Tyranny

A lot of smart people in government back then. Why are there so few today?

Supporting the Troops

With improvements in armor, soldiers are increasingly surviving IED blasts without death or loss of body parts but with a sharp increase in brain damage.
Thousands will return with obvious or hidden damage.
What will they return to? Budget cuts. What else? Supporting the troops is a slogan but it's all just a comma anyway.

Blond and ____

Poor Boreen.
She was handing out free newspapers today in downtown Ottawa, helping to promote a national program of literacy for Canadians. So far so good.
She thinks literacy is very important, " You can't succeed in life if you can't read". Well said.
"That's the number one thing. Get out of school and you have to know how to read." Excellent plan.

It was going well until she was asked how this plan was helped by her husbands recent cut of $18 million from adult literacy programs. Not to mention $55 million cut from youth employment programs.

She refused to comment.

John Baird who announced the cuts was there also and took care of this embarrassing situation. He said that the government wants to put it's funds with children, I guess before they become illiterate? How clever. What were we thinking, that adults could be helped? Or that it was the right thing to do, to try. The government doesn't want to " try to do repair work after the fact", he said.
The real face of conservatism ?
This was a radio story so I couldn't find any video which would have been priceless.

The Outer Limits

Q- What's the difference between the Bush Administration and the Mafia?




A- Nothing.

I submit for your approval.

1) Cronyism.

2)Corruption.

3)Lies and more lies.

4)Secret coded language (Mobspeak)

5)Violence as a tool.

6)Unethical behavior.

Well there is one difference. The guys on TV, despite being despicable are at least amusing .

It's A Kafka World After All

This might be a better look for me?

Anyway, the last annual State Department report on human rights abuses was a hoot as the WaPo pointed out, for Rumsfeld himself had sanctioned similar actions be used in the U.S. as what was being condemned in other countries!
North Korea was charged with the disappearance and indefinite detention of prisoners without trial , Syria with torture including waterboarding. I guess Mr. Arar was one of those Syrian statistics courtesy of the U.S. and Canada? These bastards take Arar over to be tortured then condemn Syria in their annual report!
So what will next years report tell us about 2006? Over 14,000 and counting detained without charges to be considered?
62 million dollars paid to Musharaf and tribal leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan to round up Al Qaeda like suspects for Guantanamo? 369 turned over by Pakistan. Who keeps that money I wonder? Stupid question.
I guess this explains why in Defense Department reports about Guantanamo only 8% of detainees were believed to be Al Qaeda. Only 5% of the detainees were actually captured by the U.S. Over 86% were purchased like cattle thru bounties paid for by the CIA. Captured by reward seeking Pakistani and Afghani warlords and villagers of highly doubtful reliability. All suspects by association at worst.
Then there's the issue of state sponsored torture in the U.S.? Maybe they'll have to stop these annual State Department reports until the U.S. starts acting like the U.S. again?

Tortured Logic

This is something we should be asking Republicans now, before our kids are asking us?
Could they seriously want to go into an election as the 'torture party'? How easy is that to campaign against? Oh yeah, the Dems, they can mess up any election.
If they don't stand up to this, who of conscience would want either party?


I think most dads would have to say it's wrong kids and then would struggle to find a way to defend a government that condoned it?

Condi is not a parent. She's the Princess of Exxon. Like the environment, or the truth about any inconvenient issue, torture will also have to accommodate GOP goals.
Condi might say, we are not Nazis. That is a grotesque comparison. We only wish to use their methods.



There is only one goal of this complex Senate bill, to give amnesty to Bush on down for any future legal charges.
The legislation prohibits detainees from "citing Geneva Conventions as a legal basis for challenging their imprisonment or for seeking civil damages for their mistreatment."

The amnesty would thereby become retroactive to the beginning of the abuses.






George should ask his favorite philosopher who he would torture?




The world no longer needs to wonder what American values are.

By the way, the original CIA leaks suggested 30-50 detainees were in secret foreign prisons. I haven't seen less than 27 quoted. So there are 14 now being added to Guantanamo. Where are the rest? Of course, at this stage of ethical erosion, why should we believe anything we're told anymore?

Been Dreaming? Start a Blog

Q did not attend. Nothing against this band from Niagara Falls, just don't care for their name.

I love the poster though. Let's see...

Dorothy, who had been looking for Bin Laden in Afghanistan now grew tired of the search and fell asleep in a poppy field.
Meanwhile, her friends Don Rummy the Tin Man, Dick the cowardly lion and George the dim- witted scarecrow managed to revive her with some snow though not the kind derived from poppies.
Now our heroes were off to the Emerald City of Baghdad, where the streets are paved with oil and no bid reconstruction contracts flow like honey.
However, like all bad dreams, the wicked terrorist leader of the east was patiently working on another sinister plan to foil our hapless friends. And his patience finally paid off.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Dorothy had been dreaming. She awoke and discovered that she was home the whole time. But while she was away in her dream the evil that she thought was far away had replaced the goodness that used to be her home. For when she awoke her home was no longer free and compassionate but full of fear, suspicion, hate and what she thought was once evil in another land was now the law and acceptable behavior in her own land. Was she all alone now in this realization? Won't the people recognize the terror they've become because they were so afraid?

