Tom Tomorrow has posted something on his blog that only occurred to me after turning off the computer after sending my last, juxtaposing the Powell quotes about our troops being in Iraq “to help, not hurt” with his assertion in his My Lai massacre cover-up report that “relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent”.
Today Rumsfeld referred to the actions at Abu Ghraib (which is Arabic for Bastille) as “un-American.” Un-American, huh? That shows a singular lack of understanding of American history, to say nothing of our penal system. Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was on McNeil-Lehrer today on this very subject, but was not asked to enlighten Rummy as a Southerner who “used to think the Klan was all right until I learned they smoked marijuana.” Rumsfeld also said that what happened was abuse, “which I believe technically is different from torture... And therefore I’m not going to address the torture word”. So that’s all right then.
Condi Rice told Al-Jazeera today, “We have a democratic system that holds people accountable for their actions...The president guarantees that those who did that be held accountable.” Uh, yeah, funny thing, about that accountability: we found out today that a soldier was convicted for shooting a prisoner to death last September (the shooting, I think, it’s unclear when the court martial was), and was discharged from the service with no jail time. And a prisoner was killed by a private contractor in Abu Ghraib (which is Arabic for Lubyanka), for which no action was taken because the military didn’t have jurisdiction (it can lock up thousands of Iraqis it just grabbed off the street, but when one of them is killed suddenly they’re worried about jurisdiction). As Rummy said today, “The system works.” Actually, given that neither he, nor Gen. Myers, nor Shrub, have actually bothered reading the report on the abuse-not-technically-torture, which was released in February, “work” may not be a word you want to use, you lazy sanctimonious [word that would make Chris’s work computer pull up its petticoats, squeal loudly, and faint]. A bunch of other prisoners died in custody (25, including in Afghanistan), some “natural causes,” some still under investigation. Britain has had 6 prisoners die.
Berlusconi has become the longest-serving Italian prime minister since World War II. Too bad he’s a crook.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Monday, May 03, 2004
You can just see the body language between them
Ah, Germany, Germany: “German plans to fine firms that fail to hire apprentices will also apply to legalised brothels. The legislation drafted by the Social Democrats and their coalition partners, the Greens, will fine companies that do not have one apprentice for every 15 workers.”
According to the WaPo, the secret of eternal life has been discovered. Either that, or their headline writer is an idiot. “Breastfed Babies Less Likely to Die, Study Finds.”
Ok, this is hilarious, now the Pentagon is actually denying that it pulled the Marines out of Fallujah, something every reporter could see happening, and handed it over to Gen. Saleh. Saleh has now been replaced with another of Saddam’s generals, who they think was exiled by Saddam, but again, they’re not entirely sure. But that’s ok, because the Marine commander says, “He is very well thought of, very well respected by the Iraqi general officers. You can just see the body language between them. And if I had to guess at this point, when we have this brigade fully formed, he demonstrates a level of leadership that tells me that he could become that brigade commander.” Body language. Good enough for me.
I’m curious: when Bush gave Sharon’s little plan his 100% approval, did he realize that Sharon intended to put it to a vote of Likud party members? Because a) leaving the fate of Palestinians up to a vote of right-wing Jews would have looked bad no matter how the vote went, b) such a vote was obviously always intended to fail, meaning that Bush got out-smarted yet again. The alternative is that Sharon didn’t tell him, and was allowed to get away with it, which is almost worse.
According to the WaPo, the secret of eternal life has been discovered. Either that, or their headline writer is an idiot. “Breastfed Babies Less Likely to Die, Study Finds.”
Ok, this is hilarious, now the Pentagon is actually denying that it pulled the Marines out of Fallujah, something every reporter could see happening, and handed it over to Gen. Saleh. Saleh has now been replaced with another of Saddam’s generals, who they think was exiled by Saddam, but again, they’re not entirely sure. But that’s ok, because the Marine commander says, “He is very well thought of, very well respected by the Iraqi general officers. You can just see the body language between them. And if I had to guess at this point, when we have this brigade fully formed, he demonstrates a level of leadership that tells me that he could become that brigade commander.” Body language. Good enough for me.
I’m curious: when Bush gave Sharon’s little plan his 100% approval, did he realize that Sharon intended to put it to a vote of Likud party members? Because a) leaving the fate of Palestinians up to a vote of right-wing Jews would have looked bad no matter how the vote went, b) such a vote was obviously always intended to fail, meaning that Bush got out-smarted yet again. The alternative is that Sharon didn’t tell him, and was allowed to get away with it, which is almost worse.
To help, not to hurt
Massachusetts is working on a new death penalty. The important thing about it, which has so far gone unremarked, is that it calls for a higher standard of proof than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It requires no doubt. To me this sounds like an admission that the criminal justice system in Mass. isn’t good enough.
CBS delayed its report on Abu Ghraib 2 weeks (and who knows how much longer it would have waited had Sy Hersh not been about to break the story). Anyone tortured in that period should sue Dan Rather. There were actually hints of torture here and there on the web over the past few months, and of course that military report, but it took just one idiot with a camera to make sure attention would be paid. I’m telling you, investigative reporters are all very well in their place, but the moron who wanted some pics to show around the bars back home did more good accidentally than Hersh did.
The problem in Abu Ghraib was structural: military police guarding the prisoners were put under the authority of military intelligence, which made human rights violations inevitable and predictable. Anyone could have looked at the organizational chart and said “Here there be torture.” What I’m saying, to make it very plain, is that what happened was so predictable that it had to have been intended, except maybe the pyramid thing. Contra Monty Python, everybody expected the Spanish Inquisition. The command structure pretty much proves it, to a life-imprisonment-in-Massachusetts standard if not to a death-penalty-in-Massachusetts standard. If more proof were needed, we’re told that several Grand High Inquisitors were sent from Guantanamo to instruct the MPs in the finer points.
Colin Powell says, “the acts of a few, I trust, will not overwhelm the goodness coming from so many of our soldiers,” who are there “to help, not to hurt.” No response of mine could be as sarcastic as that happy horseshit deserves.
Sharon responds to his “defeat” in a referendum, which he did not have to call, of the 2% of the Israeli population that is the Likud party membership by promising to scale back his plans to slightly reduce settlement activity while permanently grabbing a large proportion of the West Bank. Quel surprise! It’s now official: George Bush was rolled. I knew it when the referendum was announced. How naive are all those news sources claiming Sharon was “rebuffed” or “snubbed” by his party? Did anyone think Likud would vote to withdraw from Gaza? Of course not.
Kerry doesn’t have to be rolled, he rolls all by himself. "The security of Israel is paramount. . . . We will also never expect Israel to negotiate peace without a credible [Palestinian] partner. And it is up to the United States in my judgment to do a better job of helping the Arab world to help that partner to evolve and to develop." Now we have to wait for some sort of evolutionary process, developing Palestinians that can fit into 40% of the space? So it’s not really “targeted killing,” it’s just helping along the Darwinian process, survival of the fittest and all that?
CBS delayed its report on Abu Ghraib 2 weeks (and who knows how much longer it would have waited had Sy Hersh not been about to break the story). Anyone tortured in that period should sue Dan Rather. There were actually hints of torture here and there on the web over the past few months, and of course that military report, but it took just one idiot with a camera to make sure attention would be paid. I’m telling you, investigative reporters are all very well in their place, but the moron who wanted some pics to show around the bars back home did more good accidentally than Hersh did.
The problem in Abu Ghraib was structural: military police guarding the prisoners were put under the authority of military intelligence, which made human rights violations inevitable and predictable. Anyone could have looked at the organizational chart and said “Here there be torture.” What I’m saying, to make it very plain, is that what happened was so predictable that it had to have been intended, except maybe the pyramid thing. Contra Monty Python, everybody expected the Spanish Inquisition. The command structure pretty much proves it, to a life-imprisonment-in-Massachusetts standard if not to a death-penalty-in-Massachusetts standard. If more proof were needed, we’re told that several Grand High Inquisitors were sent from Guantanamo to instruct the MPs in the finer points.
Colin Powell says, “the acts of a few, I trust, will not overwhelm the goodness coming from so many of our soldiers,” who are there “to help, not to hurt.” No response of mine could be as sarcastic as that happy horseshit deserves.
Sharon responds to his “defeat” in a referendum, which he did not have to call, of the 2% of the Israeli population that is the Likud party membership by promising to scale back his plans to slightly reduce settlement activity while permanently grabbing a large proportion of the West Bank. Quel surprise! It’s now official: George Bush was rolled. I knew it when the referendum was announced. How naive are all those news sources claiming Sharon was “rebuffed” or “snubbed” by his party? Did anyone think Likud would vote to withdraw from Gaza? Of course not.
