Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

No Justins, No Peace

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

He really is that stupid.

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171Comments

  1. 1.

    Zifnab

    All that build up about “oh, its the perfect crime” and “liberals will have a field day” and “its just too unbelievable” and after all that yap, yap, yap we get:

    A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.

    How the hell is that not believable? You have got to be fucking kidding me. Oh, but it happened in Iraq! Nothing bad every happens in Iraq… right? Oh, but it was committed by KBR employees and when has an Iraqi contractor ever broken the law? Oh, but the US Government has covered it up. And WHEN HAS THE US GOVERNMENT EVER COVERED SOMETHING UP!

    If anything, its just too damn believable. Ridiculously believable. Obtusely believable. Utterly, insanely, perfectly 100% believable.

    I can see why a winger would have such trouble believing it.

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    One other note:

    From Shackleford –

    But that’s the question, isn’t it? Is the story true? By simply telling the story from the victim’s perspective, then aren’t we doing a disservice to those she is making the allegations against?

    From the Blotter –

    “I said, ‘Dad, I’ve been raped. I don’t know what to do. I’m in this container, and I’m not able to leave,'” she said. Her father called their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

    “We contacted the State Department first,” Poe told ABCNews.com, “and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen” — from her American employer.

    Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones’ camp, where they rescued her from the container.

    So, here we’ve got perspective from Ms Jones, her father, a Congressman, and – indirectly – agents from the US State Department. This, from the first page of the story.

    Yeah, I’m smelling liberal conspiracy all over. Where’s DA Nifong? Get Paul L in here.

  4. 4.

    Jen

    You can tell he really followed the Duke case very carefully since he twice spells it “la cross”, which I believe is a brand of tweezers and fingernail clippers and the like.

    What a freaking idiot. I’m not saying he has to believe her story because who knows, right? If he doesn’t want to believe her because he just can’t believe the good people at KBR would ever do such a thing, fine, whatever. But the woman has a Republican legislator from Texas in her corner. Does that spell left wing conspiracy theory to you?

  5. 5.

    Media Glutton

    OK, sure, some people are idiots (and some people are HUGE idiots, but not as many). And there are people who type on the computer. There are also people who know how to use the Internet and can blog on the Internet. But an IDIOT + TYPING + ON IN THE INTERNET IN A BLOG ON THE INTERNET?? Why, you’d have the perfect story!

    That just seems completely unbelievable to me! Because I worded it in a way that makes it seem not believable when it completely is!

  6. 6.

    Cyrus

    Same basic point as Zifnab, but elaborating on it:

    I dunno. As of this moment, because ABC’s The Blotter is so one-sided in its coverage, there is really no way to tell.

    The article says they tried to get a comment from the State Department, and they quoted statements by Halliburton and KBR. What else does Mr. Star Wars Gnome want, a guilty plea before any article is ever written about an alleged rape?

    (SASQ: Probably.)

  8. 8.

    Kevin K.

    “How many hours until Bob Owens demands to inspect her vagina? Place your bets here.”

    Comment of the day.

    In addition, how long before Malkin drives down to her house to ask her neighbors if she has a vagina?

  9. 9.

    calipygian

    Remember – Rusty Shackleford is the pseudonym of one of the stupidest, most paranoid cartoon characters ever conceived: Dale Gribble of King of the Hill.

    Somehow appropriate.

  10. 10.

    jrg

    It’s perfect. Too perfect.

    If Arabs did it, then we can just lock them up without any evidence. If KBR employees did it, then they deserve a trial in open U.S. court. If an administration official was somehow involved, any evidence collected is a matter of national security.

    If it did not happen, it’s proof that liberals are unhinged, and it vindicates our entire policy in the Middle East.

    Too perfect, indeed… What a slimeball.

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    What the article convienently left out was, while in the container, she wrote a book.

    Now the broad’s just trying to sell it. Disgruntled employee and clearly a Bush hater, natch.

  12. 12.

    Avedon

    The moral of this story is: If you’re going to be scum, go all the way, and you’ll always have some right-wing bloggers to say it “sounds too far-fetched” and dismiss anything your victim says.

  13. 13.

    calipygian

    If an administration official was somehow involved, any evidence collected is a matter of national security.

    Remember that assholes like those douchebags at The Jawa Report couldn’t get enough of that evidence collected from Monica’s dress.

    Funny that the physical evidence collected here conveniently “disappeared” after the Army turned it over to those justice loving Halliburton officials, who are right as we speak on an O.J. like quest to find the real gang rapists.

    Being right wingers, they are probably banging down doors in Chappaqua NY because we all know it is the Clenis’ fault.

  14. 14.

    Chris

    …because a couple grunts in one of the largest contractors in Baghdad is completely equivalent to the Bush Administration.

    Nope. Wake me up when Cheney rapes a 22 year-old for having C-14 radiation emissions. Then I’ll go find Grisham.

  15. 15.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    calipygian Says:

    Remember – Rusty Shackleford is the pseudonym of one of the stupidest, most paranoid cartoon characters ever conceived: Dale Gribble of King of the Hill.

    Somehow appropriate.

    December 10th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Maybe it’s time for a new name. J.A.F.I. taken?

  16. 16.

    Jake

    then aren’t we doing a disservice to those she is making the allegations against?

    O noes! Some unnamed people are being accused of something!

    So let’s review:

    “OMG, those evile Mooslims treat women and rape victims like shit and those stoopid libtards will be really sorry when they’re wearing burquas and living under Sharia law.”

    “Hey, guys, a woman is accusing KBR employees of gang raping her and keeping her prisoner.”

    [Screeching of tires]

    “OMG, how dare she say such a thing! She must be lying, what’s her address, check her counters!”

    And deeper we go into the Black Hole of Idiocy.

  17. 17.

    Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop

    I won my three-bet parlay.

    I had John posting nothing on the “Nancy Pelosi had no objection to waterboarding in 2002” story at -120.

    I had John posting nothing on the “Clinton workers spreading rumors that Obama is a Muslim plant” story at -250.

    And I had John jumping all over the Halliburton gang-rape allegation at -350. Because of teh Bush Kryme Sindikit!!!

    Granted, they were all so predictable that I didn’t make much money, but a win is a win is a win.

  18. 18.

    El Cid

    This sounds like a job for CITIZEN JOURNALISM!!!!

    Quick — get somebody over to the so-called “victim”‘s house. What kind of counters does she have?

    What sort of info can we dig up on her love life? How many men did she date? What do her former schoolmates say about her?

    We of the Mighty Mighty Chicken-Hawk Battalion cannot simply stand by and let that branch of the U.S. military known as KBR be calumnied!!!

  23. 23.

    Jake

    I had John posting nothing on the “Nancy Pelosi had no objection to waterboarding in 2002” story at -120.

    Poor E^3^L. Even when he plays with himself, he loses.

  24. 24.

    jcricket

    It’s the movement conservative mentality—facts are judged not on their accuracy, but on whether or not they serve the Party.

    Did you see the WSJ Editorial about the NIE? They basically said the problem was that Bush has, for too long, tolerated intelligence gathering agencies that dissent from his agenda

    Why not just dispense with evidence and scientific inquiry altogether? Press releases, and conservative bible interpretations are the only evidence Republicans appear to need anymore. When science, evidence and facts are now “tools of the left”, your party is in serious trouble.

    I feel really sad in point out that Ron Suskind was 100% spot on in describing how the Republican party would prefer the world operate (and acts as if it does).

