Questions

Vuze

The Issue

ISPs have been restricting the free flow of P2P Internet traffic through their networks for years. In some cases, ISPs have pushed past the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Their tactics now involve forging "hang-up" messages between computers communicating through their networks. Here at Vuze, where P2P technology is the foundation of our business, we decided to take a stand. We decided that enough is enough.

I don't know what 'P2P' technology is, but I've been getting 'hang-up' disconnection messages lately when I go to certain sites. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens. Sometimes it can be resolved with one click, and sometimes it recurs 'til I just give up and go away.

To me, this machine is just a fancy hammer - a tool to be used. I know not how it works. Some of you folks have technical expertise that I can only dream about. So I ask you, dear readers:

What's going on here? Is it just me? My machine? AT&T? Whaaaa...? Is this something I should concern myself with?

Your comments are welcome. Please enlighten this old fart.

Quote of the Day

Mr. Petulant on the Justice Antonin 'Fat Tony' Scalia 60 Minutes interview this weekend:

Sure, We'll Get Over It When Conservatives "get over" Roe v. Wade

Now we ask ...

Why does McCain want to be President so badly? Digby:

...

Yes. Even I hadn't actually thought of it in quite that way. This guy is old, he's rich, he's famous, he's had cancer and he's not particularly popular in his own party. His signature issue of Campaign Finance Reform was achieved (and he used it for toilet paper when it got in the way of his relentless quest for the presidency.) It's not like there was some grassroots groundswell that drafted him. Indeed, last summer he was pretty much out and he just ground it out until he got the nomination.

...

Is it because he wants vengeance on 'the gooks'?

Senator McCain?

What were you doing when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans?

This.

Petraeus Promotion Frees Cheney to Threaten Iran

Expanding a little on Fixer's post, from IPS:

The nomination of Gen. David Petraeus to be the new head of the Central Command not only ensures that he will be available to defend the George W. Bush administration's policies toward Iran and Iraq at least through the end of Bush's term and possibly even beyond.

It also gives Vice President Dick Cheney greater freedom of action to exploit the option of an air attack against Iran during the administration's final months.

The madman has the keys. Oh fucking swell. It's been in the works for a while:

But Petraeus had already effectively taken over many of the powers of the CENTCOM commander last year.

As the top commander in Iraq, Petraeus was in theory beneath Fallon in the chain of command. But in reality Petraeus ignored Fallon's views and took orders directly from the White House. Petraeus was in effect playing the role of CENTCOM commander in regard to the twin issues of Iraq and Iran.

It had become increasingly evident to Fallon that he was not really running things at CENTCOM, according to the source. Fallon's frustration about Petraeus' de facto power over Middle East policy was the main reason he was ready to step down.

Fallon's resignation announcement on Mar. 11 was followed less than a week later by a 10-day Cheney trip to the Middle East in which the vice president talked explicitly about the military option against Iran during visits to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. That suggested that Cheney felt freer to wield the military threat to Iran with Fallon neutralised.

A thousand-foot-long aircraft carrier loaded with nukes, conventional high explosives, a nuclear powerplant, hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel, and 6000 sailors can indeed be sunk by enemy action. If Iran picks the right spot, and it just might, a carrier will plug the Straits of Hormuz like a cork in a bottle.

Get ready for a hell of a lot of coffins full of sailors and $10 a gallon gas if Cheney and Petraeus manage to pull it off in their remaining nine months, and they're trying to.

So Sioux Me...

Click to embiggen

"The Paris Hilton of Politics"

BuzzFlash

Today in Youngstown, a city hit hard by unfair trade agreements, economic downturns, and the mortgage crisis, John McCain actually compared his campaign's early money struggles due to wasteful and extravagant spending to the economic challenges facing residents of Youngstown.

"John McCain is truly the Paris Hilton of politics," said Doug Kelly, Executive Director of the Ohio Democratic Party. "The husband of a beer heiress has displaced the daughter of a hotel magnate as the new grand champion of simultaneously ignoring and insulting working people."

Please God no McCain sex video...

I wish the 4th Amendment ...

Would get the same amount of support from the government the 2nd Amendment does:

"Federal agents at the border do not need any reason to search through travelers' laptops, cell phones or digital cameras for evidence of crimes, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, extending the government's power to look through belongings like suitcases at the border to electronics," is the lead paragraph of an article on the Wired Blog Network.

"The unanimous three-judge decision reverses a lower court finding that digital devices were "an extension of our own memory" and thus too personal to allow the government to search them without cause. Instead, the earlier ruling said, Customs agents would need some reasonable and articulable suspicion a crime had occurred in order to search a traveler's laptop," the article continues. [my em]

...

Not no more.

Off to the shop ...

[A big welcome to Sideshow readers.]

China, Berlin, the West Bank, the Florida Straits ...

What are 'Walls don't work', Alex:

...

Anyone with a mere moiety of their marbles might draw a parallel between our much-touted "border fence" and the Great Wall of China, primarily the fact that neither are/were any good at keeping out the immigrants, be they Huns, Mongols or Guatemalans. But facts have never deterred the Bush Regime, and they called for bids for a "virtual fence" - not an actual barrier, but a skein of electronic devices and cameras that could alert the Border Patrol to people crossing our borders.

The contract was let to Boeing, for $860 billion dollars, and they set up a pilot project ("Project 28" - original, huh?) along a 28-mile stretch of boundary. At a cost of $20 million. DHS Secretary Chertoff accepted the pilot project on February 22.

So guess what?

It doesn't work:

"The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said."

...

More of your money circling the bowl ...

CINCCENTCOM

For kissing wet monkey ass Bush's butt for so long and so well, Gen. Petraeus is getting a promotion, from CINCMNF-I to CINCCENTCOM. As our pal Creature says:

... I guess this means the Iraq war is over and the Iran war is set to begin ...

Probably.

***

Dear Congress,

If Bush provokes a war with Iran, will it then be time to drag him from the White House in shackles, along with Cheney, Condi, and the rest of the war criminals?

Just askin', since it seems there hasn't been anything they've done so far that rises to your lofty standards of criminality. Will it take the destruction or disablement of a carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf to jog you all back to reality?

Regards,

Fixer

P.S. - You can be replaced too, you know.

***

Pic from here, click to embiggen.

And if you think I'm losing my grip, or your geography skills have atrophied, just take a gander at this map. The Straits of Hormuz (only 21 miles wide) are the only way in or out of the Gulf. Were I an enemy commander, where would I set up to ambush a CSG? Now you get why I, and a whole buncha other vets, believe we would take greater losses than we are willing to bear, more than our 'leaders' even realize. The Persian Gulf will be our Waterloo.

And just an addition before I split: Just think about what our troops already in Iraq would face should the Iranians decide to seriously support the Shi'ia insurgency (Moqtada) or send regular troops across the border. We can't keep 'foreign fighters' from crossing Iraq's borders as it is. Just think about the consequences if the Iranians decide to cross in division strength.

Whatta da fuck?

Fuckina God comea down anna went zap, anna now I got a biga fuckina head anna biga fuckina teeth:

Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out, new research shows.

...

Whatta da fuck he listen to Ben Stein for? Heh ...

Great thanks to Shakes for the link. And apologies to my Italian friends but I had Chico Marx in my head when I read the article.

Just desserts ...

Not that I'm one for unprovoked violence but ...

Thomas Friedman Gets A Pie In The Face During Speech At Brown

Would it be all right ...

If he called black folks 'niggers' too?

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."