Kerry doesn’t have to be rolled, he rolls all by himself. "The security of Israel is paramount. . . . We will also never expect Israel to negotiate peace without a credible [Palestinian] partner. And it is up to the United States in my judgment to do a better job of helping the Arab world to help that partner to evolve and to develop." Now we have to wait for some sort of evolutionary process, developing Palestinians that can fit into 40% of the space? So it’s not really “targeted killing,” it’s just helping along the Darwinian process, survival of the fittest and all that?
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Like, what am I going to miss? The chicks?
AP headline: “Yale Taps Kidney Expert to Lead Med School.”
From a London Times story on the Fallujah pull-back: “"Yeah, goodbye Fallujah!" a California gunner exclaimed brightly. "Like, what am I going to miss? The chicks?"”
Diebold machines are banned from California, finally, but The Nation suggests that the racial purge of the electoral rolls we saw in Florida is now mandatory for the other 49 states.
Seymour Hersh on Abu Ghraib. You’ll be surprised to hear it’s worse than the photos suggested.
On the other hand, the pictures of British troops beating and urinating on an Iraqi are very probably fakes.
I’m not entirely sure the military actually knows who that Iraqi was to whom they just turned over Fallujah. Mark Kimmitt, M.M., says, “I don’t know his background.” Yesterday I said he showed up in his old uniform. It was a Republican Guard uniform. Which is a subtle hint about his background. Incidentally, generals are not exactly uncommon in Iraq; Saddam gave out promotions instead of money and there are...I just read the figure a couple of days ago...something absurd like 10,000 generals. (Later:) Hah, I called that one, all right. The Sunday NYT says that Pentagon officials wrongly told reporters yesterday that Saleh wasn’t even ever in the Republican Guard, and today the Pentagon pretty much had to admit they’re not sure who this guy is.
Secretary of War Rummy Rumsfeld: “It's never been an easy road to go from a dictatorship to a free system. It's bumpy. It's hard. And it isn't going to be a straight path.” Insert your own penis joke here.
OK, so we invaded Iraq to disarm it of weapons it didn’t have, and this week we can’t even get Fallujans to give up rocket launchers they certainly do have. I’m sure there’s an ironic juxtaposition in there somewhere, but it’s allergy season, so you’ll have to come up with that for yourself too.
Really, who would have guessed we’d be this bad at occupation. I mean, how many countries has the US occupied over the decades? You’d think all that experience would have been worth something. And, to quote Patrick Cockburn in the Sindy, “Saddam should not have been a hard act to follow.” He notes how completely the US has backed itself against a wall. “Despite having an overwhelming military force available to take Fallujah and Najaf, the US did not dare do so. It had become evident even in Washington that to crush the resistance in either city - not a difficult task against a few thousand lightly armed gunmen - would spread rather than end the rebellion.” Cockburn has another detail about Gen. Saleh--his car waved the Old Coke flag.
As you will no doubt have heard, Deputy Secretary of Warmongering
Paul Wolfowitz gave a figure for dead US soldiers in Iraq that was low by 200. Every member of the military and their families should be demanding his head. Personally, I think we should make it easier for him to keep track, by carving a notch on his person for each one, while Ted Koppel reads out the name. I’d tune in to Nightline to watch that.
From a London Times story on the Fallujah pull-back: “"Yeah, goodbye Fallujah!" a California gunner exclaimed brightly. "Like, what am I going to miss? The chicks?"”
Diebold machines are banned from California, finally, but The Nation suggests that the racial purge of the electoral rolls we saw in Florida is now mandatory for the other 49 states.
Seymour Hersh on Abu Ghraib. You’ll be surprised to hear it’s worse than the photos suggested.
On the other hand, the pictures of British troops beating and urinating on an Iraqi are very probably fakes.
I’m not entirely sure the military actually knows who that Iraqi was to whom they just turned over Fallujah. Mark Kimmitt, M.M., says, “I don’t know his background.” Yesterday I said he showed up in his old uniform. It was a Republican Guard uniform. Which is a subtle hint about his background. Incidentally, generals are not exactly uncommon in Iraq; Saddam gave out promotions instead of money and there are...I just read the figure a couple of days ago...something absurd like 10,000 generals. (Later:) Hah, I called that one, all right. The Sunday NYT says that Pentagon officials wrongly told reporters yesterday that Saleh wasn’t even ever in the Republican Guard, and today the Pentagon pretty much had to admit they’re not sure who this guy is.
Secretary of War Rummy Rumsfeld: “It's never been an easy road to go from a dictatorship to a free system. It's bumpy. It's hard. And it isn't going to be a straight path.” Insert your own penis joke here.
OK, so we invaded Iraq to disarm it of weapons it didn’t have, and this week we can’t even get Fallujans to give up rocket launchers they certainly do have. I’m sure there’s an ironic juxtaposition in there somewhere, but it’s allergy season, so you’ll have to come up with that for yourself too.
Really, who would have guessed we’d be this bad at occupation. I mean, how many countries has the US occupied over the decades? You’d think all that experience would have been worth something. And, to quote Patrick Cockburn in the Sindy, “Saddam should not have been a hard act to follow.” He notes how completely the US has backed itself against a wall. “Despite having an overwhelming military force available to take Fallujah and Najaf, the US did not dare do so. It had become evident even in Washington that to crush the resistance in either city - not a difficult task against a few thousand lightly armed gunmen - would spread rather than end the rebellion.” Cockburn has another detail about Gen. Saleh--his car waved the Old Coke flag.
As you will no doubt have heard, Deputy Secretary of Warmongering
Paul Wolfowitz gave a figure for dead US soldiers in Iraq that was low by 200. Every member of the military and their families should be demanding his head. Personally, I think we should make it easier for him to keep track, by carving a notch on his person for each one, while Ted Koppel reads out the name. I’d tune in to Nightline to watch that.
Friday, April 30, 2004
That's not the way we do things in America
In how many speeches did Bush bitch about Saddam building palaces while his people starved? And then he diverts money from restoring clean water to build a huge embassy. And in general diverts billions from rebuilding to “security.” Iraq will have the best-guarded rubble in the world.
AP: “The Treasury Department agency entrusted with blocking the financial resources of terrorists has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money”. Since 1994 it has collected $8m in fines from people who sent money to Cuba or traveled there, and $9,425 in fines for financing terrorism. Which makes you wonder just how low the fine for financing terrorism is.
Bush, today: “There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern.” He said that while standing next to the whitest world leader he could find, Paul Martin of Canada. No reporter has yet asked Bush to tell us who all these racists are. You will also have noticed his evident belief that Americans are all white (“skin color the same as ours”). Also, self-govern is not a word.
Indy: “Police in Macedonia said yesterday that the killing of seven alleged terrorists two years ago was staged to win US support and that the victims were simply illegal immigrants.” Pakistanis.
Bush says about those photos of Iraqi prisoners being made to play Twister, “That's not the way we do things in America.” It wasn’t in America, you idiot, it was in a funny place called The Rest of the World.
And today, pictures are also released of British soldiers beating and peeing on Iraqis prisoners.
The story still hasn’t picked up much in America. The Guardian, which often has a “what the newspapers say” section about various events, has a “What the US papers don't say” piece about this. Evidently the Pentagon pressured CBS not to run the pictures; I’d like to hear more about that.
So we’re sending in the commandant of Stalag Guantanamo to put things right in the vast detention camp that is Iraq. And we’re sending in that Saddam general, who showed up in his old uniform, and was cheered by Fallujans. OK, NOW are we finished?
AP: “The Treasury Department agency entrusted with blocking the financial resources of terrorists has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money”. Since 1994 it has collected $8m in fines from people who sent money to Cuba or traveled there, and $9,425 in fines for financing terrorism. Which makes you wonder just how low the fine for financing terrorism is.
Bush, today: “There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern.” He said that while standing next to the whitest world leader he could find, Paul Martin of Canada. No reporter has yet asked Bush to tell us who all these racists are. You will also have noticed his evident belief that Americans are all white (“skin color the same as ours”). Also, self-govern is not a word.
Indy: “Police in Macedonia said yesterday that the killing of seven alleged terrorists two years ago was staged to win US support and that the victims were simply illegal immigrants.” Pakistanis.
Bush says about those photos of Iraqi prisoners being made to play Twister, “That's not the way we do things in America.” It wasn’t in America, you idiot, it was in a funny place called The Rest of the World.
And today, pictures are also released of British soldiers beating and peeing on Iraqis prisoners.
