The handbook of this particular child care is a universal handbook, it's been around for a long time. It doesn't need to be invented. Let me see your handbook there. (Laughter.) This handbook is a good book, it's a good go-by. (Applause.)
2-17-05
I've been slacking in my rant section lately. But I've sort of been overwhelmed. The rant I did awhile ago - about the Bush propaganda machine has snowballed. Just this last week we had the story of the fake reporter planted by a right-wing group in the white house press core to ask Bush easy questions. I can't even put into words how remarkable this story really is. Frank Rich had a great piece in the New York Times today. Well worth the read. The crazy thing is that I've talked to a few folks about it - about how a guy using a fake name and fake credentials got access to the president to report fake news - about how the administration has been found guilty of using overt propaganda on it's own citizens. For the most part when I talk to people about it - the reaction I get is muted - a shrug and a 'so-what' attitude. A few have even said that there is no such thing as unbiased reporting anymore. That it's no big deal that fake news stories are manufactured for our consumption. It's no big deal that stories of WMD's were manufactured to justify a war in Iraq. It's no big deal that 1,400+ us soldiers are dead and 10,000+ are wounded. It's no big deal the war has cost over $200 billion. So what if contractors stole or misplaced $9 billion dollars. I've been accused, as Don Rumsfeld would say being 'henny-penny the sky is falling'. There has been so much distortion and misrepresentation put out by this administration that no one believes a damned thing any one says. They've poisoned the well. The news and the media are no longer sources of objective stories. The congressional budget office is no longer a source of accurate fiscal information. The CIA is no longer a source of reliable intelligence. Biology textbooks no longer contain information grounded in scientific theory. I guess it's like Bush said once about the pentagon's military estimates to provide stability in Iraq, "They're just guessing." Yeah - everyone is just guessing. The only truth is what you believe.....or on an MTV 'reality' show. I wonder where political apathy comes from these days? Couldn't be the lack of a grounding in reality could it? Well, while we here in America watch reality television and ponder the moral implications of gay marriage - there are real problems in the world that are looming just out of sight for the moment. Those of us who have not 'drunk the kool-aid' are screaming for the apathetic masses to wake up and move! But you know us...Henny Penny the sky is falling. Better to do nothing, see nothing, believe nothing and trust the administration. If we as a people cannot be stirred to move, we the people will no longer have a country or government. Rather the government will have us.
1-11-05 Frank
Bush brings forth the bible for use as public policy.
The handbook of this
particular child care is a universal handbook, it's been around for a long time.
It doesn't need to be invented. Let me see your handbook there. (Laughter.) This
handbook is a good book, it's a good go-by. (Applause.)
Here are two interesting quotes from Frank Zappa back in 1986: Quote 1 Quote 2
1-7-05 Mountains out of molehills?
Well much of the news this week has been about Alberto Gonzales, the distinguished gentleman who produced the executive opinion that the President of the United States cannot be bound by the Geneva Conventions in a time of war an essentially green lighted the torture and abuse scandals so prevalent in Iraq, Guantanamo and Afghanistan. I do feel better since Mr. Gonzales said in his statement to the Senate Judiciary committee that the President has no intention of using torture (anymore....at least not with the cameras rolling) as a means of gathering Intel. So yippee. You know what I think of this blight on the history of our nation. Surprisingly my rant today is on another topic. Propaganda. Think swift boat ads during the 2004 campaign. Surely it was propaganda in it's purist form. But in the end it was all those nasty little political groups who were disseminating the bad info - we all know the White House would never approve of the use of propaganda on it's own citizens to further it's agenda....or would it? On January 6th 2005
The Government Accountability Office said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.
The accountability office said the videos "constitute covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, which were distributed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
In May the office found that the Bush administration had violated the same law by producing television news segments that portrayed the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.
Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said the use of the mock news segments broke "a fundamental principle of open government."
Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or propaganda purposes". The accountability office has also found that federal agencies violated this restriction when they distributed editorials and newspaper articles written by government officials without identifying them.
A administration spokesman for the drug policy office said the review's conclusions made a "mountain out of a molehill."
Mountain out of a molehill??!! yeah no big deal I guess, just the administration blasting it's citizens with propaganda designed to further it's own interests...nothing to see here people, move along. Our administration has an open contempt for laws and conditions created to keep our citizens free of intrusive Government. I don't know how many times and with how many examples it will take to get the American people to wake up and smell the fascism - but it sure is rank around DC these days.
P.S. remember when Yakof Shmirnoff was funny because he talked about how all he could think, feel and see was controlled by the gov't? yeah that was pretty funny - but he was just making a mountain out of a molehill.
**THIS JUST IN** the very next day, this bit popped up in the news:
Armstrong Williams, a prominent conservative commentator who was a protégé of Senator Strom Thurmond and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, acknowledged yesterday that he was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to promote its initiatives on his syndicated television program and to other African-Americans in the news media.
More molehills. I suppose the administration has to have some tools in it's arsenal to fight the war on liberal media. Faux News just isn't enough.
12-30-04 Who's smarter Bush or Meatwad?
Anybody watch the Bush news conference about the Tsunami? It was pretty funny - Bush looked like he'd possibly been drunk for the past few days and didn't really know so much about this killer wave thinggy that killed a lot of poor non-white folk. Seriously - he stumbled through the geography barely able to name a few of the country's that had been affected. He generally reverted to 'that region' when answering questions. My favorite part was when a reported asked him if he was confident we had a warning system in place for our country and it's territories in the pacific, "NO, I APPRECIATE THAT QUESTION" was his first reply (I think I heard him crap his pants at this point) he stumbled around trying to say he was confident but wasn't sure one existed - he'd look into it - ask it of the appropriate people - if we don't have one we'd need international cooperation to develop one, since the united states, you know, doesn't just go it alone or uh, work in it's own interests....
Oi vey! If you asked me two weeks ago if we had a Tsunami Warning center I would've sounded like Bush, "uh, yeah....I think I'm kinda pretty sure - I'll check and get back to you." But people, the Tsunami hit on Sunday - his news conference was Wednesday. Upwards of 75,000 people died. You're telling me the thought never crossed his mind to ask...."say. we have some kinda warning thinggy in place right Karl??" Nope, guess not. never gave it a thought. Also if you're going to do a news conference shouldn't you be prepared to take such a question - didn't any advisor give him a heads up on this one? Nope - they know the president doesn't want to be bothered with such minute details. Fer cryin' out loud...since Sunday just WHAT was Bush thinking about?? His fantasy football team?? Invading Iran?? What was so important on his schedule that he didn't have time to be briefed on the situation and how prepared our own country would be in such a crisis. Scary ain't it?
