Rep. Maloney said that when she was in Afghanistan she was told that the reason that the Taliban did not give up bin laden was because the Taliban did not believe the US would invade.

I cannot dispute that Rep Maloney was told that, or at least heard that. But anyone that knows anything about the Pashtun knows that is absolutely not true.

The Pashtun tribes/clans have an iron bound tradition that if you are their guest, they will protect you with their lives, if necessary, before they woulf hand a guest over to anyone.

It is unbelievable that over ten years into a war of choice in Afghanistan, we are still ignorant of who the Afghans are.

One of those Cape Cod evenings provided an outpouring Fay never forgot.  It was when Jack outlined for him what he believed in: “I will never compromise the principles on which this country is built,” JFK told him, “but we’re not going to plunge into an irresponsible action just because a fanatical fringe in this country puts so-called national pride above national reason.”

I suppose that a part of that reasoning had its’ genesis from JFK’s World War Two experience.  JFK certainly saw death and he saw toll that war takes from the participants and from their families back home.

Chris Mathews continues

Then he went on, “Do you think I’m going to carry on my conscience the responsibility for the wanton maiming and killing of children like our children we saw here this evening?  Do you think I am going to cause a nuclear exchange – for what?  Because I was forced into doing something that I didn’t think was proper and right?  Well, if you or anyone else thinks I am, he’s crazy.”

I cannot begin to list all the “leaders” that have not been in the military and have acted contrary to the statement attributed to JFK.

But, I will list a few that come to mind:  W (National Guard does not count), Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, John Yoo, and lest you think I pick on Republicans, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

They say there’s a Heaven for those who will wait
Some say it’s better but I say it ain’t
I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun…

You know that only the good die young

The ol’ Chief is much to old to die young but sure has had his share of fun with some serious sinners.

A brief synopsis is here.

The Badam Bagh Women’s Prison (spelled Badum in the film, though all promotional material spells it Badam) houses 125 women. About half of the inmates are being held for real crimes such as murder, drug smuggling or attempted suicide bombing. The other half all are being held on moral charges such as premarital sex, adultery or running away from home, the argument for the latter being that no one runs away from home with someone or to someone unless plans for a sexual relationship are involved.

So, after watching fifteen minutes of the movie, I am forced to ask, “Why have we lost 1500 or so troops over there?  What does the United States expect to get out of this primitive, backward place?”

Islam, as practiced in Afghanistan, goes against all of human nature.

Example:  She is 20, incarcerated in Badum Bagh Women’s Prison in Kabul, Afghanistan.  She was being romantically pursued by a young man.  According to her, he wanted to marry her.  They engaged in premarital sex, she got pregnant.  Both have been arrested and are in different jails, she for over 2 months, with no hearing or trial.

Example:  A youngish single lady, living at home, who had a 4 PM curfew after getting off work.  For some reason she was going to be late getting home, so she ran away and was housed by an older woman.  If convicted the younger lady can expect 15 years in prison, the shelterer, 20 years in prison.

Beyond the corruption of Hamid Karzai, the Mayor of Kabul (/snark), can anyone explain to me, “Why the United States is expending blood and treasure in this backward, primitive place?”

And I had the tightest security settings available on Facebook.

Now comes this.

I do have a gmail account that I use only when my primary email provider may be down.  Probably have not used it in over a year.  But I do not have/use “YouTube,  search, social network Google+.  The search engine I use on Firefox is Ask.com.

Privacy may be going the way of the dodo or the dinosaur but I will hold onto as much of it as I can.

John Podhoretz@jpodhoretz

So on stage–a one-term governor; a guy who quit the speakership; a guy who lost by 18 points; and a lunatic.

Gingrich is not to be taken lightly.  He will be a formidable opponent.  He will lie, he will make up the most outrageous stuff, his 30-second spots on TV will paint Obama to be the second coming of Karl Marx, at best, or Adolph Hitler, at worst.

But Gingrich’s negatives are much higher than his positives.  In the General, if Gingrich blames the unemployed for being unemployed, and blames poor people for using food stamps, it will be a losing combination.

‘No-drama’ Obama ran a good solid campaign against a quality opponent, Hilary, so I am not concerned that Gingrich will pull an upset.

In speaking about Gingrich

“This is the founding father of uncompromising extremism,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist.

Gingrich has moved so far to the radical right that Obama can take a center-right (and every thing to the left of it) position and body check Gingrich into the boards.

The lede

The case of Corey Maples provides a disturbing look at the death penalty system in the United States and underscores how even people facing execution are often not represented by adequate counsel at any stage of the criminal process. In Maples’s case, the attorneys assigned to represent his appeals quit midway through the process, and yet the state of Alabama blamed Maples for his failure to comply with procedural requirements he had no way of fulfilling. Yesterday, the Supreme Court corrected this obvious mistake by ruling that Maples had a right to appeal in a 7-to-2 decision.

Later

Remarkably, the Court’s decision was not unanimous, with Justice Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissenting.

I offer this, attributed to Justice Scalia

What is important that it is necessary to give due process, but it is not necessary that you be guilty.

Apparently, it is not only more important, but paramount to have a process in place, to blindly follow a set of rules, than it is to arrive at justice.

I remember Troy Davis.

From Steve Benen some thoughts on the dropping number of unemployment claims.

This week’s report, however, was a very pleasant surprise. Initial claims not only dropped sharply, the fell to a level unseen in nearly four years.

Take a look.

Hence, the Geneva Conventions were born.

We have lost our way.

It was the first time the camps’ top commander testified at a Guantánamo military commission. Rear Adm. David B. Woods said he had a team of Defense Department contractors examining confidential, privileged attorney-client mail for “safety, force protection and good order.”

Reading attorney-client confidential/privileged mail?  Beyond the pale.

What have we sunk to ? ? ?