The story still hasn’t picked up much in America. The Guardian, which often has a “what the newspapers say” section about various events, has a “What the US papers don't say” piece about this. Evidently the Pentagon pressured CBS not to run the pictures; I’d like to hear more about that.
So we’re sending in the commandant of Stalag Guantanamo to put things right in the vast detention camp that is Iraq. And we’re sending in that Saddam general, who showed up in his old uniform, and was cheered by Fallujans. OK, NOW are we finished?
Thursday, April 29, 2004
If we had something to hide, we would not have met with them in the first place
Something called Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns 8 ABCs (and 60 other tv stations) and is evidently run by partisan Republicans, has decided not to run the Nightline Friday, which will consist solely of Ted Koppel reading the names of dead soldiers. Sinclair claims the program promotes a political agenda. I repeat, it’s just the names of dead soldiers. Evidently, acknowledging that people are dying is something only Democrats do, or something. Sinclair points out that Koppel’s not reading the names of people killed in terrorist attacks, now is he? Huh, what do you say to that, Mr. Liberal Media Guy, huh, huh?
Gosh, did I say “at least they’ve picked a new flag” for Iraq? Well, two words: New Coke. It’ll be replaced soon.
The state of Nebraska hired a convicted thief to run its anti-smoking program. He was actually serving his sentence at the time, and was paid $55,200 a year, which is more than the warden gets. Insert obvious joke here about him being paid in cigarettes. Oh, and he did illegal stuff at this job too.
Turns out there won’t be a Ronald Reagan University after all, which relieves me of the duty of making a lot of tedious jokes about it.
If you haven’t seen those pictures of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and whatnot, here they are. They’re POWs, guys, not posable action figures. Does anyone know what word was written on that POW’s chest?
Oh, this is good: “One of the six, Sergeant Chip Frederick, who plans to plead innocent, asserted on CBS that he and his colleagues had had no proper guidance from commanders on how to treat the prisoners.” But you figured the human pyramid thing was just about what they had in mind? I’m guessing “Chip”’s previous job was stacking cans in a supermarket. More seriously, the Chipster reports that they were never told about the Geneva Convention. More seriously still, private “contractors” were put in charge of interrogations. And to cap it off, they were using an old Saddam prison known for torture. Incidentally, those “rape rooms” Bush likes to talk about--one (male, mid-teens) prisoner was indeed raped. By one of the mercenaries, so he hasn’t been charged with anything, ‘cause he’s not under military jurisdiction--his punishment, if any, will be left up to his company.
THE CHARLIE McCARTHY HEARINGS: Bush finally met the 9/11 Commission, saying, “If we had something to hide, we would not have met with them in the first place.” OK, “in the first place”? This was about the 23rd place, after months and months of stonewalling. Also: behind closed doors, with no recording made, and nobody present allowed to talk about it. No, nothing to hide. (Personally, I think they didn’t even bother asking him any questions, they just all sat around for an hour and got drunk. Under the circumstances, what would have been the point of doing anything else?) On showing up with Cheney: “I think it was important for them to see our body language, as well, how we work together.” Yeah, that was the important thing.
Follow-up: The Utah woman who refused her doctors’ orders to have a C-section is sentenced to probation, including 100 hours community service (what does that have to do with anything?), is expelled from the state, and, although the surviving baby was given up for adoption and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have any other children, is ordered to take parenting classes, which just seems cruel.
Gosh, did I say “at least they’ve picked a new flag” for Iraq? Well, two words: New Coke. It’ll be replaced soon.
The state of Nebraska hired a convicted thief to run its anti-smoking program. He was actually serving his sentence at the time, and was paid $55,200 a year, which is more than the warden gets. Insert obvious joke here about him being paid in cigarettes. Oh, and he did illegal stuff at this job too.
Turns out there won’t be a Ronald Reagan University after all, which relieves me of the duty of making a lot of tedious jokes about it.
If you haven’t seen those pictures of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and whatnot, here they are. They’re POWs, guys, not posable action figures. Does anyone know what word was written on that POW’s chest?
Oh, this is good: “One of the six, Sergeant Chip Frederick, who plans to plead innocent, asserted on CBS that he and his colleagues had had no proper guidance from commanders on how to treat the prisoners.” But you figured the human pyramid thing was just about what they had in mind? I’m guessing “Chip”’s previous job was stacking cans in a supermarket. More seriously, the Chipster reports that they were never told about the Geneva Convention. More seriously still, private “contractors” were put in charge of interrogations. And to cap it off, they were using an old Saddam prison known for torture. Incidentally, those “rape rooms” Bush likes to talk about--one (male, mid-teens) prisoner was indeed raped. By one of the mercenaries, so he hasn’t been charged with anything, ‘cause he’s not under military jurisdiction--his punishment, if any, will be left up to his company.
THE CHARLIE McCARTHY HEARINGS: Bush finally met the 9/11 Commission, saying, “If we had something to hide, we would not have met with them in the first place.” OK, “in the first place”? This was about the 23rd place, after months and months of stonewalling. Also: behind closed doors, with no recording made, and nobody present allowed to talk about it. No, nothing to hide. (Personally, I think they didn’t even bother asking him any questions, they just all sat around for an hour and got drunk. Under the circumstances, what would have been the point of doing anything else?) On showing up with Cheney: “I think it was important for them to see our body language, as well, how we work together.” Yeah, that was the important thing.
Follow-up: The Utah woman who refused her doctors’ orders to have a C-section is sentenced to probation, including 100 hours community service (what does that have to do with anything?), is expelled from the state, and, although the surviving baby was given up for adoption and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have any other children, is ordered to take parenting classes, which just seems cruel.
All people are seeing is the minaret hit by American fire and falling
So how many North Koreans do you think really did lose their lives trying to save portraits of the Dear Leader, or searched for them before trying to rescue their own children? I mean if you had a really good collection of porn, that’s one thing... Seriously, I don’t know what’s worse, the possibility that this isn’t a myth or that the NK media are holding this up as model behaviour.
The UN Security Council votes to ban the spread of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to terrorist groups. Who knew that was ok before? Well, Pakistan obviously, which was only coaxed into voting for it when told that it wasn’t retroactive.
The US is trying, again, to get Qatar to censor Al-Jazeera. According to a US official quoted in the NYT, “All people are seeing is the minaret hit by American fire and falling.” I repeat, sometimes a minaret is just a minaret.
The Supreme Court has decided to allow partisan gerrymandering, stating in a case re Pennsylvania that no “judicially manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged”. That’s lawyer-speak for We’re too lazy to figure out how to do our job, so we won’t, or possibly it’s lawyer-speak for, As long as the R’s are winning, it’s all good.
The US is claiming that most of the insurgents in Fallujah are former members of Saddam Hussein’s military. Also, the US will pull back from Fallujah and send in a new force, the Fallujah Protection Force, led by former members of Saddam Hussein’s military. I’m sure there’s a flaw in all this somewhere.
Military Moron Kimmitt says “there is still a determined aspiration on the part of the coalition to maintain a ceasefire and solve the situation in Falluja by peaceful means,” and says that the air strikes which are reported to have destroyed at least 25 buildings were “limited,” targeting only naughty buildings.
The UN Security Council votes to ban the spread of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to terrorist groups. Who knew that was ok before? Well, Pakistan obviously, which was only coaxed into voting for it when told that it wasn’t retroactive.
The US is trying, again, to get Qatar to censor Al-Jazeera. According to a US official quoted in the NYT, “All people are seeing is the minaret hit by American fire and falling.” I repeat, sometimes a minaret is just a minaret.
The Supreme Court has decided to allow partisan gerrymandering, stating in a case re Pennsylvania that no “judicially manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged”. That’s lawyer-speak for We’re too lazy to figure out how to do our job, so we won’t, or possibly it’s lawyer-speak for, As long as the R’s are winning, it’s all good.
The US is claiming that most of the insurgents in Fallujah are former members of Saddam Hussein’s military. Also, the US will pull back from Fallujah and send in a new force, the Fallujah Protection Force, led by former members of Saddam Hussein’s military. I’m sure there’s a flaw in all this somewhere.
Military Moron Kimmitt says “there is still a determined aspiration on the part of the coalition to maintain a ceasefire and solve the situation in Falluja by peaceful means,” and says that the air strikes which are reported to have destroyed at least 25 buildings were “limited,” targeting only naughty buildings.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
A lot more sovereignty than they have right now
Rumsfeld press conference today, about Chalabi: “well, on anyone, we're not in the position of ruling people in or ruling people out, and have no intention to. Clearly, there's a vetting process that's taking place by the United Nations representative, Mr. Brahimi, and by the Iraqi people and by the Iraqi Governing Council, and certainly by the Americans. And they all look at these people, and at some point there will be consensus developed, I suppose, in a manner possibly not dissimilar from that we saw in Afghanistan, where there may be some meetings, whether they're public or formal as opposed to informal or not, but the names will be up, and someone will rise to the top and – some bodies, plural, undoubtedly, given the nature of the country. And that then will be the interim government for a period, until the constitution is fashioned and then elections are held sometime next year or the year thereafter, I guess.”
Oddly enough, those are almost the exact words of Madison’s first draft of the Constitution.
And John “Death squads? What death squads?” Negroponte told the Senate, in his confirmation hearings, that after June 30, Iraqis will have “a lot more sovereignty than they have right now,” which is also taken from that draft: “We the People, in order to have a lot more sovereignty than we have right now...”
At those hearings, Chris “Death squads? What death squads?” Dodd and Barbara “Death squads? What death squads?” Boxer said that they would put aside their previous differences with Negroponte over his role in Reagan’s Central American policy out of personal respect for him.
Kamen at the WaPo asks the question, ambassador to what? Normally, the receiving country has to agree to an ambassador before they are confirmed by the Senate.
Possibly that’s just one more thing that happened in the black box that is Iraqi governance. I’ve been meaning to ask for some time, who is on the Iraqi Governing Council right now? One was killed, several are supposed to have resigned, but if they were replaced, I’ve never heard about it. And how many haven’t set foot in Iraq in, say, the last 3 months? And where are they?
Oddly enough, those are almost the exact words of Madison’s first draft of the Constitution.
And John “Death squads? What death squads?” Negroponte told the Senate, in his confirmation hearings, that after June 30, Iraqis will have “a lot more sovereignty than they have right now,” which is also taken from that draft: “We the People, in order to have a lot more sovereignty than we have right now...”
At those hearings, Chris “Death squads? What death squads?” Dodd and Barbara “Death squads? What death squads?” Boxer said that they would put aside their previous differences with Negroponte over his role in Reagan’s Central American policy out of personal respect for him.
Kamen at the WaPo asks the question, ambassador to what? Normally, the receiving country has to agree to an ambassador before they are confirmed by the Senate.
Possibly that’s just one more thing that happened in the black box that is Iraqi governance. I’ve been meaning to ask for some time, who is on the Iraqi Governing Council right now? One was killed, several are supposed to have resigned, but if they were replaced, I’ve never heard about it. And how many haven’t set foot in Iraq in, say, the last 3 months? And where are they?
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Expert guidance or assistance
BLOOPER REEL: Mark Kimmitt, military moron, on why the US, which just called in air strikes to level a minaret in Fallujah (and don’t be gettin’ all Freudian about it either, sometimes a minaret is just a minaret), is the real victim: “Many times it would appear that these provocative actions on the part of the enemy are intentionally inspired for the purposes of trying to get a tank into the camera lens, an airplane in the camera lens.” The sneaky bastards!
China rules out full, free elections in Hong Kong again, but I have yet to hear it explain exactly what’s wrong with universal suffrage. The electorate for the chief executive will remain 800 people.
Iraqis holding 3 Italian hostages (security guards) name their conditions: an anti-war protest to be held in Rome within 5 days. I don’t think they quite get what civil protest means, do you? Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a demand from hostage-takers. Anyone?
We may not know what form the fake Iraqi government will take in a little over 2 months, what powers it will have if any, and who will be in it, but at least they’ve picked a new flag. White, 2 blue stripes, 1 yellow stripe, a crescent. Gone are the words “God is great,” possibly because a year of American occupation would make anyone question just how great She really is. The blue stripes represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the yellow represents the Kurds, possibly all being drowned in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
From a piece by Peter Galbraith in the NY Review of Books:
Roman Polanski is filming a version of Oliver Twist, with Ben Kingsley as Fagin, the charismatic head of a gang of impressionable...uh oh.
The joint patrols in Fallujah have been postponed, perhaps because the Iraqis found out that not only were they not getting any body armor, but they were going to *be* the body armor for the Americans.
Note to the president of Westminster College: what, you’re surprised that Dick Cheney made a political attack on John Kerry rather than giving a dispassionate analysis of geopolitics? Dick Cheney? Dick Fucking Cheney??
NYT article on a trial of a Saudi computer sciences grad student in Idaho under provisions of the Patriot Act criminalizing the provision of “expert guidance or assistance” to terrorist groups. It was of course meant to deal with expert assistance relating to anthrax or dirty bombs, but the Saudi helped a Muslim group put up a website. Period. So would it be “expert guidance or assistance” if someone were to send out the URL of that website?
http://www.iananet.org/
China rules out full, free elections in Hong Kong again, but I have yet to hear it explain exactly what’s wrong with universal suffrage. The electorate for the chief executive will remain 800 people.
Iraqis holding 3 Italian hostages (security guards) name their conditions: an anti-war protest to be held in Rome within 5 days. I don’t think they quite get what civil protest means, do you? Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a demand from hostage-takers. Anyone?
We may not know what form the fake Iraqi government will take in a little over 2 months, what powers it will have if any, and who will be in it, but at least they’ve picked a new flag. White, 2 blue stripes, 1 yellow stripe, a crescent. Gone are the words “God is great,” possibly because a year of American occupation would make anyone question just how great She really is. The blue stripes represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the yellow represents the Kurds, possibly all being drowned in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
From a piece by Peter Galbraith in the NY Review of Books:
While telling Iraqis it wanted to defer constitutional issues to an elected Iraqi body, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority could not resist trying to settle fundamental constitutional issues in the interim constitution. The US government lawyers who wrote the interim constitution, known formally as the Transitional Administrative Law, made no effort to disguise their authorship. All deliberations on the law were done in secret and probably fewer than one hundred Iraqis saw a copy of the constitution before it was promulgated. To write a major law in any democracy—much less a constitution—without public discussion should be unthinkable. Now that Iraqis are discovering for the first time the contents of the constitution, it should come as no surprise that many object to provisions they never knew were being considered.
Roman Polanski is filming a version of Oliver Twist, with Ben Kingsley as Fagin, the charismatic head of a gang of impressionable...uh oh.
The joint patrols in Fallujah have been postponed, perhaps because the Iraqis found out that not only were they not getting any body armor, but they were going to *be* the body armor for the Americans.
Note to the president of Westminster College: what, you’re surprised that Dick Cheney made a political attack on John Kerry rather than giving a dispassionate analysis of geopolitics? Dick Cheney? Dick Fucking Cheney??
NYT article on a trial of a Saudi computer sciences grad student in Idaho under provisions of the Patriot Act criminalizing the provision of “expert guidance or assistance” to terrorist groups. It was of course meant to deal with expert assistance relating to anthrax or dirty bombs, but the Saudi helped a Muslim group put up a website. Period. So would it be “expert guidance or assistance” if someone were to send out the URL of that website?
http://www.iananet.org/
Monday, April 26, 2004
We pretty much took out anyone who was in there being stupid
An American MP, quoted in the Daily Telegraph about the bombing of a village near Fallujah: “We were supposed to wait until today, but we got pissed off and decided to draw a line. We pretty much took out anyone who was in there being stupid.”
Increasingly, I’ve been hearing US military types using one of those phrases that US military types don’t realize sound creepy to the rest of us: “breaking the will” of the enemy. Of course democracy, which those same military types are supposed to be bringing to Iraq by means of curfews, sieges and free-fire zones, is defined (by Rousseau) as the expression of the general will (volonte generale). At the same time, we’re trying to reintroduce into positions of power people whose political will was already broken, those who were “members in name only” of the Baathist party. See, they were just going along with all the persecution and executions and, ya know, evil, during the Saddam years not because they supported all that stuff, but so that they could advance their careers, and those are just the sort of people we need to make freedom and democracy flourish. I don’t have the energy to work the phrase “banality of evil” into this paragraph, so let’s all just assume that I did.
Did you know that the Australians invented streaking? Exactly 30 years ago. We got funny pictures.
Evidently the newest trend in the world’s largest democracy is candidates who just happen to have criminal charges pending against them, 20% in Bihar according to “activists,” and yes, the Guardian should have checked that out before running the story.
Don’t you hate it when decent institutions like game shows are perverted from their higher calling--greed?
Reuters: “A Kuwaiti court has set a precedent by approving the request of a man who had a sex-change to have his gender officially registered as female, on the grounds that he had suffered physically and psychologically since childhood because of his hormonal imbalance.” Does that mean s/he’ll no longer be allowed to vote?
