Texas Marriage Ban: Proof Bigots Are Stupid

WHEN TEXAS LEGISLATORS PASSED a law against gay marriage, following its support in a referendum, it seems that their intellect was as low as their open-mindedness. The law certainly bans gay marriage alright. But these jokers wanted to make sure that no gay could have anything vaguely resembling a marriage. No sirree Bob. NUh-uh. Nope.
Well, they certainly found the one certain way of making sure that no gay marriage slips through some tiny loophole. They including in section B of the law a clause that reads:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
The person who pointed it out, Democratic lawyer and candidate for attorney-general, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, notes that it is a "massive mistake". She wrote in an article on the Huffington Post:
"the courts are not permitted to go behind the clear language to consider intent. It doesn't take an expensive law degree to understand what this clause means."
But the right-wing dingaling attorney-general responsible for making his state look foolish (more than it already did for voting for a bigoted, retrograde law denying civil rights to a minority) is standing his ground. According to Jerry Strickland, the A-G's spokesperson:
"The Texas Constitution and the marriage statute are entirely constitutional."
The constitution is constitutional? Who gave this guy his degree? Somebody should tell him it's not the constitutionality that's a problem - it's the stupidity. And the bigotry.

Canadian Forces Promoted Torture In Afghanistan

PERENNIAL ASSHOLE STEPHEN HARPER AND HIS weaselboy sidekick, Peter MacKay, may not have figured out how to open the envelopes with briefings about how Canadian soldiers were handing over Afghans to be tortured - but at least somebody noticed and is now blowing the whistle big time.
Richard Colvin, a senior diplomat to Afghanistan for 17 months testified to a Parliamentary committee on Afghanistan that the Canadian military handed over three times as many detainees as any other country - knowing full well that they would be tortured. Former Military commander Gen. Rick Hillier called his report "bullshit" but then who would trust a guy who said that the military was in the job of killing people, not peacekeeping, on the question of protecting human rights? For his trouble Colvin got no support in trying to bring the scandal to light:

Colvin also told the committee that the government has tried to block him from testifying before a Military Police Complaints Commission hearing on detainee treatment by denying him legal representation and stopping him from accessing some of the reports he wrote while stationed in Afghanistan for 17 months in 2006 and 2007.

Of course, the Tories on the committee simply stonewalled and accused Colvin of being a dupe for the Taliban - their usual schoolyard (as in grade 1) rebuttal to anyone who criticizes their policy. Someone ought to tell these losers that their support for torture and bombing villages has done more to build the Taliban than anything else.

Afghanistan: Morale Down, US Payments To Insurgents Up

IT SHOULDN'T BE A SURPRISE TO ANYONE - especially after the massacre at Fort Hood - that soldiers in the US military are under strain. US troops have now been in Afghanistan for 8 years and have no real progress to show for it. Their commander, Gen. McChrystal, says that they're going to lose if they don't get tens of thousands more troops, and their president can't seem to make up his mind whether to follow the general's advice or not.
The conundrum of an occupation that is unravelling bit by bit is not only clear from a recent report (see video below) of Afghan insurgents over-running a US base - a common sight now that the US has abandoned rural Afghanistan. It is also painfully obvious from the recent article in The Nation magazine that revealed the US is actually paying insurgents to protect its supply trucks... from insurgents.

It is an accepted fact of the military logistics operation in Afghanistan that the US government funds the very forces American troops are fighting. And it is a deadly irony, because these funds add up to a huge amount of money for the Taliban. "It's a big part of their income," one of the top Afghan government security officials told The Nation in an interview. In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

The decomposition of US and NATO resolve and the lack of any obvious way to win against a people who have defeated more empires than perhaps any other, has inevitably infected US troop morale. As this article on ABC News reports, a US Army study has found that less than six percent of troops in Afghanistan report that their units have high morale. That's a drop from over 10 percent in 2007, itself a painfully low number. Many of these soldiers have now served two, three - and some even five - tours of duty in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan now rivals the Revolutionary War and Vietnam as the longest American war in history, but military experts say the war in Afghanistan is different in one key way.
Unlike the other long wars, this one is being fought by an all-volunteer force. That means it's the same group of people who keep going back and doing the job.

Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry said in an interview with USA Today that the US and its NATO allies will be in Afghanistan for another four or five years, meaning more tours of duty for an already tired military force. And four or five years, while a long way off, is itself unlikely, with many NATO forces, including the largest non-US forces like Canada and Britain, getting set to leave in the next year and a half. At the same time, even formerly peaceful provinces, like Kunduz have seen a rise in fighting. Much of Kunduz is now under Taliban control and NATO and US supply transport through this province - itself a diversion from the increasingly impassable Khyber Pass route from Pakistan - faces constant harassment. This is the province where German troops ordered in an air strike in September after insurgents hijacked a fuel tanker, leading to the deaths of at least 125, dozens of them civilians. The situation has deteriorated steadily since then. The world - and US soldiers and the people of Afghanistan in particular - await Obama's decision on an increase in troop deployment.

Scientology Racket Up For Torture In Australia

FAR BE IT FOR ME to judge people who want to form a church based upon the writings of a science fiction writer. After all the Mormons did it and their guy - Joe Smith - had a much less interesting name than L. Ron Hubbard. And, I'd be a hypocrite to say that Scientology's belief in, say, an alien named Xenu, who brought humans to earth billions of years ago in a bunch of DC-8s and then blew them up on the rim of a volcano - without mentioning that it sounds no less crazy than thinking a God came down, impregnated a woman in ancient Judea with his son and then let him die a horrible, mutilating death in order to free the souls of humanity.

However, not all of Christianity is organized around the brain-washed cult principle. And not all of Christianity uses torture, intimidation and forced abortion to keep its followers in line (though there is some evidence that the new anti-gay laws in Uganda - including the death penalty - received a boost earlier this year when anti-gay church groups met in Uganda to condemn homosexuality). But apparently there are people who have left the Church of Scientology in Australia who are now speaking out, leading the Prime Minister to suggest that he might open an inquiry into Scientology.

"Aaron says women who fell pregnant were taken to offices and bullied to have an abortion. If they refused, they faced demotion and hard labour," [Australian Senator] Xenophon said. "Aaron says one staff member used a coat hanger and self-aborted her child for fear of punishment."

I do want to be unfair to the Church of Scientology, however. So I will allow their most prominent spokesperson, a certain Mr. Tom Cruise, to regale you with the way, the truth and the light about Scientology. If you decide it's for you after seeing his gripping and coherent description, I'm sure you can find a location in your city or town. With any luck you'll come across a bar first. Or even a hot dog stand. You'll feel better in the long term.

Quebec's Tories Blow-Up Real Good

"Ooh, that hurts."

IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE SOMETHING MORE SATISFYING than watching  a Tory party rip itself apart. I remember when the federal Tories imploded after the failure of Meech Lake in the 90s. It did mean that we were stuck with Mr. Charisma, Preston Manning, for several years before he was summarily knifed in the interests of the unity of right-wing scum everywhere. But for those few years when Reform and the Tories were kicking the hell out of each other, with no prospect of them ever forming a government...ah, the good old days.
So, you can imagine the pleasure I felt when I read about ongoing flame-out by Quebec's very own wing of the Conservative Party, the ADQ. The ADQ, you may remember, was formed by Mario Dumont when the Quebec Liberals proved to be too small a party for his enormous head, also back around the time of Meech. For a long time the ADQ was a rump and then had an explosive breakthrough in 2007, going from around 4 seats to 41 and becoming the Official Opposition in a minority government situation. However, being largely made up of inexperienced yahoos, they quickly exposed themselves as incompetent and when Premier Charest called a snap election in 2008, they were pretty much wiped out, with Mario Dumont resigning and leaving politics to become a newscaster (one look at his hair and you won't be surprised). Nobody should feel too sorry for them, since they put up posters during that campaign that said immigrants were responsible for a decline of French in Montreal and suggested that immigration be frozen, while Quebecoises should be encouraged to have more babies. Dumont also campaigned vociferously against a course in schools to teach students about religions and cultures other than their own.
That brings us to the present. One month ago the party selected a new leader, Gilles Taillon, who won by only two votes. Vincent Marissal, from La Presse, described it as being akin to "being promoted to captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg." Pretty much right away two of the ADQ's seven sitting MNAs dropped out of the party (Conservatives are such good sports). The reason: Taillon isn't right wing enough. It gets better. Sick of the infighting, Taillon has now also resigned from the leadership and has suggested that the party was engaged in illegal funding practices and was considering calling in the cops. Nice one, Taillon, don't forget to burn down the house on your way out.
This is a big monkey wrench in the gears of the federal Conservative Party. While the ADQ weren't officially affiliated to the federal Tories, everybody knew which side their bread was buttered on. Dumont said he voted Conservative and numerous MNAs campaigned for the Conservatives in the last election. After Taillon was elected leader the ADQ announced it would cut its ties to the federal Tories. I bet Stephen Harper can hear the sound of his majority galloping away from him. Taillon is my new favourite leader of a right-wing party. 

