TRULY FUCKED

The blogs are not running the current political revolution (actually, revolution is the right word, implying a revolving or returning to eternal democratic principles). But they can take the credit for keeping the liberal spirit alive in the dark days when no one else wanted to do it. And for doing the research and keeping track of Bush's dirty deeds so Pelosi and Schumer could start the turnaround without having to wait until they had their facts straight. So yes, the method of American politics has changed, and democracy on the internet turns into democracy in the Congress.

Now - a word of warning. If it is true, and I don't doubt it, that al Qaeda wants us to stay in Iraq and wants to keep Bush in office because of the colossal number of favors he's done them, we might expect a new attack some time soon. And since Bush benefits - and the rest of America loses - if it occurs, and since Bush would be inclined to make a whole new set of mistakes, we'd better be ready to take immediate control of the response. Leave it to him and America is truly fucked.

A BRIDGE

Republicans are still insisting that a pullout from Iraq will lead to disastrous consequences for our future. Which of course may be true, but entirely misses the point.

So here's a deal the Democrats can offer the President:

We're not going to take the blame for your fool war. But if you will admit that your stupid ideas have put us into a situation in Iraq where all available alternatives can lead to disaster ... then maybe we'll cut you a little slack.

So if the President wants to give his policies more time to work, all he would have to do is humble himself a bit.

Any bets on whether he'd do it? Wanna buy a bridge?

BLOCKED

From The Huffington Post:

The question tantalizes and terrorizes American Idol viewers: What if Sanjaya wins?

The toothy teen with the big hair -- crafted into a fauxhawk Tuesday night -- and minimal voice sailed into the top 10 last week, ensuring a spot on this summer's Idol tour. If he skates through tonight's elimination round (Fox, 9 ET/PT), the fuss over his confounding staying power is bound to intensify.


I personally am consumed by this important issue. I refuse to go to the toilet when Sanjaya is on - or discussed - so I haven't taken a good dump in several weeks. It's not just the timing that's constipating me - it's the worry over the outcome, it's paralyzing my anus and I won't be able to make it do what it's supposed to do until I know what's going to happen to this guy.

LEGACY?

I keep hearing people surmising that Bush will do such-and-such because he's thinking about his legacy. Where in the name of Jesus do they get that from?

Bush cares about his legacy? Come on. After all that shit he pulled?

Bush doesn't care what people think about him. He cares about turning this country into a corporate fiefdom and a military dictatorship - which, incidentally, pretty much defines fascism. He will keep doing what he's doing until someone else is sworn in - and I would bet that he doesn't really believe that will ever happen, just as I don't believe I'll ever die. Bush is a political Peter Pan - and Peter Pans don't think about what's going to happen tomorrow; they think about the fun they can have today. Think of him as a prom queen - what has he got to look forward to that's as good as what he's got in the moment? My guess is he'll end up at the end of some cheesy Crawford bar, dawdling over Bud lights and telling everyone how great he was. That is, if he doesn't succeed Cheney as president of Halliburton - and that would be Halliburton's greatest mistake.

WHOM I'M WITH

Most of the people I know don't know that I write this blog. That's because I don't tell them - because I don't want to have to temper what I write out of fear of offending them. A lot of what I write here will offend Republicans, or the religious, or women (some) or anyone else who is in the habit of doing things I don't like - and I don't want my neighbors to hate my guts.

More of them, however, know that I write novels, that I make audio productions of them and put them on the web. That's because I am eager to tell them that. So it really bothers me that so few of them have shown any interest in what I have to say.

I know most of them don't have iPods, and aren't used to listening to audiobooks. But they all have computers, and they can learn. So I have to conclude that there are two possible reasons why they don't listen to my stuff, and certainly don't pass it on to others: 1) the way they perceive me precludes any possibility that I might say something interesting, or 2) I have the wrong friends.

I'm working on this. When I figure out which, I'll find a way to fix it - which means either fixing myself or fixing whom I'm with.

WHO TO CALL

Whoever it was - Newton Minow? - who said, all those years ago, that TV was becoming a vast wasteland would be aghast if he turned the box on now. TV is literally full of crap. Each new cable offering is more braindead than the last. What was supposed to be a flowering of diversity (the growth of cable television) has turned into a competition of dumb against dumber - one in which the networks have grown eager to play, because the only purpose of TV now is to sell stuff to dummies. And the only people who watch it with any regularity are those who have no aspirations and are perfectly content to waste their lives on idiocy.

In other words: the new American class structure divides people on the basis of intelligence and knowledge - or will do that, once everybody has the tools to recognize intellectual frauds. TV has become the medium of the newly-defined lower class. (By the way, some of them are people with a lot of money; they were lucky enough to make it before the quantum shift in the definition of class which is still under way. And shrewdness will always provide an opportunity for riches, even though shrewdness is not the same as intelligence and is consistent with TV watching.)

Note, I am talking about intelligence, not cultural awareness. It's still a bit early for the latter, but it will come. And when it does, it won't be your occupation or your assets that make the difference; it will be what you do with your mind.)

I wouldn't hire anyone who watches TV, unless I had a job that required no brain. If I think of one, I'll know who to call.

THEY OWE ME

I don't care what you insist on; two states owe me personal apologies for electing complete assholes to the U.S. Senate.

One is Connecticut, the other is Oklahoma.

Apologies can be sent by way of comments to this post. If I don't get any, I'm gonna be mad.

TO THE WOLVES

The smart move for Bush would have been, early on, to cut Alberto Gonzalez loose, putting an end to the issue and moving on before a pile of revelations began to emerge. But because Bush refuses to concede any ground to opponents - out of his sense not only that he is doing God's work but that he must be the one to do that work - the U S attoney affair is now metastasizing. And so will others, soon.

I said some time ago that the Democratic strategy was to push Bush hard on so many fronts that ultimately Bush imploded. (It is, after all, Bush's fault that there are so many fronts to push on.) Because Bush, like the oak tree, is unable to bend, the strategy seems to be working. We are quickly reaching the point where his administration has to spend so much effort defending itself that it no longer has the energy to pursue its nefarious policy goals - in itself a major accomplishment, particularly considering that it has taken less than three months of pressure to accomplish it. But we are now also seeing his party beginning to cut him loose, such as by choosing not to filibuster the Senate Iraq withdrawal attachment to the supplemental war spending bill.

I think it is becoming safe to predict that Bush will not complete his term. The continuing pressure is going to expose the smoking gun - whether it's on Iraq or any of the administration's myriad other mishandled, corrupt or antidemocratic initiatives - which finally convinces the American people that he should be impeached, by which time there will be enough Republican votes for impeachment to require him, like Nixon, to resign.