  25. 25.

    John Cole

    I won my three-bet parlay.

    I had John posting nothing on the “Nancy Pelosi had no objection to waterboarding in 2002” story at -120.

    I had John posting nothing on the “Clinton workers spreading rumors that Obama is a Muslim plant” story at -250.

    And I had John jumping all over the Halliburton gang-rape allegation at -350. Because of teh Bush Kryme Sindikit

    Granted, they were all so predictable that I didn’t make much money, but a win is a win is a win.

    I only placed one bet, but I went all in. I bet EEL would show up and say something stupid.

    PS. I never wrote about Clinton Obama, so you lost your parlay.

  26. 26.

    Chris

    I’m sure this kind of thing happens in Detroit all the time. Where’s the outrage then?

    I wouldn’t speak for the people consistently out for blood, but the outrage for me is these assholes the best we’ve got to get this job done?! And we can’t even court marshall these failures?

    Don’t be defending this fuck up and then be saying it’s the Democrats that screwed up the war. Democrats aren’t rapists. Well, I dunno about Teddy. But at least not regularly.

    Vet the people you send to do a sensitive job, huh?

  27. 27.

    jcricket

    How many hours until Bob Owens demands to inspect her vagina? Place your bets here.

    As I deduced from her picture and a quick look at her Facebook page, her hymen was clearly broken long before this “alleged” gang rape (more like a typical sorority prank, if you ask me). This makes her a slut, and a liar.

    Plus, how dare she not support the troops by allowing herself to be kidnapped and gang-raped. Doesn’t she know how low the morale is over there? (owing mainly to Democrats seditious commentary on the war).

  29. 29.

    Psycheout

    PS. I never wrote about Clinton Obama, so you lost your parlay.

    Hmmm, read it again, John.

    I had John posting nothing on the “Clinton workers spreading rumors that Obama is a Muslim plant” story at -250.

    I don’t think he meant that you posted “nothing” but rather that you “never wrote about Clinton Obama.”

    But I’m not going to take EEEL’s word for it. Show us where you said this and won anything for your Karnak abilities.

    I could easily bet that John Cole will never post about how B4C has been right about everything, but that wouldn’t prove much would it?

  30. 30.

    LiberalTarian

    ,Jake says:*

    Poor E3L. Even when he plays with himself, he loses.

    And he grows hair on his palms.

  33. 33.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    How many hours until Bob Owens demands to inspect her vagina?

    That depends: would Bob Owens recognize a vagina if he saw one?

  35. 35.

    Tom Hilton

    I don’t believe anything that supposedly happened over the last 7 years actually happened. I mean, catastrophic incompetence, sure–that happens all the time. Illegal invasion on a false pretext that gets completely bungled–happens all the time. Obsessively paranoid authoritarianism–ho hum. Torturing suspects–ho hum. But put them all together, and it’s just a little too convenient for the Democrats.

  36. 36.

    Mike

    This bit is even worse

    Legal experts say Jones’ alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.

    “It’s very troubling,” said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. “The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don’t have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice.”

    Since mercenaries military contractors are not covered by US law, Iraqi law, or military law, they can’t be punished for stuff like this. The most the victim can do is file a civil suit.

  37. 37.

    Kevin K.

    That depends: would Bob Owens recognize a vagina if he saw one?

    Well, I’m sure he knows from Ace of Spades that a vagina looks like Play-Doh and bacon.

    Speaking of Ace, the citizen journalists are already hard at work on this story over there:

    There is a picture at the ABC site of her private room, the top bunk is made up the bottom is not, she slept in the top. According to her deposition the next morning when she woke up there was a dude in the bottom bunk who readily admitted fucking her. It seems likely she could have gotten shit faced, fucked consensually, then fell out of bed and knocked her falsies loose. Just sayin’…

    You just can’t make this stuff up.

  38. 38.

    calipygian

    Since mercenaries military contractors are not covered by US law, Iraqi law, or military law, they can’t be punished for stuff like this. The most the victim can do is file a civil suit.

    This is not new. This shit happened when I was in the Balkans, too:

    In 1999 employees of the company were involved in the trading of sex slaves while working in Bosnia.[24] A DynCorp employee, Kathryn Bolkovac, was fired after revealing that Dyncorp employees had frequented brothels where women had been imprisoned. Another Dyncorp employee, Ben Johnson, was also fired after revealing the involvement of some of his co-workers in forced-prostitution rings in Bosnia.[25] At least 13 DynCorp employees have been sent home from Bosnia—- and at least seven of them fired—- for purchasing women or trafficking of women and children, though none have ever faced criminal sanctions.[25]

    Just this once, something may be the Clenis’ fault: for not closing this stupid loophole in Status of Forces agreements.

  40. 40.

    Ted

    It seems likely she could have gotten shit faced, fucked consensually, then fell out of bed and knocked her falsies loose. Just sayin’…

    What. A. Monstrous. Prick.

    Sitting in his Aeron in the 82nd Chairborne in his basement, looks at a photo, deduces what he thinks is “likely”. Not possible, likely.

  42. 42.

    HyperIon

    Dreggas Says:

    Sorry to go O/T but this guy has a book to sell

    hmm, i thought that the stuff they got from Abu Zubaydah was determined to be pure crappola (according to Ron Susskind). so why is this guy gloating that:

    “The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks.”

    jesus, how do we ever discover the truth?

  43. 43.

    calipygian

    Sitting in his Aeron in the 82nd Chairborne in his basement, looks at a photo, deduces what he thinks is “likely”. Not possible, likely.

    Anybody that fucking stupid cant afford an Aeron chair. They are like, $1200 bucks. More than likely he’s sitting in a Cheeto stained Barcolounger salvaged from his Mom’s neighbor’s Wednesday morning trash pickup.

  44. 44.

    Ed Drone

    “Since mercenaries military contractors are not covered by US law, Iraqi law, or military law, they can’t be punished for stuff like this. The most the victim can do is file a civil suit.”

    Well, she can always hire her own merc team, and hunt the bastards down. And she would then be held unprosecutable under the same rules that apply to KBR.

    Sounds a lot like Iraq today, with tit-for-tat reprisals and uncontrolled armed gangs — say, who won the war, eh? We’re becoming more like them every day.

    Ed

  45. 45.

    numbskull

    Well, here’s hoping elected Republicans go with the JAWA stance, though kudos to the kid’s congressman. Might be the only good that comes out of this.

  46. 46.

    numbskull

    Psychout says:”Good Lord, is she already trying to cash in?”

    Reading comprehension must be mighty low in psyche’s house. Oh wait, I see the problem. She’s actually trying to prevent this from happening to others. She’s trying to do some good in life. THAT’S the part psyche doesn’t grasp.

  47. 47.

    Ted

    More than likely he’s sitting in a Cheeto stained Barcolounger salvaged from his Mom’s neighbor’s Wednesday morning trash pickup.

    …with a distinct odor built up from years of farting and bare ass treatment while masturbating.

  48. 48.

    RSA

    Good Lord, is she already trying to cash in?

    From the Psycheout Guide to Cashing In: First, start a non-profit foundation. . .

  49. 49.

    Psycheout

    Ahh. I misread it psycheout.

    That’s okay. It happens to all of us. I once misread something on Daily Kos that I thought at first seemed to be supporting the troops. Boy, was my face red!

  50. 50.

    Tim F.

    Ahh. I misread it psycheout. Regardless, he still loses his bet- I did write about Nancy Pelosi.

