New Rule on Amnesty International

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Foreign AffairsLeave a Comment

NEW RULE: Amnesty International is a legitimate source for human rights violations of other countries, but is an unreliable and irresponsible source for reporting on the U.S.

On March 27, 2003, Rumsfeld said:

We know that it’s a repressive regime…Anyone who has read Amnesty International or any of the human rights organizations about how the regime of Saddam Hussein treats his people…

The next day, Rumsfeld even cited his “careful reading” of Amnesty:

…[I]t seems to me a careful reading of Amnesty International or the record of Saddam Hussein, having used chemical weapons on his own people as well as his neighbors, and the viciousness of that regime, which is well known and documented by human rights organizations, ought not to be surprised.

And on April 1, 2003, Rumsfeld said once again:

[I]f you read the various human rights groups and Amnesty International’s description of what they know has gone on, it’s not a happy picture.

Quite a contrast to the present Amnesty International–bashing by the Administration lately.

War Snapshot

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

The insurgents are on the run, says the blind man.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 28 – The surge of violence that has swept Iraq since its first elected government took office nearly a month ago continued Saturday, with at least 30 new deaths reported across the country, some of them in what appeared to be sectarian killings.

The latest attacks raised the total number of Iraqis killed this month to about 650, in addition to at least 63 American troops who have been killed, the highest American toll since January.

Read the whole thing.

Of course, the heart of the problem is Newsweek and CBS. rolleyes

Folks, it isn’t working.  We’re waist deep in the big muddy.

The New Postmodernism (or A Short and Hypocritical History of Media-Bashing)

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

E.J. Dionne has a must-read about conservative media-bashing, using the Newsweek-Koran outrage as a launching-off point.  The key graf (for me) is this:

Conservative academics have long attacked “postmodernist” philosophies for questioning whether “truth” exists at all and claiming that what we take as “truths” are merely “narratives” woven around some ideological predisposition. Today’s conservative activists have become the new postmodernists. They shift attention away from the truth or falsity of specific facts and allegations—and move the discussion to the motives of the journalists and media organizations putting them forward. Just a modest number of failures can be used to discredit an entire enterprise.

Here’s a specific example of the then-and-now transition of the neo-con reception to media:

Back when the press was investigating Bill Clinton, conservatives were eager to believe every negative report about the incumbent. Some even pushed totally false claims, including the loony allegation that Clinton aide Vince Foster was somehow murdered by Clinton’s apparatchiks when, in fact, Foster committed suicide. Every journalist who went after Clinton was “courageous.” Anyone who opposed his impeachment or questioned even false allegations was “an apologist.”

We now know that the conservatives’ admiration for a crusading and investigative press carried an expiration date of Jan. 20, 2001.

Ain’t it the truth?  Read the whole thing.

On Presidential Dynasties

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

USA Today reports that, according to a recent USAToday/CNN/Gallop poll, 53% of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008 (Link).

I’m frankly surprised that 53% of Americans have an opinion at all about who they would vote for in 2008, and it leads me to wonder if “I don’t know” was one of the possible answers given to respondents.  I suspect not.

I certainly haven’t made up my mind yet.  I have nothing against Hillary, and it would be nice to have a female Chief Executive in the White House.  But this will mean 16, or possibly 20, years of Presidents coming from two families.  It’s different from the Roosevelts, or even the Kennedys (if Bobby wasn’t assassinated), because in this instance, an entire generation will come of age only knowing “President Clinton” or “President Bush”.

That’s not Hillary’s fault, of course, and it shouldn’t be held against her.  If she’s the best candidate, I’ll vote for her.  But I was wondering if anyone else had reservations about “presidential dynasties”.

Qu’ran Mishandling Confirmed

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Developing story, but here’s what is known so far:

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials have substantiated five cases in which military guards or interrogators mishandled the Quran of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay but found “no credible evidence” to confirm a prisoner’s report that a holy book was flushed in a toilet, the prison’s commander said Thursday.

[Source]

Of course, the right wing blogosphere (aided by the lazy press, if the above is any example) is going to obsess over the flushing aspect of the story, and they’ll do their requsite “see, we told you so” victory dance.  But we all know that’s hardly exculpatory in light of the fact that the Pentagon has now confirmed mishandling of the Quran. 

