FlaSoxxJim

To take everyone's mind off of those ugly 'isolated events' at Abu Ghraib, let's instead tune in to see how Iraqi prisoners are supposed to be treated. Wait, maybe this one is not so pleasant either. Well, hopefully some of the other dozen or so Iraqi deaths at the hands of US interrogators now under investigation will convince me that this is just wacky reservist hijinks. The newest Iraqi on ice is 52-year-old Nadem Sadoon Hatab. He was a former Baath Party official, so I guess that makes it alright. He may have known where Jessica Lynch's firearm was, so maybe that makes it alright - that is why the marine reservists were told to be extra brutal with him. Funny thing though, none of the "interrogators" spoke Arabic and nobody present for the "interrogation" did either. Kind of hard to gather information that way, I'd bet. Here's the whole story if anybody cares: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/World/I...h_040507-1.html

There is a quiet profoundness to that simple statement. I don't agree that the 'they are taught to hate us since the day they are born and there's nothing we can do' sentiment is wholly true, nor do I equate an indoctrination into hate with evil straight-up, but I understand and appreciate where you are coming from. You are right though, it's an uphill battle for the new generation to give anyone in the world a fair shake if the generation raising them is teaching them hatred. That is why social change happens as slowly as it does here, and just as we now understand the need to break that intergenerational transmission of generic hate for a race, creed, religion, etc. on the homefront, we need to realize the importance of doing the same thing in the wider world. The fist step there of course is to walk it like we talk it and be the compassionate, fair, and democratic nation we aspire to be. It's harder for others to hate us as a nation outright if you don't give them a reason.

A bit from Cowley's Southtown submission today says it all. If this team can't knock Durbin around then we've really got problems.

And it HAS been admitted... You are putting words into my mouth that are not there. I did not even go so far as to speculate that the now infamous Iraqi on ice was murdered, and I was particularly careful to refer to it as an interrogation gone wrong. Are my words somehow more damning or loaded than Sgt. Frederick's own, that the prisoner was "stressed" by interrogators until he died? He was killed by the interrogation process. Period. The brief account above (from msnbc) also indicates that the body was packed in ice and then the IV hooked on, apparently well away from the eyes of the other detainees and apparently solely for the purposes of concocting a cover story that the detainee expired despite their best efforts. You are in a dwindling minority of people content to believe the official party line that "most of this "torture" amounted to fraternity pranks." 84% of the 38K+ people who have voted in the (nonscientific) msnbc poll think this was ordered up at a higher level than those whacky enlisted folks just blowing off steam. SPC Sabrina Harman (one of the accused) has said that their marching orders were "to make it hell so they would talk," even though Abu Ghraib is not Afghan no-man's land and the abused detainees were (by the US official admonition) from a prison block of low-value information sources – not the high-value Taliban and El Quaida targets that the initial SAP was developed to deal with. I'm appalled (if not surprised) that so many are so willing to let these soldiers alone take the fall (NOT SUGGESTING THEY ARE GUILTLESS BY ANY STRETCH, MIND YOU) for this, and as the courtmartial hearings scheduled for tomorrow have now all been moved up to today this appears to be the strategy. Hang this handful out for slaughter quickly and try to bury the story before yet more comes to light implicating those up the chain. It is about maintaining that all-important plausible deniability. Telling the underlings to "make it hell" and to "get creative" in the interrogation practices, while not specifically telling them how to go about it accomplishes exactly that. De Rita's Pentagon statement that no higher authority told the grunts to do what is depicted in the images may well be technically true because by design it is left to the grunts to "sweat the details." Former and current Pentagon, CIA, military contractors, etc., are all looking at some of the interrogation tactics used and saying yeah that's the way you do it, and no these reservists from Virginia didn't figure it all out on their own. The implication is that at least some of those on-site in the command chain not only were turning a blind eye to what was happening, but they were giving lessons.

