Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Sorry for the inactivity on here as of late - it's been a very busy and tough 2009 thus far, but I will be back at it soon. I have been keeping up with the issues lately, though, so I have plenty to write about in the coming days.

Just wanted to post a tribute and thanks to all of our vets and troops, for all they do and have done. I sure am one lucky guy - this American has plenty to be thankful for, without question, and today, I'd like to thank those past and present in our armed forces. While I don't always agree with their use and deployment, specifically in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, that doesn't mean I'm not thankful for their service.

Unfortunately, I strongly feel that the country isn't doing all it can and should do for our returning troops, especially those who are wounded mentally and physically. I'll have more on that soon - I saw a story on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday that had me hopeful, saddened and angered - it was about our troops who have been wounded and severely burned by IEDs in Iraq. But, more on that a bit later.

Thoughts on McCain's acceptance speech

I'm trying really hard to find some good in McCain's acceptance speech, but I was so nauseated by the introduction, I'm having a hard time controlling my venom and outrage.

Between Tom Brokaw's mentioning "POW" every three seconds and an introductory film that was all but shot in the Hanoi Hilton, I haven't seen anything this militaristic since... John Kerry's 2004 acceptance speech. And we all know how THAT happened. I'd really like to know where all of these people were who now insist that John McCain's military record is unassailable and that he's a hero - where were these people when another war hero was sickenly dragged through the sewer by the likes of T. Boone Pickens (who bankrolled the Swiftboaters). And by the way, it was McCain who failed to adequately and vehemently defend his "friend," Senator Kerry.

(For instance, I wonder where the despicable beast pictured at left was during this convention - she had no problem wearing purple Band-Aids to outrageously question Kerry's combat wounds in 2004. After an uproar (but not nearly strenuous enough) from the Kerry campaign, the GOP leadership at the '04 convention asked her and others to take the purple heart Band-Aids off. The very same people who didn't much care how Kerry, a war hero, was dragged through the mud are now bristling at the slightest criticism of McCain's military service, or at the people who have the temerity to question why most of McCain's campaign appearances turn into alphabet soup, he brings up "POW" so much.)

It's not McCain's service that I have a problem with. I honor it, without equivocation. But, the outright, blatant hypocrisy on the part of conservatives four years after doing whatever it took to smear Kerry, a war hero, makes me sick.

I don't even know where to start with all of the inaccuracies and outright lies I'm nearing by McCain. *I'm going to fast forward a bit, but I'll backtrack, too...*

I just heard McCain say that "Obama passed a corporate welfare bill." Really?!? That has crock of shit written all over it. I distinctly remember Congressional Democrats trying to end the subsidies to Big Oil earlier this year, but the Republicans successfully blocked that attempt with a filibuster. So, I'd like to know just what "corporate welfare bill" Barack Obama "passed." I'd think McDrilly, a U.S. Senator for well over 20 years, would certainly know by now that Senators don't pass bills, they vote for them. And presidents sign them into law.

Here's a whopper - "We are going to help workers who have lost jobs that won't come back by finding them another one that won't go away." Way to dip into the platitudes, Senator. Hmmm, too bad his almost fetish-like love for free trade won't bring back many of those jobs. Free trade is wrecking our economy, bar none. Obama has stated that he wants to re-examine NAFTA and free trade, and right away the right attacked him. NAFTA and free trade helps one group of people most of all - trans-national corporations and their millionaire CEOs.

Education is the civil rights issue for this century. Okay, another promise by another candidate - if he wins the election, I hope he holds to it. Every presidential candidate promises in one form or another to be the Education President, but virtually no president, Democrat or Republican, delivers, and Bush is just the latest. He's left plenty of children behind.

Wow - another biggie - "We're gonna stop sending $700 billion to countries that don't like us very much... [drowned out by applause]" No word if Iraq is included in that group or not - we are sending $10 billion over to that hot piece of sand every month. Wait, I forgot, we are winning going to win in Iraq. I don't know whether to laugh, or cry.

