Nahleans

We all feel for the suffering in the Gulf Coast area after Katrina. Specifically for the poor who have no resources. The bloggers wasted no time in jumping on the "people suffering b/c of Bush" rhetoric. I find GW as despicable as the next person but here's my thoughts on the matter.

Bush's FY budget cut funding to New Orleans approximately $50 to $70 million depending on whose figures you read. This gave the New Orleans district $272.4 million in 2006, down from $343.5 million in 2005. These millions are budgeted to New Orleans every year.

The Corps of Engineers budget could still be beefed up, as it is every year, through congressional additions. Last year, Congress added $20 million to the overall budget of the New Orleans district but a similar increase this year would still leave a $50 million shortfall. We're speaking of a shortfall for 2006 spending.

So Bush "slashes" a budget that will effect Louisiana. My question : What have the good porkers of New Orleans politicians been doing with the decades of funding? Why with decades of federal money are they caught with their dicks in the wind? Living in an area of wetlands, which holds catastrophic possibilities of nature, where have decades of dollars for maintenance and upkeep of the infrastructure been spent? Decades of funding for levees, floodwalls, and pumping stations. I checked out New Orleans and Grand Isle a couple of years ago, thinking of relocation. Nice place, wouldn't want to live there; half the state is on stilts. Too much water I said.

Federal law requires that high priority projects, such as roads, bridges, damns, waterways are included in the distribution of Federal funds to states, but state and local politicians will jockey around the Federal government mandates with how a project is included or excluded from the State's distribution formula of the funds. All those buddy contractors to distribute to, doing projects on the cheap, padding expenses, kickbacks. And if there's the word Corps or Army anywhere in it you know toilet seats and screwdrivers are gonna cost you.

Blaming Bush is easy and predictable, but look at Louisiana's own politicians and system (both aisles) for some accountability. This disaster didn't come about because of FY 2006 cuts. Louisiana has spent poorly and corruptly (as do all states). As a side note, last night my daughter mentioned that predictably we'll soon see the video of "Black folks looting," … oh … nevermind she said as those images were showing as she spoke. White folks never seem to loot for the camera.

Outings & Sightings

There are so many it's hard to keep up. I was following the theories of Wayne Madsen and Michael Ruppert but lost faith after their "Bush/Cheney indictments are looming!" last year. Now I'm not sure I understand the theory this pair is pushing but apparently it's along the line that the wrath of the CIA is working against the Bush family empire.

In a Ruppert article Beyond Bush II he writes: "A simple way to look at this is to say that the CIA represents the interests of Wall Street and the global economic powers, while the Bush Neocons represent the interests of only one American faction of the global economy. It is inevitable that the Neocons will be replaced. Several US presidents have fought the CIA and they have always emerged on the short end of the stick. This time will be no different."

So the agency that Poppy Bush once directed is out to overthrow his son? Poppy Bush became director of CIA at a time when the agency was being scrutinized for dirty tricks, the Allende in Chile assassination, Diem in Vietnam, various other nasty deeds. When Bush was confirmed as CIA director he promised to make : "CIA an instrument of peace and an object of pride for all our people."

The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 was signed into law by President Clinton on October 20, 1998. Among its provisions, the Act directed that the Headquarters compound of the Central Intelligence Agency located in Langley, Virginia, shall be known and designated as the "George Bush Center for Intelligence." That designation now makes me chuckle (and think send your son there GHW). Nice honor for a guy who only served as CIA Director for one year. I would expect things are named after men who help promote an agenda or occasionally to please the public, i.e. all the MLK boulevards across the country.

Some have theorized that Nixon's downfall was also a silent CIA coup. Perhaps a setup by CIA covert operator James McCord, one of the Watergate "plumbers." Nixon attempted to get the CIA to take responsibility for Watergate, as a CIA job or claiming "national security" to shut down the investigation. Director Richard Helms would have none of that. Nixon fired Helms but the House cleared CIA of any involvement in Watergate.

During the Watergate era polls were showing the public disinterest in the matter until a media hype campaign began to turn the polls against Nixon. Even so, most folks felt Nixon stealing info on his opposition and subsequent coverup was how all pols played the game. It was hard for many to accept that burglary and coverup were so awful a crime considering we assassinated foreign heads, overthrew governments, waged wars for profit, etc. What was the big deal people asked at the local diner. One theory proposed that Nixon had threatened the CIA with his knowledge concerning JFK assassination and/or Bay of Pigs. Did the CIA show a sitting president how impotent his position really is?

But why, according to Ruppert's theory, would the CIA do a silent coup on Son of Bush? Because BushCo is only one small American faction of global interest as Ruppert states? Mighty powerful little faction. Is it because BushCo put the blame on CIA intel failures as leading to 9/11?

Luckily, the finger then pointed away from the CIA to the FBI, and Sibel Edmonds comes forth as a convenient whistleblower to show how the FBI is negligent, incompetent, guilty. Who does Ms. Edmonds really work for? Wilson and Plame also conveniently come forth as victims, again making the CIA a circuitous victim of BushCo, as the Plame outing damaged their NOC and corporate cover Brewster Jennings. Although nothing trustworthy (for me) regarding Plame's career or Brewster Jennings has been put forth; a lot of heresay and bloggers hypothethetical speculation from bits of information from unidentified anonymous sources. Are these whistleblowers, among others, just doing their job: deflecting blame from CIA?

At one point it was claimed that George Tenet was falling on the sword for Bush and Tenet has now resigned. His replacement, Floridian Porter Goss, is long time buddy of the Bushes. Would Goss participate in or thwart a silent coup against the Bush dynasty? Personally I don't see the fight against the CIA by BushCo and the CIA's counter silent ongoing coup that Ruppert speaks of.

Maybe it's all going as planned. Boy Bush falling on the sword for the new world order. Intentionally made to look so odious and treasonous that most everyone will breathe a sigh of relief when he's gone, and welcome the replacements, be it McCain or a Clinton or Dean or "anybody but Bush."

As the accusations and theories disappear to the corners of internet archives, the programs for a police state are set, profits made, internal power struggles shift, and the global realignment moves further ahead. It's all the same agenda, just different ideas on who's driving and who's along for the ride. All the confusion and lies of the past few years will fade with folks believing one or a combination of theories. It was intel failure, it was the CIA, it was Bush and neocons, it was FBI incompetence, it was our foreign policy, it was evildoers, Illuminati, it is God, and/or democrats rolling over. It seems "inevitable" that just as with JFK, Vietnam, Nixon, the Contras, Noriega, Vince Foster, etc. there will be little hard truth revealed but enough theory to keep everyone busy for a lifetime.

Today's information "outings" remind me of UFO sightings. Plenty of folks claiming they have firsthand knowledge but no smoking gun proof. Convincing stories sometimes but who knows for certain there aren't little gray men abducting earthlings or if every whistleblower is a truth telling hero here to save the day and clear things up. Either way, there's always some rectal probing for the Joe Average faction.

Black Independent Voter

Black America: We Have a Problem!

Ignorant Thinking

This is the type of ignorance that gripes my butt. Blue State Losses Give Moral Authority For Protests. The blogger states : "You need only look at the sheer number of Iraq war dead hailing from the West Coast, Illinois, Michigan and the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine, to see that it is predominantly Democratic areas that are bearing the biggest human cost of Bush's war."













It looks fairly equal to me. This kind of logic is hypedumb. Equivalent to claiming that most all of the war casualties are democrats. And has anyone suggested we don't have a "moral right" to protest?

Dickie's Glee Club

Didn't we all go through high school with a boy like Dickie? You know, the somewhat good-looking "rich kid" popular clique member, leader of the "in" crowd? Sexy sometimes in that high school jock way, even if not built for sports or good at sports he was considered a jock. He was extremely confident because no matter how inattentive in class, no matter what weekend wildness, no matter what law he broke or bent he never had a legal problem, or if he did the run-in with the law always went away. In my high school he was Dickie.

Guys like Dickie were never punished for driving under the influence and wrecking a few of daddy's cars during high school. Never prosecuted for exploding the cow carcass with dynamite in the town square. That last 4 point speeding ticket went away every time and Dickie never lost driving privileges.

Dickie never had to brag because the kids boasted for and of his antics and escapades. He was a celebrity all through high school just for being who he was, the popular "rich kid." The teachers, knowing his social rung, all stopped short of public fawning, but often upgraded his scores, never to give Dickie less than a gentleman's C.

He had his female glee club, who giggled praise when he was around and when he wasn't. Most all the girls, openly or not, wanted to be with Dickie. Dickie was not particularly drop dead handsome, but not ugly. There was always a female counterpart for Dickie and they usually dated. He never had a problem getting laid. Good girls and bad girls up and down the social ladder would accommodate him just to say they "knew" Dickie.

His buddies included one guy from the wrong side of the tracks with a name like Stud or Stoney; the guy who gave Dickie courage and Dickie gave Stud a little status. He was the guy who led Dickie's male glee club and gave Dickie the bad-boy image folks are prone to palpitate over. The guy who would take the rap for Dickie if need be.

High school was the best years of Dickie's life and 20, 30, even 40 years later he may still tell you it was the best years of his life. These were the years Dickie, without any effort at all, felt unconditional hero-worship; love and approval were automatic simply because of where he stood on the local social food chain.

Dickie's dad is a lawyer, landowner, politician, or physician, and owns many of the local businesses. They are an old family in town and have controlled the pecking order for a long time. No sheriff is elected or town council member seated without his family's approval. His mom is a socialite and do-gooder, when she's sober; no one mentions her closet drinking, and certainly not her banging the kitchen remodeling contractor 20 years younger than herself. They're the perfect family with Dickie often being the only child or with a much younger little sister whom he adores and protects, a future clique member and "rich kid."

After high school Dickie attends the family alma mater, usually with great difficulty having never developed learning skills, never felt the lust for knowledge, never any impetus to excel. Dickie never had to go to war although his father and grandfathers usually did, as they were from an era that expected that of men who would be leaders. He's the third or fourth generation; each generation living off the rewards of the father before them; familial strength and incentive begin to run thin. He will try to walk in the footsteps of his forefathers, fail, and the family cleans up behind him as they have all his life. He's locked into and spoiled by a system of generational character erosion.

There are some bitter ugly disappointing adult years for Dickie, and his folks try hard to keep him together. Eventually he hits middle-age, rescued by a crew of old supporters who knew his dad and/or grandpa. His adult glee club. They will give him the appearance and documentation of mature respectability, but the reality is Dickie never did grow up, and never will. All the old men look haggard, protecting all the selfish sons they failed. God save us from the next generation of Dickies.

Janis Lost a Bird

Having lost a bird, demoted from Brig. General to Colonel, Janis Karpinski grumbles about the Bush administration. Claiming Abu Ghraib was not her fault, blames Rumsfeld, Bush, and superior officers. She also plays the sex card, claiming she was chosen to take the fall for Abu because she's female, a martyr for womanhood. (Forget about the shoplifting charge at the PX, no scapegoating for makeup and small items.)

Karpinski was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1977. She went to the Reserves in 1987, and became a "self-employed consultant" in Hilton Head, SC, where she ran grueling military style training programs for those hoping to scale the corporate ladder. I could find nothing on the "Executive Training and Corporate Improvement Program" listed on her wikipedia bio. I can't imagine Bill Gates or Donald Trump in their youth punishing themselves with these programs but maybe executives have become real warriors. I suspect the market for this grueling improvement is executive employees of "private military companies."

In September 2003 Karpinski was the Abu tour guide for Rumsfeld and other VIPs, showing them where Saddam once tortured, raped, murdered, committed atrocities. In December 2003 in a St. Petersburg Times interview she stated in Iraqi prisons "living conditions now are better in prison than at home, and that "at one point we were concerned they wouldn't want to leave." Sounds like she didn't spend much time at the Abu office water cooler picking up prison gossip.

So what happened? She now says Army Intel officers encouraged the abuse and the guilt runs all the way to the WH. She claims she was not allowed to speak with the Abu nightshift prison guards as they were not under her command (although 7 of the reservists caught on film humiliating prisoners were her thugs). She didn't live at the prison and traveling was not allowed at night because it was unsafe, so she didn't know what went on at night. She had no experience or training in prison guard duty some of her supporters reason.

She lived near Baghdad International Airport in what used to be Hussein's private sports preserve. "The setting is almost paradisiacal with small palaces surrounding a man-made lake." Nice. I'd like to know how many days she called in sick to Abu so she could enjoy those small palace surroundings.

Karpinski is a woman with 28 years in camo and khaki and running military style programs. Her husband is also military, Lt. Colonel George Karpinski. She served primarily in MI and MP assignments, and served in the first Gulf War. And she couldn't CYA (cover your ass) any better than this? Incompetence, lack of leadership, crass unconcern, and promoted on a gender ride from the women's movement had nothing to do with her failure at Abu Ghraib, right? It really does roll downhill, and most of it missed the Colonel. She should be in a cell a few floors below Lyndie England; instead she rotates out and goes home with a PR tour and military benefits.

GoDaddy Thugs

What became of the story of the Seattle soldiers just home from Iraq beaten senseless in front of Larry's bar? Here's the local KOMO footage. Looks like 2 white boys in the Rodney King position on July 31.

Larry Culp, the co-owner of Larry's said "there are several things that really disturb him. He said if police believe it happened at his club, why didn't they contact him until Thursday? And why didn't they ask for tapes from the two cameras he has outside the building?"

Rob of SayAnything blog posts there's a website that "apparently records “ghetto” fights and sells them to the internet public. The video I saw from the email (I was repulsed when I watched it and wish people wouldn’t send me crap like that) looked so much like the video released by the police in this case got me to thinking: I wonder if this website had anything to do with this beating?"

FloppingAces blogs that godaddy.com is the hosting company for Real Fights/Ghetto Fights, a site that pays $1000 for street fights.

Michelle Malkin is also all over the story. She's "continuing to keep a close eye on the outrageous act of barbarism in Seattle committed against three American soldiers (two of whom were beaten unconscious) in Pioneer Square last month by a group of thugs." Malkin does her usual hairpulling rant at the "politically correct" liberals ignoring the incident.

Note: The Freeper thread was shut down for inappropriate commentary based on the ethnicity of the people involved. Imagine that.

It does seem a bit odd that at least 2 videos were recording the fight without any interference from anyone. Odd also that the Seattle PD released the video 3 weeks after the beating with request to help identify the perps. I guess the perps are unknown to the Seattle PD as no arrests have been made yet, but PD says arrests are coming soon.

If the Malkinistas could have put the right spin on this, i.e. the fight began over a disagreement on the Iraq war and because the victims were soldiers I'm sure they would have (reminiscent of spitting on soldier myth), but the fight began over groping the ladies and throwing hotdogs. I guess shit like that happens, especially when you're the only white boys hanging around a black bar in the wee hours of the morning. Did any freepers ask what those boys were looking for?

Raining BS

Supreme reign of the Christian Coalition, reigning white Christian supremist Herr Robertson, recently suffered verbally loose stool triggered by swallowing too much fatwa; causing the old man to utter macho comments to his bleating audience, as he rested comfortably in the belly of the boobtube. A syndrome sometimes associated with contamination by Rovian Blowflys.

Karl: We need more frivolous news stories to fill the airwaves.

Blowfly: Big one or small one, tear-jerker or pointless ?

Karl: Make it a nothing going nowhere byte.

Blowfly (looking through list of rightwing Parasites & Toadies): We could call Pat R. and have him make a comment. Or we could issue a terrorist alert on Farmer's Almanac or terrorists disguised as homeless, or ...

Karl: No fool, we did those alerts already. But Pat's good. Have him say something about assassinating a foreign head of state. Make it on that bastard Chavez.

Blowfly: Will do ... but Pat's senile, remember he messed up with that line saying Bush told him "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties" when he was supposed to say George warned him about casualties and the unbearable grief it would cause him as president.

Karl: Tell him if he doesn't do this one right ...

PBU35

Love Your Country? Demand Impeachment

Oh yea, we were so much better off after we impeached Nixon (Reagan/Bush 12 yrs) and again after impeachment of Bill Clinton (Bush/Cheney 8 yrs). It would interesting indeed to see what we would get after impeachment of George Bush. Be careful what you wish for, it might be a real peach.

FM

Blame Israel first seems a chant growing louder these days. More and more websites are presenting the line "Israel tricked" the US into going to war in Iraq, along with other deceptions, some failed, some not, some public, some not.

I will agree Zionism has too much influence in D.C. So do wealthy Christian wingnut groups. So do multinational corporations, who package their product as a people's crusade for freedom rather than what it really is : insatiable greed and aggression. Has Zionism had a long hold on power in D.C.? Probably, since the days when Hayem Solomon financed the American Revolution, although not labeled Zionism at the time.

The US has been "tricked" by Jews for decades according to some bloggers and non-bloggers. For instance the bombing in 1967 of the USS Liberty, said to be a failed Israeli attempt to "draw the US into joining the Jewish state as a fighting partner in its war against Arab states." And the subsequent cover-up with help from Lyndon Johnson, who declared the incident an accident. If I'm going to be a true conspiracist let me say there's nothing puzzling about LBJ's behavior; he owed Mossad and CIA a few favors for his limo ride to the White House.

Typically though Mossad, Israeli intel, runs black ops that make the CIA cry with envy. But only to the extent that the Mossad is more successful at tricking the sheople, not at tricking the US or the CIA. It's sort of like the Heartland phrase "can't bullshit a shitter." One agency can spot another agency's handiwork, they cross-train, swap methods, run joint operations. Intel doesn't work for the government, intel is the government.

And contrary to popular myth, prostitution is not the oldest profession. Women were free for the taking when shaman Trog used fire and otherworldly magic to trick his faithful into raiding a neighboring cave. Then came the spy to infiltrate the neighboring cave and report back. Politicians use religion and religion uses politics, and the flocks are dazed legally and morally; each and every time buying the magic blown at them. It's in the divine plan, and gosh, Bubbatrog, you are part of that lofty goal. Just take this club and kill those folks in the next valley, and trust the shaman, trust the leader. Today's shamans and leaders are better dressed with better posture, armed with bigger clubs and better magic intel.

It's beyond my imagination to think the US was "tricked" by Israel. It's that word "trick." Granted, there's a lot of prostitution in government but pimps know a trick when they see one. The real trick is the one played on the masses who buy the idea that the US government is and has been continuously stupid and repeatedly duped by Zionists or Jews or Neocons. There's no trickery or duping here. It's politics/intel and religion as usual. Collusion, is the better term, similar to that between pimp and john. Both are getting what they want out of the deal. Unfortunately, that leaves we the people in the other position, screwed and holding the douche bag.

Real Torture

More Abu Ghraid photos. "There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals. Naturally, the Pentagon is trying to block their release." - Ari Berman (The Nation).