Increasingly, I’ve been hearing US military types using one of those phrases that US military types don’t realize sound creepy to the rest of us: “breaking the will” of the enemy. Of course democracy, which those same military types are supposed to be bringing to Iraq by means of curfews, sieges and free-fire zones, is defined (by Rousseau) as the expression of the general will (volonte generale). At the same time, we’re trying to reintroduce into positions of power people whose political will was already broken, those who were “members in name only” of the Baathist party. See, they were just going along with all the persecution and executions and, ya know, evil, during the Saddam years not because they supported all that stuff, but so that they could advance their careers, and those are just the sort of people we need to make freedom and democracy flourish. I don’t have the energy to work the phrase “banality of evil” into this paragraph, so let’s all just assume that I did.
Did you know that the Australians invented streaking? Exactly 30 years ago. We got funny pictures.
Evidently the newest trend in the world’s largest democracy is candidates who just happen to have criminal charges pending against them, 20% in Bihar according to “activists,” and yes, the Guardian should have checked that out before running the story.
Don’t you hate it when decent institutions like game shows are perverted from their higher calling--greed?
Reuters: “A Kuwaiti court has set a precedent by approving the request of a man who had a sex-change to have his gender officially registered as female, on the grounds that he had suffered physically and psychologically since childhood because of his hormonal imbalance.” Does that mean s/he’ll no longer be allowed to vote?
Saturday, April 24, 2004
A very unusual death
British Press Association headline: “Leslie Ash Breaks Rib Having Sex.” Leslie Ash was one of the stars of the sitcom...wait for it...Men Behaving Badly.
Sharon says he no longer feels obligated by his promise to Bush not to kill Arafat, and that he told Bush so last week. Even if Bush warned him against it, as the White House claims, his public silence for the last week and a half (and I’ll bet he didn’t warn Arafat either) makes him complicit.
THE GAME IS AFOOT: I probably shouldn’t, but I think this story is just plain cool: “A leading expert on Sherlock Holmes grew paranoid that people were plotting against him before being found garrotted in his bed, an inquest was told yesterday. Richard Lancelyn Green, 50, who co-edited a book about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional detective Holmes, was found dead at his home in Kensington, west London, with a shoelace tightened around his neck using a wooden spoon. Dr Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, recorded an open verdict and said it was a "very unusual death".”
Japan: it’s those damned hostages screwing it up for the rest of us.
Dick Cheney’s last press conference was in 1991.
Here’s a headline (Sunday Times) that will appeal to Israelis’ silly musical prejudices: “Wagner's Operas Kept Me Sane, Says Vanunu”. He’d be the first.
A member of the US’s synchronized swimming team has had her 3-month sentence for multiple manslaughter postponed until after the games. Nice priorities, huh? Now if it had been a discus thrower...
Sharon says he no longer feels obligated by his promise to Bush not to kill Arafat, and that he told Bush so last week. Even if Bush warned him against it, as the White House claims, his public silence for the last week and a half (and I’ll bet he didn’t warn Arafat either) makes him complicit.
THE GAME IS AFOOT: I probably shouldn’t, but I think this story is just plain cool: “A leading expert on Sherlock Holmes grew paranoid that people were plotting against him before being found garrotted in his bed, an inquest was told yesterday. Richard Lancelyn Green, 50, who co-edited a book about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional detective Holmes, was found dead at his home in Kensington, west London, with a shoelace tightened around his neck using a wooden spoon. Dr Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, recorded an open verdict and said it was a "very unusual death".”
Japan: it’s those damned hostages screwing it up for the rest of us.
Dick Cheney’s last press conference was in 1991.
Here’s a headline (Sunday Times) that will appeal to Israelis’ silly musical prejudices: “Wagner's Operas Kept Me Sane, Says Vanunu”. He’d be the first.
A member of the US’s synchronized swimming team has had her 3-month sentence for multiple manslaughter postponed until after the games. Nice priorities, huh? Now if it had been a discus thrower...
Friday, April 23, 2004
Not just high on death
CBS aired photographs of Princess Diana dying, so it’s hard to get much sense out of the British papers this week about anything else. In defending them, CBS used the word “tasteful.”
The US has hired a bunch of Saddam’s generals. OK, disbanding the army was arguably stupid, but the fucking generals? Presumably the idea is that generals put aside their politics, their opinions, their backbone, and their integrity and will just do whatever they’re told--the Colin Powell model--but do Iraqi generals behave the same way? Teachers, doctors and civil servants who were members of the Baath party will be rehired as well.
Israel uses a 12-year old Palestinian as a human shield (13, says Reuters). There’s a picture!
Evidently the insurgents in Fallujah are all on drugs. Sez Dan Senor, “It is part of what they're using to keep them up to engage in this violence at all hours.” Dude, if you want to pull an all-nighter, get some Jolt Soda.
Congress is working on a plan for near immediate elections if 100 or more Reps are killed (did you know that, according to the Constitution, replacement senators can be appointed, but reps have to be elected? Me neither). While you can make arguments about whether 45 days is too short for an election, but too long for a state to be unrepresented during a crisis, etc., I don’t think they considered a scenario in which 100 Reps of one party were killed (say by a terrorist attack on a party convention).
The US has hired a bunch of Saddam’s generals. OK, disbanding the army was arguably stupid, but the fucking generals? Presumably the idea is that generals put aside their politics, their opinions, their backbone, and their integrity and will just do whatever they’re told--the Colin Powell model--but do Iraqi generals behave the same way? Teachers, doctors and civil servants who were members of the Baath party will be rehired as well.
Israel uses a 12-year old Palestinian as a human shield (13, says Reuters). There’s a picture!
Evidently the insurgents in Fallujah are all on drugs. Sez Dan Senor, “It is part of what they're using to keep them up to engage in this violence at all hours.” Dude, if you want to pull an all-nighter, get some Jolt Soda.
Congress is working on a plan for near immediate elections if 100 or more Reps are killed (did you know that, according to the Constitution, replacement senators can be appointed, but reps have to be elected? Me neither). While you can make arguments about whether 45 days is too short for an election, but too long for a state to be unrepresented during a crisis, etc., I don’t think they considered a scenario in which 100 Reps of one party were killed (say by a terrorist attack on a party convention).
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Historic times
But for real high-level historiography, nobody can beat Dubya: “This is historic times.” Yes it am.
North Korea, which is big on slogans, such as “Each Korean must perform selfless feats to glorify the heroic deeds of leader Kim Jong Il. Burma Shave,” but the Times of London says this one appears in schools: “Try to grow taller.” One study, admittedly of refugees, showed the average 17-year old male North Korean is 5’0, compared to South Koreans, who are 5’8.
Bush says that the world owes Ariel Sharon a “thank you” for his unilateral Gaza/West Bank plans. Think Hallmark makes a card for that?
McDonald’s in Britain, under pressure from a moral panic over obesity even, ahem, larger than here, will include pedometers in its Happy Meals. It takes 5½ hours to walk off a Happy Meal, according to health campaigners, so get waddling!
Poland is considering pulling out of Iraq. According to the prime minister, “Yeah, I know we sent guys on horses against Nazi tanks, but we’re not completely stupid.”
In 1971 the Nixon White House was very concerned to discredit John Kerry (whose military records show he’s believed to have killed 20 Vietnamese, by the way). Said Chuck Colson: “Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader.” We should be so lucky.
Oh brother:
http://www.gop.com/taxinvaders/
From the story that’s kept Belgium fascinating for what seems like years now: “Belgium's most notorious paedophile Marc Dutroux said yesterday that a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and held in an underground cellar was not his intended victim.” So that’s all right then?
France expels an Algerian imam, resident in France 25 years, for telling a newspaper that he believed the Koran allows husbands to beat adulterous wives, although not on the face, and he added that Muslims should obey French law, which doesn’t allow for such beatings. The Interior Ministry says “The government cannot tolerate remarks against human rights and the dignity of women.” OK, wife-beating bad, dignity of women good, but let’s not talk human rights when we just bundled someone onto a plane for exercising his. Still in France: his two wives and 16 children. He’s probably grateful for the peace and quiet.
Speaking of human rights, war criminal Gen. Wiranto (who may not actually have a first name other than General) has been nominated by the former ruling party of Suharto to run in July’s presidential elections.
Suicide car bombing reaches Saudi Arabia. Since the country exports both oil and Islamic terrorists in great quantity, this seems like an inevitable Reese’s-peanut-butter-cup moment.
North Korea, which is big on slogans, such as “Each Korean must perform selfless feats to glorify the heroic deeds of leader Kim Jong Il. Burma Shave,” but the Times of London says this one appears in schools: “Try to grow taller.” One study, admittedly of refugees, showed the average 17-year old male North Korean is 5’0, compared to South Koreans, who are 5’8.
