If I were an ally of the United States

I'd be pissed off bigtime. While Bush is claiming he's made America safer from terrorism by his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the nations that supported us--Saudi Arabia,Spain, Australia, Italy, many others--have each suffered devastating attacks. So maybe during the last couple of years we haven't been attacked, but if you line up the series of nations, it pretty much looks like we're next. Let's just hope it doesn't come in a form, or at a time, that does other than show Bush to be what a cheap imposter he is as a chief executive.

Could it be, could it possibly be

that the story about the Iraqi soccer team's refutation of Bush's campaign ads that tout their success as Bush's success will finally make it to the major media? Finally, the LA Times has picked up the story. Can it now be ignored? Let's see.

The latest scam in Iraq

After all the trumpeting of the "handover of sovereignty" two months ago, one would think that Iraq's "election" of the interim governing body would be met with trombones and tubas ablaring. But no. Hardly a word's been heard about the event, even though the body is supposed to have veto power of the interim PM's decisions, and to have legislative power until the nationwide elections, supposedly to occur in early 2005. Reason for the silence? The "interim national council," as it's called was chosen without fair ballot, over the protest of numerous of those assembled to vote on it, and consists largely of the same hand-picked US puppets, mostly foreign-dwelling Iraqis, who the US installed initially. And the vote to select these 100 council members? Forget about it. A four-person tribunal made the selection.

Sound familiar?

My brother's email to the Kerry campaign

Right on, John.

"Mr. Kerry should shout to the world that it doesn't really matter who did what as to their military service over 30 years ago, but that what's important is that he had the guts, along with our [Arizona's] great Mo Udall, to be one of the first to protest the wasteful and fruitless war in Vietnam and that he initiated a protest movement that successfully brought our troops home after the country realized the truth of his message. He should be prouder of his heroism in delivering this message than he is about his military decorations."

Somebody set me straight on this

but wasn't Hitler the host of the 1936 Olympic games at which, for the first timne, the national anthem of the nation of the gold medalist was played during the medal-presentation ceremonies? Indeed, didn't Hitler start this mad national medal-counting that the US has since found so compelling, so overwhelmingly important?
I'm so tired of NBC's continual playing of the US national anthem that I'm about to puke. I love this country--its magnificent geography, the verbiage of its founding documents, a few other things--but for God's sake, enough of this media-hammered xenocraziness.

I'm pissing in the wind, I know it. But in a few centuries, my voice will be heard. Just think about it. Do we imagine that in an advanced society, such as we might find on a planet ten thousand years from now, they have boundaries, nations, national anthems?

What the hell are we doing?

We're bombing the Sunnis in Fallujah, we're assaulting the Shias in Najav. If anybody out there in cyberspace--anybody reading this blog, if there's anybody reading this blog--can tell me why the US is doing this, please feel free to share.

Iraq Coalition Casualties

I haven't been posting much to All That Arises lately. My longtime hobby, ontological bungie jumping, has been keeping me busy this summer. But I'll continue occasionally, as a contributor to Erik's estimable blog. And of course, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to leave semi-literate, smartass comments on Erik's posts.

To prove my intentions are honorable, I'd like to call your attention to the fact that coalition casualties now number well over one thousand. 1094 to be exact.

Please keep this in mind as we endure the RNC convention and the continuing breaking news coverage of vapid insinuations about Kerry's military service. Thanks.

Iraq Coalition Casualties

If Bush wins this election,

it's because Kerry failed to contest him on the dominant issue in the campaign, the war in Iraq. This Time magazine essay calls Kerry's position on the war as a straitjacket, and rightly so. Kerry has been wholly complicit in Bush's mishandling of the war, silent about the ab-graib prison scandal, silent about the ongoing killing, about Halliburton's defalcations, about even the on-again, off-again conduct of military operations.

I'm miserable, watching Kerry give away all these points while being hammered for his war record. I'm actually angry at Kerry for misguaging the issues so grossly.

