all the trouble they're having over there

...Another Georgia Republican, Representative Phil Gingrey, said support for traditional marriage “is perhaps the best message we can give to the Middle East and all the trouble they’re having over there right now.” nyt

ok. now i understand why instead of calling for Israel to stop its war crimes the u.s. is just getting its people out of the way so the killing and destruction of infrastructure can continue for another week or so until 'the time is right'.

They had a secret plan -once the congress sent the best message - queers can't marry here - all the trouble they're having over there would be answered. and damn it all, the congress failed.

laura bush answer to aids - better reading comprehension skills

In remarks to the recent UN meeting on HIV AIDS , Laura Bush defended the US blocking of key proposals for fighting aids. the fundamentalists in the US have joined with their muslim counterparts in being more worried concerned with (en)forcing thier own concept of religious purity than saving lives.

She told the assembly -"All people need to know how AIDS is transmitted, and every country has an obligation to educate its citizens. This is why every country must also improve literacy, especially for women and girls, so that they can make wise choices that will keep them healthy and safe."
But, while the US wants to educate people about "the ABC's" - Abstain, Be Faithful & Use Condoms, they reportedly pushed for the removal of phrases like "sex workers" or "men who have sex with men" from conference documents, preferring to refer to "vulnerable groups" instead. NYTimes
Sounds like it could be a bit on the Colbert Report, All You Need to Know is.....

From the Mail & Guardian
Hilary Benn, Britain's international development secretary, who flew to New York last night and will address the UN general assembly today, distanced himself from the US approach.

He said: "We have to take action on the evidence of what works, on what saves people's lives, and not on ideology. That means making condoms available and reducing harm to people at risk: injecting drug-users, sex workers and men having sex with men."

so. now , like the "few bad eggs" that were charged for carrying out the policy of torture of people kidnapped by the u.s military or mercenary employees - a "small number of marines" have been chosen to take the fall for carrying out the murderous policies of the bush regime. everyone in responsible for their own actions , and i'm not suggesting a free ride for the folks who did the killing and torture for the bush regime. but those who train, employ and give orders to those being sent to "war" with the mission to use -- or threaten use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives cannot then divorce themselves from the results of their orders.

"Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500 " .... "Apocalypse Now"

National Spook Agency won't confirm nor deny my existence

Aah. i love the smell of the police state in the morning. Back in January I sent out Freedom of Information Act requests to various spook agencies in the US asking for any and all information (blahblahblah & etc.) they had pertaining to antiwar organizations, meetings activities etc. in Ohio , as well as requests for a few specific groups in the NE Ohio area. The FBI, Secret Service and the Defense Intelligence (sic) Agency all had the decency to pretend to try to answer the request - saying they had searched some list of major cases and there were no case files assigned specifically to the organizations I asked about. Except for the International Socialist Organization - the FBI has some files that may pertain to my request, but they haven't figured out what they might or might not send along to me.

Not the National Spook (Security) Agency. They took almost two pages to basically tell me to piss off - the president says they don't have to tell me. takes lots of words to try to perty up a load of manure and pass it off as some sort of rational legal justification. The full text can be found at the http://www.suejeffers.net/mabl/NSAFOIA.htm - but here's a few excerpts....

.......
As you know, the President of the United States "authorized the National Security Agency [(NSA)], consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations." The President also noted that, "[t]his is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security."

Rest assured that safeguards are in place to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens. However, because of the highly classified nature of the program, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or non-existence of responsive records is a currently and properly classified matter in accordance with Executive Order 12958, as amended.
.........


Now, I was told by some rightwinger that the government had some really bad people to spy on, and it was ridiculous to think they would bother with the little old antiwar folk . I happen to agree, it is ridiculous that a government would spend their time and resources spying on us, and it would be nice if they would realize their error and stop all on their own. it also would be nice if my dog would learn english and stop barking. But the thing that bothered me about this letter is their assertion that they can do whatever the hell they wish and we (their employers) shouldn't bother our pretty little heads about it. rest assured, its for our own protection. It seems to be a form letter - we can't tell you if we're spying on your meetings or bugging your headboard - cuz that would help al queda.

