Monday, January 30, 2006

Do nothing Senate Dems cave again

Bad evening. The Senate won't filibuster. The spineless are spineless again. Robert Byrd stood up against the war so we're supposed to give him a pass on everything else? Spineless, spineless, spineless. And they wonder why they lose elections? Could it be because they act like losers in Congress. "Wouldn't be prudent" is a Poppy Bush slogan so why are Dems acting like it's in their codebook? It's disgusting. Spineless cowards. So that's it, we're done with them for tonight. Why? They've made them useless. Let's focus on something useful, Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!


Peace Activist Teresa Grady Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison
In a update to a story we have been following - peace activist Teresa Grady was sentenced Friday for four months in prisons for spilling her own human blood at a military recruiting station in upstate New York to protest the Iraq war. Grady and her three co-defendants, known as the St. Patricks Four, received prison sentences totaling 20 months. They were all sentenced during the same week that a military jury in Colorado decided not to jail an Army interrogator even though he was found guilty of negligent homicide in the torturing and killing of an Iraqi detainee.

Another person sent to prison and no one died because of Teresa Grady. It's funny how "justice" works these days. You get the "few bad apples" who take the blame publicly but there's not any real punishment for their actions. An interrogator killed an Iraqi. He was found guilty of it. I think as long as we pussy-foot around the issue, we're not going to get anywhere. So here's what I think: He should have gone to prison for killing someone. Did he get orders from higher up? You bet he did. Those people should be punished too. But this nonsense of "well he's the fall guy so we won't speak out that he got off" is nonsense. The man was found guilty of killing. If you can't punish those actions on the lower levels (the direct level!) then don't think you'll ever be able to get anything to stick against Bully Boy for torture. It will be, "Well, no one's served time so whether Bully Boy or Rumsfeld ordered it isn't really important." I'm not a law student, but you make a case with what you have. The case for killing an Iraqi was made, the guy was convicted of it. Now he walks.

But peace activists, who kill no one, are sent to jails and prisons. That's screwed up and the left needs to stop trying to prove how wonderful they are by not speaking out and calling this "INJUSTICE!" Say it loud, say it repeatedly. Four peaceful activists will spend 20 months in prison for protesting. One man in the military is convicted of killing an Iraqi and he will walk. That's not justice anyway you look at it.

Veteran Who Spoke Out About War's Psychological Affects Commits Suicide
In Ohio, a 35-year-old veteran of the Iraq war was buried on Saturday - a week after he committed suicide. Army Reservist Douglas Barber was a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and had publicly spoken out about the psychological toll war takes on veterans. A month before he died he appeared on Doug Basham's radio show. Barber reportedly spent two years fighting the military to get counseling and for the VA to recognize his disability. Just days before he shot himself, Douglas Barber wrote QUOTE, "We cannot stand the memories and [we] decide death is better. We kill ourselves because we are haunted by seeing children killed and families wiped out." Meanwhile a new report from UPI is estimating 19,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress since 2002. Overall 40,000 veterans from the two wars have exhibited some signs of mental health disorders.

Elaine's writing about this and I just can add to what she talked about on the phone that I think it's really sad that so many on the right and left are okay with only certain kinds of criticism of the war. When someone comes home and wants to share the way Barber did, the right condemns and some on the left recoil out of fear that they may be seen as anti-enlisted if they take part in a discussion.

I don't even want to blog tonight. I'm just not in the mood after the vote. Elaine said if that's how I feel, I should put it up here because a) it's honest and b) someone else may feel the same way and hearing that I'm down may make them see that they're not alone.

I'll be blogging tomorrow night. For those who aren't as depressed as I am, read C.I.'s "NYT: Op-ed News shows NYT how to report on polls" about "OpEdNews.Com/ Zogby People's Poll."








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