Hug your kids and pray for an end to this crazy war:
Sad to the depths of his 4-year-old soul, Jack Shanaberger knew what he didn’t want to be when he grows up: a father.
“I don’t want to be a daddy because daddies die,” the child solemnly told his mother after his father, Staff Sgt. Wentz “Baron” Shanaberger, a military policeman from Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed March 23 in an ambush in Iraq.
Why do I reflexively check for my wallet every time Mr. Bush makes a policy proposal? Here is his latest:
President Bush said today he would send proposed legislation to Congress to limit “frivolous lawsuits” as a way to help the economy grow.
Mr. Bush, speaking at a two-day White House-sponsored economic summit, said the legislation would curb class-action litigation, lawsuits seeking damages for exposure to asbestos and medical malpractice suits.
Now, maybe this really is an attempt by the President to reign in truly “frivolous” lawsuits. But given his policy track record to date, my guess is it is just another way of redistributing wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich. Who says Republicans aren’t in favor of income redistribution?
This Is Rumor Control: I suppose it was inevitable that, after reading news from Iraq on a daily basis, that I’d come down with a touch of “outrage fatigue.” My moment of self diagnosis came when I read in today’s news that U.S. Navy just released a ton of documents — we’re talking around 10,000 files, folks — showing that the abuse situation (remember Abu Ghraib?) runs far deeper and wider than anyone previously thought-or feared.
Outrage fatigue - that’s pretty much been an ongoing condition for me for at least the last year.
The administration may continually try to blame the troops for all of this, but the troops who engaged in these activities aren’t the ONLY ones to blame. That blame lies on our soon-to-be Attorney General, who crafted the administration’s legal justifications for torture. That blame is shared by our Defense Secretary, whose “by any means necessary” interrogration policies encouraged the troops to stride brazenly across the line. And finally the buck stops with our President. Even though he continually passes it.
But what is most disheartening is the fact that fifty-one percent of the American people endorsed this behavior by putting Mr. Bush back in power.