Sure, you might as well just call "Who's Next" a middle years greatest hits album. I also get frustrated at the amazing amount of great Quadraphenia stuff that doesn't get the earplay of The Real Me or Love Reign O'er Me. You forget how stunning Entwistle's bass playing was until you go back to that album after you haven't heard it for a while. For all the - as Jason says - "boring oldie oldsters," I'd recommend any Rundgren fans who fell away from him over the last decade of digital self-indulgence check out the new album "Liars." While not as strong as Nearly Human or Second Wind from the late 80s-early 90s, it's easily the strongest writing and most cohesive production since then. Very much looking forward to seeing him tomorrow night at a House Of Blues Orlando show in a full band setting. The last couple tours have been solo deals - Todd, a couple guitars, a piano, and maybe an iPod (yeah, he's still a technogeek) – great intimate shows but it's been too long since he has presided over large-scale rock and roll mayhem. Among my favorite lyrics from the new disc:

Truthfully, Kap, there's not all that much meaningful rebuilding going on right now. The schools in session and the hospitals etc., up and running are positive and we should see updates on progress there. But Sunday's ABCnews page ran the story "Too Violent to Rebuild?" that relates that there's not that much actual rebuilding going on. The German subcontractor in charge of getting a big power plant up and runnning has fled to safety, so > 300K fsamilies in Baghdad will spend the summer without power, including air conditioning which is more necessity than luxury there. Of the 2,000+ construction projects that were supposed to be in progress by now, only 42 are. Only 5% of the $18+ Billion approved for construction aid has been spent out, though $300 million of the money for construction has had to be diverted to security and administrative costs. The insurgency lies at the heart of the reasons it has all stalled, to be sure. But even an umbiased media outlet would have a hard time squeezing a whole lot of positive press out of the rebuilding success story, because so far there isn't much of one.

Hope your days rock. Have a good one...

Escobar doubles, Blake on 3rd... yipee?? :puke

Game back on again... yipee??

Good points, Bob, particularly on the inherent juiciness of some stories over others and the danger therein. In that regard, the media in general suffers from an inherent bias in running the stories that have legs over those that don't regardless of which stories have the deeper remifications/implications. As far as the Kobol dismissal of the liberal bias notion, I focused more on the second half of the statement (that a scarecrow liberal bias was convenient because it hid conservative failures so the notion is best perpetuated from their standpoint). As far as the partial admonition that the liberal media was 'never that powerful,' I would tend to also interpret it to mean if it held no sway over the masses it could not be truly considered any sort of meaningful bias. But I concede Kobal's statement does fall short of absolutely dismissing the notion of liberal bias.

I was of like mind until shortly after I hit 30. Before that I was active (hiking, jogging, swimming) but ate any and all things and had no weight problem. Once my metabolism down-shifted I continued to eat the same and stay active, but I started gaining weight for the first time in my life. The wife thought it was very funny of course (I was half tempted to really pork out just to put hr in her place...), because she has had to watch her diet since her late teens. I hate dieting and can never be a long-term hardcore carb Nazi because the no beer thing won't work, but I do have to be good about what I eat or it shows.

For the record, you don't owe anyone an apology for considering that the world opinion of Americans might just matter after all.

And do you also DESPISE us (the logical antonym to your wide-cast 'them') when you see pictures of a dead Iraqi detainee packed in ice with an IV hooked up to him now that it has come to light that he was killed during an interrogation gone wrong and now that it has been admitted by a soldier involved that the IV was put on the body after the fact to cover the asses of the US interrogators?? Can you blame me for wondering????????? I'll bet you do...

Ah, good old khlav kalash... No, your most excellent Simpsons ref was not lost on everybody. Sadly, my Fox affiliate is one of the wiiniw ones that runs a horribly cut up version of the 'Homer vs. NY' episode in order to remove all potentially objectionable refernces to the WTC. A lowpoint for Political Correctness i think.

