JABbering Stooge

Let the self-flagellation begin. Newsweek has retracted its May 9th article on the desecration of the Qu’ran at Guantanamo Bay.

I think Keith Olbermann’s commentary on the subject stands on its own.

Now, let’s recap the places where the infamous "Qu’ran in the toilet" story or something similar has been reported:

• Neil A. Lewis and Eric Schmitt, "Inquiry Finds Abuses at Guantanamo Bay," New York Times, May 1, 2005
• James Meek, "The People the Law Forgot," UK Guardian, Dec. 3, 2003
• Rosa Prince and Gary Jones, "My Hell in Camp X-Ray," Daily Mirror, March 12, 2004
• Marc Kaufman and April Witt, "Out of Legal Limbo, Some Tell of Mistreatment," Washington Post, March 26, 2003
• Composite statement: Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Center for Constitutional Rights, August 4, 2004
• Abdelhak Najib, "Les Américains pissaient sur le Coran et abusaient de nous sexuellement," La Gazette du Maroc, April 12, 2005
• Haroon Rashid, "Ex-Inmates Share Guantanamo Ordeal," BBC, May 2, 2005

And yet, this is still not enough for the Rethuglicans. I can just imagine the confessional now:

Newsweek: Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
Scott McClellan: What is your sin?
Newsweek: I published an untrue story about flushing the Qu’ran down the toilet, except that it was all true.
Scott McClellan: I see.
Newsweek: But that’s not all.
Scott McClellan: There’s more?
Newsweek: Yes, the untrue true story has inflamed anti-American sentiment in the Middle East, except that it really hasn’t, according to General Richard Meyers.
Scott McClellan: Your penance is 50 "Hail Marys" and 100 "Democrats are the Spawn of Satan Who Must Be Shot on Sights."

Bartcop is right. This is sure to give the Bush Crime Family total immunity on prisoner torture stories.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted May 18, 2005 8:07 AM)

Well, today there are two stories about the continuing crisis at the Air Force Academy. Let’s take them one at a time:

Failing Upward Trend Continues for Bush Flacks:

Lt. Gen. William Boykin, eat your heart out.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (May 10) - The Pentagon said Monday it wants to promote a top commander at the Air Force Academy - a born-again Christian who has been the subject of complaints that he improperly mixes religion with education.

The announcement about Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida came one day before the scheduled arrival of a task force investigating allegations that cadets were pressured to attend religious services, public prayers were held before official events and Jewish cadets were harassed and insulted at the Colorado Springs school.

Man, promoted for being an intolerant blowhard and for encouraging the students who think like him to do the same. That must be nice.

FSU Football Coach Joins Jihad Squad:

My brother sent me this one: It appears that FSU Football Coach Bobby Bowden has weighed in on the matter of the Air Force Academy’s growing intolerance for non-Christians.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden said Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry is fighting the government over the role of religion on his team.

Bowden brought up DeBerry while speaking to the Southern Colorado Fellowship of Christian Athletes on Sunday night.

Last season, DeBerry was asked to remove a banner from the locker room which displayed the "Competitor’s Creed," including the lines "I am a Christian first and last … I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."

"Fisher is fighting a heck of a battle over here at your academy (with) the U.S. government," Bowden was quoted as saying in the Gazette of Colorado Springs. "He’s fighting a heck of a battle because he happens to be a Christian, and he wants his boys to be saved. I want my boys to be saved."

It’s funny. Christians make up about 90% of this country’s population, yet anytime there’s a story about a law declaring Christians equal to God and non-Christians less than pond scum being blocked or some court upholding the freedom of religion clauses of the First Amendment, you get someone like Bowden whining about how Christians are being slaughtered in Satan’s name. Weird.

"The problem with us Christians is we won’t speak out," he said.

And yet, when non-Christians "speak out," guys like Bowden want to institute our own Kristallnacht…

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted May 18, 2005 7:10 AM)