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.

Maybe the NeoCon is over

With all the media hype about the death of al-Zarqawi, you'd think the unwashed would bounce Bush's numbers from the lows he's recently experienced. But, according to Rassmussen Reports, No.

So--have Americans finally wised up to Bush, his advisers, and the media BS? Could be. If so, there's hope for our country. But I'm not betting on it. Just hoping for it.

The rules of engagement for 2006 midterm elections

Two schools of thought among those--including me--who desperately want the House of Representatives (at least) to be wrested from Republican control: One is to avoid using the word "impeachment" during the campaign because it's too radical, it will marginalize any candidate who mentions it and will draw Republicans to the polls out of fear; the other--mine--is to shout impeachment from the hilltops because it's right to do so, it's warranted in fact and law and it will pull Democrats to the polls who might otherwise stay home out of boredom.

Your position?

The missing billions

in Iraq reconstruction money--said to be as much as 21--were supposed to be subject to an investigation by a congressionally-authorized Inspector General. So--where's the report? Well, according to this article, there won't be a report because although Bush signed the bill authorizing the investigation, he appended a "signing statement" that effectively gutted the law, so that the supposed Inspector General, appointed by the president, deems himself powerless to conduct the study.

Just when you thought it was safe

to assume that when both houses of Congress voted unanimously to insert in Iraq military spending bills that no permanent US military bases would be allowed--the Republicans who are in charge of the conference committee have secretly stripped the spending law of that proviso. Result: Both houses must now pass the legislation without that proviso, or must act to restore it by majority vote. At least we'll get to see what the Republicans really have in mind for this republic. Are we to remain just one nation, or do they intend that we rule the world?

Update: the latest developments, showing a fait accompli.

Ho hum

Americans are being inundated with MSM reports about the effect of the death of a single terrorist in Iraq (I'm not denying he's a terrorist, but I'm stressing the singleness of him), some guy named al-Zarqawi who the US MSM ridiculed a few weeks ago as being inept with an automatic rifle. It is said that his death means good things for Bush's regime; his death means nothing to the insurgency; his death will empower the Iraq government; his death will inflame the insurgency and, more likely, the international terrorist movement.

I, for one, believe nothing will change. We are occupiers of Iraq, and the insurgency will remain, unabated, despite one man's death--a man who wasn't even part of the insurgency but rather of a "larger" movement to kill the infidel, namely, Westerners who've for decades exploited the arab/Muslim world. Nor will Zarqawi's death stem the terrorist tide. Bush has kicked the beehive and it matters not that one bee, even a boss bee, has died. Indeed, because of that death the hive has only become busier. IMHO.

Addendum/amendment. I fell into the MSM trap, playing up the death al-Zarqawi. Fact is, he's a small potato compared to the world's largest terrorist organization housed in various huge buildings, enormously well-funded by our tax dollars. It's that organization that needs to be brought down.

Molly Ivins

frets over the disastrous air polluting effect of all those burning American flags, the pernicious impact on America of all those gay marriages, the devastating ruin of the rich wrought by the federal estate tax. Funnnny--if it weren't so tragic.

A new tactic

Here's our latest attempt to pacify/defeat the Iraq insurgency: thorough occupation. Instead of fighting, then leaving, insurgent strongholds--which allows them to regather--our troops are squatting in defeated towns, building numerous small encampments, patrolling the streets regularly. It's unclear whether this effort will work throughout Iraq, but one thing is certain: The dream of a liberated, free Iraq is gone. We'll be occupying their nation for years to come unless we Americans demand our withdrawal.

Cynicism rules

This essay, pointing out Bush's cynical use of the "marriage amendment" to recoup support from his base "base," is well written and spot on. I particularly like this observation about Bush's latest speech urging passage of such an amendment:

"It's almost surreal. For one thing, the president has no role in amending the Constitution. Proposed amendments must be passed in both the House and Senate by two-thirds majorities, and then must win approval from the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. The president doesn't have to sign it. He doesn't even have to read it."

A summer day in Baghdad

as seen from Riverbend's house, in which only 4 hours a day have enough electricity to run the air conditioners.

Right on, brothers and sisters

I never joined the American Bar Association (it was too stodgy for me, by miles), but this latest action by its Board of Governors is downright cool.

Finally, some good news

The British invasion by BBC Television. Do you think Faux News viewers will tune in?

Ya gotta love this headline

"Fight a more sensitive, ethical war," troops told.

In case you didn't notice

the MSM's coverage of the war in Iraq is nigh nil.

The Army clears itself of wrongdoing

The Ishaqi massacre, more recent than Haditha, resulted in a determination of no wrongdoing by the US Army. But the Iraqis are protesting this result, and here's a bit of background, contemporaneous with the event, that pounds nails into the coffin of the veracity of our military's investigation of itself.

I gotta tell ya, this quagmire's more quagic than Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, the gooks didn't have the temerity to question our outrages. Now we've got the people we invaded crawling over our conduct and our paperwork, and revealing our force for what they are: mercenaries, hateful of their duty, hating the people they commmand. And, unlike the "wogs" the British tried to subjugate, these Arabs have video and the Internet.

Is America--are Americans--better, kinder, gentler?

With the revelation of Marine massacre and others atrocities by our troops in Iraq, we now engage in self-analysis. Is this the tip of the iceberg? Have all those uncounted Iraqi bodies remained uncounted because so many were our victims? Are we, as invaders and occupiers, any different from previous invader/occupiers?

Surely, we're not Nazis. But aren't we comparable to the French or the English or the Romans? If we concede that, we become just another empire, capable--indeed effectuating--similar disdain for occupied territory and conquered peoples. And that, ladies and gents, means My Lai and Haditha and abu Ghraib--and many other, yet-unnamed outrages.

It's time Americans understood this: We're just another nation, with the same quality of folks as previous nations. We're not "special," not "God-blessed," not better, not worse. Just another nation, warring and winning, and eventually declining because of it.

Sartre and Charlie Brown

This article evaluates the musings of Charles Schulz's character against the existentialist writer's thoughts about meaning. I must admit I've read more of the latter than the former, but now I'm thinking I'd better buy a Peanuts anthology.

Out of the mouths of NeoCons...

Michael Ledeen, one of the most egregious malefactors ever to have burrowed his way into the federal government (having burrowed through a far-right burrow), says Condi's latest "overture" to Iran is either (a) a ploy to split the baby with American politics while offering Iran a veiled ultimatum, or (b) a Bush/Rove ploy to force an attack on Iran, knowing that Iran couldn't possibly capitulate to Condi's terms of "give up and then we'll talk."

Ledeen's right on the money. Condi's latest is either a ploy or a ploy.

Football fever no more

Riverbend's tale of Iraq's decline. Sad, sad, sad. What have we wrought?

Taken for granted

This morning I surfed through my usual news sites--Common Dreams, Buzzflash, Truthout, ICasualties, a few others--then visited a few lefty blogs and blogs of buddies, while sipping my morning coffee. Got up to speed, so to speak.

Five or six years ago, no such thing. I'd have to wait until Mother Jones arrived in the mail, or until I bumped into some more-informed liberal crazy who shared some news, before I could find out what's really happening in the world. No quick access to London's Independent or the Asia Times, no way to penetrate the distortions and omissions of the MSM's reportage except to wait for the truth to seep through.

No seeping anymore, no waiting. With the Internet and a few keystrokes, the truth will out.

Verrry interesting

I wonder how the US military--and any other US entity that conducts an investigation into the Marines' killing of civilians in Haditha--will deal with Iraq's own investigation. Certainly, if Iraq finds our Marines at fault and demands justice, the US will have to go along, right? That's one way to keep the administration from sweeping the matter under the rug, eh?

Bush says he wants to create an independent, sovereign democracy in Iraq, ruled by law not by dictator. Well, George, be careful what you ask for.

Don't get me started

about how gut-wrenching is the prospect--a reality, according to this LA Times article--of the emergence of a war-mongering faction of the Democratic party, a "liberal" group who cites the tough-guy posturings of Truman and John Kennedy to support a military solution to the "war on terror" (and, for that mattter, who adopt such a phrase). Must we human beings--I'm talking now about me and others who despise war, who are repulsed by its use by American politicians as a tool of foreign policy--fight for peace on yet another front, the Democratic Right? Is there no peace for persons who only want peace?

Media madness

Articles like this drive me crazy. It seems all that matters is what Bush says or how he appears. He's contrite, he's plain-spoken, he's abashed, he's unabashed, he's truthful, he's a liar. On and on.

What about what he does? He invades sovereign nations pre-emptively and contrary to international law. He demolishes the middle class in America with ruinous tax cuts and corporate welfare. He wrecks America's standing abroad, fomenting wild anti-American sentiment globally. He sanctions ongoing corporate greed and devasation of the planet by huge companies. He sanctions torture abroad and spying at home. He does nothing while emergencies arise. He panders to the basest impulses of the basest citizens by dropping "anti-gay" and "anti-immigrant" cards whenever he gears up for elections.

