Oh, Molly

Another brilliant, beautiful soul leaves too soon.



Remember her for these fighting words, almost one year ago to the day:

"Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can."

More here.

Living in Slaughterhouse-Five

An amusing distraction, courtesy of "the lovely and talented PaulM. Kienitz":

I am: Kurt Vonnegut For years, this unique creator of absurd and haunting tales denied that he had anything to do with science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Thanks to Michael Froomkin for the point.

Doomed to Repeat It

Maybe I dreamed it, or maybe I remember right. But the most tragic thing about this cartoon...



...is that I seem to recall Oliphant used it while the Rwanda genocide was going on. Whether he did or didn't doesn't matter. While David Brooks turns his face from a real genocide, really happening right now, he blathers on The News Hour about the "genocide" that could happen if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq, and actually believes us moral because of it.

Will God ever forgive us oour pride and brutality? Will we ever forgive ourselves?

Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night---Just Bush

It's almost become boring now, this never-ending assault on our civil liberties and constitutional rights by Bush and his hired guns. How else explain the media's lack of attention or comment after Bush shoehorned another signing statement onto the back of an otherwise mundane postal office bill in December, in which he arrogates the right to open Americans' mail without a warrant based only on his own questionable discretion? Here it is in all its glory:

The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.

Here's what the ACLU had to say:

In 1996, the postal regulations were altered to permit the opening of First Class Mail without a warrant in cases where the Postal Inspector believes there is a credible threat that the package contains dangerous material like bombs. In passing the new statute, Congress reiterated the express prohibition in existing law against opening First Class Mail without a warrant. The regulation authorizing an exception where there is a credible threat that a package may contain a bomb still exists, but is quite narrow.

(ACLU Executive Director Anthony D.) Romero said the Bush signing statement does not specify whether there are special circumstances beyond those already established in the law that would allow him to open mail without a warrant and if so, what they may be. For example, the ACLU questioned whether the “exigent circumstances” would include the singling out of mail addressed to or from people on government watch lists, which are notoriously flawed. Such deliberate ambiguity, Romero said, “raises a red flag because of President Bush’s history of asserting broad powers to spy on Americans.”

Romero also noted that the signing statement was issued by President Bush during the Congressional recess and a year after revelations that his administration was claiming authority to secretly wiretap Americans without a warrant.

Time enough for the old American amnesia to take effect.

You can contact your representatives and let them know this is unacceptable, either by picking up the phone, or going here. Don't assume that the changeover effected by the last election will save you. With people like Nancy ("He is the commander in chief, Charlie. We don't get that choice") Boyda on your side, you can be pretty sure nothing has changed.