Berman concludes : "Far from endangering American national security, the release of the horrific images could provide new impetus to the stalled Congressional investigations into prisoner abuse, and the Pentagon's failure to hold any high-ranking officers accountable for Abu Ghraib. An independent counsel with subpoena power is what's needed most right now to prevent images like these in the future."

Does anyone believe the release of these photos will "prevent images like these in the future?" It may prevent troops having cameras and video. More Hype R Us media. MSM (and the blogosphere that repeats it) intentionally misses the mark on interrogation techniques and torture.

I believe this b/c I've had the following in my mail for a while now and have finally decided to post it (edited), for what its worth. It comes from someone in military interrogations and intelligence:

"What went on in Abu/Gitmo to "soften up" prisoners is what some dumbass troops do for "fun." Those are not the techniques used to "soften up" anyone. The media hype about Gitmo and Abu is a false outcry. No one is looking at anything real. A military interrogation is conducted by the book. Gitmo is not a torture palace. Everyone is looking in the wrong place. The story is not about Gitmo or Abu Ghraib. Those places are rough and an individuals may take it upon themsevles to do things they shouldn't but there is no "torture" going on.

However, other government agencies are conducting interrogations in camps not spoken of, using methods not spoken about. In these camps they are torturing people. In these camps there are true war crimes being committed. In Abu Ghraib they made men lie naked in a pyramid – that's not torture, that's uncomfortable. The torture is at these other agency camps; they are doing horrible things to people. But Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are not the problem. I'm telling you, no one is looking at anything real. I'm telling you to look into the real camps."

A Mom of Their Own

There are few things in life more difficult than seeing a loved one go off to war. And here in Idaho, a mom named Tammy Pruett -- (applause) -- I think she's here -- (laughter) -- knows that feeling six times over. (Applause.) Tammy has four sons serving in Iraq right now with the Idaho National Guard -- Eric, Evan, Greg and Jeff. Last year, her husband Leon and another son, Eren, returned from Iraq, where they helped train Iraqi firefighters in Mosul. Tammy says this -- and I want you to hear this -- "I know that if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country. And I guess you couldn't ask for a better way of life than giving it for something that you believe in." America lives in freedom because of families like the Pruetts. (Applause.)

Mercs or Private Military Companies

On WRH today: Article from OpEd News: George Bush's Soldiers of Fortune prompted this flashback of my blogging on the subject.

Mercs Or Private Military Companies blogged March 4, 2005.

Comment from Mr. Brooks March 13, 2005 9:05 PM:
Howdy!

Stumbled across your blog by chance!

Yeah, IPOA does support peace and stability operations, as well as the increased use of the private sector to make these international operations succeed. If you have any doubts or questions, I’d be happy to discuss it with you at your convenience.

Regards,

Doug Brooks
President
International Peace Operations Association (IPOA)
"the Business of Peace"

Phone: (202) 464-0721
Cell: (202) 297-9717 - Washington, DC
Fax: (202) 464-0726

1900 L Street, NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20036

Work email: DBrooks@IPOAonline.org
IPOA website: www.IPOAonline.org

Response to Mr. Brooks March 14, 2005: Have Gun Will Travel

Iraq War Less Popular

"The latest quarterly average for Iraq shows that 50% say it was a mistake to send troops (the most recent single measure on this indicator, from an Aug. 5-7 Gallup Poll, shows 54% saying the war was a mistake).

In the comparable quarter for the Vietnam War (the third quarter of the war’s third year — that is, the third quarter of 1967), Gallup found 41% saying the conflict was a mistake. It was not until the third quarter of the fourth year of the Vietnam War (August-September 1968) that a majority of Americans said the war was a mistake. In short, it took longer for a majority of Americans to view the Vietnam War as a mistake than has been the case for Iraq."

- I'm not sure what's the point of above other than "it took longer for a majority" to see VN as a mistake. Is this a hope offering to the peace movement? That over a span of 40 years 10 percent more of the people view a war as a mistake? What are the odds for sustainable peace at that rate?

Other than senseless death and destruction the factors involved are different in Iraq than Vietnam. For instance :

Who is fighting : Vietnam was fought by the poorest class of Americans, drafted, forced to serve. Run-ins with the legal system compelled many with the option of joining the army, or prison. Troops engaged in VN were politically the most disposable class of Americans. Today's troops in Iraq are closer to middle class status, many enlisted for college money and under the impression, however mistaken, that major long-term wars were a thing of the past. Today's poll numbers reflect the difference in the poor and coerced sent to VN and today's middle class volunteers who feel they have a choice. It took longer for the middle class of the 1960s to indicate the VN war was wrong b/c most of them were able to avoid fighting in it. Why do you think there's been a deliberate shrinking of a true middle class since the '60s? Middle classes are dangerous to the status quo. Ask any third world dictator.

The global stakes : VN was one of many proxy wars of the Cold War with corporate wealth and influence at stake. Iraq has the same at stake and then some, much more sum. Iraq is not a little sliver of jungle the US is bickering over in order to profit a few and beat the chest at the USSR. Iraq is big-time geopolitics, more similar to WWI and WWII power shifts. It took a great deal of death and fighting in VN and at home, to bring the troops in from VN. Are today's college students and middle class at home willing to do the same? Or will they spend years believing they can vote in the right party to end it, sort of like the VN era when Nixon promised if given a second term he would bring the troops home. He did, but after what cost in human life compared to so little at stake for America in Asia? How many of those percentage points in today's polls who say the war is a mistake are willing to pay more than lip service to end it?

Power of the people : In the 1960s the US corporate political hegemony was still somewhat constrained by Americans who still held some power over their own government. And self-constraint by a corporate world willing to return enough "trickle" to the middle class population in the form of wages, benefits, etc. Corporate power in government today is total. Today, corporate fascism has succeeded in relegating America to a people who can only hold their politicians accountable for blowjobs and burglary. America today is a nation designated as just another (cheapening) labor pool with its only attractive feature being military prowess in service to corporate world domination.

Failure of Information Age : Communication & information technology today are much better than the '60s, to say the least. Considering the instantaneous amount of information available today, are those few percentage poll points indicative in any way of a better informed population? Personally, I believe we should at least have been sufficiently aware to prevent the Iraq War from even being launched. Appears to me approximately half the population use the IT age for information (half of that half is misinformation), and the other half for entertainment. I expect the pro/anti war numbers will see-saw at 50/50 while pundits spin, politicians lie, and folks are forced to spend more effort on daily survival as a new world pattern emerges. Unless Americans engage in civil war (highly unlikely), US troops will continue as corporate servants abroad and citizens at home will argue about it for many, many more years, until it's too late to do anything but serve the masters. A gloomy prospect indeed, but I think most Americans sense it and are consciously or subconsciously making their choice, and we'll soon know.

Fatty R Buttocks

According to a Chicago Tribune headline the "Southern waistlines are expanding the fastest." I'll agree to that, along with other notes I've made on the Heartland. After many years in metro areas of the North and West US and abroad, where fitness was taken seriously, the lack of fitness was one of many culture shocks in relocating to the Heartland a few years ago.

Not only did we experience a higher level of bigotry that exists in the good-ol'-boy-bible-belt, we found a culture of folks where gossip is a natural instinct, where urban legends are born and nurtured, and get rich quick is the most admired ideology. The Heartland is the target market for late-night infomercial real estate how-to and pyramid dreams; ordering all of it is proof of ambition. I'm certain of this as the books and DVDs are on display in many homes; and don't be surprised if someone shows you the latest offer they bought and asks you to explain it to them.

The Heartland is where my adult children were introduced to chitlins (I'd been culturally amiss with this cuisine). One introduction was enough. For a while I believed one could only survive the swamp humidity levels here by evolving with gills. The environmental damage of leveling woods for big farming has created a bird problem that would shame Hitchcock. These birds now roost in every yard with a tree or clothesline. Watch your step took on new meaning. There's a truck that drives through late at night blasting the sound of cannon fire to scare the birds out of town. These drive-by shootings just move the birds a few blocks for a few hours. We were shocked at the lack of concern for the environment in the Heartland. Folks here think "don't litter" is what the 4-legged bitch has every few months which they don't want and will tie in a bag and throw in the pond.

But our biggest, and continuing shock, is the number of obese. Shopping, church, offices, everywhere, it's a parking lot of human flesh. Asses as big as the backend of 1968 Volkswagons (literally), laboring and gasping like doodlebugs in stretch pants. It truly is amazing. Similar to seeing the Grand Canyon or Rocky Mountains, but without reverence. Awe inspiring in how anyone can get that big without assistance from something outside the universe.

We can blame obesity on chemicals in our food, sweetners in colas, steroids in meat. But it still boils down (pun intended) to food choices, portion size and exercise. It's sitting on those big buttocks eating fatty hamhocks and the only calories burned are in search of excuses. Telling everyone it's the thyroid (always treatable but a die-hard excuse dies hard).

But I note a pattern here in the Heartland. Folks eating a lone salad with a dab of low-fat dressing and a Diet Pepsi in a cup the size of a bucket. It may impress co-workers how serious a person is about shedding those extra 80+ pounds, and whose to know you pull a chair to the fridge when you get home, after driving through McD for a couple of whoppers w/cheese, to hold you over on the ride. Eating until the belly is full as a deer tick, falling asleep to the tube, and digesting as slow as a snoring winter bear.

