Annuit Cœptis

Has anybody but me noticed that in the new masthead art, the soldier's unit patch, worn on his right shoulder to signify combat with that unit, is part of The Great Seal of the United States, right straight off a dollar bill?

An explanation of its symbolism:

[...]

The pyramid signifies strength and duration.

The Eye over it and the motto Annuit Coeptis allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favor of the American cause.

The date 1776 underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words Novus Ordo Seclorum under it signify the beginning of the new American Era, which commences from that date.

All well and good intentions from the Founders, but I think the artist is having a little poke at the administration, using the shoulder patch to signify that this war and occupation are being fought (although unknowingly to the trooper, who is a man of honor) in the service of the almighty dollar.

The Rest Is Marketing

Sidney Blumenthal in the Guardian UK

President Bush tries to sell the latest US intelligence estimate as part of his grand victory narrative. The only things standing in the way are the facts.

Well, he's never let little details like truth, facts, or reality ever get in the way of his message.

One of the more memorable and revealing statements explaining the nature of the Bush administration build-up to the invasion of Iraq was offered in September 2002 by then White House chief of staff Andrew Card. "From a marketing point of view," he said, "you don't introduce new products in August." Five years later, a period longer than the Civil War and World War II, the administration is preparing to present its case for continuing the surge in Iraq. But rather than waiting for September, when General David Petraeus is scheduled to deliver his report, the administration has moved up the marketing to July.

According to intelligence sources, CIA director Michael Hayden has been under attack within the administration from Dick Cheney and the neoconservatives since testifying frankly to the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group that urged a strategic redeployment of US forces and new diplomatic efforts in the region, which were rejected by President Bush. A virtual paralysis is setting in within the intelligence community. Analysts are even anxious about putting their names on their reports. While they are homogenising information, the administration is still unhappy with the result, as it was with the new NIE.

For the embattled president, filled with "self-confidence", the "motives" he doesn't wish critics to examine turn out to be far more utopian than the military success of the surge, as he explained to his conservative interlocutors. "There is such a thing as the universality of freedom. I strongly believe that Muslims desire to be free just like Methodists desire to be free." Beneath the seething chaotic violence, beyond the tribal and religious strife, past the civil war, the Iraqis, according to the president, under their robes are no different from American Methodists. There's nothing more to understand. If only we can prevail, they can be just like us. The rest is marketing.

Marketing. If Bush was a used-car salesman he'd be dead by now, stuffed in the trunk of one of his lemons by irate customers, crushed and sent to China to be reincarnated as something useful, like a can opener.

Update:

I ain't the only one who thinks Bush is a lousy salesman. The last line of a good article:

Come September, he'll learn whether he made or lost that sale.

All he has to do is browbeat and scare his own Repug Congress into anteing up. I hope they're more scared by the thought of not being re-elected if they go along with his bullshit.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Halliburton Charged $110 Million for Food, Housing, Laundry at Bases Which Had Already Closed
Vice President promises thorough investigation.

Huge Ancient Underground Reservoir Discovered Beneath Darfur
But it's water, not oil, so U.S. not interested.

Bush Briefly Transfers Power to Cheney During Colonoscopy
Cheney launches invasion of Iran but suffers mild heart attack and is forced to transfer power to Nancy Pelosi who orders troops out of Iran and Iraq, closes Guantanamo, ends warrantless wiretapping and fires Alberto Gonzales, but Cheney recovers, voids her actions and is about to launch invasion again when Bush comes out of anesthesia and resumes control.

Resumes control? Bush? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sometimes there's unintended humor in irony, I think...

RAND Suggests "We Will Help You" as PR Campaign For U.S. Military Abroad
"We will help you" start your own civil war, "we will help you" give us your oil.

Diaper Ad That Uses Beatles' "All You Need is Love" Infuriates Fans
Most felt "When I'm 64" more appropriate.

Fuck off, you young scallywags. How d'ya think I can sit here all day doing this shit without a break, anyway? Depends...

So lemmie get this straight...

