Office of the Independent Blogger

This news out of the White House/Iraq is so bad it’s almost satire.

The Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the political and security goals or timelines President Bush set for it in January when he announced a major shift in U.S. policy, according to senior administration officials closely involved in the matter. As they prepare an interim report due next week, officials are marshaling alternative evidence of progress to persuade Congress to continue supporting the war.

In a preview of the assessment it must deliver to Congress in September, the administration will report that Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province are turning against the group al-Qaeda in Iraq in growing numbers; that sectarian killings were down in June; and that Iraqi political leaders managed last month to agree on a unified response to the bombing of a major religious shrine, officials said.

Those achievements are markedly different from the benchmarks Bush set when he announced his decision to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq. More troops, Bush said, would enable the Iraqis to proceed with provincial elections this year and pass a raft of power-sharing legislation. In addition, he said, the government of President Nouri al-Maliki planned to “take responsibility for security in all of Iraq’s provinces by November.”

Congress expanded on Bush’s benchmarks, writing 18 goals into law as part of the war-funding measure it passed in the spring.

In addition to the elections, legislation and security measures Bush outlined in January, Congress added demands that the Iraqi government complete a revision of its constitution and pass a law on de-Baathification and additional laws on militia disarmament, regional boundaries and other issues.

Lawmakers asked for an interim report in July and set a Sept. 15 deadline for a comprehensive assessment by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the U.S. ambassador. Now, as U.S. combat deaths have escalated, violence has spread far beyond Baghdad, and sectarian political divides have deepened, the administration must persuade lawmakers to use more flexible, less ambitious standards.

I’m amazed that this White House of Restored Personal Responsibility and Integrity or whatever it was George Bush promised at the start of his term (I think it was “I won’t masturbate into the sink — I’ll masturbate into the Caspian Sea!” but maybe I’m just confused by what he’s done rather than what he’s promised) is urging the world to lower their standards on Iraq. I guess they finally lowered theirs from: “Greeted with flowers” to “Greeted with sunshine, which is still very true!”

Why should Congress give the White House any benefit of the doubt? They’ve done it on the war since the beginning and that’s gotten us nowhere worth going. At this point, it’s time to cut our losses, leave a small presence, and go home. (Why should we leave a small presence? To keep a foot in the Middle East, just in case Iran goes nuclear.) Nothing else is acceptable as the War Plan was botched and all the Neoconservative ideals that were set at the beginning which I believed in have been left to rot by Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush.

It is ironic, considering the outcry that’s greeted Bill Clinton by the Right over his failure to snatch-and-grab Osama bin Laden on a few occasions, that his successor has done the same thing and the outcry is minimal. A part of that is, of course, that Democrats fuss less over national security than Republicans do; a part of that is, of course, that Republicans just like to politicize national security more than high-ranking Democrats do; and a part of that is, Reason. It was reasonable to cancel the operation.

A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

Mr. Rumsfeld decided that the operation, which had ballooned from a small number of military personnel and C.I.A. operatives to several hundred, was cumbersome and put too many American lives at risk, the current and former officials said. He was also concerned that it could cause a rift with Pakistan, an often reluctant ally that has barred the American military from operating in its tribal areas, the officials said.

As Al Gore once said, “Of course it’s illegal. That’s why it’s covert.” Something like that — it’s in Dick Clark’s book. However, the cancellation of this mission is defensible — but I wouldn’t have cancelled it. Covert operatives are highly trained and the enemy is dangerous. You’ve got to take him out, and there’s a reason you spend millions arming and training your operatives.

I just wonder how many times we’ve cancelled such operations, 1., how many moles we have in al-Qaeda, 2, and how much damage this (report) has done to our spy program, 3. It might very well be a calculated link aimed at bolstering Perves Mushareff’s hand in light of the recent assassination attempt by showing the world, carefully, that he’s “in charge” and not allowing us to attack in his tribal areas. I imagine he tells us, “You can do it, provided you’re not caught, and only in extreme cases. I’d rather not know, though,” but we pretend otherwise. Who really knows?

I’m a fan of Harry Reid, as you probably know (although I haven’t written about him in awhile). I must say, though, that I am disappointed that it’s taken him this long to finally push for an exit in Iraq. Now I just hope the Democrats truly fight rather than put up token opposition and nothing more.

Former professional wrestler Kevin Nash was on Hannity & Colmes last night. The interview began with Colmes asking Nash if ‘roid rage is a big problem in the wrestling industry; Nash said no. They asked him if he has done steroids; he said, No. They asked him if he had rages on the steroids; he said, no. After, they asked him if he thought that steroids could’ve caused it and he said, “You can’t discount anything” but he clearly was, and then he pointed out that Benoit had been drinking and if you check our prisons there have probably been more alcohol-related crimes than steroid-related crimes.

At which point will the media start asking about doctors and stop asking these ridiculous questions night after night about ‘roid rage? It’s becoming absurd — they ask the same questions, get the same answers, and spout off with the same nonsense each and every night. It was good of Kevin Nash to point out that they didn’t care about the truth or facts or alcohol (I’d have pointed out renegade doctors) because it isn’t “sexy.” Someone had to say it.

