Quote of the Day - Ass. Jail. Mine.

From "Making Light" during a discussion on the release of the torture memos from the Bush/Cheney Administration:

#43 ::: Marna Nightingale ::: (view all by) ::: April 19, 2009, 11:08 PM:

How about a current CIA agent who might be reluctant to perform currently legal interrogation techniques (or anything else required of their jobs)

Well, let us picture that, shall we?

CIA Agent: "I'm not torturing anybody. It'll land my sorry ass in jail."

"Oh, c'mon. The memo says it's not torture. It's "enhanced interrogation".

"Nope. Not doin' it. Ass. Jail. Mine."

"I'm your boss, and I say it's ok."

"So fire me. Ass. Jail."

"The head of the CIA says it's okay!"

"Tell him to come do it then. I'm not torturing anybody."

"The PRESIDENT says it's okay!"

"I don't give a damn. I don't care if GOD comes down and writes it on that hillside in letters of fire ten feet high. Ass. Jail. Mine. Not torturing anybody. I quit."

... Yeah. I'm good with it. I am so damned good with it.

And just to save some time here? If this leads directly to a terrorist attack on my home city which causes my crushed body to be found under a pile of smoking rubble?

I am counting on someone from ML to make sure my gravestone says "she preferred this to condoning torture". Goudy Old Style, please, large type. :-)

Grammar Police

I go slightly mad every time I see a writer refer to "great tenants of design" or plot or whatever. A tenant is a resident, a landowner, a roomer, a lodger... It's TENET, dammit!

*sigh*

Move along... nothing to see here but a foaming-at-the-mouth grammar geek.

All Sheep Must Be Shot On Sight

A frequent topic of my nightmares are the premillennial dispensationalists. These wacky fun folks have their tentacles in far too many high government places, and they scare me. Lots. I'm terrified and appalled that something along the lines of the Left Behind series is not only wildly popular, but taken as fact by something like 29% of the public.

The quote in the title is from The Slactivist's extensive analysis of the Left Behind series. To wit:

They've gotten so caught up in guarding against wolves in sheep's clothing that anything in sheep's clothing is viewed as the enemy. So all sheep must be shot on sight.

Ayup... that's what scares me about these people. That, and the disproportionate political and economical power they wield. They're even scaring other religious people.

I really don't want them bringing about global warfare and disaster just to bring on the End Times they believe are just around the corner. My world too, you wingnuts!

Petty Tyrants With Power

Heaven protect us from petty tyrants with power. I can't think of a worse combination.

Today it took me half an hour to drive 2 miles to work. The shortest, most direct route is down Harrison to Grand River, then to Bogue to the ramp that serves the College of Law and the Broad College of Business, where I'm temping (and direct route pretty much does not equal MSU, where even the lab rats get confused).

Now, in Michigan we have two seasons - Winter and Under Construction. There's not a foot of snow yet, so it must be Under Construction. I understand that, and that adustments must be made and delays tolerated. However... why in the name of all that's unholy would they block off one of the two eastbound lanes of Grand River in East Lansing when that's one of only three ways to get into campus? I could understand it if they were actually working, but the blockage consisted of a truck with an arrow indicating the lane was closed, six blocks of orange cones sequestering the right lane, culminating in another truck and ten guys standing around. Just standing in their yellow vests and hard hats, drinking their coffee and smirking at the rush hour traffic jammed into the sole lane, creeping along.

I don't mind if they're actually working, but dang - they could have waited till after 8 am if they were just going to stand around and look at it! The cynic in me is convinced that they did it just because they could...

For the same reason that 15-minute train delays (two sets of tracks bisect campus, and you can't get anywhere north to south without crossing them) are inevitably at morning and evening rush hours. Ghaaaaa!

I feel better now.