We've sent our military all over the world, wasted close to a trillion dollars 'keeping al-Qaeda on the run', yet the White House says an attack on U.S. soil is imminent?

What I don't get is what the White House is trying to accomplish with this fear-mongering. Do the Chimp and Cheney think the American people will let them stay in office if we are attacked again? Do they think the American people will believe al-Qaeda's ability to attack this nation, 6 years after the declared "War on Terror", is a result of anti-war goups and the Democrats "undermining the troops"?

If there is another al-Qaeda attack in this country, I'm more apt to believe the American people will storm the White House, drag Bush and Cheney out by their ankles, and string 'em up from the nearest tree.

If there is a terror attack in this country, it will be due to the complete and utter failure of the Bush administration. There is no way, after all these years, money, and lives wasted, that al-Qaeda should be able to mount an operation here. If they can it means the Chimp has done as much to protect us as he did for New Orleans.

Personally, I think it's another of their scare tactics, but I can't understand what they stand to gain. Sure, it's just another way to distract us from the congressional hearings into their wrongdoings, but the fact al-Qaeda is resurgent only reinforces the notion of White House incompetence.

This cannot be allowed to stand and we cannot allow ourselves to be cowed by threats, real or fabricated. It's what got us into this mess to begin with.

Clone Feingold

We need 59 more of him. From an email from his office:

On 'Meet the Press' this morning, I announced that I will introduce two censure resolutions aimed at holding President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials responsible for the destructive path down which they've taken our country. It's clear to me, and millions of Americans, that the time has come for accountability – on everything from the disastrous war in Iraq, to refusing, time and time again, to follow the rule of law. Members of Congress can no longer stand by and allow the White House to shred the Constitution, and thumb their noses at the American people.

...

Read more here.

While I don't agree with his stand on impeachment, he's doing more than most of 'em on the Hill.

Quote of the Day

Oliver Wllis via that 'Philadelphia guy':

A long time ago I used to believe that a lot of these people were just talking over my head, their discourse too lofty for a regular guy like myself. But that isn't true. They're just stupid.

I remembered this after watching the Sunday Stupids this morning. And I fail to see what people like about Bob Schieffer. After watching the interview with Harry Reid, I couldn't help but think he could work at Fox Noise.

***

Update:

I can't believe, now, after four years, after all the killing, maiming, and violence, all of the pundits are concerned about carnage if we leave Iraq. Iraq is lost, has been since a couple weeks after we took Baghdad. It will be carnage if we stay, as we've seen, and it'll be carnage if we go. Time to get the troops out of the middle of it. The Iraqis will get it together or kill themselves, but nothing we can do will make a difference anymore. All we're doing there is delaying the inevitable and making the situation worse.

I fear though, that the only way we will get out is when every American realizes this was nothing more than a war for oil and that every life lost, every organ, limb, and mind left behind has been wasted for nothing more than the greed of a few super-rich old white men.

Update II:

And any of these pundits who think Rudy Giuliani can beat Hillary Clinton* in a head-to-head race is blowing smoke out their ass. If they think the rest of the nation will ignore the many New Yorkers who will come forward about all Rudy's abuses and criminality in this city, they don't know squat. Hillary has done more for New York City relating to 9/11 than Rudy could dream of. Besides, there are enough pics and video of Rudy in drag to turn off even the most objective 'values voter'. If Rudy's the Rethug nominee, I predict a lot of Republicans will stay home next Election Day.

*Please do not take this as an endorsement of Hillary for President. I'm miles away from making up my mind.

Update III:

And speaking of pissed-off New Yorkers, Blondie has a look at Jimmy Breslin's call for impeachment.

This, sir, is your war . . .

. . . Take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush, go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligation.

Classic Keith Olbermann, well worth the 7 and a half minutes.



Hat tip to Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast

R.

The Logic of Impeachment

A 'must read' by Robert Parry:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment "off the table," in line with Official Washington's view that trying to oust George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be an unpleasant waste of time. But there is emerging a compelling logic that an unprecedented dual impeachment might be vital to the future of the United States.

