Let's Go Play In The Quicksand!

Gilbert Achcar at ZNet has quite a bit to say about the upcoming Iraqi election and the Bush administration's true intent.

The hypocrisy of the Bush administration is limitless: when George W. Bush and his buddies boast about the forthcoming election in Iraq as an achievement of the civilizing mission that they supposedly took upon themselves in bringing democracy to backward Muslims, they sound like a boss boasting about having raised the wages of the workers in his factory as an illustration of his eagerness to improve their living standard, when, in reality, the raise was imposed on him by the workers going on strike.

The fact of the matter is that democracy has never been more than a subsidiary pretext for the Bush administration in its drive to seize control of the crucially strategic area stretching from the Arab-Persian Gulf to Central Asia, a pretext ranking after others such as Al-Qaida or the WMD. Most of the vectors of US influence in this area are despotic regimes, from the oldest ally of Washington and most antidemocratic of all states, the Saudi Kingdom, to the newest allies, the police states of such post-Soviet Mafia-like republics as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan, operating through such great champions of democracy as generals Mubarak of Egypt and Musharraf of Pakistan.

Washington favors elections only if and when they are most likely to be won by its henchmen.[...]

What will Washington do after the January 30 elections? It is difficult to predict. The Bush administration has a clear strategic objective: securing control of Iraq for the long haul. But Washington does not know how to achieve this goal or how to reconcile it with the forecast result of the elections, which an anonymous senior official residing in Baghdad's Green Zone aptly described to the New York Times as a "jungle of ambiguity" (December 18, 2004). One scenario, which has been greatly facilitated by the behavior of the occupying forces, is the one that many neocons came to favor after the collapse of their illusions about securing control of Iraq "democratically": a de facto, if not de jure, carving up of the country along sectarian lines (Israel's favored scenario from the beginning).

In order to retain control of the land, Washington could very well resort to the well-tried imperial recipe of divide and rule, taking the risk of setting Iraq on the devastating fire of a civil war -- both sectarian (Shia v. Sunni) and ethnic (Arab v. Kurd). The way in which the US occupation is letting the situation deteriorate between Kurds and Arabs in the North, without trying earnestly to broker a compromise that would be satisfactory to all, as well as the way it has dealt with the issue of the elections fostering tensions between Shia and Sunnis, is very revealing in that regard.

It seems that the Mayberry Machiavellian neo-cons want to rule the world, but, beyond military power, which they mis-use horribly for all concerned, they haven't got a clue about how to go about it. They seem to think their ideology is divinely inspired and will override their incompetence and carry the day. Wrongamundo, Napoleon wannabes.

I sincerely hope the Iraqi elections come off without a hitch, but at this point it's most certainly up in the air.

Then I want the duly elected Grand Poobah , politely or not, to tell us to get the Hell out of Iraq. Screw the neo-cons who want control of Middle-East oil. We have no business being in Iraq in the first place.

Granted, Bush created the problems Iraq is suffering, and we should do what we can to help undo them. That's only right. We're not doing a very good job of it.

Perhaps, freed from Saddam, the Iraqis can solve their own leadership problems without us. I say let them try. If civil war is in the cards, so be it, but not because Bush wants it. It's enough that he will go to his grave (soon, God willing) as the person responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths that didn't have to happen.

We should realize this whole deal was a mis-guided ideological scheme by evil men who don't care about the personal tragedies, horrendous expense, or long-lasting ramifications of their actions because they will never be touched by any of it. Their criminal lust for World Domination and Imperial Power is sick and obscene, let alone being un-American. Let's cut our losses and get out of there unless we can figure out something better than killing brown people.

Go read. Take a lunch, it's a long one. What discussion of Middle-East politics is short?

Ethics? Yes!

Update to yesterday's post. I'm a HAPPY FUCKING CAMPER, and have just a little of my faith in the system restored.

WASHINGTON Jan 3, 2005 — House Republicans suddenly reversed course Monday, deciding to retain a tough standard for lawmaker discipline and reinstate a rule that would force Majority Leader Tom DeLay to step aside if indicted by a Texas grand jury.

