U.S. military shot and killed a pregnant Iraqi woman on the way to the hospital:

"Shots were fired to disable the vehicle," the military said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "Coalition forces later received reports from Iraqi police that two women had died from gunshot wounds ... and one of the females may have been pregnant."

Beautiful. And you gotta love the passive tense here: "Shots were fired to disable the vehicle." So there was basically no human agency? Shots were just fired? Another way to say this is that U.S. soldiers fired their weapons and killed a pregnant Iraqi woman on the way to the hospital. Also, if you want to disable the vehicle, then shouldn't you be aiming at the tires and not the windows? Apparently not, since "disabling" in Pentagon-speak means disabling the car's passenger or, in other words, killing a pregnant Iraqi woman on the way to the hospital.

And the second part, "Coalition forces later received reports from Iraqi police that two women had died from gunshot wounds ... and one of the females may have been pregnant." Why is it the Iraqi police are the ones informing the so-called "coalition" forces instead of, I don't know, the actual soldiers who shot and killed a pregnant Iraqi woman on the way to the hospital? And saying they "died from gunshot wounds" as opposed to acknowledging any human agency in actually doing the shooting, not to mention that since the woman was on the way to the hospital to give birth, I doubt there was any question about whether or not she "may have been pregnant."

Jassim's brother, who was wounded by broken glass, said he did not see any warnings as he sped his sister to the hospital. Her husband was waiting for her there.

What's more plausible, that this guy was listening to the radio to loudly and spaced out on opium so didn't "notice" the clearly marked signs, gates, soldiers, and warning shots? Or that none of these things existed and soldiers just jumped right to the kill shot without any reasonable attempt to communicate.

"I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped," he said. "God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives."

Look, I don't want to put too much blame on the soldiers who shot and killed a pregnant Iraqi woman on the way to the hospital. They're in a shitty situation, they're scared and stressed out because their colleagues are dying every day. And there is no end in sight for them. Of course they're trigger-happy.  Core-Values are out the window when you're in survival mode.  The fault lies with Rumsfeld and Team Chimpy for putting them in this elective illegitimate war in the first place. Likewise, it lies on the MSMs shoulders for continuing to print these sanitized, passive-tense versions of these stories instead of doing their jobs and calling the Pentagon out on it.

Saw this fun little secessionist revival:

In a debate with powerful echoes of the turbulent civil rights era, four Republicans running for Alabama's Supreme Court are making an argument legal scholars thought was settled in the 1800s: that state courts are not bound by U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

The Constitution says federal law trumps state laws, and legal experts say there is general agreement that state courts must defer to the U.S. Supreme Court on matters of federal law.

Yet Justice Tom Parker, who is running for chief justice, argues that state judges should refuse to follow U.S. Supreme Court precedents they believe to be erroneous. Three other GOP candidates in Tuesday's primary have made nearly identical arguments.

So some folks in Alabama fell the highest court of the land can go bugger themselves if they pass laws with which the mighty Alabama Supreme Court disagrees. I don't know why anybody is too surprised at this move. After all, Bush himself laid the groundwork for this.

First of all, Bush's policy of unilateral exceptionalism basically states that governmental entities (North American ones anyway) have the implicit right to behave unilaterally when they deem it necessary. This has come up both in the decision to defy international will in the Iraq invasion as well as in his flouting of congressional will through over 750 so-called signing statements in which he basically says that the president can do whatever he wants.

Secondly, with the help of his golem, Karl Rove, he has so inflamed the passion of the so-called red-state America that who could help but view it as the ultimate actualization of "The South Will Rise Again" which, having lived in the south for many years, I can tell you first hand is very much alive and well. How long did they think it would be before these characters came back around to their rebel roots?

Really, scripted on old parchment it is soft and pliable and great for getting out those stubborn dingleberries:

Critics predicted the impact would be sweeping, from silencing police officers who fear retribution for reporting department corruption, to subduing federal employees who want to reveal problems with government hurricane preparedness or terrorist-related security.

