How Does He Do It?

w, hero of the world averred today:

Bush, taking questions from reporters on a variety of topics, said the United States still believes that al-Qaida was behind last week's disrupted plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners from Britain.

"It sure looks like it. ... It looks like the kind of thing al-Qaida would do," he said. But he said the United States has not made a definite conclusion about the sponsorship of the plan.

Asked if there might be any U.S.-based participants, Bush said, "Any time we get a hint that there might be a terror cell in the United States, we move on it."

Now Bush not only knows the mind of al-Qaida, but he and his pals are going to move on terror cells! Amazing!

How Does He Do It?

Let's watch to see if we can find the source of his power.

w: quite a guy...with a little help from Johannes ;)

link to quote source and article

Hersh on Neo-cons, Israel, Hezbollah..

..and other observances.

The last remaining investigative journo in America pens this:

In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th, to kidnap two soldiers, triggering an Israeli air attack on Lebanon and a full-scale war, the Bush Administration seemed strangely passive. “It’s a moment of clarification,” President George W. Bush said at the G-8 summit, in St. Petersburg, on July 16th. “It’s now become clear why we don’t have peace in the Middle East.” He described the relationship between Hezbollah and its supporters in Iran and Syria as one of the “root causes of instability,” and subsequently said that it was up to those countries to end the crisis. Two days later, despite calls from several governments for the United States to take the lead in negotiations to end the fighting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a ceasefire should be put off until “the conditions are conducive.”

The Bush Administration, however, was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preëmptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.

Israeli military and intelligence experts I spoke to emphasized that the country’s immediate security issues were reason enough to confront Hezbollah, regardless of what the Bush Administration wanted. Shabtai Shavit, a national-security adviser to the Knesset who headed the Mossad, Israel’s foreign-intelligence service, from 1989 to 1996, told me, “We do what we think is best for us, and if it happens to meet America’s requirements, that’s just part of a relationship between two friends. Hezbollah is armed to the teeth and trained in the most advanced technology of guerrilla warfare. It was just a matter of time. We had to address it.”

Well, there's a load of surprises(heavy sarcasm).

Go and read this!.

Hersh even manages to get old friends like Dick Armitage in on the act. I'm a bit disappointed that Dicky Perle didn't make the piece. Now that man knows how to party! ;)

Sy lays it all out for you in his inimitable style. Not florid prose, but logically sequenced for all but Faux News viewers. He reports, BushCo. lies.

Remember when Perle called Hersh(and I'm slightly paraphrasing) "the closest thing to a terrorist we have in American journalism?" Really takes ya back.

But I digress.

Go. Read. Now.

Get Out The Duct Tape!

Remember way back in the halcyon days of the WoT(War on Terrah)?

What was the drill again? Stop, duct tape, and blubber? Well maybe not precisely, but close enough for Department of Homeland Security(DHS) work ;)

Well, I know that this is going to come as a shock to you all, but there is a segment of the population that believes that the DHS guidelines are woefully inadequate.

No! It is not the choir at the Rapture Ready bulletin board!

It's those pointy heads at the Federation of American Scientists. The nerve of those people. They issued a press release and launched webpages mocking those of our beloved DHS.

The FAS folks count 'extreme heat' amongst their list of natural disasters. Apparently some folks think that this could be a real issue in the near future.

The FAS is far ahead of the politicos in taking global climate change seriously. This is a welcome development.

Can terrorists kill some people? Sure. Can terrorists end civilization as we know it? No. Unless they score the nukes of the US or Russia. Climate change, on the other hand, can accomplish what the terrorists cannot.

Bravo, FAS! Now that Kansas has re-entered the 21st century, maybe, just maybe, we'll have some real action on the climate front.

I am not however, holding my breath.

Christians and Shia and Kurds, Oh My!

The IDF is killing a lot more than Hezbollah, and their supporters.

What possible tactical advantage does the killing of Kurdish farmers and Christians offer the Israelis?

The possibilities as to why they are doing so are potentially too ugly to suggest.

Shut the money off now. All of it.

That Israel is destroying civilian escape routes is unconscionable. That the US is standing by as witness to this human tragedy is inexcusable.

I do have a horse in this race, and that horse is justice. Collective punishment never works unless you kill every single possible person that would take up arms against you.

I've come to additional conclusions about the neo-cons, w, and condi: they are nothing short of insane.

In this world that may be a positive trait.

In ideology they are without reason.

Their smug certainty hides their abject cowardice.

Economic news: "You want fries with that?"

Newsflash..Detroit isn't making the vehicles people are buying. Okay, so maybe it's not a flash.

The dope via Marketwatch.

The big three are now GM, Toyota and Ford, in that order.

Blockquote you say? M'kay.

General Motors, currently the world's biggest carmaker, posted a 22.5% decline in light vehicle sales to 406,298 cars and trucks from 524,218 a year ago.

"I would certainly continue to stress that the industry is a bit below expectations so far this year, both in terms of sales as well as mix," said Paul Ballew, GM's top sales analyst. "But the July results showing some strength versus June are a plus, especially given the persistent headwinds we face with gas prices and higher interest rates."

Adjusted for an extra selling day this year, sales at GM fell 19.4%, mostly in line with Wall Street targets. On the car side, sales dropped 4.2% to 162,203 vehicles on an unadjusted basis, while GM saw sales of its light trucks fall 31.2% to 244,095.

There were 25 selling days in July 2006 compared with 26 in the year ago period.
The declines at DaimlerChrysler and Ford were worse than Wall Street had expected and set the stage for an industry-wide pullback after last summer's buying binge.
Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were looking for a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) of 17.3 million, down from 20.7 million in July of last year but an improvement from 16.3 million in June, according to industry research firm Autodata.

The final tally came in at 17.2 million, slightly below consensus targets.
DaimlerChrysler was the first to hand in its results, posting a 34% plunge from a year ago. The Chrysler side of the business, amid a new product lull ahead of several launches later this year, reported a 37% decline to 150,349 vehicles.

The luxury Mercedes-Benz division, boosted by rising demand for its light trucks, turned in a 4% rise to 21,591 vehicles.


Ford Motor Co. followed with a similar pullback to 241,339 cars and trucks, down from 366,548 a year ago. The car side turned in a decline of 7% to 89,395 while trucks plunged 43.8% to 151,944.

The flagship F-Series pickup line took a hard hit, down 45.6% to 68,982 after posting 126,905 deliveries a year ago during what Ford claimed to be the best month of sales for any vehicle in the modern era.

Oh, the mighty have fallen.

In other news, Chuck Hagel may be the only person in DC with a pragmatic approach to Middle-east policy, as he breaks ranks with BushCo.

Hagel Busts Out!

The goods:

[snip]..."The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now," Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel said. "President Bush must call for an immediate cease-fire. This madness must stop."..[/snip]

[snip]..."How do we realistically believe that a continuation of the systematic destruction of an American friend -- the country and people of Lebanon -- is going to enhance America's image and give us the trust and credibility to lead a lasting and sustained peace effort in the Middle East?" asked Hagel, the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...[/snip]

[snip]..."Our relationship with Israel is special and historic," he said. "But it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships. That is an irresponsible and dangerous false choice."..[/snip]

Crikey! A Washington insider with a realistic foreign policy perspective.

You want it condensed?

Okay.

US Manufacturing fucked.

Hagel on the rise.

Bush Reportedly Passes..

..His annual physical, that is.

"I'm feeling great", a happy w said after his annual physical.

The president quipped, "they done one o' them RPGs, or EKGs, or you know, that thing that measures brain wave activity, and guess what? They didn't find a thing."

We at pure bs are as shocked as you are at this revelation(oooh, bad word choice).

How Much You Got?

I was reading this WaPo blog entry, and was reading the comments, when a reader made a statement that I have often made(in other circumstances).

The beef:

What does it say about the world's stomach for war that they rant and rave about 600 dead in Lebanon, but do nothing about the millions dead in Africa?

Indeed.

Like it or not, large segments of the population - perhaps any population - tend to value some lives more than others. It is always the 'other,' that is worth less.

Rather than expound on this obvious failing of most human psychologies, I should get to work.

UN to Iran: NO Nukes For You!

The Council on Foreign Relations has the 'dirt.'

Iran is currently a signatory to the NNPT(if you're reading this blog, you know what this is ;) ), but it it is pretty cloudy as to whether or not they'll pull-out from the NNPT.

The CFR is a far better source of information than any US news source. It's a very well regarded souce for good reason.

For extra credit, scroll to the bottom to the linked item, and get the straight dope about Hezbollah's munitions of primary concern, the Katyusha rocket(s).

Mitt Romney: Two Words from a White House Run

Tar baby. See ya, Mitt.

Yo, Rove..You never grajiated!

Somebody please, get me a barf bag.

Entire AP article swiped from wire:

By Will Lester, Associated Press Writer | July 29, 2006

WASHINGTON --Presidential adviser Karl Rove said Saturday that journalists often criticize political professionals because they want to draw attention away from the "corrosive role" their own coverage plays in politics and government.

"Some decry the professional role of politics, they would like to see it disappear," Rove told graduating students at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. "Some argue political professionals are ruining American politics -- trapping candidates in daily competition for the news cycle instead of long-term strategic thinking in the best interest of the country."

But Rove turned that criticism on journalists.

"It's odd to me that most of these critics are journalists and columnists," he said. "Perhaps they don't like sharing the field of play. Perhaps they want to draw attention away from the corrosive role their coverage has played focusing attention on process and not substance."

Rove told about 100 graduates trained to be political operatives that they should respect the instincts of the American voter.

"There are some in politics who hold that voters are dumb, ill informed and easily misled. that voters can be manipulated by a clever ad or a smart mind," said Rove, who is credited with President Bush's wins in the 2000 and 2004 election. "I've seen this cynicism over the years from political professionals and journalists. American people are not policy wonks, but they have great instincts and try to do the right thing."

Rove said it is "wrong to underestimate the intelligence of the American voter, but easy to overestimate their interest. Much tugs at their attention."

