POT AU FEU

Here's a collection of important stories I'm not going to comment on:

Bush and AIDS
Oops, they hanged the wrong guy
When did God dig the Grand Canyon?
Can Christians actually beat Muslims?
Anyone besides me find this scary? Nuclear Walkmen
What I'd like to see is someone honest in the Bush administration ...
So they talk to us, but we don't talk to them? I'd rather have a gerbil than my own head up my ass ...

SO DON'T FUCKING BUG ME, FIONA

You should do the dishes.

DADDY

Last night, Nightline attributed Saddam's hanging - and, implicitly, the war - to Saddam's attempt to assassinate Bush 41.

So what will 43's legacy be? He avenged Daddy.

Crimes against humanity? It's all in your motivation - and your point of view.

HMMM

From TruthDig:

"Fatah secretary general in Lebanon Sultan Abu al-Einin said Thursday that four attempted attacks by the group near the Israeli border have been curbed by Hezbollah.

"In an interview with the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul al-Arab, al-Einin said that in some of the incidents Hezbollah operatives detained the Palestinian militants sent to carry out the attacks and handed them over the Lebanese law-enforcement authorities."

Interesting.

MIAMI OF THE NORTH

From Daily Kos:

"A gigantic, ancient ice shelf has detached and begun disintegrating off an island in remote, northern Canada:

"Nat'l Geo -- "It's like a cruise missile came down and hit the ice shelf," [Warwick] Vincent said. "It no longer exists." The breakup was spotted on satellite photos shortly after it occurred, but scientists have held back until now to make an announcement."

Some people are ignoring global warming. But I'll bet there are financial entities that are making very careful calculations of how they can profit from it. After all, it doesn't mean the end of humanity (does it?) Just a shifting of assets from one place to another.

For example, New York. Sure, Manhattan will lose a bit of real estate - but then they've already taken a lot of land back from water, why couldn't they do it again? The advantage? New York becomes the Miami of the North, and New Yorkers don't have to spend all that money at the Delano.

WWJD?

I just realized there's one voice we haven't heard from with a suggestion on what to do in Iraq. It's ... Jesus!

And here's a congressman who's going to remedy the deficiency.

WELL PUT TOGETHER

Following up on my last, most poignant post:

The most exquisite - maybe the sexiest - thing in the world to me is a well-put together woman. "Well-put-together" is a term of art which has lost its usefulness - it means a woman, whether naturally attractive or not, who, by application of her sense of style, using clothes, makeup, posture, voice, deportment, etc., seduces the attention of strangers with an appreciation of artful beauty. It helps to be pretty, obviously - but it isn't necessary. Or at least it never used to be.

Now, I think, physical beauty is intended to stand alone, and be perceived notwithstanding the bearer's "apparent lack of interest" in augmenting the perception by any form of behavior (except sticking her ass out or flipping up her shirt, in the case of those who aren't entirely sure just "being beautiful" is enough.)

Therefore, plastic alteration is necessary when the corpus doesn't stand up to the competition.

Cheaper to buy a gorgeous dress - if there still are any.

I assume this analysis applies to men, as well. At least, I hope it does.

STYLE BITCH

Flew from PBI to PVD. Flight three hours late, which is getting routine these days. This time the reason was that PBI (that's Palm Beach) held back the commercial flights so the executive jets could leave after Christmas. I was really pissed about this at first - usual leftist tendencies - but then realized the answer is to get on the executive jets. A little late in life for a new career, but what the hell.

Anyway, I had time to ruminate, and this is what I came up with:

Maybe the reason why so many Americans go for plastic surgery is that they no longer have any sense of what to wear. They used to say "clothes make the man;" that is clearly no longer true. At the airport I only saw one male who even made an attempt to look good; the rest wear clothes that send no unique message at all. They all look the same - sloppy. I guess that's democracy. (This does not include black guys in shorts down to their ankles; they are obviously making a statement, but it doesn't make me smile.)

And the statement women's clothes seem to be making is: I'm going to fuck someone tonight. It probably won't be you, but I wanted you to know. (This does not include rich women from Palm Beach, but you don't see them at the airport much. You wouldn't think it would include New Yorkers - Manolo Blahnik and all - but unfortunately it seems to.)

Here's my question: is the lack of good-looking accoutrements the result of the fact that there's nothing decent in the stores - believe me, I looked, for Christmas - or is the fact there's nothing good in the stores due to lack of public interest? Either way, the airport is a world of indistinguishable shlemiels. (I assume everyone from Boca Raton either drives or flies charter.) So if you can't dress to look good, you can at least fix the frame you hang clothes on, and the face that floats above them. That way you can look good naked. So they should come to the airport naked. Then I wouldn't bitch about style.

IT HAS BEGUN

Wonder why you're having such a nice warm winter?

It has begun.

NO RACE

Here's what the Democrats need to do in the next two years:

They need to pass all the good legislation the American people want. None of it will be signed into law; Bush will veto most of it and the Democrats won't have the votes to override (unless Republicans in Congress get real smart real fast). The Democratic presidential candidate runs on the record of the Democrats in Congress. The Republican candidate either has to disavow Bush or run on the record of Bush vetoes.

There won't be any real Presidential race in 2008.

THE ENEMY

Bush keeps referring to "the enemy." We may only have one enemy - al Qaeda - but Bush lumps into the singular the plural forces at work in the Middle East: Sunni, Shia, insurgents, Baathists, Syrians, Iranians, Lebanese, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinians, Saudis - as if they all had complete common interest and were united in the goal of destroying America.

As long as a person with that idiotic notion continues to control the military, we're going to spend buckets of money and plenty of lives as well without any understanding of what we're doing or what we're up against.

BANKRUPT DOCTOR: OXYMORON

A Florida doctor without malpractice insurance (legal in Florida) was able to duck a serious malpractice suit by filing bankruptcy, although he was allowed to keep his $1.6 million dollar house, investments of $450,000 and his $38,000 monthly income.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO FLORIDA CONSUMERS: Before you let any doctor treat you, ask if he has malpractice coverage. If he doesn't, get out of his office.

SPEECHLESS

The AP reports that some prospective in vitro parents with disabilities - deaf, or dwarf - are asking for - and getting - embryos which carry the parents' disability. As one female dwarf put it, "You cannot tell me that I cannot have a child who's going to look like me."

I'm so stunned by this story that I don't know what to think. I can't even comment on it. Can you?

THE NERVE

Goldman Sachs just paid chief Lloyd Blankfein a whopping $54 million in salary and bonus this year amid a record year for profits at the Wall Street powerhouse.

Don't worry, my co-religionists. It's not all going to go up in smoke this time.

But I don't believe we really worry. I think we just want to remind the goyim what they did to us, so they won't have the nerve to bitch when we do something they don't like.

BIGTIME

After ten years on the air, Jon Stewart isn't funny any more. His jokes are falling flat, and his guests are inconsequential. On his last show, he had Ben Stiller who did nothing but plug his movie. That's Jay Leno, not The Daily Show.

I think the November election is the reason. Stewart has spent ten years fired up by the Clinton impeachment and six years of George Bush craziness. But the mood has changed since the election. Bush is still a problem and an absurdity, but he is becoming - or hopefully will become - increasingly irrelevant. He just doesn't matter much anymore. As he has become more pathetic, jokes about him and his co-delusionists have lost their bite. And keeping the edge on the public is not quite as important. Everyone wants a rest - at least for a month or two.

