Oh, Lord

Well, I was going to comment on the chocolate Jesus, but Maru did it better. So, I'll just limit my remarks to this quote:

“This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” said Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League.

No. I take it back. You can probably just imagine for yourself what my remarks might be about "Christian sensibilities."

I will, as a bonus, tell you that once upon a time when I worked for a law firm in San Francisco, one of the attorneys came out of his office, stood behind me at my desk and announced to everyone, "I just got off the phone with a woman from Georgia. Southern accents offend my sensibilities."

Right. Obviously he had none.

And speaking of other websites, Project for the OLD American Century always has lots of good information, and its headlines are nicely organized. Check it out. Also, visit the websites linked in YWA's sidebar. Good stuff all.

And speaking of Jesus - or, more accurately, JEEEEEEEZUS...

It has all the ingredients of a wedding. The proud tuxedo-clad father, the frosted white cake, the limousines and an exchange of vows.

But there is no groom and the girl in the long gown is no bride. She's daddy's little girl, there to take a vow of chastity.

In what is becoming a trend among conservative Christians in the United States, girls as young as nine are pledging to their fathers to remain virgins until they wed, in elaborate ceremonies dubbed "Purity Balls."

The gala affairs are intended to celebrate the father-daughter relationship.

  Raw Story article

uh-huh.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Ooops

The Former head of the [British] Foreign Office's maritime section, Craig Murray, said on his website, "The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government."

"Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the (Persian) Gulf," he writes.

  RealPaulitik post

Hope those soldiers have good attorneys.

Uh-oh Gonzo, They Got Ya - Two to One

From the NY Times...

The document dump.

It was disclosed last week that Justice Department documents showed Mr. Gonzales to be present at the Nov. 27, 2006, session in which the firing of federal prosecutors was discussed. That disclosure seemed to contradict Mr. Gonzales’s assertions at a March 13 news conference that he was not involved in talks about letting the prosecutors go.

Kyle Sampson's testimony today.

“Now, this is hard to believe,” Mr. Kohl said. “Either the attorney general was simply absent as manager of the Justice Department or he’s not been candid with the American people about his participation in the firings. Which one is it, or is there some other explanation?”

“Well,” Mr. Sampson replied, “as I said in a previous answer, the attorney general was aware of this process from the beginning in early 2005. He and I had discussions about it during the thinking phase of the process.” The attorney general’s involvement continued until the list of dismissals was final, Mr. Sampson said.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Refusing to Go

Ehren Watada is the first commissioned officer to refuse to be redeployed to Iraq.

...Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada had just stepped up to the podium at the 2006 Veterans for Peace annual convention last August 13, when about two dozen of his fellow Iraq War veterans silently filed up to occupy the stage behind him in a spontaneous act of solidarity for his stand against the war...

  OhMy article

Watada's first court-martial in February was declared a mistrial. He will face a second in July.

Funding the Occupation

Still wavering on the return to blogging. Since my internet connection is down at home and there may be a problem with me doing it at work, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep at this "return". Also, it's sometimes difficult to be serious about the world. Especially if you stand back a bit from it. And nobody ever told you this was a serious blog.

Anyway....

Proposed Troop Withdrawal Timetable

First of all I should say that, to take charge of the debate, actual anti-war proponents and people who seriously want the American troops out of Iraq ought to stop referring to this as a war and call it an occupation (like King Abdullah - see previous post) whenever they talk about it.

The outcome of the Senate vote took both parties by surprise. Republicans were stung by the defection of Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who has not supported a timetable for withdrawal before although he is his party’s most outspoken critic of the war in Congress.

“There will not be a military solution to Iraq,” Mr. Hagel declared. “Iraq belongs to the 25 million Iraqis who live there. It doesn’t belong to the United States. Iraq is not a prize to be won or lost.”

The Democrats also gained the vote of Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, who voted against a withdrawal date just two weeks ago.

“People want our troops home,” Mr. Nelson said.

  NYT article

Yes, and sadly, that won't be happening.

Congress members know that won't be happening. This is a show for the next round of elections. "I voted for it." Or, "I voted against it." Whichever serves in your district. Bush has promised to veto the legislation. Would Hagel vote to override a veto? Would 2/3 of them? Barely over the necessary half voted for it in the first place.

Preferring More Than Geographical Distance...

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah at an Arab summit, called for an end to the Palestinian blockade. Then he bowed out of a big-deal state dinner at the White House that had been scheduled for April 16. This, despite the fact that he is a Bush family friend, and despite the fact that he can't really come up with a good excuse for non-attendance.

Even the Saudis are treating Dubya as though he were radioactive!

  Cannonfire post

"In the beloved Iraq, the bloodshed is continuing under an illegal foreign occupation and detestable sectarianism." -- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, today (emphasis added).

  Bobs Links & Rants post

Domestic Terror: OK City Bombing, Years Later

The FBI on Friday objected to a Utah lawyer's motion to conduct depositions of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and a death-row inmate in a lawsuit that alleges the attorney's brother was murdered in a federal prison.

Attorney Jesse Trentadue says the two prisoners can provide valuable information concerning his brother's death in 1995 and the FBI's alleged refusal to turn over all relevant documents requested in his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit. He believes authorities mistook Kenneth Trentadue for a bombing conspirator and that guards killed him in an interrogation that got out of hand.

  Salt Lake Tribune article

Danny Coulson, a 31-year veteran of the FBI, was deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Division at the time of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Okla., which killed 168 people, 19 of them children in an on-site day care center.

Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the bombing in 1997 and executed in 2001.

Mr Coulson said there were some “very strong indicators” that other people were involved with Timothy McVeigh.

  Homeland Stupidity post

NAFTA repeat: CAFTA, One Year Later

The year anniversary proved an important moment for debunking the government’s promises about the boon CAFTA would bring for all Salvadorans. Even the U.S. and Salvadoran governments’ official numbers show that El Salvador’s trade deficit with the U.S. has grown, with U.S. exports to El Salvador far outweighing Salvadoran exports to the U.S. [...] Foreign investment in El Salvador went from $300 million in 2005 to $222 million in 2006, whereas in Costa Rica – where CAFTA has not been implemented – foreign investment is eight times higher.

  Upside Down World article

I heard somebody on Democracy Now! a few weeks ago reporting that with US subsidies to farmers, after NAFTA, 1,200,000 Mexican corn growers lost the ability to compete, and therefore, their livelihood. World Hunger Year says a bit more.

Mexico is the center of diversity of maize, and the crop has long been central to its culture, economy and diet, yet NAFTA opened Mexico's maize sector to the dumping of millions of tons of cheap U.S. corn by multinational agribusinesses. This caused the price paid to Mexican corn farmers to drop by 70%, contributing to the loss of over 1.5 million Mexican farm livelihoods in the first 10 years of NAFTA alone. During that same time, the price of corn tortillas -- the most important staple food in Mexico -- rose by 50% and higher. Dumping of U.S. corn into Mexico -- including GM corn -- has also had serious environmental implications.

And now we have to try to keep them on their side of the border.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Recently Discovered

I came across this blog, dealing mostly with Indian affairs, from a link in a comment on another blog. I like the wry style as much as the content.

The Supremes didn't comment on why they declined to review the removal of Judge Royce Lamberth from the Indian Trust Fund lawsuit. So that's a dead end. On the up side, at least the troublesome Judge wasn't cut down in church by gentlemen friends of the King.

  Wampum post

Nicely done. And here's a Wampum link to an old post rendering a clever accounting of the rats abandoning ship.

Protecting the Children

August 2006:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a new public service campaign Monday that will warn teenage girls against posting information on the Internet that could put them at risk of attack by child predators.

"Every day, these predators are looking for someone to hurt," Gonzales said at the 18th annual Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas. "Every day, we must educate parents and children about the threat."

  CBS article

Protecting them from the likes of Congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla, I suppose.

Protected against child predators unless your child somehow ends up in the hands of the Texas Youth Commission....

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, both already under siege for other matters, are now being accused of failing to prosecute officers of the Texas Youth Commission after a Texas Ranger investigation documented that guards and administrators were sexually abusing the institution's minor boy inmates.

[...]

The Texas Youth Comission controversy traces back to a criminal investigation conducted in 2005 by Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski. The investigation revealed key employees at the West Texas State School in Pyote, Texas, were systematically abusing youth inmates in their custody.

[...]

Burzynski presented his findings to the attorney general in Texas, to the U.S. Attorney Sutton, and to the Department of Justice civil rights division. From all three, Burzynski received no interest in prosecuting the alleged sexual offenses.

[...]

Angle says that while the U.S. Justice Department and Texas attorney general's office were not prosecuting in this case, they were actively pursuing minor voter fraud issues with only a handful of allegations to go on.

On March 2, 2007, Governor Rick Perry appointed Jay Kimbrough, his former staff chief and homeland security director, to serve as "special master" to lead an investigation into the Texas Youth Commission sex abuse scandal. Shortly thereafter, the commission stopped a hiring practice that had allowed convicted felons to work as administrators in the system. The practice had involved a requirement that prior criminal records be destroyed for employees hired by the commission.

On March 17, 2007, the entire Texas Youth Commission governing board resigned.

  Free Republic article

And here's how easy it is to fall into the hands of the Texas Youth Commission...

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

DALLAS - A teenager has been jailed for more than a year for shoving a teacher’s aide at her high school, a case that has sparked anger and heightened racial tensions in rural East Texas.

Shaquandra Cotton, who is black, claims the teacher’s aide pushed her first and would not let her enter school before the morning bell in 2005. A jury convicted the 15-year-old girl in March 2006 on a felony count of shoving a public servant, who was not seriously injured.

The girl is in the Ron Jackson Correctional Complex in Brownwood, about 300 miles from her home in Paris. The facility is part of an embattled juvenile system that is the subject of state and federal investigations into allegations that staff members physically and sexually abused inmates.

Under the sentence handed down by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, she will remain at the facility until she meets state rehabilitation standards or reaches her 21st birthday.

  Boston Herald article

And how is Gonzo Gonzales faring these days?

Surge and Purge

Troop Surge

A few weeks ago, [Mark] Benjamin wrote a piece exposing how a group of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade-3rd Infantry at Ft. Benning, GA had their medical statuses summarily downgraded in February so they could be re-deployed to Iraq.

This week, Benjamin examines how some of those soldiers, plus many others, were recently sent to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA for "training," despite being physically unable to perform most usual exercises.

The injured soldiers were not forced to train, but were simply housed in tents on site--their physical presence apparently being good enough to count them among the numbers cited as "trained" for the surge.

  Iraq Slogger post - links embedded

Attorney Purge

Warned to shut up.

...[FBI] bureau chief for San Diego Dan Dzwilewski had complained to the press about Carol Lam's firing, said that he "guaranteed" politics was involved, and that without her, a number of ongoing investigations might be jeopardized. Specter didn't want to hear that from the press -- he wanted to hear that sort of thing from [Bureau Chief Robert] Mueller.

Mueller responded that Dzwilewski hadn't passed such complaints up the chain, and that "my understanding is that our chief out there believes he was misquoted, but that our investigations were continuing, without any diminishment."

Misquoted? Sen. Dianne Feinstein followed up:

FEINSTEIN: Well, we followed up and I had my chief counsel call them to verify what they said. And they said, yes, they said it. But they also said they'd been warned to say no more. Are you aware that they had been warned to say no more?

MUELLER: Yes, I am.

  TPM Muckraker article

Carol Lam's dismissal is (okay, "allegedly") connected to the Duke Cunningham bribery case, the fallout of which is ongoing.

[Congressman Henry] Waxman has asked for all MZM contracts related to the White House and other materials...

[...]

