The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
A general category for things related to our society and how we interact with one another.
The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a U.S. war crimes law “passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions.” The changes would mean interrogators would no longer face possible prosecution for committing “outrages upon [the] personal dignity” of prisoners.
Read moreA jury on found restaurant owner Lawrence Storer not guilty of manslaughter for chasing down and killing a man who tried to rob him in 2003. Storer?s attorney John Fitzgibbons argued that he had committed an excusable homicide. Storer, testifying in his defense, told jurors that when Wilson pointed a gun at him, he was terrified of dying, and was acting in shock and instinct when he chased after him in his car. He hit Wilson, killing him on a downtown street.
Read moreBloomberg is reporting that evidence seems to indicate the NSA approached AT&T months prior to 9/11 seeking to intercept telephone calls.
Read moreI’ve let the dust settle some from the recent insistence of Congressional Republicans to throw their “base” a bone. I am referring to, of course, the recent attempt to ingrain discrimination against gay people into the Constitution.
Read moreUnfortunately, that’s a statement that will piss of a few people. It’s made by Randall Balmer, is a professor of American religious history at Barnard College. In an essay from his book, Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament, Balmer talks about how, “The leaders of the religious right have led their sheep astray from the gospel of Jesus Christ to the false gospel of neoconservative ideology and into the maw of the Republican Party.”
Read moreHere’s an MSNBC article about one of the factors that contributes to living a long life. Apparently, if you Mom is younger than 25 when you are born, it nearly doubles your chances of living past 100.
Read moreNOBODY thinks it was OK for our boys to be tortured. NOBODY thinks our torture was as bad as their torture. But some of us hold America (you know, the good guys) to a higher standard. Mr. Blowhard seems to be saying, “hey, our low grade torture of them is perfectly justified because of their high-grade torture of us!”
Read moreIn an effort to stop companies like Halliburton and its subsidiaries from cheating our troops and stealing from Americans, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), introduced S.AMDT.4230 and attached it to the Defense Authorization bill currently being debated in the Senate. The bill was intended to improve contracting “by eliminating fraud and abuse and improving competition in contracting and procurement.”
Read moreHere’s the link to an interesting MSNBC story about a Belief Net survey on people’s beliefs about hell. About 72% of us think we are not going. Only 3% of respondents think they are.
Read moreIt’s true. Two neighbors living in a apartments in a warehouse structure in St. Petersburg got into an argument. One of the men apparently went back to his apartment and got a sword; returned to the argument; and killed the other guy.
Read moreA person who seeks help for a friend, while needy himself, will be answered first. –The Talmud
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