Soldier questions Obama's eligibility as president and commander and chief

This guy should be court-martialed for mutiny as of fucking yesterday. This is so against the UCMJ on a whole number of levels not to mention totally offensive. Its one thing to disagree politically, it's a whole other to reject your commander-in-chief out of hand. It is easily mutiny and possibly could be qualified as an attempted coup. Not to mention breaking a whole pile of laws regarding conduct of an officer.

This shit makes me so mad - nothing to do with my opinions of Obama, mind you. It's this guys conduct. Seeing people who are supposedly so patriotic and 'doing their duty' completely break ranks and violate every standard of conduct they are supposedly trying to uphold. It's disgusting and this guy should be thrown in the brig.

Just in case you guys are unfamiliar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, this gentleman is in clear violation of Article 88:

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

He's also most likely in violation of Article 94 (Mutiny and sedition), Article 133 (Conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman), AND Article 134 (Disloyal statements). And for the record, I am not an expert in the UCMJ (although I did study it quite a bit in school while working towards a minor in law), and I am NOT at present a member of the military and as such can spout my opinion all over the damn place.

I'd like to hear what you guys think (even if you disagree with me) because the subject of whether this guy's argument is legit or not is interesting, but how do you feel about the conduct of officers in the political arena?

What I've Got Going On

Ain't much, to tell y'all the truth. I'm still working at the bookstore, which is, well, retail. You know how that is. For the economy being crap, I will tell you guys this - people are still buying things. Don't freak out too bad. Panic is the worst thing you can do in rough times. The thing to do is take a calm look at where you're at, establish what you have and what you don't, where you can stretch and where you can cut down to the bare essentials. Time to bust out those survival skills and keep a level head!

Speaking of level heads, i'm currently in the 'hurry up and wait' phase of the OCS application process. I'm still waiting on my medical clearance, which will hopefully be taken care of soon. Military-types will nod knowingly when I say these things take an ass-load of time.

Creatively, i'm really busy. After waiting almost an entire month for a purchase from Four Ladies Needle Art (who did not return any emails or answer any calls, and believe me I tried. ), I've got the yarn to finish my Febuary Lady Sweater. I had hoped to finish it during february, but lets be honest, it won't get done this week. So i'm back to working on it, and it'll be done by the time I won't need it anymore. I have a pair of socks for opening day which are up to the heel gusset, a pair of Monkey Socks which are almost done but boring me, a cute beret (my 'quick and easy' pattern), and of course, my brother's Charlie Brown Sweater (the back is finished, the sleeves are next). I mentioned I was knitting much, yes?

how y'all doin?

oh yeah you betcha

Happy New Year.

Things are moving along at a snails pace; stories trickle in from the academy and you hear from folks every so often, but the reality has hit that im really truly out of the loop now - one of those alumni who ask how things are going down at camp keema and trying to figure out how the new things fit with the memories in my head. Things change, life goes on, and its constant.

On the Coast Guard front, my packet is in, i'm now waiting on the interview - and then the real wait happens. And then, the frantic preperations. I cant wait - i've feel like a caterpillar thats been in a coccoon, like i've been in stasis, and i can feel my butterfly wings itching to come out.

Obama took off running since the inauguration a week ago. He's a whirlwind get-it-done machine and I feel like he's done more in a week than Bush did in 8 years. I dont know whether the changes will be good or bad, but the changes are here and more are coming and I cant wait.

On the knitting front, projects are coming along. I finished a Ravenclaw Fair Isle bag which is lovely but still needs to be lined, and am working on my brothers Charlie Brown Sweater, a pair of socks, and a fish hat. I am a busy girl.

Work sucks. Go read James Powlik.

Holy crap, academia. We were blessed today by the presence of Dr. Heather Smith of the University of Northern British Columbia. She gave a talk - to a full Peachman Hall - on "Canada, the US and Climate Change: A Perspective from the Northern Neighbour." She was delightful - funny, informative, and thought provoking. She took our questions well, and although the northwest passage isn't her expertise, she answered our questions damned well. Her lectures very much reminded me of Dr Nincic's - real lectures with real information and not the droning snoozefests i've become accustomed to during her sabbatical. Definitely gave me a moral boost!

We're a small university, so we dont get much by way of speakers or guest lecturers, and we definitely dont generate much interest - nobody wants to speak here and fewer people attend guest lectures, but this one turned out fabulously.

In other news, I actually read the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus email (i get the digest and i usually skip through it) this afternoon and imagine my surprise to read the following:

FATWA IN TRIBAL PAKISTAN DECLARES TALIBAN “OUT OF ISLAM”

A new fatwa (religious ruling) issued in the Pashtun Darra Adam Khel region of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province declares the Taliban to be “out of Islam” as a result of their violence, failure to follow Islamic teachings and takfiri ideology (the latter referring to the Salafist-jihadi practice of declaring fellow Muslims “infidels” if they oppose jihadist dogma). According to the fatwa’s author, Mufti Zainul Abidin, “The Taleban leaders consider themselves and their directives as superior to true Islamic principles and directives as ordained by Almighty Allah” (The Nation [Islamabad], March 23). The Mufti invites other members of the ulama (scholars of Shari’a law) to denounce the “inhuman and immoral” acts of the Taliban.