I think Stewart feels he has accomplished his mission, and doesn't quite care as much anymore. Time to move on, Jon. Turn the show over to Lewis Black, who is certifiable and will find humor in whatever we have to live through next.

But you've done an incredible job. You got us all through it. We owe you bigtime, and we always will.

I STAND BY MY STORY

Persephone provides a definition of "sex addiction": The clinical conditions that include the concept of high levels of sexual desire and/or activity are hypersexuality and sexual addiction or compulsivity. The central features of these disorders are that sexual activity is an insatiable need, often interfering with other areas of everyday functioning; sex is impersonal, with no emotional intimacy; and despite frequent orgasms, sexual activity is generally not satisfying."

Okay. But tell me the truth. Does that sound like Bill Clinton to you? Did his infrequent sex with chippies interfere with his job? Do you think he didn't enjoy getting head?

I still say some therapist made some bucks on a bullshit diagnosis.

HAVE YOUR CAKE

Bill Clinton has been treated for a "sex addiction"?

Good. Another therapist has found a career making an illness out of something people used to enjoy. Next they'll go after chocolate, or Starbucks, or a celebrity "addiction", which should keep a million therapists earning for twenty years.

I was going to say that we have here another new, bogus diagnosis. But then I remembered nymphomania, and realized that women have long been treated for sex addiction; this is just a new diagnosis for men. So this is just another move toward gender equality.

But wouldn't it make more sense, in the era of liberated women, to get rid of the nympho dx rather than create an equivalent for males? Women have earned the right to have as much sex, with whomever, as they want. Why shouldn't males have the same entitlement?

I'll bet it's a hangover from caveman days. Back then, women didn't want their men to cheat because it threatened their financial security. Now women have their own financial security, but they still don't want men to cheat - while at the same time female infidelity has risen to levels which, by some studies, exceed male cheating.

Now women know what fun is. Men used to know. Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too?

GOOD

According to the BBC:

Hundreds of Palestinians have rallied outside parliament in Gaza City, urging rival factions to stop violence and restart unity government talks.

This on top of student protests in Iran.

Something is beginning to jump start Middle East democracy. Is Bush going to take the credit? Possibly. But if there is any tie to American policy or politics, my guess is it would be the November election results and the Baker-Hamilton plan. That is certainly what the timing suggests, if it suggests anything. It may be that in Gaza and Iran, people are beginning to hope that there will be an American government with a genuine interest in Middle East progress. And to hope that extreme factions can be embarrassed into moderation.

Maybe it's just coincidence. But it's good.

DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

Another bad Jew.

But living proof that Catherine Steiner-Adair is nuts.

PLEASE READ THIS

It will be good for you.

MY FAULT

According to Catherine Steiner-Adair (who appears to have married outside the faith), a clinical pscyhologist at Harvard Med, because of their genetic predispositions Jewish women cannot attain the physical ideal of 5'10" and under 120 lbs.

Really? Lots of girls must be lying about their faith.

She complains that "weightism" is a new prejudice. She says lots of Jewish girls feel bad because they don't look like Nicole Richie. She's shocked that 90% of bulemics are women. She says women are oppressed because they believe that you don't count if you don't attain the physical ideal.

First of all, this woman needs a new career. I suggest something janitorial or caddying at Shinnecock. At the least, please stop her from saying that this shit is medical.

Weightism is a new prejudice? No, it's neither. Among certain social classes being fat has suggested, probably since the 1920's, that you're too lazy or unhappy to stop yourself from eating. Among other classes and cultures, however, being fat is just fine. Just take a look around the mall or the airport one of these days. What she's saying is that social climbers don't like fat people (not people who've made it, who can be as fat as they like.) If that's a problem for you, try being yourself. If that doesn't work, find a better class of friends.

If lots of Jewish girls feel bad because they don't look like Nicole Richie, they start with a little work at the plastic emporium. Jewish girls haven't liked their noses since plastic was invented. When they get their noses done, they look like Jews with weird noses.

The fact that most bulemics are women indicates that physical perfection is a female obsession. You can't even get most guys to go clothes shopping (note women's clothes emphasize decolletage while men are wearing shmatas instead of well-cut suits); they do care about their appearance (although most of them have no taste) - they just don't obsess about it, except to spend half of their lives at the gym. But exercise makes them healthy so they'll be able to not go shopping for fifteen or twenty extra years.

Women are obsessed about "weightism"? Probably true, but who's fault is that? Women are oppressed by "weightism"? Who exactly is oppressing them?

If a girl is unhappy with the way she looks, it is probably not her daddy's fault (except if he's really ugly and she got his nose or chin.) It's a better bet they've been watching mommy stress over fixing herself.

It's true that a lot of men want to marry good-looking women. But why would a woman want to marry one of them? As soon as the woman starts losing her looks, or gives up being flirtatious (and/or subservient), he's going to go looking for another good-looking woman. If I were a woman, I wouldn't marry one of those guys unless he were very rich.

It's also true that good-looking women do better in the job market. Since good looking men do better, too, this could not be considered a woman's issue. If you want to surrender your feminist stance and go after "good-lookingism," I'll be right there with you. Good looks mean absolutely nothing meaningful.

So, if women are oppressed by "weightism", they are oppressing themselves. Do they think I really believe that the reason they got those tits was to keep up their husband's interest? Or was it to compete with the bitches down the block?

These women are like George Bush - they can't seem to understand that something could be their fault.

No. I know. I'm wrong about that. It's all my fault.

CAVILS

Two small cultural cavils:

1) Rosie O'Donnell's feud with Donald Trump over Miss USA MADE THE NATIONAL NEWS.

Here's an exercise for you: picture Walter Cronkite. Picture him trying to deliver that story. Picture him upchucking all over his desk.

2) In the song from "The Sound of Music," the original version of one of the songs included the following lyric: "Adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and yuh."

In a current commercial, it's "adoo, adoo to you and you and you."

Well, damn, if Fiona didn't leave the TV on all day, I'd never even have known.

COST OF DOING BUSINESS

Here's some legislation the Democrats ought to pass:

Any company which chooses to manufacture and sell voting machines used in national elections is considered to have waived any proprietary or trade secret rights to included software, to the extent that if there is a dispute as to results tabulated by that software, a disadvantaged candidate or an independent commission shall have the right to fully examine that software for the purpose of determining whether the seeds of the complained of error are contained within it. If such error is found to be in the software, the machines may not be used again in national elections until the error has been corrected and the same persons who have previously examined the software certify that it is safe to use.

If you choose to make money by selling voting machines, this loss of trade secret protection should be a cost of doing business.

MORE FLORIDA MORONS?

In Christine Jenning's Florida lawsuit to compel a new election in the Sarasota district where 12.9% of the voters appear not to have cast a ballot in her race (while they voted in all the other races on the ballot), the defense, to avoid a court order requiring impartial examination of the software used in the voting machines on which this happened, argues that it was the voters that screwed up, because on some of the screens (including Jennings') more than one race appeared. Apparently they got confused and skipped one of them.

I will accept this argument if someone can show me independent evidence that 12.9% of Sarasota County voters are morons. This could be accomplished by sampling telephone polling asking voters questions like: 1 + 1 equals what? Or: Florida is in what country? Or: who's smarter, you or President Bush?

Otherwise, judge, let's take a look at the voting software. I don't understand why it's undiscoverable anyway. It may be proprietary, but for God's sake, what's more important: ES&S profits or democracy?

INTELLECTUALS

In a column in which she noted that a number of congresspeople and intelligence operatives don't know what the difference is between Sunni and Shia, Maureen Dowd said: "The lack of intellectual urgency about our Middle East wars is chilling." Well, that's only a little part of the problem.

The lack of intellectual urgency in this government about anything is chilling. The lack of intellectual urgency in America, though, is endemic. Most "experts" (TV talking heads) have no intellectual basis for what they say - meaning that they have exercised no intellectual rigor in investigating what they talk about. Most "intellectuals" - those who actually do examine things rigorously - turn into fundamentalists about their own points of view. And then there's the vast middle ground of dinner-table "intellectuals" who regurgitate what they read in the New York Times, and the other vast middle ground of know-nothings with opinions.

About the latter two, one can do nothing. But as to the putative American "intellectuals," I have two little bits of advice:

1. Do your homework.
2. R ... e ... l ... a ... x. Nobody's going to hate you if you're wrong unless you hate them for being right.

MIKE GALLAGHER

I don't even know who this guy is, but add him to the list of crazy Irish with the gift of gab - Hannity, O'Reilly, and I'll take suggestions on others.

The Republicans ... a real melting pot ... the Jews design the plans, the Protestants carry them out, the Irish Catholics make the noise, and the blacks look pretty and smile ...

TO DRINK!

Students are protesting in Iran. If Bush supports them against Ahmedinijad, how can he not support progressives who are protesting him?

Maybe the reason he's so rabid against Iran is that he recognizes in Ahmedinijad his own baser instincts. Damn, it's enough to drive a guy to drink!

EVIL?

I cannot trust the judgment of any person who describes anyone as "evil" - because it's just an excuse for avoiding rational threat analysis. The people who use the term mean by that people - or other entities - they want destroyed. Leaving aside the Devil - and good luck trying to destroy him - so-called "evil" people may or may not be a threat to us. The way the term is used lately, they may just be people some people don't like.

So if you use the word "evil," be prepared to be ignored.

STRAIT JACKETS

The more I listen to Bush, the more I realize how dangerous it is to put the fate of the world into the hands of infantalized people.

Long before the ISG report - and certainly after it - political discussion should have reverted to intelligent discourse. Yet we are still hearing one absurdity after another, not just from him but from all the dumb political and media sons of bitches who have been responsible for crapping us up since 1994.

Here's something I bet has not occurred to you: The problem with Bush is that he thinks like an Arab - the kind of Arab who denies the Holocaust and insists that Israelis flew the planes that hit the World Trade Center. They - and he - will believe the most irrational things because in their minds everything has to be someone else's fault. And that other someone is evil incarnate. In their minds - and in his - bad events are caused by devils. They blame Israeli devils, he blames Democrats. For them - and for him - it's all a question of personal honor, the kind of honor that bristles at any question of his correctness, the kind of honor that requires vengeance for a slight, the kind of concept of honor that underlies fights that go on for centuries and the assassination - physical in their case, political in his - of anyone who dares to suggest that the dispute be put away.

I'll tell you how disspiriting this is: Bush seems to believe that only force will compel Muslims to calm down. Maybe the same logic ought to be applied to him. If some of the ayatollahs belong in strait jackets, what kind of gadget do we need for Bush?

BUT YOU CAN'T BLAME THIS ON A WHACKED JURY

And you thought the McDonald's coffee spill case was crazy?

GAWKERS

Sometimes it takes me a long time to understand the big picture, but I got it now.

The American public is like drivers on the interstate. It gawks at accidents alongside the road - Bush, Falwell, Foley, O.J., the runaway bride - and slows the normal flow of things down to zip.

Is this just human nature? I don't know. Do drivers in Iraq stop to gawk at a blown up Humvee?

The things we're trying to understand are driving us nuts.

HEADLINES

Okay, so it wasn't the final word.

The press is all agog because Bush has admitted we're not winning in Iraq. Here are a few other stories which need immediate front page coverage:

Angelina Jolie admits the sun does not revolve around the earth.

John Kerry admits things fall down, not up. (Sidebar from Henry Kissinger: not in space, they don't!)

Lee Atwater admits he'd rather be alive.

The Pope admits that people like sex.

George Bush admits his daughters are completely worthless.

My God, there's a whole workweek of headlines!

THE REAL FINAL WORD

No, here's the real final word:

I would dearly love not to have anything to write about.

FINAL WORD

Final word on this topic - I hope.

There is not going to be an end to hysterical, irrational politics until the nutcase is out of the White House.

The Democrats - who, I think, have a tendency to be quieter than Republicans - have the House and Senate, yet the political scene and discussion is just as insane as before. 90% of it is centering around Bush who, I think, has decided his mission and legacy is to inject as much poisonous nonsense into the system as possible. It's not that he's stupid. It's that he's uncivilized. He has no comprehension of normal human interaction.

If the bullshit is going to keep surging, though, there is one way at least to keep it away from us. I vote that for the next six months, all media outlets - including blogs - be banned from delivering opinion or reporting anything anyone says. If they - we - only report things that have actually happened - not things that might happen or might not happen or what anyone thinks about it - America might calm down enough to make intelligent decisions.

Shut down Fox News and I'll shut down this blog. That would be bipartisan, wouldn't it?

SICK OF IT?

Clay Shaw, a 13 term Florida Congressman who just got voted out, calls for more bipartisanship in Washington.

Clay Shaw voted to impeach Bill Clinton.

Republicans only care about bipartisanship when they lose.

Are we getting sick of hypocrisy yet?

I GIVE UP

Miss USA has been partying hard in New York since she won the title. She's under age and she's been drinking a lot. Probably having sex, too. How unique of her.

But Donald Trump has instructed her in how to be a celebrity - i.e., go into rehab. It's great for your career. Next thing you know she'll be adopting an orphan from Zambia, marrying someone so she can get laid (and divorcing two months later so she can have sex with someone ese.) Final step? Her memoirs. Then Oprah. Then the lecture circuit.

Poor kid. She didn't realize that celebrity has a price. You're not allowed to do what every other American kid does unless you're prepared to confess it on mike with a great heave of tears. That is, unless you're Paris Hilton or one of the Bush kids, who are celebrities because they party, drink and fuck. Well, actually, don't know if the Bush kids fuck. But a recent study reveals that 95% of Americans have had premarital sex, so if they don't they're pretty weird. But considering their family, weird would be expected.

Speaking of sex study: it reveals that 95% of Americans have had premarital sex by age 44. Using that as a criterion, I have to conclude that the 5% who are not married by 44 and haven't yet had sex are caged up in a secret zoo or were born without sex organs. If you see one, call Oprah. She'll do a show on it.

