The Army clears itself of wrongdoing

The Ishaqi massacre, more recent than Haditha, resulted in a determination of no wrongdoing by the US Army. But the Iraqis are protesting this result, and here's a bit of background, contemporaneous with the event, that pounds nails into the coffin of the veracity of our military's investigation of itself.

I gotta tell ya, this quagmire's more quagic than Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, the gooks didn't have the temerity to question our outrages. Now we've got the people we invaded crawling over our conduct and our paperwork, and revealing our force for what they are: mercenaries, hateful of their duty, hating the people they commmand. And, unlike the "wogs" the British tried to subjugate, these Arabs have video and the Internet.

Is America--are Americans--better, kinder, gentler?

With the revelation of Marine massacre and others atrocities by our troops in Iraq, we now engage in self-analysis. Is this the tip of the iceberg? Have all those uncounted Iraqi bodies remained uncounted because so many were our victims? Are we, as invaders and occupiers, any different from previous invader/occupiers?

Surely, we're not Nazis. But aren't we comparable to the French or the English or the Romans? If we concede that, we become just another empire, capable--indeed effectuating--similar disdain for occupied territory and conquered peoples. And that, ladies and gents, means My Lai and Haditha and abu Ghraib--and many other, yet-unnamed outrages.

It's time Americans understood this: We're just another nation, with the same quality of folks as previous nations. We're not "special," not "God-blessed," not better, not worse. Just another nation, warring and winning, and eventually declining because of it.

Sartre and Charlie Brown

This article evaluates the musings of Charles Schulz's character against the existentialist writer's thoughts about meaning. I must admit I've read more of the latter than the former, but now I'm thinking I'd better buy a Peanuts anthology.

Out of the mouths of NeoCons...

Michael Ledeen, one of the most egregious malefactors ever to have burrowed his way into the federal government (having burrowed through a far-right burrow), says Condi's latest "overture" to Iran is either (a) a ploy to split the baby with American politics while offering Iran a veiled ultimatum, or (b) a Bush/Rove ploy to force an attack on Iran, knowing that Iran couldn't possibly capitulate to Condi's terms of "give up and then we'll talk."

Ledeen's right on the money. Condi's latest is either a ploy or a ploy.

Football fever no more

Riverbend's tale of Iraq's decline. Sad, sad, sad. What have we wrought?

Taken for granted

This morning I surfed through my usual news sites--Common Dreams, Buzzflash, Truthout, ICasualties, a few others--then visited a few lefty blogs and blogs of buddies, while sipping my morning coffee. Got up to speed, so to speak.

Five or six years ago, no such thing. I'd have to wait until Mother Jones arrived in the mail, or until I bumped into some more-informed liberal crazy who shared some news, before I could find out what's really happening in the world. No quick access to London's Independent or the Asia Times, no way to penetrate the distortions and omissions of the MSM's reportage except to wait for the truth to seep through.

No seeping anymore, no waiting. With the Internet and a few keystrokes, the truth will out.

Verrry interesting

I wonder how the US military--and any other US entity that conducts an investigation into the Marines' killing of civilians in Haditha--will deal with Iraq's own investigation. Certainly, if Iraq finds our Marines at fault and demands justice, the US will have to go along, right? That's one way to keep the administration from sweeping the matter under the rug, eh?

Bush says he wants to create an independent, sovereign democracy in Iraq, ruled by law not by dictator. Well, George, be careful what you ask for.

Don't get me started

about how gut-wrenching is the prospect--a reality, according to this LA Times article--of the emergence of a war-mongering faction of the Democratic party, a "liberal" group who cites the tough-guy posturings of Truman and John Kennedy to support a military solution to the "war on terror" (and, for that mattter, who adopt such a phrase). Must we human beings--I'm talking now about me and others who despise war, who are repulsed by its use by American politicians as a tool of foreign policy--fight for peace on yet another front, the Democratic Right? Is there no peace for persons who only want peace?

Media madness

Articles like this drive me crazy. It seems all that matters is what Bush says or how he appears. He's contrite, he's plain-spoken, he's abashed, he's unabashed, he's truthful, he's a liar. On and on.

What about what he does? He invades sovereign nations pre-emptively and contrary to international law. He demolishes the middle class in America with ruinous tax cuts and corporate welfare. He wrecks America's standing abroad, fomenting wild anti-American sentiment globally. He sanctions ongoing corporate greed and devasation of the planet by huge companies. He sanctions torture abroad and spying at home. He does nothing while emergencies arise. He panders to the basest impulses of the basest citizens by dropping "anti-gay" and "anti-immigrant" cards whenever he gears up for elections.

Forget Bush's demeanor, forget his persona. Hell, Hitler, it's said, was a good speaker who had good and bad days. And look what he managed to do with his nation, the operative word being "do". Just as Bush is doing to us. Is anybody paying attention?

Here's another take on Bush's latest barrage of "apologies" for his "tough talk."

What tax cut?

This analysis of the effect of Bush's latest tax cut (scroll to bottom of article) shows how the benefits of the legislation will be distributed. To me, the most stark statistic is that 5% of the benefits from the cuts will be shared by persons earning less than $75,000 per year, which equals seventy-five percent of American households; conversely, 95% of the benefits will go to those earning more than $75,000.

If you wonder why so many folks in the middle class still vote Republican, so do I.

How's that again?

This article tracks the number of times over the last three years that Tom Friedman, one of the NYT's most prominent editorial apologists for the war in Iraq, has in interviews said that "the next six months" are do-or-die for democracy in Iraq. Funny if it weren't so tragic.

The madness of King George

A Jungian psychologist evaluates Bush and his followers. Scary.

A piece of the NSA phonecall-monitoring puzzle.

As you know, in the wake of USA Today's revelation that the NSA has possession of the phonecall records of all Americans who use Verizon, AT&T and Bellsouth, those companies have each denied turning their records over to the NSA. So what's a citizen to believe?

Well, this may be the answer.

Is there no point where someone says, Stop the madness?

Now we're going to use laser-guns to blind oncoming drivers at checkpoints in Iraq. More humane, it's claimed, than bullets.

You want humane? How 'bout getting the fuck out of their country?

Rassmussen Reports

Regular followers of this blog know that I follow Rassmussen Reports for daily polling. It's a conservative-oriented poll that regularly reports higher numbers for Bush and his policies than other polls. But even Rassmussen can't escape the facts, including this precipitous drop by Bush in the polls, to a new low of 36% approval-rating. And note the huge "strongly disapprove" numbers. And note also that these figures arose from polling largely after Bush's speech on immigration "reform."

It's getting to the never-can-recover level. Let's hope so.

CNN International

Okay, Congressman Murtha's report about the Marines' massacre of Iraqi civilians (Murtha is a former Marine) has made it to CNN International. Any more traction, or have we become immune to American atrocities.

The media scripts

In this too-long piece, the "media scripts," as the writer calls them, are examined for Senator John McCain and Al Gore. The Senator has been dubbed--"scripted"--by the media as "Saint John" and/or "Sun God John McCain," with each report of him being cast, sometimes directly, mostly by assumption, in such terms. This media scripting lies at the root of MSM reporting, the article says, and governs public perception of a candidate.

The script for Gore is akin to "buffoon," a negative sense of some sort of wayward loser. And I must admit that in my various conversation, even with kindred peacenik crazies, I get a mixed reaction to the prospect of Gore's candidacy for president in 2008. And yet he's right on on the environment, opposed the Iraq invasion, is a genuine liberal on most issues--and he beat Bush in 2000. He could be cast as the "comeback candidate" or the "happy ending" winner. But I agree with the article, that says that until we consumers of news take on this media scripting question, until we confront and attack it, we'll be stuck with "Saint John" in the White House in 2008, and Gore or Hillary or whatever Democrat on the outside, doomed by the media's characterization.

Another watch to watch

Knight-Ridder reports Congressman John Murtha's recitation of a Pentagon report of a massacre by US Marines of Iraqi civilians. An awful event, first reported months ago, but obscured by the accounts at the time.


Not on the scale of My Lai massacre in VietNam, but not very savory, either. Will we learn about this on the MSM? Don't hold your breath.

He who lives by the sword

This is fun to watch. Bush has for five years cultivated and catered to the Far Right, his base, and now with the Dubai ports deal, the half-measure immigration proposal, the sale of goodies to India and so forth he's losing them. He didn't realize what radical crazies they were. But I did. I spent five hours driving along the I-10 a few months ago listening to a radio talk show from somewhere in southern Arizona. The question was "immigration" and the language was foul. Minutemen calling in, calling their fellow citizens (lumped in with legal and illegal immigrants) Spics and losers and pachukos and worse. Calling for on-sight shootings of wetbacks (even though there's no river to cross in Arizona), calling for martial law.

So Bush finds himself caught between a rock (the bigoted base) and a hard place (the capitalist pigs). The former want all the people of color gone from America, the latter want some kind of "limited" work-release program that allows them to exploit Latino labor without having to pay benefits, a living wage, and provide any security.

Rove, I know, conjured this latest gambit, trying to play the "immigration card" to staunch the bleeding, the inexorable drop in the polls of his puppet. But he didn't realize how rotten was his base.

There's a good novel here, except that it's really happening. And I'm really enjoying the show.

What's good for General Motors is good for America.

Check out this article to learn the converse--and then tell your broker to dump your common stocks.