Friday, February 3, 2006
Learning from Iceland
I've had the pleasure of visiting Iceland three times*. It is one of the mose beautiful places on the planet and the people are...different (it's the only way I can explain it)...in a very good way. Michael Stickings looks at their State of the Union address. A must-read.
*I should add that I went there in July all three times and temps were in the upper 20s and low 30s. I would not want to be there in February.
High-tech instead of injury and death
LATimes
If it prevents endangering innocent bystanders, crashes, and shootings by adrenaline-and-doughnut-crazed trigger-happy buffoon cops, I'm all for it. Cops today seem to feel that letting a speeder get away from them endangers their Empire. They must 'win' at any cost.
The sporting days of outrunnin' the cops are pretty much over. I won a few and lost a few. I'm glad I got to enjoy them.
Question: "Chief, you said Los Angeles is the car chase capital of the world. What makes it that way?"
Answer: "There are a lot of nuts here."
With that street-cop psychology, Chief William J. Bratton unveiled Thursday a new and decidedly strange weapon in the LAPD's effort to halt high-speed pursuits.
It is an air-propelled miniature dart equipped with a global positioning device. Once fired from a patrol car, it sticks to a fleeing motorist's vehicle and emits a radio signal to police.
Bratton hailed the dart as "the big new idea" and said that if the pilot program was successful, Los Angeles' seemingly daily TV fix of police chases could be a thing of the past.
If it prevents endangering innocent bystanders, crashes, and shootings by adrenaline-and-doughnut-crazed trigger-happy buffoon cops, I'm all for it. Cops today seem to feel that letting a speeder get away from them endangers their Empire. They must 'win' at any cost.
The sporting days of outrunnin' the cops are pretty much over. I won a few and lost a few. I'm glad I got to enjoy them.
"Just like a Caribbean cruise...
...Without the water and the chicks or booze..."
Go see this one at Freeway Blogger. It's a don't miss.
Go see this one at Freeway Blogger. It's a don't miss.
Shit You Can't Make Up: Bush to Lay Off Renewable Energy Researchers
From Kos in toto:
Some people would wait a few days, you know, a decent interval, before pissin' backwards on something they said in a little thing like the SOTU speech. Not these brazen bastards. I must admit, I kinda enjoy shit like this!
We are asked to suffer the Secretary of Energy telling us within 24 hours that Bush lied in his speech about reducing Middle Eastern oil imports. We are asked to suffer oil-state Republicans who once gave away the oil under federal land but who are now tightwads when it comes to subsidizing other fuels.
And, now, we are asked to suffer this:
From today's NYT:
The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget.
A veteran researcher said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol. Those are two of the technologies that Mr. Bush cited on Tuesday night as holding the promise to replace part of the nation's oil imports.
Some people would wait a few days, you know, a decent interval, before pissin' backwards on something they said in a little thing like the SOTU speech. Not these brazen bastards. I must admit, I kinda enjoy shit like this!
The Mother of All Downing Street Memos?
David Corn at HuffPo on the memo I posted about last night:
Only if we push it, just like the DSM. It never would have seen the light of day in the media without a little assist and this one is the same kind of deal. It's just another arrow in the quivver of charges against these war criminals.
To be fair, I first heard about this on Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown'. Me and the other fifty people that watch it.
To my thinking, this is a rather big deal. The president of the United States caught conspiring to create a modern-day version of the sinking of the Maine? Talk about an impeachable offense. I'm presuming the memo is legit. It was first obtained by British human rights lawyer Philippe Sands for a new version of his book, Lawless World. Sands is a friend of friends of mine. He is a trustworthy fellow, and I know that last year he did succeed in prying sensitive documents out of the British government concerning the legality -- or illegality -- of the invasion of Iraq. His sources were obviously British officials upset with the war. So my informed hunch is that this document is real. If so, how will the White House respond? Will members of the press corps at 1600 Pennsylvania press the point? This revelation -- which is more shocking than anything in the Downing Street Memos -- should be major news here. But will it?
Only if we push it, just like the DSM. It never would have seen the light of day in the media without a little assist and this one is the same kind of deal. It's just another arrow in the quivver of charges against these war criminals.
To be fair, I first heard about this on Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown'. Me and the other fifty people that watch it.
