We got a plan to keep ya from getting run over by a truck...

I went over to the New York Press to see the cool recruiting poster and stayed to read the article about the Army's recruiting woes and the desperate lengths they are going to to get fresh meat.

But if asking nicely doesn't work, the army is apparently ready to let loose some new rhetorical weapons. In a Knight-Ridder story last week, an army recruiter named Timothy Waud in Simi Valley, California, offered a new argument to the parents of America's young:

"(Parents) say they don't want to send their son or daughter off into danger," he said. "There's a lot of misconceptions about Iraq. Frankly, percentage-wise you face more of a risk driving on the freeways out here."

Military service in Iraq: safer than playing in traffic! Goddamn, I wish I had teenage children!

I can kinda see the recruiter's point: In Iraq, when you get tire tracks on your leg, at least it will have been blown a safe distance first.

DSM Update

Via Kevin Drum:

LONDON -- In the spring of 2002, two weeks before British Prime Minister Tony Blair journeyed to Crawford, Tex., to meet with President Bush at his ranch about the escalating confrontation with Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sounded a prescient warning.

"The rewards from your visit to Crawford will be few," Straw wrote in a March 25 memo to Blair stamped "Secret and Personal." "The risks are high, both for you and for the Government."

In public, British officials were declaring their solidarity with the Bush administration's calls for elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But Straw's memo and seven other secret documents disclosed in recent months by British journalist Michael Smith together reveal a much different picture. Behind the scenes, British officials believed the U.S. administration was already committed to a war that they feared was ill-conceived and illegal and could lead to disaster. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Go read.

Skippy reminder

Remember, Skippy's going for a million hits on or about the 10th. Run, don't walk, over there several times today.

Neocon Pride

(1.) We were able to get George Bush elected two times by voter fraud, intimidation, judicial tampering, and Jeb Bush, which just shows our moral superiority.

(2.) We have gutted the conservation laws established by liberals so that there's higher levels of mercury and jet fuel in our drinking water, but what the hey, we buy bottled water when others aren't looking and our wives don't nurse.

(3.) We don't support endangered wildlife because it interferes with our hunting and fishing in polluted streams. Besides who cares how many damn owls die. It's also patriotic to drill oil any where and time we want.

[. . .]

Go see the good folks at Adgita for the rest. An excellent read.

Irony

RJ Eskow finds it in today's news:

BTK killer confesses, Cheney defends Abu Ghraib . . .

The last condemnation

From Rudyard Kipling's Epitaphs of the War

"If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied."

Thank you . . . 20,000 times

In a couple minutes we'll get our 20,000th hit since November 17th (When I put up the counter). Thank all of you very much for helping us pass this milestone, especially our fellow bloggers who link to us and send people our way. I never expected to have this kind of readership when I began this blog a little under a year ago. The Alternate Brain was born on the 4th of July 2004, when I began to separate my political writings from my automotive blog (Originally titled 'The Fixer').

I started this blog with a graduate student from NYU, upon whom a fellowship at UC Santa Cruz fell. Time for the blog was not on his agenda anymore so I was doing both blogs by myself until September of 2004. I was heading off to London for 2 weeks and didn't know what kind of connectivity I'd have. I used to hang out at South Knox Bubba's place a lot and enjoyed talking with that crazy M/C mechanic with whom I had a lot in common. Even though he's an old Jarhead.

So I conned . . . er, suckered . . . er, asked him to guest blog here while I was gone. Gord was a babe (I use that term very figuratively) in the woods when it came to blogging but I knew, with his mechanical background, he'd pick it up easily. I wasn't disappointed and I'm grateful and thankful he stayed on after I came back (well, it was like feeding a stray cat, they never leave). He also joined me blogging over at what became 'The Fixer & Gordon'. Couldn't have done it without you, pal. I'd share a fire hole (or a doob) with ya any day.

While Gord and I worked well together, I figured we needed some adult supervision, so to speak. I went back to the source (SKB) and begged KR to come blog over here. She's a busy lady (but I'm stubborn) and I'm more than grateful whenever she can squeeze time in to make an apparance. Her timely posts always get the gray matter moving. Thank you, darlin'.

I wouldn't trade either of 'em for anybody. And next week another year of outrage at Chimpy Inc. and the Right Wing Jesus freaks will begin. We'll be here, at least until we win back what was lost or they drag us all off to Gitmo. Thanks again, 20,000 times. It's been a good year.

Tech note

There are comments there, though Haloscan has gone bonkers somehow you can still post. Oy! Looks like they're fixed.

The speech Bush oughta make. Fat chance.

Read the article down to it in Consortium News.

