I'm worried

that Bush will invade Venezuela, not to secure its oil, but its soup.

Just a thought

Since it's clear that Bush intends to hand the Iraq mess off to the next president, thereby allowing his base to claim (when the present debacle turns into an outright disaster) that it wasn't Bush's fault, one would think the Democratic presidential candidates--and, of particular relevance, the pro-war Democrats in C0ngress--would be howling to have the war end now, right now. Otherwise the Democrats, who will control both houses of Congress as well as the White House, will be blamed for the mess in Iraq that will undoubtedly result from our withdrawal.

Indeed, by allowing Bush to continue the war until now, Bush has likely snookered the Democrats already. There's no way the Iraq invasion and occupation will end other than badly, but now that bad end will be on the Democrats' watch. And the Democrats now deserve it.

I keep hoping

that Bush and his minions will become human, will tell us something other than their party line. But no. Bush's speech, following the congressional appearances of General BetrayUs, are strictly par for the course. And now, surprise, surprise, it turns out we're in Iraq for the long haul--the eternal haul. Did you ever think otherwise? If so, you're a fool.

Class warfare is here!

It couldn't be any clearer than what happened today in the financial markets. The Dow Jones index of large corporate stocks has gained almost 150 points (the other indexes have gained too) on news that the amount of new unemployment claims rose by "only" 4,000 in the preceding week. (The Yahoo! headline and the content of its financial article keep changing, but at some point this morning it read "Markets gain on jobs report," the report being of the sixth straight week of increasing jobless claims.)

The reason for the stock market's rise in the face of this news, which in some reports is indicative of an impending recession, is that in the short run the Federal Reserve may discern that because higher interest may slow "economic growth" it should lower its benchmark interest rate, thereby making common stocks more attractive to investors than debt instruments. In other words, what's bad for the workers is good for the investment class.

Marx/Engels/Trotsky were right. The argued for "permanent revolution" that pitted the proletariat against the petty bourgeoisie, unrelentingly opposing the tug of capitalism toward materialism and greed-based culture. Well, we see now how strong that tug is, with its new proponents in the Far East, in Russia and its former satellites, where CD players outnumber books, stiletto heels abound and Burger King rules.

For the stock market to rise because the labor market plummets? What could be a clearer indicator that Karl Marx was right?

How do they do it?

This videoclip from The Daily Show reveals (1) the best critique I've seen of Petraeus' Congressional testimony about the Iraq war, and (2) the genius of the writers and crew of that TV show. They put this segment together within just hours of the general's appearance and although they probably had some lead time (given how predictable was Petraeus' testimony), I gotta say, these folks must really love their work.

Lucky them. Lucky us.

I'm curious

Your thoughts on this story? And while you're at it, check out the Comments.

I'm not crazy after all

A few days ago, see my post on August 31, "I thought I was going crazy," I suggested that the casualty trends I was hearing from Bush and the US military didn't square with other reports of unremitting violence in Iraq. Well, it turns out I'm not alone in questioning those numbers. Indeed, the GAO and the CIA seem to agree with me.

The end of an era

Riverbend, the Baghdad blogger who's kept reporting about the occupation from a few weeks after our invasion until last spring, has finally posted again, describing her family's departure from Iraq. Heartrending.

If he speaks Arabic

he's not necessarily a terrorist.

Say it isn't so!

One can get lung cancer from popcorn fumes? God can be cruel, indeed.

Be on the lookout

for the commencement in earnest of the NeoCons' media blitz to promote an attack on Iran. According to this article (scroll down to the middle) the "usual suspects," including Faux News and the Wall Street Journal, will starting howling about it in the week following Labor Day.

I thought I was going crazy

Over the last few days, I've been reading news articles and seeing TV reports, quoting Bush administration sources and military officers, that US casualties are down from last year and Iraqi civilian deaths are declining. But I follow these numbers diligently on the internet, here and here (and elsewhere) and that's not what I've been seeing, not at all.

Could the administration be fibbing about these numbers to support a continuation of the surge, I wondered? Surely they wouldn't be so bold as to lie about something so obviously, numerically false, I told myself. And surely the media wouldn't let them get away with it, right?

Wrong.

And now for something completely different

You're allowed to feel awe.

At times like these, reflect

Consider:

"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale."

And

"When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for."

Doing God's work?

Or was she doing good work? Does it matter?

Wiki-ing the Wiki

For those of us who routinely use Wikipedia for quick reference (it's often the first-listed source for definitions and information on Google), there's a new site, Wikiscanner, that tracks the identities of the persons and entities who are doing the editing and revision of Wikipedia's entries. For example, the CIA regularly edits its own history. It's like watching Big Brother toss things into the memory hole.

Wisdoms

Here's a site that contains extended videotaped interviews by a learned man, Robert Wright, with various thinkers of today. I highly recommend Wright's interview of Joseph Goldstein, a Buddhist teacher, about vipassana meditation and Theravada Buddhism, which are the bases for the practice I experienced last week in one-day sitting session at Spirit Rock, a retreat outside of San Anselmo, California.

The other interviews, with physicists, mathematicians, philosophers, etc., are illuminating too. Good stuff, long and interesting and penetrating interviews, much better than Charlie Rose's.

From the mouths of babes...

comes a classic line, at the end of a four-page WaPo article detailing the ineffectiveness and frustrations of American troops' efforts to quell the attacks of the various factions who are feuding in Iraq.

"We haven't done anything here. We'll go for 24 hours and we'll see nothing," said Sgt. Josh Claeson, a radio operator, as he waited with nearly 200 soldiers under the glow of an orange moon for helicopters to Khidr. "Our basic mission here is to drive around and get blown up."

That sound you hear

is another shoe dropping. Actually, it's the sound of the dollar dropping.

For those of us who got it (Iraq) right...

here's some fun, fun reading.