...

How is this man qualified to be President of the United States?

Thanks to Avedon for the link.

Understatement of the Day

Click to further emmoronisize

Due no doubt to lack of space, ol' Pablo left out a few sure-fire candidates, like Pee Wee Herman and the clowns at Wayne's World. I'm glad to see my Marine role model included, though...

Israel Sees Iran Threat Recede

IPS

In the clearest indication yet that Israel now believes Iran's nuclear aspirations will be curbed, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that efforts being undertaken by the international community will ensure that Tehran does not acquire nuclear capability.

Even Israel's warmongers are smarter than ours. It sounds like they're trying to avert another criminal war by Bush that won't help Israel one bit. Think it'll matter to Cheney and Bush? Hell no. They want to bomb Iran. Their minds are made up and facts have never bothered them one bit.

"The less we talk, the better," Olmert told the daily Ma'ariv. "We mustn't issue threats, like the things I heard recently."

He must be following our Democratic primary campaigns as well. Heh.

Senators Want VA Official Out For Suicide Cover Up

From CBS in L.A.

In the wake of a CBS News report that revealed the Department of Veterans Affairs deliberately withheld critical information about the true suicide risk among veterans, Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, today both called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's top official for mental health.

Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, says "Dr. Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans and it is time for him to go." She continues, "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."

"Covering up the truth", of course, is the hallmark policy of this administration, particularly in any war-related costs that do not go directly to the war profiteers.

No comment...(chortle!)

'Taser Shock Triggers Fire in Man's Pants'

War Hero? Maybe...

I was reading an interesting article about Bush's Paraguayan Fiasco in CounterPunch and ran across another interesting article about McCain.

War Hero? Meet the Real John McCain: North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator

What actually happened in his POW camp that twisted John McCain and made him the unstable bully he is today? Was it abuse, as he claims, or was it the fact that he collaborated extensively and has to cover up? In this EXCLUSIVE expose, Vietnam war historian Douglas Valentine gives us the answer. Read how the Vietnamese protected and promoted him and how in return Hanoi John danced to their tune. McCain was on Vietnamese radio so often he was tagged as "the PW Songbird". SUBSCRIBE NOW to read the true story of Glory Boy McCain, only in our newsletter.

They lost me at 'Subscribe Now!' but there's quite a few excerpts:

How McCain behaved when he was a prisoner is key. McCain is probably the most unstable man ever to have got this close to the White House. He’s one election away from it. Republican senator Thad Cochrane has openly said he trembles at the thought of an unstable McCain in the Oval Office with his finger on the nuclear trigger.

“This is the lesson of McCain’s experience as a POW: a true politician, a hollow man, his only allegiance is to power. The Vietnamese, like McCain’s campaign contributors today, protected and promoted him, and, in return, he danced to their tune. . .”

I have no certain knowledge of the veracity of the charges in the article and I don't give a shit what McCain did as a POW. Whatever he did, it made no difference to the outcome of a war that was predestined to fail.

The Code of Conduct, which basically says "name, rank, and serial number or kill me" is a pipe dream. It's been pretty much recognized that it goes out the window when the bamboo slivers and waterboard come out and that the prisoner is under constant pressure and duress and can do whatever he needs to do to survive. Hell, if I had been in his situation I'da gave up my grandma for a roast rat with a side'a cockroaches.

I do worry about his mental stability. He's in unquestioning support for our present criminal war and occupation in Iraq and wants to expand it to Iran. I do not want a hotheaded bully who failed big time long ago to have the opportunity to push a red button to avenge himself.

A Word From The Middle Class

Click to embiggen

Quote of the Day

From a good op-ed in the LATimes titled 'Meet John 'Dubya' McCain' with the subhead 'If you like George Bush's foreign policy, you'll love the GOP's current candidate', the last line:

McCain may know what he believes about the world, but the world bears little resemblance to his beliefs.

We got one of those delusional morons as president now. We don't need another.

Think about this ...

I have a 30 mile commute each way to work. Mass transit isn't an option; I have to drive. The price of gas has doubled in the past year but my pay hasn't gone up to cover it. At what point does it become counterproductive to work where I do? How many other commuters are in the same boat, where the price of gas, the price of insurance, the price of maintenance for the car (let alone the price of food and everything else going up) gets to the point where they'll have to start looking for work closer to home because they can't afford to work where they do now?

If you're not worried about what the Republicans have done to the economy, or what McCain will do to what's left of it, you sure as hell ain't paying attention.

So ...

How does McCain get 100% disability from the VA when guys coming home from Iraq with serious brain injuries and missing limbs don't? Just askin' ...

Zanzibar ...

The other day, Gord linked to a YouTube of Billy Joel's Allentown and it got me to thinking about Billy (another Long Island boy who grew up not far from me) and his music. I've known the man on and off for thirty years and shared quite a few drinks with him. We see each other a couple times a year now, when he can sneak off for a couple beers in the 'old man bar' across the street from the shop or when I run into him at the dentist's office (we go to the same guy). Gord would love his collection of old motorcycles, especially the Nortons.

I was home on leave from the Air Force when he was writing Goodnight Saigon and we spoke for a while on the experience. He wanted to learn all he could and he talked to every vet he knew. I think his research was complete:



But whenever I think about Billy, or whenver I run into him, one song always comes to mind. Zanzibar.



Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, pardner!

Truck off

Go see a Bill Maher video I couldn't snag at 23/6

New Rule: On Earth Day this Tuesday, responsible vehicle owners must show their support for the planet by giving every Hummer driver they see the finger.

Update:

I would like to add a personal observation on Earth Day.

There is an old Chinese proverb, which if there ain't, they're easy to make up, which says, "Wisdom begins by calling things by their right name". We better wise up.

Global warming, climate change, call it what you will, is absolutely no danger to our planet. The planet will only be in danger when the Sun goes out and incinerates Earth in its dying throes.

The danger is to life on the planet. That's us and everything else that depends on things like food, water, and, oh yeah, oxygen.

The planet will get along just fine without us as it did for billions of years before life emerged and will for until whenever after life on it is gone, thank you.

"The fix is in."

I don't share Fixer's views on the third Bush term of McCain as any kind of certainty, just as an awful possibility, but our old pal R.J.Eskow does. And guess who's helping the old geezer...

It's unclear whether ideology, friendship, or other motives underlie deceptions like Blitzer's. It probably varies by reporter. What's important is that only reporters who practice these deceptions get the job. Here's a glimpse into the reasons why, as deftly summarized by Dana Milbank:

"John McCain and Barack Obama both appeared before the nation's newspaper editors yesterday. The putative Republican presidential nominee was given a box of doughnuts and a standing ovation. The likely Democratic nominee was likened to a terrorist."

It doesn't matter whether a reporter distorts the facts in favor of McCain out of ideological preference, or just because they like the guy. What matters is that only those reporters will get to cover the campaign - because the publishers making those decisions want the Republican to win.

There is a clique of media execs, journalists, politicians, and co-opted "independent" experts. They sold America the war in Iraq, and now they're trying to sell it John McCain. And guess what? They'll probably succeed.

Those Democrats who think they're going to when (sic) in November should take fair warning: The fix is in. The Conspiracy of Shared Values has chosen McCain, and they don't usually lose. [...]

Fixer, I love ya brother, but I hope you and R.J. are dead wrong on this one.

Benny the Teener's Demands

23/6

...we here at 23/6 have uncovered Benedict's papal hospitality rider.

It didn't reproduce very readably so you have to go see. Worth it. Liquid alert.

