It takes more than one or two half assed, fleeting visits to the region to even get these peoples agendas coordinated, never mind having them come to some kind of an agreement.
Condi, of course, is somewhat distracted... she's having staffing problems at State. I suppose, like a fine pair of handmade Italian shoes, good 'Bushies' are getting harder to find these days.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is the lynch pin to any successful strategy the west wishes to employ in the middle east. Any kind of negotiated settlement or brokered peace deal would be the catalyst in stabilizing the region as a whole. That is why this administration has a complete light weight like Rice in the most exalted diplomatic position on the planet. She serves at Cheney's pleasure and Cheney, like all dedicated neocons, does not want peace in the middle east, ergo status quo in Israel, chaos everywhere else.
Everytime Condi visits Jerusalem, rest assured, in her exquisitely hand fashioned purse is a hand written letter from Mr. Cheney to Mr. Olmert. It contains just three words "Stay The Course."
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The Oracle
Given this preznits track record for simply awful prognostication, I am now officially worried that the Russians already have nervous hands poised above large, red, flashing buttons with the word LAUNCH written on them (in Russian - of course).
Why does he even feel the need to say such a thing? If this were Victorian England - and I sometimes wish it were - he would have been locked up long ago and permanently, in the well appointed but mercifully escape proof attic of his parents, along with all the other glaringly obtuse reminders of their family's centuries of imbreeding.
I need a sedative...
Why does he even feel the need to say such a thing? If this were Victorian England - and I sometimes wish it were - he would have been locked up long ago and permanently, in the well appointed but mercifully escape proof attic of his parents, along with all the other glaringly obtuse reminders of their family's centuries of imbreeding.
I need a sedative...
G8
Things continue to go swimmingly in Heiligendamm. Although this administration has now accepted the fact that a few things may be amiss with regards to our planets health it will steadfastly refuse to act as a global partner in any clean up operation. Bush's 'Global Warming' speech of last week, in which no concrete proposals were mentioned, was, for all intents and purposes, a random gathering of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. designed specifically to fill in a 30 second timeslot on the evening news left vacant after the latest missile test was found to be a complete and utter waste of time and money... again.
Meanwhile, has George 'I call him Vladimir' Bush pissed off a Russian today? It's 4:30pm or so in Germany right now, there's still time!
Meanwhile, has George 'I call him Vladimir' Bush pissed off a Russian today? It's 4:30pm or so in Germany right now, there's still time!
Partial Brain...
I never knew they called themselves the "Body of Christ" - seems a little pompous - anyway, they're not happy. Religious wingnuts are waking up to two realizations 1) their leadership is a gang of money hungry hypocrites, who have turned their followers demented confusion into a religio/industrial complex generating millions and millions of dollars and 2) the abortionist rabble, all that money is supposed to be spent on defeating, may have actually come out on the winning side in the Partial Birth Abortion Ban SCOTUS decision.
James Dobson, that paragon of virtuous windbaggery, comes in for some serious apoplectic, christianist rage:
"In an open letter to Dobson that was published as a full-page ad May 23 in the Colorado Springs Gazette, Focus on the Family's hometown newspaper, and May 30 in the Washington Times, the heads of five small but vocal groups called the Carhart decision "wicked," and accused Dobson of misleading Christians by applauding it."
Washington Post - 6/4/07
It has taken them so long to figure out they are being used...
James Dobson, that paragon of virtuous windbaggery, comes in for some serious apoplectic, christianist rage:
"In an open letter to Dobson that was published as a full-page ad May 23 in the Colorado Springs Gazette, Focus on the Family's hometown newspaper, and May 30 in the Washington Times, the heads of five small but vocal groups called the Carhart decision "wicked," and accused Dobson of misleading Christians by applauding it."
Washington Post - 6/4/07
It has taken them so long to figure out they are being used...
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Wingnuttia Is Not A Happy Place
William Kristol, arch defender of Cool Hand Scoot and Darth, remains calm under the pressure of witnessing the demise of such a good man, a family man, a cold warrior and Gulf War veteran... crikey Libby was almost super-freakin-human, a man betrayed by the President?
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any
risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?
William Kristol - The Weekly Standard 6/5/07.
Wait a freakin' second here... where's Cheney in this equation? If Bush needs to take a cup of courage here, we know who'll be passing the carafe, the boy king does not make a move without Cheney's say-so. And Bill, if I may call you Bill, Scoot worked for Cheney.
They hate Bush! This could get real ugly...
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any
risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?
William Kristol - The Weekly Standard 6/5/07.
Wait a freakin' second here... where's Cheney in this equation? If Bush needs to take a cup of courage here, we know who'll be passing the carafe, the boy king does not make a move without Cheney's say-so. And Bill, if I may call you Bill, Scoot worked for Cheney.
They hate Bush! This could get real ugly...
Cool Hand Scoot!
Down goes Scooter... down goes Scooter!!!
2 1/2 years in prison for protecting Darth's fat ass...
My guess... he'll be on the Halliburton board in 18 months.
2 1/2 years in prison for protecting Darth's fat ass...
My guess... he'll be on the Halliburton board in 18 months.
Benched
Of course, your average republican abhors racism, sexism, mysogeny and perpetual dominance by a white, anglo-saxon, male heirarchy.
Riiiight!
This is our South:
"He clearly failed the test when he ruled for a social worker who was rightfully fired for calling a black colleague “a good ole nigger.”"
"...he accepted the social worker’s claim that the use of the slur was “not motivated out of racial hatred or animosity directed toward her co-worker or toward blacks in general.”"
NYT 6/5/07
Given their druthers, the modern republican party would export this filth all over the planet. They are not ashamed, they are not bowed, they are not uncomprehending... this stuff sells, afterall, at the ballot box!
Riiiight!
This is our South:
"He clearly failed the test when he ruled for a social worker who was rightfully fired for calling a black colleague “a good ole nigger.”"
"...he accepted the social worker’s claim that the use of the slur was “not motivated out of racial hatred or animosity directed toward her co-worker or toward blacks in general.”"
NYT 6/5/07
Given their druthers, the modern republican party would export this filth all over the planet. They are not ashamed, they are not bowed, they are not uncomprehending... this stuff sells, afterall, at the ballot box!
Elites
Some governments have slaughtered or internally exiled their intellectual elites in an attempt to snuff out political or philosophical opposition and debate, some governments ignore their scientists, historians and assorted intelligensia and make up their own sh*t because the truth is too disturbing or may create an imbalance in the status quo - which is where they make their livings, others embrace the spirit of adventure, progress and the cut and thrust that intelligent inquiry stimulates in a society.
In Iraq, today, an entire generation of future leaders, scientists, academics and professionals are readying to depart their homeland for fear of diminished opportunity, prolonged violence, religious intolerance and political assassination. Their government is powerless to prevent it or perhaps, given their bent toward a theocratic rather than secular society, is encouraging it.
Our governments message - Freedom Is Messy!
What kind of freedom forces you to flee your home!
In Iraq, today, an entire generation of future leaders, scientists, academics and professionals are readying to depart their homeland for fear of diminished opportunity, prolonged violence, religious intolerance and political assassination. Their government is powerless to prevent it or perhaps, given their bent toward a theocratic rather than secular society, is encouraging it.
Our governments message - Freedom Is Messy!
What kind of freedom forces you to flee your home!
Of Missiles And Men
Please, please let us use our shiney new toys in your back yard, please!
Missing from the entire Times article, which was pretty well rounded, is the fact that the missile defense system is NOT effing working.
So we pay Poland and the Czech Republic gobs of money to position a system, on their territory, that may be of as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike but has all the potential for reigniting the arms race and initiating a new cold war. Is this administration really desperate for a legitimate enemy? One we are all familiar with and know how to despise. Is this more neocon/religeous right formenting for the end of days? Have we completely abandoned our senses so captain codpiece can don another uniform - a radiation suit and gasmask might be a good look for him - aboard the ruined flight deck of the USS Lincoln?
Who thinks this sh*t up?
Can someone, anyone - preferably an adult, please stop this stupidity?
Missing from the entire Times article, which was pretty well rounded, is the fact that the missile defense system is NOT effing working.
So we pay Poland and the Czech Republic gobs of money to position a system, on their territory, that may be of as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike but has all the potential for reigniting the arms race and initiating a new cold war. Is this administration really desperate for a legitimate enemy? One we are all familiar with and know how to despise. Is this more neocon/religeous right formenting for the end of days? Have we completely abandoned our senses so captain codpiece can don another uniform - a radiation suit and gasmask might be a good look for him - aboard the ruined flight deck of the USS Lincoln?
Who thinks this sh*t up?
Can someone, anyone - preferably an adult, please stop this stupidity?
Monday, June 04, 2007
Kurdling
We need this like another hole in the head.
Incursions into Iraqi sovereign territory - ostensibly Kurdish controlled - by the Turkish military may not seem so important but, the neocon agenda has always relied upon agitating for chaos in the region as a means to an end. To what end I have no idea, so this kind of provocation by the PKK, although easily suppressed if the political will was manifest, will likely continue until another unnecessary conflict erupts.
The quicker we abandon the failed neocon doctrines embedded in our political thought processes the better.
Turkey has been very pragmatic towards western goals in the region, we should be protective of the few old friends we have left and be exerting pressure instead on our new found friends, who without us, would not be enjoying the benefits that come with self-determination.
Incursions into Iraqi sovereign territory - ostensibly Kurdish controlled - by the Turkish military may not seem so important but, the neocon agenda has always relied upon agitating for chaos in the region as a means to an end. To what end I have no idea, so this kind of provocation by the PKK, although easily suppressed if the political will was manifest, will likely continue until another unnecessary conflict erupts.
The quicker we abandon the failed neocon doctrines embedded in our political thought processes the better.
Turkey has been very pragmatic towards western goals in the region, we should be protective of the few old friends we have left and be exerting pressure instead on our new found friends, who without us, would not be enjoying the benefits that come with self-determination.
Soul Mates
Another foreign policy 'initiative', that lacks any credibility, based on a supposed threat that doesn't exist, utilizing a system that has failed to live up to expectations - it continues to exhibit zero operational capability - and succeeds only in antagonizing a once and future ally in the GWOT.
And, who will Europe support in this latest fiasco?
If the policy was designed to drive a wedge between and meddle with the developing relationship betwixt Europe and Russia who gains from that? I know who would ultimately lose.
I suppose the idea of a 'Super Europe' stretching from the rocky shores of Galway in the west to the shipyards of Vladivostok in the east is pretty scary to this administration, at least seen in military terms - which is practically the only lens these raving lunatics ever use - but most everything is pretty scary to these self-proclaimed guardians of the American Way, so why not try to disrupt that evolution.
The problem with the concept though is that, I think, Europe has had enough of the sledge hammer approach to global problems and conflicts as evinced by their softly-softly approach toward Iran. I think the US will find very little support at the G8, with Blair pretty much a lame duck, and more pragmatic leadership coming to the fore and with this administrations track record of unsophisticated, ill-conceived, punative foreign policy failures, this half assed attempt at political engineering may find itself back-burnered in-perpetuity.
Update: They rattle a sabre, we, predictably rattle one right back. Odd that we used a NATO spokesman to announce our response.