Let’s be clear on this: The Pentagon has now confirmed that mishandling of the Quran occurred.

To say a “see I told you so” is the equivalent of Lynnie England (sp?) proving that the dog leash was on the loosest setting.

North Carolina Update

Ken AshfordGodstuff, IraqLeave a Comment

What a backwater state this can be sometimes. 

First, we had the Baptist preacher who kicked members of his parish out because they voted for Kerry (but, fortunately, there was a happy ending). 

And then we had another Baptist preacher who posted a sign in front of the church saying “The Koran should be flushed.” (Afghani deaths: Unknown).

And then, not to be outdone in the North Carolina Conservative Intolerance Competition, the Ku Klux Klan shows the love by burning crosses.

Fortunately, someone appears to have put the state in reasonably good light:

It was a culinary rebuke that echoed around the world, heightening the sense of tension between Washington and Paris in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. But now the US politician who led the campaign to change the name of french fries to “freedom fries” has turned against the war.

Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war “with no justification”.

Welcome to the majority, Congressman.  Set yerself here and have a beer. [Source]

Juan Cole Lays It Out

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Do yourself a favor and read it.  These are the closing paragraphs, but the support for his argument preceeds it:

Therefore, I conclude that the United States is stuck in Iraq for the medium term, and perhaps for the long term. The guerrilla war is likely to go on a decade to 15 years. Given the basic facts, of capable, trained and numerous guerrillas, public support for them from Sunnis, access to funding and munitions, increasing civil turmoil, and a relatively small and culturally poorly equipped US military force opposing them, led by a poorly informed and strategically clueless commander-in-chief who has made himself internationally unpopular, there is no near-term solution.

In the long run, say 15 years, the Iraqi Sunnis will probably do as the Lebanese Maronites did, and finally admit that they just cannot remain in control of the country and will have to compromise. That is, if there is still an Iraq at that point.

Judicial Activism

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, GodstuffLeave a Comment

It’s one thing (a constitutional thing) for a private citizen to criticize another citizen’s religion, but this is entirely different . . . and unconstitutional:

An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge’s unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to “non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.”

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple’s divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy’s outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall.

Let’s be clear about this: even though it comes in the context of a divorce proceeding, this isn’t about choosing one parental wish over the other parent’s wish.  This is the judge vs. both parents.

Wow, judges picking what are valid religions and what are not, over the objections of both parents.  And the Christofascists applaud.

Not to worry.  This will be overturned.

Quotes That Make You Go “Hmmmmmm”

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

— President Bush, 5/24/05

Oh yes, George.  We know, we know.

TOO-GOOD-TO-LEAVE-IN-THE-COMMENTS-SECTION UPDATE:  Lizard Queen completes the circle, by comparing the Bush quote to FDR’s:

"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth."

– Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 26, 1939

I know many here already do, but for those who don’t, check LQ’s site out.

ONE MORE UPDATE FOR THE ROAD: I think Sam Rosenfeld‘s take is right:

Bush is absolutely correct to believe that that kind of battering-ram repetition strategy has worked well for him in the past. The problem is that it doesn’t make for a particulalry limber or multi-dimensional approach; when the hard sell doesn’t gain him any ground at all, as in the Social Security fight, he ends up in a rut with little by way of exit strategy.

LAST UPDATE I PROMISE:

Another quote to compare with Bush’s quote:

“Freedom has a power all its own, requiring no propaganda to find recruits, no indoctrination to keep its believers in line.”

– Vice President Cheney, 4/15/04

Hmmmmmm.  Freedom requires no propaganda, yet Bush has to repeat things in order to catapult to propaganda.  Hmmmmmm.

The McClellan Challenge

Ken AshfordBush & Co., IraqLeave a Comment

L’il Scotty McClellan throws down the gauntlet:

“In terms of the intelligence, the – if anyone wants to know how the intelligence was used by the administration, all they have to do is go back and look at all the public comments over the course of the lead-up to the war in Iraq, and that’s all very public information. Everybody who was there could see how we used that intelligence.”

