LowerCaseRepublican

About 50 years worth of US supported authoritarian dictators, weapons smuggling and election fraud assistance tends to leave a bad taste in their mouth regarding the United States. Plus they see us as occupiers and not "benevolent liberators" and want us the Hell out so they don't identify with us.

I fail to see how "Saddam tortured people = Bad" to the "US tortured people = Good". US courts have themselves found torture to be prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which bans “cruel or unusual punishment,” the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process. Given a former Attorney General who was 0 for 5,000 in finding terrorists, Army reports like the Taguba report which said the Abu Ghraib like abuse was widespread (if you missed it, here's a copy http://www.counterpunch.org/taguba05052004.html) and finding out that the track record of the government in general, not even hitting the tip of the iceberg with the incompetence and lies of this administration is less than stellar in the truth telling department -- including the British media finding out that the vast majority of the people imprisoned as "terrorists" in Iraq are actually just accused of minor crimes (going someplace without their papers etc.) and NO PROOF that they are terrorists. And CubKilla -- American citizens are being "preventatively detained" and sent off for torture as well...and American citizens get constitutional rights like the 8th Amendment, 5th Amendment and 14th Amendment. Giving the President unfettered authority to detain whom he wants without having to charge them, holding them for as long as he wants smacks of Un-Constitutionality and authoritarianism. Sorry I hold America to a little bit higher regard than pushing people around like a f***ing bully. And if we get real technical, outsourcing torture just makes Bush a liar (yet again) because after the Abu Ghraib scandal he said that the US would make sure to abide by the Convention Against Torture which it signed. I mean we live in a country where power junkie assholes get off on an authoritarian bent perverting the Constitution for their own sick power grabbing ends and I for one have had it. You people are defending the government asserting people as "potential terrorists" (and we know how much the government has historically told the 100% truth) and defending their torture. I mean Hell, we export torture weapons to Saudi Arabia and other "friendly" nations -- never mind the 9/11 Commission finding out that Osama is bankrolled a lot through donations from prominent Saudi Arabians and even export torture to other nations in Latin America (Yeah, explicit manuals detailing how to torture detainees were exposed as part of the curriculum at the School of the Americas) so why not just f***ing torture the people here then if we're so goddamn peachy keen about it? Cuz we're fighting for freedom -- never mind the increased government authority to kidnap people without having to provide proof, sending them off for torture and hold them until the government feels they are no longer useful.

A whole bunch of Warren Zevon, some Killswitch Engage and a couple Toby Keith songs (I Wanna Talk About Me and How Do You Like Me Now)

The FARC is involved in narco-trafficking (basically running protection rackets for the numerous cartels) but so are the right wing paramilitary organizations (some of which like the AUC, also deemed a terrorist organization, getting assistance from the Colombian government). They've both been found to be in bed with the narco-traffickers. It's not that they agree with the cartels on either side but it's simple funding for their military operations, weapons smuggling etc. The DEA even stated that narco-trafficking is primarily the act of the elites, including many in the government of Colombia. I vaguely remember that US general whose wife was running drugs for the cartels. The FARC are a bunch of kidnapping bastards (talked to a guy whose aunt was kidnapped by the FARC and executed) but so are the right wing paramilitaries and "government" that Bush was praising during his time in Colombia. The sad fact is that for most farmers there, the only crop they can grow and sell to have enough cash to survive is the coca plant (when purified, it makes cocaine) http://www.cfrterrorism.org/groups/farc.html -- has info on the paramilitaries, FARC and ELN. -- Best quote from that is from the government paramilitaries -- An AUC spokesman said recently that, to improve its public image, the group would no longer execute more than three people in any one attack.

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4047 I saw this and laughed my ass off.

