Every time something bad happens in Iraq, they say it’s just bad apples. Well, here’s some more bad apples to add to the pile. It seems that, in the town of Beiji, Iraq, five soldiers with the United States Army cornered an Iraqi woman that they had seen on previous patrols in the area, raped her, then murdered her along with three members of her family. Then, they burned the woman’s body to try to eliminate evidence of the crime.

One of the soldiers has already admitted his involvement in the war crime, and the four others are under arrest. There is no indication at all that the soldiers committed the crime in response to an insurgent attack. They just took advantage of the chaos produced by the American invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Every month, we’re hearing about more American atrocities in Iraq, yet the Congress keeps voting to keep us there. The facade of this being a just war is becoming progressively tattered with every revelation of American abuses against Iraqis. The longer we stay, the more atrocities will be committed, further degrading America’s positon there.

George W. Bush says that’s a problem future presidents will have to deal with. He wants to stay the course that led to the killings in Beiji. Are we going to let him pass the buck?

Reason 13 to vote for a progressive President in 2008 comes to us from the July/August 2006 edition of Sierra Magazine, which reports that a government program to encourage offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico will cost 80 billion dollars over the next quarter century - that’s 3.2 billion dollars per year over the next 25 years.

Last year’s devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico should have taught us the foolishness of depending upon oil from the Gulf. Crude oil infrastructure was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, sending gasoline prices sky high and creating huge oil slicks along the Gulf Coast. With global warming increasing the power of hurricanes that will continue to enter the Gulf of Mexico year after year, the problem will certainly get worse.

The last thing we need to do is have the government spend 80 billion dollars to help oil companies set up more high-risk, pollution-prone oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. A progressive President would not put up with such wasteful, ill-conceived spending.

How fares Bob Ney, he who conveniently forgot he ever met with Casino interests just after getting sent on an expenses-paid golf trip to Scotland by Jack Abramoff and just before pushing those same Casino interests in the Congress? How fares the office of Bob Ney, which asserted just this month that Ney “has never, at any point, engaged in any improper, unethical, or illegal activity”?

Oh, dearie dear dear. It seems that Ney’s office is not faring so well:

Three top aides to embattled Rep. Bob Ney are leaving his office, and a federal grand jury has subpoenaed another senior staff member in an investigation of the Heath Republican’s ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Matt Parker, who has served as district director for Ney’s office in Ohio as well as an adviser to the re-election campaign, was ordered to turn over documents to federal prosecutors and testify before a grand jury in Washington.

Parker’s subpoena was made public yesterday in an announcement on the House floor, as required when lawmakers or staff members receive subpoenas. Parker could not be reached for comment.

Also announced yesterday were the departures of Brian Walsh, a longtime Ney spokesman; Will Heaton, Ney’s chief of staff; and Chris Otillio, a senior legislative aide….

“Any suggestion or implication that the office of Ohio’s 18th congressional district is operating at anything less than full speed ahead is baseless and without merit,” Ney said.

Yeah, completely baseless and without merit. Just like that time Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman! And that other time, when Richard Nixon said he was not a crook! Yeah. Just like that.

So, as it becomes increasingly clear that this corrupt Republican’s fortune is failing, how do you think the final chapter will play out?

Will Ney be indicted? Before or after the election? And do you think he’ll step down to “spend more time with his family,” or do you think he’ll play it the stupid way, fighting for re-election and losing the Republicans another seat?

Pop that popcorn and pull up a seat, folks. This one will be fun to watch.

It seems they’ll have to remove the “Liberty” from the name of “Olentangy Liberty High School” as a superintendent of schools overrules a teacher and a principal there and forces the removal of a book from an English class’ recommended list. Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” was deleted from the high school teacher’s recommended list, over the objections of the teacher and the school’s principal. What horrible feature of this book prevented it from even being on the recommended (not required, just recommended) list for the 10th grade?

The complaint of parent Barbara Reierson, who demanded that the reading option be removed for ALL 10th graders, even though her son would never have had to read the book:

There are 14 pages with derogatory references to Jesus… and 16 pages of [profanities related to] God. But I only found one d-a-m-n and thought, ‘Well, I got off easy there.’