    So did I if you count the comment I wrote. The funny thing about rigidly ideological hacks with a gunsight view of the world is that they think everyone else thinks that way.

  51. 51.

    Innocent Bystander

    Well, never let it be said that Rusty and the AOS are nothing, if not A-1 regurgitators.

  53. 53.

    jake

    Since mercenaries military contractors are not covered by US law, Iraqi law, or military law, they can’t be punished for stuff like this. The most the victim can do is file a civil suit.

    Maybe this is an out for the guys locked up in Gitmo. Claim they’re mercenaries and therefore allowed to do whatever the fuck they want.

    Unlawful combatants? We’ve got people for that.

  54. 54.

    numbskull

    Psychout, are you going to explain how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

  55. 55.

    Tim F.

    Psychout, are you going to explain how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

    Baby DougJ wept.

  56. 56.

    Cassidy

    how dare she not support the troops by allowing herself to be kidnapped and gang-raped.

    This didn’t have anything to do with troops, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make a false connection.

    Since mercenaries military contractors

    KBR aren’t security contractors, like Blackwater. They are mostly facilities and infrastructure support, etc.

  57. 57.

    numbskull

    Cassidy says:”KBR aren’t security contractors, like Blackwater. They are mostly facilities and infrastructure support, etc.”

    Thanks for clearing that up.

  58. 58.

    Rudi

    We created a Shia Sharia Iraq state, so the Iraqis women are not allowed to fraternize with US troops. From WWII to Vietnam, US soldiers were welcomed by French, Italian and Vietnamese women. Colonel Hackworth allowed a brothel on his US camp. The stuff shirts in the Pentagon weren’t happy, while they partied with Wilbur Mills.

    Reporters were told yesterday that Mrs. Battistella worked as a stripper at the Silver Slipper at 815 13th Street NW in 1973 under the name Fanne Foxe. She was billed as the “Argentine Firecracker.”

    However, these sources said, she stopped dancing after Mills met her there and that then she and the congressman became frequent companions at the Silver Slipper.

    Those who served under him said that even after he became the youngest colonel in Vietnam he never lost his personal touch for the most junior of soldiers, huddling with them in the foxhole, boosting their morale with words of encouragement, a smile or a dirty joke; he always said his most prized possession was not his medals for valor, but his combat infantryman’s badge.

    Later, when Hackworth became a Pentagon critic, an Army investigation raised allegations that he smoked marijuana with his troops and ran a brothel to serve his unit; some called for Hackworth’s court-martial, but charges were never brought.

    No brothel in Sharia Iraq, so troops and contractors rape US women.

  59. 59.

    jake

    No brothel in Sharia Iraq, so troops and contractors rape US women.

    Wow, and I was about to award the prize for most brain-dead fucking comment in this thread to Psycheout.

    Firstly, these weren’t soldiers, these were (as far as I can tell) desk jockeys.

    Secondly, prostitution has become very common in Iraq because what do you know? There isn’t much work to be had and a lot of women are trying to earn for two.

    Finally, if you would commit rape because you were unable to get you some for a long period of time, please do the rest of us a favor and stick your dick in a blender, we don’t need any more bad press.

  60. 60.

    Psycheout

    Psychout, are you going to explain how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

    What’s there to explain. If you don’t find it odd that the poor young lass had a professional website up the day the story broke, I can’t help you.

  61. 61.

    numbskull

    Psychout, are you going to explain how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

  62. 62.

    Psycheout

    Secondly, prostitution has become very common in Iraq

    Link please. This is the first time I have heard this. And you’re a raving moonbat, so pardon me if I don’t take your word for it.

    Is prostitution in Iraq more prevalent than, say, Detroit?

  63. 63.

    Ted

    Shorter Psycheout: She should STFU.

    Besides, everyone knows non-profit foundations are a great path to personal wealth.

  64. 64.

    Psycheout

    Psychout, are you going to explain how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

    As long as she doesn’t do better than breaking even, I suppose your point is well made. I do find it odd that this professional website was up the day the story broke at ABC. Don’t you find it a bit odd? That’s what I meant by cashing in.

    Because it’s called non-profit, can you be sure that it doesn’t “accidentally” make a profit? It certainly is trying to cash in on public sympathy, to say the least.

  65. 65.

    Psycheout

    And please note that unlike most of you blame America firsters, I am arguing in good faith.

    We’ll probably find out more about this non-story in coming days. So don’t rush to judgement.

    What am I saying? You’re leftists. Pork away, pal.

  66. 66.

    numbskull

    Psychout, you haven’t explained how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation. Were you going to get around to doing that?

  67. 67.

    demimondian

    Psicko, this statement almost certainly crosses the line between acceptable speech and defamation:

    As long as she doesn’t do better than breaking even, I suppose your point is well made. I do find it odd that this professional website was up the day the story broke at ABC. Don’t you find it a bit odd? That’s what I meant by cashing in

    To answer that, you should be aware of the Google cache. Searching through Google for “site:jamiesfoundation.org”, you see a page with five entries, the first of which is the main portal page. Clicking on the “Cached” link, you are routed to this page, the top of which contains this text:

    This is Google’s cache of http://www.jamiesfoundation.org/ as retrieved on Dec 4, 2007 00:53:34 GMT.
    Google’s cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web.

    Unless Google is making it up, I’d say the web site has been up since at least 12/4/2007. That puts you on the far side of the law. More than that, this statement is also negligently false:

    Because it’s called non-profit, can you be sure that it doesn’t “accidentally” make a profit? It certainly is trying to cash in on public sympathy, to say the least.

    The answer to your question is “yes”, and the reason for that is built into the tax law controlling 501(c)(3) corporations.

  68. 68.

    Psycheout

    I think I did, moron. But you can’t seem to get it through your numb skull. Maybe you need to adjust your tin foil hat. And check the fillings in your teeth. You’ll find a pair of pliars in your toolbox, friend.

  71. 71.

    Psycheout

    Completely wrong and inaccurate. Please get your facts straight.

    Amen, but these are liberals. They never get anything straight, let alone facts;. They are the “reality-based” community, after all.

  73. 73.

    Ted

    Maybe you need to adjust your tin foil hat.

    I don’t know; maybe someone who thinks the sun goes around the earth should avoid ever, ever using the phrase “tin foil hat” about anyone. Hasn’t irony been mutilated enough already?

  74. 74.

    Cassidy

    Something else to keep in mind, while a small few are busy vilifying Soldiers, KBR/ Halliburton hires a lot of their employees overseas. On a typical “crew” you’ll have 1-5 Americans acting as supervisors and the rest of the group are locals hired on the cheap. That being said, it is entirely possible this incident didn’t involve other Americans.

  75. 75.

    demimondian

    Nah — in the appropriate inertial reference frame, the Sun *does* go around the Earth. That was the (rather subtle) point of the original posting.

    Now, as to whether Sisyphus actually got that subtlety…I leave that to your judgement.

  76. 76.

    numbskull

    Psychout, is this you “arguing in good faith”?

    I think it’s very important for everyone at Balloon Juice to very clearly understand what you are saying here. The statements you’re making strike at the very heart of who you are as a person in toto. Your explanation will clearly demonstrate to everyone exactly how your submissions on any topic should be regarded from this point forward.

    So, explain to us again how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

  79. 79.

    Psycheout

    The statements you’re making strike at the very heart of who you are as a person in toto.