In the meantime, I think the constant drumbeat - particularly on the internet - of demands for his impeachment should be kept up. At a minimum, it accustoms the American people to the thought of it; and the more they think of it, the more reasonable a choice it becomes. Sooner or later it will be echoed in the mainstream media and politicians will begin to talk about it. Then, all you have to do is look back to 1973 to see what the shape of inevitability is.

God is going to throw you to the wolves soon, George.

And then America is going to look for its next president among the most honest and best of us. If I were Hillary Clinton, I'd change my ways.

OUT OF SIGHT

I am absolutely disgusted by the national debate over whether or not John Edwards should continue to run for President.

It's nobody's damn business but his and his family's. They're the ones with the problem, and they have every right to solve it in any way they choose. Criticism implies there is some absolutely morally correct way to deal with this situation, that being essentially to cocoon the wife and to abandon everything they care about outside of themselves. People who insist on one morally correct behavior in circumstances like this used to be called "scolds," and held in contempt for it. Now - fed by reality shows and religious beliefs that encourage one to feel morally superior to others - we have become a nation of scolds, which is why our national dialog has become so unpleasant.

This situation has turned into another Anna Nicole moment. When you stop to think about it, the people who worship her do so because they believe that this totally fucked-up broad was worthy of her worship because she loved her kid. That extrapolates to the view that all people who love their kids are worthy of worship - particularly including those who worship Anna Nicole. As far as I'm concerned, they need to find another way to validate themselves - or better yet, decide that they don't need validation. I'm sick of needy people who don't like the deal they're dealt and think - and act as if - they're entitled to public sympathy. Move them all to Kansas, make Oprah the governor there, and let them wallow in mawkishness out of sight.

NOT THAT SMART

Yesterday Dick Cheney spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Manalapan, Florida. Very nice place, just redone, in a very wealthy town with houses on the beach the size of Versailles. Can't accuse the Jews of meeting someplace declasse (sorry, I can't figure out how to put in the accent.)

He told them the Democrat-led House was not supporting troops in Iraq and was sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face of danger. Big surprise.

Everyone knows Jews are very smart. So we must conclude these Jews didn't believe what he said. So why get all dressed up to hear him say it?

Because they wanted to reassure themselves that Cheney was going to protect Israel by keeping on with the Iraq war. Maybe he even dropped a hint about Iran.

Is the war in Iraq really helping Israel? Will an attack on Iran?

Conclusion: some Jews ain't that smart.

HE TRIED

So the Democrats are distancing themselves from Soros' statement on AIPAC. I guess they have to. But I don't want to hear them bitching about Republican ties to evangelicals skewing Republican policy - unless and until they refute Soros' allegations with facts - which none of them has even attempted to do.

I don't guess that Soros will cut off his support out of anger - nor do I think he had the slightest hope of diminishing AIPAC influence. But we are not going to have a decent foreign policy until the radical right - all of them - are out of designing it.

POSSIBLE?

Okay, this isn't political, but it's still bullshit.

The record industry is still complaining about download piracy. But listen - back when they invented cassettes, everybody was copying stuff and giving it to their friends. Nobody called it piracy, nobody was bitching about lost royalties. If they had, we would have told them to go jump in a lake (yeah, that's what we would have said, unless we were really tough kids.)

What the industry doesn't get is that they haven't put out any good music since the late 1980's, and that's why they aren't selling stuff. Radio being what it now is, if someone is lucky enough to make one track that people care about, that's all they want to purchase - not the rest of the album, which they probably haven't heard (and probably isn't very good).

Heal thyself, RIAA. Or is it possible that no one can write a good song anymore?

AIRBUS

Hey, everybody knows that a plane flight these days has all the charm and class of a ride on a local bus - but how dumb are the French for enshrining that truth in the name of their airplane company?

Have you seen the film of the coach cabin of the latest Airbus? The only time I want to be in a room full of that many people is when I'm watching the Rolling Stones live.

Yeah, good luck with that monstrosity. It reminds me of a Carnival cruise full of fat people from Jersey which makes five stops at St. Thomas and nowhere else.

There's nowhere I want to go bad enough to get on that thing.

STRATEGY

By now it should be apparent that the Democrats' strategy is not simply to insist on accountability, nor get out of Iraq. Nor is it only about creating a record (necessary, so far, because they don't have the votes in Congress to pass legislation alone, and will be seeking to hang inaction on Republicans in 2008). No, the strategy is to push Bush on as many fronts, and as hard, as possible. Fortunately, the dummy being the confrontational punk he is, Bush is playing into their hands - now with the threatened Constitutional crisis over subpoenaing executive staff to Congressional hearings. He still hasn't understood that he's on the wrong side now - and worse, that anything he says or does is now automatically defined as being on the wrong side.

The assumption - probably true - is that the administrstion does not have enough talent to respond to the pressure on such a wide range of fronts, and that - since it doesn't have the smarts to concede on some points, thus saving its strength for where it is really needed - the Bush administration will sooner or later implode. Here the Democrats have the decided edge - because there are so many more intelligent Democratic legislators than Republicans. The current batch of Republicans have done nothing more than toady to the party line; like Soviet apparatchiks, they have no capability to cope with a purposeful, logical challenge. A junkyard dog can snap at you, but you can get away if you're quick enough. The Democrats, so far, have avoided the teeth of the junkyard dog.

The question mark here is the press. If they don't understand - or don't want to understand - why Democrats are so intent on this job, they may amplify the barking dog and slip banana peels under the feet of the Democrats trying to keep him corralled. It's imperative that Democrats use the press where they can, and where they can't, ignore it. But it's more imperative that they keep the pressure on. Even if no one understands it, the strategy will work.

Of course, we wouldn't want the terrorists to understand how it works. Because it will work just as neatly against our overextended military. So we hope Bush implodes before the army does, because we sure don't need Bush but we very well might need a useful army.

One other point: none of the big name presidential contenders is contributing anything to this effort. They get all the publicity, but they're completely useless. That's particularly true of Hillary, who's so busy triangulating what she considers an acceptable position that she isn't even echoing the Democrats' attack points. But they're all offenders on this one. Contemptible.

GOD SWITCHES SIDES

From the Huffington Post:

The U.S. Senate voted 94-2 Tuesday to strip U.S. President George Bush of the power to bypass the confirmation process for U.S. attorneys.

Only two Republicans, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Christopher Bond of Missouri, opposed the measure, The New York Times reported. The overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate suggests that the bill is likely to pass the U.S. House of Representatives by a veto-proof margin.

I feel bad for the evangelicals. Apparently God is now advising the Democrats. Even He got fed up with Republican tricks.

WHO DA PREZ?

From Think Progress:

E&E reports that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing into Philip Cooney’s editing of global warming reports revealed that Cheney’s office also played a role. Kevin O’Donovan, an aide in Cheney’s office, wrote a memo to Cooney suggesting they try to “reinvigorate debate on the actual climate history of the past thousand years.” Waxman said the Cooney-O’Donovan memo “suggests active coordination between [White House Council on Environmental Quality] and the office of the vice president.”

Anyone surprised by this has been asleep for the last six years. It only confirms what I've said many times: Cheney is the president, and oil is among his motivations.

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HE WAS JEWISH

George Tsouris on AIPAC.

SELF-HATING

Diane Perlman wrote this and it appeared on The Huffington Post:

What if, by attempting to prevent a second Holocaust, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert--in collusion with AIPAC, the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee known as "America's Israel Lobby"-- encourages the Bush administration to launch a catastrophic war against Iran? And how is it that many well-meaning, mostly war-opposing American Jews are being convinced that a war with Iran might be necessary for Israel's survival?

Preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons was the number one agenda item for AIPAC's 2007 Annual Policy Convention in Washington last week. Ironically, a Congress mandated to end the war in Iraq is being pressured by the lobby identified with the American religious group most opposed to that war to support actions likely to produce yet another war--predicted to provoke cataclysmic consequences, including the use of nuclear weapons--all for the purpose of preventing the development of nuclear weapons.

The highly choreographed dance between the Bush administration, the unpopular Prime Minister Olmert, AIPAC, and Congress is paving the way for a war that, in the name of Israel's security, would unwittingly pose grave threats to Israel's survival--physically, spiritually and morally. Prime Minister Olmert was awakened at 4 AM Israel time to address AIPAC's Gala Banquet audience of 6,000, including 48 U.S. Senators and 245 U.S. House members via satellite. He said, "At the end of the day, we must recognize that President George W. Bush is the only leader, and the United States is the only country, that can be enormously influential on what Iran will do. I am sure you will not hamper or restrain that strong leadership unnecessarily." Then, after a massive lobbying day on March 13, Congress voted to allow Bush to go to war without asking for authorization.

This is understandable, though horrifying just the same. It seems the fear is that Iran will threaten Israel with nukes and that the U.S. Congress will restrain President Bush from "protecting" Israel. That is how mostly well-meaning, war-opposing American Jews convince a mostly well-meaning, war-opposing Congress to walk into a trap that opens the door to producing the catastrophe they are trying to prevent. At the annual Herzliya Conference earlier this year, Olmert said, "The Jewish people, with the scars of the Holocaust fresh on its body, cannot afford to let itself face the threat of annihilation once again.... We will stand up against nuclear threats and even prevent them." Failing to learn from history (even as recent as the Iraq and Lebanon wars), observation, or social science, and gripped by existential fear, decision-makers are driven by emotions, concrete black-and-white short-term thinking, and overconfidence. Higher level thought processes go out the window, with little awareness of the psychology of the Other, of predictable long-term disastrous consequences, or creative, strategies for nonviolent conflict transformation.

Understanding the psychological imprint of the Holocaust and fear-based belief systems, and recognizing the grip of AIPAC on Congress and the intimidation of being labeled as anti-Semitic for anyone challenging the "military option," a new group of Jewish professionals has emerged to try to rescue this dangerously flawed debate. Members of this group called JAIPAC, Jewish Analysts Investigating Peace and Conflict, are professionals who work in areas of political science, international relations, conflict analysis and resolution, psychology, history, Middle East studies, and other relevant fields devoted to developing strategies for reducing tension, preventing violence, and transforming conflict. This group is committed to the security and survival of Israel, and the elimination of anti-Semitism around the world, and nonviolent resolution of conflicts with Israel's neighbors.

JAIPAC has written "A Respectful Open Letter to President Bush, Prime Minister Olmert, the US Congress, AIPAC, and Others on the Dangers of War with Iran." They fear that military action against Iran taken for Israel's security would unleash a cascade of catastrophic consequences greatly endangering Israel and the U.S., and escalating anti-Semitism and global terrorism, in addition to innocent Iranians. Based on their collective expertise and interdisciplinary consensus, members of JAIPAC unanimously predict that military action against Iran is likely to produce unintended consequences that would serve to:

* escalate instability and cycles of violence
* increase the popularity of those attacked
* undermine popular movements for peace, democracy, and acceptance of Israel in the Muslim world
* increase incentives for nuclear weapons development
* increase trauma, fear, humiliation, despair, and rage
* provoke desires for revenge, and the motivation and rationales for increased recruitment and terrorist actions
* alienate Israel from its neighbors and make it more dependent upon the U.S.
* cause irreversible environmental catastrophe and health crises from radiation and oil fires
* desensitize people to the taking of human life on all sides

JAIPAC predicts that an assault on Iran would produce immediate retaliation against U.S. and British troops in the region, attacks on shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, sharp increases in the worldwide prices of oil and gas, and an explosion of violence against Israel, Jews, and United States interests around the globe. Israel could be subject to missile attacks by Iran or Hezbollah, and the war could become regional, spiraling out of control. The continuing toll of innocent life will play into extremists' hands, creating another generation of anti-American, anti-Israel terrorists, motivating attacks here and abroad.

In addition to this, JAIPAC claims the need for a paradigm shift, and offers insights from their collective professional experiences in the little known field of conflict studies regarding underlying principles for a tension-reducing paradigm, and practical strategies for reducing enmity, violence, terrorism, and transforming conflict. JAIPAC is post-partisan, and the approach in their letter, which can be found on www.consciouspolitics.org, is neither hostile nor confrontational.

They reframe the meaning of "unwavering support for Israel," which to date has been equated with military support. Such "support" in the Lebanon war has rendered Israel far more vulnerable, as they bombed their adversaries into popularity and escalation. The military approach precludes the awareness and use of more effective, nonviolent strategies that have been demonstrated to produce greater stability and enduring security. Avoiding the trap of criticizing the oxymoronic "pro Israel" position, JAIPAC reframes it as "New Pro Israel" in their commitment to supporting Israel in ways that include non- zero-sum, win-win approaches necessary for Israel to live safely, cooperatively, and productively as part of an East Mediterranean community. In light of post 9/11, 21st century security realities, JAIPAC introduces a policy of Mutually Assured Survival as necessary to reverse cycles of violence to protect Israel, the region, and the U.S. from escalating threats.

Damn these self-hating Jews.

So in protest, I am doing two things: I am never going to Connecticut - which gave us a Likud agent in the Senate - ever again. If I have to go to Boston from New York, I'm going to fly by way of Paris.

And

I have been very definitive on the need for moderate Christians and Muslims to stand up and knock down the crazies who are hijacking their faiths. Now I call upon American Jews to do the same - because, like the other two, it isn't really religion we're talking about. In our case it's race as defined by the Nazis, because it's the Holocaust, not Judaism, which is the driving force behind AIPAC and today's Israel.

HOW MUCH

From Dvorak Uncensored:

A former White House official accused of improperly editing reports on global warming defended his editorial changes Monday as reflecting views expressed in a 2001 report by the National Academy of Sciences.

House Democrats said the 181 changes made in three climate reports reflected a consistent attempt to emphasize uncertainties surrounding the science of climate change and undercut the broad conclusions that manmade emissions are warming the earth.

Philip Cooney, former chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, acknowledged at a House hearing that some of the changes he made were “to align these communications with the administration’s stated policy” on climate change.

Here's what I want to know: When is there going to be a collective American scream of outrage, a symbolic storming of the Bastille, a metaphoric battering on the White House door and a demand that these assholes get the hell out of there? How much are we willing to take?

A hell of a lot, I'm afraid.

NEXT

Who's the latest on our contemptible list? That is, the people on the list are contemptible, not the list. Damn, English is a difficult language.

Anyway, read this.

PERFECT

Barbara Bush tells Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she will not watch televised coverage of the war: “Why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it’s going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”

Well - I always wanted to use the word "cunt" on this blog. I was going to use "bitch." but that's so played out. Every mall rat thinks she's a bitch - or is told she is.

The new word is perfect right here.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

40% of American college students binge drink. The percentage is increasing. The percentage of students using marijuana has more than doubled since 1993 and those using tranquilizers are four times more than they were.

Joseph Califano, head of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, attributes this to marketing, particularly of alcohol and tobacco. But hey, if they were marketing dog shit, would the kids buy? (I'm not so sure of the answer on that, really.)

Kids - like adults - drink and stone to get away from reality. If the percentage of drinkers and stoners is rising, the percentage of acceptable reality has to be going down. So maybe these kids are not liking the world their parents have created - oh yeah, those parents who invented stoning (their parents invented binge drinking)and now despise it - despising their own past.

Anybody want to ask the kids what they're thinking?

THEY DON'T FORGET

If you want further proof that the Democrats are casting a wide net in pursuit of social justice, consider that Barney Frank is proposing national castastrophic insurance, something I suggested just after Katrina and which I have heard nothing on until now.

It was always logical to spread the risk of natural disasters nationally - like flood insurance. We are either all in this together or we might as well forget it.

My point is that Democrats don't forget.

DON'T

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared this winter the warmest on record for the northern hemisphere. So far, 2007 appears likely to rank as the warmest overall year. Annual temperatures have broken the record in ten of the last dozen years.

Yeah, and while rainfall is down 70% in Florida, Palm Beach County wants to divert 30 million gallons a month to water a new golf course they're building on the edge of the Everglades.

Don't come here any more, people. We don't want you. I'll be goddamned if I'll die of thirst so you can move to Florida.

HOPE

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked efforts to subpoena Rove and other White House personnel on the US attorney firings mess.

Are ever going to learn that every time they do something like this they simply confirm why they need to go?

Hope not.

LOVE

From the Huffington Post:

Brushing aside a veto threat, the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a 2001 order by President George W. Bush that lets former presidents keep their papers secret indefinitely.

The measure, which drew bipartisan support and passed by a veto-busting 333-93 margin, was among White House-opposed bills the House passed that would widen access to government information and protect government whistleblowers.



Oh, man, I love these guys.

STAYIN' ALIVE

DYING

Breaking a series of roadblocks imposed by conservatives, the Senate voted 89-9 just now “to begin its first formal debate on the Iraq war since Democrats took control of Congress in January.”

Is this good? I doubt it. Republicans would not have okayed this debate unless they had a strategy. I am dying to know what it is, but I'm sure it won't be helpful.

PEASHOOTER

If this is true, as reported in Australia's The Age, we are nowhere close to reaching the bottom of the Bush pit of stupidity.

The US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.[..]

US officials told The New York Times the plan would see the Vice-Chief of the Army, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, take over from General Musharraf as head of the military and former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president, with General Hyat wielding most of the power.[..]

The US report suggests a growing disenchantment towards General Musharraf in Washington and indicates that the longstanding view that the alternative to his regime would be chaos and a takeover by extremist Islamic mullahs is no longer ascendant.

The US officials say hardline Islamists have usually not done well in elections in Pakistan and that if General Musharraf were removed, a doomsday scenario would not necessarily follow.


Not necessarily?

Yeah, they tried this before, in Vietnam. Worked real well there. But this time the consequences will be far worse: destabilize Pakistan and you get nuclear jihadis.

This is what you get when you vote for a guy because he might be fun to have a beer with. It'll make a dirty bomb in a subway look like a peashooter. (Do they still have peashooters?)

PEASHOOTER

If this is true, as reported in Australia's The Age, we are nowhere close to reaching the bottom of the Bush pit of stupidity.

The US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.[..]

US officials told The New York Times the plan would see the Vice-Chief of the Army, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, take over from General Musharraf as head of the military and former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president, with General Hyat wielding most of the power.[..]

The US report suggests a growing disenchantment towards General Musharraf in Washington and indicates that the longstanding view that the alternative to his regime would be chaos and a takeover by extremist Islamic mullahs is no longer ascendant.

The US officials say hardline Islamists have usually not done well in elections in Pakistan and that if General Musharraf were removed, a doomsday scenario would not necessarily follow.


Not necessarily?

Yeah, they tried this before, in Vietnam. Worked real well there. But this time the consequences will be far worse: destabilize Pakistan and you get nuclear jihadis.

This is what you get when you vote for a guy because he might be fun to have a beer with. It'll make a dirty bomb in a subway look like a peashooter. (Do they still have peashooters?)

PEASHOOTER

If this is true, as reported in Australia's The Age, we are nowhere close to reaching the bottom of the Bush pit of stupidity.

The US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.[..]

US officials told The New York Times the plan would see the Vice-Chief of the Army, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, take over from General Musharraf as head of the military and former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president, with General Hyat wielding most of the power.[..]

The US report suggests a growing disenchantment towards General Musharraf in Washington and indicates that the longstanding view that the alternative to his regime would be chaos and a takeover by extremist Islamic mullahs is no longer ascendant.

The US officials say hardline Islamists have usually not done well in elections in Pakistan and that if General Musharraf were removed, a doomsday scenario would not necessarily follow.


Not necessarily?

Yeah, they tried this before, in Vietnam. Worked real well there. But this time the consequences will be far worse: destabilize Pakistan and you get nuclear jihadis.

This is what you get when you vote for a guy because he might be fun to have a beer with. It'll make a dirty bomb in a subway look like a peashooter. (Do they still have peashooters?)

PEASHOOTER

If this is true, as reported in Australia's The Age, we are nowhere close to reaching the bottom of the Bush pit of stupidity.

The US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.[..]