The fatwa singled out the pronouncements of Mufti Khalid Shah, a Taliban religious leader of dubious credentials who has attacked established Islamic scholars in a series of Taliban-issued CDs. Khalid Shah issued a statement in December 2006 urging attacks on local NGOs “promoting the agenda of the Jews and Christians” (Dawn [Karachi], December 23, 2006). This was followed by an Urdu language fatwa pasted at night on the walls of Darra Adam Khel declaring a jihad against the Pakistan government (Daily Times [Lahore], May 3, 2007). Darra Adam Khel is notorious for its thriving arms bazaar and was the scene of heavy fighting between Taliban militants and the Pakistan military earlier this year (see Terrorism Focus, February 13).

Islamic scholars in the region have been reluctant to oppose the Taliban publicly since the still unsolved assassination of Maulana Hassan Jan in 2007 after he declared the practice of suicide-bombing “un-Islamic” (The News [Karachi], September 16, 2007; PakTribune, September 15, 2007).

Something to nosh on over dinner, you guys. Take a think on it.

Bhutto, Pakistan, and what the problem is

On the Road: Pakistan
- Peter Bergen, CNN Terrorism Analyst

We are at JFK airport on the way to Pakistan to report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto who I first met in 1989 when she was Prime Minister. I was then a young associate producer for ABC News 20/20 and we interviewed her for a story on the legal status of women in Pakistan. She was beautiful and intelligent and had the air of someone who is rarely contradicted.

I met her again a decade later in 1999, first for tea at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington and then at the suburban house of one of her supporters in New Jersey. Then she was very much out in the political wilderness; two years into a self-imposed exile and bedeviled by corruption charges. Many felt her political career was over. I had the sense that official Washington was treating her as something of a pariah.

One story she told me then is relevant to what happened today in Pakistan: She said that a young Saudi militant named Osama bin Laden had bribed some politicians to vote against her in a no-confidence vote in Pakistan's Parliament in 1989. Al Qaeda has long despised the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country.

And then I met Bhutto for the final time at a dinner at the Mayflower hotel in Washington a couple of weeks before she returned to Pakistan in October of this year. She was in great spirits, enormously charming and dominated the conversation because of her intellect and infectious brio. I spoke with Asif, her husband, who agreed with me when I suggested that the imminent return to Pakistan of his wife was a moment of great triumph for her and her family. Asif agreed but he also warned, "You know there are also dangers in returning. We have agreed that I will remain out the country in case anything goes wrong." Today something went terribly wrong.

As we are about to get on our flight I can't help but think that we will arrive in a Pakistan made terribly somber by this tragedy, for this is Pakistan's Kennedy assassination.

My buddy Rick had this to say, and I couldn't agree more.

Americans have this overwhelming tendency to cling to ignorance, as if they believe it's somehow safer. So many still believe that Osama bin Laden, radical Islam, and terrorism in general swooped out of the sky one day in 2001 and attacked America because they hate our freedoms.

On a world scale, these machinations have been in place for many years. It baffles me how so many Americans can continue wearing blinders. Reductionism, willful ignorance, and a national arrogance rivaled only by that of Manifest Destiny are certainly not helping us to be productive players on the world stage. We attack the symptoms, but not the cause, refuse to hold any accountability for the actions we take that will surely someday result in catastrophic blowback, and profess total amnesia when forced to pay the piper his due at the cost of thousands of lives, whether they be in collapsing buildings, exploding trains, or tragic assassinations.

And to suggest that all if this is not part of a wider issue that is older than many believe - certainly older than I am - is dementia.

He's got a damn good point. Americans have an alarming tendency to ignore world events - if it isn't directly and obviously affecting them, they simply don't give a shit. I spent yesterday morning glued to every damn news source I could think of, and a friend of mine, when I told her what was going on, asked why I cared. Excuse me? Not only is this my job and, if i'm frank, something I actually care about and am passionate about, but this is a major world event with serious serious implications for not only Pakistan and US-Pakistani relations, but for US Foreign Policy and I don't think i'm venturing too far out of my own gate when I remember that we are fighting a so-called war against terrorism, and this may just have an impact on it.

"What do you care?" she asked me, "you don't live in Pakistan. So what?"

This is the problem people. This is the problem.

Sheehan retires...

And nobody gives a shit.

Honestly, the minute her face was everywhere and she became "the face of the anti-war movement" I was wanting the woman to back down. I respect her opinions and her resolve - I'm very much opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - but the lady bugs me. I wasn't aware anyone was actually still listening to her, because, honestly, you can only scream so often until people get used to the sound and start ignoring it. Maybe the fact that nobody listens to her anymore has something to do with it?

She's left Crawford, Texas and is now, I believe, back in California; and is apparently very disillusioned with the anti-war and peace movement, and honestly I can't blame her. I'm burnt out on the liberals too. It's why I don't do much by way of activism these days, and its why I don't follow politics as close. There is no better side. Both the left and the right have a load of self-serving egotistical narccisists at the helm, and there's only so far that that can take you. It's the same shit on both sides - it just so happens that you tend to prefer your own shit to someone elses. Human nature and party politics are so very very messy.

I still believe in the diplomatic process, despite it's failings. I still believe in democracy, I believe in a government that is beholden to it's people, and that looks out for them, protects them, and supports them. I believe in supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it. I believe in supporting the poepl that fight for this country even when you dont support the reasons they are fighting. I believe that a government should be afraid of it's people and not the other way around. I believe that people can change the world- whether that's the world just nearby or the whole thing - and that we have a greater impact than we realize. I believe that we're all in this world together, and that each of us have a responsibility to ourselves and each other to make the world a better place. I believe that ideas and ideals are what inspire us and shape our actions.

And that has nothing to do with who "the face of a movement" is.