A calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom

Immediately after the Moscow theater siege in October 2002, the authorities claimed 127 people had died. This suspiciously low figure became more suspicious when they never changed it, although obviously some must have died of their injuries in the subsequent days, and many were listed as “missing.” So it’s a bit worrying that they’re claiming there are only 354 hostages in that school in Beslan, North Ossetia, when locals are saying it’s a lot more.
(Update: the shits stormed the school. They said they wouldn't, I always knew they would. As I write, still pretty confused.)

The convention was a race from competence and from content. It’s not just that we heard few details about Bush’s agenda, if any, for a second term; the details of the last 3½ years were also discarded as irrelevant. What mattered, they told us over and over, was Bush’s determination and vision (or vision thing, as his father used to phrase it). He “sees world terrorism for the evil that it is,” as Giuliani put it; he knew we were at war; he knew Saddam was a threat, etc etc. No one defended the way he actually conducted the “war on terror” or the war in Iraq, just his convictions. Likewise, no one talked about his policies in the future, except in the vaguest of terms. Thus, all the talk about a “hopeful America” and optimism. Hope for what? Doesn’t matter.

(Later:) ok, there were a few semi-specifics in Bush’s speech, but nothing we’ll ever hear about again. Rural health centers will go in the filing cabinet next to the mission to Mars.

Repeatedly heard during the Convention: that Saddam Hussein was a “weapon of mass destruction.” Only the most facile mind would take that pathetic rhetorical trick as an answer to the charge that Bush lied about WMDs.

By the way, the use of the presidential seal on that platform--is he supposed to be using a national symbol at a partisan event? That was one of many violations of the rules of political decency, usually to portray the D’s as un-American in the sense of being somehow not authentic Americans. Another was Cheney’s claim that Kerry was “unfit” for office. Not that his policies or qualifications are inferior to Bush’s, but that he is an illegitimate candidate.
(Later: Kerry has responded to the word unfit with what passes for outrage for him [I'm reminded of the parody John Major diary Private Eye used to run during his premiership, in which Major frequently described himself as "not inconsiderably incandescent with rage."])

Wed. night’s brilliant Daily Show mock-RNC film, "George W. Bush: Words Speak Louder Than Actions," is available here. And there’s a Lewis Black video blog, and other web-only Daily Show material (some played audio only, probably not intentionally).

The Bush speech:

He actually cites the 10 million registered voters in Afghanistan, which should be an embarrassing mockery, as if it were a triumph. Yay for ballot stuffing! Huzzah and kudos for electoral fraud! Why don’t we make Katherine Harris ambassador to Afghanistan?

The terrorists are afraid because “freedom is on the march.” Freedom does not march. It may walk, hop, skip, traipse, mosey, even flounce, but it does not march.

Also, funny to be talking about bringing freedom to Afghanistan and Iraq, when the NYPD were illegally holding hundreds of demonstrators without charge, possibly in naked human pyramids.

“Here buildings fell, here a nation rose.” Yick.

“a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom” Is he getting messages from outer space on his fillings again?

“we will extend the frontiers of freedom”. Hear that Canada? We’re coming after you, like you always knew we would. Yeah, there’s nothing like using the language of imperialist expansionism to convey your attachment to freedom.

Holy monkeys

Headline you don’t see every day: “Menaced by Holy Monkeys, Indian Villagers Call in the Contract Killers.”

Speaking of holy monkeys, Zell Miller, the Last Democrat, followed his cranky old man speech with interviews I did not see, because I have a reception problem with cable news channels. Well, not so much a reception problem, more that after a minute I start loudly bemoaning the state of American democracy and journalism, which makes it hard to hear, with all the bemoaning. So I missed seeing Zell-boy threaten to punch out Chris Matthews.

After 18 days, the Palestinian hunger strike ends as it began, with both sides calling each other liars. The Palestinians say that concessions were granted, Israel denies there were even negotiations.