HOW TO DO IT

Bush has decided to increase the size of the US military. Great. Where is he going to find more soldiers? The services are already scraping the bottom of the barrel, have dropped the required IQ level and increased the age limit. Besides, how many sane people are going to volunteer as long as a crazy man is President?

I have two suggestions on how to get it done.

1) Increase soldier's pay to more than the average 2006 bonus at Goldman Sachs. There are always people out there willing to die for a lot of cash.

2) Open the services to illegal Mexicans. Twelve million new soldiers ought to be enough.

FINALLY

From Blondesense:

------

The Golden Rule is the fundamental moral principle found in virtually all major religions:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” ~Moses

“What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.” ~Confucius

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” ~Jesus

“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” ~Muhammad

And yet, all religions have extremists who repeatedly strive to break this Golden Rule.

------

Christ, how long have I been pointing this out? Especially in my wonderful podcast novel "The Tenth Cow" which you should listen to at podiobooks.com.

But there's one thing being missed here:

The Golden Rule may be the foundation of religions, but you don't have to be religious to use it as your guide. The Golden Rule is a fundamental instinct of humanity (well, at least the better parts of humanity). Religions are excrescenses built on this rule for reasons which have nothing to do with the rule, which explains why so many religious don't understand it, and why it plays so little part in the noise religions make - these days, anyway.

ARE WE?

Hillary's pollster Mark Penn says Hillary is getting strong support from younger women.

No shit, Sherlock.

We're heading toward a full-scale breakout of what most people are now willing to call a civil war in Iraq.

Are we headed for a full-scale breakout of what most people still won't call a gender war in 2008?

A BIT LATE

Southern Methodist University in Texas might get the Bush presidential library. But some of its teaching staff don't want it.

Faculty, administrators, and staff of the university's Perkins School of Theology say they would:

...regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.

If the Bush library is sited at SMU, two graduates of the school have stated their plans to lobby to have "Methodist" removed from the university's name.

Some faculty members are not happy generally to be associated with the library of a president who — his librarian wife notwithstanding — isn’t seen as a big fan of intellectual life. When the reported price tag of $500 million for the library was publicized last month, professors didn’t like their institution being linked to the jokes being told. (Conan O’Brien: “President Bush is putting together his presidential library and apparently the library is going to cost $500 million, which will work out to $100 million a book.")

What the hell is happening in Texas? Is there a nascent return to some kind of sanity? Is the non-reptilian mind finally being used? Have the Methodists woken up about Southern Baptist madness?

Here's what I want to know: what took you so long?

DOES HE OR DOESN'T HE?

Does it ever occur to Bush, when he warns us what a catastrophe Iraq will be if we pull out, that it wouldn't have been a catastrophe if he hadn't fucked it up?

Does he realize this mess is his fault?

.....

.....

Nah.

ANYTHING BUT

As America seems to be beginning to return to rational thought, John McCain turns more and more to what used to be called the "conservative base." After kissing Falwell's butt he's making the neocon's war arguments.

But it's amazing, isn't it, how small that "base" has become. (Or maybe it always was that small and was blown up out of proportion by our sensation-seeking press, or by our fears of what it might do - sort of the same type of irrational fear that followed 9/11.)

So John McCain is very busy marginalizing himself. He's made the wrong political judgment - although he probably never had any choice. People were desperate to see him as a maverick, because they couldn't stand the Establishment; and he has such a nice way of speaking and comes across so earnest. Well, he still comes across earnest, but now he looks misguided. That's what happens to a "maverick" who is anything but.

R.I.P.

I hope.

FATHER ISSUES

Bush wants to surge more troops to Iraq. The Joint Chiefs are opposed. Why is Bush refusing to follow anyone's advice - not the military, not the ISG?

Is it because he's born again? Whether it's his religion that convinces him he's right, or his conviction that he's right that has led him to his religion, I can't say. Or maybe he actually knows he's wrong - or suspects it, anyway - but he is just so pissed - in his infantile way - that he's dug in his heels just to insult everybody else.

In any case, it took this country way too long to realize that you can't trust your government to a kid with father issues and a simple-minded way of resolving them.

INTERREGNUM

It's been noticed that I'm slowing down - less posts being made to this blog. But I'm not getting lazy - there's a reason for that.

Before the election, I had collected a pile of podcasts - op ed pieces, video clips from Crooks & Liars - pointing out the horrible shape this country was in. But after the election, I got rid of them all. I didn't need their validation of what I thought - the country had validated me, and there was reason to hope.

So now it's the interregnum. Not much is going on. Many things are being said, but I pay little attention to those. What will matter is what begins to happen when the new Congress convenes, and we find out whether we have changed, how much and to what effect.

I'm just enjoying the holidays, in my agnostic way. I have a feeling I'm going to need the rest.

ULTIMATE ALLEGORY

The company building the border fence between San Diego and Tijuana is building it with lots of illegal immigrant workers.

It's the ultimate allegory - or is it metaphor? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

IRRELEVANT

From the HuffPo:

"Iraq's embattled prime minister offered an olive branch to former supporters of Saddam Hussein, calling for them to join the country's new leaders in a national peace process.

"At the opening of peace talks, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged former soldiers from the ousted dictator's defeated army to join Iraq's new security forces in fighting the armed factions which are tearing the country apart."

Everybody's doing the ISG except dear George.

Since they'll never put together the votes to impeach our president, the next best thing would be to render him completely irrelevant. And that's exactly what's happening, as quickly as global warming.

Unfortunately, for the troops in Iraq he's still relevant. It's time for them to stand up and start protecting themselves. And they are. See, e.g.

MUCH FASTER

Summer rains continue in South Florida, and snowbirds are not coming down because it's near 60 degrees in NY.

The end is near for the South Florida renaissance, as Coney Island becomes the new Miami Beach. Why come to Florida when Florida is coming to you?

That is, for a couple of years - until the beaches go under water along with half of Manhattan. But then all Florida will be living with Atlantis.

It's happening much faster than anyone thought it could.

IT KILLS ME TO SAY BAKER'S RIGHT

Think Baker-Hamilton is delusional? Better read this.

CONSEQUENCES

Barack Obama is the O.J. Simpson of 2007.

No, I don't mean he's a killer. I mean he's the subject of a media frenzy for no good reason.

I see Obama as the equivalent among the political cognoscenti of Paris Hilton among the party-inclined, or Rosie v. Ripa v. Aiken among the aspiration-deprived.

If Obama is just something to yak about - a distraction - that's bad enough, with all the important stuff going on right now. But if he's something to care about, then we have just become too comfortable and mentally retired. Since it is dangerous to go all tabloid when selecting a president, I recommend that those who are convinced he is the answer (without any real reason therefore) go back to making money and coddling your kids. For intellectual entertainment I suggest pondering the question of who Lenny Bernstein's lovers were. There will be no consequences to thinking you know the answer to that one.

INFIDELS NOT ALLOWED

From the HuffPo:

"Google Trends allows us to see precisely what people all over the world are searching for. In Egypt they're searching for sex. In fact, the most searches globally for sex are conducted in Arabic. In Salt Lake City, there are the highest searches in the world for pornography."

That's why non-Muslims should not be allowed to live in Egypt, and non-Mormons should not be allowed to live in Salt Lake City. They're giving us believers a bad name.

NO, THIS ONE'S EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS!

