There is nothing wrong with your
6.28.2007
Hacked!!!
There is nothing wrong with your
6.26.2007
Like Rats from a Sinking Ship
Via the LA Times:
WASHINGTON -- In an ominous sign of wavering GOP support for the White House's
Iraq strategy, two more Republican senators have called on President Bush to
begin planning the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Ohio Sen. George
Voinovich sent a letter to the president today, stressing the need for a
"comprehensive plan for our country's gradual military disengagement from Iraq."
And Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the widely respected former chairman of
the Foreign Relations Committee, Monday evening went to the floor of the Senate
to call on the president "to downsize the U.S. military's role in Iraq."
Comment by Kos:
According to Lugar's spokesperson, this speech was "months in the making, weeks
in the writing". Yet Lugar stood with Bush against recent Democratic efforts to
force the president to change course in Iraq.
It's good he's found reason,
but Lugar made his move after Democratic efforts to force such change ended in
defeat. His speech will make waves, but it could've made a more practical
difference for our troops suffering in Iraq had he made it a few weeks
ago.
Still, I shouldn't complain. This is a good thing.
SiCKO
Make sure you go see SiCKO. Michael Moore's new film opens this Friday, June 29th.
Here's a review from Crooks and Liars.com....
We open on the carpenter who must choose between replacing two severed
fingers: A middle finger for $60,000 or his ring finger for $12,000. Being
financially strapped with no health insurance and as Moore points out “a
romantic,” the patient ops for the discounted ring finger to be replaced.We
learn of the girl, unconscious in a car wreck, who was denied reimbursement
benefits because she didn’t call to request permission for an ambulance, as her
HMO requires.We see a young man casually stitching up a huge gash in his own leg
with thread to avoid another enormous medical bill.But this is not just a film
of individual horror stories.Moore does not focus on the fifty million Americans
who do not have any health insurance.Instead he focuses on the millions who
do.
6.25.2007
The Imperial Vice Presidency
For those of you not yet completely creeped out by that freak
Cheney has changed history more than once, earning his reputation as the
nation's most powerful vice president. His impact has been on public display in
the arenas of foreign policy and homeland security, and in a long-running battle
to broaden presidential authority. But he has also been the unseen hand behind
some of the president's major domestic initiatives.
Scores of interviews with
advisers to the president and vice president, as well as with other senior
officials throughout the government, offer a backstage view of how the Bush
White House operates. The president is "the decider," as Bush puts it, but the
vice president often serves up his menu of choices.
Cheney led a group that
winnowed the president's list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Cheney
resolved a crisis in the space program after the Columbia shuttle disaster.
Cheney fashioned a controversial truce between the legislative and executive
branches -- and averted resignations at the top of the Justice Department and
the FBI -- over the right of law enforcement authorities to investigate
political corruption in Congress.
And it was Cheney who served as the
guardian of conservative orthodoxy on budget and tax matters. He shaped and
pushed through Bush's tax cuts, blunting the influence of Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan, a longtime friend, and of Cabinet rivals he had played
a principal role in selecting. He managed to overcome the president's
"compassionate conservative" resistance to multiple breaks for the wealthy. He
even orchestrated a decision to let a GOP senator switch parties -- giving
control of the chamber to Democrats -- rather than meet the senator's demand for
billions of dollars in new spending.
Ok, we’re pretty sure Bush is lying about something or other, but, uh… Dick?
What the hell are you doing? Just… creepily hanging out in the bushes? There’s a
press conference going on, for chrissakes! You’re freaking out poor Jessica
Yellin!
We are going to have nightmares about this for a week. The Vice
President is from a goddamn David Lynch dream sequence.
[Via TPM
Cafe, who somehow pretend this shit isn’t the scariest video they’ve ever
seen]
As well as this photo montage from Wonkette's "Creepy Cheney Image Database Archives ™"
As a People, We are Dumb
Newsweek magazine published a new poll this week, and the headlne sez it all: Dunce-cap Nation. We could spend hourse debating which question makes Americans look the stoopidest, but my pesonal favorite is this one:
14. Which of the following world empires came into existence first?
61% Roman
17% Ottoman
6% British
4% American
12 %Don’t know/Refused
17% Ottoman
6% British
4% American
12 %Don’t know/Refused
Chickenshit Congressman Accurately Described as "Chickenshit Thief"
Here's a nice little story about pissant weasel Republican congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas and a chickenshit little stunt in which he "borrowed" Tennessee Democrat Heath Shuler's "federal deficit" sign and used it as a prop during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. One little problem for Gohmert, Shuler is a former pro-football quarterback who goes well over 6-feet-tall and 200-plus pounds.
