the Shackle Report

Human intelligence is a theory, Not a Fact, Asserts Science Prof at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Rude Pundit, often a bit screamy for our taste (not that screams aren’t appropriate) has crafted a useful “Loyal Citizen’s Contract With the American Government” for Bush apologists and fellow spymasters to sign, granting the executive branch all the powers it needs in order to become the Iron Chef of the world and rule supreme. Here are a few choice excerpts:

“I (the undersigned) believe President George W. Bush when he says that the United States of America is fighting a ‘new kind of enemy’ that requires ‘new thinking’ about how to wage war. . .

“… I believe that the President of the United States has the power to mitigate any and all laws passed by the Congress and that he has such power granted to him by his status as Commander-in-Chief in the Constitution as well as the 2001 Authorization of Military Force, passed by the Congress, which states that the President can use ‘all necessary and appropriate force’ in prosecution of the war. Therefore, I grant the United States government the following powers:

“a. that the National Security Agency, under the direction of the President, may tap my phone lines and intercept my e-mail without warrant or FISA oversight;

“b. that the President may hold me or other detainees without access to the legal system for a period of time determined by the President or his agents;

“c. that the President may authorize physical force against me or other individual detainees in order to gain intelligence and that he may define whether such physical force may be called ‘torture’. . .

“I agree that the Judicial and Legislative branch should be allowed no oversight of these activities. . . I also agree that virtually all of these activities may be conducted in complete secrecy and that revelation of these activities amount to treasonous behavior. . .

“3. Finally. . . should such abuse or misinterpretation [of these powers] occur, I agree that such actions are mere errors and no one should be subject to investigation, arrest, or employment action as a result.

Please visit Rude Pundit for the rest, and forward to anyone you feel might want to sign it. Better yet, stick it to the Patriot Act-ors directly.

Take it off; take it all off.

In an effort to encourage me to stop comparing myself to magazine covergirls, The Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has created a delightful interactive graphic, systematically un-retouching a model.

I had a lot of fun stripping the whites from this fetching little person’s eyes , fattening her face and thickening her waist, but I’ve got to say, after I was all done deconstructing her, I’d still kill to have her cheekbones.

(But thanks to chaos digest for the link, anyway. I know you meant well. )