Kayz In

Jimmy Buffett - Yellow Dog Democrat

2004-11-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

So, Jimmy Buffett is touring the state of Florida today, stumping for Betty Castor (ugly Florida Senate Race against Mel Martinez) and by extension, John Kerry. When asked what he thought of Mel Martinez, Jimmy said "I really don't know anything about him . . . I don't get into . . . I'm a yellow-dog democrat".

This is something to be PROUD of?

For those who don't know, this post addresses the definition of a yellow-dog democrat.

So, he doesn't know anything at all about the man he's campaigning against . . . I wonder if he really knows anything about Betty Castor?

How Crucial to the free world are American Elections?

2004-10-22T15:18:00.000-04:00

I was so impressed with this recent post by Alaa over at the Mesopotamian that
I have to post this as a MUST READ.

Alaa points out that the messages that will be sent to terrorists will depend on the outcome of this election. In his words:

Note that we are not saying that President Bush is perfect, nor even that he is better than the Senator, just that the present situation is such that a change of leadership at this crucial point is going to send an entirely wrong message to all the enemies. Unfortunately, it seems to me that many in the U.S. don’t quite appreciate how high the stakes are. The challenge is mortal, and you and we are locked in a War, a National Emergency; and in such circumstances partisan considerations must be of secondary importance. If you lose this war, you are no more, and you will have to withdraw within you boundaries cringing and waiting for terror to strike you in your homeland, afraid to move around, afraid to travel, afraid to do business abroad.

and then he closes:

Well if Senator Kerry is such a good man, and he may well be, then it would be prudent to wait just another four years to elect him, after the job is done. And if this is interference in your national affairs by a foreigner, I am not going to give you any apology for it.

No apology necessary, Alaa! The French, Germans and Canadians have been doing it for years!

Please, please click on the link and read his entire post - Alaa is a great writer and his reasoning skills are excellent!

Kayz Out

President Bush Visits Florida October 16!

2004-10-19T06:56:00.000-04:00

After a sabbatical trying to get back into my routine disturbed by 4 hurricanes in 6 weeks, I'm thrilled to be back with pictures from Saturday's Victory 2004 Rally.

We had a great time, met lots of great people, even though it was a long, WARM, crowded wait for several hours in the Florida sun. We were just so glad to have sun, nothing else mattered!

My sister got to see the President in Sunrise where the President was at the Office Depot Arena on Saturday morning here's what she had to say about it: "President Bush was fantastic! He's so warm and friendly - great to see him in person. I was sitting only five rows back, directly in front of him - and I thoroughly enjoyed it!" (This even though her spouse ended up having to work and she had to go alone.)

"This picture is Mayor Jim Naugle (D) of Ft. Lauderdale. He was a very funny guy. He started out by saying, 'A lot of you may be wondering why am I even here? This isn't MY candidate. But I'm here to tell you today that MY party elected the wrong PERSON at the wrong place and the wrong time, and I believe George W. Bush is the RIGHT person at the right place and the right time.' Awesome speech and he really got the crowd pumped."

Crowd Shot

Introduction

Podium Shot

My family got to see him in Daytona Beach on Saturday afternoon. If you haven't checked it out, check out the video clip and scroll down here for the pictures from the day!

Entertainment

President at the Podium

Framed by Signs

George W.& Jeb (Florida Governor)

All in all, a good time was had by all - even my 10 year old daughter said, on our way back to our car (a good mile walk) "This was fun! I would like to do this again!" But then, I'm raising two staunch little patriotic conservatives . . .

Hurricane Frances

2004-09-12T07:43:00.000-04:00

This picture was taken of our back yard in December of last year.

This picture was taken after the visit of Hurricane Frances.

It's hard to see the difference unless you realize that you're looking at about two cleared acres here - and the after picture was taken on the morning of September 6 - by that afternoon, we'd gotten about 4 more inches of rain and we literally had a lake extending into the woods surrounding us on all sides. Thankfully, no damage to our home or outbuildings, although the water did rise to within about two inches of the floor of our school building/workshop.

Hurricane Charley Struck!

2004-08-18T17:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I can't believe I'm already online . . .