Oh, and the correct answer is yes. We do have a warning system in place. We've had one since 1949. Click here to learn more.
If you don't believe me the text of the interview in on the White House web site. Copy and Paste this URL:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041229-1.html
It's about two thirds down the page.
12-29-04 Who gave you democracy?
Violence in Iraq - weird how numbing that phrase is. You've heard it before many times many ways. I've been told I should be thankful George Bush is my president. Though I can't think of any particular reason why. I haven't benefited from any of his policies. Yeah I got the tax break. $14 every paycheck - but I'm also intelligent enough to realize that our country now carries a massive deficit which will have to be paid-off. So I know more pain awaits. Am I thankful the Taliban has been deposed? Sure - though I don't think Bush actually had anything to do with it. I think the American Military had more to do with that victory actually. A banana could have been president and we still would have beat the Taliban. Am I thankful Saddam has been stripped of his WMDs? Well, no - since he didn't have them in the first place no. Also since he didn't have any crazy allegiance to a psychotic religion it seems doubtful he would have ventured any type of partnership with a group that was gunning for his head as well as our own presidents. I'm trying to think how we've helped bring peace to the middle-east. First there was war - quick and efficient, a total victory. Then there is occupation, a whole other kettle of fish. Is it helping? Since the Iraqi's didn't greet us as liberators and since we dragged our feet with re-construction and since we can't actually secure the country a hoard of religious zealots has poured across the Iraqi borders. In taking the fight to the enemy - we've given them thousands of easy targets. The people of Iraq aren't understanding that democracy isn't something that can be given to you (no matter how hard we try to beat it into them)- you need to want it, you need to fight for it. It's a concept we've not done well in perpetuating. We came in - made war, did little re-construction, bungled security, tortured prisoners and are happy to sit by and watch a few hundred Iraqi civilians get blown up everyday. Not much better than life under Saddam - in fact we seem to have broken the damn holding back the religious civil war that is now flooding the country. Can't put that genie back so easily. Really the only hope that this mess we've made will end well is the hope that the majority of Iraqis will seize the opportunity for democracy and self-determination. Convincing them that that is something they actually WANT is going to be very tricky. Would you want what Bush is selling? I mean, Bush has brought them war, destroyed most of their infrastructure - and economy, and made them less secure at home. Who would vote for that?? I mean besides Americans...
12-20-04 no confidence
Republican maverick John McCain recently disclosed that he has no confidence in Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. Rummy has few friends in the legislature at this point, mostly because - well, he's a liar. Just a quick example here, when he was questioned about the lack of armored humvees by that national guardsman in Kuwait, Rummy was his usual curt self and snipped that you go to war with the army you've got. He also pinned the blame for the lack of armor on its manufacturer, saying that they were unable to fulfill the army's needs at present. Liar. The very next day the president of the manufacturing firm said his company wasn't even close to hitting it's production limits and that no request for an increase in production was ever made. That is just one of the many little lies Rummy spouts with such authority and austere severity. He is the masochistic school-master thrashing the students who dare question his methods. He sees little need for being truthful as in his mind - the end will justify the means. No matter how big or small the lie, no matter the cost in human lives he will see his divine mission accomplished, and damned be those who raise a voice of question.
Interestingly Rummy does have some support on Capitol hill. "Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a spectacular job and the president has great confidence in him," said the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card. That's good - the president thinks highly of Rummy. Others like Dick Lugar think that perhaps Rummy has misled the country in one way or another. He proposed that "He should be held accountable, and he should stay in office." That's great he'll be held accountable (for what exactly? please describe in essay form so we can all understand) AND remain in his position. That's some good thinking there Dick! In any case Dick's proposal sounds the most consistent with the administrations operating procedures. For example, look at George Tenet, the CIA chief who presided of the worst intelligence failure in our nations history. Here's George being held accountable.
12-19-04 Homeland insecurity
So the Presidents pick to head the dept. of homeland security turned out to be a real turd. Theres lots and lots of finger pointing going on. Who picked him? Why wasn't there a better review of his past/qualifications before he was formally nominated? The white house press secretary said that a review of Kerick only took one week and there wasn't enough time to get a full review. I find it hard to believe - I mean Tom Ridge announced he was stepping down sometime over the summer, like June or July. The administration has had MONTHS to come up with a replacement. They should have had a list of qualified folks a mile long if they were on the ball. Well guess what - they weren't and still aren't on the ball, it's been almost a month already since Kerick withdrew his name and still the administration hasn't come up with anyone else. Oh well, I suppose homeland security isn't really such a priority after all.
11-24-04 Paul Kern
I was watching C-SPAN again last night. Blasted liberal media! Gen. Paul Kern was speaking on the prison abuse issue. A list of what went wrong and how those issues are being dealt with. Towards the end he was asked about the role of the contractors that were brought in. In no uncertain terms the General made it clear that our armed forces were simply overwhelmed by the influx of new prisoners. From 700 to 5000 within a month or so I believe. His response was that there weren't enough troops to do the job and it was just quicker and easier to bring in contractors - say from K.B.R. a subsidiary of Halliburton (requests for additional troops take a long time to process and are regularly denied). He also explained that the benefit was that the contractors were almost all former active military. They'd been trained by the US military and had years of experience, and though they had no rank and did not operate by the same conventions as the US military, they by their age and experience were often in charge of younger enlisted men. This is disturbing for a number of reasons. First we didn't have enough troops. Second we had to pay contractors to fill the gap in personnel. Contractors get paid more than G.I.'s for doing the same job. Our taxes pay for both the military AND the contractors. The only difference is contractors make more and they are a private company (still think the Bush admin is fiscally responsible?). Talk about privatization!! Third - these contractors who are making lots of money used to be military - but left for more lucrative careers - doing the same thing with training and experience paid for by you and me (not that I blame them, what service member wouldn't want more pay with less accountability?). Why aren't they still in uniform??- oh yeah privatization. Can't trust Gov't workers to do anything these days. Fourth the contractors don't need to follow orders since they are civilians, they don't need to follow rules of conduct since they are not controlled by the military and the gov't has no oversight control. Finally the contractors knew the advantage they had and offered a quick fix to the commanders at the prison. They were there - they had experience and they could do work that would otherwise be illegal. I'm not sure a military that relies so heavily on contractors can be defined as a "Professional Military". An organization that can't handle the job because of poor preparation and mismanagement is what we in the states call incompetent. This goes strait to the top I'm afraid. You have to ask yourself how did it get that bad? Who would go to war without enough troops to do the job? Who benefits from having to hire contractors to fill the gaps in personnel? Lets see...hmmm Rummy (mis)planned the war (on purpose?), Dick & Balls Cheney used to be the CEO of said contracting company (I'm gonna guess he's gonna retire with a nice pot of gold). And Bush...well Bush likes to watch stuff get blowed up on the TV. It's all good.