And sure enough, many did…

From Think Progress:

INTEL: In 1997, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report saying there was no indication Iraq ever achieved nuclear capability or had any physical capacity for producing weapons-grade nuclear material in the near future. In February 2001, the CIA delivered a report to the White House that said: “We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programs.”

HOW IT WAS USED: In March 2003, Cheney definitively claimed on Meet the Press that Iraq “has reconstituted nuclear weapons.”

INTEL: In April 2001, the the Energy Department told the White House the aluminum tubes Iraq bought couldn’t be used for nuclear weapons production. In late 2001, the State Department also sent word they were ill-suited for that use.

HOW IT WAS USED: On Sept. 8, 2002, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN the tubes were “only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.” Bush in his 1/03 State of the Union said the tubes which were “suitable for nuclear weapons production.”

INTEL: In the fall of 2002, the CIA told white house officials not to include the uranium-from-Niger assertion in speeches.

HOW IT WAS USED: Bush included it in his 2003 State of the Union.

INTEL: A September 2002 DOD intel report found “”no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons, or where Iraq has – or will – establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities.”

HOW IT WAS USED: In October 2002, Bush claimed, without doubt, that Iraq “possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons.”

And there’s even more side-by-side analysis from Downing Street Memo website.

And so ends the McClellan Challenge.

The Latest In Krazy Kristian Kookdom

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Wake the kids and load the mini-van.  It’s time for a trip to the Creation Museum!

Wait.  Better not yet.  The museum will open in 2007 in Northern Kentucky, USA (natch), right near the Cincinnati Airport.

A 50,000 square foot facility, it claims to be “a wonderful alternative to the evolutionary natural history museums that are turning countless minds against the gospel of Christ and the authority of the Scripture”.  Cool.  And you can be sure that, in the words of Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park), “no expense will be spared”.

I anticipate your question.  “Speaking of Jurassic Park, will there be dinosaurs in the Creation Museum?  I mean, there’s no mention of the dinosaurs in the Bible, so I guess there won’t be any in the Creation Museum.”

Hahahahaha.  How wrong you are.  There will be dinosaurs.  Yesiree, Bob.  Kids and parents alike will be greated by two young animatronic T-Rex’s in the lobby who will give—I swear I am not making this up—“sworn testimony” about their origins.  That’s right.  Puppet dinosaurs giving “sworn testimony”.  I guess they will put their left claws on an animatronic Bible or something.

Visitors will learn that T-Rex’s were originally vegetarians (Genesis 1:30, apparently), until Adam’s sin brought a curse upon the world.  That’s when T-Rex’s decided they wanted meat.  Wow.  I can’t believe how I’ve been LIED to all these years.

And apparently, there is also a display which informs museum visitors that Adam named all the animals in the world, including the dinosaurs.  Which is a pretty neat trick when you think about it.  I mean, most dinosaurs have Greek names, so a hat tip to Adam for knowing Greek before the advent of the Greek civilization.

Read more about the museum here and here.

And for God’s sakes (literally!), book your tickets NOW!  He wants you to.

Lies and the Lies About the Lies

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Editor and Publisher notes how Scotty McClennan is now denying that he ever suggested that the Newsweek article caused death in Afghanistan:

At a White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan, pressed by reporters and with Afghan President Karzai in disagreement, retreated on claims that Newsweek’s retracted story on Koran abuse cost lives in Afghanistan.

He also claimed that he had never said it did, even though a check of transcripts disputes that. On May 16, for example, he said, “people have lost their lives.” On May 17, he said, “People did lose their lives,” and, “People lost their lives” due to the Newsweek report.

Read the whole thing. 

So let’s sum up.  The White House lies about the Newsweek Koran story (contradicting the Pentagon), and then lies about the lies it told.

Imagine my surprise.

“Fair and Balanced” Lie Admitted

Ken AshfordRight Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

Imagine if Dan Rather said this:

"Even we at CBS manage to get some right wingers on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to George Soros."

If Rather had said that, you would never here the end of it from the wingnut blogsphere.  But, of course, he didn’t.  The above quote is actually (with modifications) from Fox News London bureau chief.  He said:

Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly.

So if “fair and balanced” is a lie (as now admitted), I guess everything that Fox reports is likely to be a lie, right?  Right?