And, who will Europe support in this latest fiasco?
If the policy was designed to drive a wedge between and meddle with the developing relationship betwixt Europe and Russia who gains from that? I know who would ultimately lose.
I suppose the idea of a 'Super Europe' stretching from the rocky shores of Galway in the west to the shipyards of Vladivostok in the east is pretty scary to this administration, at least seen in military terms - which is practically the only lens these raving lunatics ever use - but most everything is pretty scary to these self-proclaimed guardians of the American Way, so why not try to disrupt that evolution.
The problem with the concept though is that, I think, Europe has had enough of the sledge hammer approach to global problems and conflicts as evinced by their softly-softly approach toward Iran. I think the US will find very little support at the G8, with Blair pretty much a lame duck, and more pragmatic leadership coming to the fore and with this administrations track record of unsophisticated, ill-conceived, punative foreign policy failures, this half assed attempt at political engineering may find itself back-burnered in-perpetuity.
Update: They rattle a sabre, we, predictably rattle one right back. Odd that we used a NATO spokesman to announce our response.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Razin' Hell
Carrying on with the fruit motif, via Atrios comes this plum.
There will be an almighty sh*t slinging contest before this is all said and done.
I don't know how the right thought they would profit from this, once they brought religion into the political arena, where sh*t slinging is pretty much par for the course, it's difficult to avoid getting splattered. One may argue that religion has always been a part of the American political scene, I would disagree, but now it is becoming an issue rather than a given. We are supposed to be electing a President not a preacher.
Billy Graham knew better and warned them of the consequences.
There will be an almighty sh*t slinging contest before this is all said and done.
I don't know how the right thought they would profit from this, once they brought religion into the political arena, where sh*t slinging is pretty much par for the course, it's difficult to avoid getting splattered. One may argue that religion has always been a part of the American political scene, I would disagree, but now it is becoming an issue rather than a given. We are supposed to be electing a President not a preacher.
Billy Graham knew better and warned them of the consequences.
Nuff Said!
It's the 40th Anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's. So here is something not from Sgt. Pepper's, just to be contrarian.
Nuts
Now, I know Billy has said and done a lot of great things in his long life, he lived his belief and will die with it, but he really should have put a stop to this.
'But, how should we f**k-off, oh Lord?'
'But, how should we f**k-off, oh Lord?'
Melons
Is there an entire branch of archaeology that I've been, up 'til now, unaware of?
The search for ancient fruits is certainly intriguing... today Japan, tomorrow the RNC. Natch! Mehlman left already.
It's definitely Friday.
The search for ancient fruits is certainly intriguing... today Japan, tomorrow the RNC. Natch! Mehlman left already.
It's definitely Friday.
Banana's
Back in the day, all I ever wanted for xmas was a Bananarama!
Down to two, but still as sweet
Russia's a Bully
They must have stolen our playbook or sumpin'.
WASHINGTON, May 31 — A top Russia expert at the State Department issued an unusually sharp public criticism on Thursday of Moscow’s behavior under President Vladimir V. Putin, describing the Kremlin as bullying its neighbors while silencing political opponents and suppressing individual rights at home.
New York Times 6/1/07
Do as we say, not as we do!
WASHINGTON, May 31 — A top Russia expert at the State Department issued an unusually sharp public criticism on Thursday of Moscow’s behavior under President Vladimir V. Putin, describing the Kremlin as bullying its neighbors while silencing political opponents and suppressing individual rights at home.
New York Times 6/1/07
Do as we say, not as we do!
Rumor Mill
The BBC 'ticker' is flashing the resignation of Dan Bartlett.
It is Friday, so it could be true!
Update: Here's the link. Super!
It is Friday, so it could be true!
Update: Here's the link. Super!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The $9Billion Damp Squib
I may have missed the big announcement in the MSM, you know I can't possibly see and read everything, so I checked out this site to see how our latest test went. Apparently... not so good, they've decided to call it a 'no test' which in Missile Shield parlance precludes the use of the phrase 'complete waste of f***ing time and money'. Why, if we are spending all these $$$$$ on new cyber technologies to support the 'hard end' of this defence system, did they use the apparent ICBM equivalent of a Chevy Lumina to carry out the test. Shouldn't the exploding end of the equation be rather important too!
The Russians must have laughed all the way to their weekend dacha's.
Gawd 'elp us!
The Russians must have laughed all the way to their weekend dacha's.
Gawd 'elp us!
Econ 101
So the boy king cooked the books at the beginning of his administration and blamed that recession on his predecessor - hey, they blamed a lot on their predecessor and even after seven years still do - so when Alan Greenspan, now, gives the economy a 1 in 3 chance of slipping into a new recession and we see 0.6% growth (the worst number since '02) for the first quarter of '07, who will they blame?
You and me... probably.
You and me... probably.
Life's A Beach
So who or what are we protecting in this 'long war'? Now, the discussion may center around the differences between Iraq and Korea and there are many, but, my feeling is, this is exactly where this administration wants to lead the debate. Get us all involved with debating hypotheticals and hot under the collar about cognative dissonance etc. When the real questions fall to the floor like a sucked candy wrapper.
Who on the republican side would get behind this kind of commitment? A substantial number of congressional republicans will be in a fight for their political lives in '08 thanks in large part to Bush's war, would they be willing to sell this idea to an already wavering constituent base?
The republican presidential candidates have shown themselves quite capable of trying to sell any extreme position to the base but eventually they have to go up to the electorate in general where the positions stated within the primary debates are proving to be increasingly unpopular. Will they add the 50 year occupation of Iraq to their box of tricks?
Does this statement imply that Al Qaida, Salafi Sunni's, Nationalist Sunni's, Secular Sunni's and Shiites will be in a perpetual civil war? And, should we have our brave men and women stuck in the middle of it?
Does this statement imply that the other regional governments are incapable of protecting the production and supply of oil without a large US presence in the region? Because, if the US is incapable of pacifying and protecting the Iraqi people, as now seems apparent, and the insurgency has yet to affect the supply of oil regionally, as is also apparent, that would appear counter intuitive.
If our strategic mission all along was to protect the production and supply of oil and project US power in the region as a stabilizing force, then what was all that crap about WMD, Iraq-Al Qaida links, Mushroom Clouds and Freedom?
Will a democrat please stand up and effing respond to this!
Who on the republican side would get behind this kind of commitment? A substantial number of congressional republicans will be in a fight for their political lives in '08 thanks in large part to Bush's war, would they be willing to sell this idea to an already wavering constituent base?
The republican presidential candidates have shown themselves quite capable of trying to sell any extreme position to the base but eventually they have to go up to the electorate in general where the positions stated within the primary debates are proving to be increasingly unpopular. Will they add the 50 year occupation of Iraq to their box of tricks?
Does this statement imply that Al Qaida, Salafi Sunni's, Nationalist Sunni's, Secular Sunni's and Shiites will be in a perpetual civil war? And, should we have our brave men and women stuck in the middle of it?
Does this statement imply that the other regional governments are incapable of protecting the production and supply of oil without a large US presence in the region? Because, if the US is incapable of pacifying and protecting the Iraqi people, as now seems apparent, and the insurgency has yet to affect the supply of oil regionally, as is also apparent, that would appear counter intuitive.
If our strategic mission all along was to protect the production and supply of oil and project US power in the region as a stabilizing force, then what was all that crap about WMD, Iraq-Al Qaida links, Mushroom Clouds and Freedom?
Will a democrat please stand up and effing respond to this!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Shock & Awe II
The Pod man goes off on another speculative, rambling, historically incorrect and mind-numbingly boring rant about bombing Iran. His entire premise and motivation is so incoherently framed, so amateurishly plastered together with disparate and wholly manufactured instances and hackneyed conjecture that one is left with no other thought than it is a piece of pure propaganda.
It is 5,000 words long which, I think, may prove a little daunting to most republicans who prefer their opinion pieces to consist of nothing more intellectually challenging than a head and by line.
I read the whole thing - I am a sucker for punishment if nothing else - and found within it, not a single convincing reason to bomb Iran. You may like to read it for yourself, that is entirely up to the individual and I respect that, however if you find yourself dropping off or gazing mindlessly at a word like 'Finlandization' don't say I didn't warn you.
Always remember - these are the serious people - and - we are where these serious people have brought us.
It is 5,000 words long which, I think, may prove a little daunting to most republicans who prefer their opinion pieces to consist of nothing more intellectually challenging than a head and by line.
I read the whole thing - I am a sucker for punishment if nothing else - and found within it, not a single convincing reason to bomb Iran. You may like to read it for yourself, that is entirely up to the individual and I respect that, however if you find yourself dropping off or gazing mindlessly at a word like 'Finlandization' don't say I didn't warn you.
Always remember - these are the serious people - and - we are where these serious people have brought us.
Fred Flinstone
Finally, after having his ego sufficiently massaged, primped and puffed up the Republican party gets it's "B" Movie, TV Bit-Parter redux groove on.
Can the Repugs be so truly vaccuous, so utterly devoid of ideas, so panderingly obvious, so... so banal?
Yes! Did I mention craven and unhinged?
Can the Repugs be so truly vaccuous, so utterly devoid of ideas, so panderingly obvious, so... so banal?
Yes! Did I mention craven and unhinged?
Myth-Busting
Torture, yes torture, the torture our military and security agencies have been forced to perform upon other human beings so this administration can look tough to the base and scare the heeby-jeeby's out of a bunch of blood thirsty bin Laden wannabees, doesn't work, or rather our 'quaint' techniques aren't necessarily the 'torture du jour' methodology proscribed in the Handy Dandy Torture for Dummy's Manual (Revised Edition). Time to buy shares in Black & Decker?
This will leave a permanent welt mark on the collective behind of the wingnutosphere. Valerie Plame was covert, she was a spy, it was illegal for this administration to reveal her name to the press. Nuff said!
More fall-out as the base discovers what has been done in their name.
This will leave a permanent welt mark on the collective behind of the wingnutosphere. Valerie Plame was covert, she was a spy, it was illegal for this administration to reveal her name to the press. Nuff said!
More fall-out as the base discovers what has been done in their name.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Resurgitation
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
GWOT
There was a time in the '90's that I seriously thought the planet was heading in a new, bright, optimistic direction, we had problems, no doubt, but I felt we were coming out of the darkness, now... not so much.
Axis of The Willing...
The friend of my friend is my enemy, the enemy of my friend is my friend, the enemy of my enemy is my enemy, the enemy of my friend is my friend, the enemy is mostly friendly with my friend... oh! I can't keep up anymore. It's becoming increasingly difficult for me to keep all my ducks straight in one basketcase... so to speak.
Bush Whacked
The sweet smell of success...
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed by a suicide bomber in a crowded cafe northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday, while the U.S. military reported the deaths of nine more soldiers in the past 48 hours.
Iraqi police also said they had found the body of one of three U.S. soldiers who have been missing since an attack on their patrol south of Baghdad on May 12. The half-naked body, with bullet wounds and signs of torture, was pulled from the Euphrates River.
Once we let the torture genie out of the bottle, we exposed our people to this...
Once we let the war genie out of the bottle, we exposed our people to this...
Why?
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed by a suicide bomber in a crowded cafe northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday, while the U.S. military reported the deaths of nine more soldiers in the past 48 hours.
Iraqi police also said they had found the body of one of three U.S. soldiers who have been missing since an attack on their patrol south of Baghdad on May 12. The half-naked body, with bullet wounds and signs of torture, was pulled from the Euphrates River.
Once we let the torture genie out of the bottle, we exposed our people to this...
Once we let the war genie out of the bottle, we exposed our people to this...
Why?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Whaa?
From the annals of Sadly No and highlighted by Atrios comes this turgid piece of pablum from David Ignatius at WaPo. I can't help thinking that I have read every paragraph of this recycled dross before. The bar for 'Victory in Iraq' is now set very, very low indeed. With this current precipitous decline of criteria for victory, what level of success will this administration accept in the future as reason to pack our bags and get the hell out declaring victory all the way; a one hour lull in hostilities?
Walls Come Tumblin' Down...
Sour grapes, disgruntled ex-employee, axes to grind... the canards, they will come a flying. However, I lived in NYC through Rudy's entire administration and although the quality of life, prior to 9/11, improved dramatically it was not such a difficult task to pull off, the rest of his two terms were marked with bizarre statutes, irrational outbursts and the uncompromising, totalitarian actions of a complete egomaniacal despot.
Rudy 'Il Duce' Guiliani as president? I sincerely hope not!
Rudy 'Il Duce' Guiliani as president? I sincerely hope not!
They'll Be Home By Christmas... Probably Not.
If you really need any further indication as to how well the 'Surge' is actually working then read this. Iraq is such a bloody debacle, this administrations strategies and motivations so convoluted and polluted with failure that they now have to operate under a shroud of secrecy and misrepresentation. As Al Qaida continues to grow in strength, wealth and prestige our troops suffer under the command of an incompetent, washed-up band of blithering idiots more concerned with controlling their tattered 'legacy' and staying out of jail than extracating us from this self-imposed morass of ineptitude.
h/t Huffpost on the SFGate article.
h/t Huffpost on the SFGate article.
With Gusto!
It's encouraging to see the word progressive in an article about WNY. There is a powerful and vocal lobby in this region, especially in Buffalo proper, hell bent on preventing any kind of progress. They get a lot of press and media attention unworthy of their negative agenda. Regardless of how carefully planned or sensative to a neighborhood a design may be, the idiots reflexively respond with a slew of prescribed and pre-judged objections. Investors and developers will only bang their heads against a brick wall for so long before they turn away to leave this city and spend their time, money and energy elsewhere.
Friday, May 18, 2007
OWWOOOOOOOOO!
As a compliment to the grubby little scandal, we have the grubby little resignation of this grubby little man. All to the consternation of his grubby little friends. To paraphrase Orwell: They are all grubby but some are more grubby than others!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Three R's
Having a close, personal relationship with Jesus (whether sincere or not - it's hard to tell sometimes) comes across as very important to, what appears to be, the majority of Republican Presidential candidates on display at the most recent 'debate', (I have no clear understanding of where Rudy stands on this issue but then again apart from bombing the heck out of brown people I have no clear understanding of where Rudy stands on any issue.) so as an observer of this phenomenon known as pandering to the Christian Right one can't help but notice the plethora of contradictory, mangled, vote driven, talking point inspired, headline grabbing nonesense these drab, white goons are willing to utter in the name of early primary season notoriety, face time, name recognition, exposure, etc., necessary to continue their tired, uninspiring and base-centric or single issue campaigns.
That it has become painfully apparent that the Christian Right has as deep an understanding of the teachings of Jesus Chist as a fourth grader does of Ferme's Last Theorem and as their leaders in procession like uniformity are exposed as the charlatan, hate-mongering, race-bating, homophobic, mysogenist hypocrites that some of us always suspected them of being and that the faithful continue undaunted to blithely tithe these uber-pastors to super wealth and super debauchery regardless of their leaders tawdry actions and grubby exposees, seems to be of little, if no, import to this batch of candidates who faithfully, almost robotically continue their strategic spiral into the gutter of faithbased removal of brain from body by formenting this subjegated, sheeplike bloc. Who, who amongst us but the very ill-informed, very frightened and seriously misled applauds the use of torture by anyone, let alone a nation founded upon an incredibly hard-fought for release from tyranny? It's illogical!
Not one of these candidates strikes me as having anything but complete, if inexcusably temporary, contempt for the principles and mores this nation was founded upon, they are, afterall, embracing a cult that admonishes and wishes to dissolve the separation of Church and State, to radically alter the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to make hay with practically every Amendment except the sacrosanct 2nd and to turn this country into a 16th century theocracy under the supreme leadership of a born again, white, male President, who is supposed to agitate for armageddon and bring about the end of times. Not one of these candidates questions the validity or veracity of this ideological abomination or sees a conflict between it and their own personally held beliefs. What sort of President can that kind of conscious denial and betrayal of trust make? (See: Present Administration - White-House - Bush). Someone has to ask these candidates - Do you believe in the end of times? If the answer is yes who's gonna vote for the guy agitating for the end of the world? If it is no, hmmmm! Obviously, there are a couple candidates who are not, never going to question this credo, it is as much a part of the fabric of their being as breathing but, they are not going to be elected (See: Kansas - Idiot - Brownback), but for the front runners to be seen as goading and embracing this marginalized bunch of crazies for the sake of getting creamed by a generic Democrat appears like a dance with the devil for dancings sake.
If Mr. Romney actually believes that killing varmints, endorsing torture, enlarging Gitmo, apologising for his ancestral polygamus past, believing that being a member of the CLDS is not a hindrance and looking great is going to get him elected he should probably get an entirely new PR team. His pathetic ignorance on foreign policy has already condemned him to having to rely on national issues which, let's face it, he's shifted upon like the proverbial sands and will not be the lede in '08 anyway.
If the lisping mafioso wannabe Guilliani thinks that by holding his crotch and carrying a lead pipe and a saturday night special is all he needs for electoral success then, good luck to him. He's a one issue guy and the issue has passed it's sell by date, on everything else he has no established positions and is, quite frankly, just bluffing.
McCain is ok, he's just old, tired and confused as to where he stands, or shops, or leans, or sits, or lies down. We did this in the '80's, Reagan redux nobody needs.
As for the rest of the field, they are about as inspiring as a corporate memo on office waste and, for the most part, a pocket protector away from lunacy.
Unless one of these candidates has the guts to break away from the rhetoric of enablement and praise for the continued ignorance of the people they hope to represent, then I see them becoming increasingly irrelevant to the greater population who, by and large, have wised-up and turned away from the values espoused by the Christianist wing of the Southern White Party.
That it has become painfully apparent that the Christian Right has as deep an understanding of the teachings of Jesus Chist as a fourth grader does of Ferme's Last Theorem and as their leaders in procession like uniformity are exposed as the charlatan, hate-mongering, race-bating, homophobic, mysogenist hypocrites that some of us always suspected them of being and that the faithful continue undaunted to blithely tithe these uber-pastors to super wealth and super debauchery regardless of their leaders tawdry actions and grubby exposees, seems to be of little, if no, import to this batch of candidates who faithfully, almost robotically continue their strategic spiral into the gutter of faithbased removal of brain from body by formenting this subjegated, sheeplike bloc. Who, who amongst us but the very ill-informed, very frightened and seriously misled applauds the use of torture by anyone, let alone a nation founded upon an incredibly hard-fought for release from tyranny? It's illogical!
Not one of these candidates strikes me as having anything but complete, if inexcusably temporary, contempt for the principles and mores this nation was founded upon, they are, afterall, embracing a cult that admonishes and wishes to dissolve the separation of Church and State, to radically alter the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to make hay with practically every Amendment except the sacrosanct 2nd and to turn this country into a 16th century theocracy under the supreme leadership of a born again, white, male President, who is supposed to agitate for armageddon and bring about the end of times. Not one of these candidates questions the validity or veracity of this ideological abomination or sees a conflict between it and their own personally held beliefs. What sort of President can that kind of conscious denial and betrayal of trust make? (See: Present Administration - White-House - Bush). Someone has to ask these candidates - Do you believe in the end of times? If the answer is yes who's gonna vote for the guy agitating for the end of the world? If it is no, hmmmm! Obviously, there are a couple candidates who are not, never going to question this credo, it is as much a part of the fabric of their being as breathing but, they are not going to be elected (See: Kansas - Idiot - Brownback), but for the front runners to be seen as goading and embracing this marginalized bunch of crazies for the sake of getting creamed by a generic Democrat appears like a dance with the devil for dancings sake.
If Mr. Romney actually believes that killing varmints, endorsing torture, enlarging Gitmo, apologising for his ancestral polygamus past, believing that being a member of the CLDS is not a hindrance and looking great is going to get him elected he should probably get an entirely new PR team. His pathetic ignorance on foreign policy has already condemned him to having to rely on national issues which, let's face it, he's shifted upon like the proverbial sands and will not be the lede in '08 anyway.
If the lisping mafioso wannabe Guilliani thinks that by holding his crotch and carrying a lead pipe and a saturday night special is all he needs for electoral success then, good luck to him. He's a one issue guy and the issue has passed it's sell by date, on everything else he has no established positions and is, quite frankly, just bluffing.
McCain is ok, he's just old, tired and confused as to where he stands, or shops, or leans, or sits, or lies down. We did this in the '80's, Reagan redux nobody needs.
As for the rest of the field, they are about as inspiring as a corporate memo on office waste and, for the most part, a pocket protector away from lunacy.
Unless one of these candidates has the guts to break away from the rhetoric of enablement and praise for the continued ignorance of the people they hope to represent, then I see them becoming increasingly irrelevant to the greater population who, by and large, have wised-up and turned away from the values espoused by the Christianist wing of the Southern White Party.
The 'Boys
I saw the Waterboys as a back up band in '82 at the Brixton Academy. They were sick-good and had a very subjective crowd rockin'.
The headliners? U2! Nice gig.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
It's Just Not Cricket!
Damn those Brits and their disturbing penchant for the truth and stuff. Apparently, our cousins across the water are not as squeamish about the realities of war (pdf) as we have become over here. They prefer their facts served cold and hard, kinda like their gravy.
Still Not Getting It
The MSM, once again, fails to understand the underlying message this Bill sent to the White House. In labelling this a '... stinging defeat' for democrats they miss the fact that this Bill even got to the floor in the first place. That's the message... we're going to keep debating this, we're going to keep sending up Bills rebuking this administrations policies and we are not going to forget that the American people voted Republicans out of office because they came to represent a rubberstamp to a failed policy. The message is, we will force change and the more the American people find out about this war, it's lack of initial planning, the complete screw-up in the aftermath of inevitable victory, the continued violence, the escallation, the treasure spent the more they will turn against it, even those, now, stubbornly opposed to such a course change.
Look at the photo accompanying the Times piece. Does Feingold look too despondent for you!
Look at the photo accompanying the Times piece. Does Feingold look too despondent for you!
