Supreme Court Drives Dagger into Corpse of Fourth Amendment.

In a 5-4 decision, with Justice Scalia in the lead, the Republiscam majority of the Supreme Court held today that non-compliance with constitutional “knock notice” rules did not require suppression of subsequently seized evidence. In practical effect, this means that Am'urkans have now attained the same status as Iraqis under U.S. liberation.    [continue reading]

Meanwhile Back At Camp I-Rock

Marines held a hoot n' hodown singing and laughing over their exploits in wasting iraqi women and children. According to BBC News (14 June 06), a video of the performance was posted on the web. Needless to say, the Marine Korps was investigating....

Will Any Senator speak out against Torture?

The world cries out in protest against US brutality at Guantanamo, but Congress lies supine and silent.

Dear Senator,

In March of 2004, before the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I wrote you a letter calling your attention to the abuse of detainees at Guantanamo. I noted that information leaking out from the camp plus reports of attempted suicides coupled with the officially admitted facts and decrypted government double-talk, all pointed to the conclusion that people who had never be shown to be guilty of anything were being institutionally and routinely abused and tortured.

Since then you have said nothing... not even on your web site, not even read into the Congressional Record at 3.45 a.m. The International Red Cross has broken its 100 year tradition of non-comment and has condemned the mistreatment of the Guantanamo detainees; but you have said nothing. The United Nations has called for the closure of this infamous torture center; but you have said nothing. Our own and only ally in this sordid affair has called for the release of the detainees; but you have said nothing. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has condemned the illegality of the detentions; but you have said nothing. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, scores of NGOs, legal organizations and the Holy See itself have cried out against the infamy taking place at Guantanamo; but you and your supine colleagues in Congress have remained silent.

It now turns out that after five long years of degradation, torture and hopelessness three detainees have committed suicide; and, in a shocking statement that bespeaks the moral putrefaction that rots throughout the United States Government, Rear Admiral Harris has dismissed these suicides as “acts of war.” The Government has called them a “PR” move that shows “no regard for life”. The depravity and perversity of these remarks is without rival in the annals of history, except perhaps for the SS guards who may have laughed at Auschwitz prisoners who electrocuted themselves on the barbed wire while trying to escape.

Suicide horrifies because it goes against the most fundamental grain of all living things, which is to live. Suicides are not “playing games” nor are they “attacking” anyone. They are simply and pathetically ending a life that has been filled only with the certainty of pain and despair.

As the Vatican statement reminds us, even criminals and even enemies are human beings that warrant fair and humane treatment. Even more, detainees who have never been charged must less shown to be guilty of anything.

Ignoring these fundamentals of decency, the United States tortures people to suicide all but openly in the global forum. It does so indifferently to the universal outcry against it. It shrugs off the suicides with a moral depravity and lack of humanity that is beyond belief.

When are you and your supine colleagues going to show some impulse other than craven ambition and political cowardice? When will you recover a sense of shame? When will rise up and speak out against the depravity of this Administration and the culture of thuggery that has seized Washington?

©Barfo, 2006

Preventive Pacification

The News: For many months, the Israelis have been pounding away at open areas such as fields and orchards in an effort to prevent Palestinian militants using them to fire their home-made missile into crudely made missiles into nearby Israeli territory. (BBC)

The Note: “Prevent” ...? I.e. they are doing it pre-emptively, routinely destroying orchards and fields so that no one will think of using them. Of course that also means that no one can farm them. It also means that crops are destroyed. We know that this is preemptive because “for many months” there have been virtually no missile attacks on Israel from Gaza.

They are also bombing beaches. Clearly this is an attempt to intimidate the civilian populace.

©Barfo, 2006
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The News: For many months, the Israelis have been pounding away at open areas such as fields and orchards in an effort to prevent Palestinian militants using them to fire their home-made missile into crudely made missiles into nearby Israeli territory. (BBC)

The Note: “Prevent” ...? I.e. they are doing it pre-emptively, routinely destroying orchards and fields so that no one will think of using them. Of course that also means that no one can farm them. It also means that crops are destroyed. We know that this is preemptive because “for many months” there have been virtually no missile attacks on Israel from Gaza.

They are also bombing beaches. Clearly this is an attempt to intimidate the civilian populace.

©Barfo, 2006
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Making Clear Points

Item: "I want to tell you something very clear, don't worry about American pressure on Israel, we, the Jewish people control America, and the Americans know it." -- Ariel Sharon to Shimon Peres, October 3rd, 2001, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.

Item: We will bring you back to the pre-industrial age", James Baker to the Iraq's Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz on January 9, 1999 in Geneva)

©Barfo, 2006
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Consubstancialismos

The Noticia: "Algunos evangelistas se incomodarán", comenta Gael. "Pero es una buena introspección sobre la fe y también muestra que la fe puede salvar a una persona, pero cegar a otra. La religión me interesa: después de todo soy mexicano, y muchas de mis películas examinan la naturaleza de la institución religiosa. "Mi personaje en La mala educación deja de creer en Dios por lo que le ocurrió; luego hice de sacerdote en El crimen del padre Amaro, y ahora esto, pero la fe siempre ocupará un lugar en cualquier historia que sea honesta, aunque sea subliminal." (Jornada)

La Nota: “Después de todo soy mexicano” Pues asi tambien lo dijo mi primo Hector -- “ser mexicano y católico es consubstancial”. Lo habra leído Gael?

©Barfo, 2006
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