Bicycling, hiking, rollerblading, tennis : not done here by anyone over 12. Too hot, too humid. And most folks too fat, indoors with the AC on 50 and a bucket of KFC. Not a lot of home cooking down home anymore. Folks here prefer chunks of fried meat and fried potatoes at every meal, especially if in a wrapper or box and delivered or picked up. With lots of cream, sauce, and biscuits. The broiler is for storing those never used bundt pans and jello molds. If it ain't fried it ain't cooked. If it ain't dipped, breaded, and dripping with grease it's sissy food. And there's no shame in having to use the scales at the truck stop before a physical to get a weight for the doctor.

I predicted after witnessing the scale of heft in the Heartland that the government will eventually step in. As with guns, smoking, drinking, education, speedo, etc. we the people will need nanny government to count our calories, perhaps levying heavy fines as incentive to "make skinny choices." Maybe "government health camps" will be instituted, for our own good of course. The down side is suicide by eating. An early death and suffering from obesity related disease. On the plus side (pun intended) it will keep your butt out of any military obligation.

Osama bin Hurtin'

Kabul, 24 August (AKI) - Osama bin Laden has been wounded in Afghanistan. Osama's good buddy Mullah Ahmadi, leader of the Badr brigades, which form part of the al-Qaeda organisation in Afghanistan, has confirmed that Sheikh Abu Abdullah (Osama's other name) has been injured in his left leg.

Sheikh Osama Abu Abdullah bin Laden was injured when he went into battle to lead his men in attack on a Spanish base in Afghanistan. Cohorts have asked for prayers to heal Osama and have promised to deliver tapes of the fighting which lasted 4 hours.

Police Raid Party in Spanish Fork Canyon

Blogosphere headlines : UTAH RAVERS TREATED LIKE TERRORISTS! SWAT teams use excessive force to raid peaceful Utah rave! See what this government has become!?

Amateur video here.

I had to laugh at the cacophonic knot in some left leaning knickers over this story. I just can't sympathize with the fuss because it looks like another Saturday night in the 'hood. Except in the 'hood the po-leese slap everyone around, step on necks, press pistol and machine-gun muzzles to the head, ransack the home and on occasion, for dramatic effect, shoot the pet dog. Then tazer and arrest a couple of guys for having a few joints. Isn't this the way they usually break-up white folks parties too?

Informed Comment?

Juan Cole, noted intellect and history professor has 10 "Things" Congress Could Demand from Bush on Iraq. Cole says "US out now" as a simple mantra neglects to consider the full range of possible disasters that could ensue." He goes on to prattle of withdrawal creating a regional civil war and the dire global consequences of same. For example, civil war could interrupt 20 percent of oil production, which according to Cole "the poor of the world would be badly hurt, and the whole world would risk another Great Depression." (Civil wars have worked well for US corporate interests in the past, Vietnam, Korea, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador, Columbia, etc.etc.etc.etc.)

Cole tells us, however, that "people who get to work on buses would feel it" (they are now dufus). If there was a depression "janitors and other workers will be the first to be fired." Not really, it's the middle and upper higher paid employees that are first cut. They'll always need someone to clean toilets and take out the garbage. During the Great Depression those who were once white collar were begging for the janitorial jobs. Cole predicts the "global south" would be stuck even longer in poverty (gasp! the US has worried & worked on Latin poverty for 2 centuries), for instance Jamaicans, who import everything, would be struck hard. Alas, tourists will pay more to drink Big Bamboo and Stingers. I don't know if Mr. Cole has ever been to the Latin and/or Caribbean third world but the bulk of the population currently live without water, electricity, sanitation, and the amenities of petro-conveniences. Most of Latin America's poor live the same, regardless of the West's economic rollercoasters. Homegrown frijoles, rice and plantains don't stop simply because gringos have an oil problem. I've no doubt what class would be "badly hurt" by a great depression.

But anyway, the synopsis of Cole's 10 point plan for Iraq would be :
1. Pull back US troops from the cities, let Iraqi police do the policing b/c the US troops are not traffic cops. We're not the world policemen? The Iraqi militant militias will be glad to hear it.

2. In Cole's "second phase of withdrawal" US troops would steadily be drawn out of Iraq. Mr. Cole would that take longer than our withdrawal from other spots, i.e. Japan, Germany, Columbia, the Philippines, etc.?

3. Give the Iraqi government "for as long as they wanted it" US air support against any rebellions. It's worked so successfully in Afghanistan and Bogata. He admits this tactic may take out a few Blackhawks occasionally but nothing is painless.

4. Large units of militiamen attempting to march from Anbar on Baghdad, e.g., would be destroyed by AC-130s and other US air weaponry suitable to this purpose. This tactic cannot prevent the current campaign of car bombings, but it can stop a full-scale Lebanon or Afghanistan-style civil war from erupting. Aren't we kind of doing that now?

5. In addition to the service of its air forces, the US would offer targeted military aid to ensure the stability of the Iraqi government ... protect key political figures from assassination ... help in preventing pipeline sabotage so as to increase Iraqi petroleum revenues and strengthen the new government. US policemen (but not called policemen) to protect corporate oil interests and puppet heads of state. Aren't we kind of doing that now?

6. In addition to the service of its air forces, the US would offer targeted military aid to ensure the stability of the Iraqi government. Once US ground troops are out, there is no reason not to let the Iraqi military just import a lot of tanks and train the new Iraqi army in using them. Protecting our puppets and building another "elite republican guard." Aren't we kind of doing that now?

7. The US should demand representative elections in Iraq if they want further help from us. Dieboldaraqi.

8. The US should demand those Baathists not guilty of crimes against humanity should be returned to the bureaucracy. A "key step in convincing the old Sunni Arab elites that they won't be screwed over in the new Iraq." No more screwed than the rest of Iraqi elite, sounds fair to me.

9. All of the reconstruction money should go directly to Iraqi firms, so as to help jump-start the economy. Especially to the joint venture firms of Halliburaq, KellogArab & BrownAli, etc. Cole seems to be doing a lot of should-ing on Iraq.

10. The US should join the regular meetings of the foreign ministers of Iraq's neighbors, with Condi Rice in attendance, along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, employing a 6 + 2 diplomatic track to help put Iraq back on its feet through diplomacy and multilateral aid. This step will require that the Bush administration cease threatening regularly to bomb Tehran or to overthrow the governments of Syria and Iran ... The US is now a Middle Eastern Power, not just a New World one, and as such it needs to use Iraq's neighbors to calm their clients within Iraq. This goal cannot be achieved through simple intimidation, more especially since, with half of all fighting units bogged down in Iraq, the US is in no position to follow through on its threats and everyone knows it. Surely he jests. We will not be "getting out" of Iraq, unless another superpower throws us out. I lean toward thinking the posturing toward Iran is fake. Iran's ruling rightwing are buddies with our ruling rightwing (ask Carter vs Reagan). That's one reason why the US has no problem with Iraq going to Shiite. If the US decides to take its own threats seriously we have all the firepower positioned to back it up. Intimidation and force are exactly why we're now a "Middle Eastern Power."

Cole ends the dufus 10 point solution with : "Once Iraq can stand on its own feet, I am quite sure that the Grand Ayatollah in Najaf will just give a fatwa for complete US withdrawal, and the US will have to acquiesce, as it did in similar circumstances in the Philippines." How many decades were we in the Philippines before we acquiesced? My solution? Stop dicking around in other people's countries.

Gaza Evacuation

Charley Reese has a good piece on the current evac:

"One idealistic American girl who tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from destroying a Palestinian home was crushed to death by the bulldozer. Naturally, the United States government did nothing, and the American media obediently either ignored her death or accepted the Israeli excuse that the driver couldn't see her, which is bull. She was killed in broad, sunny daylight while wearing a blaze-orange jacket and standing atop a pile of dirt."

Bush Supporters

Bush supporters start camp countering war protesters.

(08-20) 15:51 PDT Crawford, Texas (AP) -- A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

The camp is named "Fort Qualls" in memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, killed in Fallujah, Iraq, last fall. His father, Gary Qualls of Temple, said his 16-year-old son also wants to enlist, and he supports that decision.

"If I have to sacrifice my whole family for the sake of our country and world, other countries that want freedom, I'll do that," said Qualls, a friend of the local business owner who started the pro-Bush camp, Bill Johnson.

----- From Tuesday, February 08, 2005
The Bush Non-Millionaire White Base

The working white poor, the class most likely to suck it up and drink another Bud and blame the Mexicans (anyone speaking Spanish is Mexican), blame the Blacks, and any other non-white foreigner, and liberals too are at blame. They support Bush policies because they don't understand but can remember the one-liners BushCo gives as reasoning. They like SS privatization because they're eager to be their own stockbroker, investment advisor, and portfolio watcher. A few of them might be competent, but the majority are not, and will make stockmarket choices the way they choose between "Lucky Day" pull-tabs or scratch off "Red Hot Cash." Their jobs are generally janitorial, laborer, nursing aides, delivery drivers, convenience clerks, burger flipper, menial menial menial labor which generally makes them mean mean mean. This class in decades past were considered the "salt of the earth." Good friends, good neighbors, hardworking and poor. Now indignant and resentful, feeling injured by their status and eager for scapegoats to stake to the post. They graduate high school, get GEDs, even a year of community college or tech school. Their church going patterns vary but always Christian. They prefer the rolling and speaking in tongues when they are born again. This group is not likely to turn against BushCo vision of America. Little physical and emotional stamina and the fight for survival keeps their short attention span addled. Some know what's politically going on but don't care. They vote only when the Bush Team riles them up. They say things like "kill 'em all."

