There are those who just can't figure out when it's real and when it's satire-----SHEESH!

Your tax dollars at work: the U.S. House has approved a bill that would provide $37 million to widen and extend the road to Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters. The provision was added to the massive $284 billion bill, now before the Senate, by two House Republicans. In other news, Wal-Mart reported profit last year of $10.3 billion.

Consider this:
Have you stopped for a moment to consider the long-term consequences of the Republican Party's fawning over religious extremists? Watch President Bush's judicial nominees. Watch the Democrats use the Schiavo matter to illustrate what might happen to other Americans if Bush's nominees are confirmed. And watch the congressional elections next year. If it's close, and if the Republicans lose their majority, look back to the crowd gathered since last week in Pinellas Park for an explanation. That, too, is Christian bashing.

Question:

If people who commit sex crimes against children are so dangerous that they have to be registered for life after serving their sentences, why are they let out of prison in the first place?

Oy Veh!

Rome, Italy, March 16, 2005

Special to The Raving Atheist

A top Catholic cardinal has blasted "The Da Vinci Code" as a "gross and absurd" distortion of history and said Catholic bookstores should take the bestseller off their shelves because it is full of "cheap lies."

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with the Milan newspaper Il Giornale, became the highest ranking Italian Churchman to speak out against the book, an international blockbuster that has sold millions of copies.

"(It) aims to discredit the Church and its history through gross and absurd manipulations," Bertone, the archbishop of the northern Italian city of Genoa and a close friend of Pope John Paul told the paper in its Monday edition.

The central claim of the book, written by American Dan Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. The Bible says Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

"You can find that book everywhere and the risk is that many people who read it believe that those fairy tales are real," he said. "I think I have the responsibility to clear things up to unmask the cheap lies contained in books like that."

“The notion that Christ entered into a stable, monogamous relationship and raised a family is repugnant to every principle held dear by the Church,” said Bertone. “Jesus was a celibate, wild-eyed raving loner, despised and tortured to death his peers.”

Bertone also said that the claims made by the Code defied natural laws, noting that only those “not possessed of their full senses” could deny that Jesus is a resurrected 2,000 year old immaterial spirit who is invisible but simultaneously present everywhere in the universe. “Drink wine and it will turn into Christ’s blood,” Betrone said. “But be careful not to fall for the insane preposterous illogical fictions of madmen.”

In a hole?--Stop digging!

A POLITICAL PRICE TO PAY? APPARENTLY SO.

So, there he was ... Randall Terry, the anti-abortion zealot, screaming outside of the nursing home housing Terri Schiavo. He was screaming something about "hell to pay" if Terri Schiavo dies. He then went on to rant a bit about all of the work that the anti-abortion movement did to elect these Republicans, and that now is the time for them to deliver and perform.

You know what? This time Randall Terry may just be right. There just may be a political price to pay. But Terry is right for the wrong reasons. Republicans may pay a political price not because they didn't do enough to prolong the torture of Terri Schiavo, but because they did too much.

Have you seen today's approval ratings for President Bush? They're down. Way down. He's down to 45%. He was at 52% one week ago. This is the lowest point in his presidency. These polls are not because he hasn't done enough in the Schiavo matter. The downtrend is because he did too much. The largest loss of support was among conservative male church-goers. A majority of the American people were not impressed with the Republican Party's late night grandstanding this past Sunday, and Bush's rush back to Washington to sign a bill in the early hours of the morning.

Maybe conservative Republican politicians can learn a lesson from this. They were elected to reduce the size and intrusiveness of the Imperial Federal Government of the United States. They were elected to reduce our tax burden and lower government spending. They were elected to defend us against threats from abroad, specifically the threat of Islamic terrorism ... and to do so with preemptive action if necessary. In spite of the delusions of grandeur of the abortocentrist crowd and religious extremists, George Bush was not elected to facilitate a government takeover of the ovaries of every fertile American woman, nor was he elected to establish a theocracy.

Perhaps Republicans will take note. I truly believe that their control of the House of Representatives may be in jeopardy in next year's elections. Perhaps they'll learn from this. Maybe they'll start dancing with who brung them for a change, and pay attention to spending and tax cuts, school choice, national defense and individual liberty.

Some lessons are just learned the hard way.

And Finally!

Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places

Two long years have passed since the beginning of Bush's illegal, immoral, and unsanctioned-by-France invasion of Iraq. According to the flashing neon tote-board in Michael Moore's living room, over 1,500 troops have died without dignity. Goddess knows we've tried everything in the book to make the Shrub take his war toys and go home. Petitions. Protest marches. Organized hissy fits. Yet despite all our feminine hysterics, the chimp simply won't listen to reason.

But do not despair, for our beloved MoxieGrill's life partner, Kid Bastard, has the perfect plan to finally convince the swaggering fascist cowboy chimp to surrender his so-called "War on Terror":

"I am going to marry a man. And I'm going to encourage everyone to marry someone of their own gender. And if we can get enough people, we can have one big ceremony on the White House lawn. And then, after the marrying, comes the hot man sex...We are going to make George W. Bush watch live amateur gay porn on his front lawn in punishment for allowing and encouraging every travesty his cabal of bastards commits upon the world."

Not since's Kid Bastard shaved his balls for Jerry's Kids and ignited his farts for the endangered sea manatee, has his brilliant mind hatched such a noble and selfless plan. But it's been two weeks since he made his pledge, and the White House lawn remains oddly man-sex-free. Maybe his standards are too high. Maybe he's not shaking his little moneymaker around the right gay bars. But each day that he procrastinates, more Iraqi children suffer. Helpless, innocent Iraqi children, each holding a fluffy kitten with big, sad eyes.

So to assist him in his endeavor, I have rounded up three upstanding members of the Gay Community who would be more than happy to sodomize the crap out of Kid Bastard in the name of World Peace.

Bachelor #1: My cousin Dale just wrapped up a 15 year stint at the McNeil Island Corrections Center in Steilacom, Washington, and he's lookin' for some red hot lovin'. A compassionate crusader for social justice, Dale is horrified by the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and is anxious to teach Bush a lesson by buggering Kid Bastard. With his Level Three sex offender rating, he's highly skilled in the Art of Love - and with some fava beans and a nice chianti, he'll treat Kid Bastard to the night of his life.

Bachelor #2: Hairy back. Five o'clock shadow. Toothless grin. Rheumy, bloodshot, eyes. But enough about Moxiegrill. Lester, my former liberal arts professor at UC Berkeley, is ready to settle down with a "progressive, open-minded free spirit" who enjoys long walks on the beach, romantic evenings by the fire, the works of Oscar Wilde, and being spanked with a cricket bat "like the naughty little slut he is". A family man at heart, Lester has three beautiful children tied up in the trunk of his car. "But they won't be bothering us...not anymore, anyway."

Bachelor #3: Do you like Pina Colada? Jayjay is a socially conscious liberal whose forte is a pina colada enema that'll knock your birkenstocks off. Recently kicked out of the Boy Scouts simply because of his sexuality, Jayjay has has nothing but contempt for intolerant Christian evangelicals. "We're not 'freaks' to be mocked and ridiculed," he says as he carefully adjusts his tiara. "Homosexuality is a natural, beautiful celebration of love between two or more caring human beings and, in some cases, consenting adult rodents or other forms of open-minded livestock."

There they are, the cream of the Gay Community crop. Due to restraining orders and parole conditions, none of these gentleman can come within 500 feet of the White House, but they're perfectly willing to meet Kid Bastard in this white trailer for a night of unbridled passion. The blessed occasion will be video taped, and copies sent to each member of George Bush's bloodthirsty cabal, with a warning that Kid Bastard is fully prepared to have even more man sex until all U.S. forces are withdrawn from the Middle East. Don't think he won't, Shrub!

It's not like he wasn't already having man sex anyway.

Catching up

I have not written about the Terri Schiavo case because it is too complex, too multilayered, and too steeped in unknown or unknowable facts for me - indeed for most people - to have a fully informed opinion.

I don't know - and neither do you - if Michael Shiavo is trying to murder his wife or trying to fulfill her stated wishes for just such a scenario. I don't know what Terri Schiavo would want - and neither do you - because she didn't tell us via a living will. We have only the word of her husband who assures us that his wife once said she wouldn't want to be kept alive this way, and we have her parents, who love their daughter and desire only to care for her.

I do know that the Congress did the wrong thing, intervened where it had no Constitutional right, and solved nothing.

