Spreading freedom

Most likely you are not wondering what happened to the release of the additional Abu Ghraib torture photos and videos but if you are then follow these links to Kos for an explanation and some sickening descriptions of what they contain. Here and here.

Legal lynching

Keeping religion out of politics is always a good idea. Too bad it’s an idea that may not be realized much longer.

In Iran, where politics and religion are the same, they hung two boys for homosexual acts. Go to this post at Talk Left and follow the links.

Miller blast from the past

For those who missed it or forgot it and for those who think Judy Miller is a journalist here's a link to Ed Said's review of her book:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=19960812&s=said

From a few paragraphs into the review:

...Writing about any other part of the world, Miller would be considered woefully unqualified. She tells us that she has been involved with the Middle East for twenty-five years, yet she has little knowledge of either Arabic or Persian. It would be impossible to be taken seriously as a reporter or expert on Russia, France, Germany or Latin America, perhaps even China or Japan, without knowing the requisite languages, but for "Islam," linguistic knowledge is unnecessary since what one is dealing with is considered to be a psychological deformation, not a "real" culture or religion.

What of her political and historical information? Each of the ten country chapters (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan) begins with an anecdote and moves immediately to a potted history that reflects not much more than the work of a name-dropping college sophomore. Cobbled up out of various, not always reliable authorities (her pages of footnotes are tainted by her ignorance, whether because she can only cite the sources she already knows she wants in English, or because she quotes only authorities whose views correspond to hers, thereby closing out an entire library by Muslims, Arabs and non-Orientalist scholars), these histories are meant principally to display her command of the material, but actually expose her lamentable prejudices and failures of comprehension. ...

Roberts

Roberts is a great litmus test. Show people one of the photos of Roberts being posted around and if they say “looks like a bigoted, right wing, hypocritical nutcase to me” you know they’ve got their perceptions and politics in correct alignment. If they say “what a fine looking, clean cut man” clam up immediately, excuse yourself and slip out the door.

Cheney/Miller

The more Rovegate unfolds the more it looks like a smaller piece in the puzzle than the more important Cheney/Miller connection. Check out Talk Left's exploration of the winding paths from Cheney/Miller to the headlines the Plame leak may have taken.

It could be that Rove and Novak have concocted a story that will pretty well cover Rove. If Rove is covered it makes perfect sense that Cheney and his hoods are delighted to let him divert attention from Cheney. The real shit storm could be unleashed if Miller ever testifies to what actually occurred. Of course she will not give it up because her story probably goes right to the VP and because her shameful story reveals her to be more Republican operative than journalist.