Conspiracy theories redux

In earlier posts, I posited a "summer surprise" followed by an "October surprise" that Bush would spring on the Demos. In July, during the Demo convention, Cheney would announce he wasn't running after all (too sick, or something, to endure another term), which would divert attention from the Demo convention while the press speculates on Bush's veep (a woman, possibly?); to be followed by his announcement of "victory" in Iraq and the repatriation of the bulk of our troops (except those needed to guard the oil supply of course) with flags waving and trumpets blaring.

But I like Richard's theory better: They've got Osama and Saddam already in their sights, maybe even have laser lights focused on their foreheads, just waiting for Karl Rove's signal. Another, more macabre version: They've already killed both of them and have done the DNA confirmation and are now just waiting for Rove to tell them when it's most propitious to "discover" the bones.

Richard Presents Observations from the Sonoran Desert on the "Look Out Below" post

An economics essayist wrote recently of a "silver bullet" that's going to secure CommChief George's re-election: The Devaluing of the Dollar, that is, weakening it against foreign currencies.
Under this theory, a cheaper dollar will bring about higher prices on imported items which will cause domestic goods to look more attractive to buyers (Take that, you Rising Sun, patent-stealing, auto dumpers!) This will in turn generate more jobs for Americanos (and their border-crossing companeros); which gets the Dow back over the 10.5K level that George inherited from Bill (for the benefit of the high-dollar, Elephantine donor, insider-trading market manipulators) and helps American global corporations' goal of LOWERING our standard of living; and allowing them (Eisenhower's "military/industrial complex” now redesigned as the corporate/political complex) to keep American workers union-protection deficient and low paid.

It will also make us look more supportive and less evil to our Euro brethren; and bring the Europeans into thesqueezee play we're trying to put on the Chinois' artificial tinkering with their currency (as our exported bucks build their massive weapons/army).

End result? JefeJorje gets to look wondrous in dealing with "... the economy, stupid..."
about 4-5 months from now, after terrific holiday shopping and spending numbers and as the Donkeys are scrambling to find issues, any issues, that will stick during their 9 member, barnstorming roadtrip, trying to find a starting pitcher possessing that good, live, high-and-tight, knockdown-pitch fastball.

And just to feed the conspiracy freak in all of us, don't you know as an absolute certainty that US Army Special Ops and dark projects people are tracking Saddam and Osama and will snatch them in October '04 just when Gjunior needs to seal the re-election deal?

Richard

Look out below

This pre-Iraq war article about the relationship between oil, the dollar and the euro is one of many that suggest that there is an international move afoot to loosen the longstanding tie between oil pricing and the dollar, such that a shift to pricing (and selling) oil for euros could start a dramatic decline in the value of the dollar by diminishing its importance as the currency in which international reserves are held. Venezuela, as well as some middle eastern countries (Iraq, before the war, among them) had begun to price its oil in euros. And now, the world's second largest exporter (after Saudi Arabia), namely our good old buddy Russia, may be considering doing so.
The current exchange rate between the euro and the dollar is 1/1.17, that is, one euro buys $1.17, which is near an all-time high of about $1.18 reached last June. It will be interesting to see what this latest news about Russian oil (if it's effected) will do to the relationship between the currencies.

The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace

My friend Erik has brought up something very scary. I wonder how it happened that it was dumped in the media during Christmas week last year? If you're going to report something without much public notice, that's the time to do it. And I have no doubt that George Orwell would be profoundly impressed. Here's the whole story on The President's own official Web site. And the original story from the NY Times.

I'm not going to read it all right now. While I was over at my bookcases looking for my copy of 1984, I noticed several new books I haven't read yet, including a few new ones on dogs. I love dogs. I also noticed my clock, a 1930 Telechron, which keeps great time. It's very late.

In the mean time, Hey! Big Brother! Can you see the gesture I'm making in front of my monitor? Don't have that technology down yet? Well, I'll just keep making it until you do. And incidentally, I'm not doing my calisthenics, you totalitarian bullies.

The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace

So many outrages, so little blog

Notwithstanding the title of this weblog, All That Arises, I'm trying to limit my posts to comments upon Bush's warmongering. There's surely plenty to write about on that subject. But that doesn't mean I'm not also enraged at the other manifestations of his madness, such as fostering commercial exploitation of endangered species and monitoring the Internet. In fact, it seems like Bush is going out of his way--in some demented expression of gratuitous fascism--to despoil our planet and destroy our freedoms.
But, as I said, I'm trying to keep my posts limited to his warmongering, so I won't say anymore about the maniac's other mania. Unless...

Now wait a goddam minute

Our soldiers, behind the wheels of bulldozers and to the amplified sound of jazz music, are ripping out Iraqis' orchards? Isn't this the same despicable conduct that Israel engages in?
If ever there was doubt that we are an occupying army--not a whit different from Nazis in Belgium in 1943--this report must dispel it.
Will we read about it in the American press? Let's just wait and see.

Robertson's nuke comment

Pat Robertson is crazy, has been for years. I mean he's really insane. The question is why he hasn't been arrested so he can get a little court-mandated treatment. Dissent and free speech are vital, but nobody has the right to advocate the violent overthrow of the government using weapons of mass destruction, resulting in incalculable devastation. Scary!Salon.com News

Phases of the Moon

Thanks for sharing the piece about the moon, Erik. I noticed it rising as I was driving home this evening, big and pale orange. This time of year, it seems to rise from Lake Casitas, reminding me of happy times fishing there with my Dad and our dogs. Anyway, it was the harvest moon, alright. I checked the Navy's moon phase calendar, and it was full a little under two hours ago.

This is my favorite time of year, the days growing shorter, more contemplative, but not yet the crisp, bluewhite elegy of winter.
Phases of the Moon

Rebel Without Applause

In the past two months, Erik and I have had a string of e-mails from a person who disagreed with us, and from her posse. See “Dear Persons …” on 10/6/03, below. We declined to post her opinions, then changed our minds, as Erik explained on 10/6. We also have opinions. We posted hers, we posted ours. But we are still hearing from her, now through her sister, demanding that we explain ourselves. I thought Erik did a great job of that on Monday.

Apparently, they expected we would post Kerry's opinions, and not post our own. This is getting weird. And ever the fan of the absurd, I thought I’d play Kafka and share it with our friends. Take it to the people, in the spirit of our new governor-elect. My thoughts:

• It's our personal blog - we get to put stuff on it. And decide what goes up.

• If you want to know why we disagreed, read our blog. That's what it's for.

• I never understood why Kerry wanted to be on our Web site in the first place. She's not going to change our minds about that prevaricating pretender in the White House or his flying monkeys. I don't mean that in a bad way. I say it with all due respect.

• I don't know how many people are reading our site, but I think it's basically just our friends and relatives. A few random surfers. If Kerry thinks she’s getting her opinion out to a big audience on All That Arises, she’s mistaken. Our readers are few, but we love them. Saying so probably won’t get me a beer, but it’s worth a try.

• What’s most bizarre, why does Kerry care what we think about her opinions? Why are our opinions of her opinions of any value to her at all? She obviously has no respect for us or our thoughts, and we’ve been clear the feeling is mutual.

• As I've told Kerry three times now, she can get her own free blog. On every blog, you will find a link that takes you to the company that hosts it. Click it, and go and sign up and Viola! You're a published Internet writer just like us. It's easy.

• Or you can send your opinions to the newspaper, or cnn.com, or time.com, or www.whitehouse.gov. Be creative. Hey, I'll bet Rush Limbaugh would love to get letters in rehab.

• Now that we have this person’s problem solved, I don't seen any need for her and her sister, their mother and friends to write to us anymore. They don't need us to get published. And I don't think we're gonna be friends and go our for coffee and stuff. So it's better if we just break this off now. Don't feel bad, it's not you, it's us. We just can’t make the commitment to a protracted dialog with fascism incarnate right now. Another blog will come along and make you all forget all about our little personal web site. Thanks for understanding. Be happy, and have a good life.

• BUSH LIED, PEOPLE DIED!

Hunters' Moon

As I was surfing the Internet, which is a thing I do as a normal, early 2000's person in America, I stumbled on this series of definitions of the various full moons we observe during the year. I highly recommend you go there, and read the deeply-moving descriptions of what our forebearers knew and felt--and reckoned--as each moon moved through their lives.
Did they concern themselves with which football team was number one, or which Nascar driver was in the lead? Did they await the arrival of the NYT on their doorstep or the latest stock market report? I think not. They lived lives so much truer to truth than we. Could we ever go there again, as a race, as a culture, as a world?
No.