The Playbook ...

How it should be done:

...

As Greenwald notes, the GOP and its propagandists in the press frequently “personify the sexual sleaze and amoral hedonism against which they endlessly sermonize.” Examples include Newt Gingrich, a serial adulterer who ditched his first wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery; Rush Limbaugh, with his drug addiction and “Viagra-fueled jaunts to the Dominican Republic”; David Vitter, the “Values Voter” champion who frequented Madame Deborah Palfrey’s high-class prostitution service; Mark Foley and his lewd emails to congressional pages; Larry “Wide Stance” Craig, Bill “Falafel King” O’Reilly, etc., etc. In each case, Greenwald shows that all of these men have a long record of statements supporting “family values” issues such as the Federal Marriage Amendment and the Defense of Marriage Act, and that none of them personally adhere to the lofty standards that they espouse for others.

In addition to Republicans’ proclivity for personal vice, Greenwald also documents their shameless chickenhawkery and how their alleged love for small government disappears the minute they gain political power. They are, in short, completely full of shit about everything they claim to stand for and deserve to be hammered for it repeatedly. Greenwald’s tone throughout the book is not gentle, which is one of the reasons why fed-up lefties such as myself enjoy reading him so much. His polemical prose has all the tact and subtlety of a chainsaw, and given the subject he’s discussing, this is entirely appropriate. After all, it’s difficult to point out that vast swathes of our political elites are full of shit by being polite and restrained. [my em]

...

Will a Dem ever grow a scrotum, that actually has balls in it, to say what needs to be said? Sadly, no.

We've been screaming for 4 years (here anyway) about how 'full of shit' the Republicans are and it hasn't really done any good. Yes, I know turnout has been high in the primaries and more people seem interested in the process, but the thing troubling me most is that McCain is still so close in the polls against either Dem candidate. By rights, he should have the same approval ratings as the Chimp.

I think the media's fawning over McCain will ultimately prove to be the undoing of the Dems, regardless of who gets the nom. There will be no equal treatment, the Dem dissected and inspected and McCain given a wink and a nod. Thanks to the media's treatment of him, a good portion of the nation still sees him as the maverick, straight-shooter, war hero, though he is neither. When Obama's relationship with Rev. Wright underwent the equivalent of a cavity search and McCain's endorsement by Rev. Hagee was hailed as a diplomatic coup, you know it's gonna be a long summer.

Off to work ...

Quote of the Day

Athenae on CNN's hiring of former WH spokesliar Tony Snow:

... I'm so glad we have Fox as the conservative answer to CNN's liberal agenda ..

.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

New Book: Gitmo Torture Techniques Inspired by TV Series “24”
Overall war strategy inspired by movie Duck Soup.

Cindy McCain's “Family Recipes” Lifted From The Food Network
Husband's foreign, domestic policies lifted from Fox.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian to Run for Congress
Rest in Peace Now candidate says, “You shouldn't have to murder someone just to get a lethal injection.”

Anthropologists Synthesize Neanderthal's Voice
Similar to human's, but can't pronounce "nuclear."

Study: Boomers to Flood Medical System
Advised to smoke, drink, eat a lot, cease all but sudden bursts of strenuous exercise.

Heh.

Study: Sad Shoppers Spend More
First good news for retailers in months.

Have a day.

McCain: "Telling the truth is a cheap shot!"

The Hill

During a somewhat testy interview with George Stephanopoulos, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that Elizabeth Edwards took a “cheap shot” at him by claiming that the presidential candidate had government healthcare his whole life.

Well, let's see - son and grandson of admirals - military dependent health care. Naval aviator - government health care (you guys who remember goin' to sickbay, quit laughin'!). Congressman and Senator since 1982 - the best medical plan money (ours) can buy.

If you figure he had government 'health care' from the North Vietnamese for a few years, and maybe spent the years after his release in the VA system, I'd say that's his whole life.

A term usually used for long-time repeatedly incarcerated folks pretty much applies to McCain as well: he's 'state-raised'.

Just go the doctor whenever you feel like it and don't worry about paying a bill or insurance premiums. That's McCain's experience with health care. He's possibly a little out of touch with the normal American experience in this regard as well as all the others.

Randi wrap-up

LTR

First, a follow-up in regard to the whole Randi Rhodes saga. With Rhodes finally finding a happy home courtesy of Nova M Radio, she opened up about what led to the falling-out with Air America Radio. And, contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the 'whoregate' thing that led to her departure. A very candid Rhodes opened up on the air about what transpired over the past few weeks.

Enjoy. We love ya, Mom!

"Bitter"?

Billy Joel got it right. (Embedding disabled, dammit!)

Lyrics here.

Bush's Trojan Taco

Why would anybody want a yummy taco encased in a rubber? Oh, I get it: to protect us from the Chinese NAFTA filling. But I digress...

Greg Palast

Psst! George Bush has a secret.

While you Democrats are pounding each other to a pulp in Pennsylvania, the President has snuck back down to New Orleans for a meeting of the NAFTA Three: the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Mexico.

You’re not supposed to know that – for two reasons:

First, the summit planned for the N.O. two years back was meant to showcase the rebuilt Big Easy, a monument to can-do Bush-o-nomics. Well, it is a monument to Bush’s leadership: The city still looks like Dresden 1946, with over half the original residents living in toxic trailers or wandering lost and broke in America.

The second reason Bush has kept this major summit a virtual secret is its real agenda. More important, the agenda-makers, the guys who called the meeting, must remain as far out of camera range as possible: The North American Competitiveness Council.

Never heard of The Council? Well, maybe you’ve heard of the counselors: the chief executives of Wal-Mart, Chevron Oil, Lockheed-Martin and 27 other multinational masters of the corporate universe.

Harmonization has nothing to do with singing in fifths like Simon and Garfunkel. Harmonization means making rules and regulations the same in all three countries. Or, more specifically, watering down rules – on health, safety, labor rights, oil drilling, polluting and so on - in other words, any regulations that get between The Council members and their profits.

Take for example, pesticides. Wal-Mart and agri-business don’t want to reduce the legal amount of poison allowed in what you eat. Solution: “harmonize” US and Canadian pesticide standards to Mexico’s.
Can they do that? Can Bush just say, “Eat your peas – even if they’re radioactive?” Under NAFTA, at least the way George Bush reads it (or has it read to him), he can. At any rate, he does.

The three chiefs of state will meet privately with the thirty corporate chiefs where they are also expected to legally erase more of our borders, to expand the “NAFTA highway.” Technically, the NAFTA highway is a set of legal rules governing transcontinental shipment. Some fear NAFTA highway expansion will allow a new flood of cheap Mexican products into the US and Canada. Not so. Their hunger to expand the NAFTA highway is to bring in even cheaper Chinese goods.

Say what?

As trade expert Maud Barlow explained to me, the new “NAFTA highway” will allow Chinese stuff dumped into Mexico to be hauled northward as duty-free “Mexican” products. That’s one of the quiet agendas of this “Summit for Security and Prosperity,” the official Orwellian name for this meet. Think of the SSP “harmonization” as the Trojan Taco of trade.

There will be other anti-SSP protesters in New Orleans as well, from America’s populist Right. They are concerned that the Security and Prosperity Summit is worse than the “NAFTA on steroids” that Barlow fears. The populists see in the SPP a nascent “North American Union,” and the elimination of the good old US of A.

