Did I miss the story about all political prisoners being released from prisons in dictatorships around the world? Has torture come to an end on the planet?

If not, then how to explain Amnesty International’s new-found preoccupation? Remind me of their priorities next time they send me a fund-raising letter.

[Update on Tuesday morning]

In comments, Derek Lyons writes:

…if any of you had actually paid any attention to AI over the years, you’d know well that the US isn’t a ‘new found obsession’, nor is their sole focus…

…If Rand actually bothered to read the article he linked to, he’d find the report was issued by AI-USA, not AI. I myself find it unsurprising that a ‘local’ group concentrates on ‘local’ issues.

I must have missed the part where I said the US was a “new-found obsession”, Derek. I was referring to racial profiling, not the US. I know that AI has long considered the US to be the major human rights violator on the planet.

The point isn’t about it being a “local issue.” It is about dealing with trivia when there probably are people actually unjustly in prison, even in this nation. Why don’t they do something about the prison rape problem, which would be more in line with their original charter? I see this as mission creep to justify their existence and fund raising.

The “Assault Weapons” Ban is no more, as of a few hours ago.

It did have one salutory effect, though–it helped knock the Democrats out of power in Congress for the first time in four decades. One of the few good things that Bill Clinton actually did for the country.

Would that all of our laws had sunset clauses.

[Update at 10 AM EDT[

It’s official.

That’s what this should be. Unfortunately, there are too many people determined to go down with the Kerry/Rather Swift Boat to allow it to be.

Also reader Mike Puckett points out that the reward for the ability to reproduce these documents with equipment available in that era (let alone likely to be found in a National Guard office and usable by an officer) is now up to over seventeen thousand dollars. Come on, “Hunter“, it’s easy money, right?

At least for me.

It started on Friday as a story about whether or not the memos were forged. That part didn’t last very long, as it quickly became clear to all but the koolaid drinkers that they were. Ignoring the next question of whodunnit, it has now evolved into something much more fascinating–just how far in the tank will some people (particularly some people who are long-time anchors for a major network news organization) go to continue, absurdly, to defend the authenticity of the documents?

Dan, of course, now has two motives to try to defend his story–to continue his original goal of damaging (hopefully fatally) the president’s chances for reelection, but now also to maintain whatever vestiges of respect for him exist among the American public, too many of whom have taken him too seriously for too long. As others have pointed out, the demographic that pays any attention to him is dying off, and younger people are getting their news from cable and the net, so perhaps he feels he has little to lose at this point, and still hopes to convince enough simpletons that there really is substance to his new take on the “Bush AWOL” story.

“Hindrocket” over at Powerline makes an interesting, and dismaying analogy of CBS and other partisan news organizations as suicide bombers. There used to be a time when, regardless of how clearly biased people like Dan Rather were, we could count on some sense of self-preservation on their part to keep them ultimately in line. This episode makes him (and me) wonder if that is no longer the case, with a number of disturbing implications.

Just as our newfound knowledge that some people were willing to kill themselves in order to kill us led us to have to change our tactics in airport and other security, the thought that some news organizations are willing to destroy their credibility in pursuit of their political objectives should cause us to rethink our relationship with them as well.

I’ve little to say on this third anniversary, except to note with sadness that much of the nation still doesn’t seem to realize that we’re at war. Moreover, many of those lacking that realization include much of the so-called mainstream press (as exemplified by the latest fraud and shenanigans at CBS News), and much of one of the major parties, including its candidate for president. In the midst of watching Islamic fanatics slaughter schoolchildren and take down airplanes in Russia, he proposes a Department of Wellness.

As I’ve said many times, I have many problems with the currrent administration, even including at many times its execution of the war in which we’re unwillingly engaged, and wish that there were a realistic alternative to it–I’d vote for it in a heartbeat. But in nominating John Kerry (and being congenitally unable to nominate a serious wartime candidate, like Joe Lieberman), the Democrats leave me little choice, because as long as we haven’t addressed the root causes of the events of three years ago (and no, they’re not poverty, or American imperialism, cultural or otherwise), I will not feel safe with anything resembling today’s Democrat Party in power.

A general once said that war consists a bunch of shitty choices. Apparently that often applies to politics as well, at least in a two-party system. As such, my choice will have to remain the man who stood amid a pile of rubble almost three years ago, and told us that he heard us, and that soon those who had created that pile would be hearing us too.

[Update]

Unsurprisingly, Glenn has some thoughts as well, with some pictures that are a sobering reminder of that day.

Kate O’Beirne has a movie review worth reading.

Kate O’Beirne has a movie review worth reading.

Kate O’Beirne has a movie review worth reading.

…of course, is who did it? Leaving aside the Rove conspiracy theories (does anyone other than Chris (the Weasel) Lehane take that seriously?), the motive is certainly clear. To genuinely smear (I use that phrase to distinguish it from the criticism of Kerry that has been mischaracterized as a smear) George Bush in hopes that they can knock his numbers down.

If they did get it from the DNC, I’d like to be shocked, but after everything that happened throughout the nineties, it’s no longer possible to be. But in just what kind of moral and intellectual swamp does such a creature reside who would do such a thing? Clearly, now as in the Clinton years, political victory trumps truth and honor.

The other question, of course, is why were they so dumb to think that they’d get away with what looks to be, in retrospect, an obvious forgery, for a large number of reasons? Sure, they could expect dumbbell Dan to eagerly run with it unexamined, but did they really think that no one else would notice? It is worth asking, though, if absent the blogger analysis, the other nets would have questioned it, or if they would have just echoed CBS.

Of course, if one wants to get into weird conspiracy theories, there are other people besides Karl Rove who would like to see Kerry’s campaign destroyed if it can be done without their fingerprints on it. Their legal residence is Chappaqua, New York.

[Update at 1:20 PM EDT]

Gerard Vanderleun has further thoughts.

After everything that happened yesterday, and backtracking by CBS, the Boston Globe is continuing to cite the forged documents to libel the president:

CBS also produced documents that appeared to show that in 1973 Bush’s superior officer complained of being pressured to ”sugar-coat” an annual officer evaluation for Bush even though Bush had not been at the base for the year in question.

Maybe we should have a little pledge drive to raise some money to get them a modem.