It could be that MZM in the summer of 2002 managed to snag a small White House contract in legitimate fashion, even as Wade was plotting a quick, bribery-greased rise to the top. But given that the Cunningham/MZM tale is one of sleaze and crime--I haven't even mentioned the prostitutes Cunningham received as bribes--Wade's first contract with the Bush administration deserves scrutiny. Republican legislators--no surprise--expressed no interest in this when they ran Congress. And, coincidentally or not, the US attorney in charge of the Cunningham case, Carol Lam, is one of the prosecutors who was fired by the Bush administration. But here comes Waxman, and the Case of MZM's First Contract is alive and open.

  David Corn post

Gettin' a little hot in the kitchen for Gonzo.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dashed out of a Chicago news conference this afternoon in just two and a half minutes, ducking questions about how his office gave U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald a subpar rating.

Gonzales, who increasingly faces calls for his resignation, was here to promote a new ad campaign and had planned a 15-minute press availability. He left after taking just three questions over a firing scandal consuming his administration.

Before leaving, Gonzales said he wanted to "reassure the American people that nothing improper happened here."

  Chicago Sun Times article

Rich.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Somethin' Happenin' Here...What It Is Ain't Exactly Clear

[Researchers for the non-profit watchdog Government Accountability Project say] it has identified hundreds of instances where White House-appointed officials interfered with government scientists' efforts to convey their research findings to the public, at the behest of top administration officials.

  ABC News article

Take a minute to get over your shock.

Okay, then...

What's happening here?

A large increase in the number of dolphins stranded on beaches in the Galveston-Sabine Pass areas over the last two weeks is puzzling marine mammal experts.

The bodies of at least 35 bottlenose dolphins, most of them newborns, have washed ashore during the last two weeks

[...]

The number is nearly double the dolphins stranded in the same period last year during the annual stranding season that runs from January through March [...]

Scientists are concerned because dolphin health can be a barometer for the health of the marine environment

[...]

Investigators suspect the dolphins may be dying off the Louisiana coast and being carried by currents to the Texas shore [...]

  Houston Chronicle article

I myself haven't seen any beached dolphins, but I haven't been down to the west end of the island for a while. I did see a pickup truck parked along Seawall this weekend with a handprinted sign on its top reading "Free Dolphin Rescue Training". So far what has been found in these dolphins is lung infections and parasites. I read somewhere an opinion that it was simply the fact that the winter was more severe this year.

After a little commercial boat tour of the Galveston Bay harbor a couple of weeks ago, where I got to watch six or seven dolphins lazily following a shrimp boat, Cpt. Paris Price (great name, eh?) told me that before the EPA was created and mandated a clean-up of the bay, it had become terribly polluted - so much so that the native brown pelicans were becoming extinct due to pesticide exposure. (At the time I thought that may have been the subject of the movie The Pelican Brief -based on a John Grisham novel, set in New Orleans. But checking online, it appears that I am probably wrong about that. I'm reading the book to find out.)

pelican photo by Steve Schuenke, Galveston, here

Paris also told me that while the harbor is now clean in a non-polluted sense, in its pre-European settlement history, it was said to have been pristine and clear. What is now a muddy bottom was lined with oyster shells. They dredged the shells from the bottom of the harbor to make roads. You can still see some of the shells today embedded in chunks of concrete that I assume were the next version of pavement in Galveston.

And...what's happening here?

Cities are cracking down on charities that feed the homeless, adopting rules that restrict food giveaways to certain locations, require charities to get permits or limit the number of free meals they can provide.

[...]

"The feedings were happening several times a week" in parking lots and sidewalks downtown, says Dewey Harris, director of Wilmington's Community Services Department. "A lot of the merchants said, 'We feel uncomfortable when you have all these homeless being fed downtown when we're trying to attract tourists.' "

  USA Today article

Wasn't Mr. Compassion's rationale in gutting government programs for the poor that these things should be done by charities?

Feeding the hungry several times a week. Indeed!

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.