Wherein I discuss the Republican Convention, somehow mentioning fascist Italy twice

Today we were exposed to that most odious of all sights in American politics: Dick Cheney looking pleased with himself after uttering an attack line. It was like watching a Mussolini speech, where he’d fold his arms and tilt his head back while the crowd cheered. The delegates loved Cheney, just loved him, and I think it was their reaction that will make this speech so harmful to the R’s. First, the constant applause made it long and tedious. Second, it gave the uncommitted voters at home time to think about the speech, and the relationship of thought to a Cheney speech is that of salt to a slug. Third, if any viewer at home was inclined to react favorably to a line, the cult-like over-reaction of the delegates will turn them right off again, like they’re all laughing at a joke you don’t get, and don’t want to get. And then they did that “flip flop” wave thing, which they should have practiced first.

Earlier, there was another repugnant sight: Republicans trying to be humorous. There was a little film about Barney the dog, which featured him debating Kerry’s dog, which was, oh my sides are splitting, a French poodle.

Good Toles cartoon.

William Saletan of Slate points out that even Rick “I’m not holier than thou, I’m holier than YOU” Santorum didn’t mention gays while talking about marriage, although he obviously wouldn’t have been talking about marriage at all if not for the gay marriage issue. So they’ve got even the Pennsylvania bully boy to abstain, for once, from overt gay-bashing, in favor of coded gay-bashing. Try to think of it as progress. The R’s are attempting to put a smiley face on it by talking about heterosexual marriage, which is evidently the basis of society, “the most fundamental institution of civilization.” Where does that leave gays? Un-persons, excluded by definition from society and civilization. Although they still have “selfish hedonism,” as Alan Keyes puts it, which is a pretty good compensation.

And Mel Martinez just won the R primary for US Senate after accusing Bill McCollum, of all people, of being a secret fag-lover for supporting an anti-hate-crimes bill.

Zell Miller is introduced as “the conscience of the Democratic party.” So who would that make the conscience of the Republican party, John Wilkes Booth?

T-shirt at anti-Bush rally: “Think. It’s patriotic.”

All the comparisons between Bush and Churchill. A reminder to the R’s: before World War II was even over, the voters booted Churchill out, in one of the finest moments for the principle of democracy. Also, the comparison is about how Churchill kept warning against the dangers of fascism in the 1930s, holding to his convictions while being ostracized from mainstream politics, while Bush recognized the dangers of terrorism...after several rather large buildings were damaged or destroyed and the dangers of terrorism were pretty fucking obvious. Yes, his breadth of vision is astonishing. Although, since I’m told that Osama bin Laden’s name hasn’t been mentioned once during the convention, you’d have to think that if Shrub had been around in the 1930s, he’d have recognized the dangers of fascism and tried to launch a pre-emptive attack on...Italy.

"Only" the global war on terrorism?

Tom DeLay to the Republican Jewish Coalition: “My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism.”

French Muslims have condemned the taking of hostages to force a reversal of the headscarf ban, but went too far in asking Muslim schoolgirls to adhere to the ban instead of resisting it, as had been planned before the hostage-taking (Thursday is the first day of school). If the state is right not to give up its (despicable) policies to appease the terrorists, neither should the other side give up their legitimate resistance. Yadda yadda yadda, or the terrorists win. It’s like a teenage girl dating that guy with the piercings and the motorcycle not because she likes him, but to piss off her parents. Speaking of teenage girls, it’s nice to see the French government taking on that dangerous segment of the population. And putting the burden of having to choose between their principles and their futures on teenage girls.

Similarly, Russia wants the UN to condemn terrorism by Chechens and declare it part of the world-wide war on terrorism, but doesn’t want the outside world to condemn its vicious and bloody crushing of the Chechen people and its imposition of a fake president through an even faker election. Well, fuck that.

Comical Allawi, and not for the first time, has unilaterally halted peace talks just at the point of agreement, this time in Sadr City. Sure, since he’s planning to fight using American troops. In fact, the sticking point on this one was whether American troops could conduct military operations in the Baghdad suburb without Allawi’s permission; Allawi wanted them to be able to kill Iraqis without his permission.

It looks like the charges against Achmed and Salem Chalabi will be dropped (some stories are saying that they have already been, but this is wrong).

GUEST POST: Bush's Upcoming Post-Convention Drop

I've heard that "ABBA, The Movie" is rather entertaining to watch -- if you're stoned. But if you watch it again, this time with a clear head, the general reaction is considerably less positive. In New York now, the Republicans are busily replaying "The Great Unflinching Bush," a production that got great reviews during its out-of-town tryouts in the wake of the attack on the twin towers. But it's been three years, and our minds have cleared from the state of altered consciousness induced by 9/11. It's not just that we know Bush's first response to news of the attacks was to re-read his favorite passages from My Pet Goat. Nor is it just that we know he ignored the Presidential Daily Briefing, warning of such attacks. It isn't even that we as a nation have become quite disenchanted with his war in Iraq -- the fictitious WMDs, the lost lives, the dubious links to bin Laden. It's simply that we're no longer in the attack-induced stupor. "The Great Unflinching Bush" isn't much to watch if one isn't scared shitless and blindly jingoistic. So my prediction is that the replaying of this production is going make many viewers wonder, "Why did I think this was so good when I saw it a few years ago?" Watch his approval rating drop.

May never sit down at a peace table

Bush changes his mind, now does plan to “win” the war on terror after all. But he adds, “in this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table.” Well I’m sure you can find something to fit your needs.

There’s a famous British newspaper headline from I believe the 1950s, which is always quoted to demonstrate British insularity and their sense that they are the center of the universe, something like “Fog over the Channel, Continent Cut Off.” Compare and contrast with this WaPo headline: “Zell Miller: A Democrat Who Insists His Party Left Him.”

Don’t be economic girlie-men: the Republican convention on steroids

Day 2 of the Republican convention was brown people, black people, immigrants, and the most downtrodden of all, stem cells. I believe the R platform proposes giving the vote to stem cells.

That would be more of a joke if the platform didn’t actually say that the 14th Amendment applies to the unborn.

Missed Liddy Dole’s speech, but she praised Bush for restoring “honor and dignity” to the White House. Elizabeth Dole, whose husband did Viagra ads. Also, not the best line for anyone to use the day the prime speaker is the Gropenführer. Liddy also said that marriage, by which she meant heterosexual marriage, is important, “not because it is a convenient invention or the latest reality show. Marriage is important because it is the cornerstone of civilization, and the foundation of the family.” Once again, she ignored her husband, who once told his first partner in the institution which is the cornerstone of civilization, “I want out.”

Ed. Sec Rod Paige accused Kerry & Edwards of wanting to “water down” No Child Left Behind. By which he means altering the rigid testing requirements, and by which he did not mean failing to provide adequate funding, a form of watering down he and his boss support.

Jenna mentioned her grandmother and sex in the same sentence, and by the time I came out of the fetal position, it was an hour later.

But before that was the main broken-English speaker of the convention, my governor, representing the immigrants who come to this country “full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire,” full of steroids, and end up fucking a bony Kennedy. He told a story about how he arrived in 1968, heard Hubert Humphrey speaking, heard Nixon speaking, and decided he was a Republican. He told this story when he was running for governor, when he claimed he was watching the famous Nixon-Humphrey debates, so it’s nice to see he didn’t feel obligated to drop his made-up story just because its central factual component never actually happened (like his reference to seeing Soviet tanks in Austria). There were a bunch of movie references, of course; an “economic girlie men” line; he explained how voting for the Republicans despite disagreeing with them was what was great about this country; then something about America standing with political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, which means whoever vetted his speech forgot that Dick Cheney once voted against a resolution that Mandela should be freed; and there was a line that “leadership isn’t about polls,” about which I’m still undecided whether to make a pun about Austrians and Poles. Then he pinched Laura Bush’s butt and left the stage.

There was something demeaning about George Bush the Elder having been given an Arnold! sign to wave.

The big “surprise” was a video appearance by Shrub, speaking for no particular reason in front of a softball game. Which meant he was interrupted by applause when someone got a hit.
Update: it's been suggested that the game was staged.

Declaring victory over a figure of speech, and going home

Bush said that Kerry will nationalize health care. Which is the sort of lie you can tell when your lies never seem to have consequences.

