On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana.
Not exactly news, but I have a couple of points to make. We're all familiar with "The Battle of the Little Big Horn", wherein a small force thought it could subdue a larger one and split its forces in the arrogant belief that "white and might make right". The force that Custer committed to the actual fight was wiped out to a man.
I have always thought that the winner got to name the fight. The Sioux and Cheyenne called it "The Greasy Grass Fight". I guess that only applies if you have a written language and a printing press to make history come out however you want it to. That's point number one.
Point number two is this: WE are the Indians in this desperate battle against Bush and his arrogant cavalry of evil. Howsomever, our computers are our printing presses, and history does not have to come out like Bush and his media dogs want it to.
Stay in the saddle and ride 'em hard, boys and girls.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Eminent Domain, Ry Cooder, and Chavez Ravine
Since there's been so much talk about eminent domain in the wake of the recent unconscionable decision of SCOTUS, I think this is very timely. Also, I'm an L.A. contemporary of Mr. Cooder's. We've never met, but we grew up not too far apart, although I didn't know it until I read this article, and I've been a fan of his for years. I remember the whole Chavez Ravine brouhaha. I've never set foot in Dodger Stadium because I didn't like the way it was acquired, even at 10 years of age. Must've been the dawn of any social consciousness I've got.
Ry Cooder has a new album that, given the lead time to do an album, is uncanny in its timing. This article in Mother Jones tells about the album, the neighborhood, and his inspiration.
Update: Went and bought the CD. I even paid retail! I haven't played it yet, but the liner notes alone are worth the money. More later.
Ry Cooder has a new album that, given the lead time to do an album, is uncanny in its timing. This article in Mother Jones tells about the album, the neighborhood, and his inspiration.
As late as the 1940s, Chavez Ravine was an Old World enclave with 300 families of Mexican immigrants - a place where goats wandered freely and kids played in the dirt roads. But in 1950, following a city planning commission study of L.A.'s "blighted areas," it was decided that Chavez Ravine would be cleared out to make way for a low-income public-housing project. Most families took the meager payout and didn't challenge the authorities; when necessary, though, the city invoked the right of eminent domain, seized the land, and bulldozed the residences.Read more Below the Fold.
But the real estate lobby (which Cooder calls "hideous villains") saw an opportunity, and cast the idea of public housing as "creeping socialism." They accused the Los Angeles Housing Authority's Frank Wilkinson of being a communist agent, and the FBI stepped in to squash the project. Eventually, the housing authority sold 170 acres of Chavez Ravine back to the city, which offered the site to Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley. After a voter referendum and a California Supreme Court decision, construction on Dodger Stadium began in 1961. It's a classic Los Angeles story, full of shadowy deals and backroom corruption, reminiscent of Chinatown or a James Ellroy novel, and Cooder captures it with impressive complexity and nuance.
Update: Went and bought the CD. I even paid retail! I haven't played it yet, but the liner notes alone are worth the money. More later.
Daily DSM
TBogg, via Roger Ailes (the good one), notes that Bush has a knack for planning his conquests far in advance.
Focus 2
Francesca:
An excellent catch-up piece if your time has been limited (like mine) lately.
Yes, let's continue to rant about what a remarkably innapropriate and corrupt asshat Karl Rove is. We can sign petitions and send letters to the editor or Congresspeople. But let's keep our eyes on the prize. As I've seen mentioned in a number of blogs today, these outrageous Rove statements smack of obfuscation and distraction.
While we were getting our panties in a twist yesterday over Rove, here's what else was going on.
[. . .]
An excellent catch-up piece if your time has been limited (like mine) lately.
Questions
Bubba asks a good one:
I've always wondered about that. Do these people think they're doing the right thing? I know the faithful are deluded, but what about the guys at the top? Or do they know they are orchestrating the first American coup for their greedy ends? Gut feeling: They know exactly what they're doing and they don't care.
[. . .]
Does he go to bed thinking he's done a good day's work for America and Democracy and Liberty and Justice for All? Does he honestly believe he's fighting the good fight by declaring half of America traitors and terrorist sympathizers?
[. . .]
