Straight From the Horse's Ass

From an article by AP journalist Anne Flaherty,

'The White House said in its statement that the Geneva Conventions shouldn't apply to "captured terrorists who openly flout that law."' In response to the House's request that interrogators abide by the Army Field Manual which was updated in '06, and is based on the Geneva Convention.

Really now, and here I thought Geneva Conventions set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. The main concern is the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war. Maybe its just me, but terrorists who are caught amidst a war (supposedly) started because of terrorists would, in fact, be considered prisoners of war. Thus the Geneva Convention applies to them too.

Not to mention the fact that they are also humans, and the US shouldn't want to come across as behaving the same way terrorists do by treating other humans with little to no respect for human life.

Apparently, the US doesn't give a rats ass if they mimic the enemy.

In Other News

Bush plans to veto the new bill for $50 billion, with the stipulation of bringing home troops and a deadline for ending the war. He doesn't want a timetable...no surprise there. It would be much harder for Bush to slip troops into Iran, ahead of schedule and largely unnoticed by the US, if the troops are all coming home.

Catholic bishops: church teaching should shape how parishioners vote in 2008

The Church is basically threatening its congregates with eternal damnation if they don't vote for the candidate who best fits it's doctrines. Citing the intentional loss of innocent lives as the foremost important issue of the day, unless that loss of life happens while trying to catch terrorists. The articles continues on to state: "The bishops urged Catholics to only use voter resources approved by the church." As opposed to booklets and voter resources that may come from "Left leaning" churches or ideologies.

In heartbreaking news, African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out

Mainly as a Mother, but also a practitioner of Witchcraft, this news is terrible, and heart-wrenching.

From the Idiot Pages

Some people seemingly do not understand the difference between legal privacy (as in, the fourth amendment), the use of monitoring systems for law enforcement, and cameras used by the media.

No wonder our constitutional rights are crumbling, citizens don't even know what they are to begin with!