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“It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003,” Gingrich said during an informal question-and-answer session at the school, according to the newspaper. “We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it.”

–Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House

Steven Staley was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1991. A few days before his execution in February, he was granted a stay because he was found to be incompetent, a paranoid schizophrenic. Today, the judge has ordered that he be forced to take his medication so he can be legally put to death.

Doesn’t the fact he chooses to not take medication in order to avoid being executed mean that he’s sane?

Wouldn’t killing him also prevent him from taking his meds?

Surely he has to be prescribed the drugs he’s taking by a medical professional. Would any medical professional prescribing drugs to him, not be breaching their ethical guidlines not to cause harm, since the inevitable result of him taking said madication would be his death?

If he had cancer, would he be treated, cured and then fried?

What a mess…

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Let’s look at a remarkable set of U.S. maps. Using 2000 Census information on a county-by-county basis, the maps focus on various aspects of religion. Each section of this post will look at a particular map.

via

Imagine Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the USA, standing next to one of the world’s most brutal and notorious dictators, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. Sounds like news, right?

Wrong.

All that was reported on the news were her statements condemming Iran for enriching uranium.

Here is the transcript.

Good morning. Welcome. I’m very pleased to welcome the President of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang. We will have a full set of discussions about our bilateral relationship, about some innovative social programs that USAID is involved with and about the range of regional issues that we both confront. So thank you very much for your presence here. You are a good friend and we welcome you.

What about “Freedom” and “Democracy”. Wasn’t that what the Bush administration was aiming for? What happened? Why is an African dictator a “good friend”?

Oil.

No, it’s really that simple. Hardly anyone really cared about Equatorial Guinea until a few years ago. It’s not attractive in any way, near the equator, so not much tourism and no resources. Until recently.

Huge oil reserves were found in 1996. The third largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. So much oil for such a small country that Equatorial Guinea is now one of the richest countries in the world with a pro capita income somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 which depends on whether you believe the IMF or the CIA World Factbook. According to the latter the GDP per capita for the US is $42,000. Which begs the question: why is Condi sending USAID to a country that is richer than the United States?

Well, somehow the trickle down effect doesn’t work that well in Equatorial Guinea either. It just all stays in the family, the Obiang family. Most people are dirtpoor.

And how does the mainstream US press talk about all of this?

News accounts of Madam Secretary and the Dictator looks something like this:

“This is not a question of Iran’s right to civil nuclear power,” she while greeting President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Moasogo of Equatorial Guinea. “This is a question of, … the world does not believe that Iran should have the capability and the technology that could lead to a nuclear weapon.”

AP report on washingtonpost.com

And what about this “You are a good friend and we welcome you” bit?

Well, that’s simple as well – follow the oil money:

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Equatorial Guinea’s oil riches are finding their way to K Street as President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and the government he controls try to polish a tarnished image in Washington with a million-dollar-plus public-relations, legal and lobbying campaign.

The tiny West African nation opened its burgeoning wallet to K Street after a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee report alleged Obiang and his family were getting huge financial windfalls from American oil companies that were given access to recently discovered oil and gas reserves.

The findings were part of a report on D.C.-based Riggs Bank, which held accounts from Equatorial Guinea in excess of $700 million, making the country the bank’s biggest account holder.

All-Republican Barbour Griffith and Rogers, hired through Farragut Advisors, a New York-based public-relations firm, is being paid $37,500 a month for its help, while Cassidy & Associates is being paid an eye-popping $120,000 a month, or $1.44 million a year, for lobbying and PR, according to foreign-agent reports.

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The final minutes of audio from the cockpit voice recorder of Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, was played for a jury by federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui.