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Sunday, May 30, 2004
The Mafia
My friend Catherine took some great pics of Rick and his crowd after the year's final concert the other night. Great group of kids.
More or less left to right, top to bottom, are Rick, Adam, Kathy, Liaren, Marolyn, Mack, Laura, Morgan, and Allie. Click the little pictures for bigger ones.
Posted 05/30/2004 08:56 by Fritz | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, May 27, 2004
I told you so
My words from March 2003:
Every one of our men and women in uniform has promised to obey the lawful orders of his or her superiors. I took that oath myself, and I worry that a young and undereducated father will face execution because in the heat of battle he was unable to recognize that an issued order was unlawful.
Al Gore's comments, now that I've turned out to be right:
The soldiers who are accused of committing these atrocities are, of course, responsible for their own actions and if found guilty, must be severely and appropriately punished. But they are not the ones primarily responsible for the disgrace that has been brought upon the United States of America.
Private Lynndie England did not make the decision that the United States would not observe the Geneva Convention. Specialist Charles Graner was not the one who approved a policy of establishing an American Gulag of dark rooms with naked prisoners to be "stressed" and even - we must use the word - tortured - to force them to say things that legal procedures might not induce them to say.
These policies were designed and insisted upon by the Bush White House. Indeed, the President's own legal counsel advised him specifically on the subject. His secretary of defense and his assistants pushed these cruel departures from historic American standards over the objections of the uniformed military, just as the Judge Advocates General within the Defense Department were so upset and opposed that they took the unprecedented step of seeking help from a private lawyer in this city who specializes in human rights and said to him, "There is a calculated effort to create an atmosphere of legal ambiguity" where the mistreatment of prisoners is concerned."
Emphasis is mine. Yeah, maybe they didn't "face execution" for this, but I'd bet the UCMJ would allow it: They got off light, which itself is another indicator of our official indifference.
We used to be the good guys.
Posted 05/27/2004 07:12 by Fritz | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Ed's First Concert
Posted 05/20/2004 21:00 by Fritz | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, May 17, 2004
Updated Resume
I updated my resume to include an objective and refreshed some of the stuff under my current employer. Maybe I'll stop getting requests to relocate and work on ServiceCenter now.
Posted 05/17/2004 18:08 by Fritz | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, May 3, 2004
WTF happened to the GOP?
Interesting interview with Joseph Wilson, whose wife was outed as a CIA agent in retaliation for his whistle-blowing on the SotU Niger uranium claim.
What's the difference in the GOP from when you were growing up?
If you're fiscally responsible, this is not your party. If you believe in a moderate foreign policy characterized by alliances, free trade and the ability to operate in an international environment, this is not your party. If you believe in limited federal government, this is not your party. If you believe that the government should stay out of your bedroom, this is very definitely not your party. In fact, I would argue that unless you believe in the American imperium, imposed on the world by force, or unless you believe in the literal interpretation of the Book of Revelations, this is not your party.
Maybe some of my leftward drift since my youth has been relative motion.
Edit: "since my youth", not "since my use". <Insert Freudian slip humor here.>
Posted 05/03/2004 08:35 by Fritz | Comments (0) | TrackBack