Recruiting
Blondie has a story about a kid, arrested on drug charges, allowed to enlist in the Air National Guard. The last time I saw this was when I went in (I myself receiving a waiver thanks to a pending conviction for grand theft auto when I was 17), when the military couldn't get anybody to join after Vietnam. Hmmmm...
Another guilty Rethug bastid
Glen tells us all about it.
...A Pentagon contractor put in charge of at least $82 million in reconstruction money earmarked for the Iraqi city of Hilla will plead guilty to conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and other crimes, The New York Times reported on its Web site on Thursday...
More cartoons
Just this to our Muslim friends concerning the hubbub over the cartoon in a Danish paper: You're as fucked up as the Jesus freaks in this country. It's a fucking cartoon. Get over yourselves. It's known as free speech.
Update:
Maurinsky agrees, albeit more 'delicately'. Heh...
Update:
Maurinsky agrees, albeit more 'delicately'. Heh...
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Bush told Blair we're going to war, memo reveals
From the Guardian(UK)
Bush and Blair both got a lotta esplainin' to do.
This is really nothing new, but I'm glad there's more evidence.
About painting US planes in UN colors so Saddam would fire on them, it reminds me a lot of how Hitler started WWII: he killed some political prisoners, put them in Polish uniforms and planted them inside Germany and claimed Poland had invaded.
· PM backed invasion despite illegality warnings
· Plan to disguise US jets as UN planes
· Bush: postwar violence unlikely
A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.
The memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:
· Mr Bush told the Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".
· Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said to have referred Mr Blair to a "small possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".
· Mr Blair told the US president that a second UN resolution would be an "insurance policy", providing "international cover, including with the Arabs" if anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning oil wells, killing children, or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq.
· Mr Bush told the prime minister that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups". Mr Blair did not demur, according to the book.
The meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Blair, attended by six close aides, came at a time of growing concern about the failure of any hard intelligence to back up claims that Saddam was producing weapons of mass destruction in breach of UN disarmament obligations. It took place a few days before the then US secretary Colin Powell made claims - since discredited - in a dramatic presentation at the UN about Iraq's weapons programme.
Foreign Office lawyers consistently warned that an invasion would be regarded as unlawful. The book reveals that Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the FO's deputy chief legal adviser who resigned over the war, told the Butler inquiry, into the use of intelligence during the run-up to the war, of her belief that Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, shared the FO view.
Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat acting leader, said last night: "The fact that consideration was apparently given to using American military aircraft in UN colours in the hope of provoking Saddam Hussein is a graphic illustration of the rush to war. It would also appear to be the case that the diplomatic efforts in New York after the meeting of January 31 were simply going through the motions, with decision for military action already taken."
Sir Menzies continued: "The prime minister's offer of February 23 to Saddam Hussein was about as empty as it could get. He has a lot of explaining to do."
Bush and Blair both got a lotta esplainin' to do.
This is really nothing new, but I'm glad there's more evidence.
About painting US planes in UN colors so Saddam would fire on them, it reminds me a lot of how Hitler started WWII: he killed some political prisoners, put them in Polish uniforms and planted them inside Germany and claimed Poland had invaded.
Shamelessness
Fuck everybody but me:
About that $70bn you want so you can continue to play 'War Preznit'?
Update:
The cynicism of tax cuts. As Motherlode says:
...
The budget-busting Bush who has destroyed the surplus, exploded the deficit, and increased the size of the federal government by more than thirty percent since coming to office set a record for shamelessness by announcing that the vote "will continue to build on the spending restraint we have achieved." And the Times prints this straight-faced. Ha... [my em]
About that $70bn you want so you can continue to play 'War Preznit'?
Update:
The cynicism of tax cuts. As Motherlode says:
... POND SCUM -- NO, THE FUNGUS THAT FEEDS ON POND SCUM...
Sometimes cartoons make a point without being funny...
This Tom Toles cartoon drew an angry protest from all six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
WaPo replies in defense of the cartoon.
If the JCS would think back to their younger days when they still had some pride and integrity as soldiers, they might realize that the honorable thing to do would be to take their tanks and ships and planes and grunts 'n shit and forcibly depose this insane criminal administration and return this country to its rightful rule of law under the Constitution. We, the Nation's rightful owners, would be forever grateful to them for once again defeating fascism, and I don't think the rest of the world would mind much either.
WaPo replies in defense of the cartoon.
