Mark Foley has checked into rehab. Not pedofile rehab though, alcohol rehab. What a crock of crap. This is the same tactic Mel Gibson used after his anti-semetic tirade. The difference being Mel WAS drunk when he went off. Last I looked beer didn’t make people want to have sex with children. Don’t be stupid, this is a stunt to cover up this guys real disease. Pedophilia.
**EDIT** I wrote this the other day and forgot to publish it **EDIT**
I had a pretty crappy day…but I don’t want to talk about that…Seems…unseemly when there are so many other important things going on in the world.
Mark Foley. Wtf is going on.
On NPR this morning they had some poll results of the “value voters”. Appearently the Mark Foley incident and the idea that perhaps key Republicans in congress knew what he was up to, and did nothing to stop it…well that has no bearing on how they will vote. It was pathetic, and lends creedence to something I have long thought. Most people do not arrive at conclusions about right and wrong and then act in way which they believe to be the moral high ground…first they FEEL things and then look for ways to make those feelings seem rational. I am guilty of it, but I am also cognizant of it and make an effort to not engage in cognative dissonance.
I am sure there are republicans and value voters out there that really believe in thier ideas, and for them I feel sorry that the party that seems to represent them at this time has failed them so dearly, but if you can, in good conscience look at our current political landscape and think “Aw shucks, everything is dandy”, you have failed as a rational being to use your intellect.
I was replying to a comment in another post and had wrongly (I believe) accused Senate Bill S.3930 as pertaining to American citizens. I changed my response, which was easy enough to do since there are other things to be upset about…however that is not the point of this post.
In editing my comment I did so because I was able to actually look up the Bill and see that the word alien is a modifier in the sentences where Habeas Corpus applies (at least that section, it may not say that other places). However, that isn’t enritirely the point.
I decided to go back and read other parts of the Bill to see if I had missed anything else. Salient points:
`Sec. 949t. Maximum limits
`The punishment which a military commission under this chapter may direct for an offense may not exceed such limits as the President or Secretary of Defense may prescribe for that offense.
So Bush and Rumsfeld decide how long an enemy combatant may be imprisoned. Ok, I can see that, I mean they have made nothing but good choices before, I am sure that will work out and no ones personal liberties will be trampled on.
`Sec. 949u. Execution of confinement
`(a) In General- Under such regulations as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe, a sentence of confinement adjudged by a military commission under this chapter may be carried into execution by confinement–`(1) in any place of confinement under the control of any of the armed forces; or
`(2) in any penal or correctional institution under the control of the United States or its allies, or which the United States may be allowed to use.
`(b) Treatment During Confinement by Other Than the Armed Forces- Persons confined under subsection (a)(2) in a penal or correctional institution not under the control of an armed force are subject to the same discipline and treatment as persons confined or committed by the courts of the United States or of the State, District of Columbia, or place in which the institution is situated.
Sure that makes sense too. I mean as long as the prison is located somewhere where attaching electrodes to your nuts is legal AND that prison is a prison that United States is allowed to use, well it only follows that that is ethical.
Whew, for a minute there I thought we had lost all moral direction.
In light of the recent gutting of the constitution…if I disappear forward all mail to gitmo.
Condi Rice was on 60 Minutes tonite. I’ll admit seeing her humanized makes it harder to be mad at her. The truth is though, as nice of a person as she might be, she’s wrong. No one should still believe we are safer as a result of being in Iraq. It’s simply not true. And even if we are safer as a result of the Pat-Riot Act and the NSA’s warrentless wiretapping, I would rather we were less safe and still free. She still remains an apologist and part of the reason I have less rights than I had before 9-11, and for that I cannot forgive her.
Since I am sure you are all reading the political ramblings of both of the major parties on the run up to the election, and I know everyone who reads my blog thinks “WWND?” (har har har). I thought I would weigh in on the subject.
The republican catch phrase of the day is “cut and run” harkening back to Regan, and giving Joe Sixpack something to blurt at bars where the decor is made up of dead animal heads tacked to shitty plaques. And the new democrat rant is “redeployment”, which gives young sandle clad collegiates something to blurt in bohemian apartments while drinking cheap beer and listening to house music.
I think they are both idiotic. As good people, and I mean really good people, we need to send more troops to Iraq. We need to quell the violence, restore vital services and give whatever aide it takes to clean up the mess caused by the petulant children who run the country.
Everytime I hear either side say anything that is not purposeful, I seriously want to tell them to SIT DOWN. We are the last super power. I was raised to believe we were the greatest country in the world. That means we DO NOT “stay the course” or “redeploy”. We take our lumps, we put shit right, and we do it with the utmost fairness and pride.
I was reading online news, and of course since September 11th is right around the corner there is a lot of that. 5 years later I am still not really over it. It still makes me uneasy to think about. And because of that it galls me to no end to see people bringing it up to scare Americans into believing thier lies and garnering votes and suspending freedom.
Those that know me, know I hold few things sacrosanct, but using the death of 3000 of my fellow Americans for personal or political gain? Well sir, I can’t cotton to that (and that is a non partisan statement, I don’t really care what you call yourself, doing that makes you a shit in my book).
…this is how our elected officials pass the time.
Talking about the DeVinci code and trying to disprove the assertions about the church is like walking around bitching about how orcs are portrayed in Lord of the Rings. It’s fiction people, relax.
Will someone, anyone, hell I’ll pay you, blow this guy so we can get rid of him already