11-23-04 Basketbrawl
Big in the news is the brawl that broke out at a Basketball game between Detroit and Indiana. A player, Ron Artest got hit with a beer a proceeded to climb into the stands to wail on the guy that tossed his cup. A bunch of people ended up getting punched and pushed and it was an ugly embarrassment for all. Keith Oberman was quick to point out that in this case, as well as the baseball incident where the pitcher hit a lady in the nose with a chair, alcohol was involved. I'd like to point out to Keith that actually in both incidents a crazed athlete unable to control his temper was involved and I doubt very much that Ron Artest had been drinking when he climbed into the stands. I doubt that pitcher from the Astros was drunk when he chucked that chair. Blame alcohol...gimme a break! I think what needs to be addressed is the meaning of "Professional athlete" especially that "Professional" part. Artest won't be the last guy to get a cup of beer spilled on him. Nothing less than a full season suspension is appropriate. He may be a gifted athlete he may be a great athlete but he has clearly demonstrated that he is not a professional athlete.
11-17-04 Twisted
So there is a lot of stuff floating around in the news about immorality. Being a liberal democrat and non-christian I fancy myself somewhat of an expert on immoral behavior. I read about the proposed change to route I-69, some congressman wants it changed to I-63 because it's a more 'moral' number. Anybody else wonder what position 63 is in the book from whence 69 came? I'll bet it's immoral. There was a case in Florida where the Cooter Festival was banned. Cooter is an old southern term for turtle, apparently it's meaning has been hijacked (google 'Santorum' it's a riot!). Better not take the chance to expose the kids to that. Then there is a big stir about the intro to Monday night football in which Tyrell Owens embraces a desperate housewife who has dropped her bath towel in front of him - how indecent!! OMG - they showed her back....no not her butt, not her boobs. But there was the intimation of sexuality in the embrace. That's terrible. I think it's funny that the more this gets blown (can I say that anymore?) out of proportion the more we have to struggle to define and describe the type of sexual activity that was alleged to be hinted at - thus making an mountain out of a mole hill (no I'm not talking about tits...I mean boobs...I mean raisins). So MEANWHILE while everyone is fuming about this indecent, immoral behavior, up on capital hill....
House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, according to GOP leaders.
Yes, I suppose it is the decent thing to do.
*I would like to note that I was born and raised in Suffolk county - I've always had trouble with that name....it seems sort of immoral, especially if you say it slow.
11-4-04
I watched Bush today talking about spending his newly earned political capital. I really liked when he said he intended to reach out for a bipartisan effort. He said they would "reach out to everyone who shares our views". Um....that's not really reaching out then....is it?
11-3-04 well then
Welp, I couldn't have been more wrong. I grossly over-estimated the intelligence of the American voters. The results of the electoral college aren't in yet but the popular vote shows Bush with a comfortable lead. I don't know which I like more about the four years Bush has been in office, the higher unemployment numbers or the lower paying jobs, the higher cost of health insurance or the lower number of people with health insurance, the higher number of people living in poverty or the lower number of middle class. It's a tough call really. Oh well, so I guess with the GOP in control of the house, the senate, presidency and the supreme court things should really get done. I mean DONE, done. As a middle class American I'm confident my taxes will go down - including my property taxes. My disposable income should rise. My health insurance premiums should go down. Our national deficit should be cut in half. My social security contributions will become my own personal investment - which is good since the stock market should boom like never before, what with the price of oil dropping to $20 a barrel. We'll never be attacked by terrorists again - and if we are, we'll invade two more countries. Maybe like Thailand and the Philippines. They're both on the axis of evil roster and they both have pretty nice vacation spots so....
I'm sure Mr. Bush won't let me down. I'm not sure he won't have my liberal-ass packed in a box car and shipped to a special political re-education center but hey.....
Four more beers, four more beers!
Bush gives us his victory sign (1mb)
11-1-04 you heard it here first
Tomorrow Americans toss the coin. Call it in the air...
I'm sure tomorrow night as I watch the returns coming in - there will be some clear victories for both sides and more than a few disputes in the swing states. Enough to create confusion and lawsuits. The results will be murky and drown in a river of shit. The true results will not be known until well into the second year of Bush's second term as appointed by the supreme court. Bush will again lose the popular vote - but in a stunning miscarriage of democracy he will proclaim he intends to remain in office past the February inauguration using the same logic as we allow people to remain among the population pending the results of an appeal. Bush will refuse to relinquish the presidency under the cloud of confusion. He will of course have the congress behind him as well as the supreme court. This is how empires are built. This is how emperors are made.
So there is my grim prediction. I of course hope for a clearer decision - and one that favors my candidate. But I doubt that is in the cards.
10-26-04
No politics for this post. I'm just too thread bare. Did you see the Simpson lip-synch fiasco? I for one would like to reiterate that Ashlee Simpson is a no talent hack. It's too bad the music industry is bent on pushing crap down the consumers throats. There are plenty of young women out there who actually have talent - why not give them a shot? It's all about the payola. The record industry is going down in flames and I love it.
Elliot Spitzer is getting ready to hand the big-four and clear channel a large non-lubricated legal dildo and instruct them where to shove it. Go Elliot!!
Go Cincinnati!! The Bengal's won on Monday night football. I like the Bengal's - they're just so bad you can't help but root for them.
How about them Eagles? Donovan McNabb is playing some of the best football I've ever seen. Am I just saying that because he's black? No - I'm saying that because if he continues at this pace he will earn himself a spot in Philadelphia lore as the best quarter back to play for the Eagles. I have to give credit to the Offensive line. McNabb has so much time in the pocket it's scary - and you know what he's deadly accurate passing from the pocket. Even if the defense does flush him out they usually regret it since he's fast and agile and makes something out of nothing more often than not.
Cowboys suck. ha ha!
