Sunday, December 31, 2006

Bush's Proudest Moment

Saddam is dead.

He was captured under really strange circumstances that some Iraqis tell us was a staged handover.

He was kept by US forces during his internment.

He was tried by an Iraqi puppet government owned, appointed and protected by the US Military.

His trial was run according to 8th century standards with hearsay evidence, secret evidence, and witnesses testifying that had no direct knowledge of the events that they were testifying about.

Saddam did not have the opportunity to call witnesses that he had worked with, as he was being tried in a war zone.

He was not given the right to be heard in a world court. He was not given the right to choose his attorneys. And the trial didn't miss a beat when his attorneys and even one judge were assisinated, evidently, because they weren't really factors in the outcome of the trial.

Finally when the death sentence was handed down, there was a mad rush to kill him as quickly as possible.

I don't doubt that this entire trial was nothing but a stage play, that Bush already gave the order that he be found guilty and convicted. I don't have any doubts that it was Bush that decided he would get the death penalty and likely Bush decided he'd hang. And he needed Saddam to be killed before the new congress comes into session.

Bush killed the guy that tried to kill his dad. This will be Bush's crowning achievement. The mountain of corpses that Bush has given the world is a small matter to him, compared to killing Hussien. But they aren't unimportant to him. They glorify him as a War President. You can see in his eyes in the speeches that this is what makes him proud its his duty to give us wars.

We know that Bush thinks of himself as a christian and a follower of Jesus, who makes the hard choices and slaughters the unbelievers. Perhaps one day, the mountain of corpses he has built, will be high enough that he can stand upon them and step accross to heaven, to meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, and brag about how he killed the guy that tried to kill his dad.

Bush in the US has worked hard to set himself as a cop, judge, jury and executioner. The torture bill that he's so proud of gives him the right to have anyone he wants, picked up and tortured for the rest of their lives with no recourse for trial, defense or even notifying friends and loved ones.

But even when Bush sees that a trial is necessary, its only a staged play. The outcome in trials he manages, can only end one way.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Saddam To Be Hanged

Update:
The morning news seems to be on the ball, they pointed out that this event appears to be planned to precede the Arab holiday, Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice). The idea being that hanging Saddam before a celebration of martyrs and heroes, should help incite an escalation of violence in the Middle East.

The Iraqi Council insists that he won't be hanged before January 26th, while the defense has been told it will occur tomorrow, and to come collect Saddam's personal possessions.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bush hadn't told the Iraqi government, what day he'd be hanged.

******************************************************************************

It appears to be a done deal. Saddam Hussein will be hanged from the neck until dead, this very weekend.

I don't really think anyone is surprised that he got the death sentence. We all knew that whether he deserved or not, it was a foregone conclusion all along.

In accordance with new US justice principals that King George wants to make a model of, the court was assembled from pro-US Iraqis. Secret and anonymous witnesses were called. Third hand accounts and hearsay were considered reasonable evidence. Saddam's defense team was unable to call up many world leaders that worked with or trained Saddam. Certainly it would've cleared up some issues if Donald Rumsfield and Robert Gates had been called to testify.

By holding the trial in Iraq, a nation who's government has been decided as its ripped apart in a bloody civil war, the US insured that Saddam would not be able to defend himself. It didn't help that members of his defense team and the judges were being assassinated as the trial commenced. But further, no witnesses on behalf of the defense could be assured of their safety if flown to Iraq and certainly no outside defense assembly could do anything but watch on television as tidbits of the kangaroo court were shown in order to embarrass Saddam in front of his people.

Had he been tried in a world court, using modern court procedures that have been honed and developed since the 14th century, he may still have been found guilty, and sentenced to death, but at least he would've had a chance of being judged in a fair trial.

Will Cowboy King George ride a pony to the hanging? Or will he watch it over and over on DVD from the safety of his White House satin sheets? We may never know. But I'm sure we'll hear some new bushisms when he appears on television afterwards, to brag about western justice.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Censorship

Just to be clear, the McCain Feingold bill, is disguised is a 'Save The Children' effort.

I thought I ought to go look this up before I said much more about it.

This is a tough one to word. The bill targets bloggers. It makes them criminally responsible for the actions of other people. Essentially, if some anonymous person, posts a link to an illegal image or video, in the comments section of a blog or forum, the site owner has committed a crime. Further if a sex offender posts anything on the internet, then the site owner has committed a crime.

