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