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Not The Devil's Do

Thursday, Nov. 01, 2007 3:54 AM


It wouldn't have been Halloween without a stern warning from Pat Robertson, who warned Christians that celebrating Halloween is a 'mistake' and 'wrong,' calling it 'a festival of the Devil.'

Ol' Pat better call President Bush and remind him his immortal soul is in jeopardy, as Mrs. Beasley and the other White House pets donned costumes for a photo.

I'd be far more concerned about the 'sexy' trend in costumes being marketed to underage girls. (Yes, Virginia, under 18 is underage.)


Salon's Glenn Greenwald received several e-mails from one Colonel Steven Boylan, taking him to task for his criticsm of the war and the Bush Administration.

Boylan is the top aide to General David Petraeus.

The Colonel now denies that he sent the e-mails, but has apparently engaged several commenters in a similar manner. Glenn asks the very sensible question that if the e-mails are coming from someone who is not Colonel Boylan, why is the Dept. of Defense not investigating multiple incidents of what amounts to identity theft? And if the letters are coming from Boylan, how is it that a top military aide has enough time to criticize bloggers and engage in debates with random commenters?

Isn't there a war to fight?


After all, that's what the State Department is telling its foreign service officers.

It seems postings at the lavish new American Embassy in Iraq aren't exactly on employees' wish lists.

The State Department is telling them they have to go where they are needed, and that they will force appointments if no one volunteers.


And Another One Bites The Dust: former Bush Campaign Spokeswoman, White House Counselor, and - most recently - championing America's public diplomacy abroad, has resigned.

Hughes' inaugural trip to the Middle East was a veritable train wreck, wherein she demonstrated that she had little to no understanding of key issues among the people she visited.


Amid the fuss over Iraq's Mosul Dam as a disaster waiting to happen is a small detail.

The report identifying the dam's structural failings was issued in December of 2006.

But somehow, that detail never made it into General Petraeus' glowing testimony about Iraq as a new model of peace and prosperity.

And while some consider word of the dam's plight an invitation to al-Qaeda and other insurgent troublemakers, blowing the dam would cause more harm to the Iraqi people than American forces, and thus is not likely to be a target.

On the other hand, I wonder how many contractors are lining up to build a new dam ...


So, I'm curious. How is it that having hundreds of officers working overtime to patrol the 'closed' Castro District in San Francisco an improvement over having hundreds of officers working overtime to patrol an 'open' Castro District full of costumed revelers?

Did we save money somewhere?

It should be noted that other locations, including New York's Greenwich Village, held their festivities without fuss.



The Ministry has received 1 comment(s) on this topic.



Brin - 2007-11-01 12:12:43
No, probably no money was saved. The difference is that THIS year, nine people trapped in the middle of crowds and unable to receive medical attention until the paramedics got to them did not get shot, and nobody wandered down the street wielding a working, switched-on chainsaw. :-)