I don't know, who would you take?
"On Thursday, during House votes, a very angry Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.)
had some distinctly non-collegial words for Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)," Emily
Heil reports for Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill." "The words 'gutless,'
'chickens--t' and 'thief' were flung."
The paper reports, "Shuler, a former
NFL quarterback, was spotted towering over a seated Gohmert, wagging a finger in
his face during the heated session, spies tell HOH."
Reporting the Good News from Iraq
The main market area in Baghdad has been bombed repeatedly. Burned out
hulks of buildings and cars can be seen all around. But the shops are still open
and bustling nearly every day. Indeed, one of the most efficient government
services here is bomb cleanup. In some cases, shopping areas re-open only a
couple of hours after an attack, with the streets swept clean.
Check out this fascinating Q&A with two New York Times reporters in Baghdad. Read it to get a taste of what daily life is realy like in Iraq.
Sounds like it kinda sucks, but maybe that's just me.
Lara Logan: Serious Journalist
Lara Logan is a news reporter, a real live journalist. She is Chief International Correspondent for CBS News, and she's been providing some of the most compelling, in-depth reporting to come out of Iraq since near before the war began. Check out this clip from an appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources," in which she comments on war reporting in general and, more particularly, her recent story regarding the rescue of some two dozen Iraqi orphans held in horrifying, Abu Ghraib-like conditions.LARA LOGAN, CBS CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Inside the building, a government-run orphanage for special needs children, they found more emaciated little bodies tied to their cribs, kept this way for more than a
month, according to the soldiers called in to rescue the 24 boys.
STAFF SGT. MICHAEL BEALE, U.S. ARMY: I saw children that you could see literally every bone
in their body, they were so skinny, had no energy to move whatsoever, no
expression on their face.
The end of the clip is excellent. Yeah, sure, Lara Logan is easy on the eye, but she's got bigger balls than idiot Bill O'Reilly could ever hope to have.
SCOTUS Rules Against Jesus; No Bong Hits for the Savior
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled against an Alaska high school student who had unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay.
The widely watched free speech case was notable for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the opportunity to hear an open discussion abot bong hits on the floor of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here are those plucky Alaskan kids and their banner in all its glory:
Let's Get the Minutemen Busy on This One
It seems the Chief Operating Officer of the Californa Republican Party is an illegal immigrant being sought for deportation.
According to this quite
hilarious article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the California GOP has
hired as its chief operating officer, an Australian national who the Department
of Homeland Security has been trying to deport for repeated immigration
violations. As recently as Februrary, Michael Kamburowski, was working, rather
haplessly, as a real estate agent in the Domincan Republic until he "ran away
without mentioning anything to us," according to his one-time boss, Rico Pester,
the owner of Re/Max Island Realty, in the resort town of Punta Cana. (Said his Re/Max
bio: "With his attention to detail, laid-back yet professional approach, and
sense of humor, Michael will smoothen the road to your dream property in Punta
Cana.")
"Smoothen the road"?
6.23.2007
Good News for Wake and Bakers.
In a bit of good news for liberal arts undergrads and JC students across the country, the Senate has weakened enforcement of anti-drug measures in the Senate Higher Education Act. The law had previously stripped students with even minor drug convictions from eligibility for financial aid.
Why anyone ever thought this was a good idea is beyond me. Someone who gets
in trouble with drugs presumably needs to start making better choices -- like,
say, finishing school. This is a particularly important issue for community
college students, many of whom are non-traditional and really struggling to move
in a more positive direction. Getting rid of the question is good. Getting rid
of the law would be better.
Why Is Iraq in Chaos?
The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq's descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider's tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality.
Meanwhile, the beat goes on....
The Imperial Presidency
In the latest outrage to emerge from Slugworth's factory the White House, President Bush and his puppetmaster Dick Cheney have thumbed their noses once again at Congress and the American people.
This time around, both men are claiming the Executive Branch of the government is exempt from oversight.
Every Sperm is Sacred
Here's your goofy pro-life demostration story of the day. Yes, those are dancing sperm. And they say the left-wing protesters who dress up like turtles are whacked?
6.22.2007
What, Barney Fife Wasn't Available?