What this means is that a blogger must prescreen everyone before they can be allowed to post. It will be the bloggers responsibility to do a background check on users, to make sure that they are not a sex offender, before allowing them to post.

Here's a link to Family Watchdog. Its a sex offender look up site. It found 468 offenders in my area alone.

Now keep in mind that to be registered as a sex offender, you don't have to be a hardened criminal, a rapist or a child molester. You can be a teenager caught making out. You can be a husband who's wife filed a complaint, you could've been busted taking a whiz behind a local bar, while celebrating a bachelor's party.

Now some of the folks listed are sexual predators. Some are downright evil, but in the interest of keeping our children safe, we've made it very easy for people to get added to the list.

Now how are bloggers going to enforce this bill? Heck if I know. We could ask for a copy of photo ID I suppose. But a sex offender could simply borrow someone else's ID. How would we know?

The only safe way to do this is to only allow people to post, if you've met them in person and can be certain of their identity. But then, you need to check up on them on occasion in case their identity is stolen online or they end up on the registry at a later date.

Who will this effect? It will effect all of the newsgroups, newspaper comments sections, political campaign sites, Amazon.com, gaming sites, pages devoted to tutorials and learning, etc... Essentially all sites that allow users to post content, will be at risk.

I suppose the purpose of this bill is to get the public to do the work of the FBI. A side effect may simply be to get the United States of America out of the internet communications business. If successful, then the FBI won't have to work so hard to monitor what US Citizens are doing on the internet.

The effect of this bill, if passed, will likely shut down blogs and newsgroups of US origin, but won't effect bloggers in other countries. We can all flock to Australian blogs to share commentary on US events if we have to. Google and Giganews can simply move their operations out of the US, to avoid unnecessary risk.

This bill will stop US Citizens from hosting blogs and community driven websites, but unless it becomes part of the greater war on terrorism, it won't effect our ability to share opinions on sites in other countries.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Real Live Wingnuts

I find it annoying that I'm even writing this post today. Its an exploration into the world of professional trolling.

As some of you know, I've been participating in discussions on Jim Kuntsler's blog.

The trolls there are completely unmoderated, and regularly use other people's monikers to make insulting and bizarre posts. Lately, I've become the favorite target. The trolls there continue to post under my moniker. I guess they really like me there.

Its a shame really that JHK's blog isn't moderated in any fashion. For a time it was a nice place to exchange views and discuss topics that center around suburbia, consumerism and the end of the age of oil. Now the trolls have made any discourse there impossible.

Some typepad users tell us that these trolls are all using the same IP address. This is thought to be proof that they are the same person. I suspect that they may all be behind the NetVocates firewall. Its been shown on many blogs now, that NetVocates is sponsoring their worst trolls.

I find it simply amazing that Peak Oil has become such a critical issue, that an entire public relations industry has grown up to fight against discussions of Peak Oil. Someone is paying NetVocates and other corporations, to employ staff to do nothing but disrupt blogs and news groups. The fight to keep us ignorant of Peak Oil has become a money making enterprise.

But NetVocates doesn't only disrupt discussions of Peak Oil, they can be bought and paid to disrupt discussions of political candidates, government policies and calls for peace. And they do.

Next time you wonder why an internet commentator is taking a pro-genocide position, it could well be that they are being paid to promote the slaughter of other human beings. Screaming on the internet to have people slaughtered in other countries, is just another day at the office for some folks. Think of it as a way to 'put food on your family'.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Ford Has Died

At the age of 93, President Ford has passed away.

For myself, he's probably the first President I actually remember in my life. Granted, my mother took me to Nixon campaign rallies, and I remember the ferver and all of the people, balloons and banners.

But Ford was the first President in which I understood what the Presidency means.

I rememeber Nixon going out, and Ford pardoning him. But that was the beginning of my political awakening. Later I didn't understand why Ford lost to a peanut farmer. Such is the mixed up priorities of youth.

Remember, I was born in 1963, so cut me some slack.

Iran Oil In Decline

Iran may need nuclear power: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's claim to need nuclear power may be genuine, given that it could run out of oil to export as soon as eight years from now, according to an analysis published on Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences.