Now he's really throwing read meat out to the dogs - "Senator Obama doesn't want to build new nuclear power plants or allow off-shore drilling, but he knows we can't achieve energy independence without more drilling." *Ding Ding Ding* That's the lie of the night so far - here it is, loudly for the cheap seats - WE CANNOT ACHIEVE ENERGY INDEPENDENCE WITH MORE DRILLING. It's a total, bold-faced lie, and McCain knows it. But, he also knows that he's appealing to the ignorance of the American electorate, and also its frustration at high energy prices.

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For someone who hates war, McDrilly has spent a whole lot of time trying to provoke it - his comments on Georgia - a small country that most Americans couldn't even find on a map if you gave them the latitude and longitude coordinates, are as foreboding and ignorant as they are scary. [I'll revisit Georgia in a separate post, very soon - probably tomorrow, and also Iran for that matter.]

Back to energy for a second - I have to give McCain credit for one thing - he may have a point about nuclear power - unfortunately, we do have to include it in the foreseeable future until we make renewable energy sources viable.

However, McCain mentioned Clean Coal (as did Obama in his acceptance speech), and there is no bigger bullshit lie in American politics today. Clean Coal is like saying Nice Pedophile - those two words just don't go together, and I think deep down, both candidates know it. (Or their energy wonks know it.)

His smile is so creepy - he just can't quite pull off saying something he thinks is clever without that sinister smile. When he just mentioned "I have the scars to prove it, and Senator Obama doesn't," when talking about Washington D.C., he just did it again, along with a George W. Bush-like wink, even, almost as if to say, "Nailed it!"

Now McCain is giving us the POW story - and one we've hard umpteen times this week. I'd have preferred to have heard it just from him, because he has every right to say it, and he should be saluted for it.

I have to say one thing though - plastic Fred Thompson let go a whale of a lie the other night, whether unintentional or not, when he said that McCain cannot salute the American flag he fought for. Too bad we saw him doing just that in his intro video. Nit picky, for sure, but does anyone fact check this stuff.

I'm profoundly moved by hearing McCain talk about his experiences as a POW - it's moving and admirable. But leave it to McCentury to even approach overdoing such a moving story: "I wasn't my own man anymore, I was my country's." [...] And finally, the cherry on top of the sundae: "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me, my country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her so long as I draw breath, so help me God."

He's been saying this all the while an American flag has been flapping in the wind in the background on a video screen. I'll resist any Nazi rally references; what is understood, needn't be discussed.

And people accused Obama of sermonizing? Obama's speech was short on specifics, but McCain's speech is even short on ideas - this speech is like one long... desk calendar.

And the chants of "USA! USA! USA!" to shout down protesters during the early part of his speech were amusing, to say the least. At one point, it was very obvious that McCain was getting pretty angry with being interrupted. I'm surprised the cops didn't beat the protesters senseless like they've been doing outside the arena - a story that has not been reported at all by our corporate media. (More on that in a separate post tomorrow as well.)

No political rally in America has more shows of patriotism (bordering on jingoism) than the Republican National Convention. I was half expecting Sarah Palin, or heaven forbid, Cindy McCain, to come out in an American flag g-string and swing from a poll.

Well the speech is over, and the talking heads are annoying me already...

Chris Matthews, a truly neurotic political pundit if there ever was one, is now predicting that McCain's speech could "win him the presidency" and that he will "be in the lead in the polls by next week." We'll see about that.

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In retrospect, only a party as inept as the Democrats could actually lose an election after the worst presidency in modern American history. I'll say this about the Republicans - they don't hesitate to attack the Democrats, but the Dems almost always hesitate to attack the Republicans. Not once during the Democratic National Convention did I hear any of the major speakers mention Guantánamo Bay, torture, Abu Ghraib, Walter Reed Hospital, Valerie Plame, etc. The American people need to be reminded of the many misdeeds by this administration, an administration that McCain has been so closely aligned with during the past eight years. I certainly hope Obama's advisors are up well into the night tonight.

One final note about tonight's coverage - right now MSNBC's Ann Curry is interviewing Michael Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter (The ass who gave us the pathetic, history-reaching Axis of Evil phrase years ago) is savaging McCain's speech, about 15 minutes after McCain finished delivering it. No doubt that McCain's people are livid - I'm wondering if this is a dig because McCain's people didn't want Bush to appear at the convention in person. Gerson sounds like an angry attack dog for Bush, and in a strange way, that makes me happy.

More throughout the day tomorrow.