Josh Marshall has the scoop on Mitt Romney's right-hand man and his penchant for pretending he's a cop.
Norah Jones
Going to see Norah Jones tonight with the little woman.
Here she is singing the Tom Waits song Take the Long Way Home
The Genius of the First Born
Wading into an age-old debate, researchers have found that firstborn
children are smarter than their siblings — and the reason is not genetics, but
the way their parents treat them, according to a study published today.
The study of 240,000 Norwegian men in the journal Science found the IQs of
firstborns were 2 to 3 points higher than that of younger siblings. (The average
IQ is 100.)
Though that may not sound like a lot, experts said even a few IQ points
could make a big difference over the course of a lifetime — and set firstborns
on a trajectory for success.
UC Berkeley researcher Frank J. Sulloway, who wrote a commentary
accompanying the study, said 2 to 3 IQ points could translate to an added 20 to
30 points on an SAT college entrance exam.
"You go to a certain school, meet a famous professor, and the next thing
you know, you've gone on to medical school, made a great discovery and won the
Nobel Prize," said Sulloway, who writes about family dynamics and personality
development.
This information will surely come in handy sometime soon.
6.21.2007
Ultimate: Passion or Obsession?
1986
2006
The question came up recently whether Ultimate frisbee is a passion, or an obsession.
Here's my take on the subject:
Think how many people you know who have quit jobs, blown off finals, dumped significant others, driven 10, 12, 20 hours straight through (or ditched broken down cars along the way and stuck out a hopeful thumb), slept in bizarre places, negotiated with security, run from the cops, tossed a disc in an airport, a bus station, a subway terminal, a busy downtown intersetion in a strange city, or awakened from a dream with that satisfied smile that only comes with catching a game-winning goal.
Now tell me, passion or obsession?
Once More With Feeling
Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon has a few things to say about TV networks that refuse to run condom ads:
Translation: We can accept advertising of sexual devices if they are
advertised as benefiting men. But if they insinuate something as crazy as the
concept that men should respect women’s bodies, health, and choices, then
they’re way out of line.
The good news is that the gloves are off. The
networks are cowering because they’re scared to death of anti-choicers writing
in and bitching about the idea that sluts should escape their due punishment for
having sex. Make no mistake, this is not about the fetuses. Not even the most
crazy anti-choicer can convince himself that condoms kill babies. The idea of
preventing unwanted pregnancy—and therefore preventing abortion, actually—is the
source of the angst. Once more with feeling: It’s not about the babies, it’s
about punishing women for having sex.
Bush Reaches New All-time Low
The latest Newsweek poll came out today, and Dubya has reached a new all-time low approval rating of 26%. The new numbers make Bush the least popular president since Richard Nixon. With 19 months to go in his term, there's a very real possibility Bush could "cock things up" so bad he'll drop below Tricky Dick, which would put to rest any debate about who is the worst president ever.
Good night now, Georgie. You're done.
He's Just Not That Into You
Message to LA Lakers fans: Kobe Bryant's just not that into you.
Bill Plaschke:
When are you finally going to get it?
When are you Lakers fans finally going to realize that Kobe Bryant doesn't
like you nearly as much as you like him?
When are you going to get it into your painfully loyal souls that Bryant
has taken everything you believe about him, casually wadded it up and tossed it
on the floor as he heads out of town?You're not his soul mate, you're his sweat
towel.
He has trivialized your loyalty, toyed with your faith and trampled on your
tradition.And still you beg the Lakers not to trade him?
When are you finally going to get it?
Bryant just doesn't want to leave the Lakers, he wants to leave you.
You, the guy from El Monte who spends his tax refund on a one-tenth share
of an upper-bowl season ticket? Bryant has publicly and repeatedly devalued your
investment.
You, the woman from Torrance with the oversized No. 24 jersey? Bryant has
publicly and repeatedly damaged the credibility of that uniform.
And, you, the Riverside father and son who can't afford tickets but cheer
for all the Lakers on television? Bryant has publicly and repeatedly ripped
those players.
6.20.2007
Of Course They Knew
In the current issue of The New Yorker, investigative reporter emeritus Seymour Hersch lowers the boom on President Bush and the top men in his White House for their criminal efforts to create a wall of "plausible deniability" in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. In an interview with former Army Major General Antonio Taguba, Hersch details how Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, General Richard Meyers and almost certainly Bush knew full well the extent of the crisis at Abu Ghraib, yet they decided, quite literally, to look the other way. Despite Taguba's repeated attemps to convey the scope of the abuse, Rumsfeld refused to look at the pictures, certainly the only way he could ever testify to not having seen them.