Especially if the facilities people opt for "climate-controlling" the Baggie to a home team advantage as they have been purported to do - blasting the OF air ducts during the top of each inning to minimize the visiting team long ball threat etc....

Queen prawns served over pasta?

Someone correctly assumed that this report would have been seen by the world as downright comical if it was released on schedule two weeks ago. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4997838/ Of course the report is released with some positive commentary on current events from the Administration's token moderate Colin Powell: It's amazing how they can marginalize this guy so effectively when he is trying hard to be the closest thing to a concience the Administration has (like when he reportedly "hit the roof" when the State Dept. got wind of the plans to skirt Geneva restrictions leading to the current abuse mess). But when they need him to put a good face on something that is starting to stink they trot him out like he's part of the happy, unified family.

I hoped you would put together a response to the 'liberal media bias' chestnut Apu, as I knew yours would be more detailed than any I tried to put together. Yes, the Liberal Media Bias is a fantastical creature conjured from imagination, much like Bigfoot and the Easter Bunny. And maybe the Compassionate Conservative, too? When PNAC co-founder Bill Kristol admits it's bunk, and when you look at the political leanings of the media outlet owners it is amazing the myth still persists. Who was it that said 'the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he didn't exist'? In the same vain, the greatest trick the Conservative-run press ever pulled off was convincing the world of a Liberal media bias.

You said it.

Salma Hayek aside, Desparado was not as gritty or fulfilling as the original low-budget 1991 indie film El Mariachi that Robert Rodriguez self-raped when handed a big budget to do the follow-up film that became Desparado. El Mariachi was not a great film by any stretch – not as well executed as Quentin T's debut Reservoir Dogs that came out the same year – but not bad for a 24-year-old writer/director.

New Religion Creation 'Old Testament' In the beginning God created the Head of Lettuce and the Ale. The Ale was without salamanders and sweaty. Then God said let there be baseball bat and there was baseball bat. And God saw the baseball bat, that it was loud. On the 6th day God created the first man, Dick York. And God saw Dick York, that he was lumpy. God then took one of Dick York's kneecaps and made the first woman, Dick Seargent. And God said you shall not eat of the queen prawn of bicycle for if you do you shall surely swim. But unfortunately a wily head lice tricked Dick Seargent into eating of the queen prawn of bicycle while God wasn't looking. He eventually found out and kicked them out of the garden. Dick York and Dick Seargent then had two sons, Cane and Able. Cane was a burner of chopsticks, while Able was a herder of ducks. Cane then gave God an offering of swollen pillows and Able gave Him an offering of comic books. But God really preferred the comic books so Cane mightily smote Able in the fields. For that God cursed Cane to burn chopsticks forever.

Hey Queen Prawn (good choice!)... I see you are on the Mermaid's Platter at St. Lucia Pizza this week...

In another explosion in Iraq, unrelated to the assissination and in which no casualties occurred, the nerve agent Sarin was found to be incorporated in the device: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040517_821.html

This has really become an intractable position for the Coalition and the US appointed Iraqi ruling government. The average Iraqi will not see any of the appointees as being legitimate after the handover, and many will never recognize the authority of a US-appointed bunch. Kimmit insists the transfer has to stay on track, but what does that really mean for US occupying forces? We will have to remain in place in large numbers as a security force to prevent overthrow of the appointed governing body, majority revolt and civil war. At the same time, the anger level of the average Iraqi will rise as the US presence continues well after the nominal handover. This will be accompanied by continued uprising of pockets of insurgents, casualties will keep mounting on all sides, and I don't see how it can end well. There's really something to that old yarn about winning the war only to lose the peace.

And from the online version of this week's Newsweek, the report called "The Roots of Torture" pretty much sums it up: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4989422/ On the Newsweek site, so far 86% of the 14,000+ respondents to their (unscientific) survey believe the Abu Ghraib abuse was authorized by the higer ups, while 9% still admit to buying the Pentagon's "few bad apples" version of the story. From the Newsweek report: