Old Crabby

That ideologically moribund old crustacean, Cal Thomas, has pissed me off again. His latest diatribe is against those who protested against Vietnam, and now exercise their right to protest the excesses of the Bush administration in Iraq. His target? It’s an old and useful one for soulless crabs like Cal … the elite(?).

He addresses the protestors, who recently showed up in Washington to express their anger. He calls them “aging hippies” and says that they are responsible for hundreds of thousands, nay, possibly millions of deaths after the end of Vietnam, and now are encouraging the enemy in the same way in Iraq.

He calls them the “pampered generation that eschewed self control for self indulgence (not to be confused with Dick “I had other priorities” Cheney, who could not be bothered).” Cal calls them vain for idealistically wanting to end war, racism, hunger, etc. Cal proclaims that it was all about them.

Bullshit.

Cal is the crab that wouldn’t, couldn’t shut up. If Cal had the wherewithal, Vietnam would still be fought. Never mind the hundreds of thousands, nay, possibly millions of deaths that would have occurred in Vietnam had the war continued in the manner that Cal and his minions wanted. Never mind a land maimed beyond repair, it's rivers polluted with death-inducing chemicals, it's plant life crushed, flattened. Nope, the deaths caused because of the bombs dropped, bullets shot and the multitude of other death-causing devices in the glorious arsenal that man built would not have been Cal’s fault. He would have found a way to blame that on the left, too.

A Cal column would not be complete without a stab at Hollywood. These lines from the book of Cal are especially odious:

Hollywood is the land of make-believe where love means never having to say you're sorry and acting means never having to take responsibility for your words and behavior, which are written and directed by others. These stars live behind gates with security alarms and guards to protect their privileged lives.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the double entendre Cal obliviously makes. I mean, the entire run of conservative governance from Reagan forward to Shrub has been one of not taking responsibility for words and behavior. Conservatism means never having to say you’re sorry for obfuscation of the truth. Heck, if you’re the Shrub, nothing you say is original anyway, ask Rove. Oh, and next time down the road, ask Ollie North how is personal home security system built with taxpayer dollars is functioning.

Bullshit.

Cal rebukes the Hollywood types, but when convenient uses them to try and make a point. Proving that fantasy is not just for perverts, Cal uses the "vision" of the hit television show, 24, to make his point that they’re out to get us. Earth to Cal. No one has ever said differently. We know that terrorism is a threat to the world. It’s just that we, most of us, believe in taking a legal approach to tackling this issue, not lying, listening in on communications secretly, denying habeus corpus … yeah, poor Cal and his buds … it’s little things like the Constitution that get in the way of total power.

Wasn’t it our fearless Shrub who said: Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

This is what Cal and the others can't stand, that so few stand with them.

It's a Crime to be Different

Tacit approval is being given to neocon bloggers, by talk radio and people like Jessica McBride, to pry into the private affairs of individuals like the fellow who made the intemperate remarks to the soldier. He and the company he worked for are now being "investigated" by some, including Peter DiGaudio (author of Texas Hold ‘em Blogger) and by a blog named, Euphoric Reality. This blog lists not only the name of the person who made the comment, but the names, ages, jobs held, etc. of other people associated with the company. There is much more information posted, so it is best to just jump over to the site using the link provided. They’re frightening in their disregard for others … scary in the delusion they are performing the job of the MSM … they are nothing more than vigilantes.

What is frightening is these people have no qualms about abusing technology to “out” their fellow citizens. None! These people who are being attacked have a right not only to privacy but to a presumption of innocence before guilt, whether citizens or legal aliens. They are being electronically raped before our eyes. One is being raped for engaging in a freedom of speech exercise (reprehensible though it was) and the others for being associated with him.

These bloggers, children really in their regard, remind me of this quote from George Orwell’s epic, 1984:

"Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it... All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children."

Be very frightened citizens. Be frightened of these self-proclaimed patriots. They are the real traitors to the American idea.


Oh, Jessica McBride provides another reason why she should not be teaching journalism. Regarding the issue examined above, she had this to say:

They raise a good question about the terminated employee. Who is it?

Another Nail in the Coffin of Freedom

The Bush administration just doesn't give up. If you see any reference to an Enabling Act in the future, run very far away.

WASHINGTON - A statement attached to postal legislation by President Bush last month may have opened the way for the government to open mail without a warrant.

The White House denies any change in policy, but civil libertarians are alarmed, saying the government has never publicly claimed that power before.

Federal law has long required a search warrant to open first class mail unless postal inspectors suspect it contains something dangerous, like a bomb or a hazardous chemical, reports NBC News' Pete Williams.

The Bush administration says that the law has always allowed these types of search. But, if that is the case, what is the point of the signing statement? I’m waiting for our electronic versions of the Volkischer Beobachter (Fox News and/or talk radio) to parrot their agreement with the Bushies.

Another Suggestion to Reduce our Rights

Another prime example of conservatives' disregard for our rights. Newt Gingrich opens his mouth and freedom of speech is disavowed.

-- Joe Conason

The flimsy philosophizing of Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and aspiring Presidential candidate, isn't designed to bear any great weight. For many years, he has been willing to say anything that would win him the public attention and political power he still craves. Yet in the mainstream media and among Republicans, his intellectual pretensions are often taken seriously -- and when he promotes authoritarian "solutions" to national problems, that must be taken seriously too.

His latest insight is that America can only survive if we impose severe curbs on freedom of speech.

At a recent event in New Hampshire -- where he shows up often these days -- Mr. Gingrich explained why he believes that the First Amendment must be reconsidered in these trying times. He chose to deliver these remarks at an annual dinner held in memory of the late publisher of the Manchester Union-Leader, honoring individuals who stand up for free speech.
He told the stunned audience that we are facing a "long-term war," or what former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called "the Long War," which requires new strategies and tactics to thwart Islamic jihadism. We confront an existential threat "that will inevitably lead us to want to know what is said in every suspect place in the country, that will lead us to learn how to close down every Web site that is dangerous, and it will lead us to a very severe approach to people who advocate the killing of Americans and advocate the use of nuclear or biological weapons."
He went on to advocate measures that "use every technology we can find to break up [the terrorists'] capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us, to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young people to destroy their lives while destroying us."

Such vague prescriptions sound sensible enough. Certainly no sane person wants terrorists using the Internet, and nobody wants them recruiting young suicide bombers on the Internet, either.

The problem is in the details. Exactly how the former Speaker would deter the enemies of freedom from using free speech was anything but clear.

About a week after his New Hampshire speech, he expanded on his remarks in an article for the ultraconservative Union-Leader newspaper. "The fact is that not all speech is permitted under the Constitution," he wrote. He noted the ominous remarks of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the outreach by Hezbollah to sympathizers in Latin America, and the stated determination of Islamist militants to "use the Internet for the sake of jihad." He suggested that the government be empowered to shut down Web sites that recruit suicide bombers and urged "an expeditious review of current domestic law to see what changes can be made within the protections of the 1st Amendment to ensure that free speech protection claims are not used to protect the advocacy of terrorism, violent conduct or the killing of innocents."

That's only a sample of the many big mouthfuls of rhetoric emanating from Mr. Gingrich on this topic, but you get the idea.

When he appeared on Meet the Press on Dec. 17, host Tim Russert asked him how his fantasy would work. Who would define such murky offenses as "advocacy of terrorism" or "violent conduct"?

Mr. Gingrich seemed to be annoyed by the question. His answer was not only unimpressive but also unintentionally funny.

"You close down any Web site that is jihadist," he said.

"But who makes that judgment?" insisted Mr. Russert.

"Look, I -- you can appoint three federal judges if you want to and say, 'Review this stuff and tell us which ones to close down.' I would just like to have them be federal judges who've served in combat," replied Mr. Gingrich.

Considering the source, that was a remarkably weird response. A panel of three judges who've served in combat? As a qualification for making crucial decisions about combating terrorists, combat service would surely eliminate Mr. Gingrich -- a certified chicken-hawk who loves war but successfully avoided the Vietnam draft -- from running for President.
Logic aside, he has offered at least one example of how he would apply his new set of speech standards. He believes that the six Muslim scholars who were removed from a plane in Minneapolis last month for such suspicious behavior as praying in the airport "should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists."

That ridiculous assertion could only have thrilled the leadership of Al Qaeda. Nothing they can ever put on a Web site or videotape will be nearly as effective in encouraging young Muslims to hate America and reject freedom as Mr. Gingrich's cloddish demagogy.

Some moron out there will acuse the media of being biased for asking tough querstions of Newty. I'm not feeling nice ... tough shit.

This is Happening

h/t Tom Tomorrow

After reading this, my suspicions of this administration only grow grimmer. Do you really believe they aren’t listening in on the telephone calls of other than suspected terrorists? Has there ever been another President in our nation’s history who cultivated such a disregard for basic human rights?

One night in mid-April, the steel door clanked shut on detainee No. 200343 at Camp Cropper, the United States military’s maximum-security detention site in Baghdad.

American guards arrived at the man’s cell periodically over the next several days, shackled his hands and feet, blindfolded him and took him to a padded room for interrogation, the detainee said. After an hour or two, he was returned to his cell, fatigued but unable to sleep.

The fluorescent lights in his cell were never turned off, he said. At most hours, heavy metal or country music blared in the corridor. He said he was rousted at random times without explanation and made to stand in his cell. Even lying down, he said, he was kept from covering his face to block out the light, noise and cold. And when he was released after 97 days he was exhausted, depressed and scared.

Detainee 200343 was among thousands of people who have been held and released by the American military in Iraq, and his account of his ordeal has provided one of the few detailed views of the Pentagon’s detention operations since the abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib. Yet in many respects his case is unusual.

The detainee was Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago who went to Iraq as a security contractor. He wound up as a whistle-blower, passing information to the F.B.I. about suspicious activities at the Iraqi security firm where he worked, including what he said was possible illegal weapons trading.