The nickel millionaires. Accustomed to hanging on by threads. They have filed bankruptcy at least once, more likely twice. They buy brand name imitations of the rich and famous and splurge their tax refunds on plasma screens, downpayment on a car for junior, or perhaps a trip to Vegas or Cancun which gives them travel stories for years to come. They firmly believe they're superior and in the upper middle class. The medicine cabinet is filled with meds for migraine, acid reflux, insomnia, and depression, and that's just for the kids. Their work carries more prestige. Teachers, cops, firemen, office workers, Wal-Mart managers, secretaries, salesmen. They don't have a pot to piss in but several tasteful window treatments (bank owned) to throw it out of. They're pretty sure Bush fiscal policies will not effect them. Afterall, they receive no welfare or government handouts. They have jobs and insurance. The ripple effect of cutting federal funds to states doesn't occur to them, or at least not often. The prices of energy, food, and rise in State taxation hasn't hurt yet. They forget that Bush policies will effect funds going to grandma's nursing home, or little Johnny's learning problems or special education, or even that grandpa's Meals on Wheels is largely government funded. They will not raise a voice against Bush policy, they have supported it and must continue to do so. False pride and ego. Unless Fox News offers them justification to turn away from Bush, they will continue to support their own demise. They may be what's left of the middle class. They have surface knowledge on everything. They say they would vote for Colin as president (knowing it will never happen) but laugh at Sharpton and rant at Jesse. They may have college degrees and pretend that means something when half a brain and money for textbooks is all it takes. The distinction between them and the working class poor are a few dollars. They say things like "Saddam Hussein was another Hitler."

The next group includes realtors, entrepreneurs, doctors and attorneys, contractors, management executives, business owners; many have inherited from parents, even if nothing more than a paid off home and the dirt it sits on. They take more and better trips and have more credit cards and investments. Paper rich and dollar poor, many feel resentful they do not have more; aware the slightest economic breeze could blow their modest wealth away ala Enron or one good tax audit. They know they cheat and fudge on many things but justify it. They blame the "system" that isn't distributing the burden fairly but they would feel burdened if they paid zero taxes. They have many pots and windows and aren't sure what they really want since all they have is not enough, but know themselves are not to blame for anything. They did a lot of cocaine in the 70s and 80s and lived in the fast lane but today present an image of moral superiority to their own kids and anyone else who will believe it. They trust the government is heading in the right direction because they like the gunslinger machismo. Sometimes with advanced degrees, they pose as experts and scholars. They say things like "we had to remove Saddam."

All support Bush and will do so if for no other reason than it is the path of least resistance. Most wouldn't care if BushCo made the Middle East a ghost town with pipeline running straight to Shikmim Farm. Most would rather go through a "hazing" at Abu Gharib than admit BushCo is immoral, illegal, and evil. They will sacrifice their sons and daughters to Bush Wars because martyrdom has appeal. Afterall, the rightwing has told their white base, over and over, they are the victims of the anti-Christian leftwing, reverse discrimination, illegal immigrants, welfare queens, and Black crime. They believe they are the "good Americans."

Curt Weldon – Able Crazy

Curt Weldon (R-PA) is selling a book (published this past June) : Countdown to Terror: The Top-Secret Information that Could Prevent the Next Terrorist Attack on America ... and How the CIA has Ignored it.

From the Inside Flap
"Could the next September 11 be nuclear? This is no theory, says Congressman Curt Weldon, in his shocking new book Countdown to Terror. It is a fact as real as the arrest of Muslim terrorists who planned to crash a plane into the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire in 2004. What’s even more stunning, Congressman Weldon tried to warn American intelligence about the attack—but no one in America’s intelligence community would listen. How did Congressman Weldon know about it? Because of a secret source, an intelligence contact code-named Ali who has been a treasure trove of reliable intelligence—intelligence that, despite Congressman Weldon’s strenuous efforts, has been routinely ignored by the CIA and the rest of America’s intelligence services. But in Countdown to Terror, Congressman Weldon lets you know what the CIA doesn’t want to know. You’ll learn, straight from Ali’s actual reports: · Why Iran will decide the next terror strike on America · How a major planned terror strike was called off because the terrorists thought it would help President Bush politically · Why Iran, not al Qaeda, is the command post of radical Islamic terror · Who is undercutting American efforts to create a peaceful, stable Iraq · Why Iran is like the Soviet Union in the 1980s: extremely dangerous, the iron glove behind all our enemies—yet on the verge of internal collapse · The Iranian nuclear program: red-hot and more advanced than you think Congressman Weldon’s sharing of vital intelligence with you, the reading public, is unprecedented. But it is necessary so that the American people can be informed and pressure our government to do what needs to be done to protect our country, fix our still broken intelligence services, and win the war on terrorism. Countdown to Terror is a frightening book—but it is all true. And if we act now, we can avoid its grimmest scenarios."

Is Weldon hawking the next war while prepping us for the next 911? Weldon with an inside source "Ali" who is a treasure trove of info, through "strenuous efforts" is flashing us a blinking alert on Iran, Iran, Iran, although Weldon's predictions are "routinely ignored." Don't you just love the smell of propaganda and fear.

Weldon, whose source, now self-identified as Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, are both shilling the "Clinton's Fault" opera (surprise). Do you notice how today's "deep throats" like Shaffer "out" themselves within a month or so? Col. Shaffer says the small, highly classified intel program, known as Able Danger, identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta, and three other future hijackers by name in mid-2000, and tried to share that info with the F-B-I (say fbi in a Hannibal Lector voice). I have to doubt men who couldn't come up with a more creative code name than "Ali."

Shaffer says military lawyers forced members of the intel program to cancel three meetings with the F.B.I. – because – the F.B.I. feared Able Danger might be portrayed as a military op that violated the privacy of civilians who were legally in the United States. Yep, the feds were overly concerned about the privacy rights of Atta & Crew.

The bureau, Famous But Incompetent, was never concerned about the privacy rights of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party, Deacons for Defense and Justice, Inc., the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs, the Congress of Racial Equality, the American Indian Movement, the Socialist Workers Party, Martin Luther King, and over one million Vietnam War protester dossiers. Or more recently Ruby Ridge, Waco, Richard Jewell. But had to protect Atta's right to privacy. I believe it, I tell you I believe it.

Back to the topic of Able Danger though. Schaffer had his security clearance suspended in March of 2004, and is on administrative leave from the Defense Department. This week Shaffer briefed "Magic Bullet" Arlen Specter's staff on Able Danger. The files on Able Danger are in the Department of Defense "if they exist" according to 9/11 Commission chairman Tom Kean.

Tim Roemer, also a former commissioner, says inconsistencies are appearing such as "how did Able Danger get a photo of Atta in 2000 for its alleged chart of terrorists when he had not yet applied for a U.S. visa." Hmmm.

Weldon + Shaffer = tabloid news = another distraction. Watch for my future exposé : Countdown to Another Phony Book While Planning the Real Bad Things For America: Top-Secrets Leaking Like a Sieve As Fast As We Can Write Them ... and How the People Eat it Up.

NARAL Leave Me Alone

It's come to my attention through mail received that there are some who believe I’m a democrat and others who think I'm republican, while I consider myself neither. Possibly due to my subscribing and reading both liberal and conservative rags. At any rate, a bumper crop of recent alarmist mail from NARAL regarding John Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court prompted the following.

Will a Roberts appointment end legal abortion as NARAL etal claim? As I've written previously the SCOTUS is not awfully concerned whether or not we the people abort. To the ruling elite the masses breed like rabbits and legalized or not, abortion isn't going to stop that class habit. (Their flunky lawmakers might end abortion if it drastically interfered with available cannon fodder.)

The elite have always and will continue to have access to abortion; whether the rabbit people do is of no great concern to them. A more conservative court may restrict the terms of abortion, but that in itself would not necessarily end legalized abortion.

Earlier this year, justices declined to hear a challenge to the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. It also declined to consider reinstating an Idaho law requiring girls under age 18 to get parental consent for abortions except under the most dire of medical emergencies. The Court is scheduled in October to review the Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood case, where in June 2003, the New Hampshire legislature passed "An Act requiring parental notification before abortions may be performed on unemancipated minors." Politely put, parents who obviously haven't monitored their 13 or 14 year old daughter's social life, do want notification if the girl seeks abortion. Not likely to make much impact on abortion numbers in New Hampshire or the nation. But the rightwing can feel victorious and envision the beginning of the end to legal abortion, and it gives anti-abortion and pro-choice groups a nit to pick as they beg for donations and write newletters.

At most, a conservative court, if forced to deal with the issue because of the machinations of politicians, will overturn Roe vs Wade and leave the question of abortion and reproductive rights to individual States, who in turn will either outlaw it, or legalize it with or without restrictions. California most likely would have more liberal abortion laws than Tennessee. Folks would still find abortion safe and legal, only they might have to travel further to obtain one. Similar to the days when serious party people here in the Heartland had to save money to fly to Vegas for legal gambling and sex. There are other factors that could effect the SC even reviewing Roe v. Wade, such as the AMA physicians and others who profit from the billion dollar abortion industry and are large political donors; they will not easily give up their livelihood.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute's information on abortion the most common reasons given are : Lack of economic support for a child and not being ready to become a parent. Women who said that “life would be changed too much” include those women who wanted to continue their education or avoid interrupting their career.

56% of women having abortions are in their 20s;
61% have one or more children;
67% have never married;
57% are economically disadvantaged;
88% live in a metropolitan area; and
78% report a religious affiliation.

In other words, these are teens seeking abortion with or without parental consent, although usually it's the parents dragging them to the clinic because pregnancy is inconvenient, unaffordable, or an embarrassment. And adult women who find pregnancy inconvenient, unaffordable, or an embarrassment. From the above stats these women are predominantly already single mother poor urban dwellers who believe in God.