If some historic challenge is not made to the extraordinary assertions of power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the United States might lose its status as a democratic Republic based on a Constitution that adheres to the twin principles that no one is above the law and everyone is endowed with inalienable rights.

Bush is daring Congress to either mount a constitutional battle or submit to his will.

If Congress submits to that punk's will, any more than they already have, the Nation is lost. Period.

Even if impeachment didn't reach the ultimate goal of removing Bush and Cheney, it would put down a marker of congressional resistance to executive abuses.

The public would get the point, too.

Same theory as vigorous application of a 2x4 to a mule's head: sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get his attention.

In my neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, lawn signs have sprung up reading simply "Impeach Him" or "Impeach Them Both." No one needs to say who the "him" and the "them" are.

From opinion polls, it's clear, too, that Americans across the country are furious with Bush and Cheney. Many recognize that Bush and Cheney represent an unparalleled threat to core American principles, such as the concept of inalienable rights.

These millions of Americans are searching for some courageous politicians willing to take the lead. Instead, the people get all-night Iraq War debates that go nowhere – and empty promises that, some day down the road, the Democrats will finally get serious.

What these citizens want is for the Democrats to stiffen their spines and finally declare, loudly and clearly, "Impeach the bastards."

Amen. Do not miss this one.

Mention the President, Lose a Case?

Law.com

Apparently President George W. Bush is now so unpopular that some lawyers believe the mere mention of his name in front of a jury could tip the scales against them.

Attorneys Michael P. Laffey and Robert P. DiDomenicis of Holsten & Associates in Media, Pa., are defending Upper Darby Township, Pa., in a civil rights suit brought by Harold Lischner, an 82-year-old doctor who claims he was falsely arrested for displaying an anti-war sign at a Bush campaign event in September 2003.

With the case set to go to trial on July 23, the defense lawyers recently filed a flurry of motions, including one that asked Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Gene E.K. Pratter to prohibit the plaintiff from mentioning Bush's name.

That bears repeating: They arrested an 82-year-old man for displaying an anti-war sign at a Bush campaign event.

Boy, there's some "law & order" for ya, huh? So much for exercise of First Amendment rights if the current occupant doesn't like it. At least Bush can't order "off with his head!"

Yet.

A final note: if you go read the article, drink some triple-caffeine Java and take a lunch. It was written by lawyers.

Laughing at us ...

I've been saying this for years. We are a nation of prudes.

Great thanks to Avedon Carol for the link.

Hillary's tits ...

Oh. My. God. Hillary showed some cleavage, the end of the world is upon us! She'd get my vote if she showed me her tits*.

...

I know its an exercise in futility to expect more from our media but, seriously, what's next? Barack Obama and his Peculiar Pigment? Yeesh.

...

Pic courtesy of WaPo. Click to embiggen.

*I know it's shallow, but I'm easy.

When whores collide ...

Another chapter of my novel The Fourth Estate is up at The Practical Press.

Bush to get it up the ass...

Us too. Bush is going in for a colonoscopy and The Dick will be president for a coupla hours. Fasten yer seat belts and watch yer six.

May I respectfully suggest that if they're gonna put any 'scopes up Bush where the Sun don't shine, they should go for the gusto and use the one from Arecibo. Guaranteed to put a smile on his face and ours too.

Update:

Mrs. G informs me that the space aliens who normally conduct probes of Bush actually had to return him so he could go get this one.

Hil on Pot - Well, Sorta

From Stop The Drug War:

Hillary Clinton continues to get the drug policy questions right:

During a visit to Manchester, New Hampshire on July 13, Len Epstein of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana told the senator and presidential candidate: "Twelve states allow medical marijuana, but the Bush administrations continues to raid patients."

Clinton replied: "Yes, I know. It's terrible."

"Would you stop the federal raids?" Epstein asked.

"Yes, I will," she responded firmly.

Good for her. The "War On Some Drugs" is an expensive loser, particularly in the case of voter-approved medical marijuana.