"First, you must know that I have long obsessed about getting rid of Saddam Hussein, taking care of some unfinished business from my dad's presidency. There's also a lot of oil there and my neoconservative advisers saw a good chance to project American power into the Middle East.

"So when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, I saw my chance. Vice President Dick Cheney and I began merging references to al-Qaeda and Iraq. That way, the casual listener would start associating Iraq with Sept. 11 subliminally, even if there was no real evidence to support that connection.

"All these acts that I've described to you tonight might well be considered war crimes, but I really don't care much about international law. Remember when I reacted to one question about international law by joking, 'International law? I better call my lawyer.' That's just the way I feel about treaties and other things that try to tie me down.

There's about as much chance of him levelling with the American people as there is of me being Court Jester when Fixer is King of the World, but it's a nice thought.

Ha! Only took me two tries to get out all the funny punctuation marks. I'm getting better at it!

Rumsfeld criticized administration for 'Credibility Gap'

From Think Progress:

A 1966 article in the Chicago Tribune quoted Rumsfeld as saying the following: "The administration should clarify its intent in Viet Nam," he said. "People lack confidence in the credibility of our government. Even our allies are beginning to suspect what we say," he charged. "It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy," he said. "With the secrecy, it's impossible. The American people will do what's right when they have the information they need." [Chicago Tribune, 4/13/66]

Need a little salt 'n ketchup to make eatin' yer words more palatable, asshole?

The party's over for betrayed Republican

The Republicans are eating their own. Some of 'em are wisely getting up from the table and declining the honor. A Guest Viewpoint in the Eugene (Oregon) Register Guard:

Fifty years from now, the Republican Party of this era will be judged by how we provided for the nation's future on three core issues: how we led the world on the environment, how we minded the business of running our country in such a way that we didn't go bankrupt, and whether we gracefully accepted our place on the world's stage as its only superpower. Sadly, we have built the foundation for dismal failure on all three counts. And we've done it in such a way that we shouldn't be surprised if neither the American people nor the world ever trusts us again.

We have mortgaged the country's fiscal future in a way that no Democratic Congress or administration ever did, and to justify the tax cuts that brought us here, we've simply changed the rules. I matured as a Republican believing that uncontrolled deficit spending is harmful and irresponsible; I still do. But the party has yet to explain to me why it's a good thing now, other than to say "... because we say so."

Our greatest failure, though, has been in our role as superpower. This world needs justice, democracy and compassion, and as the keystone of those things, it needs one thing above all else: truth.

Republican decisions made in 2002 and 2003 have killed almost 2,000 of the most capable patriots our country has to offer - volunteers, every one. Support for those decisions was gathered through what appeared at the time to be spin and marketing, but which now turns out to have been deliberate planning and falsehood. The Blair government's internal documentation only confirms what has been suspected for years: Americans are dying every day for Republican lies first crafted in 2002, expanded and embellished upon in 2003, and which continue to this day. This calculated deception is now burned into the legacy of the party, every bit as much as Reagan's triumph in the Cold War, or Nixon's disgrace over Watergate.

There's more. The piece is well done. Go read.

Just as an aside, one of the best days of my life was spent drift-boating the McKenzie River near Eugene with my ol' Marine buddy Larry who hailed from there. That was also the day I had the rear wheels of my truck, backed down a steep boat ramp, in the water and the engine wouldn't start. But that's another story.

Dance o' Joy!

WASHINGTON (AP) - A split Supreme Court struck down Ten Commandments displays in courthouses Monday, ruling that two exhibits in Kentucky cross the line between separation of church and state because they promote a religious message.

The 5-4 decision was the first of two seeking to mediate the bitter culture war over religion's place in public life. In it, the court declined to prohibit all displays in court buildings or on government property. Justices left legal wiggle room, saying that some displays - like their own courtroom frieze - would be permissible if they're portrayed neutrally in order to honor the nation's legal history.

[. . .]

Ha-ha! Bite me, you Jesus freak motherfuckers.

Thanks to Lambert for the link.

DSM Update

[. . .]

Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003 allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391 "carefully selected targets" before the war officially started.

The nine months of allied raids "laid the foundations" for the allied victory, Moseley said. They ensured that allied forces did not have to start the war with a protracted bombardment of Iraqi positions.

If those raids exceeded the need to maintain security in the no-fly zones of southern and northern Iraq, they would leave President George W Bush and Tony Blair vulnerable to allegations that they had acted illegally. [my emphases]

[. . .]

More damaging info from the Sunday Times.

Memes

David of 42 tagged me with this during the night.

1. What were three of the stupidest things you have done in your life?

a) Get addicted to cocaine.

b) Steal a car (Though it worked out for the better, all told)

c) Dropping out of high school because I knew more than everybody else.