A new look at our political detainees

Warning: Some of the photos below are explicit and shocking. But, then again, so is our treatment of political prisoners on President Bush's watch. Anyway, proceed accordingly.

Chris Jordan, a Photoshop political activist (I just made that up - I don't know what else to call him), does some amazing work. I've posted about him before, but his latest creation and political statement is a pretty powerful one.

From his Website:

Constitution, 2008
8 x 25 feet in five panels

Depicts 83,000 Abu Ghraib prisoner photographs, equal to the number of people who have been arrested and held at US-run detention facilities with no trial or other due process of law, during the Bush Administration's war on terror.

You can often catch his work in full scale at different appearances around the country. He currently doesn't have any a appearances listed, but check back to his site often. It's worth it.

(Click any of the photos below for a larger view)

View one...



View two...



A closer view...



Close-up of actual Abu Ghraib photos...

Again, as the election approaches, let's not forget what has happened in our name at Guantánamo Bay, in Iraq and elsewhere; all permitted to happen by the Bush administration and its enablers, a list which John McCain sits atop of.

Cartoons of the Week

It was an interesting and very news filled week, from the Supreme Court ruling about the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, to Tim Russert's passing to Barack Obama forgoing public financing for his fall presidential run. I won't offer too many comments on the cartoons this week, but I will be commenting a great deal on these issues individually.

As always, my comments are below selected cartoons.

[Click on any cartoon for a larger image]

I'm just as unhappy about it as the next person, but the fact of the matter is that nuclear power is going to have to be a power option for the US, at least in the near-term. I'm also unhappy that the government hasn't come up with a viable solution for nuclear waste, but honestly, nuclear can't possibly be worse for the Earth than the thousands of coal and oil fired power plants around the world.

And drilling off of our coasts and ANWR? Forget it. We cannot and will not drill our way out of this mess.

... and I've got absolutely no problem with that. Obama needs to get out in front of our energy crisis and offer some real, viable solutions. He also needs to be honest and straightforward with the American people - it's going to be a long, painful weaning process from fossil fuels, but we've got to start somewhere. John McCain offered up some viable proposals over the weekend, and Obama needs to start doing the same. Simply offering up a windfall profits tax for the oil companies (which was just blocked by Republicans in Congress) isn't going to do it.

I'll have plenty more on this in the coming days, including my letter to the Obama campaign.

This too will be a long, arduous process - repairing and undoing much of the damage done by the Bush administration. Actually, if Obama wins, I hope to see a litany of Executive Orders from the White House on Day 2 (we'll give him a day to get settled) that undo some of the more absurd policies of the Bush administration, including torture, some environmental regulations, IRS policy, energy policy, and I won't even get started on education (at least right now).

The cartoon immediately above is the best one I saw about Tim Russert all week. Right after his death, I found the coverage to be a bit overbearing, but the tributes to him during the viewing and funeral were more than appropriate. I was especially moved by the tributes on his show, Meet the Press.

I in no way mean this as disrespect to Russert himself, but the tributes and nearly around-the-clock coverage of him during the few days following his death are a pretty sad commentary on the corporate media in this country - collectively, our media personalities never miss an opportunity to tell us how great they are, and they sure didn't miss a chance this time.

It's tragic, a moral outrage and patently absurd that we now know more about Tim Russert than we do about what's going on in our name on the streets of Baghdad right now. Last week, a suicide bomb went off, killing over 50 people, and we received a whole lot more coverage of Russert than we did that bomb.

Incidentally, how are things in Baghdad, Senator McCain? It might be time for another stroll down a Baghdad market for McBush, flanked by 50 soldiers while wearing all the protective gear he can fit on his body. What a farce.

It's criminal that our government can't keep our food safe, period. There's plenty of blame to go around, but I'll offer up this comforting chestnut - thank God the terrorists who hate us are as hapless/unmotivated/underfunded as they are, because tainting America's food supply is startlingly easy if one were so inclined. I love it when Bush and Cheney get on TV and lick themselves all over with pride and pomposity that there haven't been any major terrorist attacks in American since 9-11. Well, it sure as hell isn't for lack of opportunities, that's for sure.

I'll never tire of pointing out just how insanely stupid opponents of gay marriage are. I really can't think of any way to put it better than that.