I will be appealing, not so much because i believe there are records (but i wouldn't be suprised) but because i refuse to accept the bullshit that the decider is king, and won't have my employees telling me what they are doing is none of my business.

tongue speaking senators

oh god help us - whichever deity, force of nature or whatever source of strength one may draw upon. got somewhat off track following links to other links etc. tonight and wandered into a scary little world of mentally unhinged charismatic preachers who brag of access to lawmakers and warmakers. now the one fellow does also brag of routinely raising people from the dead , being levitated in his bed, healing people of all manner of physical damage and illness. oh, and his young child apparently can make people fly by waving a rag at them. frequently throughout his rambling account of his accomplishments, he would yell out "holy ghost", or a line of gibberish . sometimes hopping up and down and making noises like cleveland brown's fans barking at a game.
so, just because he claims he's spoken at the pentagon and to the congress and that he is welcome at the whitehouse isn't necessarily to be taken as the 'gospel truth'. but he claims that there are groups of 'tongue speaking ' lawmakers that get together - perhaps this explains the patriot act, energy policy, the recent immigration "reform" bill, etc.

also god seems to have annointed him to live his wife's life for her, and remarked at the beginning of one of his rambling speeches that he woulda brought his wife along but she had to stay home to plan their daughter's wedding. after which he said she probably didn't understand why, but who cares, not him.

oh no! the devil is in my computer - the video from last year's marysville WA appearance is distorted and cutting in and out. must be another case , as he spoke of in the last performance i scanned, of demons attacking him and his message. and just when he was getting into his story of being in pakistan because the people there wanted him to leave with them the ability to raise the dead. holy ghost holy ghost.
oh those demons - they released me from the terribly unpleasant blahblahblah from this self absorbed arrogant delusional twit.
-- "you better fake somethin if you don't have nothin just so you can get touched"

targetofopportunity.com - update

it was called to my attention that now the fellow who specializes in publishing the personal information , home addresses, work place, and sometimes home addresses of close relatives of people he doesn't agree with, along with not so veiled incitements to violence against them - is using a private registrant for his internic info.

so ,
targetofopportunity.com is the creation of David Meyer
36 Montceau Dr
Newark, DE 19702
He works at Big Dog K-9 ,
Tel: 302-266-8083
Cel: 302-236-6588

which is not the art dept. fellow at the university

my suggestion would be, do not approach. if you're walking your dog in the area, cross the street lest he may feel you are one of those people should be "stopped" and decides its time to "make history"

from his site:

"This is a call to action! These anti-American liberals
are dangerous people and need to be stopped!
One person can make a big difference!!!

There are those that read about history.

There are those that make history.

Which one do you want to be?
These people and organizations are Enemies of Freedom,
the American people, and the American way of life!!!
Each and every one should be considered a:
"Target of Opportunity"! "


UPDATE:
the hit site is at least temporarily down,
possibly the hosting company had a problem with the content violating their terms of service agreement, which includes
Defamatory or Abusive Language by using our network as a means to distribute, transmit, facilitate or post defamatory, harassing, abusive or threatening language or anything that a reasonable person would regard as hate speech or literature. This includes language or other activity that significantly prejudices, creates a hostile bias, or grossly defames a class of individuals.

i would imagine that david will just move to another server til they realize that it violates their legal terms also. but companies do frown upon people using their server space to encourage people to eradicate other humans and providing information on how to find them -(even if they are liberals) .

fire the bastards

every day there are more bastards refusing to account for their criminal activities on the grounds of "national security" or some other spurious claim, supposedly to protect the unique "democracy" or "freedom" reserved for some priviledged segment of the u.s. society. this is all done with no sense of disconnect, that if this really is a system "of the people, by the people, for the people" etc. the PEOPLE are the employers, those in the government are their employees. again, in a sane world, if an employee would tell their boss to piss off, what is done in the employers name is none of their business, and if there are any more questions the employer will be harrassed or kidnapped, chances are pretty good that employee would be looking for a new position.

a recent idiocy from the bush is that we, as their employers shouldn't be upset at them for violating us, they will continue violating us, but instead of worrying about being violated, we should be upset at whoever let us know what was happening.
the notion that the "bad guys" don't assume that the spooks are trying to figure out what they are doing is ludicrous.
national security is used as an excuse all the time as a cover for simply embasarassing or illegal activities, trying to scare folks into submission.

one cannot protect something by destroying it.

Homophobic Telemarketing Strikes Again

I hadn't heard of these folks before, but got an email from a friend last night - seems they've been harrassing folks for fun and profit for some time now. an autotelemarketer asks for you to press 1 if you want to stop same sex marriage, if you press 1 your sent to United American Technologies so they can sell you phone service. Profits are then used to fund various right wing agendas, like convincing people that god hates fags.

if anyone wants to call and help keep their staff busy fielding questions instead of making outgoing calls, the number is below.

another writeup on the folks can be found http://homohusbandry.blogspot.com/2006/02/its-late-and-i-reserve-right-to-edit.html



message from a friend...

Dear Friends,

I was very upset when I came home this evening to find an anti-gay
message on my answering machine. The message included lies about gay
people and said that same-sex marriage will destroy the family. The
message said, "If you want to stop same-sex marriage, press 1!" I
waited for the message to end, and then I pressed star 69 to get the
number. It was 877-266-6277. I called the number back, and the
people said, "National Organization to Stop Same-Sex Marriage." I
told them what I thought. One man told me that according to the
Bible, God hates gays. I told him that I do not want this bigoted
group calling my home ever again.

I am so upset by this, I am still shaking. I would urge people to
phone the number and tell these people what you think, but that's
entirely up to you. Perhaps it's better to ignore them. I don't know
if they are Fred Phelps' group or not. But it was awful to hear this
message in my home.
....
We have tracked down the group that left the anti-gay message on my
answering machine. They are a phone and internet company that
markets to conservative "Christians" and gives money to right-wing
political candidates. They are called United American Technologies.
When you go to the news page on their website, you get the picture:

http://www.uatnow.com/newsindex.html

This is "Christian" marketing with an anti-gay focus. What a
caring "Christian" thing to do.......make profit and raise money for
right-wing candidates by attacking a minority group and appealing to
people's prejudice. I'm sure Jesus would be thrilled.

This company is not just anti-gay; they fund the right-wing
politicians that we are working against.


......
another writeup on the folks can be found http://homohusbandry.blogspot.com/2006/02/its-late-and-i-reserve-right-to-edit.html

Call for Bush to Disarm and Renounce Violence

bush is called upon to renounce violence and disarm.
as george said, "I know you know you can't be a partner in peace if you have, if your party has got an armed wing,". elections "are not a whitewash for terror".

would you be an unlawful combattant?

so. for those in the us, if something happened and the u.s. no longer dominated the world military scene to the point that an armed attack lasting more than a day would even be contemplated
- even if you weren't a member of the official armed forces- and some fuckers came rolling thru your development snatching up some guys between the ages 14 and 50, shooting others, bombing main street in ravenna and front campus at ksu because there were military installations there - but using 2 tons of precision guided' ammunition each time, taking out a large residential areas - would you consider resisting the occupying forces to protect your neighborhood? if the occupiers attacked the vfw hall` bombed the ohio edison offices, "took out" the akron canton airport and inadvertantly 1/2 the population of green township and "accidentally" destroyed davey high school at lunch time and carpet bombed downtown columbus - if the standard of justice the u.s. feels justified in imposing on the rest of the world are followed you best just learn to sit still and open wide.

any resistance is a war crime , and according to bush justice, the fact that you were ever suspected of a crime proves you are guilty and subject to be jailed til the endless war comes to an end without ever being charged. or maybe you could just die during torture.

see - whatever those with the most power want to do is legal by definition. anything that impinges on their ability to do whatever they wish to do is a crime.
or maybe someone down the street would like you gone. just tell someone you're trouble and you're gone probably forever.

2 unlawful combattant foriegn fighers captured in Iraq - UK forces attack prison to un-arrest them

Two foriegn fighters and unlawful combattants from the UK were arrested by Iraqi police , prompting their fellow foriegn fighters from the UK to stage a prison break.
Defense Minister John Reid claimed "What we do know is that under the law they should have been handed back to the British forces". He didn't say under which law a "soveriegn" government must return unlawful combattants who have been captured to the battlefield, and Rummy and Co. may take issue with the notion.

for a coalition speak version of the story,
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/09/19/iraq.main/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1574668,00.html


http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=317&invol=1
.....As examples, the pamphlet mentions civilians who engage in war without authorization; non-combat members of the military, such as medics or chaplains, who engage in combat; and soldiers who fight out of uniform. In the Second World War, the United States captured eight German saboteurs who were out of uniform and executed six of them.

the Wrath of Robertson

When I first saw the 700 Club episode where Pat Robertson called for the assasination of a foreign leader I wasn't too suprised - i've watched him for long enough to know that his copy of the ten commandments is missing a few of the heavenly edicts. When I saw him later trying to claim that he never said the U.S. should assasinate Chavez I first wondered, has the man become as senile as Reagan in his 2nd term. did Robertson not realize that he had been on camera for an international broadcast at the time he said "I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it."

But then when have the facts gotten in the way of a good story. Can't say I was suprised when the Fox "news" report on Pat Robertson's advocation of murder of a duly elected president of a neighboring state deleted the portion of his rant that used the words assasination and "we really ought to go ahead and do it" - skipping to his invite to "take him out" , presumably a good christian invite to a hearty sunday dinner. In that context the offer to "take Chavez out" can finally fullfil the notion of the George Bush's Man Date he claimed he had earned from a 3% lead in the polls (margin of error unknown).

At least in that context, Bush won't try to do to chavez what he's been doing to most of his employers since his first coronation.

the far left???

went to the local anti-war / support cindy sheehan vigil last night. lots of folks there i hadn't seen before, guess they must be part of the far left of kent. or so one would think from listening to people puke out the latest "talking points" going round the right wing radio circuit.

anyway, some of us had a good laugh at the notion that moveon.org or ben cohen could in any way be considered "far left".

=================
--added later after some remarks from readers - seems i've done some sloppy writing.
was very impressed by the turnout, the organizers did a terrific job and the community responded.

if it seems if i'm making fun of people showing up at protests instead of bitching about the characterization of moveon.org and other moderate liberal groups as "far left" by the right wing - see the explanation in the comments segment
================

Meyer's Web Hit List - Calls for "eradication of liberals"

So, there's another one of those right wing websites listing names, pictures and addresses of people this asshole considers worthy of what they refer to as "eradication" . Never does explicitly use the words "shoot in the head" or "stab in the neck" , but is clearly a call by some wacko too scared to list his location (see below) for their readers to cause bodily harm or death to those listed on the site.

Being the concerned citizen i am, i'm waiting to hear back from the FBI tip line folks on what they think of this site. Of course, from their past history, this person could already be on the FBI payroll.

Anyway, the site targetofopportunity.com is registered to:

D. Meyer
top@targetofopportunity.com
PO Box 7306
Newark, DE 19711
phone - (706) 829-3156 , *this cell phone listed under Kenneth Meyer of Augusta GA
Unlike the author of the website, i will not list the parents address.


There is a link to the protest warriors on this wonderful site, there is a Leah Meyer listed as a member of the University of Deleware Chapter - Newark DE, the-cheat@comcast.net . Maybe Leah knows D.


Some advice for ? Meyer, most likely child of kenneth. I realize adjusting to college life can be hard sometimes.
Here is a list of therapists and psychologists in the Newark DE area. http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/yahoo/state/Delaware/Newark.html

For when you go home, here are some listings for Augusta GA http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&q=psychologist&near=Augusta,+GA&sa=X&oi=localr

get some help.


excerpts:

This a call to action! These anti-American liberals are dangerous people and need to be stopped! One person can make a big difference!!!

There are those that read about history

There are those that make history

Which one do you want to be?
These people and organizations are without a doubt a Enemies of Freedom, the American people, and the American way of life!!! Each and every one should be considered a:
"Target of Opportunity"!

CA Senator fights for gay's right to heterosexual marriage

In reaction to the recent California superior court ruling that the codified discrimination in Proposition 22, defining marriage as a contract between 'Ay man and Ay woman' was unconstitutional, State Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), remarked......

"Contrary to the judge's twisted legal logic, this is not an equal protection case," Morrow said. "Every adult Californian already has equal access to marriage as provided by law, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Instead, this actually is the establishment of a completely new privilege that never existed before."

Sure. All queers are welcome to marry a person of the opposite sex any time they want. This ruling, god forbid, would actually grant a new privilege - the equal access to marriage to the one you love, regardless of sexual orientation.

To make sure that the sacred right of all homosexuals to enjoy the rites of heterosexual marriage is not eroded by "activist judges" appointed by republican administations, Mr. Morrow has introduced a state ammendment proposal - text below.

"Existing statutory law provides that marriage is a personal
relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman.
Existing statutory law further provides that only marriage between a
man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
This measure would amend the California Constitution to provide
that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized
in California, as specified. The measure would further limit the
provision of the rights, responsibilities, benefits, and obligations
of marriage to a man and a woman, as specified."

yee haw - Elections in Iraq

”Who says we should have elections for people we don't even know during occupation, martial law and in a war zone,” he said. ”And why vote when we're expected to vote for an entire list of candidates when we only know, if we're lucky, one or two of their names?” http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_news/000185.php#more

Hey - great news. As all the cable news shows saturation coverage have been telling folks - some people in Iraq were finally told where to walk (auto travel being prohibited) http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.main/ went out and cast their ballots for secret candidates on lists of parties who don't plan to reveal their platforms until after the voting has finished. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0113/p01s03-woiq.html

But it was a great victory - people who found out where the polling stations were and could hoof it to the 'historic' sites could go play eeni meeni miini moh and vote for ?? or ????. Hell, the U.S. congress has set the precedent that you don't need to know what the hell you're voting for to engage in the democratic process. It's historic. A milestone. No more forced voting for a single party under the cloud of an intimidating domestic military dictatorship. Shit yeah, now they finally had a ballot of 7000 or so unknown candidates to choose from under the cloud of a foreign military occupation.

And hey, there are plenty of folks who haven't been in Iraq for decades, or children of the same who never have set foot on Iraqi soil (many who have no plans to ever do so ) who cast ballots. Were the foreign voters provided with electoral information that the Iraqis were denied? or were they voting for a blind slate as well? Again, it doesn't matter if people have any idea what they are voting for, just so they go thru the motions IT IS A HISTORIC MOMENT!!!! And those who weren't attacked as they were going to the polls will be easily identified as voters for the next few days. As Mr. Faux News Rivera said - it's a great victory for the American People, even tho a mortar fell on an elderly woman.

Me thinks the lady protest too much. Cable stations with the promise of 24 hours in Iraq. They promise that this will put the insurgency on the run. Bush promises that violence will continue. The much celebrated blue dyed fingers of voters should help protect those who voted from post election violence. As long as they keep their hands in their pockets. The media continues to promote the fantasy world proposing that those fighting the U.S. occupation forces are doing so simply because they hate freedom (not a reaction against being occupied by a foreign military force), and all arguments that suggest even a slight variation from the Bush Decree are simply "anti-american" fanatics.
Goddamned the left wing media.

Hey, all you parents with children in cheerleading squads- heads up- it isn't a big deal if the coach forces your kids to strip naked and lay ontop of eachother while he takes pictures. They do it all the time, and it doesn't hurt them, right? If your kid complains that he or she is stripped naked and dragged around the gym wearing a dog collar, don't worry. It's harmless. Tied to the goalpost and beaten? No worry. Coach sticks their head under water til they think they will drown? Hell, it's a long standing tradition- called a swirly ! They must have done something thing to deserve it. Electric shock? Builds character !

And hey all you administrators - if you're closet pedophiles and ask the coach to produce some "info" or pictures of a pile of naked cheerleaders or other sadistic porn shots, don't worry - it will be the coaches ass on the line if word gets out.

God bless america, and damn all the trial lawyers except those who can save your ass.

god loves a bigot

does scalia really have no knowledge of history or does he really not know that the Nazi's melded church and state - just not the catholic church - and felt they were sanctioned by god to commit their atrocities?