We live in the country about 15 miles off the East Coast of central Florida - we're just about an hour NE of Orlando - so Hurricane Charley plowed though our area. We spent Friday night about 30 minutes away with my two Great Aunts in their concrete block home. The hurricane passed over us there as well, we stayed up listening to the wind. The next morning we found that a huge oak on the corner of their lot was uprooted and lying across the road, but it had been removed around 2 AM. My Aunt's were very blessed to have little damage - only a weatherhead on the side of the house to be replaced. Screened gazebo in the back yard was fine.

We drove through the suburbs on the back way up to our place at 7:30ish Saturday morning.

As we were driving through the neighborhoods, we could see trees down all over and a few lying on roofs. We turned onto the main road that we live off of (we have 10 acres in the country) and there were lots of places where trees were down on both sides of the road - sometimes uprooted, and sometimes a path where the tops of pines were just "snapped" off.

We drove for about 9 miles to the dirt road we live on, and there were no cars behind us the entire trip and very few that we met although that road is normally quite highly travelled. As we turned onto our dirt road (its 7/10's of a mile) and turned the first corner (before we could see our home) my heart went into my throat. there were no less than four gigantic tall pines that had fallen directly to the west and were hanging on power lines - we were able to drive around them, though. But we could see that one neighbor lost about 7 big pines in their front pasture, another (closest to our place) lost about 5.

As we got closer, we could see our home, and it appeared to be okay. We drove up and found that so far as we could see, not so much as a shingle was out of place. There were a few young trees which were snapped off or blown down, but even the debris in our yard wasn't too bad. Then my hubby looked over at our "pump" house. We'd bought a big rubbermaid building back in the early spring and cut the floor so that it would go around our pump and then put the building up around it. Before we left on Friday, my hubby had put two five gallon buckets full of concrete inside it to try to anchor it. Well, I'm really thankful he did - the building blew apart - but nothing inside was damaged. We were able to find all the pieces of the building and put it back together!

Next we noticed that the huge steel building (like a big canopy) that we have sitting over my parents RV was sitting a bit askew. It had been ripped from the ground even though "anchored" by the people who installed it last year. Fortunately, my van was parked underneath it and it had "bounced" off the side of my van which probably kept it from going anywhere - otherwise it almost assuredly would have damaged the RV - and while aggravating, the relatively minor dent and scrapes to my van don't cause any trouble with driveability.

The most frustrating thing to me was the inability to contact anyone - no landline phone, no cell service available either. We worked around for a while in the heat putting things back together as well as we could and I had a splitting headache as I didn't get my coffee that morning, and I knew my family was frantic.

My folks showed up around 3 PM and "rescued" us - dad brought his generator which helped to keep us from losing all our food in our fridge and freezer.

At any rate, we expected to be without power for at least a week as there are not many people who live here and we knew we would not be a top priority, but thanks to a neighbor who is good with his chainsaw (he talked to our power co first) he was able to free the power lines and we actually got our power restored around 4 PM yesterday afternoon (Tuesday).

Finally got to talk to our pastor this morning who lives quite a ways a way - also in the path of the storm but West of Orlando - they sustained quite a bit of damage to their roof.

Gas in the Orlando area Eastward is hard to find unless you're buying premium, and I know that a lot of our neighbors here in Florida will be without power for a while. We just are so thankful that we weren't struck any worse than we were - but we truly did try to prepare. We spent Wednesday eve, Thursday and Friday morning trying to secure everything that could have become "projectile".

But I can say for sure that we don't care if another 40 years goes by without another of these storms!

Kayz Out!

Ranting for the Fun of it!

2004-08-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm really ready to rant now - considering I just managed to wipe out what I spent a good 20 minutes putting together and am having to redo it from memory!

First item up for ranting . . .

Signed on this morning and read that "insurgents" killed 7 Iraqis and 4 US troops. Insurgent is a word that is currently undergoing a meaning change. And I'm irritated that the "insurgents" aren't being called what they are - TERRORISTS!

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Pronunciation: in-'sur-jint
Function: noun
1 : a person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an established government; especially : one not recognized as a belligerent
2 : one that acts contrary to the established leadership (as of a political party, union, or corporation) or its decisions and policies

and then from WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
we have:

n 1: a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions) [syn: insurrectionist, freedom fighter, rebel] 2: a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment

Now, get it in your head - these jerks aren't hoping to improve conditions - they're TERRORISTS!

On to the second item . . .