Desperate Times
A part of the Comey testimony has revealed what, quite honestly, may be one of the most desperate and tragi-comic episodes in this administrations desperate and tragi-comic history. The WH sends Gonzales and Card to 'heavy' or confuse Ashcroft, fresh out of surgery and still in the fog of a general anaesthetic, into signing a continuation statement for the warrantless wiretapping program that he and his assistant had already deemed illegal and had refused to sign. Luckily, both Comey and FBI Director Meuller (?) were on to this dastardly plan and had made damn sure there would be witnesses and a confrontation.
Gonzales and Card (Stan & Ollie) back off under duress but Card, petulantly, summons Comey to his turf later for a good dressing down.
Although this is really serious stuff (Glenn can fill you in on what this administration was/is up to and what it means to our country and our constitution) it begs the questions;
1) Are Stan & Ollie the best people to be sending on sensative missions like this?
2) If Comey and the FBI were not there, could Mrs. Ashcroft have kicked Stan & Ollie's butts?
3) Say Stan & Ollie had overcome the powerful but no longer in her prime Mrs. A, could they have found a pen?
4) Having found a pen, would they have remembered to bring the document?
5) Alright, say they had a pen and the document, would they have been able to revive Ashcroft?
6) Would they have been able to tell if Ashcroft were revived?
7) If a revived Ashcroft still refused to sign the document, did they have a Plan B?
8) Were Stan & Ollie authorized to 'waterboard' or use other authorized and approved means of persuasion if the AG showed signs of non-cooperation?
9) Having failed in their perverse attempt at coersion and cover-up, were these malingerers chastised and denounced?
10) What,if any, positions within the administration do these two incompetents now hold?
(Look, I'm sorry for using the names of two comedic giants as a foil for my useless attempt at humor... I was going to use Burke and Hare because of the obvious grave robber aspects of this despicable episode but I just see Stan's 'smiley' face everytime I think of Gonzo.)
Gonzales and Card (Stan & Ollie) back off under duress but Card, petulantly, summons Comey to his turf later for a good dressing down.
Although this is really serious stuff (Glenn can fill you in on what this administration was/is up to and what it means to our country and our constitution) it begs the questions;
1) Are Stan & Ollie the best people to be sending on sensative missions like this?
2) If Comey and the FBI were not there, could Mrs. Ashcroft have kicked Stan & Ollie's butts?
3) Say Stan & Ollie had overcome the powerful but no longer in her prime Mrs. A, could they have found a pen?
4) Having found a pen, would they have remembered to bring the document?
5) Alright, say they had a pen and the document, would they have been able to revive Ashcroft?
6) Would they have been able to tell if Ashcroft were revived?
7) If a revived Ashcroft still refused to sign the document, did they have a Plan B?
8) Were Stan & Ollie authorized to 'waterboard' or use other authorized and approved means of persuasion if the AG showed signs of non-cooperation?
9) Having failed in their perverse attempt at coersion and cover-up, were these malingerers chastised and denounced?
10) What,if any, positions within the administration do these two incompetents now hold?
(Look, I'm sorry for using the names of two comedic giants as a foil for my useless attempt at humor... I was going to use Burke and Hare because of the obvious grave robber aspects of this despicable episode but I just see Stan's 'smiley' face everytime I think of Gonzo.)
Knowing When To Leave
Gonzalez, I can understand... he is not a great thinker, ideologue or even a true movement conservative, he is merely a pet reptile, happy to feel the warm hand of White House approval upon his scaley, slick skin. He is not personally responsible for the criminal politization and erosion of credibility at the DoJ, afterall he was only following orders, something he is exquisitely adept at and notoriously well suited for. So, to face the slings and arrows in a vain attempt at protecting his masters and have his name (It was never good) dragged into disrepute means nothing to him. Either he is not smart enough to realize that he is being played or his loyalty to our pot plant president is suppressing his self-preservation gene, neither scenario is very comforting to a public awakening to the irresponsibility, recklessness and incompetence inherent within this administration. That this little, sanctimonious bullshit artist rose so high within the WH cabal leads to a greater understanding of the rest of them and as this WH dissembles and the cracks become chasms, I ask, who's next to be thrust into the arena to be humiliated, ridiculed and ultimately disposed of in the name of protecting the inner circle?
As for Wolfowitz, this is a man supposedly well thought of in neocon intellectual (diminishing) circles. A man who's fingerprints are all over this administrations foreign policy debacles and therefore one who is held in high esteem by wingnut glitterati intent on a position of aggressive denial and intolerance for reality. To have their boy consumed in such a grubby, self-serving - soon to be a movie - pond scum scandal, one would imagine, would be sufficient impetus for the inner circle to take the moral highground and scuttle the good ship Wolfie, if for no other reason than to save one of their own from utter humiliation, not so, Wolfie has their full, if somewhat vascillating and always career threatening support.
Now, who in their right mind would want to join this leaking tub of ineptitude just as the raging sea crests the gunnells? Must be a real bright spark, a man capable of turning this situation around, a man of great fortitude, foresight and imagination... no just another General with a dubious grasp on reality. What? You think the 'commander guy' is actually capable of adapting to the real world? Perish that thought immediately!
As for Wolfowitz, this is a man supposedly well thought of in neocon intellectual (diminishing) circles. A man who's fingerprints are all over this administrations foreign policy debacles and therefore one who is held in high esteem by wingnut glitterati intent on a position of aggressive denial and intolerance for reality. To have their boy consumed in such a grubby, self-serving - soon to be a movie - pond scum scandal, one would imagine, would be sufficient impetus for the inner circle to take the moral highground and scuttle the good ship Wolfie, if for no other reason than to save one of their own from utter humiliation, not so, Wolfie has their full, if somewhat vascillating and always career threatening support.
Now, who in their right mind would want to join this leaking tub of ineptitude just as the raging sea crests the gunnells? Must be a real bright spark, a man capable of turning this situation around, a man of great fortitude, foresight and imagination... no just another General with a dubious grasp on reality. What? You think the 'commander guy' is actually capable of adapting to the real world? Perish that thought immediately!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Speaking of Ignorance
I know we have only been in this war for four years and preparing for it for two thousand years but for some, the middle east remains a confusing hodgepodge of competing interests, schisms, tribal and internicine rivalries all wrapped in a veil of mystery and conflicting histories. I am sure that I, as an 'umble observer, still have many things to learn about the holy lands and the boundless, millenia old intrigues. Having said that, there are places to go to research, learn and educate oneself, they are easily accessible and even in synopsis form one can decipher and solve some of the most obvious puzzles currently perplexing our politeratti.
Now, why would I bother, I could just go along with the conventional wisdom on the subject and classify the entire region as bad guy, evil doers intent on creating a super caliphate-a-listic, islamofascist, pan-arab paradise to challenge western hegemony and have done with it. Eventually, we're gonna nuke the heck out of them anyway and well, it's not as if I'm running for president or anything and should, perhaps try and familiarize myself with the whys, wherefores and whatnots of the recently destabilized religio-industrial-complex of the largest and most antagonistic oil producing region on the planet.
That the middle-east represents a veritable gordian knot of western misunderstanding and failed foreign policy over the last 1,400 years wouldn't it be prudent to get a handle on the major players, their provenance, their political or social aspirations, their affiliations and loyalties, where they stand philosophically or ideologically, just what it is they are fighting for... just asking.
That the political players in this country - both Dem and Repug - remain ignorant of whom we are fighting and continue to spout illogical, uninformed, cliched and quite frankly stereotyped rubbish at an even less well informed public might well be the reason we keep finding ourselves embroiled in these no-win situations. Let us always start here: Know your enemy - only strike when victory is certain - withdraw quickly and live to fight another day if a battle seems lost.
Now, why would I bother, I could just go along with the conventional wisdom on the subject and classify the entire region as bad guy, evil doers intent on creating a super caliphate-a-listic, islamofascist, pan-arab paradise to challenge western hegemony and have done with it. Eventually, we're gonna nuke the heck out of them anyway and well, it's not as if I'm running for president or anything and should, perhaps try and familiarize myself with the whys, wherefores and whatnots of the recently destabilized religio-industrial-complex of the largest and most antagonistic oil producing region on the planet.
That the middle-east represents a veritable gordian knot of western misunderstanding and failed foreign policy over the last 1,400 years wouldn't it be prudent to get a handle on the major players, their provenance, their political or social aspirations, their affiliations and loyalties, where they stand philosophically or ideologically, just what it is they are fighting for... just asking.
That the political players in this country - both Dem and Repug - remain ignorant of whom we are fighting and continue to spout illogical, uninformed, cliched and quite frankly stereotyped rubbish at an even less well informed public might well be the reason we keep finding ourselves embroiled in these no-win situations. Let us always start here: Know your enemy - only strike when victory is certain - withdraw quickly and live to fight another day if a battle seems lost.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Fear, Ignorance & Vengeance
Are three very powerful singular states of mind but, when combined are literally quite lethal to those caught in the vortex. I watched Frontline on PBS last night, it dealt with teen offenders subjected to life sentences without parole. I think all the incredibly violent incidents happened in Colorado around the same time that a youth crime wave was hitting that state (late 90's) and the adult population was being whipped up into the proverbial lynch mob by the press, elected officials and elected officials within the state justice system. Colorado, up to that time, had had a very progressive system in-place to deal with its youth offenders which had offered some kind of hope to those who had suffered at the hands of an overloaded social services system that '...expected teenage boys to be able to take care of themselves' and, for the most part, at the hands of their parents and extended families since their earliest childhoods.
As I mentioned, the cases highlighted here were of a very violent, almost passionate, nature. The boys did not deny their crimes, or in the case of one boy just being at the scene of a crime, and explained in detail what brought them to the brink of contemplating and almost instantaneously executing such crimes. They had all suffered one form of abuse or another, from rape by a step-parent (male) to sexual abuse by an actual parent (female). The physical abuse in these cases acted as a petri dish to the self-sustaining mental abuse and temporary insanity exhibited by the offenders.
That these boys suffered for most of their short lives from an anguish and unhappiness, that I cannot even imagine, is for me enough to give them a second chance at life. These boys were not thugs, gangsta's, street-urchins nor subject to environmental and social pressures where violence can be glorified and immitated as a kind of circular phenomenon, they were your classic middle-class white boys from decent neighborhoods whose only sense of crime was the ugliness happening to them on a daily basis within the confines of the 'family'. Suffice to say that Columbine was perpetrated by classic middle class white boys but the premeditation of that instance was lacking in the cases presented to us on Frontline.
The most stark and emotional moment for me was when, after a long description of the murder, both boys described the events as lasting seconds, less than a minute. The boy who witnessed the event said he had no time to react, to stop his friend from killing his mother or to even run. I can't imagine how I would react either, how quickly my brain could process that kind of horror, what would I do as an adult, he was 16 years old and although he assisted the young boy in cleaning up the mess he kept expecting the mother to '... wake up and be really pissed at us'. Sorry, but none of these kids were master criminals, all were apprehended within hours of the events - usually dazed and confused, there was no premeditation, no murder aforethought, these were crimes of passion and these boys will pay for them with rest their unfulflled lives.