I'm yet to hear a compelling argument as to why detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba should not have any rights under the Constitution. As I understand it, the Constitution applies to everyone on foreign soil, not just American citizens. What's more, our government has the right to call anyone it likes, including American citizens, an enemy combatant, and anyone of us could be hauled off to Gitmo, without knowing why or having the right to counsel, before this ruling. How American is that? We are supposed to be the country that abides by the rule of law, where all people have their day in court when accused of a crime. Why should this not apply to terrorists?

Now, all of a sudden, people who are applauding the SCOTUS ruling are siding with terrorists or are in favor of making the US less secure and safe? C'mon! I will NOT apologize, ever, for not supporting my government's right to torture people. We are supposed to be better than that. But, the Bush administration has seen to it that we are not. Color this as another one of the many black eyes that Bush has given this country over the last 7+ years.

(See my Tim Russert comments above.)

Catchy, and true, in many ways.

Reports are coming out of Iowa from people who have had to wait days and days for FEMA to arrive with water, food and shelter. Hmm, doesn't that sound familiar? I'm quite certain that the Bush administration has learned a few lessons from Hurricane Katrina, but thank God we'll have a new administration soon, and whomever wins in November, I don't see how either candidate could possibly handle natural disasters worse than Bush has.

I have to say, though, that Bush's visit to Iowa last week (as well as McCain's) was a stupendously bad idea. Whenever a president visits one of these areas, valuable resources are used to squire him around for his photo op. Bush would have been much better to simply stay away, and do all he could for Washington, D.C. And McCain should have stayed away, period. Last week, Barack Obama sagely canceled a trip to the flood-battered Midwest.

Will McCain '08 = Dole '96? It's hard to say - 12 years is a long, long time and so much has changed since then. But, like Clinton that year, Obama ought to mop up the floor with McCain, but that doesn't mean he will.

The would-be first ladies take center stage

This morning, Cindy McCain appeared on ABC's Good Morning America for an interview while she's in Vietnam. It was a pretty interesting interview for several reasons, but first, I must give her heartfelt and much-deserved praise for her work with Operation Smile. I mean that in all sincerity, and good for her and Senator McCain for putting their money where their mouths are by adopting a baby from Bangladesh, Bridget, in 1991.

I don't know too much about either Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama, but it certainly seems like the media is keeping the whole pseudo-controversy alive about Michelle Obama "not being proud of her country." It probably wasn't a very smart thing to say, but so what? I have to be honest with you, I haven't been proud of my country in recent memory in many (but not all) ways - Bush's ill-advised War in Iraq has cost us hundreds of billions, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. What's to be proud of there? Or Hurricane Katrina? Or Abu Ghraib? Or Haditha? Guantánamo Bay? Torturing terrorists? Valerie Plame? Bush, in a thinly veiled threat that cheapened the presidency (he's beyond cheapening at this point) calling Barack Obama an appeaser in front of the Knesset? The Bush presidency, aside from the immediate aftermath of 9-11, has given me very little to be proud about. Does that make me (or Michelle Obama) any less of a patriot? Please.

Tonight, Dan Abrams unearthed a pretty interesting piece of John McCain footage from March of this year...

I really didn't love America until I was deprived of her company.

I'm not a veteran of the military, and God willing, unless tragedy strikes, I won't be in this lifetime, but I've read enough about the military to appreciate what McCain is saying here. I don't really see anything wrong with what he said, and Dan Abrams is right on - McCain's comments are eloquent.

But, at the very least, this ought to blunt the stupid criticism that the media is keeping alive about Michelle Obama (like the interview at top).

Will Abrams' footage end this stupid distraction? Fat chance.

Oh, and Lars Larson? Another Rush Limbaugh wannabe that we can add to a growing roster of right wing jackasses polluting our airwaves.

It's America, and Larson has the right to say what he wants, but it irks me to no end that a company will give him any sort of job to spew his hateful comments. It's totally amazing to me that the left has Air America Radio and little else, and right-wing talk radio has dominated the airwaves for decades now. Hmm - I wonder if the corporate media has anything to do with that? You don't need an MBA to make that connection.

