Afghan Women's Rights

One of the things the Bush's touted about their success in Afghanistan was the vastly improved state of the rights of women. It is true that things are better for women.

But, a husband can now legally rape his wife. That's right, its a new law, the Afgani President just signed a law allowing that behavior. It seems that the President signed the law in an attempt to court hyper-religious-crazy Shiite Muslims. Bravo Afghanistan and crazy fundamentalist religion!

U.S.A - Working Hard to Protect Secrets and Corporations

The Department of Justice has asked a U.S. District Court to throw out a case brought by the ACLU against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan for their complicit role in the CIA's extraordinary rendition. The DOJ's request is on the grounds that such a case would expose government secrets and will harm national security.

The ACLU contends that Jeppesen Dataplan should be held liable for the logistical aid it provided for flights carrying kidnapped men from Afghanistan who were then tortured in prison. According to Jeppesen's web site, the company,

...deliver[s] solutions that integrate people, processes and technology to
deliver safety, efficiency and economy to air, sea and rail operators around
the world.

whatever that means.

The DOJ's attempt to have the case thrown out is criticized deftly by the ACLU in their press release,

The whole world knows about the ‘extraordinary rendition’ program and the
government’s invocation of ‘state secrets’ in this case is just another cynical attempt by the administration to cover up an illegal and immoral program.

Historically, the ‘state secrets’ defense has been used to exclude discrete information in cases that may contain sensitive national security content. However, with increasingly regularity, the current administration has invoked the defense as a means of dismissing entire cases seeking accountability for illegal practices and policies it has implemented in the name of national security.

Isn't it convenient that these "state secrets" protect both illegal inhuman treatment and corporate bank accounts!?

Poppies Will Make Her Sleep

So I keep getting insomnia, but aside from that, things are a looking up. I am not as down in the dumps of late, and I am getting excited about the coming change in weather.

I was reading about poppies in Afghanistan this morning, and how the U.S. government is trying to convince the Afghan government to air spray all of the poppy fields with pesticides. The problem is that usually farmers grow their food crops right in with their poppies, so you can imagine how troublesome that might be.

“There has always been a need to balance the obvious greater effectiveness of spray against the potential for losing hearts and minds,” Thomas A. Schweich, the assistant Secretary of State for international narcotics issues, said in an interview last week in Washington. “The question is whether that’s manageable." Yuck.

I found this picture of a poppy oozing heroine sap, and it reminded me of my beets.