tvashtarkatena

I think his tastes might have tended more towards Bitburger.

Don't like assholes? Imagine a week without one.

do you wanna see the most beautiful thing in the world dc? I saw the most beautiful thing in the world ten days ago at my youngest daughter's wedding. must...not...ruin....moment...with...crass....comments.... I'm glad I'm not the only one....

Actually, the head of our own military commissions has admitted that we've tortured just recently. I think the 'is it torture?' question has long been laid to rest, officially and unofficially. No halfway serious person has asserted that the U.S. doesn't torture people in quite a while. Now, the argument is "Sure we torture, but these people deserve it." In a truly free and humane society, does anyone 'deserve' to be treated like a lab rat? Remember Room 101? Where the worst thing in the world is? It's now one of our 'tools' for 'fighting terrorism'. We're monsters. And, because we didn't defend the values we hold most dear and profess most often in troubled times, we're also physical and moral cowards, as well as liars.

I think you've probably got some artist in you, FW....

I'm not qualified to comment....

You provide a prolific conduit for all kinds of outbursts

Visualize a world without assholes.

Warning: TR dilution in effect...

I've spent my whole life trying to overcome my unfortunate genetic makeup on a number of fronts, so I'll be skipping any festivities tomorrow.

My upbringing was disturbingly similar to Ivan's. Navy, not Army, but pretty much same same.

I'm reminded of the last time PP posted approval ratings: McCain versus Obama. Ouchpuppies.

Bitch probably just wants his 'ARMY' T shirt back. It is to laugh!

Pretentious? Moi?

PM me and I swear to...um...the FSM or something else gigantic and superpowerful that I'll keep it fully and permanently confidential. If I renig you can spread those nude pics of us at that party one time all over the web.

I know you're no Rhodes scholar, but my blood alcohol at the time must have been pushing 50% in the back of that trailer that night. At least I think it was the back of that trailer...I don't remember anything about that week. I'm sorry about that, but you've made the best of what you've got, which, considering how little that is, well, as I said, I couldn't be prouder.

I've watched you make your own way from cyberspace. Help the Lakota. Getting Lysol removed from the trading post. Become their spokesman, even. After Kevin Costner passed the torch, of course. I know I wasn't there for you, but I hope its not too late to say that I'm proud of you.

Wut er u studying?

Thou mayest protest too much, but you're fixated on me like a kindergarten crush, girlfriend. You'll have to ask your mom sometime about the true nature of our relationship. I was drunk at the time.

Another 'this is news to anybody?' post by PP. I don't think a single person in the U.S. predicted Obama's approval rating to go up as the economic crisis worsened. The President always takes the blame for the economy, regardless of causality.

Prost on Greenwood and 73rd/74th.

My IQ's over 12? I must be movin up in the world.

From the article: "On Sep 10, 2001, Marri, a citizen of Qatar, who is now 43, came to America with his family. He had a student visa, and his ostensible purpose was to study computer programming at a small university in Peoria, ILL. That Dec, he was arrested as a material witness in an investigation of the 911 attacks. However, when Marri was on the verge of standing trail in June (FROM ELSEWHERE IN THE ARTICLE: for credit card theft, bank fraud, identity theft, and lying to a federal agent...no one in the article argues that Marri has been an entirely good boy) President Bush ordered the military to seize and hold him indefinitely." In short, he was arrested on American soil while he was a legal resident of the US. LINKY TO THE ARTICLE I didn't provide it sooner cuz I wasn't aware the New Yorker had started posting most of its articles online. It didn't before.

There's an excellent article in the Feb 23 issue of the New Yorker on the detention and torture of Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, who is currently being held in a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston. LINKY TO THE ARTICLE Mr. Al-Marri, who has maintained in innocence regarding any involvement in the 911 attack through even the most gruesome torture (in contrast with the 5 detainees at Gitmo on trial who brag about theirs), has been held since 2001 without being charged with any crime. The sum total of the government's 'evidence' against Al-Marri regarding 911 consists of a mention of his name by another Al Qaeda operative who was being tortured at the time. The most touching part of the article, I thought, was this passage: "In 2005, Savage (Al-Marri's defense attorney) discovered that the head of security at the brig, Air Force Major Chris Ferry, "would stay all night with Marri. He'd go down to the brig and sit with him, and tell him to hold on. Chris was there at 3:00 in the morning on the darkest nights" again, from the article: It was the political appointees in Washington, at the Pentagon, and at the Department of Justice who wanted Al-Marri to be held in prolonged isolation. The isolation was eased when it became clear that Al-Marri was showing clear signs of psychosis. The article describes how Al-Marri was slammed against concrete walls, isolated for months at a time in a cold concrete cell with no light, nothing to do, no shoes or socks, no mattress or pillow, and only a stiff blanket (so that it cannot be made into a noose). He was put in coffin-like boxes with towels over the seems to simulate being buried alive and suffocated for prolonged periods. After years of such treatment, he was allowed two phone calls a year to his family of a wife and five children. Mr. Al-Marri asks only to tried. Apparently, some here still believe this is what our country should stand for. I don't.

...as long as you can post in it...