They’re wrong, of course. The U.S. of A. has been long eliminated, at least economically. The Competitiveness Council is a multinational crew, with one shared set of country clubs, beach homes, art collections, union busters and lobbyists knowing no borders.

The populist radio hosts railing against the coming North American Union don’t realize that these CEOs won’t take away their flags or Fourth of July or Star-Spangled Banner. The rags and flags will always be kept around to con the schmucks along the Yahoo Belt into donating their children to the Iraq Occupation or other misadventures. A billionaire like Carlos Slim, the richest man on the planet (sorry, Mr. Gates), didn’t buy the Mexican government to “protect” his nation from Gringos but to protect his media monopoly.

So there is no United States of America nor Canada nor Mexico - at least as we like to imagine ourselves in our national fairy tales: self-governing democracies run by we the people or nosotros el pueblo. There’s just the diktats of the North American Prosperity Council. Get used to it.

Barlow said that the US Ambassador to Canada told her the legal changes wrought in New Orleans will not be put before the three national Congresses for a vote. “We don’t want to open up another NAFTA.” So, they’ll skip the voting stuff. Democracy is so, like, 20th Century. (my em)

Is Bush just a reluctant participant in this “harmonizing” of our economic fate? The meetings are secret, so I can’t say for sure. But I note that, at the opening ceremony, if you read his lips, you can see our president singing the national anthem as, “José, can you see?”

Bush has done a pretty good job of leveling our economy and Mexico's. For God's sake don't anyone tell him about the economy in the Horn of Africa! That'll look to his masters like an even better role model for us.

Paraguay turns left

LATimes

The ruling party concedes power after six decades. Left-leaning Fernando Lugo ran on a platform of "change."

Lugo's victory was historic in Paraguay, where the Colorado Party has held power even longer than the communist regimes of China, North Korea and Cuba. Spurring his triumph was widespread discontent with the ruling party's long record of corruption, cronyism and economic stagnation.

The election of Lugo was the latest triumph by a left-leaning leader in Latin America, where a so-called pink tide of democratically elected presidents has altered the region's political map in recent years.

The days of relying on ruling-party contacts for jobs and other needs will end, Lugo declared. Supporters said his time as a priest and bishop cemented his honest image in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation.

Despite his rhetoric, he has refused to be labeled a leftist, saying he is a centrist responding to the needs of the downtrodden and the teachings of Liberation Theology, a Catholic doctrine favoring the poor and subjugated.

The Vatican has assailed Liberation Theology for Marxist tendencies.

The Colorado Party's time in power includes the 35-year dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, the anti-communist strongman who was ousted in 1989. But the party survived Stroessner and went on to dominate almost two decades of shaky democracy - until Sunday's stunning defeat.

Congrats to the Paraguayans on gettin' the right wingers out of office. We hope to do the same here for almost exactly the same reasons. We've had enough 'shaky democracy' our own damn selves.

Note to the Bushes: Ha! Thought you were gonna hide yer Devil Spawn there after 1.20.09, didja? A nice landlocked right-wing dictatorship with no extradition treaty with the U.S. where he could live out his miserable life in comfort instead of in Leavenworth. Well, all of S.A. is goin' "red", seems like, but it means something a little different down there. Enjoy.

Note to Paraguay: Work on that extradition thing. We'll want him back. We can get him like Israel got Eichmann, of course, but that's messy and iffy. We're not as good at that sort of thing as Israel is.

Unraveling Iraq: Twelve Answers to Questions No One Is Bothering to Ask About Iraq

TomDispatch

Can there be any question that, since the invasion of 2003, Iraq has been unraveling? And here's the curious thing: Despite a lack of decent information and analysis on crucial aspects of the Iraqi catastrophe, despite the way much of the Iraq story fell off newspaper front pages and out of the TV news in the last year, despite so many reports on the "success" of the President's surge strategy, Americans sense this perfectly well.
...

Imagine what might happen if the American public knew more about the actual state of affairs in Iraq - and of thinking in Washington. So, here, in an attempt to unravel the situation in ever-unraveling Iraq are twelve answers to questions which should be asked far more often in this country:

As the colons indicate, there's an explanation of each one.

1. Yes, the war has morphed into the U.S. military's worst Iraq nightmare:

2. No, there was never an exit strategy from Iraq because the Bush administration never intended to leave - and still doesn't:

3. Yes, the United States is still occupying Iraq (just not particularly effectively):

4. Yes, the war was about oil:

5. No, our new embassy in Baghdad is not an "embassy":

6. No, the Iraqi government is not a government:

7. No, the surge is not over:

8. No, the Iraqi army will never "stand up":

9. No, the U.S. military does not stand between Iraq and fragmentation:

10. No, the U.S. military does not stand between Iraq and civil war:

11. No, al-Qaeda will not control Iraq if we leave (and neither will Iran):

12. Yes, some Americans were right about Iraq from the beginning (and not the pundits either):

Noticeably missing were representatives of the group of Americans who happened to have been right from the get-go. In our country, of course, it often doesn't pay to be right. (It's seen as a sign of weakness or plain dumb luck.) I'm speaking, in this case, of the millions of people who poured into the streets to demonstrate against the coming invasion with an efflorescence of placards that said things too simpleminded (as endless pundits assured American news readers at the time) to take seriously - like "No Blood for Oil," "Don't Trade Lives for Oil," or ""How did USA's oil get under Iraq's sand?" At the time, it seemed clear to most reporters, commentators, and op-ed writers that these sign-carriers represented a crew of well-meaning know-nothings and the fact that their collective fears proved all too prescient still can't save them from that conclusion. So, in their very rightness, they were largely forgotten.

Now, as has been true for some time, a majority of Americans, another obvious bunch of know-nothings, are deluded enough to favor bringing all U.S. troops out of Iraq at a reasonable pace and relatively soon. (More than 60% of them also believe "that the conflict is not integral to the success of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.") If, on the other hand, a poll were taken of pundits and the inside-the-Beltway intelligentsia (not to speak of the officials of the Bush administration), the number of them who would want a total withdrawal from Iraq (or even see that as a reasonable goal) would undoubtedly descend near the vanishing point. When it comes to American imperial interests, most of them know better, just as so many of them did before the war began. Even advisors to candidates who theoretically want out of Iraq are hinting that a full-scale withdrawal is hardly the proper way to go.

So let me ask you a question (and you answer it): Given all of the above, given the record thus far, who is likely to be right?

"Right" is whatever gets votes this year. Damn, why couldn't there be a different word for 'wrong' than 'right', as in 'right wing'?

Quote of the Day

BooMan:

I'm kind of surprised at how many people are willing to go on the record as saying that John McCain is temperamentally unfit to be president of the United States. I don't really think of McCain as this unhinged, vindictive kind of a guy. I guess I've been somewhat brainwashed by the media's love affair with McCain, just like the rest of the nation. Dude is crazy. [my em]

Too bad many Americans think McCain is a 'stand-up guy'. Like I've been saying since McCain got the Rethug nom, don't feel too confident you'll have a Democratic president next year.

"Bomb, bomb, bomb ...

Bomb, bomb Iran." Since John McCain is so eager to feed the bloodthirsty Republican 'base' some red meat in the form of an escalation against Iran, Cdr. Huber takes a look at what might probably happen if we did begin a bombing campaign over there:

...

The Navy’s tasks in an operation against Iran would include projecting air power ashore (from the carriers and cruise missile shooters), keeping the Strait open, and deterring or stopping another tanker war like the one that broke out in the 80s during the conflict between Iran and Iraq. To do all those things, the Navy pretty much has to go into the Gulf, and it has to go through the Strait to get there.