Maybe she should have stayed asleep in that poppy field? Or maybe she would start a blog.

Wear Red Friday

Okay, I think I can get behind this movement 100%.

Can Something Good Please Come From This?

3 thoughts about Mr. Arar:

1) I only live here and I feel compelled to say I'm sorry to this fellow Canadian. What's Harper's fucking problem? Oh yeah., it was another government. How convenient. I guess being a neocon means never having to say you're sorry. Well I'm not one, so I'm very sorry for this outrage.


2) If our RCMP and CSIS can be this incompetent and wrong, and the U.S. clearly doesn't give a rat's ass who they torture innocent or guilty, what about the 14,000 plus suspect detainees the U.S has tortured or holed up in prisons around the world without charges, how many of those deserve their fate? These people were fingered by rivals, rounded up randomly etc. by people who don't have our skills and values. It wouldn't surprise me if most of them could be released. Really, the important people would be hard to catch wandering around streets and war zones, they would be hard to catch alive?


3) Mr. Arar under torture confessed to everything they wanted him to say, that he was a terrorist who trained in the Afghan camps etc. None of it was true. How many times do they have to be told the truth, that torture doesn't work and is against our values?
How can we see the difference between the Bush thugs and liars from those that they say threaten us ?
Can Canada please do something to redeem our selves? How about renouncing the use of torture everywhere and anywhere. It's not hard as it's already the law with the Geneva Convention. Harper wouldn't even have to apologize. No, I'm not holding my breath but I am ashamed.

The Elephant in the Room

An interesting theory in Kos diaries today about Pakistan. It's suggested that the reason Bush won't allow testimony in open court about his 'detainees" is that all information of interest points the finger to Pakistan as the chief supplier, trainer and financier of international terrorism, especially Al Qaeda.
So how does one receive billions in aid, purchase high tech military equipment like F-16s and receive constant support from Bush? Compare Pakistan's involvement to Iraqs.
Iraq- no WMD- no link to Al Qaeda
Pakistan- birthplace of Al Qaeda- current safe home for Al Qaeda- Bin Laden invited to live in peace- terror training camps still operate- co-operation between terrorists and government of Musharraf thru ISI military intelligence- selling nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea- Khan allowed to keep money from sales and lives in peace and security-involvement in every major international terrorist act
Musharraf has been busy blaming the west on terrorism and India.
Every terrorist connection leads to Pakistan. Everything indicates Musharraf is being protected by Bush? So why is Iraq the central war on terror. 1) They were weak militarily. 2) They have strategic oil 3)Bush family business. A hatred for Saddam. Pakistan does have has nuclear weapons. Is that the only reason they're given a pass?
Is it possible that some U.S. aid money funds terrorism thru the ISI? That would mean Bush is supporting those that support his power, the terrorists? Why is it okay with Musharraf and Bush to give Al Qaeda safety?
Most importantly, why don't the U.S. media give this elephant in the room the attention it deserves? Not in individual stories months apart but in presenting the whole picture to the public. What additional damning secrets might terrorists reveal in open court?

Random Snarks

Larson quitting was as distressing as Gods silence in the universe.



Heck of a job George for injecting cronyism into everyday humour.






I don't know if this is true about biologists. Maybe Ross knows?






The White House needs more than James Baker to save it. Isn't he corrupt too? Nobody thinks outside the box where money is being made. The fix is always in. Someday...government will have to be about more than money.




The Pope has been calling the pot black. Christianity has never brought evil or inhumanity into the world??? The shrieks of millions of tortured and persecuted souls.........thru the ages.

Book Meme Part 1

Zarathustra descended alone from the mountains, encountering no one. But when he came into the forest, all at once there stood before him an old man who had left his holy cottage to look for roots in the woods. And thus spoke the old man to Zarathustra:
" No stranger to me is this wanderer: many years ago he passed this way. Zarathustra he was called, but he has changed. At that time you carried your ashes to the mountains; would you now carry your fire into the valley? Do you not fear to be punished as an arsonist?
Yes, I recognize Zarathustra. His eyes are pure and around his mouth there hides no disgust. Does he not walk like a dancer?
Zarathustra has changed, Zarathustra has become a child, Zarathustra is an awakened one; what do you now want among the sleepers?
Zarathustra answered, " I love man."
"Do not go to man. Stay in the forest! Go rather even to the animals.
"And what is the saint doing in the forest?" asked Zarathustra.
The saint answered, " I make songs and sing them ; and when I make songs, I laugh, cry and hum: thus I praise God.
When Zarathustra had heard these words he bade the saint farewell and said, "What could I have to give you? But let me go quickly lest I take something from you! And thus they separated, the old one and the man, laughing as two boys laugh.
But when Zarathustra was alone he spoke thus to his heart: "Could it be possible? This old saint in the forest has not yet heard anything of this, that God is dead!"
(Thus Spoke Zarathustra- Nietzsche)