[. . .]

And the best quote came from a Republican:

[. . .]

Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said, "It's a mark of a leader to take a bullet for the team and not for the team to take a bullet for the leader. I'm very glad we decided to stick with the rules.

[. . .]

I didn't think they had it in 'em.

Scuttlebutt

Via 12thharmonic and Common Dreams. This was taken from an Iraqi website:

12.00 GMT. IDAO exclusive. According to IDAO's own sources in Baghdad and Sulaimanya, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been arrested in Bagouba by US forces.

The US occupation forces will cite this arrest as a victory for their war on terrorism. The people of Falluja in their demonstrations demanding US withdrawal of the last few days,which has topped 30,000 people according to news agency reports, have raised slogans distancing themselves from the Zarqwai group. The people of Falluja have repeatedly accused US forces of using Zarqawi as a pretext to demolish a city of 300,000 in an attempt to quell its resistance to the occupation. Many in the Iraqi resistance have expressed opposition to Zarqwi's methods in the past, who is regarded as a small force in the anti-occupation movement.

I haven't been able to confirm yet, but if it's true, a blow to the insurgency in Iraq. Might save a few of our soldiers' lives. However, I been in the miliary far too long to believe scuttlebutt. I'll update as I get more.

Update: 14:51:

Consider this bullshit until further notice.

Ethics? Puh!

Atrios:

[. . .]

So, what has the key ethics rule been used for? The WaPo explains:

It has been used to discipline members for taking bribes, fixing parking tickets and having sex with House pages.

So, the House Republicans support a rule change which will let them:

*Take bribes!

*Fix parking tickets!

*Have sex with House pages!

We don't need no steenking ethics. Gordon's buddy, "Bug-boy" DeLay is behind this. Disgusting bastards.

Software Update

As you know, I've been using the Firefox browser by Mozilla for the last couple weeks and I love it. It's become the default browser in the Fixer household. Well, today I just installed the Thunderbird email software. I'll let you know how that goes in the coming weeks, once I figure it all out. The good thing already is that it imported everything from Outlook except my message rules, but they make it easy to re-set up. if it's as good as Firefox, I'll be raving. One of the best features, it's all free.

The Long War

Robert Parry at Consortium News sees no end in sight, except for Democracy:

George W. Bush’s vision for America’s future is coming into clearer focus following Election 2004: For the next generation or more, it appears the American people will be asked to sacrifice their children, their tax dollars and possibly the remnants of their democracy to what a top U.S. commander now candidly calls the “Long War.”

While Central Command’s Gen. John Abizaid defines the “Long War” as the indefinite conflict against Islamic extremism around the world, Bush and his supporters have already opened a second front at home, determined to silence or neutralize domestic dissent that they see as sapping American “will.”

Not only has Bush continued to purge his second-term administration of even the most soft-spoken skeptics, but his disdain for criticism has emboldened his supporters to routinely refer to public dissenters as “traitors.”

Take, for instance, this letter from a Bush supporter who was infuriated when USA Today’s founder Al Neuharth suggested in an opinion column that U.S. troops should be brought home from Iraq “sooner rather than later.”

“This is war and you should be put in prison NOW for talking like this,” wrote someone by the name of Mel Gibbs. “You give aid and comfort to our enemies and aid them in murdering our proud soldiers. You people are a disgrace to America. Your families should be put in prison with you.”

Oh yeah? Call me a traitor, motherfucker, and watch what happens.

Similar sentiments, of course, can be heard on right-wing talk radio or from commentators, such as best-selling author Ann Coulter. To many Bush backers, extremism in defense of W. is no vice.

Good point. Not defense of the country, the Constitution, or home and hearth, but rather defense of Bush like he's some kind of tin god. It makes be sick.

But the challenges posed by the Sept. 11 attacks could be viewed quite differently. Indeed, investigations of the terror attacks have revealed that al-Qaeda’s daring blow was somewhat a lucky punch that landed in part because the newly arrived Bush administration rebuffed warnings from Clinton administration holdovers.