The study's author, Roger Stern, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, said investment in Iranian oil production had been inadequate to offset oil field declines and the explosive growth in domestic demand.

"I'm not saying that Iran will have no oil in eight years," Stern said in a telephone interview. "I'm saying that they will be using all of it for themselves."

continued...


This factor is one overlooked by those arguing that we'll have oil for decades. As growth continues in nations that produce oil, eventually their own needs swell to match their production rates. After that, the two go out of equilibrium and that nation must go into debt borrowing to buy oil, or face and economic crash. The US crossed this path in the 1970s and has since been selling itself off to foreign interests since. Its a bit like a once wealthy family, selling off the antique furniture to make tax payments and to cover gambling and drug debts.

There's probably only one option left for Bush now. If he doesn't kill the people of Iran and steal their oil now, Halliburton may never get a shot at selling it on the international market and keeping the cash for themselves.

The window of opportunity for our elected war criminals is closing.

Liquidity Keeps Raining On My Head

Something that arrived in my inbox today.

From http://www.yieldsz.com/

Monday, December 25, 2006

Strange Dreams

I awoke Friday morning with a vague dream that is still echoing in my head. I don't remember exactly what I was doing in the dream, what it was about.

I get strange dreams when I read some kinds of books. Lately I've been reading, "The Trial of Socrates" by I.F. Stone. In it Socrates and the events surrounding his life don't seem like a distant memory, but a story of contemporaries, even if Stone seems to go over the top in his praise for Athenian democracy. I guess its no wonder it would start trigger subconscious nocturnal processing.

In the dream a young boy walked into view and told me something like, "Jack listen up, this is important. All civilizations need a myth, a story, a common theme from which follows their past, their present and gives them a guide to the future. Do you understand me?"

Well, since, I've thought it was an interesting thought. According to Stone, myths and stories, especially the stories of Homer played a part in determining Athenian law. As if stories were invented as part of legal argument to clear up a point of logic, ethics or debate. Those telling the stories and those hearing them, knew they were inventions. But I think its safe to assume that actual religious beliefs were liberally mixed into the process also. A few of Socrates peers seem to have gotten into hot water for mocking people's religious beliefs in a way that Stone doesn't make clear.

So Athens had a backstory, the current plot, and a means to keep extending the story into the future.

If I look back in the history of various modern nations, I see the common theme of past present and future. When I compare this to nations today, I don't see the same pattern. I see it in religious groups. There's a few prominent ones that believe that the world will end in a horrible tragedy, and then some religious leader or god will clean it all up, pat our bottoms with talcum powder, and put the good humans back to doing good works on the planet again.

These groups seem to be the only folks that can hold together a coherent vision of the future. But in their view the planet will be destroyed and we're all going to become extinct. Its not exactly a message of hope, except when the maid comes and cleans our room after we've trashed it.

The United States of America used to have visions of the future. Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny were the mantras of everlasting growth. When that came to an end, the wave that rolled West, rolled back and gave us the Civil War.

In the 1950s, we had the fear of the bomb, and then we took that and turned into a positive step with a dream of making space our next home. That lasted a time, but for most was snuffed out by the Vietnam war.

Now we live in a time when the United States has no vision of the future. We have no common mythos or dreams to look ahead to. Our President tells us that our purpose is to 'Go Shopping', as he understands that we are 'consumers', which is essentially a nice word for 'eaters'. We serve no other purpose in the corporate view.

For corporate growth, and corporate business, that is enough. The future is rarely measured more than ninety days out. You don't need a back story or a myth to guide you on such short journeys. You only need sales projections, media blitzes and to give it one hundred and ten percent.

This is what drives our economy and our purpose as living beings is to grow the economy. There's no profit potential in a common dream, vision or myth. There's no profit potential in a long term plan. Especially if that plan requires short term sacrifices. Consider the paradox that an economy needs long term planning, but corporations die from short term sacrifices. One little setback can cause a corporation to spiral into the toilet.

Our nation's real achievements were accomplished not by 'Free Market' policies but by subscribing to a common belief or myth and by the nation getting behind that dream. There was no short term market advantage to be gained by anyone in marketing these ideals. They came about out of need, out inspiration, or both.

Our President has no dream. He has no inspiration. His goal is to keep us consuming, and promising to us that we'll continue to consume, safely. He tells us that his job is to keep us safe from those that would harm America. He tells us that he's doing what is necessary to help us stay safe. He tells us that when he trashes the US Constitution that its his job to destroy it, to keep us safe. Keep us consuming. That we shouldn't worry, just 'Go Shopping'.

But when he pledged his 'Oath of Office' his pledge was to uphold and safeguard the 'Constitution of the United States of America'. He didn't pledge to keep consumers safely consuming. His one and only job isn't to protect consumerism anymore than a husband's primary and only responsibility, is to take the garbage to the curb twice a week.

Our corporations, and the corporate media that they pay to broadcast their messages of consumerism to, don't need a message of the future. They only need messages of today. Of today's gratification, of today's wants and needs. Our government's role is help corporations gain maximum profits and to help shake us down for more income. Our prospective leaders have their campaigns financed in accordance with their abilities to show loyalty to their corporate benefactors. They have to lie to the corporations or lie to us if they want to get financed and elected. If they lie to the corporations, they are unlikely to be elected twice.

Out of all of this, a plan or dream for the future is by necessity, strangled before it is born. The result is that we can't even have wars of conquest with a clear strategy or objectives. You can't build an empire based on ninety day business cycles. Our leaders overreach out of a belief that the world can be completely operated as a machine. The US can because it evolved into a machine culture. But this came about as part of dream that was partially fulfilled. Now we can look back in nostalgia at what we once nearly were, and the media can tell us that its still within our grasp, if only we'll 'Go Shopping'.

Its too late to imbue the people of Iraq with the American dream. You can't make an honest promise to make a people's dreams come true after you've killed their relatives.

Corporate culture today is mostly stick and promise of a carrot that never comes. Its our hope that the American Dream can be revived, if we only believe. We are a nation of Peter Pans.

For Peak Oil, Global Warming, Trade Imbalances etc..., I don't see how we can dream a new dream, until we abandon the 'Dream of Consumerism'. Our current dream in which we see ourselves as consumers or eaters, and not much else, is digging us deeper into a hole that is going to be hard to get out of. Through short term thinking, we are creating horrible long term problems.

I'd like to wrap this up and say that I have a new plan. But as I understand things right now, unless its going to create more wealth for the wealthy in the short term, it won't make it much past my blog.

As for now, think globally, act locally. What can you do, for you, yourself and yours, to prepare for the downturn?

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

New Link Added! Now With More Zest!

I've added a link to an old curmudgeon I've been reading for some time, but not really sharing. He's a retired reporter from a variety of rags including 'Soldier of Fortune'. He's the only blogger I know of, who's lived in a mud hut with African revolutionaries.

Check out Fred On Everything.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Beyond Treason - Depleted Uranium





A New Chance To Win The Vietnam War

Its ok now to say that Iraq is like Vietnam, because we're refighting that war and we'll win this time. At least that seems to be the new meme.

I've met people who felt the US needed a do-over for Vietnam, that sending 50,000 more boys off to die, would be worth it if it helped Americans feel better about themselves. Not to mention that guys who love this idea are keen on how it will inflate their egos.

But I never thought this was a good reason for trying again to win such a war of conquest, to gain an empty victory.

If we ever made the sacrifices needed to really win in Iraq, what is it we'd win? Would it be a chance to sacrifice more, to rebuild what we have destroyed?

We've dropped every definition of victory that we have used over the past three years. Now we retain the word, but we have no idea what 'Victory' is in Iraq.

If 'Victory' is defined as defeating the insurgency, then that implies grinding the Iraqi people so deeply into the dirt, that they lose their will to govern their own lives. We have to force them to give up the idea of 'freedom'. Only when we crush their dream of 'Freedom', will that stop trying to wrest their 'Freedoms' back from us.

If this is the goal, we need more than a million new recruits in Iraq. 30,000 won't be enough to press the Iraqi people into slavery.

As I see it, the American people aren't prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to enslave the Iraqi people. As far as I can tell, only our greedy leaders crave this goal. So why are we trying to do this, with a plan that is doomed to fail?


The Keane-Kagan plan is not revolutionary. Rather, it is an application of a counterinsurgency approach that has proved to be effective elsewhere, notably in Vietnam. There, Gen. Creighton Abrams cleared out the Viet Cong so successfully that the South Vietnamese government took control of the country. Only when Congress cut off funds to South Vietnam in 1974 were the North Vietnamese able to win.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Victory In Iraq!

aka, Venting...