    Wow, you really are a numbskull aren’t you? I evaluate every comment I read by itself. You would rather take a shortcut and dismiss anyone that states anything contrary to liberal orthodoxy. Go ahead. I don’t really care.

    We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we, Toto.

  80. 80.

    numbskull

    Psychout,

    How is it that the rape victim is “cashing in” by starting a non-profit foundation? Try explaining all the blust and blather. It’s not helping your case.

    It is, however, helping us take the measure of the man.

  81. 81.

    numbskull

    Psychout,

    How is it that the rape victim is “cashing in” by starting a non-profit foundation? Try explaining WITHOUT all the blust and blather. It’s not helping your case.

    It is, however, helping us take the measure of the man.

  83. 83.

    Psycheout

    So, explain to us again how the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

    One more time for the eternally braindead. Look up “cash in” for yourself, you insufferable pratt.

    2. Informal To obtain a profit or other advantage by timely exploitation: Profiteers cashed in during the gasoline shortage.

    Making a boo hoo, Hitlerburten is evil website about her plight shortly before the story was broken by ABC sure seems like a “timely” attempt to take advantage, doesn’t it?

    To anyone but a mollusk. Bah, why do I waste my time with you simpletons?

  84. 84.

    demimondian

    Hmm. I thought that the “not supporting the troops…” line was one of the standard snarks here, having nothing to do with whether she was actually raped by servicemen, and, in fact, typically being ironically intended to deny the claim, if anything. I didn’t see any others.

  85. 85.

    demimondian

    Um, Psicko? You’re on the far side of the law — I hope she has a good attorney. It’s a non-profit corporation. I sit on the boards of several, and do you know what? Every one I deal with is required to submit to full audit every year *in order to show that it has not made a profit*. Period.

  86. 86.

    Cassidy

    I only saw two [references to troops], which is why I tried to explain KBR’s role in the military world. They aren’t even quasi-military.

  87. 87.

    James F. Elliott

    Is prostitution in Iraq more prevalent than, say, Detroit?

    I call parody. You’ve tipped your hand. Odds are I’m behind the curve and everybody else figured this out already.

  88. 88.

    Chad N. Freude

    Before we give Psycheout the thrashing he/she so richly deserves, maybe we ought to look at the last two items on this page. Whether her story is true or not, the cashing-in accusation doesn’t look so much like swift-boating.

    If the story is true, she’s doing what everybody else with a story, even Republicans and former members of the administration, does in the era of peek-under-the-covers-of-my-experience-for-a-buck. If the story is false, what she’s doing is indefensible. Before we run in circles screaming and shouting, we ought to see how this plays out. (That means you, too, Psyche.)

  89. 89.

    Chad N. Freude

    Bah, why do I waste my time with you simpletons?

    Because it’s a lot of fun to engage in these snarkfests? Because you’re a masochist and you get off on the exchange of vicious insults? Because you’re autistic and find this the only way you can have emotional contact with others?

    Anybody else want to chime in with a theory?

  91. 91.

    numbskull

    Psycheout,

    We’ve learned a lot about you tonight.

    We’ve pretty much determined that you define “arguing in good faith” as calling people nasty names when they press you on the insupprtable statements you make. Handily for those assessing you, you went “ad hominen” in the very same post where you claimed that you are arguing in good faith. If’d you’d waited another hour or so, we could’ve called it a “twofer”.

    We’ve also found that with just a tiny bit of pressure, you default to meaningless blather about ‘merka haters and similar old talking points that never made much sense. Not even original.

    We’ve also found that when you know you’re caught saying something that is insupportable, you try to argue by declaration. Telling us that “cashing in” means “cashing in” or that it has some coded meaning that only Pscyhout know, or that we need to look it up ourselves, are hardly an argument.

    But of course, what we’ve really learned here is that there simply is no depth to which you, Psychout, will sink, provided we allow you the time and opportunity to keep digging the hole you’re in. We’ve found that you’re capable and quite willing to toss away the last vestiges of a link to basic humanty just to try to score cheap points on a political commentary board.

    It really does come down to that.

    What we have not learned however is…wait for it…

    How is the rape victim ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

  92. 92.

    numbskull

    Cassidy, sorry, I really did miss those posts. I don’t know if it was so much that those participants were commenting on soldiers in terms of singling them out. There certainly have been reports of soldier rapes in Iraq and there have been convictions in other theaters both recently and in the past. Actually, in all of history. My sis is 26 years in the Army as a noncom, and I certainly know of a lot bad things happening from what she’s said. I just didn’t get the impression that the posts here were singling out soldiers per se, but more a comment on the overall mess that our soldiers find themselves in.

  93. 93.

    numbskull

    Chad N. Freude, thanks for the link, but regardless of how this plays out, Pscheout wrote what he wrote and now we know quite a bit about him as a person.

  94. 94.

    Cassidy

    There certainly have been reports of soldier rapes in Iraq

    No doubt about this. Not everyone in the Army is a good person, but most are.

    I took the comments as lumping all US involvement, Soldiers and contractors, under one “ebil” heading. Just figured I’d clarify the difference.

  97. 97.

    Psycheout

    Telling us that “cashing in” means “cashing in” or that it has some coded meaning that only Pscyhout know, or that we need to look it up ourselves, are hardly an argument.

    no depth to which you, Psychout, will sink,

    See Herb’s Law about not commenting or blogging drunk.

  98. 98.

    numbskull

    “What’s that mean? Homonym?”

    “Actually, I think “Michael D.” is a homonym. Get it? “homo” “nym?” LOL!”

    Wow. This is what it looks like when a man is finally shown the mirror and the horror of his deep emptiness and loneliness finally hits him. He knows he’s sold his soul to an ideology that is, in the end, dust. And now he just goes through the motions, a figure to pitied when not ignored.

    Balloon Juice, I give you Psycheout, stripped of all pretense, quivering in the blaze of open discourse.

    And we never did figure out what he meant by the rape victim ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation.

  99. 99.

    John S.

    Not everyone in the Army is a good person, but most are.

    I would tend to agree, but can you seriously make this claim?

    Do you read minds? How do you qualify what is ‘good’? Can you, like George Bush, look into someone’s eyes and judge their soul?

    Not to be a pedant, but this is the problem I have with you. You state your opinions like they are facts, and then when challenged will freak out because you somehow seem to think your opinions are fact and beyond reproach.

    You could have said the converse without it sounding quite as silly:

    Not everyone in the Army is a bad person, though I’m sure some are.

    There is ample evidence that there are, in fact, some bad people in the Army. But I think you’d find it a bit harder to prove that most people in the Army are good. Perhaps that is what you believe (and like I said from the beginning, I believe likewise), but that is simply an opinion – not a fact.

  100. 100.

    numbskull

    Cassidy -re: “Not everyone in the Army is a good person, but most are.” No question about that in my mind. Many of my family members are or were Army or Marine. Of course, there are bad people in any organization that size. I guess I just interpreted the comments made above on that level – that it’s implicit that most are good and a very few are bad, but that the situation allows the bad to basically get away with a lot.

  101. 101.

    Chad N. Freude

    Actually, I think “Michael D.” is a homonym. Get it? “homo” “nym?” LOL!

    Thank you for the exegesis. I know that none of us here would have appreciated your cleverness without it. And that clever abbreviation for your signature: Loser On Line. Totally brilliant!

  102. 102.

    Xanthippas

    Actually, I think “Michael D.” is a homonym. Get it? “homo” “nym?” LOL!

    That’s actually the most clever thing you’ve said all night.

  104. 104.