10-20-04
Bush remains ahead in the polls despite losing three debates in a row where polls found the majority of votes felt Kerry had a better plan for domestic policy and at least a coherent plan for how to conclude the occupation of Iraq. It kinda goes back to the Bush is "everyman" thing....he's an average guy you could have a beer with. Not some stiff Ivy leaguer from Massachusetts. But wait, W is the son of the former head of the CIA, Former Vice President, former President of the United States. He was raised between Kennebunk Maine and Washington DC. He went to Yale and yes, he studied debate. His Daddy and his wealthy political pals got him into the Texas Air National guard - and then out of having to actually do anything while serving. He really couldn't have grown up more privileged or as much more of a DC insider. You would think the good people of Texas would know a phony cowboy when they see one.
Recent criticism of Kerry includes the charge that he volunteered for the Navy to avoid the draft. I suppose to a point that is true - he avoided the draft. But he also volunteered to go to Vietnam when he didn't have to and he volunteered for combat duty when he didn't have to. I can't believe the Republican spin machine is so effective at swaying the American public. It's sickening to watch.
With the election two weeks away Bush has at least a 5% lead and Rove has intimated he has an October surprise for us, scheduled to come out two days before the election. We'll see, the surprise may well be that there isn't one. At this point I really do feel like throwing my hands in the air and saying, "fuck it, re-elect that moronic zealot". Let him further destroy our economy, let him preemptively invade a few more countries, let him turn the EPA over to the polluters, let him appoint Jerry Falwell to the supreme court. fuck it. Four more years of this and we'll be in such a hole we'll never climb out. The American people as well as myself will drown in the bed of shit which we have made. I've tried my hardest to do what is best for America and her citizens but the staggering amount of pernicious, self-promoting, pig-fuckers has made the prospect of hope and of peace and prosperity and progress and justice for all people sadly unreachable. President Lincoln himself might conclude that the test of how long a democracy such as ours could endure has been failed and we have fallen into complicit cronyism and delusional imperialism. I can only pray for the resolve of that aforementioned President.
10-7-04
House Majority Leader Tom Delay has found himself on the receiving end of yet another rebuke for ethics violations. He's taken money (political fundraisers for soft money) from energy companies - while legislation that would have benefited the company was being voted on. He threatened political retribution against another senator if that senator didn't vote the way Delay ordered him to. He used federal resources to search for dissenting STATE democratic senators. A trend of abuses that stems from money, power and greed. The admonishments Delay has received were written by a bi-partisan ethics committee consisting of 5 republicans and 5 democrats. The house republicans were quick to defend Mr. Delay saying, "Tom DeLay is a good man and a strong leader". This is coming from the same house that impeached Clinton for lying about getting a hummer in the oval office - HOW TERRIBLE, he lied. But hey, taking bribes for votes and contracts, intimidation and suppression of democracy - that's O.K. with the GOP.
Incidentally the CONSERVATIVE watchdog group, Judicial watch has called for Delay to step down as majority leader. Many things are clear - The Republicans are not interested in ethical integrity. When they got Clinton on his lie they wielded the ethical sword with such conviction. Now that it is well known and established that the leader of the house republicans is crooked as a hook they are quick to place the blame. It's the democrats fault! Democratic Representative Chris Bell asked the ethics committee to look into Delays most recent rash of abuses. For this Rep. Tom Reynolds, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee said, "Shame on Chris Bell!". Yeah - shame on that whistle-blower. How dare he hold a republican accountable for repeated ethics violations. Oh the shame.
9-28-04 - The only thing to fear - is fear itself.
The more I read the news the more depressed I get. Too bad I'm not Thoreau, I'd go to the woods. As the situation worsens in Iraq, as the ranks of militant Muslims grow, as the worlds distrust of American intentions widens, as our own economy sheds jobs, as we lose affordable health care, as we lose the hope of 'peace and prosperity' to 'fear and complacency', our citizens turn to one man - or the image of one man to save us. W to the rescue. Marlboros and 8 cylinder engines for everyone!! It's bewildering considering W is the one who abandoned the pursuit of the Taliban and bin-laden. W says that bin laden is of no concern - the threat from al queda has been marginalized. Well if that's true why haven't we changed colors on the terrorism rainbow. Why aren't we at green or blue? It's mind boggling considering W has blown the budget deficit to record levels and traded education and health care spending for corporate welfare and no-bid contracts. The federal gov't has never been bigger - think republicans want smaller gov't? Think again.
There are innumerable reasons for Americans to throw the rascals out, and very few to keep them in. It's pretty well known that the majority of Americans think W has led us in the wrong direction. It's well known that many undecided voters don't want to re-elect Bush, but that they are afraid of the unknown - the uncertainty that comes with tossing an incumbent for a Senator from some state other than their own. Yes - it's fear that has moved the poll numbers in W's favor. The security Mom's who need that big tough "bring 'em on" machismo that Bush plays to. The independents who are socially moderate but have been cowed into trading their freedoms for security - who don't want to "risk their lives" to vote for someone other than the incumbent...not right now - we're at war!! The terrorists are at the gates! It's pretty simple actually - scare the populous, then convince them only one party can protect them. It's how lawns of nationalism are seeded.
Basically the economy and the war in Iraq are intangible vaguarities. What matters is fear. Are you more afraid with W in the white house or with the unknown soldier in the white house? W has shown he'll go to war with any one - for any reason. Kerry protested the war he fought in - how can he be trusted to fight this war? Answering those questions has become a cumbersome debacle for the most sophisticated orators in the democratic party. How do we convince Mr. and Mrs. Undecided that we want to protect America and the Middle class while still growing the economy and protecting the middle class? It's tough - it's a tough sell. That is exactly where the democrats get stuck. Perhaps a new tact is in order. Fear. The stark reality is that life in America is worse now than it was four years ago. We've been led into a blood bath, we've lost hope for peace and prosperity, many many of us have lost our jobs or taken lower paying ones. These are simple facts - but no one is scared of them yet. It maybe time to scare the undecideds into fearing what four more years of this administration will do to America, to American freedom, to security and to prosperity. With the majority of Americans believing we are on the wrong track we need to relieve them of their belief that the commander in chief understands this. He clearly doesn't or simply doesn't care. Four more years will ensure the continued trend of losing health benefits, rising deficits, lower paying jobs, declining social security benefits. Four more years will see continued war in the middle east - moving away from Iraq and into Iran maybe? Continued indifference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is the heart of the radical Islamic movement. Continued aversion to international cooperation and participation in the war on terror. More bad intelligence analysis leading to more bravado leading to more soldiers dying everyday. Here's the simple message the democrats should be pushing: America cannot afford to wait and see what four more years of the wrong course will do to us - we need to act now. We need to know - our country is bigger than the war on terror. We will fight and we will prevail, we are secure in our military's ability - we are constantly improving our security forces and techniques at home - there is no reason we can't expect more from a leader. There is no choice between security and prosperity. The choice is security with prosperity or security with out. The last four years have shown us what security with out prosperity has brought us. Four more years of this is not an option America can live with.
9-15-04 Tonight on ABC survivor Baghdad - Richard gets naked and prepares a little insurgency of his own!
The war in Iraq continues to drag on. Everyday a Marine or few loses his life - for what is growing less certain everyday. First it was to stop terrorism, but now that we're in Iraq terrorist attacks on our troops are a daily fact of life. There were weapons of mass destruction - it turns out there are plenty but they're mostly in North Korea. Then it was to stop a brutal military regime that murders innocent civilians and tortures political prisoners. We've replace that regime with a military occupation that murders innocent civilians and tortures prisoners while desperately trying to protect itself from insurgents, foreign fighters and terrorists who have made their way to Iraq because that's where we are. Reconstruction spending has been virtually eliminated the need for more security funding has taken precedent. Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, said of the lack of spending: "It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing. It is now in the zone of dangerous." (damn tax and spend republicans). The CIA's analysis of the situation predicts at best Iraq will be dangerous and unstable five years down the road - worst case completely engulfed in a civil war. Meanwhile Bush and his cronies twiddle their thumbs and say everything is going according to plan - everything is fine. Scott McClellan says "You know, every step of the way in Iraq there have been pessimists and hand-wringers who said it can't be done and every step of the way, the Iraqi leadership and the Iraqi people have proven them wrong because they are determined to have a free and peaceful future." If you look at the language especially the "Iraqi leadership and the Iraqi people" it would seem that the Bush administration is trying to distance itself from the situation. It's the Iraqi's problem now. Quick lets declare a victory and lets roll!! But let's be serious it's not the Iraqi people that are fighting this war - it's not the Iraqi leadership that is calling the shots. It is the American soldiers on the ground that are fighting and it's our civilian leadership that is calling the shots and what of our commander in chief? Where is his brilliant leadership? The simple answer is - he is deaf, dumb and blind. He hasn't listened to our military leaders who urged a larger force on the ground to keep the peace. He doesn't see or doesn't want to see the situation is rapidly spiraling out of control and as for dumb....well - I think we can all agree he's pretty f'n dumb. Even conservative commentator Charles Reese wrote "I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a front man, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory. It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently."
There is still a little more than a month left before the elections - how much longer can Bush glibly smile and say things are going well - right according to plan- about everything from Iraq to the Economy. Bush's team better keep coming up with swiftboat smears and try really really hard to obfuscate the actual situation we're in. If the American people ever woke up from their Jerry Springer induced coma they might actually realize just how fkt we really are.
8-31-04 lets just declare a victory and get the hell outta here
Time for the Republican National Convention. It's a really weird spectacle. Last night you have Guliani, McCain and Ahnuld. Talk about a line up of outsiders. Why not let Grover Norquist, Wolfowitz and Falwell speak? They represent the heart of the party and the administration. I guess it wouldn't be popular to let Wolfowitz get up there and say how he would like to do in Iran and Syria what we're doing in Iraq. Not helpful to have Falwell spew about about defending the new Christian America from homo-terrorists and other non-believers. Not good to have Norquist mention that Greenspan is now on board and supports his grand idea of cutting or eliminating social security benefits, or maybe just raising the retirement age to like...90 or whatever. It's kinda funny and it's kinda sad to watch the Republicans try to showcase everything they aren't.
Also Bush finally said something I agree with:
"I don't think you can win it [a war on terror], but I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."
That's about right - I don't think you can ever really "win" a war on terrorism, you can't have a bunch of suicide bombers sign a peace settlement on the deck of a battleship. As for the "creating conditions" portions of his statement, that's true too. But invading an arab country under false pretense, without the support of the international community and then making a mess of the reconstruction, Bush has created a condition in which terrorists and terrorism breeds. We've had wonderful success militarily in Afghanistan and in Iraq - but being able to create a stable gov't, and conditions in which democracy blooms has been brushed off to the side - taken the back-seat to more military action. It's as if we've said to the people in Afghanistan and Iraq. "there you go - all the bad guys are gone. Go ahead and build a democracy and clean up all this wreckage. You're on your own!". We've declared a victory on gotten the hell out (at least in Afghanistan - we're trying to back out of Iraq now too).
8-27-04 If you've been too obsessed with the swift boat snaffoo you might have missed these recent tid-bits.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 - The ranks of the poor and those without health insurance grew in 2003 for the third straight year, the government reported on Thursday, in a sign of the lingering pain being caused by a long slump in the job markets.
Mr. Bush, in Farmington, N.M., said: "Because we acted, our economy since last summer has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Since last August, we've added about 1.5 million new jobs.''
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. economy, struggling under the weight of a bloated trade deficit, grew at a relatively modest 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter, a slower pace than previously thought.
- Of course the punch-line is that the 1.5 Million Jobs we've added pay about $9000 per year less the the 2.5 Million Jobs that were lost. And we're still a million jobs in the whole.
Soaring energy prices, meanwhile, have taken a toll on economic activity -- aggravating the U.S. trade deficit as the nation's foreign oil bill swelled and also putting a damper on consumers' ability to spend.
Rising costs for health coverage and workers being dropped from employer-sponsored health plans are among the reasons that a greater number of people did not have health insurance last year, experts say. The increase in uninsured people last year, as reported by the United States Census Bureau yesterday, was 1.4 million, to a record 45 million.
-meanwhile back at the ranch
Mr. Bush also acknowledged that he made a "miscalculation of what the conditions would be'' in postwar Iraq. But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency that has upended the administration's plans for the country was the unintended by-product of a "swift victory'' against Saddam Hussein's military.
When questioned about a recent intelligence report noting North Korea had produced enough Uranium for six to eight nuclear weapons Mr. Bush opened his palms and shrugged.
- wow, that's an impressive show of leadership.
8-23-04 What a shame or what a Sham.
This week on the campaign trail, all that has been discussed in the main stream media is the anti-Kerry swift boat ads. A small bunch of ads that are baseless smears on Kerry. It's no surprise a friend of Karl Rove has funded the ads and it's no surprise one of Bush's advisors on his veterans advisor panel is in the ad. The President says Kerry is playing 6 degrees of separation by tying the ads the official Bush campaign. But really it's only two degrees of separation. Bush-Rove-Bullshit or Bush-Cordier-Bullshit. Anyway- the thing that gets me the most is how the "liberal media" won't stop running the story. If it weren't for the liberal media the ads would have only had a small impact where they had been shown. Back in the good old days there was reporting AND advertising. Now we have reporting ON advertising - talk about bang for the buck. anyway....back to my point...It's really sad that the BIG issue has become a crappy advertisement based on events that occurred 30 years ago. The focus of the campaign and the media should not be Vietnam - it should be Iraq and the Economy and the environment and the miserable failure that is the Bush administration who at every turn has screwed the middle class with tax give-aways for the rich and saddled us with the largest deficit in history (Bob Dole once called it a stealth tax on our children). By appointing industry lobbyists to regulate the industries they once lobbied for the Bush administration has sold America to it's highest bidders - the people that will pay the price are the middle class and low income Americans who have lost (and continue to lose) their jobs, lost their health care and will end up living in the most polluted developed nation in the world -while receiving below standard health care at unfair - unchecked prices. All the while having to pay down the trillions of dollars of debt the Bush team has racked up. Those billions of dollars now in the pockets of Halliburton and it's subsidiaries thanks to Uncle Dick. All this crap staring us in the face and all we can talk about is swift boat veterans for smear campaigns? I fear for the future of this nation.
8-12-04 an obligation to war
Just a thought. W has said that knowing now that there were no WMD's in Iraq, he still would have invaded and occupied the country because it was led by a dictator who hated America, repressed it's people and was complicit in allowing terrorists to move in and out of Iraq. By that measure I would think it would be reasonable to conclude that a second term Bush administration would be obligated to follow up the war in Iraq by invading and occupying Iran and Syria as both countries fit that definition of necessity for war/occupation Bush described. North Korea does too - the only real difference is there is no oil in N.K. and China is just to the north. On the bright side I'm sure we would be welcomed as liberators and the price of oil would drop to $20 a barrel.
8-11-04
It's all semantics I guess - what the meaning of 'is' is and that kind of thing. But it bothers me when repeated over and over and over without being disputed by people who know better, Republican pundits continue to point out that Sen. Kerry "Voted in favor of the war". In fact no Senator or Congressman "Voted in favor of the was". They voted to give the President - That's President Bush, the authority to make the decision to go to war, including when and how. It's a minor point maybe - but I don't think so. The fact is war was never declared by congress as our constitution mandates, no the buck stops at the white house. President Bush and his administration made the call, but it's funny how they want to distance themselves from that decision saying - yeah well the congress and even Senator kerry "voted in favor of the war", so we had to!
also, I thought it was pretty funny yesterday when Robbie Novak ripped Will Smith for supporting Kerry, saying 'awwwwww great just what America needs another actor who thinks he knows better and can do a better job at running the country!' Ahhhemm pssst Robbie - Arnold Schwartzenegger.....ahhhhhem....Ronald Reagan. He went on to trash Will Smith for being a Hollywood action hero - and a guy who has starred in 'bad movies' like iRobot. Do I really need to point out Ahnuld is a hollywood action figure and really....have you ever seen a Ronald Reagan film? Pretty bad....
7-27-04 The economic boom could be a fart.
Fox news and Neil 'Fat head' Cavuto tells me we are in the middle of an economic boom. He also suggested that the rise in federal interest rates of 0.25% was a premature hike causing a slow patch in the boom that we're experiencing. Additionally he suggested that the rate hike was triggered by Mr. Greenspan's hatred of capitalism and his hatred of America and his bitter jealousy of our god-like president, GW. If you believe all that I've got some land down in Louisiana to sell ya, it's an Easter bunny ranch Santa gave me for my 500th birthday. Any way, in real business news you'll see that adjusted for inflation, the income of all Americans fell 9.2 percent from 2000 to 2002, according to the new I.R.S. data. This is the first time since 1953 there has been a decline in income and this time it was for TWO consecutive years! The ever optimistic Fox news missed this story and instead ran with the head-line "U.S. Wages increase 0.9 percent in 2Q" which maybe true - but if you consider how much income has fallen in the last two years a near %1 gain in one quarter doesn't help a whole lot - we're still making up lost ground. This is quite a boom we're in. Perhaps we're in a recovery - which is good since it indicates growth or at least potential for growth exists. It's probably a good time to invest since we've been sinking in the mud for so long - of course four more years of an economic boom like the one GW has given us....YIKES!! There are some bright spots to focus on this year though. Exxon-Mobile said its quarterly earnings surged 39 percent on higher energy prices, growing production and its best refining and marketing results in 13 years. I wonder why oil prices haven't fallen to $20 a barrel like Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox news) told me it would once we'd conquer Iraq? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
7-20-04
Sandy Berger is in quite a spot of trouble for allegedly accidentally removing copies of classified documents from the national archives. Depending on which media outlet you listen to - you may have heard that A: Mr. Berger stole several original documents by stuffing them in his underwear and socks in an attempt to cover-up the Clinton security failure known as 9/11 (foxnews) or that B: Mr. Berger removed copies of classified reports as well as his hand written notes about said documents - no original material is missing.
From what I understand he was reviewing documents either he or his staff prepared in 99 and 2000. It just doesn't make much sense. The only thing I've heard that makes any sense at this point was that he is probably writing a book and either puposefully or accidentally took the documents. A cover-up doesn't seem likely if what he took were copies - also the 9/11 commission has apparently already reviewed the documents in question. Another theory is that he was going to use them to help the Kerry campaign. How would that help Kerry? Also wouldn't Senator Kerry have access to the National archives? I'm not sure really. I'm not sure how having these documents would aid a political campaign 5 years later. Anyway we'll have to wait and see what happens with this big poo ball. Funny though he's been being investigated since January and this info just happened to slip out two days before the 9/11 commissions final report....that's so weird!! I guess the oddly timed Ashcroft terror alert got old.
7-14-04
All other problems having been solved, the Senate debates and votes on a proposed constitutional amendment to protect my marriage from homosexual terrorists. Santorum say's it's the ultimate in homeland defense. I say - you're out of your fucking mind you fucking stupid shit stain! Yes I think that about sums it up.
7-13-04
It's unpopular to oppose the was in Iraq now - at least in my area of the country. Conservative pundits routinely refer to Democrats, or anyone who opposes the war or the president as 'unpatriotic'. I've often wondered if the Conservatives would support the war or the president if it was say....Bill Clinton who made the call to go to war. I think the answer is pretty evident - look across the pond to England where British Conservatives deride Tony Blair for lacking credibility (that's being nice) in light of the crappy intelligence he used to justify his decision to go to war.
I picture a bunch of suits marching around wall street chanting "hey hey ho ho - slick willy's got to go!"
7-7-04 I think I'm getting bogged down in the minutia
John Edwards got the nod as John Kerry's running mate. It was fun to watch the abuse machine leap into action. Fox news ran and article about how Edwards was chosen despite the fact that most Americans dislike and distrust trial lawyers. CNN noted that the stock market was down sharply because of his selection (I'm sure the lower jobs numbers, decline in purchases of durables, higher interest and high oil prices didn't factor into the decline.) It was also noted on MSNBC that he and Kerry are the 'Extreme Liberal' ticket, while Bush/Cheney is the 'moderate to conservative' ticket. Hmmmm, I don't recall Bush/Cheney being moderate on anything....they're strait up neo-cons (not that there's anything wrong with that). Finally the line that every news organization is picking up on - that Edwards was not Kerry's first choice for VP. That is strait from the W campaign commission and not from anywhere else. Kerry never formally invited McCain to join him on his ticket. there had been some speculation in the media - but nothing more than speculation. The Bush camp has an interesting way of having it's it's conjecture presented as fact. Anyway - sign me up for the 'Extreme Liberal' ticket. Also in the news, the administrator of Medicare, Thomas Scully threatened to fire Richard Foster (the man doing the Prescription drug bill's cost analysis) if he disclosed his findings to the Congress. Foster estimated the cost at between $500 - $600 billion dollars. The Bush administration told Congress the cost would not exceed $400 billion. As opposed to denying that this information was with-held, the administration took the tact that "Nothing illegal was done, because Foster was supposed to report directly to Scully - not to the congress." It's a nice argument but once again not true, at least according to the Congressional research office who found that Scully's intimidation was a violation of laws that had been on the books since 1912. Also, theoretically Scully was supposed to report the findings to the Congress no? No, I guess not.....not if the findings didn't jibe with what the administration wanted to present. Interestingly Mr. Scully resigned from his post and is now a lobbyist for the drug company's the Prescription Drug bill benefited. There is a distinct pattern with this administration. Say whatever you want - fudge the numbers any way you want - lie consistently and then when you are busted lying present a legal defense that says '...but what we did isn't illegal'. Like Dick Cheney's energy task force - he claims he doesn't need to disclose the note or attendees of the meeting because of executive privilege. Actually Dick the law states you must disclose the notes and findings of your commission if the commission was meeting with private citizens (like the CEO of Enron for example). There's a reason for that....it has to do with unfair influence. I especially like the Justice departments memo that essentially stated that the President is above the law when acting as commander in chief (just like a King). I'll bet the founding fathers would have LOVED that theory.
7-2-04 I'm going to hell - hand-basket not included.
I think I was in the third or maybe fourth grade when I was first informed my immortal soul was doomed to writhe in hell for the rest of eternity. My crime was not being baptized. My parents, servants of the liberal left, felt that I would make my own choice on religion when I was old enough to decide for myself. Good thing I survived childhood because without the water on the head thing - it would've been straight to hell with my immortal soul. Subsequently I've been told that the whole water-on-head thing is not a pre-requisite for entrance to the kingdom of God. I've been told I need to accept the Bible as the word of God ("The Bible" - by King James) and a man named Jesus as my personal savior if I'm to spare myself eternal suffering. If I were to say - live my life as close to the teachings of Jesus as humanly possible but not know the name of Jesus - that's too bad, off to hell I go. And vise-versa I could lead a nation to genocide and so long as I accepted Jesus I'd go strait to Heaven. Apparently God is very particular about the name thing - no so much on the water on the head thing - but the name thing. I hope my friends who have accepted Jesus to be their savior are pronouncing his name correctly. Have you ever heard an old Jew speak? Jaime is not pronounced the way it is spelled. It makes me feel bad for the Orientals - they have trouble with English pronunciations, they must have a devil of a time with Hebrew. Anyway let me get back on track here - I'm doomed to hell for any number of reasons apparently. Chief among them, my free will. My own free will demands I question everything - including the validity of the (king james) bible, Jesus being the savoir and even the very existence of God. For myself I've concluded that there is indeed a God and that God has provided me with my free will. I've also concluded that there is more to existence than this life and this world. I'm pretty certain that after I die my soul will maintain it's free will - that is open for debate since no one can tell me for sure. I've never spoken to a dead person who told me one way or another. Which brings me to my main point. I'm sick, literally sick of other people telling me I am doomed to go to hell because of their beliefs (and my lack of acquiescence). I cannot and will not ever accept the word of people who claim to speak for God. I can't think of anything more potently arrogant than a human being claiming to know the will of God and to dispense God's judgment on me and my life. If, as the bible suggests I am made in God's image and I have free will - presumably God has free will as well and will do with my immortal soul as God pleases. I don't believe God to be so trite and petty as to derive pleasure from dooming an immortal soul to hell for the sake of misunderstood vernacular. That is something I think people enjoy. Thankfully the fate of my immortal soul doesn't rest by these obscenely arrogant people - I'd be doomed.
6-28-04 Mission accomplished. Iraq is sovereign once more. It's like the fourth of July over there I bet. The Sunday talking heads tell me how wonderful the peace and freedom we've won for the Iraqi's is. Was it worth it? Was it necessary? More and more the answer for me is no. The talking heads say WMD's were never an issue - it was always about bringing down a brutal dictator. I say bullshit - all that crap about mushroom clouds. Chalabi says WMD's have been found, there was that one artillery shell....other people tell me there were tons of WMD's discovered in Iraq, but that the liberal media is trying to cover it up. That makes a lot of sense until you try to discover a motive....yeah let's get together and tell people there were no WMD's. It's funny how the military and top pentagon brass aren't bragging about how much they've found then....they must be part of that liberal media too. Ah well, another talking head told me that it was better to be wrong about WMD's and be occupying Iraq than to have done nothing and suffered a WMD attack here in the states. I think really? If the Iraqi's didn't have WMD's how could they have attacked us, and why? I know the Iraqi's don't like us a whole hell of a lot - the feeling is mutual. But they aren't the crazy nut-bags the taliban are (The Taliban is still plenty active by the way - murdering Afghans who registered to vote - too bad we couldn't dedicate more resources to secure a lasting peace there eh?). I think it's entirely possible that we were wrong about Iraq and now occupy an unstable country - and while we were busy blowing up those miserable sacks the Queda and the Taliban and the hundred other groups of real terrorists have been actively working toward another massive attack on the US. We're not better off because we invaded Iraq, we're not safer as Cheney has told me, we weren't greeted as liberators either dick. We didn't see oil prices fall to $20 as Rupert Murdock told me. Our president made a bad, or at best misguided decision. We've lost 700+ soldiers in Iraq and it's not over yet, we've lost international credibility. We've lost any Arab support we once had (that isn't important said Mr. Bush - we can go it alone). So what now boys? Occupy and subvert the entire middle-east? Yeah right, this administration screwed up big time. We didn't surprise any one when we won the war, but there are a hell of a lot of voters back here who would like to know why we haven't been able to secure the peace.
6-17-04
The liberal media outlet MSNBC describes the abuses of Iraqi prisoners as "questionable though not violent treatment of prisoners in Iraq." nice spin guys.
Also
Batter-coated french fries are a fresh vegetable, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has a federal judge's ruling to back it up. Topped with the fresh vegetable 'Ketchup' you get two full servings of vegetables with every Xtra value meal! The onion-ring lobby needs to come up to speed on this. Pop-corn industry needs to ride this one too.
Also Also
The 9/11 commission finds that there is "no credible
evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United
States."
Dick Cheney says that Iraq (Hussein regime) had "Long-established ties with Al
Queda."
President Bush has said that there was no link between the 9/11 attacks and
Iraq, but that the presence of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the best evidence that
there was a link between Saddam Hussien and Al Queda. Which is odd because:
George Tenet reported to the Senate that Zarqawi didn't work with Saddam.
Quite possibly he was there to incite a Muslim coupe against Saddam - which was
of course made easier by the toppling of the Hussien regime courtesy of the
President Bush. I suppose his ultimate goal of establishing an Islamic extremist
state along the lines of Iran or Afghanistan under the Taliban was made easier
by the destabilization of the country....courtesy of President Bush.
6-10-04 $$$$all about the benjamins$$$$$
Did you hear about the Enron tapes? The one's that reveal hints of how they manipulated the California energy markets, raised prices and cause rolling black-outs throughout the state costing companies untold millions of dollars in lost revenue? Well they're out there, google the phrase "He arbitrages California". Most major news outlets carried the story and published the transcripts (somehow foxnews missed this story). Anyway, I got to thinking the other night - imagine the outrage if terrorists had shut down power relay stations to disrupt our economy and deprive us of a free and fair market system. You would think "these bastards hate our freedom!". Well they did, only they weren't Islamic fundamentalist terrorists born over seas and trained in terrorist camps, they were greedy corporate terrorists. Bred here in America - with degrees from prestigious universities. So they profited handsomely off Californian citizens, cost business revenue and quite probably the jobs of several Californians - including (possibly) the former Governor of California Gray Davis. I hope there is eventually some type of prosecution against these pricks - but I'm not holding my breath. They sure as hell won't be seeing a cage in GITMO anytime soon though I really think they should. Fuckin' terrorists.
5-14-04
Last night I watched part of a C-SPAN broadcast (the bastion of liberal media) of Rumsfeld and Franks rallying the troops in Baghdad. Most of it was the typical rah-rah pep rally type stuff. The thing that struck me was the cavalier tone when addressing the whole prison abuse load. It was like, "yeah there are a few bad apples and they did some pretty bad stuff, but you know - it's difficult and it will take some time but these crimes will receive some type of appropriate punishment." It reminded me of a speech my Dad gave me about stealing one of his beers from his basement stash, something along the lines of, "Well what you did was wrong and you're gonna be punished, now go mow the lawn, and I want you to rake it up this time too." Like, yeah it was bad, but I stole beer when I was your age too and you only took a little. I guess I understand in someway that Rummy was over there to inspire the troops and improve morale and thus made light of the ugly situation by saying he doesn't read news papers anymore (implied: and neither should you), and soldiers have the broad support of the American public. True. BUT, by making light of the situation, and saying how everything is going great, everyone is doing a superb job - there was implied "When this happens again, there had better be no photographs - and if there are, you'll need to mow the lawn and rake it too." By taking that approach you insure there will be more of these abuses. It's also possible you may inspire the troops for a day, a week or a month - but when the gravity of the situation comes to light and we're faced with a longer war, made less winnable by this imbroglio morale will suffer both for the soldiers on the ground and for the Americans at home.
5-12-04
Hot in the news today is the Iraqi prisoner abuse situation. This is quite a problem for the nation. There is a lot of debate over who is at fault - is it just a few guards who suddenly at the same time went bad? Was it the CO's fault for not stopping them or supervising them? Was it Rumsfeld's fault for ignoring the Geneva convention to suit his purpose in Guantanamo, thereby disseminating the impression that the rules of the Geneva convention do not apply to the United States (after all EVERYTHING has changed since 9/11). At this point it really doesn't matter who's fault it is - someone ought to bear responsibility for what happened and they will. The unfortunate thing is it will be every American everywhere in the world. The GI's on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, the average Joe walking the streets of NY, the white collar businessman in Los Angeles. We'll all pay the price for this catastrophe. Already I've read an American was beheaded in Iraq "In revenge of the prison abuse" - please, that's a load of crap, he was killed because he was an American in Iraq - the revenge aspect of it is propaganda to rally more anti-American hatred in the Arab world, and it works. I can see the number of disaffected Muslim men signing up for dynamite vests going up exponentially as a result of this prison abuse fiasco. William Safire said in the New York Times that in the end it won't matter because most Iraqi's remember the horrible cruelty of Saddam, and most Iraqi's want the Americans to stay in Iraq because they like them. I personally haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that MOST Iraqi's are enjoying the American occupation. As for the assertion that American torture is somehow better that Iraqi torture.....it's kind of like - which tastes worse, dog shit or cat shit? Both are pretty awful I'd imagine. Maybe we've come up with a kinder gentler torture I don't know. I think what Mr. Safire is ignoring is the broader implications of the damage done. We'll be out of Iraq fairly soon, we simply can't endure the cost and casualties. But then we still have a 'war on terror' to fight, and we've done more to recruit terrorists than any radical cleric could do on his own. We've stoked the flames of hatred and will be fighting the blaze to come for generations.
One last thing. In discussing this situation with my right-wing friends they were able to pin the blame for this mess squarely on one individual. The guard who blew the whistle at abu-garib. "If that snitch had kept his mouth shut", they theorized "we wouldn't have this crap to deal with. He ought to be shot - I hope he gets fragged." I don't really see how that's possible. The last time such secrets were kept under wraps was in the German concentration camps. They were able to exercise just the type of control that was suggested by my friends. I don't think fragging a whistle blower works for an army that is supposed to be an American army. Perhaps I'm missing something.