article of the day

josh marshall, of TPM, hits the nail on the head with this one:

Describing those held at Guantanamo as "detainees" or "enemy combatants" is not accurate.

The Supreme Court's Hamdan decision declared them to be prisoners of war, entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, until such time as a properly constituted tribunal concludes otherwise. The thrust of the Court's decision was that the military commissions set up by the Administration did not include the basic procedural safeguards necessary to qualify as a properly constituted tribunal.

As a matter of law now, the United States is holding prisoners of war at Guatanamo Bay. That's a fact, which is obscured when journalists continue to use language first put forth by the Administration specifically to avoid the strictures of the Geneva Conventions.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_07_02.php#008968

all things poop

here

this is why i hate the bush administration

The NYT fronts an interview with a man—a fundamentalist Muslim—who was taken off the streets of Tanzania three years ago and "rendered" to a secret U.S. jail in Afghanistan where he says guards "suspended me by my arms and attached my feet to the floor. They beat me and threw cold water on me, spat at me and sometimes gave me dirty water to drink." He was held at a "dark prison" and his recollections jibe with what of others who've been held there. "The American man told me I would die there," he said. Sixteen months after he was taken he was released without charges or an explanation.

--today's papers for the links

Letter of the Day

President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are hell-bent on doing any darn thing they please at any time for any purpose they specify.

They just sit back and gleefully watch U.S. citizens squirm at the fast erosion of our constitutional liberties because they are convinced we will swallow their hollow reasoning that everything they do is done because they are protecting us from terrorists.

My 80 years of personal freedoms are sinking fast into some secret black hole dug by you know who — and it isn’t the terrorists.
— Robert B. Sanderson, West Des Moines.

attribution

Letter of the WeeQ

Last year in the United States, heart disease caused 696,947 deaths, cancer 557,271, tobacco 435,000, medical errors 250,000, alcohol 85,000, air pollution 60,000, firearms 29,000 and terrorists 0.

You are in more danger from lightning, sharks, mosquitoes or falling airplane parts than from terrorists. For any significant terrorism in the United States, you have to go back to 9/11.

Terrorism is being used as a boogie man by the far right to scare people into giving up their constitutional rights and freedom. There was no al-Qaida in Iraq before the war. Even now, according to the Pentagon, only 5 percent of the resistance in Iraq are foreign jihadists.

That means 95 percent of the resistance consists of Iraqi citizens who feel they are fighting to expel a foreign invader. How can President George Bush claim that his war is to bring freedom when the current U.S. government provides aid to about 43 dictatorships worldwide, including Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 terrorists originated?
— Jay Miller, Hills.

attribution

Letter of the Day

from the young contributors board on the des moines register:

One has to wonder what offended the Bush administration so much about the recent report on efforts to track the financing of terrorists.

The administration has been clear that they are correctly trying to disrupt the financial activities of terrorists.

It would take a terrorist with a very limited view of American competence to assume the federal government is not monitoring certain financial transactions.

Meanwhile, the Brussels-based banking consortium assisting in the program, Swift, shows no sign of withdrawing its cooperation. Upon consideration, one almost has to wonder what "offends" the vice president so much.

It seems the administration is so used to embarrassing leaks, such as secret prisons in Eastern Europe or domestic eavesdropping without a warrant, that it is uncomfortable with a leak that shows some degree of competence.
— Zach Steele, Iowa City

110ne17.jpg

110ne17.jpg,
originally uploaded by leQ.

my house after it was painted.

the poop machine

HERE

what is :LEQ?

The TASA Standard defines trailer volume (and the upper volume limit) with a with a number that is derived using a measurement technique called: "LEQ(m)."

says so right here.

110NE17

110NE17,
originally uploaded by leQ.

before the paint job.

stuff to make you vomit

The incoming Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., was awarded an $18.7 million cash bonus for half a year of work as the chief executive of the Goldman Sachs Group, the company said yesterday.

--source