Mama, keep feeding your kid soy and you're going to raise a faggot!

I'm still amazed how many people make a living pushing absolute horseshit. What this guy says is no more absurd than a flyer from Goldman Sachs.

OH MY GOD, HOW RIDICULOUS WE'RE GETTING!

Waco 4-Year Old Suspended For Giving Female Teacher A Hug (Sexual Harassment!)

At first blush, this is about overly PC thinking and rampantly idiotic feminism.

At second blush, though, remember, this is WACO, TEXAS. This teacher is probably horrified by extramarital sex. If this were New Hampshire, she would have fucked the kid and then married him when he turned thirteen.

Then again, this is TEXAS and the kid is black ....

55 IN DECEMBER

ABC News -- A team of scientists from the United States and Canada has found new evidence about the rapid melting of ice in the Arctic. Data presented at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union suggests all year-round ice could disappear by the year 2040. The scientists also believe recent research shows a tipping point which would trigger a rapid melting is fast approaching.

What do I care? I'll be 98, i.e. dead. And if you have kids, why not let them worry about it? By that time, they'll be through with binge drinking.

It's 55 degrees in NY in December. That's a good thing, isn't it?

DO-OVER

The LA Times reports that as President Bush weighs new policy options for Iraq, strong support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to "double down" in the country with a substantial buildup in American troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite leader impeding development of the Iraqi government.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff will present their assessment and recommendations to Bush at the Pentagon today. Military officials, including some advising the chiefs, have argued that an intensified effort may be the only way to get the counterinsurgency strategy right and provide a chance for victory.

This story brings two song titles to mind:

"Let's Start All Over Again," by the Paragons (bet you don't remember that record from 1956), and a slightly altered Billy Preston title, "Nothing Plus Nothing Makes Nothing."

Jim Baker? Ahh, he's State Department. He's got the same stupid attitude as Colin Powell.

Do you think this would have worked in Vietnam?

YEAH, RIGHT

The NYT reports that Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that it might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according to American and Arab diplomats.

This was the message Cheney got when he was summoned to Riyadh two weeks ago. During the visit, King Abdullah also expressed strong opposition to diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran, and pushed for Washington to encourage the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, senior Bush administration officials said.

The Saudi warning reflects fears among America’s Sunni Arab allies about Iran’s rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiite influence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government would use Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.

All sorts of thoughts occur.

1) Is there the slightest possibility that Saudi Arabia (or at least Saudi Arabians) have not already been providing financial support to Iraqi Sunnis for years?

2) Since SA indicates no intention to actually send troops into Iraq to replace withdrawn Americans, what is their money supposed to accomplish? Iraqi Sunnis have no shortage of weapons, and I'm sure even if we withdraw we would be willing to continue to arm them. There has to be something else to what amounts to this Saudi threat to America - and all roads lead to a bet that it has to do with oil.

3) SA demands that we don't talk to Iran, and Israel demands that we don't talk to the Palestinians. We do what they tell us to. When is this administration going to do what Americans want?

4) The Times goes on to say that part of the administration’s review of Iraq policy involved the question of how to harness a coalition of moderate Iraqi Sunnis with centrist Shiites to back the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Geez, isn't that what we've been doing since 2003? Wow, I'll bet we're a whole lot better at it now.

5) The Saudis have argued strenuously against an American pullout from Iraq, citing fears that Iraq’s minority Sunni Arab population would be massacred. The best thing SA could have done to protect Iraqi Sunnis would have been to convince Bush not to take Saddam down. Why didn't they put pressure on him before the invasion? Or did they? And if they did, why didn't Bush comply? Answer: he must have been so confused, with the Saudis telling him one thing and the neocons and the evangelicals telling him another, and he just couldn't sort it out in his head, and Dick Cheney was always there with him, and King Abdullah was not.

6) The Times says the Saudis have been wary of supporting Sunnis in Iraq because their insurgency there has been led by extremists of Al Qaeda, who are opposed to the kingdom’s monarchy. Oh, my. Maybe it would have been better if they hadn't paid for the madrassa system that created al Qaeda.

7) A Saudi official did a Times op ed piece in which he suggested that Saudi Arabia could cut world oil prices in half by raising its production, a move that he said “would be devastating to Iran, which is facing economic difficulties even with today’s high oil prices.” The Saudi government disavowed the piece, and fired the guy. But Arab diplomats said Tuesday that the column reflected the view of the Saudi government. So a huge cut in oil prices is going to devastate Iran but not Saudi Arabia? Uh huh. They could pull this off for about a week.

The Saudis are fairly subtle thinkers, so I would not take anything they say at face value. But it is clear that they are acting in what they think is their national (and Sunni) interest. When do you think the US is going to start to do that?

IN A NUTSHELL

Jimmy Carter builds homes for the poor and mediates international crises. Bill Clinton helps the blacks and works worldwide against AIDS.

What significant work did Ronald Reagan do after his presidency? What did Gerald Ford do? Bush 41 couldn't do anything without Bill Clinton. Why? Because humanitarian efforts never occurred to him.

The above is (in a nutshell) the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Good Democrats care about the world. Good Republicans care about their buddies.

NETUREI KARTA IN IRAN

A handful of Orthodox Jews have attended Iran's controversial conference questioning the Nazi genocide of the Jews - not because they deny the Holocaust but because they object to using it as justification for the existence of Israel.

They are Neturei Karta, who believe the establishment of the Jewish state was sinful because it was not done by the Messiah. They say Israel should be eliminated, replaced by "a regime fully in accordance with the aspirations of the Palestinians when Arab and Jew will be able to live peacefully together as they did for centuries". They say the Holocaust is being used to legitimise the suffering of other peoples and they attended the conference because they wanted to break a taboo on discussing it. They object to the use of the Holocaust as a "tool of commercial, military and media power".

Neturei Karta play a significant part in my podcast novel "The Tenth Cow," so I know them well. I certainly don't agree with them that Israel should not exist, but I do think they have a point when they say that Jews tend to use the Holocaust to pursue goals which have nothing to do with that awful event, and as a screen to deflect criticism of Israeli policy. What's interesting is that, for the most (to me) bizarre of reasons, they come down as the most humanitarian of Jews, at least when it comes to the Palestinians. Now that Jimmy Carter's new book has come under attack by American Jews, I wish there were more of them with a less defensive and less idiosyncratic point of view. I wish they would come to Neturei Karta's point of view without following the logic that led to it.

OH WELL

From Truthdig:

"A military watchdog group is accusing senior officers of coercing soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity—as demonstrated in a promotional video the senior officers appeared in. “We apparently have a radicalized, evangelical Christian Pentagon within the rest of the Pentagon,” says the watchdog group head."

And I thought the military was the last bastion of reason in Bushworld. And believe me, it took a lot of twisting to get me thinking that way. Must be why my back hurts. Well, now I can straighten back up.

AMERICA'S LAST INDUSTRY

From the Huffpo:

"The big investment houses are set to deliver unprecedented 2006 results after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported Tuesday the biggest annual profit in Wall Street history.

"The world's largest investment bank reported a staggering profit of $9.4 billion and revenue of $37.67 billion for its fiscal year thanks to record takeover activity and a robust stock market. Record high revenues came from every part of its business, including investment banking, fixed income, commodities, equity trading, and asset management."

And they don't even make anything!

GETTIN' UP TO SPEED

Read this from America Blog.

GOOD GOD

From Cannonfire:

"Tim LaHaye has engineered a video game version of "Left Behind" in which players must either convert non-Christians or gun them down. I'm not kidding. The game is not intended as "edgy" humor; the makers mean business."

OK, where do I sign up for the NRA?

MEAN IT

From the NYT:

"House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property....

“This is a warning to oil and gas companies,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “When you get a Democratic Congress, you are going to get a cop on the beat.”

Go, Dems! But for God's sake, don't say things like this if you don't mean them.

Frank Rich says the ISG is bogus. Well, it's not.

Rich says we have already lost in Iraq. Well, of course. The ISG recognizes that. What the entire ISG proposal is directed at is making one last serious attempt at fixing what we broke and, if that fails, leaving the mess for the region to deal with. The ISG does not contemplate the possibility of "winning" in Iraq. It is merely trying to reduce the size and consequences of the loss. Like, for example, the permanent spillover of chaos to the entire region. It may happen anyway, but why not try to avoid it?

Rich says everyone already knew what the ISG has told us. First of all, not everybody knew. The ISG report should be very useful in giving those Americans who have not gotten it yet a simple way of thinking about Iraq which brings them to the truth, if they have any interest in the truth. And then there's Bush, who, it can be argued, knew absolutely nothing of what the ISG laid out.

Secondly, the fact that everyone knew things were really bad does not mean everyone has been able to put together a plan for puting an end to it. Actually, nobody else has done that. The value of the ISG is not in telling the truth about current conditions, but giving us a framework to deal with them.

Rich says the ISG's recommendations are unattainable. Probably true; even the ISG recognizes that. As Richard Haas and Tom Ricks said on Meet The Press today, the plan might have had a real shot if implemented three years ago. So give us an alternative, Frank? What would you do? While Rich implies his answer would be to get out now, he never actually answers this question in his piece.

Probably because he doesn't want to be in any way responsible for the disaster that would inevitably follow immediate withdrawal. I give the ISG much more credit for courage than Rich, because they have expressed a willingness to accept the same disaster if it follows a failed attempt at their recommendations.

The ISG said any acceptable solution will require an immense effort of political will in the US and in the region. I have no reason to believe that political will will be mobilized in either. That is no reason not to give it a last ditch try. Failure will be proof that humanity has not reached the level where its primary concern is comity and humaneness. Nobody with any sense actually thinks this concern is paramount. But wouldn't it be a revelation if it turned out to be?

IF YOU CALL IT STUPID, YOU'RE STUPID

Great discussion on Iraq on "Meet The Press" this morning. Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations should immediately replace Condoleeza Rice. All of the discussion was intelligent and thoughtful - with the possible exception of Ken Adelman's continued support for the initial invasion of Iraq.

From here on out, I judge every politician, "expert" and commentator on the intelligence of his or her response to the ISG. People like Rush Limbaugh who call it "stupid" should be dismissed out of hand - their comments show their complete incompetence in any serious discussion of policy. People who carp about this or that element of the plan prove their inability to take a larger view.

The value of the ISG report is that it is the only thoughtful plan which has been put out there. The likelihood of its success is not good - but as was said on MTP, the point of the plan is to have America take a last best shot at solving Iraq. If it fails, it will be possible to say, with justification, that Iraqis (or the regional powers) are causing their own destruction.

Of course, the Islamic counterargument is that none of this would have happened if we hadn't knocked off Saddam. That is a truth we are going to have to live with forever. But as to the question of what can be done now, the ISG has it exactly right.

GOOD NEWS - MAYBE - FROM IRAQ

From the NYT:

"Iraqi officials are near agreement on a national oil law that would give the central government the power to distribute current and future oil revenues to the provinces or regions, based on their population, Iraqi and American officials say.

"If enacted, the measure, drafted by a committee of politicians and ministers, could help resolve a highly divisive issue that has consistently blocked efforts to reconcile the country’s feuding ethnic and sectarian factions. Sunni Arabs, who lead the insurgency, have opposed the idea of regional autonomy for fear that they would be deprived of a fair share of the country’s oil wealth, which is concentrated in the Shiite south and Kurdish north."

Does this mean someone's actually doing something constructive over there?

BUGGING THE PRINCESS

Could someone please tell me why our Secret Service was bugging Princess Diana's phone on the night she died?

Did we want to know who she was fucking? If so, why? Or did we think she was a Russian agent or something?

Please. Help me out here.

STOP NOW

This is the last time I'm going to say this.

Anyone who watches Fox News does not know the difference between truth and lies, or between logic and bullshit, and does not care. Any progressive who goes on that network only feeds the Fox fire.

I know why they go on O'Reilly. They think they're going to be the first to get the best of him. Getting the best of him is impossible on his show - he uses illogic and invective to cut you off, his fans love it and there is no real discussion or argument. All they do is make him look better to his viewers, and make liberals look stupid or weak or whatever they want to call it.

If in fact it is good for a liberal's resume to note that he's been on O'Reilly, I'd like to know who that resume is going to.

NOT GOOD

This is not good.

Democrats simply can't afford to make mistakes like this - certainly not in the first three months of their control of Congress. People are not going to tolerate ignorance on critical matters from Democrats when they have elected them because they are, for the moment, more trusted than Republicans.

If the Democrats are amateur night, they'll have a short reign.

THE KIDS

On the attention being paid to Bush 43's daughters:

Nobody's damn business.

They have a right to be kids like everyone else and do what any other kid would do. If they're empty-headed party girls, that's only what you would expect considering the genetics ... but they're not required to meet any public expectations.

If they run for office, that will be another story.

HOW DEEP?

From the HuffPo:

"Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in
Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.

"Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition."

Of course they are. The Saudis understand the real war in Iraq, and the stakes for Sunni and Shia.

There's no real reason why the Saudis would target US forces (the Shia are their target, not us) unless they think the US is going to come down on the Shia side. That, I suspect, was the message the Saudis just gave Cheney. But the insurgents want us out, so we get hit with Saudi-funded weapons. I.e., we are collateral targets of the larger fight.

I wonder how long the Saudis have been laughing at their "friends" the Bushes who facilitate Saudi business and religious interests without really understanding them. Or do they understand them? As they profit alongside the Saudis? Just how deep is the conspiracy?

Either way, that family has made a lot of trouble for us. I mean the Bushes. OK, and the Sauds too.

WHO'S A BABY, BABY?

This article discusses whether men are immature babies.

Do you think you'll ever see an article discussing whether women are immature babies? No? Would that be because it's beyond debate that they aren't?

Well, surprise. Here's what the article's author has to say:

"But what I really object to is women deploying the language of maturity, and a certain level of moral superiority about it, to mask what is, in actuality, romantic disappointment, or simply not getting enough action from men on the needs-fulfillment front. These needs of ours are ancient of course—you might even say they're childish, as where else do they originate? That makes them no less real, but they do tend to precede the entry onto the scene of the disappointing man in question—who wants to sleep with a 21-year-old instead of you, or uses dishes straight out of the dishwasher without emptying it first, who "won't commit," or whatever the particular injury is. But the charge of not growing up, of being a baby—I believe it applies to anyone with needs, including the women hurling the immaturity epitaphs around. It kinda starts to look like a projection, with "feminism" providing the cover story."

