Making a Killing: Reflections on Saddam's Exeuction

I've cobbled together my thoughts on Saddam Hussein's execution, the article is also posted on over on blogcritics.

What do I know about international relations? I’m no man of the world. I’m not cunning like Richard Perle. I don’t pretend to know anything about the required ingredients for international "democratic reform", like so many involved in that budging cottage industry. I have my own, mundane problems to solve.

Still, there’s Saddam Hussein’s execution, weighing on my mind. And, I suppose, it should be since so many of my tax dollars have gone to see it through; since so many of my fellow Americans have died to enact this justice. For what it has cost us all, directly or indirectly, Saddam's execution calls us all to reflection.

The dictator’s eerie resemblance to my own father aside, I have misgivings about our heavy hand in this sad chapter of world history. We selected and invaded a country. With one hand we put its ruler on trial, and with another we attempted to rebuild what was broken. Such an idea is beyond the fiction any wild-eyed writer could ever hope to dream. Yet this is our reality, and it should be considered carefully.

There’s no arguing that Saddam was a tyrant. But there are a lot of tyrant dictators holding sway over countries; some, obviously, much more dangerous than Hussein. Why did we chose him and not another leader? Asking hard questions is one thing, but the answers are far more disconcerting. Saddam was selected because he was a deemed a threat to our country, for his stockpile of WMDs and his ties with terrorism. Thus, the man had to be destroyed, and a blow would be dealt to terrorism, and reform would begin in the region.

Only one of those things has happened. And our initial reasons for toppling Saddam proved to be entirely inaccurate: he had no weapons of mass destruction (the ones we had sold him he had already used). He was no threat to America; he also had no loyalty to terrorists. He may have been an evil man, hardly exceptional, but he was also quite innocuous. It is not that he did not deserve justice, what bothers me is the manner in which we extracted it and the delusion that we have accomplished something positive.

There can be little satisfaction in breaking into a man’s home, dragging him into the street, and lynching him, while the rest of the neighborhood watches horrified. Even if that man was evil. Especially after our reasons for dragging him into the street proved false. In that story, which agent commits the greater evil? In World War Two we fought two empires at the same time. Today we destroy crippled countries, preemptively. We wonder why, in that reality, so many rule absolutely, and clamor to acquire a nuclear deterrent. It was not Iran we invaded. Not North Korea. But Iraq, the one with no real deterrent. I have no doubt the rest of the world has gotten the message.

And was this the embodiment of civilized justice or a blistering repayment? As the rope was put around his neck Saddam was mocked by his executioners. Is that justice or vengeance? What started as a spectacle in shock and awe ends in the spectacle of execution. When the video hit YouTube it was an explosion in sadistic voyeurism. And why not? This whole endeavor, of course, has been, not in the least, to satisfy our blood-lust. The public wanted a crucifixion and it got one. Now that we have extracted repayment for 9/11 will we leave Iraq?

We will see where the priorities lie now, but with Saddam dead I feel our idealism for Iraq much deflated. This thing, for all intents and purposes, is over. Saddam's blood is on my hands, but the mess is for someone else to clean up.

Which Fantasy Archtype Are You?

Everyone loved the Superhero finder I posted, so here's another. Hey, it's Friday!

What Fantasy Archetype Are you?
The Unlikely Hero You are the Unlikely Hero! Others like you are Frodo (Lord of The Rings), Young Aurthur (arthurian Legend), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Peter/Susan/Edmund/Lucy (Narnia), Richard Mayhew (Neverwhere), Harry Potter (Harry Potter) and Richard Cypher (Wizard's first Rule). You were happy to just live out your life as a peaceful schoolboy/farmer/wood's guide. But alas, greatness was thrust upon you. Don't let the hordes of The Totally Wicked Villain get you down, you have your Seasoned Veteran Friend to protect you and you almost always end up with the Pillar-of-Strength Love interest. Heed you Mentor well and keep your chin up, hero! You are simple, humble and kind but possess great potential for truly inspirational heroism, bravery and strength in dark times.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Well, that proves it! To quote, "You were happy to just live out your life as a peaceful schoolboy/farmer/wood's guide. But alas, greatness was thrust upon you." Yeah, that's the ticket...

Food For Thought

Here's a post that might actually be useful (I try, sometimes). The good people at wiseGeek have compiled pictures of different foods that each represent 200 calories.

Some foods have significantly more calories than others but what does the difference actually look like. Each of the photographs below represents 200 calories of the particular type of food; the images are sorted from low to high calorie density.

Very interesting and simple to grasp. You want to consume more grams per calorie. So for a snack you could munch on 1425 grams of celery, or 33 grams of nuts. Check it out.

Power Shift: Cindy Sheenhan Arrives, Dem Cut and Run?

