20 November 2009

American show trial?

Well, it now seems that Khaled Shaikh Mohammed will get a jury trial in New York city.
Of course the right wing folks are up in arms about this. They cry about the extra needed security for the trial. They claim that the military commissions are "good enough" for this sort of thing. Actually, I think the right wingers believe that ANY sort of "trial" even the military commissions are too good for these people.
Well, to that attitude, I say crap! America used to be a nation of laws. We had rules, we had trial by a jury of peers. It is still there in the old Constitution.
Military commissions and military trials are for those who are in the military.
This "idea" of an "unlawful enemy combatant" is total bullshit. Nobody has ever, to my knowledge, ever defined just what IS an "unlawful enemy combatant". I have NO idea what such a person could be. It is just another fig newton from the idiot gang of W. Shrub. There has never been such a thing as an "unlawful enemy combatant". This "category" comes from the same legal "minds"(??) as the definition of what actually is torture. Yep, it came from the likes of Gonzales and Yoo. Two "lawyers" who are war criminals by international law. Thanks loads there guys.
Supposedly KSM has admitted that he is the master mind behind 9/11. I would like to know if he confessed before or after he was water boarded. The powers that be admitted that this guy was water boarded over 180 times in ONE month! That is at least 6 times a day. Holy shit. With that sort of treatment, your dear sainted grandmother would admit to being the "lone gun man" in Dallas or to being the sole killer of Christ. Will this information come out during his upcoming trial? I wonder.
Of course he has supposedly said he is guilty and welcomes the death penalty. Of course he does. That would make him a martyr to Islam. Well, don't give him the death penalty. Let him get life with no parole. That would be total hell for him. Rob this nut case of his "glory" as a martyr. That would be fitting punishment.
Actually no. I doubt that there IS a fitting punishment for such acts. Just like the child molesters, what would be a fitting punishment for such crimes? I am not sure.
Personally, I do not believe in the death penalty. To me it is just the state killing some one in my name. That is done daily in the current illegal wars. We have more than enough death as it is. Much of it state sponsored.
Another question arises here. Why are only KSm and four others getting a trial by jury in the United States? What about those still left at Gitmo? Some of them will still get there "justice" from the military commissions. Wrong move. ALL those we have prisoners in Gitmo and other CIA secret prisons deserve a jury trial in this country.
Terrorism is a crime. It should be dealt with as a crime. Use police actions to catch them. Give them a civilian jury trial. That is how America is supposed to operate.
This whole mess of "unlawful enemy combatants", military commissions, and the rest of the bullshit "war on terror" is just a way to side step the Constitution. ENOUGH! Put an end to that crap. We must restore the constitutional republic.
Although I fear it may be too late for that. I hope it is not too late.
semper fi