Forget Bush's demeanor, forget his persona. Hell, Hitler, it's said, was a good speaker who had good and bad days. And look what he managed to do with his nation, the operative word being "do". Just as Bush is doing to us. Is anybody paying attention?

Here's another take on Bush's latest barrage of "apologies" for his "tough talk."

What tax cut?

This analysis of the effect of Bush's latest tax cut (scroll to bottom of article) shows how the benefits of the legislation will be distributed. To me, the most stark statistic is that 5% of the benefits from the cuts will be shared by persons earning less than $75,000 per year, which equals seventy-five percent of American households; conversely, 95% of the benefits will go to those earning more than $75,000.

If you wonder why so many folks in the middle class still vote Republican, so do I.

How's that again?

This article tracks the number of times over the last three years that Tom Friedman, one of the NYT's most prominent editorial apologists for the war in Iraq, has in interviews said that "the next six months" are do-or-die for democracy in Iraq. Funny if it weren't so tragic.

The madness of King George

A Jungian psychologist evaluates Bush and his followers. Scary.

A piece of the NSA phonecall-monitoring puzzle.

As you know, in the wake of USA Today's revelation that the NSA has possession of the phonecall records of all Americans who use Verizon, AT&T and Bellsouth, those companies have each denied turning their records over to the NSA. So what's a citizen to believe?

Well, this may be the answer.

Is there no point where someone says, Stop the madness?

Now we're going to use laser-guns to blind oncoming drivers at checkpoints in Iraq. More humane, it's claimed, than bullets.

You want humane? How 'bout getting the fuck out of their country?

Rassmussen Reports

Regular followers of this blog know that I follow Rassmussen Reports for daily polling. It's a conservative-oriented poll that regularly reports higher numbers for Bush and his policies than other polls. But even Rassmussen can't escape the facts, including this precipitous drop by Bush in the polls, to a new low of 36% approval-rating. And note the huge "strongly disapprove" numbers. And note also that these figures arose from polling largely after Bush's speech on immigration "reform."

It's getting to the never-can-recover level. Let's hope so.

CNN International

Okay, Congressman Murtha's report about the Marines' massacre of Iraqi civilians (Murtha is a former Marine) has made it to CNN International. Any more traction, or have we become immune to American atrocities.

The media scripts

In this too-long piece, the "media scripts," as the writer calls them, are examined for Senator John McCain and Al Gore. The Senator has been dubbed--"scripted"--by the media as "Saint John" and/or "Sun God John McCain," with each report of him being cast, sometimes directly, mostly by assumption, in such terms. This media scripting lies at the root of MSM reporting, the article says, and governs public perception of a candidate.

The script for Gore is akin to "buffoon," a negative sense of some sort of wayward loser. And I must admit that in my various conversation, even with kindred peacenik crazies, I get a mixed reaction to the prospect of Gore's candidacy for president in 2008. And yet he's right on on the environment, opposed the Iraq invasion, is a genuine liberal on most issues--and he beat Bush in 2000. He could be cast as the "comeback candidate" or the "happy ending" winner. But I agree with the article, that says that until we consumers of news take on this media scripting question, until we confront and attack it, we'll be stuck with "Saint John" in the White House in 2008, and Gore or Hillary or whatever Democrat on the outside, doomed by the media's characterization.

Another watch to watch

Knight-Ridder reports Congressman John Murtha's recitation of a Pentagon report of a massacre by US Marines of Iraqi civilians. An awful event, first reported months ago, but obscured by the accounts at the time.


Not on the scale of My Lai massacre in VietNam, but not very savory, either. Will we learn about this on the MSM? Don't hold your breath.

He who lives by the sword

This is fun to watch. Bush has for five years cultivated and catered to the Far Right, his base, and now with the Dubai ports deal, the half-measure immigration proposal, the sale of goodies to India and so forth he's losing them. He didn't realize what radical crazies they were. But I did. I spent five hours driving along the I-10 a few months ago listening to a radio talk show from somewhere in southern Arizona. The question was "immigration" and the language was foul. Minutemen calling in, calling their fellow citizens (lumped in with legal and illegal immigrants) Spics and losers and pachukos and worse. Calling for on-sight shootings of wetbacks (even though there's no river to cross in Arizona), calling for martial law.

So Bush finds himself caught between a rock (the bigoted base) and a hard place (the capitalist pigs). The former want all the people of color gone from America, the latter want some kind of "limited" work-release program that allows them to exploit Latino labor without having to pay benefits, a living wage, and provide any security.

Rove, I know, conjured this latest gambit, trying to play the "immigration card" to staunch the bleeding, the inexorable drop in the polls of his puppet. But he didn't realize how rotten was his base.

There's a good novel here, except that it's really happening. And I'm really enjoying the show.

What's good for General Motors is good for America.

Check out this article to learn the converse--and then tell your broker to dump your common stocks.

Out in the cold

I'm one of the disenfranchised--that is, the unpolled--because I have only a cell phone, no land line, and so am not polled by the major pollsters. Here's an article citing the effects of the exclusion of cell-phone-only folks like me on the percentages shown in poll results. Not too significant yet, but growing.

"The Americans have wristwatches, but we have the time."

A saying of the Iraqi insurgency.

Talk about your quagmire...

Check out this situation in Iraq.

King of the world

Whatever happened to "no entangling alliances"? Gone in favor of a permanent military presence in the Middle East, with bases throughout the region. This administration is America's worst nightmare, dooming it to becoming the world's policeman and enforcer of its interests eternally. Our kids and their kids will be paying for this forever.

By way of explanation

I want to tell you why I'm so fixated on the Plame-gate issue, why it's so important that it be tracked to its ultimate conclusion. It's because all the other excesses and illegalities of the Bush administration (except, of course, his social security craziness and his various other economic debacles) are cloaked in claims of "national security": the torture and rendition thingees, the invasion of Iraq, the spying on us, the secretive usurpation of power.

But this Plame thing is different. If it's proven that Rove/Libby/others leaked Valerie Plame's name and function as a CIA operative in order to denigrate Joe Wilson's reportage from Niger, that's just plain ol' politics. Just like Watergate, or, as John Dean says, Worse than Watergate, because it's possible that Plame was working on intelligence of Iran's nuclear capacity, Iran, one of the members of Bush's "axis of evil."

I'm here to tell ya, if Rove is indicted and the case proceeds toward trial in the next several months, this could be the end of Bush's administration. Not by impeachment--that's too much to hope for. But by disgrace and discredit, which will lead to revulsion by Americans, which might lead to a period of fair and intelligent government.

So--tick, tick, tick...

...tick, tick, boom.

Now it's being reported that Fitzgerald has handed Rove's attorney the sealed indictment, and that an announcement of the charges will be forthcoming next week. Jason Leopold, the author of this report and of the report I linked to above, is the same man who broke the story of the Libby indictment in the hours before it was announced by Fitzgerald, so it's hard fact. Rove is going down, baby.

Unfriendly fire

I suppose that's the word for when units of an army, in this case the US-trained Iraqi army, attack one another.

Tick, tick

Time is running out for Karl Rove.

Staking out Fitzgerald

Reliable sources--trust me on this, I don't want to surf to find them--have noted that Plame-gate prosecutor Fitzgerald released the information about Libby's indictment on a Friday afternoon, and that he's about due to announce Rove's indictment too. They've taken to roosting in front of Fitzgerald's office every Friday, and I'll roost here, waiting, waiting, waiting and wishing.

Whaaaa?

A bunch of Ugandan soldiers sodomized at a US military base in Iraq? Whazzup with that?

What are we to do?

Those of us Americans--and there are millions and millions of us--who want sanity in our foreign policy, starting with getting the hell out of Iraq, are in jeopardy of failing our mission if the Democrats are split between the sane ones and the warmongers: H. Clinton, E. Bayh, Lieberman, Biden and their ilk. That split can hand the Republicans continued control of Congress and, possibly, the White House in 2008. We've got to get a plan, as well as a much louder voice!

Remember that popular female Iraqi television reporter?

Recall that she was killed some months ago, reportedly shot, along with her cameraman? Well, recently a cellphone-camera was discovered that contained a clip of her death. Here's how she died at the hands of "two musclebound men in military uniforms."

Was it worth it?

All those dead and maimed Americans and Iraqis, all those billions of dollars, all that enmity and ruin--to establish a "democracy" that ceases to function because of a ringtone?

Boiling blood

What does it take to get my blood to boil? What about this story about a $6.1 billion--that's with a B--contract for a fleet of helicopters for the President? For some reason the story surfaced again today, but the contract was actually awarded in early 2005.

As to the earlier story, note (scroll down) that among the supporters of the contract was Hillary Clinton, quoted as saying it was "an Oval Office in the sky." Note also that the award went to a syndicate of largely foreign companies at the expense of the Sikorski Company of Connecticut.