Talking to Kurtz, Toles cited recent remarks by Rumsfeld about "battle-hardened" troops and "what came soon to mind was the catastrophic level of injuries the Army and members of the armed services have sustained . . . I thought my portrayal of it was a fair depiction of the reality of the situation. I certainly never intended it to be in any way a personal attack on, or a derogatory comment on, the service or sacrifice of American soldiers."
Aravosis from AmericaBlog told E&P: "Now that the Joint Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like getting them their damn body armor."
If the JCS would think back to their younger days when they still had some pride and integrity as soldiers, they might realize that the honorable thing to do would be to take their tanks and ships and planes and grunts 'n shit and forcibly depose this insane criminal administration and return this country to its rightful rule of law under the Constitution. We, the Nation's rightful owners, would be forever grateful to them for once again defeating fascism, and I don't think the rest of the world would mind much either.
Well, that's wrecked
So much for ending that 'oil addiction'.
Not bad, 48 hours before he...say it with me...'flip-flops'.
...
First, the Preznit said we'd be reducing our addiction to foreign oil, and backed off that promise yesterday. Now we find he'd already cut the budget for the very alternative fuel initiatives he touted as potential substitutes -- before he ever gave the State of the Union.
...
Not bad, 48 hours before he...say it with me...'flip-flops'.
Didn't See It Coming, Again
Maureen Dowd at Topplebush:
You mean there are cultural differences in the Middle East? Who'da thunk it? State Department? CIA? Maybe Habib down at the 7-11 knew, but who asked him?
You mean they might not like what we're doingto for them? Why, the ungrateful bastards! Let's just take our football and go home.
Shit, there's 'cultural differences' between here where I sit and Reno, thirty miles away and I don't need any highly paid advisors to know it. They'd probably be wrong about it anyway.
The more the White House tries to force-feed democracy to tempestuous parts of the world, the more it discovers that you may be able to spin and scare voters in the U.S., but the Middle East is not so easy to manipulate. W. believes in self-determination only if he's doing the determining. Fundamentalists in America like to vote for Mr. Bush, but elsewhere they're violently opposing him.
Like many other presidential candidates I've interviewed, W. said he liked Winston Churchill. But if he really had read Churchill, he would at least have understood that the Middle East never turns out the way you expect. Churchill, who called Iraq "an ungrateful volcano," would not have been surprised by the new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll showing that close to half of Iraqis approve of attacks on American forces.
The State of the Union is a non-event. But Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, being blown up by a roadside bomb has forced the media to focus on what the Bushies try to hide -- all the injured and maimed coming home from Iraq.
A more honest TV moment was Christiane Amanpour labeling Iraq "a black hole." The "spiraling security disaster," she told Larry King, had robbed Iraqis of hope, "and by any indication whether you take the number of journalists killed or wounded, whether you take the number of American soldiers killed or wounded, whether you take the number of Iraqi soldiers killed and wounded, contractors, people working there, it just gets worse and worse."
But, hey, how could the Bushies have known that occupying a Middle East country -- and flipping the balance of power from one sect to another -- without enough troops to secure it could go wrong? Who on earth could predict the inevitable?
You mean there are cultural differences in the Middle East? Who'da thunk it? State Department? CIA? Maybe Habib down at the 7-11 knew, but who asked him?
You mean they might not like what we're doing
Shit, there's 'cultural differences' between here where I sit and Reno, thirty miles away and I don't need any highly paid advisors to know it. They'd probably be wrong about it anyway.
California Rep speaks out for all of us
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today issued the following statement regarding Cindy Sheehan's arrest in the gallery of the House of Representatives before the State of the Union address. Mrs. Sheehan was Rep. Lynn Woolsey's guest to the President's State of the Union address.
"Since when is free speech conditional on whether you agree with the President? Cindy Sheehan, who gave her own flesh and blood for this disastrous war, did not violate any rules of the House of Representatives. She merely wore a shirt that highlighted the human cost of the Iraq war and expressed a view different than that of the President. Free speech and the First Amendment exist to protect dissenting statements like Ms. Sheehan's last night.
"Stifling the truth will not blind Americans to the immorality of sending young Americans to die in an unnecessary war, against a nation that posed no threat to our security. The President's speech last night was yet another attempt to distort history, as he suggested -- once again -- that the 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq. Everyone knows this is not true. We must not be afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes. It's time to bring our troops home."
Please pardon me if my pride in one of my state's congresspersons is showing.
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