Bush says that the world owes Ariel Sharon a “thank you” for his unilateral Gaza/West Bank plans. Think Hallmark makes a card for that?
McDonald’s in Britain, under pressure from a moral panic over obesity even, ahem, larger than here, will include pedometers in its Happy Meals. It takes 5½ hours to walk off a Happy Meal, according to health campaigners, so get waddling!
Poland is considering pulling out of Iraq. According to the prime minister, “Yeah, I know we sent guys on horses against Nazi tanks, but we’re not completely stupid.”
In 1971 the Nixon White House was very concerned to discredit John Kerry (whose military records show he’s believed to have killed 20 Vietnamese, by the way). Said Chuck Colson: “Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader.” We should be so lucky.
Oh brother:
http://www.gop.com/taxinvaders/
From the story that’s kept Belgium fascinating for what seems like years now: “Belgium's most notorious paedophile Marc Dutroux said yesterday that a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and held in an underground cellar was not his intended victim.” So that’s all right then?
France expels an Algerian imam, resident in France 25 years, for telling a newspaper that he believed the Koran allows husbands to beat adulterous wives, although not on the face, and he added that Muslims should obey French law, which doesn’t allow for such beatings. The Interior Ministry says “The government cannot tolerate remarks against human rights and the dignity of women.” OK, wife-beating bad, dignity of women good, but let’s not talk human rights when we just bundled someone onto a plane for exercising his. Still in France: his two wives and 16 children. He’s probably grateful for the peace and quiet.
Speaking of human rights, war criminal Gen. Wiranto (who may not actually have a first name other than General) has been nominated by the former ruling party of Suharto to run in July’s presidential elections.
Suicide car bombing reaches Saudi Arabia. Since the country exports both oil and Islamic terrorists in great quantity, this seems like an inevitable Reese’s-peanut-butter-cup moment.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
The list is not short
HE’S MAKING A LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE: Ariel Sharon promises to kill lots more people: “We got rid of murderer number one and murderer number two and the list is not short.”
Interesting that in the same week the Supreme Court is hearing arguments about whether inmates of Stalag Guantanamo have any right of access to the legal system, it ruled in another case that Indian tribes can prosecute members of other tribes for crimes committed on their reservations (I guess non-Injuns are exempt). And then be prosecuted by the US without double jeopardy applying, because as we all know the 5th amendment doesn’t mean what it obviously says. Which is better, being subject to multiple courts for the same crime, or no courts?
Still, it’s fun watching Solicitor General Ted Olson claim that Cuba has “ultimate sovereignty” over Gitmo. Which, LeftI points out, sheds some light on how little is meant by the transfer of “sovereignty” to Iraq on June 30th.
Article on Negroponte. So what if he doesn’t know Arabic, he probably picked up some Spanish in Honduras, that’s close enough. Actually, I take that back, he probably didn’t pick up any Spanish, since his policy of See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil was bilingual. And the CPA’s website has a picture of him in front of Picasso’s Guernica. Look if you don’t believe me. You couldn’t ask for better symbolism.
(Actually, don’t look. Since I wrote that, they’ve mysteriously clipped the picture so you can’t make out what the painting is.) You’ll remember that Guernica was covered up when Colin Powell went to the UN to lie about Iraq.
So who are those “security contractors” so thick on the ground in Iraq? Considering how many have been killed (but not counted in the “coalition” death toll, which the Bushies hope to keep in the 3 figures before election day), we’ve got obits on very few. Here is one, a South African who was part of one of the apartheid government’s death squads.
A WaPo poll asked whether Bush is a uniter or a divider. 50% said he’s a uniter, 48% a divider.
Interesting that in the same week the Supreme Court is hearing arguments about whether inmates of Stalag Guantanamo have any right of access to the legal system, it ruled in another case that Indian tribes can prosecute members of other tribes for crimes committed on their reservations (I guess non-Injuns are exempt). And then be prosecuted by the US without double jeopardy applying, because as we all know the 5th amendment doesn’t mean what it obviously says. Which is better, being subject to multiple courts for the same crime, or no courts?
Still, it’s fun watching Solicitor General Ted Olson claim that Cuba has “ultimate sovereignty” over Gitmo. Which, LeftI points out, sheds some light on how little is meant by the transfer of “sovereignty” to Iraq on June 30th.
Article on Negroponte. So what if he doesn’t know Arabic, he probably picked up some Spanish in Honduras, that’s close enough. Actually, I take that back, he probably didn’t pick up any Spanish, since his policy of See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil was bilingual. And the CPA’s website has a picture of him in front of Picasso’s Guernica. Look if you don’t believe me. You couldn’t ask for better symbolism.
(Actually, don’t look. Since I wrote that, they’ve mysteriously clipped the picture so you can’t make out what the painting is.) You’ll remember that Guernica was covered up when Colin Powell went to the UN to lie about Iraq.
So who are those “security contractors” so thick on the ground in Iraq? Considering how many have been killed (but not counted in the “coalition” death toll, which the Bushies hope to keep in the 3 figures before election day), we’ve got obits on very few. Here is one, a South African who was part of one of the apartheid government’s death squads.
A WaPo poll asked whether Bush is a uniter or a divider. 50% said he’s a uniter, 48% a divider.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Essential law
The US has been negotiating with the “authorities” in Fallujah (who have none) not to resume what this space will henceforth be referring to as the Massacre of Fallujah (and the new ambassador-designate will henceforth be John “Death squads? What death squads?” Negroponte). Jim Lehrer reported that the US was offering an easing of the curfew, and letting food and medicine into the city. Let me repeat that: we are using food and medicine as bargaining chips.
If Bush made a deal with Saudi Arabia about lowering oil prices right before the election, that means he’s keeping them artificially high now. So next time you fill up, just think of everything above $1.50 as your contribution to the Bush campaign. (Later: Atrios points out the same thing. Actually, it’s pretty obvious, but I thought it was worth pointing out since it was beyond the intellects of the NYT, etc etc).
Reuters: “A Florida teen charged with hiring an undercover policeman to shoot and kill his mother instructed the purported hitman not to damage the family television during the attack, police said.”
The Rapture Index for today is 143.
DESTROYING THE VILLAGE IN ORDER TO SAVE IT DEPARTMENT: Bush: "The Patriot Act defends our liberty," Bush said, thumping the podium. "The Patriot Act makes it able for those of us in positions of responsibility to defend the liberty of the American people. It's essential law." Wait, I think I get it: we’ll make it easier to defend our liberty by making it a lot smaller and hence more defensible. Hell, they won’t even be able to see our liberty. Bush: “Congress passed it and said, well, maybe the war on terror won't go on very long, and, therefore, these tools are set to expire.” So if Bush is calling for them to be made permanent, class, by his own logic he’s saying the war on terror will be what, class? That’s right: permanent, endless, eternal, unceasing. Something to look forward to.
If Bush made a deal with Saudi Arabia about lowering oil prices right before the election, that means he’s keeping them artificially high now. So next time you fill up, just think of everything above $1.50 as your contribution to the Bush campaign. (Later: Atrios points out the same thing. Actually, it’s pretty obvious, but I thought it was worth pointing out since it was beyond the intellects of the NYT, etc etc).
Reuters: “A Florida teen charged with hiring an undercover policeman to shoot and kill his mother instructed the purported hitman not to damage the family television during the attack, police said.”
The Rapture Index for today is 143.
DESTROYING THE VILLAGE IN ORDER TO SAVE IT DEPARTMENT: Bush: "The Patriot Act defends our liberty," Bush said, thumping the podium. "The Patriot Act makes it able for those of us in positions of responsibility to defend the liberty of the American people. It's essential law." Wait, I think I get it: we’ll make it easier to defend our liberty by making it a lot smaller and hence more defensible. Hell, they won’t even be able to see our liberty. Bush: “Congress passed it and said, well, maybe the war on terror won't go on very long, and, therefore, these tools are set to expire.” So if Bush is calling for them to be made permanent, class, by his own logic he’s saying the war on terror will be what, class? That’s right: permanent, endless, eternal, unceasing. Something to look forward to.
Monday, April 19, 2004
People are fungible
Whoops, used the word naked in a subject line yesterday, so Chris’s prissy work computer bounced it, with the odd comment:
<<< 553 5.0.0 Possible Naked Wife e-mail virus
I don’t even want to know what that means.
Speaking of prissy, an Afghan state-run tv station has banned shows with female singers.