At one point Rumsfeld openly mocks Taguba as the former general arrives for a meeting:
…“Here . . . comes . . . that famous General Taguba—of the Taguba report!”
Rumsfeld declared, in a mocking voice. The meeting was attended by Paul
Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld’s deputy; Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense
for Intelligence; General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
(J.C.S.); and General Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, along with
Craddock and other officials. Taguba, describing the moment nearly three years
later, said, sadly, “I thought they wanted to know. I assumed they wanted to
know. I was ignorant of the setting.”
Then they just (played) dumb, like the foolish little boys they are:
”In the meeting, the officials professed ignorance about Abu Ghraib. “Could you
tell us what happened?” Wolfowitz asked. Someone else asked, “Is it abuse or
torture?” At that point, Taguba recalled, “I described a naked detainee lying on
the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum,
and said, ‘That’s not abuse. That’s torture.’ There was quiet.”
The folks over at Hullabaloo go into this whole burgeoning scandal in great deatil, so I'll just let you head on over there.
Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Research, Again....
President Bush has seen fit once again to thumb his nose at the will of American people, not mention the hopes and dreams of the millions of people suffering from potentially curable diseases, by breaking out the ol' veto pen and putting the kibosh on the expansion of stem cell research for a second time.
It was only the third veto of Bush's miserable presidency, yet the second to expressly prohibt certain promising forms of stem cell research. His only other veto came earlier this year, when he redlined Democratic legislation that would have put limits on his ability to prosecute the failed war in Iraq.
This veto belies the cynical political calculus that drives every decision made by the Bush administration. By a wide majority Americans support this kind of research, and Bush's arguments for vetoing the legislation have been widely and repeatedly repudiated. Foremost among these specious claims is the one that stem cell research "compels taxpayers to fund the destruction of human embryos." This is fearmongering and pandering at its worst. The fact is, most stem cells taken for research purposes come from embryos that are slated to be discarded, which in plain English means "thrown away." So whenBush denies these embryos to researchers, what he is in fact saying is he'd rather see them tossed than put to good use.
We'll leave the last word to someone who has looked long and hard into this issue, and for good reason: Michael J. Fox
Army Considers Extending Combat Tours, Again....
Mind you, everything on the above linked list occurred within about the past 24 hours.
King George's war is madness.
6.19.2007
Rudy G. Was MIA for the ISG
So Rudy Giuliani, current front runner for the GOP presidential nomination and the world's #1 September 11 gravy-trainer, was apparently too busy pulling down $100,000 a speech to set aside any time at all to sit in on meetings with the Iraq Study Group. This report at Newsday.com details how Giuliani ditched the panel -- which was tasked with advising the Bush administration on how to get out of the Iraq quagmire -- after just two months, having attended exactly zero meetings.
[Giuliani] cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision
to
quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times
conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4
million in 14 months.
Another One Bites Sniffs the Dust
Well, well, well.... Yet another law and order Republican appears to going down in a flame of hypocrisy. And this time it's for dealing drugs!! Now, while I'll be the first to acknowledge I take particular glee in noting Republican hypocrisy wherever and whenever it rears it's ugly head, I sure wish these Bible-thumpin', womanizin', double-dealin', money-launderin', sanctimonious pedophile bastards would leave the time-honored profession of drug dealing to the experts. You just know a holier-than-thou Republican pusher would short the bag! It's just the way they operate.
Boooonussssss Update!!!! :-D Turns out this 44-year-old sniffer of the Devil's dandruff is law-and-order, torture fiend presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's South Carolina campaign manager:
Boooonussssss Update!!!! :-D Turns out this 44-year-old sniffer of the Devil's dandruff is law-and-order, torture fiend presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's South Carolina campaign manager:
Ravenel in April was named the state chairman for former New York Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
Most Accurate (fake) Magazine Cover of 2004
Author, political analyst and Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald has a new book out: "A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency." In this most excellent tome, which may be ordered here, Greenwald spells out in unsparing terms the damage wrought by Dubya and his whole sorry lot of imperialist neocon henchmen:
The central purpose of the book is to examine what has happened to the United
States for the last six years under the Bush presidency. That is the "Bush
legacy" -- our national character and national identity have been fundamentally
degraded, our moral standing and credibility in the world eroded to previously
unthinkable depths, our government engaged in the very behavior which, for
decades, we have collectively deplored, our trust in America's governmental and
journalistic institutions reduced virtually to zero, and our country placed on a
plainly unsustainable course as a result of the militarized, imperial role we
are choosing to play in the world.At the heart of this process lies a
binary moralistic view of the world, one which seeks to define every conflict
and political challenge, both foreign and domestic, as a battle of Good versus
Evil. The crux of this mindset is the continuous identification of an Enemy, one
which embodies Evil and which must be stopped, typically destroyed, at all
costs. No competing considerations, no rational arguments, no counter-balancing
objectives, not even constraints of reality or resources, can compete with the
moral imperative of this mission. The mission of destroying Evil trumps all.And the converse then also falls comfortably into place: those who seek to
destroy Evil -- whether it be America, or President Bush, or the right-wing
political faction that has supported the Bush presidency -- are, by definition,
the embodiment of Good. Thus, whatever steps they take, whatever instruments
they employ in service of their mission, are intrinsically justifiable because,
by definition, they are employed in service of the Good.It is this mindset, more than any other single cause, that has driven us to embrace extraordinary policies and truly radical beliefs that are as ill-considered and incoherent as they are destructive. This is the "moral reasoning" which led us to invade and indefinitely occupy Iraq, to vest previously unimaginable power in the President, to allow our country to become symbolized by orange-jumpsuit-clad, shackled and leashed detainees locked away and brutally maltreated in lawless prisons around the world, and which has brought us to the brink of still new wars in the Middle East, most alarmingly with Iran. It is this reasoning which has rendered our country virtually unrecognizable, and has placed us on a course which simply cannot be sustained.
And whatever else one might want to say about the President, there is no denying that his presidency has been extraordinarily consequential. For better or worse, the legacy of George W. Bush is the legacy of the United States. And the only meaningful political question, one that imbues every specific political debate, is whether we want to continue and extend that legacy, or fundamentally abandon it so that we can begin to reverse its consequences. The overriding objective in writing this book was to shed as much light as possible on the Bush legacy in order to induce a much-needed examination of these questions.
I must say, Greenwald's arguments are more cogent and reasonable than a lot of what I feel for these thugs in my heart. I think of them more as a simple band of crooks, who fancy themselves as supervillains, like those you might see in one of the old Batman TV shows, with a bunch of goofy, know-nothing henchmen menacing innocent people and all the floors tilted sideways back at the lair. Only this time, no one's playing it for laughs.
It's Like Being Hit in the Head with a Hammer
Comedy time! There's a funny as hell little website out there that's the creation of one Adam Schlafly, son of notable right-wing shrew Phyllis Schlafly. "Conservapedia" is Schlafly's answer to the notorious and disreputable "Wikipedia." Here's the whole sorry tale of its beginnings, along with some of its more hilarious entries.
Here, for example, is Conservapedia's take on geology:
Take the Pleistocene Epoch. Most scientists know it as the ice age and date it
back at least 1.6 million years. But Conservapedia calls it "a theorized period
of time" — a theory contradicted, according to the entry, by "multiple lines of
evidence" indicating that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, as described
in the Book of Genesis.
Economics:
A hike in minimum wage is referred to as "a controversial manoeuvre that
increases the incentive for young people to drop out of school.
Politics:
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (b. 1947). She "may suffer from a psychological
condition that would raise questions about her fitness for office" — namely,
"clinical narcissism," Conservapedia asserts. Evidence of her instability
includes her "ever-changing opinion of the Iraq war."
Their entry on kangaroos, for instance, says that, "like all modern animals . .
. kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern
kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great
Flood."
You may not recognize the word "baramin." It's a 20th-century
creationist neologism that refers to the species God placed on earth during
Creation Week. Special for kids: I wouldn't use that word on the biology final.
Although maybe your parents could sue the local school board for failing to
teach the Book of Genesis in science class.
More on Conserva-kangaroos:
"After the Flood, these kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to
Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land with lower
sea levels during the post-flood ice age, or before the supercontinent of Pangea
broke apart, or if they rafted on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding
flood waters."
The image of the kangroos from Noah's ark floating to Australia on flotsam rafts paints a pretty romantic (not to say scientific) picture of how certain things came to be. Don'cha think?
6.18.2007
Economics Primer
Jesus' General writes a letter to the National Council on Drug Control Policy:
I was doing some research on the economy, and I discovered something
interesting. Of all the items listed below, the price of only one item has gone
way down since Bush took office. Everything else has become much more
expensive.
Dozen eggs
Gallon of
Gasoline
Health
Care
Gallon
of Milk
Ear of corn
8-ball
of cocaine
College Tuition
Loaf of bread
This is Just a Bunch of Baloney....
It really seems a shame to blame an 8-year-old kid because his parents are deadbeats.
CHULA VISTA, CALIF. — When too many parents fell behind on paying for school
lunches, the Chula Vista Elementary School District decided to get tough — on
the children.They told students with deadbeat parents that they had only one
lunch choice: a cheese sandwich.The sandwich, served on whole wheat bread, came
with a clear message: Tell your parents to pay up — or no more pizza and burgers
for you.The cheese sandwich, they say, has become a badge of shame for the children, who
get teased about it by their classmates. One student cried when her macaroni and
cheese was replaced with a sandwich. A little girl hid in a restroom to avoid
getting one. Many of the sandwiches end up untouched or tossed whole in the
garbage. Sometimes kids pound them to pieces.
6.17.2007
Are You Getting Your Money's Worth?
Here's an interesting (albeit long) post discussing the obscenity that is U.S. military spending. Ian Welsh pointedly notes that despite spending 41% of our entire budget on our military-industrial complex, we are actively losing two wars, and with them well over 3500 American soldiers, to a bunch of rag-tag guerilla fighters, some of them using weapons we supplied them.
And what are we getting for all that sacrifice?
And there is an opportunity cost to the military. As Eisenhower pointed out so
eloquently, every dollar spent on the military is a dollar that could have been
spent helping someone who needed it - feeding the hungry, teaching those who
need schooling, caring for the sick, or even just repairing roads or building
high speed Internet so the US stops falling behind other 1st world nations.
A
modern military is almost always a huge burden on the state and the people of
the state. It produces nothing. It is nothing but a money suck. Sometimes it’s
necessary - some nations really are in danger of being invaded. Other states
have problems with internal order that require them to have an army to put down
parts of their own population (Turkey and the Kurds, for example).
But the US
doesn’t have any possibility of being invaded; doesn’t need an army for internal
order (and is forbidden to use it for that purpose in any case); and is running
significant trade; government and balance of payment deficits. Entitlements are
currently under pressure, with much talk, still, in elite circles of ‘reforming”
both social security and Medicare. And in this context, folks, reform always
means providing less and taxing more.
Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming
Looks like inadequate medical care wasn't the only thing they screwed up over at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.
Ritter was Right
Scott Ritter was Right. Here he is speaking before the Iraqi Parliament in Spetember of 2002:
My country seems on the verge of making a historical mistake, one that will
forever change the political dynamic which has governed the world since the end
of the Second World War; namely, the foundation of international law as set
forth in the United Nations Charter, which calls for the peaceful resolution of
problems between nations. My government has set forth on a policy of unilateral
intervention that runs contrary to the letter and intent of the United Nations
Charter.
The consequences of such action are not only dire in terms of their
near-term consequences as measured by death, destruction and lost opportunities,
but also the long-term global destabilization that will result in the rejection
of an international law by the world’s most powerful nation. As someone who
counts himself as a fervent patriot and a good citizen of the United States of
America, I feel I cannot stand by idly while my country behaves in such a
fashion.
[…]
My government is making a case for war against Iraq that is
built upon the rhetoric of fear and ignorance as opposed to the reality of truth
and fact.
And now, with Joe Lieberman and the rest of the war pigs rattling their sabers at Iran, we come to this reality:
IRAN has threatened to launch a missile blitz against the Gulf states and plunge
the entire Middle East into war if America attacks its nuclear
facilities.
Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a senior defence adviser to the supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that Gulf states providing the US with
military cooperation would be the key targets of a barrage of ballistic
missiles.
We live in insane times.
6.16.2007
6.15.2007
I Coulda Been the Governor
I've been trying over the past few years to give y'all some insight into the political mind and what it takes to run for office ( a la, "governor"). It's been quite comical for my drinking buddies I know, though it's been stressful for me, and I'm certain that by now you've all got me painted as just about the nuttiest pseudo-politician ever.
Uh, you'd be wrong.
Huckabee Loses Fruit of the Loom Endorsement
This is Mike Huckabee. He once lost 100 pounds. Yeah, sure, he used to weigh a whole lot, but now he wants to be your next president.
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