I've always wondered about that. Do these people think they're doing the right thing? I know the faithful are deluded, but what about the guys at the top? Or do they know they are orchestrating the first American coup for their greedy ends? Gut feeling: They know exactly what they're doing and they don't care.
My own road test
Since Gord has been going on about the hybrid cars over the last couple weeks, I just figured I'd give my impressions of a real car. I don't want to hear any shit from all you tree-huggers either.
1735
Granny said it best so I stole the whole thing:
Body Bags
1735 of them. President Bush has not attended a single funeral. We haven't ha[d] a serious national discussion about how we got here or where we are going.
It is complete and total disrespect for every man and woman who showed up to do their duty and paid a price. It is utterly disrespectful to the families who have empty spots where their people should be.
Demand the truth.
The War President
Paul Krugman:
America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion.
In November 2002, Helen Thomas, the veteran White House correspondent, told an audience, "I have never covered a president who actually wanted to go to war" - but she made it clear that Mr. Bush was the exception. And she was right.He talks about the DSM for a few paragraphs.
Still, some of my colleagues insist that we should let bygones be bygones. The question, they say, is what we do now. But they're wrong: it's crucial that those responsible for the war be held to account (my emphasis).
On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic.
We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.
In a Gallup poll taken in early April - that is, before the release of the Downing Street Memo - 50 percent of those polled agreed with the proposition that the administration "deliberately misled the American public" about Iraq's W.M.D. In a new Rasmussen poll, 49 percent said that Mr. Bush was more responsible for the war than Saddam Hussein, versus 44 percent who blamed Saddam.It's so easy to just let him write my stuff!
Once the media catch up with the public, we'll be able to start talking seriously about how to get out of Iraq.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Kerry grows some
Via an email from the Sister:
Who'd have thought it?
Senator Kerry (D - MA) sends letter to Senate Intelligence Committee pressing for answers on the Downing Street Memo and other Downing documents. The letter leaked to Raw Story, is also signed by Senators Johnson, Corzine, Reed, Lautenberg, Boxer, Kennedy, Harkin, Bingaman, and Durbin. The text of the letter is below . . .
Who'd have thought it?
Good = Iraq = Bad
Via Scott over at the Wankers:
Clinton lied and only a blue dress was sacrificed. The Bush administration can't even get the 'Lie of the Day' straight as 2000 Americans die.
WASHINGTON - The top American commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress on Thursday that the Iraqi insurgency has not grown weaker over the past six months, despite a claim by Vice President Dick Cheney that it was in its "last throes."
Gen. John Abizaid's testimony came at a contentious Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld clashed with members of both parties, including a renewed call by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for him to step down. [my emphasis]
[. . .]
Clinton lied and only a blue dress was sacrificed. The Bush administration can't even get the 'Lie of the Day' straight as 2000 Americans die.
Note to Bush on Timetable for Withdrawal
Get real. Go ahead and announce a timetable for withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. I don't think it will make the insurgents "lie low" like you claim. Hell, you lie about everything else, what makes you think the insurgents will even believe you? They may be zealots, but they're not stupid. They're religious zealots, a lot of them, but what works on your base may not work on other religious zealots that aren't as stupid. Dipshit.
Kristen Breitweiser
Mr. Rove, the first thing that I would like to address is Afghanistan - the place that anyone with a true "understanding of 9/11" knows is a nation that actually has a connection to the 9/11 attacks. One month after 9/11, we invaded Afghanistan, took down the Taliban, and left without capturing Usama Bin Laden - the alleged perpetrator of the September 11th attacks. In the meantime, Afghanistan has carried out democratic elections, but continues to suffer from extreme violence and unrest. Poppy production (yes, Karl, the drug trade) is at an all time high, thus flooding the world market with heroin. And of course, the oil pipeline (a.k.a. the Caspian Sea pipeline) is better protected by U.S. troops who now have a "legitimate" excuse to be in that part of Afghanistan. Interesting isn't it Karl that the drug "rat line" parallels the oil pipeline. (Yet, with all those troops guarding that same sliver of land, can you please explain how those drugs keep getting through?)
