A fine kettle of fish

The Bremer-dictated "transitional law" that allowed him to escape Iraq without a shot was crafted, at the insistence of the Kurds, to allow them an effective veto over the terms of the constitution. This kept the Kurds happy, but even as the veto provision was inserted in the transitional law, the Shiites objected--but were over-ridden by the force of our occupation.

Now, however, the Shiites are contending that the new assembly can change that veto provision, effectively canceling the Kurds' power--which the Kurds covet so that they can exercise control over their northern provinces, including Kirkuk, which contains vast oil deposits. The Shiites contend the transitional law is not binding because it was produced during the occupation by the US. And, of course, the Sunnis take that same position, a position which, in effect, leaves the transitional law in effect only as to the parts that no one objects to.

Let me say this: I wouldn't want to be in that assembly this summer when these matters are decided. For that matter, I wouldn't want to be in the streets of Baghdad or Mosul or elsewhere in Iraq, where they are more likely to be decided.

I can't wait to hear

what Rummie says about the Army's destruction of photos of torture, having assured us, in Senate testimony, that the world would judge us by our transparency in dealing with the allegations of prisoner abuse.

When is it going to dawn on somebody that the Bushies are no different from other regimes that have run the US, or, for that matter, other empires--except that they're better at it. Namely, they lie and they've convinced a majority of us they're saintly. Come to think of it, there was a similar regime in Germany six decades ago.

The past is prologue

Here's a fine piece, showing what British kids are being taught about the VietNam war, comparing the revisionist version of that terrible conflict to what's happening to the truth in Iraq.

Upbeat? I think not

Greenspan's long-awaited testimony before the Senate was ambiguous at best. My take: He sees that the US in the long run can't continue as it is, spending, not taxing, continuing both as a nation and as its citizens to borrow from the future.

He's right, but he's not being heeded, not by consumers, not by our president or congress. At the end of Bush's second term we're going to be in the same situation we were at the end of the last trickle-down president, Reagan, who left us a heritage of massive debt that we still haven't paid. off.

Ya know, sometimes bad is better

With Kerry's outlandish push for more, not fewer, troops in Iraq, and approving, without question, Bush's 80-plus billions as a supplement for the defense department, I'm not sure Bush's election wasn't, in the long run, a good deal for us lefties. After all, what would we do with Kerry in control? Protest against our victor? Sure, he wouldn't be privatizing everything, but he's got an odd set of priorities in international relations, namely, the time-worn ideas that power makes peace.

So much for John Kerry

Now that he's shown himself to be a gutless, principle-less clot. I'm glad we elected Bush. He's easier to hate, and he's their asshole, not ours.

The power of the press

"Stocks Mixed Despite Strong Retail Report," is the headline of an AP story, dated today, at 11:01 a.m., EST. "Retail Sales are Weakest in Five Months," reads the headline of another AP story, same date, 15 minutes earlier, but this report by an economics reporter, referring to the same "retail report," which, in actuality, showed a significant drop in retail activity, but a slightly smaller drop than some economists forecast.

This is how the world works these days: All is illusion, spin, hype. All is lies. Karl Rove knows this and works precisely this way, over-stating projections of budget shortfall and then claiming victory when the budget doesn't do as badly; understating cost of Medicare benefits, then claiming foul when he later releases the higher true cost figures.

We've not only got to take back the White House, we've got to take back the media that got them into power and keeps them there.

The power of the press

"Stocks Mixed Despite Strong Retail Report," is the headline of an AP story, dated today, at 11:01 a.m., EST. "Retail Sales are Weakest in Five Months," reads the headline of another AP story, same date, 15 minutes earlier, but this report by an economics reporter, referring to the same "retail report," which, in actuality, showed a significant drop in retail activity, but a slightly smaller drop than some economists forecast.

This is how the world works these days: All is illusion, spin, hype. All is lies. Karl Rove knows this and works precisely this way, over-stating projections of budget shortfall and then claiming victory when the budget doesn't do as badly; understating cost of Medicare benefits, then claiming foul when he later releases the higher true cost figures.

We've not only got to take back the White House, we've got to take back the media that got them into power and keeps them there.

Tell me it isn't so

That the US is secretly arming Baathists in Iraq, using Pakistani arms to do so, in order to fashion a strong resistance to the possibility that the elected assembly might turn toward a fellow Shi'ite state, Iran, for allegiance.

I don't doubt the report, actually, because it's the kind of thing we regularly do in the world. We are, after all, the chief cause of unrest around the globe, and have been for decades.

War drums

The media are doing Bush's job for him. On the Sunday morning talk shows--I'm making myself watch these clowns--the ongoing discussion is about nukes in Iran and Korea and what the US is going to do about them. I've heard no discussion of initiatives to defuse these situations or to deal with the problems that have caused them to arise. No, the news programs make more money when the production is dramatic, and what's more dramatic than war?