Now the supporters of such strict interpretations and penalties are a motley bunch of canard spouters who wheel out the usual bromides about the kids being vicious killers, being tough on crime, caring about the victims and their families etc. The DA they interviewed assured us that he had prosecuted many crimes like this and they were always the nastiest, most heinous crime scenes imaginable well, to me that is not surprising and should be effing obvious, these kids - kids - have suffered heinous crimes upon their person and psyches by people who are supposed to be protecting and nurturing them and when they seek help they are ignored or worse under suspicion for alterior motives. They are desperate, unwanted and too young to process rage and its consequences, of course the crime scenes are macabre, they picked up the first thing they could find and beat away the rage. The DA is an ignorant idiot lacking in compassion and intellectual honesty. As for the concerned citizens fearful that crime will enter their smug, cossetted existence it already has, these crimes were committed within the confines of a suburban America that has gleefully abdicated its role in defining America's future cultural and social development for twelve pieces of silver and a McMansion. That these supposed adult's fear, ignorance and vengeance is so total, unforgiving and misguided speaks volumes about America in the 21st Century and why a change in the discourse and priorities of modern America is not only important, it is vital to our national interests. We must take the decision making process away from the fearful, the ignorant and the vengeful, they know not what they do.
As I mentioned, the cases highlighted here were of a very violent, almost passionate, nature. The boys did not deny their crimes, or in the case of one boy just being at the scene of a crime, and explained in detail what brought them to the brink of contemplating and almost instantaneously executing such crimes. They had all suffered one form of abuse or another, from rape by a step-parent (male) to sexual abuse by an actual parent (female). The physical abuse in these cases acted as a petri dish to the self-sustaining mental abuse and temporary insanity exhibited by the offenders.
That these boys suffered for most of their short lives from an anguish and unhappiness, that I cannot even imagine, is for me enough to give them a second chance at life. These boys were not thugs, gangsta's, street-urchins nor subject to environmental and social pressures where violence can be glorified and immitated as a kind of circular phenomenon, they were your classic middle-class white boys from decent neighborhoods whose only sense of crime was the ugliness happening to them on a daily basis within the confines of the 'family'. Suffice to say that Columbine was perpetrated by classic middle class white boys but the premeditation of that instance was lacking in the cases presented to us on Frontline.
The most stark and emotional moment for me was when, after a long description of the murder, both boys described the events as lasting seconds, less than a minute. The boy who witnessed the event said he had no time to react, to stop his friend from killing his mother or to even run. I can't imagine how I would react either, how quickly my brain could process that kind of horror, what would I do as an adult, he was 16 years old and although he assisted the young boy in cleaning up the mess he kept expecting the mother to '... wake up and be really pissed at us'. Sorry, but none of these kids were master criminals, all were apprehended within hours of the events - usually dazed and confused, there was no premeditation, no murder aforethought, these were crimes of passion and these boys will pay for them with rest their unfulflled lives.
Now the supporters of such strict interpretations and penalties are a motley bunch of canard spouters who wheel out the usual bromides about the kids being vicious killers, being tough on crime, caring about the victims and their families etc. The DA they interviewed assured us that he had prosecuted many crimes like this and they were always the nastiest, most heinous crime scenes imaginable well, to me that is not surprising and should be effing obvious, these kids - kids - have suffered heinous crimes upon their person and psyches by people who are supposed to be protecting and nurturing them and when they seek help they are ignored or worse under suspicion for alterior motives. They are desperate, unwanted and too young to process rage and its consequences, of course the crime scenes are macabre, they picked up the first thing they could find and beat away the rage. The DA is an ignorant idiot lacking in compassion and intellectual honesty. As for the concerned citizens fearful that crime will enter their smug, cossetted existence it already has, these crimes were committed within the confines of a suburban America that has gleefully abdicated its role in defining America's future cultural and social development for twelve pieces of silver and a McMansion. That these supposed adult's fear, ignorance and vengeance is so total, unforgiving and misguided speaks volumes about America in the 21st Century and why a change in the discourse and priorities of modern America is not only important, it is vital to our national interests. We must take the decision making process away from the fearful, the ignorant and the vengeful, they know not what they do.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
This Is Not An Irish Rebel Song...
Back in the day, it was fine for your 'Ax-Man' to wear a nice red sweater bought for him by his mum!
American Exceptionalism
As a follow up to an earlier post and a comment I received. Although conventional wisdom on the right points to 9/11 as a failure of previous policies of containment, appeasement and traditional terror fighting methods, this is a strawman. We are all familiar with the PDB presented to the preznit whilst on his hols in Crawford warning of a gathering threat and the determination of al qaida to strike at the American homeland. It was through the willful disregard of this and other warnings that 9/11 was such a catastrophe and surprise to this nation. It was however, no surprise to the intelligence community and indeed, a few lightbulbs must have pinged at the WH, even though they were quick to deny it and slow, if not reluctant to have the matter investigated. They remain, to this day, close lipped about the events leading up to that day and unwilling to countenance a true independent investigation. The truth can be a terrible, heartless foe.
The chatter and raw intelligence coming into CIA, NSA and all the other institutions internal and worldwide pointed to something 'large' about to happen. This administration acted with, what we now know as systemic, it's usual lack of urgency, ignoring the warnings, failing to alert it's own domestic law enforcement partners, hushing up inconvenient whistleblowers and concentrating instead upon it's policies of pampering and paying back it's corporate, crony sponsors.
The right is also quick to cite the London and Madrid bombings as further evidence of a fatal flaw in the prosecution of a conventional approach to fighting terror. Even though those two events happened after 9/11 and the entire world was on a high alert status. But that is how terrorism works - and matastacizes. The fact that 9/11 was such a stunning success assisted in the development and financing of further plots and schemes, some of which were prevented, others that, unfortunately, were not. The key to fighting terror is to learn from both your successes and your failures, there will be death and destruction but there will be containment and prevention and prosecutions and imprisonment and eventually the money trail will lead us to the true sponsors of international terrorism, they being the true perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity but, perhaps, we already know who and that truth is just too shocking. Spain and Britain - both familiar with domestic terrorism and it's long reach into the collective consciousness - in the aftermath of their respective bombings, did not immediately begin to formulate plans to invade a distant middle east country in revenge for the new carnage suffered on their shores. Both countries bestowed new and unprecedented powers on their domestic law enforcement and internal security agencies and within the letters of these new laws have had some staggering successes.
Every terrorist organization, as is well known, has to fulfill certain needs in order rise and flourish; a charismatic leader, an easily replaceable charismatic leader, reliable financial backers, an easily understood ideology, an easily demonized and recognizable foe, a few spectacular successes as a recruiting tool and the continued ineptitude of its foe to figure out what it is they are up to. As a simplified but demonstrable example of the destruction of the hydra-terrorist organization we can look to the Emerald Isle. With both domestic and international help Britain was able to identify cell leaders of the IRA and through observation, infiltration and intelligence was able, eventually, to identify the very top leaders of the organization - know your enemy. Through the same techniques they were able to identify NORAID as a front organization that funnelled money into the IRA coffers - ultimately, once funds were cut off or at least restricted the IRA was forced to rob banks and gas stations to fund its operations and arms acquisitions, not the best uses of it's men or materiel. By finally engaging and investing the Irish government in the peace process acts of violence were no longer tacitly approved as an inevitable part of the political struggle. The IRA found itself culturally and politically on the sidelines and was forced to politicize in order to be represented at the peace table. Through, initially secret, communications the British government was able to negotiate with Sinn Fein and present, as fait a'complete, the building blocks to Northern Irish self rule and ultimately self determination. It took many years, there were many road blocks and pitfalls but, instead of force an international - we must never forget the American will and resolve displayed in making this succeed - political framework was established and a political solution finally arrived at. History -aint it grand?
The chatter and raw intelligence coming into CIA, NSA and all the other institutions internal and worldwide pointed to something 'large' about to happen. This administration acted with, what we now know as systemic, it's usual lack of urgency, ignoring the warnings, failing to alert it's own domestic law enforcement partners, hushing up inconvenient whistleblowers and concentrating instead upon it's policies of pampering and paying back it's corporate, crony sponsors.
The right is also quick to cite the London and Madrid bombings as further evidence of a fatal flaw in the prosecution of a conventional approach to fighting terror. Even though those two events happened after 9/11 and the entire world was on a high alert status. But that is how terrorism works - and matastacizes. The fact that 9/11 was such a stunning success assisted in the development and financing of further plots and schemes, some of which were prevented, others that, unfortunately, were not. The key to fighting terror is to learn from both your successes and your failures, there will be death and destruction but there will be containment and prevention and prosecutions and imprisonment and eventually the money trail will lead us to the true sponsors of international terrorism, they being the true perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity but, perhaps, we already know who and that truth is just too shocking. Spain and Britain - both familiar with domestic terrorism and it's long reach into the collective consciousness - in the aftermath of their respective bombings, did not immediately begin to formulate plans to invade a distant middle east country in revenge for the new carnage suffered on their shores. Both countries bestowed new and unprecedented powers on their domestic law enforcement and internal security agencies and within the letters of these new laws have had some staggering successes.
Every terrorist organization, as is well known, has to fulfill certain needs in order rise and flourish; a charismatic leader, an easily replaceable charismatic leader, reliable financial backers, an easily understood ideology, an easily demonized and recognizable foe, a few spectacular successes as a recruiting tool and the continued ineptitude of its foe to figure out what it is they are up to. As a simplified but demonstrable example of the destruction of the hydra-terrorist organization we can look to the Emerald Isle. With both domestic and international help Britain was able to identify cell leaders of the IRA and through observation, infiltration and intelligence was able, eventually, to identify the very top leaders of the organization - know your enemy. Through the same techniques they were able to identify NORAID as a front organization that funnelled money into the IRA coffers - ultimately, once funds were cut off or at least restricted the IRA was forced to rob banks and gas stations to fund its operations and arms acquisitions, not the best uses of it's men or materiel. By finally engaging and investing the Irish government in the peace process acts of violence were no longer tacitly approved as an inevitable part of the political struggle. The IRA found itself culturally and politically on the sidelines and was forced to politicize in order to be represented at the peace table. Through, initially secret, communications the British government was able to negotiate with Sinn Fein and present, as fait a'complete, the building blocks to Northern Irish self rule and ultimately self determination. It took many years, there were many road blocks and pitfalls but, instead of force an international - we must never forget the American will and resolve displayed in making this succeed - political framework was established and a political solution finally arrived at. History -aint it grand?
Monday, May 07, 2007
Plan F
Perhaps the biggest problem this administration had in the aftermath of 9/11 was that it had absolutely no idea how to fight a GWOT and still doesn't. However, they did figure out a - very bad - way to conventionalize it. That they were gifted the backing of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan where the Taliban, initially, turned out to be not much more than a rag-tag militia and were easily swept off the battlefield only to morph into what we see today. And, that the only apparent or manipulated path forward from that first encounter with the ideology of islamofascist-ring-a-ma-ting was to find a predominantly secular, target rich environment and stay for awhile, completely ignoring what we had learned in Afghanistan about the cynical and barbarous nature of our enemy, remaining blithe to the emotional and tactical shifts of both those nations as a direct reaction to occupation, in parallel with alienating the international community - coalition of the willing notwithstanding - through roughshod treatment of pertinent alliances and existing treaties and blatant arrogance, we arrive where we are today, a mere Friedman Unit from turning the tide in Iraq - again - without still never actually having to confront the realities and consequences of the conflicts at hand and where these consequences will lead us to in the future.
