Who Says This Site is Negative?

Recently, some of the faithful Sauerkraut readers …o.k. one person…has accused this site of being too much about 'gloom and doom'…o.k., actually the person accused me. Needless to say, not all is wrong with the world, but there are a lot of things that are very wrong that don't get as much as attention by the mainstream media as they should. That's the purpose for many of the postings/articles-of-drivel on this site; trying to give other sides of a story. Looking back at previous postings over the first five months of this blog, things have taken on a more negative tone of late, or at a minimum, they aren't as comedic as they once were. That being said, I implore you to read about our fine friends down south. As they say, "getting' lucky in Kentucky".
Somewhere, Laura Ingals and the cast of Little House on the Prairie is smiling.

LONDON, Ky. - A Kentucky judge has been offering some drug and alcohol offenders the option of attending worship services instead of going to jail or rehab — a practice some say violates the separation of church and state. District Judge Michael Caperton, 50, a devout Christian, said his goal is to "help people and their families." "I don't think there's a church-state issue, because it's not mandatory and I say worship services instead of church," he said. Alternative sentencing is popular across the country — ordering vandals to repaint a graffiti-covered wall, for example. But legal experts said they didn't know of any other judges who give the option of attending church. Caperton has offered the option about 50 times to repeat drug and alcohol offenders. It is unclear what effect the sentence has had.

You say "worship service", I say "church". You say "artful punishment", I say "freak".

On another more positive music note, the new Coldplay CD "X&Y" was available for a 24 hour period to preview on-line, and may I say, after one listening, it's tremendous. Coldplay is about to become the new U2 from a popularity standpoint. If you happened to see them at a theater-type of venue on their last tour, be glad. It's not going to happen again for another 10-15 years. And…for the record…if new albums were food stores, the new Coldplay would be New World Market, and the new Oasis would be Aldi's.

FBI Report Says Quron Desecrated; Will White House do to them what they did to Newsweek?

Sooooo. Now that the FBI has come out with allegations of the U.S. military guards desecrating the Quran, will Scott McClellan and the Oval Office big whigs come out and call out the FBI just as they did Newsweek? Will this story make front page headlines just like the Newsweek story did? My guess is, since there are nothing but hypocrites and liars at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the chances of seeing that happen are slim and zero.


FBI Records Cite Quran Abuse Allegations
WASHINGTON - Terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison told U.S. interrogators as early as April 2002, just three months after the first detainees arrived, that military guards abused them and desecrated the Quran, declassified
"Their behavior is bad," one detainee is quoted as saying of his guards during an interrogation by an FBI special agent in July 2002. "About five months ago the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Quran in the toilet."
The statements about guards disrespecting the Quran echo public allegations made many months later by some detainees and their lawyers after prisoners' release from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The once-secret FBI documents show a consistency to the allegations and are the first indication that Justice and Defense department officials were aware in early 2002 that detainees were accusing their guards of mistreating the holy book.
Separately on Wednesday, Amnesty International urged the United States to shut down the prison, calling it "the gulag of our time." White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the human rights group's complaints were "unsupported by the facts" and that allegations of mistreatment were being investigated.
In its annual report, Amnesty accused the United States of failing to live up to its responsibility to set the standard for human rights protections. Rather, the group said the United States has been the biggest disappointment "after evidence came to light that the U.S. administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the U.N. Convention against Torture."
Some 540 men are being held at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of links to Afghanistan's
ousted Taliban government or the al-Qaida terror network. Some have been jailed for more than three years without charge. The Defense Department argues that the detention prevents these enemy combatants from fighting against the United States. Pentagon officials have said recently that the public claims by released detainees were not credible and that the terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay had been trained to make such false claims.
Indeed, the FBI records cite at least one instance in which a detainee is said to have falsely claimed that a guard had dropped a Quran. "In actuality the detainee dropped the Quran and then blamed the guard. Many other detainees reacted to this claim," the FBI document said, and that sparked an uprising "on or about 19-20 July 2002."
In an April 6, 2002, FBI interrogation, one of the detainees said guards had been "pushing them around and throwing their waste bucket at them in the cell, sometimes with waste still in the bucket, and kicking the Quran."
Another detainee stated that he had been beaten unconscious at Guantanamo Bay in the spring of 2002, a period in which U.S. interrogators were pressing hard for intelligence information they believed some of the detainees held on the planning, structure and tactics of
The newly released FBI records do not indicate whether the allegations were investigated or substantiated.
In response to a recent Newsweek story, later retracted, that U.S. officials had confirmed allegations of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay, Pentagon officials have said repeatedly that they have turned up no credible, substantiated claims that U.S. military guards had deliberately treated the Muslim holy book with disrespect.
Pentagon officials had no immediate comment on the new FBI documents, which were made public Wednesday by the ACLU. The ACLU said it received them in response to a federal court order that directed the FBI and other agencies to comply with the organization's request under the Freedom of Information Act.
In many of the interrogations described in the FBI documents, military officers were present. Some were with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations; others were Navy and Army investigations personnel.
Large portions of the interrogation summaries were blacked out by FBI censors before being released to the ACLU.
U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for the Guantanamo Bay detention center, responded to the Newsweek story by beginning a review of written logs searching for corroborated incidents of Quran mishandling. As of Wednesday, officials had not reported finding any.
In January 2003, the military issued a three-page written guideline for handling a detainee's Quran, including a stipulation that it should be handled "as if it were a fragile piece of delicate art," and that it not be placed in "offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet or dirty/wet areas."
ACLU officials said the newly declassified documents provide new evidence that U.S. authorities at Guantanamo Bay were mistreating symbols of the detainees' religious beliefs as a tactic to force them to talk.
"The United States government continues to turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of widespread abuse of detainees held in its custody," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "If we are to truly repair America's standing in the world, the Bush administration must hold accountable high-ranking officials who allow the continuing abuse and torture of detainees."

