The Republic of T.

Testy

Well, I've just made it through all the practice questions in Barron's Pass Key to the LSAT. The result? Not surprisingly, I need some work on the logic or analytical reasoning questions. That I expected. So I'll be looking for more sources of practice questions on those.
In the meantime, I still have the practice tests to take and score, and the Kaplan book to crack open.

Here's what I'm wondering about. I'm taking the test in October of this year, giving myself as much time as I think I need to prepare for it. But I'm preparing for it on my own. Am I crazy for not taking a Kaplan prep course? I mean, I know that I can—if I walk out of the test thinking I utterly bombed—that I can cancel my scores if I need to. Right now my plan is to spend some time on preparation every day between now and the test. Is that enough? Or will I not know until I take the test and see my results.

Becoming the Enemy

By now, a lot of ink has been spilled over the story of U.S. personnel torturing and abusing prisoners in Iraq. It's stories like this that make me wonder just when people are going to realize how badly this war has been managed from the beginning.

The commander of the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been transferred to Iraq to oversee the treatment of 8,000 detainees as part of an investigation into alleged sexual and physical abuse at a U.S. Army-run prison outside Baghdad, officials said Thursday.

The officials also disclosed that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, has ordered administrative penalties against seven unnamed officers who supervised the Army Reserve military police unit that was responsible for the Abu Ghraib detention facility in November, when Iraqi prisoners allegedly were subjected to beatings and sexually degrading acts by American soldiers.

…According to sealed charging papers that were provided to The Washington Post, soldiers forced prisoners to lie in "a pyramid of naked detainees" and jumped on their prone bodies, while other detainees were ordered to strip and perform or simulate sex acts. In one case, a hooded man allegedly was made to stand on a box of MREs, or meals ready to eat, and told that he would be electrocuted if he fell off. In another example, the papers allege, a soldier unzipped a body bag and took snapshots of a detainee's frozen corpse inside.

Several times, soldiers were photographed and videotaped posing in front of humiliated inmates, according to the charges. One gave a thumbs-up sign in front of the human pyramid.

The beauty part? Abu Ghraib is one of Saddam Husseins former prisons and torture camps.

Where to begin? One prison guard is accused with raping a teenage boy held prisoner at Abu Ghraib. Of course, he is a private contractor (read mercenary), so he's immune from military justice.

Add to this story the pictures and descriptions of what's happening in Fallujah, that are being broadcast and circulated to the Arab/Muslim world.

During the first two weeks of this month, the American army committed war crimes in Falluja on a scale unprecedented for this war. According to the relatively few media reports of what took place there, some 600 Iraqis were killed during these two weeks, among them some 450 elderly people, women and children. The sight of decapitated children, the rows of dead women and the shocking pictures of the soccer stadium that was turned into a temporary grave for hundreds of the slain - all were broadcast to the world only by the Al Jazeera network. During the operation in Falluja, according to the organization Doctors Without Borders, U.S. Marines even occupied the hospitals and prevented hundreds of the wounded from receiving medical treatment. Snipers fired from the rooftops at anyone who tried to approach.

Put it all together and ask yourself if the occupation of Iraq is really helping stop terrorism or merely fanning the flames of passion that give birth to it in the first place? Sure, the actions of these prison guards is not, as the general interviewed for "60 Minutes" said, representative of the 100,000+ men and women who are serving in Iraq. But tell that to a mother whose child was killed by U.S. forces in the seige on Fallujah. Tell that to the family whose home was bombed in that same battle. Tell them that we really are better than that; that not all of us are like that, and see if they believe it.

After all, it wasn't the entire population of Fallujah that desecrated dead bodies. But they're all paying the price for it now.

Poem On Your Blog Day

With a tip o' the hat to Ronn for the idea.

As an English major in college, I loved poetry. In fact I wrote quite a lot of poetry when I was in college. Some of was good. Some not so good. But what was good, was good enough to get published in the university's undergrad literary magazine and in one national journal.

It's been years since I read or wrote any poetry. But in honor of Poem on Your Blog Day (a take of of Poem in Your Pocket Day) I thought I'd post a few favorites of mine from various sources.

Why Gay Couples Need Marriage

Via Bill and Kent.

If you want some idea of what can happen when you can't marry the person you love, read this.

This is how we live and love and die in George W. Bush's America. And make no mistake about it, people. Doing this to people who love each other is about nothing more or less than simple hatred. You can dress it up in nice talk about religion and the "foundation of our civilization," if you want, but at the end of the day it's about hating someone—and hurting someone—simply because they are different from you.

My partner and I have drawn up all the legal papers we can: wills, medical powers of attorney, advance directives. Sometimes I read stories like this and wonder if they would actually protect us if the worst happened. And then I read stories like those about the laws passed in Oklahoma and Michigan recently, and I wonder how long it will be before some hate-filled legislature in some other state passes a law that nullifies even these contracts between members of same sex couples. Then I remember, Virginia has already started down that road.

The Friday Ten

It's that time again.

1. MP3 player open.


2. Collection on random play.


3. First 10 songs listed.

1. I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good - Nina Simone
2. What I Wouldn't Give - Jimmy Scott
3. I Can't Do It Alone - Catharine Zeta Jones (Chicago Movie Soundtrack)
4. Something Happens to Me - Shirley Horn
5. The Drum (Africa to America) - Sounds of Blackness
6. The Impossible Dream - Richard Kiley (Ultimate Broadway)
7. Master and Slave - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
8. You'll Never Know - Bette Midler
9. Waltz in C# Minor - Chopin
10. Human Beat Box - The Fat Boys

*Sigh*

I've stayed out of the brouhaha about the U. Mass student who vented his spleen about the coverage of the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. I've read quite a bit about the editorial, as I'm sure many have. For that reason, I won't quote it here. You can try the link above if you want to read it, though the site is receiving more traffic than it can handle right now.