A few days ago I wrote about Marc Mero as an unfair source and a couple of days later I wrote about regretting it because he appeared on MSNBC with Steve Blackman and was a fair, impartial source. He appeared on Grace’s show with Blackman but this time, they had a huge argument when Mero told him to “be honest” so that they can make a difference and save families that have been abused by wrestling drugs. Blackman took offense and said, “You can’t say I haven’t been honest.” Mero said, “You keep saying you haven’t taken steroids” and they argued over it but then Marc Mero threw a fit about how Blackman should try to “make a difference” (essentially arguing that Blackman is killing people by not “speaking out,” whatever that means). Blackman then spoke of personal responsibility in an attempt to defend the industry and WWE. Mero then spoke about how wrestling needs to be regulated, something I agree with in principal but not entirely due to logistical issues I’ve discussed before. Then Nancy Grace tried to paint professional wrestling as an industry that encourages wife-beating and violence. Steve Blackman said, “I don’t see the correlation.”

I was troubled by Mero’s…enthusiasm, I suppose. It’s nice that he cares, but he’s screaming at Blackman for no reason and he’s all too willing to make the industry out to be a devil’s. I’m in favor of what he’s saying — since day one, I’ve been discussing their schedule and how it all needs to change — but he needs to calm down and speak with eloquence, not in huge decibels.

There are two other stories coming out today that merit notice.

Fox News Channel reports this afternoon on Chris Benoit’s mother wishing investigators acted more quickly on information that her late son was buying massive quantities of steroids. The anchor asked a criminal defense attorney, Geoffrey Nathan, about the mother’s statement. He said federal law enforcement may have looked the other way because they are hesitant to ruffle the feathers of big-time athletes. Arthur Aidala, a former prosecutor, said there will be more investigation into Benoit’s doctor, Dr. Astin. “He’s a drug dealer who had permission to sign his name to a prescription,” he said. The anchor noted that the doctor is at risk of charges of manslaughter. The prosecutor said it could be tough to go that far, but definitely he’s on the hook for potential drug distribution charges.

There we have something else that should be investigated: prosecutors, and their unwillingness to ruffle the feathers of doctors and athletes. Doctors, too, as I’ve been harping on for several days, but these two issues — which are far more important and complicated than what the media’s been discussing — will continue to be ignored, alas. I just can’t believe the government knew that he was abusing steroids and they did nothing to him or his doctor.

I’ll bet that happens a lot.

Here, finally, is the obituary of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. It’s very sobering.

I’m not a big fan of beauty pagents (it’s nothing personal, I just have no interest in pagents) and I’m not a big fan of “soft” news (it’s nothing personal, it belongs somewhere in the newspaper, but I don’t believe anything pagent-related should be the lead anywhere) but I must say, this caught my attention.

Miss New Jersey says she won’t give in to an anonymous threat that personal photographs of her will be made public if she refuses to relinquish her crown. “It would certainly be easier for me to simply succumb to these unlawful and immoral threats, and quietly disappear,” Amy Polumbo said Thursday at a news conference in Asbury Park. Polumbo’s lawyer, Anthony Caruso, said that starting last week, Polumbo, her family and officials in the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation received packages with pictures of her and the demand that she resign by Friday.

Caruso said the pictures show her with some friends and some may have been photos that she posted years ago on a private Internet site. Did they reveal more skin than a pageant-sanctioned swimsuit? College students behaving badly, perhaps? Caruso would not say. “I don’t think the photos are that bad,” Caruso said. “The people posting this blackmail scheme are trying to make these photos out to be worse than I think they are.” He said he couldn’t comment further because more photos could arrive and change everything.

The 22-year-old Polumbo won the Miss New Jersey competition last month, giving her the right to compete in the next Miss America competition - wherever and whenever it may be held. Miss America Organization officials said they were aware of the situation, but it was up to the New Jersey pageant officials to deal with. The local affiliate did not immediately return a message Thursday from The Associated Press. But Caruso said the state competition officials were on board with her trying to fight back.

I say, Good for Polumbo. It’s good to see someone stand up for themselves and their past with no apologies. I’m sure she must be a little embarrassed, and her chance to ever be Miss America has disappeared, but at the least, she has her dignity, and will be able to say, “I didn’t budge in the face of threats.” (Besides, we’ve all taken pictures, or written letters, or made videos, or left voicemails, that we’d be ashamed of later, something I’d point out if I were her.)

In more important news, al-Zawahiri has released a new message to the world.

Al Qaida’s No. 2 commander appeared on Wednesday in a new video on a website used by Islamist militant groups, urging unity in jehad and calling for the overthrow of “corrupt” Muslim governments in the region. Zawahiri said in the message that the defeat of the West is imminent, and that “the enemy” is trying to forestall the inevitable. “The good omens of the new dawn of victory have begun to loom on the horizon, with Allah’s permission and will,” he said.

The English version of the title posted on the site was The Advice of One Concerned and the video showed the Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahiri wearing a white robe, speaking in Arabic with English sub-titles. The US-based SITE Institute, which monitors Islamist websites, released a transcript that appeared to match the 95-minute video produced by al Qaida’s media arm as-Sahab and monitored on the Internet by Reuters in Dubai. Zawahiri expounded at length in the video on what he calls the corruption of the Saudi Arabian royal family, condemned Palestinian concessions to Israel and criticised the Egyptian government as an ally of the US. The video was edited in a sophisticated way, incorporating clips from al Jazeera, US public television and other international news stations. At one point it invokes evidence from American journalist Bob Woodward’s book on Iraq.

