No Mincing Words...This Ain't Fox News!

Florida Blues links to an interview with Seymour Hersh. Go to her site to read the whole thing. Just a taste:

Hersh then launched into his chronology of how we went from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. Post-9/11, there were voices in the U.S. government that were not pushing the policy of “payback” since some Taliban had been dealing with U.S. oil companies, were largely mercantile and many were not happy with bin Laden. These voices in the government wanted a more nuanced approach. There was also disagreement with Bush’s plans to go into Iraq, but these people were deemed “traitors.” He described how the Bush Administration pressured people to come around to their view. Basically, they exploited human nature. People with experience who disagreed noticed that junior officials supporting the White House got the face time with the President, the meetings, and the big end of the year bonuses. So it was only a matter of time before those who did not favor Bush’s policies, people with kids and mortgages, decided they had to “join the team” to survive.

Certainly, every Administration needs loyalty, but do they really need yes-men? And is not supporting the President's goals 'treason,' or politics? If it is treason, Republicans spent 8 years committing it!

(Almost) Free at last!

3 and one-half hours until Spring Break. Thank God. Just wish I didn't have class next week. Still, the rest will be nice. :)

Storming the Bastille

Posted without comment. Please forgive the formatting. Discovered through a great blog, Roachblog. He has an interesting message from a National Guard member as well. Read him.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM THE PETOSKEY NEWS IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH MY CRAPPY FORMATTING!
"Excerpts from Norm Olson's e-mails, in chronological order, to southern
militias as he prepared a plan to organize a mass confrontation with Florida
state law enforcement with a goal of removing Terri Schiavo from the hospice
where she is dying to a safe house:
Wednesday, March 23:
"Are there militia in Florida who are willing to go rescue Terri?"How about Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana?"I've got some very angry Michigan militia folks
chomping at the bit ...""Shall we save Terri Schiavo?"The Courts say NO"The Law
Makers say NO"The Executives say NO"It's time for us to say: 'Let's Roll!'
Thursday, March 24:"Florida Militia: Please contact me. We're going to need
several hundred willing to storm the building. I suspect that hundreds of
'civilians' may go with us. There is very little time, but I've got people ready
to roll tonight.""Failure is very probable, but not to try is to fail
already.""Too small of a force will mean total failure. It is a 'Bridge Too Far'
but with enough people it may work."It isn't a commando raid or sneak attack. It
is a mass saturation of people able to overwhelm the minimal forces there at
this time.""A large scale military assault need not be bloody. As much as we
might like to, care must be taken to avoid inflicting injury on the bad guys.
"Sunday, March 27:"I would ask Mr. and Mrs. Schindler to make the following
statement:'We have said that we do not want civil disobedience to save Terri's
life. But time is nearly gone. We are asking that the militia and concerned
citizens intervene immediately, doing WHATEVER IS NECESSARY to save our
daughter." (emphasis in the original)"I'm at a total loss as to what to do.
Unless the parents ask for our help, we would be walking into a disaster... I
can imagine that the pacifists (spineless Christians and others) would actually
oppose OUR effort to save Terri, saying that civil disobedience is against God's
Will...""Without the Schlinders' clear and decisive call to the militia, we
would be faced with civilians who would oppose us for resorting to civil
disobedience to free Terri. As much as I would want to try, it is a mission
impossible. There is just no workable plan."

Praying Again

The Pope may have been given last rites. I am a majorly lapsed Catholic, but as a Pole and a Catholic, he remains one of my heroes and a spiritual leader, eventhough I am often at odds with the teachings of my Church or his personal stands. Hard to explain, I guess. Probably my upbringing. My Grandma (may she rest in peace) was ferevently Catholic and proudly Polish, and she had pictures of Pope John Paul II all over her house and then ours when she lived with us.
Linking again to Andrew Sullivan, he has a great discussion of the Church's stance on artifically extending life. Again, I encourage you to read it, here and here.

Rest in Peace

well, Mrs. Schiavo is finally dead. I hope that at last we can move on and put this behind us. But I'm sure we won't. Check out Andrew Sullivan's quick comment on Gary Bauer, Schiavo, and fundraising. It says alot and reflects, I think, what will happen.

South Park Schiavo

Wow. Tonight's South Park slammed both sides in the Schiavo debate...hilarious and making a point, with Cartman actually on the side of the angels (literally!).

Clowns, Fools, and Effin Idiots

The following post is typed in a rush and a fit of rage, so excuse the typos.
The sheer incredible hypocrisy of these people. I was driving into class this afternoon and decided to suffer through another dose of Hannity on the radio. He had Senator Rick Santorum on, and I would like to paraphrase Senator Schmuck for a moment:
#1: The family turned it over to the courts and the courts made the wrong decision; therefore, it is judicial tyranny.
#2: The House reallly needs to consider 'looking at' [read: impeaching] the state and federal judges involved in this case for breaking the law, hindering investigations, ignoring a subponea, etc.
#3: Expect Congress to start stripping the Courts of jurisdiction.

Wow. Of course, we had the usual inanity from Hannity (Hannity's Inanities as I like to call them). Again, I paraphrase as I do not yet have the transcript.
#1: The mainstream media has ignored all of these sources I have found. (He had been on 'Nobel Peace Prize Nominee in Medicine Dr. Hammasphar (sp)' kick the last time I heard him. Is this what he is referring to? Or the nurse who says there was a conspiracy to silence her on the part of the hospice?)
#2: Implied an agreement with a caller that there is no way Mrs. Schiavo had bulima or a heart attack. Lots of unanswered questions about injuries that somehow have not been answered in 15 fucking years.

I am so sick of this grandstanding and bullshit. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

Laying Down the Smack!

Just one post before bed. My last until at least Thursday, what with class tomorrow night and all. I found this through Atrios, and you have GOT to read the mediamatters transcript of Dr. Cranford's interview on Scarborough Country. My favorite lines:

And that's just a lie. And Joe doesn't have any idea what he is talking about. And you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

And later:

I've seen them die. And this is all bogus. It's all just a bunch of crap that you are saying. It's totally wrong.

and even later:

The autopsy is going to show severe atrophy of the brain. And you're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?

It was great. I'm sorry I missed it. Now, if Dr. Cranford can just go on freaking Hannity, that would be the icing on the cake.
On a serious note, please remember Mrs. Schiavo in your prayers and hope her shell passes soon so that her soul may be at peace.