US officials told The New York Times the plan would see the Vice-Chief of the Army, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, take over from General Musharraf as head of the military and former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president, with General Hyat wielding most of the power.[..]

The US report suggests a growing disenchantment towards General Musharraf in Washington and indicates that the longstanding view that the alternative to his regime would be chaos and a takeover by extremist Islamic mullahs is no longer ascendant.

The US officials say hardline Islamists have usually not done well in elections in Pakistan and that if General Musharraf were removed, a doomsday scenario would not necessarily follow.


Not necessarily?

Yeah, they tried this before, in Vietnam. Worked real well there. But this time the consequences will be far worse: destabilize Pakistan and you get nuclear jihadis.

This is what you get when you vote for a guy because he might be fun to have a beer with. It'll make a dirty bomb in a subway look like a peashooter. (Do they still have peashooters?)

AIPAC

This really does say it all.

AIPAC

This really does say it all.

DUMB AND DUMBER

The Army has announced it will now go after car bomb factories in the Baghdad suburbs.

Excuse me?!!! They just figured this out?

HEADS ROLL

This one finally convinces me that we need a revolution, French-style, with heads rolling in the aristocracy.

Otherwise there's just no end to it.

YOM KIPPUR

Alan Dershowitz - the Ralph Nader of Israel lobbyists.

Next Yom Kippur, will God strike him dead?

THANKS

From the Huffington Post:

Congressional Democrats on Monday singled out presidential adviser Karl Rove for questioning about the firings of eight federal prosecutors and whether the dismissals were politically motivated.

The demands to question Rove signaled anew Democrats' shifting focus beyond the Justice Department and toward the White House, in the inquiry.



Thank you, God.

DUMB OR VENAL

From C & L:

On Monday's Hardball, Andrea Mitchell said this about how the Bush administration may handle any forthcoming subpoenas in the wake of the the Libby verdict:
(see video) "They're going to try to really tamp this down and appeal to the polling which indicates that most people think, in fact, that he should be pardoned. Scooter Libby should be pardoned."

In "fact," only 18% of Americans support a Libby Pardon, according to a CNN poll.

We have been screaming for years now about the fact that no heads roll in this administration when they do something stupid or incompetent. It looks to me like the same needs to be said of the press; anyone who says anything as dumb, completely wrong and politically indefensible as Mitchell did proves his or her incompetence and needs to be fired.

But dumb, or incompetent, or venal doesn't get you fired anymore - not in the government, not in the press, not in corporations. There seems to be a rule in effect that once you get to the top you get to stay there no matter what you do or don't do. Not even losing money is a firing offense these days; not even stealing it, for that matter.

So - we need to take this into our own hands, and begin by refusing to watch anything Mitchell is on. I'm not even sure, these days, that a network would take action rather than see its income plummet with its ratings. But this is the only thing I can think of. I welcome other suggestions.

STOP CHENEY NOW

What we desperately need is legislation barring Dick Cheney from returning to Halliburton after his term of office. That return would validate the nefarious concept of using elected office for the primary purpose of self-aggrandizement.

Since I can think of no legal basis for such legislation, the alternative becomes imperative: prosecuting Cheney under whatever charges, including treason, are appropriate. The investigations need to begin now; the prosecution needs to wait until after Bush loses the pardon power. But I don't think this democracy can stand the insult of Cheney going back to Halliburton.

SOONER OR LATER

Halliburton is moving its headquarters from Houston to Dubai. This would appear to indicate one - or both - of two things:

1) A felon is fleeing the jurisdiction before the indictments come down; or

2) Proof of what I've been saying for years: that the big American multinationals consider themselves to owe their allegiance, not to the US, but to the buck (or rial or yen or whatever currency they can earn in.) They'll take as much out of the US as they can, but they see no reason why they need to put any back.

Better get used to it. They'll all be living in Abu Dhabi or Dubai before long, and America will become a nation in which dentists are at the top of the food chain. Unless dentists find a way to go global. If they do, the top of the food chain will be inhabited by Korean grocers. Until they go back to Korea. Then it will be mailmen and Amtrak conductors. Sooner or later, America is going to get poor.

THANKS

From the Huffington Post:

After seeing the Exxon Mobil commercial and several similar ads in the New York Times, Bing, who had already donated $22.5 million to the school, called Stanford President John Hennessy and said he would give no more. Bing also is asking other major philanthropists to reconsider their promises to give to the Stanford cause, broaching the subject in phone calls and at functions he attends. He hasn't had any takers yet, but expects that one day he will.

"Exxon Mobil is trying to greenwash itself, and it's using Stanford as its brush," said Yusef Robb, who works with Bing on climate issues. "We think that people who give to Stanford do so because they want to help the future leaders of this nation, not because they want to advance the agenda of Exxon Mobil."

And they deserve it. They gave us Condi Rice.

COME ON, HENRY

From Newsday.com:

The scandal over dilapidated housing for outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the decision to replace Army employees who maintained the hospital with a contractor connected to the Bush administration and to a Halliburton subsidiary.

Cheney is running the government for Halliburton's benefit, making this by far the most corrupt administration in American history. When is somebody going to take the little shit and his Darth Vader sidekick by the shoulders and toss them into the Washington city jail?

I'm begging you, Henry Waxman. Do something about this!

STAY ON IT

From TalkLeft:

Say hello to The "Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007" and "Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007."

Introduced last week Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Jane Harman (D-CA) respectively, the bills would restore habeas and other rights to the detainees at Guantanamo.

The "Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007" mirrors a bill, S. 185, offered in the Senate by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill would restore habeas corpus for those detained by the American government.

The "Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007" would also reinstate habeas rights and clarify the definition of "enemy combatants." Additionally, it would block the federal government from making up its own rules on torture. The Geneva Conventions have governed American behavior during war for decades. The bill makes clear the federal government must comply with the Conventions, and no one in the federal government - not even the president -- can make up their own rules on torture and abuse.

Like its counterpart in the Senate, S.576, sponsored by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), the act would also end the two different standards -- one for privates and sergeants and another for top government officials. The Military Commissions Act left military personnel subject to comprehensive laws against torture and abuse, but gave top government officials a get-out-of-jail free card. The bill makes sure that all felony torture and abuse can be prosecuted, regardless of rank.



The only thing I fear is that in their rush to correct the corrupt and fascist doings of the current regime, the Democrats might - just because there's so much to correct - forget a few things, like dealing with the FCC and the fairness doctrine.

So far, so good. But we need to keep reminding them.

COME BACK, LLOYD!

From the Huffington Post:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked the campaign of the nation's lone Catholic president, John Kennedy, last night as she talked about her challenge in becoming the first female commander-in-chief.

