good Catholic Latina girls who abstain until marriage and get STDs anyway. Why? Because their husbands lie and cheat. Here in the real world, "good" is just not as good as safe.
f) It's hard for me to think about other issues while people keep getting blown up. Real life seems like a dream compared to the reality of ongoing violent death. I think 9/11 required decisive action and a change in our defense posture. Unfortunately, we had such crappy leadership in this country, dedicated to cutting taxes, shrinking government, downsizing and privatizing the military . . . "government bad. Rich people good." So they didn't know what to do, but they were perceptive enough to know they had to do something. The tragedy of the 2000 election continues. Or, hell, why did the Republican primary voters choose Bush over McCain? Imagine John McCain as President, September 12, 2001. It's enough to make one weep. But these issues are all distractions. The real crisis facing the country is:
g) Jose Pedilla. "Enemy combatant?" They guy was picked up getting off a plane at O'Hare Airport. He has been detained for 2 years. He is not charged with a crime. The constitution clearly requires that the government get an arrest warrant, from a judge, based on evidence, and charged with a crime or released - I believe the word was "speedy." It doesn't matter if he is a terrorist. The issue is, if the government can lock him up without meeting some standard of proof before a judge, they can lock you up too, but just saying you are an "illegal combatant." With no legal recourse, they don't need any proof. If this stands up in court, democracy is dead and we should prepare to defend our homes and communities from our government. I had hoped for a 9-0 Supreme Court slam dunk. But it seems like Scalia will agree to anything his hunting buddies ask for. Why is that guy even a judge, let alone on the high court? Still, anything less than 8-1 would be troubling. If Bush actually wins the case, the Constitution ain't worth the paper it's written on.
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