The USA Today

Lots of fun stuff going on today. But first, I'd like to do a little victory dance over something that happened in the Senate...

THE PATRIOT ACT CAN SUCK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know, I DO feel better after that. The Patriot act, which gave the government the ability to bypass the checks and balances used to protect the Bill of Rights, was voted down 52-47 today. It officially expires Dec. 31, so the GOP/executive branch have about 2 weeks to try to muster up the support and votes they need to renew this atrocity.

Problem is, with all the fuss about civil rights and shady, black-ops stuff the executive branch has authorized and been exposed for the last few months, they may find it impossible to do so without even larger backlash.

President Bush stood down on his opposition to the McCain ammendment to ban torture. I love what a tool Attorney General Gonzales is; after attacking the ammendment for months, wanting to see it demolished, he is now behind it, saying(and i paraphrase," We only wanted to make sure that it didn't limit our ability to attain information. Torture is bad." Torture is bad, period, smart guy. Even if you get information from it, it doesnt change the fact that it is unconstitutional. And the information isn't reliable either, as we now know from the invasion of Iraq based on "intelligence" tortured out of a detainee. WMDs, anyone? Didn't think so.

In news of leaders from OTHER nations saying really stupid things, the president of Iran said this a few days ago;

"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," Ahmadinejad said in the speech to thousands of people in the Iranian city of Zahedan, according to a report from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets," he said. "(It) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet."

The myth of the Holocaust? Apparently Iran's definition of myth is "anything that is backed by photo evidence, as well as testimony from thousands of victims and assailants alike, anything accepted as fact by the majority of sane, reasonable people in the world". Just amazing. And then this idiot has the nerve to say he was misunderstood, and that he didnt mean to bring up this issue, Of course he wanted to bring it up, he was just hoping it wouldn't pull up this kind of negative publicity. I'd like to commend the European Union in their firm and swift stance they've taken, even talking about imposing sanctions on Iran. My favorite part of the speach however, was when this moron called for Isreal to be "wiped off the map." Throughout its history, Isreal has proven itself to be the most formidable army, man for man, since the ancient Spartans; That is one country I would NOT want to piss off if I were already being sanctioned by the USA, being threatened with sanctions by all of Europe, and have no realy allies to speak of. Isreal could do the entire world a favor in wiping Iran off the map; their government is one of the most oppressive in the world, a century behind the US in civil rights, and the real ruler wasn't voted into office in the first place. They obviously bear great animosity towards Isreal, and having offended most of the free world, an invasion of Iran could be justified very easily. And if you recall, there was a lot of speculation as to whether the USA would invade Iran after we finished up with Iraq, and with the America being the closest ally of Israel, Iran would be facing off against the most powerful military force since WW2.

Here's a Thought...Don't piss off countries with military forces far superior to yours, especially when their biggest ally is the greatest nation in the history of the world. Also, calling the Holocaust a myth isnt a very good way to gain position in the bilateral nuclear weapons talks currently being conducted by yourself and the people you offended by saying 6 million of their family members were not, in fact, incinerated, gassed, and tortured in such fashion as to make Saddam look like a humanitarian.