But he said voters are able to watch campaigns and candidates closely and "this messy and imperfect process has produced great leaders."

A degree in 'political operatism?' WTF? I guess they couldn't do math or something.

I'll let Rove's weirdness speak for itself.

What the hell is Rove - who never graduated university - giving a commencement speech?

He could have said something substantive, but no. In his best interest, he chose to blame those reporting on events for the follies of those being reported upon. Orwellian, yes?

What a sad, little man.

I need to go to Canada..I'm close ;)

Hey You Right-Wingnuts!

Global cooling? My ass.

Dear Coulter, Crichton, Limbaugh,

O'Reilly, Stossel, Malkin,

and all other global climate change deniers,

quit using my research unless you know how to properly parse climate data!

Frikkin' Idiots!

What's all the fuss about 1559?..

..That would be UN resolution 1559. w, who really puts the 'dip' in diplomat, and the entire RWEC(Right Wing Echo Chamber) is now demanding that UN resolution 1559 be enforced prior to any cease of Israeli military operations.

Essentially, resolution 1559 calls for the disarming of Hezbollah, and a return of the Lebanese army to the border in southern Lebanon.

Big problem. Hezbollah has the overwheming support of the Lebanese people. Who knows if the Lebanese army can and/or will, do anything to force Hezbollah's hand?

Next issue.

Just today, Israel rejected the UN's call for a three-day cease-fire to get supplies in, and allow civilians to leave the war torn south.

This isn't just. It's crazy.

Israel needs to garner support from the world community. w, awaiting eschaton, and the UK are the only players that currently support Israel's continued actions. Expect the UK to drop support as Israel denies common Lebanese in the south even the luxury of potable water. Maybe.

Then there is the issue of standards. One for Israel, one for everyone else(excluding the US and the UK).

That lefty rag The Economist noted the double standards the US had between Iraq and Israel during the run-up to the Iraq war redux.

Remember UN resolution 242?

Wasn't that quaint?

Well, Iraq was in compliance. It's just that the US lapdog press and the w administration said otherwise.

In addition to the wordy Economist article above concerning Iraq and Israel, there is a much longer history of the US treating Israel with a different standard. This is not a left, right, or center issue. It is simply a fact. An embarrassing political fact, but a fact nonetheless.

A list? Okay.

A very brief history of UN resolution violations..other than Iraq..'cuz they're now the 51st state.

Read the whole piece. Especially the bottom regarding the US being the sole dissenting vote in a large number of instances. It also shows that at one time the US had a much more even hand in foreign affairs. Not anything to be particularly proud of, mind you, but more just.

I think it clearly demonstrates a need for a diplomat the likes of John Bolton to defuse. Yes, he's the guy(reeks of sarcasm more than some good 'skunk').

Lest anyone think I am an anti-semite, I can only assure you that I am not. I am critical of some Zionist policies, but that's a political difference of opinion, not an 'I wear a white hood' racial statement. There is a huge chasm between the two.

I am critical of all governments from Afghanistan to Zimbawe. So Israel isn't at all special in this regard.

If the west really wanted peace, we'd act accordingly. Our leadership simply doesn't care about peace.

w

"Here's a fellow who is in a remote region of the world, putting out statements, basically encouraging people to use terrorist tactics to kill innocent people to achieve political objectives." - w

Is w talking about Richard B. Cheney?

Well, let's see if the statements align with what we think we know.

'Remote region'...Yes! Undisclosed location!

'Putting out statements'...Yes! See Faux news!

'Encouraging people to use terrorist tactics to kill innocent people'...No! Cheney shot his lawyer all by hisself!

Zarqawi?..No. He dead.

Okay, the answer is al-Zawahiri.

In this piece by Reuters, picked up by WaPo, nowhere is it mentioned that Bush wants to get this really bad guy.

At least Bush isn't 'surprised' by al-Zawahiri's missive.

Remember those halcyon days when: "dead or alive" were the operative words?

It really takes you back.

Hugo Chavez

How can you not like what this guy has done recently?

Chavez is pissing off all the right people.

If there ever was a more glaring case that the US will accept corpocracy without democracy, but will not tolerate the reverse, I need the example.

Of course, it's official US doctrine to support democracy first. But that position is specious at best.

Regardless of how the US tlks, it is still very much mired in the Cold War mentality.

For a good outside-the-beltway read about emergent Latin-America try this.

Max Boot, A Neo-Con's Neo-Con Gets Nod From White House

Man, I don't know how I missed this.

Click vid. to watch

Sickening.

AFP Newsflash!

I just got word that a poll in Lebanon shows that 70% of those questioned approve of hostage taking.

I may have more later...Or not ;)

US, Allies Divided over Cease-Fire Terms

That's the headline that Bloomberg is running.

I like charts. Here are two:

The first is a list of countries calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The second are countries not ready for am immediate cease-fire.

In case you require further elucidation, click on image for larger versions.

As those inane anti-drug commercials of the nineties offered: "any questions?"

Sorry for all of the white space.