Supporters said that it will protect governments from lawsuits filed by disgruntled workers pretending to be legitimate whistleblowers.

So in order to protect from false accusations we'll just get rid of all accusations. Maybe we can pass some more decisions to protect men from those silly rape claims, cops from those ludicrous brutality charges, politicians from those nasty ethics whiners, the military from those silly brown people who should just die en masse already, and Bush from the accusations of being an incompetent nimrod.

Gotta love Moscow's defense of having blocked gays from laying flowers at the grave of the unknown soldier:

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said such an action would have been a desecration of the sacred monument, and rejected Western criticism of his ban as prejudiced and homophobic.

"Our way of life, our morals and our tradition -- our morals are cleaner in all ways. The West has something to learn from us and should not race along in this mad licentiousness," he told Moscow radio, according to local news agencies.

"We may have a democratic country, but we live in an organized country and an organized city."

So democracy, sure, but only for those who agree. Oh, and gays are disorganized.  They're constantly losing their keys and missing deadlines. The only really organized man-on-man action must stay between Bush and his noble souled Russian mancake.

Jebus is popping up in some strange places lately. First he's in your omlette and now he's on your playstation. Yeah. He's comin' to kill all the jews, muslims, gays, and democrats he can get his AK-47 on.

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose.

The game, linked to this nutjob, is the must-have Christmas item for any hate-filled Christian terrorist:

Gary DeMar stated he'd execute gays only if they were caught indulging in sodomy, but others envision sinners in line for the death penalty would include women who commit adultery or lie about their virginity, blasphemers, witches, children who strike their parents, and gay men. Thus, DeMar is considered somewhat of a liberal in this extreme authoritarian movement.

This is the perfect sequal to last year's budding psychopath toy. Finally, a chance for every 13-year old brainwashee to show his friends how dedicated he is to crusading for the common good and preparing for this years smack-down circle jerk. 

Make sure yours isn't the last kid on the block to suckle at the fiery teat of poppa vengeance!

Bush Na-Gonna see An Inconvenient Truth 'cuz it's inconvenient.

Bush Na-Gonna see foreign films 'cuz he no read.

Bush Na-Gonna see Brokeback Mountain 'cuz that's just plain gay.

But Bushie likee explotative ill-timed politically insensitive opportunistic down-with-brown-people flick!

I know all the media outlets have been abuzz with Bush’s shameful likening of the War on Terror to the Cold War at West Point address the sequal. Some are calling it a sign that GWOT will be a generational struggle to continue for years and years, as if that’s somehow a profound insight into the mind of a megalomaniacal war-monger.

Myself, I can’t think of anything more profoundly stupid than to assume otherwise. After all, “terrorism” is an incredibly malleable and abstract concept and the tactics which define common vernacular are as old as humankind. In fact, I defy anyone to give me an example of any existing state which did not originate in some fashion from an act of terrorism. By extension, there is no reason to suspect that assholes individuals angry and disaffected by the majority won’t continue to rely on political violence for the foreseeable future. But honestly, what did 9-11 change except that this time they dared to bring it to U.S. soil.?

However, this does NOT mean that we are somehow condemned to continue this intellectually vacuous pursuit of an international “war” on a tactic. Just because Bush’s puny reptilian neocortex somehow squeezed out the realization that terrorism is always going to be around does not provide justification for perpetuating a foreign policy that has clearly inserted itself as a causal factor in the very insecurity it purports to address. Even sushi is smart enough to know that Bush’s generational “war” is only making the problem worse.

Today's post from Atrios reminded me of this video post from C & L. I love this woman. Tough as nails and full of righteous outrage at the ridiculous assertion of roses and pixie dust going unreported in Iraq. Definitely worth the download.

Video-WMP Video-QT (David Edwards for the vid)

Of course, I don't think the media is going to be too eager to cower before this accusation much longer after this.