"He was smart, he was dynamic, he was inspiring and he was Catholic. A lot of people back then [1960] said, 'America will never elect a Catholic as president,' " the White House hopeful told the New Hampshire Democrats' 100 Club fund-raiser here.

Where's Lloyd Bentsen when we need him?

SOMEBODY ELSE'S VIEW OF GREENSPAN - AND I SORT OF CONCUR

From AmericaBlog:

The man who missed the internet bubble bursting, didn't see the growing housing bubble or bad financial lending policies and went along with the massive tax cuts while heading to war, now that he's no longer the Chairman of the Fed, now Greenspan sees trouble ahead and says it in plain English. After years of saying a lot of nothing, Greenspan can't speak out enough about the problems that the economy is facing. It's clear that problems are ahead and a recession could strike due to wild spending by Bush and the Republicans all while cutting taxes and losing track of billions in Iraq. Thanks for finally learning how to be clear when talking about the economy, but maybe it is about 18 1/2 years too late. What a fraud and thanks for nothing. We could have used this kind of clarity a few years ago but I guess he's just cashing in on the speaking circuit for his personal retirement plan.

I agree, sort of - but my conclusion is that Greenspan says - or doesn't say - what he's paid to say (or not say). I.e., he's a paid-for intellectual (sort of). I never have respected him and that's not going to change now.

CONVENIENT

From the Huffington Post:

The most visited museum in the world -- the Louvre -- is set to open its first international outpost on a currently uninhabited island off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

In the largest foreign museum deal in French history, the petro-rich but museum-poor Persian Gulf emirate agreed last week to pay France $1.3 billion to borrow the Louvre's name and hundreds of its artworks, as well as treasures from the Picasso Museum, Pompidou Center, Chateau de Versailles and other French museums.

Abu Dhabi seems determined to internalize everything desirable about the West. What is not clear to me - because it's never discussed - is the politics of its leaders. Does the Sunni-Shia split matter to them (I know they're Sunni)? Does religion matter? They are certainly not deprived in any way. And I wonder whether Islamic fundamentalists have designs on that emirate, since to Western eyes it appears to represent everything that's anathema to radical Islam. Maybe not, though - maybe Abu Dhabi is Arabia's Hong Kong - a port which is tolerated because it conveniently brings money into the Peninsula.

We don't know enough about the emirates. But I think I'd like to see Abu Dhabi, if they're letting in Jews and if there's anything I could afford there. In my mind it has resonances of Marco Polo days - not to mention actual polo. I'm going to check it out.

GREAT

From the Huffington Post:

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll says 55 percent of those surveyed consider honesty, integrity and other values of character the most important qualities they look for in a presidential candidate.

Just one-third look first to candidates' stances on issues; even fewer focus foremost on leadership traits, experience or intelligence.

Oh, that's great. You can fake honesty and integrity. You can't fake experience or intelligence, and (except for Romney and Giuliani) you can't fake your record on the issues.

That's why we got George Bush. That's why we aren't going to get Hillary.

A START?

From Arthur Silber:

At KSFR, a public radio station in Santa Fe, N.M. the surge in "unnamed officials" had finally pushed News Director Bill Dupuy to take action. He wrote that "until further notice, it is the policy of KSFR's news department to ignore and not repeat any wire service or nationally published story" about Iran, North Korea, and other sensitive foreign areas if it quotes an "unnamed" U.S. official.

"What we have suspected and talked about at length before is now becoming clear. 'High administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity,' 'Usually reliable Washington sources,' and others of the like were behind the publicity that added credibility to the need to go to war against Afghanistan and Iraq.

"This is a small news department with a small reach. We cannot research these stories ourselves. But we can take steps not to compromise our integrity. We should not dutifully parrot whatever comes out of Washington, on the wire or by whatever means, no matter how intriguing and urgent it sounds, when the source is unnamed. I am also calling on our colleagues in other local news departments -- broadcast and print -- to take the same professional approach."

Well - it's a start. Or it's a throwback to a better age.

GET CHENEY

Now thst Libby has been convicted, it's time for the House to begin seriously investigating Cheney - starting with his energy task force, running through his involvement in the Iraq war and the potential Iran war ... in fact, everything he ever touched should be investigated.

Because there's an impeachment that might be pulled off.

SLEEPING DOGS

There's still a lot of talk out there about impeaching Bush - and when the Democrats get through with all the hearings they are conducting or will conduct, I suspect that talk will get a lot louder. My guess is that Bush has committed more impeachable offenses than any other president by a factor of 1000. The Democrats have the votes to impeach him in the House. They'll never get him convicted in the Senate, but I suspect the impeachment itself would be quite satisfying. Nevertheless, I don't want to see him impeached. Here's why.

Remember when Clinton sent cruise missiles against bin Laden in 1998? They were sent out of genuine concern over terrorism, but Republicans accused Clinton of trying to start a war to distract America from his impeachment trial. That didn't work. Clinton came out ahead.

As I've said over and over again, what Republicans accuse Democrats of is what Republicans actually do. There is no doubt in my mind that if an impeachment resolution were introduced, Bush would attack Iran. Democrats will accuse him of what Republicans accused Clinton of. In the current case, they would be right. But the accusation won't work any better than it did against Clinton - and in the meantime we'd be in a hellish mess.

Better let sleeping dogs lie. They're very good at lying.

HILLARY HILTON

Don't you find it fascinating that, although we know a lot about what McCain has done in the Senate, there's been next to zero press or public inquiry as to what Hillary and Obama have done? What bills have they voted for, or against? What bills have they introduced - if any? What part in governance did they actually play? Sort of stuff you sort of need to know, isn't it?

Until the public figures out what they don't know, I'm going to rename the candidates. They're Hillary Hilton and Barack Beckham. Two more people famous for no good reason.

ENDLESS

From Talk Left:

Why did Thomas DiBiagio resign as the U.S. Attorney in Maryland? He explained to the NY Times that "he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican." DiBaggio says he experienced "direct pressure not to pursue these investigations." “The practical impact was to intimidate my office and shut down the investigations.” While DiBiagio was being pressured to ignore Republican corruption, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was being pressured to pursue corruption charges against a Democrat.

GLAD

Read this.

Man am I glad that, for however long it lasts, we have a Democratic Congress.

But while many Democrats are doing really important work, our most famous Congresspeople - Clinton, Obama, McCain - are doing none of it. If I were John Q. Public, this is what I'd tell them: get the fuck back to Washington and get something done, so we have something to judge you on. If you don't you're about as relevant as Anna Nicole - and if the public has any luck, just as politically dead.

MICKEY J'S

From Dvorak Uncensored:

Linden, CA - A local entrepreneur hopes his company’s bottled water will refresh - perhaps even redeem - those who drink it.

