All's fair in war

In Iraq, even the children are up in arms.

"It is a good day to die"

One of the finest lines of movie dialog--from "Little Big Man"--seems apt to me this evening, as I read this sad report about the effects of climate change in Africa. Better to bail out now, I say, than to await the catastrophe that will inevitably envelop the rest of humanity.

But then, I think, what about my child, and her child? Shouldn't I hang around as long as I can, and do as much as I can to help them avoid what my generation--I--have wrought?

And then I think this: I have no choice. I'll live as long as I live, and I'll do as much as I can.

WTF????

The Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit--the boss of the largest federal circuit in the US, and the position of the federal appellate judge for whom I labored as his only lawclerk for more than a year in 1966-67--has a website with pornographic photos?

I cannot be so. Right?

CBS? NBC? ABC? CNN? MSNBC?

None of the above. In order to learn of the extent of graft and corruption and lost billions of dollars in Iraq, it takes the BBC to uncover and report it.

Just so you know...

Here's a link to a succinct recital of the military/insurgent/violent acts in Iraq and Afghanistan, assembled from daily reports "on the ground." Not a pretty picture. I've referred to it earlier, but because the corporate media has ceased reporting the ongoing violence in our two "wars," I thought it necessary to mention the site again. Whoever coined, "Out of sight, out of mind" sure knew what he was saying.

Idiots, idiots

This is a rant, so don't expect links to sites or cites to authorities. Just my own authority as a student of political science in college, a student of politics since college, and a student of current affairs.

Underway--without much mention in the US, but under intense protest in Iraq--are negotiations, soon to be completed, of an agreement between the US and Iraq that governs our forces in that country. There are provisions about our troops' presence, their powers and immunities, their relationship to Iraq and the US, and, of course, the bases they inhabit and the weapons they use. It's a detailed exposition of this country's military, economic and political future in the Middle East, set forth in a binding agreement.

Many Iraqis are protesting such a deal as infringing on their sovereignty, and as not within the power of the present (puppet) administration of Iraq. They insist that any such agreement be subject to a national referendum, which the Iraq administration is resisting, knowing that the deal will be defeated if subjected to a popular vote.

Meanwhile, here in the US, there's nothing. Yes, there are some spineless protest letters from Senators, addressed to the White House, insisting that there be no provisions in such an agreement obligating the US to intervene militarily on Iraq's behalf--that would require a treaty, the Senators say, which would be subject to Congressional approval. But I haven't heard or seen a peep from the media about the incipient deal, even though it could cost America billions of dollars and countless lives, for an indeterminate period in the future, certainly well into the term of the next administration.

Wake up, America! Wake up, media! Wake up, Congress! The monsters who brought you this evil war and occupation are attempting to bind you to continue it indefinitely, to fix it so that no matter who takes over the administration they will be hamstrung by this odious, horrific deal. And, if you don't think it's odious and horrific, here's a brief exposition of its terms, as presently on the table.

You know you've backed the right candidate

when he and his wife greet each other at their moment of triumph with a fist bump.

Spineless Anglos

Ya know, when I watched Lawrence of Arabia for the tenth time, it finally occured to me: The Arabs are finer folk than we occupiers, at least they are finer when it comes to their reaction to invasion and occupation of their lands.

Well, it turns out that eighty years after Lawrence, they're still a grander folk than we. They, unlike placid Americians, demand that our occupation cease, while we do nothing to end it.

What's the appropriate adage?

The Pentagon's answer to keeping watch on the conduct of private companies that are performing military and quasi-military work in Iraq is to outsource the monitoring of those companies to a private company.

Is this a lunatics/asylum circumstance, or a fox/henhouse situation, or what, exactly?

We have met the enemy and he is us

In yesterday's 60-Minutes segment about the Army's new toy--a ray gun that strikes and momentarily disables humans from hundreds of yards away with an extreme blast of heat--the device was tested on "protesters." And, boys and girls, guess what the signs held by some of these protesters read. Yup, you guessed it: "Peace Not War."

Fair game, don't you think?

The trouble with growing older

is that I probably won't be around to learn definitively whether future historians--those who after all these years have finally concluded that the Bay of Tonkin Resolution that dragged the US into war with North Vietnam was based on falsified information--will establish as truth the fact that the Bush administration misled the American people into invading Iraq. As the list of those who so contend grows--the latest being Scott McClellan--I'm hopeful the truth will emerge sooner rather than later, especially when world leaders, like Australia's new PM, appear to adopt that position.

I won't be satisfied with a "he-said, she-said" stalemate; I want a firmly established line. Trouble is, that usually takes at least a generation to materialize, and I don't have the time.

Even if we don't care

about our long-term occupation of Iraq, at least they do.

In case you missed it

Here's a 1956 movie about the wonders of Saran Wrap. It's only 21 minutes long, but once it loads you can click the advance bar forward, because I gotta tell ya, it's awful viewing.

Outrage is too mild a word

to describe my reaction to this.

The last straw

The Iraqi "government" is at best incompetent, but they're not this dumb, are they? I mean this summer their people can survive without clean water, without electricity, without security. But without soccer?

Heavy reading

Here's a detailed article about the progress (meaning progression) in Iraq over the five-plus years of the US invasion and occupation. Its conclusion is not comforting; but its perspective is sound. (pdf)

Hillary Clinton is so over

after her "I'm hanging in there until Obama's assassinated" remark. I mean, it's not just tasteless and stupid and callous, but given the color of her opponent's skin, it's pretty fuckin' frightening.

Question one: Is this the person you want picking up the telephone at three a.m.?

Question two: Imagine if McCain had said something like that. The entire election would be over, now, in May.

It's not the crime...

it's the cover-up.

Update: According to the same source, the magic date for the release of McCain's medical records, previously fixed for May 15, has been moved--to tomorrow.

Don't hold your breath.

Dear editor

Herewith is a "letter to the editor" of the SB News-Press that I emailed this evening. I'll let you know if it gets publishsed.

Remember those phrases from previous presidential elections?: “Give us a choice, not an echo!” and “Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum!” Those were the outcries of many American voters when the candidates of the two major political parties didn’t seem to differ much on policy, purpose or practice.

Of course the candidates claimed they differed greatly, but we knew better. No matter which of them prevailed, America would stay on the same course, a course it pursued with fervor and certainty except when the interruptions of FDR—with later assistance by JFK and (yes) LBJ—altered America’s course for our common good. But in the four-plus decades since the last true “choice not an echo”—embodied in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—we’ve not really had much choice.

Well, now we do. As Barack Obama’s supporters chant, “Not This Time.” Not this time will Americans be cowed by fear of adversaries, by fear of the unknown, by fear of the future. This time the choice is between courage and confidence on the one hand, and fear and cowardice on the other. The choice is between offering America’s outstretched arms to the world’s poor and needy, to the despoiled planet, to its global adversaries; or simply continuing to train America’s armaments against perceived enemies while ignoring the true causes of the planet’s ills.

It’s a choice I, and, let us hope, a majority of Americans welcome.

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My stimulus

Okay, I got my rebate check for $300 (single filer with little income last year). So here's what I did with it. I cashed it, put the three hundred (four fifties, five twenties) in my wallet and walked out into the world feeling not a bit stimulated. Certainly not wealthier, and, as it happens, not a bit inclined to stimulate the American economy.

But it so happened that my running shoes had run out of bounce, and so I did buy a new pair of New Balance shoes on sale at Big 5. Price (a clearance price): $39.00. And, of course, made in China.