I'm Convinced.

I was skeptical about belief at first. But now that I have seen this commercial, I am convinced. Allow me to share this with you...to preach this gospel.

Why are we still considering giving money to these guys?

The contractor in question is Blackwater, now called Xe Services. Let's look at their impressive resume:

Massacre 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Shot the VP of Iraq's bodyguard

Shot and killed Akram Khalid Sa'ed Jasim and shot his 3 month old sister in the face and other various family members.

Shot Maulood Mohammed Shathir Husein at Baghdad University.

Shot Husam Hasan Jaber who was driving his taxi in Baghdad.

Almost beat Safeen Hameed Ahmed Qadir to death?

Murdered Khalis Kareem Ali Al Qaysi who was 65 who committed the crime of being in a car near a bunch of cold blooded Xe thugs.


There are other incidents and problems with them. I have no problem with contracting out certain services, especially if the contractors are doing a good job and saving taxpayer money. I just don't understand why we keep going back to a group like Blackwater/Xe.

I have not been much of a fan of Carl Levin, but I am glad that he is questioning this contract and calling for an investigation.

William Kristol and Elizabeth Cheney are despicable

Walter Dellinger, former head of the OLC under Clinton, has an excellent op ed in the Washington Post on that latest episode, in what is being called the New McCarthyism (h/t to Streak). I agree with the outrage directed towards Cheney et al. This is absolutely disgusting. There has been a long tradition in this country of both popular and unpopular causes receiving adequate representation. Much of our legal system is built upon the idea that in order for someone to receive a fair trial, they must be represented. This doesn't mean that the person that represents people accused of bad acts is sympathetic in any way to that person. A lawyer that represents an accused murderer is ok with people murdering other people. Most people understand this.

Except for Kristol and Cheney and any other moron accusing Obama's Justice appointees of being traitors or similar. Dellinger points out in his article:

Thompson's assistance to the military officers who had been assigned to Khadr's case seemed to me to be not only part of a lawyer's professional obligation but a small act of patriotism as well. The other Justice Department lawyers named in this week's attack came to provide assistance to detainees in a number of ways, but they all deserve our respect and gratitude for fulfilling the professional obligations of lawyers. This sentiment is widely shared across party and ideological lines by leaders of the bar. As former Solicitor General Ted Olson wrote in response to previous attacks on detainee lawyers, "The ethos of the bar is built on the idea that lawyers will represent both the popular and the unpopular, so that everyone has access to justice. Despite the horrible Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, this is still proudly held as a basic tenet of our profession."

He concludes with a sentiment that I couldn't have phrased better:

That those in question would have their patriotism, loyalty and values attacked by reputable public figures such as Elizabeth Cheney and journalists such as Kristol is as depressing a public episode as I have witnessed in many years. What has become of our civic life in America? The only word that can do justice to the personal attacks on these fine lawyers -- and on the integrity of our legal system -- is shameful. Shameful.

History Lesson

I wish my history profs taught like this. I would have paid way more attention in class instead of trying to read now all the history books I missed then.

At any rate, from our good friends at Cracked:

5 Reasons Our Founding Fathers Were Kind-of Dicks.

Actually, reading this article now gives you a good sense of who and where we are today. We haven't changed much since 1775.

My favorite is #2: The Colonists Were Crazy. After getting Britain into the French and Indian War, after Britain never really worked to collect taxes, after they agreed not to collect certain taxes, we kept at the bastards.

The best, though, is reason #1: They Stirred Up Religious Bigotry to Get People on Their Side.

To be fair to the asshole teabaggers, there were a few legitimate reasons to hate Great Britain but, to be fair to history, the colonists didn't really choose any of those reasons. They picked greed and bigotry.

We are nucking futs. Anyway, it's a fun read, if not quite informative!

What They Said...

We've all bitched about the Main Stream Media here, and how they have become lazy . Never mind the search for truth; all the MSM does any more is report what somebody said, regardless of its veracity.

Last week, I stumbled across this fun little bit from the folks at Cracked: 5 Things The Media Loves Pretending Are News. Go figure; like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, it obviously takes comedians and snarky Gen-X writers to finally expose truth, rather than just report what people say.

Some of my personal favorites in the post are #5: Let's Ask the Idiots About Science. And this statement from that section of the post rings the truest with me:

When it comes to matters of opinion or personal beliefs, it is absolutely the duty of the news media to report both sides...

When it comes to matters of fact, however, they absolutely do not have that duty. Particularly when it comes to technical or scientific matters where it takes somebody with training to speak knowledgably on the subject.

If we're talking about if, say, vaccines cause autism, we need to hear from scientists. That's a scientific issue. We do not need to hear from Jenny McCarthy or Jim fucking Carrey, in the name of giving "both sides." Jim and Jenny don't get a side. They have no background in the subject, and it's one that requires fucking background.

The MSM, in my mind, regularly confuses FACT with OPINION. Just because someone has something to say on a subject doesn't qualify them to say it, it doesn't mean it's true or even partially true, and it doesn't mean you have to report it, except that you might be ripping on it. As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said: "you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts."

NOW What My Weekend Looks Like...

My head...oh god I hurt...

What My Weekend Looks Like

Bitches.