A benefit of modern medicine?

Not as many soldiers die in Iraq; their lives are saved so that they can survive horrific injuries and be disabled for the rest of their lives. Oh, goody.

Another fine mess...

So, the Shiites by the thousands are protesting against the US ambassador's "coddling" of Sunnis, blaming them for the hundreds of killings of Shiites in recent days; and of course the Sunnis are deeply resentful of the US occupation, and the most radical of them are doubtless behind the attacks on US troops. As a result, the US is caught in the middle of competing forces in Iraq, taking flak from all sides except the Kurds (until the Kurds take action to split away from the rest of Iraq, taking the oil-rich area around Tikrit with them).

The solution: Get the hell out of there. Now.

Under Cheney's definition, Bush is a traitor

If disclosure of the details of the NSA spying program is traitorous, as Bush, and more forcefully, Cheney, have said, then what about Bush's assertion that the program is "limited," and intercepts only incoming calls from suspected al-Qaeda operatives? Either Bush is lying, or he's telling the truth, and is accordingly revealing details of the program, giving "aid and comfort to the enemy," which is the definition of treason.

Fascism Watch

My earlier-announced Fascism Watch has been in abeyance during the last few months (and may go there again), because of overwhelm: Bush's actions toward corporate/executive/religious dictatorship are too numerous to follow with this posting mechanism. But this item, relatively unnoticed, must be mentioned: After all that hullabaloo accompanying Senator McCain's showdown with the White House over a torture ban, Bush has determined that he'll adhere to the Congressionally-mandated ban--or not.

A day in the life

While the US mourns the death of 11 men in a mine explosion--a sad occurence, without a doubt, and accordingly subject to incessant cable TV news coverage--Iraq suffers through another day of deaths, including the bombing of a funeral procession, killing 36. Puts the scope of Iraq's ongoing trauma into perspective, eh?

Get out your raincoats or snowshoes, depending

It's gonna be necessary to take to the streets this winter. The Iraq occupation is going to wear on, Bush's poll numbers will remain mediocre, and with the latest Republican scandals and investigations, it's likely the Bush administration will find it necessary to create a crisis. In the absence of a terrorist attack on US soil (which I'm sure Bush is praying for), he'll no doubt launch an air attack on Iran's nuclear plants and make sure Syria is sanctioned by the UN for its involvement in the assasination of a popular leader of the opposition. This will elevate the crises in the Middle East to a flashpoint.

So, we'll have to remain vigilant, ready to protest with vigor (civil disobedience, even), to try to stop the madman from his ongoing administration of fear and force. It's going to be a long, cold winter, everywhere.

An interesting development in reporting

and, I think, a favorable one: After, or before, the publication or airing of an interview, the subject of the interview posts the entire transcript on a website to ensure that the aired or published portions not be unbalanced.

NSA surveillance

In the next several days the media will present arguments pro and con about the recently-revealed domestic spying operation authorized by Bush shortly after 9/11. Bush is already lying about it, calling it "a limited program" involving only "a few numbers" of al-Qaeda operatives outside of the Unites States, when the facts are otherwise. It was a widespread, full-net surveillance, its information widely disseminated throughout the federal government's intelligence community.

Let's hope--and I'm certain it's only a hope--that Congress gets its back up on this one, calling for hearings, calling to account those, including Attorney General Gonzales, who persuaded Bush it was legal. And make no mistake: It wasn't, not even close.

You want fine writing?

Sheriff Tate to Atticus Finch:

"I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still the sheriff of Maycomb County. And Bob Ewell fell on his knife."

One of the finest lines in all moviedom. From To Kill a Mockingbird, of course.

I turned on cable this New Years morning, and although I've seen the film ten times, I couldn't turn it off, couldn't leave the room. Best rendition of a novel to film, ever. IMHO.

Top 10 stories of 2006

A funny post by the Freeway Blogger, whose blog--showing the how-to and results of freeway blogging--is cool.

Yes!!

A list of words to be banished from the English language.

You're not going to believe this

Forty-four percent of those polled by Rasmussen responded that 2005 was a "good" year (or better than "good" because many of those rated it "the best ever" or "excellent").

On what planet do those respondents live? Or could it be they lived only during 1929 and 1941?

Good news

I suppose the fact that the Justice Department has opened an investigation into NYT's publication of the existence of the administration's domestic spying operation should be bad news, showing how quickly an investigation can be started if it suits the administration, as opposed to how languidly the administration reacts to other leaks, such as the Plame case. But for me, this DoJ's decision is good news, ensuring that the story of the clandestine, illegal bugging will remain in the MSM spotlight for months, maybe years, to come.