Thank you. Sorry if women hate your guts.

SETTING HIMSELF UP

From the AP:

"One of the study group's central recommendations was for the administration to reach out to Syria and Iran for help in stabilizing Iraq, a course Bush has rejected in the past and confronted skeptically on Thursday.

"Countries that participate in talks must not fund terrorism, must help the young democracy survive, must help with the economics of the country," Bush said. "If people are not committed, if Syria and Iran is not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up."

This is a man who refuses to be saved. Bush 41 was condemned for not noticing anything about the real world. Bush 43 notices, but is not moved.

How are we going to get around this moron and get things put right?

The ISG approach conforms to the hopes of the vast majority of Americans (Democrats MUST understand this.) It's not a matter of whether they're right or wrong (as they themselves freely admit), but that they have offered a way to break the national logjam which has at least a chance of success. Anyone who refuses to honor that approach condemns himself.

Bush is setting himself up for impeachment. If this continues, Democrats MUST make the case that Bush has to be gotten out of the way for any improvement to be possible. They can't do that if they quibble over what is and what isn't in the ISG report. Democrats who don't get it are setting themselves up for defeat.

IN THE POCKET

There's only one reason why Joe Lieberman is a hawk on the Iraq War, and why he is included in a meeting with Bush to discuss responses to the ISG report:

Lieberman's in the pocket of the Israel lobby. That explains everything Lieberman does.

NOT NOW, JACK

John Murtha says:

"On November 7th, 2006 the American public sent a message on Iraq and as the new Democratic majority, we must respond with decisive action. Staying in Iraq is not an option politically, militarily or fiscally. The American people understand this. Today there is near consensus that there is no U.S. military solution and we must disengage our military from Iraq. The Iraq Study Group recommended that we begin a withdrawal of U.S. troops by early 2008, depending on conditions on the ground. This is no different than the current policy. In my view, Iraq is plagued by a growing civil war and what is best for America's security needs and the future of our military is a responsible plan for redeployment."

He's probably right, but that's no reason not to follow ISG recommendations. Those who want immediate withdrawal are not the only players whose views and needs have to be propitiated if an overall solution is to be reached.

Everyone must give a little to make anything work. It doesn't help for Murtha to speak out against the ISG plan now. He can do that later, when the plan's failure is obvious - if that happens, which it probably will, but which I hope it doesn't.

CRUMBLE AND ROT

Here's why falling mortgage rates are not going to help the housing market:

What created the housing bubble was investor involvement. People buying homes to actually live in would never have driven prices so high. The market being what it is - it's likely you're going to have to hold on to most houses for long enough that the carrying costs have a serious impact on your finances - make it very unlikely investors are going to rush back in. They're looking for other places to put their money now.

We're overbuilt, and that was obvious as it was being done. Current inventory has to be substantially reduced, and I don't think the buyers are out there to do it.

Housing prices are going to drag for at least a few years. And frankly I have no sympathy for over-developers. I hope their excess stock crumbles and rots.

WATCH WHO FUCKS IT UP

Here's the full text of the ISG report.

It is an amazingly detailed and well thought out program of what should be tried. It is probably the most comprehensive and well-reasoned foreign policy proposal since the Marshall Plan. It is what has been sorely lacking from all sides of the current dispute.

This approach must be attempted. If it fails, so be it. But to carp at it now, without providing any better-reasoned alternative, is incredibly destructive. I expect the Democrats to support it fully (that includes Russ Feinstein), unless and until it proves to be unworkable.

America is going to get behind this report. Anyone who obstructs it runs the risk of being marginalized.

So now I'm going to watch and see who fucks it up.

TRUE

I've discovered the reason why the Bush Administration is what it is and does what it does ...

Dick Cheney is a dyke.

DIFFERENT HANDS

I was going to praise the Iraq Study Group report with a detailed analysis, but so far I can't find the full text online. So let me say that from what I know, the report is a perfect parsing of what should be attempted to resolve the Iraq debacle. I'll get into more detail when I do find the text.

But note, from TruthDig:

"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said early today that talks with Syria were not possible, and that Bush wasn’t interested in speaking to Damascus either: “I can only say that the opinions I heard from the president and from all senior administration staff on the Syrian issue are such that he did not see a feasibility in talks on the American-Syrian track or on the Israeli-Syrian track.”

This is what we're up against.

In my view, anyone who refuses to at least attempt the ISG recommendations needs to be removed, ignored (if possible) or threatened into compliance.

We cannot allow Israel to dictate our foreign policy. We certainly can't let Bush do it, either. Which brings up the biggest problem with the ISG report? Who's going to implement it? We're going to trust diplomacy to Rice?

Since the ISG was smart enough to realize that its recommendations could be overtaken by events on the ground - meaning speed was of the essence - this is the best argument yet for impeaching Bush and Cheney, If you agree with any of the ISG proposals, it follows that you agree that our Executive has to be put into different hands.

Now.

WHERE ELSE CAN THEY STICK IT?

From the Washington Post:

"A panel of rabbis opened the way Wednesday to allow same-sex commitment ceremonies and the ordination of gays within Conservative Judaism, which occupies a difficult middle ground between orthodoxy and liberalism in American Judaism.

"The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards committee accepted three teshuvot, or answers, to the question of whether Jewish law permits homosexual sex. Two of the answers uphold the status quo, which forbids homosexuality. But one of them allows ordination of gay men and lesbians and same-sex ceremonies while maintaining a ban on anal sex.

"Four of the committee’s 25 members resigned in protest of the decision.

"It takes the votes of just six of the panel’s 25 members to declare an answer to be valid—meaning that it is a well-founded interpretation of Jewish law, not that it is the only legitimate interpretation. As Wednesday’s vote made clear, it is possible to approve contradictory answers."

Hmm. Let's see. Exactly what does that leave them? Armpits?

I used to think it was only Catholics with whom it was impossible to argue religion. Now I think it's impossible to argue anything with anyone. You always bump up against some arbitrary rule or belief which eliminates the possibility of a rational resolution.

Why don't we all stop talking and just have fun?

TRAGEDY

Finally watched "An Inconvenient Truth". What a tragedy it is that Al Gore is not our president, and that little tiny men were successful in bringing him down.

This is why I can never support Hillary, Obama or Kerry. I am looking for someone who matches Gore in the intelligence directed to understanding in depth what the world looks like now; the diligence to bring all his capabilities to bear on a problem; the love for truth and the hope for human progress - and add to that the ability to get himself elected. I haven't seen any of the above four dedicate themselves (recently) to anything other than getting elected, and I don't think we can afford another president who is elected simply because he is a better politician. We can't afford another president who has no idea what he will do if he wins the office. We can't afford another liar, another denier.

I'm for a philosopher king. Someone who thinks deeply about something beside himself.

We used to elect them routinely: Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Reagan. No Bushes. I wonder if we have the collective intelligence and morality to do it again other than by sheer luck. Not from what I'm hearing - Hillary, Obama - we don't.