Don't look now

Don't look now, but apparently America is circling the drain, overdue for a head-on collision with apocalypse. This according to some folks in the UK.

Hey hosers, let all like move to Canada, eh. I like Moosehead and back bacon, ya know. Time to take off, hosers, for the land of comped medical and no Mexican food.

Rumsfeld on the run

Condoleezza Rice has stolen Rumsfeld's comfy chair at the head of the Iraq restoration table. He so wants to avoid the issue, he's apparently staying in his room to cry into his pillow. I have a hunch things will be tense at the neocon haloween party this year. I'm guessing Rice will go as Joan of Arc, Rumsfeld as Alfred E. Newman. Looks like Rumsfeld, doesn't he?
CNN.com - Rumsfeld avoids questions on Iraq role - Oct. 9, 2003

Justin's Waffle

Check out Justin's Waffle, a blog at justinalexander.net. He's a young British consultant with Jubilee Iraq in Baghdad. He comes recommended by Riverbend, and rightly so.

Here's a sample, which I rather enjoyed:

"Met with the Kurdish Islamic Party today. They were cute. Some people might assume they would be religious fanatics hardened by centuries as an oppressed people without a country of their own. Maybe they are. But they also laugh a lot, particularly at my attempts at Kurdish ... They even had a stack of Pokemon (Japanese childrens cartoon) exercise books for their official notes!"

Troubles in River City

What, I've been wondering, happened to the complaints by Tribune Bremer-appointed Iraq Governing Council's about his awarding reconstruction contracts to American firms, when local firms stood ready to do the work? Well, silly me, I should have known. The same thing that happened to the Council's complaints about training Iraq policemen in Jordan; and the latest outrage, his bringing Turkish troops into Iraq as "peacekeepers."
What happened to these complaints, you ask? They were buried--Bremer refused to allow the Council to publish its complaints about them.

Please, just for a moment, imagine how it felt to be in Vichy France in 1943. The only thing missing is jackboots. But of course we have night-vision goggles.

Arranging deckchairs on the Titanic

Bush's latest manipulation of unreality, the creation of the Iraqi Stabilization Group, to be headed by Condie Rice; and the administration's deluge of speeches touting progress in Iraq, would be comical if it weren't so tragic. As one commentator said, to the claim that Iraqi children were going back to school, "They went to school before we made war on them."

It doesn't get any worse than this

I've blogged chiefly about international outrages of our present administration, but this news item about the barbarity of our criminal law must be revealed. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that it constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment to execute a person who's too crazy to comprehend the nature of his punishment, a lower court in Arkansas has determined that it's legal to inject such a person with drugs in order to make him sane enough to satisfy the sanity test for execution--and then execute him! (The Supreme Court declined to hear the man's appeal.)

Gorby speaks out

Yah know, after the Soviet Union broke up, we ended up with the wrong leader. This guy's right on.

A New NYT Columnist, a laugh a minute

After I read two recent op-eds by David Brooks, I had to check his bio, because I wasn't quite sure if he was serious or a clever satirist of Bush-licking columnists. Perhaps, I thought, the Gray Lady had decided to spread some cheer on its editorial page.
Well, I was wrong. By God, this guy, who's a brand-new addition to the Times, comes straight from The Weekly Standard, and he really means what he says. His piece about Hummers and Harleys is, therefore, even more hilarious; but his latest, about the rosy prospects of the various factions' agreement during the drafting of Iraq's constitution is absolutely side-splitting.
For example, after telling us how well the process is proceeding (BTW, it's not being written yet; all that the Council is considering is how to create a body to draft it) Brooks concedes "gigantic problems remain." Things like the role of religion in government, distributing power among the various factions, little things like that. The biggest laugh, though, is his observation that women might be a bit concerned if the document doesn't address some of the thorny social issues, such as "polygamy and honor killings."
Yeah, if I were an Iraqi woman, I might be concerned too.

Let Them Eat War

This essay is the most incisive I've read on the question of why blue-collar males are tending to vote Republican, especially pro-Bush. It posits the concept of the "Nascar Dad," whose long-suffering losses in money, stature and hope have caused the undifferentiated anger that Bush appeals to with his macho imagery, his bullying ways.
I've written the author at the website where the article appears and suggested that the phenomenon she describes has now crossed into the Latino community, as evidenced by its recent pro-Arnold vote, creating a new category of disaffected, angry voters for the far right to exploit, the "Oakland Raider Dad."

We liberals are very slow to learn

Look, my fellow liberal/progressive/Bush-haters, why do you decry the Justice Department's one-day delay in ordering production of the White House records in the Plame-gate case, and, for that matter, the months-long delay in the actions of the White House to track down the leak of Valerie's name to Novak? Why do you rail against the obfuscation of the President's Press Secretary, Scott McClellan; and the obstruction caused by possible White House claims of "executive privilege?" I say, let the rascals have at it--the more delay, denial and obstruction the better.

Remember, please, that the exquisite bliss of Watergate summer was the Chinese water-torture of it. We were treated to months of delight, from Judge Sirica's pronouncements of suspicion, to WaPo's breathless reports, to Sam Ervin's crafty phrases and delicious drawl, to the fabulous daily drip of tapes, to Chairman Rodino's eventual raps of the gavel announcing the articles of impeachment.

So revel in Bush's recalcitrance, celebrate his truculent resistance and nay-saying. This is the stuff of which enduring scandals are made.

Here's how Hitler did it

He controlled the media. Imagine, getting Reuters to run a ten-inch story about how the President plans to present his case for the invasion of Iraq even before he does it. Followed, of course, by days of reports of his doing so.

How can the opposition prevail over that? Will truth prevail? Will justice and right and goodness? If we draw any lesson from this evening's recall election, it is this: No. Resoundingly no.

So why am I now committed to be more strident than ever in my opposition to Der Fuehrer?

Because I must be.

Statement by Governor Dean on the Recall

Sorry if I offended anyone with my previous post. I don't retract my remarks, because the election is absurd. But I didn't have to be so frank about it.

Here's what Howard Dean has to say about it; he's much clearer-headed than I am:
Blog for America : Statement by Governor Dean on the California Recall | October 07, 2003

Ritter for President

Please, if you wish to hear a powerful right-on voice on the subject of WMD's, give a listen to this incisive BBC interview with Scott Ritter, a former US military man, formerly a UN weapons inspector in Iraq. This guy's the real thing and his message is strong and sound.

Oh No

A word to anyone surfing by, who voted for Schwartzenegger:

You fools. You ridiculous, asinine fools. You voted for him 'cause he's cool, didn't you, you morons? You voted for him despite his glaring lack of any redeeming qualifications for the job, and utter lack of relevant experience. You voted for him out of anger and ignorance. In fact, you didn't vote for Ahhnold so much as you voted against the recession, and that, you miserable, short-sighted jerks, is bald stupidity.

Well, thanks, you great band of unwashed idiots. Now we've got the government we deserve. And God protect the children of California, because they can't all sell souvenirs at Disneyland.

I'm scared, really scared

The numbers favoring recall and electing Arnold are frightening. A landslide, which the demographers will, I predict, determine cut across ethnic, economic, social lines. Arnold Schwarzenegger (regardless of his beliefs and principles, which are, even now, unknown) carried all facets of California's voting population because he had name recognition and a body of motivated, well-financed supporters.

Does such a scenario call another election to mind, like maybe the 2004 Presidential one? Does Arnold's election presage upcoming campaigns where money and minority motivation translate into skillful and pervasively-presented packaging and resultant victory?

I am now so frightened by the prospect of George Bush winning in 2004 that I am driven to choose. Either I wade in and scream and claw against it; or I resign from the fray and seek refuge in the nation of my forebears (if they'll have me), Sweden.

I'll let you know what I decide when I decide.

Damn it

We've got Bush on the run and now this: Wesley Clark shoots himself in the foot again.

Look, my fellow ABB ("Anybody But Bush") citizens, we've got to get our act together or that idiot/demon/warmonger will win by default, just as he's won everything else he's ever won in his life.

Damn, this irritates me. Makes me want to enter politics just to get a handle on this madness and, for once, do the right thing.

Nevermind. I don't have the stomach or the temperament for it. As someone once told me, "We don't elect the best person President, we elect the best politician."

A Buddhist lawyer (I know, I know--it's a contradiction) offers wisdom

The following principles--so profoundly simple--are to me those to which we must aspire in this very life. My good friend and fellow attorney, Leonard, has reminded me that they apply now more than ever in the present world of constant armed conflict between mind-blessed beings.

Mind is the forerunner of all actions.
All deeds are led by mind, created by mind.
If one speaks or acts with a corrupt mind, suffering follows,
As the wheel follows the hoof of the ox pulling a cart.

Mind is the forerunner of all actions.
All deeds are led by mind, created by mind.
If one speaks or acts with a serene mind, happiness follows,
As surely as one’s shadow.

He abused me, mistreated me, defeated me, robbed me.
Harboring such thoughts keeps hatred alive.
Releasing such thoughts banish hatred for all time.

Animosity does not eradicate animosity.
Only by loving-kindness is animosity dissolved.
The law is ancient and eternal.

An impeachable lie

Okay, I'm an active anti-Bushie, but I've never subscribed to the impeachment talk, largely because of its unlikelihood, also because of its impact on America right now. But most significantly because I've not found a directly impeachable offense in all of Bush's lies and conduct, however evil. Not impeachable, I've reasoned, because not involving moral turpitude, and not amounting to "high crimes and misdemeanors."

But the lies he repeatedly told about Saddam Hussein's links to Al Qaida, his scare tactics that goaded the Congress and the public into war, came close. And now this, a lie by omission, pushes the case against him over the top. The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) he claims to have relied on in making war, contained the clearly-stated conclusion that Saddam was not likely to attack the US, or join with terrorists to do so, unless he was desperate; in other words, unless Iraq was attacked, or in imminent danger of being attacked.

Not a peep about this CIA conclusion, because it flew in the face of Bush's plans to invade Iraq. But that's not the indictable, impeachable part. What Bush did was lie to the Congress (this conclusion was not included in the censored version of the NIE that the White House allowed the Congress to read) and the rest of us, over a matter which jeopardized our lives and property. He deliberately failed to tell us that attacking Iraq would, in the judgment of the intelligence he knew, place us at greater risk for harm and the spread of terrorism to our shores, than if we did not attack.

And that, mein dammen und herren, is treason.

What a revoltin' development this is!

According to the ticker on Islam Online, the Turkish Parliament has approved sending Turkish troops into Iraq, as the US has requested. According to the same ticker, the Governing Council of Iraq (the Bremer-appointed bunch of Iraqis), has unanimously vote to reject Turkish troops. I haven't seen these developments reported anywhere else yet, but if true (a) it will be interesting to see how they're covered, and (b) even more fascinating to see how Tribune Bremer and his bosses Bush and Rummie (and now Condie Rice) deal with it.

WMDs?

It has been suggested that we post a balance of reactions to David Kay's report about his WMD search. Instead, herewith is a link to the entire interim report delivered to Congress a few days ago.

If, after reading it, anyone still believes an invasion costing billions of US dollars and thousands of lives -- as opposed to continued UN monitoring and inspections costing perhaps a few million UN dollars and no lives -- was worth it, well, for such person I suggest therapy.

The American Saddam

A report from "on the ground" in Iraq. The numbers (of dollars spent on American contractors as opposed to Iraqi companies; of schools repaired and still untouched, and so forth) are staggering. And the disdain with which Tribune Bremer and his minions treat the people we are supposed to have liberated is sad indeed.

Tolerating the intolerant

Kyle and I have, after some deliberation, posted the preceding entry ("Dear Men and Women..."), by "Kerry," notwithstanding its intolerant, offensive content. We did so because we were told that otherwise we would be guilty of censoring posts to our blog; and I, for one, felt it wise to alert readers to the type of thought I find we have no obligation to purvey. After all, the person who wrote this entry has an equal opportunity to create her own weblog or otherwise to spread her thoughts to all who want to read them.

What saddens me--and first gave Kyle and me pause in spreading this person's thoughts--is the writer's expressed desire, as a self-professed "student of history," to live in a world in which "we must play dirty against dirty players," in which "Saddam is a terrorist who deserves death," and in which the French are labeled "cowards and double talkers, just like they were in W.W.II." These are not the thoughts of anyone I care to be around. They are the babblings of a distorted, demented mind.
The saddest part of it is that although such writers are entitled to the same freedoms of expression that we all enjoy, they consider themselves students of history when they know nothing, and have learned nothing from the past. Even worse, they have a vote in America, just as do those thoughtful caring citizens who truly deserve to participate in our democratic system.

Dear men and women of the same simplistic thinking

An Opposing Viewpoint received by e-mail:

Dear men and women of the same simplistic thinking.

Like other presidents, including LBJ and Kennedy--who got us into
Vietnam--and Carter--a nice guy who extended our problems with Iran for 40 times longer
than they needed to be, I think we can assume that Bush's justification for war
was exaggerated if measured by tangible evidence.

However, it is foolish to believe that weapons of mass destruction did not
exist in Iraq as early as 16 months ago, nor that they would not have returned
to Iraq and been employed, probably against Israel and the US, had the invasion
not taken place.

It is foolish to believe that Saddam would not have directly or indirectly
financed a nuclear bomb against the US in the future.

Weapons of mass destruction are not why we needed to invade Iraq. It goes
much deeper than that, and the WMD excuse was erroneously cited as justification.

We must realize that our new enemy is not a single country, it is an
extremist religion known by several names including Jihad. We must rigorously pursue
this enemy in whatever country harbors its infrastructure or members. We must
not "play fairly" and be the fools that Saddam and his peers rely on us to
be. We must play dirty against dirty fighters.

Saddam is a terrorist who deserves death.
At the very least, he paid families of martyred bombers a $25,000 reward for
their acts of terrorism. This is sponsoring terrorism.
He had WMD in the past, using them against his own people and others.
He cannot show where these WMD were destroyed or where they are now.
In 1991 he moved his weapons to his brother in hate, Iran, because he knew we
could not pursue them there. This is probably where the WMD are now. Or they
are in Iraq, hidden--a simple task considering that Iraq is the size of
California (would it be hard to hide 20 semi trucks in California, if you had 2
years to do so? Get real)
Saddam invaded Kuwait without provocation, then set its oil wells afire,
causing an environmental disaster and economic devastation for other Arabs. He
should be hated by liberals and conservatives.
Saddam had over a dozen UN resolutions that would have saved him from
invasion. He chose to obey none of them.
The Sept 11 attack and other attacks against American troops came at us when
we had invaded no Muslim country.

And you think that not attacking terrorist nations will cause that to stop?

Had France lost it's Louvre in a Sept 11 type raid, I wonder how much peace
they would be promoting now. Actually, probably a lot, as they are cowards and
double talkers, just like they were in W.W.II. In fact, at the time that
Hitler invaded them, their military was as strong in all measurable ways as that
of Germany. It was their cowardice that cost the world hundreds of thousands
of lives. If they are attacked again, by whomever, they should be left on
their own.

Pan Arab hatred for Americans is based mostly on our support of Israel. Such
support may be wrong, but it will not change. Get used to it. If it does
change, the Arab extremists, for the most part young men who do not want to work
for a living and are involved in the power of a cult, will use history as
their hate justification. They will always find a reason to do what they do,
because it makes them feel important.

The war against Iraq, and against any nation that harbors terrorists, is not
only justified, it is necessary. Bush, poorly equipped in many ways, is
courageous however for rooting out the enemy in the face of such irrational yet
powerful resistance by a minority of uninformed citizens who I suspect hate
their own country, and for the most part, their own lives.

Doing nothing against a clear aggressor sounds wonderful, but our own
personal lives with bullies, and world history, has shown us time and time again that
it does not work. The only thing that men like Saddam and Quadaffi fear is
the loss of their harems, property, power, and lifestyles.

Sincerely,

Kerry, a student of history [e-mail]

Israel attacks sites in Syria

News

I'm too tired to write about the truly weighty issues raised here, such as the right to national self defense, the crime of state-sponsored terrorism, or the sovereignty of international borders. But I can't help wondering if Washington knew about the attacks beforehand. And whether the Bush administration has finally really lost influence over Israel.

Of Avocados and Kalashnikovs

Today I attended the annual Avocado Festival in Carpinteria, ten miles east of SB. It's a typical "festival," with craft and food booths, live bands, strolling locals and tourists--always with ocean-cooled breezes and late-afternoon warmth. I meandered up and down Linden Avenue holding aloft my sign--a five-foot pole bearing an erasable placard that presently asks on one side, "Hey, Hey, USA, How many soldiers died today?" and on the other, "Bush-Cheney: $87 billion more--R U Nuts?"