    John S.

    Totally off-topic…

    Religious gunman kills four

    Boyd said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and estimated that 40 rounds had been fired inside the church, leaving what looked like a “war scene.”

    No doubt this could have been pulled off with a knife or possibly a baseball bat with some nails stuck in the end of it. No doubt the killer chose to use an assault rifle to make gun owners look bad.

  106. 106.

    TenguPhule

    Since mercenaries military contractors are not covered by US law, Iraqi law, or military law, they can’t be punished for stuff like this.

    Fortunately the CIA has a solution for this.

    Kidnap the mercs, fly them to a secret prison, torture the shit out of them and then leave them to rot without a trial.

    Trials are so pre-9/11.

  107. 107.

    demimondian

    But…but…but…John S., he hated Christians! That’s what the sheriff’s office said yesterday, anyway. It was clearly an anti-Christian hate crime!

  110. 110.

    Psycheout

    Sorry, John S., if that’s even your real name. I don’t read MSNBC crap, home of Chrissy Matthews. But it would appear that a smart gun toting conservative stopped at least one of the rampages. So much for those gun free zones. The “Brady Bunch” can’t talk their way out of this one.

    Which one are you? Marsha or Cindy?

  112. 112.

    Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop

    I only placed one bet, but I went all in. I bet EEL would show up and say something stupid.

    PS. I never wrote about Clinton Obama, so you lost your parlay.

    BJ — your home for Teh Unintentional Irony!

    Priceless.

  113. 113.

    Psycheout

    If there’s no reply in the next hour, you can be sure that dumbskull is passed out in a pool of his/her sick.

    Sad, isn’t it?

    Well I’m off to pray and off to bed. G-d bless us, everyone!

  115. 115.

    numbskull

    Psychout,

    How is it that the rape victim is ‘cashing in’ by starting a non-profit foundation?

    You know, it’s OK to take it back. It’s OK to honestly rethink your position, or simply admit that you wrote without thinking. It’s a human thing to do, to get caught up in an argument and then have trouble seeing that you’ve gone over the edge.

    Somehow, I doubt you’ll be able to do any of that. You’ve been all over the map, twisting yourself in knots, trying to explain your depravity. You’ve even resorted in the end to some sort of bizarre, off-topic humor in the hopes that people will be distracted, or that we’ll just think that somehow you’re just a funny guy with a weird sense of humor. You’ve used every cheap trick to avoid facing the question. I guess because to do so would just be too much for you to admit to yourself:

    You’re simply not much of a human being.

  117. 117.

    Psycheout

    Yikes. I found this in the comment thread over at Don Surber’s place (the most important conservative voice on the web):

    Holes you could drive a Humvee through.

    I suggested the commenter try rewording that, in light of the specifics of the allegations. Yecchh.

  118. 118.

    AnonE.Mouse

    Psycheout,a some friendly advice-walk away,have a drink,watch some TV,take a nap.You’ve gotten a little-well,actually alot-too obsessed with this thread.Of course,it probably gets lonely running a blog no one visits.

  119. 119.

    Ted

    You’re right, Psycheout. We need more guns in churches. Those silly thumb-suckers think they’ll live two lives, so they’re not nearly that concerned about checking out of the first one.

  121. 121.

    Kevin

    Wow, talk about a mischaracterization of a statement! He said it was fishy, and you say he blamed it on the fact that many people on the left are idiots?

    Sheesh.

  122. 122.

    Ted

    Yeah, AnonE, a few to several thousand a day really sucks.

    How’s it feel knowing they’re all knuckle-dragging creationist flat-earther luddites?

  123. 123.

    dslak

    Psycheout’s a spoof, just fucking with your heads. Maybe you don’t want to see it, but there it is.

  124. 124.

    towerclimber37

    wow.
    just wow.

    here I see folks who say its harder to prove there are good people in the military than bad?
    I see folks who are making snide comments about a courageous lady that was able to stop a nutcase from killing more people.

    I see people arguing over a subject when they don’t have verifiable facts from both sides yet.

    what is WRONG with you people???
    what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

    what happened to “personal safety is a personal responsibility”?

    I can tell you John S. how you can prove that the majority of the folks in the military are good folks.

    they joined the military. that means that no matter why they joined, they signed a blank check for anything, up to and including their lives, so that people like YOU could shit all over them and make innuendos that cast them as bad people, so you could live your life without the inconvenience of hardship.

    as for those folks that carry weapons in church? they probably carry a weapon because toting a cop around is a bit harder.

    I suggest you all pull your head out of your asses. If you want to get morally indignant about something..you may want to get some morals first…that way the indignant part will be more believable.

  126. 126.

    Tim F.

    BJ —your home for Teh Unintentional Irony!

    Priceless.

    You didn’t make predictions, you made statements after the fact, and you still got one wrong. Hacktacular!

  127. 127.

    John S.

    Wow…

    If there was any lingering doubt about Psycheout being a spoof, that should all be gone now. I guess once he figured the jig was up he decided to go all in and go down in a blaze of glory.

    Cue the Bon Jovi…

  130. 130.

    Xanthippas

    You know, the best way to deal with trolls like Psycho is usually just to ignore them. But if Psycho’s dream is to spend hours convincing as many people as possible that he’s a dumbass, then who are we to stand in the way?

  131. 131.

    AnonE.Mouse

    Wow,you’re an internet phenomenon,Psycheout.Your combination of ignorance and thin skin is rare to find on the right-end of the spectrum.
    Carry on with your pinata imitation.

  132. 132.

    Ben

    We have a woman’s claims, her father’s claims, nothing from anyone else yet, and yet people are going on about “facts” and whether it is “believable” or not.

    Amazing.

    No one actually wants real facts, do they? No one wants the results you get from lab tests and stuff like that. Just stories they can agree to.

    Ben

  133. 133.

    sujal

    On the question of her cashing in… this story has been out there since June or July (google it). Just because ABC is doing the story now doesn’t change the fact that this isnt’ the first press.

    Second, she’s publicizing her story in order to help raise awareness about an issue that profoundly affected her life. There’s nothing wrong with that, or with her writing a book or with her selling the story, anyway. Free market and all that.

    Sujal

  135. 135.

    Focus On Your Own Damn Family!

    /wave Air Force here – we reg’lar folks just like y’all: some very good, some very bad, most just trying to muddle through.

    And the courageous lady? Hired security guard. Makes her no less courageous, mind you. But she’s a pro – not a soccer mom with a gun in her purse.

    towerclimber37, you need to take a pill.

  136. 136.

    jcricket

    On the question of her cashing in…

    There’s no question and it doesn’t matter. It’s the latest jackalope from the wingers designed to

    Basically the right wing is employing the “Chewbacca defense” whenever they are confronted with someone dissenting from the party line. They have nothing to back up their ideas, and are being attacked (rightly) from all sides, so their just, figuratively, throwing trash cans in our way as we chase them down for the electoral beating they so soundly deserve.

    On a more formal level they’re employing a whole host of logical fallacies, from circumstantial ad hominem, to red herrings, poisoning the well and two wrongs make a right. But instead of recognizing their faulty logic, we engage in a debate, as if they’re serious people who deserve to be heard. They are not and do not, and it’s time we start treating them that way.

  137. 137.

    Wilfred

    It’s the latest jackalope from the wingers

    That’s right. They don’t want anyone looking too closely at the Colorado shooter – a home-schooled, Christian turned Christian hating psycho-killer. If he’d been a Muslim, well…

  138. 138.

    demimondian

    Phooey, Wilfred. That’s tin-foil hattery. That kind of interview is scheduled long in advance, not as a sop to the right wing, however much it makes you feel important to believe otherwise.