One more thing, UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says

(pics courtesy of The Belfast Telegraph)

Made In USA

Or, alternatively, Why They Do Hate Us.

I know it's ugly, but firing missiles into fleeing civilian vehicles? WTF?

The Arabs know that while Israelis pulled the trigger, those are Made In USA missiles.

Not only is this tactically insignificant, it further fuels hatred of Israel and the US.

It appears that Hezbollah has agree to a prisoner swap deal brokered in part by the Lebanese gov't. It remains to be be seen if BushCo will accept the terms.

The situations in Lebanon and Gaza are so fluid - perhaps intentionally so - that it's difficult to draw a bead on what prcisely is transpiring.

Meanwhile, Iraq is in undeclared civil war, and Afghanistan is under increasing pressure from the resurgent Taliban.

I don't need to provide any links, a quick search will lead you to too many articles to read.

One last thing, The Supremes have decided to hear a case on global climate change.

In case you missed it, w's State Dept. recently said this: "the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem."

Link to State Dept. statement on climate change.

If I was a believer in any sort of eschatology, I'd probably cite the State Dept.s' webpage as evidence that the end is nigh ;)

Thankfully, I'm unburdened by any religious beliefs.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Les Claypool with Another Kinda Stick

My cousin just alerted me to the fact that Les Claypool of Primus and countless other projects is on a fishing program?!?!

It's on OLN, and titled, "Flyfishing The World."

Les is up to his usual antics. Havin' fun, and catching a few fish.

Okay, so I didn't know the guy fished.

Claypool remains my favorite no-lessons bass player.

He is only slightly above god in the heirarchy of things.

I know this is way OT for rhe blog, but I am a music lover. Sadly, one sans the chops to be in a real band ;)

How Do You Fight? Do You Have the Fortitude?

I figure that there are two ways to really effectively show your displeasure with the foreign policy of the US.

The first is to vote out all incumbents. Everyone that voted to give Bush any authority to attack Iraq was driven by polling numbers available at the time. They did not think - critically or otherwise - they reacted to the majority of the public's sentiment.

This was, and is, deplorable.

The second could be more risky. I say could be because if enough of the citizenry stood together, the government would be helpless to do anything.

Of course I am referring to withholding 2006's federal income tax payments. Withholding of federal phone tax may be an easier pill for some to swallow.

Hey, it wouldn't be a viable option unless a "How To" was provided.

Give the feds a token amount. It's not as if you haven't paid enough over the past three years for an illegal war regardless of how you feel over the current US/Lebanon/US/Israel/US/Palestine/US/Syria/US/Iran/US/Iraq/US/Afghanistan/US conflagrations.

I'm through subsidizing wars.

Resistance via withholding tax payments has a very long history. Now we need critical mass.

Why Do They Hate Us?

I have no idea.

Why are we handing Islamic extremists these gifts?

Bin Laden must look like a genius to the Muslim world.

...But we're sending Condibot over to wield her diplomatic powers.

'S good.

Yo, Blair! We Alone?

Maybe.

George w. Bush....not a leader. If it isn't clear that Bush is a Domnionist that fully believes in eschaton by now, ummm, I dunno. It's scary.

Sure. Send Condi in. She's effective.

"You don't just negotiate with your friends. Sometimes you negotiate with your enemies, or at least your adversaries. We negotiated with the Soviet Union for 50 years." - Sandy Berger, national security adviser to former president Bill Clinton.

I was no fan of Clinton, but in retrospect, well, compared to the entire bunch of neocon bunglers, he was a great president.

Tom Raum of the AP has more on the isolation of the US.

Jon Friedman: WTF?

Who the Hell is Jon Friedman you ask? He writes a column for WSJ(red bulb!) Marketwatch called Media Web. Today he's pondering whether or not the NYT and other 'liberal media' will gang up on Cheney, Scooter and Porky over the civil suit that Valerie Plame has filed.

Friedman is supposed to be some sort of irreverent character. I'm sure that's true. Just as irreverent as his employer - The WSJ - will allow. *snicker*

You really need to read this.

Here's the mosquito bite:

[snip]...And let's get this out of the way right from the start: yes, I believe, the media DO have a liberal bias. Is there really any doubt? My conclusion is as logical as saying the sun rising in the east and setting in the west and as durable as the axiom about death and taxes...[/snip]

Sure. Conclusions without evidence are..what's the word..dogma.

So, I wrote Jon an email. Let's see if he posts it. Since I start off asking him if believes in a god or gods, I'm certain he'll bounce me on those terms.

The Wilson's go to War

In what is the most American of all legal processes, Joe and Valerie Wilson AKA Valerie Plame are suing Dick Heney, Rove, Libby, and 10 other unnmamed officials in the 'outing' of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Maybe we'll finally get to the bottom of all this after-all. I am not holding my breath.

New sponsor: visit Audio Cabs for your speaker building needs.

'Shrooming, Stossel, the Indian Bombings, and a heartfelt message from w

I'd first like to axpress my deepest sympathies and solidarity with the the Indian people a series of alleged terrorist bombings in Mumbai.