An email I sent to Mark Davis. He's replied in the past and has said that I'm not making sense. Like when I argued before the war, that Iraq didn't have WMDs and explained the UN position to him. Mark was in love with the WMD idea then and promoted every neocon fantasy idea that was coming down the pike. He was hot for the war, he was panting for it, yet told us it was a serious matter and we shouldn't go into war lightly.

So we took out Saddam because he killed his own people. Well we're not killing our own people, we're killing his people, and we're better at than he was.

He tortured his people. But not enough I guess. We torture better.

Saddam kept the electricity and water running all during the nine years of sanctions and US bombing. We fixed that.

Saddam kept the violence under control, and we fixed that.

We were convinced that the Iraqis didn't want him as their leader, yet his people were armed to the teeth with a variety of ordnance, including at least one fully automatic weapon in every home. If they wanted him out, why was he stepping out onto balconies in front of armed crowds?

The neocon fantasies were wet and creamy, but they dried up in the sands of the Middle East. And these guys have to blame someone when they screw up and get people killed in order to fulfill their own dreams of glory.

I caught a bit of your show today. It was an interesting take on the 'Blame the People' strategy that's gaining in popularity. Singling out bloggers as some powerful force in today's media is becoming a tried and true tactic.

I was surprised that you were jumping on the neo-con bloggers though. Isn't that a bit of an 'Eat Your Own Tactic'? Was it designed to give you some credibility, by admitting that its not just liberal bloggers, that should shut and listen to what their betters are saying?

By the way, your war is going really great. The glory is really impressive. Bush is very proud of the numbers and tells us so.

I love this quote from him, in a recent interview.
"The load of the war is not heavy. Its a joyful, not a painful experience, because I know that millions of people are praying for me." - George Bush

You guys are doing a great job with the war. I want to apologize on behalf of the American people for screwing it all up for the White House, Both Houses of Congress, the Troops, The Armed Forces, The Media, You Mark Davis, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Perle, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Negroponte, etc... On behalf of the American people I can say that we are very sorry for mucking up Iraq and not letting you win the war the way you wanted to. We tied your hands and as Tom Delay tells us, took over the job of commander and Chief and wouldn't let Bush sit in the big chair. If only Bush were allowed to be our President, and had gotten his way, even once, Iraq would be roses right now.

Sorry we let you down.

Jack Dingler
http://weaseldog.blogspot.com/

Words!

While the members of the White House, Halls of Congress and Right Wing Pundits backed by the world's wealthiest media conglomerates, scream that Americans need to shut up and quit blogging on the Internets, and stay out of its tubes, Stephen Colbert draws our attention to the 'Words' that matter. Remember, our leaders have heard quite enough of the people saying what they think, so Shut Up And Listen! The Adults Are Trying To Talk!

Feel The Power!

I had a chance to listen to the Mark Davis Show for a short while today.

And what was the topic when I was listening? Why it was bloggers! And how we're narcisstic and how we're blowhards and how we have forced the media to cave and fall under our control!

What the hell are you talking about, you might rightly ask?

Well he says that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should've been Time Magazine's Man of the Year.

He went on to actually, to rag right wing bloggers and blame them for also being shrill. But overall in words and tone, he expressed his contempt for everyone who has a voice on the internet.

I'm not really surprised that he was on a blame the bloggers and blame the media kick. Its all part of the blame Americans spiel that the Republicans are pushing. Evetything bad that happens in the world is the fault of the American people.

Mark Davis and his right wing friends could've won the war in Iraq, and brought peace and prosperity to the universe, but for the American people.

These guys never made a mistake, never had it wrong, its our fault the adventure in Iraq failed. George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Mark Davis, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, were 100% right about everything! Their execution was perfect. The war was perfect. Our troops were perfect and their execution was perfect. They made no mistakes, nor did they have any erroneous ideas. Their motives were pure, their execution flawless. All of this failed, because the American people failed to follow through, and win this Holy War against Evil in the Middle East. Its all your fault America.

Here's Stephen Colbert summing it all up.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Lydia the Tattoed Lady

It's Friday, I haven't felt inspired by much, just depressed, so here's a blast from the past.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Will This Stick?

