Sort of an eclectic post here--first, Rising Hegemon linked to a story focusing on a discovery by another blogger, Thad Anderson at Outraged Moderates. Anderson, via FOIA, obtained notes from a DOD meeting on 9/11 where Rumsfeld, displaying a bit of the banality of evil himself, was just itching to bomb Iraq, despite their lack of involvement. Smirk-Chimp and company sure did want their war...well, they sure did get it.
The fallout over port pro quo has raised enough hackles to make DPW announce their own delay in taking over management of the facilities...and, just speaking for myself, the circumstances certainly make the whole terror color code thing pretty much a joke...not that the weekly announcements during the 2004 election cycle weren't just so many nails in THAT particular coffin.
Moving on to other issues, I see FDL made the same point Oyster did a while back re: conception, in vitro fertilization, and nature, which is most definitely a relevant point in light of South Dakota's state legislature deciding to fire a few opening salvos along the lines of the Confederates attacking Fort Sumpter:
When John M. Opitz of the University of Utah testified before the President's council on Bioethics in 2003, he noted that between 60 and 80 percent of all naturally conceived embryos are simply flushed out in a woman's normal menstrual cycle in the first 7 days after fertilization, and that women never even know that conception has taken place.
(As a side note, at the same meeting, Harvard government professor Michael Sandel, also a member of the Bioethics council, noted that "If the embryo loss that accompanies natural procreation were the moral equivalent of infant death, then pregnancy would have to be regarded as a public health crisis of epidemic proportions: Alleviating natural embryo loss would be a more urgent moral cause than abortion, in vitro fertilization, and stem-cell research combined." Although I enjoy Dr. Sandel's sense of humor and appreciate the presence of a smartass on the Bioethics council, I really do, let's just chalk this one up to "God's will" for the moment and proceed with the question at hand.)
Now, I'm certain by most fundamentalist assessments that when I die, barring some sort of deathbed recant of the Lee Atwater variety, I am going to hell. (That last vote for John Kerry probably put me over the top.) But say by some fluke God has a soft spot for unrepentant preacher's kids who are good to their dogs, and I wind up in heaven. Is 60 to 80 percent of the population going to be filled out with people who never made it past dome stage blastula? I mean -- conversation is liable to be a bit thin, don't you think? What can you really say beyond "congratulations on winning the big swim?"
And, rounding out my first post of the day, here's another shining example of how Bushco's policies have about as much success in stopping terrorism as gasoline has on dousing flames:
Crude-oil futures jumped by more than $2 a barrel after an attack on a massive oil facility in Saudi Arabia rattled an oil market already jittery about supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil producer, with production of about 9.5 million barrels per day - an amount equal to about 11 percent of global consumption. The target of the attack, the Abqaiq oil complex in eastern Saudi Arabia, processes about two-thirds of the country's oil...
An Arab satellite television station reported that one pipeline at the Abqaiq oil complex in eastern Saudi Arabia was damaged by suicide bombers in two explosives-packed cars. The Saudi oil minister, however, said the attack did not affect operations or stop oil flow.
While terror attacks are not new to Saudi Arabia, oil analysts said this particular action was noteworthy because of how close the assailants came to a major oil facility.
Shrub, your pResidential legacy is clear: failure. Just like the rest of your life story.
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