I winced, as one who is overtly anti-war, when I read some of the things this kid had to say, knowing that his ignorance would become a big sopping wet brush with which some on the right would proceed to paint the rest of us who oppose this war. Great. Just what we needed. Thank you, Rene Gonzales.

Among the things I've read in response to Mr. Gonzales' statements, The Uncivil Litigator said some things I'd like to echo.

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of our system of government knows that the individual members of our armed forces are not policy-makers. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, sole and exclusive authority over what our military does and how it does it lies with its Commander in Chief, i.e., the President of the United States. ("The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States"). Thus, when young men and women join the U.S. Army, as did Tillman, they subject themselves to a strict code of allegiance that requires them to obey, without question, the commands of their superior officers leading all the way up to the President himself.

…The President's power, given to him by our soldiers, can be abused and misused, and history has proven that. But there is a difference between attacking the President's use of his powers on one hand, and on the other attacking the individuals who sacrifice to give him--and ultimately us--those very powers to begin with. This is a critical distinction I thought our society learned to make through our experience in Viet Nam.

I've said it before, and will probably be called upon to repeat it again in the future. Being opposed to this war, and bearing antipathy towards those who are fighting it are not one and the same. As UL so eloquently states, our men and women in uniform do not make policy. They carry out the missions they are assigned from our elected leaders and/or those they appoint.

Let me be clear. As one who opposed this war before it began, protested against it, blogged against it, and continues to oppose how it has been carried out, I bear no ill will towards any of our servicemembers who have and are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. From my point of view, when they return home in caskets, with injuries, or with mental and emotional scars from what they have seen an experienced, they are victims of war too. I want each and every one of them home soon, safe, and whole.

I have no beef with any of our men and women in uniform. They are carrying out the mission they were assigned. My problem is with those who formulated such an ill-advised mission and then sent our servicemembers—with much less than was needed in terms of numbers, equipment, and training—into what is quickly becoming a quagmire with no real, forseeable end in sight.

Maybe it's me, but I think that when people are willing to put their lives on the line we owe it to them to send them into areas where realiable intelligence indicates an emminent threat, to send them in the numbers necessary to do the job, and with the training and equipment necessary to keep them as safe as possible while carrying out their mission and aid them in carrying it out. I think our servicemembers deserve better than what George W. Bush and his administration have given them.

So, I am opposed to this war—yes—and the administration that got us into it. But Mr. Gonzales does not speak for me. I daresay he does not speak for any thinking person who was and is opposed to this war and tothe current administration.

The Boondocks

This one is a must see. But be forwarned. Do not read this comic while you're drinking. The spray could be bad for your monitor.

Notes From the Cubicle

Via QueerCode.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what I just said in my last post. But, whatever.

I just thought this list was too funny not to share. It reminds me of a sign I printed out and stuck on my wall at one of my previous jobs. The sign read as follows.

You can have it FAST,
You can have it CHEAP,
Or you can have QUALITY.

Pick any two.

(I don't recall if anyone read or abided by the sign.)

Owwie

Blogging may be a little light between now and the weekend. I believe I'm starting to get a touch of carpal tunnel in my right arm. Symptoms include: pain just above my elbow that goes all the way down to my wrist, and occasional tingling and numbness in fingers. Yesterday evening after I got home, the tips of my fingers felt numb. So, it may be best to get some extended time away from the keyboard.

Of course, I said blogging would be light, not nonexistant.

Running the Numbers

Potentially bad news for Bush, at least for now; The New York Times > Washington > support for the war in Iraq is down.

After initially expressing robust backing for the war, the public is now evenly divided over whether the United States military should stay for as long as it takes to stabilize Iraq or pull out as soon as possible, the poll showed.

Asked whether the United States had done the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, 47 percent of respondents said it had, down from 58 percent a month earlier and 63 percent in December, just after American forces captured Saddam Hussein. Forty-six percent said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, up from 37 percent last month and 31 percent in December.

Meanwhile, the numbers in Iraq aren't looking so good either.

Only a third of the Iraqi people now believe that the American-led occupation of their country is doing more good than harm, and a solid majority support an immediate military pullout even though they fear that could put them in greater danger, according to a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll.

And though they acknowledge the benefits of being rid of Saddam Hussein,

But while they acknowledge benefits from dumping Saddam a year ago, Iraqis no longer see the presence of the American-led military as a plus. Asked whether they view the U.S.-led coalition as "liberators" or "occupiers," 71% of all respondents say "occupiers."

That figure reaches 81% if the separatist, pro-U.S. Kurdish minority in northern Iraq is not included. The negative characterization is just as high among the Shiite Muslims who were oppressed for decades by Saddam as it is among the Sunni Muslims who embraced him

And it seems that the only people, other thanhis base, George W. Bush has succeeded in uniting are the Iraqi people. The problem? They're united against the troops George called up to do his bidding.

Bearing the brunt of Iraqis' ill feeling: U.S. troops. The most visible symbol of the occupation, they are viewed by many Iraqis as uncaring, dangerous and lacking in respect for the country's people, religion and traditions.

The insurgents, by contrast, seem to be gaining broad acceptance, if not outright support. If the Kurds, who make up about 13% of the poll, are taken out of the equation, more than half of Iraqis say killing U.S. troops can be justified in at least some cases. But attacks against Iraqi police officers, who are U.S.-trained, are strongly condemned by the Iraqi people.

Combine this with the announcement that U.S. Marines are pulling out of Fallujah, to be replaced by former Iraqi troops, and the picture is not a pretty one.

But things are going well in Iraq, right?