Of course when he does tell the truth... Today Bush said that the war on terrorism can’t be won in the conventional sense. This is of course true, since “war” was always an inappropriate metaphor. I think Bush has finally realized that all the “war on terrorism” talk does not leave him with an exit strategy from that war. This is a follow-up to that weird comment no one understood early this month: “We actually misnamed the war on terror, it ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.” John Edwards went on the attack, saying that of course he and Kerry believe that the war on terrorism is winnable, and it’s defeatism to say otherwise. I can’t wait to see what he says when someone asks how you know when the war is over.

And yes, I did just say that Bush was right and his opponents wrong. Even a stopped clock is right once every 58 years.

The Secret Service has issued subpoenas trying to find the person who posted on the internet the names, addresses, phone numbers & NY hotels of R convention delegates (you’ll remember that Florida decided that the names of its delegates to this largely-taxpayer-funded convention was a trade secret). The feds are pretending this amounts to voter intimidation.

The R platform, on which those I’d-tell-you-my-name-but-then-I’d-have-to-kill-you delegates voted, included a provision to withdraw the jurisdiction of federal courts over the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress can do under the stupidest, but little-used, provision of the Constitution (Article III, section 2, clause 2).

A Sadr spokesman on why the Mahdi army won’t give up its weapons: “Don’t most families in America keep a weapon?”

Convention report, or it would be if I could stand to listen to those people

At the R. convention, a woman in a headscarf from the American Islamic Congress just began by saying she would greet the convention with the traditional Islamic greeting. Sadly, it was "alaikum salaam." I had thought she was going to do one of those ululations Arab women do. Would have been fun to watch 10,000 people dive to the floor at one time.

Followed by George & Laura Bush talking about how they liberated the women of Afghanistan. By the way, the Times of London ran a story on Saturday, "Wife-Burning Survives Taleban Terror."

McCain could not get off that stage fast enough, could he?

Anti-gay-marriage Rep. Ed Schrock (R-VA) decides not to run for re-election after being outed. His call to a gay dating line ("I just like to get together a guy from time to time, just to, just to play. I'd like him to be in very good shape, flat stomach, good chest, good arms, well hung, cut, uh, just get naked, play, and see what happens...") may be found online.

Giuliani is just going on and on. I couldn’t listen to a word, he’s just too irritating.

Evolutionary rather than revolutionary

McCain says that ads attacking Kerry’s Vietnam record are dishonest and dishonorable, but it is ok to talk about his anti-war activities when he got home. I think Skull and Bones has the same rules. Also Fight Club (The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club).

Speaking of don’t ask, don’t tell, the Log Cabin Republicans... you know, I’m not going to pretend I really want to say anything about those idiots beyond repeating Tom Carson’s old line that their symbol should be a pink Bermuda triangle.

An RNC official says that Shrub’s acceptance speech will be “evolutionary rather than revolutionary.” Of course, the oddly chimplike GeeDubya doesn’t actually believe in evolution....

And the naked human pyramids? “Members of [Lynndie] England’s unit testified about critical supply shortages that forced them to keep prisoners naked for long stretches and to give male detainees female underwear.” (Catch by Under the Same Sun .

Wherein John McCain is compared, unfavorably, to a 60-year old Thai hooker with leprosy

The hunger strike by Palestinian political/security prisoners may end today, after a bit over two weeks. I was never clear on whether this supposed to be a fast to the death (if the strikers ever issued a formal statement, I didn’t see it), but the Israelis certainly attempted to speed along the process of physical deterioration, denying them milk, juice and salt, which they were willing to take.

My off-the-top-of-my-head, middle-of-the-night theory that Larry Franklin was passing operational intel to the Israelis is supported by no one else. Fine. If it was about influencing policy towards Iran, as seems to be the case, and influencing it in the direction of war, maybe the opposition party, if the US had one, or the press, if it weren’t so tame, could use this to lever the Pentagon the hell out of the business of formulating foreign policy.

This incident will also serve to make a war against Iran harder to undertake in a 2nd Bush term, by making it appear to the Muslim world like--well, more like--the product of a US-Israeli cabal.

The US was given advance notice of the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, and chose to do nothing, according to the Sunday Times (London), for the usual reason: oil. The government of EG is a rather nasty one, and the US was afraid it would have to impose sanctions, depriving itself of EG’s precious, precious oil.

