Bill Kristol is pathetically examining the chicken entrails of staff produced boilerplate, hoping that he can convince everyone that the light at the end of the Republican tunnel is not a train.

krystol is not only a liar, he not only knows he’s a liar, he’s also a very bad liar, one that can’t supress that smile when he’s about to unload a doozy

you see it right in his face, he’s about to say something and the look on his face is he’s preparing for a gufaw from the audience

why or how someone so wrong about every claim, statement, prediction, someone with no credibility enjoys a public audience is one of the great inequities that have brought us the mindless masses willing and yearning to do whatever it is the neo fascists want them to do next

And from one of the fine citizens of Georgia:

W. Boyd Smith: Torture necessary in war on terror
| | Story updated at 11:41 PM on Sunday, April 20, 2008

With all due respect to the writer of the Thursday letter headlined “Hold Bush administration accountable for torture,” he and those of a like mind don’t have a clue about fighting terrorism.

I agree that the sight of some methods used to extract information is sickening, and I would be the last man on Earth able to perform such actions. But such methods are necessary in the war on terror.

What about the 3,000 completely innocent American souls who died on 9/11? Can the writer picture in his mind the sight of the men and women drenched in aviation fuel, ablaze and jumping out windows? What about those crushed by debris, buried alive? Imagine their agony as they slowly died for days and days, waiting for rescue. Can any of us even begin to comprehend the moment the floors collapsed and the World Trade Center towers came down? I only can imagine the nightmare during those few moments preceding an excruciating death.

If the U.S. government, which has pledged to protect my family from another such atrocity, deems it necessary to perform harsh interrogation tactics, then I also say I approve. If the CIA thinks a detainee had any knowledge of these attacks upon my fellow Americans, or colluded with those who did, then he is deserving of any treatment that might befall him.

Unfortunately, some detainees might be held mistakenly, and they, too, are casualties of war. Any soldiers caught abusing detainees for amusement or sport should be court-martialed.

W. Boyd Smith

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 042108

Click here to return to story:
http://onlineathens.com/storie.....0217.shtml

as far as “when is that contract up”, the gray lady has long since passed her baton to those that pay no attention, she is a shadow of herself and the shadow fades with each new day

she will be owned by murdoch, I am certain he is behind the scenes preparing the marketing scheme that will land him the prize he’s been after from the start, the handwriting is on the wall and krystol is the first step

the more right wing morons they have writing articles for them the easier it will be for those who once read the greatest news publication in the world to allow the sale without too much outcry

the gray lady has renounced her role as the corner stone to the fourth estate, the fourth estate now resideds on the tubes…until net nuetrality is rescinded, so for the time being we are the fourth estate but that time will be short lived for certain

Good morning Attaturk and FDLers.

The ACLU issued a press release last evening relating to documents describing the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan by US soldiers:

Documents Obtained By ACLU Describe Charges Of Murder And Torture Of Prisoners In U.S. Custody

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union obtained documents today from the Department of Defense confirming the military’s use of unlawful interrogation methods on detainees held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. The documents from the military’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), obtained as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, include the first on-the-ground reports of torture in Gardez, Afghanistan to be publicly released.

“These documents make it clear that the military was using unlawful interrogation techniques in Afghanistan,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “Rather than putting a stop to these systemic abuses, senior officials appear to have turned a blind eye to them.”

[…]

It will be interesting to how much, if any, play this is given in the co-opted US media.

What about the 3,000 completely innocent American souls who died on 9/11? Can the writer picture in his mind the sight of the men and women drenched in aviation fuel, ablaze and jumping out windows? What about those crushed by debris, buried alive? Imagine their agony as they slowly died for days and days, waiting for rescue. Can any of us even begin to comprehend the moment the floors collapsed and the World Trade Center towers came down? I only can imagine the nightmare during those few moments preceding an excruciating death.