I'm really PO'd with the UN and eco-terrorists everywhere. These guys are so quick to push their agenda and try to control things in the name of "conservation", but where in 'ell were they in the early 1990's when the desecration of the Mesopotamian Marshes was going on? Why does the UN fail to highlight the real reason that the marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein? Why didn't they make a real hue and cry while it was going on? Could it be that they were hiding and complicit in the atrocities committed by Hussein? Do we really want these guys to have any say in our decision making process?

Third Item . . .

Hat tip to Jason Steenwyk at Countercolumn (formerly Iraq Now). I have to agree with him that I can't believe that this was deemed "newsworthy" by our incredibly "unbiased" media.

I guess anything goes when you're pushing an agenda . . .

Rant off -

Kayz Out!

Get a Grip Already!

2004-07-18T07:33:00.000-04:00

After a lot of thought, I've recently come to the conclusion that a problem that we all have (no matter what nationality, race, or creed) is that we are overly curious.

Curiousity can be a really good thing when it spurs us on to be creative, expand our knowledge, search for answers to common (or not so common) problems.

Curiousity can be hideous when it creates within us the "trainwreck" mentality that only inspires us to gawk or do things that put money into the pockets of those who prey on that mentality. Here are just a couple areas that *I* believe our time and money could be better spent staying away from!

Example 1 - Fahrenheit 9-11
Frankly, as idiotic as his other works have proven to be with misstatements and misdirections
I can't fathom why anyone would PAY to see this drivel. He says he's not interested in the money - fine - then let him distribute it via the internet (which I understand he is now doing - but not before raking in big $$$) and forget selling it.

Example 2 - Wonkette
This is one that I've only read about thus far on the net - I have yet to ever link to her site, nor am I ever likely to do so. Michelle Malkin has an interesting tidbit on her blog - seems the Washington Host (they've turned from reporting as Post to whoring as Host) wanted to interview her regarding this skank's blog. Ya gotta love Michelle!

We need to look at where we spend our time, and what we put into our brain. Is it trash? Or is it worthwhile and expanding to our minds?

The Iraqi brothers Mohammed, Ali & Omar post very thought provoking posts - today's on the Fifth Authority is very well thought out and what I believe we, as a blogging community, must do - and that is to police the media. It is our job to do our best to get the word out when we see fallacies in reporting and to try to get people to think beyond what appears on their television screen or their newspaper.

Let curiousity inspire you! It has been said about many things before that if you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the problem. By demoting your curiousity to the low and base things that are out there, you ARE a part of the world's problems. Try promoting your curiousity toward things more lofty - you might find it lifts your spirits and you may see a way to be a part of the solution. In my opinion that old adage could be reworded: If you're not promoting the problems, you are a part of the solution!

Kayz Out

Election Year Politics - Is it really "Us" vs. "Them"?

2004-07-04T15:04:00.000-04:00

I watched a Sunday morning segment today about the differences in America between "liberals" and "conservatives". The segment was titled "Continental Divide" and asked the questions "Are we really that divided? Are there really two distinct visions of America?"

While not really ever answering the question, the Sunday morning segment highlighted the fact that the "blue" states tend to not be churchgoing so much as their "red" state counterparts, but upon questioning, most seem to share a lot of the same feelings and vision for America as those in the "red" states.

My own opinion here is that yes, there are two visions of America. Unfortunately, there is a very vocal minority who have managed to promote the idea of two equal visions with a great deal of success. In my experience, and from what I read (not what I hear on the network news) I would tend to believe that the two visions are held by very differently sized audiences. The trouble is, that some of those who are attributed with a "liberal" vision are in actuality quite moderate to conservative. The reason for this, to use an old Southern phrase, is because there are an awful lot of "yellow-dog" democrats and republicans out there. What that means is that there is a very large segment of our population that are so emotionally tied to their "party" that they'd vote along party lines even if the candidate was only a "yellow-dog".

I see folks with such set opinions who haven't looked into what their party really stands for in years - if ever. They vote the way they do because mom and dad did - or perhaps in spite of dear old mom and dad. But have they ever really studied the candidates espoused by their respective parties to see what they really believe?

A prime example are some of the older people (WWII era) that I know who were shocked so by the "Abu-Gharib" scandal that they are immediately ready to jump the ship of rationality right into the arms of the waiting liberals. They were appalled and had words of great condemnation for our military command - you'd have thought that this was the only issue upon which to judge the current administration. And why did they think that way? Well, could it be the Terrorist Sponsored News Media? Hmmmm?

