Thursday, June 15, 2006

I knew this was going to get ugly

A day after WaPo reports that the Iraqi government is suggesting giving amnesty to insurgents who killed only American troops--see my previous post on this subject--the Iraqi who WaPo quoted, a highly-placed minister, resigns. And Democrats in Congress howl in dismay, while no one else comments. Whatever's going on isn't pretty, but I gotta tell ya, I love it.

I can't wait to hear the answer to this question

Addressed to Bush, or even to his press secretary: "What do you think of the statement by al-Maliki that the Iraq government 'will definitely' consider granting amnesty to those Iraqis whose only insurgent attacks were against US forces, not civilians?"

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The silent majority

That phrase, you might recall, was adopted by the Right back in the day when they were out of power. It galvanized the arch-conservatives (and conservatives too) by giving them at once hope and cause and potential for power. And it worked. Look around.

Now, it seems, a new Silent Majority exists in this nation. Those who are unheeded and unheard about this awful ongoing tragedy in Iraq (and its outgrowths, such as torture and unscrutinized, indeterminate detention of prisoners, and wiretapping, and rendition and...) and who're more than displeased, they're angry.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Damn!

Rove won't be charged.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Will the MSM ever report this?

The economy--not as Wall Street sees it, not as corporate reports show it, but as wage-earning Americans experience it--sucks.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

George Bush is holding a meeting with advisors to learn whazzup in Iraq and what our future course might be. His meeting is filling the headlines.

Does it occur to you that the president of the US engaging in thinking and consulting and planning shouldn't be a major news event? Isn't that why the president makes the big bucks?

Except, I guess, Bush, for whom such a session is extraordinary, definitely newsworthy. Which says everything about who we, as a nation, have become.

Rove redux?

Recall about a month ago when I reported the imminent indictment of Karl Rove? Well, so far no further news about the progress of the case against him, except this item, by the same reporter who filed the earlier story about Rove's charges.

As a former lawyer who worked in federal court, I agree with the writer: a sealed indictment entitled "Sealed vs. Sealed" is unique. And intriguing.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Who would name their kid "Arlen"?

This is essentially the question the NYT is asking, when it recounts on today's editorial page the ongoing, mysteriously obeisant deference that Senator Specter (supposedly a decent fellow, albeit a Republican) continues to exhibit toward the fascists who rule the executive branch. Will we (that's us American citizens) ever learn about the NSA domestic spying operation? Will the Senate (or anybody?) ever tell us what this wholesale phonecall-screening program is about?

Will Arlen Specter ever get a spine?

We need to know this

The US Army's destruction of Fallujah and the seige of the city in 2004 (actually, there's Fallujah I--retribution for the brutal killing of four contractors, recall--followed by Fallujah II which leveled the city) has been somewhat well documented, albeit after the fact. But now we're doing the same thing to Ramadi. Will the US public learn of this--or care?

Wishful thinking

I suppose it was unrealistic of me to think that the US-installed government in Iraq might consider ending US troops' occupation. Looks like we're stuck there at the whim of Iraq's politicians, whose positions--and perhaps survival--depend on our protection.