  139. 139.

    Ed Drone

    It seems to me that I read that a doctor’s exam showed that intercourse had taken place, and that rape was likely, so the “did it really happen?” question is answered.

    The question of whether the perps were or were not hired soldier-types or hired construction-types is not important; the whole concept of invading a country and populating it with people to do work (paid for at a premium from our tax dollars, by the way) without adequate control by either our government or the Iraqi “government” is the point. So when comments here seem to indicate that it was somehow the fault of one group (Blackwater-style mercenaries) when it was some other group (non-militarized employees) comes from the tendency to conflate the groups. They’re all uncontrolled private for-profit groups, what used to be called “war profiteers,” and are an indication, a symptom, of something unhealthy, something deadly.

    So if we see boogieman “A” when it’s boogieman “B” that’s guilty, sorry. It’s still the boogieman! And it’s not good, not “US,” not how we want our country to be seen in the world, and is something we want to end.

    Please, God, let it end soon.

    Ed

  140. 140.

    Zifnab

    We have a woman’s claims, her father’s claims, nothing from anyone else yet, and yet people are going on about “facts” and whether it is “believable” or not.

    Amazing.

    No one actually wants real facts, do they? No one wants the results you get from lab tests and stuff like that. Just stories they can agree to.

    The State Department officials pulled her out of a shipping crate and you are still spouting this “he said, she said” myth.

    Now that’s amazing.

    My god, it’s like Gitmo all over again. Unless you see documented video evidence, you won’t believe it. And even then you don’t really believe it. Where was all this “reasonable doubt” for the WMDs and Iran? What if I framed the story like this: “KBR employees allegedly raped a 22-year-old female employee and locked her in a box. We need to have these employees arrested and detained because THEY WANT TO KILL US!” Better?

  141. 141.

    Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop

    You didn’t make predictions, you made statements after the fact, and you still got one wrong.

    You are correct. I skipped the post called “The Most Vulgar, Disgusting, and Foul Joke in the World,” thinking it was prolly NSFW. Go figure, right?

    Props to John, and I’ll happily take the loss on that parlay.

    [See how easy it is to apologize when you’re wrong, Tim? You should try it sometime! It would class up this joint just a little.]

  142. 142.

    LiberalTarian

    OMG. So much troll feeding going on.

    I feel sorry for that girl. I have a daughter her age. I just cannot imagine any circumstances where I would have thought it was okay for her to go to Iraq.

    Funny thing about the wingnuts being so vociferous in their attacks of her is that she was probably one of their own–Houston is not much of an enclave for liberal thought. Her daddy probably thought she was going to be with a good, Texas company, that the men (while macho) would be towering pillars of manliness and old west cowboy honor, and that if anything bad did happen to his little girl that the US government (led by this Texas Houstonite undoubtedly voted for) would rescue her.

    Yeah yeah yeah. A lot of assumptions. But, again, how many liberals and their children have pursued a career in Iraq? Or with Haliburton?

    All they see is blood in the water–they don’t care if it is the blood of one of their own. Vicious.

  143. 143.

    Tony J

    The State Department officials pulled her out of a shipping crate and you are still spouting this “he said, she said” myth.

    Yeah, but the people she’s accusing of gang-raping her are employees of KBR/Halliburton.

    KBR/Halliburton are close to the White House.

    Ergo – She must be a BDS-afflicted fantasist with a book to sell, and anyone who pays attention to her are partisan liberals determined to make the White House look bad.

    So, basically, it’s situation normal for Wingnut Central.

  144. 144.

    John S.

    so that people like YOU could shit all over them and make innuendos that cast them as bad people

    Listen, I know you trolls have trouble (purposely) with reading comprehension, but seriously…learn how to fucking read. What part of:

    But I think you’d find it a bit harder to prove that most people in the Army are good. Perhaps that is what you believe (and like I said from the beginning, I believe likewise), but that is simply an opinion – not a fact.

    Constitutes shitting on the troops? That’s right – it doesn’t. You may rise from your fainting couch.

  145. 145.

    Chris Johnson

    I’m pretty disgusted with Michael D except on certain subjects like energy efficiency, the drug war etc. Michael has redeeming features though I don’t want to hear more libertarian fair tax bullshit.

    Troll or no, Psycheout does not deserve to get to make fag jokes about Michael D. That’s just bullshit.

    This whole subject doesn’t make me mad as much as it makes me feel sick. This happened, and it’s just more wingnut fodder? Raping a Texas woman and keeping her in a box?

    Here’s a thought experiment. If they KILLED her and raped her and kept her in a box for later raping, do the wingnuts still side with their mercenaries?

  147. 147.

    Tim F.

    [See how easy it is to apologize when you’re wrong, Tim? You should try it sometime! It would class up this joint just a little.]

    Although it probably isn’t true, hearing class lessons from you certainly makes me feel as if I have now seen everything.

  148. 148.

    Punchy

    Yeah, but the people she’s accusing of gang-raping her are employees of KBR/Halliburton.

    Yeah, but gang-raping by contactors in Iraq isn’t illegal. Of course, neither is gang-murdering, rape-murdering (honestly, why didn’t they just do this? They’re still immune from prosecution, and now there’s no witness…why not whack the victim here?), serial murdering, incest, sodomy, scalping, and necrophilia.

    Must be great living in a legal state where ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you do cannot be prosecuted by anybody ever.

  149. 149.

    binzinerator

    I can tell you John S. how you can prove that the majority of the folks in the military are good folks.

    they joined the military.

    Joining the military must be like being born again and confession all rolled into one. Washed clean of sin and wrong-doing. Who woulda thunk?

    Or it’s like a pilgrimage to some holy summit, a path that only the good may walk and have any hope to reach the top, for the bad and the wicked at heart surely falter, weaken, and turn aside before reaching the sanctified mountaintop.

    And when they make that magic journey, they are beyond criticism as well, they being so pure of heart, righteous of motive and good and all.

    Jesus.

    If they were truly “good folks” — and had even a smidgen more of critical thinking abilities than shown by your statement — wouldn’t you think they specifically would not join the military at this time? What “good” person who has common sense, has critical faculties, and hasn’t been in a bubble the past 5 years would want to help further the prosecution of a war crime?

    After all these years of lies, bogus intelligence, suppression of evidence, propaganda and fearmongering — all exposed for what they are, a deliberate scheme to start an unnecessary war — after all this information and relevations, how can we call anyone who has common sense, has read and seen this stuff and is not an authority worshipper — how can we say those people are acting as “good people”?

    We have a mountain of information and evidence about what ends the war in Iraq doesn’t serve, and a very good hint about what (and who) it really does serve. And it wasn’t for worthy or legally defensible goals. It wasn’t for justice. It wasn’t to retaliate against those who attacked us. It wasn’t for national security, for if anything, our security has been reduced.

    Can we really say people are “good folks” when they insist on abdicating their moral responsibility for considering the consequences of the ends they serve, especially when done in the name of patriotism? Didn’t we already learn at great cost the terrible lesson of how wrong “my country right or wrong” is?

    That is what “good folks” do when they’ve done bad.

    Isn’t the difference between crime and accident, is knowing what you’re doing, and with that awareness doing it anyways?