Perhaps we need to entirely do away with the idea of political parties - force those who register to vote to be able to study the issues for themselves to determine for whom they should vote. And if you come to the polls to vote and can't even tell who the main candidates are or what they stand for - then you don't need to vote! Leave the voting for those who have actually done their homework . . . just my thoughts of how things oughtta be . . .

And, by the way, Happy 228th birthday, USA!

Kayz Out

Apology to War Correspondents

2004-06-26T10:18:00.000-04:00

So, I read this article yesterday.

On the one hand, I understand why Secretary Wolfowitz felt the need to apologize . . . on the other, they are "war correspondents" and while I'm certainly sorry for their losses, just like our soldiers who serve, it was their choice to cover the war.

Here's the way I see it, though. The war correspondents seem to be seeking out the rebels and terrorists to report their opinions to us here at home. This definitely puts them in more dangerous areas than they would be if they talked to the average Iraqi businessman on the street. It also skews their perspective of the war drastically. Sure, if you're reporting exclusively on war-torn areas of the country, and seeking to ingratiate yourself with the "local" resistance, you're treading dangerous ground.

I understand that the idea of a "war correspondent" is to report from the war-front, but could we please have a few more reports from the average street market vendor, doctor, dentist, businessman? These are the people who are living and working and seeing the results of the conflicts going on everyday. Their perspective is far more important to me than those involved directly in the conflicts. Trying to "shadow" our military results in journalists getting killed and getting in the way - not to mention the fact that when you're in the midst of conflict, it's like being in a forest. You can't see the forest for all the trees about you. Step outside the forest (conflict) and you can see clearly what's happening.

Just another idea for responsible journalism . . .

Kayz Out

From the Department of "Imagine That"

2004-06-24T18:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I'm doing something this evening that I almost never do. Listening to Dan Rather's blather. After all the horrible attacks today, CBS is reporting that the terrorists are all banding together (as though this is news?) somehow implying we should be shocked and scared witless by their unity in these attacks.

Come on, now, folks - it doesn't take the sharpest pencil in the box to figure out WHY all these terrorist factions are joining together! They still hate each other - but they currently have a common goal - that of keeping Iraq under some sort of tyranny. And they all hate America as we are the symbol of all that they hate.

Seems to me, the fact that these groups are banding together against the Coalition says only one thing - they're running scared. They're seeing that they have no chance alone, and very little chance together. It's just a matter of time until they're squashed like the vermin they are. But they'll continue to harrass, kill, and maim as long as they can.

Far from being discouraged by this "news", I'm encouraged. From the stalwart confidence in their people shown by Mohammed, Ali & Omar to the great defense of our position militarily by Sgt. Missick, I'm proud of the freedom loving Iraqi's who need our continued support, our country, and our military.

Kayz Out

Just a quick thought . . .

2004-06-21T08:33:00.000-04:00

Our media refers to the "Iraqi Conflict", "the war in Iraq" and "the war with Iraq" . . . I'm not quite sure when the change came about, but in my mind, this is no longer just a war with Iraq or a war in Iraq, but a war FOR IRAQ.

If you follow my line of thinking, you'll see that there is an important distinction here - as Americans, it's easy for us to separate ourselves from what is going on in Iraq if we think of it as "the war in Iraq". If we have no direct connection to the military (no family or friends in the war zone) it's easy for us to put it out of our minds as well when we say "the war with Iraq".

But if we look at is as the "war FOR Iraq", we realize that this is much more than just a war to free them from an oppressive tyranny - it is a war to help set them on the path of good for their people - we're battling for the hearts and minds of freedom loving Iraqis - to help them become a shining beacon of hope for the middle east.

Any thoughts?

Kayz Out

Terrorist Sponsored News

2004-06-18T13:33:00.000-04:00

As I write this entry, the news has just come on that Paul Johnson's body has been found beheaded.

It is, most definitely, a terrible tragedy.

But an even greater tragedy is the "journalism" which has covered this and other terrorist demands from day one. We, as Americans, all know that the family is suffering and grieving. We grieve as a nation when we learn of the loss of our citizens. And the coverage tears us apart. This is precisely what the terrorists want done. Why do the major news networks all feel it incumbent upon them to gratify the desires of these jerks? Did anyone really think all the media coverage of the terrorists demands would change the outcome one whit? If not, why broadcast it? There is only one agenda, folks, and its un-American. By their coverage, our media has handed to the terrorists time and again exactly what they want. The terrorists did not expect us to turn around and give in to their demands - that was not their purpose. Their purpose was to make our country appear heartless and cold to those hand wringing bleating hearts who will inevitably blame our government for its refusal to give in to terrorist demands.

