Internal Monologue

Apparently, Iraq is still having to pay reparations for crimes committed by Saddam's Hussein's regime. That might be well and good, but when there's mayhem in the streets maybe Kentucky Fried Chicken should have to wait a bit to get their $321,000. This Guardian Unlimited article asks why this is going on (HT: Progressive Gold ): Next week, something will happen that will unmask the upside-down morality of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. On October 21, Iraq will pay $200m in war reparations to some of the richest countries and corporations in the world. If that seems backwards, it's because it is. Iraqis have never been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently called "illegal". Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations for crimes committed by the

Here's an MSNBC story that registered pretty high on the WTF meter: Though he's one of only six FBI agents with advanced Arabic skills , Youssef believes that, since 9/11, the FBI has blocked him from playing a significant role in the war on terror. He claims discrimination, and sued the FBI in 2003. (HT: Sullivan ) Never mind the discrimination stuff, why the hell does the FBI have only six agents with advanced Arabic skills? Can they send some people over to the Defense Language Institute ? Or is that just for the military? Surely they could send some folks over to one of the zillion schools that any flat-footed Google search could turn up (in 0.28 seconds, in my case). Is there some explanation for this? Maybe lots of FBI agents have "intermediate" Arabic skills that are sufficient to do their work? Dude, 9/11 was over five years ago. We should have armies of Arabic-speaking counter-terrorism agents. They certainly would be more useful than sending more tanks to

...I'm taking my oath of office on a stack of items consisting of The Communist Manifesto , Sam Harris' atheist polemic The End of Faith , and bunch of skanky porn DVD's just to piss off people like this : An " action alert " from the American Family Association: 1. Send an email asking your U.S. Representative and Senators to pass a law making the Bible the book used in the swearing-in ceremony of Representatives and Senators. Representative-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) taking an oath on the Koran shouldn't even be controversial. In fact, in the official swearing in, no holy books of any kind are used at all : Prager’s patriotic prattling is misinformed on the facts, too. No Member of Congress is officially sworn in with a Bible. Under House rules, the official swearing-in ceremony is done in the House chambers, with the Speaker of the House administering the oath of office en masse. No Bibles or other holy books are used at all. Members may, if they choose

Let me shout an "Amen!" to Brother Krugman for his column in today's NYT : Good for him [Senator-elect Webb, for telling off Bush]. We need people in Washington who are willing to stand up to the bully in chief. Unfortunately, and somewhat mysteriously, they’re still in short supply. You can understand, if not condone, the way the political and media establishment let itself be browbeaten by Mr. Bush in his post-9/11 political prime. What’s amazing is the extent to which insiders still cringe before a lame duck with a 60 percent disapproval rating. Look at what seems to have happened to the Iraq Study Group, whose mission statement says that it would provide an “independent assessment.” If press reports are correct, the group did nothing of the sort. Instead, it watered down its conclusions and recommendations, trying to come up with something Mr. Bush wouldn’t reject out of hand. Emphasis added. I've been shouting this meme for quite some time now. It stuns me tha

...if the results of this quiz are to be believed (HT: tristero ): Your 'Do You Want the Terrorists to Win' Score: 100% You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, "blame America first"-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day.... in Guantanamo! Do You Want the Terrorists to Win? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

From the New York Times : Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal. This is just sickening. Why would you need to force a prisoner into sensory deprivation just to walk him down the hall for a root canal? I can think of no reason other than pure sadism. Everything wrong with the Bush administration is encapsulated in the Padilla case (or rather, lack of a case). A US citizen imprisoned, tortured, mentally damaged, and now it turns out the case against him isn't so great. It's disgusting. I think Padilla's treatment by the US government is exhibit A in the case for impeachment. I hope

Although in general I have argued that the terrorism threat has gotten a lot more press than it has deserved, I can't help but be offended by the ridiculous double standard for terrorist hysteria: If the terrorists are Muslim, they represent an existential threat to our way of life greater than the Nazis. If they are white, it doesn't even rate a second glance. Crooks and Liars points to Orcinus : Imagine, for a moment, what would have happened if a Muslim extremist with an apparent hatred of the American government had been apprehended in, say, Tennessee, and charged with plotting to blow up Congress with a briefcase bomb. [...] Now consider the case of Demetrius "Van" Crocker , who just happens to be a white right-wing extremist [...] Of course, this story is not even on the front page of the Jackson paper, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any Fox coverage, either.