When I was young and stupid, I married the wrong person.

The person I married was not and is not evil, yet she was the wrong person for me. I suffered for that bad decision, but it was purely a personal suffering, a consequence confined to myself and to those who loved me.

Today, I read about the verdict in the trial of Army Pfc. Lynndie England (as she is described in the news) as a result of her actions at Abu Ghraib.

The age she was during the commission of the acts for which she was convicted was roughly the same as I was when I made a poor choice in marriage.

This woman is now 22 years old, which although when I was that age would bristle at the statement I am about to make, is scarcely an age to fully understand the consequences of acts that are apparently endorsed by higher authorities.

In other words, the environment created by the actions (or lack of supervision) of her superior officers is at least as culpable in what occurred at Abu Ghraib as the actions that she herself committed.

Is the punishment that will be meted out to her superiors even potentially as grave as that she will face (a maximum of 10 years in prison), or is it limited to “ruining their careers”?

Somehow, I find the ruination of a career a wee bit less than a multiple-year prison term imposed upon someone who was 21 or less when the crime was perpetrated.

Accountability.

It depends upon how high up the ladder you are.

If you are the Secretary of Defense, you might suffer the indignity of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

For a Private, you get to go to prison.

This is what we have come to.

Fuck Radio Saigon, my “immoderate” weblog, this has to stop NOW, and I don’t care who thinks this is “immoderate” when they cannot step outside their god-damned comfortable thinking-box.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, some thoughts

Don Adams, whose most famous role was Agent 86 in the television series Get Smart, a spoof of the spy genre, has died.

Thanks to Doug Mc. of The Reality Stick for the news and the link.

Technorati Tags: news, popular culture

…others have put up photos of their new world after hurricane Katrina.

As the world presented by the media and weblogs moves on to other more “current”, immediately exciting topics, we need to remember to not forget.

Technorati Tags: hurricane Katrina, recommended reading

One of the many things I find interesting in France (this may true of other countries in Europe, but I have the most experience with France) is the number of large churches and cathedrals in most cities, and even in many of the towns. For example, during my visit to Lyon this past weekend, I saw how there were two large churches (they could reasonably be called cathedrals) within sight of each other.

Here is the best photo I took of them (late in the evening, after dinner):

(click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

The upper church is fairly recent (late 19th century, I believe), built in commemoration of the Virgin Mary saving Lyon from an outbreak of cholera (I need to research the details, sorry for the incomplete story). I have no details on the lower church, other than it is much less ornate inside, but has its own features of interest.

Here is a photo taken inside the lower church, during the afternoon. I have some other images of the interesting light cast through the stained glass windows, but the photos need some serious cleaning up before posting.

(click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

Somehow, though, the very old, 13th century churches of Brugges (an old town in Belgium, once called “the Venice of the North”) hold more fascination for me, even though they are much rougher in appearance both inside and outside.

One of the other very interesting things about Lyon is the passages between buildings in the oldest quarters of town. The crazy-quilt pattern of building in the eras immediately before the Renaissance created a maze not only of streets, but of passageways that led both between streets and to small courtyards between the various buildings. The passageways were used by the Resistance against the Nazis during the occupation of France in the Second World War to avoid capture by the Gestapo. Again, I need to do some more research, but I believe the Gestapo had a major headquarters in Lyon to suppress the Partisans.

Here is a photo of one of the courtyards, showing one of the spiral staircases typical of the architecture of the region. Somewhat poetically they are called escalier escargot, the literal translation is “snail stairs”, with the spiral of the snail shell making reference to the spiral structure you can see in the arches in this photo. I haven’t had time to properly adjust the contrast of this photo yet, and I neglected to put on the polarizing filter before I took the shot, so it is not as nice a picture as I would prefer. It does not do the sight justice.

(again, click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

I’ll try to post more photos later, once I’ve had time to make the images look a bit better.

Technorati Tags: letters from Europe, Lyon, photos, photos of Europe, photos of Lyon

…of all the places I’ve seen this posted.

Personally, I think I’m more on the Libertarian (belief, not party) side, but that’s just me.

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (61% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

There are three kinds of men: the one that learns by reading, the few that learn by observation, and the rest of ‘em that have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
   -Will Rogers

Scriptures, n. The sacred book of our holy religion, as distingushed from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
   -Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Technorati Tags: quotes

Christina, formerly of Feisty Repartee, needs some information about conditions, including availability of gasoline, between Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana. She will be making a trip to DeRidder, Louisiana to move her mother to a location where there is power.

See her post for the details.

Technorati Tags: weblogs, blogs, bloggers