Saturday, July 10, 2004

Fly on the wall

I would love to overhear the meetings between Rove and Bush on the prospect of bumping Cheney off the ticket (by manufacturing a sudden onset of heart palpitations), in order to replace him with a man who can guarantee Bush's victory, i.e., Colin Powell. (Scroll down to see the dramatic switch of poll numbers when Powell is added to Bush's ticket.)

Also, I'd love to hear the phonecall between Cheney and his physician when Cheney tells him how is heart is palpitating and complaining that he can't continue as Veep because of the ongoing pressure and the obligation he has to the American people to be fit enough to assume those duties.

Believe me, fans, Cheney's going to have an "event" in the next two months. In George Tenet's words, "It's a slam dunk."

Exhausted

I'm getting tired, very tired, of following the pre-election course and the ongoing outrages of the Bush regime. I weary of reading, much less blogging about, the various reports of defects and evildoings of our legislators and executives.

This time in American history is so urgently important that my pitiful musings and writings, as well as my marching and protesting, feel silly. Not just ineffective, but worse: I feel that the true "opiate of the people" is that which is spread by the cynical falsehood that we as individuals can do anything about the monolithic forces that are running (ruining) our nation and the world; and that I have swallowed a dose of that opiate.

Friday, July 09, 2004

Summer in Iraq

For you sadists, here's a site that tracks the weather in Baghdad daily.

It's going to cool down to the lower hundred-teens in the next few days. Today's high? 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Do Veeps Matter?

This oft-asked question needs to be broken down a bit. Matter to the pundits? Of course. They need daily fodder for their articles, and so we're being inundated with Cheney and Edwards stories, pro and con. Matter to the voters? Maybe not, most years. But it's possible that in the cases of Mondale/Ferraro and Gore/Lieberman, where a woman and a Jew were the candidates, maybe.

This year, it's possible that Edwards could help Kerry because he's so different, in every dimension, from Cheney. He's young, vital, populist, attractive, persuasive and so on, while Cheney's the opposite, bigtime. Indeed, during the week Edwards was chosen the rumors of a move to drop Cheney from the Republican ticket have resurfaced.

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Daily Iraq

This site posts, in quick summary, the daily happenings in Iraq, with emphasis on the violence, preceding each item with Bush's quote,"Bring 'em on."

It's presently a day--and five more US soldiers' deaths--behind.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

John-John vs. Bush-Dick

My reaction to Kerry's choice for Veep is surprisingly favorable, given that I'm a peacenik, and neither of these candidates shares my view of our need to withdraw our troops from Iraq as soon as possible.

Libertarian Justin Raimondo, in this essay in which he favorably critiques a new film, Hijacking Catastrophe, has nailed me perfectly. I'm so driven to get rid of Bush/Cheney that I'm able to forget that the Democratic candidates are really no better then they are on the war issue. I suppose my only justification, besides the obvious, is this: What else can I do?

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Four more Marines

Three were killed yesterday, and four more today. And not a whisper of these deaths on the news. It seems that the "turnover" has led to a turnoff by the US media.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Group website claims ...

I've been wondering something lately. Below is an article at Aljazeera which says that certain savage terrorists in Iraq claim they haven't actually cut a captive Marine's head off, yet. And they claim this through their Web site. My question is this:

Why do such articles, which refer to Web sites of terrorists, never provide a link or the URL of the supposed Web site? The Aljazeera article isn't just about the group's denial, but specifically about their Web site's denial. And I can't find the Web site with Google. How do we know it even exists?

I'm just curious what such a Web site would look like, not that I expect it to be in English for my convenience. I mean, how much effort to they put into the interface, the aesthetics, presentation? Do they maybe have some nifty mouse-over before-and-after photos of blown up bystanders? A nice coat of arms, crossed-sabres over a field of camelshit rampant?

Just wondering.

Aljazeera.Net - Group website claims US marine beheaded: "Ansar al-Sunna"

Amnesty for insurgents?

Ya gotta love it. If the interim government in Iraq grants amnesty to those who've resisted the Bush occupation, it will drive the Limbaughs and the Savages and the Michael Reagans absolutely nuts. I wouldn't be surprised if we have riots in the streets of middle America. Not surprised at all. Delighted.