Oooohhh, scary! Don Zirkel, an 80-year old church deacon was arrested last weekend in the food court of Smith Haven shopping mall in Lake Grove, where he was drinking coffee with his 77-year old wife. His offense was that he was wearing a t-shirt that had the death tolls of American military and Iraqis in the war, saying “Enough.”

He’d been passing out protest pamphlets when mall security told him to stop and to turn his t-shirt inside out. He stopped passing out the pamphlets, but didn’t turn his t-shirt inside out before stopping at the food court. So the mall security goons placed him under “civilian arrest” and called police. When they arrived and Zirkel refused to stop drinking his coffee they picked him up, put him in a wheelchair, and wheeled him out. He was arrested for criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.

“Eighty years, and I have never been arrested before for fighting injustice,” said Zirkel. During those 80 years he had served in the U.S. Army, edited The Tablet, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s newspaper, and worked for the state Division of Human Rights under Governor Mario Cuomo.

A PR company representing Simon Property Group, owners of the mall, said in a statement to the press -

…In keeping with our Code of Conduct, it is our corporate policy not to allow protests or demonstrations of any kind to take place on mall property regardless of the topic.

Unfortunately for Simon, there were two opposing protest groups at the mall that day, vocally sparring with each other – one anti-war, one pro-war. Zirkel said he wore the shirt to show his support for the anti-war protesters. None of the protesters in either of the two groups were arrested.

Maybe they were young and fit, and the mall security goons were afraid of enforcing policy on them. I’m sure an 80-year old looked like a much safer target…

Oy!

Links:

USAToday On Deadline Blog
Raffello Network
CommonDreams

The Associated Press reported on Easter Sunday that the American Death Toll in Iraq Reaches 4,000 after a roadside bomb killed four soldiers in Baghdad.

At least 61 other people died across Iraq on Sunday, but the U.S. is not keeping any official records of how many Iraqis pay the ultimate price for the ‘freedom’ we have brought them. …and bought them, at a price so far to American taxpayers of ~$600 billion.

Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, J.P. Morgan upped its bid for the bankrupt Bear-Stearns investment bank to $10 a share, 5 times the negotiated price agreed upon last weekend just in time for the Tokyo stock market opening on St. Patrick’s Day. The unprecedented bailout of an investment bank that is not a member of the Federal Reserve system was seen as necessary to prevent a worldwide financial market meltdown. The Fed is guaranteeing Bear-Stearns’ worthless investments up to $30 billion (of American taxpayers’ money).

Speaking of American taxpayers’ money, the Bush administration assures us that the $200 – $600 in tax rebates set aside earlier this year in hopes of stimulating the economy (perhaps we’ll all go out and purchase shares of J.P. Morgan?) will be mailed in May. Perhaps this will come just in time for millions of soon-to-be homeless Americans to buy a nice three-room tent to live in during the warm summer months. If they’re very careful with their budget, some of those families might save enough to buy kerosene space heaters for their tents before winter!

Yes, it’s torture. It’s labeled such, known as such, practiced as such. The fact that we subject our SEALs and Rangers and other special forces operatives to it to give them an idea of what torture *is* and how to resist it, tells us that it’s legitimately, objectively classifiable as TORTURE.

So, you might ask with wonder in your eyes, why are Senators and Congresscitters and administration hacks arguing about it in public? Why is it “important” on somebody’s scale of things to do to make this long-ago made distinction? Why won’t AG candidate Michael Mukasey lend us his views on the issue? It’s a fair question, let’s ask it…

Unless you happen to be a member of the National Association of Waterboarders and Controlled Drowners, this whole debate probably makes no sense at all.

Not to worry, Waterboarders of Amerika! Darth Cheney is solidly on Your Side. Speaking to reporters this past week, his resolve was clear…

Braving chilly November temperatures to make their point about the media’s negative stereotyping of them, the angry torturers got some moral support when one of their most prominent supporters, Vice President Dick Cheney, emerged from his secure undisclosed location to address them.

The vice president received a thunderous ovation from the crowd when he proposed that the government earmark $1.6 billion to improve the media image of waterboarding and waterboarders.

“There’s nothing wrong with waterboarding that a little public relations makeover wouldn’t fix,” the vice president told the crowd. “For starters, why not call it dunking?”

“Dunking” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Reminds one of the glory days of Witch Hunts and general persecution and genocides of the Middle Ages.

This is such a travesty. Surely even the defenders recognize that. Are we not all human?

Links:

TPMemo: How Low Can We Go?

Andy Borowitz: Waterboarders Protest Negative Media Stereotypes

My goodness! The war between Rush Limbaugh’s chickenhawk dittoheads and veterans of the current U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has certainly lit up the airwaves and internet for the past couple of weeks! It’s getting so heated that it just might be time to buy some popcorn futures (or take up dealing OxyContin…).

In case you’re one of the few who missed it when the fireworks started, right wing hate pundit Limbaugh (who got out of military service during the VietNam draft due to boils on his fat ass) created quite a stir when he libeled some Iraq war veterans on his daily radio show [date] by calling them “phony soldiers” and likening them to “suicide bombers.”

His beef wasn’t that they hadn’t volunteered to serve, or didn’t serve at the front for more time than they’d bargained for, or that some of them were badly injured. It was that they started speaking out against the war once they got home.

VoteVets, an activist organization of veterans against the war, produced an ad in response to Limbaugh’s smears and aired it on Fox News as well as on Clear Channel radio, though they refused to air it during Limbaugh’s show.

The ad features Iraq war veteran Brian McGough, who was awarded the Purple Heart for traumatic brain injury he received as the result of a suicide bomber. You can view the ad at the VoteVets link above, and read the latest of Limbaugh’s self-righteous defenses (the transcripts have been edited quite regularly) on his link given above.

But for me, the most entertaining part is the hate mail Limbaugh’s loyal dittohead fans have been sending to VoteVets vice-chair Brandon Friedman as well as to the wounded veteran Brian McGough himself. Both Briedman and McGough posted some of their hate mail on DKos at the links in this paragraph, and they have to be read to be believed.

Just a few choice tidbits to whet your whistle…

To McGough:

You aren’t the lying asshole Liberal Poster Boy veteran on tv are you?

and…

…I am not a fan of Rush but you guys are the pits. ?You are just liberal ass holes who hear what they want to hear. ?Just looking to smear who ever you don’t like. ?Like I said.. Ass-Holes. That means you mother was an ass-hole because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. ?In your case, you’re hanging on your mother dress. What a ass hole baby you are.
Remember, Liberalism is a disease. ?Maybe that metal in your head is making you stupid. NO wait “An Ass Hole”

Friedman has received some really colorful hate mail from Limbaugh’s most loyal (and badly educated) fans. My pick of the litter is from “Chuck in Allentown, PA,” and it takes the cake…

YOU PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EXPOSED AS CLEARLY A LEFT WING GROUP WHO WILL STOOP AT NOTHING TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS ….A WEAKER AMERICA , AND A WEAKER MILITARY. YOU AND YOUR GROUP ARE DOING THIS COUNTRY A DISHONORABLE SERVICE . MC GOUGH IS NOW THE NEW POSTER BOY JOHN KERRY LOOK AND ACT ALIKE ! RUSH NEVER CALLED MC GOUGH A SUICIDE BOMBER AND YOU KNOW IT !  IT’S JUST ALL  SAD POLITICAL GAME WITH YOU PEOPLE …YOU VETS HAVE CHOISEN TO GET POLITICAL …YOUI ARE FAIR GAME TO BE TAKEN OUT AS A DANGEROUS LEFT WING GROUP …THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE ….THE MILITARY VERSION OF CODE PINK !!!!!!  AND MOVE ON !!!! SHAME ON YOU !  BE AGAINST THE WAR IN AN HONORABLE FASHION….YOU PEOPLE ARE NOW IN THE GUTTER WITH OTHER EXTREME LEFT WING GROUPS WHO USE ANY DIRTY AND DECEITFUL TACTIC TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS ! WHEN YOU START PLACING PAWNS LIKE MC GOUGH ON SHOWS LIKE KEITH OLBERMAN’S LEFT WING DIATRIBE SHOW COUNTDOWN  TO DISTORTB AND LIE ABOUT THE FACTS , YOU HAVE EXPOSED YOURSELVES AS TO WHO AND WHAT YOU TRULY ARE ….AN EXTREME LEFT WING ARM OF THE OTHER NUT JOBS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY . CHUCK……ALLENTOWN PA.    PA. HOME OF THE BUM JACK MURTHA ….WHO ACCUSED OUR MARINES , YOUR BROTHERS,  FALSELY OF MURDER IN IRAQ…FACT ! RUSH LIMBAUGH IS NOT YOUR ENEMY….THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS YOUR TRUE ENEMY……THE THINGS THAT YOUR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS HAVE SAID FAR OUTWEIGH ANY DISTORTIONS THAT YOU HAVE TRIED TO CREATE ABOUT RUSH ….. CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS OF KERRY , DURBIN  , MURTHA , KENNEDY , REID, BOXER  AND OTHER DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS HAVE SAID ABOUT ….YOU ……THE AMERICAN SOLDIER ! YOU ARE BEING LIED TO BY THE VERY SAME PEOPLE YOU SUPPORT ….SAD ….TRULY SAD  ….YOU ARE DOING LOND TERM DAMAGE TO THIS COUNTRY JUST LIKE VETS LIKE JOHN KERRY DID  MABOUT VIETNAM …REMEMBER WHAT KERRY SAID ABOUT YOU …IN NSO MANY WORDS….IF YOUR STUPID ENOUGH  YOUR STUCK IN IRAQ…HE CALLED YOU STUPID….YOU LIKE BEING CALLED STUPID BY A UNITED STATES SENATOR ?…. YOU LIKE BEING COMPARED TO NAZI’S  ?LIKE SEN DURBIN DID ON THE SENATE FLOOR !!!!!! YOU LIKE WHEN OBAMA SAYS YOU PEOPLE ARE  AIR RAIDING VILLAGES ?????   YEH , I KNOW …YOU IGNORE ALL OF THESE HARD FACTS BUT YOU GO AFTER RUSH ….WHY ??? HE’S BIGGER ON THE RIGHT ,THAN ANYONE YOU HAVE ON THE LEFT ….ANYONE  !!! IT’S JUST A DIRTY POLITICAL GAME YOU ARE TRYING , BUT GUESS WHAT ??? YOU ARE INCREASING RUSH’S VIEWING AUDIENCE  AND YOU ARE LOSING YOUR BATTLE AGAINST THE CHARACTER OF RUSH . YOU AND YOUR POLITICAL CRONIES LIKE HARRY REID , WHO SAID THAT THE WAR IS LOST !!!! ANOTHER U.S SENATOR WAR IS LOST ?????? YOU HAVE NO SHAME ….YOU TRULY DON’T AND YOUR POLITICAL TRICK HAS EXPOSED YOUR ORGANIZATION AS A FAR LEFT WING DISGRACEFUL ORGANIZATION !

Well, there you have it! Ain’t politics fun?