These attacks on civilian contractors are designed to assault our collective conscience - but we must remember, these people are in the middle east by their own choices. It doesn't make their kidnap and murder right, but we need to keep these things in proper perspective. Civilians working outside the U.S. - particularly in these perilous times - do so at their peril. There is no guarantee anywhere that you won't be murdered while you sleep - but putting yourself in the middle of a war zone with rampant terrorism greatly increases the possibility. Perhaps some do put themselves in the danger zone strictly for monetary gain, but I tend to think that those still working under these conditions are doing so because they have a strong belief that perhaps they are doing a good work. And if that is the case, then they most certainly deserve our respect.

But I digress . . .

I'm angriest right this moment at our media. Technology is most definitely a two-edged sword that cuts both ways.

On the one hand, we the people want and demand every little detail we can get of the most sordid stories. Unfortunately, we don't always consider how much we NEED to know and WHEN we need to know it.

TMI (Too much information) is a great flaw that has been exposed in the age of technology - things we just don't need to know about are trotted out on every major news network and on the internet before the story has even gotten warm. Along with it are the explanations ad nauseum of how we should feel and what we should think. Information overload ensues, and frankly, I'm afraid that most Americans who get their news from the networks and traditional media outlets just don't take the time to think things through for themselves. We've become a nation who wants everything condensed into quick and dirty sound bytes and cliffnotes. Heaven forbid that we should actually THINK about the news presented to us and whether or not the purveyor of said news has an agenda.

The blogging community, I believe, can be a force for good - but time alone will tell the impact we're able to have. Blogs will never have an impact on those who are content with having their news spoon-fed to them along with their opinions - but hopefully, more and more of those tired of the current information overload will begin to think more critically.

KAYZ OUT

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?

2004-06-03T07:31:00.000-04:00

I am terribly afraid that many in this world have "tuned out" the ongoing war. Why do I say this? Sgt. Missick has an article in his blog that describes the truth about this war as compared to past wars:

A Line in the Sand June 1, 2004

It seems remarkable just how virulent the anti-war sentiments truly are. The sacrifices required by American’s in this era, in this war, are very few compared to other times. I spoke of proportion yesterday, and the lack of it historically speaking, in American society. Indeed, the only people truly, deeply affected by this war in American society are those soldiers that are here, and their families and friends who are left to cope with their absence and the stress and longing it brings. There are no rationing of food stuffs, no limits on the purchases of gasoline, last time I checked, pennies were still being minted with their copper coatings and baseball games are in full swing. Completely tuning out the media, if it were possible, would mean that you were left essentially unaffected by this war. In this, it is only the newspapers, the magazines, internet sources and television news that interrupts the daily lives of the average American to remind them that there is a war at the crossroads of civilization, where American’s are securing a free republic in a land of oppression. It is essentially, an irritability with the glimpses of war, the ones we are forced to gaze wearily upon here every day. The lack of comfort that plagues soldiers, (and there are no complaints about that here mind you), are not felt from the comfort of a sofa choosing which 24 hour news service you wish to get your info-tainment from on any given evening. It is therefore, an intolerance to the disruption these images cause and/or an idealism that war, any war, is bad regardless of it’s cause, regardless of its purpose that leads to this dissent.

His point, that if we just turn off the news and tune out the media, we'd be unaffected by this war is just what I fear many Americans have done. Driven by frustration with an ever negative slant on everything presented, many in this country and probably others have just given up on the news. I would guess that just about everyone reading this blog right now could think of some of their friends or acquaintances who are doing just this.

The title of this blog is from the book of Proverbs (Chapter 6, verse 9) and the chapter goes on to describe how this "sleep" will lead to our downfall. We need to wake up, and to wake the sleeping. This is a time in our generation's history of the world which will set up future generations for either a period of relative peace and prosperity, or condemn them to a life of more strife than we have ever seen.

The question is, how to wake those who are so groggy with sleep - those who won't read anything for themselves, those who need to be spoon fed? Sometimes, it just requires "spoon feeding". There are some who cannot and will not ever get excited about things that they do not see as directly affecting themselves. They don't seem to realize just how self-absorbed they are, but if you're reading this, you probably see it in them. Key is trying to get things across to them in a way that will touch their feelings. Send 'em emails that seem appropriate. Read to 'em about the injustices that you find. It may take time, but if you can wake just one "sleeper", they in turn may wake others. This is vital to our surviving in the relative peace we (as Americans) have always known.