Now Karl, a question for you, since you seem to be the nation's self-styled sensei with regard to 9/11: Is Usama Bin Laden still important? Lately, your coterie of friends seems to be giving out mixed messages. Recall that in the early days, Bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive." Then when Bin Laden slipped through your fingertips in Tora Bora, you downgraded his importance. We were told that Bin Laden was a "desperate man on the run," and a person that President Bush was not "too worried about". Yet, whenever I saw Bin Laden's videos, he looked much too comfortable to actually be a man on the run. He looked tan, rested, and calm. He certainly didn't look the way I wanted the murderer of almost 3,000 innocent people to look: unkempt, panicked, and cowering in a corner.
Karl, I mention Bin Laden because recently Director of the CIA, Porter Goss, has mentioned that he knows exactly where Bin Laden is located but that he cannot capture him for fear of offending sovereign nations. Which frankly, I find ironic because of Iraq--and let's just leave it at that. But, when you say that "moderation and restraint" don't work in fighting terrorists, maybe you should share those comments with Mr. Goss because he doesn't seem to be on the same page as you. Unless of course, Porter is holding out to announce that Bin Laden is in Iran. (Karl, I want Bin Laden brought to justice, but not if it means starting a war with Iran - a country that possesses nuclear weaponry. The idea of nuclear fallout in any quadrant of the world is just not an acceptable means to any ends, be it capturing Bin Laden, oil or drugs. But, Afghanistan and Bin Laden are old news. Iraq is the story of today. And of course, it appears that Iran will be the story of next month. But, I digress.)
[. . .]
Read the rest of her post at Arianna's place.
Kablooie in St. Looie
Yeah, I know, this isn't about politics. I just wanted to use that title! I've been watching the TV coverage of the brouhaha at the Praxair plant in St. Louis. It's totally bitchin' watching that shit cook off!
That company repackages and distributes mostly welding gasses. Most welding gasses are inert, and are used to shield the work from oxygen in wire-feed welding, such as MIG and TIG. They don't burn, but they are under intense pressure and when they cook off they disperse the fire in a pattern consistent with the pattern of their own dispersal, which are the fireballs we've been seeing.
Oxygen doesn't burn, but not very much will burn without it. It supports and enhances combustion. That's what makes the BIG fireballs.
Acetylene is very combustible and burns with heavy black carbon smoke. That's the stuff that makes a carbide cannon go BOOM! It also lights the headlight on my motorcycle. I fill the headlight tank with carbide and pee in it when I leave the bar to wobble home. After it builds up a little acetylene pressure, I light it with my cigarette. It only blows the light to smithereens occasionally.
When I first turned the TV on, I thought it was home video of Fixer cuttin' up a little right after the third keg at the company picnic.
That company repackages and distributes mostly welding gasses. Most welding gasses are inert, and are used to shield the work from oxygen in wire-feed welding, such as MIG and TIG. They don't burn, but they are under intense pressure and when they cook off they disperse the fire in a pattern consistent with the pattern of their own dispersal, which are the fireballs we've been seeing.
Oxygen doesn't burn, but not very much will burn without it. It supports and enhances combustion. That's what makes the BIG fireballs.
Acetylene is very combustible and burns with heavy black carbon smoke. That's the stuff that makes a carbide cannon go BOOM! It also lights the headlight on my motorcycle. I fill the headlight tank with carbide and pee in it when I leave the bar to wobble home. After it builds up a little acetylene pressure, I light it with my cigarette. It only blows the light to smithereens occasionally.
When I first turned the TV on, I thought it was home video of Fixer cuttin' up a little right after the third keg at the company picnic.
Ask The Man Who's Been There...
Frameshop offers another take on why recruiting for the Army and Marine Corps is down.
Amidst the noise over issues that mean little, if anything, in comparison to Iraq, nobody seems to be asking this: Why are Americans no longer inspired to serve in the armed forces? What has happened in less than five years of George W. Bush as President that Americans are shying away from service in our military?
The answer is disarmingly simple: politicians lie, soldiers don't.
That's the long and short of it. In the past few months, the truth that soldiers speak upon returning from Iraq has started to outpace the lies that policians tell in their attempts to sell the war to the American people. And that impact will continue to be felt the longer we keep our soldiers in Iraq.
