. . . and More Death

This pretty well sums up my take on Saddam, and capital punishment generally:

“Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him,” al-Maliki said.

Full story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16389128/

Wreaking Death

Congratulations to the Bush Administration. According to the latest casualty figures, http://www.icasualties.org/oif/, George Bush and his band of neoconservative warmongers have achieved in about four years, and $400 billion what it took 19 men with box cutters, and about $4,000 worth of plane tickets, to do in about four hours: the deaths of 2973 Americans. Of course, unlike the hijackers, George Bush didn't have the balls to lead the charge and go down in flames, literally, with his malevolent choice.

The God Delusion

I've delved into Richard Dawkins' impressive argument for atheism. Thanks a lot Dawkins. Now I'm an agnostic about Thor.

Agressive Interrogation Techniques

Here is a pretty simple question to ask someone -- without using the word "torture," but rather by using the dictionary definition of torture -- to determine whether they advocate torture or not:

Do you believe that it is justifiable to inflict severe pain on a suspected terrorist in order to obtain information that the suspect would otherwise not provide?

Whoever answers "yes" to this question is not my friend.

God was Wrong

Remember when George W. Bush, when asked if he sought the counsel of his father, George H.W. Bush, on matters pertaining to the impending Iraq war, replied that he sought the counsel of a "higher father?"

I think Bush's "other" father was a little higher than we all thought. The failure of the "higher father's" policy vis-a-vis George H.W. Bush's policy is striking. It means, logically, that (1) Bush was lying when he said he recieves counsel from a God; (2) Bush was not lying, and the God who counsels him knows less about foreign policy than George H.W. Bush; (3) God was lying to Bush to test his intelligence; or (4) Bush is always lying and he and his God are stupid.

Objectivity and Fairness

Eric Deggans at HuffPo writes about objectivity vs. fairness in journalism (in the absurd context of Bill O'Reilly doing research on journos' political affiliation): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-deggans/why-is-bill-oreilly-keep_b_35512.html

It is often noted that journalists in the U.S. more proportionately register as Democrat than Republican. It is not-so-often noted that doctors, lawyers and scientists are also disproportionately Democrats. Do we question doctors' ability to do their jobs whether their patients are Republicans or Democrats?