I’m really interested to see what comes of this, and I wish I were a CIA Agent trying to decode the message to see if it’s left any hints for terrorists, as al-Qaeda is known to do. Terrorism is still important, but the American government needs to understand that law enforcement and active security measures are better ways to protect the homeland than, say, recently tweaked but still uninspiring color-coded bulletins.

Most people are interested in Benoit’s toxicology report because they want blood proof that he was using and abusing steroids. I’m interested in his toxicology report so that I can know just what he was using when he killed his wife and then snapped on the rest of his family. I want to know what transformed a man who loved his child and was kind to everyone into a man who committed a despicable double-murder suicide.

This testimony by generally-unknown wrestler John Walters is baffling and disturbing, and it shows us — along with all the other universally kind words said of Chris Benoit — that the monster who murders his children, robs a bank or destroys a life doesn’t live in a dark apartment near an alley in an inner city far away from us: he lives right next door, inside your house, and sometimes inside of you.

The past few days have been crazy in the wrestling world. I can only imagine what Chris Benoit’s really close friends and co-workers are feeling. I have been waiting and waiting for the this whole tragedy to turn into something different, but it looks as if it is as real and gruesome as it sounds. Over a 3 year period, I did a lot of work for WWE. I was involved in about 20 dark matches, skits, heat and velocity matches, etc. I remember one night in particular, after a sunday night heat match, I was pulled aside by Chris Benoit. He told me how much he was impressed with my work and that he really liked my intensity. I was thrilled to have the endorsement of one of the finest wrestlers on the planet. From that day forward, Chris Benoit went out of his way to help me in any way I asked. He sent me instant messages encouraging me that I did a great job in my matches, he asked me to send him a tape to watch, and he was one of the first people to congratulate me on my first tour to Japan. He became a close friend over emails and phone conversations. Even about a month ago he was asking me when I would be back at WWE tv. From what I understand, he showed the same compassion to a lot of the rising stars in WWE. He made it clear that he wanted to help the next generation of stars to progress. Another thing I noticed about Chris Benoit was that he always spoke of his family. He told me about Nancy’s neck surgery and how he loved playing with his son around the house. Now, all of a sudden, this tragedy has made everyone wonder, was that the real Chris Benoit, or was it just a front. I am so confused and saddened by what happened, that is is so overwhelming to even think about. You run all of these different scenarios in your head, that it begins to drive you crazy. The fact of the matter is, 3 people are dead. Could it have been stopped? Were there warning signs? Was it planned for a long time? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions.

A friend asked me today what I thought had happened with the Benoit situation. That is, “What do you think caused him to do it?” I told her that I have no answer and don’t know more than anyone else, but if I had to guess, I’d say that Nancy told Chris she was leaving him because of their marital problems, he had a fit, they fought and then he killed her. He spent several hours soul-searching and for some reason or other decided to kill his son and himself, which would explain the timeframe, the alcohol by his body and the rambling, confused text messages he sent the WWE. I don’t know what happened, though, and I have no excuses to make for him, but I’m having trouble believing that Benoit planned to murder his wife and kids for a significant amount of time and the act doesn’t necessarily point to that, either.

To me, it seems like 1/4th tragic, terrible accident, 2/4s drug and alcohol induced stupor, 1/4th anger/sadness. Like I said, I don’t think there are any excuses, but that’s what I’ve been thinking, based on what I know.

The following is more insight into Chris Benoit’s mental state (source PWmania):

Reports are suggesting that people noticed Chris Benoit become a different person after Eddie Guerrero passed away. His wife Nancy was telling her friends that Chris Benoit’s drug usage escalated badly after Eddie Guerrero died. After the death of neighbour Mike Durham (Johnny Grudge) and Victor “Black Cat” Mar, Chris Benoit became worse. Benoit was considered to be Victor Mar’s best friend during his time in Japan and Benoit refused to attend Durham’s funeral, saying he never wanted to return to church and hated religion.

A WWE source said Nancy was a described as a basket case on Thursday, which was a day before reports suggest Benoit killed her. Nancy was upset over the recent passing of her friend, Sherri Martel. Shane Helms also said that Chris Benoit called him on Thursday to check up on how he is keeping as Helms is recovering from a neck surgery.

If you look at the whole situation, a picture begins to form of a man who had problems with his wife and drugs, but loved wrestling, wrestlers and his child. When you add in the strains of being a professional wrestler, the damage done to a human’s psyche by drug abuse, the fact that he seemed off and paranoid for awhile but continued to show support for younger wrestlers — I think we’ve got a more complicated picture than “Maniac Plans Murders.” We’ve got a tragedy, and the reason it’s a tragedy (besides the fact that two innocent people are dead, including a child) is that a man who isn’t easily depicted as a monster, who didn’t live a poor life, who wasn’t known for trouble, lost his grip on reality.

In related news, the rumor on the Internet is that the two wrestlers named in the indictment of Benoit’s doctor were Mark Jindrak, who doesn’t wrestle with WWE anymore (and didn’t amount to much while there), and Rey Mysterio Jr., who is a “Cruiserweight” (read: lightweight) and a fan favorite. If that’s true, it should be interesting to see what consequence Rey Mysterio suffers.

It’s rather amusing to see the Clinton campaign attack Bush over his commutation of Libby’s sentence and I was happy to see the White House give it the response it deserves.

The White House today made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush’s decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. “I don’t know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.

Of course, the White House has nothing to be proud of, but it does have a point. Bill Clinton abused his power in the same awful manner, and that should be pointed out to the Senator from New York. I will say that it’s rather childish of the President to argue that Clinton should shut up because they did the same thing, but that’s our President, who can only justify his errors by saying someone else made them, too, because otherwise, it’s impossible to justify.

That’s why I like being a critic, and not a politician. I’ve sold no weapons to the Libyans, pardoned no sex offenders and have never stuck my fingers into the Social Security fund. I don’t have to worry about offending either political party because I don’t, at the moment, intend to run for anything. That’s why I don’t blame Al Gore if he prefers to stay above the fray. That’s a small part of my admiration of the man. I wonder what more politicians would say, and do, if they were set free. I imagine many of the politicians would come off worse than they do, if you can imagine that!

Benoit’s doctor has been linked to other wrestlers and even athletes, but there are no names at this time.

Is this news big enough to spark a frenzy into doctors who abuse their prescription privileges and destroy lives? It is for me, but I doubt the media cares and would bet that it turns into a firestorm for the WWE if any other wrestlers from the company have seen that doctor. Personally, I believe that WWE should have somewhere from three to five doctors that it’ll allow the wrestlers to see. I know that it’s a strict rule and some will complain about their privacy but it would allow the WWE to prevent steroid use in the organization and would bring credibility to their Wellness Program if they are mandating that the doctors be respectable, known doctors to avoid steroid and pill abuse.

That is, if the WWE is truly interested in curbing steroid and pill abuse in the company. Are they? I don’t know. We’ll see by their actions in the coming weeks. Like I’ve said before, I’m not defending WWE from charges that their Wellness Program should be stricter or that they should do more to oversee their wrestlers’ mental and physical health. I’m defending them from charges that wrestling itself “creates monsters” and drives people to murder like I would defend matrimony from charges that marriage creates monsters and drives people to murder; I’m arguing that steroids and wrestling didn’t cause this, but drugs, doctors, and a rapidly unhinged man with marital problems tag-teamed to cause this.

To more media-centered news: the Ultimate Warrior appeared on Fox, and while I know that some will ridicule him, I must say I’m impressed by the fact that he kept a level-head, didn’t attempt to destroy the WWE and raised some solid points. First he argued that steroid use is good and “abuse” is bad; Hannity countered that any use is abuse if it isn’t medical; Warrior said, “Roid rage for me is a pie in the sky theory that’s thought of by people who have no business discussing the frame of mind of an elite physical athlete.” Fair enough, I figure, and I appreciate that he isn’t backing away from his prior use and defense of steroids. I also think his next point about how prescription drugs are more to blame than “roid rage” is fairer still.

Most important in his speech was his declaration that “[t]he [WWE] drug test is a ruse. It’s an artiface specifically designed for the sensationalized, high-profile tragedies when people come forward and they make reasonable allegations that the talent is using drugs. It’s this simple for me. For me to believe that the drug tests on the live bodies are legit, I have to believe all the autopsies on the dead bodies are lies.” He also declared that “Wrestlers take steroids so they can look healthy on the outside, but they do everything else that makes them rotten on the inside. The autopsies that reveal they have enlarged hearts and enlarged organs other organs that have been affected by the steroids, that’s the reason why - because they don’t live healthy lives overall.”

I’m not sure about what he says about steroids — but Bryan Gumbel agrees with him. All I know is he made the points about prescription drugs that should be made and he didn’t make a complete fool of himself, the wrestling industry or attempt to set fire to wrestling. For that he deserves some praise, as he cut to the chase and didn’t sensationalize. Now if only he’d change his name back to Jim Hedwig, he’d be all right.

This MSNBC interview of Marc Mero and Steve Blackman is much better than anything that’s been on Fox or CNN. I criticized Johnny B. Badd Marc Mero recently — or, more accurately, I criticized his inclusion on talk shows, but after watching this video, he was very fair and, I think, accurate than many other wrestlers and definitely than the reporters themselves. He and Steve Blackman (who was also nice to see) provided great insight into the seedy world of reckless doctors (that doctor they had on replied to the question “This is not such a good thing for the medical community is it?” “Uh, certainly not. The question is were thes e prescriptions given with good reason and, uh, to what patients.” If I were interviewing him, I’d have said, “What kind of sleazy dodge is that? It’s clear that Benoit’s doctor was corrupt and a mark on the profession, and you won’t criticize him?”) including doctors that come to the shows and give out steroids to all the boys.

I didn’t like it when the wrestling writer said that Benoit didn’t “get over” as a wrestler because of his size, and he might’ve been “transferring” a “size” complex, but the reason he didn’t “get over” in the industry was because of bad promoting by WWE and his generally poor mic skills. Benoit’s murder-suicide had nothing to do with wrestling, and I wish someone had pointed that out a bit more forcefully, but I enjoyed the interview all the same. Blackman and Mero brought a great amount of information, and Dan Adams was a fair interview.

If you weren’t already outraged by Bush’s interference with justice in the Libby trial, you will be after reading this.

Among the fascinating aspects of Lewis Libby’s now upcoming sentencing is that his high-profile case resembles in various ways the case of Victor Rita, the defendant whose 33-month (within-guideline) sentence is currently under review by the US Supreme Court. I detailed some Libby-Rita parallels in this post last month, and here are the major highlights.

1. The parallel nature of the crimes. Like Lewis Libby, Victor Rita got caught up in a criminal investigation and ultimately was indicted on five felony counts based on allegations that he lied under oath as part of the investigation. And, like Libby, Victor Rita asserted his innocence and exercised his right to a jury trial. (Victor was convicted of all five counts at trial; Libby’s was acquitted on one of five counts, but that may not matter much for sentencing purposes.)

2. The parallel personal history. Like Lewis Libby, Victor Rita is an atypical federal defendant because of his career in government service. Rita served 24 years in the Marine Corps, had tours of duty in Vietnam and the first Gulf war, received over 35 military metals and awards. Libby’s pre-conviction resume is (equally?) impressive. The federal guidelines do not provide any formal breaks for government service or prior good works. But, with Booker making the guidelines advisory, federal judges have more discretion to consider these matters at sentencing (though Rita’s sentencing judge decided just to follow the guidelines).

Since Victor Rita’s crimes seems, in context, to be less serious than Lewis Libby’s crimes, I view Rita’s 33-month sentence as a possible benchmark for Libby’s sentence. Moreover, I have heard that Judge Walton has a reputation as a tough sentencing judge, and so Victor Rita’s 33 month sentence might even be viewed as just a floor for considering Libby’s fate.

Isn’t that disgusting?

Have a happy fourth of July, dear friends and Dear Readers.

I believe that the police officers in Georgia should be disappointed in themselves for releasing this irresponsible and demonstrably improbable bit of speculation.

WWE wrestler Chris Benoit is said to have murdered his seven-year-old son with his WWE finishing move according to police in Georgia. Police are speculating that Benoit, 40, used a version of the Crippler Crossface hold on his son the morning after strangling his wife Nancy, 43, to death. Later that day Benoit committed suicide, reports The Sun. The Crippler Crossface was a move Benoit performed in almost all his wrestling matches.

It was the bruising on the young boy that threw police initially, according to the Sun’s report. The Sun claims an officer reviewed tapes of Benoit and put the moves together with the marks on the child. The Sun reports that “the marks on Daniel’s body matched the application of a version the Crossface.” The Sun reports that District Attorney Scott Ballard said: “A choke hold was used to strangle the boy, rather than hands, because there’s no bruising consistent with strangulation by hands.”

According to the Sun, wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer claimed: “There was bruising consistent with the Crippler Crossface on one arm and Daniel’s face. There were no bruises on his neck. The police don’t believe, because of the size difference, that the hold was applied exactly as it would be in a pro wrestling match. “Benoit would have been in more of a kneeling position, sort of straddling Daniel while using one leg to pull back on his arm.”

First of all, the article points out what I would: the move would be impossible to do on a child by a grown man, but the second point I’d hammer upon is that the boy was asphixiated and the Crippler Crossface can’t possibly asphixiate you. If it’s true that Benoit used a chokehold of any sort on his son, it’s misleading to call it a variation of the Crossface. You just can’t do it, and if he simply choked him and pinned him down with a knee, that’s not a wrestling move, and it’s misleading to talk about it as a wrestling move. Theoretically, I could sneak up on someone on the street, twist their arm and choke them with my bicep from behind and someone could say, “He’s using a wrestling hold.” But I wouldn’t be, and neither did Benoit. The policemen should be ashamed of themselves for speculating that he used the Crippler Crossface, although I will say that I’m not sure policemen have made such claims as it’s only been reported in print by the Sun of England and then parroted through the blogosphere. It is, at least, bad reporting, and the bloggers who have spread the claim should be ashamed.

It’s a horrible killing as it is. Let’s not pretend that Benoit put him into the Crippler Crossface, too.

If you want to have an investigation, investigate his doctor and the pharmaceutical industry, instead of interrogating wrestlers over whether or not wrestling makes a man into a monster. I’ve always believed America to be overmedicated and medication in excess to be dangerous. I don’t think I’d ever take a Prozak or a Benedryl or a Viagra pill. Further, doctors who overprescribe their patients violate their oath and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — which should reach further, in my view.

The personal doctor of a pro wrestler who killed his wife and son before committing suicide was charged Monday with improperly dispensing painkillers and other drugs to other patients. The seven-count indictment said Dr. Phil Astin, physician to wrestler Chris Benoit, dispensed drugs including Percocet, Xanax, Lorcet and Vicoprofen between April 2004 and September 2005. The recipients were identified in the indictment by the initials O.G. and M.J.; Benoit’s initials were not listed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker ordered Astin held in lieu of $125,000 bond and said that regardless of whether he came up with the money, he would be in jail overnight. Astin will be under house arrest once he posts bond, she said. A criminal complaint filed before the indictment and made public Monday said Astin had written prescriptions for about 1 million doses of controlled substances over the past two years, including “significant quantities” of injectable testosterone cypionate, an anabolic steroid. The complaint by Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Anissa Jones said the amount of prescriptions was “excessive” for a medical office with a sole practitioner in a rural area like Carrollton, about 40 miles west of Atlanta.