In coming years, political historians might look back and try to pinpoint the day or week or month that the Republican Party shed the last vestiges of its small-government philosophy. If and when they do, the week just past should make the short list. For it was in this last week that the Republican-controlled Congress made it clear that it sees no area of American life -- none too trivial and none too intimate -- that the federal government should not permeate with its power.

It looks like we're heading for a terrible result here. Congress has passed legislation that raises serious federalism and rule-of-law concerns. And Terry Schiavo is probably going to die at the hands of the state anyway.

The Surpremes got it wrong--donchaknow!

I am certain I am not the first to post on this, but had yesterday's shooter in Minnesota not turned the gun on himself, he would never have been eligible for the death penalty because of the recent Supreme Court decision. He killed young people, teachers, a security guard and his grandfather, but the Supreme Court has ruled that no civilized society could even consider executing him for his massacre.

That is an absurd result, and the Supreme Court's foolishness is underscored by yesterday's carnage.

Our International hit men

President Bush has infuriated liberal Democrats and other leftists by nominating John Bolton as ambassaor to the United Nations and Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank. The opposition to Bolton's nomination is rational. Bolton's statements about the U.N. are quite controversial, and therefore it makes sense that his nomination is also controversial. Should our representative to the U.N. be someone who takes such a dim view of that organization? I think so. But I also understand the presumption to the contrary.

The Wolfowitz nomination is a different matter. Wolfowitz has a long history of supporting the World Bank's goals and objectives, and no history of disparaging that organization in any fundamental way. If one reads the second half of this Washington Post story, it becomes clear that Wolfowitz is an excellent fit for the job.

The opposition to Wolfowitz is based not on his qualifications or issues of "fit," but on his role in helping to formulate administration policy on Iraq and, more generally, Middle East democratization. And the intensity of that oppostion is based on the left's distorted view of that role. In the left's cosmology, administration policy has been hijacked by dreaded neo-conservatives with Jewish sounding names like Wolfowitz. Thus, the left (and the many Democratic politicians under its sway) views Wolfowitz as too evil to run the World Bank or, more precisely, too evil to be rewarded with any position (much of the left holds the World Bank in lower regard than John Bolton holds the U.N.). In short, the oppostion to Wolfowitz stems from the Democrats' new role as the "permanent opposition," not from any good faith concern about the future of the World Bank.

Nothing lasts forever. But the more the Democrats engage in this sort of posturing, the more permanent their opposition status is likely to be.

Can this guy be any more transparent?

Kofi Annan has released his report detailing his plans to reform the United Nations. In a speech to the General Assembly yesterday, Kofi made several proposals. One is that he wants rich nations like the U.S. to spend .7 percent of their GDP on "official development assistance." That's a fancy phrase for "international welfare." Keep in mind that the gross domestic product of the United States is something like $11 trillion a year. Kofi's little seven-tenths of a percent works out be several billion dollars. And we're supposed to just hand this money over to the corrupt United Nations? Right. They seem to be managing money so well these days...and certainly Kofi's stewardship of the oil-for-food program demonstrates that. How many rapists/peace keepers can you feed, clothe and house with a billion dollars?

Kofi the Korrupt also linked prosperity to the environment...making the nonsensical statement that the depletion of natural resources is somehow bad for business. Actually, if a nation is using natural resources, that's how you know they're prospering. Take a look at the African continent. Is there a continent more rich in natural resources? Africa has natural resources coming out the whazooo ... but it is still mired in poverty. If not depleting natural resources is good for business we would all be driving African automobiles and importing African HD televisions. But capitalism and prosperity is not the goal of the United Nations. The goal is the creation of a one-world government ... under the auspices of the UN.

And one of Kofi's most ridiculous schemes is his proposal to enlarge the security council. He wants to expand it from 15 nations to 24, adding countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. But the U.N. security council is for nations that provide security, weapons and have a large, ready military. It is not a seat to be handed out to some tin horn dictator in Africa as political patronage.

Does the United Nations even have a point anymore?

Bobby "Sheets" Byrd getting ready for a Senate confirmation hearing on Condi Rice. 

What Pictures?

Who’s really the liar?

The fact is that Kerry's full Navy records have never been released, and probably never will, unless someone sues the military for a Freedom of Information Act release. Kerry isn't about to allow that file out, as his discharge papers will show that Kerry got booted out on a bad-conduct discharge due to his post-Viet Nam activities, which Thomas Lipscomb and the New York Sun confirmed two days after the interview. If they are released, his political career is over.

From Justice Scalia's dissent on the death penalty decision:

"The Court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our Nation's moral standards--and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures. Because I do not believe that the meaning of our Eighth Amendment, any more than the meaning of other provisions of our Constitution, should be determined by the subjective views of five Members of this Court and like-minded foreigners, I dissent."

They have lost their freaking minds!!!!!!!

Just when you thought the insano-Democrats couldn’t get any more insane, Senator Robert “sheets” Byrd (D-WV) compared Republicans to Hitler on the Senate floor. Excerpt from the senator’s “speech“:

Hitler’s originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions, in modern conditions, are carried out with, and not against, the power of the State: the correct order of events was first to secure access to that power and then begin his revolution. Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality; he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal.

The nuclear option is beginning to look increasingly attractive.

The problem with Byrd's argument (among many) is that while he wants to shroud the debate in terms of laws and the constitution what he's really fighting to save is Senate rules. Senate rules aren't laws - for the most part the only ones who give a shit when they are broken or changed is other Senators...

Senator Byrd does know filibusters - he filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Michelle Malkin profiled some of his finer moments in 2001. In 2003 Byrd took to the floor of the Senate compared the Bush administration to Nazi mass murderer Hermann Goering.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman did not let the sun go down on Byrd's offensive extremism --an extremism matched by the Democrats' tactics on judges:

"Senator Byrd's invocation of Hitler's Germany in discussing the duty of U.S. Senators to advise and provide consent on judicial nominees is reprehensible and beyond the pale. While members of the Senate are free to agree and disagree on the issues, this poisonous rhetoric only serves to illustrate the desperation and weakness of Senator Byrd's position."

And how did the MSM cover "Sheets Byrd" comments?

New York Times - No mention of Byrd.

Boston Globe - No mention of Byrd.

L.A. Times - No mention of Byrd.

CNN - No mention of Byrd.

MSNBC - No mention of Byrd.

Fox News - First paragraph mention.

CBS News - Are you kidding?

NBC News - Nope.

ABC News - Byrd's Nazi comparison couldn't bump a NYPD Blue tribute from the rotation.

Not one elected democratic official to date has disavowed Senator Byrd's Hitler comparison. Not even Joe Lieberman. They don't get it. They are out of power, out of ideas, and are morally bankrupt enough not to recognize when one of their own has crossed way over the line and needs to be called on it.

Hearts and Minds

#1

"Our military and the insurgents are fighting for the same thing--the hearts and minds of the people--and that is a battle we are not winning."--Ted Kennedy, Jan. 27

"Thousands of mostly black-clad Iraqis protested Tuesday outside a medical clinic where a suicide car bomber killed 125 people a day earlier, braving the threat of another attack as they waved clenched fists, condemned foreign fighters and chanted 'No to terrorism!' "--Associated Press, March 1

Interestingly, the text of Kennedy's infamous speech seems to have disappeared from his Web site; the above link is to the Yahoo cache. We guess it's a good sign that he no longer stands by the speech, but we'd think more highly of him if he actually owned up to his mistake.

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

#2

US troops in Iraq have discovered two caches of corpses this week. The dead were victims of the insurgents--terrorists--that Italian Communist journalist Guilana Sgrena can't seem to find the time to say a negative word about.

The victims...well, read for yourself.

Authorities found 26 of the corpses late Tuesday in a field near Rumana, a village about 12 miles east of the western city of Qaim, near the Syrian border, police Capt. Muzahim al-Karbouli and other officials said.

Each of the bodies had been riddled with bullets apparently several days earlier. They were found wearing civilian clothes and one of the dead was a woman, al-Karbouli said.

South of Baghdad in Latifiya, Iraqi troops on Tuesday made another gruesome discovery, finding 15 headless bodies in a building inside an abandoned former army base, Defense Ministry Capt. Sabah Yassin said.

The bodies included 10 men, three women and two children.

Children!

Those animals beheaded children.

Yet if we capture those responsible, if we have the gall to send them to Gitmo, there to await military tribunals or some other justice, we can be sure the ACLU will rise to defend them. The anti-war left, as exemplified by Guilana Sgrena, will embrace them.