The Festival was mobbed. I stood on the sidewalk in silent vigil for some of the time, but mostly walked through it, sign aloft, for two hours. The Democratic Party had a booth; the Republicans too (with a lifesized photo of the Terminator on one side, of Bush on the other), and so I wasn't the only political voice there--although it felt like it a lot of the time. When I first started my stroll, a security guard moved to my side, spoke these words quietly, "Look buddy, I agree with your sign--don't get me wrong. But if you get into a ruckus over it, move away, just move away, okay?" I said, "Okay." He could not have been more direct, helpful and right on. I did not want to lose any teeth or limbs--not with yet a year to go until we get rid of Bush!

Of those who commented on my message, 30% were unfavorable (from "Shove that sign up your ass!" to "Those soldiers are dying for your freedom!" (?) ); and 70% were pro, some with a quickly-flashed peace sign or supportive whisper, some with a kind tap on the shoulder, a few with strident agreement, including, often, the comment, "You've got a lot of guts-right on!" Ninety-nine percent said nothing, indicated nothing. Needless to say, I kept my teeth. Kept my sign, too. Illuminating experience for me. Look for me at your local shopping center.

The side of my sign that questioned the death toll drew the most comments, pro and con, but the side protesting the money thing--the 87 billion--drew comments like, "What a waste," and "What can we do?"

I shrugged, could only shrug. Long ago, when I learned the law (see previous post for my confession that I was a lawyer) I was told that the House of Representatives held the purse. And yet nowadays these humungous monetary sums are presented by the Executive Branch and approved without meaningful hearings and attention by Congress, even though those for whom the monies are being expended are protesting that it's too much! Why indeed must we buy thousands of new rifles for soldiers who already have rifles? Why must we build Iraq from scratch, using American specs, American workers, when there's a hungry labor force in place and an eager industrial base ready to build?

The war was madness. The peacekeeping is madness. The rebuilding is madness. The madness of King George.

Eating Crow with Wild Rice

Faced with the inescapable fact that plans have gone to hell in a halftrack in Iraq and Afghanistan, the president (Secret Service codename "Big Stetson") has ordered a major reorganization of efforts Over There. This includes the creation of an "Iraq Stabalization Group." And here's the sweet part: that's headed by NSA Condoleezza Rice.

It couldn't be better. Mr. Bush is simply not going to learn to cut loose his liabilities. And until he does, he's doomed, and the odds of getting a Democrat in the White House improve. Go get 'em, Connie! Cowboy up!

Yeah, sure it's like baseball ... isn't everything? It's like watching a pitcher throwing wild, beaning batters ... and the coach just won't take her out.

Daily Kos: Do Over in Iraq and Afghanistan

He ain't heavy, he's my...

I, Erik, one of this blog's co-authors, confess to this: I spent three decades as a lawyer in private practice. In that capacity I came to know many lawyers, none of whom, however, approaches John--a contributor to this blog from time to time (including the following insight)--in terms of dedication to the true value of law practice: to help those in need. This man, who happens to be my older brother (I'm "outing" him, I know, but that's in vogue lately), offers this post:

"Despite our society's remarkable achievements in the area of representative democracy, we are aware, as lawyers, of the tremendous obstacles posed by the people in power, Republicans or Democrats, who have the instruments of wealth or politics at their disposal.

"Greed and political power drive our society and, as lawyers, we can occasionally provide a measure of justice to the poor and oppressed through the exercise of our abilities to access the courts and the media. But the battle will never be won, because the basic nature of human society reflects the values of a secular society, not St Augustine's City of God."

See what I mean? How'd you like to have a brother who thinks and writes like that?

'Scuse the rant, but it's to announce there is a God

Well, maybe not. But the Cubbies have made it to the second round of the playoffs and the Red Sox have a chance to advance too. Okay, the Giants are gone and the Yankees have advanced, but what if--just think about it, America--what if the World Series is between Boston and the Chicago Cubs. The two most exquisite also-rans in American sports history! Screw the recall election: The real news on this planet is Major League baseball.

And (as if it matters) our friend David Kay (any relation to Danny Kaye? I guess not, but who knows in these days of nose-jobs and other alterations of nature) reports that he needs more time (read more time sucking on the public tit) to investigate stuff. What stuff?

Maybe he needs time to shuck his fellow WMD-seekers for a moment in order to plant some more botulism (Shit--I probably have botulism growing somewhere in my fridge right now!) or maybe some athlete's foot fungus.

This is insanity, what we're being asked to accept as reality. This is no longer "spin." This is lying, slimy-crotched bullshit.

Sure, Saddam was a bad guy with a nasty regime, but all this other crap is bullshit. We--that's you and me, folks--have elected (kinda) a leader who has led us to make war--aggressive, offensive war--on a sovereign nation in violation of international law.

How does that feel, America? Isn't it time we turn this around or die, as all other evil empires have died? It's our choice.

Labor Force

Labor Force Grows Slightly (washingtonpost.com)

Labor force ... hmm ... that gives me an idea. Maybe the Dept of Defense could cut down on younger jobseekers by drafting them into military service. And if they have recent college degrees, they could be drafted into service as teachers for ISNI -- the Ideal Society for a New Iraq. Hey, maybe they could get Wendy Kopp on the project, since Pres Bush hosed her by defunding Teach for America.

So many good ideas for energizing the economy for middle-agers like myself. For example, this company looks like a good investment. You gotta love their motto, "No order too large or too small."

It's the stupid economy

My posts have to date been directed at Fuehrer Bush, Tribune Bremer, ReichsMarshall Rumsfeld and the other Nazis on account of their fascist, warmongering activities. (Why don't you say what you really mean, Erik?) But for a moment, I shift to The Economy, namely, the spate of popular-media headlines trumpeting the improvement in American jobs during the last month.
For a "fair and balanced" analysis of this meager increase in payroll numbers, check out this WaPO article, the conclusion of which is that we're still in deep economic poopy and headed nowhere but deeper.

Hubris uber alles

In a recent WaPO editorial, George Will, of all people, asked of the Bushies why they didn't just fess up that they'd made a mistake about the presence of WMDs in Iraq, instead of prolonging the agony, feeding the Democrats' feeding frenzy, and appearing boneheaded. Of all people, George Will asked this of his fellow-travelers.

Same question with PlameGate. In less than a week this one-act play has become an epic. The volume of documents, the number of interviewees, the breadth of the scandal, are now worth at least three months' worth of fodder for the press and the party-out-of-power.

Goody.

John asks about the facts about the facts

From occasional poster John, who is a retired USAF reserve JAG officer, comes this question and observation:

Are we getting the truth about the noncombat military casualties in Iraq? The recent suicide of an Army supply sergeant who was accused of homicide here in Pima County, Arizona, brings to mind the issue of how many noncombat deaths in Iraq are suicides or homocides. This soldier's use of deadly force to kill a thief was probably triggered by his recent combat experience in Iraq.

The military conducts an investigation in each noncombat death of active duty personnel. Yet no information is released concerning how many noncombat deaths are not in line of duty due to suicide or are related to negligent or intentional acts by other military due to the stress of being in a combat situation.

I suspect that statistics about the suicides and homocides of military personnel who have served or are now serving on active duty in Iraq may reveal a human cost to our sons and daughters comparable to the psychological damage inflicted by combat in Vietnam.

My thoughts about riot

In response to my co-bloggers request for an opinion, here's mine.

"Riot" is a crime, defined at common law, derived from Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. It was so well known as a crime, that it had no subsidiary definition, that is, it wasn't defined as "acting without restraint, in a tumultuous, crazed manner calculated to incite anxiety in those who observe the behavior," or something. No. The crime, a felony, was "riot," the conduct self-defined.
Do I condone riot? No--although having participated in a few gatherings that might be so defined, I gotta say, it can be fun as hell. But is it criminal conduct? Sure. Felonious? Probably, in most cases, not. But nothing I say about riot, even throwing stones or bricks or epithets or slurs, transmutes the crime into one that allows summary execution.

Here's the point--and I made this point in a post a few days ago. We've sent soldiers to Iraq and are now asking them to be cops. Like Generals Zinni and Clark have said, they're not cops. They see rocks hurled at them from a crowd, they fire at the crowd. That's their job. They're warriors.

That's what recently happened, and happens all the time in Iraq. Our soldiers, in the role of cops, are firing live ammunition into gatherings of civilians--maybe even into rioting gatherings. But that's not allowed, not in our culture. That's called summary execution. That's Kent State, Soweto, the Boston Massacre.