What the hell?

It's less than a month after the inauguration of president who claims he has a mandate to do, essentially, as he pleases, and who, for the next four years (if the last four are any indication), will indeed do just that. And yet according to the just-released poll by AP, fifty-eight percent of Americans believe the country is on the "wrong track" as opposed to thirty-eight who believe it's headed in the right direction.

There's a disconnect here that's more than troubling. It's scary.

What if only one-fifth of this is true?

Even so, this dispatch from Iraq, a report of an Iraqi doctor in Fallujah after the siege, is as ugly as it gets. As feared, too, he equates the actions of Bush and the Army with "Americans," all of us. So much for a trip to Baghdad by any American tourist in our lifetimes.

Compassionate conservatism in action

Bush's reaction to a woman's plight of having to work three jobs to support her "mentally challenged" son: classic.

If I were religious

Especially a Christian, I'd be mighty miffed that my religion had been taken over by a bunch of stupid, warmongering bigots. I mean, I'm pissed off that the Democratic Party has sold out to the middle-roaders and am protesting and organizing against it, as are millions nationwide over the last few years. But from the Christian left, even the Christian middle, not a peep about the theft of their religion by the pro-Bush faction. No organization, no spokespersons, nobody standin up to say, Enough. Jesus was a peacemaker. God is justice and tolerance, not war.

I'd like to hear about this from somebody who's religious, Whazzup with the silence?

A couple of things, both profound

1. The Bushies have denied--and hand-wringing Democrats have been worried about--the prospect of a "civil war" in Iraq. Well, we now have an "elected" government, with its troops (and with the U.S. as its allies), doing daily battle with "insurgents" who are blowing up people, pipelines, buildings. If that's not a civil war, what is?

2. I do a lot of reading about the human psyche and mind and stuff. My conclusion, backed by a bunch of heavy-hitting Ph.D.'s, is that the mind is a super-computer, with electric energy and sophisticated chemical happenings that we don't understand. But, at base, "just" a computer. So, if that's true, isn't it absolutely certain that the reason Bush got elected again is because of the elemental computer maxim that is based on the current state of the media coverage of his administration prior to the election, namely, "Garbage in, garbage out"? I mean, the Democrats and others have done much soul-searching over the question "what happened?" and "where do we go from here?" and I think the answer is simple: We take back the media.

Marquette's Student Republican

recently adopted an "Adopt a Sniper" campaign, supporting our Army sharpshooters in Iraq and Afghanistan. I kid you not.

Official dispatches, too?

You'd think, when the Army releases official notices of wounded or killed soldiers it wouldn't engage in politicking. But no. Notice how, in this dispatch, it mentions that the wounded were riding in an "uparmored Humvee," whereas in this dispatch , reporting a death, it simply notes that the soldier was killed "in his vehicle."

Why I'm anti-Amercian

Don't be alarmed. Even though Gonzales' drones are likely monitoring this blog, I'll surely be acquitted of whatever crime they create to jail me on account of the title to this post (provided, of course, that I get a trial). You see, it's not the founding documents I detest. Not the marvelous geography of our nation, nor its powerful ideals. Not the finer moments of our history. No, it's things like this: a war between beer advertisers vying for position on the Super Bowl telecast; and worse, an hour-long CBS--a major network--broadcast this evening of a "special" in which Super Bowl ads vie for viewer approval with commercials from other nations. I tried to watch it to get the taste, but I had to tune away. Too base, too demeaning. I'd like to know its Nielsen rating, may check it out tomorrow and report back.

We have become a crass commercial culture. We aren't worthy of the power and place we inhabit in the world. A majority of Americans are ugly, mean people, driven to consume. It's not their fault, but it's surely their condition, spawned and fueled by greedy corporate enterprises that have for decades fueled our consumption, profited from it, and have finally created its product. The dull-witted consumer, whose ethic is theirs.

Republican economics

This article cuts through the figures, analyzes the reality of the state of the union's economy.

Watch what we do, not what we say

Remember back when the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal surfaced? The Bush administration mantra was that this would provide the world with a window into our process, that we, as a democracy, would deal with the question of our conduct forthrightly and justly. Rummie said this in his Senate testimony repeatedly.

Well, it's almost a year later and what has happened? A few "bad apples" have been tried and convicted of various maldeeds--with coverage of the trials utterly absent from our media--but none of the higher-ups punished, not even chastised. Including, of course, Gonzales, author of the torture memo that probably formed the basis for our barbarous conduct.

And as to the window on our process? Not opening, not even when a federal judge repeatedly orders it.

In a separate case yesterday that could reveal more details about Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities, a federal judge in New York ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq. It was the second time in six months that the judge suggested the government was impeding the American Civil Liberties Union's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism.