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I've just posted another image update; today everything is in the public ritual and culture section (about a thousand new pictures). You can also expect the set of articles from the potential BME staff writers to start going up today and over the next week.
I think it's rather important that people understand exactly what kind of person Bush is appointing as Attorney General (more). As the New York Times put it, “you know how bad the situation is when the president's choice for attorney general has to formally pledge not to support torture anymore” (more) — personally though I think if you feel the Geneva convention is “quaint and obsolete”, you're not the kind of person that should be Attorney General.
The ACLU has thoroughly documented Gonzalez's role in US torture tactics (more) which continue to this day in blatant violation of international law (more). The Washington Post as well is running a long series of papers showing Gonzalez's and even George Bush's personal involvement and condoning of torture (more). That's the kind of thing that sends people who aren't politicians to prison.
If you want to give yourself nightmares, here's how dark this chapter in American history is getting: Army doctors are being employed to “tailor” torture sessions specifically to the “needs” of individual detainees to push them to their limits without actually killing them (more). That said, they weren't always successful and some were tortured to death (more). Ooopsie!
Tortured to death? Am I some overreacting hippy? Perhaps interrogating someone to death is just normal operating procedure and not torture at all. Let's see what Bush's choice for Attorney General has to say about that (more; emphasis mine):
Leahy asked Gonzales if he agrees now with that memo's finding that, for an act to constitute illegal torture, it has to cause pain equivalent to that of "organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death.""I do not, senator," Gonzales said. "That does not represent the position of the executive branch."
The question is, is he disavowing the memo because it's going too far, or because it's not going far enough? From his actions, I fear the latter. So… if causing death from aggressive interrogation is not torture, then what the hell do they have to do to cross the line to torture? Fuck the corpse?
Oh wait, they did that too.
I'm a little late on this last story, but I think it's important to understand the official US response to the Tsunami, care of Tom DeLay (more). Rather than just reading it, I strongly urge you to listen to the MP3 (via DemWatch). In short, he stands up at the 109th Congressional Prayer Service (which personally troubles me in and of itself), and says (my paraphrase):
Did you ever wonder why Florida and Sri Lanka turned out differently? Let me explain. A Christian nation is like a house built upon a rock. The floods come, and it still stands. A foolish un-Christian nation is like a house built upon the sand. The floods come, and wash the evil away.
I'm sure Jesus is real proud.
Given that even here on IAM there are people who believe nutcases (and bigots) like Kent Hovind, I again suggest that people should have to get some kind of a “capable of critical thought” license before trying to hook up with God. Look, God is a smart, smart fellow. He doesn't enjoy the company of dumbasses, especially “righteous” ones. I'm pretty sure that if hell is full of anything, it's full of idiots. In fact, I'll go so far as to say I don't even believe in evil. I just believe in stupid.
Anyway, if you want something nice to read (if you enjoy sailing anyway, which I do), I really enjoyed this brief autobiographical story from Teddy Seymour (more), the first black man to sail solo around the world. As much as some of the hardcore solo speed record people like Ellen Macarthur and Francis Joyon (who has one hell of a hot boat) just blow my That said, I'm still a sucker for wingsails though, but maybe that's the geek in me talking.
minds mind, I really appreciated Teddy's way of doing it and outlook on life. Maybe one day that's a dream I can realize, but it's a big one, I know…
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