In the bathtub, defense in depth becomes nearly impossible to conduct. The state of the art anti-ship weapons Iran recently bought from the Russians—the SSN-22 Sunburn missile and the rocket torpedo—are bad news. One school of thought says the only way to defend against them is to stay tied to the pier stateside, but it’s not just the latest generation of ship-killers we need to worry about. Any time you find yourself in a point defense situation against a homing weapon designed any time after 1970 or so your whole day just became irretrievable.

I rather doubt that anything short of extra terrestrial intervention could actually sink a 100,000-ton Nimitz class carrier, but a rocket torpedo up its stern could send it out the Strait under tow. That would be an unmitigated nightmare. Even if not a single member of the ship’s crew were killed or injured, for a minor power like Iran to have knocked one of America’s preeminent instruments of military might out of action would be a strategic catastrophe for the U.S.

...

We've already gamed this scenario, in 2002, and the U.S. was handed it's ass.

...

In the days since the encounter with five Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, American officers have acknowledged that they have been studying anew the lessons from a startling simulation conducted in August 2002. In that war game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships — an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels — when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.

...

We cannot 'win' in Iran, just as we can't win in Iraq. We don't have the money, the troops, or the national will. If the Chimp doesn't destroy this nation before he leaves, McCain will once he's elected.

Cross-posted at API.

"Bring it on."

Haven't we learned? Seems Condi is as clueless* as her boyfr ... boss:

BAGHDAD — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocked anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward on Sunday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers.

...

The only reason we've been able to show some sort of 'success' (questionable at best) is because the Mahdi Army has generally remained at home. Baiting Moqtada into all-out hostilities can only have dire consequences.

Update:

Quoting Skippy:

you tell 'em, condi! nothing's worse than a leader who talks tough but refuses to join the fighting himself!

Update:

Analysis from Moon of Alabama:

...

Sadr's last campaigns were not impressive in a military sense. But by now he might have gotten some serious advice on how to achieve something. A good advice might have been to look at logistics.

...

If you can't feed, fuel, and resupply an army, it ain't much of an army anymore.

*Great thanks to Pale Rider for the link.

Sunday Crazy Crossdressing Redneck Music Blogging

Yesterday on our shopping trip I picked up Dolly Parton's Backwoods Barbie. I like it, so I went lookin' for the title track to share with you. Just as an aside, one track may be the first time I ever heard Dolly cover Fine Young Cannibals!

Sometimes when I'm lookin' fer crazy redneck music I get a hell of a lot more than I bargained for!

See the best drag/cabaret performances in town at the Monkey Business Bar in Wilton Manors, Florida. Never a cover charge!

Next time I'm in town...

Lady Fancy

Never. Ever. Forget.

Sometimes when I'm lookin' fer crazy redneck music I find something entirely different.

Very touching video of Katrina disaster put to the music of Mary Gauthier's "Mercy Now"

Fun stuff ...

Via Danger Room, neighbors beware. Heh ...

What's wrong with this picture?

Click to embiggen

Fuck it. Bush should make sure they display the flags of Nazi Germany and The Japanese Empire for state greetings as well. They lost too. Difference being, those flags are not a national embarrassment to the majority of Americans..

Out of touch?

McCain ain't 'out of touch'. He's delusional. Oliver Willis:

This guy just doesn’t get it. In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, John McCain told him that America’s economic problems are “psychological” and just a little of his patent-pending straight talk would do wonders for the Republican Recession.

...

Flag Criminals ...

Maybe we should yank their pensions and benefits?

...

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. [my em]

...

I would certainly feel comfortable calling these retired flag officers traitors.

Update:

Greenwald is on this too:

...

At the same time, though, in light of questions on this very topic raised even by the NYT back in 2003, it is difficult to take the article's underlying points seriously as though they are some kind of new revelation. And ultimately, to the extent there are new revelations here, they are a far greater indictment of our leading news organizations than the government officials on whom it focuses. [em in orig]

...

Cross-posted at API.

In honor of Benny the Teener's* visit

Headin' out for a Shopping Saturday, over the hills and through the woods to Carson City. Enjoy.



* 'Teener' is slang for a sixteenth of an ounce of white snortin' dope. Just sayin'...

Wal-Mart cross-dressers in Hell

Mark Morford has a bad dream. So will you. Let's hope it's a dream...

Bleach alert.

Missing the point ...

Generally, I understand where folks who I consider heroes were coming from when they said or did the things that made me look up to them. Newtie surely doesn't.

Could you imagine?

Stephanopoulos and Gibson moderating Lincoln v. Douglas:

...

LINCOLN: Thank you very much, Charlie and George, and thanks to all in the audience and who are out there. I appear before you today for the purpose of discussing the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind.

We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think Mr. Douglas loves America as much you do?

...

We'd still be fighting* the Civil War.

*I know, completely wrong historical reference but you get my point.

"And a very big ...

FUCK YOU, to John McCain and his Republican bullshit ..."

Great thanks to our pal UL for the pic.

Saturday whorage

As usual, the next chapter of Thirty Days at Zeta is up at The Practical Press.

If you're new around here, since I'm whoring, you can still read my earlier postings The Captains and The Fourth Estate too.

Whore your own in comments.

It's bad, you know ...

A commentary on our nation and a tune from one of my favorite bluesmen. Three stoned babes jammin' to the master too.

R. L. Burnside - It's Bad, You Know

Quote of the Day - Zwei

Avedon, speaking to Mr. Aravosis:

... But John, honey, about the age thing: My father would still make a better president than McShame, and he's dead ...

Corpses have been elected before, my dear. I'll vote for yer dad before McCain.

It's official: Iraq war 'a major debacle' with outcome 'in doubt'

McClatchy, God bless 'em.

The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.

The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.

The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.

It was published by the university's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center.

"Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle," says the report's opening line.

"For many analysts (including this one), Iraq remains a 'must win,' but for many others, despite obvious progress under General David Petraeus and the surge, it now looks like a 'can't win.'"

The report lays much of the blame for what went wrong in Iraq after the initial U.S. victory at the feet of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. It says that in November 2001, before the war in Afghanistan was over, President Bush asked Rumsfeld "to begin planning in secret for potential military operations against Iraq."

Compounding the problem was a series of faulty assumptions made by Bush's top aides, among them an expectation fed by Iraqi exiles that Iraqis would be grateful to America for liberating them from Saddam's dictatorship. The administration also expected that "Iraq without Saddam could manage and fund its own reconstruction."

The report also singles out the Bush administration's national security apparatus and implicitly President Bush and both of his national security advisers, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, saying that "senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect."

I hope Bush hangs last. I want him to stand there while all the other architects of the Iraq blunder/war crime drop to their deaths. I want each one to tell him how right they all were on their way to Hell.

Congressman introduces bill to decriminalize personal marijuana use

Raw Story

Congressman Barney Frank today introduced bi-partisan legislation aimed at removing federal restrictions on the individual use of marijuana. One bill would remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana, and the other – versions of which Frank has filed in several preceding sessions of Congress – would allow the medical use of marijuana in states that have chosen to make its use for medical purposes legal with a doctor’s recommendation. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) joined Frank as a cosponsor of the federal penalties bill. The cosponsors of the medical marijuana bill are Rep. Paul, along with Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Sam Farr (D-CA).

Rohrabacher? Normally an embarrassment to my state, he done OK this time.

