don't shoot the pope again

* maha:

"In any event, for years the pundiocracy has snarked that Dem candidates had to move left to get the nomination and then right to win the election. How true that might have been is, IMO, debatable. But now, I think the GOP may have painted itself into the opposite corner. To get the 2008 GOP nomination, a candidate may have to move so far right he’ll drop off the bleeping map. And the GOP base is so fractured, a candidate who makes nice with one faction might well alienate another."

* amy goodman:

"Frederick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist, began life as a slave on Maryland's Eastern Shore. When his owner had trouble with the young, unruly slave, Douglass was sent to Edward Covey, a notorious "slave breaker." Covey's plantation, where physical and psychological torture were standard, was called Mount Misery. Douglass eventually fought back, escaped to the North and went on to change the world. Today Mount Misery is owned by Donald Rumsfeld, the outgoing secretary of defense.

It is ironic that this notorious plantation run by a practiced torturer would now be owned by Rumsfeld, himself accused as the man principally responsible for the U.S. military's program of torture and detention."

* steven in the comments:

"I don't believe this is true. I don't believe most people have anything against Jews just because they are who they are. I think you dislike somebody because they don't treat you well or show you disrespect, and for reasons like that. And you dislike others because the both of you fail to deal with your differences.
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I think there are differences which, when pointed out, should have shown that just taking things from people and killing anyone who objects, is not always going to work."

read the rest.

* guardian:

"The result is that as the papal entourage prepares to arrive first in Ankara on Tuesday, before moving on to Izmir and Istanbul, the Vatican appears to be on the defensive, while Turkey and the Islamic world are suspicious and hostile. The banks of the Bosphorus are plastered with banners declaring: "We don't want the Pope in Turkey." The Turk who tried to assassinate Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, in 1981, has warned from a Turkish prison cell that Benedict's life is in danger. Shots have been fired outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul; a plane was hijacked in a papal protest. Tens of thousands of anti-Pope protesters are expected to converge on an Istanbul field tomorrow.

The potential for trouble is high, the security operation is immense - gunboats on the Bosphorus, snipers galore, decoy popemobiles. The Turkish government insists Benedict is welcome, but at one time was having trouble fielding high-level figures to meet him. Recep Tayyip Erdogan originally had a pressing engagement elsewhere, but last night a government official said Turkey's prime minister was hoping to meet the Pope on his arrival in the country after all."

let's hope they don't shoot the pope again and blame it on the KGB , Saddam, the bulgarians, the kurds