I don’t know how much of the R convention I’ll be able to stand to watch, especially since they failed to invite the entertaining lunatic right-wingers to speak. Instead, while the RNC disinvited Britney Spears because she’s too big of a whore, McCain and other R moderates-on-some-issues will be peddling their asses onstage for smaller change than that charged by a 60-year old Thai hooker with leprosy. This convention is Shrub’s version of “kinder and gentler,” the phrase his father used to distance himself from Reagan, which as often as not became “kindler” and gentler. Actually, the 2000 convention did the same thing, with Newt Gingrich, as I wrote at the time, “locked in the basement until it’s over.”

Expressing themselves through violence and violent behaviour

NY protest sign: "What if Barbara or Jenna were impregnated by Willie Horton?”

I dislike seeing terms which should only be used to describe genuine elections being used for blatant shams, such as that in Chechnya today. General Alu Alkhanov was not “elected.” He did not “win” an election--the election was fixed, not won.

Then there’s Iraq’s Comical Allawi, quoted in the WaPo directing more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tut-tutting towards the insurgents. “They are not knowing how to express themselves but through violence and through violent behavior,” says the man who was installed by the US military’s violence and violent behaviour. Allawi also likes to talk about the law and bringing people to justice, but the only law written in Iraq in decades was written by Saddam Hussein or Paul Bremer.

Come for the free dental care, stay for the naked human pyramids

The Pentagon is following James Schlesinger in fashioning its propaganda about the torture of prisoners. It’s ignoring everything we know about torture during interrogation (as I noted before, Rumsfeld even flatly denied the existence of that type of torture). What this strategy amounts to is focusing on the torture we’ve seen pictures of, and trying to explain away those pictures as the result of the famous “few bad apples,” the night shift, just doing it for fun. At a background Pentagon briefing Wednesday, an unnamed “senior army official” insisted that the prisoner in the famous picture, standing on a box with a hood over his head, wasn’t even interrogated.

And there’s a lot of talk about the “chilling effect” on current interrogations of insisting on rules against abuse. The same official claims that because prisoners know these limits, they no longer fear imprisonment by the Americans (in other words, they won’t fall for the if-you-fall-off-the-box-you’ll-be-electrocuted ploy): “They know that if the United States captures them, they will get a medical exam. They’ll get their teeth fixed. They will get essentially a free physical and they will be released if they don’t talk after a certain amount of time.” The WaPo says that the CIA has even stopped refusing pain medication to and “feign[ing] suffocation” of prisoners.

You kidnapped me and are threatening to kill me over WHAT??

A group called the Islamic Army in Iraq has kidnapped 2 French journalists, demanding the end of the headscarf ban in French public schools. Normally I’d say it’s bad policy to give in to kidnappers, but really, how’d you like to have to explain to someone’s family why they had to die to protect a ban on headscarves?

Incidentally, I don’t know how this fits in with Muslim theology, but if Muslim girls/women really want to protest the ban and really don’t want to show their hair in public...they should shave their heads.

British Tory party leader Michael Howard has been banned from the White House, for criticizing Tony Blair over the Iraq war.

One of the Chechen women suspected to have perpetrated one of the Russian plane bombings this week was the sister of a man seized by Russian forces several years ago, and never seen again. You don’t have to approve of blowing up planes to understand why she was pissed off.

The Bush admin response to data showing that charter schools are not the miracle cure they were supposed to be, and indeed under-perform regular public schools: stop collecting the data.

Although Sistani’s deal over Najaf involved the American troops leaving the city, they aren’t going to do it. "Owie" Allawi has given them permission to stay until it’s safe enough for Iraqi police to handle. Allawi is obviously trying to restore his authority, but doing so through treachery may not go over too well. Or who knows, maybe Iraqis like treachery. Meanwhile, US tanks will stay, parked among the ruins they created.

Abuses at interrogations

Nice to see that the NYT changed the headline of this article from “Rumsfeld Denies Details of Abuses at Interrogations” in my print copy to the more accurate “Rumsfeld Denies Abuses Occurred at Interrogations” online. Actually it’s worse: he falsely claimed in an interview that the Schlesinger report said that the torture was unrelated to interrogations (i.e., was just for fun, not part of a policy). The report says exactly the opposite in its first paragraph, so 2 days after it was made public, he hadn’t gotten that far. Chimpy’s reading habits are rubbing off on his subordinates. Or his lying habits.