The liberals have created a monster in Cindy Sheehan. It's not that I don't feel terrible for her, I do. I think it's terrible that one life should be lost in Iraq. Still, and I say this with much humility, she is an excellent example of why people should have a full-time job rather than be funded by extremists. She has gone plaid, showing up at-will disrupting the high-profile events of her choosing, probably doing more harm than good at this point. That said, I think it's very amusing that no one can stop her.

Today, Iraq war protesters, led by Sheehan, broke up a press conference by House Democrats on Wednesday with chants to bring American troops home from Iraq. Chanting "de-escalate, investigate, troops home now," the protesters disrupted a briefing aimed at outlining priority goals when Democrats take over the House and Senate on Thursday.

First of all, I have to give credit out (sincerely) to MsUnderestimated, a conservative blog which led with the headline: Dems Cut & Run…Then Mother Sheehan Takes the Stage (VIDEO). Come on, that's a good headline. Secondly, that Fox News shot of Sheehan at the podium with "Power Shift" under her name, that's priceless. This whole thing is just pretty damn funny.

I really do encourage you to read the whole story right here.

Thomas Jefferson's religious quotes

• "I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others."
  
  
• "I have examined all the known superstitions of the world and I do not find
  in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They
  are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men,
  women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been
  burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this
  coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to
  support roguery and error all over the earth."
  
  
• "Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on
  man...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the
  teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and imposters led by Paul, the
  first great corrupter of the teachings of Jesus."
  
  
• "They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion."
  - On members of the clergy who sought to establish some form of "official" Christianity in the U.S. government. Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush (September 23, 1800)
  
  
• "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
  -Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT. (Jan. 1, 1802) This statement is the origin of the often used phrase "separation of Church and State".
  
  
• "I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent."
  
  
• "I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another."
  
  
• "The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for
  enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a
  contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy in fact,
  constitute the real Anti-Christ."
  
  
• "He who steadily observes the moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven as to the dogmas in which they all differ."
  
  
• "Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus. He who follows this steadily need not, I think, be uneasy, although he cannot comprehend the subtleties and mysteries erected on his doctrines by those who, calling themselves his special followers and favorites, would make him come into the world to lay snares for all understandings but theirs."
  
  
• "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
  
  
• "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
  
  
• "If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ...Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God."
  
  
• "Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to our god alone. I enquire after no man's and trouble none with mine; nor is it given to us in this life to know whether yours or mine, our friend's or our foe's, are exactly the right."
  
  
• "It is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read. By the same test the world must judge me. But this does not satisfy the priesthood. They must have a positive, a declared assent to all their interested absurdities. My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest."
  

(all quotes from Wikiquote)

To Jefferson religion was a private matter that only needed to be personified by how a man lived. Actions were what mattered. And, in that sense, Jefferson saw the church's history as a sad indictment. For him, America should be a place where people could worship freely and not be discriminated against based on religion. And, ironically, freeing both the people to worship and the religion from government augmented both. Religious freedom is mutually beneficial for both sides.

I think Jefferson would be pleased by Keith Ellison's decision to use the Koran during his induction to Congress. Not because of the symbolism, but because of the sincerity, and the freedom that allowed it to happen with integrity. I find it hard to believe the same state produced a leader like Thomas Jefferson, and a man like Virgil Goode. They come from different times, I suppose. Jefferson from the age of reason. Goode from an age of fear.

Pat Robertson Keeping God's Line Busy

While millions are desperately trying to get God to speak to them, feverishly seeking some sign that He does indeed exist in a world of abused children, horrible disease, and Virgil Goode, the Man Upstairs has been taking time to whisper predictions to everyone's favorite lunatic.

Pat Robertson is following up his failed 2006 prediction that major storms, or, perhaps, a hurricane, would hit the United States coast, by letting us know that God has notified him that a major terrorist attack could occur in America sometime after September this year.

"I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."

Robertson said God told him about the impending tragedy during a recent prayer retreat.

God also said, he claims, that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.

Robertson is known for his yearly, often outlandish predictions.

In 2005 he predicted that terrorism would begin to falter and that Bush's second term would be one of triumph.

In 2004 he predicted, correctly, that Fantasia Barrino would win American Idol.

The Virgil Goode American Entrence Exam (abridged)

For administrative use only. The Virgil Goode Citizenship exam can also be used in-place of any job application, loan application, or national security questionnaire.


Dear immigrant, please answer the following questions as carefully as you can.