Doctors like him alarm me far more than any professional wrestler and pills like those he, and they, prescribe cause far more monsters than Vince McMahon does. I don’t understand why Fox and CNN and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and the Asheville Review don’t all go after the pharmaceutical industry instead of wrestling — or, at least, alongside it. It’s just as seedy, twice as dangerous and reaches more people. Not only that, it’d create waves as big as “Wrestler Kills Family: Ultimate Warrior Agrees It’s a Bad Thing, Hates McMahon.” But I guess they don’t want anybody to know about their drug problem, which is America’s drug problem, which is the reliance on “harmless” stimulants and relaxants.

(And before I’m accused of hypocrisy, I’d like to say that I don’t believe in painkillers or relaxants or stimulants. If I want stimulation, I turn on my music, call a friend or drink a Coke. If I want to go to sleep, I insomniac around until I go to bed. The last time I took a painkiller it was a one-time deal when I tore my left knee apart and the doctor’s insisted on it before the X-Rays. In hindsight, I’m glad they did because the pain was brutal even with the pill, but I never used the ones they gave me to take home. None of this is to say that I look down on wrestlers and stuntmen and football players and circus clowns who have to take pills for their pain. It’s the doctors who over-prescribe and the parents who over-medicate their children and the system that encourages it and ignores it that bothers me.)

I have a couple more notes.

Scott Ballard, District Attorney of Fayette County in Georgia issued the following statement this afternoon to gossip website TMZ.com:

“There are additional reports that contradict the earlier information that suggested that Daniel Benoit may have suffered from Dwarf Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome. Daniel’s family denies that he suffered from either condition. As a result of the family’s concerns, the Fayette County Sheriff’s investigators and the District Attorney’s Office have inquired into this matter. A source having access to certain of Daniel’s medical reports reviewed those reports, and they do not mention any pre-existing mental or physical impairment. Reports from Daniel’s educators likewise contradict the claims that Daniel was physically undersized. The educators report that Daniel graduated kindergarten and was prepared to enter the first grade on par with the other students.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this. It seems odd that a seven year old would just be passing Kindergarten but I have nothing else to add. It’s sad and tragic whether or not he was suffering from Fragile X Syndrome or in full health, but we’ll see what else is said about it in coming days and weeks. Chris Jericho discussed it in detail as well and said that Chris Benoit was very private about his family and so he didn’t know but that he always suspected that the boy was Autistic.

This article about Benoit’s neighbor who was friends with his wife and discovered their bodies and has run off to Boston where she used to work as a publicist because she’s in pain over the loss of her friend Nancy and her boy Daniel and is uncomfortable with all the media jackals around says that Daniel Benoit suffered from Fragile X. Who knows?

In more media news, Hulk Hogan has publicly called out Nancy Benoit as a “Satan worshiper.”

Chris Benoit was a peaceful man, according to wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, but his wife Nancy Benoit may have worshipped the Devil. According to Hulk Hogan, Nancy Benoit’s wrestling character was into devil-worship, but Hulk thinks she may have made that character her reality. Hogan tells USWeekly: “He was peaceful and kept to himself.” As for what Hogan thinks of the double murder/suicide? “I think it had to be something personal, a domestic problem between him and his wife.”

Hogan then talked about Nancy Benoit: “She was into devil-worship stuff. It was part of her [wrestling] character, but [she was] somebody who gets so close to their character, someone who gets into their character too much. Sometimes these people believe their own publicity.”

Hogan is the last man in the world who should be talking about wrestlers believing their own publicity, for one thing. He also sounds like an idiot saying that Benoit is a peaceful man and Nancy was a Satan worshiper. I will concede that I agree wholeheartedly that it was all a domestic dispute gone terribly, terribly wrong, but I can’t say I’m happy with what Hogan said or the frenzy it’s caused.

Lastly, these are Lance Storm’s thoughts on Benoit. I’m glad he took his time in writing them to learn all the facts, and I’m sad that he, like we, had to go through this, especially since he was close to Benoit. I’m also happy that someone else in wrestling — someone far more influential than me or Keller — is calling for something to be done about the problems faced by wrestlers.

Dick Cheney must not want anybody else to ride his Scooter. He’s convinced George W. Bush to spare Libby jailtime and a full pardon is still possible. I must confess myself disappointed in the President and myself: in Bush for derailing the justice system despite his general aversion to using his Executive Powers (for that, anyway); in myself, for believing that the President had any sense of decency.

More interesting news is here. What is it? An editorial by former terrorist Hassan Butt. Butt states that terrorism is not driven by foreign policy in America or England but by Islamic theology and the desire to build a Caliphate. That is no surprise to me or anyone else who has read anything about substantial about al-Qaeda and other organizations. I would add, however, that there is a small caveat: Osama bin Laden has stated that he has issues with America because of its support of Israel and its presence in Saudi Arabia. I don’t really buy it, as I believe that America is his enemy by being overwhelmingly Christian and powerful, but that’s what he says. I’d also add that there are thousands of different terrorist organizations, some much smaller than others, so it’s nonsensical to pidgeonhole.

