The Hall of Fire

The history of this chapter is interesting. When Tolkien first started drafting it, he envisioned Bree as having mostly human inhabitants, mixed with some hobbits, much like the final version. But he quickly abandoned that first draft before it when very far, and wrote a full version of the chapter,...

And God was also with the captain of a flight that crashed with all hands aboard, due to pilot error. The ways of God are simply beyond human understanding.

And that is just the warm-up speech.

Thank God, the fighting appears to be over, at least for now.

Israel pulling out of Gaza; Hamas ceases fire

I hope and pray that with the new administration coming into power in Washington in two days, that the opportunity is taken to push for a comprehensive peace in the Mideast.

I believe God is in good and bad. - Tarak McLain

Out of mouths of babes ... .

Here is the text of Obama speech today at the "We Are One" concert that started the festivities: I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America. And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold...

What I am hoping will have changed is that very specific laws are put into place that make it explicitly clear that the kind of actions taken over the past seven years are illegal, and that anyone that authorized them or carries them out will be prosecuted. Perhaps that is a naive hope, but I think ...

Now it's not loading for me, either, although it did before. So I suspect that it is just down for a short while.

What you and Teremia would consider to be proof that they were war criminals, would not be perceived that way by many others. And I would venture to guess that a very high percentage of Republicans -- even those who were not supporters of Bush towards the end -- would consider such prosecutions to b...

Hmmmm? I wonder why not? Interesting comments by Mr. Bratman, and not far away from your own views, vison.

I don't mean any disrespect, Teremia, but I don't think that is at all the message that would be conveyed. I think the message that would be conveyed is "those evil Democrats conducted a witch-hunt and wrongfully incarcerated people who were patriots and were bravely doing what was necessary to...

Ax, if I could feel confident that it wouldn't just all happen all over again in an administration or two, I'd be more comfortable with what you and Voronwë are advocating. But I can't make myself even begin to believe that will ever happen. People who put power ahead of justice will keep right on ...

Six year old Tarak McLain had a school project to bring in 100 things. Some of classmates brought 100 Cherios, or 100 cotton balls. Tarick brought 100 beliefs. He edited it down to 30 for NPR's "This I Believe." Thirty Things I Believe I believe life is good. I believe God is in everything...

A few political junkies and the people whose problems were the original cause of the Royal Commission being formed, they are about the only people who are going to read the thing. The PM will ask Parliament to take it under advisement and by now so much time has passed that there could even be a ne...

Oh, I don't think they will escape questioning, vison. I think there will be a 9/11 Commission-like bi-partisan body that is charged with getting to the bottom of what happened, and that the ultimate result will be that laws will be put into place to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Here's a brief interview with GdT, in which he reveals that they have four different actors in mind for Bilbo.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/01/17/su ... s-in-mind/

Look, I don't support support torture (I find it rather remarkable that I even need to say that). Not only do I think it is morally wrong and places the U.S. in a bad light, I also think that it is an ineffective means of gaining information. And it may well turn out that prosecutions would be possi...

River, it is very unclear to me that there are any U.S. laws that could be clearly applied to the actions of the Bush administration officials who authorized harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. Such prosecutions would be very tricky, and very political. The actions that were tak...

Voronwë, what deeds would have to be committed, and by whom, for you to think it would be a good idea to prosecute? I would say that when it comes to the actions of high administration officials taken with the asserted justification of protection of the country (as opposed to actions taken purely f...

River wrote:If the Obama Administration does something despicable that's also illegal then yes, they should be liable to face charges for it. This country prides itself on rule of law. When we allow certain people to be above the law, or outside the law, we undermine that.

I ask again - what law?