This oughta get her the votes of many sick and forgetful people if they can get out of bed and remember why they did that...

More Impeachment Stuff

Go read this.

Ho Hum. Another GOP/Christianist/Hooker Deal

Pensito Review

President of the Christian Action League, 74, Is Arrested after Paying Hooker with Checks

Seventy-four? You'd think the old fucker would be content to get his rocks off the way most older Southern preachers do - from watching all the young boys and girls in their white shifts during full immersion baptisms down at the river...one hand holding them under and the other, well, you get the idea...

I don't know who's more stupid - him for paying with a check, or her for taking one.

Rev. Coy Privette, the president of the Christian Action League, a North Carolina ultraconservative Christian political organization based in Raleigh, has been arrested for soliciting prostitution

I don't want to say anything mean about this gal, who's no doubt doing doing whatever it takes to get by, but go take a look at her.

The Christian Action League is funded by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and it is affiliated with the ultra-rightwing American Family Association.

For over three decades, Privette has been one of the best known and most outrageous spokesmen for "family values" and Christian extreme right politics in North Carolina. In the 1970s, he was serving as minister at the North Kannapolis Baptist Church when he joined the tide of evangelicals entering politics that included the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. He served in the N.C. Legislature from 1984 to 1992, and has been a member of the board of commissioners in Cabarrus County since 1998.

Ah, the usual suspects. It does my heart good to see yet another one of these 'family values' hypocrites get caught at it.

All the President’s Enablers

Paul Krugman, and also worth a click to see "Neocon Gold". No, Fixer, it ain't some kinda weed that weirds ya out...

In a coordinated public relations offensive, the White House is using reliably friendly pundits - amazingly, they still exist - to put out the word that President Bush is as upbeat and confident as ever. It might even be true.

What I don't understand is why we're supposed to consider Mr. Bush's continuing confidence a good thing.

Now Iraq is a bloody quagmire, Afghanistan is deteriorating and the Bush administration’s own National Intelligence Estimate admits, in effect, that thanks to Mr. Bush's poor leadership America is losing the struggle with Al Qaeda. Yet Mr. Bush remains confident.

It's not as much 'confidence' as it is denial and willful ignorance. Besides, since The Dick and God made him do it, it's impossible for everything, I say again every thing, he's done to be the biggest, costliest mistake in American history. It's not a mistake. He did it on purpose.

Yet while Mr. Bush no longer has many true believers, he still has plenty of enablers - people who understand the folly of his actions, but refuse to do anything to stop him.

That's kinda the mystery here - Bush is flat fuckin' wreckin' the joint and everybody stands on the sidelines wringin' their hands. Or actually applauding. That's not the way to stop him.

You can't stop the bastard with laws. He laughs at laws, holds them in contempt, has asserted that he is above them. And Congress still thinks they can use procedure and law to thwart him.

Bush and Cheney need to be physically restrained. Physically, as in forcibly remove them to a place of confinement where they can do no more harm, like on Law and Order. It's called "arrest". Then, and only then, can the law be used against them.

You know, at this point I think we need to stop blaming Mr. Bush for the mess we're in. He is what he always was, and everyone except a hard core of equally delusional loyalists knows it.

Yet Mr. Bush keeps doing damage because many people who understand how his folly is endangering the nation's security still refuse, out of political caution and careerism, to do anything about it.

I rarely disagree with Mr. Krugman, but of course we can blame Bush. No matter who advised him or how wrong-headed his approach or who helped him, he did it. There's plenty of blame to go around in this deal, of course. Congress and others have enabled these bastards to commit their crimes and destroy the Constitution, and even though it's happening openly and blatantly right in front of their eyes, they refuse to do what's necessary - in cowboy parlance "dab a loop on 'em".

Saddle up, boys. They got a head start, and yer gonna haveta ride hard, head 'em off and round 'em up. Do it near a tree for convenience' sake.

Hey, W! Bin Laden (Still) Determined to Strike in U.S.