A fleet of 23 Oval Offices, at a cost of 6.1 billion dollars! And get this:

"Measuring eight feet wide and 25 feet long, the cabin will include a lavatory and a galley kitchen. The fold-down stair spares the president from ducking during photogenic entrances and exits


These people in Washington are fucking crazy!

A milestone

but a dubious one.

I gotta agree with our soldiers in Iraq

These latest uniforms look "goofy."

Unknown site

Here's the Home page of a site that's fun to surf. Most illuminating is the page that presents, in a quick series, various newsworthy events from around the globe, using TV clips from AP, Reuters, BBC--whatever. I have cable connectivity and so am able to receive the clips as clearly as if they're televised. They're a day or so late, but the breadth of news coverage (for examples, an ominous volcano in Indonesia, a "Watergate" scandal in France) surely make me feel more like a citizen of the world, not merely a vessel for the news that American channels choose to present. And it's not apparent from the site itself what if any axe it has to grind, because its coverage is ubiquitous, or seeming so.

Ain't this grand?

A border war between Kurdish militias in northern Iraq and Turkish troops to the north; concurrent with blasts of Iranian border towns, likely the result of Kurdish incursions into Iran to the east. Need a program to follow the action? Here's a BBC article on the latest attacks, with map and links to earlier stories. This is precisely the "destabilizing effect" in the region that was predicted by those who opposed our invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Kurds, long constrained from expansionist and separatist acts, are now loosed by the American presence in Iraq to carry out a plan they've long had--to create a separate nation in the geographic center of four bordering nations: Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran.

The Iranian Oil Bourse

Some months ago I posted about this prospect, and now it's a-comin'. True, there won't be any immediate impact on the dollar, even if Iran pulls it off, but I think the phrase "death by a thousand cuts" came from the East, didn't it?

ROTFLOL

It's rare that I use smiley-faces or cyberinitials--I really hate them, dunno why--but if you want to roll on the floor laughing out loud check out this clip from a year-old Daily Show program. If you wonder why Porter Goss is out at CIA, the look on his face in the clip is your first clue.

Wanna bet

that the Chinese leaders realize the threat of global warming before our president does?

Ya wanna hear something really good?

Check out this rant by an LA Bush-supporting radio talk-show host as he apologizes for having supported Bush and calls him the worst president ever. Couldn't said it better myself. (Click on link for download of audio.) BTW, he's the morning drive-time talker, with a huge audience on a huge station.

Those Brits are getting quite cheeky

Two weeks ago their Foreign Secretary calls a report that Bush doesn't rule out using nukes on Iran "nuts"; and now their Attorney General calls for the US to close Gitmo.

They need a good bitch-slapping.

In case you thought the Bush tax cuts paid for themselves

by stimulating the U.S. economy and thereby creating more tax revenue, you're not just wrong, the economic concept itself is a Laffer.

Meanwhile, down south

in the supposedly tranquil part of Iraq, near the Shiite city of Basra, a military helicopter is shot down, killing four British soldiers. The supposedly tranquil Shiites' reaction?

"Sky News footage showed locals celebrating, dancing and throwing stones at British troops attempting to reach the crash site as a plume of thick smoke rose behind them.

"Two British Army Warriors (armoured personnel carriers) and a Land Rover also came under fire from petrol bombs as the scene degenerated and clashes broke out between British troops and Shiite militias.


"The scene of the crash Police Captain Mushtaq Khazim said British soldiers fired weapons over the top of the crowd in an effort to disperse it but fire was returned and at least two people, one of them a child, were killed."

Stocks and bonds and the dollar, oh my.

Okay, here's what's wrong with reliance on the U.S. stock market to determine the state of our economy. Today's weak Labor Department payrolls report, showing a gain of only 138,000 jobs in April (far fewer than the predicted 200,000 jobs, coupled with a significant downward revision of the earlier months' job creation) caused a sharp drop in the dollar against foreign currencies; but nevertheless ignited a buying spree of stocks. Why? Because the lapse of growth of jobs means, to investors, that the ecomony is cooling enough to cause the Fed to demur from further interest-rate increases as a means to quiet the prospect of inflation from a too-hot economy.

Get it? Because interest on U.S. debt instruments--related to the Fed's decision about rate increases on short-term borrowings from federal banks--won't rise, common stocks will become attractive investments, relatively.

We're in another period of "irrational exuberance" in the market. There's no basis, it seems to me, other than investment speculation, for corporate investment to be so out of kilter with reality. It's true that many companies are reporting high profits, but it's entirely at the expense of their workers; and with those workers (as consumers) saddled with debt and not receiving decent wages, we're in for a long fall. This fall.

