corrente

Not in my name. No, no. In the name of the “morals and values” crowd:

A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

Witnesses said only the facade remained of the small Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the centre of the city. There are no reports on casualties.

A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were damaged as US forces continued preparing the ground for an expected major assault.

UN chief Kofi Annan has warned against an attack on the restive Sunni city.

US strikes raze Falluja hospital

And in other “morals and values-based” developments:

Four Car Bombs, Attacks Kill 37 in Iraq's Samarra

Weapons: U.S. Expands List of Lost Missiles

20 U.S. Soldiers Wounded in Ramadi

U.S. Army Report Sees No Fault in Iraq Hotel Attack

I filled out the Massacree with the four-part harmony. Wrote it down there just like it was and everything was fine. And I put down my pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there . . . on the other side . . . in the middle of the other side . . . away from everything else on the other side . . . in parentheses . . . capital letters . . . quotated . . . read the following words: "Kid, have you rehabilitated yourself?"

I went over to the sergeant. Said, "Sergeant, you got a lot of god-damned gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself! I mean . . . I mean . . . I mean that you send . . . I'm sittin' here on the bench . . . I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench, 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug."
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind! We're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington"!

And, friends, somewhere in Washington, enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints.

And the only reason I'm singin' you the song now is 'cause you may know somebody in a similar situation.

There’s a meeting at Dem HQ today here to discuss what pollwatchers saw that was weird. I’ve been invited. If anything interesting comes up, I’ll be sure to post.

Meanwhile, I’ll just marvel at what passes for “morals and values.”