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Week of June 28, 2009 - July 4, 2009

Ignorance may be bliss, after all


Those poor saps who were gulled by Obama's campaign promises of transparency are now outraged by his recent actions.
But here's something that is, in a way, worse than anything Bush ever dreamed of: Remember Obama's promises to have 'dot.gov' websites where you could see where your tax dollars were going? He has kept that promise- with one catch-You may have your civil liberties violated while you learn about your government!



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If the Terrorist-Loving A*Hole Had Been a Democrat


I can only imagine how President Obama and both Houses of Congress would have reacted:
They would have denounced it as fervently as they denounced MoveOn for making nursery rhymers out of Gen. Petraeus' name. 
Of course, aforementioned a*hole is a member of the Republican Reptile Party of Mitch McConnell and co., so that makes it part of acceptable public discourse.
So, calling for a "major attack" to vaporize one of our cities is the act of a true patriot, while MoveOn criticizing one of our generals is cause for an Act of Congress.
What does this say about us as a society?

As Obama reprises Vietnam in the Helmand Valley


why would he undermine this struggle for "hearts and minds" by shedding ANY light on his predecessor's numerous crimes against the Afghans (among many, many others)?
It would endanger the troops and undermine the mission. 

Former Head of CIA bin Laden Unit Wants Him to Nuke Us!


Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA station dedicated to capturing bin Laden, wants his erstwhile quarry to nuke us.
 On NPR a while ago, he restricted his madness to opining that Obama had done a terrible thing by releasing the OLC memos on torture and that he personally had seen evidence that torture worked. He sounded like he was not quite himself then- I was puzzled, because he had seemed resonably sane till that moment (I have one of his books, "Imperial Hubris," [2004] that I thought had been written by a sane man- I would only read it now as an exercise in tracing the signs of incipient psychopathology).
 I wrote off his disquieting NPR appearance as an aberration- until I saw this.


The Crucifixion and the Occupation


As the U.S. Occupation comes to a close- nominally, at least- I wasn't surprised to read this:
Detainee Crucified
Among the more startling revelations during the press conference today was an article describing how a detainee in Iraq had been "essentially crucified" during CIA interrogation.
According to a June 22 article in The New Yorker magazine, cited during the press conference today, an Iraqi prisoner in US custody was crucified - dying from asphyxiation while hanging from his arms during a CIA interrogation.
"An Iraqi prisoner named Manadel al-Jamadi died on November 4, 2003, while being interrogated by the C.I.A. at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad," the New Yorker's Jane Meyer wrote. "A forensic examiner found that he had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs. Military pathologists classified the case a homicide."
No charges have been sought against the interrogators from the CIA who participated in the death of al-Jamadi or CIA officers involved in other cases.


Anyone who claims to be shocked, or even surprised, by this, is lying.


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