WTF?! Anti-Violence Campaign Called "Hit The Bitch"

You have to be several varieties of stupid to come up with an anti-violence campaign in which you beat the hell out of a woman until you get the prize: a message telling you you're a "100% idiot". Clearly, somebody neglected to pass that message along to the shitburgers who generated this idea, raised the money for it and then implemented it. These folks get the Dumbasses Of The Year award for this one. Sheesh. Drop them a note and tell them that there might be, you know, a better way to oppose violence against women. Oh, feel free to be rude. (Thanks to Megan H. for pointing this out to me)

Brown's "Afghanization" Another Step Towards Defeat

BRITISH PM GORDON BROWN MADE THE announcement on Monday night that Britain was going to shift away from having a combat role in Afghanistan, starting next year. This is a very big change in attitude and is clearly a response to rising levels of disgust with the conflict in Britain. 100 British soldiers have been killed in the conflict, primarily in Helmand Province. Why is he making this announcement now? There is certainly no chance that the Afghan National Army will be ready to take over fighting by next year.
This announcement, along with President Obama's delay in announcing the expected surge of tens of thousands of US troops, is a response to growing skepticism internationally to the disaster of the AfPak strategy. Obama is facing his own pressure on Afghanistan. The California Democratic Party - the largest party in the largest state - has passed a resolution whose title is "End the US Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan."

The resolution calls for establishing "a timetable for withdrawal of our military personnel" and seeks "an end to the use of mercenary contractors as well as an end to air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties."

The California Democrats and every pundit on the planet is comparing this moment of decision to the one faced by President Lyndon Johnson when he decided to ramp up the war in Vietnam. It ultimately destroyed his domestic agenda and his presidency. With Pakistan increasingly destabilized and the insurgents controlling most of the country, President Obama could easily make the same mistake and his already shaky support - after so much enthusiasm for his election - will drop through the floor.
Obama's delay and Brown's announcement are thus intended for two audiences - the homefront and for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. They need his regime to show that it is serious about tackling corruption. And Obama needs to demonstrate that he's taking this very seriously. In fact, no doubt he is taking it seriously with both his chief of staff and his vice president opposed to increasing troop numbers. 
However, the problem they face is that no matter what they do now, it is likely just different paths to the same result: defeat. As I reported previously, if the US pulls out any time soon the Afghan Army will likely fracture and collapse in short order. But if the US pours more troops into the country, it will be a temporary surge that will lead to a dramatic rise in the number of body bags coming home and an endless stream of headlines about death in Afghanistan. And it will strain the already strained US Army to the limit. As Dahr Jamail recently reported, soldiers facing court martial for going AWOL are being pressured to accept deployment in return for charges being dropped. In addition, troops with serious health conditions are being sent back, even when doctors diagnose them as "undeployable." This can't go on forever. The best that Obama could do would be to listen to the California Democrats.

War Is Goooood For Business! Discuss

OVER AT THE DUBAI AIR SHOW things were a bit on the "tepid" side for the poor manufacturers of civilian aircraft. They clearly hadn't gotten in on the real action: war. Regional tensions and the threat of war and internal strife kept sales of supersonic death machines rolling along at a brisk pace this year. That's good news for the economy. Not so good for the people who will go hungry because the money for food was spent buying the latest Eurofighter Typhoons and perhaps a batch of F-15s, just to spread the wealth around. According to Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis things could hardly be more frothy:

"With more threats and continued tensions, you will have continued demand for new systems and new capabilities, and that is why we have seen ongoing interest in upgrading and renewing fighter fleets.” 

