RUMMY'S GETTING SUED FOR WAR CRIMES!

Check it out, people are showing the USG how justice works by suing "retired" Sec of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes. Reuters.com reports in [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-11-14T151311Z_01_L14378286_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMANY-RUMSFELD.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-politicsNews-3|a November 14, 2006 article] that:

Civil rights groups filed a suit with German prosecutors on Tuesday seeking war crimes charges against outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for alleged abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.

Sadly the article goes on:

Lawyers for the groups said they did not expect that Rumsfeld, who resigned after Democrats wrested power from the Republicans in last week's midterm elections, partly due to dismay over the Iraq war, will be locked up in a German jail. "I don't expect he'll go to jail. I think he should go to jail," Peter Weiss of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) told a public presentation of the suit. "As far as I'm concerned -- and my colleagues agree -- I would be satisfied if he spent the rest of his life in shame."

Oh YEAH, SHAME is WAY worse than jail time! Well, at least their heart is in the right place...

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JUST BECAUSE THE DEMS WON DOESN'T MEAN ALL IS GOOD

In fact, it's anything but good, since the Democrats could have raised a much bigger stink about things like impeachment, the Iraq war being for nothing (along with the deaths of all those USGIs), warrentless wiretaps, domestic spying, secret prisons and and so on. Sure, the Dems didn't have control but if they had raised a big enough stink they could have gotten a lot of attention. Instead, they, for the most part, just played the lapdogs and let Bush and Friends get away with whatever they wanted. Now, I think I know why they did this and it's not because they're lazy, spineless people. It's because they liked the power they saw the Republicans abusing and decided they'd want the same power when they were once again in charge. So they said little, did nothing and will continue that trend. Why do you think [http://thepete.com/impeachment-isnt-revenge/|Palosi has said as much?] It's because it's their turn to have the power. I hope I'm wrong--really I do. Time will tell and if we start hearing impeachment talk sometime before the Dems take control in January, I will happily retract the theory I put forth above. But no impeachment of Bush and they're just protecting the precedent (not the president--Al Gore gave up that job long ago ;) ). By establishing that you can break all the laws Bush has and invade countries illegally, this pretty much sets up the Dems to have the same abilities. When President Hillary Clinton orders the invasion of Syria in 2009 because they've got WMD, no one will bat an eye. Well, sure, plenty of us will bat our eyes, but if we open our mouths we'll get labeled enemy combatants, thrown in Gitmo without our right to challenge detention. If you're even thinking about getting involved, please do it. Email your senators and congresspeople. Tell them what you think, even if you disagree with me. Tell them to follow the law and go after the people who break the law, regardless of the fact that their mailing address might be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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IRAN TV: US CLOSE TO AIR STRIKES?

Over the weekend www.AFP.com reported that Iranian news had broadcast footage shot from an Iranian spy plane. The footage was of an American Navy aircraft carrier in the Gulf--and it was clearly stuffed to the gills and looking very threatening. Check out a screengrab I snagged off of [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/11/061111210706.9ddls4rg.html|the November 11, 2006 AFP article] at the oddly named news site Breitbart.com :

See that big plane toward the center of the picture? I believe that's a surveillance aircraft. You can sort of make out the disc that's you see on some surveillance aircraft--see the Navy's P3-B below:

To me this aircraft on deck (and all the other smaller fighters on deck) could mean two things: 1) Training exercises. 2) They're planning air strikes. Why else would you need a surveillance aircraft?

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BABEL (2006)

Positive Experience/Entertaining? INCREDIBLY SO. However, this is a very thoughtful, thought-provoking film and I think that it may not be everyone's cup of tea. To be blunt, you've got to be willing to think and follow along--there are no explosions in this movie. There is some gunplay, though, so the masses might enjoy the film for that reason.
Technically any good? Unbelievably solid. Writing, directing, acting, cinematography, everything is spot on in this film. Sure there are one or two tiny things I'd have done differently, but over all this film does so much I couldn't help but fall in love with it. It's inventive, clever (without being "clever") and says a LOT about humanity.
How did it leave me feeling? Moved and genuinely happy. This film is easily one of the best movies of 2006 in my mind. Not to over-hype it, but I was so impressed that I think it might be one of my all time favorite films. I catch it again on DVD to make sure.
Final Rating? GSN - Go See Now - This is a thinking person's movie, but it's brilliant. GO SEE IT!!