There are many nations of the world very familiar and competent at dealing with both international and domestic terrorism within their borders, there are institutions and world bodies tasked with the collection and dissemination of information regarding terrorist entities, the players, their ideologies and their methods. There are enforcement agencies cooperating around the world with the infiltration and fighting of terrorist organizations, some with great success. There are proven - in the battlefield - models and strategies in existence that will help with the fight against terrorism. But, this administration chose to ignore that route, that skill-set of collective knowledge, strategies and techniques and chose instead to invade Iraq, an albeit prominent part of a self-styled 'Axis of Evil' and constant thorn in the foot of dear leader and his neocon cabal, but, for the most part, a contained and strategical non-entity, except that is for oil and as a showcase for crackpot theories and political sloganeering - winning elections and creating a permanent republican majority, that is - certainly not for anything honorable. So, not only do we rebuff the world - 'CoW' notwithstanding - and all the opportunities inherent with partnerships forged in collective and shared responsibility, we ignite a powder keg and strap it to our service men and womens back and talk of 'diminishing expectations'. It is self immolation on a grand and unforgiveable scale. It would be inconceiveable if it wasn't actually happening before our very eyes.
There are many nations of the world very familiar and competent at dealing with both international and domestic terrorism within their borders, there are institutions and world bodies tasked with the collection and dissemination of information regarding terrorist entities, the players, their ideologies and their methods. There are enforcement agencies cooperating around the world with the infiltration and fighting of terrorist organizations, some with great success. There are proven - in the battlefield - models and strategies in existence that will help with the fight against terrorism. But, this administration chose to ignore that route, that skill-set of collective knowledge, strategies and techniques and chose instead to invade Iraq, an albeit prominent part of a self-styled 'Axis of Evil' and constant thorn in the foot of dear leader and his neocon cabal, but, for the most part, a contained and strategical non-entity, except that is for oil and as a showcase for crackpot theories and political sloganeering - winning elections and creating a permanent republican majority, that is - certainly not for anything honorable. So, not only do we rebuff the world - 'CoW' notwithstanding - and all the opportunities inherent with partnerships forged in collective and shared responsibility, we ignite a powder keg and strap it to our service men and womens back and talk of 'diminishing expectations'. It is self immolation on a grand and unforgiveable scale. It would be inconceiveable if it wasn't actually happening before our very eyes.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Name That Paper...
You just know there will be a competition to name this marriage of the macabre!
Faux Street Journal
Wall Street Noise
etc.
I know the reporting can be excellent in the WSJ - that will surely come to an abrupt end - but the editorial page is abominable! A pox on both their houses...
Faux Street Journal
Wall Street Noise
etc.
I know the reporting can be excellent in the WSJ - that will surely come to an abrupt end - but the editorial page is abominable! A pox on both their houses...
Syriaously
Will Condi be reprimanded by Darth Cheney for her "Bad Behavior" - not likely.
Could this be a result of the Pelosi trip described by CNN as 'Talking With Terrorists'
''There has been some movement by the Syrians ... there has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq'' for more than a month, Caldwell said.
Bad behavior indeed!
Could this be a result of the Pelosi trip described by CNN as 'Talking With Terrorists'
''There has been some movement by the Syrians ... there has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq'' for more than a month, Caldwell said.
Bad behavior indeed!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Old Con
There has been endless debate about the Neocon-Theocratic alliance and it's rise and fall, mostly the discussion centers around who is using who or whether the power bloc in this administration is truely christian in it's belief system or whether there is a belief system at all. Does the Shrub pray or prey, it is probably irrelevant. I think as we move into the end game here things will become more evident, not about the relationship between these two competing philosophies - and they are competing - but about each competing element and how they came to such prominence. Neither side will ever admit that they were used by the other so the infrastructure will never be exposed as perhaps most 'progressive' Americans would like, the secret meetings, in smoke and incense filled rooms, and the agenda discussed therein will remain just that - secret. That a deal was done and 'wish-lists' exchanged there is no doubt, I think SCOTUS and unhinged, unquestioning loyalty to dear leader were the lynchpins to whatever other agreements were thrashed out between the two and if the christian right lost out on many of their cherished theological misinterpretations - quickly abandoned by the neocons - they at least have SCOTUS as a lasting legacy to hang their mitres on and it was a huge victory that I remain furious and discouraged with. The neocon agenda, meanwhile, reached a precipitous foreign policy zenith with the conquering of a third rate power - Iraq, fed in part by a wave of unquestioning patriotic myopia on behalf of the American electorate and a coordinated coup d'etat of a spineless fourth estate initiated and sustained by the bretheren.
As most on the left watch and comment, more astutely than I ever can on, the "slow-motion car crash" that is this administration, the neocon/theocratic blastwall continues to provide political and amoral cover for this administrations incompetence and deceit, even as both entities suffer from perceived hypocracy and irrelevance. Am I sure about this decline? What's on the agenda for the next 19 months, what policies is this administration formulating, in what direction do they want to steer the ship of state? Anyone on the right talking about the next great policy initiative? - I didn't think so! They are still defending NCLB, Tax Cuts for the Rich, the Clean Air Act, Medicaid Reform, in fact every piece of legislation this administration brought forth and had rubberstamped by those idiotic congresses is under siege or under review, under funded or underground in the case of Social Security Reform. And, Iraq and foreign policy in general, the President can stamp his feet and mouth absurdities until the cows come home, the days of preemptive war and never-ending conflicts with zero accountability are over and rightly so.
Both christo-fascism and neocon ideologies have one fatal flaw - inflexibility. They demand that all the laws of society, religion even science conform to their rigid world view regardless of the improbability of that ever really happening and like an unbending piece of metal plunged into liquid hydrogen once exposed and tapped a few times on a solid surface the whole thing shatters. This society and many others like us have thrived on the ability of its people and government to absorb, adapt to and embrace potentially disastrous events, they become moments that define us, change us and mold us but, this requires elasticity of thought not rigid conformity. Catastrophe and contentment should be shared by all of us, no body owns the exclusive rights to either.
As most on the left watch and comment, more astutely than I ever can on, the "slow-motion car crash" that is this administration, the neocon/theocratic blastwall continues to provide political and amoral cover for this administrations incompetence and deceit, even as both entities suffer from perceived hypocracy and irrelevance. Am I sure about this decline? What's on the agenda for the next 19 months, what policies is this administration formulating, in what direction do they want to steer the ship of state? Anyone on the right talking about the next great policy initiative? - I didn't think so! They are still defending NCLB, Tax Cuts for the Rich, the Clean Air Act, Medicaid Reform, in fact every piece of legislation this administration brought forth and had rubberstamped by those idiotic congresses is under siege or under review, under funded or underground in the case of Social Security Reform. And, Iraq and foreign policy in general, the President can stamp his feet and mouth absurdities until the cows come home, the days of preemptive war and never-ending conflicts with zero accountability are over and rightly so.
Both christo-fascism and neocon ideologies have one fatal flaw - inflexibility. They demand that all the laws of society, religion even science conform to their rigid world view regardless of the improbability of that ever really happening and like an unbending piece of metal plunged into liquid hydrogen once exposed and tapped a few times on a solid surface the whole thing shatters. This society and many others like us have thrived on the ability of its people and government to absorb, adapt to and embrace potentially disastrous events, they become moments that define us, change us and mold us but, this requires elasticity of thought not rigid conformity. Catastrophe and contentment should be shared by all of us, no body owns the exclusive rights to either.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
We Pay These People?
TPM's coverage of the USA Scandal has been nothing short of exemplary. Can a blog win a Pulitzer...? Maybe they need a new category. The slime installed at Justice and surely Schlozman is the slimiest, are having their cruel handiwork exposed, layer by ugly layer.
What Glenn Sez!
Has America ever functioned as a true DEMOCRACY, or has the most extreme right wing christo-fascist aristocracy always held sway over our national debates and policy making? It's a valid question. I see no evidence, historically, that America was anything other than a fledgling Anglocentric feudal state, replete with a top-down class system, teetering on the brink of outright theocracy - discuss!
Rock On
Just to keep your spirits up, dear reader.
Why anyone imagines that Iggy and the Ramones invented punk is beyond me!
Mission Accomplished
I hate even having this noodles mugshot on my blog but it is Mission Accomplished Day and I think everyone should be reminded of such. Now in our fourth year of the occupation it is staggering to comprehend the death, destruction and chaos this administration has wrought. We have over 3,300 of our servicemen and women dead, 27,000 injured, over 9,000 seriously. New projections on spending have the war costs coming in at around $500 Billion. We have stopped counting the Iraqi dead. There was a 25% increase in terrorist incidents worldwide (the majority of attacks accounting for the increase occured in Iraq - seriously) in 2006 and we have had 104 troops killed in April. If we project that count as an average of, oh say, 90 a month until we receive a non-conclusive, progress unrelated, non-binding, milestone or benchmark free report in September that will be another 450 dead american soldiers with 2,812 injured, 927 seriously.
To counter this auspicious day - suspicious accounts surface of the death of Al Qaida's #1 guy in Iraq - of course our government is being cautious, some would say skeptical, about reports coming out of Iraq on al Masri's demise but it happened to be the #1 story this morning. Now if they had only been as cautious and skeptical of the intelligence coming out of Iraq 4 years ago perhaps we would not be in this mess. Wait a minute, the intelligence coming out of Iraq 4 years ago was coming mainly from UNSCOM - they couldn't find any WMD or evidence of a 'nucular' program - talk about an inconvenient truth. Bush ordered them out in advance of 'Schlock and Bore'.
They really are tawdry little men, I'm still in shock that 62MM people voted for these buffoons... blood's on their hands too.
Update: Whatever the hell Bush is on... I want some!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Still Winning
'The more they kill us, the more we'll send' philosophy is working just fine... so far. Just 4 more months until this administration is willing to report on this latest fiasco. Progress, meanwhile, will be measured utilizing a whole new set of parameters, that is - none.
Speaking of disastrous wars and their consequences... Mr. Olmert - resign, already!
William Kristol, as prognosticators go, is quite possibly the frontrunner for the prestigious, and completely ficticious Krakatoa Award for 'Most Outstandingly Ill-Informed Moments in Punditry' for his assertion that Shia - Sunni tensions were mere "Pop Psychology", the fact that it is now systemic and institutionalized in Iraq is irrelevant to a great mind like Mr. Kristols.
Now this is funny stuff... Mr. Wolfowitz - shut up and resign, already!
Speaking of disastrous wars and their consequences... Mr. Olmert - resign, already!
William Kristol, as prognosticators go, is quite possibly the frontrunner for the prestigious, and completely ficticious Krakatoa Award for 'Most Outstandingly Ill-Informed Moments in Punditry' for his assertion that Shia - Sunni tensions were mere "Pop Psychology", the fact that it is now systemic and institutionalized in Iraq is irrelevant to a great mind like Mr. Kristols.
Now this is funny stuff... Mr. Wolfowitz - shut up and resign, already!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Lower... lower... yeah! Right There.