So I don't condone rioting. But I don't condone killing rioters. That's summary execution for a noncapital crime. That, dammen und herren, is a war crime.

Two Killed as Unemployed Soldiers Riot in Iraq

Yahoo! News - Two Killed as Unemployed Soldiers Riot in Iraq

Looks like it's making the news alright.

I almost never agree with rioters. Protestors, yes, often. Rioting is just more stupid violence, serving no purpose but grief. And as much as I disagree with the war and the occupation, I don't think vanquished soldiers have a right to riot and demand to be paid.

What's your opinion?

Are CBS, ABC and NBC listening to BBC?

BBC reports (1) that US troops have fired on a gathering of Iraqi soldiers who were demanding their pay; and (2) that according to a recent economic study, Iraq will be a poor nation "for years."

I wonder if Americans will learn these things from their mainstream media.

Iraqi Oil

Yahoo! News - Iraq producing average of 1.5 million barrels of oil a day

In response to Erik's question about who is the "Iraq" that's dealing with foreign oil companies, I learned that the Iraqi Oil Ministry is run by one Thamir Ghadhban. He was director of planning for the ministry before ascending to CEO position in May. But when it comes time to take credit for imperial spoils in barrels per day, the guy in front of the mic is Tribune Paul Bremer.

Oh Mama, history is not going to be kind to US about this shit. There's no operation of representative government in this because Iraqi oil is being pumped and sold by the US government, acting as an oil company. So I wonder if the bright and shiny Iraqi government, when its fully up and running, will sue a future American generation for reparations. Or am I missing something?

I must share this

Fans, I confess: I was reading an AOL Message Board on the subject of "Is it Worth $600 million to continue the search in Iraq for WMD?", when I encountered a maxim worth repeating. It was posted in response to a series of typically inane messages by numbskull Bush supporters. It read, "Don't ever argue with idiots. They'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience."

Am I missing something?

Some posts ago, I pointed out that the decision to open almost all commerce in Iraq to foreign, private investment and ownership--a decision made by Tribune Bremer--was such an enormous shift of the economy of the country that one would think, in the interest of "democracy," it should be made by a duly-elected body of Iraqis, not by decree of the occupier. So far, there's been hardly a peep about this, which bewilders me.

Now, we are told that a series of conferences have been scheduled by "Iraq" with foreign oil companies, large and small, to judge such companies' involvement in Iraq's oil production, which was heretofore governed by the state.
Who is this "Iraq" that is doing these things? Where is the popular voting, the participatory democracy, in this decision?

This isn't democracy, it's government by fiat, just as was predicted by those who saw the Provisional Authority as a functionary of the Bushies and their business cronies.

Another question: Where's the analysis, where's the outrage?

Wonderland

I have friends who are infuriated at Bush's constant triggering of acts and policies that inflame our enemies as well as our friends in Europe, the Middle East, the Southern Hemisphere, everywhere. Why, they wonder, does he persist in this? These acts cause nothing but friction, tension, fear and conflict. Why?
I answer--as do knowledgable others--he does this because his continued existence as a politician requires the maintenance of such condtions, particularly fear and conflict. Bush, without them, would vanish as a force.
But our salvation is this. If Bush had immediately outed the leakers of the Plame-CIA connection, thereby dousing the conflagration before it got "traction" (a mixed metaphor, I know), the media would soon have nothing to report on the subject. But no--out of his same crisis-oriented nature, Bush has determined to "stonewall" and "dissemble" (both Watergate terms), leaving the reporters with no choice but to gnaw on the story until it provides nourishment.
The promotion of conflict, the avoidance of responsibility and the absence of truth by the Bush Administration, heretofore its sustenance, will now be its downfall. As a Bush-hater, my urgent prayer is that our president keeps on lying and (I hate myself for thinking this, but honor myself for admitting it to you readers) that our troops keep on dying. If we can keep Bush in that mode for another year, we can beat him.
Wonderland

Comment on "A Pretty Sight"

I see one fundamental difference between Nazi occupations of neighboring European countries and the extant action in Iraq. Someone has apparently forgotten to inform our troops that they are an occupying army and not a liberating force. That perspective was undoubtedly valuable to the besetzende kraft, and it might be helpful to clue our boys in now.

A Pretty Sight

This article, with its accompanying photo of an Iraqi protester heaving a rock at Iraqi policemen during a demonstration over the absence of jobs, paints a revealing picture of this "liberated" nation. The American-trained "Iraqi police" fired on the crowd (that's real bullets, folks, directed at their fellow citizens), injuring at least one.

Just for a moment reflect on this: When we liberated France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan (to name a few) after World War II, did we suffer daily casualties? Were there bombings of rival factions, acts of rampant criminality, deeply-held hatreds of our troops, rocks thrown by Dutchmen at Dutchmen?

Bush's war was not liberation. It was an invasion, just as the Nazis invaded France. The police we train are our puppets--collaborators--and our troops are Occupiers, trained in wartime skills and no better at persuading the Iraqis that we are their saviors than was the Wehrmacht in persuading de Gaulle.

Reflection

Okay, so The Bushies are on the run. They've been caught lying, smearing, wrecking our economy and our civil rights, reducing our national aspirations to a base, violent response to "terror."
And so yeah, they may be undone in 2004 because of their awful, aberrant behavior (and God knows, I hope so); but in that process I hope the following is not lost in the crush of campaigning, the fury to grab soundbites: We (not just Americans--humans) have the capacity to be good; to love one another and share with each other the benefits of being alive in this time of plenty. I would love the campaign of 2004 to be one of peace and goodness vs. war and anger.

What am I, dreaming?

You Read Them Here First

Some months ago I predicted (by letter to the editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press) that there will be an "October surprise" in 2004, not, as some suggest, the declaration of a new war by Bush, but rather the declaration of "victory" in Iraq, complete with brass-band return of the bulk of our troops and Bush's flag-draped reception of them at Andrews AFB (or wherever). Okay, no big deal you say, because such a prospect has already been floated by others (after I did, however).

Well, what about this one? In July 2004 VP Cheney will announce that for health reasons (or something) he won't be on Bush's ticket after all. This will divert attention from the mid-summer Democratic Convention while the "search" for a substitute ensues, and will have the effect of enlivening the Bush/? ticket with a new face, which, by then, they will surely need.

Inevitable once one considers it, right?

Hoisted by their own petard

An entertaining prospect: The identity of the White House leaker(s) of Valerie Plame's job at CIA are at first impossible to ascertain by the usual investigative means, but are finally discovered through the operation of the intrusive provisions of the USA Patriot Act

One person's life

The story of this woman's life, lately of her time in Iraq as a "human shield," is more than inspiring, it is amazing. It makes one wonder what substance courses through her veins or what charges pulse through her sinews that cause her to act with such energy, fascination and compassion.

The Lies of George W. Bush

Looking for a new book for the coffee table? A little light bedtime reading, or a page turner for an upcoming flight? Misleader.org suggests:The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception by David Corn. It might be worth checking out. Corn is Washington editor of The Nation, a venerable rag. I spent many happy hours with The Nation in my college days. A much better read than Playboy. "The Lies" may not be as fun as Franken's book, but probably just as disillusioning.

Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq

Yahoo! News - Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks

I'm confused and I've lost all sense of the number of casualties. I think that instead of news articles citing one or two or three killed on a given day, the media should just cite the running total in each story. So, given that the total now is 312, today's news might read something like this:

American Casualties, numbers 310 - 312, were killed in Iraq today, where the Perpetual War Against Fear rages on. Number 312 was a woman. Their deaths brought to 90 the number of American soldiers killed by the Ambiguous Enemy since Big Brother declared an end to major combat May 1.

What you don't know can hurt you.

From time to time, because of Riverbend's ubiquity and articulateness, I've grown suspicious of her authenticity. Oh, her views (generally contrary to those of Bush and, most relevantly, Tribune Bremer) accord with mine (based on her experience with the American occupation of her country, in the main) but still she oftimes seems to know too much and express it too well to be real. "Too good to be true" is the applicable adage.

But her latest post ("Sheiks and tribes"), an exposition of cousin marriage and tribal connection in Iraq, in which she critiques an article on the subject in the NYT, has convinced me, once and for all, that her Baghdad Burning blog is for real: an articulate, sensitive expression of the woman's experiences and observations during the occupation.

I wonder if the NeoCons studied up on tribal influence and considered its impact on their plan to impose the American empire on Iraq, on the world. I think not.

Richard suggests sources of what really happened

Just read your 9/29 post entitled, "What Really Happened" and appreciated the similarity of your observations about "oceans of cybernews" to a column I just read in the Oct. 6th U.S. News ( www.usnews.com ) titled "The truth, the whole truth" by John Leo, a guy who's been citing Internet sources and hammering p.c. behaviors and doubletalk of faculties and politicians from coast to coast for a few years now. In this case his targets are the ..."police blotter mind-set..." American reporters in Iraq sending their ..."attacks and little else..."stories back to CNN, etc
He states, "The Internet campaign is another example of the new media going around the old media, in this case to counter stories by quagmire-oriented reporters. The campaign...has been driven by Internet bloggers...."
He cites AndrewSullivan.com and Instapundit.com as sources counter to mainstream outlets.
/s/ Richard

For the record

I include posts on the blog verbatim unless otherwise noted. The word "christian" in John's post below ("Whazzup in the USA") was placed in quotes, and in lower case, by John.

Great Depression Job Losses

Misleader.org: Daily Mislead

Here's where I read about job losses being a Depression-era levels.

Feeling blue? Here's a joke:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
President Bush: "The best way to stop chickens from crossing the road is to feed people more chicken. Hey! Um boy, is sumbuddy cookin' beans?"
... Didn't say it was gonna be funny. Not bad, though, for a guy falling asleep on his keyboard.

A little trouble with the numbers

The Other One's in Trouble Too

I can go to bed now and sleep in serenity, knowing that things are looking down for Himself. The president's ratings in US opinion polls are at a record low.

I read someplace else today that current joblessness is the worst since the Great Depression. I wonder if senior White House staff will come out to man the soup lines. A little volunteering, in the spirit of Bush's dad's Thousand Points of Light. They might as well. God willing, they'll be in line with the rest of us after the next general election.

Whazzup Indeed

Wow, John, you've got it nailed down. I agree completely, except that I take a slightly different view of #4, that the US is a Christian nation. I see that Erik has it in quotes, and rightly so. I think many Americans consider this a Christian land, but the reality is that it's never been one. Many of our founding fathers were positive atheists, deists, some Christians, and God knows what.

Russia was a Christian nation until 1917. I suppose it may have been the last.

"I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta of our country." -- George Washington

All of this changes nothing in the essential truth of your position, that a great many Americans hold religious beliefs with which their government is morally at odds.

Whazzup with the USA

A reader of this blog, John, has summed up our nation's present situation as succinctly as it could be done:

1. We are in the grips of an ideologue who has no respect for the democratic process.

2. Our masses are on the brink of demoralizing poverty.

3. Our nation is viewed as a rogue state that is not capable of rational dialogue with the other industrialized nations of the world and is bent on exploiting the 3rd world countries.

4. We are a "christian" nation that is incapable of dealing with the reality that Christ would be embarassed to identify with the secular values we have embraced.

Nuff said.

Cops vs. An Army of Occupation

This article, and scores like it, have triggered me to observe this:
If our troops in Iraq are an occupying army, like, say, German troops occupying Paris during WWII, and a handful of locals fires at them, then--as in Paris--the predicted response is a wholesale military one, with choppers and overwhelming fire in the direction of the attack, precisely like the response to a wartime attack. In other words, the predictable military response is unleashed, generalized force in the direction of the attack, regardless of who or what is in the way, regardless of the harm to property and innocents in the war zone.
But if, say, the situation in Iraq is supposed to be "peacetime" and there's an attack by a bunch of hoodlums--kinda like, say, a shooting in East Cleveland, on a cluster of cops on a street corner (of course, unlike our soldiers in Iraq, cops know better than to cluster)--the response we would expect from the cops is quite different, isn't it? Even though the same number of cops/soldiers are hurt in the attack, we expect the cops to respond as cops: To fire at targets, to chase and apprehend the criminals, and so forth. In other words, an attack on peacetime cops doesn't justify a military, no-holds-barred assault that mows down innocents and leads to mass arrests.
So--the plain fact is, our troops in Iraq are acting like Hitler's in Paris, not (even) like LAPD in Watts. No wonder they hate us.
And, I wonder, what about this: Are we legally still occupying Iraq, in the sense of international law? Occupying in the sense that the populace, like Parisians in 1943, are subject to military orders? Is that what's happening over there, in the name of democratization?
Jesus, what a mess.

Smelling blood, finally

The blood spewing from the Administration's "outing" of Ambassador Wilson's wife -- an Administration official illegally leaking Wilson's wife's identity as a CIA operative in retaliation for Wilson's statements about the absence of "yellowcake" from Niger -- has been in the water for months, literally since July. Only now, however, has it reached the mainstream media, with the resultant hue and cry.
Question: Why did it take so long for the major media to smell it?
Question two: Now that this blood is in the water, along with all the blood about unfound WMD's, nonexisting yellowcake, aluminimn tube BS, and so forth, has a critical mass finally been reached so that no longer will the media (except Faux, of course) be pussies when it comes to investigating and reporting on the Bushies?
Like Watergate, which was stuck on the back pages of most dailies for months before Judge Sirica forced the defendants to come clean, this one has languished, but once the floodgates opened (pardon the multi-mixed metaphor), Katie bar the door.

Rumsfeld's parking problems

A whistler blower has told the Army Inspector General of a practice by Rumsfeld's favorite operation in the Defense Department that allowed 20 million unappropriated dollars to be secretly padded into its budget. The method was for some unrelated military department to spread the millions around in its budget request so it wouldn't be noticed--the term is "parked" there--for later use by Special Ops.

This violates at least two federal statutes. A Congressman has said that he will question Rumsfeld about the practice, which is apparently common, when he testifies in front of a House committee on Tuesday.

Details here.

What Really Happened

I clicked Google News just now to get a handle on the most prevalently reported stories of the day, and the first two were USA Today and CNN, both headlined (and canted) something like this: "Powell, Rice, Defend PreWar Intelligence."

Of course, these two puppets had been paraded out onto the Sunday talking-head shows, then given additional exposure by followup reporting in the print media (imagine: it's now news to be on a news program!), so that for a quick twenty-minute appearance these clowns get 24 hours of exposure.

Okay, okay, that's the power of incumbency. I understand that. The Neanderthal Right was probably twisting similarly during the Clinton years while his drones made similar appearances. So, what the hell.

But what about this idea, a response to the development of global news in the Internet age: A tiny, ever-so-tiny nod to the ocean of cybernews that's available to those of us who care enough about the planet to pay attention, rather than to be fed news about its course by filtered, manufactured spoonfuls. It's this: A boxed item, maybe five columns wide, one-half page, bi-weekly in newspapers, and in weekly newsmagazines, called "UnReported News" or "The Other Side" or something.

Items gathered from Pakistan's papers or magazines, or Egypt's or Saudi Arabia's or Finland's or wherever, that bear upon our nation, our view of world events, our destiny. What about such a display? Is there is no space for it? Is newsprint so expensive? Or is it that our journalists and publishers don't know about such items? Or don't care.

Just asking.

General Clark speaks

The much quoted phrases by which Wesley Clark praises Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld et al, is found in the middle of this speech, given at a Republican fund-raiser in May, 1991. Okay, so I don't like the company Clark kept, and some of his phrasing is corny as hell, but on balance, I can live with what he said. Certainly, since I'm a member of AnybodyButBush, I can live with it a hell of a lot better than I can with the incumbent.

A dose of sanity, a lesson in arithmetic

No, Tribune Bremer, this ain't no Marshall Plan for Iraq. Not by a long shot. Do the math. (Scroll down to "L.A. Times readers have it nailed" post.)

And for another comparison of the Marshall Plan to Tribune Bremer's giveaway, check out the International Herald Tribune.

I ain't no conservative, but...

I couldn't said it better. (And note the date--87 billion dollars ago.)

Ah, The Game's Afoot

This from the NYT, buried at the bottom of the article: The discussion of Russia's hope that Bush will agree to let Russia have access to Iraq's oilfields, as Russia had previously agreed with Saddam Hussein, in exchange for Russian troops as peacekeepers in Iraq. Of course this was denied by all, but a Russian businessman spoke frankly: "Mr. Alekperov said that he knew of no such quid pro quo of oil for Russian military help, but did not discount the possibility of Russian troops going to Iraq at some point. Sending troops, he said, "is a political question. But if oil contracts go through quickly, we would have lots of Russian oil specialists on the ground, and every country should be able to protect its own people."

More Reserve Troops to Iraq?

Yahoo! News - U.S. May Send More Reserve Troops to Iraq

It's only been weeks since Rumsfeld was over there, boppin' around in Tikrit like a little Caesar, and we were all told that we had plenty of troops in Iraq. Ooops, watch where you step. Another load of BS.

One thing about this administration, they're keeping the country well fertilized.

Wisdom from Egypt

These quotes from Egypt's Foreign Minister ring true about Iraq. "They will not be a model [for democracy], and no model will be imposed on them." And "I don't think that countries are eager to be models."

A democracy arises from the people--as it proclaims in our Declaration of Independence. It's not a concept that flows down from higher authority.
I predict--actually, I know, as does any other sane follower of current events in the Middle East--that if the US really does "withdraw" from Iraq at some point (which by the way I doubt--our presence there in the form of bases and military authority will be felt eternally) within weeks there will be chaos, including violence, upheaval and, very likely, a reversion to the tribal battles and mad power-grabs that led to Saddam's accretion of authority in the first place.

This policy of Bush's is so sad, so tragic, so stupid. For us, for the Iraqis, for the world. As the Egyptian Foreign Minister said, "Let Iraq be itself."

Like father, like son

A Newsday article from 1991 details Bush's distortions and exaggerations of intelligence before the Gulf War. Amazingly congruent with the events of twelve years later.

Body Count

Remember, I wrote that the number of killed would surpass the number of firefighters killed at ground zero? 343. Wish I hadn't written that.


"Let's count the bodies over again.
...
If we could only make the bodies smaller
We could fit
A body into a finger-ring for a keepsake forever."
-- from Counting Small Boned Bodies by Robert Bly

Do not weep.
War is kind.

But Who's Counting?

Today we reached and exceeded 2,000 casualties in Iraq. That's not Iraqis--that's the good guys: soldiers and sailors of the UK, USA and a few other nations. Total killed since the invasion began=359. Wounded=1644.
I don't hear any brass bands, I see no flags waving. In fact, most of the soldiers have been hauled secretly to a stateside hospital to be sliced and diced and fitted with plastic limbs, then shipped home as damaged goods--or in a body bag.
Two thousand. You'd think somebody'd notice.

Colin Powell, Liar

For too long we've allowed Colin Powell to skate, but no longer. All the others have a justification (however demented) for their perfidy. Cheney, money. Rumsfeld, power. The NeoCons, fanaticism. Rice, pandering. Bush, ignorance. But Colin Powell, our above-the-fray Secretary of State, what about him? Why would he lie about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? With his stellar background, how could he lie?

So far, he's skated. But the fact is, even more persuasive during the lie-up to the invasion of Iraq than Bush's speeches was Powell's dog-and-pony show to the Security Council: Mock-ups of mobile labs, audiotapes of hushed phonecalls--a skit replete with crude props. But it turns out Powell was lying through his teeth then, and in a later UN appearance--and he knew it.

But why? Colin Powell's got a hell of an Army pension, could earn fabulous honorariums, sit on numerous Boards and Foundations? Why lie, why sell his soul?

From my lawyering days, I recall this remark by an older practitioner. "The most dangerous liar is the one who appears to have no reason to lie and gives no hint of it. No bias or prejudice to use as ammunition for cross-examination, no twitch of lip, no shifty eyes. To defeat such a liar, there is only one tool, one weapon: the facts.

Unreality TV

According to the Nielsens, Monday's interview by Brit Hume (also known as Bush Bootlicker) of President Bush on the Fox network finished dead last in the ratings for that time slot, behind some lame comedies and an NFL game that was a thirty-point blowout. Now, if it had been a reality show, maybe...

"That is a sorry state of affairs," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "I think most people, when they heard that the interview was going to happen, just assumed they weren't going to hear anything new that they hadn't already heard."

Bingo!

Ham-fisted authority

Tribune Bremer, who previously disbanded the Iraqi Army (thereby loosing hundreds of thousands of armed young men, jobless, on the Iraqi citizenry) has, as previously reported, ordered a full-scale opening of Iraq's commerce to foreign private ownership. I previously argued that this was hypocritical--hardly the considered act of a democratic authority--and now the Guardian, in an excellent analysis, points out that it will spell economic disaster for Iraq, as indeed it did for the former Soviet Union twelve years ago.
Isn't anybody thinking out there?
I gotta say, I feel sorry for the Iraqis, really do. They've got to be feeling more frustrated than I do--and that's hard to imagine.

A World Gone Mad

The enlightened West, having "won" a war that supposedly freed Afghani women from Muslim fundamentalist laws that they cover their bodies with bhurkas, a German court has ruled that school authorities in individual communities may bar Muslim women teachers from wearing head scarves during class.

Global Gag Rule

... is cruel, utterly lacking in compassion. It's not religious conservatism, it's fascist fundamentalism. Where have we heard that before?

Is there no limit?

These guys who are calling the shots in Washington must be strung up. Now we learn that Bush's anti-abortion policy--denying US funds to third-world health providers that provide prophylactic advice--is closing clinics in Africa, thereby denying health care, including AIDS care, to thousands of Africans because the clinics counsel use of condoms to fight the spread of the disease.
This is the same compassionate conservative who announced in his State of the Union address that he was committing $15 billion (none of which has been spent yet) to fight AIDs in Africa. This is so sick, so demented, I can say no more.

Iraq on eBay?

Damn, it looks like it's gonna go for more than my credit limit.
Update: The eBay police have apparently discovered this product and removed it from the bid. Too bad, too late. The successful bidder was the American taxpayer.

Rockin' In The Free World

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
...
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

[Neil Young]

...

Check out metaphor tonight. Blogger's going to town on George W. ... Check out this great, funny column by Molly Ivins. ... Check out Poets Against the War, protest in Washington 10/25. ... And as long as you're in a surfing mood, here's Howard Dean.

Riverbend scores again

This story ("For Sale: Iraq") on the Baghdad Burning blog parallels the efforts of the Iraqis (Check out the "Fly on the Wall" post below) who arrived in Washington, D.C. just about now, seeking to bypass Bremer's bureaucracy and rebuild Iraq using Iraqis. What a concept. And how well conveyed by Riverbend.

Falling flat

One benefit of not having a television is listening to, rather than watching, speeches. I've heard Bush's last two speeches, the hastily-called address about two weeks ago when he assured us all was well in Iraq, and all he needed to rebuild it and Afghanistan was $87 billion; and today's address to the General Assembly of UN, where he said all was still going swimmingly in Iraq, and BTW, "buddies, can you lend a hand?"
The Guardian's headline for its story about the latter is "Bush Isolated as Speech to UN Falls Flat." Well, having heard his speech--as well as Kofi Annan's and Jacques Chirac's--I couldn't agree more. It was an uninspired, rambling mumble about nonproliferation of weapons, trafficking in sex-slaves, a few other things, all mixed in with a grumble or two about the needs of the Iraqis for help in becoming a free nation.
Really a boring presentation, as was Bush's truculent demand for the $87 billion two weeks ago.
Here's my observation: We know nothing about Bush's character. After all, he's never been tested, never faced adversity. He's been bailed out of every tight spot he's ever been in, and here he is again. How does he perform when there's no daddy or fellow-traveling businessmen to come to his aid?
Here's my question: Could it be Bush has lost his taste for this job? I'm not suggesting he'll decide not to run in 2004, but it's possible we could see a different, much less convincing and--frankly--attractive Bush in this campaign than when it was all new to him. Certainly when he faces the personalities of Dean or Clark, as opposed to Gore, we'll see what he's up to. I have my doubts he'll do well in such a setting. It may be too difficult for him. He may, as they say in sports, "just mail it in."

Credit where credit is due

I consider myself an original thinker about matters political, and I surely have spent much time on the subject of Iraq and Bush and cabals and the like. But this piece in Newsweek online, at the tail end, provides an insight I've missed. After all is said and done, with all the latest revelations and admissions by Bush/Rumsfeld, the only remaining reason for invading Iraq was to show the world, and the Middle East in particular, that we were not to be messed with; to display our might after the attack on our nation by lesser powers. And that proof--that we are invincible, indominable--is about to evaporate when Bush returns tomorrow to the UN, hat in hand, tail between legs, and asks our "allies" to help us with the war we cannot win alone.
So--that leaves us, after billions of dollars and thousands of lives, with a net zero. Indeed, some might say, with a net loss of those millions and thousands.
And with Saddam in hiding and Osama still on the loose, plotting.

