American Warmonger

The Burning Question For Saddam - Boxers or Briefs?

As you may know, The Sun has been kind enough to shock the world and give us an image of Saddam Hussein in his underwear. Well, maybe not shocked, but at has provided a stir in the world. By certain reports, the U.S. has violated Geneva Conventions with the release of this photo. While the image may be unflattering and inappropriate they are incapable of violating Geneva Conventions.

In order to violate Geneva Conventions in the manner suggested, the prisoner of war needs to be photographed and have that photograph published in a denigrating manner. While this photograph can be construed as denigrating it is not a prisoner of war in the photograph.

On June 30th, 2004 the United States turned custody of Saddam over to the Iraqi people. The United States still stood watch over him, but they are serving as assistants to the Iraqi people. Nearly all of the high level captives, those depicted on the internationally popular deck of cards, were turned over at the same time as well.

There is, however a violation of official U.S. policy regarding the release of the photo. According to US Staff Sergeant Don Dees:

A policy prohibits us from exploitation of detainees and that policy is in place to preserve their dignity.

He also went on to say that there is an ongoing investigation as the how this happened, the individual responsible and if he did in fact violate the U.S. policy.

In defense of the individual releasing the pictures is stated intention was as follows:

"Saddam is not superman or God, he is now just an ageing and humble old man. It's important that the people of
Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," the source was quoted as saying.

"Maybe that will kill a bit of the passion in the fanatics who still follow him," the source said. "It's over, guys. The evil days of Saddam's Baath party are never coming back -- and here's the proof."

Now that we have completed the legalities of this story there is only one "looming" question left for Saddam: Boxers or Briefs? See for yourself:

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Photo curtesy of AFP

Learning To Read - Fallacies And Misleading Language

Reading the English language has been taken advantage of for way too long in this country and I need to say something about it. People who understand how it works are duping people into thinking one thing or the other. I really feel sort of sorry for them. Imagine, the language you learned as a child coming back at you to take your money, weasel its way out of an insurance claim or even turning you into a political lackey. I believe its high time someone explained how the English language works and I'm may be just the guy to do it.

May

Since I just used this word in my last sentence let’s start with may. By using a direct definition it means, "there is a possibility of". The word may is quite possibly the easiest word to use when you want to make yourself an escape route out of a potentially sticky statement. You can even use it to incriminate someone without actually making an accusation. Lets try a few:

Soldiers at Gitmo may have flushed passages from the Koran.

Well, it's possible. I don't think it to be true myself, but it may have happened.
Let's try another:

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Ogre may have had an intimate relationship with a llama named Rusty.

Do I know for a fact that he did? No. I don't know for a fact he didn't do it either. There is an astronomically miniscule possibility that he did.

Last one:

You may have just one ten gazillion dollars!

...and then again, so may have ten million other people who got the same letter in the mail.

Does that just about do it for everyone? Do we understand how we can weasel in and out of the word may now? Good. We can now move on the next lesson class.

Passive Induction

(Note, passive induction is my term for it. There may be another, more fitting definition out there.)

This is where you include a piece of information in a statement that is used to make an association when, in fact, none has been made. It's used all the time and there's actually a logical fallacy that ties directly into this. It's called style over substance.

Probably the most recent example of passive induction is what is going to happen tomorrow when Moveon (Please) dot Org puts out their multi-million dollar commercial comparing Tom Delay to Darth Sidius, aka The Emperor. Does this give any facts? No. Does it give you the impression that Tom Delay is an evil man? Yes, that's how it works. They throw up some graphics and make some accusations but don't present any facts.

Here is my all time favorite ones, courtesy of Darth Cheney...er..Vice President Cheney:

[Iraq has]...the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11.

Now that was well scripted. Did you miss it? Yeah, I know. Alot of people did, including the news agencies. Lets break it down.

"Iraq had a geographic base of terrorists that have had us under assault for some time now."

This does not imply that the terrorists came from Iraq. Lets split this up another way:

...the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11.

Hey! What happened to Iraq? Where did they go from the statement? Yeah, many people still don't get it. *sigh*

Cheney made a tie between the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and Iraq. He then made a separate tie between Al-Qaeda and 9/11. He did NOT make a direct tie between Iraq and 9/11. If that's what you thought you have been used and abused by the English language.

Equivocation

(This is actually a fallacy of Ambiguity. Go HERE for more on fallacies.)

