Universal Health Care, Armageddon, or What?

Caught Christian apocolyptic author Tim LaHaye on Sunday's blab TV. Seems the Book of Revelations sez the anti-Christ isn't some weirdo like Christopher Walken, but someone who's "attractive, intelligent, and articulate." Somebody who isn't seen as bad, but good.

Whew. Great news for our friends on the left---they can stop worrying about the current Republican White House occupant.

Now, the wife thought he looked kinda cute in that flight suit, but "intelligent" is never used in conjunction with "Bush" (unlike his fellow Yale C-student opponent in the last election), and even the president's non-reality-based supporters can't prop up the whopper that he's "articulate."

I mean, there are limits to partisan self-derangement, even for conservatives.


But on the horizon there's only one political figure whom none can deny is "attractive, intelligent, and articulate":



Repent now and avoid the rush? 


The "smartest woman in the world" is also hot. I trust you, the discriminating reader, will examine the evidence closely, because your eternal soul might depend on it. Word up.

The 'Dude Rocketh On

My pal Philosoraptor gave me a generous plug, even though I give him nothing in return but existential grief, pain and suffering. He urges me to rock on, and I can now reveal how wise and knowing he is, in that Kantian sort of way of his.

The humble narrator of this blog has been away to the land of Miami, mastering an album for his all-time favorite band, The Cookies. (As a matter of coincidence, he was a member of that particular band.)

A sneak peek at a couple of the raw tracks is here.

The 'Dude wrote the first one but not the second, did the lead vocals, played bass, and recorded the whole mess with his own bare hands.

The story is kinda cool---this was my favoritest band I was ever in. We broke up, in fine and predictable rock band fashion, but Diamond Jim, the drummer, caught me on a gameshow (yeah, I did OK) and tracked me down through my wife's acting union. I mentioned that I co-owned a recording studio and voila!, the guys were on my doorstep a few months later to make the album we never did get to make.

We're putting it out on vinyl on an esoteric label for esoteric-minded True Lovers of Great Art. I'm told that indy god Robert Pollard thinks it doesn't overly suck.

But now I gotta go buy a turntable. Do they still make 'em?

The Whole Truth and Nothing But...

Since Watergate, the press has put itself in opposition to whatever the current administration says, to balance things out. But what if what the administration says never sees the light of day?

Detainees “provide useful information on locations of training compounds and safe houses, terrain features, travel patterns and routes used for smuggling people and equipment, as well as for identifying potential supporters and opponents.” U.S. questioning has “expanded our understanding of the extent of their presence in Europe [and] the United States…”

“Detainees provide information that helps sort out legitimate financial activity from illegitimate terrorist financing operations,” the report says.

One detainee “identified a complex detonation system…that had been used in the Chechen conflict, and now is being used on IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] in Iraq, helping U.S. forces to combat this lethal weapon.”

Despite this apparent cooperation, enemy combatants remain viciously anti-American and dedicated to mayhem, even after release.

“I will arrange for the kidnapping and execution of US citizens living in Saudi Arabia,” one detainee threatened, if freed. “They will have their heads cut off.”

“There is no need to ask for forgiveness for killing a Jew,” another said. “Israel should not exist and be removed from Palestine.”

One detainee reportedly warned that “upon his release from GTMO, he would use the Internet to search for the names and faces of MPs so that he could kill them.”

Among 167 detainees freed from Guantanamo, the Pentagon has identified “about 12” who have resumed terrorist operations. Last October, two Chinese engineers were kidnapped in Pakistan. “Former detainee Abdullah Mahsud, their reputed leader, ordered the kidnapping,” the report states.

“Another released detainee assassinated an Afghan judge,” the document continues. “Several former GTMO detainees have been killed in combat with U.S. soldiers and Coalition forces.”

.


Well, that's the administration's story, that this Guantanamo mess has saved many innocent lives. But I for one never heard it until now. Have you?

Nah, I didn't think so. We get the truth, but it's half the truth, which is worse than no truth at all.


Some can't live with moral dilemmas, but we must. The moral dilemma is the probability of depriving an innocent of his freedom vs. the probability of the rest of these maniacs taking innocent human life. You make your best 51-49 call and live with being a moral leper with the other who are down with the 49.

So me, I make my call based on detentions being temporary and death being permanent. I have to live with that, and so does Bush. Anyone who wants to release these guys to preserve the principle of due process has to live with the deaths of who these guys kill. There is no escape from moral dilemmas. That's how this funky world works.