A potent sound bite

"American Family Voices" doesn't sound like my kind of group, but their TV ad, (click on "see the ad"), to be displayed in several states in the upcoming weeks, is my kind of ad, powerfully presented. It reminds us that when we write out our checks for taxes, instead of our money going to fund health care and schools and infrastructure in the US, it's going to Halliburton. "Remember, when you make out your check, Halliburton has two L's," it says, quoting David Letterman.
I wish "American Family Voices" had a trillion bucks and could smear the ad on every TV in America. I wonder, now that the ad's been created, whether a well-funded peace coalition could find a way to buy it and spread its quick, incisive message further.

Silly gooses

I apologize to my co-blogger, Kyle, and to all of you loyal readers and posters, especially C., the dogged researcher who blew the whistle on us for perpetuating the fake video. Well, apologize might be the wrong word. Perhaps, laugh-my-ass-off is better.
Of course I knew the video of those idiotic Americans was a put-up job. That kid who answered the question about the "Axis of Evil" with "It starts with us, right?" is my brother in law. I was just testing you out there in cyberland, to see if you were paying attention. I promise not to do it again, now that I know the breadth of our readership. I have a responsibility to you millions, and will hereafter act accordingly.
Uno problemo: When I post items about George Bush's idiotic failures as leader of our nation, will you no longer accept them as truth? Maybe not, but then, maybe I don't either. Nobody's that stupid.

How stupid are we? Don't answer that!

A Comment from Alert Reader Chris:

In re: Our General Stupidity

This video with people answering questions about international affairs is bogus. It's put together by a psudeo-news network called CNNNN (I was suspicious of the video because of the logo on the background screen).

Go to the video page at http://www.cnnnn.com/ (link is in the row of buttons at the top. But be sure and read the 'About button first) and you'll find this video. Note CNNNN claims to be a subsidiary of ChaserCorp. I google-searched ChaserCorp and got some hits. Their supposed home page pretty funny. See it here

http://www.geocities.com/zoikspro/chasercorp/main.html


Note that a multi-billion dollar corp. uses a geocities.com domain name. Among the other hits was this

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,7010577,00.html

which seems to indicate the whole thing was a hoax.

So do you think it was posted at informationclearinghouse.com as a joke?

C.

----- * * * -----
Kyle's response:

No blogger likes to perpetuate a hoax. We're sorry we did. Erik suggested we make with the apologies, so consider that done. However ... (ahem) ... I maintain that there may be more truth than hyperbole in that video, fraud or not. I'll bet they could just as easily have found people who really don't know Kofi Annan from cafe latte, who don't know Israel from Afghanistan, etc. We've all seen Leno do his street interview bit. Please remember that Bush still enjoys a 50% or better approval rating. [Source] The air is still charged with free-floating stupidity. Present company excepted. Peace.

Follow the cell phones

The longstanding, nascent question of whether Iraq's cell-phone system will be "rebuilt" as compatible with the US-based system or the every-other-civilized-nation (including Iraq's previous) system is the bellweather. Interesting to see in which direction that falls.
Also, Bush's demeanor in front of the General Assembly tomorrow will be telling. Humble, deferential? Texas bully? Lying slimeball? A bit of each?
I'm hoping the cellphone question is resolved in favor of our US system, and that George W. presents himself as exasperated and disdainful. I want him booed, actually. May have to watch TV, if I can find a sportsbar that will put it on. Possible, because there's no games on that matter. I checked.

Fly on the wall

I would love to hear the Senators' reactions to the presentations of the Iraqi leaders, who are doing an end-run around Tribune Bremer and his minions, and traveling straight to D.C. to present their case: Complaints of egregious overpricing and excesses by CPA personnel, unnecessary delay and expense in rebuilding; all in support of their pleas that their companies be allowed to undertake the"reconstruction" of Iraq, with less expense and more quickly.
An irresistible presentation, made at the perfect time: When Bush is asking for help at the UN; and his request for $87 billion is pending before Congress. How embarrassing. How delicious, to hear precisely how mean and corrupt our capitalist Administration is.
No, I don't want to be a fly on the wall. I want to squat in the middle of the conference table, holding a microphone.

Hello--Anybody home?

Last weekend, Tribune Bremer ordered the "free-market reform" of the Iraq economy, allowing foreign investment, including 100% private ownership, of almost all facets of its commerce. Only "natural resources," i.e., oil, was exempted, doubtless because that would have raised too much noise right now, and besides, I'm sure the private oil companies would rather wait until we taxpayers pay Halliburton to get the damned system fixed before they jump on the resultant huge asset like buzzards on roadkill.

This economic development is a complete about-face from the state-ownership policy that had been in force for decades in Iraq. Not only will it lead to a draining out of Iraq of the profits of the most lucrative businesses, (which are the only ones that might attract foreign capital), it flies completely in the face of the concept of Iraq for the Iraqis!

The various news reports of this order by Bremer consistently use the phrase, "economic reform." Well, I'm no economic historian, but isn't that the same phrase that was used to support (a) deregulation of the electric-power system in California; and (b) regulation of lobbying and campaign contributions; as well as the corporate-finance abuses of the past two years? Doesn't the word "reform" depend upon point of view? Is wholesale capitalism, especially foreign-owned capitalism, necessarily a "reform" of state-regulated, domestically-owned, commerce? Would it be a "reform" for Rupert Murdock to acquire BBC? Or Donald Trump to gain title to the Brandenburg gate?
But here's what's even more amazing. In the reports so far, I've heard not a squeak of protest that such a gigantic change in the day-to-day, as well as the mega- operation of the entire nation, was made by Tribune Bremer's unilateral decree. Not even debated by the CPA (as if that mattered, since Bremer appointed them--but not even presented to them for rubber-stamp)! Isn't this just such a decision that Iraq is supposed to make for itself, as part of the "democracy" we're supposed to be installing?

With a stroke of its pen, America has completely altered a foreign nation's economic system, as the occupying power, in the name of "reform," and as part of that nation's course toward democracy. If this is not the height of hypocrisy, if it's not the arrogance of empire, I don't know what is.

So near indeed

The Enunciator was right across the road from my home. I could have walked over there and let my dog take a pee on his shoes.

I can't believe some people are stupid enough to protest at a campaign speech. If you disagree with a candidate, don't vote for him, get out and campaign for someone you support. Waive a sign, as Erik suggests. Trying to shout the candidate down is undemocratic. Getting arrested is absurd. Some of those morons were actually protesting his Humvee. Talk about unable to see the big picture.

I shouldn't be surprised. But whenever I see one of those video clips where people on the street are quizzed on their general knowledge, I'm shocked. The one under Erik's One Man One Vote entry is appalling. Are we a nation of morons?

So near and yet...

I guess Kyle and I aren't on Ahnold's mailing list: We missed this event, scarcely a mile down the coast from our Sunday morning coffee session. Damn, I even had a placard to wave. And I have the feeling that's the last time we'll see Mr. Schwarzenegger around here for a while.

One man one vote

Each of these people has the capacity to cancel out my vote. No wonder I'm thinking of moving--except that I'm not sure it would be different elsewhere. The only answer that was accurate (besides, perhaps, "Linda Blair's brother") was the fourth response to the question, "What's the axis of evil?"

Bush starting to question advice

Oh man, I feel for the guy, I really do. It is so hard to get good help these days. My newspaper winds up in puddle, I order iced tea and it shows up weak. Just the other day ... Erik will verify ... some doofus left the bacon chunks off my cobb salad. But the worst, the very worst, is when my advisors, supposedly pros, lead me blindly into a misbegotten, ill-conceived, war.

Things just have a way of stacking up, you know? First, there's a 3 day weekend, the garbage guys push pickups back a day, and the garbage piles up in the dumpster behind my condo. I steal an election, get a couple years of really crappy advice, and the funerals start backing up at Arlington. What's a president to do?

I don't know, but somebody's looking at a mighty small tip over this.

Headline: Bush starting to question advice from some top aides

If I'm confused, imagine how the Pentagon feels

If you believe Knight-Ridder, Bush is ready to kick butt, to clear the Pentagon of all those neo-Nazis who got his ass in this Ircrack. But as he prepares to do this, he's also going to tell the UN General Assembly that the invasion and aftermath have proceeded hunky-dorey and all we need from our friends is a few billion dollars and a few thousand troops and all will be well.

I love the Internet

Where else can you get tabloid stories like this without owning a television or standing in a supermarket checkout line? I will, however, eat my cyberwords if Saddam Hussein does indeed show up alive and well in Belarus.