This is where there are two meanings to a word and you assume one or the other, only to be wrong. It's another form of creating a loophole in your arguments. You need to watch this one. Pay attention to Rumsfeld with this one. He's the king at using it.

Here's the first example from one of my articles:

The Dyson Vacuum Really Sucks!

Did everyone catch the double meaning there? You can either use the word to say that it is a crappy product or to say it can pick up a lot of dirt. Even those that can't read without moving their lips should have got that one.

Moving on to a statement from Rumsfeld, I can't find the source or the exact quote, but it was in reference to the guy from the Defense Department that stated the Russians moved the nukes to Syria.

...he spoke out of turn and has been spoken to about making claims the Defense Department is not prepared to authenticate.

Did he lie or just speak out of turn? Will the Defense department authenticate it at a later date? Notice Rummy didn't deny anything the guy said, only that he wasn't prepared to back the statement. It is a world of difference from making a direct statement against him.

Thank you for reading along and hopefully learning a few nuances to the English language. If you feel I am wrong feel free to tell me all about it in the comments. Who knows, you may be right!

Images of hope 28

This is part two in the Capt. Upperman series. As far as I can see he's still in Iraq and still the Baghdaddy.

Now I remember a bit of an issue when bush did the whole "hook em' horns" a while back and a bunch of morons took it for the sign of Satan. I guess they'd be wondering what these guys are trying to teach the young people of Iraq. I don't think their parents would believe it to be acceptible Islamic practice.

The Texas A&M hook em' horns may confuse enough journalists the next time they see these kids, but this:

Come on, the Aggie "whoop"? Our servicemen (and women) have gone halfway around the world to corrupt the Iraqi youth and destroy all that's holy in the land of Allah!

At least they weren't teaching them this sign for coersion:

There are a few more pics and things I need to steal from CPT Upperman. Until that time go by and give him a great big THANK YOU from everybody.

Mr. Upperman, If you're ever in the Hampton Roads area let me know. You have a...er..two..um...several free beers waiting for you.

A Heated Race for Virginia Governor

The season of electioneering has come and the state of Virginia is one of those states that appears to be up for grabs to some. If the democrats can keep this state it would mean retaining some of the slipping power of the DNC. This is a critical seat because it is a state with a primarily Republican base and a Democratic Governor. This is already a heated battle and shows no signs of being polite.

The politicians are not the only people involved with campaigning this season. The local Hampton Roads newspaper, The Virginian Pilot. They have expressed direct and opinionated criticism of Kilgore and his ideas. Of course, the Richmond Times has expressed criticism of both candidates repeatedly. This is truly a high priced and very heated race.

For those that would like to decide for yourselves instead of your newspapers deciding for you you can sift through both candidates' websites.

Tim Kaine
Jerry Kilgore

Both candidates also have two commercials out as of today.

Jerry Kilgore 1 and 2

Tim Kaine 1 and 2

Being an independent journalist I'm going to take the high road and not declare a candidate. Maybe the regular news outlets could learn something from this example.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Okay, last time you have to see this.

Caption Winner: GMRoper ofGM's Corner - That's the LAST time I sign up for your 'Extreme Makeover' show...last time do you hear me? The VERY LAST TIME...

GMRoper gets a custom image free of charge by Pumping Pixels for winning the contest. We've done business before and if I can hunt it down I bet I still have my login. Now the question lies on weather he wants a simple button or a new banner for his header?

Runner up: Doug Blask, formerly and maybe futurely from Loose Coins takes second place with: May 8, 11:30 pm: The subject has entered stage 4 of prolonged exposure to Air America...

He wins a great big warm fuzzy for knowing he was really close to winning a free design for his rarely updated blog. Hey Doug, we want you back! Are you coming?

Thank you for all those that played along. It has been a pleasurable experience. Okay, who am I kidding. I laughed my ass of at your captions!

Let me know it I should do more of these in the future or quit while I'm ahead.

Images of hope 27

Okay, I haven't doen one of these for a while but Im about to get back into it. JulieB has seen fit to find an excellent new source for me. I'm sure I'll be able to pull several great images out of this site.

This is John Upperman from Iraq. His blog is Who's Your Baghdaddy? Excellent blog name. Excellent images. Go by and check out the rest of his stuff. Just wait until you get to the hook em' horns!

