Sheehan Bigger Than Schiavo

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Bush & Co., Iraq, SheehanLeave a Comment

From Blogometer (a good daily resource by the way): Each time this week we’ve visited Technorati, the popular blog search engine, the "Top Searches This Hour" feature has placed "Cindy Sheehan" at the very top. At one point this a.m., "Sheehan" was also #5. The Blogometer is trying to remember the last time this happened, but no person or event … Read More

Bush Administration Ignored The State Department About Lack Of Post-War Planning

Ken AshfordBush & Co., IraqLeave a Comment

No doubt because the State Department primarily deals with diplomacy, and the Bushies don’t do no pansy-ass diplomacy. One month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, three State Department bureau chiefs warned of “serious planning gaps for post-conflict public security and humanitarian assistance” in a secret memorandum prepared for a superior. The State Department officials, who had been discussing the … Read More

Lessons From Schiavo: Even A Living Will Won’t Protect You From The Krazy Kristian Kooks

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Under threat of a lawsuit, Pro-Life Wisconsin pulled a news release accusing HospiceCare of murder in removing the feeding tubes of severely injured Marine Staff Sgt. Chad Simon, but the group has not, as requested, issued a public apology or retraction. *** Simon, 32, of Monona, was injured by a bomb in Iraq in November. The father of a 6-year-old … Read More

Iraq: Worse Than What Is Reported?

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Conservatives like to bitch and moan about how the media never reports the good things in Iraq.  They claim it just proves media bias, but of course, we all know the real reason.  To the extent that there ARE good things to report in Iraq, the media doesn’t report it because it’s too fucking dangerous for them to venture far … Read More

Chickenhawk Wankers

Ken AshfordIraq, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents. It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect’s mom greeted him wearing an American … Read More

Please Help

Ken AshfordWeb Recommendations2 Comments

Sigh.  I really dislike those people. You know who I am talking about.  I’m talking about people out there arguing for tax cuts for the rich, and whose idea of "supporting the troops" is to put a yellow ribbon on their car, and that’s it.  Those people and their faux patriotism annoy me. And stuff like this is why.  Grim … Read More

Wankers Of The Day

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

The British police.  It seems that the young Brazilian electrician who was shot because he was thought to be a terrorist subway bomber . . . (a) was not wearing a heavy jacket, (b) paused to pick up a newspaper on his way to the tube, (c) used his travelcard to pass the barrier, (d) did not run from the … Read More

Now, Watch This Drive

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Vacationus interruptus: How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq? Wasn’t he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm’s way? "I’m determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly. That … Read More

1787 or 1861?

Ken AshfordIraq1 Comment

Neo-cons like to imagine that the New Iraq is something akin to our own country’s historic period of 1787, when our constitution was ratified and a new democracy forged.  But I’ve come to believe that the ethnic strife going on over there renders the U.S. Civil War (Iraqi style) a better analogy.  Harold Myerson says the same thing: It looks … Read More

Perspective

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Mithras at Fables of the Reconstruction has been crunching the numbers: As of this moment, Iraq Body Count says that between 23,589 and 26,705 Iraqi civilians have died since the United States invaded Iraq.  Let’s average that out, even though their method for counting deaths is extremely conservative and there is, I think, good reason to believe that the actual … Read More

Right Wing Newspaper Hearts Dictator

Ken AshfordRight Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

This just in: Pyongyang, August 16 (KCNA) — Leader Kim Jong Il Tuesday received Joo Dong Mun, president of the Washington Times Corporation, on a visit to Pyongyang. On the occasion the president offered his congratulations to Kim Jong Il on the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation. Kim Jong Il welcomed the Pyongyang visit of the president, had a cordial … Read More

Fourth Circuit And Invocation Of Jesus

Ken AshfordConstitution, Courts/Law, GodstuffLeave a Comment

A few months ago, I blogged about a Fourth Circuit opinion which ruled against a woman who challenged her local government’s practice of beginning meetings with an invocation of a monotheistic God.  The Fourth Circuit stupidly said that the practice did not violate the Establishment Clause because, to put it bluntly, only monotheism is protected by the Establishment Clause.  (I … Read More