Wayne Enterprises is distributing Holy Drinking Water - a half-liter of reverse-osmosis purified water bottled by a Stockton company and blessed by clergy. So far, the blessings have come from Catholic and Anglican priests, but the plan is for clergy from any faith that honors holy water to offer blessings.

The Rev. Mark Smith stood in a Linden self-storage facility Feb. 21, made the sign of the cross, thanked God for the gift of water, asked that the bottled water benefit those who consume it and then blessed the 200 cases of water waiting to be shipped.

Since January, Germann has sold about 3,000 bottles of the water to individuals, with another 1,752 bottles purchased to be donated to troops in Iraq.


What's next? Chocolate chip communion wafers?

But wait - this really isn't that weird. Since fish was okayed for Fridays, Christianity is the only monotheistic religion that has not required religious supervision over food. So let's give these guys a break. I don't think either Judaism or Islam promotes the consumption of blessed food as a way to get to heaven - but they sure do say if you eat bad stuff you go to hell (or somewhere). It's a distinction, but it's subtle, not worth fussing about. Let's let the other guys catch up. I look forward to the opening of the first McJesus, or as the kids would have it, Mickey J's.

A CONSCIENCE

From the Blotter:

Whistle-blower AT&T technician Mark Klein says his effort to reveal alleged government surveillance of domestic Internet traffic was blocked not only by U.S. intelligence officials but also by the top editors of the Los Angeles Times.

In his first broadcast interview, which can be seen tonight on World News and Nightline, Klein describes how he stumbled across "secret NSA rooms" being installed at an AT&T switching center in San Francisco and later heard of similar rooms in at least six other cities, including Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Jose and Seattle.

"You needed an ordinary key and the code to punch into a key pad on the door, and the only person who had both of those things was the one guy cleared by the NSA," Klein says of the "secret room" at the AT&T center in San Francisco.

The NSA is the National Security Agency, the country's most secretive intelligence agency, charged with intercepting communications overseas.

Klein says he collected 120 pages of technical documents left around the San Francisco office showing how the NSA was installing "splitters" that would allow it to copy both domestic and Internet traffic moving through AT&T connections with 16 other trunk lines.

"It's gobs and gobs of information going across the Internet," Klein says.

President Bush has acknowledged he authorized the NSA to intercept the communications of people with known links to terrorist organizations "into or out of the United States," but that "we're not trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans."

Intelligence experts say the NSA has the means to filter out suspect communications with sophisticated machines that spot key words, names, addresses or patterns.

Eventually, Klein says he decided to take his documents to the Los Angeles Times, to blow the whistle on what he calls "an illegal and Orwellian project."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

But after working for two months with LA Times reporter Joe Menn, Klein says he was told the story had been killed at the request of then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and then-director of the NSA Gen. Michael Hayden.

The Los Angeles Times' decision was made by the paper's editor at the time, Dean Baquet, now the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times.

Baquet confirmed to ABCNews.com he talked with Negroponte and Hayden but says "government pressure played no role in my decision not to run the story."

Baquet says he and managing editor Doug Frantz decided "we did not have a story, that we could not figure out what was going on" based on Klein's highly technical documents.

The reporter, Menn, declined to comment, but Baquet says he knows "Joe disagreed and was very disappointed."

Klein says he then took his AT&T documents to The New York Times, which published its exclusive account last April.

As the new Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, Baquet now oversees the reporters who have broken most of the major stories involving the government surveillance program, often over objections from the government.

After The New York Times story appeared, Klein filed an affidavit in a lawsuit against AT&T brought by a civil liberties group, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The NSA says it will not confirm or deny the existence or the purpose of the "secret rooms," but in a filing in the court case against AT&T, Negroponte formally invoked the "state secrets privilege," claiming the lawsuit and the information from Klein and others could "cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States."

Klein says what he knows won't help terrorists.

"The only people that are being kept in the dark is the American people who are being misled and not realizing, not being told that their private information, that their liberties are being destroyed and tramped on," he said.

Baquet needs to go. Fascism needs to go. How lucky can we get, that one out of six people who knows about stuff like this has a conscience?

HOPE HE DOES

I've changed my mind.

I still don't think Gore can win an election - but I think he should run.

Assuming he doesn't take himself too seriously, and runs an issue-oriented campaign, Gore can elevate the level of discourse and force other candidates to take policy position. He's the only guy on the horizon with the gravitas to do that. I realize that using the word "gravitas" in connection with Gore is historically absurd, but in not running he's really tuned himself in, and if he can stay where he is and not get suckered into the process, he can do us all a huge favor. Hope he does.

MEANDERINGS

From MyDD:

Over the weekend we learned from Oregon's Republican Senator Gordon Smith that General David Petraeus, the architect of the Bush administration's so-called surge, believes that his plan has only about a one in four chance of succeeding. That's right, even the highest ranking military officials believe that more likely than not their plan for escalation will not succeed. Yet given this stark admission, what did we learn from the front page of The Washington Post this morning? That the Bush administration has no Plan B in case their move to send more American troops into Iraq does not succeed. Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks have the story under the headline "No U.S. Backup Strategy For Iraq".

You wouldn't hire a guy to exterminate your roaches if he didn't have a backup plan.

So it has finally happened - the worst of us, the ones we wouldn't hire for anything, we elect to run our government.

It's been heading this way for a long time - and for obvious reasons. It used to be a given that the people who went to teaching schools were the ones who couldn't get into any good college, so the lesser of us were in charge of shaping each new generation. The ones with brains and talent don't go into government unless they've either inherited or made their multi-millions first.

So maybe I shouldn't bitch that it costs so much to win office these days. In theory, at least, that should keep the less accomplished out of government. But then there's Bush, the proof that when the money (or power) is inherited, you don't necessarily get quality stuff. Many sons of successful men exhibit Bush's tendency - they never reach their father's heights, either because they've had it too easy all their lives, or the father's talents are not inheritable, or the father has diluted his gene pool by marrying for looks or sex. In Bush's case, though, I think the truth is that the father himself wasn't all that bright. Bringing me to my last point - that success is not necessarily the product of intelligence or talent. I know that's true, because I know the inverse fact - that intelligence or talent does not necessarily produce success.

COMMON SENSE

The fact that the Libby jury has deliberated for eight days and keeps coming up with questions about the charge seems to indicate that they are taking themselves entirely too seriously. They seem to want to resolve questions about reasonable doubt that judges and commentators have struggled over for more than 200 years. But only religion can concretize an abstraction, and if they are looking for clear doctrine - i.e., the unequivocal voice of God - good luck, folks, because it ain't there.

What they don't seem to get (and what politicians don't get these days) is that the issue is to be resolved by the application of common sense. That is what the judge is telling them each time he responds to their questions - but he isn't using those words, and he should. I assume the words "common sense" must have been in his charge somewhere - and that's what I'd keep repeating, if I were him.