Even though they beheaded children.

#3

Questions That Still Haven't Been Answered

1. Did Sandy Berger break top security laws and steal documents with criminal intent?

2. How big a role did Dan Rather actually play in pushing the forged documents, and has he yet publicly admitted they were forged?

3. Who forged the documents in the Rathergate scam, and how did they get into CBS' hands?

4. What did Eason Jordan say at Davos? Where is the videotape we know exists of his remarks?

5. Why is the mainstream liberal media completely ignoring these questions?

#4

If one is an incident, two is a coincidence, and three is a trend, feature this - top news executives at the New York Times, CBS News, and CNN, all toppled in the past two years by scandals that were heightened by pressure from new journalistic outlets. Taken in isolation, the departures of the New York Times’s executive editor, Howell Raines, and his managing editor, Gerald Boyd; the managing editor of the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather, and three other CBS executives; and the executive vice president and chief news executive of CNN, Eason Jordan, would each be big events. Taken together, they suggest a news industry in the midst of a stunning revolution.

Ann Coulter is a Middle-Aged Infidel

The Eva Braun of the conservative right has done it again. In an unbelievable display of insensitivity, syndicated Bush shill Ann Coulter referred to 109 year-old Lebanese immigrant Helen Thomas as an "old Arab", without at least prefacing her slur with the adjective "venerable".

"Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president," Coulter venomously scribbled in her February 23 column.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (AAAC), an Arab civil rights organization devoted to scanning newspapers for things to be offended by, condemned Coulter's remarks and called on Universal Press Syndicate to beat her senseless in accordance with the Holy Quran.

"Her insensitive and stereotypical words concerning the Arab peoples must not be tolerated" said the group's chairman, Muhammed Achmed Achmed Muhammed Muhammed Achmed Muhammed. "'Old Arab?' How would she like it if we referred to her as a 'Middle-Aged Infidel'? 'Look! Here comes that Middle-Aged Infidel! I'm surprised they let that Middle-Aged Infidel in here! Everybody laugh at the Middle-Aged Infidel! HA HA HA!"

Coulter is no stranger to controversy. Only two short days after the horrific events of 9/11, when many Arab-Americans were still reeling from the loss of twelve of their people aboard those doomed flights, she sadistically poured salt on their wounds by suggesting that we should "invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity". So it was no surprise that 500,000 outraged Lebanese citizens took to the streets of Beirut yesterday to protest Coulter's bigoted remarks concerning the venerable old Arab. In addition, 26 Congressional democrats signed a resolution declaring March 9 "Ann Coulter is a Lying Whore with Cottage Cheese Thighs Day", including Senator Robert Byrd who blasted her as being "just another one of them white niggers".

While Faux News has been typically silent concerning their little rottweiler's naziesque nastiness, the mainstream media was righteously miffed over Coulter's insensitivity. DemsTV took a brief time out from microwaving Ann Coulter dolls to lash out at the conservative pundit for her immature, tasteless attacks. After being briefly overcome with the vapors, blogging sensation Oliver Willis also condemned the "vile, disgusting, filthy festering sore on the grace of humanity" for her insensitive hatespeech, and threatened to "scratch her eyes out" should she ever "show her cottage cheese thighs around Silver Spring".

Widely hailed as the "Great Dane of Journalism", Helen Thomas has been a fixture in the White House press corps ever since she completely calcified sometime during the Johnson administration. Proud of her Lebanese heritage, she kept her Arabic name when many others in her profession anglicized theirs. However, she chose to take the high ground and refused to comment on Coulter's insensitive remarks. Instead, she had strong words for the Bush administration, which has done much to create a vitriolic political climate where ad hominem attacks have taken the place of polite discourse.

"Condoleeza Rice is a monster...a monster and a goddam liar" the esteemed, unbiased journalist told the nice orderlies. "George Bush is...is a goddam fascist who eats little Iraqi children."

Ann Coulter is not a tenured university professor who hates America, and therefore isn't protected by our first amendment right to free speech. If the little Eichmanns of the right were real men, they'd tell that Middle-Aged Infidel to take her ratty hair, her cottage cheese thighs, and her divisive rhetoric back to Dumbfukistan where she belongs.

Correction: The chairman of The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee was incorrectly identified as Muhammed Achmed Achmed Muhammed Muhammed Achmed Muhammed. The actual chairman is Achmed Muhammed Muhammed Achmed Muhammed Achmed. Muhammed Achmed Achmed Muhammed Muhammed Achmed Muhammed is the assistant vice-chairman. I apologize for any confusion.

Correction: I inaccurately stated that "beating" was the punishment for disobedient women according to the Quran. Chapter 4:34 of the Holy Quran actually specifies "scourging", followed by a "beating" only if she's still got some sass left in her. Again, my apologies.

Go Ahead--Argue with this....

American Liberals Have Lost Touch With Reality Steve Darnell, Arab News

Gen. George S. Patton once said, “Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.” Those on the left seem to be cynical about everything to do with the war on terrorism. I think if Patton were alive today he would say liberals lack the courage to fight the enemy and would slap a few of them around. Liberals are also cynical about the way the military handles terrorist prisoners. I am sure Patton would tell liberals they lack the basic understanding of warfare and prisoner handling and challenge them to spend a few days on the front line to see how things are really done. Then he would slap a few of them around once again. A soldier’s job is to kill the enemy, or as Patton also said, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” The sooner liberals understand the true meaning of war, the sooner we can make the “other bastard” die for his country. To prove how out of touch liberals are with reality these days look at the uproar that occurred because of comments made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis. Gen. Mattis, who has commanded troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, was recently speaking at a forum in San Diego about strategies for the war on terror. Mattis said, “Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. ... It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right upfront with you, I like brawling.” Gen. Mattis is the kind of general I want leading our troops into battle. Marines are there to kill the enemy, not coddle them. They need a leader like Gen. Mattis. But, of course there was uproar by liberals. Jeff McCausland, director of the Leadership in Conflict Initiative at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa claimed that, “Clearly for an officer from any service to say that publicly is unprofessional and inappropriate and sends a terrible message to subordinates.” I disagree; I think the general’s troops loved the message sent and probably feel the same way. What do liberals think Marines are doing in Iraq? Would liberals rather Gen. Mattis had said, “I hate to fight...I think war is much too bloody...I think we should stay home and polish our nails and listen to show tunes.” Somehow, I think liberals would. Liberals, especially young liberals seem to forget that war is a very nasty thing. It is not a panty raid on a women’s dormitory at a local college. In battle, the enemy has one thing in mind, he wants to kill. War is a contest of kill, or be killed and it is not nice. The closest most leftists have come to battle is fighting police at various protests in the United States and around the world. Their idea of warfare is yelling obscenities at local police and hurling the occasional rock or bottle. A liberal’s badge of honor is spending a few hours in jail after being arrested at a protest in Seattle or Washington, DC and getting his or her mug shots taken. Yet, even with their lack of experience in real warfare, liberals seem to think they have all the answers about how the military should treat captured terrorists and how best to fight the war on terrorism. Some liberals even claim that the US Constitution protects terrorists. I think they have a lot to learn. First, prisoners captured in Iraq are not leftist protestors staging a sit-in on the steps of a Federal Building singing “Give Peace a Chance”. Prisoners in Iraq have not studied “Activism 101”and have never heard of Martin Sheen, Janeane Garofalo or Al Franken. They are terrorist thugs who behead captured men and women showing no remorse in the act. They are murderers trained by Al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations. They want to kill American men, women and children. They have no rights. Prisoners captured in Iraq are not handled with kid gloves and gently placed in a paddy wagon like liberal protestors arrested in Seattle. They are trying to kill Americans when captured and would love nothing better than to kill their captor and escape to fight another day. Captured terrorists should be treated like a rabid dog waiting to bite its handler and thrown in a cage. I really do not care how inhumanely we treat the captured terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib prison. They are murderers and thugs. I think terrorists should lose all human rights once they take the path of terrorism. A tough approach is the only deterrent these killers will understand. If making a terrorist wear a pair of women’s panties on his head will help save one innocent life by gaining information on future terrorist acts, it is worth the effort. I think Victoria Secret and Fredrick’s of Hollywood should contribute panties to the war effort. Maybe we would get a few more confessions. I think Gen. Mattis would agree. I know Gen. Patton would. — Steve Darnell is a self-syndicated columnist and can be reached at comments@stevedarnell.com.