It’s good to know that if you spell the word “damn” rather than say it, The Lord doesn’t get upset. But it’s a shame to see the public schools used to keep all attending students from even having the option of reading a book — because it is UnChristian.

I suggest that if Ms. Reierson wants her child to refrain from reading an UnChristian book, she exercise her parental authority and require him to select an alternative book from the list. If she cannot manage somehow to exercise her parental authority, I suggest she enroll her son in a private Christian school, where she can be guaranteed that no offending ideas will even bounce off her precious boy. If she cannot manage either of these tasks, then she needs to begin to look closer to home for problems to remedy.

We live in the United States of America. We have a Constitution. And under that Constitution, it is not appropriate for pushy parents to demand that no child even have the option of being exposed to an idea, on the grounds that it is religiously offensive to some Church, Sect, or Cult. In this country, especially under the guiding discretion of a teacher, ideas are supposed to remain fee.

“Supposed to” are the key words here. In the empirical world beyond our supposition of liberty, American theocracy is showing its strength.

Truman called it earlier this month when he barely failed constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. The tragically comic thing is that, although they’re on opposing sides of the issue, both candidates are managing to get it wrong.

First, Senator George Allen criticizes challenger James Webb for failing to support the flag burning amendment. That put Senator Allen in a position against the American tradition of legal dissent. Using the power of government to make it a crime to criticize government is just plain tacky.

But what about James Webb? Well, Webb responded to Senator Allen’s criticism by saying that Allen didn’t have the right to criticize his opinions. No kidding! Webb’s campaign actually said, “George Felix Allen Jr. and his bush-league lapdog, Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb’s position on free speech and flag burning.” Webb’s contention was that Webb’s political positions should be immune from criticism by George Allen, because Webb spent time in the military, but Allen did not.

Memo to the Webb for Senate campaign: In the United States of America, no one has to earn the right to criticize a politician. Everyone has the right to criticize. It’s called freedom of speech, and it’s guaranteed everyone - not just military veterans. You can’t say you’re defending free speech when you try to deny free speech to others.

Both Webb and Allen ought to be ashamed of themselves for sacrificing the integrity of the Bill of Rights for the sake of political gain. I have a great deal of pity for the people of Virginia for having to choose between these two turkeys this fall.

Five years ago, we called Star Jones onto the carpet for her remarks about atheists on The View:

Star: Everyone was mad when I said on the television that I wouldn’t vote for an Atheist, but it’s interesting that the Oath of office of the President is with “so help me God.” So who would the Atheists be talking to if they weren’t given the Oath? I mean you gotta have someone!

Joy: I think that’s religious discrimination that you would say you wouldn’t vote for an Atheist. What does that have to do with doing his job as President? That’s like saying, “I wouldn’t vote for a black man.” It’s the same thing.

Star: Absolutely not the same thing. I think it is absolutely important for you to be led by a higher power so you feel as if you have some responsibility — not just to man. I would never even consider it. Anybody got a problem with it, its your problem!

Joy: O.K. that’s fine. I’m just saying … All I’m giving you is a hypothetical point of view.

Lisa: Just out of curiosity, would you vote for someone who is a Muslim?

Star: …If that person was a good person. I’m not as concerned with the manner in which….

Meredith: You could be a very good person and not believe in God, but the question — it doesn’t necessarily apply if you believe or don’t believe.

Star: …you wouldn’t get my vote. I mean you could be a nice person — you could baby-sit my kids — possibly — but that doesn’t mean you would get my vote because you got your finger on the button. I want you to feel like there are long term, everlasting ramifications.

Just in case you think she was speaking off the cuff, here are written remarks by Star Jones in a response to a letter complaining about the above remarks:

When I vote, I make decisions on political candidates, based on how I think they will act, vote, direct and lead during certain situations … and I want that person to be led by God. An atheist, as I understand the term dies not believe that there is a God. Given a choice between someone who knows the power of a spiritual presence bigger than they, that moves them to have values, to have morals, to have made a mistake and to know forgiveness versus someone who has never understood the gift of a personal relationship with God … the choice is clear for me. I want a president who is God Knowing … I do not want an American President who does not believe that God is real and present in our lives. I support each persons [sic] right to make political decisions based on issues that matter to them … but quite frankly, this is not even a close call for me. If that bothers people… then that is truly their problem. I plan to be steadfast and unmovable in my stand for God.

Then we gave Star Jones a label for her remarks. We called her a bigot.

Today, Linda Schulte wrote us with the following comment:

She has every right to voice her decision making in regards to voting. She is not asking nor suggesting anyone do the same. I personally agree but it doesn’t mean I look down on or criticize anyone else for their reasoning. Like it or not the majority consider the same when voting. I don’t personally like Jones but you are more judgmental then she.

For the record, we never questioned her right to raise her voice. But let’s look at the rest. We called Star Jones a bigot. We criticized her for her reasoning. Is it a vice to criticize someone for their reasoning? Is the size of a group agreeing with someone relevant? Is it a mark of bigotry to call someone a bigot?

In reaction to a great deal of speculation, warning and hype, I’ve decided it’s time to try out Salvia Divinorum, a legal hallucinogen that you can find at a number of head shops in the United States. So last night I recorded a podcast as I inhaled ten sets of two inhalations of salvia leaves. Today, I’m sharing the proceedings with you — not with the intention of offering a definitive or even representative experience, but just as one person’s experienced, neither hyped up into some mystical thingamajig nor blown out of proportion by scare tactics.

So click here for part two of the salvia divinorum podcast, in which I stop talking about reasoning, logistics and technique, and get right down to smoking the stuff. Yes, it does get stupid at times. But rather than excise those portions, I’ve left everything in except for names (bleeped out) and the long silences while I inhale and hold in the smoke from the salvia itself. That way, you can listen to one reasonably accurate take of a salvia experience, silly goofs and gaffes included.

Click here for part one of the salvia divinorum podcast, in which I discuss my reasons for the experiment, necessary logistics for salvia use, and a bit about safe technique.

Southern Democrats are doing their best to rise again, and make the Democratic Party their own with another out-of-nowhere presidential candidate, in the mold of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The difference this time is that they’re seeking to promote a senator, not a governor. They’ve started a Draft Blanche Lincoln in 2008 movement.

Who is Blanche Lincoln? If you don’t follow the United States Senate, you may be forgiven for not knowing her name. She’s a senator from Arkansas, a product of the same rightward-leaning political machine that gave us Bill Clinton.

The people who are starting the effort to get Blanche Lincoln into the White House are certainly very eager to promote the idea of her candidacy, and have come up with many reasons to give her support over all the other possible Democratic contenders. I had to giggle, however, when I read the following argument for Lincoln for President:

Q. What makes Blanche Lincoln different from any other member of the D.C. political establishment?

A. Her experiences. Senator Lincoln has worked in a bipartisan fashion to get things done in Congress. Outside of Congress, she takes pride in a fulfilling life as a farmer’s daughter, a duck-hunter, a yard-sale rummager, and a working mom.

Here we go with the old running against Washington schtick. Is Blanche Lincoln really a political outsider? Of course not. No Senator is a political outsider. Blanche Lincoln is one of the hundred most powerful legislators in all America, operating in the heart of Washington D.C. It doesn’t matter how many church rummage sales she attends, with an aide in tow. Blanche Lincoln is a political insider.

I’ve never before heard the argument that like a politician is qualified to become President of the United States because of a fondness for yard sales. This approach does remind me of another silly campaign outsider gimmick, however: Lamar Alexander’s plaid campaign uniform.

It goes back a few campaign cycles now, but the memory of Lamar Alexander’s presidential campaign uniform is still strong in my mind. Lamar Alexander, a political insider from Tennessee, tried to convince America that he was an outsider, and a man of the people, by wearing a plaid shirt everywhere that he went. It wasn’t just any old plaid, either. It was fresh and crisp, just off the rack, in that old red and black lumberjack pattern that nobody really wears anymore, except for millionaires who are trying to buy a woodsy costume for themselves to wear at the hunting lodge.

America falls for a lot of gimmicks, but it saw right through the plaid. A hint to the Arkansas Democrats: America will see through Yard Sale Blanche as well. Nobody believes that a powerful United States Senator really goes to neighborhood garage sales to find 50 cent bargains - except as a photo opportunity.

Try another gimmick. Maybe Senator Lincoln could put up some of those country geese wearing bonnets in her office… or sing Grandma’s Feather Bed at her next press conference.

Salvia Divinorum, a legal hallucinogen available at a number of head shops in the United States, is the subject of a great deal of speculation. I’ve read a lot of material boosting it as a “meditative aid,” but have also encountered parent groups telling readers of teenagers who’ve done all sorts of crazy things (climbing out of a car window and such) while on the drug. Responses to a diary entry expressed a variety of attitudes toward the drug, running from supportive to questioning to hostile.

Given all the contradictory information and attitudes out there, I decided to try the herb for myself. That’s just what I did last night, and I recorded the proceedings to share with you.

Click here for part one of the salvia divinorum podcast, in which I talk about conflicting salvia information, explain why I’m trying it myself, disclose how I got the herb and needed accessories, and discuss safe herbal exploration technique.

Part one of the salvia divinorum podcast lasts about 15 minutes, and runs to about 2M in file size.

Part two of the salvia divinorum podcast will contain audio of the actual trip, lasts about 50 minutes, and will be up later this morning right here at Irregular Times.

A while ago, I wrote about the ridiculous indulgence that is Fiji Water. Fiji Water is ridiculous, not because it’s an indulgence, but because it pretends to be an indulgence without really offering anything of value to the people who drink it.

If you want pure water, you can drink distilled water. If you want yummy water, you can add a little bit of flavor to your tap water. Either way, you can save fistfuls of money by leaving the Fiji Water on the supermarket shelf.

We can complain about the cost of a gallon of gasoline, but what about the cost of a gallon of bottled water? A gallon of most brands of bottled water costs more than a gallon of gasoline.

Abstaining from fancy bottled water brings much more value than just the savings of money, however. Think of it as an act of conservation.

Oh, we all must drink water. But must we all drink bottled water? No, most of us need not do so. For most of us, bottled water is a luxury, and one that is dangerous to the Earth at that.

We here in the United States consume more bottled water than any other nation: Over 6 billion gallons per year. That means a lot of fossil fuel wasted - and not for transportation of the water to and fro. Most bottles for water are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is manufactured from crude oil. 86 percent of that plastic ends up in the garbage, not being recycled.

Earlier this year, the Earth Policy Institute released a study finding that over one and half million barrels of crude oil are used every year for the sake of giving people bottled water.

We don’t need to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to deal with our energy crisis. We would do a lot better for our economic and environmental health, however, if we abstained from Dasani, Evian, Fiji Water, and other brands of the most common liquid in the world, carried around in little bottles.

Do I need to explain again why an amendment to make burning the flag a crime is a terrible idea? Jim did a good job yesterday afternoon, but anybody who has the faintest understanding of the importance of liberty to the tradition of American democracy gets it. If we make unpopular political speech illegal, we will no longer be a free nation.

Better to burn the flag than to shred the Constitution.

It’s a point so simple, so fundamentally American, that even some Republican politicians get it. Republican Senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had the decency to vote against the flag burning amendment today.

So how come 13 Democrats could not summon the same decency? The following thirteen Democratic senators brought shame to themselves by joining the Republicans and voting for the frivolous amendment when it came up for a vote today.

