Well folks, the Nobel Peace Prize has apparently undergone redefinition and Ashcroft redoubles efforts in witch hunts for people who do, what he sees as, bad things. Gitmo could turn out to be a home away from home for a number of people and Microsoft "leaks" Windows onto a world which would rather see it just go away. Bush hates jobs here and Ann Coulter, the wingnut who will likely burn for an eternity in hellfire, turns out to be perhaps the most vituperous, servile and unpatriotic cretin of modern times. It will also be her last appearance in the BHC. We just can't stomach it anymore.

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Peacenik

As mysterious and vast as space and time, so too the woeful progeny birthed from the fecund womb of human folly:

George Bush Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

The BHC doesn't expect anyone to fully grasp how a man responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, a man who said, "I make decisions...with war on my mind", could be considered with such regard, but it seems some strange soul has managed it. And, gentle reader, as you might expect, Tony Blair was also nominated, as the two really are a pair of peaceniks. Independent member of Norway's parliament, Jan Simonsen, has been identified as the besotted wight responsible for besmirching the prestigious Nobel award. With comforting, sane and amusing understatement, Nobel observers say neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Blair has much chance of winning. No word yet on when Mr. Simonsen's treatments will begin.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1035353.htm

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No Such Thing

In what is clearly malicious trolling, John Ashcroft's "Justice" Department is demanding medical records from several hospitals it claims are needed to defend the indefensible partial-birth abortion law signed by Bush last November. The department's stance is that it wants to "review" these cases to determine the medical necessity of the performed procedures. Yeah, the Justice Department. Medical necessity. It seems hard to imagine that John Ashcroft or any of his castigating, bible-thumping wonks would even be able to determine whether drinking water is medically necessary, how do they imagine they have such expertise? And what of the traditional bond of doctor-patient privilege? No such thing says the department. In fact, the department boldy states that in "modern medical practice...individuals no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential."

This statement might rightly be considered a precusor to what Ashcroft really has planned for us all: in America, individuals no longer possess a reasonable expectation that any part of their lives will be completely confidential.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/politics/12ABOR.html

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Cuba No Libra

Not be outdone by the Justice Department's assault on the Constitution, the Department of Defense has brazenly announced that its own attacks upon the Treaties of Versailles and Geneva Conventions by "planning to keep a large portion of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, there for many years, perhaps indefinitely." And for good cause: claiming that the misbegotten souls in gitmo are "senior operatives of Al Qaeda," holding them has certainly squelched terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, hasn't it? Just as with the prevarications about WMDs, how is the American public to trust what these so-called officials are saying about the people incarcerated? We at the BHC are certainly not trying to say that some of those held in gitmo are not some very bad boys, but, c'mon, even the Nazi's got a trial.

Without a doubt, the DoD's reprehensible behaviour is what America should castigate other governments for, not engage in themselves. Hilariously, DoD officials attempt to assuage Americans' concerns by saying "there were no plans to build an execution chamber in the new prison." How gentle, how kind.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/politics/13GITM.html?pagewanted=1

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District For Sale or Rent

Republican House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill) is really showing his GOP, pro-business stripes these days. It seems Mr. Speaker has blatently offered to buy off Kentucky voters by pushing a federal tobacco buyout that would benefit many Kentucky growers if they elect Alice Forgy Kerr, the GOP nominee. Got that? Reworded, this is what it sounds like: elect the Republican and we, the Republican controlled government, will give you, the good people of the state of Kentucky, a bunch of money. And that's how elections are won now.


www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20518-2004Feb6.html

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Bush Hates American Jobs

Well, who knows whether that's really true? We do know that Bush himself, doesn't like working much. But there were a number of headlines across the country this week which basically said the same thing:

Los Angeles Times: "Bush Supports Shift of Jobs Overseas."
Seattle Times: "Bush Report: Sending jobs overseas helps U.S."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Bush Economic Report Praises 'Outsourcing' Jobs."
Orlando Sentinel: "Bush Says Sending Jobs Abroad Can be Beneficial."

The White House got bit this week when N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, praised the "outsourcing" of jobs as the new way of doing international business. While this may be ultimately true, it is certainly nothing the American public wants to hear eight months before the election. And after years of job losses and a languishing job market, to bring forth a report which indicates that the President thinks it's just dandy that jobs move overseas seems less than politically astute right now.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04041/271362.stm

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Windows Now Open Source

In a covert move to finally get their immensely clunky, crap-filled operating system fixed and up to even a basic level of security, MicroSoft released it's source code for Windows OS. Unable to actually admit that their wretched product is a complete and hopeless failure, Microsoft Chair, Mike Gullard, is "claiming" that the source code was leaked. We here at the BHC really know what's going on: by releasing the code to the open source community, MS hopes and, indeed, can reasonably expect them to fix it up in no time and plug all those infuriating security holes which so many people seem to enjoy exploiting and which cost businesses around the world billions. Just to keep up appearances, MS experts "expressed concern that hackers reviewing the software code could discover new ways to attack computers running some versions of Windows", as though there aren't enough already.

The whole, phoney "leak" story is right here:

www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Microsoft-Source-Code.html

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Coulter: Spitting Hacking Wretch

Sometime ago, we at the BHC decided that commentary on commentary was just not in the vein of our editorial policy. But, occasionally, exceptions must be made when that commentator is Ann Coulter. Normally below the horizon of most level-headed Americans, she has been garnering some notice recently for her latest libelous tirade against Max Cleland. Readers will recall that Cleland is a former Senator who lost his seat in the last congressional elections in 2002 and is a decorated Vietnam veteran who lost three limbs during the seige of Khe Sanh in 1968. He stepped off a helicopter and saw a grenade at his feet. Thinking he had dropped it, when he reached down to pick it up, it exploded, ripping off both legs and his right hand. Now gentle readers, there is a reason the BHC is reiterating these details. And that is because this is what Coulter, who likely wouldn't know a grenade from a garden hoe, has to say about Cleland:

Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix...But he didn't "give his limbs for his country," or leave them "on the battlefield." There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight.

Needless to say, the difference between combat in the seige of Khe Sanh and drinking beer with buddies is rather stark. Just where she gets that beer story is anyone's guess. She also says, "Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero," since her completely ficticious account of Cleland clearly demonstrates he was just a bumbler who could have been blown up anywhere.

In fact, four days before the grenade tore him apart, Cleland had won the Silver Star which came with this citation:

"[during] heavy enemy rocket and mortar attack Captain Cleland, disregarding his own safety, exposed himself to the rocket barrage as he left his covered position to administer first aid to his wounded comrades. He then assisted in moving the injured personnel to covered positions...Cleland's gallant action is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army."

Even the right wing needs to distance itself from a wacko like Coulter. The BHC cannot quite understand why she isn't in court defending herself against libel lawsuits. She is not just a lying wretch, she really does not deserve the freedoms for which people like Max Cleland have fought so valiantly.


See the whole discussion:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021604A.shtml

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Nobel freaking Peace Prize. Good Lord.