The Americans meanwhile, thrilled everyone with a 14 minute display of air prowess with their new F22 Raptor. But don't get your fingerprints on that jet, Sheikh, it's not for sale. The Americans were just giving it a display performance to remind you that, well, don't fuck around or they'll incinerate your ass. Well, more likely they'll incinerate your people's asses but that'll make you very, very unpopular at home. Hey, if that's what it takes to protect democracy...

"It is marketing for U.S. equipment, maybe reminding the UAE that there are alternatives to Rafale, but they are also flexing their muscles near Iran."

Which only goes to show you - even death and destruction need a good marketing team to go over well. And it looks like business is booming so if you've just gotten your layoff notice, go into heavy weaponry. It's a definite growth industry!

Nanos Poll: Only Thing Moving Are Liberals...Down

THIS POLL ON THE GLOBE AND MAIL webpage by Nik Nanos demonstrates two things: that the Tories and pretty much every party from the Bloc to the NDP is stuck in aspic in terms of support. Harper can't make the breakthrough he needs to win a majority - not unless the Bloc collapses in Quebec, an unlikely prospect. Or he has a major breakthrough in Ontario, also unlikely.
As part of the same phenomenon the chart shows that no party has caught the imagination of Canadian voters. This ought to be surprising. The recession is a doozy and people are hurting across the country. The Tories are mean, dishonest and incompetent. And yet, the NDP hasn't managed to inspire people beyond their core supporters.
The second thing confirms what I've said previously - that Ignatieff is in free fall and can't inspire anyone anywhere in any way. He has utterly destroyed the good will that was thrown his way after he was selected as Liberal Party leader. And in less than a year. Nice work, Iggy. With the recession continuing to bite deep it's possible that at some point things will break one way or the other. I hope it's to the left, though there is always a danger that without a serious fightback against the effects of the recession that people could turn to the right, towards scapegoating and surrender to the corporate agenda. But I'm certain - as long as Ignatieff is at the helm - there won't be a break towards the Liberals.

Italy's Berlusconi Losing His Marbles

SILVIO BERLUSCONI, THE ULTRA-RIGHT SCUMBAG Premier of Italy, who governs with the support of open fascists, seems to be going off the deep end. At the moment there's a lot of pressure on him with political, personal and legal problems. His parliamentary immunity has been removed, meaning he has to face trial for tax evasion and corruption. His wife is also dumping him and wants a big chunk of his vast empire for her children by him - at present it is his older children by his first marriage who are the powerbrokers. There is speculation that she could ruin him by revealing some of his dirty dealings. And he won't get much sympathy from Italian women, it seems, since his publicly sexist shenanigans have finally pissed off the womenfolk that they've taken up a petition against, him garnering 100,000 signatures in a few days, after he stated that a female political opponent was "more beautiful than intelligent." This is a guy who once suggested that women “cook on Election Day and bring that to the polling station to be examined” rather than express political views. And his overall support has been falling - though it has been so slow that one wonders what is in the Italian drinking water and whether it's been shipped there from Canada or vice versa.
It is, in any case, truly entertaining to see Berlusconi come unhinged with comments like the following:

And this weekend it emerged that Berlusconi has been avoiding his usual Rome residence because he believes he is under threat from al-Qa'ida. "I am very worried," he was quoted as saying in Italy's main daily, Corriere della Sera, and other newspapers on Sunday. "There is someone who wants to blow me up."

Or this wacky broadside attack on Italy's magistrates - that almost led to a strike by the judges - for investigating his dubious business dealings:

"The real Italian anomaly is not Silvio Berlusconi," the premier said on TV. "The Italian anomaly are communist prosecutors and communist judges in Milan who have attacked him since Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and took (political) power away from communists."

Perhaps their suspicions have arisen because of the repeated and widespread links to the mafia that have emerged over the years. Or the fact that billionaire Berlusconi controls 90% of the media, leading Freedom House to downgrade Italy's media to only "partly free" because of his political interference. Perhaps it's his acknowledged use of prostitutes for entertainment at private parties. Whatever it is, this dirtbag has a long history of nastiness and his present conundrum may be the arrival of a perfect storm that damages him fatally. With talk of an election as a result of his difficulties, we can always dream...