MoDo

Squirming White House officials had to confront the fact yesterday that everything President Bush has been spouting the last six years about Al Qaeda being on the run, disrupted and weakened was just guff.

The administration's most thorough intelligence assessment since 9/11 is stark and dark. Two pages add up to one message: The Bushies blew it. Al Qaeda has exploded into a worldwide state of mind. Because of what’s going on with Iraq and Iran, Hezbollah may now "be more likely to consider" attacking us. Al Qaeda will try to "put operatives here" - (some news reports say a cell from Pakistan already is en route or has arrived) - and "acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material in attacks."

W. swaggers about with his cowboy boots and gunslinger stance. But when talking about Waziristan last February, he explained that it was hard to round up the Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders there because: "This is wild country; this is wilder than the Wild West."

Yes, they shoot with real bullets up there, and they fly into buildings with real planes.

If W. were a real cowboy, instead of somebody who just plays one on TV, he would have cleaned up Dodge by now.

The Chimp's idea of "cleanin' up Dodge" is to clear the brush and the Hell with what's goin' on in the back room of the Long Branch. Besides, those fellows who are runnin' the crooked gambling and sex trade are no doubt on his payroll.

Rigged Game

For what it's worth, here's a quote from BuzzFlash about the judge who threw out the Wilsons' lawsuit:

From the Archives: This Was Our Headline on a Story Last Year by a Partisan Decision by the Same Bushevik Judge Who Threw Out the Valerie Plame Civil Lawsuit Against the Busheviks on Thursday. "As Bush plays games with the law, Judge Bates says it's OK for him to sign two different versions of same bill. Guess what, the judge was appointed by Bush and "As a District Court Judge, Bates dismissed the GAO's effort to learn with whom Cheney's energy task force conferred." Also, he was appointed by Rehnquist to the FISA Court. Does anyone smell a partisan hack judge here? Oh, Judge Bates also served as one of Ken Starr's merry pranksters. "Judge Bates was on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation from 1995 to mid-1997." Get the picture of a Bush loyalist who values partisanship over the Constitution? 8/13/06 Judge Bates spent two years working for Kenneth Starr and the Independent Counsel's office during the investigation into President Bill Clinton, specifically Deputy Independent Counsel under Ken Starr from September 1995 until leaving in March 1997.

You can't beat a rigged game by playing by the rules. IMNSHO the way to deal with a rigged game is with a Louisville Slugger, a length of old No. 530 motorcycle chain, a fence rail and some tar and feathers. Which is a metaphor for about 100,000 citizens on the White House lawn with pitchforks and scythes. Which is also a metaphor for whatever works to GET THOSE SONSABITCHES OUT NOW! Fair play, courtesy, and rules be damned. They don't use 'em, and it's past time to get rough with the bastards.

Let 'em have it ...

That house in Paris is looking better and better.

When I read that a judge has thrown out Joe and Valerie's suit against the administration, when I see the Rethugs still exerting control over Congress regardless of the public's demand for a change, when I see the news media still carrying the Chimp's water, I'm of a mind to throw up my hands, pack up the Mrs. and the dog and move to a place we love, where progressive ideas aren't considered part of the lunatic fringe.

The America I know and love is long dead, 7 years dead, and I get this feeling it's beyond resuscitation. Every federal agency and the courts have been corrupted, our civil rights have been abrogated (and you know we won't get 'em back anytime soon), and corporate interests make government policy. So what the fuck? How do we win?

I don't know. I don't see a solution.

Even a Dem President with a Dem majority in Congress gives me little hope because they follow the money the same way the Rethugs do. That's if we even get to elect a Dem because, as Gord noted yesterday, I doubt the Chimp and Cheney will want to leave when their term is up.

It's just so frustrating, I'm tempted to call the people who own the house pictured above and make 'em an offer they can't refuse for it. I'm tempted to say, 'let the Rethugs have America, they have to live in the shithole they've created' and pack it in.

Tempted, but there's still some fight left in this old dog. We'll make that decision in '09. Besides, if they're allowed to continue, the stench of America will eventually wash up on the Left Bank too.