Of course, Rummy was on his vacation. 60 dead US soldiers this month, Rummy doesn’t get to HAVE a vacation.

Speaking of abuses that occurred at interrogations, Bush only allowed the NYT to interview him if he was surrounded by staff, ready to jump in, as McClellan did when Bush refused to believe in the existence of a government report accepting the reality of global warming. Still, what stands out is that Bush was evasive in responding to questions, even for Bush. 3½ years in, the number of questions he simply can’t answer has increased exponentially, especially if he’s unwilling to admit any mistakes. Some of those evasions:

Asked whether the 2 torture reports have changed his opinion that it was the work of a few individuals, he said (twice), “I think we ought to look at all their recommendations seriously.”

Asked how he might have fought the war differently: “David, what I am now doing is leading us forward.”

Asked what he means when he says he won’t “tolerate” a nuclear Iran or North Korea: “It means we’ll try diplomacy as a first resort.”

Why the Pentagon spy for Israel needs to be hung up by his balls

A spy for Israel in the Pentagon. Here we go again. Israel has been bitching about Jonathan Pollard for nearly 20 years. The significant fact in that case is that while Israel has loudly and repeatedly and arrogantly demanded their mole be pardoned, they have not been willing to return the files he copied or tell the US which files they were.

When I first heard about this spy my reaction was to laugh, because what intel could he possibly give them that the US didn’t already provide Israel? Thinking about it some more, there is an answer to that question and it’s not funny: operational intelligence, the sort that would allow Israel to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

On the couch

The federal government is taking over the task of screening passengers from the airlines. Ted Kennedy may never fly again.

Would have been nice if the NYT had printed the transcript of its interview with Bush. Evidently the “miscalculation” about Iraq wasn’t so much about the unwillingness of Iraqis to be occupied. Rather, the difficulties in Iraq have all been the result of the initial “swift victory.” His real miscalculation was in overestimating how wonderfully successful he’d be, which is odd, because a swift victory was what all his idiot advisers were predicting at the time on every news program, so how could they not have been prepared for one?

But my favorite quote has to be Shrub’s dismissal of the whole concept of even thinking about what went wrong by saying he wouldn’t go “on the couch.” For him, learning from the past is something only people with psychological disorders do, or need to do, or want to do.

Bags of candy distributed to small markets in the US included cheap little toys, like whistles and...little depictions of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. The toys were imported from China. Not many were distributed before the candy company discovered them, but I’m sure they’ll be worth a fortune on Ebay; I know I want one.

White House transcripts show that in 1976 Henry Kissinger gave the Argentinian junta permission to launch the “dirty war” against the opposition, and wanted it done while the US Congress was in recess: “the quicker you succeed the better.” He told the Argentine foreign secretary, “We are aware you are in a difficult period... when political, criminal, and terrorist activities tend to merge without any clear separation. We understand you must establish authority.” In other words, it’s ok if you kill opposition politicians and pretend they’re terrorists.

In Mostar (Bosnia--remember?), Roma thieves steal a bridge and sell it to a scrap yard.

Karma Nabulsi makes the connection between the infliction of psychological torture on Palestinian hunger strikers by baking bread and barbequing meat outside their cells and the expansion of the settlements, “areas green from expropriated water, while Arab crops die of thirst,” in sight of refugee camps.

Several hundred of the hunger strikers have resumed eating, at least pending new negotiations Monday. They seem to have already won some of the concessions to human dignity they were demanding.

In Florida, Bush accuses Kerry of not wanting democracy in Cuba and attacking Cuban dissidents. The Post quotes Karl Rove saying “the wind is at our back” in Florida, where such meteorological conditions are usually followed by your trailer park being unexpectedly and violently relocated to another part of the state.

Misc. stuff you’ve probably already seen: Dole agreeing that Bush should be ashamed for his treatment of McCain in 2000. A Florida judge overrules election officials, says there must be a paper trail in order to allow for the manual recounts required by law. Deaths of US soldiers in Iraq in 2004 surpass those of 2003.