1. My (first and last) name is: _________ . If your name does not fit on that line please subtract 5 points.


2. My country of origin is:

A. Canada or England (5 points)
B. Some other Western country (2 points)
C. Some other country (-5 points)


3. Is English your native language?

A. Yes (5 points)
B. No (-5 points)


4. My skin color is:

A. White (5 points)
B. Other (-5 points)


5. I would describe America as:

A. A country founded on the right of freedom and equality--essential human rights which allow for self-determination, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. (-5 points)
B. A nation God blessed for being faithful (5 points)


6. "All men are created equal" means:

A. All people are inherently equal and should be treated as such (-5 points)
B. Some people are more equal than others (5 points)


7. My belief about the 10 Commandments is:

A. I am Christian and the 10 Commandments are framed on my wall (5 points)
B. I do not care about the 10 Commandments (0 points)
B. I believe Moses was a great prophet of God, and my belief system calls me to apply the principles of the 10 Commandments to my life. This is in alignment with my Muslim faith. (-5 points)


8. My view of religion is:

A. It is a private and personal matter and certainly should not be criteria for granting immigration to a country founded on freedom of religion (-5 points)
B. A person's religion can tell us almost everything we need to know about that person (5 points)


9. I believe the 1st amendment says:

A. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (-5 points).
B. Some stuff about Jesusland (5 points)


10. The requirements to serve in the House of Representatives are:

A. In order to be a member of the House of Representatives, you have to be at least 25 years old and you have to have been a citizen of the U.S. for at least seven years. (-5 points)
B. In order to be a member of the House of Representatives you must be white, Christian, and use every tool at your disposal to ensure America remains mostly white and Christian. (5 points)


Thank you, potential citizen. Now, please tally up your score and hand in your paper to the clerk who will then shred your test and decide whether or not you should be a citizen based solely on how you look.

God Bless.

*please see our security guard

A Congressman's Strained Attempt at Logic

No one really expects too much out of a congressman these days, especially a member of the House of Representatives. But after Virgil Goode's dramatic self-unveiling as a stolid bigot the bar was lowered even more. Rather than easing tensions, say in the vein of former President Gerald Ford, Mr. Goode has now attempted some sort of explanation for his words, in the form of an open letter to USA Today. The result is a painful stab at logic that only Joseph McCarthy could love.

The first thing Mr. Goode attempts to do is erase any idea that he may be bigoted. "My letter did not call for a religious test for prospective members of Congress, as some have charged," he writes. You see, Mr. Goode is not bigoted in the same way millions of people are not racist. He calls for no test, no governmental controls, no overt segregation. It's just that, well, he's uneasy....

"Immigration is arguably the most important issue facing the country today. At least 12 million immigrants are here illegally," he says. That fact is coupled with, "Diversity visas, a program initiated in 1990 to grant visas to people from countries that had low U.S. immigration at that time, are bringing in 50,000 a year from various parts of the world, including the Middle East."

A) Immigration is an important issue. B) For example we have 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. C) Did you know 50,000 people are coming in, some of them from the middle east, on diversity visas? D) Obviously those people are part of the problem and must be stopped.

In other words: to help solve for A we have to fix C by doing D. Ah, the gears are really turning in Mr. Goode's head. But wait, C is neither related to A nor B. You're led to think that diversity visas are related to the aforementioned immigration problem. Unfortunately, diversity visas issue green cards which are perfectly legal. You may remember this type of obtuse parallelism from any speech the White House ever gave about Iraq. A) Terrorism is evil. B) 9/11 is the result of terrorism. C) Iraq is evil. D) we need to invade Iraq to prevent another 9/11.

What we learned in Iraq is that when problem A and problem B are unrelated solving problem B does not also solve problem A. Mr. Goode has not received this memo. It is no secret that this country has a hard time with math and science but I think even this seems within the grasp of a congressman. But perhaps Mr. Goode is much more interested in keeping non-Christians out of congress than he is about solving any immigration problem.

"I believe that if we do not stop illegal immigration totally, reduce legal immigration and end diversity visas, we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to infiltration by those who want to mold the United States into the image of their religion, rather than working within the Judeo-Christian principles that have made us a beacon for freedom-loving persons around the world."

This is the part where the wheels come off. He's saying we should attempt to stop people from molding the United States into the image of their religion, by keeping those people out of the country, so that the United States can be further molded into a Judeo-Christian image. Yes, let's prevent Islam from possibly hijacking the country by surrendering it to Christianity. Wonderful idea. I understand he's just a congressman but what kind of logic is that?

All of this really smacks of McCarthyism. And all of this is really the result of Keith Ellison, a Muslim from Minnesota being elected to congress. Ellison's election, and announcement that he will use the Quran at his swearing in ceremony, should have been a showcase for the American ideal that all men are created equal and have an equal chance in this country. Instead, people like Virgil Goode have seized it to personify their own fears an insecurities. What comes out is not the embracing of the high and difficult ideals of our Republic, but a warped and frustrated discharge served to you with a little logic and an American flag.

Don't believe me? Read the letter for yourself.

Which Super Hero Are You?

Your results:

You are Spider-Man

You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Saddam Execution Video Dominates YouTube