My thoughts are with you all.

Next, 'Shrooming: The new generation.

As if anyone that has ever taken more than few grams of dried cubensis needs to be told, psilocybin opens 'spiritual' doors, and can be the most profound of experiences.

Five grams of good, dried psilocybin mushrooms can, and will, open up your mind. I've had a few experiences that I was certain would leave me a paranoid, shriveled, lump of dung. But with good set and setting, these VERY difficult times always subsided and I enjoyed the rest of the trip even more than usual.

The fact that any pschedelics are finally being tested for any practical mecidal use is heartening.

Try the Erowid Mushroom vault for non-judgemental information, and really good links to onsite and off-site resources.

No kiddies, I am in no way suggesting that you try and pull a Terrence McKenna 5 gram dose. I am not suggesting that you do anything illegal. Playing around with hallucinogens is a fool's errand. Know your limits.

Finally, John Stossel.

What a whore. Via email from Media Matters comes Stossel.

On Fox(see video at provided link), Stossel states:

"Global warming is happening. Is it a big problem? Probably not. Many scientists do not agree, despite what you hear in the Al Gore movie. And Kyoto wouldn't make any difference even if we did sign and if the countries that did obeyed, which they're not.

Many scientists do not agree? Not the vast majority of those with enough information to have a working knowledge of global warming; i.e. climatologists. Anyone that doesn't study either current climate conditions, or paleo-climate conditions(or closely related fields) isn't equipped to even have a defensible side in what is now not even a debate.

Kyoto is red herring. If Kyoto was signed on to by all parties, it is logical to expect that new more restrictive treaties would be in place even now.

Using Stossel's logic...

I, John Stossel, am proposing to the panel(NAS), an experiment in which I will dump millions of tons of atmospheric carbon and other known greenhouse gases into the earth's troposphere. I will increase this amount annually because I don't think it will cause much of a problem.

Imagine how that would go over at that National Academy of Sciences. That is, in essence, what we are now doing, and Stossel doesn't see it as big deal. Of course....

...Stossel is shlepping his new book, "Please Don't be as ill-informed as I am," or some similar title, and I sincerely hope that the book is at least researched, and objectively. In the book it is reported that Stossel lays waste to, I presume what he sees as American mythologies. However, given Stossel's penchant for aggrandizing John Stossel, I for one will not be holding my breath regarding objectivity.

An Ann Coulter in khakis?

Okay, one more.

Try to believe Reuters went with this headline: Bush's style of diplomacy: Texas plain talk.

Pretty scary. There is a precious 'compassionate conservative'(when was the last time you heard that?) moment in the article. This is Bush after biking with some SS agents.

"I made some kind of noise, or something startled him out of his walking shoes, you know," Bush said. "My point is, there he was. He was a guy who I felt comfortable enough roaring by on a mountain bike, three Secret Service agents spewing up sand."

He added: "I feel comfortable talking to him. He may not agree with me. But the fundamental question I think you're searching for is, can you still have a good relationship even though you disagree on issues? And the answer is, yes."

I'm sure that the Wilson's(Joe and Valerie), Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, and essentially two-thirds of Americans might take umbrage with Bush's declaration.

Oh well, fuck 'em.

Red Sox win, Coulter steals, and the Pope isn't hip to gay marriage

First of all, congrats to the Red Sox for going into the All-Star break with the AL East.

Being an engineer, I know stuff about probability and other archane stuff that most Americans get glossy-eyed over. I don't know what the probability is that Ann Coulter conjured the same 20 plus words from a given article, or publication once might be....it has been said to be between 50 million and 100 million to one.

Let's use the worst case scenario for Annie.

Now, when you have multiple instances of the same variety of word usage, with each usage you multiply thusly: 100,000,000*100,000,000 or 10,000,000,000,000,000 to one.

For each ensuing duplicated passage, the probability that this is coincidence goes up 10⁸...ad infinitum.

I don't expect Ann to understand this simple math, given that in her latest work(?), she attempts to disprove evolution. Not likely. Evolution is an established fact. The only real debate amongst evolutionary biologists and others with a working understanding of the subject matter is what mechanisms are involved.

Not too clever.

Finally, the Pontiff was in Spain where it has been reported that whilst 80 per-cent of the adult population considers themselves Catholic, only 42 per-cent profess to believing in God. Not surprisingly, Bene The Umpteenth denounced gay marriage, stating that marriage was a holy union between a priest and his choir boys.

Okay, so the choir boy bit isn't exactly factual, but I'm simply trying to conform to the level of public discourse in GWB's 'Murrika.

WaPo seems to get it

The headline is a gem: A Driven President Faces a World of Crises

I would have worded it somewhat differently, but the baffled boy blunder has a lot on his plate, and precious little mental resources with which to consume this meal.

Okay, I'm being too harsh, 'too little observed or evidentiary mental resources.....'

Moving right along, here's a snippet:

From deteriorating security in Afghanistan and Somalia to mayhem in the Middle East, confrontation with Iran and eroding relations with Russia, the White House suddenly sees crisis in every direction.

North Korea's long-range missile test Tuesday, although unsuccessful, was another reminder of the bleak foreign policy landscape that faces President Bush even outside of Iraq. Few foreign policy experts foresee the reclusive Stalinist state giving up the nuclear weapons it appears to have acquired, making it another in a long list of world problems that threaten to cloud the closing years of the Bush administration, according to foreign policy experts in both parties.

"I am hard-pressed to think of any other moment in modern times where there have been so many challenges facing this country simultaneously," said Richard N. Haass, a former senior Bush administration official who heads the Council on Foreign Relations. "The danger is that Mr. Bush will hand over a White House to a successor that will face a far messier world, with far fewer resources left to cope with it."

Instead of smearing Joe Wilson(and countless others), maybe this White House could have done something constructive in the domain of foreign policy.

Nahhhhhhhh.

Meanwhile, that ever elusive phantom, 'the liberal media' continues to give Bush and the GOP brownie(you're doin' a heckuva job!) points whilst actual evidence points to a ship of state rudderless in a stormy sea. Harrrrrrr!

As is the norm, Media Matters sets the record straight.

Tis all fer now...I gotta eat.

Kristof seems really pissed off, and is anyone paying attention to Murray Waas?

E & P has some dirt. Of course now that the NYT has gone to a subscription model, it sometimes takes a bit to get all the story from some shameless website.

Here is some of what Kristof is reported to have penned:

...When I was covering the war in Iraq, we reporters would sometimes tune to Fox News and watch, mystified, as it purported to describe how Iraqis loved Americans. Such coverage (backed by delusional Journal editorials baffling to anyone who was actually in Iraq) misled conservatives about Iraq from the beginning. In retrospect, the real victims of Fox News weren’t the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who believed it.

Historically, we in the press have done more damage to our nation by withholding secret information than by publishing it. One example was this newspaper’s withholding details of the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion. President Kennedy himself suggested that the U.S. would have been better served if The Times had published the full story and derailed the invasion.

Then there were the C.I.A. abuses that journalists kept mum about until they spilled over and prompted the Church Committee investigation in the 1970’s. And there are secrets we should have found, but didn’t: in the run-up to the Iraq war, the press — particularly this newspaper — was too credulous about claims that Iraq possessed large amounts of W.M.D....

I'll see if I can get a link to the whole Op-Ed later.

On another note, National Journal muckraker, Murray Waas has written another gem. I'm waiting for anyone in the MSM to pick this up. So far, it seems only lefty blogs are commenting on Waas' revelations. At this juncture, what Waas reports seems credible.

All the parts of the key players seem to be acted out in accord with known information.

In case you haven't seen the piece, the essential point is that Bush personally directed Cheney(ordered?) to lead the charge in the efforts to discredit Amb. Wilson's Niger claims.

It will be interesting to see if this gets any real network time.

'Merikun Independence Day!

Yes, here we are at 4 July again.

As much as I love explosions, I don't celebrate the day.

I'll celebrate our independence day when we are independent from:

1) All forms of inequality

2) Environmental degradation

3) Useless military spending

4) Imperial conquest

5) People without healthcare coverage

6) Neo-liberal trade policies

7) OUR weapons of mass destruction

8) Religion is fancied over reason...get the fucking church out of my government!

9) Fox News

(okay, so number 9 is taking it a bit too far, but it is time for people to act boldly)

In related news, the CIA's bin Laden unit that has been hunting bin Laden for a reported decade.

I guess "dead or alive" is pretty much 'wutevah!'(yeah, I know it was a non-sequitur, that's the point)

Now go show your patriotism and blow something up..

WTO Talks Fail, and Filler, too!

Whole Lotta Links..I am not for fucking the poor. "Trade liberalisation" sounds so nice, doesn't it? It has the air of something everyone would want. George Carlin where are you?

Hey! Whilst I was in my long convalescence, I had a chance to do some RF(radio frequency) work for a new client. It felt really good to be back in the field. So good in fact, that I'm slated to go to China and work with some engineers there on the company's tab. The bonus is that I'm going to work on a fledgling company I've started..and they know it. Sweet deal.

I'm going to the Guang Dong Province..there's a lot of emerging tech. there. In March or so of next year, when I start producing on my own, I will command you to buy my stuff!

Sort of a slow news day, so you get filler ;)

Now go and read something important!

(and my going to China is not to exploit the cheap labor force, it's to teach..Ha! And you thought I was a hypocrite!)

Cable TV

At the request of my ill mother I had cable TV installed yesterday.

I went to work and came home pretty tired. So, I decided to see just how low the level of what passes for political discourse in America has sunken.

I prepared for the worst. That wasn't preparation enough.

In rapid succession I saw Hannity, Coulter, BlowReilly, and Chris 'turn the gain down on my mic' Matthews.

This was too much for my fragile little mind.

Jeebus.

I need some tranqs and a bottle of gin in order to feel sane again.

These people are seemingly insane. Partisanship cannot entirely explain the behaviors I saw on display.

News Hounds has the recap.

