Wait, those aren't real navy men?...

Even Peru is now light-years ahead of the United States military policies, according to the AP.

Peru's constitutional court has granted gays in the military the freedom to have sex, declaring that a rule which had deemed such relations illegal was unconstitutional.

The army's rule had stipulated that military personnel could not engage in sexual relations with persons of the same sex either within or outside their barracks.

But constitutional court official Samuel Abad dubbed that rule "completely discriminatory."

"Completely discriminatory." That about sums it up. Maybe it's about time the U.S. look into their completely discriminatory practices, if Peru is leading the way. I mean they're all having sex in the barracks anyway. And I have all the video footage to prove it. Might as well makes it legal.

Shady Gonzalez...

Yesterday I blogged about the Ashcroft's resignation and his official declaration of the end of all crime and terror in the United States. It seems that the administration is backpedalling on this success in the war on terror by installing yet another Attorney General. Though without any crime or terror I can't imagine there is all that much for the person to do. Republicans and their bloated government, I guess.

Yesterday Bush nominated long-time friend and crony Alberto Gonzales to fill John Ashcroft’s dance-less shoes as Attorney General. Gonzales is commonly known as The Torture Guy, the lawyer who called the Geneva Conventions “quaint”, cooked up excuses for the US to get away with torturing prisoners, and designed the unconstitutional military tribunal system for Gitmo. Read a Gonzales-penned torture memo here where he makes up as many excuses possible to allow Bush to torture people as he sees fit.

Aside from his horrid behavior on the issue of torture (how can we live in a country where torture is an issue?!?!?), there are plenty of other reasons why this man should never be confirmed, though he most certainly will.

Gonzalez has never tried a case ever – either civil or criminal – but that didn’t stop Bush from appointing him to the Texas Supreme Court after he spent 13 years at Enron’s law firm in Texas.

Gonzalez has never published anything in a legal journal ever.

Gonzalez is the lawyer that kept Cheney’s Energy Task Force secret.

Gonzalez has headed up the judicial selection committee for Bush, and is responsible for the neanderthals that Bush has appointed to federal judgeships.

Despite all of these reasons, Gonzalez will most likely get confirmed rather easily. But I hope he will at least be questioned about these issues by the Senate Democrats. This may very well be our first fight in Congress. We should start getting aggressive now. No reason to wait, we've nothing to lose.

Mission accomplished?...

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday. You would think that it would be a moment of celebration for Americans everywhere that this crazy nutcase Jesus-freak won't be rounding up your Grandmother anymore for questioning. But Ashcroft was never all that effective at getting his terribly xenophobic (not to mention misogynistic) agenda accomplished. Partly becasue he was a lightning rod for liberal ire and everyone was watching, partly becasue he's incompetent. Now they might actually get someone in this position who is effective at ignoring the Constiitution and stripping all non-evengelical people of their civil liberties.

According to the AP wire story, here's why Ashcroft decided to leave:

'The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,' Ashcroft wrote in a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush.

Have these guys learned nothing from the predsident's dress-up play-date with the Air Force? Talk about emboldening the enemy!

One week ago Cheney was telling people that we were all going to die in a brilliant nuclear explosion and now there is no crime or terrorism or nightmares or unhapiness anywhere in America. What dfference an election makes!

Next they'll be taking pre-emptive action against Krypton...

In these difficult times, when the stress and depression begin to set in, my favorite distraction to ward off the real-world is to curl up with nice comic book.

Ah, Superman! Your patriotism is never questioned and your inter-species marriage to Lois Lane was in no way preceded by the legitimizing of gay unions.

And Wonder Woman! Your position as Ambassador to the United Nations for your native island of Themyscria, home of the mythic Amazons, is seen as a respectable asset and testament to your multi-lateral approach to world peace!

And of course, Batman! Your seemingly obsessive habit of conscripting underage boys and girls into your army of justice as your sidekicks...

Well that's honestly a little weird. But your stance on gun control and respect for life! That's admirable.

These are the characters I visit when the prospect of an endless war on terrorists of our own narrow-minded creation threaten to consume me. But now, even that has been infiltrated by neo-cons!

Marvel Comics' is working on a comic called Combat Zone: True Tales from GI's in Iraq. I find nothing offensive about the comic from its title. In fact, it strikes me as something that can be very powerful if done correctly. Comics are a versatile medium and I applaud the attempt at branching out in new directions for the medium. It doesn't sound like my cup of tea exactly, but I get plenty of war stories from the front page of the paper each day.

However, it was recently reported that this book has been in production at Marvel for a while, because a number of artists have been approached, started on the book, and then left when it's true nature was revealed. A number of Marvel's previous titles involving war and terrorism have tried to explore issues from different perspectives, according to many sources this is not the case here. America is the One True Hope, all who oppose her or disagree with her current thinking are evil scum, and the world would be better off without them. And thank the Lord we have these plucky brave soldiers to do her bidding.

Why is this comic book becoming some sort of one-sided, lying drivel? Could have to do with Karl Zinsmeister, credited as the "embedded correspondent" writing the book?

Zinsmeister is editor-in-chief of the American Enterprise Magazine, the in-house magazine of "The American Enterprise Institute" (AEI). The AEI is a neo-conservative think tank, with strong ties to the oil industry and the White House, and one of the most important architects of President Bush's current foreign policy. Famous members include Richard Perle, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, ExxonMobile's CEO Lee Raymond and the Vice-President's wife Lynne Cheney.

Also, the AEI gave office space to the "Project for a New American Century," an even more conservative think tank with Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz on it's roster. Who better to write a touching, poignant and truthful version of the current state of affairs in Iraq than someone who works for the guys who planned it?

These neo-con freaks are everywhere these days. Stay out of my funny books!