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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
"The America I Know"
George W. Bush has said that the abuse and torture committed at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq weren't part of the "America I know".
Well, obviously.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the reports of abuse are never made public in the first place. In George W. Bush's America, the reports sit unread on his desk and his subordinates', months after the abuses -- if the investigation happens at all.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the imbecile rent-a-scum that actually commits the abuse doesn't snap incriminating photos that can shatter plausible deniability; and if they do, the photos mysteriously disappear, along with all other evidence, long before they have a chance of being exposed in the media.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, all of the inconvenient witnesses disappear -- not just some of them.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the media acquiesce meekly when bullied to keep a lid on the story.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, abuse, torture and murder aren't considered a problem until it becomes public knowledge, when deniability is lost, at which point it is dealt with purely as a public relations problem. In the America that George W. Bush knows, lower-level flunkies take the fall, and there is never any accountability for the higher-ups who tolerated -- and probably ordered -- the abuses in the first place.
Oh, wait -- I guess this is the America that George W. Bush knows, after all.
George W. Bush has said that the abuse and torture committed at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq weren't part of the "America I know".
Well, obviously.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the reports of abuse are never made public in the first place. In George W. Bush's America, the reports sit unread on his desk and his subordinates', months after the abuses -- if the investigation happens at all.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the imbecile rent-a-scum that actually commits the abuse doesn't snap incriminating photos that can shatter plausible deniability; and if they do, the photos mysteriously disappear, along with all other evidence, long before they have a chance of being exposed in the media.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, all of the inconvenient witnesses disappear -- not just some of them.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, the media acquiesce meekly when bullied to keep a lid on the story.
In the America that George W. Bush knows, abuse, torture and murder aren't considered a problem until it becomes public knowledge, when deniability is lost, at which point it is dealt with purely as a public relations problem. In the America that George W. Bush knows, lower-level flunkies take the fall, and there is never any accountability for the higher-ups who tolerated -- and probably ordered -- the abuses in the first place.
Oh, wait -- I guess this is the America that George W. Bush knows, after all.