Spanish prez Zapatero (who by the way opted to take a secular oath of office) is talking about pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq with immediate effect. I had thought he wouldn’t do this until June 30 and not then if there was a UN resolution, but he says there probably won’t be one so why wait. Well, “people are fungible” according to Rummy Rumsfeld, so what the heck.
Speaking of the Coalition of the Fungible, there is also some vague talk in Portugal about removing their contingent. Here’s something I didn’t know and should have: the Portuguese president, a socialist, is head of the armed forces and refused to send troops without a UN mandate. The conservative government did an end-run around him and sent police officers.
Kerry, on Meet the Press today, accused Bush of having an arrogant and stunningly ineffective foreign policy. Too bad he voted for so much of it. He also endorses Israel’s most recent assassination. Arguably, he suggested that they could/should wack Arafat as well. “I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it. Hamas is a terrorist, brutal organization. It has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to. Arafat refuses to.” Just as polls show the Israelis broadly supportive of the assassinations, American politicians are united in their grubbing for votes in Florida. The praise for Sharon, and he even took back his 1971 designation of Richard Nixon as a war criminal, highlights that he is not critical of Bush on moral grounds, simply for being ineffective and arrogant.
The Iraqi Resistance has been so successful in attacking supply lines that some soldiers are being rationed. So the US has decided to spread the misery to the entire Iraqi population, closing all main roads to non-US-military traffic. The Iraqis see this as collective punishment, which is partly correct: we’re not so much deliberately inflicting economic dislocation as completely indifferent to it.
We are, according to the NY Times, keeping in Iraq to the time-honored Israeli ratio of 10 of Them killed for every one of Us.
<<< 553 5.0.0 Possible Naked Wife e-mail virus
I don’t even want to know what that means.
Speaking of prissy, an Afghan state-run tv station has banned shows with female singers.
Spanish prez Zapatero (who by the way opted to take a secular oath of office) is talking about pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq with immediate effect. I had thought he wouldn’t do this until June 30 and not then if there was a UN resolution, but he says there probably won’t be one so why wait. Well, “people are fungible” according to Rummy Rumsfeld, so what the heck.
Speaking of the Coalition of the Fungible, there is also some vague talk in Portugal about removing their contingent. Here’s something I didn’t know and should have: the Portuguese president, a socialist, is head of the armed forces and refused to send troops without a UN mandate. The conservative government did an end-run around him and sent police officers.
Kerry, on Meet the Press today, accused Bush of having an arrogant and stunningly ineffective foreign policy. Too bad he voted for so much of it. He also endorses Israel’s most recent assassination. Arguably, he suggested that they could/should wack Arafat as well. “I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it. Hamas is a terrorist, brutal organization. It has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to. Arafat refuses to.” Just as polls show the Israelis broadly supportive of the assassinations, American politicians are united in their grubbing for votes in Florida. The praise for Sharon, and he even took back his 1971 designation of Richard Nixon as a war criminal, highlights that he is not critical of Bush on moral grounds, simply for being ineffective and arrogant.
The Iraqi Resistance has been so successful in attacking supply lines that some soldiers are being rationed. So the US has decided to spread the misery to the entire Iraqi population, closing all main roads to non-US-military traffic. The Iraqis see this as collective punishment, which is partly correct: we’re not so much deliberately inflicting economic dislocation as completely indifferent to it.
We are, according to the NY Times, keeping in Iraq to the time-honored Israeli ratio of 10 of Them killed for every one of Us.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Naked, combative and likely intoxicated
Sharon goes home from Crawford and immediately assassinates someone else. Does he hate us?
Times (London): “Bush himself doesn't seem to have any idea that he can come across as shifty and ill-briefed -much the way Michael Jackson doesn't seem to realise that people suspect that he is black.”
So there’s this Catholic Republican couple who move to Kentucky from LA to have a more family-friendly environment. Only they’re gay. They’re the first gay couple known to have both had children through the same surrogate mother, if you’re following.
In South Africans, the apartheid party, the National Party, wins 1.7% of the vote. It will now disband. Giggle giggle snort snort.
Times (London): “Bush himself doesn't seem to have any idea that he can come across as shifty and ill-briefed -much the way Michael Jackson doesn't seem to realise that people suspect that he is black.”
So there’s this Catholic Republican couple who move to Kentucky from LA to have a more family-friendly environment. Only they’re gay. They’re the first gay couple known to have both had children through the same surrogate mother, if you’re following.
In South Africans, the apartheid party, the National Party, wins 1.7% of the vote. It will now disband. Giggle giggle snort snort.
Friday, April 16, 2004
Keep that acceptability
A short one today. My cable company decided to move 27 channels at random, so I’ve been occupied.
Kerry moves quickly to ensure that his thin patrician lips are planted firmly on the ass-cheek of Ariel Sharon not currently occupied by Bush’s thin patrician lips, endorsing Bush’s endorsement of Sharon’s land-grab. “What's important obviously is the security of the state of Israel”. Obviously.
Story about how the economic and environmental side-effects of GM soya in Argentina.
The next prime minister of Spain, evidently under the impression that he will be prime minister of Sweden, promises to legalize gay marriage and stem-cell research, and his cabinet will have an equal number of female and male members.
WaPo headline: “Kerry Hopes to Cement Image With New Ads.” Jeez, he already looks like he’s made out of concrete. Kerry is quoted: "Their goal is to define me and make me unacceptable. . . . Our goal has to be to keep that acceptability." Can’t wait for the bumper sticker.
Oo, a bumper sticker: “W starts with ‘duh’”
Kerry moves quickly to ensure that his thin patrician lips are planted firmly on the ass-cheek of Ariel Sharon not currently occupied by Bush’s thin patrician lips, endorsing Bush’s endorsement of Sharon’s land-grab. “What's important obviously is the security of the state of Israel”. Obviously.
Story about how the economic and environmental side-effects of GM soya in Argentina.
The next prime minister of Spain, evidently under the impression that he will be prime minister of Sweden, promises to legalize gay marriage and stem-cell research, and his cabinet will have an equal number of female and male members.
WaPo headline: “Kerry Hopes to Cement Image With New Ads.” Jeez, he already looks like he’s made out of concrete. Kerry is quoted: "Their goal is to define me and make me unacceptable. . . . Our goal has to be to keep that acceptability." Can’t wait for the bumper sticker.
Oo, a bumper sticker: “W starts with ‘duh’”
You shoot like a goat herder
Tony Blair, according to Dubya, is “a stand-up kinda guy,” “as we like to say in Crawford.” They don’t say that in England, however, where they think their prime minister has just been described as a stand-up comedian.
I found bin Laden’s latest tape disconcerting without being sure why. A Guardian writer explains that the nice thing about bin Laden was that he made absolutely no demands and nothing you offered him would make him stop, so there could be no talk of appeasement or tactics. And then this week he actually made a demand of European countries, assuming it was him, and the CIA says that it is, so it probably isn’t.
Also, I hadn’t noticed the Henry Higgins aspect of Al Qaida methods before: planes on 9/11, trains in Spain (by George, I think he’s got it).
That’s my second reference to a musical this month.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Gen. Richard Myers repeats a line I thought had been buried under the dead American soldiers and the children buried under the Fallujah soccer field: the insurgency is “a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq.”
However Paul Krugman today says we have reached Vietnam-type “quagmire logic”: “they no longer have high hopes for what we may accomplish, but they fear the consequences if we leave.” Knee-deep in the big muddy.
Winning Hearts and Minds: US troops have been blasting heavy metal at Fallujah. Worked so well at Waco. AC/DC, Hendrix, sounds of babies crying, barking dogs, etc. They’re trying to irritate the insurgents into coming out and getting blasted like a man, so they are also using insults such as, and I’m not making this up, “You shoot like a goat herder” and “May all the ambulances in Fallujah have enough fuel to pick up the bodies of the mujahadeen.”
There was a fire-fight on the 6th inside the town of Kut, between Iraqis and... mercenaries (which may be why it took 10 days to hear about it). A South African was killed. After American troops, armed mercenaries are now the second-largest contingent in the Coalition of the Willing, comfortably ahead of the British, so why does Blair get to go to Crawford and the CEO of Blackwater doesn’t? Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
I’m long past believing anything Bob Woodward writes where he doesn’t name his sources.
From the Post: “• OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A bank robber wearing a wetsuit under his clothes tried to make a scuba-diving getaway but was tackled by police before he reached the water, authorities say. Police subdued the man Thursday on the shore of Budd Inlet after a car chase, a crash and a sweaty quarter-mile dash through the woods, during which he tried to sprint into the water while lugging his diving gear and a backpack filled with the stolen cash, Sgt. Ray Holmes said. Charles E. Coma, 35, was jailed on suspicion of robbery.”