I'll leave you with a great, often cited quote (but that doesn't make it any less valid) by Edmund Burke: The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.

Kayz Out

Just another (late) thought on the Abu-Gharib Scandal

2004-05-28T10:19:00.000-04:00

I must confess. My first thoughts when looking at those first images broadcast around the world was this:

1) Who the heck are these soldiers? In what kind of environment did they grow up that they would think posing and taking these kind of pictures was an okay thing to do? It's just sick.

2) These "humiliated" prisoners do not show body language in many cases that speak to me of humiliation. I see very open body postures, some standing tall. In only a couple of the photos that I saw (and no, I certainly haven't seen them all - only the ones posted by the mainstream media) was there anyone "cowering" or appearing to be really intimidated. Frankly, in a couple of the shots, it appeared to me that the body language of the "humiliated" made it appear that they were enjoying themselves.

Now, I'm not saying anyone was complicit, but check out some of these things posted by some fellow bloggers (The first two are from Iraqi bloggers, last an article from the American Spectator):

Ali writes of a meeting of a doctor friend who spent a month of service in Abu Gharib working alongside the American Soldiers and questioning him on his experiences there (Ali's questions in italics, answers in bold)(Saturday, May 8 IraqtheModel):

Quote:
-So tell me what did you see there? How’s the situation of the prisoners? Did you see any abuse? Do they get proper medical care? (I was excited to see someone who was actually there, and he was a friend!)

- Hey, slow down! I’ll tell you what I know. First of all, the prisoners are divided into two groups; the ordinary criminals and the political ones. I used to visit the ordinary criminals during every shift, and after that, the guards would bring anyone who has a complaint to me at the prison’s hospital.
- What about the 'political' ones?

- I’m not allowed to go to their camps, but when one of them feels ill, the guards bring him to me.

- Are the guards all Americans?

- No, the American soldiers with the IP watch over and take care of the ordinary criminals, but no one except the Americans is allowed to get near the political ones

- How are the medical supplies in the prison?

- Not very great, but certainly better from what it was on Saddam’s times. However my work is mainly at night, but in the morning the supplies are usually better.

- How many doctors, beside you, were there?

- There was an American doctor, who’s always their (His name is Eric, a very nice guy, he and I became friends very fast), and other Iraqi doctors with whom I shared the work, and in the morning, there are always some Iraqi senior doctors; surgeons, physicians…etc.

-Why do you say they are very well treated?

- They are fed much better than they get at their homes. I mean they eat the same stuff we eat, and it’s pretty good; eggs, cheese, milk and tea, meat, bread and vegetables, everything! And that happened every day, and a good quality too.

-Are they allowed to smoke? (I asked this because at Saddam’s times, it was a crime to smoke in prison and anyone caught while doing this would be punished severely).

- Yes, but they are given only two cigarettes every day.

- What else? How often are they allowed to take a bath? (This may sound strange to some people, but my friend understood my question. We knew from those who spent sometime in Saddam’s prisons, and survived, that they were allowed to take a shower only once every 2-3 weeks.)

- Anytime they want! There are bathrooms next to each hall.

- Is it the same with the 'political' prisoners?

- I never went there, but I suppose it’s the same because they were always clean when they came to the hospital, and their clothes were always clean too.

-How often do they shave? (I remember a friend who spent 45 days in prison at Saddam’s times had told me that the guards would inspect their beards every day to see if they were shaved properly, and those who were not, would be punished according to the guards’ mood. He also told me that they were of course not allowed to have any shaving razors or machines and would face an even worse punishment in case they found some of these on one of the prisoners. So basically all the prisoners had to smuggle razors, which cost a lot, shave in secrecy and then get rid of the razor immediately! That friend wasn’t even a political prisoner; he was arrested for having a satellite receiver dish in his house!)

- I’m not sure, from what I saw, it seemed that there was a barber visiting them frequently, because they had different hair cuts, some of them shaved their beards others kept them or left what was on their chins only. I mean it seemed that they had the haircut they desired!

-Yes but what about the way they are treated? And how did you find American soldiers in general?

