This is just another article highlighting and proving the absolute error American's made in electing George W. Bush. So far, he has more qualities of evil than that of what he tries to make us think. Even when listening to NPR the other day, the only good reason it gave for Bush nominating Harriet Miers was that "They Share a common Faith". BS!!! Read below.
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Iraq News Agency) - A delegation of Iraqi judges and journalists abruptly left the U.S. today, cutting short its visit to study the workings of American democracy. A delegation spokesman said the Iraqis were "bewildered" by some of the behavior of the Bush administration and felt it was best to limit their exposure to the U.S. system at this time, when Iraq is taking its first baby steps toward democracy.
Friedman Responds to ReaderThe lead Iraqi delegate, Muhammad Mithaqi, a noted secular Sunni judge who had recently survived an assassination attempt by Islamist radicals, said that he was stunned when he heard President Bush telling Republicans that one reason they should support Harriet Miers for the U.S. Supreme Court was because of "her religion." She is described as a devout evangelical Christian.
Mithaqi said that after two years of being lectured to by U.S. diplomats in Baghdad about the need to separate "mosque from state" in the new Iraq, he was also floored to read that the former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, now a law school dean, said on the radio show of the conservative James Dobson that Miers deserved support because she was "a very, very strong Christian [who] should be a source of great comfort and assistance to people in the households of faith around the country."
"Now let me get this straight," Judge Mithaqi said. "You are lecturing us about keeping religion out of politics, and then your own president and conservative legal scholars go and tell your public to endorse Miers as a Supreme Court justice because she is an evangelical Christian?
"How would you feel if you picked up your newspapers next week and read that the president of Iraq justified the appointment of an Iraqi Supreme Court justice by telling Iraqis: 'Don't pay attention to his lack of legal expertise. Pay attention to the fact that he is a Muslim fundamentalist and prays at a Saudi-funded Wahhabi mosque.' Is that the Iraq you sent your sons to build and to die for? I don't think so. We can't have our people exposed to such talk."
A fellow delegation member, Abdul Wahab al-Unfi, a Shiite lawyer who walks with a limp today as a result of torture in a Saddam prison, said he did not want to spend another day in Washington after listening to the Bush team defend its right to use torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfi said he was heartened by the fact that the Senate voted 90 to 9 to ban U.S. torture of military prisoners. But he said he was depressed by reports that the White House might veto the bill because of that amendment, which would ban "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of P.O.W.'s.
"I survived eight years of torture under Saddam," Unfi said. "Virtually every extended family in Iraq has someone who was tortured or killed in a Baathist prison. Yet, already, more than 100 prisoners of war have died in U.S. custody. How is that possible from the greatest democracy in the world? There must be no place for torture in the future Iraq. We are going home now because I don't want our delegation corrupted by all this American right-to-torture talk."
Finally, the delegation member Sahaf al-Sahafi, editor of one of Iraq's new newspapers, said he wanted to go home after watching a televised video conference last Thursday between soldiers in Iraq and President Bush. The soldiers, 10 Americans and an Iraqi, were coached by a Pentagon aide on how to respond to Mr. Bush.
"I had nightmares watching this," Sahafi said. "It was right from the Saddam playbook. I was particularly upset to hear the Iraqi sergeant major, Akeel Shakir Nasser, tell Mr. Bush: 'Thank you very much for everything. I like you.' It was exactly the kind of staged encounter that Saddam used to have with his troops."
Sahafi said he was also floored to see the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, declare that a Bush administration contract that paid Armstrong Williams, a supposedly independent commentator, to promote Mr. Bush's No Child Left Behind policy constituted illegal propaganda - an attempt by the government to buy good press.
"Saddam bought and paid journalists all over the Arab world," Sahafi said "It makes me sick to see even a drop of that in America."
By coincidence, the Iraqi delegates departed Washington just as the Bush aide Karen Hughes returned from the Middle East. Her trip was aimed at improving America's image among Muslims by giving them a more accurate view of America and President Bush. She said, "The more they know about us, the more they will like us."
This is a picture of me bombing down the Couch Summit Trail. REALLY fun downhill for those of you in to that sort of thing. 
The South Fork of the Boise River
Big Smokey Creek Canyon - Hike to Skillern Hot Springs
Another picture for your viewing pleasure. This picture is of Camas Creek. Notice that the river is HUGE! This Creek is normally just that… A creek! I’ve seen in many times where there isn’t even any water running through it. It is bound to get higher too. I’ll send more pictures if it does indeed rise.
Based on all the recent fuss about the waterways in our parts, we decided to check it out for ourselves. If you haven't already seen for yourself, both Shoshone Falls, and the Falls below Magic Reservoir are amazing! There is so much water! I've never seen this much water running personally. And based on how much snow is in the mountains, we haven't even seen the beginning of it. - This is a picture of Shoshone Falls. We took Golf Course Road to check it out instead of going to the actual viewing area. If you squint, you can see that it was a LONG wait to use the public road accross the canyon.
I for one would not be the type you would find jumping off of a tall building or bridge. I’m more of a land loving, go on a hike or hop on a bike kind of a guy. But, just because I don’t partake of some of the worlds more “iffy” type sports, doesn’t mean others can’t. Miles Daisher proved this statement just last Friday. And, not only did he BASE jump off of the Perrine Bridge once to prove it, he did it a record breaking 50 times in one day! That’s right. Yesterday, in Twin Falls Idaho, Miles Daisher obliterated the standing world BASE jumping record of 22 times in a 24 hour period. Miles more than doubled the record with 50 jumps!