Gen. Taguba: US guilty of war crimes

Similar to how Attytood worded it yesterday, the headline above doesn't come from a partisan Website, or from Keith Olbermann or Air America Radio - it comes from a retired hero, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, the general that President Bush asked to look into our military disgrace, Abu Ghraib. From the Boston Herald:

WASHINGTON - A Cambridge-based human rights organization said it has found medical evidence supporting the claims of 11 former detainees who were allegedly tortured while in American custody between 2001 and 2004, in what a former top U.S. military investigator said amounts to evidence of war crimes.

Medical evaluations of the former inmates found injuries consistent with the alleged abuse, including the psychological effects of sensory deprivation and forced nudity as well as signs of "severe physical and sexual assault," Physicians for Human Rights said in a report scheduled for release today.

The report also alleges that in four of the cases, American health professionals appeared to have been complicit by denying the detainees medical care and observing the abuse but making no effort to stop it - charges that, if true, represent gross violations of medical ethics.

Incidentally, of the 11 mentioned in the report above detained at Guantánamo, Afghanistan or Iraq was ever charged with a crime. Their fate? The doctors found:

One detainee who said he was repeatedly stabbed in the cheek with a screwdriver had wounds consistent with such treatment, the doctors reported. Another who said his captors sodomized him also had physical signs that supported the allegation, while several others had burns and psychological problems the doctors concluded were consistent with electrical shocks.

Above, Barbara Starr yesterday gave a report on CNN about Taguba's opinion on what went on at Abu Ghraib. A partial transcript:

Starr: One thing perhaps worth noting in this report, Heidi, is the forward, the preface to the report was written by retired Major General Anthony Teguba. [right] He's the army general [who] led the investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. in this report the general says, "there is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes."

The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held into account. Pretty tough words from a man very well regarded inside the army when he conducted the investigation into Abu Ghraib. For its part, the Pentagon continues to say that it deals with detainees in a humane fashion, that there is no policy toward torture, and if there was any misconduct, any abuse, it was in violation of government policy. but this report clearly a pretty damning indictment if it stands on its own.

I distinctly remember the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh bending over backward (metaphorically, of course, because we know Rush couldn't really do that without a fistful of OxyCodone). Limbaugh even went so far as to say that it appeared that troops who were torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib were "blowing off steam." Hmm, I guess if blowing off steam were a synonym for torture, then he's be in the ballpark there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that this report concludes what it does - far from it. Something like this isn't a stain on the military - it's a stain on America.

However, I'm not holding my breath that the likes of Limbaugh, O'Reilly or Hannity are going to apologize anytime soon.

As for Taguba, a highly decorated officer who gave 34 years of his life to the military? He was ordered to retire in in 2006 no later than January 2007 by by Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's Vice Chief of Staff. No explanation was given as to why he was being ordered to retire.

Thus ended a 34-year military career, all because he did his duty and reported the ugly truth about Abu Ghraib. Maybe now those responsible within the Bush administration will be held responsible. I'm not holding my breath, since our Democratically controlled Congress has shown little backbone in punishing those in the Bush administration who deserve it.

Gingrich at his demagogic worst, as usual

In case you missed it a few days ago, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was on Face the Nation at his demagogic best following the Supreme Court decision last week that detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have rights under our Constitution.

For a quick refresher, here's a brief report on the Supreme Court ruling, via MSNBC...

Anyway, Gingrich really drank the Kool-Aid with his comments on FTN, specifically this passage:

GINGRICH: I will say, I think the recent Supreme Court decision to turn over to a local district judge decisions of national security and life and death that should be made by the President and the Congress is the most extraordinarily arrogant and destructive decision the Supreme Court has made in it's history.

REID: In it's history?

GINGRICH: In it's history. Worse than Dred Scott, for the following reason: The court has now knowingly stepped in, this morning's newspaper say, smugglers had actually gotten the design of a nuclear weapon, that we now have the evidence that people out there had a nuclear weapon design. And this court is saying that any random district judge, based on whatever their personal caprice is, whatever their personal ideological bias, can intervene with a terrorist in such a way.

Pretty amusing to hear Newt Gingrich talking about ideological bias.

Two things: 1. To say that this decision was worse than the Dred Scott case is quite possibly the dumbest thing to ever come out of this man's mouth. And that's saying something, because there's quite a bonehead buffet to choose from - Gingrich once publicly stated that the US ought to re-institute orphanages for unwanted children.