Since I got home at 1:30AM, I was blessed with all of the shows in unbroken succession. I have nary a clue if this is the same scheduling as during primetime.

I feel all dirty. I must bath now. In lye. ;)

Maybe more later, but I'm pretty exhausted. Living in the flooded Eastern US, I have spent way too much time either baling water, or trying to mitigate water damage.

Limbaugh and the American flag

Well, well. It seems that the right-wing comedian; Oh-Wut-A-Rush Limbaugh has been caught with a prescription of Viagra that wasn't prescribed to him.

Nice role model. Let's see if he gets prosecuted for this..I can understand GOP hacks not being able to get wood without assistance, but Rushbo hasn't been especially soft(no pun intended..really!) on drug users in the past. I would think that this wood, or rather 'would' extend(damn it!) to those possessing another's prescription.

In other news, the Senate prevails and the Flag desecration amendment will not go out to the states for a vote.

I'm neutral on the issue.

An observation: Having traveled more than a bit, American's have a very curious relationship with the flag. I don't. And yes, I am an American.

However, the fetishizing of the flag seems to be unknown to the rest of the Western countries I have visited.

In the post 9/11 era, I'll take whatever liberties those infinitely wise in Washington seem fit to allow me to retain.

One more thing.

It seems like the environmental disaster that we are likely to have as our true legacy seems to really, finally, sinking into the public mind.

Admittedly, I have nothing but anecdotal evidence for this, but hey, that's a helluva lot more than most Faux News commentators and right-wing blonde 'bookshleppers' offer as proof.

If I was loony enough to enter the political world as anything but a critc of everything, I'd make the environment my number one issue. I'd hammer it into people's skulls that terrorists and the economy can cause us great pain, but the environment will cause the downfall of 'civilization' if we do not act courageously today.

Word to the right: The 'tree huggers' are the true prophets.

Leaks and Their Leakers

Okay, so the right-wing hypocrisites have been decrying the NYT's disclosure of the non-secret tracking of international money transfers.

The left meanwhile, have been crowing about the loss of privacy. I tend to agree with this view. I'm a privacy advocate.

But I digress. The leaker was GW Bush. Way back in September of 2001, in that "Churchillian"*cough* speech given to a special joint session of Congress he said something on the order of, 'we're working with foriegn and domestic financial institutions to cut off the terrorists' money supply.'

If the rules have been changed in the intervening years, I haven't heard of it.

Real historians will tell you that we Americans have no collective memory.

Bush should only be angry with himself for stating this in front of the entire nation, and everyone else should take it upon themselves to make certain Bush places the blame right on his pretzel scar.

I'd like to know why the hypocrisites haven't bashed the WSJ for also reporting on this only hours after the Times. Nevermind. I know that objective reality isn't part of their agendas.

GWB should ask his favorite philosopher about this one. Maybe the J-Man could jog his alcohol addled mind....and Cheney, too.

I'm back!

Hello fellow 'netizens! I am back after a long, painful absence.

Rather than detail my recovery from my vehicle wreck, I'll get right back to posting stuff.

Ann Coulter is a lousy comedienne. From Pharyngula we learn that Coulter believes that evolutionary biology is the product of a "cult" mentality. Ann also bashes women, hence she displays mysogynistic tendencies.

From her latest book(I'm sure you know which one) comes the following:

Their grandiose self-conceptions to the contrary, the cult [the "evolution cult"] members are rarely scientists at all.

[...]

They're almost always biologists—the "science" with the greatest preponderance of women. The distaff MIT "scientist" who fled the room in response to Larry Summers's remarks was, of course, a biologist. While I'm sure there have been groundbreaking discoveries about the internal digestive system of the earthworm, biologists are barely even scientists anymore. They're classifiers, list-makers, like librarians with their Dewey decimal system. Except librarians don't claim the Dewey decimal system holds the Rosetta Stone to the universe. There were once great biologists, but the morally vacuous ones began to promote their own at the universities. It was sort of intelligently designed devolution. Like Marxists gradually dominating the comp lit department, biologists will only be given tenure today if they foreswear any doubts about the evolution pseudoscience. Consequently, "biologist" almost always means "evolutionary biologist," which is something like an "ESP biologist."

This isn't funny.

It isn't remotely accurate.

It is my hope that Ms. Coulter actually go to a library and research the field of biology. I don't think it necessary to detail the fact that all the sciences are interdisciplinary.

Let us hope that Ann is the one that gets true religion, and instead of bashing straw-men(and women), does some actual research should she ever get published again.

To Ann: Please continue with your terrific insights. I'd expect nothing more from a person claiming that a book with talking animals and other nonsense holds ultimate truth.

In other news, it looks like the Godless librul scientists were correct about the rate of global warming. The link is to a page with lots more clicky links.

Maybe this will be the wake-up call that drives our elected - and un-elected - officials kicking and screaming into doing something about global climate change now that it's too late.

Next, a directive!!!

Being the all-out authoritarian that I am, I command you to get email alerts from Media Matters.

Finally, I found out precisely what my political philosphical bent is... I am a...get ready...I am a 'post-left anarchist with primitivist leanings.'

