07/11/2002

Lucid Intervals

Schizophrenia is a disease characterized by visual and auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. It frequently manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood. People who suffer from schizophrenia live in a world where some of what they perceive is real and some is illusion, but they cannot differentiate between the two.

Researchers have announced the tentative identification of genes that may be linked to schizophrenia. That’s good news, but it’s gotten me thinking. What would life be like if I had developed schizophrenia 20 years ago, just as I was graduating from college? What cruel delusions would I hear the voices in my head whispering?
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By floegel | Posted in Catholicism, Civil Liberty, Commentary, Iraq Invasion, September 11th | Comments (0)
07/04/2002

Turning a Blind Eye

Happy birthday, America. You’re two hundred and twenty-six today. We’re throwing ourselves a party and if no other nations attend, that’s OK too. We don’t really like them anyway.

The International Criminal Court was born Monday and the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, was on hand to slap the baby. It seems the International Criminal Court, or ICC, would exert jurisdiction over soldiers taking part in international peacekeeping missions, like the one in Bosnia. No way, said Mr. Negroponte, no way will any court full of foreigners ever presume to sit in judgement of American soldiers. If the ICC wants to police peacekeepers in Bosnia, then the U.S. will pull the G.I. Joes and Janes out of the mission.
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By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)
06/27/2002

Evolving Decency

George Bush is again clamoring for the ouster of a democratically elected leader; the financial world is crumbling under reports of widespread corruption, but there is some good news. In the last week, the Supreme Court ruled states may not execute the mentally retarded and that juries, not judges, shall decide whether to apply the death penalty.

In the case regarding the execution of retarded prisoners, the majority opinion cited “evolving standards of decency.” That’s good news, the notion that we are evolving toward a more decent society.
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By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)
06/20/2002

Q and A

President Bush announced this week that the U.S. military has been authorized to make pre-emptive strikes against nations or groups believed to be harboring weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush said while U.S. forces cannot assassinate a foreign head of state, soldiers may kill a head of state if they are acting in self-defense.

We here at WebActive know concerned citizens have questions about this policy and we want to help answer them.

Q: What countries are harboring weapons of mass destruction?

A: England, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and, of course, the United States are all known to have nuclear weapons.

Q: So which country will we attack?

A: Iraq. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Saddam Hussein is stockpiling chemical, biological and nuclear arms.
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By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)
06/13/2002

The Man Without a Country

The announcement this week of the arrest of Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir, brings the number of American-born Taliban to three that we know of. The latest addition to the list was born in Brooklyn, raised in Chicago and has a history of violent crime dating back 15 years.

Mr. al-Muhajir was arrested last month in Chicago, as his flight arrived from Europe. Federal authorities say he was trained by Al Qaeda and was planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S. Held as a material witness for a month, Mr. al-Muhajir has now been transferred to a Navy prison in South Carolina, where he will be considered an enemy combatant and held for trial by a military tribunal.
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By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)
06/06/2002

American Taliban

Can John Walker Lindh get a fair trial? Should we care if he doesn’t? Known in the media as the “American Taliban,” Mr. Lindh left his Islamic studies in Pakistan last year to join the Taliban in Afghanistan. He stayed with them after the events of September 11th and was captured by Northern Alliance troops. He is now imprisoned in Virginia and faces a variety of federal charges, some of which carry a life sentence.

Convicting John Lindh won’t be a slam-dunk. Yes, he was a gun-toting Taliban, but that’s not against the law. Stories emerging from the trial preparation indicate Mr. Lindh may not have taken hostile action against American soldiers. He may have shot at – or even killed – soldiers with the Northern Alliance, but there is no formal treaty between American and Northern Alliance forces, nor was there a formal declaration of war by the United States against the Taliban government. Mr. Lindh was present at Mazar-i- Sharif when prisoners rebelled and a CIA officer was killed, but testimony from those present seems to indicate Mr. Lindh was not a participant in the uprising.
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By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, September 11th | Comments (0)
05/30/2002

The Ugly American

The president has been traveling in Europe. Now that the U.S. is the world’s only superpower, the White House road show gives us an idea of what it must have been like when a Roman emperor went on a tour of tributary states. It hasn’t been pretty.

In Berlin, 10,000 protesters took to the asphalt to shout about America’s military unilateralism, environmental hooliganism and free trade obsession. They were met by the largest security force assembled in Germany since the man with the funny moustache was in charge. The people were kept a half-mile from the motorcade; administration spin doctors were gagging at the thought of any European below the rank of foreign minister having access to George W. Inside the Reichstag, Mr. Bush railed against Saddam Hussein as “a dictator who gassed his own people.” German legislators cleared their throats and looked away, the description too close for comfort. As a German-American, I’ll go on record saying the horror of the Nazi regime must never be forgotten, but I have no obligation to be diplomatic.
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By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)