Ouch, this hurts

When ninety-plus Muslim leaders from middle-eastern countries condemn the US occupation of Iraq. And in not too generous terms, either.

So, Can we finally put this matter to rest?

Here's the story of the commander of a swift boat adjacent to Kerry's. The man had for decades wanted to avoid talking about it, but couldn't stay silent any longer. Read it and resolve this: As between AWOL flyboy Bush and Lt. Kerry, guess who wins the "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" award.

A must read: Raimondo on Buchanan

Libertarian Justin Raimondo reviews Pat Buchanan's recent book, to terrific effect. If you need to be motivated to keep Bush from gaining a second term, read/buy Buchanan's book, Where the Right Went Wrong.

If oil prices remain high

this economist predicts that the American stock market will suffer a long, slow decline, along with the economy in general, with the middle class suffering under the "tax" that increased gasoline prices imposes on their pocketbooks.

Could it be, could it possibly be?

That after years of display of undiminished timidity in the face of the supreme power of the corporate entities that own them, there may finally have arisen in the media a sense of outrage against this administration? They've let Bush slide past the absence of WMD in Iraq, the absence of any link to al-Qaida, the long series of prevarications and abuses that have driven his administration. But now, maybe, with these false allegations against Kerry's medals in Vietnam, maybe, just maybe, they've sensed what we've always known: That Bush and his minions are evil. Lying slimeballs, monsters, corrupt and base beyond any that our system has so far experienced. Maybe, just maybe, out of a sense of moral outrage--a burst of principle--the media may finally get it, may try at last to redeem the years of ass-kissing solicitude they've given Bush and his cadre of evildoers.

Or maybe not. Remember, they're still owned by Bush's buddies.

Two takes on Iran's latest expression

When a high official in Iran said that pre-emptive strikes were not the sole prerogative of the United States, there are (at least) two possibilities. One, this is what we've reaped from what we've sown; or two, this is precisely what Bush meant to encourage with his agression, so that he can now justify agression against any nation that dares to utter the doctrine.

Depends on who(m) you listen to

The record high price of oil won't cause too much of a ripple in the world or US economy in the long run, or is cataclysmic.

Another lost story

While the news is filled with stories about Kerry's Vietnam war experience, this item--about the Iraqi soccer team and captain taking sharp exception to Bush's use of them to further his campaign, including strong condemnation of American troops occupying their country--barely makes the news.

Eye off the prize

On the eve of the Republican convention, Bush/Rove have managed to deflect the campaign from the truly relevant issues to Kerry's Vietnam war activities. Of course. They're evil geniuses, except for Bush, who's an idiot.

Among the missing issues: Jobs and real income of wage earners. They're in the pits and nobody knows it, except of course those who are experiencing the difficulties. Must we rely merely on their getting out of the house to vote on election day, or will the Kerry folks somehow manage to turn the debate to the real questions that need to be answered?

Too many brushfires

It's maddening, the number of false or biased reports that are being fed to the public by the mass media; and the stories the public aren't told.

Nowhere is it reported that the British are furious at Bush's administration for "outing" their source of al-Qaida intelligence by issuing an alert, clearly based on the source's information. Americans aren't informed about the undemocratic selection of the national assembly in Iraq, aren't kept abreast of the increasing death toll of US soldiers. They're given no information about the billions of dollars--that's with a "b"--that are unaccounted for from the Iraq reconstruction funds, the latter story carried by Reuters, but nowhere televised on the major broadcast or cable media.

We're inundated with stories about celebrity trials, with "spin" stories about campaign smears, with the latest violence and weather problems.

The dumbing down of America? It may be in large part the fault of Americans themselves. It surely is the fault of the media, too. They've long blamed themselves for this, but have done nothing about it.

Talk about a flip-flop

The Pentagon's on-again, off-again sanctioning of KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary, for failure to abide by the massive contracts in Iraq is either a strong showing of graft, or just simple incompetence. Not neither, probably both.

Another reason to abolish the electoral college, unless you're from Montana

Check out this analysis, demonstrating how skewed the system is against the will of the people.