And what about a few questions of bush and cheney under oath and separate from each other? Wouldn’t that work a lot better to find the real culprits of the 9/11 debacle? One more reason why I detest the south.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 042108

Click here to return to story:
http://onlineathens.com/storie…..0217.shtml

my response raven, thanx for the link

are there still people who repeat the republican talking points no matter how ridiculous the claims?

it wouls seem boyd smith fits that bill shamelessly

through torture we get less information through torture, not more, the information is less actionable and costs us information that would have otherwise saved lives, it squanders assets that could have and should have been used to protect this nation and it is entirely counter productive, harming far more then helping our inteligence gathering ability

in addition, torture also insights more terrorism, every single family member becomes a terrorist, every single friend becomes a terrorist

we are SUPPOSED to be “winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi’s”, which mr smith even you should know is impossible when you use the methods you are so proud to endorse

torture turns moderates into extremists against your cause and it turns extremists into heroes

it’s not even a question of “good vs evil, right vs wrong”, even at the lowest argument, that for gathering information you need to keep your country safe, torture fails, more and better information is gathered when you use other techniques

the entire article is a depraved excuse to excuse the inexcusable, creating scenarios and results that simply do not exist

for every valid bit of information you think you’ve gathered using torture you have lost ten, for every bit of information you think you’ve gathered using torture you’ve wasted assets searching down ten invalid leads

authors like you are actually enabling the exact crimes we prosecuted war criminals from Nazi Germany

but here’s what’s really sick about what this author writes;

the only purpose of torture is to insight fear, to insight hate, to insight insurgents, there is no other purpose

when you do not want peace you engage in torture, when you want constant unrest you engage in torture, when you do not want the information you can use to save lives you engage in torture

this intire article is depraved

Nice slice and dice, Atta J Fez.

so.

“These documents make it clear that the military was using unlawful interrogation techniques in Afghanistan,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “Rather than putting a stop to these systemic abuses, senior officials appear to have turned a blind eye to them.”

Blind eye hell. The fucking brass ordered the damn torture on orders from the WH. A few rogue soldiers my ass.

Blind eye hell. The fucking brass ordered the damn torture on orders from the WH. A few rogue soldiers my ass.

cheney ordered it and was proud to do it, bush ordered it and then ordered a “lawyer” to write a memo so he could make believe he thought it was legal

of course this was ordered from the highest ranks in this administration, there is no doubt

Former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo’s campaign against poverty has won him the presidency of Paraguay, a country that has been ruled by the same conservative party for 61 years—arguably longer than the run of any party in any other country.

I wonder how the bushie’s retirement ranch looks now with his right wing buddy losing in a democratic election. I’ll bet the new government wants the aquifer back.

Speaking of fake journalism, this is too comical…

Obama’s won the endorsement of virtually every major Penn newspaper, except one. Dick Mellonhead Chafe’s Pittsburgh Trib just came out with a Clinton endorsement titled:

In Pennsylvania’s Democrat primary for president: Vote for Clinton

Yes, “Democrat Party.” It’s used a bunch within the “article.” Looking through their site, I site Dicky-poo himself excreted some words after his meeting with Hillary where he says he may have been wrong about her. It also uses “Democrat Party.”

The use “Democrat Party” by a “journalist” is one of the surest signs that someone is a Repube working to undermine us Dirty Hippies. Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes and Jake Tapper of ABC or two I’ve seen use it, among many others. Even William F. Buckley refused to use it.
http://www.newyorker.com/archi....._hertzberg

So this thing now endorses Hillary. I’m guessing one of the only other Democrats they would endorse is Traitor Joe Lieberme.

Hopefully, any undecided PA voters out there will think about this before voting tomorrow.

when you do not want peace you engage in torture, when you want constant unrest you engage in torture, when you do not want the information you can use to save lives you engage in torture

Truth is the last thing you will get that is for sure.

If they charged folks $10/each for the opportunity to plant a pie in Kristol’s face, we could eliminate the National Debt by tomorrow afternoon.

Hillary’s “reaching across the Vile.”

The DoD torture documents that the ACLU made public are available for viewing in pdf too:

Documents from Department of Defense Released by the ACLU on 4/16/2008

What I meant to say in my original post, was:

It will be interesting to see how much, if any, play this is given in the co-opted US media.

Obviously, I need that second cup of java.

Amazing huh? I fear there are plenty of people, north and south, who agree.

So this thing now endorses Hillary. I’m guessing one of the only other Democrats they would endorse is Traitor Joe Lieberme.

