one hold out for humanity, another useless "bargain", and the non-vietnam...

when I was a kid I panicked for awhile and started double checking the doors at night. there had been a nasty hold-up of a browns chicken in the town next door that left those unfortunate souls who were working that night executed. with nobody getting arrested, and me being a young kid, I worried. well, they finally caught the guys (last year I think) when one of their old girlfriends came forward with information. after a confession a trial of one went forward with the state of illinois seeking death. with the horrific details, and the age-old american love for a good execution, this one seemed like it was destined to test the moratorium on executions in the state...but for one hold out. one of the jury members apparently recognized what most of the civilized world already has...killing people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong is just plain idiotic...especially when the crime was committed when the defendant was all of 18 years old. with this verdict, capital punishment in illinois may effectively be put to an end...because if they couldn't get it there, it ain't going to happen in other cases. whoever that juror was...for all of humanity, thank you.

trent lott is calling for passage of the "grand bargain" that is the latest draft of the immigration bill. he claims we cannot just do nothing...because we are in crisis. unfortunately...sometimes doing something isn't the best way to go. just look at no child left behind...yea, at least they tried something, but they so fucked up education that our children are becoming drones incapable of critical thought. just as now, destroying families and creating a legal under-class of citizens isn't going to help anything...it won't change a damn thing, except that employers will get a pass on treating immigrants like shit. which makes you wonder who really is behind this bill. either way...I don't trust compromises in government anymore...they tend to legitimize the immoral...just ask folks south of the mason-dixon line.

the boy king is on the attack to his critics. iraq, he says, is nothing like vietnam. because see, in iraq they have the desire and capability to hit us at home, the vietnamese did not. (an interesting quasi-admission that our venture in vietnam was horribly imperialistic and violative of self-determination). and just as always, whenever this fool opens his mouth his ignorance becomes increasingly clear. the story now: if we don't fight them in iraq we will fight them here...which is why we needed to draw them to iraq by toppling the only regime that has ever been able to hold the place together and keep it from turning into a haven for international militant groups. the story then: if we don't fight them in vietnam we will wake up tomorrow and find california has been overrun by the reds...if we don't fight them over there, we will be fighting them in our cities. so no...it is nothing like vietnam...countless dead civilians, attrocities committed under our flag, the horrible destruction of modern warfare against a people using macgyver methods, mounting american casualties and disenchantment at home and within the military...nothing like vietnam...not at all.

you can count on me to split...