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NICE, EVEN HANDED COVERAGE FROM THE CABLE NEWS

So, CNN had on Bay Buchanan (conservative) while CNN.com left up a picture of the Clintons (Democrats) smiling on their main page for hours. Then, MSNBC has conservative Joe Scarborough hosting their coverage during the afternoon while MSNBC.com has "POLLING PROBLEMS" as their main headline. Niiiice and balanced!

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IT HAS BEGUN!

Well, overslept a bit today (what? I'm taking the day off!) and woke to discover absolutely nothing exciting so far. Seems there have been some voting irregularities, but that's about it. I'm looking into what those are and I'll post more once I know. Haven't voted yet myself, but will in about an hour or so. Gotta love CNN--they just had on Bay Buchanan--one of the more extreme conservatives out there. I guess Fox News already had their dance card filled for the day.

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VIRGINIA VOTER INTIMIDATION?

Hey, here's some GREAT news! /sarcasm Turns out the FBI is now investigating possible cases of voter intimidation. MSNBC.com is [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15603344/|reporting] that:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the possibility of voter intimidation in the hard-fought U.S. Senate race between Sen. George Allen, a Republican, and Democratic challenger James Webb, officials told NBC News.

That's the "Macaca Vs. Porn Novel" race, in case you can't remember who Allen and Webb were. Here's more from the article:

State officials alerted the Justice Department on Tuesday to several complaints of suspicious phone calls to voters who attempted to misdirect or confuse them about election day, Jean Jensen, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, told NBC’s David Shuster. Jensen told NBC that she had been contacted by FBI agents. The FBI in Richmond refused to comment. State Democratic Party counsel Jay Myerson said in a written statement issued by the Webb campaign that he believed Republicans are behind an orchestrated effort to suppress votes for the Democratic challenger.

YOU DON'T SAY! Republicans behind attempts to suppress Democrat votes??? I CAN'T IMAGINE!

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The Exit Poll and Actual Poll Results are Coming In!

And boy are they confusing. CNN and MSNBC are jumping all over the place--one second reporting on governors races, the next senators, the next governors and then to house elections. I can't really tell how anyone is doing. I think I remember seeing more blue winners than red, but I can't be sure. God forbid the bloody media could put up a simple chart and run down the list of winners/losers in an orderly fashion. Sheesh...

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CNN/DOBBS: MANY POLLS IN OHIO OPEN UNTIL 10pm

Turns out Ohio (the home of the Diebold computer ballot machines) has had massive problems with their machines across (I think Dobbs said) something like 15 counties. As a result they've decided they have to keep the polls open until 10pm local time. Dobbs' guest, Warren Stewart of VoteTrustUSA, said that he thinks the reports we're already seeing is just the tip of the iceberg--that there are a lot more problems going on that have yet to come to light.

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PLENTY OF WARNING ON E VOTING PROBLEMS

As reports of problems with e-voting/black box voting/computerize ballot boxes come rolling in from around the United States I thought it would be a good idea to point out just a handful of the obvious warnings we've had that these machines are bad news. [http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/24/rolling-stone-interviews-a-diebold-whistleblower/|Rolling Stone interviews a Diebold whistleblower] (source: Engadget.com) [http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/05/diebold-sez-glitch-free-just-dont-touch-those-touchscreens/|Diebold sez "glitch-free," just don't touch those touchscreens] (source: Engadget.com) [http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/30/florida-diebold-machines-help-you-pick-the-right-candidate/|Florida Diebold machines help you pick the right candidate] (source: Engadget.com) [http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/31/dutch-pull-10-of-their-voting-machines-more-to-come/|Dutch pull 10% of their voting machines, more to come?] (source: Engadget.com) [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061101-8131.html|Primary and early e-voting problems point to gathering storm] (source: ArsTechnica.com) Oh yeah and [http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/06/2132216&from=rss|this post] got slashdotted--turns out HBO's documentary Hacking Democracy is available in it's entirety at video.Google.com. You can [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7236791207107726851&sourceid=docidfeed&hl=en-CA|watch it there] or even download it to play it on your computer, iPod or PSP.

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