- I’ll tell you about that; first let me tell you that I was surprised with their politeness. Whenever they come to the hospital, they would take of their helmets and show great respect and they either call me Sir or doctor. As for the way they treat the prisoners, they never handcuff anyone of those, political or else, when they bring them for examination and treatment unless I ask them to do so if I know that a particular prisoner is aggressive, and I never saw them beat a prisoner and rarely did one of them use an offensive language with a prisoner.

One of those times, a member of the American MP brought one of the prisoners, who was complaining from a headache, but when I tried to take history from him he said to me “doctor, I had a problem with my partner (he was a homosexual) I’m not Ok and I need a morphine or at least a valium injection” when I told him I can’t do that, he was outraged, swore at me and at the Americans and threatened me. I told the soldier about that, and he said “Ok Sir, just please translate to him what I’m going to say”. I agreed and he said to him “I want you to apologize to the doctor and I want your word as a man that you’ll behave and will never say such things again” and the convict told him he has his word!!

Another incidence I remember was when one of the soldiers brought a young prisoner to the hospital. The boy needed admission but the soldier said he’s not comfortable with leaving the young boy (he was about 18) with those old criminals and wanted to keep him in the isolation room to protect him. I told him that this is not allowed according to the Red Cross regulations. He turned around and saw the paramedics’ room and asked me if he can keep him there, and I told him I couldn’t. The soldier turned to a locked door and asked me about it. I said to him “It’s an extra ward that is almost deserted but I don’t have the keys, as the director of the hospital keeps them with him”. The soldier grew restless, and then he brought some tools, broke that door, fixed it, put a new lock, put the boy inside and then locked the door and gave me the key!

- Did you witness any aggressiveness from American soldiers?

- Only once. There was a guy who is a troublemaker. He was abnormally aggressive and hated Americans so much. One of those days the soldiers were delivering lunch and he took the soup pot that was still hot and threw it at one of the guards. The guard avoided it and the other guards caught the convict and one of them used an irritant spray that causes sever itching, and then they brought the prisoner to me to treat him.

- So you think that these events are isolated?

-As far as I know and from what I’ve seen, I’m sure that they are isolated.

-But couldn’t it be true that there were abusive actions at those times that the prisoners were afraid to tell you about?

-Are you serious!? These criminals, and I mean both types tell me all about there 'adventures and bravery'. Some of them told me how they killed an American soldier or burned a humvee, and in their circumstances this equals a confession! Do you think they would’ve been abused and remained silent and not tell me at least!? No, I don’t think any of this happened during the time I was there. It seemed that this happened to a very small group of whom I met no one during that month.

- Can you tell me anything about those 'political' prisoners? Are they Islamists, Ba’athists or what?

- Islamists?? I don't care what they call themselves, but they are thugs, they swear all the time, and most of them are addicts or homosexuals or both. Still very few of them looked educated.

- Ah, that makes them close to Ba’athists. Do you think there are innocents among them?

- There could be. Some of them say they are and others boast in front of me, as I said, telling the crimes they committed in details. Of course I’m not naive enough to blindly believe either.

- Are they allowed to get outside, and how often? Do they have fans or air coolers inside their halls?

- Of course they are! Even you still compare this to what it used to be at Saddam’s times and there’s absolutely no comparison. They play volleyball or basketball everyday, and they have fans in their halls.

- Do they have sport suits?

- No, it’s much better than Saddam’s days but it’s still a prison and not the Sheraton. They use the same clothes but I’ve seen them wearing train shoes when they play.

-Are they allowed to read?

- Yes, I’ve seen the ordinary criminals read, and I believe the political are allowed too, because I remember one of them asking me to tell one of the American soldiers that he wanted his book that one of the soldiers had borrowed from him.

- So, you believe there’s a lot of clamor here?

-As you said these things are unaccepted but I’m sure that they are isolated and they are just very few exceptions that need to be dealt with, but definitely not the rule. The rule is kindness, care and respect that most of these thugs don’t deserve, and that I have seen by my own eyes. However I still don't understand why did this happen.

-I agree with you, only it’s not about the criminals, it’s about the few innocents who could suffer without any guilt and it’s about us; those who try to build a new Iraq. We can’t allow ourselves to be like them and we can’t go back to those dark times.
As for "why"; I must say that these few exceptions happen everywhere, only in good society they can be exposed and dealt with fast, while in corrupted regimes, it may take decades for such atrocities to be exposed which encourage the evil people to go on, and exceptions become the rule.