Karl Rove says he wishes they hadn’t put up that “Mission Accomplished” banner, because it’s become “one of those convenient symbols.” Of course it was meant to be a convenient symbol, but not for the other side.
I found bin Laden’s latest tape disconcerting without being sure why. A Guardian writer explains that the nice thing about bin Laden was that he made absolutely no demands and nothing you offered him would make him stop, so there could be no talk of appeasement or tactics. And then this week he actually made a demand of European countries, assuming it was him, and the CIA says that it is, so it probably isn’t.
Also, I hadn’t noticed the Henry Higgins aspect of Al Qaida methods before: planes on 9/11, trains in Spain (by George, I think he’s got it).
That’s my second reference to a musical this month.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Gen. Richard Myers repeats a line I thought had been buried under the dead American soldiers and the children buried under the Fallujah soccer field: the insurgency is “a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq.”
However Paul Krugman today says we have reached Vietnam-type “quagmire logic”: “they no longer have high hopes for what we may accomplish, but they fear the consequences if we leave.” Knee-deep in the big muddy.
Winning Hearts and Minds: US troops have been blasting heavy metal at Fallujah. Worked so well at Waco. AC/DC, Hendrix, sounds of babies crying, barking dogs, etc. They’re trying to irritate the insurgents into coming out and getting blasted like a man, so they are also using insults such as, and I’m not making this up, “You shoot like a goat herder” and “May all the ambulances in Fallujah have enough fuel to pick up the bodies of the mujahadeen.”
There was a fire-fight on the 6th inside the town of Kut, between Iraqis and... mercenaries (which may be why it took 10 days to hear about it). A South African was killed. After American troops, armed mercenaries are now the second-largest contingent in the Coalition of the Willing, comfortably ahead of the British, so why does Blair get to go to Crawford and the CEO of Blackwater doesn’t? Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
I’m long past believing anything Bob Woodward writes where he doesn’t name his sources.
From the Post: “• OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A bank robber wearing a wetsuit under his clothes tried to make a scuba-diving getaway but was tackled by police before he reached the water, authorities say. Police subdued the man Thursday on the shore of Budd Inlet after a car chase, a crash and a sweaty quarter-mile dash through the woods, during which he tried to sprint into the water while lugging his diving gear and a backpack filled with the stolen cash, Sgt. Ray Holmes said. Charles E. Coma, 35, was jailed on suspicion of robbery.”
Karl Rove says he wishes they hadn’t put up that “Mission Accomplished” banner, because it’s become “one of those convenient symbols.” Of course it was meant to be a convenient symbol, but not for the other side.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Bin Laden threats are real
Did that get your attention? Why didn't it do the same for Bush?
As part of his attempt to put all the blame for 9/11 on the Clinton admin for not unleashing the full wrath of the intelligence community on an unsuspecting world, Ashcroft yesterday said that when he came into office, “We should end the failed capture policy, I said. We should find and kill bin Laden.” Ignoring the fact that Clinton had already ordered bin Laden assassinated, this must be the first time that a US attorney general (more general than attorney here) has publicly called for an extra-judicial execution.
As Ha’aretz has been saying for a couple of weeks, Sharon had a few demands to make of Bush, and today Bush gave in to them all, including denying a right of return and letting Israel keep 60% of the West Bank, in exchange for removing a few sparsely populated, expensive to defend, settlements in Gaza. Bush phrased this as pragmatism, acknowledging the “realities on the ground,” by which he means settlements erected in violation of international law. “Establishing facts on the ground” is of course a key phrase in Likud cynicism, and it has paid off in spades. Not perhaps the best week for Bush to give another example of his contempt for Arabs/Muslims, while calling war criminal Ariel Sharon (wasn’t he supposed to be indicted for bribery right about now?) bold and courageous. The Guardian says that Israel had 4 possible plans for removal of some settlements from the West Bank, but the US took the first one offered, which, naturally, gave the least to the Palestinians (500 settlers evacuated). The Palestinian PM points out that Bush is the first “president” to legitimize the settlements. Bush also talked about being committed to Israel as a Jewish state; he did not suggest that Palestine should be a Muslim state, and you can imagine his reaction if someone else did. Despite yesterday having said that “brown-skinned” Muslims are capable of democracy, on the ancient question of whether Israel should be Jewish or a democracy, Bush came down firmly on the side of the former. Does that mean Muslims are capable of democracy, but not Jews?
Speaking of toadying, the leader of Australia’s Labor Party makes a bid for the yoof vote, saying that Labor’s policy is bling-bling.
The next visitor to Bush is Tony Blair, who will not bother to meet John Kerry, although they’ll both be in New York.
From the 9/11 hearings:
Yesterday, of course, Bush said that he talked with Tenet all the time.
And more news on intelligence reports sent to Bush in the spring of ‘01: headlines included "Bin Laden planning multiple operations," "Bin Laden network's plans advancing" and "Bin Laden threats are real."
Hilarious parody of political blogs (read the comments section too).
And a good parody of the Bush press conference.
And here’s another one:
Excerpt:
Tom Shales on the press conf: “"When I say something, I mean it," George W. Bush said decisively near the end of last night's prime-time presidential news conference. Nobody called out, "When will you say something?" -- the White House press corps is too mannerly for that -- but some reporters, and some viewers, must have been thinking it.”
As part of his attempt to put all the blame for 9/11 on the Clinton admin for not unleashing the full wrath of the intelligence community on an unsuspecting world, Ashcroft yesterday said that when he came into office, “We should end the failed capture policy, I said. We should find and kill bin Laden.” Ignoring the fact that Clinton had already ordered bin Laden assassinated, this must be the first time that a US attorney general (more general than attorney here) has publicly called for an extra-judicial execution.
As Ha’aretz has been saying for a couple of weeks, Sharon had a few demands to make of Bush, and today Bush gave in to them all, including denying a right of return and letting Israel keep 60% of the West Bank, in exchange for removing a few sparsely populated, expensive to defend, settlements in Gaza. Bush phrased this as pragmatism, acknowledging the “realities on the ground,” by which he means settlements erected in violation of international law. “Establishing facts on the ground” is of course a key phrase in Likud cynicism, and it has paid off in spades. Not perhaps the best week for Bush to give another example of his contempt for Arabs/Muslims, while calling war criminal Ariel Sharon (wasn’t he supposed to be indicted for bribery right about now?) bold and courageous. The Guardian says that Israel had 4 possible plans for removal of some settlements from the West Bank, but the US took the first one offered, which, naturally, gave the least to the Palestinians (500 settlers evacuated). The Palestinian PM points out that Bush is the first “president” to legitimize the settlements. Bush also talked about being committed to Israel as a Jewish state; he did not suggest that Palestine should be a Muslim state, and you can imagine his reaction if someone else did. Despite yesterday having said that “brown-skinned” Muslims are capable of democracy, on the ancient question of whether Israel should be Jewish or a democracy, Bush came down firmly on the side of the former. Does that mean Muslims are capable of democracy, but not Jews?
Speaking of toadying, the leader of Australia’s Labor Party makes a bid for the yoof vote, saying that Labor’s policy is bling-bling.
The next visitor to Bush is Tony Blair, who will not bother to meet John Kerry, although they’ll both be in New York.
From the 9/11 hearings:
ROEMER: You don't see the president of the United States once in the month of August?
TENET: He's in Texas.
Yesterday, of course, Bush said that he talked with Tenet all the time.
And more news on intelligence reports sent to Bush in the spring of ‘01: headlines included "Bin Laden planning multiple operations," "Bin Laden network's plans advancing" and "Bin Laden threats are real."
Hilarious parody of political blogs (read the comments section too).
And a good parody of the Bush press conference.
And here’s another one:
Excerpt:
Q: Sir, you like to say that the August 6, 2001 intelligence briefing didn’t say al Qaeda was planning to fly planes into the World Trade Center at 8:48 a.m. on a sunny morning on September 11th as Mabel Johnson sat down to have a bagel at her house in Des Moines and a butterfly flapped its wings in Singapore, and therefore there was nothing “threatening” about the memo and no need for you to take action. But it did mention the likelihood of hijackings. Did the memo trigger you to take any action whatsoever to prevent even this kind of attack?
A: No.
Tom Shales on the press conf: “"When I say something, I mean it," George W. Bush said decisively near the end of last night's prime-time presidential news conference. Nobody called out, "When will you say something?" -- the White House press corps is too mannerly for that -- but some reporters, and some viewers, must have been thinking it.”
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