2. At the current moment, who has the most influence in your life?

My beautiful wife and her little Princess, my publisher, my boss.

3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to only pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

Bill Shakespeare
John Adams
Isaac Asimov
Thomas Jefferson
Albert Einstein

4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?

I want to be King of the World
I wish my Schaivo-esque nephew would get better
I wish Jesus would return to set the record straight.

5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret your city not having, and two things people should avoid.

This is the New York Metro Area. I don't think there's anything we don't have within a 20 minute drive.

The Long Island Expressway (avoid)
Flying into and out of JFK (avoid)

6. Name one event that has changed your life.

"Studying" for the urinalysis test that got me out of SAC and active duty and into the Reserves.

7. Tag 5 people.

Pudentilla
Francesca
Eponymous
Yelladog
Maurinsky

Take it to Karl

I served in the Marines in the infantry from 1986 to 1991, and I saw combat in Panama and the Persian Gulf. And I'm a liberal. I'm a liberal precisely because of my service and because of my experience.

Karl Rove is too obtuse to understand the complexities of the issues of which he so cavalierly speaks. Yet he is all-too-willing to sacrifice the lives of American service men and women in the name of his simplistic merry-making with U.S. foreign policy and militaristic shenanigans.

I am most upset with Karl Rove's insipid declaration that anyone who didn't feel the need for blind revenge is somehow less than patriotic. I understood my service to my country to be based upon the belief that we would uphold the American ideal that we will always seek to set the standard for the rest of the world to follow--liberty, humanity, civility, forthrightness, and dignity. Mr. Rove's comments besmirch anyone who seeks to have those ideals upheld.

Like Richard Nixon, Mr. Rove is a disgrace to the United States, is a stain upon American history, and serves no useful purpose within the public discourse of rational persons.

Mr. Rove needs to resign immediately. An apology is not sufficient to assuage the insult he levied upon America, nor can his continued service within the administration be tolerated.

Lots more where that came from.

Warriors

I while back, I got tagged with the book meme by Pudentilla. One of the 'five books that mean a lot to me' was Sun Tzu's The Art of War because it made me a better warrior and a better man. The Talking Dog uses it to describe the differences between China and ourselves:

[. . .]

A while back I started to do a post on Sun Tzu's The Art of War, noting that the best wars are never actually fought: proper planning and superior positioning force the enemy to succumb without having to engage in the blood and treasure costs of actual battle. The Chinese doubtless understand this. I suspect we understand it as well. The Chinese, hence, will be willing to continue selling us cheap tchotchkes performed by its quasi-slave labor force which it finances to us at artificially low renmindi valuations while we run a huge budget deficit to finance a military machine to battle a future China whose intention is to defeat a bankrupted United States who is its economic vassal, without bothering to fire a shot, or even field a soldier...

[. . .]

To quote Frank Burns: Beware the Yellow Hoarde! But if past record is an indicator, we won't know it until it's too late.

Negotiations

Remember when I said this:

[. . .]

Am I the only one who sees the parallel between this and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How long has that mess been going on? How long will we be in Iraq? Will Iraq become known as the 'American Occupied Territories'?

Well it gets better. Billmon via the King:

[. . .]

And so we arrive at the heart of the problem: To salvage any ending short of total defeat in Iraq, the Cheney administration must act like those spineless, flip-flopping liberals. They have to negotiate with the terrorists, listening to their demands, trying to understand their grievances and goals -- shit, offering them therapy sessions for all I know. But at the same time, Bush also has to keep up the never-give-an-inch macho act, lest the silent majority finally grasp the dismal truth: Their sons and daughters must go on dying in the quagmire so the neocons can find a way out that doesn't involve losing too much face.

[. . .]

So, what are we gonna have? 30 years of cyclical negotiation-Intifadah-negotiation? That's even aside from the Chimpy hypocrisy 'we will not negotiate with terrists'.

Point men

In the 'War on Terra'. Go here to see how hard they're working to keep America safe.

Hey, keep an eye on that colored fella

[. . .]

The administration has finally cop[p]ed to torture of prisoners at not only Gitmo and Abu Gharib, but also Afghanistan. In addition, Italy has taken the extraordinary step of exposing and prosecuting covert CIA ops under the guise of conducting the War on Terror.

All an astounded TCF can say at this point is that I will be the unofficial blogger point man collecting apologies for my now unequivocally vindicated senior U.S. Senator, the honorable Richard J. Durbin. As well as, collecting names, email addresses and the URLs' of those whose compliance might necessitate holding their chestnuts to the fire.

Go there.

Grandma's right

Never apologize for telling the truth. An excellent essay by the Angry Old Broad. I was gonna steal a quote but I couldn't decide which one. Just go read it.