(no subject)

Sometimes I am such a history geek. Last night I ended up recording the second half of the History Channel's "Crusades: The Crescent and the Cross", plus their special on the Knights Templar. And I'm really looking forward to watching my copy of "Kingdom of Heaven" with the historical commentary track. Maybe this weekend if I can squeeze it in, we'll see.

Mmm, also got my latest order from Arcana and I smell like a mixture of violets and blackberries today. It was wrong of me but I spent a lot of last night just sniffing stuff, and leaving the box sitting open in my living room as the entire thing smelling gorgeous. *happy sigh*

I'm glad I get a week off from cat sitting next week, I'm too easily guilted into hanging around much longer than I should by lonely kitties. That, of course, eats into my time to work on crafts and other projects. Though I was pretty efficient last night and even made some superb progress on my last big crafting project. Go me! And with just a few more odds and ends my Xmas shopping will all but be done, yay!

Speaking of which, if anybody is wondering what I'd like this year, well I'd love the gift of music. Make me mix cd's of whatever you choose and I'll be profoundly grateful. One can never have too much music...unless one is jakejr, in which case one would come perilously close ;)

Bread and circuses

This is just too disgusting for words:

Jamadi’s bruises, [a forensic pathologist who examined the case records] said, were no doubt painful, but they were not life-threatening. Baden went on, “He also had injuries to his ribs. You don’t die from broken ribs. But if he had been hung up in this way [with his hands tied behind him in a painful position known as a "Palestinian Hanging"] and had broken ribs, that’s different.” In his judgment, “asphyxia is what he died from—as in a crucifixion.”

So basically we've at least done the equivalent of crucifying one if not more Iraqi prisoners so far. But see, now it's all right 'cause they've made it legal:

The Bush Administration has resisted disclosing the contents of two Justice Department memos that established a detailed interrogation policy for the Pentagon and the C.I.A. A March, 2003, classified memo was “breathtaking,” the same source said. The document dismissed virtually all national and international laws regulating the treatment of prisoners, including war-crimes and assault statutes, and it was radical in its view that in wartime the President can fight enemies by whatever means he sees fit. According to the memo, Congress has no constitutional right to interfere with the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief, including making laws that limit the ways in which prisoners may be interrogated. Another classified Justice Department memo, issued in August, 2002, is said to authorize numerous “enhanced” interrogation techniques for the C.I.A. These two memos sanction such extreme measures that, even if the agency wanted to discipline or prosecute agents who stray beyond its own comfort level, the legal tools to do so may no longer exist.

via Hullabaloo

And this is pretty interesting too:

Cheney is seeking to persuade Congress to exempt the Central Intelligence Agency from the proposed torture ban if one is passed by both chambers.

***

Without confirming or denying the existence of such prisons, Bush said, "Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people."

He pointedly noted that Congress shares that responsibility with the administration.

"We are finding terrorists and bringing them to justice. We are gathering information about where the terrorists may be hiding. We are trying to disrupt their plots and plans. Anything we do ... to that end in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture," Bush said.

via Rising Hegemon

Well we do not torture except, you know, when we do. I don't see what Cheney's all upset about, though, I mean they've got memos that say it's totally ok to run secret prisons and torture and kill anybody deemed a terrorist (with or without any real evidence), and that Congress can't do a thing about it, so there.