The repubs are pushing clinton2 so that, if she “wins” the nomination she and McSame can get together and suggest saving the country time and money by canceling the election and have a “dual presidency”. They are both corporate whores so why not, they come from the same mold.

Good morning, pups. It’s [retch] Kristol, Cohen and Krugman today. That putz Kristol has nothing better to do than parse Passover statements. He says there’s a clear choice of worldviews in the Passover greetings from the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns. What a tool… Mr. Cohen writes “Of Wine, Haste and Religion” and says the French can give Americans, elitist or not, a lesson in slowing down. Apparently some waiter rushed him… Mr. Krugman says we’re “Running Out of Planet to Exploit.” He has a question: Will limited supplies of natural resources pose an obstacle to future world economic growth?

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. Try and have a good day even if it is Monday.

Googling a little bit, it turns out the ACLU prisoner abuse story is not new, but dates back to April 16 when the AP ran a story on it:

Pentagon records detail prisoner abuse by US military

If Google news is representative, the story has been widely ignored ever since. The only news organizations I can find that picked it up so far have been: Free Market News Network, FL (story no longer online), RIA Novosti (Russia), and JURIST.

From the “why am I not surprised” department comes news that a bunch of McCain’s fundraisers are lobbyists. We never could have anticipated…

If Google news is representative, the story has been widely ignored ever since. The only news organizations I can find that picked it up so far have been: Free Market News Network, FL (story no longer online), RIA Novosti (Russia), and JURIST.

There has been so much news that is really important lately like ratzenbugger coming to america to chat with his pedophile buddies. Cindybabe stealing recipes. clinton2 going wild boar hunting and taking shots in a biker bar. Obama1 calling all those happy laid off workers bitter and, of course, Britney getting an endorsement deal with Victoria Secret.

Good morning everyone. Today is Patriot’s Day in Maine & Massachusetts. We won’t be thinking of Billy Kristol. He ain’t no patriot. LOL

Today Juan Cole rips the cover off the myth of “Al Qaeda in Iraq,” leaving only the stunningly obvious conclusion intact. Good for allergies.

Yes. And I personally know people who would absolutely characterize themselves as liberal who do not want to hear about or discuss US torture or any of the other atrocities this country inflicts on the rest of the world. Someone else is doing it and it has nothing to do with them. So maybe the media is giving the sheeple what they really want. It saddens me greatly.

Today is Patriot’s Day in Maine & Massachusetts.

And from the Bangor Daily News.

Two people were arrested earlier today for wearing their lapel pins upside down. Police Chief Bill “Bubba” McFadden said that the two were taken into custody following a complaint from a confidential informant. The two claimed to be visiting from Vermont where wearing the “patriot pin” is not mandatory. They will be arraigned on Tuesday following the holiday

If they charged folks $10/each for the opportunity to plant a pie in Kristol’s face, we could eliminate the National Debt by tomorrow afternoon.

a capital idea!
mornin’ all

And I personally know people who would absolutely characterize themselves as liberal who do not want to hear about or discuss US torture or any of the other atrocities this country inflicts on the rest of the world.

Maybe if they don’t talk about it it is not really happening let alone it being US policy.

you’re making that up.

OMG! I’m laughing…not because they got arrested…but because they were being Good Patriots by making a statement to current state of affairs! Good for them. I hope they wear their flag pins upside down to court. I would. LOL

The two claimed to be visiting from Vermont where wearing the “patriot pin” is not mandatory.

nomolos, is this the paper’s idea of snark? I hope I can safely assume that it’s not mandatory to wear a “patriotic pin” in Bangor, ME? I couldn’t find the story in the online Bangor Daily News or Google news, so I guess this was only in the print edition. Probably these poor souls from VT were making a personal statement after having seen the movie, In the Valley of Elah.

you’re making that up.

Me? Well….yep.

Sheez. That’s not a nice thing to do on Monday morning. ;=)

And it’s not even April 1.

Sheez. That’s not a nice thing to do on Monday morning

Well actually I am a retired general spreading truth for the masses

Nomolos, what is even funnier is Bangor likes to think of itself as the Mecca of Right Wing Patriotism! Ha! Not even close apparently.