I just hope more people begin to understand the nature of Islamic terror instead of believing that it’s because America loves Israel so we should abandon them or thinking that it’s all because we’ve been mean to the Saudis. It is because we are strong and overwhelmingly Christian that terrorists take a look at America and wish to attack, because you’ve got to beat the man to be the man, and when that man is in your rival’s realm, you’ve got another reason to boot.

All I have to say after reading this article is Damn right, Pat Leahy. You’ve always been a favorite of mine, and we all know how the White House feels about you!

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday he was ready to go to court if the White House resisted congressional subpoenas for information on the firing of federal prosecutors. “If they don’t cooperate, yes I’d go that far,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. He was asked in a broadcast interview whether he would seek a congressional vote on contempt citations if President Bush did not comply. That move would push the matter to court. “They’ve chosen confrontation rather than compromise or cooperation,” Leahy said. “The bottom line on this U.S. attorneys’ investigation is that we have people manipulating law enforcement. Law enforcement can’t be partisan.”

If you remember, Leahy was the one who was confronted by Dick Cheney in the halls of Congress a few years ago.

I’d like to announce my happiness with this news.

Republican John McCain reorganized his campaign Monday, cutting staff in every department as he raised just $11.2 million in the last three months and reported an abysmal $2 million cash on hand for his presidential bid. “We confronted reality and we dealt with it in the best way that we could so that we could move forward with this campaign focused on winning our primaries in the early states,” said Terry Nelson, McCain’s campaign manager.

Once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, McCain trails top Republican rivals in money and polls. More than 50 staffers, and perhaps as many as 80 to 100, were being let go, and senior aides will be subject to pay cuts as the Arizona senator bows to six months of subpar fundraising, according to officials with knowledge of the details of the shake up. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the campaign would not publicly discuss details of the restructuring.

That’s happy news. It means that Barry Goldwater’s ghost has an uphill battle for the Presidency. I just wish that Richard-Nixon-with-Ovaries, Bobby-Kennedy-Without-the-Brain and Rudy Giuliani would all go down as well.

John Meehan of 411mania has posted a comprehensive timeline of all the things that have happened in this story and what they mean to the wrestling community, coupled with rebuttals and support of every claim made by critics of wrestling and reporters in the wake of Chris Benoit’s actions last weekend. It’s very much worth a read (that means “read it,” Dear Reader), and I’d like to say thank you to Meehan for posting it.

After that, I’d like to direct your attention to this article about Benoit and drugs, specifically “GHB,” which is often used as a date-rape drug. There’s evidence to suggest that that was a drug he was using and that it caused him, as it’s caused others, to go insane. I’ve long believed that prescription drugs, mental illness and a lack of harmony with his wife were the causes of Benoit’s actions. It’s a much more sensible reaction than “Oh, it’s the steroids!” and “Oh, it’s wrestling! because if it were the steroids, all of Major League Baseball and professional football would be filled with wife-killers and if it were “wrestling, more wrestlers would be murdering.

Now, before I go on and discuss the mainstream media’s handling of Chris Benoit further I’d like to take a moment to challenge the charges made by Scott Williams of the Wrestling Observer.

We also know that for every outraged parent who first read or heard Benoit’s name when this news broke, there’s a wrestling fan trying to rationalize. Don’t take my word for it – use any search engine to find an online wrestling message board or blog. You will find someone trying either to explain circumstances to mitigate the double murder, offer bizarre alternate theories, or argue that we should focus more on Benoit’s tremendous in-ring ability than the crimes that punctuated his life. It’s this mentality that has kept fans from getting outraged at the dozens of drug tragedies in wrestling’s recent history. It’s this mentality that led fans last year to care more about Kurt Angle’s next in-ring opponent than the real circumstances of his departure from World Wrestling Entertainment, where Benoit also worked.

This is the mentality of wrestling fans — not all of them, but a disturbingly large percentage who speak out. It allows them to weep and wail about wrestling’s latest tragedy (which they inevitably never saw coming), while they plunk down money for entertainment they know is bought with dangerously heavy drug use and simultaneously say, “It’s not my fault that (dead wrestler’s name here) chose to put bad things in his body.” Is WWE owner Vince McMahon to blame for Chris Benoit killing his family and himself? Are wrestling fans? No, Benoit has deservedly traded in adulation for revulsion, ultimately accountable for his hideous acts.

But the wrestling business fosters an environment that’s anything but healthy, and both it and its fans spring to the unhealthy system’s defense whenever tragedy hits and outsiders question it. We’ve seen plenty of that this week, as well. In the weeks to come, we’ll get an answer to at least one question: will this tragedy torpedo the wrestling business? Those who knew him best say Chris Benoit loved the wrestling business. Ironically, it’s possible that his end could precipitate its end. However, we already have an answer — one that’s been evident for a long time, to anyone willing to look hard and honestly — to another question: Does wrestling deserve to be sunk?

That answer is a sad, sorry “Yes.”