I was a young woman in my 20s when abortion was legalized in the US. My stand has been pro-choice, but only up to 12 weeks. I have never considered or had an abortion but know women who have. I'm glad they were able to obtain safe, legal, affordable termination of pregnancy. But in every case I also knew the pregnancy resulted from personal reckless behavior.

Most Americans would agree to grant the choice to terminate a pregnancy in the event of rape or incest. Most would agree that early termination should be the rule. Most would agree to abortion in the rare event that pregnancy would kill the mother.

But aside from the noise and sensationalism regarding the right to abortion or the morality of it, is the fact that women would not find themselves confronted with the "choice" if they took responsibility for their genitalia. It is indeed our choice to know our body and be accountable for what we put in it, so to speak. In today's world, with oral contraceptives, the patch, shots, condoms, and/or permanent sterilization, there are too many safe, convenient, and affordable means of avoiding "unintended" pregnancy. Using abortion as birth control is hideous. What about the male's responsibility for conception you ask? Dear, don't wait for Male Hunk to exhibit anxious interest over your ovaries and uterus, most won't, or only after the fact.

Too many of my female comrades have too many excuses when they find themselves with an "unintended" pregnancy. We women know with every sexual encounter whether or not we're risking pregnancy. If you take the risk, be prepared to accept the results. If you can't accept the results, don't take the risk. Simple.

I don't buy the too frequent excuse "I can't take the pill." There are too many pills on the market for a woman to not find one compatible. They've been on the market far too long to fear taking them. Nor do I buy the "I missed a pill." 99.9 percent of the time one missed pill will not result in pregnancy, and use a rubber the 0.1 time. The same girl/woman will remember every pore on LoverBoy's face but forget to take a pill. Or worse, she can't remember LoverBoy's face or name but accepted his sperm donation. "The condom broke." In 40 years of sexual activity I've never had a condom break but folks should use condoms to prevent STD, not pregnancy. And if you can't figure out how to put a condom on correctly, or remember to take a pill, or get an injection every 3 months, if you didn't know until after the fact that pregnancy would interfere with your career or education, then for the sake of society you shouldn't breed.

Parents, teach daughters (and sons) that their behavior has consequences, traditionally known as taking responsibility for being careless and/or stupid. Teach them that creating another human life is not a solution for teen angst. Teach your daughters to respect their future. And grown-up girlfriends, stop the b.s. excuses and quite literally take a little f*cking responsibility.

Farrakhan: President Fox Was Right

So proclaims Fox News and USA Today with the same headline, more or less, and story.

"MILWAUKEE — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Mexican President Vicente Fox was right to say that Mexican immigrants take jobs "that not even blacks want."..."Why are you so foolishly sensitive when somebody is telling you the truth?" he asked the crowd at Mercy Memorial Baptist Church. He said blacks and Latinos should form an alliance to correct differences and animosity between the two communities."

---- As I've blogged before, some folks are thrilled to repeat Black pundits when it validates what some whites believe. Proof that Black folks are just "foolishly sensitive to the truth" about Vinnie Fox's comments on Black American employment, because see! Farrakhan (or Cosby) said so. Tell Vinnie both my daughters-in-law are Mexican nationals so we're indeed forming alliances in this family. Also tell Vinnie if not for maquilladoras and illegal immigration his countrymen would rise up and throw his butt, and all of Mexico's government, to the Zapatistas. El Norte el valve for a lot of problems down there, heh?

Will Fox News and USA Today remind us that Farrakhan also says : "And you do with me as is written, but remember that I have warned you that Allah will punish you. You are wicked deceivers of the American people. You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of you that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell. But I warn you in the name of Allah, you would be wise to leave me alone. But if you choose to crucify me, know that Allah will crucify you." - Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago.

But perhaps imam being foolishly sensitive about MSM selective reporting.

Agents Provocateur w/Sweet Faces

Is it possible the congressional Democrats are mum on so much of BushCo crime because said Dems know the voting system is now assuredly and completely controlled by the Powers behind the Presidential Seal? That only politicians who behave will hold office?

I come to this after months of wondering about the rightwing political strife and slimes of Cynthia McKinney, her ousting which lasted barely 2 years (slightly longer than a fart in a whirlwind) and her subsequent re-election. Snap snap girlfriend!

In 2002 in Georgia the republicans figured that "In such an overwhelmingly Democratic district … they knew they could not defeat her in November with one of their own. As a result, they had to find a Democratic surrogate to defeat her in the primary." After 10 years in congress McKinney was defeated by Denise Majette-D. Then Majette, also Black and female, left the House to run for Senate in 2004. She lost, and McKinney won her seat back. (Ms. Majette was also a Black female Democrat, a nobody with no history and not mouthy.)

McKinney is considered a big critic of BushCo's war, and credited with "a couple of remarks that even progressives believed went too far, such as her claim that the Bush Administration may have known about the September 11 terrorist attacks beforehand. The media added to the fury by blowing these comments way out of proportion." That mainstream media, always blowing something or someone.

During McKinney's two year fall from grace (2002-2004) she lectured. Praised as "a woman who understands better than anyone the price to be paid when elected officials speak out against the vastly entrenched, politically enfranchised military industrial complex."

Whew. Enough to make a left leaning non-entrenched person sing she's a jolly good fellow and buy posterboard and paint pro-McKinney anti-vast rightwing conspiracy signs.

McKinney's dad generated more controversy : "Her father, Georgia state legislator Billy McKinney, shared his version with an Atlanta television reporter on August 19, 2002, the night before she lost. The reporter had asked Billy McKinney about his daughter's use of a years-old, moth-balled endorsement from former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. Such endorsements were worthless, the elder McKinney replied, because "Jews have bought everybody. Jews." - In case the reporter didn't understand, he spelled the word: "J-E-W-S." (A few weeks later, in a runoff against another political neophyte, Billy McKinney became a former Georgia state legislator.)

Rightwing fallacy fellatio-er Daniel Pipes stated McKinney took contributions from all sorts of Islamic groups. I guess that makes her terroristically associated. Rightwing bloggers called her : a conspiracy nut, the Cutest Commie in Congress, the Saudi Whore of Georgia. As if Boy Bush doesn't hold hands and stroll like a pimp with his Saudi princes.

After being reseated, this past spring McKinney stated: "In 2004 I had to decide if I was going to run again. The temptation was to be ensconced in the private world amongst people that would agree with me, but I understand that systematic repression of black leaders by the establishment. For me to stay down and not get back up again is not in my nature, and despite my mother's advice I decided to get back into it. Now I can tell you what it is like to have the most powerful forces arrayed against you and still prevail even with electronic voting machines breaking down."

So I asked myself, how did such a radical woman, temporarily shunned by both sides of the aisle, prevail "even with electronic voting", and return to her congressional seat two years later? Two years. One would think her career was forever done, with an enormous conspiracy nut fork stuck in it. Thank goodness for those fickle voters. Apparently, that "overwhelmingly" district of Democrats flip-flopped. Tossing McKinney out when she spoke of BushCo foreknowledge, and voted her back even with e-voting machines.

Or did they? Or as Daddy McKinney stated did the "J-E-W-S" buy her seat back, after giving her a good scare in the realm of real employment where one is out of political favors? Was McKinney shown how easily a congressional seat can be giveth and taketh away? Is she just another congress critter paid to play Government, Inc.'s good cop, armed with the 9/11 "issues of substance" to satisfy the conspiracy folks? A lone voice in the Capitol Hill wilderness giving hope and sustenance to those who question? A career pot stirrer, a lonely political job but somebody has gotta do it.

T-Shirt Humor

Army of One

Flash videos.

Pentagoon

This Is Not America

Chickenhawks

It's The System Stupid

I've stepped on a few toes with my opinions on Cindy Sheehan. Part of my sentiment with the Camp Casey situation is based on gut instinct, and instinct has served me well more than once. Partly what bothers me is the Left hyping the PR, as surely as the Right does so often so skillfully. No surprise and more rational than the Right, but it doesn't make the hype any more palatable or worthy.

I don't doubt Sheehan's grief, anger, or her search for justification of her loss. But the Left has jumped (if not instigated) on a PR event, a person, and added lots of slogans to further an agenda, as we head toward mid term elections. The event serves to reiterate the Shrub's numerous, lengthy, vacations to many working folks who have never had 5 weeks off, unless it was spent looking for work and living in fear of ruin before finding the next low wage job.

The Camp Casey event serves to point out the lack of war support BushCo has (which also brings out the pro-war shills to show the war support he does have). The situation gives the blogosphere a bigger hamster wheel to run on while government conducts business as usual (looting us). And for all the hoopla the truth is the troops are not coming home anytime soon. The Left will politely dump Sheehan once the sound bytes are pointing to the next event under the bigtop.

It's also bothersome how little her handlers know about Black history, otherwise they would not have opted to tag Cindy Sheehan the Rosa Parks of the 21st century. (Possibly just the lack of knowledge in Moveon, PDA, Fenton PR firm, whatever groups involved.) The comparison is catchy but not accurate, and borders on disrespect.

Rosa lived a childhood of hearing the Ku Klux Klan ride at night, listening to lynchings, and being afraid the house would burn down around them. She was arrested, tried, and convicted for violating segregation law, which sparked the 381 day bus boycott. She had had prior run-ins with bus drivers and was evicted from buses. She was active in the NAACP and the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. The resulting boycott's length shocked everyone, well everyone white. Black supporters had been busy city wide arranging long-term taxi services, church buses, car pooling, etc. so the boycott could continue as long as it would take. Rosa was an experienced activist with strong beliefs and backing. When she refused to surrender her seat she knew clearly what the goal was with that refusal. She stood against centuries of humiliation, violence, and injustice.