Let's see how these amendments in the House and Senate fare. Whatever they mean--and they're hardly hard-nosed refusals to fund permanent bases--I'm absolutely certain if they survive the conference committee of the Congress they'll be subject to a Bush "signing statement" that will provide, in effect, "I'll do what I like."

Just so you know

the insurgents in Ramadi haven't quite succumbed, not when they're publicly executing Iraqi soldiers in the middle of town.

Words fail me

to capture my reaction to the summary execution by Iraqi police of a gay fourteen-year old boy. For sure, you can't know my gut feeling, but yours?

I wish I'd said that

The last line of this piece by Maureen Dowd is wonderful. After comparing Bush's position in Iraq to the kidnappers' plight in The Ransom of Red Chief (wanting, but unable, to give back their victim, who's turned out to be a nasty kid), she notes that Bush ended his recent diplomatic trip with a bike ride and noted, "When you're on the hook, play hooky."

No mystery to most folks

The TV pundits have of late been wondering how come, with the "improving numbers," Bush is doing so poorly in the polls on the question of the state of the economy. Well, if the talking heads, who rely on GDP figures and gross inflation trends, would look at the average worker's situation, he'd see this: flat or declining wage levels, increased borrowing, negative savings.
In other words, if they'd do their jobs, instead of simply spewing Wall Street's markers, they'd realize what most Americans realize. The present US economy is a hollow shell, fabricated on corporate and rich-folks' wealth and fed by consumers' borrowings.

If I were mean-spirited

I'd beat the Republicans over the head with the hypocrisy of Bush's insistence that the national anthem be sung in English.

Erik Come Lately

I know I'm the last person on the Net to know of this site--YouTube.com--but it's neater than heck...with a world of possibilities. It requires high-speed connection, but you can upload digital videos and share them with the universe, which can download them, share them, etc. Amazing. Surfing the site is truly dangerous--addictive.

What a great question

Here's a pollster question asked by the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey:

"At the conclusion of the war in Iraq, do you feel that most Americans will think it is more like World War Two, which unified America and was considered an important turning point for the United States' role in the world; more like the Korean War, a stalemate in which neither side prevailed and American troops had to remain for many years; or more like the Vietnam War, which divided America and lowered the United States' international prestige?"
.
WW II--11%
Korea--35%
Vietnam--48%
Unsure--6%

I wish I'd come up with that question. And the answers: 83%--plus think we're gonna have a "Mexican Standoff" or worse.

I told you. Bush hasn't won anything in his lifetime, except his elections. Just like Hitler.

I hate to say I told you so

but I don't, not one bit. It's time to buy euros, or gold, or yen--anything but US currency and evidences of indebtedness.

What an easy job

to run the New York Times. You can plump for war, unrelentingly, and then when the war goes badly you can hammer those who plumped for war and complain about the result, unrelentingly.

I wanna be a headline-writer.

Forget about paperback writer, a headline writer's the heavy-hitting dude. I mean, check out Reuters: "GDP Growth Strongest in 2 1/2 Years." Wowzer-dowzer!

Then scroll down the article to the meat of the matter. Not the funny math that makes up the GDP, but the math that matters: Wages. Here's what you'll find:

"PAY RISES LAG
Separately, the Labor Department said employment costs measuring what employers pay in wages and benefits rose at the slowest pace in seven years during the first quarter, which should temper concerns about potential wage-induced inflation."

So--the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. The Republican paradigm.

A related subject, somewhat related

One thing I enjoy: Anticipating outcomes. Like my Hillary Watch, to see with what ugliness she navigates between being a pro-war whore and, come 2006, an "I-told-you-so" peacenik. It's gonna be fun to watch.
Another, unrelated, development, but also fun to watch. What is the LPGA--the Ladies Professional Golf Association, for you incogniti--gonna do about the emerging dominance of their tour by "Orientals"? For example, as of today, the end of the next-to-last round of a large tournament in Florida, televised by a major network, the surnames of the three leaders, who're far ahead of the field, are Kim, Miyazato and Kim. Not a gringa in the bunch.

It's because they're good golfers, but land-o-goshen, they're awful TV draws, many barely able to speak English, with on-screen personalities of shy, sweet ladies, entirely unquotable. And--to repeat--not gringas.

Call me racist, but you watch, and giggle with me, as the LPGA finds a way to prevent this from becoming a regular occurence without, of course, admitting that what they want is more ladies with Western Hemisphere surnames on the leaderboard.

