Saturday, July 30, 2005

Bean counting

For a detailed review of the recent casualty figures in Iraq and trends, check out this post. Not heartening, not at all. For an ongoing tabulation, this site's the best. The ghoul in me hits the latter every day, despising Bush/Cheney while I do so, because they've caused me to cheer our increasing death-toll.

Pat Buchanan, Republican whore

For years, Pat Buchanan, a Nixon/Reagan stalwart and conservative commentator on the AntiWar blog, has railed against the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I've linked to his writings often, including this post, well-written and incisive.

But he backed Bush/Cheney in both campaigns, notwithstanding that they brought us this awful, tragic war. Why? Because, he said, the alternative, Kerry/Edwards, offered him no choice on the conduct of the war and proposed a liberal domestic agenda, which he opposed.

Here's what I say to Buchanan. Shut up about the war, shut the fuck up! You gave your vote to Bush/Cheney, so shut the fuck up.

Your opinion, please

Okay, here's a report of a car bombing in Baghdad that apparently targeted Iraqi police (killing four of them) that also killed or injured several "innocent bystanders." Is this appropriately called an act of insurgency with "collateral damage," an act of "terrorism," "negligent homicide" or what? If the Soviet Union had occupied the U.S., and Americans were working as police to uphold that occupation, wouldn't an attack on those police by an outraged American be heroic, even though innocent Americans were killed in the process? I dunno, just asking.

Friday, July 29, 2005

The wheels are off

I'm not going to make the effort to provide links to all the stories that contain these facts (it takes too much patience), so you can either trust me or find them yourself through Google or various blogs. These are all current events, taken from today's news accounts.

We're running out of fish--the major fisheries in all oceans are startingly depleted. Our beaches are growing filthy. Global warming is here. Our Congress just passed an energy bill that omits requirements that our cars become more fuel efficient, and the House passed CAFTA, which guts the US job market and exploits foreign workers and the environment, for the benefit of multinational corporations.
The war in Iraq is growing bloodier, there are deep schisms in the positions of the various factions that are said to comprise its "freely elected" government, and women will lose significant freedoms under the eventual constitution. Terrorist attacks are now common in Europe, especially in nations that supported the US invasion of Iraq.
Middle class income in the US is down, credit-card and mortgage debt is skyrocketing, the disparity between rich and poor, nationally and internationally, is greater than during the "Gilded Age."
Corporations (banks, defense contractors and oil companies, mostly) are prospering, while the availability of health care to workers is spiraling downward, now become rare in some industries, particularly the service industry. America's deficits--both in international trade and in balancing its governmental fiscal policy--are higher than ever in history.

That's today's news, folks. And the good news? I'm in California, and the day on the east coast is almost over.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

A fine kettle of fish

So--Turkey wants the U.S., occupiers of Iraq, to send troops up to the north part of Iraq to quell the Kurdish guerillas that are attacking into Turkey from there. We, of course, have stayed out of the north for our own reasons, and the Turks are getting tired of our one-sided treatment of terrorism, since they (and we) have labeled those Kurdish guerillas terrorists.

Oh, goody. Now we get to fight another country's war on foreign soil. We reap what we sow.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Blood in the water?

Thank goodness for WaPo's Walter Pincus. A true "liberal media" person. This story about Rovegate reveals that the prosecutor Fitzgerald has smelled blood, and has included in his inquiry the fascinating question of how the 18 words about "uranium from Africa" found their way into Bush's state of the union address, when the CIA had earlier stricken the reference from a previous speech by Bush. Recall how deliberate Bush's reference was: He attributed the information to British intelligence, an obvious way to avoid the dispute that was evident in US sources.

Could it be that there will be indictments? With the grand jury's term (and hence Fitzgerald's task) concluding in October, we don't have long to wait.

More mystifying

My reflections on the ambivalence of recent poll results, see my post, "Mystifying" below, are highlighted by this story, that cites a poll where a majority now believes Bush "deliberately misled" us about the existence of WMD in Iraq, that we're unlikely to "win" the war, but (what?!) that we were right to invade.

What does that say about our leadership, about our democracy, about pollsters, about the media, and--most fundamentally--about how Bush has Americans exactly where he wants them, dazed and confused.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

The silence is deafening

I guess I understand. Nobody likes to hear bad news, but the media thrives on it anyway. So why, in view of the ongoing misery in Iraq (bombings, shootings, devastation), do we hear so little about it on the mainstream media? I'll tell you why. Because it's old news, that's why.

God, this is a cynical culture we've created. Surely, God didn't create it, did He?

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Boy oh boy, this Iraqi sure gets around

Two separate "terrorist attacks," weeks apart, as reported by the US Army. But guess what? An Iraqi who witnessed one of the attacks somehow finds himself at the site of the second attack and is quoted by the Army again. Same quote.

Is this an ubiquitous Iraqi talking, or the Army's spin doctor?

Neither. It was an "error."