In their effort to throw crap up against the wall to see what sticks, the Bush administration has decided to start doing body counts.

Tony Snow explains that the White House wants us to know that its not just our guys getting killed, but that we're killing a lot of Iraqis too.

I don't know anyone that has criticized the administration for not killing enough people. But clearly, Bush is feeling inadequate and wants to prove he's manly, by producing reports showing that he's getting lots of people killed.

I'm not surprised that the Bush administration sees the death tolls as symbols of progress. As he has said, he's joyous about the war. And in speechs over the years, he's made it clear that he wants to be defined by war, and he's very proud of his accomplishments. I think there's no doubt that he feels glorified by the deaths.

So its probably no wonder that he's looking for acclaim by bragging about the number of people he's had killed.

Shittiest President Ever.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

When You're Next To Me

Ok, I need to wind down a bit.

This clip comes from a movie that I haven't tired of watching, 'A Mighty Wind'. In it Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara perform in an actual live concert, that was performed and filmed as part of a parody of the public television specials, that bring long forgotten musicians, back for one last concert. You know the ilk. You've watched them. I know you have.

In my opinion, the film was very well done and paid homage to the folk scene with unexpected grace.

This particular scene however was cut from the movie. But appears on the DVD, tucked away in the bonus features. If you have the DVD, it contains an Easter Egg, where you can see more scenes by selecting one of the banjo strings in the menu. Perhaps I've seen this movie too many times? This particular track, 'When You're Next To Me', was written by Annette O'Toole, who wrote three songs for the movie.

One final note, the folks who appeared in this movie, actually played their own songs. In the bonus segments, Eugene and Catherine discuss the challenge of going from amateur musicians that play at music, for fun and comedy, to playing full length songs in a serious vein. Eugene admits he's always been the type that knows a few lead parts, but can't finish a song.

Hats off to you two. That's a major transition to make.

Shittiest President Ever

"The load of the war is not heavy. Its a joyful, not a painful experience, because I know that millions of people are praying for me." - George Bush

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The Saudi Ambassador to the US Calls It Quits

Unexpectedly, Prince Turki al-Faisal has quit his post with one day's notice and is going to spend more time with his family.

Is something cooking for Christmas?

More Than 600,000 People Had To Die To Get Us Here

Most predict the administration won't implement the bipartisan commission's proposals, however. And fewer than 1 in 5 have "a great deal" of trust in Bush to "recommend the right thing" for the United States to do in Iraq.

Confidence in Democratic congressional leaders to chart the proper course is even lower, at 14%.
...
By 76%-22%, those surveyed say Iraq is in a civil war. The White House disputes that characterization, calling the conflict part of a global battle against terrorism.


CT: With what you know now, what might you have done differently in Iraq?

DR: I don't think I would have called it the war on terror...


But don't expect anything to change. Word is, Bush wants an escalation and some nutcases are suggesting that Bush should bomb Iran during his final days in office. I guess the idea is to trash the dorm on the way out, so others will have a big mess to clean up.

Our Official State Religion?

The Christian Embassy has set up shop in the Pentagon. It would do us well to pay attention to their beliefs, as history shows us that being of a different faith than your country's military prosetelyzes, can get you into trouble.

Crooks And Liars has Pentagon Video up that promotes the US Military's official religious unit.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Baker-Hamilton / Classic Whore-Panel

Not so nice article in Rolling Stone.

That Iraq Report? More of the Same
The great Baker-Hamilton crock: A classic bullshit-cloud in the proud tradition of congressional "studies"

MATT TAIBBI


For the Iraq disaster to end, someone among these actors is going to have to make a difficult decision -- admit defeat, invite a bloody civil war, lose face before a pair of rogue terror-supporting states -- and it's obvious that none of them is ever going to do that, not until there's absolutely no choice.

There's one more possibility... The folks that are fighting us, could force us to ante up. In war its not unusual for one side to redouble their efforts and press an offensive.

So far, the Bush administration has been able to keep the rate of carnage from taking any dramatic turns. It provides us with the illusion of control. As long as the carnage doesn't ramp up dramatically, it can continue to rise and fester for years. And every year that the carnage continues is another year that Halliburton pumps and sells Iraqi oil, and another year of fiscal joy and happiness for our President and his friends and family.