    After all this time, it becomes harder and harder to credulously claim people didn’t know. And it is almost impossible to claim that if they’ve bothered to look.

    So no, joining the military doesn’t automatically mean you are good folk. It may mean you are a tool, or a dupe, or a person with desire to serve the nation that got used and railroaded for one small mean AWOL commander’s private vision of glory. It may mean you found yourself put in a situation with no easy choices to make. It may mean you have a penchant for authoritarian organizations. It may mean you are too dumb or too incurious to figure out what it all means. It may mean you’re a stone cold killer who will enjoy the opportunity to kill some people. It may mean you do whatever the hell you are told to do, and illustrate perfectly the concept of the banality of evil. It may mean you would say nothing about the Lt. Calleys and their kinds of orders — most did not then either. It may mean you would act as Hugh Thompson did.

    It may mean many things, as many meanings as there are people who join. But it is foolish to insist it is proof they are all good folks.

  150. 150.

    Tony J

    Here’s a thought experiment. If they KILLED her and raped her and kept her in a box for later raping, do the wingnuts still side with their mercenaries?

    Given that killing her would have obviated the need for KBR/Halliburton’s ‘Human Resources’ experts to tell her to STFU and go away, I’d guess that the wingnuts would do the patriotic thing and go on a virtual-rampage of overheated Islam-baiting by insisting that this was obviously the work of dastardly Jihaddist necrophiliacs engaged in a plot to break America’s spirit and influence the primary season.

    Since the bastards involved didn’t actually kill her, the wingnuts are left to somehow rationalise their smearing of a young woman drugged, kidnapped and gang-raped by fellow employees of KPR/Halliburton, just because in their minds, the simple fact that it’s KPR/Halliburton being accused of threatening her in order to cover-up the assault makes this a partisan political attack on their Dear Leader, which they are honour-bound to repulse, in this, a time of war.

    For them, it appears to be that simple.

  151. 151.

    Xanthippas

    We have a woman’s claims, her father’s claims, nothing from anyone else yet, and yet people are going on about “facts” and whether it is “believable” or not.

    Why yes Ben, it’s utterly incredible that when a woman claims she is raped, we give her the benefit of the doubt and believe her. It’s simply unbelievable that when a woman calls the police and claims she was raped, they IMMEDIATELY START AN INVESTIGATION without requiring the woman to deliver up even so much as an ounce of semen. Last time I checked, we here in our country don’t generally presume a woman who claims she was raped is a liar…unless that is, you are a right-winger who is aware that a story about a woman getting raped in Iraq would make some people mad about a woman getting raped and the men getting away with it and that might somehow undermine the war and so we can’t possibly believe the woman until ALL THE FACTS have been brought to light and convincingly demonstrated as being true via sandbox reproductions of her vagina.

  152. 152.

    Focus On Your Own Damn Family!

    So no, joining the military doesn’t automatically mean you are good folk. It may mean you are a tool, or a dupe, or a person with desire to serve the nation that got used and railroaded for one small mean AWOL commander’s private vision of glory. It may mean you found yourself put in a situation with no easy choices to make. It may mean you have a penchant for authoritarian organizations. It may mean you are too dumb or too incurious to figure out what it all means. It may mean you’re a stone cold killer who will enjoy the opportunity to kill some people. It may mean you do whatever the hell you are told to do, and illustrate perfectly the concept of the banality of evil. It may mean you would say nothing about the Lt. Calleys and their kinds of orders —most did not then either. It may mean you would act as Hugh Thompson did

    Or it may mean you’re dedicated to a life of service to a country that you love. It may mean that you believe we do not yet live in a world where we can stand down our warfighters. It may mean that you support some things your country does in your name, but not others. It may also mean that you understand there are no easy answers to the complex problems.

    In fact, I proudly serve my country every day – even as I vote my conscience and do everything within my power as a citizen to remove the most corrupt and evil administration we have ever endured.

    Bush & Co is not my country and their cynical exploitation of the ME is not my dream.

    They are not why I serve, you are why I serve.

  153. 153.

    binzinerator

    she was probably one of their own

    I was thinking that too. It’s a horrible price to pay for the Kool-Aid.

    No matter why she went there, I’m outraged by what happened to her and have only sympathy for her.

    Funny, if in fact she was one of their own, it’s now her own who are now suggesting she’s lying or saying she’s just trying to cash in.

    These people are really twisted, callous, mean little fucks.

  154. 154.

    actor212

    Y’know, a President was ultimately impeached on far less evidence…anybody remember the problem with Paula Jones’ claim?

    Right. No one credible would corroborate her story. They had to buy off a couple of state troopers to force the story to a head…errrr, no pun intended.

  155. 155.

    binzinerator

    Or it may mean you’re dedicated to a life of service to a country that you love…

    I agree with that. But it doesn’t provide proof that joining means most people are ‘good folk’. And it doesn’t mean that that kind dedication can’t be misused by others — I believe it often is — and if it is, it seems a good reason to re-examine that dedication. Do you think unconditional dedication is a good or wise thing?

    It may also mean that you understand there are no easy answers to the complex problems.

    Agreed. What do you do if you 1) believe the Iraq war is, in the words of Pat Tillman, fucking illegal? And 2) you believe in the rule of law?

    What do you do if you think the precedent set by the tribunals of Nuremburg and Tokyo — the principle that no one may be excused from responsibility for war crimes because they were “following orders” — is valid?

    No easy answers, indeed.

    even as I vote my conscience and do everything within my power as a citizen to remove the most corrupt and evil administration we have ever endured

    As I do too, a minimum for any who see this administration as evil.

    you are why I serve

    That’s not true; you don’t. If you mean serving me in the sense of serving whatever this country has that allows me to speak my thoughts, even criticize the war and teh Troops, well, I believe you are still mistaken. If it’s an embodiment of ideals you serve — as in what people often seem to mean when they say “my country” — then what kind of ideals are you really in service of? Or whose?

    You may believe it is service for a country that believes in untrammelled and uncompromised unalienable rights, but your Commander-in-Chief sees those as not worth the goddamned piece of paper they were written on. It sounds like his intentions and his vision of a country are not what you believe you are serving, but in fact, you are, whether willingly or no.

    That one thing has to be the biggest crime Bush has committed — making people who believe his administration is evil do his dirty work, stacking the deck so it becomes a choice between courtmartial or prison — or following his orders, carrying out his policies (which are evil, as would follow from an evil administration) and in the process making a kind of Faustian bargain. It is a most insidious crime to make people make themselves believe they are serving their country, when in fact they are furthering his own warped intentions. He has twisted and manipulated what would be considered to be a virtue in a person to be used against themselves and what they really believe in.

    And the effect must be all the more powerful the longer one has spent serving. If a person has dedicated his or her entire life to service to the country, it would seem to be that much harder to repudiate such dedication.

    There can’t be any easy way to buck that. There are only so many Smedley Butlers or Ehren Watadas.

  156. 156.

    lou

    I’d also note that a Republican congressman — called in to intervene by her father — backs her story. He must be a Dem plant.

  157. 157.

    binzinerator

    Comment posted by Paddy Mac at Hullaballoo on the KBR gang-rape:

    We’re raping us over there so we don’t — no, wait —

    (Shuffles through sheets of talking points.)

    Unitary executive!

    (Runs for briefing-room door.)

    Just about says it all.

  158. 158.

    Aaron Kulkis

    dear mr numbskull, the self-descriptive….

