Just In Time For Body-Bag Day

A diary on DailyKos that is guaranteed to piss off just about everyone but the Dalai Lama himself.

(Oh, you're already full up with piss? Well then, sorry about that. Pass it along to someone who needs it more than you do.)

Somebody Please Tell Me This Is A Joke

A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.

[...] "We find that evidence of appellant's Internet use and the existence of an encryption program on his computer was at least somewhat relevant to the state's case against him," Judge R.A. Randall wrote in an opinion dated May 3.

Randall favorably cited testimony given by retired police officer Brooke Schaub, who prepared a computer forensics report--called an EnCase Report--for the prosecution. Schaub testified that PGP "can basically encrypt any file" and "other than the National Security Agency," nobody could break it.

The court didn't say that police had unearthed any encrypted files or how it would view the use of standard software like OS X's FileVault. [...]

The original case was, of course, an Internet child-porn conviction. So now, just because I have a copy of PGP on my computer, which I installed for legitimate business purposes, a court can argue that it's evidence of my criminal intent.

If they're going to call me a criminal just for doing my job, then I might as well become a professional criminal.

Return Of The Five O'Clock Follies

Via Bernhard, over at Moon of Alabama, the excellent complement to Billmon's Whiskey Bar, we learn today that American military officials are, once again, in the business of reporting inflated body counts to the press.

His post is just so fscking excellent that I have to reprint it verbatim here. Sue me.

"We don't do body counts," Gen. Tommy Franks said.

That has changed ...

Juan Cole wrote this morning:

The remarkable thing about the operation was the claim by the US to have killed 100 guerrillas, a new move in the propaganda wars. ... The problem with giving out such numbers, however, is that sooner or later there will be another scandal.

We did not have to wait long for the obvious scandal to unfold.

James Janega, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune embedded with US troops in western Iraq, reports form the combat zone:

Though military commanders in Baghdad announced that 100 insurgent fighters were killed in the early fighting, along with three Marines, [Col. Stephen] Davis' [, commander of Marine Regimental Combat Team 2, responsible for this rugged corner of Anbar province near the Syrian border], figures were lower. He said "a couple of dozen" insurgents had been killed in Ubaydi, about 10 at another river crossing near Al Qaim, and several who were killed by air strikes north of the river.

Apparently Colonel Davis did not get the brief from Central Disinformation Command,  Baghdad, that was distributed via the Associated Press. But the Main Stream Media did get it, and swallowed its content - as usual - hook, line and sinker:

Wapo: Marines Kill 100 Fighters In Sanctuary Near Syria,
NYT: 100 Rebels Killed in U.S. Offensive in Western Iraq,
Boston Globe: US kills 100 militants in Iraq offensive,
Guardian: U.S. Attack in Iraq Kills 100 Insurgents,
CBS News: U.S.: 100 Militants Killed In Iraq,
NPR: U.S. Offensive Kills 100 Insurgents in Iraq,
Indianapolis Star: U.S. assault leaves 100 militants dead,
ABC News: U.S. Attack in Iraq Kills 100 Insurgents,
Washington Times: Major U.S. attack kills up to 100,
SF Chronicle: U.S. Attack in Iraq Kills 100 Insurgents,
St.Petersburg Times: U.S. raids in Iraq kill 100 militants,
NY Post: TROOPS KILL 100 ZARQAWI GOONS,
Pakistan Tribune: US forces kill 100 militants near Syrian border,
CNN: U.S.: 100 insurgents killed near Iraq-Syria border,
Muslim American Society: U.S. Kills 100 in Iraq Offensive, 
Gulf Daily News: 100 rebels die in US offensive",
South Coast Today: U.S. corners al-Zarqawi followers 100 militants killed in sweep

"And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn! Next stop, Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates.
Ain't no time to wonder why. Yippie! We're all gonna die!"
    --Country Joe and the Fish.

So I was checking out the New Ariania Huffington Blog, and I stumbled across a post by Jim Lampley, a sportswriter and TV journalists who works for the Networks. Now, typically, I despise all Television "journalists" , although my true burning hatred is reserved for local Television newscasters and the evil they do everday. But I like a few, and Lamps is one of them. He is a frequent guest on Jim Romes radio show, and is an erudite, articulate guest with a real take. My estimation of Lampley increased enormously with a blast on the Huffington blog about the theft of the election. Check out the whole thing. Here is a taste:

Karl Rove isn't capable of conceiving and executing such a grandiose crime? Wake up. They did it. The silence of traditional media on this subject is enough to establish their newfound bankruptcy. The revolution will have to start here. I challenge every other thinker at the Huffington Post: is there any greater imperative than to reverse this crime and reestablish democracy in America? Why the mass silence? Let's go to work with the circumstantial evidence, begin to narrow from the outside in, and find some witnesses who will turn. That's how they cracked Watergate. This is bigger, and I never dreamed I would say that in my baby boomer lifetime.

Are you a Republican? Fess up hippie!

Ever wondered if you have scrubbed the last dirty vestiges of the GOP out of your system. Take the test and determine how much of you is a Republican. My result was:

2% Republican. You are a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)

Now..all I need to do is get the last 2% out..hmmmm......

Can We Say The Word "Impeachment" Yet?

Sometimes, you really should click on the links in that Buzzflash box in the rightmost column down the page a bit. Greg Palast has launched another rocket from his underground bunker.

Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it.

The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Read that again: "The intelligence and facts were being fixed...."

[...]

He writes another three hundred words or so of white hot screed, and concludes with one of the most wry quips I've seen in a long time.

My friend Daniel Ellsberg once said that what's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about Americans is that it's so easy to do.

Yeah. Once again, I have to ask: can we say the word "impeachment" yet?

Why does everyone look at me like I'm invoking the curse of an ancient Welsh dæmonic power when I propose that perhaps an independent prosecutor should be appointed to investigate whether President Bush committed a High Crime in ordering the invasion of Iraq on a fraudulent basis?

Now For Some More Bad News... Ready?

Via Ian Welsh at BOP News, we learn that some hospitals in Colorado are now giving female rape victims ovulation tests before they decide whether to mention the option of emergency contraception. Read about it here [The Denver Post].

Hey, look— I'm really sorry if all this reproductive health politics stuff gives you the squickies. However, I can't say when I'm gonna hit my tolerance limit and just go dark on the subject— just like I have gone dark on a whole host of other subjects.