Making things that appear strange appear not so strange

Gay Arabic-language students come back, all is forgiven! The hearing in Guantanamo about bin Laden’s alleged driver/bodyguard is hampered by incompetent translators. Read the Reuters story: this is a farce. This was the US’s chance to demonstrate some sort of commitment to fairness and the rule of law, and it can’t demonstrate even basic competence. The Yemeni POW wanted to defend himself, or at least have a Yemeni lawyer, but was told he needed an American with legal experience, unlike the tribunal hearing the case, which has only one member with any legal experience, and that member could use an English-English translator, at one point asking Bahlul, "Is your understanding of our culture sufficient to make things that appear strange appear not so strange?" Is anyone’s?

Australian PM John Howard, major shit, spammed voters. Illegally. If anyone has a copy, could they forward it to me?

Misunderestimations were made

Bush admits to having made “a miscalculation of what the conditions would be” in occupied Iraq. That wasn’t so hard, was it, George? One mistake admitted, 3,869,172 to go.

I keep reading that Sadr’s men are turning in their weapons. To whom?

The primrose path to the dogs

Kerry will stop running the ads about Bush’s vicious attacks on McCain in 2000, because McCain asked him to. I don’t see how McCain’s opinion bears on the matter, or his fear of having his hypocrisy (or flip-floppery) in supporting Bush exposed. McCain said he doesn’t want 2000 brought up because America doesn’t like a sore loser, but what does it think about a loser who toadies to the winner?

And while McCain previously asked Bush to condemn the SUBVERT ads, he now says Bush doesn’t have to after all, the weasely statements about all 527 ads are good enough for him. So Kerry has given Bush another gift, gratis, as demonstrated by this oh-so-balanced AP headline: "Bush, Kerry Bow to McCain’s Wishes on Ads."

I have to hand it to the Iraqi security forces. When it was said that they’d take the lead in Najaf, I laughed, but today they did indeed take the lead in slaughtering dozens of unarmed peaceful marchers who had responded to Sistani’s call to go to Najaf (and this should be a warning to NY convention protestors, since I believe the Iraqi police said they were just protecting the grass). The moral authority of Comical Allawi, the potemkin strongman, hasn’t exactly risen here. Nor has that of the Americans, who as part of the deal decreed by Sistani, will have to get the hell out of Najaf, making it (and Kufa as well, I think) another no-go zone like Fallujah.

So now, whether the country holds together depends on Ayatollah Sistani, an elderly man with a heart condition who does not listen to his doctors.

12 British MPs are planning to impeach Tony Blair, a procedure that hasn’t been used in 156 years, didn’t work then and won’t work now, but should be fun to watch. The law firm drawing up the document is the one where Blair’s wife Cherie Booth works.

There’s a nicely written Polly Toynbee column in the Guardian, responding to a harrumphing speech by Tory party leader Michael Howard decrying "political correctness" gone mad, mad I tell you. I might have linked to it for its writing alone, but it has relevance for Americans who will be exposed next week to similar speeches by R’s. "It was tribal, straight from a Tory heart to the heartlands of conservatism, touching every raw nerve, poking every prejudice and agitating every dearly held anxiety. How well he rattled the deep blue fear of the way we live now in a world forever plunging downward on the primrose path to the dogs."

One of Howard’s complaints is the state intervening to stop parents "disciplining" their children. Coincidentally, another Guardian column, about Mark Thatcher, is entitled "I Blame the Parents." The South Africans evidently arrested Thatcher in the nick of time. He denies that he was planning to flee the country, although he did sell his 4 cars, put his house on the market and buy the plane tickets. The coup plot against Equatorial Guinea was what the London Times calls a time-share coup. Millionaires literally invested in this coup, like it was any other business deal. From the Times: "Some of those who claim that they were approached by the coup organisers have described to investigators in South Africa how at lavish drinks parties they were promised that the select group who agreed to write a cheque for about £100,000 each would share a £15 million payout within weeks."

Panama pardons 4 Cuban exiles convicted of plotting the assassination of Fidel Castro, as well as other terrorist actions (hotel and plane bombings, kidnapping, etc). And 3 of them are moving to Miami. As I said 2 days ago, the US is a haven for all sorts of terrorists and war criminals. Thatcher’s tickets, by the way, were for Texas.