To keep the free flowing luchre of bipartisanship flowing, the war must be managed carefully. Our enemies must not dramatically increase the kill rate or take any strategic positions that fox news would be forced to talk about. This is the real challenge of the Bush administration.

Only time will tell if they'll profit for the next twenty years from a steady stream of butchered US soldiers, or if they'll be forced to change course. But whichever happens, you can bet they'll find a way make money on any outcome their war may see.

Between now and Christmas, soldier will die to keep Halliburton in Iraq and soldiers will require Donald Rumsfield's medical supplies to staunch their wounds, but none of this will trouble the First Family, who will be smiling all through Christmas. Though many families will attend funerals of loved ones between now and Christmas, have no fear, it won't affect Bush's countenance, as he'll never attend the funeral of loved one who has died in Iraq. Nor will he attend any funeral of any soldier who has died there. There's no profit in it.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR)

In a video segment found at Crooks And Liars, the good senator explaines that he was just being a good soldier and that its all Bush's fault.

GAO Videos

Thanks to Nicole Belle at Crooks And Liars for providing this link.

Video Presentations About GAO

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Dirty Liberal Hippies

Its official. President George Bush I, his cabinet, advisors, friends, probably even everyone associated with Ronald Reagan, were all Dirty Liberal Hippies. Rupert Murdoch says so in this cover, that is remiscent of Nazi propaganda that featured jews dressed up as rats.

Real Conservatives Lust For War!

Getting Ready For Christmas?

Then don't use the Bush plan when you're working on those gifts that say, "Some assembly required."

Yesterday as I perused the blogosphere, I was surprised at the number of bloggers and came to the same conclusion I did. That Bush will pick a few pieces out of any plan for Iraq and throw the rest away. Then he can say later that he tried their plan, and it didn't work.

Lets say the wife got a swingset for the kids for Christmas. You wanted to get them something else. So in the spirit of bipartisanship, you give it a try.

You open up the instructions and see that there are some good ideas in it. So you decide to do steps 3, 6, 8, 9a, 9d, and 14.

When you're done, you notice you don't have anything that looks like a swingset. So you declare that it was defective and doesn't work. You throw it away and get the kids what you wanted to get them in the first place. Which turns out to be nothing at all.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Our Soldiers Mental Health

Stolen from the Brad Blog.

PART I - The things they carry
PART II - To Hell and Back: Spinning the Downward Spiral
PART III - Full Metal Lockout: The Myth of Accessible Health Care
PART IV - Big Money: The Compensation Angle

The Baker Commission Report

Forget it. Whatever they recommend is all for the Dog and Pony Show. IT won't be allowed to interfere with the ticket receipts.

The White House has been running the War on Iraq as though it were a hostile corporate takeover. They knocked the management out of power and installed lackeys to rule as governors, while treating Iraq's resources as their own personal property.

To the Bush team, the people of Iraq, just like the American people, are their corporate employees. In their minds, they own the Iraqi people, just as they believe they own you and me.

Now they are running Iraq as though it were a US Government subsidized business. Their strategy involves getting as much profit our Iraq as possible. To do so, they are letting the US Government subsidize all of their expenses, and to even pay them to engage in profit taking.

Any strategy in Iraq that is borrowed from the Baker Commission Report, must not interfere with the US Government's efforts to subsidize the extraction of Iraq's wealth, and putting that wealth into private hands.

For this reason, the idea of using diplomacy is not an option. Hostile Corporate Takeovers are about buying people out, and dictating terms. It is about establishing dominance and taking control.

Diplomacy is about finding common ground, sharing responsibility and sharing the benefits. Its about working together through team building, with an emphasis on compromise.

If we engage in talks with Iran and Syria, both of those nations are going to ask, "What is in it for us?"

Well, there's no way Bush will compromise. So you can be sure that if there are talks, Bush will start insulting leaders of both countries before he goes to meet with them. Then he'll blow them off during the talks, and insult them in front of the press. That's been his style for six years. He'll come back and say he tried, but they wouldn't concede to his demands.

It looks like the vampires on K-Street are doing a fine job of turning the new Democrats. I can understand how tempting the spoils of war are, when War Hawks are offering cold hard cash on a silver platter. Our elected representatives are only human, and Congress legalized many forms of bribery, years ago.

Enjoy the show, we're all paying for it.