To compare this decision to arguably the worst decision in the Supreme Court's history - that Congress had no authority to outlaw slavery, is the height of stupidity and ignorance. But, these sorts of statements are the norm with Gingrich. No wonder the man's been married three times - he has the morals of a promiscuous rabbit, and the ethics of a corrupt politician. Oops.

There's lots of fear mongering going around surrounding the Supreme Court decision, but again the question is worth asking, What's so wrong with allowing these criminals a trial by jury?

And 2. I'd much rather have a court decide the merits of a charge against a terrorist than an ideological president with political ulterior motives, be it Democrat or Republican.

It's amazing to me that people like Gingrich think that our judicial system isn't the answer to dealing with terrorists. I much prefer these trials than the secret military tribunals that the Bush administration favors, which includes torture, trials without representation, and a suppression of basic human rights in some cases (and that's just what we know about).

As with so many political issues, Gingrich is on the wrong side of public opinion. But, that's nothing new to him. This guy's more often wrong than right. (Clinton Impeachment, drilling in ANWR, etc.) Even when he's right, he ends up being wrong. I remember the laughable Contract with America in 1994 - term limits were a provision in that contract, and the public wanted it. However, that was conveniently left behind when politicians realized it would end their feeding at the public trough.

Must see: Bush accuses UK journalist of "slander"

The George W. Bush European farewell tour continues to Wow, but for all the wrong reasons. Yesterday, during an interview with Adam Boulton, a British journalist with Sky News, Bush accused him of slander, for having the temerity to bring up the Bush embarrassments of Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Watch the video above. A partial transcript:

BOULTON: And yet there are those who would say, look, let's take Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and rendition and all those things, and to them that is the, you know, the complete opposite of freedom.

BUSH: Of course if you want to slander America, you can look at it one way. But you go down — what you need to do — I think I suggested you do this at a press conference — if you go down to Guantánamo and take a look at how these prisoners are treated — and they're working it through our court systems. We are a land of law.

Really?!? "Working it through our court systems?!?" Where is our president headed next, Comedy Central? The Supreme Court recently ruled against the Bush administration regarding the prisoners at Gitmo (basically) having any rights whatsoever. The Guantánamo detainees now have the right to appeal their cases in our legal system (which, by the way, has the right-wing neo-cons all in a tizzy, but more on that in a minute).

It gets better - check out this exchange:

BOULTON: But the Supreme Court have just said that — you know, ruled against what you’ve been doing down there.

BUSH: But the district court didn't. And the appellate court didn't.

BOULTON: The Supreme Court is supreme, isn't it?

Wow - it just went downhill from there. I guess we should all be grateful that Bush "accepts" the Supreme Court's decision. And I'd like to know just what "law" Bush is referring to? The USA PATRIOT Act? The 1,100+ document that members of Congress had mere hours to read before it was rammed through a Congress ruled by Republican majorities? That law? Sure, it passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress, but legislators were under tremendous pressure to "do something" in the wake of 9-11, even if that "something" turned out to be a bad thing. A few years later, when the Act came under review, I distinctly remember the likes of Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, etc. questioning critics' patriotism, decrying that they were "siding with the terrorists." I know - it seems pretty absurd to read it now, and to some unbelievable, but it did happen.

History will also reflect that Bush has been rebuked by a conservative Supreme Court, time and time again, regarding the detainees at Gitmo regarding habeas corpus, military tribunals, and their rights to fight their charges in U.S. courts.

I'd say that Bush should be embarrassed, but he passed that signpost a long, long time ago (perhaps when he was busy running oil companies into the ground and profiting from it).

Bush just got bested by a British journalist, and he revealed something that anyone with a brain has known since he first was appointed to the presidency (& that I've been complaining about for at least that long) - when a court rules in favor of the Bush administration, Bush has nothing to say (but he's no doubting high-fiving his aides and sycophants in the West Wing), but when a ruling goes against the administration, Bush decries "activist judges" who are "legislating from the bench."

Honestly, Bush has pretty much lost the ability to surprise me, but this one even had me reeling for a Philadelphia minute. Click Here to see the full transcript, as well as the full interview, if you can stomach it.