You Lookin' at Me?

From the early press blah blah from the administration as they launched their premeditated attack against the sovereign state of Iraq in violation of international law -(footnote 1)
"Your fate will depend on your actions. It will be no defense to say i was just following orders" - George W. Bush, message to the Iraqi people as he launched an invasion of Iraq in violation of many international treaties signed by the US, regarding use of military force. (ibid)

"we are dealing with people who are perfectly willing to lie to the world to attempt to further their case, and to the extent that people lie are ultimately caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take long for that to happen dealing with people like this" - Donald Rumsfield, press conference - early U.S. Bush the Younger attack on Iraq.

yes, one would think it wouldn't take so long for 'people like this' to lose their credibilty in the U.S. - as they have outside the bubble.

During the "major combat operations" after which Bush proclaimed victory , when U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner, the broadcast of footage of those prisoners was denounced as a breach of the geneva convention,
(footnote 2). Bush said he expected U.S. prisoners to be treated as humanely as Iraqi prisoners of war were treated. but since all who are now kidnapped by the U.S. are declared unlawful combattants and therefore in the administration's policy not protected by any legal constraints, i'm sure that george has changed the standard of expected conduct.

More often now the fact that the invasion was an illegal action from the start, and cannot be redeemed by claims of good intentions is left behind, and the question of whether more "troops" or less "troops" were needed at the start or more or less are needed now to "finish the job" dominates. It is hard to get excited about the call by the more extreme warmongers for a pullout of "troops" - although their argument is rational - that the presence of an occupying is the source of much of the "instability". With the calls to repeat the pattern in neighboring states, it seems more a desire to free up "resources" to be used elsewhere. As the ongoing debacle in Afghanistan has been hailed as a model for the Iraq conflict, it wouldn't be suprising to see the neo-conservative extremists push for a repetition of the "iraqi victory' in Iran, Syria, etc. 4 More Wars 4 More Wars!!




Footnote 1
U.N Charter, Article 2 (4) http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Robert L. Bledsoe and Boleslaw A. Boczek, The International Law Dictionary, ABC-CLIO, pp 326-329


footnote 2.
Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (12 Aug 1949). Entry into Force: 21 October 1950
http://www.tufts.edu/fletcher/multi/texts/BH240.txt
Part II, article 13, 2nd to last sentence
Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.


Geneva Conventions text: http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/geneva.html

geneva convention? what the hell is that?

geneva convention . not just a 'quaint' old document-as our new attorney general believes - its the law.

(treaties ratified by the United States, and
therefore part of the supreme law of the land under our Constitution)
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm

some excerpts...

Members of the armed forces and other persons mentioned in the following Article, who are wounded or sick, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.

They shall be treated humanely and cared for by the Party to the conflict in whose power they may be, without any adverse distinction founded on sex, race, nationality, religion, political opinions, or any other similar criteria. Any attempts upon their lives, or violence to their persons, shall be strictly prohibited; in particular, they shall not be murdered or exterminated, subjected to torture or to biological experiments; they shall not wilfully be left without medical assistance and care, nor shall conditions exposing them to contagion or infection be created.

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind. Prisoners of war who, owing to their physical or mental condition, are unable to state their identity, shall be handed over to the medical service. The identity of such prisoners shall be established by all possible means, subject to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Prisoners of war shall be quartered under conditions as favourable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power who are billeted in the same area. The said conditions shall make allowance for the habits and customs of the prisoners and shall in no case be prejudicial to their health.

The foregoing provisions shall apply in particular to the dormitories of prisoners of war as regards both total surface and minimum cubic space, and the general installations, bedding and blankets.

The premises provided for the use of prisoners of war individually or collectively, shall be entirely protected from dampness and adequately heated and lighted, in particular between dusk and lights out. All precautions must be taken against the danger of fire.

Every prisoner of war camp shall be put under the immediate authority of a responsible commissioned officer belonging to the regular armed forces of the Detaining Power. Such officer shall have in his possession a copy of the present Convention; he shall ensure that its provisions are known to the camp staff and the guard and shall be responsible, under the direction of his government, for its application.