I was thusly dubbed by the Green Mountain anarchist collective.

I fail the big test of primitivism by not rejecting technology, yet embrace most of the ideology's other tenets.

(that's what I get for going to Vermont :) )

There are a lot more things that I've found noteworthy; I'm still angry even with the flood of prescribed meds.

I figured I'd wade back into the water slowly. No need to dive into the deep end after a long hiatus.

It's good to be back!

Sorry 'Bout the Lack of Updates

I was in a car wreck and spent some time in hospital. Not a good time at all. I'm broken, but alive.

An elderly gentleman crossed into my lane and hit my door(I was driving), and the left side of my body is pretty much screwed up.

Time to call James Sokolove ;)

You know the aphorism: "It's always darkest before the dawn?"

Well, it's not true. It's always darkest before pitch black.

I've been following events from the sidelines. I now really know why I don't watch network television.

I'll update regularly in a week or so. I'm still in quite a bit of physical pain. I'm also left handed, so typing is a one finger, on my right hand, at a time affair.

Thanks for your patience,

todd

Bush: Clueless on Iraq?

No. It's a serious question. In inviting various former defense and state to the White House yesterday, it can be viewed in a bunch of different ways.

Of course the spin is that Bush is reaching out to those on both sides of the issue. That's only a sliver of the truth. The rest of the truth is that the guests were almost certainly going to adhere to the White House line that we need to stay in Iraq now that we've thoroughly screwed the country.

Colin Powell's not uttering a single word speaks volumes.

So, was it just a PR play and photo-op? Yup. Would Bush have altered his course if some dissenter(s) had a far better plan than we currently are pursuing? Not too difficult to answer. His record is abysmal in this area.

Meanwhile, in real serious news, the US State Dept. has some detail of a study of how global warming can cause extreme climate change. How this one got by the censors is beyond me.

Bah. Those 'high-dome boys'(old Popular Science writer's favorite phrase) at the NSF don't know what the hell they're talking about anyway. Too much math involved.

I say screw 'em. Let's keep on accelerating our use of fuels that produce greenhouse emissions, whilst deforesting the planet! We'll find out soon enough if any of this so-called 'scientific' mumbo-jumbo has any merit.

And if these science people are shown to be right, we'll just hop into our hyper-drives and using the nearest wormhole, go and colonize another planet and rape it into inhability.

Jesus Man, I Need A Hit

"Don't bogart that joint, my Lord..."

I knew it. The "J" man was a j-man!

We Broke It..Fu%& 'em

I presume WaPo reported on this yesterday, but I missed it.

According to the Independent, the US may be making plans to cut off monies promised to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.

Boy, these neo-cons are sure neophytes at winning the hearts and minds game.

Even Baghdad is still without electricity for most of every day.

This is how democracy is spread. No. I think that's incorrect.

This is how terrorism is bred. Yes, I think that closer to the mark.

Where's The Love?

A new Military Times poll shows that support for Georgie and the Excellent Iraq Adventure is slipping amongst the military.

A Pew Research poll taken in November 2005 showed that amongst military "opinion leaders" - senior guys and officer types - showed about an even split on the question whether it was right to invade to Iraq, and 45% responded believed that advocating democracy in Iraq was "a good idea that will not succeed."

Nineteen percent responded it was a bad idea.

Does This Jump Suit Make Me Look Fat?

Abramoff plea bargains

Predictions 2006

Here are my totally unsupported predictions for calendar year 2006. I'll keep it to five, as I have a very short attention spa...uh, where was I going with that?

Without further ado(and in no particular order):

1) Economy

Definite cooling off of the US economy. There are a number of factors for this, but the main contributors are:

A: The housing market, which has shown an accelerating slowing trend. Most of the metrics have peaked and are now either in stasis, or outright decline.

B: The inversion of the bond yield curve. For some background listen to this All Things Considered show of Dec. 28

C: The Copper Indicator. Although it's too early to tell, the price of copper may have peaked, and this is a good indicator of future usage expectations. The price trend is flattening for the first time in over four years.

D: More expensive capital. The Fed seems far from done regarding rate hikes. With the Fed making money more expensive to loan, it is reasonable to assume that GDP will slow, and that doesn't bode well for businesses in particular. Expect more business failures in 2006.

Am I predicting a second Bush recession? Not yet. But the underlying trends that tend to signal an economic slowdown are already in place.

This ends prediction number 1 for 2006.

2) Global climate change will emerge as the sleeper issue of the mid-term elections. Main Street is finally waking up to the strong likelihood that global climate change and ecosystem degradation is the most important long-term issue facing humankind.

Although people tend to vote in accord with their stance on much shorter term issues, this will change. Most Americans are now aware that this is a real issue, much to the chagrin of naysayers on the right.

In the US, the southeast must surely be aware that the weather has been whacky. In Alaska the tundra is thawing and glaciers are receding.

On a bigger scale, the record hurricane/tropical Atlantic storm season won't soon be forgotten.

I'd add much more to this, but my point is essentially made.

This ends prediction 2 for 2006