The Bush newcomers believed the Clinton team overemphasized dangers from Islamic terrorism while underestimating the threat of missile attacks from North Korea and other “rogue states.” Bush didn’t even convene his counter-terrorism experts in August 2001 when the CIA sent him a warning, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S.”

Though the answer will never be known, a strong response to the CIA warning might have disrupted the attacks that killed 3,000 people.

Ya never know, but it mighta been worth a shot, especially since the President is supposed to defend the country.

Just as the long Cold War gave rise to the military-industrial complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned against, the Long War against Islamic extremism will put the United States on a course toward a more militarized society, a form of government more like an Empire than a Republic.

I think we're well on our way unless the American people wise up pretty quick. Go read.

The F-Word

Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com ain't mincin' no words:

Today's Conservatives Are Fascists.Torture, dictatorship, phony "elections," and endless war – it's fascism with a "democratic" face.

The idea that today's conservatives are in any way defenders of individual liberty, the free market, and what Russell Kirk called "the permanent things," i.e., the sacred traditions that have accumulated over time to constitute the core of our Judeo-Christian culture, is no longer a defensible proposition. Instead, what used to be called the conservative movement has morphed, almost overnight, into a coterie of moral monsters, whose political program is one of unmitigated evil.

In any case, by this time the evidence for the malevolent transformation of the American Right is all around us – in the ravings of Fox News "commentators," in the sheer existence of Ann Coulter, in the usurpation of a formerly respectable political tendency by the greasy evasions of the "neo"-conservatives. This change is most starkly dramatized in three disturbing trends: (1) Widespread support on the Right for internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, touting Michelle Malkin's shoddy-to-nonexistent scholarship, with the implication that we should be contemplating the same treatment for Americans of Arab descent, (2) the justification of torture when utilized by the American military in the name of the "war on terrorism" by "conservative" legal theorists, and (3) advocacy of a ruthlessly aggressive foreign policy of military expansionism, supposedly in order to spread "democracy" around the world.

Surely "fascism with a 'democratic' face" sums up the Bushian "global democratic revolution" just as accurately and succinctly, although admittedly this fails to capture the full horror of what the "liberation" of Iraq actually entails. Perhaps "fascism with a democratic face – and bloodstained hands" is more precise.

In between all the quotes is a rant of the first order, with lotsa links. It's a little long but worth a read.

Hopefully, we'll be hearing a lot more of this kind of thing. It should be on billboards, TV ads, the MSM gasbagapaloozas, newspapers, and fast-food joint menus. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops and jammed up Bush's ass on a daily basis.

Crossing lines

A big one is approaching. The Senate confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee, Alberto "Light Stick" Gonzales.

Digby:

[. . .]

We should fight back with righteous anger and authority. We needn't be reasonable and argue like lawyers. Make them go on the record defending torture, over and over again if possible. This is the real values fight for the heart and soul of this country, not Janet Jackson's nipple or "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance. If we let them blatently despoil the Bill of Rights without a furious battle then everything else we care about will go right down the drain with it. It is the source of it all.

[. . .]

The Christo-fascist, Right Wing nutjobs are gonna try and ram this one through with their 'mandate' and 'political capital'. I say filibuster!

RIP

Shirley Chisholm:

January 3, 2005 -- Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, has died at 80.

She had suffered a series of strokes, her longtime congressional staffer William Howard told The Post.

Chisholm, who retired from Congress in 1982, had spent the last 15 years in Osmond Beach, Fla.

"She was our Moses [who] opened the Red Sea for us," said Robert Williams, president of the NAACP in Flagler Co., Fla.

Chisholm, a Democrat, was elected to Congress in 1968, representing central Brooklyn. Just three years later, she became the first black woman to seek a major party presidential nomination.

[. . .]

Robert Matsui:

WASHINGTON - Rep. Robert T. Matsui, D-Calif., a World War II internee as an infant who rose to become one of the top Asian-Americans in Congress during 26 years of service, died late Saturday, his office announced Sunday. He was 63.

One of his party's leading spokesmen on tax and Social Security issues, Matsui was hospitalized at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Dec. 24, suffering from pneumonia. His office said he had been diagnosed several months ago with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone marrow disease that compromises the body's ability to fight infection.

Matsui, a senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, was expected to be one of his party's leaders in the expected battle in Congress this year over President Bush's proposal to overhaul Social Security.

[. . .]

Sense

AARP comes to its senses:

[. . .]

Our country needs a full national discussion [about Social Security] of all the ideas on the table. One idea being put forward is in the wrong direction for fixing Social Security and will actually make the problem worse, not better. Taking some of the money that workers pay into the system and diverting it into newly created private accounts would weaken Social Security and put benefits for future generations at risk.

AARP is opposed to private accounts that take money out of Social Security.

In addition, private accounts are expensive. Just to switch to this new system could require as much as $2 trillion or more in benefit cuts, new taxes or more debt. Most of us would then have to pay twice to gamble on this new plan-first to keep our commitments to current retirees and again to pay into these private accounts. Some critics of these personal accounts think that Wall Street, not retirees, would be the real beneficiaries. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

At least the old folks see how badly Bush screwed them over the prescription drug plan. This time, they're not on their knees, ready to fellate him for vague promises. They know now, that the only ones helped by any of Bush's 'reforms' so far have been the HMOs and Big Pharma.

Hypocrite of the Year

From BuzzFlash:

[. . .]

The Bush Administration crimes against democracy and their war crimes; the death and destruction that they have caused; their pillaging of the middle class and working poor; and their violations of civilized standards of behavior -- all of these would be cause enough to charge, prosecute and convict them for crimes against the nation and against the laws of the land -- as well as the community of nations.

[. . .]

But George W. Bush, first and foremost, is our GOP Hypocrite of 2004, because he has allowed Al-Qaeda to win. If they hate democracy, as Bush claims, Bush has done everything possible to curtail our freedoms and our right to elect officials as a national community. He has accomplished their terrorist goal for them; something that surely warms the cockles of Osama bin Laden's heart.

Osama checkmated Bush -- and we are the pawns.

[. . .]

Vote by mail

Sounds like an idea. From Jenny Greenleaf at the american street:

[. . .]

Vote by mail works. It’s cheaper, turnout is higher, and it provides an automatic paper trail. The biggest criticism I hear about it now is that people miss going to their polling places because of the social aspect. On the other hand, they like having two weeks to sit down with the state-provided Voters’ Guide and think about what and who they’re voting for.

[. . .]

Not that I know anything about running a vote, but this seems logical to me. It's the way it's done in Germany and I've yet to hear a complaint.

No wonder he didn't retire

Rhenquist is scared of what Bush wants to do with SCOTUS. Via Gillard:

WASHINGTON — Ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said today that judges must be protected from political threats, including from conservative Republicans who maintain that "judicial activists" should be impeached and removed from office.

"The Constitution protects judicial independence not to benefit judges, but to promote the rule of law: Judges are expected to administer the law fairly, without regard to public reaction," the chief justice, whose future on the court is subject to wide speculation, said in his traditional year-end report on the federal courts.

The public, the press and politicians are certainly free to criticize judges, Rehnquist said, but politicians cross the line when they try to punish or impeach judges for decisions they do not agree with.

His comments come as the new Congress faces what many predict will be a contentious battle over President Bush's nominees to the federal bench. And if Rehnquist's health forces him to announce his retirement, there would be more partisan wrangling over his successor.

[. . .]

The poor old bastard's gonna hang on as long as possible. If he wasn't planning to, why didn't he just retire when he was diagnosed? He sure as hell doesn't need the money. I know a little about thyroid cancer. Hopefully, Rhenquist doesn't have the kind that took my mom, because it took her quickly (thankfully for her). Rhenquist sees what's happening and he's trying to protect the Court as the last bastion of objective thinking in this country. And it looks like he's willing to give his life to do it.

Contest the vote

Via Skippy yesteday:

william rivers pitt, over at truthout, tells us that rep. john conyers, along with some reps from ohio, is planning to contest the ohio electoral vote count on jan. 6, and has sent a letter to every senator asking for support (he only needs one).

[. . .]