Quagmire defined

This is how our nation will ensure that it gets dragged into Iraq's civil war.

Who's on first?

Abbott and Costello couldn't create a more comical routine.

Letter to the editor

Some weeks ago I wrote a letter to the editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press that wasn't published in the letters section but in the "Voices" section, so I didn't realize it had made the cut. Recently someone told me they read it and a friend downloaded it for me. (This is in addition to the letter I wrote two days ago.) Here's the earlier letter:

New awareness prompts talk of withdrawal
12/4/05
Voice From Santa Barbara: Erik O'Dowd

With increasing frequency, Americans are asking, "Why are we in Iraq, anyway?"
It is to diffuse this growing doubt about the rightness of our mission there that the administration is now making mutterings of withdrawal.
Twenty-nine months after Bush/Cheney's invasion and occupation of Iraq, after untold thousands of deaths and maimings of Iraqis, Americans and others, and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars, we are hearing suggestions from some in the Bush administration that "withdrawal" or "redeployment" of some coalition forces is likely, even imminent.
These utterances are no doubt prompted by the growing rejection by the U.S. public of our continued presence in Iraq, which is in turn based on a new awareness among the majority of our citizenry that the reasons the administration gave for the invasion were false: No weapons of mass destruction, no connection of Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda, no "imminent threat" by Iraq to the U.S. or its allies.
With increasing frequency, Americans are asking, "Why are we in Iraq, anyway?" It is to diffuse this growing doubt about the rightness of our mission there that the administration is now making mutterings of withdrawal.
Don't be fooled. The Bush administration's invasion of Iraq was always about establishing U.S. hegemony in the Middle East, and so when they speak of withdrawal or redeployment of forces, they don't mean our troops will come home, or even leave the area. They'll be ordered to stay indefinitely in the region to show U.S. power -- and use it if necessary -- to enforce U.S. interests (read access to oil and natural gas by our corporations). Indeed, we are presently building four "enduring" bases in Iraq to ensure our permanent military presence there.
These bases will only ensure continued attacks on U.S. targets in the region and throughout the world, by those who've long demanded that we give up our designs on the territory and resources of the Middle East. We'll continue to spend billions of dollars and risk innocent lives, just in slightly different locales.
We mustn't grow complacent. We must keep up the drumbeat, continue to demand to "support our troops" -- not by moving them a few miles farther into the desert, but by bringing them home. Home to the United States. Now.
The author
lives in Santa Barbara.

To which I would add, as I've noted before, don't be fooled about the recently-increasing US bombing of cities in Iraq, which may lessen our casualties, but will increase Iraqis', and is equally, if not more, outrageous.

Rogue Nation

Check out this list of international treaties that the Bush administration refuses to honor.

Letter to the editor

Herewith a letter I wrote to the SB News-Press. I've had passable luck getting them published, so long as I adhere to the 250-word limit, as--by 2 words--I've done in this piece. A muted statement, I agree, but what the hell.

Many Americans are in despair, having given up on the political system that twice (maybe) elected Bush/Cheney, resulting in a growing chasm between rich and poor, between ideology and humanity, between truth and lies, between war and peace. But now Bush has gone too far, uniting in outrage both liberals and true conservatives (not, however, their evil cousins, the cabal of neo-cons that have Bush’s ear).

The straw that broke Bush's back?: His secret order authorizing warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency of Americans’ private communications; and, once revealed, his unfounded assertion that the “war on terror” grants him that unprecedented power, followed by his obdurate insistence that he’s entitled to maintain the surveillance, unchecked by courts or Congress.

The Liberals' outrage is predictable, but no less so than that of true conservatives because of their innate distrust of federal power, particularly executive power, power that’s expressly limited by the Constitution’s reservation of lawmaking to Congress and oversight by the federal courts.

To be sure, the Bush/Cheney administration is in for a rough 2006. “Plame-gate” will expand; DeLay and other scandals will ripen; the occupation of Iraq will become even more poisonous; and the economy, now that the real estate bubble has popped and interest rates are rising, will slide into mediocrity.

But Bush’s Achilles heel is his arrogant assertion of executive (read dictatorial) power to intrude, unchecked, into the private communications of Americans. All sensate Americans know where this leads, and they won’t be led there.

Democratic presidential candidates in 2008

Here's a quick analysis of the status of various Democratic candidates for the next presidential election. God, how ugly. Except for Feingold (who's unelectable), the field is awful. Is there no such thing as a charismatic, strong "progressive"?

Meanwhile, back in Iraq

Check out these numbers of Iraqi casualties from our invasion and occupation.