Faith Without Doubt = Moral Arrogance, Ignorance

That's one of the clear messages from this Joe Klein piece in Time, The Perils of a Righteous President.

Exactly. I don't care what faith a person is (or isn't). One thing any sane person must acknowledge is that we (if we're fortunate, and most of us are) arrive on this planet with a brain and free will. If you believe, you have to use your brain and that free will accordingly or you denegrate what you supposedly believe in.

Unlike President Bush and notable others who claim the Almighty talks to them regularly, God doesn't talk to me. He (or She) doesn't tell me what to do. In those dark moments when I practically beg for a few choice words from that greater power, the only information I get back is "I gave you a brain. Use it!"

Thus, I'm just a tad distrustful of those who would like us to believe they're right because "God told me so." An incredible amount of evil has been done by those who claim they're on a mission from God.. or Allah... or Jehovah... or or or

Keith Olbermann

From the Countdown daily roundup:

Three lines of reporting emerge today which, if true, will assure that the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal will dog our troops and present the current administration with far more than a few bad apples for months, if not years, to come.
* A confidential and previously undisclosed Red Cross report delivered to the Bush administration earlier this year concluded that abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the military's custody was widespread, contradicting the administration's insistence and Donald Rumsfeld's recent testimony to the contrary. (Wall Street Journal - but here's a link where you don't have to go through that annoying registration process http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/05/10/international0712EDT0464.DTL )
* Soldiers assigned to Abu Ghraib prison say they were given little guidance by superiors. If true, what superiors will ultimately be held accountable, and how high will that accountability reach? And P.S.: Neither Rumsfeld's Friday testimony nor President Bush's support of him at the Pentagon this morning have stopped calls for his resignation. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/
* Major General Geoffrey Miller was brought into Abu Ghraib prison to "Gitmo-ize" the place, to teach the soldiers manning the prison his best psychological and physical techniques for squeezing information out of the detainees. Thus, a 'corporate culture' of abuse may have been the norm, one coming straight from the military leadership. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4934436/

Right Now the Bush administration is struggling to decide whether or not to release remaining images and video of prisoner abuse.
The first court-martial case, set for May 19 in Baghdad, will not be televised.

Either Way, You Lose

From Kevin Drum, our political animal at The Washington Monthly:

And of course, serious criticism has been brewing for quite a while in the ranks of influential neocons, originally the most enthusiastic supporters of the "democracy at gunpoint" school of international relations.

So: support for Bush's vapid, gentleman's-C approach to war is now rapidly declining among our allies, among the uniformed military, and among hawkish neocons. Liberals were mostly against the war to begin with, and moderates increasingly think it was a mistake too.

So who's left? There's National Review, which still clings to the Bush-as-rockjawed-leader storyline, but that seems to be about it.

Bottom line: if you were against the idea of transforming the Middle East via war, you should be against Bush because he had the wrong idea. Conversely, if you were in favor of transformation you should be against Bush for making such a total hash of the idea.

However, if the reality is that you don't seriously care about the war at all, but instead harbor only a fuming, obsessive desire to keep Democrats out of office at all costs, Bush is your man. I wonder how many of those people there are?

$1 for Homeland Security, $3 for Iraq

From TBogg via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Just put it on our tab:

With troop commitments growing, the cost of the war in Iraq could top $150 billion through the next fiscal year — as much as three times what the White House had originally estimated. And, according to congressional researchers and outside budget experts, the war and continuing occupation could total $300 billion over the next decade, making this one of the costliest military campaigns in modern times.

As a measure of the Bush administration’s priorities in the war on terrorism, it has spent about $3 in Iraq for every $1 committed to homeland security, experts say.

[...]

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a hawk on defense issues, said in an interview that his concern is that the administration has not been including the war’s costs in the Defense Department’s regular budget, but instead has been seeking special supplemental appropriations, which it has asked for as late as possible to delay the public release of financial information on the war.

Worse, he said, by providing funding so late, the administration has placed further stress on the military itself, which is having to scramble and transfer money from other accounts to temporarily cover some war costs.

“Somehow, they have come to think that it’s politically embarrassing that they need more money to pay for this war,” Weldon said of President Bush and his aides. “If they’re doing this for political purposes, I think it’s stupid. It’s shortsighted.”

Stupid...shortsighted....

Yeah. You could say that.

Gotta Love Wingnut Spam

From Email:

The world is outraged because some of our troops embarresed some Iraqi
pisioners.

These are the same people that kill American tourists and troops
celebrating while they drag their bodies through the streets,the same ones who hate
America so they feel good when they blow up our buildings and aircraft.

The same people we send aid to and rebuild their country.

I am not the least bit embarressed by the actions of Pfc. Lynndie England,
try to remember while she was embarrsing a few of the captives their comrads are
out looking for hostages and ambushing convoys, killing civilians while our troops
die trying to help them.


Give her your support,don't let the world constantly tell the US what we do wrong
while they do whatever they want to our people.These people hate us and do not think any American
has the right to live,they do not deserve our sympathy.

jolla

Gee, where do you start?

I'm embarrassed that this person is a product of the American public school system. I am not terribly proud of Ms. England and, as other posters here have noted, the American hostage, Hamill, fared far better in Iraqi captivity than these prisoners did under Ms. England's expert care.

The thing is, I suspect these dumbass spams are actually the work of people ultimately tied to Karl Rove and Tom DeLay, people who would subvert anything to get the results they want.

A Difference Between Bush and Blair

When it comes to Iraqi abuse, Blair can apologize directly to Britons, while Bush tells us second-hand he apologized to King Abdullah II (if he did, and we don't know he did, he just said he did).

See, Rumsfeld and everyone under Rumsfeld serves at the president's discretion. Remember? Our president? The one who loves to call himself the Commander in Chief? The one who loves to don military clothing (jackets and flight suits) even though he evaded real service himself?

Someday, the buck really DOES have to stop with Bushie-poo. And until we hold him to that, he'll continue to get away with (relatively figurative) murder.

What, You Don't Want an Assault Weapon?

CNN is asking if the assault weapon ban should expire (as desired so strongly by Tom - "my rifle's tiny and limp so I need a gun" - DeLay) or be extended. Almost 80% right now say it should be extended.

Gee, I can't imagine why everyone wouldn't want an uzi or two for their home, plus one for the glove compartment of their honking SUV, plus a couple for work, one for the laptop case and the 9-year-old's school lunchbox and ...

DNC Convention in Boston

I tend to agree with both the New York Times and Pandagon on the issue of Boston as a selection for the DNC national convention being held in Boston.

Yeah, as a New Englander, I'm tired of being cut out of the loop of so damned much. But Boston was too easy a pick, and as the article states, Kerry is preaching to the choir up here. Even New Hampshire looks like it could become a temporarily blue state this time around, which pretty much sets up all of New England as guaranteed non-Bush territory (and our economy reflects that, trust me).

Key battleground states would have made a much better choice this time around: Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, to name a precious few. Even California or... God help me... Texas would have been better.

The GOP, at least, is taking a risk with NY. Sure, the mayor's a Republican (now, anyway.. he used to be a Dem) and so is the governor. But even if you cancel out all the protestors likely to descend on Gotham City, many New Yorkers are pissed with Bush, including the ones who supported him in 2000. Bush was there to take credit many days AFTER 9/11, but has had the big "screw you" middle finger aimed at them since. Even some dimbots are apt to see the GOP convention being held on the reasonably hallowed ground of the World Trade Center to be opportunism at its least righteous.

Questions, Questions

From CBS News:

A senior general and a Republican senator say the United States could lose in Iraq, and are pointing the finger at Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

“I think we are right on the edge in Iraq right now,” says Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Rumsfeld and his staff didn’t listen to military planners, and now the United States is “in a mess,” the Nebraska Republican said on CBS News’ Face The Nation.

“What is our policy? What are we doing? What is the possibility of us winning? That's all still in question,” said Hagel, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I think it's still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General [Richard] Myers, [the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,] can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military of the American people to lead this country.”

A senior general at the Pentagon tells the Washington Post he believes the United States is on the path to defeat – and Rumsfeld and his advisers are to blame. The Post reports great anger is building at Rumsfeld and his top advisers among career Army officers.