Sure, there are stories of triumph and stories of hope. But mostly, the stories being told at the kitchen tables and water coolers of America's military communities are stories of pain and uncertainty, stories of inspiration lost and dedication to service gone sour. They are stories of violence so brazen that even the most courageous among us are forced to pause and stare silently at our feet. They are stories that are slowly giving rise to the one, powerful force that truly has the potential to stop the war in Iraq: the force of resistance to the war from ordinary, unknown, workaday American citizens.This is a good post to go read. One Marine describes his first tour, during the invasion, and his second tour after rotating home. The difference is startling.
"People who say it's getting better...I would like them to enlist, and go see how great it is firsthand."
DSM Update
So the weasel has something to say about the DSM?
So they took all that time to plan for any postwar contingency? Who did the planning, Mickey-fucking-Mouse? And, uh, Karl? Napoleon Bonaparte is not the person to cite when describing your military planning. Remember Russia? Remember Waterloo? Remember the Bastille? You fucking idiot.
Yep, that 'complete and total victory'. Is that anything like 'Mission Accomplished', Dickface?
GREGORY: As you well know, critics of this war have seized on what's being called now the Downing Street Memo, based on meetings that Britain's Chief of Intelligence had with American officials about the war. One issue that comes up in that memo and subsequent memos is British concerns about the fact that the White House in their view wasn't adequately thinking about what happens after the regime falls.
ROVE: I'm glad you brought that up because I want to put that in context. First of all that is the British - a Brit making a comment about what he perceived to be U.S. policy. But remember the time frame, it is months and months and months before the balloon goes up in Iraq. And in those intervening months there was plenty of time planning for post-war efforts, vast amounts of planning. You never know exactly how a war is going to plan out. Napoleon once said, 'vast numbers of refugees enormous problems with food aid'- did not happen. Vast uprising- didn't happen. That we would see a vast uprising by hundreds of thousands of Iraqis- didn't happen. War is ugly, but a lot went very well with this effort and in part it was because the United States government and our coalition partners used the months to plan for any eventuality.
So they took all that time to plan for any postwar contingency? Who did the planning, Mickey-fucking-Mouse? And, uh, Karl? Napoleon Bonaparte is not the person to cite when describing your military planning. Remember Russia? Remember Waterloo? Remember the Bastille? You fucking idiot.
GREGORY: But if you're talking about the number of troops necessary, the level of American casualties, the force and intensity of the insurgency. . . did the president mislead the American people about the cost of the war or was he just simply surprised by what happened?
ROVE: I would go back to the president's statements over the last several years and I would defy you to find one speech which he talked about Iraq where he doesn't say there would be difficult times ahead, that we had a long road to hope that a great deal of sacrifice was going to be called for by both the American people and by the Iraqis to achieve this goal. Look, we do not underestimate the ferocity and the anger and the viciousness of the people that we face. We are in a war. Some people may treat it as a law enforcement matter and be worried about indictments from the U.S. attorney from the southern district of New York. But we recognize this administration and the American people we are in a war and the only way you have a successful outcome in the war is to aim for a complete and total victory, which is exactly what we're doing. [my emphases]
Yep, that 'complete and total victory'. Is that anything like 'Mission Accomplished', Dickface?
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Consign Rove Unto the Fire...
Or if you don't think you can swing an eternity of damnation and suffering for him, go sign this petition to can his ass. It probably won't do any good, but it'll make you feel better. There's some good comments. Thanks to Jami at Hillary Now via An Angry Old Broad.
Wow, Man! This Stuff'll Make Ya Go Bug-Fuck!
James Wolcott does it again.
Over the years I've often found myself wondering if certain members of the devil's party inhale insecticide to psyche themselves up for the evil they do. Tom DeLay is a logical candidate, given his professional background, and Ann Coulter often has the bug eyes characteristic of bug-juice abuse. Watching Fox News, I figured they might keep a industrial-sized bug inhaler in the offices for their producers and hosts to take an invigorating hit from before pushing the Bush agenda.Apparently, they actually do. Go Read.
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