Some in the Black community would feel more comfortable if the pundits on the left had chosen an icon more appropriately similar in cause to Sheehan's showdown at Crawford. I can think of a couple of other female peace activist heroes. There's Jane Fonda but we know the Dems don't really want to go there. However, Jeanette Rankin, was a peace activist, suffragette, and first woman elected to the U.S. Congress. Four days after taking office, she voted against U.S. entry into World War I. She said "I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war." In January of 1968 a women's group named after her, the Jeanette Rankin Brigade, protested in Washington to pressure Congress to end the Vietnam War. But, how many sloganeers have heard of Rankin?

Cindy represents a segment of America, a segment which includes many who believe Democrats will do it differently and better, when the obvious truth is they will not. Kerry would not be bringing troops home had he been installed. Would there have been a camp at the Kerry-Heinz residence? Where were the congressional Democrats during pre-invasion anti-war protests? The Democrats have went along with BushCo; they are as guilty as BushCo, they are as big as crooks and liars as BushCo.

A large anti-war movement could be a spark to others, but unless the Democratic politicians collectively have peace epiphanies and get onboard there will be no movement. I want the troops home too, NOW; two of my sons in a few months will again be in Iraq. But too few Americans have a personal investment (or believe they don't) in the war to rally. And others such as myself see the dead-end sign ahead.

Much more than an anti-war movement, we need a movement against the system that feeds on war and death. The mess the US is in is one we've been in many times before. It's not about a personality, a memo, a leak, a liar, or a political party. It's this global pseudo-capitalism, corporate fascism, funded by the labor of the poor and the blood of millions around the world that must end. Genuine hope and change are what people want. A movement that says none of us has to surrender our seat to those who own the bus, which they purchased with our blood, our lives, our labor. None of us has to support a system that can only thrive on worldwide humiliation, violence, and injustice. But it's gonna take a fight. Sound bytes for the political hero or headliner of the week, or month, won't do it. If Americans will do it, the world will follow.

The Metro-Cowboy American Opera

Subtitle: Things Supposed to Harm/Bring Down Bush.
Conflict: BushCo vs "Us" or "Them" or "Somebody & Something."

Cast of Thousands, Headlines, arias, duets to include :
Enron Kenny Boy Lay.
Bush's National Guard Service.
Millions Worldwide Protest Against War.
Dick Cheney's energy task force.
Halliburton's no bid bonanza.
Afghanistan's Missing $700 Million Turns Up in Iraq.
Michael Moore Movie & Lila Lipscomb To Wake People.
Iraqi Defectors' Weapons Claims Were 'false.'
9/11 Bush Knew PDB.
Bush Holds Hands With Cheney in Questioning.
Intermission - Clinton's Fault.
Condi Refuses to Testify, Then Testifies.
Cry of Treason.
No WMD.
Cry of Treason Act II.
Reconstruction Contracts in Iraq.
Spending Deficits.
Missing Billion$.
Manipulation of Intel Info.
Cry of Treason Act III.
Intermission - Clinton's Fault.
The 16 Words Scandal.
Sexed up Dossier.
Scott Ritter Exposes Lies in Buildup to War.
Pundits on the Payroll, Armstrong Williams, etc.
Ground Zero's Unsafe Air.
Abu Ghraib Torture.
Gitmo Torture.
Kerry/Edwards Ohio Claim Every Vote Will Be Counted.
Stolen Election II.
Franklin/AIPAC, The Pentagon-Israel Spy Case.
Intermission - Clinton's Fault.
Cry of Treasongate Part I.
Jeff Gannon.
Wilson-Plame.
Karl Rove, Frog-marching Dreamers.
Cry of Treasongate Part II.
Downing Street Memo.
New Probe into ________.
New Probe into Last Probe of __________.
Bush Down In Polls, Polls, Polls.
President Bush Ditches Mother of Slain Soldier.
We Let bin Laden Slip Away.
Atta Details Omitted From Sept. 11 Report.
9/11 Panel: Pentagon Withhold Hijacker Files.
Iran Crisis booga booga WWIII.
Clinton's Fault Finale.
End/Repeat

The Doers of Evil

The Evil-Doers: How Far Will They Go? PBU33.

“The probability of apocalypse soon cannot be realistically estimated, but it is surely too high for any sane person to contemplate with equanimity.” – Noam Chomsky.

The above quote, quite eloquent (and frightening I suppose to some) doesn't clarify if Noam speaks of apocalypse of Biblical prediction and end of the world, or just your run of the mill hellfire, such as Nagasaki. Of course no sane person contemplates either scenario but how many of our learned men today will say Nagasaki and Hiroshima were insane? Regardless what anyone thinks of apocalyptic events, the learned will give us the slogans to justify them, unless you're the victims, in which case the perps will pay off but never apologize. As long as perps have intelligentsia to tell us "it had to be done" mankind will move heinously along. Only if you lose, then you're publicly and historically heinous.

Personally, I'm in need of a clear target as to who are the evildoers. While most folks seem to think the evildoers are the known, occasional headliners as Usama bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, insurgents, Muslims, Islamic extremists, al-Qa’ida or al-Qaeda, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Islamic Army, or just plain "them," I wanna know who/what is really behind the smoke and robes, the mosque and mirrors.

I am unable to suspend my disbelief (necessary to enjoy fiction) to accept that cave dwellers, former assets of US-CIA, Inc., were able to dedicate years living and training in the US and then simultaneously hijack 4 commercial jets under the noses of the US intel community. Nor can I believe who I'm told have staged other attacks, always credited to elusive figures issuing edicts on tape or internet sites that oddly can't seem to be ISP tracked back to catch them, although if I issued a murderous fatwa I've no doubt the SS would be at my door in no time. I suppose that's because "them" terrorists use the cave's library internet service. Silly me, I wasn't aware one could upload video at the public library. Or more likely, a tape is "released" on a password secured site. There's no end of terrorism in sight if they can access a secured site with a password to an al-Qaeda affiliated group. They've got their own phantom Allahwood studios and publicity firms to "release" short-takes for them.

Am I to believe these "terrorist cells" have developed nuclear capability and anthrax or biowarfare in a condo somewhere in the West? Or have biological agents tucked under their turbans or camel bag and blanket in the East? Nevermind the expensive and elaborate equipment and laboratory it would take to contain and develop nukes and biological agents. The terrorists, or extremists, can cook it up in the kitchen sink or a cauldron in the cave, purchasing all the necessary items from the local Home Depot and Walgreen. Or perhaps materials are FedEx'ed from Mosul. WMD are so easy to acquire I can't understand why more Americans don't have mini-nukes in the garage, or a little pox in the desk drawer. Shucks, I know it's easy because we can't even locate all the meth lab trailer parks here in the Heartland and we can smell them cooking it up.

I know, terrorists are hauling mini-WMD across the US-Mexico border, placing several layers of illegal aliens across the crates, in case of any highflying penetrating radar out there. Driving along listening to Los Tigres, crossing the same porous border that can't intercept billions of dollars in thousands of tons of Columbian cocaine and Mexican heroin and weed. No Nation-State backing needed, just coyotes leading them across the Sonora desert and the Rio Grande with backpack nukes.

Did the doers anticipate the Western world would dedicate more money and manpower to weaponry and war? Did the doers expect the West to restrict homeland freedoms, pass domestic watchdog law, redefine terrorism to include individuals or groups who don't agree with the government on how a Patriot Acts? To fund billions to new departments to make sure our feet are clean at the airport and our driver license is in order? Those doers must think we're really stupid huh? We know how to curtail their freedom to move among us.

Americans are under the impression that good people run the world for "us." But any benefit to "us" has been an accidental byproduct. It's a new world and the doers don't need as many of "us," other than the usual cannon fodder and consumers. But I'm not too worried at the moment. I figure if the doers behind the geopolitical shakedown will share a big chunk, cut the world up, even into disproportionate shares which other doers will accept, we'll be okay. The doers worked with the expendable bin Laden for a decade, a useful asset, so I'm certain they know how to do what needs to be done to the rest of us when we're no longer usable.

The real question is "Would governments murder their own citizens for a political agenda?" If you answered no I wonder how you came to this blog. If you answered yes, the next question is "by any means necessary?" Who knows how far evildoers will go. Nothing can be realistically estimated as we contemplate.

Nader Letter To Sheehan

"May you prevail where others have failed to secure an audience with Mr. Bush."

(Anyone wonder why BushCo didn't simply defuse this situation with a meeting of a few minutes?)

When we were young we admired Nader's good fight for the consumer, but some things bother me about this letter. Throughout Nader refers to "this president", the "Bush government," and "his administration." While that is fine and dandy, is this is the same Nader who in 2000 referred to Gore vs Bush as "Tweedledee and Tweedledum?" Will mere audience with Bush, along with Nader's suggested talking points to question Tweedledumb on, change this president or his policy? Where's the firebrand Nader of yesterday, who didn't wait for a "breakthrough" but led them?

Is this the same Mr. Nader "who ran so he could hurt, wound, and punish the Democrats?" The Nader who actively wanted Gore to lose, knowing Bush was the other tweedle? It's been written that in 2000 Nader received up to 7% of the popular vote in some states which often meant the difference between Bush winning the state and Gore losing it. That Nader?