A bit of history

Print this out, press it into your scrapbook to give to your grandchildren so you can tell them that we knew, we really knew, what was happening to us.

Silver foot

Recall the remark by the woman governor of Texas, Anne Richards, commenting on Bush's father at the Democratic convention: "Poor George, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth"? Well, so was his son.

Oh, Please, please

Don't let this be b.s.

Diner

I just watched it on Turner Classic Movies. What a great flick. Fine soundtrack (I knew the words to most of the songs!), and a list of male actors that reads like a Who's Who in film and TV acting, plus Ellen Barkin. And it ends on a happy note, the wedding of the girl who passes the sports quiz to the Paul Reiser character. Great movie.

A Place in the Sun

It's on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow (Sunday) evening, with a repeat later in the week. Clift/Taylor, love and loss. Don't miss it. Along with the Brando/Malden classic, One-Eyed Jacks, it's a favorite of mine.

Breaking News!

FEMA recommends abolishing the Bush administration.

Can you imagine

what Sean Hannity or Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh would be saying if Iraqi troops killed four American soldiers "by mistake"? (Scroll down to Samarra entry.)

No wonder Rove is sweating bullets

This be the judge what sits on the Scooter Libby case.

Gasoline prices

All these proposals ($100 rebates, oil drilling in Alaska, investigation of "price gouging")--so silly. Imagine the effect on oil prices if Bush (he wouldn't do it, of course, but imagine) announces that he wants to enter into bilateral talks with Iran about their nuclear program; announces a firm date for withdrawal from Iraq; announces that he will personally intervene in the pricing of oil at all levels--production cartels, refining cartels, distribution cartels; and that he's announcing huge tax benefits for alternative fuel. Could it happen? Not for the next three years, not while Bush is president. And by the time there's another president, it may be too late.

That sound you hear

is the crash of the dollar.

Maliki unmasked and unleashed

The new PM of Iraq, according to this analysis, is as bad as it gets. His appointment by our lackeys in Iraq was at our instance--Condi's and Bush's. Is this another--the final--egregious error they make in Iraq? How many more lives will it cost us--and the Iraqis?

Hooray for us

California Assemblyman Paul Koretz of Los Angeles has introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Here's a site that announces it, and if you scroll down sets out of series of supporting actions you can take.

Enjoy.

Bush's belief that God supports his foreign policy

Caught on tape. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Earth Day propaganda

This Raw Story article--make sure to click through to read the "Earth Day" site to which Raw Story refers--pulls no punches. Our tax dollars are being used by the House Republican majority to attack environmentalists in the guise of supporting Earth Day. I mean, it's so baldly transparent that you think--as did the Germans in 1934--they can't get away with this. But they keeping doing such things, and they keep getting away with it.

"Still free"

That's the sign a tagger spray-painted on Air Force One. Check out the video here.

The guy's got way more guts than I.

Blaming Bush

Here's how radicalized I've become. I blame Bush for this. Don't ask me how I can attribute it to Bush--I can. Just like the Christian Right can blame hippies for all that they see as evil, I find myself able to lay all misfortunes on my hated enemy. I've lost all objectivity. I despise Bush/Cheney/Rummie/Condi/Wolfie/Pearlie--pick a name--so deeply that it doesn't matter what goes wrong, what evil happens in the world. It's their fucking fault.

Now, ain't that grand!

The kids at my college alma mater, Stanford U, turned out in force to protest Bush's presence on the campus, so powerfully that Bush and his entourage were forced to change the location of his visit. The campus paper's report is detailed, supportive. I particularly like its recital of some of the chants and signs and slogans, of which my favorite (scroll down) is one from a Guatemalan student: "For every pig there will be a Saturday." I think it refers to a dish, like posole, made from pork, which is a weekend treat.

I was too prescient

Back before the 2004 election, I predicted that Bush would ensure his victory over Kerry (it was a close race, recall), by naming a new Vice Presidential running mate, Cheney having begged off due to "ill health." I was wrong. But maybe just premature, because in this article by John Dean, at the conclusion of his analysis of Bush's character, he virtually guarantees that Bush will pull off an October Surprise to avoid election of a confrontive Congress, and Dean's first suggestion is that Bush will receive Cheney's resignation and will appoint a more moderate VP.

(Dean also suggests an attack on Iran, of course, and given the present course of events, I agree with Dean that this is a likely, scary prospect.)

Ya gotta love it

For years, the US has backed its lackey institution, The International Monetary Fund, when it chides debtor nations for imbalances in spending, and issues calls for fiscal soundness (which means proof of an ability to pay back IMF loans) usually at the expense of social programs in the debtor nation. But now, the IMF has criticized the US for its lack of budgetary restraint and its failure to provide universal health care to its citizens, and the Bush administration doesn't like it, not one bit.