    Just because an organization is a 501(c)3 does NOT mean that everyone has to work for free. Would it be unsurprising to find out that she works for her non-profit? Of course not.
    And how much does the non-profit pay her for her work????

    THAT’s how she can cash in on this.

  159. 159.

    HyperIon

    first of all, i did not realize this happened two years ago.
    second, there was a rape kit and it was given to KBR…who lost it. so says Jesus’s General.

  160. 160.

    Zuzu

    Ted Says:

    Yeah, AnonE, a few to several thousand a day really sucks.

    How’s it feel knowing they’re all knuckle-dragging creationist flat-earther luddites?

    I’m pretty sure it would be zero to one dozen a day if not for the hyperlinked screen name.

    How many of us accidently slid down that particular black hole by clicking on those blue letters? Eeewwwww…..

  162. 162.

    Aaron Kulkis

    I just got back from a year in Baghdad…and something about her story doesn’t make sense — specifically: Why would the hospital entrust the rape kit to Halliburton?

    In theater, sensitive materials (such as criminal evidence like a rape kit) are not delivered by contractors — they are put into the U.S. postal service as registered mail (return receipt with signature), which in Iraq is handled by U.S. military (Army, Navy and/or Air Force) postal units, until either being delivered in theater, or custody of the mail is given to U.S. Post Office civilians (NOT CONTRACTORS) for delivery out of theater.

    This leads me to question the whole story.

    We have a lot of people REALLY wacky people on the loony left, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find one motivated enough to go through all the hassle of going to Iraq just to give grounds for such an accusation.

    It will be interesting to find out what groups she was involved with in college. If it turns out that any of them are leftist/democratic-party affiliated, then I’ll bet my life savings that the accusation was planned out before she ever left the states.

    There is a possibility that her accusation is true… I met a lot of KBR employees, and they are almost all ex-military, and wouldn’t even dream of such a thing. I can imagine ONE bad apple slipping through the cracks…but enough for a GANG RAPE…and all working on the same base, and living in the same area, and all off duty at the same time, and being in the same area at the same time?

    Too many coincidences…WAY too many coincidences to accept this accusation at face value. My gut feeling from my experiences in theater is that the probability of this being a well-planned hoax is over 98%,

    And her “foundation” website, apparently devoted to “activism” (translation: Democratic Party agenda promotion)…makes it all the more suspicious that this is nothing more than another attempted hit job.

    Oh..and in her diary on her website… there’s not a single name of ANY individual … you would think she would at least have noted who the men were in the room at the party, especially the guy who supposedly gave her a drink while saying “there’s no roofies in it”. Strange how that detail is left out. VERY STRANGE. If I was in the habit of keeping a diary, and someone gave me a drugged drink, the FIRST thing I would do is record that individual’s name in the diary, and every other person who could possibly be named as a witness.

    Something is VERY fishy here.

  163. 163.

    Don Meaker

    I don’t have enough evidence to make a call on this.

    Innocent until proven guilty, even for Halliburton and KBR, and dare I say it, even for Clintons and Kennedys.

    Fortunately, in this country, we have a system whereby such questions can be submitted to reasoned judgement, based on evidence.

    I have every confidence that the young lady will provide all the evidence that she can, and that the people she sues will provide any contraditory evidence. After that happens, we will all have a better basis from which to make a reasoned judgement.

  164. 164.

    jcricket

    I have every confidence that the young lady will provide all the evidence that she can, and that the people she sues will provide any contraditory evidence. After that happens, we will all have a better basis from which to make a reasoned judgement.

    Hee hee, haw haw, sorry, busting a gut here.

    She will do what you say, but the other side will insult her reputation, toss out legal non-sequitors to pump up her legal costs, claim they’re not bound by US law, smear her via third-parties and eventually settle out of court while admitting no wrongdoing.

    Corporations are ridiculously powerful in this country, especially military connected ones, and to think that the average person regularly gets a fair hearing is just ludicrous.

  165. 165.

    binzinerator

    We have a lot of people REALLY wacky people on the loony left

    You mean people who insist there are things out there that really don’t exist, like WMDs in Iraq? Or nukulear programs in Iran?

    Or that the Iraq war will be over in 6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months? Or that they will greet us with flowers and candy? Or that it will cost just 50 billion? Or that Saddam was in cahoots with Osama? Or that the 9/11 attackers were from Iraq or were trained in Iraq? Or that Iraq had anthrax? Or that we “go to war with the army we have, not the army we want”, even though we chose when and where and under what conditions we went to war? Or that it was Mission Accomplished? Or that “They will stand up as we stand down”. Or that the insurgency was its “last throes”. Or that torture and even “Bring ‘Em On” would be in the best interests of our men and women in the armed forces? Or that waterboarding is merely an “enhanced interrogation technique”?

    Any sane person could go on and on, but I don’t have the time to recap the past 7 years of Bush criminality and doublespeak.

    What the fuck is wrong with you? The looney left is .1% of powerless America, and the jesusfreek right is the GOP, and the GOP has run the government without accountability for years, and every would-be heir to Bush’s legacy but one (the one who was actually tortured, duh) wants to out-torture even G.W. Bush.

    There is no Left left in mainstream America. And the REALLY wacky loony left? Jesus, it’s like bitching about the dirty glass as you drink raw sewage.

    Fuckin’ wingnut imbecile.

  166. 166.

    Aaron Kulkis

    If no WMD programs existed in Iraq, then

    1) Why did Hussein declare so many of them?

    2) Why did an Iraqi Air Force colonel testify before Congress that during the pre-invasion period (during the deployment of U.S. Forces while the 1991 cease fire was still tenously being observed) he and 7 other pilots flew 40 cargo-planes of WMD equipment to Syria among the other planes flying disaster relief after an earth quake.

    By your logic, since we haven’t captured bin Laden, he never existed.

    3) When 3 tractor-trailer trucks from Syria were intercepted in Jordan on their way to ports where U.S. personnel are operating, why were they carrying 50-gallon drums containing VX nerve agent, mustard gas, and other chemical weapons agents?

    4) Why are some IED’s in Iraq contaminated with chemical weapons agents? (You say you don’t know about that??? Thank your oh so honest (hah!) liberal press for keeping you properly informed!)

  167. 167.

    Aaron Kulkis

    Turns out that shes the CEO of her non-profit, and that her husband is the CFO (Chief Financial Officer)..and her mom is on the payroll, too.

    http://www.jamiesfoundation.org/Board.htm

    JAMIE LEIGH DAIGLE
    Founder/Chief Executive Officer

    JOSEPH KALLAN DAIGLE
    Chief Financial Officer

    BREANNA MORGAN
    Marketing Director
    [email protected]
    Breanna Morgan is Jamie Leigh’s devoted mother. and as a seasoned professional and account executive in Corporate America,

    heh… notice the left-wing moonbat “Corporate America” as if that’s a proper noun denoting a particular organization.

  168. 168.

    Ali Gator

    I think it’s easier for the righties to make this about lying lefties and whores instead of talking about the true issue at hand. Gee, that sounds awfully familiar. Maybe they learned it from Bush.

    She started up the non-profit after she was raped, to provide rape emergency kits to other women. And considering how it started up, it makes sense that it would be family run. So how is starting a NON-PROFIT cashing in on her rape?

    As to some of your other points, if you were a tinpot dictator who lost a war, would you admit you were powerless or claim you had a good weapons program going. If you were in the Iraqi Air Force and captured by Americans who wanted to know all about the WMD program, would you say there was none or milk it for all it’s worth? Food for thought.

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