Month: February 2007

Juror Out in Libby Trial But Deliberations to Continue

Jon Ponder

Reuters:

One juror in the perjury trial of former vice presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby was dismissed on Monday after she told the judge she had been exposed to information about the case outside of court.

Judge Reggie Walton said the jury would continue to deliberate with 11 members.

“It’s imperative that you not have any contact with any information regarding this case from any source outside this courtroom,” Walton told the 11 remaining jurors.

Had an alternate been called to replace the dismissed juror, the jury would have had to begin its deliberations anew. The jury, which consisted of eight women and four men, has been deliberating since last Wednesday.

‘Titanic’ Director’s New Film Claims to Have Found Coffins of Jesus, His Wife and Son

Jon Ponder

At a news conference today, filmmakers will announce the release of a new documentary “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” which claims to have found ossuaries belonging to Jesus, his wife, Mary Magdalene; their son, his mother and other family members:

Scientific analysis of limestone ossuaries (bone boxes) and physical evidence found in a 2,000-year- old tomb in Talpiot, Jerusalem, provide credible new information that the tomb once may have held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family. [The documentary] from executive producer James Cameron [who won an Oscar for “Titanic”] and director Simcha Jacobovici, exclusively reveals what might be the greatest archaeological find in history.

The film presents the latest evidence from world-renowned experts in Aramaic script, ancient DNA analysis, forensics, archaeology and statistics. Among the major discoveries chronicled in the program is new evidence that Jesus and Mary Magdalene, also known as “Mariamene e Mara,” may have had a son named Judah.

This could be a major breakthrough in our understanding of the origins of Christianity, but what may prove to be even more interesting and instructive is seeing how the Christian establishment reacts to this revelation.

Over the past two millenia Christian belief has been structured to remain isolated and unaffected by scientific fact, so even if this new finding were to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, hardcore Christians would find a way to reconcile it with their faith-based view of the world — as they have done with intelligent design as an alternative to evolution theory and the pray-away-the-gay movement as an alternative to psychology (and, what the heck, human nature).

This is understandable because without the fantastical embellishments that were added a generation or two after Jesus’ life by the writers of the Gospels — that his mother was a virgin impregnated by God and, especially, that he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven — the church would lose its mystical sway over its followers.

Actions Show U.S. Doesn’t Believe Its Iran Lies Either

Trish

Think about it: if the United States really believed Iran had nuclear defense capability, would we be so belligerent and overbearing toward it? Or, as with North Korea, would we call upon others to help us take the diplomatic route? Our behavior tells me we’re lying.

A story in the L.A. Times reports that with regard to Iran, everyone else thinks we’re lying too.

IAEA officials remain suspicious of the information in part because most of the papers are in English rather than Persian, the Iranian language

“Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that’s come to us has proved to be wrong,” a senior diplomat at the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] said. Another official here described the agency’s intelligence stream as “very cold now” because “so little panned out.”

…American officials privately acknowledge that much of their evidence on Iran’s nuclear plans and programs remains ambiguous, fragmented and difficult to prove.

The IAEA has its own concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, although agency officials say they have found no proof that nuclear material has been diverted to a weapons program.

Another way of stating that last sentence is, “The objective international agency that has been investigating Iran for five years has never found a single thing to indicate the country is building nukes.”

On the other hand, there’s plenty of evidence the United States is making crap up again.

Diplomats here were less convinced by documents recovered by U.S. intelligence from a laptop computer apparently stolen from Iran. American analysts first briefed senior IAEA officials on the contents of the hard drive at the U.S. mission here in mid-2005.

The documents included detailed designs to upgrade ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads, drawings for subterranean testing of high explosives, and two pages describing research on uranium tetrafluoride, known as “green salt,” which is used during uranium enrichment. IAEA officials remain suspicious of the information in part because most of the papers are in English rather than Persian, the Iranian language.

Oh please! They were written in English? Does that not have the mark of Rover and Dirty Dick all over it?

Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, dismissed the laptop documents as “fabricated information.” Iran, he said, has produced 170 tons of “green salt” at a uranium conversion facility in Esfahan that is monitored by the IAEA.

“We are not hiding it,” he said in an interview. “We make tons of it. These documents are all nonsense.”