The amendment failed by just one vote. That means that if Senators Chafee and McConnell had not done the right thing and voted against the amendment, it would have passed, and it would have done so because of the craven politics of these Democrats:

Max Baucus of Montana
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Mark Dayton of Minnesota
Diane Feinstein of California
Johnson of South Dakota
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
Bob Menendez of New Jersey
Bill Nelson of Florida
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Harry Reid of Nevada
Ken Salazar of Colorado
Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

Note that among these Democrats is Harry Reid, the leader of the Senate Democrats. For the leader of the Democrats in the United States Senate to collaborate with the Republicans to advance a right wing agenda in this manner is unforgiveable. Senator Reid should step down from his position as minority leader. Today, Senator Reid demonstrated that he is not qualified to speak for the Democrats.

The whole internet seems to be in an uproar over the news that Rush Limbaugh was caught on the American border with a bottle of pills that were not prescribed to him. But come on, now. Why rush to judgment on what is, we’re sure, a difficult personal situation? Why not live and let live? The man needs therapy and medical treatment, not incarceration for his second offense. I mean, what would Mr. Limbaugh have happen to you in the same situation?

“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.” — Rush Limbaugh, October 5, 1995

Oh. Right. Well, let’s be nice to him anyway. The Golden Rule stipulates that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us, not that we do unto others as they would do unto us. It’s a subtle difference that Rush Limbaugh may some day understand — and then he will begin to treat others as he would have others treat him.

Enough said.

Intoxination tips us off on the existence of a photograph showing Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney meeting with Jack Abramoff clients, Tigua tribe Lt. Gov Carlos Hisa and Tigua Tribal Councilmember Raul Gutierrez, not even a week after coming back from a Scotland golf junket accompanied by and paid for by Jack Abramoff. After that meeting, in which Bob Ney called Jack Abramoff “the man to work with in Washington,” Rep. Ney pushed legislation to benefit the Tigua tribe.

Now, here’s the tricksy bit: Bob Ney swore to Senate investigators that he wasn’t familiar with the Tigua tribe, even though he promoted legislation helping the tribe out, and even though he met with Tigua tribe leaders for an hour and a half.

So here’s today’s CAPTION CHALLENGE: What could these three be saying that could possibly explain Rep. Ney’s faulty memory?

I’ll start it off:

Ney: Hey, now, what was in that drink?
Hisa: Oh, nothing, just a traditional ceremonial ingredient…
Gutierrez: Roofies are a traditional ceremonial ingredient?
Hisa: Ssshhh…

Keep in mind as you read the next paragraph that I do not have a snooty nose when it comes to alcoholic drinks. I don’t know the difference between a cabernet sauvignon and a merlot, I consider $3.98 Boone’s Farm (especially the berries one) to be a drink of choice on a summer’s eve, and I couldn’t really tell you whether a beer had an oaky subtext, a hint of spelt, or a flock of seagulls going for it. In short, when it comes to beer and wine, I’m pretty darned easy to satisfy.

Yes, keep that in mind when I tell you that Leininkugel’s Berry Weiss Bier is, far and away, the single worst alcoholic beverage to come across my lips in the past five years. (I’d say the single worst alcoholic beverage to come across my lips in the past ten years, but there was that regrettable Iowa Amish Country experience way back in the nineties when I actually decided to sample the Rhubarb Wine.) To my friends with a joy for taste adventure I recommend this “Bier” to you if for no other reason than to provide a new low baseline against which to judge other beers more positively. Imagine drinking Robitussin, 12 liquid ounces of Cherry Robitussin; that’s the closest I can come to describing the horror, the angst, the dread taste of the Berry Weiss. This beer doesn’t have the refreshing crispness a beer should have. It has an oversweetness with a tinge of horribly bitter that never resolves into some hoity-toity aftertaste, and never really goes away. It just lingers on the tongue, reminding me how stupid I was to take another swig.

And I did drink the whole beer. I wanted to be fair to it. It took me 45 minutes to drink one bottle of this beastly concoction, since I really, honestly, literally had to summon up courage in order to be able to pick up the bottle and take another sip. With each sip, the sides of my tongue curled in an attempt to get away from the sickliness of it all. I kept waiting for the beer to grow on me, but it never did.

Steer clear of the Leinenkugel’s, please. Please.