Thomas Friedman, Inspired By His Own Sense of Brilliance

Why are the Japanese making robots into humans, while Muslim suicide squads are making humans into robots?

That's today's question from Tom, whose hands are so very exhausted from wringing them. Ah, another person I used to think what wise who... well, he's just not that wise after all.

Any Statisticians Out There?

I found myself wondering tonight just exactly how many times the F word gets used between the two back-to-back hours of The Sopranos and Deadwood on HBO? Not, of course, apparently enough to bother to count myself (I've sworn off The Sopranos but Swearengen on "Deadwood" is a fascinating if totally reprehensible character, plus the interaction between The Doc and Calamity Jane, plus the addition of Powers Boothe and Ricky Jay often make me lose periods of productivity on Sunday night from 10 to 11 PM ET) but still.

The New Blogger

Well, true to their estimates, Blogger went down (for posting only) for two hours, and returned with more features.

However, before I make any radical changes, I thought I should warn you that when the change takes place, all current comments will be lost (in favor on a comment system that probably will work a bit better than the one I installed less than two weeks ago).

I'm in the process of saving some good information currently stored in comments now. But between now and Tuesday evening, I would recommend folks post only those things they would not feel crushed in losing. The intent here isn't to inhibit conversation... just as a heads-up.

Another Important Piece

This one is in today New York Times (thanks to TChris at TalkLeft for the link since we hadn't gotten around to The Times yet today), and talks about how ill prepared Donald Rumsfeld's War on the Cheap left the so-called weekend warriors and other GIs installed in Iraq.

That Unwinnable Thing

When a long-time Democrat suggested last week that the war was unwinnable, wingnuts jumped all over him, questioning his patriotism and dismissing it as politics. They cared little that the man is one of the relative few on the Hill who bothered to ever fight in a real war, so perhaps knows a bit of which he speaks.

But this article in The Post today has a subtitle of "U.S. May Be Winning Battles in Iraq But Losing the War, Some Officers Say". It's a long piece, but an important read.

Right On

What Skippy says:

not that we're fans of the nurenburg defense, but we happen to think the guys at the bottom of the chain of command in this scandal were, if not following orders, at least working within the parameters set (or ignored by) their superior officers.

in other words, why are the privates and specialists bearing the brunt of the repsonsibility for the attitudes at abu ghraib?

as for lynndie england, we're having trouble buying her "my boyfriend made me do it" defense. if we were her, we'd (1) talk about what our immediate superior officers had to say about our actions before, during and after they happened, and (2) get a better hair cut that doesn't accentuate our baby fat.

My Excuse: I Didn't Get the Memo

But Atrios tells us Blogspot (the host of this blog and many thousands of others) will go down for at least a few hours tonight. Whether it affects reading, posting, or both remains to be seen - as are the new features Atrios says they're talking about.

Sharon Postpones US Trip

[Ed note: Sharon visits the US so often, he really ought to rent a place in Dupont Circle or Ambassadors Row.]

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has postponed a second planned trip to DC in as many months while he reorganizes a pull-out plan from occupied territories. As you'll remember, Bush said yes to everything he said last trip, then Bush seemed to back off a little when Abdullah was here, and probably would agree to all of Sharon's requests again when next he comes. It's like a tennis match, except that real live human beings are dying on each side.

Chechnyan President Among Those Killed

Methinks someone was watching "Sum of All Fears" on cable last night: the Chechnyan president was one of 20 killed in a blast in Grozny today.

Stem Cell Research

Nancy Reagan, the wife of the so-called greatest right-wingnut of all time, came out last night at a public event supporting the stem cell research Bush and his backers insist is against God.

Bush Speak

Lawrence Eagleberger just said, "We're going into paroxysms of guilt over this and that's not who we are." Oh good, so we don't have to feel guilt for what even Eagleberger calls horrendous acts (the Iraqi abuse).

However, as much as I hate to say this again, we all share some blame for this. After 9/11, we allowed the word "torture" to come into the public debate over how we could treat anyone we thought might have some issue against us. And large numbers - in some polls, a good majority - of Americans said it was all right. Hell, Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer too often identified as a serious leftist - said torture was acceptable if it got us the information we wanted.