Of course, they broke no laws according to this site:

http://www.ushistory.org/BETSY/flagetiq.html

The only rule I don’t agree with is the Christian Flag (whatever the hell that is) can be flown above the US Flag during some ceremonies. What the hell!

The trouble is that there are so many outrageous things happening these days that there’s really not much reason to question the veracity of a story like that. Pretty sad.

lmao

Here’s what’s scheduled for Washington Journal this morning:
7:30 am - Mohammed Ehsan Zia, Afghanistan Minister of Rural Rehabilitation & Development

The Mission Statement: To ensure the social, economic and political well-being of rural society, especially poor and vulnerable people, through the provision of basic services, strengthening local governance and promoting sustainable livelihoods free from a dependency on illicit poppy cultivation.

8:00 am - Terri Tanielian, RAND Corporation, Senior Social Research Analyst — Report: Invisible Wounds of War; Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery

Since October 2001, approximately 1.64 million U.S. troops have been deployed for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) in Afghanistan and Iraq. Early evidence suggests that the psychological toll of these deployments — many involving prolonged exposure to combat-related stress over multiple rotations — may be disproportionately high compared with the physical injuries of combat…

8:30 am- Joshua Varon, Education Law Center, Staff Attorney

For thirty years, the Education Law Center (ELC) has worked to make good public education a reality for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable students –poor children, children of color, kids with disabilities, English language learners, children in foster homes and institutions, and others.

9:00 am - Ann-Therese Ortiz, Philadelphia Futures, Program Director

Philadelphia Futures is a nonprofit organization that provides promising, urban high school students with the tools they need to achieve their dream of a college education. The organization’s centerpiece program, Sponsor-A-Scholar, helps students from economically disadvantaged families to succeed in high school, and to pursue and complete higher education, by providing one-on-one mentoring; financial incentives; and a year-round curriculum of academic skill building and enrichment, including after-school classes, college guidance activities and cultural opportunities. Since its inception in 1989, Philadelphia Futures has helped thousands of students to build a better future.

9:30 am - Tom Brady, School District of Philadelphia, Interim CEO

Very well done! It had just enough “truthiness” to make it almost plausible. It would have been perfectly believable, however, if I had quoted it from The Savannah Daily Disappointment…

Nomolos, Mainers are freaking out about this college girl’s US flag project:

http://bangornews.com/news/t/n.....zoneid=500

As usual, the knuckle draggers of our state are missing the whole point. No one stepped on these flags (which was the test of this young woman…to see if anyone would) because they respected the flag. The whole point was completely lost!

The only rule I don’t agree with is the Christian Flag (whatever the hell that is) can be flown above the US Flag during some ceremonies.

The Christian flag is the only free flag in the world. It is different from every other flag, religious or secular, ancient or modern. It is uncontrolled, independent, and universal. Unlike all national flags and all denominational flags of various churches, it has no earthly bonds or allegiances. Christ and Christ alone is its Master. Without limitation, it exists for all the world’s people regardless of sex, race, national boundary, economic condition, affluence, or poverty, politics, slavery or freedom. It cannot be restricted by any nation or denomination. This unique, universal quality makes it like the air we breathe, belonging to all and yet owned by none. For those who want it, wherever and whenever, it is freely theirs.

As usual, the knuckle draggers of our state are missing the whole point.

75% thought it disrespectful!!!!!!!

“I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag
and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands.
One brotherhood, uniting all mankind,
in service and love.”

The Christian Flag

The fact the Christian Flag has more power and prominence over our country’s flag is screwed up. *shaking head* Something very wrong about that.

[The Christian flag] cannot be restricted by any nation […]

What a crock. Lest anyone think nomolos is making this up too: The Christian Flag.

Those who expouse such rationalizations for torture are not worth the pants they soil.
There is no such thing as total ’safety’.
As the parent of an only child I daily weigh the balance between keeping my child safe and locking her in a padded room 24 x 7.
Freedom entails danger.
Values are not situational.

I have that picture in poster form on my wall above my monitor as inspiration. There is never even a pretense with billy. He is a whore for the GOP. He will risk job and non-existent reputation to get the message out. The above headline implies there is light at the end of his contract. I expect them to replace this miscreant with Jonah Goldberg.

