Actions at Guantanamo “tantamount to torture,” says Red Cross – I’m shocked! Shocked! Except I’m not shocked. I don’t really understand how Bush can continue to get away with such flagrant violations of national and international law with no consequences, no heads rolling, and, well, frankly, re-election. Seems to imply that 51% or so of the American people condone torture. Not exactly the message we want to be sending to the world? Eh, what do we care about the world! Not like we’re a part of it!

The day I almost led the Iraqi army – This one has been making the rounds and its just so sad. I’ve tried to stop thinking too hard about the Iraq war or blogging about America’s massive failures there, incredible screw-ups that Americans are unaware of and officials refuse to acknowledge. Not sure how much more I’ll have to say on the sad disaster of Iraq in the near future, but I will pass on this, a fairly powerful article. Please read it.

According to an article on NewsMax, the latest Massive Appropriations Bill(tm) to pass Congress includes $20m for mental health screening programs in elementary schools, which some groups believe is paving the way for mandatory testing and screening through a federal program.

Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state as mental illness. It now seems our own federal government wants to create a therapeutic nanny state, beginning with schoolchildren. It’s not hard to imagine a time 20 or 30 years from now when government psychiatrists stigmatize children whose religious, social, or political values do not comport with those of the politically correct, secular state.

First I’ve heard of this…is it real? Is the end result hypothesized here really what the people pushing the bill (who are they?) have in mind? Haven’t seen any mention of the program at all before now.