To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree. But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe it is important with regard to tobacco, marijuana and alcohol, among other things, that we strictly regulate the age at which people may use these substances. And, enforcement of age restrictions should be firm. But, criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.”

Amen, brother.

Dear George 'n Charlie: Ya done screwed the pooch big time

Will Bunch blisters some ass. A 'recommended read'.

Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos,

Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter. This. Must . Stop. Tonight, if possible. I thought that we had hit rock bottom in March 2003, when we failed to ask the tough questions in the run-up to the Iraq war. But this feels even lower. We need to pick ourselves up, right now, and start doing our job - to take a deep breath and remind ourselves of what voters really need to know, and how we get there, that's it's not all horserace and "gotcha." Although, to be blunt, I would also urge the major candidates in 2012 to agree only to debates that are organized by the League of Women Voters, with citizen moderators and questioners. Because we have proven without a doubt in 2008 that working journalists don't deserve to be the debate "deciders."

George and Charlie should have to eat dinner off the mantelpiece for about a week, as my Dad used used to say before one of my frequent trips to the woodshed.

Bonus twofer: a piece on the same subject by Katrina vanden Heuvel on the same page.

Update: See also Greg Mitchell's take.

Quote of the Day

Mr. Aravosis:

ABC Newz, becuz politikz iz hard

Off to the shop. Thank. Fucking. God. It's. FRIDAY.

Good. God.

John McCain is an idiot.

Problem is, a good portion of Americans think he's the greatest thing since Wonder took a knife to bread. Obviously the economy is rolling along just fine thanks to the Chimp's policies and the best thing we can do is continue them for another four years ... at the least.

To quote the lovely Liss:

FAIL.

And not just a little fail, either. Massive fail constructed from grade-A failery, with lots of little faily bits all over it.

Quote of the Day

The General Accountability Office:

...

The United States Lacks a Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

...

Now that our American chickenshits have given up our civil rights so the Chimp 'can keep us safer', I hope they can sleep well.

Hip-hop? Technometal? No, no, no - Bhangra!

I am so fucking sick of campaign 'news', both sides, particularly after last night's so-called 'debate'. I mean, that was only the second one out of the twenty or so that was actually on a free over-the-air network where people could see it, and it might as well have been a Britney-Lindsay hair-pull and tit-yank. It was a huge success - ABC's ratings went up. Me 'n Mrs. G took advantage of the time to do something that mattered. We went out and bought dog food.

Anyway, I was reading the papers this morning (us old farts do that, you know!), trying desperately to find something without the words 'Clinton' or 'Obama' or 'straight talker'. I lucked out, and so did you, dear reader!

I came across one answer to Fixer's burning question, "Why do they hate San Francisco?". Leaving aside for another time whether it is a wise decision to air-drop moth hormones on a somewhat sexually and socially dis-oriented burg like that (picture legions of homeless people flitting around your porch light, just for example), I found something that'll scare skid marks into shorts all across the midwest and south when it gets to them: Bhangra!

From the EssEffChron:

In the 30 years since the ascent of reggae out of Jamaica, other musical genres - Cuban son, Brazilian samba, North American hip-hop - have staked claims to international turf. The newest big player on the global block is bhangra, the ecstatic polyrhythmic music and dance of the Punjab region of northern India.

And the newest capital of bhangra is San Francisco, which - thanks to a monthly happening called Non Stop Bhangra, organized by a passionate collective of the same name - is challenging even London as the music's liveliest center.

Vancouver and New York City harbor thriving bhangra scenes, but "no one is doing it quite like us," Love says.

"No one is doing it quite like us" could be Frisco's motto!

While bhangra is seeping into pop music in tracks by Jay-Z and M.I.A., it's grassroots innovation that is fueling its explosion in San Francisco.

"The U.K. is really taking note of us," Love says, "to a point where they think that next big wave in bhangra and South Asian music is going to happen here."

Look out, Kansas. Indian music ain't just for convenience stores and motels any more, and this is just one variety. Your kids will pick up on this California trend like they've been doing for generations (remember car-top surfboards in Shawnee Mission?). They'll be dressing like this and groovin' to the Punjabi beat before you know what hit ya.

And it's all the fault of Baghdad-by-the-Bay.

My further research turned up 55,900 bhangra videos. After viewing them, I chose the following for your listening and dancing pleasure. I've got a sudden unexplained urge for a plate of curry, which I'll have while you're enjoying this.

Out of touch ...

Cruising around Left Blogtopia (yes! skippy coined that phrase!) via our gigantic blogroll, even on the biggest blogs, you read posts from people who know what it takes to live in what American society these days. You read how the policies of Chimp & Co. actually affect the 'man on the street' and how their lives have been made more difficult and even desperate. Regular Americans speaking out against the injustice perpetrated in their name, against other nations and at home.

And then I read a post about the right's bloggers. Do they care how many regular folks are crushed under the boot of Republican policies? Sadly, No!

When you’re living on wingnut welfare it’s really hard to imagine how the other half lives, I suppose.

When propaganda is what pays the bills, you begin to believe the shit you shovel. I have a lot of interaction with town and county mechanics during the course of the day (they come to us when they have a problem they haven't seen before, or need to borrow something it would take them too long to 'procure' officially). In Nassau County on Long Island (one of the reddest counties in NY), you have to be a registered Republican to get a job in the county garage or the Marine Division. It's a fact of life. These guys are expected to campaign for the Rethug du jour too. Most of these guys actually believe the crap they peddle and they will vote Republican, no matter how much it lightens their wallets (the municipal employees' union is a shadow of what it once was), no matter how much 'productivity' is coaxed out of them while staffs are cut (they're not firing anybody but they're not replacing retirees when they leave either; goes down better that way).

It's sad to see people who are getting hurt not making the connection their association with the Republicans is the cause. It's because they've been told, throughout their lives, that the 'tax and spend Democrats' will put them in the poor house while they support illegal aliens and Jihadists. Thanks to the Rethug Propaganda Machine, they believe the Dems are the reason their property taxes have gone up so much in the last 8 years. They believe the Dems caused the price and unavailability of health insurance and they believe it's Hillary's fault. They believe Obama will give more to the 'welfare queens' (blacks of course) at the expense of 'hard working people' (whites of course). It's what they've been taught to believe by the Rethugs and the corporate media.

It's why I don't have much hope of seeing a Dem in the White House. The Rethugs stacked the deck over the last generation and the Dems are too inept to overcome the disadvantage. Maybe they believe the propaganda too?

Off to work ... wish it was Friday.

What got 6 million killed ...

60 years ago is still at work today. The politics of hate and fear or, in Republican parlance, the Southern Strategy:

...

Which gives us the past 30 years of this bullshit whereby it's always somebody else's fault, somebody's always coming to get you, and anybody telling you different is just someone else for you to hate. Which gives us Bush, and this election, and everything in between, and it's gonna keep happening until there's nothing left in our mouths but ashes.

You, you, you, and you ...

You're all volunteers:

The State Department has warned U.S. diplomats that they may be required to serve in Iraq next year if there are insufficient volunteers to fill job openings there, U.S. officials said.

...

I thought Green Zone duty was the key to success in the Republican Party? Hey, Dan Senor got Campbell Brown, right? What are ya afraid of? They're only mortars ...

Will Lincoln Survive "Gettysburg" Comments?

Freewayblogger with a comment on the sad state of punditry.

Transcript from "Hannity's America"
November 20, 1863

Pat Buchanan: I know it's a small point, but isn't "Abraham" a Jewish name?

