Is it or isn't it?

Is a pre-emptive "war" against a sovereign nation that is no threat to you a war crime or is it not? Are torture and secret renditions war crimes or not? Is hiding prisoners from the Red Cross a war crime or not? Etc., etc. for a number of the other sordid facts associated with the Iraq disaster. I say Bush/Cheney are guilty of these things. I say they are war crimes and will remain so no matter what the U.N. or anyone else now wants to claim or pretend. I did not know that "assistance mission" was a term used by the U.N. Whether it is or is not, when applied to the current situation in Iraq it is just another shameless euphemism like "collateral damage." The only assistance involved at the moment seems to be assisting their civil war and assisting some in their so-called government to con the rest into giving up their oil. I am flattered to be considered in the same group with Noam Chomsky.

So what is the outcome of the long anticipated Petraeus/Crocker report? Nothing. We are exactly where we were when we started. "Stay the course," Bush's sole plan for Iraq is just like it always has been. Petraeus's claim that he wrote the report and didn't show it to anyone beforehand is an obvious crock and Crocker basically admitted that he doesn't have the slightest idea where this is all going or where, if ever, it will end. A complete waste of three days. But what does it matter, Congress wouldn't have accomplished much of anything anyway as it's not yet time for them to vote themselves another raise.

Senator Dodd came out for the decriminilization of marijuana. Hooray! Another faint glimmer of common sense and hope in the sea of idiocy that surrounds our dismally failed "war on drugs." Drug abuse is a medical problem in spite of the attempt to convert it into a political problem and thereby ruin thousands of lives in the process. There do seem to be increasing numbers of influential people coming out in favor of legalization, but certainly don't hold your breath. Common sense and reality don't seem to be much in fashion in these nightmare years of the 21st century.

We still have our skunk. I have learned it's good to have a skunk. Far be it from me to harm the gorgeous little critter, but I think our elegant little kitten, Katie, may be falling in love with him. Watch out Katie, he may break your heart.

LKBIQ:
"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
Bertrand Russell