Deck chairs on the Luisitania

I'm back on the blog after a few days without a cyberconnection in Tucson--didn't even take my laptop with me!--only to find that you've done nothing in my absence but move deck chairs. Lots of them, however. We won't have Scott McClellan to kick around anymore, Rove's dodging indictment and in Iraq there's a new Prime Minister, maybe.

I'm not sure what effect this last move will have on the ongoing violence, because al-Maliki is a clone of al-Jaafari, but maybe Iraq will settle down somewhat, enough for us to begin pulling out some troops. You know--you just know--that Bush will praise the new PM to the skies and will use the event to talk about troop reductions, and will surely withdraw some thousands in time for our November midterm elections. But I wouldn't bet on any significant change in the situation in Iraq "on the ground," as opposed to the White House press releases.

BTW--The Dawa Party, which both al-Jaafari and Maliki are affiliated with, are no slouches when it comes to the use of terror and violence. I Googled Dawa to learn of its past and among other items came up with Juan Cole's recent analysis.

The end of times

This fine essay spells it out. I feel it too. We're approaching the edge of something very big in the course of humankind. The courses we now take are utterly divergent: One to peace and goodness and the shepharding of the planet and each others' liberties; the other to intolerance and war.

Am I crazy? Do you feel it too?

Who wants war with Iran?

Ya know, it's not just the NeoCons who are beating the drums for an armed intervention in Iran. Sure, they'd love it. It would fulfill, for the time being, their dream of an Americanized (and Israelized) Middle East. For the time being, because when the place catches fire, it's going to be nobody's nowhere. But I digress.

No, not just the NeoCons, not at all. Like this author, who, like me, proposes a dramatic diplomatic intervention by the US and other nations, I missed the major player. It's the media, stupid. The American networks want war, dammit. They relish the speculation about it, they nurture the prospect of it, and they adore the drama of it all, from buildup to attack to ruin.

The media won't get viewership from the comings and goings of diplomats, the announcements of protocols and dialogs. No, like they did in the buildup and "shock and awe" of the Iraq invasion, they'll benefit only from coverage of conflict, bombs and blood and guts.

It's not pleasant to admit, but we as a nation haven't progressed one little inch from 100 years ago when the Hearst papers spurred us to war with Spain. Then it was to sell papers, now it's to sell air-time.

A new low

Rassmussen Reports, which I follow daily, shows a three-point drop in Bush's approval ratings, to thirty-nine percent, with sixty percent disapproving (43% "strongly"). These are all new lows (or highs, depending on your point of view), in this poll that invariably shows figures more favorable to Bush than the other pollsters.

A tipping point?

Update: When US News & World Report--hardly a leftist rag--says that Bush's down-home, aw-shucks, manner is "wearing thin" you gotta believe it is. Indeed, it's not wearing thin, it's worn out.

Don't execute Moussaoui

For the reasons stated here.

Indeed, I was going to add this reason: That by not executing him we'd avoid handing the other side a martyr, we'd be showing them we're better than they are, and so forth. But no. The reason we shouldn't execute him is simple: It's immoral to kill a human being.

Another story to track

is this one, about the hundreds of millions of dollars that corrupt American contractors have stolen from Iraqi funds. Seems that they've also stolen huge sums of American money, and that legal proceedings are underway to recoup some of it. But the Iraqis can't recoup their money from American companies because under the "Transitional Law" that Bremer imposed on Iraq, American companies are immune from suit by Iraqis.

This story highlights (almost) everything that's wrong with the Bush administration: The evils of greed, conquest and occupation, of capitalism unchecked, of imperial hubris, of unaccountability.

Will we see/hear about it on the MSM? Let's check.

Happy talk

This report of the effect of Bush's spate of optimistic speeches on Iraq upon his poll numbers (no effect, by the way) is good reporting. Sometimes USA Today comes up with decent summaries of the news, even if it's not known for investigative reporting.

The arrogance of power

This example of egregious in-your-face federal spending is enough to make me pause over my check to the IRS and seriously consider tax protesting. I mean, my likely destination upon conviction would be Lompoc Correctional Facility, just fifty miles up the coast.

Ugly Americans

Why do they hate us? This "apology" by the US military for destroying the ruins of the city of Babylon surely is one reason. Check out, especially, the last two sentences. Straight out of VietNam's famous "We destroyed the village in order to save it."