These clowns are on the air 24/7 and would rather pick the flyshit out of the pepper than discuss anything of actual substance. It's probably a good thing that nobody but us political junkies listens to them.

She's ba-ack...

You can listen to Randi Rhodes here.

I'm late ...

My intarwebs were down this morning and I just got everything up again (I hate fixing shit before I go to work). That said, here's a post to give you a smile.

I'm a peaceful, laid back guy. "Live and let live (but don't fuck with me or I'll make your life miserable, bitch)," has been the motto I've chosen to live by and it has served me well. I would never wish harm upon anyone. But there are some people the world could do without. Hitler is one example. And of course, Timothy Goebel whose less than perfect triple lutz in the 2002 Sydney games disgraced our country by only garnishing a bronze metal. But my disdain for Goebel will have to wait for another post.

If Ann Coulter were to die tragically how would it go down? In order to feel better about a world where such a human could exist, I composed a list I thought would be the most fitting and/or most comedic ways for her to move on to that big cable news circuit in the sky.

...

Off to work ...

Great thanks to the wonderful Maru for the link.

Why do they hate San Francisco?

Ted:

... Pesticides untested for safety on humans will be sprayed over the Bay Area starting June and August in an attempt to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth ...

There is wisdom in the Holy Land ...

And hopefully they'll secure the amount funding AIPAC does. Our pal PC:

The WahPoo tells us that Jewish liberals (and, hopefully, progressives, moderates, nonsectarians, democrats, independents, and anybody who has seen that the State of Israel is being used as a catspaw for American imperialist ambitions in the Middle-East to the detriment of the Jewish people) are forming a PAC to counter the influence of the far-right AIPAC lobbyists.

The hawks of AIPAC do not represent the Israeli people, who are far more interested in peace than in the continuing manipulation of American foreign policy with detrimental results for both Israeli and Palestinian peoples. They do not represent the American people, who are bankrolling their militarism to the tune of nearly $100 billion. They do not represent anyone except a small handful of wealthy, powerful, militaristic maniacs who stand to profit from the continuing murder and horror.

...

They'll get a check from me this year.

Quote of the Day

Part of a headline at BuzzFlash about the latest car bombing in Iraq:

This was not about removing Saddam Hussein. This was not about terrorism. This was about chickenhawk warmongers who had to redeem their manhood and oil.

So...how's that workin' out? They haven't gotten the oil yet, and they probably won't.

'Manhood'? Redeeming something they never had is completely beyond them, but they're perfectly willing to waste a lot of real men's lives and trillions of our dollars in the futile attempt.

Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House

I've been staying off the Democratic presidential nominee campaigns just like I would stay out of most bar fights - there's nothing much to gain and I might get hurt, but this is promising.

Attytood

Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."

I mentioned the report in my question, and said "I know you've talked about reconciliation and moving on, but there's also the issue of justice, and a lot of people -- certainly around the world and certainly within this country -- feel that crimes were possibly committed" regarding torture, rendition, and illegal wiretapping. I wanted to know how whether his Justice Department "would aggressively go after and investigate whether crimes have been committed."

Here's his answer, in its entirety:

Two paragraphs you should go read.

The bottom line is that: Obama sent a clear signal that -- unlike impeachment, which he's ruled out and which now seems a practical impossibility -- he is at the least open to the possibility of investigating potential high crimes in the Bush White House. To many, the information that waterboarding -- which the United States has considered torture and a violation of law in the past -- was openly planned out in the seat of American government is evidence enough to at least start asking some tough questions in January 2009.

It might just be campaign bullshit, but it's bullshit I like, and I haven't heard it from the other candidate.

The Loser

That's us, folks.

Bob Herbert

I wonder what the answers would be if each American asked himself or herself the question: "How is the war in Iraq helping me?"

The U.S., once the greatest can-do country on the planet, now can't seem to do anything right. The great middle class has maxed out its credit cards and drained dangerous amounts of equity from family homes. No one can seem to figure out how to generate the growth in good-paying jobs that is the only legitimate way of putting strapped families back on their feet.

The U.S. seems almost paralyzed, mesmerized by Iraq and unable to generate the energy or the will to handle the myriad problems festering at home. The war will eventually cost a staggering $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. When he was asked on "Democracy Now!" about who is profiting from the war, he said the two big gainers were the oil companies and the defense contractors

A country that used to act like Babe Ruth now swings like a minor-leaguer. The all-American can-do philosophy has been smothered by the hapless can't-do performances of the people who have been in charge for the past several years. It's both tragic and embarrassing.

It sure is. Please read the rest.

The Winner

Fixer inspired me with his Santana selection below. Here's another take on 'winning' and pickin' stupid fights.. I hope we get off this easy in Bush's wake. Come to think of it, I'd love to attend Bush's wake. Tomorrow would be fine.

Bobby Bare

Progress ...

In a sign of our remarkable turnaround, Iraqi officials say 15 people have been killed and 15 wounded in two separate bombings in northern Iraq.

In another defining moment, the Iraqi government has dismissed more than 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during the recent offensive against Shiite militias in Basra, officials said Sunday.

...

Links here.

And, as I run off to work, a bit of sarcasm on my part:

Carlos Santana - I'm Winning

Later ...

There are worse things ...

Than San Francisco:

...

Yeah, that would be just horrible, wouldn’t it? {{shudder}} I mean, who would want to live in a cosmopolitan place full of art, culture, diversity and some of the best restaurants in the country if it means that your neighbors might be, you know, homosexual??? The bald faced bigotry that people feel comfortable expressing in this day and age never fails to horrify me.

...

Hear, hear!

Alang

The breakers' yards at Alang, India.

.

Since I've been whoring my travel blog here over the last few weeks and extolling the virtues of cruising, I wanted to bring to light the dark side of the shipping industry. I'm talking about the places ships of all types go to die. The breakers.

...

I went down to the water's edge. The Pioneer came looming out of the darkness, thrashing the ocean's surface with its single screw, raising a large white bow wake as it rushed toward the beach. I could make out the figures of men peering forward from the bridge and the bow. Now the sound of the bow wave, like that of a waterfall, drowned the drumming of the engine. A group of workers who had been standing nearby scattered to safety. I stayed where I was. Pandey joined me. The Pioneer kept coming. It was caught by an inshore current that carried it briefly to the side. Then the keel hit the bottom, and the ship drove hard onto the flooded beach, carried by its weight, slowing under full forward power until the rudder no longer functioned and the hull veered out of control and slid to a halt not a hundred yards from where we stood. Anchors the size of cars rattled down the sides and splashed into the shallows. The engine stopped, the lights switched off in succession from bow to stern, and abruptly the Pioneer lay dark and still.

...

Located mostly in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the breakers' yards are an environmental nightmare. Chemicals, heavy metals, and fuel run from the dissected hulls and dollar-a-day workers slowly poison themselves working in the muck.

...

But the work slows when they come to the hull, where the steel is heavier and harder to cut. At that point, even for veteran workers, there must be a moment of hesitation at the audacity of the business. Using little more than cooking gas and muscle power they will tear apart this immense monolith, which towers above the crowds on the sand. It will take six months or a year to finish the job; men will be injured, and some may die. Almost all will to some degree be poisoned by smoke and toxic substances -- and more seriously, no doubt, than they would have been on the streets of India's cities. Nonetheless, the poor cannot afford to be timid.

...