16 November 2009

well, it was a nice vacation

Well, I sure had a fun day at the drags Saturday. The "vacation" from poli-tricks was too short though. No sooner than I get over 1100 new photos downloaded to the old iMac than what pops up? Sarah Palin!
Holy crap. I thought the moose burger bimbo was still in Alaska. Yes, I know, she did quit as the governor of that state. Funny, but she still had close to half of her FIRST term left to fill.
Now that is really a fine politician for you. Some "radical" type who is "for the people" for sure. Hell yes. Get yourself elected as "one of the little people" and then, half way through your first term, well, just quit. Simple. Nothing to it folks. See how "good" she is? Just how much did she do for the state of Alaska during her half of a term? I'd bet it wasn't very much. The reason is, I have heard where it takes close to a year for the new person to just figure out who is who in the government. You can only get down to the real work after the first year in office. And that gave her, at best, one year to do much.
Well, the people of Alaska elected her. Poor folks, I feel for them. At least they didn't have to hold a special election to replace her. Just move the number two person up one spot.
Now the moose burger bimbo is on a book tour. Of course she had a professional ghost writer "help" her with the book. Help? More like have it ALL done for her. Supposedly the tome is over 400 pages. Now, I seriously doubt that Ms. Palin could fill five pages, double spaced, hand written. How she "managed" to write over 400 is way too much for me to believe. No, it is ALL ghost written in my opinion.
She has two "big interviews" already lined up also. She will be on Ophra and Baba Wawa will also get to "interview" her. Boy, I bet she won't have that Katie gal do one this time. Now that would be funny. Why, I'd almost be tempted to find somebody who owns a TV set and watch that one. Notice I said almost. Remember, almost, like close, only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. Oh yeah, and nuclear weapons.
Of course she is scheduled to be on Rush Limburger. Naturally. I bet she will show up on Faux Noise also. And you can bet your last dime that Keith Olbermann is crying that she won't be on his show. Olbermann is just as phony as O'Really, Beck, Limburger, and the rest of them.
Oh, some small bit of good news. Lou Dobbs is now gone from CNN. Maybe CNN has decided to get back to doing actual news again and stop the editorials. Well, if Wolfie is still employed at CNN then it still is not worth watching.
Back to Palin. Why anybody gives a rats hind end what she "thinks" about anything is beyond me. She claims to be "one of the people". Yeah, sure she is. How many "just plain folks" have the life style that family have? No, I don't mean the unwed teenager in the family. I mean the money they have. That house in Alaska didn't come cheap. And I do not believe her "story" about how she and the family did NOT want all those new clothes that the McCain crew "forced" onto them. Sure they didn't. And the Pope is a Baptist too. Or is he Pentecostal? Heck, I keep forgetting just what he is.
What is it about morons like Palin that seem to fascinate the American public? Do any real people actually give a crap about her? Or is it the media that keeps pushing her on us? Either way, she should have stayed in the North in the snow until global warming melted it all.
This is just another damn diversion. With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq going badly, the economy (do we still have one?) in the toilet, the "incident" at Fort Hood, Go-bomb-them on his Asian trip, the Russians making noises about the gas supply to Europe, and other really important things, we get Palin again. Like I said, she is being used as a diversion here folks.
There are some pundits, on the net also, who are making the claim that this bimbo will be a "king maker" for the elephant gang. What?? This clown who cannot speak English much better than the idiot Shrub as a "king maker"??? One internet pundit even said she could be a "king breaker", in that if SHE doesn't approve of the person the elephant gang runs in 2012, then that person won't even get nominated!!! Again, WHAT???
How in hell did this failure get that sort of power? Are the elephants that bad off? Really?? Man, oh man, I knew that the elephant gang was in serious bad shape, but if this gal has that sort of power with them, they are way worse off than even I could ever imagine. Good grief, get the funeral party together now, the elephant gang died, but they don't know it yet. Seriously, if a clown who quits half way through her first term can have the power these pundits say she has, then the elephant gang IS dead. It just needs the burial.
On a more serious note regards Palin. She could be very dangerous to America. She had at her rallies during the 2008 campaign, people who, when Obama was mentioned, yelled out "Kill him!". They also shouted "Traitor" and "Treason" when his name was mentioned. Now that sort of shit is very dangerous folks. This clown lady could lead us to a type of Hitler. NO, she is not that, she doesn't have the brains to be that. But, she could set the stage for one. She comes across like a demented Joe Goebbels. NO, not Joe the plumber, the Nazi propaganda minister. She could be the cheerleader for the next Hitler. And, she has experience at that. Wasn't she actually a cheerleader in high school? I seem to remember that she had been. I may be wrong on that. Need to "fact check" it.
The thing is, we have some very un-smart folks in America today, didn't want to call them dumb, so I used un-smart. And the trouble with that sort is they tend to listen to fools like Palin, Limburger, Beck, O'Really, etc. When Limburger pushes some clown, the "ditto heads" flock to the new clown. All because "rush" said to do so. Now, I wonder if Beck will cry if the moose burger bimbo doesn't come on his show? Wouldn't you like to see that? Beck having a cry on air because Sarah turned him down. I'd watch the video on the net. No, it would NOT get me to go and buy a damn TV set. I don't sell out that cheap. Besides, something like that would be on the net almost immediately, so I'd still get to see it, over and over......LOL.
What would be best, my opinion, is for the snow queen (Palin) to form a third party. Then she could go down in flames, another donkey gang critter wins in 2012 and the snow queen fades into the darkest pages of history. Just like Teddy R did when he ran his bull moose party.Oh, and she could take Limburger, and ALL of Faux Noise and Dobbs with her. And the idiot woman Congress critter from Minnesota. Bachmann(sp). Hey, I can still dream. Or is it hope? Ah, "hope" that I might believe in? OK, so it was "change" to believe in. Well that "change" and "hope" never quite got to us, did it? Thanks loads there Barrack.
Well, that is about enough for this time.
Best to all of you. Keep working for real change folks. It is all we can do. If we each do our own small part to make this a better life, than some day it will happen. We CAN make this better. It won't be easy, but things that are worth it never do come easy.
semper fi.

15 November 2009

What a drag


Well, it is time for a little change of pace here at the old "corner". Even a hardened old heathen like myself needs a bit of a break from the daily poli-tricks of the old US of A. So, I took Saturday off for some good old fashioned fun. Packed a lunch and a jug of home brewed lemonade and with a full tank of diesel in ye olde Cummins powered Dodge, headed South.
Yes sir folks, I went to Erwinville for a day of drag racing. The sights, sounds and smells of the racing did this old guy a world of good too. Nothing like going to the races and meeting all sorts of nice people to help recharge the old battery. I even had a few of the racers ask me how much I charged for my photos! No kidding, some of them seemed almost willing to pay me for taking photos of their cars.
Being a total amateur, I told them, just give me your email address and I will email them to you. Heck, I was out for fun. Why not share the joy? I wouldn't know how to price my photos any way. I don't feel right in using the "going" rate for a professional photog, so I have sent some and will finish in the next day or so. Going through over 1100 photos isn't fast. Well, I ain't very fast at much of anything these days. It;s a joke people. A joke on me, and about me. Hey, at least I can still laugh at myself.
Well, if you want to see the photos, I have them at fotki.com. I still have a place there for my photos. I could put some here, but the method for getting them to the blog is more than I care to try. After my fourth failed attempt at it, I just remembered the old fotki site and went there.
The address for my albums is; http://public.fotki.com/bear4751/
So, if you feel like being adventurous, please go look at my photos. Oh, let me know what you think of them, if you wish.
Thanks and have a great day.