Yeah, I'm a whore

My concurence with this piece in the LA Times, added to my confession in a previous post (John-John vs. Bush-Dick, July 7), completes my abdication (for limited purposes) of my rad/lib credentials. I fear/despise Bush/Cheney so much that I don't care what Kerry/Edwards do or say between now and November 2. They've got my support and my activism as fervently as do Bush/Cheney retain the support of true conservatives, who, despite their misgivings about the administration's neocon madness are, like me, going to "hold their noses while voting."

How Kerry/Edwards can win in a landslide

Soros and Ted Turner pool some serious money to stage a massive Nascar event during the entire day of Tuesday, 11/2/04, perhaps calling it the Election Day Special> Sponsor: Budweiser, of course. The telecast of the event ends at 5:30 and is followed immediately by a second telecast entitled, "World Series of Female Mudwrestling," or something, that lasts until the polls are closed in all states except those in the Pacific Time Zone (which, I think, are Democratic "safe" states).

Seriously, in my months of marching and demonstrating, I've noted nothing remarkable about the demographics of fervent Bush/Cheney supporters, but I've noted how remarkably solid they are, almost absolute: Thirty-plus to forty-plus white males driving powerful, large vehicles.

So, we liberals merely spend the few millions required to immobilize these men on election day. And the grand immobilizer? TV, of course. And the fodder on the tube? Nascar and mudwrestling.

I'm open to refinement, of course. But I really think I'm on to something here.

Fly on the wall

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

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

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

Exhausted

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

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

Summer in Iraq

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

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

Do Veeps Matter?

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

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

Daily Iraq

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

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

John-John vs. Bush-Dick

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

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

Four more Marines

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

Group website claims ...

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

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

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

Just wondering.

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

Amnesty for insurgents?

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

"We're not Saddam"

That's the mantra of Rummie and Wolfie, when confronted with the prisoner-abuse photos. Well, now it turns out that our military has killed suspects during interrogation, one by stuffing him in a sleeping bag and suffocating him, another by shoving him off a bridge.

And the investigations have just begun.

The grand manipulation

For a well-written exposition of how we were tricked into attacking Iraq, check out this article by a Frenchman, of course.

A bitter pill

I feel so sorry for the Iraqis. I've read post after post on their blogs expressing hope for a new and democratic Iraq, free from terror and violence, governed by the people. And yet we know, because Bush has proudly told us, that Iraq is a haven for terrorists, that it's better to fight them there than in the US, and that he wants to "bring 'em on" in Iraq.

So, we've created in Iraq a battleground for the terrorists, and then have told the Iraqis to govern it, to seek peace and freedom in a battleground we've created out of their nation.

If I were a citizen of that nation, I would be hurling more than epithets at the US. And I wouldn't have much hope.

Ooops

Seems like the Iraqis are taking this sovereignty thing a bit too seriously, whipping and abusing criminal suspects. It seems the US isn't quite finished intervening in Iraq's internal affairs after all.

Not with a bang, not with a whimper

But with a thud, the "turnover of sovereignty" takes place in a hasty, secret meeting, with Bremer on a plane home to the US two hours later.

What a public relations coup for Bush!

And of course the arabs aren't fooled, not for a minute. They've been down this road before. There are still foreign tanks in the streets of Baghdad, and that's what counts.

Iraq Returned to Self-Rule Two Days Early

Cool! Now all our surviving troops can come home and carry on protecting us from real dangers, right? Heh heh. I amuse myself.

Yahoo! News

Right on, Reaganites

Former international experts under Reagan speak out and have authored a book pillorying the neocons, Wolfowitz, Rummie, Pearle, Cheney, et al., for their idiotic promotion of US imperialism. They take on Condi, too, calling the National Security Adviser ineffective. Their attacks from the right sound like the attacks on Bush from the left. Is there some nexus, some middle ground where these forces can meet and topple Bush?

Good for you, John

For refusing to cross the Boston Police picket line to address the US Conference of Mayors. You showed some class, adhering to your mantra that you don't cross picket lines, even though it cost you a political opportunity to spread your message about aid to the cities. Sticking to your ideals in spite of sacrifice is right on, bro.

Finally

a mainstream publication, WaPo, has discovered that which we bloggers have pointed out long ago, that Tribune Bremer has tried to tie the hands of the interim government in Iraq with a detailed and lengthy series of edicts and appointments that purport to bind Iraq for years into the future. Will there be any fallout from this revelation, in the US or in Iraq? Probably not. This is how an empire works, with impunity, without opposition, regardless of how hypocritical it is.