Our "AIDS Czar" has a penchant for dusky maidens and hot oil... Oh! The humanity.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Fall-Up Guy
George Tenet refutes the White House line on his (in)famous "Slam-Dunk" prophecy claiming it has been used out of context by various, most notably Darth Cheney, administration hacks. Tenet may be trying to absolve himself from blame in the Iraq scandal but, at the end of the day, his clumsy fingerprints are all over the scene of the crime. That one cliched phrase could bring down this close 'Bush Family' ally is not worthy of scrutiny, Tenet got out from under whilst the going was turning from good to sloppy but his key role in the lead up to war is irrefuteable. The '02 NIE was most probably doctored or, at the very least, the necessary caveats for the far-reaching speculatives removed. The fact that most of the explosive intelligence contained within the NIE was single sourced and from mostly dubious, self-interested parties can only lead to one conclusion - the whole thing was an horrendous con-job. That it partially cited several other intelligence sevices from around the world gave only scant credence to a document that, at its time of publication and digestion, was being roundly refuted and ridiculed by non-partisan experts from both here and abroad. I remember reading at the time a lot of the articles and papers cited in the recent, brilliant Bill Moyers documentary and was always wary of this administrations claims. It wasn't difficult to find those counter claims to the 'Aluminum Tubes', 'Mobile Chemical Labs', 'Yellowcake', 'Meetings in Prague', 'Al Qaida in Iraq' etc. I merely logged on to a European web-site or went to the BBC on-line with which Blair was having a terrible time. There for all to see was proof positive that American intelligence was at best faulty and at worst completely fabricated. When Powell went to the UN I watched amazed that the same stuff I had seen debunked only days and weeks before was being regurgitated by a once well respected statesman and who sat behind him through the whole tawdry ordeal, Mr. Tenet and lordy, Negreponte. Right then the rest of the world knew that a pile was about to be unloaded. That Powell's reception was cool and the aftermath mixed - at least they weren't rolling around the aisles in paroxisms of laughter - Tenet should have known that the jig was up. Right then he should have gone public and blown the whole flimsy operation wide open, then he may have garnered our respect. To write a book that continues to defend this buffoon of a president whilst attacking his personal tormentors within the cabinet and with nary a tilt to his own shortcomings and failings, after 27,000 casualties on our side alone smacks of the cruelest and most cynical arrogance. When it really mattered - you kept your mouth shut - now... who gives a damn about another internal republican scandal, it's difficult just keeping up with the ones we already have.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Heckuva Job ______________ (Name)
Now that it is slowly being revealed that practically every department in this administration is populated with either complete, blubbering imbeciles or gentleman-C-corporate-schills capable only of satisfying a political agenda scrawled by some unseen hand with crayon on their monthly planners, we must assume that there must be a higher authority guiding these infantile miscreants because, god bless 'em, they could never have possibly conceived of something as dastardly as the destruction of the United States of America as we know it by themselves, collectively these hacks could brain storm for three days and nary moisten a napkin. It can't be coming from the White House because we've seen the reasoning power available there and let's be honest, if Dick Cheney is your political heavy weight, your deep thinker and policy guru then grey matter is not your strong suit. As for turdblossom, I don't think having the ability to fool the American public, for some of the time, could ever be perceived as 'genius' because, for the most part, the great American public are ill-informed, incurious wretches ill-served by their public servants and misled by their public media. Your average wo/man-on-the-street cares more about Sheryl Crowe's sanitary habits than s/he does about how they have been lied to consistently over the life of this administration. Is it their fault though? Not really - when we are governed by fools who's constant screw ups have been eagerly covered up or under reported or ignored or, unforgiveably, excused by a media elite and fawning upper class obsessed only with their own access and advancement. So, if everyone in government is a blithering idiot and the fourth estate has acquiessed its responsibility to act as watchdog over these nincompoops and their hairbrained trivialities and the people who could actually voice their disquiet and force a change are more interested in a cure for erectile disfunction and a safer alternative to botox then, who's running the show? I used to think it was a Carlisle Group or some such revered body of sage old men, it's board equally split between robber barons and philanthropes, the perfect balance of greed and largesse - freedom of action and social responsibility - aggression and diplomacy - nah! It makes no sense for them to rock the boat this much, why risk everything by installing a pseudo-religious, neocon cabal who's primary goals appear to be bombing the rest of the world back to the stone age and de-evolving America and its proxy's into a 16C patriarchal theocracy. Where's the money to made there? Could it be the vatican or even the big 'G' man? It's no secret the Holy Roman Empire has been making money from ignorance for millenia, perhaps they would be best served if their congregation was an amorphous blob of humanity completely dependent on 7C twaddle just like the good old days, and, once Dubya and his band of merry mendacants have reduced the world to a pile of smouldering ruins in will ride the papist shock troops to restore Roman hegemony - Nah! It can't be God, if he ever existed at all, and I am more than dubious on that score, it's obvious he long ago abandoned this little rock in space for some greener pastures where the inhabitants were not so - fickle. My own theory... the hand guiding humanity's steady decline - it has to be someone incredibly rich, intellectually powerful, really pissed off and possibly, believed dead - what? You think I really know? See what I mean about the American public!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
End of Days?
Is this the end run for this administration? Collectively, the weight of scandal and truth may become too much for even the broad shouldered arrogance of our ruling elite. Rove may have pushed the 'political' envelope too far even for his own administration. Although, why we should expect a thorough investigation from one of their own political appointees beats me. I don't know how the OSC operates and by the description given above I'm not sure how much investigative clout they really have.
Meanwhile back at the Jack Abramoff ranch, more dudes face a ropin', good grief - but that man had some reach.
The Pat Tillman story will unravel the ties between the Pentagon propaganda shop and perhaps the political shop that controls all propaganda emanating from this administration. Or, at the very least provide a snap-shot of the prosecution of this administrations wars (both just and unjust)and how they have attempted to twist, not just the Tillman story, but every one of their stupid glorifications of war and of themselves.
And, of course USAgate where the pressure mounts.
Two things worth reading... Juan Cole, it really is a daily must read and of course my other daily must read here.
Meanwhile back at the Jack Abramoff ranch, more dudes face a ropin', good grief - but that man had some reach.
The Pat Tillman story will unravel the ties between the Pentagon propaganda shop and perhaps the political shop that controls all propaganda emanating from this administration. Or, at the very least provide a snap-shot of the prosecution of this administrations wars (both just and unjust)and how they have attempted to twist, not just the Tillman story, but every one of their stupid glorifications of war and of themselves.
And, of course USAgate where the pressure mounts.
Two things worth reading... Juan Cole, it really is a daily must read and of course my other daily must read here.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Loadsa Money
Hey... remember Mark Foley? No one knows where he is but, he's spending an awful lot of money - republican money that is - on briefs and not the tighty-whitey variety. Makes you wonder about this great country of ours, I think the Florida citizenry should know if a sexual predator is in their midst. Lock Up Your Sons!
Pro - Who's - Life
Scott Limieux at Tapped has all the links you'll ever really need to delve into the cesspool that is Rightwing-Christianist-Pro-Life hypocracy, if you so choose... take a few towels because it gets real messy. Of course it is not just the abortion issue that has these people and their appallingly ill-conceived ideas so thoroughly exposed. Take Newt Gingrich for example, that beacon of common sense and intellectual foresight expounding on his favorite subject, apart from himself, 'How liberals have caused everything bad to happen.' But, we're told, no-one should be making cheap political hay from this terrible tragedy, which basically means, for the MSM, liberals shut up until the serious conservatives have had their fill at the trough. They even dragged out Ted Nugent fer chrissakes, the man is a heavily armed lunatic that in any other civilized country in the world would be spurned as one would spurn a mainged cat. Then we have the very public spectacle of Abu Gonzalez clinging desperately to the pant leg of the Preznit in a vain glorious attempt to prevent a self inflicted, incompetence inspired death spiral. It's getting almost too ugly to watch and begs the question - does this administration own a moral compass? Finally... we have Iraq, where Harry Reid has stated the obvious and Wingnuttia has had a collective spontaneous hernia. I still don't know what victory would look like but apparently it would look a lot like what has happened up to now only different and more scary and less clinical I would imagine. Not widely reported but significant is the administrations backpeddling on the 'as they stand up we stand down' rhetoric, it has been replaced by the 'surge' as the epithet du jour but, remember, 'as they stand up we stand down' carried this blithering idiot of a preznit through a hard fought, close election only to be abandoned upon review. How long before the surge becomes passe and we move on to the next stall tactic? About 3 to 4 months - apparently.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Communimication
Digby has a great post that expands upon some of the stuff I have been babbling incoherently about. That we have such a terrible communicator and incompetent in the White House it begs the questions; why does the MSM work so hard to make this man credible, what do they have at stake and what are they so afraid of?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Press
Glen Greenwald has the latest polling coming out of WaPo/ABC, it's not pretty if you are a Republican/President/Warmonger... it is also not pretty if you are a Republican/Journalist/Tool. The numbers, across the board, suggest that the American public willfully embraces the notion that this administration and it's proxy's in the wingnut-punditocracy clearly have no idea what they are doing or saying. The numbers just keep getting worse and worse but have been largely ignored up to now by the WH, editorial boards and wingnut-talking heads. These entities no longer have any right whatsoever to claim their arguments are based on what the average-moderate-'murican perceives. Not only have they been consistantly wrong prognosticating on Iraq, Plamegate, the NSC scandal, Rovegate I, II, III, IV (should I go on..? I could you know), the DOJ debacle, Libby etc., they have consistantly evoked the will of the American people as proof positive for their dangerous, baseless fantasies. The fact that Darth Cheney, a serial liar and Constitutional menace, is still allowed on our television sets, on a Sunday too, is testament to the disdain and contempt the mainstream media has for us, the American public. From the poll we can rightly assume that large majorities of Americans want a timetable for our withdrawl from Iraq, that Congress is right to impose strictures on a president run amok, believe that the firing of the USA's was politically motivated, that Abu Gonzales should resign, that Rove and Myers should testify publically and under oath, that Nancy Pelosi is not the third coming of the anti-christ and that Congress (The Democratic Congress that is!) should have a say in foreign policy decisions. There were many other relevant questions posed by the poll and we should perhaps all go there and have a look. But for me, Nancy polling at 53% approval is the most damning of statistics, after all the ballyhoo about her recent Syria trip, where she was all but accused of treason and political suicide, we find that a majority of the American public supports her with bells on. So who are these people talking to or trying to convince? Seems to me, the only people who believe their crap do not need any more convincing, they are the hard core, so why waste time and copy on them? When will our media catch up to their public and why is it taking so long? There has been a huge paradigm shift in American thinking recently but to watch, listen or read the traditional media you would never know it, they are not reporting it, not acknowledging it and worse not responding to it. Ask not for whom the bell tolls...!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Suffering Through
I'm going to try and work through this as I write because the premise is probably a little wobbly and has been done before and better by other people. But, looking at the new round of scandals coming down the pipe and by that I mean the 8 USA's, the 5MM e-mails, the fact that Dick Cheney still runs foreign policy within this administration, Wolfowitz and his kept woman, etc, etc, how uninformed do they think we are? Now, GWB (also, oddly enough, an anacronym for Gypsum Wall Board) may not be the keenest utensil in the horizontal storage area - maybe his handlers test every crackpot theory they have on him first as some kind of policy for dummies litmus test - but he's the best front man they've got and they march him out in front of the cameras and select audiences with every necessity, only to utter the usual platitudes and bromides we have come to expect. His speaking style has been heavily critiqued and caricatured, the emphasis is all wrong, the smile is unappropriate and insincere, the smirk arrives at the oddest moments, ad infinitum. The sound bites that make the evening news and cable shows are hackneyed and bellicose but, my question is... who is he talking to? Who is watching what he does and says anymore? The base? That eroding, fundamentaly flawed percentage hanging on to his every word like the good little Bushies they are? Probably... the only other people watching, and this is the point, the news with any fervent degree of sophistication, as far as I can see, watch only to see the reaction from the peanut gallery, they remain disinterested and unconvinced by the arguments. Personally, I don't even listen to the speeches any more, just the breakdown afterward, I know what he is going to say I just want to find out who's still inbibing the coolade on the good ship neocon and who has finally given up all hope of ever seeing this administration actually make a reasoned adjustment mid-stream and are therefore inclined to abandon said ship. So the president is not talking to me or 61% of the rest of the country. What does this say? And, what does this mean about this present administration? That is what I'm pondering now... and I hope to post on it a few more times. Just what does it mean when an administration no longer cares about the majority of its citizens and has, apparently, given up even trying to communicate to them?