Here’s an interesting graphic: Pennsylvania’s Political Landscape
The median income and unemployment maps are the reverse of each other.

Without limitation, it exists for all the world’s people regardless of sex, race, national boundary, economic condition, affluence, or poverty, politics, slavery or freedom. It cannot be restricted by any nation or denomination.

Really. Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and….. oh forget it.

Here’s an interesting graphic:

Fascinating!

I missed this one

McCain has said that, as president, he would call for creation of a “league of democracies” that would move aggressively to tackle problems the United Nations fails to resolve, such as the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, civil strife in Sudan and world health crises.

The idea has been a hit with McCain’s neoconservative supporters, who are frustrated with a balky U.N. But a branch of U.S. foreign policy experts known as “realists” have objected that such a group could damage U.S. interests by alienating countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Russia, which are not democracies but are important U.S. partners.

but apparently he’s scaling back, he “now considers that his ‘league of democracies’ would be an informal group that wouldn’t use military force.”
I think my head just exploded

bbl, have to take the dog out and it looks like the rain’s thinking about falling.

The Christian flag is the only free flag in the world. It is different from every other flag, religious or secular, ancient or modern. It is uncontrolled, independent, and universal. Unlike all national flags and all denominational flags of various churches, it has no earthly bonds or allegiances. Christ and Christ alone is its Master. Without limitation, it exists for all the world’s people regardless of sex, race, national boundary, economic condition, affluence, or poverty, politics, slavery or freedom. It cannot be restricted by any nation or denomination. This unique, universal quality makes it like the air we breathe, belonging to all and yet owned by none. For those who want it, wherever and whenever, it is freely theirs.

but why would a Christian flag be different in these regards then a Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist flag?

simply change the name of the graven image invoked and all religions but a few could say exactly the same thing

off topic humor

the other day when it seemd like one of my salesmen was forgetting more then usual I asked him if he had seen his doctor about alzeimers

he said “no”

I asked him how he would know

From the “why am I not surprised” department comes news that a bunch of McCain’s fundraisers are lobbyists. We never could have anticipated…

I think ”shocked, SHOCKED” is working overtime on that one.

Bill Kristol accusing a politician of just “phoning it in”? Pot, meet kettle.

Mr. Kristol obviously feels the need to remind American Jews that the leading candidates for president are not themselves Jewish, and that they couldn’t possibly care as much about the needs of Israel, as determined by that foreign state’s most neocon factions, as much as Holy Joe or his BFF, the non-Jewish, christian fundamentalist support-craving, trigger happy flip flopper, St. John. As one might say of Mr. Kristol’s writing, with friends (writers) like that, who needs enemies?

Ham-fisted as allows, conflating religion, politics and international affairs as blindly and ignorantly as only an American neocon can, Mr. Kristol’s weekly attempts at being controversial without being informative disgrace the pages of what was once a great American newspaper.

In reference to “distinguished conservative intellectual” Kristol’s latest pathetic drivel, divining deep significance from boilerplate Passover greetings from the candidates: “Ma nishtana ha-litzin ha-zeh mi kol ha-litzinim?” “Why is this buffoon different from all other buffoons?”

Bill Kristol teaches at Harvard, does not he? Add him to the Yoo list? Again, what about George Tenet and Rice when she goes back to Stanford. The A team.

Mr. Kristol’s tirade also ties into the potent undercurrent of his ostensibly religious-views oriented harangue: A vote for St. John the Divine is a vote for the white guy.

He’s a smarmy villainous schmuck, gives Jews a bad name. Reminds me of pharoh of hard heart fame. Let them eat matzoh, his modus operandi. Ah, but this year we are slaves, next year, we shall be free people.

A bit more on the Christian Flag.

Apparently the enthusiasm for Christianity at that Brighton Chapel Congregationalist Church where the flag and the “pledge” were created was so great that it brought tens of thousands of new worshippers to the site and they now have a massive Cathedral there. It was a great “outreach method”. Now the site is a sort of a shrine to the Christian Flag…the Crystal Cathedral of Protestants on the East Coast!

Oops Sorry…wrong story…ignore the above!

No Use For Churches

The Passover commemoration reminds us that Palestinians were not the first beleaguered ethnic group to resort to terrorism.