Greenpeace has taken the lead in highlighting the situation but it doesn't look like anything will be done soon. It's a sad commentary on our society that the ships we use for fun and commerce end up poisoning the world's poor who merely try to carve out an existence.

Update:

Gord's note in comments made me think where I saw a story on this too. Found it:

More Yoo

The last few days, I've posted a coupla times on the assistant war-criminal-in-charge of legalizing war crimes and current law prof at UCB, John Yoo, and how a lawyer's association wants him canned. Well, Dean Edley refuses to do so, and rightly so since this drive is in its infancy. Due process and all, you know, the law.

Scott Horton has a well thought out response to the Dean's refusal:

agree with Dean Edley on two key points. First, John Yoo is entitled to his legal views, however eccentric, radical and harmful to our democracy. The academic community benefits from the presence of the philosophical outlier. It sharpens debate, and can furnish us with a reminder of the fundamental values which the outlier disparages. And often enough it is the outlier who is proven right against the weight of accepted opinion. The leaders of the academic community have a duty to protect those who profess unpopular views from the crowd that menaces and seeks to silence them. And this, properly viewed, is Dean Edley’s duty.

Second, it would not be proper to fire John Yoo on the basis of his views alone, nor would it be proper to terminate him without following formal process in which the charges against him are proved up and he is given a full opportunity to prove his defenses. Dean Edley is correct to hold rigorously to process. And those who crusade for Yoo's firing must recognize the legitimacy of process and accept that even if Yoo is ultimately fired it should only be by proper process. Much of the rage against John Yoo comes from his strained legal efforts to craft a space beyond the reach of law into which the Administration’s targets could be disappeared, a legal black hole into which their rights as human beings would be collapsed. It would be hypocritical of his critics to strip Yoo of his proper rights in accusing him of denying the rights of others.

Dean Edley concludes that as a “mere advisor,” Yoo’s ethical and legal culpability cannot be compared with that of the “deciders,” that is, those who actually fix and implement policy.

This is astonishingly fallacious legal and ethical reasoning, doubly so because it flows from the pen of the highly respected dean of one of the nation’s premier law schools.

In response to this “legal uprising,” David Addington and Alberto Gonzales decided to task John Yoo to prepare memoranda. These memoranda were commissioned with two purposes in mind. First, to protect the policymakers who had authorized torture techniques from future criminal liability (something which Gonzales had identified as early as January 2002 as a serious prospect). And second, to wield the Attorney General’s opinion powers to silence lawyers who had correctly evaluated the legal framework.

Both of these purposes were wrongful, and inconsistent with the proper use of the Attorney General’s opinion power. Criminal investigators may well conclude that this act joined John Yoo in a joint criminal enterprise with the persons who devised and pushed implementation of the torture policies.

Indeed, this is not entirely a speculative matter. We will shortly learn in the mass media that some prosecutors have already reached that conclusion and that the preparation of a criminal case is underway.

A criminal indictment would render a movement to get Yoo fired kinda moot. I just wanta see him get his kim chee settled one way or another.

Mr. Horton must be a lawyer, 'cuz the article goes on and on. And on...

Interesting, though. Go read.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Nude Photo of France's First Lady Sells for $91,000
Most ever paid for photo of naked first lady.

Time to cash in! I'm putting my nekkid photos of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower on Ebay today!

Lobbyists Spend $17 Million A Day on Members of Congress
According to phone records of D.C. madam.

Bloomberg’s Plan to Tax NYC Drivers For Clogging City Dies Without a Vote
Lawmakers stuck in traffic.

Florida Passes “Take YourGuns to Work” Law
Decision hailed by disgruntled postal workers.

The 'Surge'

Click to embiggen

The Guardian

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's government moved Sunday to restore discipline within the ranks of the security forces, sacking more than 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted during recent fighting against Shiite militias in Basra.

So much for "As they stand up, we'll stand down", which is backwards anyway.

It oughta be "As we stand down, they'll stand up", which would be a better way to motivate our puppet Iraq government to action. Or cause its overthrow and allow some form of legitimate Iraq government to take its place.

Any solution only applies, of course, if Bush wants our troops to leave, which he doesn't.

More tips ...

Mrs. F and I are beginning to plan our vacations for 2009 and we're taking you through the process of cruise planning over at our travel blog.

Late for work ... I hate Mondays.

And while we're talking about elitists ...

John McCain is no regular guy:

...

The McCain campaign is managed by a cadre of Washington-insider special interest lobbyists. He and his current wife are estimated to be worth about $100 million. He reportedly owns eight houses. His let-them-eat-cake economic policies are based on George Bush's failed radical conservative "you're on your own buddy" philosophy. One after another he supported trade agreements that protect the rights of corporations, but ignore the rights of labor, and have devastated one Pennsylvania community after another. He gets most of his campaign cash from the wealthiest corporate interests around. And he has the gall to call Barack Obama an "elitist"?

...

Yeah, he's in touch with 'small town folks'.

Thanks to Dr. Attaturk for the link.

.A question ...

If what Barack said about small town folks is so wrong, why do the Republican candidates pander to the NRA and the churches for endorsements?

Just askin'

And just a question for you 'small town folks', being I'm an 'elitist' from NYC and I just don't get it.

After voting 'guns 'n god' over the last 8 years, what did it get ya? Maybe you should rethink just what's important to ya, because if you keep it up you'll get more of the same. If you're bitter now, wait until McCain gets done screwing you.

Friend of the Devil

I'm kinda on a roll with Jerry Garcia this weekend. Why mess with success? This is one of my favorites. Here's the info:

Solo Acoustic
Random pics and Acid art.

"Jerry at the Jail" John Kahn on Bass
Oregon State Prison; Salem, Oregon
5-5-1982

Re 'Acid Art': I think that's the guy who did the montage. Watch fast, like ya got a 'motor wind' on yer brain. Heh.

The Great Lapel Pin Flap

Click to inflate

Who's Readin' What

Cape Cod Today has a rundown of who reads which newspapers. Kinda Eas' Coas' -centric, and I get the feeling that on Cape Cod they think the United States is about a hundred miles wide...

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country which is now being run by readers of Rev. Moon's Washington Times.

3. The Washington Times is read by Moonies, neocons, oligarchs, Third World dictators, president George W. Bush and the entire staff of the Bush White House.

10. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated and the editorials are written by a religious-right ultra conservative. The newspaper already has girlie pictures on Page 6.

11. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores and Lottery results.

17. The Cape Cod Voice is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it, but if so, they oppose all that the rest of you stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

Oh, ever so much more! Enjoy.

Nothing lasts forever ...

One of my favorite rock ballads:

Guns n' Roses - November Rain

Quote of the Day

Brad:

... Call me a liberal elitist if you must, but the fact that corporate fat cats get to pass themselves off in the press as blue-collar salt-of-the-Earthers just goes to show how fucked up this country really is ...

Patriotism ...

It's not about wrapping yourself in a flag and agreeing with everything the government does. Our brother Bulldog:

...

So am I a patriot? After all is said and done, all my internal arguments for and against, I believe I am. I am doing my part, however small it is, to defend my country even now. I feel it is my obligation to speak out against actions taken by our government to subvert the will of the people and destroy the Constitution. This is an obligation I take very seriously. So ask yourself the same question: Are you a Patriot?

When I took my oath to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I also took an oath to protect the Constitution, not the President of the United States. When the President sees the Constitution as "just another piece of paper", he receives no defense from me. That document is what separates us from monarchies and dictatorships. If our leaders don't take it seriously, they are not fit to lead.