Out Picking the Daisies

I've always been distracted easily. People do get annoyed when they've been talking to you but you haven't been listening and they asked you a question and you now have to confess by saying, what?
Nowadays, they have diagnoses and labels for this, ADD and such. Not so bad tuning out today. It was not good when I was in school. I hated school... every fucking year. Except grades 5 and 10 and university, thanks to some great gals.
Scout has advised me that this condition is commonly known in her neck of the woods as ' out picking the daisies'.
I like to search google images for pics of random words. It's more fun than solitaire, like Mrs. Q. Anyone who plays solitaire constantly is up to something, it's a pretext activity for plotting a crime.
So looking thru many pages of 'daisies' I found this beauty above and the best.....after many many pages..... I found a puppy named Lilly........who......loves daisies.
And this is my excuse for not writing about 911 yesterday. I was distracted and it's too sad for words. But Lilly and her daisies could cheer anyone up.

Evgeniy Monohov

This young Russian artist has caught my attention out of the many great painters one can survey on-line.
This masterful painter creates such poetic moods and I certainly admire his choice of subjects?
Yes, he paints subjects other than women, these just happen to be a few of my favorites, honest.
The internet weekly has a good art and culture spot where you can catch finds like this.

Shi'ites are a Tough Crowd

An Irishman walks into a bar. The bartender looks at him and notices he has a steering wheel stuck down the front of his pants. "Hey", he says. "What's with the steering wheel down your pants?" "Ach", says the Irishman, "it's drivin' me nuts!"

Waiting for the Next Kennedy

If all you knew about life in the 1950s was from George Tooker paintings, you probably wouldn't want to live there. At least they were in color. He lived in New York, surprise surprise. When we think of a historical period we usually reference it to what was going on in the big cities, not Iowa.
Was life this monotonous, lifeless, isolated and paranoid? These works were Kafkaesque, especially the Government Bureau. Bureaucracy, suspicions, hidden terrors, mistrust, alienation, big brother...
Well, there was a Republican president through the 50s. He wasn't a bad fellow, he did have a real military record and he was intelligent at least. But he didn't really do much with 8 years considering all of the obvious social injustices that were ignored. So what are all these people fearing or avoiding? Civil rights, gender equality the growing industrial military complex taking shape and control around the world? McCarthy and the paranoia of communism lurking everywhere? Probably all of the above.
It's almost as if the 50s were in black and white like that wonderful movie Pleasantville, then along came the promise of an exciting change of direction, in color with Kennedy .
So who is painting the Bush years ? The industrial military complex that Eisenhower warned about has reached it's zenith with the current generation of Republicans. We have our own ignored social and environmental issues today, always lurking in the background , and the glue that holds it all together once again is an irrational fear that outsiders are after us. Eisenhower warned Americans to be vigilant and educated so as not to be duped by big government.
What will Bush say when he leaves office? Adios suckers. Is it just another 8 years spent avoiding more issues than we engage, waiting for the next Kennedy to re-energize us with a new, positive vision of the future?

Get a Brain 31.9%

Less people every month will even admit to being Republican. Shocking. Of course not this maverick in the pic, or is that mavarak? Now he is a true blue( I mean red) support the troops from the Nascar track Republican forever kind of guy. Probably a Dick Cheney guy. I think that is who he was defending from protestors at a photo op event last year. So it's my country right or wrong, love it or leave it from the 60's with a twist of the 50's, enemies lurking everywhere, be afraid, and the 30's-40's, support our war or you're appeasing traitors. Okay, got the message.
Now the rest in the survey have probably assimilated the other message, that Iraq had nothing to do with 911 or was any threat to the U.S. Yet Iraq has been invaded and occupied costing tens of thousands of innocent lives, world trust and credibility, half a trillion dollars and counting and the consequence is higher levels of terror thanks to special recruiter Bush.
So what do the majority of Americans think Bush is doing now by staying the course? It's a very scary question. One explanation is to avoid admitting failure and the obvious embarrassment. Avoiding impeachment or prosecution? Could he really believe he's divinely chosen to lead? Could it all be just about oil? That was a taboo thought when Iraq started. How could you think someone could be so evil as to cause all of this suffering just for oil. Is it so crazy 3 years later? Initially they may have believed they could win something but can they really still believe that now? The Bush caption is erry because it's crazy but is still the sort of thing you'd expect to dribble out of his brain.