Enjoy. Or cry.

h/t C&L

British sailors heading home

I can't escape the feeling that the West got off easy today. This morning, Iran, in a diplomatic and symbolic gesture, released the 15 British sailors it took hostage 13 days go. (Above, the soldiers in Tehran, walking to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier today.) I'm very thankful that this was solved peacefully, because there were some indications that this was going to lead to a military confrontation between Iran and the UK, and be extension, the US.

Of course, I question the motives of the Iranians - it's a little difficult not to - considering the timing of the hostages' release and Ahmadinejad's comments. As reported by AP:

"On the occasion of the birthday of the great prophet (Muhammad) ... and for the occasion of the passing of Christ, I say the Islamic Republic government and the Iranian people _ with all powers and legal right to put the soldiers on trial _ forgave those 15," he said, referring to the Muslim prophet's birthday on March 30 and the Easter holiday.

"This pardon is a gift to the British people," he said.

I have little doubt that Ahmadinejad timed the release and his comments to curry favor around the world for Iran, which has been slapped with some severe sanctions by the United Nations and the West.

Having said that, and I'm sure I won't read this opinion in many, if any media outlets in the west - Ahmadinejad deserves some credit, too. Clearly he does not want an armed confrontation with the West. If he did, these British sailors would still be in captivity, and he would still be ratcheting up the rhetoric and taking a much harder line than we are seeing now.

I've read and heard some reports that the US was seeking an armed confrontation with Iran. There are some totally unconfirmed reports out of Russia that the U.S. intends to invade Iran on April 6. I never truly believed it in the first place, but it even looks less credible now.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his gratitude to Iran for the decision to let the soldiers go free. He reportedly said he has "no ill will" toward the people of Iran. Okay, not much, but it's a start.

I will go to my grave thinking that this could have been the incident that would have started war with Iran had the Democrats not taken control of Congress last November. God only knows the old GOP-controlled Congress did nothing but rubber-stamp whatever the president wanted. The best part about it is that we'll never know, and that's just what everyone but the heartiest of war mongers was hoping for.

APF was reporting on Monday that U.S. Air Force jets had approached and even violated Iranian airspace, in what could only be interpreted as an act of provocation, if true. If it is true, that's outrageous and stupid. I'm all for showing force when countries are trying to bully America, but what I'm not for is provoking a confrontation. That seems to be what this administration is after.

On another note, I went off half-cocked the other day about the British hostage situation. I heard some political commentary yesterday that made me rethink my outrage at Iran having shown the British soldiers on TV. Of course, the British, and Americans, were outraged at this. I'm not saying it was right, but let's take a comparative walk down prisoner lane...

The CIA, at various Black Sites, has reportedly done the following to detainees: water boarding (which Dick Cheney, prior to the 2006 election, said publicly he supports); solitary confinement of prisoners for days, weeks and even months; physical beatings, to the point that prisoners' muscles turn to pulp; humiliation in various ways, including things that violate detainees religious beliefs; excretions on prisoners; sensory deprivation; keeping prisoners up for days on end; and suspending prisoners in extraordinarily uncomfortable positions for hours and says.

The Iranians showed the prisoners on television, evidently forced to apologize and sign confessions, in one case. I acknowledge that there many have been abuses or worse that we don't yet know about, but I'm sure that detainees at Guantánamo Bay would love to get the treatment that it appears these British 15 received.

I'm for getting information out of prisoners by any reasonable means possible, but history should have taught us one thing about torture - it's routinely unreliable when trying to get information from prisoners.

But, when you think about what can happen to British soldiers and American soldiers if they are captured, even the most die-hard, chest thumping hawk should stop and think what public knowledge of these interrogation methods could mean to our soldiers in captivity, if they are captured.

Yes, the Iranians let the UK (and the US) off easy on this one, without question. Maybe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't quite the monster he's portrayed to be. (Above, Ahmadinejad, second from right, meets with British soldier Faye Turney, 26, in Tehran earlier today.)

To repeat, clearly this is an indication that he wants dialogue with the West. We should sit down at the table and talk to him. Talking and dialogue doesn't = weakness. Someone needs to scream this into Bush's ear.

I'm not holding my breath while President Bush is in office.

Photos from AP