Rumors not abounding after all

The story about Alawi's summary execution of prisoners hasn't been picked up by the US media, notes a Pakistan paper.

Newsweek Online buries the story in a "tough guy" evaluation of Allawi. Doesn't this piece make the US product of democracy in Iraq sound hauntingly like the US installation of a puppet, tough-guy dictator who owes his existence and wellbeing to US support?

A legitimate question

These Iraqi prisoners have a legitimate question, don't they? If their country has "full sovereignty" why can't they have access to Iraqi courts?

Verrry interesting

A Sunni cleric declares Jihad against American soldiers, calling on his followers to drive them out of Iraq.

Does Allawi, the interim PM, concur in the US troops taking action against the cleric? Would he do so, since the cleric is the same religion, a Sunni, as the PM. Or does he allow the cleric's fiat to stand? If so, what does Rummi do when one of his troops is killed?

Correction: Allawi is a Shiite, which may explain why he's so agreeable to repeated US attacks on Fallujah, a Sunni-dominated city. The latest attack killed 14 persons, injured scores, and was described by the US authorities as being a targeted strike on insurgent forces, while the Sunni mayor of Fallujah said it killed only policemen who'd been trained by the US to take over security in the city after the US marines withdrew in May.

What a nightmare.

Rumors abounding?

This report by a reputable Australian daily, complete with names and dates, sure sounds like more than a "rumor," as the US ambassador to Iraq has called it. And if it's true, it confirms that our puppet PM in Iraq is a cold-blooded murderer.

The last gimmick

It looks like the Bush "economic recovery" is over. The last gimmick, the supposed tax rebate (actually, just tax-refund checks that are more than overborne by increases in other family expenses) has dissipated; the debt-inducing low interest rates on home refinances are sliding upward; and personal credit-card indebtedness is maxed out and also subject to increasing rates. Bush has therefore run out of the unreality-based economic gadgets and is now left with this reality: He's spending money on arms and on security like there's no tomorrow (pun intended); he's cut taxes on corporations and on individuals to the bone; he's chopped all he can from federal programs; and guess what: The US is broke and can't get foreign governments to lend us the trillions we need any more.

So, with 100 days left before the election, Bush is left with only this prayer: Oh please don't let the bubble burst as soon as it's likely to.

Michael Moore

I'm watching CNN's analysis of the effect of Fahrenheit 911 on the presidential race and I forgot this statistic. While only 8% of likely voters, says a CNN poll, have so far seen the movie in a theater, and these are apparently mostly "the faithful," there's another large percent who plan to see it soon and an even larger percent who plan to rent it when it goes to DVD, which will happen in about six weeks, just in time for the Republican convention. According to CNN, the total of these percentages is 56%, which happens to nearly total the non-Bush-base of voters.

Good timing, Michael.

Bush defends war

Bush said:, "Because the Libyan government saw the seriousness of the civilized world, and correctly judged its own interests, the American people are safer."

Now he's saying that war in Iraq was good, because it showed other countries that we're serious. He is exactly the kind of bully we've been saying he is, all along. Unbelievable.

Here's a new one

Erik has addressed the possibilities of an October Surprise and that Bush may replace Cheney on the ticket. I suppose there are any number of ways that they could throw some shit in the game, so to speak. But here's one I've never considered. According to the BBC, the cabal is looking at the possibility of postponing the election altogether, if we're attacked. In other words, does this mean another Al-Queda attack would be politically convenient for the incumbants?

The plot thickens, huh?

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.