What happened in Abu-Gharib should be a lesson for us, Iraqis, above all. It showed how justice functions in a democratic society. We should study this lesson carefully, since sooner or later we'll be left alone and it will be our responsibility to deal with such atrocities, as these will never cease to happen. end quote

Next, lets visit the blog of Alaa (The Mesopotamian - May 14)

Quote:

Friday, May 14, 2004
Hi,

I am deeply suspicious, regarding this affair of prison abuse and the photographs. Not being particularly one who sees conspiracies everywhere, but this one does smell strangely. The nature of the abuses, the photography and the timing: all that cannot be just coincidental. The objectives seem clear and need not be explained. Discrediting and attacking the moral position of the Allies in the most sensitive area of human rights, which they champion, and which constitutes the main moral justification for overthrowing the Saddam regime is clearly the purpose and the intent of this affair.

Apart from the obvious parties who may be interested in achieving the above objective, there may be other quite subterranean and unsuspected quarters. I don’t know exactly who these may be, but like good detectives we should consider all those who may have interest in aborting the mission. Perhaps the emergence of a moderate, democratic and decent system in the middle east, and particularly in an “Arab” country; a system which is allied to the U.S. and commands respect and consequently has some influence; perhaps this proposition is not particularly attractive to certain currents of thinking in the most unexpected places.

In the lax situation and the “failure of leadership”, and the practice of employing “contractors” of dubious nature; have you not considered that bribes and money might have been used to “stage” these events?

Yes, I am profoundly, deeply suspicious.

Salaam
end quote

Finally, this little article appears in the American Spectator
Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. notes in paragraph five an article written in early 2002 by Matt Labash in the weekly standard:
quote

MAY I REFER FELLOW skeptics to a first-person report on the folkways and mores of Arab prisoners at Guantanamo written by Matt Labash in early 2002? Writing in the Weekly Standard he reported asking Marine jailers "if they've seen anything weird." The Marines, continues Labash, "laugh sheepishly, looking at each other. Finally, Sgt. Josh Westbrook, who sports a forearm tattoo of flaming baby heads, steps up. 'They know they're being watched,' he explains, 'so they'll stare at you, and while they stare at you, they'll, uh, masturbate.'"

The Marines believed that their Islamic fundamentalist masturbators were particularly avid "to embarrass the female Army guards."

"The weirdness doesn't end there," reports Labash. "They've also eaten their toiletries and urinated on equipment. 'The other day,' says Westbrook, 'one of the guys tried to do a naked cartwheel.' In the most bizarre twist," writes Labash, "Lance Corporal Devin Klebaur says a few have also been known to 'put toothpaste in their ass.'"

end quote

So, given all this, you can see why I might be a tad sceptical . . .

Kayz Out

Kayz In

2004-05-26T07:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is a first time blog for me . . . so please be kind

I've got lots of thoughts about the world situation - some clear, some not so but what I want to talk about today is PATIENCE.

Patience, it used to be taught, is a virtue.

Good things come to those who wait.

Give it time, all will come right in the end.

After reading through many blogs in the last few weeks, I find that "liberals" (or as I prefer to call them "leftists") and many neo-con conservatives are the same on both sides of the world. In general, they have very little patience. They cry about how long the war in Iraq goes on - how many American soldiers are losing their lives, how many Iraqis are losing their lives and freedoms(!).

The struggle for American independence officially began in 1775 and did not end until 1781. Saddam was in power in Iraq from 1979 until 2003. We've only just begun the struggle for Iraqi freedom - and we're in this together!

How long, dear friends in Iraq are you going to let your Clerics and Mullahs keep you under their thumbs in a new form of tyranny? How long until you see that they have a place outside of government? Americans - how long are we going to let the doomsday prophets and naysayers affect our rational thinking? Should we not get back to the study of our own history? Can we not see how the path we're currently treading will lead us back into a different but equally bad form of bondage? The advent of political correctness, the concern for what others may think of us (without considering their stripe), the liberation of our society from any moral social mores is taking us down a primrose path that will ultimately lead to our destruction. When anything goes, everything goes. If there is no structure, no one to look up to or no higher ideal for which to strive, then comes chaos. And with chaos, the forces of evil are full well ready to take over.

I pray that we're not their yet, but oh, brothers and sisters, I am afraid.

Kayz Out

Thoughts?