Friday, April 13, 2007
Family Valuables
Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, architect of the I-raq catastrophe, noted neocon and exposed nepotist begged for our understanding yesterday in an excruciatingly embarrassing and putrid press conference. His piece of stuff, Ms. Riza, had risen to an exulted pay scale at Foggybottom thanks largely to Mr. Wolfowitz' patronage and arm twisting. But for Mr. Wolfowitz it had all been a terrible personal tradgedy, you see... getting caught really sucks and stuff. The corruption in this government knows no bounds and yes you could argue that Wolfie is no longer part of this administration but who got him his cushy job at the World Bank? What you think he applied for it at a local DC job fair? Wolfowitz is the architect of many failed ventures, this one having involved his co-habitor receiving $197,000.00 or so - tax free - from both State and the World Bank, none of which have hampered his career or earning power or status as a Titan of Wingnuttia. Whenever these grown-ups get caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar they fall on their swords and beg for forgiveness in a second, only to be rehabilitated in equally short order by a complacent press and compliant justice system to continue with their plundering ways. Why? Because they have painted themselves as the 'values' folks, compassionate and mature, above the fray of DC politics, paragons and protectors of the American way of life, virtuous, judeo/christian and wise. And the 30 percenters and the Washington press corp ate it up, hook, line and sinker and continue to eat at the same trough and no amount of hypocrisy, criminality or sheer spite will ever change that. And, when it just gets too slimey and grubby they plead the fifth, plead to their enabling base or blame a Clinton, any Clinton... Chelsea made me do it, honest!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Dissembling
So the preznit insists that his vetoing of the supplemental will cause longer tours of duty for our servicemen in I-raq and increase the hardship on military families as a result, he's all for our troops isn't he! Next thing you know, without the supplemental even being presented for the idiot's veto his Secretary of Defense announces that tours of duty for servicemen in I-raq will be extended, effective immediately! Now, we are assured that GI's will be given a full twelve months rest and recuperation upon return from the carnage so the next fifteen months won't seem so bad huh? And... wait for it, wait for it, our soldiers must share the burden and sacrifice , wha? This war has been going on for four years already, we have lost 3,295 men and women, we have countless soldiers maimed and injured both physically and mentally, we have an unspecified amount of I-raqi's dead, injured, terrorized, fleeing and protesting, there are many people out there making incredible sacrifices every day for this war of illusion, not one of them works in the White House, or on Wall Street or in the Board Rooms of Corporate America. This administration has asked our servicemen to sacrifice for the last four years and does not want restrictions, or timetables or realistic benchmarks imposed upon it so it can extend their (our soldier's) sacrifice indefinitely. All this with the supplemental not even vetoed yet. It staggers the mind, I mean really!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Buffletucky Redux
A day or so ago, the Buffalo News published yet another anti-casino "My View". Authored, and I use that term loosely, by Tom O'Malley a teacher in Buffalo who firmly believes that '...gambling is a drain on the economy, not a boon.' To back up his assertion Mr. O'Malley offered no economic data and no statistics, not even a wee bit of historical evidence that may prop up his contention. He did, however paint an horrific but exagerated image of endless lines in his local convenience store as zombie-like folks frittered away their hard earned cash on the lottery, only to lurk in darkened corners for their ship to come in. Mr. O'Malley then went on to opine, poetically, about the 'essence of Buffalo' seen through his nostalgia ridden rose tinted glasses. Buffalo as strategic trade center during the heyday of the Erie Canal, Buffalo as a world renowned arts and culture center, Frederick Law Olmsted and Frank Lloyd Wright as architectural luminaries bedecking our 'City of Light'. A city of beautiful neighborhoods where hobbit like residents cheerfully pull together through blizzards and 'missed field goals... good grief... he does go on mind you. In his infantile, prosaic manner he manages to make Buffalo sound almost mythic, even conjuring up images of ancient Athens, lordy! Why does this kind of fuzzy brained, intellectual dishonesty persist in this town? It is because the Mr. O'Malley's and countless other high minded, blithering idiots who wrongly perceive themselves as the governing conscience of this poor city, live in the surviving nice neighborhoods, go to work in this years model and remain oblivious of the rot surrounding them. Look, Buffalo has a few nice things and a somewhat historic past, but we cannot continue to allow this blighted burg to become some fanciful chimera cordoned off from the future by these tireless toe-heads. Mr. O'Malley cites the flight of our youth from this town and somehow conflates that with the evils of gambling. The reason our young leave this town is because the kind of bucolic, misty-eyed thinking Mr. O'Malley expounds cannot put food on their tables. What does Mr. O'Malley want us to do, build more bloody museums, where we can't sell the old crap to buy new, build more theaters and small intimate shops along Elmwood Avenue, build another bloody canal? He does not say nor does he say who will pay for it, certainly not him... I'll hazard. To attain the progress we so desperately need, this city needs investment, it needs commerce and it needs buzz. Listening to poetry and playing a lute in Delaware Park dressed only in a toga and a laurel wreath may be Mr. O'Malley's vision for the future of Buffalo but I think in reality we need something a little more tangible a little more real. The casino, for all its ills, will not become a loadstone around our collective necks, it will become a mere component in an economic recovery for downtown and that is downtown as a destination... imagine. The Mr. O'Malleys of this town will not and do not contribute to the momentum necessary to create growth, they complain about change, they agitate for the status quo, they block progress and long for a past they never knew and is irrelevant to this city's future.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Overtly Exposed
Cheney exposed as a liar here. Goodling resigns from the DOJ and rightly so, as queried by Josh Marshall, how can someone who has pleaded the 5th, before they were even 'interviewed' remain in a position at the the DOJ for crying out loud? More DOJ fun in Minneapolis as Ms. Paulose' management style is revealed for what it really is... not much management and certainly no style. This is what happens when you put a 34 year old toe-licker (male or female, it matters not) with no managerial experience in a position where ideological and policy adherence has absolutely no relevance. This administration is turning the DOJ into a laughing stock and the CW remains that Turd Blossom is a genius, hey, it's his plan remember, looks more and more like Mr. Rove is merely an over-achieving political thug with his only saving grace being that he wasn't caught sooner. Blame that on a complacent and bedazzled media. His single minded demolition of the DOJ by political fiat will be exposed in the next few weeks along with all our other government institutions bespoiled by his fetid touch. The GSA appears to have the reek of Turd eminating and when you politicize paper clip and file folder procurement well...
Orin Hatch was totally exposed as an administration stoogebot, proclaiming that Ms. Lam, the USA for San Diego, was not only incompetent but a Clinton political operative, his performance on MTP however, was not only predictable and quite possibly libelous, but embarrassing. To unstintingly support the current AG, the unfortunately nicknamed Abu Gonzales, and then reveal your own interest in his job is, quite frankly, a ludicrous position to find oneself in and Orin handled it with all the aplomb and finesse of a car crash. Of course the blithering idiot Timmeh saw no irony even though Sen. Leahy appeared to be smirking with glee at the absurdity of the moment.
His Royal Shrillness, meantime, continues to insist that Congress must bow to his demands on the supplemental and produce a clean Bill with no timetables and no pork within the constraints of his made-up timetable, wha!. The fact that the Speaker of the House is in the Middle East, doing something his small brain(trust) cannot comprehend, shows the level of gravitas the good lady attaches to his hollow posturing and trenchant adherence to his own failed policies, speak to the hand Mr. President... Relative to this, is the robotic squealing from the minority about the amount of pork attached to the Bill, are we to assume that the Republican minority has had an epiphany of sorts with regard to swine meat, is this a kosher moment for the most profligate/criminal congress in history, the old 109th aka "The Fightin' The Boar But The Boar Won 109th". They really have no shame!
What did I miss?
Orin Hatch was totally exposed as an administration stoogebot, proclaiming that Ms. Lam, the USA for San Diego, was not only incompetent but a Clinton political operative, his performance on MTP however, was not only predictable and quite possibly libelous, but embarrassing. To unstintingly support the current AG, the unfortunately nicknamed Abu Gonzales, and then reveal your own interest in his job is, quite frankly, a ludicrous position to find oneself in and Orin handled it with all the aplomb and finesse of a car crash. Of course the blithering idiot Timmeh saw no irony even though Sen. Leahy appeared to be smirking with glee at the absurdity of the moment.
His Royal Shrillness, meantime, continues to insist that Congress must bow to his demands on the supplemental and produce a clean Bill with no timetables and no pork within the constraints of his made-up timetable, wha!. The fact that the Speaker of the House is in the Middle East, doing something his small brain(trust) cannot comprehend, shows the level of gravitas the good lady attaches to his hollow posturing and trenchant adherence to his own failed policies, speak to the hand Mr. President... Relative to this, is the robotic squealing from the minority about the amount of pork attached to the Bill, are we to assume that the Republican minority has had an epiphany of sorts with regard to swine meat, is this a kosher moment for the most profligate/criminal congress in history, the old 109th aka "The Fightin' The Boar But The Boar Won 109th". They really have no shame!
What did I miss?
Saturday, January 13, 2007
'07 The Year of the Twat! (Pregnant Fish)
I fear the same tactics, used by republicans, to cripple and immasculate the Clinton I administration are about to become remanifest, this time with the entire congress and the Constitution as their targets. They are admitted masters of the transparantly unscrupulous dirty trick and they are already at it. In this instance they are preemptively imagining the havoc they shall reek without regard for the consequences or rewards. It is malice aforethought, they seek only to injure, in the name of 'their' America. The rest of us used to have to sit back and accept that this is the way it is done in DC especially by the adults in the republican party who know what is good for us better than anyone. Not any more, now we can hold them accountable, expose their bitter, malignant and hypocritical actions before they have had time to fester and infect the populace at large. Republican masters and their operative lacky's will stop at nothing to get back on Easy (K) Street, it is up to us to put the word out and prevent that from ever happening again. Photograph by Suza - Sunset at Sugarloaf.
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