All anyone can prove the Iranians guilty of is the same thing Hussein actually did — scoffing at inspectors and resisting cooperation with what they view as coercion. And while I wish no one had nuclear weapons — including us, Russia, China, Israel, and North Korea — I can’t follow our reasoning about who can and who can’t.

Where is this all going, anyway? The countries that do not today have nuclear weapons can easily have them tomorrow. The only way we’ll ever be safe is if we focus on moving the world away from conflict, not on stacking the deck so we can always win the wars we keep starting. That strategy hasn’t worked in Iraq or Afghanistan and it’s doubtful it will work in Iran. It’s time to try something else.

Times of London: U.S. Military Leaders Threaten to Resign if Bush Attacks Iran

Jon Ponder

Finally, a glimmer of hope for our country:

Some of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.

Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.

“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”

Unfortunately, these military officers are now marked men.

Preacher Arrested for Gay Sex Invitation Claims No Law Was Broken

Jon Ponder

Early last year, Rev. Lonnie Latham, a Baptist preacher who railed against the evils of homosexuality, was arrested for inviting a male undercover cop in a seedy part of Oklahoma City up to his motel room for oral sex. Latham’s trial is underway now, and his lawyer’s opening gambit is interesting in light of the fact that many of Latham’s co-religionists would make homosexuality illegal if they could:

Latham’s attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.

“Now, my client’s being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that’s legal,” Martin said.

Both sides agree that there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a “legitimate governmental interest” in regulating offers of acts of lewdness.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief alleging that Latham’s arrest also violated his right to free speech.

Before his arrest on January 3, 2006, Rev. Latham was a member of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and preached against civil marriage rights for gays and supported a resolution calling on gays and lesbians to reject their “sinful, destructive lifestyle.”

But Rev. Latham is not on trial for hypocrisy, unfortunately, or for sleazy and stupid behavior. He’s on trial for offering legal sex to a stranger, who happened to be a cop.

If he’d made the same offer on the Internet or in a bar, rather than on a street corner, he would have gotten what he wanted without having to give up his pulpit — or his hypocrisy.

Poll: Most Americans Drastically Undercount Iraqi Civilian War Deaths

Jon Ponder

Propaganda works:

The number of Iraqis killed, however, is much harder to pin down, and that uncertainty is perhaps reflected in Americans’ tendency to lowball the Iraqi death toll by tens of thousands.

Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000 and could be much higher; some unofficial estimates range into the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.

Among those polled for the AP survey, however, the median estimate of Iraqi deaths was 9,890. The median is the point at which half the estimates were higher and half lower…

Whatever their understanding of the respective death tolls, three-quarters of those polled said the numbers of both Americans and Iraqis who have been killed are “unacceptable.” Two-thirds said they tend to feel upset when a soldier dies, while the rest say such deaths are unfortunate but part of what war is about.

Last October, a team of U.S. and Iraqi epidemiologists using a standard sampling method estimated that the number of Iraqi civilians who have died was 655,000.

Cheney Digs His Hole Deeper; Carter Hands Him Shovel

Trish

If he said it once, he’ll say it again. And he did. Dick Cheney wants us to know he really meant it when he said Nancy Pelosi and the members of the House who voted to dial down on Iraq are on the side of al Qaeda.

Carter says Dick is no better at assessing foreign affairs than he is at recognizing quail

“My statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, is that we will validate the strategy of al Qaeda,” Cheney said. “I said it, and I meant it.”

By “the Pelosi policy,” Dirty D must mean anything that involves transitioning from military to political solutions in Iraq. Or Iran, for that matter.

But former president Jimmy Carter says Dick hasn’t been right yet. In an interview to be aired on ABC’s This Week, Carter says Dick is no better at assessing foreign affairs than he is at recognizing quail.

“If you go back and see what Vice President Cheney has said for the last three or four years concerning Iraq, his batting average is abysmally low. He hasn’t been right on hardly anything, in his prediction of what was going to happen; reasons for us going over there; the status of the situation to have a good result. So he’s been almost completely wrong on just about everything he’s said.

“And obviously, this is not playing into the hands of Al Qaida or the people who are causing violence and destruction over there, to call for a change in policy in Iraq.”