And today:

a friend sent us the link to contest the vote.org. as we reported earlier, rep. john conyers is looking for just one senator (all that's needed, as he and several representatives are planning to do so) to contest the electoral vote this week.

sign the petition to get your senator to join rep. conyers. you can do it online, as well as read the latest news:

[. . .]

Saturday Cattle Dog Blogging

The Princess practicing her pathetic look.

Happy New Year

I'm done for the day, probably. The Mrs. and I are doing what we always do on New Years. We're just gonna be hanging out, probably watch a movie or two, and she's gonna cook all sorts of international dishes that we like. We also partake in the alcoholic products from whatever region's foods she's making.

This year it's French, caviar (she's making a French dish with it), escargots, buncha cheeses and pates, and a duck breast salad, the recipie she conned from one of the chefs aboard the QM2. We probably won't be awake for the ball drop (yes, some New Yorkers don't give a shit about Times Square), but we'll be up at our usual 4 a.m. and get the highlights. We'll start the party again too.

Not many reflections on the Old Year. I like looking toward the possibilities of the future. We took a hit in November, but hopefully we'll learn and hit back in the mid-terms and beyond. We'll do better.

I wish my partners, KR and Gord, and their families, all the best of luck, health, and good fortune. Also to my fellow bloggers of the Reality-based Community and the readers, have a happy and safe New Year.

Think twice about drinking and driving tonight. If it was just your drunk ass splattered against a tree it would be one thing. Think about the poor, innocent slobs you're gonna take with you.

Happy New Year everybody!

Snow Day

If you saw Fixer's post you know I have things to do, but I thought I'd take a break, have some coffee and a smoke, and share a little about life in Paradise. It has quit snowing for the moment and the Sun is shining brightly. How long it will last, I don't know, but right now it's beautiful. Reminds me of an old joke: "When I woke up this morning, it looked nice out. So I left it out."

I spent about an hour already this morning digging out the wife's pickup and blowing a path down the driveway for her. I cleared the driveway yesterday and today's snow was knee deep.

Now, like all locals, I have a snowthrower. However, my machine is in two parts in my garage since the augur drive gear setup did a world-class imitation of a hand grenade a couple of weeks ago. I ordered the parts on Dec. 13. I expected them to be here at least when I got back from my Christmas trip to the coast, but due to an incredible combination of human errors, it was not shipped as of this past Tuesday when I called the parts house, which is in Porterville CA, near Bakersfield. It's on the way now, but the irony is that since my original order, we had two weeks of sunny and warm (relatively) weather which would have been good for wrenchin'. Murphy is laughing his ass off somewhere.

Thanks to the good graces of my next-door neighbor Bill, I have the use of his machine whenever I need it. This is a life-saver. My driveway is eighty feet long, two cars wide, and sloped down to the street. If you stood looking at two feet of snow with a cordless snowthrower, aka shovel, as your only means of snow removal, you'd move to Hawaii. I cleared my driveway with a shovel about once before I bought my first machine, which threw a rod after fourteen winters. Shovels are very useful for detail work and I have an amazing collection of them.

Here's the rub: Since Bill has been so kind, I feel obligated to clear his snow as well as mine. He says I needn't bother, but I'd feel shitty if I didn't. His driveway is about the same size as mine, but steeper. It's also about twenty-five years newer than mine and ices up a lot worse. Picture me being chased backwards down a driveway by the snowthrower, head first, the snowthrower gaining on me all the way, and you get the idea. Also, I clear his mailbox approach from wherever the plow went by so the mail carrier can drive his right-hand drive Skibaru up to it and shove the mail out the window into it. Otherwise, no mail. This is Bill's pet peeve, and I do this so I won't have to hear about it. He'll rant at great length, with great volume, about how the plow driver should plow closer to his mailbox.

Speaking of snowplows, the saving grace the last couple of days is that the plow hasn't been by here. Those things leave a humongous berm across the driveway and I haven't wanted to have to deal with it, but deal with it I shall, of that there is no doubt. Sometimes ten feet wide and three feet high, of compacted snow, it's all a snowthrower can do to get through it, and shovel work is usually required.

Bill has a 6.5hp Honda. They must have bigger horses in Japan or something, because the machine is fantastic. The rule of thumb around here is that you need 8 horse minimum, but the little Honda works really good. When it's really eatin'("EAT, you sunofabitch! EAT!") snow, the engine starts pulling real hard, like a motorcycle going up a hill at speed. Let go of the drive lever until it pitches the accumulated snow out, it picks up revs again, and off you go. For a little sneezer, the rig's got heart, like "The Little Engine That Could".

The snow we've got now is not exactly powder, but it's not the wet, heavy "Sierra cement" either, which is good. The machine does most of the work, of course, but it gets physical, believe me. There's a lot of horsin' it around, jerkin' it hither an' thither. It's a workout, so you know why my ol' lard ass gets tired.

Point is, my next machine's gonna be a Honda. Gotta fix the old one or it's just so much junk, but Mrs. G has already suggested that I check out the payment plan. I think I'll go with an 11 or 12 horse model. Now, if they come with radio control....

There's a certain amount of cultural and social content to standin' around in the snow, too. This morning I got to chat with a neighbor that I don't know while he was taking a stroll. That was cool. I warned him that the Mad Lady of Indian Pine Road was about to come flyin' backwards out of the driveway and we shot the shit 'til the crisis was past. I also got honked at to get out of the way by a lady(?) in a Lexus SUV. Figures. But, to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she was just making sure I knew she was there.

Check out the Truckee Web Cam. The snow you see is all since Wednesday. The town is full of tourists and students on their holiday and most of 'em don't know whether to shit or go blind over our bountiful snow. What us locals like to do is get us some popcorn and go sit on the main drag and watch 'em try to drive around in it. $40K worth of SUV and they ain't got a clue. Entertaining as all get out, but then, it doesn't take much to amuse us simple hill folk.

That's all for now. Later, folks.

Absolutely Disgusting

Since Bush has been in office, I don't disgust as easily as I used to, but this one takes the fucking cake. From Raw Story.

RAW STORY has discovered that the Westboro Baptist Church leaders known for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the young college student brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998, have released the following statement regarding the tsunamis which hit Southeast Asia earlier in the week.

The statement, which was posted on their website Wednesday alongside dozens of other archived "press releases," thanks God for the tsunami and for the death of any gay Swedish vacationers who perished at the time.

I'm not going to try to reproduce the actual article. It's in fonts and styles reminiscent (to me anyway) of old fashioned stuff. You owe it to yourself to go see this unconscionable tripe. Methinks this so-called minister got scared by a penis at some time in his life.

If we don't see any MSM coverage of this I won't be surprised. Even though this church is obviously on the leading edge of the lunatic fringe, our fearless media haven't got the balls to to take on so-called christians for any reason.

Payback 2

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 30 - President Pervez Musharraf announced in a nationwide television address on Thursday that he would continue as the army chief despite his pledge last year to give up the post by the end of 2004.

"I have decided to retain both offices," he said. "In my view, any change in internal or external policies can be extremely dangerous for Pakistan."

He added that he was responding to "the voice of the majority."

[. . .]

NYT.

Amazing what you can do with a 'mandate'. I talked about this a couple days ago. Wonder why Bush isn't saying anything about Musharraf retaining power instead of moving Pakistan toward democracy? I mean, that's why we attacked Iraq, right? We wanted to build a democracy there. At least, that's the latest excuse. How come none of our Islamic allies in the region are democracies? Okay, maybe Egypt, though that's a stretch. We make alliances with kings and despots when it suits, but we'll force democracy on the one who 'tried to kill my daddy'.

Commonalities

Travis notices something:

So I just went online to get the story on the resignation of all 700 employees of the Iraqi electoral commission, and I came across this:

The radical Ansar al-Sunnah Army and two other insurgent groups issued a statement Thursday warning that democracy was un-Islamic. Democracy could lead to passing un-Islamic laws, such as permitting homosexual marriage, if the majority or people agreed to it, the statement said.

Really, I am speechless. Here we are in the middle of a hideous war, and we find common ground between the Bush league and the terrorists. Strange bedfellows indeed.

Fucking incredible.