Internet Advertising And The Future Of Blogs

As many of you know there is a new kid on the block when it comes to news. Blogger News Network has come on the scene and is doing quite well for itself. In a short period of time they are beginning to be recognized as a real news source. Several forums use them as a news reference, including The Democratic Underground. They even have even been used as a source in Wikipedia.

Quite possibly their best accomplishment was their overall Google News dominance on the Jennifer Wilbanks story. Truly they have been making a showing for a small independent news agency. To those looking at dollar signs they are a very wise investment.

For a group that has had no television or radio exposure they have consistently attracted over 150,000 hits per month since being included in Goggle News. Why then are they starving for advertisers? If you take note of the front page they are selling ad space for as little as one dollar. To be more correct, the bidding starts at one dollar. They have taken to selling web space on ebay. With an average click rate of 1-5% that would equate to 15-75,000 clicks per month for just a dollar or more.

If you would like to ensure better placement they also have advertising space through Blogads for $50 a month. Still there are no takers. I am no demographics major, but it appears to me that many weblogs are experiencing the same problems. Blogs for Bush have slashed their prices and many others are simply not collecting anything for ad space that was previously selling for hundreds of dollars a month. This may be simply a shift in readership to other sites or it could be something a bit deeper. Only time will tell.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Full Disclosure

In order to contribute more effectively to the world with the writings I already do I have opted to join Blogcritics and have been accepted. Now, this doesn't bean I'm going to quit blogging about what I blog about. It just means I'll be adding another "crossposted at" line at the end of any quality posts I put up.

I'm not really sure what I'll be gaining in the way of compensation other than having my material on yet another site. I knokw they do product givaways and various other events. They even have a "highlighted blogger" section so I may, or may not, increase my hits.

The full disclosure part comes in the fact that Blogcritics is deeply in bed with Amazon. When posting you are required to place at least one Amazon ad related to your topic. That's not really a problem though. It's only required to be placed on the Blogcritics post, not your own. Again, I stress this will not adjust the way I blog, unless it's to provide a bit more product, movie or book reviews. That's something I'd like to do more of anyway. Politics, politics, politics makes warmonger a dull boy. It also drives me to drink.

Now, something I'm going to say here is that You too can join blogcritics. In fact, most of the people blogging on Blogger News Network could be crossposting their stuff over at Blogcritics as well. I'm sure someone writing about terrorist actions at Gitmo would be able to find a book relating to the subject. It can even work for those in Blog of Books. Amazon sells those books too!

If you would like to become a blogcritic you can contact Eric Olsen.

Nabil al-Wazer Has Been Released

Sources in Yemen state that Nabil al-Wazer has been released from his captors. His kidnapping on Thursday had lead to harsh criticism of the Yemen government as his whereabouts were known throughout his kidnapping and no action had been taken. No information is known at the present time other than that he has been released. No statement from the Yemeni government has been made.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

The Dyson Vacuum Really Sucks!

Yesterday we bought a new vacuum cleaner. We stepped up and paid the big bucks for the model getting all the buzz. We bought a yellow Dyson. We tested it out in our bedroom to see exactly how much we were missing with our old vacuum cleaner. Suffice to say that the old one now has new residence in the garage. The Dyson vacuum cleaner really sucks!

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

The first thing I noticed is that it is extremely easy to handle. It turns easily and pushes like it's self-propelled. (It isn’t self-propelled.) It does seem to use the same amount of electricity, the lights always dim with the vacuum, but it was twice as quiet as the old Dirt Devil we were using. The quietness and mobility alone are ample reasons to switch from your old vacuum.

So we went around the room and got about halfway though when my wife stopped me with an astonished look on her face. She told me to look at the dirt cup. In half of a room this light sucker had accumulated as much dirt and crap as the other vacuum picks up in the whole house combined. All right, we're sold.

Now it's time to empty this dirt cup. We needed to consult the manual. It told us how to easily remove the entire chassis, not just the dirt cup. There's a reason for this. The way it's designed you never really have to deal with dust. When you pull the main chassis the dirt cup comes with, still sealed, no dust.

Now for the messy part, right? Wrong. You simply put a bag on the bottom of the chassis and pull the little lever on the top, still no mess. The bottom falls out and releases all of the dust, and since the filter is separate you don't need to clean it too. The internal design dumps everything out without individual hand cleaning. Once everything has been dumped out (Make note that there was so much dirt in the bag that it actually had weight!) all you have to do is give a quick pull on the chassis and the bottom part flips back into place without you ever touching the dirt. This is yet another selling feature.

According to the manual the maintenance for this super sucker is rather simple as well. Every six months (They provide a handy wheel chart on top of the filter unit.) you need to take out the filter, rinse it in cool water, let it dry and stick it back in. You should never have to replace your filter, ever. Even if you do, we did a price check on that and determined that their filters are a good $15 cheaper than most other filters. How can you go wrong with this marvel of suction engineering?

I know many of you are thinking the $400-$500 price tags are a bit out there, but when you realize that this can and will do the work of at least two $200 models from competitors you are actually saving money, let alone getting a cleaner house. Our carpets even LOOK better!

Did I mention they have about ten models out including one specifically for those with pets?

Dyson has in no way paid or requested this glowing personal review. This is completely independent.

Shifting Alignments

A few weeks ago I joined a group of conservative bloggers called The Wide Awakes. It has put me in touch with the more extreme elements on both the left and the right side of the map. It really opened my eyes to just how extreme things can get. In fact, much of it has shifted my judgment on all things political as of late. It has warped my fragile little mind.

The first thing I noticed was how many people out there felt the need to hate this group for their convictions. Yes, many people call them trolls, others moonbats and still others just plain lefties. It has disturbed me to the point of taking common observations for the conservative point of view. Part of that has to do with seeing the most extreme on both the left and the right.

Being that the group I joined has many voices on the extreme right of the spectrum I started thinking a bit more from that side of the street than I had in the past. I started looking at the left and saw nothing more than bitterness, anger and hate. It really pissed me off and I expressed my views in type. It may have been a bit too extreme for some people, but it is how I felt.

Not surprisingly, these views and feelings have disturbed some of my left minded friends. Somehow they feel betrayed or let down that I would disparage them in the way that I have. If I have destroyed our relationship I am sorry. I'm not sorry for the words I have written though. They stand firm on many accounts and in particular the way it appears to have chapped their hides that I would put out such articles.

Well, I'm here to say that I'm not the only one guilty of offense. I have waded through harsh comments, unforgiving criticism and unabashed hate speech on many that I have considered close friends. In many aspects I feel betrayed by friends.

Frankly, I'm coming clean on my viewpoints on things. Some of the things I have written as of late were unfair. Although they were not meant to encompass everyone on the left or right some felt that I was making direct attacks against them. They were mistaken. It's not the first time someone has been mistaken when I've spoken about the left. I really don't get how I'm just supposed to sit there and take it and not write counter arguments, not get irritated, not get pissed off.

You see, this is my big problem. I don't fit perfectly on either side of the tracks. Both sides tend to hate each other and I get stuck pissing off one side or the other. Maybe I should just quit blogging politically? How about it I just stick to stupid things like movie reviews or silly memes or something?...No, I have a reason for being here. It's for the centralist viewpoint. It's to provide the argument you can't get with only left or right. Sometimes I'm left, sometimes I'm right as well. I don't fit into your box. If you can't tolerate a viewpoint other than your own you don't need to come by. Lord knows I've tolerated others viewpoints.

Speaking of viewpoints: In my next article - My perceptions on what the ACLU is, was and will become. Jay isn't going to like it one bit...

Really people, these are just ideas. Stop getting your panties in a bunch.

Son of Popular Forces Union Leader in Yemen Kidnapped

According to sources a prominent Journalist in Yemen, Nabil al-Wazer, was kidnapped Tuesday by Houssain Abo Dunya in Hajja. Randsom is being reported as approximately $50,000 U.S. dollars. Unlike most kidnappings the government knows the location of this victim and has yet to act upon their knowledge.

Nabil al-Wazer, the son of the Popular Forces Union in Yemen is also the treasurer for this Shiite organization. This group is one of many parties that are being systematically taken apart by those in close communication with the Yemen government. The location of Nabil al-Waser has been published in numerous local Yemen papers, but the government has declined to take any action or acknowledge the incident.

The kidnapper in this incident, Houssain Abo Dunya, is a known criminal with contacts within the government that may have prevented action from being taken. Sources say this is not the first time he has been used to take suspected actions on behalf of the Yemeni government.

The Yemeni embassy in the United States and the Yemeni government itself has not commented as to why they have not acted upon this known violation of law.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.