The same Nader who accepted GOP funding in 2004? Although that campaign went nowhere, not even on the ballot.

So Ralphie, while I thank you for the synopsis of BushCo evils, I have heard you comment that America needs to hurt bigtime, in order to vote a third party candidate into office, "to rebuild democracy," do you now believe voters are ready to elect Tweedlenader? and is a mother's sorrow part of the bigtime hurt you spoke of?

Clinton Working The Only Option

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton said Americans should move past lingering divisions over the invasion of Iraq and it was time to focus instead on establishing a successful democracy there.

"Whether it's a mistake or not, we ought to try to make this strategy succeed and support that strategy. It's the only option having to make the sacrifices mean something," the ex-president told CNN television.

"We did what we did, we are where we are," Clinton said.

"Eighteen-hundred Americans have given their lives, thousands of Iraqis have died trying to give their country a future.

"So where we are now, it's important to try to continue this effort to train the security forces and the military forces, which the administration and our military have undertaken. We have to try to make this work," Clinton said.

The difference between politician-D and politician-R are?

Rolling Stones $100K

What does a hundred thousand dollars buy you these days? Rolling Stones tickets at Boston's Fenway Park and a seat next to Governor Schwarzenegger in his luxury box. The event is just one of several glitzy fundraisers set by the governor as he tries to raise $50 million in preparation for the November 8th special election.

It's unclear if Sir Mick (knighted in 2003) will sing his new diddy 'Sweet Neocon' from his new CD A Bigger Bang, a tune with crushing anti-neocon lyrics as: "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/ You call yourself a patriot. Well, I think you're full of sh*t!... How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con."


Mick, if you recall, back in the 20th century sang intensely socially relevant tunes as ‘Satisfaction’, ‘Get Off My Cloud’, ‘Paint It Black,’ ‘Honky Tonk Women,' ‘Jumping Jack Flash’.

These melodies included scathing lyrics with : I can't get no satisfaction, I can't get no satisfaction 'cause I try and I try and I try and I try. I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud Hey! You! Get off of my cloud. I see a red door and I want it painted black. It's the honky tonk women gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues. But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas! But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash, It's a Gas! Gas! Gas!

Lila

"We have to go into Senate meetings and make ourselves seen and heard. We have to go to the House meetings. We have to go to the City Council meetings. We have to have good people run for office so we can have balance and hold them accountable..." - Lila Lipscomb.


Lila Lipscomb, the mother in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911. The scenes in which she recounts the story of her son Michael's death have had cinema-goers sniffing into their sleeves. "For many years," says Lipscomb, "I thought I had to control everything. I had a real controlling spirit. But, boy, when the army stands in your house and tells you that your oldest son is killed, all that flies out the window. Over this last year and a half, I've been known to cry a bit."

The power of Lipscomb's story lies in the sharpness of the U-turn she made and her eloquence in speaking about it. Initially, she supported the war, on the assumption that the government knew best. But just two weeks into the conflict her 26-year-old son, a sergeant in the US army, was shot down while serving as a door gunner in a Black Hawk helicopter. Five other soldiers died with him. A week or so later she received his last letter, in which he told her he thought Bush had lost the plot and that they shouldn't be in Iraq, that the whole thing was folly.

Lila is co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. She is scheduled to appear here in the Heartland on September 15, 2005 at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau, MO.

Coup Kookie Do

Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes has been relieved of duty. The four-star Army general relieved of command this week is alleged to have had an extramarital affair with a female civilian who does not work for the military or the federal government, the general's attorney said Wednesday.

"The allegation against General Byrnes involves a consensual, adult relationship with a woman who is not in the military, nor is a civilian employee of the military or the federal government," Robertson (attorney) said in an e-mail exchange. He said Byrnes approved the statement but was not willing to be interviewed directly about the matter.

------ Rumors around the net are that Four Star General Fired For Organizing Coup Against Neo-Cons. Upon questioning, my inside source tells me, "Byrnes is still married, they're just making him an example. Adultery is adultery in the military but, I'm surprised they went after a general for this. Somebody doesn't like him." And "LOL that article is the biggest work of fiction I have ever seen. They wouldnt simply fire the guy if that kinda shit was going on. They would have killed him and made it look like an accident."

Sigh ... doesn't pay to get your hopes up these days does it.

Champions

August 9, 1936 Jesse Owens won his 4th gold medal. Owens said in his biography: "When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either."

Summer Olympics 1968: Black Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who finished 1-3 in the 200-meter run, bowed their heads and gave the Black Power salute during the national anthem as a protest against racism in the U.S. They were immediately thrown off the team by the USOC.


Present day steroidinator musclehead, Governor of California:

Cindy Sheehan

Sheehan, who met Bush in 2004, now says "… her meeting with Bush occurred two months after son Casey was killed in Sadr City on April 4, 2004. Since then, she said, reports have disputed claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- a main justification for the war."

Does this mean had WMD been found, or if the US stumbles upon a cache of WMD tomorrow, that Ms. Sheehan is okay with sacrificing her son to war? As a mother who knows the loss of a son years ago, and with sons rotating through Iraq, I've spent more than a few nights wondering if one of mine might not make it home. But I'm reluctant to support those who had no anti-war voice until after the chickens come home to roost.

If her son Casey Sheehan had died in Afghanistan, would that have made a difference? A lot of folks knew the decision to initiate war in Afghanistan was an omen of what was to come from BushCo.

The WTC attack took place September 11, 2001. Operation Enduring Freedom commenced on October 7, 2001 when Bush announced that the U.S. military has launched strikes against al-Qaida terrorist camps and Taliban military installations in Afghanistan. Within 3 weeks of the WTC attack we were at war. The American public and the UN played percussion for BushCo's Get OBL & TWAT Song, and we're still paying the piper in Kabul, with the Taliban around and OBL somewhere and the war against terror marching on.

Many folks, especially those who had read PNAC, knew Afghanistan was only the beginning. With a messy situation in Afghanistan, with BushCo's almost immediate loss of interest in OBL, we proceed within months to send troops to Kuwait in preparation of Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL). (My oldest had orders for Kuwait in Sept '02.)

Sheehan says: "We haven't been happy with the way the war has been handled. The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached." Again I ask, if the war were handled differently or WMD found, would they be okay with war?

Sheehan's 15 minutes reminds me of Jessica Lynch which reminded me of Shoshana Johnson. "Shot through both legs and held prisoner in Iraq for 22 days, Shoshana Johnson returned home to a difficult convalescence that lacked the media fury and official hype that attended her friend and comrade in arms Jessica Lynch." There was no movie, money, or free college for Shoshana and the only in depth interview I saw of her was in the magazine Essence. The hyperbole is played for an audience of white sacrifice.

The democrats find Sheehan attractive, literate, and anti-Bush. She's a useful tool for the left to create a "problem for Bush now."

Sheehan says the "war was not worth my son's sacrifice." Some folks know wars of agression are never worth any sons or daughters sacrificed. What I feel is a stark contrast between people such as myself, who once would have supported Sheehan, but today see the obvious politicization of one death which will do nothing to end the US policy of war for profit. Wars simply need to be "handled better" when bought by the white American consumer. Where others see a useful spokesperson, perhaps a martyr, I see hypocrisy, dishonesty, and a woman taking a moral stand when it's personally relevant and convenient. This isn't a nation divided; it's a nation of Left, Right, and a few of us disgusted with both.

Lets Be Clear

Aug.5 2005 Dan Froomkin writes in WaPo: "When a nation is attacked, its people tend to rally around their leader. President Bush's job approval ratings, for instance, shot up more than 30 percent in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But the seemingly incessant litany of deadly attacks on American troops in Iraq appears to be increasingly turning the public against the president and the war he launched. The signs of such a turnaround remain faint in the mainstream media coverage of public discourse about Iraq. Something -- maybe the administration's insistence that questioning its policies undermines American troops -- has somehow cowed many of the predictable voices of dissent into silence."

Ahem...Lets be clear what's really going on. People rallied around Bush, ready to kill whoever, whatever, wherever BushCo pointed after 9/11. They did so on very little evidence of who the perps were behind the WTC attacks. The crime scene was razed and shipped to China ASAP. After bin LadenCo initially denied the attacks the public is given tapes of Laden proudly claiming responsibility. A sham commission issued a backup report to government propaganda, case closed.

The American public wanted to hunt 'em down, smoke 'em out, dead or alive, bring 'em on, liberate Iraqi and fight 'em over there so we don't have to here. Gulping the warmonger kool-aid.

The public strormtrooped into Iraq, with little to no evidence for a just cause. The public was more than willing to accept whatever excuse of the day BushCo gave them, WMD, liberation, evil Hitlerhussein, on and on. All because the US public in general has no moral decency. The public thought we'd kick ass and come home in a few weeks. Many of those now turning against Bush and the war he launched were the first to support his war. Therein lies the cowardly immorality of the US public. A public nonchalant about war because dead is okay, when it's "them" dying.

Who are the "predictable voices of dissent" that are "cowed" into silence? Who is Mr. Froomkin referring to? Democrats? Lefty celebrities? Don't worry, they'll get on the soapbox when it's politically correct to do so, and after they've rearranged their portfolios.

As I said in June, it's Carrying Water. "The time is upon us for hearings, bipartisan congressional bills, homeboy Acts named to induce a warm fuzzy and insinuate the end is near. We're at the political stage of not questioning the justification for our engagement in the War or hold anyone accountable, but the years of debating military withdrawal strategy, aka carrying water for the warmongers."

BushCo needs another "trifecta."