UPDATE:

Verdict in. Guilty. The message got through.

THE MOST DANGEROUS

From Think Progress:

“A high-ranking Justice Department official told one of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration that if any of them continued to criticize the administration for their ousters, previously undisclosed details about the reasons they were fired might be released, two of the ousted prosecutors told McClatchy Newspapers.”


What amazes me is this: how is it possible, in this internet age, that a government man can say such a thing and not expect it to be broadcast?

There are three possible answers: These guys are 1) as stupid or 2) as arrogant as I think they are, or 3) they don't care who knows what they do. That last is the mark of the ideologue, who is going to press on no matter what anyone thinks of him. That makes him the most dangerous.

LOTS OF TIME

It looks to me, at this juncture, like it's Giuliani vs. Obama. This will be the first campaign in my memory where both candidates offer nothing but image - Giuliani the guy who held New York together, and Obama the guy who ... whatever it is.

Since the days of Adlai Stevenson, it has been my personal tragedy to watch deep thinkers shot down in presidential elections. Humphrey, McGovern, Gore, Kerry - well, actually, Kerry just has the image of a deep thinker ... The exception is Jimmy Carter, and he only got elected because no one knew how deep he thought. When American figured it out, it torpedoed him. America does not want to elect someone clearly intellectually superior. If there is such a superiority, it has to be hidden ... because democracy is the government of men by men, and if most of us are less than bright or less than educated (including most of our politicians), we just don't feel comfortable with anyone obviously better.

Some men, however, have either hidden it well or replaced it with craftiness or common sense. Nixon is one, Clinton another. And then there's Kennedy - I don't know how bright he was, but he looked bright. He also looked gorgeous, which may have been more important.

So what I'm hoping for is the rise of a cracker-barrel wit - someone who actually gets it but doesn't let on. Don't forget, Carter came out of nowhere and so did Clinton - and Bush II came out of nothingness (where he remains.)

I haven't given up hope yet. There's plenty of time.

SO IS FOOTBALL

From the Huffington Post:

There was another report this morning that in his sermon last Sunday, Jerry Falwell claimed the debate over global warming is a tool of Satan being used to distract churches from their primary focus of preaching the gospel.

Yeah, and so is football. And so is Britney Spears. In fact, Spears is the devil who created the global warming tool.

Here's the question I've been pondering all these years: If God (or one of his messengers) says something really stupid, shouldn't we be drawing the appropriate conclusion?

But maybe it's not so stupid. Since Falwell et al look forward to the destruction of the world, it would naturally be Satan who was trying to save the earth. And pushing science. And protecting human rights.

It's amazing, you know, that devil worship has not skyrocketed considering the pretty picture of Satan painted by the religious right. I think the real reason it hasn't is we all know that Satan's behind Falwell and his lies and lunacy. Can't trust any of 'em. Too bad.

HOW DEEP

From TalkLeft:

An AUSA and reader of TPM explains:

I'm an Assistant United States Attorney in [*******], and am, of course, outraged by the U.S. Attorney purge, as most AUSAs are. I appreciate all the work you've been doing on this story. My own sense is that this purge has to be viewed as part a much larger story on the devastating impact of this administration's policies on the institution of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
. . . I strive every day to make sure that the Fourth Amendment rights of evn the worst criminals are scrupulously observed, only to learn that the folks I work for view those rights as disposable, inconvenient anachronisms. I operate in a criminal justice system properly designed to maximize due process for even the worst criminals, only to watch the administration kick and scream when forced to provide even the most basic due process rights to suspected terrorists.

And now the purges. So they've slashed U.S. Attorney's budgets, trashed rights we have sworn to uphold, and now, tried to toady-up the ranks of our leadership by firing some of our best and brightest, apparently to make room for wingnut-annointed political hacks. Folks who do stuff like this deserve to get caught.


How many of us understand how deep our fascists are going?

SHUT THE FUCK UP

So the AP reports public dissatisfaction that the Democrats have accomplished so little in their two months in office. It's a sad fact that the public needs be taught how democracy works, and where the blame actually lies - with the Republicans, whose sole policy is to obstruct until they can get themselves back in power, and with themselves.

There was never any possibility - with their slim Senate margin - that the Democrats were actually going to pass significant legislation. But let's look at what the Democrats have accomplished in two months. The mood of the country has changed somewhat. Investigations are being conducted which should reveal the depths of Republican iniquity. And, most importantly, the Democrats - and the Republicans - are creating a record on the issues that really matter; the Democrats advance positive positions, the Republicans block them.

That should make it easy for any blockhead to know what he has to do in 2008. But here's why he probably hasn't figured it out:

The campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination are being run, and being covered, like Britney and Anna Nicole. It's difficult to conclude there's any hope for the future when Hillary and Obama and McCain and Giuliani are playing the celebrity game instead of getting important business done. The press, of course, reports this crap as if it were critical. Not their fault - they report what the public wants to hear. Who's ahead, who said what, about as important in the real world as where Anna Nicole ends up, or what movie made the most money last week. Sooner or later people who have the sense to show up to vote get fed up with this nonsense and start looking for somebody else. If there isn't somebody else, they turn it all off.

Right now all attention should be focused on what the House does. Actual bills can get passed there, actual things accomplished - at least to set the agenda for the 2008 election. So Hillary and Obama have done us a great disservice by distracting us - and God knows we are supremely distractable - from the sublime, and replacing it with the ridiculous. If they really gave a damn about anyone but themselves, they'd not only shut up and step back - for God's sake, they've got a year and a half to campaign for President - but also pointedly instruct the public why they are stepping back - to refocus the spotlight on what really matters. That's presidential behavior, in my opinion - and the only one who's done that is Kerry, and in his case it was only because he had to.

So if Hillary and Obama don't want to take their seats in the Senate and use any power they have to good ends, then would they please just go home and shut the fuck up until June, 2008?

FREE MARKETS?

Alan Greenspan - who doesn't even work for us anymore (if he ever did) - says there's going to be a recession, and bang, the market plummets. I know it was supposedly keyed by a drop in the Chinese market, but the Chinese market dropped because of what Greenspan said (i.e., an American economy in recession is not going to be spending all that money in China.)

It all brings back memories of the dot com implosion, when one analyst said tech stocks were overvalued (after hundreds of others had said the same thing much earlier) and boom goes the NASDAQ. Or the recent housing market collapse, also triggered by one comment (I forget whose).

There's no room for doubt in a reasonable mind that certain prearranged signals are sent by prearranged persons which cause certain other people to pull out and collapse a market. I sure hope the guys who manage the funds I'm in are on the list of the folks in the know. (I doubt it.) The only thing I can derive from all this is:

Free markets are only free for those who influence or control them. For the rest of us, there's always a price to pay.