In 2003, the memo came out from the Pentagon endorsing torture to be used by the US government. The Wall Street Journal online has made public portions of the Pentagon's March 2003 memo on interrogation methods for enemy detainees. Although Attorney General John Ashcroft has refused to release the memo, it was leaked to news sources and the story was widely reported. The memo, which contains advice from Justice Department lawyers to the CIA, asserts that using torture against suspected terrorists may be justified. Wall Strett Journal mainstream enough for you there, Nuke? http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/doc...litary_0604.pdf has the memo copied. More information about the US sending people to be tortured in Arab states can be found at http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0726/p01s03-usju.html I have a problem with the people that swallow what a government, let alone our government says. Unlimited detentions without having charges filed, sending them off to "friendly" countries like Pakistan and Syria to be tortured all on the word that the people are "terrorists". Perhaps we forgot that Ashcroft was ZERO FOR 5,000 in getting terrorism convictions -- not a damn person he accused of being a terrorist was found guilty when brought to trial. And let's not forget the history of our government labeling people as evil when they really weren't (take COINTELPRO for example and the outrageousness of that) Also, the General Accounting Office found out that for convictions of "terrorism" acts, over 78% (it's around that -- don't have the book in front of me right now) had nothing to do with terrorism at all, but were just cases to inflate the government's appearance of getting stuff done. If we are fighting a war for liberty, democracy and freedom -- then it is antithetical and hypocritical to be using torture as a means of getting information. It is entirely hypocritical for a nation to be upset that our people are being tortured, beheaded and kidnapped etc. while the US government does the exact same thing.

f*** Scalia. "In God We Trust" on our cash and in the pledge was a knee jerk anti-Communist cold war move and not the intent of our founding fathers by any means. This sort of ignorant bulls*** really pisses me off.

But how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?!

The airing of grievances

I didn't have to wait at all. The trip from my bed to the dining room upstairs was quite quick.

Nerf Herder: "I Got a Boner for Christmas" and also "Santa Has a Mullet"

Hey, it could happen.......................MC WORLD! /1994 called, wants its commercial back from me

I have Season 1 and Season 2 -- It's funny. A lot of the stuff he goes after is stuff that needs to brought to peoples' attention (like Disney's use of Chinese sweatshops to make toys etc.) But that's the point of the show -- to be humorous and expose certain issues.

Yojimbo DVD, Sanjuro DVD, 7 Samurai DVD, Dawn of the Dead DVD (First version by Romero), Night of the Living Dead DVD, any CD by Warren Zevon, America the Book, Mr. Show Seasons 1-3, a ton of political books...

Yeah -- I changed my name on here (Thanks again Heads)

Edinger wide right from 48 yds. out....still tied at 7.

Gooble gobble! Gooble gobble! One of us, one of us! Happy Thanksgiving, all.

RW picks off another pass....then fumbles it back to Dallas.

People are still getting the ability to write. A person can choose whether or not he or she would like to read it with the ignore feature. Your right to speech isn't being infringed anyway -- you have the right to write it but there is no right that people are obliged to read it by any means. It's just like not watching a certain TV station because they air stuff you don't like.

R DUB!

Krenzel is just like Ben Roelisberger...without the offensive line, receivers, running backs or talent.

SS2K4, my big thing with all of that is the $300,000 spent to fix an outhouse.

Rocky IV called. Wants it's training montage back.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, the bill was filled with turkey, pork, potatoes, beans and lots of other stuff. $1,593 to store potatoes in Madison, Wisconsin; $800,000 for "soybean rust" research in Ames, Iowa; $250,000 for asparagus technology and production in Washington state; and $25,000 for a banana factory for an arts program in Bethany, Pennsylvania. Let's add $25,000 to study mariachi music in Nevada; $100,000 on a swimming pool in Ottawa, Kansas; $306,000 to repair an outhouse in Indiana; and even $75,000 to renovate the Merry Go Round Playhouse in Auburn, New York. Missouri Pork Producers Federation has been awarded $1 million to convert hog waste into energy. And $225,000 for the National Wild Turkey Federation in South Carolina.

::cues music::