PIT BULLSHIT

Serena Williams' pit bull bit a security guard at her gated community. Williams denied owning the dog, said she was watching it for a friend. But the dog is registered to her, and her web site says she owns it.

Is this conduct - lying even when the truth can be easily discovered - something the Republicans have taught Americans? Or did Americans teach the Republicans that?

Whichever way the lessons went, too many Americans think the truth doesn't matter. Transparent lying is as American as mall rats. It used to be people lied until they were caught. Now they just keep lying until it's clear no one believes them, and then they switch to Tactic 2 - insincere apologies.

Bush 41 wept at a celebration of Jeb Bush's retirement. Do you think he felt bad for foisting Bushes on the world? For all the damage all of them have done?

Nah. He's just a crier.

COURTING EVANGELICALS

Re Barack Obama (or any Democrat) courting the evangelicals:

Any evangelical who agrees with progressive positions - at least as to the Constitution and the environment - is welcome into the party alongside the rest of us. I don't like their religious beliefs, but they're no barrier to cooperation as long as such evangelicals are not motivated to use public life and power to impose those beliefs on the rest of us. Whatever you believe religiously, you're okay if you're good on the other important issues, as long as you don't try to legislate your beliefs.

I'm not so sure that Obama feels the same way, however. I think he might trade for their support with his support for Jesus laws. I think that because I believe, at this point, that Obama has few principles. As I've said before, I could take that back after I hear more.

HELP US, NANCY!

Has Nancy Pelosi seen this?

THE ONLY OPTION

Among the "suggestions" for dealing with Iraq in the now-infamous recent Rumsfeld memo were economic incentives.

George Will has pooh-poohed them, saying that economics will have no impact on a religious war. He's wrong. If he still believes religion is the sole Middle East motivator, then he hasn't yet understood 9/11.

Semites like money. It's very important to them. The right economic incentives might influence their behavior - although most likely in a direction Western minds can't predict. Still, if there's anything America might still be able to do, it's in the matter of who gets what.

Of course, the US has pursued precisely no goals of this sort in Iraq. We haven't even funded the reconstruction effort, and the sole American focus on spreading dollars around has been on which US contractor gets what. It's hard to see how American dollars could play a role in Iraq - they've got the oil, after all, and we don't.

But what they don't have is either the inclination or the skills to build a productive economy. If we could give them a serious start in creating industries which will employ all those Iraqis with high skills and no jobs, we might at least deflect the Islamic religious from aiming their hatred straight at us; and we might start to eliminate the grievances that drove so many of them to radical religion in the first place.

I'm not sure it will work. But I am sure it is the ONLY possibly workable option we've got.

VILSACK? NOT IMPOSSIBLE

I heard Tim Vilsack on Stephanopoulos Sunday. Considering the competition, I would not rule him out as someone who might put up a real challenge for the Democratic nomination.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

From the HuffPo:

"Environmental rollbacks from the Bush administration "in the dead of the night" are history, the incoming head of the Senate environment committee declared Tuesday.

"That's over. We are going to bring these things into the light," Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said in a wide-ranging interview laying out her agenda with The Associated Press. She cited concerns about a host of new Bush administration rules on air, land and water quality."

Oh, God, I'm kvelling!

ON GEORGE BUSH'S HEAD

The U.S. Marines now say they've lost Anbar Province to al Qaeda. If that's true, how can we leave Iraq?

At a minimum, there must be a military presence - whether it's ours or UN of whatever, I'm not sure matters - which prevents al Qaeda operatives from leaving Anbar. Once they're out of that province, they can commit mayhem anywhere in the world.

I don't know how the U.S. can contain al Qaeda in Anbar when we don't have the intelligence to know whether someone approaching a presumed provincial border check point is or is not a terrorist. But that's what has to be accomplished. The other alternative - which may, in fact, be possible - is to reach an accomodation with al Qaeda which reduces the threat to us or Europe, but which - because they will insist on it - will leave them free to take down Middle Eastern governments they don't like, and to establish their caliphate, if they can pull it together.

Frankly, our best hope now is to pray that Sunni and Shia continue to hate each other. We might even rely on the Shia to keep al Qaeda pinned in, and at the same time rely on al Qaeda to hold the Shia down. If, God forbid, they ever put aside their history, these two - which so far are nihilistic movements, not wanting to build something good but to tear things down - will poison the whole world for years to come.

And every resulting death will be on George Bush's head.

WORST

From America Blog:

"Five years after the fall of the Taliban, a joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work, and that managers of the $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone."

Read more.

Incompetence? Theft? More fraud than under the administration of U.S. Grant?

George Bush really is the worst president ever.

BEGINNING

Now I find out political bloggers are being paid to talk up various candidates.

That should be the beginning of the end.

GETTING DUMB

From the HuffPo:

"The Wall Street Journal, whose wide pages and text-rich look have long been an icon of the American newspaper business, is about to undergo several changes that include cutting three inches off its width.

"Along with the size reduction, which is equivalent to about one of its columns, the newspaper will add more color and graphical elements, including greater use of photographs. It also will have fewer stories "jump" inside the newspaper."

Hey, tabloid financial journalism. I didn't know all those guys who live on the ocean in Palm Beach ran home from work so they wouldn't miss "American Idol"!

God, we're getting dumb.

THEIR FAULT

From Think Progress:

"A joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work, and that managers of the $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone.”

So can we at least impeach those managers? Or try them for treason? Or sue them to get our money back?

Now that I think of it, why can't we sue the Republicans? It's their fault.

COMFORTING

Diane Feinstein will introduce legislation requiring paper trails when using electronic voting machines.

It's a very comforting feeling to know there's at least one Democrat who's focusing on each Republican sin which needs to be corrected.

Six Hail Mary's and a roll of paper tape.

BIG BOYS HAVE TO

Raul Castro wants to talk to Bush. Hey, everybody wants to talk to Bush. But Bush won't talk to anyone he doesn't trust or can't dominate.

Could Georgie's mommy please tell him it's called diplomacy, and it's something all big boys have to do, even if they don't want to?

WRONG BOOK

The American Family Association, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the news media's influence on society, has entered the fray, calling on people to ask members of Congress to pass a law that would make the Bible the only book that could be used during swearing-in ceremonies.

Great idea, wrong book.

I vote for Joseph Heller's "Catch-22."

DO THE HONORABLE

This is becoming a refreshing political year, as has-beens with alleged presidential aspirations have faced reality and removed themselves from the race. First it was Frist, now it's Daschle. As soon as Kerry and Gore do the honorable, we can get down to the hard job of finding a Democrat who (1) we want to be president and (2) will win.

WIDENING OUT

Iraq may look like Vietnam on the ground in Iraq. But not here.

Iraq is not Vietnam because Americans are not in the streets.

They are not in the streets because there is no draft.

I never realized before now that the all-volunteer army was specifically created to keep citizen involvement in wars to a minimum, thus allowing the powers-that-be to proceed unobstructed. It was the most important step taken to disengage Americans from politics and governance.

I suppose it's true in every nation that if you don't have a personal stake in policy, you don't bother with it. Except in Islamic countries - or rather, Muslims have a personal stake in policy because they are concerned that it mirrors their beliefs. So do evangelicals here. So it's the moderates and liberals who have been purposely disengaged. My conspiracy theory keeps widening out.