Anatomy of a PR Nightmare: The Marquette Gold Debacle

by Gene

All of this really started back in 1993, when students and alumni were told by university president Reverend DiUlio that Marquette University was making the decision to break away from their decades old nickname of Warriors. Why? Political correctness of course. The Marquette emblem featured the head of an Indian and apparently, this was insensitive to some tribes. At least, that’s what Rev. DiUlio claimed. Of course, not once had there ever been a protest or picketers lining up at the university proclaiming their hatred of the name “warriors”.

So, instead of simply changing the mascot and “symbol” of the Warriors, the mighty Reverend in his hi-powered will of God decided a change was needed. He asked students to propose new names. Weeks went by and out of nowhere, students were given a vote: Lighting or Golden Eagles. Period. Any write-in votes would be thrown out. Any Warrior votes would be thrown out. When questioned how the university went from over 2,000 suggestions down to 2, the school acted with the hubris that seems to emanate from the steeples of Gesu Church today.

“A board of 25 people narrowed the selections from 15 to 2” we were told. And laughably, students were told that the final selections were based on their creativity and originality…never mind the fact that a team in Marquette’s own athletic conference had the exact same nickname (Southern Mississippi) and the Tampa Bay NHL team also carried the name Lightning.

The rest, they say is history. Which brings us to today’s sorry state of affairs at Marquette.

For 10+ years, alumni and students failed to identify with the Golden Eagle name and chicken-hawk-like mascot; so much so that at last year’s commencement address, key MU alumni pledged $1 million to the school if they would go back to the Warrior name. And so, the great debacle began.

Oh, Marquette claimed to be interested in doing the right thing for the school. They even went so far to give that impression to alumni and students by having them complete surveys that went into specific details about the feelings of Golden Eagles vs. Warriors. And hence lay the problem.
From the get go, this was a Golden Eagle vs. Warrior problem…at least that’s how it was communicated. Every debate centered on either/or. It didn’t talk about “o.k., now what if we were to introduce a third option that nobody knows about”.

In January and February, the school held focus groups with alumni and probed even further about their opinions. Based on the comments and outrage of people who participated in these focus groups, it is clear that they were lead to believe MU was leaning toward dumping the Golden Eagle name and going back to the Warrior name, but not using a human mascot or logo. At no time did the school present to focus groups the name “gold” or another third option. Again, public perception was that it was going to be Golden Eagles or Warriors.

Now here we all sit today. Thousands of alumni and fans throughout the country pissed off beyond all belief with the new Marquette name – the Marquette Gold. Making matters worse today is the school board’s insistence that “that’s that name, period.”

Like most matters with the church today, the decision also screams of hypocrisy. MU President Father Wild claims that the church teachings will not let them use a “discriminatory” name like Warriors, yet this same school turns it’s back to “traditional” catholic teachings by allowing a ROTC program and gay and lesbian groups. So which is it MU? Are you a conservative, church-lead school? Or, do you just pull out those beliefs when the time is right for a copout?

We’ll see about this new name. Protests are planned today on campus by thousands of students and fans. Local Milwaukee radio stations and all newspapers have been lambasting the school and the board for the last 48 hours. And, most importantly, the names of the 38 board members – who voted unanimously in favor of Gold - are available on the MU website (http://www.marquette.edu/about/leadership/trustees/index.shtml). Needless to say, upset fans and locating names of the board members and letting them know via email that they’re boycotting their businesses.

Like most things in life, money talks. The more threats and the more money that gets pulled from the Jesuit’s and the Board’s coffers is the only hope for change. Letting MU know you won’t be donating any longer will also help matters.

As mentioned earlier, it is clear by the comments of the board that their hubris is what lead to this awful decision. MU board member Anne Zizzo said on the news that “this is exactly what we expected, it’s marketing 101” and that “people will eventually love this decision.” That comment could easily be swept under the rug, if it weren’t for the fact she’s the President of Zizzo Group, a PR and communications firm.

I wonder if Ms. Zizzo is aware of one of the six cardinal precepts to change attitudes:

Don’t offend the people you seek to change.