This wrestling fan, for one, is criticizing and defending which is what I believe to be the proper and necessary response. When the mainstream media uses the testimony of the Ultimate Warrior and Chyna on the air it deserves to be criticized for presenting a misleading and incredibly tainted version of speculation, let alone events, and when the press does a number on what actually happened by hypothesizing nonsense about Nancy Benoit’s ex-husband murdering the them all, well, it deserves to be criticized. It deserves to be criticized for running amok with Steroids! as the headline when the truth is far from it, as many believe, myself and the wrestlers who knew him and the police department investigating included. Similarly, anyone that would claim that wrestling “creates the monster,” as Nancy Grace did and Williams is doing, deserve to be criticized and vehemently so. I simply can not accept any claim of “Wrestling creates the monster!” or “The wrestling business encourages this behavior!” as that’s demonstrably untrue (how many other wrestlers have gone off on double homicides?). Anyone who would argue that wrestling creates more monsters than the post office or working at Dairy Queen or writing on a political website for a living has an agenda, and anybody who would argue that wrestlers themselves are inherently more dangerous than most just because of the work they do is dishonest as well.

I’m just disappointed that someone who covered wrestling for a living would fall for such gobbledygook, because I’m only defending wrestling from those who would claim that it creates double murderers and child killers and monsters as a matter of routine and use the Ultimate Warrior and Chyna to paint a picture of steroids as if every professional wrestler is a homicide waiting to happen. I am defending the business from nonsense. I am not defending it from the claims that it should be forced to change the way wrestlers schedule, especially in the WWE. I am not giving the drug policy (”The Wellness Program”) a ringing endorsement, as I definitely believe it should be tightened. That said, let’s not lose our mind and start calling for an end to professional wrestling or perpetuate the partyline about wrestling creating monsters.

Bruce Hart, who was Bret Hart’s father and Benoit’s trainer in the famed Hart Dungeon, made some interesting comments on Friday that I missed until now. First, let’s look at the introduction to the article,

Chris Benoit was a “delusional juice freak” who chased the dark side and had trouble distinguishing between his fictional character and reality, says the man who started him out in professional wrestling. “The last time I saw him he was in pretty rough shape mentally,” said Bruce Hart, son of the legendary Stu Hart. “I didn’t know all the details but I knew it wasn’t good. I was not at all shocked (by what happened).

and now let me say, “Nowhere in the article does Hart call Benoit a ‘delusional juice freak.’” He goes on to talk about Benoit’s mental health, and he says that Benoit appeared troubled every time he saw him in recent years, then he criticizes the WWE for not being able to see that something was wrong with Chris. All of these points are interesting, and I think the last one is valid (an employer must be able to tell when its employee is ill; to WWE’s credit, they’ve said numerous times that Benoit’s been a different man lately: to their detriment, they didn’t ask him to see a counselor or do enough to help him, but it is also important to know that two of his best friends in the business had died within the last two years). But beyond all that, I think the author of the article deserves to be fired for the introduction, as do the editors who allowed (and, I’m sure, encouraged) it, as it’s completely dishonest but drags in the reader.

Let me ask you something, Dear Reader. Do you think editors and producers all over called a conference and said, “The man and his family are dead, right? So nothing matters now besides ratings, right? And bringing down the wrestling industry?” because it sure seems like that’s what happened to me.

I’d like to briefly discuss the mainstream media’s coverage of the Benoit murder now and focus a little on cable, since I’ve spent a few hundred words talking about print sources already. Here is a YouTube page that has video of many of the wrestling segments on cable news. First, I’ll say that I’m disturbed by the inclusion of Johnny B. Badd Mark Mero to the list of wrestlers who’ve been interviewed as Mero didn’t know Benoit particularly well, hasn’t held a steady, serious job in the wrestling industry in ages — but other than that, he’s a great source!

Actually, I think he might be a little better than the Ultimate Warrior, and he’s a lot better than Geraldo Rivera, but that doesn’t excuse him or the media from turning this tragedy into a circus, and in so doing creating a second tragedy. I only wish Johnny P. could B. Fair and Accurate, but that’s far too much to ask when there’s money to be made, right?

It isn’t often that I find myself struggling to opine but this is one of those times. As Britain struggles to deal with suicide attacks, incompetent terrorists and the dismantling of terror cells, I’d simply like to state that I wish that country and those people well and hope they find safety and capture the terrorists sooner rather than later and before much damage is done.

Watching these events occur, I think it such a shame that there are people on this Earth who don’t exercise peace more often. It’s disturbing, too, knowing that it can happen anywhere, to anyone, for any reason, all because someone doesn’t look forward to tomorrow anymore. I, for one, look forward to tomorrow, and I think it such a shame that some don’t, as evidenced by the bomb-attempts in London, the Benoit massacre, the destruction of the environment for money, the disregard for the working poor, unfair wages and all the other events we read about in the newspaper every morning.

I am, like most, outraged by the events in London, but as I think about people dying and people killing and people surviving and people suffering I begin to think about the sheer number of tragedies that are born of each tragedy. That someone will lose their mother, and someone will lose their innocence, and someone will lose their home, their security, their life and their freedom. And I can’t help but wonder why some people would give up tomorrow, and someone else’s.

Each and every one of us should strive to make life worth living, for ourselves and each other, and I for one will continue to do just that and hope that more people join me. I have nothing particularly political to add.